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Volume 22 | Number 7122 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 5 April 2017 | 8 Rajab 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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QATAR is in discussion with FIFA to host several major international tour-naments ahead of 2022 including the Club World Cup currently held by Real Madrid, sources familiar with the matter have said.

Qatar could also be the venue for the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups.

Sources say each of the three competitions are being considered by the Qatari authorities and football's governing body FIFA.

Potentially, all three tournaments could be played in Qatar in 2021.

Qatar is urgently looking for test events to try out the multi-billion dollar infrastructure it is putting in place for the 2022 World Cup finals.

Qatar is spending almost $500m every week on infrastructure projects for the World Cup, Finance Minister H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi said this year.

QNA & Agencies

QATAR condemned yesterday a gas attack that took place in Idlib, in the north-west of Syria that led to the killing of 67 civil-ians including 11 children.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement called for an international investigation and for taking immediate meas-ures to protect the Syrian people. The statement also renewed Qatar's demand to bring to justice all officials responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity com-mitted in Syria.

The statement stressed that letting the perpetrators go unpunished could have severe implications and further increase violations and crimes in Syria. The attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 67 civilians and saw dozens suf-fering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Syria's opposition blamed President Bashar Al Assad's forces, saying the attack cast doubt on the future of peace

talks. The army denied any involvement however, issuing a statement blaming "terrorist groups" for using "chemical and toxic substances".

At least 11 children were among the dead, the Observatory said, a correspondent in Khan Sheikhun saw many attached to respirators. If confirmed, it would be one of the worst chemical attacks since the start of Syria's civil war six years ago. The inci-dent brought swift international condemnation, with the United States, France and Britain all pointing the finger at Assad.

→ See also page 9

Sanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

Several new labour accommodations, meet-ing the government specifications have sprung up in the Indus-

trial Area, causing a significant fall in rents, say industry sources.

Rents of housing units catering to single workers touched an all-time high over the past few years, due to a severe shortage of affordable housing units in the market.

According to real estate experts, rents of labour accom-modations in Industrial Area have fallen by up to 15 percent since the beginning of this year due to oversupply.

The government ban on labour accommodations in res-idential areas forced a number of workers to move into Doha’s suburbs looking for alternatives. This shift has prompted several companies to construct tailor-made accommodations for workers in Industrial Area and other outskirts of the city.

Not only the labour

accommodations but also shops in Industrial Area have also become cheaper due to a recent increase in supply, say the sources. The Peninsula noticed several shops and garages on Street No. 30, 31, 32 and on Al Attiya market with a notice at the entrance saying “for rent” indicating that the facilities remain vacant.

“In the recent past several new housing units have come up in nearby areas. This has come as a big relief for low income workers. Another advantage is that now workers look to live in spacious shelters rather than living in groups in improper environments,” a real estate agent told this daily.

→ Continued on page 2

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

A travel alert has been issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ask-

ing citizens not to travel to Sri Lanka due to the H1N1 out-break in the island nation.

“An official source at the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Minis-try stated that the Sri Lankan officials confirmed the spread of swine flu (H1N1) in that country and reported the infection to a number of peo-ple and death to some of them,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on their offi-cial website and Twitter page.

It urged Qatari citizens not to travel to Sri Lanka except in cases of extreme necessity until the conditions improve.

Reportedly the H1N1 virus

is spreading more through-out the Central province of Sri Lanka, which includes Kandy, a popular tourist destination. Peradeniya University in Kandy has shut down indef-initely due to the spread of the disease and around 30 percent of its students have taken ill with a viral flu, which is suspected as H1N1 influenza.

Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination and according to official statistics 416,877 people visited the country in the first two months of this year. The World Health organization in its latest update on the influ-enza said, “In Southern Asia, influenza activity continued to be reported in India, Mal-dives and Sri Lanka, with mainly influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus reported fol-lowed by influenza B virus."

The H1N1 symptoms start after a person has been exposed to the virus and lasts about eight days. Symptoms may include fever, sore throat, cough, muscle, ache, headache, chills, runny or stuffy nose, vomiting and diarrhea. Pregnant mothers, children and individuals with low immunity are advised to be concerned if such symp-toms are experienced.

Some Sri Lankans in Qatar intending to travel to their country in the coming days said that they would get vaccinated as a prevention, especially for children.

“We are going on our annual vacation by mid- April. My son is only three and half years old and we will get him vaccinated against influ-enza before leaving Doha,” a Sri Lankan working mother told The Peninsula.

Qatar in talks

to host Club

World Cup

Qatar condemns gas attack in Syria

A Syrian man and girl flee past a man carrying a folded stretcher following a reported air strike on the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria, in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, yesterday. Sixty-seven civilians were killed in the attack.

Labour housing now cheaper inIndustrial Area

Ministry issues Sri Lanka travel alert

A number of shops and garages at street No. 30, 31, 32 and on Al Attiya market roads were vacant with 'for rent' notice at the entrance.

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Justice has launched a new service to assist elders, patients and

the disabled who find difficulty in visiting the Ministry’s serv-ices centres.

The service called "Absher" (Give glad tiding) provide staff

who will visit the beneficiaries at their home based on prior appointment to get their signa-ture for processing their transactions. The service is offered at a fee.

The beneficiaries can take appointments during the morn-ing working hours by providing their home address, the Minis-

try said on its Twitter account . The Department of Authen-

tication at the ministry will assign employees who could visit the beneficiaries at their homes at their convenience and make sure they are qualified to delegate someone else to replace them.

→ Continued on page 2

Elders to get ministry services at home

02 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017HOME

Emir greets President of SenegalQNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable

of congratulations to Presi-dent of the Republic of Senegal Macky Sall on the occasion of his country's National Day. Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent con-gratulations to the President of the Republic of Senegal.

PM arrives in TunisiaPRIME Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani arrived yesterday in Tunisia to participate in the 34th session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council.

The Prime Minister was received at the presidential air-port by Minister of Interior Hedi Majdoub, Minister of For-eign Affairs Khemaies Jhinaoui, Secretary-General of the Arab Interior Ministers council Mohammad bin Ali Koman, Qatar's Ambassador to Tuni-sia Saad bin Nasser AlHumaidi, political advisor to the Tuni-sian Prime Minister, Faisal Al Hafien, head of Carthage Inter-national Airport Lotfi Al Soussi, and members of the Qatari Embassy in Tunisia.

Service for prison inmates→ Continued from page 1

The service is also pro-vided to people in prisons, reformation and punitive centers. The step has come following the issuance of new authentication law which has introduced new services and improved the quality of serv-ices, including authorizing the employees in charge of authentication to become “notary”. According to the ministry, similar authorization will be granted to lawyers and legal persons who are not working with the ministry to serve people especially in remote areas where elders and the disabled find difficulties to reach the ministry’s offices to process their papers.

Lawyers and other legal practitioners willing to join the initiative have been advised to register online vis-iting the “sak” service on the ministry’s website.

The Peninsula

The Qatar Fuel (Woqod) has opened a new pet-rol station in Umm Ghuwailina, in east Doha. This is the sec-

ond petrol station inaugurated by Woqod this year, after the Abu Nakhlah petrol station which opened in February.

The new petrol station also has an electronic payment serv-ice (WOQODe) for individuals and companies that has many benefits, especially shortening the filling time, control customer purchases and preventing the manipulation of invoices by driv-ers. The total number of petrol stations owned by Woqod has reached 57, including mobile stations.

The new petrol station is spread over an area of 8,500 square metres approximately, and has six lanes with three filling

points each. The station will offer basic services including petroleum products in addition to Sidra con-venience store, oil change, tyre repair service and the sale of LPG cylinders.

"We are pleased to open this station in the area of Umm Ghaw-ilina, which is witnessing heavy traffic because of its distinctive

location and will certainly contrib-ute to reducing congestion and providing basic services to the community in the area around the clock,” said Saad Rashid Al Mohannadi, CEO of WOQOD.

Sheikha Al Jefairi, member of the Central Municipal Coun-cil (CMC) representing constituency No 8 hailed the opening of the new fuel station saying , " Earlier I raised the issue of shortage of fuel stations with Woqod and various ministries and urged to open more such facilities. I have suggested to

open fuel stations in interior roads rather than the main roads because if they are set up on the main road it can cause traffic jams like what see in Hilal and the Teyseer petrol station on the road leading to the Corniche,"

WOQODe service is availa-ble at many places including this newly opened petrol station in Umm Ghuwailina.

The service meant to enable motorists to track the transac-tions of refueling their vehicles through an SMS alert system. The system, named ‘WOQODe’,

works on a microchip affixed near the fuel tank opening. The chip, which carries details of the vehicle such as its registration number, name and location of petrol station (where a customer prefers refuelling), date, time and other details as desired.

Fee for the service is QR220 including QR195 for tag and QR25 as service charge. The tag comes with a pre-paid top-up service, which is available at every Woqod fuel station. The top-up starts from QR20 and there is no maximum limit.

Woqod opens petrol station in Umm Ghuwailina

Electronic service

The new petrol station also has an electronic payment service (WOQODe) for individuals and companies.

The total number of petrol stations owned by Woqod has reached 57, including mobile stations.

The new petrol station at Umm Ghawilina, in east Doha.

Foodex Qatar concludes with new partnershipsIrfan BukhariThe Peninsula

From baby vegetables to beverages and varieties of cheese to powders of

organic vegetables, dozens of food products were on show at Foodex Qatar which concluded yesterday.

Foodex Qatar – the first International Exhibition for Food, Beverage & Process Tech-nology which started on April 2, ended yesterday at Doha Exhi-bition and Convention Center.

A number of foreign food companies which participated in the expo found new local part-ners to enter Qatar's market while some left with hopes attached to the next edition of exhibition.

“We participated in the expo to explore Qatar market for baby vegetables and fresh fruits from Swaziland,” said Siphephiso Dlamini told The Peninsula. He said that the Qatari market had great potential for his company Encabeni Fresh Produce.

“We are in the business of producing and distributing baby vegetables, fresh fruits as well as processed fruits and vegetables. Our export basket comprises a wide range of fresh produce

including baby vegetables like patty pans (yellow and green), baby marrow, baby cabbage etc.,” Dlamini, Chief Executive Officer of Encabeni, added.

He said that currently, citrus was exported to Qatar and other GCC countries from Swaziland. “Swaziland has an impressive foot print in the various SADC region countries (mainly, South

Africa) as well as international markets particularly in Europe – mainly France, Switzerland and Germany. We also supply to a series of supermarkets, whole-salers and distributors in country.”

On quality standards, he said that their fresh produce facili-ties were Global Gap and HACCP c e r t i f i e d . “ E n c a b e n i

Fresh Produce seeks to gain a reasonable market share of the GCC food market demand which is in excess of $25bn and we are ready to work with distributors, retail stores and marketing agents to satisfy any demand,” said Siphephiso Dlamini.

Freeze-dried organic vege-table powder was another attraction for visitors at expo.

CAI Bao, General Manager of Shen Jia Nong, a Chinese com-pany which markets these powdered organic vegetables told The Peninsula that the ‘freeze-drying technology has a lot of advantages in the colour, flavour of the food ingredients and the preservation of nutrient components, compared with the traditional thermal-drying technology’.

“It concentrates all the nutri-ent components of the organic vegetables with the characteris-tic of the high protein, high fiber, high calcium, high potassium etc.,” he added, further saying that the use of freeze-dried organic vegetable powder was very easy as one bag of powder was dissolved in one glass of water to be served.

Among others, a 100% Qatari-owned livestock farm – Baladna – had its stand in the expo to brand its dairy products. The farm was established three years ago, while it started branding its prod-ucts in January last year.

The farm produces purebred Awassi sheep, the highest meat and milk-producing breed in the Middle East. They are the “first and only farm with the largest sheep livestock available in GCC and the Middle East”.

A stall at the Foodex Qatar at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

The Peninsula

The Doha International Center for Interfaith Dia-logue (DICID) organised

the first cultural dialogue forum hosting university students based in Qatar.

The forum was organized under the theme “Cultural Dia-logue Forum” in the Sealine beach with the participation of 15 university students from dif-ferent nationalities, faiths and gender.

The forum was part of an entertainment programme where many cultural questions were raised and a variety of answers given by the partici-pants in cultural context, in addition to contests and social communication opportunities were given to the participants.

The idea of hosting youth from different faiths, languages and culture has come to high-light the importance of creating platforms for them to engage in

dialogue and know each other’s perception towards the other, said Dr Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Chair-man of DICID.

Speaking about the dialogue event which continued from 7 am to 4 pm in the Sealine area, Al Naimi said cultural activities

are part of the DICID concerns along workshops, training pro-grams and publishing of books and brochures.

Hosting the youth in a non-traditional setting in open air makes the discussions more friendly, informal and open, he

added. One of the questions that created high interaction of participants and encouraged participation was a question raised by Prof. Khair Aladdin Khoja, professor of Quranic Science and Islamic Culture at CCQ.

Doha Interfaith Dialogue organises forum for studentsMany construction firms shift staff from Industrial Area

→ Continued from page 1Several rooms (measuring

6X6 and 4X4) that earlier fetched their owners QR2,600 and QR2,400 per month are now available for QR2,200 and QR2,000, respectively and are still waiting for tenants.

“We have 20 rooms vacant out of 200 rooms in our build-ings located at street No. 30, Industrial Area for few months,” a caretaker told The Peninsula.

The tenants demanded to reduce the rent during contract renewal arguing that the rent has declined in the market, he said.

He said eventually the land-lord was forced to reduce the rent significantly. Rents of a big room measuring 6X6 fell from QR2,600 to QR2,200 and small room measuring 4X4 dropped QR2,400 to QR2,000.

“So far, we have 20 rooms

vacant and next moth another 42 rooms will be available because the construction com-pany that hired these rooms for its workers has built its own labor accommodation,” he said.

He said there were indica-tions of a rent fall since last year but it has become a reality since the beginning of this year.

“Demand for workers accommodations is down in the Industrial Area because most major companies have either shifted to the Labor City or built their own accommo-dations”, said another real estate agent operating in the Industrial Area.

Many construction com-panies with hundreds of workers have shifted their workers from Industrial Area to cheaper accommodations in Al Shihaniya, Al Sailiya and other places, The Peninsula has learnt

Participants of the forum organised by DICID at Sealine Beach.

03WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 HOME

Raynald C RiveraThe Peninsula

Found objects and oral histories of personal memories of Msheireb - a former commercial neighbourhood in the

heart of Doha - are displayed at ‘Back to Msheireb: Shared Streets - Shared Stories’ exhibition which opened yesterday at Mohammed Bin Jassim House in Msheireb Museums.

Organised by students of UCL Qatar as part of their yearly UCL Qurates initiative of the Masters in Museum and Gallery Practice programme, this temporary exhibition interprets the vibrancy of Qatar’s historic Msheireb through an installation of pop-up stores inspired by the eclectic and often quirky character of this part of Doha.

Street and old store signs and goods sold in the stores such as textiles and electronics as well as old belongings left behind by Msheireb’s residents resonate interesting stories which reflect the vitality of Msheireb as a com-

mercial district.Msheireb became the popu-

lar destination for shopping, and a hub for small local community between the 1980s and 2000s – long before the wider “mall culture” spread throughout the country – and allowed the meet-ing of diverse cultures, tastes, languages, and traditions.

Hafiz Ali, Director of Msheireb Museums said: “We are delighted to include such a care-fully curated exhibition which documents the city’s history and

progression and allows us to pre-serve and share these stories with the community. Msheireb Museums are honored to pro-vide a platform that nurtures our future leaders’ development, enhances the cultural scene of our city and enables people to learn more about Qatar’s rich heritage.”

Over the last few months, the students have had the opportu-nity to explore and conduct curatorial research around Msheireb Museums’ collection of objects and oral history archives, curating a temporary exhibition that complements the scope of the permanent galler-ies in the Mohammed Bin Jassim House.

“This student-led project is a crucial, assessed component of the master’s programme, which seeks to bridge the gap between museum theory and practice. The project affords our students– who are undergoing rigorous graduate training to fur-ther professionalise or to enter the museum profession, in Qatar or abroad – the unique

opportunity to implement knowledge acquired on the pro-gramme, working collaboratively with a museum,” said Dr Sam

Evans, Director of UCL Qatar.The exhibition is open until

July 27 at Mohammed Bin Jas-sim House- one of four heritage

houses which has been restored located within the Heritage Quarter, a historic area of Msheireb Downtown Doha.

'Back to Msheireb' exhibition captures vibrant memoriesSharing stories

Organised by students of UCL Qatar, exhibition opens at Mohammed Bin Jassim House in Msheireb Museums.

Exhibition documents the city’s history and progression and shares its stories.

120 shipments of farm products destroyedThe Peninsula

More than 6,500 ship-ments of different types of agricultural products

were inspected last month by the Agriculture Quarantine Office at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

The total weight of the inspected imported shipments at different outlets of the coun-try was 1,03,589.43 tonnes and includes vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products.

Also, about 120 shipments

weighing 21.10 tonnes were destroyed for violating the law of agricultural quarantine rules as the quantity was infected with pests.

During the same period, the Agriculture Quarantine Office inspected about 26 shipments weighing 224.76 tonnes ready for export at the country’s export outlets. The office also issued health certificates and clear-ances for shipments.

The agriculture quarantine considers the first line of defence to protect plants from pests.

The 'Back to Msheireb: Shared Streets - Shared Stories’ exhibition which opened at Mohammed Bin Jassim House in Msheireb Museums yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

QNA

The Arab League hosted the third joint meeting of the electricity expert commit-

tee and the renewable energy expert committee of the Arab states in Cairo yesterday.

The meeting discussed an initiative for cooperation between the energy, water and food sectors in Arab countries as well as the promotion of coop-eration among Arab countries

and regional and international organizations in the field of energy. Qatar is participating in the meeting with a delegation headed by Yusuf Ahmed Janahi, Kahramaa President's Advisor for Business Development.

Meanwhile, the Executive Office of the Arab ministers of electricity will hold a meeting today at the Arab League's headquarters to prepare for the 12th session of the Arab minis-terial council for electricity.

Qatar attends Arab meeting of electricity & power experts

Apples seized by officials.

04 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017HOME

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Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met yesterday with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, on the sidelines of the International Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, being held at the EU headquarters in Brussels. The meeting discussed developments in Syria. The Foreign Minister referred to the gas attack in Idlib province, northwest Syria, stressing that all those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria should be brought to justice.

Foreign Minister meets EU official

The Peninsula

H E Dr Mohammed Bin Abdul Wahid Al-Hammadi, Minister of Education and Higher Education, has visited

Sweden with a Qatari delegation for meetings with Swedish minis-ters and representatives from Swedish universities and research institutes in order to explore and strengthen collaboration between Qatari and Swedish education and research institutions.

Following up on the success-ful visit of Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Swedish Minister of Higher Education and Research, to Qatar in February 2016, Swe-den has through the embassy and various bilateral visits from Swe-den consistently worked towards increased bilateral cooperation in research and higher education.

A milestone in this area is being passed this week with the official visit of Dr Mohammed Al-Hammadi, made upon the invitation of Helene Hellmark Knutsson. An MoU designed to encourage increased coopera-tion in all educational and scientific areas is in process, based upon the principles of

equality and mutual respect for the two countries’ legal environ-ments, as well as the mutual protection of intellectual prop-erty rights, and expected to be signed in the near future.

Following the Minister in the delegation is Dr Hassan Rashid Al-Derham, President of Qatar University; Dr Ahmad Hasnah, President of Hamad Bin Khalifa University; Dr Egon Toft, Dean of the Medical College at Qatar University; Fawzia Al-Khater, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs in the Minis-try of Education and Higher Education (MoE); Ali Marafi, Director of International

Cooperation Affairs Dept. at MoE; and other members of Qatar’s MoE.

A major focus during the trip was on medicine and life sci-ences, with an important visit to Karolinska Institute (KI): one of the best medical research insti-tutions and university hospitals in the world, and a member of the prestigious Emeri List pub-lished by Qatar’s MoE.

While at KI, the Minister and his delegation got the opportu-nity to study all of its educational programs, paying special atten-tion to KI’s heavy focus on clinical research, and gave a presentation on higher educa-tion in Qatar.

Additionally, great impor-tance has been placed on knowledge sharing in the areas of innovation and entrepreneur-ship, where Sweden is consistently top ranked interna-tionally. During the Minister’s visit to the Royal Institute of Technology, a special presenta-tion was given on translating academic and research results into entrepreneurial business ideas; a specialized skill set that takes a concerted effort to develop, and which is needed in Qatar in its effort to diversify its

economy as part of the National Vision 2030.

Dr Al-Hammadi also got the chance to visit the Swedish Insti-tute, the Government of Sweden’s cultural promotion agency, at a very opportune time for both parties. In the last few months the Swedish Institute, together with the Swedish pri-vate sector and Lund University, has been developing a tailor made Master’s program for young Qataris focusing on inno-vation and entrepreneurship in the STEM fields.

The program will be unique in that it will offer unprecedented experience and access with the innovative Swedish private and startup sectors, giving Qatari Master’s students enhanced capabilities to translate their aca-demic achievements into economic engines for Qatar’s future. This initiative was pre-sented to and discussed with Dr Al-Hammadi, in order to find the best solution to helping Qatar reach what it deserves: the best from its citizens.

During a visit to the upper-secondary school Åva Gymnasium, the Minister and his delegation learned about its suc-cess in the areas of leadership

and vocational training for grades 10-12. Vocational train-ing could play an important role for Qatar in the future, enabling

the country to reduce its depend-ence on foreign, low-skilled labor and increase its human capital.

Minister visits Sweden to explore cooperation in educationResearch ties

Sweden consistently worked towards increased bilateral cooperation in research and higher education.

A major focus during the trip was on medicine and life sciences, with a visit to Karolinska Institute.

Qatar Community College holds career fair

Symposium on Qatar-South Africa tiesQNA

The Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Institute held a symposium on

the relations between Qatar and South Africa, during which HE Ambas-sador of the Republic of South Africa Shirish Soni delivered a lecture. The symposium was attended by a number of diplomats and staff of the Foreign Ministry.

The Ambassador touched on the history and future of relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of South Africa, pointing out that their ties dated back to 1994, and culminated in the opening of the South African Embassy in Doha in 2003.

He also outlined the most important two-way visits between the two countries since the begin-ning of the relations, as three South African presi-dents visited Qatar.

The Peninsula

Qatar Community College of Qatar inaugurated today the sixth annual job fair at

the college's male buildings at Lusail area. Tomorrow will be the second day of the event, and will take place at the girls' building area of the college. More than 40 institutions are participating in

this year's event. The fair is part of the college's efforts to respond to the Qatari labor market needs. The sixth annual job fair is spon-sored by Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) this year. It will also provide students with expertise and capacities by means of which they can explore the available job opportunities in gov-ernment and semi-government

sectors as well as knowing more about the different professional tracks.

Qatar Community College was established in 2010. It started out with 300 students and now has more than 4,000. The number of courses now has exceeded 100, compared to 17 when the college was first established.

H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahid Al Hammadi with Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Swedish Minister of Higher Education and Research.

05WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 HOME

The 11th edition

To be held under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha AI Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani the exhibition will take place at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center and run until to May 2.

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

Heya Arabian Fash-ion Exhibition announced return-ing of its eleventh edition with Islamic

and Arabian fashion theme with an eclectic mix of global brands offering a variety of evening gowns and everyday accessories.

To be held under the patron-age of H E Sheikha AI Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the exhibition will take place at the Doha Exhibition and Conven-tion Center (DECC) from April 28 to May 2.

“The growth witnessed by Heya over the past several edi-tions reflects the ongoing efforts QTA and its partners have under-taken to develop this exhibition, as part of our strategy to enhance the Business Events sector and attract more business events tourists,” said Mashal Shahbik, Director of Tourism Events and Festivals at Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA).

“This year we are expecting 10,000 visitors. Last year we had 250 stalls and this year 350 stalls will be installed. Four interna-tional countries will participate Heya’s eleventh edition which includes Japan, Spain, Portugal and Germany,” she told The Peninsula.

The five-day fashion exhibi-tion will present an array of abayas, kaftans, jalabiyas, veils, gowns, among other fashion pieces. This year for the first time, families are invited to attend the first day of the show including men who can accompany their daughters and wives, with chil-

dren above the age of 13. The Heya 2017 edition will

also bring visitors elegant and luxurious pieces to browse and buy, including kiosks of coveted leather goods, kimonos from one of Japan’s oldest textile manu-facturers; Tsukamoto Group, and the latest abaya collection ‘Jeywn,’ by popular Japanese designer ERIKO.

This year a record 93 booths have been booked by Qatari designers who will display their collections. Fahd AI Obaidly will welcome guests to the daily red carpet events.

Heya is a joint project of the German Embassy and the Goethe-Institute Gulf Region. Heya will feature two German designers. Acclaimed fashion school ESMOD, rated number 5 worldwide, will also host four fashion workshops, enabling vis-itors to learn how to design creative modest fashion wear.

Isra Mohammed Abl, Official speaker of Design Creationz told The Peninsula: “This year we are bringing culture of fifteen coun-tries culture together under one

roof. Eight workshops will be held during the exhibition in presences of representatives from four embassies. The first day will be open for families. We are extremely proud of variety of Qatari design participation,

the expansion into leather acces-sories, ESMOD’s expertise, as well as the four foreign delega-tions presenting new designers.” Maryam Mohammed Al Darwish, a Qatari Designer participating in Heya said: “Last year I

showcased my Indian designs which were a combination of old and modern. This year my col-lection has a theme of a girl’s story. The glimpse of my collec-tion will be showcased on my Instagram account.”

Heya fashion exhibition to begin on April 28

The Peninsula

The creative minds of social media company Luster in association with Qatar’s sole

Cadillac dealer Mannai Trading Co. LLC showcased new crossover vehicle at Landmark Mall recently.

The high-tech digital cam-paign was world’s first Luster mosaic of a Cadillac, enabling Qataris to become a part of his-tory in the making.

All they had to do was use their smartphones to post photos on Instagram using the #Discov-erXT5. Luster collected and

printed each photograph and pieced them all together into a large photo-mosaic of the Cadil-lac XT5 2017. The innovative campaign was used as a unique launchpad for Mannai Trading Co. LLC to promote dealership and offer further details on new Cadillac.

The Cadillac XT5 2017 luxury crossover comes with a gener-ously sized interior filled with advanced features to help keep you safe and connected, while the chiseled exterior lines make a striking statement on the road.

The All-Wheel-Drive provides

smooth, confident handling in a variety of conditions. And the dynamic new 3.6L V6 engine with Eight Speed Automatic Transmis-sion delivers effortless acceleration that takes you to highway speeds quietly and smoothly.

Real Time Damping Suspen-sion monitors road and vehicle inputs to help reduce vibrations, while Driver Select Mode, enables you to choose between three dis-tinct driving feels: Touring Mode, Snow/AWD Mode and Sport Mode.

The crossover has a suite of

progressive technology features to help keep you aware and con-nected. From the available Rear Camera Mirror to Cadillac CUE®1, the 2017 XT5 cabin comes with the Active Fuel Management Sys-tem, which temporarily turns off two of the engine’s cylinders, opti-mizing fuel efficiency.

The new XT5 is 126 kg lighter than its predecessor and offers increased rear-seat legroom, while the Cadillac CUE system has been upgraded, with a faster and more powerful processor provid-ing best-ever response and accuracy.

FROM LEFT. Maryam Mohammed Al Darwish, a Qatari designer of, Isra Mohammed Abl, Spokerperson, Design Creations, Mashal Shahbik, Festivals and Tourism Events Director at Qatar Tourism authority, and Amal Al Buenain, founder of Amy Design at the press conference to announce the schedule of 11th Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibition at Shangri La Hotel yesterday. Pic Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

Mannai Trading Co showcases new crossover vehicle

Participants at the promotional event organised by Mannai Trading Company LLC.

06 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017HOME

Fitness mantra

Gymmito is most technologically advanced fitness club. The vision of the fitness centre seamlessly dovetails with the objective of Qatar’s National Vision 2030 - of promoting a healthy lifestyle among its residents.

The Peninsula

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS, participated in Doha Inter-national Food Festival 2017

from March 29 to April 4, at Sheraton Hotel Park. Through a booth at the festival, QCS aimed to raise public awareness of healthy food and exercises to prevent dis-eases especially cancer, in conjunction with March, the month of awareness of colorectal cancer.

Dr Hadi Abu Rasheed, Super-visor of Health Education QCS stressed the importance of partic-ipating in such activities, which aim to promote a healthy lifestyle through exercise and healthy food to prevent diseases and one can reduce risk of developing colorec-tal cancer by adapting healthy lifestyle: maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active at least 30 minutes per day, eating healthy diet, not smoking, and not

The Peninsula

THE Bone and Joint Center at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will host two top inter-national orthopaedic surgeons this month. The surgeons are Professor Michel Onimus from France, who specialises in sco-liosis and spine surgery and Dr Duncan Whitwell, knee sur-geon from the UK.

Dr Whitwell will be visit-ing Doha from April 13 to 17 and will see patients at BJC’s outpatients’ clinics from 8am to 3 pm on April 13 and 16. He will conduct surgeries for the remainder of his stay in Doha.

Professor Onimus will be in Doha from April 19 to 24 and will attend to patients at the Bone and Joint Center’s outpa-tient clinic on the April 19, 20 and 24. He will conduct sur-geries on 21 and 22 April. He will also hold educational activities at the BJC on 24 April.

The surgeons’ visit is in line with HMC’s drive to exchange expertise and share innovative medical treatment techniques with international experts in various medical specialties. Patients who wish to see the visiting consultants can book appointments at the Bone and Joint Center during work hours from 7am to 3pm. For more information, please call 40411141 or 40411155.

The Peninsula

The Torch Doha, member of Leading Hotels of the World joined the “Light It

Up Blue” campaign on April 2 by switching its 3780 LED exte-rior lights in blue.

General Manager Sherif Sabry said , “We are thrilled to support Autism Speaks and Light It Up Blue campaign for the fifth consecutive year, to raise public awareness globally and to increase understanding and acceptance for children, individuals and families across the globe. This simple gesture recognises the need for autism awareness in a world that has not always done so.”

Digital screens inside and outside The Torch Doha featured the hotel’s participation at “Light

It Up Blue” campaign and shine a light on autism in order to raise awareness publicly for the guests and staff members.

In 2016, 157 countries rep-resenting all seven continents participated. Entire city skylines glowed blue in honour of peo-ple with autism everywhere. Several of the tallest buildings in the world went blue, includ-ing the Freedom Tower in New York City, the Shanghai Tower in China, and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai — the tallest tower in the world.

The highest building in Doha supported the World Autism Awareness Day and its participation aimed in joining a global movement where every blue light sent a message of hope and inclusion to those with autism.

The Peninsula

Babyshop, the region’s lead-ing one stop destination in children’s products recently

organised second season of “Expressions” - a drawing com-petition which was presented by Babyshop Qatar, for children aged between 5 and 14 years.

The event saw participants divided into three age catego-ries 5-7 years, 8-10 years & 11-14 years covering a range of themes from talking about MY FAMILY and SAVE WATER to GLOBAL WARMING. It was conducted in three sessions and received an overwhelming response with over 4000 entries. This was one of the grandest drawing compe-tition organised by any retailer in the region.

The registration process was simple and well managed through the Shukran Facebook page with the link http://bit.ly/

bsexpressions. The event too was well managed by the team at Landmark Group. Kids & parents came in together and had a great day out. There was an entertain-ment area created with lots of surprises & gifts. Kids enjoyed their healthy snacks too and received free shopping vouch-ers as part of the event.

Santosh Pai, COO Landmark group, Qatar said “We are truly delighted with the response from Expressions - one of the biggest events we have organised in Qatar so far. This competition provided an excellent platform for kids to explore and pursue their creativ-ity and I would specially thank all the parents who have made efforts and encouraged their kids to participate in this. This year, the response has been overwhelm-ing and I wish the children all the best for the results. Everyone is a winner and each of them have a bright future ahead.”

The event will now be con-cluded with the announcement of results.

In each category first three place winners would be awarded

and all other participants would receive a participation certifi-cate. The results will be announced on April 7 at Al Asmakh Mall, Al Sadd.

The Peninsula

Qatar’s wellness scale received a new boost with the inauguration of Alfardan’s Gymmito Fitness Club at Qanat

Quartier. The Alfardan group has been synonymous with luxury and unique lifestyle products and services, and the new fitness club has added yet another feather to the family cap.

Gymmito has entered the country at a time when citizens are moving towards a fit and healthier future. The steady growth in wellness market has driven fitness centers to vie for the top position by offering the most talented trainers from across the globe alongside state of the art exercise machines to ensure a complete body workout.

Hussain Alfardan, Owner, Alfardan Group, inaugurated the fitness club with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

On the occasion, Fardan Fahad Hussain Alfardan said,

“Our family has always been known for bringing innovations to the country. The leadership of HH Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, has further helped conglomerates like us to provide the best environment for our residents to thrive in.

Gymmito is Qatar’s largest and most technologically advanced fitness club. The vision of the fitness centre seamlessly dovetails with the objective of Qatar’s National Vision 2030 - of promoting a healthy lifestyle among its residents.

Dave Jones, General Manager, said, “Alfardan has been in the news for the last 60 years as one of the leading family companies bringing exclusive products and

services to the country. Gymmito is an Alfardan Group venture aimed towards fitness and health. It’s accessible, affordable and a great place for community mem-bers to get to know each other. If you can work out with your neigh-bours, you are one step closer to strengthening your community.”

The fitness centre is ready to establish strong examples and fitness standards in today’s fast moving life.

The range of machines include the MILON Circuit, Car-dio Vascular equipment and free-weights for resistance train-ing, and with over 150 group classes (including yoga, pilates and tai-chi inspired ones), every member is sure to find a fitness

routine that suits them.Fitness enthusiasts who have

been using the facility already have given Gymmito a 5-star rat-ing for of its high-end equipment, welcoming staff, variety of classes and excellent fitness instructors. With personal train-ers, the workout routines can also be customized to individual needs, which make it even more attractive. Additionally, Gymmito offers a host of membership options for individuals, couples and ladies that can help every fitness goal and pocket.

The gym will be open to the public for an exclusive visit and a professional tour of the facil-ity on April 8 from 10am to 6pm, at a Grand Opening Event to help familiarise people with the facility.

Alfardan opens Gymmito Fitness Club

Hussain Alfardan, owner, Alfardan Group, and Fardan Fahad Hussain Alfardan, owner, Gymmito, and other officials cutting the ribbon to open Gymmito Fitness Club at Qanat Quartier.

Dave Jones, General Manager of Gymmito, during the opening and press tour of Gymmito Fitness Club. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

International orthopaedic surgeons to visit HMC

Babyshop Qatar's 'Expressions' attracts huge response

Children at the drawing contest Expressions organised by Babyshop.

The Torch Doha illuminated in blue.

The Torch Doha joins 'Light it Up Blue' drive

QCS officials educating children about health food and exercise.

consuming alcohol.‘Colorectal cancer is the third

most commonly diagnosed can-cer and third leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. About 72 percent of cases arise in the colon and about 28 percent in the rectum, pointing out that anyone can get

colorectal cancer. The lifetime risk of being diagnosed with can-cer of colon or rectum is about 5 percent for both men and women.

See your doctor if you have any of these warning signs: bleed-ing from rectum, blood in stool or in the toilet after having a bowel movement, dark- or

black-coloured stools, change in shape of stool, cramping pain in lower stomach, feeling of discom-fort or an urge to have a bowel movement when there is no need, new onset of constipation or diarrhea that lasts for more than a few days, unintentional weight loss, he added.

QCS raises awareness on healthy food and exercise

07WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 HOME

2nd tour tomorrow

Mohamad Al Ansari, a Qatari food stylist, is scheduled to lead a second tour around the festival grounds tomorrow between 4pm and 6pm.

The Peninsula

For the first time ever, Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) is organising free photo tours and food styling

sessions to cater to the rising popularity of food art.

The festival invites aspiring artists to feast their eyes and camera lenses on the colourful and varied food displays found throughout the 11-day Festival.

Festival-goers interested in honing their food styling and photography skills can join Mohamad Al Ansari, a Qatari food stylist who has close to 50,000 followers. He is sched-uled to lead a second tour around the festival grounds tomorrow between 4pm and 6pm. He will focus on teaching local food and beverage business owners the best food photography tech-niques. The tour will be featured on his personal Instagram account, @mohadalansari and

can be followed on the hashtags #QIFFPIC and #�������_��.

Mashal Shahbik, Director of Festivals and Tourism Events at Qatar Tourism Authority said, “QIFF is an annual event that cel-ebrates Qatar’s vibrant food and culture scene and we are always looking for new ways to create engaging experiences for festi-val-goers. The growing popularity of photo sharing applications renders QIFF a fer-tile ground for cultivating local creative talents by working with growing community of smart-phone photographers.”

Al Ansari, whose first tour at QIFF took place last Thursday, commented, “Photography for me is about telling a story in an image. I first started photography as a hobby and learned many tricks with hours of experimenting and persistence. Through these ses-sions at QIFF, I would like to encourage aspiring photographers to come out and express them-selves artistically while sharing tips that can enhance their skills and give them more confidence in their craft.”

He added that followers can use hashtags to enter a QIFF food photography competition for a chance to win an inclusive over-night stay for two guests courtesy of the Ritz Carlton.

On the closing day of the fes-tival on Saturday, Qatar Phone Art (@phoneartqatar) will lead a photo walk around the festival grounds between 2pm and 6pm. The recently formed group of local artists and photographers will capture QIFF’s final day and

post photo stories on their indi-vidual Instagram account.

The festival’s signature Cook-ing Theatre previously featured a

special session with Doha-based Instagram celebrity Majdouline Al Deweik, who prides herself in taking collective food

experiences seriously and has garnered over 20,000 followers on her Instagram account @thesquaretable.

QIFF holds photo tours & food styling sessions

The Peninsula

Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC) has opened registration for the 4th edi-

tion of its Career Advisor Training Course (CATC), which aims to pro-vide participants with the basic skills and essential knowledge of career advising and planning, ena-bling them to assist Qatar’s youth in their career journeys.

The course, which will be offered in Arabic only, will bring together career advisors, academ-ics , human resources professionals, and parents - who play a key role in their children’s career decisions - along with teachers and trainers.

The course will run from May 7 to 11, from 8am to 2pm, at Edu-cation City’s Recreation Center. Registration will continue until the beginning of May and early appli-cants will be offered discounted fees.

Abdullah Al Mansoori, Direc-tor of QCDC, said: “We are delighted with the success of the Career Advisor Training Course, a unique program that QCDC is offering exclusively in Qatar and the GCC region.

The importance of the pro-gramme lies in its uniqueness, since it equips graduates with the essential knowledge of career advising and planning so they can guide youth through their career

journeys. The course is also certi-fied by Kuder, Inc., a world leader in career planning services.”

The course enables applicants to gain insight into their own career development and to dem-onstrate in-depth knowledge of the planning system at their sites, as well as to guide students on the use of technology-based applica-tions that benefit career development.

The course will be presented by Dr Tajalsir Kardaman, Career Counseling Consultant at QCDC. Dr Kardaman holds a doctorate from Lancaster University, UK, where he also worked as a profes-sor. He has significant experience in the fields of education, research,

training and professional devel-opment in addition to extensive expertise in overseeing and imple-menting training and development programs. Before joining QCDC, Dr. Kardaman served as the Direc-tor of Qatar University’s Center of Continuity Education and Office of Faculty and Instructional Development.

Registration fees for the CATC can be paid at QCDC offices located at the QF Housing Main-tenance Building, adjacent to the Education City Clubhouse.

For more information about CATC and registration, interseted can visit www.qcdc.org.qa, call 44546819 / 44546815, or send an e-mail to qcdc@qf.org.qa.

The Peninsula

The Center for Human and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Qatar Univer-

sity College of Arts and Sciences (QU-CAS) recently organised a seminar on “Ara-bic Linguistics in the light of Semitic languages”.

The seminar aimed to provide students with meth-ods to read inscriptions used in Arabian peninsula before Islam and to use Arabic dic-tionaries, and to introduce them to historical roots of Arabic language and calligra-phy, as well as the inscriptions used in the Arabian peninsula since thousand years.

Attending the event were CHSS Director Dr Kaltham Al-Ghanim, CHSS researchers, and CAS faculty and students.

The programme included two lectures entitled “Intro-duction to study of Semitic languages (Zubor and Musnad scripts)” and “Introduction to the study of Semitic lan-guages, Arabic and Semitic and the Arabic and Semitic dictionaries” delivered by CHSS Researcher Dr Mohamed Moraqtan and Associate Professor at CAS Arabic for Non-Native Speak-ers Center Dr Muntasir Al

Hamad. It also included a workshop

on “Reading Nabatean and Ancient Arabic Inscriptions” by Dr Muntasir Al Hamad. He highlighted topics focused on origin of Arabic calligraphy and difference between various types of fonts such as Alpha-betic, Photographic, and Numerical.

CAS Dean Dr Rashid Al-Kuwari said: “The workshop contributes to ensure active educational environment as pursued by Qatar University. Participants had an invalua-ble opportunity to get insight into origins of Arabic language and its relation with ancient languages and scripts, espe-cially Semitic languages. This is an excellent opportunity for students of linguistic studies to learn basic aspects of Ara-bic language origins.”

Dr Kaltham Al-Ghanim said: “This workshop is part of CHSS program to develop knowledge and research skills in field of human sciences, which enriches knowledge of faculty members and students. It provided participants with the opportunity to deal with real texts under the supervision of specialists in Semitic lan-guages and the origin of Arabic writing.”

Participants of a recent food photography and styling sessions held for the first time at the eighth Qatar International Food Festival at Hotel Park.

Seminar on Arabic Lingustics held

QCDC opens registration for career advisor course

QCDC’s Career Advisor Training Course provides participants with the basic skills of career advising and planning.

The Peninsula

SKY gazers in Qatar would be able to get a glimpse of the planet Jupiter (pictured above)on Friday when it will reach its nearest point to earth. The giant planet will be opposite to the Sun on April 7, at 11:58 pm.

“This phenomenon is important because at this time Jupiter will be reaching its nearest point from Earth, consequently we can see it by naked eye for long time. Also, astronomers can observe Jupiter’s surface and some of its moons in more detail using telescopes,” said a statement issued yesterday by Dr Mohammed Al Ansari and Dr Beshir Marzouk of the Qatar Calendar House

People in Qatar and the region can see Jupiter with naked eye or astro-nomical telescopes. People will be able to see the planet from 6:19pm, when it rises above eastern horizon, reaching its highest point in the sky at around midnight above southern horizon.

When the planet is opposite to the Sun, Jupiter will be at nearest point from Earth. The planet comes to this position every 13 months, and so it will be reaching at opposition point next time on May 9, 2018. Jupiter is sur-rounded by more than 50 moons, while the four largest moons, Europa, Cal-listo, Ganymede and Io were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Jupiter also has three rings, but they are very hard to see.Guests at the seminar organised by QU-CAS.

Qatar skygazers can see Jupiter as it gets closer on Friday

08 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017HOME

Several events

The Ethiopian cultural event showcased a wide array of events including Ethiopian traditional musical performances and an exhibition on the African country’s Islamic heritage.

The Peninsula

The Cultural Village Foundation-Katara in collaboration with the Ethiopian embassy celebrated the rich

culture and heritage of Ethiopia through performances held at Katara Drama theatre over the last two days.

The programmes were held in presence of Katara General Manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim

Al Sulaiti, Ethiopian Ambassa-dor Meganu Arga, Ethiopian Minister of Tourism and Culture Dr Hirut Woldermariam and rep-resentatives of diplomatic missions and media.

The Ethiopian cultural event showcased wide array of events including Ethiopian traditional musical performances and an exhibition on the African coun-try’s Islamic heritage. The exhibition showcased contempo-rary artworks of internationally

renowned Ethiopian artists. On display were photographs depict-ing UNESCO sites in Ethiopia, sites related to the country’s Islamic heritage, and other photographs that portray the day-to-day exist-ence and rituals in a typical Ethiopian household.

Following the inauguration of the exhibition, dancers dressed in traditional costumes and musicians enthralled the audi-ence at Katara Drama theatre, in a warm ambiance full of

Ethiopian hospitality presenting Ethiopia’s unique coffee and tra-ditional bread.

Al Sulaiti warmly welcomed the crowd, stressing that Katara is keen on enhancing the rela-tionship with the embassies in Doha, and ensuring that it hosts events that shed light on differ-ent cultures, with an aim to connect people from all walks of life. In addition, Katara’s chief said that Ethiopia has a rich his-tory that shares common

features with other countries in the Arab region, due to the deep influence of Islam in the country.

The Ethiopian envoy expressed his gratitude to Katara for supporting and hosting Ethi-opia-themed nights for the third consecutive year, noting that the programme has turned out to be a much-anticipated event amongst the residents of Qatar.

The exhibition is open until the April 15.

The Peninsula

Fatafeat, the first and most loved Arabic food channel in the Middle East, and

beIN Media Group, yesterday announced their participation at the eighth edition of the Qatar International Food Festival 2017 (QIFF). Organised by Qatar Tour-ism Authority (QTA), this year’s QIFF will host an exclusive Fatafeat and beIN Day on 6 April in Doha, featuring a star-stud-ded line-up of Fatafeat’s celebrity chefs.

For one day only, chefs Mohamad Orfali, Karim Haidar, Salma Suleiman and Wafik Belaid, will entertain guests and showcase some of the world’s best Arabic cuisines. Visitors to the Fatafeat and beIN Day can look forward to live cooking demonstrations followed by a special Q&A and meet-n-greet session, offering fans a once-in-a-lifetime experience with their favourite Fatafeat faces.

QIFF has grown in recent years to become one of the region’s most anticipated culi-nary events receiving a record-breaking 200,000 visi-tors in its previous edition. Kicking off on 29 March and running for 11 days at Hotel Park as the main festival venue, the Festival has grown even bigger this year with a 20% increase in the number of participants com-

pared to 2016.With the addition of Fatafeat

and beIN Day, this year’s Food Festival will feature a unique format of entertainment, offer-ing residents and visitors live cooking demonstrations by Fatafeat celebrity chefs and a chance to meet them at the venue.

Commenting on the partic-ipation at the QIFF 2017, Nancy Hanna, Head of Brand, Discov-ery Networks MENA region, said, “We are excited to be partner-ing once again with QTA for Qatar International Food Festi-val 2017. This year, we are bringing a fantastic mix of attractions to the Fatafeat and beIN Day, with an exciting line-up of our celebrity chefs. Being the region’s most loved food channel, we at Fatafeat are

always looking for opportuni-ties that give our loyal viewers the chance to meet and be inspired by their favourite team of talented Fatafeat chefs, and we look forward to bringing an expanded Fatafeat experience to fans across Doha.”

Mashal Shahbik, Director of Festivals and Tourism Events at QTA said, “The QIFF Cooking Theatre is a long-standing fea-ture of the Festival that brings a slew of international food celeb-rities to share tips and tricks with their fans in Qatar. We are par-ticularly excited to be partnering with Fatafeat once again this year to host some of the Arab World’s most popular chefs.” She added, “The outdoor kitchen offers a welcoming space for fans to enjoy the pleasant weather while watching their

favourite TV celebrities live.”Chef Mohamad Orfali will

open the Fatafeat and beIN Day with a live cooking demonstra-tion at the QIFF. The event will start at 4 pm on Thursday, 6 April at the scenic Hotel Park, overlook-ing the Doha Corniche. The eighth Qatar International Food festival (QIFF) is expected to attract 240,000 visitors, which will be its biggest yet, due to its perfect tim-ing, longer duration and a more accessible venue.

Fatafeat, a subsidiary of Takhayal Entertainment which is part of Discovery Communications, is the first and most loved Arabic food channel in the Middle East and North Africa, broadcasting in 21 Arabic-speaking countries with HD quality distributed on beIN plat-forms as part of its entertainment package.

The Peninsula

Qatar University (QU) announced extension of deadline for graduate stu-

dents admission until April 10. The new announcement will provide students with an opportunity to enroll in one of the 34 graduate programs offered by the University.

Students applying to a grad-uate degree program at QU must meet all admission requirements and deadlines, QU Admissions Department Director Ms Nouf Al Kuwari said. She added: “All graduate applicants to QU are required to apply to their intended program of study using the QU online admission application.”

Nouf Al Kuwari noted that PhD applicants must hold a Master’s degree or higher with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. “All PhD programs offered in English require standardised test scores, e.g. GRE, GMAT”, she said, adding, “Applicants who have completed a professional master with a GPA of 3.0 or higher must satisfy additional college/program specific admission requirements.”

For Master’s degree appli-cants, Nouf Al Kuwari noted that is mandatory to hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher

with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.8. She said students must satisfy additional college/pro-gram specific admission requirements.

She added: “Professional Master’s degree and PharmD degree applicants are required to hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher received with a cumu-lative GPA of at least 2.5. Students must register for a minimum of two regular courses in the field of study in the first semester. They must attain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the first semester. If a student fails to attain 3.0 or higher in the first semester, he/she will automatically be dismissed from the program. Students must satisfy additional college/program specific admission requirements.”

She said: “Diploma degree applicants must hold a Bach-elor’s degree or higher with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0.”

She said applicants who have earned a Bachelor’s or graduate degree from an accredited institution of higher education or recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education of the applicant’s home country and that of the State of Qatar are eligible for admission to a graduate degree program at QU.

Artistes performing at the Katara Drama theatre.

Ethiopian cultural helitage celebrated at Katara

Fatafeat to feature at QIFF with celebrity chefs

The opening hours of the eighth Qatar Interna-tional Food Festival has

been extended, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) announced yesterday.

The festival, which runs until Saturday, is now open to the public from 2pm to 11pm during weekdays and

from 2pm to 1am on week-ends. Previously, opening hours were from 2pm to 10pm on weekdays and 2pm to 11pm on weekends.

Extending the opening hours of the 11-day festival was in response to its astounding popularity, the organisers said.

Hosted for the first time at Hotel Park, this year’s festival

includes about 130 food stalls, carts and trucks-a 20 percent increase from last year’s fea-tures a number of dining options such as Dinner in Sky, garden picnics and High Tea and Fine Dining Lounge as well as live entertainment, cooking dem-onstrations, healthy food and lifestyle coaching and work-shops and film screenings.

Festival opening hours extended

QU extends admission date for graduates

QU officials at the admission counter.

Visitors at the Qatar International Food Festival, yesterday. Pic Salim Matramkot /The Peninsula

09WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Pretoria

Reuters

South Africa’s biggest trade union called on President Jacob Zuma yesterday to

quit after his cabinet reshuffle cost the country one of its investment-grade credit ratings and deepened splits within the ruling African National Con-gress (ANC).

Cosatu’s statement came moments after Zuma made his first public remarks about Thursday’s sacking of respected finance minister Pravin Gord-han, which rating agency

Standard & Poor’s cited as a reason for its downgrade of South Africa to “junk”.

In remarks echoed by new finance minister Malusi Gigaba, Zuma said fiscal policies would not change and that people should remain calm after the rating cut.

He also urged his cabinet to reach out and reassure inter-national investors following the dismissal of Gordhan, a totem of policymaking stability for many, whose departure has rocked the rand currency and other local assets. But the union, allied to Zuma’s ANC, said it no

longer believed in his ability to lead, and that it wanted to restructure its alliance with the party.

“The time has arrived for him (Zuma) to step down and allow the country to be led for-ward by a new collective at a government level. We no longer believe in his leadership abili-ties,” Cosatu said in a statement.

Defending the reshuffle, Zuma said he expected the addition of “many young min-isters” to “add renewed energy into Cabinet and the executive”.

“With regards to the finance portfolio, we reiterate that while the political leadership has changed, government’s overall policy orientation remains the same,” Zuma said. Gigaba later told a news brief-ing the rating cut, which is set to push up South Africa’s bor-rowing costs, would force even greater government focus on growing the economy. He said he would address issues raised by S&P.

Gordhan’s sacking has out-raged opponents and some political allies of Zuma, under-mining his authority as

president and threatening to split the ANC, which has gov-erned South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. The rand, which fell as much as 1.9 per-cent at the start of trading on Tuesday, trimmed some losses to trade 0.5 percent lower after Cosatu called on Zuma to step down.

After reaching a 20-month high, the currency has fallen about 13 percent to the dollar since Monday last week, when Zuma ordered Gordhan to return home “immediately” from an investor roadshow abroad.

Khan Sheikhun, Syria

AFP

A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians in rebel-held northwestern Syria yesterday, a

monitor said, prompting wide-spread outrage and calls for international action.

The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun also left dozens suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomit-ing, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Hours later, air strikes hit a hospital in the town where doc-tors were treating victims of the attack, a correspondent said, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they worked.

The incident brought swift international condemnation, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault demanding an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the "mon-strous" attack. The EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogh-erini said President Bashar Al Assad's government bore "pri-mary responsibility" for the attack, while Syria's opposition warned it "calls the political process into question", and demanded a UN probe. The Observatory said the attack on a residential part of Khan Sheik-hun came in the early hours yesterday morning, when a war-plane carried out strikes that released "toxic gas".

It said 11 children were among the dead, with at least 160 injured, and that many peo-ple were dying even after arriving at medical facilities.

The monitor could not con-firm the nature of the gas, and said the strike was likely carried out by government warplanes.

Russia's military, which has been fighting in support of Assad's government since Sep-tember 2015, denied carrying out any strikes near the town.

A journalist in Khan Sheik-hun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at a hospital, with foam still visi-ble around their mouths.

Doctors at the facility were using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing.

A father carried his dead lit-tle girl, her lips blueish and her dark curls visible, wrapped in a blue sheet. As doctors worked, a warplane circled overhead, strik-ing first near the facility and then hitting it twice, bringing rubble down on medics and patients. It

was not immediately clear how many people may have been injured or killed in the strikes. In a video posted online by Idlib's local medical directorate, a doc-tor described patient symptoms as he treated a child.

"We are seeing uncon-sciousness, convulsions, pinpoint pupils, severe foaming, and lack of oxygen," he said.

Khan Sheikhun is in Syria's Idlib province, which is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al Qaeda affiliate Fateh Al Sham Front. The province is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists. Syria's leading oppo-sition group, the National Coalition, blamed Assad's gov-ernment for the attack and demanded the UN "open an immediate investigation" and hold those responsible to account. Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arse-nal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action. That agreement came after hundreds of people — up to 1,429 accord-ing to a US intelligence report — were killed in chemical weap-ons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops east and south-west of Damascus. But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then.

58 dead in gas attack in rebel-held Syria town

Dubai

Reuters

Britain said yesterday it has allocated £1bn ($1.24bn), including £160m of new

money, to help Syrian refugees displaced by six years of civil war and countries that host them.

International donors are expected to pledge billions more dollars in aid for Syria at a two-day conference in Brussels started yesterday that the European Union says must also help

prepare for an eventual end to the war.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who was in Saudi Arabia after a visit to Jordan, will focus the extra British funds on creating jobs and providing education for the ref-ugees, the government said in a statement sent by its Middle East Media Hub in Dubai.

The funds include £840m of pledges made at a Syria aid con-ference in London in February last year.

With millions of people dis-placed within Syria and in

neighbouring countries, the United Nations has appealed for $8bn of aid this year, looking to Gulf states as well as European donors. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday con-demned a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 peo-ple in a rebel-held town in Syria, saying those responsible should be "held to account".

"Horrific reports of chemical weapons attack in Idlib, Syria. Incident must be investigated and perpetrators held to account," Johnson wrote on Twitter.

Al Shabaab takes town after troops leaveMOGADISHU: Somalia’s Al Shabaab Islamist group has taken control of El Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa’s semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government offi-cial said. Al Shabaab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peace keeping force, AMISOM, out of Somalia and topple the country’s Western-backed central government.

The militants also want to rule the country according to a harsh version of Shariah, or Islamic law. “Ethiopian troops left the town ... thus Al Shabaab captured it today,” Burhaan Warsame, Galmud-ug’s minister for ports and sea transport, said. Ethiopian forces, who are part of AMI-SOM alongside troops from Uganda, Kenya and other countries, had captured the town from Al Shabaab in 2014. Most residents fled into nearby bushland with the arrival of Ethiopian forces in El Bur, and Warsame said the town was deserted when al Shabaab fighters entered.

Jerusalem

Reuters

The European Union has expressed frustration with Israel over its demolition

of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, with the EU ambassador taking the unu-sual step of reading out a joint statement denouncing the practice.

At a meeting last week with the Israeli foreign ministry’s newly appointed director-gen-eral, the ambassador delivered a stern diplomatic message, saying Israel was failing in its international legal obligations and needed to change policy.

The issue came to a head after Israel issued demolition orders last month against 42 homes in the Bedouin village of Khan Al Ahmar, east of Jerusa-lem, where EU member states Belgium and Italy have funded a school and helped build struc-tures for the local population of around 150.

“The practice of enforce-ment measures such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes and humanitarian assets (including EU-funded) and the obstruction of delivery of humanitarian assistance are contrary to Isra-el’s obligations under international law,” ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said, with envoys from all EU mem-ber states present.

“We therefore call on Israel, as the occupying power, to meet its obligations vis-à-v i s t h e P a l e s t i n i a n population..., completely stop these demolitions and confis-cations and allow full access of humanitarian assistance.”

Faaborg-Andersen’s inter-vention was first reported by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment on the substance of the statement, known in dip-lomatic parlance as a demarche, but said it was

delivered at a “get to know you” meeting with the minis-try’s director-general.

The clampdown against Khan Al Ahmar, located in a sen-sitive area of the West Bank that Israel has earmarked for settle-ment expansion, is the latest in a series of demolitions that have been roundly condemned by the EU and the United Nations.

Israel says the demolitions are necessary because the build-ing was carried out without a permit in an area of the West Bank, known as Area C, where Israel retains full control.

Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank, which the Pal-estinians want for their own state together with Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The EU says Israel rarely issues permits in Area C and is concerned that by blocking Palestinian development there, and demolishing structures that are built, it is actively undermining the viability of any future Palestinian state.

EU envoy slams West Bank demolition policy of Israel

ANC-allied union calls for President Zuma to quit

UK allocates £1bn for Syrian refugees and host countries

336 children dead in meningitis epidemic in NigeriaABUJA: Nigerian and inter-national health officials say a meningitis epidemic has killed 336 children amid fears it could spread across the border to Niger.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and U.N. agencies say 2,997 cases have been reported in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto in north-west and north-central Nigeria since the disease sur-faced in December. A statement says most victims are between 5 and 14.

A Syrian girl receiving treatment at a makeshift clinic following reported air strikes by government forces in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, yesterday.

BAGHDAD: President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kush-ner, travelled with the top US general to an Iraqi base just over 16km from Mosul yesterday.

Kushner was on the second day of a trip to Iraq as the guest of Marine General Joseph Dun-ford, chairman of the U.S.

military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the visit to the Hammam al-Alil base allowed them to get an operation briefing from Iraqi and US commanders.

Kushner voiced hope the city’s eventual recapture from Islamic State would be “a vic-tory for the world.”

Kushner visits US base near Mosul

Jared Kushner, Senior Adviser to President Donald Trump, speaks with Lt Gen Stephen J Townsend, Commander of Combined Joint Task Force, in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday.

Strikes hit hospitalHours later, air strikes hit a hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack, a correspondent said, bringing down rubble on top of medics as they worked.

The blast at the Saint Petersburg metro system on Monday that killed fourteen people and injured dozens, which the authorities said was an “act of terror” carried out by a suicide bomber, is a

worrying sign that terrorists are targeting Russia. Even as Islamic terrorists struck other European cities, Moscow has been able to keep itself away from the cross hairs of terrorists, or terrorists have been focusing elsewhere. But Monday’s blast shows that the Russian authorities need be more cautious and look for the reasons that made it a target. This is because the wave of terror that hit Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s was mainly linked to the Chechen independence movement. That threat has receded since then as the Chechen extremists shifted their focus away from independence after a relentless assault from Moscow and focused towards the establishment of a Caucasus emirate. The motivation for the latest attack is yet to be ascertained, and there are some theories being floated – like Russia’s role in Syria – but the international community stands united against terror and will offer all their support in the fight against terror.

But experts have been quick to notice a peculiarity about Monday’s attack. The bomber has

been identified as Akbarzhon Jalilov, a 22-year-old native of Osh, a city in the south of Kyrgyzstan, who moved to Russia six years ago and obtained Russian citizenship.

This means this is the first major terror attack carried out in Russia by someone from the central Asian republics. There are millions of people working in Russia from the central Asian republics and their

radicalization is worrying, even if it’s restricted to a small number of people. Also, people in some of the former Soviet republics are desperately poor, a fact which the terrorist networks can exploit to their advantage as they are flush with funds.

It will be premature to jump to conclusions as the police are still investigating. Central Asian leaders, though alert to the threat of terrorism, have been happy that Islamic terrorists haven’t been able to encroach into their territory as they have stubbornly kept foreign influences out of their land. And for terrorist networks seeking to recruit from that region, things were not easy because of the language barrier and other cultural differences.

The most important question is whether Jalilov was a lone bomber or part a larger network. But it sends a message – Russia and central Asian states need to be more alert to prevent attacks in future.

10 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017VIEWS

E S T A B L I S H E D I N 1 9 9 6

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Terror in Russia

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The situation is getting desperate in Syria. We are already seeing children who aren‘t able to go to school, families who cannot access adequate shelter or provide for their basic needs.

Filippo GrandiUN High Commissioner for Refugees

The Central Asian link to the blast in St Petersburg shows terrorists are trying to expand their presence.

Israel’s decision to cut its annual contribu-tion to the United Nations is mean-spirited and infantile. After committing itself to pay $11.7 million to the international organi-sation in 2017, the Netanyahu government

has decided to slash $2 million from that sum, in addition to the $6 million that was cut in Jan-uary, in retaliation for the UN criticising some of its policies.

Even if Israel were to withhold its entire contribution, the impact would make hardly a dent in the ability of the UN to continue its functions. What is at stake, however, is not so much the money involved but the principle, which is a very simple one; if you are a mem-ber of a club, or play a game, you must adhere to its rules. Repeated infringements will lead to expulsion and possibly a fine or ban.

It is appropriate, therefore, for us to see whether or not Israel has adhered to the UN Charter, which is a requirement for member-ship. Let’s put to one side the fact that Israel’s membership of the UN was in the first place conditional upon it allowing Palestinian refu-gees to return to their homes; that has not been allowed to happen. Has it, moreover, implemented the many resolutions which call upon it to respect Palestinian human rights and end its colonial-settlement enterprise in the occupied territories?

Far from it, and yet Israel expects and demands neither reprimand nor disciplinary measures. Instead, it behaves like a spoilt brat playing football who finds himself on the los-ing side despite cheating and breaking the rules, and so moves the goalposts; when that doesn’t work, he picks the ball up and runs crying to his mama. In Israel’s case, it heads for Washington.

Like an over-indulgent parent, the US is as blameworthy as Israel. It has encouraged Israeli infractions by bullying and threatening the UN for what it calls a “bias” against the Zionist state (an allegation echoed by Britain, unsurprisingly). Why should any member state and organ of the world body turn a blind eye to Israel’s contempt for international law and UN resolutions? Would they be fulfilling their own obligations to the UN Charter by maintaining a dutiful silence while Israel con-tinues to defy the international will?

Do those who back the United States and its wayward protégé Israel not believe that putting minors on trial in military courts, for example, and waging a relentless campaign of collective punishment of civilians such as house demolitions and travel restrictions are simply the wrong things to do, never mind illegal? All of these practices by Israel are well documented by UN agencies as well as human rights groups, including reputable Israeli organisations such as B’Tselem and the Israeli Committee Against House demolitions (ICAHD).

Now that Israel has shown its hand and demonstrated that it is incapable of acting like a normal member of the family of nations, the UN has no other option but to enforce its own

Blackmailing the UN is not an option for civilised statesDr Daud Abdullah

rules. Under Article 19 of the Charter, a member state can lose its vote in the General Assembly (GA) if it has been in arrears in the payment of its dues in an amount that equals or exceeds the con-tributions due for two preceding years. If the offending state can show that condi-tions beyond its control contributed to this inability to pay, an exception may be allowed. Needless to say, in this instance Israel has chosen wilfully not to pay. Thus, it is well within the right of the GA to suspend Israel’s voting right once the stipulated period has elapsed.

There is also another, more punitive, measure which the GA could consider: the South African option. In 1974, the then president of the General Assembly, Abdelaziz Bouteflika (now the president of Algeria), ruled that South Africa should be barred from participating in the work of the UN General Assembly. His ruling was upheld in the assembly by 91 to 22 votes after three permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, France and the

US — blocked the move to expel apartheid South Africa under Article 6 of the Charter.By cutting its contribution to the

UN, Israel is acting dishonourably and irresponsibly. The move has all the fea-tures of an attempt to blackmail the world body; the UN must either main-tain Israel’s self-assumed exceptionalism, allowing it to continue to act with murderous impunity, or face the loss of its contribution towards the organisation’s considerable run-ning costs.

Like it or not, the UN remains the only global multilateral institution dedicated to maintaining peace and security and fostering cooperation between nations for the common good. It is by no means a perfect organisation, but it can only be as strong as its member states want and allow it to be.

If they are weak and susceptible to blackmail, intimidation and bullying, then there is no future for the United Nations. On the other hand, if they agree to uphold its rules and principles, the world will surely be a safer, fairer and better place for this and future generations.

It is important, therefore, not to succumb to Israel’s blackmail by allow-ing it to perpetuate its reign of terror in occupied Palestine. The sensible, humane and very obvious option is for the UN to insist on a level playing field for all of its members — rules, regula-tions and adherence to the Charter included — from which all nations can realise their full potential. That is the option for all civilised states to take; blackmail isn’t.

The writer is the Director of Middle East Monitor (Memo).

By cutting its contribution to the UN, Israel is acting dishonourably and irresponsibly. The move has all the features of an attempt to blackmail the world body.

ED ITOR IAL

The 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council at the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland.

11WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 OPINION

several foreign leaders experienced awkward moments with the new US president.

“Ensuring President Xi does not lose face is a top priority for China,” a Chinese official said.

US presidents’ meetings with their Chinese counterparts are usually more tightly scripted than with other foreign leaders, something Chinese offi-cials insist on to make sure they are treated with the decorum they believe befits a global power.

This summit should offer a study in contrasts: Trump impatient, outspoken and prone to angry tweet-storms; Xi, outwardly calm and measured, with no known social media presence.

Their shared nationalist tendencies could aggravate friction between their countries, which are increasingly global rivals.

Trump insists the United States has been cheated economically for decades by countries like China and must regain its luster, while Xi wants China, once an ancient empire, to be able to flex its muscles on the world stage.

“Xi and Trump are not natural friends,” said a former senior US official specialising in Asia. “The question is when Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ hits Xi’s ‘Chinese Dream’, what’s the result?”

It remains unclear how far Trump will go in translating populist rhetoric into policy that steps up pressure on China, given the risk of a trade war neither country can afford.

But aides say he won’t pull his punches, espe-cially on trade, on which he has held an outspoken view for decades.

This adds to doubts as to whether the two lead-ers can find common ground on North Korea and

Israel’s history of protecting Al Assad

“Israel opened the door for Syrian Presi-dent Bashar Al Assad to get out of his international isolation.”

These were the words of then Dep-uty Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey

Feltman during a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute in Washington in January 2010.

He is now the political advisor to the United Nations secretary-general. Feltman was not the average US diplomat. Before Hillary Clinton appointed him deputy assistant secretary of state in 2009, he had served at various posts across the Mid-dle East, the last of which was that of US ambassador to Lebanon. Feltman had barely arrived in Beirut when former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February of 2005.

So began one of Lebanon’s most memorable popular revolts, which forced Al Assad to withdraw his troops from Lebanon two months later. Al Assad’s humiliation in Lebanon was coupled with a mounting international isolation engineered by Washington. Feltman’s active role in supporting the Lebanese uprising in 2005 made Al Assad and his Lebanese allies — mainly Hezbollah — launch a vilification campaign against the US diplomat.

Shortly before Feltman was replaced in Beirut,

a bomb narrowly missed a convoy near the US embassy. Many believed the bombing either tar-geted Feltman himself or was a message from Al Assad and Hezbollah to Washington.

By 2009, Feltman had become the top US dip-lomat in terms of Middle Eastern affairs. With former President Barack Obama endorsing an “engage Al Assad” policy, Feltman —who had been leading the international effort in support of Leba-nese democracy —now found himself visiting Damascus and meeting Al Assad.

When Feltman said Israel had “opened the door for Al Assad to get out of his international isola-tion,” he knew what he was talking about.

In 2006, Al Assad launched a campaign in Washington aimed at “coming back in from the cold”. His then ambassador to the US, Imad Mus-tafa, connected with Syrian Jews in a bid to win the support of the influential Jewish-American com-munity. Before anyone knew it, Al Assad’s officials were holding “peace talks” with their Israeli coun-terparts -- a move Feltman believed would allow Al Assad to return to the international fold.

Mustafa eventually succeeded in organizing a trip to Damascus for US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Foreign Policy Committee Chairman John Kerry, who found in Al Assad a partner. With Obama, Kerry and Obama’s assist-ants in place -- including Al Assad’s good friend, Robert Malley, who would later become the top US National Security Council official on the Middle East -- and because Israel had shown readiness to engage Al Assad, Washington was ready to embrace the Syrian president.

At first sight, Israel’s protection of Al Assad looks counterintuitive. After all, he is the man who not only supports Israel’s mortal enemy, Hezbollah, but who also — in 2006 — opened his military depots to the Lebanese group so that the latter might use Syrian missiles in its conflict with Israel.

Until 2011, the Israeli position had been sup-portive of democracy across the Middle East: In

Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and in Iran. The Israeli position was in sync with that of former US President George Bush and his hawkish neocons. Feltman’s statement about Israel saving Al Assad should have been an eye-opener for anyone who thought Israel was interested in seeing the democratization of the Arab world.

In 2011, Israel — and most of its friends in Washington — took a firm stance against the “Arab Spring” uprisings that were roiling the region at the time and openly supported former Egyptian Presi-dent Hosni Mubarak.

Later, Israel would be among the staunchest advocates of the military coup in Egypt that brought General Abdel-Fattah Sissi to power in Cairo.

To be fair, a few of Israel’s friends in Washing-ton proved that — unlike Tel Aviv — their interest in spreading democracy in the Arab world was gen-uine. For instance, former top Bush official on the Middle East, Eliot Abrams, supported Egypt’s upris-ing throughout, regardless of the Israeli position.

Abrams was the second speaker at the Hudson Institute in 2010 when Feltman accused Israel of saving Al Assad. It seems Israel is not interested in Arab or Iranian democracy, after all. Perhaps Israel wants to see “change” only in countries where it foes rule. As such, Israel advocated the removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, supported Leba-non’s anti-Hezbollah uprising in 2005, raised hell against Palestinians to force the election of Mah-moud Abbas and undermine Yasser Arafat, but then cared little when Palestinians stopped holding elec-tions thereafter.

In 2009, Israel’s friends in Washington trashed Obama for not supporting Iran’s “Green Revolution”.

But aside from Saddam, Hezbollah, Arafat and Iran, Israel does not seem particularly keen on the spread of democracy among the Arabs and Irani-ans. Israel only wants Al Assad weakened enough so he cannot support Hezbollah but not so weak that he collapses -- which brings us to the Israeli

When US President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, their summit will be marked not only by

deep policy divisions but a clash of per-sonalities between America’s brash “tweeter-in-chief” and Beijing’s cautious, calculating leader.

They may have one thing in common: their rhetoric about restoring their nations to greatness. But the two men differ in almost every other respect, from their political styles to their diplomatic experi-ence, adding uncertainty to what has been called the world’s most important bilateral relationship.

Five months after his election on a stri-dently anti-China platform, Trump appears to have set himself on a course for collision rather than conciliation with Xi, raising doubts as to whether the world’s two biggest economies can find common ground. Topping the agenda at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida will be whether he will make good on his threat to use crucial US-China trade ties to pressure Beijing to do more to rein in its nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea, which is working to develop missiles capable of hit-ting the United States.

Trump, a 70-year-old former real estate magnate with no foreign policy experience before entering the White House, has tweeted that it will be a “very difficult” meeting with the veteran Com-munist Party leader seven years his junior, given Chinese trade practices he says are killing US jobs.

He has also demanded that Beijing do more to “solve” the North Korean problem – his biggest national security challenge - or he will act alone to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile pro-grams. Some White House aides believe Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner could be an influential moderating voice on how he handles Xi in their talks on Thursday and Friday. Con-tacts between Kushner and China’s US envoy helped smooth the way for the meeting, according to current and former US officials.

Even so, what worries the protocol-conscious Chinese more than policy clashes is the risk that the unpredictable Trump could publicly embarrass Xi, after

Trump, Xi will be ‘odd couple’ at first summit

US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.

China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.Some analysts question whether Trump can get the better of

Xi, who was born into a life of politics and has a reputation for being a tough tactician.

“Xi’s performed pretty well in these types of environments,” said Christopher Johnson, a China expert and former CIA analyst at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. While Trump has been in office little more than 10 weeks, Xi has honed his US strategy since assuming the Chinese leadership in 2013. The son of a revolutionary leader, Xi has sought to project the image internationally of a strong advocate of globalization at a time when Trump has stoked fears of US protectionism.

Still, Chinese officials are mindful of the pitfalls if Trump veers off-script. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe found himself in a long, uncomfortable handshake at the White House in February, and Trump appeared to ignore German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s offer of a handshake during their meeting last month. An acrimonious call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused particular concern in Beijing, officials there say.

Still, the decision to hold a summit so early in Trump’s pres-idency suggests both Washington and Beijing see the value of trying to build a personal relationship between the two leaders.

Trump goes into the meeting with significant gaps in his team of Asia advisers and his China policy still not fully formu-lated. Hardliners like trade adviser Peter Navarro, who authored a book “Death by China,” have feuded over the administration’s approach to China with more pragmatic aides such as economic adviser Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs president, current and former US officials say.

Administration officials argue Trump can use his “Art of the Deal” sales techniques to convince Xi that China needs the United States more than the United States needs China, espe-cially when it comes to market access.

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position on the Syrian conflict since 2011.

Israel appreciates the Al Assad family, the late Hafez Al Assad and his son and successor, Bashar.

The Al Assads might not be fans of Israel, but they know their limits. Between 1974 and 2011, the Al Assad family gave Israel peace of mind when it came to the sta-bility of the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel not only occupies but has officially annexed.

Starting in 1996, Al Assad guar-anteed that the war between Israel and Hezbollah would not turn into a full scale confrontation. In 1993 and 1996, as the situation between Israel and Hezbollah escalated, Al Assad gave Israel a way out by restoring a tentative truce. Even though Al Assad makes trouble from time to time, Israel can toler-ate his behaviour, and actually prefers him as the “evil they know” to an alternative that they do not.

Hence, when the Syrians -- moderate and radical Islamists — took on Al Assad to topple him, Israel wanted the Syrian president to stay, but could do little to save him. Unfortunately for Israel, its archenemies -- Iran and Hezbol-lah -- stepped in to save Al Assad, and it did not take long before the Syrian president became militarily dependent on Iran for his survival.

As Al Assad’s grip on his south-ern border with Israel weakened, Iran and Hezbollah tried to build an infrastructure by which they could threaten Israel.

Hussain Abdul HussainAnatolia

When Feltman said Israel had “opened the door for Al Assad to get out of his international isolation,” he knew what he was talking about.

David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick & Ben BlanchardReuters

12 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017ASIA

North Korea threatens to hit back over curbsSeoul

AFP

North Korea has warned it will retal-iate if the global community ramps up sanctions over

its latest round of weapons tests.The warning comes as Pres-

ident Donald Trump threatened the United States was prepared to go it alone in bringing Pyongyang to heel if China did not step in.

The isolated state has quick-ened its missile programme in recent months, with a volley of tests it says are putting it closer to acquiring the ability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear weapon.

US-based analysts have said North Korea appears to be pre-paring a new atomic test. It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.

North Korea's foreign min-istry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint mili-tary exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The "reckless actions" are driving the tense situation on the

Korean peninsula "to the brink of a war", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the offi-cial KCNA news agency.

The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its "nuclear deterrent" through sanctions is "the wildest dream".

"Now that the US fails to face up to the trend of times but incites confrontation to stran-gle the DPRK (North Korea), the DPRK is left with no option but to take necessary counteraction against it.

"The world will soon witness

what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hide-ous and reckless sanctions racket", he said.

North Korea frequently makes unspecific threats in its state media.

The statement comes ahead of a first face-to-face meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The comment by the North's foreign ministry spokesman came hours before the US House of Representatives overwhelm-ingly passed a bill relisting the North as a state sponsor of terror.

The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanc-tions last week, seeking to further isolate the country's economy.

Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after Trump-Xi meeting.

"It is most likely to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of its army on April 25 with either a sixth nuclear test, or the launch of a satellite or an ICBM test".

Thai junta to spend $58m to buy 10 Chinese tanks

Japan cabinet allows schools to study banned imperial orderTokyo

AP

OPPOSITION politicians yes-terday criticised a decision by Japan's Cabinet to allow schools to study a 19th century imperial order on education that was banned after World War II for promoting militarism and emperor worship, saying it's a sign that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is becoming more nationalistic.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the Imperial Rescript on Educa-tion should be allowed as teaching material if it is used in line with the constitution and the education law.

The Cabinet adopted the policy on Friday. He added that, however, that schools should primarily follow the g o v e r n m e n t - a p p r o v e d curriculum.

Opposition politicians called the move unconstitu-tional and unacceptable.

"The decision clearly underscores an attempt by the Abe government to rein-state prewar," opposition Democratic Party policy research chief Hiroshi Ogushi said.

The rescript, which all students were required to memorise, called on Japanese to sacrifice themselves for the emperor and his empire.

US navy urged to leave CambodiaPhnom Penh

Reuters

A US Navy aid unit has been told to leave Cambodia, the US embassy said, in a

new sign of the Southeast Asian country loosening links with Washington as it strengthens ties with Beijing.

The departure of US Navy Mobile Construction Battalion - known as the Seabees - meant the cancellation of 20 planned projects, including at schools and hospitals, the embassy said on its Facebook page.

"Last week, the Royal Gov-ernment of Cambodia notified

the Embassy of its decision to postpone indefinitely the Sea-bees programme," the embassy said.

"We are sad to see the Sea-bees go, but proud of their accomplishments over the last nine years."

Cambodian defense minis-try spokesman Chhum Socheat said he was unaware of such a decision.

Cambodia has gone further than other Southeast Asian nations in courting China and the shift away from Washing-ton has continued under U.S. President Donald Trump, despite Cambodian Prime

Minister Hun Sen's professed admiration for him.

Relations have been strained by U.S. criticism of a legal change that made it easier for the government to ban political parties and by renewed Cam-bodian demands for the cancellation of $500m in debts dating from the war era of the 1970s.

In January, Cambodia sus-pended joint military exercises that were due to have been held in June.

Cambodia said it was because it would be too busy with elections then and rejected any connection to China.

Bangkok

AFP

Thailand's government yes-terday agreed to buy 10 tanks from China for

$58m in the latest defence spending by a junta with a taste for Chinese hardware.

The military is replacing its US-made M41 rolling stock with Chinese VT-4 tanks, as it con-tinues to upgrade its equipment three years after seizing power from a civilian government.

The Southeast Asian coun-try has already snapped up 28

Chinese tanks and secured around $380m for a submarine -- with cash being sought for two more.

Yesterday, the cabinet approved the purchase of 10 more VT-4s for around $58m, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said.

"These are to replace the M41 tanks which we have used since World War II," he added yesterday.

Thailand is facing a decade-long insurgency in its southernmost provinces but rarely deploys tanks there.

Kuala Lumpur Reuters

Malaysia's national human rights panel yesterday said it was disturbed by

more than 600 deaths at immi-gration detention centres and prisons over the last two years, and called for immediate reform.

In its 2016 annual report, the panel, known by its Malay acro-nym, Suhakam, said there were more than 100 deaths in immi-gration detention centres and 521 deaths in prisons in 2015 and 2016. Twelve people died in police lock-ups in 2015.

Last week, citing documents from Suhakam, Reuters

reported that 118 foreigners, including undocumented work-ers, refugees and asylum seekers, had died at detention centres in the last two years.

Suhakam said deaths mostly stemmed from diseases in all prisons and detention centres, where the government should look to improve conditions and healthcare.

"There is little interest in the human rights of detainees," said Chairman Razali Ismail. "This attitude is reflected in govern-ment budgetary priorities and the resources made available for the running and upkeep of all places of detention."

Particularly in immigration detention centres, people spent

long periods unable to move freely or sleep comfortably in overcrowded cells, he said, where conditions sometimes deteriorated to become "inhumane".

The government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Suhakam's report, published yesterday.

Former detainees, govern-ment agencies and rights groups have said of grim living conditions in detention camps that are overcrowded and unhygienic.

Some said they received insufficient food, water or healthcare, and many developed skin and lung infections, or con-tagious diseases.

S Korean tycoon roars back into contention for presidentSeoul

Reuters

South Korean software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo clinched his centrist Peo-

ple's Party nomination to run for president yesterday, roar-ing back into contention in the May 9 vote after abandoning his presidential ambitions in 2012.

Ahn has taken a tougher stance on national security than the liberal frontrunner for pres-ident, Moon Jae-in, who won his Democratic Party's nomi-nation, saying there should be no mistake about the dangers presented by North Korea.

He has vowed to level the playing field for small business and conglomerates and provide equal opportunity for youth from all backgrounds to inject fresh breath into an economy showing signs of sputtering weighed by injustice and corruption.

"We need to elect a capable president who can revive the economy. We need a president who can accomplish strong and robust national security," Ahn said in his acceptance speech yesterday.

"The time for Ahn Cheol-soo is here and the time for Moon Jae-in is slipping away."

Call to reform Malaysian detention cellA general view of Bukit Jalil immigration detention centre in Kuala Lumpur.

China vows fresh smog crackdownBeijing

Reuters

China's smoggiest cities have pledged to ramp up the battle on pollution

after air quality deteriorated in the first few months of this year, the China Daily reported, as smog blanketed the capital, Beijing, and the surrounding region.

"Top officials from seven

districts in Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei and Shanxi provinces were scolded at the weekend by the environmen-tal watchdog for lax control of pollution this year".

The officials promised to submit plans to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) to resolve the problem within 20 days, it said. In the first quarter, air quality deteri-orated in the districts and cities,

according to the ministry.The news came as toxic

smog blanketed the capital and surrounding cities on Monday, forcing some to issue an orange alert, the second-high-est level after red, as pollution reached hazardous levels.

On Saturday, Hebei, said it would take more action to shut "backward" coal-fired power plants, promote new energy vehicles and shift industries.

Cherry blossoms mark start of SpringTokyo

Reuters

Crowds of tourists and res-idents set off a flurry of selfie sticks and mobile

phones in Tokyo's Ueno Park yesterday, as they flocked to enjoy the cherry blossoms marking the start of Spring.

Japan had announced the season would start on March 21 with the flowering of sakura blossoms at the Yasukuni

Shrine, but other places in Tokyo were denied the sight, because of a cold weather snap.

Yesterday's jump in temper-ature of 17 degrees C, changed that, however, drawing out throngs of people for the "hamami" tradition of the view-ing and appreciation of the famed pink flowers.

Japan makes its cherry blos-som predictions scrupulously, with one weather broadcaster collecting observations from

10,000 trees nationwide.That is especially important

for foreign tourists, who plan holidays to catch a glimpse.

Japan's tourism ministry says the number of foreign tour-ists peaked in April last year, thanks to the popularity of the sakura flowers.

Beneath the flowering sakura trees, Tokyo residents laid out picnics, with some company employees arriving early to reserve places for colleagues.

A man looks at cherry blossoms in almost full bloom in Tokyo, yesterday.

New warning

The world will soon witness what eventful steps the DPRK will take to frustrate the hideous and reckless sanctions racket: Official

Professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North is likely to hold off any provocative acts until after the Trump-Xi meeting.

13WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 ASIA

Goodwill visit

IS eyeing base in southern PhilippinesSingapore

AFP

Battle-hardened South-east Asian Islamic State (IS) fighters returning from the Middle East following

the group's setbacks are expected to rebase in the south-ern Philippines, a security conference heard yesterday.

Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mind-anao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups, said speakers at the Milipol conference on homeland

security in Singapore."Currently, IS is moving

towards creating a territory in southern Philippines. The most recent communication issued by

IS has announced that they have formally declared an East Asia division of IS in the southern Philippines," counter-terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told the conference.

"Our forecast for 2017 is that the threat in this region will grow because of the creation of an IS nucleus in the southern Philip-pines," added Gunaratna.

"The instability in the south-ern Philippines and the availability of weapons, internal displacement, refugee flows... create the ripe conditions for for-eign terrorists to come," he told AFP after his speech.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam also told the conference yesterday that the southern Philippines "is becoming an area that is diffi-cult to control despite the best efforts of the Philippine government".

"So that is an area that can serve as a sanctuary for return-ing fighters from the Middle East. It can be a place where would-be terrorists can go... they can train, arms seem to move fairly easily into that area," Shanmu-gam added.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic

militancy. Hundreds of radicals from the region, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, have flocked to join IS in Iraq and Syria.

But as IS suffers battlefield setbacks, officials and analysts fear these fighters would return to their home region.

Southeast Asia suffered its first IS-linked attack in January last year when extremists launched a deadly suicide bomb-ing and gun attack in Jakarta.

In Mindanao, which has long battled a Muslim insurgency, a handful of groups have sworn allegiance to IS.

Canberra

AP

Afghanistan's president said yesterday he did not discuss during his Aus-

tralian visit taking back asylum seekers, a prospect that mobi-lized hundreds of protesters who argued the strife-torn Cen-tral Asian country is too dangerous for its nationals to be forced home.

Ashraf Ghani will end the first visit to Australia by an Afghan president today.

Hundreds of protesters came to the capital, Canberra, yesterday calling for Ghani's government to end discrimina-tion against the Hazara ethnic minority and to prevent the repatriation of Hazara asylum seekers rejected by Australia.

Afghanistan signed an

agreement with Australia in 2011 to accept failed Afghan asylum seekers. But repatria-tions have since been rare and Afghan lawmakers have spo-ken out against forced returns.

Ghani declined to say whether he would be comfort-able with Australia returning Afghan asylum seekers.

"I do not make these deci-sions as an individual. I am not entitled," Ghani said.

"Has the legal due process been completed or not? What has been our treaty? — because it's not subject of discussion, I don't have it on top of my fingers".

Australia has a strict policy of refusing to allow refugees who arrive by boat to stay.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull did not mention asy-lum seekers in his statement yesterday on Ghani's visit.

Duterte fires minister for corruptionManila

AFP

PHILIPPINE President Rod-rigo Duterte said yesterday he had fired his interior minis-ter for corruption as signs of infighting rocked his govern-ment.

"It's corruption," Duterte said about the sacking of Ismael Sueno, who super-vised the president's war on drugs that has left thousands dead.

Sueno, who was fired at a cabinet meeting late Mon-day, was blamed for what Duterte described as the anomalous purchase by the interior ministry of fire trucks from a foreign country.

"I do not have to belabour the point. Just remember my promises to the people: no corruption, drugs, criminal-ity," Duterte said.

"I respect the president's decision but I am not cor-rupt," Sueno, 69, said in a statement.

Sueno said he was not involved in the firetruck deal as it was approved by Duterte's predecessor.

He also said his con-science was clear and he was willing to face any investigation.

Asked if Sueno might face charges, Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday: "Let us wait for the president to take his subsequent actions."

"The summary dismissal served as a warning that Mr Duterte would not counte-nance any questionable or legally untenable decisions by any member of the cabinet".

Kabul sacks top officials over hospital attackKabul

AFP

AFGHANISTAN yesterday sacked 12 army officers includ-ing two generals for negligence over an insurgent attack on the country's largest military hospital, which pointed to a spectacular intelligence failure.

Gunmen disguised as doctors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital in the capital, Kabul last month, with mul-tiple surviving staff telling that insiders were among the attackers.

"The military head of intelligence and the official in charge of medical support were among those who have been dismissed and will face prosecution," the defence ministry said.

"They have been sacked for negligence of duty over the hospital attack," ministry spokesman Mohammad Rad-manish said.

The carnage inside the hospital was a major embar-rassment for the military, spotlighting how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government institutions in Afghanistan.

South China Sea: Talks progress on code of conductManila

Reuters

China and Southeast Asian countries have made progress in talks on a code

of conduct for the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine acting foreign minister said yesterday.

"We have made good progress on coming up with a framework for a code on con-duct with China," Philippine Acting Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said, adding the Associ-ation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China were more than halfway through identify-ing the contents.

"From a scale of 1-10, we are at the upper level. Remember, we were starting from zero in January."

"There have been a number of elements agreed and we would definitely have a frame-work on which to embark a serious negotiation on a code of conduct."

Negotiators from China and Asean have met in Indonesia and Cambodia in the last two months to try to come up with a final draft, which could be approved ahead of the August meeting by Southeast Asian foreign minis-ters in Manila.

Manalo also said Manila would hold talks with Beijing

next month to tackle "issues of concern regarding the South China Sea", including China's militarisation of several man-made islands in the Spratly Islands.

The bilateral mechanism is one of two dialogues held by China with claimant states.

The other is with Vietnam.

Zamboanga City Anatolia

Philippine government and communist rebels have agreed on a joint interim

ceasefire agreement during the fourth round of peace talks in the Netherlands.

"Despite one-day delay in the resumption of talks, both panels agreed on a joint interim ceasefire as they discussed terms that will be included in the bilateral ceasefire agreement," the GMA news reported yesterday.

The peace talks were delayed after President Rodrigo Duterte called the government peace panel to insist on four conditions before agreeing to a bilateral ceasefire.

"We welcome the openness of NDF (National Democratic Front) to undertake a forging in this round of talks of an agree-ment on joint interim ceasefire that will accompany our peace negotiations throughout," GMA News quoted GRP Peace Panel chief negotiator and Labor Sec-retary Silvestre Bello II as saying.

"A special statement or agreement or memorandum of understanding can also be issued to focus on this interim bilateral agreement," National Democratic Front of the Philip-pines' chief political adviser and Communist Party of the Philip-pines (CPP) founder Professor Jose Maria Sison was quoted as saying by GMA News.

Among the issues to be

discussed under the bilateral ceasefire agreement are the rev-olutionary tax collection of the communist rebels, hostile acts, the strength of military forces and the New People’s Army (NPA), and the release of polit-ical prisoners.

However, the NDFP said it was hopeful the matters to be discussed during the fourth round of peace talks would not be limited to the bilateral ceasefire.

"It is important to stress that the issue of ceasefire should not be pursued as an end in itself. Ceasefires, whether unilateral or bilateral or joint are just a means to an end," NDFP Peace Panel lead negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement yesterday.

Refugees off Ghani's Australia visit agenda

Philippines & rebels agree on ceasefire

Concerns

Instability and the easy flow of weapons have made Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands attractive to extremist groups: Speakers

Islamabad

Internews

Unidentified men vandal-ised the tomb of renowned Pashto Sufi

poet Abdur Rahman Mohmand, more commonly known as Rah-man Baba, and stole his tombstone from the mausoleum.

The tombstone was gifted to the cemetery by King of Afghanistan Zahir Shah in 1950.

Peshawar Deputy Commis-sioner Sardar Saqib Raza said yesterday that it was brought to his attention through local sources. He proceeded to regis-ter a case at Yakatoot Police Station and ordered a separate

inquiry through his own office.The DC also confirmed the

news that some illegal construc-tion was under way at the cemetery, but added that the structure had been taken over and orders had been issued to raze it.

“During the inquiry, we were also told that unknown persons had stolen the tombstone of the

crypt, which was gifted by His Highness Zahir Shah. It was engraved with Rehman Baba’s poetry and studded with pearls and coral. The precious stones had already been stolen some years ago,” Raza added.

He said that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had previously allotted 80 kanals of

land for the cemetery, but due to land grabbing and encroach-ment, the space available had fallen to around 30 kanals.

“I have ordered the local land record authority to reclaim land belonging to mausoleum".

Rahman Baba was a renowned Mughal era poet from Peshawar. He is, along with his

contemporary Khushal Khan Khattak, considered one of the most influential poets among Pashtuns on either side of the Durand Line.

His poetry expresses a peaceful, mystical side of local culture which is increasingly threatened by intolerant mod-ern interpretations of Islam.

Legendary Sufi poet’s tombstone stolen from Peshawar

Philippine Navy band plays music to welcome the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Kaha (F77), upon arrival at the South Harbor, for a four-day goodwill visit in Metro Manila, yesterday.

Robotic dinosaur

Japan's On-Art Corp's 6.4 metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit dino-tronics robot performs at the Sky Lobby of Hikarie building in Tokyo, yesterday.

14 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017ASIA

New Delhi

IANS

India-China diplomatic ten-sions rose afresh over the Dalai Lama's visit to Aru-

nachal Pradesh, with New Delhi asserting yesterday that no polit-ical motive should be attributed to the visit and asked Beijing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

Beijing in a fresh salvo slammed the Dalai Lama as an "anti-China separatist" and attacked New Delhi indirectly for its support to the Tibetan leader.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh, said that no political motive should be attrib-uted to Dalai Lama's trip. "India has always been non-interfer-ing in the neighbours' internal affairs in our approach," Rijiju said. "In the same manner, we expect the same from our neighbours".

"When Dalai Lamaji is in

Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious mat-ters. He is not there to make any political statement and he is not there with any political motive".

Rijiju, who is scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama today, said India has never questioned Chi-na's sovereignty and "has respectfully adhered to one-China policy".

"So we expect that China also should not interfere in our inter-nal matters," he stated.

His comment came as the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Dalai Lama has visited the state six times earlier and no "additional colour" should be given to his visit starting from April 5.

Reacting to the visit, the Chi-nese Foreign Ministry told Efe news: "The 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist who has long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of

high-ranking feudal serf own-ers in Tibet in March 1959."

"The Chinese government is

resolutely opposed to any coun-try's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China

separatist activities," read the statement without alluding directly to India.

India & Pakistan argue over Jinnah's bungalow Mumbai

Reuters

A fresh row has erupted in a decades-long dispute between Delhi and Islam-

abad over the fate of a bungalow in Mumbai once owned by Paki-stan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah, with an Indian lawmaker calling for it to be labelled "enemy property".

Famed for its Italian marble and walnut-wood panelling, Jin-nah House, as it is known locally, has been controlled by the Indian government since Jinnah moved to the country he helped create. Pakistan has long claimed own-ership of the building.

Relations between the two countries remain fraught after numerous conflicts since par-tition and independence from Britain in 1947, and the Jinnah House has been a bone of con-tention for decades.

Indian lawmaker Mangal Prabhat Lodha last week said the government must declare the bungalow "enemy prop-erty", and hand over the building to Maharashtra state where it is located.

The country spends mil-lions of rupees on the upkeep of the property in which the "conspiracy of partition" was

planned, and must now put it to better use, he said.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakria said in response that the property belonged to Pakistan's found-ing father, and that "ownership rights" must be respected.

Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia, who remained in India, is engaged in a separate legal battle with the Indian govern-ment over the property.

The stately building was labelled "evacuee property" in 1949, in accordance with the law that allowed the Indian government to take over prop-erties of those who migrated to Pakistan after partition. The Act has since been repealed.

The Enemy Property Act of 1968, enacted after India and Pakistan fought their second war over Kashmir in 1965, gave the Indian government the right to seize assets of Indian nationals

who had moved to Pakistan or China following conflicts with the two countries.

Pakistan enacted a similar law at the time.

But controversial amend-ments last month to the Enemy Property Act denies Indian families of those who moved to China and Pakistan the right to reclaim their properties.

The value of such proper-ties is estimated at about $15bn. The law unfairly targets Mus-lims, analysts say.

"The government may well apply the Enemy Property Act to the Jinnah House, as it can be applied retroactively," said Anand

Grover, a lawyer who has argued the enemy property law before the Supreme Court.

"It would be one way for the government to settle the numerous disputes over the property."

Mumbai clinic treats people seeking mercy deathsDhaka

AFP

THREE Bangladeshis suffer-ing from a highly debilitating form of muscular dystrophy are receiving free treatment in India after a relative's plea for them to be allowed to die brought their plight to global attention.

Fruit seller Tofazzal Hos-sain sparked a rare debate about euthanasia in conserv-ative Bangladesh in January when he pleaded with the authorities to allow his grand-son and two sons to die.

All three suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystro-phy, a rare genetic disorder characterised by progressive muscle degeneration. Patients rarely live beyond 30.

Now the Mumbai-based NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute has offered to treat them using a new stem cell therapy that it says has improved the condition of hundreds of patients.

Spokeswoman Avantika Patil said the family had arrived at the clinic on Sun-day after an Indian airline flew them free of charge.

"The disorder is incura-ble of course. They suffer from severe form of muscu-lar dystrophy," she said, adding what the clinic was trying to do to was to improve their conditions.

Hossain said the treatment was the last hope for his sons and the grandson. "I am hope-ful. They have carried out the first round of operations".

NZ confirms typhoid fever outbreakWellington

AP

An outbreak of typhoid fever among a church community in New Zea-

land has caused one death and left at least 14 other people hos-pitalized, health authorities said yesterday.

"A person who traveled to the Pacific Islands recently apparently contracted the dis-ease there then spread it to others in New Zealand," Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said.

Most of the cases began emerging last week, and Cole-man said authorities don't believe the disease has been spread through water contamination.

"So it's person-to-person

contact," Coleman said yesterday.

"It's a congregation sharing food together, being in close contact."

Health authorities said all those infected are members of the Samoan Assembly of God, a Pacific church in Auckland.

The woman who died last week had other serious health issues and that typhoid fever was a complicating factor, Dr. Julia Peters, the clinical direc-tor of the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, said in a statement.

"We are working with the church to trace other people who may be infected and we are doing this while they are mourn-ing the loss of one of their own," Peters said.

Coleman said authorities have screened 140 people for the disease and have another 60 to screen.

He also said that he didn't believe the outbreak posed a wider risk to the public beyond those who had been in direct contact with the church congregation.

The disease can be con-tracted by eating food or drinking water handled by somebody who has the disease, or when contaminated sewage comes into contact with drink-ing water.

Symptoms include a high fever, headaches and muscle aches, and constipation or diarrhea.

The disease can usually be treated with antibiotics.

New Zealand braces for aftermath of Cyclone DebbieWellington

Reuters

NEW Zealand was bracing for potential flooding and land-slips yesterday as the remnants of Cyclone Debbie made land-fall, a week after the powerful storm hit neighbouring Aus-tralia where three people were killed by subsequent floods.

The New Zealand Met office warned people on New Zealand's north island to pre-pare for heavy rainfall for the next several days, with some areas forecast to receive a month's worth of rain in the next 24 hours.

"It's not a quick hit, it's a gradual process -- a lot of rain is expected to fall over most parts of the North Island and upper South Island," Met Service duty forecaster Raveen Das said.

New Zealand's mountain-ous terrain makes its roads susceptible to landslides and many regions are still recov-ering from a 7.8 magnitude quake that struck near Christchurch in November, causing substantial damage to infrastructure.

Cyclone Debbie, a Cate-gory Four storm, one short of the most powerful level five, pounded Australia's Queens-land state yesterday, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines.

Three people were killed in Australia when they were caught in floodwaters that swamped the country's east coast in the aftermath and Australia's Defence Force was deployed to help deliver med-ical personnel and supplies to communities in the north of the state.

Row with China deepens as Dalai Lama visits Arunachal

Friendship and the Broken bridges

Lights are turned on the Friendship and the Broken bridges over the Yalu River connecting the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in Liaoning province.

India implements new liberal visa policyNew Delhi

IANS

Commerce and Indus-try Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday said that the govern-ment has started to

implement the new liberalised visa regime from April 1, 2017.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 30, 2016, approved various measures for

liberalisation of visa regime."Multiple entry tourist and

business visas for a period of five years will now be available to nationals of most of the coun-tries," Sitharaman said in a series of tweets yesterday.

The new regime had sub-divided e-Visa into three categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa -- for nationals of 161 coun-tries to enter India through 24 airports.

"E-visa facility extended to Cochin, Goa and Mangalore sea-ports (to benefit cruise tourism) soon also at Mumbai and Chen-nai sea-ports," Sitharaman tweeted.

"Upon urgent requests, busi-ness visa and medical visa will be granted within 48 hours of application."

The minister pointed out, "Separate immigration counters and facilitation desks to assist medical tourist at Delhi,

Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengluru and Hyderbad."

The government has also introduced a new category of visa for film production in India -- (F) Visa -- which has a maxi-mum duration of one year with multiple entry facility.

"Another new: Visa titled Intern (I) Visa rolled out w.e.f 1st March, 2017, to foreigners for internship in companies, edu-cational Institutions and NGOs," he added.

E-visa

The new regime had sub-divided e-Visa into three categories -- e-tourist visa, e-business visa and e-medical visa -- for nationals of 161 countries to enter India through 24 airports.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama arrives at the Thubchog Gatsel Ling Monastery in Bomdila in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, yesterday.

Indonesia police arrest wildlife buyerJakarta

AP

INDONESIAN police say they saved a young sun bear, a clouded leopard and a baby orangutan from the wildlife trade after a tip from con-servationists who tracked the illegal activities through Instagram.

Jakarta police spokesman Prabowo Argo Yuwono said Abdul Malik was arrested yes-terday in a raid on his southern Jakarta house where the animals were found caged.

Malik told police he arranged for the purchase of the animals through Insta-gram messages and paid $1,900 for the orangutan, $1,125 for the sun bear and $4,500 for the leopard.

Bone of contention

Relations between the two countries remain fraught after numerous conflicts since partition and independence from Britain in 1947, and the Jinnah House has been a bone of contention for decades.

15WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 EUROPE

A formation of military fighting jets fly over the ancient Parthenon temple during the International Joint Medium Scale Air Force Exercise, titled "Iniohos 2017", with the participation of Greece, Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Italy, in Athens, yesterday.

Air Force exercise

May laughs off Gibraltar war talkAmman

Bloomberg

UK Prime Minister T h e r e s a M a y laughed off the sug-gestion she’d go to war over Gibraltar

and said any dispute about the tiny British territory at the south-ern tip of Spain will be resolved through dialogue.

The issue flared up after Michael Howard, a former leader of May’s Conservatives, suggested on Sunday that Britain would fight with Spain to defend the rock. The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union raises con-cerns about the status of Gibraltar and those questions were laid bare on Friday when the EU’s negotiating guidelines gave Spain an effective veto over whether any post-Brexit deal would also apply to the territory.

Spain urged the UK to keep its cool and May also moved to defuse tensions. She threw her head back and let out a laugh when asked about it by report-ers on a plane en route to the Middle East. “What we’re doing with all European countries in the European Union is sitting down and talking to them,” May said. Pressed on whether the policy is “jaw-jaw rather than war-war,” she responded that “it’s definitely jaw-jaw.”

The spat over Gibraltar is yet another example of how thorny

Brexit talks will be, with battles forming over the size of the bill, how to treat the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and even on the order of the negoti-ations themselves.

“Our position on Gibraltar has not changed; we are very clear that we continue to support Gibraltar, we’re working with the government of Gibraltar and will continue to do so,” May said. “We want to negotiate the best possi-ble deal for the UK and the best possible deal for Gibraltar.”

Howard, who led the Con-servative Party from 2003 to 2005, upped the rhetoric on Sun-day when he made a comparison between the tussle with Spain

and the 1982 Falklands War between the UK and Argentina.

“Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a task force half-way across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking coun-try,” Howard told Sky News. “I’m absolutely certain that our cur-rent prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.”

But Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, who had dinner on Sunday with Brexit Secretary David Davis, told reporters in Madrid on Monday that ‘‘com-paring Gibraltar with the

Falklands is taking things out of context.” Britain “is a country known for its restraint,” Dastis said. “On this particular issue, their restraint is conspicuous by its absence.”

May’s spokesman, Greg Swift, told reporters in London that Howard’s suggestion that a Falk-lands-style naval task force could be sent to Gibraltar “isn’t going to happen.”

EU foreign ministers meet-ing in Luxembourg took note of the episode, and one of them found it particularly revealing.

“I would say on Gibraltar, you see now how difficult the divorce is,” the Netherlands’ Bert Koend-ers told reporters.

The Union Jack (left), the Gibraltarian flag (centre) and the European Union flag are seen flying, at the border of Gibraltar with Spain, in front of the Rock in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, historically claimed by Spain.

“Our position on Gibraltar has not changed; we are very clear that we continue to support Gibraltar, we’re working with the government of Gibraltar and will continue to do so,” Theresa May said. “We want to negotiate the best possible deal for the UK and the best possible deal for Gibraltar.”

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands as well as Princess Beatrix and Prince Constantijn attend the Koningsdagconcert (King's Day Concert) at the Theaters Tilburg in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The concert is played in honour of King Willem-Alexander, whose birthday is celebrated on Koningsdag or King's Day on April 27 — a national holiday.

King's Day Concert

London to impose new charges to cut pollutionLONDON: Drivers of the most polluting cars will be charged to travel into the centre of Lon-don from 2019, Mayor Sadiq Khan said yesterday, describ-ing his city's air as "lethal".

Khan hopes the move will halve harmful nitrogen oxide emissions in central London, where air pollution is thought to cost 9,000 premature deaths per year.

Under the scheme, vehi-cles will be charged £12.50 ($15.50) to enter a planned "ultra-low emissions zone" (ULEZ) around the city centre.

Diesel cars more than four years old in April 2019 and petrol cars more than 13 years old will face the charge 24 hours a day.

Private buses, coaches and trucks failing to meet emissions standards will have to pay £100. "The air in Lon-don is lethal and I will not stand by and do nothing," Khan said.

The ULEZ will have the same boundary as the current congestion charge zone, where vehicles pay £11.50 to enter the city centre between 7:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Friday.

The pollution charge would come on top of the congestion charge.

Khan said he wants to extend the ULEZ to a far wider area of London in 2021.

"One of the big reasons that the air in London is lethal is because of the emissions of vehicles," Khan said.

"We've estimated that more than half of the air pol-lution is caused by transport.

"It's really important to recognise that poor quality air is one of the reasons why there are 9,000 premature deaths in London each year, more than 40,000 premature deaths across the UK and children having defective lungs, plus adults suffering poor health."

British PM wades into Easter egg rowLondon

AFP

British Prime Minister Theresa May waded into a row yesterday over the

commercialisation of Easter, after the Church of England accused a major charity of "air-brushing faith" from its chocolate egg hunts.

May said it was "absolutely ridiculous" that the National Trust, which runs parks and stately homes across Britain, had allowed sponsor Cadbury to promote its chocolate egg hunts at their sites without ref-erence to the Christian festival. "I'm not just a vicar's daughter — I'm a member of the National Trust as well. I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous," the prime minister told Britain's ITV News while on a trip to Jordan.

"Easter's very important. It's important to me. It's a very important festival for the Chris-tian faith for millions across the world."

Her comments came after the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, told The Daily Tele-graph newspaper that the move was "tantamount to spitting on the grave" of chocolate maker Cadbury's founder, John Cad-bury, a Quaker.

A Church of England

spokesman also told the paper that advertising materials for the egg hunts were "airbrush-ing faith from Easter".

The National Trust owns or manages large swathes of the British countryside, from coast-lines to historic buildings and parks — and each year it holds family-friendly egg hunts over the Easter long weekend.

This year's campaign is called the "Cadbury Egg Hunt", although the chocolate maker pointed out that other market-ing materials urge children to "Enjoy Easter Fun".

A Cadbury spokeswoman said: "It is simply not true to claim that we have removed the word 'Easter' from our market-ing and communication materials."

The National Trust, for its part, said: "It's nonsense to sug-gest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be fur-ther from the truth.

"We host a huge pro-gramme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year."

Meanwhile Hampton Court Palace, one of several royal pal-aces run by a separate charity, is holding a "Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt" as part of its "Easter fam-ily fun".

Greek pensioners protest against further cutsAthens

Reuters

Thousands of elderly Greeks protested peacefully yes-terday against more

pension cuts, as cash-strapped Greece remained locked in talks with lenders on further auster-ity and unpopular labour reforms.

Pension cuts have been a regular feature of austerity drives to ensure that financial aid continues to the indebted coun-try. Greece has needed three

multi-billion bailouts since 2010 to stave off bankruptcy.

Greece is now negotiating new cuts to keep its latest €86bn ($91.54bn) bailout. They would represent the 12th reduction in pensions in seven years, a con-troversial issue for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party vowed to fight aus-terity when it was elected to office in 2015.

"Tsipras has betrayed us," said Stelios Vitzilaios as he marched with about another 4,000 pensioners through

Athens with the aid of a walking stick. He started work at the age of 14, and now takes a €550 pen-sion a month, €100 less than pre-crisis levels.

Pensioners in the country are often the sole means of support in a household, where a quarter of the workforce is jobless.

Several said their pensions were financially supporting unemployed adult members of their family and that they scrimped on food. "We have cut everything. We only eat beans," said Triainos Softsis, 82.

EU to give UK €60m for flood damageStrasbourg

Reuters

Britain will get €60m from the European Union to repair damage caused by

the floods last year, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Britain had asked for EU support to rebuild infrastructure damaged by heavy rains in the winter of 2015-16. European

Parliament lawmakers will approve the grants today, clear-ing the way for the funds to be disbursed, parliament officials said. "When one member state has a problem, others actively collaborate and help. The UK will benefit from EU solidarity despite Brexit and the trigger-ing of Article 50", said the lawmaker in charge of the dos-sier, Spanish conservative José

Manuel Fernandes.In total, Britain has been

allocated more than €220m in EU solidarity aid, making the country the third largest bene-ficiary after Italy and Germany.

The procedure to release the funds was approved by the European Commission in Janu-ary after Britain requested help and detailed the support needed.

Greek pensioners take part in a demonstration against planned pension cuts in Athens, yesterday.

16 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017EUROPE

FROM LEFT: Ukraine's First Lady Marina Poroshenko, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, his Latvian counterpart Raimonds Vejonis and Latvia's First Lady Iveta Vejone arrive for a welcoming ceremony at the castle in Riga, Latvia, yesterday.

Poroshenko in Latvia

Russia metro blast toll 14; bomber identifiedSaint Petersburg AFP

The death toll from a bombing on a metro train in Russia's sec-ond city Saint Petersburg rose to 14

yesterday, as Kyrgyzstan said a suicide bomber from the Central Asian country had staged the attack.

The Russian imperial capital was beginning the first of three days of mourning and Russian tricolour flags flew at half mast throughout the city to honour the dead. Flowers and candles piled up at an impromptu memorial outside the metro station hit by the attack as authorities beefed up security on the city's busy underground transport system.

Commuters began their daily trip to work under an anxious cloud after Monday's bombing that closed down the entire metro system that is seen as the lifeblood of the city.

"Everyone in the metro can only think of this," said 45-year-old Svetlana Golubeva as she entered the underground.

Throughout the city, there was a sense of shock that terror could strike their city that had seemed far from being a target — unlike Paris, Berlin or London.

Even threats to Moscow "seemed far away from us," said Dmitry Leonov as he picked his way through the candles and flower tributes lining the gates of the station. "Now we're all under threat," he said.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the toll from the blast had climbed from 11 to 14 as three people succumbed to their injuries, adding that 49 more people remained in hospital.

Investigators have launched a probe into an "act of terror" but stressed they would look into other possible causes of the blast, which hit a busy central metro line on Monday afternoon.

Kyrgyzstan security services said the attack was staged by a "suicide bomber" named Akbar-jon Djalilov (pictured), a naturalised Russian citizen born

in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1995. "He is a citizen of Russia," spokesman Rakhat Sulaimanov said in Bishkek, adding that Kyr-gyz security services were "in contact with Russian security services."

Russian authorities have not commented on the alleged bomber's identity and it was not clear whether he counted among the dead. There was no imme-diate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria against the jihadists.

Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.

President Vladimir Putin,

whose hometown is Saint Peters-burg, offered his own condolences and later placed a bouquet of red flowers at the entrance to one of the stations, Technological Institute.

The blast occurred in a train carriage moving between two stations at 2:40 pm (1140 GMT), said anti-terrorist committee (NAK) spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky.

The NAK committee later confirmed that security services "neutralised" another explosive device found at a second metro station.

The chief of the Saint

Petersburg metro, Vladimir Garyugin, said yesterday that quick actions by metro staff pre-vented a much higher toll and that passengers had helped each other instead of panicking.

The second bomb was a bag containing the explosive device fashioned from a fire extin-guisher, he said.

"A metro employee quickly cordoned off the area and called in experts," Vladimir Garyugin said in televised remarks.

Authorities said the Moscow metro as well as transportation hubs and crowded spots around the country were stepping up

security. German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the explosion as a "barbaric act," while US President Donald Trump spoke with Putin and offered "full support of the United States Government," according to a White House statement.

Russia has not been hit by an attack this deadly since the bombing of a plane carrying hol-idaymakers back to Saint Petersburg from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in October 2015, which was claimed by IS. All 224 people onboard were killed.

Russian police officers check a passenger at a railway station following the Saint Petersburg metro blast that took place on April 3, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, yesterday.

Kyrgyzstan security services said the attack was staged by a "suicide bomber" named Akbarjon Djalilov, a naturalised Russian citizen born in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1995.

Medvedev rejects corruption allegationsMoscow

AFP

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (pic-tured) dismissed for the

first time yesterday allegations of corruption made against him by opposition leader Alexei Nav-alny, which sparked nationwide protests.

Speaking to journalists after meetings with the agriculture industry in central Russia, Medvedev said claims he con-trolled a vast property empire

were "malarkey" that somebody had paid to make into a "quality product".

The Prime Minister said it had been done "to try to pull people out into the streets and reach political ends."

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who plans to stand in presidential elections next year, issued a detailed video report last month alleging that Medvedev was the ultimate owner of an array of luxurious properties managed through obscure foundations.

"This character openly says that 'everyone is horrible, choose me for president'," Medvedev said in televised remarks, refer-ring to opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

"For that he drags people out to the streets, often minors, which is practically a crime, making them hostages of his political programme."

Navalny's report on Medvedev was behind the wave of protests that swept the coun-try on March 26 in one of the biggest challenges to President

Vladimir Putin's rule in years. Over a thousand people were

detained in Moscow alone, with dozens sent to jail for up to 25 days, including Navalny, who will remain behind bars until next week.

But the timing of Medvedev's first public reaction to the alle-gations is likely to raise eyebrows.

It comes as the country's attention is focused on the after-math of the deadly bombing of the metro in Saint Petersburg that killed 14 people.

Row in Sweden as school segregates boys and girlsSTOCKHOLM: A Muslim elementary school in Swe-den, which separated boys and girls on a bus and during sports lessons, sparked con-troversy yesterday with the prime minister condemning it as "despicable".

As part of a documentary, Swedish broadcaster TV4 filmed secret footage of the privately-run Al-Azhar Pri-mary School in a Stockholm suburb where boys are seen entering a bus from the front and girls from the back.

Aged between six and 10, the students take the school bus in the mornings and eve-nings to go to and from school in the working-class neigh-bourhood of Vallingby, northwest of Stockholm.

"I think this is despicable. This doesn't belong in Swe-den," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters in Stockholm.

"We take the bus together here, regardless if you're a girl or a boy, woman or a man."

This isn't the first contro-versy surrounding the school. In August last year, Swedish media revealed that teachers had agreed to gender-segre-gated sport lessons.

The school argued that gender-mixed sports courses would cause some parents to stop their children from attending. The school's vice principal said it had no inten-tion of carrying out gender-segregated activities. "I don't know why it still turned out that way," Roger Lindquist told TT news agency.

"It was a mistake."But the school says on its

website that "boys and girls have separate courses in swimming and sports".

Lofven has asked Educa-tion Minister Gustav Fridolin to contact the school and pro-pose measures on what can be done to prevent segregation.

Portugal PM wants to continue leftist tie-up after 2019 electionLisbon

Reuters

Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa praised his minority Socialist govern-

ment's alliance in parliament with the far left and said it would be useful to extend the pact beyond the 2019 election even if he wins an outright majority.

In an interview with Radio Renascenca yesterday, Costa ruled out any need for a snap election despite his party's ris-ing opinion poll ratings and said the alliance "is a good solution, with or without an absolute majority".

It stands out as a remarka-ble exception in Europe where the left is largely struggling where it holds power. The gov-ernment has been raising wages and gaining popularity and yet delivering the lowest budget deficit in living memory.

Polls put support for Costa's Socialists at 42 percent, up 10 points from their share of the vote in the 2015 election and close to a level that would give them an outright majority in parliament were the country to vote again. "I think there should

be no election now. On the con-trary, the country needs stability and we should all work together to complete the legislature in normalcy, tranquillity," Costa said.

"When we have an election at the end of the legislature, if the Communist Party, the Left Bloc and the Greens are availa-ble to renew the pact, it would be useful ... This change has improved the quality of our democracy."

Nevertheless, Costa said the parties maintained sufficiently big differences to prevent a pre-election coalition and saw few chances for the far left entering the government.

"We are fine this way. You don't rearrange a team that is winning," he said. Portugal will hold municipal elections across the country in October.

Costa also said that his Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who is credited with devising a way to reverse many of the aus-terity policies of the previous administration while at the same delivering the lowest budget deficit in over 40 years, has been sounded out to become the next Eurogroup chief.

Norway sentences IS recruiter Oslo

AFP

A Norwegian court yester-day sentenced a person to nine years in prison for

recruiting a jihadist candidate who wanted to join the Islamic State (IS) group.

An Oslo court also found Ubaydullah Hussain, a 31-year-old Norwegian citizen, guilty of

pledging allegiance to IS, finan-cially supporting the group, providing its supporters with equipment and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The trial was Norway's first over recruitment of potential jihadists to fight for IS. In 2015, Hussain prepared Simen Andreassen, a Muslim convert who's now 20, to go to fight in Syria.

He took Andreassen to Gothenburg in neighbouring Sweden from where he flew to Turkey to enter the neighbour-ing war-torn country.

Swedish police arrested Andreassen at Landvetter Air-port in Gothenburg just before he was supposed to leave. He was sentenced on Tuesday to two years and 10 months in prison.

17WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 EUROPE

French President Francois Hollande speaks with students and winners of the 'Non Au Harcelement' (No to Bullying) award during the ceremony at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, yesterday.

No to Bullying awards

Hungary passes bill targetting Soros universityBudapest

AFP

Hungarian lawmak-ers yesterday approved contro-v e r s i a l higher-education

legislation that could force the closure of a prestigious Budapest university founded by US billion-aire investor George Soros.

The respected English-lan-guage Central European University (CEU), set up in 1991 after the fall of communism, has long been seen as a hostile bas-tion of liberalism by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government.

MPs in the 199-seat parlia-ment, dominated by Orban's Fidesz party, voted 123 in favour and 38 against the legislation, which will place tough restric-tions on foreign universities operating in Hungary.

The new rules ban institu-tions outside the European Union from awarding Hungarian diplo-mas without an agreement between national governments. They will also be required to have a campus and faculties in their home country — conditions not met by the CEU.

Failure to comply would mean the CEU could not accept

new student intakes from 2018, and possibly close by 2021.The CEU said it would contest the constitutionality of the bill.

"The new law puts at risk the academic freedom not only of CEU but of other Hungarian research and academic institu-tions," the university said in a statement.

The bill is seen as a fresh attack on the Hungarian-born philanthropist Soros, 86, often accused by Orban of seeking to undermine the continent by backing open borders and pro-refugee policies. The legislation, put forward last week and rushed through parliament in a fast-track procedure, triggered a large protest in Budapest on Sunday and has drawn interna-

tional condemnation.The US State Department had

called for the proposal to be withdrawn, while an open letter was signed by over 900 academ-ics around the world including 18 Nobel prize-winning economists.

"If we want to be a shining

beacon of human rights in the world... then Europe can't remain silent when civil society mem-bers like the Central European University in Budapest are being stifled," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said yesterday in a speech to Euro-pean MPs in Strasbourg.

Orban said on Monday the future of the CEU depends on the conclusion of a treaty between the governments of Hungary and the United States within the next six months.

The strongman has accused the university of "cheating" and of having an "unfair advantage"

over local institutions — allega-tions rejected by the CEU as "defamatory".

Registered in New York state, the CEU teaches over 1,400 stu-dents from more than 100 predominantly central and east-ern European, as well as post-Soviet Union nations.

It ranks among the top 200 universities in the world in eight disciplines, including top 50 rankings in political science and international studies.

Supporters are set to organ-ise a human chain protest around its downtown Budapest campus. Within five days, President Janos Ader must either sign the legis-lation into force or order a review by the constitutional court.

Human Rights Watch yester-day called on Ader not to sign the bill, denouncing what it said was Hungary's "contempt for critical voices in society".

Since coming to power in 2010, Orban has launched con-tentious sweeping reforms targeting independent institu-tions like the media and the judiciary. A law clamping down on foreign-funded non-govern-mental organisations, including many by Soros, is expected to go before parliament later this month.

Victim of politics

The respected English-language Central European University (CEU), set up in 1991 after the fall of communism, has long been seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government.

The Hungarian parliament votes on a bill tightening regulations on foreign universities operating in Hungary in Budapest, yesterday.

A homeless man rests in front of a Zara store at Tauentzienstrasse street in Berlin, yesterday.

Homeless in Berlin

Le Pen says referendum on franc in six months if electedParis

Reuters

Investors will not pull their money from France if it leaves the euro, according to

Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate who pledges to call a referendum and restore the national franc cur-rency if elected.

In an interview on Sud Radio and TV channel Public Senat, Le Pen said that, if elected on May 7, she would open talks with the rest of the European Union and organise a referendum within six months.

"At the end of the six months, it will be the French people who decide," she said, adding that this would allow France to see the outcome of elections in Germany and Italy too. "There's so much liquidity in the world that they are not going to pull their chips out of France, above all when France will once again be back on the road of economic growth," said the leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-European Union and anti-euro National Front party.

"They are worried because they know they will no longer

be able to make the profits they made previously"... The world has changed and that's what's worrying them. The world is moving away from free trade and laisser faire policy."

Financial sector supervisors from the European Central Bank have asked banks to keep all scenarios in mind including how they would respond to a Le Pen win and/or the market impact that could follow any better-than-expected score in round one.

Le Pen is predicted by opin-ion polls to make it through the April 23 first round to the May 7 vote that pits the two highest scoring candidates against each other. They show her losing the decider to favourite Emmanuel Macron, who is staunchly pro-euro.

One of Le Pen's flagship promises is to take France out of what she called "the prison" of European Union politics and the currency that 19 of the 28 EU countries share.

Spanish police raid Assad family's assetsMadrid

AFP

Police in southern Spain yesterday staged raids targeting assets of the

family of Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad, a judicial source said.

The raids, in the Puerto Banus marina area of the plush resort of Marbella, are the result of a corruption investigation launched in France against Assad's uncle, Rifaat Al Assad.

The assets of Rifaat Al Assad and his family in Spain are val-ued at €691m ($736m), the source said, adding that "all these properties have been seized."

"Judge Jose de la Mata is coordinating the judicial oper-ation against Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of the current president of Syria, for money laundering in Puerto Banus and Marbella", the source said.

In 1984, Rifaat Al Assad was forced into exile for trying to overthrow his older brother, the late Syrian dictator Hafez Al Assad.

According to Spanish jus-tice, Rifaat Al Assad, now aged 79, received $300m of state cash which he used to buy real

estate in France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Curacao.

French and Spanish author-ities have been cooperating on the case and Spain opened an investigation on the back of the French one.

Madrid authorities say the Spanish probe established that Rifaat and his family had 503 properties in their portfolio, ranging from holiday villas to plush hotel apartments —almost all in and around Marbella.

One residence, "La Maquina" at Benahavis just out-side Marbella is worth an estimated €860m.

The investigating magis-trate has frozen 16 people's bank accounts and a further 76 accounts in connection with the case, the judicial source said.

Investigators say Rifaat — first charged in France last June — holds some €90m worth of property assets in France, including an office block in the eastern city of Lyon.

Rifaat denies wrongdoing, saying much of his wealth stems from gifts bestowed by the Saudi royal family, which he says gave him political back-ing in the 1980s.

Poland ruling party loses support after opposing TuskWARSAW: Poland's ruling Law and Justice party lost voter support after making an unsuccessful attempt to block the re-election of former Prime Minister Donald Tusk to his top European Union job, recent polls show.

Polls also show a strong jump in support for Civic Plat-form, the party that Tusk led before he became European Council president in 2014.

A poll conducted by the IBRiS institute for news por-tal Onet showed the populist Law and Justice, led by Jaro-slaw Kaczynski, with 30.5 percent support and Civic Platform only slightly behind with 29.2 percent. That is a drop of 2.3 points for Law and Justice and a jump of 12 points for Civic Platform compared to the previous month.

At least two other polls by respected research institutes yielded similar results. For months after taking office in 2015, Law and Justice enjoyed the support of about 35-40 percent of voters in most sur-veys — a strong approval rating in a multi-party system like Poland's.

Front National party candidate for the presidential election Marine Le Pen gestures during a rally in La Bazoche-Gouet.

18 WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017AMERICAS

NEWS BYTES

Melania Trump’s portrait divides public opinionWASHINGTON: The White House released the official por-trait of First Lady Melania Trump, with the photograph of the former model dividing public opinion. Trump is shown from the waist up, standing with arms crossed, dressed in a black jacket with a black bow around her neck. She’s wear-ing a very large diamond ring on her left hand, and a more subdued sparkler on her right. Shot by Belgian-born photog-rapher Regine Mahaux, who has previously worked with the Trump family, the first lady is smiling slightly, with a perfectly flawless visage. “I am honoured to serve in the role of first lady, and look forward to working on behalf of the Amer-ican people over the coming years,” Trump said in a short statement accompanying the photo’s release. While some commenters gushed that the first lady was “beyond beau-tiful” and “gorgeous,” others mocked the image as highly airbrushed and compared the gauzy background—a win-dow in the White House residence—to 1990s school portrait settings. Other critics jumped on a line in the White House statement that said the portrait was taken in Trump’s “new residence at the White House”.

Canada suspects caught in live-streamed robberyOTTAWA: Police in Canada’s western plains region arrested a trio of suspects who live-streamed their alleged assault and robbery of a man they lured online, according to a statement released yesterday. The victim had driven to a home in Win-nipeg, Manitoba, where he believed he was to meet a woman for a date on April 1. Instead, police say he was confronted by a man and two women who beat and stabbed him, and stole his wallet and car keys. For reasons that remain unexplained, “the incident was live streamed (by the suspects) over social media and someone watching the attack notified Winnipeg police,” authorities said. “Officers immediately attended to the location of the assault where the victim was located and the suspects were arrested.” The victim was transported to hospital in grave condition. He is now stable, police said. Two women, aged 44 and 17 years, respectively, and an 18-year-old man were charged with assault, forcible confinement, robbery and related crimes.

Kirchner charged with fraudBUENOS Aires: A judge yesterday announced fresh charges against Argentina’s ex-president Cristina Kirchner, the latest development in a series of political ructions as the country prepares for mid-term elections this year. Federal judge Clau-dio Bonadio brought formal charges against Kirchner, 64, for alleged money laundering in real estate dealings, the Judi-cial Information Service said in a statement. Kirchner already faces trial in a separate case for alleged financial misman-agement in office.

Brasília

AFP

Brazilian President Michel Temer won breathing space yes-terday in a court battle over whether

illegal campaign funds invali-dated Brazil’s 2014 election, potentially requiring him to step down.

The verdict stage of the trial had been due to run from yes-terday until a vote by the seven-judge panel on Thursday. However, the chief justice on the Supreme Electoral Court, Gil-mar Mendes, said he would grant the defense request to introduce new witnesses and for more time to make their argu-ments. The timing for resumption of the trial is now unclear.

“There is no estimate on the dates. Everything depends on when the witnesses will testify,” a spokesman for the court said.

At issue are allegations that when then president Dilma Rousseff ran for re-election in 2014, with Temer as her vice president, their ticket was financed by undeclared funds or bribes.

The leftist Rousseff was her-self removed from office last year in an impeachment vote on an unrelated matter, shifting Temer, her conservative coali-tion partner, to the top seat.

Both Temer and Rousseff deny any wrongdoing. If the court, known as the TSE, rules that the election was fatally

compromised by suspect dona-tions, Temer could find his presidency declared invalid. That could force either a snap election or a vote in Congress to pick a new interim leader in Latin America’s biggest country.

This would be a bombshell for a country already wallow-ing in two years of recession and the fallout from the massive “Car Wash” corruption investi-gation into embezzlement from state oil company Petrobras, high-level bribery and use of political party slush funds.

Brazilian media reported that the judge overseeing the

case, Herman Benjamin, had been intending to recommend that the full panel declare the election result void.

However, because of the agreement to reopen testimony, Benjamin never got that far. The delay is seen as favoring Tem-er’s bid to dodge the scandal and remain in power until the end of what would have been Rous-seff’s term in late 2018.

Following the Rousseff impeachment trial, there is lit-tle appetite in Brazil for yet another abrupt change of pres-ident just when economic reforms are underway. Temer’s center-right PMDB party and allied parties are in firm control of Congress and he has the backing of big business.

Even when the trial resumes there are several avenues for Temer to kick the can down the road. A judge on the court could decide he needs more time to study the huge quantity of evi-dence, further delaying the matter.

Another scenario is that the court could decide that Rouss-eff and Temer did take illegal donations but that the evidence does not support annulling their victory. It is also possible that the court will rule to scrap Rous-seff’s victory, while finding Temer not guilty and able to carry on.

“There’s total calm. The president has time on his side, because there are many legal options,” said a government source, who asked not to be named.

Temer wins time in court battle over poll validity

Caracas

Reuters

Venezuelan security forces fought rock-throwing pro-testers with tear gas and

pepper spray in Caracas yester-day after blocking a rally against President Nicolas Maduro’s unpopular socialist government.

The clashes began after authorities closed subway sta-tions, set up checkpoints and cordoned off the capital city’s Plaza Venezuela, where Maduro foes had planned to meet for their latest demonstration. In one street, kneeling women sang the national anthem as neighbors banged pots-and-pans from nearby buildings in a show of anger against a

government they blame for a deep recession that has led to shortages of food and basics.

“We’re going to get rid of them, but we have to fight,” said Jose Zapata, a 57-year-old elec-trician, as he marched with a stick in his hand.

Maduro’s supporters organ-ized their own rally, in a volatile scenario seen many times during the 18 years of leftist rule in the South American nation. Prisons Ministry worker Juan Aponte accused opposition parties of abetting a U.S.-led plot to topple Maduro. “They want an interven-tion in Venezuela,” said the 34-year-old, who wore the red colors of the ruling Socialist Party.

Various protests were also taking place in other

cities. Tensions have soared in the oil-producing nation’s long-running political standoff after the pro-Maduro Supreme Court last week annulled the opposi-tion-led congress’ functions.

Although it retracted that ruling over the weekend, the National Assembly remains powerless due to previous court judgments. The renewed insta-bility sent Venezuelan bonds lower, with the benchmark 2027 paper’s price off 4.4 percent.

Foreign pressure on Maduro has risen as scattered opposi-tion protests restarted late last week. Two lawmakers were injured on Monday, and author-ities have arrested two political activists and two military offic-ers since the weekend.

Washington

AFP

The US government plans to stop funding the United Nations Population Fund

because of the organization’s “coercive” family planning prac-tices, including providing abortions, officials in Washing-ton said late on Monday.

According to a State Depart-ment official, President Donald Trump has instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that US taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

The funding cut would go

into effect during the 2017 fiscal year, the official said in a statement.

The decision to terminate US donations to the UN agency was “based on the fact that China’s family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abor-tion and involuntary sterilization, and UNFPA partners on family planning activities with the Chi-nese government agency responsible for these coercive policies,” the statement said.

“The determination will result in withholding $32.5 mil-lion of fiscal year 2017 funding, provided for UNFPA,” it said, adding that the funds instead will be directed to other global health programs.

The UN Population Fund in 2015 received contributions totaling $979 million, according

to its website.The organization, which

provides reproductive health and birth control services in more than 150 countries and ter-ritories, said early yesterday that it “regrets” the decision by Washington “to deny any future funding for its life-saving work the world over.”

UNFPA said in a statement in which it also vigorously pushed back against “erroneous” US charges that it plays a role in forced abortions and steriliza-tions in China.

“UNFPA refutes this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own deci-sions, free of coercion or discrimination,” it said.

“Indeed, United Nations Member States have long

described UNFPA’s work in China as a force for good.”

The organization lamented the loss of funding by Washing-ton, a “founding member” of the UNFPA.

The group said it has saved “tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, in addition to “com-batting gender-based violence and reducing the scourge of maternal deaths in the world’s most fragile settings.”

And in the controversial area of reproductive choice, the organization said that Washing-ton until now had “partnered with UNFPA to protect and pro-moted the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, thereby fostering healthier women and girls and their families.”

Asuncion

AFP

Paraguayan lawmakers yesterday suspended a controversial bill alter-

ing the constitution to allow the president to stand for re-election following riots and the death of an activist.

The decision by the Cham-ber of Deputies, where President Horacio Cartes has a majority, went towards a key condition set by the opposition before talks could begin today involving parties and the church. The violence broke out last Friday after senators approved a bill that would allow Cartes to run again for office in 2018 when his current term ends.

Campaign funds

The chief justice on the Supreme Electoral Court, Gilmar Mendes, said he would grant the defence request to introduce new witnesses and for more time to make their arguments.

At issue are allegations that when then president Dilma Rousseff ran for re-election in 2014, with Temer as her vice-president, their ticket was financed by undeclared funds or bribes.

Venezuela security forces clash with anti-Maduro protesters

US to end funding for UN Population Fund

Paraguay suspends re-election amendment

Venezuela's opposition activists clash with riot police agents during a protest against Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, yesterday.

US President Donald Trump talking about the regulatory process during the North America's Building Trades Unions National Legislative Conference, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, yesterday.

Trump speaks

19WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL 2017 AMERICAS

Mocoa

AFP

The Colombian government declared a state of eco-nomic emergency in the

town of Mocoa in southern Colombia, after mudslides left more than 270 people dead, including 43 children.

“We have the toll of the peo-ple who have unfortunately died,” said President Juan Manuel Santos, as he revisited the scene of Friday’s disaster.

“The latest is 273 people died and 262 are injured,” he said. Earlier he said that at least 43 children were among the dead.

Santos was to spend the night at a nearby military base and yesterday would continue coordinating the emergency response. The president said reconstruction would begin, dis-missing risks of further mudslides, but he warned that the country faces rainy weather until June. Santos has flown into the disaster zone for three straight days to oversee the relief effort. He declared an economic emergency Monday to free up relief funds, amplifying the pub-lic health and safety emergency he had already declared.

The mudslides occurred Fri-day after heavy rains caused

three rivers to overflow, spew-ing earth, rocks and tree debris over the area. Most of the hard-est-hit neighborhoods are poor and populated with people uprooted during Colombia’s five-decade-long civil war.

Mocoa was home to 70,000 people, according to Sorrel Aroca, the governor of Putumayo department. The Red Cross esti-mated about 45,000 people in Mocoa were affected by the mudslides. Hopes of finding sur-vivors were fading Monday as some 200 people remained missing. Rescuers clawed through mud and timber as rel-atives desperately sought loved ones. Survivors told of scram-bling onto roofs or hanging onto trees as a sea of mud, boulders and debris engulfed Mocoa late Friday. Some watched as their children and relatives were swept away.

Among them was Ercy Lopez, 39, who was left hanging on a tree after the deluge tore away her home. Lying on a mat-tress in a shelter for survivors, she said people were still search-ing for her 22-year-old daughter Diana Vanesa. “The hopes of finding her alive are slim now,” she said. Debris was everywhere in the remote Amazon town: buried cars, uprooted trees,

Washington

Bloomberg

The US administration began to deliver on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down

on a work visa programme that channels thousands of skilled overseas workers to companies across the technology industry.

Fed up with a programme it says favors foreign workers at the expense of Americans, the Trump administration rolled out a trio of policy shifts. The US Cit-izenship and Immigration Services agency on Friday made it harder for companies to bring overseas tech workers to the US using the H-1B work visa. On Monday, the agency issued a memo laying out new measures to combat what it called “fraud and abuse” in the programme. The Justice Department also warned employers applying for the visas not to discriminate against US workers.

Trump campaigned on a promise to overhaul the

immigration system, calling for companies to hire more Ameri-cans instead of outsourcing jobs to countries with cheaper labor or bringing in lower-paid foreign workers. Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, many of which were founded or run by immi-grants, depend on H-1Bs and say efforts to thwart immigration threaten innovation, recruitment and startup formation.

Trump’s executive orders restricting travel from a handful of Muslim-majority nations led to unprecedented opposition from the industry.

But there’s also broad recog-nition that reform is needed, given several high-profile exam-ples where American employees have been replaced by lower-paid foreign workers through the programme. Advocates for immigrants’ rights also argue H-1B workers are easily exploited because their legal sta-tus is tied to a particular employer. The Economic Policy Institute estimated there were about 460,000 people working on H-1B visas in 2013.

This week’s moves weren’t the administration’s first attempts to adjust the pro-gramme. Last month, the immigration department sus-pended a system that expedited visa processing for certain skilled workers who paid extra.

But people who have been pushing for reform had become frustrated in recent weeks that the Trump administration wasn’t

moving fast enough.Outsourcing firms are con-

sidered the worst abusers of the system, an impression that the tech industry has been happy to encourage. Monday’s USCIS announcement targets those firms, with the agency saying it will focus inspections on work-places with the largest percentage of H-1B workers, and those with employees who do IT work for other companies.

Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc, Cognizant, Wipro and Accenture didn’t respond to requests to comment. Infosys declined to comment, while Tata Consulting Services Ltd said it has reduced use of high-skilled H-1B visas, while creating more US IT services jobs.

“Each of these steps are small steps by themselves,” said R Chandrashekhar, president of the trade group Nasscom, which rep-resents many India tech firms. “What we are waiting to see is how they will tighten the proc-ess. How exactly will the policy be implemented? The process for

granting H-1B visas has become a lot more uncertain.”

The new guidelines released Friday require additional infor-mation for computer programmers applying for H-1B visas to prove the jobs are com-plicated and require more advanced knowledge and expe-rience. It’s effective immediately, so it will change how companies apply for the visas in an annual lottery process that begins Mon-day. The changes don’t explicitly prohibit applications for a spe-cific type of job. Instead, they bring more scrutiny to those for computer programmers doing the simplest jobs.

“This is a step in the right direction in terms of tightening up the eligibility,” said Ron Hira, an associate professor at Howard University, who has done exten-sive research on the H-1B programme.

Technology and outsourcing companies are the heaviest users of the H-1B visa, which is the largest programme for tempo-rary foreign workers in the US by a wide margin.

India-based outsourcing companies receive a dispropor-tionate percentage of the visas and tend to pay lower salaries than US-based tech firms. Employers sought H-1B visas for more than 13,000 computer pro-grammers in 2016, citing an average salary of about $72,000, according to Bloomberg Intelli-gence analyst Caitlin Webber. About half of the visas sought last year were for computer-related positions, she said.

Computer programmers made up about 12 percent of all H-1B applications certified by the Department of Labour in 2015. Of those, 41 percent were for positions at the lowest wage level, defined as jobs requiring people to perform routine tasks that require them to exercise lit-tle judgment on their own.

The guidelines issued Friday refer specifically to entry-level computer programmers, which the US Department of Labor defines as those who write and test code to allow computer applications and software to work properly.

Trump cracks down on work visa in tech sector

More than 270 dead in Colombia mudslides

children’s toys and odd shoes sticking up out of the mud.

Survivors gathered at the local hospital and at the ceme-tery to search for family members and friends.

Yulieth Rosero had just bur-ied her sister, but was holding out hope of finding her seven-year-old nephew, Juan David Rueda. “I found his little brother, William. He’s alive. He’s in shock, injured and has no clothes, but he’s OK,” said Rosero, 23.

Hundreds of rescuers were working at the scene of the

disaster, using mechanical dig-gers in the search. Locals said it was never safe to live so close to the three rivers that overflowed after days of torrential rain.

Wilson Chilito, 22, said he scrambled onto the roof of a house from where he watched “people, fridges and houses” being swept away. He lost his sister, mother-in-law and at least two other relatives. “This was foreseen for a long time,” he said as he packed up belongings from his home, his boots full of mud.

Founded in 1563, “the town

has about 10 rivers running through it,” said Mocoa Mayor Jose Antonio Castro, quoted by newspaper El Espectador.

“That means it is not a place where a town should be located.”

Carlos Acosta had survived by clinging to a tree branch.

“I was dying due to a lack of air—so what did I do? I stuck my finger in my mouth and vomited a lot of mud,” Acosta, 25, told AFP. “I sneezed out mud until I could breathe again.” He could not save his three-year-old son, Camilo, however.

Washington

AFP

A New Jersey teen pleaded guilty yesterday to a plot allegedly inspired

by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the United States.

The US Justice Depart-ment said Santos Colon, 15 years old at the time, sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the pope as he celebrated mass in Philadelphia on Septem-ber 27, 2015. Colon also allegedly planned to set off explosives. But the teen unwittingly recruited an undercover FBI agent for the job, and was arrested quietly 12 days before the event.

“Colon engaged someone he believed would be the sniper, but in reality was an undercover FBI employee. Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to pur-chase materials to make explosive devices,” the Jus-tice Department said in a statement.

Court documents said Colon sought to carry out the act in support of the Islamic State group and that he had used the adopted name Ahmad Shakoor.

In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Colon, now 17, agreed to forego trial and plead guilty as an adult to one charge of providing material support to a terror group. With the deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges filed against him as a juvenile.

Court documents said the charges were in relation to the Islamic State group, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organiza-tion. But there were no details on how Colon became interested in the group and if or how he communicated with them. Pope Francis cel-ebrated mass for tens of thousands of followers in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the historic east coast city to cap a week-long visit for the World Meeting of Families

Colon’s home is in Linden-wold, New Jersey, just east of Philadelphia. Colon faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but sentencing would likely be held off until 2021 while he undergoes psychiatric treat-ment in a secure facility.

Washington

Reuters

As President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress lurched between repealing Obamacare

or rewriting the US tax code as their top priority, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan yesterday damp-ened White House hopes for a quick vote on healthcare legislation.

With this back-and-forth, there were questions over how Trump will manage to get major legislation accomplished this year, causing uncertainty in financial markets of the direction Republicans will steer government. Republican lawmak-ers said the new push on healthcare would maintain Obamacare’s essential health benefits clause listing services and care that insurers must cover. But in a move to attract hard-line conserv-atives, states could apply for a waiver if they could show it would improve cov-erage and reduce costs.

In remarks to reporters after a closed meeting with fellow House Republicans, Ryan said the renewed

healthcare effort, following last month’s failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, was simply in the “con-ceptual stage right now.”

He refused to give a time line for having a bill on the House floor, and Congress is set to begin a two-week recess at the end of this week. “We don’t have a bill text or an agreement yet, but this is the kind of conversa-tions we want,” Ryan said.

A mix of hard-line conservatives and more moderate Republicans sank last month’s drive to pass the Obamacare repeal and replacement. That prompted an angry Trump to say that he was moving on to tax reform.

But a source familiar with internal House Republican deliberations said that healthcare, and not tax reform, now tops the House agenda and that the healthcare effort was being driven by the White House. Meanwhile, some House Freedom Caucus members, rep-resenting the most conservative Republicans who control Congress, were already criticizing the revamped healthcare outline.

Ryan dampens hopes for quick revival of healthcare overhaul

Teen pleads guilty on plot to kill Pope

H-1B work visa

Technology and outsourcing companies are the heaviest users of the H-1B visa, which is the largest programme for temporary foreign workers in the US by a wide margin.

Computer programmers made up about 12 percent of all H-1B applications certified by the Department of Labour in 2015.

Rescue members look for bodies in a house after flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rains leading several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks into buildings in Mocoa.

Protesters standing together outside the office of Senator Bill Nelson asking him to work on a health care policy in Coral Gables, Florida, yesterday.

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Tourists take selfies during a visit to the viewing deck of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong yesterday.

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PRAYER TIMINGS Common antibiotic could prevent or treat PTSDLONDON: A common anti-biotic called doxycycline can disrupt the formation of neg-ative thoughts and fears in the brain and may prove use-ful in treating or preventing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to research by British and Swiss scientists.

In a specially designed trial involving 76 healthy vol-unteers who were given either the drug or a placebo dummy pill, those who were on doxycycline had a 60 per-cent lower fear response than those who were not.

Scientists said the antibi-otic works in this way because it blocks certain proteins out-side nerve cells, called matrix enzymes, which our brains need to form memories. "We have demonstrated a proof-of-principle for an entirely new treatment strategy for PTSD," said Dominik Bach, a professor at University College London and the University of Zurich, who co-led the research team.

"When we talk about reducing fear memory, we're not talking about deleting the memory of what actually happened," Bach said in a statement about the findings. PTSD is caused by an overac-tive fear memory and includes a broad range of psy-chological symptoms that can develop after someone goes through a traumatic event.

Solar eclipse mania spurs festivals in USWyoming

AP

Get ready for solar eclipse mania. Destinations in the path of the August 21 eclipse,

which will be visible in the US along a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina, are going wild with plans for fes-tivals, concerts and viewing parties .

Hotels in Casper, Wyo-ming, are charging five times their usual rates. Rooms at Idaho's Sun Valley Resort have been booked for years.

An eclipse tour in Ten-nessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park sold out in 10 minutes. The Smok-ies are among 20 National Park sites that will experi-ence the total solar eclipse, from sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North

Carolina to Wyoming's Grand Tetons. "We are expecting record visitation," said NPS spokesman Jeffrey Olson.

Hopkinsville, Kentucky, population 32,000, and Car-bondale, Illinois, population 23,000, expect 50,000 visi-tors each. The destinations, 140 miles apart, will experi-ence about 2 minutes and 40 seconds of total darkness, among eclipse sites with the longest duration. Events in

the region include an "Eclipse Con" festival, concerts and tailgate parties.

South Carolina's Clemson University also expects 50,000 people at a campus event that will feature astron-omers and other experts. Twenty thousand people will gather in the Ochocho National Forest for Oregon Eclipse 2017, with music, yoga, theater, art installations and more.

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