Volume 24 | Number 7877 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 30 April 2019 | 25 Sha'baan 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

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BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 08

No Madrid, no Ronaldo: Fresh feel for Champions League semi-finals

Ooredoo Group reports QR7.2bn

revenue in the first quarter

Over 500 firms display products at Project Qatar 2019

Included withtoday’s edition is a

special supplement

Included withtoday’s edition is a

special supplement

Amir issues decision reconstituting NHRCQNA/DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday issued the Amiri Decision No 19 of 2019 on the reconstitution of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC).

The decision stipulated that the NHRC shall be reconstituted as follows: Dr Ali Saeed Smaikh Al Marri, representative of civil society; Dr Mohammed Saif Al Kuwari, representative of civil society; Dr Yousef Mohammed Al Obaidan, representative of civil society; Dr Asma Abdullah Mohammed Attiyah, represent-ative of civil society; Dr Abdulaziz Abdulqader Al Mughaiseeb, representative of civil society; Dr Ali Ahmed Al Kubaisi, representative of civil society; Fawaz Bakhit Al Jatal, representative of civil society; Amal Abdullatif Al Mannai, rep-resentative of civil society; Sultan Mubarak Khamis Al Abdullah, representative of civil society; Maryam Abdullah Ali Al Attiyah, representative of civil society; Abdullah Saqr Al Mohannadi, representative of the Ministry of Interior; Faisal Abdullah Al Hanzab, represent-ative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Salem Rashid Al Muraikhi, representative of the Ministry of Justice; Mohamed Hassan Al Obaidli, represent-ative of the Ministry of Admin-istrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs.

The decision also provided that the Committee would select Chairman and Vice-Chairman from its members of representatives of civil society, and that the term of the Com-mittee would be three years, renewable for another period or periods. The decision is effective starting from the date of issue and is to be published in the official gazette.

Sheikha Moza visits EAA projects for refugee children in MalaysiaQNA/KUALA LUMPUR

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All (EAA), visited two out of 131 educational centres in Malaysia supported by EAA’s “Educate A Child” program in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). During the visit, Her Highness reviewed the achieve-ments of the two schools.

H H Sheikha Moza, accom-panied by UN High Commis-sioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, saw at first-hand the achievements made at Dignity center. Her Highness also visited the Sahabat Support Centre School as part of their annual carnival. The school includes refugee students from 17 coun-tries. The carnival witnessed the

participation of about 300 children and included various sports activities and an exhi-bition of handicrafts and art for the students of the school.

“It is clear from what I have seen here in Malaysia that quality primary education can truly change the course of a child’s life,” said H H Sheikha Moza. “Equipping refugees with knowledge and skills means they can be assets to their host countries and later support the rebuilding of their home countries. I’m proud of the work being done here and thankful to Malaysia and its people for helping these children access a better future.”

Her Highness’ visit follows an agreement to pursue a strategic partnership aimed at enrolling more than 450,000 refugee and internally displaced children in schools in 15 countries and builds

on existing collaboration. The partnership will make available a shared contribution of almost $100m in support for learning among refugee and internally dis-placed children. Support for this partnership project will include a contribution from EAA’s strategic partner, the Qatar Fund for Devel-opment. “With over four million refugee children currently out of school worldwide, there is so much more to do,” H H Sheikha Moza said. “I urge more partners to come forward - we all need to be playing our part to get more children into classrooms - which is where they belong.”

EAA and its partners are already supporting more than 10.4 million out-of-school children in 50 countries, pro-viding them with access to education.

Call for sighting Ramadan crescent on SaturdayQNA/DOHA

The Crescent Sighting Committee at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has called upon all Muslims living in the State of Qatar to sight the crescent of Ramadan on Saturday, Shaaban 29,1440 AH, corresponding to May 4, 2019.

The Committee said whoever witnesses the crescent should head to the head-quarters of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Dafna (Towers) area to report his testimony. The Committee will meet immediately after the Maghrib (sunset) prayer.

PHCC launches 5-year plan for better health

In another important step towards healthcare system development in Qatar, Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) launched the ‘Corporate Strategy Plan 2019-2023’ in the presence of Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, yesterday.

The five-year plan under the theme ‘A Healthier Future for Our Families’ focuses on six pri-ority areas including family medicine model and preventive health. “This plan supports the vision for a safe, sustainable and high-quality primary care service provided in modern premises. PHCC has achieved much over the past five years and our goal is to ensure the quality of primary care meeting the health needs of the popu-lation,” said Dr Al Kuwari.

The launching event was held in the presence of Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors for Sidra Medicine, Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham; Man-aging Director of PHCC, Dr Mariam Abdul Malik, and other dignitaries. The vision of the PHCC Corporate Strategy Plan 2019-2023 is to lead in trans-forming the health and well-being of people’s lives in Qatar.

The six priority areas of the Plan also includes highly skilled and motivated workforce, strong partnerships with patients, fam-ilies and communities, enhanced primary care system and collab-oration for care and patient safety. Dr Mariam Abdul Malik

shed light on the importance of new Corporate Strategy Plan as a key player in Qatar healthcare system. “When you look at a successful national healthcare model, one that is fully inte-grated into a primary care setting, you’re typically looking at a reduction of 30% emergency room visits, sometimes for the higher needs and higher risk groups, up to 50% drop in emer-gency room visits,” she said.

“You’re also looking at a huge drop in speciality care visits because patients are getting their needs met at primary care. There is no doubt that PHCC is a well-positioned leader in the ongoing effort to transform the state’s health care system. Primary Healthcare is about caring for people, rather than simply treating diseases or health conditions; it plays a very important role in preventative as well as acute care for our com-munity, because a healthy nation depends on a good primary care system,” she added. �P4

MME sets up department to ensure food security

FAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has c r e a t e d F o o d S e c u r i t y Department under a recent administrative restructuring of the Ministry to enhance the

state efforts to ensure food security in the country with special focus on increasing fresh local food production including vegetables, fish, milk and meat.

“The Food Security Department will work as an umbrella organisation under

which all food security programs will be implemented in collabo-ration with department con-cerned like agriculture, animal and fish,” Masoud Jarullah Al Marri, Head of the newly created Food Security Department told The Peninsula.

Al Marri is also the Executive

Secretary of the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of Food Security Policies in the Pubic and Private Sector of Qatar.

He said that the Department will help remove the obstacles in the way of implementing food security programs. �P4

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser during her visit to the Education Above All (EAA) centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday. Also seen is the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, who hosted a dinner banquet in honour of H H Sheikha Moza. �P2

The ‘Corporate Strategy Plan 2019-2023, under the theme ‘A Healthier Future for Our Families’ which focuses on six priority areas including family medicine model and preventive health, was launched in the presence of Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari and President of the Italian Senate, Maria Elisabetta Casellati, during the opening of Project Qatar 2019 at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

� �Business 01

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTTUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019

Public Health

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019

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Globally maternal mental health problems are considered as a major public health challenge. Worldwide about 10% of pregnant women and 13% of women who have just given birth experience a mental disorder, primarily depression.

FAZEENA SALEEM

THE PENINSULA

reasons, some women can develop a more serious level of depression, known as postnatal depression. If Maternal mental

Al-Ahli Hospital’s Dermatology Dept offers wide range of skin-related treatment

New 5-year Primary Health Care strategy

plan offers better health and wellbeing

Somali FM: We won't enter into any alliance against Qatar and Turkey QNA DOHA

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Ahmed Isse Awad, underlined that his country will not enter into any alliance or bloc of any kind against Qatar and Turkey, noting that this position has made some members of the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba entity, which is composed of eight countries, trying to exclude Somalia from this entity by limiting its to the coastal countries of the Red Sea.

In a seminar held at the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the title “The Horn of Africa: Pros-pects for Political Cooperation and Eco-nomic Integration”, the Minister invited the State of Qatar to participate strongly in investment in various areas of mar-itime infrastructure and others.

He underlined that Somalia has taken a neutral position from the Gulf crisis, saying that it is a sovereign decision and others must respect the sovereignty and independence of the Somali decision.

The Minister noted that the Gulf crisis affected Somalia because it decided to stay neutral in this Gulf dispute. Somalia is not like before and things have changed. It is keen on the independence of its decision and sov-ereignty and others should respect that sovereignty. He added that Somali lead-ership seeks to achieve Africa compre-hensive vision 2063, noting that Somalia and 44 African countries have launched a project to set up a joint African market, which will be a chance to end famine and create job opportunities for young people who make up a large proportion of the continent.

02 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019HOME

Amir condoles with Indonesian PresidentDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdul-

lah bin Hamad Al Thani and

Prime Minister and Interior Min-

ister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin

Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani

sent cables to the President

of the Republic of Indonesia,

Joko Widodo, to express con-

dolences on the victims of the

floods and landslides caused

by heavy rains that hit several

areas in Indonesia, wishing the

injured a speedy recovery. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Shura Council’s panels hold meetingsDOHA: The Financial and Eco-

nomic Affairs Committee of the

Shura Council held a meeting

within the 47th regular session

of the Council yesterday, chaired

by its Rapporteur, Ali bin Abdul-

latif Al Misnad Al Mohanadi. The

Committee endorsed the rec-

ommendations on a request for

the general discussion on food

security, and decided to sub-

mit its recommendations to the

Shura Council. The Committee

also examined a draft law on the

organisation of the auditing pro-

fession, and decided to complete

its study at its next meeting.

The Internal and External Affairs

Committee of the Council held a

meeting, chaired by its Rappor-

teur Abdulla bin Fahad Ghorab

Al Marri. The Committee studied

a draft law amending some pro-

visions of Decree Law No. 14 of

1993 on passports, in the pres-

ence of Secretary-General of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E

Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Ham-

madi. The Cultural Affairs and

Information Committee also held

a meeting chaired by its Rap-

porteur Mohammed bin Ali bin

Sultan Al Maadid. It studied and

approved the recommenda-

tions on request for the general

debate on education.

Sheikha Moza attends banquet hosted by Malaysian Deputy PM, visits EAA projects for refugee children

H H Sheikha Moza also met with refugee students at two learning centres supported by EAA’s Educate A Child programme in Kuala Lumpur, Dignity For Children School and Sahabat Support Center School.

Amir appoints Ambassadors for China, Morocco and AfghanistanQNA DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued yesterday the Amiri Decision No. 20 of 2019, appointing Mohammed Abdullah Obaid Al Dehaimi as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipoten-tiary to the People’s Republic of China.

H H the Amir also issued the Amiri Decision No. 21 of 2019, appointing Fahad Ibrahim Al Hamad Al Mana, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipoten-tiary to the Kingdom of Morocco.

H H the Amir issued the Amiri Decision No. 22 of 2019, appointing Saeed Mubarak Al Khayarin Al Hajri, as Ambas-sador Extraordinary and Pleni-potentiary to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The decisions are effective starting from their date of issue and are to be published in the official gazette.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also issued an instrument of ratification approving a maritime transport agreement between the Gov-ernment of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, signed in Doha on 17/9/2018.

H H the Amir issued an instrument of ratification approving an agreement on the promotion and protection of mutual investments between the Government of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, signed in Doha on 17/9/2018.

H H the Amir also issued Decree No. 20 of 2019, approving a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on coop-eration in the field of higher education between the Gov-ernment of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Turkey, signed in Trabzon on 18/12/2016, the text of which is annexed to this decree and shall have the force of law in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution.

H H the Amir also issued Decree No. 21 of 2019, approving the maritime transport agreement between the Gov-ernment of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Turkey, signed in Doha on 2/12/2015, the text of which is annexed to this decree and shall have the force of law in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution.

The two decrees are effective starting from their date of issue and are to be published in the official gazette.

H H the Amir also issued a decree approving a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of higher education between the Government of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Turkey.

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the Chairperson of Qatar Foundation (QF) and Education Above All (EAA) foundation, attended a dinner banquet hosted by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, in honour of Her Highness and the accompanying delegation. The dinner included a traditional Malaysian show by a group of children enrolled in a special program coordinated by the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to train and teach Malaysian children gifted in art.

03TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 HOME

Shura Council condemns terrorist attacks in Sri LankaQNA DOHA

The Shura Council held its regular weekly meeting yesterday under the chair-manship of Speaker H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.

At the outset of the meeting, the Council expressed its deep concern at the terrorist attacks in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The Council also expressed strong condemnation and denunciation of these attacks, reiterating rejection of violence and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, regardless of causes and motives.

The Council expressed its

condolences to the people of Sri Lanka and the families of the victims, wishing the injuries a speedy recovery.

The Shura Council continued its meeting, discussing the report of the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee on a draft law on documentation which replaced Law No. 9 of 1979 as part of the modernization of legislation.

The draft law included 37 articles, the first of which defines documentation as a procedure by the notary public or by those delegated by the Minister of Justice, by which the will of the concerned parties is documented in an official record.

The draft law specifies how to document, certify signatures

and prove date, in addition to the general provisions on cases where the agency is terminated, copies and electronic procedures and the organisation and keeping of records, documents and indexes related to documen-tation in accordance with the provisions of the draft law.

After discussion, the Council approved the referred draft law as amended and decided to refer its recommendations thereon to the esteemed Government.

During the meeting, the Speaker of the Shura Council briefed the members on his meeting on Sunday with Pres-ident of the Italian Senate Maria Elisabetta Casellati, during which they discussed cooperation rela-tions between both countries and

ways to boost and develop them, especially the parliamentary field, as well as issues of mutual interest.

At the end of the meeting, the Council reviewed the report by its delegation participating in the 24th Conference of the Parties

to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held recently in Krakow, the Republic of Poland.

The Shura Council Speaker, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, holding its regular weekly meeting yesterday.

Real estate sector to remain buyer-friendly marketSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

The recent law amendment of expanding freehold ownership in residential and commercial sectors will attract investors in Qatar’s real estate sector. Qatar’s real estate will remain a buyer friendly market over the next quarters of 2019 due to softening in prices, according to leading regional consulting firm ValuStrat.

“The recent law amendment of expanding freehold ownership in residential and commercial sectors have provided further incentives to foreign owners to have outright property ownership in Qatar,” Pawel Banach, MRICS – ValuStrat’s General Manager, Qatar told The Peninsula.

According to ValuStrat’s first quarter performance review report, Qatar’s estate market wit-nessed continuation of overall correction phase where prices

have become more competitive. Residential capital values and

rents weakened and office rents continued to favour tenants. Falling Average Daily Rates (ADRs) have given rise to occu-pancy in all hotel categories. “Prices and rents continue to fall, however, the rate of adjustment is slower, indicating they have reached a more representative level in several areas of Qatar. Competitive prices can partially explain the jump in transaction volume by 20 percent annually this quarter,” Pawel Banach, MRICS – ValuStrat’s General Manager, Qatar told The Peninsula. “Existing and upcoming supply in 2019 will entail further softening of prices, ensuring Qatar remains a buyer-friendly market over the next quarters of 2019. In a bid to entice tenants and buyers, a range of attractive incentives were offered by landlords,” he added.

According to the report,

Qatar’s ValuStrat Price Index (VPI) for Residential Capital Values is a 100-point valuation-based index with its base set in first quarter of 2016, stood at 73.4 points. Countrywide residential capital values declined by 18.3 percent compared to the same quarter two years ago, down 9.9 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) and 2.2 percent Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ).

The average capital value of a residential unit stood at QR8,186 per square meter (sq m). More specifically, apartments were QR11,934 per sq m and villas stood at QR6,320 per sq m. Com-pared to the previous quarter, apartment capital values softened by 0.8 percent, whereas villa values fell 2.5 percent. Villas in West Bay Lagoon, Al Waab, Fereej Soudan, Ain Khalid Abu Hamour, Duhail and Muaither and Al Kharaitiyat experienced quarterly declines up to 10 percent.

In the residential rental

market, the downward pressure on rents witnessed throughout 2018 carried over to first quarter of 2019. Citywide residential asking rents declined 10.3 percent over the past 12 months and 2 percent since the fourth quarter of 2018. Secondary apartment and villa locations such as Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Muraikh, Old Airport, Al Gharrafa and Umm Salal Mohammad experienced annual rental falls of up to 10 percent.

“Capital values of villas in Ain Khaled declined 6 percent quar-terly, however, its rental values dipped 1 percent causing gross yields to elevate to 3.8 percent. In Zig Zag Tower, capital values and rents declined by 4 percent and 0.6 percent respectively YoY leading to a gross yield of 6 percent. Overall gross yields increased to 5 percent. This trend is expected to prevail throughout 2019” said Anum Hasan, Senior Market Research Analyst at ValuStrat.

Nebras buys 60% of Tunisia’s Carthage Power CompanyQNA DOHA

Nebras Power Investment Management, a wholly owned Dutch affiliate of Nebras Power (Nebras) has completed the acquisition of a 60 percent equity stake in Carthage Power Company (CPC) in Tunisia.

The transaction continues with Nebras acquisition strategy to enhance its asset base through attractive PPA opportunities and marks the entry of Nebras into Tunisian power market and estab-lishes its first presence in North Africa. The asset suitably fits into Nebras’s strategic objective to become a leading international power company.

Fahad Hamad Al Mohannadi, Chairman of the Board of Nebras, said: “The acquisition by our Dutch affiliate of a controlling stake in CPC

marks Nebras’ first entry to North Africa power markets which we have pursued recently. We hope this will be the first of several investments in North Africa’s power sector.”

Khalid Mohammed Jolo, Chief Executive Officer of Nebras, stated: “We are on track in achieving our 2019 goals for annual capacity addition and technology mix. We expect to close several transactions this year some of which are in very advanced stage. I would like to thank the Nebras team on their efforts to close this transaction.”

Faisal Al Siddiqi, Chief Business Development Officer of Nebras, said, “We are pleased to acquire a stake in Tunisia’s first and only IPP project. Carthage Power Company supply approximately 10 percent of Tunisia’s electricity demand.”

04 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019HOME

MME launches first phase of soil quality monitoringTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME) has launched the first operational phase of the 2019 field survey of soil quality monitoring programme in Qatar, which is implemented by the field survey teams of the MME’s Department of Monitoring and Environmental Labo-ratory, as part of the development and implementation of environmental moni-toring programmes for air, water and soil.

The Director of the Department of Monitoring and Environmental Labo-ratory, Eng Hassan Ali Qassimi, said that this phase of the soil monitoring program in Qatar comes within the framework of several environ-mental monitoring programmes prepared and implemented by the Department, as well as periodic reports on the assessment of the state of the envi-ronment by comparing the monitoring results with the environmental standards in the country, as part of efforts to protect and sustain the country’s envi-ronment and resources.

He explained that the Department has always

been working on the development of its tools, mech-anisms and programs within the operational plans in the sustainable strategy of the Ministry of Munic-ipality and Environment and the Second National Development Strategy 2018-2022, pointing out that there are many initiatives adopted by the Department to achieve the strategic objectives during this period.

The Head of the water quality section at the Department, Ali Jassim Al Kuwari, said that the soil monitoring program has been updated and developed to include 52 soil monitoring sites across the country.

He pointed out that these sites include different types of soil, which is an important environmental resource used in multiple areas.

The field survey teams collecting soil for testing.

Sheikha Hind meets Italian Senate President

H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, yesterday met with the President of the Italian Senate, Maria Elisabetta Casellati, at Education City. Sheikha Hind discussed QF’s initiatives in the fields of education, science and research, and community development with the President, who was also given an overview of QF’s mission through a presentation and a tour of the open-air viewing platform at the 2015 building (QF Headquarters). Concluding her visit, the President, who also exchanged gifts with Sheikha Hind, signed QF’s Visitors Book.

Souq Waqif Services Centre performs 300 to 400 transactions dailySIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Souq Waqif Services Centre under the Unified Services Department of the Ministry of Interior performs daily 300 to 400 transactions including renewal of visas, and residency and company’s ID number, said official at the Ministry of Interior.

“The centre is witnessing a great turnout specially during weekends and vacations due to events organised in the Souq that attract tourists to the market. The transaction does not take more than a few minutes,” Lieutenant Abdul Rahman Saadoun Al Athba, officer at Souq Waqif Services Centre.

Souq Waqif Services Centre is one of the services centres that has been established as part of Min-istry’s policy of decentralisation of its services to ensure that resi-dents of different areas have easy accessibility for MoI services. The centre operates in the morning and evening shifts and there is a place for the elderly and people with special need, Al Athba said.

As for the demand for elec-tronic services instead of visiting the centre directly, he noted that Metrash 2 Service includes many services and saves time and effort. “Any citizen at his home can apply for a driver, housemaid, renewal visiting visa and residency via Matrash without the need to visit passports department.”

Al Athba said that the centre serves more the owners of shops and restaurants located in Souq Waqif where they can renew their stay or the facility and other services. He said that the centre is the only one of its kind in the market, and there is no other one in the Souq Waqif of Al Wakra, and it is marked by its heritage so sometimes people just come to see it. “The transactions at Souq Waqif Services Centre which are around 9,000 a month have greatly reduced crowds at General Direc-torate of Passports,” he pointed out mentioning that in almost all the areas in Qatar there is a centre for such services either in Al Sha-haniya, Al Shamal, Al Wakra or other areas.

Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and Managing Director of PHCC, Dr Mariam Abdul Malik, with other officials during the launch of ‘Corporate Strategy Plan 2019-2023’ yesterday.

MME sets up new department to ensure food securityFROM PAGE 1

“The Department will prepare a complete food security pro-gramme to achieve the state goals in this regards,” said Masoud Jarullah Al Marri (pictured), adding the Department will monitor and follow up all programmes and projects of food security.

He said the function of the Department is also to implement the sustainable strategic project of the Ministry and those related to the food security.

He said that the Department

will also follow up the projects for producing green fodder which were launched by the Ministry. “The Department will also follow

up the under construction projects of fish farming,” said Al Marri.

He said that the new Department has made a plan to evaluate all existing and new projects in a bid to boost these projects and to propose new projects to increase the self-suffi-ciency rate of Qatar in food pro-duction. He said the Department will propose the projects, set up the mechanism for them, divide the projects in phases for implemen-tation and look into the financial and technical requirements.

PHCC launches 5-year plan for better healthFROM PAGE 1

Managing Director of PHCC, Dr Mariam Abdul Malik, also pre-sented with details of the various developments made under the previous Primary Healthcare strategy 2013-2018, which was implemented under the theme of ‘Building the Foundation.’

Shifting the focus from treatment to prevention, PHCC

has built 5 Health and Wellness Centers with state of the art facil-ities across the country. Providing healthy lifestyle services including smoking cessation, diet and nutrition, and exercise referrals.

“We are delivering preventive care across all services, including ‘SMART’ health checks, mental health and pre-marital screening.”

PHCC also provides antenatal,

post-natal and family planning services, well-Baby clinics, and the ‘Beautiful Smile’ service which covers oral health education and treatment to pregnant women and children. With over 51,644 patients screened though the National Bowl and Breast Cancer Services to date, PHCC focused on early detection to increase the chances of successful treatment.

Qatar condemns armed attack in Burkina FasoQNA DOHA

The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the armed attack that targeted a church in northern Burkina Faso causing deaths.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the State of Qatar’s firm stance rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of motives and reasons.

The statement stressed Qatar’s total rejection of targeting places of worship and intimidating civilians.

The Ministry’s statement expresses the con-dolences of the State of Qatar to the victims’ fam-ilies and to the Government and people of Burkina Faso.

05TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 HOME

Message from Iran FM

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, received a written message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, pertaining to bilateral relations and means of boosting them. The message was handed over to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, during a meeting yesterday with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Ali Sobhani.

06 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019HOME

Attorney-General attends UN International Law CommissionQNA GENEVA

The seventy-first session of the UN International Law Commission kicked off in Geneva yesterday with the participation of Qatar’s Attorney-General Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri as a member of the commission.

The first session of the com-mission discussed a number of topics, including those relating to the sixth report on the immunity of the state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, which is one of the most complex issues in terms of the exercise of juris-diction in States with limited juris-diction and questions relating to the application of the principles of the exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction, in addition to exercise of jurisdiction by the International Court of Justice.

The session also discussed the difficulties faced by States in collecting evidence across national borders to examine custody, extradition or judicial assistance, which has become more complex in view of the immunity enjoyed by officials of foreign States under interna-tional law, and reaching a balance between the protection of the immunity of officials of

foreign States and the need to combat impunity, where there are still many difficulties to reach a unified agreement despite the great efforts exerted by States and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

During the discussions, the participants explored the best

ways to develop broad guide-lines and recommendations for making progress in the devel-opment of international law. The session was attended by the Per-manent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office in Geneva H E Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri.

Qatar’s Attorney-General, Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, at the 71st session of the UN International Law Commission in Geneva.

QU hosts Qatar-UK Health Research Forum

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar University (QU) hosted the ‘Joining Forces’ UK-Qatar Health Research Forum which was organised by the UK Science and Innovation Network - on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government- with support from the British Council and the Academic Health System at Hamad Medical Corpo-ration (HMC). The Forum provided a platform for leading health research experts from the UK and Qatar to come together over two days, to join forces in discussing research, bilateral collaboration, and to address global health chal-lenges.

The delivery of this event further demonstrated the UK’s commitment to supporting Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar’s National Health Strategy 2018-2022, and saw 22 influential UK speakers from leading research institutions and government departments travelling to Doha

for the two days. The forum engaged both the academic com-munity and healthcare providers alike, promoting the transfer of knowledge and innovation in health research. It was also an opportunity to strengthen ties between Qatar and the UK to jointly address global health chal-lenges. In addition to the invited speakers, the event was open to academics and representatives from key health research partners across Qatar and the UK.

The British Ambassador to Qatar, Ajay Sharma, said: “The UK and Qatar are longstanding partners in healthcare and I am delighted to see so many distin-guished experts — academics and healthcare professionals — here today to discuss the latest research across a range of issues including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. I am confident that this forum will support and lead to long-term, productive col-laborations and benefit patients in our countries as well as globally.”

QU President Dr Hassan Al-Derham said in his speech, “The theme of today’s event is ‘Joining Forces.’ I believe, as many do, that the future of health must be based on collaboration. Joining forces means getting together the best individuals, groups, organizations, institutions, and ensuring that we build on each other’s expertise to obtain the maximum benefit.”

Professor Michael Frenneaux, Chief of Scientific, Academic and Faculty Affairs, Hamad Medical Corporation, stated: “Hamad Medical Corporation, through the Academic Health System, is delighted to have provided financial and organisational support for this important event, which has brought together 22 speakers of the UK’s leading sci-entists in the health research arena and leading scientists from Qatar for a highly stimulating and informative series of lectures and two panel discussions, covering major healthcare issues affecting both countries.”

Health research experts from Qatar and UK with other officials at the UK-Qatar Health Research Forum.

The session also discussed the difficulties faced by States in collecting evidence across national borders to examine custody, extradition or judicial assistance, which has become more complex in view of the immunity enjoyed by officials of foreign States under international law.

07TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 HOME

QSTP a hub for scientific and technology innovationFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Over the ten years, Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) has become a hub for scientific and technology innovation, tech-based entrepreneurship and high-tech businesses.

QSTP, part of Qatar Foun-dation Research, Development, and Innovation (QF RDI), has reached significant success as a Free Zone and Qatar’s premier hub for applied research, tech-nology innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship, said Yosouf Abdulrahman Saleh, Executive Director, QSTP, speaking to media yesterday.

“We foster a vibrant eco-system that facilitates the devel-opment of new high-tech products and services, supports the com-mercialisation of market-ready technologies, and offers state-of-the-art offices and facilities spe-cifically designed for tech-based companies,” he said.

“We think about addressing the needs of the community. We

support developing innovative products which can benefit people. QSTP is also linked with research institutions and we encourage research which can address issues being faced by our community,” he added.

Members of QSTP’s Free Zone,

including international corpora-tions, SMEs, and research institu-tions are collectively committed to investing in new technology development programs, creating intellectual property, enhancing technology management skills, and developing innovative new

products. Total Research Centre – Qatar (TRC-Q) is situated in QSTP since 2009. Total’s seven worldwide research centres estab-lished in 2009 for the research dedicated to the Qatar and Middle East technical challenges. Initially focused mainly on geochemistry

and carbonate reservoirs, TRC-Q today has branched out to other crossover technologies, collabo-rating with universities and the medical and space domains.

Yousef Al Jaber, Director, TRC-Q, said, “Qatar is considered as a strategic branch. We are happy about what has been hap-pening in the past ten years. The environment for research is con-vincing.” The Qatar Mobility Inno-vations Center (QMIC), the first regional independent innovations institution that focuses on using emerging mobility and wireless technologies to deliver locally-engineered innovations to the market. QMIC is a strategic partner of QSTP.

Innovations at QMIC address the needs of a number of important market segments like Transportation, Environment, Utilities, and Sports, according to its Executive Director, Dr Adnan Abu Dayya. To demonstrate its progress, QMIC launched a number of solutions and initiatives including QMIC’s Intelligent Sensing and M2M Services

Platform (LabeebTM), the Intel-ligent Transportation, Road Safety & Logistics Services (MasarakTM), Environmental Air Quality Moni-toring System (Hawa’akTM), Arabic eContent Delivery Platform (KutobiTM), and its leading Con-nected Cars Platform and applications.

Dr Mohammed Doumir, Founder of Vetosis, also shared his experience with QSTP. Vetosis is the only company in the region that invests in developing new vet-erinary technology and innovative solutions for animal health. The company’s current project is the camel and horse lameness diag-nosis system.

Saleh Saeed Safran, Co-Founder and CEO of Subol at QSTP said, that their flagship product ‘Samam LP’ gas detector for homes and commercial properties is set to hit the market.

SUBOL is a Qatari technology startup dedicated to employ inno-vation and engineering method-ologies to develop products that fulfil needs of the local and global markets.

Yosouf Abdulrahman Saleh (left), Executive Director at QSTP; Dr Adnan Abu Dayya, Executive Director (CEO) Qatar Mobility Innovations Center; Yousef Al Jaber, Director of Total Research Center Qatar; Saleh Saeed Safran, Co-Founder and CEO of Subol; Dr Mohammed Doumir, Founder of Vetosis, and Wadha Al Adgham, Program Manager for Education at QSTP, during a media briefing yesterday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

QF to celebrate academic achievements of its graduatesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Foundation (QF) is set to host its annual Convocation ceremony, which will mark the achievements of its Class of 2019, on May 7, in Education City’s Cere-monial Court.

Honouring the latest cohort of graduates from QF’s nine univer-sities, the ceremony will serve as an opportunity for young men and women who are now preparing to enter the next phase of their lives to reflect on their experience within the unique learning envi-ronment of Education City, and to share their successes and stories with each other.

Convocation 2019 will see graduates in fields ranging from medicine, engineering, computer science, and international affairs

to art and design, communication, law, and Islamic studies join QF’s ever-growing alumni network, which already has more than 5,000 members.

Mayan Zebeib, Chief Commu-nications Officer, Qatar Foun-dation, said, “As a celebration of academic excellence and self-development, QF’s Convocation

ceremony mirrors the ecosystem of knowledge and discovery that those it honors have learned and thrived within at Education City, inclusive, vibrant, and multicul-tural. “Convocation not only cel-ebrates what these young men and women have achieved as QF students; it looks ahead with great anticipation to what they will now go on to accomplish, as leaders, achievers, active citizens, and drivers of positive change.

It marks the start of a new chapter in their story, and reflects the excitement that stems from possibility and opportunity.

“QF is immensely proud of its Class of 2019, and we look forward to honoring them at an occasion that demonstrates, in the most vivid form, why QF invests in the future by investing in the talent, creativity, energy, and aspirations of youth.”

The winner of Cycle 2 of QF’s Akhlaquna Award will also be revealed at Convocation 2019, with voting remaining open until May 2. The initiative, which aims to help nurture positive behavioral change within society, was first announced by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, in 2017.

Since it was first held in 2008, QF’s Convocation ceremony has been a platform to collectively cel-ebrate the graduation of students from Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University in Qatar, UCL Qatar, and HEC Paris in Qatar.

QM to hold World Book Day reading sessionTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Following a series of activities in celebration of Unesco World Book Day, Qatar Museums (QM) will host an interactive reading session at the Qatar National Library (QNL) tomorrow at 4:30pm.

At the event, Charlene Kasdorf will read “The Path towards the Island” — a chil-dren’s book written by Qatari author Shaikha Al Zeyara and illustrated by Kasdorf herself. The book, which was recently released by QM, features some of the incredible animals that vis-itors can see in the natural history gallery at the newly opened National Museum of Qatar

(NMoQ). Commenting on the event, Charlene Kasdorf, stated: “Illustration techniques help build creative stamina in children, it’s always wonderful to host such events especially when parents who accompany the children are so receptive. Visual literacy is an important aspect of ‘reading’ a picture book.”

In addition to the reading session, children – aged 7 to 10 – will be invited to participate in an interactive workshop where they will learn new techniques to create unique characters and improve their drawing skills. Free copies of QM’s children’s activity books will also be distributed to participants.

Convocation 2019 will see graduates in fields ranging from medicine, engineering, computer science, and international affairs to art and design, communication, law, and Islamic studies join QF’s ever-growing alumni network, which already has more than 5,000 members.

08 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019HOME

Medication in Ramadan: Patients urgedto consult their doctor or pharmacistTHE PENINSULA DOHA

As Ramadan begins in less than one week, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is reminding patients who take daily medi-cation and plan to fast to consult their physician before changing timing and dosage.

During Ramadan, all adult Muslims who fast are required to refrain from taking any food, liquids or oral drugs between dawn and sunset. However, those with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney diseases, as well as conditions like epilepsy, require daily medication to effectively manage their condition and prevent complications. If these individuals wish to fast, they are advised to consult their physician or pharmacist before making changes to their med-ication routine.

According to Dr Moza Sulaiman Al Hail, Executive Director of Pharmacy at HMC, several studies have shown that patients often change the intake time and dosage of their med-ication without first seeking medical advice.

“This behavior could alter the pharmacological properties of a drug and impact the effec-tiveness of the medication and the patient’s tolerance of the drug.” She went on to explain that unsupervised changes to medication timings can render a medicine useless and also

cause ser ious heal th complications.

During Ramadan, most patients who require daily medications are able to work with their healthcare team to safely make adjustments so that medicines can be taken between sunset and dawn. However, Dr. Al Hail urges patients to get medical advice before making any changes.

She also cautioned the public to avoid excessive use of non-prescription pain medica-tions and antacid drugs, partic-ularly without first consulting a medical professional.

Last year HMC’s Pharmacy Department established a Drug Information Center to answer questions about prescribed medications.

The service is staffed by pharmacists and is open Sunday to Thursday, from 7am to 8pm and can be reached at 4026 0747.

The Ministry of Public Health, HMC, and the Primary Health Care Corporation wish to remind members of the public about the Ramadan Health website and companion smartphone and tablet app.

The Ramadan Health website is Qatar’s first online resource devoted to health and wellness during the Holy Month. Visit the Ramadan Health website at www.hamad.q a / r a m a d a n h e a l t h , o r download the app to your phone or tablet by searching for ‘Qatar Health’ (available for iOS and Android operating systems).

Dr Moza Sulaiman Al Hail

Qatar Airways launches new economy onboard experience ‘Quisine’THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways has revealed a new Economy Class on-board experience branded ‘Quisine’, designed to further elevate customers’ dining experience when they travel with the award-winning airline.

To begin their dining expe-rience, passengers will now be presented with redesigned menu cards which will include a service timeline on all long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights, ensuring they can plan their journey without missing any-thing on offer. A pre-dinner

drinks option will also now be available on flights of over five hours, with refreshments and cocktail snacks available prior to the main meal being served.

Food portions have increased by 25 percent - 50 percent, with a greater focus on the use of local, fresh and healthy ingre-dients that are in season. Meals will also feature individually-wrapped artisanal warm infused bread and an individual bottle of water.

A wider selection of mid-flight movie snacks includes a tantalising array of cheese and crackers, chocolate bar, potato crisps and popcorn, with

innovative flavours such as Himalayan Salted Caramel and French Butter and Pink Salt pro-vided by gourmet popcorn brand 4700BC.

Quisine will be launched with a phased introduction across the airline’s network from April, beginning with flights to and from Brussels, Cardiff, Gothenburg, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “These latest on-board dining enhancements will undoubtedly provide our passengers with an even higher level of satisfaction and luxury.

We have carefully crafted our new Economy Class expe-rience to offer a proposition that ensures our passengers’ journeys are best in class.

“In addition to our products, which showcase a new retail style of tableware, we have also focused on the reduction of single use plastics with the intro-duction of more sustainable products.

Working with local com-panies, in addition to esteemed suppliers such as Godiva Choc-olatier and 4700BC Popcorn, ensures that we are offering our passengers a premium service in Economy Class.”

Food portions have increased by 25% to 50%, with a greater focus on the use of local, fresh and healthy ingredients that are in season.

Mowasalat takes part in World Day for Safety and Health at WorkTHE PENINSULA DOHA

As part of Mowasalat CSR activ-ities, the company has partici-pated in the activities of ‘World Day for Safety and Health at Work’ on April 25 and 28, which was organised by Qatar North Oil and Dolphin Energy respectively. The events aimed to encourage main-taining safety in work place, and promote safe driving culture to eliminate road accidents and save lives.

Mowasalat (Karwa) provided many theoretical and practical presentations for the employees and drivers of the participating companies and explained to them

safe driving process. In addition, Mowasalat provided practical experiences to the attendees using its advanced driving simulators, seatbelt convincer, fatal vision googles, and other devices related to driving safety.

Mowasalat elaborated easy ways for checking tire pressure, and distributed flyers containing important safety tips. Mowasalat conducted its presentations through its team of qualified trainers from the internationally accredited Karwa Driving School.

Mowasalat (Karwa) also had participated in the Third Con-ference & Exhibition of Occupa-tional Health & Safety as a golden sponsor under the patronage of

Minister of Administrative Devel-opment, Labour and Social Affairs H E Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhro where Mowasalat showcased the latest security and safety technologies and standards in its public and school transport bus and other types of buses.

Mowasalat had participated in a panel discussion where it highlighted security and safety procedures within the company’s facilities, in terms of providing adequate housing for its drivers and support staff in Karwa City, where all services are available including sports facilities, and adequate medical care through its integrated medical center and accredited medical commission.

Mowasalat officials during the World Day for Safety and Health at Work event.According to Dr Moza Sulaiman Al Hail, Executive Director of Pharmacy at HMC, several studies have shown that patients often change the intake time and dosage of their medication without first seeking medical advice. “This could alter the pharmacological properties of a drug and impact the effectiveness of medication and patient’s tolerance of the drug,” she said.

NU-Q welcomes class of 2023THE PENINSULA DOHA

An accomplished group from the largest applicant pool in Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q)’s history visited the campus with their families to learn more about the school’s programs and to meet with faculty, students, and alumni. The group of admitted students represents a record of 72 countries from around the world.

The event – Preview NU-Q – welcomed more than 100 stu-dents, with 32 flying in from 21 countries to attend the sessions. After hearing from NU-Q’s leaders and touring the campus, the group learned more about the Journalism and Strategic Communication and Communi-cation programs, as well as the liberal arts program offered at NU-Q.

In addition, the students and their families also attended a session that introduced a variety of student research projects, which demonstrate NU-Q’s interdisciplinary cur-riculum, as well as a visit to the university’s in-house digital museum – The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, that explores content on media, journalism, and communication.

Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO, noted that NU-Q is a place where “creativity takes place,

ideas are formed, knowledge is gained, and research is con-ducted. At NU-Q you will find innovation labs, a Newsroom, studios, and all kinds of facilities, which is of a sense, only the beginning of what can happen here.”

The diverse Class of 2023 brings together students who have demonstrated strong aca-demic credentials, including val-edictorians, presidents of their student bodies, student news-paper and yearbook editors, ath-letes, as well as future leaders and global entrepreneurs – coming together to get their first glimpse of NU-Q.

Speaking on what makes NU-Q a one-of-a-kind insti-tution, Alex Schultes, director of admissions pointed out that it is “a unique place, one that unites knowledge, ideas, ambition, imagination, and a lot of hard work, and fuses it all together with one of the most engaging and dynamic city-

states of our time.”Sharing her expectations for

what she hopes to gain from her studies at NU-Q, Noora Abdulaziz Al Thani, who was among the group of students admitted to NU-Q’s Class of 2023, said that she applied because she knew that it would help her with her career as a writer and an author. “I know that NU-Q will aid me on my path to get there in the future,” she said.

Mary Ann Kuriyan, an admitted student who traveled to Qatar from India, said, “I am looking forward to meeting new friends and getting to know people from the other side of the world.”

Meanwhile, Ali Khalid Al Thani, a media enthusiast who was also admitted to NU-Q, expressed his interest in sports news and hopes to land an internship with beIN Sports in his final year when Qatar hosts the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Over 100 students and their families attended Preview NU-Q to learn more about the university’s programs and meet with faculty and students.

Aurora Toastmasters Club celebrates 50th meeting

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Aurora Toastmasters Club celebrated their 50th meeting with great jubilation on April 24.

The current committee, KShipra Gore, Rajashree Bhagwat, Sahitya Reddy, Pradyna Umrani, Ritu Maheshwari, Mini Ravikumar, Chandra Gururani and Vijaylata Valluri metic-ulously planned and executed the event.

The meeting was started by President KShipra who spoke above out how the idea of starting a club for homemakers was initiated and finally culminated into reality.

She expressed how important it is for women to have a platform to voice their ideas to build self-confidence, and Toastmasters is one such perfect platform to vanquish the fear of public speaking ,build confidence and nurture lead-ership skills.

The theme for the meeting was ‘Discover

yourself’. Each member was given a chance to talk about their journey with Aurora Toast-masters Club and how it helped them discover themselves. Their testimonials were truly inspiring, and members spoke as to how they discovered their dormant potentials.

IWA president Susmita Patnaik who is also a distinguished Toastmaster, along with many senior members from various Toastmaster clubs graced the occasion and encourage the members of the club.

Toastmaster international’s District 116P Director, DTM Sundaresan Rajeshswar and Division B Director, DTM Sunita Saini conveyed their good wishes and congratulated the club and its members on their golden jubilee meeting. They also extended their wishes to the members of the club who qualified to represent the club at Toastmasters International Annual Conference for the year 2019 (DTAC-2019) which is to be held on May 3 and 4, 2019.

Aurora Toastmasters Club members pose for a group photo.

09TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Smoke rises during a fight between members of the Libya’s internationally recognised government forces and Eastern forces in Ain Zara, Tripoli, yesterday.

Airstrikes, roadblocks trap civilians in TripoliAP CAIRO

Libyan forces loyal to a former military commander have inten-sified their airstrikes on Tripoli, where heavy fighting and blocked roads have left civilians trapped in their homes, officials said yesterday.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army launched an operation to retake the capital on April 4 and has been locked in heavy fighting in and around the city with militias loosely allied with a UN-sup-ported government.

The clashes have killed more than 270 people, i n c l u d i n g 2 1 c i v i l i a n s , according to the latest U.N. figures released last week.

Libyan officials said LNA air-strikes have targeted the Nawasi Brigade in the Abu Salim district, about 7km from Tripoli’s center. At least four civilians were killed, they said.

They said airstrikes hit Al Qaqaa military camp in the town of Al Falah, south of Tripoli.

The camp is controlled by powerful militias from the western town of Misrata that are also allied with the Tripoli

government. Airstrikes and shelling also hit the towns of Khallet Al Forjan, Ain Zara and Al Twaisha, south of the capital, and heavy fighting was underway in Salah al-Deen, an area that saw earlier clashes between rival militias in September.

The officials spoke on con-dition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Residents said fighting has been ongoing overnight in res-idential areas a few kilometers (miles) south of Tripoli. Both sides have used heavy artillery

and airstrikes, they said.“We cannot move because

of the shelling from both sides. Our homes have been damaged. We are trying to leave the area to a safer place,” said Mohammed al-Trapoulsi, a 41-year-old father of three from Abu Salim.

Somalia: 4 dead in air strike REUTERS/MOGADISHU

An air strike near the Somali town of Afgoye killed four people, a relative of one of the victims said. The United States frequently carries out such attacks that target Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa country. The attacks have helped bolster Somalia’s UN-backed central government against Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Shabaab insur-gents.

Abdiqadir Nur and three others died at 1330 GMT while driving through Laanta Buuro village in the southwestern Lower Shabelle region, 45 km from the capital Mogadishu, relatives said.

“Nur and three others died on the spot. His brother Mahad Nur is totally burnt,” Nur’s cousin Abdullahi Ali said.

Ali said his cousin Nur was an employee of telecoms firm Hormuud Telecom, but the company said it had no employee of that name and that none of its staff were killed in an air strike.

In an email to Reuters, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said it carried out the air strike yesterday and that three militants had died in the attack.

“We are aware of reports alleging civilian casualties resulting from this air strike...The US Africa Command will review any information it has about the incident, including any relevant information pro-vided by third parties,” it said.

Al Shabaab was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, but retains a strong presence in southern and central parts of Somalia.

Al Shabaab, which wants to impose strict Islamic law in Somalia, says relatives of jihadists killed in air strikes are often motivated to join its ranks.

Death toll jumps to 38 after Mozambique’s latest cycloneAP PEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE

The death toll from Cyclone Kenneth in northern Mozambique jumped to 38, the government announced yesterday, as flooding and pounding rains hampered efforts to deliver aid to badly hit

communities several days after the storm.

An estimated 160,000 people were at risk from the second powerful cyclone to hit the southern African nation in just six weeks, officials said. It was the first time in recorded history that two cyclones had targeted

Mozambique in a single season.Just as most of the more than

600 deaths from last month’s Cyclone Idai were caused by flooding in the days that fol-lowed, heavy rains in the wake of Kenneth have raised fears of a similar scenario. The storm made landfall on Thursday with

the force of a Category 4 hur-ricane.Flooding was “critical” in parts of the country’s north-ernmost province of Cabo Delgado including Ibo island and the districts of Macomia and Quissanga, where more than 35,000 buildings and homes had been partly or fully destroyed,

the government said. Aid workers have described “total devastation” affecting a 60km stretch of coastline and nearby islands. The rising waters have made many roads impassable and hampered air efforts to reach communities outside the region’s main city, Pemba.

Palestinians keep up refusal of tax after Israel cutsAFP RAMALLAH

The Palestinians yesterday restated their refusal to accept tax revenues collected on their behalf by Israel so long as the Jewish state deducts millions of dollars over a dispute about prisoners.

“Our position is as it was: We will not receive any money from Israel if it is incomplete,” Pales-tinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas told the weekly cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “This is something we will not accept at any cost.”

Israel collects around $190m a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports, and then it transfers the money to the PA. In February, the Jewish state decided to deduct around $10m a month from those revenues, cor-responding to the amount it said the PA paid families of prisoners or directly to inmates serving time in Israeli jails.

The Palestinians responded by saying they would refuse any funds where unilateral deductions had been made. Israeli public radio reported yesterday that a month’s payment —minus the $10m deduction — had recently been transferred to PA bank accounts, in the hope the authority would quietly accept payment. But after two weeks, the radio said, the money was returned to the Israeli finance ministry.

Israel sees the payments to those who have carried out attacks against Israelis as

encouraging further violence. The PA describes the pay-

ments as a form of welfare, while the Palestinian public regards prisoners jailed by Israel as national heroes. The Arab League pledged last week to provide the PA with $100 million monthly, potentially averting a financial crisis caused by the row. Abbas called on the body to honour that pledge.

“We do not have high hopes, but perhaps the amount could be considered a debt that we return as soon as Israel returns” the money, he said. Abbas also renewed his opposition to a pro-posed US peace plan expected to be unveiled this summer.

He has refused to negotiate with Donald Trump’s adminis-tration since December 2017, when the US president contro-versially recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

At least 17 dead in Ethiopia clashesAFP/ADDIS ABABA

At least 17 people have died in communal violence triggered by a personal dispute in western Ethiopia, a report said. The Amma news agency said there were clasheson Saturday and Sunday pitting the Gumuz ethnic group against the Amhara, the second largest in the country, in Benishangul Gumuz state. The director of communica-tions, Asmahegn Asres, in neighbouring Amhara state, told Amma that 11 Amhara and six Gumuz people were killed in the clashes and the toll could mount. “Around 25 houses have been burned in the ethnic violence which started as a personal dispute between two daily labourers,” he added.

Sudan’s military, oppn discuss joint councilREUTERS KHARTOUM

Sudan’s military rulers and an opposition alliance met yesterday to discuss the powers of a joint military-civilian council to steer the country’s transition after three decades of rule by Omar Hassan Al Bashir, two sources familiar with the proceedings said.

The two sides had been due to talk about the make-up of the proposed body, but military officers who toppled Bashir on April 11 focussed the discussions instead on the future council’s

functions and powers, the sources said.

A further meeting between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces, an umbrella group representing opposition groups and activists, will be held to discuss the coun-cil’s composition, they added.

The make-up of the pro-posed council is key because activists who organised 16 weeks of protests leading to Bashir’s ouster have insisted that the body be civilian led. The TMC has not indicated that it is willing to cede ultimate authority.

The joint council would be the sovereign body overseeing a technocrat government and a legislative council.

After Bashir’s ouster the TMC announced it would remain in place for two years ahead of elections. The Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces wants a four-year transition overseen by a civilian-led council with military representation.

Protesters have kept up pressure on the TMC through mass rallies and a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum that began on April 6.

A Sudanese girl draws the portrait of Ahmad Al Kheir, a teacher who died from wounds suffered in detention during Omar Al Bashir’s regime, outside the Army Headquarters in the capital Khartoum, yesterday.

Turkey offers Trump joint review of Russian S-400 threatAP/ANKARA

Officials say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed with US President Donald Trump a Turkish proposal to establish a joint committee over Turkey’s plans to purchase Russian S-400 missile defence systems. A statement from Erdogan’s office says the two leaders held a telephone conversation on Monday during which they also discussed the fight against terrorism and efforts to increase trade. Turkey’s decision to purchase the advanced Russian system has deepened a rift between the Nato allies. US officials say the Russian defense system could pose a threat to a US F-35 fighter jet program and have warned of consequences if the purchase is finalized. Turkey denies that the system is a threat and has proposed a joint committee to review security risks.

Israel collects around $190m a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports, and then it transfers the money to the PA. In February, Israel decided to deduct around $10m a month from those revenues, corresponding to the amount it said the PA paid families of prisoners or directly to inmates serving in Israeli jails.

AFP/ BAGHDAD

The elusive chief of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has purportedly appeared for the first time in five years in a propaganda video (pictured), released yesterday by the militant organisation.

It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but the man said to be Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, IS’s final

bastion in eastern Syria, which ended last month.

“The battle for Baghouz is over,” the man said, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred. But he insisted that IS’s operations against the West were part of a “long battle,” and that IS would “take revenge” on members who had been killed.

Al Baghdadi also says Easter bombings in Sri Lanka were

carried out in revenge for Islamic State’s losses in Syria’s Baghouz. “There will be more to come after this battle,” he said.

Baghdadi, 47, had a long grey beard that appeared dyed with henna and spoke slowly, often pausing for several seconds in the middle of his sentences.

He appeared for the first and last time in public in Mosul in 2014, where he declared an Islamic “caliphate” in the

swathes of territory IS then held in Syria and Iraq.

He was reported killed or injured multiple times since then.

Baghdadi ‘appears’ for first time in 5 years, says Sri Lanka bombings in revenge for IS losses in Syria’s Baghouz

Angry protests erupt in Tunisian cityREUTERS/TUNIS

About 5,000 Tunisians protested yesterday in central Sidi Bouzid city against marginalisation and deteriorating conditions, two days after the deaths of 12 female rural workers in a traffic accident. Traffic stopped and schools, hospitals and public offices were closed under a regional strike called by unions in Sidi Bouzid, the birth-place of Tunisian revolution. The deaths of 12 women travelling to work in an inappropriate vehicle in the village of Sabbela on Saturday provoked a wave of anger among Tunisians. Similar incidents have occurred in recent months, fuelling Tunisians anger at the high cost of living, unemployment and decline of state services since the over-throw of Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, gave a speech in Cairo, in which she said: “For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East - and we achieved neither.

TIM HEPHER REUTERS

10 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019VIEWS

In the Middle East, a new military crescent is in the making

With the breakout of the Arab Spring more than eight years ago, pro-democracy activists in

the Arab world and elsewhere were hopeful that the tide of democratic change might have finally reached its shores. Many who had criticised the likes of American scholar Samuel Huntington, who saw democracy as an alien concept to Middle Eastern culture, felt vindicated.

The euphoria of the Arab Spring did not last long, however. In Syria, Libya and Yemen, civil wars erupted, subduing any hopes for a peaceful democratic transition. In Bahrain, fearing Iranian interference, a Saudi-led military intervention quickly put down popular protests. In Morocco, the February protest movement was smothered by a combination of political manoeuvres by King Mohammed VI and a security crackdown. And in Egypt, the military establishment spearheaded a counter-revolution and eventually staged a coup against the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, which installed General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi as the country’s new military ruler.

These developments have been seen by many as yet another indi-cation that the Arab world is intrinsi-cally undemocratic . The rise of organ-

isations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) has validated the perceived need for a strongman rule. The political choice of Arab nations has been seemingly reduced to “SISI or ISIS”.

With this logic in mind, regional and world powers have spon-sored the return of mil-

itary dictatorships to the region, with the hope that they would clean up the Arab Spring “mess” and restore order. In particular, they are seeking to create a new “military crescent” in North Africa that encompasses Sudan, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.

But just as the military rule estab-lished in the 1950s and 1960s even-tually crumbled, this new push to mili-tarise Arab politics is also bound to fail.

The US hope for the ‘enlightened’ Arab military ruler

Western powers have long been supporters of military rule in the Arab world, the United States being one of its earliest and most eager proponents.

In the late 1940s, modernisation theories popular within US political circles regarded the conservative ruling elites as a major hurdle towards the establishment of modern states and societies in the Arab world. At the same time, as Washington gradually emerged as a world power, its interests started to clash with those of its ally, the British empire, particularly in the Middle East.

The US viewed Arab conservative regimes as an extension of British - and in some cases French - coloni-alism, which it sought to dismantle. It considered takeovers led by Arab mil-itary forces - which tended to be more modernised than other state institu-tions in the Arab world - as a viable solution.

By the 1940s there was also already a model for the region to follow: the Young Turks’ revolution and the subsequent rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which rapidly mod-ernised the newly created Turkish republic.

The US political elite was con-vinced that Ataturk-like military leaders were better equipped to start a modernisation process from the top, change, forcibly if necessary, the con-servative culture of Middle Eastern countries, and expel the Europeans from the region.

In 1949, the CIA assisted the mil-itary coup in Syria against the first democratically-elected government of Shukri al-Quwatli. In 1952, the US wel-comed the coup against the British-backed Egyptian monarchy led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

This US strategy faltered a bit after the Suez War of 1956 when the Soviet Union entered the scene in the Middle East and opened another front in the intensifying Cold War, but ultimately, Washington continued to favour mil-itary rule in the region over the next few decades.

Arab military rulers did engage in the modernisation of their countries but also created police states and dys-functional economies in which people had neither bread, nor freedom. Poverty, repression, despair, ine-quality, and marginalisation led to

radicalisation and violence.It took the US some 60 years to

admit the link between authoritari-anism and extremism. Four years after the 9/11 attacks, in June 2005, then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, gave a speech in Cairo, in which she said: “For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East - and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.”

A new military crescent But they are not alone in this belief.

Regional players Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates too felt threatened by the popular uprisings in the Middle East and for many years now, they have been leading the counter-revolutionary forces in the region to re-establish military rule. Ironically, the two GCC states weren’t always supporters of Arab military strongmen.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, was a fierce opponent of military rule in the region, as army officers toppled one conservative monarchy after the other in the 1950s and 1960s.

Witnessing the dismal fate of royal families in Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, the House of Saud worried about its own security and took measures not only to weaken and fragment its own armed forces, but also to ally with anti-revolutionary powers in the region (including Iran under Pahlavi rule).

Today, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, like their US and European allies, see their interests better served by mil-itary dictatorships in the region. Thus, after funding the military coup in Egypt in 2013, they are now hoping for military rule to extend to Algeria, Sudan and Libya.

In recent months, Algerian and Sudanese people rebelled against their long-term leaders, Abdelaziz Boute-flika and Omar al-Bashir and managed to topple them. But in both countries, the military has sought to take advantage of the situation. In Sudan, military generals stepped in and took control of the country and in Algeria, the military from behind the scenes has been trying hard to engineer a transition that secures its interests.

MARWAN KABALAN AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The Socialists will try to govern on their

own. We have more than enough (votes)

to steer this ship along the course it

must follow.

Carmen Calvo Spain’s Deputy Prime

Minister

Why Airbus isn’t pouncing on Boeing’s 737 MAX turmoil

When Boeing launched its 737 MAX jetliner in response to Airbus’s record-selling A320neo,

a wave of poker-faced satisfaction spread through Airbus headquarters in France. Its reasons for cheering Boe-ing’s decision to make a similar jet, based on a similar strategy of engine efficiencies, partly explain why Airbus is wary of exploiting Boeing’s misery over the global grounding of the MAX today, industry sources say.

Airbus has joined major airlines in expressing confidence that Boeing will emerge soon from a crisis caused by two fatal crashes. In the first place, that is because both giants share a stake in preserving public trust and rarely compete on safety.

“This is not good for aviation,” new Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said of the MAX crisis earlier this month.

But the history of the MAX and its competitor, the Airbus A320neo, also

illustrates why the two companies are unlikely to come to blows over the future of the MAX beyond their fierce day-to-day competition, strategists and industry officials say.

Airbus and Boeing operate a roughly equal duopoly in the market for single-aisle jets that Airbus values at $3.5 trillion over 20 years.

Neither can afford to fall too far behind without suffering a big disad-vantage on costs, which depend heavily on volumes.

If one of them did, it would likely take drastic action - anything from launching a price war to developing a new jet - that could destabilise both, and so market forces tend to keep the two companies’ strategies in line, industry insiders say.

In 2011, Airbus was testing that alignment with record sales of its recently launched A320neo, offering more efficient engines. It had launched the upgraded A320 after beginning to lose ground to a new competitor, Can-ada’s Bombardier CSeries.

By adopting similar engines,

Airbus was able to block the CSeries and stimulate massive orders from its existing customer base, while sending a message to an even bigger potential rival, China, that the core of the jet-liner market would be defended.

But Airbus was also worried that its strategy would have to be torn up as Boeing considered leapfrogging it with an all-new jet that would take longer to build but give more effi-ciencies. Airbus knew it would have to respond to this with a costlier Plan B aircraft, code-named A30X, but was facing multiple calls on its cash, including problems with its A400M military plane.

Airbus decided it needed to force Boeing off the fence and struck in its backyard with a deal to sell 460 jets to American Airlines, several people familiar with the negotiations said.

Calculating it would lose too many such deals before its all-new jet was ready, Boeing did a U-turn and announced a re-engined 737 in time to win back almost half the American order.

Al Wakrah Stadium will become the second 2022 World Cup venue to show readiness after the iconic Khalifa International Stadium, which was also unveiled with the Amir Cup final in May 2017.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI

osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Another milestone

All eyes are turning to Qatar which is gearing up to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Under the wise lead-ership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al

Thani, Qatar is preparing to host a tournament that will drive real change in the region. Hosts Qatar will reach another milestone next month when the newly-built Al Wakrah Stadium — one of the eight venues for football’s global showpiece event — will be inaugurated with the hosting of the Amir Cup final.

The Qatar Football Association and the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy announced that the 40,000-capacity venue will host the final of the pres-tigious tournament on May 16. Al Wakrah Stadium will become the second World Cup venue to show readiness after the iconic Khalifa International Stadium, which was also unveiled with the Amir Cup final in May 2017.

The stadium’s design is inspired by the sails of tradi-tional dhow boats, in tribute to Al Wakrah’s seafaring past. The stadium has a fully retractable roof, meaning it can be used all-year-round. It also features innovative cooling technology for the benefit of spectators and

players. The technology is capable of cooling the spec-tator areas to 18°C and the field of play to 20°C.

“We are honoured that one of Qatar’s World Cup venues will host this year’s Amir Cup final,” Khalid Mubarak Al Kuwari, the QFA’s Director of Marketing & Communications said. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was among the spec-tators during the 2017 Amir Cup final when the Khalifa Stadium was inaugurated, and Al Kuwari said the QFA will be inviting leading figures of the sport for this year’s final too.

Al Wakrah Stadium Project Manager Thani Khalifa Al Zarraa described the upcoming inauguration as a major milestone. “The launch

of Al Wakrah Stadium is a signif-icant step on the road to 2022. Its innovative and futur-istic design means it is set to be one of the iconic venues during the first FIFA World Cup in the Arab world. We hope thousands of football fans across the country will join us for this landmark occasion as we celebrate the progress we have made to-date and look forward to 2022 with renewed excitement.”

The world watched in awe at the spectacular rede-velopment of the 50,000-seater Khalifa International Stadium, which was inaugurated in May 2017. Interest-ingly, the country’s iconic sports venue was inaugurated more than five years ahead of schedule. Qatar has spent billions of dollars to link up the country’s football sta-diums with the most modern metro network. The state has embarked on a series of developmental projects including hotels, airports, ports, stadiums, hospitals, highways and transportation to accommodate hundreds of thousands of fans expected to arrive in Doha during the 2022 World Cup. The World Cup will leave a lasting environmental and social legacy to benefit future generations.

Algerians gather during an anti-government demonstration in the capital Algiers.

Analysts have pointed to the “viral” nature of Islamic State online messaging and propaganda, which has netted new adherents and would-be recruits at a scale previously unimaginable - and entirely divorced from the physical project of building a territorial “caliphate.”

11TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 OPINION

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As trade talks reach endgame, US-China tiescould hinge on enforcement

Sri Lanka shows the deadly reach of the Islamic State

MICHAEL MARTINA REUTERS

ISHAAN THAROOR THE WASHINGTON POST

US negotiators head to China on Tuesday to try to hammer out details to end the two countries’ trade

war, including the shape of an enforcement mechanism, the success

or failure of which could set the tra-jectory of ties for years to come.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for talks beginning today, followed by a visit by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to Washington for more discussions starting on May 8. Both sides have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced tech-nology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost the world’s two largest econ-omies billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and rattled financial markets.

Those issues are still on the table, according to the White House, but US officials say privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points. Agreeing to a way to enforce a deal is one thing. Ensuring it holds up under ties strained by growing mistrust and geopolitical ten-sions will be another, say watchers of the relationship.

“An effective enforcement mech-anism will define the deal,” Tim Stratford, chairman of the American

Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham), said.

“The deal doesn’t need to revamp China’s economy. But it does need to provide a new methodology for dealing with our differences,” said Stratford, a lawyer and former assistant US Trade Representative who has worked in China for more than three decades.

“This is incredibly high stakes. We have a particular window of oppor-tunity, and a lot in the future of US-China relations rests on this,” he said.

Earlier this month, Mnuchin said the two sides had agreed on estab-lishing new “enforcement offices” to police an agreement, although he did not give specifics. On Sunday, he told the New York Times talks are entering a critical point: “We’re getting into the final laps.”

US President Donald Trump said on April 4 that the two sides could have a deal worked out in about four weeks. On Thursday, he said he would soon host Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House - a meeting seen as needed to cement an agreement. Though a final date for a deal - if there is one - remains unclear, talks have brought China and the United States to a crossroads in their fraught relationship.

China has long defined commerce as the ballast in the relationship.

Now, some warn that the two are teetering towards a new type of “Cold War”, as Beijing asserts its growing military strength in Asia and Wash-ington ramps up scrutiny of Chinese tech companies and cracks down on Chinese espionage and influence campaigns at US institutions and uni-versities. Beijing sees US actions as efforts to contain its development.

But years of only piecemeal eco-nomic reforms in China and con-tinued industrial policies that US companies complain have eroded their competitive edge have weakened key US business sector support for China. AmCham said this

month that US businesses could no longer be counted on as a “positive anchor” in bilateral relations. And US officials, chagrined by what they say have been years of Chinese stalling tactics in annual economic dialogues, have been adamant that a trade deal must have teeth.

Lighthizer has suggested that some form of the tariffs Trump imposed last year on Chinese goods as leverage in the dispute should hang over a deal to ensure compliance.

Any such a mechanism would be fragile, trade experts said.

For one, it would mean continued uncertainty for already trade war-weary businesses and markets.

They also say China’s record of exploiting loopholes at the World Trade Organization suggests it will look aggressively for new areas where it can say the United States isn’t living up to its pledges. If Washington re-establishes tariffs weeks or months down the road, it could lead to retali-ation and the collapse of the deal.

In such a case, the two sides would find themselves back at square one, this time without negotiations as a viable way to deescalate disputes.

Because of this, one American trade consultant said: “It takes great imagination and optimism to think we can come up with an effective enforcement mechanism beyond the short term.”

Another source with knowledge of the trade talks argued that if the United States triggered the mech-anism, Beijing would be unlikely to “come back to the table with this president”, referring to Trump.

“As long as there is a mechanism of tariffs hanging over the deal, it won’t be durable,” the source said.

Trade advisers in China appear more confident that an agreement would not fall apart quickly because both sides need it politically, particu-larly Trump, who is seen in China as eager for a détente as the 2020 US presidential election approaches.

A week after enduring hideous violence on their holiest of days, Sri Lankan Christians largely stayed away from

their places of worship. The arch-bishop of Colombo conducted a tele-vised mass from his home on Sunday out of safety concerns for his flock - still reeling after a coordinated series of suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people in churches and hotels on both sides of the country.

The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State, and some officials floated the possibility that it was intended to be retaliation for a white supremacist’s assault on two mosques in New Zealand. The specter of an international Islamist militant plot hung over the island nation. The Islamic State’s online propaganda arm released images of the suspected ring-leader of the attack, accompanied by seven scarf-clad followers, declaring allegiance to the extremist group and its leader, Abu Bakr-al-Baghdadi.

In response, Sri Lankan author-ities snatched up dozens of potential suspects over the course of the week, including 48 people over the weekend, while uncovering various caches of weapons and bombmaking material. Full curfews went into effect in parts of the country. Late Friday, at least 15 people died during a raid by government troops on a house in the eastern town of Sainthamaruthu. According to police reports, some

suspected militants detonated their own bombs as security forces approached, killing themselves along with six children and three women also inside the home, while others died in a subsequent shootout.

“Ripped pieces of clothing were scattered on the ground together with bullet casings,” my Washington Post colleagues reported from the crime scene the following day. “Torn sheaves of paper with the hadith - the sayings of the prophet Muhammad - were strewn in two places.”

The exact logistical link between the local militants and the Islamic State is still unclear. But the attacks in Sri Lanka showed the enduring ability of this brutal extremist organization to inspire violence throughout the world. The group has this capacity even as it has lost its territorial fiefdoms in war-torn Iraq and Syria, arenas where President Donald Trump has desper-ately sought to declare victory over Islamist militants.

“We should not be too dismissive of ISIS claims or capabilities,” Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism in the George W. Bush administration, said to my colleagues. “I do think it is possible that ISIS has communicated directly or embedded with these local groups and found a way of helping plot, amplify and supercharge their capabilities and operational effec-tiveness on the ground. The ISIS

diaspora and expertise is real, and ISIS has global designs - in South Asia and elsewhere.”

Analysts have pointed to the “viral” nature of Islamic State online messaging and propaganda, which has netted new adherents and would-be recruits at a scale previously unim-aginable - and entirely divorced from the physical project of building a ter-ritorial “caliphate.”

“The Islamic State is like an inter-national conglomerate that has untethered itself from the costly, time-consuming business of oper-ating retail bricks and mortar,” wrote James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO. “A global map showing ISIS inspired or con-ducted attacks is revealing, far beyond anything al-Qaida has managed. And, no question, it will continue to conduct lethal attacks, seeking over time to obtain weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, radiological and cyber.”

Rather than a one-off, argued ter-rorism experts Charlie Winter and Aymenn al-Tamimi, the attacks in Sri Lanka ought to be seen as a “test run” for what the Islamic State can poten-tially achieve elsewhere. Indeed, the attacks themselves may offer proof to the Islamist militants’ sympathizers that the organization is capable of thriving far from its now-lost dusty redoubts in the Middle East.

They pointed to a proximate his-torical precedent: “Back in 2004, the Islamic State’s predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, or AQI, was militarily defeated in Fallujah - a city it had been occu-pying for six months alongside other insurgents. At the time, the group’s then leader, Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, framed territorial defeat as a tactical setback in the short term, but a stra-tegic victory in the long term. He asserted that Fallujah mattered most because of what the battle for the city said about AQI. It put AQI on the map, he claimed, showing it to be a viable force capable of fighting the ‘cru-saders’ head-on and globalizing its ideology. That, he said, was priceless. Sure, AQI was materially weakened, but that didn’t matter, because at the very same time it had been ideologi-cally strengthened.”

The organization that eventually evolved out of AQI? None other than the Islamic State.

In Sri Lanka, the Islamist militants found a particularly vulnerable target. A political rift between the country’s

Both sides have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost the world’s two largest economies billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and rattled financial markets.

president and prime minister is being blamed in part for the security lapses leading up to the bombings, including the depressing fact that officials within the gov-ernment apparently did not act on tips concerning the likely threat of an attack.

Now, there’s a risk that it could overcompensate. “We had to declare an emergency situation to suppress terrorists and ensure a peaceful environment in the country,” said Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. “Every household in the country will be checked” and lists of all residents made to “ensure that no unknown person can live anywhere.”

The president decreed that face coverings for Muslim women would be banned starting Monday for security purposes. Sirisena also blamed investigations into the Sri Lankan military’s bloody role in a decades-long civil war with Tamil separatists for supposedly weak-ening the country’s security appa-ratus. Critics scoffed at that claim, arguing that he was playing into the hands of a Buddhist nationalist clique linked to the armed forces that is, in part, responsible for stoking communal tensions.

Those are already flaring. Local officials told reporters that hun-dreds of Muslim refugees of the Ahmadiyah sect - who initially fled to Sri Lanka from Pakistan to flee religious persecution - have now gone into hiding out of fear of reprisal attacks.

It’s another sign of what extremist plots can achieve. “People are terribly scared,” Russell Eardle, a British Sri Lankan man, said to my colleagues last week. “They are peaceful, and they don’t know who is to blame.

Sri Lankan security forces walk past the house where a raid had carried out, in Colombo.

12 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019ASIA

64% turnout in fourth phase amid violence in W BengalIANS NEW DELHI

A voter turnout of 64 per cent was witnessed at 72 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across nine states which went to the polls yesterday in the fourth phase.

The turnout in 2014 in these seats was 61.48 per cent.

The polling percentage improved in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar while it was less in West Bengal and Odisha and marginally less in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand compared to the last election. It was somewhat better in Rajasthan.

The poll percentage is expected to go up once all the votes cast are taken into account. The voting percentage was 69.50 per cent in the first phase, 69.44 per cent in the second and 68.40 per cent in the third phase.

Senior Deputy Election Com-missioner Umesh Sinha said that voting process has been com-pleted in two more states - Maharashtra and Odisha - after conclusion of fourth phase of seven-phase election.

Polling was also held in Kulgam district of Anantnag par-liamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir where 10.5 percent people exercised their franchise compared to 36.84 per cent in 2014. The seat is wit-nessing a three-phased election.

Of the states that went to the polls, Rajasthan saw a voter turn

out of 64.5 per cent for 13 seats that went to the polls compared to 64. 48 in 2014. It was 65.77 per cent in six seats of Madhya Pradesh (64.84 in 2014), 63.39 per cent in three seats of Jharkhand (63.82 in 2014), 76.44 per cent in eight seats of West Bengal (83.38 in 2014), 58.82 per cent in five seats of Bihar (56.18 in 2014), 58.23 per cent in sev-enteen seats of Maharashtra (55.58 in 2014).

In Odisha, where polling was also held for 41 assembly seats alongside six Lok Sabha seats, the voter turn out was 68 per cent compared to 73.75 per cent in 2014.

In thirteen seats of Uttar Pradesh, the polling percentage was 57.58 per cent compared to 58.39 per cent in 2014.

Amid widespread violence, including the attack on a Union Minister, clashes outside polling booths, hurling of bombs and EVM snags, over 76 per cent of the electorate voted till 5 pm in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

Union Minister and BJP can-didate from Asansol Babul Supriyo’s car was vandalised, allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers, outside a polling station in Barabani. The leader was unharmed in the incident.

“Our polling agent was not allowed to sit in a booth in Barabani by the Trinamool sup-porters. Babul Supriyo took the agent with him inside the booth and asked the presiding officer to make arrangements so that he could sit there. While returning, Trinamool activists surrounded his vehicle and some pelted stones, breaking the rear glass,” a BJP leader said.

Supriyo also alleged that a BJP agent at a booth in Jamuria was not allowed to take his place in the polling station.

Later in the day, Supriyo was heckled by agitators. “I am dis-appointed with the role of the central forces. It is sad that the central forces did not work properly,” Supriyo said.

In Baharampur, sitting MP and senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury accused Trinamool workers of capturing booths and stopping voters from coming to the polling stations in certain areas.

Several people, including a woman, were injured after bombs were hurled by some uni-dentified miscreants at Hanskhali in Ranaghat constituency.

Reports of booth capturing and intimidating voters surfaced from at least three booths in

Birbhum district’s Rampurhat and at Ketugram in East Burdwan.

Meanwhile, the police resorted to lathi charge to dis-perse the crowd after villagers and voters demanded deployment of central forces in Jemua in the Burdwan-Durgapur constituency.

A political clash ensued after miscreants vandalised houses of villagers and BJP supporters in Birbhum’s Nalhai and Nanur, areas infamous for political vio-lence. Some Trinamool sup-porters also accused BJP activists of vandalising their houses in the afternoon to take revenge.

Villagers at Law Bagan in Birbhum’s Suri were allegedly offered tea and puffed rice by

Trinamool activists and locked up in a house and told not to vote, local people said, adding that their voter identity cards were also snatched away. Later, security personnel took the voters to the polling stations.

Voting was stalled at Poduma under the the Dubrajpur Assembly segment after villagers vandalised a polling booth in the Birbhum constituency. The vil-lagers clashed with the security forces following a dispute over depositing mobile phones, offi-cials said.

To bring the situation under control, the security personnel fired in the air. However, Trina-mool’s Birbhum candidate Satabdi Roy said that two people were injured in the firing.

“Polling was stalled for some time at a booth in Dubrajpur before resuming later,” an official of the commission said.

In Burdwan East’s Pur-basthali, some Trinamool sup-porters accused BJP workers of attacking them while they were returning from the booth after exercising their franchise.

Meanwhile, Trinamool’s Birbhum district President Anu-brata Mondal was put “under strict surveillance” following allegations that he was threat-ening polling officials.

The BJP demanded repoll in the entire Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency and in a number of polling stations in Asansol, Krishnanagar and Ranaghat seats.

Voters stand in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station, in Kanpur, India, yesterday.

The members of the Tibetan Women Association walk past Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary at Sevok, Siliguri in India, yesterday, as they take part in a silent march on the occasion of 30th birthday celebration of the 11th Panchen Lama.

SC allows Centre’s plea to defer Rafale hearingIANS NEW DELHI

Acting on Centre’s plea to defer the Rafael verdict review hearing fixed for Tuesday on grounds that it needs time to file reply on merits, the Supreme Court yesterday allowed the Centre to circulate a letter for adjournment of the hearing.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi permitted the Centre’s counsel to circulate the letter regarding the defer-ement among parties, including petitioners, who filed review pleas in the apex court.

The top court had on April 10 allowed the pleas asking the court to review its judgement on Rafale deal based on media reports on leaked documents, and also urged the court to dismiss the government’s objec-tions claiming “privilege” on the documents.

The Centre had contended before the court that the three privileged documents were unauthorisedly removed from the government ministry con-cerned, and then these docu-ments were used by the peti-tioner to file review petition challenging the top court judgment of December 14, 2018.

In the December 14, 2018 judgment, the court had dis-missed all pleas challenging the Rafale fighter jets deal.

India and France got into a deal in 2015 for the procurement of fighter jets. The Centre has contended that the documents were protected under the Official Secrets Act, and therefore, not admissible as evidence in the court, but the Supreme Court rejected it. The court noted that the documents were published in consonance with the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution.

Union Minister and BJP candidate from Asansol, Babul Supriyo’s car was vandalised outside a polling station in Barabani, West Bengal. The leader was unharmed.

Dynastic forces censored ‘Vande Mataram’: ModiIANS BARRACKPORE, WEST BENGAL

In a veiled swipe at erstwhile Congress governments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said forces in the country, which believe in dynastic and vote bank politics, censored the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ and neglected the heroes of Azad Hind Fauj who had fought for India’s inde-pendence.

Claiming that there is a “per-verted trend” of abusing patri-otism and nationalist feelings in

the country, he said people should be wary of those who think “100 times” before uttering “Vande Mataram” or “Bharat Mata Ki Jai (all hail motherland)”.

“The country is witnessing a perverted mindset to abuse patriotism and nationalist feelings. ‘Vande Mataram’ is a celebration of ‘Maa-Mati-Manush’ (mother-motherland-people) but the song had been censored and tampered with. And now there is a shameless attempt to bury it,” he alleged at an election rally here in Bhatpara

under the Barrackpore parlia-mentary constituency.

Reciting some of the ‘cen-sored’ lines of ‘Vande Mataram’, he said that it is only BJP that has the courage to sing the whole song publicly.

Modi also claimed heroes of India’s freedom struggle were neglected for “vote bank and dynasty politics” before the BJP government took steps to respect to all those who played signif-icant role in the country’s Inde-pendence and nation-building.

“It was a memorable moment for me when the

National Flag was hoisted in the Red Fort to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Azad Hind government. To respect the con-tribution of Netaji and Azad Hind Fauj, a ‘Kranti Mandir’ has been built inside the Red Fort.

“We have also paid respect to the other members of the Azad Hind Fauj and made them part of our Republic Day parade in Delhi last year.

“The Republic Day is being celebrated in the country for decades but none of the he pre-vious governments remembered them,” he alleged.

EC decision on complaints against Modi, Rahul todayIANS NEW DELHI

The Election Commission (EC) will today take a decision on complaints of alleged violations of model code of conduct (MCC) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congres President Rahul Gandhi and BJP President Amit Shah, it said yesterday.

“Regarding the alleged com-plaints of violation of model code of conduct against senior leaders of two political parties, the Commission has already

taken all the inputs and details and has scheduled a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for taking a decision on each of the issues,” Deputy Election Com-missioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar told the media.

“At present there are three leaders against which alleged complaints are there - Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah. The matters are under consideration with the Com-mission,” he added. Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said there was a need to

take a comprehensive view of all the complaints and added that each alleged violation would have to be taken up separately and decision will be taken accordingly. There are several complaints of alleged MCC vio-lations against the three leaders. While Modi and Shah have been accused of making “hate speeches” and “using” armed forces for “political propaganda” during the Lok Sabha polls, there have also been complaints against Gandhi’s use of “chowkidar chor hai” slogan.

Fani likely to become very severe, coastal states on alert IANS NEW DELHI

Coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal will be on high alert as the cyclone storm ‘Fani’ is “very likely” to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm in next 24 hours, the Indian Mete-orological Department warned yesterday evening.

Fani is expected to move northwestwards till Wednesday and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards towards the Odisha coast. Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha yesterday took stock of the situation, arising out of the storm that has been intensifying in the southeast Bay of Bengal, at a National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting here, a Home Ministry statement said. The meeting followed directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is closely monitoring the situation.

The IMD has warned of light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy rainfall at iso-lated places in Kerala on Monday and Tuesday. There are

chances of light to moderate rainfall in north coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh as well. On Thursday, light to moderate rainfall is “very likely” over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south coastal Odisha, which is expected to increase in intensity to heavy to very heavy rainfall. On Friday, light to moderate rainfall with heavy falls is “very likely” to commence over coastal districts of West Bengal.

Strong winds of 80-100 kmph are prevailing over southeast Bay of Bengal and its neighbourhood, the IMD said.

These are very likely to increase gradually, becoming 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph on Tuesday and to 185 kmph on Wednesday, the IMD warned. Sea conditions are likely to be “rough to very rough” along and off Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts till Wednesday.

The IMD has advised fish-ermen not to venture into deep sea areas of Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

Tibetan women’s march

Rahul urges SC to dismiss plea against him IANS NEW DELHI

Congress President Rahul Gandhi yesterday asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the contempt petition filed against him by the BJP, terming it a political move and also an attempt to gag him in a political discourse during ongoing elec-tions.

Rahul, in his affidavit, con-tended that the contents of the explanation submitted to the court on April 22 were compre-hensive and may be read as a part and parcel of the present reply. Although both explana-tions submitted in court are similar in nature, the affidavits do express regret but don’t offer an apology.

Rahul urged that Meenakshi Lekhi, by filing the contempt petition, was trying to drag the court into a political contro-versy and taking political mileage. He said that Lekhi should pay for abusing the judicial process by filing this contempt petition. The Con-gress President had filed a similar affidavit in the court to explain his reaction on the April 10 court order on the use of leaked Defence Ministry docu-ments for the Rafale review petition. Rahul expressed regret for ascribing the comments to the court and said this hap-pened in the “heat of cam-paigning”. He said his remarks were not meant to scandalise the court in any manner.

13TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 ASIA

Pakistan to bring madrassas under state control REUTERS/AP ISLAMABAD

Pakistan plans to take control of a network of over 30,000 madrassas as part of a drive to “mainstream” the Islamic schools by bringing them under state control, the military’s spokesman said yesterday.

Pakistan’s new government has vowed major reforms and Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised the South Asian nation will no longer tolerate banned outfits operating on its territory.

Critics of the madrassa edu-cation system say children who attend such schools are often ill-equipped for the modern world.

“The government of Pakistan... has decided that these madrasas will be main-streamed,” Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor told reporters at mil-itary headquarters in the gar-rison city of Rawalpindi.

“An Islamic education will continue to be provided but there will be no hate speech,” Ghafoor added, saying that reli-gious schools will come under the purview of the Ministry of Education and incorporate other subjects into their syllabus.

Ghafoor said Pakistan would pay for the madrasas by diverting cash to education from the cost of anti-terrorism security operations, which are less necessary because militant attacks have sharply declined in recent years.

Last month, the government announced it had taken control of 182 religious schools and detained more than 100 people

as part of a campaign against banned groups.

“The benefit will be that when children grow and leave these institutions they will have the same career opportunities that those coming from a private school have,” Ghafoor said.

“We want to end violent extremism in Pakistan and that will only happen when our children have the same edu-cation and opportunities.”

He added that madrassa leg-islation would be presented in parliament in another month and that would be followed by a finalised syllabus, appointment of teachers and allocation of finances.

Ghafoor also said once the madrassas are brought under government control, 25 million Pakistani children now out of school could be enrolled in the seminaries.

There was no immediate reaction from the seminaries, which are linked to various Pakistani religious groups and which have resisted any form of government control in the past.

PM Imran concludes key visit to ChinaINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday concluded his official visit to China and returned home. The Prime Minister was visiting China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) and the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Inter-national Horticulture Exhibition 2019. Imran delivered a keynote speech at the Opening Ceremony of the BRF on 26 April 2019. He attended a banquet hosted by President Xi Jinping for the world leaders the same evening.

The Prime Minister also delivered remarks at the first session of the Leaders’ Round-

table on 27 April 2019.The theme of the Roundtable

was: “Boosting Connectivity to Explore New Sources of Growth.” In his statements, the Prime Min-ister inter alia proposed four new areas for Belt and Road cooperation: (i) digital connec-tivity; (ii) mobility of labour; (iii) cultural connectivity; and (iv) sharing best practices in knowledge and innovation.

Imran, accompanied by min-isters, separately met President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on 28 April 2019. Earlier, he and his delegation were hosted to a banquet by Vice President Wang Qishan on the evening of 27 April 2019.

During these meetings, the

two sides reviewed the entire range of bilateral relations including CPEC. They reaffirmed the resolve to further strengthen the All-Weather Strategic Coop-erative Partnership in all dimen-sions. Both sides discussed important regional and interna-tional issues, including peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and peace and stability in South Asia and agreed to deepen coop-eration at the multilateral fora.

Following the meeting with Premier Li, a ceremony was held to sign a number of agreements between the two sides, including the conclusion of the 2nd Phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and an agreement on railways.

US visa issuanceto Pakistanis ‘not affected’INTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The United States will continue their normal consular opera-tions at the US Embassy in Islamabad and ongoing discus-sions on consular matters, including repatriation, do not affect the issuance of visas to routine Pakistani applicants, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release yesterday.

In statement on the media reports about a notification from the US Federal Registry on “introduction of new rules” on consular matters, the Foreign Office said the insinu-ations made in the media reports were misleading.

“There are ongoing discus-sions between Pakistan and the United States on consular matters including repatriation issues,” the FO said. “Both countries are working bilaterally on these issues consistent with their respective laws and have made considerable progress.” The US had warned Pakistan that it may withhold immigrant and non-immigrant visas of Pakistani cit-izens in accordance with its updated list of rules. Pakistan is the latest in a list of nine other countries that face sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration under the rule, according to which nations refusing to take back deportees and visa over-stayers would be denied visas. “Since the law was modified to cover non-immigrant visas in 1996, 318 visa applicants have been affected, and sanctions have been imposed on 10 countries: Guyana (2001); Gambia (2016); Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, and Sierra Leone (2017); Burma and Laos (2018); and Ghana and Pakistan (2019),” the Federal Register’s rules read.

Sri Lanka suspends police chief over multiple attacksAGENCIES COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s President suspended the chief of police yesterday and appointed a new Defence Secretary in a shake-up of the shell-shocked country’s security services following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Intelligence warnings from abroad alerting to possible attacks by militants were ignored ahead of the multiple bombings of churches and upscale hotels on April 21 that killed 253 people and injured nearly 500.

Chief of police Pujith Jayasundara had refused to quit to clear the way for a shake-up of the 85,000-strong force, prompting President Maithripala Sirisena to suspend him yesterday.

Senior Deputy Inspector-General Chandana Wickrama-ratne was appointed acting police chief in his place, Sirisena’s office said in a statement.

Separate ly S i r i sena appointed on Monday a former head of the army, Shantha Kot-tegoda, as the country’s top defence official.

His predecessor at the Min-istry of Defence and Law and Order, Hemasiri Fernando, stepped down on Thursday in the wake of the attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

General Kottegoda, 69, was forced to retire as head of the army in December 2005, by then-president Mahinda Rajapakse.

Sirisena said an intelligence

agency from a neighbouring country had provided precise details of the impending attack 17 days in advance, but local authorities had failed to take counter measures.

Official sources said the President was referring to infor-mation provided by India’s Research and Analysis Wing which apparently gleaned details of the Easter attacks from a suspect in Indian custody.

The government has since declared a state of emergency and deployed thousands of troops for search operations against Islamist extremists.

Security forces searched a Muslim burial ground in Colombo yesterday following information that explosives had been hidden there, but the troops did not find any, officials said.

However, cordon and search searches were carried out across the country and 13 foreign nationals overstaying their visas were arrested, police said.

It was not clear if the for-eigners - 10 Nigerians and one each from India, Iran and Thailand - were linked to extremists or the Easter attacks.

Over 150 people have been arrested since April 21 and more than 15 people killed in raids.

Sri Lankan security officials have warned that militants behind Easter Sunday’s suicide bombings are planning attacks and could be dressed in uniform.

The militants were targeting five locations for attacks on Sunday just passed or on Monday, security sources said.

“There could be another wave of attacks,” the head of the

police ministerial security division (MSD) said in a letter to lawmakers and other officials seen by Reuters yesterday.

“The relevant information further notes that persons dressed in military uniforms and using a van could be involved in the attacks.” There were no attacks on Sunday and security across Sri Lanka has been ramped up, with scores of sus-pects arrested since the April 21 attacks.

The government has also banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law that was put in place after the attacks.

The government officials said it would help security forces identify people as a hunt for any remaining attackers and their support network continues.

Ghani holds council to set agenda for Taliban talksAP KABUL

Afghanistan’s President yesterday opened a grand council of more than 3,200 Afghan leaders seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the US-backed government.

President Ashraf Ghani hopes to showcase unity at the four-day meeting - known as Loya Jirga - that brings together politicians, tribal elders, many prominent figures and others.

But Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, his partner in a unity government brokered by the United States after a bitterly dis-puted election in 2014, heads a list of no-shows.

Former President Hamid Karzai, who also is not attending, told The Associated Press on Monday that holding the council at this time risks “delaying and causing an impediment to the

peace process.” He also voiced concern that by sidelining his chief executive, Ghani could trigger suspicion that personal ambitions may have partly driven him to hold the Loya Jirga now. “We are all here to talk about the framework of peace talks with the Taliban... reaching a sustainable peace is very

important to us,” said Ghani in his welcome address to dele-gates. Waving a copy of Afghan-istan’s constitution, Ghani lauded it as the most Islamic of consti-tutions - an apparent message to the Taliban who have sug-gested they want to negotiate articles within the charter, without specifying. In several

rounds of talks with the Taliban, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has narrowed the gaps on a deal under which US forces would withdraw in return for guar-antees that Afghanistan not revert to a haven for interna-tional terrorists. But Khalilzad has struggled to get Afghans to agree on a roadmap for the country’s future.

The Taliban have refused to directly talk to Kabul represent-atives, viewing the government as a US puppet. Karzai urged the US to do more to press all sides to the table. “We are in a great hurry for peace.” The Loya Jirga, a deeply-rooted tradition aimed at building consensus among Afghanistan’s various ethnic groups, tribes and factions, was intended to strengthen Ghani’s hand but risks being seen as just a gathering of loyalists.

A Taliban official familiar with the talks with the US said the two sides were still haggling over a timetable for the with-drawal of US troops.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul, yesterday.

Two suspected militants dead in Dhaka raidAFP DHAKA

Bangladesh security forces raided a suspected militant hideout in Dhaka yesterday killing at least two militants, police said.

Police commandos were met with gunfire on arriving at a house in the capital’s Bosila neighbourhood after midnight yesterday, Lieutenant Colonel Ashique Billah said.

This was followed by an explosion which demolished the walls of the house, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) commander added.

“Our bomb disposal unit found the body parts of two militants in the house. The explosion was so powerful that it tore apart the bodies and shook the whole area,” he said.

Four other people were detained, the officer added.

Suu Kyi visits Cambodia to strengthen bilateral tiesAP CAMBODIA

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Cambodia yesterday for an official visit to strengthen ties between the countries.

The three-day visit is the first since Suu Kyi became her country’s head of government in 2016. Cambodia’s foreign ministry said she will meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, King Norodom Sihamoni and other Cambodian officials before vis-iting the famous Angkor Wat archaeological complex.

Suu Kyi arrived from Beijing, where both she and Hun Sen attended a forum about China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Representatives of 37 countries were at the meeting on the massive infrastructure-building plan. Myanmar and Cambodia have both grown closer to China in reaction to pressure from Western nations over human rights issues. Concerns about Myanmar focused on the military’s abuses of the Muslim Rohingya minority, which drove more than 700,000 across the border to Bang-ladesh, while Cambodia was criticized mainly for choking off political dissent, especially by having the only credible opposition party dissolved before last year’s election.

Speaking last September at the regional World Economic Forum in Vietnam, Hun Sen defended Myanmar against accusations that its security forces engaged in genocide against its Rohingya minority, and he hit back at criticism by outsiders of political issues in the Mekong region, saying that the countries should be allowed to solve their own problems.

DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said: “We want to end violent extremism in Pakistan and that will only happen when our children have the same education and opportunities.”

A policeman stands guard as Indian fishermen arrive at the Lahore railway station after their release from a jail in Karachi, yesterday. Pakistan released more than 350 Indian fishermen so far this month as a goodwill gesture.

Goodwill gesture

14 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019ASIA

Indonesia eyes moving capitalout of JakartaAGENCIES JAKARTA

Indonesia is considering a plan to move its capital away from sprawling megalopolis Jakarta, officials said yesterday, but any jump to a new city could still be years away.

The idea of moving Indone-sia’s seat of government from an urban conglomeration of nearly 30 million people with some of the world’s worst traffic jams has stretched on for decades. Low-lying Jakarta is also prone to annual flooding and is one of the world’s fastest sinking cities due to excessive groundwater extraction.

Urban Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said yesterday the long-stalled relo-cation plan won approval from President Joko Widodo who favoured moving the capital away from Indonesia’s most populous Java island.

Jakarta, which suffers bil-lions of dollars in annual con-gestion-and-flood linked eco-nomic losses, would remain the country’s financial hub.

“(Widodo) decided on... the option to relocate the capital,” Brodjonegoro said after a cabinet meeting. In a statement before the meeting, Widodo expressed support for the idea, but he did not give an alternate location or a timeline for any move. “In the future, would Jakarta be able to carry the double burden of being both the

centre of government and its business centre?” he asked in the statement. “If we prepare well from the very beginning, this great (relocation) idea could be realised,” he added.

During his re-election cam-paign, Widodo pledged to spread economic growth more evenly in the nation of 260 million.

He won a second term this month, according to unofficial poll results.

Local media have reported that a possible new capital would be Palangkaraya city on the island of Borneo.

While moving Indonesia’s administrative centre has been discussed periodically for decades, there is now a sense of urgency as Jakarta fast approaches total gridlock. The greater Jakarta area is already home to 30 million people, with the traffic congestion estimated to cost 100 trillion rupiah ($7bn) a year in lost productivity. Widodo cited Malaysia, South Korea, Brazil and Australia as examples where the nation’s development had been a factor in deciding the location of the capital, and in some cases had prompted a move.

Fire engulfs 21-storey Manila building, 1 deadAP MANILA

A fire raged through the top floors of a 21-storey residential building in the Philippine capital yesterday in the middle of a scorching summer, killing an elderly woman and injuring five other people, officials said.

Mayor Edwin Olivarez said by telephone that more than 100 firetrucks battled the blaze at the Pacific Coast Plaza condo-minium in Paranaque city, where one lane of a coastal road along Manila Bay was closed due to falling debris. An elderly woman was found dead in the upper floors and five other people were injured, fire officials said.

A firefighter was given first aid due to fatigue. Investigators will inspect the floors gutted by the fire, which was put under control about three hours after it started. The fire apparently started in or near the garbage chute that runs from the top to the ground floor, Olivarez said.

At the height of the fire, dark smoke billowed from the mid-section of the top five floors, leaving a black stain on the white facade of the building, which

Olivarez said was built more than two decades ago. Many Chinese citizens have moved into the con-dominium in recent years, he said. Fire officials say more than 100 fires have hit the Philippine capital this summer, more than in the previous year, mostly

because of faulty electrical con-nections and unattended candles and gas lamps. Some of the fires quickly spread in densely packed shantytowns. The Philippines has a poor safety record blamed on weak enforcement of regulations and past corruption. A fire killed

162 people, mostly students cel-ebrating the end of the school year, in suburban Quezon City in the capital in 1996. Many of the victims were unable to escape because the emergency exit was blocked by a new building next door.

Firefighters (bottom left) hose down a residential building which caught fire in Paranaque City in suburban Manila, yesterday.

Man arrested over knives at Japan prince’s deskAFP TOKYO

Japanese police yesterday arrested a 56-year-old man in connection with two paring knives found at the school desk of Prince Hisahito, grandson of Emperor Akihito, local media reported. The incident comes as authorities were beefing up security ahead of the popular emperor’s abdication today after a 30-year reign. The man, iden-

tified as Kaoru Hasegawa, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the premises of the junior high school the 12-year-old prince attends on Friday, public broadcaster NHK and other news reports said.

His motive was not immedi-ately clear. NHK said police offi-cials were questioning him and suspected he placed the knives at the desk, while Nippon Tele-vision said he admitted the alle-gations. A police spokesman

declined to comment. Hisahito, who began attending the school this month, was not in the classroom when the knives are believed to have been left. There were no reports of any injuries or damage at the school, while police did not find any threat-ening note related to the case.

Security camera footage showed a man with a helmet trespassing on the school grounds at around noon, they said.

Indonesia detains Vietnamese fishermen after high seas clashAFP JAKARTA

Indonesia has accused the Viet-namese coastguard of ramming one of its vessels to block the interception of a boat fishing ille-gally, as a senior minister announced a return to sinking foreign trawlers.

The clash in the South China Sea at the weekend saw Jakarta summon Vietnam’s ambassador yesterday, after the navy detained a dozen Vietnamese fishermen.

“The actions taken by the Vietnamese coast guard ship endangered the lives of officers from both countries and is not in accordance with international law or the spirit of ASEAN (Asso-ciation of Southeast Asian Nations),” Indonesia’s foreign ministry said.

Jakarta claims the area in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea as its exclusive

economic zone - waters where a state has the right to exploit resources.

The navy said two Viet-namese coast guard ships tried to prevent the apprehension of an illegal fishing boat by ramming its vessel.

The fishing boat sank pos-sibly due to an accidental col-lision, Indonesian authorities said without elaborating.

A dozen fishermen were detained and remain in Indo-nesian custody.

Two others escaped detention by jumping into the water. They were picked by the Vietnamese coast guard, which then fled, the navy said.

Video circulating on social media purported to show a Viet-namese patrol boat ramming the left side of the Indonesian vessel as the armed navy crew shouted expletives.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest archipelago nation, has

been trying to stop foreign vessels fishing illegally in its ter-ritory, claiming it costs the economy billions of dollars annually.

It turned to a campaign of blowing up captured foreign boats as a deterrent.

Hundreds of detained foreign fishing vessels have been sunk, including many Vietnamese boats - after the crews were removed - since 2014, with some blown up in spectacular public displays. The practice was sus-pended for several months, but Indonesian fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti announced on Monday that it would resume this weekend. “On the 4th (of May) we will be sinking 51 boats, mostly from Vietnam!” She did not say if it was in retaliation for the latest diplomatic clash with Vietnam.

A screen grab from a handout video released by the Indonesian Navy yesterday shows members of the Indonesian Navy (right) watching as a Vietnamese coastguard ship (left) approaches and apparently rams their vessel, off the coast of Borneo in the South China Sea.

Hong Kong leader defends extradition lawBLOOMBERG HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s leader said she would press ahead with legis-lation to end a ban on extradi-tions to mainland China, despite opponents staging one of the largest mass protests since the 2014 Occupy movement.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam yesterday reaffirmed her plan to pass by the end of the legis-lative session in July a bill allowing one-time transfers of criminal suspects between the former British colony and other jurisdictions. The government said in an earlier statement that the legislation was necessary “to plug the loopholes” preventing extraditions to places such as mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

“I realized at the very outset that this is not an easy task,” Lam told reporters. “This is going to be very controversial and con-tentious and that’s why we have taken up this task with very serious attention.” The com-ments came after as many as

130,000 marched to the city’s Legislative Council building Sunday to protest against the bill, with many participants calling for Lam’s resignation. Although police estimated the crowd at less than 23,000, the demon-stration was among the largest since months-long pro-democracy rallies in 2014 ended without securing any conces-sions from the Beijing-backed government. Lam argues the law was needed to bring fugitives to justice, citing difficulties in pur-suing murder charges against a young Hong Kong man over the death of his girlfriend while the pair were vacationing last year in the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The man, Chan Tong-kai, 20, confessed after returning to Hong Kong, with which it doesn’t have an extradition agreement.

On Monday, a Hong Kong court sentenced Chan to 29 months in prison on a lesser charge of money laundering, Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

Australia holds first election debate as race tightensAFP SYDNEY

The two men vying to lead Australia for the next three years faced off over the economy and plummeting trust in politicians in a testy first televised election debate yesterday.

As polls showed the race to the May 18 vote tightening, embattled conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison and frontrunner Bill Shorten of the centre-left opposition Labor party traded sometimes personal barbs as they debated the coun-try’s future.

Morrison - who faces elec-toral defeat less than a year after coming to office in a party coup - painted the opposition leader as a poor custodian of this G20 economy.

“Who do you trust to manage a $2 trillion economy?” asked Morrison, framing the debate as a choice between the Liberal party’s continued stewardship and costly policy changes.

While Australia’s economy has grown solidly for more than two decades, storm clouds are gathering and there is unease at

the rising cost of living and vast income disparities.

Tapping into that sense of growing malaise, Shorten accused the Liberal government of looking after “the top end of town”. “There is a mood for change in Australia,” he said, promising to improve incomes and put “middle and working class people back on top”.

“Everything is going up in

Australia except people’s wages,” he said. Morrison accused the Labor leader of not being honest with voters about the cost of new emissions reduction targets and other policy changes.

For months the polls have shown the opposition headed for a sizeable victory, but ahead of the debate a Newspoll survey showed Labor’s lead narrowing to two percentage points, well

within the margin of error.The campaign so far has

been dominated by shrill attacks and hyperbolic accusations of impending doom if one side or the other wins.

That tension was on full display, with cries of “rubbish” and frequent interruptions from the candidates as moderators in Perth tried to keep the debate on track.

When asked to say what they admired about the other man, the pair could offer only tepid endorsements about public service in parliament and on a few specific issues.

Yesterday’s poll showed the election will be closely fought, but also underscored the com-plexities of Australia’s election system -- which asks voters to rank parties by preferences and encourages voting pacts between major and minor parties.

The poll for the first time counted support for contro-versial mining mogul Clive Palmer, who has bought his way to five percent of the vote with months of ad spending worth tens of millions of dollars.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) and opposition leader Bill Shorten shake hands before the first leaders forum at the Seven West Media Studios, in Perth yesterday.

China says US comments on Hong Kong ‘gross interference’

AFP BEIJING

China yesterday lashed out at the United States for voicing alarm over the jailing of leaders of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, calling Washing-ton’s comments a “gross inter-ference”.

Four prominent activists were last week jailed for their role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, which par-alysed Hong Kong’s central business district for months and infuriated Beijing with its show of anger over the city’s lead-ership and direction.

The US State Department on Friday said it was “disap-pointed” by the jailing and called on the city to respect res-idents’ rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.

“We expressed strong dis-satisfaction and resolute oppo-sition to these comments,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.

“China urges the US to respect China’s sovereignty, respect the rule of law in Hong Kong ... It is a gross interference in China’s internal affairs and the internal affairs of the Hong Kong SAR,” he said.

Local media have reported that a possible new capital would be Palangkaraya city on the island of Borneo.

15TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 EUROPE

REUTERS MADRID

Spain’s ruling Socialists were weighing options for forming a new government yesterday after they won a national election but fell short of a majority in a deeply fragmented parliament that could spell prolonged political uncertainty.

Playing down talk of possible coalition options, Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said the Socialists would try to govern alone, while party president Cristina Narbona said it was in no

hurry to decide.“The Socialists will try to

govern on their own,” Calvo said in an interview on Cadena Ser radio. “We have more than enough (votes) to steer this ship

along the course it must follow.” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose party celebrated into the small hours after increasing their representation in Sunday’s election to 123 seats from 84, declined to comment ahead of a strategy meeting on Monday afternoon.

If he does seek a coalition partner, he could opt for a complex alliance with fellow leftists Podemos that would likely require support from at least one Catalan separatist lawmaker, or he could risk upsetting his grass-roots supporters by joining forces across the political divide with centre-right Ciudadanos.

Any coalition talks could take weeks or months and might end in deadlock, plunging Europe’s fifth largest economy into a new period of uncertainty as the con-tinent wrestles with the com-plexities of Brexit and other challenges.

Concerns at home and abroad that Vox, a newcomer far-right party, would gain a share of power unprecedented since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s failed to materialise. It won 24 seats, fewer than expected, and split the right-wing vote.

For many observers, the Podemos option appears Sanchez’s likelier path, even with the two parties 11 seats short of a majority. Podemos leader Pablo Iglesais said he would happily enter a coalition. “The

chances of (Sanchez) getting a government (with Podemos are) at 90 percent, or better, but the chances of him passing the budget are 40:60,” said Javier Diaz-Gimenez, economics pro-fessor at business school IESE.

Pablo Simon, political science professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University, said he expected no deal on a gov-ernment before next month’s European Parliament elections.

Vox, the first party of that political hue to sit in parliament in significant numbers since late dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, splintered the right-wing vote to leave the mainstream conservative People’s Party (PP) languishing on just 66 seats, its worst result since the early 1980s.

The PP, along with the Socialists, had dominated the political landscape since Franco’s

death. “It’s clear that the frag-mentation of the right has hurt the PP most, and it has paid the price for its corruption scandals,” said Enrique Quemada, chief executive of investment bank ONEtoONE.

Sanchez took office last June after the then-governing PP lost a confidence vote called over the involvement of party members in corruption. He called Sunday’s election when his budget failed to get through parliament after Catalan separatists refused to back it. If Sanchez teams up with far-left Podemos, he would probably also need to cut another deal with the Catalans to secure an absolute majority.

While Sanchez has ruled out any negotiations on Catalan independence, any deal with the separatists would rake over the coals of the most divisive topic of an often tense election

campaign that was dominated by issues of national identity.

Under Spanish electoral law, a new government requires an absolute majority in parliament to take office in a first round of voting. In any second round, Sanchez would need only a simple majority to get his gov-ernment voted in, which the Socialists and Podemos could do with backing of all regional parties except the Catalans, plus one abstention.

The separatist lawmakers are at the sharp end of Catalonia’s independence drive, and precip-itated a constitutional crisis in 2017 by unilaterally declaring independence after a refer-endum that authorities had banned. Several are on trial for sedition. The pro-independence movement saw its negotiating power boosted on Sunday as its lawmakers won 22 seats.

Sanchez weighs options after election winIf Sanchez does seek a coalition partner, he could opt for a complex alliance with fellow leftists Podemos that would likely require support from at least one Catalan separatist lawmaker, or he could risk upsetting his grassroots supporters by joining forces across the political divide with centre-right Ciudadanos.

Spain’s incumbent Prime Minister and Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez greets supporters outside of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, Spain, yesterday.

Puigdemont barred from EU Parliament pollsREUTERS BARCELONA

Spain’s electoral commission barred former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont from running in the European Union Parliament elections in May, he said yesterday, a day after a general election where the region’s separatism has been a pivotal issue.

Puigdemont fled Spain in 2017 after Madrid imposed direct rule on the wealthy northeastern region which had unilaterally declared independence. He is living in Belgium.

Puigdemont and two other exiled candidates from his Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party said in a statement the commission upheld an appeal against their

candidacies lodged by the con-servative People’s Party and centre-right Ciudadanos.

Nobody at the electoral board was available for comment. But El Pais newspaper cited its ruling as saying the Catalan party had until the end of Monday to change its electoral list. The move against them was based on the fact they are not registered as Spanish citizens

residing abroad, El Pais said. Puigdemont, Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin called the ruling a “flagrant violation” of their rights and “proof of collusion between the judiciary, which should be independent, and certain political interests”.

They vowed to take legal action in Spain and Europe.

From Belgium, Puigdemont ran for office in the December

2017 Catalan elections and was proposed for regional president by a parliamentary majority, but Spanish courts banned his attempt to assume office from outside the country.

He faces arrest on charges of rebellion if he returns to Spain.

The northeastern region’s independence drive was instru-mental in triggering Sunday’s snap general election.

Slovak court rejects plea to ban parliamentary far-right partyAP BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

Slovakia’s Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a request by the country’s prosecutor general to ban a far-right party that has 14 seats in the country’s parliament.

In his request filed two years ago, Jaromir Ciznar said the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia is an extremist group whose activities violate the country’s constitution and its goal is to

destroy the country’s democratic system. But the court ruled the prosecutor general failed to provide enough evidence for the ban. “The ruling has clearly showed that our party is legit-imate and democratic,” party chairman Marian Kotleba said. He said it was “a political trial.”

Kotleba’s supporters applauded in the court room while the opponents unveiled a banner in front of the court that read “Stop Fascism.” The party openly admires the Nazi puppet

state that the country was during World War II. Party members use Nazi salutes, blame Roma for crime in deprived areas, con-sider Nato a terror group and want the country out of the alliance and the European Union. If granted, it would have been the first ban on a parlia-mentary party. There is a prec-edent, though. In 2006, the same court banned a predecessor of People’s Party, the neo-Nazi Slovak Togetherness-National Party, also led by Kotleba.

The leader of the People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), Marian Kotleba (centre), and his team arrive for a hearing at Slovakia’s Supreme Court in Bratislava, yesterday.

French aquarium sued over hammerhead shark deaths: Report AFP LILLE, FRANCE

An ocean conservation group said yesterday that it had filed suit against a French aquarium over the premature deaths of 30 endangered hammerhead sharks.

The move came after the Nausicaa aquarium in the northern French port city of Boulogne-sur-Mer said on Thursday that its last ham-merhead, acquired in Aus-tralian waters eight years ago, had died from a fungus infection. It had stopped feeding three weeks earlier and b e e n p l a c e d u n d e r observation.

The shark died from the same fungus that caused the deaths of 29 other hammer-heads at the aquarium since it acquired and began exhibiting them in 2011.

Nausicaa, which bills itself as the largest public aquarium in Europe, said it was still investigating the causes for the early deaths of a shark that sci-entists say can live 20 to 30 years in the wild.

But the international non-profit group Sea Shepherd yes-terday called for an investi-gation into the techniques used

to obtain the sharks and the conditions of their captivity.

“Only greed, coupled with incompetence and flagrant irresponsibility, can explain this slaughter,” it said.

The distinctive shark, which can reach four metres in length, is on the Red List of endangered species at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Nausicaa has defended its collection of the hammer-heads, saying it is vital for pro-tecting an animal at high risk of extinction.

“100 million (sharks) are killed each year for their fins,” which are a prized delicacy in much of Asia, aquarium director Philippe Vallette said last week.

“If we want to increase our knowledge, we have to be able to observe them 24 hours a day. You can’t do that in the ocean,” he said. The claim was dis-missed by Sea Shepherd, which called on the authorities to investigate a site that gets mil-lions of euros in public funding.

“If Nausicaa really wants to help protect the hammerhead... the three million euros of public funds spent on this project should have been invested in the fight against poaching,” it said.

France holds 4 over ‘extremely violent’ attack plotAFP PARIS

Three adults and a teenager have been arrested over a planned attack on the security forces in the coming days, pros-ecutors said yesterday, which a minister described as “extremely violent”.

All four were arrested on Friday as part of an investi-gation into a terrorist con-spiracy, but there were no immediate details on the nature of the planned attack.

“Four people are being held over a plan to carry out an extremely violent terror attack,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told reporters.

One of the suspects is a minor serving a probationary sentence at an educational facility after being sentenced to three years, two suspended, for trying to travel to Syria, the Paris prosecutors office said.

The other three are known for common law offences, according to a source close to the inquiry which was opened by prosecutors on February 1 and is being handled by the DGSI, France’s domestic intel-ligence agency.

France has been on high alert since the start of a wave of militant attacks began in 2015, leaving more than 250 people dead, with the Islamic State (IS) group urging followers to target soldiers and police in France.

Despite the collapse of IS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria last month, the threat of further attacks inspired by the group remains high. At the end of March, two men, one which psychiatric problems, were indicted in Paris on suspicion of planning an attack on a school or a police officer.

16 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019EUROPE

Nationalist party enters Estonia’s govtAP COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The father-and-son leaders of a divisive anti-immigrant party were sworn in yesterday as Esto-nia’s interior and finance minister.

Prime Minister Juri Ratas presented his 15-member coa-lition Cabinet yesterday at the 101-seat Riigikogu assembly.

Earlier this month, Ratas, leader of the left-leaning Center Party, clinched a surprise deal with the nationalist and e u r o s k e p t i c E s t o n i a n

Conservative People’s Party, or EKRE, as well as with the con-servative Fatherland, to create a majority coalition.

EKRE’s Mart Helme was appointed interior minister in the Cabinet, while his son Martin becomes finance minister.

EKRE’s strong rhetoric has divided Estonia ever since the party first entered parliament in 2015. The party has advocated abolishing the law recognizing same-sex civil unions, demanded changes to the country’s abortion law and fiercely opposed European Union quotas for

taking in asylum-seekers.It emerged from the election

with 17.8% of votes, becoming Estonia’s third-largest party.

The three parties will have five ministerial posts each in the government. Fatherland’s Urmas Reinsalu became new foreign minister and Juri Luik from the same party continues as defense minister - a key post in this small Baltic nation that neighbors Russia.

The fact that EKRE is entering a governing coalition has caused fierce debates nationwide, with some Estonians

blaming it for polarizing society.The party claims to defend

the interests of ethnic Estonians in the former Soviet republic where some 25% of the 1.3 million inhabitants are ethnic Russians, who have traditionally opted to vote for the Center Party.

A total of five parties are rep-resented in parliament, including the Reform Party that was the biggest party after the March 3 election. Its leader, Kaja Kallas, was first tasked to form a gov-ernment, but she failed to get sufficient support.

Estonia’s government members pose for a picture after the swearing-in of the incoming coalition government, in Tallinn yesterday.

Putin: Russians, Ukrainians ‘one people’ AFP MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Ukrainians and Russians were “one people” and would benefit from common citizenship, after he angered Kiev by offering to fast-track Russian passports for Ukrainians.

“I’ve said many times that Ukrainians and Russians are brotherly nations. More over, I believe that they are essentially one people with various cultural, linguistic and historic peculiar-ities,” a smiling Putin told reporters.

“If Ukraine gives passports to Russians and we in Russia give passports and citizenship to Ukrainians then sooner or later we will inevitably have a pre-dictable outcome — everyone will have common citizenship.” “This

should be welcomed,” Putin said before saying “Goodbye” to reporters in Ukrainian.

Observers are closely

watching for signs of a thaw in ties between Russia and Ukraine after a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in

presidential elections in Ukraine this month.

The Kremlin has not congrat-ulated Zelensky, and in one of the first announcements after the vote

Putin said Moscow was thinking of making it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship.

Last week, Putin signed a decree allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one.

Kiev and the West have con-demned the decree, saying Putin is seeking to further destabilise Ukraine, while critics at home say the move would be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy. In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea and moved to support Russian-speaking separa-tists in eastern Ukraine.

Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow’s offer of citi-zenship to Ukrainians would give the Kremlin a justification to move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests

of Russian nationals.Zelensky, in response, has

pledged to grant Ukrainian citi-zenship to Russians who “suffer” under Kremlin rule.

Zelensky said he doubted many Ukrainians would take Moscow up on its offer because a Russian passport means “the right to be arrested for a peaceful protest” and “the right not to have free and competitive elections.” Putin yesterday appeared to go out of his way to show he was not offended.

“We have a lot in common,” he said, referring to Zelensky. “It means we’ll find a common lan-guage.” Zelensky’s critics, led by outgoing president Petro Poro-shenko, have said the 41-year-old political novice will not be able to stand up to Putin.

He is due to take office by early June.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government at the Kremlin, in Moscow yesterday.

Russian President floats ‘common citizenship’ plan for Ukrainians“If Ukraine gives passports to Russians and we in Russia give passports and citizenship to Ukrainians then sooner or later we will inevitably have a predictable outcome — everyone will have common citizenship.” “This should be welcomed,” Putin said before saying “Goodbye” to reporters in Ukrainian.

Kosovo: EU ‘too weak’ to steer talks with SerbiaAP BERLIN

Kosovo’s president is ruling out any prospect of an agreement on his country’s relations with Serbia without the participation of the United States, saying yesterday that the European Union is “too weak and disu-nited” to steer negotiations between the feuding Balkan neighbours on its own.

Hashim Thaci’s comments came after a closed-door meeting with the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, on the sidelines of a Berlin summit called by Germany and France aimed at restarting long-stalled talks between the former wartime foes. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after fighting a 1998-99 war that ended with Nato inter-vening to stop a bloody Serbian crackdown of Kosovo Albanian separatists.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence, but the two have been told they must improve bilateral relations to join the EU. The bloc has mediated negotiations aimed at resolving the long-standing

Balkan dispute since 2011.Although Serbian President

Aleksandar Vucic formally seeks EU membership, he has grad-ually drifted Serbia towards Russia. He last week met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a summit in China and said that Russia supports Serbia in the defense of its interests in Kosovo.

The Berlin meeting, which also included leaders from other states in the region, was also expected to touch upon the con-troversial suggestion of a land swap between the two countries, largely along ethnic lines - something many in the EU hope to prevent. Although never made official, Vucic and Thaci are thought to be seeking changes, or “corrections,” to Kosovo’s borders as part of an overall agreement. On the sidelines of the meetings, Vucic told reporters “we are against border changes but are ready to talk about all possible solutions.”

With Kosovo pushing for more involvement from Wash-ington, there has been specu-lation that Serbia may respond by asking for Moscow’s participation.

France deports 60 Sri Lankanmigrants from Reunion islandAFP SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUN

ION

Half of a group of 120 Sri Lankan migrants who arrived on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion two weeks ago were deported early yesterday.

The group of 60, including three women and three children, were flown back to Sri Lanka in a special flight, the island’s pre-fecture said. The group of 120

migrants arrived at Reunion on April 13, having made the 4,000km trip in a fishing boat. They each paid 2,000-5,000 euros for it. The fishing boat’s three Indonesian crew members have been charged with assisting illegal immigration. Remanded in custody, they are scheduled to appear in court on May 15.

Since March 2018, 273 Sri Lankans have arrived on Reunion Island, of whom 130 are still there.

Amazon workers from around world join forces in BerlinAFP BERLIN

Amazon worker representatives from 15 countries met in Berlin yesterday to coordinate their strategy against one of the world’s most powerful companies, after years of indi-vidually battling against its often-criticised employment practices.

Alfred Bujara of Amazon Poland proudly showed off images from his latest campaign to a German colleague, urging their employer to “stop the rat race”.

“Conditions are bad around the world, but in Poland they’re worse,” said Bujara, a member of the Solidarnosc union.

Workers’ movements are tracked “down to the second” and “if they can’t cope, then they’re fired,” he complained.

More than 50 representatives from as far afield as Egypt, Brazil and Pakistan, as well as neigh-bouring Italy, Poland and France, gathered in the German capital in a closed-door summit set to last into today.

The aim: to compare notes on working conditions in Ama-zon’s logistics centres around the

world, the engine rooms that speed wares from the so-called “everything store” to customers’ homes.

Seattle-based Amazon boasts around 800 such depots worldwide and regularly opens new ones. “We’re sharing infor-mation about the different rules and regulations, then we can use those in the negotiations,” Bujara said ahead of a “family photo” in the Berlin rain, fist raised alongside his colleagues from abroad.

“We learn that we’re not alone, that we’re facing some of the same challenges everywhere

in the world,” said Christy Hoffman, secretary-general of the international UNI Global Union.

As well as Amazon Logistics’ machine-like demands and fine-grained surveillance of employees, workers complain of low salaries and are demanding collective bargaining agree-ments, or at least a more orderly form of dialogue with management.

“We reject the allegations raised by the trade union (UNI),” Amazon Germany responded in a statement. “Amazon proves every day that you can be a fair

and responsible employer without a collective bargaining agreement.” European unions have struggled since 2013 to secure recognition from Amazon bosses, picking key days for online shopping like “Prime Day” or “Black Friday” to throttle package deliveries and draw public attention to their working conditions.

In 2018, industrial action reached a new height as around 50 strikes were organised around Europe and, in a rare show of cross-border solidarity, some were coordinated to hit simultaneously in several

countries. “If we coordinate amongst ourselves, France, Italy, Spain, then Amazon reacts. If there’s a struggle, Amazon agrees to talks,” said Stefanie Nutzen-berger of German service workers’ union Verdi.

But the cross-border movement is still in its infancy outside of Europe.

“In South America, we’re in totally unknown territory. They’ve just opened an opera-tions centre in Brazil and the employees there are not at all prepared,” said Henry Oliveira, a union representative from Uruguay.

SAS pilots strike affects 110,000 passengersAP COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

A strike among pilots at Scandi-navian Airlines has entered its fourth day with the carrier being forced to cancel 1,213 flights, affecting some 110,000 passengers.

The flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden says more than 170,000 passengers have been affected since the open-ended strike started Friday. The strike began after the collapse of

pay negotiations with the SAS Pilot Group, which represents 95% of the company’s pilots in the three countries.

SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson yesterday urged the pilots to resume talks on a new collective bargaining agreement.

“Now we both have to take responsibility and come back to concrete discussions to find solu-tions that also make the company have a future, even after this conflict,” Gustafson told Sweden’s news agency TT.

“We have put attractive offers on the table that they have rejected. Having a list of demands that knocks off the feet of our competitiveness just doesn’t work,” he added.

The pilots’ negotiations, which started in March, are mainly about salary increases and working hours.

Details have not been released but the pan-Scandi-navian union says it wants sal-aries to be in line with the market rate, while SAS negotiators have

called the requests “unreasonable and extreme.”

Jacob Pedersen, an analyst with Denmark’s Sydbank, says the pilots want their share of company earnings after the carrier posted a profit in the past four years following a cost saving program that started in 2012.

Pedersen has estimated that the strike in average would cost the company between 60m and 80m Swedish kronor ($6.3-8.4m) a day.

17TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 AMERICAS

US measles outbreak raises questions about immunity in adultsWASHINGTON REUTERS

Adults in the United States who were vaccinated against measles decades ago may need a new dose depending on when they received the shot and their exposure risk, according to public health experts battling the nation’s largest outbreak since the virus was deemed eliminated in 2000.

Up to 10 percent of the over 700 confirmed measles cases in the current outbreak occurred in people who received one or two doses of the vaccine, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The figure illustrates what can happen when a large number of individuals, even those who have been vaccinated, are exposed to the measles. CDC recommends that people who are living in or travelling to outbreak areas should check their vaccination status and consider getting a new dose.

Dr. Allison Bartlett, an infec-tious disease expert at the Uni-versity of Chicago Medicine, said the “continued vulnerability to infection” is why high-risk adults such as healthcare workers are routinely advised to get a second dose of the measles vaccine if they have not had one.

But knowing your

vaccination status can be tricky, experts said.

“It’s complicated and often futile because it’s very difficult to resurrect those old records,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Van-derbilt University Medical Center.

People vaccinated in the United States since 1989 would most likely have received two doses of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot under federal guidelines, and that is still considered the standard for protection.

Anyone vaccinated between 1963 and 1989 would likely have received only one dose, with

many people immunized in the earlier years receiving an inac-tivated version of the virus. Americans born before 1957 are considered immune as they would have been exposed to the virus directly in an outbreak.

Merck & Co Inc is the sole US provider of the MMR vaccine. The company said in a statement that it has “taken steps to increase US supply” of the vaccine due to the current outbreak.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage or death. It is currently spreading in outbreaks in many parts of the world. According to

the World Health Organisation, 95 percent of a population needs to be vaccinated to provide “herd immunity,” a form of indirect protection that prevents infection in people too young or sick to be vaccinated. US public health officials have blamed the current outbreak in part on rising rates of vaccine skepticism that have reduced measles immunity in certain communities.

For travellers to outbreak areas abroad, the CDC recom-mends adults consider getting another dose of MMR unless they have proof of receiving two prior doses, take a blood test showing immunity, or were born before 1957.

A car is submerged in flood waters in the Montreal suburb of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Quebec, Canada, yesterday.

Eastern Canada battles floodingAP OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Several days of heavy rains have swollen rivers and reservoirs in eastern Canada, driving thou-sands of people from their homes. The worst situation is in the town of Ste-Marthe-sur-le-

Lac, west of Montreal. It was inundated on Saturday night after the Lake of Two Mountains burst through a natural dike.

More than 6,500 people there have been evacuated, raising the total of flooded homes across rain-sodden Quebec province to 5,584. Flooding also has hit

Ontario and New Brunswick. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said that some 2,000 troops have been deployed to flood-ravaged regions that requested military help. Volunteers and desperate residents are also pitching in to try to protect homes from rising waters.

Three women and a man dead at Ohio apartment complex shootingAP WEST CHESTER, OHIO

Three women and a man were found dead at an apartment complex in Ohio where multiple gunshots were fired, and no suspect has been identified, police said yesterday.

West Chester Township police said a man called 911 around 10pm on Sunday, saying he had arrived at the Lakefront at West Chester complex to find his family members on the ground, bleeding.

Township Police Chief Joel Herzog said at a news con-ference yesterday that it’s too early in the investigation to suggest a motive. It will be up to the Butler County coroner to determine the cause of death and release the victims’ iden-tities, Herzog said.

Herzog said there didn’t appear to have been any return fire, and police were trying to identify a suspect or suspects and interviewing family members and neighbours. “It does not appear that the shooter

is among the dead,” Herzog said, adding that he doesn’t believe there is any danger to the com-munity. “It appears to be iso-lated,” Herzog said.

He added that the victims all appeared to have resided in the same apartment in the township roughly 20 miles north of Cincinnati. The man who called 911 provided little information on the call. He could be heard frantically shouting to neigh-bours for help while the dis-patcher tried to question him about what happened.

The caller has spoken to investigators, Herzog said. He confirmed that the caller was a relative of the victims. The State Highway Patrol have been assisting in the probe. Police established a perimeter around the apartment complex early yesterday , and used police hel-icopters and K-9 units to search for a suspect. Herzog said “we’re actively searching with all the resources we can.” West Chester Township is a growing, mostly suburban area along Interstate 75 in southwestern Ohio.

Trump accuses New York state of trying to ‘take down’ NRAREUTERS WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump yesterday accused New York state officials of trying to “take down” the National Rifle Association (NRA) as the powerful gun rights group faces internal divisions and allegations of financial impropri-eties. New York’s Attorney-General, Letitia James, said on

Saturday her office has launched an investigation related to the NRA, and she has issued subpoenas as part of the investi-gation, but she declined to comment further. The New York Times reported the probe relates to the group’s tax-exempt status.

“The NRA is under siege by (New York Governor Andrew) Cuomo and the New York State AG, who are illegally using the

State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organisation, & others. It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS - FAST!” Trump said in a Twitter post.

Representatives from the governor and attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Retired US Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North

said on Saturday he will step down as NRA president, adding he was being forced out because of his allegations that NRA leaders engaged in financial improprieties. His departure came after NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre accused North of trying to oust him by threat-ening to release “damaging” information about him, according to a letter from

LaPierre to NRA board members that was published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. The NRA, with more than 5 million members, is the most powerful and well-connected gun lobby in US. It has worked closely with legislators to protect firearms manufacturers from liability for gun violence and pushed a ban on US health officials from pro-moting gun control.

Mourners leave flowers at a make-shift memorial across the street from the Chabad of Poway Synagogue yesterday in Poway, California, one day after a teenage gunman opened fire, killing one person and injuring three others.

Synagogue attack: Police examine motive of shooterREUTERS LOS ANGELES

Police were examining the motive yesterday of the man accused of a deadly shooting at a synagogue in Southern Cali-fornia, after determining the 19-year-old gunman acted alone.

The gunman walked into the Chabad of Poway in suburban

San Diego on Saturday and killed one woman and wounded three other people inside, using an assault-style rifle, police said.

The Poway mayor over the weekend called the shooting a hate crime. The accused gunman, John T Earnest, appears to be the author of an online manifesto who claimed to have previously set fire to a mosque and drawn inspiration from last

month’s mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people.

Saturday’s bloodshed in Poway came at the end of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover and unfolded six months to the day after 11 wor-shippers were killed by a gunman who stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Russia will still be meddling ‘in polls’: PompeoAFP WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday warned that Russia would seek to interfere in elections for decades ahead and vowed that Washington would try to thwart its efforts.

Pompeo was asked if he expected Russia to meddle in next year’s US election, after a long-awaited report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that Moscow tried to sway the 2016 presidential race to Donald Trump.

The top US diplomat said to expect a similar Russian cam-paign next year but criticised the spotlight inside Washington on the Russian role, which has infuriated President Donald Trump. “It goes without saying, they were a threat to our elec-tions in 1974, too, and they interfered in our elections in the ‘80s,” Pompeo told a forum of The Hill newspaper.

Biden, Trump battle for support in PennsylvaniaAFP PITTSBURGH

Former US vice-president Joe Biden took his bid for the Demo-cratic presidential nomination to Pennsylvania yesterday as he and Republican Donald Trump battle for the support of union members in the crucial eastern state.

Biden, who won the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAAF) yesterday, is to hold the first rally of his campaign before an audience of union members in Pittsburgh.

Organised labour has long been a mainstay of Democratic Party support but Trump drew significant backing from white working-class voters in the 2016 election and is hoping to do so again in 2020.

Trump, whose narrow win in Pennsylvania was one of the keys to his upset of Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, lashed out yesterday at the IAAF endorsement of his rival and claimed that economic progress in the state would earn him the

support of voters there. “The Dues Sucking firefighters lead-ership will always support Dem-ocrats, even though the mem-bership wants me,” Trump tweeted. “Some things never change.” “Sleepy Joe Biden is having his first rally in the Great State of Pennsylvania,” he added. “He obviously doesn’t know that Pennsylvania is having one of the best economic years in its history, with lowest unem-ployment EVER, a now thriving Steel Industry (that was dead) & great future!” Trump accused the media of “pushing Sleepy Joe

hard” and suggested Biden’s record was partly responsible for the president’s own rise to power. “Funny, I’m only here because of Biden & (Barack) Obama. They didn’t do the job and now you have Trump, who is getting it done - big time!” he tweeted.

Biden, who was born in Pennsylvania 76 years ago, chose Pittsburgh for his first public event since announcing his candidacy last week — a blue-collar city now remaking itself as a tech hub.

Perhaps best-known as former president Obama’s two-term deputy, Biden has set himself apart from most of the sprawling Democratic field by opting for a strategy of full-on confrontation with Trump.

He accuses the current pres-ident of undermining long-time American values.

Whether that approach appeals to voters — or if they prefer other Democrats’ focus on issues like healthcare, the environment and infrastructure — will become clear in coming months.

Biden, who won the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAAF) yesterday, is to hold the first rally of his campaign before an audience of union members in Pittsburgh.

Mexico Presidentlaunches workon new airport

AP MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador yesterday symbolically launched work on a new airport for Mexico City to replace the nearly half-built $13bn project he cancelled upon taking office.

López Obrador promised the new Felipe Ángeles airport northeast of the capital won’t exceed its budget and will save the government money even with the cancellation of the par-tially built airport.

“It’s going to resolve the problem of saturation at the current Mexico City airport, but also be an example of how you can carry out a rational, austere policy based on honesty that needs to establish itself as the way to live and the way to govern in our country,” López Obrador said. The new airport — named for a general allied with revolutionary icon Pancho Villa — is at the Santa Lucia mil-itary air base and the army is in charge of getting it built for $4.1bn. It is supposed to begin operating in mid-2021. Two new runways would be added to its existing one and the com-mercial airport would share the space with the military.

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Cirque du Soleil cast at NMoQSome of the cast of world renowned Cirque du Soleil’s newest production Bazzar strike a pose at the recently opened National Museum of Qatar. The breathtaking show inspired by the colourful and chaotic grand Indian bazaar is playing at The Ritz-Carlton Doha Island grounds until May 4.

19TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019 HOME

KidzMondo hosts Science & Business Fair

THE PENINSULA DOHA

KidzMondo Doha hosted its first annual Science & Business Fair on April 25 powered by Qatar Development Bank.

The KidzMondo Science & Business Fair aimed to encourage kids between the ages of 8 and 14 years old and spark their entrepreneurship skills by allowing them to showcase their brightest invention or idea, on stage in front of judges and experts from QDB, Bedaya and KidzMondo Doha.

They have the possibility to present their idea individually, or in a group from the following categories: Creative Gadgets & Robots, Best Business Ideas, Community Improvement Ideas.

The three winning projects were selected based on the uniqueness and feasibility of their idea and their ability to explain and justify it to the judges.

The best idea was awarded to Abdul Muqtadir, 11-year old student at Greenworld Interna-tional school, who delivered two ideas. The first was a heartfelt and philanthropic idea on how to improve community life trough taking care of underpriv-ileged children whose lives are affected by recent warfare in several countries all over the world.

The second was a business idea, also philanthropic and aimed at improving underpriv-ileged children’s quality of life by creating a “Toy Library” where various items can be rented by those who cannot afford to buy.

The second-best idea belonged to 11-year old Amani Khan, student at Doha British School, who shared her story of how she came to start her own slime business, unicorncotton-candy, and how she currently manages it in Qatar.

Finally, the third best idea was presented by Iyad Firas

Ezuddin and Hamad Nasser Murad, both 14 years old.

A business idea related to safety and technology: a mobile safety alert for pedestrians, that serves as a safety sensor for people who are in high-risk environments.

Cash prizes and a special certification were awarded to all four candidates, as well as a seat in QDB’s Young Entrepreneur Summer Camp, to mark their courage and sense of initiative, which comprise essential qual-ities children should have, highly valued in the city of KidzMondo Doha.

The officials with the winners at the annual Science & Business Fair.

The KidzMondo Science & Business Fair aimed to encourage kids between the ages of 8 and 14 years old and spark their entrepreneurship skills by allowing them to showcase their brightest invention or idea, on stage in front of judges and experts from QDB, Bedaya and KidzMondo Doha.

Safari announces 5th Lucky Drawwinners of ‘Win 10kg Gold Promotion’ A Ministry official and Safari management staff with winners of the 5th Lucky Draw of ‘Win 10kg Gold Promotion’ held at Safari Mall, Abu Hamour. The winners of the Lucky Draw are:1st Prize — 1kg Gold Abdul Saffar (Coupon No: 1671389); 2nd Prize — 500gm Gold Hydar Ali Kuraishi (Coupon No: 3696748); 3rd Prize — 300gm Gold Appus Jainulabeden (Coupon No: 1136514) and 4th Prize — 200gm Gold Muhammed Shareef (Coupon No: 3791968).

NAMA participates in Education ConferenceTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Social Development Center — NAMA — one of the centres under the umbrella of the Qatar Foundation for Social Work, participated in this year’s E d u c a t i o n C o n f e r e n c e organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education on April 24 -25 under the title ‘Education that Makes a Difference’.

NAMA participated via two tracks: one dedicated to life skills and the other to the TAMM Qatar Volunteer Network.

The conference aims at pro-viding educational and aca-demic experts from various fields of education with the opportunity to exchange knowledge, experience and research and to discuss relevant educational issues for educators in the field of education.

The Center’s participation in the conference stems from its belief in the need to con-tribute to expanding the options available to youth, building their capacities, empowering them and exploiting all available opportunities to raise awareness of the importance of education.

The Social Development Center – NAMA, Silatech Foun-dation, and Education Above All through its Reach Out to Asia Program (ROTA), in partnership with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, work together to create an integrated volunteering system through the TAMM Volunteer Network project, which establishes a database of volunteers and links volunteers with institutions and volunteer projects in the State.

The network will provide technical support and build the capacity of the youth to meet the needs of volunteer work. TAMM also aims to promote the values of solidarity and synergy between young people and to develop their abilities to con-tribute to the community.

Nayef Al Shahrani, Pres-ident of TAMM, said, “Our par-ticipation in this year’s Edu-cation Conference comes from our integrated vision of pro-moting volunteerism and mobi-lising young people to con-tribute to civil and public work through coordination between all stakeholders, individuals and institutions. We also work to provide a comprehensive database for information exchange.”

On the other hand, NAMA also participated in a booth that introduced the Life Skills and Citizenship Program, a youth-centered project aimed at advancing young people, stim-ulating their aspirations and developing their abilities through selected training pro-grams in order to raise an empowered generation with innovative and leadership skills.

Maryam Al Mannai, Com-munity Services Manager, com-mented on the Center’s partic-ipation in the conference by saying, “The Education Con-ference included valuable ses-sions and workshops for inter-national and local educators that went in par with strategic guidelines of NAMA to nurture and promote human capital represented in the young gen-eration given their immense ability to create and innovate and to provide added value to their society.”

The conference aims at providing educational and academic experts from various fields of education.

QRCS donates iPads for patients of Communicable Disease Center

THE PENINSULA/DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has provided a new batch of iPads for the digital library donated to Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Communicable Disease Center a few months ago, under the Patient Support Fund. The new donation was handed over to Ibrahim Marhoun, Head of Social Services at the Commu-nicable Disease Center, during his visit to QRCS’s head-quarters yesterday. He was received by Mona Fadhel Al Sulaiti, Head of Local Development at QRCS, who gave him 10 iPads, to be added to the seven computers already in use by the centre’s patients.

According to Al Sulaiti, these iPads will be used by 60 in-patients per month on average. “They include edu-cational and informative material in various fields of knowledge,” she said.

PISQ organises mathemagic contestTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Pakistan International School Doha-Qatar (PISQ) organised its 1st ‘Annual Mathemagic Compe-tition’ at Arbab Auditorium on April 22. Eight teams comprising three participants in each team, from boys wing and girls wing, took part in the event.

Nargis Raza Otho, Principal Pakistan International School Qatar, graced the occasion with her presence. Heads of all the respective wings, teachers and a number of students attended the lively show. The programme, right from the onset, had a number of twists and turns with the lead changing during every round. However, towards the end, five different teams from Grade (V to VIII) bagged 1st position and were declared as winners.

In Grade V, Rawaha Muhammad Riaz, Muhammad Rayan and Abu Bakr notched up the 1st Position. In Grade VI, Eshal Ali, Dua Amir and Laiba Hina obtained the 1st position. In Grade VII, Maimoona Luqman, Ahlam Rashid & Bushra Qazi bagged the 1st position.

However, in Grade VIII, two

teams shared the 1st position. Eisa Haider, Maalika Hisham, Rafia Khan from (G.W) & Muhammad Asjad, Muhammad Hassan, M. Taha Amjad from (B.W).

The Principal admired the comprehensive performance of all the young mathematicians together with their mentors.

“The purpose of this maiden event is to teach students how to work mentally with calculus, as to nurture number sense, and create a foundation and

enthusiasm for Mathematics. This is an interactive way for stu-dents to learn Mathematics and its entire trigonometry”, said the Principal.

Overall, the administration, teachers and the students infused superb efforts to make the majestic event a great success.

At the end, the Chief Guest bestowed the certificates of appreciation to the winning teams & the participation certif-icates to all the students.

Nargis Raza Otho, Principal of Pakistan International School Qatar, with winners of the competition during the event.

20 TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2019MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 37 AM04. 59 AM

11. 31 AM03. 00 PM

06. 06 PM07. 36 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum24oC 33oC

HIGH TIDE 01:25 –15:32 LOW TIDE 09:43 – 19:24

Relatively hot daytime with some clouds.

H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi (left), Minister of Education and Higher Education; H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie (second right), Minister of Municipality and Environment; and Ibrahim Yousif Abdullah Fakhro, Head of Protocol Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cutting a cake with Rashad Ismayilov (second left), Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Qatar on Azerbaijan Republic Day reception held at Grand Hyatt Hotel yesterday. PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

Turf laid at Al Bayt Stadium in record timeTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), the body responsible for deliv-ering the infrastructure required to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, announced the completion of turf laying in Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor City, one of the eight stadiums that will host the World Cup finals, in world record time.

In a tweet, the SC said: “The FIFA-compliant pitch at Al Bayt Stadium - Al Khor City has been laid in a record time of just 6 hours 41 minutes! Congratulations to our team for this magnificent achievement! We look forward to breaking more records at our other stadiums!”

On March 22, SC had completed the turf laying of Al Wakrah Stadium setting a world record of 9 hours and 15 minutes. Al Bayt Stadium betters this record as per the SC tweet.

Before Al Wakrah

Stadium, the record was 13 hours 15 minutes, held by Khal i fa International Stadium. Even that was an improvement from the pre-vious best set by the team who worked on Al Sadd Sports Club’s stadium in 2016, finishing the process in just 14 hours and 40 minutes.

The stadium, which will host matches right through to the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finals, is designed in the style of a traditional Bedouin tent, will have a capacity of 60,000 during the World

Cup. Post-tournament, the capacity will be reduced to approximately 30,000, with parts of the stadium donated to countries in need of sporting infra-structure.

The upper concourse of

the stadium will be converted into a hotel, while a shopping centre and branch of Aspetar, the leading sports medicine facility, will also be incorpo-rated into the structure, alongside entertainment and

shopping centres, multi-purpose halls and other venues.

Parks and greenery will also form an integral part o f t h e s u r r o u n d i n g precinct.

Qatar Airways to launch services to Rabat on May 29

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways will launch flights to Rabat, Morocco, on May 29, the airline announced yesterday.

Services to the Moroccan capital will be served by a Boeing 787 three times a week. In addition, Qatar Airways announced its joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc to expand the number of services available to meet increased con-sumer demand for flights to Morocco.

In addition to launching Rabat via Marrakech, Qatar Airways will also now offer daily flights to Casablanca, providing seamless connectivity for pas-sengers who wish to explore the

country’s many vibrant cities.Qatar Airways Group Chief

Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of services to Rabat. Morocco is a tremendously popular destination with our passengers, and we are very

pleased to launch this new gateway, while also increasing our presence in the country by expanding our joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc. Our expansion in Morocco dem-onstrates our commitment to the region, which began in 2002.

“Our close partnership with Royal Air Maroc will also provide our passengers access to their comprehensive network in North and West Africa, while enabling Royal Air Maroc passengers to enjoy seamless connectivity to Qatar Airways’ extensive global network spanning six continents.”

Qatar Airways currently operates five weekly flights from Doha to Marrakech via Casa-blanca on a Boeing 777, in addition to two direct weekly flights from Doha to Casablanca. The carrier’s joint business agreement partner, Royal Air Maroc, provides five weekly flights from Casablanca to Doha.

Visitors to Morocco can enjoy a wide variety of activities, from exploring lush gardens to shopping for crafts, textiles and jewellery in its many traditional souqs. Travellers can also enjoy modern architecture set against the backdrop of centuries of history and culture.

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of more than 250 aircraft via its hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), to more than 160 destina-tions worldwide.

A view of Rabat

Ministers attend Azerbaijan Republic Day event

AIPH officials praise Qatar’s participation in Beijing Horticultural ExhibitionQNA DOHA

The State of Qatar’s participation in the Beijing international horti-culture expo 2019 shows the world the importance of living in a green environment, said President of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) Bernard Oosterom, adding that Qatar has become a green environment thanks to its efforts to realise this important environmental and agricultural goal.

Talking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Oosterom said the Qatari pavilion also reflects a civilized image of the innovative methods of all its components and sections of horticulture.

AIPH Secretary General Tim Briercliffe praised Qatar’s partic-ipation in the exhibition, stressing that the Qatar’s pavilion was dis-tinctive and presented agricultural and horticultural exhibits that underline Qatar’s leading and outstanding experiences in this important field.

Briercliffe said that Qatar’s participation in the Beijing horticul-tural exhibition reflects its preparations to host the 2021 horticulture expo in Doha and that it paves the way for organising it in an excep-tional way. Qatar’s achievements in the field of horticulture and what is displayed in its pavilion demonstrated its ability to implement horticulture in the desert environment, he said, noting that the Qatari pavilion is an important event for this exhibition.

He noted that many visited the Qatari pavilion at the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition, adding it is an encouraging incentive to bring many exhibitors and visitors to Qatar in 2021, not only to see the experiences and achievements in the field of horti-culture but to learn about the culture and ways of life of its people and achievements as well.

Expo 2019 is a global horticultural exposition and is being held in Yanqing District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. The expo is being held on an area of 503 hectares.

Qatar and China signed an agreement for Qatar’s participation in the 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition in Beijing last year.

On March 22, SC had completed the turf laying of Al Wakrah Stadium setting a world record of 9 hours and 15 minutes. Al Bayt Stadium bettered this record with turf-laying completed in just 6 hours 41 minutes.

Qatar Airways has also announced its joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc to expand the number of services available to meet increased consumer demand for flights to Morocco.

QBG, Education City Mosque hold AlUtrujah Holy Qur’an contestTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Qur’anic Botanic Garden (QBG), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), and the Education City Mosque have announced that the third edition of the AlUtrujah Holy Qur’an Competition is under way.

The final rounds will take place at the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan at Minaretein (Education City Mosque building). The competition, divided into four different age groups – including schoolchildren and adults – encourages participants to memorise the Holy Qur’an, and highlights the Qur’anic verses and stories that focus on botanical terms. Fatima Al Khu-laifi, Manager of QBG, said: “AlUtrujah is the name of the pleasant citron fruit. The name of the competition was selected based on the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): ‘The example of the believer who reads the Holy Qur’an is the example of AlUtrujah; its taste is delicious and its scent is pleasant.’

“The competition encourages the Qatari community and students to memorise the Holy Qur’an and to act upon it being the Holy Book of Allah, the guidance and mercy for human beings. This edition of the AlUtrujah Competition helps Qatar’s community, and students in particular, better understand the message of the Holy Qur’an, particularly in the important area of botany.”

Last year’s edition of the AlUtrujah Competition featured more than 1,500 participants representing 34 Arabic-and non-Arabic speaking nationalities. The competition supports QF’s community development objectives by encouraging people to embrace and par-ticipate in initiatives based on cultural traditions.