BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 8 Raikkonen shrugs off McLaren return Qatar banks’ assets rumours in Asia up published in QATAR since 1978

FRIDAY Vol. XXXIX No. 10864 June 29, 2018 Shawwal 15, 1439 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Hassad plans to In brief invest $500mn

REGION | Dispute UAE contradicts own in Sudan’s farm edict at World Court The United Arab Emirates yesterday disputed Qatar’s discrimination lawsuit before the United Nations highest and food sectors court, but while doing so contradicted the June 5, 2017, orders of the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, which gave “Qatari assad, a subsidiary of Qatar as well as signing agreements, which residents and visitors in the UAE 14 Investment Authority, yester- are in line with Hassad’s new strategy,” days to leave the country.” Page 3 Hday announced its intention to he added. HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Minister of Energy and invest $500mn in the Sudanese agri- Hassad, Qatar’s premier investor AFRICA | Diplomacy Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al-Kuwari and other off icials watching the operations cultural and food sectors over the next in the food and agribusiness, has sev- of the new reservoir at its inauguration in Umm Slal yesterday. three years. eral investments in Qatar, Australia Bashir honours The announcement was made after and Oman, and is currently planning Qatar’s envoy signing a memorandum of understand- for future investments in several other Sudan’s President Omar bin Hassan al- ing (MoU) with a Sudanese company countries. Bashir yesterday met in Khartoum with specialised in the fi eld of agriculture and The company’s main mission is to Qatar’s outgoing ambassador Rashid food in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. identify and invest in attractive assets bin Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi. During Hassad CEO Mohamed al-Sadah in the global food and agriculture value the meeting, the Sudanese president said the MoU with the Sudanese side chains, as well as build a strong portfo- presented the ambassador with the was in line with Hassad’s new vision lio through Hassad’s sector expertise, Order of the Two Niles in appreciation New project will and strategy to become a successful lasting partnerships and long-term in- of his eff orts in strengthening the strategic investor in the global food and vestment approach. Qatari-Sudanese relations. Bashir agriculture value chains. It is estimated that Hassad Food hailed the relations between the “Over the next three years, we plan to now raises 250,000 heads of sheep two countries and Qatar’s support invest around $500mn in the Sudanese and produces 179,000 tonnes of grains for Sudan, and praised the role of food sector, by entering into partner- annually. The internal and external the ambassador in promoting and ships with a number of local Sudanese investments of Hassad, and the com- strengthening relations. ensure water companies,” al-Sadah said. plementary role it played with the pri- “We are currently working on iden- vate sector, have brought Qatar close to AMERICA | Military tifying suitable business opportunities, achieving food self-suffi ciency. US munitions sale to Saudi, UAE in jeopardy A top US Senate Democrat said yesterday he cannot support for now a security: al-Sada Trump administration plan to sell high- tech munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over concerns zPM commissions first phase of Umm Slal reservoir about the war in Yemen, a decision that could derail the sale. Senator Bob E the Prime Minister and Inte- technology is put in place for the com- requirements of the country until 2026.” Menendez, ranking Democrat on the rior Minister Sheikh Abdullah pletion of the project. Al-Kuwari described the occasion Foreign Relations Committee, said the Hbin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani Later the Prime Minister and others as a historic moment for Qatar as there administration had not satisfied his commissioned the fi rst phase of the went on an inspection tour of the entire has been a phenomenal rise in the water concerns about the sale to members QR14.3bn mega reservoir project of the complex. They visited the control room storage capacity. The reservoirs would of a Saudi-led coalition of thousands of Qatar General Electricity and Water and the pumping station and listened be linked to the current local water precision-guided munitions, or PGMs, Corporation (Kahramaa) in Umm Slal to a detailed briefi ng about their opera- distribution networks to cope with the which could be used to kill civilians. yesterday. tions by senior Kahramaa offi cials. growth in the country’s population. His position could derail the deal for The function was also attended by The occasion also coincided with the The Kahramaa president explained Raytheon Company. HE the Minister of Energy and Indus- pumping of water from the strategic that the project being executed in fi ve try Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, project in Umm Slal which is one of fi ve sites includes 15 water reservoirs. It AMERICA | Violence Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al- such facilities being executed in diff er- is the fi rst of its kind in the Arab re- HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Aff airs Sheikh Mohamed bin Kuwari and other senior offi cials. ent parts of Qatar. gion and will have a storage capacity Abdulrahman al-Thani meets US senators in Washington yesterday. At least 4 killed in US Pledging the government’s continu- Al-Sada said: “The operations of of about 100mn gallons per tank. More newsroom shooting ous support for improving the quality the Grand Reservoirs project comes in than 650km of water lines have been At least four people were feared of life in the country, the Prime Minis- line with the plans of the government laid to link these reservoirs with the killed yesterday in a shooting at the ter said the strategic reservoir project, and the wise vision of His Highness country’s desalination plants. building that houses the Capital which is one of the largest of its kind in the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al- Al-Kuwari also lauded the progress FM discusses strategic Gazette, a daily newspaper published the world, is being executed to ensure Thani for achieving water security in of the work of the projects and the ef- in Annapolis, a historic city an hour uninterrupted supply of water. Qatar. Their completion would ensure forts of the employees. He said the east of Washington. A reporter for the Besides meeting the growing de- that the total storage capacity of water reservoir in Umm Slal was completed Capital Gazette, Phil Davis, tweeted mand for water, the project would also in the country would be approximately within the stipulated deadline set by ties with US senators that a “gunman shot through the glass contribute to supporting the country’s 1,398mn gallons at any one time and the directives of His Highness the door to the off ice and opened fire on food security, he said, adding the latest this would be suffi cient to meet the the Amir. Page 2 QNA Crocker, Chairman of the Foreign Rela- multiple employees.” He said several Washington tions Committee of the US Senate and people were killed. “There is nothing Vice Chairman Senator Bob Menendez. more terrifying than hearing multiple HE also met separately with a people get shot while you’re under E the Deputy Prime Minister number of members of the Senate and your desk and then hear the gunman and Minister of Foreign Aff airs the House of Representatives and rep- reload,” Davis said. Up to four people Japan in last 16 thanks to fewer yellow cards HSheikh Mohamed bin Abdul- resentatives of various committees in had been killed, according to CBS News rahman al-Thani met Senator Richard the US Congress. quoting two sources. Agencies two fewer than Senegal, who were elim- Burr, Chairman of the US Senate Select During the meetings, the strategic Moscow inated. Committee on Intelligence, and Sena- relations between Qatar and the United ARAB WORLD | Confl ict Senegal, who lost 1-0 to Colombia, tor Mark Warner, Vice Chairman of the States and ways of developing them ended up level on points, goal diff erence Committee, in Washington yesterday. were discussed, in addition to a number ‘Immediate’ execution of apan lost 1-0 to Poland yesterday but and goals scored with Japan so the teams During the meeting, they discussed of issues of common concern. IS militants ordered survived to become the only Asian were separated by the tie-break rule in- the strategic relations between the two Members of the US Congress held Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Jside to qualify for last 16 of the World troduced at this World Cup for the fi rst friendly countries, and ways of boost- a working lunch for the Deputy Prime yesterday ordered the immediate Cup in Russia – and the fi rst team ever time. Japan will next face a daunting task ing them, in addition to issues of mu- Minister and Minister of Foreign Af- execution of hundreds of convicted to progress thanks to FIFA’s new disci- against Belgium, who beat England 1-0 tual interest, especially in the fi eld of fairs, during which they discussed bi- militants on death row, in swift plinary tie-breaker rule. yesterday to top Group G. enhancing co-operation in the fi ght lateral ties. retaliation for the Islamic State’s Japan made it through Group H in Japan defender Hiroki Sakai (L) and The result means, second-placed against terrorism. They also discussed a number of re- execution of eight captives. Abadi, who second place thanks to their players Poland midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak England will now take on Colombia in The Deputy Prime Minister and For- gional and international issues of com- has faced charges of failing to respond having been shown four yellow cards, go for a header during their match. the last 16 stage. Sport Pages 1-5 eign Minister earlier met Senator Bob mon concern. in force to IS, ordered “the immediate punishment of terrorists condemned to death whose sentences have passed the decisive stage”, his off ice said, referring to convicts whose appeals have been exhausted. No date was announced for the start of any mass Qatari riyal now trading close to fi xed peg rate: QCB hangings. By Pratap John Qatari riyal against the US dollar at a dollar on the basis of price determined the highest of 3.865 in November 2017,” ty structure, it said. As at end Decem- Chief Business Reporter rate of QR3.64 per dollar as a nominal by QCB. Nonetheless, commercial banks the QCB said in its latest report, which ber 2017 FC liabilities have increased anchor for its monetary policy. add a small margin to the QCB fi xed price is a comprehensive review of the coun- while FC assets have declined leading WORLD CUP “The peg has always been highly when dealing with the public. Otherwise, try’s fi nancial system in 2017. to a negative gap in foreign currency atari riyal is now trading close credible. The targeted peg was offi cially commercial banks trade other curren- “Through appropriate communi- asset-liability structure. to its fi xed peg rate, in both off - authorised by Amiri Decree No 34 of cies based on QCB determined exchange cation strategy, the confi dence in the Higher liability in FC increases the Yesterday’s results Qshore and on-shore forex mar- 2001 issued in July, substituting the de rate of QR against the USD and market- market is regained and the off shore market risk in case of depreciation of Colombia 1 Senegal 0 ket and confi dence has been regained jure exchange rate policy of pegging to determined exchange rate of a given cur- market rate came back to normalcy Qatari riyal against other currencies. Poland 1 Japan 0 after the “speculative attack” in the the SDR that was in eff ect since 1975,” rency against the dollar. since December 2017,” QCB said. “However, most of the banking sec- off shore market since the blockade, the QCB said in its ninth Financial Sta- “Qatari riyal was subject to specula- Exchange rate fl uctuation can also tor’s assets and liability are in USD, and Belgium 1 England 0 the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has said. bility Review. tive attack in the off shore market since impact the profi tability of the banks in given the dollar peg, exposure to mar- Tunisia 2 Panama 1 QCB has adopted the exchange rate According to the central bank, com- the embargo. As per the data provided case the banks have adverse position in ket risk from exchange rate volatility is policy, through fi xing the value of the mercial banks domestically trade the by Reuters, the exchange rate reached their foreign current (FC) asset-liabili- limited,” the QCB said. Gulf Times 2 Friday, June 29, 2018 QATAR

PM commissions first phase of Umm Slal reservoir project

HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani commissioned the first phase of the QR14.3bn mega reservoir project of the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) in Umm Slal yesterday. The function was also attended by HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al-Kuwari and other senior off icials. Minister holds meetings Indian minister praises healthy work environment in Qatar

QNA Doha

inister for Labour and Excise of the govern- HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad Mment of southern In- al-Muraikhi met the Senior Vice-President of Middle East dian state of Kerala, T P Ra- Aff airs at the US Chamber of Commerce, Khush Choksy, who is makrishnan, has praised the currently visiting Qatar. During the meeting, they discussed a achievements made by Qatar at number of issues of common interest. the institutional and legislative levels to protect and safeguard expatriate workers’ rights, not- ing that Qatar provides a healthy and safe working environment for recruiting workers. Speaking to Qatar News Agen- cy (QNA) on the sidelines of his Kerala Labour and Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan (centre) explaining a point as Norka Roots vice-chairman C K Menon, ODEPC visit to Qatar, the minister said managing director Sreeram Venkitraman and others look on. PICTURE: Jayaram. that a substantial portion of In- dian labour force in Qatar is from the state of Kerala, praising the ‘Talks with Qatar offi cials highly satisfying’ care given to them by Qatari offi - cials who are keen to solve all la- By Ramesh Mathew the Indo-Qatar working group, any levels,” said Ramakrishnan. Indian embassy has been alerted bour problems, quickly and fair- Staff Reporter scheduled for August,” said Ra- The Kerala minister also and the ambassador has been HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad ly. He noted that the problems makrishnan. informed that the Qatari of- closely monitoring the issue and al-Muraikhi met the Charge d’Aff aires of the embassy of facing the workers are negligible Earlier in the day, accompa- fi cials also expressed satisfac- a solution would soon be found. Afghanistan accredited to Qatar, Mohamed Sorour Yardary, in in relation to the total number of outhern Indian state of nied by Indian ambassador P Ku- tion at the successful eff orts Replying to another query, Doha yesterday. They discussed bilateral relations and means Indian expatriates in Qatar, and Kerala’s Minister for La- maran, the Kerala Minister met made by government of Kerala Ramakrishnan said he made an of boosting them, in addition to co-operation prospects and they are quickly addressed. Sbour and Excise T P Ra- Qatar Minister for Administra- last month in fully tackling the appeal to the local labour au- matters of mutual concern. The meeting was attended by a Minister Ramakrishnan ap- makrishnan said yesterday he tive Development, Labour and outbreak and spreading of Ni- thorities to consider forming number of off icials at the Foreign Ministry. preciated the recent steps taken is highly satisfi ed with the talks Social Aff airs HE Dr Issa Saad al- pah virus in Perambra and sub- a grievance cell consisting of by Qatar regarding the inaugu- he held with the Qatari labour Jafali al-Nuami and other senior urbs of Kozhikode district. He Keralites in their department ration of the Qatari house for and health authorities during offi cials of his ministry. wondered if there is any other in view of substantially large shelter and humanitarian care, his two-day visit to Doha. While expressing satisfaction place in the world where such a number of Keralite expatriates which will provide assistance, Speaking to journalists after at the talks he held with the local hazardous and disastrous virus in the country. OFFICIAL protection and accommodation his discussions with senior of- authorities, Ramakrishnan said attack was eff ectively control- The Kerala minister also to temporary workers until they fi cials of the Qatar Ministry of his team members had a close led as Kerala has done. “We pointed out that his discussions depart the country. Administrative Development, look at how the labour relations consider this lauding of our with the Kuwait health offi cials He also hailed Workers’ Sup- Labour and Social Aff airs, the and social welfare sections func- achievement by Qatari offi cials a couple of days ago too were port Fund which off ers workers visiting dignitary explained that tioned at the Qatari ministry. as a big recognition to the ef- encouraging. The minister and Attorney-General discusses judicial fi nancial benefi ts on the basis the local authorities responded The Kerala minister observed forts made by Kerala’s health his team came to Qatar after a of a labour dispute settlement positively to the suggestions put that the Qatari authorities were sector,” he said. two-day visit in Kuwait. co-operation with French minister committee’s decision. The fund forward by his team on such is- keen to provide as much trans- When pointed out by some Also present at the meeting safeguards workers’ rights in sues as recruitment of nurses parency as possible in the re- journalists about such issues were ODEPC managing di- HE the Attorney-General Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri, who is on a visit to the event of bankruptcy of their and other professionals for top cruitment of nurses from India, as non-payment of salaries by rector Sreeram Venkitraman, Paris, yesterday met the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals company and provides other institutions in Qatar. notably from Kerala, through some employers for months, Norka Roots vice chairman C of the French Republic Nicole Belloubet. They discussed the legal procedures and laws that take “We are exploring the pos- such government recruitment Ramakrishnan said his inter- K Menon, Behzad Corporation and judicial co-operation between Qatar and France through the care of their rights. sibility to sign an MoU to facili- agencies as the ODEPC. action with representatives of director J K Menon, Pravasi agreements signed in recent years and the results of the last agreement Ramakrishnan valued the role tate the recruitment of nurses “The presence of such a gov- one of such aggrieved groups of Welfare Board member K K signed in the field of exchanging experiences and training courses of the labour dispute settlement through Kerala’s Overseas De- ernmental agency would ensure workers on Wednesday found Sankaran, ODEPC deputy gen- between the Public Prosecution and the French National School for the committee, which has recently velopment and Employment fair selection of qualifi ed per- they did not approach any offi - eral manager S S Saju and the Judiciary. begun working on resolving Promotion Consultants Ltd sonnel without the interference cials or local offi ces to solve the Minister’s additional private problems between workers and (ODEPC) during the meeting of of any recruitment agents at issue. Ramakrishnan said the secretary Deepu S Nair. Top Bosnian honour for Qatar’s envoy employers in a record time, in addition to the measures taken Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir by Qatar to resolve labour prob- inform foreign workers about diff erent fi elds and that Kerala meetings with Qatari offi cials seek to advance co-operation Izetbegovic has met the outgoing ambassador of Qatar to Bosnia and lems by friendly means. their rights and duties and ac- is ready to provide Qatar trained refl ected the common desire to in various fi elds, adding that Herzegovina Rashid bin Mubarak al-Kuwari. President Bakir Izetbegovic He stressed the importance tions needed to protect them. workforce, particularly in medi- push forward bilateral co-oper- the relations between India and honoured ambassador al-Kuwari with the Order of First Bosnian King of of awareness-raising campaigns While praising the skilful In- cal, engineering and domestic ation between his country and Qatar are excellent and include the Middle Ages, Kulin Ban, for his role in strengthening and developing carried out by relevant institu- dian workers, the Indian minis- fi elds besides other sectors. Qatar to a broader prospect. various aspects of co-opera- relations between Qatar and Bosnia and Herzegovina. tions in diff erent languages to ter said that they are working in He further stated that his He said that both countries tion.

Qatar promotes peaceful use of Hundreds benefi t from Oryx GTL’s road safety campaign nuclear energy Qatar took part in the third international symposium to ryx GTL’s state-of-the- The Ramadan campaign The campaign attracted more experience real-world driving discuss ways to strengthen art driving simulator at was organised in association than 1,450 participants since its conditions in a completely safe international eff orts to reduce OSouq Waqif, which forms with the General Directorate inception in December 2017 and environment. highly enriched uranium in the part of its Ramadan campaign to of Traffic and managed by En- recently expanded its scope to The high-tech facility features civilian nuclear sector around raise road safety awareness, has gineering Solutions, a local target 10-21 year-olds. a real car cockpit with a wrap- the world. The symposium was attracted more than 350 par- provider of advanced driving According to Oryx GTL, the around screen and an artifi cial organised by the Norwegian ticipants from day 10 to 20 of the simulators and road safety ed- campaign seeks to transform intelligence engine that refl ects government in Oslo, in co- holy month. ucation technology. Qatar’s youth into road safety common behaviours on Qatar’s operation with the International “We are proud to continue ambassadors through interac- roads. Atomic Energy Agency. Qatar’s our commitment to road safety “The Oryx GTL road safety tive presentations and one-to- “Our team prides itself in pro- Permanent Representative to the through our Ramadan campaign campaign has been a great one driving simulator training at moting a local road safety cul- United Nations and international and future events planned for platform to reach out to schools and select public cam- ture through unique technical organisations in Vienna Sheikh Ali later in 2018,” Oryx GTL’s public Qatari Youth and we look paigns. innovations. bin Jassim al-Thani represented relations and communications forward to our continued The programme will continue “The Oryx GTL road safety the country in the international head Sheikh Abdullah bin Mu- partnership” in September 2018, targeting campaign has been a great symposium. Sheikh Ali bin Jassim barak al-Thani said. independent schools and train platform to reach out to Qatari al-Thani held meetings with heads He expressed confi dence that Oryx GTL continues to spon- 600 more participants within Youth and we look forward to of delegations of the participating participants in the campaign will sor the unique campaign as this year. our continued partnership,” countries, where he expressed gain valuable skills to help keep part of its commitment to help The simulator, designed and Engineering Solutions’ op- Oryx GTL’s state-of-the-art driving simulator off ered participants the Qatar’s keenness to promote the themselves, their families and address some of Qatar’s most built 100% in Qatar, off ered erations manager Raffat Zreik chance to experience real-world driving conditions in a completely peaceful use of nuclear energy in others safe on our roads. pressing road safety challenges. participants the opportunity to said. safe environment. the world. Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 3 QATAR/REGION/ARAB WORLD

Ibin Ajayan delivers pickups to Outlook Trading BDC hosts essay contest to give voice to Arab youth

he Brookings Doha Cen- case the creative insights of tre (BDC) has organised youth in the Mena,” BDC direc- Tan essay competition for tor Tarik Yousef said. “This con- youth in the Middle East and test will provide a platform for North Africa (Mena) to mark its youth in the region to discuss 10th anniversary recently. Open some of the issues they think are to citizens (age between 21 and important.” 30) of the 22 members of the The fi rst-place winner will League of Arab States, the essay receive $2,000 while the run- contest aims to identify the tal- ner up $1,000, and $500 for the ents and contributions of a new honourable mention. A panel of generation. leading scholars from the Brook- By providing a channel for ings Institution may select one young people to off er creative or more winning essays to be and constructive solutions to key published by the BDC, as well as issues facing the region, the BDC being featured on the Centre’s seeks to generate new and inno- web site. vative ideas on the regional level. The winners will be hosted at Essay submissions, not later an event at BDC to present their than November 1, should an- ideas to the media, academic, swer the question: “What do you diplomatic and policy commu- consider the most signifi cant nities. economic or social change that Established in 2008, BDC is an would create a positive change overseas centre of the Brookings for your country’s citizens?” Institution in Washington, DC. Submissions should also in- As a hub for Brookings scholar- Ibin Ajayan Trading Company, exclusive dealer of Mahindra in Qatar, delivered 35 units of pickups to Outlook Trading & Contracting Company. Ibin Ajayan clude policy recommendations ship in the region, BDC advances general manager Shyju Sebastion handed over the symbolic key to Outlook Trading’s general manager Alfred D’Sena in the presence of assistant sales manager the applicant believes will help high-quality, independent re- Binoj Babu and other officials. create this change. “The BDC search and policy analysis on strives to empower and show- Mena. UAE envoy contradicts Bloodiest day yet in own ministry’s edict at ICJ south Syria off ensive AFP the provincial capital. At the UN Agencies seaports to Qatar, while Saudi Beirut Security Council on Wednesday, The Hague Arabia also cut off its only land Britain, France and the United border. States condemned Russian in- Qatar fi led the lawsuit ear- barrage of Russian strikes volvement in the off ensive. he United Arab Emir- lier this month, accusing the on rebel-held towns in French ambassador Francois De- ates yesterday disputed UAE of violating its obliga- Asouthern Syria killed 22 lattre called on “everyone, start- TQatar’s discrimination tions under the International civilians yesterday, the bloodi- ing with Russia, to uphold their lawsuit before the United Na- Convention on the Elimina- est day yet of the government’s commitments so that this off en- tions highest court, but while tion of All Forms of Racial Dis- off ensive in the strategic re- sive ceases immediately”. doing so contradicted the June crimination. Bahrain, Egypt gion. With Moscow’s help, Syr- Adopting a divide-and-con- 5, 2017, orders of the UAE’s and Saudi Arabia, the other ian President Bashar al-Assad’s quer strategy that has served Foreign Ministry, which gave countries boycotting Qatar in army has battered the south them well elsewhere in Syria, “Qatari residents and visitors the dispute, have not consent- for more than a week with air troops have already lopped off in the UAE 14 days to leave the ed to the court’s jurisdiction, strikes, rocket fi re and crude the northeastern arm of the country.” though the UAE has, Doha barrel bombs. rebel-held horseshoe. Yesterday, The UAE’s defence before said. The bombardment has forced air strikes were focused on the the International Court of Jus- On Wednesday, a Qatari more than 45,000 to fl ee their east of Daraa province. tice (ICJ) at The Hague, Neth- offi cial told the court that homes in search of safety, ac- The White Helmets rescue erlands, largely resembled “thousands of Qataris are cording to the United Nations, force said dozens of strikes had the allegations it and three unable to return to the UAE, while others huddle in their hit the towns of Busra Al Sham other Arab nations levelled separated from their families basements to wait out the raids. and Herak, forcing waves of when launching their yearlong there,” adding that Qataris Yesterday, air strikes identifi ed people to fl ee. The Observatory blockade of Qatar last June. have lost jobs and property, as Russian killed 22 civilians, a said the raids were increasingly Saeed Ali al-Nuwais, the and have been unable to con- monitoring group said, most of targeting urban areas. Rebel- UAE’s ambassador to the tinue their studies at UAE them in a single town. “At least held neighbourhoods of the Netherlands, contradicted his schools. He also said the UAE 35 Russian air strikes hit the provincial capital were practi- Foreign Ministry’s own or- has threatened prosecution for town of Al Mseifra,” the Syrian Smoke rises above opposition held areas of the Daraa province countryside during air strikes by Syrian cally drained of residents. “All ders about expelling Qataris those who off er “sympathy” Observatory for Human Rights regime forces on Wednesday. Russian-backed regime forces have for weeks been preparing an off ensive the residents and civilians left. from the federation at the for Qatar amid the dispute. said. “One of them hit a base- to retake Syria’s south, a strategic zone that borders both Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. There are no civilians here,” said start of the crisis, claiming at Al-Nuwais claimed Qataris ment where people were taking Ahmad Abu Hazem, 26, a rebel one point that “there has been could get individual permis- shelter, killing 17 civilians, in- Syria. “This is the highest toll who manages the Union of Med- Quneitra province to west. They fi ghter inside the city. no mass expulsion of Qataris sion from the Emirati Interior cluding fi ve children,” the Brit- since the escalation began on ical Care and Relief Organisa- also control southern districts of Most of the 45,000-plus peo- from the UAE”. Ministry to enter the country. ain-based monitor said. June 19,” said Observatory head tions (UOSSM)’s operations in the city of Daraa. The rest is held ple who had already fl ed earlier “My country was falsely ac- Cases at the ICJ take months The hospital in Al Mseifra had Rami Abdel Rahman, adding the south. The government of- by government forces, who also this week, headed to the sealed cused,” claimed al-Nuwais. or years to complete. However, been put out of service by Rus- that it brought the overall civil- fensive has already forced fi ve control most of Sweida province border with Jordan. But Am- “The UAE completely rejects requests for provisional meas- sian strikes on Tuesday night, ian toll since then to 93. hospitals to close in the past to the east. man has said the border will these allegations, all of which ures like those requested by the Observatory and relief or- A doctor in a rural area in the week, with three closed in the Despite an internationally remain closed. The kingdom al- are without any merit.” Qatar are dealt with quicker. ganisations said. The Observa- west of Daraa province said his past 48 hours, the Observatory brokered ceasefi re in place since ready hosts more than 650,000 The four Arab nations also Rulings by the ICJ are fi nal tory says it determines who staff was preparing for an infl ux said. 2017, the regime began ramping registered Syrian refugees and blocked their airspace and and binding on those involved. carried out particular strikes of critically wounded from Al Syria has become infamous up its bombardment of rebel- estimates the actual number is based on the type of aircraft and Mseifra. “Because there are no for attacks on health workers, held towns in Daraa on June 19. closer to 1.3mn. To avoid great- munitions used, the locations medical services in the eastern with more facilities hit so far Russian warplanes began raids er bloodshed, Russia is leading Libya navy bemoans lack of EU and the fl ight patterns. Another countryside and because of the this year than in all of 2017. The on June 23 and on Tuesday the talks involving Syria, Jordan, fi ve civilians were killed in other security situation, most of the rebels hold a horseshoe-shaped two air forces launched joint Israel and the United States, but support over migrants rebel-controlled areas of Daraa, wounded will be brought to us in band of territory in the south bombing operations against so far there has been no public the main province in southern the west,” said Baha Mahameed, spanning most of Daraa and rebel-held neighbourhoods of progress towards a deal. The Libyan coastguard, charged longtime dictator Moammar with patrolling the frontline of Gaddafi in a Nato-backed uprising Europe’s eff orts to halt irregular that destroyed Libya’s navy, migration, has only three off icials say European powers working patrol boats, which have abandoned them — despite often stay in port for lack of fuel. their eff orts on Europe’s behalf “We don’t get any support, either to prevent migrants crossing Prince William visits Jerusalem burial site from inside the country or from their territory. Colonel Abu Ajila overseas,” said Ayoub Kacem, Abdelbarri, who captains one of spokesman for the navy which the coastguard’s patrol vessels, Reuters become a nun and founded a con- the Holocaust. After paying tribute oversees Libya’s coastguard, said they regularly break down. Jerusalem vent. to Princess Alice, he was scheduled adding that the force’s only “These are old boats, not even In 1993, the princess was named to visit the hilltop holy esplanade in vessels have been on loan from designed for search and rescue... as one of the “righteous among the Jerusalem housing Al-Aqsa mosque Italy since 2010. their capacity is very limited,” he ritain’s Prince William made nations”, the highest honour Is- and the Dome of the Rock and Juda- In a country wracked by violence said, warning that the service was a pilgrimage yesterday to the rael’s Yad Vashem Holocaust me- ism’s Western Wall below. since the 2011 fall and killing of on the point of “total collapse”. BJerusalem tomb of his great- morial bestows on non-Jews, for The site in the Old City is revered grandmother, Princess Alice, hiding three members of the Cohen by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary who was honoured by Israel for family in her palace in Athens dur- and by Jews as the Temple Mount Six injured in Iran’s refinery fire sheltering Jews in Nazi-occupied ing World War II. where Biblical temples once stood. Greece during the Holocaust. Wil- Both William’s father, Prince Its future is at the heart of the An Iranian oil refinery caught fire late on Wednesday in the liam is on the fi nal day of his tour Charles, and grandfather, Prince Israeli-Palestinian confl ict. The southwestern part of the country, the semi-off icial Tasnim news of Israel and the Palestinian Ter- Philip, have visited her grave site prince visited the Israeli-occupied agency reported, leaving six people injured. Firefighters on the ritories, the fi rst offi cial visit by a near the Garden of Gethsemane, in West Bank on Wednesday, meeting scene at the Abadan refinery have brought the blaze under control, senior member of the British royal an area Israel captured in the 1967 Palestinian President Mahmoud a local off icial was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency, adding family to the areas. Middle East war. Planting a tree at Abbas and touring a refugee camp, that the fire would be contained in an hour. Princess Alice of Battenberg and Yad Vashem in his mother’s hon- on a day which also took him to the The cause of incident was still unknown, Tasnim said. The damage Greece, who was Queen Elizabeth’s our in 1994, Prince Philip said: “I Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv. to the plant at Abadan had no impact on oil exports from Iran, the mother-in-law, is buried in a crypt suspect that it never occurred to In a speech in Jerusalem on world’s fifth-biggest exporter, as it is involved in producing petrol in the Russian Orthodox Church of her that her action was in any way Wednesday, he assured Palestin- and some other fuels, not the production of crude. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of special.” ians “you have not been forgotten”. ISNA reported that one of the injured was in a critical condition. Prince William visits the Church of St Mary Magdalene, a Olives outside Jerusalem’s walled William met ancestors of the Co- Peace talks between Israel and Abadan Oil Refinery is Iran’s oldest crude processing facility in Russian Orthodox church located on the Mount of Olives, Old City. A devout Christian, she hen family at Israeli Prime Minister the Palestinians collapsed in 2014 the southern oil-rich Khuzestan Province. The refinery, like almost near the Garden of Gethsemane, where he paid his respects died in London in 1969 and had Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on and the divide between the two all Iranian oil and gas processing plants, needs major works and at the tomb of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, in east asked to be buried in Jerusalem, Tuesday after visiting the memo- sides has widened in the years since renovation. Jerusalem, Israel. next to her aunt, who like Alice had rial to the six million Jews killed in amid bouts of violence. Gulf Times 4 Friday, June 29, 2018 AFRICA 15 killed as deadly fi re rips through Nairobi market

AFP live electric wires,” the offi cer said. Nairobi Hundreds of people crowded around the smouldering ruins of the market, desperately trying to fi re yesterday at Nairobi’s retrieve their goods as gas canis- Gikomba market killed 15 ters, swept up in the inferno, could Apeople, less than a year af- be heard exploding. ter a blaze destroyed much of the “Oh God! What have we done Kenyan capital’s largest open-air to deserve this?” exclaimed one market. trader who had lost everything in “We have lost 15 people from the fi re. this tragedy this morning,” said Maggy Njeri, a second-hand regional co-ordinator Kangethe clothes trader, wept by the ruins Thuku. of her stall. “This was my life. I “We’re yet to establish the cause don’t know where to start from,” of this fi re,” he said, which is be- she said. lieved to have started in a timber Vincent Kimani stood by his yard. stall clutching a wodge of burned Shoddy wiring has been blamed banknotes in his hand. “What do for past fi res at Gikomba, with you want me to say? You can see traders saying there have been for yourself I am totally fi nished.” numerous smaller fi res in recent Nine of the dead were found in months. a six-storey apartment block next Yesterday’s pre-dawn blaze be- to the market while six others — gan at 2am and left over 70 peo- including four children — died ple injured, destroying many of of burns and smoke inhalation in the market’s wood and tarp stalls hospital. where second-hand clothes, Many of the injured were taken shoes, vegetables and other items to the city’s main Kenyatta Na- Kenyan security off icers walk past the smouldering debris following a fire that gutted the timber dealership at are sold on the eastern edge of the tional Hospital were distraught the Gikomba market and nearby homes in central Nairobi. city. relatives roamed the corridors. A police offi cer at the scene said Rushing from ward to ward, last seven months, while the last “I am tired of losing property Some suspect arson. “This is not emergency services continued to Betty Kaveke desperately sought major blaze, in October last year, every now and then. There’s no just another fi re incident. There’s search the area and that several her three missing children. destroyed much of the market. progress,” said stallholder Esther more to it,” said a detective who people were missing “I have only found one, aged 14, “Gikomba fi res are mysterious,” Mwaniki, who complained that did not want to be named. “We are still trying to get to some the rest are nowhere to be seen and said George Basweti, a security guard investigations into the causes of In May 2014, 10 people died in a corner (of the market) which has the house is destroyed,” she said. who has worked there for many years the fi res were never carried out bombing at the market blamed on heavy smoke, because part of the Traders said there have been at and seen numerous blazes destroy and safety measures never imple- Al Qaeda-aligned Shebaab mili- area has not been accessed due to least four fi res at Gikomba in the part, or all, of the market. mented. tants.

10 dead as ethnic violence fl ares in western Ethiopia

AFP A doctor in Assosa told AFP the doctor said, adding that the mia and Somali regions’ border in Ahmed in the capital that killed two Addis Ababa that 56 people were treated on cause of the violence was unclear. the country’s southeast. people and injured more than 150. Wednesday with injuries ranging Separately, new United Nations On Wednesday, the UN’s Offi ce Since taking offi ce in April, Abiy, from head wounds to gunshots, fi gures indicated more than 2mn for the Co-ordination of Humani- the fi rst prime minister in modern en people have been killed and that the city remained tense people have now fl ed their homes tarian Aff airs (OCHA) said weeks Ethiopia from the Oromo ethnic- in ethnic clashes in western yesterday. in diff erent parts of Ethiopia as a of violence between Oromia and ity, has announced an aggressive TEthiopia, state media said “Shops are closed, offi ces are result of fl aring violence between the Southern Nations, Nation- reform agenda including liberalis- yesterday, as aid agencies warned not working, people are standing communities. alities, and Peoples’ Region had ing parts of the economy and pur- of widening inter-communal along the street. Things are not as Ethiopia is divided into ethni- forced at least another 978,000 suing rapprochement with long- confl icts in Africa’s second most- usual,” the doctor said on condi- cally demarcated federal regions people out of their homes. time foe Eritrea. populous country. tion of anonymity. intended to give the country’s “There are fears that the situ- Fana yesterday reported Abiy Fighting in and around the city The clashes appeared to be many peoples a degree of self-rule. ation will continue to deteriorate had appointed a committee “to in- of Assosa, in the western Benis- between the Berta people, who But confl icts along these re- and that the number of displaced vestigate conspiracies being com- hangul-Gumuz region, claimed 10 are indigenous to Benishangul- gions’ borders have become in- might increase,” OCHA said. mitted to deter ongoing reforms,” lives before subsiding, state-affi li- Gumuz, and the country’s largest creasingly destructive. The news followed last Satur- including the grenade attack and ated Fana Broadcasting Corporate ethnicity, the Oromo, who domi- Last year, nearly 1.1mn were dis- day’s grenade attack during a public cellphone and power outages that reported. nate in the nearby Oromia region, placed by fi ghting along the Oro- speech by new prime minister Abiy occurred on the same day.

Army arrests 17 over Nigeria farmer-herder clashes

AFP Jos, Nigeria

igeria’s army said yester- day they have arrested 17 Npeople in connection with the killing of more than 200 people in the central state of Plateau. The recent clashes between cat- tle farmers and herders have put pressure on President Muham- madu Buhari to stop the violence, as he works to secure a second term in the 2019 presidential polls. Rising insecurity, from unrest involving farmers and herders, cattle rustlers, communal clashes, banditry and Boko Haram, is shap- ing up to be a key election issue. Amnesty International said at least 1,813 people have been killed in 17 states since the start of the year — more than double the fi gure for last year. Army spokesman Major Adam Umar said three of the arrests were linked to killings in the Barikin Ladi A member of the security forces stands next to a burnt out vehicle in the Nghar village, near Jos, after Fulani herdsmen attacked the village. area, while the other 14 were arrest- ed in connection with the deaths of these three suspects with four ri- Police and army reinforcements sands dead in recent decades. was no apparent response to the travellers in the south of the state fl es, three locally made guns and have been sent to Plateau to im- Amnesty’s Nigeria director Osai attacks for hours. capital, Jos. “We all know that some one AK47,” he added. prove security, while a dusk-to- Ojigho said on Wednesday that se- The government needs to an- days back, some villages in Barikin The clashes are rooted in ten- dawn curfew remains in place in curity also needed to be improved, swer “who are these attackers, Ladi were attacked and these three sions over access to land between areas of the state. as not enough was being done to where do they come from, where suspects were arrested in connec- the pastoral herders and sedentary A failure to arrest and prosecute protect lives and property. do they go to after attacks, who tion with that,” Umar said. farmers but have also generated perpetrators has long been pin- She said there were “unaccept- arms them (and) why is the securi- “As our men were repelling the sectarian friction between Mus- pointed as a key factor in the cycle able security lapses” and called ty forces’ response time so slow?” attacks in those areas, we arrested lims and Christians. of violence, which has left thou- for an investigation into why there she added.

Lake Turkana added to Unesco endangered world heritage list

DPA itage Committee in Manama. Sugar Development Project, which oratory for the study of plant and projects in Ethiopia will drastically Manama Lake Turkana National Parks are poses further threat to the site.” animal communities.” lower Lake Turkana’s water level, endangered by dam construction Ethiopia’s Unesco representa- The lake is home to an extraordi- which could have devastating con- and irrigation projects in Kenya’s tive called the decision “inappro- nary variety of plants and animals, sequences for thousands of people enya’s Lake Turkana Na- neighbouring Ethiopia, the agency priate”. and the national parks “serve as a in the region. tional Parks were yesterday found. The Lake Turkana National stopover for migrant waterfowl and The Unesco committee kicked Kadded to the Unesco List of In a statement, the Unesco com- Parks in northern Kenya have been provide major breeding grounds for off its meeting at the weekend in World Heritage in Danger, the UN mittee said it “expressed concern on the Unesco World Heritage List the Nile crocodile, hippopotamus Manama, where it will examine cultural agency said. about the disruptive eff ect of Ethio- since 1997. Unesco said Turkana is and a variety of venomous snakes,” some 30 worldwide sites nominat- The decision was made at a pia’s Gibe III dam on the fl ow and eco- “the most saline of Africa’s large the statement said. ed for inclusion on its renowned meeting of the Unesco World Her- system of Lake Turkana and the Kuraz lakes,” and is “an outstanding lab- Kenya is worried that water list. The talks will run until July 4. Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 5 AMERICAS Trump pick to lead IOM could see an American rejected for fi rst time

Reuters Europe, all nine of its leaders The IOM is involved in politi- anybody or anything, period”. March, Isaacs was introduced by Geneva have been Americans apart from cally sensitive operations around He said he had been retweeting Jennifer Arangio, senior direc- a Dutchman who ran it in the the globe, from helping European and commenting on material to tor of the White House National 1960s. countries manage the arrival of provoke debate. Security Council: “He embodies S President Donald However, Trump’s choice of hundreds of thousands of asylum State Department said it was what the United States believes.” Isaacs: has disparaged Muslims in social media posts. Trump’s nomination of a Ken Isaacs, a vice-president of seekers to aiding Rohingya refu- “proper” that Isaacs had apolo- Isaacs is up against Portuguese UChristian charity execu- US evangelical charity Samari- gees in Bangladesh. gised, but his “private” social politician and ex-EU Justice Trump policies widely viewed as “States have a right to protect tive who has disparaged Islam to tan’s Purse, could end that streak. In February, shortly after the media posts did not disqualify Commissioner Antonio Vitorino, hostile to immigrants, such as a their borders the way that they head the UN migration agency Isaacs, whose only major gov- Trump administration nomi- him for the IOM post. and Laura Thompson, a Costa ban on citizens of seven Muslim deem necessary,” he said. “If it’s could see countries reject an ernment experience was a 2004- nated Isaacs to lead the IOM, the “Mr Isaacs is committed to Rican now serving as Swing’s majority nations entering the inhumane, then I’ll come back American for the fi rst time in 2005 stint under George W Bush Washington Post dug up tweets helping refugees and has a long deputy. United States and a drastic scal- and have private conversations. nearly 50 years when they pick its as a political appointee in charge and social media posts in which history of assisting those who The vote will be conducted in ing back of the US programme to But I think states have a right to new leader today. of disaster relief at the US over- he disparaged Muslims and Is- are suff ering. We believe that if secret. accept refugees. protect their borders the way that Since the body now known as seas aid agency, is one of three lam. chosen to lead the IOM, he would Isaacs says he will not repre- “I’m not going to speak on any they want to.” the International Organisation candidates to succeed William Isaacs has since apologised for treat people fairly and with the sent the US administration if he country’s domestic policy,” he Approached by Reuters at a for Migration (IOM) was founded Swing, a veteran US and UN dip- hurting anyone’s feelings. dignity and respect they de- leads the IOM. said, when asked at the March garden party at the US mission in to manage the vast movement lomat retiring after a decade as He insisted that he had “never serve.” However, he has also made briefi ng about Trump’s plan for a Geneva yesterday, he declined to of people in post-World War II IOM chief. shown discrimination against At a press event in Geneva in clear he would not challenge wall on the Mexican border. comment further.

Expert on Russia to lead Trump, Putin set to meet Canadian agency in Helsinki next month

AFP AFP “I think we’ll be talking about say they had nothing to do with US Senator Lindsey Graham Ottawa Washington Syria. I think we’ll be talking Meddling in our Election!” of Trump’s Republican Party, about Ukraine. I think we’ll be Finnish President Sauli Ni- said that he hoped Trump would talking about many other sub- inisto said he welcomed the raise Russia’s conduct in south- Russia expert was ap- residents Donald Trump jects. And we’ll see what hap- planned dialogue. western Syria where Syrian gov- pointed on Wednesday to and Vladimir Putin will pens. You never know about “The agenda of the meeting of ernment forces have been bat- Alead Canada’s electronic Phold their long-awaited meetings what happens, right?” Presidents Trump and Putin will tling rebels in a “de-escalation eavesdropping agency, amid on- fi rst summit next month in the the US president said. “I think a be decided during the next two zone” agreed last year by the going concerns of Russian hack- Finnish capital Helsinki, at what lot of good things can come with weeks, but they will certainly United States, Jordan and As- ing and meddling in Western could prove a historic turning meetings with people.” discuss the overall international sad’s ally Russia to curb fi ghting. elections. point in international relations. The announcement came af- situation and hopefully also “The question is, are we going Shelly Bruce moves up from The July 16 head-to-head will ter Trump’s hawkish national arms control and disarmament to let Putin walk all over us? Had number two at the Communi- follow a North Atlantic Treaty security adviser John Bolton met issues,” he said in a statement. eight years of that, kind of tired cations Security Establishment Organisation (Nato) summit in Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, “Even small steps in reducing of it,” said Graham, who serves (CSE) to replace her former boss, Brussels that Washington’s Eu- where he was given a warm wel- tensions would be in every- on the Senate’s Armed Services outgoing CSE head Greta Bos- ropean partners fear will serve as come before the two discussed body’s interest.” Putin: welcomed Trump’s security adviser in Moscow. committee. senmaier. another stage for the US leader details of the future summit. The summit is a boost for Fin- The last – brief – meeting Bruce studied Russia and to berate them and scorn the “Your visit to Moscow gives us land, whose capital hosted ma- Trump said this month that is as bad as Nafta” – the free between Putin and Trump took Slavic languages at university Western alliance. hope that we can at least take the jor Cold War summits between Russia should be re-admitted to trade agreement that he has place in November 2017 in Vi- before joining the CSE in 2004 Trump has long called for fi rst step to reviving full-blown leaders such as Leonid Brezh- the G7 group of industrialised threatened to tear up. etnam during an Asia-Pacifi c as director of intelligence, and warmer ties with Moscow, but ties between our states,” Putin nev and Gerald Ford in 1975 and democracies from which it was Nevertheless, and despite Economic Co-operation (APEC) quickly moved up the ranks. the talks come as Russia’s rela- told Bolton at the Kremlin after Mikhail Gorbachev and George suspended after annexing Cri- Western diplomats warn- summit. Her appointment as the head tions with the West languish at the two smiled and shook hands H W Bush in 1990 before going mea. ing against the message sent Putin and Trump discussed of the CSE comes only two levels not seen since the Cold for the cameras. on to host a meeting between That comment came at a by the Russian meeting com- holding a summit during a months after Ottawa moved to War. Bolton said that there are ar- Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton in summit which ended in sharp ing straight after the tense Nato phone call in March, when the safeguard Canada’s elections The meeting will likely pro- eas for co-operation between 1997. disagreement between Trump talks, alliance Secretary General US leader reportedly ignored ad- from cyber threats and “foreign voke criticism for Trump at the two countries, but added Since coming to power last and his G7 allies. Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vice from his staff and congratu- interference”, following accusa- home, where investigators are that the lifting of US sanctions year, Trump has sought to im- According to remarks pub- summit. lated the Russian president for tions of Russia meddling in the probing possible collusion be- imposed after the annexation of prove relations with Putin amid lished yesterday by news site “Dialogue is not a sign of his victory in elections that were last US election. tween his presidential campaign Crimea in 2014 would not be on tensions between Moscow and Axios, Trump shocked his G7 weakness, dialogue is a sign criticised by observers as unfair. Canada’s next federal election team and Moscow. the table. the West. counterparts by declaring “Nato of strength. As long as we are Moscow said that Trump had is scheduled for 2019. Russia’s annexation of Cri- Both sides have played down strong, as long as we are united invited Putin for a summit at the In April, G7 ministers called mea and its support for separa- expectations of what the talks we can talk to Russia,” he said. White House but the focus has on Russia to come clean about a tists in eastern Ukraine, as well can hope to produce, saying the Moscow hopes the Helsinki shifted to a meeting on neutral nerve agent attack on a former as Moscow’s backing of Bashar fact that Trump and Putin are summit will restart a dialogue ground. spy in Britain, calling it in a joint al-Assad’s regime in the Syrian meeting at all is an achievement between Washington and Mos- The US president is due to at- statement “a threat to us all”. confl ict will also loom large. in itself. cow, said Vassily Nebenzia, the tend the July 11 and 12 Nato sum- Western nations had a month Next month’s dialogue in On Wednesday, US Secretary Russian ambassador to the Unit- mit in Brussels before heading to prior expelled 150 Russian dip- Finland will see the two leaders of State Mike Pompeo told US ed Nations. Britain to meet with Prime Min- lomats in a co-ordinated action discuss “the current state and lawmakers that he is sure that “We need each other, not be- ister Theresa May and Queen against Moscow in support of prospects for development of Trump would confront Putin cause we want to love each oth- Elizabeth II on July 13. Britain, and Russia retaliated Russian-US relations”, said the about allegations that Russian er. We don’t want and we don’t Trump’s summit with Putin with similar moves. Kremlin. agents interfered in Western need to be loved. We simply will come about a month after The CSE last year urged Ot- A statement from the White elections – including Trump’s need to hold normal, pragmatic the US president’s historic meet- tawa to step up its hacking coun- House said that the presidents own 2016 campaign. relations with a major country ing in Singapore with North Ko- termeasures, after identifying will also broach various “na- But one day later, Trump him- upon which – like what lies upon rean leader Kim Jong-un, which between 2013 and 2015 approxi- tional security issues”. Trump self returned to Twitter to un- us – a lot in the world depends,” produced a vaguely-worded mately 2,500 state-sponsored earlier said that he expected dis- dercut his chief diplomat and he told a news conference at the statement on “denuclearisation hacking attempts. cussions to be wide-ranging. declare: “Russia continues to Trump will be meeting Putin on July 16 in Helsinki. United Nations. of the Korean peninsula”.

Women march against US immigration policy DHS asks military to

Reuters at demonstrations three or four accommodate up to Washington times since she became politi- cally active following Trump’s election. 12,000 immigrants everal hundred activ- “Their parents shouldn’t even ists gathered for an act of be locked up,” Fudoli said. “This S“mass civil disobedience” is not a bad enough crime to lock Reuters hended for illegally crossing the in the US capital yesterday ahead them up and take their children Washington US-Mexico border. of weekend protests across the away.” The Pentagon said that the De- country against the Trump ad- Most of the children who had partment of Homeland Security ministration’s immigration pol- been separated from their fami- he US military has been preferred the facilities for mi- icy. lies before the order was signed asked by the Department grants be in Texas, Arizona, New “Say it loud, say it clear, im- have not been reunited with Tof Homeland Security Mexico or California for access migrants are welcome here,” them. (DHS) to house and care for im- and supervision and to comply the crowd of about 500 protest- The White House has also said migrant families totalling up to with the so-called Flores settle- ers, including many white-clad the order was not a long-term 12,000 people, the Pentagon said ment provision that reasonable women, chanted as they began solution and called for Congress on Wednesday, in the latest sign eff orts be made to place minors marching down Pennsylvania to pass immigration reform. that the military is being drawn in the geographic area where the Avenue toward the US Depart- Larger protests are being into a supporting role for Presi- majority were apprehended. ment of Justice. planned for Saturday in Wash- dent Donald Trump’s immigra- The 1997 Flores agreement set Women’s March, a movement ington, DC, and cities around tion policies. policy for the detention of mi- that began when US President the country under the banner of The Pentagon said in a state- nors in the custody of immigra- Donald Trump was inaugurated #FamiliesBelongTogether. ment that the military had been tion offi cials. in 2017, then spread internation- Trump’s critics have blast- asked to provide the capacity to On Monday, Defence Secre- ally, called on women to risk ar- ed the executive order that he house 2,000 people within 45 tary Jim Mattis said that the mil- rest at yesterday’s protest. Protesters who marched from Freedom Plaza to the US Capitol demonstrate inside the Hart Senate Off ice signed allowing children to stay days. itary was preparing to house im- As the marchers passed the Building against family detentions and to demand the end of criminalising the eff orts of asylum-seekers with their detained parents, say- If facilities were not available, migrants at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Trump International Hotel, and immigrants. ing that incarceration of an entire semi-separate, soft-sided camp Texas, and Goodfellow Air Base which is run by the president’s family is also wrong. facilities capable of sheltering up in San Angelo, Texas. company, they chanted, “Shame! onstration is part of a wave of adult relatives were separated would let children stay with their “When we were advocating to to 4,000 people were to be con- The US military, and Mattis Shame! Shame!” actions against Trump, whose from them and placed in deten- parents as they moved through keep families together and end structed at three separate loca- in particular, have stressed that Some organisers said they administration began seeking in tion facilities or with foster fami- the legal system. family separations, we were not tions, the Pentagon said. it is simply providing logistical would risk arrest by ignoring any May to prosecute all adults who lies around the country. The order still faces legal chal- advocating for family incarcera- In the face of outrage at home support to the DHS, which deals orders to disperse that the Capi- cross the border without author- The policy led to intense criti- lenges. tion,” said Linda Sarsour, one and abroad over his crackdown with immigration issues. tol police might issue once their isation. cism in the United States and Loretta Fudoli took a bus to of the leaders of the Women’s on illegal immigration, Trump Last week, the US military said march arrives at the US Con- Consequently, more than abroad. Washington from Conway, Ar- March. “Camps for children is was forced last week to abandon it had been asked by the govern- gress. 2,000 children who arrived il- After several days, Trump kansas, to join the protest. just as wrong as camps for chil- his policy of separating children ment to get ready to house up to The Women’s March dem- legally in the United States with signed an executive order that She said she had been arrested dren and adults.” from parents who are appre- 20,000 immigrant children. Gulf Times 6 Friday, June 29, 2018 ASIA

FISHING SPOT NATURE’S FURY BUSTED MONSOON WOES VOTE STRIFE Flights cancelled after Bali Two drug suspects killed Five killed, six injured in One killed in Papua volcano erupts again in Vietnam police raid Nepal landslides poll-related violence

A number of flights were cancelled yesterday after Vietnamese police yesterday killed two suspected At least five people from two families were killed, At least one person was killed and two police Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian resort heroin traff ickers and arrested three other people and six others injured, after heavy monsoon off icers are missing after suspected Papuan rebels island of Bali erupted, but the airport and air traff ic during a raid on a commune in northern Vietnam, rains triggered landslides in a remote village of fired at boats carrying voters and police returning remained open. Denpasar airport spokesman I state media reported. About 200 police, with several north-central Nepal, local police said yesterday. A from a polling station, Indonesian authorities said Gusti Ngurah Rai Arie Ahsanurrohim told Antara armoured cars, surrounded the house where the 33-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged yesterday. The attack — the third carried out in news agency that cancellations were entirely at two men — who were linked with a drugs traff icking 5 and 10, were buried to death late Wednesday the restive region by an alleged separatist group the discretion of the airlines and that the airport ring in 2015 — were staying, Tuoi Tre cited police as in a remote mountain village in Dhading district, over the past week — happened Wednesday as is operating normally. Mount Agung has been saying. Eight people linked to the same gang were said Ram Bahadur KC, a senior police off icer. tens of millions voted in local elections across spewing fresh clouds of ash up to 2,000m into the sentenced to death and three got life sentences in “The woman’s husband had travelled to the the Indonesian archipelago. The gunmen shot air since Wednesday. The volcano’s warning level prison last September for traff icking 250 kilograms district headquarters to begin a process to at two boats carrying nine police off icers in remains one notch below the highest advisory. of heroin, but the two men killed yesterday had go abroad for work,” he told DPA. In the same Torere district, Papua police spokesman Ahmad A man catches fish from the sea while standing Authorities raised the warning alert to the highest managed to evade capture. Police seized three village, an elderly couple in their 60s was found Musthofa Kamal said. The district chief of Torere on rocks in Colombo. level on November 22 and ordered the evacuation grenades, four rifles, 415 bullets and many gas tanks dead after the landslide struck their mud and was fatally shot in the attack while two off icers of people living nearby after two days of eruptions. from the commune close to the Laos border. stone house, the police off icer said. disappeared after they fell in the water, he added. Kids still Planting season trapped in Thai cave

AFP and mountainous part of Chiang Rai Mae Sai, Thailand province near the Laos and Myanmar borders. Tham Luang is one of the longest he underwater search for 12 chil- caves in Thailand and frequently fl oods dren and their football coach during Thailand’s monsoon season be- Ttrapped in a fl ooded cave in Thai- tween July and November, rendering land was halted yesterday as water levels some of its narrow passages diffi cult to rose amid relentless rainfall. pass through. But search teams, including three There are several air pockets within British diving experts and US mili- the complex and the kids are believed tary personnel, continued work above to be in a large chamber in the middle of ground despite the setback, scouring the cave. the area for entry points to the cave But fast-running and murky fl ood where the team has been stuck since waters have prevented rescue divers Saturday. from reaching them and heavy rains Offi cials prepared a massive indus- continued to seep into the cave through trial drill to create a new tunnel into the narrow openings on the sides and cave close to where the boys are believed through the main entrance. to be trapped while drones were dis- “The water is like cafe latte, you can’t patched to fi nd other openings. see anything, and there’s a very strong Heavy rains overnight fl ooded a sec- fl ow which doesn’t make it easy,” Ben ond chamber of the 10km long Tham Reymenants, owner of Blue Label Div- Farmers plant rice saplings in a paddy field a day ahead of National Paddy Day, also called Asar Pandra, that marks the commencement of rice crop planting Luang cave that is notoriously diffi cult ing in Thailand, told AFP from Chiang in paddy fields as monsoon season arrives, in Bhaktapur, Nepal. to navigate, even among the most skilled Rai where he was assisting with the divers. search. “Under the current situation it’s not As water pumps were set up in a possible to dive into the cave, they have scramble to drain the tunnels, experts to wait until the water recedes,” Interior assessed the scene for a possible loca- Minister Anupong Paojinda told report- tion to drill a hole without collapsing Senior communist rules ers yesterday. the cave’s walls — but said it would be a Bangladeshi extremist killed in “We are preparing to continue pump- tricky task. ing the water out so the team can enter “It’s diffi cult to drill vertically, if you out talks with Duterte the cave,” he added. go up the mountain and drill down there police search operation A team of American military person- are high risks so we might drill from the nel from the US Pacifi c Command, in- the side to improve our chances of suc- DPA cluding pararescue and survival special- cess,” Suttisak Soralump, a geotechnical AFP al of extremist attacks in the Muslim-majority Manila ists, arrived at the site overnight to help expert from Kasetsart University, told Dhaka country. Police said Rahman had admitted that rescue operations, according to embassy AFP. his group was behind the murder. spokeswoman Jillian Bonnardeaux. Sniff er dogs were deployed in the Police were initially slow to fi nger Islamists he founding chairman of the communist rebel “Operators are trained in personnel morning after smelling clothing be- angladeshi police said that a top Is- as it was the fi rst such killing in more than two party in the Philippines said yesterday his party recovery tactics and techniques and longing to the kids that relatives brought lamist extremist in police custody was years, but counter-terrorism offi cers later told T“can no longer negotiate” a peace agreement with procedures,” she told AFP. over. Bkilled yesterday, in the latest in a string local media that they thought extremists were the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. “Essentially what they are looking The Tham Luang cave is a popular of what activists suspect are extra-judicial indeed to blame. Jose Maria Sison, who is in self-imposed exile in the at is assessing with the Thai authori- draw for local visitors during the dry killings. Rahman was the “Dhaka regional military Netherlands, accused Duterte of failing to implement ties the potential courses of action and season, though a sign at the entrance Abdur Rahman was a regional military chief wing chief” of Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangla- past agreements and fulfi l campaign promises to grant complementing the eff orts underway.” warns tourists not to enter during rainy of a group blamed for a 2016 attack on a Dhaka desh (JMB), Alam said. amnesty and release all political prisoners. Three British cave divers arrived at months. cafe that killed 22 hostages including 18 foreign- JMB, founded by Bangladeshi extremists who “The National Democratic Front (NDF) can no longer the site late Wednesday and tried to go Offi cials said the football team and ers, police said. took part in the Afghan civil war in the 1990s, negotiate with a government that is headed by Duterte,” into the cave but had to turn back be- their coach Ekkapol Janthawong have Held since July 24 over the murder of a secu- regrouped after the execution of its founder and he said in a statement. “So long as he heads the govern- cause of heavy fl ooding. been in the cave before and know the lar publisher, Rahman died yesterday morning top leadership in 2007, attacking the Holey Ar- ment, the Filipino people, especially the oppressed and They surveyed the site yesterday as site well. in an ambush by extremists as he accompanied tisan Bakery in July 2016. exploited, cannot expect any benefi t from negotiating offi cials said three other chimneys dis- Photos on Ekkapol’s Facebook page offi cers on a search operation in the central town The subsequent crackdown has raised con- with the Duterte regime. covered earlier this week were shallower showed him with some young football- of Sirajdikhan, they said. cerns among activists and rights groups. “It is relatively easier and more productive for the than hoped and did not lead to the cave’s ers in the cave in 2016. “He was shot dead during a gunfi ght with the “We have said from the very beginning there NDF to participate in the oust-Duterte movement and to interior. The harrowing search has captivated extremists,” district police chief Zaidul Alam are questions about these crossfi re or gun battle prepare for peace negotiations with the prospective ad- The young footballers, aged between Thailand, where local media is blanket- told AFP. deaths,” Nur Khan Liton, a prominent activist ministration that replaces the Duterte regime,” he said. 11 and 16, went into the cave with their ed with coverage of the rescue. Two policemen were also injured, police said. and formerly the head of rights group Ain o Sal- Duterte shrugged off Sison’s statement, telling report- 25-year-old coach and were trapped A government spokesman said Thai Over the past two years, security forces have ish Kendra, told AFP. ers: “If you’re not willing to talk to me, that’s fi ne. I have when heavy rains clogged the main en- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha shot dead more than 80 alleged militants. “There are reasons to believe that these sus- no problem. We continue with the war.” trance. would visit the site on today. Hundreds of suspected Islamists have also pected extremists were in fact victims of extra- “Anyway, you’ve been there for 50 years, what is 30 Around 1,000 Thai Navy SEAL divers, “He wants to off er moral support been arrested and scores sentenced to death. judicial killings,” he said. more years,” he added. police, soldiers, border guards and of- to parents of the missing boys and The murder on June 11 of Shahzahan Bach- “Had he been alive, police would have the Communist rebels have been fi ghting the Philippine fi cials have been mobilised for the the coach and all the offi cials working chu, 60, a publisher and a former Communist opportunities to get key information about his government since the late 1960s, making the movement around-the-clock rescue in a remote there,” Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said. Party offi cial, reawakened worries over a renew- network and the murder of the publisher.” one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

‘Unnecessary’ helicopter rescues soar in Nepal on profi ts from insurance payouts

By Annabel Symington, AFP The practice is so rampant in Nepal making it diffi cult to near Everest base camp in Octo- The company owner, Ram said they paid $500 to brokers for underwriter are considering no Lukla, Nepal helicopter pilots are reporting know precisely how many evacu- ber 2017 when she complained of Sapkota, denied that the insur- each rescue fl ight. longer off ering travel insurance “rescuing” tourists who appear ations are carried out. a common cold. ance companies were each billed “If we don’t pay the commis- for Nepal, an industry source in perfectly fi ne health. But over the past six years the “He kept telling me to get a for the full fl ight. sion, we can’t get the business,” said, requesting anonymity as ourists hiking in Nepal’s “It’s a racket that’s tantamount skies of the Everest region have helicopter,” Reeves told AFP. “(They) claimed insurance on the manager told AFP on condi- the fi rms did not want to alarm Himalayan mountains are to fraud, and it’s happening on a turned into a helicopter high- “They said if I keep going it a sharing basis and we received tion of anonymity. customers. Tbeing pressured into costly large scale throughout Nepal,” way, with a six-fold increase in would be really risky so it was money from (the) insurance,” he The cost of the 14-day trek to Nepal’s tourism ministry helicopter evacuations at the fi rst said Jonathan Bancroft of UK- the number of choppers in the better to leave now instead of said, dismissing allegations as Everest base camp varies wildly launched an investigation into sight of trouble by guides linked based Traveller Assist, which air, each logging over 1,000 fl y- risking it.” “fake”. between the outfi ts, but many of- alleged insurance fraud in early to powerful brokers who are carries out medical evacuations ing hours per year, according to Reeves said nine or 10 hikers in Sapkota blamed the rise in hel- fer the tour for less than $1,000, June after receiving complaints making a fortune on “unneces- in Nepal on behalf of global travel industry data. her group ended up returning to icopter rescues from the Himala- below cost price according to from multiple sources, joint sec- sary rescues”, industry insiders insurance companies. “We used to see maybe one Kathmandu on three helicopters yas on lazy hikers and hypochon- multiple industry sources. retary Ghanashyam Upadhyaya say. Trekking outfi ts stand to make helicopter in two or three days. but were instructed to say they driacs. Guides working for the low- told AFP. Dodgy operators are scamming more in kickbacks from evacuat- Now we are seeing 10 or so in a were alone on the fl ight back. “When one client gets sick, cost agencies are being told to “The investigation might take tens of thousands of dollars from ing a hiker by helicopter than the day,” said Thanishwar Bhandari, She alleged the company, then the group they say, ‘I feel make up the shortfall by getting (another) month. When we be- insurance companies by mak- cost of the trek itself, contribut- who works as a small clinic in the Himalayan Social Journey, billed unsafe and just want to go’,” he trekkers rescued by helicopter: gan our work we did not realise ing multiple claims for a single ing to an alarming rise in rescues Everest region. each of the tourists’ insurance said. one guide told AFP on condi- the magnitude of the problem,” chopper ride or pushing trekkers from Nepal’s biggest tourist at- Meanwhile, one foreign pilot, providers for the whole fl ight — Extensive interviews by AFP tion of anonymity that he was Upadhyaya said. to accept airlifts for minor ill- traction: the fabled Himalayas. who requested anonymity, said pocketing around $35,000 in the with players at every stage of the given a quota for the number of Upadhyaya would not confi rm nesses, an investigation by AFP Traveller Assist said 2017 he rescued trekkers on a near process. commission chain reveals that trekkers he should have “res- the details of the ongoing inves- has revealed. was the most expensive year on daily basis in April and May this “They told us all to lie to the guides, trekking operators, lodge cued”. tigation, but local media reported In other cases, trekking guides, record for travel insurance com- year, peak trekking season. insurance company and say there owners and charter companies “The industry thrives on these that 500 trekking and helicopter promised commission if they get panies covering tourists in Nepal “I think I took three people the was only one person on the heli- are acting as brokers, playing unnecessary rescues,” added companies are being probed, in- tourists to return by chopper, are due to a startling number of heli- whole season who appeared gen- copter when there were three or helicopter companies off against Suraj Paudyal, who coordinates cluding Sapkota’s Himalayan So- off ering helicopter rides to tired copter rescues — though this year uinely ill,” he told AFP. four of us on each,” she said. each other to secure a cut of the helicopter rescues for Mediciti cial Journey. hikers as a quick way home, but is on track to beat it. Australian trekker Jessica Reeves’ insurance claim was rescue fees. Hospital in Kathmandu. Sapkota said he had not been billing them as rescues to insur- There is no centralised dis- Reeves was urged by her guide to in any case rejected because her One manager of a Kathman- Multiple insurance companies contacted by the ministry and ance companies. patch centre for helicopter fl ights be evacuated by helicopter from policy had expired. du-based helicopter company linked to one major UK-based again denied any wrongdoing. Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 7 AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA Korean Air chief grilled in tax evasion investigation

AFP assets they inherited after their awarding contracts to compa- daughters, who held manage- cused of throwing a drink at an Her alleged abuses range from Seoul father Cho Choong-hoon died nies controlled by his family ment positions at Korean Air, advertising agency manager’s cursing and screaming at em- in 2002. members. became viral sensations for tem- face in a fi t of rage during a busi- ployees to kicking, slapping and “I am sorry. I will sincerely The super-wealthy owners of per tantrums which were dubbed ness meeting. even throwing a pair of scissors he patriarch of South Ko- face the investigation,” Cho told chaebols — the sprawling con- the “nut rage” and “water rage” Their father issued a public at them. Her lawyer reportedly rean fl ag carrier Korean journalists when he appeared glomerates that dominate the scandals online. apology over the “immature” claims she is suff ering from an- TAir was grilled by pros- at the Seoul Southern District world’s 11th-largest economy The elder, Cho Hyun-ah, behaviour of his off spring and ger control disorder. ecutors yesterday over alleged Prosecutors Offi ce. Cho is chair- — often attract controversy, made global headlines in 2014 removed his two daughters from Cho himself has already had South Korea’s flag carrier tax evasion and other crimes, man of the Hanjin Group, which but a series of scandals have for kicking a cabin crew chief their management roles. His brushes with the law, receiving Korean Air chairman Cho Yang- as a series of probes reached includes Korean Air and used to made the Cho family one of the off a Korean Air plane for be- wife Lee Myung-hee, has been a suspended jail sentence for ho speaks to the media as he the top of the troubled business own the now-bankrupt Hanjin most notorious in South Korea. ing served macadamia nuts in a questioned over multiple assault tax evasion in 2000 and await- arrives at the Seoul Southern dynasty. Cho Yang-ho, 69, and Shipping line. Cho’s wife and children are be- bag rather than a bowl. She later allegations and suspicions that ing trial for diverting 30bn won District Prosecutors’ Off ice for his brothers and a sister alleg- He also faces allegations of ing probed over alleged assaults, served a short prison sentence. she used company resources to of company funds for renovat- questioning over suspected tax edly avoided paying 50bn won embezzling over 20bn won from smuggling and illegal hiring of Earlier this year, her younger illegally hire foreign housekeep- ing his own house in 2013 and evasion, in Seoul. ($45mn) in taxes on the overseas company funds and unfairly foreign housekeepers. The two sister Cho Hyun-min was ac- ers. 2014. Mattis seeks to reassure S Korea,

South Korea’s chief delegate Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol (right) shaking hands with his North Korean counterpart Pak Ho Yong, Vice Minister of Land and Environment Protection, during their meeting on connecting roadways at the north side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Japan on North Demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas.

AFP ess of denuclearisation has al- Seoul ready begun and the North no longer presents a nuclear threat. The status of the North Korea S Defense Secretary talks, which are led by Secretary Koreas hold talks on James Mattis told South of State Mike Pompeo from the UKorea yesterday that US side, remains unclear. What their alliance remained “iron- he and Trump might be will- clad”, as he sought to reassure ing to cede in terms of the US key East Asian allies following military presence on the Korean connecting roadways Donald Trump’s unilateral sus- peninsula to obtain concessions pension of military exercises from Kim is a closely held se- AFP coasts for the fi rst-phase mod- resulted in the division of the with Seoul. Concern has mount- cret. Seoul ernising works, according to a peninsula. ed in the region over the stance But Pompeo in a recent CNN joint statement released by the Linking the transport infra- of the US president, who has interview seemed to tamp down South’s government. structure of the two countries lauded North Korean leader Kim on expectations of a deal soon orth and South Korea One will connect the South’s would give trade-dependent Jong-un as a “talented guy” as — though he and other senior held talks yesterday on eastern border county of Go- South Korea — the world’s 11th- he seeks to persuade Pyongyang offi cials recently hinted that an Nestablishing roadways seong with the North’s major largest economy — a land route to give up its nuclear weapons. outline of tasks for North Korea to run across their border — eastern port of Wonsan and to the markets of China, Russia But Mattis told his counter- and a timeline was almost close part of the initiatives agreed the other will run between the and on to Europe. part in Seoul: “The US commit- to completion. In both Japan and between their leaders to forge North’s western city of Kaesong But doing so would be a huge ment to the Republic of Korea South Korea — which are with- closer ties. South Korea’s Moon and the capital Pyongyang, said upheaval to the status quo on remains ironclad,” adding that in reach of the North’s proven Jae-in and the North’s Kim the statement. the peninsula: there has been included “maintaining the cur- US Secretary of Defense James Mattis (left) shakes hands with South short- and medium-range bal- Jong-un agreed to a broader The joint “fi eld research” on no direct civilian communica- rent US force levels on the Kore- Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo before their meeting in listic missiles — concern has plan to re-connect or newly es- the routes will begin in early tion between the countries since an peninsula”. Mattis was fl ying Seoul, South Korea. been expressed that Washington tablish railways and roadways August, it added. The agree- their division was sealed by the to Tokyo later yesterday night could agree a deal that removed between the two countries in a ment came two days after the 1953 armistice that ended the for a day of meetings with senior tion to call them “provocative”, Beijing, where he questioned the the threat against the US main- landmark summit held in April. two Koreas held similar talks on Korean War — not even by post. Japanese offi cials. adding that at some point, “I militarisation of the South Chi- land, such as the North giving up Linking the transport systems connecting the railways run- Despite the diplomatic thaw, Both South Korea and Japan want to bring our soldiers back na Sea and President Xi Jinping its ICBMS, while leaving them of the two Koreas will require the ning across the border. with summits between the have security alliances with the home.” stiffl y defended his country’s squarely in Pyongyang’s fi ring modernising of the impover- The two sides then agreed North’s leader Kim Jong-un US guaranteed by treaty, but In Seoul, Mattis said the sus- claim to the disputed region. line. ished North’s ageing and crum- to conduct a joint-study “at an and both the South’s Presi- have been thrown off -balance by pension of August’s large-scale “The US maintains an endur- But Mattis has the respect bling roadway infrastructure. early date” on modernising the dent Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump’s quick moves on nego- Ulchi Freedom Guardian im- ing commitment to a peaceful, of his counterparts in both Offi cials who met at the border railways — originally built by Trump of the US, Pyongyang tiations with Kim. Most striking proved opportunities for diplo- secure and prosperous, free and countries, who trust him to yesterday to hammer out details Japan in the early 20th century remains the target of heavy of all, at a press conference after matic negotiations, thereby “in- open Indo-Pacifi c,” the Penta- understand their interests and chose two routes along the pe- but left to crumble for decades sanctions over its nuclear and the two men’s summit in Singa- creasing prospects for a peaceful gon chief said yesterday. honour US commitments. “It ninsula’s western and eastern after the 1950-53 Korean War missile programmes. pore earlier this month, Trump solution on the peninsula”. The In Singapore, Kim signed would be relatively easy for announced he would suspend US has publicly maintained a document committing the Mattis to reassure Japan about joint military exercises with the its commitment to protect Ja- North to “work toward com- worst-case scenarios,” said S Korea court offers objectors route away from army South — with Seoul indicating pan and South Korea — both of plete denuclearisation of the Schoff. “In part that’s what that it was not informed before- which host tens of thousands of Korean Peninsula” — a vague Mattis and his counterparts in South Korea’s Constitutional must still complete around two conscription law under which hand. US troops — from Kim’s nucle- term open to interpretation on Korea and Japan want to sort Court yesterday upheld the years of military service. draft dodgers can be punished US and South Korean forces ar-armed military. both sides, and critics said the out — what are our operational jailing of those who evade the Anyone refusing the call-up with up to three years in prison. have trained together for dec- But according to James Schoff , declaration lacked substance bottom lines, and can we agree country’s military conscription usually ends up in prison for 18 “It is legitimate to enforce ades, and always characterised a former Pentagon Asia special- and specifi cs. Pyongyang has on certain things.” law, but ordered authorities months, and with no alternative military duty through criminal the drills as defensive in nature, ist now at the Carnegie Asia pro- made no public commitment to However, Schoff noted, to provide conscientious community service option punishment,” the court said in while Pyongyang condemned gramme, “They are increasingly give up its weapons, and satel- Trump’s way of working is a objectors with an alternative some 19,000 conscientious its decision. them as rehearsals for inva- concerned and worried about lite pictures have shown im- constant wild card. “Mattis form of national service. objectors have been jailed since But it ruled that another phrase sion and often responded with the reliability of our reassur- provement works carrying on at clearly realises there are some Almost 65 years after the end 1950, most of them Jehovah’s in the conscription law that does provocations of its own. Trump ances. “There is hypersensitivity its Yongbyon nuclear research elements that he may not be able of the Korean War, nearly every Witnesses. In a split decision, not recognise any alternative to lamented the exercises’ cost and now to any decision we make.” facility. to control” in the relationship, able-bodied South Korean man the court’s nine judges upheld military service is in breach of adopted the North’s descrip- Mattis arrived in Seoul from But Trump has said the proc- he added. between the ages of 18 and 35 a provision in the current the constitution.

‘Australia interference bill not aimed at China’ Shanghai knife attack

Reuters sought to minimise the impact Australia’s attorney general, to rebuild the relationship,” Sydney of the bill that was approved Christian Porter, said the new said Merriden Varrall, direc- by the Senate yesterday. “The legislation fi lled an urgent need. tor of the East Asia Program at foreign interference bill, which “Australia must have a robust, the Lowy Institute think-tank. ustralia’s trade minis- in time we hope will become modern legislative framework The widening diplomatic rift ter said yesterday new legislation, is not about China. to ensure our law enforcement between Australia and China Alegislation designed to It’s about Australia’s national and national security agencies has aff ected Australian wine prevent interference by foreign sovereignty,” Ciobo said at an are suffi ciently empowered to exports, including products governments is not aimed at event in Parliament in Can- investigate and disrupt mali- from Treasury Wine Estates China, comments seen as an berra. “I think those who have cious foreign interference,” and Pernod Ricard, which have attempt by Canberra to diff use attempted to portray it as being Porter said in an e-mailed faced delays getting through bilateral tension. Australia’s re- about the bilateral relationship statement. Chinese customs. lationship with its largest trad- with China have done Australia China denies meddling in Despite Australian eff orts ing partner, China, has soured a great injustice,” Ciobo said, Australian aff airs, and has ac- to ease the curbs, wine is only since Prime Minister Malcolm hours before the Senate ap- cused Canberra of harbouring a trickling into the industry’s Turnbull late last year cited Be- proved the legislation. “Cold War mentality”. most lucrative market, expect- ijing’s meddling as justifi cation Under the law, lobbyists for Ciobo’s comments could ed to be worth more than A$1bn for the tough new laws. foreign countries will be re- help to stem further damage to ($735mn) this year. Australian As the row impacts two- quired to register and they will the relationship between the cattle graziers and citrus grow- way trade, which hit a record be liable for criminal prosecu- two countries, an analyst said. ers also fear they are being side- $170bn ($125bn) last year, Min- tion if they are deemed to be “It is a step in the right direc- lined by China as a result of the ister for Trade Steven Ciobo interfering in domestic aff airs. tion for creating some space row.

Australia charges former intelligence officer in East Timor spy case

A former intelligence off icer and maritime boundary that was charged the former spy, known using counterterrorism powers his lawyer are facing criminal supposed to divide lucrative gas only as “Witness K,” as well as introduced after 9/11. The prosecution in relation to a reserves. his lawyer, Bernard Collaery, passport of the ex-spy was also scandal over an Australian East Timor axed the deal after with conspiring to disclose cancelled at the time, preventing government-led spying the spying revelations and secret information. him from travelling to The operation in East Timor, a took the case to a UN court Wilkie said authorities had Hague to give evidence to the lawmaker revealed yesterday. in The Hague a decade later. raided the home of Witness K, an UN court. The criminal charge Australia allegedly planted Andrew Wilkie, an independent ex-spy with the Australian Secret was an “insane development,” Police officers work at the scene where two boys were killed outside an elementary school in listening devices in East Timor’s lawmaker, used parliamentary Intelligence Service (ASIS), Wilkie, a former defence Shanghai yesterday. A man stabbed two boys to death outside a Shanghai elementary school cabinet off ice in 2004 during the privilege to reveal that and Collaery’s off ice in 2013, intelligence analyst, told the yesterday, police said, the latest in a series of similar attacks in China in recent years. negotiations for the countries’ Australian prosecutors had as well as seizing documents parliament. Gulf Times 8 Friday, June 29, 2018 BRITAIN/IRELAND

EVENT ROYALTY VERDICT OFFBEAT ESTIMATE ‘Under the weather’ Police killed British 6,000 people flock Trump trip ‘could cost Queen skips engagement aristocrat: Kenya judge to beach for film role Police Scotland £5mn’

Queen Elizabeth II cancelled an engagement A Kenyan court yesterday found that police were Around 6,000 people gathered at a beach for A possible one-day visit by US President Donald in London yesterday because she is “feeling liable for the murder of Alexander Monson, a the chance to be extras in a film directed by Trump to Scotland in July could cost Police under the weather”, Buckingham Palace said British aristocrat who died in 2012 in the coastal Oscar winner Danny Boyle, after answering a Scotland £5mn. Trump is scheduled to have talks in a rare change to her schedule. The 92-year- resort of Diani. Mombasa magistrate Richard Twitter call to take part in the production as with Prime Minister Theresa May at Downing Street old monarch had been due to attend a service Odenyo said four off icers should be charged concert revellers. The crowd filmed the scene on July 13. It has been suggested the president at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 200th with murdering Monson, who died while in at Gorleston beach in southern England for the may then visit at least one of his golf courses anniversary of the Order of St Michael and St police custody after being arrested for allegedly yet untitled movie, which was written by Love in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire. Interim chief US actress and special envoy for the United George, a British order of chivalry. “The Queen smoking cannabis outside a bar. Monson’s family Actually director Richard Curtis. Boyle, who constable Iain Livingstone has told the Scottish Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is feeling under the weather and has decided maintained he was beaten to death in a jail cell won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire and will Police Authority that the visit would require at least (UNHCR) Angelina Jolie arrives ahead of the not to attend the morning’s service,” the while police claimed he died of a drug overdose. direct the next James Bond film, applauded the 5,000 off icers. He said that contingency planning Service of Commemoration and Dedication, palace statement said. Over Christmas 2016, “His death was not natural, neither was it due to crowd for their work during the shoot. “That was was under way, with rest days cancelled and shifts marking the 200th anniversary of the Most the Queen missed two church services at her drugs. His life was cut short by the police and incredible, wonderful wonderful energy,” he said. changed for many off icers. Protests against the Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George Sandringham estate in Norfolk when she fell ill therefore, the director of public prosecution should Last month, producers took to Twitter to find US president have already been organised for at St Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday. with a cold. prosecute the off icers mentioned,” Odenyo said. “unpaid concert spectators” for the project. Glasgow and Edinburgh to coincide with the visit.

Large part Soldiers help to tackle wildfire of Glasgow UK ‘complicit School of Art to be in torture and dismantled

Guardian News and Media rendition of London

signifi cant part of the Glasgow School of Art Abuilding will need to be urgently dismantled because it is terror suspects’ dangerously unstable, increas- ing doubts about its survival. Guardian News and Media treatment and rendition of de- of mistreatment by the US – in- Safety experts said a large part London tainees between 2001 and 2010, cluding 38 cases in 2002 alone – of the south facade of the fi re- while the other considers cur- but did not take them seriously. ravaged Charles Rennie Mack- rent issues. “That the US, and others, intosh building would need to be ritish intelligence agen- The report dealing with the were mistreating detainees is taken down as a matter of urgen- cies were involved in the treatment of detainees details beyond doubt, as is the fact that cy after surveys found its walls Btorture and kidnap of ter- a litany of cases of concern, the agencies and defence intel- had moved signifi cantly. rorism suspects after 9/11, ac- saying: “We have found 13 inci- ligence were aware of this at an The surveys from mobile cording to two reports by the dents where UK personnel wit- early point,” the report says. cranes, a drone and lasers, carried parliamentary intelligence and nessed at first hand a detainee “The same is true of rendition: out in recent days, also revealed security committee. being mistreated by others, there was no attempt to identify the building’s western gable had The reports published yester- 25 where UK personnel were the risks involved and formulate continued to deteriorate, and its day amount to one of the most told by detainees that they had the UK’s response. There was east gable had continued to move damning indictments of UK been mistreated by others and no understanding in HMG of outwards. The dismantling was intelligence, revealing links to 128 incidents recorded where rendition and no clear policy – expected to start within days, torture and rendition were much agency officers were told by or even recognition of the need offi cials said, but would be car- more widespread than previous- foreign liaison services about for one.” ried out in a controlled manner ly reported. instances of mistreatment. In The chair of the committee, to prevent the structure’s cata- While there was no evidence some cases, these were cor- Dominic Grieve, said because it strophic collapse, and ensure the of offi cers directly carrying out rectly investigated but this was had been denied access to key stability of surviving walls. physical mistreatment of de- not consistent.” intelligence individuals by the Immediately after the fi re, which tainees, the reports say the over- It said in 232 cases UK person- prime minister, the committee devastated the category A listed seas agency MI6 and the domes- nel continued to supply ques- had reluctantly decided to bring and 110-year-old building, the tic service MI5 were involved in tions or intelligence to other the inquiry to a premature end. council, school of art and Historic hundreds of torture cases and services despite knowledge or He said the reports were being Environment Scotland had hoped scores of rendition cases. suspicion of mistreatment, as published now because he felt its remaining structure would be The committee says the agen- well as “198 cases where UK the information gathered so far saved to allow reconstruction. cies were aware “at an early personnel received intelligence should be put into the public do- Some experts suggested that could point” of the mistreatment of from liaison services which had main. cost in the region of £100mn. detainees by the US and others. been obtained from detainees Had the inquiry continued, But the latest evidence has There were two cases in which who knew they had been mis- the committee would have called dashed those hopes, said Glas- UK personnel were “party to treated – or with no indication the then home secretary David gow city council and Glasgow mistreatment administered by as to how the detainee had been Blunkett and Straw to explain School of Art offi cials. “The others”. One has been investi- treated but where we consider what they understood to be the building has moved much, much gated by the Metropolitan police they should have suspected mis- situation at the time and why a more than we expected,” a coun- but the other is still to be fully treatment”. briefi ng was not requested. cil spokesman said. investigated. The committee found three In a statement, Straw, who “The south facade is a particu- Jack Straw, the foreign sec- individual cases where MI6 or said he would have given evi- lar risk and we’re now saying it is retary from 2001-06, will face MI5 made or off ered to make a -fi dence to the committee if asked, likely rather than possibly going questions over how much he nancial contribution to others to said that although he was re- to collapse. It will be taken down knew and, given that accusa- conduct a rendition operation. sponsible as foreign secretary for urgently to probably at least the tions of torture and rendition In 28 cases, the agencies either MI6 and the surveillance agency fi rst fl oor level, but safely. And were widespread at the time in suggested, planned or agreed to GCHQ, he had only learned for by safely we mean it will take a the press, why he did not ask for rendition operations proposed the fi rst time from the reports couple of days to come up with a a briefi ng. by others. In a further 22 cases, about much of their activities. methodology to do that.” A key passage in the report MI6 or MI5 provided intelligence “The report also shows that Many experts had already says MI6 “sought and obtained to enable a rendition operation where I was involved in decisions raised fears that the devastat- A helicopter dumps water onto smouldering fires on Saddleworth moor near Stalybridge, authorisation from the foreign to take place. In 23 cases they I consistently sought to ensure ing fi re earlier this month, which northwest England, yesterday. A 100 soldiers and a military helicopter yesterday joined secretary” for the costs of fund- failed to take action to prevent that the United Kingdom did gutted the art nouveau master- firefighters battling a rare wildfire in northern England that could burn for weeks amid ing a plane involved in an indi- rendition. act in accordance with its long piece, would make it impossible sustained hot weather, off icials said. vidual rendition case. The report says those at head- stated policies, and international to rescue and rebuild it. One report deals with the mis- quarters were aware of reports norms,” Straw said. Royals to move out of Brexit protest Nurse found guilty in palace wing for repairs landmark slavery case Guardian News and Media Imaghodor, 60, was acquitted of London doing acts intending to pervert Reuters handout that covers staffi ng the Queen’s children Prin- the course of justice. London costs, upkeep of royal palaces cess Anne, Prince Andrew and The National Crime Agency and travel expenses. Prince Edward moving their British nurse has become (NCA) said Iyamu forced victims The grant is based on 15% offi ces, while Andrew and Ed- the fi rst person to be con- to take oaths that bound their ritain’s royal family are to of surplus revenue from the ward, who also have overnight Avicted under new modern loyalty to her. move out of the famous Crown Estate, a property port- rooms in the wing, will have to slavery laws, after being found Iyamu, who was made a Brit- Bfront wing of London’s folio belonging to the monar- be found accommodation else- guilty of traffi cking fi ve Nige- ish citizen in 2009 and worked Buckingham Palace later this chy, from two years previously. where in the palace. rian women to Germany to work as an NHS agency nurse, de- year as part of a multi-million In 2016, this percentage was It will not directly aff ect as prostitutes. Josephine Iyamu clared a modest income of pound building repair project, raised to 25% for a decade to the 92-year-old monarch and was prosecuted under the Mod- around £14,500 in 2016-17. But palace aides said yesterday. pay for the overhaul of Buck- her husband Prince Philip, 97, ern Slavery Act involving vic- inquiries after Iyamu’s arrest in The royal household will ingham Palace. whose private apartments are tims who have no connection to 2017 found she was able to spend “decant” from the east wing That meant the royals re- located in the north wing, nor the UK but have been victimised thousands on international air of the palace, the public facade ceived £76.1mn for 2017-18 and heir-to-the-throne Prince by a British national. travel and to aff ord a large home which houses the balcony on next year will get £82.2mn. Charles whose London home is Jurors were told the 51-year- in Benin City in Nigeria. which Queen Elizabeth and her Michael Stevens, the Queen’s Clarence House. old Liberia-born British citi- Opening the case at the start family appear for signifi cant treasurer, known as Keeper of However, 10,000 items in- zen forced the women to swear of the trial, the prosecutor Simon events, as part a programme of the Privy Purse, said the cost of cluding paintings and other oaths to hand over money to her. Davis told jurors: “Josephine Iya- urgent work to replace ageing the monarchy to every Briton works of art will have to be Iyamu, formerly of Bermondsey mu had a network of people who electrical wiring and heating last year equated to 69 pence, moved, put in storage or sent in London, then arranged for the assisted her with traffi cking the systems. up four pence from last year. out on loan while 120 members women to be traffi cked across the women from Nigeria overland to “In terms of the outward Buckingham Palace was of staff are being relocated. Mediterranean, with one being Libya – across the Mediterranean appearance of the front of the originally a large townhouse Anti-monarchy republicans told to pay a “bill” of £32,700. Sea to Italy and from Italy up and palace I think that people will built in 1703 and acquired by in Britain say the true cost of She was convicted at Birming- into Germany. notice very little change,” said George III in 1761. the royals to taxpayers is at ham crown court of fi ve counts “She was there on the mobile a palace spokesman, add- It was extended in the reign least £345mn a year because of arranging or facilitating travel phone along the way but her real ing there would be no need for of Queen Victoria while the some items such as security are for sexual exploitation. role was at the end of their jour- scaff olding. front was refaced in 1914 when ignored. Jurors also convicted Iyamu of ney, when it came to getting mon- News of the renovations was George V was king. Meanwhile newspapers An actor wearing a Boris Johnson mask is joined by Sinn Fein’s perverting the course of justice ey from the women and making revealed by royal aides as they The 10-year overhaul will have often been critical of the Gerry Adams during a ‘Borders Against Brexit’ protest in the by arranging for relatives of the a profi t out of their exploitation. gave details of the “Sovereign cost £369mn.The empty- amount spent on minor royals border town of Dundalk, Ireland, yesterday. complainants in Nigeria to be The debts incurred by the women Grant”, the annual government ing of the east wing will mean and travel expenses. arrested. Her husband, Efe Ali- were enforced through fear.” Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 9 EUROPE

French lawmakers urge fix for typo in constitution Migration challenge is make-or-break for EU, says Merkel French lawmakers are pushing for an off icial correction to a Reuters Onward migration by refugees munist states of central Europe. Merkel defended the defi ning decades-old grammatical error Berlin already in the EU must be better In Germany, the transforma- move of her premiership against which slipped into the country’s managed under such deals, she tion in the political environment critics who accuse her of con- constitution 60 years ago. said. was plainly heard in yesterday’s vulsing European politics with The constitution was revised he European Union’s fate “A person seeking protec- parliament session, where the a unilateral decision to throw in 1958 when France switched rests on its ability to rise tion in Europe can’t choose the arrival of lawmakers from the open Germany’s borders three from being a parliamentary to a Tto the challenges of mi- country in which he makes the far-right Afd (Alternative for years ago. presidential regime. gration, a passionate Chancellor asylum claim,” he said. Germany) has brought heckling “It was in no way unilateral,” Now a cross-party commission is Angela Merkel told Germany’s She added: “We cannot leave to the chamber for the fi rst time she said, adding that she was in the process of updating it. parliament yesterday ahead of a alone” countries, like Italy, that in the 13-year Merkel era. responding to pleas from help MPs from the right-leaning UDI- Brussels summit dominated by bear the brunt of the arrivals. “Madame Chancellor, you are from Hungary and Austria. Agir group are irked by Article an issue that threatens her rul- Europe’s migration crisis has asking Europe to help you in a She said that reducing inward 16 of the current version, which ing coalition. tapered off , with the main route way that suits you. But the Eu- migration to the EU would re- covers emergency powers and Speaking with uncharacteris- from Turkey to Greece used by ropeans won’t be bullied,” said quire deals with African coun- accidentally uses the masculine tic emotion and at times shout- more than 1mn asylum-seekers Alexander Gauland, co-leader of tries mirroring a refugee-har- version of the word “threatened” ing down a rowdy Bundestag, in 2015 now largely shut. the AfD. bouring agreement signed with after a string of feminine nouns. the embattled German leader On the other main route, from German President Frank- Turkey in 2016 that shut the “When the institutions of the tried to win over critics from North Africa to Italy, numbers Walter Steinmeier urged the route to Greece. republic, the independence of within her own conservative have fallen this year to tens of coalition parties to dial back That would require specifi c the nation, the integrity of its ranks. thousands from hundreds of the harsh rhetoric used in re- off ers, such as study or work op- territory or the execution of its Falling refugee numbers had Merkel: Europe faces many challenges, but that of migration could thousands. cent days, citing grave concerns portunities for citizens, Merkel international commitments are ended the state of emergency become the make-or-break one for the EU. However, the political fallout voiced by European politicians said. threatened...” it reads – using that had caused her to throw is more acute than ever. that the dispute could under- “Either we manage it, so oth- the French word “menaces” for open Germany’s doors to more lies in Bavaria’s Christian Social become the make-or-break one Right-wing anti-immigrant mine Germany as a stabilising ers in Africa believe that we are threatened instead of the correct than 1mn migrants in 2015, she Union (CSU), who demand that for the EU,” Merkel told parlia- political parties won seats in force. guided by values and believe in form “menacees”. said. asylum-seekers registered else- ment. Germany’s parliament for the “The wounds infl icted by multilateralism, not unilateral- An off icial note on the Legifrance Merkel needs other Euro- where in the EU be barred from She said that she would seek fi rst time since the 1940s in public words will not heal easi- ism, or nobody will believe any website, where French laws are pean countries to come to her entering Germany. deals with “a coalition of the September, took power this ly,” he told the Frankfurter Allge- longer in the system of values published, gently points out the aid in facing down a rebellion “Europe faces many challeng- willing” if no deal with the bloc’s month in Italy and are now fully meine Zeitung newspaper in an that has made us strong,” she typo, but the UDI-Agir group want by conservative coalition al- es, but that of migration could 28 members was possible. entrenched in the former Com- interview published today. said. it fixed once and for all. The commission declined to adopt the suggested amendment yesterday, but “it’s a good suggestion”, said commission member Marc Fesneau, adding that lawmakers would look at the issue again during a sitting on July 10. EU leaders seek answers ‘Wolf Pack’ sexual abuser caught seeking passport One of five men convicted of sexually assaulting a young to problem of migration woman at a Spanish festival was caught seeking a new DPA/Reuters arrival of asylum-seekers al- run in co-operation with the passport days after handing his Brussels ready registered in other EU International Offi ce for Migra- documents over as a condition countries – and called on “a tion (IOM) and the UN refugee for his provisional release from coalition of willing countries” to agency, UNHCR. jail, police said yesterday. U leaders gathered in come up with joint solutions. European Commission Presi- The five, who joked about the Brussels yesterday, un- But not all were happy for dent Jean-Claude Juncker cau- 2016 attack in a WhatsApp Eder pressure to deliver EU migration policy to be taken tioned against jumping to con- group called “The Wolf Pack”, progress in a long-running de- hostage by internal German clusions without speaking to the were cleared of rape at the bull- bate on migration, after Ger- politics. countries aff ected. running festival in the northern man Chancellor Angela Merkel “It cannot be that some Ba- “We here in Brussels cannot city of Pamplona. warned that the issue could de- varian party decides how Eu- make decisions for North Afri- Instead they were convicted termine the future of the bloc. rope works,” Luxembourg Prime can countries,” he said, warning of the lesser crime of sexual The two-day summit may Minister Xavier Bettel said, re- against creating the impression abuse, stoking national debate prove to be pivotal for the Eu- ferring to Seehofer’s Christian of “neocolonialism”. and protests over the country’s ropean Union, as continued Social Union (CSU), the regional Meanwhile, EU foreign policy treatment of sex crimes. discord about migration threat- sister party of Merkel’s Christian chief Federica Mogherini said They were freed on bail last ens to further entrench already Democrats Union (CDU). there was no need to get into a week after almost two years in deep fault lines and endanger Merkel could also face resist- panic over migration. jail, prompting more protests in EU unity at a time of increased ance from countries that do “Many are talking about a cri- several cities. tension from Russia and fraying not want to share the burden of sis. We’re talking about numbers “A member of #TheWolfPack relations with the United States. hosting migrants. that at the moment are more or caught trying to get a passport “Europe has many challenges, Speaking at the start of the less 80% less than ... last year. ... while a ban on leaving Spanish but the migration issue could summit, Hungarian Prime Min- So we’re talking about numbers soil has been imposed by a become a question of the fate ister Viktor Orban said that Eu- that are perfectly manageable,” court,” national police wrote on of the EU,” Merkel told German ropean citizens want two things: Mogherini said. Twitter. lawmakers before departing for to stop the fl ow of migrants and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Explaining their decision for the Brussels (see accompanying return those who are already in Sanchez told reporters that Eu- conditional release, judges in the report, above). the bloc. ropean solidarity on migration northern region of Navarra said The issue could also prove “In order to restore European was vital, “especially with Ger- the risk of the five men trying decisive for Merkel, who has democracy, we have to move to many which is now suff ering a to flee could be contained by been handed an end-of-June that direction,” he said. “I hope political crisis”. less harsh measures, including ultimatum by her interior min- that will happen today.” Luxembourg’s Prime Minis- reporting to police three times ister, Horst Seehofer, to reduce A Hungarian government ter Xavier Bettel added: “There a week and relinquishing their the number of asylum-seekers spokesperson later said that are so many people who arrived passports. entering Germany or risk a gov- Hungary was “open” to bilateral in diff erent countries and then ernment split that could end her negotiations with Germany over EU leaders take part yesterday in the European Union summit in Brussels. made their way to Germany. I four-term reign. migration, noting that the coun- understand when Germany says She pledged before the Bun- try had approached Hungary for migration is clear, but we are al- right if everyone negotiates with ternal borders, including a con- ‘Why do we have to deal with Former bishop destag to improve Germany’s talks at the margins of the sum- ways open to dialogue, that’s the everyone.” troversial new idea to establish everything?’” to stand trial handling of mit. nature of Europe,” the spokes- A new government in Italy “disembarkation platforms” Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and “secondary migration” – the “The position of Hungary on person said. “In our opinion, it is is also adding to the political outside the bloc to deter people Finland’s Juha Sipila and dip- A retired French bishop is due pressure: it stirred renewed de- from trying to reach Europe. lomats from several other EU to stand trial for failing to report Macron backs local restrictions on French nationality by birth bate about burden-sharing after “The alternative to this solu- states also promised to work suspected child abuse by a blocking port entry to two res- tion would be a chaotically ad- with Germany on the migration priest in his diocese, the Orleans French President Emmanuel Macron has backed a Some 41% of the local population are foreign citizens, cue boats carrying migrants in vancing closure of borders – also issue. prosecutor’s off ice confirmed proposal to end the automatic right to French nation- 94% of them from the Comoros, and only half of them the past two weeks, while also within the EU – as well as grow- According to draft conclu- yesterday. ality for children born in the Indian Ocean islands of have legal residency. calling for a radical change to EU ing confl ict among EU member sions circulated before the two- Andre Fort, Catholic bishop of Mayotte. The amendment proposed by Senator Thani Mo- migration policy. states,” he said. day summit, the leaders will Orleans from 2002 to 2010, is The French territory has seen an influx of migrants hamed Soilihi “seems to me to be appropriate and Over the years, Italy has heard Tusk said that his proposals agree on measures to strengthen the first bishop in France to face from the nearby Comoros in recent years, many of balanced”, Macron told a conference on France’s “many manifestations of soli- might seem “too tough”, but re- Europe’s external borders, spend trial on such charges in 17 years, them braving perilous sea journeys in small boats overseas territories yesterday. darity”, Prime Minister Giuseppe peated his warning that the EU more on fi ghting illegal immi- according to Catholic newspaper known as kwassa-kwassa. “It is a question of preserving citizenship by birth, one Conte said. risks losing out to radical forces. gration and step up co-oper- La Croix. The opposition-dominated Senate earlier this week of our fundamental principles, while adapting how it is “Italy no longer needs verbal “If we don’t agree on them, ation to prevent refugees and Pierre Pican, the bishop of amended a government migration bill to provide that exercised to the reality of this territory,” Macron said. signs of declaration, but needs then you will see some really migrants from moving around Bayeux, received a three-month children born in Mayotte would become citizens only France last month suspended the issue of visas to concrete facts,” he added, warn- tough proposals from some re- within the bloc. suspended sentence in 2001 for if one of their parents had already been on French soil Comorians in response to the country’s refusal to take ing that he was ready to scupper ally tough guys,” he said. They will give more money for not revealing to the police that legally for more than three months. back deportees from Mayotte. joint summit conclusions if nec- There are few details on the Syrian refugees in Turkey and one of his priests was abusing Some 42% of births in Mayotte in 2016 were to two Comoros claims sovereignty over Mayotte, which was essary. concept of disembarkation plat- migration projects in Africa, as minors. foreign parents, according to France’s Council of State, administered as part of the Comoros when the latter European Council President forms, which would most likely well as look at sealing a deal with The abuser in that case was which assesses draft laws. was a French colony. Donald Tusk said that the EU be set up in Northern Africa. Morocco to reverse a recent up- sentenced to 18 years in prison. should focus on securing its ex- EU offi cials insist these would tick in arrivals in Spain. Pope Francis appoints 14 ‘princes’ of the church

AFP involved in “palace intrigues” threats from extremist religious also appointed, including Italy’s tarianism and where there are Vatican City within the Vatican, but focus in- groups. Giuseppe Petrocchi, archbishop still martyrs”. stead on “those who are hungry, Desire Tsarahazana from Toa- of L’Aquila, a city destroyed nine One-third of the Christian the forgotten, the prisoner, the masina in Madagascar is the only years ago by a violent earthquake. families in the north of the coun- ope Francis appointed 14 sick, the addict, the abandoned African among the new cardinals. As well as having the key role try were able to return to their new cardinals yesterday, a person”. “The people are suff ering and of choosing a new pope, cardinals land after the collapse of the Is- Pdiverse selection from all Among the new “princes” of need support,” he said of his ap- often also hold the highest ad- lamic State group, often with over the world including Iraq, the church is Iraq’s Louis Raphael pointment. ministrative offi ces in the church. funds raised by the church. Pakistan, Madagascar, and Japan, Sako, who has often met Pope The Pope also appointed Tho- Each new appointee knelt in Sako believes 400,000- whom he warned to avoid the Francis to discuss the situation mas Aquinas Manyo from Osaka front of Pope Francis who placed 500,000 Christians now living kind of “palace intrigues” which in the war-torn country and the in Japan. the cardinal’s hat on their heads in Iraq, compared to 1.5mn before have plagued the Vatican over the plight of the dwindling Christian Among the three Latin Ameri- during the ceremony at St Peter’s the fall of Saddam Hussain’s re- years. community. can prelates is Archbishop Pedro Basilica in the Vatican. gime in 2003. Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI meet the 14 new The appointments come as From Pakistan comes Joseph Barreto of Huancayo, Peru. Speaking at the beginning of “It’s is our land, we were here cardinals after a consistory ceremony at the Vatican. the Argentine Pontiff gradually Coutts of Karachi, who promotes Barreto fi ghts for the rights the ceremony, Iraq’s Sako hailed before the arrival of Muslims,” shapes a less European college of dialogue between Christians and of the communities living in the “the special attention from the Sako told journalists on Wednes- the church from Latin America, name a new pope, 11 of the new 14 cardinals. Muslims. Amazon forest and has received Pope ... for the small fl ock of day. is 81 and was named in 2013 after cardinals being under 80 years of Before the ceremony mark- Coutts fi ghts the abusive use death threats for denouncing Christians in the Middle East, He advocates “dialogue” and his predecessor pope Benedict age would be eligible to take part. ing their appointment, Francis of the crime of blasphemy in working conditions in illegal in Pakistan and other countries challenges “a vision of a uniquely XVI stood down citing advanc- The new appointments mean warned the new batch of car- a country where churches are mines. that are going through a diffi cult Islamic nation”. ing age. there are now 226 members of dinals that they must not get under police protection due to Seven European cardinals were period because of wars and sec- Pope Francis, the fi rst head of In the event of a conclave to the college of cardinals. Gulf Times 10 Friday, June 29, 2018 INDIA

INVESTIGATION OPINION DEFENCE CRIME TRAGEDY LeT behind conspiracy to Greed for power has united Army attacks rebels’ Hotel general manager Dalit shot dead over kill Bukhari, claim police opposition, says Modi camp in Myanmar held as tourist molested dance at wedding

The Jammu and Kashmir police yesterday claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday Army commandos have attacked a NSCN-K A general manager of a five-star hotel in Jaipur A Dalit youth was shot dead in a Bihar village the conspiracy to kill noted Kashmiri journalist launched a blistering attack on the opposition camp in Myanmar, inflicting some casualties, was arrested on charges of molesting a Mexican during a clash over dancing at a wedding, following Shujaat Bukhari was hatched in Pakistan and that parties and accused them of being blinded in an army source said yesterday. “A team of 12 tourist, police said yesterday. The alleged crime which half a dozen vehicles were damaged by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out the crime. their pursuit of power. Addressing a public rally in Para Commandos attacked a check-post of the took place at the Hotel ITC Rajputana Sheraton protesting villagers, police said yesterday. Naveen Inspector general of police S P Pani said: “This Maghar, Uttar Pradesh, Modi said political parties NSCN-K (National Socialist Council of Nagaland- Jaipur on Tuesday night. The accused, Rishiraj Manjhi, a member of the Musahar community crime was done by LeT and the conspiracy hatched were now joining hands just for power. “The very Khaplang) situated in the vicinity of its Shwelo Singh, had been remanded in police custody by a that is one of the most marginalised among the in Pakistan.” The police chief of the Kashmir Valley people who opposed each other and measures camp inside Myanmar on Wednesday. The court. According to police, two Mexican women Dalits, was fatally shot in Abhi Chapra village in said: “Investigations have established that like Emergency are now coming together for gunfight continued for half an hour,” an army tourists visited Jaipur on Tuesday. They knew Sariya police station area on Wednesday night. there was a campaign on certain social media power,” he said, rebuking the opposition parties. off icial said. The rebels suff ered at least four the accused and they stayed in the hotel with his Angry villagers later torched vehicles, beat up platforms against Bukhari. With the co-operation He added that these “(opposition) politicians, to five casualties, he said, adding there was no reference. Late in the night, the accused entered some members of the wedding party and even of service providers, tangible evidence has been leaders and political parties had nothing to do casualty on the army side. The commandos their room and forced himself upon one of the attacked the bride’s house. A police off icial said collected that the individual behind the hate with the people or their welfare as their self- were equipped with rocket launchers, mortars women. But as they raised an alarm, he left the that Naveen was shot dead after he insisted on campaign belongs to LeT terrorist organisation promotion and the welfare of their own families and automatic grenade launcher to carry out room. The next day, on Wednesday, the victim’s dancing even though some members of the and all the content was posted from Pakistan.” was on top of their minds”. the strike, he said. friend reported the incident to the police. wedding party warned villagers not to do so.

Five killed in Mumbai India talks ‘a plane crash

AFP Mumbai priority,’ insists

small plane crashed into a construction site in a Adensely populated part of Mumbai yesterday, killing Haley after new fi ve people including one on the ground, offi cials said. Images broadcast on news channels showed fl ames and black smoke billowing from the area, which sits right next to sev- eral high-rise residential towers. postponement There were four people on the 12-seater aircraft, disaster man- Reuters Secretary of State Rex Tillerson act as sovereign and equal na- agement offi cials said, with wit- New Delhi the previous month and Pom- tions. nesses reporting hearing a loud peo went through confi rmation Indian offi cials also planned to blast as it smashed into a half- hearings before the US Congress. discuss the issue of sweeping US built structure. S ambassador to the Among the issues on the sanctions on Russia under which “There was a huge explosion United Nations, Nikki agenda for next week’s talks any country engaged with its and the adjacent tree caught UHaley, yesterday said that were arms sales including the defence and intelligence sectors fi re and the fi re spilled on the a top-level strategic dialogue transfer of Sea Guardian surveil- could face secondary US sanc- streets,” a man was quoted as with India will take place as soon lance drones to the Indian navy, tions. saying on the NDTV news chan- as possible, after Washington the fi rst such sale of unmanned The US move has threatened a nel. put off the meeting for a second aircraft. proposed $6bn air defence missile “Initially we assumed an elec- time in months. deal that India is negotiating with tric box in the under-construc- The talks were expected to Russia to help it counter the bal- tion building must have caught cover issues including US sanc- listic missiles and stealth aircraft fi re but when we checked out the tions against Russia and Iran, that China is developing. Haley, a spot, we found the charred body arms sales and trade. member of Trump’s Cabinet, said of a man who apparently was on India and the US have built the postponement of the meeting bike when the plane crashed,” he close political and defence ties in Washington had nothing to do added. and US Secretary of State Mike with any policy issues. A woman, who was also not Pompeo and Defence Secretary “The meeting is being dis- named, reported hearing three Jim Mattis were due to hold joint cussed right now and being re- loud explosions and described talks with their Indian counter- “In years to come I am scheduled as soon as possible. seeing a “major fi re”. parts in Washington on July 6. confi dent that the US and It was a situation that couldn’t Video footage posted online But Pompeo called Foreign India will stand shoulder to be avoided and it will come out showed bright orange fl ames Minister Sushma Swaraj on shoulder in many ways to publicly in the next few days,” licking the side of a building next Wednesday night to say that the confront the challenges of she said. to a construction site. US had to postpone the meeting the Indo-Pacifi c region and Trade diff erences between the Other images shot after the because of unavoidable reasons, the world. Too much is at US and India are also increasing. fi re was put out showed fi re- the foreign ministry said. risk if we fail to do so” Last week, New Delhi raised du- men sifting through the twisted The so-called two-plus-two ties on US farm products in re- wreckage of the twin-prop plane talks are the highest level of dia- Haley said the ministers taliation against Trump’s tariff as crowds looked on. logue between the US and India would discuss how Washington hikes on steel and aluminium. The white tailfi n seemed to and were agreed by US President can continue to support India The US embassy said in a be the only recognisable part of Donald Trump and Prime Minis- “as a provider of regional secu- statement that Washington re- the aircraft not consumed in the ter Narendra Modi last year. rity, particularly in and around mained committed to a strong blaze. Haley, who is on a visit to New the Indian Ocean.” relationship with India. “The The directorate general of civil Delhi, said that the talks were a “These discussions will un- US-India partnership is a major aviation (DGCA) said the plane priority and would happen soon. doubtedly involve issues like strategic priority for the Trump was a turbo-prop King Air C-90 “It’s not just that it’s going joint exercises and military hard- administration.” The US also and had been on a test fl ight from to happen, they are now willing ware and technology. But the wants India to cut oil imports the nearby Juhu airstrip. to come here if they need to, or strategic partnership we hope to from Iran following the reimpo- “There were two pilots and travel to make sure the two plus build is bigger and more durable sition of sanctions that had been two aircraft maintenance engi- two happens. It is a priority. than that,” Haley told the India suspended under a nuclear ac- neers on board. All on board (the) It’s something that needed Observer Research Foundation cord. aircraft along with one person to happen. It’s important,” she think-tank in New Delhi. “In years to come I am confi - on ground are dead,” the DGCA said. Haley added that India and a dent that the US and India will statement read. No new dates have been an- strengthened US-India partner- stand shoulder to shoulder in A medical offi cer at Rajawadi nounced. ship were at the centre of the US many ways to confront the chal- hospital, where the victims were The meeting was originally approach of seeking for every lenges of the Indo-Pacifi c region taken, said the dead included Rescue workers, firemen and investigators gather around the wreckage of the plane that crashed into planned for April but had to be country – large and small – the and the world,” Haley said. “Too three men and two women. a construction site, killing five people, in Mumbai yesterday. put off because Trump fired ability and opportunity to inter- much is at risk if we fail to do so.” Congress, BJP spar On alert Film body meeting on Dileep decision sought over ‘surgical strikes’ IANS it is shocking that such an impor- Kochi tant matter was decided without listing it on the agenda or being IANS graceful statement” on October 7, has resulted in the sacrifi ce of 146 discussed among all members New Delhi 2016, that the “Indian Army had soldiers, more than 1,600 cease- hree Malayalam actresses prior to the meeting. crossed the LoC for the fi rst time fi re violations by Pakistan and 79 yesterday demanded an “AMMA had publicly pledged in 68 years”. terrorist attacks post September Turgent meeting of the top full support to the member who he surfacing of a video on Stressing that Congress presi- 2016,” Surjewala said. artistes’ body AMMA to discuss survived the assault but the de- the purported 2016 ‘surgi- dent Rahul Gandhi and his pred- The BJP was quick to respond to the controversial reinstatement cision taken for reinstating the Tcal strikes’ across the Line ecessor Sonia Gandhi supported the charges. of actor Dileep, who has been ac- expelled member who is now of Control into Pakistan triggered the armed forces and the govern- “The Congress stand is going cused in the abduction and sexu- a charge-sheeted suspect goes a political row yesterday with the ment in the 2016 action, Surjewala to gladden the hearts of terror- al assault of an actress. against the promise made to the Congress accusing the Modi gov- claimed the army had conducted ists and their patrons in Pakistan,” Revathy Asha Kelunni, Padm- survivor,” the letter said. ernment of drawing political mile- strategic surgical strikes “with ut- senior BJP leader and Union Law apriya Janakiraman and A Par- As a result, on Wednesday, “the age from the army’s achievement most precision and eff ective pen- Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told vathy wrote to the Association survivor resigned and in solidar- while the BJP hit back saying rais- etration” at diff erent times in the reporters. of Malayalam Movie Artistes ity with her three other women ing questions breaks the spirit of last two decades. Prasad added that the opposi- general secretary Edavela Babu members have also resigned”, the the armed forces and strengthens He said the Modi government tion party had become so desper- and demanded an emergency ex- actresses said. Earlier, the Ker- the morale of terrorists. sought credit for the sacrifi ces ate after electoral reverses that ecutive meeting to be called on ala State Women’s Commission “Let the ruling dispensation of the soldiers but had “utterly it was now aiming at the Indian July 13 or 14. The open letter was slammed superstar Mohanlal, remember that the blood and sac- failed” to provide the direction, army’s morale. also posted on the Facebook page who heads AMMA, over the rein- rifi ce of our brave soldiers cannot vision and policy for dealing with Responding to the Congress’ of the newly formed Women in statement of the actor who is an become a political vote garnering terrorism. charge that the video of surgical Cinema Collective (WCC). accused in the February 2017 ac- tool for the Modi government and “Is Modi government endan- strikes was released to politicise As women members of AMMA, tress kidnapping case which took the BJP,” Congress leader Randeep gering our security infrastruc- the issue, Prasad said no elections the three actresses expressed con- place in Kochi. This landed Dileep Singh Surjewala told reporters ture? Is Modi government guilty were around the corner at present. cern over its Sunday decision to in jail for 85 days. here at a press conference, a day of putting the life of our soldiers “The video was not released bring back an expelled member Kerala Fisheries Minister J after video footage of the ‘strikes’ in danger? Is Modi government during the assembly polls in Uttar Security forces patrol Ghagra village in Khunti who was involved in an alleged Mercykutty expressed surprise surfaced in the media. using our ‘soldiers’ as ‘political Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal district, Jharkhand, following the kidnapping of three assault of a woman member from at the manner in which AMMA Surjewala told reporters that fodder’ - using their sacrifi ce for Pradesh and even Karnataka. To- policemen. Authorities yesterday vowed to rescue the the same organisation. revoked Dileep’s suspension. BJP president Amit Shah had “dis- vote garnering?” he said seeking a day, there is no election,” he said. policemen kidnapped by an indigenous group blamed “At this meeting, a very crucial “It should not be forgotten that honoured” the 70-year-long his- response from the government. “Is demoralising the Army the for raping charity workers and stoking unrest that left a decision was taken... Considering actors are icons and they should be tory of bravery and sacrifi ce of the “No wonder the apathy and in- only motive of the Congress? We man dead in a remote eastern region. the gravity of the circumstances perfect role models, but this deci- armed forces by making a “dis- capacity of the Modi government should rise above politics,” he said. and that the matter is sub-judice, sion that they took is baffl ing.” Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 11 LATIN AMERICA Mexican leftist Obrador closes in on presidency with anti-graft message

By Maria Lorente, AFP plying for the past 30 years “Like him or not, he’s the best Mexico City haven’t worked. We haven’t even political communicator in Mexi- had economic growth,” Lopez co.” Obrador told supporters as he Lopez Obrador has clashed ed up with rampant cor- wrapped up his campaign on with Mexico’s business com- ruption and violence, Wednesday. munity, with some warning he FMexicans vote Sunday in “What’s grown is corruption, would pursue Venezuela-style historic elections that look set poverty, crime and violence. socialist policies that could to punish the political establish- That’s why we’re going to send wreck Latin America’s second- ment and deliver the presidency their policies to the dustbin of largest economy. to leftist Andres Manuel Lopez history.” Seeking to soothe, he has re- Obrador. Such attacks have left Lopez cruited a team of market-friend- Leading by more than 20 points Obrador’s rivals scrambling to ly advisers and backpedalled on in the polls, the sharp-tongued, both distance themselves from his most controversial propos- silver-haired politician known as their parties’ legacies and portray als, including reversing outgoing “AMLO” looks poised to become his ideas as dangerous. President Enrique Pena Nieto’s the next fi gure on the growing Judging by the polls, the PRI landmark energy reform, which global list of anti-establishment and PAN candidates — ex-fi - privatized the oil sector. candidates swept into offi ce by a nance minister Jose Antonio Mexico’s next president faces wave of popular discontent. Meade and former speaker of a laundry list of challenges, in- But there is also something Congress Ricardo Anaya, respec- cluding a lacklustre economy uniquely Mexican in his message tively — are struggling to sell that and a thorny relationship with and the way it has resonated with message. the United States under Presi- voters. The poll aggregator Oracu- dent Donald Trump, whose anti- Mexicans are angry over en- lus gives Lopez Obrador 48.1% trade, anti-immigration poli- demic corruption and horrifi c of the vote heading into election cies have turned diplomacy with violence that left a record 25,000 day, Anaya 26.1%, Meade 20.8% Mexico’s key trading partner into murders last year — a record on and independent candidate Jaime a minefi eld. track to be broken again this year Rodriguez 5%. Lopez Obrador has vowed to in an orgy of bloodshed fuelled Lopez Obrador’s coalition — “put (Trump) in his place.” by the country’s powerful drug led by his party, Morena — is Ironically, some commentators cartels. within striking distance of a con- draw parallels between the two: Many voters despise the two gressional majority and six of the both are free-trade sceptics who parties that have governed Mex- nine governorships up for grabs. have fi red up a disgruntled base ico for nearly a century: the rul- That would be a major rea- with populist campaigns. ing Institutional Revolutionary lignment in Mexican politics But unlike the American bil- Party (PRI) and the conservative and a coup for a party launched lionaire, Lopez Obrador has built Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to supporters during his closing campaign rally at the Azteca stadium, in National Action Party (PAN). only six years ago, originally as a a reputation as an ascetic every- Mexico City on Wednesday. Lopez Obrador, 64, calls them grassroots movement to support man, vowing to halve his own both part of the same “mafi a of the three-time presidential can- salary and eschew the presiden- onstrated his sense of humour,” Andres Manuel are very closely and local offi cials. Preliminary of- violent, with more than 100 poli- power,” a message that resonated didate’s 2012 campaign. tial residence in favour of his said Duncan Wood, director of tied together.” fi cial results are expected around ticians murdered since Septem- with many people — even if the “Neither Meade nor Anaya modest Mexico City home. the Wilson Center’s Mexico In- Besides electing their president 11pm (0400 GMT Monday). ber — some after vowing to fi ght former Mexico City mayor has managed to present anything as Criticised by opponents as an stitute in Washington. for the next six years, Mexico’s In all, more than 18,000 posts drug cartels, others for apparent been vague on what the change attractive as Lopez Obrador’s arrogant autocrat, he has also “It’s generated a much less 88mn voters will choose their 500 are at stake — the largest elec- links to them, and still others in he promises will look like. message,” political consultant strived to soften his image. threatening image. The rise of lower-house deputies and 128 tions in Mexican history. crimes that, like so many in Mex- “The policies we’ve been ap- Fernando Dworak told AFP. “This time around, he’s dem- Morena and the reinvention of senators, as well as a host of state They have also been the most ico, remain murky.

Maduro calls Pence a ‘poisonous viper’ Far-right lawmaker Bolsonaro Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday called 2 more Chile bishops US Vice President Mike Pence leads Brazil presidential poll a “viper” and vowed to defeat what he called Washington’s at- tempts to force him from power. Reuters That has focused attention on whether Lula Pence, who arrived in quit over sex abuse Brasilia will stand down and throw his weight deci- Ecuador on Wednesday as part sively behind another candidate, with roughly of a tour of South America, is one-third of voters saying in previous polls seeking to boost regional pres- Reuters abuse by priests in his diocese were Victims say Barros witnessed and ar-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro leads they would back his choice. sure on Venezuela following Vatican City fi rst brought to his attention. covered up sexual abuse in the Chile- the fi eld for Brazil’s October presiden- Bolsonaro is a former army captain who fa- Maduro’s reelection in May in a Valenzuela, 64, was one of four an capital Santiago, where Karadima Ftial election, ahead of environmentalist vours easing gun controls to fi ght crime. vote that the United States said bishops trained for the priesthood had taken on a cult status among po- Marina Silva, a poll showed yesterday, though Bolsonaro, who is openly supportive of Bra- was fraudulent. ope Francis yesterday accepted decades ago by Father Fernando litically conservative Catholics in a many voters remain undecided in the most zil’s 1964-85 military government, has seized “Every time the poisonous the resignation of two more Karadima, Chile’s most notorious well-off neighbourhood. uncertain election in decades. on growing voter disillusionment after years viper Mike Pence opens his PChilean bishops caught up in abuser. Barros has denied the allegations. Bolsonaro, a federal congressman, won 17% of political and economic crises, stoked by mouth, I feel stronger,” the so- the country’s sexual abuse scandal, Karadima was found guilty in “Families brought their children of voters’ support in a fi rst-round ballot sim- investigations that revealed stunning levels of cialist leader said in a televised the Vatican said, bringing to fi ve the a Vatican investigation in 2011 of to Karadima because they believed ulated by pollster Ibope, putting him ahead political graft. speech. “We have defeated number he has accepted so far. abusing boys in Santiago in the 1970s that the doctrine was sound and they of Marina Silva’s 13% in a scenario excluding Marina Silva, who served as Lula’s environ- you and we are going to defeat Bishops Alejandro Goic Karmelic and 1980s. did not know what was happening in jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da ment minister and as senator, mounted failed (you) wherever you are.” of the city of Rancagua and Horacio Now 87 and living in a nursing there,” the Pope told Reuters. Silva. presidential bids in 2010 and 2014, running on Maduro insists that the del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca of the home in Chile, he has always denied In the interview, he called Karadi- When Lula was included as an option, he market-friendly centrist platforms. United States is seeking to city of Talca would be replaced by any wrongdoing. ma “a gravely disturbed person”. The easily led with 33% of voters’ support, the poll In the Ibope survey without Lula as a can- overthrow his government in commissioners, known as apostolic Francis told Reuters in an exclusive scandal came to a head after the Ar- found, with Bolsonaro trailing him at 15%. didate, centre-left populist Ciro Gomes won order to seize the Opec nation’s administrators, a statement said. interview at his residence on June gentine pontiff visited Chile in Janu- Lula maintains he will be the candidate for 8% of voter support while centre-right former oil and mineral wealth, and Francis accepted the resignations 17 that he was considering accept- ary and later dispatched an investi- his Workers Party, but he is barred from run- Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin took accuses Washington of leading of three other bishops on June 11. ing the resignations of more Chilean gator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna ning by a corruption conviction. 6%. an “economic war” against the Last month all of Chile’s 34 bish- bishops. of Malta. Yesterday’s poll was in line with other re- The poll was commissioned by the National country. ops off ered to resign en masse after One of the bishops, Juan Barros of Scicluna produced a 2,300-page cent surveys, which have Bolsonaro narrowly Confederation of Industry. US President Donald Trump a meeting with the Pope over allega- the southern city of Osorno, became report accusing Chile’s bishops of ahead of Marina Silva, but with one-third of Ibope interviewed 2,000 people across Bra- has imposed economic sanc- tions of a cover-up of sexual abuse. the focal point of the investigation “grave negligence” in investigating voters saying they would spoil their ballot zil between June 21-24. tions on Maduro and members Goic, 78, issued a statement last and is one of the bishops whose res- allegations that children were abused or not vote for anyone, leaving the race wide The margin of error was two percentage of his cabinet. month apologising for not acting ignation the Pope had already ac- and has said evidence of sex crimes open. points. swiftly when allegations of sexual cepted. was destroyed.

Angry Maradona puts bounty on ‘death’ report Truckers strike hits

AFP Brazil growth fi gures Buenos Aires

AFP its growth forecast prior to the iego Maradona has off ered a Brasilia strike, lowering it nearly half a $10,000 reward to identify the point to 2.5%. Dsource of reports he had died after The International Monetary Argentina’s World Cup match against Ni- razil’s central bank yester- Fund projects a 2.3% expansion geria, his lawyer said yesterday. day slashed the growth es- this year but that too was issued The reports, circulated via WhatsApp Btimate for this year by a full prior to the strike and could be voice messages from a man with an Ar- point to 1.6% largely due to a mas- revised in July. gentine accent, said the 57-year-old star sive truckers strike in May that hit The strike also is expected to had been hospitalised and had died of many sectors of the economy. boost 2018 infl ation, although cardiac arrest. The Central Bank of Brazil the rate is not expected to sur- “I gave instructions to make public the (BCB) previously forecast GDP pass the central bank’s 4.5% an- decision to off er a reward of 300,000 pe- growth of 2.6%, but its latest nual target, the report said. sos (around $10,000) to anyone who can quarterly infl ation report said There is a 1.5-point margin of provide true and accurate information the 10-day transportation stop- error around that target. about the author of the audios,” lawyer page in late May had “direct and The central bank now expects Matias Morla told Argentina’s Clarin dai- indirect” eff ects on the economy. the IPCA price measure to rise ly from Russia. While the impact is not en- 4.2% this year, compared to the The Argentine star took ill at the end of tirely clear, it likely spilled over 3.8% March estimate, slowing to the match and had to be helped from his into June “aff ecting the growth 3.7% next year. seat. But he denied rumours of ill health dynamic of the second quarter Brazil’s economy also has been the day after, telling reporters: “I’m per- and infl uencing the downward hit in recent weeks by global fect. I’ve never been better.” revision to annual growth,” the trade tensions and rising US in- Morla said Maradona had suff ered “a report said. terest rates, which led to a sharp spike” in blood pressure. The former director of Argentinos Juniors sports club and owner of the ‘Casa de Dios’ (House of God) museum, Alberto Perez, The truckers strike, called to depreciation of the real against “It’s a subject that at one time alarmed walks past a mural of Argentine football star Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires. ‘Casa de Dios’ is located at the house where protest increases in diesel prices, the US dollar as investors head him. It’s no secret how he lives through Maradona used to live (1978-1980) when he played for Argentinos Juniors in La Paternal neighbourhood. shut down supplies of fuel and for the exits in search of higher a game. How he lived them as a player is food at a time when the economy returns elsewhere. how he lives them as a fan.” “The doctors told him to rest, not to “For Diego, the team is Dona Tota (his they could not communicate with me nor had been showing signs of im- The country also faces uncer- According to Morla, Maradona stay for the second half of the Argentina- mother), and he will never let her on her with their brother, and one of them suf- proving after emerging last year tainty over the coming elections shouldn’t even have been at the stadium Nigeria match, but asking that of Mara- own,” he said. The audio messages spread fered a weakness, and the truth is that we from two years of recession. in October as none of the leading for the second half of the game, in which a dona is like asking a son not to love his on social media after the match. cannot let such an outrage go by,” Morla The conservative government candidates so far has backed Te- late goal secured Argentina’s World Cup. mother.” “Maradona’s sisters heard the news, told Clarin. of President Michel Temer cut mer’s stalled market reforms. Gulf Times 12 Friday, June 29, 2018 PAKISTAN

PPP the only party to fi eld a female Apex court, ECP candidate for Rawalpindi election Internews Rawalpindi

akistan Peoples Party (PPP) worker Sumera Gull Pis the only woman contest- deal fresh blows ing the NA-62 constituency in Rawalpindi. The PPP issued its list of can- didates across the country yes- terday, including Rawalpindi’s seven National Assembly (NA) seats. Five Punjab Assembly constit- to Sharif’s party uencies are still pending. Gull, the president of the PPP Party chiefs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with his father, former president Reuters/Internews against Nawaz Sharif, his fam- district women’s wing, will run Asif Ali Zardari, display copies of their Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Islamabad ily members, and then-Finance against Awami Muslim League manifesto for the forthcoming general election during a press Minister Ishaq Dar. (AML) president Sheikh Rasheed conference in Islamabad. Similarly, on December 21 last Ahmed and the Pakistan Mus- he Supreme Court has year, Aziz allegedly targeted Jus- lim League – Nawaz (PML-N)’s party PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi. of the Rawalpindi district in the dealt a fresh blow to the tice Ahsan by demanding that he Daniyal Chaudhry. A senior party leader said the local government system intro- Tparty of Nawaz Sharif, the tells the nation who confi ded in In 1997, the PPP fi elded Na- party had no choice but to fi eld duced by former military ruler prime minister it removed last him about the Capital FZE. heed Khan, a close aide to former a newcomer in this constituency General Pervez Musharraf. year, by barring former privatisa- In the case of Abbasi, an ECP prime minister Benazir Bhutto, because its senior leaders from He initially had some trouble tion minister Daniyal Aziz from tribunal ruled that he had failed against Sheikh Rashid, then a the city areas refused to run. fi ling his nomination papers, as contesting a general election on to declare an accurate value of his PML-N candidate. PPP city president Babar the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) July 25. assets in his nomination papers. PPP city chapter spokesper- Jadoon and vice-president reported outstanding bank loans, The ban on Aziz came just a The former prime minister de- son Nasir Mir said that the party Chaudhry Iftikhar are contesting which he then paid. day after an Election Commis- nied the charges and termed the had two options in NA-62: Gull, Punjab Assembly seats instead, Khokar will face former mem- sion of Pakistan (ECP) tribunal decision illegal, saying that he a veteran party worker, and Na- he said. ber of the National Assembly barred the outgoing prime min- would appeal against the ban. deem Sheikh, a member of the In the cantonment areas con- (MNA) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry ister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who “It is an election for the parlia- trader’s association. stituency NA-61, the PPP has from the PML-N, and the PTI’s took over after Sharif was ousted, ment. They have made it a joke,” He said that the decision was fi elded Haji Gulzar Awan. Raja Khurrum Nawaz, former from standing for election in his Abbasi: It is an election for the parliament. They (the judiciary) have he told television news channels. made according to the demands This was traditionally the con- chairman of the Tumair union home constituency, though he made it a joke. Abbasi’s disqualifi cation ap- of the city’s veteran party work- stituency of Zamarud Khan, who council near Simli Dam. is contesting another seat in Is- plies only to his Murree constitu- ers. refused to contest the elections Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fa- lamabad. ing its removal of Sharif as politi- in the Supreme Court. ency and not the Islamabad seat Mir said the party surveyed this year. zlur (JUI-F)’s Bilal Faisal has re- Sharif and his party, the Pa- cally motivated. If the verdict gets overturned that he is also contesting. the constituency, and workers He previously won the seat in ceived a ticket from the Mutta- kistan Muslim League – Nawaz Aziz has denied the charges, in review, Aziz may still be able to Under Pakistan’s election demanded that they fi eld a can- 2002, and lost in 2008 and 2013. hida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the (PML-N), have termed the cases saying that he was misquoted. contest the July 25 general elec- rules, candidates can contest didate from amongst the workers Against estranged PML-N alliance of religious parties. and other several measures as a “I never said the words that tions from NA-77 (Narowal). several constituencies. instead of bringing in newcom- leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan The most signifi cant race in pre-election attempt to tip the were written in the newspaper However, in case he fails to get The rulings follow the arrest ers. in NA-59, the PPP has nomi- the capital is expected in NA- scales in favour of opposition and for which I was held in con- the verdict overturned, he says by an anti-corruption body of However, a senior party leader nated Kamran Aslam Chaudhry 53, where former prime minister politician Imran Khan, the chief tempt,” he claimed. that the PML-N does have a con- Qamarul Islam, another PML-N claimed that the PPP gave Gull and Mirza Pervaiz Akhter Kiani Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is run- of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Aziz argued that the contemp- tingency plan for his constitu- member, after he was named to the ticket because of her con- in PP-10. ning against PTI chairman Imran (PTI). tuous phrases upon which he was ency. contest a seat. nections to local baradari, such The PPP has yet to fi nalise Khan. Speaking to Reuters, Aziz gave held in contempt were censored “This decision will aff ect the Since his removal, Sharif has as people from Murree who had its candidate for NA-63, while These two candidates have a broad hint yesterday that es- with a beep when they were aired people of my constituency but argued that the Pakistani mili- settled in Rawalpindi. former prime minister Raja Per- overshadowed the arrival of tablishment forces – shorthand in news bulletins, which accord- we had arranged for an alterna- tary establishment, aided by top He added that former Pakistan vaiz Ashraf will contest NA-58 PPP’s Syed Sibtul Haider, the for vested interests led by the ing to Aziz, was akin to him not tive in the light of the situation members of the judiciary, had Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) mem- (Gujar Khan) and his son Khur- brother of former Senate chair- country’s powerful military – having said it. in Pakistan,” he said. “My father orchestrated the lifetime ban on ber of the Provincial Assembly ram Pervaiz Ashraf will contest a man Syed Nayyar Bukhari. were behind his disqualifi cation. “I have never violated the has also fi led nomination papers him returning to politics. (MPA) Arif Abbasi was Gull’s Punjab Assembly seat. The third seat in the capital, “Pakistan’s history in terms court’s orders,” he said. “In fact, [from the same constituency].” He is separately facing crimi- cousin. With the PPP’s announcement NA-54, will be contested by the of using state institutions to me and my party – the PML-N The charges against him were nal charges in an anti-corruption Political analysts said that of candidates for NA-52, NA-53 PPP’s Raja Imran Ashraf, the manage political processes are – have always implemented the that at a news conference on court that could see him jailed in the PPP had had a diffi cult time and NA-54, the arena is set for younger brother of former prime well known ... and the hope and court’s orders. To disagree is our September 8 last year, then-fed- the coming weeks. fi nding suitable candidates in the capital’s National Assembly minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. prayer was that we had moved right, we have always done that eral minister Aziz had accused The anti-graft body has also Punjab, and decided to promote seats. He too is expected to face beyond that … and the facts are and will keep on doing it.” Justice Ijazul Ahsan of summon- approved a fresh inquiry into party workers in the absence of And yesterday, the party an- tough competition from the before you,” he told Reuters. Following the verdict, Aziz’s ing National Accountability Bu- both Abbasi and Sharif over a liq- electables. nounced three new contestants PML-N and PTI, as well as the The Supreme Court held Aziz legal counsel announced that his reau (NAB) authorities in Lahore uefi ed natural gas (LNG) terminal In NA-60, the PPP gave new- for the capital, all of whom come MMA, as all three candidates in contempt of court for describ- client would fi le a review petition to prepare corruption references project. comer Mukhtar Abbas a ticket. from prominent political fami- have been voted to the National Abbas is the nephew of Majlis lies. Assembly from this area. Wahdatul Muslimeen president In NA-52, the PPP is fi elding The PTI’s Asad Umar, the Allama Nasir Abbas. Afzal Khokar, uncle of Senator PML-N’s Anjum Aqeel and the He will run against Sheikh Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, who was MMA’s Mohammad Aslam, will Maryam Nawaz cites Rashid and the former ruling the naib nazim (deputy mayor) be running against Ashraf. mother’s condition to First batch of teachers finish change constituency language course Rainfall expected in The first batch of more than Internews thinks is a constituency she can- 30,000 teachers, enrolled in twin cities next week Lahore not win while she is in London. a two-day English language And it is not possible for her to course, has completed its return immediately, leaving her training, while the Punjab Internews at isolated places in Malakand, n a signifi cant development, ailing mother unattended,” an School Education Department Islamabad Hazara, Kohat, Bannu, Pesha- Maryam Nawaz has refused aide to Nawaz said. Maryam Nawaz: not in a position to run a campaign for NA-125. (SED) has issued the schedule war, D I Khan, D G Khan, La- Ito contest in one of Lahore’s He added: “Maryam has to of the next batches. hore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, key constituencies, NA-125. make this decision with a heavy “The leadership will take a fi nal “There are consultations un- The training of 30,918 he current rain system Quetta, the Federally Adminis- In keeping with her decision, heart as she did not want to decision in this regard.” der way to fi eld Malik either on educators was conducted by is less likely to bring tered Tribal Areas, Islamabad, Pakistan Muslim League – Na- stay away from a constituency Responding to the develop- NA-133 or NA-123 on his re- 773 trainers on June 22 and Tactive precipitation in and Gilgit-Baltistan. waz (PML-N) president She- where her father Nawaz Sharif ment, Malik said: “The whole of quest,” the source said. 23 at various Quaid-e-Azam northern Punjab, including The temperature has de- hbaz Sharif has awarded the and mother Begum Kulsoom Lahore is considered the PML-N The party has already awarded Academy for Educational the twin cities of Islamabad creased in several parts of the NA-127 ticket to Maryam after Nawaz won in the past, and she stronghold. I had requested Mar- tickets to Waheed Alam and Ma- Development (QAED) centres and Rawalpindi, while areas in country due to the arrival of withdrawing her from NA-125, remained on the forefront to run yam Bibi to contest from my con- lik Riaz for NA-133 and NA-123, across Punjab. northern Punjab are likely to the clouds, including in the which was awarded to her on their campaign in the 2013 gen- stituency and it’s an honour for respectively. The programme was receive monsoon rains in the twin cities, as the maximum Saturday. eral election and 2017 by-poll, me that she has decided to do so. Earlier, Bilal Yasin, a rela- organised under the Punjab fi rst week of July. temperature in Islamabad yes- The PML-N had earlier respectively,” he said. “I will wholeheartedly run her tive of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Education and English However, the fi rst rainfall of terday was 34° Celsius. awarded NA-127 ticket to par- PML-N spokesperson Mar- campaign and ensure her victory had asked the party leadership Language Initiative (PEELI). the monsoon season brought The temperature in Turbat ty’s Lahore head Pervaiz Malik, riyum Aurangzeb said that it was with a signifi cant margin.” to consider him for the NA-125 Another session would be 71mm of rain in Lahore, 27mm was 48°C, it was 45°C in Sibbi, who convincingly won the seat the party leadership’s decision As for the question from where ticket if Maryam Nawaz opts for conducted for 11,000 first of rain in Larkana, 11mm in and 42°C in Dadu, Jacobabad, against the Pakistan Tehreek-e- to change Maryam Nawaz’s con- he would like to contest now, the the other seat. batch teachers who missed Khanpur, 20mm in Rohri, and Panjgur. Insaf (PTI) candidate in the 2013 stituency. former federal commerce minis- Yasin was elected in 2013 polls out on the initial exercise. 18mm in Mirpurkhas, 9mm The low pressure zone cre- general election. “The leadership considers it ter said: “Whatever decision the on a provincial seat falling in NA- It will take place on July 30 in Sukkur, 8mm in Zhob, and ated in Baluchistan due to the “The prime reason behind better to fi eld Maryam Bibi on party leadership takes, I will ac- 125 (previously NA-120). and 31, while a three-day 6mm in Balakot. heat is inviting the monsoon her change of mind is Maryam NA-127,” she added. cept it.” He, along with Nawaz, had run training of another 30,000 The current system is ex- currents into the country. Bibi is not in a position to run a Asked whether Malik would A source, however, said Malik a vigorous campaign for Begum teachers had been scheduled pected to bring rain and thun- The Met offi ce says that campaign for NA-125, which she now contest NA-125, she said: might not opt to contest NA-125. Kulsoom last September. for August 1 to 3. dershowers with gusty winds rains in the 2018 monsoon will at scattered places in several likely be normal to slightly parts of the country including above normal in northern Pa- Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Kara- kistan during July and August, chi, Kalat, Zhob, Bahawalpur, and is likely to be below normal and Kashmir. in September. Pakistan placed on terror fi nancing watch list The Met offi ce has said that A similar pattern is expected rains were expected yesterday in southern Pakistan.

DPA/Internews have arrested thousands of sus- Earlier, reports from Paris The FATF held its fi rst meeting nese position and conveyed its Islamabad pects and seized millions of dol- had indicated that Pakistan may on Pakistan in February where gratitude to Turkey for continu- Religious leader taken off terrorist watch list lars. get more time to take measures China, Turkey and Saudi Ara- ing to support Islamabad against The US and its European allies, to implement the FATF’s anti- bia opposed the US-led move to all odds,” the source added. Pakistan has removed the leader of one of the country’s largest akistan has been placed on including Germany, then sought money laundering and terrorist- place Pakistan on the watch list. Security analyst Fida Khan Islamist groups from its terrorist watch list while the Election Com- a terror fi nancing watch list action against Pakistan by the fi nancing regulations. However, the US pushed for an said that the latest move would mission of Pakistan (ECP) considers whether his group can field can- Pby a global money-laun- 37-nation bloc. Pakistan’s Foreign Offi ce (FO) unprecedented second discus- increase pressure on Pakistan as didates in a general election next month, an off icial said yesterday. dering watchdog, a move likely Only Turkey and China op- had confi rmed in February that sion on Pakistan, held on Febru- the US seeks the country’s help Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi is head of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat to mean even more hurdles for a posed the proposal, but two Pakistan would be placed on ary 22. for the latest peace push in Af- (ASWJ), a Sunni group that has incited violence against Pakistan’s struggling Pakistani economy. could not block the decision. FATF’s grey list in June if it did By then, Washington had con- ghanistan. minority Shias. The Financial Action Task Pakistan’s Interior Minister not take measures to curb terror vinced Riyadh to give up its sup- A US diplomat for the region is The ASWJ has registered dozens of candidates to stand in poll, using Force (FATF), an inter-govern- Azam Khan reacted angrily, ac- fi nancing. port for Pakistan in return for a expected in Islamabad soon. another name for their party, but their candidacy has been chal- mental body, took the decision cusing the US and European na- However, FO spokesperson full FATF membership. She might ask military lead- lenged because of the group’s inclusion on the terrorist watch list. as part of a week-long meeting tions of strong-arming the body Mohammad Faisal had assured This left only two – China ers for aid in return for America’s An order from the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) under way in Paris, Pakistani of- into the decision. that an action plan to eradicate and Turkey – in the Pakistan killing of Pakistani Taliban chief dated June 14 that was obtained by Reuters specifies that Ludhianvi fi cials said yesterday. On Wednesday, Finance Min- terrorist fi nancing was being camp, one less than the required Mullah Fazlullah in a drone strike be taken off the “schedule four” list of people with links to terrorism The FATF had warned Pakistan ister Shamshad Akhtar had urged prepared and would be shared number of three members to stall in Afghanistan this month. and his bank accounts unfrozen. in February that it needed to fi nd the FATF to remove Pakistan with the international body. a move. “Pakistan will be under obli- However, a senior off icial with NACTA said that the body was acting ways to squeeze sources of fund- from its grey list. “Pakistan will be assigned to At this stage, the Chinese in- gation and pressure,” Fida Khan on recommendations from the Punjab government. ing for terror groups allegedly As the FATF plenary began its the ‘grey list’ in June, once an formed Islamabad that they were added. “We got a recommendation from Punjab government that Ludhianvi operating from its soil. proceedings, the Pakistani del- action plan has been mutually opting out as they did not want to Economic experts believe the was no more on fourth schedule and wasn’t required on watch list, A subsequent review by the egation apprised the watchdog negotiated,” the spokesman had “lose face by supporting a move move will hurt the country’s and we just removed him,” a NACTA off icial said. Asia-Pacifi c Group of the FATF of steps Islamabad had taken to said, adding that Pakistan will that’s doomed to fail”, an offi cial economy, which is reeling from However, Hasan Askari Rizvi, the caretaker chief minister of Punjab, found little progress, despite weed out money laundering and co-operate with the FATF in eve- source had told Dawn. years of violence by Islamist mil- indicated that the decision came from the federal government. claims by Pakistani offi cials to terror fi nancing. ry possible way. “Pakistan appreciated the Chi- itants and a chronic energy crisis. Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 13 THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH A unique generation

By Habib Buslah fell to disputing after the order, and disobeyed it, after He brought you in sight (of the victory) which you ot many centuries ago, like. Among you are some that desire Muslims were the stewards the world and some that desire the of the world. They liber- Hereafter. Then did He divert you from Nated men from the bonds of your foes in order to test you. But He ignorance and the darkness of unbelief forgave you: For Allah is Full of Grace for into the light of Islam. This historical the believers.” [3:152]. achievement was the mark of a unique generation, that of Prophet Muham- 3. Believing that they were the mad, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and best of the Muslim Ummah his companions. The Prophet himself The best generation, according to pointed to the companions as the best the Qur’an and the Sunnah, is that of of all Muslim generations (Bukhari, the lifetime of the Prophet, sallallaahu Muslim and Tirmidhi). Hence, believ- ‘alaihi wa sallam. The following Hadith ing that the companion’s generation narrated by Abdullah ibn Massoud is superior to any other is a tenet of and collected by Bukhari is a powerful faith, and following their example is testimony from Allah’s Messenger that the way to success in this life and in the fi rmly establishes this tenet: “The best hereafter. of my Ummah (ie, followers) are those If seeking and winning the pleasure living in my generation, then those who of Allah is the ultimate goal of every will follow them, and those who will Muslim, then these are the men and follow the latter.” women to imitate. Allah praises their Faith (2:137), their knowledge (47:16), 4. Believing that some of them and their compassion towards each were better than others other (48:29), repeatedly testifying in As Muslims, we love the companions His Glorious Book that “He was well of the Prophet and do not reject any of pleased with them.” (48:18; 98:8) them. Nor do we love some more than Affi rmations of their strong and others. Yet, we do believe that some noble character even came from some of of the companions were better than their enemies. During one encounter, a others. Allah Most High says: “Not Roman offi cer described them in these equal among you are those who spent historic words: “They are horsemen (freely) and fought before the Victory by day and ascetics by night. They pay (ie, the Conquest of Makkah) (with for what they eat in territories under those who did so later). Those are higher their occupation. They are fi rst to salute in rank than those who spent (freely) when they arrive at a place and are and fought afterwards. But to all has valiant fi ghters who just wipe out the Allah promised a goodly (reward). And enemy.” (Reported by Ibn Kathir and Allah is well acquainted with all that mentioned in A H A Nadwi’s Islam and you do.” [57:10]. the World). We also hold that Abu Bakr, Inside of a new mosque in Qatar. Studying the lives of the Sahabah radhiallahu ‘anhu, was the most and exploring their virtues helps us preferable person of the Muslim should therefore hate those who despise (Jerusalem) in a night, he went out the search of ways to thank Him. They also He the Most High says: “Among the understand this Deen in its correct Ummah, after the Prophet, sallallaahu them or talk of them disrespectfully. next morning telling people about his knew – through the teaching of their believers are men who have been true context. By following the methodology ‘alaihi wa sallam, and that he deserved The opinion of Muslim scholars night journey. Consequently, some of master – that thanks are not mere, to their covenant with Allah, of them, with which they approached and to succeed the Prophet as the leader regarding this matter is voiced by those who believed in him previously light statements, rather, they had to some have died and some (still) wait, implemented this Deen, we will have of the Muslims over the rest of the Sufyan ibn Uyuynah: “Whoever became apostates. They later went translate their words into actions. To but they have never changed (their planted our feet on the straight path. Sahabah. Then after him come, in this utters a single (bad) word about the to Abu Bakr and said to him, “What be grateful and thankful is to be an determination) in the least.” [33.23] respect, Umar ibn Khattab, Uthman Companions of Allah’s Messenger, is happening to your friend? He is obedient servant of Allah. This would ibn Aff an, and Ali ibn Abi Talib. These sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, he is a claiming that he was taken on a journey partially explain the common questions 5. Their strong unity and natural Our Beliefs Regarding the are the four rightly guided caliphs. This follower of evil desire (ie a deviant).” to al-Masjid al-Aqsa last night.” Abu they posed to the Prophet, sallallaahu compassion Sahabah belief, contradicted by many deviant (reported by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan Bakr inquired: “Did he really say that?” ‘alaihi wa sallam, as to which deeds History will always bear witness groups, does not spring from a mere ibn Ali ibn Khalif al-Barbahari in his They answered, “yes”; upon which he were most preferred in Islam. Sufyan to the unprecedented bonds of Sahabah or companions are guess, but rather rests on many strong, Sharh as-Sunnah) faithfully testifi ed, “If he actually said Ibn Abdullah said: “I said, ‘O Messenger brotherhood that united the Sahabah. the individuals who have met the authentic ahadith of the Prophet. One should note, however, that that, then he has spoken the truth.” of Allah, tell me something about Allah described them beautifully following criteria: Abdullah Ibn Umar said: “At the time sincere and academic criticism They asked, (amazed), “You believe that Islam which I can ask of no one but as: “Strong against unbelievers, O He/she has met the Prophet, of the Prophet we used to compare whose intention is to show right from he went to Al-Quds last night and came you.” He said, ‘Say I believe in Allah, compassionate amongst themselves.” sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, whether the people as to who were the best. wrong is not only acceptable but also back before morning?” He answered, and thereafter be upright.’” (Muslim). [48:29]. More remarkable is the full the meeting was a one-time encounter, Consequently, we used to regard Abu compulsory. However, only those “Yes, for I have believed him for things Hence, the Sahabah’s thoughts were brotherhood established between the like for Dhimam ibn Tha’labah, a Bakr as the best of all, then Umar ibn scholars rooted in knowledge and which are far beyond this, I have always occupied, fi rst and foremost, Muhajireen, those who forsook their relatively short companionship such al-Khattab, then Uthman ibn Aff an – righteous motivation should tackle this believed him for the heavenly news (ie with the best and most sincere way homes and property and migrated to as Uthman ibn Abil Aas, or a life long may Allah be pleased with all of them. critical task. Revelation) he brings down morning or to draw nearer to Allah. They were Madinah, and their helpers, the Ansar, championship like Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, The Prophet, would then hear this evening.” (Reported by Al-Bayhaqi and constantly checking the motives behind the men and women of Madinah who Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman, and Ali. (statement) and would not disapprove 6. Adhering to their methodology mentioned in Ibn Kathir’s Tafseer). their sayings and deeds as well as the not only welcomed, fed them and O He/she met him while awake and of it.” (Bukhari and Ahmad) is a religious duty Believing in the trustworthiness of correctness of their actions. This not shared their property with them, but fully aware, not in a dream, through a The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa Allah has praised the Sahabah, the Sahabah is indeed an integral part only refi ned their character, but raised went so far as to give them preference vision, or any unrealistic experience. sallam, also said: “Abu Bakr (will be) as well as those who follow in their of our belief. More importantly, loving their consciousness of Allah – their over their own selves. One should Meeting here does not necessarily mean in Paradise, and Umar in Paradise, footsteps and make the embracing of them, emulating them and embracing Taqwah – to a higher level, making it remember, however, that their full seeing. For Ibn Ummu Makthoom, and Uthman in Paradise, and Ali in their methodology, understanding and their methodology is our only way to hard, and in the case of high ranking brotherhood and mutual sacrifi ce was a blind man from Quraysh, could Paradise, and Talhah (Ibn Ubaydullah) practices a way to earn His pleasure. He properly understand this Deen and Sahabah, impossible for future the result – after Allah’s blessing – of not have seen the Prophet. Yet, he in Paradise, and az-Zubayr (ibn al- says: “The vanguard (of Islam), the fi rst apply its dictates in a manner that is generations to match. their strong faith on the one hand, and was indeed a great companion and Awwam) in Paradise, and Abdurrahman of those who forsook (their homes) and acceptable and pleasing to Allah. the oneness of their methodology on the Mua’dhin (caller to Salah) of the ibn Awf in Paradise, and Saad ibn Abi of those who gave them aid, and (also) 3. Their unconditional love for the other. In other words, had they Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. Waqqas in Paradise, and Sa’id ibn Zaid those who follow them in (all) good Allah and His Messenger had diff erent beliefs, diff erent ways, O He/she was a Muslim when he/she in Paradise, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al- deeds, well-pleased is Allah with them.” Why Were the Sahabah The companions’ love for their Lord they would not have united. This is an met the Prophet, or believed in him later Jarrah in Paradise.” (Authentic reported [9:100]. the Best of this Ummah? and His Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alaihi important aspect of the Sahabah’s life on during his lifetime. by At-Tirmidhi, Ahmad and others). We On the other hand, He promises wa sallam, surpassed all loyalty and to ponder over, especially for those O He/she met the Prophet after therefore recognise the six companions those who deviate from the Sahabah’s We have already discussed some love of family, tribe, and self. During who are calling today in vain for unity he started receiving the revelation. mentioned after Ali as the best people methodology and way a punishment of the qualities that made those great the battle of Uhud, as the news spread among the Muslims whose hearts are For there were people who met after the four caliphs. and an evil ending. He says: “If anyone companions better than the rest of the that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa almost void of faith or whose ways are Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa After these six companions come in contends with the Messenger even after Muslim Ummah. We have mentioned sallam, was injured, a woman whose at variance. sallam, before the revelation and, order of preference those who attended guidance has been plainly conveyed to their unconditional commitment to brother, father and husband had been foreseeing that he would be sent as the Battle of Badr, then those who him, and follows a path other than that Islam and their methodology in dealing killed in the battle that very day forgot 6. Their staunch rebellion Messenger, believed in him. Yet, Muslim fought in Uhud, followed by those who of the believers, We shall leave him in with the commands of Allah and His her sorrow and rushed to the battlefi eld against any kind of innovation scholars, especially those of Hadith, do gave the pledge of allegiance to the the path he has chosen, and land him in Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. shouting, “How is the Prophet?” The Sahabah never embraced an not consider them as Sahabah. This was Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, Hell, what an evil refuge!” [4:115]. We shall explore in this brief expose People assured her that by the grace innovation, nor would they tolerate the case of Jarjis ibn Abdulqays known at the Hudaybiyah gathering, called Ar- As believers in the unseen and the some of the devotional, spiritual, ethical of Allah he was safe, but she refused any addition to or omission from the as Bahirah the priest. Ridwan Pledge of allegiance. ultimate wisdom of Allah, we know and emotional aspects of their life that to be comforted until she had actually Deen. For them, every innovation, One may argue that there are some that when He instructs us to follow contributed to their strong, refi ned seen him. She was taken to him. When whether pertaining to faith or to 1. Believing that all the Sahabah ahadith that contradict this tenet, such the Sahabah’s belief, practices and and unique personalities. The qualities she saw him, she said, “No calamity is practices of worship, “small” or are trustworthy as the hadith narrated by Adu Dawood understanding of the Deen, it is because exposed below, and those mentioned a calamity if you are safe.” (Ibn Ishaq, “big”, was considered grave and We believe that all the Sahabah and At-Tirmidhi in which the Prophet, it is what’s best for us. Let’s however, earlier present a comprehensive answer cited in A H A Nadwi’s Islam and the dangerous and thus needed to be were Udool. Though it may roughly sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said to try to seek some of Allah’s wisdom to our opening question: why were the World). rejected immediately. Their motto be translated as trustworthy, the the Sahabah: “Days will come wherein behind this instruction. The Sahabah Sahabah the best of our Ummah? A concise description of this love was and inspiration was the hadith, adjective Udool carries a much deeper the rewards of a (single) good-doer will were in a better position to understand presented by one of their enemies: “I “Whoever introduces into this affair meaning. Scholars defi ne someone as equal the rewards of fi fty (people).” The and interpret the diff erent aspects of 1. Their full familiarity with the have been in courts of Caesar, Khusrau of ours (ie, Islam) something which being Adl if he is upright regarding his Sahabah asked, “(people) from them Islamic law because they knew Islam Jahiliyah’s evil and Negus. I can swear that I have not we have not commanded, it is to be religion and his daily conduct, and is (ie, the contemporaries of the good- better than anyone else. They witnessed Most of the Sahabah grew up amidst seen any king held in greater respect rejected.” (Bukhari and Muslim). of a strong, fi rm and refi ned character. doer) or from us?” He replied, “From the revelation coming down, knew the the pagan practices of Jahiliyah, in by his subjects than Muhammad is When a man sneezed in the presence As a result, he not only avoids the you, indeed.” Scholars have said, the circumstances in which the verses were pre-Islamic Arabia. They were well by his Companions. By God, when he of Ibn Umar, radiyallahu ‘anhuma, major sins but also any small sins that expression “the rewards of a good-doer revealed and, most importantly, learned acquainted with the evils and vices gives an order, they all rush to carry it and said, Praise be to Allah and peace might tarnish his credibility. Therefore, will equal the rewards of fi fty (from their Deen from the Prophet, sallallaahu of their surrounding, well aware of out, when he performs the wudu, they be upon the Messenger (ie, adding the to believe that all the Sahabah were amongst you)” does not actually mean ‘alaihi wa sallam, himself. Hence, if we its weaknesses. When the light of nearly come to blows in the scramble salutation to the Prophet),” Ibn Umar trustworthy (Udool), is to hold them “better than you”. want to emulate the Sahabah, as Allah Islam entered Makkah, it further for the water he has used for it; when – though known for his profound free of evil vices. The mistakes that commanded, we should not only follow exposed the backwardness and he speaks, a hush overtakes them. So love to the Prophet, rebuked the man were committed by some of them – 5. We do not dwell on their their practices, but also follow the way barbarous abominations of pagan excessively do they revere him that they and told him: “The Prophet has only on some occasions – emanated from diff erences they understood those practices. Arabia before their eyes. When they dare not raise their eyes in his presence taught us to say Alhamdulillah’ (with their human, fallible nature, and not As we said earlier, the Sahabah This methodology consists of fi nally embraced Islam, all of what the to obtain a full view of him.” (Zaad-ul- no added salutation).” (At-Tirmidhi). from an evil, ill-intentioned soul. As a were not infallible. They would have principles they used in order to pagan society stood for, all of what Ma’ad, vol III p 125) Ibn Umar spelled out the stance of fundamental consequence of this noble diff erences, some of which were more understand the commands of Allah and it had to off er became repugnant to the Sahabah towards innovations character, the Sahabah were extremely serious than others, especially after that of His Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi them and despicable to their hearts. 4. Their unsurpassed sacrifi ces when he said: “Every innovation is loyal and faithful to their Deen. Hence, the Prophet’s death. However, we wa sallam. One of these principles Consequently, they rushed to rid for this Deen a misguidance even if people regard they could not lie about Allah or His believe that whatever options they is called Tasleem (unequivocal themselves of the yoke of the pagan The Sahabah’s devotion and it to be something good.” (Ad- Messenger and as such, all reports and had, or whatever arguments they held acceptance). The Sahabah used to take society and embraced this long-awaited sincerity to Allah was indeed Daarimee). testimonies that can traced to them are to, stemmed from their best judgment the Qur’an and Sunnah for guidance liberator, Islam. No doubt, the old, unsurpassed. They sacrifi ced all their These were some of the noble, considered to be fully authentic and and was sincerely motivated. We and would not let anything else take sombre years of Jahiliyah helped them property, their homes, their families matchless qualities of the companions unconditionally reliable. therefore refrain from dwelling on precedence over them. As long as Allah appreciate and fi rmly uphold Islam. and even their lives with an unshaken of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa these diff erences and ask Allah to or His Messenger had delivered a verdict It is indeed an important element of determination. Khubaib, radhiallahu sallam. Because of their love for Allah, 2. They were trustworthy, but not forgive them and reward them for their on a given matter, the companions their life that had a tremendous eff ect in ‘anhu, when mounted on a scaff old His Prophet and this Deen, the light of infallible endeavours. We should not criticise or would take it with no reservation, even moulding their Islamic character. This by his persecutors, was asked, ‘Don’t Islam now shines all over the face of Believing that the Sahabah were revile them, because Allah’s Messenger, if they could not perceive the logic or is what made Umar ibn Khattab say: you wish now that Muhammad were this earth. Through them we fi nd the trustworthy and free from any sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, left behind the wisdom behind it. Thus, they did “I am afraid, he who has been brought in your place?” He cried out, “I would best examples of courage, honour and intentional lies and deception towards a serious warning for those who would not use their “intellect” to accept or up in Islam and has no knowledge of not like to be released on the condition commitment. It is only by placing our Islam does not by any means make them venture onto this slippery road. reject the verdict. For them, whatever Paganism, will disintegrate Islam itself.” that he may be given even a pinprick.” footsteps in theirs, that we can execute infallible. Allah has granted infallibility Abu Hurairah narrated: Allah’s Allah dictates is logical, sound, wise, (from A H Nadwi’s Islam and the World) (Ibn Kathir, vol IV, p 63). Similar the duties that Allah has placed on only to His Prophets and His Angels. Messenger said: “Do not revile any of and suitable. The following story of Abu stories of this unmatched sacrifi ce are us. No one can doubt their excellence However, whenever they wronged my companions. By Him in Whose hand Bakr is a dazzling illustration of this 2. Their gratefulness to Allah for faithfully recorded in books of hadith and superiority over the rest of the themselves, they were quick to repent is my life, if one of you were to spend (in principle. His favours upon them and history. During the long years of Ummah? We know that we can never to Allah. The following verse illustrates charity) a pile of gold as big as Mount When the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi The Sahabah were fully conscious persecution and confl icts as well as be the best, but we should never stop this fact: “Allah did indeed fulfi l His Uhud, it would not amount to as much wa sallam, was transported from the of Allah’s favour upon them. After all, in times of victory and peace, they trying not to be the worst. We ask Allah promise to you when you, with His as one mudd (about 2/3 of a kilo) of one Masjid al-Haram (Sacred Mosque) it is He who brought them from the demonstrated such sacrifi ce for the to grant us their understanding and permission, were about to annihilate of them (spent in charity) nor even half in Makkah to al-Masjid al-Aqsa darkness of Jahiliyah into the light sake of Islam. Who better to testify make it easy for us to emulate them in your enemy, until you fl inched and a mudd.” (Muslim). We, who love them, (the Farthest Mosque) in Al-Quds of Islam. Thus, they were always in of this sacrifi ce than Allah Himself? all respects. Gulf Times 14 Friday, June 29, 2018 COMMENT

CHAIRMAN Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah EDITOR-IN-CHIEF China’s tech giants splash Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka Deputy Managing Editor K T Chacko P.O.Box 2888, Doha, Qatar out in cartoon arms race [email protected] By Pei Li, Anita Li and Adam Jourdan trying to fi gure out the same thing. hits on its video platform, which has novels that I have already read. I like 44350478 (News), Hangzhou, China Part of the winning formula has been over 60mn paying subscribers. them because I’m already a fan of the the use of traditional Chinese religious Tushan Susu, the animation’s stories,” said Tao. 44466404 (Sport), and cultural themes, and characters. main character, has been featured in a That shift has been helped by 44466636 (Home delivery) rowing up in the Chinese port That, and improved quality in terms commercial for the fast food chain KFC. supportive government policies to city of Dalian in the 1990s, of art and storytelling, helped China’s Tencent is now looking to create a ensure that peak-time television slots 44350474 Zhang Hongchang spent comic and animation market reach television series and a video game using are kept for domestic animation. facebook.com/gulftimes Ghours immersed in Japanese 150bn yuan last year, according to Fox Spirit characters. The big tech fi rms are starting to cartoons like Dragon Ball and Naruto. EntGroup’s estimates. China’s tech giants play an outsized spend, though not yet at the level of twitter.com/gulftimes_Qatar China’s home-grown cartoons paled China still lags behind the Japanese role in Chinese entertainment. Disney, which bought Pixar Animation in comparison to the Japanese anime and American markets, but is catching Tencent, the search company Baidu, Studios for $7.6bn, as well as Marvel series on television and in comic books up. and Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, Entertainment, and the Star Wars that captured the imaginations of Japan is the top producer of control most of the top online platforms producer Lucasfi lm Ltd for around $4bn Zhang and his generation. animation, while the United States from movies to sport, and are dominant each. GULF TIMES Today, Zhang is one of China’s dominates in terms of sales, taking a in social media and online gaming. Tencent has invested in more than a hottest cartoonists and at the forefront nearly 40% share of the global industry, These fi rms are looking to latch on dozen comic and animation companies of a new wave of Chinese animation estimated at $220bn in 2016, according to a surging sub-culture being driven since last year, according to public that is being driven by the country’s to a report from Research & Markets. by a young generation with a taste for records, while its fi lm arm launched a technology and Internet giants. China had around 8% that year. animation, called “dongman” in Chinese. “100 animations” project to support His latest hit comic — which stars a For Chinese companies, the This group is keen for more local- domestic productions. America should style heroes, according to industry Baidu’s iQiyi, is also splashing out high school student who is also a Taoist development of compelling series and priest with secret super powers — has characters could also open up new executives. on domestic comics, planning to spend been viewed 160mn times online. business opportunities that companies They are also wealthier than their 200mn yuan to sign Chinese artists and China’s tech fi rms are engaged in a like Disney have exploited, like branded parents were, and have money to spend. develop local characters, which comes help end a mass cartoon arms race to develop or buy theme parks, games, movies, TV shows, “Youngsters, especially the post- on top of an earlier investment in 10 Chinese characters in an animation lunch boxes and clothes. 2000s, are very willing to spend animation projects, the company said market expected to hit 216bn yuan “To make it work there have to money,” Geng Danhao, senior vice- in May. ($33.22bn) by 2020, according to be good stories, good production, president at Baidu’s online streaming Alibaba and the news aggregator Yemen starvation the EntGroup consultancy, trying to and content that can resonate with platform, iQiyi, said at an event in Toutiao have snapped up production emulate the success of Walt Disney Co’s consumers,” said Xu Zhiwei, animation Beijing. companies and launched animation ensemble, which ranges from Mickey and comic copyright senior manager at Zhang Tuo, a 21-year-old college platforms on their own sites. Remember when Aleppo became a household word? Mouse to Iron Man. Tencent in Beijing. student in Sichuan, said he had spent NetEase signed a deal last year The carnage infl icted on Syrian civilians in that city by A key to that eff ort, has been the Tencent is already seeing some more than 7,000 yuan on comic-related with Disney to create Marvel style their autocratic leader, Bashar Assad – with help from development of artists like Zhang. success that could help the fi rm merchandise, from plastic fi gurines to superheroes, but with Chinese “When I started, I was copying maintain rapid growth and a high T-shirts. characteristics. Russian forces – ingrained in the world’s collective Japanese cartoons, but slowly I got my valuation. His favourites are local comics like Luo Qiandan, marketing director consciousness the depths a despot will reach to cling to own style,” Zhang said in the Hangzhou The gaming-to-social media Spiritpact and Monster List. of NetEase Comics, said the fi rm was power. Thousands died. Much of the city was razed. studio where he draws comics that company bought up “Fox Spirit Tao Jie, 20 a student in the using big data from its platform to Soon, Hodeida, too, may become a household word. are made available to readers on a Matchmaker”, which depicts romances southwestern city of Chengdu, said analyse what comic consumers wanted Hodeida is the primary port of the broken nation of platform operated by the local gaming between humans and demons, when it Chinese cartoons had improved in and would feed this back to artists. fi rm NetEase Inc. “I had to spend a lot was a little-known comic, created by an terms of story lines and animation It was also adopting other elements Yemen, a country ripped apart by three years of civil time getting to understand the Chinese artist called Xiao Xin. technique. such as Chinese brush painting war. United Arab Emirates-backed forces loyal to market and what Chinese comic readers The comic has been developed into The use of local tales was also an techniques and religious themes. Yemen’s exiled government, together with Saudi air wanted.” an animation series that’s been viewed attraction, he said. “Everybody is trying to use Chinese power, have launched an off ensive to retake Hodeida, Chinese tech giants like Tencent more than 3bn times, Tencent told “A lot of the Chinese comic and elements and Chinese style,” she said. now held by Houthi rebels. The Houthis control Holdings, Baidu Inc and NetEase are Reuters, making it one of the hottest animation are developed from online – Reuters much of the Arabian Peninsula nation and are well- entrenched in Hodeida. The fi ghting could drag on for months. The peril isn’t confi ned to the 600,000-some Yemenis who live in Hodeida; the metropolis is a lifeline for Yemenis throughout the country. More than three-fourths of Yemen’s food arrives via the Red Sea port. The United Nations estimates that fi ghting in Hodeida could infl ict mass starvation on as many as 8mn of the country’s 28mn Yemenis. An estimated 50,000 Yemeni children already have died of starvation. More than a million Yemenis are infected with cholera. Yemen is already the world’s worst humanitarian Allowing this disaster, and the looming battle for Hodeida could mass starvation make that disaster far worse. to intensify Western media haven’t cannot be an yet paid extensive attention, so don’t feel option neglectful if much of this is news to you. But the magnitude of the suff ering and a larger geopolitical struggle could raise the profi le of the Yemenis and their plight. The war in Yemen has become a proxy confl ict pitting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both longtime US allies, against Iran, which Riyadh accuses of actively helping the Houthi rebels. Saudi and Emirati fi ghter jets, meanwhile, have been behind a relentless bombing The ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker’ comic has been developed into an animation series that’s been viewed more than 3 billion times, according to Tencent. campaign against Houthi rebels that has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. The United States is not a bystander in this crisis. Washington provides intelligence, munitions and aerial refuelling for Saudi and United Arab Emirates fi ghter Anger in the United States of America jets. Since taking offi ce, President Donald Trump has sought even closer ties with Riyadh. So it comes as no By Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng consolidating wealth and passing promote investment, employment, and led many instead to try to divert popular surprise that the Trump administration has said little Hong Kong privilege along at the expense of other economic growth, which will cause the anger toward immigrants, China, and about the peril Yemen’s people face. people’s children.” Stewart shows wealth to “trickle down” to the rest of trade (including with close allies). As a But the US can’t aff ord to stay silent as the suff ering that in the mid-1980s, the share of society. result, the entire world is now caught any blame today’s populist US wealth held by the bottom 90% of In fact, tax cuts for the rich merely in an escalating protectionist war that intensifi es. If it does, it risks accusations of complicity rebellion in the West on the population peaked at 35%; three further entrench their advantages, nobody will win. in the horror unfolding in Yemen. “The US already has the far right, which has decades later, they owned just 20%, exacerbating inequality. It is true that, historically, internal blood on its hand in the Yemen crisis,” The Washington Mwon votes by claiming with almost all of what they lost going Making matters worse, the poor pay contradictions and imbalances have Post quoted US Representative Ted Lieu, as saying to be responding to working-class to the top 0.1%. The 9.9% between more indirect taxes (on land, real estate, often led to interstate confl ict. grievances, while stoking fear and these two groups – what Stewart calls and consumer goods), and the bottom But that is not inevitable. earlier this month. “We should not make them even promoting polarisation. the “new American aristocracy” – 20% of the US population pays more Rather, the outcome depends on the bloodier.” But, in blaming leaders who have comprises what used to be called the than twice what the top 1% pays in state quality of leadership. The Trump administration has enough sway with the seized on popular anger, many overlook middle class. taxes. In the US, for example, George Saudi and Emirati regimes to make the case for a halt to the power of that anger itself, which In 1963, the 90% would have had to Add to that the challenges posed Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the off ensive on Hodeida. If pushy diplomacy doesn’t is aimed at elites whose wealth has increase their wealth sixfold to reach by automation and robotisation, not Franklin D Roosevelt succeeded in skyrocketed in the last 30 years, while the level of the 9.9%; by the 2010s, they to mention increasingly frequent and strengthening their country because work, the US has another card to play – shutting down that of the middle and working classes would need 25 times their wealth to intense natural disasters, and it is not they recognised the need to address military support that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi need to has remained stagnant. reach that level. hard to see why so many people are so internal divisions in the light of fi ght the Houthis. Two recent analyses get to the heart Much of the US population is furious. America’s core values, global position, The alternative, allowing this mass starvation to of the issues at play, particularly in the working harder than ever, yet has According to Stewart, the 9.9% is and long-term goals. United States, but also in the rest of the suff ered a decline in living standards, “the staff that runs the machine that US President Donald Trump has intensify, cannot be an option. – Tribune News Service world. compounded by high levels of funnels resources from the 90% to the exploited popular anger to advance his In his new book Tailspin, the household debt and, in many cases, lack 0.1%,” happily taking its “cut of the own interests. journalist Steven Brill argues that of health insurance. spoils.” But the inequality that this But he did not create that anger; To Advertise US institutions are no longer fi t for The top 10% have easy access to machine generates can have serious America’s elites have spent decades purpose, because they protect only the higher education that will enable their consequences, as it spurs social doing that, creating the conditions for a [email protected] few and leave the rest vulnerable to children to have the same privileges discontent and, as we are seeing in the fi gure like Trump to emerge. Display predatory behaviour in the name of the as them; the bottom 90% must work US today, erratic policymaking. Now that Trump is in charge, the free market. much harder to cover sky-high tuition As the Austrian historian Walter conditions of the 90% are set to 44466621 44418811 According to Brill, this is an upshot fees, and typically graduate with a Scheidel argues, inequality has deteriorate further. – Project Syndicate of America’s meritocracy: the best heavy debt burden. historically been countered through Classified and brightest had the chance to climb The top 10% receive fi rst-rate war, revolution, state collapse, or zAndrew Sheng is Distinguished Fellow 44466609 44418811 to the top, but then essentially pulled medical care; the bottom 90% often do natural disaster. at the Asia Global Institute at the the ladder up behind them, as they not, or must pay an exceptionally high Avoiding such a dramatic event University of Hong Kong and a member Subscription captured democratic institutions and price for it. would require the 10% to do a much of the UNEP Advisory Council on used them to entrench special privileges Taxation is supposed to level the better job of advancing the interests of Sustainable Finance. [email protected] for themselves. playing fi eld. the 90%, in terms of income, wealth, Xiao Geng, President of the Hong The author Matthew Stewart But US Republicans have long pushed welfare, and opportunities. Kong Institution for International agrees, arguing that, “the meritocratic to lower taxes on the rich, arguing Yet a combination of economic Finance, is a professor at the University © 2018 Gulf Times. All rights reserved class has mastered the old trick of that lowering marginal tax rates will myopia and political polarisation has of Hong Kong. Gulf Times Friday, June 29, 2018 15 COMMENT Europe’s Roma back in the fi ring line

By Tessa Dunlop mass industrialisation obliterated London a way of life that was dependent on cottage industry and local knowhow. Forget distorted stories about Gypsy- ey, Gypsy woman! Look scammers who build shiny palaces, the into your crystal ball,” vast majority are on the breadline. In sang 1960s crooner Ricky neighbouring Bulgaria (home to about HNelson while pondering his half a million), anti-Roma attacks are romantic future. Few of today’s Roma increasingly commonplace. So some are under any illusions about what lies head west. “We make more money ahead, and it’s certainly not romantic. begging here,” they’ll tell you, and Comments from Italy’s new Interior that’s not saying much. Minister, Matteo Salvini, have caused The community is averse to the a minor stir. He’s commissioned a census, so there’s no defi nitive Roma “census” of Italy’s 130,000 Roma population statistic for Britain, ditto and hopes to expel the foreign ones, France (it is thought there are about admitting he’s “unfortunately” 200,000 in the UK, perhaps more powerless to do anything about Italy’s in France), yet there are frequently indigenous Roma. newspaper campaigns against their Salvini’s pronouncements are presence, stories written about Fagin’s nothing new. Eight years ago the children and pickpockets, and they president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, are subject to overzealous police raids. targeted Romanian and Bulgarian Western society generalises about Roma for deportation. Then the outcry the Roma and vilifi es them in a way felt greater and the international we wouldn’t dare refer to any other backlash was considerable. (Sarkozy minority. Back in Romania, people feel ended up bribing the Roma back to sullied by the impact this diaspora has Romania at the cost of €300 a head, on their national image. “They’re Tigani, but the plan backfi red when many not Romanians”, is the common refrain. took the money and left France, only It’s the 21st century – even 10 to return.) Right now we’re living in years ago there was hope that might strange times. What hope does an mean progress and compassion, but unsavoury Italian minister – the same in today’s Europe the discourse has man who has prohibited the docking hardened. Having allowed refugees of migrant rescue boats from the into Germany, even Angela Merkel Mediterranean – have of shocking the Ghettoised and regularly subjected to forced evictions, the lot of the Roma is dismal. is fi ghting for her political life, and world when President Trump has only Britain is leaving the EU thanks in part just been shamed into prohibiting the Roma have no middle-class voice, the European mainland. The chattel of European, (the EU’s 6mn Roma mainly welcoming them any time soon. Along to an anti-immigration campaign. separation of immigrant families at no homeland, no leverage on the landowners and the church, Romanian live in the former communist states). with the Jews, they were targeted in What hope is there? Sadly, Italy’s America’s southern border? international stage. Yet they’re the gypsies were only fully emancipated There, they bump along at the bottom of the Holocaust but those who survived Salvini knows this. His comments That’s especially true of the Roma, European Union’s biggest ethnic in 1855-56, just before Wallachia and society. A century ago, Romania’s Jews had nowhere to go. They are citizens, against Europe’s most vulnerable a group nobody seems to care about. minority. Moldavia united to form Romania. Then were refused citizenship and persecuted but in name alone. Ghettoised and community were calculated to increase Can anybody even recall the violence Society has become good at the incentive was less compassion and for simply existing; today, the Roma have regularly subjected to forced evictions, his popularity. Some Roma will be against their community in Viktor retrospective remorse recently, and more a fear of condemnation on the taken their place. the lot of the Roma is dismal. I know, expelled, they might head back to Orbán’s Hungary; ongoing attacks rightly so. Britain regularly apologises for international stage. Once home to proportionally the I’ve spent time with them. Childbirth eastern Europe, and the problem that eventually led to a 2017 European our role in the slave trade and Germany Romania has the largest Roma largest Jewish minority in Europe, really is often their only means of will get worse. Castigating Trump court of human rights verdict that has worked hard at coming to terms with population in Europe, with some there are now scarcely 3,000 Jews in receiving legitimate government on Twitter is easy, but, closer to ruled that the state’s failure to act the holocaust. But how much collective estimates putting it above 2mn. Like Romania – most went to America and handouts and with just 9% of Roma home, isn’t it time we faced up to the appeared to legitimise the abuse? sympathy do the Roma get? They were Sarkozy, Salvini mainly targets those later Israel. But the Roma don’t have an children fi nishing high school, their uncomfortable truth that no one wants The last whipping boy of Europe, the the last offi cially enslaved people on who are Romanian and certainly eastern Israel, and America certainly won’t be prospects are bleak. Communism’s the Roma? – Guardian News & Media

The battle for Germany’s soul Three-day forecast TODAY for Germany is whether it should go closed down when Turkey agreed national problems on its smaller Maximum Temperature : 420c By Carl Bildt Minimum Temperature : 320c Stockholm it alone or continue to seek common to host refugees in exchange for EU neighbours, because it would European solutions. fi nancial aid. recognise that their security is SATURDAY In this new age of identity politics, And though the refugee situation in synonymous with its own. Maximum Temperature : 390c ne year after the death of the dispute over immigration has the Central Mediterranean continues The attack on Kohl’s vision Minimum Temperature : 310c former German Chancellor become a battle for Germany’s soul. to make headlines, the number of by nationalist forces could have SUNDAY Helmut Kohl, the country Last September, the Alternative für migrants crossing from North Africa ramifi cations well beyond the Maximum Temperature : 410c Ohe led for 16 years seems to Deutschland (AfD) became the fi rst has actually declined sharply over the immigration debate. Minimum Temperature : 310c far-right party since the 1960s to enter past year. At stake is not just Germany’s be struggling with whether or not to Fisherman's forecast follow his legacy. the German Bundestag. Still, immigration has remained a role in Europe, but also the future of For Kohl, Germany’s history and Then, after the formation of the hot-button issue across Europe, owing European integration. to the shock of the initial refugee A Germany that abandons Kohl’s WARNING central position in Europe meant current grand coalition government, Inshore : Expected low horizon- that it must never pursue national the AfD became the main opposition crisis, which still reverberates in legacy would suddenly become a tal visibility at places greatness as an end in itself. party. voters’ minds. source of deep uncertainty, rather than Offshore : Nil To his mind, the country with more And now it is pushing the CSU Politics is about perceptions, not a bastion of stability at the centre of WEATHER neighbours than any other country further to the right in the lead-up raw numbers. Europe. Inshore : Hot daytime with slight on the continent should not throw its to Bavaria’s regional election this And populist and nationalist parties With the West already under attack dust to dusty at places weight around. October. have managed to paint a picture of a by the likes of Russian President with some clouds and humid by night Rather, it should uphold an idea of These developments in Germany are Europe under siege. Vladimir Putin and US President Offshore : Slight dust at first Europe in which all countries, large in keeping with trends across Europe, In the current political Donald Trump, that is the last thing becomes misty at and small, feel equally secure. where nationalist and populist parties environment, if Germany were to send Europe needs. places later

But since the start of the refugee have made electoral gains by rejecting refugees back to Austria, then Austria To be sure, the immediate crisis WIND crisis in the fall of 2015, Kohl’s vision EU-level solutions and calling for would almost certainly send them will most likely be resolved through Inshore : Northeasterly-Easterly of Europe has been under attack. closed borders. back to Italy. a series of imperfect compromises 07 KT Offshrore : Northeasterly 03-12/15 While Chancellor Angela Merkel has In Italy, the nationalist League But that would take the EU back – both at the EU level and within KT continued to press for co-operative party appears to be calling the to the same situation that it was in Germany’s governing coalition. Visibility : 4-8 KM/ 2 KM migration and refugee policies within shots in its new governing coalition before, when asylum seekers were That, after all, is often how the the European Union, a growing chorus with the populist Five Star not being registered on arrival in EU works, as in the case of the Greek Offshore : 1-3/ 4 FT Italy, and when it was all the more sovereign-debt crisis. of voices in Germany is advocating Movement. Around the region unilateral action that would most And in Austria, the far-right difficult to turn them back at other The matter is unlikely to end there. Weather likely come at the expense of other EU Freedom Party is exerting its infl uence borders. German wavering on Kohl’s legacy Weather tomorrow Max/min member states. on migration policies as a member of Inevitably, the situation would is a trend that is larger than any single today Max/min Sunny 42/27 On the surface, the debate the governing coalition. degenerate into a volatile mess, with issue. Baghdad Cloudy 43/26 Sunny 44/32 consuming Germany nowadays is If one were to listen to these parties’ EU member states pitted against one But how the refugee debate plays Kuwait City Sunny 44/33 Sunny 39/31 about whether to turn away asylum rhetoric, one might think that refugees another, and populists commanding out in the coming weeks will reveal Manama Sunny 39/29 P Cloudy 36/31 seekers who have already been and migrants are pouring into Europe centre stage. much about Germany’s future Muscat Sunny 36/30 Sunny 39/27 registered in other EU countries, as unhindered. Kohl’s Germany, by contrast, would direction – and about the future of Tehran Sunny 37/24 the federal interior minister, Horst But while the Balkans did become consider the European dimension Europe. – Project Syndicate Seehofer of the Christian Social Union a highway for asylum seekers fl eeing of its policies and shape them (CSU), has advocated. Syria for Germany and Sweden in 2015 accordingly. zCarl Bildt is a former prime minister But at a deeper level, the question and 2016, that route was eff ectively It would not simply dump its and foreign minister of Sweden. Live issues Our kids fi ght constantly about everything Around the world Weather Weather By John Rosemond meaningless.” Obviously, the shoe prior generations understood, “every downhill and eventually becoming an today Max/min tomorrow Max/min Tribune News Service fi ts. In your situation, does the child child has a mind of his own.” Good avalanche. Athens Sunny 29/20 Sunny 31/21 who apologises truly think he or she parenting does not guarantee a good For this reason, I nearly always Beirut P Cloudy 27/23 P Cloudy 27/23 was in the wrong? No. When siblings outcome (and vice versa). Neither recommend that parents not engage Bangkok P Cloudy 33/26 S T Storms 33/26 UESTION: We have a have confl ict, each of them thinks he/ of your children are interested in in trying to determine who did “it,” Berlin M Sunny 29/21 M Sunny 22/11 boy, 6, and a girl, 9, who she has been the victim of some insult a good relationship. They each who did what to whom, who said Cairo Sunny 35/22 P Cloudy 36/23 fi ght constantly about or off ence from the other. It takes want their own way. You and your what, who looked at the other sibling Cape Town Rain 14/11 Showers 16/13 Qeverything under the much more maturity and wisdom than husband want a good relationship. a certain way, etc. Hold both children Colombo S T Storm 29/26 S T Storm 29/26 sun. My husband and I have a good is possessed by 6- and 9-year-old Each of you is willing to sacrifice equally accountable for disrupting Dhaka T Storms 31/26 T Storm 32/26 marriage. We hardly ever have a children to see things from another self-interest to that end. It will be the peace of the household. The fi rst Hong Kong S T Storms 29/27 S T Storms 29/27 serious disagreement about anything, person’s point of view. Is the apology, more than a few years before your disruption of any given day earns both Istanbul S T Storms 25/22 Sunny 27/22 so it’s hard for us to understand what therefore, sincere? No. I suppose an kids are able to do the same – to put kids an hour in their respective rooms Jakarta P Cloudy 32/24 S T Storms 33/24 has led to our kids’ inability to get argument could be made that it is relationship above self – with one (or separate rooms if they share space). Karachi I T Storms 34/29 P Cloudy 33/29 along. In any case, their fi ghting has “good practice,” but that’s idealistic another or anyone else. That’s the warning shot. The second London M Sunny 29/13 Sunny 29/13 become very draining, especially to thinking. The fact is that these forced When parents “referee” sibling infraction earns them confi nement for Manila P Cloudy 32/26 S T Storms 31/26 me because I homeschool and am apologies are probably making matters confl icts, things always go from bad to the remainder of the day – without Moscow P Cloudy 28/15 M Sunny 28/16 with the children much more than worse. worse. Concerning any given confl ict electronic entertainment of any sort – New Delhi P Cloudy 40/31 I T Storms 37/28 is my husband. When they fi ght, I What has led to your children’s situation, the sibling identifi ed as the and early bedtime. New York M Sunny 25/18 M Cloudy 25/21 generally try to fi gure out which of inability to get along is their innate villain seeks to “even the score,” and In my experience, consistent Paris Sunny 28/14 Sunny 30/17 them was in the wrong and make him self-centredness. You and your the sibling identifi ed as the victim enforcement of this consequence- Sao Paulo M Sunny 28/16 P Cloudy 26/16 or her apologise. My husband thinks husband have obviously modelled seeks to make yet another score. Mind based programme will begin to show Seoul T Storms 24/20 P Cloudy 29/21 that’s not helping. I just think it’s good what a properly loving relationship you, the role of victim is addictive. good results within a couple of weeks Singapore I T Storm 29/26 T Storms 29/25 practice. What do you think? looks (and sounds) like. But It seeks constant satisfaction. Under and cure within a couple of months Sydney M Sunny 16/08 S Showers 16/12 A: A much wiser man than I once parenting is not deterministic. That the circumstances, the villain-victim (albeit occasional enforcement may Tokyo Clear 29/22 Cloudy 29/24 said, “Forced apologies are morally is the Freudian myth. As parents of paradigm is akin to a snowball rolling still be necessary for up to six months). Gulf Times 16 Friday, June 29, 2018 QATAR QU, Aman to conduct study on impact of family separation

atar University (QU) and Maadeed praised the role of Aman pervisor and agreement co-or- the Protection and Social in the society saying the organi- dinator Dr Kaltham al-Ghanim, QRehabilitation Centre sation plays an eff ective role in such agreements in the fi eld of (Aman) have signed an agree- raising the community’s aware- social studies are necessary to ment to collaborate on scientifi c ness. “Such agreements will serve develop the role of community studies about the disintegration to strengthen collaboration with institutions and their ability to of some families as a result of the other institutions, to invest the provide appropriate services blockade, it was announced. The resources and eff orts, and to ex- and support. “The role played by studies will also include violence change information,” she noted. these community centres such QU Board of Regents vice chairman Sheikh Dr Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani was joined by QU president Dr Hassan al-Derham in against children and adolescents “This leads to maintaining accu- as Aman underlines the ability honouring DI 2018 winners. and its relationship to parenting. racy of the research by avoiding of society to meet the needs of The agreement was signed by the duplication of topics, and to diff erent groups and to increase QU vice president for Research identify the causes of problems in family cohesion, which is one of and Graduate Studies Profes- order to solve them based on ac- the pillars of Qatar National Vi- sor Mariam al-Maadeed and curate scientifi c results.” sion 2030 and the development Aman executive director Man- Al-Saadi said the blockade im- strategies,” al-Ghanim said. sour al-Saadi, in the presence posed against Qatar has caused “Such agreements carried out of Qatar Foundation for Social many negative eff ects on family by researchers from QU also in- Work CEO Amal al-Mannai relationships. “The most impor- dicate the increasing role of the DI 2018 winners and other offi cials from QU and tant is family rupture, which is the university as an academic insti- Aman on Wednesday. Both par- core of Aman’s work. This agree- tution recognised for its compe- ties had signed an agreement in ment will serve to conduct, in tence and expertise in the prepa- June 2017 to carry out a scientifi c co-operation with QU, a one-of- ration of studies and research in study on ‘Family Rift: Its causes, its-kind scientifi c study to dis- the community and its ability to eff ects and consequences on cuss the eff ects of the blockade on meet national needs and support children victims’. family disintegration,” he added. development plans,” al-Ghanim feted in ceremony In her remarks, Professor al- According to researches su- added. tudents who won the Alyafei and Suhila Tariq Zaf- celebration of creativity.” and to prepare them for the la- fi rst place in recently fer (College of Engineering), A panel of trained judges, bour market,” he said. Sheld scientifi c and im- Sameera Hamad al-Muraikhi ranging from educators to en- “High national competencies provisational challenges in the (College of Business and Eco- trepreneurs and engineers, as- play a key role in overcoming Destination Imagination (DI) nomics), Sumaya Tariq Zaff er, sess the solutions presented by the challenges resulting from 2018 were honoured yester- Raja Mohamed Aderdor and the participants, and are being the current blockade imposed day by Qatar University’s (QU) Al-Anqa Alharbi (College of scored on a variety of elements, against Qatar. They also con- Board of Regents vice chair- Arts and Sciences), and Fatima including originality, work- tribute to the fulfi lment of the man, Sheikh Dr Abdulla bin Ali al-Mansouri (College of Educa- manship, presentation, and future national development al-Thani. tion), represented QU in the DI, teamwork. QU director of stu- plans,” Dr al-Yafei noted. He was assisted by QU presi- competing in the scientifi c and dent services and activities Dr Al-Muraikhi said: “We are dent Dr Hassan al-Derham, improvisational challenges. Abdulla al-Yafei congratulated proud of this achievement. We vice presidents, offi cials and As the culminating event of the winning students saying: will establish a club to transfer staff of the university during the DI season, Global finals “We are proud of our students’ our knowledge and expertise to the ceremony. provides finalists the chance achievement.” other students in order to pre- The DI fi nals, which took to showcase their top-scoring “The university is not lim- pare them to participate in in- place in Tennessee, US, from innovative solutions in the ited to classroom learning. At ternational competitions.” May 23 to 26, witnessed a areas of science, technology, QU, the students are engaged in “This achievement under- strong competition between engineering, arts and math- programmes and activities that lines the importance of invest- Qatar, China and the US, ac- ematics (STEAM), as well as contribute to enhancing their ing in human forces to build a cording to QU. service learning and improvi- practical, leadership, problem- nation and achieve success,” Professor Mariam al-Maadeed and Mansour al-Saadi exchange documents at the ceremony as Amal The students, Aldana Ali sation, “at the world’s largest solving and teamwork skills, added al-Mansouri. al-Mannai looks on.