Volume 22 | Number 7429 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 6 February 2018 | 20 Jumada 1 I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

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THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a session of official talks with the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.

At the beginning of the talks

session, the Emir stressed that the visit will enhance the existing cooperative relations between the two countries. During the talks, the two leaders discussed a number of regional and inter-national issues of common concern and means of enhancing cooperation and relations between the two countries and the prospects for strengthening them in various fields especially in economy, trade, agriculture and tourism.

The visiting President, who was accorded an official reception at the Emiri Diwan, expressed his hope that the visit will further develop relations

between the two countries to include various fields. He also expressed his sincere thanks to the Emir for the humanitarian, medical and relief assistance

provided by Qatar when Sierra Leone was hit by floods and the outbreak of Ebola epidemic. The Emir and the visiting President also witnessed signing of a

number of agreements andmem-oranda of understanding between both countries.

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Qatar signs deals with Sierra Leone

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani holds official talks with the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, at the Emiri Diwan, yesterday.

H H the Emir and the President of Sierra Leone witnessed signing of a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding.

Emir meets Italian Minister of InteriorDOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met at the Emiri Diwan yesterday with the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Italy, Marco Minetti, and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of their visit to the country.

During the meeting, they reviewed the ties of cooper-ation between the two friendly countries as well as the latest developments in the region. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

→SEE ALSO PAGE 3

Karwa taxi tariff and minimum fare increase

DOHA: Mowasalat has raised its Karwa taxi tariff by introducing a new “technology service charge” of QR1, which has increased minimum taxi fare from QR10 to QR11.

Under the new tariff, in application from February 1,

rates per kilometre within Doha city in day and night times have also been increased.

The minimum taxi fare per trip still stands at QR10, but with the addition of technology service charge of QR1, the minimum fare per trip becomes QR11.

Though flag fall per trip is QR4 but per kilometre rate inside

Doha city at day time per trip has been increased to QR1.6 from previously QR1.2. In the same manner, rate per kilometre inside Doha city at night time per trip has raised to QR1.9 from old tariff of QR1.8. The rate per kilometre outside Doha city, day and night, has also been fixed at QR1.9 raising it from QR1.8.

Talking to The Peninsula,

Assad A. Khalil, Public Relations and Media Executive, Corporate Communication Department, Mowasalat said that “technology service charge” was meant to cover expenses of Internet con-nectivity through which taxi-meters of Karwa cabs were con-nected with Karwa centre.

He said that taximeters were the way to ensure that the

commuters were not being over or wrongly charged.

About possible upgradation of the fare payment system to cashless payments through cards or smart phones, he said that the plans were under process and no deadline could be given for their launch.

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IRFAN BUKHARI

THE PENINSULA

Emir greets President of CyprusQNA

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to President Nicos Anastasiades on the occasion of his re-election as President of the Republic of Cyprus.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent similar cables.

02 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

ABOVE: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani greeting President of Republic of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma. BELOW AND RIGHT: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and President of Republic of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma witnessed the signing of a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding between both countries, in the Emiri Diwan yesterday.

Qatar signs deals with Sierra Leone

Continued from page 1

Both the sides witnessed the signing of an agreement on encouraging and protecting mutual investments, an agreement on economical, trade and technical cooperation and an agreement on air services between the governments of the two countries.

They also witnessed an MoU

on cooperation in the cultural field, an MoU between the foreign ministries of both coun-tries on procedures for political consultations on issues of common concern and an MoU on cooperation in the field of youth and sports. The signing ceremony was attended by Their Excellencies the ministers.

From the Sierra Leonean side, it was attended by members of the official delegation accom-panying the President.

The Emir also hosted a luncheon banquet in the honour of the President and his dele-gation before their departure, yesterday. The banquet was attended by a number of Their Excellencies the ministers.

03TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

ABOVE: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Italy, Marco Minetti, at the Emiri Diwan yesterday. LEFT: Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Italian Minister witness the signing of documents.

Advisory Council okays amendment of Investment Free Zones LawTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Advisory Council held yesterday its regular weekly session under the chairmanship of Speaker of the Advisory Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud and approved Decree Law No. (21) of 2017 amending some provi-sions of Law No. (34) of 2005 on Investment Free Zones.

At the outset of the session, the Advisory Council reviewed the report of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee on Decree Law No. (21) of 2017

amending some provisions of Law No. (34) of 2005 on Invest-ment Free Zones.

The Speaker of the Advisory Council stressed the importance of the amendments to this law, which will enhance the invest-ment climate in the country, push the economic development, open new horizons to the private sector and achieve many advantages for citizens and foreign investors.

He added that the amend-ment of the law comes within the framework of keeping abreast of developments and economic changes internally and

externally. It also responds to the objectives and principles of Qatar Vision 2030.

He noted that the economic growth witnessed by Qatar and the rapid pace of the development movement in the country as well as the confidence gained by the Qatari economy regionally and internationally imposed these amendments, under which the Free Zones Authority will be granted administrative and financial autonomy, as well as expanding its powers to issue licenses to compa-nies registered in the Free Zone.

After extensive discussions,

the Advisory Council approved the decree as stated and decided to submit its recommendations thereon to the Cabinet.

The Advisory Council also discussed in its meeting today a draft law amending some pro-visions of Law No. (25) of 2005 on the Commercial Registry and a draft law on the unified eco-nomic registry.

The Council decided to refer the two draft laws to the Finan-cial and Economic Affairs Com-mittee for further study and report thereon to the Advisory Council.

QNA

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Italy Marco Minetti and his accompanying delega-tion at the Emiri Diwan yesterday. They reviewed the bilateral coop-eration and the latest develop-ments in the region.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani met yesterday with the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Italy Marco Minetti.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister discussed with Italian Interior Minister relations between the two countries and means of developing and boosting them, especially in the joint security fields.

They also discussed a number of regional and international issues related to current security challenges.

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister and Interior Min-ister and Italian Interior Minister witnessed the exchange of rati-fication documents regarding a memorandum of understanding on combating crime between the Government of the State of Qatar and the Government of the Republic of Italy.

Qatar stresses peaceful uses of outer spaceQNA

VIENNA: The State of Qatar stressed that the peaceful uses of outer space were an essential driver for sustainable develop-ment and that outer space activ-ities were indispensable tools for economic, social, environmental and health development, and the management of natural resources.

This came in a speech deliv-ered by H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations organisations in Vienna, before the 55th session of the sci-entific and technical subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space held in Vienna.

Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani pointed to a steady increase in the membership of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. This is an indication of the growing importance that States attached to the Committee, as outer space activities became

indispensable tools for economic, social, environmental and health development, and the manage-ment of natural resources, he said, pointing to “the role of these activ-ities in deepening our under-standing of the universe and the protection of our planet”.

He stressed that the State of Qatar is working, in accordance with a strong, long-term plan, to settle and consolidate the infra-structure of outer space activi-ties, including legislative tools and preparing national cadres specialised in space science and technology as well as integrating space science and technology into national development plans, pointing out that Qatar launched in 2013 the first Qatari telecom-munications satellite (Es’hail-1), and the Qatari engineers are working on the design and man-ufacture of the second Es’hail-2 satellite, to be launched this year.

He added that the State of Qatar continued to build partnerships and

strengthen cooperation with states and space agencies in the field of other peaceful uses of outer space.

The Permanent Representa-tive of the State of Qatar to the UN organisations in Vienna com-mended the efforts made to pre-pare for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE+50) and the draft resolution prepared by the Secretariat of the Outer Space Committee as a driver for sustainable development, and represents a good basis for action.

Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani looked forward to hearing that the Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities would conclude its work by adopting the full package of guidelines at the next session of the Com-mittee in June in order to be adopted by the General Assembly next September.

He added the international

community looks forward with hope to the results of the meet-ings of the committee on outer space this year and regards it as a qualitative step towards empha-sising the common interest of mankind in promoting and expanding the exploration of outer space and in upholding the rule of law and the norms of international space law, primarily the right of all States to contribute to outer space activities without discrimination and on equal terms; non-appropri-ation of the outer space by claim of sovereignty, use, occupation or any other means; non-militarisation of outer space; prevention of an arms race in outer space and its exploi-tation strictly for peaceful purposes and for the promotion of sustain-able development; the prevention of threats to the planet; the affirma-tion of the principle of regional and international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space; and the consolidation of peace on the planet.

Karwa taxi tariff and minimum fare increaseContinued from page 1

He said that dedicated profes-sionals of Mowasalat were working on many projects to create latest facilities by continuously improving the existing systems and there were many plans in the pipeline which would be announced as soon as they would get matured.

Citing “high operational cost of vehicle maintenance, fuel prices and other support serv-ices,” Mowasalat announced through a statement that after

the approval of competent authorities, Karwa taxi tariff had been reviewed and updated to commensurate with operational requirements and support serv-ices to ensure continuity of the highest levels and standards of services provided by the Mow-asalat for passengers.

Extra tariffs have also been revised by Mowasalat. Pickup flag fall for Hamad International Airport remains the same at QR25 while telephone booking

charge within Doha city per trip has been increased from QR4 (old) to QR5.

In the same manner, tele-phone booking charge from Doha city to Hamad Interna-tional Airport (HIA) per trip is now QR8 which was QR4 before the introduction of new tariff. Waiting charge per 15 minutes per trip remains same at QR8.

If taximeter is not opera-tional, your trip is free, said Mowasalat. The new tariff sticker

has been installed on the side windows of all Karwa and fran-chise taxis, making it easier for passengers to view the new tariff.

Mowasalat Co (Karwa) is Qatar major provider for taxis and public buses, which includes under its umbrella, along with the taxi franchise operators, a taxi fleet of 4,000 vehicles, and a bus fleet of about 4,200 buses that are operated by large work force of 7,000 employees from around 54 different countries.

Since 2004, Mowasalat has been continually ensuring and providing the highest quality standards for services with cut-ting edge technology and effi-cient prices for public transport users in the State.

Mowasalat Operations Department applies international quality standards on Karwa taxis, as well as applying the highest international standards for ensuring and controlling quality of taxi vehicles, drivers, ranks,

franchise taxi management, vehicles’ registration and drivers’ qualification process.

Mowasalat has set up and developed a unified call centre for handling taxi booking that service 24/7 to meet customers’ requirements. In addition, it has developed a mobile application for both Android and iPhone mobiles, which serves more than 160,000 passengers per month to facilitate taxi and limousine booking services.

QNA

DOHA: The US-Qatar strategic dialogue and the associated activities, whether through bilateral meetings or meetings held last week in the US capital Washington, witnessed a new opportunity to expand economic, trade and invest-ment cooperation between the two friendly countries to the benefit of both sides in light of the enormous potential enjoyed by each other’s economies.

The strategic dialogue has achieved several successes in the trade and investment side, where a number of agree-ments, memoranda of understanding and letters of intent in the field of communications, smart city and combat human trafficking were signed and other agreements will be dis-cussed in a meeting to be held in Doha before the end of 2018 to discuss the agreed issues such as the Free Trade Agreement, the Investment Agreement, Intellectual Prop-erty, Trade and Food Safety Agreement.

The strategic dialogue also witnessed a number of impor-tant activities aimed at enhancing the existing cooperation between the two countries in the economic and trade fields, as well as the success of the Qatari economy during the past period and the forward future envisaged in Qatar Vision 2030.

Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani held a number of bilat-eral meetings.

He also participated in a number of activities associated with the US- Qatar Strategic Dialogue Including the recep-tion held by the American Chamber of Commerce, as well as the inauguration of the trade and investment promotion session between the State of Qatar and the United States and his participation in the business lunch organized by the US-Qatar Business Council.

The results of these meetings showed the success of the economic, commercial and investment aspects in the US-Qatar strategic dialogue.

The most important of these was the meeting on trade and investment promotion, which was chaired by the Min-ister of Economy and Commerce. The meeting was attended by Minister of Finance H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi and Chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority and a number of concerned authorities in Qatar, while on American side, it was attended by Assistant Minister of Economy and Busi-ness Affairs, Assistant Minister of Commerce for Global Mar-kets and Trade Representative of the United States of America.

Among the successes of the dialogue was the meeting of the Minister of Economy and Commerce with US Sec-retary of Commerce Wilbur L Ross, who praised the status of US companies in Qatar and the steps taken by the State of Qatar in the shadow of the unjust siege. He affirmed his support for the Qatari economic mobility program, which will be organized from 2018 in a number of major cities in the United States.

The Minister of Economy and Commerce also met with Assistant United States Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Daniel Mullaney to discuss the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. It was agreed that the Doha meeting would be held before the end of 2018.

The Minister also met with Ambassador Anne Pat-terson, Chairman of the US-Qatar Business Council, where the Minister highlighted the importance of supporting the US-Qatar Council, activating the Council’s activities and expanding its membership to include small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition to the bilateral meetings, Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, witnessed a number of activities associated with the US-Qatari strategic dialogue, which were aimed at enhancing bilateral relations to serve the two friendly coun-tries’ interests.

The participation of the Minister of Economy and Com-merce at the reception organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in honor of the delegation of the State of Qatar participating in the US-Qatar strategic dia-logue was an opportunity to present many facts and fig-ures about economic and trade relations and investment that linking the two countries.

These meetings were an opportunity to talk about the investment in Qatar, as one of the most stable countries in the Middle East at the political level. The Qatari economy has achieved positive growth rates despite many global and regional challenges and this growth was driven by the profits achieved by the oil sector.

The United States is the sixth trading partner of the State of Qatar. The volume of trade between the two countries reached about 6 billion dollars and is the first source of imports in 2017. Qatar imported 16 percent of its imports from the United States. The bilateral trade balance was a surplus of $5bn for the United States.

Emir, Italian Minister review ties; Qatar, Italy sign agreement

US-Qatar dialogue highlights successes of economic side

04 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

QU welcomes 1,121 students for Spring 2018THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Admissions Department at Qatar University (QU) yesterday held an orientation event for new students for Spring 2018.

During the orientation students

registered into their respective programs and were familiarised with the university, its pro-grams, academic and extra-curricular activ-ities, policies, services, and campus resources.

The three-day event is designed to welcome the new batch of students into the QU com-munity, to assist them with any personal, financial, and housing questions or issues, and to give them the chance to get involved in the QU community. In all, 1,121 students (375 males and 746 females) were admitted for Spring 2018. They were provided with the opportunity to gain relevant information that would ease their tran-sition into the new aca-demic environment. They got acquainted with their colleagues and toured the campus and its facilities.

They also got the chance to meet with the deans, associate deans, and adminis-trators of their colleges. The event also included an exhibition featuring 12 booths and showcasing the various services offered by the University.

QU VP for Student Affairs Dr Khalid Al Khanji welcomed the newly-admitted stu-dents and wished them a successful aca-demic journey.

He said: “We are here to assist and support all students to ensure they have an optimal academic experience. This significant event contributes to enhancing the students’ intro-duction to university life and to helping them to become familiar with the challenging and exciting opportunities that the University offers. We look forward to celebrating the innovation and creativity that they will bring to the QU community and the society.”

The Admissions Department noted that the New Student Orientation is the starting point for all new students in order to be fully prepared from their very first day of the semester. Orientation exercises will continue until February 7. The participants at the orientation event. NU-Q Provost visits

Qatar campusTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: A delegation of senior administrators, including Northwestern University Provost Jonathan Holloway, visited the University’s campus in Qatar. During the visit Provost Holloway held a Town Hall with the NU-Q community.

“Provost Holloway is a strong advocate for NU-Q and this visit provides an oppor-tunity for the NU-Q community to hear directly from the Uni-versity’s chief academic officer, as well as for the University’s senior academic administrators to observe the progress of NU-Q,” said Everette E Dennis, dean and CEO.

The delegation accompa-nying the provost included Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, vice provost for academics; Jake Julia, vice provost for adminis-tration and chief of staff; Ron Braeutigam, associate provost for undergraduate education; Jabbar Bennett, associate provost and chief diversity officer; Andrea Bueschel, asso-ciate provost for strategy and policy; Dwight Hamilton, asso-ciate vice president for equity and Title IX coordinator and Lee West director of under-graduate education.

Speaking at the Town Hall, Holloway, who joined North-western from Yale University last August, explained North-western’s plans to enhance the student life experience, online education, define a global agenda, and reaffirm his team’s role in providing Northwest-ern’s students and faculty with the support they needed to excel.

On NU-Q, Holloway said that he was “very impressed with NU-Q students, who shared the same ambition and drive as students in Evanston.” Having been to NU-Q twice before, he added that this visit developed a sense of “integrity towards the enterprise.”

During their two-day visit to NU-Q, the provost and his delegation met with faculty and students to discuss academia, research, and student life. The purpose of these discussions is to build on the collaboration between the campuses and to ensure NU-Q’s plans are aligned with Northwestern’s objectives and global agenda.

Holloway, who serves as the co-chair of NU-Q’s Joint Advisory Board, is responsible for overseeing educational pol-icies and academic priorities at Northwestern.

Ooredoo tv introduces two more new 4K channelsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo announced yesterday that Ooredoo tv has introduced two new 4K channels, aimed to provide content in the highest definition for customers.

The two new channels, Travelxp 4K and Love Nature 4K, will be available as part of the “Ooredoo tv Essentials” package meaning that it will be available for every Ooredoo tv subscriber.

The Love Nature 4K channel has been designed to bring audiences closer to the beauty and wonder of nature, sharing awe-inspiring stories and shining a light on the fight for sur-vival in an ever-changing world. Love Nature 4K offers the largest library of

family-friendly 4K wildlife and nature content in the world, which audiences can access on channel number 444 via Ooredoo tv.

The Travelxp 4K channel is the world’s first 4K HDR channel, and fea-tures world class travel programmes filmed across the globe. Travelxp 4K aims to provide its viewers an unprec-edented viewing experience, with cin-ema-like picture quality combined with

its broader range of colours, higher frame rates and greater luminosity. The Travelxp 4K is available on channel number 466 via Ooredoo tv.

Talking about the new channels, Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Ooredoo Director of PR and Corporate Com-munications, said: “Ooredoo was proud to offer the first 4K television channel in the region in 2016 and we’re continuing to invest in this new platform. We hope these two crystal-clear channels educate and delight Qatar’s homes.”

Ooredoo tv is the best next-gen-eration television service for Qatar and offers features such as 4K resolution, time shift, Android apps, parental control, thousands of hours of on-demand content and much more.

Al Muraikhi meets Kuwait envoy

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, met yesterday with Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to Qatar, H E Hafeez Mohammed Al Ajmi. They discussed bilateral relations and ways of developing them, in addition to matters of common concern.

Ingushetia President arrives in Doha

Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohamad bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi welcoming the President of the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, and the accompanying delegation at Hamad International Airport upon their arrival on an official visit yesterday. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Qatar, Nurmakhmad Kholov, was also seen.

The two new channels, Travelxp 4K and Love Nature 4K, will be available as part of the “Ooredoo tv Essentials” package.

Students grow vegetables at schoolsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The students have prepared healthy dishes from the vegetables they cultivated themselves at the school under an initiative of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to promote agriculture and greenery.

The students harvested leafy and other types of

vegetables from their hands after four month of care, said a release. The project aims at educating students to utilise their resources in meeting their requirements of foods and environment protection.

The initiative Azre Wat-nak (plant your country) is being run by the Ministry represented by Public Parks Department in collabora-tion with AlFaisal Without

Borders Foundation.The initiative achieved

remarkable achievements in 2017-18 as the number of par-ticipating schools including independent and interna-tional reached 30. Under the initiative, agricultural experts from the Ministry are educating students about cultivating various types of vegetables, decoration plants at homes and schools. Students with their plants.

Aspire Park to hold photography competitionTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) has announced launching a photography competition that will see amateur and profes-sional photographers in Qatar compete for their chance to win

valuable prizes and the honour of being crowned the 2018 Aspire International Kite Festival Photography Competition winner.

The competition will be held for the first time on the sidelines of the renowned Aspire

International Kite Festival, a three-day spectacle that is taking place at Aspire Park for a second year running from March 6 to 9.

This year’s Aspire Interna-tional Kite Festival promises to be one of the largest kite festivals in the world. The competition

has been organised in col-laboration with Qatar Pho-tographic Society, opening the door to their mem-bership of more than 1,000 professionals. It is also expected to attract hun-dreds of amateur photog-raphy enthusiasts across Qatar, with AZF allowing them to get closer to the festival action and capture it in all its glory through the artistic medium of photography.

Ahmed Al Khulaifi, the Chairman of Qatar Photo-graphic Society, said: “We would like to extend the invitation to all professional and amateur photogra-phers in Qatar and ask them to come and demon-strate their talents and capture this beautiful sport that connects Qatar’s d i v e r s e l o c a l communities.”

“Aspire Park is also the

perfect venue for photographers, with its vast open spaces and diverse landscape providing an ideal opportunity for photogra-phers to use different lenses, angles and lighting throughout the day. We wish all of the entrants the best of luck and hope they enjoy capturing this amazing spectacle though the lenses of their cameras.”

The competition will be open to all who are 10-years-old and above. The competition will accept three to five high-quality photos without any watermarks or personal information on a CD in JPEG or TIFF 300 DPI format for each individual submission. The use of photo editing pro-grams i.e., Photoshop shall be limited to minor colour touches. Conditions will be announced on Aspire Zone’s ‘Life in Aspire’ website www.lifeinaspire.qa and AZF social media websites.

A business class plane ticket to a destination of their choice will be awarded for the first place winner of the 2018 Aspire International Kite Festival Pho-tography Competition. Second place winner will receive two economy class plane tickets, whilst third and fourth place winners will each receive a pro-fessional camera.

DOHA: With major international sporting events being hosted on a regular basis in Qatar, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is preparing pharmacists in the field of drugs in sport to enable them in offering accurate advice on the safe, effective and legal use of medicines and supple-ments to those participating in sport and exercise.

The Pharmacy Department at HMC has already started training its staff and held a four days’ workshop which covered different aspects of drugs in sport under title “the role of healthcare providers in the effective and legal use of drugs

in sport” “At present pharmacists are

not very much aware about doping and anti-doping in sports and the legal implications of using a prohibited substance by an athlete. It’s a new area of spe-ciality. But it’s becoming quite important as sports events in Qatar are increasing and we are preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. So series of lectures and workshops will be con-tinued,” said Dr Moza Al Hail, Executive Director, Pharmacy Department at the HMC.

“During the workshop par-ticipants are trained and edu-cated about the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) list of prohibited substances and methods, therapeutics use exemptions TUEs international

standards and the role of phar-macists in major sport events. Those who underwent training will train others. These training sessions address every aspect of drugs in sport and we have

invited trainers from other countries,” she added speaking to media persons recently.

The Pharmacy Department at HMC has been involved in a research project in collabora-tion with Qatar University’s (QU), College of Pharmacy & Liverpool John Moores Univer-sity, UK. The project results have contributed to incorporate Drugs in Sport as an elective course into the curriculum of the college. Further, as part of col-laboration the Pharmacy Department at HMC trains all students of College of Pharmacy from the second year of their study program in aspects of pharmacy functions and medicines.

“We work closely with Qatar University, College of Pharmacy

and we train their students across all HMC pharmacies,” said Dr Al Hail.

Further the Pharmacy Department has strong collab-orations with several interna-tional institutions including the Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University in the UK as well as the Institution of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), International Medication Safety Network (IMSN), American Society of Health-System Phar-macists (ASHP).

As result of local and inter-national collaborations and the vision of the Pharmacy Depart-ment, the staff undergo con-tinues training and get involve in academic aspects such as research.

“Now pharmacists are not just

dispensing medicine; we have got into every aspect such as the clinics and research and informa-tion technology. HMC pharma-cists through continuous profes-sional education has attained sound knowledge and contribute to patient safety. Our pharmacists are actively involved in research and collaborate with other healthcare professionals to pro-vide excellent patient care. We train them on how to write a research proposal and do system-atic review,” said Dr Al Hail. “In research we have looked into medication safety, which is a most important area for any hewalth-care setting,” said Dr Al Hail.

In 2017 the pharmacy depart-ment has published over 25 research articles in different international publications.

05TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

QA to launch direct flights to Turkish city of HatayTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Airways announced the launch of new direct flights to the Turkish city of Hatay, the award-winning airline’s fifth gateway in Turkey. The new three-times weekly route will be served by an Airbus A320, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy Class.

Hatay, also known as Antakya, was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, and is known for its many well-pre-served ancient Roman mosaics, as well as its traditional prod-ucts including olive oil soap, fine silk and delicious local cui-sine. Non-stop service to Hatay to commence on April 4.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of this new route, which reflects the close relation-ship between the State of Qatar and Turkey. And Turkey itself is continuing to grow in popularity with our passengers for both business and leisure purposes, attracting travellers who wish

to enjoy its rich culture. We are delighted to offer yet another gateway into this spectacular country, and to provide even more choice to our passengers who wish to experience all that Turkey has to offer”.

Qatar Airways currently operates direct flights to Istan-bul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport three times daily, to Istanbul Atatürk Airport ten times weekly, to Adana Şakirpaşa Air-port three times weekly and a daily service to Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport.

As well as enjoying the award-winning in-flight service on board, passengers travelling to Hatay will also have access to Oryx One, Qatar Airways’ in-flight entertainment system, offering the latest blockbuster movies, TV box sets, music, games and much more.

Qatar Airways connects Turkey to over 150 destinations via its award-winning Hamad International Airport (HIA), and also offers seamless connecting flights from Fast East, Australia and the Middle East and beyond.

HMC announces line-up of global consultants visiting this monthTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Hamad Medical Corporation will welcome a number of visiting consultants from various medical specialities during the month. HMC has set schedule for meeting consultants including Dr Javid Gaziev, an oncology and haematology specialist and Clinical Director of the International Center for Transplantation in Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anemia in Rome, Italy, is on a visit until February 9.

Professor Michel Chammas, a plastic surgery specialist and Head of the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Montpellier in Montpel-lier, France, will also be visiting HMC until February 9. Dr Jean-Jacques Abitbol, an orthopaedic specialist and co-founder of the California Spine Group in San Diego, California, will visit between February 9 and 12. Dr Tony Tannoury, an orthopaedic surgeon with the Boston Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, will also be visiting HMC from February 9 to 12. Dr Ahmed Al Bahraini, a general surgery specialist with the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust and East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust in Hertfordshire, England, UK, will visit from February 10 to 18. Dr Daniel Davies, an internist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who is affiliated with Portsmouth Regional Hospital and specialises in geriatrics and the assessment and management of delirium in the elderly, will visit between February 10 and 16. Dr Erik Wilson, Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery at the UT MIST Center for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery and a fellowship trained laparoendoscopic general surgeon from Bellaire, Texas, USA, will be visiting HMC from February 11 to 16.

Professor Andreas Kulozik, Medical Director of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hema-tology and Immunology at the Heidelberg Uni-versity Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, will visit from February 24 to March 1.

Professor Nuhad K. Ibrahim, an oncology and haematology specialist with the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Med-icine, the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Hou-ston, will visit between February 25 February and March 2. Other experts are scheduled to visit throughout the year as part of HMC’s focus on hosting highly-respected physicians and surgeons from around the world.

HMC sets focus on Sports MedicineFAZEENA SALEEM

THE PENINSULA

QIC Group signs deal with Qatar RailTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Insurance Group and Qatar Rail have recently signed an agreement during a signing ceremony that was held at the QIC Headquarters in West Bay.

The agreement seeks to highlight QIC Group’s endeavour towards global expansion, diversification and drive to maintain its position as a key player in the Mena region.

The agreement was signed by Deputy Group President & CEO of QIC Mena region, Salem Al Mannai, in the presence of Deputy CEO of Qatar Rail, Hamad Ibrahim Al Bishri, and other senior officials.

The agreement allows Qatar Insur-ance Company to use the exterior façades of the Doha Metro’s pedestrian bridge in the West Bay area to promote its services.

The total number of pedestrian bridges in Doha Metro projects is 10 and are located in prime hubs such as Qatar

University, Hamad International Air-port, West Bay and Wakrah. These bridges aim to ensure traffic safety and facilitate access to stations.

Speaking on this strategic associa-tion, Mannai stated, “This new devel-opment marks an important step towards being ranked amongst the top 50 global insurance companies as we aspire to expand our global franchise. It also brings to the fore our unwavering commitment towards achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030 and deliv-ering a sustainable future with our trusted partners such as Qatar Rail.”

Eng Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie, MD and CEO of Qatar Rail, said: “This kind of agreements supports the finan-cial sustainability of the project and con-tributes to economic growth.”

“The Doha Metro project has many aspects besides being a transport project; leading companies can seize the various business opportunities avail-able in the project to reach a wider market segments, ” Al Subaie added.

Deputy Group President & CEO of QIC Mena, Salem Al Mannai, with Deputy CEO of Qatar Rail, Hamad Ibrahim Al Bishri.

Hamad Medical Corporation is preparing pharmacists in the field of drugs in sport to enable them in offering accurate advice on the safe, effective and legal use of medicines and supplements to those participating in sport and exercise.

Qatar Airways non-stop service to Hatay to commence on April 4.

06 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

1st Qatari graduate in MSc at QU-CPH unveils key researchTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar University College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) grad-uated the first Qatari national holder of MSc degree in Pharmacy on December 10 2017.

The student, Fatima Khalifa M A Al Sulaiti, presented her thesis titled “Clinical and Phar-macokinetic Evaluation of Optimal Monitoring Parameters and Sampling Schemes for Van-comycin Therapeutic Drug Mon-itoring in Qatar”.

The project involved mul-tiple phases and robust research methods across three hospitals in Qatar (Hamad General, Al Wakrah and Al Khor Hospitals) in an effort to determine the best approaches for vancomycin dosing optimisation in Qatar’s heterogeneous population.

The study explored the quality of routine vancomycin monitoring services in Qatar and c o m p a r e d t h e

superiority of different vanco-mycin therapeutic drug moni-toring (TDM) approaches.

The project was supervised by CPH Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice, Dr Ahmed Awaisu and co-super-vised by CPH Associate Professor of Pharmacoeconomics, Dr Daoud Al Badriyeh, CPH Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Dr Hazem Elewa and Abb Vie Inc. Principal Scientist of Pharmacometrics, Dr Ahmed Nader.

Fatima Al Sulaiti noted that gram-positive bacterial infec-tions such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are associated with high mortality rate, pro-longed length of hospitalisation, and increased health care cost. She highlighted that these infec-tions require appropriate and optimal management with safe and effective antibiotics.

Vancomycin is an antibiotic

that is widely used globally to treat such serious gram-positive bacterial infections, she said, adding, “the drug is dosed based on the principles of TDM. Hence, it is necessary to design and provide patient-specific individ-ualized dosing regimen to max-imize efficacy and decrease toxicity.”

CPH Dean, Dr Mohammad Diab, said, “The College of Pharmacy is proud to graduate the first female Qatari student with a Master’s degree. This is indeed historic for the College in its efforts towards human capital development among Qatari nationals. Fatima’s research project on optimization of van-comycin therapeutic drug mon-itoring is instrumental in improving health outcomes among patients with serious infectious diseases. We at CPH are honored to work in alignment with Qatar National Health Strategy as this project

will make a significant impact to pharmacy practice and health care outcomes in the State of Qatar”.

Overall, it will contribute to guiding decision makers to design ways to optimize TDM services utilization, minimize costs, and increase positive out-comes of health care in Qatar. The findings of the project have important implications on devel-oping strategies that will improve rational vancomycin monitoring practices in Qatar, the Middle East region and pos-sibly worldwide.”

The study, first of its kind in Qatar, developed a vancomycin population-specific dosing model, which will allow popu-lation-specific calculations of vancomycin pharmacokinetic parameters in individual patients in Qatar’s clinical settings, an important tool in vancomycin dosing and therapy. It also iden-tified the exact vancomycin monitoring practice deficiencies in the local setting, which will guide health policymakers to establish setting-specific pro-tocols to improve TDM practices in Qatar.

Students doing research at a lab in QU-CPH.

PHCC invites residents to register at Muaither Health CenterTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has announced that regis-tration is continuing at Muaither Health Center, which is expected to be opened during the first quarter of this year. The registration includes resi-dents of Muaither 55, Abu Sidra, Abu Al Hiran, Al Muraa and Al Sailiya areas.

The Primary Health Care Corporation also encourages citizens who wish to transfer their medical files from Abu Nakhla Health Center, Al Rayan Health Center and Abu Bakr Al Siddiq Health Center to Muaither Center, to visit the following the website link of The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC):http://10.30.23.84/e s e r v i c e s 2 / i n d e x . p h p /location or visit their health centre to complete the procedures.

Dr. Hiyam Al Sada, Head of the Western region at the The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), said that Muauthir Health Center will provide services which will focus on health promotion.

The health centre has a gym, a swimming pool, massage and steam services, sauna, as well as family medicine clinics and spe-cialist clinics equipped with the latest equipment.

She added that the Muaither Health Centre pro-vides comprehensive health services such as family med-icine clinics, a vaccination clinic and non-communi-cable diseases clinic, a pregnant women clinic, postnatal clinics, a healthy women clinic, health edu-cator for women’s and chil-dren’s health, a sonar for pregnant women, healthy child clinic, and a smoking cessation clinic.

In addition, there is also a medical commission and travel vaccination clinic.

The Hamad Medical Cor-poration (HMC) also has facilities such as labora-tories, pharmacy, radiology, dental clinic, therapeutic feeding clinic, physiotherapy and early screening services for breast and bowel cancer, followed by an eye clinic, optics, a nose, ear, throat clinic, a dermatology clinic, regular radiotherapy services and a panorama.

WCM-Q Grand Rounds discusses childhood diabetes & management THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Childhood diabetes and the best ways to diagnose and manage the disease were the subject of the latest installment of Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds lecture series.

The talk, entitled ‘Diabetes in Children: Causes, Classifi-cation and Management’ was delivered by Professor Khalid Hussain, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at Sidra Medicine.

Speaking to an audience of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare profes-sionals, Prof. Hussain outlined the different types of diabetes in children, explained how par-ticular diagnoses can alter the treatment and management of the disease, and spoke about the research that is furthering the understanding of childhood diabetes.

He also reminded the audience of the basic symptoms of the condition and that dia-betes manifests itself through either a defect in the body’s pro-duction of insulin leading to a higher concentration of glucose in the blood, or a defect in the action of insulin – essentially the body does not make insulin or it becomes resistant to it.

In children, Prof. Hussain said that type 1 diabetes, where the pancreas fails to produce

enough insulin, is the most common, whereas in adults, type 2 diabetes is more prev-alent and manifests itself as insulin resistance. Type 2 dia-betes is generally related to life-style and affects around 17 percent of people in Qatar whereas type 1 is a complex autoimmune disease. Along with these most common variations of the condition, Prof Hussain also outlined other types of the condition, including neonatal, mitochondrial, syndromic and MODY (Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young).

He went on to describe the most effective management of the various types of diabetes and how accurate diagnosis of the specific variation affects the

medication and control of the disease.

The lecture was accredited locally by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners-Accreditation Department (QCHP-AD) and internationally by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

Dr. Stephen Atkin, Professor of Medicine at WCM-Q, said, “Professor Hussain is an acknowledged expert on childhood diabetes and a renowned clinician and researcher. His talk has been truly valuable for healthcare professionals and his work in the laboratory will hopefully continue to bring further enlightenment to the topic.”

Professor Khalid Hussain, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at Sidra Medicine, speaks during the session at Weill Cornell Medicine- Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds.

QC gets full-membership of Start Network in UKTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: ‘Start Network’, the largest international humani-tarian alliance, organised a celebratory meeting yesterday in London to present the full-membership certificate to Qatar Charity due to its admission to the network as the first human-itarian organisation in the Middle East and North Africa.

Qatar Charity’s Delegation headed by its CEO, Yousuf Bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, along with the Executive Director of the Executive Management of International Cooperation, Mohamed Al Ghamdi and Director of Follow-up, Khalid Aounallah, in addition to Fahad Al Nuaimi from the Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activ-ities, attended the ceremony.

From Start Network, the ceremony was attended by its Vice-Chairman Matthew Carter, Chief Executive Officer Sean Lowrie, and a number of its

managers and officers.QC joined Start Network in

Feb 2016 as a participating member and in October 2017, it was granted full membership to be the first non-govern-mental organisation in the Middle East and North Africa, enjoying such membership, which is a recognition from the international humanitarian system for the vital roles played by Qatar Charity, as well as for its capabilities and experiences that it has at the regional and international levels. ‘Start Network’ based in UK, includes 42 national and international aid agencies and humanitarian organisations from five conti-nents and provides quick and effective humanitarian assistance to those affected in the areas of humanitarian crisis. The members of ‘Start Network’ account for more than 60% of the actors involved in the humanitarian work in the world.

Safari begins 10-20-30 promotion THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Safari, the well-known hypermarket group in Doha, has started 10-20-30 promotional offers with amazing prize discounts. Apart from the other retail groups in Qatar, Safari has always ensured the customer friendly approach. This 10-20-30 promotional offers are also designed in such a pattern. The products with superior quality at a lesser prize is the specialty of this 10-20-30 promotions.

Safari is a shopping desti-nation for the common people for past several years as it has always introduced different ver-ities of daily promotions and offers. This 10-20-30 promotion is the most popular promotion from safari. More than thousands of verity products are showcased as a part of this promotion. In a press release, Safari group Director and General Manger Mr. Sainul Abideen pointed that Safari is the first business firm

which has created a transparent relationship between the cus-tomer and the business firm.

More than thousands of products are showcased including food products, milk & milk products. One set of 175 Gms, Fa soap including 6 numbers for just 10 Riyals only.10 kg Lotus Jasmin Rice for just 20 riyals,

The Scarlet Rice Cooker having the capacity of 1.2ltr for just QR30 etc. are the highlights of this promotion. Fabulous combo offers including Western, south Indian, North Indian, Arabic, Chinese dishes are arranged in safari Hot Food and Bakery Division. Safari invites all foodie customers with an interesting promotion of 2 Full Grilled Chicken for just 10 Riyals. Several items are arranged at a very low price in this promotion. Items includes two numbers of 1200 Gm Perdix Grilled Chicken for just 20 riyals in Frozen division, 20 numbers of Twix Top Chocolate of 21gm each for

just 10 riyals in Grocery division, 4 numbers of Hot pot set just for 30 riyals etc. Wide variety col-lections of School Stationary items is one of the main attraction of this 10-20-30 promotion.

Multi-functional stationary items are arranged without any profit concern .It includes One Ream Comics A4 Paper for just 10 riyals, Faber Castell Coloring set for just 10 riyals etc. Tre-mendous discount offers including Infrared Flying Heli-copter for just 30 riyals, Battery operated recharge cars, Touch key boards, Drumming Toy etc. for just 20 riyals etc. are included in this promotions. In Garments division also there are so many offers included for the valuable customers. One Men’s T- shirt for just QR20, one Men’s Shirt for just QR30, Ladies Sari, Chu-ridar etc. for just QR20 Girls fancy frock for just QR30 etc. Number of amazing hot offers are included in the section of Electronic items.

Agricultural Quarantine Offices destroy 54 imported consignmentsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Munic-ipality and Environment (MME) represented by the Agricultural Quarantine Offices have inspected 5,485 imported consignments, weighing more than 122,779 tonnes, from various types of imported consignments, plant products and production inputs in

January across the different customs points.

The Quarantine Offices destroyed 54 consignments weighing more than 255 tonnes for violating the agricultural quarantine law and for certain damages.

The agricultural quarantine is a first line of defence for pro-tection from agricultural infec-tions. The preventive procedure

aims to protect the country’s agricultural wealth from foreign-originated pests.

It also provides that all plants, agricultural products and any other materials shall be subject to phytosanitary regu-lations for its procedures and to ensure that other agricultural production inputs are in con-formity with the conditions and specifications.

View of the imported consignment during inspection.

07TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

83 dead in ‘war on kids’ in Mideast last monthAFP

AMMAN: At least 83 children were killed in Middle East war zones in January, most of them in Syria, the UN children’s agency Unicef said yesterday, vowing their voices “will never be silenced”.

“They were killed in ongoing conflicts, suicide attacks or frozen to death as they fled active war zones,” said Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere.

“In the month of January alone, escalating violence in Iraq, Libya, the State of Pales-tine, Syria and Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 83 children,” Cappelaere added in a statement.

Calling January a “dark (and) bloody month”, Cappe-laere said it was “unacceptable that children continue being killed and injured every single day”.

“Children may have been silenced but their voices will continue to be heard... their voices will never be silenced,” he said.

“We collectively continue failing to stop the war on chil-dren! We have no justification.

We have no reason to accept a new normal.”

The highest death toll was in Syria where 59 children were killed in violence as the war there enters its eighth year, said Unicef.

In Yemen, wracked by conflict since March 2015 between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and a government sup-ported by a Saudi-led military coalition, 16 children were killed, it said.

“Unicef is receiving reports of killed and injured children on a daily basis as fighting escalates across the country (Yemen),” it added. In Libya’s second city Benghazi, a suicide attack killed

three children while three others died while “playing near unexploded ordnance” and a fourth child was critically wounded.

A child was killed in a “booby-trapped” house in Iraq’s second city Mosul, ruled for three years by Islamic State group jihadists before being driven out by government forces in July after fierce battles.

And north of the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy.

Four children were among 16 Syrian refugees who “froze to death” in a snowstorm as they were fleeing their country to neighbouring Lebanon, said UNICEF, adding that more chil-dren suffered frost bite.

A Lebanese security official put the death toll at 17.

“Not hundreds, not thou-sands but millions more chil-dren in the Middle East and North Africa region have their childhood stolen, maimed for life, traumatised, arrested and detained, exploited, prevented from going to school and from getting the most essential health services; denied even the basic right to play,” said Cappelaere.

28 civilians dead in Syria air strikes on Eastern Ghouta AFP

ARBIN, SYRIA: Regime air strikes killed 28 civilians in a rebel enclave near Damascus yesterday as Syria’s seven-year-old conflict raged on several fronts with non-combatants paying a heavy price.

The region of Eastern Ghouta is home to an esti-mated 400,000 people living under a crippling government siege that has made food and medicine almost impossible to acquire.

The area has been desig-nated as one of four de-escala-tion zones in Syria, but residents there have been facing esca-lating bombardment in recent weeks. “Dozens of air strikes hit several areas in Eastern Ghouta,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

The deadliest raids on Monday hit a market in the town of Beit Sawa, killing 10 civilians including two children. Another nine civilians, two of them chil-dren and one a local rescue

worker, were killed in Arbin. Nine more civilians died in

strikes across the rest of the besieged region, and dozens more people were wounded, the Observatory said.

The barrage of bombard-ment came as the United Nations children’s agency warned of the dire risks to

children in the Middle East’s war zones. And four Syrian chil-dren were among at least 16 ref-ugees who froze to death in a snowstorm as they tried to flee to neighbouring Lebanon.

In Arbin yesterday, acorre-spondent saw the lifeless bodies of young children laid out on the floor in the local hospital.

45 Palestinian schools under Israeli threatANATOLIA

RAMALLAH: The United Nation Office for the Coordi-nation of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that at least 45 schools in Palestine were facing the threat of destruction by the Israeli authority.

In a released statement, the OCHA acting Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories Roberto Valent pointed out that a Palestinian school in East Jerusalem was destroyed by Israeli soldiers, and added:

“The demolition was car-ried out on grounds of lack of Israeli-issued permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain.”

“As in Abu Nuwar, hun-dreds of children attending one of at least 45 schools in the West Bank (37 in Area C” and 8 in East Jerusalem) with pending demolition orders are living in instability, with the specter of school demo-lition ever-present, threat-ening their access to educa-tion,” Valent said in the statement.

According to the state-ment, Israeli soldiers destroyed two class rooms serving 26 Palestinian school children in the Bedouin and refugee community of Abu Nuwar, located in Area C on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

14 Palestinians martyred since ‘Trump Declaration’ANATOLIA

RAMALLAH: At least 14 Pales-tinians have been martyred since US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said yesterday.

According to Hamdallah, the 14 were killed by live ammuni-tion or died in Israeli custody due to Israel’s intentional policy of medical negligence.

He went on to assert that as many as 1,200 Palestinians —including more than 300 minors — had been detained by the Israeli authorities over the same

period. “We maintain our his-torical right to live in a sover-eign state established on pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital,” the prime min-ister said, reiterating the Pal-estinian leadership’s commit-ment to a “two-state solution”.

Trump’s decision on Jeru-salem, he added, had effectively given Israel a “green light” to continue its abuses against the Palestinian people.

On December 6 of last year, the US president recog-nized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking condemna-tion and protest across the

Arab and Muslim world.Jerusalem remains at the

heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since 1967 -- might even-tually serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces rounded up 21 Palestinians in overnight raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli military yesterday.

The individuals were arrested for “suspected involve-ment in terrorist activities,” the army said in a statement without elaborating.

Lebanese-Kurds hold posters and Kurdish flags during a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Aaoukar, north of Beirut, against the ongoing Turkish offensive in the Syrian-Kurdish enclave of Afrin, yesterday.

Civil rights activists demonstrate in the streets of Nairobi to protest against the shutdown of three major TV channels to stop them from broadcasting a “swearing-in” of opposition leader on January 30.

Two Kenyan TV stations shuttered by government resume broadcastsAFP

NAIROBI: Two television channels that Kenya’s govern-ment shuttered over coverage of a mock inauguration by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s rival resumed broadcasts yesterday.

NTV and KTN News were ordered off the air for seeking to provide live coverage of Raila Odinga as he swore himself in on Tuesday as “people’s presi-dent,” despite losing in flawed elections last year

A third suspended channel,

Citizen TV has not resumed broadcasts. Kenya’s political scene was roiled by last year’s deeply divisive election, in which rights activists say at least 92 people were killed.

An initial ballot on August 8 won by Kenyatta was annulled on technical grounds by the Supreme Court, which ordered a re-run on October 26.

Claiming the poll would still not be fair, Odinga boycotted the second vote and Kenyatta won with 98 percent. Since then, the strategy of the National Super Alliance (NASA) opposition

coalition has been to challenge Kenyatta’s legitimacy by seeking to establish parallel government structures.

Interior Minister Fred Mat-iangi blasted Odinga’s self-inau-guration as a “well-choreo-graphed attempt to subvert or overthrow the legally-consti-tuted government.”

The media suspension was attacked by the UN, the United States and rights watchdogs. The High Court on Thursday ordered it to be lifted while a complaint filed by a civil society group is heard.

BEIRUT: Chemicals dropped from the air caused at least nine people to suffer breathing problems in an attack in northwest Syria, rescue workers and doctors said.

The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), a charity which supports hospitals in Syria, said its doctors in Idlib reported 11 patients “with symptoms indicative to usage of chlorine”, SAMS advocacy manager Mohamad Katoub said on his Twitter page.

Radi Saad, from the chemical weapons team of the White Helmets civil defence group that operates in rebel-held parts of Syria, told Reuters three of the nine people who suffered from “suffocation injuries” were rescuers responding to the incident. Two barrels containing chemical gasses had been dropped from helicopters on Sunday night, Saad said.

The Syrian government has consistently denied using chlo-rine or other chemical weapons during Syria’s conflict, now approaching its eighth year.

Rescuers, doctors in Idlib say chemical gas used

Ethiopia fighting displaces one millionADDIS Ababa: Clashes between two of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups have forced around one million people to leave their homes, according to a UN report.

Fighting between the Oromo and Somali peoples along the shared border between their two states occurred sporadically through 2017 but the situation intensified in September, leaving hundreds of people dead by a government estimate and displacing scores of others trying to flee the violence.

Statistics from the UN’s International Organization for Migra-tion (IOM) show that the conflict-related displacement is more widespread than previously known and one of the biggest seen by Ethiopia in recent years.

“Preliminary data from the latest round of the IOM Displace-ment Tracking Matrix conducted in November 2017 indicates that around 1 million persons have been displaced due to conflict along the Oromia-Somali regional border,” dating back to at least 2015, said a report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humani-tarian Affairs (OCHA).

In 2017 alone, 700,000 people were displaced with the IOM recording a “significant spike” in September of that year.

An official with IOM’s office in the capital Addis Ababa declined to comment further on the data, cited in the OCHA report dated January 23. Ethiopia is divided into ethnically demarcated fed-eral states intended to give the country’s many ethnic groups self-determination.

Extradited Congo rebel leader to face trialKINSHASA: A renegade Congolese colonel who had threatened to depose President Joseph Kabila has been extradited from Tanzania and will be prosecuted for rebellion, Congo’s defence minister said. In a video circulated on social media last month, John Tshibangu, who had been based in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gave the president a 45-day ultimatum to leave or “we are going to take Kabila down”.

But Tshibangu was then detained by authorities in Tanzania towards the end of last month.

“John Tshibangu is in Kinshasa. We are going to leave him to face justice for rebellion, a crime catered for and punished by the Congolese penal code,” Defence Minister Crispin Atama Tabe said by text message. Tshibangu used to be a military commander in the central Congolese region of Kasai. He defected in 2012 and moved to the lawless east, long a haunt of would-be Congolese rebels. One of Tshibangu’s associates, a captain in the Congolese army called Freddy Ibeba, was also arrested in northern Congo on Monday and will be taken to Kinshasa for a hearing, justice minister Alexis Thabwe Mwamba told a press conference.

“In January alone, escalating violence in Iraq, Libya, the State of Palestine, Syria and Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 83 children,” says Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere.

The unjust siege declared on Qatar on June 5 last year by four countries led by Saudi Arabia has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Qatar in several fields. It acted as an

accelerator in setting up new businesses, farms and industries aimed at making Qatar self-sufficient. Especially the small scale enterprises (SME) sector is witnessing a resurgence as evident from the opinion of major bankers in the country.

An official of Qatar Development Bank (QDB) said recently: “Definitely, the blockade has its impact on the market, not just on SMEs but also on entrepreneurship. The blockade itself was an accelerator for understanding the importance of entrepreneurship and the private sector along with creativity and innovation.”

The private sector, in tandem with the government authorities and banks, has been playing a major role, not only in making Qatar self-sufficient, but also in keeping its head high despite the nefarious intentions of the blockading countries.

The data recently released by Qatar Chamber shows a 13.4 percent increase in the number of new companies registered last year compared to 2016. The manufacturing sector stands apart among the

industries in the growth rate in new registrations and expansion of existing units as well. The ‘Own Your

Factory in Qatar in 72 Hours’ project, launched after the blockade, also contributed significantly to spur the growth in this field.

“The mentality now has changed. How we see our priorities has changed. The blockade has provided us a focal point for the future, that is what the blockade did for us,” the QDB official said.

The people of the country have been expressing their strong patriotism and commitment to their dear nation by rising to the occasion and

doing their bit to maintain the development graph visualized by the leaders.

The timely intervention by the government resulted in alleviating the difficulties faced by the people of Qatar immediately after the blockade. Relaxation of rules and incentives offered by the government were a major catalyst in setting up home-grown businesses, industries and farming. The establishment of special economic zones are attracting a great number of foreign investors.

All these show that Qatar is on the right path to the envisioned development. Private sector and public sector are working hand in hand to spur the growth of the country and thus making it self-reliant. If we commit ourselves to keep up this momentum it will not be difficult to realise Qatar National Vision 2030 in a timely and orderly manner.

Qatar is giving a fitting reply to its detractors who wanted to cast a sorry figure of the country by levelling unfounded allegations and imposing unjust blockade.

Qatar is giving a fitting reply to its detractors who wanted to cast a sorry figure of the country by levelling unfounded allegations and imposing unjust blockade.

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

08 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018VIEWS

EDITORIAL

Rising to the occasion

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Without customs union and outside the single market,

barriers to trade in goods and services are unavoidable. Time has

come to make a choice.

David Davis Brexit minister

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

This courageous step came from a leader who was at the peak of his leadership and reached the maximum of his national achievements, in guiding the young, to be qualified for governing and administering affairs for the coming ten consecutive years.

Dialogue only tool for resolving disputes: Qatar’s Ambassador to GermanyQNA

QATAR’S Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany H E Sheikh Saud bin

Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the State of Qatar sees dialogue as the only tool to resolve conflicts and disputes.

In an interview published by Diplomatisches Magazin, the diplomatic magazine in Germany, HE the ambassador said dialogue is the guideline on which the State of Qatar has always relied, both in its foreign policy relations with its neighbors and other countries, or in its role as mediator between conflicting parties. “Iran, for example, is a neighboring country and therefore we cannot ignore its presence and need to maintain an open channel for dialogue and negotiation to resolve any differences whether with Iran or other countries.”

HE the ambassador added that HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani created a vision based on the leadership of the youth, noting that his wise step in handing over the leadership of the State to the younger generation created a milestone in the memory of the Arab people not only in the memory of the Qatari people.

“This courageous step came from a leader who was at the peak of his leadership and reached the maximum of his national achievements, in guiding the young, to be qualified for governing and

administering affairs for the coming ten consecutive years,” HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said.

HE the ambassador said HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani affirmed that “changing leadership in Qatar does not mean that the challenges and tasks have changed for the state.” This was translated on the ground by continuing to building state institutions, which began during the reign of HH the Father Emir, he added.

After solidifying the approach of HH the Father Emir, HH the Emir renewed the spirit of the state and its institutions, continuing with the reforming process, solidifying the positive, and working to avoid the negatives, according to the national vision that cherishes human development, HE the ambassador said.

HE the ambassador added that HH the Emir adopted a consistent political plan, based on the principles and values that govern national policy in dealing with regional and international issues. During the Arab Spring, he said, Qatar was always biased towards the

need of its people, a good model to follow which promotes justice, human dignity and freedom.

Qatar is moving towards the first parliamentary elections of the Advisory Council, where the Qatari women play an important role in the current council.

Even before preparing the locations for the World Cup, the Qatar National Vision 2030 project recognized the need for improved living and working conditions for expatriate workers, HE the ambassador revealed. The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs has launched a new and comprehensive program to improve workers’ housing through the construction of modern housing for these workers in line with international standards, His Excellency added.

“The construction of most of the workers’ housing is completed and is distributed in different parts of the country and can accommodate more than 340,000 workers,” HE the ambassador said.

Qatar’s government has also expanded its health facilities by establishing three modern hospitals and four new health centers for migrant workers. In addition, a new contract system and a secure payment system have been introduced to ease the payment of salaries to employees through bank transfers, HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said.

HE the ambassador added that the Qatari government has worked closely with non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to formulate good practices in labor market policies and committed to applying the highest standards for migrant workers in the region.

The State of Qatar has spared no effort to establish freedom of expression, based on its deep belief in the right of people to obtain reliable information from reliable sources. “Within this context I can refer to, Al-Jazeera to be one of the most dedicated media networks in establishing the right of expression, which is translated in the death of a number of its reporters while carrying out their professional tasks.

HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said

there are expatriates from 190 countries who live in Qatar with different religions, noting that “the State of Qatar welcomes religious diversity and everyone can practice their religious rights without restrictions or obstacles.”

Qatar holds relationships with many partners, recognizing the importance of diversifying its relations and partnerships with various parties, HE the ambassador said.

HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani underlined that economic relations with Europe, especially Germany, play a pivotal role in deepening and strengthening strong relations in various fields of investment, education, health, industry, and tourism. He noted that the rich and intense events of Qatar-Germany Cultural Year 2017 resulted in enhancing the strategic and strong ties with the German government and its people. He added that the events of the cultural year created a real rapprochement between the Arab and German cultures, which was deepened even more through the establishment of the Arabic Cultural House (The Diwan) in Berlin.

HE the ambassador pointed out that each country’s knowledge of the other’s culture, traditions and customs contributes to the subsequent abandonment of stereotyping of the other, thus creating a platform for dialogue between non-opposites. He stressed that achieving progress and development in any field is a continuous and long-term process.

“I would like to point out that Qatar was ranked first in the Arab world and fourth worldwide out of 140 points to be achieved on the ranking of the Quality of Education report in 2016 issued by the World Economic Forum,” HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said.

“It is important to note here that the State of Qatar allocates 3.2 percent of its gross national product and more than 12 percent of its public expenditure on education. This is in line with its 2030 National Vision the preparation for the post-oil era and the establishment of an appropriate academic and industrial infrastructure for the development of the knowledge-based economy,” he added.

HE the ambassador noted that Qatar’s preparations for

hosting the 2022 World Cup are proceeding according to the plan that was set since winning the 2022 World Cup bid, adding that five stadiums have been completed and the state is actively working to complete the remaining three stadiums.

He pointed out that Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) has already laid the tunnel’s infrastructure and a significant part of the construction of the train stations will be operational by 2020. He declared that the commitment by the State of Qatar to complete the infrastructure in preparation for the 2022 World Cup will be an exceptional opportunity to stimulate the development process and capacity-building and to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in our region.

“Over the past six years, we have already made significant achievements in this area, as three of the leading regional initiatives have made a positive impact in the region, from Josoor Institute, which so far has trained hundreds of people in the region, to the hosting of major sporting events,” HE the ambassador said.

“Through the social responsibility program Generation Amazing, we have been able to contribute to positive change in the lives of thousands of children in countries around the world such as Nepal, Pakistan, Lebanon and Jordan by investing the positive energy of football and developing and refining the leadership skills of the participants” he added.

HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani noted that the 2022 challenge opened up the opportunity to expand the creative skills of the Arab world to meet the challenges facing the 2022 World Cup and other major sporting events around the world. He pointed out that the winners presented great ideas for the current products, and in a group of incubators in Qatar, applications are being developed that will give them the opportunity to realize their projects and solutions which the world will witness in 2022.

HE the ambassador pointed out that Qatar is one of the safest places in the world, saying in this regard “tourists will never feel alien due to the friendly and welcoming nature of its people and its well-developed infrastructure.”

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The deafening silence on China’s human rights abuses

SOPHIE RICHARDSON

AL JAZEERA

09TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 OPINION

Forty years into China’s “reform era”, Beijing has made clear it’s not moving on democracy, a free press, or an independent legal system.

WHERE is China headed in 2018? President Xi

Jinping promised “world peace” for the new year — but his 2017 track record suggests otherwise. Remember the singular stain of the July death of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, surrounded by state security? Many condemned China’s conduct, but such interventions are fewer and further between

these days. Increasingly, abusive Chinese authorities are garnering international support for their principles and policies.

In a single December week, the Chinese Commu-nist Party hosted an international political forum in Beijing attended by repre-sentatives of political parties from democracies including New Zealand and the United States, seemingly unboth-ered that their hosts run an authoritarian, one-party state.

China’s Ministry of For-eign Affairs and the State Council Information Office held an international sym-posium in Beijing on human rights - attended by United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a UN body that,

unlike two dozen other UN agencies, is systematically denied the ability to operate in China.

And China held another global information technol-ogy summit on connectivity — attended by Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, who in the US argues hard for privacy rightsbut in China lauds Bei-jing’s plans for a “common future in cyberspace” despite rampant censorship and electronic surveillance.

The term “normalising” is in heavy use these days, typically to mean the implicit or explicit acceptance of problematic behaviour. In diplomacy, it means two countries establishing formal diplomatic relations.

But it’s now also a per-verse hybrid in contemporary international politics: individuals and institutions from parts of the world where human rights are generally pro-tected aren’t just cosying up to, but also increasingly publicly praising, their Chi-nese counterparts — while failing to defend the princi-ples and institutions that underpin their very exist-ence. In doing so, they enable a whitewash of an abusive regime, one with global aspirations to change and set the rules of modern political life.

While it’s true that many people across differ-ent realms — academia, business, politics — have, over the years, pushed the Chinese government to adopt international human rights standards and end its persecution of peaceful critics, few now stand against Beijing’s intransi-gence. Many now choose to engage on Beijing’s terms, even when doing so is per-verse and even harmful to

their interests. Will Apple still thrive if China’s vision of state control of all sources of information and the use of artificial intelli-gence to monitor all citizens’ behaviour becomes a reality?

Those who participate in these kinds of gatherings invariably insist that it’s bet-ter they engage than not: after all, the logic goes, who else will set out different or higher standards on every-thing from democratic governance to corporate social responsibility?

But, increasingly, they simply don’t bother to set out or defend those stand-ards. Did any of the political party conference attendees publicly dissociate them-selves from their hosts’ closing statements praising President Xi’s leadership, or offer up publicly available remarks reflecting concern about the lack of elections or multiple political parties in China? No. Did anyone at the human rights conference make a public statement, while in China, about the death penalty, or torture by police? No.

While Chinese authori-ties host these substantively through-the-looking-glass gatherings and proclaim international support for their vision, increasingly they exploit openness else-where to do the same, often through state organisations like the United Front Work Department. Australian pol-iticians have been discovered receiving politi-cal donations from Chinese businesses.

The Chinese authorities have been limiting access of human rights groups to the country. Police from Cambo-dia to France have capitulated to pressure from

Chinese law enforcement or Party “discipline” officers and handed over allegedly corrupt fugitives without any semblance of due process. Universities struggle with ferocious complaints from Chinese diplomats about whether the institutions may describe Taiwan as an inde-pendent country, or have the Dalai Lama as a commence-ment speaker.

The question for democ-racies or businesses isn’t whether to engage: it is how to engage in a principled manner. This means treating China like many govern-ments treat US President Donald Trump when he makes outrageous state-ments or adopts retrograde policies.

Democratic leaders con-demn Trump’s remarks about “fake news” — but don’t condemn China for its censorship or propaganda. They criticise Trump for his hostility towards the UN, but have nothing to say on Chi-na’s efforts to weaken the institution.

It is time for new stand-ards to reverse these highly abnormal relationships with China. Forty years into Chi-na’s “reform era”, Beijing has made clear it’s not moving on democracy, a free press, or an independent legal sys-tem, though courageous people continue to push for these at considerable per-sonal risk.

If powerful outside voices mindlessly engage, they not only stab these brave people in the back - they may also find themselves obliged to dance to the tune of a highly repressive government.

The author is the China director at Human Rights Watch.

US-Qatar strategic dialogue and the Gulf crisis

THE first US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue marked a watershed moment in the Washington-Doha alliance

and an important point in the eight-month-old Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) crisis. The strategic dialogue served to reaffirm Washington’s support for Qatar amid the Gulf dispute and both countries’ interests in elevating bilateral relations to new heights. Consequently, Qatar will resist the blockading countries’ pressure more confidently.

The key question is how will Riy-adh and Abu Dhabi respond to the US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue? As the

Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi—Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ)—are keen to capitalise on Donald Trump’s presidency as an opportunity to improve the Kingdom and the Emirates’ relations with the US administration, these two block-ading countries will likely avoid much direct criticism of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ embrace of Doha. Regardless, the strategic dia-logue will serve to further diminish Riyadh and Abu Dhabi’s optimism from last year that having Trump in the Oval Office would enable the so-called Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) to convince the US to redefine its rela-tionship with Qatar and support the blockade.

The historical relationship between Qatar and the United States, which was established nearly half a century ago, has evolved over the decades at various points such as the Liberation of the State of Kuwait in 1991, the US/UK-led invasion of Iraq in 2002, and the transfer of the US

Central Command’s (USCENTCOM) regional headquarters from Saudi Arabia to the Al Udeid base in Qatar.

One of the important moments that was crucial to the growth of Doha-Washington relations came in 1996 when the US stood by the Qatari government against the Saudi-spon-sored coup attempt.

Since the Qatar crisis broke out last year, Doha has engaged in a highly diplomatic approach to the dispute by strengthening ties with global actors—China, Russia, India, etc.—while also strengthening Doha’s relationship with regional ones—Kuwait, Iran, Oman, and Turkey, etc.—to economically and politically counterbalance the ATQ’s blockade.

Yet perhaps the most important dimension of Doha’s foreign policy strategy over the past eight months has been Qatar’s diplomatic engage-ment with the Trump administration. Reliant on the US as a security guar-antor, Qatar has gone to great pains to convince Washington that the Ara-bian emirate is a loyal and reliable counter-terrorism ally and that Al

Udeid is the most strategically sound location for USCENTCOM’s regional headquarters. To be sure, Doha is not only looking to keep the American military presence at al-Udeid, but also to expand the base and begin hosting the US Navy too. Although Qatar aims to diversify its web of security allies, Doha continues to value its alliance with Washington immensely.

On January 30, 2018, Qatar and the United States signed three mem-orandums of understanding. The first was to establish a new dialogue, a common document for security cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding to combat the traf-ficking ofhuman beings. The partnership between Doha and Washington has expanded to include solidarity in the face of any external aggression directed against Qatar with the two countries agreeing to work together to protect the Arabian country’s security.

The US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue has served to assuage concerns in Doha about the US considering a relocation of USCENTCOM’s regional headquarters from Qatar to another GCC state, most likely Saudi Arabia or the UAE. With the US remaining firmly committed to maintaining USCENTCOM’s regional headquar-ters on Qatari soil, coupled with Turkey’s stepped up military pres-ence in the emirate and Qatar’s recently showcased possession of Chinese-made ballistic missiles, the ATQ countries—now more than ever—likely see any potential plans for military action against Qatar as too risky and dangerous.

Despite the ability of the US and other actors involved in the Qatar crisis to prevent the diplomatic row from escalating into a violent con-flict, the stalemate may well continue far into the future. As much as the US would like the ATQ to negotiate a set-tlement with Qatar, lift the blockade, and restore official relations with Doha, Washington’s ability to con-vince MbS and MbZ to make such

moves is highly questionable at best. Without Doha meeting the 13 demands (and/or the six principles) laid out last year as conditions for resolving the Gulf dispute, it is doubt-ful that either the leadership in Riyadh or Abu Dhabi could find a face-saving way to welcome Qatar back to their fold even with stepped up pressure from the Trump admin-istration to do so.

Ultimately, the US-Qatar Strate-gic Dialogue has illustrated how the close and institutionalised Washing-ton-Doha alliance has not only weathered the GCC crisis but also strengthened throughout the past eight months. Although America’s commitment to Qatar’s security will not spell the end of Washington’s alliance with the blockading coun-tries, US support for Doha will likely create resentment toward the White House in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Whereas the Saudis and Emiratis were irked by the Obama adminis-tration’s diplomatic overtures to Iran, seen in some parts of the Gulf region as evidence of Washington’s aban-donment of its GCC allies, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will become increasingly upset with the US administration’s refusal to view the alleged ‘Qatari threat’ through the ATQ’s lenses.

Unquestionably, the US leader-ship’s calls on the Saudis and Emiratis to tone down anti-Qatar “propaganda” in their country’s press outlets will fuel a perception in the Kingdom and the Emirates that Trump’s administration is a far less reliable ally in the Middle East than officials in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi had previously expected.

Dr. Khalid Al Jaber is the Director of Gulf International Forum and Gior-gio Cafiero is the CEO and founder of Gulf State Analytics.

DR. KHALID AL JABER &

GIORGIO CAFIERO

10 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018ASIA

Modi to visit Palestine & meet AbbasAFP

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Palestine during a brief tour of the Middle East, the foreign ministry said yesterday, just weeks after hosting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Modi will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an overture seen as India’s effort to balance its decades-old support for the occupied territories against its growing closeness to Israel.

The Indian Premier will visit Ramallah first on his three-day tour of the region between February 9 and 12, which will also take in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Foreign ministry official B Bala Bhaskar said Modi’s visit to Palestine would be his first, though the Indian Premier has met Abbas on three previous occasions.

The leaders are expected to discuss information tech-nology, health and tourism during the brief visit, Bhaskar added. Modi will also address a joint press conference and attended a banquet.

New Delhi has long backed Palestine’s quest for nationhood and Modi has articulated sup-port for an independent state existing peacefully alongside Israel.

Bhaskar said India’s refusal in December to support US moves to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was consistent

with its unwavering support for Palestine.

Ahead of the first visit by an Israeli leader to India in 15 years, Netanyahu said he was “disappointed” by India’s decision.

But any tension appeared forgotten as the two leaders embraced in New Delhi last month and heralded a “new era” between Israel and India as deals were signed on cyber-security and energy.

Modi became the first Indian leader in history to visit Israel in July 2017.

The Indian premier will depart for the UAE on Saturday, where he will address a summit in Dubai and meet business leaders before travelling to O m a n f o r f u r t h e r engagements.

The Gulf is a critical region for New Delhi. India sources more than half its oil and energy supplies from the region, and around 9 million Indians live and work there, sending home billions of dol-lars in remittances annually.

The leaders are expected to discuss information technology, health & tourism during the brief visit.

Two bond dealers in Sri Lanka remain in custodyREUTERS

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court yesterday ordered two executives from dealer Perpetual Treasuries Ltd, arrested over an alleged government bond scam, to remain in custody until February 16.

Police arrested Perpetual’s owner Arjun Aloysius and CEO Kasun Palisena on Sunday on suspicion of involvement in the alleged scam.

Perpetual bought more than half the debt on sale in a government bond auction in 2015 and a presidential inquiry reported last month that Perpetual Treasuries had profited through illegal means.

Aloysius, Palisena and Perpetual Treas-uries have all denied any wrongdoing.

Aloysius is the son-in-law of Arjuna Mahendran, who was central bank governor at the time of the auction.

Kalinga Indratissa, the attorney for both Aloysius and Palisena, said the court had ordered that they stay in custody until Feb-ruary 16 after police filed charges on misap-propriation of property, criminal breach of trust, offences under the public property act and the registered stockbrokers ordinance.

The arrests came after President Maithri-pala Sirisena said last month that a presiden-tial commission investigating the 2015 bond sales had recommended legal action against

the finance minister and central bank gov-ernor at the time, as well as the owner and officials of Perpetual Treasuries.

Mahendran and Ravi Karunanayakehas, who was finance minister at the time, have also denied any wrongdoing.

Sri Lanka’s central bank said last month it had suspended four officers and taken dis-ciplinary action against several others fol-lowing alleged irregularities in the

2015 government bond auction and that it had initiated several legislative changes aimed at preventing irregularities arising in connec-tion with future bond issues.

Opposition lawmakers have alleged the bond auction cost the state more than $1bn because of rising borrowing costs but Pal-isena, in a letter to parliamentarians last week, said state institutions had not lost out in the bond sale.

Sri Lankan bond dealer Arjun Aloysius (second left) is escorted to a prison bus in Colombo, yesterday.

64% of antibiotics sold in India ‘unapproved’AFP

PARIS: Nearly two-thirds of multi-drug antibiotic cocktails sold in India between 2007 and 2012 were unapproved, said researchers yesterday, warning such ‘illegal’ compounds were fuelling the spread of drug-resistant diseases.

In total, 118 different types of ‘fixed-dose combination’ antibiotics - formulations com-bining two or more drugs in a single pill - were sold in India in the five years under review, a team reported in the British

Journal of Clinical Pharma-cology. Of these, “64 percent were not approved by the national drugs regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation”, they said.

The sale of unapproved drugs is illegal in India.

The 118 formulations were sold as 3,307 different brand-named products, produced by 476 pharmaceutical companies - including a dozen multina-tionals, said the team.

There were also 86 single-drug formulations, of which 93 percent had regulatory approval.

India already has one of the highest rates of drug resistance in the world, said the team, cou-pled with one of the highest anti-biotic consumption rates.

The UN warns that the emer-gence of drug-resistant germs is a “global health emergency” threatening progress made by modern medicine, and risking a future in which people die of ail-ments that are easily curable today. A report commissioned by the British government warned in 2014 that antibiotics-resistant infections could kill 10 million people per year.

UN says Nepal must punish recruiters who exploit workersREUTERS

KATHMANDU: Nepal must punish recruitment agencies that charge migrant workers illegally high fees to find jobs abroad, leaving them vulner-able to exploitation, the United Nations said yesterday.

Remittances sent home by about 4 million Nepalis, mainly working in construc-tion or as domestic servants in the Middle East, Malaysia and South Korea, make up nearly 30 percent of the Himalayan nation’s gross domestic product, state offi-cials say.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International say poor migrants become trapped in a cycle of debt and exploitation as they have to borrow large sums of money at high interest rates to pay recruitment agencies who arrange jobs for them over-seas. Once abroad, migrant workers often have their passports confiscated and find themselves trapped in forced labour - having to work for years to clear their debts - activists say.

The Nepali government allows private recruitment agencies to charge migrant workers a fee of $100 to process their papers, but a top UN official said the costs can be as high as $1,750.

Maldives government defies court orderREUTERS

MALE: Maldives President Abdulla Yameen’s administra-tion said yesterday legal conflicts made it difficult to comply with a Supreme Court order to free jailed opposition leaders, deepening a political crisis in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Yameen, who has run the country with an iron hand since 2013, is facing mounting pres-sure at home and from the United States and India to release former president Mohamed Nasheed from a 13-year jail sentence, and free eight other political opponents from prison.

The Maldives, home to 400,000 people and best known as a tropical paradise for tour-ists, has experienced political

unrest since Nasheed, the island’s first democratically-elected leader, was forced to quit amid a mutiny by police in 2012.

The following year, Yameen then defeated him in an election that Nasheed maintains was rigged. Subsequently, impris-oned on terrorism charges, Nasheed was allowed to go to Britain for medical treatment in January 2016, and has been living in exile since, though he is currently in Sri Lanka.

In its ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court said it found that prosecutors and judges had been influenced “to conduct politically motivated investiga-tions” into the allegations lev-elled at Nasheed, former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and the other opposition leaders.

The court also ordered fresh investigations and trials to be

held. The ruling has energised an opposition that hopes Nasheed will be allowed to return home to run against Yameen in a presidential elec-tion due in October.

Anticipating a possible esca-lation by the Supreme Court, Attorney General Mohamed Anil has warned that the government will resist any attempt to impeach Yameen for non-com-pliance with the order.

Yesterday, a minister quit in protest at the government’s defi-ance of the Supreme Court.

“It is not possible for my conscience to accept the lack of answers to the way the govern-ment is dealing with the orders of the highest court on state institutions,” Hussain Rasheed, the state health minister, said in his resignation letter.

Speaking to state run TV

Maldives, Legal Affairs Minister Azima Shakoor sought to justify the government’s stance.

“There are many legal chal-lenges and these challenges made it difficult to enforce the ruling. The criminal justice system will be compromised if the ruling’s orders to free the prisoners is enforced,” she said, without elaborating.

Since Thursday’s ruling, Yameen has fired two police chiefs who tried to implement the court ruling and a politically neutral secretary general of par-liament, who was also to imple-ment the ruling, has resigned.

Police has started investiga-tions into Supreme Court judges and officials since the ruling, and have said that they plan to question former president Mau-moon Abdul Gayoom, who is now in the opposition, in a

separate case. Gayoom, who is a half-brother of Yameen, said unidentified armed men had tried to intimidate him overnight.

“A band of thugs armed with knives drove by my residence several times after midnight last night shouting abuse at the top of their voice. I wonder who sent these unruly thugs?” Gayoom said in his Twitter feed.

The country’s combined opposition urged foreign powers to put pressure on Yameen to yield to the rule of law.

“We..request the interna-tional community to consider and implement all necessary measures - including diplo-matic, economic, and legal - to defend democracy, rule of law, and human rights in Maldives at this critical juncture,” the joint opposition said in a statement.

ICAN protestMembers of the group International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), who won the ���� Nobel Peace Prize, gathered in Sydney yesterday to advocate for nuclear disarmament and urge the Australian and Japanese governments to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Indian billionaire jeweller investigated over bank fraudREUTERS

NEW DELHI: Indian federal agents said yesterday they had launched an investigation into billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, one of the country’s richest men, over accusations that he and others defrauded a state bank of $44m.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it was acting on a complaint from the Punjab National Bank that Nirav Modi and others had con-spired with bank officials to fraudulently obtain advances for making payments to over-seas suppliers.

A spokeswoman for Nirav Modi declined to comment. The CBI’s announcement of an

investigation and registration of a complaint mark some of the early stages in an inquiry and do not mean the case will ever go to trial.

According to Forbes, Modi has a net worth of $1.84bn through his jewellery design and retail businesses, making him the 85th richest person in India.

The bank had filed a com-plaint saying public money “seems to have been embezzled by committing fraud”, the CBI said.

CBI spokesman Abhishek Dayal said raids were con-ducted over the weekend at 21 locations linked to companies of Modi and others accused in the case. Modi’s residence was

also searched, Dayal said. Modi’s flagship diamond retail firm, Firestar International Limited, released a statement saying the case “has no affilia-tion, legal or otherwise” with the company. The CBI did not name Firestar in the complaint.

The case comes at a time of heightened concern about Indian banks’ near-record soured loans stock, which has choked new lending.

Policymakers have been trying to clean up the stock of bad loans through measures such as a newly enacted bank-ruptcy process that has seen several of the country’s biggest loan defaulters being pursued in bankruptcy court.

11TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 ASIA

No military solution to Afghan war: PM AbbasiBLOOMBERG

ISLAMABAD: There’s no mili-tary solution to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan, Paki-stan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said, warning little progress would be made until all sides entered into peace talks.

Abbasi voiced skepticism over US President Donald Trump’s increase in troops to assist the Afghan security forces and said Islamabad was ready to help mediate talks with the Tal-iban, many of whom had been allegedly trained in Pakistan.

“At the end of the day the Afghans have to sit down and talk,” Abbasi, 59, said in an inter-view at his home in Islamabad.

Relations between Pakistan and the US have nosedived in the past year. Pakistan has been repeatedly accused of not taking enough action against terror

groups that strike its neighbours. In his first tweet of 2018, the US president on January 1 flagged a cut in military aid worth about $2bn and said Pakistan gave ‘lies and deceit’ in return for US funding.

Abbasi hit back at charges that the nuclear-armed nation has been selective in its fight against terrorism. Following an announcement last week that 27 Taliban and Haqqani network insurgents had been handed over to Afghanistan in November in a what Abbasi described as a ‘rou-tine’ prisoner transfer, he said there was no evidence Pakistan was backing militants fighting across the border after a spate of violence left hundreds dead and wounded in Kabul last month.

“These are Afghan nationals who were arrested inside Paki-stan, they were not involved in a terror attack on us otherwise we would have prosecuted them

here, so we handed them back to the Afghans,” he said.

Successive US administra-tions have wrestled with the troubled Pakistan relationship. Along with providing passage into Afghanistan since the Sep-tember 11 attacks, Pakistan also helped capture and kill senior Al Qaeda leaders.

Yet it is also the place where Osama bin Laden hid for years before being killed in a 2011 raid by US Navy Seals.

Trump’s actions have

provoked outcry from Pakistani officials, who have pointed out the thousands of civilians and servicemen who have died fighting terrorism within its borders.

General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the head of the powerful army, said last month Pakistan felt ‘betrayed’ and won’t seek a res-toration of American aid. Islam-abad has also drawn closer to China as it finances more than $50bn in infrastructure projects across the South Asian nation.

US military funding was already ‘very minimal’, Abbasi said, noting Pakistan is still owed billions of dollars in reimburse-ments from the Coalition Sup-port Fund. However, Pakistan wasn’t considering closing US supply routes into landlocked Afghanistan.

Despite Trump’s stance, Abbasi said talks and intelli-gence cooperation is still

ongoing and that a growing relationship with China shouldn’t stop that. “They are not mutually exclusive relation-ships and nobody wants it that way either,” Abbasi said. “China is more of a longer term, a deeper relationship, the US is probably more transactional.”

Action has been taken against United Nations Security Council sanctioned charities linked to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged master-mind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, who was released from house arrest in Lahore in November—provoking condemnation from the White House and India.

In the last two-to-three months Pakistan has ‘more or less complied’ with sanctions against the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation and Jamaat-ud Dawa, an alleged front for banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abbasi said. More action against Saeed is unlikely as “we

have no charges against him,” he said. Abbasi, who became pre-mier in August after the Supreme Court barred former Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif from office following a corruption investi-gation, said tensions with the armed forces had eased since Sharif’s disqualification.

With national elections scheduled in less than six months, the government will be keen not to agitate the military, which has held power in Paki-stan for almost half of its 70 years, has removed multiple elected leaders and effectively controls foreign policy.

“There was a lot of friction institutionally that built up over the last year,” Abbasi said in rel-atively candid comments on the military. “We have had some frank discussions—there’s much better understanding, it’s still an evolving relationship, there’s a consensus on most issues.”

Despite Trump’s stance, Abbasi said talks and intelligence cooperation is still ongoing.

Gunmen shoot and injure two Chinese nationals in KarachiANATOLIA

KARACHI: Gunmen shot and injured two Chinese nationals in southern port city of Karachi yesterday, according to police and local media reports.

The latest incident appears to be part of a spate of attacks on Chinese in Pakistan.

The injured Chinese were said to be involved in the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Cor-ridor (CPEC) project.

The two were targeted in a posh street of the country’s com-mercial capital, Azad Khan, a senior police official, told reporters adding that one of the injured was said to be in critical condition.

Khan said the Chinese in Pakistan had been provided with adequate security; how-ever, in this particular instance, the injured were travelling without their security guards at

the time of attack. There was no immediate claim of responsi-bility for the attack.

The CPEC, which is part of Beijing’s most ambitious foreign economic initiative—One Belt One Road—will connect north-west China to Pakistan’s south-western Gwadar port through a network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport cargo, oil and gas.

This will provide the shortest route to Chinese cargo destined for the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

While the investment is expected to benefit Pakistan and China, one of the most serious barriers to the completion of the 2,000 km corridor is Pakistan’s significant security issues.

In the past Chinese workers have been attacked, killed and kidnapped in southwestern and northwestern Pakistan, including in the area of the port

in Gawadar, by Baloch separa-tists and Taliban militants.

Currently, some 10,000 Chi-nese are working on several CPEC-related projects in Pakistan.

The separatists, buoyed by local political opposition to Chi-nese investment in the mineral-rich Balochistan province, claim Islamabad is stealing their resources with the help of China.

Sensing the security con-cerns, the Pakistani army has created a 10,000-strong force to provide protection to hun-dreds of Chinese workers, tech-nicians and experts associated with the economic corridor projects.

Beijing is Islamabad’s largest trade and defense partner with a trade volume between the countries $16bn, while the two sides plan to enhance the cur-rent volume up to $20bn amid execution of CPEC.

Support for Australian PM hits 10-month high: PollREUTERS

SYDNEY: Support for Austral-ia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is at a near 10-month high, a widely watched poll showed yesterday, a boost for the centre-right government that could use an early election to settle a constitutional crisis.

The latest Newspoll, pub-lished by The Australian, showed Turnbull’s Liberal-National party coalition now trails the main opposition Labour Party by a margin of 52-48 percent on a two-party basis, the smallest gap since April 2017. The poll raises the prospect of an early election as Turnbull’s razor thin one-seat majority in Australia’s parlia-ment is again threatened by a previously little known consti-tutional requirement.

“If Turnbull can get to 50-50, I would not be surprised to see an early election,” said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia. The government must head back to the polls by May 2019.

Ten lawmakers have so far been forced from office after falling foul of Australia’s con-stitution that prohibits dual nationals from elected office, a rule that briefly forced Turn-bull to govern in minority form. Several more remain under pressure to answer questions around their eligibility.

Sanofi rejects Manila’s demand to refund amountAFP

MANILA: French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi yesterday rejected a Philippine government demand to return tens of millions of dollars paid for a dengue vaccine after the programme was suspended over health concerns.

The Philippines had asked Sanofi to refund 3.2bn pesos ($62m) spent on injecting more than 830,000 schoolchildren with Dengvaxia after the company said last year the vaccine could worsen symptoms in some cases.

Sanofi last month agreed to reimburse the Philippine govern-ment half the total sought, for leftover doses of Dengvaxia. But it said yesterday it would not pay for doses that were already used.

“Agreeing to refund the used doses of Dengvaxia would imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case,” Sanofi Pas-teur said in a statement. The

refund offered for unused Dengvaxia doses was not due to safety or quality concerns but simply to show that the company was cooperating with Manila, the French pharmaceutical giant added. Dengue or haemorrhagic fever, the world’s most common mosquito-borne virus, infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year and kills more than 25,000 of them, according to the World Health Organization.

The Philippines has one of the world’s highest dengue fatality rates with 732 deaths last year, the country’s health department said.

The country launched the world’s first public dengue vac-cination programme in 2016.

It was halted last year, along with Dengvaxia sales, after Sanofi warned the injections could make symptoms worse for people who contracted the disease for the first

time after being injected.The announcement caused

panic among parents of injected children, said the government,

which has since began investi-gating Dengvaxia’s alleged role in the deaths of at least 14 vac-cinated children. Sanofi denies

responsibility.Health officials also said

immunisation programmes for other preventable diseases were suffering, with many parents now wary of vaccines in general.

Yesterday Sanofi rejected a separate health department request to set up an indemnifi-cation fund to cover the hospi-talisation and treatment for vac-cinated children who contract severe dengue.

“Should there be any case of injury due to dengue that has been demonstrated by credible scientific evidence to be caus-ally related to vaccination, we will assume responsibility,” it said. The government’s Public Attorney’s Office said yesterday it is helping a Manila couple file a civil suit seeking 3.768m pesos in damages for the death of their 10-year-old daughter last December.

Sanofi Pasteur-Asia Pacific Head Thomas Triomphe (right) gestures during a House of Representatives investigation regarding the dengue vaccine costs in Manila, yesterday.

Azerbaijan calls for presidential pollsAFP

BAKU: Azerbaijan’s strongman Ilham Aliyev yesterday called a snap presidential vote for April, six months ahead of schedule, as opposition politicians slammed the surprise move.

“Set the date of the election of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 11,” Aliyev ordered in a decree posted on his website without providing an immediate explanation for the move.

The oil-rich country was

initially set to hold the vote on October 17. Last week, the deputy chair of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, Ali Akhmedov, said that Aliyev planned to run for a fourth consecutive term.

“No-one knows what the true reason for calling a snap vote is,” political anayst Hikmet Hadjizade said.

The decision sparked strong criticism from opposition par-ties. “The Aliyevs have been in power for some 45 years already and that contradicts the princi-ples of a democratic republic,”

the leader of the opposition Popular Front party, Ali Kerimli said.

The veteran politician said the decision to hold early elec-tions was aimed at shortening the campaign period and “ham-pering the opposition’s efforts to prevent vote rigging”.

So far, two opposition can-didates—Musavat party leader Isa Gambar and the chairman of the Classical Popular Front Party Mirmahmud Miralioglu—have announced plans to run for president.

PTI facing political isolation in Senate pollsINTERNEWS

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has to go extra mile to win a single Senate seat from Punjab where neither of the other two main opposition components in the Punjab Assembly is ready to withdraw its candidate. Without the complete support of PML-Q and PPP which have total 16 MPAs, eight each, in Punjab Assembly, it is an uphill task for PTI with

30 seats to clinch the Senate slot for which it has fielded former Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar.

PML-Q has fielded Kamil Agha whereas PPP is in the run with Nawab Shehzad, son-in-law of Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo.

Out of the total 12 seats from Punjab, PML-N is likely to make a clean sweep this time on the basis of its current strength in Punjab Assembly where it has a support 320 MPAs out of 371.

Protesters shout slogans and hold placards during a demonstration to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day in Peshawar, Pakistan, yesterday.

Kashmir Solidarity Day

12 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018EUROPE

Netherlands pulls out envoy from Turkey

BLOOMBERG

AMSTERDAM: The Nether-lands withdrew its ambassador from Turkey as talks between the two countries to mend a diplomatic struggle in 2017 over political campaigning were not resolved.

Talks at various levels at this stage “do not yet offer a perspective to normalising the bilateral relations,” according to a statement from the Dutch Foreign Affairs ministry yesterday.

As a result, the ambassador was officially pulled from the country -- a mostly symbolic move as the diplomat has not had access to Turkey since last year’s rift.

Relations dropped to a freezing point in March 2017,

when days before general elec-tions, the Dutch denied entry to Turkish ministers, who wanted to campaign in the Netherlands to expand the powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A war of words erupted, with Turkey announcing it would bar the Dutch ambas-sador from re-entering the country in retaliation.

“Recent talks offered Turkey and the Netherlands an opportunity to come closer to each other, but we have not been able to agree on the way normalization should take place,” Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Halbe Zijlstra (pic-tured) said in the statement.

In the Turkish capital Ankara, the foreign ministry said the Netherlands had failed to take the steps needed to improve ties between the two countries.

Last year’s spat occurred days before a Dutch election that eventually, after a process that took more than 200 days to form a new four-party coa-lition government, allowed Prime Minister Mark Rutte to stay in power.

Rutte said late last year that he was seeking better relations with Turkey.

Merkel, SPD push ahead in govt talksBLOOMBERG

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel resumed talks yesterday on extending her government alliance with the Social Democratic Party, sending efforts to break the country’s polit-ical deadlock into overtime.

With Merkel’s fourth term hanging in the balance, a Sunday target date for concluding a coali-tion pact came and went as the SPD sought concessions on labor and health-insurance rules.

The prospects of a deal yes-terday were “fifty-fifty,” Social Democrat lawmaker Karl Lauter-bach, a key negotiator on health care, said.

While the chancellor’s

Christian Democratic Union sees the talks as being on the home stretch, the Social Democrats are holding out for policy victories they can sell to the party’s base, which has the final say on any coalition agreement.

“We’re not over the hump yet,” Volker Kauder, Merkel’s caucus chief in parliament, said as negotiators began the latest round of discus-sions. Volker Bouffier, a CDU member who is state premier of the Hesse region, predicted “a long evening” of talks.

More than four months after her CDU-led bloc won an incon-clusive national election, Merkel remains at the helm as acting chancellor. After serving as Mer-kel’s junior partner for eight of her

12 years in office, many SPD mem-bers blame the last four years with her for the party’s electoral decline.

Any coalition pact will be put to a vote by the SPD’s more than 440,000 members. A rejection would force Merkel to consider governing without a stable parlia-mentary majority or put Germany on track for another election, which polls suggest would turn out largely like the last one in September.

After a breakthrough last week on refugee policy, two key SPD demands remain on the table: curbing the use of temporary work contracts, and overhauling the national health-care system to pre-vent doctors from billing higher fees for privately insured patients.

Protesters hold placards outside the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to protest against a new coalition government, in Berlin, yesterday.

Russia deploys ballistic missiles to Baltic enclaveREUTERS

MOSCOW: Russia has deployed advanced nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to its Kalinin-grad enclave on the Baltic Sea, the RIA news agency quoted a senior lawmaker as saying yesterday.

Russian government has said that the previous deploy-ments of Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a slice of Russia wedged between Poland and Lithuania, were temporary and a response to the United States

building up its forces in the Baltic region.

Washington says placing such missile systems near the Baltic states and Nato member Poland is “destabilising,” while US officials have expressed con-cern that the deployments rep-resent a permanent upgrade to Russia’s forces in the area.

Vladimir Shamanov, head of the Russian lower house of par-liament’s defence committee, said yesterday that Iskander missile systems had been sent to Kaliningrad, but did not say

how many or for how long, RIA reported.

“Yes, they have been deployed,” it quoted him as saying. “The deployment of for-eign military infrastructure automatically falls onto the pri-ority list for targeting.”

The Iskander, a mobile bal-listic missile system codenamed SS-26 Stone by Nato, replaced the Soviet Scud missile.

Its two guided missiles have a range of up to 500km and can carry either conventional or nuclear warhead.

Paris attacks suspect ‘silent’ as trial beginsAFP

BRUSSELS: The only surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, refused to answer questions yesterday as he went on trial in Brussels over a bloody shootout with police that led to his capture.

Tight security surrounded the start of the trial of the 28-year-old, who was trans-ferred overnight from a jail near the French capital Paris and arriving in Belgium in a convoy of police vehicles.

Abdeslam, who has declined to speak to investigators since his arrest in March 2016, imme-diately signalled his defiance yesterday by refusing to stand when asked by the judge and saying he would not cooperate.

“I do not wish to answer any questions,” Abdeslam, bearded and wearing a long-sleeved white polo shirt, said when the presiding judge, Marie-France Keutgen, asked him to confirm his identity.

The judge told the court that Abdeslam has also refused to have photos or video taken of him during the four-day trial in Brussels.

The Belgian-born French national of Moroccan descent faces charges of attempted ter-rorist murder of police officers and carrying banned weapons over a gunbattle in the Forest district of Brussels on March 15, 2016.

Three police officers were wounded and a jihadist was killed in the fight, which came as Abdeslam was on the run four months after the Paris attacks. He was captured three days later.

Abdeslam and the man arrested with him, Tunisian national Sofiane Ayari, 24, could serve up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Hundreds of Belgian secu-rity forces turned the Palais de Justice court building in Brussels into a virtual fortress while a hel-icopter with searchlights circled

overhead as he arrived.“This must remain an ordi-

nary trial,” said the official who presides over the court, Luc Hen-nart. “If there is the slightest problem I will order the court-room to be evacuated.

The non-jury trial is the prelude to a later one in France and prosecutors hope the Brus-sels trial will yield clues not only about the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris but also the sui-cide bombings months later in Brussels.

Abdeslam has refused point-blank to speak to investigators throughout the nearly two years since his arrest, which capped a four-month hunt for Europe’s most wanted man.

But he has insisted on attending the Brussels trial, where three judges are to lead proceedings for four days, which had raised hopes, now appar-ently dashed, that he would use it to break his silence.

Hennart insisted that the trial would only focus on the shootout, saying: “That is what we will talk about, we will not talk about either the Brussels or Paris attacks.”

The plans for transferring Abdeslam from Fleury-Merogis prison in the Parisian suburbs, and then back to a prison just across the border in northern France every night, were shrouded in secrecy.

Two separate convoys left

Fleury-Merogis in the middle of the night with an escort of elite French officers with blue lights flashing, while a third group of unmarked vehicles left shortly afterwards.

The boyish former bar owner has spent nearly 20 months in iso-lation under 24-hour video sur-veillance at Fleury-Merogis, after being transferred to France after his arrest.

Investigators believe Abdeslam’s capture three days after the shootout caused mem-bers of his jihadist cell to bring for-ward plans for the attacks in Brus-sels. Suicide attacks on March 22, 2016, killed 32 people at Brussels airport and a metro station near the EU headquarters.

The prime suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam (left), and his alleged accomplice, Sofiane Ayari (right), inside the courtroom at the “Palais de Justice” courthouse, in Brussels for the opening of his trial, yesterday.

French chef gets Michelin three starsAFP

PARIS: Marc Veyrat, the comeback king of French cuisine, was back on the top of the culinary tree yesterday after the Michelin guide awarded him the maximum three stars.

The flamboyant chef, who is rarely seen without his black Savoyard hat and cape, has now won the top rating for three different restaurants over the course of his career.

Nine years after Veyrat was

forced to give up cooking after a serious skiing accident and three after his alpine restau-rant La Maison des Bois burned down, the 67-year-old was back at the summit of French cooking.

Famed for his highly inven-tive creations that mix delicate infusions of wild herbs with hearty traditional Savoyard cooking, Veyrat is one of only two “new” chefs promoted this year to the elite club who hold three stars, a source said.

The self-taught master,

who has spent most of his life cooking in his home village of Manigod 1,600 metres up the Alps near Annecy, has twice been given the maximum 20 out of 20 score by the rival Gault-Millau guide.

Veyrat, whose organic alpine vegetable gardens around his restaurant almost make it self-sufficient, is a pio-neer of using wild mountain herbs in broths and fermenta-tions, and cites the botanist Francois Couplan among his heroes.

Salah Abdeslam immediately signalled his defiance yesterday by refusing to stand when asked by the judge and saying he would not cooperate.

Russia has said previous deployments of Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a slice of Russia wedged between Poland and Lithuania, were temporary and a response to the United States building up its forces in the Baltic region.

UK blocks extradition of hacker to USAFP

LONDON: British judges yesterday agreed to block the extradition to the US of a man accused of hacking into thou-sands of American govern-ment computers in a ruling that could set a precedent for similar pending cases.

Lauri Love, 33, has for several years been battling extradition to face multiple charges for allegedly hacking into the networks of the US Federal Reserve, US Army and Nasa, among others, in 2012 and 2013.

“I am greatly relieved that I am no longer facing the prospect of being locked up for potentially the rest of my life in a country I have never visited,” he said. “But I am also thankful for the prece-dent that’s been set hopefully by this case.”

Kaim Todner, the law firm representing Love, hailed the ruling as a “landmark judgement”.

“The British justice system has taken the stance that we should deal with the matter ourselves, rather than accept the US government’s demands,” it said. “It has also been recognised that mental health provisions in US prisons are not adequate to satisfy us that Lauri would not have come to serious harm if he were extradited.”

Moscow struggles to clear snowfallAFP

MOSCOW: Moscow author-ities battled to clear streets and told children they could skip school as the city was blanketed by its heaviest snowfall in 100 years.

The city hall said that 45 centimetres of snow had fallen between Saturday and yesterday morning.

Up to 20 centimetres more was expected to fall on Monday with temperatures forecast to fall to minus 17 degrees Celsius by evening, officials warned.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said: “The snowfall of the cen-tury as it’s been called has descended on Moscow” and resulted in “a huge amount of snow and thousands of top-pled trees,” RIA Novosti news agency reported.

“But nevertheless there has been no collapse or catas-trophe,” he stressed. RIA Nov-osti dubbed the conditions a “snowy apocalypse”.

The defence ministry has sent soldiers to help clear snowdrifts on Moscow’s streets as requested by city officials, it said in a statement.

“In the first five days of February the monthly average (snowfall) was reached,” Nadezhda Toche-nova, the deputy head of Rus-sia’s Hydrometcentre weather research centre said.

13TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 AMERICAS

March for Dignity

Singer to face leftist author in Costa Rica election runoffREUTERS

SAN JOSE: Former TV anchor and evangelical singer Fabricio Alvarado Munoz will face a center-left fiction writer in Costa Rica’s presidential election runoff, definitively ending decades of a two-party system in the peaceful Central American nation.

The Christian songwriter decisively won the first round on Sunday but after failing to reach 40 percent of the votes must now compete in the runoff on April 1 against ex-government minister Carlos Alvarado Quesada, who was also once a singer in a prog-rock band.

The victory of the unrelated Alvarados reflects the growing influence of relative outsiders on politics in Latin America, where some two-thirds of the region’s population can choose new gov-ernments this year.

“Costa Rica went to vote and the message was clear, it doesn’t

want more of the same,” Alvarado Munoz, 43, said in a speech to supporters as the final results came in.

The shift has hastened the decline of a centrist two-party system that stretched back dec-ades, and led to the rise of Alvarado Munoz on a ticket of f iercely opposing gay marriage.

Neither of the candidates is from one of the two parties that have dominated politics since the mid 20th Century, and they rep-resent a widening of the right-left divide.

Alvarado Munoz, the tele-genic author of Christian songs such as “Your love is everything”, won 24.8 percent of the vote. He was elected to the national assembly in 2014 as the only fed-eral deputy for the National Res-toration Party (PRN) formed by Christians from another party.

Late on Sunday, the PRN appeared to have massively increased its presence in the

national assembly to 14 seats. The party opposes the progres-sive policies of President Luis Guillermo Solis, such as same-sex marriage, in vitro fertiliza-tion and sex education in schools.

“There’s nothing more pro-gressive than defending life and family,” Alvarado Munoz said on Sunday.

Well known as a television news anchor before he turned more seriously to religion and politics, Alvarado Munoz shot to prominence during the campaign after denouncing a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights calling on Costa Rica to give civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

“All the vestiges of gender ideology will be eliminated from public policy in Costa Rica,” he said in his government plan.

During the campaign, a video was released of his wife apparently “speaking in tongues”, a phenomenon that

evangelicals say allows them to communicate in a divine language.

His rival Alvarado Quesada, 38, backs the court’s decision on same-sex couples.

Even though Costa Rica’s 3.3 million voters mostly describe themselves as con-servative, he appears to have benefited by energizing voters worried by the strident tone of the campaign.

The former Procter & Gamble

employee also tried to connect with young voters, highlighting his university rock band Drama-tika and career as a fiction writer. He has a masters degree from Britain’s Sussex University, and his last novel was titled “Brighton Season”.

“The Costa Rica of the 21st century needs a government that knows how to advance with strength, love and happiness, the agenda of equality,” Alvarado Quesada said in a speech on

Sunday evening. He won 21.6 percent of the vote in the first round.

The two Alvarados will now fight for the votes of third place Antonio Alvarez Desanti, who accepted defeat on Sunday evening with 18.8 percent of the vote, and the 10 other candidates from the first round.

No matter who wins, the next president will have to work with other parties in Congress to get legislation passed.

Deadlines loom on budget and immigrationAFP

WASHINGTON: Bitterly divided US lawmakers faced a shrinking window yesterday to reach elusive deals on immigration and federal spending, as President Donald Trump complained he is getting zero cooperation from Democrats.

Trump vowed during his State of the Union address last week to “extend an open hand” to both parties in pur-suing an immigration deal that shields 1.8 million undocumented migrants from deportation — in exchange for curbs on legal immigration.

But his proposal has been savaged by Democrats, and Trump’s “open hand” was soon wagging an accusatory finger at an opposition he accuses of refusing to help replace the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) before a March deadline.

“Any deal on DACA that does not

include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time,” Trump tweeted Monday, referring to his long-sought wall on the US border with Mexico. “March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!”

Congress has also been haggling over spending caps for domestic pro-grams and the military, as lawmakers seek to finalize a budget for the remainder of 2018. Republican leaders

have already acknowledged they will not meet Thursday’s deadline for a spending bill, and will have to pass yet another stopgap measure — with help from Democrats — to avoid a new gov-ernment shutdown. House Speaker Paul Ryan said while both sides were “making progress,” a temporary spending bill was necessary to keep the lights on in Washington.

“We’re still negotiating the contents and the duration of that,” he said.

Lawmakers are smarting from an embarrassing three-day shutdown last month, when Democrats refused to back a spending measure that did not address the situation of the “Dreamers” — hun-dreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the country as children.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo-nnell said this time he did not expect a repeat of the shutdown, for which both camps have traded blame.

“There’s no education in the second

kick of a mule,” the Kentucky lawmaker said. Complicating the legislative schedule, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned Congress that the Treasury has only enough cash to pay its bills through February 28, without hitting the debt limit and using extraor-dinary measures to keep payments flowing.

That is earlier than expected, the Congressional Budget Office said, because last year’s $1.5 trillion tax cut is resulting in less federal revenue.

The crammed to-do list is further jeopardized by the partisan feuding grip-ping Washington over an explosive Republican memorandum that Trump declassified on Friday.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes argues in the document that the FBI engaged in abuse of power by relying on unsubstantiated evidence to authorize surveillance of a Trump campaign aide. In a strongly

worded letter to the president, top Dem-ocrats including congressman Adam Schiff warned of “a constitutional crisis” should he use the memo as a pretext to fire the special prosecutor heading an investiga-tion into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

Trump fired back on Twitter: “Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,” he said. “Must be stopped!”

Against this toxic backdrop, law-makers are bracing for a heavyweight brawl on immigration. Last September, Trump decided to end DACA, meaning that its beneficiaries, the “Dreamers,” could face deportation if Congress fails to act. Last week he unveiled a proposal that put Democrats in a bind. It would place 1.8 million immigrants, including some 700,000 Dreamers, on a pathway to citizenship — a top priority for the opposition.

Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral gestures during the arrival of the ‘March for Dignity’, a march from the border city of Ciudad Juarez to Mexico City to demand the federal government to detain and extradite former governor Cesar Duarte who is accused of corruption, in Mexico City, Mexico, yesterday.

Fabricio Alvarado, presidential candidate of the National Restoration party (left) and Carlos Alvarado of Citizen Action Party speak to supporters in San Jose, Costa Rica, yesterday.

Republican leaders have already acknowledged they will not meet Thursday’s deadline for a spending bill, and will have to pass yet another stopgap measure — with help from Democrats — to avoid a new government shutdown.

US mulling sanctions on Venezuela oil: TillersonAFP

BUENOS AIRES: The United States said yesterday it has not ruled out sanctions on Venezuelan oil as it turns the screw on Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro, but is wary of hurting the country’s people.

Secretary of State Rex Till-erson is in Argentina during a tour of Latin America to bolster a common front against Vene-zuela’s bid to hold a presiden-tial election that opponents deem illegitimate.

The top US diplomat has received support from other governments in the Americas, including on Sunday from his Argentine counterpart Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, but some are cautious about sanctions.

At a joint news conference, Tillerson — a former chief of oil giant ExxonMobil — confirmed the ultimate option of sanc-tioning Venezuela’s key oil sector is under consideration, but that Washington shares its allies’ concerns.

Oil-rich and once one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, Venezuela under Maduro faces economic col-lapse and widespread popular protest. The US, Canada and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions targeting Maduro loyalists seen as prof-iteers or human rights abusers.

Tillerson did not push back against the suggestion that sanctions on oil might also hurt US companies that have built refineries in the southern United States geared to accept

Venezuelan crude. “Obviously sanctioning oil

or prohibiting the oil to be sold in the United States ... is some-thing we continue to consider,” Tillerson said, while acknowl-edging Faurie’s concerns.

“As the foreign minister indicated, our disagreements are with the Venezuelan regime not with the people, the Vene-zuelan people are suffering mightily in the current circumstances.”

Tillerson said oil sanctions could be deployed if it is decided that this would bring the crisis to a more rapid end “because not doing anything to bring this to an end is also asking the Venezuelan people to suffer for a much longer time.”

But he added that Wash-ington was also looking at how to “mitigate the impact on US business interests.” Faurie agreed with Tillerson that Maduro’s attempt to call an election on terms set by Venezuela’s non-elected Constituent Assembly was illegitimate and would be rejected by Argentina.

“As for the sales of oil and trade in oil that exist, that is par-ticularly important, we should closely follow up on this to ensure appropriate balance between what the Venezuelan nation needs and what is being used by the leaders of the Venezuelan govern-ment,” he said. Maduro shot back, in a video on Facebook, saying that Tillerson “has just threatened us with an oil boycott. Well, we are ready. Nothing and nobody is going to stop us.”

US Supreme Court allows revamp of Pennsylvania electoral mapREUTERS

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court yesterday refused to block a lower court ruling requiring Republican-drawn congressional districts in Pennsylvania to be reworked immediately, boosting Demo-cratic hopes of winning control this year of the US House of Representatives.

Justice Samuel Alito denied an emergency application filed

by Republicans to stop the imme-diate reworking of the electoral district boundaries, preserving a ruling by the state’s top court that they had unlawfully sought par-tisan advantage over the Demo-crats in drawing the maps.

The January 22 Pennsyl-vania Supreme Court ruling gives Republican legislators until this Friday to submit a revised map to Democratic Gov-ernor Tom Wolf, who would have until Feb. 15 to sign off on

the changes. If those deadlines pass without an agreement, the state court said it would rewrite the map itself.

Democrats, who hold only five of Pennsylvania’s 18 con-gressional districts despite its status as a closely divided elec-toral swing state, must capture at least two dozen seats cur-rently held by Republicans in the November 6 congressional mid-term elections to wrest control of the US House.

US sanctions 4 involved in Congo violenceWASHINGTON: The United States sanctioned a senior general in the Democratic Republic of Congo armed forces and three rebel leaders on Monday, days after the U.N. Security Council black-listed them for being a threat to the peace and stability of the country. Those sanctioned included Brigadier General Muhindo Akili Mundos of the DRC armed forces and Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga, Guidon Shimiray Mwissa and Lucien Nzabam-wita of three rebel factions.

Mulroney’s daughter seeks conservative leadershipMONTREAL: Caroline Mulroney, daughter of Cana-da’s former conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, announced she will run for leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario ahead of the upcoming provincial election.

Mulroney’s entry into politics could spell the emer-gence of a new political dynasty in the country -- with current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Mulroney, a 43-year-old lawyer with no experience in politics, con-firmed her decision on Twitter Sunday night.

14 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

Holiday Villa Hotel & Residence honouredDOHA: Holiday Villa Hotel & Residence received the coveted “Outstanding Partnership Award” from Destinations of the World recently.

The recognition is exclu-sively given to top producing hotels for 2017 based on total number of room bookings in Qatar through Destinations of the World.

In line with the continuous

success in room stays, the out-standing quality of hospitality provided by the hotel staff, food and beverage services and exceptional facilities offered by Holiday Villa Doha were high-lighted during the awarding ceremony.

General Manager, Joey Chen, said, “We know that running a hotel is a rewarding challenge and to receive an award that shows

our commitment in providing excellent service to our guests is a delightful experience.”

Appreciating the efforts given by the Holiday Villa Doha management and staff, Chen fur-

ther said:“The undeniable hard work

and dedication of the team are what drove us in achieving this award and the collaboration that all the departments exuded is what the management is truly proud of.”

Holiday Villa Hotel & Resi-dence Doha offers 356 lavishly designed hotel rooms and 396 fully furnished serviced apartments.

For reservation and inquiries, please call + 974 4408 4888 or send mail at info@hol-idayvilladoha.com. or visit www.holidayvilladoha.com.

The recognition is exclusively given to top producing hotels for 2017 based on total number of room bookings in Qatar through Destinations of the World.

PAQ announces new executive teamDOHA: The Pakistan Associa-tion Qatar (PAQ), a literary, social and educational organi-zation of poets, intellectual and different professionals estab-lished in 2017, has announced their new executive team for the year 2018.

The new committee was announced during dinner hosted by PAQ Chief Patron, Tajjammul Cheema, at Golden Ocean hotel Doha.

Cheema and PAQ Chairman Syed Faheem Uddin welcomed the Chief Guest, Irfan Taj, Defense Attaché of Pakistan Embassy Qatar and other guests.

The new committee mem-bers are: Syed Faheem Uddin, Chairman; Shahid Rafiq Naz, Vice-Chairman; Ijaz Haider, President; Tahir Jamil, Senior Vice-President for Health and Media; Atiq Al Rasheed, Senior Vice-President for Social and Cultura; Rafaqat Hussain, Senior Vice-Presi-dent for Sports; Javed Iqbal Abid, Vice-President; Usama Mohammad, General-Secre-tary; Murad Ali Shahid, Joint Secretary; Shaukat Ali Naz, Advisor and the Patron Com-mittee members are Rana Ayub, Tariq Yasin and Mush-araf Kamal.

Doha Toastmasters Club holds annual speech contestDOHA: Doha Toastmasters Club conducted its annual speech contest over two meetings comprising four contests – International, Humorous, Table Topic and Evaluation speeches.

Toastmasters Anil Nair, Deepak Shivankar, Nisamudheen SA, Chan-drashekhar Dudhe, Sudhanva Vijay and Shamsu Ameer Kunju emerged as win-ners of the four categories.

The meetings drew a full house of avid listeners and toastmasters who returned home enriched with quality speeches.

Doha Toastmasters Club com-menced their International Speech and

Table Topic Contest under the seasoned eye of Chief Judge Manzoor Moideen.

The baton was passed to the shoul-ders of Chief Judge Satish Tonse for Evaluation Speech Contest followed by Chief Judge Girish Jain for the Humorous Speech Contest.

The trio was supported by the Vice-President for Education and Contest Manager, Niloufer Samal.

International Speech Contest saw a series of quality speeches with powerful take homes for the audience.

Table Topic Contest lived up to its expected fireworks with each partici-pant giving a personalised spin to the

topic. Evaluation speech Contest saw the contestants balance incisive recom-mendations with motivating words. Humorous Speech Contest caused a reverberation of laughter to echo across the halls of meeting building.

Contest Chairs Girish Jain, Jaya-kumar Menon, Vaishali Mehra and Abdul Nassar flourished in their roles bringing theirunique style and experience to the role.

The smooth and efficient contests were due to the untiring efforts of the support team.

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTERCROSSWORD NOVO Pearl Qatar

MALL

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

THE DEATH OF STALIN

LANDMARK

ROXY

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

Den of Thieves (2D/Action) 10:30, 11:30am, 12:30, 1:00, 2:00, 3:15, 3:30, 4:30, 6:00, 7:00 8:30, 8:45, 9:30, 11:00, 11:30pm & 12:00midnightMaze Runner: The Death Curve (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:45, 3:30, 6:15, 9:00pm & 11:45pm All The Money In The World (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pm Throne of Elves (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pm Phantom Thread (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 2:45, 7:30pm & 12:15amThe Post (2D/Biography) 12:30, 5:15 & 10:00pmJumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 10:15am, 2:45, 7:15&11:45pm The Commuter (2D/Action) 12:30, 5:00 & 9:30pm Proud Mary (2D/Action) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pmDay of The Dead: Bloodline (2D/Horror) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight Cops And Robbers (2D/Action) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm Memory Card (Arabic) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2D IMAX/Action) 10:15am, 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15pm & 12:00midnight

Throne of Elves (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 6:00pm Carbon (2D/Malayalam) 2:30pm Touch Desi Chudu (Telugu) 2:15pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 4:00pm Oru Nalla Naal Parthu (Tamil) 4:45pmProud Mary (2D/Action) 5:15 & 10:00pm Showdown In Manila (2D/Action) 7:00 & 10:15pmChalo (Telugu) 7:30pm Queen (2D/Malayalam) 11:30pm Den of Thieves (2D/Action) 7:45 & 11:30pm Cops And Robbers (2D/Action) 8:45 & 11:45pmDay of The Dead: Bloodline (2D/Horror) 10:00pm

ROYAL PLAZA

Carbon (2D/Malayalam) 2:15pm Memory Card (2D/Arabic) 6:30pm Throne of Elves (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 4:00pm Yemali (Tamil) 2:30pm Touch Desi Chudu (Telugu) 5:00pm Cops And Robbers (2D/Action) 2:45 & 10:00pmShowdown In Manila (2D/Action) 4:45 & 9:15pmJumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 5:45pmThe Death of Stalin (2D/Comedy) 7:30pmDen of Thieves (Action) 7:30 & 11:30pm Proud Mary (2D/Action) 8:15 & 9:45pm Queen (2D/Malayalam) 11:00pm Oru Nalla Naal Parthu (Tamil) 11:30pm

Queen (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 6:30pmOru Nalla Naal Parthu 2:00pm Carbon (2D/Malayalam) 2:30pm Throne of Elves (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 5:00pmShowdown In Manila (2D/Action) 4:45 & 11:45pmMemory Card (2D/Arabic) 5:00pm Phantom Thread 9:15pmProud Mary (2D/Action) 6:30 & 10:00pm Den of Thieves (2D/Action) 7:00 & 11:00pm Cops And Robbers (2D/Action) 5:00 & 8:15pmThe Death of Stalin (2D/Comedy) 9:15pm Yemali 11:30pm

Queen (Malayalam) 7:00, 10:00 & 10:45pm Touch Desi Chudu (Telugu) 5:30pm Street Light (Malayalam) 8:15pmCarbon (Malayalam) 6:00, 8:45 & 11:30pmOru Nalla Naal (Tamil) 6:00pm Yemali (Tamil) 8:45pm

Proud Mary 12:15, 5:00 & 9:45pm Queen (Malayalam) 2:45 & 8:45pmCarbon (Malayalam) 11:45am, 5:45 & 11:45pm Throne of Elves (2D/Animation) 11:00am & 01:00pm Den of Thieves (Action) 2:15, 7:00 & 11:45pm Touch Desi Chudu (Telugu) 3:00 & 8:30pm Chalo (Telugu) 5:45 & 11:15pm

Throne of Elves (Animation) 10:30am, 12:45, 3:00 & 5:15pm Den of Thieves (Action) 1:20, 4:10, 7:00 & 9:50pm

Maze Runner (Action) 7:30 & 10:00pm Touch Desi Chudu (Telugu) 6:40 & 10:30pm Queen (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 1:30, 4:30 & 7:30pm

Oru Nalla Naal Parthu 10:30am, 1:10, 3:50, 9:30pm & 12:10am

Follows the Soviet dictator’s last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death.

15TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

16 TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

04.57am

06.15 am

ZUHRASR

11.48 am

02.58 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.23pm

06.53pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 08:45 – 22:15 LOW TIDE 02:00 – 16:00

Hazy to misty / foggy at places at first

becomes moderate temperature daytime

with scattered clouds, cold by night.

WEATHER TODAY

COURTESY: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 14oC 24oC

MoTC inks MoU with Vodafone to ensure cyber safety THE PENINSULA

DOHA: To mark this year’s Safer Internet Day (SID) celebrations today (February 6), the Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions (MoTC) yesterday signed an MoU with Vodafone as partner on cyber safety initia-tives.

The 2018 SID theme, “Create, connect and share respect: A better Internet starts with you” is a call to action for every stakeholder to play their part in creating a better Internet for everyone, in particular the youngest users.

The State of Qatar joins world countries in marking the SID. The Ministry is mandated to address cyber safety for all communities in Qatar: “increase awareness, propagating a cul-ture of safe use of the Internet amongst society members and providing the knowledge and analytical skills necessary for the safe and optimum use of dig-i t a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s technology.”

MoTC also yesterday signed an MOU with Vodafone as partner on cyber safety initia-tives. Vodafone has already

delivered creative and engaging workshops in 10 schools cov-ering almost 1000 students and will continue to collaborate with MOTC on a number of other cyber safety initiatives to ensure continuous and effective aware-ness and education reaching more and more people.

Vodafone is committed to doubling the efforts in schools this year and participating in joint initiatives with the Ministry to reach a wider school commu-nity including parents who play a vital role in ensuring the online safety of their children.

“We launched AmanTECH, Vodafone’s online safety pro-gramme, in 2014 which has equipped thousands of children, parents and teachers with the right tools to navigate the dig-ital world safely. We are com-mitted to ensuring that this pro-gramme is a long-term initiative that will provide people in Qatar with everything they need to know and do for their children in today’s ever-expanding dig-ital world. We are proud that the MOTC has chosen Vodafone as their partner on cyber safety ini-tiatives, and look forward to working closely with the

Ministry to reach even more people,” said Mohammed Al Yami, Director of External Affairs, Vodafone Qatar.

The Ministry is running a number of programs in this regard including Haseen, SafeSpace, Ammen Taslam (#Secure4Safety), Ethical Responsibility in a Digital World, SID, and the Digital Literacy Curriculum carried out in col-laboration with the Ministry of Education & Higher Education. To support these programs, MoCT has signed an MoU with Vodafone Qatar.

Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society Development Sector at MOTC said in a statement:

“We are committed to ensuring that while we build a smart Qatar, we will also build a safe and smart society. Our lives have become a constant transition between the real and online world, and as a proud nation of believers of justice, freedom, benevolence, equality and high morals, we must ensure that our online personas are representative of who we are and the values we believe in offline.”

QCDC camp instills basics of strong career culture in youth FAZEENA SALEEM

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The fourth edition of the Winter Career Camp which is held as part of Qatar Career Development Center’s (QCDC) activities to instill the basics of a strong career culture among youth, concluded recently.

During the closing ceremony of the camp held at the Education City Student Center, participating students were awarded certificates.

QCDC, a member of Qatar Foun-dation during the week-long camp provided several workshops, lectures and field visits to encourage students choose a suitable career path.

Abdulla Al Mansoori, Director, QCDC, said, “Our Winter Career Camp is designed with a very simple, yet effective, approach: young participants are given the opportunity to reflect and learn about their abilities, skills, and professional preferences in a simple, enjoyable, and uncomplicated way, with the aim of choosing the career that best suits their talents.”

Speaking to The Peninsula, Al Masoori highlighted that several more similar camps will continue to be held in 2018. “We will continue to hold camps with the vision to help youth increase their skills and competencies which will enable them to optimise their future career,” he said.

On the closing day of the fourth winter camp, also held a workshop on “The Role of Parents in Guiding their Children’s Career Paths.” How par-ents influence their children’s decision-making and the importance of intro-ducing the concepts of career guidance to families, was highlighted during the workshop.

It also examined the Career Deci-sion-Making Paradigm, which is a practical tool and a mental probing exercise that aims to assist individuals, particularly young people, in identi-fying suitable academic and career paths.

During the camp, students also participated in various educational career activities, programs, and inter-active training workshops to increase

their awareness about the importance of academic and professional planning for their future.

The activities and workshops were designed to provide students with a range of useful practical skills, enhance their self-confidence, and instill entre-preneurship, perseverance, and teamwork.

The fourth winter camp also gave participants the opportunity to visit varies institutions involved the fields of tourism, transportation, culture and media.

During the visits they gained first-hand knowledge about the nature of the professions available in these insti-tutions and a realistic understanding of professional life.

The participants visited the QF Headquarters and were introduced to the Qatar National Library, Education City, and QF’s partner universities. They visited the Katara as well and learned about several entities within the premises, including the North-western University in Qatar’s studio. Students also visited the Qatar Tourism Authority, Qatar Railways Company and Qatar Airways.

Further, the camp included an introductory session about universi-ties including the Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar University, Commu-nity College of Qatar, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Weill Cornell Med-icine-Qatar, Stenden University Qatar, among others.

Participants of QCDC Winter Career Camp 2018 during a visit to Education City.

DIMDEX 2018: 60 countries to participateSIDI MOHAMED

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: More than 60 coun-tries will participate in the sixth edition of the Doha Inter-national Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2018) that will take place from March 12 to 14 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

The exhibition is held under the patronage of Emir

H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

In a press conference held yesterday at SHARQ Village and Spa, the organising com-mittee said that more than 30 countries would exhibit their latest maritime defence tech-nology in the exhibition and many new countries would be participating in the exhibition for the first time.

More than 80 official del-egations are participating and visiting the sixth edition which means a huge growth in the number of attending official VIP delegations, exhibitors and visitors.

DIMDEX is being held this year in special circumstances and it offers a vital arena for key decision makers, official government influencers and companies to gather under one roof.

The value of deals signed

in the previous editions of DIMDEX was $31.95bn. The total number of visitors over years since 2008 is 49,254 and 70 participating visiting warships.

Major General Abdullah bin Hassan Al Sulaiti, Com-mander of the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces welcomed attendees at the briefing and wished them a successful par-ticipation in the sixth edition; “I look forward to meeting the VIP delegations and discussing the latest topics related to mar-itime security and defence.”

Staff Brigadier (Sea) Abdul-baqi S. Al-Ansari, Chairman of DIMDEX, presented an over-view of the progress DIMDEX has witnessed over the past decade and introduced attendees to the various aspects and attractions of the show.

Staff Brigadier (Sea) Al-Ansari said that: “This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the MENA region’s leading international maritime defence exhibition and conference, as it continues to attract exhibi-tors and visitors from all over the globe.

“DIMDEX has become an established and highly-antic-ipated global event and the organising committee is putting the finishing touches on the preparations to present another successful edition.”

Al Ansari added: “We are proud of the Qatar Armed Forces for organising a world-class programme that prom-ises to be much more than a defence exhibition. The four key elements of DIMDEX 2018 will provide attendees with a wealth of opportunities to grow and establish new part-nerships with leading busi-nesses and key procurement decision makers.”

Qatar Armed Forces Head of International Cooperation Department and Director of MENC, Staff Brigadier (Sea) Tariq Khalid Al-Obaidly, announced this year’s MENC theme; “Building Capabilities

in Challenging Environments through Visionary Interna-tional Military Cooperation and Defence Engagement.”

The team reinforced that the conference is designed to promote international military collaboration and exchange, to accomplish global peace and security, alongside the protection of shores, borders and assets. As one of the four key elements of DIMDEX 2018, MENC gathers leading defence experts to discuss strategic topics that affect security in the region and beyond, through a united vision.

DIMDEX 2018 marks the exhibition’s 10th anniversary,

offering participants “A World-Class Platform for Technology, Maritime & D e f e n c e I n d u s t r y Capabilities.”

Since its inception, DIMDEX has witnessed con-tinuous growth to become a leading event in the interna-tional maritime defence and security industry calendar. DIMDEX is much more than just an exhibition; the three-day event also features the international strategic Middle East Naval Commanders Con-ference (MENC), Visiting War-ship Display from interna-tional naval forces, and elite VIP delegation visits.

FROM LEFT: Tom Sawyer, MENC Producer; Brigadier General Sea Tariq Khalid Al Obaidli, Head of the International Military Cooperation Authority; Staff Brigadier Sea Abdulbaqi Saleh Al Ansari, DIMDEX Chairman; Captain Sea Abdulla Rashid Al Nuaimi, VIP Delegation and Protocol Director and Captain Sea Hamad Rashid Al Marri, Warship Logistics Director during the Diplomat Briefing of DIMDEX 2018 sixth edition at SHARQ Village and Spa yesterday.PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Various MoTC Digital Society ProgrammesAMMEN TASLEM: Ammen Taslem is a cyber safety social media campaign started by Ministry in 2016 with an objective of increasing the digital literacy of Qatari communities. The program focuses on developing the awareness messages using various mechanisms such as videos, GIFs, infographics, arti-cles and trigger discussions through social media influencers and publishing them on social media channels as facebook, twitter and instagram.

ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY IN A DIGITAL WORLD:The ‘Guide to Ethical Responsibility in the Digital World’ has been developed by the Ministry to encourage a change in online behavior so that it is aligned with one’s responsibility to behave in a responsible and ethical manner. It encourages the application of the same self-discipline used to conduct every day offline social interactions i.e. ‘if you don’t do this offline, then why do it online?’.

SAFESPACE: SafeSpace.qa is a website that was launched by MOTC to help parents and teachers keep children safe online. This website is filled with valuable information and resources on cyber safety and provides educational games and tips, along with up-to-date information to help parents and teachers protect kids from cyber-bullying and other dangers.

Safespace also integrates two other unique pro-grams- ‘Digital Literacy Curriculum’ and ‘Haseen’.

DIGITAL LITERACY CURRICULUM:MOTC in part-nership with the Ministry of Education and Higher

Education has launched the Digital Literacy Curric-ulum aimed at training master trainers in Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The program consists of 16 courses that deliver a series of lectures, workshops and quizzes using a web browser to be conveniently accessed via safespace.qa.

HASEEN:IN February 2015, MOTC launched a cyber safety learning program ‘Haseen’ in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Educa-tion (MEHE). The program which is accessible to teachers via www.safespace.qa aims to raise aware-ness and promote an informed and healthy cyber safety culture by integrating learing moments into every day classes.

Haseen consists of 300 learning activities (in English and Arabic) with over 100 learning resources (videos, quizzes, animations etc.), linked to the school curriculum that educates students on the safe and responsible use of ICT.

CYBER SAFETY WORKSHOPS: As a goal for increasing awareness through various channels, the Ministry has appointed a team of dedicated resources for face to face interactions with school communities i.e. students, parents and teachers.

The team is working closely with the schools and delivering workshops for students and teachers at school premises. These workshops have been taken up very seriously by the schools and there are exciting responses from students and teachers on the benefits this program brings to the students.