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Thursday 22 June 2017 | 27 Ramadan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Volume 22 | Number 7200 | 2 Riyals

Emir greets Saudi King Emir chairs third meeting of SCEAI and new Crown Prince

QNA and Agencies Custodian of the Two Holy mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Mosques King Salman bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratulations to Custodian Abdulaziz Al Saud yesterday of the Two Holy Mosques King appointed his 31-year-old Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud son Prince Mohammed bin Eof the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Ara- Salman as Crown Prince. bia on the occasion of naming HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as Crown Prince and appointing him as Deputy Premier. The Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH Emir wished the King health and well- Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin being, further progress and prosperity to Abdulaziz Al Saud. the fraternal people of the Kingdom of King Salman appointed his 31-year- Saudi Arabia under the King's wise lead- old son Prince Mohammed bin Salman ership, and more development and as crown prince yesterday, placing him growth to the deep fraternal ties between first-in-line to the throne and laying the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and the two brotherly countries. groundwork for an entirely new gener- Investment (SCEAI), chaired the Council's third meeting of 2017 at Al Bahr Palace, yesterday. The Deputy The Emir also sent a cable of congrat- ation of royals to take the reins. Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairman of the Council, attended the meeting along ulations to HRH Prince Mohammed bin Once powerful counterterrorism with the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the expert, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, was Council's Executive Member. The Council discussed topics on the agenda and took appropriate decisions. occasion of being named Crown Prince removed from the line of succession — The Council was briefed on the developments relating to energy and investment affairs. and Dputy Premier in the brotherly King- giving the younger prince a firmer hold dom of Saudi Arabia, wishing him success on the kingdom's foreign policies. The towards the good of the kingdom under announcements were made in a series the wise leadership of the Custodian of of royal decrees carried on the state-run the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Saudi Press Agency. Abdulaziz Al Saud, and further wishing The all-but-certain takeover of the more development and growth to the throne by Mohammed bin Salman awards US hopes 'reasonable' demands on Gulf resolution deep fraternal ties between the two vast powers to a young prince who has brotherly countries. taken a hard-line with Iran and who has QNA Department of State said in a press hope the list of demands will soon be Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah led a war in Yemen. statement. presented to Qatar and will be rea- bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Min- The Prince, known as MBS, already S Secretary of State Rex Tiller- "In regards to the continuing dis- sonable and actionable," read the ister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh oversees a vast portfolio as defence min- son hopes Saudi Arabia, UAE, pute within the GCC, we understand statement. "We support the Kuwaiti Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani ister. The young prince had previously UBahrain and Egypt will present a list of demands has been prepared mediation effort and look forward to also sent cables of congratulations to Cus- been in charge of his father's royal court "a list of demands" to Qatar in order and coordinated by the Saudis, Emi- this matter moving toward a resolu- todian of the Two Holy Mosques King when Salman was the crown prince. to settle the current crisis, the ratis, Egyptians, and Bahrainis. We tion," it added.

Qatar won't face Qatar Airways launches any kind of portal for online refunds shortage: Turkey The Peninsula to passengers. This includes pro- viding flexible commercial and Irfan Bukhari aunched in time for the refund policies for any passengers The Peninsula Eid break, Qatar Airways whose flight has been impacted Lhas a new online portal, by the recent travel bans. THE AMBASSADOR of Tur- to assist passengers to apply for In addition, since the air- key to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, has and manage their ticket refund space closures began, the said that with his country’s process in Saudi Arabia, Bah- airline has been providing reg- support, Qatar would not face rain and the UAE. ular communications through any kind of shortage of any "The announcement is part its increased global call center type of goods in future and of airline's ongoing efforts to capacity and new, flexible call- Turkey would also supply limit inconvenience to those of back function on its Facebook construction material for its passengers affected by the page. Qatar Airways has also ongoing FIFA2022 related or recent airspace and office clo- taken all efforts to reassure its other mega projects. sures, alongside the blocking of passengers that the vast major- “After some time, if Qatar the airlines website, providing ity of its global flights remain needs construction material reassurance that customers undisrupted and that those for ongoing FIFA2022 or remain the airlines utmost pri- affected will be assisted as other mega projects, Turkey ority," a statement said. quickly as possible. The airline is will also meet these needs Following closure of airspace, widely recognized as offering the and can supply quality mate- its offices and the blocking of its worlds best service and holds the rial,” The Ambassador told websites, Qatar Airways has title of 'World's Best Airline,' as The Peninsula, yesterday. focused on finding innovative awarded by the customer-voted →Full report on page 7 solutions and limiting its impact the Skytrax awards 2017. Stock market shrugs-off blockade

Sachin Kumar range of 8,700 to 9,300 points. abnormal spike on the day of The Peninsula Even the numbers of trans- announcement of blockade, are actions in the stock market, in the normal range. The market atar’s stock market has which saw a sudden and witnessed around 7,000 transac- returned to normalcy, tions on June 5 (when the Qshrugging off impact of blockade was announced) and blockade imposed on Qatar by RAMADAN around 8,800 transactions on the some of its neighbouring coun- TIMING next day, which was unusually tries. After witnessing a sharp high for Qatar’s market. Now the volatility for few days after June Today’s Iftar 6:30pm transactions are happening the 5, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Tomorrow’s Imsak 3:05am range of 3,000 to 4,000 per day. index is now trading in a stable → Continued on page 4 02 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 03 04 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 QA celebrates success at Paris Air Show Emir sends message to Russian President The Peninsula was presented by Al Baker to notable dignitaries including QNA Qatari Ambassador to France, atar Airways is enjoying a Khalid Bin Rashid Al Mansouri; mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al week of success and cel- Managing Director and CEO of Thani sent yesterday a written message ebration as Qatar’s Qatar Rail, Eng. Abdulla T Al Eto the President of the Russian Federa- Minister of Transport and Subaie and Vice-Chairman of tion Vladimir Putin pertaining to bilateral QCommunications H E Jas- the Boeing Company, Ray relations and the developments in the region. sim Saif Al Sulaiti, met with France’s Conner. The following day the The message was received by Russian For- Minister for Transport, Elisabeth airline was proudly named eign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting Borne, to reaffirm the countries' Airline of the Year for the with Qatar's Ambassador to Russian Fahad bin ongoing support and affiliation. fourth time, and also collected Mohammed Al Attiyah. Fresh from winning the Skytrax the World’s Best Business Airline of the Year award for the Class, World’s Best First Class fourth time, Qatar’s national carrier Lounge and Best Airline in the Emir and Canadian PM received overwhelming support for Middle East by the prestigious its bold new global television and 2017 Skytrax World Airline hold phone conversation social media commercial, aimed at Awards. bringing people together through Akbar Al Baker continued: QNA travel without prejudice, which has “The Paris Air Show 2017 has already been viewed by more than once again been a tremendous mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al 20 million people from all corners success for Qatar Airways. Thani held this evening a telephone of the world. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker (right), holding Skytrax With the debut of our first air- Econversation with H E Canadian Prime Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec- Airline of the Year award with other officials, at Paris Air Show, yesterday. craft fitted with the Minister Justin Trudeau. utive. Akbar Al Baker, said, “This state-of-the-art, patented During the phone call, Emir and the Cana- week has been a significant signal of of a changing and dynamic land- The success of the commercial Qsuite, we have truly set a dian Premier reviewed the latest Qatar Airways' ongoing role not just scape, because, quite simply, we falls during the same week as this new standard for the industry by developments in the region, in particular the as a leader in the aviation industry, believe the world is all of ours to year’s Paris Air Show, where QA bringing First Class to our Business Gulf crisis and means to resolve it. but as a connector in people’s day- explore, and it is a strange thing for revealed the first aircraft retrofitted Class cabin, while also winning a raft Canadian Prime Minister expressed his to-day lives. At a time of judgement, people to be apart.” with its new, award-winning Business of Skytrax awards, including Airline concern over the developments, stressing prejudice and illegal actions, Qatar Launched on Sunday through the Class concept, Qsuite, in a ribbon-cut- of the Year Canada's stance, which calls for calm and Airways has triumphed through a airline’s social media channels, the ting ceremony to gathered crowds of Qatar Airways last week added dialogue based on facts, transparency and simple yet central belief in bringing commercial gained more than 20 industry representatives and interna- Dublin in the Republic of Ireland to mutual respect between countries to ensure people together beyond borders in million views within the first two tional media. its global route network. Qatar Air- the security and stability of the region. the sky, whether it be work col- days, from those inspired by the air- The ceremony, on the opening ways operates a modern fleet of 200 Emir expressed his appreciation for the leagues, leisure passengers, or of line’s core messages that travel goes day of this year’s air show, was aircraft to a network of more than Canadian Prime Minister's stance calling for course family members and friends. beyond borders, and is an independ- attended by Qatar’s Minister of 150 key business and leisure desti- preserving the security and stability of the Our new commercial states our core ent right and necessity, while also Transport and Communications, H nations across, Europe, the Middle region. values of travel as an independent teaching compassion and an under- E Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, where the East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North human right against the backdrop standing of others. revolutionary new Qsuite America and South America. Secretary-General of Foreign Ministry meets Italian envoy in the stock market on the points, which reflects the prices in the first week of shares is temporary is QNA Qatar market day of announcement of stability in the market,” this month has proved as a because of political reasons blockade, but after a few Ahmad Akl, Doha based blessing in disguise for long and not due to any problem oreign Ministry's Secretary-General is stable now days the market returned to financial analyst told The term investors. Due to the with the performance of Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi its senses. The movement in Peninsula. “Number of trans- drop, the blue-chip stocks companies. Once the situa- met with Ambassador of the Italian Continue from Page 1 F QSE index in the past one actions increase during are now available at lower tion becomes normal, these Republic to the State of Qatar, Pasquale The stability in trading week shows that the market volatility because day trad- prices. Experts believe that share will also rise,” said Akl. Salzano. reflects that the there is no is stable now. If you look at ers try to make profits out of the blue-chip stocks are Experts suggest that long The meeting discussed bilateral relations impact of Qatar’s boycott on the last nine trading days, fluctuations in the shares,” bound to go up once there is term investors should use and means of promoting them, in addition the stock market. the index has moved in the he added. more clarity about the ongo- this decline in prices to buy to issues of common concern. “There was panic selling range of 8,700 to 9,300 Also the drop in the ing stand-off. “The fall in the quality stocks for long term. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 05 06 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017

Emir receives message from French President Qatar Charity projects Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received benefit 10,000 in Gaza a written message from President of the French Republic, Emmanuel QNA families obtained a one-time Macron. The message financial aid to cover their was handed over to the atar Charity ended two needs, particularly as Eid Al Fitr Minister of Foreign Affairs projects on providing aid draws close. H E Sheikh Mohammed Qto needy families and dis- Meanwhile, the zakat bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tributing zakat in Gaza Strip as project targeted 770 poor and by French Ambassador to part of a campaign of Ramadan orphan families in order to alle- Qatar, Eric Chevallier, in projects that the organization viate their economic burdens Doha yesterday. carried out during the month ahead of Eid Al Fitr. and targeted more than 10,000 As Eid gets nearer, Qatar poor individuals and orphans Charity provided Eid clothing across the different provinces for 264 children from the age of Gaza. group of 6-11 years from both In a statement, Qatar Char- genders as part of the Eid cloth- ity said 660 poor Palestinian ing project. 17 employees complete QM programme

The Peninsula Fourth generation talented workforce, who play sumption habits of art; such an important role in shap- * Group 2’s work looked at eventeen Qatar Muse- This is the fourth ing the creative future of Qatar. graffiti art and how this art con- ums (QM) employees generation of We want to help them realise sumption can be used to develop became the fourth gen- graduates to their potential, and create future a sense of belonging to the Qatari eration of graduates to complete QM’s most cultural leaders that will con- community; complete Qreation Gen- prestigious Qreation tinue to develop Qatar into a hub * Group 3’s project focused Seration 4, QM’s most prestigious Generation program. for arts and culture. on supporting national capacity development programme “This is a very important occa- building through a special pro- designed to shape the future arts Programme covers sion, and I would like to gram for middle school children and cultural leaders of the congratulate our talented employ- that introduces them to careers management of organisation. ees, whose bold and ambitious in the arts and cultural fields: cultural institutions The talented group cele- ideas will contribute to making art curation, archaeology and brated their significant and leadership integral to daily life, bring it to new conservation; achievements at a graduation curriculum. audiences and help to realise our * Group 4 presented their ceremony and gala dinner that country’s potential.” project titled ‘Museum on took place on Tuesday evening Qreation Generation 4 covers Wheels’, which aims to bring the at Alain Ducasse’s award-win- of Qatar Museums. arts management lectures, discus- museum culture closer to local ning restaurant IDAM, which is The latest Qreation Genera- sions, hands-on workshops and communities and tourists. situated on the top floor of the tion 4 programme gathered case studies looking at key issues The graduates, 16 of whom iconic Museum of Islamic Art. employees from various depart- facing cultural institutions today. were Qatari, were awarded a The event saw the employ- ments across QM. The programme, Furthermore, leadership work- diploma from Qatar Museums. ees present their final group which was first initiated in 2013 shops, consisting of individual They have already received a project presentations, which they by H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint work with leadership experts, certificate from the Center for worked on during the eight- Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, cov- advance one’s self-awareness, Creative Leadership, a renowned month long programme. The ers management of cultural while group discussions and global provider of leadership event was attended by H E institutions and leadership curric- debates probe into the essence of development. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad ulum, and is custom-tailored leadership efficiency. The programme, which is bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar Muse- specifically for QM. Four group projects were held every year, was created in ums’ Chairperson, Mansoor bin Dr Jelena Trkulja, Director of presented in total throughout the consultation with international Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, Chief Education at Qatar Museums, evening: experts from the Erasmus Uni- Executive Officer and Special said: “At Qatar Museums, we are * Group 1 presented their versity in The Hague and The H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani at Advisor to H E The Chairperson committed to continuously project which aims to develop Center for Creative Leadership and other senior representatives developing and nurturing our an alternative setting and con- from Brussels. graduation ceremony and dinner. Ooredoo first in region to launch CAT 16 technology

The Peninsula TV episode in eight seconds, and for our customers and Qatar to a 15GB Blu-Ray Movie in two min- connect to the world, and with oredoo yesterday utes. To ensure that everyone can each other, at the latest speeds.” announced that one of its take advantage of these life-chang- The mobile network upgrade, O4.5G mobile network sites ing speeds, Ooredoo will soon also which was completed success- has been successfully upgraded begin to sell devices that support fully in partnership with Nokia, is to support a data speed of up to Cat 16 technology in its Ooredoo a key step in Ooredoo’s roadmap 1Gbps with CAT 16 devices. retail shops and online. to launch their 5G-ready services This speed in a ‘real world’ Waleed Al Sayed, Chief on the Supernet. environment is a first in the Executive Officer, Ooredoo “We’re continuing to test our region milestone for the com- Qatar, said: "We launched the 5G capabilities with the latest pany and Ooredoo plan to Ooredoo Supernet to provide the 5G-enabled technology and hope roll-out the upgrade across the best possible network experi- to demonstrate to Qatar exactly majority of its 4.5G mobile net- ence for our customers and we how 5G speeds will enhance our work sites in Qatar soon. have solidly invested in ensur- country’s industries in near The new Woqod petrol station in Al Egda, Al Khor. With a speed of 1Gbps, Oore- ing this. Ooredoo is the only future,” Waleed Al Sayed added. doo customers will be able to company in the country to have This is the latest in a host of download an MP3 file of 3MB in service enhancing technology Supernet updates for the Woqod opens petrol station in Al Khor less than a second, a 950MB HD such as VoLTE and Cat 16 ready company.

The Peninsula petroleum products, in addition work, or the change of business, to Sidra C- store, oil change, tire as well as the need to satisfy oqod opened a new repair service and sale of LPG increasing demand in new pop- New park at Al Qutaifiya petrol station in Al cylinders. ulated areas, or in purpose of WEgda, Al-Khor area The station also has an elec- delivering new infrastructure yesterday. This is the fourth sta- tronic payment service projects”. tion to be commissioned in 2017 (WOQODe) for individuals and Al Muhannadi added that after Al Mashaf – Wukair, Abu companies that offers many Woqod is currently engaged in Nakhla – Salwa Rd., and Um benefits, especially shortening 8 projects under construction, Ghuwailina – Doha Center the filling time which reduces which are almost complete. Part which were inaugurated during congestion at the station, con- of it is expected to be open dur- the first quarter of 2017. trols customer purchases and ing the second half of 2017, The total number of petrol prevents the manipulation of while the other during the first stations owned by Woqod has invoices by drivers . half of 2018. reached 46 stations (excluding On this occasion, Mr. Saad In addition, seven projects mobile stations). Rashid Al Muhannadi, Chief are in tendering stages and other This new petrol station is Executive Officer of WOQOD five projects are in design stages. spread over an area of 17,000 said: "We are pleased to open These projects are expected to square meters approximately, and this station in the area of Al be commissioned by end 2018. has a FAHES Center within its Egda, as part of our strategy to Furthermore, Woqod is coordi- premises. provide essential services to dif- nating with the Ministry of This Center is almost com- ferent areas in the State of Qatar, Municipality and Environment The Public Parks Department yesterday opened Al Qutaifiya park at "Area 66" in Doha, plete and expected to be open especially places which are wit- for allocating new sites in dif- giving residents an opportunity to enjoy leisure moments. The park is equipped with all very soon. The station will offer nessing the closure of private ferent areas of the State for facilities like sunshades, play area for children, and entertainment and sports facilities. basic services including all stations, due to maintenance Woqod new projects. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 07 Turkey offers building materials for 2022 projects

Irfan Bukhari the recent supplies of food stuff The Peninsula from Turkey to Qatar were not just business deals rather “the he Ambassador of Tur- first and foremost factor work- key to Qatar, Fikret ing behind the activity was Ozer (pictured), has humanity”. The ambassador said said that with his coun- that Turkey could provide finan- try’s support, Qatar cial services to Qatar to facilitate Twould not face any kind of short- imports to avert money trans- age of any type of goods in future fer delays and related hiccups. and Turkey would also supply He said that after food stuff, construction materials for ongo- construction material and phar- ing FIFA 2022 related or other “The coordination maceuticals would be the next mega projects. between the two items of export from Turkey to “After some time, if Qatar countries and their Qatar. He lauded Marakez Trad- needs construction material for companies is prompt ing Company and its owners for ongoing FIFA2022 or other and excellent,” says their efforts to ensure supply of mega projects, Turkey will also Fikret Ozer, the all edibles to Qatar and its resi- meet these needs and can sup- Ambassador of Turkey dents after imposition of ply quality material,” he said, to Qatar. blockade by GCC countries. adding that Turkey would Talking to The Peninsula, always stand with Qatar to pro- immediately after three coun- Feroz Moideen, CEO of Marakez H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF), vide every kind of assistance. tries slapped sanctions on Qatar. Trading Company, said: “We He was talking to The Penin- “The coordination between two have discussed with the Turk- during her visit to Qatar Biobank. sula at the dinner hosted in countries and their companies ish Businessmen Association the honour of a delegation of Turk- was prompt and excellent. Food strategy on how the supply ish businessmen by Sheikh supplies reached Qatar within chain of food products, medical Sheikha Hind visits Biobank Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, 48 hours of the imposition of supplies and building material owner of Marakez Trading Com- restrictions by neighbouring will take place.” pany and Sheikh Suhaim Bin countries,” Ozer said. Express- He said that the Marakez The Peninsula During the meeting, Sheikha Research & Development (QF Khalid Al Thani, partner and ing strong hope that this trade Trading Company was the first Hind met with a number of sen- R&D) and Dr Nahla Maher Afifi, chairman of Marakez Trading relationship would grow with from Qatar’s private sector ice-Chairperson and ior representatives including the Scientific and Education Manager Company. Sheikh Suhaim Bin every passing day, the ambas- which delivered items within 48 CEO of Qatar Founda- Minister of Public Health, H E Dr and Acting Director of Qatar Khalid Al Thani also attended sador said that the level of trade hours from the start of the cri- Vtion (QF), H E Sheikha Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Dr Biobank. the banquet. between two countries had sis to the local shelves. “We have Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, vis- Asmaa Al Thani, Chairperson of Following a presentation Fikret Ozer said that Turkey touched new levels and “this delivered around 450 tonnes of ited Qatar Biobank on Tuesday Qatar Genome Programme and outlining the most recent devel- as country, as government had trading cooperation will con- fresh milk, yogurt, chicken, to know about the develop- Board Vice- Chairperson of Qatar opments of Biobank, Sheikha come forward to meet Qatar’s tinue growing with time”. juices and eggs to the market till ments of the organisation’s Biobank, Dr Hamad Al brahim, Hind toured the needs particularly of food items The ambassador said that today,” he added. current projects. Executive Vice President of QF state-of-the-facilities. Barwa Bank organises Iftar at Qatar Foundation for Elderly Care The Peninsula For the second year in a row, occasion, Mr. Talal Al-Khaja, real terms. We especially value in their honor for the second valuable contributions with and in the framework of its Ram- Chief Communications Officer initiatives that give back to consecutive year is the least we modest gestures not only during arwa Bank organised an adan Campaign this year, the at Barwa Bank, said: today’s Fathers and yesterday’s can do at Barwa Bank to express the holy month but throughout Iftar event for the residents Bank held this open-handed ini- “At Barwa Bank, we consider young men, who have spared no our gratitude and appreciation the year.” Barwa Bank staff’s visit Bat the Qatar Foundation for tiative towards the elderly as a the holy month of Ramadan an effort in serving their society and for their tremendous hard work. to the residents at Ihsan comes Elderly People Care (Ihsan), as celebration of the Holy Month’s ideal opportunity for all of us to nation, and establish a promis- We at Barwa bank, emphasize as a part of the Bank’s corporate part of its #WelcomeRamadan- noble human values and culture translate the meaning of coop- ing future for the present our commitment to generally social responsibility, a core ele- WithGoodness campaign. of charity. Commenting on the eration and brotherhood into generation. Thus, hosting an Iftar honoring their ment of the Barwa Bank brand. 08 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 Cabinet nod to set up new labour dispute committee

QNA by the committee. Fast resolution Decisions of the committee rime Minister and New committee to shall be issued with accelerated Interior Minister H E be headed by a access. Only the competent Sheikh Abdullah bin court of the Court of Appeal may judge of the Court Nasser bin Khalifa Al order the suspension of the exe- of First Instance and Thani chaired yester- cution of its decisions. Pday the Cabinet's regular weekly will have two more After that, the Cabinet took meeting at its Emiri Diwan members. the necessary measures to issue premises. a draft law on domestic work- FROM LEFT: Ali Al Kuwari, Assistant Director of Communication at Barwa; Lieutenant Abdul After the meeting, the Dep- Committee shall ers, after the Cabinet reviewed uty Prime Minister and Minister decide on the the recommendation of the Hadi Ali Al Marri, Officer, Media and Preventive Education Section, the Ministry of Interior; of State for Cabinet Affairs H E dispute within three Advisory Council on the draft Lieutenant Waleed Mohammed Al Abdullah, Ministry of Interior; Faisal Al Hudawi, Coordinator, Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al weeks from the date law. Public Relations Dept, Ministry of Interior; and Ahmed Refaat, Senior Marketing, Ibn Ajayan Mahmoud said that the Cabinet of submission. The draft law defines the Projects, at the press conference yesterday. Pic: Kammutty V P/The Peninsula reviewed the topics on the rights and duties of employers agenda. and domestic workers. The Cabinet reviewed the Social Affairs. They shall be The Cabinet approved the MoI lines up Eid events for workers programmes, plans and mech- headed by a judge of the Court proposal of the Ministry of Econ- anisms set by the relevant of First Instance chosen by the omy and Commerce to extend ministries in implementation of Supreme Council of the Judici- the periods of adjustment in Sanaullah Ataullah “The Ministry of Interior will The Civil Defense will take the directives contained in the ary and two members accordance with to the provi- The Peninsula be organizing ‘Eid Al Fitr Aware- part in the event by presenting speech of the Emir at the open- nominated by the Minister with sions of Law No. (20) of 2014 ness and Cultural Festival’ with awareness messages to the pub- ing of the regular 45th session one them has experience in amending some provisions of he Ministry of Interior the aim providing a safer envi- lic on fighting fire breakouts and of the Advisory Council. accounting. the commercial register, and will organise various ronment for expatriate major fire accidents at establish- The Cabinet took the neces- The formation of the com- Law No. (5) of 2015 regarding cultural and aware- communities and workers to ments as well as how to sary measures to issue a draft mittee, its rules and the similar commercial, industrial ness programmes for celebrate Eid Al Fitr on first and evacuate immediately in case of law amending some provisions procedures, and the mechanism and general shops and street expatriate communi- second days of Eid Al Fitr at fire, said Abdul Hadi. of the Labour Law promulgated for implementing its decisions vendors and Law No. (11) of 2015 Tties and workers at Asian Town Asian town (Open yard near Bin Ajayan group will be by Law No. (14) of 2004 and Law and their reward shall be issued issuing the Commercial Com- and Barwa Workers Sports cricket stadium) in Industrial organizing several musical and No. (13) of 1990 on the issuance by a decision of the Cabinet. panies Law. Complex in Al Khor on the first area,” said Al Abdullah. sports event on first and second of the civil and commercial pro- The committee shall be The Cabinet also approved and second days of Eid Al Fitr. “The Barwa Group also will days of Eid, said Aidarouse. cedures law, after the Cabinet solely competent to adjudicate a draft decisions of the Minister The programmes, compris- be organizing Eid Al Fitr cele- Seven departments includ- reviewed the recommendation all individual disputes arising of Public Health on the control ing performances and shows by brations for the communities on ing Traffic, Civil Defence, of the Advisory Council on the from the application of the pro- of tobacco and its derivatives. popular orchestra troupes and first and second days of Eid in Community Policing, Al Fazaa draft law. visions of this law or the The Ministry of Public teams of expatriate communi- Barwa Workers Sports Complex Police, Permanent Committee A draft law was prepared in contract of employment. Health prepared these draft ties, will be held from 5pm to in Al Khor industrial area” for Drugs and Alcohol Affairs, the framework of preserving The committee shall decide decisions in the framework of 10pm. “The Amphitheater of Asian Search and Follow Up Depart- labour rights and simplification on the dispute before it within completing the necessary deci- There will be an opportunity Town will be hosting “Super Star ment and Human Rights of litigation procedures in labour three weeks from the date on sions to implement the for workers and community Night Damaka 2017 event” dur- Department from the Ministry disputes. which it is submitted. provisions of Law No. (10) of members to showcase their tal- ing 1st and 2nd Day of Eid, of Interior will take part in this Under the amendment, one Members of the committee 2016 on the control of tobacco ents in singing, acting and drama Aidarouse told The Peninsula. event with awareness pro- or more committees, to be called shall be independent and have and its derivatives. and the audience will be getting Several Bhojpuri and Nepali grammes on traffic safety, the "Labour Dispute Settlement" no authority over them in their The Cabinet approved an about 700 prizes through raffle superstars will be performing,” pedestrian safety, awareness Committee, shall be established decisions other than the law. MoU for cooperation in agricul- draws during two days of he added. messages on risks of drug abuse by the Ministry of Administra- No person or entity may inter- ture with the Government of the programmes. The Barwa group will be and mental stimulants usage, tive Development, Labour and vene in the disputes considered State of Kuwait. The announcement was organizing two days program at risks of carrying belonging of made at a press conference held Barwa Workers Sports Complex others when coming to Qatar at the headquarters of the Civil in Al Khor from 5 pm until 10 without verifying its content, Defence yesterday. pm, said Al Kuwari. procedures to bring medicine to The press conference was The main attractions of the Qatar, importance of carrying Secondary School Certificate results today attended by public relations event will be performances and ID card, risks of gathering in officer from the Ministry of Inte- shows by popular orchestra front of accident sites and QNA The results will be exams for the general and spe- rior by Lt. Waleed Muhammed troupe and communities teams Qatar’s custom and tradition. announced at a press confer- cialised secondary school, Al Abdullah, Assistant director in addition to this, the Ministry Lt. Waleed urged the com- he Ministry of Education ence after they are endorsed by including 8,895 of day school stu- of communications of the Barwa of Interior will contribute to the munities members and and Higher Education the Minister of Education and dents, 1,522 of adult education group Ali Shaheen Al Kuwari, success of the event by deliver- companies’ representatives to Twill announce today the Higher Education H E Dr students, 165 technical education, awareness officer from civil ing safety and security messages send maximum number of peo- results of the general and spe- Mohammed bin Abdul Wahid Al 45 of religious education and 91 defense Lt. Abdul Hadi Al Murri to the audience. Barwa has ple to this event as it will be a cialised Secondary School Hammadi. of banking education. and facility manager of Bin arranged many gifts for the pub- golden opportunity for them to Certificate for the academic More than 10,700 students The exams began on May 25 Ajayan projects Ahmed lic which will be distributed impart very important year 2016/2017. attended the second semester and ended on June 10. Aidarouse. through raffle draw, he added. information. Qatar Airways partners with The Curragh

The Peninsula affinity for horses, Qatar Airways Middle East, Asia and Australia, inspire even greater communi- is now drawing together the cul- with seamless connections to cation and trade between both atar Airways yesterday tural heritage of both nations. Sydney, Hong Kong, Melbourne Irish and Qatari travellers. announced its further Qatar Airways was also and many more attractive glo- “Qatar Airways partnership Qcommitment to Ireland by recently announced as official bal destinations. with The Curragh today is a great partnering with The Curragh fol- airline partner of the 2017 Dub- Qatar Airways Group Chief example of this. As such an lowing the inaugural lin Horse Show, further Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: established and world renowned Dublin-Doha flight on June 12. establishing strong relations “We are delighted to enter the equestrian organisation, this is The airline’s entry into the with the Irish equestrian indus- Irish market and expand our glo- a great opportunity to connect Irish market strengthens Irish try and business networks. bal network of more than 150 the Irish and Qatari communi- and Qatari business relation- The launch of the new Dub- destinations with the addition of ties and we are delighted to be ships as well as connecting Irish lin-Doha route provides Irish the great city of Dublin. Given announcing this new develop- Through the Irish and Qatari affinity for horses, Qatar Airways passengers to more than 150 passengers with the first ever the Irish people’s passion for ment.” Dublin is a hub for more is now drawing together the cultural heritage of both nations. destinations worldwide. direct Dublin-Doha service, pro- travel, we believe this new route than 1,000 leading multi- Through the Irish and Qatari viding easier access to the will be very successful and will national companies. Many health centres to remain open during Eid CRA: Check mobile roaming The Peninsula 4pm to 11pm. 7am and 11pm and the Al Shee- and Saturdays. packages before you travel Dental services at these haniya health center from 7am Dermatology clinic at the any health centres within health centers will be available to 9pm. Dental services in Al Abu Baker Sidiq health center and outside Doha will be from 7am to 2pm and from 4pm Wakra will be available from will be open during the morn- The Peninsula travelling if their service provider Mopen during the Eid Al to 11pm. However, all dental 7am to 2pm and from 3pm to ings on Sunday June and offers roaming service in the des- Fitr holidays between Sunday clinics will not operate in the 9pm. In Al Sheehaniya dental Wednesday June 28. he Communications Reg- tination country. June 25 and Monday July 3, first day of Eid Al Fitr and on Fri- services will be available from At the Leabaib health center ulatory Authority (CRA) “CRA typically receives a according to the Primary Health day mornings. 7am to 2pm. the dermatology clinic will be Thas alerted all consumers high volume of complaints from Care Corporation (PHCC). Among the health Centers Health centres in Al Jumailia open during the mornings on to ensure that they are familiar consumers related to roaming However, health centers in outside Doha the Al Khor health and Al Kabaan will operate Tuesday June 27, Thursday June with their service provider’s following the holiday season. Al Thumama, Abu Nakhla, Al center will operate from 7am to according to a on call system 29 and Sunday July 2. At Raw- roaming packages and services CRA strives to help consumers Gharafa, Al Karaana, Umm Salal, 2pm and 4pm to 11 pm. Dental around the clock. dat Al Khail health center, the if they plan to use their Qatari make informed decisions when Al Ghuwairya and Al Daayen will services will be available from The Ophthalmology clinics clinic will be open during the SIM cards aboard. using roaming packages and not be operating during the Eid 7am to 2pm and 4pm to 10pm, will operate daily at Rawdat Al mornings on Saturday June 24 Both service providers in services available to them when holidays. except on the Eid Al Fitr and on Khail health center, Madinat and Monday June 26. Qatar have products catering to travelling out of the country. If Health centers within Doha Friday mornings. The Al Shamal Khalifa health center and Al Premarital examination clin- travelling consumers but it is the consumers have any unresolved (Omar Bin Kattab, Al Rayan, health center will be open from Rayyan health center in the ics will be closed in all health consumer’s responsibility to complaints with their service Madinat Khalifa, Rawdat Al 7am to 2pm and from 4pm to 11 mornings during the holidays centers except for the one in the understand the related terms and providers CRA is available 24/7 Khail, Abu Baker Sidiq, Leabaib, pm. Its dental clinic will be open except Fridays. The ENT clinic Al Rayyan health center and it conditions such as the cost of the through its hotline 103 and West Bay, Mesaimeer, Umm from 7am to 2 pm. will operate daily in Rawdat Al will operate on Tuesday June 27 roaming services and the proc- mobile app ‘Arsel’. However, it’s Ghuwailina and Airport) will be The health centre in Al Khail health center during the and on Thursday 29 from 7am ess to monitor usage. In addition still important for consumers open from 7 am to 2pm and from Wakra will operate between mornings except on Fridays to 1pm. it is important to check before to stay informed." THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 09 10 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 Syrian military seizes area near Iraqi border

Beirut Key seizure huge reinforcements that have Reuters been entering since last night,” The advance brought said Mustafa Sejari of the Liwa yrian government the Bir Qassab area al-Mutasem group. forces and their allies under the control of Turkish opposition to what yesterday seized an government forces, it it says is Kurdish encroachment area southeast of said, quoting a along its long border with Syria Damascus towards the military source. has complicated US strategy in SJordanian and Iraqi borders, an the region, because Washing- area where US troops are ton supports the YPG and its Turkey has sent new based, state television reported. allies in the fight against Islamic The advance brought the Bir military State. Qassab area under the control reinforcements The YPG is a key part of the of government forces, it said, including troops, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), quoting a military source. vehicles and which a US-led coalition is sup- A Kurdish fighter from the People's Protection Units (YPG) fires heavy machine-gun at Islamic Western-backed Syrian equipment into porting with air strikes and rebels in the area said they northern Syria. military advisers on the ground State militants in Raqqa, Syria, yesterday. came under attack on Tuesday to fight Islamic State in its by government forces, Iranian- controlled by the Kurdish YPG stronghold Raqqa. backed militias and Russian air militia, which Turkey has fought Turkey launched an offen- power. in northern Syria. sive in northern Syria in August Protect civilians in Raqqa: UN In the meantime, Turkey has The Observatory said the last year, sending tanks and sent new military reinforce- reinforcements were part of warplanes across the border to ments including troops, vehicles preparations for new joint support Syrian rebels fighting United Nations operations in Syria to do every- civilians in Raqqa who are and equipment into northern attacks on the YPG by Turkish both Islamic State and the YPG. AFP thing in their power to protect trapped and face threats from Syria, a war monitoring group forces and their Syrian rebel It helped them carve out a civilians and civilian infrastruc- every direction," he said. and rebel and Kurdish sources allies in that area of Syria’s big portion of northern Syria, N Secretary-General ture, as fighting continues in Guterres appealed to the said on Wednesday. northwest. The area is sepa- helping ensure the YPG and its Antonio Guterres yester- Raqa and elsewhere," Guterres warring parties to allow access The British-based Syrian rated from the main territory allies could not link the 400km Uday appealed for the said in a statement. for humanitarian aid convoys to Observatory for Human Rights the YPG and its allies control in stretch of territory they hold in protection of Syrian civilians in The UN chief said he was reach Syrians in urgent need of said the forces had crossed the the northeast. the north and northeast with the Raqqa as US-backed forces "deeply alarmed" by the human life-saving food and medicine. border in the last 24 hours and A rebel from a Turkish- pocket they hold west of Azaz. moved to encircle the city in an suffering across Syria but that The UN Commission of headed towards areas south of backed group confirmed Ankara The YPG is linked to the offensive to take the Islamic civilians in Raqa faced a partic- Inquiry on Syria has expressed Azaz town, which is held by had sent more forces. PKK, a Kurdish group fighting State stronghold. ularly desperate situation. alarm over the "staggering" Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. “Turkish forces are now an insurgency in Turkey’s "I make an urgent appeal to "I am particularly concerned number of civilian deaths in the To Azaz’s south are areas inside Syria ... the forces are southeast. all those conducting military about the perilous situation for US-backed battle to seize Raqqa. Liberal German 15 dead in mosque 'incompatible' Ivory Coast with Islam: Turkey heavy rains Abidjan Istanbul ill-gotten structures for the AFP AFP engineering of religion," it added. he heavy rains drench- urkey's religious affairs "We are convinced that all ing Ivory Coast since agency has expressed fellow believers will keep their TMay have killed at least Tdistaste over a new distance from such provoca- 15 people in the economic mosque in Berlin where men tions and show wisdom in the capital Abidjan and injured and women mingle freely, say- face of this," Diyanet said in over two dozen, the govern- ing it was incompatible with the statement published late ment said yesterday. the principles of Islam. Tuesday. West Africa's rainy sea- Diyanet, which oversees Turkey says that the failed son, which lasts three to four religious activity in Turkey, coup was carried out by the months, regularly causes said that such ideas were in Fethullah Terror Group (FETO) fatalities and damage across This file photo shows a general view of the Hadba leaning minaret and Nouri Mosque (right) line with projects led by the led by the US-based Gulen. Abidjan's hillside shack com- in the Old City of Mosul. group of Fethullah Gulen, who Gulen denies leading any ter- munities, with 16 people Turkey blames for the July 15 ror organisation and rejects killed last year and 39 in 2014. failed coup. having any hand in the coup "We are today at 15 dead Men and women pray side bid. and 25 hurt in total," said IS blows up Mosul mosque: Military by side at the mosque that Diyanet has influence over Communications Minister opened earlier this month in Muslim worship among the Bruno Kone. Berlin, which has female Turkish diaspora through the Most of the victims lived Mosul the Al Nuri mosque and its his- in Mosul. Al Baghdadi pro- imams and where Muslims of Ditib organisation controlled in the shack communities Reuters torical Al Hadba minaret,” the claimed himself “caliph”, or all sects of the faith are wel- by Ankara that manages some which cling to hillsides that Iraqi military statement said,. ruler of all Muslims, from the come to worship together. 900 mosques or religious become unstable in heavy slamic State militants blew The explosions happened as pulpit of the mosque on July 4, Supporters of the Berlin communities in Germany. Diy- rain. up yesterday the Grand Al Iraq’s elite Counter Terrorism 2014, after the insurgents over- mosque said it would allow anet sends clerics to work in INuri Mosque of Mosul and its Service units, which have been ran parts of Iraq and Syria. His liberal Muslims to worship its mosques. famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi battling their way through black flag had been flying over freely but in a tough statement According to the available 5 dead in Nigeria military statement said. Mosul’s Old City, got to within its leaning minaret since June Diyanet took a different information, earlier this year, It was from this medieval 50 metres of the mosque. 2014. stance. a furore erupted when German Boko Haram mosque that the militants’ leader Iraqi forces earlier yester- Iraqi officials had privately It said that the mosque police raided the homes of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi declared day said they had started a push expressed the hope that the "neglects" the basic principles four Turkish Muslim clerics mine blast a self-styled “caliphate” span- towards the mosque. A US-led mosque could be captured in of Islam and was "incompati- working for Ditib suspected of ning parts of Syria and Iraq three coalition is providing air and time for Eid Al Fitr. The fall of ble with the worship, spying for the government on Kano years ago. ground support to the Mosul Mosul would, in effect, mark the knowledge and methodology" the movement of Gulen. AFP Islamic State’s Amaq news offensive which began in Octo- end of the Iraqi half of the accumulated since the faith Diyanet later said it had agency accused American air- ber 2016. “caliphate” even though Islamic was founded by the Prophet recalled six clerics from Ger- ive people have been craft of destroying the mosque. The forces had encircled on State would continue to control Mohammed 14 centuries ago. many for exceeding their killed in a landmine “The Daesh (Islamic State) Tuesday the jihadist group’s territory west and south of the "It is clear that this has authority but lashed out at Fexplosion and a road- terror gangs committed another stronghold in the Old City, the city, the largest they had control been a project carried out for German police for raiding the side ambush in northeast historical crime by blowing up last district under their control of in both Iraq and Syria. many years by FETO and other homes of the preachers. Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram , the civilian militia and police said yesterday. In the first incident, at least three loggers were killed Mali delays constitutional referendum to cool tensions when their truck ran over a landmine outside Abbari vil- lage in the Konduga district Bamako scrutiny in recent weeks. the troubled north, which of five administrative regions in jihadists, throwing the nation of Borno state on Tuesday. AFP The cabinet "has decided to remains wracked by insecurity, the north elected by popular into chaos. "The truck hit the land- delay the referendum initially jihadist activity, and a near vote. Mali's former rebel alliance But Mali's jihadists did not mine at about 4:30pm and ali yesterday delayed a planned for July 9 to a future absence of the state. on Tuesday rejected a national sign the peace deal and have went up in flames, killed all constitutional referen- date," a statement issued by the Thousands protested against reconciliation charter unveiled continued to wreak havoc three loggers on board," said Mdum due to be held on government said, without pro- the referendum last weekend in on the second anniversary of despite an ongoing French-led Ibrahim Liman, from the July 9 in the face of heavy polit- viding a reason or a new date for Bamako and two parties serving their signing a peace deal with military intervention in 2013 to Civilian Joint Task Force ical opposition and street the vote. in the governmental grouping in the government, further under- remove them. In a sign of their (CJTF). Babakura Kolo, protests. The referendum faced oppo- parliament on Tuesday called for scoring the country's fraying growing confidence, an Al Another member of the CJTF The vote was aimed at sition from those who say it gives it to be delayed to "cool down" peace process. Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance in Maiduguri, confirmed the enshrining elements of a 2015 President Ibrahim Boubacar rising tensions. The deal signed in 2015 claimed responsibility Monday incident, adding: "The mine peace deal into the charter and Keita excessive powers. Beyond the senate, the ref- aimed at curbing separatist for a weekend attack on a tour- was obviously placed by Boko establishing a senate in parlia- Detractors also said such a erendum would enshrine in the uprisings in Mali's north after a ist resort near Mali's capital that Haram terrorists operating in ment, but came under intense vote could not be held safely in constitution the establishment 2012 rebellion was hijacked by left five people dead. the area." THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 11 12 VIEWS THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

CHAIRMAN SHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI [email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITOR MOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED [email protected]

EDITORIAL Fighting in Raqqa ighting is raging in Syria with various sides trying to consolidate their gains. The US is focusing on eliminating the Islamic State (IS), which is one of the priorities of President Donald Trump, and Washington-backed F Syrian militias closed in on Raqqa, which is the only stronghold of IS in Syria. The world has abandoned The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which include Arab and Kurdish fighters and supported by the US, yesterday captured territory on the south bank of the Euphrates River with the aim of encircling the city. The IS will soon surrender or flee, and this is likely to South Sudanese refugees coincide with the defeat of the terrorist group in Iraq’s Mosul where a US-supported operation by Iraqi forces is nearing completion. The IS will soon contrary to international obligations for gee Response Plan for Uganda was only be wiped out from its two strongholds in Syria and Khairunissa Dhala responsibility-sharing among states. 15 percent funded. In 2016, it was Iraq, leaving the outfit in tatters and its leaders Al Jazeera With more than 900,000 South funded up to 51.4 percent. running for cover. Sudanese refugees already on its terri- Not only does this lack of funding The fight against the IS in Raqqa is one of the tory, and with thousands more arriving risk the sustainability of Uganda’s pro- components of the larger Syrian war and their defeat each day, Uganda is facing one of the gressive refugee policy, it also has a will pose another problem: who will rule the territory world’s biggest refugee crises. direct and devastating impact on refu- after the IS exit? The local Syrians are worried about Known and praised for its progres- gees’ lives. what comes after the fight. The vacuum that follows, t just 37 years of age, Joyce has sive refugee policy, Uganda has kept its Amnesty International spoke to if not filled, can create a space for other extremists to seen it all. She’s stared into the doors open to refugees against financial more than 80 South Sudanese refugees step in. At the same time, with the rest of Syria in abyss of human cruelty and lived odds, but it is buckling under the pres- in settlements across four districts of turmoil, it will be difficult to establish a stable to tell the story. In September sure and needs global support. northern Uganda, as part of a recent government in the territory in any form. This is a 2016, soldiers stormed her home Under this policy, refugees are given report, all of whom gave harrowing inA Kajo Keji, South Sudan, which she shared pieces of land to live on and farm, and accounts of the human rights abuses question which Washington will have to address with her husband and their children. They have equal access to basic services as they had fled from, including killings, soon. According to tied her husband’s arms behind his back and citizens, including healthcare and edu- rape and torture. Some of them, like reports, unfortunately, stabbed him multiple times until he lay dead. cation. They also have the right to work Joyce, saw their loved ones being killed. this is a question which A single mother with nine children to and own businesses. But instead of full support to live in the US hasn’t thought feed, Joyce decided to run away - to escape The authorities aim for refugees to dignity in Uganda, they have been left about so far. “For the the violence in her native land. So she joined be self-sufficient within five years - and struggling to cope. Even the most vul- moment the United States the hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese to no longer have to rely on aid nerable, such as trauma victims with There are fears is telling us, ‘we’re people fleeing southwards to Uganda. agencies. urgent mental health needs, have been carrying out our war so about the future But although the trek to Uganda by foot And yet the international commu- neglected. will see afterwards,” a has reduced her risk of being shot dead or nity has still failed to Over 64 percent of the refugees from of Raqqa after the European raped by soldiers or rebels, her life is still a provide Uganda and its South Sudan in Uganda are children expected defeat diplomat was quoted painful daily struggle. She still lacks basic refugees with adequate under the age of 18. Many are at risk and of IS by the as saying. supplies, including food, water or shelter. support. By May 2017, in need of urgent support. US-led coalition. Washington has a And she’s not alone, thousands upon the South Sudan Refu- Yet appeals by the Ugandan govern- duty to bring peace and thousands of South Sudanese refugees in ment, the United Nations and aid stability to Raqqa once Uganda - nearly two-thirds of them children agencies have fallen on deaf ears. the IS is defeated, and not - are living in despicable conditions due to a But it is not too late. leave the area for other shameful failure by the international com- The international Donor countries, including the groups to step in. The munity to fund refugee efforts in Uganda, a United States, the European Union and region already has an country that has continued to welcome refu- community must step its member states, Australia, Canada, example of the dangers gees, despite its limited resources. up and show its support China and Japan, have an opportunity to of the failure to rebuild after conflict in Iraq The world’s wealthiest countries are not to Uganda and the change this tomorrow at the Uganda following the 2003 US-led invasion. The chaos and doing enough to support these refugees. refugees it has given a Solidarity Summit on Refugees in Kam- violence resulting from the removal of Saddam UN funding appeals for refugees remain pala. The international community must Hussein opened the door to an insurgency that not grossly underfunded, leaving millions of ref- warm welcome. Their step up and show its support to Uganda only devastated the country but gave rise to the birth ugees in destitute conditions, and dismally lives depend on it. and the refugees it has given a warm of Islamic State. few resettlement places are being offered, welcome. Their lives depend on it. There is hope in the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC), which was formed in April by Kurdish and Arab allies to restore order after the US-led coalition began the anti-IS operation. At the same time, RCC must steer clear of all controversies. Turkey will oppose a Raqqa council allied to Kurdish militia as it will expand the power of Syria’s Kurds. This means that the US will have to consult all parties with stakes before giving power to any group or council.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We are doing what is in the national interest, which is forming a government to address the challenges that face this country at the moment.

Theresa May British Prime Minister South Sudanese refugees gathering at a UNHCR collection centre on the South Sudan border in Egelo, Uganda. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 OPINION 13 Demystifying Qatar-Iran connection in GCC crisis

ambassador while Muscat did not take any measures not be hard to judge that the current claim of Qatar besides a verbal condemnation. being too close to Tehran is mere nonsense and a Dr. Ali Hussein Bakeer At best, this Anatolia As for diplomatic relations with Iran, Kuwait has black propaganda. far more stable relations with Tehran than Doha A source with deep knowledge of the current crisis, if it does. 2014, for example, witnessed a historic Kuwaiti contacts on the Gulf crisis told me, quoting a senior persists, will visit to Tehran; the emir himself visited Iran and met official in the US State Department who is aware of eventually lead with the Supreme Leader. the latest US communications with Saudi Arabia that ne of the charges used as a pretext to In fact, Kuwait contacted Tehran last January to they “listened to their accusations in this regard and to nothing but justify actions against Qatar in the initiate a strategic dialogue between Iran and the frankly they are very old and goes way back in time, increasing the recent pre-planned Gulf Cooperation GCC as a whole. After being reelected as Iran’s presi- things that already passed”. influence of Council (GCC) crisis — in addition to sev- dent, Hassan Rouhani visited Oman and Kuwait last “We didn’t notice any surprise changes in the Iran, disrupting ering diplomatic relations, executing a February. And regarding the economic ties with nature of the relations between Qatar and Iran in Oblockade, along with media and political campaigns Tehran, the UAE comes out way ahead of others. The recent years. Even when it comes to their newer the U.S. efforts as well as cyber attacks — is the so-called close rela- UAE has very extensive economic ties with Iran. The accusations in this regard, they provided no proofs against it tionship between Doha and Tehran. country’s ports have been playing an increasingly to us and we don’t have any confirmations from our and against The current crisis was simply made out of noth- significant role in boosting trade with Iran in recent side on it.” Furthermore, it is ironic that Qatar’s air- ing, and since there was no occasion to launch this years, including illicit trade. lines are now being prevented from flying over the terrorism, conflict in the first place, Saudi Arabia, the United The UAE is Iran’s main trade partner, accounting UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain while the UAE still spreading Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain had to go way for 23.6 percent of its trade. According to IRNA, has direct flights to and from Iran. Both Mahan Air, radicalism and back in time, to six, 10, 15 and even 20 years ago, to Iran’s official news agency, trade with Dubai alone the Iranian airlines with ties to the IRGC, and the creating Sunni- dig up evidences for their allegations that actually accounts for 90 percent of the Arab country’s trade Syrian Air, Assad’s official airlines, still operate direct have nothing to do with the current Qatari Emir and with Iran. In 2011, the volume of trade between Iran flights from Iran and Syria to the UAE. Sunni conflicts his government or with the current dynamics in the and the UAE stood at $23 billion before witnessing a Syrian Air was sanctioned in 2013 for acting on in the whole Middle East anyway. drop to $15 billion in 2013 because of the sanctions behalf of Iran (IRGC-QF), with the help of Hezbollah, region, pushing In fact, seven months ago, King Salman paid a to transport illicit cargo including weapons to sup- more countries historic visit to Doha. Maybe for the first time ever port the Assad regime’s military campaign against for the Qataris, the Saudi king danced in the pres- the Syrian people. and groups in ence of his host, a sign that the relationship with Qatar’s relationship with Mahan Air has been sanctioned by the US many the Middle East Doha was extraordinarily good. times since 2011 for “supporting terrorism and pro- Iran has been no better directly and Lately, Qatari officials have attended three high- viding financial, material and technological support forcibly towards level meetings with their Saudi counterparts and than the relations between to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard”. there was not a single indication that there was a many GCC countries and What is more shocking is that the US Treasury Iran’s embrace. problem or that the Saudis would complain about Tehran. In fact, the Arab sanctioned Mahan Air for violating international any of the issues they are claiming right now, includ- laws by transferring arms and reinforcements to ing the Iranian one. revolutions put Qatar and Syria’s Assad, Yemen’s Houthi and Lebanon’s Hez- Nothing was raised against Qatar at GCC meet- Iran at stark odds in the bollah! These regimes/militias are the strongest lead to nothing but increasing the ings, nothing in the Arab league and certainly region. As a result, Doha allies/clients of Iran in the whole Middle East. influence of Iran, disrupting the nothing via bilateral channels. So how did this claim moved further towards So, when Saudi Arabia was battling these Ira- U.S. efforts against it and against originate out of the blue to justify actions against nian affiliates in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq to terrorism, spreading radicalism Qatar and why? Turkey and the ground try to stop Tehran’s expansion in the region, the and creating Sunni-Sunni conflicts was set for better strategic UAE was actually facilitating / helping Iran support in the whole region, pushing more Once upon a time, the relationship between relations between the two them! The outcome is a fiasco that Qatar had to be countries and groups in the Middle Doha and Tehran was very good, the peak being the countries. blamed for, knowing full well that Doha supported East directly and forcibly towards period between 2006 and 2008. But this was a long Saudi Arabia in all these regions! For example, Iran’s embrace. time ago, and from Doha’s perspective, it had its although the UAE is a member of the Friends of own circumstances and reasons then. Syria group and the Likeminded Group, the UAE’s At that time, the so-called ‘moderate axis’ was position at the political meetings behind closed incompetent, lacking leadership and resolve, espe- on Iran, but the UAE still accounted for 96.7 percent doors was always closer to Iran than to Saudi Ara- cially when it came to representing the interests of of the GCC exports to Iran in that year. bia, Turkey and Qatar. the people and supporting the Palestinians’ right to There are almost half a million Iranians living in While Qatar was vocal at these meetings against defend themselves against occupation and aggres- the UAE, mainly in Dubai. Most have relatives in terrorist groups and the IRGC-affiliated groups in sion, a fact fully utilized by Iran to manipulate the Iran, and some of them keep active relations with Syria, the UAE rarely focused on Iran or its around D-RING ROAD region and gain the overwhelming support of the the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary 60 thousand sectarian militia members there, and POST BOX: 3488 Arab public. Guards Corps (IRGC) in particular. instead targeted groups in the anti-Assad and anti- No wonder that a 2008 poll conducted by Zogby In the last two decades, Dubai has been / is still Iran camp. DOHA - QATAR Research Services and the University of Maryland used by the IRGC as a back door for its financial, Egypt’s Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who is supported by [email protected] found that the three most popular leaders in the business, money laundering and intelligence activi- the UAE, took a similar stance and that is why when- Arab world at the time were Hezbollah’s leader Has- ties, and military purchases. ever possible Iran has always stressed the need for san Nasrallah, Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, and The UAE contributed greatly to the efforts to help Egypt to attend a number of meetings on Syria — EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICE Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. the Iranian regime avoid the international sanctions like the Lausanne ministerial meeting — in order to TEL: 4455 7741 / 767 Starting from 2009, the dynamics in the Middle and boost the illicit trade of the IRGC. The strength counter Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar. FAX: +974 4455 7758 East signaled a radical change, and Turkey was a ris- and depth of the Iran-UAE bilateral relations have In 2014, many individuals and companies with ing star in the region. The Arab public started to shift always complicated the enforcement of the US and offices in the UAE, especially in oil sector, actively MANAGING EDITOR from supporting Tehran to supporting Ankara and so the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanc- supported Assad and his air force by providing oil TEL: 4462 7505 did Qatar. To them, Turkey seemed a better alterna- tions against Tehran. In 2011, several Dubai-based and fuel. The US Treasury in 2016 sanctioned the companies violated the US Arms Export Control Act networks providing support to Assad’s regime, aid- DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR (AECA), the International Emergency Economic ing his weapons of mass destruction program. TEL: 4455 7769 Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions Companies and individuals in the UAE such as It is ironic that Qatar’s Regulations, because they evolved into illegal arms Dubai-based Yola Star and its CEO Salah Habib LOCAL NEWS SECTION airlines are now being deals to purchase and route US military equipment acted as an agent for the Syrian Air Force, the Syrian including components for attack helicopters and Air Force Intelligence, the Army Supply Bureau as TEL: 4455 7743 prevented from flying over fighters. well as other designated Syrian government entities, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for including the Scientific Studies and Research Center BUSINESS NEWS SECTION Bahrain while the UAE still Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, (SSRC), which focuses on developing Assad regime’s TEL: 4462 7535 has direct flights to and Executive Director of Center on Sanctions & Illicit biological and chemical weapons. from Iran. Both Mahan Air, Finance, and former adviser to the Obama and Ahmad Al-Jarba, former head of the Syrian SPORT NEWS SECTION Bush administrations on Iran’s sanctioned policy, National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposi- TEL: 4455 7745 the Iranian airlines with said in 2012: “For years Dubai was a huge headache tion forces (ETILAF), is believed to be one of the ties to the IRGC, and the for the administration because it was unwilling to UAE’s key men in Syria. ONLINE SECTION Syrian Air, Assad’s official enforce sanctions,” adding “That’s changed”. But Just less than six months ago, Erem News, a UAE TEL: 4462 7501 did it? news outlet, interviewed Al-Jarba and when asked [email protected] airlines, still operate direct Dubai-based companies were used by the Ira- whether he would accept the staying of Assad (Iran’s flights from Iran and Syria nian government and the IRGC to overcome any ally) in power in Syria or not, he clearly said: “There PUBLIC RELATIONS to the UAE. financial difficulties and to secure the critical needs would be no problem if this would be for the sake of of the nuclear program, and that is why they fre- the country.” TEL: 4455 7613 quently appear on US Treasury’s black lists, and they Here Jarba is probably expressing the hidden [email protected] tive to Iran and its sectarian ‘resistance axis’. still are at this very moment. In one of the cases in agenda of his supporters. The UAE is pretty much Since that time, Qatar’s relationship with Iran 2014, for example, the US Treasury stated that “Hez- notorious not only for supporting the counterrevolu- ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT has been no better than the relations between many bollah has used the Stars Group Holding network to tions in many Arab countries, but also for sheltering, TEL: 4455 7837 / 780 GCC countries and Tehran. In fact, the Arab revolu- covertly purchase sophisticated electronics and hosting and supporting secular Arab dictators, mass FAX: 4455 7870 tions put Qatar and Iran at stark odds in the region. other technology from suppliers across the world. murderers, corrupt regime members and their fami- [email protected] As a result, Doha moved further towards Turkey and “Items obtained by Hezbollah using the Stars lies from Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Palestine. the ground was set for better strategic relations Group Holding network have directly supported the Obviously, the Iranian issue is not the real issue CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT between the two countries. group’s military capabilities, including the develop- in the current GCC crisis. However, accusing Qatar TEL: 4455 7857 When we talk about the GCC, we first notice that ment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which of being too close to Iran and its militias is just an [email protected] Oman, for example, had and still has extensive rela- have been used most recently for its activities in effective way of diverting attention in order to tions with Iran. In 2009, Muscat provided a back Syria and to conduct surveillance operations in appeal to the Arab public, and the Saudi public in SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION channel for communication between Iran and the Israel.” The Stars Group Holding network maintains particular, which harbors strong anti-Iranian senti- TEL: 4455 7809 / 839 United States before playing a secret intermediary subsidiaries in Dubai and was also sanctioned along ments due to the mullah regime’s subversive policies role. with many UAE-based subsidiaries used by Hezbol- and the activities of the Quds Force in the Arab FAX: 44557819 In 2013, Oman played a crucial role in facilitating lah to acquire a range of engines, communications, region in recent years. But since they do not have [email protected] and hosting secret talks between Tehran and Wash- electronics, and navigation equipment to use in anything to support their claims, the only tool avail- ington. The talks ultimately led to the nuclear accord UAVs mainly. able to promote such false allegations against Qatar known as JCPOA between the two countries, and In the same year, the Office of Foreign Assets is to dig stories from a distant past. All thoughts and views subsequently to the removal of the sanctions on Iran. Control (OFAC) introduced Foreign Sanctions Evad- Qatar may have made mistakes before or might expressed in these columns At all these major turning points, Oman, a mem- ers List with respect to Iran and Syria, and the list be making a number of others now just like every ber of the GCC, kept Saudi Arabia in the dark. The included many entities in the UAE, both from Abu other country in the Middle East or the world, but are those of the writers, not accord practically legitimatized the nuclear pro- Dhabi and Dubai. this in no way means that Saudi Arabia or the UAE of the newspaper. gram, allowed Tehran to continue developing and In 2015, Reuters uncovered an exclusive report are on the right track! The right way to overcome testing ballistic missile capabilities, and gave the detailing how the UAE, through money changers and such problems is to increase cooperation, enhance All correspondence mullah regime the upper hand in the region. front companies in Dubai, helped smuggle $1 billion collaboration and strengthen coordination. In fact regarding Views and In 2016, the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was in cash into Iran to avoid Western sanctions. these countries claim that countering Iran, ending Opinion pages should be stormed and set on fire. When Riyadh decided to When we look deeply into how much the UAE support for terrorism and achieving stability are pull its ambassador from Tehran, Doha showed sup- really helped the Iranian regime despite the hawkish what lie at the heart of this campaign against Qatar. mailed to the port for Riyadh’s decision by recalling its rhetoric we sometimes hear from its officials, it will At best, this crisis, if it persists, will eventually [email protected] 14 ASIA THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 Karnataka waives crop loans up to Rs50,000

Bengaluru Relief for farmers "Waiving crop loans of up to IANS Rs50,000 is not a big achieve- "Crop loans of up to ment. We expected the Karnataka he Karnataka govern- Rs 50,000 borrowed government to waive loans of up ment yesterday by 2,227,506 to Rs1 lakh. Had Siddaramaiah announced waiving of farmers from decided earlier, he would have crop loans of up to cooperative banks in saved the lives of 1,197 farmers Rs50,000 of over 22 the state will be who committed suicide due to Tlakh farmers from cooperative debt," Bharatiya Janata Party state waived," Chief banks in the state. unit President B S Yeddyurappa Minister "Crop loans of up to told reporters. Siddaramaiah told Rs50,000 borrowed by State Farmers' Association Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking part in a yoga session at Ramabhai Ambedkar Sabha 22,27,506 farmers from coop- the assembly. and Green Brigade President erative banks in the state will be Kodihalli Chandrashekar also Sthal in Lucknow, yesterday. waived," Chief Minister Siddar- urged the government to write amaiah told the assembly. also holds the Finance portfo- off the entire crop loans (total- The waiver of short-term lio, said that as the farmers were ling Rs10,736 crore). Modi harps on yoga power loans will cost the exchequer in distress due to drought, it was "Karnataka should follow Rs8,165 crore. The decision fol- his government's duty to other states in waiving the entire lowed opposition demand to respond to their plight. crop loans. I appeal to Siddara- Lucknow physical, mental and spiritual part of life. mitigate farmers' hardships and "Crop loans that farmers maiah to doube the cooperative IANS practice. Leading the celebra- He said yoga power has had to give them relief from the took from cooperative banks are loans waiver limit to Rs1 lakh," said tions at a rain-drenched a profound impact on the world. severe drought of 2016. only 20 percent of the total bor- Chandrashekar, an independent rime Minister Narendra Ramabai Amedkar Sthal in the "There are many countries "Crop loans due up to June rowings, including 80 percent lawmaker who represents Karna- Modi spent some 20 min- Uttar Pradesh capital, Modi which don't know our language, 20 will be waived, with farmers' from grameen (rural banks), taka Rajya Raitha Sangha. Putes out in drizzle here described yoga as a binding fac- are not aware about Indian cul- total borrowings from coopera- nationalised (state-run) and Karnataka is the fourth state yesterday doing yogic 'asanas' tor for the global community ture or traditions but they too tive banks standing at Rs10,736 other banks owned by the cen- to write off farm loans after as lakhs of enthusiasts in vari- and underlined its importance are practising yoga. Much like it crore so far," the Chief Minister tral government and its Punjab, Maharashtra and Uttar ous states stretched, twisted towards creating health, wealth connects the mind with the soul, said. Siddaramaiah also urged agencies," the Chief Minister told Pradesh. Demanding complete their bodies and performed and wellness. yoga is playing an important the Centre to waive crop loans the state lawmakers. waiver of crop loans, Karnataka breathing exercises on the third Addressing a gathering of role in connecting the world." that farmers borrowed from Claiming victory over the Sugarcane Growers' Association International Yoga Day. over 45,000 people, the Prime Modi said since the UN state-run and regional rural ruling Congress, main opposi- President Karburu Shanthaku- But moderate to heavy rains Minister, wearing a yoga- declared June 21 as the Interna- banks. tion Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mar said the government's in several parts of India pre- themed white T-shirt and white tional Day for Yoga in December Admitting that the loan urged the government to decision to waive loans of up to vented many more from taking trouser, said yoga was as impor- 2014, awareness about it was waiver would impact the state's increase the loan waiver limit Rs50,000 would lead to more part in mass demonstration tant as salt in food and urged all rising leading to a new job finances, Siddaramaiah, who up to Rs1 lakh. problems for farmers. events of the ancient Indian Indians to embrace yoga as a market. US watchdog decries woodland uniforms for Afghan army Sri Lankan

Washington Rahim Wardak. He "liked what the uniforms without conduct- appointed AFP he saw. He liked the woodland, ing any formal testing or urban and temperate patterns," evaluation. he Pentagon wasted mil- the SIGAR report states, citing "As a result, neither (the US UN envoy lions of dollars buying the Pentagon officials. Department of Defense) nor the TAfghanistan army a wood- After further consultation Afghan government knows for youth land camouflage uniform that with the Afghan defense minis- whether the ANA (Afghan was apparently chosen on a try, officials decided to adopt the National Army) uniform is Colombo whim and may have made sol- camouflage pattern containing appropriate to the Afghan envi- IANS diers easier to spot, a US a "forest" color scheme for army ronment, or whether it actually government watchdog said uniforms, "despite the fact that hinders their operations by pro- N Secretary-General yesterday. forests cover only 2.1 percent of viding a more clearly visible Antonio Guterres has The office of the Special Afghanistan's total land area." target to the enemy," SIGAR said. Uappointed Jayathma Inspector General for Afghani- That decision resulted in the Special Inspector John Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka stan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said Afghan security personnel patrolling in Pachir Aw Agam purchase of 1,364,602 such uni- Sopko, who periodically releases as his next envoy for youth, the Pentagon may have spent as district, yesterday. forms and 88,010 extra pairs of reports like this documenting US the UN mission in Colombo much as $28 million more than pants between November 2008 government waste and missed said yesterday. necessary when it decided in Pentagon officials at the time proprietary camo design and and January this year. opportunities in Afghanistan, Wickramanayake will 2007 to purchase the dark-green "ran across" the website of a pri- showed these to Afghanistan's The highly critical SIGAR told USA Today the saga was succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of camouflage uniforms. vate company that owned a then defence minister, Abdul report also says officials ordered "stupid." Jordan and is presently work- ing as an officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, Xinhua news agency reported. "Wickramanayake has Rohingyas seek new escape Major reshuffle in India's bureaucracy also played a key role in trans- forming the youth routes from Bangladesh development sector at the New Delhi and Training. Sinha is currently Director General of Employee's national level, notably through AP serving as Culture Secretary. State Insurance Corporation. the creation of a large move- Dhaka poured across the border after Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS Subhash C Garg, a 1983-batch ment for civic and political AFP the Myanmar army launched a n a high level reshuffle, the officer, was originally of the Rajsthan cadre officer serving as engagement of young people bloody crackdown last government yesterday trans- Bihar cadre but transferred to Executive Director at World Bank, named 'Hashtag Generation'," n squalid camps in Bangla- October. Iferred 17 IAS officers, while Jharkhand after the state's divi- has been made Secretary, Eco- the UN said in a statement. desh, hundreds of thousands Bangladesh denies them the announcing Urban Develop- sion. He will be replaced by nomic Affairs while Electronics She has served in many Iof Rohingya who have fled right to work, and is proposing ment Secretary Rajiv Gauba will Durga Shanker Mishra, who was and Information Technology Sec- positions, including Secretary violence and persecution in to rehouse them on a mosquito- be the next Home Secretary serving as Additional Secretary retary Aruna Sundarajan has been to the Secretary General of the neighbouring Myanmar dream infested island that regularly after incumbent Rajiv Mehrishi in the Urban Development appointed as Telecommunications Sri Lankan Parliament and of a better life abroad -- and floods at high tide. For years, retires on August 30. Ministry. Secretary. She would be replaced Member and Youth Lead rely on increasingly high-tech rickety boats were the main Till then, Gauba will serve as Yudhvir Singh Malik, a by Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Addi- Negotiator in the International trafficking networks to get mode of escape for the refugees an Officer on Special Duty in the 1983-batch Haryana cadre tional Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Task Force of the World them there. who would pay hefty amounts Home Ministry. In another signif- officer, has been appointed as Petroleum and Natural Gas. Conference on Youth 2014. Dhaka denies new arrivals to smugglers to get them to icant change, N K Sinha has been Secretary, Road Transport and Secretary, Food Processing Wickramanayake was refugee status and, after a Malaysia and Thailand. appointed as Information and Highways. Malik, who serving Industries, Avinash K. Srivastava also an Official Youth Delegate major crackdown sealed off the Those routes were cut off Broadcasting Secretary in place as Chairman of National High- will be the the Consumer Affairs to the United Nations, Minis- ocean routes traditionally used in 2015 when mass graves of of Ajay Mittal who has been sent ways Authority of India will be Secretary, swapping places with try of Youth Affairs and Skills to traffic migrants to Southeast would-be migrants, many of to the Department of Personnel replaced by Deepak Kumar, the Jagdish Prasad Meena. Development. Asia, many Rohingya are turn- them killed at sea, were discov- ing to complex smuggling ered in Thailand, triggering a operations to escape global outcry and a major Bangladesh. crackdown on traffickers. "People are desperate to But the smuggling networks leave the camps," said commu- swiftly identified new routes Justice Karnan lodged in Kolkata Presidency jail nity leader Mohammad Idris. out of Bangladesh by air and "Those who have money or road, using mobile payments New Delhi contempt by the Supreme Court had done nothing wrong. Ear- was arrested in Coimbatore in gold ornaments are paying to operate internationally. IANS and had remained untraceable, lier in the day, a vacation bench Tamil Nadu by the West Ben- smugglers to get them out by Mohammad, an undocu- was brought to Kolkata from of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gal Police on Tuesday. As he air, and those who don't are try- mented 20-year-old Rohingya, ormer Calcutta High Court Chennai by plane by a team of and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul told the bench that "equity ing roads." The Rohingya, who said he spent 600,000 taka judge Justice C S Karnan West Bengal Police led by top refused to give him bail or sus- demands" his client be granted live mainly in Myanmar, are ($7,700) to reach Saudi Arabia, Fwas yesterday jailed, a official Raj Kanojia and lodged pend the sentence. bail, Justice Chandrachud said: one of the most persecuted where he now lives. day after he was arrested in the in Presidency Jail. "We can't suspend the sen- "All equity is subject to law and minorities in the world. "I paid a local friend for a case of contempt but last-ditch The 62-year-old judge was tence as the order of the judicial discipline." Many now live in grinding Bangladeshi passport and other efforts by his lawyers to get taken directly from the airport sentence was passed by a seven- "Sorry, Mr Nadumpara," poverty in Bangladesh's south- papers. He also helped me pass relief from the Supreme Court to the jail. In Chennai airport, judge bench," the judges said. the judge said, asking the coun- east coastal district of Cox's through the immigration," failed. he told reporters that he was The bench's response came sel to mention the matter Bazar, packed into camps that Mohammad told AFP using the The controversial judge, "fighting against corruption". as Karnan's counsel Mathew J. before the Chief Justice on the were home to more than WhatsApp messaging service. who was given six months He said he had no complaint Nadumpara urged it to grant reopening of the court after 300,000 Rohingya even before He asked that his family name imprisonment on May 9 for against police as they knew he bail to the former judge, who summer break on July 3. some 70,000 new arrivals not be used. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 ASIA 15 US raises pressure on China over North Korea

Washington Foreign ministry spokesman AFP Tougher line Geng Shuang said China was not US officials said the the "focus and the crux" of the cri- op US officials began first and main item on sis. "In order to resolve the talks with their Chinese the agenda would be Korean peninsula nuclear issue, counterparts yesterday persuading China to China has been making unremit- seeking a tougher line lean on Kim Jong-Un's ting efforts and we have been on North Korea's playing an important and con- regime in Pyongyang Tnuclear ambitions — after Presi- structive role," Geng said. to halt its provocative dent Donald Trump implied that In April, Trump hosted Xi at Beijing had already tried and missile and nuclear his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, failed. plans. glossing over his harsh campaign Secretary of State Rex Tiller- comments about Beijing and -- son and Defense Secretary Jim after apparently successful talks Mattis sat down with top Beijing "While I greatly appreciate — hailing the dawn of "a very, diplomat State Councilor Yang the efforts of President Xi & China very great relationship." Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, to help with North Korea, it has Last month, Beijing and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis meeting with Chinese chief of Chinese army staff, at the not worked out. At least I know Washington signed a limited deal State Department. China tried!" Trump tweeted. to open new markets for each State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's US officials said the first and Trump did not elaborate on other's exports, and a long-stand- Joint Staff Department at the State Department in Washington, yesterday. main item on the agenda would what might happen next if China, ing friend of the Chinese be persuading China to lean on by far the North's most important leadership, Iowa Governor Terry Susan Thornton, acting assist- to exert its unique leverage as arsenal and is developing Kim Jong-Un's regime in trading and diplomatic partner, Branstad, was confirmed as US ant secretary of state for East North Korea's largest trading nuclear-capable ballistic missiles Pyongyang to halt its provocative is out of ideas. ambassador. But tensions remain Asian and Pacific affairs, said that partner, including by fully imple- that threaten Japan and South missile and nuclear plans. And in Beijing, officials — particularly over China's build- the first meeting of the new "US- menting all UN Security Council Korea — and one day could even But, just hours before the talks insisted that they have not given ing of artificial islands in disputed China Diplomatic and Security sanctions," she said. hit some US cities. Washington began, Trump sent a tweet imply- up hope of influencing Pyongyang South China Sea waters, and Dialogue" yesterday would focus Despite international con- has some 28,000 troops deployed ing that China's President Xi and that the problem is not Chi- Washington's strong desire to get on North Korea. demnation and sanctions, North in South Korea and a naval Jinping had come up short. na's alone. Beijing to rein in Pyongyang. "We continue to urge China Korea has a small nuclear armada in the region.

Philippine rebels escape from school after hostages freed Pakistan shoots down Manila entered its fifth week. were initially not certain if any “Yes. We’re not kidnappers.” The seizure of Marawi and Iranian drone Reuters “The enemy made a hasty hostages were taken and Both Pigcawayan and the dogged resistance by the withdrawal, leaving behind 31 whether they included children. Marawi are on the large south- rebels there who have pledged he Philippine military said hostages, among them 12 young- Community leaders in the area ern island of Mindanao. allegiance to Islamic State has Islamabad Islamist militants fled from sters,” Brigadier General were called in to help in negoti- Some members of the BIFF alarmed Southeast Asian coun- AFP Ta primary school in the Restituto Padilla said. ations to rescue the hostages, have joined fighters from two tries. Government fear Islamic south yesterday, leaving behind He said another 20 civilians Padilla said. more powerful Islamist factions, State, on a backfoot in Iraq and akistan has shot down 31 hostages unharmed, includ- who were trapped in the area “It’s over ... but we’re also on the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, Syria, is trying to set up a strong- an unmanned Iranian ing 12 children, after a day-long because of the crossfire were guard because they might carry who occupied the town of hold in the Muslim south of the Pdrone inside its territory gunbattle with troops. also rescued. Police said about out other attacks,” said Padilla. Marawi a month ago and have mainly Roman Catholic Philip- in southwestern Baluchistan There was no word of casu- 300 armed men from the Bang- Abu Misry Mama, a spokes- been battling government forces pines that could threaten the province, Islamabad said yes- alties in the incident at samoro Islamic Freedom man for the BIFF, said that the there since. But Padilla said the whole region. terday. The Iranian Unmanned Pigcawayan town, which is Fighters (BIFF) stormed the militants had taken civilians to a incident at Pigcawayan was not The military has said foreign Aerial Vehicle (UAV) crossed about 190km south of Marawi school early yesterday. Padilla, safe place, away from any cross- related to the fighting in Marawi. fighters, including those from over the border yesterday, City, where fighting between however, said later only about fire, and did not intend to hold “This has come from a group that Chechnya, Indonesia and Malay- Pakistan's foreign ministry government troops and pro- 50 militants were involved. them hostage. Asked earlier if has long committed harass- sia, have also joined the Marawi said in a statement. Islamic State militants has Military officials they would be freed, Mama said: ments,” he said. conflict. "The drone was hit by Pakistan Air Force as it was unidentified and was flying at around 3-4kms inside Paki- stani territory," it said. The Indonesia to jail militant returnees ministry said Islamabad has informed Tehran of its action. Jakarta wherever an Indonesian citizen Syria in recent years, and Iran's southeastern prov- Reuters commits a crime, they can be authorities believe about 400 ince of Sistan-Baluchistan, legally processed in Indonesia,” Indonesians have joined Islamic which borders Pakistan and ndonesia is set to approve a said lawmaker Arsul Sani, refer- State. Dozens are believed to Afghanistan, has been the law allowing authorities to ring to terrorism. have returned to Southeast Asia. scene of armed clashes in Ijail for up to 15 years citizens “They can face up to 15 years The region, with a population recent months between Iranian coming home after joining mil- in prison,” he said.The legisla- of about 600m, has suffered forces and Sunni militants. itant groups abroad, lawmakers tion was likely to be approved occasional militant attacks over Tehran in April protested to said yesterday. in September, legislators said. the years since the September 11, Pakistan over a cross-border The tightening of anti-ter- Law enforcement agencies 2001, attacks on the United States. raid by armed rebels who rorism laws in the world’s largest have long complained of their In particular, the Philippines and killed 10 Iranian guards in the Muslim-majority country comes inability to deal with people who Indonesia have seen attacks by restive southeast. as concern grows about the have travelled abroad to join militants claiming allegiance to In Sistan-Baluchistan, spread of influence of Islamic Islamic State and then returned Al Qaeda. security forces also frequently State, and fears it wants a foot- home. Authorities believe Government forces in the clash with drug traffickers. hold in Southeast Asia as it loses Islamic State has thousands of predominantly Christian Phil- The province lies on a major territory in the Middle East. sympathizers in Indonesia. ippines have been battling transit route for opium and Fugitive Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara arriving “The new criminal code Hundreds of Indonesian militants linked to Islamic State heroin being smuggled from at a court in Colombo, yesterday. adopts the principle of univer- men, women, and children are in a town in its Muslim-major- Afghanistan and Pakistan to Sri Lanka's fugitive sality, which means that thought to have travelled to ity south for the past month. Europe, the Middle East. monk surrenders Drone surveillance grave provocation: South Korea Seoul investigation by the UN Com- Colombo Authorities in the Buddhist- AFP mand which is in charge of AFP majority nation are under supervising the armistice, which international pressure to crack uspected North Korean ended open conflict between the radical Buddhist monk down on a wave of religious drone surveillance is a two sides, but has never been wanted in connection violence that has escalated S"grave provocation" which replaced with a final peace treaty. Awith a string of hate since April, including arson violates the Korean War truce, Seoul's military said it was attacks in Sri Lanka surren- attacks on mosques and Mus- Seoul said yestersday, demand- beefing up the country's defense dered yesterday after four lim-owned businesses and the ing a United Nations probe into against potential spying activi- weeks on the run, police said. desecration of a cemetery. a drone that crashed near the ties — or even future attacks Galagodaatte Gnanasara Gnanasara was not imme- border. — by North Korean drones, add- gave himself up before a mag- diately available for comment A drone, which had been ing more border surveillance istrate and was then arrested but his Buddhist Force, or BBS, photographing a controversial radars and anti-aircraft guns to in connection with arson has denied allegations it was US missile defence shield, was shoot down drones. attacks targeting the island's behind the latest unrest. The discovered early June after it Photos retrieved from the minority Muslim community in original arrest warrant issued crashed close to a sensitive mil- A small aircraft, which South Korea's Military says is a drone latest drone include several recent months. for Gnanasara dates back to itary installation along the from North Korea, at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, yesterday. overviews of the site for the Ter- Police spokesman Priyan- April 2014. heavily fortified border, Seoul's minal High Altitude Area tha Jayakody said he had been Months later, anti-Muslim military said. ended the 1950-53 war. A full "We strongly condemn the Defense (THAAD) system in the released on bail of $8,000 and riots at the tourist resort of "The latest action by the investigation into the drone's North's series of drone provoca- southeastern county of Seongju, ordered to refrain from hate Aluthgama left four people North... is a grave provocation wreckage discovered its planned tions and urge it to stop all such according to the military. speech and inciting violence. dead and hundreds of Muslim and a wanton violation of the itinerary and confirmed that it provocations immediately," Jeon The powerful US anti-mis- Jayakody said four police teams homes destroyed. The BBS had armistice," Jeon Dong-Jin, first had taken off from the North said, vowing "strong retaliation" sile system was installed this had been looking for Gnana- said their leader was ready to deputy director of the South's before capturing more than 500 against any further actions by year to guard against growing sara before he turned up in give himself up if he was Joint Chief of Staff, told report- photos of the South's territory, Pyongyang. missile threats from the nuclear- court yesterday. assured protection. ers, referring to the treaty which the defence ministry said. The South has requested an armed North. 16 EUROPE THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 Romania PM ousted in no-confidence vote

Bucharest Grindeanu refused to resign, Reuters New name on Monday accusing Dragnea, who holds the party in a tight grip, of trying to With opposition omania's ruling Social centralise all power. Democrats will nom- parties abstaining, the Centrist President Klaus inate a new prime Social Democrats and Iohannis, who has said he will minister on Monday, their junior coalition only approve a candidate for their leader said, after partner ALDE voted prime minister who does not face Rousting their six-month-old cab- 241-7 to topple Prime pending investigations or trials, inet and edging closer to ending Minister Sorin has called political parties for political deadlock. Grindeanu in a consultations on Monday. With opposition parties no-confidence motion Romania's president abstaining, the Social Democrats yesterday. endorses a premier after (PSD) and their junior coalition consultations. partner ALDE voted 241-7 to top- The appointee then needs to ple Prime Minister Sorin Centrist President secure a vote of confidence from Grindeanu in a no-confidence Klaus Iohannis has parliament. motion yesterday. called political parties "Concerns over potential Opposition delegates hold up posters reading "Shame on PSD" and "Down with PSD" during They withdrew their support for consultations on attempts to weaken anti-corrup- a session of the Romanian Parliament, in Bucharest, yesterday. from him a week ago, saying he Monday. tion legislation could return to had failed to uphold an ambi- the forefront," Sergiu Miscoiu, "I'm absolutely convinced the against the euro and rose 0.3 The PSD's governing pro- tious governing programme that political science professor at president will continue to be percent after the vote, reflecting gramme envisions further tax had won the coalition a sweep- The unrest forced the gov- Babes-Bolyai University, said interested in Romania’s stability market relief that policy gridlock cuts and public sector wage and ing election victory in December ernment to rescind its yesterday. and that ... on Monday he will could soon end. pension cuts. and a comfortable parliamen- decriminalisation decree. "Protesters' vigilance accept our ruling coalition's "Some political uncertainties The leu could come under tary majority. Observers say many Social remains high." nomination for a prime have dissipated," ING Romania further pressure this year over A push by Grindeanu's gov- Democrats have been unhappy Coalition infighting has minister. chief economist Ciprian Dascalu concerns about overshooting the ernment to decriminalise some with Grindeanu's failure to relax delayed policymaking in a coun- If he have a PM designated said. EU's 3-percent budget deficit corruption offences triggered the anti-corruption rules, and try which is the European on Monday, we may have new "The no-confidence vote ceiling. massive street protests in Febru- want a new premier to do more Union's fastest-growing econ- cabinet approved by the end of revealed that there is a parlia- "We maintain our current ary, the biggest in Romania since to protect party seniors facing omy but one of its poorest. next week." mentary majority that can view of a 2017 deficit at 3.4 per- the collapse of Nicolae Ceauses- graft charges, including PSD "Romania is back to normal," The leu currency eased away support a new government, cent of GDP," Erste Bank said in cu's communist rule in 1989. leader Liviu Dragnea. Dragnea told reporters. from a four-and-a-half-year low theoretically." a note. Four face charges over Macron appoints new Cabinet members Hungary migrant death Paris Macron's office announced including the foreign, finance his justice minister was in the AP Wednesday that Florence Parly, and interior ministers. process of promoting a law to Kecskemet bour, Austria. a former executive and budget The new Cabinet has 28 clean up politics, a key policy Reuters "The 71 victims due to the rench President official, would become the new members, half of them women promise of the recently elected small space, inability to move, Emmanuel Macron defense minister after the pre- and half men, up from the 22 president. our men went on trial in a lack of air and overheating ... Fbrought several little- vious defense chief, Sylvie appointed after Macron's elec- Bayrou claimed during a Hungary yesterday died shortly after they set off on known figures into his Goulard, the highest ranking tion last month. news conference that he "was Fcharged with murdering the journey. Before their death government yesterday as part woman in the five-week-old Bayrou announced his res- the target of these denuncia- 71 refugees found suffocated to they continuously banged on of a reshuffle after corruption government, stepped down. ignation following allegations tions in the goal of discrediting death in the back of a lorry at the walls of the lorry and scandals started tarnishing his Macron also named Nicole of misuse of European Parlia- the minister who is creating this the height of Europe's migrant shouted," the court said in a young Cabinet. Belloubet, a member of the ment funds by the centrist party law crisis in 2015. statement. Macron had planned to Constitutional Court, as justice he founded, the Modem. He said he chose "not to The one Afghan and three It was the worst incident rearrange the government after minister after her predecessor, Bayrou's departure meant expose the government that I Bulgarian defendants walked seen on the overland route his centrist party won a major- Francois Bayrou, was forced to Modem has lost all three Cabi- support to a campaign of lies" into the court room packed across the Balkans, where hun- ity in parliamentary elections quit earlier in the day. net posts it had in Macron's and vowed to continue helping with journalists and onlookers, dreds of thousands of people Sunday. Bayrou, who was leading government, following the Macron. accompanied by police wear- were making their way from He was forced to make Macron's crusade to purify pol- departures of Goulard and He expressed his "faith in ing full face masks. the Middle East, Africa and more changes than expected itics, was forced to quit over Marielle de Sarnez, the minis- justice" and insisted the party's The refugees from Syria, southern Asia up to the richer because four ministers facing corruption allegations. ter for European affairs. management of human Iraq and Afghanistan - 59 men, countries of western Europe. investigations announced this Other leading government Even more embarrassing resources was "legal ... and eight women and four children The trial is taking place in week they would step down. members remained the same, for the president is that moral." - were found crammed into the Hungary as authorities say that small, unventilated vehicle, is where the refugees died, at abandoned on the side of a the beginning of their trip into motorway in Hungary's neigh- Austria. Teens fire rubber pellets at Thai King Dutch arrests 18-year-old Berlin Maha Vajiralongkorn, a regular Embassy in Berlin were not Reuters visitor to Bavaria, and his available for comment. The terror suspect entourage. Royal Household in Bangkok did erman prosecutors said "A toy pistol, a soft air pis- not immediately respond to a The Hague yesterday they were tol, was used. First it was fired request for comment. AFP Ginvestigating a 14-year- at a group of cyclists, one of Later, more shots were old boy suspected of shooting whom was the King of Thai- allegedly fired at the king's car DUTCH police are holding an plastic bullets from a toy gun at land," said Thomas Rauscher, in the small, historic town of 18-year-old terror suspect who the King of Thailand who was prosecutor in the southern town Erding, some 35km from may have tried to teach others cycling near Munich late one of Landshut. Neither the king Munich, said the prosecutor. how to make explosives, pros- evening earlier this month. The nor any of his entourage was The 14-year-old is being ecutors revealed yesterday. king was not hurt. hurt. investigated for attempted The teenager was The unidentified youth, Prosecutors said the king's grievous bodily harm and it was arrested in the central city of together with a 13-year-old who household said they had no unclear whether the boys knew Utrecht last Thursday, and is is too young to be investigated, interest in charges being brought who they were shooting at, said also suspected of "spreading is suspected of having fired the in the case. It was not clear who the prosecutor. ISIS propaganda including Police officers (left) unlock defendants' handcuffs as they gun from a garden or house had drawn the incident to the His office will decide violent videos," Utrecht pros- arrive in a courtroom at the courthouse of Kecskemet, window at a group of cyclists attention of the police. whether to charge the teenager ecutors said in a statement. yesterday. that included King Representatives at the Thai with a criminal offence. "Police are also investi- gating indications that he may have instructed others how to make explosives," the statement added. Continent-wide heat wave scorches Europe Police opened their probe after receiving information from the Dutch intelligence Paris degrees Celsius (95 degrees celebrate the longest day of the targeted by the Paris Agreement the capital, a road surface melted service (AIVD), which was AFP Fahrenheit) -- a level matched year by lighting bonfires for the to combat climate change. on Tuesday, with motorists lik- remaining tight-lipped across oven-like swathes of festival of Saint John. "Even if we outperform the ening it to a bar of chocolate left yesterday. urope sizzled in a conti- Europe, including Italy, Austria, In Italy, forecasters say the Paris targets, the population out in the hot sun. The teenager "was nent-wide heat wave the Netherlands and even alpine current heatwave could turn out exposed to deadly heat will be The national postal service arrested last week for distrib- Eyesterday, with London Switzerland. to be the most intense in 15 years, about 50 percent by 2100," announced that its postmen uting ISIS propaganda seeing Britain's hottest June day Two forest fires have also with temperatures around eight Camilo Mora, lead author of the would be calling on elderly and online," an AIVD official said, since 1976 as Portugal battled to broken out since Sunday on degrees above the seasonal aver- study published in the journal disabled residents living alone asking not to be identified. stamp out deadly forest fires. Croatia's southern Adriatic coast, age -- 39 C in Milan and up to 30 Nature Climate Change, said to check they were alright, with The teenager appeared More than 1,000 firefighters prompting the authorities to in the Alps at an altitude of 1,000 yesterday. Paris sweltering in 37-degree before a Rotterdam court on were still fighting to control the evacuate 800 tourists, though metres. Britain saw its first five-day heat. Tuesday and was remanded flames that broke out in central the blazes have now been A study released on Monday stretch of temperatures over 30 In Russia, Siberia was also in custody for two weeks. Portugal at the weekend, killing brought under control. warned that deadly heatwaves degrees in June since 1995 -- and suffering a heatwave, with tem- The Netherlands has so 64 people. As the northern hemisphere will become more and more the thermometer hit 33.9 C in peratures of up to 37 Celsius in far been spared from the slew Cooler weather was aiding marked the summer solstice, common around the world even west London, a UK record for the the city of Krasnoyarsk, Chan- of terror attacks which have their efforts, but thermometers firefighters were on alert in Aus- if the rise in temperatures is month since 1976. nel One television reported rocked its closest European were still hovering around 35 tria, where revellers were due to capped at 2.0 degrees Celsius as In Guildford, southwest of yesterday. neighbours recently. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 EUROPE 17 UK to 'review counterterrorism strategy'

London terday’s announcements. Parliament opening Anatolia Speaking in Westminster, seat of the UK parliament, the In the light of the he UK will “review its Queen told assembled lawmak- terrorist attacks in counterterrorism ers: “In the light of the terrorist Manchester and strategy” and “tackle attacks in Manchester and Lon- London, my the threat of terrorism don, my government’s government’s at source” in Iraq and counterterrorism strategy will be TSyria, the country’s head of state reviewed to ensure that the counterterrorism told parliament in a high-profile police and security services have strategy will be speech yesterday. all the powers they need, and reviewed to ensure the In a ceremonial address to that the length of custodial sen- police and security lawmakers, Queen Elizabeth II tences for terrorism-related services have all the laid out the new minority Con- offences are sufficient to keep powers they need, and servative government’s policy the population safe.” that the length of agenda for the next two years, The British government and custodial sentences for but the address lacked many ele- security services have been crit- terrorism-related ments of the party’s controversial icised for failing to prevent a offences are sufficient: election manifesto. recent spate of mass-casualty Queen Elizabeth II Despite covering a wide attacks in the UK, which saw its range of policy areas -- particu- most recent atrocity earlier this larly Brexit -- uncertainty about week when a van was driven into and injuring more than 10. the current government’s future a crowd of Muslims in north Lon- A commission will be set up has raised questions about yes- don, killing at least one person to stamp out “extremist ideology in all its forms, both across soci- ety and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread,” the Queen’s Speech confirmed. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her son Britain's Prince Charles during the State Opening of Britain will also continue Parliament in the Houses of Parliament, in London, yesterday. taking part in “international overseas military action to She signaled more efforts by country’s future outside the official visit by US President destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria". the new government to reach a European Union,” she said. Donald Trump to the UK. The country’s Prevent coun- consensus with devolved bodies The new government will Although the British monarch ter-extremism strategy has come in Scotland, Northern Ireland seek to “maintain a deep and concluded her address by look- in for criticism in recent years, and Wales to secure Brexit terms special partnership with Euro- ing forward to a state visit by with opponents saying it creates which will be negotiated with the pean allies and to forge new Spain’s monarch in July -- a tra- fear in Muslim communities and EU before ending the country’s trading relationships across the ditional feature of a Queen’s wider apprehension about state 44-year membership of the bloc. globe,” she said, adding: “A pri- Speech -- there was no reference surveillance. Official Brexit negotiations ority will be to build a more to the US leader. Brexit also featured strongly began in Brussels on Monday. united country, strengthening the Trump had been invited to in the address, with the Queen “My ministers are commit- social, economic and cultural the UK by Prime Minister Theresa saying a priority for her govern- ted to working with parliament, bonds between England, North- May after his election last year, Demonstrators hold up placards during an anti-government ment was “to secure the best the devolved administrations, ern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.” but the offer proved unpopular protest following the deadly fire at Grenfell Tower. possible deal as the country business and others to build the Notable by its absence was at home, with 1.8 million people leaves the European Union”. widest possible consensus on the any reference to a rumored signing a petition against it. Sweden summons Russia over air incident Belgium avoided serious

Stockholm Referring to Monday's inci- as "unprofessional" and urged Russia's ambassadors in protest attack in station blast AFP dent, the Swedish Armed Moscow to avoid incidents like over a near miss between a Rus- Forces said in a statement that this again. sian surveillance plane and a Brussels Brussels airport and on the weden yesterday sum- it was not unusual for Russian "The Russian behaviour is commercial aircraft. Reuters city's metro that killed 32 peo- moned Russia's planes to approach and iden- unacceptable. From a security Both Swedish and Danish jet ple in March 2016. Sambassador after a Russian tify Swedish surveillance point of view, it is unprofessional fighters were scrambled in elgium has avoided a seri- "Yesterday, someone with fighter jet flew unusually close missions. and the risk of serious incidents response to the incident which ous attack, its interior explosives entered central sta- to a Swedish reconnaissance "This time, however, the increases significantly," he told reportedly took place in inter- Bminister said yesterday, tion. He intended to explode a plane in international airspace Russian aircraft behaved in such TT news agency in a written national airspace covered by after a suspected suicide large bomb. In the end, there above the Baltic Sea, a further a way that it has to be consid- statement. Swedish air traffic control. bomber planning to explode a was a small explosion to which sign of rising military tensions ered noteworthy, among other "Everyone should have a Sweden -- which unlike large bomb caused only a minor soldiers reacted immediately. in the region. things the distance between the fundamental interest in not (let- Denmark is not a Nato member explosion in Brussels' central Something much worse has "The Russian ambassador aircraft was at times very short," ting) these incidents occur," he -- said at the time that the Rus- station late on Tuesday. been avoided," Jan Jambon said has been asked to come to the it said. added. sian plane had come Several media outlets yesterday. foreign ministry soon," spokes- Swedish Defence Minister In 2014, Sweden and neigh- dangerously close to a Scandi- reported unnamed sources as The suspected attacker, man Gunnar Vrang said. Peter Hultqvist slammed Russia bouring Denmark summoned navian Airlines passenger jet. saying the device that failed to who was shot dead by soldiers fully explode was filled with patrolling the station, was nails and was similar to the reportedly a 37-year-old man Madrid arrests Ukraine govt & separatists agree on truce bombs used in the attacks at from Molenbeek. suspected IS Kiev up of representatives from Kiev, declared during the two-year group member AFP Moscow and the Organization conflict has lasted. for Security and Co-operation The OSCE, which runs a Madrid fresh ceasefire between in Europe (OSCE). monitoring mission in the con- AP pro-Russian separatists "The ceasefire will last until flict zone, regularly reported A entrenched in eastern August 31," Talakina said. The violations of the last truce over POLICE yesterday arrested Ukraine and Ukrainian forces information was confirmed in Easter. three Moroccans, including will come into force this week- Kiev. On Tuesday, unidentified a suspected member of the IS end, Ukraine and the separatists This latest ceasefire gunmen opened fire on two group considered to be a clear said yesterday. announcement came as Moscow vehicles being used by OSCE threat to national security, The truce, set to start at mid- cancelled a meeting with sen- monitors inside separatist ter- Spain's Interior Ministry said. night local time on Saturday, was ior US diplomats after ritory. No one was hurt in the A ministry statement said agreed at a meeting of the Con- Washington reinforced sanc- incident. the suspect had instruction tact Group for Ukraine attended tions imposed over Russia's More than 10,000 people, manuals on jihadi suicide and by the separatists, said spokes- interference in Ukraine and civilians and fighters, have been Soldiers patrol inside Brussels central railway station after a electronic terrorism and was woman Viktoria Talakina. occupation of Crimea. killed in eastern Ukraine since believed to have had internet The Contact Group is made So far, none of the truces the conflict broke out in 2014. suicide bomber was shot dead by troops, yesterday. contact with IS members in Syria and Iraq. The ministry said he had an extremely dangerous pro- file similar to those involved Prince Harry reveals distress at Diana's funeral in recent attacks in Britain and France and was consid- ered a threat to Spain. London having to walk behind her cof- grandfather Prince Philip and reputation as a mischievous "We have nothing to indi- AFP fin in front of thousands of uncle Charles Spencer came to presence amid the stately gran- cate he was going to attack onlookers. define the collective grief that deur of the royal family, immediately but it's certain ritain's Prince Harry (pic- "My mother had just died, swept over Britain following something he credited on his his radicalization was tured) has spoken out and I had to walk a long way Diana's death. mother's attempts to show him extreme and he had all the Babout the heartbreaking behind her coffin, surrounded Harry, who is currently dat- real life. training and information to images of him following his by thousands of people watch- ing American actress Meghan "People would be amazed by carry out an attack," Interior mother's coffin during her 1997 ing me while millions more did Markle, earlier this year revealed the ordinary life William and I Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido funeral, telling Newsweek that on television," he said. he suffered "total chaos" before live," he said. "Even if I was king, said. no "child should be asked to do "I don't think any child eventually seeking therapy to I would do my own shopping." The minister said the sus- that." should be asked to do that, under deal with the death of his mother. However, the prince stressed pect was indoctrinating and The 32-year-old prince has any circumstances. I don't think The popular royal has since the importance of keeping the training the other two recently opened up about the it would happen today." become a champion of wounded mystique of monarchy alive. arrested. The detainees, aged mental scars left by his mother's The images of him, fists soldiers, a calling that came to "It's a tricky balancing act. We between 32 and 38 years, death in a car crash almost 20 clenched and stony-faced, walk- him during two front-line tours don't want to dilute the magic ... lived together in a residential years ago, and told the US ing in line with brother William, to Afghanistan with the army. The British public and the whole area of Madrid, police said. weekly magazine of the pain of father Prince Charles, He has also developed a world need institutions like it." 18 AMERICAS THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017

US congressman’s Trump relishes shooter had list of six lawmakers: FBI

Washington Republican AFP he gunman who shot four people including a Tsenior US lawmaker last win in Georgia week near Washington had kept a list of six members of Congress and was stockpil- Washington Ossoff defeated ing ammunition, investigators AFP said yesterday. Establishment FBI officers also said James inally, some good Republican Karen Hodgkinson, who was killed in news for Donald Handel defeated a shootout with police during Trump: Battling dis- Democratic novice last Wednesday’s attack at a mal approval ratings, Jon Ossoff in congressional baseball prac- the US President yes- Tuesday’s contest tice, had “no nexus to Fterday relished a Republican after a bitter, terrorism” and acted alone. victory in a closely-watched months-long race. “On the shooter, we found congressional election in Geor- a piece of paper that contained gia, calling it a vote of confidence the names of six members of in his administration. Trump’s core supporters Congress,” said Andrew Vale, Establishment Republican remain faithful despite turbu- assistant director of the FBI’s Hundreds of yoga enthusiasts participate in a mass yoga class in New York's Times Square Karen Handel defeated Demo- lence in Washington: With no Washington field office. “No cratic novice Jon Ossoff in major legislative achievements to celebrate the summer solstice in New York City, yesterday. context was included on this Tuesday’s contest after a bitter, to date, and a White House paper. However, a review of months-long race, retaining a mired in scandal over the inves- the shooter’s web searches in seat that her camp has safely tigation looking into possible Thousands of yogis search the months prior to the shoot- held since 1979. collusion between Trump’s ing revealed... a cursory search Trump’s Republicans have campaign and Russia, and of two of the members.” now won all four special con- potential obstruction of justice Hodgkinson, who was gressional elections held since his by the president himself. for serenity in Times Square from Illinois but was living in inauguration in January, leaving Republican National Com- Virginia at the time of the demoralised Democrats to pick mittee chair Ronna McDaniel shooting, launched his attack up the pieces as they seek to hailed it as a shot in the arm for New York in six one-hour yoga classes time, but in and out,” said the carrying two weapons, a snatch control of Congress in “Trump’s agenda of replacing AFP beginning at 1130 GMT to cele- delighted 49-year-old. 7.62mm SKS rifle and a 9mm next year’s mid-term elections. our broken health care system brate the official start of summer Under the watchful eye of handgun, according to the FBI. “Well, the Special Elections (and) reforming an outdated tax housands of yoga aficio- and the longest day of the year. police in one of the busiest plazas The guns were purchased are over and those that want to code,” two challenges currently nados celebrated the The event is now in its 15th year. in the world, organizers handed legally — the rifle in 2003 and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN playing out in Congress. Tsummer solstice amid the For the last three years, it has out green yoga mats and bottles the handgun in November. are 5 and O!” Trump crowed in The Senate’s Republican neon lights and cacophony of coincided with International of water, before talking partici- On June 14, Hodgkinson a post-election tweet, presum- leadership said it expects to Times Square yesterday, search- Yoga Day. “It is mind over mat- pants through their postures. sprayed an Alexandria, Vir- ably counting Ossoff’s failure unveil a new bill to replace ing for inner peace in the heart ter,” laughed Magdalena Leszko, “The first year there were ginia baseball field with to win the Georgia race in the Barack Obama’s flagship health of New York on International 40, of the surrounding Times only three people who partici- gunfire, wounding number first round, along with Demo- reform. Yoga Day. Square din. “To have fun and to pated, the weather that day was three House Republican Steve cratic losses in South Carolina, The legislation faces unan- “I have always wanted to be part of a community. It tests horrible, raining,” said Douglas Scalise, a US Capitol Police Kansas and Montana. imous opposition from come to yoga in Times Square. the limits.” Stewart, yoga teacher and co- officer, a congressional aide “Democrats would do much Democrats and skepticism from This year I retired so now I can,” Chloe Liu, a Malaysian liv- founder of the event. “But it and a lobbyist before police better as a party if they got some Republicans, who have said 62-year-old former school ing in New York, came with two started to grow year after year,” shot the assailant. Scalise, together with Republicans on voiced concern about the principal Kathy Gaffney, who Chinese friends. “To be able to he added. In 2015, when the who was shot in the hip and Healthcare, Tax Cuts, Security. secrecy of the drafting process. took the ferry bright and early do yoga in Times Square, in the event coincided with the first suffered grave internal inju- Obstruction doesn’t work!” the The Senate’s Republican leader, from Staten Island to get a good middle of this chaotic and noisy International Yoga Day, 17,000 ries, remains hospitalised. president added. Mitch McConnell, has insisted place in line. scene, to be able to find calm- people took part, including then MedStar Washington Hospi- The Republican Party inter- he wants a vote on the health Around 12,000 people were ness and equanimity,” she said. UN secretary general Ban tal Center upgraded Scalise’s preted the results as a sign care bill by June 30. expected to take part “I was able to—not the whole Ki-moon. condition to “fair”.

Storm aftermath in Venezuela Former Haitian NEWS BYTES coup leader Guy Philippe gets Police officer stabbed in 9-year jail term Michigan airport attack CHICAGO: A police officer was stabbed at a Michigan air- Miami port early yesterday, according to the FBI, which said it was AFP too soon to determine if the assault was a terror attack. A sus- pect was in custody and was being questioned following the former Haitian coup stabbing at Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan, leader and elected sen- the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. “Based A ator was sentenced to on the information that we have at this time, we believe this nine years in a US federal to be an isolated incident,” said the FBI, adding that it had prison yesterday after plead- “no specific, credible information that there is a threat to the ing guilty to conspiring to Flint community.” No passengers were harmed in the assault, launder drug money. according to the airport which was evacuated and remained Guy Philippe, a 49-year- closed until further notice. The injured police officer, iden- old former senior police officer tified as Jeff Neville, was out of surgery and in stable condition, convicted of taking bribes from a Michigan State Police spokeswoman said. NBC News drug traffickers, had entered reported that the suspect stabbed the officer multiple times. his guilty plea in April in The FBI said authorities were “aware of reports that the exchange for a reduced sen- attacker made statements immediately prior to or while People try to remove fallen trees blocking a road after tropical storm Bret passed tence. He had evaded law attacking the officer”. “It is too early to determine the nature Margarita Island, in Venezuela. enforcement for nearly a dec- of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an ade and was arrested in Haiti act of terrorism,” it added. NBC cited law enforcement offi- on January 5, just days before cials as saying the suspect was from Quebec and has a he was to be sworn in as a sen- Canadian passport. ator—which would have given him immunity from prosecu- Flash flood warning as Tropical tion. Philippe was elected to the Brazil’s crisis gets messier Haitian parliament in Storm Cindy heads towards US November. Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot known as “Car Wash” have The US drug charges had MIAMI: Weather monitors warned yesterday of tornados and AFP will use the report as the foun- uncovered systemic corruption been hanging over him since potentially deadly flash floods as Tropical Storm Cindy in the dation of the corruption case in the political and business 2005. In his guilty plea, Gulf of Mexico headed towards the coasts of Louisiana and razil’s federal police said against the conservative presi- elite, leaving Latin America’s Philippe admitted he had Texas. At 0600 GMT Cindy was located about 325km south of it had solid evidence dent. “Faced with silence from biggest country seething. “We abused his position as a high- Morgan City, Louisiana, and 435km southeast of Galveston, Bembattled president the president and his former are at war against a faceless ranking police officer to Texas, the National Hurricane Center reported. The storm Michel Temer received bribes, assistant, there is irrefutable evi- enemy,” Janot said. protect narcotics shipments packed winds of 95km per hour, and was moving towards a legal development that could dence... showing strongly that The main battle in that war headed to the United States the northwest at 11km per hour. Cindy is forecast to hit the see him suspended from office. passive corruption (on Temer’s features Janot’s allegation that between 1999 and 2003. coast of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas soon, and In a report the Federal part) took place,” the document Temer took bribes — and He did so in exchange for move inland today. It is expected to bring between six and Supreme Court said Temer — said in part. attempted to buy the silence of bribes from drug traffickers nine inches of rain, “with isolated maximum amounts of who was away in Russia The report referred to the a senior politician jailed for cor- that totaled between $1.5m 12 inches” in some areas. “This rainfall could cause life- — benefited from bribe funds, president’s relationship with sus- ruption. Temer is “the head of and $3.5m, knowing the pro- threatening flash flooding,” the NHC warned. Cindy is not even if he did so using some- pended lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha the most dangerous criminal ceeds came from cocaine expected to reach hurricane status, but is nevertheless one else to collect or deposit Loures, who is in jail. Rocha organization in the country,” sales in Miami and other loca- large: tropical storm force winds “extend outward up to the bribes. Temer has repeat- Loures was filmed with a suitcase according to meatpacking bil- tions in the United States, 275 miles, mainly north through northeast of the center,” edly denied any wrongdoing. stuffed with a $150,000 payoff lionaire Joesley Batista, who prosecutors said. Philippe the NHC said. The weather service also warned of possible But Brazil’s top court said it had from a JBS executive. The court’s secretly recorded the alleged gave some of the bribe money isolated tornadoes from southern Louisiana to northern accumulated enough evidence report alleges that Rocha Loures hush money discussion as part to other Haitian police and Florida. The NHC issued a tropical storm warning for the of bribes being paid to merit an accepted bribes from JBS on Tem- of a plea deal to escape prose- security personnel to ensure coastal region between the central coast of Texas to the investigation into Temer for er’s behalf. cution over his own corruption their cooperation, the US Jus- western Florida panhandle. “passive corruption.” Three years of investigations charges. tice Department said. THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 19

PRAYER TIMINGS

KidzMondo Doha lines up several Eid events FAJR 03.15 am SHOROOK 04.44 am The Peninsula and purely entertaining shows that fur- ther enrich their experience at our ZUHR 11.36 am MAGHRIB 06.30 pm idzMondo Doha, Qatar’s one- edutainment city. This year marks the ASR 02.58 pm ISHA 08.00 pm of-a-kind edutainment city, has first time that KidzMondo Doha cele- Kfinalised a schedule of activities brates Eid Al Fitr with Qatar’s families for the three-day Eid Al Fitr festivities and children and we absolutely have WEATHER TODAY in Qatar, including a rich variety of the best festive program for kids on adventures, competitions and games, this auspicious occasion. We are truly o o in addition to role-playing activities at confident that visiting our indoor its establishments. theme park will be one of the most 35 C 44 C The Eid activities are set to kick off rewarding experiences to be a part of Minimum Maximum on Sunday and will run every day from this Eid in Qatar.” 10am to 10pm till June 29. Visitors can Working closely with partners, enjoy participating in most of the Eid KidzMondo Doha would like to extend activities and games for free. special thanks to all the sponsors - Among its many features, the Build it Burger, La Casa, Diner Station, indoor theme park’s Eid programme IAID, Mister Pizza, Moka Arabia, and will present Qatar’s families and kids Crepe & more who joined our Eid Al with several contests that have been Fitr celebrations to help draw smiles designed to instil knowledge and on our young visitors’ faces. develop the skills of children while giv- KidzMondo Doha’s Eid Al Fitr cel- ing them the chance to have fun with ebration is held in line with the indoor their peers and taking home a variety theme park’s pursuit to realize the of valuable prizes. Qatar National Vision 2030, which Eid programme will also feature a establishments. Artistes practising various art forms for the three-day Eid Al Fitr festivities selection of popular festive activities, Commenting on the occasion, such as entertainment shows on the Eman Baker Abu El Hawa, General to be organised by KidzMondo Doha from Sunday to June 29. ‘Dancing k’ stage, valuable prizes and Manager of KidzMondo Doha, said: “At exciting competitions as well as many KidzMondo Doha, every day is a rea- and active members who positively highlights the importance of human more surprises. In addition, Qatar son to celebrate childhood while contribute to their communities. Occa- development, and contribute to the Radio "Farhat Al Eid" Program will go arming our young visitors with the sions like Eid Al Fitr present our development of all children’s capac- live every day from 4pm to 5pm skills, knowledge and talents to ‘Kidizens’ with the unique opportunity ity, on the cognitive, emotional, throughout Eid from KidzMondo Doha become tomorrow’s responsible adults to enjoy a lot more activities, games psychological and social levels. Strong wind at most places and ex- pected poor visibility at places. Hot daytime with slight dust to blowing dust at places at times.

Rajagiri Public School Al Mana Motors holds Iftar HIGH TIDE 02:00 – 16:15 LOW TIDE 08:45 – 22:45 holds yoga session Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

The Peninsula

ajagiri Public School organised special yoga session for the junior section to mark the international Yoga RDay on June 21. Fazal, PE teacher at the school, was the instructor. "The concept of concentration and meditation sounded a bit strange for the kids but when put into practice they expe- rienced the bliss. Many seemed to get fresh and energetic after the session and when asked whether they enjoyed it they told they did emphatically. The teachers also enjoy- ing it," said the school authorities. The instructor told the students about the importance of the day and how Yoga has been accepted as a sign of health and wellbeing world over today. He advised the stu- dents to continue practicing yoga and Al Mana Motors organised an Iftar meet for its clients and media persons at W hotel make it a part of their yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula daily life. AFG College with the University of Aberdeen hosts event

The Peninsula offered over four years, with oppor- encouraging prospective applicants Summer months, giving prospective tunities for qualified candidates to to apply as soon as possible to ensure students the opportunity to meet FG College with the University enter year three of their chosen admittance to this forthcoming aca- with College Course Advisors and of Aberdeen hosted first open degrees with evidence of previous demic year. Dr Sheikha Aisha bint university academics to discuss their Aevent at their new University study . Faleh Al Thani, said, "This evening's future educational plans’. I am very Campus on June 19. There are limited spaces for their open event will be the first of many excited to be associated with this The open event was hosted by the September intake and the College AFG College with the University of new university partnership and look Principal of the College, Brian Buck- Principal and the University of Aber- Aberdeen student admissions events, forward to a long and fruitful ley, in the presence of Dr Sheikha Aisha deen senior academics are which will run throughout the relationship." bint Faleh Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer of AFG College with the Uni- versity of Aberdeen. Professor Jeremy Kilburn, Senior Vice-Principal of the University of Aberdeen, accompanied by Professor Richard Wells, Dean of Trans National Education and Dr Russell Williams, Director of the Graduate School of Management, presented successful applicants with official university acceptance letters and met with other prospective students seeking entry to the university degrees commencing September this year. The event was attended by many Qatari nationals and other residents living and working in Qatar. They met with the principal and the senior Uni- versity representatives to discuss their educational goals. AFG College is a newly established university partnership offering two UK undergraduate degrees from the Uni- versity of Aberdeen, specialising in, Business Management and Account- The Chief Executive Officer of AFG College with the University of Aberdeen, Dr Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh Al ancy & Finance. The degrees will Thani (third left), and other officials during the open event at AFG College yesterday. commence in September 2017 and are Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula 20 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 21

Eid Mubarak 22 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 23 24 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 Ooredoo Group of companies share the spirit of Ramadan

Officials from Ooredoo Group of companies visit children at Hamad Hospital as part of their activities to share the spirit of Ramadan, yesterday.

The Peninsula initiatives, reflecting the spirit for Elderly Care and hosted a of Ooredoo during Ramadan.” special Garangao celebration at oredoo Group of compa- At a group-level, Ooredoo is Souq Waqif in Doha, which nies have reached out to promoting a regional campaign drew large and appreciative Otheir communities this for Ramadan that offers custom- crowds. Ooredoo was also the month, with a series of special ers a host of digital options to Official Sponsor of Aspire's initiatives designed to share the connect with friends and Ramadan Sports Festival 2017, spirit of The Holy Month of family. which ran throughout June at Ramadan. This core campaign, which the Aspire Dome in Doha. While the activities varied covers the company’s regional Ooredoo Oman has contin- significantly across Ooredoo footprint, is being support by ued with the 13th Ooredoo Group’s markets in the Middle local initiatives in each of its Goodwill Journey, which trav- East, North Africa and Southeast operations. In Qatar, Ooredoo els across the country Asia, they shared a common has conducted a host of com- supporting the development of spirit of community engagement munity initiatives during the communities. and were made possible by the Holy Month, as part of its “Hand- At each stage of the journey, support of volunteers from in-Hand” campaign, using the Ooredoo volunteers provided throughout the company. hashtag #ShareAMoment. Vol- tailored support for specially- Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al unteers have distributed Iftar select community projects in 12 Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo, boxes to workers to help them neighbourhoods. This has said: “During the Holy Month, break their fasts, visited patients included work with the Oman our employees always come in the kidney centre in Hamad Women’s Association in Al together to support charitable Medical Corporation, and Awabi and Shinas, supplying activities, community pro- brought joy to child patients at office equipment for the Oman grammes and sporting events. the Hamad General Hospital. Women’s Association Adminis- This year has seen the highest In addition, volunteers have tration Office in Al Buraimi, and number of volunteers step for- shared Iftar with elderly resi- setting up a computer lab for IT ward to take part in community dents at the Qatar Foundation training in Ibri.