BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1 Sharapova can play again in INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 2-6, 24 COMMENT 22, 23 Commercial Bank launches REGION 7, 8 BUSINESS 1-7, 13–16 April aft er fi rst Visa Signature credit 18,168.45 10,388.18 49.19 ARAB WORLD 8 CLASSIFIED 8-12 -85.40 +78.26 +0.38 INTERNATIONAL 9-21 SPORTS 1 – 8 card for Qatar SMEs ban reduced -0.47% +0.76% +0.78% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978

WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10232 October 5, 2016 Muharram 4, 1438 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals PM vows support In brief to private sector QATAR | Tragedy Companies suggest ways to Minister of Municipality and Environ- ticipate in all of the country’s economic Two QU female improve business ment, who along with other ministers, activities, and highlighted changes to students drown was present at the meeting. the visa and transit visas as an example By Santhosh V Perumal The Prime Minister said Qatar was of these eff orts. An investigation is under way into Business Reporter one of the biggest countries in terms of The government will also help in the death of two female students of spending on national projects. Spending facilitating the process of obtaining Qatar University (QU) on Monday on major projects touched QR56bn in working visas to allow the private sec- evening, according to a report on atar, which was recently ranked the fi rst six months of the year. The past tor to obtain its needs from the job Al Sharq news website. Noor Khalil among the top 20 globally two months also saw signing of QR16bn market. Ibrahim al-Haidous and Reem Saif Qcompetitive economies by the projects, he said adding the budget for Al-Rumaihi said the listed compa- Homeid al-Kalbani drowned in a World Economic Forum, yesterday the 2017 fi scal year will see an increase nies freely expressed their concerns student housing swimming pool, it “promised” to back and extend all sup- in spending on the state’s big projects, and on the problems faced by them said. QU said it was closely following port to the private sector, whose role in something that will enhance the eco- while doing business with the govern- up on the investigation with the the country’s economy has been on an nomic growth of the country. ment or related sectors. departments concerned to find increase. He said the government will focus Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser asked out the causes and circumstances This assurance was given by HE the on completing major projects in infra- the private sector to be real partners that led to the incident, Al Sharq Prime Minister and Interior Minister structure, education, health as well as with the government in the nation report noted. Nora died while Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa projects tied to the World Cup 2022. building process. trying to rescue her friend Reem, al-Thani during an hour-long interac- These commitments will lead to an in- Echoing similar lines, QSE chief ex- the report added. Meanwhile, QU tion with heads of listed companies on crease in spending on those projects in ecutive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori said yesterday issued a statement on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), which the next three years, he added. the discussions were general in nature Twitter expressing grief. University now has 44 constituents. The Prime Minister said the govern- and the fi rms aired their concerns and president Dr Hassan Rashid al- “This (meeting) is an initiative of the ment was committed to improving the on how to develop the market. Derham also expressed shock over Prime Minister. He (the PM) briefed the ease of doing business and investing The meeting also assumes signifi - the deaths. “I ask God to forgive meeting on the help being extended to in Qatar by developing the legislative cance given that HH the Emir Sheikh them and have mercy on them, and the private sector and promised that framework and simplifying procedures. Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani had late to grant their families patience and HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa the government will back and stand He said was a committee revising the last year said a comprehensive review fortitude,” he tweeted. al-Thani speaks during an interaction with heads of listed companies on the Qatar with the private sector,” said HE Mo- procedures and charged with facilitat- of all state-owned companies have Stock Exchange. hamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, the ing the private sector’s ability to par- been carried out. REGION | Confl ict League condemns attack on aid vessel Arab League yesterday condemned the Houthi militias’ attack on a UAE Travellers must aid vessel which was on a routine US mulls ‘diplomatic and voyage to Aden to deliver relief and medical assistance and evacuate wounded civilians to complete have prescriptions their treatment outside Yemen. The military’ options for Syria League said the attack was an act of piracy and terrorism, a flagrant violation of the international law and Agencies discussions going forward. Assad’s government, with Russian for drugs: offi cial other international laws and norms. Washington “But essentially our view remains air support and Iranian ground forces, the same,” Toner said. “Our stress is launched the assault on Aleppo last “It is necessary that every travel- still on a political resolution.” month, a week into a ceasefi re agreed ravellers coming to Qatar S agencies are considering US forces are deployed in Syria and by Washington and Moscow. should ensure that the medi- ler entering the country with drugs or “diplomatic, military, intelli- Iraq leading an international coalition The United States and other Western Tcines they carry for personal medicines should declare them to the Ugence and economic options” fi ghting the Islamic State group, but countries say Moscow and Damascus use are not banned in the country and customs offi cers, whatever their type to deal with the crisis in Syria, an offi - the White House has resisted pressure are guilty of war crimes for deliber- should be accompanied by a proper might be. These will be shown to the cial said yesterday, while stressing the to be drawn into the Syrian civil war. ately targeting civilians, hospitals and medical prescription. physician on duty to ensure whether need for a “political resolution.” Russian forces are there backing aid deliveries to crush the will of more “The General Authority of Cus- they are compliant with the health Top US security and foreign policy Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad’s than 250,000 people trapped under toms maintains close co-operation regulations in Qatar,” the offi cial ex- chiefs are to meet today to review their forces in their battle against the rebels, siege in Aleppo. with the Ministry of Public Health plained. options to present to US President some of them supported by the US. The Syrian and Russian govern- in preventing the entry of prohibited According to al-Qahtani, there Barack Obama, after abandoning at- Last month, a US-Russian eff ort to ments say they target only militants. drugs and medicines,” Ajab Manur are certain types of medications tempts to work with Russia to impose broker a ceasefi re collapsed amid mu- Rebels said they infl icted losses on al-Qahtani, director of Hamad In- that are listed within the schedule a truce. tual recrimination and Assad’s forces pro-government fi ghters after hours ternational Airport (HIA) Customs of restricted and banned drugs, and State Department spokesman Mark backed by Russian air power launched of clashes on the fringe of Sheikh Saed Department, told local Arabic daily some of them should be accompa- Toner confi rmed that some military an assault on rebel-held eastern Alep- district, at the southern edge of the Al Sharq. nied by an approved medical pre- options might be discussed, but said po. rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo city. scription. Secretary of State John Kerry is still Toner said Washington had walked “We repelled their attempt to ad- The Pharmacy and Drug Control working hard to pursue the diplomatic away from the deal with Russia “with vance in Sheikh Saed and killed 10 Department receives the latest up- track with allies. frustration, outrage and sadness,” regime fi ghters and destroyed several dates of all medications produced “Just because we’ve temporarily but said it was impossible to pursue vehicles,” said a fi ghter from the Failaq around the world. suspended the co-operation that we it while Russian forces target Syrian al-Sham rebel group who gave his “Sometimes, a traveller has drugs had bilaterally with Russia on Syria civilians. name as Abdullah al-Halabi. FREE COPY approved by a doctor but brings a doesn’t mean that we’ve closed any Meanwhile, Syrian rebels said they Pro-government media said the large quantity. In such situations, doors on multilateral action,” Toner had repelled an army off ensive in Syrian army was pressing ahead in a the Pharmacy and Drug Control said. southern Aleppo as Russian and Syrian major campaign supported by Iranian- “It is necessary that every Department will decide whether to UNLEASH US offi cials say that any new eco- warplanes pounded residential areas. backed militias and Russian air power traveller entering the country YOUR INNER nomic sanctions on Russia or Syria Turkey, long one of the main foes to take full control of Syria’s largest with medicines should declare allow the entry of the said quantity ZEN would be more eff ective if applied in- of Assad but which has lately repaired city, divided between rebel and gov- them to the customs offi cers, or not,” he said. ternationally. its damaged ties with his ally Russia, ernment zones since 2012. whatever their type might be” He said the main violations in this Senior US and European offi cials will said it planned to make a proposal to In the 15 days since the collapse of respect was regarding some travel- meet today in Germany. Washington and Moscow to resurrect the ceasefi re, war monitor the Syrian Physicians are posted at all the lers carrying Tramadol pills, listed as SPOTLIGHT EMPOWERING REFUGEES THROUGH entry points of the country includ- narcotics, and similar banned drugs, SELF-SUFFICIENCY “We’re examining closely our ap- a ceasefi re that collapsed last month. Observatory for Human Rights said it proach going forward,” Toner said of But on the ground there was no had documented the deaths of 293 ci- ing HIA and HIA Air Cargo, and Abu as the number of such violations was

October 2016 the internal US government debate in sign of peace with potentially the big- vilians in besieged east Aleppo as a re- Samra Land Border. 731 from January until October 3 this

PARENTING: KEEPING KIDS ACTIVE NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL TOP GEAR: BMW X1 Washington. gest and most decisive battle of the sult of air strikes and shelling, includ- Pharmacy and Drug Control De- year. www.society.qa “And in that regard, the depart- fi ve-and-a-half year war unfolding as ing 20 yesterday. partment is the entity that decides Herbal medicines found with trav- ments/agencies are discussing diplo- pro-government forces sought to drive It has documented 25 deaths in gov- TODAY’S EDITION INCLUDES on the medicines not allowed into ellers without proper medical pre- SOCIETY MAGAZINE OCTOBER matic, military, intelligence and eco- anti-Assad rebels from their last major ernment-held west Aleppo from rebel the country unless accompanied by a scriptions are referred to the Ministry 2016 nomic options, and we’ll all have these urban stronghold. shelling during the 15 days. proper medical prescription. of Public Health. MoI completes 41mn transactions in fi rst half of 2016

he total number of transactions transactions every minute. reactivation of residence permits as made during the fi rst half of 2016 that also facilitated a mobile vehicle with 9,032 return visas were completed dur- accomplished by the Ministry of The total number of transactions well as 3,723 sponsorship transfers. related to residences and 1,194,431 high technical specifi cations to off er its ing this period. TInterior (MoI) in the fi rst half of completed through the General Direc- The Recruitment Applications Re- transactions related to entry permits services to the elderly and people with The total number of transactions 2016 was 41,293,748, marking a 27.3% torate of Nationality, Borders and Ex- viewing Committee received a total of during this period. special needs in all areas of the country. made by the General Directorate of rise compared to the same period last pats Aff airs during the fi rst half of 2016 345, 584 entry visa applications during The outstanding services indicators During the fi rst half of 2016, the Air- Traffi c was 4,231,675 including 47,280 year. was 20,982,263, an increase of 9.6% this period. showed that a total of 5,448 transac- port Passports Department handled new licences and 49,531 new vehicle The monthly average of transactions compared to the the fi rst half of 2015. The total number transactions relat- tions were exempted from payment 6,908,230 transactions, an increase registrations. is 6,882,291 and daily average 229,410, These include 201,663 new resi- ed to the Qatar ID cards reached 21,520 which amounts to QR 1,440,563 in of 6.1% compared to that of last year. The Criminal Evidence and Informa- according to statistics released yester- dence permits, 673,430 residence per- marking an increase of 11.6%, in ad- terms of the services for the benefi ci- Some 218,325 company exit permits, tion Department recorded 342,791 fi n- day. The average number of completed mit renewals, 97,811 residence changes dition to 5,349 transactions related to aries of the special decision of the HE 32,359 exit permits for Qatari personal ger prints along with 406,571 medical transactions through the MoI service to new passports from the old ones, Qatari citizenship. the Minister of Interior exempting sponsorships, 58,235 exit permits for check-ups for expats during the same centres every hour was 9,559 with 159 100,215 residency cancellations, 6,121 A total of 1,417,196 transactions were them from payment. The Ministry has non-Qatari personal sponsorships and period. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 QATAR FM meets Singaporean counterpart

QNA Kahramaa Singapore

E the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mo- hamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani Hmet with Singapore’s Foreign Min- ister Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore launches yesterday. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and discussed mechanisms of promoting mu- tual co-operation and boosting them on all fronts, particularly in investment, com- merce, infrastructure, urban planning and ‘Shoot and energy. They also exchanged views and stances on a set of issues of common concern and touched on the latest developments in the HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani with Vivian regional and international arenas. Balakrishnan in Singapore yesterday.

Send’ service Qatari envoy atar General Electricity plaint, the option based on the tact us” service, and select “com- presents and Water Corporation nature of the complaint has to plaint” as a request and choose credentials Auditiore Qatar selected to hold Q(Kahramaa) has intro- be selected, whether it relates to “others” as a complaint type. duced a ‘Shoot and Send’ service reading meters or electricity and Finally, the person has to men- to Cyprus to help customers to fi le com- water emergency. tion the location where violation president jewellery and watches exhibition plaints or give suggestions via has taken place, accompanied Kahramaa application on their If one wants to send a by its available details. President of Cyprus Nicos smartphones. complaint, the option This rapid service is linked to Anastasiades has received uditiore Qatar has liver three editions of DJWE. growth of business events in The step is expected to de- based on the nature of the “call centre” and it comes the credentials of Sultan been appointed to de- Featuring more than 500 of Qatar by working with and em- liver better results for custom- the complaint has to within the corporation’s eff orts bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud, as Aliver the Doha Jewel- the most exclusive interna- powering the private sector to ers, Kahramaa said yesterday in be selected, whether it for continuously raising and non-resident ambassador lery and Watches Exhibition tional brands, DJWE is one organise and deliver quality ex- a statement. To avail of the serv- relates to reading meters improving level of services. extraordinary and (DJWE), one of Qatar Tourism of the most notable premium hibitions and events. Identifi ed ice, customers must download or electricity and water Kahramaa is also inviting its plenipotentiary of the State Authority’s (QTA) fl agship events in the region. It re- in Qatar’s National Tourism Kahramaa application on smart- emergency customers to register, update of Qatar to the Republic of exhibitions, it was announced turns for its 14th edition on Sector Strategy as a core sub- phones, opt language and “con- their information via its website Cyprus. yesterday. February 20, 2017 at the Doha sector, Business Events play an tact us”. They will have options One also has to record the elec- km.qa or Kahramaa app on smart The Qatari ambassador Following a competitive Exhibition and Convention important role in attracting the for routing suggestions or com- tricity and water numbers men- devices to implement services conveyed greetings of HH bidding process, Auditoire Centre. 7mn annual visitors Qatar is plaints. If one has a suggestion, tioned at the entrance to his/her electronically and avail of other the Emir Sheikh Tamim Qatar won the contract to de- QTA works to facilitate the targeting by 2030. the person has to enter personal house and fi ll in other information available services. Customers bin Hamad al-Thani to the data (name, phone number, and attach a picture. could also avail of Kahramaa’s Cyprus president, wishing e-mail). In case of informing about a vi- SMS service which informs him the best of health and the If one wants to send a com- olation, one needs to go to “con- about monthly consumption. government and people of Cyprus further progress and prosperity. Roundabout to be closed for six days For his part, the Cypriot president entrusted the l Delah roundabout in Qatari ambassador with his the Al Khor city will GCC Justice Ministers meet today greetings to HH the Emir, Abe closed for six days and his wishes of further from tomorrow for con- Qatar will take part in the 28th The event will discuss issues The agenda of the meeting development and prosperity verting it into a signal-con- annual meeting for GCC Ministers related to enhancing legal and includes a discussion of the to the Qatari people. He trolled intersection. Traf- of Justice, which will be held in judicial mutual co-operation in Qatari initiative to establish the wished the Ambassador fi c towards the area will be Riyadh today and tomorrow. light of the directives of GCC Arab network for legal experts. success in his duties, and diverted to alternate routes HE the Minister of Justice leaders and in a way that ensures The meeting will also touch on further development and (as shown in the map). The Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr al- the interests of GCC states and the agreement to hand over growth to friendship and co- intersection will re-open for Mohannadi is heading Qatar’s achieves the ambitions of GCC suspects and convicts among operation ties between the normal traffi c movement on delegation to the meeting. people. GCC states. two countries. October 11.

Gulf Times 4 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 QATAR Medical insurance fastest growing sector: QFCA

edical insurance ing number of mandatory In 2016, engineering itable lines of business, in the Middle East schemes in professional in- reinsurance lost its long- unchanged from 2015. Mand North Africa demnity as well as a trend standing position as the re- Property reinsurance (Mena) continues to be per- towards a higher degree of gion’s most profi table line of continues to be character- ceived as the fastest grow- litigiousness. business to marine cargo, it ised by a “signifi cant” de- ing line of business over the The two slowest growing found. gree of commoditisation, next 12 months, aided by ex- lines are marine and property, While engineering busi- abundant naïve reinsurance pansion of existing and new swapping positions compared ness continues to benefi t capacity and a general lack compulsory requirements, with the previous year. The from a generally good qual- of attention to safety issues according to Qatar Financial decline in marine is a result ity of contractors, inter- leading to higher fi re losses Centre Authority (QFCA). of decreasing trading volumes national standards of risk in particular, it said. The second most rap- exacerbated by continued management and limited Although the profi tabil- idly expanding line is motor. pressure on rates, it said. catastrophe exposure, pres- ity of motor reinsurance re- Even as (expatriate) popula- Property reinsurance sures on rates, terms and mains under “pressure” due tion growth is slowing, pre- premiums continue to be conditions have mounted to repair cost infl ation, rising mium volume benefi ts from squeezed by “fi erce” com- over the past 12 months, it bodily injury compensation regulatory action which, in petition in a highly com- said. payments and a very limited Saudi Arabia for example, moditised segment of the Marine cargo is now con- scope for risk selection and has led to a multiplication of market, it said, adding sidered the most profi t- segmentation; it said the rates, QFCA said in its Mena structurally, this line’s rela- able line, mainly due to a pressure seems to be “eas- Reinsurance barometer. tive weakness is attributable relatively high supply side ing” on “signifi cant” rate Liability insurance ranks to virtual absence of a mort- concentration and its niche increases in primary markets third, replacing construc- gage market in most Mena character. Liability rein- which are hoped to off set ad- tion and engineering busi- countries. surance continues to rank verse claims dynamics. ness as the construction Engineering reinsurance third, as capacity remains Medical reinsurance remains boom loses traction and ranks as the third slowest relatively scarce. a severely contested market rates continue to erode. The growing segment, replacing li- Property, motor and segment, with rampant cash- growth in liability busi- ability insurance which ranked medical reinsurance are fl ow underwriting and accel- ness refl ects an increas- third in the 2015 barometer. considered the least prof- erating claims infl ation, it said. New off er on Volvo XC90

oha Marketing Services the 2016 Middle East Car of The Year Company (Domasco), the awards. Dauthorised distributor for “The Volvo XC90 sets a new stand- Volvo in Qatar, has announced a ard for the luxury SUV segment with new off er on the award winning many unique and passenger friendly Volvo XC90. With the purchase of features,” he added. every new 2016 Volvo XC90, Do- Andrew Parrott, head of sales and masco is off ering three years free marketing for Volvo at Domasco, said: warranty, insurance and breakdown “We design innovative off ers to en- coverage along with three years free hance our Volvo customers’ experi- service up to 45,000km. The off er is The Volvo XC90. ence. Committing to a three years valid until December 31. free insurance, warranty, service and “The Volvo XC90 has redefi ned the ing dynamics and outstanding design. breakdown coverage deal shows our luxury SUV,” said Faisal Sharif, managing Since its launch in 2015, the XC90 dedication to customer satisfaction.” director, Domasco while explaining that has won more than 70 awards includ- The main Domasco showroom is the vehicle is a blend of innovative tech- ing the Jury Car of The Year and the located on Khalifa Street near the Na- nology, superb passenger comfort, driv- Best Midsize Premium SUV award at tional Mosque and TV Roundabout. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 5 QATAR Qatar lays stress on sustainable growth

QNA New York

atar has said it seeks to achieve sustainable development with Qall its economic, social and en- vironmental dimensions. Addressing the general debate of the Economic and Financial Committee of the UN General Assembly, Third Secre- tary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations Ahmed bin Saif al-Kuwari referred to the Permanent Constitution of Qatar and national legislations which attach great im- portance to issues related to economic growth, social development, preserva- tion of the environment, and women’s Ahmed bin Saif al-Kuwari speaks at the UN conference. empowerment as a fundamental pillar of development. Al-Kuwari said that Qatar National sources, climate change, land degrada- He noted that 2015 witnessed nu- Vision 2030 identifi ed the economic, tion, desertifi cation, water scarcity and merous milestones, particularly the social, human and environmental drought, and called for exerting more adoption of the sustainable develop- objectives to implement the national eff orts and for strengthening co-oper- ment plan for 2030, the 21st Confer- strategy for the overall development. ation at the national, regional and in- ence of States Parties to the United The fi rst phase of the strategy was ternational levels, in order to increase Nations Framework Convention on completed for the period 2011 to 2016. food production, achieve agricultural Climate Change (COP21), and the The second phase will be launched development and food security, and al- World Humanitarian Summit. soon for the period 2017 to 2022. leviate poverty. He said that the experience of the He stressed the important role of He praised the initiative launched by implementation of the Millennium trade as a key instrument to achieve the Qatar “Global Dryland Alliance” which Development Goals demonstrates that goals of sustainable development, not- seeks to combat desertifi cation and achieving those goals requires mobi- ing that making progress in the multi- drought, and preserve the environ- lisation of the necessary means and lateral trade negotiations, as stated in ment. promoting an eff ective international the Doha Round, is a necessary issue to Al-Kuwari said Israel is still pursuing co-operation and a global partnership revitalise the global partnership for the its repressive practices and discrimina- in order to create an international envi- sustainable development. tory policies in the occupied Palestin- ronment favourable for development, The Third Secretary of Qatar’s Per- ian territories, in a clear violation of the taking into account the diff erent coun- manent Mission to the UN warned that international law. tries’ capacities and levels of devel- growing confl icts and humanitarian He added that the Israeli practices opment, and the respect for national crises in the world have led to unprece- deprive the Palestinian people of their policies and priorities. dented levels of refugees and migrants. natural resources, aff ect the vari- He noted that the eradication of He said Qatar was contributing to ous economic sectors, and undermine poverty in all its forms and dimen- the international eff orts seeking to peace, stability and sustainable devel- sions is one of the major challenges in fi nd solutions to this problem, and opment. achieving a sustainable and compre- stressed the need to deal with the caus- He called on the international com- hensive development, which requires es of those crises, and to fi nd quick and munity to support the Palestinian peo- efforts that are commensurate with sustainable solutions, including the ple in the occupied Palestinian territo- the gravity of this scourge, noting peaceful settlement of disputes. ries, including East Jerusalem, and the that there is still more than a billion The offi cial also shed light on several Arab population in the occupied Syrian people living in extreme poverty in challenges facing the world, including Golan to obtain permanent sovereignty the world. the unsustainable use of natural re- over their natural resources. Gulf Times 6 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 QATAR

Al-Sulaiti attends Breast cancer UPU Congress conference QNA Istanbul

E the Minister of Trans- port and Communica- Htions Jassim Seif Ahmed to be held on al-Sulaiti yesterday took part in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress in Istanbul. The meeting discussed the state of the global postal sector and focused in particular on dis- cussing the World Postal Strat- Qatari and Turkish off icials sign a postal agreement in the presence of HE the Minister of Transport Oct 28, 29 egy 2017-2020. and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti and other off icials. The strategy has three main egistration for the breast goals: to improve the interop- On the sidelines of the con- The co-operation will be in Maritime and Communica- cancer conference to be erability of network infrastruc- gress, Qatar Postal Services mail and packages, electronic tions Ahmet Arslan, by Q-Post Rheld on October 28 and 29 ture, to ensure sustainable and Company (Q-Post) signed an and secure banking services. chairman and managing di- will start from October 9. It is modern products, and to foster agreement with the national The agreement was signed in rector Faleh Mohammed al- open for staff from both the gov- eff ective market sector func- post and telegraph directorate of the presence of al-Sulaiti and Nuaimi and PTT chief Kenan ernment and private healthcare tioning. Turkey (PTT). Turkey’s Minister of Transport, Bozgeyik. facilities in Qatar. Dr Abdul Azim Abdul Wahab, vice chairman of Qatar Can- cer Society and the director of the scientifi c committee of the conference, said the conference comes under the category of continuous medical education Vodafone launches ‘ready as defi ned by the Qatar Coun- cil for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP)-Accreditation Depart- ment. “This activity is a Category Dr Abdul Azim Abdul Wahab business’ for Soho segment 1 - Accredited Group Learning Activity as defi ned by QCHP. It is QR100 for the rest of the health- cancer under one roof and at an odafone yesterday in a wide range of small compa- that can be applied on all ready tionally for free to certain des- approved for a maximum of 7.25 care providers. “The conference international level,” he added. launched its unique plat- nies such as retail shops, phar- business connections in any tinations. hours,” Dr Wahab said. has several training workshops The conference is described Vform for the small offi ce/ macies and limousine services. language, which can help boost “We spent a lot of time speak- “Medical practitioners can and awareness programmes as a global platform gather- home offi ce (Soho) segment, To support this huge busi- a business’ sales and give their ing to Soho company owners to register at both government and about cancer. It also focuses on ing more than 2,000 specialists ‘ready business’ – two choices ness segment in Qatar, Voda- customers relevant information understand exactly what they private hospitals as well as at the the importance of early detection from a number of Arab and for- of postpaid plans packed with fone designed ready business that currently many Soho busi- needed from their telecommu- primary healthcare health cen- and also discusses important eign countries such as Austria, value including international tailored to their specifi c needs nesses do not provide. nications provider to grow and tres or at the headquarters of practices for prevention of can- Canada, the US, GCC countries free minutes for every hour of with innovative marketing tools Also for the fi rst time, ready improve their operations,” Vo- the Qatar Cancer Society Tow- cer as well as healthy food hab- and Egypt. A large number of received calls and other innova- that enable them to enhance the business customers will get free dafone Qatar business services ers at Barwa Al Sadd - Tower No its,” he said. specialists from Hamad Medi- tive benefi ts such as a business running of their businesses. international minutes based on director Mahmud Awad said. 2, They can also register through “The conference is to be ac- cal Corporation, the Ministry ring-back tone. New to Qatar for Sohos is received calls. For example if a “Vodafone Ready Business the website http: // bcc.qcs.qa,” companied by a medical exhibition of Public Health, the Primary Soho in Qatar make up ap- Vodafone business ring back business receives one hour of gives Soho companies in Qatar he said. which will be an important oppor- Health Care Corporation and proximately 70% of all regis- tone that advertises a business’ calls whether locally or inter- the support they deserve with Dr Wahab urged all specialists tunity for companies in the medi- the National Centre for Cancer tered businesses in the country, products and services even be- nationally, they will get up to 30 our most value-added plan just to register for the conference. cal industry to showcase the latest Care and Research will also take employing less than nine people fore answering the call. This tool minutes to make calls interna- for them,” he added. The fee is QR150 for doctors and innovations in the fi eld of breast part in the conference. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 7 REGION

Hunting show ICRC staff er freed

AFP Muscat

Red Cross staff er freed af- ter almost a year in captiv- Aity in Yemen was held for ransom not for political reasons, diplomatic sources in neighbour- Emirati men check weapons during the first day of the Abu Dhabi International ing Oman said yesterday. Hunting and Equestrian exhibition (ADIHEX) in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Nourane Houas, 38, an employ- ee of the humanitarian protection programme of the International Committee of the Red Cross, was abducted in the rebel-held capital last December. The French-Tunisian dual na- tional was released on Monday af- ter mediation by Omani authori- ties. Saudi holds Oman is the only Gulf Arab state that is not part of a Saudi-led coa- lition that has been battling the Houthi Shia rebels and their allies since March last year. The sultanate has brokered sev- live-fi re drill eral previous releases of foreigners held in Sanaa. “It was a criminal operation for money,” one diplomatic source said, without specifying whether any ransom had been paid for the woman’s release. in war games “She is resting and will remain in Muscat for two to three days.” AFP The Royal Saudi Navy says the latest ICRC spokeswoman Rima Riyadh exercise is part of a series. Kamal declined to be drawn on the A Saudi-led coalition, including na- identity or motives of the kidnap- val forces, operates a blockade of Yemen pers. audi Arabia is conducting live-fi re as part of eff orts to prevent weapons drills during war games underway reaching Shia Houthi rebels and their al- Sin the Gulf, offi cial media said yes- lies who overran much of Saudi Arabia’s terday. neighbour. Exercise Gulf Shield 1 has begun with The United States and Saudi Arabia ac- naval ships, aircraft, marines and “special cuse Iran of sending missiles and other units”, the Saudi Press Agency said. weapons to the rebels, but Tehran denies The manoeuvres are also taking place the charge. in the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the Riyadh’s ally Washington has accused Sea of Oman. Iran of repeated dangerous encounters Navy Brigadier Majid al-Qahtani said with the US Navy in and around the Strait the exercises include “shooting of live of Hormuz in recent months. Nourane Houas, a Franco-Tunisian ammunition” as part of the eff ort to im- Last week, an Iranian commander said Red Cross worker freed following prove combat readiness and protect the two of Tehran’s warships held manoeu- Omani mediation after almost a kingdom’s waters “against any possible vres with an Italian frigate in the Strait of year in captivity in Yemen, talking aggression”. Hormuz after it made an Iranian port call. to the press in Muscat yesterday. Gulf Times 8 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 REGION/ARAB WORLD

UNREST HIGH-PROFILE TRIP REACTION MILITARY COMMENT Top Muslim Brotherhood Iran parliament speaker Sudan condemns US Iraq begins radio UN has no evidence of leader killed in shootout snubs German minister Sept 11 legislation broadcast to Mosul chem arms use in Darfur

Egypt’s interior ministry said yesterday its forces The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, Sudan condemned yesterday a US law that Iraq launched a radio station yesterday to help The UN has no evidence that the Sudanese had killed a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, cancelled talks with German Economy Minister would allow families of victims of the Sept 11, Mosul residents stay safe during the upcoming government has used chemical weapons against whom it described as responsible for the group’s Sigmar Gabriel yesterday during his high-profile 2001 attacks to sue governments for damages. military off ensive to dislodge Islamic State civilians in the Darfur region, a top UN off icial said “armed wing”, as well as his aide in a shootout trip to Tehran, snubbing the German who had Sudan’s government was among dozens of from the largest city under its control, state yesterday, noting, however, that the UN does not overnight. Mohamed Kamal, 61, a member of earlier stressed the need for reform in the Islamic defendants named in a 2002 lawsuit filed by TV said. The radio will give instructions on have access to the areas in question. The comment the group’s top leadership council, and Yasser Republic. Larijani, seen as a moderate conservative families of Sept 11 victims. The US Senate and possible safe exit routes, places to avoid, where came after Amnesty International released a Shehata, were killed when security forces raided in Iran, was the highest-ranking figure Gabriel House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to find assistance and emergency numbers report alleging that the Sudanese government had an apartment in Cairo’s southern Bassateen was due to meet on his two-day visit aimed at last Wednesday to approve the Justice Against to call during the off ensive. The Radio of the used chemical weapons in Darfur’s Jebel Marra district, the ministry said. The Muslim Brotherhood boosting business ties. No reason was given for Sponsors of Terrorism legislation, which grants Republic of Iraq in Mosul is based in the town of region on at least 30 occasions, reportedly killing said on its social media accounts that Kamal had the cancellation, a spokeswoman for Gabriel said. an exception to the legal principle of sovereign Qayyara, 60km south of Mosul and home to an up to 250 people, mostly children. Yesterday, UN disappeared on Monday afternoon. Amr Darrag, Gabriel had on Monday backed reforms pursued immunity in cases of terrorism on US soil. “This airbase which will serve as a hub for the US-led peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the UN a senior Brotherhood off icial exiled in Turkey, said by President Hassan Rouhani. “The alternative to act clearly violates the sovereignty and immunity coalition supporting Iraqi military units. Prime Security Council that the peacekeeping mission to that Kamal had not been involved in the day-to-day the current government is a return to the times of of states and could lead the world into legislative Minister Haider al-Abadi wants to capture Mosul Darfur, known as UNAMID, had not “come across” running of the organisation for months. great confrontation,” Gabriel said. chaos,” a statement from Sudan’s presidency said. this year. any evidence of chemical weapons use. 10 civilians dead in Taiz rocket attack

AFP the market was located was crowded with Geneva people at the time of the attack.” The witnesses, who spoke with UN rights offi ce staff , had insisted “there had not been t least 10 civilians were killed on Mon- any armed confrontations between warring day, including six children, when an parties in the Bir Basha area prior to this ter- Aartillery shell hit a busy street near a rible incident,” he said. popular market in Taiz in southern Yemen, the Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, is almost UN said yesterday. completely surrounded by the Iran-backed The United Nations rights offi ce also said Shia rebels and their allies, backers of former 17 people, including six more children and president Ali Abdullah Saleh. three women, were injured in the attack For months, forces loyal to the interna- on Monday evening in the Bir Basha area of tionally recognised government of President Taiz, allegedly carried out by affi liates of the Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi have been trying Houthi rebels. to break the rebel grip on Taiz. Military and medical sources had previ- Colville said the artillery shell fi red on ously put the civilian toll from the attack at six Monday appeared to have come from the al- dead and eight wounded. Taiziyah district, where the Popular Commit- UN rights offi ce spokesman Rupert Colville tees affi liated with the Houthis and army units cited witnesses saying that “the street where loyal Saleh are positioned.

‘Devastating’ to see malnourished kids Palestinians supporting the Fatah movement wave both their national and the movement’s flags as they take part in a demonstration in the West Bank city AFP ing malnutrition as a result children affected by mal- of Ramallah yesterday in support of President Mahmoud Abbas’ participation in the funeral ceremony of former Israeli President Shimon Peres earlier in Sanaa of the country’s 18-month nutrition”. the week. confl ict. “It is of course absolutely Speaking to reporters devastating when you see N humanitar- in rebel-held Sanaa as such terrible malnutrition,” ian aid chief Stephen he concluded a two-day he said, hailing the eff orts UO’Brien yesterday visit, O’Brien said he had of relief agencies trying described as “absolutely visited a hospital in the to meet the “very severe devastating” the sight of Red Sea city of Hodeida needs” for food in the coun- Yemeni children suff er- where he met “very small try. Palestinian local polls delayed by four months

AFP months,” Prime Minister Rami holding the vote “in the West Bank, planned to restart the process from Hebron, Palestinian Territories Hamdallah said in a statement. which would have deepened the di- the beginning -- meaning that can- Hamas rejected the postpone- vision in the country and negatively didate lists already registered could ment and said the delay and the de- aff ected the public interest of the be wiped out. he Palestinian government cision not to hold the polls in Gaza Palestinian people”. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu delayed municipal elections were Fatah manoeuvrings to avoid Nickolay Mladenov, UN special Zuhri told reporters the group op- Tfor up to four months yes- an electoral defeat. co-ordinator for the Middle East posed that and wanted the process terday with Fatah and Hamas so far Hamas had planned to support peace process, also welcomed the restarted at the point where it was unable to overcome divisions to or- lists of candidates not offi cially postponement, saying in a state- stopped. ganise their fi rst competitive polls linked to the movement to avoid po- ment it was important elections “be Fatah and Hamas have not con- in a decade. tential sanctions if they won. organised both in the West Bank tested an election since 2006 par- The postponement came a day It was not clear if Hamas would and Gaza”. liamentary polls which Hamas won after the Palestinian high court still attempt to do so. Mukhaimer Abu Sada, profes- – sparking a confl ict that led to ruled that the elections, initially The elections were initially to sor of political science at Gaza’s near civil war in Gaza the follow- scheduled for October 8, should choose municipal councils in some Al Azhar University, said that “if ing year. be held only in the West Bank and 416 cities and towns in Gaza and the a consensus can’t be reached, the This year’s vote was planned with not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Israeli-occupied West Bank. most likely scenario is cancelling 81-year-old Abbas under heavy po- Strip. On September 8, the Palestinian the elections”. litical pressure as opinion polls have A new date for the vote was not high court based in the West Bank Reconciliation attempts between suggested most Palestinians would set by the government based in the suspended the polls following dis- Hamas and Fatah have repeatedly like him to step down. West Bank, the Palestinian territory putes between Fatah and Hamas failed, and Hamas boycotted the Some analysts saw Abbas’s deci- run by President Mahmoud Abbas’s over candidate lists. most recent Palestinian municipal sion to call for the municipal elec- Fatah party. That dispute led to Monday’s elections in 2012. tions as a failed gambit since he may The Palestinian Central Elec- decision in which the high court An offi cial with the electoral have been hoping Hamas would re- tions Commission and the United ordered the elections to be held commission said authorities now peat its 2012 boycott. Nations special representative wel- only in the West Bank and not in comed the postponement, saying Gaza. they were hopeful Gaza would now It said that the Hamas-controlled Women hope to break Gaza sea blockade be included in the eventual vote. judiciary in Gaza did not have the The Palestinians have not held an necessary “guarantees” in place for A group of women will try to Fifteen women will try to election in which both Hamas and holding the polls. reach the Gaza Strip on board breach the blockade aboard the Fatah took part since 2006. It was unclear if yesterday’s post- a boat today in a bid to break a Zaytouna-Oliva boat early today, They have also not held a vote in ponement meant Gaza would be decade-long blockade by Israel, a said spokeswoman Claude Leotic. both the West Bank and Gaza Strip included in the elections or another spokeswoman said. “But we fear there will be an Israeli at the same time since then. court ruling would be needed fi rst, Gaza has been under an Israeli attack” to prevent the boat from “The Palestinian cabinet, in but the Central Elections Commis- blockade since 2006 but it was reaching Gaza’s shores, she told consultation with president Mah- sion welcomed the delay. tightened in 2007 after Hamas AFP yesterday in a telephone moud Abbas, decided to postpone In a statement, it said a post- seized control in the tiny enclave. interview. the local elections for (up to) four ponement was preferable to only

Libya forces cut IS grip in Sirte

Reuters outside territory controlled in Iraq and Syria. Sirte, Libya “This is the end for them,” said Mohamed al- Ghasri, a spokesman for Misrata forces. “They have no other solutions, so that’s why they are slamic State controls a residential strip less fi ghting fi ercely to stay in Manara.” than 1km long in their former stronghold in Losing control of Sirte is a major blow for Is- ILibya’s Sirte, where pro-government forces lamic State, depriving it of the only city it held backed by US air strikes are advancing building in North Africa. by building to fi nish a fi ve-month-old cam- The militant group is also on the defensive paign. against US-backed campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Over the past two days, forces led by brigades Victory for the Misrata-led forces would also from Misrata have pressed further into Sirte’s provide a boost for a UN-backed Government neighbourhood Number Three as an intensifi ed of National Accord (GNA) that nominally com- aerial bombardment and a barrage of tank fi re mands them from Tripoli. slowly dislodged militant sniper positions. The GNA has so far struggled to exert its au- Militants were clinging to an area called thority and recently saw a rival eastern com- Manara, a sub- district that if ceded, Misrata mander, Kahlifa Haftar, seize some of Libya’s commanders said, would leave them exposed to major oil ports, one of which is less than 200km defeat in what was once the group’s main base from Sirte. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 9

AFRICA

Burundi rejects S Africa students, police UN move to probe killings, torture

Reuters opponents have been rounded up clash in campus battle Nairobi and detained. “The (experts’) report was bi- Agencies ased, undertaken and produced Johannesburg urundi’s government has for the sole purpose of paving dismissed a UN decision to the way for this resolution and Bset up a commission of in- to destabilise the Burundian na- outh African police fi red quiry to identify perpetrators of tion,” government spokesman rubber bullets, stun gre- killings and torture, saying it was Philippe Nzobonariba said. Snades and teargas at stu- based on a one-sided account of He told the state broadcaster dent protesters in Johannesburg events in the African nation. late on Monday that the council yesterday as authorities tried The United Nations Human had failed to take into account to reopen the prestigious Wits Rights Council agreed on Friday Burundi’s contribution to bal- University after weeks of dem- to set up the commission, say- ance the report. onstrations. ing it would build on a report by The resulting decision was The university, along with UN experts who looked into the “inapplicable in Burundi”. many campuses across South suspected torture and murder of He did not say if Burundi would Africa, has been closed for at government opponents. take further action in response, least two weeks during protests The experts have drawn up a but added the government would over tuition fees, with violent list of suspects. “continue its co-operation with clashes regularly erupting be- Burundi has been mired in po- the international community, tween students, police and pri- litical crisis and sporadic violence particularly the United Nations” vate security guards. for more than a year, triggered in line with international agree- “There has been an attempt to by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s ments. disrupt lectures at Wits today,” decision to run for a third term in The UN Human Rights Coun- the university said in a state- offi ce, which he secured in a dis- cil adopted a European Union ment. puted election in July 2015. resolution for a one-year com- “Police are dispersing the pro- Opposition fi gures and gov- mission of inquiry by a vote of testing students as we speak us- ernment offi cials have frequently 19 states in favour and seven ing teargas and stun grenades.” been killed in tit-for-tat attacks, against, with 21 abstentions. University authorities had while hundreds of government African votes were split. vowed to reopen the campus yesterday, with vice-chancellor Adam Habib warning of the Court orders release of former off icial “immense consequences of not fi nishing the academic year.” He said most students wanted Mcebo Dlamini, the leader of the University of Witwatersrand students, dances with a helmet belonging to the university’s private security and Nigeria’s former national security adviser, held since December 2015 on to return to lectures, adding that with a shield during a running battle with police forces on campus as he takes part in a mass demonstration yesterday in Johannesburg. fraud charges, should be released, a judge at the court of the Economic police and security staff would Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled yesterday, saying his ensure lectures would go ahead, rest us, instead of listening to Campuses nationwide in- 19, a fi rst-year chemical engi- pupils out of education. detention was unlawful and arbitrary. and no mass protests would be us,” said 21-year-old Patrick cluding the University of Cape neering student. Last year, students - many of Sambo Dasuki has been accused of fraud involving $68mn of defence allowed to gather. Shabalala, a third-year law stu- Town, the University of KwaZu- “Students are angry at the them so-called “born frees” who spending, part of a wider $2.1bn in arms deals under investigation. “Following yesterday’s har- dent, amid repeated clashes lu-Natal and the University of government, the governments grew up after apartheid - staged He has pleaded not guilty. He served under Nigeria’s former president, Good- assment of our staff , we have outside Wits’ Great Hall audi- Pretoria have all been hit by vio- responds by unleashing cops on a series of huge demonstrations luck Jonathan, who was defeated in last year’s election by Muhammadu Bu- no choice but to deploy police torium. lence, arson and closures. us. which forced the government to hari, a former military ruler who has promised to crack down on corruption. around campus,” said university “We are not criminals. We The wave of protests was “Exams are around the corner abandon planned fee hikes for The judge at the ECOWAS Court of Justice, sitting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, spokeswoman Shirona Patel. want to study and not end up triggered by a government an- but if we don’t fi ght, we will be 2016. ruled that Dasuki should be released immediately and the government She said the university, which paying endless students loans nouncement that universities facing the same problems next “We do not agree with those should pay him 15mn naira ($46,606) in compensation for his arrest and shut down during the ear- from the government. That is would set their own fee increases year.” who say that universities should detention. lier protests, had reopened on why we are striking.” but that next year’s hikes could Unrest has hit many South Af- be shut down,” President Jacob The ruling by Justice Friday Chijioike Nwoke said Dasuki’s “arrest, detention Monday, but some students had As police opened fi re and pro- be as high as 8%. rican universities over the past Zuma said on Monday, while and continued detention” after having been granted bail by three diff erent forced some of the lecturers out testers threw rocks, television “The struggle continues, not year, as students have protested vowing to listen to students’ domestic courts was “unlawful” and “arbitrary”. However, sovereign states of their offi ces. footage showed several minor only here at Wits but across the against fee increases that they concerns and help those from do not have to respect the court’s rulings and there is no framework for “The university wants to ar- injuries to students and police. country,” said Phelokazi Caluza, say force poorer, often black, poorer families. making them binding. Gulf Times 10 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 AMERICA Clinton blasts Trump

over huge tax losses Hillary: What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a year? DPA Trump does business.” loss to cancel out an equivalent the fi nancial mismanagement of laws better than almost anyone more controversy over his chari- improperly benefi ted from its Washington She called for eff orts to make amount of taxable income over casinos in Atlantic City, New Jer- and that is why I am the one who table foundation. charitable work. sure US businesses engage in fair an 18-year period. sey, his attempt to start an airline can fi x them.” The attorney general of New The Washington Post has ex- practices. Clinton zeroed in on both the and his purchase of a large hotel “The unfairness of the tax law York said the private foundation amined Trump’s charitable giv- S presidential nominee Trump is “in a category by size of the loss and the tactic in Manhattan. is unbelievable,” Trump said. violated New York laws by not ing and noted no personal con- Hillary Clinton went af- himself”, she said two days after Trump used. Trump, speaking at a cam- “It’s something that I have been properly registering as a charity tributions to the foundation from Uter her opponent Don- the New York Times broke the “What kind of genius loses a paign rally in Colorado, said he talking about for a long time de- with the state. Trump since 2008. ald Trump on Monday over his story about a 1995 income tax billion dollars in a single year?” had a responsibility to pay as spite being a very big benefi ciary The state ordered the founda- The clash over Trump’s taxes possible use of deductions from document it obtained and the tax Clinton said. little tax as legally possible and [of the tax law].” tion to stop soliciting contribu- came as Clinton gained a fi ve- business losses in the 1990s to benefi ts the Republican presi- “He’s taken corporate excess noted Clinton did not have busi- On Sunday his campaign is- tions because it was doing so point lead over Trump after last avoid paying income taxes for dential nominee possibly took and made a business model out ness experience. sued a statement that neither without having properly regis- week’s fi rst presidential debate, several years. advantage of. of it. He abuses his power, games “I have legally used the tax laws challenged nor confi rmed the au- tered with the state’s Charities according to an opinion poll pub- “Trump represents the same Tax experts hired by the Times the system, puts his own inter- to my benefi t and to the benefi t thenticity of the tax document. Bureau to accept contributions or lished on Monday. rigged system that he claims he’s and who analysed the three-page ests ahead of the country’s,” she of my company and my investors It defended Trump for paying providing fi nancial statements. Clinton led Trump by 47% going to change,” Clinton said at document said that tax rules es- said. “It’s Trump fi rst and every- and my employees,” he said. hundreds of millions of dollars in Trump’s charity has come un- to 42% among likely voters, the a campaign event in Ohio. “The pecially advantageous to wealthy one else last.” Trump also pledged to other taxes, including property der media scrutiny, with ques- CNN/ORC poll said, with most whole story tells us everything people would have allowed The story said the tax docu- “straighten out” the tax system, taxes and sales and excise taxes. tions raised about his personal of her gains apparently coming we need to know about how Trump legally to use an $916mn ments showed the loss came from saying: “I understand the tax Trump also on Monday faced contributions and whether he from men and independents.

Trump tumbles on Forbes rich list

AFP New York

t seems running for president is hurting Donald Trump’s fi nances big time. I The Republican nominee’s fortune fell $800mn last year sending him tumbling 35 spots on a list of richest Americans, Forbes said yesterday. The business magazine said the New York real estate mogul is worth $3.7bn – down from an estimated $4.5bn in March – and just over a third of the $10bn that Trump has claimed of amassing. Trump, who has made his fabulous wealth a key sell- ing point in his bid for the White House, plummeted to number 156 on Forbes’ annual list of the richest 400 Americans. It is more bad news for the Republican as his Democrat- ic rival Hillary Clinton pulls ahead in the polls after win- ning last week’s fi rst presidential debate. “A softening of New York City’s real estate market, par- ticularly in retail and offi ce, where valuations are trending down, has diminished his estimated net worth,” Forbes wrote. Of 28 Trump assets scrutinised by the magazine, Forbes said 18 fell in value, including his Trump Tower head- quarters on New York’s Fifth Avenue and Mar-a-Lago, his beachfront club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump poured $7mn into his campaign and loaned the campaign an additional $48mn, which he is unlikely to get back, the magazine added. He did just one real estate deal this year, buying a ware- house in Charleston, South Carolina that was in foreclos- ure, Forbes said. In a further dig at the most loathed US presidential can- didate in modern times, Forbes chose this year to highlight immigrant success stories and said a record 42 naturalised Americans made this year’s annual list. Immigrants account for 10.5% of the list, whereas natu- ralised citizens make up only 6% of the population, Forbes said. Those on the list come from 21 countries, led by Israel, India, Hungary and Taiwan. Trump has made immigration a centrepiece of his cam- paign, promising to build a wall on the southern US border with Mexico and threatening to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Fellow New York billionaire and former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who mulled for months whether to run for president in 2016, was number six on the list. Bill Gates retains the top spot with a net worth of $81bn. He has headed the list for 23 straight years, Forbes said. The billionaires on the 2016 ranking have a record- breaking, combined total net worth of $2.4tn, up from $2.34tn in 2015. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member hit $6bn, also a record high, said Forbes.

Kardashian freed herself, raised alarm after Paris heist: sources

Kim Kardashian freed herself and raised the alarm after being tied up and robbed at gunpoint in Paris of $10mn in jewels in Paris, police sources said yesterday. The multi-millionaire US reality TV star, who was in the French capital for Paris fashion week, was robbed at a luxury residence in the early hours of Monday by five men posing as police off icers. Kardashian was tied up and locked in the bathroom while the robbers helped themselves to a ring worth around €4mn ($4.5mn) and a case of jewellery with a value of €5mn ($5.6mn). Two mobile phones were also stolen. The robbery in the chic Madeleine district of Paris, near the city’s main department stores, took place around 2.30am. When the danger had passed, 35-year-old Kardashian “untied her bonds and at 2.56am phoned her bodyguard who was not present at the time of the attack”, the sources said. Investigators had initially thought a stylist who was in the building at the time had raised the alarm. Kardashian’s bodyguard Pascal Duvier was providing security for Kardashian’s sister Kourtney at a Paris nightclub. The assailants wore masks and police jackets. After overpowering the night warden three of them kept guard while two burst into Kardashian’s apartment, sources said. They held a gun to her head, gagged her and bound her hands and feet before bundling her into the bathroom, the sources added. There is no CCTV footage of the attack or its aftermath. Investigators are instead trying to garner clues from DNA traces at the scene. The mother of two and wife of rap superstar Kanye West flew home to the US on Monday after being questioned by police over the incident. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 11 ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

GROWING TIES REALTY DEFENCE DECISION ENTERTAINMENT US warships make Shenzhen unveils steps S Korea ‘to buy 90 more Indonesian military drill Justin Bieber to tour visit to Vietnam port to cool home prices German cruise missiles’ near South China Sea Australia, New Zealand

Two US warships made port calls at Vietnam’s China’s boomtown of Shenzhen has rolled out new South Korea is to purchase an additional 90 Indonesia’s air force will hold a military exercise Canadian pop-superstar Justin Bieber will visit strategic naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, the US steps, including higher mortgage down payments Taurus cruise missiles from Germany, state near the South China Sea tomorrow amid tensions Australia and New Zealand in March as part of navy said yesterday, in a brief but symbolic and home purchase restrictions, Xinhua news news agency Yonhap reported yesterday. The with China over fishing rights in the area, its his current world tour on the back of his fourth return for US combat vessels to what was a agency reported yesterday, joining other Chinese 1.4-tonne, 5.1-metre guided missiles can be commander said. The drill on the Natuna islands studio album ‘Purpose’, organisers Frontier crucial logistics complex during the Vietnam cities in their attempt to cool soaring home prices. dropped by fighter jets and would be used in an was expected to involve more than 2,000 air Touring said yesterday. Bieber will perform War. Submarine tender USS Frank Cable and First-time home buyers with no mortgage records emergency scenario against nuclear and rocket force personnel and dozens of aircraft, Air Force in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain will still pay minimum down payments of 30%, but facilities in North Korea, according to media chief Air Marshall Agus Supriyatna said yesterday. Australia as well as in Auckland, New Zealand. made the visit on Sunday to the deep-water down payments for those who have mortgage reports. The additional missiles would boost the “It’s a routine, annual war exercise,” Tatang said. The tour will be Bieber’s first full-scale visit to naval base, marking an important step in fast- records but no homes will be raised to no less than arsenal of 170 Taurus missiles South Korea has The drills had been scheduled to be held on the Australia since 2013. Last year he performed growing defence ties between the two former 50%, Xinhua quoted a government document already ordered, according to Yonhap. A defence island of Belitung at the end of September but was to a limited audience on Sydney’s Cockatoo enemies. The visit came after the full lifting as saying. Down payments for second home ministry spokesman in Seoul said he could not moved to the Natunas for undisclosed reasons. Island during a brief promotional visit. It of a US embargo on trade in lethal arms with buyers in the city in China’s southern Guangdong confirm the report, which added that South Indonesia has accused Chinese fishing vessels of will also be his first stadium tour to the two Vietnam in May as part of President Barack province, near Hong Kong, will be increased to no Korea would be the first Asian country with stealing fish off the Natunas, in what Jakarta says countries as his earlier performances took Obama’s strategic “rebalance” toward Asia. less than 70%, it said without giving further details. fighter jets to be armed with the cruise missiles. is part of its exclusive economic zone. place in smaller arenas. South Korea’s Holiday rush new wedding crashers are graft-busters

Reuters September 28, golf course reser- Seoul vations have plunged and fewer guests are attending weddings, while hospitals have posted pair of aspiring paparazzi warnings against thank-you staked out two weddings gifts, media have reported. Ain Seoul’s high-end Gang- Some groups of diners are nam district recently, but they splitting bills — a practice once weren’t looking for celebrities. almost-unheard of in the coun- Their target: offi cials receiv- try. Consumer and entertain- ing gifts that might violate South ment companies could lose up Korea’s tough new anti-corrup- to 11.6tn won ($10.43bn) under tion law. the law, the Korea Economic Re- About 4mn people are esti- search Institute said in June. mated to be directly covered by The law limits the value of the law — civil servants, employ- meals that can be accepted by ees at state-owned enterprises, public servants and others to teachers, journalists — which 30,000 won. Gifts are capped limits the value of meals and at 50,000 won in value, while People visit a tourism resort during the national golden week holiday in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, yesterday. gifts that can be accepted. cash gifts that are traditionally With rewards worth up to handed over in envelopes at wed- 200mn won ($181,691), it is dings and funerals are limited to also fuelling a cottage industry 100,000 won, under prohibitions of camera-wielding, receipt- now known as the “3-5-10” rule. scavenging vigilantes targeting Violators can expect fi nes, but expensive restaurants and fancy would face criminal prosecution weddings in a country with a for more serious infringements, deep tradition of entertaining such as receiving a gift of more and gift-giving. than 1mn won, or for receiving Some of them come for train- a total of over 3mn won worth of Thai MPs mull plan to ing in the art of espionage at a gifts in a year. school that calls itself the Head- Businesses are scrambling to quarters of Reporting for Public adjust. Good, including the two that The lobby group for the Ko- went to the weddings. rean conglomerates known as “You can get rich and be- chaebol, the Federation of Kore- come a patriot at the same time,” an Industries (FKI), held a semi- keep Prayut as premier school president Moon Seoung- nar on September 8 attended by ok told students participating in about 400 people on how corpo- Reuters rule on the military’s terms. 1932 and the role of the mili- Shinawatra government that Under the new constitution, a recent class that included tips rate offi cials should comply with Bangkok Paiboon Nititawan, a former tary in politics is always closely was overthrown in May 2014, a 250-member upper house on using hidden cameras. the law. senator appointed by the mili- watched. said a party that supports senate will be appointed by the “You can pick up credit card In South Korea, the term tary to its reform council and its Politicians from main politi- Prayut as premier could gain military and six seats will be receipts from garbage at restau- “paparazzi” applies not only to ro-establishment law- constitution drafting commit- cal parties said the military had enough seats to ensure mili- reserved for the heads of the rants,” Moon told his students at photographers chasing celebri- makers in Thailand said tee, said he would set up a party been lobbying people to join tary rule. armed forces and police. his classroom housed in an offi ce ties but to individuals who can Pthey plan to ensure junta to nominate Prayut as the next Paiboon’s party. “There is something within The military will need at least near a Seoul courthouse, where win cash in other “report and chief Prayut Chan-ocha stays prime minister. For its part, the junta says it the Thai political culture that 125 lawmakers from the elected he hands out booklets about the reward” schemes that cover of- on as prime minister by field- “We have retired generals does not support the formation longs for a fi gure of author- lower house to join the appoint- anti-graft law. “You need to ob- fences such as running traffi c ing a proxy political party and soldiers that are interested of a political party and it is not ity who comes in and solves our ed senators in voting for a non- tain evidence.” lights or dropping cigarette butts backed by the military in a in joining our party,” Paiboon interested in staying in power problems,” he said. elected prime minister. South Korea ranked 27th on the street. general election planned for said. “We need a good person to beyond 2017. Kasit Piromya, a former for- The constitution will allow among 34 Organisation for Eco- The Kim Young-ran anti- next year. ensure the reforms put in place Prayuth has said that all op- eign minister and member of the military to retain extensive nomic Co-operation and De- bribery law, named after the Thailand voted overwhelm- by the junta get carried out. tions must be exhausted before the pro-establishment Demo- powers during a transition pe- velopment (OECD) countries in former Supreme Court justice ingly in August to accept a For me, that person is General he would accept any nomina- crat Party, said the military was riod following the general elec- the 2015 Corruption Perceptions who proposed it, has spawned junta-backed constitution, Prayut.” tion to become prime minister reaching out to more conserva- tion and, following an even- Index compiled by Transparency the term “ran-parazzi”.Moon paving the way for an election Thailand has seen 19 coups again. tive members of his party to tual royal succession that has International. tells his students to fi nd their — but one that will require or attempted coups since the Suranand Vejjajiva, a former form a coalition with Paiboon’s prompted worries about insta- Since the law took eff ect on way into weddings and funerals. future elected governments to end of absolute monarchy in minister in the Yingluck party. bility. Vietnam radio presenter First Tonga inhabitants ‘Hanoi Hannah’ dies at 87 came from Asia: study AFP tion is Asian. They were straight Wellington out of Taiwan and perhaps the AFP newspaper articles about anti- Ho Chi Minh City Television af- northern Philippines,” said Mat- Hanoi war protests and lull listeners with ter the war and was reclusive in thew Spriggs, a professor at the Joan Baez and Bob Dylan tunes. her fi nal years, rarely speaking to ncient DNA has revealed Australian National University She rarely spoke of Vietnam- the press. the fi rst inhabitants of and one of the researchers in- ilky-voiced communist ese losses or American successes The Vietnam War, still called AVanuatu and Tonga came volved in the study. “They trav- propaganda broadcaster in her broadcasts, which were the American War in the coun- from Asia, not other Oceanic elled past places where people S“Hanoi Hannah”, famous carefully controlled by the com- try today, ended with the fall of populations as has long been as- were already living, but when for urging American GIs to leave munist authorities. Hannah died the southern capital more than sumed, a study published yes- they got to Vanuatu there was her country during the Vietnam on Friday at her home in Ho Chi four decades ago at the hands of terday found. nobody there. These are the fi rst War, has died at age 87, friends Minh City, according to VOV. communists forces. The study sheds light on the people.” said yesterday. “Hanoi Hannah was clear- The southern capital was re- last great human migration Spriggs said another DNA The radio presenter, whose ly one of the most prominent named Ho Chi Minh City after into unpopulated lands, when a sample from a Lapita skeleton real name was Trinh Thi Ngo, broadcasters we had in history the country’s independence icon people called the Lapita fanned in Tonga returned similar re- was among dozens of Vietnam- of the Voice of Vietnam and the who died before the war’s end. At out into the South Pacifi c about sults. ese journalists drafted by the country in general,” said Nguyen least 2.5mn soldiers from Viet- 3,000 years ago. “We know this because testing communist regime to inundate Ngoc Thuy, a former journalist nam’s communist North and US- Little is known of the myste- conducted by two diff erent labo- the country with anti-US rheto- at VOV’s English service. allied South died in the confl ict, rious culture beyond their dis- ratories in the US and Germany ric during the confl ict that ended “She will be remembered for along with three million civilians, tinctive dotted pottery and the confi rm that the samples are of in 1975 with the fall of Saigon her legendary voice in broad- according to offi cial fi gures. human remains they left behind. the same people,” he said. and America’s defeat. “GI, your casts targeting American serv- On the American side, more Scientists had speculated He added that it now appeared government has abandoned you. icemen. Her infl uence on Vi- than 58,000 soldiers lost their that they were an off shoot of the Asiatic Lapita fi rst colonised They have ordered you to die,” etnam’s success against the US lives, while some estimates say Australo-Papuan populations of the South Pacifi c, then inter- she said in one of her on-air was huge,” Thuy added. more Vietnam veterans com- Australia, New Guinea and the mingled with a second wave of appeals in English during the Hannah joined VOV at the mitted suicide after the war than Solomon Islands, who arrived in Australo-Papuan settlers to cre- draining war. “Don’t trust them. outset of the war, recalling in her died in fi ghting — although the the region 40,000-50,000 years ate the region’s modern genetic They lied to you, GIs, you know memoir a desire to make a diff er- fi gures are disputed. ago. mix. you cannot win this war.” ence to the war eff ort. “I thought Relations between the former But analysis of three skeletons Professor Ron Pinhasi from In daily broadcasts on state-run it was time for me to do some- wartime enemies have warmed from Vanuatu’s oldest cemetery University College Dublin said Voice of Vietnam (VOV) from the thing to contribute to the revo- in recent years, with many found they came from Asia, with the study, published in Nature, northern capital Hanoi, Hannah lution,” according to an excerpt English-speaking Vietnamese no trace of DNA from their Pa- was made possible by improved would list the names of American reported on VOV. youngsters eagerly embracing cifi c neighbours. methods of extracting material troops killed in combat, read US Hannah went on to work for American culture. Trinh Thi Ngo:one of Vietnam’s most prominent broadcasters. “Their original base popula- from skeletal remains. Gulf Times 12 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 BRITAIN/IRELAND May making ‘huge mistake’ with hard Brexit: Clegg

AFP off from the single market,” the Britain may have to leave the single that the government was taking a an uneasy Conservative-Liberal convinced he was going to win,” merses herself in detail, she is London 49-year-old former Liberal Dem- market, which allows free move- “fairly aggressive and confronta- Democrat coalition. said Clegg. quite sort of technocratic, she ocrat leader said in an interview. ment of people. tional approach” and he was “very Clegg said he tried to dissuade In the end, Britons voted by 52% is quite tough, she can be quite “I think that Theresa May and But opponents including busi- perplexed” by the strategy. Cameron from his decision to hold to 48% to leave the EU, sending stubborn,” he said. rime Minister Theresa May her government are making a huge ness leaders have called for a more Seen as one of Britain’s most a referendum on EU membership. a shockwave through the union While Clegg said such charac- is making a “huge mistake” mistake.” gradual exit that would retain ac- pro-European politicians, Clegg “I told him on many occasions that and British politics that eventu- teristics were good qualities for a Pby heading for a hard Brexit In a speech on Sunday, the cess to the single market. speaks fl uent Dutch and Spanish, I thought it was very foolish to hold ally claimed the scalp of Cameron politician in government, he was — severing ties with the Europe- prime minister said she would Yesterday, the pound dropped has a Spanish wife and spent an a referendum in eff ect to settle an himself. not entirely positive about May’s an single market, former deputy begin Brexit negotiations by the to a 31-year-low against the dol- early part of his career as a member internal party dispute,” he said, Clegg described May, who re- style of politics. prime minister Nick Clegg said. end of March and would prioritise lar as the markets began to price of the European Parliament. suggesting Cameron was under placed Cameron, as a technocrat “I never really saw very much “I didn’t meet a single voter who controlling immigration. in a higher likelihood of a “hard” After a dramatic rise to power, pressure from the rise of the eu- who lacked the imagination and imagination, or fl exibility, or in- voted for Brexit who wanted to see Experts say that to curb im- Brexit. dubbed “Cleggmania” during the rosceptic UK Independence Party. vision necessary for her job. stinct, or vision, which I think is British exporters being damaged migration — one of the key issues Clegg, his party’s spokesman on 2010, he became deputy prime Cameron campaigned for Brit- “She is very diligent, she is what you need in a prime minister,” and the City of London being cut during the June 23 referendum — Brexit, said it was becoming clear minister to David Cameron in ain to remain in the EU and “was very hard-working, and she im- he said. N Ireland court hears Economy can challenge to Brexit weather Brexit

DPA London Northern Irish court worries, says yesterday began hear- Aing a legal challenge to the government’s right to begin Brexit negotiations, as the Irish government announced a cross- border forum on how to respond to Brexit. prime minister Lawyers representing a group of cross-party politicians and Reuters working to set up meetings in wanted a deal that allowed Brit- activists in Northern Ireland said Birmingham the coming weeks with the gov- ish companies to trade with the the change that would be started ernment departments led by single market. by Britain triggering Article 50 Davis - the secretary of state for Hammond, who had cam- of the Lisbon Treaty — which rime Minister Theresa exiting the European Union - paigned to remain in the EU, has sets the rules for a two-year ne- May yesterday said Brit- and Fox, the international trade shown his support for London’s gotiating process for a nation Pain’s economy was strong secretary. fi nancial services since he took leaving the EU — is so profound with more positive growth rates Banks - whose strategies have over as fi nance minister in July, that parliamentary consent is than some had expected and, relied on “passporting” rights saying he will push to retain ac- needed. when asked about the fall in to sell their services across the cess to the single market for an They told the High Court in sterling, added that currencies EU - are seeking a buff er period industry that generates about a Belfast that Brexit could jeop- “of course go up and down”. of up to fi ve years after Britain’s tenth of Britain economic out- ardise the 1998 Good Friday The sterling slid to its lowest exit from the European Union to put. Agreement, which formally end- in more than three decades yes- allow them to adjust their busi- But the fi nance ministry - or ed decades of sectarian confl ict terday on fears of a “hard Brexit” nesses, saying this would help Treasury - is less powerful than in Northern Ireland, and argued from the European Union and avoid a big shock to fi nancial in previous governments be- that the region’s people should its single market that could hurt markets. cause May is relying more on have the right to veto any consti- the economy. The urgency for talks with aides, and Davis and Fox are as- tutional change. “Currencies of course go up the eurosceptic ministers has suming greater infl uence in the In a related move, the Irish and down,” May told the BBC. increased after Prime Minister talks to leave the EU, according cabinet yesterday agreed to open “If you stand back and look at Theresa May said on Sunday to government offi cials. a cross-border forum on No- the fundamentals of our econ- that she would trigger the proc- Following May’s announce- vember 2 to “seek broad-based omy, which are strong, if you ess to leave the European Union ment at the weekend, Britain’s views on all-island implica- look at the other economic data by the end of March. She also major financial industry trade tions” of Brexit. that has been around in recent signalled that curbing immi- groups, including TheCityUK The Irish government said it weeks, if you look indeed at gration from the EU would take and British Bankers’ Asso- will host “a series of roundta- the most recent forecasts now precedence over single market ciation, called on the govern- ble discussions with interested coming out for growth in our access in the divorce negotia- ment to push for a buffer deal groups to allow for detailed con- economy this year, all of that is tions with Brussels. to avoid disruption to financial sideration of Brexit issues aris- more positive than people had One senior executive in Lon- markets. ing on a sectoral level.” expected it to be and predicted don’s fi nancial sector said they “What fi rms in the fi nancial “Ireland faces unique chal- it to be.” had spoken with Davis on the and related professional services lenges from Brexit, not least Meanwhile, as Britain’s banks phone, and had a formal meet- industry will want to see as early given the all-island issues that brace for a “hard Brexit” that ing planned with him in the as possible is an agreed and se- arise,” Prime Minister Enda Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening delivers a keynote address could sever their links with the coming weeks. cured transitional period to help Kenny said in a statement fol- on the third day of the annual Conservative Party conference at the International Convention Centre in EU market, they are changing “We have spent too long ensure fi nancial stability,” said lowing the cabinet meeting. Birmingham yesterday. lobbying strategy and focusing preaching to the converted,” Miles Celic, chief executive of eff orts on eurosceptic cabinet the executive said of talks with TheCityUK. ministers to try to secure a tran- the Treasury. “We are losing the Bankers in private, though, sitional period for their indus- argument. In the last few weeks are sceptical that the industry try. the government position seems will be allowed up to fi ve further Since Britons voted in June to to be moving towards a hard years to arrange their aff airs, on Plan to cut foreign workers fl ayed leave the bloc, banks have held Brexit.” top of the two-year period that a series of meetings with the fi - A senior banker also said they will be triggered when Britain nance ministry but have had few were planning to hold their fi rst starts the process to leave the Reuters and yesterday Interior Minister to Britain for everything from to protect economic growth. formal talks with the govern- talks with Davis’s department EU. Birmingham Amber Rudd set out plans to re- high-paid jobs in the fi nancial Rudd said a consultation later ment departments dealing with later this month. A spokesmen They said any such deal would view whether it should be harder industry in London to picking this year would review whether Brexit, led by eurosceptics David for Davis, who will lead Britain’s need to be in place by the time for companies to recruit workers fruit in central and southern employers should have to set out Davis and Liam Fox, according Brexit negotiations with the EU, Britain triggered the exit proc- ritain said it might make it from outside the EU. England. the steps they have taken to fos- to several senior sources in the declined to comment. ess next year, to prevent banks harder for foreign workers While acknowledging that “I want us to look again at ter a pool of local candidates. fi nancial services industry. Davis sought to damp down shifting staff and operations out Band students to move to high levels of migration can whether our immigration sys- They may also have to publish This is changing as executives the industry’s concerns yester- of Britain because they feared the country under a new drive strain local services, employ- tem provides the right incen- the proportion of their work- increasingly fear Britain is head- day when he promised Britain losing access to sell services to cut immigration, drawing ers groups said companies were tives for businesses to invest in force that is international and ing for a clean break with the would negotiate an exit deal freely across Europe. condemnation from employer already struggling with “costly British workers,” Rudd told the set out what impact they expect EU in a drive headed by ardent that resolves deep concern in Bankers and lawyers said that groups who accused it of threat- and burdensome” regulation Conservative Party conference foreign recruitment to have on Leave campaigners Davis and London’s financial sector that was unlikely to happen because ening the economy at a crucial such as a new levy to help fund in Birmingham, central England. the local workforce. Fox, rather than a “soft Brexit” Brexit will disrupt its business EU members have said no talks time. apprenticeships and warned May’s government is facing But employers’ groups said that would see it retain some model. of any exemptions or conces- Prime Minister Theresa May against further intervention. a tricky balancing act between the proposals would increase the access to the single market - A spokeswoman for Fox, who sions - even temporary, as en- has said the June 23 vote to leave Of the 31.7mn workforce at clamping down on immigration burden on bosses just as they are an outcome backed by Finance is part of the negotiating team visaged by a transitional deal the European Union was a sign the end of June, 5.4mn were born while enabling companies to trying to navigate the uncertain- Minister Philip Hammond. and will also seek to broker non- - can begin until Britain has for- that immigration was too high, outside the country, moving still hire those workers it needs ty thrown up by the Brexit vote. The sources said they were EU trade deals, said the minister mally applied to leave.

Move to end reliance on foreign doctors

England is to train more home graduates desperate doctors so that it can end to study medicine?” From its reliance on foreign September 2018, England recruits for the state- will train up to 1,500 funded National Health more doctors every year, Service after it leaves increasing the number the European Union, the of medical school places government announced by up to a quarter, he yesterday. “Currently a said. There is currently a quarter of our doctors 6,000 cap on numbers come from overseas,” of medical students. Health Secretary Jeremy “By the end of the next Hunt said at the ruling parliament we will make Conservative Party’s the NHS self-suff icient annual conference in in doctors.” He said Birmingham. “They do a training a doctor costs fantastic job and the NHS more than £200,000. would fall over without Doctors would be asked them. When it comes to work for the NHS for to those that are EU four years in return. NHS nationals, we’ve been clear hospitals currently spend we want them to be able to £3.3bn a year on agency stay post-Brexit,” he said. staff . Home Secretary “But looking forward, is it Amber Rudd also at the right to carry on importing conference launched a doctors from poorer consultation on how to countries that need them, reduce net migration from whilst we turn away bright outside the EU. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 13 BRITAIN Southern rail commuters to launch legal action

Guardian News and Media disruption on the service, set up National Union of Rail, Maritime forward … it’s quite clear we “hell-bent on confrontation”. £2,000 payment to staff whose A spokesman for GTR said London a website to crowdfund a chal- and Transport Workers (RMT) have to work together to get out GTR wants trains to be driver- roles were to change. yesterday: “As we spelled out in lenge of the government’s han- for the ongoing disruption. The of this situation. There is such a operated only, which would leave However, Mick Cash, the un- our letter to the RMT, we are al- dling of the crisis. widely ridiculed publicity drive sense of goodwill – (it) is prob- some services without a second ion’s general secretary, rejected ready implementing our propos- group of commuters who The campaign set an initial was the latest episode in a long- ably the only positive thing to staff member. The RMT says this the off er, and accused the com- als and any discussions can now have faced strikes, can- target of £10,000 to scope out running row between Govia come out of the whole thing.” would put passenger safety at pany of refusing to participate in only relate to the detail of our Acellations and delays on legal action. It cleared this target Thameslink Railway (GTR) and The crowdfunding drive risk. talks with the mediation serv- off er. The timescales that we are Southern Rail have raised more within days and is set to reach its the RMT over the role of con- comes to an end as passen- The service has also been hit ice Acas ahead of a new wave of working to and subsequent con- than £24,000 to launch legal ac- “stretch” target of £25,000 be- ductors. gers prepare for a new wave of by staff shortages and disruption strikes. sequences have been clearly laid tion against the department for fore a deadline of 5am today. Emily Yates, the group’s co- strikes planned for next week. caused by the renovation of Lon- Cash told AP: “The rejection out and we therefore hope the transport. Almost 1,200 people have do- founder, said the campaign had The industrial action looks set don Bridge station. of unconditional Acas talks by union will fi nally engage with us The Association of British nated to the campaign, which brought together people from to go ahead after the union re- On Monday, the operator Southern confi rms that they have on this basis to avoid any further Commuters, a pressure group received a “really strong boost” across the political spectrum, jected an ultimatum from GTR gave the RMT until tomorrow no interest in a settlement and are unnecessary disruption and dis- formed in the wake of months of after Southern tried to blame the adding: “We have enough to go and described the company as to accept a deal that included a hell-bent on confrontation.” tress to our customers and staff .” Protesters WellChild Awards get nod to shift rough sleepers’ ‘tent city’

Guardian News and Media end of that period, but main- London tained there was accommoda- tion available for every person sleeping on the streets if they “tent city” of rough wanted it. sleepers set up to pro- The project’s organisers said A test against a perceived gathering rough sleepers to- lack of action by the council to gether in the tent city served to tackle homelessness in Leeds, highlight the size of the home- has been allowed to relocate to lessness problem in Leeds and the site of the city’s former in- provide a safer space for them ternational swimming pool for to sleep in. Continuously staff ed six weeks. by volunteers, who distributed The group appeared in Leeds donated clothing, food and hot county court yesterday to fi ght drinks to homeless people sleep- a bid to disperse them. At the ing in the tents, the project was hearing, the council obtained an fi rst pitched outside the city’s art Prince Harry poses for a photograph with Inspirational Young Person Award Winner Nikita Fairclough (left), and her mother Lara, as he attends the WellChild Awards injunction to stop the organisers gallery before it was ordered to in London. The awards recognise the courage of seriously ill children, their families and carers. setting up the project at other move last week to make way for sites across the city centre, but Yorkshire’s Olympics celebra- agreed to give the group the use tions. of the car park on the outskirts Haydn Jessop from Leeds of the city centre for an interim Voice for the Homeless, who period. was once homeless himself, de- The group had already moved scribed the council’s decision as to a second site in Park Square, a massive victory. “We went to which is home to many of the the council a week ago asking for city’s law fi rms, but the council some land: they refused, but to- Troops to be exempt from issued a claim for possession of day they conceded,” he said. the square which led to yester- Simon Rickles, another vol- day’s hearing. unteer with the group, said: “Fi- “We don’t support the idea nally the council are accepting of a permanent tented city as the amount of people in Leeds is doesn’t resolve the issue or with no option but to sleep on address the challenge of be- the streets and are starting to human rights law: govt ing able to engage with people take positive steps to get them who have a range of compli- into homes. Meanwhile they AFP “Those who serve on the out on “right to life” in respect The ministry of defence erty condemned it as a “perni- cated problems that need vari- now have a safe place to stay. I London frontline will have our support of deaths resulting from lawful (MoD) has spent more than cious and retrograde step” that ous support and health services just hope the council will work when they come home,” Prime acts of war. £100mn since 2004 on investi- could end up harming soldiers, to help them to a better life,” with us to ensure people receive Minister Theresa May said. May had previously called for gations, inquiries and compen- who themselves have used the said Debra Coupar, Leeds city the help they need sooner in the he government yesterday “We will repay them with Britain to pull out of the ECHR sation linked to Britain’s 2003- ECHR to hold the government council’s executive member for future.” announced plans to opt gratitude and put an end to the entirely, but abandoned the 2009 role in the Iraq confl ict. to account for failures in the communities. Coupar said there was accom- Tout of European human industry of vexatious claims plan before becoming Conserv- This includes £20mn paid out fi eld. “If, at the end of the six-week modation and support available rights law during wartime, in a that has pursued those who ative leader, saying it did not after settling 326 cases. Director Martha Spurrier period, everyone’s best endeav- to those who wanted it. “We’d move to end “vexatious” legal served in previous confl icts.” have parliamentary support. The government stressed that said: “The government cannot ours haven’t resulted in the prefer the group to disband vol- claims against its troops but Signatories of the ECHR “Our legal system has been British soldiers would continue be allowed to leave its human group disbanding voluntarily untarily, however, they clearly campaigners denounced it as a are allowed to derogate from abused to level false charges to abide by international law, rights commitments at our bor- from the site, we’ll look at the wish to continue their protest,” retrograde step. some of its provisions in times against our troops on an indus- including the Geneva Conven- ders. Doing so will leave abuse legal options available to us as she said. “Continually going to The government wants to of war or public emergencies trial scale,” said Defence Secre- tions, and any opt-out would be victims unprotected and our we have to balance the needs of court to move people on is costly sidestep some of its obligations threatening life, and France, tary Michael Fallon. subject to an assessment of the troops powerless when the state the vulnerable alongside those of and unproductive as there are under the European Conven- Ukraine and Turkey have used “It has caused signifi cant circumstances at the time. fails to keep them safe from other residents and businesses few, if any, locations in a city as tion on Human Rights (ECHR) the opt-out in the past two distress to people who risked Hilary Meredith, a lawyer harm. For a supposedly civilised in the city.” diverse as Leeds where the camp in future confl icts, after the law years. their lives to protect us, it has who has represented troops nation, this is a pernicious and The council said it would as- wouldn’t cause some level of was used in thousands of cases There is no derogation from cost the taxpayer millions and against prosecution, said it was retrograde step that will em- sess the needs of all those sleep- disruption to residents and busi- against troops relating to the the prohibition of torture or there is a real risk it will stop our “a step in the right direction”. bolden our enemies and alienate ing in the tents on the site by the nesses.” wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. slavery, but there can be an opt- armed forces doing their job.” But human rights group Lib- our allies.” Khan approval for road Back in court Jo Cox alleged killer tunnel angers greens refuses to enter plea Reuters November 14. The case is being London treated as a terrorism matter. Guardian News and Media are incredibly expensive so it’s Labour MP for Greenwich and Bearded and wearing a light London extremely disappointing that the Woolwich, tweeted his disap- grey sweatshirt and brown trou- mayor is pushing ahead with the pointment and said the changes he man accused of kill- sers, Mair spoke only to confi rm damaging Silvertown tunnel.” to plans did not resolve concerns ing lawmaker Jo Cox a his name and that he could hear ondon’s mayor, Sadiq Her concerns were echoed about congestion and pollution. Tweek before the June the court proceedings as he ap- Khan, has angered green by the No to Silvertown Tun- But the Freight Transport referendum on EU member- peared by video-link from Bel- Lcampaigners by approving nel campaign. Its chair, Anne Association said Khan’s deci- ship declined to respond when marsh Prison in London. a controversial four-lane road Robbins, said: “For Sadiq Khan sion was “excellent news for asked if he was guilty at a court He remained silent when tunnel in east London. to call this a ‘greener Silver- east London”. Its head of policy, hearing yesterday and the asked if he was guilty or not Critics of the £1bn Silvertown town tunnel’ hides the fact that Christopher Snelling, said: “The judge recorded pleas of not guilty to the murder, as he did tunnel linking the Greenwich Greenwich and the Royal Docks shortage of road crossings be- guilty to all charges. when the other charges were peninsula and the Royal Dock would be a dumping ground for yond Tower Bridge is already Thomas Mair, 53, is accused read out to him. accused Khan of betrayal when the south of England’s conges- holding back the economy in of shooting and stabbing Cox, “He appears to be mute there- he announced the go-ahead for a tion and pollution. He talks a that part of the city. The conges- a member of parliament for the fore I will enter a plea of not modifi ed version of the plan yes- good game when it comes to tion we currently have at cross- opposition Labour Party, as guilty,” said Judge Alan Wilkie. terday. They suggested he was pollution and congestion in cen- ings like Blackwall causes mas- she arrived for a meeting with The murder of Cox, a 41-year- against the idea during his elec- tral London, but communities sive unnecessary local pollution residents in the northern Eng- old mother of two young chil- tion campaign. in east and south-east London and disruption for residents – lish town of Birstall, part of her dren and former aid worker, Khan said the latest plans for clearly don’t seem to matter as we would all be better off with electoral district. brought weeks of passionate the tunnel had a “greener focus”, much. They will be living with smoother fl owing traffi c. This The murder shocked the na- and divisive campaigning on the including a proposal for ferrying even worse traffi c and poorer air. new crossing will not be enough tion and led to the suspension EU issue to a sudden halt and cyclists and their bikes through Khan promised a full review of to solve everything, but it will be of referendum campaigning briefl y united politicians from the tunnel by bus. the tunnel but has made no at- a big step forward.” for several days. Cox had been both camps in condemnation. But Caroline Russell, the Green tempt to reach out to those who Khan also announced his campaigning for Britain to Re- At the fi rst court hearing party London assembly mem- will have to live with the conse- commitment to several other main in the EU. A 77-year-old after his arrest, Mair said his ber, said the tunnel would lead to quences (of the scheme).” river crossings in east London, man who tried to help Cox dur- name was “death to traitors, more pollution and congestion. The fi rst stage of a planning including accelerated plans for a ing the attack was also stabbed. freedom for Britain”. She also dismissed attempts to inquiry into the project is due to new pedestrian and cycle bridge Mair is charged with mur- His lawyer told the court at improve environmental creden- begin next week. If it is approved, linking Rotherhithe and Canary der, causing grievous bodily another hearing in September tials of the project as tokenistic. the tunnel – to be paid for by a Wharf and a new Docklands Undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood arrives at the Old harm, and possession of a fi re- that Mair would not present a She said: “New roads attract toll – would open in 2023. Light Railway crossing at Gal- Bailey courthouse in London yesterday. arm and a dagger. defence case based on medical new traffi c, pollute the air and Matthew Pennycook, the lions Reach. His trial is due to begin on evidence. Gulf Times 14 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 EUROPE

Prosecutors drop investigation of German comedian German prosecutors said yesterday that they had dropped an investigation into a German Turkey suspends 12,800 comedian who was accused of off ending a foreign leader after reciting an obscene poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on national television. Comedian Jan Boehmermann read out the poem on a satirical show in March, prompting the police, shuts TV channel Turkish leader to file a complaint with prosecutors that he had AFP 270,000 police offi cers. magnates to journalists, the in- The government’s crackdown been insulted. Ankara A Turkish offi cial, who did not vestigation into the failed putsch has also alarmed Turkey’s West- That further strained ties wish to be named, confi rmed the has touched almost all aspects of ern allies, including the Euro- between Ankara and Berlin suspensions, adding that the in- Turkish life. pean Union, which have warned after Turkey was outraged by a urkey has suspended dividuals would continue to be Also under the state of emer- Ankara that it must act within resolution passed by Germany’s 12,800 police offi cers over paid two-thirds of their salary gency, Turkish police raided the the rule of law. parliament that declared the Talleged links to an Islamic “pending further investigation”. Istanbul headquarters of promi- Prime Minister Binali Yildirim 1915 massacre of Armenians by preacher accused of master- The action was taken over nent pro-Kurdish television said those found guilty would Ottoman forces to be genocide. minding the failed July coup, and suspected links to the move- channel IMC TV, cutting trans- face punishment “no matter Tensions have risen at a time cut broadcasts of a pro-Kurdish ment of the US-based preacher missions while it was live on air. who they were” during a speech when Germany is relying on television channel. Fethullah Gulen which Turkey Before it was cut, staff mem- to parliament in Ankara. “(But) Turkey’s help to stem the flow of Tens of thousands have al- blames for the failed putsch in bers in the news studio chanted we will never allow those who illegal migrants to Europe. ready been arrested or lost their July which sought to oust Presi- “free media will not be silenced” are innocent to face any griev- The German government had jobs under the three-month dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan from while applauding their manage- ances.” given prosecutors the green state of emergency which was power. ment. The decision to extend the light to pursue the case against declared days after the July 15 Gulen, an ally-turned-foe of The channel is not accused state of emergency by three Boehmermann – a move for coup and was extended on Mon- Erdogan who has lived in self- of supporting the coup but of months was announced on which Chancellor Angela Merkel day a further 90 days to last well imposed exile in the United broadcasting “terror propagan- Monday after a cabinet meeting. was strongly criticised. into 2017. States since 1999, strongly de- da” for the outlawed Kurdistan Erdogan previously suggested But prosecutors in the western Offi cers entered IMC TV nies Ankara’s accusations. Workers’ Party (PKK). that it might be necessary for the city of Mainz said yesterday that headquarters and cut broadcasts Supporters of the Gulen IMC TV employees comfort each other after the broadcaster’s It has ridiculed the charges. state of emergency to be kept in they had not found suff icient after it was ordered, along with movement, also known as Hiz- transmission was cut by the authorities. Activists accuse the govern- place for at least 12 months. evidence to suggest that any several other outlets, to be closed met (service), insist that it is a ment of exploiting the emergen- Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim criminal off ences had been last week under the emergency loose grouping of individuals Among those dismissed, a suspects have been placed under cy laws to launch a crackdown Kalin strongly denied the gov- committed by Boehmermann or laws over accusations of sup- committed to peace and helping 26-year-old police offi cer shot arrest on charges of links to the beyond those accused of being ernment was acting arbitrarily anyone else involved in making porting Kurdish militants. people through education and himself dead yesterday in Mers- movement. coup-plotters or connected to under the emergency. or broadcasting the piece. A total of 12,801 police were charities. in, a southern city on the Medi- A total of 70,000 people the movement. “The president previously They said the recital was part suspended from duty as part of According to Anadolu, 1,350 terranean coast, Dogan news had been investigated, Justice More than 100 media outlets said something important when of a programme that is widely the investigation into the coup of the police offi cers suspended agency reported. Minister Bekir Bozdag said last have been closed down since the fi rst emergency was intro- known for being satirical and the attempt, including 2,523 police were working at the Ankara po- Tens of thousands of people in month, adding that the “proc- July while dozens of journalists duced, this is introduced for the well-informed audience would chiefs, the police headquarters lice headquarters, which came the judiciary, civil service, mili- ess” continued. have been detained or arrested, state and not against the peo- have understood that what said in a statement. under attack from the air on the tary and education sector have From teachers to former gen- including prominent journalist ple,” he said in an interview with was expressed in it was often In total, Turkey has around night of the coup. been suspended while 32,000 erals and admirals, from bakery and writer Ahmet Altan. Haber-Turk television. exaggerated and not serious. Pope visits quake survivors

AFP briefl y in silent prayer in the still struggling to come to terms as a priest, a bishop, a pope”. Accumoli, Italy closed-off “red zone” of Amatri- with the scale of Italy’s deadli- The government has estimated ce, his stooped silhouette framed est quake since the 2009 L’Aquila the cost of the damage done to by the shells of condemned disaster. the area hit by the quake at €4bn ope Francis paid a surprise buildings and piles of rubble. “We go forward, there is al- ($4.5bn) and has vowed to rebuild visit yesterday to the Ital- He later repeated the gesture ways a future,” he said on what the worst-aff ected communities Pian mountain communi- outside the ruins of the St Franc- was the feast day of St Francis where they were, having ruled ties devastated by an August esco church in Accumoli, hav- of Assisi, the venerated Catholic out any relocations. earthquake, mixing poignant si- ing spent two hours over lunch fi gure in whose honour Francis Just under 1,400 people remain lent prayers amid the ruins with chatting with 60 pensioners in a selected his papal name. “There housed in temporary accommo- grinning selfi es alongside survi- retirement home where some of are many dear ones who have left dation – either tented villages or vors he implored to believe in a the elderly victims of the quake us, who fell here under the ma- hotels in the surrounding area, brighter future. are now housed. sonry. We pray to the Madonna according to an offi cial update is- In keeping with his desire to But there were also many for them, we all do together.” sued yesterday. make a relatively low-key visit lighter moments as he smiled “Always look forward. Go for- The 6.0-6.2-magnitude to an area where nearly 300 peo- broadly for selfi es with local ward, have courage and help each earthquake, which was felt in ple died barely six weeks ago, the youngsters and group photos other. We walk better together, Rome, 150km (93 miles) from the 79-year-old Pontiff ’s trip to the with fi refi ghters. on our own, we cannot get there.” epicentre near Amatrice, killed shattered town of Amatrice and “I did not come earlier so The Pope’s fi rst point of call 297 people and injured hundreds the devastated nearby hamlets of as not to create any problems, had been the prefabricated huts more. Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto knowing the state you were in,” brought in to replace Amatrice’s Around two-thirds of the was only announced to the media he told survivors. “I did not want combined elementary and mid- deaths occurred in Amatrice, a after he had arrived. to cause any bother.” dle school, which was destroyed beauty spot and popular tourist He had said he wanted to come “But from the outset I felt I had in the quake despite having been destination packed with holiday- like a parish priest carrying out to come to you, simply to tell you expensively renovated to make it makers when the quake struck at his pastoral duty. that I am with you, nothing more, quake resistant a few years ago. the height of the summer season. But there was no escaping the and that I am praying for you.” Francis had confi rmed his in- The devastated area was only crowds as news of his visit spread After blessing the crowd in tention to visit the quake-hit area 50km from the city of L’Aquila, quickly. Amatrice and saying a brief Ave on his fl ight home from Azerbai- which was hit by a 2009 earth- This handout picture released by the Vatican press off ice yesterday shows Pope Francis during his visit in In one of the most poignant Maria prayer, Francis issued jan on Sunday, saying that he quake in which more than 300 Amatrice. images of the day, Francis stood a message of hope for an area wanted to visit “privately, alone, people perished.

‘Spoil-your-vote’ success boosts spoof party Hungary seeks to ban ‘group resettlement’ of migrants A Hungarian spoof party said yesterday that it plans to run AFP amendment will state that majority as it has the support quotas without the consent of “The already approved mi- pean countries vehemently op- for parliament after its satirical Budapest “group resettlement is forbid- of the radical right-wing Jobbik national parliaments. grant quota cannot be overwrit- posed. “Spoil-your-vote” campaign den”. party. The vote was declared invalid ten, no type of legal amendment Hungary has not accepted a against Hungary’s anti-migrant “As 98% voted ‘No’ to the However, the opposition So- because of low turnout, but Or- is retrospective,” Orban said. single one of the 2,300 refugees referendum on Sunday ungarian Prime Minister mandatory resettlement of mi- cialist party slammed Orban for ban nonetheless hailed the out- Last year, most EU states ap- allocated to the country under contributed to a record number Viktor Orban has pro- grants, the referendum result “setting out on the path of dicta- come as “a sweeping victory” in proved the redistribution of the scheme and instead joined of invalid ballots. Hposed changing the con- must be enforced in law,” he told tors” by changing the constitu- his revolt against Brussels and 160,000 migrants, many fl eeing Slovakia in fi ling a legal challenge Some 223,000 people, or 6.3% stitution to ban the large-scale journalists in Budapest. tion after an “invalid” referen- vowed to change the constitution war in Syria, among the member against it. of those voting, had cast invalid resettlement of migrants, after Orban’s ruling Fidesz party dum result. to “refl ect the will of the people”. states. The European Commission, ballots, a record high for a voters overwhelmingly backed will submit the proposal to par- Some 3.3mn Hungarians had The populist strongman said The deal is aimed at easing the EU’s executive body, said on Hungarian vote, according to his rejection of a European Union liament by October 10, followed voted on Sunday against a Eu- yesterday that the ban would ap- pressure on the bloc’s worst mi- Monday that there was “no silver local media. refugee quota plan in a referen- by a vote on November 8. ropean Union scheme seeking ply to all future plans for relocat- gration crisis since 1945. bullet” to solving the migration “Many people took our advice, dum. The amendment should pass to share migrants around the ing migrants and not aff ect those But progress has been slow, crisis, but that “a holistic ap- so we have decided to stand for Orban said the text of the with the required two-thirds 28-member bloc via mandatory already in place. with eastern and central Euro- proach” was required. election” in 2018, the leader of the Two-Tailed-Dog Party (MKKP), Gergo Kovacs, told AFP. The poll, which sought to reject the EU’s disputed refugee quota Migrants march from Belgrade plan, was declared void because of low voter turnout, dealing a blow to populist Prime Minister AFP ners carried by the protesters. Serbian President Tomislav Viktor Orban. Belgrade Several protesters contacted Nikolic on Monday voiced con- His right-wing government had by an AFP photographer said cerns over the situation and said spent millions of euros on a that they were from Afghani- it might have to “close the bor- costly media off ensive, which ome 300 migrants began stan. der to migrants” if they contin- saw lampposts and billboards to march yesterday from A similar attempt to break ued to enter the country without nationwide plastered with SBelgrade towards Hungary through the border in July ended being able to continue their on- posters linking immigration with in a bid to enter the European in failure. ward journey to western Europe. terrorism and crime. Union, two days after a void ref- Low voter turnout voided Serbia lies on the so-called “Did You Know? Brussels wants erendum in Serbia’s northern a referendum on Sunday that Balkan route taken by hundreds to settle a city-sized number of neighbour. President Viktor Orban hoped of thousands of migrants from illegal migrants in Hungary,” read Escorted by police from Bel- would enable Hungary to reject the Middle East, Asia and Africa one. grade to Zemun, a northwest- a EU migrant quota plan. since mid-2015 on their way to Opposition parties and rights ern suburb of the capital, they The number of migrants western Europe. groups slammed the campaign began their 200km trek towards blocked inside Serbia has grown Although the route was eff ec- for stirring up xenophobia and the Balkan nation’s northern signifi cantly since Hungary in- tively shut down in March, mi- called on Hungarians to boycott border. troduced tough new measures grants have continued to cross the vote or spoil their ballot. They earlier held a brief pro- in July aimed at stopping them the region in smaller numbers – The MKKP, which has run spoof test in downtown Belgrade crossing the border. a few hundred a day – often with election campaigns before, said against EU member Hungary’s According to the UN refu- the help of traffi ckers. it was confident it could collect bid to keep all migrants and ref- gee agency, more than 5,500 According to Serbian au- the necessary signatures to get ugees out. migrants are currently stuck in thorities, more than 102,000 on the ballot paper in 2018, but “We don’t need water and Serbia, which estimates it can migrants have been registered in added that it would “probably not food, we urge you to open the accommodate 6,000 to 7,000 the country since the beginning have a serious manifesto”. borders,” read one of the ban- people. of the year. The migrants marching from Belgrade towards Hungary. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 15 EUROPE Paris climate accord clears the fi nal hurdle Reuters lift the deal over the required lev- us show we are united.” national climate negotiations Strasbourg el of nations representing at least European Climate Commis- taking place in Marrakesh next 55% of global emissions to enter sioner Miguel Arias Canete said month. Ensuring that the meas- into force. that the milestone heralded a ures for the ambitious imple- he European Parlia- “With the action taken by the harder phase of turning promises mentation of the Paris Climate European Parliament President Martin Schulz signs the Paris UN COP 21 Climate Change agreement in the ment has approved the EU parliament, I am confi dent into cuts in greenhouse gas emis- Agreement are in place is key.” presence of (from left) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French Minister for TParis accord to fi ght cli- that we will be able to cross the 55 sions. Ratifi cation by the EU, which Environment and President of the COP 21 Segolene Royal, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and mate change, tipping it over the percent threshold very soon, in “Our collective task is to turn accounts for about 12% of global Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign and European Aff airs Ivan Korcok. threshold needed for the global just a matter of a few days,” Ban our commitments into action on emissions, is expected to be de- deal to enter into force, in what said after EU lawmakers voted the ground,” he said in a state- posited with the United Nations behind other nations in backing 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) com- make it harder to challenge if Re- UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed as overwhelmingly to accept the ac- ment. by Friday. the global pact it championed. pared to pre-industrial times. publican Donald Trump, who has a historic vote. cord. The WWF (World Wildlife China and the United States, European Commission Presi- Once ratifi cation is deposited opposed it, beats Democrat Hil- The agreement reached by “I am extremely honoured to Fund) said it was important that the top emitters, ratifi ed the pact dent Jean-Claude Juncker said: with the United Nations, the ac- lary Clinton, a strong supporter. nearly 200 nations last year will be able to witness this historic the EU continues to advance the this month. “Today we continued to show cord takes eff ect 30 days later, So far, 62 nations accounting guide a shift of the world econ- moment. We have seen extraor- climate agenda. It was a rare show of unity by a leadership and prove that to- early enough for it to be locked for almost 52% of global emis- omy away from fossil fuels in dinary action from all corners of “At the international level, the bloc divided over Britain’s vote to gether the European Union can into place ahead of the next sions have ratifi ed. order to limit heat waves, fl oods, the globe to bring this agreement EU must not rest on its laurels,” leave the EU, migration and eco- deliver.” round of climate talks in Novem- Within the EU, Germany, droughts and rising sea levels. to life this year. WWF European Policy Offi ce di- nomic policy. The accord aims to curb green- ber in Morocco. Hungary, France, Austria, Slova- European Union approval, ex- “You now have an opportunity rector Genevieve Pons said. “In- EU leaders agreed a legislative house gas emissions by shifting Cementing the Paris accord kia and Malta – collectively rep- pected to be signed off on by the to make history by helping lead stead, it must roll up its sleeves shortcut to fast-track approval of away from fossil fuels to limit before the US presidential elec- resenting 4.39% of global emis- bloc’s 28 nations this week, will the world to a better future ... let and play a key role in the inter- the Paris accord to avoid lagging global warming to “well below” tion on November 8 would also sions – have ratifi ed individually. Germany, ‘Strange states’ of matter Poll fi nds vast gaps France in US climate views

AFP Among liberal Democrats, to share earns trio the Nobel Prize Washington just 16% believed in such in- fl uences. Views on solutions were also military AFP he American public is quite diff erent among political Stockholm sharply divided on the groups. Tissue of climate change, More than three-quarters facilities with liberals far more likely of liberal Democrats said re- he study of “strange than conservatives to trust sci- stricting emissions from power states” of matter, which entists on the science of global plants could make a big diff er- AFP Tmay one day yield super- warming, a poll said yesterday. ence, compared to 29% of con- Paris fast computers, earned British The survey by the Pew Re- servative Republicans. scientists David Thouless, Dun- search Centre, based on a na- A similar divide was seen on can Haldane and Michael Ko- tionwide sample of more than the question of the usefulness ermany and France have sterlitz the Nobel Physics Prize 1,500 adults, also found a vast of an international agreement announced plans to share yesterday. divide on acceptable solutions to limit carbon emissions – Gan air base and trans- The trio, all based in the US for climate change. with 71% of liberal Democrats port planes as part of a military working in the highly-special- Only 36% of Americans said in favour compared to 27% of shake-up in the wake of Britain’s ised mathematics fi eld of topol- they are “deeply concerned conservative Republicans. vote to quit the European Union. ogy, studied unusual phases or about climate issues”, said the Two-thirds of liberal Demo- The two countries signed an states of matter. survey, which was taken from crats back tougher fuel effi - agreement with a view to shar- “This year’s laureates opened Haldane, Kosterliz (left) and May to June, some fi ve months ciency standards for cars and ing C-130J Super Hercules mili- the door on an unknown world Thouless (right) before the US presidential trucks and corporate tax in- tary transport planes, French where matter can assume election. centives to encourage greener Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le strange states,” the Nobel jury not piercing, tearing or gluing. For his part, Haldane discov- “Liberal Democrats are es- business practices, compared Drian said in Paris. said. “Thanks to their pioneer- An often-used example is a ered how topological concepts pecially likely to see scientists to just about one-quarter of His German counterpart Ur- ing work, the hunt is now on for rubber coff ee cup being bent, applied to chains of small mag- and their research in a posi- conservative Republicans. sula von der Leyen, in Paris to new and exotic phases of mat- twisted and reshaped into a nets in certain materials. tive light, while conservative Having a base of science sign the deal, told reporters that ter.” donut – for topologists the two Haldane said his prizewin- Republicans are considerably knowledge did not make a both countries wanted to have The jury said there were shapes are indistinguishable, ning discovery had been seren- more sceptical of climate sci- sweeping diff erence in people’s the new arrangement in place by hopes that their discoveries though to the rest of us they are dipitous. entists’ information, under- beliefs. 2021. would have future uses in the completely diff erent. “Most of the big discoveries standing and research fi ndings “To the extent that science France ordered four C-130Js fi elds of materials science and In practical terms, these are done that way: you stumble on climate issues,” said the knowledge infl uences people’s from US company Lockheed in electronics, especially at the properties of matter may one on it and you have the luck to fi ndings. judgements related to climate January. super-small quantum scale. day lead to the reshaping of recognise you have something For instance, 70% of lib- change and trust in climate Germany was looking to ac- For now, however, the scien- common materials into “topo- very interesting,” he told re- eral Democrats said they “trust scientists, it does so among quire between four and six of the tists’ discoveries remain in the logical states” that can trans- porters at the Nobel press con- climate scientists a lot to give Democrats, but not Repub- same aircraft and to base them in realm of research. port energy and information in ference via videolink. “It’s so Last year, the physics prize full and accurate information licans,” said Cary Funk, lead France, said Von der Leyen. Kosterlitz, speaking to re- very small spaces without over- surprising that it takes a while went to Japan’s Takaaki Kajita about the causes of climate author and associate director The two countries were look- porters in Helsinki where he heating. to grip, but when you see it you and Canada’s Arthur McDon- change”, compared to just 15% of research at the Pew Research ing at using an air base in Orle- was working, joked: “I’ve been The trio’s pioneering work realise why no one had seen it ald for determining that neu- of conservative Republicans. Centre. ans, central France, the minister waiting for my desk-top quan- “boosted frontline research in before.” trinos have mass, a key piece of More than half of liberal “For example, Democrats added. tum computer for years and it’s condensed matter physics, not Thouless, 82, is professor the puzzle in understanding the Democrats (54%) said climate with high science knowledge A member of Le Drian’s team showing no signs of appearing. least because of the hope that emeritus at the University of cosmos. scientists understand the are especially likely to believe said that the idea was to make “At the risk of making a bad topological materials could be Washington in Seattle. The physics prize is the sec- causes of climate change very the Earth is warming due to the planes operational for both mistake, I would say that this used in new generations of elec- Haldane, 65, is a professor at ond of the Nobels for 2016 to well, and 55% believe there is human activity, to see scien- French and German crew in a quantum computation stuff is a tronics and superconductors, or Princeton University, and Ko- be awarded, after the medicine “widespread consensus among tists as having a fi rm under- fi rst for the two air forces. long way from being practical.” in future quantum computers”, sterlitz, born in 1942, teaches at prize on Monday went to Yoshi- climate scientists” about the standing of climate change, In July, just weeks after Brit- Thouless won half of the said the Nobel jury. Brown University in Providence, nori Ohsumi of Japan. causes of global warming. and to trust climate scientists’ ain’s referendum vote to quit the 8mn Swedish kronor (around In the early 1970s, Kosterlitz Rhode Island. He was honoured for his pio- Among conservative Repub- information about the causes European Union, Von der Leyen $931,000 or €834,000) prize, and Thouless overturned the For Laurent Levy, physics neering work on autophagy licans, just 11% and 16% re- of climate change,” said Funk. said London had “paralysed” while Haldane and Kosterlitz theory that superconductivity professor at France’s University – a process whereby cells “eat spectively said the same. “But Republicans with higher European eff orts for a more share the other half. or suprafl uidity could not occur of Grenoble, the trio’s work had themselves”, which can result in Meanwhile, conservative science knowledge are no more closely integrated policy. Topology is a branch of math- in very thin layers of material. yielded “a conceptual revolu- Parkinson’s and diabetes when Republicans were far more or less likely to hold these be- The EU should seize the op- ematics that investigates the Superconductivity is when tion”. disrupted. likely to say that “climate re- liefs.” portunity to change that, she physical properties of matter electricity fl ows through a ma- “They introduced new ideas Today the chemistry prize search fi ndings are infl uenced The poll did fi nd “strong bi- argued. and space – shape in essence – terial without experiencing and physics which have, later, will be announced, to be fol- by scientists’ desire to advance partisan support for expanding French offi cials told AFP last that remain unchanged under any resistance or losing energy resulted in heaps of new discov- lowed by the peace prize on Fri- their careers (57%) or their solar and wind energy produc- month that Paris and Berlin were certain deforming forces. as heat, while suprafl uidity is eries,” he told AFP. “Above all, it day, the economics prize on Oc- own political leanings (54%) tion”, with 89% of Americans drawing up plans for a more “ac- These include stretching, when a fl uid fl ows without any advanced our understanding of tober 10 and the literature prize most of the time”, said the Pew favouring more solar farms and tive and useful” defence policy. compressing and bending, but friction. the properties of matter.” on October 13. report. 83% more wind turbine farms. Conservatives in dock in Spain’s ‘trial of the year’

By Laurence Boutreux, AFP Spanish media have billed it as But unlike the defendants, the In exchange, his companies or es published a confession from fi le victim early on, forcing the The trial at Spain’s National Madrid the “trial of the year”, with 37 de- party as a whole faces no criminal those of his friends were alleg- Correa, who for more than three resignation of then-health min- Court just outside Madrid is due fendants facing justice, including charges and may merely be asked edly given contracts for public years swapped his fl ashy lifestyle ister Ana Mato in 2014. to last several months. two former party treasurers, no- to repay the money. works or for organising events, for prison where he was remand- Her ex-husband Jesus Coincidentally, former Inter- pain’s “trial of the year” tably Luis Barcenas, accused of The case has been called such as the 2006 visit of pope ed in custody from 2009 to 2012. Sepulveda is on the stand for em- national Monetary Fund (IMF) kicked off yesterday with stashing tens of millions away in the “Gurtel” trial, the German Benedict XVI in the eastern city He said that companies would bezzlement of public funds and chief Rodrigo Rato also testifi ed Sformer lawmakers of the Switzerland. translation of “belt”, or “cor- of Valencia. give him “a commission of two infl uence-peddling as former yesterday in a separate trial in the ruling Popular Party (PP) in the Another former treasurer had rea” in Spanish – the surname One of the defendants arriving to three per cent” on the value of mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcon, a same building. dock over one of the country’s also been due to stand trial, but of the man who allegedly led the in court yesterday, Jose Luis Pe- public works contracts awarded town near Madrid, from 2003 to Rato, a former economy min- biggest corruption scandals. he fell seriously ill and will not sprawling corruption network. nas, a former PP councillor, se- to them, which he would then 2009. ister and fallen star of the PP, is Kickbacks, fake invoices and appear. Francisco Correa, a business- cretly taped conversations with give to Barcenas “in cash” after His family is alleged to have on the stand for allegedly over- Swiss bank accounts: the juicy As the defendants arrived at man who liked to be called “Don Correa and other defendants over taking his share. profi ted with various gifts, holi- seeing a “corrupt system” that details of the so-called Gurtel the court building, protesters Vito” in reference to the mob two years. Correa, who was close to days or birthday parties complete helped him and other executives aff air – which allegedly saw PP shouted “Thieves! Crooks!” boss played by Marlon Brando in His evidence is a major part of former conservative prime with clowns. use millions in funds of banks he politicians across the country re- The conservative PP itself has The Godfather, is accused of hav- the prosecution case and will be minister Jose Maria Aznar, has Mato herself is accused of ben- headed up for personal use. ceive bribes – are well-known to been called to the stand for al- ing showered PP lawmakers and seen as a mitigating factor should threatened to spill the beans on efi ting from her ex-husband’s He has maintained that the Spaniards who have become all legedly benefi ting from funds councillors with bribes between he himself be found guilty. “everything he knew”. off ences, though like the PP she whole system was “completely too used to corruption in politics. obtained illegally by lawmakers. 1999 and 2005. Last year, online daily eldiario. The case claimed a high-pro- does not face criminal charges. legal”. Gulf Times 16 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 INDIA

POLITICS CONTROVERSY LAW AND ORDER HONOURED DECISION Congress takes to dinner Kerala rapped for public American Centre attack Scientist Rao inducted Jharkhand leaders stopped diplomacy to resolve spats display of dead stray dogs accused sent to custody into IAF Hall of Fame from visiting firing site

Congress leaders in Rajasthan are now indulging The Supreme Court yesterday took exception to Hasan Imam, a prime accused in the terrorist The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Jharkhand opposition leaders were yesterday in dinner diplomacy every month to thrash out the public display and ill-treatment of bodies of attack on the American Center in Kolkata 14 years yesterday said renowned space scientist U R prevented by the administration from visiting diff erences among party leaders and ensure unity killed stray dogs in Kerala on September 26 as it ago, was remanded to police custody till October Rao had been inducted into its Hall of Fame for the site of the October 1 police firing on villagers, ahead of the 2018 assembly polls. On Monday, sought response from the state government on 15 by a local court yesterday. Imam was arrested by his contribution to development of India’s space who were protesting against acquisition of land former chief minister Ashok Gehlot organised the issue. Giving three weeks to the state to file the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Bihar’s technology. “Rao has been inducted into the 2016 for a power project. Four villagers died in the a dinner which was attended, among others, by its response, the court said: “Needless to say, it Aurangabad district on Saturday and was flown to IAF Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions incident. Two former chief ministers Hemant state Congress president Sachin Pilot, state aff airs will be an obligation of the state of Kerala to see the city with personnel of the Special Task Force of to the development of space technology in India Soren and Babulal Marandi, accompanied by incharge Gurdas Kamat, leader of opposition that the orders passed by this court are followed Kolkata Police yesterday. Imam is alleged to be a and for his eff orts towards sharing the greater state Rashtriya Janata Dal president Gautam Rameshwar Dudi, former chief minister scrupulously and there is no public demonstration member of the “Asif Raza Commando Force” that benefits of space technology with developing Sagar Rana and others, were stopped by police Jagannath Pahadia and former Union ministers in the manner in which the photographs depict.” carried out the attack on the American Center on countries and the world at large,” the citation when they tried to reach the firing site in Jitendra Singh and Girija Vyas. The event that “We do not intend to comment on the same at January 22, 2002. Two motor-cycle borne terrorists read. The global recognition for the Padma Hazaribagh district. On being stopped by police, lasted over three hours was used by Congress present.” The court said Kerala government’s sprayed bullets randomly on security personnel Bhushan awardee came at the International they staged protest and then returned. They said leaders to put up a show of unity. Sachin Pilot will response would be supported by an aff idavit by posted at the gate of the American Center. At least Astronautical Congress of the federation held at that they were going to meet the people facing host a dinner for party leaders on November 8. the state chief secretary. six policemen were killed in the attack. Guadlajara in Mexico on September 30. displacement due to land acquisition.

Actor in trouble for Govt hits out comment on Indian soldiers as calls grow

IANS Mumbai for proof of police complaint has been fi led against veteran ac- Ator Om Puri for his com- ments that were found to be insulting to Indian soldiers by a section of the fi lm industry. Complainant Prithvi Maske army ‘strike’ mentioned in the complaint – “Referring to the Indian army IANS it was up to the government to the government should strongly and soldiers, he (Om Puri) said New Delhi give proof of the ‘surgical strikes’ rebut Pakistan’s denial of the In- that we had not given the invita- conducted on September 28 night dian army action. tion to the soldiers of the Indian in which the army destroyed “We have no doubt about the army. They joined the army on he ruling BJP yesterday at- seven terror launch pads in Paki- surgical strikes, as claimed by their own free will.” tacked Delhi Chief Minister stan-administered Kashmir. the director general of military During a debate on a TV chan- TArvind Kejriwal and senior “We would like to ask So- operations (DGMO) and the gov- nel, Om Puri said: “Did we force Congress leader P Chidambaram nia Gandhi if that is the offi cial ernment of India. The Congress them to join the army? My father for seeking proof of the ‘surgical position of the Congress party party from day one has fully was also in the army... We are strikes’ by the Indian army across on this issue. If that is the case, supported the operation. And, proud of them (soldiers)... I am the Indo-Pak border. then we would examine it and we are proud of the fact that the asking you: Do you want India Addressing the media here, have some questions to ask from Indian army has done an excel- and Pakistan to become Israel Union Law Minister Ravi them,” Prasad said. lent job,” Singh told India Today and Palestine? Shankar Prasad said that in such “If it is not the offi cial line, news channel. “I don’t give a damn about matters, the entire country and then our request to Sonia Gan- “The only problem is that a Salman Khan or some other leaders across party lines are ex- dhi is to rein in the leaders of her doubt is being created – and for- Khan... Go to Modi (Prime Min- pected to speak in one voice, but party who always want to remain get about the Pakistani media, ister Narendra Modi) and cancel Kejriwal’s comments were “un- in the limelight,” he added. whom we don’t give any cre- their (Pakistani actors’) visas.” fortunate and painful”. Prasad said that India has suc- dence – since even the United Celebrities including fi lm- “Kejriwal has demanded that cessfully isolated Pakistan “dip- Nations offi cial spokesperson maker Ashoke Pandit and veter- to negate the propaganda by the lomatically, strategically and in- is quoting UN observers in the an actor Anupam Kher came out Pakistani media that no ‘surgical ternationally”. Kashmir Valley saying they did against Om Puri after his com- strike’ took place, the govern- “Today Pakistan stands com- not directly witness any surgical ments on the channel. ment of India should give proof pletely isolated... This is a vic- strikes,” he said. Reacting to Om Puri’s com- of it. I want to ask him whether tory of our diplomacy. However, “Now this has put us in a dif- ment, Pandit tweeted: “Om Puri, he believes in the capabilities Kejriwal does not see all this and fi cult situation. If an independ- Pak artistes banned isn’t a solu- of the Indian army or not,” the raises questions,” Prasad said. ent, autonomous body like the tion, but show of solidarity to minister said. He added that leaders should United Nations is making an of- our martyrs. We can’t be lighting “If he believes in the army’s refrain from making comments fi cial statement, then it becomes pyres while continuing to per- capability, then how could he be which could “demoralise” the necessary for the government to form with them.” aff ected by the false propaganda Indian armed forces. Earlier counter it.” Anupam Kher also wrote that of Pakistani media and ask for Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam The Congress leader said that he respects Om a lot, but said the proof,” Prasad asked. termed the ‘surgical strikes’ as it is for the government to de- watching him on the TV show Prasad also urged the Aam “fake” and accused the BJP of cide how they would do it, but and hearing his views related to Aadmi Party leader to “keep making political capital out of it. the government has to “strongly Indian soldiers was “very sad”. politics aside, and don’t do any- “Every Indian wants surgical rebut the claim that no ‘surgical Actress Meerra Chopra wrote: thing by which our armed forces strikes against Pakistan but not strike’ took place”. “All respect lost for Om Puri! could feel ashamed”. a fake one to extract just political Digvijaya also took exception What a shame.” The minister also attacked benefi t by BJP. Politics over na- to Nirupam’s remarks that the Folk singer Malini Awasthi Chidambaram and demanded to tional interest,” Nirupam tweeted. “strikes were fake”. tweeted: “What a shame Om Puri! know if the former fi nance min- Meanwhile, Congress leader “I think he (Sanjay Nirupam) Heard him on TV and I couldn’t ister’s comments were the offi cial Digvijaya Singh said the Con- should not have called it fake. We believe my ears. What a disgrace! Activists and supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (APP) shout anti-Pakistan slogans during a protest as statement of the Congress party. gress fully supports the govern- have no doubts about the verac- Just lost all respect as an actor.” they try to march towards the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi yesterday. Chidambaram on Monday said ment on the ‘surgical strikes’, but ity of the strike,” Singh added. Dialogue only hope for worsening Indo-Pak ties

id it really happen or was hours or more. It is a free press tary terms although the diplo- personalities like Salman Khan, The two-and-a-half years it just bluster? Depend- here and it is a democracy. So matic and political games will Om Puri, Shyam Benegal, Karan of Modi rule till date has been Ding on which side of the jingoist television news anchors continue to be played by both Johar and Mahesh Bhatt opposed marked by a distinct culture of fence you are on, you can decide themselves seemed ready to go Delhi Diary sides. the idea of a ban saying artists economic revival and congen- if India actually crossed the line to war with Pakistan. Media reports here said both should not be clubbed with mili- ial business environment. Any of control (LoC) in Jammu and The social media, too, had By A K B Krishnan Russia and the US had cautioned tants on suicide missions while hint of war – a war that, if it goes Kashmir and into Pakistan or more than its share of sabre-rat- Pakistan and that China, an all- many others like Anupam Kher out of control, could turn out to not. tlers. “Enough is enough,” they Gulf Times Correspondent weather ally of Islamabad and felt the boycott has a symbol- be the most destructive in his- Lt.-Gen Ranbir Singh, direc- said. Prime Minister Narendra a not-so-friendly neighbour of ism of its own that would refl ect tory – would put paid to all such tor-general of military opera- Modi, who had said it won’t be New Delhi, had stayed neutral. positively on the Indian soldier. thoughts and ambitions. tions (DGMO) of Indian Army, “business as usual” in the wake When the Chinese govern- Suffi ce it to say that there has Thankfully there are signs along with foreign ministry of the September 18 attack on street in Pakistan, much like his two of its soldiers were killed. ment spokesman said Beijing been a drifting apart of peoples that both sides are looking at spokesperson Vikas Swarup, the Uri military base in which Indian counterpart, would also Pakistan also said it had cap- wished to see “all outstanding of the two nations in the after- dialogue as a means of fi nding called a press conference last 19 Indian soldiers were killed, believe what his government tured an Indian soldier who had problems between Indian and math of the Uri attacks and the an end to the current impasse. week and informed the nation suddenly became the toast of tells him. It is, therefore, only strayed into its territory at a dif- Pakistan to be settled amicably Indian Army action across the Apart from further contacts be- of the “surgical operation” to the entire nation. Even the usual natural if there is corresponding ferent sector. through dialogue”, the media border. tween the DGMOs, Pakistan’s neutralise “launch pads along suspects like Rahul Gandhi and sabre-rattling there too. According to long-time Paki- here saw it as a victory for India From ‘strategic restraint’ that top diplomat Sartaj Aziz has re- the Line of Control”. The army Arvind Kejriwal had to grudg- The Pakistani warning of even stan watchers here, cross-bor- because China did not condemn was the hallmark of the Manmo- vealed that the National Secu- had been able to infl ict “signifi - ingly admit that Modi had stood a nuclear escalation of the situa- der fi ring and even forays across India’s military action across the han Singh government to ‘sur- rity Advisors (NSAs) of the two cant casualties” on the militants, up to be counted. tion came in the wake of Indian the LoC are nothing new in the border. This latter claim, how- gical strike’ is a quantum jump countries have talked on phone Gen. Singh said. The army maintains it has diplomatic eff orts to isolate Pa- Kashmir sector. In 2015 alone ever, seemed unsubstantiated or that Narendra Modi has taken. on ways to reduce tension. (Pa- Note that the general said recorded proof of its action kistan at various international there had been as many as 405 even premature as Beijing con- Till now India’s “soft power” kistan’s high commissioner to “along the Line of Control” and taken but will take time decid- forums, including the South such instances with casualties tinued to block India’s eff orts to had helped it gain the diplomatic India Abdul Basit told the In- not across. However, subse- ing whether to release it or not. Asian Association for Regional on both sides. get the United Nations declare high table in matters concern- dian Express newspaper that he quently it was revealed that the So, all we now have is the Indian Co-operation (Saarc). That ef- But the surprise element in Pakistani cleric Masood Azhar ing Indo-Pak relations. This had no knowledge of such talks members of the special forces army DGMO’s word for it and fort led to four Saarc members the whole operation – if there a militant. Social media is now new aggressive face which Modi though.) had gone from “one to three kil- that is more than enough for the – Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bang- was one, that is – was the pub- full of calls to boycott Chinese has proff ered is bound to change It’s amazing how two peoples ometre” across the LoC to carry media, politicians and Indians in ladesh and Bhutan – joining In- lic announcement by the DGMO products during the upcoming the way the world looks at India with more similarities than dif- out their mission. general to believe that the army dia in its decision to boycott the similar in line to last year’s My- festival season. from now on. ferences could end up being ene- Gen Singh, who had also led had crossed the LoC and those upcoming summit to be hosted anmar operation. The public declaration of the The prospects of long-term mies ready to kill each other and the Indian army’s cross-border militants were indeed neutral- Pakistan. There were domestic com- army action has also had a ma- escalation of the situation can- how a simple phone call could raids against militants in My- ised. The result: the summit has pulsions because the death of jor eff ect on the civil societies not be ruled out. Already the open the door for extensive anmar in June 2015 – a fact ac- But what is available to Paki- been postponed indefi nitely and 19 soldiers could not have gone on both sides. There has been a government is calling on citi- dialogue, discussion and even knowledged by Yangon – also re- stanis is something diff erent. Is- that bodes ill for regional co- without a seemingly public re- groundswell of opinion against zens to up their vigil even as disarmament. Sometimes it is vealed that “I had been in touch lamabad has denied any such ac- operation when all across the taliation. Pakistani actors and singers para-military forces are being only when you reach the brink with Pakistan army DGMO and tion by the Indian army and has world nations are looking to gain Some political theatre had to earning a living out of Indian deployed in large numbers at that you realise how bottom- have informed him of our ac- warned New Delhi of dire con- sustenance from such regional be in evidence even if it was only projects and, as a counter, sev- strategic locations across the less the fall is and how one step tions.” sequences should India decide unity. aimed at satisfying the domes- eral cinemas in Pakistan have country. How long will this last back could make all the diff er- The Indian media picked up to have target practice across the Be that as it may, while India tic bloodlust. But with Pakistan stopped screening Indian fi lms. and how much will it cost the ence. Will India and Pakistan be the news and it was carpet- border. said it had targeted only mili- denying it outright, the matter Opinions are divided on this is- nation are questions that no- lucky to take that step? It’s easier bombing of sorts for the next 24 Naturally, the man on the tants, Pakistan announced that should end here, at least in mili- sue too as several leading fi lm body seems to have answers for. asked than done, I know. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 17 INDIA

Ex-Kerala Jayalalithaa minister’s India, Singapore cement health plea over continues graft probe ties with three new pacts to improve dismissed IANS Chennai IANS By Ashraf Padanna New Delhi Thiruvananthapuram amil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa continues to lmost a year after they Timprove at Apollo Hospi- he Kerala High Court yes- elevated bilateral ties to tals where she was admitted on terday rejected former fi - Aa strategic partnership, September 22, the hospital said Tnance minister K M Mani’s India and Singapore further ce- yesterday. A brief statement from plea against the investigation into mented their relationship with the hospital said: “The same line an Rs650mn tax evasion case. the inking of three new agree- of treatment is being continued. The Vigilance and Anti-Cor- ments yesterday, as Prime Min- The chief minister is under close ruption Bureau had fi led a fi rst ister Narendra Modi and visiting observation by doctors.” information report (FIR) after Singapore Prime Minister Lee According to Apollo Hospitals, questioning the ex-minister. It Hsien Loong held talks here and Jayalalithaa has been advised fur- claimed he had favoured a broiler decided to boost co-operation in ther stay in the hospital. chicken dealer by allowing a re- countering threats of rising ter- On Monday, Apollo Hospitals duction in sales tax dues. rorism. said the treatment plan including “Let the vigilance investigate,” Modi and Lee, who is in In- appropriate antibiotics, respirato- high court judge B Kemal Pasha dia on a fi ve-day working visit, ry support and other allied clinical observed while rejecting his plea. held talks at Hyderabad House measures were being continued to The court said it would not in- after which the two witnessed treat the infection. terfere in the ongoing investiga- the inking of three agreements in The 68-year-old Jayalalithaa tion as a charge-sheet had already skill development and industrial was admitted to Apollo Hospital been registered. property. for fever and dehydration on Sep- The 82-year-old Kerala Con- Voicing concern over cross- tember 22. Subsequently, Apollo gress (M) leader also faces a probe border terrorism, Prime Minis- Hospital said she was cured of fe- into allegations in connection ter Modi said in his media state- ver and needed to be in the hospi- with cutting taxes on beauty care ment: “Rising tide of terrorism, tal for observation. products from 12.5% to 4%. The especially cross-border terror- Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in New Delhi yesterday. It said the current treatment two tax cuts together allegedly led ism, and the rise of radicalisa- plan was based on the detailed dis- to a loss of Rs2bn to the excheq- tion are grave challenges to our both leaders “undertook a de- India’s large infrastructure de- in the framework of Asean, East ting up a Finance Dialogue be- cussions doctors had with British uer. security.” tailed review of the shape and velopment needs. Asia Summit and the Asean Re- tween the fi nance ministries of doctor Richard Beale, a consultant The petitioner Noble Mathew, “They threaten the very fabric substance of our strategic part- Modi said that both countries gional Framework is aimed at both countries. in intensive care medicine at Guy’s a dissident leader of his party, of our societies,” Modi said. nership”, he said. have agreed to enhance co-op- building an open and inclusive Singapore was one of India’s and St. Thomas Hospital, London. had also alleged that the nine- Lee, in his press statement, Both leaders have agreed to eration to counter the threats of architecture for regional cooper- largest sources of foreign direct As per the London hospital’s time minister whose party left the condemned terrorism and of- expedite the second review of terrorism and radicalisation, in- ation, in an atmosphere of trust investment in 2015, and more website, Beale is one of its criti- Congress-led alliance recently, fered his condolences to the the Comprehensive Economic cluding in cyber security. and confi dence. than 8,000 Indian companies cal care consultants and clinical had received a bribe of Rs150mn. families of those killed in the Co-operation Agreement. “Our defence and security co- Lee, in his remarks, said there are present in Singapore, said director, perioperative, pain and The charge-sheet stated September 18 terror attack on an Modi said the memorandum operation is a key pillar of our is growing optimism about In- Lee. critical care directorate. there was primary evidence that army camp in Uri, Jammu and of understanding (MoU) on in- strategic partnership,” he stated. dia’s prospects due to the dy- He added that senior min- He is an experienced investiga- Mani had given a reprieve to the Kashmir. tellectual property, inked yes- “As two maritime nations, namic leadership and clear vi- isters on both sides will be ap- tor in the fi elds of sepsis, ARDS, Thrissur-based chicken supplier Referring to his visit to Sin- terday, would facilitate greater keeping the sea lanes of com- sion of Prime Minister Modi. pointed to fi nd win-win out- haemodynamics, critical care nu- Thomson group for not paying gapore last November when business to business exchanges munication open, and respect “Singapore is happy to sup- comes for both countries. On the trition and ICU informatics. Rs650mn of pending tax. ties were enhanced to strate- and collaborations. “Prime for international legal order of port India’s eff orts to transform Singapore side, Deputy Prime Meanwhile, the Madras High The charge-sheet adds that gic partnership with “renewed Minister Lee and I also welcome seas and oceans is a shared pri- its economy, and to give India’s Minister Tharman Shanmuga- Court yesterday directed Tamil Mani had asked a deputy com- spirit, new energy”, Modi said the issuance of corporate rupee ority,” Modi said, in an oblique youth the skills they need,” he ratnam will be appointed for the Nadu’s Additional Advocate Gen- missioner to help him in the both sides had drawn up a road bonds in Singapore,” Modi said, reference to the South China Sea said. task. India will appoint Finance eral to get instructions from the fraud, stalled initiating any rev- map to realise their ambitious describing it as “a step forward” dispute. Both leaders also discussed Minister Arun Jaitley, the Straits government on Jayalalithaa’s enue recovery proceedings, and co-operative agenda. Yesterday, in eff orts to mobilise capital for Modi said their co-operation boosting economic ties by set- Times reported. health. since the offi cer was not ready to co-operate, he was transferred. There are eight other defend- ants in the case - his additional private secretary Jayachandran R, six poultry farm owners and Karnataka releases Ayurveda beauty product com- panies. Prime Minister Narendra Mo- di’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) water to Tamil Nadu in its desperate attempt to emerge as a major force in the state has IANS The court said the supervisory com- been actively courting Mani, New Delhi mittee would comprise the central wa- whose party has strong roots in ter commission’s chairman, member, the Christian heartland of central and chief engineer, the chief secretaries Kerala. he Supreme Court yesterday or- of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu or their Mani is now facing at least four dered Karnataka to release 2,000 nominees, the states’ chief engineers corruption cases related to brib- Tcusecs of water to Tamil Nadu or their nominees and a representative ery, cronyism and unjustifi able daily from October 7 to 18 as it asked the each from Kerala and Puducherry. tax concessions while he was the Cauvery supervisory committee to visit Noting that Karnataka has already fi nance and law minister under the river basin area of the two states for an made a statement that it has started Oommen Chandy. assessment of the ground situation and to release water in pursuance with the His party’s downfall began report back to it by October 17. September 30 order, the court earlier after the then opposition Com- The bench of justice Dipak Misra and yesterday asked it to indicate the quan- munist Party of India-Marxist justice Uday Umesh Lalit directed the re- tity of water it could release on a daily started parleys with him to topple lease of 2,000 cusecs of water every day basis from October 7 to 18 - the date Chandy and form an alternative for 12 days, after Karnataka told the court when the court would be hearing vari- government with him as the chief that in compliance with the court’s Sep- ous applications and appeals by both minister. tember 30 order, it has started releasing states. Mani was also the lone speaker water to Tamil Nadu and by October 6, it Karnataka advocate general M R Naik from the rival camp at the CPM’s would release 3.1 TMC of water. told the court they can release 1,500 plenum in Palakkad in 2013, and The court in its September 30 order cusecs every day. He said it was on the the two parties had been avoid- had asked Karnataka to release 6,000 basis of instructions he has received ing attacking each other since cusecs of water every day from October from the highest level in the govern- then. 1 to 6. ment. ‘Big confl icts’ over forest lands loom, warns activist

Thomson Reuters Foundation “There is fi erce competition among are rejected on very fl imsy grounds,” Mumbai the states for investment in infrastruc- Khare said. ture and mining. The law is seen as an “But allocating land to industry with- impediment to this,” he told the Thom- out settling rights will backfi re,” he said. ndian offi cials have been slow to im- son Reuters Foundation. Confl ict over land rights has increased plement a landmark law giving rights Indigenous people hold legal titles to in India as land is sought for industrial Ito forests to indigenous people be- only about 5% of the land they have lived use and development projects in one of cause they view it as a handicap to devel- on. the world’s fastest growing economies. opment projects spurring expansion in By recognising community forest Forest land is primarily located in the the fast-growing economy, a land rights rights and resource rights, the Forest country’s poorest areas, including some campaigner said. Rights Act could transform forest gov- that are racked by extremist violence. The 2006 Forest Rights Act aims to ernance and rural livelihoods, paving the Four people were killed at the week- improve the lives of impoverished tribes way for the “largest land reform ever” in end when police opened fi re on villagers by recognising their right to inhabit and India, RRI said last year. protesting the takeover of their land for a live off forests where their forefathers Yet few states have implemented the coal mine in Jharkhand. settled. law fully, and more than half of all claims The state had earlier approved amend- Under the law, at least 150mn people for titles have been rejected, according ments to two laws to enable the acquisi- could have their rights recognised to a to recent data from the ministry of tribal tion of tribal land for commercial use. minimum of 40mn hectares (154,400 sq aff airs. Government authorities are ignor- miles) of forest land, the Rights and Re- Eleven of India’s 29 states did not ing evidence that use of forests by lo- sources Initiative (RRI) estimated. award any titles in the past year. cal communities can enhance food and But the group, which promotes access The law gives village councils the right livelihood security, and that recognition to land and natural resources, says barely to approve projects that require forest of community forest rights can lead to 1.2% of the area has been recorded in the land to be cleared. development in tribal and forest areas, last decade. This has pitted states keen on de- Khare said. “There is a genuine misunderstanding velopment against indigenous people Thanks largely to the eff orts of a hand- among the political class that if you grant who say their livelihoods are threat- ful of states including Odisha, Chat- rights, it will be against development,” ened. tisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, more said Arvind Khare, an executive director “There is very little awareness of the than 0.5mn hectares of forest land could at RRI in New Delhi. law amongst people, and most claims be recognised this year, Khare estimates. Gulf Times 18 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 LATIN AMERICA

Stubborn, playful or hungry, Haitians defy Hurricane heading Hurricane Matthew

By Amelie Baron, AFP by school,” fi refi ghter Michelet Port-au-Prince Louis yelled to a group of adults he has managed to hold together in a group. to Cuba after Haiti t’s a dangerous game of cat He tells them they have to get and mouse: Haitians creep up out. Reuters threatening villages as well as Ito the bank of a river turned However, they pay no atten- Les Cayes, Haiti shantytowns in the capital Port- into a raging torrent by Hur- tion. au-Prince, where heavy rain fell ricane Matthew, then scamper Flooding has begun in and overnight. away. around Port-au-Prince, as the he fi ercest Caribbean The hurricane comes at a time The wind howls and rains falls ground is so eroded it cannot ab- storm in almost a decade when tens of thousands of people in buckets. sorb water and canals meant to Tripped into Haiti’s south- are still living in fl imsy tents and But people playfully ignore the be drainage conduits are clogged western peninsula yesterday makeshift dwellings in Haiti af- fi refi ghters and others who have with garbage. with 145mph (230kph) winds and ter a 2010 earthquake that killed come to evacuate them from This is happening particularly storm surges, killing at least one more than 200,000 people. their slice of the worst storm in poor areas by the seaside. person and damaging homes be- More than 9,000 people were to hit the Caribbean in nearly a Thony Meus, a 19-year-old fore moving out to sea. huddled in shelters across Haiti, decade. wearing plastic bags to try to The eye of the violent and authorities said as the eye of the Rather, they laugh as the wind cover his head and torso, trekked slow-moving Category 4 Hur- storm passed over the remote tosses them about and take cell- 10km from the coast to the river- ricane Matthew passed over the fi shing town of Les Anglais. phone pictures of nature’s raw bank area to check up on his sis- western tip of Haiti, the US Na- Life-threatening fl ash fl oods power. ter, who lives there. tional Hurricane Centre said, and mudslides were likely in And then they do it again: The area is fl at and fl oods eas- pounding coastal villages with southern and northwestern Hai- catch a glimpse of the wildly en- ily, Meus said. strong winds, torrential rains ti, the hurricane centre said. gorged river, and run away like “I want to make sure she is and a storm surge with massive It expected Matthew to remain children when the wind blasts OK,” he said. “I am going to do waves. a powerful hurricane throughout them in the face. everything I can to make sure she The storm was forecast to re- the night. “We came here to help evacu- evacuates because things are go- main powerful as it made its way The outer bands of the storm ate them but they will not listen ing to get worse with time.” to Cuba and the Bahamas. reached the area late on Monday, to us,” said Edgar Joseph, a fi re- He adds: “But Haitians are A hurricane watch was issued fl ooding dozens of houses in Les fi ghter, said yesterday. “They are stubborn. They only believe for parts of southeast Florida, Anglais when the ocean rose, the so stubborn.” things when they see them.” which the forecasters said Mat- mayor said. Joseph said that as the water Flood waters have started to thew could reach late tomorrow. In the town of Les Cayes on the People watch waves splashing level was rising and the current cut off the road that he needs to One man died as the storm southern coast, the wind bent on the beach at Siboney ahead fl owing ever faster, it was just a take. crashed through his home in the trees and the power went out. of the arrival of Hurricane matter of time before the Riviere But Meus is hell-bent on beach town of Port Salut, Haiti’s Matthew was 35 miles (60km) Matthew in Cuba. Grise in Port-au-Prince bursts reaching his sibling. civil protection service said. north of Haiti and 90 miles its banks. “I know this is crazy of me but He had been too sick to leave (145km) south of the eastern tip Guantanamo’s mountainous Matthew made landfall early I want to make sure my sister and for a shelter, offi cials said. of Cuba at 11am EDT (1500 GMT) terrain is the country’s second yesterday near Haiti’s south- her children are not in danger,” One fi sherman was killed in It was moving north about coff ee producer after nearby western tip, triggering major he said, then trudges off , splash- heavy seas over the weekend as 10mph (17kph), the hurricane Santiago, and the storm poses a fl oods and evacuations. ing water as he walks. the storm approached, and an- centre said. major threat to the current har- At least three people have per- Coming along the same road in other was missing. Cuba’s Communist govern- vest. ished. the other direction, a street ven- There was no immediate word ment traditionally puts exten- “We have gusts of wind hitting Port-au-Prince is not in the dor named Marcus Stevenson – on other potential casualties in sive eff orts into saving lives and the whole area and the people direct path of the storm. he peddles canned meat – says the poorest country in the Amer- property in the face of storms, have fl ed to a shelter,” Les Anglais It lies far to the east, sitting on that he should have stayed home, icas. and authorities have spent days mayor Jean-Claude Despiser a bay that acts as a natural har- too. Overnight, Haitians living in organising teams of volunteers to said. bour. “I don’t have a penny to my vulnerable coastal shacks on the move residents to safety and se- In the nearby town of Tibu- Still, the city has seen heavy name, so I have no choice. I have Tiburon Peninsula frantically cure property. ron, the mayor said people who rain since Monday evening. to come out and work. Other- sought shelter as Matthew closed The storm is expected to make had been reluctant to leave their Hurricane Matthew is seen in the Caribbean in this enhanced infrared The river bank is lined with wise, I will starve.” in. a hit later in the day in the prov- homes also ran for cover when image from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric shanties typical of the poorest Upon learning the weather Several districts in southern ince of Guantanamo, which is the sea rose. Administration. country in the Americas: shacks will only get worse in Port-au- Haiti were fl ooded, with crops home to the disputed US Naval “Everyone is trying to fi nd a made of sheet metal or plastic Prince, he gets nervous. inundated with ocean and rain base and military prison and also safe place to protect themselves, fect from Deerfi eld Beach, Flori- Governor Rick Scott declared a lining. “I don’t even know if I am go- water. to a small Cuban city. the situation is very diffi cult,” da to the Volusia-Brevard county state of emergency for Florida on “There are many children, and ing to make it back home now,” As much as 3’ (1m) of rain was The US Navy ordered the evac- Mayor Remit Denizen said, de- line, a coastal area near Cape Ca- Monday, designating resources the parents have to understand Stevenson says. forecast to fall over hills that are uation of 700 spouses and chil- scribing large waves hitting the naveral, which the storm could for evacuations and shelters and this: we want to save your lives There are no customers in largely deforested and prone dren of service personnel as the town. reach tomorrow, the hurricane putting the National Guard on and those of your children by sight, anyway. to fl ash fl oods and mudslides, storm approached. A hurricane watch was in ef- centre said. standby. taking you to safety in the near- The street is empty.

Chile Little improvement in Temer pardons govt’s popularity, poll fi nds president’s Reuters points higher than three months Brasilia ago. late father Ibope surveyed 2,002 people between September 20-25 and resident Michel Temer has its poll has a margin of error of AFP not managed to convince two points either way. Santiago PBrazilians that his govern- Temer took offi ce in the midst ment is better than that of his of the country’s worst recession ousted predecessor Dilma Rous- since the 1930s and a massive hile’s Supreme Court said seff , and his popularity remains corruption scandal, which con- yesterday that it has an- low, according to a poll yester- tributed to Rousseff ’s defi ni- Cnulled a treason convic- day. tive removal by Congress in late tion against President Michelle Pollster Ibope said that the August on charges of breaking Bachelet’s father, who was jailed number of people who consider budget rules. and tortured to death for oppos- Temer’s government “great” or Leading members of Temer’s ing the country’s 1973 coup. “good” edged up to 14% from party are under investigation Alberto Bachelet, a top general 13% in the previous survey in for receiving kickbacks in the in the Chilean air force, was ar- late June, which was conduct- graft scandal centred on state oil rested in the aftermath of the ed six weeks after he replaced Temer: My only concern it to try company Petroleo Brasileiro SA military coup staged by his army Rousseff when her impeachment to put Brazil back on the rails, (Petrobras). Mock rats are placed by demonstrators on the sidewalk of Olivos Presidential residence during a protest colleague, the late dictator Au- trial began. just that. Three of his cabinet ministers against Temer’s visit in Buenos Aires, on Monday. gusto Pinochet. But the number who rate it quit due to allegations of mis- A self-declared war tribunal as “bad” or “terrible” was un- budget defi cit, approval of the conduct. He also has been dogged by out the remainder of her term He says that he will not run in convicted Bachelet of treason for changed at 39%, according to way he is governing has dropped Unemployment has con- lingering questions about the le- through 2018, has said that he 2018. opposing the bloody overthrow the poll commissioned by the to 28% from 31%. tinued to rise and infl ation re- gitimacy of Rousseff ’s impeach- does not care about his dire ap- “My only concern it to try to of socialist president Salvador National Industry Confedera- Disapproval has risen to 55% mains high as Temer tries to ment, and his public appearanc- proval ratings because his mis- put Brazil back on the rails, just Allende. tion (CNI). from 53%. push through unpopular cuts in es are often marred by protest sion is to restore confi dence that, and that my successor will Bachelet, who had been the air In a personal setback to Te- Sixty-eight per cent of the public spending to plug a gaping shouts of “Out with Temer”. and pull Latin America’s largest have the authority to lead the force fi nance chief, died in pris- mer, who is pressing ahead with people surveyed say they do defi cit inherited from Rousseff , a Temer, who was Rousseff ’s economy out of the two-year re- nation,” Temer said on Monday on in 1974 from the torture his reforms to curb an onerous not trust Temer, two percentage leftist. vice-president and will serve cession. during a visit to Paraguay. one-time subordinates infl icted on him. He was 51. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court annulled his conviction and those of 80 other Mexico police arrest two men Court fi les stolen in case of slain air force offi cers, declaring them innocent. The war tribunals set up in the over murder of Catholic priest Honduran rights activist: UN wake of Pinochet’s coup failed to “respect prisoners’ rights or consider any of the precepts es- AFP Lopez Guillen was last seen to organised crime or a hate Reuters croachment of hydroelectric ters Foundation via e-mail late tablished by international war Morelia, Mexico on September 19 when he or- crime. Rio de Janeiro dams and mines on indigenous on Monday following the re- conventions”, the court ruled. dered food at his residence. Lopez Guillen’s disappear- lands, was killed in March. lease of the UN statement. The head of the National Hu- The suspects were at his ance took place the same week It is unclear how the theft Caceres won the Goldman man Rights Institute, Branislav exican authorities residence and after a discussion that two other priests were ourt papers relating to of the documents will aff ect Environmental Prize in 2015 for Maralic, said that the decision have arrested two men went bad they tied him up, cov- murdered in the eastern state the murder of high-pro- the prosecution of the case in her struggle to prevent the con- “restores the honour and dignity Mover the murder of a ered him in a sheet and put him of Veracruz after sharing drinks Cfi le Honduran land rights the Central American country, struction of a $50mn dam that of people who bore the stigma of priest whose slaying followed in the trunk of a car, the pros- with their killers, according to activist Berta Caceres have been which has one of the highest threatened to displace hundreds being treated as traitors for more the killing of two other Roman ecutor’s offi ce said. local authorities. stolen, the UN said, urging gov- murder rates in the world. of indigenous people. than 40 years”. Catholic clerics in another part The men also stole objects The Catholic Church blasted ernment offi cials to quickly re- “If this is how the state is European lenders who had The court had last week up- of the country. from the residence and later the authorities in Veracruz for cover the documents and inves- handling evidence in the case, backed the project froze their held four-year prison sentences The prosecutor’s offi ce in shot him four times. implying that alcohol was part- tigate how the theft occurred. then how can we trust their fi nal investments following interna- meted out to two retired offi cers the western state of Michoacan Lopez Guillen’s body was ly to blame for the violence. Local media reported that outcome?” said Candido Mezua tional outcry over the murder. convicted of torturing general said that the murder of Father found on September 25. Fifteen priests have been the documents were stolen on Salazar, a colleague of the envi- In May, Honduran offi cials Bachelet. Jose Alfredo Lopez Guillen was The suspects were arrested killed in Mexico since President September 29 in the Honduran ronmental rights activist. arrested four people in connec- President Bachelet, his the result of “diff erences” be- on Monday. Enrique Pena Nieto took offi ce capital Tegucigalpa. “Immediate action is needed tion with the activist’s murder, daughter, was herself arrested tween the priest and his killers The prosecutor’s offi ce de- in December 2012, according to Caceres, who had received to safeguard the rights of com- including an employee of the and tortured under Pinochet’s during a meeting two weeks nied that the murder was the the Catholic Multimedia Cen- death threats over her work munities living in Honduras,” company whose dam project regime in 1975. ago. result of a kidnapping, related tre. campaigning against the en- Salazar told the Thomson Reu- she helped block. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 19 PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN Court of Afghan forces fl ushing arbitration Taliban out of Kunduz sought over AFP Kunduz dam row

ighting continued on the Internews there are design criteria which outskirts of Kunduz yes- Islamabad say the design of the project Fterday as some frightened should be like this. residents fl ed the city a day after “We fi rmly believe that the Taliban launched an hours- akistan has demanded our design is well within the long assault that was repelled by that the World Bank parameters laid down in the Afghan forces backed by Nato. Pset up a Court of Arbi- treaty. But they think other- Helicopters hovered over the tration to hear its objections wise. They believe India’s de- strategic provincial capital and over the Kishanganga hydro- sign of the project will aff ect commandos were stationed in electricity project by India, fl ow of the river to Pakistan,” the main square, an AFP corre- which has asked the inter- the source said. spondent there said, as Afghan national lender to appoint a Pakistan, a lower ripar- forces conducted a clearing op- neutral expert to settle the ian state, had fl agged the is- eration warning that militants dispute. sue relating to the project, were hiding in civilian homes. According to sources, Paki- which will divert water from Dozens of residents could stan has raised objections over the Kishanganga River to the be seen boarding buses, many the design of the hydel project power plant in the Jhelum of them government employ- in Jammu and Kashmir, saying river basin, in the past too and ees and their families fearing it is not in line with the crite- approached the International Taliban violence. ria laid down under the Indus Court of Arbitration in 2010. “I have to leave the city with Water Treaty between the two It had claimed that the project my family, because my brother countries. will aff ect the fl ow of Kis- is in the army,” 40-year-old India has, however, as- hanganga, known as Neelum Hussain said as he boarded a bus serted the project design is in the neighbouring country, for Kabul. “well within parameters” of “adversely”. “The situation is uncertain, if the treaty and urged the World Pakistan had also claimed the Taliban fi nd out about it they Bank to appoint a neutral ex- that power generation ca- may kill us. The people are very Afghan National Army commandos take position during a military operation in Helmand province yesterday. pert as the issue is a “techni- pacity of its Neelum-Jhe- scared, they are all moving to cal matter” as suggested in the lum hydropower plant, safer places.” The defence ministry ear- said the Taliban were setting fi re Afghan troops had responded withdrew from the outskirts on treaty. located downstream of Kis- “We could not sleep the whole lier yesterday said three Afghan to some buildings as they were “eff ectively”, he said. October 15. More than 280 peo- “Pakistan has requested hanganga, will also be af- night, each blast would startle soldiers were killed and seven pushed out of the city, including Ghani was meeting world ple were killed and hundreds the World Bank to set up a fected by the Indian hydel my kids and shake our house,” wounded in the fi ghting. the main power station. leaders in Brussels yesterday in wounded. Court of Arbitration India project, work on which had said another resident Amrullah. The number of civilians reach- On Monday, residents had a bid to secure fi nancial aid from A US air strike during the demands that the matter begun in 2007. “There is no safe place in the ing hospital with bullet and shrap- reported being trapped in their the international community up fi ghting hit a hospital operated be looked into by a neutral The matter though was set- city, they are fi ghting from street nel wounds jumped from around homes by intense fi ghting as to 2020. by Medecins Sans Frontieres on expert as it is a technical tled in India’s favour in 2013. to street. I have to move my 40 to more than 100 yesterday the sound of explosions echoed The meeting, 15 years after the October 3, killing 42 people. matter. The treaty says the Notwithstanding the fresh family to a safer place until the afternoon, hospital offi cials across the city, with provincial US invasion of 2001, will try to The organisation, which has same,” one of the sources objections raised by Islama- situation comes back to normal.” said, with one person killed. offi cials voicing fears it could fall. drum up support despite donor not since re-launched its opera- said, adding a technical ex- bad and beginning of the dis- The assault launched early Kunduz provincial governor Nato spokesman Brigadier fatigue compounded by confl icts tions in Kunduz, had planned to pert like an engineer can pute resolution process, India Monday came just over a year Assadullah Omarkhil said the General Charles Cleveland said in Syria and Iraq plus the worst mark the anniversary on Monday understand the issue better can continue its work on the after militants briefl y seized the operation was moving slowly the government was in control of migration crisis since World by sending its country repre- than a legal expert. hydel project, estimated to provincial capital, and as Presi- “because the Taliban are using the city, but the strength of the War II. sentative Guilhem Molinie and The sources said that both generate 360MW electricity, dent Ashraf Ghani fl ew to Brus- people’s houses to hide”. attack was still being assessed. “The enemy attacked Kunduz international president Meinie India and Pakistan presented the sources said. sels to meet world leaders for a But a Taliban spokesman “We did see fi ghting but we did to catch the world’s attention Nicolai to the city. their respective facts relating “Unlike the popular percep- crucial foreign aid conference. insisted via Twitter that the not see the scale of attack that in Brussels,” defence ministry But the fresh Taliban assault to the project separately to the tion, nowhere in the treaty it is Interior ministry spokesman militants were still advancing. was initially being reported,” he spokesman Dawlat Waziri said forced them to hastily cancel and World Bank on September 27 written that the work has to Sediq Sediqqi said fi ghting was The insurgents are known to said, comparing it to “exagger- yesterday. evacuate non-medical staff who in Washington. be stopped when the dispute ongoing in the city’s outskirts, exaggerate their claims. ated” attacks earlier this year on After seizing Kunduz on Sep- had been sent ahead to prepare. “They (Pakistan) have ob- resolution process is going and that at least 30 Taliban in- Jawid Salim a spokesman for Lashkar Gah in Helmand, and tember 28, 2015, the Taliban It was “a pity for the victims”, jected to the design of the on. The work can go on,” the surgents had been killed. the special forces in Kunduz, Tarin Kot in Uruzgan. held the city for two days then Molinie said. project. Under the treaty, source said. 200,000 Afghan refugees Victim of border firing 4 women killed in return from Pakistan bus attack AFP “From January until today, Since 2009, Islamabad has ment to lure its citizens back Islamabad the number of refugees volun- repeatedly pushed back a dead- with the slogan “My country, AFP tarily repatriating to Afghani- line for them to return, but my beautiful country”. Quetta stan has crossed the fi gure of fears are growing that the latest In Afghanistan, however, ore than 200,000 Af- 200,000,” Afridi said. cutoff date in March 2017 will torn apart by more than three ghan refugees have More and more appear to be be fi nal. decades of confl ict, authorities unmen riding a motorcy- Mbeen repatriated from going every day, with offi cials Pakistani offi cials said the warn the number of displaced cle opened fi re on a mov- Pakistan this year, nearly half of saying that the fi rst four days increase came after they vowed people has outpaced the capac- Ging bus in Pakistan and them in September alone, UN- of October saw up to 5,000 re- to tighten border controls, par- ity of the government and aid killed four women from the Shia HCR said yesterday, the highest turnees daily. ticularly at the porous Torkham agencies to cope. minority in an apparent sectari- number since the US toppled An Amnesty International Gate crossing. Meanwhile the EU said Mon- an attack, offi cials said yesterday. the Taliban in 2002. report yesterday said Pakistan However UNHCR cited an day it has struck a tentative deal The gunmen sprayed the vehi- The tsunami of refugees re- hosted 1.6mn refugees, making array of other reasons that with Afghanistan to take back cle with bullets in the outskirts of turning to the war-torn coun- it the third largest refugee host- could be helping drive the rush migrants ahead of a conference Quetta city, the provincial capital try comes after Pakistan tight- ing nation in the world. back into Afghanistan, includ- in Brussels aimed at securing of the southwestern province of ened its border controls in June But UNHCR said the fi gure, ing increasing anxiety and in- international fi nancial aid for Baluchistan. and began cracking down on based on its own data, was al- security for refugees about life the war-ravaged nation. “At least two motorcycle rid- undocumented Afghans. ready out of date and should in Pakistan. However, European Union ers on one bike fi red at the bus The vast majority – more be revised to 1.4mn after the Other factors include the offi cials have denied that aid when it reached close to Haz- than 185,000 – returned after movement since July. UNHCR decision to double its pledges would depend on the ara town. Two people, one male July, with nearly 98,000 cross- The agency also esti- cash grant for voluntary re- Kabul government accept- A Pakistani Kashmiri who was injured in cross-border firing, is and another female, were also ing the border in September mates that a further 1mn un- turnees from $200 to $400 per ing the return of tens of thou- treated at a hospital in Nezapir sector on the Line of Control wounded in the attack,” Abdul alone, UNHCR spokesman documented refugees are in individual in June, and a cam- sands of Afghans from an over- (LoC) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday. Razzaq Cheema, a senior police Qaisar Khan Afridi said. Pakistan. paign by the Afghan govern- stretched Europe. offi cial said. “The bus was travelling from one locality of Hazaras to the other,” Cheema said. Qambar Dashti, Quetta city commissioner, confi rmed the Railways re-launches e-ticketing 10 cybercrime police stations planned attack and said it could be sectarian. “This attack on Hazaras’ bus Internews improve the accounting system Pakistan Economic Corridor. Internews Baltistan, Hyderabad and easy to fi ght cybercrime. could be sectarian but we are still Lahore of the PR, he said. “Modalities to sign an agree- Lahore Sukkur. The FIA has also proposed investigating it,” he said. The Federal Government In- ment regarding framework of The FIA is also looking for capacity building of offi cials There was no immediate claim spectorate of Railways had sub- phase-I of Main Line 1 have funds to acquire the latest soft- engaged in investigating cy- of responsibility but Taliban mil- akistan Railways (PR) mitted a detailed report about been discussed. We informed he government has de- ware and hardware technology bercrime and establishment of itants have attacked Shia Haz- launched yesterday e- the smashing of Awam Express our Chinese partners that we cided to allocate over for extraction of data and its special tribunals. aras in the past. Pticketing system to en- into a goods train on Sept 15 with do not require commercial loan TRs2bn for the establish- analysis,” head of FIA’s Cyber Talking about the Preven- Sectarian violence – in partic- able passengers to get their the railways ministry. as it has never been viable for ment of 10 cybercrime police Crime Wing Lahore Shahid tion of Electronic Crimes Act, ular by Sunni hardliners against seats reserved while remaining Departmental action against any railways. stations and as many forensic Hassan said yesterday. Hassan said the propaganda Shias who make up roughly 20% at home or at workplace. nine employees found responsi- “Instead, we insisted on get- laboratories in the country to Lahore, Karachi and against it was uncalled-for. of Pakistan’s 200mn people – Initially, the system has been ble in the inquiry would be initi- ting long-term concessional loan. empower the Federal Inves- Rawalpindi already have such “There are several clauses in has claimed thousands of lives in introduced in Green Line Ex- ated within a couple of days. We also asked them to involve Pa- tigation Agency (FIA) to fi ght police stations. However, the which powers of investigation the country over the past decade. press besides fi ve rail cars, said “The driver, assistant driver kistani companies in the project cybercrime. existing forensic laboratories offi cials have been reduced as In May last year, 43 mem- Minister for Railways Khwaja and guard of Awam Express though the Chinese wanted to After enforcement of the need to be upgraded. compared to the repealed laws bers of the Shia Ismaili minor- Saad Rafi que at a news confer- are found directly responsible complete the whole work by their new enforcement law in Au- Hassan said the agency like the Electronic Transaction ity were killed when their bus ence in Lahore on Tuesday. while the goods train driver and own companies,” he said. gust, the FIA had requested the needed huge resources to fi ght Ordinance,” he said. was stopped and riddled with Within the next eight guard, station master of Sher- Earlier, PR Director (infor- government for allocation of cybercrime after the enforce- According to some of im- bullets in Pakistan’s southern months, e-ticketing facility shah station, Multan chief con- mation Technology) Fahad Rah- ‘huge funds’ to equip it to fi ght ment of the new law. “In addi- portant clauses of the cyber port city of Karachi by militants would be available for all pas- troller and his deputy besides man said that under an agree- the menace. tion to this, working is required law, unauthorised access to any claiming Islamic State group senger trains of the Pakistan section controller would be is- ment inked between the PR and “The federal government on cyber security policy, sign- information system or data is affi liation. Railways, said Rafi que while sued show-cause notices and the United Bank Ltd (UBL) on has decided in principle to al- ing treaties with other coun- punishable for three months, Baluchistan, which borders adding that another milestone given an opportunity to defend Aug 10, the commuter would locate Rs2.3bn for setting up 10 tries as cyber off enders are also dissemination of information Iran and Afghanistan, has oil in passenger facilitation was themselves,” he said. now buy an E-ticket through cybercrime police stations and operating outside Pakistan.” through any system or device and gas resources but is affl icted achieved on Oct 3. Regarding his recent visit to the Pakistan Railways website as many forensic laboratories Hassan, who is a foreign to glorify an off ence relating to by Islamist militancy, sectar- Implementation of the sys- China, the minister said it was www.pakrail.gov.pk after mak- in Multan, Sahiwal, Gujran- qualifi ed forensic expert, said terrorism is punishable by up to ian violence between Sunni and tem would not only end black aimed at making progress on ing payment instantly by using wala, Faisalabad, Abbotabad, without technologies like cloud seven years imprisonment or a Shia Muslims and a separatist marketing of tickets but also PR share in the China- any debit or credit card. D.I. Khan, Gwadar, Gilgit- forensic computing it was not fi ne up to Rs10m or both. insurgency. Gulf Times 20 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 PHILIPPINES Bishops ‘worried, confused’ over extrajudicial killings

By William Depasupil/ ried, confused and sad” because makabayan (pro-country) are leased on Sunday for the feast extrajudicial killing of drug sus- The CBCP recommended to object of the hunt to the off er of Manila Times of the extrajudicial killings. The slowly eroding to be replaced by of our Lady of the Holy Rosary. pects. authorities a five-step guide- the reward, one is hardly any dif- Manila Philippine National Police had an open licence for cuss words, Villegas stressed that some- “If drugs indeed kill, will kill- line in dealing with criminals ferent from a mercenary, a gun- said that more than 3,000 peo- orchestrated lies and vulgarity thing must be done to change ing the suspects remove the during operations, stress- for-hire, no matter that the ob- ple have been killed since Duterte never heard before,” the prelate the country’s downward course menace? Are we providing our ing that a “shoot to kill” order ject of one’s manhunt should be resident Rodrigo Duterte’s took offi ce on June 30. added. so that peace would be restored, children a safe haven by teach- should only be resorted to for a suspected off ender,” it pointed uncompromising stand on “I am ashamed of the things I “I am in this endless grief at harmony regained and civility ing them by our tolerance of legitimate self-defence or in out. Phis bloody war on drugs read about the Philippines in the the killings I have seen and heard. and courtesy recovered. murders, that killing suspected defence of civilians. Duterte has off ered a reward of and constant cursing is slowly international media and more The well is running dry and I can The prelate earlier said the criminals without fair hearing is The CBCP also stressed that P5mn for every slain drug lord, drawing the country to interna- ashamed of what I hear from our no longer give a word of condo- Church supports the govern- a morally acceptable way to erad- it is never morally permissible to and P3mn for those captured tional shame, the Catholic Bish- leaders when I watch local news,” lence to the bereaved families ment’s campaign against all icate crime? From a generation of receive reward money to kill an- alive. ops’ Conference of the Philip- Villegas said in a pastoral state- because I also need to be assured forms of criminality but it must drug addicts shall we become a other. The CBCP also reminded the pines (CBCP) lamented. ment. even a bit that things will get bet- be done in accordance with the generation of street murderers? “When bounty-hunting takes faithful of their moral duty to CBCP president and Lingayen- “I am sad that the cherished ter and not become worse even rules of engagement, reason and Will the do-it-yourself justice the form of seeking out suspects report all forms of vigilantism of Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Filipino values maka-Diyos (pro- more.” value for human life. system assure us of a safer and of crime, killing them, then pre- which they have personal knowl- Villegas said he was deeply “wor- God), makatao (pro-people) and The pastoral message was re- Villegas also condemned the better future?” he said. senting proof of the death of the edge. No need for coup, govt in self-destructing mode: senator

By Jeff erson Antiporda/ command for as long as the chain Manil Times of command is true to the man- Manila date to the states and to the Fili- pino people,” he added. Professor Ramon Casiple, here is no need to stage in an interview, said an extra- a coup against President constitutional move to oust the TRodrigo Duterte because elected government is always his administration is capable of possible but it does not mean destroying itself, Sen Antonio that it is doable. Trillanes 4th said yesterday. Casiple added that he does not The senator was responding see the Duterte administration to an allegation that he is one of self-destructing at this point but those who are plotting a coup he did not elaborate. against the administration be- “Self-destruction may be pos- cause he and the other plotters sible but not probable,” he said in are not happy with the way Du- a text message. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (centre) clenches fist with members of the Philippine Army during his visit to the army headquarters in Taguig city, Metro Manila, yesterday. terte is running the country. Meanwhile, former senator “That is not true. There is no Juan Ponce Enrile said Filipinos need to launch a coup against should not judge Duterte based this government because (it is on his performance during his already) self-destructing,” Tril- fi rst 100 days in offi ce. lanes said in an interview. “Let us not be too impatient. According to the senator, the We need time. Do not judge him current administration is drag- by his achievements after 100 ging the whole country down days. He has six years to attain Go to hell, Philippine and it is even blaming Senate his goals, dreams and aspirations hearings for it. for the country. We are not used “It is not the hearings in the to rigidity. Let him do his job. Senate that is the source of nega- Who knows, he may succeed,” tivity here in the country but the Enrile said. president,” Trillanes said. Based on the body count in He was referring to ongoing the war against illegal drugs, the president tells Obama hearings of the Senate justice former lawmaker said Duterte committee on the allegedly in- appears to be succeeding in his Reuters States did not want to sell mis- When asked about Duterte’s ties for maritime security and told the Jewish community at a creasing number of killings in goal to stamp out the drug men- Manila siles and other weapons, but comments, US State Depart- humanitarian and disaster re- synagogue. the country. ace. Russia and China had told him ment spokesman John Kirby sponse operations. “This is what happens now, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio “Based on the body count, he they could provide them easily. said yesterday, “Frankly, it He said the United States I will be reconfi guring my for- Evasco was earlier quoted as say- seems to be succeeding. We have hilippine leader Rodrigo “It is my sacred duty to keep seems at odds with the warm should have supported the Phil- eign policy. Eventually, I might ing that a coup d’etat against the a pro-active president. He is do- Duterte yesterday told US the integrity of this republic relationship that exists between ippines in tackling its chronic in my time I will break up with Duterte administration is possi- ing his responsibilities,” Enrile PPresident Barack Obama and the people healthy,” Duterte the Filipino and American peo- drugs problems but instead crit- America.” ble because there are personali- told reporters. to “go to hell” and said the said. ple and the record of important icised him for the high death toll, It was not clear if by his ties like Trillanes and the Liberal Enrile admitted that Duterte United States had refused to sell “If you don’t want to sell co-operation between our two as did the European Union. “time”, he was referring to his Party (LP) that are unhappy with has created “too much wave” in some weapons to his country arms, I’ll go to Russia. I sent governments, co-operation that “Instead of helping us, the fi rst six-year term in offi ce. the way the president is leading his fi ght against illegal drugs. but he did not care because Rus- the generals to Russia and Rus- has continued under the Duterte to hit was the State Department. According to some US offi - the country. A report from the Department sia and China were willing sup- sia said ‘do not worry, we have government.” So you can go to hell, Mr Obama, cials, Washington has been do- Trillanes did not only dismiss of Interior and Local Govern- pliers. everything you need, we’ll give On Sunday, Duterte said he you can go to hell,” he said. ing its best to ignore Duterte’s the allegation but also insisted ment (DILG) said drug addiction In his latest salvo, Duterte said it to you’. had received support from Rus- “EU, better choose purgatory. rhetoric and not provide him that the Armed Forces of the remains a major problem. he was realigning his foreign “And as for China, they said sia and China when he com- Hell is full already. Why should I with a pretext for more out- Philippines (AFP) would not al- But Enrile said drug addiction policy because the United States ‘just come over and sign and plained to them about the Unit- be afraid of you?” bursts. low such movement to prosper. problems in other countries are had failed the Philippines and everything will be delivered’.” ed States. At a later speech he said he While an open break with Ma- To the credit of the previ- worse, such as in the US where added that at some point, “I will His comments were the latest He also said he would review was emotional because the nila would create problems in a ous Aquino administration, the several syndicates actively pro- break up with America.” in a near-daily barrage of hostil- a US-Philippines Enhanced De- United States had not been a region where China’s infl uence senator said, the military has mote the use of illegal drugs. He It was not clear what he meant ity towards the United States, fence Co-operation Agreement. friend of the Philippines since has grown, there were no serious remained loyal to the chain of said illegal drug use is a P60bn by “break up”. during which Duterte has start- The deal, signed in 2014, his election in May. discussions about taking puni- command. industry in the US while the drug During three tangential and ed to contrast the former colo- grants US troops some access “They just...reprimand an- tive steps such as cutting aid to “They (AFP) will move as one business in the Philippines is at fi ercely worded speeches in nial power with its geopolitical to Philippine bases, and allows other president in front of the the Philippines, two US offi cials and they will follow the chain of more or less P10bn. Manila, Duterte said the United rivals Russia and China. them to set up storage facili- international community,” he said on Monday. Philippines, US hold war Justify hike in spy games after Duterte tirades funds, govt told Manila Times Security agencies under Manila the OP include the Philip- AFP illegal drugs in the Philippines, disputed areas, capable of host- pine Centre for Transna- Manila warning the nation is in danger ing military bases. tional Crime, Anti-Terror- of becoming a narco-state. To counter China, the Philip- alacanang Palace ism Council, National Coast His crime war has seen more pines’ previous president, Be- was asked yesterday Watch Council and the he Philippines and the than 3,000 people killed, with nigno Aquino, sought to draw the Mby a lawmaker criti- Presidential Anti-Organised United States launched the United Nations, the Europe- United States closer. cal of the Duterte adminis- Crime Task Force. Twar games yesterday an Union and rights groups rais- This included the signing of tration to justify a P2.5bn Trillanes clarifi ed that he is against the backdrop of the unu- ing concerns about alleged extra- the Enhanced Defence Co-op- increase in confidential and not opposing the Palace pro- sual threat of American forces judicial killings and a breakdown eration Agreement that Duterte intelligence funds of the Of- posal and that the campaign being ejected from the South- in the rule of law. now wants to scrap. fice of the President (OP). against illegal drugs needs east Asian nation, as its fi rebrand Duterte has insisted he is not Duterte appears intent on Senator Antonio Trillanes funding support but he said leader pivots to China. doing anything illegal, yet at adopting the opposite tactic, 4th at the same time said he he believes that there are other President Rodrigo Duterte has the same time said he would be saying recently he hopes to travel intends to realign the funds government agencies more ca- sustained a verbal assault on the “happy to slaughter” 3mn drug to China and meet with Presi- with those of other gov- pable of doing the job. United States, the Philippines’ users. dent Xi Jinping. ernment agencies that also “We just want it to be sys- former colonial ruler and mutual He also likened his crime war Aquino also launched interna- gather intelligence and fight tematic because there are defence partner, since he took to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s ef- tional legal action that in July saw a drugs. new agencies under the Of- offi ce on June 30 in response to fort to exterminate Jews, but fol- UN-backed tribunal declare Chi- The president’s office in its fice of the President that criticism of his deadly war on lowing an outcry apologised for na’s vast claims in the sea illegal. 2017 proposed budget is ask- need immediate funding,” he crime. referring to the Holocaust. However Duterte has declined ing for P1.25bn in intelligence told a Senate finance com- Duterte has in recent days A total of around 2,000 troops to use the verdict to pressure funds and P1.25bn in con- mittee hearing on the pro- warned the war games will be from the two sides are taking China. He has also said there will fidential funds that will be posed budget of the OP. the last of his six-year term, and part in the war games, including be no joint patrols with the Unit- used primarily in intelligence Executive Secretary Salva- threatened to scrap a defence in waters close to fl ashpoint areas ed States in the sea. operations and the govern- dor Medialdea also told the pact implemented by his pred- of the South China Sea. Still Duterte’s comments have US Marine Corps Brigadier General John Jansen (left) and ment’s campaign against il- committee that the funds ecessor that was meant to see China claims nearly all of the not fi ltered down into govern- Commandant of Philippine Marine Corps, Major General Andre Costales legal drugs. would be used mostly for in- more US troops in the Philip- sea, even waters close to the ment policy, and it remains un- Jr (centre), salute in front of the Philippines-US flags during the opening The office has only telligence gathering in sup- pines to counter Chinese expan- Philippines and other Southeast clear to what extent he is pre- ceremony of annual Philippines-US amphibious landing exercise P500mn in confidential and port of the government’s an- sion in the South China Sea. Asian nations, and has in recent pared to damage ties with the (PHILBLEX) inside the Philippine Marines headquarters in Taguig city, intelligence funds for this ti-drug campaign and as well Duterte has vowed to eradicate years built artifi cial islands in the United States. Metro Manila, yesterday. year. as other security threats Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 21 SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL Bangladeshi mosque architect smashes glass ceiling

By Shafiqul Alam, AFP mother donated a piece of land. ing Dhaka’s Museum of Inde- found in local traditions, such as mild. You feel like you’re in Dhaka Few of Bangladesh’s mosques pendence, says her sex has not the use of brick and small domes natural air conditioning.” have dedicated sections for fe- constrained her career. that span the roof, creating a Dozens of tiny windows in the male worshippers, and most “I think of myself as a profes- unique style. roof and walls create a soft light s one of the only female women pray at home. sional. This whole notion of me Tabassum said she tried to that changes through the day as architects in a coun- But Tabassum visited over 100 being a woman really does not fuse those “glorious lost tradi- the sun passes over the building, Atry where women rarely before setting pen to paper for exist in my mind. It just does not tions” of mosque design with while the traditional terracotta even enter mosques, Marina the Baitur Rouf Mosque in north exist,” she said. contemporary architectural bricks keep the interior cool. Tabassum was an unconven- Dhaka, focusing on creating a The Aga Khan Award for Archi- practices. Tabassum also teaches ar- tional choice to design Bangla- haven of peace in a poor neigh- tecture is handed out every three Since it was completed in chitecture students and says desh’s new Baitur Rouf Mosque, bourhood of one of the world’s years and rewards excellence 2012, the Baitur Rouf Mosque she is highly selective about the which has just won a prestigious most congested cities. in architecture serving Muslim has attracted visitors from projects she takes on, and every international prize. “We may not have a tradition communities. This year the $1mn around the country – to the ob- one must have some social value. But there is little of the con- of women going into mosques to prize was shared between six vious delight of the imam, Deen “We are a very young nation ventional about the 45-year-old pray in the Indian subcontinent, projects around the world. Islam. and an architect’s responsibil- Tabassum or her design, which but I have experienced some re- The jury said the Dhaka mosque “Unlike other mosques in the ity goes beyond just designing eschews traditional minarets ally beautiful spiritual spaces. “challenges the status quo”, prais- country, it does not have a mina- beautiful buildings,” she said. and domes in favour of a single- That has always been a great in- ing its “robust simplicity that ret, or a dome, or a platform “We can design buildings storey terracotta brick struc- spiration to me,” she said. allows for deep refl ection and to deliver Friday prayers. Yet like the ones designed by Frank ture that is suff used with light “The whole idea of spiritual- contemplation in prayer”. to these visitors it is one of the Gehry. But I would question and remains cool even in the ity as an element in design has Offi cially secular but mainly most beautiful mosques of the whether that would be the right scorching summer months. always been something very in- Muslim Bangladesh has a rich country,” the 38-year-old imam thing to do in a country like Like most women in Bangla- triguing and I like working with history of mosque building, dat- said on a recent visit. Bangladesh, whose economy is desh, Tabassum had barely set spiritual spaces.” ing back to the Turkish invasion “The mild light that enters still not developed. foot in a mosque when she was The 45-year-old, who of the 13th century. the mosque is very soothing. “In the Bangladesh context, commissioned to design the emerged as one of Bangladesh’s The earliest combined their Even during a hot summer day, that would be an ugly thing Architect Marina Tabassum speaks with AFP during an interview in building in 2005 after her grand- top architects after design- own designs with elements the temperature inside remains to do.” Dhaka.

Lankan PM arrives in Dhaka fi rm to stand Delhi on three-day visit IANS that claimed the lives of 19 New Delhi soldiers. Following India’s move, Af- ghanistan, Bangladesh and ri Lankan Prime Minister Bhutan also followed suit, cit- Ranil Wickremesinghe ing the same reason, virtually Sarrived in New Delhi yes- isolating Pakistan in the region. by India: minister terday on a three-day offi cial Sri Lanka has not pulled visit to India. out but has said that a Saarc By Mizan Rahman continue, he said, adding that Swarup told a group of Bangla- However, Pinak Ranjan “Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wick- Summit would not be possible Dhaka the both countries have agreed desh journalists visiting Delhi at Chakravarty, a fellow of the remesinghe arrives in New without the presence of India. to bring down killings along the invitation of the ministry of think-tank, Observer Research Delhi; he will hold talks with Today, Wickremesinghe the bordering areas of the two external aff airs. Foundation (ORF), said that New top leaders including PM will also hold meetings with angladesh has said it will countries to zero level while the He also hosted an offi cial din- Delhi is still working on building Narendra Modi,” state broad- External Aff airs Minister Su- stand by the side of India Indian government will pro- ner for them on Monday. consensus on the Teesta water caster Doordarshan tweeted. shma Swaraj, Road Transport Bif ‘it is attacked by any vide support to construct roads He said the ‘very good part- sharing issue which was thwart- Wickremensinghe will hold and Highways and Shipping enemy’. by using their lands in remote nership’ between the countries ed by West Bengal Chief Minis- bilateral talks with Prime Min- Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Home Minister Asaduzzaman border areas. has extended into so many sec- ter Mamata Banerjee in 2011. But ister Modi today, according to Minister of State for Petroleum Khan yesterday said Bangladesh Meanwhile, India’s offi cial tors that both sides have been Banerjee during her last year’s the External Aff airs Ministry. and Natural Gas Dharmendra must be with India. “Pakistan is spokesperson Vikas Swarup said able to resolve the long pending visit to Dhaka urged all to keep His visit assumes signifi - Pradhan. 1,200km away from Bangladesh that Bangladesh and India have issues such as land boundary faith on her this time. cance as India, citing Paki- Later in the evening, he as there’s no border between the become ‘model neighbours’ and agreement. Chakravarty, who was India’s stan’s sponsorship of terror- will call on President Pranab two countries. The roar of Paki- the two prime ministers share ‘a “We share each other’s suc- high commissioner in Bangla- ism in the region, last week Mukherjee. stan’s won’t not reach us. More very good chemistry’. cess. We share each other’s sor- desh from 2007-09, said, “The pulled out of the South Asian The Sri Lankan prime min- importantly, we defeated them He said they are looking for- Bangladesh Home Minister rows. And we are partners in problem is West Bengal is un- Association for Regional Co- ister will attend the opening in the 1971 Liberation War, and ward to welcoming Prime Minis- Asaduzzaman Khan each other’s progress. I think this willing to do it. This is a problem operation (Saarc) Summit that plenary of the India Economic we didn’t join the Saarc Sum- ter Sheikh Hasina at the upcom- partnership can only go strength within India. It’s entirely was scheduled to be held in Summit tomorrow along with mit following Pakistan’s recent ing Brics Summit in Goa where “We have one of the strongest to strength,” he said. dependent on West Bengal.” Islamabad in November. Minister of State for Com- interference in the country’s India has invited all leaders of partnerships with Bangladesh. He, however, did not speak The Bangladeshi journalists The Indian move came after merce Nirmala Sitharaman. internal matter,” he said. the seven-member BIMSTEC The two prime ministers have about the Teesta water sharing met State Minister for exter- the September 18 cross-border Wickremesinghe will The friendly relationship be- regional grouping that connects met a number of times. They issue in his brief remarks for the nal aff airs M J Akbar and senior terror attack on an army camp leave for Colombo tomorrow tween Bangladesh and India will South Asia with South East Asia. share a very good chemistry,” Bangladesh group. offi cials at the South Block. at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir evening. Rail boom in Bangladesh Up for sale brings trains to longest beach in Asia

Bloomberg Silk Road project is a bottom- Raising the investment rate to Dhaka up project that creates jobs for 34% of GDP, from 25% now, could Bangladesh right away,” Tan see the pace of economic expan- Khee Giap, an associate profes- sion accelerate to 8%, according n Bangladesh, it’s the age of sor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew to a study by Sadiq Ahmed, vice rail. School of Public Policy, said chairman of Dhaka-based Policy I After decades of neglect by phone. “China has the sur- Research Institute. and decline, the nation’s railway plus capital and the ability to China’s success in the coun- network, much of it dating back facilitate this kind of approach.” try has been supported by Fi- to British colonial times, is being Bangladesh’s government in nance Minister Abul Maal Abdul updated under a $30bn plan to May 3 approved a 172km (107 Muhith, who advised the minis- renovate stations and workshops, miles) rail project that will cost try’s Economic Relations Divi- buy new trains and lay thousands 350bn taka ($4.5bn) and will sion to accept Chinese loans for of kilometres of new track. connect Dhaka and Jessore, a one of the rail projects. The renewed enthusiasm for district on the border with In- It’s part of a 20-year master rail in one of Asia’s congested na- dia, linking the capital to the plan by Bangladesh to spend tions is largely thanks to China, country’s southwest for the fi rst 2.34tn taka on 235 railway and its ambitious agenda to extend time by rail. projects through 2030. The trade tentacles across Asia. China will provide 247bn country has 2,877km worth of China’s eff orts to turn its Silk taka in soft loans, under plans railroads and aims to add anoth- Road investments into workable for the project. The track will er 375km by the end of this year. projects have been slow-going cross the 6.15km Padma bridge, Still, it’s not all plain sailing for in more developed countries like which will be the nation’s largest China. Chinese President Xi Jin- Thailand because of a reluctance once completed by China Major ping’s “one belt, one road” trade to become too dependent on Bridge Engineering Co under a and investment strategy has met Asia’s largest economy. But for 121bn taka contract. resistance from governments wary Bangladesh, the combination of The bridge is the centerpiece of China’s growing infl uence. technology and cheap fi nance is of eff orts to connect a nation However, there have been set- A goat is weighed to determine its price before being sold to a customer at a livestock market during Dashain, a festival in Nepal, in irresistible. that’s been fragmented for cen- backs for Beijing in Bangladesh. Kathmandu yesterday. Beijing is off ering $9bn in loans turies by some 700 rivers that China Railway Group signed a at 2% interest, repayable over 15 fl ow across its vast fl oodplains. 2014 memorandum to build a years with a fi ve-year grace peri- The bridge, over the main chan- 129km railroad from Dohazari to od, according to a document seen nel of the Ganges, should open Gundum, near the border with by Bloomberg. The funding plan to traffi c by 2018, with the Jes- Myanmar, via the tourist district was discussed at two meetings sore rail line due to be com- of Cox’s Bazar, which boasts ADB joins hand with Nepal to rebuild school last year, say offi cials who were pleted four years later. The two Asia’s longest continuous sand briefed on the talks and asked projects would boost the coun- beach. Funding for that project not to be named because the try’s economic growth by 1.5- has now gone to the Asian IANS laid the foundation for the recon- in which students will be able to materials and facilities. negotiations are private. 1.75 percentage point, according Development Bank. Kathmandu struction of Shree Kali Devi Pri- learn better with no fear in the “The EEAP has already designed Dhaka wants the cash to build to Planning Minister Mustafa Bangladesh “is trying to en- mary School in Kavre on Monday. back of their minds. and completed bidding documents at least six rail projects con- Kamal. sure it does not give too much to Issuing a statement, Manila- “This government is com- for 34 other primary and second- necting the capital with key Bangladesh has conferred one single party or nation,” said sian Development Bank based ADB mentioned that the mitted to rebuilding all the ary schools. The preparation of industrial areas and the Indian with the Chinese embassy in Khondaker Golam Moazzem, (ADB) in partnership school reconstruction project is schools by 2018, as this is linked designs for 100 more secondary border. Together with a pro- Dhaka on loans for other rail head of research at the Dhaka- Awith the Nepal govern- under the earthquake emergen- directly to the future of stu- schools is underway while de- gramme of updating existing lines too, including a $4bn dual based Centre for Policy Dialogue. ment has started reconstruc- cy assistance project (EEAP), dents and the country,” Min- signs for a further 200 secondary lines and building bridges, the track from Dhaka to Chittagong, China Communications Con- tion of a quake-damaged school jointly fi nanced by ADB and the ister Poudel was quoted in the schools will start before the end of policy could raise the nation’s the largest single railway project struction Co last year won a con- in one of the worst-hit districts government of Nepal. statement by Xinhua. 2016,” said the statement. economic growth to among the in the country. tract to build a 3.4km tunnel under from Monday. Speaking on the foundation According to Yokoyama, un- The earthquake damaged 7,923 fastest in the region. Bangladesh’s gross domestic the Karnaphuli river in Chittagong Nepal Minister of Education laying ceremony, Nepal Minis- der the project, the schools will public schools in 31 districts, “In contrast with trade agree- product has been growing at a rate – part of a $1.1bn road project in Dhaniram Poudel and the coun- ter Poudel said that the recon- be rebuilt to be earthquake- rendering over 33,131 classrooms ments, which are top down of more than 6% a year since 2010, the nation’s largest port, fi nanced try director of ADB Nepal resident struction of schools will pro- resilient with more learning useless and leaving another and take time to negotiate, the helping lift millions from poverty. with Chinese soft loans. mission Kenichi Yokoyama jointly vide an enabling environment space, furniture, and education 14,297 partially destroyed. Gulf Times 22 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 COMMENT

Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Production Editor: C P Ravindran Philippines war on

P.O.Box 2888 Doha, Qatar [email protected] drugs ‘will continue’ Telephone 44350478 (news), 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) Police chief says he has no generally despised and feared because abroad, particularly the fl ow from Rosa joined as he rose through the ranks Fax 44350474 of their reputation for corruption and China. of the local police force. regrets about killings violence, Dela Rosa is popular. More than 700,000 drug users “I liked what he was doing and he After only two months as police and pushers have registered with liked what I was doing, so we became By Marshall and Neil Jerome Morales/ chief, the national media is already the authorities in a process termed friends,” Dela Rosa recalled. Duterte Reuters touting him as Duterte’s possible “surrendering.” But there are very few made him Davao’s police chief in 2012. La Union, Philippines successor, an idea that the president’s programmes or facilities to help most The Coalition Against Summary spokesman Martin Andanar described of them, and local media have reported Execution, a Davao-based watchdog, GULF TIMES as “speculative.” the killing of scores of people who have has documented 1,424 vigilante-style hen Philippines police Duterte has often called for the killing registered. killings in the city, including 162 in chief Ronald Dela Rosa of drug dealers. Dela Rosa told Reuters the number 2012-13 when Dela Rosa was chief. gave a rousing speech And Dela Rosa has echoed the of drug-war killings would continue to Asked about the fi ndings, Dela Rosa Wto his men at a regional incendiary remarks. rise. said: “I will look into that.” Adding: “I Will Paris deal headquarters in Luzon, they rewarded At a speech last month, he “Every day the number of dead don’t memorise that data.” him with a gift: a replica of the sword encouraged users and pushers to kill increases,” he said. “Every day the Duterte appointed Dela Rosa his used by actor Mel Gibson in the movie drug lords who had grown rich from arrests increase and those who national police chief over other more Braveheart. exploiting the poor. surrender.” senior offi cers, giving him free rein to achieve desired The barrel-chested police chief “You know who are the drug lords Dela Rosa bristles at the mention of roll out Davao’s harsh crime-fi ghting grinned and gave the weapon, which here, go to their houses, pour gasoline, foreign critics. model across the country. is almost as long as he is tall, a practice set it on fi re, show them you are angry The United States has said it is At a police camp in Baguio, in swing. at them,” he said. “deeply concerned” by the killings, the Philippines’ ethnically diverse emission level? A voice on the camp’s loudspeaker Still, Dela Rosa’s close operational while two United Nations experts highlands, Dela Rosa donned a tribal declared him “the bravest of knowledge of the drug war could have accused Duterte of incitement to headdress and robe to hand out awards bravehearts.” make him a focus if there is ever an violence, a crime under international to offi cers for their anti-drug eff orts. The Paris climate agreement was adopted by nearly 200 Dela Rosa acts as the enforcer for independent investigation into the law. Hundreds of offi cers asked to take countries in an historic vote last December. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, killings, said Rose Trajano, secretary “They’re making us out to be killers,” selfi es with Dela Rosa, who always But the deal itself is riddled with UN-speak. whose war on drugs has led to more general of the Philippine Alliance of said Dela Rosa. “It really broke my obliged. Sometimes only his trademark than 3,400 people being killed in just Human Rights Advocates, a nationwide heart. We’re doing this for the good of shaven head was visible amid a scrum What does it all mean? over three months. coalition based in Manila. the Filipino people.” of well-wishers. However, even in the Broadly, the agreement seeks to limit temperature rise to 2 Dela Rosa’s tour of Luzon, the It is unclear, though, whether anyone Before the anti-drug campaign, he police camps, Dela Rosa is circled by six degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. country’s largest and most populous will be in a position to hold such an said, people were scared to leave their bodyguards. More specifi cally, it aims to keep temperature rise “well island, was the latest in a series of trips investigation. houses. Drug traffi ckers, he told Reuters, “can below” 2 degrees and to “pursue eff orts” to stay below 1.5 to stiff en the resolve of police offi cers at “He is a good soldier of the president, “Now the situation has been kill me anytime.” the campaign’s bloody frontline. but there will also be fear in him,” she reversed. Law-abiding people are going Dela Rosa said in an interview with degrees. “I have to encourage them to do our said. Dela Rosa told Reuters he was out. Criminals are hiding. See the popular Philippines talkshow host Boy Unlike previous climate treaties, the Paris agreement is a job,” he told a Reuters reporter who confi dent that killings during police diff erence?” Abunda that he twice tried marijuana at little more open-ended about how to achieve the under-2- went on the trip last month. operations were legitimate, and that But while other serious crime has college and got high but decided to stop degree goal. “We are at war.” the “deaths under investigation” were declined, the murder rate has soared, because it could ruin his future. Instead of setting limits for countries, it lets each come Police said on October 3 they had mostly the work of drug syndicates. and in some communities residents told In another of his regular television shot dead 1,375 people in operations “They are killing each other,” he said. Reuters that police and vigilante killings appearances, this time on a show called up with their own plan to reduce carbon emissions and use since President Duterte took offi ce on In person, Dela Rosa is intense had made them too frightened to go Get It Straight, Dela Rosa declined to more renewable energy. July 1. but courteous, and says he is under outside after dark. say how many people he had shot in his That strategy has been a target of criticism by people who They also report a further 2,066 pressure. Dela Rosa, 54 - whose earliest police career “because people might say say it’s too lax. “deaths under investigation,” many of “My worry is that I won’t be able to ambition was to be a boxer - is the (police) chief is a killer.” which human rights activists attribute deliver what is expected of me,” he told popularly known as “Bato,” after his Filipino journalists covering Dela Under the plans already submitted by nearly 200 to vigilante killings. Reuters. hometown south of Davao City. Rosa told Reuters they have never seen countries, scientists say the average global temperature rise Reuters was unable to confi rm the Duterte vowed on September 18 he It also means “rock” in the national him smoke or drink. will outstrip the agreed limit. accuracy of these numbers or the would extend his anti-drug campaign language Tagalog. His main hobby is collecting guns. But this didn’t escape the negotiators’ attention. extent to which the killings have been for another six months, but Dela Rosa His late father was a pedicab driver “He loves guns,” said Police Chief The agreement lays out a system whereby countries committed by vigilantes. said he still felt pressed for time. who could barely aff ord to send him to Superintendent Aaron Aquino, who The campaign has sparked outrage The biggest obstacles to the school, said Dela Rosa in a tribute on his served with him in Davao and now submit updated plans - incorporating the best technology as abroad, but in the Philippines it has won campaign, he said, were providing Facebook page in June. commands central Luzon, a region that it becomes available - to improve upon their previous plans praise from a crime-weary population rehab services for the many users of Davao City is where President has clocked up about 500 drug-war at fi ve-year intervals. and only muted criticism from civil crystal methamphetamine, a highly Duterte spent 22 years as mayor, killings. They also commit individually to reaching an emissions society groups. addictive drug known locally as unleashing a brutal anti-drugs “Every time he sees a good gun he peak as soon as possible, ultimately leading to a global In a country where the police are shabu, and halting its infl ux from campaign that the hard-charging Dela buys it.” “balance” between output and absorption Under the plans by between 2050 and 2100. already submitted Absorption is by nearly 200 achieved through so- called “carbon sinks,” countries, scientists which are natural or artifi cial reservoirs say the average such as forests or global temperature oceans. Forests can be rise will outstrip carbon sinks because the agreed limit they use carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis, which is why tree-planting programmes are a popular way of off setting emissions. Much of the other technology, called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS for short), is only in its preliminary stages and has yet to be proven in a large-scale. Countries are responsible for accounting for their carbon emissions themselves, with the UN summit taking its fi rst global look at progress in 2023. It will do the same every fi ve years thereafter. With a handful of developed countries largely responsible for historic carbon emissions, the agreement makes development-based distinctions - with industrialised Philippine National Police Chief General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa (centre) and other police off icials salute as they wear local Igorot tribe headdress while singing the countries committing to seeing peak emissions sooner national anthem during a visit at police Camp Dangwa, Benguet province in northern Philippines on September 2. and extending technology transfer and damage control assistance to vulnerable places like island states. Additionally, developing countries have said that, in some cases, their ability to curb emissions by switching to renewable energy sources will require outside fi nancial support. Apple still a star without Jobs, but doubts linger Often when such countries are trying to deal with other pressing issues - like fi ghting poverty and hunger - they AFP developed a successful product,” said should have been out there now to “Apple bides its time and when it Washington technology analyst Jack Gold of J compete with Tesla.” can make a signifi cant contribution to simply can’t aff ord to spend more money on renewable Gold Associates. Jobs’s successor Tim Cook has won a category it comes in and improves energy. “With each successful generation plaudits for his performance keeping the experience. That was true in the Recognising this, and the need to pour investment into ive years after the death of (of a product) it becomes harder. The Apple on a steady path, even though no Steve Jobs era as well.” renewable energy technology in order to bring down its Apple co-founder Steve question becomes, ‘What’s the next one sees him as the same kind of leader. Dawson said it is not clear if Apple Jobs, the Silicon Valley tech big thing?’ and it’s not clear what that “Tim Cook is an operations guy, he would be in a diff erent place if Jobs price, developed countries also agreed in 2015 to a goal of giant is bigger and stronger, is going to be.” is great in getting the supply chain to were alive today, with the smartphone making available $100bn per year by 2020 to help developing F despite lingering doubts over its future Vivek Wadhwa, a Carnegie Mellon churn out things,” said Jan Dawson of market largely saturated and touch countries. without the visionary leader. University professor and former Jackdaw Research. competition from rivals. That decision, however, is not in the legal agreement but a In fi nancial terms, Apple has been Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was more “He knows his limitations. He “People look at the iPhone and say an unstoppable juggernaut: Its profi t blunt, saying Apple is living off its knows he is not the most charismatic nothing else has lived up to that, but section preceding it. for the 2015 fi scal year was a whopping earlier innovations with little new to presenter. He knows he is not Steve there aren’t any other technology $53bn on revenues of $234 bn - both off er. Jobs.” categories like that,” he said. fi gures doubled since the fi nal year “We have seen no major innovations Still, Dawson sees Cook as broadly Wadhwa argued however that Cook To Advertise of Jobs’s reign before he died of for Apple” since the Steve Jobs era, successful in keeping Apple on track. has had chances to “reinvent” the pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011. Wadhwa told AFP. He noted that Apple has doubled company and has failed to do so. [email protected] Apple’s market value is more than With the latest iPhone 7, Wadhwa its spending on research and “He’s basically an operations guy Display $600bn, below its 2015 highs but more said, “they market it well but it’s the development since Cook took over. who is living in the past,” Wadhwa than twice its level of 2011 and holding same device all over again.” “They stick to a certain price point said. Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 above Google parent Alphabet as the Apple has moved into new services and a premium experience, and that Wadhwa posited that Apple, with Classified world’s most valuable corporation. such as streaming music and hasn’t changed from Steve Jobs to Tim its vast cash reserves, could buy Tesla Still, some analysts question mobile payments, and is believed Cook,” Dawson said. and put its highly regarded chief Elon Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 whether Apple - which redefi ned the to be working on virtual reality and Apple has succeeded not by being Musk in charge of the company. Subscription smartphone experience with its trend- autonomous driving technology. fi rst in a market segment but by “You need a crazy visionary leading [email protected] setting iPhone introduced in 2007 and But the bulk of its revenue and improving and perfecting certain the company,” he said. created a vast ecosystem of mobile profi ts still come from the iPhone. products. “People have shown a lot of applications - is losing momentum. “They haven’t fi gured out what they “They weren’t the fi rst to make an patience because we all love Apple. 2016 Gulf Times. All rights reserved “It’s really hard to keep up the want to deliver,” Wadhwa said. MP3 player or smartphone or tablet,” And I love Apple. So it’s not too late to innovation cycle when you have “If they wanted an Apple car it Dawson said. save the company.” Gulf Times Wednesday, October 5, 2016 23 COMMENT Unrest puts Ethiopian govt on the ropes

Ethiopia is going through localised misrule at the state level. Merera Gudina, chairman of Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia from 1991 When Ethiopian marathon runner another opposition party, the Oromo until his death in offi ce in 2012, wasn’t its most widespread Feyisa Lilesa celebrated at the fi nish Federalist Congress, believes the blind to such frictions. He chose as his and sustained protests line in the Rio Olympics by crossing ruling EPRDF’s political project successor Hailemariam Desalegn, who his forearms above his head, the of “ethnic federalism” could be hails from a minority southern ethnic since the ruling Ethiopia symbol of the opposition movement, unravelling. group. People’s Revolutionary he drew attention to the months of “What’s happening is a While proving himself an able government crackdowns on protest. combination of everything: historical technocrat, Hailemariam hasn’t been Democratic Front came to Since November 2015, that has cost marginalisation and present able to restrain Ethiopia’s competing upwards of 600 lives, according to marginalisation,” he told IRIN. “It’s elements and balance its fragile ethnic power in 1991 human rights groups. a revolt against minority rule and its politics. “The oppressed stay silent but policies.” But he hasn’t been shy of speaking By James Jeff rey/IRIN eventually you reach a critical mass The EPRDF’s federal constitution out, warning that issues facing the Addis Ababa and then it boils over,” said Yilikal was meant to accommodate the regime are a matter of “life or death,” Getenet, chairman of the opposition country’s impressive diversity of more and criticising party members for Blue Party. “Hundreds have been than 80 ethnic groups, providing for using “public authority for personal n Sunday evening, the killed but they keep protesting. They shared and decentralised power. gain at all levels.” restaurants of Addis Ababa go to protests knowing the risks. So But the EPRDF is seen as controlled And he appears willing to were doing their usual what does that tell you?” by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation make concessions. In the wake Obrisk business. Just 50km The Oromo are the country’s largest Front, which waged a successful of the initial Oromo protests, the south of the Ethiopian capital, in the ethnic group, constituting 35% of the guerrilla war against the 14-year government shelved the ostensible picturesque volcanic lake town of country’s nearly 100mn population. military dictatorship of Haile Mariam cause: a plan to expand Addis Bishoftu, more than 100 people lay They have historically felt short- Mengistu. Ababa into the surrounding Oromia dead. changed by successive regimes in Tigrayans form only about 6% of countryside. This unprecedented About 2mn ethnic Oromo had Addis Ababa, and, initially, the unrest the population but have a key role in government compromise was praised turned up to celebrate a traditional was confi ned to the Oromia Region. government, business, and especially by many. cultural festival. But a deadly But then in August, similar the security forces – to the chagrin of “Obviously, the government has stampede ensued after police fi red grassroots protest broke out among those that are locked out. to maintain law and order. That’s the teargas at protesters who were the Amhara, Ethiopia’s second largest “The TPLF has trapped itself by point of a government. But you have chanting anti-government slogans ethnic group, starting in the ancient ethnicising political life without to balance things: on the one hand law and throwing stones and bottles. city of Gondar. For the fi rst time, accepting real autonomy for every and order, but on the other you have to Ethiopia is going through its most the government seemed to be on the regional state,” explained Robert deliver genuine solutions to people’s widespread and sustained protests ropes. Wiren, a French journalist who demands,” noted Lidetu Ayele, since the ruling Ethiopia People’s “This movement, fundamentally, specialises on the Horn of Africa. founder of the opposition Ethiopia Revolutionary Democratic Front involves the peasants in the “It is an open secret that behind Democratic Party. came to power in 1991. It’s testing the countryside,” said human rights each regional state leader there is a “If you balance that, you can really leadership’s grip, and its big idea of a lawyer Abebe Hailu. “This kind of unoffi cial political supervisor,” handle the situation. Otherwise, if “developmental state”- the implied government came into being with the he said. “Since Ethiopia’s economic you always pretend and play the same bargain in which the government support of the rural poor. Now it is the growth is due to a centralised-driven old political game, it cannot take you delivers economic growth, in rural poor that is against them - this is process, a lot of non-Tigray people anywhere.” exchange for acquiescence over its the irony.” suspect the Tigray elite to be the only The government has started talking authoritarianism. Addis Ababa, the hub of political Addis Ababa is booming, but not all benefit benefi ciary of the economic boom.” about reforms. But for a country with Although there has been signifi cant power and the engine of Ethiopia’s This style of governance has a millennia of centralised, autocratic economic growth over the past two economy, has remained relatively joint press releases, mounting the right leadership,” said Yilikal, the alienated the Amhara, who historically rule – fi rst under its emperors and decades, it has not kept pace with a cocooned. But there is undoubtedly a joint demonstrations outsides opposition party chairman. provided the emperors that ruled the then its military leaders – that’s much “youth bulge,” rising unemployment degree of uncertainty lurking among embassies abroad, and both groups “That was why, when the Amhara country. The Oromo feel they have easier said than done. and growing inequality. The the sparkly new malls and rushing are expressing solidarity with their protested in Gondar, they carried always been excluded, fi rst by the “People need to be calm and bargain seems to be fraying in the traffi c. counterparts. posters calling for an imprisoned Amhara, and then by the Tigrayans, a patient,” said Abebe, the human rights face of increasingly obvious public It’s hard to say how closely the “The immediate causes of the two Oromo leader to be freed. Activists reality that could limit the strength of lawyer. “And we need acceptance by corruption, disaff ection with the Amhara and Oromo activists are sets of protests were diff erent but from either side are releasing messages the new opposition alliance. the government about making real suff ocation of civil liberties, and co-operating; but they are releasing they have the same demands: deliver to stand together.” The towering fi gure of Meles reforms.” Weather report The problem with aid convoys in Syria Three-day forecast TODAY High: 36 C By Annie Slemrod Ben Parker/IRIN was nary an interagency convoy in the offi cial added. Times have changed. aid shipped, possibly much less. sight. Some individual wings of the UN, The latest public update from OCHA, As one senior UN offi cial familiar Low : 27 C Damascus Hazy to misty at places at first namely the World Food Programme, did the UN’s aid co-ordination body, with the Syria operation put it: “UN becomes hot day time with slight their own food deliveries. reports 115 inter-agency convoys to aid convoys have been diminished to dust at places at times. s fl ames leap in the The International Committee of the besieged or hard-to-reach areas this symbolic (as opposed to meaningful and background, a volunteer from Red Cross began to expand operations, year, including 32 led by UNRWA, the suffi cient) means of supporting those in THURSDAY the Syrian White Helmets and the UN sometimes gave the Syrian UN’s agency for Palestine refugees. need, especially in besieged areas.” High: 36 C holds aloft a bag of diapers. Arab Red Crescent (SARC) goods to These high-profi le convoys are It’s not just that the convoys are not Low: 24 C A Sunny “From the UN”, he says. The blurry deliver. typically a few dozen trucks each. They enough. video shows the aftermath of the In the spring of 2012, as the number carry mixed cargo, including food, Accusations that the UN is overly deadliest attack on aid workers yet in of displaced and needy rose (people household goods, hygiene and sanitary infl uenced by the Assad government Syria. At least 20 people died while had started taking shelter in Damascus supplies from agencies like WFP have plagued the aid operation since its FRIDAY carrying aid in rural Aleppo, with both public gardens), the UN put together its and Unicef. However, medicines and early days. But there’s more to the story. High: 36 C the corpses of Syrian Arab Red Crescent fi rst multi-agency convoy in an eff ort surgical supplies are frequently banned These days, the humanitarian task Low: 24 C workers and the detritus of the to increase effi ciency and bring help to or removed by Syrian offi cials. force negotiating convoy movements Sunny humanitarian cargo burned or ruined. new parts of the country. They’re almost always followed by sits in Geneva, tied in with the With hopes for an end to the war A former UN offi cial, then based press releases and a fl urry of tweets, but International Syria Support Group. dashed time and again, much hope in Damascus and instrumental in despite their prominence and publicity Aid is meant to be neutral, impartial, Fishermen’s forecast has been pinned on these UN-led aid these fi rst eff orts, told IRIN that it turns out UN-led inter-agency and independent – three of the four OFFSHORE DOHA “inter-agency” convoys into mostly even though these were only four convoys, emblazoned with logos and guiding humanitarian principles. Wind: NW 05-15 KT besieged and hard-to-reach areas, and or fi ve-truck convoys, just carrying accompanied by staff and 4x4s, are Convoys that are only allowed in during Waves: 2-4 Feet the recent attack has brought them into hygiene materials, they were still a pain the exception in the overall Syria aid negotiated ceasefi res, or are linked INSHORE DOHA Wind: NW-NE 05-15 KT further focus. to get off the ground. Even in these response, not the rule. to “evacuations” (such as Daraya), Waves: 1-2 Feet But are these convoys – carefully early days, “the whole thing was very WFP reports that 3,000 truckloads a would struggle to approach these choreographed, breathlessly reported, bureaucratic,” the offi cial said. month (or an average of 100 per day) are ideals. On September 29, UN aid chief Around the region and sometimes lifesaving – the “In the beginning, they (the al-Assad on the move as part of their operation Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Weather Weather best way to bring aid to a desperate regime) didn’t want international staff to supply food to 4mn people across the Council, for example, that “tit-for- today Max/min tomorrow Max/min population? Are they becoming more going. Then they eventually agreed. It country. tat”, synchronised deliveries to Madaya Abu Dhabi Sunny 35/26 Sunny 35/26 risky? Are they an overhyped symptom was a bit of a nightmare, and a lot of Mercy Corps, likely the biggest and three other towns involved in two Baghdad Sunny 37/19 Sunny 38/19 Dubai Sunny of a politicised aid system that has wasted time, but eventually we did it.” supplier of cross-border relief from pairs of choreographed sieges were P Cloudy 34/28 34/28 Kuwait City Sunny 37/22 Sunny 37/23 failed the people of Syria? Despite the wrangling required, Turkey, reports that their monthly “unconscionable.” Manama Sunny 34/24 Sunny 34/25 Or perhaps all of the above? the UN offi cial said these convoys deliveries reach more than 600,000 A second former UN offi cial in Muscat Sunny 33/28 Sunny 33/28 It’s time to ask some hard questions were useful in terms of building trust people, which would amount to Damascus told IRIN that placing the Riyadh Sunny 36/19 Sunny 35/19 about how assistance is being delivered between the SARC (seen by many, but hundreds more per month in addition humanitarian task force in Geneva, as Tehran Sunny 28/15 Sunny 29/15 in Syria, and if it’s really helping that not this particular offi cial, as leaning to WFP. Add the plethora of other aid a subsidiary body of a political forum, much at all. towards the regime) and the UN. groups and operations by ICRC and “makes it very clear it’s a fallacy to ever Emergency aid largely consists of It showed the UN was “not just SARC separate from the UN, and the think independence, neutrality and goods; goods travel on trucks; and expecting the national organisations numbers rise even more. the other (humanitarian) principles are truckers tend to move in convoy. That’s (like SARC) to go and put themselves on At an absolute minimum, IRIN there”. how it’s done. But at the outset of the the front lines”, the offi cial said, adding estimates that 35,000 truckloads of And an analyst well placed to war in 2011, when all but the most that international UN staff joined the relief aid have been delivered around comment on Syria believes that astute observers predicted Bashar al- convoys in part because it was believed Syria in 2016. Continuing this back-of- operations like the ill-fated Aleppo Assad would fall quickly, in the vein of a they could serve as protection for the the-envelope calculation, inter-agency convoy are “feeding humanitarian Muammar Gaddafi or a Hosni Mubarak, Syrian staff . convoys into besieged and hard-to- blood, sweat and tears into the political UN-led aid in Syria was focused on “At the time, I didn’t think these reach areas, at an average of 30 trucks machine.” And that blood is almost Iraqi and Palestinian refugees and there convoys would be deliberately targeted,” each, represent less than 10% of total always Syrian.

Live issues Brain zapping can decrease psychiatric symptoms Around the world Weather Weather IANS (with an exponential increase in shown to improve cognition as well as today Max/min tomorrow Max/min M Sunny P Cloudy 26/17 New York publications), evidence that tDCS treat clinical symptoms,” Jog said. Athens 27/16 does what is being promised is not The study is a technological Beirut Sunny 28/21 Sunny 28/21 Bangkok T Storms 32/25 T Storms 31/25 conclusive,” said the study’s senior breakthrough, study co-author Maron Berlin Showers 12/10 Cloudy 12/08 lectrifying brain circuits author Danny J J Wang, professor of Bikson, professor at The City College of Cairo Sunny 32/22 Sunny 32/22 could treat neurological and neurology at Mark and Mary Stevens New York, noted. Cape Town P Cloudy 22/13 S Showers 16/10 psychiatric symptoms not Neuroimaging and Informatics “You cannot characterise what you Colombo T Storms 30/26 S T Storms 30/26 S T Storms 31/26 because it causes neurons to Institute, University of Southern cannot see, so this is a pivotal step in Dhaka 32/26 T Storms E Hong Kong S T Storms 30/28 M Sunny 31/28 fi re but it creates an environment that California in the US. the development of tDCS technology,” Istanbul Rain 19/14 P Cloudy 21/14 makes it more or less likely for neurons In this study, published in the journal Bikson said. Jakarta T Storms 31/24 T Storms 32/25 to fi re, researchers have found. Scientifi c Reports, the researchers researchers can develop science-based The researchers validated their MRI Karachi P Cloudy 33/27 Sunny 34/26 Rather than taking medication, a developed an MRI method whereby treatment,” Wang noted. algorithm with a phantom, where the London Sunny 16/09 Cloudy 14/11 Manila T Storms 31/25 T Storms 31/25 growing number of people who suff er the magnetic fi elds induced by tDCS People in antiquity used electric fi sh current path and induced magnetic fi eld Moscow S Showers 13/09 Cloudy 10/07 from chronic pain, epilepsy and drug currents can be visualised in living to zap away headaches, but tDCS, as it was known. New Delhi M Sunny 35/26 P Cloudy 34/26 cravings are zapping their skulls - humans. is now known, was introduced in 2000, Then they tested the method using New York Sunny 22/14 Sunny 24/14 using transcranial direct current “Scientists don’t yet understand said study lead author Mayank Jog, a simple biological tissue - a human calf. Paris Sunny 18/07 M Sunny 16/08 M Cloudy T Storms 23/13 stimulation (tDCS) - in the hope that the mechanisms at work, which graduate student conducting research Finally, they repeated the process on the Sao Paulo 20/13 Seoul Rain 24/12 P Cloudy 23/14 a weak electric current will jolt them prevents the FDA from regulating the at the David Geff en School of Medicine scalp of 12 healthy volunteers. Singapore S T Storms 32/25 S T Storms 32/26 back to health. therapy. Our study is the fi rst step to at University of California, Los Angeles. After 20 to 30 minutes in a scanner, Sydney Sunny 22/12 Sunny 26/14 “Although this therapy is taking off experimentally map the tDCS currents “Since then, this noninvasive, easy- the new algorithm produced an image Tokyo Cloudy 25/21 Cloudy 30/20 at the grassroots level and in academia in the brain and to provide solid data so to-use, low-cost technology has been of the magnetic fi eld tDCS created. Gulf Times 24 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 QATAR

HBKU provost elected president of global body

r Khaled B Letaief, prov- ost of Hamad Bin Khalifa DUniversity (HBKU), has been elected president of the Institute of Electrical and Elec- tronics Engineers (IEEE) Com- munications Society. Based on a vote by members in more than 160 countries, Dr Letaief won the contested race against a prominent professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. He will serve as IEEE Communications Society president for a two-year term beginning in 2018. Dr Khaled B Letaief “I hope to continue to Participants of the programme. build key relationships was founded in 1952 and is com- in the region, highlight prised of industry professionals, local achievements, engineers, and academics from and help facilitate around the world who share a important conversations common interest in advancing all on developments communications technologies. in communications Dr Letaief said it is indeed technologies across the very gratifying to see a member Siemens, QF team up to world” of HBKU and Qatar Foundation play an important role in shap- The US-based IEEE is rec- ing the future of IEEE by advanc- ognised as the world’s largest ing technological innovation and technical professional organisa- excellence for the benefi t of hu- tion and boasts over 420,000 manity. members across the globe. The “Earlier this year was the fi rst develop national talent institute publishes a third of the time a major IEEE conference world’s technical literature in was held in the Middle East and he second edition of a “Building on the success of fi rst-hand about the latest tech- a company like ours can con- opportunity for developing the electrical engineering, compu- through my role as president, I training and knowledge the fi rst edition, the six-month nologies from Siemens and the tribute to skills transfer, while skills and knowledge necessary ter science, and electronics and hope to continue to build key re- Ttransfer programme has internship off ers participants inner workings of a multinational also learning from the interns’ to build a sustainable economy.” helps determine international lationships in the region, highlight commenced at Siemens in Qatar, exposure to some of the key corporation, while also contrib- local knowledge and unique in- Participant Shaikha Khalifa standards that underpin many of local achievements, and help facil- seeking to inspire and develop projects being executed by uting to signifi cant projects that sights.” al-Sowidi is involved in multiple today’s telecommunications and itate important conversations on promising Qatari talent. Siemens in Qatar, focusing on directly support Qatar National Mohamed Abdulaziz al-Nai- projects and plays an important information technology prod- developments in communications The Qatar Foundation and electrifi cation, automation and Vision 2030. mi, chief operations offi cer at role within the human resourc- ucts and services. technologies across the world.” Siemens Talent Training Pro- digitisation. “It’s impressive to witness the QF, added: “The Qatar Founda- es team. She is responsible for It has also sponsored more Prior to joining HBKU in Sep- gramme, a collaborative eff ort The participants, including commitment and dedication of tion and Siemens Talent Train- helping introduce Siemens to than 1,600 conferences in 95 tember 2015, Dr Letaief served between Siemens and Qatar Abdulla al-Fadala, Shaikha Kha- the interns. They bring to the ing Programme refl ects our the youth in Qatar by driving the countries with Dr Letaief playing in a variety of esteemed posts Foundation for Education, Sci- lifa al-Sowidi, Abdulwahab al- table valuable contributions to wider vision to empower our company’s collaboration with a key role in bringing the IEEE such as dean of engineering at ence and Community Develop- Yousef and Mooza al-Sowaidi, some of our major projects and nation’s greatest asset: its peo- non-profi t organisations dedi- Wireless Communications and the Hong Kong University of Sci- ment (QF), will see a number of will receive comprehensive train- deliver strong results,” said Diet- ple. We, alongside Siemens, are cated to educating local youth. Networking Conference to Qatar ence and Technology, director of promising QF employees par- ing from mentors and shadow mar Siersdorfer, CEO of Siemens delighted to provide this six- Her favourite aspect of working in 2016. Huawei Innovation Laboratory, ticipate in the comprehensive senior managers throughout in the Middle East and UAE. month internship for our em- at Siemens is “the innovation- The IEEE Communications and director of the Hong Kong internship programme, according their internships. This will give “This collaboration between ployees, as training within the driven energy and friendly work- Society, for which the HBKU Telecom Institute of Information to a press statement. them the opportunity to learn QF and Siemens epitomises how workplace off ers an excellent ing environment”. provost will serve as president Technology.

Khalid J al-Emadi (right) speaks at the launch of the Q-Post Arabic e-commerce portal as Maud Daniel looks on. PICTURE: Jayan Orma Qatar Post launches Arabic e-commerce portal

By Ramesh Mathew been receiving positive feedback from Daniel. The services from China would Staff Reporter customers and some more features were be available from next month, she an- added to the Arabic portal. nounced. Besides introducing a rate calculator The Q-Post offi cial also said the new atar Post (Q-Post) has launched on the portal, the company has also an- service off ers consolidation of parcels the Arabic website of its e-com- nounced the opening of a new procure- ordered from separate vendors into one Qmerce service ‘Connected by Qa- ment warehouse in China for its pro- shipment at a discounted price. The tar Post’, which is described as a ‘unique’ curement from that country. movement of the parcel from the origi- channel off ering several parcel delivery It was also announced yesterday that nating point would be closely monitored options. the new service off ers 30% discount in and tracked until it is delivered to the “The new service would also provide tariff s to all new customers. customers. collection facility for customers from any In addition, customers using the serv- Daniel said the response to the ‘Con- of the 25 branches of the Q-Post apart ice until December will also be qualifi ed nected by Qatar Post’ English portal from the option of keeping the ordered to enter a draw to win prizes of business has been impressive and more than parcels in its smart lockers on its arrival,” class to tickets to Europe. One winner 10,000 members have so far joined the deputy director (sales and marketing) will be awarded per month and the fi nal service. Khalid J al-Emadi said. draw will be held on January 8, 2017. “In about six months, we have deliv- Under the service, home delivery is “While some of the international on- ered more than 7,000 parcels,” she said. also provided. line stores do not provide international The offi cial also hoped that the pres- Recalling the strides made by the shipping options, the ‘Connected’ pro- ence of warehouses in the US and UK and ‘Connected by Qatar Post’ English por- vides international shipping addresses in the new one starting in China would en- tal since its launch more than six months the UK and the US,” said Q-Post’s Mar- hance the volume of parcel fl ow through ago, al-Emadi said the company has keting & Communications head Maud the new service.

Court orders ministry to pay teacher gratuity

The administrative court has rejected a case terday that the court ordered the Ministry concerned. The teacher was issued the same filed by the Ministry of Education and Higher to pay her the equivalent of two months decision earlier by the General Retirement Education to deny a retired Qatari teacher salary for each year of her work service that and Social Insurance Authority Committee the end of service gratuity for the years of exceeded 20 years of service. for the review of disputes. However, the min- service that exceeded 20 years. The court established the right of the istry opted to approach the court to appeal Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yes- teacher based on the laws and regulations the decision.