Daily newspaper_2015 12 Dec

8/18/2019 Daily newspaper_2015 12 Dec

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AFP

Beijing

Beijing issued its second-everred alert for smog and put itsemergency response plan into

action once again as severe pollutionhit China’s capital yesterday.

The notice from the capital’s envi-ronmental bureau ordered factories toclose and pulled half of all private carsoff the streets, among other measures,as bad air flooded into the city for the

third “airpocalypse” of the month.The red alert, the highest tier of a

four-colour warning system, will lastuntil Tuesday, according to a state-ment on the Beijing Municipal Envi-

ronmental Protection Bureau’s web-site.

It is the second time the highest

level alert has been issued since thecity established a pollution warningsystem in 2013. Page 13

SUNDAY Vol. XXXVI No. 9942

December 20, 2015Rabia I 9, 1437 AH

www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals GULF TIMESLatest Figures

17,017.00

-339.00-1.95%

9,912.92

+50.89+0.52%

34.55

-0.40-1.14%

DOW JONES QE NYMEX

p u b l i s h e d i n

Q A T A R s i n c e 1 9 7 8

Xavi-less AlSadd on edgeahead ofMesaimeer

clash

REGION | Conict

Heavy casualtiesin Yemen ghtingFierce ighting between

government forces and Iran-

backed rebels in Yemen produced

heavy casualties yesterday amid

UN alarm at ceaseire violations

ahead of a inal day of peace talks

in Switzerland. At least 68 people

were killed near the northern town

of Haradh, which was overrun by

loyalists on Thursday, military and

tribal sources said. The casualties

were 28 troops and 40 Shia Houthi

rebels, with another 50 Houthis

and 40 loyalists wounded. The UN

conirmed that today would be the

last day of the talks. Page 6

ARAB WORLD | Unrest

Turkey announcesIraq troop pulloutTurkey yesterday said it would

“continue” to pull its troops

out of northern Iraq after US

President Barack Obama urged

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

to do so in order to de-escalate

tensions with Baghdad over the

deployment. “Taking into account

the sensitivities on the Iraqi side...

Turkey will continue the process

it has already begun to withdraw

its troops stationed in Mosul

province,” the foreign ministry said

in a statement.

AMERICA | Obituary

Musical maestroKurt Masur diesKurt Masur, the German conductor

who revitalised the New York

Philharmonic and played a

key role in peaceful protests in

Leipzig that paved the way for

the 1990 reuniication of postwar

Germany, died in Greenwich,

Connecticut yesterday at age 88.

Masur’s distinguished musical

career saw him rise from an

orchestra coach at a theatre in

communist East Germany to

roles including music director of

the New York Philharmonic and

principal conductor of the London

Philharmonic Orchestra.

EAST ASIA | Pageant

Spanish model claimsMiss World crownSpanish model Mireia Lalaguna

was crowned Miss World 2015 after

beating out 113 contestants from

across the globe last night at a

coastal resort city in south C hina’s

Hainan Province. The pharmacy

student from Barcelona claimed

the illustrious crown after winningover the contest’s judges during

the 65th edition of the world

famous pageant in China’s Sanya.Page 13

In brief

SPORT | Page 1BUSINESS | Page 12

Aviation industrytargets 1.5% fueleffi ciency a year

QATAR

REGION

ARAB WORLD

INTERNATIONAL

COMMENT

BUSINESS

CLASSIFIED

SPORTS

21, 22

1 – 4, 10 – 12

5 – 9

1 – 12

3 – 5, 23, 24

6

7, 8

9 – 20

INDEX

GCC visitors among National Day revellersBy Ayman Adly

Staff Reporter

Alarge number of citizens, ex-patriates and foreign visitorsthronged the Corniche from the

afternoon until late at night on Fridayto express their love and loyalty for Qa-tar on the occasion of the National Day.

Earlier on Friday, the Cornicheplayed host to the annual National Day

parade, attended by VVIPs, dignitariesand a number of Qatar inhabitants.

Among those who flocked to theCorniche on Friday were several visi-tors from neighbouring GCC states.They came in vehicles decorated with

the Qatari flag, along with images ofHH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani and HH the Father EmirSheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani aswell as verses expressing their pride intaking part in the celebrations.

A number of vehicles bearing numberplates of the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Sau-di Arabia and Kuwait could be seen onCorniche Street.

Traffi c, meanwhile , was slow as hun-dreds of vehicles jostled for space along

the road. However, this did not deterthe crowds from participating in thefestivities.

Cars could be seen slowly makingtheir way through the congested stretcheven as children waved the Qatari flag

and patriotic songs filled the air.A fireworks display lit up the night

sky over the Corniche, enthralling thelarge crowds that had gathered there.

The revellers expressed joy at par-ticipating in the celebrations at theCorniche and elsewhere in the country.The festivities took place at various lo-cations and highlighted the culture andheritage of Qatar.

The tribes of Qatar organised dis-tinguished events to mark the occasion

and express their pride at being part ofthis country. Their celebrations wereheld in pavilions set up especially forthe occasion and included recitationof patriotic poems and the traditionalsword dance.

Traditional Arabic coffee was servedto guests along with exquisite varietiesof dates.

The tribesmen stressed the progressachieved by the country in recent yearsdue to the wise leadership of HH theEmir.

Meanwhile, expatriate communitiesand government and private entitiestook part in the celebrations with manyof them holding special events in orderto express their love and gratitude for

the country.“Despite the traffi c jams, it was a

great occas ion that a ffi rmed the loveof the people for this country and theirstrong confidence in its leadership,” aresident said.

Traic along the Corniche on Friday. Seen in the picture is a vehicle speciallydecorated for the occasion. PICTURE: Thajudheen

Opposition

scepticalover Syriapeace planThe plan was described asunrealistic by the Istanbul-basedNational Coalition, the main Syrianopposition grouping

AFP

Beirut

AUN-backed roadmap to end theSyrian war was met with scepti-cism yesterday by members of

the country’s fractured opposition whoinsist President Bashar al-Assad mustgo to achieve peace.

The US and Russian initiative, unan-imously approved by the UN SecurityCouncil on Friday, foresees talks be-tween the rebels and the regime anda rapid ceasefire, perhaps even nextmonth.

But the plan was described as unre-alistic by the Istanbul-based NationalCoalition, the main Syrian oppositiongrouping.

The resolution “undermines theoutcome of the meetings of revolution-ary forces in Riyadh and waters downprevious UN resolutions concerninga political solution i n Syria,” coalitionhead Khaled Khoja said on Twitter.

Fellow coalition member SamirNashar said bombing by the regimeand Russia must stop for there to be asustainable ceasefire, otherwise “theagreemen t is absolutely not applicate”.

The Security Council met after thelatest round of talks by the Interna-tional Syria Support Group (ISSG),which had gathered in New York to re-new its push for peace.

“In January we hope and expect to beat the table and to be able to implementa full cease fire,” US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry said.

“And that means all the barrel bombswill stop, all the bombing, all theshooting, all the attacks on either side.”

The US and Arab allies remain con-vinced As sad must leave offi ce as partof the process, but his allies Moscowand Tehran insist this is a decision forthe Syrian people.

The resolution does not touch onthis vital issue.

“We often hear the argument thatwithout resolving the Assad question,it is impossible to truly co-ordinate inthe fight against terrorism,” RussianForeign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“This is a dangerous logic, a danger-

ous approach,” RIA Novosti news agen-cy quoted him as saying.

Kerry, who has “agreed to disagree”with Moscow on Assad’s fate, empha-sised that victory over the Islamic State

group hinges on a peaceful settlementin the civil war.

“We know that Daesh can never beallowed to gain control in Syria so wehave a global imperative here to dealwith a terrorist entity but also to endthe civil war,” he said, using an Arabicacronym for IS.

He said Assad had “lost the abil-ity, the credibility” to unite and governSyria.

But experts nevertheless see a nar-rowing of differences between the ma-jor powers.

“The West and Russia’s position arecoming close r together,” AlexanderBaunov, a political analyst at the Carn-egie Moscow Center, said.

“Russia would not have voted for aresolution in which it would have beenwritten that Assad needs to step down.The absence of Assad is a form of com-promise to get the resolution thro ugh.”

Karim Bitar, head of research at theInstitute for International and Strate-gic Affairs, described the UN-backedplan as “a very significant first step” but added that “many ambiguities andulterior mot ives remain”.

“Sunni regional powers still fear thatthis pragmatism perpetuates the statusquo and allows Assad to stay too longduring a transition period,” he said.

The Security Council resolution callsfor “free and fair elections” supervised by the UN w ithin 1 8 months in whichall Syrians would be eligible to vote.

More than 250,000 people have diedsince the conflict erupted in March2011, and millions more have fled theirhomes.

Regime troops backed by Russianwarplanes have sought to wrest background from Assad’s opponents in re-cent weeks.

They suffered a setback yesterday asrebels managed to recapture a hilltopoverlooking a strategic highway in As-sad’s coastal heartland, Latakia, justdays after they were forced to retreat.

The Britain-based Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said 18 pro-government fighters and several rebelswere killed.

It also reported that Kurdish fightersfrom the People’s Protection Units yes-terday agreed a ceasefire with Islamistmilitants in the Sheikh Maqsud neigh- bourhood of Aleppo after three weeksof clashes.

Dozens of people on both sides have

been killed i n the fighting, which alsoinvolved Al Qa eda’s Syria a ffi liate, AlNusra Front, in the northern city’smostly-Kurdish district since it erupt-ed at the end of November.

Star Wars fans raise their lightsabers during Lightsaber Battle LA in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. StarWars: The Force Awakens raked in an estimated $120.5mn in its irst full day in US and Canadian theatres, setting an industryrecord, Disney said yesterday. The movie is likely to become the highest grossing ilm in an opening weekend, Disney added,while reporting that it had already made $250mn globally. Page 10

Steam rises behind a wall of the Forbidden City, once the home of China’s

emperors, on a polluted day in Beijing yesterday.

New Star Wars shines

Beijing onred alert

QNA

Doha/Baghdad

HE the Prime Minister andMinister of Interior SheikhAbdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-

lifa al-Thani held yesterday a tel-ephone conversation with Iraqi PrimeMinister Dr Haider al-Abadi.

They discussed developments inthe kidnapping of Qatari citizens inIraq. HE the Prime Minister of Qatarexpressed his appreciation to the ef-forts of the Iraqi government in deal-ing with the situation. He expressed

his hope of securing the release of theQatari citizens as soon as possible.

For his part, Prime Minister al-Abadi stressed that Iraqi security wasworking on releasing the Qatari citi-zens.

Meanwhile, al-Abadi met in Bagh-dad with Qatar’s Assistant ForeignMinister HE Mohamed bin Abdullahal-Rumaihi.

Discussions during the meetingdealt with the kidnapping of Qatarinationals in Iraq, where HE AssistantForeign Minister expressed apprecia-tion of the efforts of the Iraqi govern-ment to follow up the matter, hoping

that these efforts will contribute totheir release as soon as possible.

For his part, the Iraqi Prime Min-ister stressed that the competent se-curity agencies are working hard fortheir release.

The meeting was attended by IraqiInterior Minister Mohamed Salemal-Ghabban, Iraq’s National SecurityAdviser Faleh al-Fayad, and a numberof Iraqi offi cials.

On the Qatari side, the meeting wasattended by Qatar’s ambassador toIraq Zayed bin Saeed al-Kharyeen andthe delegation accompanying HE theAssistant Foreign M inister.

Talks on seeking release ofkidnapped Qatari citizens


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QATAR

3Gulf TimesSunday, December 20, 2015

Tourism sector executives attendeMarketing training programmeM

ore than 70 executivesfrom public and privateorganisations in Qatar

and the Middle East have com-pleted the Regional ExecutiveTraining Programme on eMar-keting in tourism held recently.

Organised by Qatar Tour-ism Authority (QTA) and con-ducted by the United NationsWorld Tourism Organisation(UNWTO) and its Themis Foun-dation, the three-day trainingprovided participants with in-ternational expertise in tourismeMarketing.

The programme also includ-ed a conference and two-dayworkshop held in both Englishand Arabic. The course aimed

to equip tour ism sector offi cialsand professionals across Qa-tar and the Mena region withknowledge, capacity and skills ineMarketing.

Mohamed al-Mahmeed, headof Tourism Investment Promo-tion at QTA, said they had jointlytrained close to 600 industry pro-fessionals from across the regionin various aspects in tourism.

“Our aim is to empower the pri-vate sector and equip them withtools such as best practices and aplatform for knowledge sharing,so that they are better able to di-versify and promote a sustainabletourism sector,” he said.

Al-Mahmeed added that QTAis also working to position Qatar

as the regional hub for tourismeducation in the Gulf.

Faisal al-Nuaimi, directorgeneral of Tourism Developmentat the Tourism Development De-partment of Ajman, UAE, notedthat the course has shown howmuch Qatar is doing to supportthe tourism sector with UN-WTO taking the country as a

case-study in developing tour-ism through marketing and so-cial media.

UNWTO studies show thatthe expansion of new technolo-gies has transformed the tourismsector in unprecedented ways,presenting immense opportuni-ties as well as great challengesfor the public and private tour-ism sectors that need to keep upwith constantly changing andcompetitive environment.

The course provided a plat-form for participants to examinethe latest developments and bestpractices in eMarketing, includ-ing social media and contentmarketing. They were also intro-duced to a step-by-step process

for developing an eMarketingstrategy in tourism, in additionto a selection of tools available tothem as eMarketers to succeed intheir role.

“This is the second time Ihave done a training course onthis topic. The subject this timearound is a lot more interesting,as there is more emphasis on so-cial media as the new marketingtool, and the professors had awealth of knowle dge to share,”said Tamara Khalil, corporatedirector of Marketing Commu-nications at Katara Hospitality.“The course is also more diver-sified, with participants fromall over the region and differentparts of the in dustry.”

“Our aim is to empower theprivate sector and equipthem with tools such as bestpractices and a platformfor knowledge sharing, sothat they are better able todiversify and promote asustainable tourism sector”

Executives from public and private organisations in Qatar and the Middle East complete training programme on eMarketing in tourism recently.

Ooredoo Group

selects GoSwiff

as global mobile

payments partner

Ooredoo Group has se-lected GoSwiff, a globalmobile payments and

marketing solutions provider,as its partner for the imple-mentation of its internationalmPOS (mobile point of sale)platform.

The partnership will coversome nine markets cover-ing Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq,Kuwait, Myanmar, Maldives,Oman, Qatar and Tunisia. Itwill include recruiting mer-chants to the platform, fromlarge corporates to micro-

merchants.GoSwiff will provide an in-tegrated multi-payment solu-tion including mPOS, mobilemoney and airtime top-upfor Ooredoo’s merchant cli-ents. The service will alsoinclude value added servicesincluding merchant rewardprogrammes, to encourage agreater volume of transac-tions, and consumer loyaltytools that will enable Ooredooto better engage with its cus-tomers.

As part of the agreement,Ooredoo Group is outsourcingmanaged services for mPOS toGoSwiff, including merchantprofiling, segmentation andengagement with different in-dustry verticals.

“With its comprehensiverange of services and inter-national experience, GoSwiff is a strong partner to helpOoredoo build our mPOSplatform. Combined with itsglobal footprint and extensivecapabilities in outsourcingthe deployment, merchantacquisition and merchant on-

boarding in emerging mar-kets, we are confident thatour partnership with GoSwiffwill enable us to broaden ouroffer and engage even moreeffectively with our custom-ers,” said Oo redoo Group CEOSheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani.

“We are proud to have beenselected by Ooredoo Group asits global partner as the com-pany introduces its offer ofmobile payments to nine ex-citing markets across NorthAfrica, Middle East and SouthEast Asia. We already havea presence in each of theseregions and, with this newpartnership with Ooredoo,look forward to serving localmerchants even better,” saidGoSwiff CEO Simone RanucciBrandimarte.

“Our focus will be onlong term value creation,offering a seamless buy-ing experience to custom-ers, benefiting Ooredoo’scustomers both online andat the point of sale. We lookforward to developing newservices jointly in the futureand bring innovation intothe countries we operate intogether,” said GoSwiff COOStefano Diemmi.

“We are proud to have been selected by OoredooGroup as its globalpartner as the companyintroduces its offer ofmobile payments to nine

exciting markets acrossNorth Africa, Middle Eastand South East Asia”


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QATAR

Gulf TimesSunday, December 20, 20154

Leaders and multidisciplinary staff from across Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) recently gathered to celebratethe 8th anniversary of the Trauma Centre at Hamad General Hospital (HGH). The participants also attended the 4thTrauma Multidisciplinary Critical Care Educational Day, which highlights the importance of teamwork amongmulti-disciplinary professionals providing care to severely injured patients.

Hamad Hospital Trauma Centre anniversary

Qatar’s missions hold specialevents to mark National Day

Q atar’s embassies anddiplomatic mis-sions abroad con-

tinued celebrations to markthe country’s National Day,which falls on December18 to commemorate thefounder Sheikh Jassim binMohamed bin Thani.

Qatar’s ambassador toLebanon hosted a receptionin the capital Beirut to cel-ebrate the Day.

The ceremony was at-tended by Lebanese Dep-uty Prime Minister andMinister of Defense SamirMoqbel, representing thePrime Minister TammamSalam and Speaker of theParliament Nabih Berri,along with ministers, depu-ties, ambassadors of Araband foreign countries ac-credited to Lebanon, as wellas representatives from thefield of politics, culture, artand media, religious figuresand military personnel.

In a speech on the oc-casion, the ambassadorextended heartfelt con-gratulations to HH the EmirSheikh Tamim bin Hamadal-Thani, HH the FatherEmir Sheikh Hamad binKhalifa al-Thani, and to allcitizens and residents ofQatar.

He underlined that theleadership of Qatar waskeen on unlocking the hu-man potential as the basisof the comprehensive de-

velopment process in theState. Thus, Qatar has suc-ceeded in making signifi-cant achievements in eco-nomic, social, health andeducational fields, based onQatar National Vision 2030.

In Amman, Qatar’s ambassador to Jordan Bandar bin Mohamed Abdullahal-Attiyah hosted a recep-tion, attended by Jordan’sSenate president Faisal al-Fayez, Speaker of the Houseof Representatives AtefTarawneh, Interior Min-ister Salamah Hammad,Minister of Awqaf and Is-lamic and Sancitities AffairsHayel Abdul-Hafeez, andseveral other high-rankingoffi cials, dignitari es, lea d-erships, businessmen, rep-resentatives of regional andinternational organisationsand heads and members ofthe diplomatic corps ac-credited to Jordan.

In a speech on the occa-sion, the Qatari ambassadorhighlighted the importantachievements of Qatar un-der the leadership of HH theEmir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani.

In Vienna, Qatar’s ambassador to Austria AliKhalfan al-Mansouri, whois also the country’s per-manent representative tothe International Organi-sations in Vienna, held aceremony to celebrate theNational Day. ProminentAustrian politicians andthe director-general of theOpec Fund for Interna-tional Development Sulei-

man Harbash attended theevent.

In Turkmenistan, Qatar’sambassador Khalifa binAhmed al-Suwaidi held aceremony that was attended by Minister of Oil and Gasof Turkmenistan Muham-metnur Halylov. He praisedTurkmen-Qatari relations.

In Mexico, Qatari ambas-sador Ahmed bin Abdullahalso held a ceremony thatwas attended by a numberof Ministers and diplomats.

In Djibouti, ambassadorJassim bin Jaber Jassim So-rour held a ceremony thatwas attended by many rank-ing o ffi cials from Djib outi,led by Minister of ForeignAffairs Mahamoud Ali Yous-souf. Minister of HigherEducation Nabil MohamedAhmed also attended alongwith Minister of TransportAhmed Hassan.

In Brussels, Ambassa-dor of Qatar to Belgium HESheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani, who is also the headof Mission to the EuropeanUnion, held a ceremony tocelebrate Qatar NationalDay. A number of offi cial sfrom Belgium, European Un-ion and Nato attended theceremony. Arab and foreignambassadors as well as Qa-tari citizens in Belgium alsoattended the ceremony.

In his speech, the ambassador congratulated HHthe Emir Sheikh Tamim binHamad al-Thani, HH theFather Emir Sheikh Hamad

bin Khalifa al-Thani and theQatari people. The ambas-

sador said that December18th was the day that every-one reflects on the achieve-ments of those who foundedthe State of Qatar led bySheikh Jassim bin Mohamed

bin Thani.The ambassador added

that celebrating NationalDay was crucial to Qatariyouth as it helps maintaintheir link to the traditions ofthe country.

In Tokyo, Qatar’s ambas-sador Yousif Mohamed Bilalheld a ceremony at ImperialHotel, attended by Chair-man of the General Coun-cil of Japan’s ruling councilToshihiro Nikaio, who isalso the president of Japa-nese Parliamentary Asso-ciation for Friendship withthe State of Qatar and theMinister of Economy, Tradeand Industry Motoo Hay-ashi in addition to diplo-mats, businessmen, publicfigures and representativesof Japanese media.

In his speech, the ambas-sador congratulated HH theEmir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani, HH the Fa-ther Emir Sheikh Hamad binKhalifa al-Thani and the Qa-tari people. The ambassadorpraised the Qatari-Japaneserelations which were estab-lished in 1972.

In Colombo, Qatar’sembassy held a ceremonywhich was attended by theSri Lankan Minister of Ur-

ban Planning and WaterSupply Rauf Hakeem and anumber of Sri Lankan min-isters and offi cials.

QNA

Doha

Qatar’s commercialarbitration law will be duein the irst half of 2016, HEMinister of Justice Dr HassanLahdan Saqr al-Mhannadisaid yesterday.Speaking at the annualconference of lawyers andarbitrators, which is taking

place in Doha, the Ministersaid that the investmentenvironment in the GCC willsee many developments.

HE Qatar’s Minister ofYouth and Sports Salah binGhanem bin Nasser al-Aliyesterday participated inthe inauguration of Jaber al-Ahmed International Stadium,under the patronage of Emirof Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-

Ahmed al-Sabah.The Minister of Youth andSports wished the Kuwaitileadership and people furtherprogress. He expressed hishope that the new stadiumwill host many prominentsporting events in the future.His Excellency also extendedhis congratulations toKuwait’s Minister of

Information and Minister ofState for Youth Affairs SheikhSalman al-Hamoud al-Sabah.The 400,000-sq-m stadiumcan take up to 60,000spectators.

CommercialArbitration Lawdue in irst halfof 2016: Minister

Minister attendsinauguration ofKuwaiti stadium


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QATAR


QF Radio inspires children

at National Day celebrationsQ

F Radio, the in-house broadcast-ing station of Qatar

Foundation for Education,Science and CommunityDevelopment’s (QF), is giv-ing children the opportuni-ty to act as radio presentersas part of National Day cel-ebration at Darb Al Saai.

Taking place in a special-ly-designed booth set up inQF’s tent, school childrenlearn how to be radio pre-senters and get the chanceto interview visitors. Theactivity is designed to boostthe participants’ confidenceand enhance their methodsof self-expression, as well asthink about potential careerpaths, which is in-line with

QF’s overarching mission ofunlocking human potential.Jawaher F al-Mana, Ara-

bic Station Supervisor, QFRadio, said: “One of our ob-jectives at QF Radio is to in-vest in people and help themrealise their full potential.And we are doing just thathere in Qatar Foundation’sDarb Al Saai tent as we areproviding local children andyouth with a unique op-portunity to learn how to beradio presenters and mediapersonalities.”

Catering to both Arabicand English speakers, theactivity has proved popularamongst both children andparents alike. Mohammedal-Kaabi, an 11-year-oldQatari student at OxfordEnglish School, said: “Thisis the first time I have everspoken on the radio. It is re-ally interesting to know thateverybody can hear yourvoice, it almost feels like Iam on television. Now I amthinking about being a re-porter when I grow up.”

Additionally, every af-

ternoon throughout theNational Day celebrations,QF Radio has been broad-casting special live coveragefrom Darb Al Saai, high-lighting the activities tak-ing place within QF’s tent,

as well as hosting interviewswith visitors, including QFmanagement, families, andVIPs.

Furthermore, studentsfrom various universitiesacross QF are also benefit-

ting from QF Radio at DarbAl-Saai. Young men andwomen are lining up guests,conducting interviews withthem, which are then editedand presented as in-depthreports on QF Radio.

Young boys send a message to Qatar on National Day at the QF Radio booth at Darb Al Saaitent. Below: Children from the English Modern School participate in the QF Radio activity at

Darb Al Saai tent


6/43

REGION


Iran to ship out enriched uranium within daysReuters

Dubai

Iran will export most of its en-riched uranium to Russia inthe coming days as it rushes

to implement a nuclear deal andsecure relief from internationalsanctions, Tehran’s nuclear chiefwas quoted as saying yesterday.

Drastically reducing its stockof enriched uranium, which can

be used in nuclear weapons,

was at the heart of the deal Iranreached in July with a group of si xworld powers.

Under its terms, Iran must cutits stockpile to around 300kg andmothball most of the centrifugesthat produce the enriched fuel.It must also remove the core of aheavy water reactor at Arak so itcannot be used to produce pluto-nium, another potential bomb-making source.

Once the United Nations veri-

fies those steps, internationalsanctions will be lifted, givingIran access to global markets forthe first time in years and open-ing a lifeline for its ailing econo-my.

“In the next few days aroundnine tonnes of Iran’s enricheduranium will be exported to Rus-sia,” nuclear chief Ali Akbar Sale-hi was quoted as saying by statenews agency Irna. That is roughly

the amount that Iran must export

to bring its stock down to the re-quired level.He said the enriched uranium

would be taken out of Iran on board a Russian ship. Iran hasalready received a shipment ofyellowcake, an unenriched ura-nium compound, from Russia inexchange for the stockpile.

President Hassan Rouhani’sgovernment is aiming to getsanctions lifted by the end of

January, to boost pro-govern-

ment candidates in February 26elections to parliament and theAssembly of Experts, the clerical body that chooses the supremeleader.

Iran is set to reap an economicwindfall once sanctions are lift-ed. The government has pledgedto quickly boost oil production,and foreign companies are jock-eying to enter the market of some80mn people.

Nevertheless, the economy

has stagnated since the deal wasreached, as consumers hold off on spending until the marketopens up.

With no concrete improve-ment to voters’ quality of life, thegovernment risks losing its ‘nu-clear dividend’ if sanctions havenot been lifted before the elec-tions; hardliners opposed to thedeal would stand to gain.

On Wednesday, Tehran’s envoy

to the United Nations’ Interna-

tional Atomic Energy Agency saidIran was working to complete therequirements in the next two tothree weeks, after the UN watch-dog closed its investigation ofIran’s past nuclear activities.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano,responsible for verifying thatTehran has taken the necessarysteps, said in an interview thatit is “not impossible” that sanc-tions could be lifted in January.

Yemen forces

press advanceagainst rebelsGovernment forces arenow heading west, towardthe contiguous rebelstrongholds of Amran andSaada provinces, which lieimmediately to the north ofthe capital

AFP

Aden

Fighting raged between Yem-eni government forces andIran-backed rebels yesterday

as the UN voiced alarm at ceasefireviolations but insisted that peacetalks in Switzerland are still alive.

Loyalists were within 40kmof the rebel-held capital as theypressed their advance against theShia insurgents, military sourcessaid.

Pro-Hadi forces supported bya Saudi-led coalition were keep-ing up pressure in Nihm district,Sanaa province, after significantgains in Marib province, east of thecapital.

The forces loyal to PresidentAbd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, andallied tribes in the area, have laidsiege to Nihm’s Fardha military base, northeast of the capital.

Despite the proximity, theroughly 40km separating Nihmfrom Sanaa is mostly ruggedmountainous terrain.

On Friday, loyalists seizedHazm, capital of Jawf province, tothe northeast of Sanaa.

By yesterday, they had extendedtheir gains in Jawf, capturing Al

Ghayl and Al Maton districts, ac-cording to sources in the pro-HadiPopular Resistance militia.

The two areas fell after clashes between advancing forces andrebels and renegade troops loyalto former president Ali AbdullahSaleh, said Ameen al-Ukaymi, atribal chief of the Popular Resist-ance.

Government forces are nowheading west, toward the contigu-ous rebel strongholds of Amranand Saada provinces, which lieimmediately to the north of thecapital, Ukaymi said.

Military sources said pro-Hadiforces, which are supported by aSaudi-led Arab coalition, broughtreinforcements to Hazm yester-day, including tanks and armouredvehicles.

The operations took place despitea ceasefire that has been repeatedlyviolated since it entered into forceon Tuesday, as UN-sponsored talks began in Switzerland.

The UN Yemen envoy was“deeply concerned at the numer-ous reports of violations of thecessati on of hosti litie s”, his offi cesaid late Friday.

His comments came after thepro-government forces seizedtwo northern towns and the rebelsfired two ballistic missiles at SaudiArabia.

He “urges all parties to respectthis agreement and allow unhin-dered access for the delivery ofhumanitarian assistance to themost affected dis tricts of Yemen”,the statement said.

It was issued after a fourth dayof rocky peace talks, during whichthe special envoy “held severalsessions with the participants”, thestatement added.

The discussions “focused mostlyon security issues in Yemen, in lightof the alarming developments onthe ground”, it said, stressing tha t both sides had “renewed their com-mitment for a ceasefire”.

“A co-ordination and de-esca-lation committee was created tostrengthen adherence to the ces-sation of hostil ities,” the statementsaid.

The UN announced a first breakthrough in the talks onThursday, saying the sides hadagreed to “allow for a full and im-mediate resumption of humani-tarian assistance” in the flashpointcity of Taez.

But a local relief group, the Hu-manitarian Relief Coalition, saidno UN aid had reached the city,accusing rebels of blocking aid de-livery to areas where Hadi loyalistsare holed up.

On Thursday, pro-governmentforces and rebels completed an ex-change of hundreds of prisoners inthe southern province of Lahj.

Yemen’s conflict began in Sep-tember 2014, when the Houthis ad-vanced from their northern strong-holds to occupy the capital Sanaa.

It has escalated dramaticallysince Saudi-led air strikes againstthe rebels began in March, withmore than 5,800 killed and morethan 27,000 wounded since then,according to the UN.

Rivals agree to set up truce monitor: source

Negotiators taking part in Yemen peace talks in

Switzerland agreed yesterday to create a “neutral”

committee to monitor the country’s fragile cease-

ire after new clashes left it in tatters, a source

close to the talks told AFP.

“There is an understanding over forming a neutral

military committee tasked with monitoring the

ceaseire,” a source close to the g overnment

delegation said.

The office of UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail

Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the negotiating parties

had created “a co-ordination and de-escalation

committee ... to strengthen adherence to the ces-

sation of hostilities”.

The negotiators met at a hotel in the northwestern

Swiss city of Biel for a ifth day of talks yesterday.

But sources close to both delegations said yester-

day afternoon that the talks had ended for the day

with little progress.

A source close to the delegation representing

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government

said there had been no agreement on the general

framework for the talks and no agreement on the

opening of humanitarian corridors.

In a letter submitted by the government del-

egation to the talks yesterday a lawyer in Taez

accused the rebels of coniscating aid sent by the

UN World Food Programme.

A woman wears a facemask as she walks in a heavily polluted area in Tehran yesterday.

Schools shut in Tehran asair pollution levels soarAgencies

Tehran

Iran is to close schools for twodays in Tehran, an offi cialsaid yesterday, following air

pollution three times the ac-ceptable level that has blan ketedthe city in smog.

Air quality in Iran’s capitalthis week was the worst for atleast nine months, media said,and airborne particles from caremissions were at “seven timesthe stand ard level”.

“All schools will be closed onSunday in Tehran and in the...towns of Shahr-Rey and Islam-Shahr (both south of the capi-tal),” said envi ronment offi cialMohamed Hadi Heydarzadeh.

“If the pollution continues,schools will also be closed onMonday,” he said on s tate televi-sion.

Traffi c will b e limited i n thecity centre and some factorieswill be closed, media reported.

The offi cial Irn a news agencysaid that schools will also shutin Alborz province, west of Te-hran.

Authorities have asked stateemployers to grant mothers timeoff to look after children whowill be unable to go to schooland urged the elderly, childrenand sick people to avoid goingoutdoors.

Emergency services have also been mobilised.

In December 2014, almost400 people were hospitalisedwith heart and respiratory prob-lems caused by heavy pollutionin Tehran, with nearly 1,500others requiring treatment.

The Air Quality Index onMonday showed an averagereading of 162 - a “red status”warning that the air is unhealthyfor everyone, according to WorldHealth Organisation standards.

Yesterday it had droppedslightly to 148, still well abovethe normal healthy level of be-tween zero and 50.

Peak pollution hit 180 insome areas of Tehran, wherepoor air is worsened due tohigh altitudes—between 1,100and 1,700m above sea level—ina basin surrounded by moun-tains.

Visibility was low yesterdayas a grey fog blanketed the capi-tal, a megacity of an estimated14mn people, and authoritiessaid they expect pollution toworsen in the coming days.

Exhaust fumes from 5mn carsand almost as many motorcyclesthat ply Tehran’s roads each daymake up 80% of its pollution,which increases in winter asemissions fail to rise above coldair.

“We cannot breathe. My eyesare itchy and my head hurts,”said a taxi driver who only gavehis first name, Khosro.

“Traffi c is getting worse eachday, it is stifling. It is like thereis a grey haze hanging over thecity. We can’t see the moun-tains,” he said referring to the

snow-capped Alborz range thatoverlooks Tehran.

Iran’s government has tried tocut pollution by supplying loweremission fuel in large cities, Ma-soumeh Ebtekar, a vice presidentresponsible for environmentalprotection, said this week.

In 2012, pollution contrib-uted to the premature deathsof 4,500 people in Tehran andabout 80,000 in the country, thehealth ministry said.

Accordin g to the o ffi ce incharge of monitoring air quality,the air in Tehran was “pure foronly 219 days” during the past16 years.

President Hassan Rouhani’sgovernment has pledged totackle pollution and introducedmeasures such as converting ve-hicles to cleaner fuel.

Last month, Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei issued aset of environmental policy di-rectives and called for the gov-ernment to support investmentsin clean energy.


7/43

ARAB WORLD7Gulf TimesSunday, December 20, 2015

Two hurtin Israel

stabbingattackAFP

Jerusalem

APalestinian youth stabbedand wounded two Israelisnorth of Tel Aviv yester-

day before being apprehended,police said.

“A man is badly woundedand a woman lightly injured,” astatement said. The alleged as-sailant was caught by forces inthe area, it added.

The 20-year-old from thenorthern West Bank, who hadentered Israel illegally, was foundhiding in the yard of a house nearthe scene of the attack in the

Israeli town of Raanana, policesaid.Israeli rescue services said

that the wounded man was inhis 40s and the woman about 60years old.

A wave of violence since thestart of October has claimed thelives of 123 on the Palestinianside, 17 Israelis, an American andan Eritrean.

Many of the Palestinianskilled have been alleged attack-ers, while others have been shotdead by Israeli security forcesduring clashes.

On Friday, two Palestiniandrivers tried to run down Israelisecurity forces in separate at-tacks in the occupied West Bank,with one attacker shot dead andthe other wounded, Is raeli offi -cials said.

Troops later shot dead aman in clashes northeast ofRamallah, while in the GazaStrip, soldiers shot dead aPalestinian protester andwounded 41 others duringclashes along the border withIsrael, the Palestinian healthministry said.

Bewildermentafter shootingof Palestinianteenaged girlsSecurity camera footagefrom the incident onNovember 23 appears toshow the two girls in schooluniform chasing a man with

scissors before being shot

AFP

Qalandiya, West Bank

Palestinian mother MaleehaAwwad still cannot ex-plain what happened the

day her 14-year-old daughterstabbed a man with scissors andwas shot dead by police.

As far as she knew Hadeel hadwalked to school with her cousinNorhan, 16. Instead the two girlswent to Jerusalem’s central mar-ket and carried out the attack.

Nearly a month later, Is-raeli authorities finally releasedHadeel’s body on Friday to en-able the family to bury her.

“I still don’t understand whathappene d,” Awwad said at herhome on the edge of the Qaland-iya refugee camp near Ramallah,shaking her head and close totears.

The United Nations and hu-man rights groups have voicedconcern that Israeli securityforces are responding to attackswith excessive force.

The Israeli police o ffi cer whoshot the teenagers has beenplaced under investigation—thefirst such probe since a wave ofviolence began on October 1.

Security camera footage fromthe incident on November 23appears to show the two girls inschool uniform chasing a manwith scissors before being shot.

Police said the girls hadstabbed and lightly wounded a70-year-old Palestinian nearby,apparently mistaking him for aJew.

The footage shows both girlsshot and on the ground. The po-liceman runs back towards oneof them—apparently Norhan—and opens fire despite her beingcurled in a ball.

Norhan was seriously wound-ed, but survived and has beencharged with attempted murder.

Lawyers for the policemanhave said he was concerned thatthe girls may have been wearingexplosive belts.

Suicide bombings were com-mon during the second Pales-tinian Intifada from 2000-2005,

but have not occurred in the cur-rent unrest.

At least 120 Palestinians and17 Israelis have been killed inover two months of stabbing,shooting and car-ramming at-

tacks by Palestinians, as wellclashes between Palestinianyouths and Israeli soldiers.

Over half of the Palestinianskilled have been alleged attack-

ers.This week a UN spo keswomanvoiced deep concern over the“unacceptable” wave of attacks,as well as “reports of excessiveuse of force by Is raeli forces”.

“The response from Israelisecurity forces has resulted inalleged attackers, protesters andeven bystanders being killedand injured,” said Cecile Pouilly,spokeswoman for the UN humanrights offi ce.

Amnesty International’sPhilip Luther welcomed theprobe by the justice ministryas a positive development butwarned other cases did not ap-pear to be getting the sametreatment.

“The fact that this is the firstsuch investigation into kill-ings by police since... Octoberis deeply troubling, particularlygiven the strong indications thatmany Palestinians were killedwhen they were not posing animminent threat to life or of se-rious injur y,” Luther said.

Earlier this year Luther ac-cused Israel of carrying out “ex-trajudici al executions”.

The Israeli police dismissedthe criticism.

“What does Amnesty under-stand about split-second deci-sions th at police o ffi cers have tomake when there is a terroristholding a 30cm knife in frontof their face, just about to cuttheir throat?” police spokesmanMicky Rosenfeld said.

“Each attack is differentand each different scenario is asplit- second reaction,” he saidwhen asked about the Novembershooting.

The case has also turned thespotlight on a series of meas-ures adopted by Israel to quell

assaults, including the demoli-tion of the homes of some at-tackers and withholding their

bodies.Some politicians have also

encouraged Israeli Jews to carryguns at all times.

Critics say many of the sus-pects could be tasered and ar-rested—as was done this monthin London when a man stabbedthree people in a train station.

Prominent Palestinian politi-cian Hanan Ashrawi said Israel’sreaction to attacks is worseningthe situation.

Israel’s “shoot-to-kill” policyactually “creates more resent-

ment, more anger and is a driv-ing force behind individual casesof revenge”, she sa id.

“When you kill somebody’sfriend, cousin, sister... there arepeople who will go out and seekrevenge,” she added.

Hadeel’s brother was shot inthe head and killed two yearsago during a protest against theIsraeli occupation of the WestBank.

Palestinian President Mah-moud Abbas has said that thesurge of attacks since Octoberwas a reflection of anger at Is-rael’s occupation and the failureof the peace process.

Relatives of Hadel Awwad mourn during her funeral in Qalandiya refugee camp on Friday.


8/43

ARAB WORLD


At least 14 killed in Libya clashes

At least 14 people have beenkilled and 25 woundedduring clashes in east-

ern Libya between armed groupsloyal to offi cial govern ment andIslamist groups, two medicalsources said yesterday.

The fighting, which was con-tinuing yesterday, erupted on

Thursday in the town of Ajda-

biya, the same day as Libya’swarring factions signed a UnitedNations-brokered agreement toform a unity government. West-ern powers hope the deal will bring stability and help to combata growing Islamic S tate presence.

However, the agreement facesquestions from critics about howrepresentative the proposed gov-ernment will be, and whetherarmed factions on the ground will

obey the new government. Some

brand it a UN-imposed deal.Casualties in the Ajdabiyafighting included civilians ormembers of groups supportingthe Libyan National Army, saidthe sources who asked not to benamed. They added that casual-ties from the other side were nottreated in the town’s hospitals.

It was unclear whether the Is-lamist fighters were affi liated toIslamic State (IS) militants.

In a separate incident, two

guards were wounded when anunknown group attacked themilitary intelligence building inthe western town of Sabratha, themayor said.

IS has exploited a growing se-curity vacuum in Libya, wheretwo administrations - each withits own government and parlia-ment - are fighting for controlfour years after the toppling ofMuammar Gaddafi.

The offi cial prime min ister and

parliament have been based in theeast since a rival group seized thecapital Tripoli. Its governmenthas been working from hotels inthe city of Tobruk, about 270kmfrom Ajdabiya.

Both sides have several formeranti-Gaddafi rebel groups fight-ing for them. After Gaddafi’souster, the various factions splitalong political, regional and trib-al lines.

Reuters

Benghazi

Iraq’s Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi speaks during anews conference in Baghdad yesterday.

Iraq set

to retakeRamadi:minister

Ankara says Baghdadundermining IS fight

Iraq’s defence ministerpredicted yesterday thatsecurity forces backed by

US-led coalition air strikeswould retake full control ofthe city of Ramadi by the endof the year.

“I met with the Joint Op-erations Command and theyconfirmed to me that we willregain all of the city of Rama-di by the end of this month,”Khaled al-Obeidi told re-porters in Baghdad.

Earlier this month, forcesled by Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service retook AlTameem, a southwesternneighbourhood of Ramadi,from the Islamic State group.

IS took full control of Ra-madi in mid-May, in whatwas Baghdad’s most sting-ing defeat since it launcheda counter-offensive to regainthe large regions the mili-tants captured in the summerof 2014.

The offensive in AlTameem this month markeda significant step in long-delayed efforts to recapturethe city, around 100km westof Baghdad and capital of thevast province of Anbar.

“The reason the battletook so long was to avoidcasualties among our forcesand also to avoid civilian cas-ualties,” Obeidi said. “Thereare still many civilians in thecity.”

Militants still holed upin the city centre and usingtunnels to avoid air strikesmay number no more than300, according to military

offi cials . IS fighters attack-ing from northwest of Ra-madi with suicide car bombsattempted to retake controlof the key Palestine bridge inrecent days but Iraqi forcesstill have the upper hand.

“The city of Ramadi hasnow been fully isolated, andthe Iraqi security forces are beginning to conduct theirclearing operations,” thecoalition’s Baghdad-basedspokesman, Colonel SteveWarren, told reporters onFriday.

He said that IS had beenusing the Euphrates riverthat runs through Ramadi tosupply its fighters inside thecity with men and militaryequipment.

Control of both sides ofthe river banks in key areashas significantly reduced themilitant organisation’s abil-ity to resupply, Warren said.

The defence ministeralso said yesterday Iraq hasopened an investigation intothe circumstances that led tothe death of 10 Iraqi soldiersin a coalition air strike westof Baghdad.

“We lost 10 of our sol-diers,” Obeidi sa id, addingthat “an investigation intothe incident was opened.”

A statement from the JointOperations Command onFriday mentioned that 10 had been “wounded or killed” but Obeidi and another sen-ior military source clarifiedyesterday that 10 troops werekilled.

According to the jointcommand, the incident oc-curred when two coalitionstrikes allowed Iraqi groundforces to advance rapidlytowards positions held byIS fighters south of theirstronghold of Fallujah.

A third air strike camewhen the two sides were inclose combat, resulting incasualties to both, it said.

Turkey accused Iraq onFriday of underminingthe global fight against

Islamic State militants bytaking its complaint aboutthe deployment of Turkishtroops in northern Iraq to theUN Security Council.

The 15-member councilmet on the issue on Fridayat the request of Iraq, andForeign Minister Ibrahimal-Jaafari asked the body toadopt a resolution demand-ing Turkey withdraw itstroops immediately.

Jaafari signalled the re-

quest for council action wasa last resort. “Iraq has sparedno effort to exhaust all diplo-matic channels and bilateralnegotiations with Turkey, inorder to withdraw its forces

that are unauthorised inIraq,” he said.

Turkey deployed around150 troops in the Bashiqaarea earlier this month withthe stated aim of training anIraqi militia to fight IS. Tur-key withdrew some troopsthis week, moving them toanother base inside Iraq’sKurdistan region, but Bagh-dad said they should pull outcompletely.

Turkey’s UN ambassadorHalit Cevik said the deploy-ment had been taken out ofcontext and that additionaltroops had been sent to thecamp to provide force pro-tection due to increasingthreats.

He said Ankara believed ithad taken su ffi cient meas-ures to de-escalate the situ-ation, so efforts could berefocused in combating ISmilitants.

AFP

Baghdad

Reuters

United Nations

An offensive in AlTameem this monthmarked a signiicantstep in long-delayedefforts to recapture thecity


9/43

AFRICA


Rwanda vote grantsKagame extra terms

Rwanda has overwhelm-ingly voted to changethe constitution to allow

President Paul Kagame to po-tentially rule until 2034, electionoffi cials said yesterday c itingpartial referendum results.

“We have seen the will of thepeople. It’s clear that what thepeople want, they can achieve,”said National Electoral Commis-sion chief Kalisa Mbanda, an-

nouncing 98.1% had voted “yes”with preliminary results in fromsome 70% of the country.

“They called for the change ofthe constitution and they havemade it,” the pro-government

New Times newspaper quotedhim as saying.

Kagame, 58, could now be inpower potentially for another 17years.

“What is happening is thepeople’s choice,” he told re-

porters after casting his vote onFriday.

The amendment allows Kag-ame to run for a third seven-yearterm in 2017, at the end of whichthe new rules take effect and hewill be eligible to run for a fur-ther two five-year terms.

The US and European Unionhave denounced the proposedamendments as underminingdemocracy in the central Africancountry.

On Friday, the EU delegationin Kigali said there had been alack of “suffi cient time and space

for debate” on the issue, with thedate for the referendum only an-nounced on December 8 and thedraft of the changes “only pub-lished publically less than oneday ahead of the vote.”

“The short time between theannouncement and the holdingof the referendum left little orno opportunity for all parties topresent their argum ents,” the EUsaid.

Kagame has run Rwanda since

his ethnic Tutsi rebel army, theRwandan Patriotic Front (RPF),ended a 1994 genocide by ex-tremists from the Hutu major-ity, when an estimated 800,000people were massacred, the vastmajority of them Tutsis.

The issue of long-serving rul-ers clinging to power has causedturmoil in Africa, where someleaders have been at the helm fordecades.

Kigali’s pro-government NewTimes newspaper said in an edi-torial on Saturday that Rwan-dans had spoken out “regardless

of the lame attempts to pour wa-ter on the process by Rwanda’sclosest ‘development partners’”in an allusion to US and Europeancriticism.

The country’s tiny oppositionGreen Party also protested thatit was impossible to organise acounter campaign at such shortnotice.

“The opposition would havewon,” Green party presiden tFrank Habineza said in a state-

ment on Saturday, adding theparty “will not give up on thestruggle to make Rwanda avibrant democracy.”

Some Rwandans said theyhad boycotted the vote as theoutcome was already known.

Carina Tertsakian, of HumanRights Watch (HRW), noted that

after “years of government in-timidation... open expressionsof dissent are rare,” and that ap-proval of the referendum was nosurprise.

“As one man told us: It would be stupid to vote ‘no’ becauseit won’t change anything,” sheadded.

AFP

Kigali

Rwanda President Paul Kagame casts his vote in Rwanda’s capital Kigali.

Uganda to

start freshBurundipeace talks

Uganda said yesterdayit would resume me-diating peace talks for

Burundi after violence thathas pushed the Central Afri-can country close to civil warand led the African Union toprepare for the imposition of a

peace keeping force.Both the government andBurundi’s largest oppositioncoalition welcomed the moveto restart talks.

On Friday, the African Un-ion said it was preparing tosend 5,000 peace keepers toBurundi to protect civilians,for the first time using powersto deploy troops to a membercountry against its will.

Tensions have been runningparticularly high since gun-men attacked military sites inthe Burundi capital Bujumburalast week, unnerving a regionwhere memories of the 1994genocide in neighbouringRwanda are still raw.

Burundi slid into crisis inApril when President PierreNkurunziza announced plansfor a third term i n offi ce.

The United Nations says atleast 400 people have beenkilled since April when Nku-runziza’s decision triggeredprotests and later a failedmilitary coup.

Uganda’s defence minister,Chrispus Kiyonga, told a newsconference in Kampala thesecurity situation in Burundihad been deteriorating.

“It is now considered ap-propriate and critical that thedialog ue resumes,” Kiyongasaid.

He said about 14 groupsrepresenting various sectionsof Burundian society, includ-ing the ruling party, opposi-tion parties and civil societywould attend the talks.

Burundi governmentspokesman Philippe Nzobon-ariba said the government has

always been open to talks andwas waiting for an invitation.

“It’s an inter-Burundiandialogue and only Burundi-ans will determine what todiscuss,” he said.

Nzobonariba, however,ruled out holding talks withanyone it accused of being be-hind the May attempted coup.

“It may be an occasion toput our hands on them as they

are sought by Burundi justice,”he said.Pancrace Cimpaye, spokes-

man for Burundi’s largestopposition coalition knownas CNARED, welcomed theresumption of talks, thoughhe said the group was yet toreceive an invitation.

“For us talks are betweentwo parties in conflict, andthe two warring parties to-day is Nkurunziza and hisgovernment on one side,and CNARE D on the other”,he said.

The talks will resume inUganda on December 28 andthereafter move to Arusha innorthern Tanzania. Arushais the headquarters of the re-gional bloc East African Com-munity (EAC), to which Bu-rundi belongs. In July the EACappointed Uganda’s presidentYoweri Museveni to medi-ate in the conflict and initialmeetings were held in Burun-di’s capital Bujumbura in thesame month.

In the worst clashes sincethe failed coup in May, insur-gents attacked military campsin the capital Bujumbura lastweek and nearly 90 peoplewere killed.

Rights groups have reportedviolent clashes between pro-testers and authorities, gunattacks and detentions ofgovernment critics. The gov-ernment dismisses reports ofrights abuses.

Hundreds of thousandshave also fled the worst vio-lence to hit the country sinceit emerged from an ethnicallycharged civil war in 2005.

Reuters

Kampala

Car bomb kills

three in Somali

Acar bomb exploded yes-terday on a busy streetin the Somali capital

Mogadishu, killing at least threepeople and wounding at leasteight, a pol ice offi cer said.

The number of casualties islikely to increase, police Major NurFarah said at the scene of the blast,which was claimed by Al Qaeda-linked Al Shebaab militants.

“The place is busy with hotelsand supermarkets. Most of thecasualties are pedestrians. Thecasualty nu mber is sure to rise,”Farah told Reuters by phone.

Al Shebaab fighters have

launched frequent attacks inMogadishu in their bid to topplethe Western-backed govern-ment, including a major assaulton a hotel used by governmentoffi cials a nd lawma kers in No-vember, in which more than adozen people were killed.

A Reuters reporter said the ex-plosion yesterday was followed by gunfire, an d smoke could beseen rising from the scene. Partof a supermarket and a numberof cars were destroyed.

“We were behind the blastoperation. Some governmentoffi cials a nd sold iers died andothers were injured,” Sheikh Ab-diasis Abu Musab, an Al Shebaabspokesman, said, without givingdetails of the number of dead.

Reuters

Mogadishu

Security forces inspect the site of a bomb blast near Makka al-Mukarama Road in the Somali capital

Mogadishu yesterday.

Mohamed Ismail, a nurse atMadina hospital, said they hadreceived 21 wounded people,mostly civilians.

The government is battling torebuild Somalia after more than

two decades of conflict. Al Shebaabruled much of Somalia until 2011, before being driven out of Mogad-ishu by African and Somali troops.

The group wants to overthrowthe government and impose its

own strict interpretation of Islamon Somalia. It has been drivenout of other major strongholds inSomalia but continues to launch bomb and gun attacks againstoffi cials and politic ians.

Mercy for Nigeria troops facing death

Nigerian military has

commuted the deathsentences handed to 66

soldiers for mutiny over

claims they refused to ight

Boko Haram Islamists, a

spokesman said yesterday.

Instead, each soldier will

serve a 10-year prison term.

“The death sentences by

iring squad passed on 66

soldiers in January and

March 2015 by separate

general court martials

have been commuted to 10

years imprisonment each,”

Colonel Sani Usman said in

a statement.

The sentences were

commuted following a

review by the military

authorities.

Usman said 71 soldiers

were arraigned on several

charges, including criminal

conspiracy and conspiracy

to commit mutiny.

“They were tried,

discharged on somecharges but found guilty

and convicted on other

charges—which included

mutiny,” he said.

“Out of that number, 66

were found guilty on

some of the charges and

sentenced to death, while

ive were discharged

and acquitted and one

was given 28 days

imprisonment with hard

labour,” he said.

The military said in May that

579 oicers and soldiers

were facing two separate

trials over indiscipline. The

66 had been condemned to

die by a military tribunal in

two batches in September

and December 2014, with

their death sentences

conirmed by a military

council in January and

March this year.

War criminals return to serve out sentences in Congo

The International Crimi-nal Court handed over twoconvicted war criminals to

Congolese authorities yesterday,the justice minister said, the firsttime it has entrusted enforcementof its sentences to a country.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo andGermain Katanga will completetheir sentences in Democratic Re-public of Congo’s central prisonof Makala in Kinshasa for crimescommitted during the brutal warin the central African country’snortheastern region of Ituri.

Millions of people died in re-source-rich eastern Congo’s tworegional wars between 1996 and

2003, mostly from hunger anddisease, and the area is filled withdozens of armed groups.

“Thomas Lubanga Dyilo andGermain Katanga were handedover ... in the morning to the quali-fied authorities,” said Justice M in-ister Alexis Tambwe Mwamba in astatement read on public radio andtelevision. Both men had indicateda preference to serve the remain-der of their sentences in Congo,the Court said in a statement.

Lubanga, who was found guilty ofrecruiting child soldiers, was sen-tenced in 2012 to a 14-year sentenceincluding time already served. He isdue for release in five years.

Katanga, who was convicted lastyear for murder, pillaging and at-tacking a civilian population in a2003 attack on a village, was sen-

tenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.The duration was reduced on appealand he will be released in Jan. 2016.

Human rights groups expressedconcern about the transfer.

“Our prisons are in bad condi-tion,” said Dolly Ibefo, executivedirector of Voice of the Voiceless,adding that it was not clear wheth-er the pair could be kept safe.

Jean-Claude Katende, presi-dent of the African Associationfor the Defense of Human Rights(ASADHO), said he believed themove complied with internation-al norms but feared the inmateswould not be properly monitored.

“I only fear that Germain Ka-tanga and Thomas Lubanga canescape. If they escape, they aregoing to constitute a danger for thevictims,” he said.

Reuters

Kinshasa

Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, left, and militia chief Germain Katanga.

Eritrean boat survivor diesin hospital ‘escape’ bid

An Eritrean man who survived a perilous

journey across the Mediterranean by

boat to Italy has died after falling from a

hospital window in a night-time escape

bid, Italian media reported yesterday.

The 24-year-old, who was rescued from

his rickety vessel by the Italian coastguard

earlier in December and brought to the

island of Sardinia, was being treated for

scabies in the infectious diseases ward of

a hospital in Cagliari.

In the early hours of Saturday he knotted

his sheets together and tried climb down

the side of the building from his third-loor

room, before falling and hitting his head,

dying on the spot.

It was not clear why the man was determined

to leave undetected. Hospital staff insisted

his room was not locked and his treatment

was almost complete, after which he would

have been free to go, the reports said.Eritrean migrants picked up from boats

and brought to Italy face relocation alongwith Syrians and Iraqis to other European

countries as part of a controversial

programme to share the refugee burden,

which has proven unpopular with people

hoping to join family members elsewhere.

Seychelles presidentscrapes third-term win

Seychelles President JamesMichel won a third term inpower by the narrowest of

margins of just 193 votes, with theopposition calling for a recount, theelection commission sa id yesterday.

“Today the people made theirchoice. The people have said that theywish that I continue on the path that Ihave commenced ... for me to contin-ue to lead Seychelles forward in stability, peace, and prosperity,” Michel

said in a broadcast on national SBCtelevision. “The election has testedthe maturity of our democracy.”

Michel, 71, won 50.15% with31,512 votes in the unprecedentedsecond round run-off on the In-

dian Ocean archipelago, com-pared to opposition leader WavelRamkalawan’s 49.85% with 31,319votes, according to offi cial results.

“At this point in time, it is neces-sary, more than ever, that we con-tinue to create more unity in ourcountry. Today, more than ever, weneed to work together as Seychel-lois, we need to ensure we bring ourpeople together,” Michel added.

But Ramkalawan, 54, an Anglicanpriest, said there were “several ir-regular ities”, according to the Sey-chelles News Agency (SNA), andreferring to reports of cash being

given to voters ahead of the polls.“We do not accept the results of

the elections because we thought wewere participating in an election— but it turned out to be an auction,”Ramkalawan said, according to SNA.

AFP

Victoria


10/43

AMERICA


US Democratic front-runner Hillary Clintonand rival Bernie Sand-

ers square off in a potentiallycombative debate this weekend,one day after their presidentialcampaigns erupted in a bitterfeud over an improper breach ofClinton voter files by a Sandersstaffer.

The rising tension at the debate between two rivals who have

largely refrained from attack-ing each other comes at a cru-cial moment for Sanders, who istrying to erase Clinton’s lead inthe November 2016 DemocraticWhite House race just six weeks

before the first nominating con-test in Iowa.

On Friday, Sanders filed alawsuit to force the DemocraticNational Committee to restoreaccess to his voter files, whichthe DNC had blocked after theSanders campaign improperlyaccessed files generated by theClinton campaign.

The DNC and Sanders reacheda late-night deal restoring accessfor Sanders (see report on theright).

Sanders campaign managerJeff Weaver accused the DNC

of working to protect Clinton,pointing to the party’s limiteddebates at low-viewership peri-ods like Saturday nights as an-other example.

Clinton campaign managerRobby Mook accused the Sand-ers campaign of stealing parts ofits “strategic road map” for voterturnout in the primary battle.

The moderators of the ABCNews debate will no doubt try toget the two candidates to renewthat fight on the stage at the de-

bate, where Sanders already hadsignaled his intention to turn up

the heat on Clinton on foreignpolicy issues.The debate is the party’s first

since the deadly December 2 at-tacks in San Bernardino, Califor-nia, and Sanders also is eager toexplore his differences with theformer secretary of state on is-sues like her support for a no-flyzone in Syria and her 2011 advo-cacy for regime change in Libya,his campaign said.

“She comes off as more hawk-ish on some of her foreign policyideas,” said Michael Briggs, aspokesman for Sanders. “He isgoing to point out those differ-ences very clearly.”

Sanders could be running outof time to catch Clinton, whoholds a double-digit lead in na-tional polls and a smaller polling

edge in Iowa, which kicks off the

race on February 1.She narrowly trails the US sen-ator from Vermont in neighbour-ing New Hampshire, the secondstate to vote.

Sanders likely needs a win in both states to mount a seriouschallenge to Clinton, who will

be heavily favoured in the nextstate contests in Nevada, SouthCarolina and in a “Super Tues-day” round of voting in 11 stateson March 1.

“The reality for Sanders is he’sonly got a couple more shots tochange the dynamic of the race,”said Democratic strategist ChrisKofinis. “The only choice he’s gotis to shake the race up.”

Clinton, Sanders and formerMaryland governor MartinO’Malley, who lags badly in polls,

will participate in the debate inManchester, New Hampshire,which begins at 8pm EST (0100GMT today) and will be televisednationally by ABC News.

As an experienced front-runner, Clinton is unlikely to getdrawn into a fight, said KathleenSullivan, a former chairwoman ofthe New Hampshire DemocraticParty and a Clinton supporter.

“She’ll be fine. She isn’t go-ing to focus on Bernie Sanders or

Martin O’Malley. She’s just goingto deliver her message and stayon point,” Sullivan said.

The television viewership isalmost certain to be relativelysmall, given its timing on theSaturday before Christmas.

Less than 9mn viewerswatched last month’s Democrat-ic debate on a Saturday night.

The Republican debate earlierthis week drew more than 18mnviewers.

Clinton and Sandersfacing off in debateReutersManchester, New Hampshire

Sanders, DNC reach deal afer data b reach uproar

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has agreed to restore access

to a key voter database to the campaign of US presidential hopeful Bernie

Sanders following uproar over a breach.

The DNC had on Thursday temporarily suspended the campaign’s access

to the database after at least one of its staffers took advantage of a com-

puter glitch to peek at crucial voter data for rival Hillary Clinton.

The suspension was a slap to S anders’ hopes of scoring an up set overClinton for the Democratic nomination because the database features

information on voters nationwide, and candidates use it to plan strategy

as they vie to replace Barack Obama.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said ac cess was being restored

after the campaign complied with a request for information, but said an

investigation would continue to ensure the data has been erased.

“The fact that data was a ccessed inappropriately is completely unaccept-

able,” she said in a statement early yesterday.

As tensions mounted over the matter, the Sanders team iled a 12-page

lawsuit with the US Court for the District of Columbia against the DNC

over breach of contract on Friday.

The Vermont senator’s campaign also ired one staffer and the party

blamed NGP VAN, the technology company that provides campaigns

with access to the data, for allowing the intrusion.

In its statement on renewed access, the Sanders campai gn claimed the

DNC had “capitulated” and said its “about face” came as a deadline ap-

proached for a hearing on a motion for an emergency injunction.

“Clearly, they were very concerned about their prospects in court,” said

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager.

Sanders, an independent who calls himself a democratic socialist, is

running a distant second in national polls behind Clinton, who has a more

than 20 point lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The glitch – in which a irewall protecting proprietary data was lowered

briely on Wednesday – made voter data unique to the Clinton campaign

viewable for outside eyes.

The dismissed staffer, Josh Uretsky, told CNN he had not been trying tospy on Clinton.

Rather, Uretsky said he had become aware of the breach and just poked

around in the Clinton data for a while to see how exposed the Sanders

campaign was.

Then the irewall protecting the data went back up.

“To the best of my knowledge, nobody took anything that would have

given the campaign any beneit,” Uretsky told CNN.

Although Uretsky was the only staffer ired, the New York Times reported

that during the time that Clinton’s data was exposed, searches were car-

ried out by four user accounts associated with the Sanders campaign.

Sanders’ campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said it was not the irst

time the technology company has dropped the irewall.

He said the Sanders team had learned of such glitches months ago and

told the DNC that campaign data, including Sanders material, was being

made visible to other campaigns.

“Unfortunately, yesterday, the vendor once again dropped the irewall

between the campaigns for some data,” Briggs said late on Thursday.

“After discussion with the DNC, it became clear that one of our staffers

accessed some modeling data from another campaign. That behaviour is

unacceptable and that staffer was immediately ired.”

Sanders: trailing Clinton in thepolls.

Clinton: just needs to stay on point.

Star Wars: The Force Awak-ens hurtled toward $120mnat the US and Canadian box

offi ce on Friday a nd a potenti alrecord-breaking $215mn today,giving the long-awaited moviea shot at the biggest openingweekend of all time.

The ticket sales figures fromWalt Disney Co late on Fridayindicated that the film couldeclipse the $208.8mn recordset by dinosaur adventure film

Jurassic World in June.Disney said movie theatres

were continuing to add screen-ings to meet “unprecedented de-man d”.

Fans flocked to theatres onThursday evening, many dressedas Stormtroopers or lightsabre-

wielding Jedi as the movie took in$57mn at domestic theatres.

That surpassed the previousopening-day record of $43.5mnfor the final Harry Potter moviein 2011.

Interest extended to interna-tional markets, where the movie

brought in $72.7mn in 44 coun-tries.

At the White House, a beepingR2-D2 and two Stormtrooperssurprised reporters with a quickappearance in the briefing room.

First Lady Michelle Obamahosted a screening for childrenof families that lost members towar.

The new Star Wars film is theseventh installment in the seriescreated by George Lucas in 1977.

Disney bought Star Wars pro-ducer Lucasfilm for $4bn in 2012and spent more than $200mn toproduce Force Awakens.

The company’s shares dropped3.8% on Friday, however, afterBTIG analyst Rich Greenfieldcut his rating on Disney to “sell”from “neutral”.

Greenfield said the success of Force Awakens would not offsetthe impact of subscriber lossesat ESPN.

Nomura Securities analystAnthony DiClemente, who ratesDisney a “ buy”, said that he wasmore confident after seeing themovie that it could become thetop-grossing film of all time.

The record is held by Avatarwith $2.8bn.

Jeff Bock, box offi ce analyst a tExhibitor Relations, said: “As faras breaking records go, it’s thestrongest candidate we’ve seenin a long, long time. It might jointhe $2bn club worldwide, andmaybe, just maybe, be the high-est grossing film of all-time.”

Critics lavished praise on Force Awakens, which features new-comers Daisy Ridley, John Boyegaand Oscar Isaac alongside origi-nal stars Mark Hamill, HarrisonFord and Carrie Fisher.

The movie scored a 95% posi-tive rating on review aggregationwebsite Rotten Tomatoes.

Disney said 47% of Thursday’sdomestic ticket sales came fromhigher-priced 3D tickets.

Strong reviews plus a decades-long affection for the Star Warsfranchise are driving interest,said Paul Dergarabedian, seniormedia ana lyst at box offi ce track-ing firm Rentrak.

Disney’s carefully planned re-lease of film trailers and tidbits ofinformation over several monthsalso boosted ticket sales, Derga-rabedian said.

“That worked the audienceinto a frenzy,” he said. “It’s just

a perfect storm of Star Wars en-thusiasm.

The Force Awakens picks up theintergalactic story of good versusevil 30 years on from The Returnof the Jedi, the finale of the origi-nal trilogy.

The trio of heroes who ap-peared in the first of the block-

busters in 1977 – smuggler Han

Solo (Harrison Ford), PrincessLeia (Carrie Fisher), leader ofthe rebel alliance, and her twin

brother Luke Skywalker (MarkHamill) – are all back and played

by the actors that Star Wars firstmade famous.

The film is being screened in4,134 theatres in North America,a record for a December opening.

Star Wars surges toward recordReuters/AFP

Los Angeles

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest appears in the brieingroom with Stormtroopers and R2D2 after Obama ini shed his end ofthe year news conference at the White House.

Obama feels ‘theForce’ during

press conference

President Barack Obama, 55minutes into his year-end pressconference, inished answering aquestion about US incarcerationrates and seized an opportunityto make his own escape – likeDarth Vader leeing the Death

Star.“OK, everybody, I gotta get to Star Wars,” Obama said Fridayafternoon.The room erupted with acacophony of reporters shoutingadditional questions, but Obama just smiled, said: “Thank you”,and slipped out of the room to join the expected tens of millionsof ilmgoers watching the newlyreleased sequel, Star Wars: TheForce Awakens.White House spokesman JoshEarnest later appeared at thepress room dais lanked by twoStormtroopers, along with chirpy

droid R2D2.Obama had earlier warned

the press corps that they werenot the droids he was lookingforward to.“Clearly, this is not the mostimportant event that’s takingplace in the White House today,”Obama said to start the pressconference. “There is a screeningof Star Warsfor Gold Star familiesand children (of US soldiers killedin combat) coming up. So I’ll tryto be relatively succinct.”Meanwhile, Obama’s foes in theimperial Congress were trying touse the Force against him.Paul Ryan, speaker of theopposition-led House ofRepresentatives, touted thatwasteful spending “a long timeago – in a Congress far, far

away” had been halted by hisconservative Republican Party.He blasted Obama for signingpast budgets laden with wasteful

spending.“This was the Dark Side of out-of-control Washington spending andbackroom deal-making,” Ryansaid in a press release.

President Barack Obama metwith the families of most ofthe San Bernardino shooting

victims on Friday for nearly threehours, and said he was moved bytheir emphasis on tolerance follow-ing the December 2 attacks.

“As diffi cult as this time is forthem and for the entire community,they also represent the strength andthe unity and the love that exists inthis community and in this coun-

try,” Obama told reporters.Fourteen people died in the

shootings in San Bernardino, Cali-fornia on December 2, when radi-calised Muslims Syed Rizwan Fa-rook and his wife Tashfeen Malikopened fire on Farook’s co-workersat a holiday party.

The president and his wifeMichelle spent nearly three hoursoffering their condolences to the

family members of victims and firstresponders in the library of IndianSpring High School.

The Obamas, who were greetedon arrival in San Bernardino by

Mayor Carey Davis and County Su-pervisor James Ramos, made thevisit on their way to Hawaii, wherethey will spend the holidays.

On Thursday, federal authoritiescharged Enrique Marquez with pro-viding material support to Farookand Malik. Marquez allegedly pur-chased two rifles used in the attackand had plotted to carry out attackswith Farook in 2011.

Federal Bureau of Investiga-tion Director James Comey said onWednesday that there was no in-dication that Farook or Malik werepart of an organised cell.

President meets families of most

San Bernardino shooting victimsReuters

San Bernardino, California

Famed conductorKurt Masur dead

Conductor Kurt Masur, whohelped bring a worldwidereputation to the New YorkPhilharmonic while seizing on the

power of music on key momentsof history, has died. He was 88.The New York Philharmonicannounced yesterday the deathof Masur, one of its longest-serving music directors who ledthe orchestra from 1991 to 2002.A German born in what istoday Poland, Masur wonwide praise for polishing themusical bona ides of the New

York Philharmonic and raisingits global proile with 17 toursaround the world including airst trip to mainland China, nowa key country for the orchestra’soverseas activities.

Amember of the US Congresshas accused immigration of-ficials of allowing California

attacker Tashfeen Malik into thecountry despite critical missing in-formation in her request for a fian-cee visa.

“After reviewing Tashfeen Ma-lik’s immigration file, it is clear thatimmigration offi cials d id not thor-oughly vet her application,” HouseJudiciary Committee chairman BobGoodlatte said in a statement.

Malik, a 29-year-old Pakistaninational, came to the United Stateslast year on a fiancee visa, whichGoodlatte said was issued despite alack of proof that she had ever mether US-born husband, Syed Farook,28.

“The immigration offi cial re-viewing Malik’s application re-quested more evidence to ensurethe two met in person but it was

never provided and her visa was ap-proved anyway,” Goodlatte said.

He added that the only pieces ofevidence provided to show that thecouple had been in Saudi Arabia atthe same time – where they are said

to have married – were a statement by Farook and pages from theirpassports.

However, the exit month and dateon Malik’s passport was illegible,Goodlatte said, citing a translationprovided by the Congressional Re-search Service.

Furthermore, Malik had a visathat was valid for only 60 days,which showed her entering Saudi

Arabia in early June 2013 while Fa-rook’s passport indicated that hedid not arrive until October 1, cast-ing further doubt on whether theywere in the country at the sametime.

California shooter’s visa request wasmissing key information: politicianAFPWashington


11/43


12/43

ASEAN


Death toll climbs to 41 asPhilippine floods spreadAFP

Manila

Heavy rains pummelled theentire Philippines yester-day, flooding more areas as

the government declared a “stateof nationa l calamity”.

The death toll after a week ofdevastating weather has risen to41, according to confirmed reportsfrom national and local disastermonitoring agencies.

Poor farming communities inthe main southern island of Mind-anao were flooded yesterday af-ter at least two rivers burst their

banks, local disaster offi cials said.The storm, locally named

Onyok, had weakened into a lowpressure area after hitting land lateFriday but continued to bring morerains to Mindanao and the centralVisayas islands.

Cold monsoon winds blowingfrom the northeast brought rainsto Luzon, the main northern is-land, where large farming com-munities have been submerged inmostly waist-deep floods fromTyphoon Melor, which hit at thestart of the week.

Areas inundated by Melor have barely recovered from floods brought by Typhoon Koppu in Oc-

tober. “Almost the entire Philip-pines is experiencing rains. Morefloods are possible,” state weatherforecaster Robert Badrina said.

“We expect the rains to peak to-day. The weather will start to im-prove tomorrow,” he said.

President Benigno Aquino or-dered state agencies to “hasten therescue recovery, relief and reha- bilitation efforts,” in a statementdeclaring a state of “national ca-lami ty”.

The government will controlprices of basic goods in affectedareas, the statement read.

The weather bureau issued awarning of up to 30 millimetres of

rain per hour in the central islandsof Cebu, Negros and Bohol, whileresidents were advised to be onalert for possible evacuation.

The three Visayas islands, witha combined population of 7.4mnpeople, are home to major tourism,trading and agricultural hubs.

Close to 10,000 people wereevacuated from the poor farmingregion of Caraga in Mindanao be-fore the latest storm.

In Agusan del Sur province, largeportions of the national highwaywere inundated after a nearby river burst its banks, regional civil de-fence offi cer Man uel Och otorenasaid.

Another river in Davao del Norteprovince, roughly 100 kilometresaway, also burst its banks, forc-ing residents out of their homes,provinci al disaster offi cer RomuloTagalo said.

In Luzon, 140,000 people dis-placed by floods and landslidestriggered by Melor remained inevacuation centres.

The Philippines, a nation of100mn, is battered by an averageof 20 typhoons per year, many ofthem deadly.

In 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyanwiped out entire fishing commu-nities in the central islands, leav-ing 7,350 people dead or missing.

Children swim in a swollen creek under a lyover in Manila yesterday.

Asean air safety regulator may still be decades awayReuters

Bangkok/Jakarta

It could take Southeast Asia, one of thefastest growing air travel markets, twodecades to set up a regulatory body to

oversee safety in an industry bligh ted by dis-asters in recent years, say nation al regulatorsand airline executives.

The need for tougher regulations gainedurgency following this month’s report byIndonesia’s National Transportation SafetyCommittee (NTSC) into the crash of an In-donesia AirAsia A320 passenger jet last yearthat killed all 162 on board.

Investigators found no single cause forthe crash, but listed a combin ation of factorsincluding a glitch-prone rudder compo-nent and pilots’ response when things wentwrong.

The 200-page report has been hailed as apotential turning point as pressure grows forstronger regulation to keep pace with ram-pant growth in aviation in Southeast Asia.

AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes has him-self led calls for the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (Asean) to forge a commonaviation regulator, saying Asean institutionsshould “step forward, for commonality, andfor standardisa tion, and for quality”..

But the 10-nation group is already strug-gling to implement an Open Skies initiative,or single aviation market, to liberalise airservices by the end of 2015.

That will slip due to differences among the

member states, and the di ffi culty in achi ev-ing it illustrates the challenges in taking it astep further and creating common aviationregulatory and safety standards, experts say.

Unlike Europe, Asean has no legal or ex-ecutive body to push through liberalisationor create regional organisations that overseesafety and ai r traffi c control.

This is mainly b

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