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MPHC’s 5-year strategy Qatar International focuses on effi ciency and cost optimisation Boat Show opens published in QATAR since 1978

WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXX No. 11121 March 13, 2019 Rajab 6, 1440 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

In brief Brexit deal setback for May QFZA launches

QATAR | Offi cial Amir holds phone talk new port and with Congo’s president His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani held yesterday a telephone conversation with the President marine cluster of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi. During the The new area, located this centuries-old sector,” said Fahad phone call, they reviewed bilateral right next to Hamad Zainal, chief corporate support offi cer, relations and ways to enhance speaking at the opening of the Qatar them, especially in the political Port and just 20 minutes International Boat Show in Doha. and economic fields, in addition from downtown Doha, The authority will participate in the to discussing a number of issues is designed to be a boat show this week, where representa- of common concern. The Amir tives from QFZA will be available to dis- congratulated President Felix on fully integrated marine cuss opportunities at Marsa and the ap- assuming his presidential duties, ecosystem able to support plication process. Potential applicants wishing him success and the people a wide range of marine can also visit QFZA’s website for more of Congo further development. information at https://fza.gov.qa/, or business contact a member of the business devel- QATAR | Offi cial opment team at [email protected]. atar Free Zones Author- An authority that develops and over- Hurricane Harvey ity (QFZA) has announced the sees world-class free zones in Qatar, projects discussed Qlaunch of a new port and ma- QFZA recently signed three memoran- HE the Deputy Prime Minister and rine cluster, called ‘Marsa’, at the heart dums of understanding (MoUs) with Minister of Foreign Aff airs Sheikh Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray (centre) protests outside the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday. Prime Minister of Umm Alhoul Free Zone. The new leading entities in China to “fuel fur- Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated in an historic parliamentary vote that risked pitching Britain into the unknown just 17 area, located right next to Hamad Port ther growth” within the free zone de- al-Thani met yesterday with the days before its scheduled split from the European Union. Page 13 and just 20 minutes from downtown velopment and wider Qatari economy. visiting US delegation from the Doha, is designed to be a fully integrat- An MoU was signed with the China Advisory Council for Hurricane ed marine ecosystem able to support a Council for the Promotion of Interna- Harvey. The meeting discussed the wide range of marine business. tional Trade (CCPIT) in the presence projects implemented based on the Marsa has a 1.6km long, 500m wide of the leadership of the two countries $30mn granted by His Highness draught and a total of 3km of quay wall, among other agreements signed be- the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad allowing it to service ships up to 70m tween the two sides. al-Thani for the victims of Hurricane AFC yields to Saudi pressure, long. Applications for real estate in the The MoU will facilitate co-operation Harvey in Texas. The council cluster are now open, and key expected through information exchange mecha- members thanked Qatar’s eff orts activities include but are not limited to nisms and building a business-to- in supporting the victims of the shipbuilding and repair, internal design business consultation platform. hurricane during the past years. breaches beIN’s rights deal and fi t-out, boat brokerage and mari- Additionally, the partnership will time research. “focus on implementing exchanges to QATAR | Telecom “QFZA is proud to play a role in the assist business communities in bet- atar-based beIN MEDIA GROUP Rather than tackling Saudi Arabia’s sive rights. beIN is immediately set to exciting developments happening in ter understanding relevant regulations CRA resolves 92% of is set to launch a major interna- illegal measures against its legitimate launch international legal proceed- Qatar’s maritime industry, and we hope that govern” business activities in Qa- consumers’ complaints Qtional legal dispute against the broadcaster, the AFC – in appar- ings against the AFC as a result. beIN to continue to support the growth of tar or China. Page 20 Communications Regulatory Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for ent collusion with the Saudi Arabian will continue to broadcast all its rights, Authority resolved 92% of telecom material breach of its multi-million dol- Football Federation (SAFF) – has uni- including all AFC tournaments and consumers’ complaints received lar broadcast agreement. laterally decided to live-stream Saudi- matches, on its channels across the in 2018, CRA said yesterday. CRA The AFC yesterday announced that related matches into Saudi Arabia geo- Mena region. engaged with telecom service it will live-stream matches featuring blocked on the AFC’s Facebook Live In caving into Saudi Arabia’s illegal providers to resolve and discuss Saudi Arabian clubs in the AFC Asian and YouTube channels. actions against beIN and eff ectively 737 Max grounded across globe solutions for all the complaints, Champions League for free into Saudi In what is a clear political move by endorsing Saudi Arabia’s notorious which were “related to several Arabia on the AFC’s own digital chan- the AFC seemingly in full collabora- ongoing piracy operation beoutQ, the ountries around the world yes- topics such as billing, weak mobile nels. tion with SAFF (which pre-emptively AFC is not only in material breach terday joined the wave of sus- network coverage, weak Internet Nearly 18 months ago, Saudi Arabia announced the AFC’s plans 24 hours of its multi-million dollar broadcast Cpensions of Boeing’s 737 Max speed, fixed-line disconnection unlawfully and overnight forced beIN earlier), the Confederation’s deci- agreement with beIN, but its actions aircraft even as US President Donald and delays in service installation MEDIA GROUP (beIN), the legitimate sion undermines the central condition threaten the business model that Trump spoke with Boeing CEO Den- and activation.” CRA received pay-TV broadcaster for all AFC com- of its regional broadcast agreement sports rights holders all around the nis Muilenburg to discuss the recent some 4,342 inquiries and 1,005 petitions in Mena, out of the country. with beIN, namely the grant of exclu- world rely on. Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 complaints from consumers about people. telecom services in Qatar. Page 5 Also, the head of a US Senate panel that oversees aviation issues said yes- QATAR | Aviation terday that he plans to hold hearings on A SilkAir Boeing 737 Max aircraft parked the fatal crashes of two Boeing 737 Max on the tarmac of Changi International Qatar Airways conducts US, Taliban make substantial progress in talks 8 jets since October last year, and sug- Airport in Singapore yesterday. all-female crew fl ight gested it would be “prudent” to tempo- Qatar Airways celebrated a he United States and the Taliban its allies, or any other country. Mutlaq bin Majid al-Qahtani. rarily ground the planes. months, the US regulators have stopped landmark flight on Sunday, March made substantial progress in The two parties, assisted by Qatari The US was represented by the Spe- The telephone call between Trump short of doing so. The US Federal Avia- 10, as its scheduled service from Ttheir latest round of peace talks mediators, agreed that a lasting peace cial Representative for Afghanistan, and Muilenburg took place after the tion Administration (FAA) has a team in Brussels to Doha was operated by a from February 25 to March 12, 2019 in agreement should be based on four ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and on president sent a tweet earlier in the day Ethiopia working on the investigation, crew made up entirely of 15 women Qatar. The last round of peace talks main interlinked components that the other hand, the Taliban was repre- that said “airplanes are becoming far but said there are “no updates so far”. on Airbus A350. The flight was the took place from January 21 to 26. shall be executed pursuant to an agreed sented by Sher Mohamed Abbas Stan- too complex to fl y”. Muilenburg assured Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz, the first time all crew members - from The talks focused on two main issues: upon timeline and conditions. ikzai, the Lead Taliban Negotiator. Trump that the aircraft is safe and reli- Republican who chairs a subcommittee the cockpit right through to the the withdrawal of the US and Coalition The talks were hosted and medi- Both parties thanked Qatar for able, an industry source told AFP. on aviation and space, said it would be cabin - had a 100% female roster Forces from Afghanistan, and the Tali- ated by Qatar, represented by HE its extensive eff orts and construc- While many countries have banned prudent for the US to join other regu- which promote greater gender ban’s commitment to preventing and the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Spe- tive support in mediating the longest the 737 Max 8 from their skies follow- lators “to temporarily ground 737 Max diversification in the aviation denying the use of Afghan soil in a man- cial Envoy for Counterterrorism and round of negotiations, lasting a total of ing the crash in Ethiopia on Sunday, aircraft”. To Page 5 industry. Page 3 ner that threatens the security of the US, Mediation in Conflict Resolution Dr 16 consecutive days. – QNA the second involving the model in fi ve Business Page 12 QF pledges 50% female representation on conference panels

atar Foundation has made the tion, a key player in Qatar’s economic from 2020 onward, we aim to further Africa region, and around the world; and Summit for Health (WISH), QF initia- pledge that women will make up and social transformation through its emphasise Qatar Foundation’s role as ensure that both male and female per- tives respectively focused on shaping Qat least half the panel speakers initiatives in education, science and re- a leader and driver of inclusivity and spective is applied to the task of tackling the future of education and healthcare at all its conferences and events, locally search, and community development – positive social change, nationally and issues that lie at the core of economic, through innovation and global collabo- and internationally from 2020. means participants in discussions and regionally – and the necessity of both social, and human development. ration. Announcing the pledge, HE Sheikha debates at every QF event, from sum- men and women being part of making QF’s Education City ‘multiversity’ – Their events include biennial inter- Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice Chair- mits to workshops, will always be no this change happen,” she added. home to nine universities – has a pre- national summits that bring together person and CEO of QF, said: “It is my less than 50% female. Announced in the wake of the recent dominantly female student body, in decision-makers, thought leaders, belief, and that of Qatar Foundation, “The pledge we announce today is a International Women’s Day, the move which half of its engineering students and education and health practition- that neither gender nor any other con- natural, visible, and powerful exten- builds on the impact QF has made, over are women. Meanwhile, women com- ers from around the world, and include sideration should present a barrier to sion of this belief. Through our invest- more than two decades, in providing prise 40% of QF’s leadership. high-level panel sessions. The most a person’s development, their pursuit ment in education and our ethos as an opportunities for people to participate In 2018, QF hosted around 40 major recent WISE Summit, in 2017, saw over of opportunity, and their voice being organisation, Qatar Foundation’s com- in driving the advancement of society local and international events, collec- 100 speakers contribute to more than heard in global conversations about mitment to providing opportunities for HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani on a local and global scale – regardless tively attended by over 55,000 people. 50 sessions, with 2,000 delegates at- topics, themes, and challenges that af- everyone to be an active participant in of gender, background, and culture and Among the platforms that will repre- tending from over 150 countries. Mean- fect all of society.” society is personifi ed by the diversity of and beyond,” explained Sheikha Hind. to fostering diversity and inclusivity. sent QF’s ’50 percent female’ pledge while, almost 2,200 healthcare experts The regionally groundbreaking the achievers and role models we nur- “Now, by committing to having at The pledge aims to strengthen dia- on the international stage are the from 116 nations participated in the pledge – which will take eff ect from ture, and the impact they are making in least 50% female representation on logue and action on platforms within World Innovation Summit for Educa- WISH 2018 Summit, which featured 22 the start of 2020 across the organisa- a wide spectrum of fi elds within Qatar all our conference and event panels Qatar, across the Middle East and North tion (WISE) and the World Innovation expert panels. To Page 6 Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 QATAR Promotion of scientifi c research is ‘strategic aim of education ministry’

QNA Doha

he Ministry of Educa- tion and Higher Educa- Ttion and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a mem- ber of Qatar Foundation (QF), yesterday hosted the opening ceremony of the 11th edition of the National Scientifi c Research Week (NSRW), under the theme ‘Promising Researchers for Qa- tar. HE Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi attended the opening ceremony at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) and offi cially HE Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and Dr Abdul launched NSRW 2019. Sattar al-Taie, Executive Director, Qatar National Research Fund, launch the opening ceremony of the 11th HE al-Hammadi said the ex- edition of the National Scientific Research Week, together with off icials from the Ministry of Education and hibition enables students to ac- Higher Education, QNRF, and guests. HE al-Hammadi being briefed on a student’s project at the exhibition. quire scientifi c skills and ethics. Praising the valuable and fruit- exhibition and commended stu- cational initiative aimed at en- the Ministry of Education and practices in scientifi c research, the necessary research skills and stage, QNRF organised on 10 ful partnership with QNRF, HE dents for putting forward high- hancing and celebrating the Higher Education. students are promoting the ex- prepare them to contribute to March, for the fi rst time, a Sci- al-Hammadi said: “The promo- quality research projects in the research skills of students, pro- These include the promo- change of research expertise as the economic prosperity and de- ence Funfair for primary school tion of scientifi c research is a computing, biomedicine, math- moting a spirit of co-operation tion of project-based learning, well as innovation and creativity velopment of this country. students, which aims to intro- strategic objective of the Min- ematics, natural sciences, and and competition, achieving ex- school clubs, and curricula de- in the educational fi eld.” Qatar has emerged as a pioneer duce them to scientifi c con- istry of Education and Higher engineering fi elds. cellence in scientifi c research, velopment, which contributes “The exhibition is also an in recognising and developing the cepts through various games and Education, in line with our mis- “These eff orts refl ect growing and empowering young scien- to building research capacity educational investment aimed potential of its students by build- group activities. sion to strengthen the human student awareness and contrib- tists to participate in regional across Qatar. at building our human capital ing their scientifi c research skills Assistant Undersecretary for development pillar and achieve ute to advancing Qatar’s devel- and international competitions. He explained that the Ministry at diff erent stages and achieving through the various competitions Educational Aff airs of the Min- the objectives of Qatar National opment priorities,” he said. He added that the initiative also of Education and Higher Educa- the ministry’s vision in terms of and activities in the National Sci- istry of Education and Higher Vision 2030, particularly in the HE al-Hammadi called on strengthens partnerships with tion seeks to empower students developing a world-class edu- entifi c Research Week. Education Fawzia al-Khater wake of the development of new participants to invest in these national research institutions at a cultural, economic, and so- cation system that provides eq- “I am very impressed with the expressed her happiness at the curricula under the framework of initiatives to bolster innovation through the exchange of expertise cial level, and to encourage youth uitable opportunities to access quality of the projects our bud- level of student research. Qatar’s national educational cur- and entrepreneurship in order and best practices, empowering to employ their scientifi c knowl- quality education and training, ding scientists and researchers She said that the excellence of riculum, which focuses on build- to support Qatar’s knowledge- a promising generation of scien- edge and research outcomes in while equipping students with have created, which demon- the projects indicates that they ing 21st century skills such as based economy. tists who will, in turn, share their benefi ting society and Qatar’s the necessary skills and compe- strate their creative potential have the skills of scientifi c re- research, problem-solving, criti- Speaking on the occasion, the knowledge with productive and sustainable development. tencies to achieve their potential and innovative capabilities. search. cal thinking, and eff ective com- Undersecretary of the Ministry service sectors in Qatar. “The student exhibition has in line with their aspirations and QNRF fi rmly believes that The week-long series of com- munication skills, in addition to of Education and Higher Edu- Dr al-Nuaimi also said that gained importance and its out- potential.” such initiatives will encourage petitions and science-related language skills and mathematical cation Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al- the quality of research projects comes have attracted increasing Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, Ex- more students to study STEM- activities received 722 research competencies, which are impor- Nuaimi, praised students for de- displayed at the NSRQ refl ects attention from various educa- ecutive Director, QNRF, said: based subjects and pursue sci- project submissions from stu- tant when it comes to scientifi c livering high-quality and diverse the strength of the educational tional partners,” he said. “Since its establishment, QNRF entifi c research, innovation, and dents across schools in Qa- research methodologies.” research projects. competencies that Qatari stu- “By presenting their ideas and has strived to instil a culture of discovery.” tar, out of which 150 research HE al-Hammadi praised He said that the NSRW is an dents have acquired, due to the research outcomes, and discuss- scientifi c research in Qatar, from To develop a passion for sci- projects were selected to com- schools for participating in the inspiring academic and edu- sound strategies adopted by ing these projects in line with best a young age, to equip youth with ence and technology at an early pete in the fi nal round. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 3 QATAR

HBKU Press to take part in London and Qatar Airways conducts Paris book fairs fl ight with all-female crew

QNA can expand the reach of their QNA ranks of leadership.” Doha titles. Doha Commenting on the fl ight, “Over nine years of the European Commissioner for publishing house’s catalog of Transport Violeta Bulc, said: amad Bin Khalifa Uni- acclaimed works and innova- atar Airways celebrated “Women in transport are under- versity Press (HBKU tive publications, from award- a landmark fl ight on represented, constituting less HPress) is participating winning original titles in both QSunday 10 March as its than 5% of female pilots glo- in two of the most infl uential English and Arabic, to trans- scheduled service from Brussels bally. We need to change this and book fairs in the European re- lated works by globally recog- to Doha was operated by a crew strengthen women’s employ- gion: the London Book Fair nised authors and translators, made up entirely of 15 women on ment in the aviation sector. Ac- 2019 and Salon Livre Paris will be represented at both of Airbus A350. tions like Qatar Airways’ fl ight 2019 (the Paris Book Fair) these fairs,” explains Rima Is- The fl ight from the Belgian with an all-female crew are a LBF2019. mail, HBKU Press’ Outreach capital to the airline’s hub in great example how to bring down This will be HBKU Press’ and Special Projects Manager, Qatar was the fi rst time all crew stereotypes and encourage more second consecutive year adding that HBKU Press will members – from the cockpit women to join the sector. In the showcasing their catalog of present local Qatari and Arab right through to the cabin – had future I hope to see more fl ights works at the London Book Fair, talents in this global event and a 100% female roster. with a female captain and a fe- which runs from March 12-14; help to facilitate the dissemi- The airline recently an- male co-pilot and more concrete and is the fi rst time it ever par- nation of local talent and local nounced a ten-year partner- actions for a gender-balanced ticipates in the Paris Book Fair, narratives to diff erent regions ship with the International Air aviation sector. Greater gender from March 16-19. across the globe. Transport Association (IATA) for balance can drive progress and HBKU Press will be along- HBKU Press has already the launch of the ‘IATA Diversity development in all sectors of side thousands of other ex- established ties with Brit- & Inclusion Awards’, which pro- society. Only together can we hibitors participating in the ish publishing houses, liter- mote greater gender diversifi ca- create a planet that thrives and international fairs that host ary agencies, and distribution tion in the aviation industry. societies that blossom.” authors, literary agents, pub- centres since its inception in Speaking on the day of the lishing companies, publish- 2010 making it a stronghold in “Qatar Airways is fl ight, Member of the European ing-related companies as well the UK market. Year after year, committed to promoting Parliament Isabella De Monte, The flight from Brussels to Doha was the first time all crew members – from the cockpit right through to as and media outlets from and through its participation in gender diversity, both said: “Qatar Airways’ all-female the cabin – had a 100% female roster. around the world. such fairs, HBKU Press works within our airline and the crew fl ight departing today from At both fairs, HBKU Press closely with these stakehold- industry as a whole” the capital of Europe, the his- plans to promote the brand in- ers to engage in cross-cultural torical land of social rights and ternationally, enter into agree- communications to share Qatar Airways has commit- gender equality, highlights the ments to buy and sell the rights the best the region has to of- ted to supporting the awards for airline’s commitment to align of books that meet their stra- fer with UK audiences as well the next decade, as it recognises with the spirit of the EU-Qatar tegic vision, while establishing as translating notable British the need to encourage women to Comprehensive Air Transport relationships with entities that works into Arabic. succeed and excel at all levels of Agreement. Such an initiative the industry. The fi rst winners sends a clear message to the will be announced at the IATA world. Gender equality is about AGM in June. concrete actions and I praise HE Qatar Airways Group Chief Qatar Airways’ commitment to Executive Akbar al-Baker, said: make concrete steps in that di- “Qatar Airways is committed to rection.” promoting gender diversity, both Director General Mobility within our airline and the indus- and Transport at the European try as a whole. Our fl ight from Commission, Henrik Hololei, Brussels to Doha is a testament said: “It is wonderful to see that to our wider goal of ensuring that Qatar Airways encourages more women are equally represented women to join the aviation sec- at Qatar Airways, and recognises tor and promotes this great in- that the most advanced socie- dustry among future aviation At both fairs, HBKU Press plans to promote its brand. ties include women in the highest professionals.” Gulf Times 4 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 QATAR

Advisory Council Speaker holds meetings in Rabat

HE the Speaker of the Advisory Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud met Alassane Bala Sakande, speaker HE the Speaker of the Advisory Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud met the President of the House of the African Parliamentary Union and president of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, on the sidelines of the 14th of Representatives in Morocco Habib El Malki, on the sidelines of the 14th session of the Parliamentary Union of OIC session of the Conference of the Union of Councils of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) member-states (PUIC) conference and accompanying meetings, currently being held in Rabat. During the meeting they which is currently being held in Rabat. They discussed relations between the Advisory Council and the African discussed the ongoing parliamentary relations between Qatar and Morocco, and ways to develop them. They also Parliamentary Union and ways of boosting them, and reviewed the preparations by Qatar to host the 140th session of discussed important topics on the agenda of the PUIC conference. the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Speaker stresses importance of OIC Union of Councils conference

QNA moud expressed his hope operation (OIC) Member the Moroccan House of Rabat that this session will come States discussed many top- Representatives for the out with tangible results ics on its agenda through benefi t of both sides and the and objectives through the the various committees. two peoples. E the Speaker of the work of the committees to He praised the strong bi- HE al-Mahmoud also Advisory Council achieve the Islamic nation’s lateral relations between reviewed the role of the HAhmed bin Abdul- action required to face the Qatar and Morocco and the Advisory Council in Qatar, lah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud current situation. relations of co-operation adding that the Council stressed the importance of The Speaker of the Advi- between the Advisory Coun- is studying and propos- the 14th session of the Con- sory Council welcomed Ra- cil and the House of Repre- ing laws and inviting HE ference of Union of Coun- bat’s hosting of the confer- sentatives and the House of the prime minister and the cils of the Organisation of ence and said that Morocco Councillors in Morocco. ministers to discuss matters Islamic Co-operation (OIC) plays an important and HE al-Mahmoud stressed of the state. Member States, which is be- critical role in promoting that the Advisory Council He explained that the Ad- ing held in Rabat, saying it is solidarity and co-operation in Qatar and the House of visory Council and the gov- being held at a critical period among Islamic countries. Representatives in Morocco ernment of Qatar are two for the Islamic nation. He also pointed out that are considered one entity wings serving the country In a statement to report- the current Conference of and are always working to under the leadership of His ers on the sidelines of the Union of Councils of the develop the link between Highness the Amir Sheikh conference, HE al-Mah- Organisation of Islamic Co- the Advisory Council and Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Qatar reaffi rms commitment to support UN missions

QNA of international peace and complaints against blockade porting women in order to Geneva security. countries with a number of achieve equal rights and en- He added that since June international organisations hance their status in society, 2017, Qatar had been subject- such as the WTO and the pointing out that one of the atar values its strate- ed to a blockade and unilateral Committee on the Elimina- strongest women’s empow- gic partnership with coercive measures by some tion of Racial Discrimination, erment advocates in Qatar is Qthe United Nations countries of the region, which as well as the International Her Highness Sheikha Moza and has always worked to- contravened the UN Charter, Court of Justice. bint Nasser, who has worked wards achieving its objec- the peaceful relations be- On the role played by to highlight the important tives, including maintain- tween states, and caused nu- Qatari women in the ren- role of Qatari women and ing the international peace merous and grave violations aissance of the country, he encourage them to move and security, supporting of human rights. stressed that the political forward with social respon- international development HE al-Mansouri pointed leadership in Qatar plays sibilities and to participate eff orts, promoting and pro- out that Qatar has lodged an important role in sup- in public life. tecting human rights, pro- viding humanitarian relief, and participating in col- lective eff orts and initia- tives to address current and emerging challenges facing the world, HE the Perma- nent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Of- fi ce and other international organisations in Geneva ambassador Ali Khalfan al- Mansouri has stressed. In an interview to UN Special Magazine, issued by the UN offi ce in Geneva, HE al-Mansouri, highlighted the pivotal role played by Qatar in solving many of the thorny international issues, reducing tension in inter- national relations and con- tributing to the maintenance

Zakat Fund gives over QR13.9mn aid in February

The Zakat Fund of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Aff airs has extended assistance worth QR13.9mn in February 2019 to the beneficiaries of the registered families. The fund of QR13,950,829 in February 2019 included periodic assistance, tuition fees and treatment for 20,000 registered family beneficiaries in accordance with the Shariah regulations. The administration of the Zakat Fund is entrusted to collect Zakat Funds and to distribute it to those who meet the requirements of the Shariah regulations. QR10,825,601 was provided as periodic assistance monthly to eligible families. QR1,539,619 was provided as one-time assistance to eligible families. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 5 QATAR

Qatar takes part 737 Max groundings spread in UN session on CRA resolves 92% status of women From Page 1 ing the Boeing passenger jet. Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has The State of Qatar partici- The EU Aviation Safety Agency been suspended for all fl ights, pated in the 63rd session Cruz said he intends “to hold closed its airspace to all 737 including overfl ights, until fur- of the Commission on the a hearing to investigate these Max 8 and 9 aircraft, regardless ther notice”. Status of Women at the of consumers’ crashes, determine their con- of airline or origin of the fl ight, Other countries to suspend United Nations (UN) head- tributing factors, and ensure saying that, based on prelimi- the operations of Boeing 737 quarters in New York with that the United States aviation nary information, “further ac- Max aircraft include Austral- a delegation headed by HE industry remains the safest in tions may be necessary to ensure ia, Austria, Belgium, China, the Minister of Administra- the world”. the continued airworthiness of France, Germany, Indonesia, tive Development, Labour complaints in 2018 In the previous fatal accident the two aff ected models”. Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Social Aff airs Yousef involving the 737 Max 8, all Also joining the list was Ku- Norway, Oman, Poland, Singa- bin Mohammed al-Othman Communications were related to service discon- 189 passengers and crew were wait, whose civil aviation au- pore, Switzerland, Turkey, etc. Fakhro. The session, being Regulatory Authority nections, while 35% related to killed when a Lion Air fl ight thority yesterday banned the In a statement, Boeing said held from March 11 to 22, received some 4,342 billing, 15% related to delay in crashed on October 29, 2018. aircraft from its air space, state safety is its “number one pri- will discuss women’s issues, inquiries and 1,005 fixed-line service transfer, in- The European Union, Britain news agency Kuna reported. ority” and it has “full confi - including social protection complaints from consumers stallation or activation, and 5% and India yesterday joined sev- The authority said in press dence” in the safety of the 737 systems, gender equality about telecom services were related to slow Internet eral other countries in ground- release that “the operation of Max fl eet. and empowerment. in Qatar last year speed. Under CRA’s telecom com- ommunications Regula- plaint resolution process; tory Authority resolved consumers with complaints Qatari-French strategic dialogue preparatory meet C92% of telecom consum- are free to approach the CRA ers’ complaints received in 2018, if their complaint lodged di- The Preparatory Meeting for the Strategic Dialogue between CRA said yesterday. rectly to their service provider the governments of Qatar and France was held yesterday. CRA engaged with telecom about a mobile service discon- HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al- service providers to resolve and nection remains unresolved for Muraikhi chaired the Qatari delegation to the meeting, while discuss solutions for all the 48 hours, or 72 hours in case of Secretary-General of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign complaints, which were “related fixed-line disconnection. Aff airs of France, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne presided for to several topics such as billing, Amel Salem al-Hanawi In addition, consumers can the French side. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral weak mobile network coverage, lodge a complaint to CRA if relations and ways of boosting them, in addition to a number weak Internet speed, fi xed-line CRA Consumer Aff airs man- they applied for a new fixed- of issues of mutual interest, especially in defence, security, disconnection and delays in ager Amel Salem al-Hanawi line service and their serv- economy, culture, health, and environment. Al-Muraikhi said service installation and activa- said, “On the other hand, CRA ice was not installed after 10 the signing of the Declaration of Intent on the establishment tion.” works to resolve consumers’ working days since the sub- of a strategic dialogue between Qatar and France reflects CRA received some 4,342 in- complaints based on the Tel- mission of the application, and the depth of the close strategic relations between the two quiries and 1,005 complaints ecommunications Law, Telecom the complaint remained open countries. The Minister welcomed the upcoming visit of the from consumers about telecom Consumer Protection Policy and with the service provider for 48 French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, to Doha at the end services in Qatar. a set of regulations, developed to hours with no alternative solu- of March. These complaints were evalu- ensure the provision of smart, tion provided. ated by CRA based on a set of innovative and high-quality Also, if the complaint is not criteria to determine their va- services to the consumers in Qa- related to a service disconnec- lidity to CRA’s complaint proc- tar.” tion and remains unresolved for ess; 603 were valid complaints The statistics indicate that 30 calendar days or they are dis- HBKU lectures explore architecture, education and domestic worker dynamics and 402 were invalid, and CRA 68% of all complaints were re- satisfi ed with the resolution of- resolved 92% of the total com- lated to mobile services; 47% of fered by the service provider and The College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad ing the name of the al-Fadala will elaborate on the local and global plaints. CRA is working with mobile services complaints were the complaint was closed. Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) is hosting a Prophet Muhammad understanding of educational leadership with the service providers to fi nalise related to billing issues includ- Telecom consumers can lodge series of explorative lectures as part of its (PBUH) on 11th to 16th a specific focus on Qatar. From Qatar Univer- the related investigation of the ing excess billing for postpaid a complaint to CRA through ongoing outreach programme to off er the century architecture in sity, Dr Batul Khalifa, associate professor of remaining ones and expects to services, and uncased decrease diff erent channels: from Qa- wider community an opportunity to learn the region. mental health, and Dr Hasan Yashou, assistant resolve them during the coming in the credit balance for prepaid tar through CRA’s 24x7 hotline more about the various spheres of Islam and Dr Emad El-Din Forthcoming lectures professor of objectives of Shari’ah, will address weeks. services. Service disconnec- number (number 103), 00974 Muslim societies. Shahin will include a talk by The Phenomenon of Domestic Servants and “CRA ensures that telecom tions complaints were 11% out 44069938 from overseas, CRA’s Dr Bernard O’Kane, professor of Islamic art guest lecturer, Dr Nass- their Social and Cultural Eff ects, on March 20. consumers are aware of their of the mobile complaints and e-mail address consumervoice@ and architecture at the American University er El-Din Saidouni from the Doha Institute of The lecture will consider the psychological atti- rights and responsibilities; to weak mobile network coverage cra.gov.qa, CRA’s mobile appli- in Cairo, recently delivered a lecture on Stars Graduate Studies, who will address The Impact tudes of domestic workers when childminding, this end, CRA provides them complaints for both indoor and cation “Arsel”, CRA’s twitter ac- and Symmetry: The Name of the Prophet of the Curricula of Muslim Scholars on Europe, from a comparative Islamic thought perspec- with related awareness tips outdoor were 8% out of it. count @CRAqatar, fi lling CRA’s Muhammad in Architectural Inscriptions, dur- today. Education Leadership: Moving from tive. Dr Emad El-Din Shahin, dean of CIS at through social media and out- As for fixed-line services, the complaint form on the website ing which he took the audience on a journey Research to Action will be the topic explored HBKU, said, “All of our lectures aim to cover reach events to ensure that they statistics indicate that it was www.cra.gov.qa, or by visiting across Egypt, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and beyond, by Dr Asmaa al-Fadala, director of research a broad range of topics and contribute to a have the best experience with 32% of the total complaints; the CRA’s headquarters at Al exploring the various designs, materials, and and content development at the World Inno- deeper understanding of Islam and Muslim telecom services.” out of these complaints 36% Nasr Tower B. expressions of Arabic calligraphy inscrib- vation Summit for Education on March 18. Dr societies in all of their aspects.” Gulf Times 6 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 QATAR Motorists urged to drive carefully Trauma System during Ride of Champions contest of HMC granted atar Cyclists Centre, Top tips organisers of the 2019 QRide of Champions, have The event organisers have urged motorists to drive, and cy- issued a number of tips for clists to ride, carefully on Friday motorists and cyclists. reaccreditation morning when the event is on from 6.30am to 11.30am. For motorists when driving Roads extending from Qatar around cyclists: amad Medical Corpora- has grown and developed into a Foundation via Dukhan High- „ Drive slowly and with enough tion’s (HMC) Trauma comprehensive Trauma System way to Sheehaniya, Otouriyah free space when overtaking HSystem has been suc- comprising a full range of care and Jumailiyah will see a “record cyclists cessfully reaccredited by Ac- services for trauma patients. number of cyclists” take to the „ Be careful of marshals and creditation Canada Interna- Every year, the Hamad Trau- streets during the event, the or- police off icers on the route tional (ACI) and awarded the ma Center receives between ganisers have said in a statement. „ Allow cyclists to pass in front Trauma Distinction Award of 2,000 and 2,500 patients with More than 1,500 cyclists will before turning onto a road Excellence. traumatic injuries, with around be participating in the 2019 Ride „If passing a cyclist, allow a gap The achievement endorses 40 to 45% of these as a result of of Champions. “Motorists are of more than 1.5m between you the quality and safety of the care road traffi c accidents,” noted Dr asked to take due care around the and the cyclist provided by the entire service al-Thani. cyclists, and help enable this fan- „ Don’t take any unnecessary and follows the Trauma Sys- The Trauma System’s role tastic festival of sport to happen risks tem’s initial accreditation by Dr Hassan al-Thani in providing life-saving treat- safely,” the statement noted. istry of Interior, represented by from the Traffi c Department ACI in 2015, when HMC became ment, through the Ambulance Signs will be put up at inter- the Traffi c Department, for their added, “It is our pleasure to pro- For cyclists for riding around the fi rst trauma organisation in progress we have made across Service and Trauma Center, as sections to warn motorists when invaluable support to the event, vide support, including rolling motorists: the world to earn this recogni- the Trauma System has been well as the work done by the they are coming to an intersec- without which it could not be road closures for the riders’ safe- „ Give a ‘thank you’ wave to tion. formally recognised by Accredi- rehabilitation teams to maxim- tion with the route, and Traf- delivered safely.” ty. We ask motorists to take care courteous drivers Dr Hassan al-Thani, head of tation Canada International. ise these patients’ recovery, is fi c Police vehicles and marshals Ali (M) al-Kuwari, managing of the riders, listen to instruc- „ Don’t accelerate to prevent Trauma Services at HMC ex- HMC’s Trauma System provides of great importance to Qatar’s will be on route to ensure safety. director of the Ride of Cham- tions from the organisers, mar- cars from turning or changing plained that major trauma is comprehensive care for trauma population. The Traffi c Police are supporting pions, noted: “We hope all mo- shals and police and help make lanes any injury that has the potential patients including pre-hospital “Through our quality im- the event with 10 police cars and torists and cyclists will come this event a huge success. “As an „ Be mindful of traff ic and don’t to cause prolonged disability or care, emergency care in the provement, education, and out- 20 motorbikes, according to the together to help make this a safe entity, we are committed to the take unnecessary risks death. “In Qatar, and the wider Trauma Center, and advanced reach programmes, which are event organisers. and fun event for everyone, one health and fi tness of our offi cers „ Ride two by two in columns Gulf region, trauma is the lead- rehabilitation services. all supported by local data from Dr Abdulazziz al-Kuwari, that will showcase the nation and and the public, and are proud to „ Stay in the inside lane to allow ing cause of death and injury in In 2007, Hamad General our National Trauma Registry, president of Qatar Cyclists Cen- cycling to the world.” be a key supporter of an initiative space to pass the young adult population and Hospital established its Level we aim to work with the com- tre, said: “I want to thank Min- Captain Fahad Hilal Buhandi that supports this mission.” it is therefore vitally important 1 Trauma Center, based on the munity to raise awareness of that the care we provide to pa- highly regarded, evidence- important safety messages and tients with traumatic injuries is based classifi cation of the encourage people to take simple Temporary diversion on part of Al Gharrafa Interchange Roundabout of the very highest standards,” American College of Surgeons, measures to protect themselves said Dr al-Thani. Committee on Trauma. Over the from preventable accidents,” “I am delighted that the past decade, the Trauma Center added Dr al-Thani. The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced a temporary diversion on part of the Al Gharrafa Interchange Roundabout (known as Immigration Roundabout) in two phases, starting tomorrow. The diversion will be carried out with the aim of allowing the installation of a new signal- controlled intersection at Al Gharrafa Roundabout, which will contribute to enhancing traff ic movement and increase intersection capacity, Ashghal has said in a statement. The diversion will be implemented in co-ordination the General Directorate of Traff ic. Diversion 1: from tomorrow until March 24, a part of Al Gharrafa Interchange Roundabout will be closed to traff ic – coming from Al Luqta Street towards 22 February Street and Khalifa Street. Motorists coming from Al Luqta Street and wishing to turn right HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, French ambassador Franck Gellet, Msheireb Properties acting onto 22 February Street and Al onto Al Shamal Road. Drivers wishing to use Al Gharrafa and surrounding facilities such CEO Ali al-Kuwari and other dignitaries at the opening of Alwadi Hotel Doha yesterday. Amir Street have been advised Motorists wishing to access the Interchange to reach Khalifa as the General Directorate of PICTURES: Jayan Orma to use the new temporary exit Gharrafa interchange should Street or to make a U-turn will Passports (Immigration off ices). through Souk Al Ali. use alternative routes via Al have to continue south through Traff ic exiting the Immigration Those wishing to reach Khalifa Amir Street using the Omer Bin the Al Gharrafa Interchange directorate off ices to join Al Luqta Street should use the Al Gharrafa Alkhatab underpass and return flyover towards Al Rayyan Street through Abroug Street Interchange underpass. Drivers to Al Amir Street and back to Al Interchange and then make a should take a left turn onto Abdul MGallery makes Qatar debut heading to Al Shamal Road Gharrafa Interchange. U-turn onto Al Shamal Road. Rahman Bin Awf Street to Al Luqta via the roundabout have been Diversion 2: from March 21 to Drivers coming from Al Shamal Street. Ashghal will install road advised to make a right turn March 31, part of the Al Gharrafa Road wishing to take a right signs advising motorists of the through the temporary exit on Interchange Roundabout will also turn onto Al Luqta Street to join diversion. It has also requested all with Alwadi Hotel opening 22 February Street and continue be closed to traff ic coming from Jassim bin Thani Street or Abroug road users to abide by the speed straight reaching the Al Rayyan Al Shamal Road towards Doha, Street and then follow the road limit and follow the road signs to interchange to make a U-turn Khalifa Street and Al Luqta Street. signs to reach Al Luqta Street ensure their safety. Gallery has marked the brand’s debut in Qatar with Alwadi Hotel Doha. The Mbrand new fi ve-star boutique hotel was inaugurated yesterday with a ribbon-cutting cer- emony. QF pledges HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, French ambassador Franck Gellet, Msheireb Properties board member (developer and owner of the hotel) 50% female engineer Saad Ebrahim al-Muhannadi, Msheireb Properties acting CEO Ali al-Kuwari, Accor Mid- dle East & Africa CEO Mark Willis, and Alwadi representation Hotel Doha general manager Dominic Arel were present at the opening. The new hotel is located within Msheireb in panels Downtown Doha, a vibrant new retail, commer- cial and residential development that is one the smartest and most sustainable city district in the From Page 1 world. Located just 15 minutes from Hamad In- ternational Airport, and 10 minutes from West Sultana Afdhal, CEO of WISH, said: “His- Bay, the hotel meets the needs of business and lei- torically, women have been underrepresented sure travellers alike. in leadership roles within the global health- “We are honoured to see Msheireb Downtown care sector. Doha become home to the fi rst ever MGallery At WISH we work hard to give a voice to all hotel in Qatar. This partnership and collabora- within our extensive international commu- tion refl ects the trust of prestigious, international nity who are looking to play a part in building hospitality brands in our development’s world- a healthier world, whether through participa- class infrastructure and services,” al-Kuwari said. tion at our fl agship Doha summit or at any of Alwadi Hotel Doha has 213 rooms and suites, the other events we convene throughout the each with thoughtful amenities, inspiring pat- The Alwadi Hotel Doha at Msheireb Downtown year. “If all voices are to be listened to and all terns and a vibrant colour scheme to bring a touch Doha comprises 213 rooms and suites. ideas are to be given the same attention, con- of heritage to its contemporary design. Both Souq certed eff orts must be made to ensure that ex- Suites and the Royal Suite off er balconies with and sauna as well as a relaxation area for rejuve- perts from both genders are provided with the views overlooking Souq Waqif, while the Superi- nation and comfort. Alongside, MFit, the hotel’s same opportunities to join the conversation. or, Deluxe and Executive rooms off er spectacular fi tness centre, is furnished with the latest Tech- With this in mind, WISH wholeheartedly views of the West Bay skyline. nogym equipment and infused with natural light. supports and embraces the QF pledge to pro- All rooms feature the hotel’s unique cocoon “We are pleased to present a fi ne blend of lux- mote equality of representation on its panels.” MyBed concept, as well as special products and ury wrapped in the vintage opulence for the peo- “As a global education platform committed to amenities for female travellers chosen as part of ple of Qatar. While designing the hotel, each and promoting inclusion and diversity in access the brands ‘Inspired By Her’ concept, which in- every nuance has been kept in mind to off er our to education, WISE has, since its inception, clude medium-and small-sized bathrobes, small- esteemed guests the utmost comfort and conven- provided in our forums and projects visibil- er slippers, emergency kits, luxury special treat- ience,” Arel said. ity opportunities to renowned experts and ments in MSpa, a sleep menu, and ‘Inspired By The hotel’s spectacular ballroom, off ering nat- thought leaders from diverse gender, socio- Her’ beverages. Ten guest rooms have been spe- ural daylight, accommodates up to 415 guests and economic and ethnic backgrounds,” added, cially designed to accommodate guests with spe- features elegant touches inspired by traditional Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE. cial needs, including braille communication tools. local crafts. Five state-of-the-art fully-equipped “We are excited to debut the MGallery brand in meeting rooms provide smaller meeting spaces “WISH wholeheartedly Qatar. Each boutique hotel in the MGallery col- suitable for small work groups and closed door lection tells a unique story and perfectly blends meetings. To celebrate the opening, Alwadi Hotel supports and embraces modern design with local history and heritage,” Doha MGallery is introducing a special off er for the QF pledge to Willis said. its guests to experience the signature ‘Memorable The hotel has three world-class restaurants, Moment’. Guests can embark on an once-in-a- promote equality of two bars and a lobby tea lounge and terrace to of- lifetime treasure hunt around the historical Souq representation on its fer a memorable experience to guests. Waqif with surprises along the way, followed by a Alwadi Hotel Doha features MSpa, which en- unique cooking class of a local dish with the ho- panels” compasses fi ve treatment rooms, a steam room tel’s chef. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 7 QATAR

QIC Group sponsors Experts discuss security Katara beach volleyball championship s a progressive leader in corporate social re- Asponsibility (CSR) and for major sport events socially responsible busi- ness practices, fl agship in- he fourth meeting of the surer Qatar Insurance Group cybersecurity experts in is supporting the Katara In- Tthe sport fi eld kicked off ternational Beach Volleyball in Doha yesterday. The meet- Championship 2019 as the ing is being organised by the gold sponsor. Salem al-Mannai, deputy International Criminal Police The event, which is sched- group president & CEO, QIC Organisation (Interpol) (Project uled from March 12, will be Group. Stadia) in co-operation with Su- held at the Katara’s Amphi- preme Committee for Delivery & theater, and will witness the Qatar Insurance Company Legacy (SC). participation of 50 teams from (QIC) is a publicly listed com- The two-day meeting is being 29 countries. posite insurer with a consist- held at the Qatar Computing Re- Qatar Insurance Group’s ent performance history of search Institute (QCRI) and will role as a sponsor highlights the over 55 years and a global un- host a number of representatives company’s unilateral focus on derwriting footprint. Founded from states and international or- being a responsible corporate in 1964, QIC was the fi rst do- ganisations. The meeting will citizen and demonstrates its full mestic insurance company in discuss various security issues re- The meeting at the QCRI will host a number of representatives from states and international organisations. support to all sports activities the state of Qatar. lated to cybersecurity and its role and initiatives for the nation. Today, QIC is the market in securing major sporting events. ing events and to create a legacy of combating all types of crimes of information between the par- and the detection of electronic Salem al-Mannai, deputy leader in Qatar and a dominant Falah Abdullah al-Dosari, of important information that in the 21st century.” ticipants and refl ecting them attacks through the operations group president & CEO of QIC insurer in the GCC and Mena senior manager, Project Stadia, will enable Interpol member First Lieutenant Khaled Mo- to secure the World Cup 2022 room of the Information Security Group, said: “We are delighted region. QIC is one of the high- highlighted the importance of the states to benefi t from it if major hammed al-Hashimi from SC’s from cyberattacks. The unit has Department. to partner with Katara to sup- est rated insurers in the Gulf meeting to promote international sporting events are hosted. The electronic security unit said this developed many plans to con- First Lieutenant Jabor Abdul- port this prestigious sporting region with a rating of A/Stable partnership in sustaining secu- meeting also aims to strengthen meeting will discuss many as- tain any risks during the World lah al-Mannai, head of the op- event. Katara has always been from Standard & Poor’s and A rity in sports events, in light of cybersecurity capabilities as it is pects of information security at Cup organisation, and carried erations room at the Information ahead of the curve in hosting (Excellent) from A M Best. the growing cybersecurity threats, one of the risks that faces organ- the national level and the best out projects, including measur- Security Department of the Min- various sporting and cultural In terms of profi tability and which are now crossing the bor- ising a major sports event. protection and insurance frame- ing electronic risks targeting the istry of Interior, said the opera- events in Qatar and through market capitalisation, QIC ders of countries and continents. Al-Dosari said Interpol is works, especially for the latest infrastructure. tions room is primarily respon- this partnership, QIC Group is also the largest insurance He said that the meeting aims working to enable the security sports with the participation of He said that the role of SC’s sible for monitoring cyberattacks has once again demonstrated company in the Mena region. to enhance Qatar’s continued services in all countries to work many countries and internation- electronic security unit is to se- and disseminating technical its continued commitment to It is listed on the Qatar Stock contacts with other countries together to make the world a al organisations and bodies con- cure the World Cup in terms of security information related to local sporting events and rais- Exchange and has a market and international organisations safer place. “The high tech infra- cerned with cybersecurity. cybersecurity and securing the these attacks and assisting vari- ing Qatar’s global profi le in capitalisation of over $3bn. to benefi t from cybersecurity structure of Project Stadia helps He added that the importance infrastructure from intrusions ous State actors in addressing support of the Qatar National For more information, visit expertise to secure major sport- to face the increasing challenges of the meeting is the exchange and threats that target them, them. (QNA) Vision 2030.” qatarinsurance.com. Agricultural expo to focus on innovation techniques The CMC meeting in session yesterday. By Joey Aguilar with Al Rayyan Agricultural, discover the best practices,” Staff Reporter Woqod, and AG Middle East. organisers said. “New large farms will be The 2019 edition will also taking part this year and I am feature a specialised busi- bout 90 local farms and expecting more farms in large ness matchmaking platform CMC proposes plantation initiative more than 50 interna- scale in the next few years,” al- aimed at helping exhibitors Ational companies will Khalaf said. “This will be the and visitors meet key decision- take part in the 7th Qatar In- year of legacy and achievement makers from the public and By Ayman Adly tronically. The department (MME) regarding its initiative to ternational Agricultural Exhi- in Qatar’s agriculture sector private sectors, through pre- Staff Reporter concerned at the MoCS works plant a million trees in the open bition (Agriteq), from March and this is just the start.” arranged meetings, to discuss constantly on maintaining them desert. 19 to 22 at the Doha Exhibition Qatar aims to reduce its reli- potential opportunities and to give users the opportunity to The council recommended and Convention Centre. ance on imported products by in- partnerships. here are 18 neighbourhood practise various sport, games that the MME should study the The event, dubbed as ‘Ag- creasing local production in line Previous editions of this playgrounds across Qatar and activities. All suggestions possibility of creating a national riteq and Enviroteq 2019’ in Nasser Ahmed al-Khalaf with its National Vision 2030. event gathered experts, spe- Tand they had as many as of the residents in the vicinity of programme for planting trees in this edition, will highlight in- Agriteq is known as the pre- cialists, technology providers 208,000 active users last year, these playgrounds were timely the desert. novation in agricultural tech- al-Khalaf told Gulf Times. miere platform for local and in- and stakeholders from Qatar an offi cial told the Central Mu- addressed. Plant nurseries should be cre- niques, in addition to showcas- He noted that their latest ternational agriculture stake- and various parts of the world, nicipal Council yesterday. CMC vice-chairman Ha- ated to produce such trees to ing an array of new equipment research and development in holders to exchange expertise, underscoring the keenness of Abdullah al-Dosari, director, mad bin Lahdan al-Muhannadi supply this initiative. Co-ordi- and technologies in this sector. agriculture aims to support His discover trends and develop- the country and its wise leader- neighbourhood playgrounds at praised the active ongoing co- nation should be maintained to “Agriteq will focus on sus- Highness the Amir’s vision of ments, and seize business op- ship to promote the agriculture Qatar Sport for All Association, operation between the council use treated recycled water to ir- tainable farming this year. We achieving food security for the portunities in this sector. sector. also presented the plan of the and the MoCS, in addition to the rigate these trees when planted, will give presentations with our country. “The event furnishes an ideal The 2018 edition of Agriteq Ministry of Culture and Sport high quality of the neighbour- and the private sector should association for environment- Agrico, a private Qatari agri- opportunity for industry spe- also witnessed an auction of (MoCS) for neighbourhood play- hood playgrounds projects. be engaged to support this friendly and recycling technol- cultural development company cialists to explore a wide range cattle, poultry and other ani- grounds and the latest updates in Others issued discussed at the initiative. ogy to covert organic wastes to established in 2011 with the aim of agricultural technologies, mals, apart from a mini zoo, this area. bi-weekly session of the council The council also asked that compost,” prominent Qatari of helping the country achieve equipment and related prod- which served as an ‘edu-tain- He pointed out that the 18 yesterday included some recom- it should be updated on the agriculturist and Agrico man- self-suffi ciency, is a silver ucts, meet key decision-mak- ment’ for young children and playgrounds are operated, ad- mendations to the Ministry of number of trees planted under aging director Nasser Ahmed sponsor of Agriteq 2019, along ers, gain valuable insights, and students. ministered and monitored elec- Municipality and Environment this initiative on a yearly basis.

Mercedes-Benz Car draw held at Saudia Store C-Class model of CNA-Q hosts job fair 2018 recalled The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with ollege of the North At- Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles, has lantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) announced the recall of Mercedes- Chosted a job fair and ca- Benz C-Class model of 2018. reer awareness day that saw The cable routing of the left hundreds of students participate headlamp does not meet the in the exhibition, featuring over manufacturer’s specification and the 30 of Qatar’s top employers. vehicle’s specific labels (identification The day was designed to al- plate, tyre pressure label, fuel type, low students to meet repre- refrigerant) while the certificate of sentatives from Qatar’s top conformity papers are missing. businesses, and experience the The ministry said that it will variety of career options avail- coordinate with the dealer to able to them. follow up on the maintenance and It was also an opportunity for repair works and will communicate prospective employers to scout with customers to ensure that the potential talent. All sectors of necessary repairs are carried out. the economy were represented Ooredoo - Recharge Qatar - Renault Megane Sedan 1.6L - car draw was held on Monday at The ministry urges all customers including banking and com- Saudia Department Store Plaza Mall - Mesaimeer - in the presence of off icials from the Saudia to report any violations to its merce, technology, telecommu- Group, Ooredoo, and a representative from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Consumer Protection and Anti- nications, healthcare, and the Commercial Fraud Department,. energy, oil and gas industry. Leading up to the event, stu- dents were given the opportu- nity to work closely with career advisors at CNA-Q to practice their job pitch skills, receive in- Oscar launches slow juicer terview tips and help sharpen their resumes. scar, a Qatar-based free. The slow juicer has a large blender has a patented vacuum “The number of students in leading brand of elec- 83mm throat that allows most blending design powered by a attendance, and the number of Otronics and appliances, fruits whole without cutting. The pure copper wire high speed companies who were part of the has launched a slow juicer double stainless steel fi lter design motor capable of rotating the fair, was unprecedented. The OSJ-2018, and power vacuum aides in enhancing the juice yield. 3D heavy duty stainless steel excellent turn out shows that blender OPB-1820 pictured, The Oscar slow juicer oper- blades at 16,000 RPM, thus quickly because of aeration. CNA-Q students are eagerly for the health conscious. ates by crushing and squeezing grinding or blending the tough- The ideal choice for vegeta- looking forward to their careers The sleek, countertop slow fruit, as opposed to regular or est of ingredients while pre- bles, fruits, puree, batters, ice in Qatar,” said associate vice juicer has a gentle juice extrac- centrifugal juicers, which slice serving nutrients. cream, smoothies and blending, president - Student Aff airs, en- More than 30 of Qatar’s top employers took part in the fair. tion system capable of yielding and separate fruit with a quick- Recipes that incorporate vac- the Oscar vacuum power blend- gineer Aljazzi Fatais. 85% juice containing a lot more ly spinning blade. uum blending technique have er has an aluminium housing “We take pride in ensuring “We start by ensuring all of needed in the labour market. vitamins than a regular juicer. Oscar vacuum power blender rich, vibrant palette of colours and jar made from Tritan. our students are fully prepared our programmes are aligned “On top of this strong founda- The juice and pulp cups are OPB-1820 has a method of re- when compared to the aerated The OSJ-2018 slow juicer and to enter the workforce and con- to the needs of Qatar’s grow- tion we off er events, such as this, made of Tritan which is strong- moving air from the ingredi- results from a blender without the OPB-1820 vacuum power tribute toward fulfi lling the ing business and industry sec- for students to gain insight and er and more resistant to odours, ents in the jug prior to blending vacuum. Blended drinks from a blender are available across promise of Qatar National Vi- tors so that students are tech- make the right connections for according to a statement. them up. normal blender will split, sepa- Jumbo Electronics outlets and sion 2030. nically prepared with the skills themselves,” she added. The material used is also BPA The Oscar vacuum power rate and discolour relatively leading hypermarkets. Gulf Times 8 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 QATAR/REGION/ARAB WORLD

Al-Emadi, Mladenov discuss conditions Hundreds surrender as IS in Gaza Strip

QNA ian people. Further, Al-Emadi nears defeat in last enclave Gaza met with the Director of the United Nations Offi ce for Reuters tactics, a US defence official Project Services (UNOPS) of- Baghouz has said. E the Chairman of the fi ce in Jerusalem Tokumitsu Fighters surrendering from Qatari Committee for Kobayashi, who extended his Baghouz are questioned and Hthe Reconstruction of appreciation to the State of slamic State faced imminent searched. While Baghouz is Gaza Ambassador Mohamed Qatar for the grant it off ered defeat in its fi nal enclave yes- the last populated territory of Al-Emadi met here on Mon- to support the electricity Iterday as hundreds of mili- what was once the group’s self- day with the United Nations plant in Gaza as well as other tant fi ghters and their families proclaimed “caliphate”, fight- Special Co-ordinator for the relief grants. surrendered and the US-backed ers still operate in remote areas Middle East Peace Process The meetings came in Syrian Democratic Forces said elsewhere. Nickolay Mladenov. the context of the series of the battle was as good as over. It is widely assessed that Ambassador Al-Emadi re- contacts conducted by Al- A Reuters journalist in they will continue to represent viewed the latest eff orts of the Emadi with a number of in- Baghouz saw hundreds of people a potent security threat. State of Qatar to alleviate the ternational and legal parties surrendering to the SDF, which Even as the last shred of its suff ering of the population of to improve the humanitarian launched its fi nal attack to cap- physical statelet crumbled, the Gaza Strip, pointing out to the situation in Gaza Strip. ture Baghouz on Sunday, backed group put out a new propa- $150mn grant of His Highness z Meanwhile, Al-Emadi by U.S.-led international coali- ganda video, filmed in recent the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin also signed contracts for the tion air strikes and after weeks weeks inside Baghouz, insist- Hamad al-Thani for the re- construction of three new of siege. ing on its claim to leadership lief of the population of Gaza projects in the Gaza Strip. The enclave is the last shred and calling on its supporters to Strip. The cost of the new projects of territory held by the jihad- keep the faith. The two sides discussed is about $1.7mn, includ- ists who have been driven from Most of the people evacuated the humanitarian conditions ing the construction of the roughly one third of Iraq and from the diminishing Islamic in Gaza Strip and ways to Qatari Committee for the Syria over the past four years. State territory have been trans- improve it, such as electric- Reconstruction of Gaza’s SDF offi cial Mustafa Bali said ported to a camp for internally ity and “cash for work” pro- headquarters — Phase I, that 1,500 to 2,000 Islamic State displaced people in Al-Hol, in grammes. Al-Emadi also met which includes concrete, fi ghters and their families sur- northeastern Syria, where the with the Head of the Quar- construction and exterior rendered en masse yesterday. United Nations says conditions tet Mission in Jerusalem and walls works, at a cost of ap- “Once our forces confi rm that Syrians stand next to a Russian-made missile after an air strike in the town Sarmin in the northern Idlib are dire. Ramallah John Clarke, where proximately $630,000. everyone who wants to surren- province, yesterday. The camp, designed to ac- they reviewed the latest de- The new projects also in- der has done so... commodate 20,000 people, velopments in the Palestin- clude the construction of a the clashes will resume,” he calm yesterday morning. “The day. Gabriel said 25 Islamic State Three SDF fighters have been is now sheltering more than ian issue and the diffi cult $704,000 Al Huda residen- said. operation is over, or as good as fi ghters had been confi rmed killed, Bali said on Twitter. 66,000. humanitarian conditions in tial mosque in Jahr al-Dik, as The militants’ defeat was very over, but requires a little more killed so far in clashes, in addi- Islamic State’s defences in- The World Health Organisa- Gaza Strip. well as the construction and near, he said. time to be completed practically tion to an unknown number of clude extensive tunnels. tion said yesterday 106 people, He also discussed with installation of a fuel tank for The coalition said in an e-mail on the ground,” SDF spokesman militants killed by air strikes. The militant group’s most mainly infants, have died since Clarke ways to alleviate the the only power plant in the earlier yesterday there were an Kino Gabriel told Al-Hadath TV. Another SDF offi cial said ear- hardened foreign fighters are December on the journey to humanitarian crisis in Gaza strip, at a cost of $350,000 estimated “few hundred” for- The SDF has laid siege to lier 38 militants had been con- holed up inside the enclave, the Al-Hol, which takes at least six Strip. with a capacity of 2mn litres. eign Islamic State fi ghters re- Baghouz for weeks but has re- fi rmed killed. SDF has said. hours. Al-Emadi also met with The Committee has start- maining in Baghouz who had peatedly postponed its fi nal as- The SDF, which is spear- However the United States Many evacuees, particularly the Head of Mission of Doc- ed disbursing the fourth in- decided to fi ght to the end. sault to allow thousands of ci- headed by the Kurdish YPG does not believe any senior foreigners, still express obdu- tors Without Borders (MSF) stalment of cash assistance The Baghouz enclave was vilians, many of them wives and militia, has been advancing Islamic State leaders are in rate support for Islamic State, in Palestine Marie-Elisabeth to poor families, benefiting pounded overnight with bar- children of Islamic State fi ght- slowly into Baghouz to mini- Baghouz, assessing they have posing difficult security, legal Ingres, and praised MSF’s 55,000 families, with $100 rages of rockets, and fi res raged ers, to leave. mise its losses from sniper fire gone elsewhere as part of the and moral questions for their role in assisting the Palestin- per family. inside, but the situation was It resumed the attack on Sun- and landmines. group’s shift towards guerrilla countries of origin.

UNREST Lashes for women protesters scrapped A Sudanese court yesterday overturned flogging sentences for Graft case Unrest at holy site and two nine women for taking part in protests against President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule, a defence lawyer said. The emergency appeals court scrapped a verdict issued on trial begins Saturday by a lower court which had sentenced the women to Palestinians killed in West Bank 20 lashes and a month in prison each. “The appeals court can- celled the punishment of flogging the women,” defence lawyer Reuters Enaam Atieg said. The court ruled that the women had already Amman Reuters to holy sites were reported and situation,” Nickolay Mladenov a 23-year-old Palestinian was spent enough time in jail and ordered their immediate release, Ramallah police said two suspects were said on Twitter. shot dead when clashes broke she said. They were arrested on Thursday for participating in a arrested. Palestinian President Mah- out after Israeli troops entered “banned demonstration” earlier in the day in the capital’s eastern wo dozen businessmen, a Tensions in the holy com- moud Abbas condemned what the Palestinian town Salfi t, resi- district of Burri, a site of regular protests against Bashir’s rule. customs chief and an ex- alestinians threw a fi re pound in Jerusalem, part of the he called “the grave Israeli es- dents and the Palestinian Health Tminister went on trial for bomb at an Israeli police eastern sector of the city cap- calation” at the complex, which ministry said. tax evasion and bribery at Jor- Ppost at a holy site in Je- tured by Israel in a 1967 war, houses Al-Aqsa mosque. An Israeli army spokeswoman CONFLICT dan’s state security court yes- rusalem yesterday, and Israeli have risen in recent weeks after In the occupied West Bank, said soldiers had used riot-dis- Toll rises to 22 in Yemen air strike: UN terday in the country’s most high forces shot dead two Palestin- the site’s Muslim administrators the military said a Palestinian, persal means, mainly tear gas, profi le corruption case in years. ians in the occupied West Bank, reopened a mosque sealed by Is- armed with a knife, had con- against dozens of Palestinians Air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition killed at least 22 civilians, The prosecution said chief including one troops said at- rael during a Palestinian uprising fronted troops in the city of who threw stones at them and including women and children, this week in a village in northern suspect Owni Mutee and his 28 tacked them with a knife. in 2003. Hebron and was shot and killed. that the military did not know of Yemen, the United Nations said. Medical sources quoted by the other accomplices had evaded In the walled Old City of Je- The UN Middle East envoy It said no soldiers were injured. any live fi re being used. She pro- UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Yemen said late on Monday paying 539mn dinars ($760mn) rusalem, Israeli police said a fi re called for calm. “I am following The Palestinian higher judicial vided no further details. that the attacks in Kushar district, in Hajja Province, killed 10 by bribing offi cials to dodge cus- bomb damaged the police post events at the holy esplanade in council said the 40-year-old Palestinians began a wave of women and 12 children and wounded 30 people, including 14 toms and taxes from a counter- inside a sacred compound. Jerusalem with concern. Places man had worked in a Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks under the age of 18. “Many of the injured children have been feit cigarettes and tobacco pro- Scuffl es broke out at the com- of worship are for prayer, not for court in Hebron. in the West Bank and in Israel in sent to hospitals in Abs district and in Sanaa for treatment and duction business. plex between Israeli police and provocations and violence. It denounced the shooting as 2015. several require possible evacuation to survive,” the UN Co- They could face at least 15 years Palestinians. Restraint must be shown to “a despicable crime”. In a sepa- Such incidents have become ordinator in the country, Lise Grande, said in a statement. Tens in prison, judicial sources say. The No serious injuries or damage avoid infl aming an already tense rate incident in the West Bank, more sporadic. of thousands of people have died in the four-year war. defendants plead not guilty. Hungry for change, Algerians press old guard to step aside

Reuters in power but stopped short Boutefl ika, 82, bowed to weeks for a “reasonable duration” to the Algiers of stepping down. of mass demonstrations against transition period. Huge crowds gathered in his 20-year-old rule on Monday “I think it’s a sign of maturity. several cities and Ennahar and promised a transition to a new We will do everything to accom- housands demon- TV reported workers began a leadership. pany Algeria in this transition with strated in Algeria strike that paralysed opera- But he postponed an election set friendship and respect.” Tyesterday, demanding tions at the Mediterranean for April, meaning he will likely re- Algeria’s powerful military is immediate political changes port at Bejaia. main in power for some time. expected to play its traditional a day after ailing President But in the capital, aside Veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahi- behind-the-scenes role during the Abelaziz Boutefl ika aban- from a few hundred protest- mi and protest groups are expected transition and is currently consid- doned his bid for a fi fth term ers, life carried on normally. to join a conference planning Al- ering several civilians as candidates geria’s future that Boutefl ika said for the presidency and other top should try to fi nish its work by the positions, political sources said. end of 2019, government and po- One of them is prominent lawyer litical sources told Reuters. and human rights activist Mustafa Brahimi, a former Algerian for- Bouchachi, who has won a wide eign minister and UN special en- Facebook following during the voy who is in his 80s, is expected to demonstrations. chair the conference that will over- Bouchachi was elected to parlia- see the transition, draft a new con- ment in 2012 as a member of Al- stitution and set the date for elec- geria’s oldest opposition party but tions, a government source said. resigned less than two years later While Brahimi is widely re- because he said his eff orts to pro- spected, he and other people of his mote reforms in the government generation may not fi t the profi le of were ignored. fi gures who can deliver an energet- People take part in a protest demanding immediate political change in Algiers, yesterday. At the height of the protests, he ic Algeria full of fresh ideas. told young people at a university Crowds who came back onto have dominated a country with ter said Boutifl ika’s decision was Seen by Algerians as revolu- that Algeria needed an entirely new the streets yesterday demanded high unemployment, poor services the most important turning point tionary heroines, they were part political system, El Watan newspa- quicker action, refl ecting suspi- and rampant corruption despite its since independence from France, a network of women who carried per reported. cions that the old guard, adept at oil and gas. Annahar TV reported. explosives in a bombing cam- “We need a consensual transi- manipulating opposition groups, “The government has often en- “A competent government will paign in 1956 that included an at- tion period which will be led by might be seeking to weaken and di- couraged the radicalisation of pop- be established, with the confi dence tack on the fashionable Milk Bar credible people,” he said. vide the protest movement. ular protests in the past as a ploy to of the participants in the national cafe depicted in the film The Bat- Many Algerians agree. But some “The whole system must disap- divide and rule, and it knows all the conference, which will supervise tle of Algiers. remain doubtful. pear immediately. Our battle will moves,” wrote North Africa expert the presidential process,” said Their revolutionary credentials “Those who have been talking of continue,” 25-year-old student Hugh Roberts. Ramtan Lamamra. may not be enough to impress leaders (from the demonstrations) Noureddine Habi said in central More than a quarter of Algerians Contacts are now underway with restless young Algerians, who are want to bring you down,” activist Algiers as others chanted: “We under 30 are unemployed. war veterans who may take part in desperate for opportunities and Fodel Boumala told protesters in want this system to go”. “We do not need Boutefl ika to the transition, including Djamila criticise their elderly leaders for Algiers. Algerians have become disen- decide on behalf of the people,” Bouhired and Zohra Drif Bitat, two dwelling on the past. “There is no leader for now. chanted with Boutefl ika and other said 50 year-old-grocer Ahmed of the most famous guerrilla fi ght- French President Emmanuel The real leadership is the people. veterans of the 1954-1962 war of Beddine. ers of the confl ict, political sources Macron said Boutefl ika’s statement The top priority right now is to independence against France who Algeria’s deputy prime minis- said. opened a new chapter and called strengthen our protest movement.” Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 9 AFRICA Plane crash victims’ kin await more information

AFP that observing Jews wrap around ‘Will call you when I land’ Addis Ababa their arm with a long strap. “We hope to fi nd it because it’s An Indian newly-wed who died minute change in plans meant made of tough leather.” in the Ethiopian Airlines plane he stayed back in New Delhi, the himon Misha fl ew from Is- Matzliah had been on his way crash had texted her husband mass-circulation Times of India re- rael to Ethiopia to collect to close a business deal for tel- she would call him on landing, ported. “I have boarded the flight Sthe remains of his colleague ecoms fi rm Radwin, where he local media reported yesterday. and will call you once I land,” Garg Avi Matzliah, one of 157 peo- worked with Misha. Shikha Garg, who was travelling texted. But before the husband ple who died when a Boeing 737 Ethiopian Airlines has said Is- to attend the annual assembly of could type a reply, his phone crashed just minutes after taking rael had two nationals on board the UN Environment Programme, buzzed and a caller informed off from Addis Ababa on Sunday. Nairobi-bound Flight ET 302, had got married less than three him about the plane crash, the “There is a mother and sister which slammed into a fi eld six months ago to Soumya Bhattach- newspaper said. Bhattacharya and brother. They’re waiting for minutes after liftoff early Sunday, arya after dating for three years. had also bought a flight ticket for a body to bury,” Misha told AFP killing 149 passengers and eight Bhattacharya was also supposed Nairobi but cancelled it because yesterday as he waited with other crew. to fly with her to Nairobi but a last- of an urgent meeting. next-of-kin at the Ethiopian Israel’s consul to Ethiopia, Skylight Hotel for news on the Opher Dach, said rescue and re- remains of lost loved ones. covery specialists had fl own to About two dozen UN staff were cockpit voice and data record- He had gone to the crash scene, Addis Ababa from Israel to “come among the dead. ings, which it is hoped will shed a blackened crater with debris to help”. “Concerning families and rel- light on the cause of the tragedy. scattered around it, hoping to “According to the Jewish be- Members of the African Union (AU) hold flowers to commemorate the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight atives who’d like to travel, we’re This was the second crash of fi nd anything that had belonged lief, we need to bring Jewish peo- ET 302 plane crash at scene of the of the crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ready to take them to Addis, give Boeing’s top-selling 737 MAX to 49-year-old Matzliah, but he ple to burial in 24 hours, maxi- yesterday. them accommodation, then con- 8 passenger jet in less than six was prevented by investigators. mum 48 hours,” he told private stant updates will be given,” the months – all 189 people on board Even though there is no body, broadcaster Citizen TV in Addis or part of a body is needed, even more information in two days’ Kenyan relatives of lost passen- airline’s Kenyan operations man- an Indonesian Lion Air fl ight died “still there are sentimental parts Ababa yesterday. blood, tissue, or DNA left behind time.” gers to travel to Addis Ababa. ager Yilma Goshu Gobena said. last October. they can fi nd in this mess,” said “We wanted to go in very on a person’s personal items. “It’s my duty to bring Avi Kenya was hardest hit by the Kenyan mourners started ar- Growing numbers of coun- Misha. quickly and start identifying eve- Most of the remains from Sun- home,” added Misha. “We never tragedy, with 32 citizens among riving last night. tries have banned the model from He added he was looking rything”, even pieces of clothing. day’s crash had been gathered leave somebody behind.” the 157 people on the ill-fated The airline, Africa’s biggest, their airspace or grounded fl eets for Matzliah’s tefi llin – a small “We think everything matters”. in a hangar, said Dach, adding: Ethiopian Airlines, meanwhile, fl ight, followed by Canada with said on Monday it had found since Sunday’s crash. leather box containing scripture For a Jewish funeral, a body “Hopefully, we will have some was making arrangements for 18. the plane’s two black boxes with Business Page 12 UN slams Congo failure to prevent Macron woos E Africa massacre in Dec

AFP still missing, she added, as some amid China expansion Geneva 19,000 people had been dis- placed by the violence, including AFP 16,000 who fl ed to the neigh- Lalibela, Ethiopia he UN yesterday criticised bouring Republic of Congo. authorities in southwest- The investigators found that Tern Democratic Republic the attacks, triggered by a dis- resident Emmanuel Ma- of Congo for failing to prevent pute over the burial of a Banunu cron visited former French a massacre of hundreds of peo- customary chief, were “striking- Pcolony Djibouti yesterday ple last December, despite clear ly similar” in each location. with promises of a “respect- signs of rising tensions. The violence had been facilitat- ful” partnership in the face of The attacks could amount to ed by the absence of state action to growing African indebtedness to crimes against humanity, the prevent it, despite “clear signs of China, which is fast expanding UN human rights offi ce said, as rising tensions and increased risk its foothold on the continent. it presented the fi ndings of an of violence”, the UN said. Both Paris and Beijing - as investigation into intercommu- It decried the failure to rein- well as Japan and the United nal violence in four locations in force security before the attacks States – have military bases in Yumbi territory between Decem- and the withdrawal of police in East Africa’s smallest coun- ber 16 and 18. the area prior to the massacre. try due to its strategic location “It is crucial to ensure that “Provincial authorities appear along a key shipping lane leading the perpetrators of these terrible to have failed in their responsi- to the Suez Canal. crimes are punished,” UN rights bility to protect the population,” Macron described Djibouti, chief Michelle Bachelet said in a the report said. the last colony to gain independ- statement. They were “characterised by ence from France – in 1977 – as a The UN Joint Human Rights extreme violence and speed, “historical partner and strategic Offi ce in DRC deployed investi- leaving little time for people ally”, and “the point of entry” to gators after receiving “credible to escape,” Shamdasani said, the Horn of Africa region. reports” that nearly 900 people adding that Batende villagers Its geographic importance had been killed in clashes be- equipped with fi rearms, machet- forms the foundation of Djibou- tween the Banunu and Batende es, bows and arrows and gasoline ti’s hopes of becoming a major communities. had targeted Banunu villagers. trading hub. Its team was able to independ- The report detailed horrifi c Two years ago, it inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron meets with members of a traditional group on the French military base in Djibouti yesterday. ently verify that at least 535 men, violence, including a two-year- its newest and biggest port – women and children had been old reportedly thrown into a sep- part of an infrastructure expan- “Maritime Silk Road”. “I would not want interna- boost its investments in Dji- Today, he will meet leaders of killed and 111 others injured in tic tank, and a woman reportedly sion, partly funded by China, It allows China to reach Af- tional investments to weaken bouti.” the African Union before making Yumbi town, Bongende village raped after her three-year-old that includes three other ports rica and Europe via the Indian the sovereignty of our partners,” Later yesterday, Macron the fi rst-ever trip to Kenya by a and Nkolo II village. child had been decapitated and and a railroad to the capital of Ocean. Macron said yesterday, in a ref- visited the remote Ethiopian French president. But investigators were unable husband killed. landlocked Ethiopia. The project has seen Beijing erence to China’s growing Afri- town of Lalibela with its re- Tomorrow, he will attend the to reach a fourth location, Camp Some victims were killed as Djibouti President Ismail lend developing countries in can presence. nowned 13th-century church One Planet Summit in Nairobi Nbanzi, where attacks had also they tried to cross the Congo Omar Guelleh’s administration Asia and Africa huge amounts of “French companies are able to complex, a Unesco World on reversing climate change. been reported, and the rights of- River while others were burnt hopes to turn the country into a money to develop infrastructure off er a respectful partnership,” Heritage site. Rwanda meanwhile has in- fi ce warned that the true number alive in their homes, the investi- new nation competing for busi- and ease trade. the president added. He promised to “fi nance and vited Macron to attend the 25th of casualties was likely higher. gators were told. ness with overcrowded African But the International Mone- Guelleh, who described him- assist the work with the Ethio- anniversary of the country’s More than 50 mass graves have In some cases, the bodies of ports such as Mombasa in Ken- tary Fund has sounded the alarm self as “a great friend of China” pians to restore these churches”, 1994 genocide that killed some been identifi ed in the area, but the victims were mutilated, with ya. over an increase of Djibouti’s when he visited President Xi threatened by erosion and tem- 800,000 of its citizens. spokeswoman Ravina Sham- their heads, limbs and genitals Sandwiched between Ethio- public debt from 50% of GDP in Jinping in 2017, told Macron: porarily covered by vast metal- Rwandan authorities have dasani told reporters that many cut off . pia, Somalia and Eritrea, tiny 2014 to 85% in 2017. “There are opportunities for and-tarpaulin structures much long accused France of complic- bodies were believed to have “The similarity in the way the Djibouti is a crucial part of Bei- The US-based China Africa French companies, particularly hated by locals. ity in the massacre. been thrown in the Congo River. attacks were carried out indicat- jing’s “Belt and Road” global Research Initiative in 2017 esti- in the fi eld of infrastructure. Macron is scheduled to attend Macron has not indicated It had so far been impossible ed prior consultation and organi- infrastructure initiative along mated Djibouti’s debt to China “Our country is open, I have a state dinner in Ethiopian capi- whether he will attend the event to confi rm the number of people sation,” the report said. what has been dubbed the at some $1.3bn. not lost hope that France can tal Addis Ababa. on April 7 in the capital Kigali. Heatwave threatens to Fire at market APC takes close lead slash Zimbabwe harvests in governor elections Reuters candidates the winners in 13 states. Abuja Those included important Reuters degrees Celsius above the normal Zimbabwe’s annual maize victories in the megacity-state Bulawayo, Zimbabwe March high of 32 degrees. consumption is 1.8mn tonnes of Lagos and Kaduna, the seat of In low-lying Beitbridge, near but farmer groups said this year’s igeria’s ruling party took key Buhari ally Nasir el-Rufai. the border with South Africa, drought-hit harvest may be less a close lead in elections The main opposition party took espite a dry year, Sazini the high temperature hit 38.7 de- than 1mn tonnes. Nfor powerful state gov- nine other states, mostly in the oil Moyo’s maize crop had grees, the Met offi ce said. Finance Minister Mthuli ernors yesterday, although the heartlands of the Niger Delta in Dbeen pushing up tassels The heat, which made already Ncube said the country had fi nal results hang in the balance the south and the staunchly anti- and she anticipated a decent dry conditions worse, has hit 500,000 tonnes of the grain in as seven races were declared in- Buhari southeast. harvest – until her farm outside both crops and livestock, said strategic reserves. Joseph Gondo, conclusive or suspended. The electoral commission has Bulawayo sweltered through a Obey Chaputsira, the admin- principal director of the Depart- Most of those seven states lean declared elections in six other record fi ve-day heatwave in late istrator for Matobo District, a ment of Crop and Livestock, towards the main opposition states inconclusive, mostly be- February and early March. drought-prone, low-lying area of confi rmed that the country’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP), cause the leading candidate’s mar- Now she fears almost her en- Matabeleland South. harvests are expected to suff er as whose politicians voiced outrage gin of victory was less than the tire parched crop is a write-off . “The crop situation currently a result of the unusual heat. at the inconclusive results and the number of votes cancelled. “I’m very disappointed, I have is very bad,” he said, with grazing “Crops that are on the tassel- suspension of elections in oil-rich In fi ve of those races, the PDP lost a lot of money buying ex- areas and water supplies for live- ling stages are the most aff ected Rivers state due to violence. was ahead. In a statement, a PDP pensive seed and fertilisers. All stock also aff ected. Since last year, by the heatwave. We encourage The lead for the ruling All Pro- spokesman called on the elector- my energy used in tilling the land his area has seen 200 livestock farmers not to apply fertilisers at gressives Congress (APC) after vot- al commission to “immediately has gone to waste,” the 40-year- deaths linked to drought, he told this moment,” he said. ing last Saturday follows victory for announce our winning results in old farmer in Matabeleland South the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Gondo said other districts its presidential candidate Muham- these states and others where our province told the Thomson Reu- This month, the United Na- across the country also are strug- madu Buhari, who won a second candidates clearly won”. ters Foundation. tions launched an international gling with dry conditions. term in offi ce last month, beating Re-runs are to be held within 21 According to the Zimbabwe appeal for $234mn in emergency “Some farmers have already PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar. days of the vote in the states where Meteorological Services Depart- aid for Zimbabwe, where drought lost their crops while others A resident helping firefighters holds a burnt bicycle after Elections for governors were held results were declared inconclusive ment, the province this month is expected to aff ect a third of the continue hoping it rains because a fire at Toi Market selling second hand clothes at Kibera in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states. By early and at the electoral commission’s suff ered fi ve consecutive days of country’s crop and leave 5.3mn their crops still have a chance,” slum in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday. evening yesterday, Nigeria’s elec- discretion in Rivers state where temperatures on average 2 to 4 people needing assistance. he said. toral commission had declared APC voting was suspended. Gulf Times 10 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 AMERICAS

HEAVY RAINS INVESTIGATION ALARM POLITICS CLIMATE CHANGE 12 dead as mudslides, Kidnapped bus passengers UN warned Colombia Peru president swears in Fresh iceberg ruptures in floods hit Sao Paulo may have been migrants peace deal under threat actor as prime minister Chile raise alarm

Floods and mudslides triggered by heavy Twenty-two passengers kidnapped by armed Negotiators of the historic peace pact between Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra swore in actor Two new icebergs have broken off the Grey rains have killed at least 12 people in areas men from a bus in northern Mexico last Colombia and the Farc rebel group warned and former Culture Minister Salvador del Solar as his Glacier in Chile’s Patagonia in recent weeks, surrounding Brazil’s largest city Sao Paulo, week may be migrants, a state government the United Nations on Monday that President new prime minister on Monday in a cabinet shuff le amid fears that such ruptures are becoming local media reported on Monday. The number official said on Monday. The gunmen had Ivan Duque’s government aims to “seriously that may help shore up his slipping approval ratings. more frequent, scientists told Reuters. The of deaths was reported by news portal Uol, let the rest of the passengers go unharmed damage” the accord. Delegates from the Farc Vizcarra opted to keep Finance Minister Carlos Oliva breaks, which occurred on February 20 and which cited local fire authorities. The rain began after intercepting the bus in the northeastern and the government of former president Juan and Energy and Mines Minister Francisco Ismodes March 7, came after a larger block of ice the Sunday evening, causing many rivers in the state of Tamaulipas last Thursday. Mexican Manuel Santos sent a letter to UN chief Antonio in their posts, but changed eight other ministers, size of three soccer fields, 380m by 350m, region to break their banks. Sau Paulo Governor authorities have not been contacted by any Guterres in which they questioned the objectives including the production and agriculture ministers. separated from the glacier, which sits in a Joao Doria warned locals to stay at home and family members of the missing, suggesting of reforms announced by Duque to the Special No major policy changes were expected under glacial lake in Torres del Paine National Park only leave in absolute emergencies, according they may be migrants, state security Jurisdiction for Peace, which was set up to try del Solar, who has degrees in law and international in southern Chile, in November 2017. The most to broadcaster Globo. But people in less-robust spokesman Luis Alberto Rodriguez said in former combatants accused of atrocities during relations but is best known for his starring roles in significant rupture to the glacier before that homes, or in those near slopes in danger of an interview. “There are no complaints, there the five-decade war. “We express our deep Spanish-language films. Del Solar served as culture was recorded in the early 1990s. Scientists link collapsing, should leave, Doria said, adding that are no relatives who are filing claims for the concern at the attempts to seriously damage the minister under former president Pedro Pablo the increased frequency of breaks to rising the rain was expected to ease by today. people who are missing,” he said. implementation of the agreement,” they said. Kuczynski, who resigned in a graft scandal a year ago. temperatures.

Hollywood stars among dozens charged over college entrance scam

By Thomas Urbain, AFP clude, for example, CEOs of pri- New York vate and public companies, suc- cessful securities and real estate investors, two well-known ac- esperate Housewives star tresses, a famous fashion designer Felicity Huff man and fel- and the co-chairman of a global Dlow Hollywood actress Lori law firm,” he said. Loughlin were among 50 people in- Four people accused of running dicted yesterday in a multi-million the scam over seven years, and 13 dollar scam to help children of the offi cials associated with university American elite cheat their way into sports and the testing system were top universities. also charged. The accused, who also include Over the one-year investigation, chief executives, fi nanciers, a win- investigators supported by inform- emaker and fashion designer, al- ants recorded conversations be- legedly cheated in admissions tests tween parents and Singer’s people or arranged for bribes to get their discussing just how high to elevate children into prestigious schools the scores and how to prevent the including Yale, Stanford, Georget- students from discovering the rea- own and the University of Southern son behind their test results. California, federal prosecutors said. The scheme had two levels: fi xing They paid a bogus charity run by the test scores, and gaining bogus Californian William Singer millions admission into universities by pay- both to arrange for people to fi x SAT ing coaches to “recruit” them onto and ACT entrance exams for their their teams. children, and also to bribe univer- In Huff man’s case, she “donated” sity sports coaches to recruit their $15,000 to Singer’s fake charity Key children, even when the children Worldwide Foundation in 2017 for were not qualifi ed to play at that someone to set up a special testing level of sports. site and date for her oldest daughter Huff man, 56, and Loughlin, the and then to fi x the answers on the Former US vice president Joe Biden addresses the International Association of Fire Fighters in Washington yesterday. 54-year-old star of Full House, were daughter’s test. among 33 parents accused of con- She then had discussions about spiracy to commit mail fraud and doing the same for her younger honest services mail fraud in joining daughter, but never followed through. the scheme. In the second “side door” Loughlin’s fashion designer hus- scheme, Singer’s operation would band Mossimo Giannulli was also on create bogus athletic profi les for the list, while Huff man’s husband the students and manage payoff s to William Macy, the star of Show- coaches in minor sports like soccer, Biden inches towards time’s Shameless, was not, despite tennis and sailing at universities so the indictment making clear he was that the student could be accepted partly involved in talks with Singer’s on that basis. operations. “What is going to happen when A Justice Department offi cial in they see his application, he’ll be Los Angeles said 13 of those indicted fl agged as an athlete,” one of Sing- were taken into custody yester- er’s people told William McGlashan, declaring a 2020 bid day morning; according to reports, an executive at the huge investment Huff man was among them. Lough- group TPG Capital, who wanted to By Michael Mathes, AFP ers in Washington suggested he is in: at- the centrist lane in a fi eld of Democrats “We’re not able to be defi ned by race, lin was reportedly in Canada. get his son in a certain school. Washington tendees waving printed “Run Joe Run” whose party has steadily shifted left- by religion, by tribe,” Biden said. The scheme aimed to take advan- “But once he gets here, he just placards; recollections from his blue- ward in recent years. Senator Bernie “That’s what the next president of the tage of the two years of stress par- goes, he doesn’t go to athletic ori- collar roots; criticism of Trump without Sanders currently leads the liberal United States needs to understand, and ents across the United States often entation, He goes to the regular ori- ormer US vice president Joe Biden naming him; and soaring oratory about charge of 2020 candidates. that’s what I don’t think this current endure as they put high school-age entation like all my other kids just yesterday dropped teasing hints America’s “creed” and the nation’s Biden has another noteworthy speech president understands at all.” children through the standardized did... and everything’s fi ne.” Fthat he could soon announce a leadership role in the world. this week. He addresses a Democratic He hit out at the tone of the Trump SAT and ACT tests needed to gain McGlashan, who paid $50,000 for 2020 White House campaign, telling “I appreciate the energy you showed Party dinner on Saturday in Delaware, era, saying extremism is on the rise and entry into heavily competitive col- testing help for one son, was told he an enthusiastic crowd that he may need when I got up here,” the 76-year-old the small state he represented for 36 “mean pettiness has overtaken our poli- leges and universities. would have to pay $250,000 to use their energy “in a few weeks.” told the fi re fi ghters. years in the US Senate until his stint as tics.” Many parents pay handsomely the athletics “side door” to enter The Democratic elder statesman has “Save it a little longer. I may need it in Barack Obama’s deputy. And he took aim at the current ad- for test preparation and have their University of Southern California. been considering a challenge against a few weeks.” Fellow Delawarean Chris Coons, who ministration’s policies, including children take the tests two or three Lelling said Singer’s clients paid President Donald Trump for months. The room rose in unison for a stand- replaced Biden in the Senate and speaks the Republican “tax cut for the super times to better their scores. up to $6.5mn for both services. While he tops nearly all early polls ing ovation, and Biden laughed as he with him regularly, said all signs point to wealthy.” In this case, however, the scheme Loughlin and Giannuli paid for the Democratic nominations race, said “be careful what you wish for.” Biden jumping in. He has connected compassionately either had someone take the test $500,000 to get their two daugh- strategists and election observers have The event, attended by Biden’s wife “He is moving closer, he’s someone with working class Americans over the for the students, or someone fi xed ters into the University of Southern stressed that he is under pressure to en- Jill, could easily have been mistaken for who I am confi dent is going to run,” decades, and refl ected that position their tests to ensure high scores that California. ter the crowded fi eld soon, or bow out. a campaign stop. Coons told CBS on Monday night. again yesterday, stressing that “unions would get them into highly desire- None of the students were Biden, a consensus-building prag- The would-be candidate himself “Everything is being put in place but built the middle class.” able universities. charged and most remain at the matist and Washington establishment jogged on stage to Bruce Springsteen’s that last decision, which you know un- Biden also movingly recalled the “Wealthy parents paid Singer universities, he said. “The parents fi xture, is almost certain to jump in, We Take Care of Our Own, followed by derstandably is a big decision.” death of his fi rst wife and their daugh- about $25mn in total,” said Andrew and other defendants are clearly the with a campaign kickoff expected by fi refi ghters chanting “Run, Joe, run.” Biden clearly spoke in the inspira- ter in a 1972 car accident weeks before Lelling, the US attorney in Boston, prime movers in this fraud.” mid-April, sources recently told The Biden also quoted from the Declara- tional timber of a candidate, insisting he was to be sworn in as a senator, and Massachusetts where the case was Lelling added that none of the New York Times. tion of Independence in his speech. that what makes America great is “ giv- praised the work of fi refi ghters who he fi led. universities were charged in the Much about Biden’s address to the He would be an instant frontrun- ing everyone a fair shot, leaving no one said saved his two sons who were se- “These parents are a catalogue scheme, and were not seen as co- International Association of Fire Fight- ner should he enter the race, occupying behind, demonising no one.” verely injured in the crash. of wealth and privilege. They in- conspirators.

US evacuates staff as paralysed Venezuela braces for more anti-Maduro protests

By Maria Isabel Sanchez, AFP Guaido dismissed that expla- of messages that have “stoked But tensions were running US-supplied food and medicine Caracas nation as “Hollywoodesque.” violence”. high amid the shortages. across the borders with Colom- Critics have long blamed the “At this moment he appears “I saw people lining up for a bia and Brazil. government for failing to main- as one of the intellectual authors kilogram of rice, and the shop- Power has been restored to some enezuela yesterday braced tain the power grid. of this electrical sabotage and is keepers had to fi re shots in the air areas since the weekend but — with for fresh protests called Guaido, 35, is seeking to capi- practically calling for a civil war to keep the lines under control,” residents and businesses fearing Vby opposition leader Juan talise on public anger over the in the middle of this blackout.” Alberto Barboza, 26, told AFP in that refrigerated food would spoil Guaido on Day 5 of a crippling blackout, which has piled misery Prompted by Guaido’s urging, the oil capital Maracaibo. — service has been intermittent power blackout as the US moved to on a population suff ering years the opposition-dominated Na- “I heard a lot of shooting,” said and the power often drops out. pull all remaining diplomatic staff of economic crisis and shortages tional Assembly declared a “state of Barboza, adding that a local bak- Businesses and schools re- from the crisis-wracked country. of food and medicine under Ma- alarm” on Monday to pave the way ery and a tire shop were looted. mained shuttered yesterday on Venezuela’s state prosecutor, duro. for the delivery of international aid, The blackout has left millions Maduro’s orders, as they have Tarek William Saab, told report- The youthful National Assem- 250 tons of which has been stuck without running water. been since the blackout began. ers he would place Guaido under bly leader — locked in a power for a month at Venezuela’s borders Many people lined up to buy In any event, the lack of public investigation for “his alleged in- struggle with Maduro since de- with Colombia and Brazil. bottled water in Caracas super- transport made travel diffi cult, volvement in the sabotage of the claring himself interim president However, with Maduro con- markets, but most are reduced even in Caracas. Venezuelan electricity system.” on January 23 — said stopping the trolling the military and security to desperate means — besieging As the situation worsened, US It is the fi rst government move socialist leader’s “usurpation” services — which are currently fountains in public parks and any Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against the US-backed Guaido of power would depend “on us preventing aid from entering the available water sources around People collect water from a river in Caracas yesterday. announced Washington is with- since his return to Venezuela last demonstrating in a massive and country — he has no means of the capital. drawing all its remaining personnel week after defying a travel ban organised way in the streets.” enforcing it. In one area, a desperate crowd Maduro meanwhile called on motorbikes were seen riding from the US embassy in Caracas. to visit several South American “I call on all Venezuelans to Maduro yesterday used the swarmed around a concrete gully for grassroots groups known as through areas of the capital at the All non-emergency staff were leaders. take to the street and avenues military to begin distributing taking run-off water into the “colectivos” to hit back against weekend. ordered to leave on January 24. President Nicolas Maduro has nearest them,” urged Guaido, food, water and other assistance capital’s polluted River Guaire, what he called attacks encour- The opposition argues the “This decision refl ects the blamed the blackout on US “sab- who has been recognised as in- in several districts. using water bottles and all kinds aged by the US against the coun- colectivos have been armed by the deteriorating situation in #Ven- otage” in the form of an electro- terim president by more than 50 Marshalled by security forces, of containers and cans. try’s electrical grid. government and act as militia. ezuela as well as the conclusion magnetic attack on the country’s countries. crowds formed impatient lines at Guaido called on the military “The time has come for active Critics say such groups were that the presence of US diplo- main hydroelectric complex in Outlining the case against water trucks distributed in some and security services to “refrain resistance,” he said in a speech behind the death of seven peo- matic staff at the embassy has Guri, which supplies 80% of Guaido, Saab said the opposition areas, as they waited to fi ll con- from preventing or hindering” late on Monday. ple on February 23 when the op- become a constraint on US poli- Venezuela’s electricity. leader had disseminated a series tainers. yesterday’s protests. His call came after armed men position tried in vain to bring cy,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 11 ASIA 15 years on, family Vietnam asks Malaysia to of disappeared Thailand lawyer free Kim murder suspect ‘waiting for justice’ AFP Kim Jong-un, in a busy Kuala after Minh’s call with Malay- Vietnam provided legal coun- and have said they were tricked Hanoi Lumpur airport in 2017. sian Foreign Minister Saifuddin sel to Huong, but has refrained into carrying out the killing us- Huong was accused along- Abdullah. from publicly lobbying for her ing a toxic nerve agent for what AFP side Indonesian Siti Aisyah, who Huong is set to appear in release until yesterday. they thought was a prank. Bangkok ietnam yesterday asked was suddenly freed on Monday court on Thursday after her Siti’s sudden release prompt- The women’s lawyers say the Malaysia to free the Viet- by a Malaysian court where the lawyers asked the attorney- ed questions about interference real killers are four North Ko- Vnamese woman charged women were being tried. general to withdraw her mur- in Malaysia’s justice system, reans - formally accused of the he wife of a lawyer who with assassinating the North Vietnam’s Foreign Minis- der charge. Prosecutors may particularly after the Indone- crime alongside the women - vanished after being Korean leader’s half-brother in ter Pham Binh Minh called decide then inform the court sian government revealed that who fl ed Malaysia shortly after Tsnatched off the streets Kuala Lumpur, a day after her his Malaysian counterpart whether the application is it had lobbied Kuala Lumpur on the assassination. of Bangkok 15 years ago urged Indonesian co-accused was yesterday asking Huong to be successful. the case. South Korea accuses the Thailand yesterday to toughen suddenly released. released as well, according to The call from Vietnam’s for- Malaysian PM Mahathir Mo- North of plotting the murder laws to end impunity of offi - Vietnamese citizen Doan state media. eign minister was an unprec- hamad said yesterday the deci- of Kim, an estranged relative of cials accused of carrying out Thi Huong is on trial for mur- “(He) asked Malaysia to en- edented public request from sion was in line with “the rule Kim Jong-un who was once seen enforced disappearances. der in Malaysia for the brazen sure a fair trial, and to set free Hanoi, which generally does not of law”. as heir apparent to the North Rights groups say 30 human Cold War-style killing of Kim Doan Thi Huong,” Voice of Vi- get involved in criminal cases in- Huong and Siti have consist- Korean leadership. Pyongyang rights activists have disap- Angkhana Neelapaijit of Jong Nam, the half-brother of etnam radio reported Tuesday volving its citizens overseas. ently denied the murder charge denies the accusation. peared or been murdered in Thailand’s National Human Thailand since 2001. Rights Commission speaks While local offi cials have about her missing husband been accused of being involved Somchai Neelapaijit at a forum in some disappearances, they in Bangkok yesterday. Fake medicines destroyed are rarely held accountable Jordanian and the perpetrators are rarely she and witnesses had been - if ever - brought to justice. “threatened”. A draft law on preventing New York-based Human held for enforced disappearances is Rights Watch has said it has currently in parliament. documented a pattern of en- But the bill must be tough- forced disappearances and throwing ened up as it currently is fo- other abuses by Thailand’s cused “on protecting gov- security forces. ernment offi cials”, said “Bringing perpetrators to baby into Angkhana Neelapaijit of Thai- justice... cannot be ignored, land’s National Human Rights no matter the level of the gov- Commission. ernment offi cial,” Angkhana Thai sea “The state must stand with said yesterday during a memo- the victims.” rial event at the Netherlands Angkhana is the wife of embassy in Bangkok. AFP prominent Muslim human “The families of the disap- Bangkok rights lawyer Somchai Neela- peared - including myself - are paijit, who disappeared on still waiting for justice.” this day 15 years ago when he The event yesterday was hai police arrested a Jor- was bundled into a car off the attended by family members danian man who con- streets of Bangkok, according of other disappeared activists Tfessed to murdering his to eyewitnesses. around the region, including one-year-old son by strapping Well-known for repre- Shui-Meng Ng, whose hus- the child into a stroller and push- senting clients accused of band environmental cam- ing him into the Gulf of Thailand, insurgency-related violence in paigner Sombath Somphone the country’s immigration head Thailand’s deep south, Som- went missing in 2012 in Laos. said yesterday. chai’s abduction came while Speaking to a sombre The alleged infanticide occurred he was defending suspected crowd, Shui-Meng urged the in the seaside town of Pattaya, Islamic militants who had ac- Thai government to give clo- where 52-year-old Wael Nabil Sal- cused authorities of torturing sure to Somchai’s family, say- man Zureikat was holidaying with them while in custody. ing she “stands in unity with his wife and one-year-old son. Five police offi cers - one your pain... with your anger His arrest follows the dis- of whom was briefl y jailed - and indignity”. covery of the toddler’s body on were eventually acquitted in Somchai’s unsolved case Monday by fi shermen off Pat- Thailand’s Supreme Court. is one of at least 82 cases of taya’s main pier. Cambodian Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, right, looks at a confiscated fake Evian water bottle during a ceremony to destroy 70 Following the acquit- enforced disappearances in “Last night, he confessed that tonnes of counterfeit products that included medicines and bottled water in Phnom Penh yesterday. tal of the fi nal defendant in Thailand since 1980 recorded he tied his son to the stroller 2011, Angkhana said had both by the United Nations. and pushed it into the sea,” im- migration head Lieutenant Gen- eral Surachate Hakparn said at a press conference yesterday. The couple had checked into a guest house on March 6, and the boy was taken two days later by RCBC sues Bangladesh Bank over heist claim the father - who told his wife he was under the care of others. His wife fi led a complaint to Reuters SWIFT payments system to steal Bangladesh Bank. It is seeking It said the motive was to get also agreed to help the bank re- gaming junket operator. the authorities, which led to the Manila $81mn from the Bangladesh cen- at least 100mn pesos ($1.9mn) RCBC to return money it nei- build its infrastructure after the In the fi rst conviction in the man’s arrest. tral bank’s account at the Federal in damages. ther had, nor owed. breach. case, a Philippine court in Janu- “The father said he could not Reserve Bank of New York. “Bangladesh Bank has em- Bangladesh Bank declined to Bangladesh Bank fi led a lawsuit ary found a former RCBC bank raise the boy and did not want to Philippine bank has fi led The money was sent to ac- barked on a massive ploy and comment. in the US District Court in Man- branch manager, Maia Deguito, have children,” Surachate said. a lawsuit accusing Bang- counts at Manila-based Rizal scheme to extort money from The lawsuit is the latest in a hattan earlier this year, accusing guilty on eight counts of money “It is a heartbreaking story.” A ladesh’s central bank Commercial Banking Corp plaintiff RCBC by resorting to slew of barbs and blame-trading RCBC of involvement in a massive laundering. The Jordanian will be charged of defamation, hitting back at (RCBC) and then vanished public defamation, harassment between the two banks. conspiracy to steal its money. Deguito was sentenced to under Section 289 of Thailand’s what it says are baseless claims into the casino industry in the and threats geared towards de- Last month, the Federal Re- A hunt for the culprits between 32 years and 56 years penal code for “intentional kill- of its complicity in the world’s Philippines. stroying RCBC’s good name, serve said it had agreed to help has made little progress and in jail, and was ordered to pay a ing” of a child. biggest cyber heist. RCBC said its reputation had reputation, and image,” it said in Bangladesh as it sues to recoup Bangladesh Bank has man- total fi ne of about $109mn, al- If found guilty, the maximum In February 2016, criminals come under a sustained “vi- a statement on Tuesday, citing losses from the heist, off ering aged to get back roughly though she remains free on bail punishment is the death penalty. used fraudulent orders on the cious and public attack” by the civil court fi ling on March 6. “technical assistance”. SWIFT $15mn, mostly from a Manila pending appeal. Millions of Myanmar farmers face Myanmar returns remains of arrest under ‘disastrous’ land law

DPA department offi cers, and their In December, two months after withdrawing from My- suspected WWII US airmen Yangon cronies are about to have a fi eld day of land grabbing,” Human anmar’s formal peace process, Rights Watch’s deputy Asia di- led by Aung San Suu kyi, the AFP illions of Myanmar’s rector Phil Robertson said. Karen National Union (KNU), Yangon farmers face arrest In her presentation to the one of Myanmar’s largest eth- Mand eviction after the UN Human Rights Council nic armed organisations, de- deadline for applications for on Monday, Yanghee Lee, the manded that the government he remains of suspected American air- permits to remain on their land human rights special rappor- “tear up” the law, saying it has men killed in Myanmar during World expired yesterday. teur for Myanmar, said the law undermined the peace process. TWar II were repatriated to the United The permits are neces- failed to recognise the inability Robertson said eff orts to States yesterday in the fi rst-ever ceremony sary due to a controversial law of thousands of refugees and enforce the law could trigger a of its kind in the Southeast Asian nation, US amended by the country’s par- internally displaced people to backlash against Suu Kyi’s par- offi cials said. liament in September. stake their claims before the ty, the National League for De- The remains of hundreds of American mili- It requires those occupying deadline. mocracy, which currently holds tary personnel are still unaccounted for in or using land legally considered “With land insecurity cen- a supermajority in parliament. Myanmar, a key confl ict arena in Asia between vacant, fallow or virgin to ap- tral to the cycle of confl ict, “Most villagers occupying the Allies and Japan during World War II. ply for a permit to use it for 30 poverty and denial of rights, land classifi ed as vacant, fal- The remains repatriated yesterday are be- years or face eviction and up to [the law] has the potential to be low or virgin are still in the dark lieved to be linked to a crashed B-25G aircraft two years in jail. disastrous,” Lee added. about this new law, so the evic- in February 1944 in the Salingyi area of the The government classifi es Even before the deadline tion notices and arrest war- northwest Sagaing region. about 50mn acres - a third of passed, local authorities in rants for trespassing will come The wreckage was found in an investiga- Myanmar’s total land area - as Myanmar’s souther Tan- as a total surprise,” Robertson tion two years later, but the graves could not vacant, fallow, or virgin land. intharyi region had fi led law- said. be located. According to Human Rights suits against farmers, accusing “However, they will remem- A ceremony was held at Mandalay Inter- Remains discovered during a recent recovery mission in Myanmar and believed to belong Watch, the law creates incen- them of trespassing on land ber these days as the start of national Airport late Tuesday afternoon. to US service members missing from World War II are prepared to be transported back to tives for authorities to seize they had occupied and farmed when they lost everything - White-gloved servicemen saluted before the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Laboratory in Hawaii, US, in Mandalay, lands that have been passed for decades, according to the their land, and with it, their loading a fl ag-draped coffi n bearing the re- Myanmar yesterday. down for generations through local development group Tan- livelihoods and rural commu- mains onto a C-17 military plane. informal land tenure practices. intharyi Friends. nity - and the question will be, “This ceremony is a reminder of the deep, and most precious resource.” Defence and aims to account for the more By challenging local practic- Local rights groups, political who do they blame for their enduring, historical connections between The remains were found during a recent than 82,000 missing service men and women es, the law also invites private parties, and ethnic armed or- deprivation. This is hardly a our two countries that date back to even be- recovery mission conducted by the Defence from confl icts dating back to World War II. companies to stake competing ganisations have called for the propitious way for the Na- fore Myanmar’s independence,” said US am- POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and There are currently 632 US service mem- claims and raises the potential land law to be abolished and for tional League for Democracy to bassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel. will be sent to a forensics lab in Hawaii for bers still unaccounted for in Myanmar from for land confl icts. customary land rights to be le- kick off their 2020 presidential “These men and women represent the best further analysis. World War II and DPAA has so far identifi ed “Township offi cials, land gally recognised. campaign,” he added. of who we are. They are our nation’s greatest DPAA works under the US Department of 14 missing service members. Gulf Times 12 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

Taiwan president to visit Pacifi c allies amid China pressure

Reuters ened tension between Taipei and China should release Taiwan activist: US envoy major powers, maintains a “one she urged the administration to Taipei Beijing, which claims self-ruled China” policy that prevents for- counter Xi’s “one country, two Taiwan as its sacred territory and The US ambassador for religious government of China to release China’s threats on human mal diplomatic relations with systems” proposal that Beijing considers it merely a province freedom yesterday called for him back to her and Taiwan,” rights,” she said. Li Ming-che, Taiwan but it is the island’s largest uses to push for “reunifi cation” aiwan’s president will visit with no right to state-to-state the release of a Taiwan activist Brownback said, referring to who disappeared while visiting weapons supplier and most pow- with Taiwan. three diplomatic allies ties. jailed in China, saying the case the activist’s wife, Li Ching-yu, China in 2017, was found guilty erful international backer. That Tsai called on government of- Tin the Pacifi c next week Chinese President Xi Jinping was highly concerning to the US who warned the international of subversion that year in a relationship has been boosted un- fi cials to come up with measures and could stop-over in US terri- kicked off the new year with a government. Sam Brownback community to pay attention to trial that his wife denounced as der US President Donald Trump, to “counter” China’s renewed tory, potentially angering China major speech in Beijing threaten- said activist Li Ming-che, a China’s human rights record. illegitimate. He admitted during whose administration is eyeing eff orts to “interfere” and to “ab- as it seeks to snatch away the ing to use force to bring Taiwan community college lecturer and Li Ching-yu said Chinese his trial to having criticised more weapons sales and encour- sorb” Taiwan’s capital and talents. self-ruled island’s few remaining under its control, though said an activist at a human rights authorities had repeatedly China’s ruling Communist Party aging offi cial exchanges. “The Beijing authorities continue friends. China would strive to achieve this non-governmental organisation rejected her requests to visit and to having shared articles The US ambassador for reli- to utilise our open and free system Last year, China persuaded peacefully. in Taiwan, should be reunited her husband. “Taiwan’s not and arguments promoting gious freedom, Sam Brownback, of democracy to interfere with the Dominican Republic, Burkina The aim of Tsai’s eight-day with his wife. “We call on the alone. The world is also facing Taiwan’s multi-party democracy. is currently in Taipei, to Beijing’s Taiwan’s political, economic and Faso and El Salvador to forge rela- visit, starting on March 21, was anger. China’s hostility to Taiwan social developments, which has tions with Beijing, leaving a dwin- to “deepen ties and friendly rela- has grown since Tsai’s election as become the biggest risk in Tai- dling number of governments tions” with Taiwan’s Pacifi c allies, matter told Reuters the stopover almost all small, less developed The Chinese government’s top Beijing fears she wishes to push wan,” Tsai said in a statement. The that have formal diplomatic ties Deputy Foreign Aff airs Minister would most likely be in Guam or nations in Central America and diplomat, State Councillor Wang for the island’s formal independ- former British colony of Hong with Taipei. Hsu Szu-chien told a news brief- Hawaii, with the chance of at least the Pacifi c, like Belize and Nau- Yi, simply answered “Ha ha!” ence. Tsai says she wants to main- Kong returned to Chinese rule in President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit ing in Taipei. Taiwan is still in one visit to US territory “very ru. Taipei has accused Beijing of last week when asked by report- tain the status quo but will defend 1997 under a “one country, two to the tiny Pacifi c Ocean countries talks regarding a possible stopover high”. off ering generous aid and loan ers how many of Taiwan’s allies Taiwan’s democracy. On Monday systems” formula, that granted of Palau, Nauru and the Marshall in US territory, he added. Democratic Taiwan now has packages to lure its allies away, China would take this year. evening, Tsai called a national the fi nancial hub a high degree of Islands also comes amid height- A person with knowledge of the formal ties with just 17 countries, accusations Beijing denies. The United States, like other security meeting during which autonomy. N Korea diplomacy ‘alive’ but watching rocket site, says US

Reuters In the course of nearly a year of certainly our expectation that we At the White House on Mon- Washington diplomatic engagement with the will be able to continue our close day, spokeswoman Sarah Sand- United States, North Korea has engagement,” Biegun said. ers scoff ed at reports that China maintained a freeze on missile The State Department has was wary of holding a summit he chief US envoy for and nuclear tests and space rock- declined to say whether there with Trump on trade after he North Korea said that “di- et launches in place since 2017. has been any direct engagement walked out of his meeting with Tplomacy is still very much Trump has repeatedly stressed between the two sides since the Kim without a deal. alive” with Pyongyang despite this as a positive outcome of the summit. “We’ll see what happens with a failed summit last month, but diplomacy. A national security adviser to North Korea the same way we’re cautioned that Washington was Biegun said Washington did South Korean President Moon going to see what happens in the closely watching activity at a not know what the activity Jae-in said the United States negotiations with China. They’re North Korean rocket site and did spotted in North Korea meant. should seek the gradual de- ongoing,” she said. not know if it might be planning a He said the Trump administra- nuclearisation of North Korea Trump on Friday stressed new launch. tion took it “very seriously” but because an “all-or-nothing” again his belief in his personal Stephen Biegun told a con- cautioned against drawing any strategy will not help break the rapport with Kim. ference in Washington that al- snap conclusions. “What Kim impasse in talks. The CSIS report said commer- though US President Donald Jong-un will ultimately decide To bridge the gap, Moon could cial satellite images acquired last Trump and North Korean leader to do may very much be his de- pursue an unoffi cial inter-Korean Wednesday and Friday showed Kim Jong-un parted on good cision and his decision alone,” summit as he did last year before North Korea had continued terms after their Feb 27-28 sum- Biegun said, adding that Trump the fi rst summit between Trump preparations on the launch pad mit in Hanoi, big gaps remained had made clear last week he and Kim, and then visit Wash- at its Sohae launch facility and between the two sides and North would be “very disappointed” ington, the adviser said. at the engine testing stand there. Korea needed to show it was fully if North Korea were to resume Trump has said he remains “Based on past practices, these committed to giving up its nu- testing. open to more talks with Kim. activities could be consistent clear weapons. An authoritative US govern- US Under Secretary of State for with preparations for the deliv- Biegun, the US special rep- ment source familiar with US in- Arms Control and International ery of a rocket to the launch pad resentative for North Korea, telligence assessments said they Security Andrea Thompson told or engine to the test stand; or stressed that US-led sanc- did not conclude that a launch the Washington conference she they could be North Korean co- Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (left) welcomes Siti Aisyah during their meeting at palace in tions, which Pyongyang wants was imminent, given North Ko- thought there would be another ercive bargain tactics,” it said. Jakarta, yesterday. dropped, would stay in place rea’s apparent desire to keep ne- summit. Trump said after his fi rst sum- until North Korea completed gotiations going with the United Asked if there would be a third mit with Kim in Singapore last denuclearisation. He rejected an States. However, the source said meeting, she said Secretary of June that Kim had promised to ‘Release of Indonesian in N Korea case within rules’ incremental approach sought by Pyongyang appeared to want to State Mike Pompeo and Trump dismantle the test stand, a pledge Pyongyang, and said that easing make clear it retained the capa- had “been very clear that they the North Korean leader reiterat- Malaysia’s prime minister said allows charges to be withdrawn. was left distraught as she was sanctions for partial steps would bility to resume launches at any remain open to the dialogue. ed and expanded on at a summit yesterday the surprise release That was what happened. I do not freed at the same time. The amount to subsidising North Ko- moment. They haven’t got a date on the with Moon in September. of an Indonesian woman who not know in detail the reasons,” pair always denied murder, rea’s weapons programmes. “Diplomacy is still very much calendar but our teams continue Pyongyang has used Sohae to was on trial for assassinating he said, adding he was unaware insisting they were tricked by As Biegun spoke at the Carn- alive,” Biegun said. He off ered to work towards that.” launch satellites into space since the North Korean leader’s of any negotiations between North Korean spies into carrying egie Nuclear Conference, the no specifi cs on when new talks Thompson said it was “incred- 2011, and Washington says its half-brother followed the Indonesia and Malaysia on the out the Cold War-style hit using Center for Strategic and Interna- might be held and did not say ibly important” that all countries work there has helped develop “rule of law”, after suspicions issue. a toxic nerve agent and thought tional Studies (CSIS) think tank whether any talks had taken continued to maintain UN sanc- missile technology. A satellite of meddling amid an intense On Monday, Indonesian it was just a prank. issued a new report on activ- place since the summit, which tions on North Korea until it gave launch in April 2012 killed off lobbying eff ort by Jakarta. Siti off icials released a letter from Huong’s lawyers have now ity at North Korea’s Sohae rocket collapsed over diff erences on US up its nuclear weapons. “We are an Obama administration deal Aisyah was freed by a Malaysian the country’s justice minister asked the attorney-general to launch site, in which satellite demands for Pyongyang’s denu- not letting the foot off the gas. for a freeze in North Korean nu- court Monday after prosecutors to Malaysia’s attorney-general, withdraw her murder charge, images from Friday showed pos- clearisation and North Korea’s We are going to continue with clear and missile testing reached withdrew a murder charge which said Aisyah had been and prosecutors may tomorrow sible preparations for a launch. demand for sanctions relief. “It’s the pressure campaign,” she said. weeks earlier. without any explanation, more “deceived” and sought her inform the Shah Alam High than two years after her arrest release. The attorney-general Court, outside Kuala Lumpur, for the 2017 assassination of agreed to the request last whether the application has Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur week. Her swift release had been successful. The women’s airport. sparked anger in Malaysia, lawyers have presented them Climate change protest Her sudden release prompted and accusations that the as scapegoats. They say the questions about interference government had caved in to real murderers are four North in Malaysia’s justice system, diplomatic pressure. “Any govt Koreans – formally accused of particularly after the Indonesian can just pressure Malaysia to the crime alongside the women government revealed that it release a suspect in a criminal – who fled Malaysia shortly after had lobbied Kuala Lumpur on case?” wrote one user on the assassination. the case, including pressure Facebook. South Korea accuses the North from President Joko Widodo. Another, John Lim, commented of plotting the murder of Kim, an But Malaysian Prime Minister that Aisyah’s release was estranged relative of Kim Jong- Mahathir Mohamad told “definitely not according to the un who was once seen as heir reporters in parliament that the rule of law”. She had been on apparent to the North Korean decision was in line with “the trial alongside a Vietnamese leadership. Pyongyang denies rule of law”. “There is a law that woman, Doan Thi Huong, who the accusation.

Australian Cardinal Pell to be sentenced for abuse charges

DPA can treasurer is the highest- televised live. Pell was until De- Melbourne ranking Catholic to be convicted cember a member of the Council of child sexual abuse and faces of Cardinals, an advisory panel up to 10 years in jail for each of to Pope Francis, and his role as isgraced Australian Car- the convictions. the prefect of the Secretariat dinal George Pell, who He has been held in custody for the Economy in the Vatican Dhas been found guilty of since last month when his bail ended in February. sexually abusing two choirboys was revoked. Melbourne County He has already been banned in a cathedral, will today be sen- Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd, from public ministry or having tenced by a Melbourne court. who presided over the trial in contact with children and the Pell was found guilty in Decem- which Pell was unanimously Vatican’s disciplinary depart- A tourist walks past a mural showing Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison holding a lump of coal as it advertises a rally by students ber on fi ve charges of child sexu- convicted by a jury consisting of ment has begun clerical sexual around the world to protest against climate change, in Melbourne, yesterday. The global youth movement started last year by Swedish al assault in the mid-1990s at St eight men and four women, will abuse investigation proceedings teenager Greta Thunberg is hoping that students from around 80 countries will skip school for the day on March 15, 2019 to urge Patrick’s Cathedral when he was begin reading out his verdict at against him. Its rulings can lead governments to take action on climate change. the archbishop of Melbourne. 10am. In a rare move for an Aus- to penalties including defrock- The 77-year-old former Vati- tralian court, the verdict will be ing. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 13 BRITAIN

ACCIDENT NOT FIT TO PRACTISE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION PROBE RISK BUSINESS Two killed in avalanche Stephen Hawking’s nurse Body of missing Briton BBC suspected of Accountants, lawyers under in Scotland: police banned over care failings found in Guatemala pay discrimination fire over money laundering

Two people were killed and two more injured in an The nurse who cared for late British Searchers have found the body of a 23-year- The BBC is to be investigated over suspected Most professional bodies for accountants and avalanche on Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking was yesterday old British woman in Guatemala a week discrimination following complaints that women lawyers are failing to ensure that members do Scottish police said yesterday. Police had earlier banned for failing “to provide the standards after she went missing, police in the Central have been paid less than men, the country’s all they can to help in the fight against money said three people were killed. “We can sadly confirm of good, professional care that we expect and American nation said on Monday. Catherine equality watchdog announced yesterday. The laundering, a senior regulator said yesterday. The that two people have died and two people have Professor Hawking deserved”. The Nursing Shaw’s body was found at a mountainous issue made headlines last year when senior Off ice for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering been injured,” Police Scotland said. Police said they and Midwifery Council (NMC) made the ruling lookout point near the village of San broadcaster Carrie Gracie quit her job as Supervision was set up in January 2018 to bolster were informed about an avalanche in the area at a hearing where Patricia Dowdy, 61, faces Juan La Laguna in southwestern Guatemala, BBC China editor in a highly public protest at eff orts to keep its financial system “clean”. “We at around 1150 GMT and mountain rescuers and multiple misconduct charges. “In serious cases they said. San Juan La Laguna lies on being paid less than her male counterparts. found that some did not fully understand their role emergency workers had been sent to the scene. The such as this — where a nurse has failed in their the shores of Lake Atitlan, one of the This followed an outcry in 2017, when the BBC as an anti-money laundering supervisor,” Alison Scottish Ambulance Service said it had sent an air duty of care and has not been able to (provide) country’s most popular tourist draws. Police published a list of its best-paid on-air staff , Barker, director of specialist supervision at the ambulance, three ambulances and a trauma team evidence to the panel that they have learned said in a statement Shaw had been missing revealing two-thirds were men, some of whom Financial Conduct Authority, said. “Over 90% hadn’t to the peak. The Scottish Avalanche Information from their mistakes and be fit to practice — since March 4 and that a criminal investigation were paid far more than their female peers. fully developed a risk based approach and had not Service on Monday said the risk of avalanches in we will take action,” said the NMC’s Matthew would be opened into her death. They did The Equality and Human Rights Commission is collected all the data they needed to form a view Lochaber, where Ben Nevis is located, was “high”. McClelland. not give more details. looking at records dating back to January 2016. about their riskiest members and their services.” May’s Brexit deal rejected again „ Vote today on revoking Article 50 „ Possible vote tomorrow on seeking extension „ Brexiteers want to leave EU „ Corbyn for fresh elections to break the deadlock

Reuters/AFP London EU says no more negotiations

ritish lawmakers yesterday The risk of a damaging no-deal delay to Brexit to avoid economic crushingly rejected Prime Brexit has “increased signifi- disruptions should Britain crash BMinister Theresa May’s cantly” and there will be no more out of the bloc with no plan in deal to quit the European Union, negotiations with London on the place. thrusting Brexit into turmoil just divorce terms, the EU said yester- “With only 17 days left to March 17 days before the planned de- day after the House of Commons 29, today’s vote has significantly parture date. rejected the package for the increased the likelihood of a ‘no- Lawmakers voted against second time. deal’ Brexit,” the EU said. May’s amended Brexit deal by “The EU has done everything “Should there be a UK rea- 391 to 242 as her last-minute it can to help get the Withdrawal soned request for an extension, talks with EU chiefs on Monday Agreement over the line,” the the EU27 will consider it and to assuage her critics’ concerns bloc’s main Brexit negotiator, decide by unanimity. The EU27 ultimately proved fruitless. Michel Barnier said after the will expect a credible justification The vote puts the world’s fi fth House of Commons vote. for a possible extension and its largest economy in uncharted “The impasse can only be duration,” it said, adding that any territory with no obvious way solved in the UK. Our ‘no-deal’ Brexit delay must not interfere forward; exiting the EU without preparations are now more im- with EU parliamentary elections a deal, delaying the March 29 portant than ever before.” due on May 24-26. divorce date, a snap election or In co-ordinated statements, In Dublin, Ireland’s foreign min- even another referendum are all representatives of European ister said he was disappointed at now possible. Council President Donald Tusk Britain’s parliament voting down a May might even try a third and the bloc’s executive European Brexit deal. time to get parliamentary sup- Commission also said that the EU “The predictions were consist- port in the hope that hardline eu- has done “all that is possible to ent enough over the last few rosceptic lawmakers in her Con- reach an agreement...it is diff icult days that this would be a heavy servative Party, the most vocal to see what more we can do.” defeat,” Simon Coveney told the critics of her withdrawal treaty, The bloc insists the troubled BBC. might change their minds if it divorce deal will not be improved “We now need to be patient becomes more likely that Britain again and expects British Prime and calm to allow this process in might stay in the EU after all. Minister Theresa May to ask for a Westminster to take its course.” Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at the start of the debate on the second meaningful vote on the government’s Brexit deal, in the House of While she lost, the margin Commons in London. of defeat was smaller than the record 230-vote loss her deal suf- bring chaos to markets and sup- An opposition Labour Party Voting against leaving without deal” Brexit as well, so lawmakers Many fear that Brexit will May promised changes to the fered in January. ply chains, and other critics say spokesman said this meant she a deal and for an extension does would then vote again tomorrow divide the West as it grapples hated backstop plan which is in- Lawmakers will now vote to- could cause shortages of food and had “given up any pretense of not solve the problems we face.” — on whether government should with both the unconventional tended to keep open the border day on whether Britain should medicines. leading the country”. She said parliament was now request a delay to the leaving date US presidency of Donald Trump with EU member Ireland. quit the world’s biggest trading May said the government The prime minister, hoarse at an impasse: “Does it wish to to allow further talks. and growing assertiveness from Weeks of talks failed to make bloc without a deal, a scenario would not instruct her own par- after Monday’s late-night talks, revoke Article 50 (announcing Both May and the EU have al- Russia and China, leaving Brit- a breakthrough, but May made a that business leaders warn would ty’s lawmakers how to vote. told lawmakers: “Let me be clear. intention to leave the EU)? Does ready ruled out any other chang- ain economically weaker and last-minute trip to Strasbourg to it want to hold a second refer- es to the deal, struck after two- with its security capabilities de- meet EU leaders on the eve of the endum? Or does it want to leave and-a-half years of tortuous pleted. vote. with a deal, but not this deal?” negotiations. Supporters say it allows Brit- She announced she had se- “The best way to get a good deal, “There will be no third ain to control immigration and cured the promised “legally the best way to get a deal you can chance,” European Commission take advantage of global oppor- binding changes” to the back- actually vote for is to keep the threat President Jean-Claude Juncker tunities, striking new trade deals stop, which would keep Britain of a no-deal on the table,” Nigel had said late on Monday. with the United States and oth- in the EU’s customs union if and Dodds, the deputy leader of North- “There will be no further in- ers while still keeping close links until a new way was found to ern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist terpretations of the interpreta- to the EU, which, even without avoid frontier checks. Party (DUP), told Sky News. tions, no further assurances of Britain, would be a single market Hours later, however, Attorney “Once you take that threat off , the reassurances if the ‘meaning- of 440mn people. General Geoff rey Cox said the you are bound to be off ered terms ful vote’ tomorrow fails.” Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the additions would not completely which are less advantageous in A spokesman for European main opposition Labour party allay MPs fears of being trapped the sure and certain knowledge Council President Donald Tusk who has been trying force snap in the arrangement forever. that the other side have that said he regretted the outcome elections, said May must now If MPs vote today to postpone you’re not going to walk away.” of the vote, which had “signifi - admit that her government’s Brexit, the other 27 EU nations Supporters of Brexit argue cantly increased the likelihood of overarching strategy had failed. would need to agree. that, while a “no-deal” divorce a ‘no-deal’ Brexit”. “Their deal, their proposal, the Their leaders will meet in might bring some short-term Britons voted by 52% to 48% in one the prime minister’s put, is Brussels for a summit on March instability, in the longer term it 2016 to leave the EU but the deci- clearly dead,” Corbyn said, call- 21-22. But any postponement would allow the United King- sion has not only divided the main ing on her to negotiate for a soft- may have to be short-lived. dom to thrive and forge benefi cial parties but also exposed deep rifts er Brexit to keep close economies Juncker on Monday said Brexit trade deals across the world. in British society, bringing con- ties with the EU. “should be complete before the However, parliament is ex- cerns about immigration and glo- After MPs fi rst rejected the European elections” at the end Tellers announce the results of the vote in Parliament yesterday. pected fi rmly to reject a “no- balisation to the fore. 585-page Brexit deal in January, of May.

Brexiteers go for broke by sinking May’s deal

By James Pheby, AFP stuck taking rules from the EU there were nowhere near enough leaving little wiggle room for London without having a say and also defectors to get it over line. those who had spent the last two chafe at the £39bn exit bill. Some believe a better deal is months saying they could not Johnson told parliament he still possible before Britain’s back such a deal. ro-Brexit MPs yester- could not vote for the deal, say- scheduled exit from the EU — While some did switch sides, day once again scuppered ing “whatever the government despite the bloc ruling out fur- the rump of veteran eurosceptics, PTheresa May’s deal, play- tried to do, it has not succeeded” ther negotiations – or say they including Bill Cash — a rebel who ing a high-stakes game of politi- and had only “sewed an apron of are ready to walk away without took on former prime minister cal poker by holding out for their fi g-leaves that does nothing to an agreement. John Major over the EU’s Maas- ultimate prize at the risk of losing conceal the embarrassment and When May’s deal was fi rst put tricht Treaty — always held the everything. the dignity of the UK.” to the House of Commons in Jan- power to kill the deal, given Labour Many ‘Brexiteers’ — once But having rejected the deal, uary, more than one-third of her and the DUP’s opposition and known as “eurosceptics” — have the House of Commons will now Conservative MPs — 118 out of May’s slender working majority. built their whole political careers vote this week on whether to rule 306 — joined opposition parties Fear of the economic dam- on opposition to Britain’s mem- out a “no-deal” Brexit and delay to vote against it. age of withdrawing with no deal bership to the EU, and success is it — giving further time for pro- The 10 MPs in Northern Ire- prompted pro-European minis- tantalisingly close. Europeans to try to undermine land’s Democratic Unionist Party ters to threaten to resign if May But few had any enthusiasm the whole process. (DUP), which props up May’s did not allow MPs to vote to delay for Prime Minister Theresa May’s The dilemma spooked some of government in parliament, also Brexit as an alternative. proposals for leaving on March those who opposed May’s deal voted it down. But many hardline Brexiteers 29, hammered out over months when it was fi rst voted on in Jan- The prime minister came back believe these worries are over- of talks with the European Un- uary, with around 40 switching from late-night talks in Stras- blown. John Longworth, co- ion, which were soundly defeated sides to back the deal. bourg on Monday hoping that chairman of the campaign group yesterday by 149 votes. Former Brexit minister David concessions over the hated back- Leave Means Leave, is among Brexiteers fear the deal would Davis was May’s highest pro- stop would convince them to those calling for Britain and the leave Britain a “vassal state”, fi le defector, and infl uential MP back the deal. EU to agree a basic trade deal and leading Leave backer Boris John- Jacob Rees Mogg, leader of the But Attorney General Geof- exit as planned on March 29. son yesterday to call its “back- eurosceptic European Research frey Cox delivered her chances Other Brexiteers meanwhile stop” plan for the Irish border a Group, at one point appeared to a hammer blow yesterday, ex- believe Britain must keep “no “prison”. be wavering. plaining that the changes would deal” as a bargaining chip — and He and his colleagues believe However, he voted yesterday not legally allow Britain to leave believe that even at this late stage the backstop would leave Britain against the divorce deal, and the mechanism unilaterally — they can still get a better deal. Attorney General Geoff rey Cox speaks in the House of Commons in London yesterday. Gulf Times 14 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 EUROPE

CREW SAFE POLITICS HERD INSTINCT CRACKDOWN DEFENCE Italian cargo ship sinks off No breakthrough for Trespassing fox henpecked 27 arrested in anti-Mafia Russia deploys anti-missile France after fire on board Fidesz in anti-EU row to death on French farm police raid near Venice system near St Petersburg

An Italian cargo ship sank yesterday about 330km A leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) Chickens in a poultry farm in northeast France Twenty-seven people linked to the ‘Ndrangheta Russia said yesterday it has stationed off the western Atlantic coast of France after yesterday met Hungarian Prime Minister are suspected of killing a fox who tried to sneak Mafia were arrested yesterday in a raid by Italian its newest S-400 air defence missile rescue vessels were unable to put out a fire that Viktor Orban in Budapest, but failed to defuse into their coop. The young predator is thought police against mob infiltration in Veneto, the systems in the northwestern Leningrad broke out on Sunday, off icials said. All 27 people a row threatening the expulsion of Orban’s to have entered the henhouse at an agricultural northern region around Venice. Suspects have region which includes its second city Saint aboard the Grande America were rescued without Fidesz party from the bloc. “We will continue school at dusk last week and become trapped been charged with Mafia membership, extortion, Petersburg. “The most modern air defence injury on Monday night. The ship was on its way talking,” said Manfred Weber of the German inside by light-controlled automatic hatch doors kidnapping, money laundering, false invoicing and systems S-400 were put on standby alert from Hamburg to Casablanca before the blaze conservative CSU, the EPP faction leader that close when the sun goes down. Students at extortionate moneylending, Venice prosecutors said in the Leningrad region to protect military, “which intensified over the past 24 hours,” French in the European Parliament. Weber did not Le Gros Chene school in Brittany discovered the in a statement. Mobsters linked to the Grande Aracri administrative and civilian sites,” the naval authorities said on Twitter. “The ship had say whether Orban accepted the conditions body of the animal when making their rounds crime family of the ‘Ndrangheta struck deals with defence ministry said. The S-400 surface-to- been listing increasingly to the right as time went to avert a vote on the expulsion of the to check on the chickens the following morning. Veneto entrepreneurs who helped them launder air missile is one of Russia’s most advanced on.” French Environment Minister Francois de nationalist-conservative Fidesz. The conditions “There, in the corner, we found this dead fox,” money through false invoicing scams, prosecutors weapons. A Saint Petersburg-based defence Rugy said in Paris yesterday that off icials still did include halting a campaign against European Pascal Daniel, head of farming at the school, said. The ‘Ndrangheta cell was said to have ministry official told AFP the systems not know what the ship was transporting, but that Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, and told the AFP. “There was a herd instinct and they established a presence in the provinces of Padua, replaced the previous S-300s but declined to anti-pollution measures were already being taken. apologising for it. attacked him with their beaks.” Treviso and Vicenza, as well as in the Venice area. say how many were placed there. Germany asserts its In the driver’s seat independence after US warning on Huawei hardware

By Andrea Shalal, Reuters ners in Europe, “as well as the appropriate Berlin offi ces in the United States.” Merkel’s transatlantic co-ordinator, Peter Beyer, cautioned against reading too ermany will defi ne its own secu- much into the reaction to Grenell’s letter, rity standards for a new 5G mobile noting that Berlin and Washington agreed Gnetwork, Chancellor Angela Mer- on the underlying security issues. kel said yesterday, a day after Washington “There are justifi ed doubts about said it would scale back data-sharing with whether a company that is close to the Berlin if China’s Huawei was allowed to Chinese government can credibly achieve participate. these security standards, which are im- Merkel’s conservatives chafed at what perative for such highly sensitive applica- some saw as a threat by Washington, al- tions,” he said in a statement. though Germany’s transatlantic co-ordi- Michael Grosse-Broemer, a conserva- nator emphasised that Berlin shared US tive leader in parliament, said Germany concerns about Huawei’s ability to meet was competent to address its own securi- high security standards for the new net- ty, adding: “There is no need for pointers work. from the US ambassador.” The pushback is the latest incident in Grosse-Broemer said if problems arose, which US Ambassador Richard Grenell Merkel could always speak directly with has faced criticism for his handling of US- US President Donald Trump. German disagreements over trade, a 2015 Juergen Hardt, foreign policy spokes- Iran nuclear deal and the Russian-led man for the conservatives, told Der Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Spiegel magazine there was no connection A handout picture from the Turkish presidential press service shows President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Istanbul mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim Grenell last week warned German between the 5G licences and US-German (left) on a train (inset) during the opening ceremony yesterday of the Gebze-Halkali suburban train line in Istanbul. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in a intelligence sharing, which was well es- letter that security concerns could throt- tablished and based on mutual interests. tle US intelligence sharing with Berlin if Grenell sparked controversy in Germany Huawei got a role in Germany’s 5G next- when he warned German fi rms to start clos- generation mobile infrastructure. ing down their business operations in Iran. Merkel told reporters the German gov- His threat to slap sanctions on German ernment was keenly focused on security fi rms involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipe- of digital networks, including the 5G mo- line also proved counterproductive, shut- bile infrastructure, but Berlin would keep ting down potential critics of the project Air pollution deaths are its own counsel. as German politicians are reluctant to be “Security, particularly when it comes to seen as bowing to US pressure, experts the expansion of the 5G network, but also said. elsewhere in the digital area, is a very im- “Political smoothness is not his thing portant concern for the German govern- and he’s proud of that. You could say he ment, so we are defi ning our standards for was the most undiplomatic diplomat ourselves,” Merkel said. Washington ever had here,” said Ruediger double earlier estimates She said the German government Lentz, executive director the Aspen Insti- would discuss its concerns with its part- tute Germany. By Marlowe Hood, AFP likewise been linked to drops in cog- that the hazardous health impact of sure that is among the highest in the Paris nitive performance, labour produc- PM2.5 are much larger than assumed world,” said lead author Jos Lelieveld, tivity and educational outcomes. previously,” said Lelieveld. a researcher at the Max-Plank Insti- The new study, published in the The WHO has recommended that tute for Chemistry, also in Mainz. ir pollution causes 790,000 European Heart Journal, focused on the density in the air of these dan- Even steeper rates of excess death premature deaths every year Europe, but the updated statistical gerous microscopic particles should in eastern Europe — over 200 per As world wide web turns 30, its Ain Europe and 8.8mn world- methods were also applied to the rest not exceed, on average, 10 micro- year per 100,000 people, for exam- wide, doubling recent assessments, of the world. grammes per cubic metre (35mcg/ ple, in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania according to a study released on “The revised number for China is m3) per year. — were attributed to less advanced inventor calls for improvements Monday night. 2.8mn deaths per year,” more than European Union standards are far health care. Between 40% and 80% of those two-and-a-half times current es- more lax: 25 mcg/m3. But even at “Since most particulate matter excess deaths are caused by heart at- timates, lead author Jos Lelieveld, a this level, several European countries and other air pollutants in Europe By Albert Otti and Christiane Oelrich, posed a system to manage and link the tacks, strokes and other types of car- researcher at the Max-Plank Insti- regularly exceed this limit. come from the burning of fossil fuels, DPA vast amount of scientifi c information diovascular disease underestimated tute for Chemistry in Germany, told “The WHO standards over the last we need to urgently switch to other Geneva generated by this institution and its ever- up to now as a driver of smog-related AFP by e-mail. decades have become stricter,” said sources for generating energy,” said changing staff of collaborating scientists. mortality, researchers reported. Findings for non-European countries European Environment Agency ex- Lelieveld. “A relatively simple idea,” he said yes- On average, a toxic cocktail of will be published separately, he said. ecutive director Hans Bruyninckx, The 2017 Global Burden of Dis- he world wide web must be im- terday. pollutants from vehicles, industry The scientists applied the new who was not involved in the study. eases study found that PM2.2.5 and proved to prevent abuse and to turn Berners-Lee is still working on improv- and agriculture shortens the lives Global Exposure Mortality Model to “We used to speak primarily about ozone pollution caused some 4.5mn Tit into a tool for political decision- ing the web, through his Solid platform of those who die prematurely by 2.2 a much-expanded epidemiological carcinogenic eff ects, or immediate deaths in 2015, while European En- making, its inventor Tim Berners-Lee that allows users to retake full control over years, they calculated. database — with updated fi gures for impacts on the respiratory system,” vironment Agency estimates, also said yesterday in Geneva, commemorat- their personal digital data online. “This means that air pollution population density, age, disease risk he told AFP. “But now we understand based on 2015 data, calculated ing the 30th anniversary of the global in- In addition, he is championing the idea causes more extra deaths a year than factors, causes of death — to simu- the link with cardio issues, brain re- 480,000 premature deaths — due to formation system. of a global Contract for the Web, a code of tobacco smoking, which the World late the way in which natural and lated issues, and some reproductive the three most toxic forms of air pol- “Fifty per cent of humanity is using this conduct for governments, companies and Health Organization (WHO) esti- man-made chemicals interacts with issues.” lution — in the European Union. web thing,” the British physicist and com- private users. mates was responsible for an extra the atmosphere, itself composed of Worldwide, the study found that The new study “suggests earlier puter scientist said at an event at the Eu- The 63-year-old scientist said it was 7.2mn deaths in 2015,” said senior au- gases. air pollution causes an extra 120 models underestimated the cardio- ropean Organization for Nuclear Research key to keep the web “open and free” and thor Thomas Munzel, a professor at By far, most deaths were attribut- deaths per year per 100,000 people. vascular risk associated with air pol- (CERN), where he had developed the con- to guarantee privacy. the University Medical Centre Mainz ed to microscopic particles less than In Europe, despite more stringent lution, and we tend to agree,” said cept of the web. “Social media companies should con- in Germany. 2.5 microns in diameter, known as pollution controls than in most other Holly Shiels, a researcher in the Di- “You’ve got to step back and look at it,” trol hate speech and should prevent be- “Smoking is avoidable, but air PM2.5. regions, the fi gure is higher — 133 vision of Cardiovascular Sciences at he said, calling for the protection of per- ing used to incite human rights violations. pollution is not.” By comparison, the average human deaths per 100,000 people. the University of Manchester. sonal data and free speech online. The web already brings people together Small and larger particulate mat- hair is 60-to-90 microns thick. “This is explained by the combi- “The call for reassessment of cur- In March 1989, Berners-Lee presented online in the search for truth,” Berners- ter, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur “New data has become available nation of poor air quality and dense rent UK and EU air quality regula- a short paper at CERN in which he pro- Lee said. dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) have for fi ne particulate matter indicating population, which leads to expo- tions seem highly warranted.” Civil liberties under threat in Macron’s France, warns rights watchdog

By Simon Carraud, Reuters giving police greater powers to fundamental rights and liberties made an unprecedented number Castaner wrote on Twitter. Paris act against protesters. have been somewhat weakened”. of “preventative” detentions at Now, in response to the rioting Emergency powers handed to Political opponents of Em- “yellow vest” protests. and violence witnessed during police following the Islamist mili- manuel Macron have said the France ended a two-year state “yellow vest” protests, the Sen- he heavy-handed polic- tant attacks in 2015 had crept into president’s crackdown on some- of emergency in November 2017, ate is expected to approve in a ing of anti-government common practice, said Jacques times-violent “yellow vest” pro- but replaced it with a tough secu- fi nal vote legislation that would T“yellow vest” demonstra- Toubon, head of the Defenseur tests have put public order above rity law that gave police extended hand police power to search pro- tions, during which thousands des Droits de l’Homme (Defender individual rights. powers to search properties, con- testers and prohibit demonstra- of protesters have been arrested of Human Rights) body. Police tactics have come under duct electronic eavesdropping tors from covering their faces. and many wounded, refl ects a “Like a poisoned pill, the state scrutiny, in particular the use of and shut down mosques sus- The lower house, where Ma- steady erosion of civil liberties of emergency that was in place for crowd control weapons including pected of preaching hatred. cron’s centrist party has a com- in France, the country’s human two years, gradually contaminated “fl ash ball” riot guns that fi re rub- Interior Minister Christophe fortable majority, passed the bill rights watchdog has said. our common law, undermining the ber ball-shaped projectiles and Castaner defended the actions last month. But an unprecedent- The independent watchdog rule of law as well as the rights and dispersal “sting-ball” grenades. of police offi cers. “You never use ed number of Macron lawmakers called for policing methods to freedoms on which it is based,” Protesters rights had been force out of pleasure, but out abstained, while one MP left the be modernised, citing changes Toubon wrote in his report. “disproportionately curtailed” duty. I won’t let it be said that ruling party the day after, under- A March 9, 2019, file photo of a protester holding a placard in Germany and Britain, in a re- This “helped to lay the foun- during the unrest, independent you are a threat to rights when scoring growing unease within reading ‘Macron mutilates the nation’ during an anti-government port released on the day the Sen- dations for a new legal order, UN rights experts said last month. you risk your lives each day to the majority over the govern- demonstration in Bordeaux. ate was expected to approve a bill based on suspicion, in which Toubon said police had also ensure rights are respected,” ment’s lurch to the right. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 15 INDIA Demoralised TDP faces existential crisis in Telangana

IANS Elections to all 17 Lok Sabha dent and Andhra Pradesh Chief facing a tough challenge from the ante in Andhra Pradesh by gress and also consisted of the alliance with the Bharatiya Jana- Hyderabad seats in Telangana will be held Minister N Chandrababu Naidu the opposition YSR Congress in calling the elections a fi ght be- Communist Party of India (CPI) ta Party (BJP), the TDP had won on April 11. about their poll plans. his state, the chief minister is not tween him and KCR, as Telangana and the Telangana Jana Samithi one Lok Sabha seat. Malla Reddy, The TDP’s Telangana unit With his entire focus on And- likely to campaign for the party Chief Minister K Chandrashek- (TJS). The Front came a cropper who was elected from Malkajgiri ith its camp almost leaders denied that the party was hra Pradesh, where simultane- in Telangana. har Rao is popularly known. bagging 21 seats in 119-member constituency, later switched loy- deserted in Telan- planning to skip the Lok Sabha ous elections to the assembly Moreover, Naidu is currently The TRS, which treats TDP as assembly. alty to the TRS. Wgana and its prospects elections but admitted there and Lok Sabha are scheduled on locked in a bitter fi ght with Tel- an Andhra party and an “outsid- Despite Naidu campaigning in With the experiment of the looking bleak, the Telugu Desam were not many aspirants for par- April 11, Naidu has taken no de- angana over alleged data breach. er”, has attracted many key lead- the state, the TDP secured only grand alliance failing in Telan- Party (TDP)’s presence in the ty ticket. cision about Telangana. The Telangana police early this ers of the party during the last two seats. One of the two MLAs gana, the Congress has decided Lok Sabha elections in the state With its cadres looking com- In Telangana, which was once month fi led a case against an IT fi ve years. KCR has almost suc- last week defected to the TRS. to contest both assembly and is going to be only a symbolic pletely demoralised, the party the stronghold of the TDP, the company providing services to ceeded in achieving his goal of Some Congress leaders attrib- Lok Sabha elections in Andhra one. may fi eld candidates in three of party is struggling to fi nd suit- the TDP for allegedly misus- wiping the TDP from the state. uted their party’s poor perform- Pradesh on its own. Reeling under the drubbing it four constituencies and extend able candidates as almost the ing sensitive and personal in- Analysts say now there is ance to alliance with the TDP as The Congress is preparing to received in assembly elections support to the Congress in the entire leadership has switched formation of citizens of Andhra hardly any TDP leader in Telan- the TRS used this to its advan- contest all Lok Sabha seats in in December and the deep crisis remaining seats, party sources loyalties to the ruling Telangana Pradesh, while Naidu alleged gana who enjoys mass support. tage by playing Telangana sen- Telangana on its own. It, howev- due to desertions by top lead- said. Rashtra Samithi (TRS). that the TRS resorted to theft of The TDP had fought the re- timent card. KCR accused the er, expects the support from the ers, the TDP may enter the fray Party’s state unit president L With elections in the two Tel- TDP’s data and gave it to the YSR cent assembly elections un- Congress of joining hands with TDP and the TJS. The CPI is in at best to prove its existence in Ramana has already submitted a ugu states to be in a single phase Congress under a conspiracy. der “Praja Kutami” or People’s “enemies of Telangana”. talks with the Communist Party Telangana. report to party’s national presi- on the same day and Naidu also The TDP chief has also upped Front, which was led by the Con- In the 2014 elections fought in of India-Marxist for a tie-up. Minister warns against abuse of social media

IANS Active on Twitter since New Delhi 2009, Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi had just 40 lakh us- ers on May 26, 2014. Congress n a stern message to social chief Rahul Gandhi was not media platforms, IT Min- even there; he joined Twitter Iister Ravi Shankar Prasad in April 2015. said yesterday that they will Today, Modi has a massive have to respect the sovereignty Twitter following of 4.63 crore and constitutional norms of and Gandhi over 88 lakh. privacy laid down by the Su- Not just Twitter, Modi has A trader puts up face masks of political leaders at a shop in Mumbai yesterday. India will hold a general election over nearly six weeks starting on April 11, when hundreds of preme Court. 4.3 crore followers and Gandhi millions of voters will cast ballots in the world’s biggest democracy. “Abuse of these platforms 25 lakh on Facebook. Narendra will not be tolerated in election Modi app alone has seen over 1 time. I believe in the wisdom crore downloads. and maturity of the people of In such a scenario, fi ghting India. They are mature enough disinformation and how it af- to decide what is right and fects voters would be a major what is wrong,” the minister issue in this election. said. “Targeted messages based Meanwhile, according to ex- on religious and ethnic diff er- Congress pivots back to perts, in 2014 when the world’s ences could polarise the elec- largest democracy organised torate and aff ect the diverse the 16th Lok Sabha polls, the cultural fabric of the country,” impact of social media on vot- Sugathan said. ers was minimal and tradition- There were 81.5 crore voters al media ruled the turf. in 2014. The total electorate is The number of Internet us- 90 crore this time. jobs as campaign starts ers in India was around 25 “The 2019 elections will crore in 2014. Today, it hovers be fought predominantly on Reuters, IANS dhinagar, the capital of Modi’s Amid doubts about the suc- was attended by top party leaders attention from his colossal fail- around 55 crore. Smartphone social media. Already, social Gandhinagar, Gujarat home state, Gujarat. cess of the Indian strike, opposi- including Rahul Gandhi, United ures, bogus claims and persist- usage crossed the 40-crore media has emerged as a vi- Pollsters have said Modi’s rul- tion parties including Congress Progressive Alliance chairper- ent falsehoods,” it said. mark last year in the country. brant platform for discourse in ing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said earlier this month they son Sonia Gandhi, former prime The Congress said the fi ve Facebook has close to 30 our democracy,” said Thomas he main opposition Con- has an early advantage after In- would launch a united attack on minister Manmohan Singh and years of the BJP government has crore monthly active users in George of CyberMedia Re- gress Party switched its dia’s armed forces clashed with Modi for what they called his Priyanka among others. been a period of false promises India, WhatsApp over 20 crore search & Services Ltd (CMR). Tcampaign focus back to those of Pakistan last month. politicisation of the armed forc- “The Congress Working Com- and betrayal of people’s trust and Twitter somewhere over This is the fi rst general elec- economic and social issues such Before then, the prime minister es since the confrontation with mittee in Ahmedabad, resolved and confi dence. 3.4 crore. tion where 400mn millennial as jobs yesterday as pollsters said had been under pressure over un- Pakistan. to defeat the RSS, BJP ideology “This government has been a It is evident that social me- “digital natives” will be voting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s employment and rising problems Pollsters had said questioning of fascism, hatred, anger and di- failure on all fronts and has in- dia is going to play a key role for the fi rst time, he said. re-election bid has been boosted for farmers. India’s unemploy- Modi on national security rather visiveness. No sacrifi ce is too fl icted pain and misery on the in shaping the political cam- “As such, we anticipate the by hostilities with Pakistan. ment rate shot up to 7.2% in Feb- than focusing on everyday issues great in this endeavour, no eff ort people through its reckless de- paigns for various parties in forthcoming months in the “How will the youth get jobs? ruary, the highest since Septem- could backfi re on the prime min- too little, this battle will be won,” cisions of demonetisation and electing the 17th Lok Sabha as run-up to the election to see How will women feel safer, and ber 2016, according to the Centre ister’s opponents. said Rahul Gandhi. hasty imposition of a fl awed the seven-phase voting begins social networks emerge as a move forward? What will be done for Monitoring Indian Economy. BJP leaders have said the gov- In its resolution, the CWC GST,” the resolution said. on April 11. major battleground for misin- for farmers?,” Priyanka Gan- The BJP lost power in three ernment’s economic record and said Modi and the BJP were in- It said demonetisation and GST “The number of Internet formation as well as checks,” dhi Vadra said in her fi rst speech states late last year. the tough stance on Pakistan will sulting the struggle, sacrifi ces disrupted the economy, trade and users has more than doubled George told IANS. since joining the party as a gen- The jobs numbers took a back help it retain power. and enormous contribution in industry, led to closure of hun- during this period and a ma- Social media companies eral secretary earlier this year. seat after a February 14 suicide Earlier, the Congress hit out nation-building by leaders such dreds of thousands of factories jority of these new users ac- are already in a huddle over “These are the election is- car bomb that killed 44 security at Modi for “cynically exploiting as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaha- and tens of millions of workers cess the web through mobile how to curb the spread of sues.” personnel in Jammu and Kash- the national security to hide his rlal Nehru and Sardar Patel by lost their jobs and livelihood. devices. With various political misinformation and fake Her brother, Congress chief mir and that was claimed by Pa- colossal failures.” “brazenly seeking to hijack their “The unprecedented jobless- parties having dedicated social news in a country where deep Rahul Gandhi, called unemploy- kistan-based Jaish-e-Mohamed The Congress Working Com- legacy and pretending to be the ness, agrarian crisis and distress media cells, this medium will mobile penetration has made ment the most important issue militant group. mittee meeting in Gandhinagar champions of their values”. of farmers and agricultural la- defi nitely play a big role in this Facebook, its messaging in the general election, which In response, India said its resolved to defeat the “RSS and “Congress expresses its strong bourers are issues of grave na- election,” Prasanth Sugathan, service WhatsApp and mi- starts on April 11. warplanes bombed a militant BJP’s ideology of fascism, ha- disappointment that the prime tional concern. The Modi gov- legal director of Software Free- cro-blogging platform Twit- Thousands of party support- camp inside Pakistan, which tred, anger and divisiveness”. minister is cynically exploiting ernment is guilty of monumental dom Law Centre (SFLC) told ter available at the fingertips ers clapped and cheered as the responded the next day with an The meeting of the party’s the issue of national security, on mismanagement of the Indian IANS. of millions. siblings spoke at a rally in Gan- aerial attack of its own. highest decision-making body which we are all united, to divert economy,” the party said. Glamour, surprise in Trinamool list; 10 MPs axed

IANS and Banerjee had then reportedly Congress MP from Malda North, cy, senior Trinamool leader Asit Mal Kolkata got upset with Ali’s role. Mausam Noor, who had joined the has replaced young MP Anupam Leading Bengali fi lm hero Dipak Trinamool recently, will be in the Hazra, who was also expelled from Adhikari (Dev) would seek re-elec- fray as a Trinamool aspirant from the party for anti-party activities est Bengal’s ruling Trina- tion from Ghatal in West Midnapore the seat. and formally joined the BJP yester- mool Congress yesterday district, while actress Satabdi Roy Rajya Sabha MP Manas Bhu- day. Wdeclared its list of Lok would fi ght to retain her Birbhum nia would fi ght from Medinipur, Trinamool’s Lok Sabha leader Sabha poll candidates, dropping 10 seat. where Trinamool has dropped its Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was sitting MPs, nominating some turn- From Howrah, the Trinamool sitting MP, veteran Bengali fi lm ac- arrested by the CBI in Rose Valley coats and giving 41% representation has re-nominated Arjuna awardee tress Sandhya Roy, who, Banerjee case, would seek re-election from to women, including a number of and former Indian football captain claimed, now preferred to take “a Kolkata North. Another veteran, Bengali screen celebrities like Mimi Prasun Banerjee. more sedate responsibility owing to Sougata Roy, who was also among a Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan. Seventeen of the 42 Trinamool her ill-health”. dozen Trinamool leaders allegedly Announcing the candidates, Tri- candidates in the state are women. From Raiganj in northern Ben- caught taking money in exchange namool supremo and Chief Minister Yesteryear’s actress Moon Moon gal’s North Dinajpur district, Ban- for a promise to dole out favours Mamata Banerjee said Harvard Uni- Sen, who pulled up an upset victory erjee gave the party ticket to sit- to a fi ctitious company in a video versity professor and eminent his- over Communist Party of India- ting MLA Kanaia Lal Agarwal, who grab uploaded on the Narada news torian Sugato Bose - who had earned Marxist veteran Basudeb Acharia in had crossed over to Trinamool after portal, will also throw his hat in many plaudits for his speeches dur- Bankura in 2014, has been shifted to winning the 2016 assembly polls as the ring from his current Dum Dum ing his fi rst stint in parliament - has Asansol, where she is likely to take a Congress nominee. seat. opted out of the contest as “he did on Bharatiya Janata Party candi- Amar Singh Rai, a sitting Gorkha Kolkata Municipal Corporation not get permission from his univer- date, singer-turned federal minister Janmukti Morcha legislator from Councillor Mala Roy would be the sity”. Babul Supriyo. Darjeeling, will contest from Dar- party candidate from the prestig- In his place, the Trinamool has Veteran state politician and sen- jeeling constituency, backed by the ious Kolkata South constituency, come up with a surprise choice from ior minister Subrata Mukherjee has pro-Banerjee faction of the GJM. which was now represented by Tri- Jadavpur - leading Bengali heroine replaced Sen for Bankura seat. BJP’s S S Ahluwalia, now a federal namool president Subrata Bakshi. Mimi Chakraborty. Among the new faces, sitting leg- minister, had won the seat in the Banerjee claimed that Bakshi Another popular actress - Nus- islator Mohua Moitra will contest 2014 Lok Sabha elections. opted out of the race on his own as rat Jahan – is the candidate from from Nadia’s Krishnanagar con- Shyamal Santra would fi ght it out he was more keen on party work. Basirhat. She was nominated after stituency, instead of Bengali fi lm from Bishnupur in Bankura district, The Trinamool will also contest the party dropped sitting MP Idris star Tapas Paul who was grilled by where the party’s sitting parliamen- in three seats in Jharkhand, one in Ali - known as a prominent Mus- the Central Bureau of Investigation tarian Saumitra Khan has crossed Andaman, six seats in Assam and in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a press conference to announce lim face of TMC. Basirhat had wit- (CBI) in the Rose Valley ponzi scam over to the BJP. two seats from Bihar, Banerjee an- the candidates for the upcoming general election, in Kolkata yesterday. nessed communal violence in 2017, case. In Bolpur Lok Sabha constituen- nounced. Gulf Times 16 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 PAKISTAN Govt misses deadline on Punjab govt proposes appointments in ECP renting out Internews for six weeks after its members election commissioner and four parliamentary committee on the In case a consensus cannot Islamabad from Sindh and Balochistan re- members - one from each prov- appointment of CEC and ECP be reached between the prime tired on January 26. ince. members even before the retire- minister and the opposition A senior offi cial of the ECP The mechanism for the retire- ment of the two members. leader, the law says that each will forward separate lists to the Governor he Pakistan government said that the commission had ment of two members after their The 12-member committee has missed the consti- a long list of activities for the half-term in offi ce was put in had also elected Human Rights parliamentary committee for Ttutional deadline of 45 coming months, including local place through the 22nd amend- Minister Shireen Mazari as its the hearing and fi nalisation of days for the appointment of government elections in Balo- ment to ensure the continuity of chairperson, but the parlia- names. two members of the Election chistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the electoral body. mentary panel can act only af- There are no signs of com- mencement of the consultative House Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and cantonments, warranting The commissioner [and a ter it receives either consensus and the mandatory process for the immediate appointment of member] holds offi ce for a term or separate lists from the prime process any time soon. Even if it consultation between the prime two members. of fi ve years from the day he en- minister and opposition leader. happens after an inordinate de- Internews tourists on weekends. minister and the opposition “The fact that the process of ters upon offi ce. The parliamentary com- lay, the prime minister and op- Lahore Responding to a question, leader in this regard is in fact yet consultation between the prime However, under the amended mittee, constituted by the NA position leader are not expected the offi cial said the govern- to start. minister and the leader of the law, it was a one-time arrange- speaker, draws half its members to directly talk to each other to ment has to introduce some According to statutory provi- opposition in the National As- ment meaning that in future all from treasury benches and half decide the nominations owing to he government of Pun- legislation to open the Gov- sions, vacancy in the offi ce of the sembly to fi ll the two vacancies members will complete their from opposition parties, based the tense relationship between jab province has pro- ernor House for the general commissioner or a member shall has not yet started is a cause of fi ve-year tenure. on their strength in parliament, the two. In all probability, the Tposed renting out the public. be fi lled within 45 days. alarm for the ECP,” he remarked. National Assembly Speaker to be nominated by their respec- two will hold indirect consulta- Punjab Governor House for The current law of the land The ECP has been incomplete The ECP comprises a chief Asad Qaiser had constituted a tive parliamentary leaders. tions through close aides. commercial purposes to gen- does not allow the govern- erate the operational expendi- ment to rent out state build- tures of the estate. ings for commercial purposes. However, authorities have He further said it was not yet to introduce some legislation decided who can book a room to implement this proposal. At for lodging. German the same time, the Governor’s Currently, people with po- House management has also litical connections are avail- prepared a business plan and ing similar facilities free of FM backs forwarded it to Prime Minister cost. These included special Imran Khan for approval. requests for photo shoots near An offi cial of the Punjab the lake of the property or Pakistan Governor House confi rmed corporate events in the lawns. this development. He said it Groups using of the property has been proposed to rent out for their annual functions in- role in the Governor House estate cluded chambers of commerce for corporate events, photo and trade associations. shoots, wedding functions, Following the implementa- Afghan musical concerts and other tion of this plan, he said the such activities. He indicated government believed that that the house prepared a sizeable revenue could be gen- solution business plan with various op- erated. However, the main- tions and tariff proposals. tenance expenditure of the DPA The house has proposed estate will increase with the Islamabad that the government rent out increased fl ow of visitors. the lawns for Rs1mn a day Earlier, the Pakistan Te- for functions, Rs200,000 for hreek-e-Insaf (PTI) govern- uring a visit to Islama- photo shoots and Rs10,000 to ment was planning to convert bad yesterday, Germany’s Rs50,000 for lodging in dif- the Governor’s House into Dforeign minister said Pa- ferent rooms of historic sig- museum or art gallery. At one kistan would “play a very impor- nifi cance. The house has also point, the government had tant role in the peace process” in proposed the government in- decided to transform the Gov- Afghanistan. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (centre right) and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi (centre left) at a meeting along with troduce paid tickets for visits ernor’s House into a museum, Heiko Maas said that both their delegations at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad yesterday. to the property. but this proposal was later Germany and Pakistan had a As per a draft, the house turned down. crucial part to play - Germany as train Afghan security forces amid talks with the Islamist group. Shah Mahmood Qureshi wel- On his fi rst trip to Pakistan has proposed that the gov- Prime Minister Khan the second largest contributor of growing pressure from the Tali- Washington is aiming to clinch comed the change of policy yes- as foreign minister, Maas paid ernment to introduce a Rs50 formed a 12-member commit- troops to Afghanistan and Paki- ban, which controls large swathes a peace deal with the Taliban terday, and said that his coun- tribute to Pakistan’s contribu- ticket for visitors and Rs25 for tee, under the chairmanship of stan as its neighbour. of territory in the country. before the end of June, when try “has been advocating for a tion to the peace eff ort, say- students. For a guided tour, National History and Literary Germany contributes up to Last summer, the US re- Afghans are set to elect a new very long time that the only way ing that the right political steps the house has proposed a tar- Heritage Department Minister 1,300 soldiers to Nato’s Resolute versed its long-standing pol- president. forward is a negotiated peace would strengthen the country’s iff of Rs500 for Pakistani citi- Shafqat Mahmood, to decide Support Mission, which aims to icy of refusing to hold direct Maas’ Pakistani counterpart settlement.” reputation in the world. zens and Rs1,000 for foreign over the matter. Pakistan committed Military eyes role developing to dealing ‘fi rmly’ with giant copper and gold mine

By Drazen Jorgic, Reuters roads through Pakistan’s rugged ing a strong military,” she said. grant them the critical mining Islamabad and lawless border regions, has “Control of the economy also lease needed to keep operating. terrorists: US offi cial developed “substantial” mining gives the military a handle over Pakistan argued its move was capability in recent years and expanding their business inter- legitimate because TCC’s feasi- akistan’s military is taking would be interested in taking a ests.” bility study was incomplete and Reuters Pakistan would deal fi rmly any such camp exists. a key role in the develop- role in the project. Buried at the foot of an extinct the country’s Supreme Court Washington with all terrorists and will The two countries fought an Pment of one of the world’s “If an opportunity arises of volcano near the frontier with voided the deal in 2013. But in continue steps to de-escalate aerial dogfi ght over Kashmir biggest untapped copper and participating in developing Reko Iran and Afghanistan, the mine’s 2017 the World Bank’s Interna- tensions with India,” Bolton on February 27, and a couple of gold deposits, which is currently Diq, FWO may work at par with development has long been de- tional Centre for Settlement of S President Donald added. days later Pakistan returned a stalled by a multi-billion dollar other competitors (or) compa- layed by a dispute with previous Investment Disputes (ICSID) Trump’s national secu- Pakistan, which denies In- downed Indian pilot in a ges- legal wrangle with foreign min- nies provided the project is fi - investors in the project, Can- ruled against Pakistan. Urity adviser John Bol- dian accusations of aiding ture that appeared to de-esca- ing fi rms, multiple sources fa- nancially viable (or) suitable,” ada’s Barrick Gold and Chile’s TCC did not respond to re- ton said on Monday Pakistan’s militant groups, last week an- late the crisis. miliar with the situation said. the statement said. When asked, Antofagasta. quests for comment and An- foreign minister has assured nounced a crackdown against German Foreign Minister The Reko Diq mine has be- a spokesman declined to elabo- The government is urgently tofagasta and Barrick Gold both him Islamabad is committed all proscribed outfi ts. Heiko Maas, in a joint con- come a test case for Prime Min- rate on the statement. trying to settle the dispute as a declined to comment. Reuters to de-escalating tensions with Pakistan’s foreign ministry ference with Qureshi, com- ister Imran Khan’s ability to at- Pakistan’s Information Min- World Bank arbitration tribunal, could not determine whether India and dealing “fi rmly” with late on Monday said Qureshi mended Pakistan yesterday for tract serious foreign investment ister Fawad Chaudhry said civil- which ruled against Pakistan in either company would be willing terrorists. informed Bolton “about the returning the pilot and off ering to Pakistan as it struggles to ian authorities in the insurgen- 2017, is in the next few months to return to the project. Bolton’s comments follow a de-escalatory measures taken talks with India. But he also stave off an economic crisis that cy-hit southwestern province expected to announce how much The last serious attempt at February 14 suicide bombing, by Pakistan” in the wake of the urged Islamabad to stamp out has forced it to seek an Interna- of Baluchistan were in charge of in damages the country must settling the Reko Diq case was claimed by Pakistan-based aerial bombing missions car- militant groups which attack tional Monetary Fund bailout. Reko Diq and, along with Khan, pay to the foreign fi rms, who are scuppered in 2016 by the mili- militants, which killed at least ried out by both countries in neighbouring countries. Ten current and former pro- would take a decision, but added claiming more than $11bn. tary, which vetoed paying hun- 40 Indian paramilitary police. late February. “We both agreed that cross- vincial and federal government that the military “and all other The dispute relates to the dreds of millions of dollars to “Spoke with Pakistani FM Qureshi told Bolton that border terrorism has to be per- offi cials and mining sources fa- stakeholders are obviously im- withholding of a mining lease. TCC, according to a senior Balu- (Shah Mehmood) Qureshi to Pakistan’s strike in Kashmir manently stopped and there miliar with the project in the portant players”. Islamabad is also trying to chistan offi cial and two former encourage meaningful steps on February 27 was in self- too there have been positive Baluchistan region say the mili- FWO referred questions to fi nd new partners to invest in the senior offi cials in Islamabad. against JeM (Jaish-e-Mo- defence and retaliation to signs in the past few days that tary has become the most im- the military spokesman’s offi ce. project. But the military has since hammed) and other terrorist India’s raid on its territory a we welcome very much,” Maas portant voice on the future of Khan’s spokesman Iftikhar Dur- But any new investors will need changed its stance and is more groups operating from Paki- day earlier. New Delhi said it said. “Ultimately it’s about Reko Diq, which it sees as a stra- rani said Baluchistan province the blessing of Pakistan’s mili- open to a settlement with TCC, stan,” Bolton said on Twitter. hit a JeM training camp in Pa- fi ghting any kind of terrorism tegic national asset. was in charge of Reko Diq, and tary, according to government according to a lawmaker close to “The FM assured me that kistan, but Islamabad denies and extremism.” The military will not only be referred questions to the provin- offi cials and mining sources. the military and a source close to in a position to decide which in- cial government and the military State-run companies from Prime Minister Khan. New procedure to ensure attendance of ministers in meetings vestors develop the deposit, but spokesman’s offi ce. resource-hungry China have In response to a Reuters ques- an army-controlled engineering The manoeuvring behind the long coveted Reko Diq and more tion about blocking the previous The Senate special committee more robust to contribute under CPC in case summons fi rm, Frontier Works Organisa- project shows how the military, recently Saudi Arabia has shown settlement eff ort, the military said: to provide mechanism towards the socio-economic to appear before the tion (FWO), is positioning itself which has historically dictated interest, according to Pakistani “Let’s see how the case progresses.” for implementation of growth of the country. Committee or direction to to be a member of any consor- Pakistan’s security and foreign offi cials. It did not elaborate or comment on recommendations of the He said that attendance produce required documents tium involved, these people said. policy, is leveraging its sway over Some Western diplomats say whether it was playing any role in committees adopted by the of the proceedings of is not entertained. “This has been taken over by the civilian government at fed- the Reko Diq dispute has been a the latest negotiations. House discussed formulation the parliament and the The committee held a detailed GHQ,” said a senior Baluchistan eral and provincial level to carve signifi cant foreign investment Some mining experts say a of standard operating committees by ministers discussion on formulation government offi cial, referring a growing role in the nation’s deterrent, with international likely solution would be for a new procedures (SOPs) to ensure and members enhances the of terms of reference of the to the Pakistan army’s General business aff airs. businesses unnerved at how Pa- investment consortium to pay attendance of ministers and prestige of institution and the committee and considered Headquarters in the garrison city The army has ruled the nucle- kistan dealt with the companies the settlement fee on behalf of members of the committees in parliamentarians themselves. orientation of chairperson’s of Rawalpindi. ar-armed nation for nearly half that had pledged to invest $3.3bn Pakistan in exchange for future meetings. Senator Khan said that the committee as well as In a statement in response to its history. A military spokesman to develop the country’s then- royalty fees or mining rights. Senator Dilawar Khan, special committee would members about the rules of Reuters’ questions about its role declined to comment. biggest mining project. Information Minister Chaud- chairman of the committee, make solid recommendations business of the committees, in Reko Diq, the military spokes- “The military has taken a Barrick Gold and Antofagasta, hry said Pakistan was engaged in his opening remarks, said by taking all the stakeholders a mechanism for eff iciently man’s offi ce said: “(The military) front seat,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, whose joint venture Tethyan in negotiations with “both” the that a strong parliament in confidence. following up on the points may only participate in govern- author of the book “Military Copper Company (TCC) dis- current investors about a set- guarantees a strong The committee decided that of public importance raised ment’s plan of development of Inc.”, which analyses the army’s covered vast mineral wealth in tlement and also potential new democracy and it is our the secretariat should work and about timely laying the Reko Diq, as per national re- business interests and infl uence Reko Diq, say they had invested investors, with interest coming responsibility to make the on a template of warrants of recommendations in the quirements.” in Pakistan. more than $220mn by the time from the Middle East and Eu- committees of the parliament production, not punishment House. (Internews) But it acknowledged that “They’ve understood that the the Baluchistan government, in rope. He declined to name the FWO, best known for building economy is important for hav- 2011, unexpectedly refused to potential investors. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 17 PHILIPPINES Water shortage hits thousands

By Jordeene B Lagare raw water. While Manila Water Manila Times Prices of bottled water and pails surge still gets its allocation of 1,600 mn litres per day (MLD) from While thousands despair for they now use disposable plates Angat Dam, the demand aver- he water service inter- lack of water, some enterpris- and utensils or wrapped their aged to 1,740 MLD in February ruption imposed by Ma- ing vendors are making a plates with plastic to avoid this year. Tnila Water has aff ected killing, jacking up the price of washing them. “Even if NWRB would give us 250,000 to 260,000 people, the bottled water and pails. Manila Water said it deployed more water out of Angat (Dam), agency said yesterday. As people scramble to store 27 tankers for round-the-clock it cannot go through the aque- Manila Water Co Inc Chief water, vendors raised the pric- water delivery in areas hit by duct. It would entail widening or Operating Offi cer Geodino es of water drums and pails. the service interruption. putting up more aqueducts and Carpio said the number would Those sold for 80 pesos before Corporate communications tunnels,” Carpio said. translate to 52,000 households the water shortage hit are now head Jeric Sevilla said hospitals The situation, he added, or service connections in its being sold for P100. The cost were given priority. was aggravated by the El Nino concession area. of bottled water had also gone The water service interruptions phenomenon and the fact that The East Zone concessionaire up. is expected to last the entire customers whose water sup- said the water shortage would A big bottle that used to cost summer as the water levels of ply remains normal had started persist throughout the dry sum- P95 is now being sold for P100 dams continue to drop. storing water. mer months. to P105. The sale of bottled Yesterday, the Philippine At- “What we’re trying to do now Manila Water was forced to water had picked up even in mospheric Geophysical, Astro- is to make the reservoir recover lower water pressure or totally sari-sari stores. nomical Services Administra- so we will have some normalcy,” cut water supply in some ar- Meanwhile, canteens and tion (Pagasa) recorded water he added. eas to ensure that there would be carinderias have also jacked level at 68.85 metres, a 0.08 “We will have to continue enough water for all its custom- up their prices by P1 to P2 as drop from the previous day. making technical adjustments ers. on distribution throughout Manila Water services the cit- summer. We will see condi- ies of Mandaluyong, Marikina, Maynilad services the cities of nilad Water Service Inc (60%) tions getting a little bit better Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Manila, Pasay, Parañaque, Ca- and Manila Water (40%). MWSS after summer when the rain Makati and parts of Quezon City loocan, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Administrator Reynaldo Velasco has come,” Carpio told report- Residents of Hill Top, Bagong Ilog, Pasig City queue for water near a tanker. and Manila. Valenzuela and parts of Makati wants the allocation increased ers. It also serves Antipolo City and Quezon City. from 46 cubic metres to 48 cubic “But in order to minimise im- water from the Laguna Lake and cross-border flow. We are cur- Manila Water,” she added. and the Rizal towns of Angono, The Metropolitan Waterworks metres. But even if the alloca- pact of severely-hit areas today, that is a 300-MLD plant. We’re rently looking at a few tapping Maynilad has also lent fi ve of Baras, Binagonan, Cainta, Car- and Sewerage System (MWSS) tion from Angat was increased, we will try to manage the pres- talking to them. Can you give us points in QC and in Parañaque its tankers to Manila Water to be dona, Jala-Jala, Morong, Pililla, had also asked the National Wa- Carpio said Manila Water would sure reduction across the entire your surplus water? The last dis- where we can connect our net- used in the distribution of water Rodriquez, Tanay, Taytay and ter Resources Board (NWRB) still have a hard time accessing area to spread available water cussion was at 32 MLD,” Carpio work with Manila Water’s,” in some areas. San Mateo. to increase its water allocation the water. supply,” he added. said. Rufo said. Some local government units, The water shortage might ease from Angat dam. He explained that the agency Carpio said Maynilad had ex- Maynilad corporate commu- “Our new treatment facil- including Pasig City, Manda- in the next few weeks because The NWRB provides 46 cu- was constrained by the size of pressed its willingness to share nications head Jennifer Rufo ity in Muntinlupa should give luyong City and Quezon City, Maynilad has agreed to help Ma- bic metres per second (CMS) tunnels and aqueducts from its excess water with Manila Wa- confirmed Carpio’s statement. us additional supply, and this also lent their tankers for distri- nila Water by providing the lat- of water from Angat dam to the Angat, making it harder for ter. “Maynilad has constructed “Maynilad can provide 50 is mostly where we will get the bution in areas with limited wa- ter its excess water, Carpio said. MWSS. This is shared by May- them to request for additional a plant in Putatan that draws MLD to Manila Water through supply that we will share with ter supply. Palace grants Balutan’s Philippines to join US in ‘Pacifi c request for graft probe Partnership’ on disaster response

By Ralph Villanueva Manila Times also includes military and ci- Noel Clement for the mili- posiums, veterinary services, Manila Times Manila vilian personnel from Austral- tary, being the commander of engineering projects, disaster ia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, the Visayas-covered Central response seminars and a va- Command. Clement said yes- riety of community outreach alacanang yesterday he Philippines will be “It is not just the terday that the Pacific Part- engagements. US Capt. Ran- committed to heed joining the US at this military benefi ting, nership was actually for the dy Van Rossum, the mission Mthe request of Alexan- Tyear’s Pacific Partner- but all sectors involved LGUs, government agencies commander for Pacific Part- der Balutan, the former general ship that would focus on dis- in disaster response. and other sectors to boost its nership 2019, said that this manager of the Philippine Char- aster response in the region. In return, our foreign response to disasters “without was the partnership’s eighth ity Sweepstakes Offi ce (PCSO), Representatives from partners also learn from panicking but rather in a calm visit to the country and noted to investigate accusations of Washington, the Philippine our experiences manner.” that “each visit is a testament corruption against him. military, Tacloban City’s lo- and help in formulating “It is not just the military to our enduring partnership Balutan last week said he cal government unit and the multinational benefiting, but all sectors in- and collaborative commit- would resign from offi ce because Office of Civil Defense were response protocols volved in disaster response. ment to improving humani- of “personal reasons.” present at the launch yester- during disasters” In return, our foreign partners tarian assistance and disaster Malacanang, however, said he day. also learn from our experi- response in the region.” resigned because of serious al- The US Embassy in Ma- Peru, South Korea, Thailand ences and help in formulating Pacific Partnership began in legations of corruption against nila said that this would be an and the United Kingdom. multinational response proto- response to one of the world’s him. “annual maritime operation Tacloban City was rep- cols during disasters,” he said “most catastrophic” natural In a news briefi ng yesterday, improving disaster response resented by Mayor Cristina in a text message. disasters, starting with the Palace spokesman Salvador preparedness, resiliency and Romualdez while the OCD The US, meanwhile, also 2004 tsunami that devastated Panelo said he met with Balutan capacity while enhancing was represented by Defence said that the military men and parts of South and Southeast on Monday afternoon, where partnerships between par- undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, non-governmental organisa- Asia. he confi rmed that he would be ticipating nations and civilian who is also the administrator tion volunteers were sched- The partnership will also passing to the president the humanitarian organisations of OCD. uled to take part in a variety make stops in the Feder- former PCSO general manager’s Former PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan. throughout the Indo-Pacific The US, meanwhile, was of projects in Tacloban City ated States of Micronesia, request for a probe. region.” represented by US Embassy in to include first-aid training, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, “I’m writing a memo precisely with corruption, out of delica- “The president, he does not Apart from the US and the the Philippines deputy chief of preventive medicine train- Thailand, Timor-Leste and for that, that is our agreement. deza, he resigned,” Panelo said. want even a whiff of corruption Philippines, the partnership mission John Law and Lt Gen ing, various healthcare sym- Vietnam. But I think General Balutan is Last Friday, Panelo said Bal- and there were already a lot of already fi ne with the clarifi ca- utan was “fi red” because of cor- complaints,” he added. tion that he was not fi red,” Pan- ruption allegations that were not Over the weekend, Balutan’s elo said. “I will write a memo to expounded. spokesman Florante Solmerin the president. Since there is a However, he backtracked asked those accusing the former request, I will suggest that the on Monday, saying the former PCSO general manager of cor- ‘TV celebrities’ linked to slain drug supplier request be granted, that there be Marine general resigned from ruption to present evidence. an investigation,” he added. his post, confi rming the earlier “These are merely serious al- Panelo said Balutan resigned statement of Balutan. legations, allegations of seri- Manila Times tablets of ecstasy from John Steve Pa- Monday evening in Manila. He was inside out of delicadeza (sense of pro- Panelo said there was no need ous corruption. Balutan said he Manila sion, an alleged supplier who was recently his car that was parked outside a condo- priety) because of the many al- to apologise over the blunder. is open to a full investigation to killed in an operation. The names of the minium in Sta. Cruz when a PDEA agent legations of corruption against “Whether he was fi red on that ferret out the truth so the truth celebrities were on Pasion’s phone, which tried to arrest him. He was shot as he tried him. basis or he resigned on that ba- will come out,” Solmerin told he Philippine Drug Enforcement PDEA agents recovered from the raid. to pull his gun at the arresting officer. These include the Commis- sis, the basis is only one, there Manila Times. Agency (PDEA) will investigate two “They’re always appearing on TV,” Ortiz Pasion was brought to the hospital but sion on Audit fi nding that Small were serious allegations of cor- Last week, Balutan said he T“high-profi le” celebrities who were said. was declared dead on arrival. Town Lottery has not been able ruption. He wants to have an in- would only step down from of- allegedly in contact with a supplier of party He said that PDEA was currently inves- Pasion’s live-in partner, Irene “Sophie” to reach its collection goal, a vestigation on that and he would fi ce if somebody from Offi ce of drugs in Metro Manila, an offi cial said. tigating whether the celebrities were us- Mercado, was also in the car at the time charge that Balutan denied. not want to be viewed as cling- the President or Congress asked PDEA Special Enforcement Service ers or distributors of the tablets or wheth- of the operation where 15 tablets of sus- “He told me, he wants every- ing to a position when there are him or ordered him to do some- Director Levi Ortiz told reporters yester- er these were real names or aliases. pected ecstasy worth P30,000, P300,000 one to know that it is not him. serious allegations of corruption thing which “he cannot stom- day that a well-known actor and actress, Pasion, an alleged big-time party drugs worth of suspected shabu, and sachets of But since they are charging him against him,” he said. ach.” whom he refused to name, ordered 200 supplier, was killed in an operation on suspected cocaine were seized. Concern over report on Mindanao as new IS base

By Catherine S Valente territories they controlled in ture sounded a warning: ‘The ernment troops to annihilate Manila Times Iraq and Syria, IS fighters were fighting has just begun,’” it terrorists and enemies of the eyeing Mindanao as their new added. state after the twin explosions base, calling the region its Mindanao has been under at the Our Lady of Mount Car- alacanang yesterday “East Asia province.” martial rule since May last mel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu, expressed concern “But far from defeated, the year in response to IS-inspired that killed at least 20 people Mover a report that movement has sprouted else- Maute rebels that laid siege and injured almost 100. the Philippines is turning into where. And here in the Mind- to Marawi City and alleg- The IS had claimed credit a base of Islamic State (IS) anao island group of southern edly attempted to establish a for the attack, saying two sui- fighters. Philippines, long a haven for caliphate for the terror group. cide bombers detonated a belt “Definitely, then we should insurgents because of dense Duterte, in his speech in of explosives. undertake measures to pre- wilderness and weak policing, February, warned of more ter- The Philippine military was vent that from happening,” the Islamic State has attracted rorist attacks by the IS, which not discounting this claim Palace spokesman Salvador a range of militants,” the re- he described as “insane” and but said the Ajang-Ajang, a Panelo said at a news confer- port said. “made in hell.” sub-group of the Abu Sayyaf ence. “An illustration circulated “We have this insane IS Group, might be behind the “I will have to ask the De- days later on Islamic State that they would kill. And I ex- blasts. partment of National Defence chat groups, showing Presi- pect that they would do some The Philippine National Po- because they are the ones dent Rodrigo Duterte of the bombings here and bombings lice had declared the Jolo ca- monitoring the movements of Philippines kneeling on a pile there ‘cause that’s what they thedral bombing “case closed” these people,” he added. of skulls and a militant stand- get in the Middle East,” the after the alleged bombers sur- The New York Times re- ing over him with a dagger. president had said. rendered separately to author- ported that after losing their The caption on the pic- Duterte earlier ordered gov- ities in Sulu. Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo. Gulf Times 18 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 COMMENT

CHAIRMAN Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka Deputy Managing Editor K T Chacko P.O.Box 2888, Doha, Qatar [email protected] 44350478 (News), 44466404 (Sport), 44466636 (Home delivery) 44350474 facebook.com/gulftimes twitter.com/gulftimes_Qatar GULF TIMES Boeing faces severe turbulence to win back lost confi dence

Boeing has to navigate through extreme turbulence following the second deadly crash of a 737 Max jetliner, prompting some airlines to ground the best-selling plane. China, Boeing’s most important market, has ordered its carriers to ground all 96 of Boeing’s newest 737 model, while Indonesia would also halt fl ights after Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 went down in a fi eld just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board. Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Oman yesterday India’s engineers struggle for joined the list of nations to suspend the 737 Max. The disaster in Ethiopia followed the crash of Lion Air’s 737 Max off the coast of Indonesia on October 29 last year. The 737 Max is Boeing’s most important aircraft type, generating almost one-third of the company’s operating work as jobs crisis worsens profi t and forming the backbone of many global airline fl eets, which use the model and Airbus’s competing A320 By Zeba Siddiqui 100mn new jobs by 2022. Aggarwal, an electrical engineer and read the newspapers to improve, but family on shorter routes. Chinchwad, India Four years on, the programme’s co-founder of the skills assessment most employers want graduates,” First fl own in 1967, the 737 has become the world’s best- impact on job creation is unclear and fi rm Aspiring Minds. he said. “They (also) want English growth in the manufacturing sector has Its surveys show over 80% of the speaking skills, which I don’t have.” selling commercial aircraft. The fourth generation of 737s, antosh Gurav gained a been sluggish, partly due to a lack of engineers India produces are not Gayatri, a 24-year-old woman who debuted in 2017, has bigger engines, incorporates more bachelor’s degree in technology land and labour reform. employable. goes by one name, gained a master’s automation, has a higher range and uses less fuel. from a mid-tier college India’s unemployment rate rose The employability has not improved degree in engineering four months ago, As of January, Boeing had delivered 350 of the single- Sin western India last year, to 7.2% last month, up from 5.9% in seven years, Aggarwal said. under pressure from her parents. specialising in electrical engineering in February 2018, according to data “The numbers have just not budged,” She said she had wanted to continue aisle jets to 46 airlines. In total, orders from more than 80 and hoping to land a job in industrial compiled by the Centre for Monitoring he said. “Many can’t even write basic her education in Indian classical music. operators exceed 5,000 planes. Most sales are for the Max automation. Indian Economy (CMIE) think tank. code.” “My father wanted me to do 8, the model involved in both crashes. Six months on, the 27-year-old The fi gures are more recent than “We need to start there, at the engineering, so I did it. Now there are Yet two fatal crashes within five months have put repairs mixer-grinders, table fans government data and many economists beginning of the education system,” no jobs,” she said. and other household appliances at a regard them as more credible. said Aggarwal. A company at the fair off ered her a the 737’s previously sound safety record under the cramped shop in the western city of The data, which is an estimate based The IT industry had long been customer service position that would microscope. Pune. on household surveys, shows 31.2mn seen as a gateway to the middle class pay about $140 a month. Following the Lion Air crash, On better days, he picks up broken people were actively looking for jobs in in India, but a move to robotics and “Can you believe it?” she said. “I it came to light that the 737 Max LED lights from scrap dealers, fi xes February this year, said Mahesh Vyas, artifi cial intelligence has replaced some didn’t get this degree to sit at a call The 737 is them, then sells them. the CMIE managing director. positions. centre.” has software that forces the He earns about $50 a month, just It did not have a breakup for The business process outsourcing Jobless engineers are not a new the world’s plane’s nose down in certain enough to cover the rent for the room he engineering or technology graduates. industry — seen as a stable provider problem and “miniscule” in comparison circumstances to prevent shares with two others as his home. With more than half of India’s of “off shore” jobs — added the least to the millions of farmers dissatisfi ed best-selling stalling. It also emerged that “I haven’t even started repaying my population under 25 years of age, critics number of employees in seven years in over weak crop prices, said Himanshu, education loan,” said Gurav, referring to say the votes of jobless youth could hurt 2017-18 (April-March), according to the an associate professor of economics at commercial some pilots weren’t aware of the the nearly $4,000 he’d borrowed for his Modi’s chances of securing a second trade body Nasscom. the Jawaharlal Nehru University who system. undergraduate study. term in the upcoming general election At a recent job fair organised by also uses one name. aircraft Boeing said that shouldn’t He is one of hundreds of thousands of to be held in April-May. a college in the town of Chinchwad Still, they represent a lot of untapped have been the case and engineers — studying everything from The increasing use of automation in western India, Gurav was among potential. computer code to civil engineering — in industry, the massive number of hundreds queued up to apply, including Fixing household appliances is issued further guidelines on how to override the plane’s that India’s education system churns young Indians coming onto the job dozens of engineers, even though most not what Gurav expected to do as a automated systems. out each year, many with large loans market, and the regulatory hurdles that companies were hiring for marketing graduate. “I could fi nd work at a call It’s too early to say the two crashes are linked. In both and little prospect of fi nding a job in companies still face if they want to set and fi nance positions. centre, but it’s not what I want to do,” cases, the incidents took place not long after takeoff as their fi eld. up shop in India, are all big issues for Many came from rural areas where he said. They highlight Prime Minister those without work. they studied in regional languages, and He may soon be forced to reconsider the planes fl ew erratically and pilots asked to return to the Narendra Modi’s diffi culty in fulfi lling The manufacturing boom that helped lacked strong English skills — another though as his father is due to retire airport. a promise he made weeks after coming China in the past 40 years will not wash gap that recruiters say India’s education next year and the family will need the Yet veteran crash investigators say there’s too little data to power in 2014: creating millions up on India’s shores. system needs to address. money. to draw a direct tie at this stage of the investigation. Others of jobs by boosting manufacturing Companies can no longer aff ord to Ankush Karwade, 22, who travelled For now, Gurav plans to continue to under a fl agship ‘Make in India’ project just rely on cheap labour: they need 80 miles to reach the fair, said his father do the repairwork — but is too ashamed note that it would be surprising if the Ethiopian Airlines launched with much fanfare. skilled labour and better infrastructure was a farmer and the family couldn’t to tell his friends about it, he said, and pilots had been unaware of the procedures highlighted after “Come, Make in India, we will to drive technological innovations and fund him to earn an undergraduate refused to be photographed at the shop. the Lion Air crash. say to the world, from electrical to increase productivity. degree. “If people see me working there they While a US-ordered grounding of an entire model of electronics,” Modi said in his maiden Employers often complain about He did a shorter and cheaper diploma might think I’m unskilled. But I have Independence Day speech as prime the lack of skilled engineering and course in engineering. skills. aircraft is extremely rare, passenger confi dence in 737 Max, minister, pledging to create up to technology graduates, said Varun “I watch some English movies and I am passionate about this fi eld.” however, has taken a hit. Any airline crash is frightening. But two especially deadly ones, occurring so close together, involving the same airplane model, are a bigger cause for worry. Flying is still the safest way to travel. And the aviation industry each year spends some $6bn for pre-emptive actions to ensure every aircraft fl ies safer, according to a 2016 estimate. But the precious 157 lives lost in the ET302 crash is a grim reminder of enduring aviation safety gaps. Ensuring fool-proof improvements in defences against all possible scenarios is the best way to do it. As for Boeing, it may need to take some short-term pain and long-term measures as well as soul-searching to win back the faith of its customers as well as the travellers.

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© 2019 Gulf Times. All rights reserved Job seekers line up for interviews at a job fair in Chinchwad, India, in this February 7, 2019, photo. Gulf Times Wednesday, March 13, 2019 19 COMMENT The Trumping of Ukraine

By Nina L Khrushcheva mired in an undeclared war with Russia Against this backdrop, Zelensky New York that has taken some 15,000 lives and is posing as an outsider who is turned over 1mn people into refugees untainted by the country’s culture in their own land. Having been invaded of swindling. In fact, he is a plant for f life imitates art, Nikolai by its mighty neighbour and witnessed Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s Gogol, who had a keen grasp of the illegal annexation of Crimea, most unprincipled oligarchs the delusional and demented, Ukraine is in no position to have its (which really is saying something). Icould have scripted many of the all-powerful presidency placed in the Kolomoisky just so happens to own key political events of recent years. hands of a political ingénue. the television station that made Consider a story that begins with a By pretending that he is capable Zelensky a star, and he has used his woman announcing her presidential of managing Ukraine’s many private army to try to intimidate candidacy and quickly becoming complexities, Zelensky, like Trump, Poroshenko. Among other things, – despite her fl aws – the favourite betrays a contempt for the country he he seems to want to regain control to win. But out of nowhere appears says he loves. He is certainly unfi t to of PrivatBank, now that Ukrainian another candidate: a television star confront Ukraine’s warring oligarchs, taxpayers have had to foot the bill to with no qualifi cations for public offi ce. who are eager to loot the state’s coff ers clean up its debts. When asked about In short order, this buff oonish under the absent supervision of a his ties to Kolomoisky, Zelensky interloper goes for the jugular, useful idiot. simply feigns ignorance. heaping one big lie after another on One can only wonder why Zelensky Navigating Ukrainian politics is his opponent, while spouting absurd has thrown his jester’s cap into the nothing like walking over the country’s promises about social policy and ring. Most likely, he recognises that glorious black-earth steppe. Put your security matters. His proposals fall the other two leading candidates, foot down in the wrong place and you apart under the slightest scrutiny, current President Petro Poroshenko will plummet into the abyss. That is but it doesn’t seem to matter. More and two-time former prime minister why Ukraine cannot aff ord to take a citizens drift into his camp, attracted Yuliya Timoshenko, each have a lot of Trump-size risk with someone like by his vow to “drain the swamp” and political baggage. And so, like Trump, Zelensky. lock up his “crooked” opponent. The he has presented himself as a new But nor should Ukrainians have world is taken aback as he bamboozles broom that will sweep out all of the to put up with another fi ve years of his way to victory. “corrupt politicians.” Poroshenko, whose primary focus is This black comedy describes the Poroshenko, for his part, has on feathering his own nest. That leaves 2016 US presidential election, when presided over the past fi ve years of Tymoshenko. Despite her faults, she is Donald Trump came to power in one unacknowledged warfare with Russia, the only realistic choice for Ukrainians. of the world’s most powerful countries while carrying out some important And, having survived an unjust prison and its oldest democracy. But while reforms (particularly to the gas- sentence, she has already proved her America might well recover from transmission system). But he has done willingness to make hard choices on electing a louche carnival barker, little to improve the Ukrainian army’s behalf of her country, despite the Gogol’s birthplace, Ukraine, is another readiness or prevent cronies and personal consequences. matter. ministers from plundering its budget. Whereas a win for Tymoshenko A country whose independence Poroshenko himself has become much Volodymyr Zelensky’s only previous political experience has been playing the country’s president on television but says he would off er Ukraine its best chance in always seems to be hanging by a wealthier while serving as president, wants to help people in his war-torn country. these tumultuous times, a victory for thread, Ukraine is reprising the same raising serious concerns about his Zelensky would turn Marx’s famous bizarre story that brought Trump to fi tness for another term. Europe – from the shivering cold. For American private investigators money Manafort’s involvement in this story dictum on its head: America’s farce power in 2016. Recent opinion polls As for Tymoshenko, her story, too that, Victor Yanukovych, the Kremlin could buy. Yet in the end, they found – it was he who funnelled millions would reappear as Ukraine’s tragedy. – show a surge of public support for complicated for satire, is more akin puppet who was then Ukraine’s none from either of her two terms as of dollars to smear Tymoshenko – Project Syndicate Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who to something from Tolstoy than from president, put her on trial for “abuse of prime minister. should tell Ukrainian voters all they once played a naive president on TV Gogol. Though she was a divisive power” after his own re-election in 2010. One of Tymoshenko’s nemeses from need to know. In a political system z Nina L Khrushcheva is professor and is now running for that offi ce in fi gure in the 1990s and during her Tymoshenko challenged this period was Paul Manafort, former systematically distorted by oligarchic of International Aff airs at The New real life, despite not knowing anything premierships, she proved eff ective in Yanukovych and his cronies to dig into chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign, interests, Tymoshenko is probably the School. Her latest book (with Jeff rey about politics or public policy. negotiating with Russian President her past. Her opponents spent millions who is now facing a long prison only candidate who would even try to Tayler) is In Putin’s Footsteps: Unlike the United States, Ukraine Vladimir Putin to end a gas dispute of dollars searching for evidence of term for crimes related to his work deliver on the promise of stemming Searching for the Soul of an Empire has no margin for error in politics. It is in 2009, sparing Kyiv – and much of corruption, with help from the best in Ukraine on behalf of Yanukovych. corruption. Across Russia’s Eleven Time Zones.

Lopez Obrador is dismantling democracy in Mexico Three-day forecast TODAY Maximum Temperature : 260c Minimum Temperature : 170c By Shannon O’Neil political control of businesses, labour, Bloomberg News the countryside and any semblance of THURSDAY civil society. Maximum Temperature : 240c Then the PRI amassed such Minimum Temperature : 200c atin America’s two biggest power using the billions of dollars FRIDAY economies are in their fi rst 100 fl owing into government coff ers Maximum Temperature : 240c days under new management. from its own oil as well as from loans Minimum Temperature : 190c During the presidential from international banks awash in L Fisherman's forecast campaigns in Brazil and Mexico, petrodollars. With energy production democracy’s champions worried most and revenues falling, AMLO will see WARNING about Brazil, given Jair Bolsonaro’s no such fi nancial largesse. He needs to Inshore : Nil nostalgia for military rule. fi nd other ways to fund his ambitious Offshore : Nil Yet today it is Mexico’s democracy political project. that is under greater threat: President This may be his undoing. Cancelled WEATHER Inshore : Mild daytime with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, contracts, ratings agency attacks, and some clouds and known as AMLO, is systematically announcements of new unfunded relatively cold by night concentrating power in an already programmes and projects are eroding Offshore : Scattered clouds strong executive. domestic and international investor WIND From the start, AMLO has trust, slowing if not freezing the tens of Inshore : Northwesterly - North- undermined democratic norms and billions in investment dollars needed easterly 05-15 KT checks and balances. Lopez Obrador to grow the economy by funding Offshrore : Northwesterly 5-15/19 Despite controlling a constitutional infrastructure, factories and salaries. KT majority in Mexico’s Chamber of after commissioners who have dared building a parallel labour confederation White elephant projects and poor Deputies and sizeable majority in its to question his methods, whether to challenge the Mexican Workers planning (such as buying expensive, Visibility : 4-8 KM Senate, he has often chosen to work for granting big contracts without an Confederation, long allied to the once- ineffi cient trucks to move gasoline Offshore : 2-4/5 FT outside the formal legislative process. open bidding process or nominating dominant Institutional Revolutionary around the country in an eff ort to curb Instead he has relied on dubious unqualifi ed candidates to technical Party (PRI). pipeline thefts) are increasing the government’s costs. public “referendums,” sampling small commissions. He’s off ering price supports on rice, Around the region and politically skewed groups to set The same goes for Mexico’s “deep beans, corn and wheat to rural farmers. In the end, money will allow Weather agricultural policy, boost pensions, state”: Salary cuts and widespread And he is doling out cash – lots of it: him to succeed or to fail. Even with Weather tomorrow Max/min authorize infrastructure projects and fi rings are weeding out the technically monthly stipends for nearly 10mn the destruction of democratic today Max/min S T Storms 22/10 create scholarships. minded and non-partisan within the retirees, more than 5mn students and counterweights, vote-getting Baghdad P Cloudy 26/16 S Showers 21/15 He has attacked and stacked the civil service. AMLO has also gone after 2mn other young people, and to 4mn patronage networks require fi nancial Kuwait CityM Cloudy 25/17 Cloudy 26/19 courts. He quickly moved to cut judges’ outside organisations, preferring to disabled. glue. With enough funds, he can Manama M Sunny 24/17 Sunny 27/21 salaries and take control of court shutter women’s shelters rather than He’s even reached out to the solidify his growing political base Muscat Sunny 24/19 M Sunny 21/11 offi cials’ evaluations and promotions. provide funds to independent NGOs. military, departing from his campaign for years to come. Without money Tehran M Sunny 18/08 His fi rst nominations to the highest Throughout it all, AMLO’s public rhetoric by handing over national his star will fade, as fi nancial crises bench include the wife of a favoured opinion ratings are record-high, giving security to a militarised national rarely treat even the most popular of contractor and party loyalists. him domestic room to push forward. A guard and giving the armed forces politicians well. Tragically, what will He is taking on the islands of decimated political opposition has yet their own independent sources of last is the damage to Mexico’s fragile independence within the government, to regroup. revenue through the construction and institutions: democratic checks and slashing the budgets of the electoral This power grab has been operation of a new Mexico City airport balances are much harder to build than institute, the transparency agency and complemented by an aggressive and other real estate. to break. – Tribune News Service many sectoral regulators. expansion of his political base. He’s AMLO’s calculated strategy isn’t He and his political allies are sacrifi ced education reform to gain a new Mexican playbook. It harkens z Shannon O’Neil is a senior fellow for using the bully pulpit, congressional the loyalty of a teachers’ union that is back to the PRI’s heyday, when the Latin America Studies at the Council on inquiries and the tax authority to go more than one million strong. He is party maintained economic and Foreign Relations in New York.

Around the world Weather Weather today Max/min tomorrow Max/min Athens Rain 12/06 P Cloudy 15/08 Live issues Beirut P Cloudy 22/12 S Showers 16/14 Bangkok Sunny 36/26 M Sunny 35/27 Berlin S Showers 10/04 Showers 08/05 Cairo Cloudy 23/13 P Cloudy 22/12 World must prepare for inevitable next fl u pandemic: WHO Cape Town P Cloudy 21/17 Cloudy 23/18 Colombo M Cloudy 30/26 M Cloudy 30/26 Dhaka Sunny 34/22 Sunny 34/23 By Kate Kelland “The threat of pandemic infl uenza fl u virus will one day jump from animals old, the very young and people with Hong Kong M Sunny 21/18 Showers 21/17 London is ever-present,” Tedros Adhanom to people, mutate and infect many underlying illness. Istanbul Showers 08/06 Cloudy 11/06 Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director- hundreds of thousands of people. The WHO plan – which it described Jakarta S T Storms 31/24 S T Storms 31/24 general, said in a statement. “We must Flu viruses are multiple and ever- as its most comprehensive to date – Karachi Sunny 27/17 Sunny 27/17 he world will inevitably face be vigilant and prepared – the cost changing, and they infect around a includes measures to try to protect London Cloudy 12/07 Rain 13/08 another pandemic of fl u of a major infl uenza outbreak will far billion people every year around the populations as much as possible from Manila P Cloudy 33/25 P Cloudy 33/25 and needs to prepare for the outweigh the price of prevention.” world in seasonal outbreaks. Of those annual outbreaks of seasonal fl u, as Moscow M Cloudy 0/-9 Cloudy 02/-3 Tpotential devastation that The world’s last fl u pandemic was infections, around 3 to 5mn are severe well as prepare for a pandemic. New Delhi Cloudy 25/15 S T Storms 26/14 could cause, and not underestimate caused by the H1N1 virus, which cases, leading to between 290,000 Its two main goals, the WHO said, New York M Cloudy 09/04 M Cloudy 13/09 the risks, the World Health spread around the world in 2009 and 650,000 seasonal fl u-related are to improve worldwide capacities Paris Showers 11/07 Rain 13/11 Organisation (WHO) said on Monday. and 2010. Studies of that pandemic respiratory deaths. for surveillance and response – by Sao Paulo S T Storms 31/21 S T Storms 29/21 Outlining a global plan to fi ght found that at least one in fi ve people Vaccines can help prevent some urging all governments to develop Seoul Sunny 07/-3 M Sunny 11/-1 the viral disease and get ahead of a worldwide were infected in the fi rst cases, and the WHO recommends a national fl u plan, and to develop Singapore M Cloudy 34/26 P Cloudy 33/25 potential global outbreak, the WHO year, and the death rate was 0.02%. annual vaccination – especially for better tools to prevent, detect, control Sydney Showers 21/19 T Storm 22/19 said the next infl uenza pandemic “is a Global health experts and the WHO people working in health care and and treat fl u, such as more eff ective Tokyo Clear 18/06 Clear 14/04 matter of when, not if”. warn there is a risk that a more deadly for vulnerable people such as the vaccines and antiviral drugs. – Reuters Gulf Times 20 Wednesday, March 13, 2019 QATAR

HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari inaugurates the sixth edition of the Qatar International Boat Show HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari tours the Qatar International Boat yesterday in the presence of other dignitaries. PICTURES: Thajudheen Show yesterday at the Porto Arabia Marina at The Pearl-Qatar along with other dignitaries. Qatar International Boat Show fl agged off at The Pearl-Qatar he sixth edition of Qatar ices executive director Captain will be hosting various interesting unjust blockade of Qatar, we rine equipment. “This is not our Qatar. This year’s exhibition has few months back. We hope peo- International Boat Show Mohamed Ali, Qatar Free Zones activities such as marine tours, have come together, and have fi rst time at the International a lot of local participation and we ple will visit us and give us an op- T(QIBS) 2019 was inaugu- Authority chief corporate services prizes, water activities, marine united against those who are Boat Show and we wanted to can see local boat dealers from portunity to introduce our staff rated yesterday by HE the Min- offi cer Fahad Zainel, senior offi - races among others. More than trying to harm us,” Mannai Plus bring some of the fun stuff here Qatar also participating,” noted, and services.” ister of Commerce and Industry cials from Coast Guard, Ministry 5,000 visitors are expected to at- Events CEO Loay al-Dulis said. for the marine enthusiasts. We Abed al-Rehman Akawi, senior Qatar Free Zone is one of the Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari at Porto of Interior, and other dignitaries. tend the fi ve-day expo. He added that this year’s edition have participated in many boat guest service agent, UDC Sup- exhibitors at the QIBS. “We are Arabia Marina at The Pearl-Qatar. QIBS is the only annual exhi- Al Mannai Plus Events chair- will showcase luxury brands from shows around the world and port Services. having a marina within one of the Organised by Al Mannai Plus bition held in Qatar, showcasing man Khalid Issa al-Mannai said, Qatar, Germany, Italy, Turkey there is a great potential in Qa- Internationally renowned ma- free zone areas and it will have Events, this year’s edition, which the best luxury yachts designed “The annual boat show not only and Pakistan. tar for the marine business,” said rine giant, Morsa International direct access to the Hamad Port. runs until March 16, is witness- with international craftsman- meets the requirements of ma- A must-attend event for boat- Speed Marine sales and market- Trading Company is at the Qatar The purpose of the marina is to ing the participation of many ship, along with boats, dhows rine life enthusiasts, but it also ers and anyone thinking of get- ing director, Sevil Tonkal. International Boat Show for the have maritime services for man- prominent brands and names in and all marine equipment and provides an opportunity to dis- ting into boating, QIBS serves as Ronautica Middle East, a sub- fi rst time. ufacturing and servicing the port the sector, with more than 30 ex- accessories. cuss and obtain the necessary an ideal maritime-industry net- sidiary of UDC, is one of the Sarah Teubner, commercial industry. We are having a booth hibitors. It provides a global platform for information with representatives working platform and a key busi- partners of the 2019 QIBS. manager International Trading at the QIBS where we are inviting The inauguration event was at- major brands to showcase their of the Qatar Free Zone during the ness driver for the marine sector. “I can see on the very fi rst day Company noted, “We have over investors and expatriates to come tended by UDC president, CEO latest products to potential cus- exhibition period.” Speed Marine, one of the big- itself that people are enthusiastic 20 years of experience in the ma- to the Qatar Free Zone and invest and board member Ibrahim Jassim tomers from Qatar, the Middle “Despite regional challenges gest exhibitors at QIBS, have on to know about the boating com- rine industry but have opened and start their business,” Zainel al-Othman, QIG Marine Serv- East and around the world. QIBS resulting from the ongoing and display some of their fi nest ma- munity and boating industry in our fi rst branch in Qatar just a added. Top chefs to preside over cooking sessions at QIFF

he 10th anniversary edi- Strategy (QNTSS), which seeks tion of Qatar International to diversify the country’s tourism TFood Festival (QIFF) tak- off ering and increase the sector’s ing place at Oxygen Park from contribution to Qatar’s economy March 20 to 30, off ers food en- by 2030. thusiasts a unique opportunity In 2017, the Next Chapter of to join internationally acclaimed QNTSS was launched, charting chefs for an up-close interactive the next fi ve years (2018-2023) cooking session through QIFF of the tourism sector’s growth. 2019 Masterclasses. In 2018, QNTC launched a global Dana Alfardan to celebrate International Women’s Day with a special concert at the Qatar National During the festival, Chef’s destination campaign under the Library today. Garden Restaurant in Education tagline ‘Qatar, Qurated for you.’ City will be hosting nine mas- Curating requires professional terclasses with: Turkish Barista Chef Masharu Morimoto Chef Siba Mtongana or expert knowledge to select, trainer Sam Cevikoz (March 20, organise and present unique ex- 21, 23), Egyptian chef Salma per table. Registration is free on has grown since its fi rst edition periences. Souleiman (March 26, 27), South fi rst come, fi rst serve basis. QIFF in 2010 to become one of the As such, the Qurated cam- African chef Siba Mtongana 2019 is a multicultural festival most-anticipated events in Qa- paign plays on the word’s defi ni- Qatari composer (March 27, 29), South African that celebrates the country’s di- tar’s growing calendar of annual tion and the destination brand’s chef Jenny Morris (March 26, verse food, beverage and hos- festivals and events. iconic Q to underscore the coun- 29). pitality off erings. QIFF forms a QNTC’s mission is to fi rmly try’s focus on delivering tailored There will be a masterclass part of Qatar National Tourism establish Qatar on the global visitor-centric experiences. with Japanese chef Masharu Mo- Council’s (QNTC) strategy to map as a place where cultural au- Since launching QNTSS, Qatar Dana Alfardan to rimoto on March 23 at Morimoto grow and diversify the country’s thenticity meets modernity, and has welcomed over 12mn visitors. Restaurant in Mondrian Hotel tourism off ering, particularly in where people of the world come The economic impact of the Doha. The restaurant’s/ hotels’ the area of family and urban en- together to experience unique tourism sector in Qatar is be- reservation platforms may be tertainment. off erings in culture, sports, busi- coming increasingly visible with contacted for more details and Thanks to the collaborative ness and family entertainment. 2017 estimates showing a total perform at QNL booking. eff orts of partners in both the QNTC’s work is guided by the (direct and indirect) contribution There are 12–20 seats available public and private sector, QIFF Qatar National Tourism Sector to Qatar’s GDP of 6.6%. ana Alfardan, critically Choir, Aisha and Fares Dehbi. song, One Nation, Featuring Ai- acclaimed Qatari musi- “I am thrilled to be hosting the sha and Fariz, which is a call for Dcian, composer, song- concert at this iconic venue, unity and a declaration of the Indian dance event at Katara as part of 2019 Year of Culture writer and symphonic artist, which is celebrating its one- nation’s pride in the wake of the will celebrate International year anniversary in April. I am unjust blockade. Women’s Day with a special a champion of women empow- One Nation began with a call Rhythmic Expressions, a Kathak will showcase the significance concert at the Qatar National erment and I believe in the im- for volunteer performers on In- dance performance by Rani of the river Yamuna in India, Library (QNL) today. mense role that Qatari women stagram and evolved two weeks Khanam and group, is being while ‘Shri Nand Nandan Nachat She will present Sounds of play in society. This concert later into a full-fl edged song organised by the Indian embassy Sudhang’ is based on the story of Qatar, a concert hosted by QNL, pays homage to all of them and and video demonstrating the in partnership with Katara - Indian mythology. featuring several of Dana’s most I hope it succeeds in highlight- solidarity and brotherly spirit The Cultural Village and Qatar Also, ‘Basant Hori’ showcases notable compositions, including ing the impact they have created that prevailed over the circum- Museums as part of the Qatar- the essence of spring, and work commissioned by QNL, throughout history,” Dana says. stances. India 2019 Year of Culture. ‘Tarana’ is a dance sequence to Qatar Museums and Qatar Air- The music set includes some Closing with style, the con- The event will be held at Drama bring out the essence of melody ways. of Dana’s best loved and world- cert will witness the fi rst ever Theatre (Hall No 16), Katara, and rhythm. ‘Chaap Tilak Sab Dana Alfardan, whose com- famous compositions includ- live performance of the song at 6.45pm tomorrow; Al Khor Cheeni’ is a soulful performance positions have gained interna- ing; The Sounds of the Library, Raise Our Flag, composed by Community at 6.30pm on March about eternal submission to tional recognition, has returned a song composed for the Qatar Dana in a tribute to the drive, 15; and the Indian Cultural Centre the creator, the statement to Qatar from a world-wide National Library, and Dialogues, dedication and valour of the at 7pm on March 16, the embassy explains. The musical concert promotion of the West-End a song specially created for the Qatari national football team has said in a statement. will end with ‘Nritya Gati’, which production Broken Wings com- international touring exhibition for their amazing performance Kathak is one of the eight classical presents intricate compositions, posed by herself. The success- of Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al during the Asian Cup 2019. dance forms of India and an rapid movements, complex ful businesswoman and musi- Thani Museum. The song was arranged and amalgamation of three art forms footwork and elegant facial cian, who was named the offi cial The sounds of this compo- orchestrated by Maias Alyam- – music, dance and drama. ‘Katha’ for her courageous and The performances include a expressions to communicate a composer for Qatar Airways, sition resonate between East- ani, and it will be performed by is a Sanskrit word for ‘story’ and pioneering work in Kathak, and stylised dance form, ‘Andaz- sense of pure joy of rhythm. The will take centre stage for her ern as well as Western cultural Aisha, musicians from the Qatar the Kathakars communicate also for creating awareness e-Raqs’, highlighting the Indian embassy has welcomed second concert at this landmark movements and traditions, Philharmonic Orchestra and the stories through rhythmic foot and addressing critical issues contribution of Persian culture, all to experience Kathak as a venue in Doha. This concert is with the intention of bridging Qatar Concert Choir. movements, swift spins, hand of society such as equality and where the costumes play an symbolic representation of the being presented in collaboration the gap, and invoking a heritage The concert is free of charge gestures and facial expressions . social justice for women, persons intrinsic role in the kinetics of multidimensional nature of the with the Qatar Philharmonic based on inclusion. and open to the public, and will Khanam has been honoured with disabilities and HIV/Aids. choreography. ‘Yamuna Namah’ dance. Orchestra, the Qatar Concert Also, on the line-up is the hit take place from 6pm-7pm.