BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1 Qatar beat Syria to clinch fi rst INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 2-8 COMMENT 26, 27 GCC currency pegs REGION 9, 10 BUSINESS 1-7, 13-16 points in WC expected to remain 18,128.66 10,431.25 50.84 ARAB WORLD 10, 11 CLASSIFIED 8-12 -200.38 +26.05 -0.51 INTERNATIONAL 12–25 SPORTS 1 – 12 in place: Samba qualifi ers -1.09% +0.25% -0.99% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978

WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10239 October 12, 2016 Muharram 11, 1438 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Emir receives message from Putin

In brief New law to curb REGION | Warning Pentagon hints at possible retaliation The Pentagon yesterday warned that whoever fired missiles at a US Navy destroyer and an smoking accompanying ship off the coast of Yemen on Sunday had done so “at their own peril”, language that suggested preparations for possible retaliation. Two shore-launched cruise missiles, which US off icials believe were designed to hit vessels in Qatar at sea, were fired at the US Navy ships from Houthi-controlled Article 2 of the new law bans the According to Article 3, all importers, territory of Yemen, just north of the HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday received a verbal message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, plantation of tobacco in Qatar, in stockists and dealers of tobacco, its de- Bab al-Mandab strait. Page 10 dealing with bilateral relations and issues of common concern, particularly the situation in Syria and what is happening in the addition to its manufacturing or rivatives or cigarettes shall abide by the city of Aleppo, and the need to find a solution to the Syrian crisis. The message was conveyed by Russia’s special envoy for the manufacture of its derivatives, provisions of this law and its executive BRITAIN | Technology Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, during a meeting with HH the Emir at the Emiri Diwan. HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed either by blending it with other regulations. bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also met with the Russian envoy for Syria. They reviewed developments in Syria and exchanged substances, or packaging it in Article 4 says that each importer of Driverless cars views on ways to solve the crisis. any form for any purpose such as tobacco or its derivatives or cigarettes hit British streets circulation and sale shall notify the Minister of Public Driverless vehicles carrying Health at least one week ahead of the passengers took to Britain’s streets person who smokes while driving arrival of a fresh cargo in the country. for the first time yesterday in a a vehicle which has an occupant This is to facilitate the inspection of the landmark trial which could pave the Aunder the age of 18 is punish- consignment when it arrives and make way for their introduction across the able with a maximum fi ne of QR3,000, sure that it complies with the approved country. The compact two-seater Security arrangements for according to Article 18 of Law No 10 specifi cations. cars trundled along a pedestrianised of 2016 on the control of tobacco and Any such imported cargo shall not be zone in Milton Keynes, north of its derivatives, issued by HH the Emir allowed into the country without the prior London, in a trial by Transport Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani written approval of the Ministry of Public Systems Catapult. Page 17 Doha cycling championship yesterday. Health indicating the compliance of the The new law abolishes the stipulations goods with the approved standards. GERMANY | Security of Law No 20 for 2002 on the control of Importers are to be given a grace pe- laborate security arrangements tobacco products and its derivatives and riod of 30 days to return or replace the Berlin airports have been made for the ongoing any stipulation that disagrees with it. cargoes that violate provisions of Law on high alert EUCI Road World Championships Smoking is banned inside closed No. 10 of 2016. Berlin’s airports remained on a high – Doha 2016, the Ministry of Interior public places specifi ed by a decision of Article 5 gives the Minister of Pub- security alert yesterday just one day (MoI) has stressed. the Minister of Public Health, according lic Health the power to issue a decision after the arrest of a terrorist suspect Qatar is hosting the event, which to Article 12. Also prohibited, is the sale specifying the permitted level of nico- who security off icials say was features around 1,000 racers from 75 of tobacco, its derivatives or cigarettes tine and tar in a single cigarette. As per planning an attack on air transport countries and more than 5,700 par- at a distance of less than 1,000 metres Article 6, each packet of tobacco, its hubs in the German capital. Page 18 ticipants from national federations, from schools and other education or derivatives or cigarettes must show an delegations, technicians and journal- training centres. expiry date, and the warning and images AMERICA | Weather ists, until October 16. Article 1 defi nes public place as a place of its harmful eff ects determined by the The cycling meet has been “wit- prepared or designated for receiving the department concerned at the Ministry Floodwaters inundate nessing great success across all as- public or any special category of people of Public Health. North Carolina towns pects”, with the championship opera- for any purpose, whereas a closed public Article 7 bans the import, display, Authorities in North Carolina helped tions room working round the clock to place is any public place that has fi xed or sale, distribution or manufacture of residents evacuate yesterday ensure the security of participants and movable walls and a partial or complete chewable tobacco, in any form or under as floodwaters inundated some fans, according to a press statement ceiling. any name. Similarly, the import, dis- towns and threatened others in the from the MoI. Elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure the security of participants Article 16 stipulates penalties like a play, sale, distribution, or manufacture aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, Captain Engineer Faisal Ali al-Hin- and fans. maximum jail term of six months and of electronic cigarettes and shisha, and which killed 14 people in the state. zad from the Communications De- a maximum fi ne of QR100,000, or any simulators of smoking tools are banned. Page 13 partment said the operations room is during the championship and follow Mubarak al-Faihani from the Techni- such penalty for violating articles 2, 3, 4, The new law also prohibits the import, working in full swing and is linked to up on cycling routes. Besides, a number cal Aff airs Department of NCC said the 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 of this law. display, sale, distribution, manufacture security patrols through the 4G LTE of mobile stations have been set up to department had taken part in prepara- Article 2 of the law bans the planta- and consumption of sweika, a widely network of the MoI. The network pro- avoid any interruption in the network. tions for a mini operations room for the tion of tobacco in Qatar, in addition to popular tobacco product in the region. vides “very high-speed impenetrable Meanwhile, First Lieutenant En- cycling championship, featuring all the its manufacturing or the manufacture of According to Article 17, every in- data transfer (voice, image and video) gineer Rashid Fahad al-Ali from the necessary systems to stay connected its derivatives, either by blending it with dividual who smokes tobacco, its de- safely and confi dentially” and is also MoI’s Security Systems Department with the National Command Centre. other substances, or packaging it in any rivatives or cigarettes or allows this at well-equipped to provide unlimited said the department is working round Further, Lieutenant Fahad Ahmad form for any purpose such as circulation closed public areas, where smoking is services that suits the needs and re- the clock to ensure the security of all al-Mulla and Lieutenant Engineer Mo- and sale. The import, manufacture or banned, shall be punishable by a fi ne quirements of the security authori- by monitoring the event through lat- hamed Eissa al-Shuraim from Lekhwiya use of the automated cigarette vending of not less than QR1,000 and not more ties, including the tracking of patrols, est surveillance cameras and control stressed that the Communications and machines are banned. than QR3,000. service calls, live broadcast for patrols rooms. He explained that as part of Operations Department of Lekhwiya along with media exchange between the “Talaa” project, the department was prepared to support the Operations patrols and systems, it was observed. has supplied and installed surveil- Rooms and meet the needs of Lekhwiya Tobacco sellers ‘have right to check identity card of buyers’ First Lieutenant Engineer Amir Ab- lance cameras with the latest tech- forces through communication devices, dul Hadi al-Soufan al-Ahbabi said the nology specifi cations and which are cameras and other security systems. Sellers have the right to check the identity the law, which is enforced and shall be Communications Department has connected to the National Command In order to secure big events and card of buyers to ensure those under published in the offi cial gazette, explains equipped a number of bikes and other Centre (NCC), in collaboration with championships, arrangements are 18 do not have access to tobacco, its that the excuse of the seller of being vehicles of the Internal Security Force the Central Operations Department made for external operations to pro- derivatives or cigarettes, according to Law unaware of the real age of the purchaser (Lekhwiya) and Traffi c Department and Traffi c, to monitor major streets vide necessary guidelines in collabo- No 10 of 2016 on the control of tobacco at the time of the purchase shall not be with the MoI’s 4G LTE network, which and observe crimes and violations. ration with the authorities involved in and its derivatives. Article number 8 of accepted. Page 28 is to be used for security monitoring First Lieutenant Engineer Abdullah the event. G7 sets common cyber-safety guidelines for fi nancial sector

Reuters nancial systems,” according to the ment perspective. Fed vice chairman institutions continually update their Washington guidelines agreed by G7 fi nance minis- Stanley Fischer said in a statement defences. Second hacker group targets SWIFT users ters and central bankers. the guidelines would address the The goal of the guidelines was also The guidelines, which offi cials de- weakest links in global cyber secu- to get fi rms and regulators across the Cyber-security fi rm Symantec Leibbrandt last month told customers he Group of Seven industrial scribed as non-binding principles, rity. world to approach risks the same way, Corporation said yesterday that a second about three hacks and warned that cyber powers yesterday said they had were in a three-page document posted Cyber thieves have targeted large fi - according to the Treasury offi cial. hacking group has sought to rob banks attacks on banks are poised to rise. SWIFT Tagreed on guidelines for protect- on the webpages of G7 government nancial institutions around the world, “If we get this right we will drive a using fraudulent SWIFT messages, the and Symantec have not identifi ed specifi c ing the global fi nancial sector from cy- agencies. including America’s largest bank JP- common lexicon,” said the offi cial, who same approach that yielded $81mn victims beyond Bangladesh Bank. ber attacks following a series of cross- The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, Morgan, as well as smaller players like asked not to be named. in the high-profi le February attack on Symantec said that most Odinaff attacks border bank thefts by hackers. France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Ecuador’s Banco del Austro and Viet- Governments are also supposed to Bangladesh’s central bank. Symantec occurred in the US, Hong Kong, Australia, Policymakers have grown more United States. nam’s Tien Phong Bank. notify one another about joint threats said that a group dubbed Odinaff has the UK and Ukraine. Symantec said it worried about fi nancial cyber secu- US Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah The US Federal Reserve’s internal se- and cooperate to contain computer infected 10 to 20 Symantec customers would share technical information about rity in the wake of numerous hacks of Bloom Raskin told reporters in a tel- curity staff detected more than 50 cyber system breaches, while fi rms are en- with malware that can be used to hide Odinaff with banks, governments and SWIFT, the global fi nancial messaging ephone briefi ng that G7 offi cials had breaches between 2011 and 2015, with couraged to share information and ask fraudulent transfer requests made over other security fi rms. The company in May system, including an $81mn theft in surveyed their existing cyber secu- several incidents described as “espio- for help when they need it. SWIFT, the messaging system that is a said it believed the Bangladesh heist was February from the Bangladeshi central rity practices and identifi ed potential nage.” “Maintaining trust and confi dence lynchpin of the global fi nancial system. carried out by a group known as Lazarus, bank’s account at the New York Fed- shortfalls. The guidelines released yesterday in- in the fi nancial sector signifi cantly Symantec’s research provided new which was also responsible for attacks eral Reserve. A Treasury official later said the struct governments to ensure that they improves when entities and public insight into ongoing hacking that has on SWIFT customers in Southeast Asia “Cyber risks are growing more dan- guidance was an effort to encour- police their own cyber-security readi- authorities have the ability to mutu- previously been disclosed by SWIFT. as well as the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures gerous and diverse, threatening to age regulators and firms to approach ness as well as that of companies they ally assist each other,” according to the SWIFT chief executive Gottfried Entertainment. disrupt our interconnected global fi - cyber security from a risk-manage- regulate, and that public and private guidelines. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 QATAR

Indian envoy presents credentials WISE takes 17 ambassadors part in China conference

he World Innovation transferred to Summit for Education T(WISE), a member of Qa- tar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Devel- opment, recently participated in the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ foreign ministry Alliance (YEA) China Summit and Global Innovators’ Confer- ence in Beijing. The YEA supports a global network of young entrepre- neurs and organisations in headquarters collaborating, deepening, and advancing entrepreneurial ac- QNA Mohamed al-Derbasti (Para- the agreement on co-operation tivities. The two-day gathering Doha guay). in the fi ght against crime be- included a wide ranging pro- 10 Sheikh Jassim bin Moham- tween Qatar and Bulgaria signed gramme of sessions exploring ed bin Saud al-Abdulrahman al- in Doha on May 17. new horizons in technology, H the Emir Sheikh Tamim Thani (Bahrain). Another ratifi cation document e-commerce, social enterprise, bin Hamad al-Thani yes- 11 Ali Khalfan Ali al-Mansouri endorses a draft agreement on en- music and the arts. Hterday issued Emiri Deci- (Austria). couraging and protecting mutual Elyas Felfoul, chief of ad- sion No 45 of 2016, transferring 12 Abdullah Nasser Abdullah investments between Qatar and ministration of WISE took ambassadors to the headquarters al-Humaidi (Tunisia). Mali, which was signed in Bamako. part in a panel focusing on the of the Foreign Ministry. 13 Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad HH the Emir also issued a ratifi - education and training that The ambassadors who are bin Mohamed al-Thani (France). cation document endorsing a draft young entrepreneurs need in transferred are: 14 Khalid Fahad Fahad al- agreement on economic, com- order to grow and lead their 1 Abdulrahman Mohamed Khater (Netherlands). mercial and technical co-opera- businesses. Suleiman al-Khulaifi , ambassa- 15 Mohamed Jaham Abdulaziz tion between the two countries. The G20 YEA called for dor extraordinary and plenipo- al-Kuwari (United States). In addition, HH the Emir issued governments to implement a tentiary to Germany. 16 Faisal Abdullah Hamad Ab- a ratifi cation document endorsing number of provisions, includ- 2 Adel Ali Mohamed al-Khal dullah al Henzab, Qatar’s perma- a draft agreement on co-operation ing supporting entrepreneur- Fakhroo (Portugal). nent representative to the United in the policing fi eld between Qa- ship education to address the 3 Ibrahim Mohamed Abdul- Nations Offi ce in Geneva. tar and South Africa, which was challenge of youth job creation, rahman al-Abdullah (Kenya). 17 Saud Abdullah Zaid al- signed in Doha on May 19, 2016. eliminating bureaucratic im- 4 Sheikh Ali bin Jassim bin Tha- Mahmoud (Russia). HH the Emir also issued a HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani yesterday received a copy pediments to small and medium ni bin Jassim al-Thani (Belgium). HH the Emir also issued sev- ratifi cation document endors- of the credentials of new Indian ambassador to Qatar Kumaran Periasamy. The foreign minister enterprises, and encouraging 5 Saad Mohamed Saad al-Ku- eral other decrees. ing a draft memorandum of un- wished the ambassador success in his work and hoped for more progress and prosperity to university-business partner- baisi (Romania). Decree No 38 of 2016 ratifi es derstanding on co-operation bilateral relations between the two countries. ships to support accelerator and 6 Salim Abdullah Sultan al- the foundation agreement of the in the fi eld of environment and funding programmes. Jaber (South Africa). Asian Infrastructure Investment preserving it between Qatar and 7 Abdulla Hussein Mohamed Bank signed in Beijing on June 29, Oman, which was signed in Mus- Jaber (Hungary). 2015, and shall have the force of cat on June 2, 2016. 8 Abdulrazak Abduljalil Ab- law in accordance with Article 68 The Emir also issued Law No dulghani al-Abdulghani (Spain). of the Constitution. 10 of 2016 on the control of to- 9 Abdullah Mohamed Ibrahim Decree No 40 of 2016 ratifi es bacco and its derivatives. Low visibility expected in some places today

Al-Kuwari arrives in Beijing ow visibility is expected in some likely in some places at first, followed by University and Doha airport areas, Al places in the early hours today, the a relatively hot day with slight dust at Rayyan, Al Khor, Wakrah, Mesaieed and HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al- yesterday arrived in Beijing as invitation of Chinese Minister of L Qatar Met department has said. times. other places. The minimum, on the other Kuwari, adviser at the Emiri Diwan part of his tour to introduce his Culture Luo Shugang, al-Kuwari Visibility may drop to 2km or less dur- Slight dust is also expected in off shore ar- hand, was 20C in Al Khor and Ghuwayri- and Qatar’s candidate to the post electoral programme under the will meet a number of senior ing this period, according to the weather eas at times. ya. of director-general of the United theme ‘Towards a New Start for Chinese off icials in the fields of report. The maximum temperature recorded Today, the mercury level is expected to Nations Educational, Scientific and Unesco.’ culture and education. He will also The detailed forecast for inshore areas in the country yesterday was 40C in rise to 39C in Doha, Wakrah, Mesaieed and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), During the visit in response to the meet academics and intellectuals. says hazy to misty/foggy conditions are Turayna, followed by 39C in the Qatar Al Khor. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 3 QATAR Rota, AFIF join hands to promote education

each Out To Asia (Rota) work for co-operation with the cal work among other aspects of organisations to fi nd eff ective dren in primary and secondary has signed a memoran- aim of supporting marginalised mutual co-operation in a bid to solutions to the challenges fac- schools. Rdum of understanding communities and crisis-prone improve the quality of educa- ing disadvantaged communi- “At Rota, we achieve this goal (MoU) with AFIF Charity for countries with low educational tion. ties. by meeting the real needs of three years to promote co- indicators. Rota’s executive director Essa “Rota works closely with benefi ciaries, taking advantage operation and joint initiatives Joint action will include the al-Mannai said the agreement partners as well as local chari- of available local expertise, en- that aim to engage children and organisation of educational ac- refl ects the organisation’s keen- ties and non-governmental or- couraging the exchange of best youth in quality education pro- tivities and fundraising events ness to co-operate with part- ganisations in addition to other practices, equipping people grammes. as well as the promotion of ners, volunteers, local commu- stakeholders in order to provide with the required skills and ap- The MoU establishes a frame- knowledge sharing and analyti- nities and non-governmental quality education for all chil- plying innovative, practical and sustainable solutions to address the obstacles that prevent young people from accessing quality education during crisis periods,” he added. AFIF Charity CEO Ibrahim bin Ali said Rota, one of the most distinguished organisa- tions, particularly in the fi eld Al-Mahmoud with Prayut Chan-ocha in Bangkok. of education, can assist AFIF in establishing an integrated educational system and fi nding alternative solutions to provide disadvantaged children access Deputy PM meets to education. “AFIF has implemented a sustainable educational model through philanthropic invest- Thai prime minister ments in education. Through our partnership with Rota’s QNA topics aimed at consolidating experienced professionals, we Bangkok co-operation and promoting di- seek to develop fi eld work in tar- alogue among the Asian nations geted communities.” to confront the common chal- Founded in 2012 as a non- E the Deputy Prime Min- lenges. government organisation, AFIF ister and Minister of The summit is a regional plat- Charity has provided assistance, HState for Cabinet Aff airs form for exchanging views, ideas in partnership with local charity Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid and suggestions on various polit- organisations in more than 20 al-Mahmoud has met with Thai- ical, economic and security topics countries, to deprived commu- land’s Prime Minister Prayut of interest to the continent. nities in the areas of education, Chan-ocha in Bangkok. HE the Deputy Prime Minister health and economic empower- During the meeting, they re- and his delegation left the Thai ment. viewed bilateral relations and capital yesterday. They were seen Rota, a member of Qatar ways of developing them in vari- off by Thai Vice Minister of For- Foundation for Education, Sci- ous fi elds. eign Aff airs Virasakdi Futrakul, ence and Community Develop- Al-Mahmoud was in Bangkok Qatar’s ambassador to Thailand ment, is working to empower to attend the second summit of Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulrahman communities through the pro- the Asia Co-operation Dialogue bin Mohamed al-Thani, and offi - vision of quality basic and sec- which ended on Monday. cials from the Thai foreign min- Off icials of Rota and AFIF Charity sign the MoU. ondary education in Asia. The summit discussed several istry and the Qatari embassy. Gulf Times 4 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 QATAR

FM meets Russian envoy on Syria HMC to hold workshops on mental

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani yesterday met Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, currently on a visit to the country. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed developments in health services Syria and exchanged views on means of settling the crisis.

he Hamad Medical Cor- The training will cover at- counsellor employed by large poration (HMC), in col- titudes towards mental health fi rms to help support staff . Tlaboration with the and information on common “Mental Health First Aid Ministry of Public Health and mental illnesses and their can be an important technique Ties reviewed Maudsley International, is hold- treatments. Through role play helping the public to identify, ing a series of interdisciplinary and simulation, participants understand and respond ap- workshops on mental health fi rst will develop competencies in propriately to signs of mental aid until November 24. screening for common mental illness including knowing when Mental Health ‘First Aid’ health problems. to refer them to Mental Health for all is a core element of this The workshops are an im- Services. We urge anyone inter- year’s World Mental Health Day portant part of the Qatar Na- ested in this fi eld to learn more theme. tional Mental Health Strategy, about mental health condi- The workshops are meant to which aims to reduce the men- tions,” Woodruff said. facilitate the delivery of basic tal health treatment gap and “Psychological fi rst aid is practical psychological support ensure people who will benefi t not a substitute for treatment to someone in distress or ex- from mental health services ac- and psychological problems periencing a personal crisis by cess the right care, in the right and mental illnesses are very individuals who may be called place, at the right time. complex and not obvious to the upon to off er help. HMC’s Mental Health Serv- untrained eye so people should “HMC is working to increase ice is working closely with not delay in seeking special- awareness and knowledge of communities in Qatar as well ist care. The sooner someone mental health and illness and as local and international is seen and treated the sooner supports initiatives that help partners to encourage more they can recover. Delays to to build a general understand- awareness and understanding such treatment tend to reduce ing of mental health conditions of the misconceptions, chal- the overall outcome, so peo- and care options,” said Prof Pe- lenges and opportunities for ple should not delay seeking ter Woodruff , chair and medi- professional care that exist professional help,” Woodruff cal director of HMC’s Mental here for people with mental added. Health Service. health conditions. Dr Suhaila Ghuloum, sen- The workshops are designed This fi rst aid covers both ior consultant psychiatrist at to enhance the mental health psychological and social sup- HMC’s Mental Health Serv- screening and intervention port which can be provided not ice said there is a growing re- Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto abilities of clinical staff . just by trained professionals alisation in healthcare sectors Yasay Jr met Qatar’s ambassador Ali bin Participants will gain ad- but by anyone who may be in around the world that a better Ibrahim al-Malki in Manila yesterday. vanced skills and knowledge, a position to off er support to understanding of mental health The meeting reviewed bilateral relations preparing them to function as someone in need – a teacher, among other staff outside the and means of boosting them. They also a resource for others in their community worker, police of- mental health fi eld results in discussed issues of mutual interest. clinical area. fi cer, paramedic or perhaps a better care for patients.

Kuwait envoy presents credentials

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani received a copy of the credentials of Hafeez Mohamed Salem al-Ajmi as ambassador of Kuwait to Qatar. HE the Foreign Minister wished the ambassador success in his mission, and wished bilateral relations between the two countries further progress and prosperity.

Real Estate deals cross QR746mn

The total trading value in real estate sales contracts registered with the Land Registry Department of the Ministry of Justice during the period October 2-6 reached QR746, 754,294. According to the weekly bulletin issued by the Department, the real estate sales included empty plots of land, houses, flats, stores, a residential complex and multi-use buildings. The sales were distributed at the municipalities of Doha, Umm Salal, Al Khor, Al Dhakira, Al Rayyan, Al Dhaayen and Al Wakrah. Qatar to attend health ministers meet in Riyadh Qatar will participate in the third GCC Health Ministers Committee meeting to be held in Riyadh. The health ministers meeting and the preparatory meeting will take place today and tomorrow. HE Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari will head Qatar’s delegation. The meeting will discuss a number of topics, including developing a financing system that achieves a higher health coverage in GCC members. It will also examine strategic co-operation between GCC members with Jordan and Morocco in the health fields.

Gulf Times 6 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 QATAR New GU-Q community classes open on Sunday eorgetown University in Registration for the courses, courage students to be analyti- off ered independently at regional Qatar (GU-Q) is preparing which are available in Arabic cal, contextual, historical, and universities. Gto welcome a new round and English language, is open global in their engagement with “I hope students will learn of lifelong learners to its campus until the end of the fi rst week of religion,” said Dr Akinade, who something new about the main ahead of the start of community classes. teaches theology at GU-Q. challenges and motives that classes on October 16. One of the courses, titled “Re- A new course, “Women in the drive Gulf women in their con- Al-Tamimi with Nazarbayev. A number of classes, which ligion, Peace and Violence”, will Gulf”, will be taught by Qatar temporary quest for being,” said cover a range of academic and be off ered for the third time by University Associate Professor al-Fassi. professional development topics, GU-Q Professor Akintunde Aki- Hatoon al-Fassi. Classes will be held at GU-Q’s have already reached maximum nade. It explores the development of Education City campus and each capacity, less than a month after The course aims to enable stu- activism that leads to the right class will be convened once a Kazakh registration opened to the public. dents to understand themes of to education, work and public week from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. The fall session will run for reconciliation and forgiveness, as participation for women in the All residents and nationals of six weeks and features a diverse well as the perspectives on non- modern era in the six countries of Qatar over the age of 18 can take president mix of courses, including “The violence and peace, in various the Gulf. part, regardless of the level of Growing Importance of Risk religious traditions. Dr al-Fassi, an advocate for previous study. Management in Today’s World”, “Beyond the rhetoric of war women’s rights whose research More information is available receives “Introduction to Writing: Short and polemics, the course enables interests include the social, eco- on the Community Education Stories”, “How to become a So- students to understand the en- nomic and political participa- Programme website: https://cee. cial Entrepreneur”, and “Arabic during contributions of religion tion of women in the Gulf, will georgetown.edu/community- envoy’s Dr Akinade Formal Writing”. to peacemaking and justice. I en- be teaching a topic that is rarely education/fall-2016-classes Dr al-Fassi credentials

QNA RAF receives QR275,000 donation through LuLu Ramadan drive Astana

he Sheikh Thani Bin Abdul- port the cause of charity and had RAF agreement has been “yielding azakhstan’s President lah Foundation for Humani- signed an agreement to donate up to exemplary results for the last three Nursultan Nazarbayev Ttarian Services (RAF) has 10% of sales proceeds for 400 food years and has become a role model Khas received the creden- received a cheque for QR275,000 and non-food items during the holy for other commercial organisations”. tials of Ahmed bin Ali al-Tamimi raised through LuLu Hypermarket month of Ramadan. Mohamed Althaf, director for as ambassador of Qatar to Kaza- Group-Qatar region’s “Buy and Do- The campaign ran at all LuLu out- LuLu Group International, said: khstan. nate” campaign during the Ramadan lets in Qatar. “The ‘Buy and Donate’ campaign, The ambassador conveyed the season. LuLu saw this as a “great oppor- which ran for the third consecu- greetings of HH the Emir Sheikh The cheque was handed over to tunity to accelerate their continu- tive year, has got overwhelming re- Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to RAF chief executive Dr Mohamed ous eff orts towards corporate social sponse from customers. LuLu Group Nazarbayev, and his wishes for Salah Ibrahim and executive devel- responsibility and humanitarian will continue to strengthen the ties more progress and prosperity to opment manager Ahmad Fakhroo services”. of co-operation with RAF in their the government and people of by LuLu Group regional director Last year, it donated a sum of humanitarian and charitable cause Kazakhstan. Shaijan M O and regional manager QR250,000 to RAF during Ramadan. in the future as well.” For his part, Nazarbayev en- Shanavas P M. Ibrahim expressed delight at the LuLu had launched an extensive trusted the ambassador with his In a press statement, LuLu Group partnership with LuLu Hypermar- media campaign for the promo- greetings to HH the Emir, and his Dr Mohamed Salah Ibrahim of the RAF receiving the cheque for QR275,000 from Shaijan said it had been associating with ket Group. tion through newspapers, radio, and wishes for further development and Shanavas in the presence of RAF and LuLu Group off icials. RAF for the past three years to sup- Fakhroo noted that the LuLu- SMS. and prosperity to the govern- ment and people of Qatar. He wished the ambassador success in his duties, assuring him of support required to ad- vance bilateral relations between Domasco unveils new logo the two countries in diff erent fi elds.

l-Futtaim’s Doha Marketing Services Company (Domasco), CMC recommends Aa leading multi-brand company in Qatar, has unveiled its new logo and guidebook by visual brand identity. transport ministry The new logo emphasises the com- pany’s forward-thinking with an ob- A comprehensive guidebook jective to achieving sustainable growth, of all pedestrian crossings, driving innovation and focusing on underpasses and flyovers in the customer engagement. The new logo of Domasco. country, whether along existing Domasco has a diversifi ed portfolio roads or those planned for the representing some of the world’s most “Through Al-Futtaim’s inherent future, should be prepared visible and award-winning brands, customer-centric approach and con- by the Ministry of Transport including Honda, Volvo, GAC, CMC, tinued focus on business excellence, we and Communications (MoTC), MasterGas, Carrier, Aftron, Raymond add signifi cant value to creating long- Central Municipal Council (CMC) Weil, Titan, Police, Gant, and Casio. standing relationships based on loyalty members have suggested. Al-Futtaim, the UAE’s leading re- and mutual trust,” Cordery said. “Our At its biweekly regular session gional trading house with signifi cant new logo better communicates what yesterday, the council urged interests across the world including in Domasco, as part of Al-Futtaim, stands the ministry to give priority to the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australa- for today. It is part of the corporate re- pedestrians in the design of sia and Europe, is present in 31 coun- branding eff ort that supports the pur- roads in the country to provide tries. pose, values and culture for the future them with a safe and convenient “By combining Domasco’s brand eq- of Al-Futtaim.” option. uity in Qatar with the global recogni- Domasco managing director Faisal The CMC also recommended tion of the Al-Futtaim ‘arrowhead’, we Sharif said the company can better greater focus on the exit look to continue to off er our customers serve customers by leveraging the com- and entry points of public the best of both,” said Al-Futtaim re- bined resources and assets of a strong, places, such as parks and gional director Colin Cordery. unifi ed business under one corporate shopping centres, to provide The idea behind having a unitary identity as it clearly strengthens the pedestrians with more safety and brand is that it will help create a co- association with Al-Futtaim’s core val- convenience. herent identity that communicates the ues. Also, road designs should take company’s values and unifi es the brand “Even as we are part of the global into consideration the needs identity across all group companies. change towards innovation and value of people with special needs, In the new logo, the “D” has been creation we have embarked upon, cus- including bridges and pedestrian replaced by the Al-Futtaim arrowhead tomer satisfaction and quality remains crossings. and refl ects the modernised brand our top priorities,” he said. “Doing Also, there should be emphasis whilst maintaining its rich history. business with Domasco and its brands on areas with relatively high The new identity incorporates the will continue to be a great experience population density, such as blue colour of Al-Futtaim and features and we will always leverage our tech- Thumama, Old Airport, Al Hilal, a modern, material design. nological edge to serve them better.” Nuaija, Najma, and others.

MSF, QRCS strengthen co-operation

high-profi le Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors With- Aout Borders) delegation met offi cials of the Qatar Red Crescent So- ciety (QRCS) yesterday to explore op- portunities for further co-operation and discuss issues of common con- cern. MSF is an international, independ- ent, medical humanitarian organisa- tion that delivers emergency aid to people aff ected by armed confl ict, epi- demics, natural disasters, and exclu- sion from healthcare. MSF and QRCS off icials at the meeting. QRCS executive director Fahad bin Mohamed al-Nuaimi, together with ventions done jointly with MSF in sev- of confl ict-aff ected communities, uti- communications director Issa al-Ishaq eral countries like Syria and Iraq. lising the QRCS’s work on the ground and disaster management head Aiham The talks also covered potential in Syria and Somalia, will help improve al-Sukhni, welcomed MSF president ways to strengthen the two organisa- the situation in both countries. Dr Meguerditch Terzian and UAE re- tions’ partnership and the latest up- The QRCS has already worked with gional offi ce executive director Mo- dates of humanitarian situation in MSF Holland under a memorandum of hamed Bali. Syria and Iraq. understanding (MoU) to open a pae- Al-Nuaimi gave an overview of the The QRCS and MSF offi cials believe diatric department at QRCS’s surgical QRCS’s relief and development inter- that meeting the most stressing needs hospital in Tell Abyad, Syria. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 7 QATAR

Foreign Ministry official meets German team

HE the secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi met yesterday with a delegation from the defence committee of the German parliament. The delegation is currently paying a visit to the country. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and ways of developing and enhancing the prospects for cooperation, in addition to issues of common concern. Preparations under way for Qur’an competition

reparations are under ternational category of the Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohamed tests worldwide together in way in Doha to host Sheikh Jassim Bin Moham- Bin Thani Qur’an Contest in Doha, the statement noted. Pthe largest compe- ed Bin Thani Noble Quran November 1993, the contest The contest has wit- tition for top winners of Contest) are 39 contestants has witnessed “continuous nessed, over a span of 22 Qur’an contests worldwide, from diff erent countries progress as well as a quali- years, the participation of organised under the auspic- and continents who have tative surge”. 30,286 contestants in the es of the Sheikh Jassim Bin been top winners in the The issuance of Cabinet memorisation and recita- Mohamed Bin Thani Holy most notable Qur’an con- Decree No.24 of 2013 en- tion of the Noble Qur’an, Qur’an Contest. tests worldwide. hanced the contest’s human including 18,749 males and The “Winner of Win- The fi rst-place winner potential and funds and 11,537 females. Also, the 22 ners” contest will take place will receive QR1mn, the made it possible to expand successive editions of the from November 27 to De- highest ever in the history it to accommodate new cat- contest – since 1994 - have cember 6, coinciding with of Qur’an contests, accord- egories and multiple classes hosted 16,410 Qatari citi- the celebration of Qatar Na- ing to a statement from the of society as well as build an zens, both male and female. tional Day. organisers. innovative bridge by host- Over its previous editions, Expected to take part in Since the issuance of a ing the fi rst global Qur’an the contest has given out re- the fi rst session of “Win- Cabinet Decree to form the contest that brings the top wards in excess of QR50mn, ner of Winners” (the in- organising committee of the winners of Qur’an con- the statement adds. Gulf Times 8 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 QATAR Many children learn how to use fi rst aid atar Red Crescent So- of fainting, suff ocation, wound, dialling; and mutual fi rst aid International Federation of Red ciety’s (QRCS) medical burn, fracture, and nosebleed; for suff ocation, choking, and Cross and Red Crescent Societies Qaff air sector yesterday prevention of road accidents; nosebleed. The students were in 2000 and has been celebrated trained dozens of children on fi rst aid for facial and jaw inju- also trained in the content and annually ever since. how to apply fi rst aid to mark ries; and fi rst-aid kit. use of fi rst-aid kit. The celebration aims to raise World First Aid Day at Katara – The session’s second part Instructional fi rst aid print- awareness of how fi rst aid can the Cultural Village’s Childhood involved a practical demon- outs, fi rst-aid kits, and gifts were prevent injuries and save lives Cultural Centre (CCC). stration of how to perform handed over to the students. every day and in crisis situa- The event, observed by the cardiopulmonary resuscita- World First Aid Day is a glo- tions, as well as to promote the international community un- tion (CPR); emergency number bal observance instituted by the accessibility of fi rst aid. der the theme “First Aid for and by the Children,” was attended Hamad al-Thani and other off icials at the opening of the store. by 50 students and 10 teachers from Al Duhail and Al Rashad Primary Schools, as well as some employees of CCC. QRCS’s instructional team included Dr Ahmed Idlibi, head of health education; and Dr Wa- Vodafone opens laa Nabil, a fi rst-aid trainer and training co-ordinator. The event aims to promote QRCS’s image as a community development and health educa- store in Umm Salal tion provider, as well as to raise awareness about how to help odafone Qatar has rolled located beside Khreitiyat QPost cording to the enterprise sales injured people, particularly out another global retail branch in front of tea time, will director. children. Vstore concept at its new be easily accessible to the resi- “We have further plans to QRCS seeks to invest in chil- store in Umm Salal Mohamed dents of Al Kheesa and Umm continue to grow our presence dren’s ability to apply fi rst aid area, taking its nationwide re- Salal Ali as well. and roll out more stores across for their own benefi t and their tail footprint to a total of 26 Speaking at the offi cial open- the country to ensure true dif- peers in the future, and to in- outlets. ing of the store, Vodafone Qatar ferentiation,” he stressed. spire adults from diff erent walks The company’s Umm Salal enterprise sales director Hamad With a clear and simple set- of life. The training is in line store features a complete retail al-Thani said the new stores are ting, Vodafone’s store at Umm with QRCS’s strategy of making transformation to refl ect Vo- designed as a “customer jour- Salal Mohamed boasts some fi rst aid a general practice “by dafone’s world-class look and ney’’ and aim to give customers unique features such as an Iconic everyone and for everyone.’ feel. a brand new shopping experi- Top 10 Table with a choice of the In the fi rst part of the ses- The new store also off ers ence based around convenience, latest best-sellers, a Hero Prod- sion, children received a lecture customers a vibrant retail am- transparency, simplicity and uct zone, and an accessory panel on the basics of fi rst aid, which bience besides the ease and speed. featuring the latest mobile and aims to save lives and control simplicity that is in line with Vodafone has also thorough- tablet accessories. complications. It include di- any other store Vodafone cus- ly improved all features of the The store’s Tech Zone and alling the emergency number tomers will visit across the in-store model to deliver sin- consultation pods provide cus- properly to ensure quick ar- world. gle-mindedly the best advice tomers with advice and rival of medics; helping cases QRCS staff trains a student on how to apply first aid. Vodafone’s Umm Salal store, and service it can provide, ac- support. Najma store Roundtable discusses JASTA law faces action for he approval of Justice of the provision of JASTA law with Against Sponsors of Ter- the rules and principles of Trorism Act (JASTA) law international law. by the US Congress has come at The programme featured an in- poor hygienic a time when the region under- troductory session on ‘Highlights goes geopolitical tensions and on the JASTA Law’ provided by challenges, an academic said LAWC teaching assistant and ex- he health control control, necessary legal yesterday. ternship programme co-ordinator section of Doha procedures are being taken. Dr Abdullah Baabood, director, Fatma Almesleh. TMunicipality has The health control in- Gulf Studies Centre (GSC) at QU It also included discussion ses- spotted a shopping cen- spectors at the municipali- College of Arts and Sciences (QU- sions moderated by LAWC as- tre in Najma area storing ty issued a violation report CAS), was speaking at a roundta- sociate dean of academic aff airs foodstuff in the base- to a restaurant at Al Sadd ble on JASTA law, hosted by QU and professor of International ment of the building in Area for serving food unfi t College of Law (QU-LAWC). Law Dr Yasser Alkhakailah, and unhygienic condition. for human consumption. The event aimed to raise com- presented by LAWC professor of Dr Abdullah Baabood, Dr Yasser Alkhakailah, Dr Ibraheem al-Anani, and Dr Hassan al-Sayed at the roundtable The workers were keen The eatery also manipulated munity awareness on the basic public international law Dr Ibra- yesterday. to keep the storage area the expiry dates. principles of international law, heem al-Anani and QU Social and hidden and ensured none Meanwhile, the pub- and to identify the various frame- Economic Survey Research Insti- and ‘JASTA Law from Constitu- tional law provisions’, ‘Waiver of in the region (political view)’. would easily identify it. lic cleanness section at works of international relations tute director and LAWC associate tional law perspective’. sovereign immunity and its con- Dr Baabood added that the The inspectors found that Al Shamal Municipal- at the regional and international professor of constitutional law Dr Other discussed topics includ- sequences’, ‘JASTA law and con- event aligns with GSC’s mission storing food in such a place ity has conducted a cam- level. Hassan al-Sayed. ed ‘Sovereign immunity theory stitutional procedures’, ‘JASTA to address issues that are related to causes contamination to paign to remove a number It brought together academ- They discussed issues related to and its importance in interna- law and its conformity with in- changes on the regional and inter- the products. of abandoned boats and ics, practitioners, researchers and ‘Bending legal force of JASTA law tional law’, ‘Legal binding eff ect ternational obligations’, and ‘The national level, and which have an Since the store violated water scooters. The cam- students to discuss the adequacy in International law perspective’ of JASTA law in light of interna- impact of JASTA law on alliances impact on the Gulf countries. law no 8 for 1990 on the paign covered a number of regulation of human foods beaches. Special off ers launched TII calls for paper Pilot model on Honda motorbikes submissions for year 2016

onda Qatar has announced new standards for adventure bikes translation conference reacalled special off ers on Honda with its unique, light and agile com- Hmotorbikes as the “riding bination of power and handling”. season gains momentum”, accord- Faisal Sharif, managing director he Translation and Inter- professionalism enables, and has he Ministry of Econ- ing to a press statement from Doha at Domasco, said: “Right in time preting Institute (TII) at Ha- historically enabled, people, soci- omy and Commerce, Marketing Services Company for the riding season, we are off er- Tmad Bin Khalifa University’s ety and nations to achieve success Tin collaboration with A restaurant at Al Sadd was found serving food unfit for (Domasco). ing these machines with an amaz- (HBKU) College of Humanities and over the centuries. Only recently Doha Marketing Services human consumption. Customers can benefi t from ing cash-back off er. Coupled with Social Sciences (CHSS) is now ac- have we begun to understand the Company (Domasco), has cash-back deals as well as a free the fun ride, we are presenting an cepting submissions for the eighth signifi cance of good translation and announced the recall of Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone and immersive mobile virtual reality annual International Translation interpretation, and this year’s con- Honda Pilot model year Samsung Gear VR virtual reality experience to our customers. With Conference. The conference will be ference seeks to highlight the role 2016 over a potential de- headset with every new purchase. the Samsung Gear VR virtual re- held on March 27 and 28. it plays in preserving knowledge, fect in the function of the “Honda has always worked to ality headset and Galaxy S7 Edge Submissions of abstracts should transferring ideas, shaping histori- combination meter warning produce motorcycles and scoot- smartphone, they can now enjoy be between 250 to 300 words, in cal events and bridging communi- lights. ers that inspire dreams and ex- endless hours of entertainment.” either English or Arabic with the ties in the past, present and future.” The MEC said the recall pand horizons. In the wide range Talking about Domasco’s special applicant’s institutional affi liation, The thematic areas for the con- campaign comes within the of Honda, from touring to cruiser, off er, Greig Roff ey, head of sales contact information and a short bi- ference include, but are not lim- framework of its ongoing ef- off -road to sport, and scooter to and marketing for Honda, added: ography of no more than 100 words. ited to, the role of translators and forts to protect consumers ATV, there is a bike for everyone “We off er a wide range of Honda The deadline for submission of pa- interpreters in the community; and ensure that car dealers to begin their own adventure,” the motorbikes, each with unique styl- pers is October 30 and applicants achievements in history, linguis- follow up on vehicle defects statement noted. ing, and they all are sales leaders in will be notifi ed by November 27. tic innovation and language poli- and repairs. This year’s new edition to the their respective categories. Come TII anticipates submissions from cies, and translator and interpreter The MEC will co-ordinate range is the “much-anticipated” into our showroom this season to academics, practitioners and com- education and training. with the dealer to follow up Africa Twin. The CRF1000L Africa discover the models that best suit munity members who are invested, Suggested sub-topics to explore on the maintenance and re- Twin is an “impressive bike that sets your lifestyle.’’ through theory or practice, in ad- include the role of interpreters pair works and communicate dressing the theme of this year’s and translators in confl ict zones, with customers to ensure that conference, “21st Century Demands: political, ethical, and economic the necessary repairs are car- Translators and Interpreters toward facets of narration, community ried out. Human and Social Responsibilities.” interpreters in healthcare, legal, The MEC has urged all This year’s conference seeks to and activist settings, technology customers to report any highlight the crucial role transla- as challenge and opportunity, and violations to its Consumer tors and interpreters play in build- assessment of terminology tools Protection and Anti-Com- ing capacity within contemporary such as databases, and AVT and mercial Fraud Department society with a focus on Qatari interpreting technology. through the following chan- society and other societies in the Papers submitted that highlight nels: Hotline: 16001, e-mail: Arab world more broadly. the contributions of translators [email protected], Twitter: Dr Amal al-Malki, founding and interpreters in enhancing hu- @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: dean of CHSS, noted, “Transla- man and social development in MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile tors and interpreters are often un- Qatar and the region will be given app for Android and IOS: Models from the Honda bike range. sung heroes. Their dedication and a special focus. MEC_Qatar Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 9 REGION 11 confi rmed cholera cases in Sanaa: WHO

AFP All confi rmed cases came from der control.” Sanaa one neighbourhood, Saleh said, Thousands of families fl eeing adding that no deaths had so far Yemen’s war are living in camps been reported from the disease. outside Sanaa, where conditions he World Heath Organisa- Saleh also said that “143 cases could lead to the spread of cholera, tion said yesterday it had of severe diarrhoea” were admit- including through contaminated Tconfi rmed 11 cases of chol- ted to hospitals in other provinces, food or water. era in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, after including 49 in southwestern Taiz The WHO and the UN’s chil- the UN announced an outbreak of and 42 in Hodeida, by the Red Sea. dren agency Unicef said on Friday the disease last week. All those cases have tested that cholera cases had been re- “So far, we have 17 suspected negative for cholera, according to ported, with eight cases recorded cholera cases, and 11 that are con- another WHO expert present at by health authorities in Sanaa. fi rmed,” WHO expert Amro Saleh yesterday’s press briefi ng. Unicef Yemen representative told reporters in the rebel-held Saleh said he was “confi dent Julien Harneis said that the out- capital. that the epidemic will remain un- break “adds to the misery of mil- lions of children in Yemen.” The WHO warned that the scarcity of drinkable water has worsened the hygiene situation An artist’s impression of The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour that would be the world’s tallest tower. in Yemen, fuelling a marked in- crease in cases of severe diar- rhoea, in particular among people displaced from their homes in the centre of the country. Unicef said that cholera, a dis- Dubai starts building the ease that is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, could prove fatal in up to 15% of untreat- ed cases. world’s ‘tallest tower’ The agency says nearly 3mn people in Yemen are in need of immediate food supplies, while Reuters and Dubai Holding, the investment ve- The world’s tallest tower is the Tokyo 1.5mn children suff er malnutri- Dubai hicle of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mo- Sky Tree, a 634-m-high broadcasting, tion, including 370,000 endur- hamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum – will be restaurant and observation tower. ing very severe malnutrition that completed in 2020, Dubai’s government Dubai, a major tourism and entertain- weakens their immune system. ubai said on Monday it had started said. ment centre, is continually laying plans The confl ict between Yemen’s building what would be the world’s Its statement did not say how high the for new attractions. government and Iran-backed Dtallest tower, another record for tower would be nor how much it might Its new tower, part of a plush new resi- rebels escalated last year with the the city that is already home to the high- cost. dential area next to a waterfront, will intervention of a Saudi-led Arab est skyscraper – the Burj Khalifa. Guinness World Records defines a tow- feature several garden-themed observa- coalition in support of President The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour – a er as a structure in which less than 50% of tion decks, it said. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. joint venture between Emaar Properties the total height is usable floor space. The Burj Khalifa is 829.8m (2,722ft) A Yemeni girl is given food by her mother at a hospital in the Much of the country’s infra- capital Sanaa yesterday. The World Heath Organisation said it had structure, including schools and confirmed 11 cases of cholera in Sanaa, after the UN announced an hospitals, has been destroyed by outbreak of the disease last week. the 18-month old confl ict.

First Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi ready by end 2017

Reuters Abu Dhabi

he fi rst Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi will be Tready by the end of 2017, a businessman over- seeing the project said yes- terday. The temple is being built on land donated by the gov- ernment of Abu Dhabi, capi- tal of the United Arab Emir- ates. Hindus currently travel to Dubai, the UAE’s tourism and commercial hub more than 100km (60 miles) away, to perform prayers. The government an- nounced it was allocating land to build the temple dur- ing a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hundreds of thousands of Indian Hindus live in Abu Dhabi. Indian billionaire busi- nessman B R Shetty, who is chairman of the Temple Co- ordination Committee, said: “The UAE is a great example of religious tolerance with people of diff erent nationali- ties living in harmony here.” The temple project will be funded privately, he said. The government has allo- cated 20,000sq m of land in Al Wathba, just outside Abu Dhabi city. Indians make up the larg- est expatriate group, about 2.6mn or 30% of the UAE population, according to fi gures from the Indian em- bassy in Abu Dhabi. Dubai also has a Sikh Gurdwara and both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have Chris- tian churches. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will be the chief guest at India’s annual Re- public Day parade next year. Gulf Times 10 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 REGION/ARAB WORLD US threatens Erdogan tells retaliation for attack Abadi: ‘Know on warships your place’ AFP of navigation and puts US Navy Washington ship at risk understands they do AFP ture Mosul from the Islamic State allowing its troops to remain on so at their own peril,” he said. Istanbul (IS) group. both Iraqi and Syrian soil. The United States backs a Sau- Ankara maintains an estimated The Iraqi parliament has la- he United States threat- di-led coalition that is fi ghting 2,000 troops in Iraq – around belled the Turkish troops an “oc- ened yesterday to retaliate the Houthi rebels and the forces urkish President Recep 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp cupying force”. Tfor a missile attack that of former Yemeni president Ali Tayyip Erdogan yesterday in northern Iraq training local Erdogan yesterday rejected missed a pair of US warships in Abdallah Saleh. Tsnubbed Iraqi Prime Min- fi ghters who will join the battle the Iraqi premier’s demand for a the Red Sea off the coast of Yem- The US military provides intel- ister Haider al-Abadi’s criticism to recapture Mosul, according to withdrawal. en. ligence and air-refuelling for Arab of the presence of Turkish troops Turkish media reports. “The army of the Turkish re- “Counterstrike, retaliatory coalition aircraft conducting air in Iraq ahead of a planned opera- The Iraqi premier’s spokesman public has not lost its quality to strike: I can tell you that those strikes against the rebels. tion to retake Mosul city, urging later yesterday said Erdogan was a degree to receive instructions things are things that we are But US air forces are not direct- him to “know your place”. “pouring oil on the fi re” with his from you,” he said. looking at,” said Navy Captain ly involved in air strikes in Yemen. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech to a “He is insulting me personally. remarks and showed Ankara was The Turkish-Iraqi tensions risk Jeff Davis, a Defence Department According to the Pentagon, the gathering of supporters in the Green Square in Khartoum You are not my interlocutor, you not serious about resolving the complicating plans for an op- spokesman. missiles targeted the USS Mason yesterday following the declaration of an extension of a cease- are not at my level,” Erdogan told a dispute. eration to save Mosul, which was The US Navy has said the mis- and the USS Ponce, which were fire. Bashir extended by two months a unilateral ceasefire in meeting in Istanbul, in comments Turkey’s responses had made captured by IS militants in 2014. siles, which fell short of the USS patrolling near each other. three regions, where fighting between government forces and addressed to Abadi. an issue of law and security into The Turkish president has ex- Mason, a destroyer, and the USS A Houthi spokesman denied rebels has killed tens of thousands of people. “It’s not important at all how a “problem of a personal nature”, pressed his country’s willingness Ponce, an amphibious warfare the US ships were targeted. you shout from Iraq. You should Saad al-Hadithi said. to join the battle under a simi- ship, were fi red within an hour The Mason took countermeas- know that we will do what we Baghdad has repeatedly called lar understanding it had reached of each other on Sunday from ures after detecting the fi rst mis- want to do,” he added. on Ankara to pull out its troops, for the recapture of Jarabulus in territory in Yemen controlled by sile, which fell into the sea. “Who’s that? The Iraqi prime with Abadi warning the Turk- Syria. Houthi rebels. No countermeasures were tak- Sudan national minister. First you know your ish deployment risked a regional Turkey’s army has launched “We want very much to get to en when the warships detected a place!” war. an ambitious operation in Syria, the bottom of what happened,” second missile fi red about an hour Turkey has said its troops The dispute between Ankara backing opposition fi ghters who said Davis. “We’re going to fi nd later. It also fell into the sea. would remain in Iraq despite and Baghdad fl ared up after the recaptured the town of Jarabulus out who did this and we will take The incident came just days document Baghdad’s growing anger ahead Turkish parliament extended a near the Turkish border from IS action accordingly.” after a warship from the United of a planned operation to recap- government mandate by one year, militants in September. “We will make sure that any- Arab Emirates was hit by rocket body who interferes with freedom fi re in the Red Sea. enters into force

QNA unanimity in Sudan’s history Khartoum as well as serious and sincere desire to achieve lasting sta- bility. Two journalists udanese President Bashir reiterated his call Omar al-Bashir an- for all reluctant parties to join Snounced that the na- the national document and tional dialogue’s document stressed that the document is bailed pending has entered into eff ect start- open for all to, noting that re- ing yesterday. jecting it means taking a stance Addressing crowds in against the wishes of the Suda- Khartoum state on the occa- nese people, something that, sion of receiving the outputs he said, requires fi rmness. trial in Oman of the national dialogue, Ba- President Bashir said that shir said Sudan has entered October 10 will be a national AFP was released on bail in August, a new era characterised by occasion celebrated every Muscat according to RSF. national unity and the coher- year as a symbol of national Their newspaper remains shut ence of the internal ranks. unity and strength of national after the court last month upheld The Sudanese president decision. n Omani court has re- a government order to perma- stressed that the country has He assured the Sudanese leased two journalists nently close it. room for everyone by laying people that the coming phase Apending an appeal after The trio were arrested in con- the foundations of consen- will see big positive develop- they were given jail sentences nection with their coverage of a sus and compromise, which ments for the sustainability for undermining the state, a col- case of alleged judicial corrup- achieved an unprecedented of stability. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivering a speech during the opening ceremony of 9th league said yesterday. tion, RSF said. Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul yesterday. Azamn newspaper editor-in- Based on the charge sheet read chief Ibrahim al-Maamari and out in court, the journalists were Iranian woman faces imminent execution his deputy Yousef al-Haj – each convicted of disturbing the pub- sentenced to three years in jail lic order, undermining the pres- A rights group urged the Iranian her a minor by international legal – were freed late Monday, said tige of the state and misusing the judiciary yesterday to quash a death standards. She said she had been Zaher al-Abri, a third defendant Internet, sources said. sentence against a 22-year-old woman physically abused by her husband. who had already been released. Haj was convicted for publish- accused of murdering her husband, who “This is an extremely disturbing They paid 2,000 rials ($5,195) ing an interview with a senior she said had repeatedly abused her. case,” said Philip Luther, research each to be bailed pending the judiciary offi cial even after being Zeinab Sekaanvand was arrested in and advocacy director for the Middle hearing on November 7, he said. ordered not to do so. February 2012 and convicted of her East and North Africa at Amnesty Paris-based media rights Maamari was the fi rst of the husband’s murder after what London- International. group Reporters without Borders three to be arrested on July 28, based Amnesty International called “Not only was Zeinab Sekaanvand (RSF) said the court had reduced two days after the newspaper a “grossly unfair trial”. She faces under 18 years of age at the time of the bail amount from 50,000 published an article which ac- execution by hanging as soon as the crime, she was also denied access rials ($130,000) each. cused public offi cials of corrup- tomorrow. to a lawyer and says she was tortured Abri was jailed for one year and tion and interference in judicial Sekaanvand was just 17 when she after her arrest by male police off icers fi ned 1,000 rials ($2,600), but he decisions. allegedly committed the crime, making through beatings all over her body.”

Israeli army tears down residence of Palestinian prisoner

DPA down the walls manually, Ramallah a process that took several hours, the Maan news agen- cy reported, adding that 10 he West Bank home of young men were injured after a Palestinian prisoner clashes broke out during the Taccused of helping plot demolition. the 2015 killing of an Israeli The army had previously pair in front of their children destroyed the homes of two was destroyed yesterday by other Palestinians involved in the Israeli army, a spokesman the attack. said. Human rights groups have The army issued video slammed the demolition of footage of soldiers knocking the homes of attackers by Is- down the walls of an apart- rael as collective punishment, ment belonging to Amjad illegal under international law. Eleiwi, who is serving two life Israel insists that the pun- terms plus 30 years in jail for ishment deters potential at- his involvement in the attack tackers who are willing to on a West Bank road near the sacrifi ce their own lives to kill northern West Bank settle- Israelis in “acts of resistance,” ment of Itamar. by making them aware their A gunman had opened fi re families would pay the price on an Israeli vehicle, leaving and lose their homes. the two adults dead and injur- Israeli forces shot and in- ing their four children, ages 4 jured 12 Palestinians in Na- months, 4, 7 and 9 years old, blus and Bethlehem in the according to the army. West Bank. The apartment is in a six- Security sources said yes- storey building in the north- terday that two Palestinians ern West Bank city of Nablus. were injured Israeli soldiers Witnesses said the army opened gunfi re at Azza refu- had evacuated the entire gee camp north of Bethlehem building before knocking on Monday night. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 11 REGION/ARAB WORLD Israel beefs up security for Jewish holiday

AFP This week’s lockdown ap- Jerusalem plies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Is- raeli settlers in the West Bank. srael boosted security and Gaza is always under an Is- barred Palestinians from raeli blockade, though some Ientering from the occupied crossings are usually allowed West Bank or the Gaza Strip for work or medical purposes. ahead of the solemn Jewish Humanitarian and urgent holiday of Yom Kippur that medical cases will be allowed began yesterday evening. through during the holiday, The same occurred for last the army said. week’s Rosh Hashanah holiday On Sunday, a 39-year-old and will take place again for Palestinian who saw himself as next week’s Sukkot festival. an Al-Aqsa protector went on Last year’s holiday period a shooting rampage in Jerusa- led to clashes and marked the lem, killing two Israelis. start of an upsurge in Palestin- The attacker, Misbah Abu ian gun, knife and car-ram- Sbeih, who was reportedly ming attacks. scheduled to begin a prison Israeli security forces are term on the same day, was on especially high alert after a killed by police after he fl ed Palestinian gunman killed two into an east Jerusalem neigh- people in Jerusalem on Sunday. bourhood. More than 3,000 police are Hamas welcomed the at- A man reacts on the rubble of damaged buildings after losing relatives to an airstrike in the besieged rebel-held al-Qaterji neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria yesterday. being deployed in the city for tack and said Abu Sbeih was a Yom Kippur. member, but did not claim re- Police spokesman Micky sponsibility for it. Rosenfeld said roadblocks had Overnight the army sealed been mounted. off a sweet shop owned by Many Palestinian shops in members of his family, saying the Old City were closed. it was affi liated with Hamas, Near the Lions’ Gate entry to police said. the Old City, used by many Pal- Meanwhile, Israeli authori- estinians, Israeli forces erected ties announced they had ar- Russia renews heavy a temporary barrier stopping rested a Palestinian, Mohamed cars from going further. Joulani, last month on suspi- Closures of the Palestin- cion of planning a suicide at- ian territories are often put in tack on a bus in Pisgat Zeev, an place for major Jewish holi- Israeli settlement in east Jeru- bombing of Aleppo days. salem, on behalf of Hamas. AFP to Paris in a row over the violence ment, after days of attacks that fl ight patterns and the munitions demnation, with fears for the fate Aleppo, Syria in Syria, where Moscow is help- killed hundreds and destroyed involved. of more than 250,000 civilians ing President Bashar al-Assad’s the largest remaining hospital in Backed by Russian air raids, trapped inside the east of the city forces in an operation to recap- the east. government forces have been since the government imposed a egime ally Russia carried ture all of Aleppo. But an AFP correspondent and advancing street by street into siege in mid-July. out its heaviest strikes in Syria’s army announced a bid the Syrian Observatory for Hu- rebel-held parts of Aleppo. French President Francois Rdays on Syria’s Aleppo last month to retake the city, man Rights reported renewed More than 300 people, mostly Hollande Sunday described the yesterday, as rebel fi re killed at which has been divided since heavy bombing yesterday. civilians, have been killed by gov- Aleppo campaign as a war crime, least fi ve schoolchildren in the mid-2012. “This is the heaviest Russian ernment or Russian fi re since the a day after Moscow vetoed a war-torn country’s south. The assault began after the bombardment since the Syr- operation began, according to the French-drafted UN resolution on The raids in Aleppo killed 25 collapse of a short-lived truce ian regime announced it would Observatory. a halt to air strikes on the city. civilians, a monitor said, and negotiated by Washington and reduce the bombardment” last Rebel forces were also fi ring on In a sign of escalating tensions, caused massive damage in sev- Moscow, and has seen the be- week, said Observatory head western government-held dis- the Kremlin yesterday said Pu- eral residential areas of the city’s sieged east of the city come un- Rami Abdel Rahman. tricts of Aleppo yesterday, with tin had called off an October 19 Israeli policemen stand guard as cement blocks are placed by rebel-held east. der fi erce aerial assault. The 25 dead, among them four state news agency SANA report- visit to inaugurate an Orthodox Israeli security forces on a road linking the Arab east Jerusalem Russian President Vladimir The army said last Wednesday children, were killed in raids in ing four dead and 14 wounded in church in Paris, but was “ready neighbourhood of Beit Hanina and West Jerusalem, yesterday, Putin meanwhile cancelled a trip it would reduce its bombard- east Aleppo including in the dis- rebel bombing of Hamdaniyeh to visit when it is comfortable for ahead of Jewish holiday. tricts of Bustan al-Qasr and Far- district. President Hollande”. Russia to hold military drills in Egypt dos, the Observatory said. SANA also reported an uni- Moscow would “wait for when An AFP correspondent in Bus- dentifi ed number of injuries in that comfortable time comes,” Russia and Egypt will hold joint airborne troops’ combat tan al-Qasr saw a multi-storey a mortar shell attack near the said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry military drills involving airborne vehicles to the desert climate residential building that had been famous Umayyad mosque in the Peskov. troops on Egyptian soil for of Egypt will occur for the first destroyed, its facade sheared off . Old City of Damascus. The French presidency said it UN sees no concrete the first time this month, the time in history,” the ministry White Helmets rescuers re- An AFP correspondent re- had told the Kremlin Hollande Russian defence ministry said said. moved two lifeless toddlers from ported intense mortar fi re raining would only meet Putin for a yesterday. Last year Russia and Egypt the building and wrapped them down on several neighbourhoods “working meeting” on Syria. action from S Sudan “The joint Russian-Egyptian held their first-ever joint naval in sheets. of the capital. British foreign minister Boris drills will happen in mid- exercises in the Mediterranean, Footage by the Aleppo Media Elsewhere, state media said Johnson meanwhile called for October 2016 on the territory which included the Black Sea Centre activist group showed a fi ve children were among six anti-war campaigners to protest AFP ernment still has reservations of Egypt,” it said, without fleet’s flagship Moskva missile toddler, blood smeared across people killed in rebel rocket fi re outside the Russian embassy in United Nations about the composition of the specifying their start date. cruiser. her face, lying on a hospital bed. on a primary school in the south- London. proposed 4,000-strong force The drills, called “Protectors of Russia has been waging an An elderly man near her wailed ern city of Daraa. Johnson said the “wells of out- and the areas of deployment. Friendship-2016”, will include aerial bombing campaign in pain as a team of medics bent The Observatory also reported rage are growing exhausted” and outh Sudan’s govern- While the government has 500 troops, 15 planes and in Syria for the past year over him, calling out instructions the deaths, saying at least 25 peo- anti-war groups were not ex- ment has yet to take indicated it is ready to accept helicopters and 10 military in support of the Syrian to the nurses. ple were wounded and the death pressing suffi cient outrage over Sconcrete steps to allow a the new UN force, “these com- hardware units, the ministry government, part of the multi- The Britain-based Observa- toll could rise. Aleppo. UN-mandated regional force mitments have not yet trans- said, describing the exercises as front war that has claimed tory – which relies on a network Rebels hold most of Daraa More than 300,000 people to deploy in Juba, UN Secre- lated into concrete actions on “anti-terrorist”. some 300,000 lives and has of sources inside Syria for its in- province, but the regional capital have been killed in Syria since the tary-General Ban Ki-moon the ground,” Ban wrote. “The airborne delivery by seen Moscow further estranged formation – says it determines is largely controlled by the gov- confl ict began in March 2011, and told the Security Council. The council voted in August parachute of several Russian from the West. what planes carried out raids ac- ernment. The assault on Aleppo more than half the population In a letter to the council late to deploy the regional protec- cording to their type, location, has sparked international con- has been displaced. Monday, Ban said the Juba gov- tion force (RPF). Fashion Week closes with Warhol-inspired designs

AFP to take back his drawings and The show shed light on de- She did however criticise the Dubai his paintings and to make out of signs by Gulf women, such as “organisation” of the event, them some fabrics and some de- Lamya Abedin from the United with shows being delayed for at signs,” she said. Arab Emirates, Alanoud al-At- least an hour-and-a-half every rench-Lebanese designer Chalhoub says she designs the tiya from Qatar who refused to day, adding that unlike in Paris Ingie Chalhoub has closed prints she wants on her fabrics appear on stage or camera, and and Milan, Arab Fashion Week Fa busy Arab Fashion Week “very carefully”. Jeans Couture by a Saudi mother has attracted a limited audi- with a collection inspired by “I play a lot with the fabrics and daughter duo. ence. American pop art icon Andy and I play also on the print,” she It also presented the fi rst ever Russian artist and fashion il- Warhol. said, adding that among her fa- Emirati model, Rafeea al-Hajsi. lustrator Alena Ogden said that Her models strutted down vourite combinations is matte Organised by the Arab Fashion “it’s very diff erent from other the catwalk in pleated skirts and crepe with the contrasting bril- Council, which represents the countries,” with more evening blouses and disco-style dresses liance of satin. 22 countries of the Arab League, gowns on display. and jackets, all in a mix of bright Palestinian designer Jamal the week aims to attract fashion- Designers showcasing their red, fuchsia, blue and black. Taslaq’s show preceded the clos- conscious women from the Gulf, pieces at the Dubai show “know “My design is all about the Pa- ing act, featuring gowns in tra- as well as luxury buyers from their clients very well, the Arab risian chic woman who is travel- ditional Palestinian patterns as Russia and China. women, so that’s why it’s all ling all over the world,” Chalhoub models walked out to the music Alina Cocci, who came from gowns (that are) so bright, shiny, said after the show late Monday of Lebanese composer and oud Milan to attend the week, said and extravagant but not much at a luxurious Dubai hotel. player Marcel Khalife. after Chalhoub’s show that she street fashion.” This “woman is very feminine Italian designer Giada Curti found the Arab designers “amaz- Asked if she had Arab custom- and glamorous,” said the blonde also presented a colourful ing”. ers in mind when designing her designer, wearing a long black- Spring-Summer 2017 collection “They’re very particular. They collection, Chalhoub insisted and-blue skirt with a black top. with fl oral prints and stripes. have this oriental touch that we that “today there is no such fash- “This collection was mostly In its third edition, the fash- Europeans don’t have, so this is ion that is only for the Middle inspired by an exhibition I saw ion week presented more than something interesting,” said the East or only for Paris.” in Paris from Andy Warhol and 20 collections from more than 10 Italian, who works in the fashion “With the Internet fashion is Models present a creation by French-Lebanese designer Ingie French-Lebanese designer Ingie as I’m very fond of him I wanted countries. industry. becoming more and more global.” Chalhoub during the Arab Fashion Week in Dubai on Monday. Chalhoub Gulf Times 12 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 AFRICA South African minister faces fraud charges

Reuters An elite police unit known as the to determine whether there is any Pretoria Hawks fi rst questioned Gordhan merit to these charges,” he said in about that in February in an inves- a statement. tigation that some analysts said In August Gordhan declined to outh African prosecutors was the result of political pressure obey a police summons on the in- yesterday ordered Finance from a faction allied to Zuma. quiry into whether he had used the SMinister Pravin Gordhan to The president has denied the tax service unit to spy on politicians, appear in court on November 2 claims, and said he was not at war saying he had done nothing wrong. over allegations he broke public fi - with the fi nance minister. The ruling African National nance rules by granting a colleague Abrahams said: “I can assure Congress (ANC) urged Gordhan early retirement, news that sent you there has been no political to cooperate with the latest sum- the rand and share prices reeling. interference in this matter. There mons and said the lingering inves- Protesting students from the University of Witwatersrand armed with shields and helmets march towards the Senate Hall during The currency dropped as much has been no political interference tigation was having a detrimental clashes with the South African police in Johannesburg yesterday. as 3.4% against the dollar on the in the decision made.” eff ect on the economy. latest legal problems for the fi - Gordhan, who is respected by The party said it hoped the lat- nance minister who says he has fi nancial markets, has called the est legal step would move the been the victim of a politically allegations about the tax unit “po- country “a step closer to uncover- motivated campaign over the last litical mischief”. ing the truth from facts” and re- few months. He confi rmed that prosecution solve the saga. Zuma picks team to resolve Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams offi cials had delivered the sum- South Africa’s Communist Par- said Gordhan, in his previous role mons yesterday to appear in court ty, a member of a ruling alliance as head of the South African Rev- to his house. with the ANC, said it was opposed enue Service (SARS), had cost “It looks like we are in for a bit of to “political persecutions in any the tax agency around 1.1mn rand excitement going forward,” he said manifestation.” SA university fee crisis ($79,000) by approving early- at a business seminar in Johan- Analysts said the Gordhan sum- retirement for tax agency deputy nesburg. “My lawyers will issue a mons increased the political risk commissioner Ivan Pillay and re- proper statement in a short while.” of doing business in the country. Reuters Police clashed sporadically with student under-funding of higher education over hiring him as a consultant. David Maynier, the shadow “This will further erode confi - Johannesburg protesters yesterday at the University of the last decade,” it said in a statement. Gordhan is still being investi- minister of fi nance for the main dence in the political and econom- the Witwatersand (Wits), Talk Radio 702 Zuma’s government has said it will con- gated for his role in setting up a opposition Democratic Alliance ic management of South Africa,” said. tinue subsidising university costs for the surveillance unit at the tax de- party, said prosecuting Gordhan Daniel Silke, director of Political outh Africa’s President Jacob Zuma Wits was hit by violence on Monday af- poorest students but could not aff ord free partment a decade ago which is would be “a disaster for the econ- Futures Consultancy said. has formed a ministerial team to help ter reopening following angry protests that education for all. “We are not saying...eve- suspected of spying on politicians omy” and would make a credit rat- “It will potentially aff ect our Sbring an end to weeks of clashes at forced its closure last week. rybody must receive free education, even if including President Jacob Zuma, ings downgrade more likely. chances of sustaining the current university campuses between police and The team set up by Zuma consists of the parents can aff ord, because we have got Abrahams confi rmed. “We must now trust the courts rating agency levels.” students demanding free education, the eight ministers including Higher Educa- to balance the resources,” Zuma told a news presidency said yesterday. tion minister Blade Nzimande and Min- conference in Nairobi yesterday during a The government, grappling with a ister of Police Nathi Nhleko, and is tasked state visit to Kenya. budget defi cit equivalent to nearly 4% of with resolving the crisis. The Wits Student Representative Coun- economic output, says education subsi- The main opposition Democratic Alli- cil said in a statement that they would be dies should not be paid for at the expense ance party criticised Zuma, however, for continuing the struggle for free education. of other sectors of the economy such as excluding Finance Minister Pravin Gord- Some students are demanding all uni- health and housing. It has also said 2017 han. versities be shut down until the govern- university fees may rise by up to 8%. “At the heart of the crisis is the chronic ment provides free education.

Ethiopian PM prepares to ‘reform electoral system’ Vintage biplanes prepare thiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said yesterday his govern- Ement wants to reform an electoral sys- journey across Africa tem which has excluded the opposition, in response to months of bloody protests. Hailemariam met with German Chancel- By Joe Sinclair, AFP lor Angela Merkel just days after declaring Shoreham-by-Sea, UK a six-month state of emergency following a protest movement against his one-party re- gime, which is accused of marginalising the dozen biplanes from the 1920s country’s largest ethnic groups. and 1930s will fl y over 12,000km “We want to reform the electoral system Afrom Crete to Cape Town next so the voices of those who are not repre- month in a vintage aviation rally that sented can also be heard in the parliament,” harks back to the early days of air travel. Hailemariam said. “Because of this electoral The pilots will fl y along the Nile from Protesters hold up placards demanding the removal of Nigeria Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele system 51% of votes is enough to win all the Cairo to Khartoum, past the highlands A Tiger Moth (top) and a Travel Air in Abuja yesterday. seats.” of Ethiopia, down through East Africa 4000 biplane fly during a photocall for Under Ethiopia’s current system, Haile- past Mount Kilimanjaro, over Victoria the launch of the Vintage Air Rally off mariam’s ruling coalition took every one of Falls, and will end in South Africa. the coast of Shoreham, Sussex. the 546 seats in parliament during last year’s “The aircraft are going to be fl ying election. hot, high, and they’re going to be strug- It is the fi rst aviation rally to be grant- Nigerians demand top banker ouster His regime currently faces its biggest gling...So are the pilots,” said “Vintage ed permission to land at Egypt’s Giza challenge in the 25 years since coming to Air Rally” (VAR) organiser Sam Ruther- pyramids in 50 years, and will put on Su- power in Addis Ababa. ford under blue skies at Brighton City dan’s fi rst air show, Rutherford said. Reuters sion and stopping the descent of buy abroad to meet most of its food When he succeeded Ethiopia’s former Airport in the United Kingdom. The worst thing that could happen Abuja the naira against the dollar. needs. Annual infl ation accelerated Marxist rebel-turned-leader Meles Zenawi, “There’s no autopilot, there are no — and most likely serious problem — is In front of the bank’s main en- to 17.5% in August, compared with who died in 2012, Hailemariam said he was automatic systems, it’s all hand fl ying, engine failure, he added. trance, they held up placards 9.3% in the same month last year. committed to opening up the country’s politi- with very little protection from the el- “They’re all single engine aircraft, igerian policemen and sol- saying “Emefi ele must go” and In June the central bank dropped cal system to allow more space for opposition ements — sun, wind, dust, the oil be- there isn’t a spare one on another wing. diers yesterday dispersed “Where is your conscience, Eme- its peg of the naira to the dollar, parties. ing sprayed out of the engine up front But on the positive side, the aircraft fl y Naround 100 youth protest- fi ele?” until policemen and sol- prompting the currency to depre- “Our democratisation process is still whilst it’s still turning. It’s all full on.” relatively slowly, and indeed they force ers demanding the resignation diers scattered them. ciate by 40% in a step meant to at- nascent. It’s fl edgling... We want to go fur- The group makes up the largest land very, very slowly. So it only needs of central bank governor Godwin It was the fi rst sign of public un- tract more investors. ther in opening up political space and en- number of vintage biplanes to attempt a small patch of land, a little bit of road, Emefi ele over rising infl ation and rest targeting the central bank dur- But bankers say the move has gagement with civil society groups,” said this journey across Africa. even a football pitch, to safely get the a falling currency, a Reuters wit- ing the current economic crunch. only sped up the decline of the Hailemariam. Teams from a dozen countries includ- aircraft on the ground.” ness said. Nigeria is in recession as a slump naira on the parallel black market, Merkel, who is on a three-nation Africa ing Britain, Canada, France, Germany, As well as being an adventure, the ral- The protesters marched to the in vital oil revenues has hammered which has become the benchmark. tour aimed at fi ghting terrorism and stem- South Africa and the United States are ly is working with the charity BirdLife central bank’s headquarters in the public fi nances and the currency, The naira traded yesterday at 310 ming the migrant infl ux to Europe, told to take off from the Greek island of Crete International to raise awareness about capital Abuja, accusing it of failing driving up the prices of imported against the dollar on the offi cial Hailemariam that a “vibrant democracy on November 12, touching down in Cape the plight of the African vulture, with to drag Africa’s biggest economy goods and basic food such as milk. interbank market and 470 on the needs opposition, it needs free media. Peo- Town on December 17 after 35 days and a seven out of 11 species currently on the and energy producer out of reces- The West African nation needs to black market, according to dealers. ple want to express their views”. journey of some 12,865km. edge of extinction. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 13 AMERICA Columbus Day Govt seeks halt of pipeline opposed by Native Americans

AFP to construction, prompting the Woodley livestreamed the pro- Chicago Departments of Justice, Army test and her arrest on Facebook, and Interior to once again issue a showing police with armoured statement of support. The Army vehicles and riot gear. The video he US government reiter- controls the permitting process had garnered almost 2.4mn views ated its request on Mon- for US navigable waterways. by the early evening hours. Tday that construction of “We also look forward to a se- “Oh my God, there’s so an oil pipeline in North Dakota be rious discussion during a series much riot police...They all have paused, while authorities con- of consultations...on whether batons...I’m shaking, this is so sider the impacts of its route on a there should be nationwide re- scary,” Woodley says in the video. Native American tribe. form on the tribal consultation “They grabbed me by my The Dakota Access Pipe- process for these types of infra- jacket and said I couldn’t con- line has been the subject of a structure projects,” the state- tinue and they have giant, like, months-long protest, in which ment said. guns and batons and zip ties and Native Americans and their sup- The standoff between the they’re not letting me go,” she porters have camped out in the Sioux tribe and the pipeline’s adds as she’s being placed under state’s prairie lands to block the builder has grown into a protest arrest. pipeline’s route underneath the movement in the United States, Dozens of police can be seen Missouri River and the adjoining emboldening Indian tribes, envi- taking position, wearing helmets man-made Lake Oahe. ronmentalists and advocates for and bulletproof vests, and armed The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Native Americans. with rifl es. says the project threatens its The protest has also received A total of 27 people were ar- Members of the Knights of Columbus participate in a Columbus Day ceremony at the National Columbus Memorial in front of Union drinking water source, and could vocal support from Hollywood rested, Morton County Sheriff ’s Station in Washington, DC, on Monday. Columbus Day celebrates Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. destroy ancient sacred sites near celebrities, including Leonardo Department spokesman Rob the tribe’s reservation, which is DiCaprio and Susan Sarandon. Keller told AFP. less than a mile from the pipe- Actress Shailene Woodley, of There have been repeated line. the “Divergent” fi lm series, was clashes over the last several A month ago, the federal gov- arrested Monday while partici- months between protesters, ernment had asked the pipe- pating in a protest, along with pipeline workers and police, and line’s operator, Energy Transfer reportedly some 200 others near a total of 123 arrests, authorities Partners, to pause construction a pipeline construction site. said. within 32km of the disputed area, She was charged with criminal If fully constructed, the pipe- while authorities evaluate the trespass and engaging in a riot, line would pass through four tribe’s claims. the Morton County Sherrif’s of- states, carrying oil extracted in But a federal appeals court fi ce said. North Dakota near the Canadian Trump turns on Sunday denied the tribe’s re- She posted a $500 fi ne and is border, 1,900km southeast to Il- quest to order a temporary stop due in court on October 24. linois.

‘Militant’ to plead guilty to terrorism, Speaker, media Chicago teachers agree conspiracy charge n Arizona teenager who Reuters War hero’s father slams presidential contender for debate comment contract, avert strike the FBI said professed Washington Ahimself to be an “Ameri- Khizr Khan, the father of a decorated Ameri- Democratic National Convention in July show- can jihadist” has agreed to plead can soldier killed in Iraq, yesterday lashed out casing his son’s military service and criticizing Reuters cording to a school fi nancial guilty to terrorism and con- onald Trump yesterday stepped up at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign call for a temporary ban on Chicago report. spiracy charges stemming from his attacks against US House Speaker Trump for saying his son would still be alive if Muslims entering the country. “Chicago Public Schools fi - a suspected plot to bomb a state DPaul Ryan, one day after the top Re- Trump had been president at the time. Trump responded at the time by questioning nances will be stronger, and on motor vehicle offi ce, court docu- publican in Congress said he was not going “For this candidate to put his political whether Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, was not “al- hicago’s cash-strapped fi rmer ground, because of this ments showed on Monday. to defend the party’s presidential nominee expediency ahead of any realisation of pain lowed” to speak when she appeared next to her schools and its teach- agreement,” Emanuel said at a Mahin Khan, 18, jailed since his or campaign for him. and suff ering of the families is shameful,” Khan husband on the stage, an insinuation of some Cers’ union agreed to a news conference early yesterday. arrest in July, reached a deal with Facing a barrage of criticism over sexu- said in an interview with CNN. conservative form of Islam that embroiled the contract proposal late on Mon- The threat of a strike piled prosecutors in which they agreed ally aggressive comments that surfaced on The New York businessman raised the candidate in an unpopular dispute with the day, union and city offi cials extra pressure on the second- to seek a prison term ranging Friday, Trump has seen his support among name of US Army Captain Humayun Khan in a Muslim parents of a fallen war hero. said, averting a strike yester- term mayor, who is struggling from seven to 14 years, rather some lawmakers fall away in recent days as Sunday night presidential debate while criticiz- The Khans were stunned to hear Trump day in the third largest US pub- to stop a surge in violence in than the life term he potentially the Republican Party splits apart over its ing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for voting bring up the name of their son, who was lic school system. the city as well as trying to faced if tried and convicted. White House candidate less than a month in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq when killed in 2004, in Sunday’s nationally televised The four-year agreement, stem Chicago’s fi nancial woes. Khan, who according to his before the election. she was a US senator. debate, the father said. which the Chicago Teachers Chicago schools are grap- parents suff ers from autism and In social media posts yesterday morning, “If I was president at that time he would be “We were not only shocked, we were sad- Union (CTU) will recommend pling with escalating pension developmental delays that have Trump lashed out against Ryan and other alive today,” Trump said. dened for such disingenuous expression of his to its 28,000 members, in- payments that will jump to left him with the mental age of a Republicans for failing to back him amid the Despite his assertion that he always op- thinking and of his feeling,” Khan said. cludes provisions on pensions, $720.2 mn this fi scal year from 12-year-old, is scheduled to return controversy and as most national opinion posed the war, Trump had expressed support Trump has said he has modified his call for a classroom sizes and layoff s, $676mn in fi scal 2016, as well to court on November 4 to formally polls show Democratic candidate Hillary for it in a 2002 interview. ban on Muslims entering the country to a plan Chicago Teachers Union presi- as credit ratings that have fall- enter his plea and be sentenced. Clinton increasing her lead. Khizr Khan had delivered a speech to the for “extreme vetting.” dent, Karen Lewis, said at a en to “junk”, drained reserves, Under his plea deal, reached on “Despite winning the second debate in midnight news conference. and debt dependency. Friday, Khan agreed to plead guilty a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well “We ended up with some- Teachers contribute 2% to to all three charges contained in when Paul Ryan and others give zero sup- Congress so as not to give Clinton a “blank New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a thing that’s good for kids, it’s their pension, with the school the indictment against him — ter- port!” Trump, who has never held political check,” all but conceding that the former former rival for the White House who has good for paraprofessionals, it’s board chipping in an additional rorism, conspiracy to commit ter- offi ce, said in a post on Twitter. secretary of state would likely win the White became a close ally of Trump, also reaf- good for teachers, for the com- 7%. rorism and conspiracy to commit He referred to Sunday’s bitter presidential House. fi rmed his backing even as he called Trump’s munity,” Lewis said. Under Monday’s deal, new misconduct involving weapons. debate, where he was seen as giving a per- He did not withdraw his endorsement. comments in the 2005 video “completely Teachers planned to go on hires will not get the 7% “pen- According to the Federal Bu- formance that was more disciplined than Ryan’s move angered Trump and his sup- indefensible.” strike at midnight on Monday sion pickup,” but will get a sal- reau of Investigation, the case the fi rst of the candidates’ three debates porters on Capitol Hill. “In the end, this election is about bigger if an agreement had not been ary adjustment to compensate stemmed from months of com- ahead of the November 8 election. “Our very weak and ineff ective leader, issues than that,” Christie told CBS Radio’s reached. for that, Lewis said. munications between the de- On Facebook, the New York businessman Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where WFAN, adding that he did not blame other They have been working Teachers demanded a fendant and undercover FBI op- blamed media outlets for “trying to rig this his members went wild at his disloyalty,” Republicans who have withdrawn their sup- without a contract for more $200mn a year increase in eratives in which Khan expressed election” and backing Clinton. Trump said in a tweet yesterday. port. than a year. classroom spending, she said, a desire to carry out a lone wolf His campaign, marked for months by Unlike Ryan, Republican National Com- “I’m not going to sit here and be critical The contract that ended a and wanted the mayor to al- attack that would kill hundreds controversies over both his policies and his mittee Chairman Reince Priebus made of people who don’t want to support him.” strike in 2012 expired on June locate most of the surplus of people in Arizona. brash style, ran into deep crisis after the clear to RNC members on Monday that the Representative Steve King of Iowa, how- 30, 2015. revenues generated by nearly Khan ultimately set his sights emergence on Friday of a video from 2005 committee, the party’s leadership and fun- ever, did not hesitate to criticize those back- Chicago’s school system is 150 special taxing areas, called on a Division of Motor Vehicles showing the former reality TV star bragging draising arm, still backed Trump, two RNC ing away from Trump. independent of the city but tax-increment fi nancing (TIF) offi ce in the Phoenix area, rea- crudely about groping women and making members told Reuters. “That’s a mistake...that drags the entire controlled by Mayor Rahm districts. soning that relatively light se- unwanted sexual advances. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, ticket down,” he said in an interview with Emanuel. Emanuel already gives just curity and crowded conditions Ryan told congressional Republicans on Indiana Governor Mike Pence, was silent over CNN. The district, which has over half of TIF revenues to the there off ered the best chance of Monday that he would put his full energy the weekend, but resurfaced in television in- “What does it do to your integrity if you nearly 400,000 students, had school system and has resisted infl icting high casualties, pros- into preserving Republican majorities in terviews on Monday to reinforce his support. help Hillary Clinton become president?” a $7mn defi cit on June 30, ac- calls for more. ecutors said in court.

Human missions to Mars by 2030s Top court declines to hear tobacco dispute resident Barack Obama said yesterday he would Miss USA he US Supreme Court yes- the amount of money the six help send people to Mars as soon as 14 years from Floods prompt terday let stand lower court states would receive for that year, Pnow, pledging to work with private companies to Trulings allowing Pennsyl- but state courts in Maryland and “to build new habitats that can sustain and transport as- vania and Maryland to keep tens Pennsylvania subsequently ruled tronauts on long-duration missions in deep space.” NC evacuations of millions of dollars in a dispute in favour of those states when they “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of with tobacco companies involving objected. America’s story in space: sending humans to Mars by the the massive 1998 settlement over As a result of those rulings, 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ulti- Reuters deceptive marketing and advertis- Pennsylvania was able to keep $125 mate ambition to one day remain there for an extended Washington ing of cigarettes. mn and Maryland was able to re- time,” Obama said in an opinion piece for CNN posted The justices declined to hear tain $50mn that the companies to its website. appeals, fi led by Reynolds Ameri- had demanded be given back. Obama’s comments come ahead of a meeting planned esidents in central North Carolina were told ca Inc, Altria Group Inc and other Under the landmark settlement by the White House in Pittsburgh this week aimed at late Monday to evacuate their homes amid companies that were part of the reached with 46 states, the largest teaming up scientists, students and others to further ef- Rfears that rising fl oodwaters from Hurricane settlement, of rulings that had US tobacco companies promised forts to develop the commercial space market, according Matthew could breach a dam, adding to a storm toll favoured Pennsylvania and Mary- to pay nearly $200bn over 25 years to the piece. of 11 dead. land regarding the amount of the to states to settle lawsuits over While private companies are already working on mis- Offi cials in Moore county ordered a mandatory annual payment that those states cigarette-related public health sions to space, including to the International Space Sta- evacuation ahead of an imminent breach of Wood- should receive under the deal. costs. tion, humans have yet to travel to Mars, Earth’s neigh- lake Dam, WRAL TV reported. The dispute centred on the 2003 Among other provisions, the bour some 56mn km away at their closest point in orbit, Evacuations have also been ordered for two more annual payment that companies deal imposed restrictions on the according to Nasa. counties along the Neuse River. that participated in the settlement sale and marketing of cigarettes Like Earth, the so-called Red Planet also has sea- Earlier Monday, Governor Pat McCrory said the were required to make to the vari- including barring ads targeting sons, and a 2012 Nasa mission found conditions there storm’s eff ects had killed 11 in the state, with three ous states as part of the deal. youths. once supported microbial life, according to the US space people still missing. An arbitration panel found that The major tobacco companies agency. “A lot of people are hurting right now in the after- six states, including Pennsylvania worried that they would have to It would take about nine months to get there, depend- math of Hurricane Matthew and the devastation is and Maryland, had not met their raise prices on their brands in or- ing on rocket velocity, some Nasa experts have said. Miss USA Kaitryana Leinbach displays her beyond words,” he told a news conference. side of the bargain to ensure, as re- der to fund the settlement. A high-speed trip could take as little as 130 days, they national costume during the opening press “Floodwaters are rising very quickly,” he added, quired, that companies that were So the 1998 agreement required said on the agency’s website. preview of 2016 Miss International Beauty with water knee-deep in many places. part of the settlement did not dis- states to pass laws that prevented It has been decades since the United States sent astro- Pageant in Tokyo yesterday. Seventy “We do have people on the roofs as we speak, and proportionately lose market share cigarette companies that did not nauts to the moon in 1969, and eff orts to fund the space women will compete in the final in Tokyo on we have a lot of helicopters and boats that have been as a result of the terms of the deal sign the agreement from gain- program have faltered in recent years over concerns October 27. deployed that are, at this point in time, rescuing to competitors that shunned it. ing an unfair economic advantage about government spending and fi scal priorities. them.” The arbitration panel reduced over those that did sign it. Gulf Times 14 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 ASEAN

Girls take over as ministers, CEOs in campaign to push for equality

Thomson Reuters Foundation push for greater gender equality. “The takeover is a great state- to governments how millions of women, according to Plan Inter- “I am nervous but very proud,” the campaign has inspired her to Jakarta They staged the mock takeo- ment of girls’ power and their girls are held back and denied an national, citing discrimination Annisa told reporters before become a politician. ver in more than 50 countries — ability to change the world,” said equal chance in life just because as a reason why women are left chairing a meeting with the new The International Day of the including Thailand, Bangladesh Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, head they are girls,” she added in a behind. In Indonesia, 17-year- line-up at the ministry made Girl Child, which takes place on eenage girls across the and Canada — as political and of children’s charity Plan Inter- statement. old Nur Annisa was named as up of 10 other teenage boys and Oct 11 every year, is a United Na- world became govern- business fi gures stepped aside to national, which organised the Women head only 14 of 194 the “manpower minister” for the girls. “I will lead my ministry to tions initiative to recognise the Tment ministers, mayors let the girls take charge of issues campaign to mark the Interna- governments globally. day after she beat 600 other high identify the root causes of child rights of the 1.1bn girls around and chief executives for a day aff ecting them, from child mar- tional Day of the Girl Child. Less than 4% of the world’s school students who competed labour and our action plan to the world and the challenges yesterday in a global campaign to riage to child labour. “It also serves as a reminder 500 top corporations are led by for the post in the campaign. tackle it,” she said, adding that they face. Cambodia gets ready to welcome Chinese president Myanmar buries slain police in Rakhine

AFP “We cannot go from one Yangon village to another village,” he said. “Because movement is restricted and people cannot yanmar’s border go here and there and the mar- guard yesterday ket is virtually closed, (food) Mburied nine offi cers will be a big problem for us.” killed in mysterious raids in Authorities have sought to the western state of Rakhine, calm the situation, extending as the military tightened con- a regional curfew to between trol over a region long scarred 7pm and 6am, and closing by violence between Bud- some 400 schools around the dhists and Muslims. area for the next two weeks. Uniformed offi cers carried Myanmar’s de facto leader the wooden coffi ns draped Aung San Suu Kyi has ap- with national fl ags through pealed for calm and several rain and thick mud before lay- ministers and army top brass ing them to rest in a cemetery fl ew to Rakhine’s capital Sit- Workers prepare portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni ahead of his visit, in Phnom Penh yesterday. in the town of Maungdaw. twe yesterday to try to ease Troops have poured into the tensions in nearby displace- town and surrounding area ment camps. close to the Bangladesh border Rumours of killings since the three co-ordinated and mass arrests around attacks on Sunday by what Maungdaw have spread like authorities have described as wildfi re on social media, mobs armed with knives and stoking fear, but details have homemade weapons. proved diffi cult to confi rm in Most people in the area are the remote and tightly con- Muslim Rohingya, a stateless trolled area. Junta appeals for calm minority whom Buddhist na- Yesterday residents re- tionalists vilify as illegal im- ported sporadic gunfi re in migrants from Bangladesh — some villages to the north of even though many have lived Maungdaw. in Myanmar for generations. One local teacher, who did The unrest has fuelled fears not give her name, said she after car bomb plot alert of a repeat of 2012, when more had been hiding in a house than 100 people were killed along with some 20 other AFP been rocked by blasts hitting capital’s luxury malls. For more by confusing and contradictory ple in the deep south died, most in waves of sectarian violence school staff and students, too Bangkok its crucial tourist sector, a rare than a decade Thailand has had statements from authorities, of them protesters crushed to that drove tens of thousands scared to come out because of bright spot in an otherwise lack- a notoriously turbulent domes- with military leaders initially death in overloaded vans after of Rohingya into displacement the sound of gunfi re. lustre economy. tic political scene and a festering keen to blame domestic political they were arrested. camps. “We haven’t eaten for two hailand’s junta chief ap- The junta has refused to label Muslim Malay insurgency in its opponents. The deaths lit the fuse of the At least four people were days. The situation is not so pealed for calm yesterday the assaults terrorist attacks and far south. But police now believe the current southern rebellion. killed in clashes with soldiers good,” she said from Nga- Tafter police warned of a has played down suggestions Until recently foreigners had multiple bomb attacks in Au- According to Thai police, last on Monday as troops hunted khura, 42 kilometres from plot to target Bangkok with car tourists are being deliberately largely avoided being caught up gust this year were carried out by year’s shrine bombing was the for the attackers, police said. Maungdaw. “We heard fi ght- bombs, sparking a security alert targeted. in the violence. Muslims from the “Deep South”. work of two Chinese Uighurs Locals put the toll at seven ing here and there. across the capital including at “Let offi cials carry out their But in early August co-or- Shadowy militants have who are currently on trial for the and said they were unarmed We do not dare to go out.” airports. jobs and please be confi dent dinated blasts struck multiple waged a 12-year fi ght there for attack. residents. Authorities have released An unusually detailed police in their work,” Prime Minister places in Thailand’s tourist- more autonomy but rarely at- Most analysts believe the “People are frustrated, peo- few details about the attack- memo was handed to reporters Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who seized popular south, killing four Thais tack targets outside of the three bombing was revenge for Thai- ple are under stress, people are ers or their motives, eight of on Monday warning that an uni- power in 2014, told reporters. and wounding dozens including southern Malay-speaking prov- land’s forcible deportation of hopeless here,” one Rohingya whom were killed during Sun- dentifi ed group was planning to He said the bomb plot was an foreign visitors. inces. Monday’s police memo 109 Uighurs back to China, resident from Maungdaw, who day’s raids. target Bangkok between October “ongoing warning” and an in- A year earlier a bomb tore did not say who might be be- where rights groups say they face asked not be named for his Two were captured. 25-30. vestigation was underway but through a Bangkok shrine popu- hind the bomb plot, though the signifi cant repression. safety, said. Pictures sent to AFP by The memo said “areas such as told people not to panic. lar with Chinese visitors, killing southern insurgents have used Thai authorities maintain the Residents have been hiding a photographer in the area malls, car parks and tourist at- Security was stepped up at 20 and wounding more than 100. car bombs in previous attacks. attack was not political and was in their houses for fear of the showed one of them, bedrag- tractions” were at risk and or- Bangkok’s main airport yester- Most of the victims were eth- October 25 is also the anni- carried out by a passport forgery troops patrolling the streets, gled and topless, being inter- dered police to be extra-vigilant. day and police were deployed to nic Chinese overseas visitors. versary of 2004’s “Tak Bai inci- gang angry at a policing crack- he said, warning of impending rogated by intelligence offi cers In the last year Thailand has search cars parked in some of the Both attacks were followed dent,” when more than 80 peo- down. food shortages. in Sittwe.

Police sting nets alleged ‘Golden Triangle’ drug kingpin Raffl es Hotel A controversial and colourful Thais wear auspicious pink to former guerilla fighter long to shut for accused of playing a key role in the Golden Triangle drugs trade was arrested during a renovation sting operation yesterday, Thai help hospitalised king recover police said. Laota Seanlee, who is believed to be 79, was Reuters lic wearing pink. In Bangkok’s AFP allegedly caught trying to sell Bangkok Silom district, Chay Chinapai- Singapore 20 kilogrammes of crystal meth rot, 46, a government employ- to undercover off icers from his ee, was among those wearing home in a village on Thailand’s hais yesterday wore pink pink.“I’m very concerned. I ingapore’s historic Raf- border with Myanmar. for 88-year-old King might wear pink every day,” he fl es Hotel said yesterday The rugged hills of northern TBhumibol Adulyadej, a said. Sit would shut for several Thailand form part of the notori- colour they believe will help One Facebook page called months from the end of next ous Golden Triangle drug-pro- improve the monarch’s health, ‘We Love Thai King’, which year for renovations to the popu- ducing zone that includes parts two days after the palace said has more than 2.5mn mem- lar tourist landmark. of Myanmar and Laos. Its cartels he was in an unstable condi- bers, used the social media Restoration of the 129-year- are some of the most prolific tion. hashtag #wishthathismaj- old hotel, declared a national drug producers in the world, King Bhumibol, the world’s estyrecoverssoon in the Thai monument in 1987, will be done traff icking heroin, methampheta- longest reigning monarch, is language. in three phases beginning with mine and other synthetic drugs. widely revered in Thailand. Prime Minister Prayuth the shopping arcade in January, Yet high profile arrests are rare. During his seven decades on Chan-ocha and members of his the hotel’s management said at a Compared to their counterparts the throne the king, who is also cabinet were expected to sign a news conference. Work will start in Central and Latin America, seen as a unifying force for the get-well book for the king at on the main hotel building and hit hard by infighting or law country, has intervened when Bangkok’s Grand Palace. lobby in mid-2017 before the ho- enforcement successes, Golden events threatened to plunge Wat Pathum Wanaram, a tel shuts completely at the end of Triangle cartel leaders have Thailand into crisis. temple in the city’s main shop- the year, reopening in mid-2018. remained relatively unmolested The palace said on Sunday ping district, said monks would Management would not say for decades. Police arrested the king’s health was “not sta- chant prayers for the king. how much the overhaul of the Laota and 13 others, including ble” following haemodialysis Women hold portraits of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej as they pray for his health at Siriraj Hospital, Well-wishers yesterday 103-suite hotel will cost. family members, yesterday treatment in hospital, a process where the king is being treated, in Bangkok yesterday. fl ocked to Siriraj Hospital in “We have a rich and colourful morning, parading them in front to purify the blood. Bangkok where the king has history and are about to begin of local media. Laota sat with his It said a ventilator was de- Statements on the king’s are brightly coloured clothes can came important a few years spent much of the past year. a new chapter in our ongoing arms behind his back as police ployed after the monarch’s usually issued after the mon- attract good luck. ago when royal astrologers said News about the king’s health story — a sensitive restoration laid out cash, pistols, shotguns blood pressure dropped. arch’s condition shows im- Messages shared on social it was good for the king and is closely monitored and the that will enable us to continue to and plastic wrapped blocks of It is unusual for the palace provement. media since the palace state- would promote well-being. wording of palace statements off er what our guests expect and the drugs. to state that the king’s health is Many Thais are highly su- ment have urged Thais to wear Since then, the king has on the king’s health is intensely value,” said Diana Banks, vice not stable. perstitious and some believe pink, a colour which fi rst be- sometimes been seen in pub- scrutinised. president of Raffl es Brand. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 15 AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA Beijing slams Beauty pageant NZ stand on S China Sea

Reuters Seoul vows greater force against China boats Beijing South Korea said yesterday it It said the patrol boat was would use greater force, including rammed by one of the Chinese hina yesterday rebuked firearms, against Chinese boats vessels. New Zealand’s defence fishing illegally in its waters and No injuries were reported. Cminister at the opening summoned China’s ambassa- The Chinese vessel fled the of a high-profi le security forum dor to protest against a clash scene and returned to its home in Beijing, criticising his stance between a Chinese vessel and a port, the South Korean coast on tension in the disputed South coast guard boat. guard said. China Sea, saying countries “not South Korean coast guard Qiu Guohong, China’s ambassa- involved” should not interfere. vessels regularly chase Chinese dor to South Korea, did not com- China claims almost the entire boats for fishing illegally off its ment to reporters as he arrived at South China Sea, through which coast, at times resulting in violent the foreign ministry. about $5tn worth of trade passes confrontations. A South Korean deputy foreign each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the The disputes are an irritant in minister told the Chinese ambas- Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam relations between China and US sador that the incident was “a Miss Thailand Pattiya Pongthai, Miss Taiwan Tan Ai-Ning and Miss Sweden Maria Taipaleenmaki pose during a photo session of the also have claims. ally South Korea, even as their challenge to public power”, said opening press preview of the 2016 Miss International Beauty Pageant in Tokyo yesterday. An international tribunal economic relations grow close Cho June-hyuck, spokesman for in the Hague ruled in July that and they share concerns about the ministry. China had no historic title over North Korea’s nuclear weapons China’s Foreign Ministry said the waters and had breached the and missile programmes. China was still verifying the Father’s last embrace saves little girl Philippines’ sovereign rights South Korea’s coast guard said details of the incident and main- there. yesterday that its off icers would be taining contact with the South A little girl protected by three-storey-high debris That decision infuriated Bei- authorised to use firearms, includ- Korean side. ‘Caged animal’ feel at the embrace of her dead concluded yesterday, the jing, which dismissed the court’s ing handguns and onboard can- “We hope South Korea can father was the last survivor Lucheng district govern- authority. non, against illegal Chinese fishing start from the perspective of pulled out of the rubble of ment said at a press We “hope that countries who vessels if deemed threatening. the broader situation in bilateral Australian juvenile jail, collapsed multi-storey build- conference, with 22 con- are not involved in the disputes “We will actively respond to relations and calmly and ration- ings in China, reports said firmed dead and only five respect the countries who are Chinese fishing boats that ob- ally handle the relevant issue,” yesterday. survivors other than the having the disputes to...work struct justice by using all possible spokesman Geng Shuang told a special hearing told She was found deep in girl rescued. among themselves,” Fu Ying, means if needed such as directly regular press briefing in Beijing. the debris of four six-storey The cause of the disaster chairwoman of China’s foreign hitting and gaining control of Three Chinese fishermen were residential buildings more was still under investigation, aff airs committee for parliament, those Chinese fishing boats as killed last month in a fire that AFP ple about how they felt in that than 12 hours after they CCTV said. said at the Xiangshan Forum, well as firing common weapons,” broke out on their boat when a Sydney environment, some of the words crumbled in Wenzhou in Recent heavy rainfall which China styles as its answer Lee Choon-jae, deputy chief of South Korean coast guard crew they said were depressed, angry, the eastern province of combined with the poor to the annual Shangri-La Dia- South Korea’s coast guard, told a trying to apprehend them for il- sad and like a caged animal.” Zhejiang, killing at least 22 quality of construction and logue security forum in Singa- news conference. legal fishing threw flash grenades hildren held in youth de- The inquiry was called in July people, state broadcaster age of the buildings, built pore. South Korea’s Ministry of into a room in which they were tention in Australia’s north after national broadcaster ABC CCTV said. by the villagers them- “Outside involvement, I think Public Safety and Security, which hiding, according to a South Chad force used against showed graphic footage of teen- Three-year-old Wu Ningxi selves, were probable con- the developments have shown, oversees the coast guard, said Korean off icial. them and were often kept in isola- agers being tear-gassed, stripped survived with only minor in- tributing factors, it cited interferences, can only compli- one of its patrol boats sank last South Korea has repeated its tion, prompting feelings of being naked and roughly restrained at juries thanks to the protec- a preliminary analysis as cate the diff erences and some- week during an operation to complaint to China about illegal “a caged animal”, an inquiry heard the centre in Darwin. tion off ered by her young saying. times even add to the tension,” crack down on a group of Chinese fishing by Chinese trawlers and yesterday. In one video from 2015, a father, who was found dead Neighbouring buildings said Fu, a former deputy foreign vessels fishing illegally off the urged Beijing to help come up The government ordered the 17-year-old boy is hooded, shack- after shielding her from fall- constructed in the 1970s minister who was chairing the Korean peninsula’s west coast. with a permanent solution. inquiry into the detention of led to a restraint chair and left ing rubble, it added. were being demolished to session. children in the Northern Ter- alone for two hours, prompting “The child was able to prevent further collapses, Fu’s comments came in re- ritory after video emerged of comparisons to Guantanamo Bay, survive entirely thanks to the off icial Xinhua news sponse to remarks by New Zea- of an advanced missile system on countries as well, as all parties mostly indigenous boys being the US military prison in Cuba for the fact that her dad used agency reported. land Defence Minister Gerry a South China Sea island, while are able to have a say. tear-gassed and mistreated at terror suspects. his own flesh and blood The buildings had been Brownlee about his country’s Beijing said New Zealand’s pro- Since the ruling, China and the Don Dale detention centre in While the commission is not to prop up a life-saving packed with migrant concerns over the South China posal was “unconstructive”. members of the Association of 2014 and 2015. focussing specifi cally on indig- space for his daughter,” workers, among them Wu’s Sea. Brownlee yesterday homed in Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) At the inquiry’s fi rst hearing enous off enders, they are over- a rescuer told the China parents, hundreds of mil- “We oppose actions that un- on the issue of China’s building have been trying to reduce ten- yesterday, national children’s represented in the Northern Ter- Youth Daily. lions of whom have moved dermine peace and erode trust of artifi cial islands in the ter- sion in the region. commissioner Megan Mitchell ritory’s juvenile justice system, The 26-year-old shoe from China’s countryside to and would like to see all par- ritory, including new airstrips, Chinese Defence Minister said she had visited the Darwin reportedly accounting for 95 % of factory worker was found its towns and cities in recent ties actively take steps to reduce which has rattled nerves around Chang Wanquan told the forum facility earlier this year and found children in detention. under a thick cement pillar, decades, their labour fuel- those tensions,” Brownlee said. the region. that China and Asean would hold it “old and ageing”. Counsel assisting the royal draped over his daughter. ling the country’s economic “As a small maritime trading “A particular cause of... maritime drills next year, though “It was clear that use of isola- commission Peter Callaghan said The family had been boom. nation, international law and, in heightened tension has been the he gave no details, adding China tion was routinely and frequently there had been dozens of inquir- buried alive in their living Many remain poorly paid particular, the United Nations reclamation and construction was willing to “manage dis- used and for very long periods of ies into indigenous issues in the room and the body of Wu’s and face restrictions on Convention on the Law of the activity and deployment of mili- putes”. A Malaysian general told time — and when I say frequently past, and questioned whether mother was discovered not buying homes in the areas Sea, is important for New Zea- tary assets in disputed areas,” he Reuters on the sidelines of the and routinely I mean 23 hours a this showed an “inquiry mental- far from the pair. where they work. land. said. forum that China had been exer- day for several weeks,” she said, ity” which favoured reports over Photos showed hard- China has seen several We support the arbitral proc- China says much of the build- cising restraint, with no increase the Australian Broadcasting Corp results. hatted rescuers lifting the building collapses in recent ess and believe that countries ing and reclamation work it has in Chinese military activity in the reported. “Do we need to confront some girl’s half-naked body from years, with some blamed have the right to seek that inter- been doing in the South China parts of the South China Sea Ma- “It was also clear that the use of sort of inquiry mentality in which the mess of cement and on low-quality construc- national resolution,” he said. Sea is to benefi t the international laysia claims. force was routinely used as part of investigation is allowed as a sub- fallen bricks late Monday, tion. This is not the fi rst time China community, including improving “In fact we are establishing the everyday business of the fa- stitution for action?” he said in her hair matted with dust In May 16 people were has clashed with New Zealand civilian maritime navigation. military cooperation with China cility, not just when there was an his opening address, the ABC re- as they carried her out and reported dead after a resi- over the dispute. After Fu’s response, Brownlee to build up confi dence so that we incident. ported. gingerly placed her onto a dential building in Guizhou In February, New Zealand told Reuters it was reasonable for understand one another better,” I think all of those things are The royal commission, co- stretcher. province in the southwest urged Chinese restraint after New Zealand to express its con- said Malaysia Armed Forces chief breaches of children’s rights. chaired by Aboriginal leader Mick The search through the collapsed due to landslides. Beijing’s apparent deployment cerns, which represent smaller Zulkefl i Mohamed Zin. “When I asked the young peo- Gooda, is due to report next year.

Sporting hero Australian state backfl ips on greyhound racing ban

AFP dustry could change, it is clear the Sydney community wants to give them the opportunity. “Today I can announce the grey- ustralia’s most populous state hound industry will be given one last yesterday made an embar- chance. It will be given an opportu- Arassing backflip on its plan nity to reform as it needs to.” to ban greyhound racing after sus- Baird said the industry had come up tained industry and public pressure, with a number of new initiatives and admitting the government “got it the government would be “ensuring wrong”. the toughest animal welfare standards New South Wales Premier Mike and regulation are put in place”, with Baird announced in July that he would a new body established to oversee dog shut down the sport in 12 months’ racing. time after a series of “disturbing and “We are not returning to the status horrifi c” scandals including “live quo. The barbaric practices we have baiting” and the slaughter of tens of seen have to end,” he added. thousands of dogs. Australia has one of the world’s But the controversial decision was largest greyhound racing industries widely seen as a knee-jerk reaction and live baiting has been banned for and met with a backlash from the decades. public, with fears that regional com- But last year national broadcaster munities reliant on the industry could ABC revealed that live animals such be devastated. as piglets, rabbits and possums were There was also widespread politi- used as bait to train some of the coun- cal, industry and media pressure to try’s most successful dogs. reconsider the ban. Greyhounds traditionally chase an The once popular Baird, who has artifi cial hare or rabbit and the revela- seen his approval ratings plummet tions sparked raids across New South this year due to a number of issues, Wales, Victoria and Queensland states including the greyhound ban, said he that rocked the industry. had listened to feedback. It prompted an inquiry by the New “It’s clear in hindsight, as we refl ect South Wales government that uncov- on this, we got it wrong. I got it wrong, ered widespread live baiting and the New Orleans Pelicans basketball player Anthony Davis shakes hands with a pupil as he arrives for a charity event at the Huangzhuang Migrant School in cabinet got it wrong, the government mass killing of tens of thousands of Beijing yesterday. got it wrong,” he said in Sydney. dogs considered too slow to pay their “I previously didn’t think the in- way. Gulf Times 16 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 BRITAIN/IRELAND

POLITICS CONTROVERSY DISCOVERY LAW AND ORDER DISCLOSURE Hampshire Ukip councillor Youth accused of spitting is Treasure hunter Hunt for housekeeper after Cable reveals tensions with defects to Conservatives filmed ‘held in headlock’ finds hoard of guns widow’s jewels stolen May over student visa curb

A Ukip councillor and former parliamentary A teenager was held in a headlock by a police A treasure hunter with a metal detector found A housekeeper is being sought by police A clampdown on student visas during Theresa candidate has announced he is defecting off icer after an angry exchange captured on a haul of five handguns as he walked along the in connection with the theft of more than May’s time as home secretary led to clashes to the Conservative Party. Chris Wood was film. The youth was held back by other off icers foreshore of the Thames. The man uncovered £500,000 worth of jewellery and rare coins from over support for British industry, Sir Vince the Ukip group leader at Hampshire county as he shouted at one while being arrested in the weapons on the south side of the river near the home of an elderly widow. Ma Rowena Laysa Cable said yesterday. As the future of overseas council but said the party had become Tower Hamlets. The teenager is seen on the Blackfriars Bridge at low tide. The guns, with Manuel, 46, vanished from her employer’s home workers and the country’s visa system “thoroughly embarrassing”. He said his mobile phone footage asking the off icer, “Why ammunition, were wrapped in a bag and appear in St John’s Wood in April, on the same day that comes to the fore in Brexit negotiations, the decision followed the resignation of Ukip are you lying?” The off icer then accuses him of to have been deliberately buried in the sand. diamond jewellery and a collection of gold and former business secretary told a Commons leader Diane James. Ukip has called for spitting at him which the teenager denies. The Engineer David Edwards, 33, was passing the silver coins disappeared. The Filipino national committee that he had been at odds with May’s him to formally resign his seat and allow off icer moves forward and pushes the suspect’s scene moments after the discovery. He said: “I was first employed by the family to look after department on how to further the country’s a by-election to take place. Wood, who is face away before holding him in a headlock. saw loads of off icers including firearms off icers the victim’s terminally-ill husband. Following his industrial strategy. He said: “There weren’t also a Fareham borough councillor, said Onlookers, believed to be the teenager’s friends, rushing down to the foreshore. I thought at first death, Manuel was asked to stay on. On April 15, many issues that aff ected the Home Off ice but an altercation between Ukip MEPs Mike scream, “Why are you holding his head?” during they were going to arrest someone but then I the victim left her home in St John’s Wood to run certainly on visa issues and overseas students Hookham and Steven Woolfe, which landed the incident outside Arbour Youth Centre in saw the guns. “They had clearly been dumped some errands and when she came back Manuel there was a big division of opinion. Clearly there Woolfe in hospital last week, had also led to Stepney on Sunday night. The suspect has there by someone, but some of them looked had left. Jewellery belonging to the victim had was a clash with the way the Home Off ice saw his defection. accused the police of “brutality”. relatively new.” also gone. it,” said the senior LibDem. BBC defends Catherine on solo foreign trip Strictly Come Dancing in racism row

Guardian News and Media dience of 10.6mn, well above the London 9.2mn who watched the previous week and up a million from its fi rst live show in September. he BBC has defended its hit The departure of EastEnders show Strictly Come Danc- actor Empson on Sunday pro- Ting after the departure of voked a reaction from celebrity the second black contestant in as fans. Miranda Hart tweeted her many weeks prompted accusa- support. tions of racism. The Daily Mirror columnist Soap actor Tameka Empson left Fleet Street Fox said that Odoom’s the show after losing a dance-off departure suggested that “people against TV presenter Laura Whit- are racist” rather than the BBC. more. They were in the bottom Three mixed-race contestants two after receiving the fewest – Alesha Dixon, Mark Rampra- viewer votes. kash and Louis Smith – have won Empson is the second of three the show in previous years, and black contestants in a starting Colin Jackson, Denise Lewis and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, leaves after visiting the exhibition “Vermeer and Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection” at The Mauritshuis art museum – line-up of 15 to have left the show, Simon Webbe are among six black home to the best of Dutch Golden Age painting – in The Hague, the Netherlands, yesterday. Catherine is on her first off icial foreign solo visit. in only the second week where or mixed-race contestants to have viewers have been given a vote. come second. In only three years Radio DJ Melvin Odoom left last – 2008, 2010 and 2015 – has there week after receiving the fewest not been a single black or mixed- public votes. His elimination was race person in the fi nal as winner based on the voting fi gures alone or runner-up. after the usual dance-off was can- The initial vote from the judges celled because of an injury sus- put Empson in the middle of the tained by singer Anastacia. leaderboard; she fell into the bot- Empson’s departure left some tom two after her score was com- fans alleging that viewers had bined with viewers’ votes. Govt plays down £66bn been racist. David Barber wrote on After the resulting dance-off , Twitter: “Strictly voters at home Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno To- show their racist leanings again. nioli and Len Goodman opted to Two shows. Two black dancers keep Whitmore, while Darcey eliminated.” Bussell voted in Empson’s favour. But student Emzie Langan The main benefi ciary from wrote: “Those who think Strictly Empson and Odoom’s poor per- Brexit impact warning is racist because two black celebs formances in the public vote has have gone need to have a serious been Balls, who has twice over- Guardian News and Media “These fi gures that have been a projection in April, which said ducting a “guerrilla war inside ing now ... and will go on for the word with themselves. Idiots.” come low scores from the judges. London quoted today aren’t new; they GDP could fall by 9.5% if the UK the government against hard remainder of this year and into The BBC pointed out that it was His banjo-playing charles- were around some time ago,” the had to revert to WTO rules, had Brexit”. next year, before we trigger Article up to the voting public to ensure ton and his samba performed as spokesman said. “I’m not going to been used in a new document A Treasury source refused to 50. What you’ll see is an eff ort to their favourite contestants stayed the Mask on Saturday were both owning Street has warned get into reheating the arguments drawn up by civil servants for cab- confi rm the existence of the pa- make sure exactly where we are in the competition. “Judges judge ranked at the bottom of the lead- against attempts to “re- that were made during the refer- inet ministers. per, and said the fi gures were old. negotiating positions.” the dancing and the dancing alone, erboard by judges, but he avoided Dheat the arguments” of the endum campaign. The claims infuriated Brexit- May’s spokesman said the gov- He said the government was not anything else,” said a spokes- having to compete in a dance-off EU referendum following claims “The emphasis now on getting supporting MPs, who argued that ernment was focused on prepar- “looking ahead” and was focused woman, adding that in all except to keep his place on the show. that the Treasury has issued dire best possible deal – to recognise the Treasury assumptions in April ing a negotiating position as it got on getting the best possible deal. three of the 14 previous series of The former shadow chancel- internal warnings about the im- that the country has clearly voted had changed, and that civil serv- ready to trigger Article 50. He admitted there would be some Strictly, the winner or runner-up lor, who lost his seat in parliament pact of a hard Brexit. to leave the European Union. It is ants were scaremongering in an He did not deny that the as- economic turbulence as Britain was black or mixed race. last year, said he found waiting to Theresa May’s deputy spokes- now incumbent on the govern- attempt to block a full departure sumptions on which the Treas- left the EU but said the economy The complaints do not seem to discover how Strictly viewers had man distanced the prime minister ment to make sure that process from the EU. ury forecasts had been based had remained strong and eff orts were have aff ected the show’s popu- voted more tense than the unveil- from the suggestion that it could happens – and that we are mind- Stewart Wood, a Labour peer since changed and said the gov- being made to protect it during larity. The latest episode, which ing of results in a general election cost £66bn a year in tax revenues ful there must be no attempt to who used to work for the former ernment would be refreshing its the process. featured the former Labour MP because contestants were not told if Britain leaves the single market thwart or stall that process.” chancellor and prime minister analysis of the potential impact of He refused to comment on the Ed Balls dressed up as Jim Carrey who had won before it was an- and has to rely on World Trade Or- The comments were in re- Gordon Brown, said it felt as Brexit on the economy. decline in the value of sterling, but in The Mask, attracted a peak au- nounced in front of the cameras. ganisation rules. sponse to claims that fi gures from though the Treasury was con- “That kind of work is ongo- said the currency did fl uctuate. BA passengers can now Ireland budget aims to ‘Brexit-proof’ economy check in bags at home hard border with Northern Ireland AFP Dublin which he said would disrupt the economy. London Evening Standard At the terminal it is removed and get them taken straight to He outlined favourable tax London from the bag, passed through the hotel. But there was noth- an X-ray machine and put in ing and I was thinking ‘I can’t reland’s government yester- treatment for several sectors, the airport’s normal baggage be the only person in the city day outlined tax breaks for the specifi cally tourism, food and ag- ritish Airways pas- handling system. with that sort of frustration.’” Itourism and farming sectors riculture, all of which are already sengers will be able to The passenger picks up the The check in service for in a bid to off set the eff ects of the coming under pressure because of check in their suitcases bag as normal from the luggage a single bag costs £20 from British pound’s sharp devaluation the fall in the value of the pound of B and the expected impact of Brexit nearly 20% compared to the euro in their front room at home carousel at the destination. homes or hotels close to air- on the economy. since the start of the year. and travel to their airport Passengers have to book a ports, £30 in “central London” In a speech to parliament yes- Ireland last week reduced its without heavy baggage from slot for the service, which costs — which covers all of zone 1 and terday, Finance Minister Michael 2017 economic growth forecast to later this month. between £20 and £40, at least parts of zone 2 — and £40 from Noonan said that while the ulti- 3.5% after Britain, its biggest trad- The airline is launching the seven hours ahead of the de- “Greater London”, which cov- mate fallout from Britain’s June ing partner, voted to leave the EU. new service for passengers liv- parture time. ers the rest of the capital and 23 referendum was still unknown, Trade between the two coun- ing inside the M25 and fl ying AirPortr co-founder and suburbs out to the M25. Addi- Ireland would put on “economic tries is worth an estimated 1.2bn from Heathrow, Gatwick and chief executive Randel Darby tional bags are £10 each. shock-absorbers” to mitigate the euros ($1.3bn) a week. London City airports. said the pick-up team should Any baggage that British inevitable damage. Ireland is the UK’s fi fth largest It has teamed up with the spend no more than fi ve min- Airways is prepared to carry, “Whatever the fi nal settlement, export market and imports more London-based developers of utes at the passenger’s home including sports equipment what we know with certainty is from the UK than any other coun- the AirPortr app to reduce the or hotel. He said it had taken 18 such at golf clubs, is eligible for that Brexit has increased risk to try. In its 2017 budget Ireland will hassle of the journey to the air- months and £7mn of funding the check-in service if it does the Irish economy,” he told law- have 1.3bn euros more to play with port and shave up to an hour off to develop the “game-chang- not exceed the 23kg weight al- makers. as a result of its ongoing recovery. the time spent in the terminal ing” service. lowance. “As well as introducing specifi c Following almost a decade of ahead of a fl ight. Darby was inspired to de- Combined with online seat measures to assist particular sec- austerity, the government chose to Once the service has been velop AirPortr after going check-in, the service means tors of the economy, we must also allocate 1bn euros to public spend- booked on the app, an AirPortr to Gatwick on a hot day and that all BA passengers in Lon- put in place safety nets to pro- ing and the remainder to tax relief. tect us against future economic As part of its strategy to “Brexit- team will arrive at the home struggling with his bags on the don can go straight to security shocks,” he said. proof” the economy, the govern- address, weigh the baggage, Gatwick Express. when they arrive at the airport. Noonan said Ireland wanted to ment is not only aiming to reduce He said: “I thought there has The service went live yester- slap a tracking bar code on and Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, poses with a copy of the 2017 retain the current economic ties its budget defi cit over the next two seal it in an “anti-tamper” bag got to be a service out there that day for booking on fl ights from budget during a photocall in front of the government buildings in with Britain as much as possible years but to turn this into surplus before taking it to the airport. allows me to hand over my bags October 26. Dublin, Ireland, yesterday. and to avoid the necessity for a after 2018. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 17 BRITAIN ‘Clown’ with chainsaw sparks panic on university campus

London Evening Standard be criminal off ences. a knife chased a woman down a ing examined by police as possible lice has dealt with 14 reports in number of “killer clown” reports I’ve had angry parents terrifi ed for London The student sparked cha- street in the early hours. criminal off ences, though the de- 24 hours of where pranksters or would increase in the run-up to their kids coming into campus. All os while running through the Last Thursday a man wielding tails are not known. criminals dressed as clowns try to Halloween. your kids are safe. I didn’t chase grounds of Brunel University at a hockey stick was reported fol- Police forces across Britain have scare the public. The media student involved in any strangers but people have ob- cotland Yard warned people Uxbridge. The 19-year-old apol- lowing a passer-by near Latimer reported dozens of incidents in- Commander Julian Bennett, the stunt at Brunel University was viously seen me from the window dressing as “killer clowns” ogised in an interview with the Road Tube station. Then early volving the “killer clown” craze. the head of crime prevention at traced by the Standard and apolo- and it’s all blown up. Sthat they face possible pros- Standard, saying he bought the yesterday, two children walking to It has come from America, where the Met, said: “We are currently gised for the fear sparked by his “As a YouTuber you have to fol- ecution after a student brandish- chainsaw at B&Q to record footage school were left terrifi ed after be- it has been linked to a big-screen accessing a small number of re- “prank video”. His fi lm has been low the trends to keep your chan- ing a chainsaw caused panic on a for his personal YouTube channel. ing confronted by a man dressed remake of Stephen King’s book ported ‘killer clown’ incidents in viewed more than 1,500 times. He nel going. I’ve done it before but university campus. Other incidents include one on as a clown in Bonham Road, Da- It. Filmmakers New Line Cinema London, three of which meet the said: “I’m very sorry for what hap- never on a campus when there’s The Met said it was investigat- Sunday in Archway when a man genham. have denied any involvement in threshold of a criminal off ence.” pened. I’ve had people calling me hundreds of people watching, and ing a series of incidents that could dressed as a clown and armed with Two other reports are also be- the craze. Thames Valley Po- He said police expected the a terrorist and that feels horrible. I won’t be doing it there again.”

Driverless cars tested £20mn public on UK streets for fi rst time funds ‘wasted’

AFP Milton Keynes on London riverless vehicles carrying passengers took to Brit- Dain’s streets for the fi rst time yesterday in a landmark trial which could pave the way for their introduction across the country. The compact two-seater cars garden bridge trundled along a pedestrianised zone in Milton Keynes, north of Guardian News and Media second and third increases.” structure running from Temple London, in a trial by Transport London It noted a “pattern of behav- to the South Bank, intended to Systems Catapult (TSC) which iour” throughout the project in hold 270 trees and thousands of plans to roll out 40 vehicles in the which the Garden Bridge Trust, plants, began in 2013 when the city. inisters have poten- the charity behind the Thomas then chancellor Osborne agreed Neil Fulton, programme direc- tially wasted more than Heatherwick-designed project, the £30mn grant with Johnson, to tor at TSC, said it represented a M£20mn of public money repeatedly asked the DfT for more be directed through the DfT. “major milestone” for autono- on London’s controversial gar- money when it encountered chal- This happened despite the de- mous vehicles in Britain. den bridge, having more than lenges. “The department, in turn, partment fi nding that the trans- “The special thing about today once committed extra funds to has agreed to these requests,” the port case for the pedestrian bridge is that this is the fi rst time that a the project against offi cial advice, report said. in terms of faster walking times self-driving vehicle has been test- according to a report from the Na- Meg Hillier, the Labour MP was minimal and benefi ts from ed in a public place” in Britain, he tional Audit Offi ce (NAO). who chairs the powerful Com- tourism were “considered highly said. It found that the initial decision mons public accounts committee, uncertain”. Although the system is current- by George Osborne to help fi nance likened the pattern of repeated “The department agreed to ly only being trialled on pedestri- the scheme, strongly championed requests for more public money make the £30mn investment in anised streets at speeds of around by the then London mayor Boris to the collapse of the Kids Com- spite of its concerns about the fi ve miles per hour, self-driving Johnson, with a £30mn grant pany charity. “It worries me that value for money of the bridge,” the cars on British roads “are not that from the department for transport whenever the Garden Bridge Trust NAO said. In May 2016, ministers far away”, he added. (DfT), was taken despite there be- runs into fi nancial trouble, the agreed to underwrite cancellation The “Selenium” autonomy ing questionable transport or department for transport releases liabilities of up to £15mn, giving a software running the vehicle, de- tourism benefi ts. more taxpayers’ money before peak DfT liability of £28.5mn. The veloped by Oxford University’s The report casts additional construction has even started,” guarantee was reduced later that Oxford Robotics Institute and its doubt on the heavily delayed she said. “If the project collapses, year to £9mn. spinoff company Oxbotica, uses project, which already faces severe taxpayers stand to lose £22.5mn.” The DfT receives written data from cameras and lasers to diffi culties. Last month, the Lon- Tim Farron, the Liberal Demo- monthly updates from the Garden navigate the route. don mayor, Sadiq Khan, set up an crat leader, said the bridge was Bridge Trust on the project, but “On the face of it, it is another inquiry into the use of a combined “a vanity project” for Johnson, these do not contain “standard autonomous car, but under the £60mn of public money, much of and it was up to Khan to quash it. project performance informa- hood, how it does what it does is which has been spent before con- He added: “It is an unnecessary tion,” such as progress against very diff erent from what others struction has begun. expenditure and will have little schedule and budget, or details of are doing,” said Ingmar Posner Ministers initially set an benefi t to Londoners.” The NAO the trust’s progress against fund- who leads the Oxford Robotics In- £8.2mn limit on how much of found that the government’s li- raising targets, the NAO noted. stitute along with Paul Newman. the DfT’s £30mn grant could be abilities towards the scheme stand Public investment accounts for “The way it works is that the ve- spent on pre-construction work at £22.5mn if the bridge is not £60mn of the scheme’s projected hicle experiences its environment for the tree and plant-fi lled bridge built, which the report says is pos- £185mn cost, of which Transport and interprets what it sees around across the Thames in central Lon- sible. for London provided £30mn, with it in the context of what it has seen don. However, this limit was then “There remains a signifi cant risk £20mn of this later turned into a before.” raised twice, to £9.95mn in June that the project will not go ahead,” long-term loan. The remainder is He said the system could be 2015 and by another £3.5mn the it said. The Garden Bridge Trust still being raised from private do- integrated into “anything that following year, along with an extra has yet to secure the necessary nors. moves”. “The cameras peer out at fi nancial guarantee if work were sub-lease on the area of the South The NAO report noted that one the world,” explained Newman, a cancelled. Bank where the bridge will land, of the reasons the trust repeat- professor at Oxford University’s The report from the NAO, the the report notes, while the main edly asked for more DfT cash to be department of engineering. independent government spend- contractor has been put on standby spent before construction was the “They take pictures of the world ing watchdog, said: “Offi cials and construction has been delayed unwillingness of private donors and the software compares those from the department advised for at least 18 months. for their money to be used before pictures with what it knows it ministers against increasing the The government’s involvement they were sure the bridge would should look like,” he said. A taxi driver watches as a driverless pod is tested in Milton Keynes yesterday. department’s exposure for the in the planned 366m (1,200ft) be built. Hospitals left with £10mn Rod Stewart honoured Southern Rail strike brings travel chaos debts by foreign patients London Evening Standard Southern’s passengers took to London social media to express their anger at the new delays, questioning why London Evening Standard but lost £4.6mn on those not en- et defi cit forecast for the current engineering work had been sched- London titled to NHS care. About half of fi nancial year, and many patients ommuters hit by a three- uled the night before a strike. the 1,783 overseas women who are waiting too long for treat- day strike on Southern One tweeted: “Total chaos this gave birth at St George’s in 2015- ment. Many overseas patients at Ctrains yesterday voiced fury morning, no trains at all to London ondon hospitals have run 16 were later found to be not en- St George’s disappeared without and bewilderment as the walkout, due to over-running engineering up more than £10mn of titled to free care. paying after giving birth, or said combined with delayed engineer- works combined with a strike.” Ldebts after overseas pa- It costs about £5,000 for an they could not aff ord to pay. ing work, brought “total chaos” to Another said he had spent £50 tients not entitled to free care on uncomplicated birth, but some Others became abusive and parts of the network. on a taxi to get to work. And an- the NHS failed to pay for their mothers required lengthy stays violent. On one occasion this The 72-hour stoppage over the other tweeted: “Passengers at- treatment. and their babies needed special- summer, staff activated a panic role of conductors started at mid- tempting to get to London today, The fi gure, which the de- ist care. alarm as a patient tried to smash night after last-minute talks be- have you thought of going to the partment of health admits is an The initiative is being moni- windows. Managers have asked tween Southern Rail bosses and moon instead? Might be easier.” underestimate due to diffi cul- tored by ministers and the UK for extra security guards. union leaders broke down. It went Yesterday was the 11th strike ties charging foreign patients, Border Agency. If it is success- A St George’s spokesman said: ahead despite the RMT union or- this year suff ered by Southern’s emerged yesterday as one of the ful, it could be rolled out across “Like many London trusts, we dering its members to sign new passengers and the fi rst of 14 more capital’s biggest hospitals an- the NHS under the government’s treat a high number of patients contracts. walkouts lasting into December. nounced plans to force 5,000 wider aim of recouping £500mn from overseas who are not eligi- The strike action by guards can- Passengers at Waterloo station pregnant women a year to show a year from overseas patients. ble for NHS treatment. All pa- celled one in three trains across the said they were baffl ed by the strike. photo ID and a utility bill to prove A department of health tients in need of emergency NHS South and on busy routes serving Andrew Paterson, 28, a City work- their entitlement to free treat- spokeswoman said: “We wel- care at St George’s are treated London. er from Surbiton, said: “I do have ment. come St George’s pilot to test and prioritised accordingly, re- Tens of thousands of passengers sympathy because these workers St George’s, in Tooting, is new processes to recoup costs gardless of their eligibility. Our suff ered more disruption because have families to support too. launching the clampdown after from overseas patients and look priority at all times is to provide of overrunning engineering works “But as you see with Uber and losing up to £5mn a year treating forward to the results.” care and treatment to patients caused by a broken-down train on the black cabs, technology is be- thousands of overseas patients, The problems at St George’s requiring our services. However, the Brighton line. coming much more challenging including pregnant women sent came to a head after its GP com- we also have a duty to ensure we Commuters packed onto shut- to traditional modes of trans- from Nigeria by alleged fraud- missioners announced they use our resources wisely.” He said tle trains between Brighton and port. I do think a lot of people sters who view it as an “easy tar- would no longer reimburse the it was looking at “tightening up” Singer Rod Stewart poses at Buckingham Palace with his Haywards Heath and then had to will be baffl ed about what the get”. hospital for the cost of treating existing processes for ineligible wife, Penny Lancaster after receiving his knighthood, in catch buses to Three Bridges, add- workers disagree with now be- The hospital treated about ineligible foreign patients. patients accessing non-emer- London, yesterday. ing hours to their journey into the cause it’s in everyone’s interest 6,000 overseas patients last year St George’s has a £55mn budg- gency treatment. capital. to rectify it.” Gulf Times 18 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 EUROPE Bomb plot suspect ‘eyed’ Berlin airport AFP through the police net on Sat- They took him home, only to information from the domestic concerns over Germany’s record Leipzig urday when commandos raided fi nd out in a police alert that he security service. infl ux of nearly 900,000 refugees his apartment and found 1.5kg was the suspect on the run. But he narrowly evaded police and migrants in 2015, heightened (over three pounds) of TATP, the He said that Albakr off ered and ran off carrying a backpack, by a number of foiled attack plots Yildirim: (The PKK) has entered a new period of heinous attacks. Syrian refugee arrested in homemade explosive used by Is- them €1,000 ($1,100) and $200 shortly before police found the this year. Germany on Monday af- lamist militants in the Paris and to allow him to go free. explosives, sparking a manhunt. Last month police detained Ater being tied up by three Brussels attacks. “He tried to bribe us, but Preliminary investigations three men with forged Syrian compatriots was plotting to The explosives were “almost we told him he could give us as suggest that Albakr was probably passports who were believed to bomb a Berlin airport in the name ready, or even ready for use”, said much money as he wanted, we linked to IS, police said. be a possible IS “sleeper cell” PKK militants kill of the Islamic State (IS) group, Joerg Michaelis, chief investiga- wouldn’t free him,” one of the Interior Minister Thomas de with links to those behind the the head of domestic intelligence tor in the eastern state of Saxony, men told RTL television, speak- Maiziere said the plot “resembles November Paris attacks. said. adding that the suspect was ap- ing with his back to the camera what we know of the prepara- They also arrested a 16-year- AKP party offi cials “We have received information parently preparing a “bomb, and identifi ed only as Mohamed tions for the attacks in Paris and old Syrian refugee in Cologne from the secret services that he possibly in the form of a suicide A, for fear of reprisals. Brussels”. on suspicion he was planning a initially wanted to target trains vest”. “Then we got an electrical cord Albakr’s Syrian fl atmate in bomb attack in the name of IS. Reuters/AFP sinations against ruling party in Germany before fi nally decid- After a two-day manhunt, and tied him up until the police Chemnitz, named only as Khalil German authorities have urged Diyarbakir offi cials,” Prime Minister Binali ing on one of Berlin’s airports,” police fi nally got their man with got there,” he said, providing A, was formally taken into cus- the public not to equate refu- Yildirim told his party in par- Hans-Georg Maassen told Ger- the help of three of Albakr’s fel- RTL with a smartphone picture tody on Sunday, a day after being gees with “terrorists” but have liament yesterday. man public TV channel ARD. low Syrians in the eastern city of of their detainee. “I was furi- detained, as a suspected co-con- acknowledged that more Islam- urdish militants have Erdogan, also facing spillo- While some German media Leipzig. ous with him, I couldn’t accept spirator. ist militants may have entered claimed responsibility ver of Islamic State (IS) attacks outlets over the weekend sug- One of them walked into a something like this – especially Albakr entered Germany on the country among the asylum- Kfor the assassination of from Syria and the aftermath gested the suspect, Jaber Albakr, police station with a photo of here in Germany, the country February 18, 2015 and two weeks seekers who arrived last year. two offi cials in Turkey’s south- of an attempted military coup 22, had such a target in mind, this Albakr on his mobile phone and that opened its doors to us.” later fi led a request for asylum, Merkel’s conservative CDU east and the country’s prime in July, has vowed to destroy was the fi rst offi cial confi rma- told offi cers that “his fl atmates On Monday German Chancel- which was granted in June that party meanwhile called for great- minister said the insurgency the PKK following collapse of a tion. had overpowered Albakr and tied lor Angela Merkel expressed her year. er rights for security services to had entered a new “heinous” ceasefi re last year. The decision to arrest the sus- him up, and that we should come gratitude, saying that the Syrians Germany has been on edge check the fi les of asylum-seek- phase in targeting the AK Party In recent months, a huge pect was taken on Friday after he to his apartment”, Michaelis told had “made a decisive contribu- since two IS-claimed attacks in ers. founded by President Recep army operation has forced PKK bought hot-melt glue. reporters. tion” to the arrest. July – an axe rampage on a train Migrant Jihad Darwish, 47, Tayyip Erdogan. rebels from cities where the “We thought this was the last The Syrians had earlier been Police had fi rst closed in on Al- that injured fi ve and a suicide who lives near the men who The Kurdistan Workers Par- fi ghters had set up barricades chemical product he needed to approached by Albakr at Leip- bakr on Saturday in the eastern bombing in Ansbach in which 15 nabbed Albakr, stressed that ty (PKK) said it had shot dead and taken control of streets. make a bomb,” said Maassen. zig railway station and asked for city of Chemnitz, about 85km (50 people were hurt. “not all Syrians are like” the ter- Deryan Aktert, AKP head in the “We will continue our op- Albakr had narrowly slipped shelter. miles) south of Leipzig, acting on The bloodshed has fuelled ror suspect. city of Diyarbakir’s Dicle dis- erations until our citizens trict, in his offi ce on Monday no longer carry any security for his co-operation with the fear,” Yildirim said, referring state in fi ghting the PKK, an to Turkey’s three-pronged ef- organisation listed as a terror- fort to root out PKK militants, ist group by Turkey, the United coup plotters and Islamic State Spain arrests ‘IS recruiters’ States and the European Un- along its border in Syria. ion. More than 40,000 people Aktert was hit by gunfi re have been killed since 1984 in AFP One of the men, a Spanish na- a Moroccan had been arrested at a gas station and later suc- a PKK campaign for more po- Madrid tional of Moroccan origin who in Spain, Belgium and Germany cumbed to his injuries, a party litical and cultural autonomy was arrested in the northern port for online propaganda and IS offi cial told AFP on condition for mainly Kurdish areas in the city of Gijon, had sworn loyalty recruitment through a Facebook of anonymity. southeast. panish police have arrested to Islamic State chief Abu Bakr page called “Islam in Spanish” After the latest killing, Turkey fears the creation of a two men on suspicion of al-Baghdadi and was in touch which was followed by 32,500 Turkish security forces have breakaway Kurdish state. Sseeking recruits for the Is- with “IS members and leaders” people. launched a hunt to fi nd perpe- Suspected PKK militants lamic State (IS) group, the inte- through a large, secure network Earlier this month, police ar- trators, the offi cial said. set off a truck bomb, killing 15 rior ministry said yesterday. he had created. rested a 38-year-old man in On Sunday, assailants killed people at a military checkpoint The two men, who were ar- The other, who was arrested in Manresa near Barcelona who Aydin Mustu, the AK Party’s in Hakkari province on Sunday, rested in separate operations the Basque resort of San Sebas- was posting militant propaganda deputy leader in the Ozalp dis- offi cials said. in northern Spain, were both tian near the French border, was on social networks along with trict of Van, a city 350km (215 Police in Diyarbakir said they “fully integrated” into the infra- also actively recruiting “within pictures of himself posing with miles) east of Diyarbakir. had also detained 55 offi cials structure of the Islamist mili- radical Islamist militant circles” weapons, although they later “The attacks on AK Party from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ tant group and were “encourag- in his area, notably focusing on confi rmed that he had no ties to offi cials show that the terror- Democratic Party (HDP) and ing terrorist acts”, the statement “those at risk of social exclusion”, any “terrorist groups”. ist organisation has entered a its sister Democratic Regions said. the statement said. Ministry fi gures show that Spanish police off icers escort a suspect accused of collaborating with new period of heinous attacks. Party (DBP) yesterday in a It was not immediately clear if It was not immediately clear since 2015, the security forces the Islamic State in San Sebastian. They are enacting new orders counter-terrorism investiga- the two were in touch with each when they were arrested but the have arrested 120 Islamist mili- to stage suicide attacks, assas- tion. other, but both had clearly ex- two operations were coordinat- tants. pressed support for IS in online ed by the Audiencia Nacional, The last major Islamist mili- postings which were “clearly laid Spain’s national criminal court tant attack on Spain was in 2004 out for mass appeal” and videos which has responsibility for ter- when militants linked to Al Qae- which were “extremely radical ror-related issues. da set off a dozen shrapnel-fi lled and shockingly crude”, the state- Two weeks ago, the interior bombs on four commuter trains Europe’s jails ‘breeding ground’ for militants ment said. ministry said four Spaniards and in Madrid, killing 191.

By Ruth Holmes, AFP versities or religious establish- sation was becoming faster be- been incarcerated before being London ments, IS increasingly turns to cause “a lot of these people have radicalised. “ghettos”, prisons and “under- already been convicted of vio- At least 27% of those who classes” to recruit individuals lent crime, so the jump to being spent time in prison were radi- Greece needs one year to properly risons in Europe are with a history of criminal be- a violent extremist is not so big”. calised behind bars. becoming “breeding haviour, it said. Recruiting in prisons allows For some, Islamist militancy Pgrounds” for Islamist mil- Prisons provide a ready sup- militant groups to tap “transfer- off ered a form of “redemption” shelter migrant children: minister itant groups, with some crimi- ply of “angry young men” who rable skills”, the study found, in- for their crimes, researchers nals seeing violent extremism as are “ripe” for radicalisation, cluding familiarity with weap- said. a form of redemption for their according to the study, entitled ons and self-fi nancing through Ali Almanasfi , a British-Syr- AFP crimes, a report by a British Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Fu- crime. ian from London who fought in Athens think tank published yesterday tures: European Jihadists and Researchers from the ICSR, Syria after serving a jail term for said. the New Crime-Terror Nexus. based at King’s College London, violent assault, was cited in the Islamist militant and crimi- ICSR director Peter Neu- compiled profi les of 79 Euro- report as saying: “I want to do reece will need a year to nal groups are recruiting from mann, one of the report’s au- pean Islamist militants with something good for once. I want provide adequate shelter the same pool of people, while thors, said that the lines be- criminal pasts, from Belgium, to do something pure.” Gfor 2,200 unaccompanied their social networks are also tween crime and Islamist Britain, Denmark, France, Ger- According to Neumann, the migrant children on its soil, even converging, the International militant groups were becoming many and the Netherlands. fi ndings point to a shift if the if it has improved its response, Centre for the Study of Radi- “increasingly blurred”. All had either travelled abroad way IS operates. the country’s migration minister calisation and Political Violence “Prison is becoming im- to fi ght or been involved in ter- “We think IS no longer as- said yesterday. (ICSR) found, in what it dubbed portant as a place where a lot rorist plots in Europe. pires to be a very theological Yannis Mouzalas said that a “new crime-terror nexus”. of networking happens,” he Over the past fi ve years an organisation. It embodies the there are now no more than 25 The emergence of the Islamic said. “Given the recent surge in estimated 5,000 Western Euro- brutality, strength and power minors held in Greek police sta- State (IS) group has strength- terrorism-related arrests and peans have travelled to the Mid- that these young people who tions and 1,000 hosted in various ened the link between crime convictions ... we are convinced dle East to join Islamist militant were often members of gangs specialised facilities. and terrorism, according to the that prisons will become more – groups such as IS and the Syrian are looking for,” he said. “It ba- But most of the unaccom- report which examined the pro- rather than less – signifi cant as Fateh al-Sham Front, a former sically tells them ‘you can con- panied migrant children, some fi les of European Islamist mili- breeding grounds for the Islam- Al Qaeda affi liate, the report tinue to do all the things you did 1,200, are still staying in camps tants recruited since 2011. ist militant movement.” said. before, but now you can get into scattered across Greek islands in Rather than looking to uni- Neumann said that radicali- Of those studied, 57% had heaven’.” the eastern Aegean sea. “It would be lying to say a so- lution will be found in under six months. We think a year is nec- essary,” Mouzalas said during the opening of shelter for 100 such Merkel’s conservatives’ ratings at new low children in Paiania, a suburb of Athens. Five per cent of 2,200 are un- Reuters stand for a fourth term in Sep- der eight years old, while 80% Migrant children play with a puzzle depicting Europe’s map, at a Berlin tember 2017. are over 15. reception centre for unaccompanied minors in Paiania, in eastern The AfD has gained ground The minister said the top pri- Athens. in regional elections this year ority was to provide “safe places” upport for German Chan- and pollsters say many voters for the children where they enjoy The new shelter in Paiania, unemployment rate. cellor Angela Merkel’s are disillusioned with Merkel’s a minimum of protection against which is jointly managed and “Our job is to convince them to Sconservatives has dipped right-left ruling coalition. threats such as traffi ckers, the funded by the International Or- stay,” he added, noting that if the below the 30% mark for the The SPD’s preferred partner minister said. ganisation for Migration (IOM) children moved on they ran the fi rst time, a poll showed yester- is the Green Party, down 0.5 In September, the European and the NGO Medecins du risk of falling victim to traffi ck- day, with her Social Democrat percentage points at 11%. Union and human rights organi- Monde, is supposed to serve as ing networks. (SPD) coalition partners gaining The radical Left party, which sations called on Greece to im- a model for future ones, with Local authorities are support- slightly a year before a federal some in the SPD view as a possi- prove shelter for unaccompanied around 30 specialised staff and ing the two organisations run- election. ble partner, was up by the same migrant children, saying that on-site schooling. ning the Paiania shelter, which The INSA survey in Bild amount at 12%. many were held in squalid condi- Ministry offi cial Alkis Sou- for the IOM’s Daniel Esdrass is newspaper put Merkel’s con- “Germany is looking at the tions. liotis said most of the minors important at a time when ten- servatives down 0.5 percentage Merkel: has seen her popularity wane after she launched her open- most exciting election in its Also in September, the EU an- want to leave the country, either sions between refugees and host points at 29.5%, the lowest level door migrant policy last year. history,” INSA chief Hermann nounced €115mn in extra funding because they have relatives who communities are on the rise in measured for the bloc by that Binkert told Bild. for Greece’s response to migrants have already travelled on to else- Greece. polling institute. Alternative for Germany (AfD) door migrant policy last year, Other surveys show similar on its soil, following a damning where in Europe, or because they “We have to fi ght against the The SPD gained one percent- was unchanged on 15%. although it has recovered some- trends but INSA tends to show report on conditions migrants believe that they will better inte- ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome,” age point but was still far behind Merkel’s popularity waned what in the last few months. higher support for the AfD than face. grate outside Greece with its high he said. at 22% and the anti-immigrant after she launched her open- She is widely expected to other pollsters. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 19 EUROPE

Dutch freeze case against Pokemon Go makers Dutch authorities said yesterday that they have suspended plans to sue the US makers of Pokemon Go after the company deleted Tax sugary drinks to aid its virtual pets from a protected beach in The Hague. The so-called Pokestops and Pokegyms, which attract Pokemon and allow players to buy accessories to capture, treat and train the virtual monsters, “have been removed from obesity fi ght, says WHO the protected natural area”, municipality spokesman Gerald Reuters Drinking fewer calorifi c sweet 2014, with 11% of men and 15% ened food and drinks to battle needed for a lasting solution to spread to sub-Saharan Africa. Rensink told AFP. Geneva drinks is the best way to curb of women classifi ed as obese – obesity and fatten government obesity, it said. The WHO said that there was Since the game was launched excessive weight and prevent more than 500mn people, the coff ers. The non-alcoholic beverage increasing evidence that taxes in the Netherlands, thousands chronic diseases such as dia- report said. The United States-based soft industry was making available and subsidies infl uence pur- of fans have been crowding overnments should tax betes, although fat and salt in “Smart policies can help to drinks industry’s lobbying arm – more options with fewer calo- chasing behaviour and could the vast, windswept beaches of sugary drinks to fi ght processed foods are also at fault, turn the tides on this deadly epi- whose members include indus- ries and reformulating existing be used to curb consumption of Kijkduin where hundreds of the Gthe global epidemics of WHO offi cials said. demic, especially those aimed at try giants Coca-Cola Company, drinks to reduce calories signifi - sweet drinks. game’s most popular cartoon obesity and diabetes, the World “We are now in a place where reducing consumption of sugary Pepsico Incorporated and Red cantly, the group said. “This is tax on sugary drinks monsters spawned daily. Health Organisation (WHO) we can say there is enough evi- drinks, which is fuelling obesity Bull – strongly disagreed with An estimated 42mn children which is really by defi nition all The smartphone app uses said yesterday, recommenda- dence to move on this and we rates,” former New York mayor what it called “discriminatory under the age of fi ve were over- types of beverages containing satellite locations, graphics and tions that the industry swiftly encourage countries to imple- Michael Bloomberg, a WHO taxation”. weight or obese in 2015, said free sugars and this includes soft the phone’s camera capabilities branded “discriminatory” and ment eff ective tax on sugar- ambassador for non-commu- “It is an unproven idea that Francesco Branca, director of the drinks, fruit drinks, sachet mix- to overlay the cartoon monsters “unproven”. sweetened beverages to prevent nicable diseases, said in a state- has not been shown to improve WHO’s nutrition and health de- es, cordials, energy and sports onto real-world settings. A 20% price increase could obesity,” Temo Waqanivalu, of ment. public health based on global ex- partment, an increase of about drinks, fl avoured milks, break- But the small coastal village of reduce consumption of sweet the WHO Department of Non- The global soft drink market periences to date,” the Washing- 11mn over 15 years. fast drinks, even 100% fruit Kijkduin, south of The Hague, drinks by the same proportion, communicable Diseases and is worth nearly $870bn in annual ton-based International Council The United States has the juices,” Waqanivalu said. has been inundated with players, the WHO said in Fiscal Policies Health Promotion, told a brief- sales. of Beverages Associations said in most obesity per capita, but In Mexico, a tax rise in 2014 triggering concern for the for Diet and Prevention of Non- ing. 2016 could be the year of the a statement. China has similar absolute num- led to a 10% price hike and a 6% protected dunes surrounding the communicable Diseases, a report Obesity more than doubled sugar tax, as several large na- A comprehensive approach bers, Branca said, voicing con- drop in purchases by year-end, beaches. issued on World Obesity Day. worldwide between 1980 and tions consider levies on sweet- based on the whole diet was cerns that the epidemic could the report said. Pokemon Go creator Niantic pledged on Friday that it would withdraw all the virtual critters in the area after The Hague last month said it would take court action. Turkey orders 125 offi cers The city’s municipality said it had been forced to take the issue to court after Niantic had failed to respond to its pleas to stop the detained over Gulen links monsters. The authorities want to ban these small virtual animals in protected Reuters Greece rejects asylum bids from Turkish soldiers areas and in Kijkduin’s streets Istanbul from 11pm to 7am. Greece has rejected asylum requests from seven of eight Turkish The Pokemon Company, which soldiers who fled there after an abortive coup attempt against President licences the franchise, told Turkish prosecutor has Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July, their lawyer said yesterday. AFP in August that Niantic was ordered the detention of The eight Turkish soldiers flew a military helicopter into northern Greece centralising all the requests to A125 police offi cers in the on July 16, hours after a coup attempt by elements of the military in withdraw the game from areas. investigation of a religious move- Turkey started unravelling. The most recent update saw the ment the government blames for Turkey said they were involved in the coup attempt, an allegation the Hiroshima and Berlin Holocaust an unsuccessful military coup, soldiers deny. memorials disappear as Pokemon the state-run Anadolu Agency Four members of the group were informed yesterday that their asylum landmarks. reported. claims had been rejected by a first-instance board, joining another three In Poland, the former It was the second wave of ar- previously rejected. concentration camp at rests since October 7 to target One of them has lodged an appeal while the asylum board has not is- Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is suspected coup plotters in the sued a decision on the eighth applicant. today a museum, has also asked police force. In a statement released by their lawyer, Stavroula Tomara, the soldiers to be withdrawn from the game. President Recep Tayyip Er- said they believed the decision was guided by political expediency. dogan accuses his former ally, She says they fear for their lives if are returned to Turkey. the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gu- “We came to Greece to save our lives, not be pawns of foreign policy and Internet puzzlers’ len, of masterminding the July 15 bilateral agreements. We have not been labelled terrorists even in our uprising that killed 240 people, own country,” their statement said. virtual row ends including civilians protesting the Authorities had previously said that the soldiers failed to furnish Greek in stabbing attack coup attempt. authorities with suff icient evidence that they were not involved in the Gulen, who resides in Pennsyl- coup. A 29-year-old male admitted to vania, denies involvement. Turkey had formally sought the extradition of the eight, describing them stabbing a teenager following an The ruling AK Party, founded as “traitors” as Greece processed their asylum applications. online row over a maths puzzle in by Erdogan, will not harbour It underscored occasionally strained relations between Athens and Anka- a German court yesterday. members of the Gulen network ra, Nato allies at odds over issues from Cyprus to air rights in the Aegean. The defendant met the 19-year- that Ankara lists as a terrorist or- The eight – three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors – have old coincidentally in the German ganisation, Prime Minister Binali been kept in protective custody pending the outcome of the asylum coastal city of Wismar in April Yildirim said in parliament. applications. and recognised him from “AK Party will not shelter any his Facebook picture, before traitor or terrorist,” he said. “We attacking him with a pocketknife are engaged in the same struggle In yesterday’s operation, au- which Gulen’s followers began and leaving him for dead. (against Gulen’s network) within thorities conducted raids in Is- using in 2014, offi cials said in The two had previously the AK Party as we are in Turkey, tanbul, and among the police August. exchanged insults and threats via generally.” offi cers being sought were 30 Gulen, 75, has led a decades- the social media website, where No high-ranking AKP mem- deputy police chiefs, Anadolu old religious movement whose maths fans had been discussing bers have faced charges in the said. members sought jobs in the se- the solution to a puzzle. post-coup crackdown, which No one was immediately avail- curity forces and civil service to “I really regret not leaving the has included the arrests of able at the prosecutor’s offi ce to expand his clout, authorities say. Facebook group straight away,” 32,000 people and purge of some comment on the warrants. He fl ed Turkey in 1999 to avoid the defendant, who has not been 100,000 military offi cers, police, The Istanbul prosecutor said trial on suspicion of anti-secular identified, said in a statement teachers, judges, prosecutors and the offi cers were suspects be- comments. in the district court in Schwerin, others from state jobs. cause they allegedly used a little- Gulen’s network supported northern Germany. Yildirim acknowledged that a known smartphone messaging Erdogan, who has roots in an Is- He said that he had wanted to Smoke is seen on the roof of Berlin’s Europa-Center building. small number of mistakes might app called ByLock, Dogan re- lamist political movement, dur- teach his victim “a lesson” but occur during the crackdown but ported. ing the fi rst half of his rule but did not intend on injuring him as said the government will not al- The state intelligence agency the two sides fell out over disa- severely as he did. low “unjust treatment” of citi- identifi ed at least 56,000 op- greements in foreign and domes- The teenager said he was zens. eratives after it cracked ByLock, tic policy and other issues. stabbed twice with a blade Fire hits Berlin’s Europa-Center measuring 5-10cm in length, once in the stomach and a Reuters Kasparov wins rights case against Russia second time in the back as he Berlin early to say what had caused Pictures and video pub- tried to flee. the fire, which appears to lished on social media showed Chess master Garry Kasparov (pictured left) has won a case against Russia at the The attacker allegedly left his have engulfed the roof of the fl ames and smoke rising from European Court of Human Rights for unlawful arrest and violation of his right to victim bleeding on the street fi re broke out yester- building in the Charlotten- the top of the 20-storey Eu- attend a rally he missed as a result of his detention. while he went to pick up his day on the roof of the burg district, whose high- ropa-Center, which was built The complaint by the former world champion and political activist, a Russian children from nursery school. AEuropa-Center, a land- end shopping streets and in the early 1960s. national who lives in the US, dates back to 2007, when Russian authorities He claimed that he was unaware mark shopping centre in west- palace are major tourist at- It is recognisable by a rotat- confiscated his ticket and passport and held him at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo of the injuries he’d inflicted and ern Berlin, a spokesman at the tractions. ing Mercedes-Benz star, which Airport. expressed his remorse on the fi re department said. There were no reports of in- made it an icon of capitalist The detention prevented him from attending an opposition political rally scheduled first day of the trial. He said that it was too juries. West Berlin. to be held at an EU-Russia summit in Samara. Kim Kardashian sues over claims she faked Paris robbery

Reuters in her Paris apartment early on family is super close and great tabloid that published a series of New York October 3. and we’ll get through it together,” articles in early October 2016 re- The website did not imme- Khloe Kardashian told US chat ferring to her a liar and thief,” the diately respond to a request for show host Ellen DeGeneres. lawsuit said. im Kardashian yesterday comment. “It’s just a wake up call to make It said that Mwangaguhunga sued a website for claim- Kardashian’s TV show “Keep- a lot of life adjustments. This is refused to publish a retraction King she had staged an ing Up With the Kardashians” a really serious matter for Kim I and an apology. armed robbery in Paris that her has been put on hold since the think that’s really personal,” she Kardashian has been criticised sister said had left her terrorised robbery and Kim has stopped said, adding that Kim had suf- for making herself vulnerable by and traumatised. her other business and social en- fered “emotional terror”. posting photos of her $4mn en- The reality TV star fi led a gagements. Yesterday’s lawsuit seeks un- gagement ring and other jewel- defamation lawsuit in federal In the fi rst TV appearance yes- specifi ed damages for defama- lery in the days before the Paris court in New York against the terday by a Kardashian member tion and names both Media- attack. US celebrity gossip site Media- since the Paris incident, her sis- TakeOut.com and its founder, Others have made fun of the TakeOut.com for reporting that ter Khloe said the robbery had Fred Mwangaguhunga, as de- robbery. she had faked the robbery, and proved a “wake-up call” to the fendants. One California-based compa- then fi led a fraudulent insurance family, who chronicle almost “After having been the victim ny is selling a Halloween costume claim. every aspect of their lives on TV of a horrifi c and traumatic armed called “Parisian Heist Robbery Paris police said the 35-year- and social media. robbery in France, Kim Kardashi- Victim” that consists of a long old celebrity was robbed at gun- “She’s not doing that well. I an returned to the United States black wig, sunglasses, a white point of some $10mn in jewelry mean, it’s incredibly traumatic only to again be victimised, but bathrobe, rope, a mouth gag and Kardashian: robbery victim by masked men who tied her up what happened to her, but our this time by an online gossip a large plastic ring. Gulf Times 20 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 INDIA

POLITICS CAMPAIGN ECONOMY CRIME CONTROVERSY Ex-Akali Dal lawmaker Painting contest Gold imports fall 2 men arrested for Event company behind joins Congress Party for schoolchildren by 59%: report blackmailing woman meetings in Delhi: BJP

A day after resigning from the Punjab assembly, A national-level painting competition for India’s gold imports declined by 58.96% to 270 Two men were arrested in Delhi yesterday The Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday alleged that former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Inderbir Singh schoolchildren of 10-14 years will be held in tonnes from January to September from 658 for allegedly trying to extort Rs1mn from the Delhi government spent taxpayers’ money on Bolaria joined the Congress yesterday. Bolaria, who New Delhi on November 3 during the Asian tonnes during the corresponding period of last a woman by threatening to circulate her advertisements about parent-teacher meetings in represented the Amritsar-South assembly seat Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction year, a research report said yesterday. According obscene pictures, police said. The accused schools, saying an event management company since 2008, had sent his resignation to assembly (AMCDRR), an off icial statement said yesterday. to the report by the industry body Assocham, gold - Rajeev Gupta and Akash Pathak - were was behind it. “The advertisements by the (Arvind) Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal on Monday. He “This competition will be based on themes related imports declined due to a prolonged strike by arrested from Anand Vihar area on the Kejriwal government about the Parent and Teacher joined the Congress in the presence of state to Disaster Risk Reduction and aims to make jewellers and continuation of 10% custom duty on basis of a complaint filed the woman. “The meetings of Delhi government schools show that Congress president Amarinder Singh at an event children aware of its need and importance. It also imports. The report stated that smuggling of gold accused made phone calls to the victim some event management company is working in Amritsar, 250km from Chandigarh. Bolaria, who aims to bring to the fore their understanding of has been on the rise due to high customs duty, even demanding Rs10 lakh after threatening to behind the Delhi government,” Delhi BJP general was first elected in 2008 from the Amritsar South risks and ways to address them,” the statement as the industry demands a lower levy structure to circulate obscene pictures and videos of her secretary Ashish Sood said in a statement. “Parent seat, was re-elected in the 2012 assembly polls. He said. The three-day conference is being organised encourage off icial imports. India has been among on the social media,” a police off icial said. and Teacher meetings are a normal process in was made Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) in by the central government in collaboration the biggest gold consumers in the world with Four mobiles phones and two pen drives schools but the way in which the government the Punjab government earlier. He was suspended with the UN Off ice for Disaster Risk Reduction average imports of more than 1,000 tonnes per allegedly containing some obscene videos/ has spent crores of rupees on advertisements, it from the Akali Dal recently after he rebelled against (UNISDR). “Children are a nation’s future, and they annum reported in the recent past. Further, the photographs have been recovered from seems the government is trying to show that the a decision of the Punjab government to set up a need to be exposed to notions of safety from all industry body said it expects gold prices to stay firm them, according to Deputy Commissioner of education system will be reformed with the help of waste management plant in his constituency. kinds of hazards,” it added. in the range of Rs30,500-Rs 33,500 per 10g. Police Rishi Pal. these meetings,” the BJP leader said.

Probe CM’s role, says Cow vigilante Congress in Kerala

IANS groups not Thiruvananthapuram

he Congress Party yes- terday demanded a Vigi- Tlance probe into the role of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi anti-social, Vijayan after a number of rela- tives of senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders got jobs in public sector organisations and as government leaders, triggering allegations of nepotism. State Congress president V says RSS chief M Sudheeran said that nothing happens without the knowledge Bhagwat contradicts with said cow, revered by Hindus, was casteism, saying an ongoing RSS of Vijayan. Modi’s stand on the Hindu to be protected by the law and survey had thrown up alarming “All appointments to top posts bovine activists “gau rakshaks perform an impor- fi ndings. are done with the knowledge of tant service.” He called cow pro- For instance, he said, a detailed Vijayan and hence his role also IANS tection a “sacred mission” that survey of 9,000 villages in Madhya should be probed. Leader of Op- Nagpur would “continue and gather mo- Pradesh had shown that in 40% of position Ramesh Chennithala mentum” despite “grave provo- them, backward castes and Dal- has already sought a probe in his cations.” its face discrimination on temple letter to the Vigilance director ashtriya Swayamsewak The RSS chief also spoke at entry, in 30% villages they are not Jacob Thomas,” Sudheeran said Sangh chief Mohan Bhag- length on various issues including allowed access to water sources in a statement. Rwat yesterday backed cow Kashmir and the army’s surgical and in 35% villages they are barred “But it has now surfaced that vigilantes and asked the govern- strikes across the border. from using the crematorium. Thomas is waiting to get a direc- ment not to equate them with an- “The Swayamsevaks are working tion from Vijayan and, if so, then it ti-social elements, contradicting on this. They have started helping is a hypocritical stand,” he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s our SC/ST brethren to claim the Controversy erupted after state stand on the Hindu bovine activ- benefi ts guaranteed to them under Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, ists. the Constitution and ensure that the number two in the ministry, “There are some people who are the government and administra- appointed his close relatives to dedicated to cow protection. It is “Gau rakshaks operate tion disburse the funds allocated top posts in the state public sec- part of the Directive Principles of under the law. The for their welfare,” Bhagwat said. tor undertakings (PSUs). State Policy,” Bhagwat said in his administration must keep He said while the RSS work- These included his nephew annual speech on Vijay Dashmi, (this) in mind” ers would certainly strive to P K Sudheer, who is the son of marking the 91st foundation day achieve social equality as per their CPM Lok Sabha member P K of the RSS - the ruling Bharatiya He said Pakistan was encour- strength, wisdom and capacity, Sreemathy. Following a huge so- Janata Party’s ideological mentor. aging separatists in Jammu and he urged individuals and associa- cial media outcry, the appoint- “Gau rakshaks operate under Kashmir and demanded strict tions standing for social good to ment was cancelled. the law. The administration must action against those indulging become more active. Congress leader Sudheeran keep (this) in mind. Those who in violence in the valley, which is “It will certainly be a shame on said Jayarajan “has no other op- break the law shouldn’t be com- battling over three months of the the 21st century India if one’s in- tion but to quit” and his “silence pared to gau rakshaks,” Bhagwat deadliest unrest in years. nocent kin have to bear insults clearly shows that he knows that said at the RSS headquarters in “Miscreants” in Kashmir were and physical onslaughts because what he has done very wrong.” Nagpur. being encouraged by forces from of one’s wrath over a trivial issue Ever since the Sudheer episode Bhagwat’s remarks contradict across the border, Bhagwat said, or one’s superiority complex. It surfaced, names of those who got Modi’s August speeches when he praising the BJP government and also facilitates the divisive forces jobs on the basis of being a rela- said that 70-80% of the activists referring to the September 29 to tarnish the country’s image and tive of a CPM leader have been would be found involved in anti- cross-border raid by the Indian slow down the momentum of good emerging. social activities which no society Army that killed an unspecifi ed social welfare activities being car- Yesterday, Youth Congress can approve of. number of militants and disman- ried out all over,” Bhagwat said. activists were allegedly roughed Modi in his two speeches - in tled seven launch pads. The 90th RSS rally in Nagpur up by police here after they were Delhi and Telangana - advised “Our army has shown great also saw its top leaders starting stopped from marching to the of- states to act against such activ- courage under this government. with Bhagwat, wearing for the fi cial residence of Jayarajan. ists after a nationwide outcry over The government took a commend- fi rst time dark brown full trousers, Top Congress leaders are high-handedness by cow vigilantes able step. Our borders should be against the earlier khaki shorts meeting here today to discuss on Dalits in many states, including guarded and well managed.” which prevailed for nine decades how this issue should be taken Volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) take part in the “Path-Sanchalan,” or Route in Modi’s home state Gujarat. Bhagwat also expressed con- since its founding in 1925 by the forward. March, during celebrations to mark the Vijaya Dashmi, or Dussehra, in Ahmedabad, yesterday. Bhagwat didn’t quite agree. He cern over social inequality and late Kesava Rao Baliram Hedgewar. Tamil Nadu needs a deputy CM for crucial issues ersonalities and families of the party but even its second its $150bn gross national product that it more often than not takes day threaten their own position. dominating regional and string leaders. (GDP) is second only to Mahar- refuge in status quo. It can hardly (Ottakara Paneerselvam, who Peven national politics is Unabashed, and often degrad- ashtra and its 72mn population is show the dynamism required for acted her on Jayalalithaa’s behalf nothing new across the world, ing, sycophancy is what these Delhi Diary the fi fth largest. Most important, day-to-day governance. Politi- twice earlier, had refused to sit on even in deeply entrenched de- larger-than-life personas get Tamil nationalism has never been cians who can read the pulse of the chair that his leader was used mocracies. So you had two Bushes used to. To their ardent admirers By A K B Krishnan too far to seek, from the anti- the people are better equipped to to and that was out of sheer rever- as American presidents and a they are God’s gift to mankind. Hindi agitation during the days of do this. It is another matter that ence.) third one has been hovering over They are one of a kind and can in Gulf Times Correspondent C N Annadurai in the 1960s to the politicians like Jayalalithaa have The main opposition Dravida it for some time, although with- no way be replaced. Their immor- resistance to the goods and serv- been spoiled by too much adula- Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has out success. And if analysts’ pre- tality is a given. When the heart ices tax (GST) that the rest of the tion by her followers who, in turn, demanded the appointment of a dictions are to be believed, there rules over the head, logic goes for For long Jayalalithaa is used specialist, comes into the picture nation is gladly preparing to em- have been spoiled by her through deputy chief minister so that the could soon be the wife of a presi- a long walk. ‘No’ is not a plausible to holding court at her home. All in life-and-death cases. brace presently. freebies and doles of one sort of business of running the govern- dent in the Oval Offi ce. answer. These leaders don’t die. cabinet meetings were invariably There was no news from the Therefore, running a state like the other. ment goes on uninterrupted. Jay- If it can happen in America, can Ever! held there. (Remember she had hospital for nearly two weeks af- Tamil Nadu requires top quality Tamil Nadu is staring at an in- alalithaa’s All India Anna Dravida India be far behind? No two states Jayalalithaa has been in a her own chair airlifted to Delhi in ter her admission. Then, if news leadership in fi ne fettle. defi nite absence of Jayalalithaa Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in India are similar in their politi- Chennai hospital for the better 2014 when she had come to this reports are to be believed, Prime One of the perks of democracy and, therefore, political leader- has steadfastly opposed the sug- cal landscape; perhaps the most part of three weeks now under- city for a meeting with then prime Minister Narendra Modi asked is the civil service cadre, what ship. According to one report, a gestion. unique of them all is Tamil Nadu. going treatment for a variety of minister Manmohan Singh?) But Governor Vidyasagar Rao to visit Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel called retired IAS offi cer, who is close Several crucial issues - most Families have dominated the ailments. Apart from whatever reports say that for several weeks Jayalalithaa in the hospital and the “steel frame of India.” The of- to the chief minister, is calling important of all perhaps is the politics of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, medications she is being admin- before hospitalisation not even talk to the doctors to get the cor- fi cers of the Indian Administrative the shots and the ministers are Cauvery river water dispute with Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, istered, she is also being helped her senior ministers had been able rect picture. Service (IAS) are basically trained happy to take orders from her. neighbouring Karnataka - are Andhra Pradesh (before its bifur- by a machine just to breathe. The to meet her, let alone discuss af- Naturally there was no way to implement policies initiated by She is said to have set up her of- scheduled to come up for argu- cation) and to an extent Karna- medical bulletins - if one can call fairs of the state. Governor Rao could have talked the political leadership. fi ce in a room adjacent to the ICU ment and decision in the com- taka. But when it comes to Tamil them such - put out irregularly by The Chennai hospital where to the chief minister directly. In- But over the years these offi cers in the hospital and the ministers ing weeks. An incapacitated chief Nadu, it has been all about per- the hospital after some coercion she is undergoing treatment is tensive care units in hospitals are have also become adept at guiding and senior bureaucrats are lining minister is not going to help the sonalities, the Karunanidhi family from the opposition are at best one of the more reputable health not exactly the right settings to the political leadership inasmuch up there. cause of Tamil Nadu. notwithstanding. sketchy. institutions in the country. But discuss statecraft. He met some as they themselves have taken on The problem with domineer- While opposing whatever the From the days of Annadurai to Before being stretchered out to the chief minister apparently had ministers and senior offi cials and the role of policy setters in several ing leaders like Jayalalithaa is they DMK says has become second ‘MGR’ to incumbent Chief Minis- the hospital, she had been con- far too many issues than what had to rely on what the doctors instances because the ministers will never want anyone around nature to the AIADMK - and vice ter Jayalalithaa, the party, wheth- fi ned to her residence and all sorts the doctors there were capable of told him, which was that Jayala- under whom they work are often them to gain too much popular- versa - there is certainly some er in government or in opposition, of rumours had gained currency. handling on their own. So they lithaa was making progress but found wanting in several aspects. ity. A second-in-command is not merit in the suggestion for crea- has always been subservient to (Even now there is no dearth of fl ew in fellow-professionals from will have to remain in hospital for So, in the temporary absence of in their line of thinking; mainly tion of a deputy chief minister’s its unquestioned supremo. And them though. Latest reports say Delhi’s All Indian Institute of an indefi nite period. the supreme leader, these offi cers for two reasons: 1, these leaders post. But then again, Indian poli- when personalities dominate, two people have been arrested for Medical Science (AIIMS) as well Tamil Nadu is not a small state can well hold fort, which is what would want all the limelight on tics has become so vitiated that they tend to occupy a glorifi ed, spreading rumours and, if con- as an intensivist from London. in any sense. At 130,058sq km it is happening in Tamil Nadu at the them, and them only, and 2, they any advice, however sage, will fall rarefi ed place that is beyond the victed, could be in jail for up to The medical fraternity knows that may only be the 11th largest of moment. are in constant fear that anyone on deaf ears if it comes from the reach of not just the foot soldiers seven years). an intensivist, or a critical care the 29 states in the country but But the problem with the IAS is acknowledged as No 2 could one enemy. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 21 INDIA Socialite and philanthropist Parmeshwar Godrej dead

IANS treatment of some lung ailments, a prominent fi gure in the city’s She had teamed up with ac- ceived yesterday with shock and Members of the Hindi fi lm fra- Mumbai but details are not available. glam and celeb circuits. claimed director Shekhar Kapur disbelief by friends and celebri- ternity also mourned her death. She was 71 and is survived by She was renowned for her to launch a production house ties. Filmmaker Madhur her husband Adi and their three work in combating Aids through called ‘Starlight’ in 2000, which Pakistani cricketer-turned- Bhandarkar tweeted: “One of ell-known socialite children, Nisaba Godrej, Piroj- the Heroes Project which she was preceded by co-producing politician Imran Khan tweeted the most gracious and down-to- and philanthropist sha and Tanya Dubash. launched in 2004 along with the Merchant-Ivory production the news of her death. earth persons I knew. You will be WParmeshwar Godrej, The last rites of Parmeshwar Hollywood actor Richard Gere The Perfect Murder in 1988. “Devastated by death of close missed.” wife of Godrej Group chairman were performed in Mumbai early and supported by the Bill & A popular socialite with the friend Parmeshwar Godrej... she Veteran actor Kabir Bedi post- Adi Godrej, died in a private hos- yesterday. Melinda Gates Foundation and signature beret, and once a Page 3 was always there for me in my ed: “Deeply saddened by the pital here. Parmeshwar started her career Clinton Global Initiative and regular, Parmeshwar had hosted a most diffi cult times. May her passing of Parmeshwar Godrej, She died late Monday night at as one of the fi rst airhostesses of also served on the board of sev- party for international talk show husband Adi and her children dear friend from my early days in Parmeshwar Godrej: known for the Breach Candy Hospital where national carrier Air India, before eral major international founda- queen Oprah Winfrey in 2012. fi nd strength to cope with this advertising. I share her family’s charity work she was admitted recently for she married Godrej and became tions and trusts. The news of her death was re- loss,” he wrote. grief.” Two arrested over ‘rumours’ about health of Jayalalithaa

Agencies Police fear rumours could pro- Chennai voke her supporters to turn vio- lent or even engage in self-harm. Last week one of her sup- olice have arrested two porters was injured after setting people on charges of himself on fi re, while an elderly P“inciting violence and man suspended himself from a spreading rumours,” an offi cer crane with steel hooks pierced said yesterday, amid uncertainty through his skin. about the health of Tamil Nadu Pictures showed scores of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. children with metal arrows Satish Kumar and Madasamy piercing their cheeks holding have been accused of posting Jayalalithaa’s picture as they false news on social media web- prayed for her recovery. sites about the condition of the Amid rumours that Jayala- Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a bow and arrow as he is welcomed on stage at the Aishbagh Ram Leela in Lucknow yesterday. Also seen are Uttar Pradesh Governor chief minister, who has been in lithaa was in a serious condition, Ram Naik and federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh. hospital since last month. Kerala Governor P Sathasivam “The accused were arrested on said on Monday after meeting Monday for posting false news doctors that the chief minister on Facebook. We are taking these would be discharged soon. acts seriously,” Senthil Kumar, Tamil Nadu ministers held head of the serious crimes branch special prayers in famous tem- in Chennai, said, without elabo- ples like the Rajagopalaswamy rating on the content of the posts. Temple at Mannargudi in Tiru- Forty-three similar cases have varur district for her speedy re- been fi led against unknown per- covery. Will decimate terror sons and a hunt launched to ar- Hundreds of men and women rest them, Kumar said. took part in a procession carry- Jayalalithaa was admitted to ing milk-fi lled vessels in Ma- the Apollo Hospital in Chennai durai. on September 22, and tens of Special prayers were also held thousands of her supporters are at a temple in Tiruporur in Kan- anxiously awaiting news about chipuram district and in Chen- her health. nai. and its backers: PM Authorities have provided Andhra Pradesh Chief Minis- few updates on her condition, ter N Chandra Babu Naidu has Modi speaks at Dussehra claim of “surgical strikes” by (peace). Sometimes war is nec- September 11, 2001 attacks in vana... they are to be done away initially saying the 68-year-old reportedly asked the Tirumala gathering in election-bound the Indian army at “militant essary, but our path is not that the US and the 2008 Mumbai with,” he said. leader was suff ering from fever Thirupati Devasthanam (TTD), Lucknow launch pads” on September 29. of war, but that of Buddha. carnage that left 166 people He also called upon people to and dehydration. which manages the famed He made no direct reference “We create balance... I hope dead. save the girl child and said that On October 3, the hospital said Tirupati shrine, to send ‘pras- IANS to the surgical strikes or to any the path shown by Buddha will “Terrorism knows no reli- there should not be any dis- she was on respiratory support adham’ to the ailing Jayalalithaa. Lucknow country. be our fi nal path,” Modi said. gion, no boundaries,” he said. crimination against them. and a critical care expert was Opposition parties have de- “Those who spread terror- “If a country of 1.25 crore The army raids are seen as a Opponents have denounced fl own in from Britain. manded in vain that the govern- ism need to be annihilated and keeps an eye on every terror- direct military response to the Modi’s relocation to Lucknow Scores of her followers gather ment issue regular health bul- rime Minister Narendra those who aid terrorism will not ist activity, terrorists will never attack last month on an army for the Dussehra festival as outside the hospital every day, letins. Modi yesterday said the be spared either,” Modi said in a succeed,” Modi said to loud base in Uri in Kashmir, in which a blatantly political exercise praying in unusual ways for her A few individuals have ap- Ptime had come to uproot speech laced with references to cheers. 19 soldiers were killed by mili- ahead of next year’s election in recovery. proached the courts on the mat- terror and those who patronise Hindu religion. He said decades ago when In- tants. Uttar Pradesh. Jayalalithaa, a former movie ter. terrorists. Modi said India was a coun- dia discussed terrorism, nobody Modi also urged people to Before Modi’s speech, Home star known as “amma” or moth- Jayalalithaa is one of India’s Addressing a massive Dusse- try that respected both Krishna paid heed. fi ght social evils like corruption Minister Rajnath Singh, who is er, has a cult following in one of most powerful women politi- hra gathering at the Aishbagh who led the Pandavas in the war The Bharatiya Janata Party and fi lthiness, saying they too also the parliamentarian from the country’s most prosperous cians but her career lasting more Ram Leela ground here, Modi of Mahabharata and Mahatma leader recalled how during a visit are multi-headed like Ravana. Lucknow, told the audience: states. than three decades has been said terrorism in all forms was Gandhi who propagated non- to the US years ago, American He said one must destroy all “The PM has proved to the She is serving as chief minister marred by corruption charges. anti-humanity. violence. offi cials argued that terrorism evils from within. world that India is not weak,” for the third time after winning She was jailed briefl y on two It was the prime minister’s “We are the people who go was a law and order problem. “Social evils like corruption, referring to the cross-border elections this year. occasions, most recently in 2014. fi rst public speech after his from yuddha (war) to Buddha But all that changed after the fi lthiness and others are like Ra- strikes. Militants still holed up Baloch campaigner inside Kashmir building arrives in New Delhi IANS Gandhi International Airport by New Delhi her son Mazdak Dilshad Baloch, Agencies time,” a defence source said. and 12km from the Srinagar city who reached New Delhi in Au- Srinagar “We don’t want to take any centre. gust, and several other Baloch unnecessary casualties. The The joint operation was aloch writer Naela Qadri activists. operation will be resumed with launched by the army, the Spe- Baloch, a long-time cam- Mazdak Baloch said: “My he standoff between se- the fi rst light tomorrow (on cial Operations Group of the Bpaigner for Balochistan’s mother will take part in several curity forces and militants Wednesday),” the source said. state police and the Central Re- independence, arrived here yes- seminars and programmes on Tholed up inside a govern- Security forces resumed the serve Police Force (CRPF). terday with a view to setting up a the Baloch movement. She will ment building near Pampore operation yesterday morn- The same government-run in- government-in-exile. meet people in the government town in Jammu and Kashmir’s ing with rockets and heavy au- stitution, which is meant to coach Naela Baloch, who waited for to seek support of our cam- Pulwama district continued for tomatic weapons being used and provide fi nancial support to almost three months to get an paign.” the second day yesterday amid against the ensconced militants. young entrepreneurs in Kashmir, Indian visa, fl ew into New Delhi Several Baloch leaders from reports one rebel had been killed. Two members of the security was targeted by militants in Feb- from Kabul where she lives. Pakistan and from other coun- The security forces kept forces and a policeman were in- ruary as well, claiming the lives of “I am very happy to be here. I tries have begun visiting New pounding the hostel of the En- jured as the militants fi red from fi ve soldiers and three attackers. look forward to my stay in Delhi Delhi since Prime Minister trepreneurship Development inside the hostel on Monday af- The institute is also strategically for a week and then travel to oth- Narendra Modi, in his Inde- Institute (EDI) where the rebels ter they entered the building. located on an arterial road con- er cities,” Naela Baloch said. pendence Day address of Au- armed with rockets, grenades The militants have taken no- necting Jammu and Srinagar. “I have multiple engagements gust 15, highlighted the Baloch and automatic gunfi re have been body hostage as activities at the Indian forces have been kept in Delhi. I am looking forward issue. holed up for over 24 hours. institute remain suspended due on high alert across Kashmir in to meeting a number of political Balochistan, Pakistan’s larg- While parts of the multi- to the three-month-long curfew. the past few weeks as the security leaders here to garner support to est province in terms of area, storey building caught fi re, the “The combat parties are not situation has come under severe form a Baloch government-in- has witnessed a long-running rebels kept changing position entering the building to avoid strain. This is the fourth major exile,” she added. insurgency for which Islamabad inside while using their ammu- the casualties. They want the attack on an Indian government- She was received at the Indira blames New Delhi. nition sparingly, police said. militants’ ammunition to fi n- backed facility. The initial targets Reports said one guerrilla had ish which will subsequently were those run by the army. been killed in the operation and lead to (the) end of the gunfi ght. The Kashmir Valley plunged Five terror suspects held his body was lying inside the Militants are heavily-armed and into chaos shortly after a local building. they fi re intermittently. They can separatist leader, Burhan Wani, The National Investigation Agency to the police, a team of NIA and Defence sources here said they keep combat parties engaged for was killed by security forces on (NIA) has arrested five suspected Intelligence Bureau (IB) off icials would confi rm the death only af- hours together,” a senior police July 8. Since then, the state has terrorists from the India-Nepal have been interrogating them to ter the body was recovered. offi cial told the local newspaper been witnessing cross-border border in Raxaul, Bihar, police said know more about their plan. In “Although the entire com- Greater Kashmir. attacks. India also claims it car- yesterday. “The NIA has recovered August 2013, Indian Mujahideen plex has been illuminated with The 70-room, seven-storey ried out “surgical strikes” across Paramilitary troopers look towards a building where suspected a map of important places of chief Yasin Bhatkal was arrested fl oodlights, there is complete building is located at Pampore the LOC to take down militant militants are thought to be hiding on the second day of a Patna from the arrested suspects,” from Raxaul in Bihar’s East darkness inside the building this on the banks of the river Jhelum positions. gunfight, in Pampore, south of Srinagar, yesterday. a police off icial said. According Champaran district. Gulf Times 22 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 LATIN AMERICA

HEALTHCARE PEOPLE CRIME ACCIDENT DEMAND WHO sending 1mn cholera Hunger strike leaves Six battered bodies found Two dead in Mexico Drug lord’s sons want vaccine doses to Haiti ex-Gitmo inmate ‘critical’ in abandoned car military helicopter crash ‘impartial’ attack probe

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is sending A former Guantanamo inmate resettled in Uruguay The battered bodies of six men were found in an Two people were killed and one injured when a Prosecutors questioned a lawyer for imprisoned 1mn doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti, where in 2014 is in critical condition from a two-month-old abandoned car in the violence-ridden Mexican state military helicopter crashed in Mexico’s violent drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman after he more than 200 cases of the killer disease have hunger strike he launched to demand authorities of Veracruz, authorities said. Prosecutors showed state of Tamaulipas, the latest in a series of such relayed a message from his client’s sons denying been reported since Hurricane Matthew. The transfer him to another country. J Diyab, a 45-year- photos of the victims, who were found with their incidents. The chopper was on a reconnaissance their involvement in the killing of troops. Refugio campaign is aimed at quashing new outbreaks old Syrian, launched his protest in early August, hands tied behind their backs, bearing the signs of flight 8kms east of the state capital of Ciudad Rodriguez was asked to appear at the attorney before the peak transmission of cholera in the demanding to be transferred to an Arab country brutal beatings. “There are very strong indications” Victoria near the US border when it came general’s off ice after he told news outlets, Caribbean country which is from November and reunited with his family. “He is in serious that organised crime groups,” played a role in the down, the defence ministry said in a statement. that Jesus Alfredo and Ivan Guzman rejected to January, during the rainy season. “The top danger,” said Uruguay’s rights ombudswoman, crime, state prosecutor general Luis Angel Bravo The cause was unknown, media reported. allegations they were behind the September 30 priority clearly for those people aff ected by the Mirtha Guianze, describing his condition as “very Contreras said. The vehicle was located in the The aircraft was carrying two pilots and an ambush that killed five soldiers. Rodriguez said hurricane is to give them access to safe water. critical.” “His situation has us worried from a town Puente Galera, some 200kms from the army off icer. The co-pilot, the sole survivor, he repeated to the authorities that the brothers That’s the only way we can control cholera,” humanitarian standpoint,” she said. A Uruguayan city Veracruz, one of Mexico’s most important was airlifted to hospital. Tamaulipas is one of denied a role in the “terrible” attack in Culiacan. Dominique Legros, WHO cholera expert, told court ruled last month that Diyab had the right to ports, authorities said in a statement. The killings Mexico’s most violent states, where the Zetas The sons say “they have nothing to do with this” a news briefing yesterday before travelling to continue his hunger strike, after he briefly went prompted student protests in cities across and Gulf cartels are fighting for control of key and they request “an impartial and eff ective Port-au-Prince. into a coma, then refused to be fed through an IV. Veracruz demanding better security. drug-traff icking routes to the US. investigation,” the lawyer said. Lula charged over Odebrecht Angola work in graft probe

Reuters “at least” 2008 — when Lula was Sao Paulo still president — until 2015. They allege Lula used his in- fl uence while in offi ce to secure orruption charges against fi nancing from Brazil’s state de- former Brazilian presi- velopment bank BNDES for un- Cdent Luiz Inacio Lula da disclosed Odebrecht projects in Silva piled up as prosecutors Angola — and that Odebrecht in accused him and Marcelo Ode- return paid 30mn reais in kick- brecht, ex-CEO of engineering backs to Lula and others. group Odebrecht SA, in an al- Lawyers for Lula did not im- leged bribery scheme related to mediately respond to a request for contracts in Angola. comment. Prosecutors also said in Lula already faces several other their statement they are looking charges related to a sweeping into Odebrecht projects elsewhere kickback probe at state-run oil in Africa and Latin America to company Petrobras, and Odebre- see if the company received low- cht is serving a 19-year sentence interest BNDES loans in the same after his conviction on other cor- manner as the alleged scheme in ruption allegations in the investi- Angola. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos meets with Misak children in Bogota. Around 2,000 Misak arrived in Bogota to show their support to the peace process. The Misak gation. Lula was charged on Monday are indigenous people whose territory is in Cauca, high in the Andes mountains in Colombia. The new charges come amid with corruption, infl uence ped- expectations that Odebrecht — dling and money laundering — the Latin America’s largest construc- latter of which prosecutors say tion conglomerate — is on the they found on 44 occasions, of- cusp of signing a leniency deal ten by Odebrecht paying infl ated with prosecutors that would see prices to subcontractor Exergia its former CEO and dozens of oth- Brasil, which was run by a Lula er executives turn state’s witness. confi dant who was also charged Prosecutors have said the Ode- in the case. It is now up to a federal Colombia-ELN rebels brecht group, with its global reach judge in Brasilia whether or not and powerful connections inside to accept the prosecutor’ charges Brazil, was at the heart of the against Lula and the others and long-running corruption scheme. put them on trial. Testimony from its executives Lula had already been charged could signifi cantly expand the twice for various counts of cor- Petrobras probe, lead to new in- ruption in connection with a peace talks begin Oct 27 vestigations and implicate more massive anti-graft investiga- politicians. tion centred on state oil company AFP news for Santos, fresh from his It was the third hostage release Catholic Church sources iden- Over the decades, the confl ict Brazil’s top prosecutor Rodrigo Petrobras, known formally as Pe- Caracas Nobel Peace Prize win but still in two weeks by the leftist Na- tifi ed the hostage as Nelson Alar- has drawn in several leftist rebel Janot is investigating 66 politi- troleo Brasileiro SA. reeling from voters’ rejection tional Liberation Army (ELN). con, kidnapped three months ago. groups, right-wing paramili- cians — many sitting lawmakers Sergio Moro, a judge in south- in a referendum of a peace deal Colombia and the ELN agreed The ELN is still believed to taries and drug gangs. The last — for alleged participation in the ern Brazil, has ruled that Lula will he Colombian govern- with the Revolutionary Armed in March to launch peace talks, be holding at least one hos- two leftist guerrilla groups, the Petrobras scheme, a number that stand for at least one set of those ment and the country’s Forces of Colombia (Farc), the in parallel with the govern- tage, former congressman Odin Farc and ELN, have been at war could grow signifi cantly with pos- charges. Tsecond-largest rebel country’s largest rebel group. ment’s negotiations with the Sanchez. But the text announc- with the state since 1964. sible testimony from Odebrecht The trial date has not been set. group, the ELN, announced they “We’ve been seeking nego- Farc. But the government has ing peace talks spoke of “two The ELN is estimated to be executives. Prosecutors wrote in their would launch negotiations on tiations with the ELN for almost said negotiations with the ELN cases,” without giving further about one fourth the size of the To date, nearly 200 executives Monday indictment that Lula also October 27 in Ecuador’s capi- three years to end the armed cannot begin until the group details. Farc, with some 1,500 fi ghters. and former politicians have been received kickbacks for an unspec- tal, with President Juan Manuel confl ict with them as well... frees all its hostages. Sanchez handed himself over After nearly four years of charged in the Petrobras probe ifi ed sum from Odebrecht for de- Santos predicting “total peace”. Now that we’re moving forward In the text presented in Cara- to the rebels in April in exchange talks with the Farc in the Cuban and 83 have already been found livering lectures to business lead- Both sides have commit- with the ELN, we will have total cas, the ELN vowed to “initiate for the release of his brother, capital Havana, the government guilty. ers abroad, although it is not clear ted to doing everything in their peace,” Santos said in Bogota. the process to free hostages be- Patrocinio Sanchez, a former and rebels signed a peace deal Prosecutors are seeking 38bn if the speeches actually took place. power to “create an environ- The ELN freed a civilian hos- fore October 27”. governor who had fallen ill after on September 26 — only for the reais ($12bn) in damages from “It is suspected that...those ment favourable to peace” once tage, the International Commit- The Red Cross said ELN fi ght- nearly three years in captivity. Colombian people to unexpect- companies and individuals in- contracts and payments, in truth, the talks begin, according to a tee of the Red Cross said, ahead ers had handed over the latest Santos is working to end half a edly vote against it six days later, volved. were only to conceal the real rea- joint statement delivered at the of what the rebels had billed as hostage, who it did not identify, century of confl ict in Colombia sending both sides back to the Federal prosecutors in Brasilia son behind Odebrecht’s payments Venezuelan foreign ministry in an “important announcement” in a remote area in the depart- that has killed more than 260,000 drawing board. said the latest charges are related to ex-president Lula,” the docu- Caracas. on potential peace talks with the ment of Arauca, on the Ven- people, left 45,000 missing and Critics of the deal argued it to alleged crimes carried out from ment read. The move comes as welcome government. ezuelan border. uprooted nearly 7mn. was too soft on the Farc. Brazil’s lawmakers Rio security chief quits as crime surges pass spending cap Reuters mitment by the state govern- Rio de Janeiro ment. After an economic boom and Reuters victory in Congress since he took able to rebalance the country’s dire heavy investment across Rio, Brasilia the presidency in May amid a po- fi nances. Still, most analysts agree he state security sec- Brazil’s best-known and sec- litical crisis that toppled his pred- that Temer needs to raise taxes and retary of Rio de Janeiro ond-largest city, the state is now ecessor and former running mate push ahead with other unpopular Twill step down from his slashing its security budget and razil’s lower house of Con- Dilma Rousseff . economic reforms to stave off a full post, according to an aide, as other public expenditures be- gress approved a landmark “This is a clear sign of Congress’ blown fi scal crisis. violence and crime rebound cause of a fi nancial crisis and the Bproposal to cap public commitment to rebalance the fi s- His administration has vowed to in the Brazilian city and erase country’s worst recession since spending in a fi rst-round vote, cal account and rescue fi scal re- submit in October an amendment many of the gains made dur- the Great Depression. a major victory for President sponsibility,” Temer’s spokesman, to reduce the expensive benefi ts in ing the near-decade he was in Now, drug traffi ckers and Michel Temer’s eff orts to regain Alexandre Parola, told reporters one of the world’s most generous the job. other criminal gangs have grown market confi dence and pull the soon after the tense vote, in which pension systems. Jose Mariano Beltrame, a emboldened to retake territory economy out of its worst reces- opposing lawmakers exchanged Although the spending cap former police offi cer who was that the state had occupied in sion ever. insults and threats. would mark a sea change for a lauded in recent years because an ambitious eff ort to “pacify” After nine hours, lawmakers ap- The lower house rejected all country used to spending lavishly of reduced violence and in- large swathes of a metropolitan proved the measure 366-111, well eight opposition proposals to on public servants and industrial roads against criminal gangs in region of more than 12mn peo- above the 308 votes or three-fi fths change the amendment, keeping incentives, it has also raised fears Rio, met on Monday with the ple that for decades had been majority needed for passage. the test intact. of cuts to spending on health, edu- state governor and was expect- fully controlled by outlaws. The constitutional amendment An experienced former law- cation and corruption investiga- ed to formalise his departure Yesterday, a daylong gun that limits spending growth to in- maker, Temer has blamed Rous- tions. soon, the aide to Beltrame said. battle waged between state fl ation still needs another super- seff for the years of overspending The opposition and powerful The aide spoke on condition police and suspected traf- majority vote in the lower house that eroded the fi scal accounts and civil servant unions have called of anonymity due to not being fi ckers in the community of and two in the Senate for fi nal ap- cost Brazil its coveted investment- to strike down the measure that authorised to discuss the mat- Pavao-Pavaozinho, a hillside proval. grade rating last year. would impose wage freezes and ter publicly. slum that overlooks some of The overwhelming support Temer has promised to shore up other penalties on branches of the Beltrame brought more Rio’s wealthiest districts. for the proposal will likely add the public accounts to breathe new federal government that breach stability to once-dangerous At least three of the sus- momentum to Temer’s austerity life into the $2tn economy now in the spending ceiling. slums and paved the way for pects were killed and several agenda that aims to close a budget its second year of a recession that The offi ce of Brazil’s top pros- Rio to host the 2014 World Cup policemen were injured in the defi cit on track to surpass 10% of has cost 12mn Brazilian jobs. ecutor urged Congress on Friday and the recent Olympic Games fi ghting, which rattled the the gross domestic product this Brazil’s stocks, bonds and cur- to shelve the measure that it says but in recent months has in- Southern Zone of Rio, home to year. rency have rallied this year on ex- could jeopardise funding to fi ght Police off icers arrest a suspected drug dealer after a shootout during creasingly criticised a lack of its most popular beaches and The vote was Temer’s biggest pectations that Temer would be corruption. a police operation at Pavao-Pavaozinho slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. resources and political com- tourist sites. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 23 PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN

Gunmen kill 14 in Kabul attack Gunmen targeted Shia pilgrims in Kabul late yesterday, killing at least 14 people as they gathered to celebrate Ashura, one of the most important festivals on the Commandos deployed in Shiite calendar, off icials said. Some 36 people were wounded and at least one attacker killed, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said, adding that the assault was over. Special forces had briefly entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul Afghan city after attack University to see if any more gunmen were sheltering inside, AFP “US enablers are in the area duz in the north before being with police evacuating people Lashkar Gah and will support as needed. Yes- repelled by Afghan forces. from the area, off icials said. terday there were two air strikes The attack began with a Of the 14 killed, 13 were civilians in Helmand, both of these were car bombing in an attempt to and one a police off icer. Three fghanistan has de- in support of ANDSF (Afghan break through the security belt police were among the wounded, ployed hundreds of National Defense and Security around Lashkar Gah and enter Seddiqi said. Acommandos backed by Forces) strategic operations,” a the city, according to offi cials “A number of attackers have Nato air strikes in Lashkar Gah Nato spokesman yesterday. and local residents. targeted people in Karte Sakhi to drive Taliban insurgents The Taliban have waged an Mohammad Radmanish, a shrine,” said Kabul Police chief from the southern city after insurgency against the western- defence ministry spokesman, Abdul Rahman Rahimi. the militants killed 14 people in backed Kabul government since said security forces had man- “Police have evacuated dozens a co-ordinated attack, offi cials being toppled from power by a aged to repel the attack and of people from the shrine. A said yesterday. US-led invasion in 2001. They push back the insurgents, but number of civilians and police The assault on Monday have intensifi ed attacks across it was feared they would return. have been injured.” marked the insurgents’ latest the country in recent months, “We have enough forces on Police also said two grenades had attempt to seize the capital of pressuring Afghan forces on the ground now. Afghan air been detonated during the attack. Helmand province, underscor- multiple fronts. force and Nato’s air support is No group has yet claimed ing unravelling security as they Around 30,000 people have also helping our forces,” he said. responsibility for the assault, expand their foothold across the been displaced in Helmand in On Saturday, General John which President Ashraf Ghani opium-rich province. recent weeks and most have Nicholson, the Nato military condemned as a “clear sign of a “More than 300 comman- fl ed to Lashkar Gah. But the commander in Afghanistan, crime against humanity”. dos... have been deployed to the city is practically besieged, fl ew with the Afghan defence The threat of attack targeting city to prevent Taliban advance- with roads from neighbouring minister to Lashkar Gah to as- Shias was considered particularly ment,” said Abdul Jabar Qahra- districts heavily mined by the sure provincial elders that the Afghans displaced by ongoing fighting against Taliban militants walk inside a makeshift camp in Takhar serious during Ashura, and many man, government special envoy insurgents. city would not fall. province. The number of war-displaced civilians in Kunduz has more than doubled to 24,000, the UN foreign embassies had restricted for security in Helmand. The intervention in Helmand The Taliban eff ectively con- said, as street battles persisted a week after the Taliban stormed into the northern Afghan city. their staff ’s movements until the Provincial spokesman Omar has fuelled the perception that trol or contest 10 of the 14 dis- end of the week in Kabul. Zwak said the commandos were foreign powers are increasingly tricts in Helmand, the deadli- US deployment to the city since Yesterday, Taliban fi ghters fi ghting around the city contin- The last attack on the Afghan sent from Kabul and neighbour- being drawn back into the con- est province for British and US foreign forces withdrew in 2014. renewed their off ensive against ued into the night. Shia minority, on July 23 in Kabul, ing provinces to launch a “clear- fl ict as afghan forces struggle to troops over the last decade and In recent months the mili- Farah, triggering heavy fi ghting Nato offi cially ended its com- killed 84 people and left 130 ance operation” in Lashkar Gah rein in the Taliban. blighted by a huge opium har- tants have attempted to over- that lasted for hours. bat mission in December 2014, injured. It was claimed by the after the attack, which killed 10 Monday’s early morning as- vest that helps fund the insur- run other provincial capitals, A regional police spokesman but US forces were granted Islamic State organisation. policemen and four others. sault also underscored the Tali- gency. from Kunduz and Baghlan in the Abdul Ahad Walizada said secu- greater powers in June to strike “Soon the security forces will ban’s sustained push into urban In August, Washington de- north to Farah in the west, but rity forces drove back the attack, at the insurgents as President clear the whole city from Tali- centres, coming a week after ployed some 100 troops to Afghan forces have managed to killing over a dozen insurgents, Barack Obama vowed a more ag- Quake rumour ban,” Zwak said. they briefl y stormed into Kun- Lashkar Gah, the fi rst major repel the attacks. though he admitted sporadic gressive campaign. baseless: off icial A top off icial of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has said that they have Security for procession been continuously monitoring the seismic activity and according to Travel ban the latest data there is no active faultline beneath the Margallah Hills. “Many rumours are being spread by various quarters especially in on leading the month of October about any danger of a massive earthquake but we can say on the basis of the latest data that no unusual seismic activity has been journalist recorded in the capital city,” PMD director Zahid Rafi said. Margallah Hills are a part of AFP they take action “against mili- geosynclinals trough known Islamabad tant groups that are banned as Indo-Gangetie synclinorium or until now considered with an ENE-WSW axial trend. off -limits for civilian action”. In the area various geological akistan’s government has Pakistan was deeply embar- formations are exposed and they imposed a travel ban on rassed last month when it had widely range from Precambrian Pa leading journalist after to postpone a regional sum- to Holocene in age. he sparked an uproar by report- mit it was set to host follow- He said no scientific theory ing that civilian offi cials had ing the withdrawals of India, proved any relation of the month clashed with the military over Bangladesh, Afghanistan and of October with earthquakes so its covert support for militants. Bhutan. the people should not give an ear Cyril Almeida, an assistant India has sought to diplo- to the rumours being spread in editor at Dawn, the country’s matically isolate Pakistan fol- this respect. most prestigious English daily, lowing a raid on one of its bases Zahid Rafi said they are announced early yesterday he in the disputed region of Kash- establishing five seismic had been placed on the “Exit mir, which killed 19 soldiers monitoring centres in Balochistan Control List”. and triggered public fury. to keep an eye on the seismic His report published on New Delhi says the group Policemen walk along a road for security measures during the religious procession ahead of Ashura in Karachi yesterday. activity in the fault lines passing Thursday prompted threats on which mounted the raid was through this province. social media and was denied based in Pakistan. three times by the offi ce of Kabul meanwhile accuses Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Islamabad of failing to bring “I am told and have been in- its infl uence to bear over the formed and have been shown Afghan Taliban, whose leaders evidence that I am on the Exit Pakistan hosts in its southern Govt seeks names of judges for cybercrime courts Control List,” he tweeted, fol- cities of Quetta and Karachi. lowed a short time later by “I Pakistan’s foreign policy, feel sad tonight. This is my particularly towards India and Internews sion had so far been taken for the fi nalised by the chief justice af- the federal government in con- as required under the PECA. life, my country. What went Afghanistan, is believed to be Karachi training of the to-be designated ter Ashura. sultation with the chief justice The PECA was promulgated wrong.” guided by the military. offi cers as required under the Recommendations would be of the respective high court has on Aug 19 and as per its Section In his report, Almeida said Human rights activists Prevention of Electronic Crime sent to the law ministry for no- to designate presiding offi cers of 1(5) it shall come into force at leading civilian offi cials had urged the government imme- he federal government Act (PECA), 2016. tifying the judges as designated courts to try cybercrime cases. once. warned the powerful army to re- diately to lift travel and other of Pakistan has sought The sources said the federal presiding offi cers to try the ac- The sources added that the While the FIA had already nounce covert support for proxy restrictions on Almeida and Trecommendations from law ministry yesterday sent a cused persons in cybercrime federal government had notifi ed started implementation of the fi ghters such as the Haqqani respect freedom of expression. the respective chief justices letter to the SHC chief justice re- cases, they said. the FIA as the law enforcement cybercrime law and arrested network allied to the Afghan “Barring Cyril Almeida of the provinces for designat- questing him to recommend the The fate of cybercrime cases agency for implementation of some suspects after the regis- Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, from travelling abroad and the ing judges to try the cases of names of a district and sessions being registered by the Federal the PECA, but no recommenda- tration of cases against them, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai apparent pressure on his em- cybercrime, it emerged yes- judge and a judicial magistrate Investigation Agency (FIA) has tions had been sought from the the judicial offi cers faced pre- attacks - or face isolation. ployers, the highly respected terday. for designating them as presid- been hanging in the balance as SHC chief justice by the federal dicament when suspects were Citing sources present at a Dawn newspaper, will cause Well-placed sources said that ing offi cers of the courts where the federal government did not government, creating a legal la- brought before them by the in- high-level meeting, Almeida distress to all those, at home one district and sessions judge cybercrime cases would be dealt seek recommendations from the cuna in the cognisance of cyber- vestigating agency for obtaining said the civilian government and abroad, who believe in the and one judicial magistrate with. high court chief justices for des- crimes by the judicial offi cers. their physical custody for inter- had issued a blunt warning to freedom of expression and the would be designated in each Offi cial sources at the SHC ignating judicial offi cers to take They said the law was en- rogation and investigation in the military as part of a new rights of journalists,” said the provincial capital to deal with said the names of judicial offi c- cognisance of the off ences under forced at once without rais- the absence of any notifi cation high-stakes strategy: do not Human Rights Commission of cybercrime cases. ers to be designated as judges of the PECA. ing infrastructural facilities for by the federal government, the interfere with the police when Pakistan in a statement. However, they said, no deci- the cybercrime courts would be Under Section 44 of the PECA, courts and training of the judges sources said. No forgiveness for brother who killed social media star

AFP Rights activists, who for years called ter’s death sparked revulsion in case, which under previous legisla- “Unfortunately, the lawmakers have Islamabad for tougher laws to tackle violence Pakistan and abroad. tion would have allowed him to escape not made it an uncategorically uncom- against women, have praised the move Their son, Mai said, had not under- punishment if his family had forgiven him. poundable off ence. They have only as a step forward though lawyers criti- stood the repercussions the murder Waseem thought he would be im- made the penalties heavier.” he father of murdered Pakistani cised the amendments for not going far would have. prisoned for just “two to three months “If the lawmakers wanted to make life social media star Qandeel Ba- enough. The death of Baloch, judged by many in and then after he will be free, he was imprisonment compulsory for honour Tloch has vowed no forgiveness “There is no pardon from our side,” the country as infamous for selfi es and vid- not aware that this would become a killing, all they had to do was to state the for his son, who killed his daughter on Baloch’s father Muhammad Azeem eos that by Western standards would appear high-profi le case,” Mai said. same,” said senior lawyer Anees Jillani. the pretext of “honour”, after her death said this weekend, calling for his son tame, reignited polarising calls for action Lawyers said the wording of the leg- In practice, Ashfaq added, most cast a global spotlight on the practice. and the three men accused with him after her brother admitted killing her. islation, aimed at mandating a life sen- such cases are settled by police before Pakistan last week passed long- to be punished “at the earliest. They “I am not embarrassed at all over tence for honour killings, still leaves they even reach court. Anwar Bibi and Mohammad Azeem give awaited legislation aimed at closing should get life imprisonment or death what I did,” he told media at a defi ant too much up to a judge’s discretion. “We need to change the culture ... It an interview to AFP in Muzaff argarh. loopholes which allowed murderers – I will feel happy.” press conference in July, calling his “There is a danger that it can be in- would take a few high-profi le like Baloch’s brother Waseem to walk He and his wife, Baloch’s mother sister’s behaviour “intolerable”. terpreted to mean that this only applies prosecutions covered by media.” tive – patriarchal/misogynist crime, free, with hundreds of women killed in Anwar Mai, said they had been una- His mother said this weekend that in cases when there is a disagreement The language must also be changed, rather than ‘honour’ killing, which as- defence of the family “honour” in the ware of the change in the law, which he had thought his parents would be- over pardon of the off encer,” said crim- Ashfaq said. sociates a positive value with this type conservative country each year. came three months after their daugh- come the only complainants in the inal law professor Abira Ashfaq. “We should call it something nega- of crime.” Gulf Times 24 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 PHILIPPINES

Inmates Philippines set to roll out testify against tough no-smoking law De Lima Manila Times Reuters and that bars and casinos were Manila Manila continuing to operate normally. The nationwide ban is set to be among the strictest no-smok- rug lords detained at the hilippine President Rod- ing laws in Southeast Asia, ex- National Bilibid Prison rigo Duterte is set to sign perts say. D(NBP) ganged up on Pa regulation this month The region is home to nearly former Justice Secretary Leila banning smoking in public 10% of the world’s smokers de Lima Monday, claiming that across Southeast Asia’s second- and while most countries have they raised P20mn for her cam- most populous country, rolling partial smoking bans in place, paign kitty when she ran for a out among the toughest anti- enforcement is often lax.The Senate seat in May this year. tobacco laws in the region. Philippines ban will also cover Inmates Jaybee Sebastian and Public health campaigners ‘vaping’ or the use of electronic Peter Co, leaders of a drug group who have long battled against cigarettes. at the NBP, testifi ed against the the country’s hefty tobacco Analysts say the ban would senator during the resumption lobby welcomed the push to end put major tobacco companies, of the investigation by the House smoking in public places and already under pressure from to- of Representatives’ Justice panel said they believed Duterte, with bacco tax hikes under the previ- into the illegal drug trade in the his tough anti-vice record, was ous government, at further risk. national penitentiary. the man to do it. “Industry volumes and pric- Sebastian said he gave P10mn to Health Secretary Paulyn Jean ing have become pressured due De Lima, whom he claimed to have Rosell-Ubial told Reuters yes- to the growth of cheaper illicit met at least eight times. He said terday she hoped the president brands...A smoking ban could the money was coursed through would sign the ban, which ex- see any further recovery in the Joenel Sanchez, the former aide of pands the defi nition of public sales dynamics in the market the former Justice chief. places, into law before the end stall,” Owen Bennett, equity “I gave P2mn to Joenel four of October and that it would analyst at Jeff eries International times, and gave P2mn to Secre- come into eff ect next month. said in a note. tary de Lima once,” Sebastian She was quoted by newspa- Duterte’s government has told the panel. pers as saying that no smoking also proposed increasing taxes He recalled that on January 8, would be allowed in public plac- on cigarettes and other tobacco 2015, he received a text message es, whether indoor or outdoor. Men smoke cigarettes near a tray filled with stubs beside a road in Las Pinas city, Metro Manila. products, Finance Undersecre- from Sanchez telling him to raise “Parks, bus stations, and even tary Karl Kenneth Chua said. money for the campaign of de in vehicles. All these are consid- Nearly half of all Filipino men he once personally forced a man term as mayor, including ban- Duterte’s reputation meant the The tax would build on a Lima. Sebastian said he prepared ered public places,” she said, ac- and 9% of women smoke and to stub out his cigarette and eat ning late-night drinking and nationwide smoking ban would landmark tax-hike imposed by P2mn and placed the money in a cording to media. experts say the habit costs the it after he refused to stop smok- karaoke, and a 10pm curfew be implemented. the previous government, but paper bag but a grenade-throw- She later clarifi ed the law economy nearly $4bn in health- ing in a restaurant, according to for school children. He also “This is eff ectively a scaling Chua did not elaborate on how ing incident in the Bilibid de- would apply only to public ve- care and productivity losses media reports. oversaw a severe crackdown on up of the Davao City plan,” said much additional revenue the layed the delivery of the money. hicles. every year. A government spokesman narcotics and crime in the city, Ralph Degollacion of Health government was expected to The money was eventually de- Designated smoking areas The proposed smoking ban declined to comment on the earning him the nickname “The Justice Philippines, a local NGO. net. livered and Sebastian said he got will be set up, at least 10 metres replicates on a national level incident but said: “Certainly in Punisher”. “We know his track record... A spokeswoman for Philip confi rmation from De Lima that outside buildings, according to an existing law in Davao City, Davao, the sentiment and busi- The 71-year old won the pres- and given the political will in his Morris International, which she received the money. a draft of the executive order where Duterte ruled as mayor ness establishments support a idency on a promise of widening government, we’re confi dent controls around 70% of the cig- “I met her in (former Bureau seen by Reuters. for 22 years until his rise to the smoke-free Davao. The presi- that crackdown throughout the that in terms of implementation arette market in the Philippines, of Corrections Director Franklin) Around 17mn people, or presidency earlier this year. dent sees it as something that’s country of 100mn.Over 3,600 he will really push it,” he said. referred queries to the Philip- Bucayu’s offi ce, asked her if I will nearly a third of the adult popu- Penalties for breaking the not ideal for health...and this is people, mostly small-time drug When asked if the ban could pine Tobacco Institute, which give money to Sanchez. She told lation, smoke in the Philippines, anti-smoking law in Davao can part of the public well-being,” user and dealers, have died in extend to alcohol and gambling represents tobacco interests in me to leave it there because she according to a 2014 report by include a 5,000 Philippine peso Ernesto Abella said. police operations and alleged — both multi-million dol- the country. A spokesman for wasn’t with Sanchez that day,” Southeast Asia Tobacco Control ($103) fi ne or four months in Duterte also rolled out a vigilante killings since he took lar industries — government the institute said he had no im- Sebastian said. Alliance, — the second highest prison. number of other strict rules offi ce in June. spokesman Abella said there mediate comment on the pro- “There was later a phone call in the region after Indonesia. When Duterte was in Davao, in the city of 1.5mn during his Anti-tobacco activists said were no such plans in the offi ng posed ban. from Sanchez, and he told me that somebody wants to talk to me on loud speaker. It sounded like Sec- retary de Lima. She said, Merry Christmas, Jaybee. I replied, Mer- ry Christmas, too Ma’am. Did you Emergency hotline Government to cancel permit of nickel miner get my gift? She said, Yes, Jaybee, Merry Christmas,” Sebastian said. Co, meanwhile, claimed that the launched in Quezon Reuters crackdown that has halted a itage Site, and Pujada Bay, a which started up in January, Chinese “community” in Bilibid Manila quarter of its 41 mines, and the marine protected area, said said an official at the Mines raised as much as P10mn for de risk that 20 more maybe shut- Environment and Natural and Geosciences Bureau who Lima’s Senate bid. The fund raising By Jing Villamente tions Centre. The hotline is open tered has spurred a rally in glo- Resources Secretary Regina declined to be named be- eff ort reportedly started in 2012. Manila Times 24/7. Duty offi cers will be from he Philippines will can- bal nickel prices. Lopez who calls its approval cause he was not authorised “In 2012, Hans Tan told me various law enforcement and cel the environmen- But the nickel mine now “madness”. to speak with media. Chinese inmates in Maximum frontline service units such as Ttal permit of a nickel threatened with a shutdown, “The ECC (environmental The miner was also issued Security are asking for funds for he Quezon City govern- the Quezon City Police District, miner that began operations in southern Davao Oriental compliance certificate) was a permit to export 50,000 Secretary de Lima’s Senate bid. I ment has activated its Bureau of Fire Protection, QC. this year, a minister said, as province and run by private- reviewed and as far as I know tonnes of nickel ore with iron gave her P5mn twice. I gave the Town emergency hotline to Department of Public Order the government intensifi es a owned Austral-Asia Link it will be cancelled,” Lopez content to China in June, the P10mn to Hans Tan so he can enable residents to immediately and Safety, Disaster Risk and campaign to punish mineral Mining Corp, was not among told Reuters. official said. give it to Sec de Lima. Tan told seek help for any emergencies. Reduction Offi ce, Radio Com- producers harming natural re- those suspended or recom- The ECC “should have An official at Asiaticus me he gave the money to Day- Residents, visitors and those munications Service and Public sources. mended for suspension. never been given,” she said. Management Corp, which an, who receives money for de transiting Quezon City can dial Aff airs and Information Services The Southeast Asian coun- The issue with the mine is Cancelling the ECC would runs Austral-Asia, did not Lima,” Co said in his affi davit 122 and their call will be directed Offi ce are also stationed in the try is the world’s top nickel ore it sits between Mount Hami- halt the operations of Aus- return a call from Reuters which was read by his lawyer, to the city’s Emergency Opera- Emergency Operations Centre. supplier and an environmental guitan, a Unesco World Her- tral-Asia’s nickel mine, seeking comment. Jose Isagani Gonzales. Duterte plans visit to China, criticises ‘arrogant’ US

AFP most loyal allies in Asia, with the Manila two nations bound by a mutual Huge business delegation for Beijing visit defence pact signed in 1951. Duterte’s predecessor Benigno About 250 Philippine business in a region growing wary of hilippine President Rodrigo Aquino sought to draw the Unit- executives will visit Beijing with China’s influence and military Duterte said yesterday he ed States even closer in a bid to President Rodrigo Duterte next might and where the United Pwould soon visit China and counter Chinese eff orts to take week as he puts aside years of States has a strong presence. hoped also to travel to Russia, as control of the South China Sea. hostility to seek a new partner- An arbitration court ruling he again criticised longtime ally China claims nearly all of the ship with China at a time when in the Hague on July 12 that the United States for “arrogance”. sea, even waters close to the tensions between Manila and said China had breached the The mission to China will be Philippines and other Southeast its traditional ally, the United Philippines’ sovereign rights Duterte’s fi rst outside of South- Asian nations, and has in recent States, are mounting. in the South China Sea had east Asia since assuming the years built artifi cial islands ca- There has been no announce- threatened to lead to a further presidency on June 30, in a sym- pable of hosting military bases in ment about the delegation, but deterioration in ties between bolic move highlighting the im- disputed areas. business groups and govern- Manila and Beijing. portance he places on improving The 2014 defence agreement ment off icials said registration But Duterte, who took off ice ties with Beijing that soured over and the joint patrols were key to join Duterte on his Oct 19-21 on June 30 after winning an competing claims to the South to Aquino’s strategy to contain visit had been oversubscribed. election in May, has instead ag- China Sea. China. Filipino executives are eager gressively courted China and “China has repeatedly invited Aquino further angered China to talk with Chinese business said he wants to reduce the me. I have accepted the off er,” by fi ling a case with a UN-backed leaders and government of- nation’s dependence on the Duterte said in a speech at the tribunal in 2013 against Beijing’s ficials about deals in a range of United States. presidential palace. claims to most of the sea. sectors, from rail, and construc- He has said he will hold talks He gave no specifi c dates for In July, shortly after Duterte tion to tourism, agribusiness, with China on the South China the visit, but said it would take took offi ce, the tribunal ruled in power and manufacturing, Sea dispute.His promises to place before he went to Japan favour of the Philippines, saying the sources said. Initially only engage with China have in from October 25 to 27. US marines and members of the colour guard prepare to fold their flag after the closing ceremony of the joint China’s claims had no legal basis about two dozen Philippine large part come in a near-daily Duterte said he had originally amphibious landing exercise with the Philippines at a military camp in Manila. and its construction of artifi cial entrepreneurs were to accom- barrage of hostility against planned to visit Japan, the Phil- islands in disputed waters was il- pany Duterte but the number Washington, raising questions ippines’ biggest source of foreign His tirades have been largely in of a whore” for expressing con- gained nothing from holding mil- legal. had ballooned to about 250, about whether his overtures aid, ahead of China. response to US criticism of Du- cern about human rights in the itary exercises with the United But Duterte vowed not to Trade Undersecretary Nora carried weight, or were simply However he explained that terte’s war on crime, which has drug war. States, which have been a main- “taunt or fl aunt” the verdict and Terrado told Reuters.”I un- aimed at boosting his profile Japan off ered a “defi nite” date, claimed more than 3,300 lives In contrast, he has described stay of the defence relationship. to seek a “soft landing” with Chi- derstand there are 100 more at home by espousing a “pro- then China told Duterte there was and raised fears about extrajudi- Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “a “What’s the point? They are na on the issue. wanting to go,” Terrado said, Filipino” foreign policy. a “vacancy” earlier and so he ac- cial killings. great president”, and praised the only ones benefi ting. We He has launched negotiations adding the size of the delega- In recent days there have cepted. Duterte has cancelled joint China and Russia for showing re- are not,” he said, as the allies with China over the dispute, a tion was unusual because the been clear signs of improving Duterte also said that, after patrols with the United States in spect in not criticising his crime wrapped up a week of war games tactic rejected by Aquino. two sides agreed on the visit business ties. On Saturday, Japan, “probably I will go to Rus- the South China Sea, said he may crackdown. involving about 2,000 troops in China has welcomed Duterte’s only about one month ago. Philippines Finance Minister sia”. scrap a defence pact that allows Duterte yesterday gave another the Philippines. overtures. “The clouds are fading The trip could signal a trans- Carlos Dominguez said in an Duterte has looked to build thousands of US troops to ro- lengthy critique of the United Duterte had said they were to away. The sun is rising over the formation in a relationship interview in Washington that closer ties with China and Russia, tate through the Philippines, and States, branding the nation as be the last of his six-year term, horizon and will shine beautifully dogged in recent years by mis- Duterte would seek billions of while launching repeated tirades threatened to eventually cut ties “arrogant” and powerless to stop putting on ice the 28 exercises on the new chapter of bilateral trust over rival territorial claims dollars in infrastructure invest- against the United States, the completely. Russia’s seizure of Crimea from they hold annually. relations,” Chinese ambassador in the South China Sea, and ments from China in coming Philippines’ former colonial ruler Duterte has also branded US Ukraine. The Philippines had long been to Manila Zhao Jianhua said this could upset strategic alliances months. and defence ally. President Barack Obama a “son He also said the Philippines regarded as one of Washington’s month. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 25 SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL Hasina enquires about Xi visit to boost ‘spent fuel management’

By Mizan Rahman Dhaka ties: Minister rime Minister Sheikh Hasina has enquired into IANS groups on connectivity and Pthe modalities of the Dhaka food, water and energy security spent fuel management of the pillars under the ACD Vision for $12.65bn Rooppur nuclear pow- Asia Co-operation 2030. er plant project being imple- hinese President Xi Jin- The state minister also met mented with the technical and ping’s upcoming visit to Russian Deputy Minister of fi nancial supports from Russia. CBangladesh is a diplo- Foreign Aff airs Ig Murglov on She took up the issue during matic boost that heralds a new the sidelines. an informal discussion while era in relations between the two During his meeting with the chairing the weekly cabinet countries, a Bangladeshi minis- Japanese vice-minister, he ap- meeting at the cabinet division ter said. prised him of the ‘stringent’ in Dhaka. Information Minister Has- security measures being taken Referring to recent media anul Huq Inu in an interview to by the Bangladesh government reports, she said that she had Xinhua news agency yesterday to ensure safety of foreign na- raised the issue before sign- said, “President Xi Jinping’s tionals. ing of the deal with Russia for visit to Bangladesh will take the Seven JICA consultants were construction of the country’s deep cordial relations between among the victims of the July fi rst ever nuclear power plant Bangladesh and China to a new 1 terrorist attack at an upscale in Pabna district as Bangladesh greater height.” cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan. has no experience in handling Xi will be visiting Dhaka Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu The government has such a sensitive matter, accord- this week at the invitation of strengthened the security ing to a minister. Bangladesh President Abdul eff orts of Bangladesh and China Chinese co-operation in this measures in and around the Science and Technology Min- Hamid. on local and international de- sector will be extremely signifi - diplomatic zone after the attack ister Yeafesh Osman replied that “This upcoming visit marks velopment issues of mutual cant. “Infrastructure building in Holey Artisan Bakery. Russia would take away all the the strong bondage between interest will result in great out- and ICT adoption are the two Shahriar assured Odawara spent fuel of the nuclear power the two nations as well as paves comes,” Inu added. most prominent sectors where that the government is ‘fully plant from Bangladesh as per the way for future growth of our The minister said over we seek Chinese co-operation prepared to receive the Japanese the agreement signed between ties,” said Inu, who is also presi- the last eight years, Bangla- in media.” delegation and apprise (them} the two countries in 2011. dent of the Jatiya Samajtantrik desh has made remarkable Meanwhile, Japan will soon of the security situation.’ He, however, said that they Sheikh Hasina ... Bangladesh has no experience in handling such a Dal (JSD), a partner of Prime progress in economic growth, send a delegation soon to Bang- The state minister as a leader would work out modalities for sensitive matter. Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling women’s advancement and ladesh to get a security update, of Bangladesh delegation told removing the spent fuel of the grand alliance. empowerment, education said a Japanese parliamentary the ACD meeting that working nuclear power plant in keeping Russian state-run company project would cause irreparable He said the relations and en- and health, and other areas of vice minister for foreign aff airs. closely with all neighbours is a with the agreement, according Atomstroyexport is the contrac- damage to the forest regarded as gagements between Bangladesh human development, includ- Kiyoshi Odawara in a meeting ‘foreign policy goal’ of Prime to sources present at the meet- tor for Bangladesh’s biggest ever the world’s heritage site. and China are enormous. ing laying out communica- with his Bangladesh counter- Minister Sheikh Hasina. ing. project. A three-member Unesco ex- “Our two nations support tion, production and trading part Shahriar Alam in Bangkok, He called for not only physi- A senior offi cial at the sci- Principal secretary to the pert team which visited Bangla- each other on the principles architectures. however, assured that Tokyo cal connectivity but also con- ence and technology ministry Prime Minister’s Offi ce Abul desh in March made the appeal in of peace, stability, sovereignty “To keep the development on would continue to remain a nectivity of people, culture said that Bangladesh, as a sig- Kalam Azad informed the cabi- its report submitted to the gov- and territorial integrity, mutual track, we look forward to Chi- ‘strong development partner’ and idea, connectivity of trade, natory to the non-proliferation net meeting that the PMO ernment in September. trust and respect, mutual in- nese co-operation in project of Dhaka. investment, technology, enter- treaty, would not be allowed to had prepared a 60-page reply The principal secretary said terest and equitable sharing of fi nancing and low-cost invest- The meeting took place on prises and labour force to secure manage the spent fuel usu- to Unesco’s concern over the that they had prepared the reply mutual benefi ts,” Inu said. ment, technology, upgrading the sidelines of the Asia Co- an inclusive growth and sus- ally used for preparing nuclear construction of the Rampal with inputs from three minis- “We also work closely for management skills, market operation Dialogue (ACD) that tainable development in Asia. bombs. coal-fi red power plant near the tries — power, environment and developing a quadrilateral eco- access, defence, agriculture, ended on Monday in Bangkok, As the summit endorsed Russia has agreed to provide world’s largest mangrove forest water. nomic space between Bang- industry, communication, wa- the foreign ministry said in Bangladesh in diff erent work- 90% of the cost in loan for the Sundarbans, a senior minister The government has said ladesh, China, India and My- ter resources management and Dhaka yesterday. ing groups, the state minister construction of the two-unit told newsmen. that it would go ahead with the anmar – popularly known as media modernisation,” Inu The summit endorsed Bang- off ered to host the fi rst working power plant with 2,400 mega- Unesco has recommended that project despite protests from BCIM-EC (Economic Corri- said. ladesh’s proposal to be a ‘co- group meeting on connectivity watt capacity scheduled to be- Bangladesh should shelve the green activists and objections dor). Defi nitely co-ordinated At this very moment, he said prime mover’ in the working in Dhaka. gin in December. Rampal power plant, fearing the raised by Unesco. Courtesy call Bangladesh set to connect local bodies via Internet

By Mizan Rahman said Shyam Sunder Sikder, sec- secretary. “We will connect the BCC also connected Bang- Dhaka retary of the ICT division. union parishads that are yet to ladesh Secretariat, seven divi- “We will now fi nalise the de- be connected.” sional and all district and 485 velopment project pro-forma There are 4,600 unions and sub-district level government angladesh is set to pro- that will have all the develop- they are the smallest rural ad- offi ces under this project, of- vide Internet connection ment details,” Sikder said. ministrative and local govern- fi cials of the ICT division said. Bto all the grassroots level There are some other formal- ment units in Bangladesh. They also established 800 local government units called ities that need to be completed The government has already video conferencing systems, union parishads (councils) as before placing the project be- appointed China Railway In- 254 e-agriculture service cen- the government has approved a fore the Executive Commit- ternational Group for the Info tres, telemedicine services in 12.27bn taka project in this re- tee of the National Economic Sarker-3 project. 25 healthcare centres, disaster gard. Council for fi nal approval, he China’s Exim Bank will pro- data recovery centres and spe- Offi cials of the information said. vide around $156.56mn as low- cialised training labs at univer- technology (ICT) division said Meanwhile, Bangladesh cost loans, according to the sities across the country in the in Dhaka yesterday, 2,600 un- Telecommunications Com- project summary. last two years. ion parishads (UPs) will be con- pany Ltd (BTCL) is running a Countrywide fi bre connec- Besides, a Wi-Fi network was nected with fi bre optic cables. project to connect 1,100 union tivity will be established by installed in the secretariat and A government committee parishads through fi bre optic 2018, while this project is part 25,000 tablet PCs were distrib- approved the project, which cables. of the government’s eff orts to uted to government offi cials will be implemented by Bangla- The project of BTCL will be build a Digital Bangladesh by under the Info Sarker-2 project, desh Computer Council (BCC) completed by December this 2021, said offi cials of BCC. which was mainly fi nanced by to provide Internet and other year and 950 unions have al- Earlier, the ICT division also China. connectivity to the local gov- ready been connected, said M completed Info Sarker-2 which “Info Sarker-3 is actually ernment offi ces. Moinuddin, the project direc- connected 18,130 government an extended version of the two Under the ‘national ICT tor. offi ces through a nationwide previous projects,” said Sik- intra-network for Bangladesh The state-owned company network. der, the ICT secretary. Before government phase-III’, which will soon take a new project to The project concluded in completing this project, BCC UN special rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsák-Ndiaye shaking hands with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister is also known as Info Sarker-3 connect another 1,000 unions, June this year. also ran another project named Mangala Samarweera in Colombo yesterday. Izsák-Ndiaye, who is on a trip to island nation, is expected to project, the government will he added. Under this project, the ICT Bangla Gov Net to connect dis- visit former conflict areas and meet with both government off icials and civil society groups. also build some other digital in- The ICT division is aware of division distributed 2,500 tab- trict offi ces of the government frastructure at the union level, the BTCL project, said the ICT lets to government offi cials. through fi bre optic cables. Nepalis celebrate biggest annual festival of Dashain

DPA ered in my house to receive tika According to Saroj Sitaula, as they head towards their Kathmandu this morning,” said Manish Gau- general secretary of Federation destinations. tam, a resident of Kathmandu. of Nepalese National Transport “The government didn’t ac- According to police, over Entrepreneurs, more than 3,000 cept the transport entrepreneurs’ eople across Nepal are ob- 2mn people have left the capital passenger vehicles have been de- demand for permission to carry serving their biggest annual Kathmandu for their ancestral parting Kathmandu every day for passengers beyond the existing Pfestival, called Dashain. homes to receive tika and visit the last few days, which is triple standard and they were forced to Tuesday marks the 10th and their relatives. the number compared to regu- operate their vehicles under the most important day of the fort- The Dashain celebrations will lar days. To deal with the mass existing rule,” said Malla. night-long festival that com- last for fi ve more days. exodus of people, some entrepre- Although this is second memorates the victory of good “The unique customs and neurs have secured other vehicles Dashain since a devastating over evil. traditions of the peoples of dif- from diff erent parts of the county earthquake in April 2015, it is the Nepalis all over the country ferent castes and ethnicities, to off er private services. fi rst to be celebrated properly in are travelling to see family and communities, geographies and Police spokesperson Hemanta two years. have elders dab tika – a combi- religious beliefs remain as the Malla Thakuri said that they Last year’s festival came dur- nation of rice, yoghurt and red unparalleled treasures and cul- have distributed time cards to ing internal political strife and a powder – on the forehead as a tural pillars of tolerance,” Presi- the passenger vehicles to control border dispute with India, and form of blessing. dent Bidya Devi Bhandari said in the speed of drivers so that the was marred by shortages of fuel “Over 30 relatives had gath- her annual message. vehicles operate at a safe speed and essential supplies. Young boys dress in traditional attire for Dashain in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu yesterday. Gulf Times 26 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 COMMENT

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

P.O.Box 2888 Doha, Qatar [email protected] Telephone 44350478 (news), 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) Fax 44350474 GULF TIMES Bold or batty?

Risking it all on Anti-Brexit campaigners, Borders Against Brexit, setting up a mock customs hut during a protest against Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, at the border town of Carrickcarnon in Ireland. a referendum Who’s afraid of a referendum? Italy faces one in December, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy has promised two The political logic of if he wins the presidential election next year, but as the recent shock votes in Britain, Colombia and Hungary show, the risks are high. In London, ex-prime minister David Cameron hoped to use a popular vote on whether Britain should remain hard Brexit in the UK in the European Union to rein in a belligerent anti-EU wing of his own Conservative Party – but it spectacularly With a hard Brexit, the those who buy into the narrative that that could never deliver the benefi ts of If British voters recognised the West is confronting a large-scale the real thing. their country’s weak negotiating backfi red. Leave camp can avoid xenophobic revolt against the elites. In this revolutionary narrative, the position, the Brexiteers, who won Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had no better being seen by voters as the While the “Leave” camp certainly worst elements of Europe’s political the referendum on their promise luck, calling a referendum this month on a historic peace included many hard Brexiteers whose tradition have crowded out British to “take back control,” would face supplicant in negotiations primary motivation was to end free pragmatism. What a majority of British a political disaster. Walking away deal between the government and the Revolutionary with the EU movement, it also comprised people voters want is considered irrelevant. from substantive negotiations is Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), only to see it rejected who believed Boris Johnson, the With a hard Brexit, the Leave camp the simplest way to avoid such an former London mayor and current can avoid being seen by voters as the embarrassing unmasking. by voters. By Jacek Rostowski foreign secretary, when he promised supplicant in negotiations with the Thus, politically, a hard Brexit Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban also bet and Paris (as he still does) that the UK could have EU – which it inevitably would be, no is actually the soft option for the its cake and eat it. matter how often May denies it. government. Economically, however, lost: his anti-migrant referendum was declared invalid In fact, despite Leave’s large faction The EU will have the upper hand hard Brexit will come at a high price, after failing to obtain the necessary turnout. ittle more than three months of angry white working-class voters, in negotiations for two simple which the UK will have to pay for years But with more than 98% of those who did cast their after the United Kingdom’s middle-class trade-friendly Brexiteers, reasons. First, the UK has more to to come. decision in June to leave together with the “Remain” camp, lose economically. While other EU The only consolation is that Brexit’s ballots saying “No” to an EU migrant quota plan, he Lthe European Union, Brexit constitute a clear majority of everyone countries’ total exports to the UK are revolutionary momentum may not be could spin it as a victory of sorts. politics are careening out of control in who voted in the June referendum. double what the UK exports to the sustainable. Shortly after the Leave the UK. An almost revolutionary – and Under normal circumstances, one rest of the bloc, its exports to the EU camp labelled bureaucrats in her Her Switzerland seems to be exception that proves the rule, very un-British – dynamic has taken amount to three times more as a share Majesty’s Civil Service “enemies of with its citizens voting every three months on popular hold, and, as British Prime Minister of its GDP. Likewise, the UK has a the people” – a typical statement in initiatives, presented by Theresa May indicated in her “Little Economically, hard services surplus, which matters far the early stages of a revolution – pro- Englander” speech at the Conservative less to the rest of the EU than it does to Brexit Foreign Trade Minister Liam Fox In cases like Italy, parties or citizen groups, Party conference this month, the UK is Brexit will come at a Britain. derided British exporters, calling them and referendums put heading for a “hard Brexit.” Second, just like the EU’s “too lazy and too fat” to succeed in his referendums That outcome would run counter high price, which the Comprehensive Economic and brave new free-trading Britain. forward by the state. to British public opinion, which UK will have to pay Trade Agreement with Canada, any Such rhetoric is a symptom of are seized as In cases like Italy, remains moderate on the question negotiated arrangement between desperation. It carries echoes of referendums are seized of fully breaking with the EU. for years to come the EU and the UK will have to be the declining years of the Soviet a chance for a According to a July BBC/ComRes unanimously accepted by all EU Union under Leonid Brezhnev, as a chance for a protest poll, 66% of respondents considered would expect the government’s policy member states. Thus, the negotiation when Marxist apologists insisted protest vote vote, according to “maintaining access to the single to refl ect the majority’s preference, will not really be between the UK and that there was nothing wrong with market” to be more important than and to aim for a “soft Brexit.” Instead, the EU, but rather among EU members. communism, except that humanity political scientists. They restricting freedom of movement. a classic revolutionary pattern has The UK, without a presence at those wasn’t yet mature enough for it. If are seen as an opportunity for people to vent. In an ICM poll the same month, only emerged. talks, will simply have to accept or developments continue at this pace, 10% of respondents said they would According to the Brexiteers, the reject whatever the EU off ers. This the revolutionary zeal we see among Sarkozy has been accused of hoping to exploit that prioritise ending free movement people have spoken, and it is the would be true even if the UK pursued British politicians may burn itself out fact to revive his fl agging campaign by cashing in on the over maintaining access to the government’s duty to deliver a “true” a prepackaged arrangement such before “hard Brexit” is consummated.- emotionally-charged issues of immigration and Islam single market, while 30% viewed the Brexit. But the government must as membership in the European Project Syndicate two as equally important and 38% overcome the spoilers, such as senior Economic Area or the EU Customs with his proposed referendums. considered maintaining full access to civil servants and the Remain majority Union; it will be all the more true if the zJacek Rostowski was Poland’s Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is well aware the single market the priority. in the House of Commons, who favor a UK seeks a “bespoke” deal, as May has minister of fi nance and deputy prime of the dangers he faces with his December 4 ballot on These fi ndings will surprise only Brexit in name only – a “false” version indicated she will. minister from 2007 to 2013. constitutional reform, aimed at streamlining the political system and increasing government stability. Having said months ago that he would resign if voters reject the reform, he is now scrambling to insist it is not a personality contest. The age of vertical farmers “I know I’m not the most likeable person in the world,” he admitted in a television interview last week. “But By Marine Laouchez between the fi elds and the towns voters who cast their ballots based on likeability clearly Waregem, Belgium “aren’t enormous”. have little interest in the good of the country.” But in a highly urban environment like New York “there are projects It may be too little, too late. s cities expand, eating up which work pretty well”, he says. “Renzi is running a risk. He was counting on using the swathes of countryside in And in hostile climatic conditions, referendum to consolidate his political power, but his the process, agricultural or in some military or refugee camp Apioneers are fi nding new situations such “somewhat futuristic” wavering – presenting it as a vote on his fate, then back- ways to grow the fresh produce we ideas could be envisioned, Colasse peddling – is harming him,” says Domenico Fracchiolla need, in containers, empty buildings adds. and any other spare space they can His own laboratory has produced from Rome’s Luiss University. fi nd to create new vertical farms. everything from bananas to There are few referendums in which voters actually “We are just trying to imitate rhododendrons. nature. It’s not as futuristic as it might For Urban Crops the uses of its answer the question posed, and Italy is no exception, sound,” insists a smiling Maarten vertical farming technology are commentators say. Vandecruys, the youthful founder of virtually boundless. “The December 4 vote is not about constitutional Urban Crops, a new Belgian company The company can foresee its specialising in indoor growing systems This photo taken at the Urbaine Crops society in Waregem shows lettuce being products being used in pharmaceutical reform, an issue most Italians know nothing about,” with the help of LED (light emitting grown within a completely automated internal agricultural system with violet labs to produce plants with medicinal according to La Stampa daily. diodes) lamps. LED lighting. As cities expand, eating up swathes of countryside in the process, qualities, in supermarkets which Behind him, in a spooky, futuristic agricultural pioneers are finding new ways to grow the fresh produce we need, could sell their own hyper-fresh “The real question, the one they’ll be answering ‘yes’ purple halo of light, stand rows of in containers, empty buildings and any other spare space they can find to create produce – and at the same time cut or ‘no’ to, is: “Do you still have more faith in Renzi than shelves dedicated to horticulture. It is new vertical farms. out the transport costs – or in isolated a closed environment with no natural communities in Scandinavia and in his opponents?” light. Under the artifi cial light the plants With his system, a 50 square- elsewhere. The purple glow is the result of develop in a controlled environment, metre space can be transformed into For now its clients have more red and blue lamps and is believed fed through a hydroponic system 500 square metres of usable “land”. modest ambitions. To Advertise to provide the optimal growing – water laced with the ideal mix of And the plants grow two to three A top restaurant, for example, conditions. mineral salts and essential nutrients. times faster than outdoors, further wants to experiment with the [email protected] Vandecruys prides himself on the No pesticides are required in this increasing yields. fl avour, texture, size and colour of its Display completely automated agro-system much more sterile environment and, In the Urban Crops laboratory, ingredients through subtle changes to he has set up in Waregem, in eastern as the LED lamps don’t heat up, they up to 220 mature lettuce plants are the light, temperature and nutrients Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 Belgium. can be placed close to the plants, produced each day in a 30-square- during the growing process. Classified At the Urban Crops lab, a allowing for tight layers of plants. metre room using just 5% of the water Urban Foods claims to have conveyor belt circulates containers of According to Vandecruys, the required in traditional agriculture. produced a type of salad rocket the Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 germinated plants which are placed future of vertical farming is to expand However for Samuel Colasse, a taste of which “explodes” at the back Subscription in a special substrate, using no earth to an industrial scale. teacher and researcher at the Carah of the throat. [email protected] to reduce the risks of disease linked to “It’s just an evolution,” not an agronomic research centre in Hainaut, Swedish furniture giant IKEA has animal-life and other external factors. agro-industrial revolution, he says, eastern Belgium, the concept of already jumped vertically onto the The containers are introduced to a natural progression from fi elds to urban farming is “currently not very home-farming bandwagon, launching 2016 Gulf Times. All rights reserved a closed room, the walls of which are greenhouses, then from greenhouses convincing” in countries like France its own range of assemble-yourself lined with shelves. to vertical farms. and Belgium where the distances vegetable kits. Gulf Times Wednesday, October 12, 2016 27 COMMENT White Helmets should’ve gotten peace prize

The Nobel Peace Prize for later, one of his colleagues spoke to unlikely to shift course before he the UN council about the regime’s leaves offi ce, leaving Washington with the White Helmets would continued use of chlorine bombs. little leverage on Moscow. Hillary have signalled that the “Is it really possible we will we be Clinton – who, as secretary of state, speaking again in six months about had tougher instincts than her boss on world does not passively bunker bombs?” he asked, referring to Syria – has said little on the subject. accept the ethos of the weapons used against civilians seeking Meantime, Donald Trump praises and refuge in basements. defends Putin (while his running mate barrel bombers Today, he said, in eastern Aleppo, contradicts him). 275,000 civilians live under siege with So what diff erence could the Nobel By Trudy Rubin no access to food, water, electricity, committee have made? The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS “basically awaiting their death”. In For one thing, it could have recent weeks, regime and Russian rewarded a valiant group that planes have pulverised most of the embodies the meaning of the peace he Nobel committee just remaining hospitals in eastern Aleppo, prize. On one side of the prize’s gold joined the rest of the world in and destroyed three-quarters of the medal is an inscription that reads: betraying the Syrian people White Helmets’ centres there. Pro pace et fraternitate gentium, T– by failing to give the peace Often, the bombers circle back to which means, “For the peace and prize to the group that deserved it the target fi rst responders – a deadly move brotherhood of men”. most. called the “double-tap”. According The concept was embodied by This was the moment to award to Saleh, the fresh-faced young young Khalid, who said of the people the medal to the White Helmets, volunteer Khalid, who rescued the he rescued, “young, old, I consider the 3,000 or so Syrian volunteers baby in the Netfl ix fi lm, was recently them all to be my family.” who rush in to rescue victims of killed. For another, the award would government and Russian air strikes. “This is a (Syrian government) have signalled that the world does While Western leaders wring their strategy,” Saleh said, with passion. not passively accept the ethos of the hands as waves of barrel bombs “Aleppo’s destiny will be the barrel bombers. It would have shamed deliberately destroy Aleppo’s displacement of all its people.” Western politicians who have failed hospitals and aid convoys, the It’s clear that neither Assad nor to put suffi cient pressure on Moscow White Helmets pull survivors from Putin was ever really interested in the – and Tehran – to advance a political the rubble. They’ve saved more ceasefi re that US Secretary of State deal on Syria. than 60,000 civilians while losing John Kerry worked so desperately to And it would have given the White hundreds of their own members. negotiate in September – with very Helmets reason to believe the world At the very moment on Friday little political or military leverage. had not forgotten Syria’s civilians. when the Nobel committee named The ceasefi re ended after Russian “We need an end to the killing so the president of Colombia the planes bombed a UN aid convoy. we don’t have to continue our work, winner, Syrian (or Russian) planes Syrian civil defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, working at the site of an air strike in the rebel-held town of Assad’s goal seems to be to retake all which is devastating and depressing,” were bombing a White Helmet Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus. of Aleppo, even if that means crushing said Saleh. headquarters in Aleppo. the ancient old city and murdering That end won’t come soon, but the True, the medal winner, Juan war crimes with impunity – crimes former construction worker named from the rubble of an apartment thousands of innocents. Nobel committee missed the chance to Manuel Santos, did negotiate a peace that are videoed for YouTube – Khalid Farah saying goodbye to his building. “In a maximum of two months, the provide a glimmer of hope. deal with Farc guerrillas (although because the rest of the world doesn’t toddler daughter, Amal, as he grabs Late last month, Raed Saleh, the city of eastern Aleppo may be totally To support the work of the White the deal was rejected in a popular care. his helmet and rushes out to meet his founder of the White Helmets, told the destroyed, (causing) the deaths of Helmets, visit https://herofund. referendum). But the work of the At the opposite end of the moral fellow volunteers. As a Russian plane Atlantic Council in Washington how thousands of civilians,” said Staff an whitehelmets.org/donate/crowdfund/ White Helmets has a greater global spectrum is the motto of the White whooshes overhead, he runs toward the group formed in 2013 after Assad de Mistura, the UN special envoy signifi cance. Giving them the prize Helmets: “Whosoever saves one life, the carnage. “Does anyone need started using barrel bombs, which are to Syria. He could have added, but zTrudy Rubin is a columnist and would have countered the damning saves all humanity.” rescuing?” Khalid shouts. designed to injure as many civilians as didn’t: “while the world stands by.” editorial-board member for the narrative delivered daily by Syria’s To understand the courage of the A moment of joy in the fi lm comes possible. He recalled speaking before At this late date, it’s hard to imagine Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir group’s members, take a look at the when Khalid and his colleagues, who the UN Security Council 18 months a plausible political plan that would write to her at: Philadelphia Inquirer, Putin that the world has entered an era fi lm The White Helmets on Netfl ix. have worked for 16 hours straight, ago, when a resolution was passed stop the Syrian slaughter in the near PO Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101, where regimes can commit heinous It begins with a young, sweet-faced, extract a one-month-old infant alive condemning barrel bombs. Six months term. President Barack Obama is or by e-mail at [email protected] Weather report Three-day forecast What to do about bad breath TODAY High: 39 C tongue scraper. Or use a toothbrush Low : 28 C Mayo Clinic News Network Hazy to misty/foggy at place at first TNS that has a built-in tongue cleaner. becomes relatively hot daytime with zClean dentures or dental appliances. slight dust at times If you wear a bridge or a denture, clean here are many causes of bad it thoroughly at least once a day or as THURSDAY breath, also called halitosis. directed by your dentist. If you have a High: 36 C Your mouth may be the dental retainer or mouth-guard, clean Low: 25 C Tsource. The breakdown of it each time before you put it in your Sunny food particles and other debris by mouth. Your dentist can recommend the bacteria in and around your teeth best cleaning product. can cause a foul odour. If your mouth zDrink plenty of water to avoid dry FRIDAY becomes dry, such as during sleep mouth. To keep your mouth moist, High: 36 C or after smoking, dead cells can avoid tobacco and drink plenty of water Low: 25 C accumulate and decompose on your – not coff ee, soft drinks or alcohol, Sunny tongue, gums and cheeks, causing which can lead to a drier mouth. Chew odour. Eating foods containing oils gum or suck on candy (preferably with strong odour such as onions and sugarless) to stimulate saliva. For Fishermen’s forecast garlic, can lead to bad breath. chronic dry mouth, your dentist or OFFSHORE DOHA Foul-smelling breath also may be physician may prescribe an artifi cial Wind: W-NW 05-15/18 KT a symptom of illness, such as lung saliva preparation or an oral medication Waves: 2-4/5 Feet disease, diabetes or liver failure. that stimulates the fl ow of saliva. INSHORE DOHA Wind: NW-NE 06-16 KT zAdjust your diet. Avoid foods such Waves: 1-2 Feet To reduce or prevent bad breath: as onions and garlic that can cause bad zBrush your teeth after you eat. breath. Eating a lot of sugary foods also Around the region Keep a toothbrush at work to use is linked with bad breath. Weather Weather after eating. Brush using a fl uoride- zRegularly get a new toothbrush. today Max/min tomorrow Max/min containing toothpaste at least twice a Change your toothbrush when it Abu Dhabi Sunny 36/26 Sunny 36/24 day, especially after meals. Toothpaste becomes frayed – about every three Baghdad M Sunny 36/20 Sunny 36/19 Dubai Sunny with antibacterial properties has been to four months, and choose a soft- Sunny 35/27 34/26 Kuwait City Sunny 37/22 Sunny 37/22 shown to reduce bad breath odours. bristled toothbrush. Manama Sunny 36/25 Sunny 35/26 z Floss at least once a day. Proper * Schedule regular dental checkups. Muscat Sunny 34/26 Sunny 32/26 fl ossing removes food particles and See your dentist regularly – generally Riyadh Sunny 36/21 Sunny 36/21 plaque from between your teeth, twice a year – to have your teeth or Tehran M Sunny 27/15 Sunny 27/15 helping to control bad breath. dentures examined and cleaned. zBrush your tongue. Your tongue zChew fresh parsley. Chewing harbours bacteria, so carefully who have a coated tongue from a (from smoking or dry mouth, for parsley may improve bad breath brushing it may reduce odours. People signifi cant overgrowth of bacteria example) may benefi t from using a temporarily. Live issues Why you need to count time, not money

By Oliver Burkeman (more money in return for less time); them, or feel they steal all their time. New York but then again, that extra cash could Or both. lead to more or better time in future, The crucial fi nding here is that it’s in the form of nicer holidays, or a more not having more time that makes you hould you choose time over secure retirement. happier, but valuing it more. money, or money over time? Which choice prioritises time, and Economists continue to argue about Around the world This is one of those so-called which money? It’s hard to say. whether money buys happiness – but Weather Weather dilemmas of happiness that Thankfully, a new study sheds a few doubt that being comfortably off is today Max/min tomorrow Max/min S Athens Sunny 26/16 Sunny 26/14 isn’t really a dilemma at all, because little light on the matter. more pleasant than struggling to make the answer’s so painfully obvious. The researchers Hal Hershfi eld, ends meet. Beirut P Cloudy 28/23 Sunny 31/23 T Storms S T Storms 33/25 This study makes a diff erent point: Bangkok 32/25 Circumstances might oblige you to Cassie Mogilner and Uri Barnea Berlin Cloudy 09/06 P Cloudy 11/03 choose money over time. surveyed more than 4,000 Americans it implies that even if you’re scraping Cairo Sunny 35/23 Sunny 35/23 But if you truly, ultimately value a to determine whether they valued time by, and thus forced to focus on money, Cape Town P Cloudy 18/11 Sunny 23/11 large bank balance over meaningful or money more, and how happy they you’ll be happier if deep down you Colombo P Cloudy 30/26 P Cloudy 30/25 T Storms 31/24 experiences, you’re what’s known were. know it’s time that’s most important. Dhaka 29/25 S T Storms Hong Kong Rain 27/23 M Sunny 30/24 in the psychological literature as a A clear majority, 64%, preferred It also contains ironic good news for Istanbul S Showers 24/16 M Sunny 19/12 doofus. money – but those who valued time those of us who feel basically secure, Jakarta S T Storms 31/24 T Storms 31/24 Money, after all, is just an it’s surely not that bad. were happier. moneywise, but horribly pushed for time. Karachi Sunny 33/25 Sunny 34/24 instrument for obtaining other things, And yet we do choose money over Nor was it only those rich enough to If you strongly wish you had more London P Cloudy 14/09 S Showers 13/11 Manila T Storms 30/25 T Storms 31/24 including time – whereas time is all time, again and again, even when basic not stress about money who preferred time, as I do, who could accuse you of Moscow Cloudy 07/01 M Cloudy 04/02 we’ve got. material well-being doesn’t demand it. time: after they controlled for income, not valuing it? At least my craving for New Delhi Sunny 36/21 Sunny 36/21 And to make matters worse, you Partly, no doubt, that’s because even the eff ect remained. more time shows that my priorities New York P Cloudy 20/14 P Cloudy 22/12 can’t save it up: if money worked well-off people fear future poverty. Older people, married people are in order, and maybe that means I’ll Paris P Cloudy 15/06 Cloudy 13/10 S T Storms S T Storms 27/19 like time, every new deposit into But it’s also because the time/money and parents were more likely to savour any spare time I do get. Sao Paulo 28/19 Seoul Sunny 19/07 Sunny 20/08 your account would be immediately trade-off rarely presents itself in value time, which makes sense: We talk about scarce time like it’s a Singapore T Storms 32/26 T Storms 33/26 eliminated by a transaction fee of simple ways. older people have less time left, bad thing. But scarcity’s what makes Sydney M Sunny 22/12 Cloudy 16/09 exactly the same size. Suppose you’re off ered a better-paid while those with spouses and kids us treat things as precious, too. - Tokyo Clear 23/13 Cloudy 19/15 However much you hate your bank, job that requires a longer commute presumably either cherish time with Guardian News and Media Gulf Times 28 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 QATAR

Airline in code-share agreement with Finnair

Qatar Airways and Finnair have entered into a code-share agree- ment, enabling new smooth Qatar Airways celebrates connections between the two air- lines’ networks and bringing new travel opportunities to Finnair and Qatar Airways customers. Finnair’s AY code will be added to Qatar Airways’ flights between Helsinki and Doha, as well as to flights between Doha and launch of Helsinki service Muscat, Bahrain, the Seychelles and the Maldives, according to a atar Airways has cel- press statement from Finnair. At ebrated the launch of its the same time, Qatar’s QR code Qnew service to Helsinki. will be added to Finnair flights Akbar al-Baker, Group chief between Helsinki and Stockholm executive of Qatar Airways, Bromma, Billund, Gothenburg, hosted a press conference in the Riga, Tallinn and Tartu. Finnair Finnish capital yesterday and and Qatar Airways both belong updated the regional and inter- to the oneworld alliance. national media on the airline’s Qatar Airways Group chief plans for the Nordics and be- executive Akbar al-Baker said: yond. “Following the launch of our new Helsinki welcomed the fi rst route to Helsinki, this partnership Qatar Airways fl ight from Doha could not have come at a better on Monday. In a statement yes- time for Qatar Airways.” terday, the Doha-based carrier “Finnair is looking forward to de- stressed that it is the “fi rst Mid- velop the partnership with Qatar dle Eastern carrier to serve all Airways and further strengthen four Nordic capitals and is com- oneworld alliance’s strong posi- mitted to bringing more visitors tion in the Nordic and Baltic Sea to Helsinki, boosting tourism region,” added Juha Jarvinen, to Finland and its neighbouring chief commercial off icer, Finnair. countries”. The new route will also give the people of Finland the opportu- destinations on our global net- nity to connect to more than 150 work. It is also our pleasure to destinations on the airline’s glo- promote Finland and the whole bal network via its hub, Hamad Nordic region to our passengers International Airport, in Doha. around the world.” Qatar Airways fl ies daily to Finavia president and CEO Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo Kari Savolainen said: “We want and now Helsinki. “This will to express our warmest wel- give Finnish passengers the op- come to Qatar Airways and its portunity to travel seamlessly to new route between Helsinki and destinations such as Krabi and VIP guests at the press conference in Helsinki included Qatar’s ambassador to Finland Saoud Abdulla Z al-Mahmoud (second from right) and Finland’s ambassador to Qatar Riitta Doha. We welcome tourists from Seychelles, which will launch in Swan (second from left). They were welcomed by Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker (centre), Qatar Airways’ senior vice-president (Europe) Jonathan Harding (right) Doha to enjoy Helsinki, a city full December, and Auckland, which and Finavia president and CEO Kari Savolainen. of amazing Nordic experiences. will launch on February 5, 2017, At the same time, Helsinki Air- with many more new destinations On the occasion, al-Baker our list of destinations to add to that we are here to celebrate this tory of our airline. We are here to a world-class service connect- port is also an excellent gateway to come,” the statement noted. said: “Helsinki has long been on our route map and I am proud important milestone in the his- serve the people of Finland with ing them to business and leisure to Lapland.” Tobacco sellers ‘have right to check buyers ID’

ellers have the right to inside the shop, in accordance shop if the closure could not be check the identity card with the regulations issued by enforced partially at the outlet. Sof buyers to ensure those the decision of the Minister of According to Article 20 of the under 18 do not have access to Public Health. law, in case of conviction, the tobacco, its derivatives or ciga- court may order the confi sca- rettes, according to Law No. 10 According to Article 20 tion, destruction or re-export of 2016 on the control of tobacco of the law, in case of the seized amount of the violat- and its derivatives, issued yes- conviction, the court may ing tobacco, its derivatives, ciga- terday by HH the Emir Sheikh order the confi scation, rettes, sweika (a tobacco prod- Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. destruction or re-export uct), smoking tools simulators, Article number 8 of the law, the seized amount of electronic cigarettes and shisha. which is enforced and shall be the violating tobacco, its Also the court may order the published in the offi cial gazette, derivatives, cigarettes, confi scation of the substances Abdullah Shlash al-Hajiri inaugurates the exhibition at the Arab Postal Museum yesterday. PICTURES: Jayan Orma explains that the excuse of the sweika (a tobacco product), and tools, used in production and seller of being unaware of the smoking tools simulators, usage, in addition to the closure real age of the purchaser at the electronic cigarettes and of the violating outlet for a mini- time of the purchase shall not be shisha mum of one month or a maximum accepted. of three months. The verdict shall Museum expo hosts region’s natural wonders Article 9 stipulates that Article 11 bans the sale, circu- be published in two dailies at the any form of advertising, pro- lation, or display of any amount expense of the convicted. motion, sponsorship or of tobacco, or its derivatives af- Article 21 stipulates that the By Ramesh Mathew environment life in more than publicity for tobacco, its ter their expiry date. According Minister of Public Health or his Staff Reporter 20 Arab countries are on display. derivatives or cigarettes, en- to Article 14, an amount of 5% of delegate may make reconcilia- The exhibition concludes on couraging people to smoke, is the customs charges on tobacco, tion in the crimes mentioned in October 16. The Qatar Post of- banned. Also such products are and its derivatives is allocated the law before the case is taken atar Post will continue fi cial said the postal museum is not permitted to be a means and included within the budg- to the court or during its review to encourage philatelic receiving a number of philately for advertising another product. et of the Ministry of Health to before a fi nal verdict is issued, on Qactivities, including ex- enthusiasts daily and the postal Allocation of shops to sell spend on health awareness and condition that the violator pays hibition of stamps in a big way authorities are bringing as much tobacco, its derivatives or ciga- to fi ght smoking. half the value of the maximum in the coming years, a senior diversity as possible these days rettes is banned without obtain- Article 15 stipulates that pen- fi ne for each crime. postal offi cial has said. to attract more people. ing a prior license for this, ac- alties on the violation of the As per Article 22 of the law, Inaugurating the Arab postal He recalled that there were a cording to Article 10. stipulations of the law include the employees of the Ministry of exhibition on the region’s envi- number of exhibitions of post- The shops that display tobac- the temporary closure of the vio- Public Health and other govern- ronment life at the Arab Postal al-related activities at the mu- co, its derivatives or cigarettes lating shop for one month for the ment entities, who are given law Museum at Katara – the Cul- Stamps depicting environment life in Qatar are on display at the seum since its start more than for sale must allocate a place at fi rst time, two months for the enforcement powers by a decision tural Village yesterday, Qatar exhibition. four years ago. the shop for selling them, and second, and three months for of the Attorney General in agree- Post’s director of human re- Another offi cial said Qatar put the mandatory warning im- the third or further violations. ment with the Minister of Public sources Abdullah Shlash al- infrastructure at its disposal to At the ‘Stamps Exhibition for Post has on its schedule two ex- ages and phrases according to The closure shall be enforced Health, shall be tasked with spot- Hajiri said the postal corpora- encourage philatelic activities the Environment in the Middle hibitions on Qatar and Bahrain the law in an easily visible area administratively for the whole ting and proving the violations. tion will avail of all facilities and among the country’s residents. East 2016,’ stamps depicting the at the Arab Postal Museum. QTA’s annual tourism events see rise in footfall

By Joey Aguilar year-round tourism off erings for Staff Reporter both domestic and foreign visi- tors. Considered as three of the country’s most anticipated na- he Qatar Summer Festival tionwide events, these festivities (QSF) and Eid celebra- were held in succession between Ttions have started to at- July and September. tract an increasing number of The Eid al-Fitr celebration visitors annually, Qatar Tourism was held in July followed by Authority’s (QTA) has said. the month-long QSF in August Highlighting the success of and the Eid al-Adha celebration the celebrations at an apprecia- kicked off in September. tion event yesterday, QTA noted At the recognition ceremony a 2% increase in the number of yesterday, QTA chief marketing visitors in August compared to and promotions offi cer Rashed the same month last year. al-Qurese thanked its part- QTA also noted a continued ners, including representatives QTA recognised its partners for making QSF and Eid celebrations in Qatar a success at an appreciation event in Doha yesterday. rise in the number of GCC na- of government ministries and tionals who visit Qatar with a agencies, sponsors, participants The offi cial stressed that than QR21mn in participating QSF’s 29,000sqm Entertain- tional Convention Centre. tural performances, stage shows, 7% increase in year-to-date and volunteers, for their con- shopping promotions through- malls. ment City at the Doha Exhibition The three major tourism amusement games, art activi- (January-September) fi gures tinuous support and eff orts in out QSF generated a positive The number of participating and Convention Centre received events, held for a total of 43 days, ties, among others across the compared to the same period enriching Qatar’s annual calen- impact on members of the retail hotels also doubled in this year’s some 150,000 visitors while received 4,950,000 views on country. last year. dar of events. sector. celebration with 56 establish- 4,450 attended its live shows. YouTube, according to QTA. QTA is looking forward to The hosting of these an- “These tourism festivals serve The weekly raffl e draws re- ments off ering special pack- QSF’s Doha Comedy Festival Citing a 91% participants’ exploring new additions to its nual festivities in the country is to energise the retail and hospi- ceived 100,000 coupons by the ages to visitors. Occupancy rate featured 18 stand-up comedians satisfaction rate, these events annual events calendar, which part of what QTA described as a tality sectors in a typically off - end of the festival and refl ects an reached 74%. who entertained a large number featured a wide range of fam- drive footfall and attract visitors wider strategy in diversifying its peak period,” he said. estimated expenditure of more QTA records showed that of spectators at the Qatar Na- ily entertainment shows, cul- to venues across the country.