Qatar, Somalia to strengthen ties · 2018. 5. 15. · PSG hire Tuchel as new coach ... Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, ... Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh

BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 28French giants PSG hire Tuchel as new coach

Total value of private investments

reaches QR26bn

Volume 23 | Number 7527 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 15 May 2018 | 29 Sha’baan I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

Included withtoday’s edition is a

special supplement

Qatar, Somalia to strengthen ties

QNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, discussed supporting and enhancing aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries as well as developments on the Somali front, in addition to regional and international issues of common concern.

At the outset of the session of talks held yesterday at the Amiri Diwan, H H the Amir wel-comed the Somali president, stressing that the meeting will help in boosting the existing ties between the two countries in all fields and that the State of Qatar will continue to support Somalia as well as efforts of the President to overcome the different chal-lenges and difficulties that he faces, wishing security and sta-bility for his country.

The Somali President expressed his thanks and appre-ciation to H H the Amir for the State of Qatar’s support to Somalia as well as its efforts and backing for the fraternal Somali people and providing relief and development aid on a regular basis, especially in the fields of health, education and infra-structure. He also praised Qatar’s positive stance towards Somalia

in the international forums.During the session, H H the

Amir and the Somali President reviewed bilateral cooperation and means of boosting it in the different fields, in addition to the political, security and economic developments in Somalia and efforts of both countries in com-bating terrorism and extremism

so as to enhance the unity and stability of Somalia.

After the meeting with Pres-ident Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, H H the Amir tweeted: (Our relationship with the brotherly Republic of Somalia is a relationship of brotherhood and mutual respect. My discus-sions with my brother President

Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo reaffirmed these meanings and focused on ways to enhance joint cooperation between our two countries. Qatar will continue to support Somalia’s unity, stability, sovereignty and the well-being of its people).

→CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with the President of he Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.

Ooredoo first inworld to launch 5G network

DOHA: Qatar became the first country in the world to witness the launch 5G services as Ooredoo yesterday announced to roll out a live 5G network on the 3.5GHz spectrum band.

The introduction of 5G services will significantly increase Internet speed in the country as 5G network will offer a speed of up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) compared to the currently available speed of up to 256 Megabits per second (Mbps).

The launch shows that Qatar’s technological progress remains unaffected despite unjust siege imposed by block-ading countries.

“Today, Ooredoo and Qatar make history. We are the first company in the world to offer access to 5G technology and services, and the people of Qatar are the first to have access to the incredible benefits this technological upgrade will bring,” said Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, speaking at the launch event held at the Ooredoo Tower in West Bay.

“We dedicate this important milestone to the people of Qatar and to our beloved leaders, who have encouraged this step in building the knowledge-based economy of Qatar,” he said.

For commercial institution the 5G service is ready, but for consumers looking to use this service in mobiles will have to wait a little longer as mobile handsets compatible to this service are not available any where in the world. Mobile handset manufacturers are expected to launch 5G com-patible handsets by June 2019.

The first stage of Ooredoo’s 5G Supernet deployment will cover an area from The Pearl-Qatar to Hamad International Airport, with Lagoona, Katara Cultural Village, West Bay, the Corniche and Souq Waqif also included in the initial com-mercial launch coverage area.

Access to the Ooredoo 5G Supernet will require a 5G com-patible device from Ooredoo. The company announced that it is just the beginning of the Ooredoo 5G network, which will continue to be expanded over the coming months to cover more areas.


SACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, along with Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and other officials, touring the health centers after inaugurating the Muaither and Al Wajba Health and Wellness Centers yesterday. →SEE ALSO PAGE 7

Qatar deplores Israeli occupation’s brutal massacre of PalestiniansTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The State of Qatar has expressed in the strongest terms its condemnation and denunciation of the brutal massacre and systematic killing committed by the Israeli occupation forces against unarmed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children and women, during their peaceful and legitimate protest against the unilateral decision of the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which contradicts all relevant UN resolutions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Min-ister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tweeted yesterday, “What we are seeing today is the massacre com-mitted against the brotherly Palestinian people and the inability of the inter-national community to stop the killing which reflects the failure of collective security systems to protect civilians.”

In a statement to QNA yesterday, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lolwah Al Khater, said that the State of Qatar calls on all international and regional powers that have a voice in Israel to act immediately to stop the brutal killing machine, and calls upon the Security Council and international community to shoulder their responsibilities.

Meanwhile, according to reports from Gaza, Israeli occupying forces shot and killed 52 Palestinians yes-terday during massive protests at the Gaza border and injured more than 2400 others, according to the Min-istry of Health, QNA reported.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered at the Gaza border since the morning heeding calls for mass rallies to protest the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and to mark the 70th anni-versary for the Palestinian Nakba.

→SEE ALSO PAGE 12

Amir receives message from Amir of KuwaitQNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a written message from the Amir of Kuwait, H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, pertaining to the strong brotherly relations between the two coun-tries and the latest developments on the regional and international arenas.

Envoy of H H the Amir of Kuwait, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah handed over the message when H H the Amir met him and the accom-panying delegation at the Amiri Diwan office yesterday.

The Kuwaiti Prime Min-ister conveyed to H H the Amir the greetings of H H the Amir of Kuwait and his wishes of further progress and pros-perity to the people of Qatar.

HH the Amir entrusted the Kuwaiti Prime Minister with his greetings to H H the Amir of Kuwait, and his wishes of further development and growth to the brotherly people of Kuwait.

1,543km of road works planned in five yearsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has planned to complete 1,543km of road works, 2,000km of footpaths and 1,028km of bicycle tracks during the next five years 2018-22.

“The department of mainte-nance of roads’ safety has already completed 36 projects including 371 bicycle tracks from 2014 to 2017,” said Eng. Yousef Al Emadi, Director of the Highways

Department at the Ashghal. He was speaking at the sixth Forum of the Stakeholder Coordinators of the National Road Safety Strategy at the Intercontinental Doha the City Hotel yesterday.

“Ashghal will implement during the five-year plan 2018-2022 a total of 25 implemen-tation plans for road safety assessment and follow-up, including safety of work sites, traffic congestion management, intelligent transportation system

and road safety which includes an emergency team to respond to the urgent maintenance and study of guidance boards and ensure the safety of pedestrians and management of traffic con-gestion during the hosting of the World Cup 2022,” said Al Emadi.

Speaking at the event Dr. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health and member of the National Traffic Safety

Committee said that despite the rapid population growth in Qatar, emergency services and emer-gency medical response have wit-nessed a major development.

The Forum was organised by the National Traffic Safety Com-mittee within the framework of the second phase of the imple-mentation of the implemen-tation of the National Strategy for Traffic Safety (2018-2022).

→CONTINUE ON PAGE 6

Companies urged to reduce working hoursTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) has called on companies and establish-ments to reduce working hours to six hours per day during the holy month of Ramadan, following the provisions of the Labor Law.


PM opens Muaither, Al Wajba Health and Wellness Centers

Amir and President of Somalia discuss bilateral relations

PAGE | 4-5

State-of-the art surgical therapy for Cardio- Vascular diseases at Al-Ahli Hospital

Public HealthPHCC

advices on healthy fasting

SPONSORS

MAIN SPONSOR

02 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018HOME

03TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018 HOME


Amir gives directive to send aid to KenyaDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani directed that aid be sent to those affected by the flood caused by a dam collapse in Nakuru, west of the Republic of Kenya.

The standing committee on rescue, relief and human-itarian aid in affected areas in fraternal and friendly states, which is led by Lekhwiya, took charge of providing the relief aid.

A Qatari aid plane bound for Nairobi airport in the Republic of Kenya carried a team from Lekhwiya’s Qatari International Search and Rescue team along with 31 tons of foodstuff, medical

equipment and tents, with coordination carried out with relevant authorities in Kenya to deliver them to those affected. The flood caused by the dam collapse in Nakuru

left behind at least 47 people killed, 450 homes destructed in the surrounding areas, more than 2,500 people injured and more than 2,000 others displaced.

An aid plane bound for Nairobi.

Amir, Somalia President discuss boosting bilateral ties

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, discussed supporting and enhancing aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two countries as well as developments on the Somali front, in addition to regional and international issues of common concern. After the talks, H H the Amir and the Somali President witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the health sector between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Companies urged to reduce working hoursCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Employees were asked to lodge complaints against their companies in case of the vio-lations of the provisions of law through various communi-cation channels of the Min-istry including hotline service, E-mail, or the ministry’s accounts on social media.

The ministry urged all employees and workers not to hesitate to give any infor-mation when there is prej-udice to their rights, which will be considered seriously and confidentiality.

Qatar, Somalia to strengthen tiesCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

After the talks, H H the Amir and the Somali President witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the health sector between the gov-ernments of the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Somalia.

A number of Their Excellencies Ministers attended the session and the signing ceremony.

M e m b e r s o f t h e

official delegation accompanying the President attended from the Somali side. The Somali President had arrived earlier at the Amiri Diwan, where an official reception ceremony was held for him.

H H the Amir hosted a luncheon banquet at the Amiri Diwan in honor of President of Somalia and the delegation accompanying him.

A number of Their Excellencies Ministers attended the luncheon banquet.

Ooredoo launches 5G network

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Ooredoo plans to install 100 5G stations to cover

nearly 85 percent of Qatar’s population within three months before the coverage expands to include the whole country with up to 1,200 stations.

“Ooredoo has been a leader in 5G service deployment since 2016. We have invested in the testing and installation of our 5G network so that we can confidently open its benefits fully to our people and the world. The 5G Supernet will be the infra-structural backbone of Qatar as our nation pushes to offer the latest smart applications in-line with Qatar National Vision 2030,” said Al Sayed.

“This network will provide the necessary foun-dation to introduce a wave of new innovations, including driverless cars and smart roads, virtual and augmented reality, a national fleet of service drones, and much more,” added Al Sayed.

The Ooredoo 5G service offers the latest network technology (5G NR) meaning much higher speeds, capacity, and better latency, than existing cellular systems. The new network will bring advantages over the previous generations of cellular technology and will enable business and consumer customers to unlock more of their potential and explore opportu-nities that were simply not possible before 5G.

In becoming the first company in the world to deploy commercial 5G, Ooredoo has built upon an impressive number of earlier milestones, including the first-in-the-region trials of 5G on Qatar National Day in 2016, the completion of 10 5G-ready base sta-tions in May 2017, and the launch of the 5G Business services trial in partnership with Qatar Airways in November 2017.


PM discusses bilateral relations with Sudan’s Minister

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani met the Sudan’s Minister of Transport, Roads and Bridges, Eng. Makkawi Mohamed Awad, and his accompanying delegation. They reviewed cooperation relations between the two countries and ways of developing them in various fields.

Seminar on integrating siege into curricula heldDOHA: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education organised a seminar on the integration of the unjust siege on Qatar into the educational curricula, in which a number of specialists, educators and academics from some relevant state authorities took part.

Participants agreed on the importance of the subject and to include topics about the siege in curricula as a significant historical event.

They also pointed to other beneficial aspects of the unjust siege such as disseminating media awareness and refining the skills of students, and made a number of recommendations in this regard. Rima Abu Khadija, director of the cur-ricula and learning sources department at the Ministry, said the department will work on an urgent plan to include the recommendations in the curriculum for the 2018-19 academic year, whether in learning sources or through curricula-based student activities.

Awqaf calls for sighting Ramadan crescent todayDOHA: The Crescent Sighting Committee at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has called upon all Muslims living in the State of Qatar to sight the crescent of Ramadan today evening, Shaaban 29, 1439 AH, corresponding to May 15, 2018. The Committee said whoever witnesses the crescent should head to the headquarters of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Dafna (Towers) area to report his testimony. The Committee will meet immediately after the Maghrib (sunset) prayer.

Amir receives written message from Amir of Kuwait

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday received a written message from the Amir of Kuwait, H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, pertaining to the strong brotherly relations between the two countries and the latest developments on the regional and international arenas. The envoy of H H the Amir of Kuwait, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, handed over the message when the Amir met him and the accompanying delegation at the Amiri Diwan.

Draft law on protection of Arabic & proposal on retired citizens discussedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Advisory Council held its regular weekly session under the chairmanship of its Speaker H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud yesterday.

The Council started its session by discussing a draft law on the protection of the Arabic language.

Under the draft law, all gov-ernmental and non-govern-mental bodies are committed to protecting and supporting the Arabic language in all their activ-ities and events and that minis-tries, government entities, public bodies and institutions, private associations and institutions, private institutions of public benefit and those whose budgets are financed by the State are committed to using Arabic in their meetings, discussions, deci-sions, regulations, instructions, documents, contracts, corre-spondence, labels, programs, publications, visual, audiovisual and readable ads and other transactions.

The draft law stipulates that the legislation of the State shall be drafted in Arabic and may be translated into other languages when the interest so requires.

It also stipulates that com-panies and institutions with com-mercial, financial, industrial,

scientific, recreational or other purposes shall be given Arabic names. International and local companies and institutions whose foreign names or product names have an international trademark may retain the foreign name and be written in Arabic together with the foreign lan-guage. After discussing of the draft law, the Council decided to refer it to the Cultural Affairs and Information Committee for further study and to submit a report thereon to the Council.

The Advisory Council also continued its consideration of its agenda, discussing a proposal presented by the Speaker on the situation of retired citizens, as well as the extent to which those wishing to return to work in the State’s entities to benefit from their experiences and qualifica-tions to serve the country.

The proposal was welcomed by the Council’s members who discussed the positive social effects and benefits to the working environment in the State entities that could be resulted by the implementation of this proposal. At the end of the extended discussion of the pro-posal, the Advisory Council decided to refer it to the Legal and Legislative Affairs Com-mittee to study it and send report thereon to the Council.


Air Italy’s Boeing B737 Max touches down at Milan-Malpensa AirportTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Air Italy marked a first in Italian aviation yesterday with the touchdown of its Boeing B737 Max in new livery at Milan-Malpensa Airport.

Air Italy and Qatar Airways VIP dignitaries received the air-craft at the Boeing Everett Delivery Centre in Seattle before flying it back to Italy and upon arriving in Milan, were greeted by a celebratory water cannon salute.

VIPs on board the flight included Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker; Chairman of Alisarda and AQA Holding, Marco Rigotti; Director of Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) and AQA Holding Board Member, Sultan Allana; and Chairman of Air

Italy, Francesco Violante.They were received by the

Qatari Ambassador to Italy, Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki Al Jehni; the Italian Ambassador to the State of Qatar, Pasquale Salzano; US Consul General to Italy, Elisabeth Martinez; Chairman of Milan-Malpensa Airport, Pietro Modiano; and Chairman of Boeing Italia, Antonio de Palmas.

During a press conference at Milan-Malpensa Airport, the VIP dignitaries discussed the importance of this historical moment, which will set a new era in Italian aviation for the people of Italy and for pas-sengers worldwide.

Qatar Airways, in 2017, had acquired 49 percent of AQA Holding, the new parent company of Air Italy, while the

previous sole shareholder Alisarda kept 51 percent.

Guests and media were also treated to an exciting reveal of the new stylish Air Italy cabin crew uniform.

Akbar Al Baker, said: “It is truly a remarkable moment to be witnessing the launch of a new era in Italian aviation. The touchdown of Air Italy’s first Boeing B737 Max in new livery at Milan marks the beginning of a new travel experience for the people of Italy. Not only are we pleased to be part of this mem-orable moment, but we are delighted to be supporting it by leasing Air Italy with five Airbus A330-200 aircraft this year from the Qatar Airways fleet”.

The new Boeing 737 Max aircraft feature modern and spacious cabins, superior oper-ating economics and a greater fuel efficiency. The aircraft type will feature Business Class seating and will replace Air Italy’s existing Boeing 737NGs.

The inaugural aircraft is the first of nearly 50 new aircraft that will be added to the Air Italy fleet by 2022. This is the first of 20 brand new Boeing B737 Max air-craft that will join the airline over the next three years.

Air Italy will also lease five Airbus A330-200 aircraft this year from Qatar Airways’ fleet, prior to these being further replaced by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Akbar Al Baker (centre), Group Chief Executive, Qatar Airways, and other officials at the press conference.

Qatar and Morocco discuss cooperation in education

Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi, yesterday met with Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Kingdom of Morocco, Saaid Amzazi in Rabat. During the meeting, the two sides discussed aspects of cooperation between the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Morocco and means of boosting them, in addition to enhancing joint cooperation and close relations, especially in the fields of public education and higher education to serve the common interest in accordance with the directives of the leadership in both countries. The meeting was attended by Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Kingdom of Morocco, Abdullah bin Falah Al Dosari.

MoTC finalises strategy on private sector participation in transport industryTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has finalised a consultancy study on the project “Private Sector Participation Strategy for Qatar’s Transport Projects in Qatar.”

The strategy includes an all-inclusive guide that explains the framework and mechanism of the private participation in rail, land, mar-itime and aviation transport projects. As the PSP Strategy is now complete, MoTC has prepared a pilot project on a private sector participation in the public transit sector which will be presented to the private sector later this year.

“The new strategy reflects the wise vision of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for supporting the private sector to make it a fundamental asset for the national economy. This happens by involving it in our nationwide development process, thus achieving Qatar National Vision 2030,” Minister of Transport and

Communications H E Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti commented on the announcement.

“The strategy also translates the considerable attention from Prime Min-ister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, to achieve the vision by enacting the pol-icies, standards, regulation and pro-grams that encourage the private sec-tor’s participation in Qatar’s economic development projects, and remove the obstructions it encounters.”

The Minister said MoTC, “has given

an ideal example of promoting a broader private sector participation in mobility projects, by making it unlimited to project setup only, but extending it to developing real operational activities.”

This helps enrich Qatar’s private sector investment approach and thereby localise expertise and applied tech-nology, he noted. The project on “PSP Strategy for Qatar’s Transport Projects”, which MoTC executes as part of its larger plan that aims to enlarge the private sec-tor’s share in the transportation sector, seeks to encourage and attract private investments and develop an integrated strategy and framework based on shared participation.

MoTC also wants to understand to what extent Qatar’s transportation sector is capable and ready to accom-modate such private investment.

The Ministry will soon hold a workshop to explain the strategy, its framework and plan of action to all bodies concerned and stakeholders.

D-G of Public Security meets Indian envoyDirector-General of Public Security, Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, met with Ambassador of the Republic of India to the State of Qatar P Kumaran. They discussed a number of issues that concern the two friendly countries.

Tajikistan sends message to Qatar

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, yesterday received a written message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan, Sirodjidin Aslov, pertaining to bilateral relations and ways to boost and develop them. The message was handed to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, when he met with the Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to Qatar, Khisrav Sohibzoda.

CCQ celebrates graduation of Class of 2018THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) celebrated the graduation of its Class of 2018 under the patronage of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

This year’s graduation cer-emony, held at the Qatar National Convention Center, featured dis-tinguished guests including gov-ernment officials, members of CCQ’s board of trustees, as well as faculty, family and friends of the graduating students.

Outlining the prominent role of CCQ in promoting and facili-tating innovation, quality edu-cation and academic excellence, Dr Ibrahim Al Naimi, CCQ Pres-ident and Undersecretary of Min-istry of Education and Higher Edu-cation, stated that over the past years, CCQ has evolved into a magnificent educational landmark that represents a qualitative addition to the State of Qatar through significant contributions to building national cadres and skilled personnel in various fields.

“Student enrollment at CCQ grew to around 5000 students, compared to 300 students in 2010. On the other hand, the number of academic programs witnessed another important leap with 15 programs currently offered at

CCQ, including diversified asso-ciate and bachelor’s degrees”, added Dr Al Naimi.

In the graduates’ remarks, they affirmed their commitment to help their country and to defend it. They also extended their

gratitude to Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for their continued support to education in Qatar.

CCQ has reinforced its year-on-year growth by graduating its largest class to date with 880 stu-dents graduated this year, among them the first batch of Associate of Applied Arts in Theatre Arts which comes as a result of the

strategic partnership and cooper-ation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

At the end of the ceremony, the Prime Minister and Interior Minister honoured the distin-guished graduates.

The Community College of Qatar celebrated the graduation of its Class of 2018 under the patronage of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, yesterday.

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

Ashghal to complete 1,543km roads

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Dr Sheikh Mohammed bin

Hamad Al Thani added: “We aim to provide the best services, such as flying ambu-lance and high-quality 24/7 emergency care services and reducing the incidence of dis-abilities due to accidents via Qatar Rehabilitation Center, which is the largest specialized hospital of its kind in the region,” he added.

Brig. Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, Second Vice-President of the National Traffic Safety Committee and Director General of Traffic Department said that the first phase of the implementation of the strategy (2013-2017) achieved remarkable results, which resulted in a decrease in the mortality rate in 2017 to 177. The plan is to reduce the number of deaths due to to 130 annually by 2022.

Rashed Taleb Al Nabit, Assistant Undersecretary for Land Transport Affairs said that the work has started to link between different means of transportation in the country in order to serve users, ease transportation and reduce con-gestion and pressure on road networks. Professor Kim Jraiw, Manager of the National Road Safety Office emphasized the importance of cooperation between government institu-tions, the private sector, civil society organisations and all sectors of the society.


Family health care presented in new way at Muaither centreFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The newly-opened Health and Wellness Centre in Muaither, by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), provides comprehensive health services with a special focus on family medicine.

It has become the first health centre in the Western Region and second in the country to provide family medicine, says Dr Sahar Salem Al Marri, Manager, Muaither Health and Wellness Centre.

“The health centre in Leabaib is the first one to provide family medicine and we are the second. What we do is something unique, family medicine will be pre-sented in a new way at the Muaither Health Centre. A man-agement and follow up model has been adopted, in which every patient will have an assigned

family physician, which assures better understanding and enhances quality services in a long run,” she told The Peninsula.

The Health and Wellness Centre in Muaither has 29 family physicians 29 and each with an assigned nurse.

The centre provides wide spectrum of services including general family medicine clinics which cover the followings; ante-natal care, well women clinics, communicable disease clinics, travel medicine and also non-communicable diseases clinics. Triage services, well-baby clinics, dental services as well as specialised clinics which include ENT, audiology, dermatology, ophthalmology clinics, optome-trist , physiotherapy and dietitian clinics are also provided.

All these services are working together with well- equipped laboratory which can perform wide variety of tests.

Also, the pharmacy provides all medications and vaccinations for the patients. In addition, radi-ology section for different radi-ological imagining.

Additionally, the centre maintains patient medical records, issue and renew health cards, have social workers, provide customer service and medical commission services.

There is also planning underway to operate a healthy life style clinic, provide health coach services, cancer screening, and open a smart clinic and an annual checkup clinic soon at the Centre.

The centre in Muaither is of category C, which means there is a wellness gym, spa area and swimming pool facilities, where the exercise programmes are used to be part of the patient’s management plan.

The centre started operations in April 2018 and residents of

Muaither 55, Abu Sidra, Rawdat Abu Al Hiran, Al Mearad and Al Sailiya are eligible to register with the Health and Wellness Centre in Muaither. It has the total capacity of serving 50,000 people. “The number of patients getting registered is increasing. We have exceeded more than 10,000 by the end of April, which includes both Qatari and non Qatari patients. The Number is expected to double by end of the year, since the surrounding areas

are highly populated,” said Dr Sahar.

She also said that the centre will help to reduce pressure on the nearby health centres.

Referring to the goals of the centre in serving the population Dr Sahar said, “Muaither Health and Wellness Centre is a newly launched facility which will be working parallel to the PHCC’s goal in serving the National Health Strategy and Qatar National Vision 2030. Our aim

is to keep high standards of patient safety and provide a quality service which will meet Accreditation Canada Interna-tional (ACI) standards.”

It is located on the southern side of Muaither, alongside the road to Sailiyah. The 19,700sqm building also has a two-level basement car park would accommodate 376 vehicles at one time. In the centre com-pound, there is shaded parking facility for no less than 100 cars.

The gym at the Muaither Health and Wellness Centre and the Manager of the Centre, Dr. Sahar Salem Al Marri. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Ashghal opens Al Khor Corniche 1st & 2nd zonesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has announced that the first and second zones of Al Khor Corniche Development Project have been opened to public after the completion of the main work.

The third zone, which is the last one, will be opened during the first half of Ramadan. The opening took place in the presence of Nasser Bin Ibrahim Al Muhannadi, Member of the Municipal Council for Al Khor Constituency.

During the opening, Nasser Ibrahim Al Muhannadi praised Ashghal’s efforts to renovate the Corniche and open it to the public in record time. He added that Al Khor Corniche will provide many benefits to the residents of all the sur-rounding areas and will also be a leisure

destination suitable for all people at Qatar.

Hamad Ali Al Muraikhi, Department of Public Services Manager at Al Khor Municipality, said that Al Khor Corniche is an important outlet for all Al Khor res-idents and visitors as well.

The project includes the mainte-nance, renovation and construction of the entire corniche that is composed of three zones with an area of about 28,000 square meters. The project started in November 2017.

Engineer Hend Al Mahmeid, Project Engineer at Ashghal Buildings Projects Department, stated that the project includes replacing the pedestrian walkway floor, which was made of con-crete, with 22500 meters square of Granite and Interlock that contains dif-ferent designs, shapes and colours.

Considering the importance of having recreational facilities suitable for families, the children’s play area will be completely renovated and 3 new areas will be added, to have a total number of 5 areas. The play areas will be opened to public within two months.

In addition, 256 seats and 46 umbrellas will be provided as part of the project.

The public toilets will be fully reha-bilitated and new ones will be provided for people with special needs. All works related to water closets will be com-pleted by tomorrow.

Al Khor Corniche project considered the importance of providing an appro-priate healthy environment through planting trees and providing 6,000 sqm of Green spaces. To enable the Corniche visitors to benefit from it at night, 100

decorative lighting columns have been added which will give an aesthetic touch to the overall appearance of the Cor-niche and integrate with the decorated walkway. The lighting of pergolas was also considered.

The project includes adding 45 new parking spaces to reach 116 spaces, in addition to building ramps to enable

people with special needs to enjoy using the corniche and the beach.

To ensure the safety of the Corniche visitors, the old Metal Fence is replaced with a new one, in addition to the ren-ovation of the concrete blocks sepa-rating the upper and central areas and replacing the lower concrete wall with a newly built one.

The project team with Al Khor Municipality representatives during the opening.


Doha Bank donates QR100,000 to QRCS THE PENINSULA

DOHA: In recognition of its commitment to supporting humanitarian issues and char-itable endeavours, Doha Bank, has donated an amount of QR100,000 to Qatar Red Crescent in support of “Ramadan Iftar” campaign.

Ahmed Al Henzab, Head of Administration & Properties Department at Doha Bank has given the donation cheque to Saad Shaheen AL Kaabi, Director of Resource Mobili-zation Department and Hamid Moharrar, Head of Corporate Relations at Qatar Red Crescent.The aim of “Ramadan Iftar” campaign, which is held every year during the holy month of

Ramadan by Qatar Red Crescent inside and outside Qatar, is to meet the needs of poor and needy fasting people by setting up a number of Ramadan Iftar tables or by distributing food parcels.

“As part of our extensive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, Doha Bank sup-ports social programs and humanitarian issues to help people in need and to positively affect the lives of poor people inside and outside Qatar,” said Ahmed Al Henzab.

“We appreciate the efforts of Qatar Red Crescent Society to help poor communities, both locally and internationally to achieve their vision of a better world for all,” said Al Henzab.

A Doha Bank officials handing over a cheque to QRCS official for its “Ramadan Iftar” campaign,

Student app developers rewarded at YouthMobile Qatar competitionTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: As many as 30 students from eight schools gathered at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Research Complex over the weekend to take part in the YouthMobile Qatar competition, a global initiative launched by Unesco to empower youth to develop mobile apps for the Sustainable Development Goals and implemented for the first time in Qatar.

The YouthMobile Qatar project is a joint initiative by Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), Arab Women in Computing Qatar and Unesco Office for the GCC and Yemen.

The students received a nine-week intensive training on mobile app pro-gramming, coding, innovation and entre-preneurship from computer scientists, teachers and coding experts, and were invited to present the mobile apps they created to a large audience and judges.

The theme of the competition was “Helping My School” and its objective is to empower students to find local solutions to the problems they face in schools through mobile technology.

Students from grade eight and seven were tasked with using App Inventor, an open-source web application developed by MIT Media Lab, to design and build mobile apps that could positively improve their school environment and educational experience.

Participating schools included Edison

International Academy, Al Bayan Prepar-atory School for Girls, Al Maha Academy for Girls, Lycee Voltaire, American School of Doha, International School of Choueifat, ACS International School and International School of London.

Opening the competition, Anna Paolini, Unesco Representative to the GCC and Yemen, expressed her enthusiasm to see a large number of projects in Qatar dedicated to developing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through technology for young people in the country.

13 judges from key education and tech institutions in Qatar, including the Education Development Institute, Ooredoo, Texas A&M University, Qatar National Research Fund and Arab Women in Computing assessed the inven-tions of the 16 teams of students.

After students pitched their ideas and demonstrated the functionalities of their

mobile apps to the judges, the winners of the competition were announced.

Mohamed Shikfa, from Lycee Voltaire, won the first prize for his app “My School Assistant” which helps students organize their weekly class schedule and mutes their phone when they enter class.

Sara Al Madeed, from Al Maha Academy, came second with her app “Brainstorm” which enables anonymous messaging between students and teachers, including visually impaired stu-dents and teachers, to share and receive feedback.

Omar Abdallah and Rami Ayeche, from American School of Doha, won the third place as well as the Audience Choice Award with their app “Organize A+” which reminds students about their homework and pro-vides easy access to students’ notes using a secure cloud storage database.

Winners of the YouthMobile Qatar competition with officials.

Qatar to participate in Beijing Horticultural ExhibitionTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The State of Qatar and the People’s Republic of China have signed an agreement on Qatar’s participation in the Inter-national Horticultural Exhibition 2019 in Beijing.

Qatar’s Ambassador to the China Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri and Wang Jin Qin, rep-resentative of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, signed the agreement. The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the State of Qatar’s mission in China.

The Ambassador said that

Qatar’s participation in the Inter-national Horticultural Exhibition is important to reflect the Qatari urbanisation pattern, agriculture methods, gardens and tree species and the level of ecological civilization in the State of Qatar.

China, he said, has provided a huge area of 2,100 square meters to set up Qatar’s pavilion, which will be distinguished as Qatar has gained good expe-rience through its previous par-ticipation in international exhi-bitions. He said that the Ministry of Municipality and Environment will oversee the design and setting up of Qatar’s pavilion.

Qatar Charity signs MoU with IGAD for humanitarian aidTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Charity (QC) signed a memorandum of under-standing (MoU) with the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to enhance cooperation in the field of emer-gency relief, humanitarian assistance and sustainable devel-opment in the Horn of Africa.

UN Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Dr. Ahmed Al Meraikhi attended the signing ceremony.

The agreement was signed with the aim of entering into a strategic partnership to com-plete relief and development projects implemented by QC’s field offices in East Africa.

Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Meraikhi, expressed his pleasure at attending the signing of the MoU, which would strengthen the UN approaches to bridge the gap between relief and development, hoping that the MoU would be successful.

QC’s Chief Executive Officer, Yousif bin Ahmed Al Kuwari said we welcome cooperation with regional and international insti-tutions in the field of relief,

humanitarian assistance and development, including IGAD.

IGAD’s Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalem pointed out that the both parties would consult on the selection of partners in countries where there is no field office for any of them, and that IGAD undertakes to use existing structures in member states with a view to completing any project agreed upon by both parties.

Based on the MoU, the IGAD will focus on a number of interventions, the most

important of which are the production and food security sectors, including alternative livelihoods, fisheries, livestock, dryland agriculture and food and climate early warning, as well as trade, investment, financial integration, infra-structure, support services and cooperation among member states in health, migration and other sectors, Maalem added. In accordance with the MoU, IGAD’s expertise might be sought by Qatar Charity, if needed.

Customs seizes46kg of marijuanaDOHA: General Authority of Customs (GAC) announced that it seized 46 kilograms of marijuana and four tons of illegal chewing tobacco at the 11 customs departments at Hamad International Airport (HIA), Hamad Port, air cargo customs and private airports.

The marijuana amount was seized over seven ship-ments at HIA and two ship-ments at the air cargo customs. The smugglers hid the drug in their luggage and in secret pockets designed to carry such material in a way that looks like part of the structure of the bag, other amounts were hidden in food utensils.

At the air cargo customs, two shipments were seized as one of the employees sus-pected a shipment of fabrics and bed sheets, when rechecked eight kilograms of marijuana was discovered. The customs employee also sus-pected a car pillow shipment, where he also found 4.5 kilo-grams of marijuana as well.

At Hamad Port, four tons of illegal chewing tobacco were found over two shipments.

National Museum of Qatar is world’s Best Futura ProjectTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The internationally renowned MIPIM Awards named the National Museum of Qatar as the ‘Best Futura Project’ for its architectural and engineering qualities during their annual ceremony in Cannes this year.

Since 1991, MIPIM has hon-oured only the most outstanding and accomplished projects from around the world.

This year MIPIM looked beyond architectural aspects and honored projects that are making a new step towards connecting people in cities, using innovation and environmental qualities combined with beautiful design.

Reflect ing on this achievement as the project man-agement consultant, ASTAD Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Ali Al-Khalifa said: “This is the

second internationally renowned award the National Museum of Qatar has won in the past year and I am so proud that it is getting the global attention it

deserves. We will continue to work together with Qatar Museums to deliver this engi-neering feat and ensure it is brought to life safely and sus-

tainably. I have no doubt that the National Museum of Qatar will be one of the Middle East’s m o s t i c o n i c landmarks.”

Qatar Museums Chief Executive Officer, Special Advisor to H E The C h a i r p e r s o n , Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud said:

“The National Museum of Qatar is a celebration of Qatar’s identity and will honor its rich heritage while

connecting it to its future. Its continuous recognition in the area of architecture and inno-vation is a testament to its position as one of the country’s most significant and ambitious cultural projects.”

The National Museum high-lights Qatar Museums’ com-mitment to fulfilling the cultural goals of the 2030 Qatar National Vision, contributing towards

creating a strong and sus-tainable cultural infrastructure for Qatar, and helping to build a diversified, knowledge-based economy. The design of the museum reflects the desert rose, commonly found beneath the sands of the Gulf region. The structure is a highly complex organically propagating series of interlocking disks that sur-round the building, creating a

ring of gallery spaces circling a central court.

The palace of the former ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani is the landmark centerpiece that the National Museum of Qatar is being built around. Located along the Corniche of Doha the project will provide 8,000sqm of per-manent and 2,000sqm of tem-porary gallery space.

Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud (left), Qatar Museums Chief Executive Officer and Special Advisor to H E the Chairperson, and Engineer Ali Al Khalifa, ASTAD Chief Executive Officer, with the award.

An aerial view of the National Museum of Qatar.

Qatar Charity and IGAD signing and MoU to enhance cooperation.

Qatar’s Ambassador to China, Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri and Wang Jin Qin, representative of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, after signing the agreement.


THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) is planning to develop new domestic and inter-national tourism products in Sealine and Khor Al Adaid areas which are top tourist destina-tions in Qatar.

QTA has met with representatives of com-munity groups to explore means of devel-oping the Sealine and Khor Al Adaid areas, in the first of a series of meetings to address tourism development with relevant stakeholders.

The meeting was hosted by the Mawater Centre Majlis and attended by the Minister of Culture and Sports’ Youth Advisory Committee, Mawater Centre, Qatar Motorcycle Center ‘Batabit’, Doha Bus, and Doha Off-Road Training Centre.

The discussions focused on identifying new and collaborative ways of developing attractive domestic and international tourism products in the area, while preserving its unique natural attributes and ensuring the safety of visitors in an area popular among dune-bashers.

Hassan Al Ibrahim, QTA Acting Chairman,

commented, “Developing the Sealine and Khor Al Adaid areas is among Qatar’s tourism devel-opment priorities which we are working to achieve in collaboration with private and public sector partners. Due to the importance of these areas to the local community, as a home to traditions such as desert camping, horse and camel riding, and other safari activ-ities, a starting point must be engaging with the community and understanding their needs.”

He added, “enhancing the visitor expe-rience is at the heart of the Next Chapter of the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy, and these areas hold enormous potential as providers of a unique experience for both domestic and international tourists.”

Proposals included setting specific tracks for dune-bashers and 4x4 desert safari drivers. The development of visitor centres, facilities and amenities for the area was also discussed.

Khor Al Adaid, also known as the Inland Sea, is one of only three areas around the world where sand dunes meet the sea, and is considered a top destination for visitors to Qatar, following Doha.

QIC Group releases new corporate video THE PENINSULA

DOHA: In view of raising awareness of its growing global footprint amongst the nationals and the residents of Qatar, Qatar Insurance Group -Qatar’s leading insurance group has developed a corporate video.

Soon to be broadcasted at the cinema theatres, QIC Group’s immersive corporate video sets out to deliver the key message of its diversification strategy and growing global footprint in various geogra-phies across the globe.

Commenting on the launch of the corporate video, Ali Al Fadala, Senior Deputy Group President & CEO of QIC Group stated, “QIC Group’s corporate video marks an important milestone in the Group’s

growth trajectory. It is a pow-erful visual that has captured the evolution of QIC from being a domestic insurer to an insurance powerhouse of international repute. Notably, the video also casts a spotlight on QIC Group’s strategy of diversification and ways of ful-filling its vision of being ranked amongst the global top 50 insurers.”

Ali Al Fadala

Qatar Posts takes part in UPU World CEO ForumDOHA: Faleh Mohammed Al Naemi, Qatar Post’s Chairman and Managing Director, chaired the official delegation participating in the World CEO Forum for postal chief executives which was organized by the Universal Postal Union in Istanbul from May 9-10.

Al Naemi also participated in a panel that discussed opportu-nities on how the postal industry can leverage to build a strong and vibrant Postal sector in the future.

Postal CEOs from around the globe attended the opening of the third UPU World CEO Forum in Istanbul, which was came this year under the theme “Postal digital dividends: A new portfolio, better performance or a redefined mission?”. Al-Naemi hailed the forum and said “it as a very good opportunity for us to understand the perspectives of all the CEOs around the world.”

QTA and representatives of community groups during a meeting to explore means of developing Sealine and Khor Al Adaid areas.

New tourism facilities plannedin Sealine and Khor Al Adaid

Ministry of Finance participates in GCC meetingTHE PENINSULA DOHA: The Ministry of Finance of the State of Qatar participated in the 107th Meeting of the GCC Financial and Economic Committee held in Kuwait.

The meeting was attended by Qatar’s Minister of Finance H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi, Ministers of Finance from other GCC countries also participated in the event.

During the sessions, the Com-mittee agreed on new measures

including the amendment of the minimum level of the specific duties on tobacco and its deriva-tives in the GCC.

Other measures included uni-fiying customs tariff and raising customs duties on imports of steel reinforcement and iron rolls from 5 percent to 10 percent for one year.

The meeting also saw the appointment of the GCC Financial and Economic Committee as the authority to consider the appeals

of the Industrial Cooperation Committee until the establishment of the Judicial Authority.

Among other topics discussed were the amendments proposed by the Industrial Cooperation Committee on the exemption of industrial inputs, the protection of the local agent, and the pro-posal to expand the range of goods covered by selective taxation.

The sessions concluded with the Committee agreeing on the dates for the 2019 edition.

Qatar has never changed it stance on talks and has been cooperating with and supporting the mediation efforts led by the State of Kuwait.

Al Hajri explained that the meeting of the Arab ministers of youth and sports approved a range of Arab activities and events hosted by a number of Arab countries in order to achieve the objectives of joint Arab youth action, including the Arab youth identity forum and the Jerusalem victory conference.

10 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK [email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM [email protected]

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Dialogue, the only solution

In a few days, it will be one year since the unjust siege was imposed on the State of Qatar by the quartet of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and

Egypt. Qatar has emerged unscathed from the blockade and the country has been witnessing unprecedented development and progress in all sectors. Now, Qatar is in a position to live with the siege for long if that be the case.

But the State of Qatar as a peace-loving nation and out of its respect for its brothers across the Gulf Cooper-ation Council and beyond, has been calling for a mean-ingful dialogue to resolve the crisis, which has resulted in immense hardships not only for the citizens and res-idents in Qatar, but also in the blockading countries.

In October last year, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during a visit to Indonesia, had said that Qatar is always ready for dialogue to resolve the Gulf crisis, because “there is no winner, we are all brothers and we are all losers due to this crisis and therefore, Qatar is open to dialogue in accordance with the agree-ments binding on all parties to respect the sovereignty

of states”.Again in an interview

with Charlie Rose, host of ‘60 Minutes’ on CBS TV channel, which was broadcast on October 30 last year, H H the Amir expressed willingness to walk 10,000 miles towards the brothers, if they walk one metre towards reconciliation.

And on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani reit-erated Qatar’s firm position on resolving the Gulf crisis through dialogue, pointing

out that the participation of H H the Amir in the recent Gulf Summit in Kuwait is proof of that.

During a lecture at Qatar University titled ‘The Gulf Crisis and Political Transitions in the Region’, the Min-ister of Foreign Affairs said that Qatar believes in the necessity of a new regional agreement that guarantees the protection of large and small countries and non-inter-ference in their internal affairs, in addition to focussing on the consolidation of the principles that aim at pro-moting cooperation in the fields of economy and devel-opment, as demanded by H H the Amir at the Munich Security Conference.

Despite all the efforts and overtures from Qatar, the other side has been hindering any possibility of reso-lution through false media campaign, spreading rumours and trying to malign the image of Qatar by fabricating stories and levelling unfounded allegations.

Qatar has never changed it stance on talks and has been cooperating with and supporting the mediation efforts led by the State of Kuwait. But Doha has always made it clear that the sovereignty of the country is a red line, which nobody will be allowed to cross. If the block-ading countries are really interested in lasting peace and prosperity in the region, they should gather around the table and start a dialogue to find a solution for the crisis.

Qatar to host Arab-European Forum of Alliance of Civilizations

The council of Arab ministers of youth and sports has agreed, during its 41st session held in Cairo yes-

terday, that Qatar will host the Arab-European forum of the alliance of civilizations in December 2018.

The State of Qatar was repre-sented in the meeting by a delegation headed by Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Sports Faleh Al Ajlan Al Hajri.

Al Hajri told the Qatari News Agency (QNA) that the meeting agreed to grant the permanent mem-bership of the executive office of the council of Arab ministers of youth and sports to the supreme council for youth and sports in the State of Palestine.

He said that the meeting also rec-ommended exempting delegations and sports missions participating in Arab sessions and tournaments from visa fees in Arab countries and facili-tating entry procedures in the host countries of Arab activities. It rec-ommended that the current session of the council of Arab ministers of youth and sports be named after

Jerusalem.Al Hajri

explained that the meeting of the Arab ministers of youth and sports approved a range of Arab activ-ities and events hosted by a number of Arab coun-tries in order to achieve the objec-tives of joint Arab youth action, including the Arab youth identity forum and the Jeru-

salem victory conference. Both will be hosted by the State

of Palestine concurrent with the adoption of Jerusalem as the capital of the Arab youth.

It agreed that Jordan will host the fifteenth meeting of the youth of the Arab capitals as well as the second Arab youth salon, and that Iraq will host both youth folklore festival and international youth peace forum, while Lebanon will host a youth dialogue forum under the theme of Arab youth and social networking, as well as a forum to combat terrorism to empower Arab youth to achieve the goals of sus-tainable development on the sidelines of the Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit 2019. It also approved

the activities of Arab union of youth hostels.

During the meeting, the executive office of the council of Arab youth ministers was also formed. The sport committee was chaired by Oman’s Minister of Sports Affairs Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardhouf, and the youth committee was chaired by Jordanian minister of youth Bashir Al Rawashdeh with the membership of representatives from a number of Arab countries.

QNA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Unfortunately, once again we see that

Washington is seeking to revise key international

agreements, and as is the case with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of

Action (JCPOA), with the problems of the European Union and

many other conventions,

Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister

UN agencies short of funding to help Rohingya

Three UN agencies have warned that $794m is needed to cover a shortfall in

funding that will allow critical lifesaving work to proceed for Rohingya ref-ugees before the monsoon season arrives.

In a joint press release, the heads of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Program (WFP) in Cox’s Bazar underscored the urgent need for more funding.

The Joint Response Appeal from all key agencies working on the Rohingya response in Cox’s Bazar has secured just 16 percent of a total $950 million needed for the response until the end of the year — leaving a $794 million shortfall.

The statement came as the humanitarian agencies announced the completion of the first new area of land being prepared to relocate families most at risk of landslides when the monsoon hits. The work is part of a major joint initi-ative between IOM,

UNHCR and WFP.”With the monsoon

season almost upon us, we will continue working urgently to prepare more land, coordinate services, secure vital access ways and ensure we are ready to respond to emergency situa-tions when they arise,” said Manuel Marques Pereira, IOM’s Emergency Coordi-nator in Cox’s Bazar.

Kevin J Allen, head of the UNHCR’s operations in Cox’s Bazar, said: “We’re very happy to be able to move to the next stage in this ambi-tious project, which has been a great example of inter-agency collaboration in support of the government of Bangladesh.” ”It will be a race against time to get eve-rything ready so that the most vulnerable families at high risk of landslides and flooding can be moved to safety before the worst of the monsoon season gets underway,” he added.

Since August 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the Amnesty International, bringing the total number of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar dis-trict to around 900,000.

The vast majority of the refugees are living under tar-paulins and in bamboo

shelters on steep sandy slopes in the desperately overcrowded mega camp.

Across all the settle-ments, around 200,000 people have been identified as being at high risk of floods and landslides when Bangla-desh’s notorious cyclone season and heavy monsoons hit in the coming weeks. The immediate priority is to try to relocate around 24,000 people at the highest risk of landslide disasters.

”Our priority is to ensure the safety of refugees during this critical time of year”, said Mohammad Abul Kalam, refugee relief and repatri-ation commissioner.

UNICEF received $15.7m in funding from Japan to support Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar. The grant will allow UNICEF and its partners to continue pro-viding child protection, healthcare, safe drinking water and sanitation support to refugee children and women and their families.

Praising the much-needed support in the first six months of the crisis, UNICEF Bangladesh Repre-sentative Edouard Beigbeder said: “UNICEF Bangladesh is grateful to the government and people of Japan for their generous support during a time of immense crisis. With this new funding, we will be able to scale up our interven-tions to save more lives and continue with our ongoing

support in providing safe drinking water and sani-tation, healthcare to children, newborns, and pregnant mothers, and strengthen the resilience of the affected host population.”

UNICEF has appealed for $144.6 million in 2018 to respond to the refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar. So far, it has 30 percent of the funding available against its 2018 appeal requirement. An additional $100.8 million is required to fully deliver on the response.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in the Rakhine state from August 25 to Sep-tember 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published on December 12, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5. The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most per-secuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings—including of infants and young children—brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security per-sonnel. In a report, UN inves-tigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

MUTASIM BILLAH ANATOLIA

Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Sports, Faleh Al Ajlan Al Hajri at 41st session Arab ministers of youth and sports.

The meeting also recommended exempting delegations and sports missions participating in Arab sessions and tournaments from visa fees in Arab countries and facilitating entry procedures in the host countries of Arab activities.

11TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018 OPINION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICETEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION TEL: 4462 [email protected]

PUBLIC RELATIONSTEL: 4455 [email protected]

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870 [email protected]

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTIONTEL: 4455 7809 / 839FAX: [email protected]

D-RING ROADPOST BOX: 3488DOHA - [email protected]

All thoughts and views expressed in these columns are those of the writers,not of the newspaper.

All correspondence regarding Views and Opinion pages should be send to editor-in-chiefoffice or mailed to the [email protected]

British PM under pressureon EU customs decision

US embassy opening in Jerusalem draws criticism

ELIZABETH PIPER REUTERS

AL JAZEERA

A row over Britain’s future customs arrangements with the European Union has left the opposing Brexit camps

more deeply entrenched than ever and Prime Minister Theresa May facing one of her toughest decisions yet.

Under pressure from the EU to move forward with talks on a future partnership, May must settle on a customs proposal to unite, or at least

not tear apart, her government, her party, Britain’s parliament and one that could be backed by the EU.

She has even divided her cabinet into two camps to work on improving the two proposals now on offer to try to make one of them more palatable to the warring factions.

There is little time. The EU is expecting her to have made progress by a summit in June and both sides want to reach a deal by October. Crucial bills must also be passed by parliament before Britain’s EU departure next March.

“We have to get to a position that represents what people voted for. And then deliver it,” said a senior source in May’s governing Conservative Party. “It’s time now. Get on with it.”

The battle is the latest in what is a long series of conflicts waged not only inside her own party, but in Britain’s upper and lower houses of parliament and across a deeply divided country since it voted to leave the bloc in 2016.

Pro-EU campaigners, buoyed by government defeats in the upper House of Lords, are stepping up their

calls for Britain to keep as close as possible to the bloc. Brexit supporters are trying to ensure May keeps to her word on making a clean break so that Britain can “take back control” of its laws, money and borders.

So far, May has little option and no desire to do anything but stick to her well-worn script that Britain will leave the EU’s economic single market and customs union. The oppo-sition Labour Party is happy to leave her to it.

But as time ticks by, those deci-sions that have been kicked down the road are becoming increasingly pressing as EU negotiators wait for Britain’s detailed position not only on customs, but also on the wider trade agreement and governance. She is increasingly under pressure to make a decision. Some say May’s preferred option is a customs partnership. Under this proposal, Britain would collect tariffs on goods entering the country on the EU’s behalf.

The second is for a streamlined customs arrangement now known as “max fac” — maximum facilitation. Under this proposal, traders on an approved list or “trusted traders” would be able to cross borders freely with the aid of automated technology.

The proposals have split May’s cabinet of top ministers, and her party, down the middle. Those wanting to maintain the closest pos-sible ties to the EU back the part-nership, including business minister Greg Clark who has said that hun-dreds of jobs in car manufacturing would be vulnerable if Britain could not trade freely with the EU. But the partnership is an anathema to Brexit campaigners, who say it would essen-tially keep Britain within the confines of the EU’s customs union. May’s foreign minister, Boris Johnson, called it “crazy”.

They support the max fac option, which critics say could take years to set up. One campaigner told the Con-servative Brexit camp was “on manoeuvres” to make sure May

delivers on her pledge to leave the customs union.

She has tasked officials with doing more work on both options and split some ministers into two teams to brainstorm to find solutions to overcome the obstacles. “This is being worked on as a priority,” May’s spokesman said.

But the lack of decision has coin-cided with growing calls for Britain to stay in the customs union with the EU, a move its supporters say could solve the problem of a new hard border with Ireland that could fuel sectarian violence.

The House of Lords, sent a clear message to May in a series of votes on the EU withdrawal bill over the last three weeks, challenging her refusal to stay in the customs union and her plan to leave the EU’s single market.

Some pro-EU Labour and Con-servative lawmakers in the House of Commons hope they can muster enough support to prevent the gov-ernment reversing those amendments in votes in the lower house, though their ability to do so is in doubt.

“Parliament is finally taking control of Brexit and is seeing off a minority of ideologically driven hard Brexiteers,” Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry said this week on Twitter. If the rebels are to have any chance of forcing May’s hand, the Labour Party would have back moves to stay in the customs union and single market. This means it would have to change its position and accept the continued free movement of people.

Labour would like a new customs union that would allow Britain to break free from the EU’s state aid rules. The pressure is rising for Labour to change position. “Our region is an export powerhouse,” five Labour law-makers from northern England wrote this week.

“All of that could be at risk if we quit the EU customs union and the single market and are lumbered with new customs barriers, charges and unnecessary red tape.”

The United States has offi-cially relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in a deeply controversial

move that angered Palestinians and drew widespread regional condemnation.

The ceremony took place yes-terday amid road closures and heavy police presence in anticipation of Palestinian protests, as well as deadly demonstrations in Gaza calling for the refugees’ right to return to the areas they were forcibly expelled from 70 years ago.

US President Donald Trump - who in December 2017 declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move long-sought by Israel — addressed the ceremony via a recorded video message.

“Today we follow through on this recognition and open our embassy in the historic and sacred land of Jeru-salem and we’re opening it many, many years ahead of schedule,” Trump said.

He added that the US “remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement”.

Deadliest day in yearsHis comments came as at least 43

Palestinian demonstrators were

killed by Israeli forces near the Gaza-Israel border.

More than 1,900 others were also wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition, tear gas and fire-bombs at protesters assembled along several points near the fence with Israel.

Many were in critical condition and there were fears the death toll could rise in what was the deadliest day for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the 2014 Gaza war.

But addressing the Jerusalem cer-emony in person, Israeli Prime Min-ister Benjamin Netanyahu praised “our brave soldiers protecting the border ... as we speak today” and said the embassy move marked a “glorious day”. “Remember this moment, this is history,” Netanyahu said.

“We have no better friends in the world, you stand for Israel and you stand for Jerusalem ... President Trump, by recognising history, you have made history ... We are in Jeru-salem and we are here to stay.”

The demonstrations in Gaza follow a weeks-long protest calling for the right of return for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

Israeli forces have killed at least

90 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave and wounded an estimated 10,500 others since the protests began on March 30.

Israeli police said that up to 1,000 officers were posted around the embassy’s new location in the southwest neighbourhood of Arnona and its surrounding areas.

The closures spread to occupied East Jerusalem, where access to the Old City was curtailed from areas extending to it such as al-Tur, Mount of Olives, Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.

At the Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Pales-tinian youth who were throwing stones.

Prior to Netanyahu’s speech, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner told those assembled at the ceremony Jeru-salem was the “eternal heart of the Jewish people”.

Kushner said Trump’s decision “did not reflect a departure from our commitment to lasting peace”, adding “as we have seen from pro-tests of last month those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution”.

In response, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that the US embassy move had ruled Washington out of future mediation efforts.

“With this step, the US adminis-tration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability,” Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

In a statement released yes-terday, the Palestinian Authority described Trump’s decision to rec-ognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the US embassy move as “blatant violations of international law and disregard to the core values of justice and morality”.

“Choosing a tragic day in Pales-tinian history shows great insensi-bility and disrespect for the core principles of the peace process,” the statement said, referring to the Nakba, where Palestinians com-memorate their ethnic cleansing by Zionist paramilitaries back in 1948.

The battle is the latest in what is a long series of conflicts waged not only inside her own party, but in Britain’s upper and lower houses of parliament and across a deeply divided country since it voted to leave the bloc in 2016.

Riyad Al Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said yesterday that the Palestinian leadership will go to the International Criminal Court and was preparing to file documents on crimes com-mitted by Israel.

Speaking to a local radio station, Al Malki called for an urgent meeting of the Arab League, which he said would be followed by meetings at the UN Security Council.

A statement by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry yesterday con-demned Israel’s “use of force against peaceful marches” and warned of the “negative reper-cussion of such serious escalation in the Palestinian occupied territories.”

In a statement published on Sunday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the US of disregarding “rights and justice” by going through with the embassy move.

“History and humanity will never forgive the injustices done to our Palestinian brothers,” Erdogan said.

More than 1,900 others were also wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters assembled along several points near the fence with Israel. Many were in critical condition and there were fears the death toll could rise in what was the deadliest day for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the 2014 Gaza war.

With this step, the US administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability.

12 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

ANATOLIA

LONDON: The attacks on Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces are “willful killings constituting war crimes,” the Amnesty International said.

“This is another horrific example of the Israeli military using excessive force and live ammunition in a totally deplorable way. This is a violation of international standards, in some instances committing what appear to be wilful killings constituting war crimes,” said Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle

East and North Africa of the human rights watchdog.

“Today’s footage from Gaza is extremely troubling, and as violence continues to spiral out of control, the Israeli authorities must immediately rein in the military to prevent the further loss of life and serious injuries,” Luther said in a statement.

He said: “Only last month, Amnesty International called on the interna-tional community to stop delivery of arms and military equipment to Israel. The rising toll of deaths and injuries today only serves to highlight the

urgent need for an arms embargo. “While some protestors may have

engaged in some form of violence, this still does not justify the use of live ammunition. “Under international law, firearms can only be used to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury.”

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered on Gaza Strip’s eastern border since early morning to take part in pro-tests aimed to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest relo-cation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Eight children under 16 among Gaza deadUNITED NATIONS: Israeli fire claimed the lives of eight children under the age of 16 yesterday during violent clashes on the Israel-Gaza border over the US embassy opening in Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian envoy to the UN. “We condemn in the strongest terms these atrocities by the Israeli occupying forces, using this massive fire power against civilians who have the right to demon-strate peacefully -- and they have been demonstrating peacefully,” said Ambas-sador Riyad Mansour. Mansour said Palestinians demand an immediate stop to the violence and, pointing to Israel, said “we want those responsible to be brought to justice.”

Kuwait seeks UN Security Council meeting todayUNITED NATIONS: Kuwait has requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council today to discuss continuing violence along the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said. The death toll in Gaza from Israeli live fire reached 52, the highest level in a single day since a series of such protests demanding the right to return to ancestral homes in Israel began on March 30.

Palestinians carry a demonstrator injured during clashes with Israeli forces.

Palestinians take cover from shots during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Gaza City, yesterday.

52 Palestinians martyred in Israeli shooting

AGENCIES

GAZA: Israeli forces killed 52 Pales-tinians on the gaza border in the conflict’s bloodiest day in years yesterday as clashes and protests coin-cided with the deeply controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The clashes, which left more than 2,400 Palestinians wounded, erupted before a White House delegation and Israeli officials opened the embassy at an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem and continued throughout the day.

It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 gaza war. The dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. The gazan health ministry pro-vided the overall death and injury toll.

Tens of thousands had gathered near the border in protest while smaller numbers of stone-throwing Palestinians approached the fence and sought to break through, with Israeli snipers posi-tioned on the other side.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new embassy was tan-tamount to “a new American settler outpost” in Jerusalem and that the United States “is no longer a mediator in the Middle East.”

The embassy inauguration none-theless went on as planned, attended by a Washington delegation that included US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House aides.

Ivanka Trump helped declare the new embassy open and a plaque and seal were unveiled before the 800 guests at the ceremony.

Trump addressed the ceremony by video. “Our greatest hope is for peace,” he said despite the Palestinian anger the move has provoked.

“The United States remains fully

committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement.”

“We are against the embassy move because this is our country. They haven’t left us with anything,” said Zeinab, a woman in the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj Al Barajneh in Lebanon.

“As an Egyptian and an Arab, I feel humiliated,” said Sami Badreddin, 40, a state company employee in Cairo, whose country made peace with Israel in 1978. “They transfer the U.S. embassy to Jeru-salem while all the Arabs are silent.”

“Trump hates Muslims and he is showing it every day,” said Salim Ham-laoui, a student at Algiers university.

The United Nations says the status of Jerusalem - captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war - can only be resolved by negotiations. Palestinians want the city as their own capital.

The timing of the embassy’s move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv on the 70th anniversary of the creation of Israel, a day Palestinians regard as their “nakba” or “catastrophe”, when they lost their homeland, added insult to injury.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces have shot dead scores of Palestinians in Gaza protesting at the border over the fate of refugees who fled their homes during partition in 1948, including dozens on Monday.

The embassy move encouraged the “massacre carried out by Israeli security forces”, said Turkey’s foreign ministry. US allies warned the United States it would damage its regional standing after siding with Israel on a fundamental position without a final peace agreement. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, whose ties with its Nato ally have grown increasingly fractious, described the move as “igniting a fire”.

“The United States has chosen to be a part of the problem rather than the solution with its latest step and has lost its mediating role in the peace process,” he said in London. Lebanon’s Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri said the move spelt a “dead-end” for all paths to regional peace. In Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1993 through a USmediated peace process,

protesters near the heavily-defended US Embassy in Amman chanted: “America is the head of the snake. No US embassy on Jordanian soil.”

Egypt, the most populous Arab country and longtime mediator in the peace process, avoided direct criticism of its US ally. But state-run Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram said in an editorial that the US move was “provocative” and “a dangerous episode in a series that is about to destroy any hope for achieving peace”. Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani described Trump’s international policy as “half-baked”.

“The leaders of America and the Zionist regime must understand the message of the protests that violating Palestine and the moving of the capital will not go unanswered,” he added.

In Iraq, Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, a nationalist and long-time adversary of the United States, who was leading in parliamentary elections with more than half the votes counted on Monday, tweeted: “I hope the divine response will come.”

Gaza suffers most horrific day as US opens embassy in JerusalemGaza massacre constitutes war crimes: Amnesty

Populist cleric Sadr on course to win Iraq voteREUTERS

BAGHDAD: Populist cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States, led in Iraq’s parliamentary election with more than half of votes counted yesterday, the electoral commission said, in a surprise turn of fortune for the Shia leader.

In the first election since Islamic State was defeated in the country, Iran-backed Shia militia chief Hadi Al Amiri’s bloc was in second place, while Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, once seen as the front-runner, trailed in third.

The preliminary results were based on a count of more than 95 percent of the votes cast in 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Unlike Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, Sadr is an opponent of both countries, which have wielded influence in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 and thrust the Shia majority into power.

Sadr has led two uprisings against US forces in Iraq and is

one of the few Shia leaders to distance himself from Iran.

Despite the election setback, Abadi might still be granted a second term in office by par-liament and on Monday he called on all political blocs to respect the results and suggested he was willing to work with Sadr to form a government.

“We are ready to work and cooperate in forming the strongest government for Iraq,

free of corruption,” Abadi said in a live televised address. Cor-ruption has been the top of Sadr’s agenda for several years.

Projecting himself as an Iraqi nationalist, Sadr has a zealous following among the young, poor and dispossessed, but he had been sidelined by influential Iran-backed figures.

He cannot become prime minister as he did not run in the election, though his apparent

victory puts him in a position to pick someone for the job.

But even then, his bloc might not necessarily form the next government. Whoever wins the most seats must negotiate a coalition government in order to have a majority in parliament. The government should be formed within 90 days of the official results.

Saturday’s election is the first since the defeat of Islamic State last year. The group overran a third of Iraq in 2014.

Turnout was 44.52 percent with 92 percent of votes counted, the Independent High Electoral Commission said, the lowest participation rate in Iraq’s post-Saddam history. Sadr and Amiri both came in first in four of the 10 provinces where votes were counted, but the cleric’s bloc won significantly more votes in the capital, Baghdad, which has the highest number of seats.

A document provided to Reuters by a candidate in Baghdad that was also circu-lating among journalists and analysts showed results from all 18 provinces.

Supporters of Sairun list celebrate with portraits of Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, in Baghdad, yesterday.

Bashir names new oil and foreign ministers in Sudan reshuffleKHARTOUM: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir yesterday appointed new oil and foreign ministers in a major reshuffle that saw four other ministers changed amid a worsening economic crisis, state media reported. The reshuffle saw Al Dierdiry Al Dhikheri named as the new foreign minister, Ibrahim Hamid as interior minister and Azhari Abdallah as oil minister. The reshuffle comes weeks after Bashir sacked his previous foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour following his comments that he had been unable to pay diplomats for months due to a shortage of funds. The cabinet overhaul was approved by Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party at a meeting late on Sunday, the official news agency Suna reported. In a presidential decree, Bashir replaced his oil, interior, agriculture, youth and sports and justice ministers and also announced a new foreign minister replacing Ghandour, the official Suna news agency reported.

Kenyan doctors angered by move to hire Cuban doctorsNAIROBI: Kenya’s government is pushing ahead with a plan to hire 100 Cuban doctors despite opposition from a doctors’ union that says the money could be used to employ local physicians instead. President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed the deal last year and the plan was accelerated after his state visit to Cuba in March. But Ouma Oluga, secretary general of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), told Reuters the decision is unethical because there are enough doctors locally.

“There are 2,000 Kenyan doctors that require employment and 170 specialists... have not been deployed by the Ministry of health,” he said. “We do not understand why a government would be creating employment for another country and not their own.”

White House blames HamasWASHINGTON: The White House yesterday declined to criticise Israel’s handling of deadly unrest on the Gaza border, instead putting the blame “squarely on Hamas” as senior administration officials attended the opening of the controversial US embassy in Jerusalem. “Big day for Israel. Congratulations!” Trump said via Twitter. “We celebrate history in the making,” said Vice President Mike Pence. “America stands with Israel!” But their tweets made no mention of the deadly reality on the ground, and for hours, official Washington remained silent about the bloodshed.

13TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018 ASIA

10 dead, 50 hurt in Bengal panchayat poll violenceIANS

KOLKATA: At least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured yesterday in violence during the West Bengal panchayat polls, where around 73 percent of the electorate had cast their votes at the end of balloting hours at 5pm.

The State Election Com-mission said the polling per-centage was 73 at the end of voting hours, though the numbers would go up since 4.5 lakh voters were still queued up across the state.

“We have, so far, received telephonic complaints of six deaths. We are awaiting written confirmation from authorities on the death toll,” State Election Commission Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya said.

A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district’s Kultali, police said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of their activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district’s Amdanga.

Three deaths were reported from Murshidabad while two were killed in East Midnapore’s Nandigram. Two persons lost their lives in Nadia and North Dinajpur districts.

“Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district’s Shantipur area yesterday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hos-pital. One of them, Sanjit

Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries,” Nadia district Super-intendent of Police Santosh Pandey said.

“Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hos-pital,” an officer from Kultali police station said.

Though CPI-M’s North 24 Parganas leaders claimed their party activist died in Amdanga after he was attacked with crude bombs, there was no police confirmation.

“We have heard of the incident but it is not confirmed yet. We are going to the spot,” an officer from Amdanga police station said.

Police sources said two people were shot in East Mid-napore district’s Nandigram, famous for its historic land movement against the erstwhile Left Front government. The CPI-M claimed the two dead were party activists.

At least seven persons sus-tained bullet injuries in Mur-shidabad’s Naoda area, leading to the death of one of them. The remaining were admitted in the

district hospital.Earlier, polling to elect

38,616 representatives in the three tiers of Panchayati Raj institutions — panchayats, pan-chayat samitis and zila parishads — started at 7am.

As the day progressed, reports of clashes, booth cap-turing, vandalising of ballot boxes and rigging were received from pockets of South and North 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts.

In several places, gun-toting goons attacked policemen on duty at polling premises, leaving at least two police officers severely injured.

In South 24 Parganas’ Bhangar, the ‘Jomi, Jibika, Bas-tutantra O Poribesh Raksha Committee’ (Committee for pro-tecting land, livelihood, ecology and environment), which is spearheading an anti-power grid movement in the area, accused armed miscreants of the Trinamool Congress of kid-napping their Panchayat Samiti candidate Sariful Mullick and terrorising voters.

The committee alleged that their candidate Entazul Khan was severely injured in an attack by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants and was taken to Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital.

In north Bengal’s Cooch Behar, Minister Rabindranath Ghosh was accused of slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent and forcing him out of the polling premises, following which the SEC sought a report from the district administration.

Activists of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) take part in a torch light procession in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 proposal to provide citizenship or stay rights to minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan in India, in Guwahati, yesterday.

Torch light protest against Citizenship Bill

Shashi Tharoor charged with abetting wife Sunanda’s suicideIANS

NEW DELHI: In a blow to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Delhi Police yesterday charged the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha member with abetting his wife Sunanda Pushkars suicide in 2014.

The chargesheet that Tharoor called “preposterous” was filed in the court of Metro-politan Magistrate Dharmender Singh here. It mentions that the body of Pushkar bore “scuffle marks” when it was found in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi

on January 17, 2014.“These (the marks) seem to

have been caused due to scuffle between Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor and her husband Shashi Tharoor as per the statement of their personal attendant Narain Singh. However, this fact is being examined further.”

The chargesheet also says that the brothers and the son of Pushkar have made “no allega-tions against anyone”.

Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite at Leela Hotel in south Delhi, days after she alleged that her husband was

having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

The police have said there was no evidence of murder in Pushkar’s death but she may have been driven to suicide as she had not been eating or even leaving her room days before her death, according to the chargesheet.

The 62-year-old Congress leader took to Twitter in his defence, saying he had “taken note of the filing of this prepos-terous chargesheet”.

He said he intended “to contest it vigorously”.

Arun Jaitley stable after kidney transplantIANS

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a successful kidney transplant surgery at the AIIMS yesterday, the hospital said, adding that he was stable.

“Arun Jaitley underwent renal transplant surgery today (Monday) at AIIMS, Delhi. The surgery has been successful. Both the recipient and donor are stable and recovering well,” Aarti Vij, doctor and Chair-person of Media and Protocol Division at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said in a statement.

Soon after the surgery, Congress President Rahul Gandhi wished Jaitley a speedy recovery. “I’m happy to hear that Jaitleyji’s kidney transplant surgery went well. I wish him a speedy recovery,” he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh also wished good health for him as well as the donor.

“Happy to know about the successful kidney transplant surgery... I pray for his (Jait-ley’s) and the donor’s quick recovery and good health,” he said in a tweet.

According to sources, Jait-ley’s renal transplant was carried out yetserday morning by a team of senior doctors from AIIMS. Sandeep Guleria, a specialist from Apollo Hos-pitals and brother of AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, was also part of the team.

Suffering from kidney related problems, the 65-year-old minister was supposed to undergo the transplant last month and was even admitted to the premier hospital on April 6, but could not undergo the surgery as the donor’s organ “did not match”.

Modi to meet Putin amid US sanctions against RussiaIANS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with President Vladimir Putin in the summer beach resort of Sochi amid US sanctions against Moscow that might impact Russian military supplies to India, particularly an esti-mated Rs 40,000-crore deal to buy the sophisticated, long-range S-400 air defence system.

Modi will be travelling to

Russia at Putin’s invitation, the government said on Friday.

The Prime Minister’s previ-ously unannounced visit comes after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited Moscow last week to discuss a way out of the US sanctions on Russian firms.

The sanctions against Russian oligarchs and companies, including Rosoboronexport, the state-owned Russian weapons trading company, has raised con-cerns in India about a possible

impact on India’s military buys from Moscow.

Rosoboronexport has long-standing significant contracts and business ties with India and other countries.

At the heart of the current India-Russia military ties is a multi-billion dollar deal for five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems — billed as a game changer by the Indian mil-itary for its ability to counter bal-listic missiles and stealth aircraft like those China is developing.

The two countries signed an agreement in principle for the S-400 deal in 2016.

The sanctions under the Countering America’s Adver-saries Through Sanctions Act mandates similar action against those who conduct transactions with the banned Russian oli-garchs and defence firms.

The sanctions aimed to punish Moscow for its meddling in Ukraine, Syria, the 2016 Pres-idential elections and, most recently, Russia’s alleged

involvement in the poisoning of a former intelligence officer in the United Kingdom.

India’s deep military and strategic ties with Russia date back to the beginning of the Cold War even as New Delhi led a movement. However, India always leaned toward the USSR.

India still buys over 60 per cent of its defence equipment from Russia. At present, the Indian armed forces are 70 percent equipped with Soviet or Russian weapons.

Commuters drive along a road during a heavy dust storm in Ajmer, in Rajasthan, yesterday.Dust storm lashes Rajasthan

Petrol near 5-year high in Delhi; oppn slams it as ‘poll-politics’IANS

NEW DELHI: With the resumption of dynamic pricing system for transport fuels yesterday by the Indian Oil Corpo-ration (IOC), petrol prices in the national capital shot up to Rs74.80 per litre. Opposition slammed this price rise as “poll-politics”.

The IOC had suspended dynamic pricing system for transport fuels for 19 days to “avoid creating unnecessary panic among the consumers”. However, most observers said that the suspension had been done because of impending Karnataka elections.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted yesterday: “Karnataka finishes voting, Fuel

prices rise to a 4 yr. high! The Key Principle of Modinomics: fool as many people as you can, as often as you can.”

In Delhi, petrol was priced at Rs 74.80 per litre yesterday, highest since September 2013, when it had hit Rs76.06 a litre. The price was last changed on April 24 when it was at Rs 74.63 per litre.

In the other metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai also petrol prices were at multi-year high levels of Rs77.50, Rs82.65 and Rs77.61 a litre yesterday.

The previous highs in these cities were Rs78.03 (Kolkata, August 2014), Rs83.62 (Mumbai, September 2013) and Rs77.48 (Chennai, September 2013).

Online survey on Modi govt: 43% find performance ‘below expectations’IANS

NEW DELHI: The Modi government hasn’t scored too well on farmers issues, jobs and prices of essential commodities at the end of its four years in power, according to an online survey that also found a

substantial number of people calling its performance “below expectations”.

The survey done by Local-Circles, a community social media platform, says that 43 percent of those who partici-pated in the poll rated the gov-ernment as performing below

expectations, 29 percent rated it as meeting them and 28 percent said the government was “exceeding expectations.

“Most performance param-eters (of the government) show a decline over time as the gap between expectations set and impact on daily life rises,”

according to the survey done with over 62,000 citizens from over 250 districts across the country. Thirty-five per cent respondents were females.

According to LocalCircles, each person who voted in the survey is registered with the portal with their detailed

information and in many cases they shared their residential address.

The respondents have rated the government low on reducing crime against women and children, gen-erating employment, improving farmers life, lowering cost of living and healthcare, the survey says.

Three deaths were reported from Murshidabad while two were killed in East Midnapore’s Nandigram. Two persons lost their lives in Nadia and North Dinajpur districts.

Search for the missing

Empowering women

Guard of honour

14 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018ASIA

Pakistan slams Sharif over remarks on Mumbai attackREUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top civil and military leaders yesterday condemned a suggestion by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that Islamist militants who killed 166 people in India in 2008 had crossed the border from Pakistan. The comments - in which Sharif implied he was removed from office by the Supreme Court last year for trying to end military support for anti-India militants - led to an uproar in Pakistan, where criticising the military is increas-ingly considered a “red line” that cannot be crossed.

The National Security Council (NSC), in a special meeting yesterday, called by the military, rejected Sharif’s com-ments in an interview with Paki-stan’s Dawn newspaper as “incorrect and misleading”, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

“The participants unani-mously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions,” the office said, referring to military and civilian leaders. “(NSC) observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in dis-regard of concrete facts and realities.”

The statement was a rare rebuke of Sharif by a gov-ernment run by his own party, highlighting political tension in the run-up to a general election expected in July.

Sharif’s criticism of the mil-itary has caused divisions within

his party, analysts say, with some members unhappy about his confrontational approach.

The Supreme Court disqual-ified three-time prime minister Sharif from office in July last year over unreported sources of monthly income of less than $3,000 from a United Arab Emirates company, a salary he denied ever receiving.

The military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half its history, denies any interference in civilian politics.

India blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 2008 attack on the city of Mumbai. Ten gunmen spent three days spraying bullets and throwing grenades around landmarks.

India said the gunmen were Pakistani and had arrived on the Mumbai waterfront by rubber boat after crossing the Arabian sea from the Pakistani city of Karachi in a trawler.

India blamed Pakistan for failing to act against those behind the raids. Pakistan admitted the attacks were planned on its soil but denied any official involvement, and did not confirm the gunmen had set sail from Karachi.

Some Western powers and

India have accused the military of supporting Islamist groups for use as tools in achieving foreign policy objectives, but the mil-itary denies that.

Sharif, in the Dawn interview, obliquely criticised the military by denouncing “parallel governments”. He said there should only be one con-stitutional government.

The United States also blames LeT for the Mumbai attacks and has offered $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Hafiz Saeed, who heads Muslim charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which Washington says is a front for LeT. Efforts by Pakistan to put on trial those India says are responsible for the Mumbai attack have stalled, while Saeed operates largely freely in Pakistan.

Sharif, asked about his ouster, brought up issues of security and foreign policy - which the military controls.

“Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?,” Sharif said, according to Dawn.

“We have isolated ourselves. Despite giving sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted,” Sharif said.

Sharif yesterday told reporters that he stood by his comments, according to Daily Pakistan and Geo TV. But after the NSC meeting, Prime Minister Abbasi said he had met Sharif and the former leader told him he was “misquoted”.

Pakistani rescuers search for missing university students after a bridge collapsed in Kundal Shahi, Neelum district, in Pakistani Kashmir, yesterday. At least five students were killed and twelve others were reported missing on May 13 after a bridge collapsed at the tourist site.

Pakistani women celebrate as they ride pink motorcycles during the pink motorcycles rally in Lahore. Punjab government launched a Pink Motorcycle Scheme with the aim to empower women in society.

Bangladesh arrests 1,700 in nationwide anti-drug driveAFP

DHAKA: Bangladesh has arrested 1,700 suspected drug traffickers in a major sweep as authorities try to curb a booming trade in methamphetamine along the country’s borders.

Police urged drug dealers to sur-render their drug stashes — most notably of “yaba”, a popular street pill made up of caffeine and methamphetamine — or face the full force of the law.

Of those arrested in a little over a week, more than 1,400 had already been charged with drug trafficking by local courts. “I advise the retailers, dealers and smugglers to abandon their remaining stocks near our camps. That would be good for them,” said Benazir Ahmed, director general of the Rapid Action Bat-talion police unit which mainly carried out the raids. “This is a menace and we hope we’ll overcome it together.”

Bangladesh has been struggling to control a huge surge in yaba crossing its southeastern border from Myanmar,

where the cheap pills are manufactured by the hundreds of millions. Officials say the bulk of the drugs entering Bangladesh last year were brought by Rohingya ref-ugees fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar.

The drugs were being stashed on fishing boats bringing the persecuted civilians into Bangladesh. Some refugees were being used as mules, officials say.

Authorities last year seized a record 40 million yaba pills but said an esti-mated 250-300 million others managed to enter the market.

This year nine million yaba tablets were seized in less than three months as the refugee influx reached its peak. Nearly two million pills were discovered in a single haul. A director at the nar-cotics control department predicted that $600m worth of yaba could be sold on Bangladesh’s streets this year.

Authorities want to elevate yaba to a Class A banned substance, meaning traf-fickers would face the death penalty instead of life behind bars.

Ten die, 50 hurt in Bangladesh stampede for alms ahead of RamadanREUTERS

CHITTAGONG: A stampede yesterday by thousands of poor villagers outside the home of a businessman distributing alms ahead of Ramadan killed at least 10 women and injured about 50 people, police in southeast Bangladesh said.

It is a custom for devout Muslims to donate money or goods to the poor before or during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin tomorrow or Thursday. The stampede began after people jostled to collect clothes and other items at the residence of the owner of a steel mill, said police official Rafiqul Alam in the district of Chittagong, about 260km from Dhaka, the capital. “There were 10,000 to 12,000 people, mostly women and trying to push to each other to collect alms ahead of other and that led stamped,” he said.

Two Chinese among 19 dead in northern MyanmarAFP

BEIJING: Two Chinese nationals were among 19 people killed in northern Myanmar on Saturday when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts and a casino in an area bordering China, the foreign ministry said.

Several rockets and stray bullets fell on Chinese territory, it added, and more than 300 refugees have fled to China after the deadliest flare-up in the area in recent years.

“China is highly con-cerned about the armed conflicts that took place in northern Myanmar on May 12,” ministry spokes-person Lu Kang told a regular press briefing yesterday.

“According to what we have learned, as of now, the conflict has caused the

death of two Chinese nationals in Myanmar, and three rockets and some stray bullets have fallen into Chinese territory.”

China has also offered temporary shelter to “more than 300 Myanmar border residents who entered China to flee the violence”, Lu said, giving no details of how the Chinese were killed.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north, said it launched the oper-ation on Saturday.

“China demands that the parties to the conflict stop the fire immediately, take all measures to prevent further escalation of the situation... and prevent incidents that sabotage the peace and

stability in the China-Myanmar border region,” Lu said.

Saturday’s attack was launched outside the town of Muse in Shan state, which is situated at a crossing and major trading post between Myanmar and China’s Yunnan province.

Clashes in the border region in early 2017 sent more than 20,000 Myanmar refugees scram-bling across the border into Yunnan, raising ten-sions between the neigh-bours. Rights activists say clashes in northern Myanmar have intensified since January as the inter-national community focuses on the unfolding Rohingya crisis in the west of the country, where the Myanmar army stands accused of an ethnic cleansing campaign.

Canadian aid worker charged with abuseKATHMANDU:- A prominent Canadian aid worker has been arrested at his mountain villa in Nepal and charged with sexually abusing children, an official said yesterday.

Central Investigation Bureau chief Pushkar Karki said Peter Dalglish was arrested in April at his home with two Nepalese boys after weeks of investigation. His case is being heard by a court in Kavre, a town near Kath-mandu. Dalglish was charged with raping the two boys and faces up to 13 years in prison if convicted.

Water shortage in Islamabad likely to worsenINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: The water shortage in the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad may worsen in the summer as the water level in both Simly and Khanpur dams has not risen and 33 of the tube-wells are also dysfunctional.

“We are taking every pos-sible step to meet the water demand of the city but we need several rainspells or the water shortage will worsen in June and July,” said director water supply, Nasir Jamil Butt. He said the city requires 110 million gallons daily and that the civic agency has been providing 56MGD.

According to sources,

Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) provided con-nections to residents of Bhara Kahu and Kot Hatyal from the main Simly Dam line as well.

They said this will also con-tribute to the water shortage in the urban areas.

“The government is respon-sible for providing water to all citizens but the MCI should have explored other options such as the installation of new tubewells for supplying water to residents of Bhara Kahu and Kot Hatyal,” an MCI official said.

However, the director supply said the step was taken in order to regulate the water supply as people used to steal

water from the main Simly Dam supply line. Other sources, however, said the new connec-tions in these union councils (UC) were approved by the mayor after facing pressure from UC chairmen.

The MCI currently gets 19.5MGD with a 50pc cut from Simly Dam, 9MGD is being sup-plied from Khanpur Dam and almost 25MGD from 160 func-tional tubewells.

“Of a total 193 tubewells, 33 are dysfunctional,” an MCI official said. He added that these 33 tubewells have been dys-functional for several years and that no attempts are being made to repair them.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley (centre), reviews a military guard of honour with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, during a welcome ceremony in Beijing, yesterday.

The National Security Council (NSC), in a special meeting yesterday, called by the military, rejected Sharif’s comments as “incorrect and misleading”.

Voters list checking

Brunei Sultan visits Mahathir

15TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018 ASIA

Malaysia’s attorney-general to go on leave pending probeAP

KUALA LUMPUR: New Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that the attorney general has been told to go on leave pending an investigation of his role in allegedly covering up a massive corruption scandal involving ousted leader Najib Razak. The government also announced that the head of the country’s treasury has been relieved of his duties.

The 1MDB state fund set up by Najib is being investigated in the United States and several other countries. Anger over the scandal helped Mahathir’s alliance score a stunning election victory last week, ending the 60-year rule of Najib’s coalition.

U.S. investigators say Najib’s associates stole $4.5 billion from the fund, some of which landed in Najib’s bank account. After the scandal emerged, Najib sacked critics in his government, including the previous attorney general and a deputy premier, and muzzled the media.

His new attorney general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in 2016, saying the money was a

donation from the Saudi royal family and that most of it had been returned.

Mahathir, who earlier slammed Apandi’s credibility, said the solicitor general will take over Apandi’s job while he goes on leave. Mahathir said he can’t suspend Apandi until he is investigated.

“There have been a lot of complaints against the AG but no formal reports (lodged against him). On that basis, we give him a holiday ... once inves-tigations are carried out, then we can suspend him and prevent him from leaving the country,” he said in a televised news conference.

The government later announced that treasury head Mohamad Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who is also 1MDB’s chairman, “will not be allowed to carry out his duties as treasurer general or any matters relating to the finance ministry.” Irwan’s contract will be termi-nated June 14, ahead of its expiry next March, it said.

Mahathir, who has returned as prime minister after his retirement in 2003 following a 22-year rule, has promised to reopen investigations into the 1MDB fiasco, described by U.S.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at its worst.” He has warned that Najib will have to “face the consequences” if found guilty of wrongdoing.

Over the weekend, Mahathir barred Najib and his wife from leaving the country. He said Monday that several other top government officials have also been put on a travel blacklist to facilitate graft probes but declined to name them.

The head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, who was appointed by Najib in 2016, has resigned but Mahathir said he could also be investigated.

Also Monday, the graft agency’s former investigations and intelligence chief lodged complaints alleging that Najib had used his position to block corruption investigations into the 1MDB fund and several other cases. The US Justice Department says stolen 1MDB money was laundered through the U.S., Singapore, Switzerland and other countries, of which some $700 million landed in Najib’s bank account. 1MDB, which is staggering under enormous debt, has sold assets to Chinese interests and is slated to be shuttered.

UN chief: Closing

N Korea nuclear test

site an important stepREUTERS

VIENNA: Irreversibly closing North Korea’s nuclear test site is an important step that could pave the way for progress at talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday.

North Korea gave details on Saturday on the planned disman-tling of the Punggye-ri site where it is believed to have carried out all six of its nuclear tests.

The official Korean Central New Agency said it would take place between May 23 and 25 and involve collapsing all the site’s tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facil-ities, research buildings and security posts.

“I would like to welcome that and to say that the irreversible closure of the site will be an important confidence-building measure that will contribute to further efforts towards sustainable peace and verifiable denucleari-zation of the Korean peninsula,” Guterres said in a statement after meeting Austria’s chancellor in Vienna.

“And I look forward to this positive momentum being con-solidated at the summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea,” he said in the remarks to reporters after his meeting with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Trump and Kim are due to hold talks in Singapore on June 12, the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

After North Korea’s announcement on Saturday, Trump said on Twitter: “Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!”

Two families staged Indonesian suicide bombingsAFP

SURABAYA: A family of five, including a child, carried out the suicide bombing of a police headquarters in Indonesia’s second city Surabaya yesterday, police said, a day after a deadly wave of attacks on churches staged by another family.

The spate of bombings has rocked Indonesia, with the Islamic State (IS) group claiming the church attacks and raising fears about its influence in Southeast Asia as its dreams of a Middle Eastern caliphate fade.

Indonesia, which is set to host the Asian Games in just three months, has long struggled with militancy, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people — mostly foreign tourists — in the coun-try’s worst-ever terror attack.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown that smashed some networks, and most recent attacks have been low-level and targeted domestic security forces.

But that changed Sunday as a family of six -- including girls aged nine and 12 -- staged suicide bombings of three churches during morning services in Surabaya, killing 18 including the bombers.

On Monday members of another family blew themselves

up at a police station in the city, wounding 10. “There were five people on two motorbikes. One of them was a little kid,” national police chief Tito Karnavian said. “This is one family.”

An eight-year-old girl from the family survived the attack and was taken to hospital, while her mother, father and two brothers died in the blast, he said. The children were likely led to their deaths without a full awareness of their fate, said Ade Banani, of the University of Indo-nesia’s research centre of police science and terrorism studies.

If a family believed in tra-ditional roles, the father “has the power, so everyone has to obey”, Banani said.

“The children probably

don’t know what’s going on or don’t understand.”

The father of the church suicide bombers was a local leader in extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) which supports IS, and the second family was also linked to JAD. “It ordered and gave instructions for its cells to make a move,” Karnavian said of the Islamic State’s role in the church attacks.

He added that the bombings may have also been motivated by the arrest of JAD leaders, including jailed radical Aman Abdurrahman, and were linked to a deadly prison riot staged by Islamist prisoners at a high-security jail near Jakarta last week.

Grandfather suspected in Australia mass shootingCANBERRA: A 61-year-old farmer is suspected of carrying out Australia’s worst mass shooting in 22 years, killing six family members, including four of his grand-children, before turning the gun on himself last week, an official said yesterday.

Police found Peter Miles, his 58-year-old wife, their 35-year-old daughter and her four children with fatal gunshot wounds on Friday where they lived at Forever Dreaming Farm in the village of Osmington in Western Australia state.

People look for their names on a master list prior to casting their ballots at a voting precinct in Quezon City, suburban Manila, yesterday. People are casting their votes in the nationwide village elections in polling precincts in nearly 42,000 villages across the Philippines.

Australian climbs seven peaks in seven continents in record timeAP

KATHMANDU: An Australian mountaineer scaled Mount Everest yesterday, completing his quest to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents in record time, an expedition organizer said.

Australian climber Steve Plain scaled Everest 117 days after beginning his mission in Antarctica. Iswari Poudel of Himalayan Guides Nepal said he received a phone call from Mount Everest base camp saying that Plain along with two guides reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak at around 7am and were descending.

Plain, 36, from Perth, climbed Mount Vinson in Ant-arctica on Jan. 16. He followed that with Mount Aconcagua in South America, Mount Kili-manjaro in Africa, Mount Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea, which covers Australia and Oceania, Mount Elbrus in Europe and Denali in North America.

A surfing accident in 2014 left Plain with multiple injuries but he recovered to continue mountain climbing.

Polish climber Janusz Kochanski held the previous record for climbing the seven peaks, doing it in 126 days last year.

A 69-year-old Chinese double-amputee also scaled Mount Everest yesterday.

The newly installed Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad (right), shaking hands with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during his visit to Putrajaya, Malaysia, yesterday.

Over 8,000 people affected by Sri Lanka flash floodsQNA

COLOMBO: Over 8,000 people were affected as heavy rains caused flash floods in Sri Lanka’s southern districts of Galle and Kalutara, the Disaster Management Center said.

Spokesperson for the center Pradeep Kodippilli said in a statement that several people had been evacuated from their homes due to the heavy downpour, but as the rains had ceased by Monday morning, the situation was normalizing.

He said no casualties or damages had been reported but those living in low areas were urged to be vigilant. He also said more rains were expected on Monday night, but there is

no warning issued so far. Sri Lanka’s meteorological department, in its latest weather report, said showers or thunder-showers would occur over most provinces of the island country by Monday evening.

Heavy falls could also be expected at some places, par-ticularly in Central, Sabarag-amuwa, Southern, Uva and Western provinces and in Pol-onnaruwa and Vauniya dis-tricts, the meteorological department said. In 2017, the monsoons which hit Sri Lanka in the mid of May caused heavy flooding and landslides in several districts across the country resulting in over 200 deaths while thousands were displaced.

10 Abu Sayyaf militants dead in clashMANILA: Two soldiers and 10 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed after an attempt to free hostages held by the group, the Philippine army said yesterday.

The clash took place in Tanum, a remote village in Patikul town in the southern Philippines, said the com-mander of the Joint Task

Force Sulu Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana. “The fire-fight that lasted for about an hour left two soldiers dead and an estimated 10 uniden-tified Abu Sayyaf members killed,” Sobejana said.

Sobejana said the troops had launched artillery shells at the Abu Sayyaf fighters. “Our actions are however very

limited and calculated since we do not want to harm the kidnap victims,” he said.

The troops are tracking down two policewomen who were abducted last month in Paitkul. The policewomen were among the several hos-tages who were kidnapped by the militants loyal to the extremists.

Anti-terror policemen ride motorcycles following a bomb blast at a police station in Surabaya, Indonesia, yesterday.

The official Korean Central New Agency said it would take place between May 23 and 25 and involve collapsing all the site’s tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts.

16 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018EUROPE

Brexit in space: EU, Britain fight over Galileo navigationAP

BRUSSELS: Brexit talks have reached into space, with the European Union and Britain fighting over the rights that London will have to the multi-billion Galileo satellite navigation system and its security-sensitive information.

The EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday that by deciding to leave the bloc, Britain automatically cut its Galileo ties too and could rene-gotiate them only as a third country under less advantageous conditions.

Barnier did not address how short those conditions would fall of full EU membership.

“No decision has been already taken for the future cooperation between the UK and Galileo,” he told reporters in Brussels. “Obviously we will have cooperation between UK and Galileo, obviously, as we have for the United States or Norway.”

Reduced to a friendly third country at best has angered the British government, which sees it as a negotiating ploy in the pro-tracted Brexit negotiations that face a fall deadline if Britain’s March 29, 2019 departure date is to proceed smoothly.

British Science Minister Sam Gyimah told the BBC “we have

helped to develop the Galileo system. We want to be part of the secure elements of the system and we want UK industry to be able to bid for contracts on a fair basis.” “The EU is playing hardball with us,” Gyimah said.

Barnier insisted, however, that Britain itself, as an EU member, was part of the unan-imous decision that “for some information we have to protect the member states.”

The Galileo system has a top security Public Regulated Service for governments that only EU members can now fully use. Third countries and their com-panies cannot participate in the development of PRS security modules, Barnier said.

“Decisions have conse-quences,” said EU Foreign Affairs Chief, Federica Mogherini, as she and Barnier highlighted that with the 2016 Brexit decision, Britain decided to leave some 750 inter-national agreements in one fell swoop. Barnier, meanwhile,

continued to lament the snail’s pace of progress in the EU’s Brexit talks with Britain, insisting that a crucial June 28-29 EU summit on the issue was quickly drawing close. When queried if there was very little progress in

recent weeks, he said “a little, not very little.” “Nobody must have to underestimate the key ren-dezvous of June,” he added, when the EU’s 27 remaining leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May will have their

two-day summit. On the British side, former Foreign Secretary David Miliband has joined with politicians from rival parties to call for Britain to retain the closest possible ties with the EU after Brexit.

Polish European Affairs Minister, Konrad Szymanski (left), and Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney (centre), listen to Chief EU negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, prior to a General Affairs Council on article 50 at the European Council in Brussels, yesterday.

European spy chiefs warn of hybrid threats from Russia, ISAP

BERLIN: European intelligence chiefs warned yesterday that Russia is actively seeking to undermine their democracies by disinformation, cyberattacks and more traditional means of espi-onage.

The heads of Britain and Ger-many’s domestic intelligence agencies, as well as the European Union and Nato’s top security officials, pinpointed Moscow as the prime source of hybrid threats to Europe, citing attempts to manipulate elections, steal sensitive data and spark a coup in Montenegro.

They also cited the nerve agent attack against a former

Russian spy in Britain this year that Britain has blamed on Russia.

“Our respect for Russia’s people (...) cannot and must not stop us from calling out and pushing back on the Kremlin’s flagrant breaches of interna-tional rules,” the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency, Andrew Parker, told an intelligence gathering in Berlin.

Parker said the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury was swiftly followed by Russian attempts to divert blame. That resulted in at least 30 alternative theories about the attack being spread by Russian authorities and media.

“Whatever nonsense they

conjure up, the case is clear,” said Parker.

He later told reporters that since allied governments were first briefed on Russia’s involvement in the attack by the British government, “ the case, if anything, has got stronger since then.” Germany’s Domestic Intel-ligence Chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, said his agency, known as BfV, blames Russian author-ities for orchestrating a persistent cyberattack aimed at stealing sensitive data so it can be used in future intelligence campaigns, such as what happened with the Democratic National Committee emails leaked during the 2016 US presidential election campaign.

Maassen said authorities are particularly concerned about the possible funding of extremist groups aiming to divide European societies, and he called for greater awareness of hybrid attacks to counter such threats.

Sir Julian King, the EU’s Security Commissioner, warned that social media had “turbo-charged” state actors’ ability to spread disinformation, citing the recent revelations about Cam-bridge Analytica’s gathering of personal data from Facebook users to help manipulate elec-tions. King warned of future threats posed by sophisticated fake videos that are undis-cernible from real footage, calling it an example of a “deadly

weapon of mass disinformation” that societies need to find ways of becoming resilient to.

He also said the European Commission is working with social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to better inform users about why they are seeing certain posts and who is paying for them, to help protect against disinformation cam-paigns by groups or governments outside the country.

Nato’s Assistant Secretary-General for Intelligence and Security, Arndt Freytag von Lor-inghoven, said the price of launching hybrid attacks needs to increase, citing the expulsion of 150 undeclared spies by Britain and its allies in the wake

of the Salisbury attack. Intelli-gence chiefs also noted the con-tinued threat posed by Islamist extremism and the need to coop-erate closely among European agencies, despite Britain’s departure from the EU next year.

Parker, whose speech in Berlin was the first by a serving MI5 director outside Britain, said security agencies had thwarted 12 terrorist plots in the UK since Parliament was attacked in March 2017.

“We remain unwaveringly and absolutely committed to working together with European partners,” he said, calling for security cooperation to be enshrined in future treaties between Britain and the EU.

EU urges ‘more progress’ from Poland by next monthAFP

BRUSSELS: The EU warned Poland it could move closer next month to unprecedented sanc-tions, unless Warsaw makes “a lot more progress” in the row over its controversial court reforms.

Brussels in December trig-gered a process that could lead to Warsaw losing its European Union voting rights if it pursues reforms deemed to pose a “sys-temic threat” to the rule of law.

European Commission Vice

-President, Frans Timmermans, yesterday said Poland will face the “full spectrum” of possibil-ities when European affairs min-isters meet again on June 26, days before an EU leaders summit.

“We’ve made some progress but we still think there is a room for a lot more progress so that we are in a position to say no systemic threat,” Timmermans told a news conference.

“It could mean that the Com-mission (and) Poland make so much progress that we say that

there is no longer a systemic threat to the rule of law.

“It could also be on the other side of the spectrum that we do not advance at all anywmore, and we have to ask the council to engage in the follow-up phase of Article seven.” “Anywhere between those two most explicit solutions is possibile,” the former Dutch foreign minister added, refusing to say June was a deadline.

The next phase would involve the European Council of 28 member states organising a

hearing into whether to head further down the path of Article Seven of the EU treaty, which could see Warsaw’s voting rights suspended.

Poland’s right-wing PiS gov-ernment began making changes to the judiciary after coming to power in late 2015 and says the reforms are needed to combat corruption and overhaul the judicial system still haunted by the communist era.

Brussels has repeatedly warned that it views the changes as a threat to the democratic

principles Poland signed up to when it joined the EU.

Sanctions would need unan-imous support of all EU members -- except Poland.

Hungary has already said it would veto such a move, but Brussels is hoping the pro-ceedings have significant sym-bolic power.

Timmermans has welcomed amendments Poland has made in recent weeks to some of its reforms — including setting the same retirement age for male and female judges.

Demonstrators calling for justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, stand with images of the deceased on Parliament Square during a protest opposite the Houses of Parliament in central London, yesterday.

EU watchdog opens probe into Juncker aide promotionAFP

BRUSSELS: The EU’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the controversial promotion of European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker’s right-hand man, it said yesterday.

The probe follows com-plaints lodged by Dutch and French members of the European Parliament about the sudden rise of Martin Selmayr, said European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly in a letter to the commission dated May 8.

The European Parliament last month overwhelmingly backed a motion slamming the “coup-like” elevation of Ger-many’s Selmayr to the top civil service post in the 30,000-person commission in Feb-ruary. The ombudsman is giving the Commission until June 15 to answer seven questions on the conditions of Selmayr’s shock

appointment to the highly influ-ential post of Secretary-General. “We received the letter and we will reply within the deadline indicated,” European Commission spokesman Mar-garitis Schinas said on Monday without further comment.

O’Reilly intends to base her inquiry on the examination already carried out on the subject by MEPs.

In particular, the ombudsman has asked the commission how it will react to the issues raised in the case -- known in Brussels as “Selmayrgate” -- and whether it has severely damaged confi-dence in the EU.

O’Reilly noted that the European executive acknowl-edged “shortcomings” in its communication and asks what measures it intends to take “to improve the treatment of legit-imate and valid questions raised by the media”.

Ukraine suspends consul in Germany over remarks REUTERS

KIEV: A Ukrainian diplomat in Germany has been suspended and could be recalled, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday, following reports the consul had posted anti-Semitic content on social media.

Screenshots shared online claim to show Vasyl Marush-chynets, who works at Ukraine’s consulate in Hamburg, blaming Jews for World War II and saying “death to the anti-fascists” on his private Facebook page.

Reuters was not able to verify the images. Marush-chynets and the Hamburg consulate did not immedi-ately respond to requests for comment.

“Anti-semitism and those who stir up inter-ethnic discord can have no place either in civilised society or in the Foreign Ministry,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Twitter.

Asked what action the foreign ministry had taken in response to the reports about Marushchynets, ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said a consul had been sus-pended. “The question of recalling him is being con-sidered,” she said by tele-phone without referring to anyone by name. “We are looking at the anti-Semitic statements of the Ukrainian consul with concern. Such statements are totally unac-ceptable. We have clearly communicated this to the Ukrainian side,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Calling for justice

The EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday that by deciding to leave the bloc, Britain automatically cut its Galileo ties too and could renegotiate them only as a third country under less advantageous conditions.

17TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018 EUROPE

Quim Torra appointed leader of CataloniaAFP

BARCELONA: Quim Torra, a newcomer to politics who has campaigned fiercely for Catalo-nia’s independence, was appointed Regional President yesterday vowing to keep fighting for a break from Spain.

Torra’s election by the regional parliament paves the way for a new government in Catalonia after months of political limbo.

Analysts warn the road ahead will be rocky as he faces rifts within the separatist camp and Catalans remain deeply split over leaving Spain.

Torra, handpicked as presi-dential candidate by deposed, exiled leader Carles Puigdemont, scraped through the parlia-mentary vote — 66 separatist lawmakers voted for him, 65 non-independence MPs against and four abstained.

“We will build a Catalan republic,” he said after the vote, as lawmakers sang Catalonia’s anthem “Els Segadors” (“The Reapers” in English).

The 55-year-old father of three pledged to respect the result of an independence refer-endum, which was held on October 1 despite a court ban and marred by police violence.

Catalan separatist authorities said 90 percent of the 2.2 million people who cast their ballot in the referendum — out of 5.5 million eligible voters — opted to break from Spain.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for “understanding and harmony” but warned that he would not tolerate any breaking of the law and Spain’s constitution.

The formation of a new gov-ernment will automatically lift direct rule imposed by Madrid on October 27 after separatist lawmakers made a short-lived unilateral declaration of inde-pendence. In a bid to end the biggest political crisis to hit Spain

in decades, Rajoy called snap regional elections for December which separatist parties won as the secessionist movement in Catalonia showed no sign of dying down.

But since then, the presi-dential candidates put forward by the separatist camp had all fallen flat as they were either in jail in Spain over their role in the secession bid or in self-exile.

Torra, who was elected to the Catalan parliament in December on Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia list, finally made it through as he has no legal woes.

Puigdemont, who was deposed by Madrid last October, was shown on Catalan television watching Torra’s speech on a laptop from Germany where he awaits a court decision on whether to extradite him to Spain. He faces jail on rebellion charges for last year’s secession bid if he returns.

In an interview published on Saturday by Italian daily La Stampa, Puigdemont said Torra, as his designated successor, “takes power in provisional con-ditions and he is aware of that. From October 27, he will be able to call new elections”.

Ines Arrimadas, leader in Catalonia of the centrist, anti-independence Ciudadanos party,

has branded Torra a mere “puppet” for Puigdemont.

Torra tried — and failed — to be appointed on Saturday at an initial parliamentary vote that required an absolute majority.

During yesterday’s session, in which he only needed a simple majority, he outlined his new government’s plans for

education, health and employment. On Saturday, he had focused entirely on independence.

During that speech, he lam-basted European institutions for their “unacceptable silence” over the Catalan crisis. He also said a “Republican council” would be created abroad in parallel,

presided by Puigdemont, as well as an assembly composed of local officials. Torra has received strong criticism for some of his past articles and tweets. He once described Spain as “a country that exports misery” or slammed those who do not defend the Catalan language and culture as “scavengers, vipers and hyenas.”

Kosovo main ‘hurdle’ on Serbia’s path to EU: VucicAFP

BELGRADE: Kosovo remains the major “hurdle” blocking Serbia’s path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (pictured) said yesterday, urging concessions from Pristina.

“The only big problem that I see as a real obstacle in our European path is the Kosovo issue,” Vucic, an ultra-nation-alist turned pro-European, said.

Serbia, which hopes to join the EU in 2025 at the same time as Montenegro, staunchly refuses to recognise Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of inde-pendence and still considers the country as its southern province. Kosovo and Serbia both aspire to join the European Union, but Brussels has made clear that is not going to happen until the former foes normalise relations with a legally binding agreement. “After all it’s all about Kosovo, whether we’ll be able to do that or not,” Vucic said, speaking in English.

“And of course it’s more about Serbs but it’s also about the other side and they have to get a very strong message from the EU and from the West that they need to make some con-cessions as well,” he said.

Having launched negotia-tions under EU auspices in 2011, the two sides signed a deal five

years ago in order to improve the every day lives of their cit-izens. However, their dialogue has been stuck since Pristina failed to allow the Serbian minority in Kosovo to form an association of municipalities where they hold a majority.

Vucic has been involved in that dialogue with Pristina since he became deputy prime min-ister in 2012, then prime min-ister two years later and pres-ident last year. “They think that it is about time that Serbia rec-ognised the full independence of Kosovo and that’s it. They need to do nothing about Serbs, about Serbia, and they just need to wait. “I’m not ready to speak in concrete terms but they need to make some concessions in the real term of the word. If they are ready we can reach something, if they are not ready that’ll be very bad news for all of us,” Vucic said.

‘Armenia-Moscow ties will remain close’AFP

SOCHI, RUSSIA: New Armenian premier Nikol Pashinyan yesterday assured Russia’s Vladimir Putin that Yerevan’s ties with Moscow will remain close following his rise to power on the back of mass anti-government protests.

Pashinyan met the Russian president on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Summit in Sochi. It was his first meeting with a foreign leader since being elected prime minister last week. “I can assure you that on

this issue (of relations with Russia), there is consensus in Armenia, and nobody has or will question the strategic impor-tance of Russian-Armenian rela-tions,” he told Putin.

The 42-year-old former newspaper editor also thanked Putin for Russia’s “balanced position” during the Caucasus country’s political crisis when Pashinyan led weeks of protests and civil disobedience campaigns.

“This was highly appreciated not only by our government, but by Armenian society as a

whole,” he said. Moscow has previously intervened in several political crises in former Soviet countries, most notably in Ukraine in 2014.

Acknowledging Armenia as “our closest partner in the region,” Putin wished Pashinyan success in his new role, saying he hoped relations would “develop as steadily as they did until now.”

“We will be just as active in the international arena, starting from the UN where Armenia and Russia always support each other,” he added.

Croatia’s Deputy PM resignsAP

CROATIA: Croatian Deputy Prime Minister, Martina Dalic, resigned yesterday after her private email exchanges were published showing an alleged conflict of interest during the restructuring of the country’s largest private company.

She said at a joint media conference with Prime Min-ister, Andrej Plenkovic, that she was resigning to avoid being a burden for the gov-ernment amid pressure from coalition partners and the opposition.

“Personally, I have done nothing wrong, immoral or illegal. But the (public) per-ception is what it is,” Dalic said. Dalic, who is also the Economy Minister, has led the government drive to save retail and food producer Agrokor, which was placed under state administration in April 2017 after it accrued huge debt.

The independent Index.hr news portal last week and yesterday publ ished numerous emails from her private Hotmail account to legal and financial experts she consulted with while drafting an emergency law to save Agrokor from bankruptcy. Some of those experts were later hired as consultants, for huge fees, when the gov-ernment took over the company, prompting the con-flict-of-interest claims from the opposition.

Dalic called for an inves-tigation to determine how her email correspondence was made available to the portal, saying it was a “criminal act” according to Croatian laws.

Plenkovic praised Dalic’s role in preventing the Agrokor crisis from turning into a “tsunami” for the Croatian economy. He expressed regret at her resignation.

“It was an extraordinary crisis that called for extraor-dinary action,” Plenkovic said. “I believe that from the point of view of the state, we fulfilled our strategic goal and I can say we are content.” The company collapsed under the weight of ¤6bn in debt, including a disputed sum owed to two Russian state-run banks.

Orban: Hungarians are not ‘stone-hearted’ towards migrantsAP

WARSAW: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said yesterday that his country’s strong opposition to allowing migrants into Europe doesn’t mean that Hungarians have hearts of stone.

On a visit to Warsaw, Orban and his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, defended their refusal to accept refugees, a stance that has put them in conflict with the European Union.

Both leaders said their nations are aiding people in Africa and the Middle East, in or closer to their native lands, insisting this was a better way to address migration.

“We also have hearts, we do not have stones instead of hearts.

We are a Christian people. We know what commitments are, what it means to help. But we cannot help anyone if we destroy our country in the meantime,” Orban said during a news con-ference, according to a trans-lation of his remarks in Hungarian.

Both men cast the EU attempts to redistribute migrants across the member states as vio-lations of their national sover-eignty. “Here in Poland, it’s we who decide who will come to Poland and who will not,” Morawiecki said.

Orban’s visit to Warsaw, fol-lowing his re-election in April to a third consecutive term, comes as Poland and Hungary are seeking a united front against another EU plan — linking EU funding to rule of law.

Earlier this month, the Eur o pean C o mmiss io n announced the plan to tie funding in the 2021-27 period to prevent what it sees as an erosion of the independence of the judicial branch in both ex-communist nations.

Both Warsaw and Budapest have strongly denounced the EU plan as unfair and vowed to fight it. They argue that the billions the EU sends to developing countries like theirs eventually also ben-efits older EU members by cre-ating stable markets for their goods.

“They make money on us. They do not give us this money,” Orban said.

Morawiecki said of Poland and Hungary that “our positions are very close and one can say that we are getting closer.”

Newly elected Catalan regional President, Quim Torra (centre), is congratulated by members of his Junts per Catalonia (Together for Catalonia) parliamentary group after a vote session at the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, yesterday.

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, shakes hands with Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, yesterday.

Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban (left), during a meeting at the Palace on the Isle in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park, yesterday.

Torra, handpicked as presidential candidate by deposed, exiled leader Carles Puigdemont, scraped through the parliamentary vote — 66 separatist lawmakers voted for him, 65 non-independence MPs against and four abstained.

18 TUESDAY 15 MAY 2018AMERICAS

Supreme Court makes sports betting possible nationwide AFP

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court yesterday paved the way for states to legalise gambling on baseball, basketball, American football and other sports — a business worth tens of billions of dollars annually.

The nation’s top court ruled 6-3 in favour of New Jersey, the eastern state that has lobbied for years for the right to allow sports betting.

The court declared uncon-stitutional a 1992 federal law which banned wagering on pro-fessional and university sports except in four states where the market was already in place — Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon. Congress had enacted the legislation — championed by then US senator Bill Bradley, a Democrat and former star bas-ketball player for the New York Knicks — on the grounds that gambling would threaten the integrity of sporting events.

In its opinion, the high court said the US Congress reserves the right to regulate sports gam-bling directly, “but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own.” The ruling, which eliminates Nevada’s near-stran-glehold on sports betting in the

United States, is expected to lead to a rush by state legislatures to authorise sports wagering in a bid to reap tax revenue.

Former New Jersey gov-ernor Chris Christie, who had fought the law on behalf of the state’s down-on-their-luck casinos in Atlantic City, wel-comed the ruling.

“A great day for the rights of states and their people to make their own decisions,” Christie said. “New Jersey citizens wanted sports gambling and the federal Gov’t had no right to tell them no.”

Two leading fantasy sports companies — FanDuel and DraftKings — immediately announced plans to branch out into sports wagering.

“In the same way we revo-lutionised fantasy sports, we will bring innovation to the sports betting space,” FanDuel said in a statement.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said his company plans to “provide our customers with innovative online sports betting products.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is welcome news to the millions of Americans who cur-rently wager $150bn illegally each year through off-shore, black market bookies,” Robins said. “States are now free to allow their residents to place mobile sports bets with licensed, trusted companies based in the US and that pay taxes here.” British bookmaker William Hill, which already takes bets in Nevada, said it also hoped to get in on the action.

“We’ve been working towards this day for a long time and take great satisfaction in the Supreme Court’s decision,” it said in a statement.

“We look forward to working to make legal and reg-ulated sports betting a big winner for consumers, state governments and all interested parties across the country,” William Hill said.

Major League Baseball (MLB), which along with other professional sports leagues had opposed changing the law, said the ruling would have “profound effects.”

Demonstrators march to Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, in a demonstration against the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, yesterday.

US officer accused in My Lai massacre dies at the age of 81AFP

CHICAGO: Ernest Medina, a US Army captain accused but acquitted of responsibility in the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, has died in Wisconsin at the age of 81.

The 1968 mass killings of hundreds of unarmed civilians — many of them women, children and elderly — in the Vietnamese village of My Lai is known as one of the darkest chapters of US military history.

Medina, who was in charge of the army infantry company that carried out the massacre, was tried by mil-itary court-martial but acquitted of responsibility. He had claimed he was unaware of the massacre while it was taking place.

The cause of the 81-year-old’s death last Tuesday was not revealed in a family obituary. His funeral was held yesterday near his longtime home in the small Wisconsin city of Marinette.

Thieves suck millions out of Mexican banks in transfer heistREUTERS

MEXICO CITY: Thieves siphoned hundreds of millions of pesos out of Mexican banks, including No. 2 Banorte, by creating phantom orders that wired funds to fake accounts and promptly withdrew the money, two sources close to the government’s investigation said.

Hackers sent hundreds of false orders to move amounts

ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of pesos from banks including Banorte, to fake accounts in other banks, the sources said, and accomplices then emptied the accounts in cash with-drawals in dozens of branch offices.

One source said the thieves made off with more than 300m pesos ($15.4m). Daily news-paper El Financiero said about 400m pesos had been stolen in

the hack, citing an anonymous source. Lorenza Martinez, head of Banxico’s payment system, said that five institutions saw “unauthorised transfers,” but she stopped short of calling it a cyber attack.

Inter-bank transfers slowed in later April, feeding worries that Latin America’s second biggest economy could be the latest victim in a global wave of cyber attacks.

Hackers may have had help

inside bank branches, since such big cash withdrawals are uncommon, one source said.

“In terms of the security of the bank’s offices, I think that is part of the analysis that each bank is doing,” Martinez said.

Martinez said that the central bank’s SPEI interbank transfer system was not com-promised but that the problem had to do with software developed by institutions or third-party providers to

connect to the payment system.Mexico’s SPEI system is a

domestic network similar to the SWIFT global messaging system that moves trillions of dollars each day. Hackers have used SWIFT connections to attack banks around the world.

The central bank and banks have said that no clients had been affected so far. Martinez said that the transfers hit accounts of financial institu-tions in the central bank.

Volcanic gases rise from the ground in the Leilani Estates subdivision during the ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, US, yesterday.

New volcanic lava fissure prompts more evacuations in HawaiiAP

HAWAII: A new volcanic fissure on Hawaii’s Big Island sent gases and lava exploding into the air, prompting officials to issue calls for more evacuations as resi-dents awaited a possible major eruption at Kilauea volcano’s summit.

Hawaii County Civil Defence issued an emergency cellphone alert after the fissure was dis-covered early Sunday morning. The agency said one “uniden-tified structure” was destroyed by the new vent, bringing the total number of homes and

other buildings lost to lava to nearly 40.

Residents living near the fissure were told to evacuate, and two nearby community centers were serving as shelters for people and pets.

Lava spread across hun-dreds of yards (meters) of private land and loud explosions rocked the neighborhood not far from the Leilani Estates subdi-vision, where more than a dozen other active vents opened over the past week.

Nearby resident Richard Schott, 34, watched from a police checkpoint as the

eruption churned just over a ridgeline and behind some trees.

“I’ve actually seen rocks fly over the tree line and I can feel it in my body,” Schott said. “It’s like a nuclear reaction or some-thing.” The new opening still showed signs of activity Sunday afternoon and was about 1,000 feet (300 metres) long, officials said.

Few fissures, ground defor-mation and abundant volcanic gases indicate eruptions on the eastern flank of Kilauea are likely to continue, the US Geo-logical Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

Up in arms

Lopez opens lead ahead of July polls REUTERS

MEXICO CITY: Mexican leftist presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has maintained the leading position in the race to win the July election, opening a 20-point lead ahead of his nearest competitor, a poll by newspaper El Financiero showed yesterday.

Lopez Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor, is the first choice of 46 percent of voters surveyed while his nearest rival, Ricardo Anaya, who heads a right-left coa-lition, has 26 percent support.

The result marks slight growth for both Lopez Obrador and Anaya com-pared to a March survey by El Financiero, while it showed a 4-point decline for Jose Antonio Meade, the candidate of the ruling PRI.

Melania Trump treated for benign kidney conditionREUTERS

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, underwent a surgical procedure yesterday to treat a benign kidney condition and will remain at Walter Reed medical centre for the rest of the week, the first lady’s office said.

Spokeswoman Stephanie

Grisham said in a statement that Trump, 48, underwent an embolisation procedure to treat the kidney condition.

“The procedure was suc-cessful and there were no com-plications,” Grisham said. “The first lady looks forward to a full recovery so she can continue her work on behalf of children everywhere.”

President Trump was expected to visit her at the hos-pital, which is located in Bethesda, Maryland, a Wash-ington suburb, a White House official said.

The Slovenian-born first lady last week rolled out an agenda for her White House work focused on helping children.

AP

MADISON: The Wisconsin Department of Justice has again concluded that secretly recorded videos of a liberal activist reveal no evidence of election fraud.

The agency released inves-tigative reports yesterday that show the probe into recordings made by conservative group Project Veritas Action during the run-up to the 2016 election ended on May 2 with no crimes substantiated.

The investigative film group released footage in October 2016 of Scott Foval boasting about connections to the Dem-ocratic Party and Hillary Clin-ton’s campaign. Foval, who was based in Wisconsin, appears to say he had arranged for people to incite violence at Donald Trump rallies and that it would be easier to get away with voter fraud if out-of-state residents drive to the polls themselves rather than organizers busing them in.

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel said shortly after the videos were released that he was worried they suggest election fraud. Word broke in April 2017 that the state Justice Department Criminal Litigation Director Roy Korte had concluded that January that the statements in the videos were vague and lack context. He said there was no basis to believe the videos show

or suggest violations of state law.

James O’Keefe, the conserv-ative activist who runs Project Veritas, accused Schimel of not mounting a serious investi-gation. Days later, Schimel said the investigation was ongoing.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the new investigative reports’ content. The documents show special agents reviewed the videos again and found no evidence of criminal activity. An agent attempted to set up an interview with Foval, who had moved to Arizona, but the attempts were unsuccessful.

Investigators questioned the undercover Project Veritas Action operative who recorded the videos. The worker, whose name was redacted from the reports, acknowledged recording conversations with Foval. The reports don’t include any conclusions investigators may have drawn from the interview. Investigators also reviewed six other Project Veritas Action undercover videos of Robert Creamer, a Democratic strategist who heads Democracy Partners of Washington, D.C., shot in 2016. Those videos haven’t been released. The person recording the videos suggests moving workers who are in the US ille-gally to Wisconsin and giving them paystubs and addresses of foreclosed properties so they can vote.

Wisconsin again finds secret video that shows no election fraud

The nation’s top court ruled 6-3 in favour of New Jersey, the eastern state that has lobbied for years for the right to allow sports betting.


Diverse items at ‘Meerat Ramadan’ attract huge crowd THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The holy Ramadan souq at Katara Cultural Village, dubbed ‘Meerat Ramadan’, which opened last week, has been attracting large number of

visitors, with a wide range of consumer products on offer for sale at attractive prices.

Katara has also lined up a variety of games and enter-tainment activities for children and families at ‘Meerat Ramadan’

during the holy month of Ramadan, most importantly the Katara Play Station Champi-onship 2018 which will take place from 15 to 20 of Ramadan.

“We have lined up a wide range of activities at Meerat Ramadan throughout the Holy month of Ramadan to make it a favourite spot for shopping, culture and entertainment, for families and the entire public,” said Salman Al Nuaimi, head of the organizing committee of Meerat Ramadan.

He expressed happiness over the wide acceptance Meerat has received from public since its opening and said that it has become a major component of Katara’s Ramadan activities.

‘Meerat Ramadan; opened on May 6 will run until May 20. The souq is now open for visitors from 5pm until 10pm daily. This schedule will continue until the beginning of the holy Ramadan. During holy Ramadan, the

market will remain open from 8pm to 2 pm on all days.

A number of Qatari com-panies have set up stalls at Meerat Ramadan selling products ranging from fruits and vegetables to Qatari honey and Karak tea. The vegetable stalls feature fresh products from Qatari farms, at prices lower than what is existing in the local market. Products such as tomato, cucumber, green and red chili, capsicum and leafy vegetables

grown in greenhouses are being sold at low prices. There are also stalls selling fruits from the Doha central market available at attractive prices.

Al Meera company has set up stalls with variety of its consumer products while Widam Food company is selling meat at sub-sided prices. Qatari companies Ghadeer and Dandy are offering their dairy products.

A major attraction of the market is the authentic Qatari

products on offer such as honey, pure ghee from cow’s milk, spices used for special Qatari dishes such as Makboos and tea and coffee powder for making Karak and Ghahwa.

A new product, ‘Qatar Tea’, has lots of customers as it is a favourite item for making Karak Tea. An array of stalls are offering traditional Qatari dishes cooked on the spot. Fruit and vegetable plants and ornamental plants are also available for sale.

A stall of ‘Meerat Ramadan’ at Katara Cultural Village.

A street along Katara Cultural Village is seen illuminated. BELOW: A fruit and vegetable stall.

Women burn calories at ISC’s Zumba session THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Indian Sports Center’s (ISC) Yoga and Fitness Committee organised Zumba session exclusively for ladies at Birla Public School audi-torium on May 5.

Nisha Agrawal, Head of Yoga and Fitness at ISC, wel-comed the participants with a brief overview of Indian Sports Centre’s activities in the past one year and shared some of the upcoming activities. The event was opened by Habibul Nabi, General Secretary at ISC.

Zumba is one of the most popular cardio vascular dancing workouts to burn tonnes of calories.

The session was given by one of the finest Zumba trainers in Doha, who took the members to a different level with some of the popular Zumba dancing styles; Cumbia, Merengue, Salsa, Bachata, Reg-gaeton, Moombahton, Bhangra, Hindi pop and Dembow. The music, the rhythms, the up-beat feeling in class was incredibly conta-gious and thrilling.

Committee member, Sujatha Fernandes, was behind the camera whereas Sowmya Naidu, Ruby Vipin, Zarna Bhatt meticulously assisted with reg-istration and managed the pro-gramme. Vote of thanks was presented by Renu Malhotra,

with a promise and com-mitment that ISC - Yoga and Fitness committee will con-tinue to bring more such

exclusive events for the com-munity to embrace a fitness oriented lifestyle as a normal routine.

Participants pose with the trainer at the Zumba session organised by Indian Sports Center’s Yoga and Fitness Committee at Birla Public School auditorium.

Doha Academy organises annual Holy Quran contestTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Doha Academy held ‘Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani 15th Annual Quran Competition’ as part of its continued efforts in spreading the Islamic culture and encour-aging students to preserve and memorise The Holy Quran.

Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani’s Holy Quran Competition is sponsored by Dr. Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, the school owner and

preacher of Islamisation of foreign curricula in international schools operating in Qatar.

This year’s competition saw a remarkable development at all levels in terms of compe-tition, awards, the number of participating schools and the number of participating stu-dents. It indicated that the com-petition has achieved its goal of spreading the book of God among school students.

The jury included Maulana Kurch from Macedonia, the head

jurist; Sheikh Abdul Salam Hassan Qandil, Imam of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs; and Sheikh Yusri Al Sayyed Al Saqqa, Coordinator of Shariah Sciences at the Doha Academy School. Seventy schools operating in Qatar, including independent schools, community schools, interna-tional and English schools, took part in the pre-competition phase this year. As many as 188 students from the memorisers of Allah’s Book competed.

A student is honoured at ‘Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani Annual Quran Competition’ organised by Doha Academy.

A view during the Zumba session.

Katara has lined up a variety of games and entertainment activities for children and families at ‘Meerat Ramadan’ during the holy month of Ramadan, most importantly the Katara Play Station Championship 2018, which will take place from 15 to 20 of Ramadan.

HBKU’s new centre aims to develop AI technologies to serve domestic needs THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), is poised to launch the QCRI Center for Artificial Intel-ligence (Q-CAI), an initiative that plans to ramp up the devel-opment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to serve the domestic needs of Qatar and to position the country as a global leader in AI.

Q-CAI will focus on research, education and policy initiatives that will position Qatar and promote organic homegrown AI technologies, as well as embrace emerging solutions. The center will also develop policy guide-lines for the citizens of Qatar to use AI in a manner consistent with local cultural norms, and work with education providers from kindergarten to universities to create programs that promote knowledge of AI within the Qatari education system.

QCRI’s Executive Director Ahmed Elmagarmid said the centre will increase QCRI’s focus on AI, which has flourished since the research institute was formed in 2010.

“Q-CAI will leverage our existing efforts to reflect that AI, or m a c h i n e learning, is what our research relies on,” Dr. Elmagarmid said. “Setting up a special arm to promote this is a n a t u r a l progression.”

The new center will be based at QCRI’s existing headquarters at the HBKU Research Complex, and will involve some of QCRI’s leading AI experts.

QCRI’s AI research in the areas of Arabic language tech-nologies, data analytics, dis-tributed systems, cyber security and social computing, has won numerous international awards and been published in some of the world’s most prestigious aca-demic journals.

The institute uses AI in tech-nologies ranging from devel-oping systems to build road maps, to developing health tech-nologies to detect genetic markers in cancer. QCRI has also used AI in its award-winning

computational social science work including devising a system to help emergency responders following natural disasters, and in tracking gender imbalances in Internet usage. Other examples include using AI in its language transcription and translation tools, in an app to automate systematic reviews and in some of its cyber security pro-grams. QCRI is one of three national research institutes under HBKU’s umbrella. The institute empowers technological transformation and drives solu-tions that are innovative and rel-evant to the needs of the country, the region, and the world. The new Q-CAI will be officially opened in the Fall.

Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive Director of QCRI.


FAJRSHOROOK

03. 25 AM

04. 49 AM

11. 30 AM

02. 57 PM

06. 13 PM

07. 43 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 04:00 – 17:30 LOW TIDE 10:30 – 23:45

Relatively hot daytime with some clouds

at times and slight dust to blowing dust

at places.

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 28oC 36oC

Rolls-Royce Cullinan launchedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha, the authorised dealer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in Qatar, has officially unveiled the new Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

The Cullinan, the first-ever SUV in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, was unveiled to privileged guests, top tier customers and invited members of the press at an exclusive invite-only event held at the luxurious sur-roundings of Kempinski Marsa Malaz, The Pearl-Qatar, on Sunday and yesterday.

Hosted by Rabih Ataya, General Manager, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha (RRMCD), the event highlighted the stunning array of engineering achieve-ments and design features that make the Cullinan one of the finest luxury SUVs on the market today.

Marking Rolls-Royce’s debut in the SUV market, the Cullinan has been created to meet the demands of cus-tomers in the region and around the globe who desire a combination of high-end refinement, superior comfort and powerful off-road capabilities. The Cullinan is a true ‘Effortless Everywhere’ SUV. Equally at home off-road or in the

TOP: Rabih Ataya, General Manager, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha, speaking during the launch of Cullinan, the first-ever SUV in the history of Rolls-Royce, at a function held at the Marsa Malaz Kempinski, at The Pearl-Qatar, yesterday. LEFT: The interior of the Cullinan. PICTURES: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE

PENINSULA

city, it offers uncompromised luxury to allow the driver and pas-sengers to fully embrace and enjoy the world around them, wherever they dare to go.

The Cullinan represents the culmination of Rolls-Royce’s long and celebrated history. It is the natural evolution of the car-maker’s luxury concept, from delivering the ultimate in urban transport to fully embracing every environment and conquering every terrain.

Ataya said: “The new Rolls-Royce Cullinan was officially unveiled to distinguished guests, industry figures and members of the media at an exclusive unveiling in Qatar’s capital, Doha. The Cullinan marks the next stage in the ongoing development of Rolls-Royce in the Middle East.”

“The region continues to be an important market for Rolls-Royce and we are sure the Cullinan will prove to be popular with luxury SUV customers who demand a higher level of per-formance and comfort.”

Documents

Qatar, Somalia to strengthen ties · 2018. 5. 15. · PSG hire Tuchel as new coach ... Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, ... Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh