QATAR | Page 16 SPORT | Page 1 Abbas fl oors Australia for Pakistan’s series Qatari artists showcase graffi ti skills at QMS victory published in QATAR since 1978

SATURDAY Vol. XXXIX No. 10977 October 20, 2018 Safar 11, 1440 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Defence minister In brief

QATAR | Phone call opens Typhoon Amir hails Kuwait’s support for IPU session His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani held yesterday a telephone conversation with the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah and Hawk T2 al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah. During the phone call, the Amir expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Kuwaiti Amir for his country’s support for Qatar in its eff orts to host the 140th session of the Inter- production lines Parliamentary Union, which will be held in Doha in April 2019. The QNA established in Qatar, which will have Attache in the UK Brigadier General phone conversation reviewed the Warton, UK a prominent role in serving the Qa- (Air Force) Hamad bin Jassim al-Marri, deep-rooted relations between the tar Armed Forces in particular and all director of Al-Dhariyat Project Ty- two countries and the latest regional sectors and state institutions in gen- phoon aircraft Brigadier General (Pilot) and international developments. he production lines of Eurofi ght- eral. Jassem Mohamed al-Mannai, British er Typhoon combat jets and The inauguration of Typhoon and ambassador to Qatar Ajay Sharma and QATAR | Diplomacy THawk advanced jet trainer air- Hawk T2 production lines follows His a number of senior offi cers in Qatar craft T2 for Qatar were inaugurated in Highness the Amir and Commander- Armed Forces. Advisory Council Warton, UK, by HE the Deputy Prime in-Chief of the Qatar Armed Forces HE Dr al-Attiyah and the British Speaker back home Minister and Minister of State for De- Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson HE the Advisory Council Speaker fence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed inaugurating the operations of the signed a contract to supply 24 Typhoon Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Attiyah yesterday. Qatari Amiri Air Force and the Brit- and nine Hawk aircraft on Decem- al-Mahmoud returned yesterday The project, named “Al-Dhariyat”, ish Royal Air Force joint squadron last ber,10, 2017, QNA added. evening to Doha from Geneva aims to develop the capabilities of the July. Speaking to Gulf Times in April this after chairing Qatar’s delegation Qatari Amiri Air Force and within its The project is unique in its ability to year, ambassador Sharma had said Qa- participating at the 139th Assembly plans to modernise its fl eet of modern enhance the capabilities of the Amiri tar’s defence relations with the UK will of the Inter-Parliamentary Union fi ghters to protect the country’s ca- Air Force and the joint action and de- get a further boost with the acquisition (IPU), which announced on pabilities, offi cial Qatar News Agency fence, and the joint squadron will have of Typhoon jets, in time for the FIFA Thursday that Qatar will host its (QNA) reported. a prominent and eff ective role in pro- 2022 World Cup. 140th session. HE Dr al-Attiyah, who is currently tecting the Qatari airspace during the “There will be Typhoon ready for HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin visiting the UK, was briefed on the FIFA 2022 World Cup. the World Cup. We certainly see these ARAB WORLD | Confl ict Mohamed al-Attiyah inaugurates Typhoon and Hawk T2 production lines in Warton, preparations and equipment to be The inauguration ceremony yester- jets as part of the way of securing the Dozens of Gazans hit UK, yesterday. adopted by a technical college to be day was attended by the Qatari Military event.” Page 2 by Israeli gunfi re At least 130 Palestinians were hit by Israeli gunfire yesterday as thousands protested near Gaza’s border with Israel, the health ministry in the enclave Al Shaqab horses land four gold medals in Morocco said. Following calls to avoid an escalation in violence, the demonstrators largely kept their By A Correspondent before Um Gariba Al Shaqab won gold ability to dominate at international distance from the fortified frontier El Jadida, Morocco among the two-three-year-old fi llies. shows. We had only six horses in this fence. But at least 130 Palestinians Al Shaqab’s dominance continued show and we eventually won four were injured by live fire in clashes among the mares too, with Aaida Al champion titles as well as a bronze with Israeli soldiers, the ministry l Shaqab horses landed four out Shaqab winning the championship medal. Al Shaqab also did not par- said. Page 3 of a total six gold medals in the round. ticipate in the Stallions or the Yearling AMorocco International Purebred Hagras Al Shaqab rounded up the Colts classes. Given these facts and INDIA | Accident Arabian Horse Show, part of the Salon du medal haul with a win among the two- the total number of the gold medals Cheval, in El Jadida, Morocco, yesterday. three-old colts, with Moroccan model we have won, we can say our success More than 50 dead The 11th edition of the week-long and actress Leila Hadioui presenting in this Show has surpassed all expec- in train disaster equestrian event has Qatar Racing and the medals in this class. tations.” A speeding train ran over revellers Equestrian Club (QREC) as the Plati- Al Shaqab-bred Marsal Al Shaqab, Talking about the future, he said: watching fireworks during a Hindu num Sponsors. owned by Le Haras Royal de Bouznika, “We will head to the USA to participate festival in northern India yesterday, As many as fi ve horses by Al Shaqab, emerged as the champion stallion. in an international horse show there. killing more than 50 people, with member of Qatar Foundation, had Understandably, Al Shaqab’s Breed- Our next stop will be the World Cham- eyewitnesses saying they were made it to the championship rounds of ing and Show manager Sheikh Hamad pionship in France next month where given no warning before disaster the horse show in the presence of some bin Ali al-Thani was elated with these we will participate with Fadi Al Shaqab struck. The crowd had gathered on excellent competition from Morocco, victories. in the Platinum Competition. We will railway tracks in the city of Amritsar Spain and France, only demonstrating “Congratulations to the people of work towards improving the quality of in Punjab state to watch a fireworks their domination at Purebred Arabian Qatar for these brilliant victories, which our breeding, which we, in Qatar, are show marking the Dussehra festival horse shows. further confi rmed Al Shaqab’s global already proud of, especially as the stal- Al Shaqab’s Breeding and Show manager Sheikh Hamad bin Ali al-Thani with two when the train barrelled down the Galliba Al Shaqab opened the day leadership in this discipline,” he said. lions champion title went to Marsal Al of the horses that won gold at the Morocco International Purebred Arabian Horse line at high speed. Page 10 with a win among the Yearling Fillies, “They also demonstrate Al Shaqab’s Shaqab.” Show, part of the Salon du Cheval, in El Jadida yesterday. As Khashoggi crisis grows, Saudi king checks son’s power

Reuters “The selection of Khaled, a senior the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia MbS, 33, has implemented a series of and intelligence agencies. Western allies about his leadership. Dubai royal with high status, is telling as he to his son, commonly known as MbS, high-profi le social and economic re- His reforms have been accompanied “Even if he is his favourite son, the is the king’s personal adviser, his right was unaware of the extent of the crisis, forms since his father’s accession, in- by a crackdown on dissent, a purge of king needs to have a comprehensive hand man and has had very strong ties according to two of the sources with cluding ending a ban on women driving top royals and businessmen on corrup- view for his survival and the survival o grave is the fallout from the dis- and a friendship with (Turkish Presi- knowledge of the Saudi royal court. and opening cinemas in the kingdom. tion charges, and a costly war in Yemen. of the royal family,” said a fourth Saudi appearance of Saudi journalist dent) Erdogan,” said a Saudi source That was partly because MbS aides But he has also marginalised senior Khashoggi’s disappearance has fur- source with links to the royal court. SJamal Khashoggi that King Sal- with links to government circles. had been directing the king to glowing members of the royal family and con- ther tarnished the crown prince’s rep- “In the end it will snowball on all of man has felt compelled to intervene, Since the meeting between Prince news about the country on Saudi TV solidated control over Saudi’s security utation, deepening questions among them.” To Page 9 fi ve sources with links to the Saudi royal Khaled and Erdogan, King Salman has channels, the sources said. family said. been “asserting himself” in manag- That changed as the crisis grew. Last Thursday, Oct 11, the king dis- ing the aff air, according to a diff erent “Even if MbS wanted to keep this Trump says Congress will be involved in US response patched his most trusted aide, Prince source, a Saudi businessman who lives away from the king he couldn’t because Khaled al-Faisal, governor of Makkah, abroad but is close to royal circles. the story about Khashoggi’s disappear- President Donald Trump said Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike widening the hunt for clues in a to Istanbul to try to defuse the crisis. Saudi offi cials did not immediately ance was on all the Arab and Saudi TV yesterday that the US Congress will Pompeo warned of a “wide range” case straining Riyadh’s alliance with World leaders were demanding an respond to Reuters questions about the channels watched by the king,” one of be involved in determining the US of responses should Washington Western powers. explanation and concern was grow- king’s involvement in helping to super- the fi ve sources said. response to the disappearance of determine that Saudi Arabia is behind Turkish police searched a forest on ing in parts of the royal court that the vise the crisis. “The king started asking aides and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. the disappearance and apparent Istanbul’s outskirts and a city near king’s son Crown Prince Mohamed bin A spokesman for Prince Khaled re- MbS about it. MbS had to tell him and “I’m going to have very much death of Khashoggi. the Sea of Marmara for Khashoggi’s Salman, to whom he has delegated vast ferred Reuters to government repre- asked him to intervene when Khashog- Congress involved in determining “We’ll certainly consider a wide range remains, two senior Turkish off icials powers, was struggling to contain the sentatives in Riyadh. gi’s case became a global crisis,” this what to do,” Trump told reporters in of potential responses, but I think told Reuters, after tracking the routes fallout, the sources said. Khashoggi, a US resident and leading source said. Since he acceded to the Scottsdale, Arizona. the important thing to do is that the of cars that left the consulate and During Prince Khaled’s visit, Turkey critic of the crown prince, vanished after throne in January 2015, the king has “I will very much listen to what facts come out,” Pompeo told Voice of the consul’s residence on the day he and Saudi Arabia agreed to form a joint entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul given MbS, his favourite son, increasing Congress has to say. They feel very America radio. vanished. working group to investigate Khashog- on October 2. Turkish offi cials say they authority to run Saudi Arabia. strongly about it also. So I’ll be doing Turkish prosecutors investigating Investigators have recovered samples gi’s disappearance. believe the Saudi journalist was mur- But the king’s latest intervention this with Congress,” he said. Khashoggi’s disappearance from searches of both buildings to The king subsequently ordered the dered there and his body removed, alle- refl ects growing disquiet among some Congress is controlled by Trump’s questioned Turkish employees of the analyse for traces of Khashoggi’s Saudi public prosecutor to open an in- gations which Saudi Arabia has denied. members of the royal court about MbS’s fellow Republicans. Saudi consulate in Istanbul yesterday, DNA. quiry based on its fi ndings. Initially the king, who has handed fi tness to govern, the fi ve sources said. Gulf Times 2 Saturday, October 20, 2018 QATAR

Typhoon and Hawk T2 production lines inaugurated Pakistan prime minister meets FM

HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah along with the Qatari military attache in the UK Brigadier General (Air Force) Hamad bin Jassim al-Marri, Al-Dhariyat Project Typhoon director Brigadier General (Pilot) Jassem Mohamed al-Mannai, and a number of senior off icers of the Qatar Armed Forces at in Warton, United Kingdom. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan met yesterday with HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Af- fairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani during his off icial visit to Islama- bad. The meeting discussed bilateral relations and means of boosting them, as well as matters of common concern. HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also met with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Dur- ing the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations between Qatar and Pakistan, ways of boosting and developing them, and a number of regional and international issues of common concern.

Qatar, Malaysia for more Vietnam considering visa legal co-operation exemption for Qataris

By Ayman Adly “Besides, such direct fl ights up joint commissions to further Staff Reporter make Qatar an important link to enhance co-operation in areas of Vietnam tourism as many tran- mutual interest. sit fl ights go through Doha to Vi- The envoy said this year Viet- ietnam is keen to attract etnam from diff erent countries,” nam is marking the 25th anniver- more Qatari tourists, am- he observed. sary of establishing diplomatic Vbassador Nguyen Dinh In the meantime, Vietnam is relationships with Qatar and there Thao has told Gulf Times. There looking for higher level exchange has been a lineup of cultural and is also serious consideration to of visits between the leaderships arts events to mark the occasion. exempt Qatari citizens from the of Qatar and Vietnam, and prepa- There will be a “Vietnam need to apply for a visa to visit rations are going on in this regard. Landscapes” exhibition at Ka- Vietnam, he explained. Such visits are expected to result tara – the Culture Village by the “We receive millions of tour- in signing several agreements be- end of this month, in addition to Attorney-General HE Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri took part in a ists from around the world every tween the two friendly countries other scheduled events to fur- seminar on the legal systems in Qatar and Malaysia, at the year and we need to further pro- in various fi elds of cooperation ther promote Vietnam in Qatar. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Kuala mote Vietnam in Qatar,” said the for the best of both of them. “In Vietnam, senior offi cials Lumpur yesterday. The seminar, moderated by MACC chief envoy. In addition, by the fi rst quar- are working to introduce more Shukri Abdull, discussed the future co-operation in the He pointed out that Qatar ter of next year a top level del- tourist-friendly services and fields of the rule of law and the fight against corruption. The Airways has daily direct fl ights egation from Vietnam’s minis- facilities that suit people from attorney-general toured the MACC facilities where has was to north and south Vietnam and try of labour, invalids and social this region such as halal restau- briefed on the mechanism of work of the commission. He met is set to launch new direct fl ights aff airs will visit Qatar to meet rants and more health facilities, with Anwar Ibrahim, a member of the Malaysian Parliament, soon to the central region of Vi- their counterparts at the Minis- as our country welcomes and re- and exchanged views on the legal and judicial co-operation etnam which would further ease try of Economy and Commerce spects the diversity and diff erent between the two friendly countries. Vietnam ambassador Nguyen Dinh Thao travel from Qatar. and the related entities and set preferences,” he added. Doha Port to host 42 visits Ports handle 384 vessels in Sept atar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) Qhas released data on its performance in September 2018. by cruise ships this season The infographic shows that gen- eral cargo handling went up by 21,480 tonnes - from 71,990 atar Ports Management 2. It is to be followed by Aza- cember 3 and again on April 9, rity Constellation and Seabourn tonnes in August to 93,470 Company (Mwani Qa- mara Quest, which will call on 2019, and AIDAprima will visit Ovation will call on Doha Port tonnes last month, while roll- Qtar) has released the list Doha Port on November 5. on December 12, December 19, twice each, while ships with a on, roll-off units increased by of cruise ships that will call on Next is Mein Schiff 4 on No- February 13, 2019, March 13, single visit are Boudicca, Aza- 871 units - from 5,232 units in Doha Port in the 2018-19 cruise vember 8, with the cruise vessel March 20, March 27, April 3 mara Quest, Costa Mediterra- August to 6,103 units last month. season. returning to Doha on Novem- and April 10. nea and Silver Shadow, the list Building materials handling also The season began earlier ber 21, December 5, Decem- The Mwani Qatar list also re- shows. registered an increase of 3,408 this month and will continue ber 22, January 2, 2019, Janu- veals that MSC Splendida will December 2018 will be the tonnes - from 18,910 tonnes in until May 10. ary 16, January 31, February 14, call on Doha Port on December busiest month of the season August to 22,318 tonnes in Sep- There will be a total of 42 vis- March 14 and March 28. 13, January 3, 2019, January 24, with nine visits by cruise ships, tember. Meanwhile, a total of its by cruise ships to Doha Port, Seabourn Encore will call on February 14, March 7 and March 28. closely followed by January and 384 vessels were handled by Qatar’s “gateway to marine the port on November 10 and The itinerary shows that two March 2019 with eight visits Mwani Qatar ports last month, tourism”, during this period. again on May 10 – making it the more ships - Costa Mediterra- each. November 2018 is the next up from 359 in August. “The new season is set to be the last cruise ship to arrive in Doha nea on March 6, 2019, and Silver busiest month with six visits, busiest the cruise port has ever during this season. Shadow on April 25, 2019 – will while February 2019 will see fi ve seen since the development of Celebrity Constellation will visit Doha this season. visits and April four visits. the cruise tourism sector in Qa- visit Doha on November 28 and The ship with the highest The months of October 2018 tar,” Mwani Qatar said recently. December 4, while MSC Lirica number of visits is Mein Schiff and May 2019 have one visit The list of ships has been will do so on November 28, De- 4, which will come to Doha Port each. Al Khaliji holds seminar on breast published on the company’s cember 5, December 20, January 10 times during the season. Next On fi ve occasions – Novem- Twitter page. 14, 2019, January 20, January 31, are MSC Lirica and AIDAprima ber 28, December 5, January 31, The arrival of cruise ship February 16 and February 27. with eight visits each, followed 2019, February 14 and March 28 cancer screening programme Boudicca marked the beginning Cruise vessel Seabourn Ova- by MSC Splendida with six visits. – two ships will arrive at the port of the new season on October tion will arrive in Doha on De- Seabourn Encore, Celeb- on the same day. n the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness OMonth, Al Khalij Com- mercial Bank (Al Khaliji) organ- ised a seminar for its employees in partnership with the National Glasgow University, Breast and Bowel Cancer Screen- ing Programme ‘Screen for Life’. There was a lecture about HMC to study impact breast cancer symptoms, stag- es and prevention methods, mammogram - the early detec- Al Khalij Commercial Bank employees attend a session at the of anti-smoking ad Off icials from HMC and the University of Glasgow tion test every woman between seminar. 45-69 should do once every joint study between Ha- ucts, is to determine which month conducting follow-up early age are more likely to be- three years and the suites where veloping symptoms and learn through a grassroots campaign. mad Medical Corpora- messages are eff ective in dis- interviews with school students. come addicted and have greater women can get screened. how to treat these diseases, and I am confi dent that through Ation’s (HMC) Tobacco couraging adolescents from tak- The full study will be released diffi culty quitting. “Given that breast can- perhaps to take care of their events like these we are not Control Center and the Univer- ing up smoking. The researchers once all data has been collected Dr Ahmad al-Mulla, adviser cer takes away so many lives bodies and lifestyles better. only spreading awareness but sity of Glasgow in Scotland is hope the study will improve an- and analysed. to the Minister of Public Health around the world every day, Al “The Breast Cancer Aware- also sending out a strong mes- examining the impact of anti- ti-smoking advertising targeted Dr Anker, who was in Doha and head of the HMC Tobacco Khaliji is deeply committed to ness session, demonstrates sage of hope.” smoking advertising campaigns at teenagers in both countries last month to meet with staff at Control Center, said the re- the well-being of its employ- the bank’s support to the cam- Breast Cancer Awareness in Qatar and the UK on teenagers and the Middle East. HMC’s Tobacco Control Center, search study with the Univer- ees,” said Personal Banking paign to create awareness in Month is observed globally in Oc- in both countries. The research team, led by Dr said fi nding ways to discour- sity of Glasgow is the fi rst of head Rana al-Assad. general public and reach out to tober, as an annual campaign to The purpose of the study, fo- Thomas Anker, a senior lecturer age adolescents from taking up what he hopes will be many “Such seminars are informa- the youth of Qatar. In tackling help those aff ected by breast can- cused on graphic health warn- in marketing at the University smoking is important because collaborations between the two tive and educational, and will cancer, it is often crucial to re- cer through early detection, edu- ings displayed on tobacco prod- of Glasgow, will spend the next those who begin smoking at an institutions. help people to watch out for de- spond powerfully and swiftly cation and support services. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 3 QATAR/REGION/ARAB WORLD

UN praises Exhibition focuses on water as Qatar’s swift unifying force among cultures Gaza aid

By Joseph Varghese of commercial promotion or a Staff Reporter cause of geopolitical clashes, response as unfortunately often happens around the world. itled,‘The Shapes of Wa- The exhibits are related to QNA ter’, an exhibition featur- diff erent uses of water and re- New York Ting social design projects fl ective of diff erent cultural and products related to the uses backgrounds and values, send- of water, is underway at the ing out a strong message on en- he United Nations (UN) Msheireb Enrichment Centre at vironmental challenges. Special Co-ordinator for the Corniche. Al-Sulaiti’s work symbol- Tthe Middle East Peace The exhibition that under- ises Qatar’s support for truth, Process Nickolay Mladenov lines water’s signifi cant role as a clarity and transparency while thanked the State of Qatar for unifying factor among cultures, being surrounded by success its urgent and generous re- is open to the public until No- and prosperity as represented sponse by providing $60mn for vember 3. by the elements of water, brass the purchase of fuel, to increase Doha is the fi rst city of this enclosure and the Rosso Le- the supply of electricity to the travelling exhibition which fo- vanto marble refl ecting the col- Gaza Strip. cuses on water sustainability ours of Qatari fl ag. The piece is This came in his speech at and will be showcased at diff er- also highlighted with an Arabic the meeting of the UN Security ent cities in the region. text in brass taken from Qatar’s Council held Thursday on de- The exhibits are the works of national anthem translated as velopments in the situation in a group of designers from Italy, ‘Qatar will always be free’. the Middle East, including the France, Spain, Croatia, Greece, Salzano also announced that Palestinian issue and the situ- Turkey, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan Shaikha al-Sulaiti explains about her exhibit ‘Msheireb Light’ to in the framework of the 2018 ation in the Gaza Strip. among others and it also features Pasquale Salzano and Ali al-Kuwari. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil Qatar Sustainability Week, the Mladenov warned of the re- a beautiful art piece by Qatari fe- embassy will sign a partnership percussions of the deteriora- male designer Shaikha al-Sulaiti and openness to diversity. Qatar cultural exchanges within the agreement with Elite Paper Re- tion of the situation in the Gaza named ‘Msheireb Light’. is an example of inclusiveness, Mediterranean, the Middle East cycling company to jointly pro- Strip in the light of the possi- Organised by the Italian no matter where an art piece and the Gulf regions, highlight- mote environmental sustain- bility of war in the Strip, and embassy and the Triennale di comes from. Culture is meant ing the extraordinary cultural ability and recycling through the continued decline of eco- Milano in partnership with to express the best side of hu- variety and inputs that this programmes and activities. nomic, security and political Msheireb Properties, it is also man beings and is a powerful part of the world has absorbed Qatar Sustainability Week indicators. the fi rst offi cial event tak- means to overcome divisions,” over history. It is composed of 2018 has over 200 registered The UN official urged all ing place in the framework of said Pasquale Salzano, Italian a meaningful selection of social activities and is supported by sides to calm the situation, the 2018 Qatar Sustainability ambassador while opening the design projects and products various ministries, universities, warning that the consequences Week, an initiative promoted exhibition on Wednesday. dedicated to the various uses municipalities and key players will be terrible for everyone. by the Qatar Green Building “The exhibition, is part of of water,” explained the ambas- in the private sector. The warnings of the UN of- Council (QGBC) to be held from a special programme named sador. Acting CEO of Msheireb ficial to the possibility of war October 27 to November 3. ‘Italy, Culture and the Mediter- The envoy also noted that the Properties, Ali al-Kuwari, in the Gaza Strip come af- “Today, from Doha, we are ranean’, launched by the Italian exhibition aims to present wa- QGBC director Meshal al- ter the council of ministers sending out a very powerful Ministry of Foreign Aff airs to ter as a unifying value among Shamari, and artist Shaikha al- of the Israeli entity issued on An artwork on display. message of cultural inclusion promote dialogue and enhance people, rather than a matter Sulaiti also spoke at the event. Wednesday instructions to the occupation army to escalate its response to the marches of return, which continue since March 30, describing the dem- onstrations as riots on the se- Turkey to host curity fence in the Gaza Strip. At least 130 Gazans hit by The occupation forces have faced marches calling for the four-nation summit return of Palestinian refugees and the lifting of the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Israeli gunfi re: ministry to discuss Syria Strip since 2006, with extreme violence, which resulted in the deaths of more than 200 Pal- AFP Reuters manitarian catastrophe in estinians and thousands of in- Gaza City Ankara/Paris Idlib, and thereby prevent a jured. new exodus of refugees, Presi- He called on the Israeli and dent Emmanuel Macron’s of- Palestinian sides to return to t least 130 Palestinians he leaders of Turkey, fi ce said. the negotiating table, adding were hit by Israeli gun- Russia, Germany and “We want to keep this sta- that the Israeli entity continues Afi re yesterday as thou- TFrance will hold a sum- bility and work from this to demolish Palestinian build- sands protested near Gaza’s mit on the Syrian confl ict in agreement to move into a ings and property in the occu- border with Israel, the health Istanbul next week, offi cials new phase of discussions on pied West Bank and imposes ministry in the enclave said. said yesterday, a month after a political process,” one sen- the reality of one state on the Following calls to avoid an Ankara and Moscow brokered ior French diplomatic source ground. escalation in violence, the a deal to create a demilitarised said.”And that it helps launch demonstrators largely kept zone in the northwest Idlib re- this constitutional committee their distance from the fortifi ed gion. that the UN is working on so frontier fence. Idlib and adjacent areas are that it meets as quickly as pos- Merging consulate But at least 130 Palestin- the last stronghold of rebels sible.” with embassy ians were injured by live fi re in who rose up against President German Chancellor Angela proves US complicity clashes with Israeli soldiers, the Bashar al-Assad in 2011. Merkel will focus on the situ- with Israel: minister health ministry said. The area is also home to an ation in Idlib and supporting An Israeli army spokesman estimated 3mn people, more the implementation of the So- Palestinian Minister of Foreign said that while most of the pro- than half of whom have al- chi agreement between Russia Aff airs Riyad al-Malki strongly testers stayed back from the ready been displaced once and Turkey, a German govern- condemned the recent US deci- fence, some came close and during the war. ment spokeswoman said. sion to close the US consulate threw explosive devices and Turkey and Russia reached “The Federal Government in East Jerusalem, which mainly hand grenades at troops, while a deal last month to set up a sees Russia, as an ally of the serves Palestinians, and merge it burning tyres. buff er zone running 15-20km Assad regime, as a partner with the US embassy in the city, “The soldiers who were there into rebel territory that had with a very particular respon- QNA reported from Ramallah. responded with riot dispersal to be evacuated of all heavy sibility,” the spokeswoman “Closing of the US Consulate means, along with gunfi re in Palestinian demonstrators take cover next to the Israeli wire during a protest calling for lifting the weapons and all militants by said. General in Jerusalem, which has accordance with the rules of Israeli blockade on Gaza and demanding the right to return to their homeland, at the border fence in Monday. UN humanitarian adviser operated independently since engagement,” he said. Gaza, yesterday. The agreement averted a Jan Egeland said on Thursday in 1844, and turning it into a unit Rockets fired from Gaza on planned off ensive on Idlib by that Russia and Turkey plan to in the illegally placed American Wednesday had brought the gathered for the latest protests launched across the border olay Mladenov, in a tweet, Russia, Assad’s biggest outside give more time for the imple- Embassy in Jerusalem reflects territory’s Hamas rulers and in northern Gaza, the demon- into southern Israel, and the also urged all sides “to exer- backer. mentation of the de-escala- the US administration’s deter- Israel closer to a widescale strators largely remained at Israeli army said one of its air- cise restraint, to proceed in a The four countries will tion deal in Idlib. mination to entrench its illegal confrontation. least 100 metres from the bor- craft targeted a group of men peaceful manner, and to avoid hold the talks on Oct 27 and UN Syria envoy Staff an embassy move and force its Since March, Palestinians der. launching balloons. escalation”. On Wednesday, will discuss Idlib, and the po- de Mistura said this week he functions on the Palestinian side,” have moved right up to the An AFP correspondent said An Egyptian security del- two rockets were fi red from the litical process for the resolu- would step down at the end of he said in a press release, cited border fence every Friday and Hamas security officials in at egation visited the Gaza Strip Palestinian enclave at Israel, tion of the Syrian confl ict, November for family reasons, by WAFA news agency. occasionally breached it, lead- least one location were seen on Thursday and encouraged with one destroying a house in the spokesman for Turkish quitting as the Syrian govern- Al-Malki stressed that the deci- ing to clashes in which more discouraging protesters from Hamas leader Ismail Haniya to the southern city of Beersheba. President Tayyip Erdogan was ment — backed by Iran and sion clearly “proves that the US than 200 Palestinians and one nearing the fence. calm the protests, an Egyptian In response Israeli air strikes quoted by state-owned media Russia — has retaken most of administration has adopted the Israeli have been killed. Kites and balloons equipped official said. targeted around 20 Hamas as saying. the country and a political deal agenda of the far-right Israeli While thousands again with incendiary devices were United Nations envoy Nick- targets in Gaza. France wants to avoid a hu- remains elusive. settler movement, treating the entire area of historic Palestine as one political unit under Israeli WARNING control”. “It is an endorsement of Iran gets February Unicef warns on risk of hunger for Yemeni kids the colonial, apartheid-like reality deadline to fix that Israel has imposed on the Millions of desperate children and families across Yemen could soon 32 civilians killed in coalition occupied territory of the State of financing issues be without food, clean water or sanitation services because of the Palestine; a reality the Israeli gov- deepening economic crisis and unrelenting violence in the port city of ernment has repeatedly aff irmed A global financial watchdog yes- Hodeidah, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned, QNA reported from strikes in east Syria: monitor it has no intention of changing terday warned Iran to clamp down New York. or reversing,” he continued. “It on terrorism financing by February. “The confluence of these two factors is likely to make the horrific reality flies in the face of international The Islamic republic, already hurt facing children and families even worse as more and more war-weary AFP many remained under the its presence reduced to parts law and norms and shuts down by a resumption of US sanctions people face the real prospect of death and disease,” Unicef Executive Beirut rubble in the village in the of the vast Badia desert and a diplomatic channels with the over its past nuclear programme, Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement. eastern province of Deir Ez- pocket in Deir Ezzor that in- Palestinian leadership” he added. this month approved one bill to The cost of food, fuel and water supplies has skyrocketed as the value zor near the Iraqi border, Ob- cludes Sousa. The foreign minister described help meet demands imposed by of the national currency has plummeted. Water and sewage treatment ir strikes by the US-led servatory chief Rami Abdel A Kurdish-Arab alliance the US policy towards Palestine the international Financial Action services are at risk of collapse because of soaring fuel prices meaning coalition fi ghting the Rahman said. backed by the coalition last as a reflection of the “gratuitous Task Force (FATF). FATF, following many of these same children and families may also be without access AIslamic State group in Nine IS fi ghters also lost month launched an off ensive animosity and disrespect to the a meeting at its Paris headquarters to safe water and sanitation. This in turn could lead to disease outbreaks eastern Syria have killed at their lives in the raids, he said. to wrest the Deir Ezzor pocket basic rights and dignity of the this week, welcomed the legisla- and increased malnutrition both of which, in combination with food least 32 civilians in less than A coalition spokesman was from IS. The Syrian Demo- Palestinian people It is counter- tion and extended a suspension of insecurity, raise the risk of famine. An estimated 1.2mn more people will 24 hours, a monitor said yes- not immediately available for cratic Forces has said the bat- productive and only serves to counter-measures that has allowed soon be in acute need of basic water and sanitation assistance, and the terday. comment.IS overran large tle will likely take longer than disqualify this American admin- Iran to escape further isolation from number is expected to climb in the coming days. Families who can no Strikes on the village of swathes of Syria and neigh- expected. istration from any role in the international finance. But nine of longer aff ord basic food items could soon join the 18.5mn people who Sousa killed 18 civilians in- bouring Iraq in 2014, pro- Since 2014 the US-led coa- political process”. “The Palestinian the 10 “action plan” items needed to are already food insecure a number projected to rise by 3.5mn, including cluding seven children late claiming a “caliphate” in land lition has acknowledged di- people are neither subservient remove Iran from an FATF blacklist nearly 1.8mn children. These conditions, devastating in their own right, Thursday and 14 more civil- it controlled. rect responsibility for more in their relations with others have yet to be adopted by Tehran, are compounded by the situation in Hodeidah where violence threatens ians yesterday, the Britain- But the militant group has than 1,100 civilian deaths nor willing to compromise their according to Marshall Billingslea, the to kill children and choke off an essential supply chain of fuel and hu- based Syrian Observatory for since lost most of it to various in Syria and Iraq, but rights national rights in exchange for US assistant treasury secretary for manitarian aid that sustains 28mn Yemenis. Human Rights said. off ensives in both countries. groups put the number killed relations with any actor,” he said. terrorist financing. Dozens were wounded and In Syria, the group has seen much higher. Gulf Times 4 Saturday, October 20, 2018 AFRICA

US offi cial optimistic Congo Ebola outbreak can be controlled

Reuters to spread to Uganda and Rwanda He added that the introduc- Kinshasa due to poor security and locals’ tion 10 days ago of a new World mistrust of health workers. Bank-supported programme to But Pierre Rollins, who has pay people by mobile phone to re- he leading Ebola expert at studied Ebola for three decades, port cases has encouraged quicker the US Centers for Dis- said he thought it could potential- reporting. Tease Control and Preven- ly be brought under control within Nevertheless, attacks on health tion (CDC) said yesterday he be- a month or two, as authorities ex- workers have hindered the re- lieved an outbreak in Congo can be pand their tracing of new patients’ sponse and prompted the US gov- brought under control quickly and contacts. ernment in August to withdraw that the high rate of new cases is “We compared the evolution of CDC and USAID workers from the due largely to improved detection. this epidemic to other epidem- front lines. Some who stayed in The haemorrhagic fever’s out- ics to see if the increase had been the fi eld have been less upbeat. break in eastern Democratic Re- more rapid, and there was no dif- An emergency committee of public of Congo is believed to have ference,” Rollins said in an inter- WHO experts said on Wednes- killed 144 people since July and in- view. day that the outbreak was likely fected another 79, and the rate of “What happened in the last to worsen signifi cantly unless the new cases has accelerated sharply week is that the health ministry response was stepped up. in recent weeks. has decided...to research the cases Security in eastern Congo is The World Health Organisation more actively because they would poor due to the presence of doz- File photo shows a World Health Organisation (WHO) Case Management (WHO) said last week it expected see cases arrive that had no link to ens of militias that prey on local Co-ordinator, Dr William Fischer, checking his PPE as he prepares to the outbreak to last at least three patients already treated or regis- populations and exploit natural administer an Ebola therapeutic drug to patients in Mangina, the to four more months and possibly tered as known contacts.” resources. Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UNREST Zimbabwe post-poll violence inquiry Comoros opposition signs to summon army An inquiry probing the killing of six people after soldiers opened fire on post-election protesters in Zimbabwe will summon police govt deal after clashes and the army to appear before it, an off icial said yesterday. Kgalema AFP Motlanthe, the former president of Mutsamudu South Africa and the commission chairman, said the military and police would give evidence next he Comoros government month. “We will be hearing from and main opposition yes- the army and the police,” Motlan- Tterday signed a deal that the told a news conference in the could end the latest bout of in- capital Harare where the killings stability to rock the Indian Ocean occurred on August 1. nation after violence fl ared on “We will ask all pertinent ques- Anjouan island. tions and expect to get pertinent Security forces and rebels op- answers,” he said. Motlanthe was posed to President Azali Assou- appointed by President Emmer- mani have fought in the narrow son Mnangagwa to lead a seven- streets of the medina quarter in member team to investigate the Mutsamudu, Anjouan’s main city, killings. The deaths occurred after since Monday, with at least three protesters took to the streets people killed. accusing the country’s electoral The two sides agreed a deal commission of delaying the an- yesterday that included an arms nouncement of results for the July amnesty for the anti-government 30 general election. fi ghters. Tensions in the island archi- pelago have mounted in recent TRAGEDY months as President Assoumani Road crash kills bids to extend term limits through planned constitutional changes 20 in SA: medics that could see him rule for 11 more Soldiers from the Comoros armed forces station and wait outside the “medina quarter” at Mutsamudu, in Anjouan. years. At least 20 people were killed in “(Assoumani) is willing to off er weapons are collected, (that) we “(Assoumani) has done noth- in prison,” said a young man in the a road smash in South Africa’s immunity to any civilian who sur- know the exact number,” he said. ing in his three years in power, no city’s southern Shell district. northern Limpopo province after renders their weapon to military The president won a referen- jobs for young people, nothing. “If they want peace, they must a truck swerved into oncoming authorities,” said the deal signed dum in July allowing him to scrap If they don’t want to understand give us jobs.” traff ic after its tyre burst, emer- by the central government and the the rotation of the presidency our challenges, then we will turn Another young supporter of gency services and the local trans- opposition-controlled Anjouan between Comoros’ three main against them,” said a middle-aged the rebels claimed to have been port minister said yesterday. “More administration. islands after one term, disadvan- man who carried a can of water a victim of government security than 20 people have been killed But the two sides later agreed taging opposition-leaning Anj- as he made his way along a dusty forces. “In 2006, I was tortured, and there are about five or six oth- to amend the agreement, extend- ouan, which was next in line. street in Mutsamudu. my arm still hurts. I received ers with injuries ranging from minor ing the amnesty period to today to The government had sent in re- Interior Minister Mohamed treatment in Mayotte for nine to moderate,” Ineke Van Huyssteen, reassure rebels in the area after no inforcements to quell the unrest Daoudou said on Wednesday that months,” said Damir Mohamed the spokesman for a private ambu- weapons were handed in. in the old quarter of Mutsamudu, the situation was back to normal Azihar.The poor, Comoros islands lance service, said. The accident in- Authorities also agreed to al- where rebels erected barricades after three people were killed. — Anjouan, Grande Comore and volved multiple vehicles, according low those with arms to relinquish and repelled attempts by the se- Witnesses claimed that many Moheli — are located between to the provincial transport minister them to local elders, who would curity forces to regain control. more people had been injured in Mozambique and Madagascar. Makoma Makhurupetje. “A truck pass them on the military, ac- Soldiers surrounded the area the clashes. The fourth island, Mayotte, re- had a tyre burst. Unfortunately it cording to Issouff a Mohamed Ali, and many civilians fl ed as a cur- “We want the rebels to win. mains French. Assoumani’s gov- crossed over into oncoming traff ic the president’s chief of staff who few was imposed and water and People who have stolen millions ernment accuses the opposition with another four vehicles and one is responsible for defence. power supplies were cut until are free while someone who steals Juwa party of being behind the of the vehicles was a taxi (minibus),” “What is important is that the yesterday. a banana to survive gets months unrest. Makhurupetge said. South Africa divers risk all to poach marine delicacies for China diners

AFP Divers like Van Blerk and Van said local people see poaching as Cape Town Reenen can earn hundreds of dol- one of the few ways out of poverty. lars for a successful night’s fi shing. “It’s not something that peo- But it is a fraction of what the ple want to do, but because of ne Saturday night in Au- dried abalone is worth on the mar- our socio-economic conditions, gust, Deurick van Blerk, kets of Hong Kong, with prices it’s something that we are forced O26, climbed into his small reaching thousands of dollars per into,” he said. “You really do it be- boat off the coast of Cape Town on kilogramme. cause it’s either that, or do I go and another of his illegal fi shing expe- Overfi shing started aff ect- rob somebody? It’s something that ditions. ing abalone stocks as early as the you do at your own risk.” He never returned. 1950s, but it was not until the Jacobs defended poaching, say- Investigators are looking into mid-1990s that rampant poaching ing that “conservation needs to be allegations by fellow divers and his began to take a grave toll. considerate of people”. family that he was murdered, shot George Branch, a marine bi- “We’ve been living off these re- by a special task force during an ologist at the University of Cape sources for more than 300 years anti-poaching operation in an in- Town, said that since commercial File photo shows an employee holding a jar of dried products as she and we will live off these resources creasingly violent battle between harvesting began, abalone stocks walks past shelves of jars containing dried abalone and other seafood for 300 years to come.” South African authorities and il- have been reduced to a quarter of goods (back left) in a shop in Hong Kong. The illicit quarry draws divers legal hunters of abalone shellfi sh what they once were. into a deadly world of gangland and rock lobster. And West Coast rock lobster has It just can’t be sustainable.” Van at dawn, ready with his regular violence and international crime Abalone is a delicacy prized dwindled dramatically to just 2.5% Blerk’s family live in Hangberg, a morning coff ee. syndicates. in Hong Kong, mainland China of its original population. poor coastal community on the But she has heard nothing, and In September, South African and elsewhere in east Asia, where “Abalone is going almost en- edge of Hout Bay some 20 kilome- there has been no sign of a body police seized a truck heading dishes featuring the marine mol- tirely to East Asia, predominantly tres from Cape Town, where aba- found. to Botswana carrying 10 kilo- luscs are coveted at wedding ban- Hong Kong,” said Markus Bur- lone and lobster poaching is a rare Van Blerk’s two fellow crew grammes of abalone with an esti- quets and can cost thousands of gener of TRAFFIC, an NGO that source of work. members who went out with him mated street value of $400,000. dollars. Illegal divers also search monitors wildlife trade. “It’s a threat for me also because that night say he was shot during And last year, Chinese authori- for rock lobster which is sold on Retail prices in Hong Kong for they are shooting at us now,” his an anti-poaching enforcement ties broke up a smuggling ring in the local market. dried South African abalone vary cousin said.”But what can I do? I operation which left bullet holes the southern city of Guangzhou, “Deurick and I started poach- from $300 per kilogramme to over must go on, it’s my life. in the boat. which was attempting to shift ing when we were 15 years old,” his $10,000, he said. “I lost a cousin, unfortunately, They have since fi led a criminal $115mn in seafood, including aba- cousin Bruce van Reenen, 23, said, “It is ultimately being con- but my life must go on because case against the authorities for at- lone.China’s growing middle class struggling to control his emotions. sumed in China because that is otherwise, my child will go hun- tempted murder. has a near insatiable appetite for “Often we were fi shing to- where the greatest demand lies,” gry.” Khaye Nkwanyana, spokesman abalone. gether, but that night we weren’t. he explained, saying there were Van Blerk’s girlfriend was preg- for the fi sheries department, said In Shanghai, one infamous We went on separate boats, I went huge numbers of people involved nant when he disappeared, and investigations were ongoing. restaurant bill recently charged diving around the corner in Camps in the commodity chain. she has since given birth to a baby He said the task force “should $14,700 for a dish for eight people Bay and Deurick went to Cape “The real issue is that there are girl. only fi re in self-defence”. Com- called “half-headed abalones with Point for lobster that night.” thousands of people involved. She had waited for him to return munity activist Roscoe Jacobs, 32, frozen sake”. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 5 AMERICA Migrants gather at Mexico border despite US threats Trump praises AFP Tecún Umán, Guatemala

onduran migrants who have made their way Hthrough Central Amer- lawmaker who ica were gathering at Guate- mala’s northern border with Mexico yesterday, despite Pres- ident Donald Trump’s threat to deploy the military to stop them entering the United States. Various caravans of migrants have been travelling by bus or beat journalist on foot from their homeland, mostly through Guatemala, in Press associations condemn Trump fondly reminisced the hope of not just reaching Trump’s praise for assault on about the physical assault that Mexico but heading on to the Honduran migrants, part of a caravan trying to reach the US, reporter occurred on May 24 last year United States. queue for food served by volunteers at a church near the border when Jacobs, the Guardian’s po- “The journey has been very with Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala. Guardian News & Media/AFP/ litical correspondent, asked Gi- tough, very diffi cult but there’s DPA/Reuters anforte a question about health- no work in Honduras,” said of US Secretary of State Mike “Tell them to come to where New Orleans/Washington care policy in the course of a 20-year-old Glenda Salvador, Pompeo’s visit to Mexico to my telephone fl ashlight is, hur- special congressional election in a mother of two toddlers and meet outgoing Mexican Presi- ry up as it’s quiet now,” said a Montana. one of the multitude of Hondu- dent Enrique Pena Nieto, with man named Raul to a Honduran he British government has At Thursday’s rally, Trump rans gathering in a Tecun Uman the migrant caravan due to be he knows. joined press freedom ad- said that anyone who could per- park close to the bridge crossing on the agenda (see accompa- Mexican authorities “are go- Tvocates and journalists in form a body-slam, as Gianforte from Guatemala to Mexico. nying report). ing to employ dogs, so I told him expressing dismay and disgust did on Jacobs, was “my guy”, and On the other side of the Migrants who have already to come now”, the 25-year-old with Donald Trump’s remarks that news of the attack, which bridge, Mexican riot police arrived at the Mexican border Raul told AFP. at a rally, where he praised the occurred the night before the could be seen waiting. have been sleeping in churches, Authorities are preparing for unprovoked assault on a Guard- special election, probably helped “We’re going to wait for those fi re stations and refugee shel- an infl ux of migrants, with local ian journalist by the state’s con- Gianforte win. Trump: Any guy that can do a body-slam, he’s my guy. There’s still on their way but who are ters. police chief Gerardo Hernan- gressman, Greg Gianforte. “Any guy that can do a body- nothing to be embarrassed about. close by” before trying to cross, Authorities are expecting dez saying that fi ve shelters had At the Republican rally in slam, he’s my guy,” he told the Mario Mejia, who seemed to be around 3,000 to arrive in total. been set up in Ciudad Hidalgo Montana on Thursday night, the political rally in Missoula, Mon- a substantive question. Just un- an assault on a reporter in Mon- one of the migrants’ leaders, Spirits are high, though. to accommodate up to 4,000 president lauded and made jokes tana. “There’s nothing to be em- hinged.” tana at the same time as his ad- told AFP. “I have faith that one way or people. about the violent attack by Gian- barrassed about.” He also pointed out that Gian- ministration tries to minimise On Thursday, Trump brand- another, I’m going to cross” the However, he added that only forte, when he was a candidate, Trump said he originally forte and his staff lied about the the murder of a reporter in Tur- ed the migrant caravan an “on- border, said Wilson Chacon, 15 of 132 Central Americans on the Guardian’s political re- thought the assault – which took assault to police and the public. key. His words matter, and they slaught” and an “assault on our originally from Copan in the registered in the town had come porter Ben Jacobs in 2017. place on the eve of his election – “Only reason Gianforte got reveal his character,” said the country” in a series of typically west of Honduras. from the caravan. A spokeswoman for British might hurt Gianforte’s chances. caught is because there was a New Yorker and CNN contributor fi ery tweets. Mexican authorities are par- But “they don’t all register Prime Minister Theresa May, “Then I said, ‘Well wait a tape,” Swan said. Jeff rey Toobin. He also threatened to send in ticularly wary of migrants at- here for fear of being detained”, when asked about the president’s minute, I know Montana pretty Katharine Viner Katharine “Doing this after a journalist the US military to “CLOSE OUR tempting to cross the Suchiate admitted Hernandez. remarks, said yesterday: “Any well, I think it might help him.’ Viner, the editor-in-chief of the was apparently murdered by an SOUTHERN BORDER!” and River that forms the southwest- On Thursday, Mexico’s am- violence or intimidation against And it did,” the president said. Guardian, said yesterday: “At a autocratic regime – while com- keep out “MANY CRIMINALS” ern border with Guatemala, a bassador to Guatemala, Luis a journalist is completely unac- Trump fi nished his account time when reporters around the plaining that you yourself are among the migrants. popular illegal route into Mex- Manuel Lopez Moreno, met ceptable.” of the physical assault by saying world are being harassed, ar- covered unfairly – is quite some- He called on Mexico to en- ico. with migrants camped out on Journalists across the US of Gianforte: “He’s a great guy. rested and even murdered these thing,” added the New York Times sure the migrants do not reach On the other side of the river the border to try to discourage launched into criticism of the Tough cookie.” are incredibly irresponsible reporter Maggie Haberman. the US border while threatening in Ciudad Hidalgo, boat own- them from crossing illegally. congressman, via social media. The partisan crowd at the rally comments, which fl y in the face The Washington Post executive Guatemala, Honduras and El ers have been trying to contact A federal police helicopter “Gianforte is a criminal. He in Missoula in western Montana of press freedom and send a dan- editor, Marty Baron, referenced a Salvador with fi nancial penal- Hondurans by phone to con- circled overhead while observ- pled guilty to [assault]. The pres- clapped and cheered. gerous message to autocrats and statement issued by the Guard- ties. vince them to use their services ers from the national Human ident is congratulating a criminal The writers’ organisation PEN dictators around the world.” ian US editor, John Mulholland, His comments came ahead to get across. Rights Commission were sent to on committing a crime,” said the America, which had fi led a law- She added: “The world’s press on Thursday night soon after the various points along the 900km New York Times correspondent suit earlier this week against would welcome a clear statement event, noting that the president’s Pompeo says illegal migration over US-Mexico (550 miles) border. Binyamin Appelbaum on Twitter. Donald Trump accusing him of from the US government that it remarks run “the risk of inviting border is nearly ‘reaching a moment of crisis “We are off ering documented Gianforte was sentenced to six violating the fi rst amendment of remains committed to the rights other assaults on journalists both entry to those who have a pass- months of deferred jail time, 40 the United States constitution of journalists everywhere to do here and across the world”. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that illegal migration port and visa, and to those who hours of community service, 20 by using his powerful position their work without fear of vio- Mulholland’s statement con- across the US-Mexican border is near crisis levels, as a caravan of Hon- do not, documented entry via hours of anger management ses- to threaten press freedom, has lence or repression.” tinued: “We hope decent people duran migrants prepared to enter Mexico bound for the United States. an application for refugee sta- sions, and $385 in fi nes and court also condemned the president’s The CNN reporter Jim Acosta, will denounce these comments “President (Donald) Trump’s been clear about the largest issue we face tus, on humanitarian grounds. fees for the misdemeanour as- encouragement for Gianforte’s who was at the rally in Montana, and that the president will see fi t today. We are quickly reaching a point which appears to be a moment We will address every case,” he sault that propelled him and his attack. observed: “The disturbing part to apologise for them.” of crisis: record numbers of migrants,” Pompeo said during a visit to said. congressional race into the na- In a statement issued yester- of Trump’s jokes about Gianforte Yesterday the White House Mexico City. Mexico’s foreign minis- tional spotlight last year. day, PEN America said Trump’s was the eff ect on the crowd. I Correspondents’ Association “The challenge related to security for our southern border is ... a chal- ter Luis Videgaray meanwhile Gianforte also paid $50,000 to “explicit praise” for Gianforte’s saw one young man in the crowd president, Olivier Knox, said: lenge for American sovereignty. We have to fix US laws in order to told reporters that he had met the Committee to Protect Jour- assault “marks a startling new making body-slam gestures. “All Americans should recoil handle this properly,” he told a joint press conference with his Mexican United Nations chief Antonio nalists (CPJ), one of the groups low in terms of the White House’s “He looked at me and ran his from the president’s praise for a counterpart. Guterres, who said the UN- now critical of Trump. open hostility toward the press”. thumb across his throat. I talked violent assault on a reporter do- “This moment has enormous implications for the opioid epidemic in HCR would help the Mexican “At a time when journalists It added: “Trump’s remarks to him after the rally was over. He ing his constitutionally protected the US,” he added, linking two issues Trump has repeatedly used to government to process asylum are being killed [and] imprisoned are a chilling reminder that US couldn’t stop laughing.” job. argue for his planned border wall: drug traff icking and illegal migration. applications for those in the around the world, this is inde- global leadership on press free- A number of journalists “This amounts to the celebra- Pompeo’s trip came as a caravan of thousands of Honduran migrants caravan. cent,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s ex- dom has collapsed utterly under pointed out how Trump’s com- tion of a crime by someone sworn prepared to cross the border from Guatemala to Mexico on their The Honduran migrant cara- ecutive director, urging Trump to the president’s watch. In its place ments are especially troubling to uphold our laws and an attack northbound journey, drawing warnings from Trump that he would cut van was sparked by the poverty stop the insults on journalists. is an attitude of contempt, ex- this week, coming as evidence on the fi rst amendment by some- aid to the region, deploy the military and close the US-Mexican border and insecurity in the Central Trump’s comments “mark cusing and now even applauding mounts that Saudi Arabian one who has solemnly pledged to if authorities did not stop them. American country, wracked by the fi rst time the president has violence toward the press.” Crown Prince Mohamed bin Sal- defend it.” Trump has made curbing illegal immigration a keystone of his presi- gang and drug-related violence. openly and directly praised a vio- Meanwhile, Axios’s national man is directly linked to the pre- He continued: “We should dency. Barely a week goes by without him warning about the danger With a homicide rate of 43 lent act against a journalist on political reporter Jonathan Swan sumed murder of journalist and never shrug at the president posed by ultra-violent Central American gangs like MS-13, while chants per 100,000 citizens, Honduras American soil”, added the New replied to Stolberg’s tweet, say- Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in cheerleading for a violent act of “build the wall” are a staple of his pre-mid-terms campaign rallies. is one of the most violent coun- York Times reporter Sheryl Gay ing: “Nothing tough about Istanbul earlier this month. targeting a free and independent tries in the world. Stolberg. jumping a reporter for asking you “Tonight [Trump] celebrates news media.”

Charges US Mega Millions jackpot hits $1bn hours before drawing against Reuters Mega Millions tickets are sold in 44 A winner could opt instead for an im- New York US states, the District of Columbia and mediate payment of $565.6mn. the Virgin Islands. Powerball, which holds the record for Manafort If more than one winner is picked, the the largest US lottery prize of $1.586bn he US Mega Millions lottery jack- jackpot would be divided proportion- in 2016, will hold a separate drawing to- pot jumped to a record $1bn yes- ately, as happened when the previous day. dropped Tterday, hours before the drawing Mega Millions record of $656mn was Its jackpot grew yesterday to $470mn for what is also the second-largest lot- drawn in March 2012 and was shared by from $430mn, with a lump sum value of tery prize in US history. winners in Kansas, Illinois and Mary- $268.6mn. Reuters New Yorkers queuing up to buy tickets land, a lottery offi cial said. Each of the 24 semi-weekly Mega Alexandria, Virginia for the lottery said they would use the The televised drawing for the jack- Millions drawings have failed to pro- prize money to go on a shopping spree, pot, which rose steadily from $667mn duce a top winner since July 24, when quit their jobs and donate to charity. on Tuesday when no one had the lucky an 11-member offi ce pool in Santa Clara S prosecutors have Still, anyone who becomes a Mega six numbers, will take place at 11pm EDT County, California, hit a $543mn jack- agreed to drop crimi- Millions billionaire is likely to have a lot (0300 GMT today). pot. Unal charges against Paul left over. “This is truly uncharted territory, The odds of winning the Mega Mil- Manafort that a jury deadlocked The $1bn prize has attracted attention and it’s exciting to see people across the lions jackpot are one in 302,575,350, but on earlier this year, as a federal even from those who do not ordinarily country buying their tickets and joining the odds of winning a lesser prize are judge set a February 8 date for buy lottery tickets. in the fun,” Gordon Medenica, lead di- one in 24. Manafort’s sentencing on charg- “I get caught up in the frenzy, and you rector of Mega Millions, said in a state- Even though no one won the top prize es of bank fraud and fi ling false don’t want to get left behind,” said Ven- ment. at Tuesday’s drawing, lottery offi cials tax returns. ice Naidoo, a client operations specialist The $1bn Mega Millions prize would noted that there were more than 4.5mn Signs display the jackpots for Mega Millions and Powerball lottery drawings at a Prosecutors had favoured at a law fi rm. be paid out over 29 years. winning tickets. store in midtown Manhattan in New York, US. waiting until Manafort fi n- ished co-operating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller before addressing the remaining charg- es. However, US District Judge TS US Republicans to question Rosenstein over New York Times report Ellis rejected the timetable so he could move forward with sen- tencing Manafort, who appeared Reuters committee chairmen said. Trump and impeaching the tee Chairman Trey Gowdy said tion with the investigation. panels, Representatives Elijah in court in a wheelchair and was Washington The Republican chairmen of president under a constitutional in a statement that Rosenstein Republicans say the FBI made Cummings and Jerry Nadler, re- said to be suff ering signifi cant two US House of Representa- amendment. would sit for the closed-door in- missteps when it applied to a spectively, will also attend the health issues. tives panels have accused the Rosenstein said the report was terview on October 24. special court for a warrant to interview. “I have not heard any esti- epublican lawmakers will Justice Department of with- inaccurate. Rosenstein appointed Special conduct surveillance on former The statement from Good- mation from the government of next week question Rod holding documents in the probe. The report led to speculation Counsel Robert Mueller to lead Trump campaign adviser Carter latte and Gowdy said a transcript when his co-operation will be RRosenstein, the US Jus- They have also wanted to in- Trump would fi re Rosenstein, the Russia probe after Trump Page and questioned the FBI’s of the interview, which will be complete,” Ellis said, referring tice Department offi cial who terview Rosenstein, the deputy but Trump, a Republican, said fi red Federal Bureau of Inves- use of a confi dential inform- conducted under oath, would be to the special counsel investiga- oversees a special counsel’s in- attorney general and No 2 offi cial last week he had no plans to re- tigation (FBI) director James ant who reached out to several publicly released after being re- tion. vestigation of Russian interfer- at the Justice Department, about place Rosenstein. Comey in May 2017. Trump campaign offi cials. viewed by intelligence agencies. “I’m not willing to go on end- ence in the 2016 election and a New York Times report in Sep- House Judiciary Commit- For months now, Republi- In addition to Goodlatte and Russia has denied interfering lessly” before sentencing Mana- links between President Donald tember that he had discussed the tee Chairman Bob Goodlatte cans have issued subpoenas and Gowdy, the top Democrats on in the election and Trump denies fort, he added. Trump’s campaign and Moscow, idea of wearing a wire to record and House Oversight Commit- sought documents in connec- the Oversight and Judiciary any collusion. Gulf Times 6 Saturday, October 20, 2018 ASIA

Woman 6 dead in fi re at confesses to throwing baby out of Rohingya camp highrise

DPA in Myanmar Hanoi woman in Hanoi con- AFP The confl agration in and leaving their plight largely fessed yesterday to Yangon, Myanmar Ohndaw Chay camp, which forgotten. Musicians gather near the coff in of rock musician Ayyub Bachchu in Dhaka yesterday. Athrowing her newborn houses some 4,000 Rohingya Fires in the camps are com- baby from the 31st fl oor of an and lies 24km from Sittwe, mon because of “severe” over- apartment building, but claimed ix Rohingya were killed started just before midnight crowding, according to the the infant had already died, state early yesterday after a and lasted several hours, fi re UN’s Offi ce for the Co-ordi- media reported. Sblaze tore through an department offi cial Han Soe nation of Humanitarian Aff airs The 21-year-old university overcrowded camp for the mi- said. (OCHA). Bangladesh music fans student, identifi ed only as VA, nority in Myanmar’s Rakhine “Six people, one man and “Many camp residents have admitted to throwing the baby state, the local fi re service said. fi ve women were killed,” he built makeshift extensions to out of the window on Thursday Global attention has focused said, adding that 15 commu- their shelters to create more night after giving birth in the on the 720,000 Rohingya Mus- nal longhouses were also de- space for their families. So when apartment’s bathroom, the Voice lims forced from the state’s stroyed in the blaze thought to a fi re breaks out, it is more likely mourn rock megastar of Vietnam said. north into Bangladesh last year have been started in a kitchen to spread quickly,” said OCHA The woman reportedly told by a military crackdown. accident. spokesman Pierre Peron. the police that the baby had died The UN Human Rights “We were able to bring the Hla Win, a Rohingya man AFP credited with introducing the “He stood tall and will stand during the birth. Council has accused top My- fi re under control about 1:10am from a nearby camp, said that Dhaka blues music genre to Bangla- tall with his songs,” said reput- Two others present at the anmar generals of genocide this morning and had put it out fi re trucks were slow to arrive deshi audiences and created ed musician Hamin Ahmed. apartment were also detained over the bloody campaign, al- completely by around 3am,” he along the dilapidated roads several smash-hit rock tracks “He will be missed!” but have been released. legations the country strongly said. from Sittwe and the lack of housands of Bangladeshi with his band Love Runs Blind. Bangladesh’s president, VA is currently being treated at denies. A total of 822 people were water also hampered eff orts to music fans gathered in He was declared dead at a prime minister and culture a Hanoi hospital for injuries sus- But less visible are the left without shelter, local extinguish the blaze. Tthe capital yesterday to Dhaka hospital after a cardiac minister also all paid tribute. tained during childbirth. 129,000 Rohingya confi ned to media reported. “We have no ponds near the mourn the sudden death of one arrest on Thursday. Thousands of people at- Police are investigating the squalid camps further south Conditions in the camps camps,” he said. “That’s why of the country’s most famous Fans grieved on social media tended his funeral prayers for incident, which has prompted near the capital Sittwe follow- are dire and Rohingya trapped the fi re destroyed so much.” rock stars. over the passing of Bachchu, Bachchu in Dhaka before his public anger in the Vietnamese ing an earlier bout of violence there have virtually no access Myanmar has vowed to close Ayub Bachchu, widely one of the major patrons of the body was taken to the port city capital. in 2012. to healthcare, education and nearly 20 of the camps around known as AB among his fans, rock genre in the conservative of Chittagong, his hometown, If the child is found to have Hundreds were killed that work, relying on food handouts Sittwe in the coming months. started his music career in South Asian country. where he will be laid to rest. been alive when it was thrown, year in riots between Rakhine from aid agencies to survive. Rights groups say the move 1978 and was one of the pio- More than 10,000 people “This is an untimely demise the woman could face murder Buddhists and the stateless Access into the camps is will achieve little without end- neers of the celebrated under- took to the streets in the capi- of such a legend,” transport charges. minority, who were corralled also tightly controlled, eff ec- ing movement restrictions or ground rock music scene in tal’s Shahid Minar neighbour- minister Obaidul Quader told into destitute camps away from tively cutting their inhabit- granting Rohingya a pathway Bangladesh. hood with fl owers to pay hom- reporters as he paid homage to their former neighbours. ants off from the outside world to citizenship. The 57-year-old was also age to the guitar maestro. the rock star. Tourists Cambodia rejects IPU resolution as biased held in

DPA Thailand Phnom Penh for graffi ti DNT president Lotay Tshering ambodia has demanded talks with the media after the respect for the “sover- lead in election results at Thimpu. Ceignty and integrity” of on wall its highest court after an inter- national group of parliaments condemned the government Reuters for a court order that dissolved Bangkok Surgeon Cambodia’s main opposition party and barred it from a July election. wo tourists charged with to be new The Inter-Parliamentary vandalism for spray- Union (IPU), an independent Tpainting graffi ti on a wall association of 178 parliaments in northern Thailand face up to Bhutan PM from around the world, said on 10 years in prison if found guilty, Thursday that Cambodia had police said yesterday. popular surgeon, Lo- “blatantly violated” the rights Briton Furlong Lee and Cana- tay Tshering, will be the of 57 opposition lawmakers dian Brittney Schneider, both 23, AHimalayan kingdom of when the top court outlawed were arrested at a guest house Bhutan’s new prime minister af- the Cambodia National Rescue in Chiang Mai on Thursday and ter his centre-left Druk Nyam- Party (CNRP) last year. are being held at the provincial rup Tshogpa (DNT) party won a The IPU is “not a court, court, police said. run-off vote on Thursday. not a judge,” government CCTV video footage showed The DNT came out ahead of spokesman Phay Siphan said the pair spray-painting a red brick the royalist Druk Phuensum yesterday. wall near Tha Phae Gate, the main Tshogpa (DPT) party to take 30 of He said the independent as- entrance to the city’s old town. 47 seats in parliament, according sociation must respect the de- “They admitted to the crime,” to provisional results released by cision by the nation’s Supreme Police Major Anon Cherd- the electoral commission. Court to disband the CNRP chutrakulthong said. “When peo- The primary round held in and ban its lawmakers from ple visit somewhere they should September resulted in a surprise political activity for fi ve years. know not to (leave) graffi ti.” defeat for the ruling People’s The government requested Reuters was unable to reach Democratic Party of Prime Min- the ban on the grounds that its Protesters chant slogans against Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen during the EU-Asia leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium yesterday. Schneider or Lee for comment. ister Tshering Tobgay. leader, Kem Sokha, allegedly Anon said they do not yet have Despite impressive growth at 7.5% attempted to overthrow the ropean Union saying it lacked motivated,” a statement said. Assembly in Geneva from 2017 elections] so the ruling party is a lawyer, adding that the young in 2017, Bhutan faces high unemploy- government, a widely decried “genuine electoral compe- It was unfortunate that Sunday to Thursday. very afraid of us,” Rainsy said. man and woman showed signs of ment and rising external debts. charge that he denies. tition” and thus a credible “merely based on the absence Despite denunciations from Without the CNRP’s partici- having been intoxicated. Both parties campaigned on Sokha was imprisoned outcome. of one former political party, Cambodian offi cials, former pation, Cambodia’s July elec- Video footage obtained by Re- economic issues. without trial for more than In its Thursday decision, the the committee sees the human CNRP leader Sam Rainsy was in- tion was not legitimate and did uters showed the words “Scouser The kingdom held its fi rst elec- a year and remains under de IPU Committee on the Hu- rights environment around the vited by the IPU committee to not represent the will of the Lee” painted on the wall in an tion in March 2008, marking the facto house arrest. man Rights of Parliamentar- July 29 election in a negative “discuss violations of his rights as Cambodian people, he said. apparent reference to the English end of a century-old monarchy. The ruling party of Prime ians urged Cambodia to release way,” even though 20 parties an MP,” Thomas Fitzsimons, IPU’s The IPU committee noted city of Liverpool. Thai police did The hereditary king remains Minister Hun Sen won all Sokha, drop the charges against competed, the delegation said. communications director, said. that Cambodia had not taken not confi rm Lee’s hometown. the constitutional head of state, 125 National Assembly seats him and reinstate the CNRP. Only the CNRP was seen as a “We represent the only parlia- any steps to resume political The pair face up to 10 years but has to retire by age 65 and in July. Cambodia’s delegation to the viable challenger to the ruling mentary opposition in Cambodia dialogue with the CNRP, and in jail, a fi ne of up to 1mn baht can be removed by a two-thirds The poll was criticised by IPU rejected the “biased” reso- party. and we collected approximately Siphan said the government ($30,656) or both, if found guilty, majority of parliament. (DPA) Western nations, with the Eu- lution, calling it “politically The IPU held its 139th IPU half of the popular vote [in 2013 and was not interested in doing so. police said. Bangkok plays host to Art Biennale

AFP want to leave something behind, the city’s Chao Phraya river and The fi breglass fi gures are Bangkok they have to do it today.” old canals. joined together in an installation The city’s venerated temples, “The idea to have a biennale called ‘Giant Twins’ by Thai art- heritage sites and high-end is to ignite and create Bangkok ist Komkrit Tepthian. ore than 100,000 shopping centres are playing to be not the world centre but Southeast Asian artists small white porcelain host to works from all over the at least one of the centres of art hailing from Indonesia, Sin- Mskulls cover a walk- world until February. destinations,” he said. gapore, Vietnam, Cambodia way at a temple in the Thai Some 75 local and inter- The sites are spread out across and the Philippines are in- capital, an evocative instal- national artists are taking the city at 20 diff erent venues, volved, shining a spotlight on lation on mortality featured part, with Yayoi Kusama and with many hugging the river in creative talent in the region in the fi rst-ever Bangkok Art Marina Abramovic among the old part of town while others and Thailand. Biennale. the high-profi le names take on modern Bangkok’s malls Nino, whose skull creation “In Buddhism, we believe contributing. and central business district. is called “What will we leave that death is around you – any The decision to hold the star- Polka dot and pumpkin- behind?” said the Bangkok Art step could be your last,” said studded biennale in the South- shaped lanterns by Japan’s Biennale could make the world Nino Sarabutra, whose work is east Asian city was announced Kusama hang between the aware of the local art scene, one of dozens on display at the at its more famous predecessor fl oors of Central World, one while also making it more ac- maiden event, which kicked off in Venice last year. of Bangkok’s prime shopping cessible by bringing it out of yesterday. “Bangkok has always been destinations. high-end galleries. “And for this installation, I envisioned as the Venice of the Over at Wat Arun, tourists next “I think [the art biennale] is want to remind people that any east,” artistic director Apinan to two large warrior-like fi gures bringing the art closer to the People make their way past an art installation by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusam titled ‘Mini Austin Cooperd,’ step could be their last. If (they) Poshyananda said, alluding to with Chinese and Thai motifs. people.” part of the Art Biennale 2018, at a shopping mall in Bangkok yesterday. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 7 ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

Malaysian opposition leader charged in $26mn graft case

AFP mier and ally of scandal-mired up outside the court in Kuala 1957 until their shock defeat in major part in the election defeat. money involved in all the charges told reporters. The politician, Kuala Lumpur ex-leader Najib Razak, is accused Lumpur where he was being May polls. UMNO has been on Ahmad Zahid is facing 27 amounts to some 111mn ringgit who also served as interior minis- of crimes that include accepting charged, waving banners that the ropes since, with many coali- money-laundering charges, eight ($26.6mn). ter in the last government, stuck bribes to award government con- read “we reject the cruel treat- tion partners abandoning a party counts of accepting bribes, and 10 Ahmad Zahid was released by Najib even as other senior alaysia’s opposition tracts and money-laundering. ment of our leader”. Najib also that had become synonymous for criminal breach of trust. Key on bail of 2mn ringgit. His next fi gures abandoned him over the leader was yesterday The 65-year-old pleaded not attended the hearing to off er sup- with widespread graft, divisive accusations include that he mis- hearing is set for December 14. 1MDB graft scandal. Mhit with 45 charges in guilty to all charges, and will port. racial politics in the multi-ethnic appropriated money from a char- UMNO insists the case against US authorities say more than a $26mn corruption case, a new stand trial. “I am ready to face all The veteran politician is head country and a rotten ruling elite. itable foundation he headed; re- their leader is politically moti- $4.5bn was misappropriated from blow to his beleaguered party these charges thrown at me,” Ah- of the United Malays National Or- Najib has also been arrested and ceived kickbacks in exchange for vated and his brother, Mohamad the fund, with nearly $700mn di- which lost power in landmark mad Zahid told reporters. “It is a ganisation (UMNO), the lynchpin charged over allegations he over- awarding government contracts; Lokman Hamidi, said yesterday verted into Najib’s personal bank elections this year. Ahmad Zahid test from Allah.” in a coalition of parties that ruled saw the plundering of state fund and laundered money by buying was a “black day” for Malaysia. accounts. The ex-leader denies Hamidi, a former deputy pre- A crowd of supporters turned Malaysia from independence in 1MDB, a scandal that played a property. The total amount of “My brother is innocent,” he any wrongdoing. China, SE Asia to hold maritime drill to ease tensions

AFP counters between their military Singapore aircraft, and will propose them to other countries, including the US and China, at a meeting today, hina and Southeast Asian Ng said. states will hold their fi rst They are aimed at reducing the Cjoint maritime exercises likelihood that a chance encoun- next week, offi cials said yester- ter could spiral into confl ict in US Defence Secretary James Mattis delivers his opening address at the Asean-US Defence Ministers’ Informal day, in a move aimed at easing the case of a miscalculation. Four Meeting during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) security summit in Singapore yesterday. tensions but which may spark US Asean members — Brunei, Ma- alarm. laysia, the Philippines and Viet- Beijing’s expansive claims to nam — have confl icting claims in the South China Sea have long the South China Sea with Beijing. Southeast Asia hails world’s fi rst multilateral air encounter code been a source of friction with ri- China claims sovereignty over val claimants in Southeast Asia, almost the entire area, including Southeast Asian countries agreed to meet their partners tomor- some protection,” Eng said when as well as Washington which has waters near the shores of smaller yesterday to guidelines to man- row and Eng said they would asked if the sea guidelines were traditionally been the dominant countries. Cambodia, Indonesia, age unexpected encounters be- “seek their agreement” on the working. naval power in the area. Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and tween their military aircraft, with guidelines. The framework for the In August, Southeast Asian Despite disagreements over Thailand are Asean’s other mem- host Singapore calling the pact a guidelines said an agreement was nations and China adopted a ne- Beijing’s territorial ambitions, China’s Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe (right) speaks during bers. world first and saying they would needed because rising growth gotiating framework for a broader China and Southeast Asia are the Asean-China defence ministers informal meeting at the Associa- Concerns have escalated dra- encourage their international and prosperity in Asia had led to code of conduct in the South trying to strike a more concilia- tion of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) security summit in Singapore matically in recent years as China partners to join. The agreement, an increase in maritime and air China Sea. That framework seeks tory tone in an eff ort to stop ten- yesterday. started building artifi cial islands signed by defence ministers of traff ic in the region. to advance a 2002 Declaration of sions from spiralling dangerously on reefs in disputed waters, and the 10-member Association of The United States and China in Conduct of Parties in the South out of control. Liberation Army. Tabletop exer- something that’s been lacking in it has also constructed military Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) 2015 signed a bilateral agreement China Sea, which has mostly As part of this, the navies of cises between Asean and China the South China Sea. Then that’s facilities and airstrips. at a conference in Singapore, on a military hotline and rules been ignored by claimant states, China and the 10-member As- were held in Singapore in August going to be working in the right Washington has expressed includes a region-wide agreement of behaviour to govern air-to-air particularly China, which has built sociation of Southeast Asian Na- to prepare for next week’s drills. direction.” alarm over the island-building, on the exchange of information encounters. But even with the ex- seven islands in disputed waters, tions (Asean) are set to hold their However, some observers see Hoang Thi Ha, a political ana- saying it could aff ect freedom on terrorism threats. isting guidelines, tensions remain, three of which are equipped with fi rst joint drills, which will take the exercise as part of eff orts by lyst with the ISEAS Yusof Ishak of navigation in the sea, which The voluntary, non-binding especially in the hotly contested runways, surface-to-air missiles place in the South China Sea. China to diminish American in- Institute in Singapore, said next hosts some of the world’s most guidelines on air encounters build South China Sea. and radars. “As we speak, the navies of fl uence in the region by forging week’s exercises were aimed at vital commercial shipping lanes. on an existing code to manage China claims almost the entire All 10 Asean states also agreed Asean are en route to Zhanjiang closer ties with Washington’s “demonstrating that China and At yesterday’s meeting, Mat- sea encounters adopted by South China Sea while Vietnam, to adopt the “our eyes” initiative – in China for the Asean-China traditional allies and partners. Asean are managing well their tis stressed that “no single na- Asean and their “plus” partners – the Philippines, Malaysia and Bru- initially launched by six member Maritime Exercise,” Singapore In an apparent eff ort to lessen maritime problems”. tion can rewrite the international Australia, China, India, Japan, New nei claim parts of the potentially states in January – as a platform Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen any such fears, Ng said Asean was But she added its signifi cance rules of the road, and we expect Zealand, South Korea, Russia and energy-rich maritime territory. to exchange information on said. Making the announcement planning to hold maritime exer- should not be overstated as it was all nations — large and small —to the United States – last year. “I Taiwan also claims the sea. This “terrorism, radicalism, and violent at a gathering of Asean defence cises with the US for the fi rst time a one-off drill in waters that were respect those rules”. am happy to announce the first month, China expressed anger extremism, and other non-tradi- ministers in Singapore, also at- next year. Mattis insisted that he not disputed. The Pentagon chief met on multilateral guidelines for air en- after a US Navy destroyer sailed tional threats”. tended by US Defence Secretary did not believe the China-Asean “The US is not losing ground Thursday with his Chinese coun- counters between military aircraft near islands claimed by China, They also agreed to set up a Jim Mattis and his Chinese coun- drills would reduce US sway in exactly because Asean chooses to terpart, General Wei Fenghe, on have been adopted,” Singapore’s saying it resolutely opposed an “virtual” network of chemical, bio- terpart, Ng said the drills would the strategically vital region. be open and inclusive,” she told the sidelines of the gathering as defence minister, Ng Eng Hen, operation that it called a threat to logical and radiological defence help to “build trust, confi dence”. “We do not see this as con- AFP. they sought to normalise military told a news conference. “This is a its sovereignty. “In a way they are experts to “better share best The city of Zhanjiang in trary to our interests,” he said. The Southeast Asian defence relations that have dramatically significant achievement.” like seatbelts, not completely pro- practices and make quick contact southern China is home to the “If we can have that sort of ac- ministers also agreed on guide- soured over trade and sanctions The Asean ministers are due tected, but at least they provide during crises”. South Sea Fleet of the People’s tivity going on, it’s transparent, lines to prevent unplanned en- tensions.

Wife of Interpol ex-chief fears for his life — and own safety

The wife of fallen former Inter- I’m not sure he’s alive,” Grace interview only in silhouette to hide Pope trip to N Korea pol chief Meng Hongwei has Meng said in the interview con- her appearance. Australian PM says expressed fears for his life and her ducted in France, where Meng was Complaining that there is “no own safety, lashing out at what based at Interpol’s headquarters. limit” to China’s power to act serious possibility, she called the “cruel” and “dirty” Meng Hongwei, also a Chinese against opponents, she claimed to govt likely to lose Chinese government that arrested vice public security minister, went have received threatening phone him in mysterious circumstances. missing on a trip to China last calls suggesting she was being says Vatican offi cial The comments by Grace Meng in month. He subsequently resigned “targeted” in France. majority in by-poll a BBC interview represent a rare as head of the international police “They are cruel. They are dirty,” she and extraordinarily blunt level of organisation on October 7 after said. “I must stand up and I don’t Reuters in which the trip can take place. criticism of China’s government Chinese authorities announced want any other wives and children DPA ers that the party’s candidate, Vatican City “(The pope) is willing to by the victims of Beijing’s tough he was under investigation. China like me.” Sydney former ambassador to Israel make the trip but a trip of this crackdown on corruption, in which has since said he is suspected of The body investigating Meng, the David Sharma, was the under- kind will need serious prepara- cases are typically wrapped up in accepting bribes. National Supervisory Commission, dog and likely to lose due to the ope Francis will seriously tion,” added Parolin, who met secrecy and with only the off icial “I tell (my children) daddy is on a can hold suspects for as long as he Australian govern- backlash. consider the possibil- separately with Moon after the version of events coming to light. long business trip,” the sobbing six months without providing ac- ment is likely to lose its Asked if the government Pity of an unprecedented South Korean president held “I think it is political persecution. Grace Meng said, appearing in the cess to legal counsel. Tone-seat majority in to- could lose the seat Morrison visit to North Korea but some talks with the pope. day’s by-election, Prime Min- said: “I think the expectations conditions will have to be met, North Korea’s constitution ister Scott Morrison conceded are clearly set in this direction.” a senior Vatican offi cial said. guarantees freedom of religion yesterday. The by-election in Polls point to high-profi le Such a trip would be a land- as long as it does not under- the affl uent Sydney harbour- independent Dr Kerryn Phelps mark in a nation known for mine the state. But beyond a Sculpture by the Sea side seat of Wentworth was winning the seat that the Lib- severe restrictions on religious handful of state-controlled triggered when Malcolm Turn- erals have held since 1900. practice. places of worship — including bull quit politics after he was Morrison’s conservative It would be the fi rst by a a Catholic church in the capital dumped by his party as prime coalition of Liberal and Na- pope to the reclusive East Asian Pyongyang — no open religious minister in August and re- tional Parties holds a one-seat state, which does not allow activity is allowed and the au- placed by Morrison. majority in the House of Rep- priests to be permanently sta- thorities have repeatedly jailed Local anger at the treatment resentatives in Canberra. If the tioned there. foreign missionaries. There is of their local member of par- coalition lost Wentworth, it South Korean President little information on how many liament combined with weak could continue to govern with Moon Jae-in relayed a verbal of North Korea’s citizens are government policy on climate support of the Speaker of the invitation from North Korean Catholic, or how they practice change could lead to the Liberal House and a couple of inde- leader Kim Jong-un to the pope their faith. Party losing one of their safest pendents, but it would be diffi - during a 35-minute meeting in Kim told Moon, a Catholic, seats, last held by a margin of cult to pass legislation until the the Vatican on Thursday. “The of his wish to meet the pontiff 17.7%. Morrison told report- general election due by May. pope expressed his willingness. during a meeting last month We have to wait for it (the invi- and the South Korean leader tation) to be formalised,” Vati- announced before his trip to 6,000 evacuated after Tibet landslide can Secretary of State Cardinal the Vatican that he would be Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s relaying a message. second-ranking offi cial, told The pope, who is due to visit Around 6,000 people have been blocking the river’s waterway, reporters on Thursday evening. nearby Japan next year, told evacuated after a barrier lake Xinhua news agency reported. Asked if there were condi- Moon he would “defi nitely an- formed following a landslide in The amounts of water in the lake tions that the North would swer” an invitation from Kim if the Yarlung Tsangpo River in has surpassed 300mn cubic have to meet, Parolin, speaking it arrives, according to Moon’s southwest China’s Tibet Autono- metres. No casualties have been on the sidelines of a book pres- offi ce. A meeting with Pope mous Region, local authorities reported. Authorities in Tibet entation, said: “This will come Francis would be the latest in said. According to the local have launched an emergency later, once we start thinking in a string of major diplomatic A child plays in front of a sculpture titled Damien Hirst Looking For Sharks, part of the annual Sculp- disaster relief headquarters, response, monitoring the lake’s earnest about the possibility of encounters for Kim this year. ture by the Sea exhibiton in Sydney yesterday. The annual event showcases artists from all over the the landslide struck during the water level, evacuating local resi- making this trip, then we will The two Koreas have held three world exhibited on the coastal walk between Bondi Beach and Tamarama. early hours of Wednesday near dents and sending relief supplies have to think about conditions summits this year. a village in Menling County, to the disaster-hit areas. — QNA Gulf Times 8 Saturday, October 20, 2018 BRITAIN

JUSTICE PEOPLE MOTORING CRIME SALE 20 convicted of grooming Cleric Choudary Call to bring forward Baby hurt as gunmen fire Marie Antoinette’s jewels and raping young girls released from jail petrol, diesel car ban through window into house go on show before auction

Twenty men in Britain have been convicted of Cleric Anjem Choudary was released from prison The government should bring forward a ban on the A baby was injured when shots were fired at a Marie Antoinette’s dazzling jewellery, unseen grooming and sexually abusing several young yesterday having served half his sentence for sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by eight suburban house in Birmingham. The child was in public for two centuries, went on show in girls, prosecutors said yesterday following encouraging support for the Islamic State group, years to 2032 to help UK reduce its greenhouse hurt by falling glass in the attack at a property London yesterday before going on sale next the latest child sex abuse case involving the media reported. The 51-year-old was jailed for gas emissions, a parliamentary committee said. in the Alum Rock area. Shots were also fired at month in a rare auction of such treasures. The large gangs. The men were found guilty of five-and-a-half years in 2016, and will serve the rest Britain hopes to become a world leader in electric another house nearby. The baby was taken to collection, held by the historic Italian royal House more than 120 sex crimes against 15 girls in of his sentence under strict supervision orders vehicle technology and currently plans to ban the hospital but suff ered only minor injuries, police of Bourbon-Parma, is being sold by Sotheby’s Huddersfield, northern England, between 2004 having been released from Belmarsh prison, near sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from said. The house remained sealed off but a hole auction house in Geneva on November 14. On and 2011. Sixteen of the men have been jailed London. He is expected to return to his home in 2040 as a part of eff orts to meet its climate targets. could be seen in the downstairs window. A dark show at their London headquarters, the lots for between five and 18 years, while the other Ilford, east of London, although will not be able “If we are serious about being EV (electric vehicle) coloured car was seen leaving the scene of the include 10 jewels which belonged to Marie four will be sentenced next month. “These men to use any internet-enabled devices without world leaders, the government must come forward second shooting and detectives, who are linking Antoinette, the last queen of France before deliberately targeted their vulnerable victims, permission, the BBC reported. Other restrictions with a target of new sales of cars and vans to be the incidents, have appealed for information. A the French Revolution. She was guillotined in grooming and exploiting them for their sexual are reported to include bans on leaving Britain zero emission by 2032,” said Rachel Reeves, chair man who answered the door at the property said Paris aged 37. The highlight is Queen Marie gratification,” said Michael Quinn of the Crown without permission and he will only be allowed to of the business, energy and industrial strategy it was a ‘random shooting’. Other neighbours Antoinette’s Pearl, a natural pearl and diamond Prosecution Service (CPS). meet with people approved by the police. committee, which authored the report. refused to comment. pendant valued at $1mn-$2mn. UK plastics Queen visits shopping centre recycling industry faces graft probe

Guardian News and Media buy these plastic export recov- London ery notes – Perns – to satisfy the government they are contribut- ing something to recycling plastic he plastics recycling indus- packaging waste. try is facing an investigation But the system – which was Tinto suspected widespread heavily criticised as open to fraud abuse and fraud within the export and abuse by the National Audit system amid warnings the world Offi ce this summer – relies on is about to close the door on UK companies making self-declara- packaging waste, the Guardian has tions about how much packaging learned. they are exporting. The Environment Agency (EA) The Guardian understands in- has set up a team of investigators, formation has been passed to the including three retired police of- EA – the regulators – which shows fi cers, in an attempt to deal with huge discrepancies between the complaints that organised crimi- amount of packaging exports re- Queen Elizabeth II is shown a display of hats as she tours Fenwicks department store at The Lexicon shopping centre during a visit to Bracknell, west of London yesterday. nals and fi rms are abusing the sys- corded by HM customs, compared The Bracknell Regeneration Partnership is transforming Bracknell town centre into an exciting 1mn square foot shopping and leisure destination, The Lexicon Bracknell. tem. to the amount UK exporters claim Six UK exporters of plastic to have shipped. waste have had their licences sus- The data, analysed by the pended or cancelled in the last Guardian, reveals British export three months, according to EA fi rms claim to have shipped abroad data. One fi rm has had 57 contain- 35,135 tonnes more plastic than ers of plastic waste stopped at UK HM Customs has recorded leaving ports in the last three years due to the country. concerns over contamination of One source with knowledge of waste. the inquiry said: “In the last few Allegations that the agency is months the customs fi gures on Facebook hires Clegg understood to be investigating in- waste plastic are lower than the clude: fi gures given to the Environment O Exporters are falsely claiming Agency by the exporters – sug- for tens of thousands of tonnes of gesting more people are shipping plastic waste which might not ex- stuff they claim is waste plastic in ist order to get the Pern price. O UK plastic waste is not being “Perns are running at around as global aff airs head recycled and is being left to leak £60-70 a tonne, so that encour- into rivers and oceans ages all sorts of people to pursue AFP tions we face” such as “privacy election when the party suf- and once I had decided to take privacy and the transparency of O Illegal shipments of plastic the export market, and the ques- London of the individual”, “integrity fered major setbacks. up this unique new challenge at political campaign ads. waste are being routed to the Far tion is whether the enforcement is of our democratic process”, The former politician has Facebook, I felt it was best to get In September, it admitted that East via the Netherlands strong enough to detect whether and “the balance between free pushed for a second referendum going sooner rather than later,” up to 50mn accounts had been O UK fi rms with serial off ences this is actually plastic waste being ormer deputy prime min- speech and prohibited con- that could stop Brexit but the he added. breached by hackers. of shipping contaminated waste shipped out.” At least 100 con- ister Nick Clegg, a leading tent”. proposal has been ruled out by Clegg speaks Dutch, French, It was also criticised for its are being allowed to continue ex- tainers of plastic waste a day are Fanti-Brexit advocate, yes- The Press Association news Prime Minister Theresa May. German and Spanish, and joined handling of a data privacy scan- porting. shipped out from ports including terday said he would be starting agency and the Financial Times His most recent book is enti- the government after a 2010 dal after it emerged that a British UK households and businesses Felixstowe and Southampton to a job at Facebook, as the US gi- said Clegg would be Facebook’s tled: ‘How to Stop Brexit (And election campaign characterised company called Cambridge An- used 11mn tonnes of packaging last Europe and the Far East. Insiders ant faces up to regulatory pres- new head of global affairs and Make Britain Great Again)’. by “Cleggmania” over his supe- alytica had used data gathered year, according to government fi g- said EA staff have never visited sures. communications and would “As someone who has spent rior performance in television through an app on Facebook to ures. Two-thirds of the UK’s plas- any of the countries or sites where “I am delighted to be join- move to California in January. a lifetime arguing for Britain’s debates. target voters in the US presiden- tic packaging waste is exported British waste plastic is exported ing Facebook. After almost 20 The 51-year-old is also a wholehearted commitment to He was badly damaged, how- tial election in 2016. by an export industry which was for recycling. years in European and British former European Commission Europe, it is of course a wrench ever, by going back on a promise The company, along with oth- worth more than £50mn last year. Jacob Hayler, executive direc- politics, this is an exciting new trade negotiator and member to be leaving the public debate at not to raise university tuition er social media giants, has also The exporters make millions by tor of the Environmental Services adventure for me,” Clegg wrote of the European Parliament. a crucial time in the Brexit proc- fees once in government. been accused of allowing “fake charging retailers and manufac- Association (ESA), is one of many on his Facebook page. Clegg used to be head of the ess,” Clegg wrote yesterday. The social network has faced news” to spread that manipu- turers a fl uctuating tonnage rate individuals who has raised the is- Clegg said Facebook was “at Liberal Democrats, a small op- “But the key decisions will several public relations crises lated public opinion ahead of for plastic waste recovery notes sue of the discrepancy in fi gures the heart of some of the most position party, but was voted soon pass to Parliament, of in recent months and has insti- Donald Trump’s victory in that – currently £60 a tonne. Retailers with the EA. complex and difficult ques- out of parliament in a 2017 which I am no longer a member, tuted changes, particularly on election. Harry and Meghan Government records smaller budget defi cit go barefoot on Bondi Reuters casters have said Brexit is more London likely to harm than help public fi nances. AFP day Pacifi c tour. Movement is putting on a brave Earlier this month Prime Min- Sydney “You hear people that met face. ritain’s government re- ister Theresa May pledged an the Queen when she came here “The Duke and Duchess of corded a smaller budget end to austerity, but Hammond’s (in 1954)” said 26-year-old fan Sussex are very welcome visi- Bdefi cit than expected in room for manoeuvre is limited. ritish royals Harry and Christopher Cundle, “and they tors” the group said at the start September, but the improvement He has yet to explain how he Meghan kicked off their are still talking about it now. I of the trip, pointedly adding that is unlikely to give much help to Fi- will fi nance May’s promise of Bshoes and donned tropical can easily see that that is one of “Australians of all ages know the nance Minister Philip Hammond higher health spending, which garlands yesterday as they hit the things I will be talking to my diff erence between this wonder- as he prepares his annual budget. will add £20bn to the National Sydney’s famed Bondi beach for grandkids and future genera- ful event and the questions of our The defi cit in September fell to Health Service budget by 2023- the latest stop on their Austral- tions about. It was awesome.” nation’s identity and future.” £4.123bn from £4.958bn a year 24. ian tour. While half of Australians op- In a 1999 referendum, 55% of before, the Offi ce for National The ageing of the popula- Expectant Meghan put on a pose having British monarchs Australians voted against replac- Statistics said. tion will pressure public fi nances summer dress and set aside her as head of state, and the vast ing Queen Elizabeth II as head A Reuters poll of econo- in the years ahead even before high heels, while Harry ditched majority of citizens have carried of state, although polls indicate mists had pointed to a reading of considering Brexit’s impact, ac- his usual suit for chinos as the on with business as usual during support for republicanism has £4.5bn. The fi gures also showed a cording to the Offi ce for Budget couple lapped up cheers from the visit, there has been sizeable grown since then. sharp downward revision for Au- Responsibility (OBR) which pro- Australian fans and enjoyed support for the celebrity couple The opposition Labor party gust’s defi cit. duces the forecasts that underpin Bondi’s surf. at every stop. has promised a plebiscite on the For the fi rst six months of the Britain’s budget plans. Despite morning fog, the pair News that the Duchess of issue if it wins a general election 2018-19 fi nancial year, the defi cit Yael Selfi n, chief economist at met local surfers enjoying win- Sussex is pregnant has only expected in 2019. stood at £19.9bn, down 35% on KPMG UK, said the extra leeway ter swells and sat down on the made the crowds swell. Later yesterday the prince the previous year and the low- in Hammond’s budget from the sand for a long chat with leaders She is the favourite royal of strapped on a harness and scaled est at this stage of the year since better-than-expected perform- of the OneWave group, which 11-year-old schoolgirl Mya. “I the Sydney Harbour Bridge 2002. ance of the public fi nances this focuses on helping people im- actually think it is amazing that to hoist a fl ag of the Invictus But few economists expect year was unlikely to help him prove mental health by getting she actually got to meet Harry Games, a sports championship Hammond to unveil major shifts much in the longer term. outdoors. and fall in love with him.” for wounded military personnel. in spending in his budget on “The extra pot is unlikely to be Signs screaming “G’day Har- Amid a torrent of fawning On Monday the pair will go to October 29, fi ve months before suffi cient for all these demands, ry and Meghan” greeted the press coverage declaring Meg- Queensland’s Fraser Island, the Brexit. and the chancellor will ultimately royal couple, who have received han the “Queen of hugs” and world’s largest sand island, be- Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leave London and Brussels have yet need to opt for either higher debt a warm welcome from fans the prince receiving “buckets of fore jetting off to Fiji, Tonga and after a “Fluro Friday” session run by OneWave at Sydney’s to strike a divorce agreement and or higher taxes in order to meet throughout the start of their 16- love,” the Australian Republican New Zealand. iconic Bondi Beach yesterday. Britain’s offi cial budget fore- these,” she said. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 9 EUROPE

Top priest denies seeking to Poland ordered to stop oust Pope

Reuters Vatican City ‘forcing’ judges to retire AFP tion relating to the lowering of and should be taken, by the a fi nal ruling at a later date. current Supreme Court judges n Italian archbishop who Luxembourg the retirement age for Supreme Polish government,” Spychalski If the case is upheld, the court to step down, including Chief has publicly criticised Court judges,” the European told the commercial RMF radio said, the Polish Supreme Court’s Justice Malgorzata Gersdorf. APope Francis over a sexual Court of Justice said. yesterday. “Perhaps one such decisions would have been given Calling the law a “purge”, misconduct case has denied that he European Union’s top Warsaw has defended the decision could be to amend the “without the guarantees con- Gersdorf has refused to step he was trying to foment an over- court has ordered Poland April 3 retirement law as part of law on the Supreme Court.” nected with the fundamental down, citing a constitutional throw of the papacy. Tto “immediately sus- reforms needed to tackle cor- Powerful PiS party leader right of all individuals to an in- guarantee that she serve a six- Archbishop Carlo Maria Viga- pend” its decision to lower the ruption and overhaul a judicial Jaroslaw Kaczynski, widely re- dependent court”. year term until 2020. no, who is now in hiding, threw retirement age of its Supreme system still haunted by the com- garded as Poland’s ultimate de- The European Commission “We’ll see how the govern- the Roman Catholic Church Court judges, which it said munist era. cision-maker, said that Poland has expressed concern the new ment and the party (PiS) will into turmoil in August when he threatens judicial independence. Speaking in Brussels, Poland’s as an EU member would “com- retirement age will hasten the respond to it,” Gersdorf told re- called on the Pope to resign, ac- The decision is the latest salvo right-wing Prime Minister Ma- ply with EU law”. departure of judges appointed porters in Warsaw yesterday, re- cusing him of covering up sexual in a bitter battle over sweeping teusz Morawiecki said his gov- “But we will also use our under previous governments, ferring to the ECJ decision. misconduct by a now-disgraced judicial changes introduced by ernment had during “the last rights and we will appeal this in- allowing the appointment of She said the government’s senior churchman in the US. the right-wing Law and Justice few hours received the court of itial (ECJ) decision,” he said ac- fi gures seen as loyal by Warsaw’s refusal to drop its controversial Vigano has also charged Pope (PiS) government since it took justice decision”. cording to the PAP news agency. current leadership. reforms was “undermining the Francis with turning a blind eye offi ce in 2015. “We will certainly respond to The ECJ said the order to sus- It has charged that Polish ju- dignity of our country”. to what he said were homosexual They have led the EU to trig- it,” he said. “We will see what pend retirements “is to apply dicial reforms undermine “the Warsaw University political networks in the church. ger unprecedented proceedings these (EU) institutions are pro- with retroactive eff ect” after EU legal order”, including mem- scientist Anna Materska-Sos- In his latest statement issued against Poland over “systemic posing. When we take them into noting that a number of judges ber states’ mutual recognition of nowska said it is “very likely that Kaczynski: Poland as an EU yesterday through an ultra- threats” to the rule of law that consideration, several possibili- had already been forced to retire. court decisions. the PiS will have to change or member would comply with conservative Italian journalist, could see its EU voting rights ties will be analysed.” It also freezes Warsaw’s ap- Already in July, the ECJ au- soften its rhetoric” to avoid a dip EU law. But we will also use our Vigano no longer called for the suspended. Blazej Spychalski, a spokes- pointment of any new judges to thorised EU countries to refuse in popularity. rights and we will appeal this Pope to step down. The European Commission, man for the PiS-allied Polish replace them. arrest warrants from Poland if “Poles are staunchly pro-EU initial (ECJ) decision. “It does not surprise me ... the bloc’s executive arm, also President Andrzej Duda, sug- The top court said its ruling they doubt defendants will get a and this European Court deci- that I have been accused of dis- took Poland’s government to the gested that the head of state was an interim measure in re- fair trial there. sion is bound to tarnish the im- tice Party, PiS, won elections in loyalty towards the Holy Father European Court of Justice (ECJ) would comply with the ECJ de- sponse to the commission’s ar- The law more broadly violates age of the PiS”, especially with 2015. and of fomenting an open and for lowering the age at which cision, adding that the govern- gument for urgent action in the Poland’s obligations under the regard to the European Parlia- Brussels has since engaged scandalous rebellion,” he said. Supreme Court judges must re- ment could amend legislation on face of accelerated retirements. EU treaty, which it signed onto ment elections in May 2019, she in more than two years of talks, “But rebellion would imply tire from 70 to 65. the Supreme Court. The Luxembourg tribunal, when it joined the bloc in 2004, told AFP yesterday. but Warsaw has largely ignored urging others to overthrow the “Poland must immediately “If he (Duda) cannot replace which could impose fi nes if it the commission said. The EU fi rst sounded the its warnings that the changes papacy. I am exhorting no such suspend the application of the judges who have retired, it seems fi nds Poland in breach of Euro- The new retirement age re- alarm over Polish judicial re- would aff ect democratic checks thing. I pray every day for Pope provisions of national legisla- that decisions must be taken, pean Union law, said it will issue quires more than one-third of forms shortly after Law and Jus- and balances. Francis more than I ever did for the other pope,” he wrote in Ital- ian. Vigano, who has been defend- ed by powerful Catholic con- servative media, again asserted Crimeans mourn school that the church was rife with ho- mosexual priests and bishops, a recurring accusation in his mis- sives. massacre victims at funeral “There is overwhelming proof of how the scourge of homo- sexuality is endemic, spreads AFP Security had been stepped up there were any outside forces by contagion, with deep roots Kerch in the city of 150,000 in the far involved. that are diffi cult to pull up,” said east of Crimea, where a recent- “This is because something Vigano, a former Vatican ambas- ly-opened bridge links the Rus- happened in the head of a young sador to Washington. tudents wept over the cof- sian mainland to the annexed man,” she said. He said that heterosexual mis- fi ns of classmates yester- territory. On Thursday, a girl claiming conduct by the clergy was not as Sday at the funeral of 20 All central roads have been to be Roslyakov’s ex-girlfriend insidious as homosexual activ- people killed in a school shoot- closed. told Russian media that he had ity because the former “does not ing in Crimea dubbed the “Rus- Of those injured in the at- spoken of taking revenge for spread similar behaviour, cover sian Columbine”, the worst mas- tack, a number remained in a bullying. up similar misdeeds”. sacre of its kind in the region’s “very serious condition”, Rus- “He would say that he lost He also stood by his main as- history. sian health minister Veronika trust in people when his class- sertion that Pope Francis knew Eighteen-year-old Vladis- Skvortsova said. mates began humiliating him for about sexual misconduct by lav Roslyakov opened fi re on Nine have been transferred to not being like everyone else,” a Theodore McCarrick, 88, the Wednesday at the technical col- Moscow for further treatment, 15-year-old named as Zlata told former archbishop of Washing- lege in the city of Kerch before Crimean health minister Alex- the Kremlin-funded RT televi- ton, but did nothing about it. killing himself. ander Golenko said. sion outlet. Vigano says that Francis lifted More than 40 others were in- Many of those hospitalised “Vladislav was always tell- sanctions placed by former pope jured in the attack. were injured by an explosion ing me about his frequent fi ghts Benedict on McCarrick. “We don’t want to talk, we that blasted metal ball bearings with people around him,” she The Vatican denies this, say- want to weep,” the leader of the and other items into their bod- said, adding that he “didn’t want ing there were no sanctions to Moscow-annexed peninsula ies. to live” because of it. lift. Sergei Aksyonov told a crowd Photographs published on- President Vladimir Putin said In July, McCarrick became the of hundreds at Kerch’s central line showed carnage inside the the killing was the “result of glo- fi rst cardinal to resign in nearly square, where mourners laid school following the attack, with balisation” and the continuation 100 years after US church offi - fl owers on the coffi ns. glass doors and windows shat- of a trend that had begun in the cials said allegations that he had “The history of Crimea will be tered, desks scattered and debris US. sexually abused a 16-year-old divided in two – before and after strewn across the fl oor. Several media outlets made a boy almost 50 years ago were October 17,” he said. “We need to “Kerch will not remain what comparison with the 1999 Co- credible and substantiated. be strong, we need to be brave.” it was before, that’s for sure. lumbine High School shooting McCarrick, who rose to be a On the city’s Lenin Square, There’s still fear, all the children in the US, which left 13 dead. power-broker in the US church, tables covered in red cloth had feel it,” Oleg Zhmaka, the direc- They described photographs said he had no recollection of the been set up opposite a statue of tor of a sports school, told AFP circulating on the Internet alleged abuse of the minor and the Soviet leader, each one bear- in the centre of the city follow- showing Roslyakov wearing a has not commented on other ac- ing a photograph of a victim. ing the ceremony. similar T-shirt to Eric Harris, cusations of sexual misconduct Aksyonov placed a red rose in Along with many other local one of the Columbine killers. with seminarians. front of each coffi n at the cer- residents, he questioned wheth- Investigators are working Vigano made his latest broad- emony, which then continued er Roslyakov, also a student at to establish the teenager’s ex- side nearly two weeks after a in a procession to the city’s new the college, could have acted act motive and whether he was point-by-point rebuttal of his cemetery. alone. “I think they’re hiding working alone. original accusations by Cardinal Hundreds of students from something from us: it’s hard to According to the Russian Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head the technical college where the believe that this boy could have Kommersant newspaper, the of the Vatican department that People attend a memorial ceremony before the funeral of the victims of an attack on a local college attack took place were at the organised it all alone.” teenager “grew up in a rather oversees the offi ce that appoints in the city of Kerch, Crimea. Russian emergencies ministry personnel are seen carrying coff ins of the square, including an injured But another resident, Na- poor family” with a disabled fa- bishops. victims. young woman in a wheelchair. talya Odegova, said she doubted ther. Saudi king checks son’s power

From Page 1 recordings to back up that as- On Tuesday, Trump said he abandoned plans to attend, as iate with greater action against long ruled by consensus. pression last year that Riyadh sertion. had spoken with MbS and that did Britain’s trade minister and the US and others if sanctions In four decades as governor endorsed the Trump adminis- Saudi Arabia has repeatedly US Senator Lindsey Graham, the crown prince told him he the French and Dutch finance are imposed over Khashoggi’s of Riyadh, he earned a repu- tration’s still nebulous Middle denied any role in Khashoggi’s a Republican close to Presi- did not know what had hap- ministers, putting the event in disappearance. tation as a royal enforcer who East peace plan, including US disappearance. dent Donald Trump, on Tues- pened in the consulate where question. A Saudi-owned media out- punished princes who were recognition of Jerusalem as Is- But the sources familiar with day accused MbS of ordering Khashoggi went missing. Saudi officials have said they let warned the result would be out of line. rael’s capital, the king made a the royal court said the reaction Khashoggi’s murder and called The case poses a dilemma plan to move forward with the disruption in Saudi oil produc- Whether he is willing or able public correction, reaffirming from the United States, an ally him a “wrecking ball” who is for the United States, as well as conference, scheduled for Oc- tion and a sharp rise in world to resume that role in this cri- Riyadh’s commitment to the for decades, had contributed to jeopardising relations with the Britain and other Western na- tober 23-25, despite the wave of oil prices. sis remains unclear, palace in- Arab and Muslim identity of the king’s intervention. United States. tions. cancellations. “Reaction and threats to siders say. the city. “When the situation got out He did not say what evidence Saudi Arabia is the world’s Neither JP Morgan nor Ford the possible sanctions of the One source with links to the Despite these rare instances of control and there was an up- he was basing the allegation on. top oil exporter, spends lav- would elaborate on the rea- last 24 hours were still (com- royal court said the king was of pushback, several of the roar in the United States, MbS Trump said on Thursday he ishly on Western arms and is sons for the decision not to at- ing) from the crown prince,” “captivated” by MbS and ulti- sources close to the royal fam- informed his father that there presumed Khashoggi was dead an ally in efforts to contain the tend and did not comment on the businessman close to royal mately would protect him. ily said that King Salman had was a problem and that they but that he still wanted to get influence of Iran. whether concerns about the circles said on Monday. “The Still, there is precedent for grown increasingly detached have to face it,” another source to the bottom of what exactly But in a sign of the damage, disappearance of Khashoggi king is now holding the file the king’s intervention. from decisions taken by MbS. with knowledge of the royal happened. a succession of international were a factor. personally and the tone is very He stepped in this year to “He has been living in an ar- court said. Asked what would be the banking and business chiefs, Lagarde had previously said different.” shelve the planned listing of tificially-created bubble,” said The crown prince and his consequences for Saudi Arabia, including IMF Managing Di- she was “horrified” by media The king has spoken directly national oil company Saudi one of the sources. aides had initially thought Trump said: “Well, it’ll have to rector Christine Lagarde, JP reports about Khashoggi’s dis- with Erdogan and Trump in re- Aramco, the brainchild of MbS Lately, though, the king’s the crisis would pass but they be very severe. I mean, it’s bad, Morgan Chief Executive Jamie appearance. cent days. and a cornerstone of his eco- advisers have grown frustrat- “miscalculated its repercus- bad stuff. But we’ll see what Dimon and Ford Chairman An IMF spokesperson did not Both the king and his son nomic reforms, three sources ed and begun warning him of sions”, this source said. happens.” Bill Ford, have pulled out of a give a reason for her deferring met US Secretary of State Mike with ties to government insid- the risks of leaving the crown Turkish officials have made Trump has previously said high-profile investment con- her trip to the Middle East. Pompeo when he visited Riya- ers told Reuters in August. prince’s power unchecked. clear they believe Khashoggi “rogue killers” may have been ference in Saudi Arabia this Before the king’s interven- dh on Tuesday. Saudi officials have said the “The people around him are was killed inside the consulate, responsible and has ruled out month. tion, Saudi authorities had King Salman, 82, spent dec- government remains commit- starting to tell him to wake and two Turkish sources have cancelling arms deals worth US Treasury Secretary Ste- been striking a defiant tone, ades as part of the inner circle ted to the plans. up to what’s happening,” the told Reuters police have audio tens of billions of dollars. ven Mnuchin on Thursday also threatening on Sunday to retal- of the Al Saud dynasty, which And when MbS gave the im- source said. Gulf Times 10 Saturday, October 20, 2018 INDIA

POLITICS TRAGEDY PEOPLE ROW LAW AND ORDER Goa govt flip-flops on Gang-raped student Celebrity manager Congress challenges PM’s Rs100mn seized from car Parrikar leadership issue attempts suicide tries to end life claim on housing for poor in poll-bound Telangana

In yet another flip-flop over the issue of leadership A gang-raped class IX student was yesterday KWAN Entertainment founder Anirban Das The Maharashtra Congress accused Prime Minister In a major haul, police in Telangana yesterday change in Goa, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral seriously injured after she leapt from a building Blah, a popular Bollywood celebrity manager Narendra Modi of misleading the country by seized Rs100mn cash from a car. The cash yesterday ruled out any alternative to ailing Chief and landed on a high voltage wire in Bihar’s who has been accused of sexual misconduct, “making false claims that the United Progressive was seized during checking of vehicles by the Minister Manohar Parrikar. The minister also said Lakhisarai district, triggering mob violence, reportedly tried to end his life early yesterday Alliance government built only 25 lakh houses” police in Adilabad district of Telangana, which is his Cabinet colleague and Agriculture Minister Vijai police said. The victim is battling for life after but was saved at the last minute, police said. against the National Democratic Alliance’s 1.25 going to polls on December 7. Several wads of Sardesai’s discussion with BJP president Amit Shah jumping from the roof of a three-storey building The incident happened at 1am yesterday. Blah crore homes in a four-year period. State Congress currency notes, all in Rs500s, were recovered on Thursday about finding alternatives to Parrikar in Chitranjan where she was raped after being was caught and rescued by a traffic police president Ashok Chavan said that under the from the vehicle which was coming from Nagpur was only borne out of “personal interest”. “We intoxicated, a police off icer said. According to patrol in Vashi area and handed over to police, Indira Awas Yojana, between 2004 and 2013, in Maharashtra and headed to Hyderabad. The have a leader in Parrikar and he will always be our the off icer, the girl along with one of her friends a traffic police official said. The company the UPA constructed 2.24 crore houses for poor. car was registered in Karnataka. Police detained leader,” Cabral said at the state Bharatiya Janata had gone out on Thursday. It was unclear how manages prominent names like Ranbir Accordingly, during the UPA’s tenure, nearly 25 lakh two persons travelling in the car. The seizure Party headquarters. On Thursday, after a meeting she reached the third floor of the building. Her Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Deepika homes were completed every year, he pointed out. was made during intensified checking of with Amit Shah, Sardesai had said that they had girlfriend, the owner of the building and another Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, According to the 2014 report of Comptroller and vehicles by authorities to implement the model discussed leadership alternatives to Parrikar, who suspect have been detained, the police off icer Jacqueline Fernandez, Pritam, Mahesh Babu Auditor General (CAG), the UPA government built code of conduct in the run up to the Assembly has been ailing for more than eight months now. said. and Rana Dagubatti. nearly 1.29 crore homes during 2008-2013. elections. Reluctant offi cers set to worsen Delhi smog

Reuters giving an order to ban the sale New Delhi of fi recrackers. The court hasn’t indicated whether it will make a ruling before Diwali, that falls this ith a toxic smog begin- year on November 7. ning to envelop New “The situation is going to be WDelhi as winter ap- grim,” Ritwick Dutta, an envi- proaches, residents of the capital ronment lawyer associated with are set to make matters a lot worse the not-for-profi t Legal Initia- by burning hundreds of thousands tive for Forest and Environment, of fi recrackers to celebrate the Di- said. “You cannot have something wali festival early next month. monitored solely by the Supreme India, which has the world’s 14 Court whose ruling last year can most polluted cities, has made lit- be seen only as a stop-gap ar- tle eff ort this year to curb the sale rangement.” People gather at the site where 50 people were mowed down by a speeding train in Amritsar yesterday. of ear-splitting, fi recrackers that While Diwali is celebrated explode through Diwali night. throughout the country, New The smoke from them shrouds Delhi accounts for nearly half of New Delhi and its satellite cit- India’s demand for fi recrackers. ies in a haze that can linger for Last year, the smog a few weeks days as wind speeds drop in the after Diwali was so bad that Delhi cooler weather, adding to pollu- resorted to emergency measures tion caused by the burning of crop such as shutting schools and ban- residue, vehicle emissions and in- ning construction. dustrial gases. Despite rising pollution levels, 50 people crushed Authorities, reluctant to step in the Delhi government and the fed- to curb the rampant use of fi re- eral environment ministry have crackers on Diwali are passing the shied away from asking the Su- buck to the Supreme Court to re- preme Court for a complete ban on strict the sale and use of fi reworks. the sale of fi recrackers, according “It’s not always easy for the to the petitions reviewed by Reu- government to step into sensitive ters. issues like banning fi reworks on In its affi davit to the Supreme by train in Punjab Diwali but it works for us and oth- Court, the environment ministry ers if the court decides to step in has rather asked for the introduc- on this,” said a senior government tion of fi recrackers that emit less IANS leave behind a heap of crushed Sub-divisional magistrate the area but there were no casual- that the death toll was alarm- offi cial. harmful chemicals. Amritsar and dismembered bodies. Rajesh Sharma said 50 bodies ties, a railway offi cial said. ingly high. A railway offi cial said A spokesman for the federal With the use of the new fi re- Video clips posted on the so- have been recovered. A local resident, Nirmal Jit in New Delhi that the drop gates environment ministry declined crackers, toxic emissions would go cial media showed some people “Out of nowhere came the Sindhu, alleged that the Dussehra at the spot were down but people comment. down by 30%-40%, said Rakesh n a terrible disaster, at least who had apparently seen the ap- train,” said a man, sounding an- celebrations were organised by still massed on the tracks in viola- A spokesman for the Delhi city Kumar, director of the state-run 50 people watching the burn- proaching train trying to run away gry while speaking to journalists. forcing the local administration to tion of railway rules. government was not available for National Environmental Engi- Iing of an effi gy from a railway from the site. A few of them were “Before anyone could realise what grant permission near the railway Punjab Chief Minister Am- comment. neering Research Institute. track were crushed by a speeding also mowed down. was happening, it ran over scores tracks. arinder Singh announced Last year, the Supreme Court “But the fi recracker industry train here in Punjab yesterday, The Punjab government, in a of people.” He said last year the adminis- Rs500,000 compensation to the temporarily banned the sale of needs to come forward to take triggering anger in the area and statement in New Delhi, put the “When the effi gy started to tration had not granted permis- kin of the deceased and cancelled fi recrackers in and around the the samples of the prototype and nationwide outrage. death toll at 40 but Amritsar Po- burn people began running away sion for the use of this venue for his proposed Israel visit to rush capital city, an area with a popula- the new chemical formulations Some 700 people were watch- lice commissioner S S Srivastava fearing it would fall on them,” said Dussehra celebrations owing to its to Amritsar. “District authori- tion of about 20mn. that we’ve developed,” Kumar ing the huge effi gy go up in told reporters that “it is defi nitely another man. “They did not real- proximity to the tracks. ties have been mobilised on a war That reduced the use of fi re- said. fl ames amid exploding crackers more than 50-60” and that peo- ise that a speeding train was com- Some people blamed Local footing,” he tweeted. works — cutting resulting emis- Large-scale production of while standing on the railway ple were still being rushed to hos- ing and the train did not sound its Bodies Minister Navjot Singh President Ram Nath Kovind sions by about 30% — government such fi reworks would take time line at Joda Phatak near Dhobi pitals. horn.” Another man felt that the Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur, who and Prime Minister Narendra offi cials said. and require heavy investment, Ghat within the city when the Another 50 people were also tragedy would have claimed at was the chief guest at the celebra- Modi expressed condolences over This year, the court, which has K Mariappan, general secretary train going to Amritsar from badly injured in the accident, of- least 100 lives. The dead included tions, saying her late arrival de- the horrifi c tragedy. heard submissions from the city of the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Pathankot came hurtling down fi cials said. several children, another witness layed the burning of the effi gy by The prime minister announced government, the environment Amorces Manufacturers’ Associa- around 7pm. Most people reportedly could said. more than half an hour. a Rs200,000 compensation to the ministry and the fi recracker in- tion, said from Sivakasi, southern It took just about 10 to 15 sec- not hear the train’s horn due to the Ironically, moments before the Sidhu told a news channel families of the dead and Rs50,000 dustry, has so far refrained from India. onds for the train to pass – and exploding crackers. tragedy, another train passed by on telephone from Bengaluru to the injured. Temple controversy turns Film body removes political as protests grow top Malayalam actor IANS culprit for shielding Dileep. Kochi “I really don’t know why the Reuters ing to implement its agenda Hindu hardliners, includ- WCC is taking on me personally. Kochi/New Delhi in Sabarimala, we will prevent ing members of the BJP’s youth All of them have been my co-stars. it, even by taking the law into wing, have clashed with police enior actor Dileep, who was We have had good relations. Now our hands,” said K Surendran, and attacked women, including named in a Malayalam ac- it has come to such a pass that it senior Bharatiya Janata the general secretary of the journalists, who have tried to Stress kidnapping case, was has started to hurt me. I do not feel Party leader yesterday Bharatiya Janata Party in the get to the temple. yesterday removed from the Asso- good at all,” the actor added. A warned that protesters state. Two women who got close ciation of Malayalam Movie Art- Dileep has spent 85 days in jail in Kerala would take the law Surendran accused the state’s were forced to turn back in the ists, its chief Mohanlal said. and is now out on bail. into their hands if officials at- Communist Party government, face of protests and a threat by Ending months of uncertainty, At a press conference on Oc- tempted to let women enter a which has tried to implement the head priest to shut the tem- the actors’ body at its executive tober 13, the WCC-led by actress hill temple at the centre of a the verdict, of provoking devo- ple if they entered, senior Kera- committee meeting held here Revathy, alleged that AMMA had raging controversy. tees after police gave protection la police official S Sreejith told agreed to end Dileep’s member- not supported the victim whereas A political tinge for the con- to some women who sought to reporters yesterday. ship from AMMA as he has been Dileep had got all the backing. troversy could help Prime Min- reach the remote site. A third woman turned back at facing trial in the case that took Others who took part in that ister Narendra Modi’s party He did not elaborate on what the request of police, citing the place in February 2017. conference included Rima Kallin- gain ground in Kerala, where it the party plans to do, however. tension. The decision came amidst gal, Remya Nambisan and Geetu has never made much headway, Three dozen priests staged a Meanwhile trustees of the the raging #MeToo furore in the Mohandas, who had earlier quit and won just one of 98 seats it sit-in against the court verdict. temple, the Travancore Deva- country. AMMA to protest against the way contested in the last elections Television channels broad- som Board (TDB), has decided Superstar Mohanlal told the the actress kidnapping issue was to the state assembly in 2016. cast images of scores of police to submit a detailed report media that the issue had been lin- handled by the actors’ body. Protests against women en- attempting to calm protest- about the happenings in and gering long enough and a decision Mohanlal said the actresses who tering the temple grew yester- ers, who consider the verdict a around the temple both to the was way overdue. had resigned from AMMA ear- day, with hundreds of hardlin- challenge to tradition and in- Supreme Court and the Kerala “I called him (Dileep) and told lier would have to give a letter in ers blocking three women from terference in religious affairs. High Court. him about the decision and asked case they wished to return to the entering the Sabarimala temple The Supreme Court called A Padmakumar, TDB presi- for his resignation. He sent us the organisation. Their membership for a third day. the tradition patriarchal. The dent, said in the state capital signed resignation letter,” said would then have to be considered The demonstrators were de- controversy has fired up Hindu that the board would soon ap- Mohanlal. by the executive committee and by fying a Supreme Court verdict religious sentiment. proach their legal counsel for Earlier in October, the Women’s the general body, he added. that overturned a decades-old Members of the BJP in the preparing the report. Collective in Cinema (WCC) had “Why should we ask them to ruling by a lower court denying state have also strongly backed “We have no intention to play Journalist Kavitha Jakkal (centre) gestures as she walks with criticised the way the actress kid- return, it was they who resigned. entry to women. those seeking to block the entry political games with Sabarima- police wearing protective gear near the Sabarimala temple in napping case was handled. They Hence they have to make the fi rst “If the government is try- of women. la,” said Padmakumar. Kerala yesterday. had named Mohanlal as the main move,” Mohanlal said. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 11

LATIN AMERICA

LAW AND ORDER FALLOUT DISCLOSURE DECISION CORPORATE Fugitive judge captured in Venezuela expels Ecuador BRF co-operating in Colgate halts detergent China’s State Power ‘in talks Spain: Peru’s president diplomat in tit-for-tat move food safety probe plant for lack of boxes for Brazil thermal plants’

A fugitive Peru Supreme Court justice accused Venezuela ordered Ecuador’s top diplomat Brazil’s BRF SA, the world’s largest chicken US consumer goods maker Colgate-Palmolive China’s State Power Investment Corporation of leading a criminal group that infiltrated in Caracas to leave the country, hours after exporter, said it has been co-operating with has halted production at its detergent and is in talks to acquire two additional the country’s justice system was captured in Quito expelled Venezuela’s ambassador authorities handling a probe into whether dish soap plant in Venezuela because it hydroelectric dams and two thermal Madrid yesterday, Peruvian President Martin over “off ensive” comments about its it colluded with health off icials to evade lacked cardboard boxes to ship products, plants in Brazil, a person with knowledge Vizcarra said. Judge Cesar Hinostroza’s escape president. The move follows Ecuador’s food safety checks. Reuters reported on a union leader said. The plant in the city of of the matter said yesterday. One of the to Spain through normal border exit points has expulsion of Venezuelan ambassador September 12 that federal prosecutors leading Valencia stopped operations on Monday, hydroelectric dams is Usina Tres Irmaos, embarrassed Vizcarra, who has made fighting Carol Delgado earlier Thursday for the probe were seeking co-operation from union representative Carlos Rodriguez said. Its a 800 megawatt dam in Sao Paulo state, graft the top priority in his seven-month-old “off ensive” comments against President the firms involved in return for more lenient cardboard provider, Ireland’s Smurfit Kappa, controlled by Brazilian infrastructure group government. “He’s now with Spanish police, Lenin Moreno by a Venezuelan penalties. The scandal involving BRF disrupted halted production in Venezuela last month Triunfo Participacoes e Investimentos foreign aff airs agents and Peru’s police government minister. Communication production and caused the temporary closure after government authorities took over its SA (TPI), the person added, requesting attache,” Vizcarra said on local broadcaster and information minister Jorge Rodriguez of export markets to certain Brazilian meat local unit. Smurfit Kappa was one of the few anonymity to discuss private talks. Brazilian RPP. Hinostroza had been barred by court had accused Moreno of lying about the producers. BRF told the Brazilian securities remaining shipping materials manufacturers newspaper Valor Economico first reported orders from leaving the country while he is number of Venezuelans that have arrived regulator it has been maintaining “ample and in the Opec nation. Colgate is attempting to the talks over Tres Irmaos on its website on investigated for influence peddling and other in Ecuador after fleeing the economic transparent” talks with authorities regarding its import cardboard from neighbouring Colombia, Thursday. State Power and Triunfo declined crimes. meltdown in their homeland. participation in any misconduct. Rodriguez said. to comment.

Mexico rejects US ‘pressure’ Bolsonaro over migrant caravan denies illicit DPA Mexico City/Washington

exico said it had reject- ed attempts at pres- campaign Msure after US Presi- dent Donald Trump threatened to close his country’s southern border to stop an “onslaught” of migrants, including a caravan waiting on the Mexican border to cross into the US. fi nance claim Mexican Interior Minister Al- fonso Navarrete said in parlia- Agencies stab wound, used a Facebook to conduct a probe. ment that he wanted to tell the Brasilia/Sao Paulo Live video to deny the allegation. In a radio interview, Haddad US government “with all clar- He had earlier described the said the Bolsonaro campaign ity” that “we reject any attempt messaging as “voluntary sup- had “created a veritable crimi- at pressure to change our leg- razilian far-right presi- port.” “Since September 6, I’ve nal organisation with business- islative framework, because we dential candidate Jair Bol- been out of the fi ght. I was in the men who are using undeclared won’t do it.” Bsonaro was forced to deny hospital 23 days, and I’ve been at money to pay for false messages The Mexican government also an accusation that he sought home a few days. I did not dine on WhatsApp.” He also called on said it would ask the UN refu- funding from business leaders to or lunch with anyone. I only international election observers gee agency UNHCR to help it purchase mass WhatsApp mes- went out fi ve times,” Bolsonaro and WhatsApp itself to look into handle the caravan and to fi nd a sages, in an alleged campaign fi - said. the case. “humanitarian” solution for the nance violation. Campaign propaganda has Illegal, under-the-table fund- migrants. But Bolsonaro is still lead- fl ooded social media in Brazil ing by companies could, if prov- Trump accused Guatemala, ing leftist candidate Fernando ahead of the run-off vote. en, lead to the disqualifi cation of Honduras and El Salvador of do- Haddad, according to the latest The issue of fake news and abuse the Bolsonaro ticket, said attor- ing little to stop the fl ow of mi- Datafolha poll published by Glo- of social media has been a growing ney Guilherme Salles Gonçalves, grants from entering Mexico. bo TV, which showed Bolsonaro concern in elections across the an electoral law expert. He had on Wednesday criti- with 59% of voter support, com- world, and tech giants have come However, a Brazilian public cised the three Central Ameri- pared with 41% for Haddad. under growing pressure to stem prosecutor with experience in can countries and threatened In a Datafolha poll last week, the growth of misinformation. cybercrime was sceptical wheth- to cut aid if they fail to stop the Bolsonaro had 58% versus 42% The Workers Party fi led a for- er the allegations would consti- migrants. for Haddad. mal complaint with Brazil’s elec- tute a serious crime. On Thursday, he went a step The poll, which interviewed tion tribunal, asking it to investi- Legal precedents that apply further, saying on Twitter that 9,137 people and had a margin of gate the Bolsonaro campaign and to public social networks such in addition to stopping aid, he error of 2 percentage points, sug- fi ve companies cited in the Folha as Facebook and Twitter may would order the US military to gests Bolsonaro is increasingly report for alleged abuse of eco- not apply to WhatsApp, where close the border. likely to win the October 28 run- nomic resources and illicit use of users communicate in smaller “In addition to stopping all off vote and become Brazil’s next communication media. groups, said the prosecutor, who payments to these countries, president. PT lawyers also asked pros- requested anonymity to discuss which seem to have almost no But a hiccup emerged when ecutors and Brazil federal police the case. control over their population, I newspaper Folha de S.Paulo re- must, in the strongest of terms, ported that well-heeled Bol- Lawmaker fears for Brazil’s future ask Mexico to stop this on- sonaro supporters had paid for slaught — and if unable to do so messaging by third-party agen- A female lawmaker who was once the Chamber 15 years ago that I will call up the US military and cies, splashing out up to 12mn told by Jair Bolsonaro that she Bolsonaro, a seven-term deputy, CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BOR- reais ($3.26mn) each to spread was “not worthy” of being raped disdainfully insulted Rosario as DER!” Trump wrote. tens of thousands of attack ads. said she fears for her country if cameras rolled. The comment He said the “assault on our The Folha accusation ener- the far-right candidate triumphs. was made during a debate on country” at the border includes gised Bolsonaro’s struggling op- “With what has happened to us a bill that would stiff en criminal “criminal elements” and drugs ponent Haddad of the Worker’s women, with what happened to punishment for minors following and is more important to him Party (PT), who said his party me...we fear that (a Bolsonaro vic- a vicious attack on a couple by than the recently concluded has witnesses saying Bolsonaro tory) would legitimise even more teenagers. With the recording trade deal. asked business leaders at a din- violence” against women, Maria of his words playing across TV The president also linked the ner in Sao Paulo for funds to pay do Rosario said in an interview. networks, Bolsonaro later said he migration problem to opposition for the bulk messaging, which he The runoff vote is in 10 days. had reacted after alleging that do Democrats. described as undeclared cam- “Brazil is the champion of Rosario had called him a rapist. “Hopefully Mexico will stop paign contributions. violence done to women,” said But in a 2014 interview he reiter- this onslaught at their northern Bolsonaro, who has barely 51-year-old member of the ated his insult and expanded Border. All Democrats fault for Fernando Haddad, presidential candidate of Brazil’s leftist Workers’ Party (PT), waves as he arrives at campaigned in recent weeks as leftist Workers Party. It was in on it. weak laws!” Trump said. the engineers club to attend a debate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. he recovered from a near-fatal Assange launches legal Flood-hit Mexican fi rms to pay UN $3mn reparations action against Ecuador Reuters funds ended up in the hands of Mexico City corrupt government offi cials. Guardian News and Media political issues – and ordering Sources close to WikiLeaks Venezuelan President Nicolas London him to clean his bathroom and confi rmed to the Guardian yes- Maduro has defended the pro- take better care of his cat or risk terday that the legal action was in group of companies and gramme, saying it has allowed his losing his pet. the works and that there was due individuals have agreed to administration to fi ght capital- ulian Assange is to launch le- Assange must obtain ap- to be a press conference in the Apay $3mn in reparations ism and an international boycott gal action against the govern- proval for all visitors from Ecuadorian capital, Quito. to the United Nations Refugee against him. Jment of Ecuador, accusing diplomatic staff three days in Assange was made an Ecuado- Agency to settle allegations by The companies and people in- it of violating his “fundamental advance. He is banned from ac- rian citizen last December, in an Mexico of overcharging for basic volved in the sales from Mexico, rights and freedoms”. tivities that could be “consid- attempt by the nation’s foreign food-aid packages distributed by whose full names were not re- The move follows a deterio- ered as political or interfering ministry to resolve the political the Venezuelan government, the vealed, have also agreed to stop ration in relations between the with the internal affairs of oth- impasse over his continued pres- Mexican attorney general’s offi ce shipping food or medicines to the Ecuadorian government and er states”, according to a memo ence in the UK. The 46-year-old said. Venezuelan government under the the WikiLeaks founder, who seen by the Guardian. was naturalised after living for Since 2016, the Venezuelan programme, known as CLAP, the was granted refuge at Ecuador’s The Ecuadorian government fi ve-and-a-half years in the Lat- government has distributed subsi- Mexican attorney general’s offi ce London embassy in 2012 while partially lifted restrictions on in American country’s cramped dised food, mostly imported from said. on bail in the UK over sexual as- Assange’s internet access last embassy in Knightsbridge, cen- nearby countries, to help address “This group of Mexican and sault allegations against him in weekend, but stipulated he tral London. Venezuela’s severe shortages of foreign companies and people Sweden. would only be allowed to use the Earlier this year, the UK For- basic goods. have obtained funds by divert- Newly released Ecuadorian embassy Wi-Fi for his personal eign Offi ce revealed Ecuador had Army offi cials and government- ing them from their humanitarian government documents have laid computer and phone. asked for Assange, who was born supported groups in Venezuela purposes, buying food and specu- bare an unorthodox attempt to The WikiLeaks Twitter ac- in Australia, to be accredited as a tasked with distributing food lating with them instead,” Israel extricate the WikiLeaks founder count stated on Thursday that diplomat. The request was dis- amid widespread shortages in the Lira, head of the Mexican offi ce from his embassy hideaway by “after US pressure”, moves had missed. crisis-hit Opec member have long specialised in organised crime in- naming him as a political coun- accelerated to grant Assange The Ecuadorian initiative was been suspected of fraud with food vestigations, told reporters. sellor to the country’s embassy in Ecuadorian citizenship. “His intended to confer legal immuni- distribution, often with the help of Lira said prosecutors found Moscow. citizenship status is a barrier to ty on the WikiLeaks founder, al- businesses and individuals based about 1.8mn food boxes in 1,300 Earlier this year, Ecuador laid rendering him to another state as lowing him to slip out of the em- Two girls wade towards their house through a flooded outside of the country. shipping containers in Mexico sold out a stringent new set of house Article 79 of Ecuador’s constitu- bassy and Britain without being street, following heavy rains in Tepalon, Granada some In April, the US and Colombia by these companies, but allowed rules for Assange, warning him tion forbids extradition of citi- arrested for breaching his former 80km east of Managua. showed new evidence of fraud in them to continue on to Venezuela to avoid online comments about zens,” it added. bail conditions. the programme, saying part of the as part of the agreement. Gulf Times 12 Saturday, October 20, 2018 PAKISTAN

Alarm bells over Engro plays down govt unifi ed body to move on LNG contract regulate Engro ‘not obliged’ to $228,000 per day, or about ligation to renegotiate the same,” He cited a contractual clause major energy producers and Sharif’s former petroleum media renegotiate LNG contract $83mn per year. the fi rm said in a statement. allowing for renegotiation with traders. minister, Shahid Khaqan Abba- Engro’s stance sets up a po- It also said that the govern- mutual consent, but hinted the It also helped ease electricity si, who became prime minister Reuters tential confl ict with the gov- ment is miscalculating its net government would take other outages of up to 12 hours per day after Sharif was ousted, is also Internews Islamabad ernment of Prime Minister Im- profi ts from the venture. action if Engro refused. that had crippled industry and under investigation by the state Islamabad ran Khan, who has promised Petroleum Minister Ghulam “If they don’t come to renego- disrupted daily life for the popu- anti-corruption body over an to scrutinise for corruption all Sarwar Khan said on Thursday tiation, then the further reme- lation of 208mn people. unnamed LNG deal. akistan conglomerate En- deals made by the previous ad- that the government would seek dies that exist, we will defi nitely Prime Minister Khan, howev- Abbasi was the mastermind of ederal Information Min- gro Corporation Ltd said ministration of ousted premier to renegotiate two LNG terminal avail them,” the minister said. er, is scrutinising the deals. Pakistan’s push to develop LNG ister Fawad Chaudhry has Pyesterday that it had “no Nawaz Sharif. deals, saying that the previous He did not name the company While in opposition, the infrastructure aimed at ending Fannounced a broad outline obligation” to renegotiate a con- Engro said in a statement that government had agreed to pay involved in the second LNG con- former cricket star spearheaded crippling electricity shortages. of the newly-proposed Pakistan tract with the government for the 2013 bidding for its Karachi too much. tract. a campaign accusing Sharif of He has denied any wrongdo- Media Regulatory Authority imported liquefi ed natural gas terminal, Pakistan’s fi rst, was While he made no direct claim It is unclear whether he was corruption that led to the Su- ing. (PMRA) to oversee print, elec- (LNG), a day after the new pe- done in an “auditable and trans- of corruption in the LNG deals, speaking of Pakistan’s other preme Court of Pakistan remov- Sharif’s party offi cials say that tronic and social media. troleum minister said it would parent” tender process. the minister had explained that completed terminal or one of ing him from offi ce last year. the corruption cases are part of a The announcement set alarm seek new terms. The terminal came into op- the contracts gave a maximum several new ones planned. Sharif was convicted by an conspiracy by the judiciary and bells ringing among stakehold- A spokesman for Engro said eration in 2015. return on equity of 44% for one The rapid adoption of LNG in- anti-corruption court and sen- military to bring down their pre- ers – including journalists who that the total contract, to proc- “The government does not of the terminals and 22.7% on frastructure has made Pakistan tenced to 10 years in jail in July, vious government and discredit complained that they had not ess and supply up to 600mn have a contractual right to reo- the second one, which he re- one of the industry’s fastest- ahead of elections won by Khan. their leaders. been consulted on the issue, and cu feet of LNG per day for 15 pen/renegotiate its terms, and marked was far above the indus- growing markets in Asia, spark- The three-time premier de- The army and courts deny any expressed scepticism over the years, is currently worth about we are accordingly under no ob- try standard. ing interest from the world’s nies wrongdoing. interference in politics. government move that they said could curtail media freedom in the country. While briefi ng the Senate standing committee on in- Row, row, row formation and broadcasting, Apex court settles Chaudhry said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govern- ment would regulate all media, and “no one will be able to de- controversy over fame anyone under the new law”. Amid uneasy gestures by sen- ators, he told the committee that the government is working on a judges’ seniority proposal to bring all media regu- latory bodies under the proposed PMRA. Internews pleaded that he was being This would be done by merg- Islamabad shown junior to these judges on ing all existing rules and acts the basis of an administrative related to the Pakistan Electron- order that is illegal. ic Media Regulatory Author- he Supreme Court of Justice Khan was appointed ity (Pemra), the Press Council of Pakistan has settled a an additional judge of the high Pakistan (PCP), and the Pakistan Tseniority controversy court through a notifi cation Telecommunication Author- among high court judges when on February 17, 2010, and was ity (PTA), he said, adding that it it dismissed a petition moved confi rmed as the permanent would introduce one-window by Justice Farrukh Khan of the judge. operation to address complaints Lahore High Court (LHC). Opposing the petition, Pun- and other regulatory aspects of Consequently, Justice Khan, jab Additional Advocate Gen- the media. who is also facing a reference eral Mohamed Shan Gul argued Referring to the proposed law, before the Supreme Judicial that February 17 was not the Information Secretary Shafqat Council (SJC), will remain jun- date of appointment of Justice Jalil told the committee that in ior to two judges senior to him, Khan, but the date of presiden- future, electronic media would court sources have said. tial notifi cation. be allowed to air advertisements “For reasons to be recorded The date of appointment in only after the approval of the in- later, the petition is dismissed,” the case of Justice Khan was formation ministry. observed Justice Sheikh Azmat February 20, while that of the The information minister said Saeed while dictating the order other judges was a day earlier, the draft had been forwarded to after a long hearing. on February 19. the Pemra, the PCP, and other Justice Saeed headed the Citing Article 193 of the con- media bodies including the fi ve-judge bench that had tak- stitution, Gul argued that the Council of Pakistan Newspapers en up a 2016 petition by Justice provision specifi es that before Editors, the All Pakistan News- Khan, who had urged the court entering offi ce, a judge had to Fishermen row their boats near the port area in Karachi. papers Society, and the Pakistan to set aside a November 26, take the oath before the chief Broadcasting Association. 2016 administrative order of justice. then-LHC chief justice Man- A collective reading reveals soor Ali Shah which, according that the president appoints a to the petitioner, had disturbed judge in accord with the cri- the inter-se-seniority of the teria provided under Article judges of the batch appointed 175A, and the appointment is Punjab to end bus fare subsidies Village of shawl on February 17, 2010, relegating only complete when the judge Justice Khan’s seniority. takes the oath. The rejection of the petition The words before entering Internews bus services, the minister has According to the revised fares, weavers boasts of means that Shah’s order was the offi ce are of essence and Lahore been quoted by Geo TV as saying. the Gaddafi Stadium to Great- upheld by the apex court on cannot be rendered redundant, Metro bus fares from Lahore’s er Lahore Park route will cost Thursday, which had relegated Gul contended, adding that the Shahdara to Gajju Matta will now Rs300, whereas the Gaddafi to 100% employment Justice Khan, though previ- judge’s appointment process he Punjab government has be determined on stop-to-stop Wagah border fares has been in- ously he was shown to be sen- culminates with, and was con- decided to end subsidies basis, he further said. creased from Rs300 to Rs400. ior to Justices Mohamed Qasim ditioned upon, the taking of an Ton fares of the popular The minister also said that The bus fare for students has Internews lege and university students Khan, Mazahar Naqvi, and oath. metro bus service, Punjab Fi- registration fees will be reduced been increased from Rs150 to Mingora come for a part-time job in Mazhar Sidhu. If the judge does not take nance Minister Hashim Bakht for small imported cars but in- Rs200. the afternoon and earn pocket Justice Sidhu had resigned oath, his appointment does has said. creased for larger cars. The service will continue to be money,” Hazir Gul maintained. against the backdrop of a refer- not mature and therefore he is The provincial government The Punjab Tourism Depart- free for senior citizens and the slampur, a small village sit- Shahab Ali Shah, a 35-year- ence before the SJC. not the judge and thus cannot has been providing subsidies ment has also hiked fares for handicapped. uated 13km south of Min- old artisan from the village, Justice Khan, through his function as a judge or adjudi- of Rs12bn yearly to the Lahore, double-decker bus services in The revised fares will be appli- Igora in the Swat district in said that it takes three hours to counsel Hamid Khan, had cate or decide a case. Multan, and Rawalpindi metro Lahore. cable from next month. Pakistan’s mountainous north, weave a normal quality shawl. has been associated with the However, better quality ones cottage weaving industry since are weaved in no less than a ages. week. With a population of 17,000, He also added that they the village residents use sheep make Pashmina shawls, which Pakistani team wins US award for mobile app wool in the production of are quite famous in the urban shawls. side of Pakistan, and consum- There are many small and ers are willing to pay a higher Internews medium shawl manufacturing price for the product. Islamabad units located in the scenic vil- “This is a centuries-old lage. industry, established in this The weavers of Islampur historic village. My father and he Third Prize for the Best sell shawls for both men and grandfather have also worked Scientifi c Exhibit at the women. here and now I am working Tannual American Society They also make traditional here. I earn almost Rs1,000 a of Anesthesia Conference 2018 in caps and waistcoats for men. day in the winter season,” stat- San Francisco, US went to a team People from the nearby vil- ed 38-year-old Hamid Khan. from Pakistan for their innova- lages also come there and en- He added that the artisans of tive mHealth (mobile health) gage in the business to earn a the village had imported mod- initiative to meet Lancet Com- living. ern machines, making work mission on Global Surgery Goals In a country suff ering from easier for the staff ers and ex- for 2030. high rates of unemployment, pediting production. Anesthesia log, an android app Islampur boasts of 100% em- Weavers and the shopkeep- available at Google Play store, ployment rate. ers claimed that the wool was developed by Dr Saeedah According to the locals, all weaving industry of Islam- Asaf, an associate professor of the people in the village are pur produces some of the best paediatric anaesthesia at the employed and earn a good liv- winter wears, and their work Children’s Hospital in Lahore, ing for themselves and their doubles during the winter. in collaboration with the Paki- families. They added that their hand- stan Children Heart Foundation The Pakistani team members with convention off icials at the San Francisco event. Hazir Gul, the chief execu- made products are also avail- (PCHF) to collect anaesthesia tive of Islampur cottage in- able in Afghanistan and some and surgery data in a resource- Post Anesthesia care area, which phones is very practical in Paki- We want to know what we are team in Pakistan. We now intend dustry, stated that there are cities of Central Asia. poor setting. opened in June 2017, was organ- stan.” doing.” to make this app available for around 500 units which pro- Many of their shawls have Data of over 20,000 surgeries ised accordingly based on this She commended her team of PCHF chief executive Farhan other specialties, including sur- vide employment to 15,000 been showcased in cultural has been captured since its de- information. almost forty doctors and nurses Ahmad said: “We are much hon- gery and perfusion.” people directly and 40,000 festivals and exhibitions across ployment at the Children’s Hos- Dr Saeedah said: “Very little who enter data for each surgery. oured to represent Pakistan at Data analysis tool Orbis by the people indirectly. Pakistan. pital in January 2017. data on preparedness for surgical “It hardly takes 60 seconds, San Francisco convention and University of Washington, US “This village is not only pro- However, experts believe Almost one-quarter of the care, delivery of surgical care and but during a busy day, it does take winning third position, facing secured fi rst place, and Point of viding employment to people that this industry would bene- surgical patients were infants impact of surgical care in Paki- commitment. I am very grateful competition from all over the Care Ultrasound teaching tech- of the village but the artisans of fi t immensely if the state takes and neonates (an infant less than stan is available. This low-cost, to my team at Children’s and the world. It is matter of pride for us nologies by Loma Linda Univer- the nearby villages also come concrete steps to facilitate the four weeks old), and the new low-tech solution using mobile PCHF for making this a success. to share the work by our dynamic sity, US secured second place. to seek employment. Even col- export of these shawls. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 13 PHILIPPINES

US Navy Three cops killed after rebel copter crashes ambush on FDA chief’s convoy on carrier DPA By Roy Narra Road Board executive director (PNP)-marked vehicle escort- even during peace talks, re- Washington Manila Times Rodolfo “Dody” Puno, was the ing Puno and her team. mains open to negotiating with department’s priority. The First Camarines Sur the rebels, Malacanang said on The FDA chief, who was on Provincial Public Safety Com- Tuesday in reaction to a Manila US Navy helicopter hree police security es- her way to Daet, Camarines pany responded and retaliated, Times exclusive interview with crashed on an aircraft corts to the head of the Norte which had passed an ordi- prompting the suspects to re- CPP founding chairman Jose Acarrier during routine TFood and Drug Adminis- nance requiring establishments treat. Maria Sison. operations in the Philippine Sea tration (FDA) were killed in an to secure an FDA clearance prior Chief Supt. Arnel Escobal, In the interview with Ma- yesterday. ambush by gunmen, suspected to obtaining a business licence, Bicol police regional director, in nila Times Chairman Emeri- The MH-60 Seahawk crashed to be members of the commu- was moved to a safe location, a text message to Manila Times, tus Dante Ang, Sison accused on the fl ight deck of the USS Ro- nist New People’s Army (NPA), Duque said. also confi rmed that Puno was members of the Cabinet secu- nald Reagan (CVN 76) shortly on Thursday morning in Lupi, The Bicol Provincial Police safe and was brought to Naga rity cluster of swaying Duterte after takeoff , a statement from Camarines Sur. Offi ce said Senior Police Offi cer City with her aides. into suspending the peace talks the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said. FDA Director General Nela (SPO) 1 Percival Rafael, Police The incident could further in favour of a “military solu- Crew members were injured, Charade Galang-Puno and her Offi cer (PO) 3 Carlito Navar- heighten animosity between the tion.” but none was in life-threatening team were “unharmed,” the roza and PO1 Ralph Jason Vida government and the CPP. The military however said condition, the statement said, Department of Health said in a died after about 20 unidenti- The Duterte administration Sison was lying, and explained adding that some personnel statement. fi ed armed men waylaid their cancelled the resumption of that peace negotiations were would be medically evacuated. Health Secretary Francisco group on the national highway peace talks with the communist terminated because of rampant No further details were given. Duque condemned the attack in Barangay Napolidan. Nela Charade Puno: close call rebels in June, citing the need to recruitment and extortion by The accident is under investiga- and demanded a full investiga- Three other police offic- hold public consultations. the NPA, as well as the need to tion. Last year there was a spate tion into the incident. ers were wounded. They were PO1 Jonathan Perillo. They medical treatment. President Rodrigo Duterte, review previous and proposed of mishaps involving the US 7th He said the safety of Puno, identified as PO1 Ruby Buena, were brought to Bicol Medical The victims were aboard who had been angered by NPA agreements and hold consulta- Fleet in Asian waters, including wife of businessman and former PO1 Rodolfo Gonzaga and Center in Naga City to receive a Philippine National Police attacks on soldiers and police tions with the public. three that resulted in fatalities. Palace rejects mandatory Duterte ‘not keen to declare drug test for poll candidates

consideration all rights and in- martial law nationwide’ By Catherine S Valente 2019 midterm elections to sub- Manila Times mit to a mandatory drug test- terests involved in order to en- ing once they become elected sure that the 2019 elections is By Catherine S Valente conniving with opposition as local offi cials. not only credible and peaceful Manila Times forces in a plot to overthrow his alacanang is opposed DDB chairman Catalino Cuy but also one that is truly refl ec- government next month. to the proposed man- said regulations provide for the tive of the people’s desires and He later said some members Mdatory drug testing establishment and institution- aspirations,” Panelo said. resident Rodrigo Duterte of the military were also in ca- for aspirants in next year’s alisation of drug-free work- He maintained that narcol- is not inclined to declare hoots with these forces. mid-term elections. place policy in all government ists prepared by law enforce- Pmartial law nationwide, Duterte placed Mindanao Palace spokesman Salvador offi ces, including drug test for ment agencies, including Malacanang assured the pub- under martial law on May 23, Panelo made the statement local offi cials and other gov- PDEA, were “not products of lic yesterday, amid speculation 2017 following the attack of the after the Philippine Drug En- ernment offi cers. mere conceptions but were that the ouster plot against the Islamic State-inspired Maute forcement Agency (PDEA) pro- He said the initiative was based on intelligence reports chief executive was a way to group in Marawi City. posed a surprise drug test on pursuant to President Rodrigo which underwent a series of setting the stage for military The martial law proclama- election candidates. Duterte’s order to strengthen comprehensive assessments.” rule. tion was extended until the end “It should be voluntary. If all anti-drug eff orts through “The public can, thus, be as- Palace spokesman Salvador of the year supposedly to sup- they don’t want it, you should imposing stricter sanctions for sured that these lists are cred- Panelo insisted that there was press lawless violence and re- not force them,” Panelo said, public employees, including ible and not propaganda tools no reason for Duterte to declare bellion in Mindanao. when asked about the pro- elective local offi cials and ap- to taint the characters of can- martial law nationwide. On Thursday, Panelo said the posed mandatory drug testing pointed offi cers. didates,” he added. “The president has repeat- Palace was open to the possi- for candidates. “If they’re not “As civil servants, we must Last week, the president edly said he will not declare nor bility of extending martial law hiding anything, they would lead by example of living a claimed that he was not will- is inclined to declare martial in Mindanao if such declaration volunteer,” he said. healthy and drug-free life- ing to release the names of sus- law nationwide,” Panelo told will help maintain peace and On Thursday, PDEA chief style. We cannot expect the pected narco-politicians run- Manila Times in a text message. order in the conflict-stricken Aaron Aquino said surprise Filipino people to be drug-free ning in the 2019 elections. Panelo also said such decla- region. drug tests should be conduct- if we ourselves are involved in After the Department of In- ration, particularly its exten- “According to the military, ed on politicians running in these substances,” Cuy said in terior and Local Government sion in Mindanao, would de- the (Mindanao) martial law has the elections, to prevent them a statement. (DILG) proposed the disquali- pend on the recommendation helped in the peace and order from preparing for the test by On Wednesday, Panelo said fi cation of candidates included of the state forces. Duterte: not inclined to declare martial law nationwide situation. And it has dissuaded not using illegal drugs before that Duterte could announce in the drug list, the president “The extension or lifting the terrorists from inflicting the examination to get a nega- the release of the DDB list of said it was not a good policy to martial law in Mindanao will Galvez said the political the government would not fall the usual violence against the tive result. candidates involved in illegal “telegraph” government plans depend on the assessment death trap for the president for the rebel’s ruse. population… If it is helping the “If it will be a surprise drug drug activities but added that to people who break the coun- and recommendation of the was part of the ouster plot of “By sowing chaos through its population, the population is test that they won’t know it the president would consider try’s laws. military and the police on the the communists. ‘Red October’ ouster plot, the not even opposing it, so to my is actually a drug test, well I the rights and interests of the The DILG recently an- ground,” he said. Then Palace spokesman CPP hopes that a nationwide mind, there is a need to extend think it will serve the purpose,” public as well as the politicians nounced it was seeking the Armed Forces Chief Carl- Harry Roque Jr. said the ex- martial law declaration would it,” Panelo said. Aquino said in a radio interview included in the narco-list be- disqualifi cation of politicians ito Galvez Jr claimed that the ecutive branch supported the spark people’s outrage. We will “But according to the presi- but added, “I am not sure yet if fore deciding whether or not to included in the drug list from Communist Party of the Phil- military’s statement that the therefore not fall into this trap dent, it will depend on the this is legal or not. If you ask release their names. joining the 2019 elections. It ippines (CPP) was trying to communists were “pushing the hatched by the enemies of the advice, the recommendation me, I would rather it happens.” “The president, pursuant to also called for the disqualifi ca- create chaos and force Duterte president to place the country State,” he said. of the military because they The Dangerous Drugs Board its mandate to serve and pro- tion of candidates implicated to declare martial law across under martial law.” The president claimed that are the ones on the ground,” (DDB) is urging aspirants in the tect the people, is taking into in corruption and other abuses. the country. But Roque maintained that the communist rebels were he added. Busy as a Jollibee: Asia’s fast-food Govt to suggest retail giant eyes expansion in Europe, US price for rice from Oct 23 Manila Times Dinorados, no more Super Angelica, no more yum- Reuters China already accounts for Manila my rice. These are the reforms,” he added. London 10% of group sales, through The agriculture chief pointed out that “there is no Dunkin and its two local brands. uniformity in the market,” which prompted the DA There are currently no Jollibee he government will implement suggested to impose SRPs for rice to stop profi teering and bring ollibee Foods, a major Asian restaurants in China, where rival retail prices (SRPs) for rice beginning Oc- down prices of the staple. “We will have to rationalise fast-food operator, hopes to KFC is very strong, but Tanman- Ttober 23, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel the whole thing and this is for the protection of the Jgenerate half its sales outside tiong sees its locations in Hong Pinol has said. Filipino consumers,” Pinol said. “There is no eff ect to its home market of the Philip- Kong and Macau as a gateway to For regular milled imported rice (25% brokens), our farmers. Actually we work out everything so that pines within fi ve to seven years, the mainland. the SRP is P37 per kilo or less. For well-milled im- the farmers will also be protected,” he added. A con- up from 30% now, its chief ex- Over the next fi ve years the ported rice (5% brokens), it is P40 per kilo or less. sulting team or council will be formed so that each ecutive told Reuters. Jollibee chain, which began as an For regular milled local rice, the SRP is P39. For sector will be represented in the monitoring of the It also hopes to double its rev- ice cream parlour in Manila, will well-milled local rice, it is P44 or less. Pinol, who also prices of rice in the market, he said. enue in fi ve years, as it expands expand in Europe, the United heads the National Food Authority Council (NFAC), Pinol expects prices of rice to go down by the its own chains and buys others, States and Asia. said there would be no SRP for special rice. “The end of the month with the start of the local har- at a time when dealmaking in the A Manhattan Jollibee, New imported rice will be clearly identifi ed as imported vest season and the arrival of imported grain. restaurant sector is heating up York City’s second, will open Vietnam, imported Thailand, imported Pakistan, The Agriculture department will also im- as increasing competition and later this month, followed by one whatever. And local rice will properly be identifi ed as pose SRPs for chicken and pork starting October costs fuel consolidation. in Malaysia by the end of the year Philippine local rice,” he said. 23 as part of the government’s eff orts to bring Earlier this year, Coca-Cola and one in Indonesia by 2020. “There will be no more use of Sinandomeng, fake down prices. agreed to buy Costa Coff ee and Overall, Jollibee expects to JAB Holdings bought Pret a have 50 stores in Europe over the Manger, which Jollibee also con- next fi ve years, half of them in sidered. File photo shows customers eat at a Jollibee fast-food outlet in Britain. Two Americans arrested over drug possession at airport More recently, Restaurant Quezon City, Metro Manila. “It has a big Filipino popula- Brands New Zealand said it was tion and it has a big fried chicken Two American citizens were ar- personnel Vicente Nieves said. a search. The airport policemen in takeover talks, TGI Friday’s open to strategic acquisitions, Coff ee in Vietnam and is the ma- market,” Tanmantiong said. rested separately at the Ninoy Metro Manila Development later found the illegal drugs and UK went on the block and sourc- adding the size didn’t matter, as jority owner of Smashburger in Jollibee has 41 stores in North Aquino International Airport Authority (MMDA) traff ic enforc- a California identification card es said Bojangles was exploring a long as targets were fast-food or the US. America, the bulk of which are in (NAIA), after drugs were discov- ers who were in the area asked inside the vehicle. possible sale. fast-casual restaurants, off ered a Growth in China and the Unit- the United States. ered in their possession, airport Tolentino for his driver’s license, Off ice for Transportation “There are a lot of discussions superior product and had scope ed States is key, Tanmantiong Within fi ve years, it expects authorities said yesterday. who was reluctant to present it, Security (OTS) screeners at the going on, but only a few end up to scale up. said. “We intend to replicate this to balloon to 150 in the US Cocaine, marijuana and a gun so the MMDA off icers called the NAIA terminal 3 held another with fi nal negotiations,” CEO The company, which has a what we did in the Philippines by and 100 in Canada. were seized from Alexander APD for help. American citizen identified as Ernesto Tanmantiong said in an market value of more than $5bn, having multiple brands in China The company is planning a Tolentino, 43, who figured in a When responding APD personnel Hawkins Mariner Augustus, interview, ahead of the weekend already has 4,300 stores under and the USA,” he said. stock market listing next sum- traff ic incident in which the Ford started questioning Tolentino, 40, for possession of metham- opening of its fi rst British Jol- 14 brands in 20 countries. The company last month en- mer of its Vietnamese coff ee Explorer he was driving hit a they noticed a caliber .38 revolver, phetamine hydrochloride or libee fried chicken restaurant in It operates Burger King stores tered into a venture with US chef business, but Tanmantiong said taxicab at the NAIA Terminal 4, so they asked him to step down shabu when he was about to London. in the Philippines, Dunkin Do- Rick Bayless to build a Mexican no other of its businesses were Airport Police Department (APD) from the vehicle and conducted fly to Legazpi. Tanmantiong said he was nuts in China and Highlands chain. currently ripe for a listing. Gulf Times 14 Saturday, October 20, 2018 COMMENT

CHAIRMAN Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Qatar ‘dealt wisely’ with Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka Deputy Managing Editor K T Chacko Production Editor unprecedented siege crisis Amjad Khan

P.O.Box 2888, Doha, Qatar QNA diate and complete cessation of settle- New York ment activities, the return of refugees [email protected] and the restoration of the inalienable 44350478 (News), rights of the Palestinian people. atar affi rmed that it has She stressed the need not to preju- 44466404 (Sport), demonstrated its ability dice the status of Al-Quds Al-Sharif 44466636 (Home delivery) to deal wisely with the and the Islamic and Christian sancti- unprecedented siege crisis ties, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque, 44350474 Q in the Gulf region by continuing the adding that this ensures that the two facebook.com/gulftimes policy of opening up and building sides live side by side in peace and bilateral and multilateral partnerships security. twitter.com/gulftimes_Qatar in various fi elds, and despite She also referred to the siege im- campaigns of hatred, misinformation posed on Gaza, pointing out that it is and falsehood by the siege countries, unreasonable that the unjust siege im- which seeks in vain to justify the posed on the Gaza Strip, which reaches irresponsible actions taken against the its 11th year, becomes a recognised GULF TIMES people and residents of Qatar. case. This came in a statement delivered She added that under the direc- on Thursday by HE the Permanent tives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Representative of Qatar to the United Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Qatar Nations ambassador Sheikha Alya provided emergency humanitarian aid Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani before the Se- worth $150mn, and the Gaza Strip was US military veterans curity Council on the situation in the provided with fuel to secure electric- Middle East, including the Palestinian ity in light of the humanitarian tragedy issue. experienced by the residents there. The ambassador said that it has The ambassador also noted that seeking to serve been almost a year and four months the celebration of the United Nations since the illegal siege on Qatar and the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine fabricated crisis that aimed to rob the Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will of the State and hijack its political of returning to school this year, where anew in Congress decision, by using farcical pretexts. Qatar’s contribution of $50mn to Sheikha Alya added that this UNRWA’s education programme was fabricated crisis has only succeeded a vital element in the decision to open America’s military veterans are taking the leap from HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations ambassador in undermining the GCC, a regional Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani. schools without delay. battlefi eld to ballot in large numbers in 2018, aiming to bring organisation that has maintained its She stressed that these eff orts come their discipline, can-do problem-solving, and country- cohesion for more than three decades. against the United Arab Emirates plore its political, social and cultural from Qatar as part of its eff orts to play before-party sense of duty to Congress. Washington may She stressed the need to preserve the for breaching the Convention on the backgrounds. a positive role in favour of the stability well need them. GCC in light of the crisis and chal- Elimination of All Forms of Racial With regard to the Palestinian issue, to achieve peace. The US Senate and House of Representatives are lenges facing the region that require Discrimination. the ambassador said that it had been On the Syrian crisis, the ambassador gridlocked, Donald Trump’s presidency has deepened the collective action to confront them. She explained that the court under consideration by the Security said that the grave consequences of the The ambassador stressed that Qatar, requested the UAE to ensure the Council for decades in light of the crisis necessitated the urgent achieve- partisan divide, and approval ratings for Congress hover at since the beginning of the crisis, has reunifi cation of families separated by inability of the international com- ment of a political solution, in accord- just 19%. affi rmed its commitment to deal with it measures taken by it, and give aff ected munity to reach a settlement of the ance with the Geneva declaration and Veterans, mostly men, have long served in Congress but within the framework of international Qatari students the opportunity to issue, which would positively aff ect the the resolutions of the Security Council, their percentage has plunged, from a high of more than 70% law, relevant international and bilat- complete their studies in the UAE or stability of the region and the interna- including resolution 2254, and with in the early 1970s to about 20% today. eral conventions and within existing obtain their educational records, as tional peace and security, since it is the the comprehensive participation of the Some 200 military veterans are running in the November international mechanisms for confl ict well as ensure that Qatari nationals af- central issue of the Arab and Islamic Syrian people to meet their legitimate 6 midterm elections, including a record number of women resolution. fected by such measures can approach nation. aspirations and preserve Syria’s na- She reiterated Qatar’s commitment the courts and judicial organs of the She stressed that the achievement tional and regional unity, sovereignty Democrats intent on being a check against Trump. to the mediation of the Amir of Kuwait UAE. of a lasting, just and comprehensive and independence. They were soldiers, sailors, barrier-busting female fi ghter Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber The ambassador pointed out that the peace must be based on international She stressed the importance of pilots, paratroopers and intelligence analysts. Many came of al-Sabah, and its appreciation to the International Court of Justice’s deci- law, the UN Charter and the principles giving attention to accountability for age after 9/11, volunteering to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq. states that supported this mediation sion shows the strength of Qatar’s legal of international legitimacy, namely crimes in violation of international law They are Democrats seeking to fl ip districts in deep state in order to resolve the crisis and its position regarding this crisis. the right to self-determination and the and international humanitarian law, Texas, like retired search and rescue pilot MJ Hegar; and readiness to sit at the dialogue table, On the situation in the Middle East, inadmissibility of the annexation of so as to achieve the political transition Republicans running to make inroads in liberal California, that respects its sovereignty without HE Sheikha Alya said that the Middle the territory of others by force. and national reconciliation. dictates, as it has emphasised in several East remains in a critical and pre- She added that this calls for a set- She added that this confi rms the like US Marine combat veteran Andrew Grant. forums. carious situation as a result of existing tlement of fi nal status issues through importance of supporting a neutral and The common theme that runs The ambassador added that Qatar confl icts that have not found solutions, serious negotiations between the independent international mechanism through their campaigns? A headed for the International Court of placing the security and peace of the Palestinian and Israeli sides and on the on the most serious crimes in Syria. Bid to “create commitment to serve. Justice in order to fi nd solutions to the region at stake unless everyone resorts basis of the agreed terms of reference, Concluding her statement, the “Rescue forces tend to run human rights and humanitarian con- to the language of reason and wisdom, including the Arab peace initiative, the ambassador reiterated that Qatar is a more to where the fi re is, and I think sequences of this crisis, including the and adherence with international law establishment of a viable Palestinian pursuing its foreign policy based on the that right now the fi re is in disintegration of families and depriv- and the UN Charter. state on the 1967 borders with East Al- principles of international law, friendly eff ective and ing students of their studies as a result She added that these challenges Quds as its capital, as well as ending relations, and constructive co-oper- (Washington) DC,” Hegar, of the unilateral coercive measures require the favourable conditions to the Israeli occupation of the occupied ation within the multilateral system, less polarised who received the Purple Heart imposed by the siege countries. address them, including the con- Arab territories, including the Syrian in the belief that this approach is the after being shot down during a In this context, she referred to the solidation of efforts by all to combat Golan and the occupied Lebanese ter- best way to put an end to the various government” Medevac mission in Afghanistan court’s decision on July 23 to take violent extremism and terrorism, ritories. international crises, including the ones in 2009, said at a campaign event interim measures in favour of Qatar address its roots and causes, and ex- The ambassador called for an imme- in the Middle East. in Georgetown, Texas. Hegar, 42, successfully sued the Pentagon in 2012 to lift a ban on women serving in combat positions. She said she would like to see a “wave” of veterans run for Congress. “I think that toughness is a Texas values. Service to your country is a very Texas value,” she said. “We’re a very military state.” The economics of climate change There are a few women combat veterans on Capitol Hill, including Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost warming would far exceed the expense of her legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq, and Arizona Republican By José Antonio Ocampo water supplies and the health and living today. By defi nition, their welfare is Bogota standards of the global population. And, being discounted. Yet were we to take addressing it early. congresswoman Martha McSally, a former fi ghter pilot needless to say, the greater the warming, intergenerational equity seriously, Another alternative has been running for US Senate. the more severe these eff ects will be. the leading factor to consider is that developed by Martin Weitzman of Changes appear likely. wo major events last week bear The selection of Nordhaus for future generations will have better Harvard University. Weitzman relies on Many of the women who entered the military in the directly on global debates about the Nobel Prize is a more welcome technologies than what we have today. analytical tools similar to those used by 1990s, when some combat roles began to open up for female climate change and how to development. Even so, it is worth noting Therefore, the appropriate social rate Nordhaus, but his work also accounts for recruits, have retired, and are now eyeing seats in Congress. Taddress it. The fi rst was the re- that his approach to addressing climate of discount should be equal to the rate the catastrophic risks associated with lease of a report from the United Nations change tends to be rather conservative, of technological change, which is much climate change. As such, his approach is Retired fi ghter pilot Amy McGrath is trying to parlay her Intergovernmental Panel on Climate which is to say gradualist. Nordhaus lower than market interest rates. also similar to that of the IPCC and the military experience into a Democratic bid to oust House Change (IPCC), which sets out precisely relies on traditional economic analysis, One could also argue that the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Republican incumbent Andy Barr of Kentucky. what must be done to achieve the objec- which “discounts” the present value of traditional economic analysis is even both of which have concluded that “I spent 20 years as a US Marine, fl ew 89 combat missions tives of the 2015 Paris climate agree- future consumption by the return on inequitable toward individuals, in global warming above a certain level will bombing Al Qaeda and the Taliban,” McGrath says in a ment. The second was the announce- capital, or interest rates. In other words, addition to future generations. Just ask have truly disastrous eff ects. campaign ad. ment that Yale University economist $100 a half-century from now is worth an older person with an inadequate To my mind, the Nobel Committee With Honor, a group formed to help elect veterans, has William Nordhaus will share this year’s $15, $10, or even less today, depending on (or nonexistent) pension whether his should have recognised not just Nobel Prize in economics for his work the assumed interest rate. But, because present welfare is worth less than his Nordhaus but also some of these endorsed 39 candidates in its bid to “create a more eff ective “integrating climate change into long- the costs of any initiative to combat past consumption. other economists of climate change, and less polarised government.” run macroeconomic analysis.” climate change must be borne in the A much better approach has been particularly Stern. The fact is that With Honor is also endorsing Republicans like Steve The fi rst event should serve as a wake- present, they are necessarily higher at developed by Nicholas Stern of the humanity cannot aff ord to act gradually Watkins, who volunteered for US Army service in up call for the international community. present values. The implication is that London School of Economics. In his on this issue. The Stern Review, the Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. The IPCC report appeals to governments they must be incurred slowly. now-famous “Review on the Economics latest IPCC report, and the UNEP In his Kansas congressional race, Watkins points to the to take urgent action to reduce The problem with this approach of Climate Change,” Stern was calling have all concluded that current US military’s melting pot of cultures, religions and races, greenhouse-gas emissions signifi cantly is that it is inequitable toward future for accelerated action to combat climate eff orts to reduce emissions must be within the next decade. It warns that if generations, which, of course, have change as early as 2006. In his view, the stepped up substantially. That means “all coming together to serve the common good,” he told Fox average global temperatures are allowed no say in decisions that we make costs of dealing with runaway global accelerating the global transition to News. to exceed 1.5C – or, at worst, 2C – above clean-energy technologies (including in “It makes the political fi ghts in Washington seem petty.” pre-industrial levels, the consequences transportation), improving the effi ciency National bickering has been at a boil. could be catastrophic, and they will be of energy production/consumption, felt as soon as 2040. reversing deforestation, improving Worse, the report shows that the land use, and promoting technological Nationally Determined Contributions innovation to facilitate all of these set voluntarily by signatories to the processes. Paris accord are vastly insuffi cient. The message from the IPCC report To Advertise Even if they are met, the increase is clear. All countries must raise their in average global temperature will emissions-reduction targets and [email protected] surpass 3C by 2100, and will continue strengthen their commitments under the Display to rise still further after that. Clearly, Paris agreement. And the country that when policymakers revise their is historically responsible for the largest 44466621 44418811 countries’ NDCs, they must raise them share of greenhouse-gas emissions – signifi cantly. the United States – must return to the Classified But substantive action needs to agreement and show leadership on this 44466609 44418811 come well before 2030. Otherwise, the issue once again. – Project Syndicate world will suff er irreversible damage Subscription in the form of rising sea levels, loss of José Antonio Ocampo is a board biodiversity, and deterioration of both member of Banco de la República, [email protected] land and marine ecosystems, including Colombia’s central bank, professor the potential extinction of the world’s at Columbia University, and Chair of coral reefs. These developments will Governments have been urged to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse-gas the UN Economic and Social Council’s © 2018 Gulf Times. All rights reserved have far-reaching implications for emissions significantly within the next decade. Committee for Development Policy. Gulf Times Saturday, October 20, 2018 15 COMMENT What has Google ever done for us?

By Yanis Varoufakis calculate what our individual shares ought to Athens be. But this impossibility can be turned into a virtue, by creating a public trust fund to which companies like Google transfer a percentage ven Google’s fi ercest critics use its – say, 10% – of their shares. Suddenly, every technologies to research their fi ery child has a trust fund, with the accumulating tirades against it or, more mundanely, to dividends providing a universal basic income Efi nd their way around a foreign city. Let’s (UBI) that grows in proportion to automation be honest: life without Google would be awfully and in a manner that limits inequality and more tedious in a variety of important ways. But stabilises the macro-economy. that is not a good reason to leave Google and This attractive solution must overcome two the other tech giants alone. On the contrary, the obstacles. First, we tend to think of taxation as nature and importance of their contribution a panacea. But a UBI funded via taxation is sure make it imperative that they be placed under to trigger a backlash among struggling working democratic control – and not just because of people who cannot see the logic of subsidising the well appreciated need to protect individual the idle, rich or poor. Second, corporate shares privacy. are typically given to employees only. In recent years, Big Tech companies have To be sure, there are excellent reasons for been subjected to scrutiny for perfecting a taxing profi ts in order to fund benefi ts for the dark art pioneered by commercial newspapers, poor, and for worker-ownership schemes. But radio, and television: attracting and holding these are separate issues from the one at hand: our attention, in order to sell access to our how to stabilise society by granting property senses to paying advertisers. Whereas readers, rights over Google’s capital to everyone who listeners, and viewers were customers paying helped create it, including unwaged carers, the for some commodity, commercial electronic precariously employed, and society’s dropouts. media learned how to profi t by transacting And then, as one would expect, there is the directly with vendors while reducing us, and our motivated fallacy peddled by the defenders of data, to a passive commodity at the heart of the the status quo. The Financial Times’ Alphaville transaction. column recently dismissed the case for Google, Facebook, and others were able to transferring a block of shares from Big Tech take this odd production process, where our corporations, like Google, to a public trust fund attention is the traded commodity, to a diff erent by misrepresenting the underlying argument level, thanks to their stupendous capacity to as a failure to appreciate what Google has done personalise our screens. Unlike their forebears, for us. To repudiate society’s property rights they can capture the attention of each one of us over the returns to capital that we, as users, with person-specifi c (or even mood-specifi c) Data protection and privacy regulations And while taxing Big Tech’s profi ts is essential, By contrast, Google cannot credibly argue have created, Big Tech’s defenders invoke users’ attractors, before selling to the highest bidder are meant to return to us some of our lost these fi rms’ skilled accountants and abundant that the capital generating its profi t stream was large consumer surplus (the sum we would be access both to our data and to our senses. autonomy regarding what we see, what guides opportunities to shift profi ts to diff erent produced entirely privately. Every time you prepared to pay for access to free services such Underlying the backlash against Big Tech our choices, and who knows what we choose. jurisdictions makes this diffi cult. use Google’s search engine to look up a phrase, as Gmail and Google Maps). has been the sense that we are all becoming But regulating Big Tech to protect our data and A simple solution exists, if we look beyond concept, or product, or visit a place via Google This is a little like justifying the confi scation proletarianised users. In the 1970s and 1980s, restore “consumer sovereignty” is not enough. taxation. But it requires accepting that capital is Maps, you enrich Google’s capital. While the of your shares in a company with the argument we were annoyed when commercial channels Against a background of automation and labour no longer privately produced, as least not in the servers and software design, for example, have that the company is providing valuable services ambushed us with advertisements seconds casualisation, these fi rms’ monopoly profi ts case of Google et al. been produced capitalistically, a large part of to you and others. In using Big Tech’s services, before the end of a cliff -hanger movie or boost inequality, fuel discontent, undermine When James Watt built one of his famed steam Google’s capital is produced by almost everyone. we manufacture a portion of its capital in real basketball match. Now, we can no longer aggregate demand for goods and services, and engines, it was his creation, his product. A buyer Every user, in principle, has a legitimate claim to time. Property rights over that portion – for all even recognise the tricks used in real time to further destabilise capitalism. who put the engine to work in, say, a textile being a de facto shareholder. of us, rather than for any of us – must follow. – hold and sell our attention. Alienated from a The problem is that traditional government factory could think of his profi t stream as a just Of course, while a substantial part of Big Project Syndicate market trading in us, we have become cogs in a interventions are an exercise in futility: Taxing reward for having taken the risk of purchasing Tech’s capital is produced by the public, Yanis Varoufakis, a former fi nance minister production process that excludes us as anything free services is pointless. Taxing robots, to fund the machine and for the innovation of coupling it there is no sensible way to compute personal of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the but its product. humans, is as impossible as it is to defi ne them. to a spinning jenny or a mechanical loom. contributions, which makes it impossible to University of Athens.

LEGAL HELPLINE Three-day forecast TODAY Maximum Temperature : 340c Terms of conciliation by parties under Qatari laws Minimum Temperature : 300c SUNDAY Maximum Temperature : 330c Court issues order Minimum Temperature : 290c By Dr Nizar Kochery to settle all shares of the partners, from my current employer. Doha the loss shall be distributed among LA, Doha banning travel MONDAY them in the ratio of distribution of Maximum Temperature : 330c losses. On completion of liquidation, A: As per the Entry, Exit and Resi- Q: Following the judgment to pay Minimum Temperature : 280c Question: How far is settlement the liquidator has to submit a fi nal dence Law (Law No 21 of 2015), the money, the court has imposed Fisherman's forecast by parties permitted under the account statement to the shareholders employee can change the job with the travel ban on me without any no- laws of Qatar? What is the legal for approval by the General Assembly approval of the government, either tice. Is it legal to make such orders WARNING Inshore : Thundery rain effect of the terms and condi- and unless approved by the partners after the expiry of their contract or without hearing the parties? What expected at places tions of conciliation? If any of or the General Assembly, the liqui- after fi ve years of service with the is the provision in law regard- associated with sudden its terms becomes inadmissible dation process shall not be deemed employer if the contract is for in- ing imposing travel ban? Please strong wind at times. Offshore : Expected Thundery in law, will that affect the whole completed. defi nite term. As per the current law, advise. rain associated with transaction? there is no requirement of no objec- HS, Doha strong wind and high ADE, Doha tion certifi cate from the employer. sea Getting release WEATHER The law abolished ban on expatriates A: According to Article 405 of the Inshore : Partly cloudy to cloudy Answer: According to Article 573 of from employer who want to come back to the country Civil procedural laws, a judgment with scattered rain and the Civil Law, conciliation is a contract on a new visa. In case of cancellation creditor may move for the execu- chances of thunder- by which two parties put an end to a Q: I have completed seven years in of residency permit, the person will tion judge to order stop travel of the storms at places. Offshore : Partly cloudy to cloudy dispute that has arisen between them, a company and now the com- be able to return to Qatar to take up authorised signatory of the judgment with scattered rain, or prevent a dispute that is expected pany terminated me without any employment immediately after being debtor company, and the court may thundery at times. to arise by the mutual surrender of a reason. The company withheld my granted a new visa. issue orders banning travel. In such WIND Inshore : Mainly Northeasterly part of their respective claims. The due salary and benefi ts because In case of non-payment of salary and cases, there won’t be any hearing or 08-18/30 KT parties entering into conciliation must there are some pending payments other benefi ts, the employee can fi le a opportunity to defend. The court may Offshrore : Northeasterly-South- have proper capacity to dispose of or from the clients with whom I deal complaint before the Labour Dispute issue such orders upon the petition by easterly 05-15/35KT vary their rights under the contract with. The management is not will- Resolution Committee against the a creditor that the creditor fears of the Visibility : 4-8/3 KM and the Settlement Agreement must ing to give release and I have lost employer. The right to fi le a claim for escape of the debtor from litigation or Around the region only aff ect the rights of the contract- two job opportunities. Now I have the labour entitlements shall lapse by smuggling his assets. Weather Weather ing parties. another off er with good package. the expiry of one year from the date of Please send your questions to today Max/min tomorrow Max/min The terms of conciliation must be in Please advise how I can get release expiry of the employment contract. [email protected] Baghdad P Cloudy 32/23 S T Storms 28/20 writing or recorded in formal minutes. Kuwait City M Sunny 33/24 I T Storms 33/23 Moreover, a conciliation is indivisible. Manama Sunny 33/28 S T Storms 34/28 The nullity of one part of a concilia- LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR Muscat M Sunny 32/26 Sunny 32/26 tion involves the nullity of the whole Tehran Sunny 23/13 M Sunny 24/14 contract. This rule does not apply, Criminal Procedure Code (Law a breach is committed during the however, when it follows, from the No 23 of 2004) sets out the rules and court hearing, institute a legal action wording of the contract or from the standards that courts shall follow against the suspect immediately, circumstances, that the parties agreed when adjudicating criminal cases. and decide thereon after the hearing that the various parts of the concilia- The Public Prosecution shall have of the Public Prosecution and the tion are separate and independent the the sole competence to initiate and suspect. Such ruling shall be valid, one of the other. pursue a criminal action. A criminal even if appealed, if the crime was action may not be brought by others, the off ence of false testimony or as- except in the cases prescribed by the saulting the court panel or one of the Partners’ share after law. court’s workers. company liquidated The Public Prosecutor shall, per- In such a case, the legal action sonally or by one of the Public Pros- shall not be subject to a complaint Q: Due to some diff erence of ecution members, bring and proceed or request, if the off ence, accord- opinion with the Qatari partners in a criminal action as prescribed ing to law, is one of the crimes that of the company, we (all partners) by law. The function of the Public requires a complaint or request to be have decided to close down the Prosecution may be performed by initiated. If the court did not initiate Around the world company. I am not an active part- any designated person other than the legal action before the end of the Weather Weather ner in the business, even though the Public Prosecution members in court hearing, the initiation of the today Max/min tomorrow Max/min I have invested a huge amount accordance with the law. proceedings shall be in accordance Athens Sunny 26/16 P Cloudy 23/16 for my share in the company. The According to Article 6, the Public with the regular course of proce- Beirut S T Storms 27/22 S T Storms 26/23 company was running success- Prosecution shall represent the shall apply to the waiver applicant. dures. Bangkok T Storm 31/25 T Storm 29/26 fully and now a liquidator has been victim if the victim’s interest con- If there are several victim applicants, According to Article 13, the crimi- Berlin P Cloudy 13/06 P Cloudy 14/07 appointed for legally closing the tradicts that of its representative, or the waiver shall not have eff ect un- nal action shall expire with the death Cairo Sunny 32/21 Sunny 34/22 company’s operations. How will if the victim has no representative. less issued by all of them. A waiver of the suspect, the lapse of time, the Cape Town Cloudy 24/13 M Sunny 28/16 the company’s assets be distrib- The complaint shall not be accepted for one of the suspects shall be issuance of a fi nal judgment therein, Colombo T Storm 28/24 T Storm 29/24 uted among the partners? If the more than 30 days after the crime or considered to be for all of them. The general amnesty, abolition of the Dhaka Sunny 34/23 M Sunny 33/23 partners are not satisfi ed with the its perpetrator came to the knowl- criminal action shall be terminated law that punishes the act or any Hong Kong M Sunny 24/22 P Cloudy 24/22 accounts made by the liquidator, edge of the victim or its representa- by waiver. If the victim dies, his right other reason provided for by the law. Istanbul P Cloudy 21/14 P Cloudy 19/14 what is the remedy? Please advise. tive. to waive shall not be transferred to This does not prevent the seizure of Jakarta S T Storms 33/26 M Sunny 35/26 SJS, Doha According to Article 8, the right in his heirs. things the possession of which con- Karachi Sunny 36/24 Sunny 35/23 the complaint shall expire with the As per Article 11, if, during the stitutes a crime. If the suspect dies London P Cloudy 17/07 P Cloudy 18/07 A: As per Article 317 of the Companies death of the victim. The proceed- hearing of a case, any acts that vio- during the investigation, the Public Manila S T Storms 33/26 I T Storms 33/26 Law, after the payment of debts, the ings shall not be aff ected if the death late the court’s order, or the respect Prosecution shall issue a decision of Moscow P Cloudy 11/03 M Cloudy 08/03 liquidator of the company has to pay occurred after the submission of the thereto, or which may aff ect the seizure. New Delhi Sunny 33/19 Sunny 32/18 the partners the cash value of their complaint. court judicial function or witnesses, Unless otherwise provided by the New York P Cloudy 18/07 P Cloudy 10/04 shares in the capital and distribute Whoever submits a complaint take place outside the court hearing, law, the criminal action shall expire Paris M Sunny 19/05 Sunny 20/09 among them the surplus as per their or request may, at any time, waive the court may institute a criminal after the lapse of ten years in crimi- Sao Paulo Cloudy 19/12 P Cloudy 20/12 share in the profi t. The company’s as- the complaint or request until the action against the suspect and issue nal cases, three years in misdemean- Seoul Sunny 20/05 P Cloudy 19/06 sets shall be shared in the ratio of prof- issuance of a fi nal judgment in the a judgment after the hearing of the our cases, and one year in violation Singapore S T Storms 30/26 S T Storms 30/26 it-sharing unless the memorandum of law case. The same requirements of public prosecutors and the suspect. cases. Such period shall begin from Sydney S T Storms 27/15 S Showers 18/14 association provides otherwise. If the the complaint or request applicant The court may, if an off ence or the day the crime occurred. Tokyo Cloudy 22/14 Clear 21/14 company’s net assets are insuffi cient Gulf Times 16 Saturday, October 20, 2018 QATAR

Mohamed Jaidah with the Genesis concept car GV80 in the background. PICTURES: Shemeer Rasheed Genesis icons displayed at this year’s Qatar Motor Show are the G70, G90, G80 and G80 Sport. Genesis concept SUV off ers glimpse of its future line-up

By Joey Aguilar rica debut at show, the concept he noted. Sometimes, I drive this Equipped with the latest cut- Staff Reporter car was unveiled on October 14 car and when I move to a diff er- ting-edge technology, the GV80 to more than 300 VIPs at St Regis ent car I am afraid because I got Concept car utilises a plug-in Doha in an exclusive event, or- so used to its technology that hydrogen fuel cell electric tech- ith Genesis concept ganised by Skyline Automotive, going back to a diff erent car that nology to combine eco-perform- car GV80 stealing the a Jaidah Automotive company. doesn’t have all these technolo- ance and capability. Besides the Wspotlight at the Qa- It is also the offi cial distribution gies I feel that I might not be as concept car, some of the Genesis tar Motor Show (QMS) 2018, the partner of Hyundai Motor Com- comfortable in the driving,” Jai- icons displayed at this year’s mo- luxury brand of Hyundai Motor pany and its luxury brand Gen- dah explained. “It is part of the tor show are the G70, G90, G80 Company is off ering a glimpse esis in Qatar. technology but the real techno- and G80 Sport. of its larger and future line-up. “I think that the fi rst iteration logical revolution will come in About QMS, he described it as “Genesis is planning to launch of Genesis is about not going the upcoming product.” a prestigious and international six lines of products by 2021 so overboard but much more into He expects the new model to event showcasing new and up- the GV80 really shows where saying ‘let’s do a top-of-the-line be fi nished 12 to 18 months from coming car models. “It’s a very the luxury brand is going and an product, make it perfect,” Jaidah now, apart from other products exciting time. iteration of what is to come very said. in the pipeline for Genesis. De- This year the participants soon,” Mohamed Jaidah, Group “The Genesis comes with scribed as an extremely promis- have been stepped up and we are executive director, Jaidah Group, some of the most advanced tech- ing brand, Jaidah stressed that very excited to have been able to told Gulf Times. nology I have ever seen.” Genesis is not only looking at the bring a concept car to this motors Jaidah was speaking about the “My fi rst impression when product as a design but also the show,” Jaidah said. brand’s fuel cell concept SUV I drove this car was I felt that whole technology behind it. “It shows the dedication of on the sidelines of QMS’ eighth I am driving on a cloud, that’s The GV80 Concept is the manufacturers to a market like edition, taking place at the Doha how soft the driving is. It comes brand’s fi rst interpretation of Qatar, even if it is a small mar- Exhibition and Convention Cen- with so much technology in it, it a versatile luxury SUV, which ket, it is a very important mar- tre until tomorrow (October 21). has all the systems technology to strikes a perfect balance between ket for them and they want to be Prior to its Middle East and Af- help people drive (comfortably),” elegance and versatility. present,” he added. Another view of the Genesis pavilion.

Qatari artists showcase graffi ti skills at QMS

By Peter Alagos ment. We utilised the motor show Business Reporter as a platform to help raise aware- ness, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior (MoI) Traffi c wo Qatari artists are show- Department,” he said. casing their spray paint- The Al Enna project was Ting skills by transforming launched last month during a scrapped and rundown vehicles press conference by representa- into fantastic works of art during tives from the Ministry of Mu- the fi ve-day Qatar Motor Show nicipality and Environment, MoI, 2018, which concludes tomorrow Public Works Authority, Qatar (October 21) at the Doha Exhibi- Motor and Motorcycle Federa- tion and Convention Centre. tion, Batabit (Qatar Centre for During the motor show, Gulf Motorcycles), Mawater, and QTA. Times came across Qatari art- Al Enna, which means “camp- ist Mubarak al-Malki who was The vehicles will be displayed along camping areas in Sealine. ing grounds” in Arabic, is an initial painting a wrecked sedan. Using step in a comprehensive develop- spray paints of diff erent colours, at the motor show – a stark con- thority (QTA), who said the graf- ment of the Sealine area, and aims al-Malki said it would take at least trast to the brand new and luxu- fi ti-covered vehicles will also be to enhance the desert and camp- one day to fi nish his work. rious cars on display. But the part of the QTA initiative. ing experience through improved Al-Malki said QMS 2018 or- output of the artists is not only “These four vehicles at the mo- services and safety, protecting ganisers had approached him and meant to provide variety to the tor show will be displayed along the environment at Sealine and another artist, Thamer al-Dossa- motor show, according to a source the Sealine area with the aim to Inland Sea (Khor Al Adaid) areas, ri, to spray paint graffi ti on four knowledgeable with the Al Enna raise awareness of safety, security, it was explained during the press broken vehicles being displayed project of the Qatar Tourism Au- and protection of the environ- conference.

Qatari artist Mubarak al-Malki touches up on his “steel canvas”. PICTURES: Jayan Orma Qatari artist Thamer al-Dossari at work.