BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 12 Ferreira confi dent as Al Sadd INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 3-8, 30-32 COMMENT 28, 29 take on REGION 9, 10 BUSINESS 1-9, 13-16 Al Khaliji profi t scales 15,831.49 8,689.37 26.55 ARAB WORLD 10, 11 CLASSIFIED 10-12 -184.53 -297.13 -1.91 INTERNATIONAL 12-27 SPORTS SECTION 1-12 up 11.1% to QR625.5mn Lekhwiya -1.14% -3.31% -6.71% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978

THURSDAY Vol. XXXVI No. 9974 January 21, 2016 Rabia II 11, 1437 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals PM meets French Gendarmerie chief Move to In brief keep shop

REGION | Investigation Hotel fi re ‘caused by short-circuit’ The fire which engulfed one of Dubai’s rentals most prominent hotel skyscrapers ahead of New Year fireworks was caused by an electrical short-circuit, Dubai’s police chief said yesterday. In a presentation to media, police off icials said there had been no trace of any HE the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani meeting with French flammable liquids such as petrol at National Gendarmerie director-general Denis Favier in Doha yesterday. Talks during the meeting, attended by the delegation in check the site of the blaze at the 63-storey accompanying the director general, dealt with co-operation between the two countries and ways to enhance them, especially hotel and residential block, close to in security fields. the world’s tallest building. “The direct The Cabinet decision aims to of a non-residential lease on a yearly cause was an electrical short-circuit,” extend stability to the retail basis without the consent of the ten- police commander Khamis Mattar al- market, helping curb price rise and ant but he has to comply with the limits Mazeina told reporters. Page 9 inflation referred to above. These limits apply to any non-residential lease agreement entered into prior to, or after, the en- WORLD | Astronomy QNA Doha actment of the resolution. ‘Ninth planet’ may Sheikha Moza calls for Since then the Council of Ministers exist in solar system has issued several resolutions provid- he Cabinet yesterday decided to ing for legal extension of non-residen- A previously unknown giant planet extend leases of non-residential tial leases preventing landlords from may have been discovered lurking in Tpremises that are governed by terminating the agreements if their eff orts to promote Arabic expiry date falls during such extension. the outer reaches of our solar system, Law No 4 of 2008 and are in force on US scientists announced yesterday. February 14, 2016, for one year from Resolution No (8) of 2012 provides that Nicknamed Planet Nine, the object “has he need to eff ectively use mod- February 15, 2016. “Non-residential lease agreements a mass about 10 times that of Earth” ern communication techniques The move is expected to keep spiral- which are subject to the Lease Law and follows a “bizarre, highly elongated Tto preserve the Arabic language ling shop rents under check and extend No (4) of 2008 and are still in force on orbit in the distant solar system,” has been emphasised by HH Sheikha stability to the retail market and there- 14/2/2012, shall be extended for two said a statement by researchers at Moza bint Nasser, the chairperson of by curb price rise and infl ation. years starting from 15/2/2012”. the California Institute of Technology Qatar Foundation for Education, Sci- Law No 4 of 2008, more popularly Pursuant to the 2012 Resolution, any (Caltech). “In fact, it would take this ence and Community Development known as the “Lease Law”, was is- non-residential lease agreement which new planet between 10,000 and (QF). sued as part of the government’s “rent was in force on 14/2/2012 was extended 20,000 years to make just one full “Our failure to eff ectively use mod- control” strategy to prevent economic until 15/2/2014. orbit around the Sun.” ern communication techniques has led instability caused by high or frequent In February 2014, HH the Emir to an inability to preserve the Arabic rent increases that may be imposed by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani language. It is unfortunate that a few landlords. ratifi ed the Cabinet Decision No 15 of PAKISTAN | Attack decades ago, the Arabic language was Under the provisions of yesterday’s 2014, extending the lease contracts Armed militants more prevalent in children than it is decision, leases of premises that are of non-residential properties until storm university today,” she stated. leased for non-residential purposes, 15/2/2015. The decision was made after HH Sheikha Moza was launch- governed by Law No 4 of 2008 and are perusal of the Constitution, Law No 4 Armed militants stormed a university ing the second Renaissance of Arabic in force on February 14 this year, shall of 2008 and its amendments and the in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, Language Forum at the Qatar National be extended for one year from February Emiri Decision No 29 of 1996 and the killing at least 20 people and Convention Centre (QNCC) yesterday. 15, 2016, unless the lease provides for Cabinet Decision No 8 of 2012 to ex- wounding dozens a little more than The two-day forum, entitled “Lin- a longer period or the tenant does not tend lease agreements of certain places a year after the massacre of 134 guistic Upbringing of The Arab Child intend to renew the lease, Qatar News rented for non-residential purposes students at a school in the area. A — the Reality and Prospects for the Agency (QNA) said. and the proposal made by the Minister senior Pakistani Taliban commander Future”, is being hosted by the World Also, the Cabinet was briefed on of Municipality and Urban Planning. claimed responsibility for the assault Organisation for Renaissance of Arabic the recommendations of the Advisory QNA said HE the Prime Minister and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but Language (Woral), a member of the QF. Council with regards to the signifi cant Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah an off icial spokesman later denied The initiative promotes the teaching increase in property rents in the coun- bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani chaired involvement, calling the attack “un- and learning of Arabic, and, therefore, try. It was later decided to refer the rec- the Cabinet regular meeting. After the Islamic”. A security off icial said the supports QF’s mission to develop a ommendations to the authorities con- session, HE the Deputy Prime Minister death toll could rise to as high as 40 knowledge-based society that upholds HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser inaugurating the second edition of the Forum for cerned to look into the issue. and Minister of State for Cabinet Af- at Bacha Khan University in the city of and promotes the region’s heritage and the Renaissance of Arabic language yesterday. PICTURE: AR Al-Baker/HHOPL Article (10) of the Lease Law pro- fairs Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al- Charsadda. Page 25 culture. vides that “landlords are not permitted Mahmoud stated that the Cabinet con- Sheikha Moza highlighted the evision programmes to adopt formal contribution of diff erent generations to increase the rent value of leases in sidered the topics on the agenda. challenges facing the Arabic language, Arabic. in advancing civilisation.” force prior to the enactment of the law The Cabinet approved a draft mem- AFRICA | Health some of which can be attributed to She said that the misuse of commu- Exploring development strategies, or entered into after its enactment ex- orandum of understanding on energy families, weak school curriculum, nication technology had harmed the the fi rst day of the forum featured a cept according to the rules, terms and co-operation between Qatar’s Ministry Sierra Leone confi rms television programmes and globalisa- Arabic language and introduced young variety of lectures and workshops. rates governed by a decree to be issued of Energy and Industry and Mexico’s a new Ebola case tion. people to electronic linguistic gibber- The panels included ‘The Develop- by the Council of Ministers”. Ministry of Energy, a draft agreement Sierra Leone yesterday confirmed a “If we want to save our identity we ish. ment of Arabic Language Skills for In March 2010, the Council of Min- for co-operation in the cultural and new case of Ebola, its second in less have no choice but to advance our- Dr Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sub- Children’ and “The Eff ects of Chil- isters issued Resolution No (9) of 2010 technical fi elds between Qatar gov- than a week, marking a further setback selves and enhance the Arabic lan- aie, chairman of the Woral Board of dren’s Exposure to Current Arabic that set out the following limits of rent ernment and Mexican governments, a in eff orts to end a two-year West guage to adjust with the contemporary Trustees, underlines the key role of Media Content”. increase for non-residential leases: draft memorandum of understanding African epidemic that has killed more era.” language in one’s identity and educa- Alongside the forum, the QNCC is 20% per year if the rent value is less for co-operation in the areas of physi- than 11,300 people. A health ministry Proposing several solutions, the QF tion process. also hosting an interactive Arabic lan- than QR3,000; 15% per year if the rent cal culture and sports between Qatar’s spokesman described the new patient chairperson called for the unifi cation “The role of language when nurtur- guage exhibition for children. is between QR3,000 and QR6,000; Ministry of Youth and Sports and Mex- as a 38-year-old woman, a relative who of intellectual scholars, legislatures, ing the Arab child is crucial in building Various QF centres are taking part, 10% if the rent value is between ico’s National Commission of Physical had helped care for the earlier victim cultural fi gures, and the media to identity and maintaining culture to including Qatar National Library, QR6,000 and QR10,000 and 5% per Culture and Sports and a draft agree- Mariatu Jalloh. Jalloh died from the protect the Arabic language, explain- master the fi elds of science and knowl- Qatar Nanny Training Academy, Qa- year if the rent is more than QR10,000. ment on co-operation in the fi eld of disease on Jan. 12, and tested positive ing the need for it to be simplifi ed in edge,” al-Subaie said. “This will sup- tarDebate and Qatar Computing Re- As a result of this resolution, a land- education between Qatar and Mexican for Ebola posthumously. schools systems and encouraging tel- port the outcome for the continuous search Institute. Page 32 lord has the right to increase the rent governments. To Page 30 Qatar still waiting for answer from Iraq government

QNA they were able to go to other places. Attiyah said: “There is no doubt that Al-Attiyah underlined the impor- ian people as we always hope to remain These are the constants on which we Moscow He said the Qataris had obtained Iran has a role in helping to resolve this tance of the visit HH the Emir Sheikh beside the Syrian people. However, we agree now.” offi cial entry visas from the Iraqi em- issue, especially since Qatar had stood Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has paid are convinced that Russia, which main- Dr al-Attiyah explained that dif- bassy in Qatar. with Iran and helped it previously for to Russia, praising the Russian-Qatari tains a historical relation with the Arab ferences lay in the defi nition of Syr- atar is still waiting for an an- The Minister said that HH the Emir the release of Iranian soldiers who were relations. countries, could fi nd a solution to the ian people’s option. “However, through swer from the Baghdad gov- Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani happened to be kidnapped; thus, we He reaffi rmed that “Qatar doesn’t Syrian crisis in which many innocent dialogue with Russian offi cials and Qernment on the steps taken to had immediately instructed an offi cial also expect the Iranian government build relations with states on the ba- people have been victimised just be- exchange of visits, we will come to the ensure the safety of a group of Qatari Qatari delegation to go to Iraq when would have a role in the release of Qa- sis of speculation. We have our way of cause they called for their freedom and defi nition of the Syrian people’s op- nationals who have been kidnapped the Qataris were kidnapped. The del- tari nationals. And we hope the broth- dealing with the states which we agree justice that has been lost for 50 years.” tion”, he said, adding: “We in Qatar have from their desert hunting camp in Iraq egation arrived in Baghdad in the after- ers in the Iraqi government would make or diff er with. That are negotiations, Dr al-Attiyah stressed that mili- a defi nition for the Syrian people’s op- and bring them back to Doha, HE the noon the same day. eff orts in this area”. frankness and transparency, and that tary intervention had never been key tion that we may agree or diff er on with Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mo- He said “we have an idea about the On the Syria issue, he stressed the for us in Qatar is the shortest way to to solving crises. “Throughout his- the friends in Russia. Our defi nition is hamed al-Attiyah has said. kidnappers and we are still waiting for importance of dialogue and exchange fi nd solution to problems”. tory, we know that military interven- the departure of the regime which was In an interview with Russia Today an answer from the Iraqi government of views between Russia and Qatar, He said: “I don’t conceal from you tion complicates matters rather than the cause of terrorism as it worked as TV Channel (RT), al-Attiyah said: on the steps taken to ensure the safety pointing out that the ongoing meetings that we have been surprised by the solves them. We have constants or a magnet to attract terrorism on the We regret what had happened to of the Qatari nationals and bring them were important “out of our convic- Russian intervention in Syria in last matters agreed upon with Russia and one hand and on the other this regime our people in Iraq: they went there back to Qatar”. tion that Russia and Qatar could play a September, and we had been keen that we have no doubt that Russia sup- worked to kill the hope of the youth because they liked Iraq, although On Iran’s mediation in this issue, al- role in fi nding a solution to this crisis”. Russia would remain beside the Syr- ports a unified, Arab and civil Syria. who demonstrated peacefully.” Page 8

Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 3 QATAR

PM meets chief of Occidental Petroleum

HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani holding talks with the visiting President and Chief Executive Off icer of Occidental Petroleum, Stephen Chazen, in Doha yesterday.

Qatar-China Year of Culture to showcase best of both nations

he Qatar-China 2016 (2013); Qatar/Brazil (2014) Year of Culture will and most recently Qatar/ Tfeature a range of ac- Turkey last year. tivities and events in both This year, the celebra- countries, starting with tion will highlight the close special entertainment and relations between Qatar performances at the Katara and China through cultural Drama Theatre on January partnerships between Qatari 24. and Chinese organisations, “A programme of events institutions and individuals. and exhibitions in the sec- “While Qatar and China ond half of the year will be are very diff erent places held in China, including a Qatar Museums’ Mohamed al-Othman and Chinese with very diff erent cultures, reprise of the successful ambassador Li Chen speak about the Qatar-China 2016 Year we share in common the photography exchange pro- of Culture. PICTURE: Jayan Orma fact that we are civilisations gramme,” Chinese ambas- striving to balance progress sador Li Chen said yester- historic cultures,” the envoy bint Hamad bin Khalifa al- and heritage in the context day. stressed. Thani, are intended to use of the modern world,” said “It is our fi rm belief that He cited the strong eco- art and culture to foster Mohamed al-Othman, pub- the Year will help to show nomic ties and positive dip- improved mutual under- lic and international rela- Qatar is open to the world, lomatic relations between standing and build bridges tions director at Qatar Mu- demonstrate our appeal the two countries that date between cultures. seums. as a cultural destination, back to the 1980s. The Years of Culture are He noted that the two na- promote China in Qatar The Qatar Years of Cul- now in their fi fth edition tions have common shared and improve intercultural ture, under the guidance of following previous success- values based on respect for dialogue and mutual under- Qatar Museums’ chairper- ful partnerships with Qa- family, education, hospital- standing between the two son, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa tar/Japan (2012); Qatar/UK ity and cultural curiosity. Gulf Times 4 Thursday, January 21, 2016 QATAR

Ministry of Justice concludes training course In brief The Ministry of Justice’s During the two-week long inspection and control Mexican president arrives in Doha Legal and Judicial Studies course, participants were were also made to Centre has concluded acquainted with the duties acquaint the participants a training course it of the judicial control with the most important organised for a number off icers in the penal code procedures followed of researchers and legal and control duties. in the field of judicial Emir returns specialists at the Ministry In addition to lectures inspection and control. of Energy and Industry on and workshops given The course was part of home after the development of judicial during the course, the Legal and Judicial Russia visit control skills in the field of practical applications Studies Centre’s training energy and industry. in the field of legal programme in 2016. HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani returned to Doha yesterday after wrapping up an off icial visit to Russia. The Emir was accompanied by an off icial delegation. Earlier on departure from Moscow, the Emir sent a cable to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he expressed thanks and appreciation for the hospitality accorded to him. Al-Attiyah meets first deputy FM of Turkmenistan

HE the Minister of Foreign Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah met the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Wafa Khadzhiev and his accompanying delegation in Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto arrived in Doha yesterday on a two-day off icial visit to Qatar. He was Doha yesterday. received at Hamad International Airport by HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh They reviewed relations between al-Sada, Qatar’s ambassador to Mexico Ahmed Abdulla Ahmed al-Kuwari and Mexican ambassador to Doha Qatar and Turkmenistan and Francisco Javier Nambro Cibrian. ways of enhancing them and issues of common interest.

Qatar, Turkmenistan sign pact to boost relations

QNA eign Aff airs Mohamed bin on means of developing Doha Abdullah al-Rumaihi and bilateral relations between Turkmenistan’s First Dep- the two countries, work- uty Foreign Minister Wafa ing within the framework he Foreign Ministries Khadzhiev in Doha yester- of international organisa- of Qatar and Turk- day. tions and the United Na- Tmenistan yesterday The programme stipu- tions with respect to mat- signed an executive pro- lates undertaking various ters listed on the agenda of gramme for bilateral co- activities over 2016-2017 the 71th Session of the UN operation, guided by the including: General Assembly, co-op- Memorandum of Consulta- Holding consultations erating in the fi eld of trade tions (MOC) signed by the on bilateral topics, at the and economy and con- two sides in Doha in Octo- level of foreign ministers sulting on consular aff airs, ber 2010. or their representatives, in addition to a number of The programme was heads of departments or issues of common interest HE the Assistant Foreign Minister for Foreign Aff airs signed by HE the Assistant their representatives from between the two coun- Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi receiving Foreign Minister for For- the two Foreign Ministries tries. Turkmenistan’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Wafa Khadzhiev.

Gulf Times 6 Thursday, January 21, 2016 QATAR

CMU-Q to host first regional hackathon

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU- plinary collaboration and creative think- Q) will host its first regional 24-hour hacka- ing within a fun and intense competitive thon on Friday and Saturday at its campus environment. It is a great opportunity for in Education City. students to put the skills they are learn- The CarnegieApps Hackathon is an annual ing to the test,” said Farjana Salahuddin, programming competition for university information systems student at CMU-Q and students, where individuals and teams a member of the CarnegieApps organising compete in a 24-hour race to build mobile committee. applications, web applications or games. CarnegieApps Hackathon is part of Carn- This year marks the first time that students egie Mellon Qatar’s contribution to the from the wider region will participate. Spon- computer science industry in Qatar and sored by Ooredoo, Hackathon is organised the region. by CarnegieApps, a student-led club at More information about the CarnegieApps Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Hackathon could be had from www.carne- “This event aims to promote interdisci- gieapps.com or by following #CMUQHacks.

Months since the installation of the traff ic signals on the stretch of Najma Street between Al Thumama Signal and F-Ring Road intersection, no location indicators have been erected. PICTURE: Jayaram Lack of location signs at junction irk motorists

By Ramesh Mathew to connect with areas such as Barwa Village, Reli- of people coming to the city areas are also regu- Staff Reporter gious Complex and Doha Industrial Area. larly using the stretch on Najma Street. But even after a few months since the installa- It is also understood that those coming to the tion of the new traffi c signals, neither traffi c signs areas closer to the Airport road are taking Al Ha- he absence of traffi c signs and location in- nor location indicators are ready at the intersec- dara Street on the eastern side of the new intersec- dicators at the new signalled intersection tion. While the intersection provides easy access tion on Najma Street. The street also provides an Ton Najma Street between Al Thumama Sig- to residents coming to inner areas of Al Rawda, easy access for those coming from Al Thumama nal and F-Ring Road is causing a lot of confusion where at least two embassies are located, and also area to the erstwhile Parachute roundabout and among road users. to some locations of Matar Qadeem, the absence parts of Matar Qadeem. Traffi c fl ow has increased considerably on this of traffi c signals and location signs is causing dif- Similarly, the city residents also point out that stretch since the opening of the Hamad Interna- fi culties to motorists, it is learnt. though a new traffi c signal was installed halfway tional Airport (HIA). A large number of residents With the opening of the F-Ring road, and the through the Najma Street between Gulf Cinema from eastern and northern areas of the city are us- nearly two kilometre stretch from the F-Ring road signal and Mall Signal no signboard or location ing the stretch, mainly to reach the HIA and also intersection to Al Thumama signal, a large number indicators have come up in the area.

The Ministry of Economy and Com- Ministry recalls Honda vehicles urged all customers to report any merce, in collaboration with Doha violations to its Consumer Protection Marketing and Services Company defect in the driver airbags. them. The Ministry will co-ordinate and Anti-Commercial Fraud Depart- (Domasco), dealer of Honda vehicles The Ministry said the recall campaign with the dealer to follow up on the ment through the following channels: in Qatar, has announced the recall comes within the framework of its maintenance and repair works, and Hotline: 16001, e-mail: [email protected]. of Honda CR-V (2007), Civic (2006- ongoing eff orts to protect consumers communicate with customers to qa, Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: 2007), Jazz (2004-2007) and City and to ensure that car dealers follow ensure that the necessary repairs MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for (2003, 2005-2007) because of a up on vehicles’ defects and repair are carried out. The Ministry has Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar

Gulf Times 8 Thursday, January 21, 2016 QATAR Minister meets Indonesian envoy Emir’s visit refl ects importance of Qatari-Russian relations: FM

QNA Moscow

E the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al- HAttiyah has underlined the importance of the visit HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha- mad al-Thani has paid to Russia, praising the Russian-Qatari re- lations. In an interview with Russia Today TV Channel (RT), HE al- Attiyah said: “Undoubtedly they are long-standing relations that need renewal from time to time HE the Minister of Labour and Social Aff airs Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi yesterday met the through contacts. Recently, I had outgoing ambassador of Indonesia to Qatar Didi Saif al-Hadi in Doha. They discussed areas of been in Moscow and met with co-operation between the two countries and issues of common interest. my counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss bilateral relations and these contacts have culminated in the meeting between HH the Emir and the Russian president.” Al-Attiyah said: “It is right that the visit has been postponed Katara programme aims to due to certain circumstances at that time. However, we are con- vinced that Russia is a big player in the region, and due to its re- revive Qatar’s musical heritage lations with the Arab world, it could be an assisting factor in fi nding solutions to the crises HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah meeting his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov atara – the Cultural Vil- programme; Khalifa al-Yafei, songs in Qatar focus on the orig- the region in going through.” in Moscow on Monday. lage will launch a joint representative of the Depart- inality of our society, illustrating He reaffi rmed that “Qatar Kannual programme aimed ment of Student Activities at the extent of Qatari pride and doesn’t build relations with cause of terrorism as it worked and Hezbollah and is now trying the diff erences will be resolved at supporting Qatari musical Qatar University; Salman al- the close links present within states on the basis of specula- as a magnet to attract terror- to embarrass Russia to change based on both sides’ diplomacy arts and folk singing to preserve Marri, representative of the our history,” the Katara offi cial tion. We have our way of dealing ism on the one hand and on the its relations with the Arab world and statesmanship. the heritage of Qatar’s ancestors. Youth Arts Centre; and folklore stressed. with the states which we agree other this regime worked to kill and it should pay attention to As the biggest exporters of gas The festivities will be held at lovers also attended the press “This historic form of music or diff er with. That are negotia- the hope of the youth who dem- this issue because it is very seri- in the world, Russia and Qatar Katara every Thursday and Fri- conference. also depicts our strong relation- tions, frankness and transparen- onstrated peacefully. I will give ous. Our friends in Russia should complement each other, are not day from February 4 to May 27, ship with other nations through cy, and that for us in Qatar is the you a simple example. Syrian be aware of this because the (re- competitors in energy sector and but the fi rst performances will “Diff erent forms of folk the blending of the country’s shortest way to fi nd solution to youth Ghayyath Mattar took to gime) managed to change the have a moral and legal duty to kick off on January 29 and 30. art are like mirrors that folk arts with that in the Gulf and problems. I don’t conceal from the street at the outbreak of the views of Hezbollah and the look maintain gas supply to the global At a press conference held re- refl ect the culture of the Arab world as well as with you that we have been surprised revolution, if I am not mistaken of the Arab people towards it as market, al-Attiyah said. cently, Katara general manager the community and the other forms of art that have ar- by the Russian intervention in on 8 September 2011, and began a resisting party. From the Ar- There should be a distinction Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti lifestyle of its members rived through overseas travel and Syria in last September, and we to distribute roses to the Syrian abs point of view it has become between Qatar’s investments said they support every initia- through every stage of its trade,” he added. had been keen that Russia would army. After torturing him for a a hostile party to the people that abroad and the question of in- tive aimed at documenting the development” Launching a national pro- remain beside the Syrian people day, his dead body was handed helped it during its plight in fl uence, explained Dr al-Attiyah, legacy of Qatar’s ancestors. gramme to promote folk art and as we always hope to remain be- over to his family. Such stories 2006 and shared with Hezbollah referring to Qatar National Vi- This move is part of Katara’s “Folk art shapes the behaviour to properly expose the culture to side the Syrian people. However, should not be absent from our their food and clothing. Howev- sion ( QNV) 2030, developed eff orts to continuously serve as a and patterns of social interaction the community has become in- we are convinced that Russia, minds when we speak about the er, Qatar’s stand and principles under the leadership of HH the bridge between the past and to- in various occasions, which oc- creasingly important, according which maintains a historical re- demands of the Syrian people, or have remained unchanged”. Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad day’s generation. cur in everyday social life,” said to al-Sulaiti. lation with the Arab countries, leave the option for that people The Foreign Minister strongly al-Thani and aimed at advancing “Diff erent forms of folk art are al-Sulaiti. Through co-operation with could fi nd a solution to the Syr- to decide.” denied claims that Qatar aims at Qatari citizen and managing on a like mirrors that refl ect the cul- Entitled “The Revival of Qa- various stakeholders in the com- ian crisis in which many inno- The Foreign Minister under- getting rid of a regime which was sustainable path for future gen- ture of the community and the tar’s Musical Heritage and Qatari munity, he said they want to see cent people have been victim- lined that Qatar has spared no considered as an obstacle to a erations thanks to investment lifestyle of its members through Folk Singing Programme,” this a generation capable of preserv- ised just because they called for eff ort to convince the head of the strategic project for the delivery bodies. every stage of its development,” initiative will also feature folk ing the culture of folk singing. their freedom and justice that Syrian regime to take positive of Qatari gas to Europe, adding “We also have a legal and he said. singing – a key part of Qatar’s “This will keep the legacy of has been lost for 50 years”. steps towards his people. “Qatar that whoever adopts such an ar- moral duty in international Salma al-Naimi, cultural af- folklore. our nation as well as the Arab Dr al-Attiyah stressed that mil- eff ectively started on 27 March gument is not well briefed. peace and security as Qatar is a fairs expert and chairman of the “Folk dances, poems and identity,” al-Sulaiti said. itary intervention has never been 2011 to have direct contacts on all He stressed that “Qatar has member-state of the United Na- key to solving crisis. “Throughout levels with the head of the Syrian no agenda and no interest in tions. Therefore, we always keep history, we know that military in- regime and there were contacts displacing regimes, noting that our principle initiative to resolve tervention complicates matters and visits on the highest level in Qatar has intensely urged Bashar crisis by peaceful and diplomatic rather than solves them. We have an attempt to dissuade him from al-Assad to implement change means and defuse crisis in the constants or matters agreed upon his way of dealing with the dem- but he has no culture of settle- region which would aff ect us ei- Jail sentence of two expats reduced with Russia and we have no doubt onstrators and to urge him make ment towards his people this is ther directly or indirectly”, Dr al- that Russia supports a unifi ed, a few reforms which the Syrian what led to a disaster in Syria”. Attiyah said. Arab and civil Syria. These are people were, then, ready to ac- On the existence of an agenda “If the alternative is solar en- he Court of Appeal has onment of other two Lebanese a bank loan in the name of the the constants on which we agree cept,” Dr al-Attiyah said. in Qatar, HE al-Attiyah stressed ergy, we are ready to export so- reduced the jail sen- defendants for 10 years for their same client. now,” he said He noted that at the beginning that this is not true as Qatar has lar energy as we are the richest Ttence of two men, a part in the same case. Eventually, the victim got a Dr al-Attiyah explained that of the revolution they were chant- the world’s largest fl oating LNG country with solar energy in the Lebanese and a Palestinian, to The court also ordered their call from the bank notifying him diff erences lie in the defi nition ing the name of Bashar al-Assad facility, noting that such claims world, Dr al-Attiyah added. three years from seven years deportation upon completing that he owes the bank large sums of Syrian people’s option. How- as they wanted a few reforms and are baseless. “Ensuring security, health, for seizing QR 2,972,000 from the sentence and slapped a fi ne of money due to three loans in ever, through dialogue with Rus- a little respect from the gover- On the Turkish-Russian rela- and education for all citizens is the personal bank account of a equal to the amount embez- his name, in addition to pend- sian offi cials and exchange of nors who oppressed the people in tions, al-Attiyah said, the two our main focus and we are work- Qatari client. zled. The fi rst two defendants, ing cheques for payment. How- visits, we will come to the defi - the Syrian cities. They demanded countries share 100 years of ex- ing hard to diversify our sources”, Local Arabic daily Arrayah who were customer care em- ever, he told the bank that such nition of the Syrian people’s op- the reforms that Bashar al-Assad cellent relations. Therefore, the Dr al-Attiyah added. He said the reported yesterday that the de- ployees, abused their positions transactions are fraud and he tion, adding: “We in Qatar have a could have delivered, but regret- two leaderships’ wisdom will not GCC has a system to develop the fendants used to be employees at the bank to counterfeit the knew nothing about them. Ulti- defi nition for the Syrian people’s tably he relied on the “security allow them to return to a hun- standard of living for the citizens of a local bank where the theft signature of the client, issue a mately, the issue was brought to option that we may agree or dif- treatment of matters”. dred years ago. “We are count- in terms of services and educa- took place. The court upheld the cheque book in his name and the Public Prosecution and the fer on with the friends in Russia. The Foreign Minister said the ing a lot on this relationship in tion as well as upgrade their role ruling of the court of the fi rst withdraw large sums of mon- defendants were arrested and Our defi nition is the departure Syrian regime embarrassed even order to reach a Russian-Turkish through various projects that instance regarding the impris- ey. They also managed to get tried by the court. of the regime which was the its allies. “It embarrassed Iran solution”, he said, adding that rely on diverse sources. QRCS, HMC team up to support Gaza medical sector

QNA Hospital for Rehabilita- ology & Balance Unit, and equipment and consumables of Neurology Department by his staff , such as recur- Doha tion and Prosthetic Limbs Dr Amer Hawafzeh, Pros- by QRCS. a graduate of the medical rent power outages and fuel in Gaza, established by the thetic Limb Supervisor. The visitors closely training programme con- scarcity, which delay many Qatari National Committee During the visit, QRCS of- watched the steps of treat- ducted by QRCS and HMC. surgical operations. atar Red Crescent for the Reconstruction of fi cials accompanied the del- ment of minor and moder- Also, QRCS had supported Dr Akram Nassar, head of Society (QRCS) Of- the Gaza Strip. egation to Al-Amal Hospital ate cases. They talked with the hospital with medical QRCS offi ce in Gaza, held Qfi ce in Gaza has re- The delegation com- of the Palestinian Red Cres- several people who were re- equipment. talks with the delegation ceived a delegation from prised Dr Wafa al-Yazeedi, cent Society (PRCS) in Khan covering. Dr Abo Hadrous gave about partnership proposals Hamad Medical Corpora- Chairperson of Physical Younis, southern Gaza, to see They also visited Euro- the visitors an overview of between QRCS and HMC in tion (HMC) during its visit Medicine and Rehabilita- the work of its physical reha- pean Gaza Hospital, where the department’s achieve- Gaza to maximise the out- to Gaza to prepare for the tion Department, Dr Khaled bilitation department, which they were received by Dr ments since 2008, showing comes in relation to patient inauguration of the Hamad Abdel-Hadi, Head of Audi- was supported with medical Nidal Abo Hadrous, head the major challenges faced rehabilitation.

The delegation of Hamad Medical Corporation visiting Qatar Red Crescent Society off ice and a hospital in Gaza. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 9 REGION Gulf states working on joint missile defence: Bahrain

Reuters in long-stalled efforts to cre- Gulf Arab countries also feel a GCC committee was working capable of delivering a nuclear missile programme. GCC states were committed to Manama ate a cross-border approach to that the lifting of sanctions in a co-operative effort to build warhead violating a UN ban Obama and GCC countries developing a ballistic missile counter Iran’s growing missile against Tehran could revive joint missile defence. last October. underscored a commitment to defence capability, including capabilities. Iran’s economy and enable it to “We have started, and hope- US President Barack Obama build the defence system at a an early warning system, with ulf Arab states are co- Past attempts have stum- acquire more accurate and reli- fully it (the result) will be an- said the test was a violation summit in May 2015, as Wash- US technical help. Washing- operating on regional bled but US and Gulf officials able missiles. nounced soon,” he said in an- of Iran’s “international obli- ington moved to assuage Gulf ton pledged to fast-track arms Gmissile defence and say the time has come to push Hamad al-Khalifah, com- swer to questions, without gations” and a result Wash- allies’ concerns about a more transfers to the GCC states and hope to announce the results ahead as Arab nations start to mander of the Royal Bahraini elaborating. ington imposed sanctions on powerful Iran. to send a team to the region in soon, a Bahraini officer said mount more joint military mis- Air Force, said on the sidelines Iran conducted a precision- 11 companies and individuals A joint statement follow- the coming weeks to discuss yesterday, suggesting progress sions. of an air force conference that guided ballistic missile test for supplying Iran’s ballistic ing the summit said that the the details. China’s Xi, King Salman inaugurate JV refi nery

AFP The policy has been given sifi cation and expansion of the Riyadh added urgency by a plunge in the Saudi economy”. kingdom’s oil revenues. King Salman in December said YASREF is one of fi ve joint- he had ordered economic reforms hinese President Xi Jin- venture refi neries in Saudi Ara- to diversify sources of income ping and Custodian of the bia. Another four are overseas, and reduce the kingdom’s high CTwo Holy Mosques King including one in Fujian, China. dependence on oil. Salman of Saudi Arabia yester- The YASREF refi nery shipped Global crude prices have fallen day inaugurated a joint-venture its fi rst diesel one year ago and from above $100 a barrel in early refi nery, symbolising Beijing’s has a capacity to refi ne 400,000 2014 to below $28 yesterday. deepening involvement in the barrels of Arabian crude per day. To cope with a record budget Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the inauguration Middle East and Riyadh’s need Saudi Aramco and Sinopec also defi cit, the kingdom broke with ceremony of the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) project yesterday in Riyadh. for economic diversifi cation. signed a framework agreement its decades-old generous welfare The event took place in the on co-operation, refl ecting con- system and raised fuel, electric- Saudi capital on the second day fi dence “in the potential oppor- ity and other prices in its 2016 of Xi’s fi rst visit to the region. He tunities we can create together,” budget. later left for Cairo and will also said Saudi Aramco president Government spending has also travel to Iran. Amin Nasser. been cut, there is talk of a value- The YASREF refi nery, in Yanbu Sinopec’s strengths in refi nery added tax in the tax-free nation, Khamenei condemns for fi rst Industrial City on the Red Sea, and chemical technology would and state assets including Saudi is 62.5% held by Saudi oil giant support the kingdom’s drive to Aramco could be privatised. Aramco, while China Petroleum diversify its petroleum sector, Trade between the Gulf na- & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) holds said the company’s chairman tions and China, the world’s sec- the remaining. Wang Yupu. ond-largest economy, has been time attack on Saudi embassy “YASREF represents both The ceremony, accompanied growing. companies’ focus on driving by a Chinese dragon and Ara- Two-way commerce between downstream growth,” the refi n- bian sword-dancing, took place China and Saudi Arabia alone AFP night after Saudi Arabia executed condemned the arson and loot- youth... against the enemies’ ery said in a statement. in Riyadh at the King Abdullah reached $69.1bn in 2014, accord- Tehran a Shia cleric and activist –a force ing - seen by millions worldwide aggression in our waters, they Billboards on a highway out- Petroleum Studies and Research ing to China’s offi cial Xinhua behind 2011 anti-government via social media - and he has showed power,” Khamenei said. side the ceremony showed Xi and Center (KAPSARC). news agency. protests in the eastern province – urged speedy prosecutions. “I didn’t have an opportu- Salman waving against a back- King Salman separately in- Although China depends on ran’s supreme leader Ayat- for crimes against the kingdom. Iranian authorities have said nity to thank them. I really thank drop of the refi nery. augurated that facility, which the Middle East for its oil sup- ollah Ali Khamenei publicly Khamenei’s remarks yester- that those detained included them. It was a very appropriate Saudi Arabia is China’s big- focuses on energy research and plies, it has long taken a low-pro- Icondemned yesterday for the day, in a speech to electoral offi - the assault’s ringleader but no action,” he added. gest global supplier of crude, policy. fi le approach to the region’s dip- fi rst time the January 2 attack on cials ahead of the country’s par- charges have been announced. The arrests of the American and state-owned Saudi Aramco Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who lomatic and other disputes, only Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Te- liamentary polls on February 26, The cutting of relations set sailors on January 13 came just says expansion into refi ning and chairs KAPSARC’s board of trus- recently beginning to expand its hran as “a very bad and wrong underscored that the embassy back eff orts made by Rouhani’s days before Iran was due to im- chemicals fi ts the kingdom’s goal tees, told the gathering the centre role, especially in the Syrian cri- incident”. attack had no sympathy from government since July, when a plement its nuclear deal with of economic diversifi cation. would “contribute to the diver- sis. Page 10 “Like the British embassy at- within the Islamic republic’s es- nuclear deal with the West was world powers, including the US. tack before it, this was against tablishment. struck, to boost Iran’s clout in A dramatic series of events China, Gulf to speed up free trade talks the country (Iran) and Islam, and Iran’s President Hassan Rou- international diplomacy, par- started with the sailors - nine I didn’t like it,” he added. hani at the time said the violence ticularly in peace talks on Syria. men and a woman - being taken China and the oil-dependent progress made and hold the premier Wen Jiabao called on Britain’s embassy in Tehran was committed by “rogue ele- In the weeks since tensions into custody after their two pa- Gulf states said yesterday they next round of negotiations in both sides to “show political will was stormed and ransacked by a ments” acting against the coun- have only risen between Iran and trol boats drifted into Iranian would accelerate talks on a the second half of February to sign the agreement as soon mob in 2011. try’s interests. Saudi Arabia. territory. free trade deal which has been 2016,” the statement said. as possible.” The arson attack on Saudi The embassy vandals took Khamenei also spoke for the US and Iranian offi cials under negotiation for more than “China and (the) GCC also Yesterday’s joint statement Arabia’s embassy - for which lo- selfi es and smartphone video fi rst time yesterday about the scrambled to defuse the situa- a decade. commit themselves to said negotiations resumed cal media reports say as many as footage where they were seen brief detention by Iran’s Revolu- tion, which had raised alarm in The announcement, in a joint work closely to conclude a on Sunday, and on Tuesday 140 people have been arrested holding items stolen from inside tionary Guards’ naval force of 10 Washington, but after informal statement, came during a visit comprehensive Free Trade “substantially concluded in - led to Riyadh quickly severing the building, causing deep em- US Navy personnel who strayed talks with Tehran, the Guards to Saudi Arabia by Chinese Agreement within the year of principle the negotiations on diplomatic ties with Tehran. barrassment in Tehran. into Iranian waters in the Gulf. said the 10 sailors had been set President Xi Jinping. 2016.” trade in goods”. The incident occurred late at Rouhani and other offi cials “This move by our dear free. “China and the GCC (Gulf China and the six-nation GCC Trade between the Gulf and Co-operation Council) have announced in July 2004 the China, the world’s second- decided to accelerate the pace start of free trade talks. largest economy, has been of negotiations, review the Four years ago, then-Chinese growing. Short-circuit caused Beijing off ers support Dubai hotel blaze Reuters went ahead with a New Year’s Dubai fi reworks display at the 160-sto- rey Burj Khalifa tower a few hun- dred metres away. for Yemen government he fi re which engulfed one Flames shot skywards from of Dubai’s most promi- one side of the luxury Address Tnent hotel skyscrapers Downtown Dubai, owned by de- Reuters gered by mainly Saudi Arabia’s bia. Asked whether China was ahead of New Year fi reworks was veloper Emaar Properties which Beijing execution of a Shia cleric, has siding with Saudi Arabia over caused by an electrical short- stands across a plaza from the damaged the outlook for any res- Yemen and whether that could circuit, Dubai’s police chief said Burj Khalifa tower where people olution to the confl ict in Yemen. risk upsetting Iran, Chinese For- yesterday. had gathered for the fi reworks hina has signalled its sup- Saudi Arabia and China said eign Ministry spokesman Hong In a presentation to media, show. port for Yemen’s govern- in a statement yesterday that Lei said China had always acted in police offi cials said there had In a statement, Dubai police Cment, which is fi ghting the two countries affi rmed their the interests of the Yemeni people been no trace of any fl ammable said the short-circuit which an Iran-allied militia, on the fi rst support for the unity, independ- and maintaining peace in the Mid- liquids such as petrol at the site caused the fi re occurred in an day of a visit to Saudi Arabia by ence and sovereignty of Yemen. dle East, and had promoted peace of the blaze at the 63-storey ho- area between the 14th and 15th Chinese President Xi Jinping, The statement was released by talks. tel and residential block, close to fl oors of the hotel at around 21.25 who will also be heading to Te- China’s Foreign Ministry after Xi “(We) hope clashes in Yemen the world’s tallest building. local time. hran later in the week. met Custodian of the Two Holy can come to an end as soon as pos- “The direct cause was an On the night, television pic- A Saudi-led coalition began Mosques King Salman bin Ab- sible and there can be reconcilia- electrical short-circuit,” police tures showed pieces of blazing a military campaign last year dulaziz of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh tion so the country can return to commander Khamis Mattar Al- debris raining down from The against the Iranian-allied Shia on Tuesday. stability,” Hong told a daily news Mazeina told reporters. Address as evacuated occupants Houthi movement in Yemen, All social, religious and po- briefi ng. He declined to say whether hurried away from the building, which has seized the capital, litical groups in Yemen should China relies on the region for the cladding - layers fixed to some running. Sanaa. The government of Presi- maintain their national solidar- oil but has tended to leave Middle the outside of buildings for Emaar said on Jan. 3 the fi re dent Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ity and avoid any decisions that Eastern diplomacy to the other decoration, insulation or pro- should have “no material im- is now based in the southern city may cause social disruption and four permanent members of the tection - had affected the de- pact” on the company because of Aden. chaos, it said. UN Security Council - the US, velopment of the fire, and di- the building and risk of fi re were Riyadh sees the Houthis as a “Both sides stressed support Britain, France and Russia. rected queries about building covered by its insurance. proxy for Iran to expand its infl u- for the legitimate regime of Yem- However, China has been trying materials to the Dubai Civil The company also said it had ence in the impoverished Arabian en,” the statement said. to get more involved, especially in Defence authority. hired a local contractor, Dubai- Peninsula nation. Xi is expected in Iran later in Syria, and recently hosted its for- A view shows the damage at the exterior of Address Downtown The building was quickly based DUTCO Group, as a con- A growing diplomatic dispute the week, with a further stop in eign minister and opposition of- Dubai hotel and residential block, which was hit by a blaze evacuated with only minor in- tractor to clear and restore the between Riyadh and Tehran, trig- Egypt after he leaves Saudi Ara- fi cials. during New Year celebrations, on January 2. juries reported, and authorities building. Gulf Times 10 Thursday, January 21, 2016 REGION/ARAB WORLD Iran polls: Khamenei signals rift with Rouhani

Reuters on Tehran, hoping to parlay that majority of candidates close to ising the elections, Khamenei parliament,” Khamenei said. for the election so far but only 30 expected to intensify a power Dubai success into a majority for his Rouhani and reformists keen to - who wields the fi nal say on all “Even in America, which had seen their candidacies certi- struggle within an elite split into supporters in parliament and the increase freedom of expression high matters of state in Iran - claims it is the land of freedom fi ed. “On this basis only 1% of re- conservative and moderate-re- Assembly of Experts, the body in Iran. made clear he did not agree with and some people naively accept formists were approved,” he said. formist factions. upreme leader Ayatollah that will pick the next supreme “The primary reports I’ve re- Rouhani on who should be able that, during the Cold War those “The Guardian Council has Khamenei grudgingly allowed Ali Khamenei said yes- leader. ceived did not make me happy at to take seats in parliament. with slightest socialist leaning ruined the joy that arose from Rouhani to negotiate the nuclear Sterday those opposed to Almost 12,000 candidates all,” Rouhani told a news confer- “I said that even those who would have been marginalised.” the lifting of sanctions,” Shahr- deal after he won a landslide the values of Iran’s Shia theoc- have registered for the Feb. 26 ence on Monday. “I will use all oppose the Islamic Republic Ahmad Jannati, the hardline banoo Amani, a former reformist election in 2013 on a pledge of racy should not be allowed to elections in the Islamic Repub- my power to protect the rights of should take part in the election,” conservative head of the Guard- MP and now disqualifi ed candi- easing Iran’s isolation abroad run for parliament, signalling a lic, where the 290-seat parlia- candidates.” he said, underlining his wish for ian Council, assured Khamenei date told Fars news agency. and repression at home. rift between him and its moder- ment and 88-member assembly Rouhani said he was obliged as a high turnout to convey popular at the same meeting that its con- Disqualifi ed candidates can But hardliners now fear that ate president over the February have long been dominated by president to hold a free and fair support for the system. sideration of candidates’ qualifi - appeal against the decision with voters, hoping living standards elections. conservatives close to Khame- election and referred to recent “(But) this does not mean that cations would be done “carefully the Guardian Council reviewing can rise with sanctions out of President Hassan Rouhani nei. comments by the clerical su- opponents of the Islamic Repub- and will not be aff ected by any their cases within a week. the way, will reward pro-Rou- engineered the implementation But Iranian media reports in- preme leader inviting all Iranians lic should be elected to parlia- pressure”. Iran’s success in winning an hani candidates in the elections, of Iran’s nuclear accord with dicate the Guardian Council, a to cast their vote. ment... Only those who believe Hossein Marashi, a reformist end to international sanctions with the vote for the Assembly of world powers this month, in- vetting body made up of clerics But in a meeting yesterday in the Islamic Republic and its politician, told ILNA news agency in exchange for curbing its dis- Experts in particular crucial in cluding the lifting of sanctions and jurists, has disqualifi ed the with offi cials involved in organ- values should be allowed to enter 3,000 reformists had registered puted nuclear programme is shaping Iran’s future path.

Tunisia police disperse fresh protest

AFP Kasserine

unisian police fi red tear gas and water cannon to disperse Thundreds of job-seeking demonstrators yesterday in the Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the PLO Saeb Erekat shows a map as he addresses impoverished town of Kasserine, journalists yesterday in Jericho during a visit to a site where Israel is moving to declare 150 hectares in in a second day of protests after the the occupied West Bank as state land. Sheep graze in Jordan Valley near the West Bank city of Jericho yesterday. death of an unemployed man. The demonstrators had gath- ered outside the governorate’s offi ces demanding a solution to the region’s dire unemployment before heading towards the town centre, as small groups set up roadblocks with burning tyres. Witnesses said police used Israel moving to seize West tear gas and water cannon and fi red warning shots in the air as they came under attack from stone-throwers. Regional health authority chief Abdelghani Chaabani said eight police were injured in Kasserine as Bank farmland: offi cials well as another 11 in nearby Thala, a day after clashes on Tuesday in AFP details, including who was has not been used as state land, is another step on the way to “And if you go between here The seizure would come at a which 20 protesters and three po- Jericho considered the current owner. rights groups say, though it was destroying the possibility for a and 70km (45 miles) straight time of increased attention to lice were lightly hurt. Peace Now said the land had not clear if the same law would two-state solution,” Peace Now you will see nothing but farms Israeli settlements and its poli- It comes only days after the been taken over by Israeli set- be invoked in this case. said in a statement. of grapes, palm trees, veg- cies in the West Bank. fi fth anniversary of the revolution srael is moving to declare tlers years ago for farming. Earlier seizures have been Erekat, speaking to journal- etables, stealing the water from Some 60% of the West Bank sparked by the death of a young 150 hectares in the occupied Israeli media reported that harshly criticised by Palestin- ists at the site, called the seizure Palestinians, the land from Pal- is under full Israeli control and university graduate who set him- IWest Bank as state land in the land amounted to 150 hec- ians, rights groups and much of theft. estinians.” more than 500,000 Israeli set- self on fi re to protest police har- what would be the largest such tares (370 acres) and said it was the international community. “As you see, they call it a se- Defence Minister Moshe tlers live in the territory and east assment and unemployment in seizure since 2014, offi cials and north of the Israeli settlement Such moves erode the terri- curity area but you don’t see a Yaalon’s offi ce declined com- Jerusalem. the nearby town of Sidi Bouzid. media reports said yesterday. of Almog. tory Palestinians see as part of single security thing here,” said ment. US ambassador Dan Shapiro yesterday’s clashes in Kas- If approved, the move is likely Israel has previously used a their future state, further com- Erekat, also secretary general Israel faced international said this week that “we are con- serine took place despite a nigh- to draw international condem- law that dates back to the Otto- plicating peace eff orts. of the Palestine Liberation Or- condemnation after the 2014 cerned and perplexed by Israel’s time curfew imposed only the nation in line with previous man era to declare property that “The government’s decision ganisation. seizure near Bethlehem in the strategy on settlements.” day before in the town of around seizures. Palestinian chief ne- area of the Gush Etzion settle- The European Union has also 80,000 inhabitants. gotiator Saeb Erekat visited the Israel begins construction on Jordan border fence ment bloc. strongly opposed Israeli settle- Tensions have run high in site yesterday and said the land The move followed the kill- ment activity and has decided Kasserine since Saturday, when was being stolen from the Pal- Israel has begun construction fence was a continuation of a The Jordanian fence will be ing of three Israeli teenagers to label products imported from an unemployed man, Ridha estinians. on a security fence along 240-km (150-mile) barrier built “based on the models erected snatched from a roadside in the those areas. Yahyaoui, 28, climbed atop a The farmland is located in the its border with Jordan, the along the Egyptian border which along the Egyptian border and same area. EU foreign ministers re- power pole near the governor’s Jordan Valley south of Jericho defence ministry announced “blocked the entry of illegal the Golan Heights,” the defence Netanyahu’s government iterated in a statement on offi ce and was electrocuted. and, according to settlement yesterday, its latest such barrier migrants into Israel and the ministry said. has faced pressure from set- Monday that the settlements He was protesting after his watchdog Peace Now, would intended to keep out illegal various terrorist movements”. It will include “roads, observation tlers and rightwing members were “illegal under interna- name was removed from a list of mark the biggest declaration migrants and militants. “This barrier is intended to towers, operations rooms and of his cabinet over a wave of tional law, constitute an ob- hires for public sector jobs. since a seizure of 400 hectares It will be the latest “security protect Israeli citizens against other advanced means.” Palestinian knife, gun and car- stacle to peace and threaten A provincial offi cial has been in 2014. fence” built by Israel, including any security threat coming The barrier will be 30km (19 ramming attacks that erupted to make a two-state solution sacked following Yahyaoui’s death. The Israeli defence ministry one separating it from the West from Jordan,” Arielle Heff ez, miles) long between the resort in October. impossible.” Late yesterday, government unit that oversees civilian af- Bank and another in the Golan a spokesman for the ministry, city of Eilat and the site of The fatal stabbing of an Israe- Ministers also agreed that the spokesman Khaled Chouket an- fairs in the West Bank, known as Heights near Syria. said yesterday. the Sands of Samar and will li woman at the entrance to her EU would ensure that all agree- nounced a series of measures for COGAT, said in a statement that Prime Minister Benjamin In 2013, Israel erected a 240- cost 300mn shekels ($75mn, home in a West Bank settlement ments with Israel should “un- Kasserine, including the creation “the lands are in fi nal stages to Netanyahu said when it was km electronic fence along its 70mn euros), according to the on Sunday, allegedly by a Pal- equivocally and explicitly” state of 5,000 new jobs and allocation be declared as state lands”. approved in June that the new southern border with Egypt. statement. estinian teenager, drew Israeli that they did not apply to the of 135mn dinars (60mn euros) to It did not provide further outrage and calls for action. occupied territories. build 1,000 social homes.

Chinese Harsher penalties president for rioting in Sudan

AFP ment buildings were report- arrives Khartoum edly damaged. Under the amendment, anyone causing criminal dam- in Egypt udan’s parliament yes- age in a riot “incurs a penalty terday amended its of prison for a period of no Scriminal law to increase more than fi ve years with a fi ne DPA the penalty for causing crimi- that is equivalent to the value Cairo nal damage during riots from of the damage”, parliament six months in prison to a max- speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omer imum fi ve-year jail sentence. announced after the changes trengthening Beijing’s The changes come one week were approved by lawmakers. infl uence in the volatile after deadly unrest at a town Previously, anyone convicted SMiddle East seemed to be in the western Darfur region, of causing criminal damage the name of the game yesterday in which at least six people faced either a six-month prison as Chinese President Xi Jinping were killed and local govern- sentence, a fi ne or 20 lashes. arrived in Egypt, part of a three- nation tour that has already tak- en him to Saudi Arabia. Drone strike kills two Qaeda suspects Egyptian state television yes- terday showed Egyptian Presi- A drone strike believed to have The US is the only country dent Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi wel- been carried out by the US known to operate armed drones coming Xi during the Chinese Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in Cairo yesterday. killed two Al Qaeda suspects over Yemen, home to what it leader’s arrival at the Cairo air- in a militant stronghold in considers to be Al Qaeda’s most port, the fi rst visit by a Chinese the construction of Egypt’s new my, battered by political upheav- according to Al-Ahram. The move comes days after the southeast Yemen, military dangerous aff iliate. head of state to Egypt in 12 years. administrative capital outside of al since the 2011 uprising that Iran will be the fi nal stop in his implementation of a nuclear deal sources said yesterday. It has kept up strikes on During Xi’s two-day visit, Cairo, the online edition of the toppled longtime autocrat Hosni three-nation trip. between world powers and Iran. The unidentified suspects were militants during months Egypt and China will sign sev- state-run newspaper Al-Ahram Mubarak. On Tuesday, China and Saudi Earlier this month, Riyadh travelling in a vehicle in the of fighting between pro- eral economic agreements re- reported. Xi will also give an address at Arabia signed a memorandum of broke diplomatic ties with Iran town of Qoton in Hadramawt government forces and lated to civil aviation, electricity Egypt is seeking foreign in- the Cairo-based Arab League understanding to build a nuclear after Iranians attacked the Saudi province when they were Iran-backed Houthi rebels who and transport, as well as one on vestment to revitalise its econo- about China’s Middle East policy, reactor in the kingdom. embassy in Tehran. targeted, the sources said. control the capital. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 11 ARAB WORLD Western military chiefs vow to intensify IS fi ght

Reuters ence after talks in Paris among now time to increase our collec- Islamic State both by wiping out Paris the “core” military coalition tive eff ort,” he said. its strongholds in Iraq and Syria members, which also included British Defence Secretary and addressing its spread beyond Germany, Italy, Australia and the Michael Fallon said the goal was its self-declared caliphate there. efence chiefs from the US, Netherlands. now to “tighten the noose around But US offi cials have declined France, Britain and four A US defence offi cial, speaking the head of the snake in Syria in to set a timeline for what could Dother countries pledged on condition of anonymity, said Raqqa.” be a long-term campaign that yesterday to intensify their fi ght the US was looking for additional But US Senator John Mc- will also require political recon- against Islamic State, looking to contributions of special opera- Cain, the chairman of the Sen- ciliation to succeed. capitalise on recent battlefi eld tions forces from allies. The of- ate Armed Services Committee Carter announced a meeting gains against the militants. fi cial also signalled a willingness - along with other critics of US next month of defence ministers The militant group lost con- among core contributors to con- President Barack Obama’s ap- from all 26 military members of trol of the western Iraqi city of sider providing additional police proach to the war eff ort - says the anti-Islamic State coalition, Ramadi last month, in a sorely and military trainers as needed. Islamic State still poses a potent as well as Iraq, in what he de- needed victory for US-backed A joint statement by the min- threat. scribed as the fi rst face-to-face Iraqi forces. But critics, including isters re-committed their gov- “ISIL has lost some territory meeting of its kind. some in the US Congress, say the ernments to work with the US- on the margin, but has consoli- “Every nation must come US strategy is still far too weak led coalition “to accelerate and dated power in its core territories prepared to discuss further con- and lacks suffi cient military sup- intensify the campaign.” in both Iraq and Syria,” McCain tributions to the fi ght,” he said. port from Sunni Arab allies. The Paris setting for the talks said at a Wednesday hearing on “And I will not hesitate to engage Sunni Arab nations have large- itself sent a message, coming just US war strategy, using another and challenge current and pro- ly dropped out of the air cam- over two months after the city acronym for Islamic State. spective members of the coali- paign against Islamic State since was struck by deadly shooting “Meanwhile, ISIL continues tion as we go forward.” last year joining a Saudi-led coa- and bombing attacks claimed by to metastasize across the region The US defence offi cial ac- lition fi ghting Houthi rebels in Islamic State. in places like Afghanistan, Libya, knowledged that the need for a Yemen. French Defence Minister Jean- Lebanon, Yemen, and Egypt. Its greater Arab role was a focus of “We agreed that we all must Yves Le Drian said Islamic State attacks are now global, as we saw discussions and held out hope US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter (left) addresses a joint press conference with French Defence Jean- do more,” US Defence Secretary was in retreat. “Because we have in Paris.” that Saudi Arabia would attend Yves Le Drian after a working meeting on the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, Ash Carter told a news confer- been able to hit its resources, it’s Carter has sought to confront next month’s talks in Brussels. yesterday at the Defence Ministry in Paris. Russia, US: Syria talks should start this month

Reuters are to be resolved.” tion and delegation for the talks. Zurich Kerry’s spokesman, John Iran’s foreign minister said Kirby, said Kerry and Lavrov yesterday it was up to de Mis- US Secretary of State John Kerry (left) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrive for talks on the Syria peace process in Zurich yesterday. discussed “the importance of tura to decide who represents nternationally brokered talks maintaining progress toward a the opposition, but he said that between Syria’s government diplomatic solution to the crisis 10 delegates at a recent opposi- Iand opposition groups should in Syria.” tion gathering in Saudi Arabia start this month as planned, “There’s been no change in our were members of Al Qaeda - one Russia and the US said yesterday, desire to see this meeting happen of three groups he said must be despite no sign of agreement on on the 25th, and the Secretary re- barred. Displaced Syrians fl ock to who should represent the oppo- iterated that,” he said. A Syrian opposition coun- sition. Kirby said Kerry also pressed cil formed in Riyadh last month Speaking after meeting US Russia to use its infl uence with said yesterday it would not at- Secretary of State John Kerry in President Bashar al-Assad to tend peace negotiations if a third Switzerland, Russian Foreign ensure unimpeded humanitar- party joins the talks, a reference Damascus district after truce Minister Sergei Lavrov said nei- ian access to Syrians, especially to a Russian bid to include other ther of them had thought about those in besieged areas such as groups in the process. seeking a postponement of the Madaya where people are re- Riad Hijab, who heads the AFP and the return of a total of 2,000 morning for them to allow us to A security source in Qadam talks, which are scheduled to ported to have died from starva- council, accused Russia of im- Damascus families, Damascus governor enter. I left four years ago and I said that residents would be al- start in Geneva on Jan. 25. tion. peding negotiations, and also Bushr al-Sabban said. don’t know what happened to my lowed to enter on Wednesday to “We have no intentions to The UN said on Monday it said the opposition could not ne- About 170 former opposition house,” she said. check on their homes, but would postpone the talks from January would not issue invitations to gotiate while Syrians were dying undreds of displaced fi ghters will now “carry weapons Rosa, a 29-year-old woman have to leave again later in the to February. This is both the po- the talks until major powers pro- as a result of blockades and bom- Syrian families returned in the right way, shoulder-to- carrying her toddler, said she day. sition of Russia and the US, and moting the negotiations, which bardment. Hto check on their homes shoulder with our brave forces wanted to live in her house even In the next stage of the agree- we are confi dent that in the next include the US and Russia, agree He announced the names of in southern Damascus yesterday to defend their region,” Sabban if she found it reduced to rubble. ment, the government will grant days, in January, such talks must which rebel representatives opposition fi gures that would under a truce deal between the said in comments carried by state “I left everything in my home, permission to residents who have start.” should attend. The US and Rus- take part in any talks. They in- regime and opposition fi ghters. media. even my degrees, my documents, registered with it to return more Lavrov said various dates were sia support opposite sides in the cluded Mohamed Alloush, a po- Carrying plastic bags and lug- Many of the families now live and my clothes, when I left three permanently and be able to come being mooted, but the fi nal de- confl ict. litical fi gure in the Jaysh al-Islam ging suitcases, they gathered at a in the southwest of Damascus years ago, because I thought I and go. cision was for the UN Secretary De Mistura’s spokeswoman, (Islam Army) rebel group that is train station in the capital wait- province and returned in large, would come back the next day,” Syria’s government has cham- General on the advice of his spe- Jessy Chahine, declined to com- deemed a terrorist group by Da- ing to enter the rebel stronghold green buses, an AFP journalist she said. pioned similar local ceasefi res to cial envoy for Syria, Staff an De ment on yesterday’s talks, except mascus and Moscow. of Qadam. said. Umm Ahmad, 42, said she was try to end the confl ict which has Mistura. to say the UN’s Syria envoy was Lavrov said Moscow still con- A deal for the district was Umm Arab, 60, was squatting returning just in time for her killed more than 260,000 people “We hope the negotiating “continuing his consultations.” sidered the Jaysh al-Islam and struck in 2014 and is being grad- on the edge of the sidewalk with brother’s wedding. since March 2011. process will begin this month,” Russia and Iran, which support Ahrar al-Sham groups terrorist ually implemented - one of many bags of food and clothes for her “We prepared everything for But the opposition accuses the Lavrov said. “I stress that this Assad, have rejected attempts by organisations and that a ceasefi re localised truces reached around sons, who had stayed inside the the celebration, and we will have government of using siege tactics will be just the start, because of Saudi Arabia, which like the US after a political process is put in the country. district. a small party with my siblings to force rebels to concede to the course it will take a lot of time, and European powers opposes As- place “will not apply to the ter- It called for an end to fi ghting “I have been waiting since this and relatives,” she said excitedly. agreements. a whole range of arduous tasks sad, to organise the Syrian opposi- rorist organisations.” Before settling down, Gaza couples get marriage help

Reuters programme’s sponsors. “We want ceiving advice from a psychiatrist derstanding, rather than poverty Gaza to encourage couples to come be- about how to open up and main- or hardship, was the main rea- cause there is still hesitation.” tain a smile in the face of hardship. son for divorce in Gaza. Divorce Marriage is a big business in “A wife should understand that remains a last choice for a failed esitant but curious, sev- Gaza, with 20,000 unions last life sometimes is diff erent from marriage and less common in eral Palestinian couples year, 5,000 more than in 2014, the dreams she had while a sin- comparison to neighbouring Arab Hwalked into a classroom in when a 50-day war between Israel gle,” said Bilal Yassin, the project’s countries, yet the course’s backers Gaza this week to attend the fi rst and Hamas militants interrupted co-ordinator and a trainer in Is- hope their guidance will minimise marriage guidance programme in plans. Much of the rubble and de- lamic matters. “Using nice words it. the conservative, Hamas-run en- struction of that confl ict remains. like sweetheart when asking your “We want to change the con- clave. Since more than half of Gaza’s husband to do something or bring ception of the male, where some The initiative, backed by three 1.95mn people are aged under you something would have a nice may think a woman is only a Palestinian ministries, the Islam- 25, the marriage fi gures are only impact.” machine for breeding,” said Jojo. ic University and British-based likely to grow. Most Gazans can- Five of the women wore Niqab, “The woman is a human being charity Interpal, is designed to not easily leave the densely-pop- the full Islamic covering showing due appreciation and respect.” prepare young couples for mar- ulated coastal territory, which is only their eyes, while the others While shy and reticent to speak ried life, including religious, legal, blockaded by Israel and Egypt. covered their heads. Since Hamas about their attendance, some medical and psychological coun- But even if marriage is popu- seized control of Gaza in 2007, the participants were impressed by selling. lar, it does not mean it is always population has broadly adopted the classes. Courses are free, with couples a success, particularly with many more conservative ways. “I was shocked to see that only off ered gifts worth $60 to encour- unions arranged. While US-style “I explain to them the diff er- a small number of people were age them to attend the 15-hour counselling feels awkward for ent ways they express them- here,” said Hassan Meqbel, 25. course. Some classes are mixed many Muslims, the promot- selves, expressing love and hate “Many young people are com- and some are held with the part- ers hope it will make marriages and emotions,” said psychiatrist pletely ignorant about marriage, ners separated. stronger. Jamail Tahrawi. “I call upon them all they know is that they want to “So far it is a trial course of 90 There were 10 couples in Tues- to open up in all matters.” Once get married and then they go on brides and grooms,” said Hassan day’s class, with brides being married, Tahrawi urges couples to with their heritage of tradition,” al-Jojo, head of the Higher Reli- taught about their rights and du- discuss everything. he said, suggesting changes were Bilal Yassin, project’s co-ordinator and a trainer in Islamic matters, writes on a board as he gives marriage gious Judicial Council, one of the ties under Islam and the men re- Jojo said a lack of mutual un- necessary. counselling class to Palestinian brides, at the Islamic University in Gaza City. Gulf Times 12 Thursday, January 21, 2016 AFRICA Militants Graduation parade shot dead in Kenyan port town

Reuters Qaeda, killed 67 people during an at- Mombasa tack on the luxury Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013. Last April, Shebaab gunmen killed enyan police yesterday killed about 150 people when they stormed four suspected Islamists in the Kenya’s Garissa University. Kcoastal resort of Malindi after The group staged a major attack on receiving a tip-off that the men were a Kenyan base in Somalia last week, planning to attack a local shopping claiming to have killed more than 100 mall and a police post, the local police Kenyan soldiers. Kenyan offi cials have chief said. not disclosed the death toll, but news- In the past, such attacks in Kenya paper pictures of coffi ns bringing back have been carried out by Shebaab, a dead Kenyan soldiers from Somalia Somali militant group which wants to has ratcheted up pressure on President punish Kenya for sending its troops Uhuru Kenyatta. into Somalia as part of an African Un- Shebaab yesterday published scores ion peacekeeping force. of photos purporting to show show- Mutava Muchangi, the local police ing bullet-riddled bodies of Kenyan chief, said four men were killed when po- soldiers killed during Friday’s attack, Members of the Somali military parade after attending a commando training exercise at the United Arab Emirates military training camp in Mogadishu. lice raided a residence in Malindi, 120km along with looted army equipment. north of the port Mombasa, following a The group says it is holding some Ken- tip-off by members of the public. yan soldiers captive. “The suspects started fi ring at our Kenyatta on Tuesday said the Ken- offi cers when they were challenged to yan military was conducting search surrender, and so we shot and killed and rescue operations for troops in the them,” Muchangi told Reuters. The wake of the attack on the Ceel Cadde men had also thrown a grenade at po- base, close to the Kenyan border, but South Africa puts US rapper in lice offi cers but none was injured. did not confi rm if any soldiers were Muchangi said police had recovered being held by militants. a pistol and fi ve grenades. The men “Their actions have only made us had fl ed from Mombasa during a po- stronger and emboldened us in our lice crackdown on suspected Islamists determination to defeat them,” Keny- the dock over ‘world passport’ with ties to Somali militants, he said. atta said in televised address to the Shebaab, which is aligned to Al nation. AFP tered South Africa with a legitimate US World Citizens” passport, Apleni said. According to immigration offi cials, Johannesburg passport in November, and had a visi- The World Government of World Mos Def entered the country ten times tor’s visa valid until February. Citizens was established in 1953 by since 2013, always on a 90-day tourist “The major problem why he could the late peace activist Garry Davis, an visa using a US passport. merican rapper Mos Def will be not get on the Ethiopian fl ight was the American who renounced his citizen- He is believed to have been living in Gunmen kill cops tried in a South African court in document he produced at the immi- ship after World War II. Cape Town for some years. AMarch after being arrested for gration counter, the World Passport, Both WikiLeaks founder Julian As- “I haven’t broken any law. And I’m presenting a “world passport” when which South Africa does not recog- sange and intelligence leaker Edward being treated like a criminal,” he said Reuters Multiple jihadist groups are based in trying to fl y out of the country, offi cials nise,” home aff airs director general Snowden are reported to be holders on a message released via superstar Bamako Mali’s vast and lawless desert north, said yesterday. Mkuseli Apleni told reporters. of world passports, which are not of- rapper Kanye West’s Twitter feed. with some degree of cooperation be- The 42-year-old hip hop artist, actor “Immigration offi cers had also de- fi cially recognised. In 2014, Mos Def cancelled a tween them. During a short-lived al- and activist, whose real name is Dante tected that his spouse and minor child Mos Def, who also uses the name planned tour of the US due to what his unmen killed three gendarmes liance with Tuareg rebels, they briefl y Terrel Smith, was arrested in Cape had overstayed their visit to the Re- Yassin Bey, faces charges including us- publicists called “legal and immigra- in an overnight ambush near a seized northern cities in 2012 but were Town last week while attempting to public. ing a false identity, and “aiding and tion issues”. Gtown in central Mali, the de- scattered by French forces a year later. board a fl ight to Ethiopia. He was later “Smith will appear for trial on March abetting his family to stay illegally in In his acclaimed hip-hop career he fence ministry said yesterday, con- In a sign of their resurgence, 30 released on bail of 5,000 rand ($300). 8 to answer the immigration charges.” South Africa”. His family’s visas expired has produced classic solo songs as well fi rming the latest in a growing wave people were killed and dozens of oth- The South African Department of Smith attempted to leave the coun- in April 2014, and they have been given as albums with Talib Kweli in the duo of attacks that risk spilling over into ers were wounded last week in an Home Aff airs said the actor had en- try using a “World Government of until January 29 to leave South Africa. Black Star. Mali’s West African neighbours. attack on a hotel and restaurant in However, UN and French offi cials Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, vigorously denied a claim by Islam- carried out by Al Qaeda in the Islamic ist militant group Ansar Dine to have Maghreb (AQIM). conducted two other lethal attacks on Both AQIM and FLM claimed re- their convoys in the northern Kidal re- sponsibility for a similar attack on a Biafra activist denies treason charges in Nigeria court gion since January 15. luxury hotel in the capital Bamako on The identities of the assailants in Nov. 20 which killed 20 people. the central Mali attack were not im- The Malian government is trying AFP mediately known. to implement a peace deal with two Abuja However a Malian army source, who secular Tuareg-led armed groups Co- asked not to be named, said that fi ght- ordination of Azawad Movements and ers from the Massina Liberation Front Platform based in northern Mali, in he leader of a pro-Biafra group, whose arrest (FLM), another militant group based talks being held in Algiers this week. sparked a wave of protests by supporters in Niger- in the area, were believed to have been The peace deal was agreed last June Tia’s southeast, pleaded not guilty yesterday in court behind the attack near the town of but its implementation has stalled on treason charges. Mopti. amid mutual recriminations between Nnamdi Kanu last month refused to enter a plea when He said three or four gendarmes signatories, delaying eff orts to tackle he was fi rst charged with “treasonable felony”, arguing he were killed in the raid. the resurgent jihadists. had no confi dence in the then trial judge. Mali’s army and a 10,000-strong In a sign of persisting tension, the But at a hearing before a new judge in the federal high UN peacekeeping force (MINUSMA) two Tuareg-led armed groups issued court in Abuja yesterday, he denied a six-count indictment are frequently targeted in attack by a joint statement accusing the Mal- and was remanded in custody until a bail application on militants. Strikes on France’s better- ian army of “massacring locals” near January 25. equipped regional counter-terror Timbuktu last week in a “serious, un- The prosecution alleges that between 2014 and last force Barkhane are less frequent. precedented act since the signing of year, Kanu and others at large in Britain called for some The attack near the town of Mopti the deal that imperils timid advances southern states to secede from Nigeria to form an inde- comes as an Islamist insurgency in- made so far”. pendent Republic of Biafra. tensifi es in Mali and spreads across A Malian army spokesman was not The call was made on Radio Biafra, of which West Africa into areas previously con- immediately available for comment Kanu is director, and was done “with (the) sidered outside the sphere of opera- although offi cials have previously de- Indigenous People of Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu attends a hearing yesterday at the Federal High intention to levy war against Nigeria”, according to the tions of militants. nied the allegations. Court in Abuja. charge sheet. He was also charged with managing an unlawful soci- ety, unlawful possession of fi rearms and concealing the import of a radio transmitter. Kanu, who also heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, was arrested by Nigeria’s secret police in October when he arrived in the country from London, where the radio station is based. He has emerged as the new face of the campaign for a separate Biafran state, nearly 50 years after a previous uni- lateral declaration of independence sparked a brutal civil war. The confl ict from 1967 to 1970 left some 1mn people dead, many from starvation and disease, as Nigerian troops blockaded the fl edgling Republic of Bia- fra. IPOB supporters have held a series of protests across the country in recent months to demand his release and voice their calls for a breakaway state for the southeastern Igbo people. On December 17, IPOB said fi ve campaigners were killed during celebrations after the high court in Abuja ordered Kanu’s release on bail. The authorities in Abuja, however, have refused to re- lease him, leading to fresh protests. The police in the southern state of Rivers said yesterday 10 suspected pro-Biafra protesters arrested last week had been charged with criminal conspiracy and treasonable felony. The defendants were detained en route to the state cap- ital Port Harcourt “with the intent to engage in a conduct likely to undermine public peace”, said police spokesman Ahmad K Mohamed. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 13 AMERICA 2015 was hottest in modern times

AFP scores how critical NASA’s Earth observa- Washington tion programme is, it is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice - now is the time to act on cli- listering heat blanketed the Earth last mate.” Last year marked the fourth time a year like never before, making 2015 global temperature record has been set this Bby far the hottest year in modern century. times and raising new concerns about the Moreover, the latest fi nding adds to a accelerating pace of climate change. steady rise in heat across land and sea sur- Not only was 2015 the warmest world- faces that have seen records repeatedly wide since 1880, it shattered the previous broken over the years. record held in 2014 by the widest margin “Since 1997, which at the time was the ever observed, said the report by the Na- warmest year on record, 16 of the subse- tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- quent 18 years have been warmer than that tration (NOAA). year,” said the NOAA report. “During 2015, the average temperature Last year alone, 10 months had record across global land and ocean surfaces was high temperatures for their respective 1.62 Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the months. 20th century average,” said the NOAA re- The heat was felt worldwide, with un- port, released yesteday. precedented warmth covering much of “This was the highest among all years in Central America and the northern half of the 1880-2015 record. South America. “This is also the largest margin by which Hot temperatures were observed in parts the annual global temperature record has of northern, southern and eastern Europe been broken.” as well as western Asia and a large section NASA, which monitors global climate of east-central Siberia. using a fl eet of satellites and weather sta- Regions of eastern and southern Africa tions, confi rmed that last year broke experienced more blistering heat than ever, records for heat in contemporary times. as did large parts of the northeastern and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin endorses him at a rally at Iowa State University in Ames, NASA said that the temperature changes equatorial Pacifi c boosted by the El Nino Iowa. are largely driven by increased carbon diox- weather phenomenon. ide and other human-made emissions into A separate group, Berkeley Earth - a US the atmosphere. non-profi t organisation that says it was “Climate change is the challenge of our founded by people who saw some merit in generation,” said NASA administrator the claims of climate change sceptics - an- Charles Bolden. nounced similar fi ndings last week. “Today’s announcement not only under- “2015 was unambiguously the hottest year on record,” it said in a statement. “For the fi rst time in recorded history, Palin backs ‘master’ the Earth’s temperature is clearly more than one degree C (1.8 F) above the 1850- 1900 average.” NOAA’s announcement comes against a backdrop of the recently completed Paris climate talks, at which the goal of capping global warming at 2C above preindustrial dealmaker Trump levels was enshrined. A NASA Goddard Institute for Space According to Berkeley Earth’s analysis, AFP boomed Palin as she stood along- During the drunken fi ght at his appreciation for Palin on Tuesday. Studies illustration released yesterday of the planet is already about halfway to that Washington side Trump at his campaign rally in mother’s house in Wasilla, Alaska, “Without her support, I wouldn’t the temperature spike last year. milestone. Ames, Iowa. Track Palin allegedly brandished a be in the Senate,” he wrote. “Re- “The president has to keep us rifl e and threatened to shoot him- gardless of what she does in 2016, I ormer vice presidential nomi- safe economically and militarily,” self, according to the documents will always be a big fan.” Retired SEAL had bin Laden corpse photo on his computer nee Sarah Palin endorsed stressed Palin, who rocketed to po- fi led in court and posted online. Trump began the day by receiving FRepublican billionaire Don- litical stardom when John McCain Palin repeatedly knocked the Re- an endorsement from the daughter A former US Navy SEAL kept an unauthor- tional security risks and said the US should ald Trump on Tuesday, saying the plucked her from obscurity to be his publican establishment for seeking of iconic US actor John Wayne. ised photo of Osama bin Laden’s corpse on not brandish “trophies” of its victory. real estate mogul would “lead the running mate. to derail Trump, warning that they “He represented strength, he rep- a computer that he turned over to investiga- Robert Luskin, an attorney for Bissonnette, charge” as America’s next president. Trump is a “master” dealmaker, have been “wearing this political resented power,” qualities “missing” tors, a US news site reported Tuesday. told The Intercept his client had previously Palin, who fl irted with her own she said. “He knows how to lead the correctness kind of like a suicide from today’s president, Trump said The discovery came after Matthew Bisson- been under investigation, but the Depart- White House run, emerged as a con- charge. So troops, hang in there be- vest.” at the John Wayne Birthplace Muse- nette, who shot bin Laden in the infamous ment of Justice closed that probe in August. servative icon and political pow- cause help’s on the way.” And she used her trademark on- um in Winterset, Iowa, where a life- 2011 raid on the Al Qaeda leader’s compound Luskin said he brokered a deal in 2014 for erbroker following her failed 2008 Using rhetoric that has helped stage drama to mock reporters she size wax fi gure of the actor served as in Pakistan, gave investigators a copy of his Bissonnette to give the US government some vice presidential bid. her rally supporters on the cam- says have criticised her for years. a backdrop. hard drive. of his millions of dollars in book profits. He Since then she has endorsed sev- paign trail, Palin drew huge cheers “Media heads are spinning,” she Wayne made his mark in a Holly- He had been under investigation for alleg- did not comment on the purported photo, or eral far-right candidates who went - and smiles from Trump - when she snickered. “This is going to be so wood career that stretched from the edly revealing classified information in his whether an investigation remained open. on to win seats in Congress. blasted President Barack Obama as a much fun.” 1930s to the 1970s, mainly portray- book about the incident, No Easy Day. Aside from the image, some of the records As the former Alaska gover- “weak-kneed capitulator in chief” Trump said he was honoured to ing tough cowboys. Bissonnette gave investigators his hard found on Bissonnette’s computer were not nor and gun-enthusiast jumped who leads from behind, particularly receive Palin’s endorsement. “She Meanwhile it was more bad news drive as part of a deal to avoid prosecution part of the non-prosecution deal, so led to back into the political limelight, it when it comes to battling so-called is a friend and a high-quality person for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s cam- over the material, two people familiar with a widening probe being conducted by the emerged that her son had been ar- Islamic State extremists. whom I have great respect for. I am paign Tuesday, when CNN released the deal told The Intercept website. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, The rested on domestic violence charges “Are you ready for a commander in proud to have her support,” he said. a new poll showing her main rival, On it, they found the Bin Laden photo and Intercept reported. after a fi ght involving a rifl e. chief who will let our warriors do their Palin’s Trump nod is seen as a Senator Bernie Sanders, holding a documents detailing Bissonnette’s work as a Investigators have started looking into On the political front the coveted job and go kick ISIS’s ass?” she asked. snub to conservative Senator Ted whopping 27-point lead over her consultant while also serving with the SEAL Bissonnette’s business deals, and whether he endorsement of Trump comes just The endorsement came as news Cruz, who is neck and neck with in New Hampshire, the state which Team 6, the Intercept reported. The US gov- inappropriately used his SEAL connections 13 days before votes are cast in Iowa, emerged that Palin’s son Track, 26, Trump in Iowa and running second votes second in the nomination race. ernment has never released images of bin to help in ventures with military equipment- the debut contest in the presiden- was arrested on domestic violence to him nationally. Support for Sanders has surged by Laden’s body and says the Al Qaeda leader supply firms, The Intercept wrote. Bin Laden tial primary race, and it could give charges Monday after an armed She campaigned for Cruz during 10 points since the previous CNN/ was buried at sea shortly after the raid. was killed in May 2011 when SEALs stormed a welcome boost to Trump, the cur- altercation with his girlfriend, ac- his Senate race in Texas, and Cruz, WMUR poll, with 60% of likely President Barack Obama has cited na- his hideaway in Abbottabad, Pakistan. rent Republican frontrunner. cording to court documents fi led on perhaps getting out front of the voters backing him, compared with “No more pussyfooting around!” Tuesday. Trump endorsement, tweeted his 33% supporting Clinton.

Governor apologises for Flint water crisis Bomb and shooting threats target

Reuters two dozen New Jersey schools Lansing, Michigan

Reuters ‘Sick’ teachers shut most Detroit schools acing protests, lawsuits and calls for Newark his resignation over drinking wa- Nearly all public schools in Detroit to be rescued by the state of Fter contamination in Flint, Michigan were closed yesterday, the city’s Michigan, according to a report Governor Rick Snyder on Tuesday apolo- omb and mass shooting school system said, the second released this month by Citizens gised to the city’s residents and called for threats were made against time in as many weeks that teach- Research Council of Michigan, a the state to spend $28mn on fi xes. Bmore than two dozen ers have called in sick to protest non-profit public aff airs group. “To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight schools in New Jersey on Tues- deteriorating conditions. The district has been under as I have before, I am sorry and I will fi x it,” day, along with schools in at least Detroit public schools reported state oversight since 2009 but Snyder said in his annual speech to lawmak- six other states, forcing evacua- 86 of its 97 schools were forced continues to struggle financially ers, adding that federal, state and local lead- tions and lockdowns that aff ect- to close due to a high volume of because of falling enrolment and ers had failed residents. ed thousands of students. teacher absences. On January 11, hefty pension and debt obliga- Snyder, a Republican, asked lawmakers to They were the latest in a string 64 of the district’s schools had tions. Teachers have complained authorise $28mn in spending on diagnostic of anonymous threats of vio- to shut. about crumbling infrastructure, tests, health treatment for children and ado- lence, all apparent hoaxes, made Earlier yesterday, the district mould in classrooms, leaky ceil- lescents, replacement of old fi xtures in Flint against US schools in recent listed on Facebook the schools ings and too many students per schools and day care centres and a study of weeks. that will be shut, while saying that class. the city’s water pipes. He also said addition- As least 26 schools in New all staff members are expected to The Detroit News reported that al funding would be needed. Jersey received the threats by report to work as usual. The district teachers yesterday also plan to Some people have reported rashes, hair phone starting at about 8.50am said nine schools were to open. hold a rally and vote on an ongo- loss and other problems since Flint, un- EST, said Bergen County Sher- Detroit schools are drowning ing program of calling in sick until der a state-appointed emergency manager, iff Michael Saudino, adding that under $3.5bn in debt and needs their demands are met. switched to Flint River water in April 2014 the schools were all subsequently from a Detroit-run water system to save declared safe. money, attorneys for the residents said. “When we catch the people fi eld, Tenafl y, Clifton, Fair Lawn, made by phone in a robotic or Complaints about the water began with- doing this, an example is going to Leonia, Bergenfi eld, Englewood computer generated-style voice, in a month of the switch, but Flint did not be made,” Saudino said. and Hackensack, police said. to at least three schools. return to Detroit water until October 2015 Made in a robotic voice, the Some of the New Jersey schools The menacing calls were made after tests showed elevated levels of lead in Flint Mayor Karen Weaver speaks as a protestor holds up a placard yesterday at the threats appeared to come from were threatened with bombs and at about 9.30am on Tuesday Flint tap water and in some children. 84th winter meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC. computer-generated phone others with mass shootings, po- and forced the evacuation of el- The corrosive river water caused more numbers that could be traced lice said. ementary schools in Millsboro, lead to leach from Flint pipes than Detroit Snyder has promised to release his Flint- “The governor has a business agenda and back to a location in Bakersfi eld, In Massachusetts, schools Middletown and a high school water did, increasing contaminants in the related e-mails from 2014 and 2015, but has his business agenda was to take over the wa- California, Saudino said. in at least 15 communities re- in Greenwood, police said in a tap water. rejected calls for his resignation by some ter to profi t in it,” said Lila Cabbil, a demon- Bergen County prosecutor ceived threats, state police said. statement. Police did not release President Barack Obama met on Tuesday protesters. strator from Detroit. Gurbir Grewal said his offi ce felt They off ered no details but said information about the nature of with recently-elected Flint Mayor Karen “Lansing failed in one of its most ba- Several lawsuits have been fi led. confi dent it would help catch the no hazardous materials or other the threats. Weaver over the crisis, which has become sic functions, ensuring the well-being and The latest on Tuesday asks a judge to stop culprits. “There are digital fi n- credible threats were found after Threats were also made to part of the US presidential debate with can- health of our citizens,” state House Demo- Flint from issuing shutoff notices to resi- gerprints and we will follow up on searches of the schools. schools in communities includ- didates on both sides questioning the slow cratic Leader Tim Greimel said after the dents, who are still receiving bills for water each and every lead,” Grewal said. Nine Boston-area schools ing Iowa City, Iowa, Portsmouth, response. speech. declared undrinkable. The threats, which may have were the targets of similar threats New Hampshire, Mesa, Arizona The US Environmental Protection Agency At least 1,000 people protested at the Attorney Cary McGehee said lawyers have been automated because they last Friday. and North Miami, Florida, ac- said it acted too slowly to address the situa- Capitol on Tuesday, some holding baby bot- heard from more than 500 people reporting were so similar, were received Delaware State Police said they cording to statements from local tion in Flint. tles fi lled with brown water. health problems and fi nancial hardships. by high schools in Teaneck, Gar- were also investigating threats, law enforcement agencies. Gulf Times 14 Thursday, January 21, 2016 ASEAN

China says oil rig not drilling in disputed waters after Hanoi complains

Reuters decades, when China parked it for 10 “We hope the Vietnamese side can city Sanya on China’s Hainan island, platform and rents it out. led to the worst breakdown in rela- Beijing weeks in waters Vietnam considers its view this calmly, meet China half way and 150km west of the Paracel Islands Neither COSL nor oil giant China tions since a brief border war in 1979. own. and jointly work hard to appropriately that China occupies and Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) — Vietnam’s concern over the rig fol- This week Vietnam said Beijing had handle relevant maritime issues.” claims. which leased the platform in 2014 lows its complaints, echoed by the hina’s Foreign Ministry said steered the rig, the Haiyang Shiyou Annual trade between the commu- It is 210km from the coast of Viet- amid the previous dispute — an- Philippines, over China’s recent test yesterday that a $1bn deepwater 981, into a stretch where jurisdiction is nist neighbours exceeds $60bn but an- nam, which places it in roughly the swered telephone calls to seek com- flights on an artificial island in the Coil rig was not drilling in dis- unclear. ti-China sentiment is strong in Viet- same area as between June and Octo- ment. PetroChina, the flagship disputed Spratly archipelago. puted territory in the South China Sea, “According to what is understood, nam, where people are embittered over ber 2015. subsidiary of CNPC, said it was not China considers most of the South in response to a warning from Vietnam China’s Haiyang Shiyou 981 drill- what many see as a history of Chinese The agency said it would be operat- aware who was currently leasing the China Sea to be under its jurisdic- against such activity. ing platform is operating in Chinese- bullying and territorial infringements ing there until March 10 and warned platform. tion but Brunei, Malaysia, the Phil- Vietnam closely tracks the move- controlled waters that are completely in the South China Sea. ships to stay 2,000m away. In 2014, China’s deployment of the ippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have ment of the oil rig, which in mid-2014 undisputed,” Chinese Foreign Ministry China’s Maritime Safety Adminis- China Oilfi eld Services Ltd (COSL), rig about 120 nautical miles off Viet- competing claims. About $5tn in caused the worst diplomatic break- spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news tration said yesterday it would be drill- a subsidiary of China National Off - nam’s coast, in what Vietnam con- ship-borne trade passes through the down between the neighbours in briefi ng. ing roughly 140km south of the resort shore Oil Corp (CNOOC), manages the siders its exclusive economic zone, waters each year. Tight security in Indonesia Thai man jailed for six years over Facebook royal ‘slur’

AFP in its verdict. The court did not light years is a major factor in Bangkok provide details on the content of the political chaos that has be- the posts, as is commonplace in set Thailand for much of the last lese majeste convictions. decade, as competing elites jos- Thai man was sentenced Even when details are known, tle for infl uence. yesterday to six years media must heavily self censor Last year two people received Ain jail for two Facebook when reporting on such cases to 25 and 30 year sentences respec- posts about the king that were avoid falling foul of the same law. tively, both over Facebook posts deemed in breach of the coun- Thai Lawyers for Human — record breaking jail terms that try’s draconian royal defamation Rights described Piya as a former drew international condemna- law. stockbroker who was fi rst ar- tion. The conviction is the latest jail rested in December 2014 and has The boundaries for what term handed down in an unprec- been in custody ever since. counts as a royal insult have also edented lese majeste crackdown King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the expanded dramatically. launched since arch-royalist world’s longest-serving mon- Last month a man was ar- generals seized power in a May arch, is shielded from any de- rested for allegedly making a 2014 coup. bate and criticism by one of the satirical online remark about the Convictions have sky rocketed world’s harshest royal defama- king’s favourite dog who recent- since the takeover with record tion laws. ly died. As of early December, at breaking jail sentences, many for Anyone convicted of insulting least 61 people have been pros- social media posts, as authori- the king, queen, heir or regent, ecuted for lese majeste since the ties broaden their interpretation can face up to 15 years in jail on coup, according to local human of the law. each count. rights group iLaw. Bangkok Criminal Court said Bhumibol remains widely re- Lese majeste prosecutions 46-year-old Piya Julkittiphan vered in Thailand but has spent almost always result in a con- was convicted for posting two much of the last two years in viction, often in secret courts. pictures with messages in 2013 hospital and is rarely seen in Many defendants plead guilty, Indonesia police patrol at Kuta beach area in Denpasar, on the resort island of Bali yesterday. Indonesia police announced they had that risked making the public public. Thailand’s military which normally leads to a re- arrested a man they believe financed the deadly Jakarta attacks, alleging the suspect received the funds from the Islamic State group (IS). “disrespectful or unfaithful” to styles itself as the champion of duced sentence. the monarchy. the monarchy and army-chief Most of those who fall foul of “The judge sentenced him to turned Prime Minister General the law are regime critics but nine years but he has given useful Prayut Chan-O-Cha has vowed they also include multiple sen- testimony during the investiga- to root out all criticism of the ior offi cials swept up in nebulous tion so the court commuted one royal family. corruption probes — at least two third of that sentence to six years Analysts say uncertainty as of whom died in military custody imprisonment,” the court said the king’s reign enters its twi- last year.

Myanmar arrests Outpouring of grief as Vietnam’s sacred turtle dies A sacred giant turtle venerated as a symbol of Vietnam’s independence struggle has died, state media said, prompting an outpouring of grief and fears the death bodes ill for an upcoming com- munist leadership handover. uprising leader The reptile, a critically endangered swinhoe softshell turtle, occupies a key mythological role Reuters Thailand, but Myanmar au- health, and I wonder why they such as Amnesty International, in Vietnam — in the past the turtle generally sur- Yangon thorities have re-arrested him still want to arrest him.” have said. faced only rarely, with its sightings deemed auspi- several times, in what his family Reuters could not immedi- Gambira’s arrest came just cious. Experts say it was one of only four turtles has described as continued har- ately reach Siochana or govern- two days after a visit by US As- — better known as Yangtze giant softshells — in yanmar has arrested assment for his criticism of the ment offi cials for comment. sistant Secretary of State An- existence. Two are in a zoo China and the other File photo shows a giant soft-shell turtle considered a a former monk and government. In 2007, Gambira emerged as tony Blinken, who urged My- lives in a different lake in Hanoi. It was found sacred symbol of Vietnamese independence being Mleader of a 2007 up- The widely-read Irrawaddy a leading fi gure in a mass pro- anmar to free all the rest of its dead in Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi late guided into a cage for a health check by handlers at rising on grounds of illegally news magazine reported that test over living conditions and political prisoners. Tuesday, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said. Hoan Kiem lake in the heart of Hanoi. crossing the border, media said Gambira was detained again on the oppressive rule of then- “Remaining political prison- The turtle, which weighed about 200 kilograms, yesterday, spotlighting the is- Tuesday by immigration offi c- dictator Than Shwe that was ers must be released and human was said to be anywhere between 80 and more The turtle’s demise was widely mourned on Vi- sue of political prisoners that ers in Mandalay, the country’s dubbed the Saff ron Revolution. rights protected for all, no mat- than 100 years old. It was “possibly the rarest spe- etnamese-language blogs and social media, with faces Aung San Suu Kyi’s in- second largest city, for illegally The government cracked ter what their ethnicity or reli- cies on the planet and definitely the rarest turtle many warning it was a bad omen for upcoming coming government. crossing over from Thailand. down harshly in response, gion,” Blinken said. species... It’s a great blow,” to have lost it, Tim Mc- changes in the ruling Communist Party, which Nyi Nyi Lwin, better known He was traveling with his opening fi re on protesters and A new parliament domi- Cormack of the Asian Turtle Programme, said. begins its five-yearly congress today. as Gambira, was freed from wife, Marie Siochana, to obtain sweeping up those who took nated by Nobel peace laureate “It was clearly an ancient animal, I would say eas- “This is bad news for many people in Hanoi,” said prison during a 2012 general a new passport and faces his part. Gambira’s prison term Suu Kyi’s National League for ily over 100 years old, and so its death does not the Thanh Nien newspaper. amnesty, a year after Myan- fi rst hearing on Wednesday, the of 63 years for his role in the Democracy will sit for the fi rst come as any real great surprise,” he said. Vietnam’s authoritarian rulers will choose a new mar’s junta handed power to a magazine added. protest turned him into one of time on Feb 1, after the party Because of the cultural significance of the turtle, party leader, president and prime minister at the semi-civilian government, fol- “I’m worried about him be- Myanmar’s most prominent won the November election. which many Vietnamese considered “almost party congress. In a story taught to all Vietnam- lowing 49 years of direct rule of cause he can’t get bail,” the political prisoners. Members of Rights groups have urged sacred”, it has not been possible to include the ese schoolchildren, the sacred turtle of Hoan the southeast Asian nation. magazine quoted Siochana as his family were also arrested. the former political prisoner to Hoan Kiem animal in any breeding programmes Kiem is the custodian of the magic sword of Le Since his release, Gambira saying. “He is mentally ill and While in detention, Gam- prioritise the issue of prisoner which could have helped conserve the species, Loi, a 15th century rebel leader who vanquished has divided his time between needs to take medicine regu- bira was repeatedly beaten and releases when the new govern- he added. Chinese invaders. Myanmar and neighbouring larly. He needs to look after his tortured, he and rights groups, ment is formed.

Communist Laos awaits new Vietnam to elect top leadership, set leaders, but same approach likely economic course for next fi ve years Reuters It is unclear who would succeed him as party Bangkok chief, but analysts see Prime Minister Thongsing DPA will be to implement its obligations under Thammavong and Vice President Bounnhang Vo- Hanoi the Trans Pacifi c Partnership once the TPP is rachit among the most likely choices. approved by the National Assembly and rati- aos will unveil a new Communist Party line- Simon Creak, a Laos expert at the University of fi ed by the US Congress,” said Carl Thayer, up this week at a congress expected to usher Melbourne, said there were mixed signals about ietnam’s next batch of leaders and emeritus professor at the University of New Lin some leadership changes, but no shift in the top spot, but Bounnhang’s military back- new economic planning will be deter- South Wales. “Other major challenges in- the authoritarian status quo in a country that has ground could give him the upper hand. Vmined in the coming days as the Com- clude reform of the banking system, con- become one of Asia’s quiet economic success sto- “Up to now, all party general secretaries have munist Party begins its Party Congress today. tinued privatization of state-owned enter- ries. been military men and the military is unlikely to During the eight-day event, which is held prises, and clearing Vietnam’s public debt,” The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party has ruled cede its infl uence,” he said. every fi ve years in the capital, more than Thayer added. for four decades and will choose a party chief, po- “Changes in personnel will most likely be in- 1,500 Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Vo Tri Thanh, deputy director of the Cen- litburo and central committee and approve eco- cremental. In terms of policy, major political re- delegates will elect a new Central Committee tral Institute for Economic Management, nomic targets for the landlocked Southeast Asian form remains extremely unlikely.” that will in turn select the country’s top four said the new leadership would be faced with nation for the next fi ve years. Laos has traditionally been in Vietnam’s orbit seats of power in the single-party state. the challenge of reforming political and eco- From a low base, Laos has enjoyed one of Asia’s and mirrors its political system. Vietnam’s Com- The priorities for the congress include nomic institutions to accommodate the na- strongest growth rates, expanding at an average munist Party will also hold a fi ve-yearly congress “building a clean, strong party, developing tion’s rising economic status. of 7.8% since 2011, driven by mining, hydropower this week. national power and socialism, pushing for a “The most pressing task this congress must and foreign investment, much from communist China’s sway is growing as it courts Laos ag- comprehensive reform, protecting the coun- tackle will be reforming (political) institutions, neighbour China. gressively with loans and investment, particularly try, ensuring peace and stability, and striving and re-structuring the economy,” he said, adding Media coverage of the congress has so far been for infrastructure. to turn Vietnam into a basic modern indus- that agriculture, services and tourism also need limited to progress reports on development, in- In December, China and Laos started work on a trial country,” said Dinh The Huynh, a mem- reform. The party is to target maintaining annual cluding higher incomes, business growth and $6.3bn, 418-km railway, planned to reach speeds ber of the Politburo. A decoration with a Communist logo promoting economic growth at 6.5-7% on average between better infrastructure and healthcare access for a of up to 200kph on some stretches. As the country awaits political transition, the 12th national congress of Vietnam’s Communist 2016 and 2020. At the end of that period the aver- population of 6.8mn. US investment and infl uence is limited. key economic fi gures looking promising. Party before its preparatory session at the national age GDP per capita will reach 3,200-3,500 dollars Leadership candidates have not been revealed Secretary of State John Kerry visits Laos on GDP grew 6.7% in 2015, the highest rise since convention centre in Hanoi yesterday. from 2,109 dollars last year. It also wants to bring in a country known for secretive politics, but Monday. Later this year, Barack Obama will be- 2008 and infl ation was 0.6% in 2015, the urban unemployment rate under 4% from 10% 79-year-old president and party chief Choum- come the fi rst US president to visit the country for lowest level in the past 15 years. Trans Pacifi c Partnership (TPP) with the US now. The party plans that by 2020, 95% of urban mally Sayasone is expected to retire after a decade a summit Laos will host, as the chair of the Asso- The nation also negotiated several im- and 10 other Pacifi c Rim countries. residents and 90% of rural residents will have ac- in charge. ciation of South East Asian Nations (Asean). portant economic agreements including the “One of the major challenges for Vietnam cess to clean water. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 15 AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA China graft watchdog monitors teachers

Reuters nese Communist Party chief Beijing of Urumqi, the capital of the violence-prone far-western region of Xinjiang, for 12 years hina’s anti-graft for corruption. watchdog has sent in- Yang Gang, who was in- Cspectors to universi- dicted for accepting bribes last ties to monitor teachers for year, served as party secretary “improper” remarks made in of Urumqi between 1999 and class, a top offi cial was quoted 2006. as saying yesterday, part of ef- forts to instil Communist Par- Rules that took eff ect ty rules in education. on January 1 bar party Wang Liying, who runs the members from making graft-busting Central Com- irresponsible remarks mission for Discipline In- about major policies spection’s team based at the education ministry, said in a The Beijing court said in a statement on the watchdog’s statement that Yang abused website that part of their job his power while working in was also to enforce political Xinjiang by providing “assist- discipline. ance” to others in promotions Rules that took eff ect on and winning contracts. January 1 bar party members He also took 13.79mn yuan from making irresponsible re- ($2.10mn) in bribes that were marks about major policies, channelled via his wife and Students take part in a protest at the campus of Hong Kong’s leading university HKU yesterday. or, in other words, criticising son, the court said. them, and it is likely Wang was Yang confessed to his crimes referring to this. and gave help in the investi- Her inspectors were mostly gation, meaning he received a on the lookout for problems lighter sentence, it added. related to following the party’s President Xi Jinping has line and policies, she said. launched a sweeping campaign “We are increasing our su- against deep-seated graft. pervision and inspection of Xinjiang is one of China’s political discipline,” Wang most sensitive regions. HK students protest said. Hundreds have died there in “We are upping supervi- unrest in recent years, blamed sion and inspection of certain by the government on Islamist teachers at colleges and uni- militants who want to estab- versities and certain improper lish an independent state. remarks made in the class- Many rights groups and for- room,” she added, without eign experts though say the elaborating. root cause of the problems is ‘pro-Beijing’ offi cial Crackdowns on what aca- unhappiness among the Mus- demics can say are nothing lim Uighur people who call Protests in Hong Kong are pointment but the school’s autonomy is jing-centric patriotic teaching in schools. als to Hong Kong fell 2.5% year-on-year new in China. Curriculums Xinjiang home over controls refusing to die-down threatened,” student leader Yvonne Leung The plan was later dropped. in 2015 to 59.32mn, the fi rst decline since and speech at universities, in on their religion and culture. told protesters through loudspeakers. zTour groups to Hong Kong could 2003 when the city was hit by an outbreak particular, are tightly control- China’s top prosecutor said Agencies “It’s an abuse of power,” she said. shrink by as much as two-thirds in the of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome led by the government, fearful on its offi cial microblog that Hong Kong Li, a member of Hong Kong’s executive fi rst half of this year, an industry executive (Sars). of a repeat of the pro-democ- the arrest of a deputy security council, the top advisory body to the gov- said, dealing another blow to retailers and This decline has hit luxury retailers in- racy protests in 1989 that were chief in Xinjiang had been ap- ernment, started his three-year term on an economy facing pressure from slowing cluding Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, Cartier led by students. proved on January 15 on suspi- tudents protested on the campus of January 1. He is close to the city’s unpopu- growth in China. owner Richemont and Burberry Group In 2013, a liberal Chinese cion of “abuse of power” and Hong Kong’s leading university yes- lar leader Leung Chun-ying, who is also China accounts for almost three-quar- PLC, with the latest available data show- economist who had been an “accepting bribes”, a move Sterday after a pro-Beijing offi cial was the chancellor of all the city’s universities. ters of all visitors to Hong Kong, which ing overall retail sales falling for the ninth outspoken critic of the party paving the way for his pros- appointed to a senior role, as fears grow of His appointment came after the uni- relies on tourism for about 5% of its GDP. consecutive month in November, the was expelled from the elite Pe- ecution. increasing political interference in educa- versity council rejected the nomination of Tourism numbers, however, fell last year longest period of decline in 13 years. king University, amid a broad- Xie Hui, who ran the Xin- tion. liberal law scholar Johannes Chan as pro- for the fi rst time in more than a decade and Chow Tai Fook, China’s largest jewellery er crackdown on dissent begun jiang prison system from 2010 Around 100 protesters left classrooms vice chancellor at the university, sparking Ricky Tse, chairman of the Hong Kong In- retailer by market value, said this month since President Xi Jinping as- until his promotion in 2013 to to rally at the Hong Kong University cam- protests from staff , students and members bound Tour Operators Association, told it will close 5-6 stores this fi scal year as sumed power three years ago. be a vice head of the Xinjiang pus following the appointment of Arthur of the public. Reuters he expects a further decline this tourism remains weak. zA court in Beijing yes- public security bureau, was Li, known to be close with the govern- Protesters vow to boycott classes for a year as the strong Hong Kong dollar con- Brokerage CLSA report, forecast trips terday jailed a former Chi- put under investigation in July. ment, as chairman of the university’s gov- week. tinues to drive mainland Chinese to com- by mainland Chinese to Hong Kong and erning council last month. Former British colony Hong Kong was paratively cheaper destinations such as the neighbouring gambling hub of Macau The appointment taps into wider con- handed back to China in 1997 under a deal Japan and South Korea. to average 3% growth over the next fi ve cerns that academic freedoms in the semi- that guaranteed the retention of its civil “The drop will continue for sure. The years, compared with 16% growth for all autonomous Chinese city are under threat, liberties and capitalist system for 50 years. winter has just begun,” Tse said, adding other markets. particularly in the wake of student-led But there are fears those freedoms are be- that he expected the number of tours by “The move away from pure shopping Academic pleads not mass pro-democracy rallies in late 2014. ing eroded. Chinese visitors to fall by as much as 60% trips is one of the main reasons that led to “We are conducting a class boycott in In 2012, tens of thousands marched in the fi rst half of this year after halving in the slowdown in Hong Kong,” CLSA said order to target unfairness in the system. against plans for “national education”, a 2015. in a recent report. “Looking into 2016, we guilty to defaming Students have raised opposition to the ap- government proposal to introduce Bei- Government data shows tourist arriv- believe the trend will continue.” ‘comfort women’

AFP approach to explore this issue Seoul that had remained unresolved Climate change fuels bushfi re for so long,” her lawyer said in court. South Korean academ- “She wrote the book only ic accused of writing for interest of the public,” the A a book that defamed lawyer was quoted a saying by risk as Australia heats up wartime sex slaves denied the Yonhap news agency. the charge in court yesterday, As the result of a separate insisting her work was in the civil suit, Park was ordered by AFP a recent incident at Yarloop, arid summer, which usually be- the impact of bushfi res is that bourne for more than four dec- public interest. a court last week to pay nine Sydney 110km south of Perth, left two gins in December. Former prime more and bigger buildings are ades, told AFP. Park Yu-Ha, a professor former sex slaves a total of dead. minister Tony Abbott, a long- being built in disaster-prone ar- “The trees are all fl owering at at Seoul’s Sejong Univer- 90mn won ($74,000) in dam- Firefi ghters warn they are fac- time climate change sceptic, said eas, with Campbell Fuller of In- diff erent times, the vegetables sity, was formally charged ages. She has appealed the de- A sunburnt country... with ing more intense, erratic blazes. during the sweltering 2013-14 surance Council Australia adding this year were all wind and sun by prosecutors last Novem- cision. a pitiless blue sky”, so the “From my experience, fi res summer season that the heat was that often the properties being burnt,” he explained. ber following an investiga- On Tuesday, Park said she “famous poem goes, but appear to be getting more in- “just part and parcel of life in constructed were not resilient to A November report by the tion prompted by complaints would release the full text of where once Australia could rely tense, harder to fi ght, harder to Australia”. extreme weather events. independent Climate Council from a group of so-called her book online for free. on “steady, soaking rain”, a trend plan for... and this is having an An increase in the number and pointed to longer bushfi re sea- “comfort women”. The book blames the plight of hotter and drier weather as the impact on fi refi ghting strate- Climate experts warn that intensity of blazes is predicted sons across the globe. Mainstream historians say of the comfort women on the climate warms is making it more gies,” Darin Sullivan, a 25-year with rising temperatures, to have a serious economic im- “What climate change is doing up to 200,000 women, mostly entire “patriarchal social sys- vulnerable to severe bushfi res. veteran New South Wales state as well as decreasing pact. Bushfi res were estimated is loading the dice towards hav- from Korea but also other tem” in both Japan and South US government scientists are fi refi ghter, told AFP. rainfall in the south, parts of to have cost Australia $247mn in ing the sort of conditions that are parts of Asia including China, Korea that exploited poor, un- widely expected to announce Three of the fi ve hottest years Australia are so dry the risk 2014, but this is forecast to soar conducive to fi res spreading and were forced to work in Japa- educated women. yesterday that 2015 was the on record in Australia have oc- of bushfi res is rising to $548mn by 2050, according being very hot and more uncon- nese military brothels during Park said some passages planet’s hottest year in modern curred in the last three years, ac- to Deloitte Access Economics, trollable,” said lead author Lesley World War II. had been taken out of context times. cording to data compiled by the “Australia is, to use the fa- which cited population growth Hughes, a Macquarie University In The Comfort Women of to build the case against her. Climate experts warn that Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). mous phrase, a land of droughts and infrastructure density as biologist and ecologist. the Empire published in 2013, The hugely emotional com- with rising temperatures, as In 2013, Australia experienced and fl ooding rains,” he added, factors. With the BOM and national Park challenged the domi- fort women issue has marred well as decreasing rainfall in the its warmest year on record, 2014 recalling the well-known Dor- Ken Mansbridge, whose fam- science body CSIRO expecting nant narrative in South Korea ties between Seoul and Tokyo south, parts of Australia are so was the third-hottest while last othea Mackellar poem My ily home was burnt down in the Australia to “warm substantially” that all comfort women were for decades. dry the risk of bushfi res is rising. year was the fi fth-warmest. Country. 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfi res this century, having already seen dragged from their homes by The two neighbours Since November huge swathes “Studies have shown an in- But fi refi ghter Sullivan said he that killed more than 70 people temperatures rise approximately Japanese soldiers. reached an agreement last of the country have been crease in the number of days and his colleagues were witness- in Victoria and adjacent South 1 degree Celsius since 1950, Sul- Park suggested the reality month to resolve the issue, scorched by ferocious blazes, with high levels of fi re danger in ing deteriorating conditions, in- Australia, continues to live in the livan said strategies for fi ghting was more complex, with some with Tokyo off ering an apol- leaving a total of nine dead and southern and eastern Australia,” cluding an apparent increase in same region and has noticed a fi res needed to be overhauled and of the women volunteering -- ogy and a 1bn yen ($8.5mn) hundreds of homes destroyed. BOM climatologist Blair Trewin the number of the most severe stark diff erence in weather pat- climate change addressed. though without necessarily payment to South Korean sur- In South Australia, locals told of told AFP. fi res in recent years. terns. “If this type of intensity and knowing what their eventual vivors. an “Armageddon-like” inferno “One of the things that is ap- The “catastrophic” category “There’s defi nitely a notice- increase continues, then our re- fate would be. Both governments de- sweeping through some areas, parent is a lengthening of the in fi re ratings was introduced able change in the weather pat- sources are very close to being The book also suggested scribed the agreement as “fi - while in Western Australia bush- fi re season, so we’re seeing more after Victoria state endured the terns and in the actual vegeta- overrun at times,” he said. some women forged an emo- nal and irreversible”, but it fi res raged out of control in a high fi re danger days in spring devastating “Black Saturday” tion... I’ve never seen the local “This is our workplace. When tional bond with the soldiers has been criticised by surviv- situation residents described as and autumn, as well as in the bushfi res in 2009 that left 173 area look as dry as it does,” the we go to work to fi ght fi res, our they served, sparking an an- ing comfort women and their “like hell”. core of summer.” dead in Australia’s worst natural 70-year-old retiree, who has workplace is now more danger- gry reaction from some sur- supporters in South Korea for Already this year there have - ‘Catastrophic fi res’ -Bush- disaster. lived in the Macedon Ranges ous because of climate change as viving comfort women. Japan’s refusal to accept for- been scores more bushfi res -- fi res are common in Australia’s Another issue exacerbating about 70km northwest of Mel- well.” “Park provided a diff erent mal legal responsibility. Gulf Times 16 Thursday, January 21, 2016 AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA The walk of fame Women’s activists pin hopes on Tsai

AFP patriarchal culture can’t be Taipei overturned right away,” says Chiang Yueh-chin, head of women’s rights group Taipei nce derided as unfi t Awakening Association. for leadership because Tsai has given little detail Oshe was a “skirt- of her personal life, but did wearer”, the election of Tsai respond after questions on Ing-wen as Taiwan’s fi rst her sexuality ahead of her female president is fuelling fi rst presidential bid in 2012. hopes the island can break “I am not angry, it doesn’t free of the entrenched sex- bother me,” she said at the ism rooted in its traditional time. culture. Tsai, who leads the main Taiwan has a high opposition Democratic Pro- number of women gressive Party (DPP), has said participating in politics Britain’s fi rst woman prime but at the same time they minister, “Iron Lady” Mar- face challenges due to garet Thatcher, is one of her a legacy of a cultural inspirations. tradition that favours “Tsai’s election is a land- boys over girls This picture from North Korea’s off icial Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the full-length statues of president Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il among youths and mark for the women’s rights children in the general hall of the newly-built Youth Movement Museum at an undisclosed location in North Korea. movement in Taiwan,” said “I hope society will give DPP lawmaker Yu Mei-nu, more space to single women, also a women’s rights lawyer. more understanding, more But while her victory is an respect and more tolerance.” illustration of the march of Taiwan has one of the high- women into politics in the est rates of women’s partici- last 20 years, sexist slurs pation in parliament in Asia. during recent and past cam- In legislative elections along- paigns put the spotlight on side the presidential vote, antiquated views that still 38% of seats went to women, run through Taiwanese poli- a 5% increase. tics and society. However, the higher end Swede held for false Taiwan has a high number of politics is still heav- of women participating in ily weighted towards an old- politics but at the same time boys network -- only three they face challenges due to a out of 30-plus cabinet minis- legacy of a cultural tradition ters are women. that favours boys over girls, Campaigners have called and pushes women’s roles as on Tsai to redress the balance primarily that of caregiving. when she takes offi ce in May. data, says Beijing Tsai has frequently been A former law scholar, Tsai criticised for being unmar- is known as a legal specialist Chinese patience with critics of any sador to China, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut. all of the reports on China’s human rights Critics say these accounts deprive the ried and had to bat away skilled in negotiation, rather description is running short “We wish to see full transparency and were “compiled via online research and accused of the right to a fair trial. questions about her sexuality. than a women’s advocate, access,” Schweisgut said at a news con- could not refl ect reality”. It was not possible to reach Dahlin for Rival presidential candi- and her domestic platform Reuters ference, adding that the EU had raised its “Not seeing some cases myself, I cannot comment and unclear whether he has a date James Soong was forced revolves largely around the Beijing concerns with China. guarantee they are true,” the report quoted lawyer. to apologise over a post on his island’s economic woes. Xinhua said Dahlin’s organisation him as saying. On Tuesday, Britain said it remains party’s Facebook page during “Some of the women’s is- “hired and trained others to gather, fabri- Sweden’s embassy in Beijing said it con- deeply concerned about Lee Bo, a British recent campaigning which sues are tied into wider eco- he Chinese government has accused cate and distort information about China”. tinued to work “intensively” on the matter publisher of books critical of China’s lead- asked: “How can single wom- nomic and social policies. As a detained Swedish national of op- “It also organised others to interfere and that its diplomats had visited Dahlin ers who went missing in Hong Kong and is en understand the needs of a a leader she will decide on Terating an unlicensed rights group with sensitive cases, deliberately aggra- on Saturday. pressing for information about his welfare. family?” broad policy direction and I in China, which “fabricated and distorted” vating disputes and instigating public- “He is feeling well considering the cir- Hong said he was “unclear” about Lee’s The head of a minor con- believe she will be promoting information about the country and or- government confrontations to create mass cumstances,” Gabriella Augustsson, head case, and declined further comment. servative party also accused gender equality,” said law- ganised others to “interfere” in sensitive incidents,” it said, using the Chinese eu- of public diplomacy for the Swedish em- The European Union’s ambassador to Tsai of being “dangerous” maker Yu. cases. phemism for protests. bassy in Beijing, said in an e-mail. China said it had “grave concerns” over because single people make It will be a challenge for Beijing confi rmed earlier this month Two other unidentifi ed members of the Dahlin suff ers from Addison’s disease, a Beijing’s detentions of EU citizens, hours “extreme” decisions. Tsai to alter a cultural mind- that authorities had detained Peter Dahlin, organisation said “Western anti-China potentially life-threatening disease unless after state media broadcast the purported Such attacks were noth- set where women are expect- the 35-year-old co-founder of the Chinese forces had planted Dahlin and some other properly medicated daily, according to his confession of a Swedish activist held by ing new for Tsai -- even from ed to care for their children, Urgent Action Working Group, on sus- people in China to gather negative infor- organisation. authorities. her own party: A senior DPP parents and in-laws, often at picion of endangering state security. The mation for anti-China purposes such as Asked whether Dahlin had been threat- State broadcaster China Central Televi- offi cial had previously ques- the expense of their careers. organisation worked with Chinese human smear campaigns”, it said. ened with a withdrawal of medication in sion, showed a video of Dahlin confessing tioned her ability to lead, say- As male off spring are pre- rights lawyers. Michael Caster, a spokesman for the order to secure a confession, Chinese For- that he had “violated Chinese law through ing a “skirt-wearer was unfi t” ferred in Taiwanese society, it Chinese police and national security Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, eign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said my activities here”. to take the helm. is not uncommon for women authorities said in a statement they had denounced the accusations against Dah- the Swede had seen doctors while in de- In stilted tones, he declared: “I have Things are changing -- to receive less inheritance, “smashed an illegal organisation that lin. “It’s absurd to claim Peter was engaged tention and received medication. hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. I the once critical DPP offi cial and some are forced to relin- sponsored activities jeopardising China’s in malicious eff orts to attack or discredit “China protects the legitimate rights of apologise sincerely for this.” openly endorsed Tsai’s can- quish their share. national security”. The statement was re- China,” Caster said. foreigners in China in accordance with the Dahlin’s group has said it off ered train- didacy this time and Soong’s Workplace inequality is leased via the offi cial Xinhua news agency “To purport that Peter was ‘planted’ in law,” Hong said at a daily news conference. ing to human rights lawyers who have tried comments triggered public also a problem -- women are late on Tuesday. China by foreign forces is part of a trend State television broadcast footage of to use China’s tightly-controlled judiciary fury -- but there is a long way paid an average 15% less than China’s crackdown on human rights, as by Chinese authorities of blaming ‘hostile a casually dressed Dahlin confessing to to redress apparent government abuses. to go. men and some say they have well as several cases involving European foreign forces’ for domestic grievances,” “hurting the feelings of the Chinese peo- “I have no complaints to make,” the “Taiwan isn’t as conserva- lost their jobs once they be- Union citizens detained in China, were he said. ple”, although it was not possible to verify Swede was shown saying. “I think my tive as before, but deep-root- come pregnant, despite legal issues of “grave concern”, said EU ambas- Xinhua said Dahlin had confessed that if he was speaking of his own free will. treatment has been fair.” ed chauvinistic views in our protection.

Step right in North Korean worker Boy dies burns himself to as wall death in Russian city collapses Agencies Agencies found in the yard of an apartment complex Sydney Vladivostok on a street in Vladivostok,” South Korea’s Chosun.com news website also said “Footage on YouTube shows fi re toddler crushed by a col- North Korean expatriate worker fi ghters spraying the man with fi re ex- lapsed wall on a farm near burned himself to death in the Rus- tinguisher. An autopsy revealed no AToowoomba last night has Asian city of Vladivostok recently, ac- signs of foul play,” It added. died in hospital according to news. cording to Russian press reports. Police found a suicide note in Korean com.au. “On January 1, a worker from North that was apparently written the previous Police have confi rmed the two- Korea committed suicide in the court- night. “I’m tired of hard work every day. I year-old boy died this morning in yard of an apartment house on the street blame nobody for my death,” it said. Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital. Chernyakhovsky” in Vladivostok, ac- Police concluded that the man “Around 6pm, a boy was severe- cording to the Russian news website of doused himself in fl ammable liquid and ly injured after a wall collapsed on a http://www.newsvl.ru/accidents. set himself on fi re. property,” a police spokesman said. The man doused himself with fl am- There are about 50,000 North Ko- “The child was fl own to the Lady mable liquid and burned himself to death, rean workers in 17 countries, mostly Cilento Hospital, but passed away according to the Russian website. construction workers. The largest pro- this morning.” “On the early morning of January 1, the portion, or 20,000, are in Russia, some “The QPS has advised Work- charred body of the worker in his 40s was 2,000 in Vladivostok. place Health and Safety and will prepare a report for the Coroner.” Paramedics were called to the Spratlys build-up ‘depends on threat’ Irongate address about 6pm on Tuesday and upon arrival treated The amount of military facilities China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of the boy for critical head injuries builds on islands in the South China oil and gas, which China claims almost sustained after the wall collapsed Sea depends on the level of threat it entirely. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, on top of him. faces although China does not seek Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. A CareFlight helicopter arrived militarisation, the navy chief told his US China has been reclaiming land and A shoe-shaped building in Chiayi, southern Taiwan. The building which is about 17m tall and 11m wide, took three at the Rossvale Road address about counterpart yesterday. building artificial islands there that it months and about $685,000 to build. It is expected to open in February 2016, before the Lunar New Year, according 40 minutes later to rush the boy to Every year more than $5tn of world says are mostly for civilian uses but are to the Chiayi county government off icial. hospital, such was the seriousness trade is shipped through the South China also for defensive purposes. of his injuries. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 17 BRITAIN/IRELAND

POLITICS MUSIC HEARING TECHNOLOGY REALTY Labour rift widens as Benn Adele’s ‘Hello’ fastest McGuinness agrees to Google unveils virtual tour Billionaires sell mansion opposes Corbyn on IS talks to reach billion views give evidence on IRA of Buckingham Palace after losing planning war

A fresh rift opened yesterday at the top of Labour Adele has broken another record - her video for The deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, Web surfers will be able to peek into the gilded The billionaire owners of a historic mansion after Hilary Benn contradicted Jeremy Corbyn’s Hello is the quickest to reach one billion views Martin McGuinness, has agreed to give evidence interiors of Queen Elizabeth II’s home in a new on the edge of Hampstead Heath have sold up idea of holding talks with IS terrorists. It means on YouTube. Hello, a ballad that ended a four- about IRA activities in his native Derry after a virtual reality tour launched by Google yesterday. after a bid to turn it into an £80mn palace was an alleged truce between the men engineered as year album hiatus for the British singer, entered request from the family of a republican shot dead Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s primary rejected by planners. Plans to demolish Athlone part of Corbyn’s first reshuff le barely lasted two the exclusive one billion-view club late Monday by the British army in 1972. McGuinness had been residence, has opened its doors to the technology House and replace it with a mansion double its weeks. Benn’s flat rejection of talks with the terror just 88 days after its release. It easily broke the asked to issue a statement about the IRA’s Derry giant for 360-degree photos of some of its richly- size — complete with ballroom, indoor swimming group follows Corbyn’s suggestion that IS has speed record set by South Korean pop singer Brigade during the period of Operation Motorman, decorated rooms. The tour can be viewed on a pool and underground garage — were rejected at “strong points” and that a “back channel” should Psy’s Gangnam Style, whose viral equestrian- when the British army dismantled the so-called computer or in 3D on a mobile phone through the the Royal Courts of Justice last October. Camden be opened to the group. Shadow foreign secretary themed dance video hit 1bn views in 2012 after “No Go” areas of the city where barriers prevented off icial British Monarchy YouTube channel. Visitors council first kicked out the bid in 2010 after it Benn dismissed the idea of talks with IS at a think- 160 days. But Hello still has far to go to catch up the free movement of security forces. The request are welcomed by a virtual Master of the Household was opposed by 5,000 people including Monty tank event. He said: “I don’t think there’s much to to Gangnam Style in total views. Gangnam Style came from the family of Seamus Bradley, a 19-year- and then guided by curator Anna Reynolds Python star and local resident Terry Gilliam. The negotiate with Daesh about, unless someone’s on Tuesday reached 2.5bn views, more than 1bn old IRA member whose loved ones allege he was through lavish chambers. The programme is owners, who bought the mock-Elizabethan pile going to take a diff erent view. There are times above its nearest competitor, Taylor Swift’s Blank arrested, tortured and then shot by British soldiers intended for schoolchildren and was created under in 2006 for around £16mn have sold up after where groups like that have to be defeated.” Space. in July 1972 at the height of the operation. Google’s Expedition programme. “getting tired” of the planning battle. Saturday work main point of confl ict in doctors dispute

Jeremy Hunt’s insistence that Hunt wants to extend their nor- Saturdays should be part of mal week to 10pm on weeknights NHS junior doctors’ normal and to also include Saturdays up working week is strongly to 7pm and has off ered an 11% rise resisted by the BMA on basic pay if they agree. “Jeremy Hunt doesn’t want to Guardian News and Media give in on that. He doesn’t want London to give an inch, because of his seven-day NHS pledge. And the BMA are absolutely adamant that row over whether Satur- Saturday shouldn’t count as nor- days should become part mal working,” said the source. Aof NHS junior doctors’ David Dalton, the hospital boss normal working week is threat- Hunt has brought in to lead ne- ening eff orts to resolve the long- gotiations for the NHS, plans to running dispute, despite next table some new ideas to break the week’s strike being called off . logjam over the issue when the The divide between the sides talks resume in London under the currently involved in talks over auspices of the Advisory, Con- Iranian asylum seeker Mohamed Bagher Beyzevi poses for a photograph outside his home on Union Street in Middlesbrough, northern Britain, yesterday. the issue is so wide that those ciliation and Arbitration Service involved fear it may scupper any (Acas). chance of a deal. He is understood to be looking Although junior doctors have at several proposals, including suspended their 48-hour walkout only Saturday mornings becom- that was due to start next Tuesday ing part of junior doctors’ “plain at 8am, negotiations are reaching time” - the hours for which they a critical point with the issue of receive only basic pay for work- Saturday working hampering all ing. Red doors mark out sides’ desire to reach an agree- He is also examining whether ment. paying trainee medics premium “Saturday is a huge, huge prob- rates for working anything oth- lem,” said one source close to the er than an occasional Saturday negotiations between the British might be acceptable. Medical Association and NHS Dalton, the boss of Salford Employers and the department of Royal NHS Foundation Trust, has asylum seekers’ houses health, which resume today. been consulting senior hospital Both see it as a red line on which bosses about how to fi nd common Reuters Britain has not received mi- though they do accept that the sioned interior ministry offi cials dents Yusuf Abdullahi, from they cannot compromise, the ground between the two sides. London grants in the same huge numbers majority of doors, for both pri- to conduct an urgent audit of Iran, and Ahmad Zubair, from source added, despite progress on “He’s trying to fi nd a formula to that arrived in other European vate and asylum accommoda- housing for asylum seekers in Afghanistan, as saying that they other fronts. sort this. He wants both sides to countries last year, but public tion, are painted red,” said a G4S the northeast of England. had become so tired of suff ering Jeremy Hunt, the health sec- come to some sort of understand- sylum seekers in the concerns over immigration are spokesman. “If we fi nd any evidence of abuse that they repainted their retary, is insisting that England’s ing (on Saturdays) and to com- northern town of Mid- running high and tensions have “Although we have received discrimination against asylum front door white, but a Jomast 45,000 junior doctors accept promise, so that no one would get Adlesbrough are suff ering risen in many communities with no complaints or requests on seekers it will be dealt with im- worker repainted them red. working on Saturdays as part of a 100% win,” one ally said. “The abuse because they have been high concentrations of migrants. this issue from asylum seekers mediately as any such behaviour “Asylum houses have red his plans to bring in a more fully key thing he needs is everybody housed in properties that almost The Middlesbrough houses, we house, in light of the con- will not be tolerated,” Broken- doors. Everyone knows that,” functioning seven-day NHS. But involved to be fl exible.” all have red front doors, making located in poor areas of the in- cerns raised Jomast has agreed shire said. Zubair was quoted as saying. the BMA, the doctors’ union, is Hospitals faced with cancel- them easy targets for racists, the dustrial town, are owned by to address the issue by repaint- The Times said it had identi- “People were shouting outside refusing to countenance such a ling operations and outpatient Times newspaper reported yes- private property fi rm Jomast, a ing front doors in the area so fi ed 168 houses owned by Jomast the house, calling us hate words, radical change to trainee doctors’ clinics for a second time after terday. sub-contractor of outsourcing that there is no predominant in two of Middlesbrough’s poor- throwing things at our windows working patterns. last week’s fi rst walkout by jun- Asylum seekers described in- giant G4S which holds a govern- colour.” est districts, of which 155 had red and banging on the door.” The standard working week ior doctors were relieved that the cidents including having their ment contract to provide hous- Jomast could not immediately doors. Reporters spoke to people Abdullahi was quoted as say- for junior hospital doctors - all BMA decided to postpone next doors smeared with dog excre- ing for asylum seekers in the be reached for comment. living at 66 of the properties ing that a Jomast worker who those below the level of consult- week’s two-day stoppage. The ment, eggs and stones thrown region. Immigration Minister James with red doors and found that 62 came to the property and saw ant - is 7am to 7pm, Monday to union hopes that will provide an at their windows and racist jibes “Our sub-contractor Jomast Brokenshire said in a state- of them housed asylum seekers the freshly painted white door Friday. They receive overtime for atmosphere for constructive talks shouted at them, the Times said has no policy to house asylum ment he was deeply concerned of 22 nationalities. said that was against company working outside those hours. But without a strike looming. in an investigative report. seekers behind red doors, al- by the report and had commis- The newspaper quoted resi- policy. Traffi ckers who ‘sold’ Relief for motorists Labour campaign for Brexit launched woman face travel ban Agencies Two main movements have London already been established to cam- paign for Britain to leave the EU London Evening Standard person outside their immediate men. She added: “These orders - Vote Leave and Leave.EU. London family or arranging travel for oth- demonstrate our commitment to embers of main op- But organisers expect all of ers. working with police not just to position Labour Party them will work together closely They will also be banned from prosecute individuals who commit Mlaunched a campaign as the referendum approaches. our men who tricked impov- possessing passports or other these crimes, but to ensure there yesterday to leave the EU at an Prime Minister David Cam- erished Slovakian women identity documents of other peo- are measures in place to prevent upcoming referendum, the latest eron wants Britain to stay in the Finto coming to Britain to sell ple, and be required to register them reoff ending on their release. initiative as the debate over Brit- bloc assuming he can secure them as brides in sham marriages their address in Britain if they live “We aim to protect vulnerable ain’s EU membership heats up. concessions on issues such as have been given the fi rst slavery here in the future. women from being traffi cked and The Labour Leave campaign is the level of benefi t payments to and traffi cking prevention orders And in a further unprecedented exploited in this way and this rein- fronted by four veteran MPs and EU migrants coming to Britain, to be handed out by a London restriction the gang will be barred forces our commitment to stamp- backed by millionaire business- although members of his party judge. from the “Lunik 9” district of Ko- ing out attempts to bypass immi- man John Mills, the party’s big- have said they will campaign The orders were imposed un- sice in Slovakia from which they gration laws.” gest individual donor in recent against EU membership regard- der the Modern Slavery Act 2015 brought their victims to Britain. Three of the gang given the new years. less. after the Old Bailey heard horrifi c The Slovakian authorities have orders — Roman Ziga, 26, Jozef While Labour leader Jeremy Offi cials say it is possible he accounts of the suff ering of the agreed to monitor this ban and to Ziga, 28, and Igor Boros, 43 — were Corbyn was anti-EU before be- could agree a package of meas- gang’s victims. notify prosecutors here if the men found guilty at the Old Bailey in ing elected to the top job last ures with European partners at One was raped by her potential fail to comply. August last year of traffi cking four year, he now says the party will a Brussels summit next month, husband in London. Imposing the orders, judge women from Slovakia into Britain. campaign for Britain to stay in which could then pave the way Another was told that she would Michael Topolski said that each The Ziga brothers were each jailed the EU in a referendum expected for a referendum in June. be given work as a fruit-picker but of the gang was “at risk of com- for six-and-a-half years, while to be held this year. Another anti-EU Labour MP, was forced into prostitution before mitting another such off ence” and Boros was given a three-and-a- Kate Hoey, one of the Labour Graham Stringer, claimed 55% being “sold” to an Indian man for that curbs were needed “to protect half-year sentence. MPs launching the Labour Leave of Labour voters wanted a seri- £3,000. the public… from slavery or hu- Suchy, 29, had admitted traf- campaign, called the EU “anti- ous renegotiation of the terms of The men — Tibor Suchy, Igor man traffi cking-related harm”. fi cking one of the women and was Drivers heading towards the approach tunnel of democratic, anti-socialist, un- Britain’s membership of the EU, Boros and brothers Jozef and Ro- Damaris Lakin, the Crown Pros- convicted after a trial of traffi ck- Heathrow Airport, west London, are stuck in a traff ic accountable”. adding Cameron had asked for man Ziga — have already been ecution Service lawyer responsible ing the three other victims. He has jam. London transport bosses yesterday decided not “I think this is going to end up “very little”. jailed and are in Belmarsh prison. for obtaining the orders, said the been jailed for 10 years. Suchy’s to impose a series of strict new rules on private hire in a situation where we have the Mills said that most people in Each of them will now be placed victims were all “vulnerable Slo- wife Viktoria Sanova, 29, and Rene cars, including those from apps like Uber, but could establishment actually leading Britain wanted free trade with under further restrictions on their vak women — many from poverty- Sana, 31, were also convicted of make such services pay a daily charge for entering the on this and the people rebelling Europe but without being in- release. These include a ban on stricken backgrounds” who were taking part in traffi cking as part of city centre. and that’s what we’ll be working volved in the “political super- travelling into Britain with any forced to marry Indian or Pakistani the gang. for,” she said. structure” there. Gulf Times 18 Thursday, January 21, 2016 BRITAIN

LAW AND ORDER TRAVEL PETS INVESTIGATION RESEARCH Police grill boy who spelled Electric car drivers unset Vets warn against Murder near station ‘may Famous fairy tales ‘are ‘terrorist’ by mistake at shortage of power points throwing sticks for dogs be linked to earlier stabbing’ thousands of years old’

A 10-year-old Muslim boy has been questioned Almost two-thirds of electric car owners are British vets yesterday warned against throwing Detectives investigating the murder of a man Fairy tales such as Beauty And The Beast are by police in the north of England after mistakenly using them for their daily commute, a survey sticks for dogs to chase, saying that thousands stabbed to death near a Tube station during much older than previously thought and are writing in an English lesson that he lived in a said. Barnet, Camden and Westminster had the of pets every year impale themselves or get rush hour are investigating possible links to actually thousands of years old, academics “terrorist house”, the BBC reported yesterday. highest numbers of electric cars, while Bexley, dangerous infections from biting into the wood. another knife assault nearby. Police launched found in research published yesterday. Their The boy had intended to write that he lived in a Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Brent, Enfield “These injuries are preventable by using dog-safe a murder hunt after a smartly dressed man in analysis indicates that Beauty And The Beast and “terraced” house but teachers did not realise he and Redbridge the fewest. The survey was toys as alternatives to sticks,” said Sean Wensley, his twenties was killed in public gardens near Rumpelstiltskin are around 4,000 years old while had made an error and reported the boy to the commissioned by Source London and undertaken president of the British Veterinary Association. The Morden station on Tuesday. The victim, who has Jack And The Beanstalk can be traced back more police in accordance with new counter-terrorism by Populus, which interviewed 1,100 electric car warnings came after a report in The Times about not been named, was attacked as he walked in than 5,000 years. Anthropologist Jamie Tehrani rules. Police interviewed the boy and examined owners, nearly 60% of whom lived in London. It a collie in Scotland named Maya, who suff ered Kendor Gardens, a shortcut to the station used from Britain’s Durham University and folklorist a computer at the family home. The family has found that 60% used their car to go to work — but a punctured tongue and damaged larynx from by rush-hour commuters. Police said they were Sara Graca da Silva of New University Lisbon used demanded an apology from both the police and they struggled to find charging points to keep getting a stick stuck in her throat. “Stick injuries examining possible links to another attack on techniques initially used in biology to study 275 the school, the BBC said. “They shouldn’t be putting them running. Owners said they were unhappy may cause long-term problems,” Sarah Stevenson a 23-year-old man who was stabbed in nearby Indo-European stories. Their findings suggest that a child through this,” the BBC quoted the boy’s about the lack of charging points, with 93% of Bishopbriggs Veterinary Centre in Glasgow, Lewis Road about 45 minutes earlier. The victim’s folk tales existed in oral tradition long before they cousin as saying. claiming they struggled to find one. which treated Maya, was quoted as saying. condition is described as serious. were put down in writing.

Frozen lake Muslims ‘helping Firms hiring to keep city safe’ skilled non-EU

London Evening Standard London

cotland Yard’s anti-terror migrants set to chief yesterday praised SMuslims in London for coming forward to help the fi ght against extremism. Commander Richard Walton said police were receiving more face £1,000 fee calls from young Muslims as well as “mums and dads” concerned Guardian News and Media Britain in the 12 months to June troduction of an immigration about issues their children spoke London last year. skills charge of £1,000 a head on about at home. She and Cameron asked the skilled recruitment from outside Commander Walton, who re- MAC to fi nd ways of signifi cant- Europe could raise £250mn a tired yesterday after 30 years in new £1,000-a-year im- ly reducing the current fl ow of year for skills funding, includ- the Met, insisted that the anti- migration skills levy is ex- skilled non-EU migrants a year ing apprenticeships. The charge radicalisation Prevent programme Apected to be introduced on into Britain. would apply for each year a was working. all fi rms for each skilled migrant migrant works in Britain, so a He said: “We have had increas- they recruit from outside Europe, three-year skilled migrant visa ing support from the Muslim under a new crackdown ordered would carry a £3,000 charge. community, with a lot of young by the Home Secretary, Theresa The fi nal amount will be set by Muslims coming forward to help May. the chancellor. and more Muslim leaders stand- The skills levy fi rst suggested The report says that skilled ing up and refuting the extremist by David Cameron is part of a migrants are generally paid more narrative. package recommended by the than their British counterparts, “We still have Muslim families, government’s migration adviso- but the analysis also found that mums and dads, ringing us on our ry committee (MAC) that could in “some occupations - primarily anti-terrorist hotline, saying they see the fl ow of skilled non-EU May has ordered the in the public sector - migrants are are concerned about what they migrants cut by 20% a year and crackdown on skilled often paid signifi cantly less than may have heard their child talking could hit the recruitment of labour from outside Europe similar UK workers, sometimes about. If we are told early enough overseas nurses and teachers the in the face of record net due to fi nancial pressures”. we can intervene.” hardest. migration fi gures It found that overseas doctors It was not inevitable that Lon- The government’s labour mar- and nurses are paid £6,000 a year don would suff er another terror ket experts say most skilled mi- She is expected to endorse the less than British medical staff , and attack, he said, but added: “We grants from outside Europe bring recommendations but has not overseas secondary school teach- need the support of London- scarce new skills to Britain and yet made a fi nal decision. A Home ers £2,000 a year less. ers to do this. We depend on the are higher paid than their British Offi ce spokesman said: “We are Professor David Metcalf, the co-operation of communities in counterparts, but that there are grateful to the migration advisory MAC chairman, said: “Skilled London. This is probably the most some jobs - especially in the pub- committee for its report. We are migrant workers make impor- diverse city in the world and we lic sector, such as doctors, nurses considering its fi ndings and will tant contributions to boosting cannot be everywhere, we depend and teachers - where they under- respond in due course.” productivity and public fi nanc- on people trusting us and coming cut UK salaries by up to £6,000 a The committee said that the es, but this should be balanced forward to tell us of their con- year. package could lead to a cut in against their potential impact of cerns. They recommend that the skilled migration by 27,600 or the welfare on existing UK resi- “Terrorism is not inevitable. squeeze on the recruitment of 20% of the current fl ow of skilled dents. We can have 10 more years of no skilled labour from outside Eu- migrants from outside Europe “Raising the cost of employing terrorism but we need public sup- rope, currently running at 151,000 each year. skilled migrants via higher pay port for that. people a year, should include a The recruitment of NHS nurses thresholds and the introduction “You can only defeat attacks sharp rise in the minimum salary and teachers is expected to be of an immigration skills charge inspired by the ideology of IS with threshold for jobs fi lled from over- most aff ected by the recommend- should lead to a greater invest- the community behind you be- seas from £20,800 to £30,000. ed changes, along with technology ment in UK employees and reduce cause you are not necessarily go- The package also includes re- specialists working in software the use of migrant labour.” ing to pick that up from sophisti- strictions on what is known as companies. Part of the fl ow of skilled mi- cated intercepts or covert means. “intra-company transfers”, which The increase in the minimum grants under tier two has been That is why our policing style on would limit their use to senior salary threshold to £30,000 would capped at £20,700, which has the streets is so important. managers and specialists by rais- particularly aff ect nurses on what increasingly been breached in “We often say that every police ing the minimum salary for visas is known as “tier two” routes un- recent months. The NHS’s re- offi cer is a counter-terrorist of- to £41,500. der the points-based immigration cruitment of nurses in particular fi cer but I would argue that every May has ordered the crackdown system. The committee recom- has been exempted from the cap. member of the public can help on skilled labour from outside mends phasing in the changes for The MAC is to report next month keep this country and this city Seagulls stand on the frozen lake at St James’s Park in central London yesterday. Europe in the face of record net nurses and teachers. on whether that temporary ex- safe.” migration fi gures of 336,000 to The MAC report says the in- emption should continue.

Miro exhibition London air pollution Father in brutal attack touches record high on teacher goes free London Evening Standard pears to be caused by a lack of London wind which has allowed dirty air to accumulate in hotspots. London Evening Standard since the assault on October 6, ation like this and if you do you The City of London Corpo- London said the emotional trauma had should get justice. I will con- ollution in the City has ration urged people to use left her too scared even to take sider appealing to the attorney hit the highest “black” its City Air app, which sends her own nine-year-old daugh- general.” She has been under- Palert as latest fi gures alerts and suggests routes to father who brutally as- ter to school. going therapy to help her deal showed tiny killer toxins in avoid pollution blackspots. saulted a teaching as- She is considering an appeal with the trauma of the attack. London’s air are still claiming Latest fi gures from Public A sistant in the street and to the attorney general for a Her brother Roger said she more than 3,000 lives a year. Health England show the rate knocked her unconscious after stronger sentence after Feneck was struggling to cope with what Particulate pollution was of fatalities attributable to she told off his son in the play- was spared jail despite admit- happened and told of his disbe- rated “very high” in Upper PM2.5 particles rising in 30 out ground has walked free from ting assault causing actual lief at the sentence. He added: Thames Street on Tuesday - a of 33 London local authorities, court. bodily harm. He was instead “This man is on the street. She “10/10” level that has been re- having steadied and even de- Assailant Marius Feneck, 28, given a 12-month sentence sus- is a single mother and this hell corded only three times in the clined. waited outside the boy’s pri- pended for one year. has been brought upon her.” The capital in the last two years. Westminster now has the mary school for Lesley-Ann Noel told the Standard: “I’m court was told that Feneck’s at- People in the area should re- worst record for this pollu- Noel to leave after work before very disappointed in the system tack was the culmination of his duce physical exercise, partic- tion, which scientists say is following her to her car and and I don’t feel justice has been campaign against the school, ularly outdoors and especially particularly dangerous as the launching a vicious revenge at- served. What kind of a message which had earlier been forced to if they have symptoms such as particles are so small they can tack. She suffered cuts to her does it send to stop others doing ban him from its grounds. a cough or sore throat, accord- get deep into the lungs and head and lips, swelling to her this when someone walks free? His partner had gone there at ing to government guidelines. bloodstream. It is linked to face and a shoulder injury af- “I’m frightened to leave my 3.15pm to complain about the Anti-pollution campaign- conditions such as lung can- ter being found unconscious in building. I can’t go back to way her son had been treated. ers seized on the fi gures to cer, cardiovascular disease and the street by a passer-by who work and am really struggling At 4.30pm, the teaching assist- demand better public warn- asthma. raised the alarm. to move on. I think about it ant was walking to her car when ings from City Hall and Public Frank Kelly, professor of en- Feneck’s son had got into a every day. It has affected me she saw Feneck cycling towards Health England about fi lthy vironmental health at King’s fight at lunchtime and been and my daughter. I’ve suffered her — “menacing and after me”. air. College London, said the lack disciplined by Noel, who was quite severely from this unpro- He confronted her before Joan Punyet Miro, grandson of Spanish artist Miro, poses in a “For goodness sake. What of any substantial decrease in on playground duty at Glen- voked attack and don’t want it knocking her out. She said: “I recreation of Miro’s Mallorcan studio, at the Mayoral gallery does it take to get you to issue deaths highlighted that “con- brook Primary School in Clap- to happen to anyone else. don’t know how many times he in central London. The replica space contains original Miro an air pollution alert? Bodies?” siderable more ambition” ham, Inner London crown “As a teaching assistant you hit me. I fell unconscious and paintings, many of which are for sale, and will be on display tweeted Simon Birkett, direc- would be needed from the next court heard. Noel, 47, who has go to work to help children. You was found by someone walking in London until February 12. tor of Clean Air in London. mayor to address “this press- been unable to return to work don’t expect to end up in a situ- past.” The high pollution level ap- ing public health issue”. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 19 EUROPE

Thousands back Dutch ex-soldier Moldova appoints third who fought IS group PM in less than one year AFP Reuters/AFP compromise fi gure, opposition The Hague Chisinau lawmakers resisted Filip’s ap- pointment. He has close ties to Vladimir housands of people have oldovan lawmakers has Plahotniuc, one of Moldova’s rallied behind a Dutch appointed the coun- richest but most unpopular Tformer soldier suspected Mtry’s third prime min- men, who was a target of the of killing Islamic State (IS) mili- ister in less than a year, backing protests. tants in Syria, hailing him as a a man chosen by the president as Filip’s party originally wanted hero and demanding he should a compromise candidate in the Plahotniuc as their candidate not be prosecuted. hopes of ending months of po- Filip: a compromise candidate. for prime minister, but Presi- By yesterday more than litical deadlock. dent Nicolae Timofti refused to 61,000 people had signed an on- The appointment of Pavel And the decision to choose nominate him. line petition in support of Jitse Filip, a member of the main pro- Filip was met by a rally outside Opposition lawmakers, ar- Akse, who was arrested by Dutch European coalition and a former parliament that saw some fi ve gued that Plahotniuc would be police last week. IT and communications minis- thousand protesters opposed to the real power behind the scenes. Akse, 47, who is alleged to ter in the last government, fol- the vote gather to demand snap The appointment follows the have fought alongside the Kurd- lowed the rejection of two previ- elections. rise and fall of two prime minis- ish People’s Protection Units ous candidates. Several dozen managed to ters in the past year. (YPG) in Syria last year, ap- Moldova, Europe’s poor- break through police lines and Chiril Gaburici resigned last peared before a Rotterdam court est country, has been without a into the parliament building af- June in the wake of accusations on Friday and was released on proper government since a no- ter the government was chosen, that he falsifi ed his school diplo- bail on condition he surrendered confi dence vote toppled the pre- while police threw smoke gre- mas, while his successor, Valeriu his passport. vious administration in October, nades and used batons to try to Strelet, was ousted by a no-con- “Dutch law – apart from in after the fraudulent disappear- disperse the demonstrators. fi dence motion in October. exceptional circumstances like ance of $1bn from the banking The EU called in a statement The IMF, which is talks with self-defence – does not give cit- system. for “calm and restraint” and said Moldova about new funding, has izens the right to use force and The appointment took place that it would look to help the urged a clean-up of the fi nancial particularly not deadly force,” amid chaotic scenes as angry competing sides fi nd a way out Protesters scuff le with riot police outside the Moldovan parliament after Filip was elected as prime sector. the prosecution service said in a protesters entered parliament of the current crisis. minister. Insiders say the $1bn banking statement. “Killing an IS fi ght- and opposition legislators tried “We encourage all stakehold- fraud, a steady haemorraghing er therefore could mean being to block the vote. ers in the country to engage in unlock further funding from Underscoring the scale of the around 2,000 protesters stood of money in unsupported loans prosecuted for murder.” Filip pledged his prior- a dialogue and fi nd, together, a overseas lenders, including the challenge Filip faces, the IMF in outside parliament still de- which had been going on for But furious supporters have ity would be to ensure closer way forward for the Republic of International Monetary Fund a report predicted the economy manding snap elections. years, refl ects deep-seated cor- fl ocked to his defence, with the ties between the impoverished Moldova,” the EU said in a state- (IMF), that had been withheld will have shrunk by 1.75% last Moldova’s ruling elite has ruption in Moldova and involved launch on Friday of a Facebook former Soviet state and the ment. in the wake of the banking scan- year, although it did forecast a been the target of mass pro- some degree of complicity from page “Justice for Jitse” and an 28-nation European Union. The last government, which dal and the subsequent political modest recovery in 2016. tests over the banking fraud, many of those in power. online petition. The vote itself took place in was also pro-EU, lost a parlia- crisis. “The people of Moldova don’t which saw the equivalent of “Long-standing defi ciencies Akse had joined “the glo- turmoil, with opposition poli- mentary confi dence vote in Oc- A sharp downtown in neigh- need a government that says one-eighth of Moldova’s gross in identifying ultimate benefi - bal battle against humanity’s ticians blocking access to the tober and so was dismissed. bouring Russia and drought have pleasant things, but a govern- domestic product disappear cial ownership of banks need to number one enemy”, the petition speaker’s podium to try to dis- With a new government in added to Moldova’s economic ment that solves their prob- overseas. be urgently corrected,” the IMF says. rupt the process. place, Moldova will hope to woes. lems,” Filip said after the vote, as Despite being touted as a said in its report. It recalls that even Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said “we are at war” against the Islamic State group which has Barrier to action captured a swathe of Iraq and Syria as it seeks to set up an Is- Pope tells Davos elite to mull lamic caliphate across the Mid- dle East. “Sign the petition to show your support for Jitse Akse and demand that he is not pun- their role in creating poverty ished.” Prosecutors said that a police investigation is being carried Reuters estimating that 1% of the us, to make us incapable of feel- out, after which it will be de- Davos, Switzerland world’s population owns 99% ing compassion at the outcry cided whether to bring charges of the wealth. of the poor, weeping for other against Akse. Francis, who has made the people’s pain, and sensing the “Fighting terrorism is not a ope Francis told members defence of the poor a hallmark need to help them, as though crime,” says the Facebook page of the world’s wealthy of his papacy and has in the all this were someone else’s re- “Justice for Jitse” which by yes- Ppolitical and economic past called money “the dung of sponsibility and not our own,” terday had received more than elite yesterday that they should the devil”, said that businesses he said in the message read by 23,000 likes in the past few days. not be deaf to the cry of the poor and wealthy societies must ac- Cardinal Peter Turkson of Gha- “He’s a hero!” wrote one sup- and must consider their own knowledge their role in creating na, the Vatican’s justice minis- porter on the page, while anoth- role in creating inequality. poverty. ter. er said “this man really deserves New technologies such as “Weeping for other people’s Francis addressed the theme a medal”. robotics must also not be al- pain does not only mean shar- of this year’s Davos meeting, Akse himself, who left for lowed to replace humans with ing in their suff erings, but also Mastering the Fourth Indus- Syria in 2015, had defended his “soulless machines”, he said in a and above all realising that our trial Revolution, in which dig- actions on his Facebook page, message to the World Economic own actions are a cause of in- ital technology, artifi cial intelli- saying that he felt he “had the Forum in Davos. justice and inequality,” he said gence robotics and autonomous chance to make a diff erence”. “To all of you I appeal once in the text of a message read for vehicles are expected to become He had used his military skills more: ‘Do not forget the poor!’”, him by a top Vatican cardinal. ubiquitous in developed econo- of “fl exibility, improvisation” to he said. “Once we realise this, we be- mies. help the Kurdish people. The Pope, who wrote a major come more fully human, since “In the face of profound and “When you see what they’ve encyclical on climate change responsibility for our broth- epochal changes, world leaders done ... by killing a member of IS and protection of the environ- ers and sisters is an essential are challenged to ensure that I have probably saved dozens of ment last year, also urged busi- part of our common humanity. the coming ‘fourth industrial lives,” he told a local newspaper ness leaders to see to it that the Do not be afraid to open your revolution’, the result of robot- from his northern Dutch village. planet does not become “an minds and hearts to the poor. In ics and scientifi c and techno- empty garden”. this way, you will give free rein logical innovations, does not The annual Davos meeting to your economic and technical lead to the destruction of the Former Vatican brings together many of the talents, and discover the hap- human person – to be replaced world’s wealthiest and most piness of a full life, which con- by a soulless machine,” the pope off icial acquitted powerful people to consider sumerism of itself cannot pro- said. global issues such as econom- vide,” he said. Business and economic lead- A former Vatican prelate ics, climate change and war, Francis, the fi rst pope from ers had a duty to prevent “the was acquitted on Monday of with an eye to working on solu- the global south, has in the past transformation of our planet conspiring to smuggle millions tions to them. excoriated unbridled capital- into an empty garden for the of euros in cash into Italy from It has been criticised by an- ism, calling for the redistribu- enjoyment of a chosen few”. Switzerland for rich friends. ti-globalisation activists and tion of wealth and for economic “I urge you, then, to take up Monsignor Nunzio Scarano others, however, as a forum for policies that put people above anew your conversation on how worked for 22 years as a senior organisations that have been profi ts, positions that have to build the future of the planet, accountant in APSA, a Vatican responsible for the problems in prompted criticism from eco- ‘our common home’, and I ask department that handles real Farmers break a road barrier to block the RN 12 highway, near Saint Brieuc, northwestern France, the fi rst place. nomic leaders. you to make a united eff ort to estate and stock investments for during a protest against low prices in the agricultural sector. They are boosted by reports “We must never allow the pursue a sustainable and inte- the Holy See. such as one from charity Oxfam culture of prosperity to deaden gral development,” he said. Wave of protests starts in Greece

Reuters/AFP Lawyers, engineers and rail third (bailout) maelstrom,” the Boutas, president of a national has a slim majority of just three Athens workers are also striking against Panhellenic Seafarers’ Federation committee co-ordinating the seats. the reform that aims to reduce said in a statement. farmer protests. Athens signed up to a bailout spending on pensions which is Under reform proposals, their “We will escalate our demon- deal with international lend- erries remained docked the highest in the European Un- own contributions fund will be strations from tomorrow,” he told ers last year worth up to €86bn, at Greek ports and farm- ion. merged with another, sparking Reuters. yanking the country from the Fers poured milk onto the Public anger is growing over concerns about lower pensions Debt-ridden Greece has made brink of fi nancial meltdown. streets yesterday in protest over the leftist-led government’s in future. many failed eff orts in the past It has presented a plan which plans to revamp Greece’s pen- drive to cut its costly pension On the Aegean island of Naxos, decades to revamp its ailing pen- increases social security contri- sions system, a condition for the bill by some €1.8bn this year, the where farming accounts for 50% sion system, the most expensive butions and recalculates future country’s multi-billion-euro equivalent of about 1% of nation- of the local economy, farmers in Europe as a percentage of eco- pensions but has also promised bailout. al output. gathered at its port to pour away nomic output. to protect pensioners on whom In the northern town of Ko- Public and private sector milk. Experts have in the past entire households can sometimes motini, riot police fi red tear gas at workers plan a national walkout In the city of Thessaloniki in warned it will collapse if left un- depend. farmers trying to storm a regional on February 4 but ship work- northern Greece, farmers gath- changed. After tough negotiations and briefi ng attended by Agriculture ers took early action yesterday ered with tractors to protest. Pension reform is a par- months of resistance to demands Minister Vangelis Apostolou. by starting a 48-hour strike that “The government is plan- ticularly sensitive issue for the by lenders, Prime Minister Alexis “We want to go in to talk to this brought passenger shipping ac- ning to double our taxation ... Tsipras government, engaged in Tsipras agreed last year to imple- fool,” a protester was shown on tivity in the seafaring nation to and triple our pension contribu- a delicate balancing act to push ment a 2010 law that included Passengers carry their luggage under heavy rain as passenger ships local television telling police, be- an eff ective standstill. tions. This is unacceptable, they through controversial reforms in discouraging early pensions and are moored during a 48-hour strike by Greek ship workers against fore the clash broke out. “This is a fi rst response to the will exterminate us”, said Vagelis a fractious parliament where it raising the retirement age. planned pension reforms at the port of Piraeus, near Athens. Gulf Times 20 Thursday, January 21, 2016 EUROPE

Father of slain Paris Erdogan warns scholars police attacker who criticised policies sues for AFP Teacher to serve almost a year in prison for insulting Turkish president murder Ankara A Turkish court has sentenced a teacher to almost a with her hand. There you go, that is the CHP. I mean year in prison for making a rude gesture at President the country’s prime minister is passing by and you AFP urkish President Re- Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a political rally in 2014, local make that gesture with your hand and arm.” Paris cep Tayyip Erdogan has media reports said yesterday. The teacher, who pleaded not guilty at the hearing, Tlaunched a blistering at- Insulting public off icials is a crime in Turkey, and will serve 11 months and 20 days in jail, the Dogan tack on academics who criti- Erdogan, the country’s most popular but most divisive news agency said. he father of the man shot cised his policies in the Kurdish- politician, is seen by his critics as intolerant of dissent Earlier this week, lawyers for Erdogan filed a lawsuit dead as he tried to attack dominated southeast, warning and quick to take legal action over perceived slurs. against the main opposition leader for saying that Ta Paris police station two that they would pay a price after After a rally in the Aegean city of Izmir in 2014 when Erdogan was a dictator, presidential sources and the weeks ago fi led a complaint yes- falling into a “pit of treachery”. he was prime minister, Erdogan lashed out at the opposition party said. terday, alleging that his son was Prosecutors have launched female teacher and said she made a gesture at him Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more murdered by police. a major investigation against that typified the rudeness of the main opposition than a decade, first as prime minister and since 2014 The probe into the killing had more than 1,200 Turkish aca- Republican People’s Party (CHP). as its first popularly elected president, has sued a based its conclusions solely on demics who signed a petition “Today as I was arriving (there was) a woman on a number of people in the past, including cartoonists, the testimony of the police who denouncing the military opera- balcony,” he said. “She made such an ugly gesture teenagers and a former Miss Turkey winner. shot Tarek Belgacem on January tions against Kurdish rebels in 7 – the one-year anniversary of the southeast. the jihadist attack on satirical At least 18 were then detained Erdogan said the academics order of prosecutors, Turkish However, Erdogan then went weekly Charlie Hebdo, the fa- as part of the probe. will continue to thrash around media reports said. on to vent his opinion of his ri- ther’s lawyer Nasr Azaiez said. The European Union and “in this pit of treachery they fell Two were later released after val: “He is so shameless: If you “This version is contested by United States denounced the in- in”. questioning. spit on his face, he thinks it’s at least three precise and de- vestigation in unusually strong “In a state of law like Turkey, In an unusually tough state- raining ... none of us knows if he tailed witness accounts by resi- statements. so-called academics who target ment days ahead of a visit to is sane.” dents,” Azaiez told a news con- Speaking in one of his regular the unity of our nation have no Turkey by US Vice-President Joe Kilicdaroglu on Tuesday had ference. and typically raucous meetings privilege to commit crimes,” he Biden, the US embassy warned refused to go back on the com- Belgacem was killed for baring to supportive local Turkish poli- said. “They don’t have immu- the investigation risked having a ments, quipping that what had a weapon, Azaiez said, in what ticians at his presidential palace, nity.” “chilling eff ect” on political dis- annoyed Erdogan was the “tin- police considered legitimate Erdogan said that the academics Referring to the secular elite course in Turkey. pot” remark rather than the self-defence. had shown “real and ugly faces” who ruled Turkey for many of The Turkish army is pressing “dictator”. “Do you have the right to kill after their “masks fell off ”. the years before his Justice and on with a relentless crackdown “My God, give me some pa- him because he showed a weap- “They spit out their hatred of Development Party (AKP) came in the southeast which the gov- tience. He showed his ugly face on?” the lawyer asked. our nation’s values and history to power in 2002, the president ernment says is aimed at fl ush- one more time,” seethed Erdog- A legal source confi rmed on every occasion and the peti- said: “Thrash about as long as ing out Kurdish militants but an. that the complaint of “volun- tion has made this clearer,” said you want: The old Turkey, where activists say has claimed dozens Prosecutors have now tary homicide” had been lodged Erdogan. an entire country and nation of civilian lives. opened an investigation against against persons unknown. He implied that the academics were being run by a handful of Erdogan also escalated a row Kilicdaroglu for insulting the Police gunned down Belgacem would face both criminal con- so-called intellectuals ... no with the leader of the main op- president, while Erdogan is su- as he tried to attack the police sequences and the loss of their longer exists.” position Republican People’s ing him for damages of 100,000 station in northern Paris armed posts. All of those detained last week Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu who Turkish lira ($33,000) in two with a meat cleaver and wearing “So you think you will try to have now been released but they last week had called the Turkish separate cases over the original a fake suicide vest, shouting “Al- disrupt the unity of this nation, still face investigation and pos- strongman a “tinpot dictator”. remarks and the new comments lahu Akbar”, according to Paris Erdogan delivering a speech during the Mukhtars (Mayors) meeting and continue to have a com- sible trial. “I shouldn’t even bother re- on Tuesday. prosecutors. yesterday at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. He launched a fortable life with the help of the Yesterday three academics spond to him,” fumed Erdogan, “The amount of compensa- Police said that they found a blistering attack yesterday on academics who criticised his policies salary that you receive from the working for Sakarya University then adding: “No words are tion I receive (from him) is ex- handwritten note on his body in in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, warning that they would pay a state and pay no price?” he said. east of Istanbul who had signed enough to describe what kind of ponentially increasing,” said which he pledged allegiance to price after falling into a ‘pit of treachery’. “Those days are over.” the petition were arrested on the a person he is.” Erdogan. the Islamic State (IS) group. The father, Taoufi k Belgacem, denied that Tarek was a militant, describing him as “normal, like all young people, a good person”. He added: “They could have Residents return to salvage fi red at him without killing him.” A cousin, Ahmed Belgacem, charged that the note linking Tarek Belgacem to IS had been their lives in shattered town planted to “hide a police error”. Several days after the failed attack, Tunisian authorities AFP With tears in her eyes, Feyruze and we covered their ears with confi rmed Belgacem’s identity, Silopi Buluttekin lamented the piteous cotton swabs, fearing their ears with his fi ngerprints matching state of her home. Its balcony would explode. Then (after 14 those of a man investigated for has collapsed in several places, days) soldiers forced us out of a 2013 burglary in Luxembourg. he curfew in Silopi lasted its windows are smashed and its our house.” He was also implicated in 36 days as clashes raged fl oor has been ripped apart, pos- He added: “I hope no one suf- crimes committed under pseu- Tbetween the Turkish army sibly by a shell. fers like us.” donyms in France and Germany. and Kurdish militants. “We stayed at our house. The house of the Mutlu family But Azaiez said: “As far as we Finally it was lifted, allowing Some left, some didn’t. We suff ered some of the most dam- know he wasn’t convicted. He residents to come to terms with stayed for 12 days,” Buluttekin age in the town, lying in ruins, was suspected of committing the scale of the destruction in said. “On the 13th day, my cousin presumably after being hit by a these crimes.” their hometown. was killed in front of her house. missile or a bomb. German police said Belgacem The curfew in Silopi, a town Her body stayed at our home for “I don’t know who attacked had spent time living in an asy- of some 80,000 in the Kurdish- fi ve days, with no one else taking us!” said the mother of the fam- lum-seekers hostel in western dominated Sirnak province of care of it, and then we took it to ily, Sariye, lamenting that their Germany – some media reports southeastern Turkey, was one the mosque.” only cow, a crucial source of alleged he had posed as a Syrian of several imposed as the army The military operation, food, had been killed. national – and had spent four wages a relentless campaign to backed by the curfew, began on According to the army, 140 years criss-crossing Europe. crush Kurdistan Workers Party December 14, when special forc- “terrorists” have been killed in (PKK) militants. es and the army entered Silopi in the operation in Silopi, dealing A woman and her children stand in the ruins of battle-damaged house in the Kurdish town of Silopi, in The government says that force with the avowed aim of re- a considerable blow to the PKK. southeastern Turkey, near the border with Iraq. the measures are essential to moving barricades and fi lling in It says that another 364 mili- Terrorist suspect oust militants who had gained trenches set up by the militants. tants have been killed in an on- Feleknas Uca accused the EU and “They were breaking people’s security presence in Silopi with confesses in court control of key urban centres in Clashes raged day and night going operation in the town of Germany of “closing their eyes” doors but I told them not to do armoured vehicles streaming in southeastern Turkey. in a battle that turned the town Cizre, also in Sirnak, that started to the situation in Kurdish-ma- that, saying people will eventu- and out. A suspected Islamic State Kurdish groups, by contrast, into a warzone, with the army on December 14, and 106 in the jority cities and warning there ally return,” said Hamit Alkis. Operations continue in some (IS) terrorist standing trial in accuse the army of killing doz- using tanks and heavy artillery Sur district of Diyarbakir city in risked an exodus of “hundreds “They pointed a gun at my neighbourhoods and only a few the western German city of ens of civilians. against rockets and improvised an operation that started on De- of thousands” Kurdish refugees. chest and threatened to kill me. I businesses have reopened. Dusseldorf yesterday confessed Silopi’s curfew remains in bombs used by the militants. cember 2. Many residents blame the said: ‘Okay, kill me’. The soldiers President Recep Tayyip Er- that he was radicalised thanks place between 6pm and 5am “We couldn’t even get water The opposition pro-Kurd- army for the extent of the dam- came and just as we were walk- dogan said yesterday that op- to his cousin’s contacts to (1600 GMT-0300 GMT). But its because we were afraid of the ish Peoples’ Democratic Party age. But others also point a fi n- ing towards the soldiers, they erations against the PKK would extremists. partial lifting on January 19 al- sounds of rockets and weapons. (HDP) ridicules that toll and says ger at the PKK and in particular opened fi re on us from behind, continue “until the region is In August 2013, he decided to lowed residents who were forced We suff ered a lot,” said Mehmet that at least 70 civilians have its youth branch the Patriotic thankfully it didn’t hit.” cleansed of terrorists and public travel to Syria to join the Islamic out to return and a semblance of Simsek, who stayed in his house been killed in the operations. Revolutionist Youth Movement Even after the partial lifting of order re-established in our na- State, said Nils D, whose full name normal life to resume. for 14 days. “We have 10 children Speaking to AFP, HDP MP (YDG-H). the curfew, there is still a heavy tion”. cannot be disclosed for legal reasons. The federal prosecution charged the 25-year-old from Dinslaken in the Lower Rhine region with being a member of an Islamic Two more suspects held Ten, including journalist, hurt State special unit. He used weapons and violence to detain spies and deserters in southeast Turkey shooting of the terrorist group, bringing over Istanbul attack: report them to Islamic State prisons, the prosecution claims. Reuters the group of 15 people, which He said ambulances were ini- After leaving school, Nils D AFP The arrest of the pair, whose Turkish authorities have Diyarbakir included family members of tially blocked from entering the dropped out of his vocational Istanbul nationalities were not dis- identifi ed the bomber as a those hurt earlier, lawmaker area. training and turned to Islam in closed, raised the number of 28-year-old Syrian who entered Faysal Sariyildiz from the op- Security forces have launched 2011. suspects detained in custody Turkey on January 5 posing as a en people were wounded position Democratic Peoples’ operations inside Cizre and a Released from prison in the Turkish court has re- over the January 12 bombing to refugee, with Prime Minister in Turkey’s mostly Kurd- Party, and the mayor of Cizre. half-dozen other towns and summer of 2013, he had initially manded in custody 12, after 10 other suspects were Ahmet Davutoglu saying the Tish southeast yesterday The town, near the Syr- cities in the southeast to root started collecting money for Apending trial two more charged on Sunday. man was a member of IS. when their group, which in- ian and Iraqi borders, has since out PKK militants, who have Syrian war victims, before suspects over a suicide bomb- Meanwhile, counter-terror- Ankara has often been criti- cluded two opposition politi- mid-December witnessed dug trenches and built barri- travelling to the war zone in ing blamed on the Islamic State ism police detained another cised by its Western allies for cians, came under fi re while violent clashes between secu- cades to keep police at bay. October. (IS) group that killed 10 German suspect in a raid yesterday on an not doing enough to combat rescuing people hurt in earlier rity forces and members of the More than 150 civilians have While there, the defendant tourists in Istanbul last week, address in Ankara, news agency IS jihadists who have seized clashes, offi cials said. autonomy-seeking Kurdistan been killed in the crossfi re since worked as a security guard at an reports said. Dogan said. swathes of territory in neigh- Among those shot in the Workers Party (PKK). July, according to rights groups. Islamic State prison, according to A court in Istanbul placed the Ten German tourists were bouring Syria as well as Iraq. fi refi ght was a journalist, who HDP chairman Selahattin Separately, seven soldiers the federal prosecution. suspects – who were detained killed and another 17 people But Turkey has in recent was rushed to hospital. Others Demirtas told reporters outside were wounded in a bomb attack “The defendant knew that the in southeastern city of Sanliurfa wounded in the bombing in the months stepped up the fi ght among the wounded were shel- parliament in Ankara that the by the PKK in Diyarbakir, the prisoners would be tortured to on Saturday – under arrest on historic centre of Istanbul near against IS after several deadly tering in a house in the town of group including Sariyildiz had biggest city in the southeast, death. He got to see the torture charges of “premeditated mur- the Blue Mosque and the Hagia attacks blamed on the group, Cizre, where security forces are warned state authorities in ad- security sources said. chamber. He buried the body of der and membership in a terror Sophia, the towering former including a double suicide enforcing a 24-hour curfew, se- vance that they were entering Violence in the southeast is at a victim who was presumably group”, the Anatolia news agen- Byzantine church that is now a bombing in October in Ankara curity sources said. the neighbourhood to rescue its deadliest in two decades af- tortured to death,” prosecutor cy reported. museum. that killed 103 people. It was not clear who fi red on those wounded earlier. ter a ceasefi re collapsed in July. Carola Bittner said. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 21 EUROPE Austria limits asylum claims Reuters/AFP more than 1% of Austria’s popu- number of asylum claims would Austria’s interior minister people to apply for asylum, and yesterday that technical prob- the camp than on previous days Vienna lation, applied for asylum last be limited to 37,500 this year, fall- said last week that it would start spreading them around the bloc. lems had disrupted traffi c at the – apparently due to the hold-up year. ing annually to 25,000 in 2019. turning away people who were “It is therefore an emergency crossing with Croatia and trains at the Greece-Macedonia border. Public fears about immigration Asked what would happen if no longer being let into Germany, solution, a plan B,” he said. were being replaced temporarily Leading children’s charities ustria declared yester- have fuelled support for the far- the number of people who want- prompting a knock-on eff ect fur- Meanwhile, Macedonia has with buses, a SZ spokesman told had warned on Tuesday that day that it would cap the right, and calls for a cap on the ed to apply for asylum exceeded ther down the route into Europe. closed its border with Greece to Slovenian news agency STA that young refugees were at serious Anumber of people allowed number of migrants by members that fi gure, Faymann said only Faymann said he had discussed migrants, police in Skopje said migrants “have been travelling risk from the bitterly cold Bal- to claim asylum this year at less of the centre-right People’s Party that experts were due to examine his government’s plans in princi- yesterday, blocking the path of undisturbed so far”. kan weather, as fi gures showed than half last year’s total, and within the coalition government the issue. ple with German Chancellor An- hundreds trying to reach north- Serbia meanwhile said that 31,000 migrants had arrived in its chancellor said border con- have grown. “We must also step up controls gela Merkel and their Slovenian ern Europe. it would only allow migrants to Greece already this year. trols would have to be stepped up “We cannot take in all asylum- at our borders massively,” Fay- counterpart. “The border is closed,” a senior pass through the country if they Unicef, the UN Children’s “massively”; but how that would seekers in Austria, or in Germany mann told the joint news con- Merkel’s spokesman Steff en Macedonian police offi cial told were specifi cally seeking asylum Fund, released a warning that be done was unclear. or in Sweden,” Werner Faymann, ference with Vice-Chancellor Seibert, however, declined to AFP, while a police spokesman in in Austria or Germany. children arriving in southeast Hundreds of thousands of a Social Democrat who has re- Reinhold Mitterlehner and other comment on the Austrian plan. northern Greece said it had been The Serbian minister for mi- Europe were “physically ex- people have streamed into this sisted calls to cap immigration, offi cials, without explaining “The German government still closed since Tuesday evening, grants issues, Aleksandar Vulin, hausted, scared, distressed and country of 8.5mn since Septem- told a joint news conference, re- what that would involve. favours a joint European solu- leaving about 600 migrants said that migrants “will not be often in need of medical assist- ber, when it and Germany threw ferring to the countries that have The Slovenian police said later tion that tackles the causes of stranded at the frontier. able to continue with their jour- ance”. open their borders to a wave of taken in the most migrants. yesterday that Slovenia planned migration in order to reduce the The Skopje police offi cial said ney unless they express intention Mirjana Milenkovski, a people fl eeing war and poverty in The government plan an- “the same action” as Austria on number of refugees signifi cantly the move stemmed from prob- to seek asylum on the territory of spokeswoman for the UNHCR in the Middle East, Afghanistan and nounced yesterday provides for its southern border with Croatia and noticeably,” he said. lems with Slovenian trains that Austria and Germany”. Serbia, said yesterday that they elsewhere. the number of asylum claims to if Austria, which lies north of Faymann referred to the had disrupted the fl ow of mi- In the Presevo reception camp had seen an increasing number of The vast majority of arrivals be restricted to 1.5% of Austria’s Slovenia, took further steps to measures as a second-best op- grants, but the Slovenian rail in southern Serbia, an AFP pho- people with fl u or respiratory in- simply crossed the country on population, spread over the next limit the infl ow of migrants. tion while awaiting a European company Slovenske Zeleznice tographer said the temperature fections, but refugees were being their way to Germany, but a frac- four years. As Germany has tightened its solution involving securing the (SZ) insisted they were running dropped to -15° Celsius yester- provided with better clothing, tion have stayed. Breaking down the four-year border controls in recent months, European Union’s external bor- as normal. day. medical care and other assistance Roughly 90,000 people, or cap, the statement said the Austria has often followed. ders, setting up centres there for While the SZ website reported He said fewer migrants were at where needed. Finland, Norway bridle at migrant fl ows from Russia Support

Reuters “I have understood that no erty in the Middle East and Af- checkpoint, according to the night in temperatures of around for Merkel Helsinki/Oslo one moves forward in the Rus- rica have continued to pour into Finnish border guard. -30° Celsius (-22° Fahrenheit). sian border zone without Russian Europe in large numbers, leading Last year, just 700 made the Minister of Immigration and authorities being aware of it. I’m several countries to step up ef- same crossing. Integration Sylvi Listhaug told and her inland and Norway sought disappointed,” Interior Minister forts to restrict fl ows. Finland has banned cross- parliament that the government to ease migrant fl ows from Petteri Orpo told Finnish news Austria said yesterday that it ings there on foot or bicycle, so was returning only those who FRussia, as tensions over agency STT. would cap the number of people asylum-seekers have begun us- had long-term visas to stay in party dips Europe’s migrant crisis spread He said he wanted to discuss allowed to claim asylum this year ing old Russian cars, about 50 of Russia. to the continent’s northernmost the situation with Moscow, add- at less than half last year’s total, which lie frozen there after being But last week, the UN refu- Merkel: remains far more frontiers. ing that the sudden rise could not and its chancellor said border confi scated. gee agency warned Norway that Reuters popular than her main rival Finland criticised its eastern be explained by a recent crack- controls would be tightened sig- Meanwhile, Norway sent a fi rst Russia off ered inadequate pro- Berlin Sigmar Gabriel of the Social neighbour yesterday for allow- down on asylum seekers by Nor- nifi cantly. bus carrying 13 migrants from tection, and other critics say Democrats. ing increasing numbers of asy- way’s right-wing government. Further north, up to 20 asy- Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Norway did not give the asylum- lum seekers across their Arctic Despite the onset of winter, lum-seekers a day are reaching Pakistan back across its Arctic seekers the right to challenge the upport for Chancellor An- main electoral asset, dropped border. migrants escaping war and pov- Finland from Russia at the Salla border with Russia on Tuesday decision. gela Merkel and her con- four points to 44%, the poll Sservative bloc has slipped showed, if a theoretical presi- further due to her handling of dential-style vote were to be held the refugee crisis and worries in Germany. about crime and security after Despite the drop, Merkel is still Refugee intake limits assaults on women at New Year way ahead of her Social Demo- in Cologne, a survey showed yes- crat (SPD) rival Sigmar Gabriel terday. who was up one point at 16%. not unethical: Gauck Merkel’s open-door refugee Merkel’s conservatives share policy, and her insistence that power with the SPD in a “grand Germany can cope with last coalition”. Reuters many, did not advocate such year’s infl ux of 1.1mn migrants “After New Year’s Eve in Co- Davos, Switzerland drastic action but said a policy and more this year, has strained logne and the attack on German of limiting the infl ow of refugees local authorities and split her holidaymakers in Istanbul, many could be morally and politically right-left coalition. citizens are thinking not only ermany cannot take in all necessary to allow the state to Mass sexual attacks on women about the refugee crisis but also the asylum seekers who cope. in Cologne and other German fi ghting terror and criminality,” Gwant to begin a new life “Restrictions are not per se cities at New Year which have said Forsa chief Manfred Guell- there and it is not unethical of unethical,” he told the annual been largely blamed on migrants ner. Berlin to limit the infl ux, Presi- World Economic Forum in Da- have deepened public scepticism Merkel is under mounting dent Joachim Gauck said yes- vos, Switzerland. “Restrictions about Merkel’s policy. pressure from some in her con- terday, pressing other European help to support acceptance. But She remains far more popular servative party, especially her countries to share the burden. without acceptance a society is than her main rival, Social Dem- allies in Bavaria – the entry point Germany has borne the brunt not open and receptive.” ocrat Sigmar Gabriel, however, for most migrants entering Ger- of Europe’s biggest refugee crisis As president Gauck wields lit- and her conservative bloc still many – to change course and since World War II, with more tle real power but his words carry leads in the polls. shut Germany’s borders. than 1mn asylum seekers arriv- moral weight in Germany and Forsa put Merkel’s conserva- The poll also showed 55% of ing in the country last year, most beyond. tives down one percentage point Germans favour a closing of the fl eeing war and poverty in Syria, Merkel’s insistence that Ger- at 37%, its lowest level since border to stem the infl ux of mi- Afghanistan and Iraq. many will cope with the infl ux November, and the right-wing grants, many of whom have fl ed Many German local authori- of 1.1mn migrants last year and Alternative for Germany (AfD) war zones in the Middle East and ties say they are struggling to more this year has angered some up one point at 10%, in double Africa. cope with the infl ux and pres- local authorities struggling to fi gures for the fi rst time in a Forsa Germany’s next federal elec- sure is mounting on Chancel- house people. survey. tion is due in 2017 but three lor Angela Merkel to reverse her Merkel has vowed to “meas- A migrant, wrapped with her child in a thermal blanket, waits yesterday for a train to Croatia, at a train Furthermore, support for closely-watched regional elec- open-door policy and even close urably reduce” arrivals this year, station in Presevo, Serbia. Merkel, the conservative bloc’s tions take place in March. the country’s borders to new ar- but has refused to introduce a rivals. cap, saying it would be impos- Gauck, a former Christian sible to enforce without closing pastor in communist East Ger- German borders. Instead, she has tried to con- Refugee groups, vince other European countries Toddler, woman die of to take in quotas of refugees, pushed for reception centres to be built on Europe’s external communities slam borders and has led an EU cam- paign to convince Turkey, a ma- cold en route to Greece jor transit country, to prevent refugees from entering the bloc. Cologne attacks But progress has been slow. AFP the Greek island of Lesbos. picked up since Tuesday after vi- Gauck recognised the con- Athens The 55 other people on the olent winds had prevented cross- cerns of eastern European coun- boat survived after the rescue ings, a police source said. DPA of people living and seeking ref- tries about their sovereignty and by a patrol boat of the EU border More than a thousand had ar- Dusseldorf uge in the European Union,” the identity in the face of the infl ux fi ve-year-old girl and a agency Frontex. rived by midday yesterday, after statement said. of refugees, many of whom are woman died of cold yes- Frontex also rescued migrants some 800 on Tuesday. The refugee and migrant Muslim, but said he did not be- Aterday as they tried to including women and children The International Organisa- efugee and migrant com- groups also called on authorities lieve a revival of nationalism reach Greece by sea, as the fl ow aboard another boat that was in tion for Migration (IOM) said 77 munities across Europe in Europe not to polarise socie- could provide an answer. of migrants heading for Europe diffi culty, but the crew were un- people have died trying to reach Ryesterday condemned a ties or use the events on New “Do we really want the great resumed following a lull due to able to save one woman who also the Greek islands from Turkey spate of New Year’s Eve attacks Year’s Eve as an excuse to close Gauck: Do we really want the historical work that has brought high winds, police sources said. died of hypothermia. from January 1 to 18. on women in Germany, incidents their borders. great historical work that has Europe peace and prosperity to They said the girl died after she With temperatures hovering The IOM says around 31,000 that have raised anxieties about Most of the allegations focus brought Europe peace and break down over the refugee is- was rescued from the sea when around 0° Celsius (32° Fahren- made the crossing since the be- Germany’s refugee policy be- on events in the city of Cologne prosperity to break down over sue?” he asked. “Nobody, really the vessel she was travelling on heit), the numbers of migrants ginning of the year, 21 times more cause of allegations the attackers outside its main train station. the refugee issue? nobody can want that.” capsized en route from Turkey to and refugees reaching Lesbos has than in the same month last year. were foreigners. However, state police are also The attacks – in which women investigating allegations of simi- say they were robbed, groped lar attacks – but on a smaller and even raped by mobs of men scale – in Dusseldorf, Dortmund – have prompted about 1,000 and Bielefeld, according to a re- Kiev and Warsaw at odds over Ukrainians in Poland complaints, which are being in- port by the state interior minis- vestigated by police in the west- try. ern state of North-Rhine West- The report was seen by DPA Reuters it already faces a potential infl ux to help. This should also be dis- land in any given year, they were nations by agreeing to take in phalia. before its submission to the re- Warsaw of refugees from neighbouring cussed,” she added. not refugees. about 7,000 refugees following a “We condemn any violence gional assembly in Dusseldorf Ukraine. Government data, however, “Taking into account the European Union directive for up against women, be they nation- yesterday. In a European Parliament de- shows that despite a jump in number of visas in previous years, to 120,000 migrants to be relo- als or foreigners, perpetrated The number of recorded vic- kraine’s ambassador to bate on Tuesday on the rule of the number of Ukrainians try- and the dynamics of the near- cated across the bloc. by foreigners or nationals. Per- tims stands at 1,216, it says. Poland yesterday rejected law in Poland, prompted by War- ing to settle in Poland since border movement, I suspect that After the party’s election vic- petrators should be prosecuted So far the police have identi- Uthe Polish prime minis- saw’s new legislation on the con- the outbreak of war in eastern over the course of a year there tory, its incoming European af- and convicted,” read a statement fi ed 52 suspects, most of whom ter’s claim that her country hosts stitutional court and state media, Ukraine, Poland hosts a mere could be up to 1mn Ukrainians fairs minister said the November signed by refugees and migrant are from ethnic minority back- a million Ukrainian refugees, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo ap- three Ukrainian refugees and on Polish territory,” Deshchytsia attacks in Paris that killed 130 associations. grounds. saying that they were not refu- peared to take this argument a has granted some protections to told state agency PAP. “But they people meant there were no “po- The statement was supported The New Year’s Eve attacks gees and could at most be called step further. around 200 more. are not refugees. They should be litical possibilities” for carrying by the European Council on Ref- have heated up the migration “economic migrants”. “You’re talking about migrants Another 65,000 Ukrainians called economic migrants.” out the relocation plan. ugees and Exiles (ECRE) as well debate in Germany as opposing Poland’s ruling conservative – that is a serious issue,” Szydlo hold residency permits in Poland. Warsaw’s previous govern- This month, however, the for- as 40 non-governmental organi- sides question whether or not Law and Justice (PiS) party has said. Ukraine’s ambassador to Po- ment came in for criticism from eign minister said Poland would sations. there might be a link between repeatedly said that it should “Poland has accepted around land, Andriy Deshchytsia, said the then opposition PiS party stick to the previous govern- “The perpetrators, be they the attacks and the increasing not be forced to accept refugees 1mn refugees from Ukraine, yesterday that while it was pos- when it broke ranks with Hun- ment’s plan although it regards it asylum seekers or not, are not number of asylum seekers in the from Syria and North Africa as people whom nobody wanted sible 1mn Ukrainians entered Po- gary and other eastern European as legally fl awed. representative of the majority country. Gulf Times 22 Thursday, January 21, 2016 INDIA

INSTANT JUSTICE SCAM POLITICS INVESTIGATION CRIME Mob chops off hand of Natesan: Will seek VS’ Former Bihar, Tripur Police custody of terror Four of family hacked man who looted bank forgiveness if guilty governor joins AIUDF suspect extended to death in Jharkhand

A mob chopped off the hand of a man who Vellapali Natesan, leader of the newly-floated In what is being seen a blow to Assam’s ruling A New Delhi court yesterday extended till Four members of a family were hacked to was trying to flee after looting a bank in Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, yesterday said if he Congress ahead of assembly polls, party February 1 the police custody of Maulana death yesterday in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur Bihar’s capital Patna yesterday, police said. was found guilty in the microfinance scam, he leader and former Bihar and Tripura governor Anzar Shah, a suspected member of the Al district by a man whose wife was earlier killed Jitender Kumar was caught by villagers at would seek Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan’s Devananda Konwar yesterday joined the All Qaeda terror outfit arrested by Delhi police. on suspicion of witchcraft, police said. Basko Mahua village in Rupaspur area when he was forgiveness. Natesan’s remark came after the India United Democratic Front of perfume Shah was earlier presented before Additional Tudu was arrested on the charge of murdering trying to escape after stealing Rs170,000 Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court asked the businessman Badaruddin Ajmal. Konwar joined Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh on the expiry of two brothers and two women members from the customer service centre of Bank of vigilance department to probe a petition filed by the Congress in 1955 when he was a student his 14-day police custody. The police told the of their family at Patharbaggha village in Baroda. “First, the angry villagers beat him Achuthanandan alleging that Natesan had committed leader and worked in various capacities. Though court that Shah needed to be questioned to Jamshedpur (East Singhbhum) district, around up and then chopped off one of his hands a fraud and swindled money from government he did not give the reasons for joining the AIUDF, unearth the conspiracy as well as the funding 170km from Ranchi. Basko first hacked to as an instant punishment,” a police off icial agencies using forged documents.”A mere FIR being diff erences of opinion with Chief Minister Tarun of the terror group. Defence counsel Akram death Thapa Tudu and then went inside his said. According to the police, Jitender Kumar registered or a probe being announced does not Gogoi are believed to be one of the main factors. Khan, however, argued that the police should house and hacked his brother Ramesh, his wife was one of four armed men who looted the mean that I am guilty. If I am guilty of the crime which The educationist-turned-lawyer-turned politician first inform the court about the investigation and their sister. The bodies have been sent for bank centre. “All four of them opened fire but Achuthanandan says, then I will crawl and prostrate lost the 2006 assembly election. In 2009, Konwar since Shah’s arrest. He was arrested on January a postmortem. Shayam Tudu alias Bhairo had villagers chased them and one of them was before Achuthanandan,” said Natesan. He heads the was appointed governor of Bihar and became 6 in Bengaluru on the charge of plotting allegedly killed Basko’s wife on January 15 after caught, while the other three managed to SNDP Yogam, the social movement of the powerful Tripura governor in March 2013. He was removed to carry out a series of terror strikes in the branding her a witch. Shayam is at present flee.” Hindu Ezhava community. from the post on June 28, 2014. country. lodged in a jail.

Two dead in clashes Kerala court with police in Kashmir

Agencies fi nds ‘beedi Srinagar

civilian protester and a suspected militant were Akilled in clashes with government forces yesterday in king’ guilty Jammu and Kashmir, police said. After receiving a tip-off about suspected rebels in Naina, some 35km south of the main city of Srinagar, soldiers cordoned off the village on Tuesday night, triggering a gun battle. of murder “One militant was killed dur- Mohamed Nisham to be ing the overnight encounter,” sentenced today Nitish Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, said. Agencies Hundreds of villagers angry at Thiruvananthapuram the killing of the suspected rebel threw rocks at police who fi red back using tear gas and bullets, court in Kerala yesterday killing one protester and injuring found a millionaire busi- two others, Kumar said. Anessman guilty of murder The protesters, chanting “We for ramming his car into a securi- want freedom” and “Go India, ty guard who was slow in opening go back” also torched an ar- the gate of his upscale township. moured police vehicle that was The Thrissur district additional sent to help soldiers withdraw sessions court, which convicted from the area after the gun bat- Mohamed Nisham, 38, heading tle ended. a Rs50bn diversifi ed businesses, zAs the new government in will sentence him today. Kashmir should be in place by Judge K P Sudheer found him Nisham: guilty of murder January-end, the Bharatiya Ja- guilty on nine counts, including nata Party is likely to place a the attack with an intention to plex with his SUV and squeezed bundled him into the SUV and woman leader in charge of party kill. The trial began on October him against a wall before getting continued hitting him till his wife aff airs in the state to streamline 26, last year and the arguments out and beating him with an iron arrived with a gun. co-ordination with its coalition were completed last week. rod. He was dragged into a garage partner the People’s Democratic Nisham, known as the beedi Of the 111 prosecution witness- 700m away and continued the Party, sources said. king, was arrested last January es, 22 were examined and one wit- torture for what the prosecution “Now that the initial hiccups after he pinned the guard against ness, Nisham’s wife Amal, who said was punishment for the delay are over, the next PDP-BJP gov- a wall with his Hummer over a initially admitted to the crime and in opening the gate. ernment should be in place be- delay in opening the gate of his later turned hostile, faces charges While rejecting Nisham’s bail fore the end of this month,” the apartment complex. of perjury for deviating from her plea, the Supreme Court de- sources said. The 50-year-old guard, Chan- original statement recorded by a scribed it as “an example of how They said BJP general sec- darabose, was left with multiple magistrate. the rich have become totally ego- retary Ram Madhav is likely to injuries and died after suff ering Some 65 documentary and 24 centric and megalomaniac.” have a lesser role in the state a cardiac arrest in the hospital material evidence, including the The top court also remarked: once PDP leader Mehbooba where he was receiving treat- Hummer, were presented before “Poverty matters. There is pride Mufti assumes charge as chief ment. the court. in poverty,” and asked the trial minister. “It was a short hearing and the The prosecution argued that court to complete the process by Madhav is looking after BJP’s court found the accused, Nisham, it was heinous murder while the January 31. aff airs in Kashmir since the Muf- guilty of murder,” public prosecu- defence insisted it was an acci- It is not the fi rst time Nisham ti Mohamed Sayeed-led govern- tor Udayabhanu said. dent. has made the headlines. ment took offi ce on March 1 last “We have argued for the maxi- Nisham’s lawyers told the court He faces a separate criminal year. mum penalty - death,” said Uday- he had an extended family which case for allowing his nine-year- “The party high command is abhanu. dependent on him. old son to drive a Ferrari in 2013, looking for a woman leader to “Since he also claims to be a During the trial, key witness which caused outrage after he up- co-ordinate issues with the PDP wealthy businessman, we have Anoop who claimed he had seen loaded a video onto YouTube. since Ram Madhav will get busy asked for a compensation of Rs5 Nisham attacking Chandrabose Nisham, owner of the Kings with elections in Assam and crore for the bereaved family,” said also turned hostile. Group of Companies, made his other states. Udayabhanu. He later admitted in the court fortune from beedis and also “The new in-charge of the The Kerala government had that he changed his statement owns hotel and jewellery busi- state BJP is likely to be a woman announced a government job for under duress and stuck to the nesses in the Middle East. holding important position in Chandrabose’s wife. original version. He reportedly has a passion for the central government and the Villagers attend the funeral for suspected rebel Shariq Ahmed Bhat at Bandana village of Pulwama The court heard that Nisham He told the police Nisham luxury cars and owns a large fl eet party,” the sources said. district, south of Srinagar, yesterday. pursued the guard into the com- knocked down his colleague, of them. India launches satellite, Greenpeace India moves closer to own GPS names new chief AFP which has been facing a series Agencies hra Pradesh. Over the next few we have to fi rst complete the con- New Delhi of challenges from a variety of New Delhi days, scientists will carry orbital stellation of seven regional navi- government agencies, and re- manoeuvres to place the satel- gation satellite system (IRNSS) in new the organisation’s focus lite into a geosynchronous orbit, the next two months and embark reenpeace India said on campaigns,” the group said ndia successfully launched the ISRO said in a statement. on other missions to launch vari- yesterday it had ap- in a statement. fi fth of a constellation of navi- “We have started this year with ous types of satellites for multi- Gpointed a new direc- Greenpeace, which has Igation satellites yesterday, as the launch of the fi fth navigation purposes,” Kumar said. tor to steer the group forward been in India for 15 years, has part of a programme that will re- satellite, which is a great success “Speeding up the space pro- amid ongoing legal battles been embroiled in legal bat- duce dependency on the US’ Glo- as it was precisely injected into grammes, we had launched fi ve with Prime Minister Naren- tles with the Modi-led gov- bal Positioning System (GPS) and the intended orbit. We are lining missions in 2015, including four dra Modi’s government. ernment over its funding and other networks. up a series of satellites for launch PSLV and one GSLV (geo-synchro- The campaign group said local operations, although it India’s plan is to have seven in almost every month to meet nous launch vehicle) rockets. Since Ravi Chellam, an environ- has managed successfully to satellites that will provide naviga- the demand,” ISRO chairman A S July, we had launched four mis- mentalist who has worked defend itself. tional information over the coun- Krishna Kumar said. sions with each in August (GSLV), with the UN Development In the most recent case, the try and up to 1,500km around the Two more satellites are planned September and December,” satellite Programme and wildlife or- Madras High Court in No- mainland, Indian Space Research to be launched over the next sev- centre director M Annadurai said. ganisations, assumed his role vember temporarily halted Organisation said. eral months, it said. India’s re- With the successful launch of as executive director earlier a government order cancel- The American GPS, Russia’s gional navigation system will the GSLV in August 2015, GSLV- this month. ling the group’s licence in the Glonass and Europe’s Galileo have provide open navigational infor- Mark-III in December 2014 and His predecessor Samit Aich country, allowing it to con- dozens of satellites to provide in- mation to all users but also re- GSLV-Mark II in January 2014, resigned last June together tinue operating. formation across the globe. China stricted services to the military. using indigenous cryogenic en- with programme director Di- Earlier in 2015 New Delhi is also building its own global po- Prime Minister Narendra Modi gine which runs in super-cooled vya Raghunandan over their suspended Greenpeace’s for- sitioning system, known as Bei- congratulated the scientists for temperatures, the space agency handling of sexual harass- eign funding licence and froze dou or COMPASS. their determination in setting up plans to launch one more GSLV- ment complaints and a rape its domestic bank accounts The satellite IRNSS-1E was a home-grown navigational sys- Mark III as its heaviest rocket this allegation, although neither for alleged rule violations. launched into orbit by a locally tem. “Our scientists keep making year to carry four-tonne satellites was directly implicated in the The environmental group developed spacecraft from the us proud,” he said in a Twitter post. in the geo-stationary orbit, about Indian Space Research Organisation’s PSLV-C31 carrying IRNSS-1E lifts off cases. later succeeded in removing Sriharikota space centre in And- “We have a long way to go, as 36,000km from the earth. from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota yesterday. “Ravi will anchor the NGO, those legal blocks. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 23 INDIA

Court slams CBI, orders return of documents seized during raid

IANS offi cial on the basis of oral infor- The allegation relates to the raided, and linked it to a probe inquiry is required,” the court The court observed that the the original documents at any New Delhi mation. period from 2010 to 2014, when he had ordered against Finance said. CBI could not say, even after point of time by visiting the gov- “There appears a deviation the Congress ruled Delhi. There Minister Arun Jaitley on issues “However, in the present case, one month of investigation, ernment offi ce. in the present case as the CBI, was no allegation that Rajendra related to alleged corruption in the FIR is registered on oral in- how these documents were re- According to the FIR, Rajen- court yesterday without conducting a pre- Kumar and other public serv- Delhi’s cricket body. The CBI formation, thus proceedings ini- lated to the allegations against dra Kumar promoted a company, slammed the Central liminary inquiry, straight away ants received direct pecuniary denied searching Kejriwal’s of- tiated by the CBI appears to be in Rajendra Kumar or the other Endeavour System Pvt Ltd from A Bureau of Investigation registered the regular case on advantage in the case, the judge fice. haste.” accused. 2007, by allegedly misusing his and ordered the agency to re- oral information,” the judge noted. The First Information Report The judge also observed But it noted that the Delhi offi cial positions and facilitated turn documents seized from said. CBI offi cials raided the Delhi suggests that Rajendra Kumar that the CBI, “in the garb of government was able to show tenders worth Rs90.5mn to the the office of the principal sec- The court noted that the case Secretariat on December 16, al- along with other public servants search warrant, cannot seize that these documents were in no company. retary to the Delhi chief min- against Rajendra Kumar and leging they were investigating provided favours to the private documents which are not in way connected with the present In an application fi led last ister. other public servants was that corruption charges against Ra- fi rms. any way related to the case investigation. month, the Aam Aadmi Party Special Judge Ajay Kumar Jain they misused their offi cial posi- jendra Kumar. “When there is no direct al- and the documents seized However, the court granted government sought the return also wondered how a regular tion in granting tenders to pri- Chief Minister Arvind Kejri- legation of pecuniary advantage, in this manner is clearly an liberty to retain photocopies of of the documents seized “indis- case was registered against the vate companies. wal claimed his office too was then some sort of preliminary abuse of power”. these documents and to inspect criminately” by the CBI. Bihar to reserve 35% of govt jobs for women, says offi cial

Agencies tire driving scooters or cars to Patna work is now an everyday sight in cities. Yet women make up only ihar has said it will re- 22% of the workforce, and serve 35% of all govern- though 79% of rural women Bment jobs for women work in agriculture, more than in a bid to boost women’s 90% of them are in the infor- empowerment in the state, a mal sector, with little social government offi cial said yes- protection or land ownership, terday. according to the UN. Bihar is one of India’s poor- Gender rights experts say est and most under-developed such affi rmative action poli- states and social indicators for cies, in the public and private women are much lower than sectors, need to be passed na- national averages, according tionwide, empowering wom- to the 2011 census. en, dispelling sexist attitudes For example, female literacy which see girls as liabilities in the largely agricultural state and dismantling customs like stands at 51.5% against male child marriage. literacy of 71.2%, and a na- During campaigning for tional female literacy rate of the Bihar assembly elections Activists of the Youth Congress burn eff igies of Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani demanding her resignation over the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith 65%. last year, Nitish Kumar, who Vemula, in Kolkata yesterday. “This will help end gender was the chief ministerial can- bias and prove to be a great didate, had promised 35% leap towards women’s em- reservation for women in all powerment in Bihar as their government jobs if he formed confi dence level will rise,” said a government again. Brajesh Mehrotra, principal Soon after being sworn-in secretary of Bihar’s cabinet, as chief minister in November, which approved the policy on Kumar reiterated his stand to Tuesday. provide 35% reservation for Student’s death not a “The purpose is that women women. march ahead in every fi eld.” According to socio-political There are no fi gures for the analysts here, a large number number of women currently of women cutting across caste employed in Bihar’s govern- and religion had voted for Nit- ment sector, but government ish Kumar. offi cials estimate it at about This is not the fi rst initia- caste battle, says Irani 10%. tive aimed at boosting gender India’s economic liberalisa- equality in certain professions Protests continue over Dalit is not,” Irani said at a press con- continued its protest at the uni- ued to swarm the campus for the students and demanded action tion and rapid growth over the in the state. scholar’s suicide ference in New Delhi, in her fi rst versity that remained shut. The second day. Yesterday, Commu- against the guilty. past two decades have helped ex- Bihar is one of a handful of reaction to the raging row. protesters have vowed not to nist Party of India (Marxist) gen- Trinamool Congress MPs pose people to more liberal views states which have already al- IANS She said the case was being allow classes to run until Vice eral secretary Sitaram Yechury Derek O’Brien and Pratima about women, especially through located a certain percentage of Hyderabad/New Delhi “misrepresented”. Chancellor Appa Rao resigns sought President Pranab Mondal also met the students. the media, satellite and cable tel- jobs to women in fi elds such as “It’s not a Dalit versus non- and justice is done to Vemula’s Mukherjee’s intervention. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind evision and the Internet. teaching and the police. Dalit confrontation,” she said, family. Addressing the students, Kejriwal will visit Hyderabad As a result, more women Women’s rights activists s protests continued yes- adding there had been media A two-member committee Yechury demanded the sack- today to meet the family of Ve- are stepping out of traditional welcomed Bihar’s latest ini- terday for the fourth day debates suggesting that Vemula sent by the human resource de- ing of Irani and Dattatreya and mula, an offi cial said. roles. Female doctors, lawyers, tiative but said the state gov- Aat University of Hydera- mentioned the names of people velopment ministry continued also the vice chancellor, saying The incident has revived ten- police offi cers and bureau- ernment also had to work to bad over the death of a Dalit re- and organisations who forced its probe for a second day yes- all three were part of a criminal sions over the agenda of the rul- crats are common, and well- create more jobs in the civil search scholar, the central gov- him to commit suicide. terday. conspiracy. ing BJP, which some accuse of dressed women in Western at- service. ernment said it was not a “Dalit She fl ashed a letter, saying it Minister of State for Labour He called the probe ordered by tolerating extremist elements versus non-Dalit issue.” was the only document the po- Dattareya, who represents Se- the ministry an eyewash, say- and failing to safeguard India’s Human Resource Develop- lice got while investigating the cunderabad in the Lok Sabha, ing a judicial or Central Bureau offi cial secularism. Trains cancelled due to fog ment Minister Smriti Irani said case. She also read out a few lines clarifi ed that he did not put pres- of Investigation probe should be “This suicide is not an individual there was a “malicious attempt from the letter, suggesting what sure on the university to suspend ordered. act,” read an open letter signed by The national capital this month that the sting of to project it as a caste bat- was being widely projected was any student. When Republican Party of 129 Indian and foreign academics, experienced another chilly day the winter could be felt during tle.” Another central minister, not the truth. He said he merely forwarded India leader Ramdas Athawale carried by The Hindu newspaper and a foggy morning yesterday, daytime in the city. However, Bandaru Dattatreya, insisted he The other suspended stu- two representations he got from came to the campus, he had and other media yesterday. which led to the cancellation the minimum temperature did not infl uence the university dents, who continued their pro- the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi to face the ire of students who “It is the failure of higher edu- of 67 trains. The weather off ice remained relatively high at 9 to suspend Rohith Vemula - who test on the campus, condemned Parishad (ABVP) to the human asked him to fi rst withdraw cational institutions in demo- said cold winds again led to the degrees. “A total of 67 trains committed suicide - and four Irani and accused her of trying to resource development ministry. support to the Bharatiya Janata cratic India to meet their most city’s maximum temperature were cancelled and six were other students. twist the facts. Dattatreya extended his Party-led government. Police basic obligation: to foster the dropping to 15.1 degrees rescheduled due to dense “There has been a malicious The Joint Action Commit- heartfelt condolences to Vemu- escorted him out. intellectual and personal growth Celsius, five below the season’s fog,” a Northern Railway attempt to project the issue as a tee (JAC) for social justice, an la’s family. YSR Congress party chief Y S of India’s most vulnerable young average. It was the first time official said. caste battle. The truth is that, it umbrella of student groups, Politicians meanwhile contin- Jaganmohan Reddy also met the people.”

Nomadic shepherds on the road Kerala ‘needs to improve Trai raps Facebook its quality of education’ over Free Basics DPA the scheme could continue New Delhi operating there. Reuters outs, prison inmates and physi- state has made in the education In a letter, Trai said Face- Thiruvananthapuram cally disabled people. sector,” activist and writer M N book’s Save Free Basics cam- Athulyam, which means un- Karassery said yesterday. ndia’s telecom regulator paign reduced its consulta- equalled, used limited resources, Other activists agreed. has slammed Facebook tion process into a “crudely ctivists yesterday wel- offi cials said, and relied on the “Several universities in the Iover aggressive lobbying majoritarian and orchestrated comed Kerala being participation of volunteers and country are denying admission for its Free Basics initiative opinion poll” which had “dan- Anamed the fi rst in the civil society groups to identify to students from Kerala as they in the country, a series of ex- gerous ramifi cations for policy country to give a primary educa- and enrol individuals in more feel that they got infl ated marks,” changes made public yester- making in India.” tion to its entire population, but than 4,000 education centres said M G Sasibhooshan, an ac- day showed. “Equally of concern is your stressed the need to improve the across the state. tivist and historian. The initiative grants free self-appointed spokesmanship quality of education. But activists said they were “The Delhi University, for access to selected sites includ- on behalf of those who have Vice President Hamid Ansari not impressed by the declara- example, reduces 10% marks ing Facebook, Wikipedia, the sent responses to Trai using last week declared the state of tion, adding that programmes from the total marks obtained BBC, as well as weather and your platform. It is noticed that 34mn - popular among tourists like Athulyam would only by a student in Kerala for ad- health services, but critics ar- you have not been authorised for its backwater canals and la- make a difference if more in- mitting them to their course,” gue it violates Net neutrality by your users to speak on behalf goons - had achieved its goal to vestment went towards im- he added. by working with providers to of them collectively,” the letter educate its population to the pri- proving the overall quality of Education and literacy have direct traffi c to selected sites. posted on the Trai website said. mary standard of grade 4. education. long been established as key to The Telecom Regulatory Trai said users respond- Offi cials attribute the success “Programmes like Athulyam improving human development Authority of India (Trai) in ing to the Facebook campaign to a scheme called Athulyam, may bring accolades to Kerala, and social indicators, helping to Nomadic shepherds from Rajasthan herd their sheep at December temporarily sus- were not able to make a fully which targeted over a period of but it will not help the people. break the cycle of poverty and a camp on the outskirts of New Delhi yesterday. These pended Free Basics, which informed decision as the net- fi ve years more than 200,000 A total revamp of the education prevent problems such as child shepherds still cling on to pastoral nomadic life, trekking long provides free access to a hand- work did not include four spe- people between the ages of 15 system is needed if Kerala has to marriage, teen pregnancy and distances in search of pasture for their sheep. ful of websites and services, cifi c questions raised by the and 50, including school drop- build on the achievements the violence against women. until it determined whether agency about Free Basics. Gulf Times 24 Thursday, January 21, 2016 LATIN AMERICA

ANGER APPEAL INVESTIGATION POLICY PEOPLE Uruguayan dairy farmers Venezuela needs ‘urgent Campos plane crash Argentina authorises Actress who met ‘El Chapo’ protest over unpaid dues foreign medical aid’ blamed on pilot error force against drug flights to testify in Los Angeles

Uruguayan dairy farmers demonstrated and With scores of medicines in short supply due to a The 2014 plane crash that killed Socialist Party Argentina has announced measures designed to Actress Kate del Castillo, at the centre of a blocked roads over $85mn they say is owed to severe financial squeeze, Venezuela is suff ering a presidential candidate Eduardo Campos was help fight drug traff icking, vowing to crack down Mexican probe into money laundering after them by crisis-stricken Venezuela, in part blaming “humanitarian crisis” and requires rapid interna- caused by pilot error in bad weather, Air Force on smugglers using the country as a transship- she helped Hollywood star Sean Penn conduct their own government in Montevideo for the non- tional assistance, according to a major pharma- investigators said. The Cessna business jet ment point for Bolivian and Peruvian cocaine an interview with drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” payment. In July, Venezuelan President Maduro ceutical association. The Venezuelan Pharmaceu- that departed Rio de Janeiro on August 13 that destined for the lucrative markets of Europe. Guzman, will give evidence in Los Angeles, ac- sealed a multi-million-dollar food import deal with tical Federation listed 150 medicines, from those year “did not follow its charted route,” said Declaring a nationwide public security emer- cording to her father. Mexican attorney general his Uruguayan counterpart. But instead of paying for hypertension to cancer, as well as basics such Lieutenant Raul de Souza, in charge of the gency, the country’s new president said the army Arely Gomez said in an interview in the newspa- the $267mn as agreed, Maduro’s government as prophylactics and antibiotics, which are scarce probe into the crash. “There is no evidence would be allowed to “identify, warn, intimidate per El Universal that there were “indications” deposited in November under a fifth of that in the Opec nation of 29mn people. “The national of any type of mechanical failure in what was and use force” against drug flights. “The resolu- the Mexican actress may have used money amount, according to Uruguay. Uruguayan farm- government must accept we are in a humanitar- found.” Campos was heading to a campaign tion includes strong control of air space,” said from Guzman to help finance her tequila busi- ers say Venezuela is not alone to blame. “Wasn’t ian crisis in the health sector, with patients dying rally when his plane crashed in bad weather a statement from Mauricio Macri, who won the ness. “She wants to co-operate because she it our president who told us to send our products across our territory for lack of medicines,” said into a residential area of the city of Santos, in presidency in November promising to straighten has nothing to hide,” local newspaper Reforma to Venezuela, promising we would be compen- association president Freddy Ceballos in a state- southeastern Brazil. All seven people aboard out Argentina’s troubled economy and step up quoted her father, Eric del Castillo, as saying in sated?” the local dairy industry chamber said. ment. the jet died. anti-narcotics eff orts its edition yesterday. Marijuana Haiti unrest fi rms look to Mexico for opportunities

Reuters an interesting investment op- Mexico City portunity.” His fi rm calculates a legal medical and recreational can- any top companies nabis market in Mexico could be cashing in on legal can- worth $1.7bn a year. Mnabis are considering Products that fi rms could of- a bet on Mexico after a Supreme fer range from marijuana plants Court decision raised hopes for a for medical use and cannabis- legalisation of medical and rec- based medicines to supply-chain reational marijuana in a country software, allowing regulators to reeling from years of gruesome track suppliers and inventory, drug violence. and pot-themed social media From medical marijuana websites. growers to pot private equity The US legal pot market was fi rms, many weed entrepre- worth some $3.5bn in 2015, ac- neurs see Mexico as a tempting cording to marijuana investment new business opportunity even and research fi rm the ArcView though cannabis is still illegal Group. A federal US legalisation and the market is currently con- of marijuana would create a mar- trolled by ruthless drug cartels. ket worth $36.8bn in retail sales, A National Police off icer kicks a burning tyre as he clears a barricade during a demonstration against the electoral process in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti’s delayed “Me personally, I’m not afraid it said. presidential run-off election will take place on January 24. to go to Mexico,” said Daniel The Supreme Court deci- Sparks, head of government af- sion in Mexico only allows four fairs at BioTrackTHC, a US- plaintiff s who brought the case based provider of marijuana to grow and smoke their own supply-chain software. marijuana. He said that just as mafi a Polls show most Mexicans op- groups and bootleggers gave up pose outright legalisation, in- on illicit moonshine after Prohi- cluding President Enrique Pena bition ended in the US, Mexico’s Nieto, although he has called for drug gangs would have little in- a national debate on the matter. terest in a legal marijuana mar- There is more support for Macri wants ‘new era’ ket, especially if it lured in repu- medical marijuana regulation, table pharmaceutical and tech and lawmakers say the bill sub- fi rms. mitted by Pena Nieto’s Institu- “I am not so optimistic to think tional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that a cannabis business in Mex- is likely to pass in some form. ico would not encounter opposi- With a population of 120mn tion or violence from the cartels. people, Mexico could provide a in ties with Britain However, their profi t margins are sizeable market for marijuana being eroded daily, monthly and investors. Still, the seven can- AFP sor Cristina Kirchner and In a 2013 referendum, 99.8% Macri, 56, adopted a concilia- global capital markets. yearly by the continued expan- nabis companies, legalisation Buenos Aires Prime Minister David Cam- voted to remain a British over- tory tone throughout the inter- “Our plan is to end all past sion of medical and recreational advocates and lawmakers con- eron clashed very publicly over seas territory. view granted at his presidential confl icts. We are going to nego- marijuana programmes in more sulted for this article stressed the islands, which are claimed The 1982 Falklands War offi ce before he headed to the tiate with the best attitude,” he and more US states.” any opening would take time. rgentina’s new president, by Argentina, where they are claimed the lives of 649 Argen- World Economic Forum in Da- said when asked if his govern- Canada’s new Prime Minister, “It’s likely a market that is of Mauricio Macri, says he known as Las Malvinas. tine soldiers, 255 British soldiers vos, Switzerland. ment would end the dispute. Justin Trudeau, has promised to some interest to the company, Awants to start “a new era” The tensions between the two and three islanders. It will be the fi rst time that an Argentina’s new government legalise the drug and a Supreme but not immediate interest” said in relations with Britain, long leaders over the issue came to a Pressed whether his concilia- Argentinian president attends reopened talks with bondhold- Court decision in November Stephen Schultz, spokesman for strained by the two nations’ dis- head in 2012 at a G20 summit af- tory tone towards Britain would the annual gathering in over a ers in New York last week. Ar- opened the door for Mexico to Britain’s GW Pharmaceuticals, pute over the Falkland Islands, ter Kirchner tried to hand Cam- mean more trade, better trans- decade. gentina offi cials say they plan one day follow suit, prompting which produces Sativex, a can- according to remarks published eron a package of papers relating port links and other changes re- “Argentina wants to have good to submit a proposal later this the ruling party to present a bill nabis-derived medicine. in the media. to the disputed islands and he quested by the islanders, Macri ties with the entire world. I want month. to regulate medical marijuana. Uruguay blazed a trail in 2013 “We will keep our claim over refused it. avoided specifi cs. to create jobs, I have committed The previous administration “It shows North America ... by becoming the fi rst country to the islands which are Argentine, Argentina claims it inher- “I want to sit down and start myself to an Argentina with zero of Cristina Kirchner had re- is moving in the same direc- allow the commercial cultiva- but I will try to start a new era ited the remote, wind-swept talking about the subject and poverty. We need investment,” fused to compromise with the tion, and that’s more than just tion and distribution of weed. in ties with Britain,” he said in a archipelago from Spain when in the meantime fi nd in which he said according to El Pais. creditors, mainly hedge funds it symbolic: it’s indicative of what But it has struggled to roll out joint interview with Spain’s dai- it gained independence while ways we can co-operate,” he was Macri also said his govern- branded “vultures,” after a US will happen at a global scale,” the project and legal marijuana ly El Pais, Britain’s The Guardi- Britain says it has historically quoted as saying by The Guardi- ment would solve a long-stand- court ordered the country to pay said Brendan Kennedy, chief ex- won’t be available on pharmacy an, France’s Le Monde and Italy’s ruled them and that the island- an during his fi rst interview with ing dispute with bondholders the full value of bonds that Bue- ecutive of pot private equity fi rm shelves until mid-2016, about 18 La Stampa. ers should have the right to self- the foreign media since taking in the US which has for years nos Aires defaulted on some 15 Privateer Holdings. “Mexico is months later than planned. Macri’s leftist predeces- determination. offi ce last month. blocked Argentina’s access to years ago.

Anger at fare hike Colombian govt, Farc Transgenic mosquito ask UN to monitor peace to battle Zika virus Reuters when it appeared in northeast- Brasilia ern Brazil. The virus has quickly AFP “This entity will begin work several key advances in recent spread through Latin America. Bogota once the accord is signed,” said months, notably in Septem- Brazilian health authorities government and rebel nego- ber, when they signed a deal genetically modifi ed have linked the Zika outbreak to tiators in a joint statement in on post-conflict justice, and mosquito has helped re- a surge in the number of babies olombia’s government Havana, where they have been Santos and Farc chief Timoleon Aduce the proliferation of born with unusually small heads, and Farc rebels said they holding peace talks since No- Jimenez vowed to conclude a mosquitoes spreading Zika and a damaging neurological condi- Chave asked the United vember 2012. peace accord within six months. other dangerous viruses in Bra- tion called microcephaly. Nations to monitor the eventual The mission will comprise But the Farc said last week zil, its developers said. The US Centers for Disease end of their fi ve-decade confl ict, observers from the Community that “substantial hurdles” The self-limiting strain of the Control and Prevention issued a raising hopes they are close to a of Latin American and Carib- were jeopardising the March 23 Aedes aegypti mosquito was devel- travel advisory last week warn- peace deal. bean States, a 33-nation regional deadline. oped by Oxitec, the UK-subsidiary ing pregnant women to avoid 14 Negotiators from both sides group. The two sides have signed of US synthetic biology company countries and territories in the said they had asked the UN Se- The government’s chief ne- deals on four of the six agenda Intrexon. The male mosquitoes are Caribbean and Latin America af- curity Council to send an un- gotiator, Humberto de la Calle, items at the peace talks: justice modifi ed so their off spring will die fected by the virus. armed observer mission to Co- called it a “particularly signifi - for victims, land reform, po- before reaching adulthood and be- With Brazil’s rainy season un- lombia for 12 months to oversee cant step” toward peace. litical participation for ex-rebels ing able to reproduce. derway, authorities are scram- the disarmament of the Marxist “Peace in Colombia is possi- and fi ghting the drug traffi cking Oxitec, which produces the bling to fi ght the seasonal surge guerrilla group and the end of ble,” said his rebel counterpart, that has fueled the confl ict in the mosquitoes in Campinas, an- in mosquito populations. the conflict. Ivan Marquez. world’s largest cocaine-produc- nounced it will build a second Two weeks ahead of Carnival They said the “political mis- President Juan Manuel Santos ing country. facility in nearby Piracicaba, Sao celebrations, a highlight of Bra- sion” would work alongside the however made it clear that the The unsettled issues are dis- Paulo state, following strong re- zil’s tourism calendar, offi cials Farc and the government in a tri- UN “blue helmet” peacekeepers armament and the mechanism sults there in controlling the pop- want to stem international con- partite body over which the UN will not be needed. “This has to by which the fi nal accord will ulation of the Aedes vector that cern about the virus. They also observers will preside, oversee- do with unarmed observers, not a be ratifi ed. The Revolutionary also carries the dengue virus. want to reassure travellers who ing a ceasefi re, settling disputes, blue helmet peacekeeping opera- Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) Students protest against the rise in transport fares in Sao Zika virus, fi rst detected in Af- plan to attend the opening cer- making recommendations and tion,” Santos said. was launched in the aftermath of Paulo, Brazil. rica in the 1940’s, was unknown emonies of the 2016 Olympics in issuing reports. The two sides have made a peasant uprising in 1964. in the Americas until last year Rio de Janeiro. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 25 PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN

COMMERCE Pakistan decides to initiate FTA with Iran

Pakistan has decided to initiate a Militants storm Pakistan free trade agreement (FTA) with Iran in the wake of lifting of sanc- tions on Tehran. In a meeting with the newly- appointed ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost yesterday, Commerce Minister Khurram Dasatgir Khan said Paki- university, kill at least 20 stan was interested in negotiating an agreement with Iran. Four gunmen entered kistan army spokesman General “The draft of the FTA template school campus under cover Asim Bajwa said. will be forwarded to the Iranian of fog; Many victims were A security offi cial close to the authorities concerned as soon as shot execution-style in operation said he had seen the they express their willingness,” the the head; Confusion on four gunmen’s bodies riddled minister added. responsibility as Taliban with bullets. He said none of the make contradicting claims; gunmen was wearing a suicide EMPLOYMENT Attack comes more than a vest, but they carried guns and year after Peshawar school grenades. 2mn Pakistanis massacre Television footage showed went abroad for military vehicles packed with jobs in three years Reuters soldiers driving into the campus Charsadda/Islamabad as helicopters buzzed overhead and ambulances lined up outside The National Assembly (the lower the main gate while anxious par- house) of Pakistan was informed rmed militants stormed ents consoled each other. yesterday that about two million a university in volatile Shabir Khan, a lecturer in the Pakistanis travelled abroad over Anorthwestern Pakistan English department, said he the past three years for employ- yesterday, killing at least 20 peo- was about to leave his univer- ment. ple and wounding dozens a little sity housing for the department Answering a question in the lower more than a year after the mas- when fi ring began. house of parliament, Parliamen- sacre of 134 students at a school “Most of the students and tary Secretary for Overseas in the area, offi cials said. staff were in classes when the Pakistanis and Human Resource A senior Pakistani Taliban fi ring began,” Khan said. Development Shafqat Hayat Ba- commander claimed responsi- Several schools had closed loch said that 953,945 people had bility for the assault in Khyber early at the weekend around moved to Saudi Arabia, 112,670 Pakhtunkhwa province, but an Peshawar, the capital of Khyber to Oman, 845,000 to UAE, about offi cial spokesman later denied Pakhtunkhwa, after rumours 23,000 to Bahrain, 45,000 to involvement, calling the attack circulated of a possible attack. Malaysia and 277,108 to Qatar in “un-Islamic”. All the educational institu- the same period. The violence nevertheless tions in Charsadda have been He said that National Migration shows that militants retain the closed until the end of the Policy had been drafted in 2008 ability to launch attacks, despite month in the wake of the at- but it could not be finalised a country-wide anti-terrorism tack. A three-day mourning over because of devolution of the then crackdown and a military cam- the attack victims has been an- Ministry of Labour and Manpower paign against their strongholds nounced by the government of under the 18th Amendment. along the lawless border with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Afghanistan. Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man to a hospital following an attack by gunmen in the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda yesterday. The area has been on edge CRIME Pakistani Prime Minister Na- since the December 2014 massa- waz Sharif strongly condemned bodies had been recovered in- housing where many students Vice-Chancellor Fazal Rahim “Youth who are studying in cre by six gunmen in Peshawar. Taliban search for the attack and was closely fol- cluding students, guards, po- were sleeping. told reporters that the university non-military institutions, we Pakistan, which has suff ered man who cuts off lowing the development of the licemen and at least one teacher, “They came from behind and teaches over 3,000 students and consider them as builders of the from years of jihadist militant incident while on a foreign tour, named by media as chemistry there was a big commotion,” an was hosting an additional 600 future nation and we consider violence, has killed and arrested wife’s nose said the Prime Minister Offi ce in professor Syed Hamid Husain. unnamed male student told a visitors for the poetry recital. their safety and protection our hundreds of suspected mili- a statement.“We are determined Husain reportedly shot back at news channel from a hospital Umar Mansoor, a senior Pa- duty,” the statement said. tants under a major crackdown The Afghan Taliban said yester- and resolved in our commitment the gunmen with a pistol to al- bed in Charsadda’s District Hos- kistani Taliban commander in- The reason for the confl ict- launched afterwards. day they were searching for a to wipe out the menace of terror- low his students to fl ee. pital. “We were told by teachers volved in the December 2014 ing claims was not immediately The Peshawar school attack man who cut off his wife’s nose, ism from our homeland,” Prime Many of the dead were appar- to leave immediately. Some peo- attack on the army school in clear. While the Taliban leader- was seen as having hardened Pa- condemning the attack as “un- Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a ently shot in the head execution- ple hid in bathrooms.” Peshawar, claimed responsibil- ship is fractured, Mansoor is be- kistan’s resolve to fi ght militants Islamic”, after online images of the statement after yesterday’s attack. style, TV footage showed. Thirty fi ve of the wounded re- ity for the Charsadda assault and lieved to remain loyal to central along its lawless border with Af- young woman sparked wide- A security offi cial said the The militants, using the cover main in hospital, a local police said it involved four of his men. leader Mullah Fazlullah. ghanistan. spread outrage. death toll could rise to as high as of thick, wintry fog, scaled the offi cial said late yesterday. He said by telephone the uni- The Pakistani Taliban are Indian Prime Minister Naren- Mohamed Khan has been on the 40 at Bacha Khan University in walls of the university yesterday The gunmen attacked as the versity was targeted because it fi ghting to topple the govern- dra Modi and the US ambassador run since he attacked his wife the city of Charsadda. The army morning before entering build- university prepared to host a po- was a government institution ment and install a strict inter- to Pakistan have also condemned Reza Gul, 20, with a pocket knife said it had concluded operations ings and opening fi re on students etry recital yesterday afternoon that supported the army. pretation of Islamic law. the attack. The White House also on Sunday, severely disfiguring to clear the campus six hours and teachers in classrooms and to commemorate the death an- However, later in the day, offi cial By afternoon yesterday, the condemned the attack on the- her face. after the attack began, and that hostels, police said. niversary of Khan Abdul Ghaff ar Taliban spokesman Mohamed Kho- military said all four gunmen had university. “We condemn in the The couple lived in restive Ghor- four gunmen were dead. Students told media they saw Khan, a popular ethnic Pash- rasani issued a written statement been killed. strongest possible terms that at- mach district in the northwestern A spokesman for rescue work- several young men wielding AK- tun independence activist after disassociating the militants from “The operation is over and the tack,” White House spokesman province of Faryab, which is ers, Bilal Ahmad Faizi, said 19 47 guns storming the university whom the university is named. the attack, calling it un-Islamic. university has been cleared,” Pa- Eric Schultz told reporters. largely under Taliban control. Seven dead as suicide bomber Chemistry teacher defi es Taliban

AFP ology student Waqar Ali said. hits Afghan TV channel bus Peshawar “He was referred to by stu- dents as ‘The Protector’.” Husain had been the father of a chemistry teacher who three-year-old boy and a daugh- AFP “Our offi ce bus taking TOLO privately run news stations as tried to shield his stu- ter who had recently celebrated Kabul staff home came under attack,” legitimate “military targets”. Adents by opening fi re on her fi rst birthday, a university an employee at the channel told The group said the move Taliban militants during a deadly administration offi cial said. AFP, requesting anonymity. was in response to their re- attack at a Pakistani university He had spent three years stud- even people were killed The bombing left some staff ports claiming that Taliban was known as “The Protector” ying in the UK for his PhD, the yesterday when a suicide members burning inside the fi ghters raped women at a fe- even before his death in a hail of offi cial said. Sbomber struck a minibus vehicle, another employee said, male hostel in Kunduz, after bullets yesterday. Mohamed Shazeb, a 24-year- carrying employees of popular adding that the bus was mostly the group briefl y captured the Lecturer Syed Hamid Husain, a old computer science student, Afghan TV channel TOLO, just fi lled with behind-the-scenes northern city in late Septem- 32-year-old assistant professor of said that Husain was fond of gar- months after the Taliban de- workers from the channel’s ber last year. chemistry at the Bacha Khan uni- dening and used to joke with the clared the network a legitimate graphics and dubbing depart- The Taliban rejected the re- versity in Charsadda, ordered his students that they should learn “military target”. ments. ports as fabrications, saying students to stay inside as Taliban gardening for when they are un- The bombing near the Rus- The loud explosion sent a they were examples of propa- gunmen stormed the school near employed. sian embassy in downtown Ka- plume of smoke rising in the ganda by the “satanic net- the city of Peshawar yesterday, “He had a 9mm pistol and bul also left 24 people wounded, sky, with ambulances and fi re- works”. leaving at least 21 people dead. used to tell us stories about his in the latest in a wave of attacks fi ghters rushing to the scene The attack, which high- Students told of how the fa- hunting trips,” Shazeb said. despite an international push to which was littered with charred lights the growing dangers ther-of-two opened fi re on as- Husain also never missed a jumpstart Taliban peace talks. debris. faced by journalists in Af- sailants as they rampaged across game of cricket with the stu- No group has so far claimed The interior ministry said the ghanistan, comes just two campus, giving the young people dents, he said, adding: “When responsibility for the bombing, attack left seven people dead days after a second round of time to fl ee before he was cut someone would go to bowl to which marks the fi rst major at- and 24 others wounded. a four-country meeting in down by gunfi re. People chant slogans as they hold signs to condemn the militant him, he would joke: ‘Remember tack on a media organisation in The Taliban in October de- Kabul aimed at reviving talks “We saw three terrorists attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, during a protest in kiddo, I have a pistol’”. Afghanistan. clared TOLO and 1TV, both with the Taliban. shouting, ‘Allah is great!’ and Lahore yesterday. Tributes were also paid online rushing towards the stairs of our to the slain teacher, whose fu- department,” one man told re- Ahmed said Husain had warned Husain as “a real gentleman and neral was held in his home vil- porters. him not to leave the building af- a respectable teacher”. lage of Swabi yesterday evening. “One student jumped out of ter the fi rst shots were fi red. Students and university of- Pakistan’s President Mam- the classroom through the win- “He was holding a pistol in his fi cials paid tribute to the slain noon Hussain expressed his grief dow. We never saw him get up.” hand,” he said. academic yesterday, saying he and condolences to the man’s He described seeing Husain “Then I saw a bullet hit him. I had been nicknamed “The Pro- family. holding a pistol and fi ring at the saw two militants were fi ring. I ran tector” even before his death. Teachers in northwest Paki- attackers. inside and then managed to fl ee by “He would always help the stan were given permission to “Then we saw him fall down jumping over the back wall.” students and he was the one who carry fi rearms in the classroom and as the terrorists entered the “They fi red directly at” the knew all their secrets because after Taliban militants massa- (registrar) offi ce we ran away.” professor, sociology student they would share all their prob- cred more than 150 people at a Geology student Zahoor Mohamed Daud said, describing lems with him,” 22-year-old ge- school in Peshawar in 2014.

Militant who claimed responsibility for Indian base attack warns Pakistan against crackdown The Pakistan-based chief of a the divided Kashmir region, had group and shut down off ices and and therefore the Pakistani militant alliance fighting for an claimed responsibility for the seminaries linked to the outfit. people, government and media end to Indian rule in divided assault in Pathankot on January “We are at a loss to understand should play the role of a patron Kashmir openly condemned 2. whether they (the Pakistan rather than of an adversary.” yesterday a crackdown by the The claim of responsibility government) are concerned Salahuddin’s public comments Pakistan government against was met with a sceptical about the interests of the could cause further tensions another group India blames for response among India’s security country that feeds them or that between the two countries. an attack on an air base. establishment, which blames of its enemy?” Salahuddin told He spoke at the Press Club Syed Salahuddin, the chairman another group called Jaish-e- a news conference, referring to in Muzzafarabad, capital of of the United Jihad Council Mohamed. the government’s crackdown. Pakistani-administered part of (UJC), an alliance of pro-Pakistan Last week, Pakistan arrested the “Pakistan is not only an Kashmir. militant groups based in the head of Jaish-e-Mohamed as well advocate but also a party to the Police outside the club made Pakistani-administered part of as several other leaders of the longstanding Kashmir dispute no move to arrest him. Fire-fighters inspect the wreckage of a bus which was hit by a suicide bomb attack in Kabul yesterday. Gulf Times 26 Thursday, January 21, 2016 PHILIPPINES Call to reduce Protesters clash with police over US defence pact holidays to strengthen education

Manila Times ed, the Philippine education Manila should be open to changes if the government wanted it to go hand in hand with the he government should changing work world. reduce the number of “Many of the traditional Tholidays in the country programmes are not being of- if it wanted to strengthen the fered by schools but being of- education system. fered by companies precisely This was the suggestion because of general dissatisfac- aired on Tuesday by Chito tion in the products, or of stu- Salazar, president of Philip- dents going out in universities pine Business for Education or schools,” Salazar said. (PBEd), amid moves aimed at He added that some improving the quality of edu- “schools cannot produce fast cation in the country. enough or not producing the With the frequent holidays right skills” thus aff ecting the in the country, according to employment of their gradu- him, the number of school ates. days was also reduced. “These changes in educa- “We have to reduce the tion are precisely responding number of holidays in order to changes in the workforce. for us to lengthen the school Education must change within year,” Salazar said during the and willing to change within,” launching of the Human De- Salazar said. velopment Report 2015 in Irene Isaac, director- Anti-riot police use their shields to push back activists during a demonstration denouncing the Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement (Edca) in front of the US embassy Makati City (Metro Manila). general of Technical Educa- in Manila yesterday. Protesters marched to the embassy after the Supreme Court on January 12 allowed an increased US military presence in its former colony as tensions rise Apart from holidays, ty- tion and Skills Development in the South China Sea. phoons and calamities have Authority (Tesda), said the also been a contributing factor K-to-12 programme being in the reduction in the number implemented by the gov- of school days. ernment could help develop The Philippines is fre- skills of students and later quently hit by typhoons, thus, prepare them for the job they suspension of classes happens want to land. often. “The K-to-12 programme Because school buildings is being implemented so that are also being used as evacu- those who go out of school ation centres during calami- could apply functional Duterte vows to end graft ties, school authorities are knowledge,” she added. prompted to prolong the sus- Isaac said there are still pension of classes. threats to effective and suc- “The Philippines has one cessful implementation of with the shortest number K-to-12 such as policies, fi- of school days in the world,” nancing and the lack of un- Salazar said. derstanding of parents on the and crime in six months At the same time, he add- programme. Manila Times Duterte fails to fulfill his prom- Manila ises. “For those of you who have Transport agency slashes jeepney fares doubts, don’t even vote for avao City Mayor Rodrigo me, but vote for him (Duterte) The Land Transportation of the Philippines and Pasang Duterte said that he will because vice president is just Franchising and Regulatory Masda proposed to reduce Donly need six months there to support and help. It Board (LTFRB) has approved jeepney fare rate. to put an end to the country’s is the president who has the a 50-centavo jeepney fare cut The transport groups said problems on peace and order and power and the right president amid plunging prices of fuel a fare reduction is in order corruption. can really make meaningful in the world market, Manila because of a series of oil price Speaking during a presiden- change,” Cayetano said Times reported. Yesterday, rollbacks in local and global tial forum held at the De La Salle Duterte said his administra- the LTFRB announced the markets. Yesterday, US bench- University in Manila City, Du- tion will also focus on agri- provisional fare reduction to mark West Texas Intermediate terte, the standard bearer of the culture, infrastructure and the be implemented within the fell to fresh lows of below $28, PDP-Laban, noted that while shift to a federal system of gov- week in the National Capital days after Brent also slipped he is not the silver bullet that ernment. Region (NCR or Metro Manila), below that level. will solve the country’s ills, he is As president, the Davao Region 3 (Aurora, Nueva Ecija, In afternoon trade, WTI was confi dent that he can solve the mayor said he will grant gov- Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, down 3.3% at $27.52 and Brent most pressing problems facing ernment employees higher pay Bulacan and Bataan) and was off 1.9% at $28.22. the Philippines in six months. but this benefit will first be en- Region 4 (Cavite, Laguna, Crude has lost three quarters “I have to take control of our joyed by policemen. Batangas, Rizal, Quezon). The of its value since mid-2014, hit country. Our country is in disor- He plans to raise the salary fare reduction will bring the by a perfect storm of a supply der,” he told his audience, mostly of police officers and soldiers minimum jeepney fare to P7 glut, weak demand, a slow- students of the university. to P50,000 or even P100,000 from P7.50. ing global economy and a Senator Alan Peter Cayeteno, because they will lead the fight The decision to slash jeepney strong dollar.According to the Duterte’s running mate, said the against criminality and drugs. fares came after the Alliance Department of Energy’s (DOE) Davao City mayor was referring Duterte: confident of delivering results All presidential and vice of Transport Organisations, oil monitor on Monday, diesel to problems on illegal drugs, presidential aspirants were Federation of Jeepney Opera- prices are between P19.28 and corruption and peace and order. er, and that more than half of world, that you cannot walk the in the forum, said. invited in the forum but only tors and Drivers Association P23.10 per litre. “If in six months, or by Janu- the drug pushers have either streets feeling safe, he will re- The senator said he too is the tandem of Duterte and ary 1, 2017 you do not feel saf- stopped or are gone from this sign,” Cayetano, who was also willing to give up his post if Cayetano made it to the event. Poe to be included in ballot Enrile’s evidence ‘may if court fails to rule on cases ruin president’s legacy’ By Jeff erson Antiporda Maybe to put PNoy in the stock- asked during the proceedings. By William B Depasupil & Joel M Sy Egco ade,” Osmena added. “I think because of the dig- Manila Times Manila Times Enrile, during the Monday nity of his (Aquino) offi ce, we session, confi rmed that he has don’t want him to be subjected evidence to prove that Aquino to that,” the senator said. f the Supreme Court (SC) will not issue a vidence to be presented did nothing to save the lives of Enrile refused to disclose the decision disqualifying Sen. Grace Poe by by Senate minority leader the Special Action Force mem- evidence that he is holding, saying IFebruary 1, 2016, the senator’s name will EJuan Ponce Enrile when bers who were killed by mem- the people should wait for the in- be included in the offi cial ballot, the Com- the senate reopens its inves- bers of the Moro Islamic Libera- vestigation. The senator was jailed mission on Elections (Comelec) said yester- tigation of the Mamasapano tion Front (MILF), Bangsamoro for more than a year for plunder. day. massacre may ruin the legacy Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) He was accused of getting The High Court issued a temporary re- of President Benigno Aquino, and other private armed groups millions of pesos in kickbacks straining order stopping the Comelec from Senator Sergio “Serge” Osme- while carrying out an operation from the alleged misuse of his cancelling Poe’s certifi cate of candidacy but na has said. in Mamasapano, Maguindano. Priority Development Assist- it is yet to rule on merits of the case. Enrile had said he has evi- The minority leader took the ance Fund or pork barrel. Oral arguments on the senator’s disqualifi - dence to prove that Aquino al- fl oor on Monday and said Aqui- Enrile regained his temporary cation cases started on Tuesday and will con- lowed 44 police commandos to no actively involved himself in liberty after the Supreme Court tinue on January 26. Comelec chairman Juan die almost a year ago. planning and preparation for allowed him to post bail for hu- Andres Bautista said the poll body is com- “I think that if Manong (Big Oplan Exodus, a police operation manitarian reasons. pleting the list of candidates in preparation Brother) Johnny (Enrile’s nick- launched to capture suspected The police general who for the printing of offi cial ballots next month. name) can prove that, it will terrorist Zulkifl i Bin Hir alias headed the Philippine National “I think that right now the schedule or the defi nitely hurt the president,” Marwan. Police-Board of Inquiry (PNP- printing of ballots is on February 1,” Bautista Osmena said.“Manong Johnny Enrile said there are witnesses BOI) that also investigated the told reporters. “If it’s already time to print was ominous when he made that who want to participate in the Mamasapano massacre is also the ballots, we will look at the situation at statement that he has new evi- hearing but he advised them not clueless on the new evidence be- that point of time and what is the legal order dence. It will hurt PNoy (Aqui- to. But Osmena noted that the ing claimed by Enrile. in place. In which case, we will follow,” the Poe: awaiting court verdict no),” he added. president need not attend the Director Benjamin Magalong, poll chief said. The senator said Enrile’s evi- Senate investigation that will who was director of the Crimi- Disqualifi cation cases against Poe were not qualifi ed to run for president because she ule the oral arguments earlier so that the cases dence may even lead to the fi ling start on January 27, although nal Investigation and Detection separately fi led by Estrella Elamparo, former is not a natural-born Filipino. The senator in- would be decided before the scheduled printing of charges against Aquino when there is no stopping Aquino Group (CIDG) when the board senator Francisco Tatad, college professor sisted that she is a natural-born Filipino even if of ballots and avoid the scenario of a disquali- he steps down from offi ce in June from participating in the hear- was set up, told Manila Times Antonio Conteras and Amado Valdez. she is a foundling. fi ed candidate winning the elections. this year. ing through a video conference that he himself is eager to know All of the petitioners maintained that Poe is The Comelec had asked the SC to sched- The High Court denied the motions. “Johnny cares to hurt PNoy. to answer questions that will be the nature of Enrile’s revelations. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 27 SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL University Singapore deports teachers end 26 Bangladeshi men agitation By Mizan Rahman federation leaders would meet Dhaka on February 3 to analyse the situation and if their demands were not met by this time they n estimated 15,000 would declare fresh agitation teachers of 37 public programmes. Auniversities yesterday Professional groups of en- for terror links resumed classes as they sus- gineers, agriculturists and pended their non-stop work doctors and the Bangladesh AFP, Reuters The 27 men, aged between 25 abstention out of respect to Civil Service Coordination Singapore and 40, were arrested between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi- Committee, a platform of 26 November 16 and December na’s assurance that their de- cadres, called off their agita- 1 last year under Singapore’s mands would be taken into tion after a meeting with the ingapore disclosed yester- Internal Security Act. consideration. government high-ups. day it arrested 27 Bangla- The announcement came Government offi cials also The civil servants were Sdeshi construction work- a week after an attack by sui- rallying for removal of dispar- protesting against the ers late last year for supporting cide bombers and gunmen in ities in the new pay structure new pay structure that “the armed jihad ideology” of the heart of Jakarta, the capi- called off their protest pro- abolished the selection militants like the Islamic State tal of neighbouring Indone- gramme to facilitate discus- grade and the timescales. group, and deported 26 of them. sia, highlighting the growing sions with the government, “We have decided to call off The workers were being threat Southeast Asia faces from said agitating civil servants. the agitation programme to groomed to return to their home radicalised Muslims. Indefi nite work absten- facilitate the ongoing discus- country to wage holy war and Maruf Hossain Sardar, a dep- tion by teachers that began sions with the government had studied booklets on assas- uty commissioner of Bangladesh on January 11 for removal of high-ups,” the steering com- sination techniques, the Min- police, said 14 of the 26 had been disparities from the new pay mittee member SM Golam istry of Home Aff airs said in a jailed on “terror charges”. structure continued for the Kibria said. statement. “We have freed 12 others after ninth consecutive day, keep- Teachers in May 2014 put “They were plotting nefari- interrogation, but we are moni- ing academic activities at the forward a four-point charter ous activities in Bangladesh and toring their activities,” he said. public universities at a halt. of demands that included the other countries, and not in Sin- Some of the group members “We are temporarily sus- formation of a commission to gapore. But they were still a seri- supported the violent actions pending out work abstention,” initiate an independent pay ous threat to us,” Prime Minister of extremist groups that killed Federation of Bangladesh Uni- scale for public university Lee Hsien Loong said in a Face- Shias because they consid- The 27 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Singapore under the Internal Security Act. versity Teachers Associations teachers. book post late yesterday. ered Shias to be “deviant”, the secretary general Maksud The other demands in- “We are tightening up our authorities said. arrests of the group’s members. by the ministry showed young pore’s S Rajaratnam School of Kamal said after a meeting of cluded salary and allowance security, and acting to protect They all worked in construc- He will be repatriated to Bang- boys dressed in black and wear- International Studies, said the the federation. parity between senior pro- our racial and religious har- tion in Singapore, where large ladesh after he completes his ing white caps fi ring pistols and arrests would likely be “discon- He said the federation took fessors and senior secretar- mony. Radicalisation and ter- numbers of labourers mostly sentence. The man was said not automatic rifl es during training. certing” to the public as foreign the decision honouring prime ies, and between professors rorism must never take root in from South Asia live in often to have been a member of the There was also a document workers have become part of minister’s assurance about and secretaries; upgrading Singapore.” cramped dormitories. group but was “in the process of entitled “Techniques of Silent Singapore’s social landscape. meeting their demands and the status of teachers in the Home Aff airs Minister K “The group members took being radicalised”. Killing” that contained graphic “It drives home the point that request to call off their work warrant of precedence; and Shanmugam said in an earlier measures to avoid detection by According to the ministry’s images and instructions on how terrorists can be amongst us and abstention. the provision of cars and oth- Facebook post that the work- the authorities. They shared ji- statement, the group’s mem- to carry out assassinations, using not far away,” he said. The prime minister on er allowances for teachers, ers “could have easily changed hadi-related material discreetly bers were encouraged to return diff erent methods and weapon. Singaporean offi cials have Monday met with federation similar to provisions given to their minds and attacked among themselves, and held to Bangladesh and “wage armed The announcement of the ar- said that the city-state remains leaders and assured them that bureaucrats. Singapore”. weekly meetings and gatherings jihad” against the government rests came less than a week after a target by militants because of their demands would be taken Prime Minister Sheikh Several members of the group where they discussed armed ji- there, while some had sent mon- militants mounted attacks in the the presence of a large number of into consideration. Hasina earlier asked the also contemplated joining had and confl icts that involved ey to terror-linked entities in Indonesian capital Jakarta, leav- multinational corporations and PM’s press secretary Ih- principal secretary to the “armed jihad” with the IS group Muslims,” the ministry said, their country. ing at least eight people dead, in- its status as a regional fi nancial sanul Karim said that the Prime Minister’s Offi ce, the in Iraq and Syria, according to adding that the group was also The ministry said they pos- cluding four suspected attackers. centre. scope for elevating the univer- fi nance secretary and the the MHA. actively recruiting members. sessed radical and jihadi-related The IS group claimed respon- Authorities in late 2001 foiled sity teachers to Grade 1 from public administration min- “They supported the armed Of the 27 Bangladeshis ar- materials, including footage of sibility for the co-ordinated as- an attempt to carry out bomb Grade 3 would be created. The istry’s secretary to look into jihad ideology of terrorist groups rested, one was not deported children undergoing training sault on a central thoroughfare in attacks on US and other foreign press secretary also said that the grievances of the public like Al Qaeda and the Islamic and is serving a jail sentence in what appeared to be militant the capital. targets in the city-state, ar- the teachers’ demands would university teachers and oth- State in Iraq and Syria,” the for attempting to fl ee Singa- camps. Kumar Ramakrishna, a coun- resting several suspects in the be duly considered. ers in the government service ministry said in the statement. pore after learning about the Excerpts from a video released ter-terrorism analyst at Singa- process. Maksud Kamal said that the for a redress. Lanka to restart fuel Activists demand Pak apology imports from Iran

IANS lateral trade between the two reports from Colombo . Colombo countries surpassed $1bn in Charges on the same net- 2011 and 2012. work will be raised by a maxi- Trade declined thereafter mum 50% to 1.50 rupees per he Sri Lankan govern- due to unconditional decrease minute, while those between ment yesterday said it of imports from Iran and as a networks will be reduced by as Twill begin discussions on result, last year’s total bilateral much as 28% to 1.80 rupees, trade and petroleum sales with trade stood at only $188mi. Indrajith Handapangoda, act- Iran next month as economic Amirani said Tehran had ac- ing director, competition, with sanctions have been lifted on cepted Sri Lanka’s suggestion the telecommunications regu- the country. for the next joint trade com- latory commission, said. A high-level delegation from mission and were looking for- “Operators had requested to Iran will arrive in Colombo ward to meeting Sri Lankan of- review the fl oor rate, especially next month as the country fi cials in Colombo in February. the small operators having a looks to re-commence petrole- “Iran is looking to supply lower market share. When this um and petrochemical sales to medicine, medical equipment, type of tariff is there, they can Colombo, Xinhua news agency agricultural machinery such compete with big operators.” reported. as tractors, fertilizer, bitumen, The move would help im- “We are entering the post- and petrochemicals to Sri Lan- prove competition among tele- sanction era, it is time to up- ka,” the ambassador said. com operators as new subscrib- grade our bilateral relations, COMMON FLOOR RATES ers would have no incentives in including economic relations. FOR CALL CHARGES: Sri choosing a particular network, In fact, renewing our bilateral Lanka will introduce common analysts said. ties, including economic, is the fl oor rates for call charges ef- Sri Lanka has fi ve mobile top priority of my mission to fective from February 1 in a telephone network operators, Colombo,” said the new Iranian bid to ensure that small tel- including listed Dialog Axi- ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mo- ecom operators remain com- ata and Mobitel Sri Lanka, the Gonojagoron Moncho (People’s Resurgence Platform) activists marching towards Pakistan High Commission as they demanded end of hammed Zaeri Amirani. petitive, an offi cial with the mobile arm of listed fi xed line diplomatic ties with Pakistan, in Dhaka yesterday. The Gonojagoron Moncho activists were protesting against Islamabad’s reaction over According to Sri Lanka’s country’s telecommunications phone operator Sri Lankan executions of four opposition leaders convicted of war crimes in 1971. commerce department, bi- regulator has said, Reuters Telecom. Nepal makes development plan for Terai region

IANS The development programme Rautahat, Bara and Parsa. one indicates greater achievement networks, small-scale irrigation eff ectiveness, Shrestha said. mand is for the formation of Kathmandu aims at creating physical and so- The region chosen for the pro- than those closer to zero. systems, agriculture, drinking wa- District and village develop- two provinces in the Nepali Te- cial infrastructures in the Terai gramme has villages and towns The federal aff airs and local ter facilities, sanitation, commu- ment committees will lead pro- rai - the Madhes extending from region. bordering India. It has been lag- development ministry said the nity infrastructure, environment gramme implementation opera- the Mechi river in the east to the haken by the nearly fi ve Deputy Prime Minister Kamal ging behind in life expectancy, Border Area Development Pro- conservation, energy, schools, tions with the participation of Narayani river in mid-western months long agitation of Thapa, who holds charge of the literacy and per capita income gramme will be implemented in sub-health posts, toilets, skill de- the local people, he added. Nepal, and Tharuhat province SMadhesis in the Terai re- foreign and federal aff airs and local values as compared to other re- 107 Village Development Com- velopment and social awareness. The unrest in Nepal’s south- from the Narayani to the Ma- gion, the Nepal government has development portfolios, will today gions of the country. mittees and seven municipalities “Provisions are in place for ern Terai has been going on una- hakali river in the west. prepared a Rs5bn development launch the ambitious Border Area Mentioning the objec- in the eight Terai districts, and employing local resources for bated for almost fi ve months with The Madhesis are also demand- plan for the southern plains of Development Programme (BADP) tives behind the programme, will run till the 2019-20 fi scal. the programme,” he said. the protestors demanding equal ing, among other things, a re- the Himalayan republic. at Bardibas, in Mahottari district Thapa said: “Though the Te- “The programme is meant for The federal aff airs and local rights, inclusive representation of drawing of the boundaries of the Madhesis have been protest- of southeastern Nepal. rai is a plains area and acces- areas that have fallen behind in development ministry will co- the Madhesi population in vari- provinces in the Himalayan nation ing against the newly adopted The fi ve-year programme will sible, it is backward in human Human Development Index,” the ordinate the programme while a ous state organs and access to the as proposed in the new constitu- constitution, which they per- initially target the development development indices.” ministry joint secretary Dhan Ba- central monitoring and evalua- development endeavours. tion; and representation in parlia- ceive as the continuation of the of proposed province number Against the national HDI value hadur Shrestha said. “A budget of tion committee, a programme- Over 55 people, including ment on the basis of population. immense discrimination their 2 - the heartland of the ongoing of 0.540 for 2014, HDI for all of Rs164mn has been allocated for direction committee and a protesters and police person- Signifi cantly, the Nepal Terai has region has traditionally suff ered Madhesi agitation. It has eight these eight districts is less than the programme during this fi scal.” district programme implemen- nel, have been killed during the almost 51% of the country’s popu- from the Kathmandu-centric districts of Sapatari, Siraha, 0.500 while for some it is less Shrestha said the programme tation coordination commit- Madhesi agitation. lation and yet gets only one-third ruling elite. Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, than 0.400. HDI score closer to will focus on building local road tee will be formed for ensuring The Madhesis’ major de- of seats in parliament. Gulf Times 28 Thursday, January 21, 2016 COMMENT

Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed What is in store for Obama Production Editor: C P Ravindran

P.O.Box 2888 after the White House? Doha, Qatar [email protected] No one yet knows where organiser and celebrated his landmark Obamas to live in Washington and signifi cant mark during their so-called Telephone 44350478 (news), 2008 election win. Obama’s then surely move to New York,” he told second act. 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) the Obamas will head on presidential library and foundation AFP. John Quincy Adams, who left offi ce Fax 44350474 January 20, 2017, when the will also be based in the Windy City. “New York has much to off er them in 1829 after failing to win re-election, “All the strands of my life came at a time when they would like to be a returned to Congress where he stayed next president is sworn in together and I really became a man bit more anonymous than it is possible until the end of his life, using his gift on Capitol Hill when I moved to Chicago,” Obama to be in Chicago.” for soaring oratory to make the case said last year when he made the Michelle Obama, a trained lawyer, against slavery. announcement about the library site. has repeatedly rejected the idea that William Howard Taft, who was By Jerome Cartillier “That’s where I met my wife. That’s she would enter politics as Clinton did president from 1909-1913, then GULF TIMES where my children were born,” he following her eight years as fi rst lady. became the chief justice of the US AFP/Washington explained. “There are three things that are Supreme Court. But so far, there is no clear sign certain in life: death, taxes and Could Obama - a former president n one year, Barack Obama will that Chicago is the family’s next Michelle is not running for president,” of the Harvard Law Review who will be leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. destination. Barack Obama said a few weeks ago. 55 years old as he starts his post-White Tennis appears to be in So what will life be like for One thing is for sure: money will not House life - be tempted by the high IAmerica’s fi rst black president “I miss the classroom be an issue. Obama, who enjoys writing, court? after two terms at the White House? is expected to focus on the traditional “I think being a justice is a little bit denial but match-fi xing Former presidents rarely remain in and engaging with - and lucrative - art of writing his too monastic for me,” he told The New Washington after living and working autobiography in his post-presidency. Yorker in October 2014. “Particularly in the US capital’s oldest public students” “Memoirs have always been an after having spent six years and what claims are not new building. acceptable means of making money will be eight years in this bubble, I think Jimmy Carter headed home to “Chicago probably seems a bit and cashing in on the presidency,” I need to get outside a little bit more.” Georgia and Ronald Reagan went back too small for them now,” said Peter says historian Mark Updegrove, who is The example of the two Democratic “I think it’s always disappointing when stories like this to California. Slevin, a professor at Northwestern the director of the Lyndon B Johnson presidents before him - Carter come out just before a big event, because it does detract,” Bill Clinton built a new life in New University in the Chicago suburbs and Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. and Clinton, who both launched said Chris Kermode, the ATP president, on the latest York, where he created his foundation the author of Michelle Obama: A Life. Well-paid speaking engagements - foundations that are respected beyond and where his wife Hillary - the The only hint given by the US at home and abroad - should pour in. America’s borders - could serve as a wave of match-fi xing allegations to hit tennis on the eve Democratic front-runner vying president? He has said that family will “The question is how much you guide for Obama. of the season’s fi rst Grand Slam in Melbourne. to succeed Obama - launched her be his priority. want to commercialise having been Persistent rumours also suggest he Well, it does rather. But far from being defensive, political career as a senator. “They - and Michelle - have made the commander-in-chief,” adds could be interested in teaching courses the authorities should be welcoming the match-fi xing No one yet knows where the a lot of sacrifi ces on behalf of my Updegrove, the author of Second Acts: at Columbia University in New York, Obamas will head on January 20, 2017, cockamamie ideas, the running for Presidential Lives and Legacies After where he studied in the early 1980s. claims as the latest opportunity to prove they are getting when the next president is sworn in on offi ce and things,” Obama told ABC in the White House. “I love teaching. I miss the to grips with a problem that some at the intersection of Capitol Hill. 2013, referring to his daughters. Obama has said he hopes to work classroom and engaging with gambling, corruption, sport and money believe has been Every time someone close to them In early 2017, Malia - the Obamas’ with minority youths in tough students,” he told The New Yorker. slipping from their grasp. shows interest in a lavish property in older daughter - will be at university. neighbourhoods - where the dropout For Updegrove, recent history shows Concerns about match-fi xing in tennis are nothing Palm Springs or Honolulu, the press Sasha, now at the private Sidwell rate, unemployment and incarceration that a president’s “Second Act” can speculates about a veiled investment Friends school in Washington, will rates are higher than elsewhere - to also help make his time at the White new, particularly at the bottom end of the professional for the First Couple. But so far, no have more than half of her high school give real meaning to the phrase “equal House look better in retrospect. game where winning a tournament can barely cover dice. Nothing concrete has emerged. studies ahead of her. opportunity”. “I do think you can burnish your expenses, but also involving players in the top 100 who The Obamas are attached to Slevin says that like Clinton, Obama While some former presidents legacy by focusing on the things you regularly appear on confi dential “watchlists” drawn up Chicago - the president launched his could settle down in the Big Apple. of the White House have faded into most want to be remembered for,” he by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU). political career there as a community “Their friends are expecting the the background, others have made a said. Chris Eaton, the former FIFA security chief who is now part of Doha-based International Centre for Sport and Security, has said that tennis is the third-most targeted sport behind football and cricket. Other experts have said that if you were going to design a sport to fi x you would come up with tennis or snooker because it is so hard in both cases to prove wrongdoing. The rapid growth of online betting on a vast swathe of matches, from the Futures tournaments on the very bottom rung of the professional ladder to Grand Slams, has left tennis vulnerable. One of the strongest allegations in the joint investigation by the BBC and BuzzFeed published on Sunday night was The rapid based on a nine-year- old report released growth of online in May 2008, which betting on recommended that 28 players be investigated. a vast swathe Nothing was done because the authorities of matches changed the rules has left tennis and said they could not prosecute players vulnerable investigated under the old ones. Anti-corruption expert Ben Gunn, one of two former British police offi cers commissioned to write the report, said he was not in a position to judge the eff ectiveness of the Tennis Integrity Unit since because its workings were so opaque. The report, written by Gunn and Jeff Rees (who became the fi rst head of the TIU) was sparked by a notorious match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Argentinian Martín Vassallo Argüello in the Polish resort of Sopot in 2007. As chronicled at the time, the match President Barack Obama: he is expected to focus on the traditional - and lucrative - art of writing his autobiography in his post-presidency. attracted millions of pounds on the betting exchange Betfair for Argüello, ranked well below his rival, even as Davydenko raced into a one set to love lead before eventually retiring hurt. The report by Gunn and Rees recommended the The tech literacy imperative creation of a new integrity unit to investigate the 28 cases listed and to proactively address the issue in future. As with doping crises in athletics and cycling, the fear By Gavin Patterson implications of the ongoing Fourth We want them to get excited about innovators at MIT to bring new coding Davos Industrial Revolution are positive. looking beyond the screen, to make tools into classrooms. is that the commercial impetus to protect the image and If young people are to participate and do stuff . Third, schools must be properly revenues of the sport (tennis in this case) has eaten away fully in our increasingly tech-enabled That means learning to code, of equipped. Making sure students have at the desire to tackle the problem at root, with integrity n many parts of the world, young world, greater numbers of them will course. But it also means becoming access to the latest technology is a children grow up surrounded by have to be tech literate. If they are fl uent in computational thinking and challenge even for advanced countries. issues receding down the priority list. technology. At their fi ngertips – to be empowered citizens, not just problem solving. And, perhaps most In the UK, we are working to ensure Tennis has particular issues around the ease with Iliterally – lies a limitless amount beguiled consumers, they will need important, it means becoming an that our high-speed fi bre broadband which players on the Futures and Challenger circuit of entertainment, gaming, learning to understand how technology aff ects engaged tech citizen. For example, all connects the hardest-to-reach schools. could be corrupted. Unless it improves prize money and and social networking. Their world their lives and prospects. young people should understand who And we are using our expertise to help prospects there, temptation will always be at hand. has always been connected. They learn has access to their personal data, how teaching professionals who are eager to to scroll before they can walk. And Today’s children may it is being used, and why that matters. make tech an integral part of schools’ If there is one lesson of the past year, as trust in football yet, as confi dent as they may be using Accomplishing this will not be easy. everyday life. and athletics has been decimated by corruption scandals, technology, too many children have no be great consumers It will take more than simply making A successful tech literacy it is that sports governing bodies must conduct their idea how it all works. Nor do they fully sure that children have access to iPads. programme requires a long-term, business in the light: the “never-apologise, never- appreciate how it underpins their lives of technology, but Any initiative to boost tech literacy sustained commitment to all three – or how it will shape their futures. must focus on three areas. First, kids pillars of this approach. We expect explain approach” does not inspire confi dence. I think of this as the tech literacy rarely are they truly must be inspired to learn about the it will take a school generation to paradox. Today’s children may be technology they use every day; they realise the cultural shift we believe is great consumers of technology, but tech literate must “connect” with tech concepts necessary. To Advertise rarely are they truly tech literate. They and fi nd them exciting. At BT, we are Previous industrial revolutions may look like savvy digital natives, but Not only will there be more tech collaborating with tech entrepreneurs unlocked social progress only when [email protected] their knowledge is only screen-deep. jobs in the future; increasingly, more and education thinkers to develop they were accompanied by changes in Display They are passive users, not active jobs will have a tech dimension to fresh and creative ways to engage education – in particular, concerted Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 creators. And most of them have little them, especially as scientifi c advances young people’s innate curiosity. eff orts to boost literacy and numeracy. real interest in fi nding out how the play a major role in solving some of Second, teachers must be If we want everybody to benefi t Classified technology on which they depend society’s biggest challenges – climate supported, as many do not feel from the radical upheavals Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 actually functions. change, healthcare, poverty, and confi dent to teach tech literacy. We transforming the world’s economies, This has important implications. inequality. can help with that. Already, we have further changes in education will be Subscription Economies are undergoing radical That is why BT has made a long- engaged with thousands of teachers needed. Among the most important of [email protected] shifts in terms of how they produce, term commitment to use our skills and in the United Kingdom; in the last these will be those that build a strong distribute, and consume goods and capabilities to help build a culture of school year, we reached nearly culture of tech literacy. - Project services. Every aspect of life and work tech literacy. We want young people to 350,000 primary-school children, Syndicate 2014 Gulf Times. All rights reserved is changing. Greater tech literacy will know that they will be the creators and and we aim to reach 5mn by 2020. We be essential to ensure that the human builders of our future – in every sense. have also collaborated with education zGavin Patterson is CEO at BT Group. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 29 COMMENT Economists on the refugee path

The UNHCR has put the countries might actually welcome the number of “forcibly infl ow of labour. Another paper, by Susan F Martin displaced” people worldwide of Georgetown University, described at 59.5mn at the end of 2014 the arbitrariness of our current refugee procedures, calling for “legal frameworks based on the need for By Robert J Shiller protection, rather than the triggering New Haven causes of the migration.” But formulating such rules requires some careful economic thought. oday’s global refugee The framers of a refugee system need crisis recalls the period to consider the rules’ incentive eff ects immediately after World on the migrants themselves and on the TWar II. By one contemporary governments of their countries of origin. estimate, there were more than 40mn For example, we do not want to make it refugees in Europe alone. These too easy for tyrants to drive unwanted “displaced persons”, as they were minorities out of their country. called at the time, were forced to fl ee Finally, Jeff rey D Sachs of Columbia their homes because of violence, University detailed a major new forced relocation, persecution system for managing refugees. Sachs and destruction of property and is concerned with how such a system’s infrastructure. rules will shape the world’s economies The dire postwar situation led to in the longer run. He wants such a the creation in 1950 of the UN High system to prevent encouraging a brain Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), drain by enforcing a commitment to which was expected to serve only admitting low-skilled and desperate a temporary mandate, protecting A man holding his baby while waiting with other migrants and refugees at a train station in southern Serbian town of Presevo yesterday. The UNHCR has been doing immigrants, not just those who are displaced people for three years. But an important job in protecting refugees, but it cannot possibly address their needs alone. Its budget of $7bn in 2015 may seem large, but it amounts to only about $100 highly useful to the host country. the problem never went away. On the per displaced person – not enough to cover even essentials like food and shelter. Moreover, the rate of fl ow must contrary, the UNHCR is not only still be regulated and economists need with us; it is sounding an alarm. understanding of the refugee problem. refugees in the long term. The UNHCR entitled 60mn Refugees, and invited rights abuses, not economic forces. to develop a way to ensure equitable In its 2015 mid-year report, the In fact, throughout history, the fate has been doing an important job in some of our discipline’s most People in fear for their lives run to the burden-sharing among countries. agency put the number of “forcibly of refugees seeking asylum in another protecting refugees, but it cannot distinguished scholars on migration. I nearest safe place, not the richest. Under today’s haphazard and displaced” people worldwide at land has largely been unstudied. possibly address their needs alone. Its asked them to describe the dimensions There is no escape from the moral archaic asylum rules, refugees must 59.5mn at the end of 2014, including Historians record wars, and they budget of $7bn in 2015 may seem large, of the refugee problem in economic imperative to help them. take enormous risks to reach safety 19.5mn internationally displaced, mention diasporas, but they rarely but it amounts to only about $100 terms and to propose some sensible Semih Tumen, of the Central and the costs and benefi ts of helping which they defi ne as true refugees. show much interest in how refugee per displaced person – not enough policies to address it. Bank of Turkey, presented evidence them are distributed capriciously. It Some countries – Afghanistan, crises arose or were resolved. to cover even essentials like food and One of the papers, by Timothy J regarding the impact of the 2.2mn does not have to be this way. Azerbaijan, Colombia, Central African To the extent that history is written shelter. Hatton of the University of Essex Syrian refugees on the labour market Economists can help by testing Republic, Democratic Republic of by the victors, that is not surprising. As president of the American and Australian National University, in the border region. Tumen’s paper, which international rules and Congo, Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, The knowledge that one’s country Economic Association for 2016, I felt examined refugee fl ows around the too, takes on an argument frequently institutions are needed to reform Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, terrorised a minority to the point a moral obligation to use our annual world, to see what drives them. Hatton used to oppose admitting refugees: an ineffi cient and often inhumane Sudan, Syria and Ukraine – each that its members had to fl ee, or that meeting earlier this month as a setting confronts a popular argument against that the newcomers will take locals’ system.- Project Syndicate accounted for more than a half million a substantial share of one’s forebears in which to bring attention to serious admitting refugees: that asylum- jobs and drive down wages. forcibly displaced people at the end arrived in defeat and panic, is not economic problems. And the refugee seekers are not really desperate, but He found that in the formal sector, zRobert JShiller, a 2013 Nobel of 2014. The report noted that the exactly an inspiring source of national crisis, whatever else it may be, is are just using a crisis as a pretext for jobs for locals actually increased after laureate in economics and Professor total number had certainly grown identity. So the stories, unheard and an economic problem. But a dearth admission to a richer country. the infl ux of refugees, apparently of Economics at Yale University, is substantially since. untold, are lost. of papers addressing it had been He fi nds that, contrary to some because of the stimulative eff ect co-author, with George Akerlof, of Unfortunately, the report That is why we need more research submitted to the meeting. expectations, refugee fl ows are driven on the region’s economy. If further Phishing for Phools: The Economics of underscores the incompleteness of our on what can and should be done for So I decided to create a session largely by political terror and human research backs up this fi nding, Manipulation and Deception. Letters Weather report Three-day forecast

TODAY Time to join forces terror strikes in Paris in November, Discrimination still High: 24 C which killed 130 people. These Low : 17 C against militants attacks underline the fact that the rampant in India Please send us Hazy with some clouds IS is spreading its wings beyond the your letters Dear Sir, borders of Iraq and Syria, spreading Dear Sir, chaos and bloodshed far and wide. By e-mail FRIDAY Extremist ideologies pose the major The international community It is unfortunate to know that a [email protected] High: 24 C Low :15 C threat facing the world now. Militant has to join hands to end the growing low-caste university student in India Fax 44350474 groups like the Islamic State (IS) want extremist menace. Full-fl edged committed suicide recently. Or Post Sunny the world to remain in a permanent military operations must be carried The student, Rohit Vemula, was state of unrest and chaos so that they out against not only the IS but also a member of an association which Letters to the Editor have the ideal conditions to fl ourish. against similar terror outfi ts. fi ghts for the rights of Dalit (formerly Gulf Times SATURDAY It is alarming that these groups are IS’s main strength lies in its access known as untouchable) students on P O Box 2888 High: 25 C spreading their tentacles globally. to large fi nancial resources from the the campus. He was one of fi ve Dalit Doha, Qatar Low : 17 C First, it was thought that IS was sale of oil derived from fi elds it has students who were protesting against P Cloudy confi ned to the Middle East but it was captured in Iraq and Syria and from their expulsion from the university’s All letters, which are subject a wrong assumption. The group or its ransom for freeing people kidnapped housing facility. to editing, should have the affi liates are active in Europe, Africa, by it. Groups like these can only be Vemula’s suicide points to the fact name of the writer, address Fishermen’s forecast America and Asia now. defeated if all countries launch a joint that less-privileged communities in and phone number. The OFFSHORE DOHA The New Year began with militants campaign against them India still face discrimination. writer’s name and address Wind: NW 06-16/20 KT Waves: 2-4/6 Feet striking terror in places like Istanbul, may be withheld by request. Jakarta and Jalalabad. Attacks in Ramesh G Jethwani Ramachandran Nair INSHORE DOHA Wind: W-NW 04-14 KT these came in the wake of multiple (e-mail address supplied) (Address supplied) Waves: 1-2/3 Feet

Around the region Weather Weather today Max/min tomorrow Max/min Abu Dhabi Sunny 26/15 P Cloudy 26/14 Live issues Baghdad M Sunny 19/07 P Cloudy 20/08 Dubai Sunny 24/16 P Cloudy 24/16 Kuwait City Sunny 21/12 M Sunny 22/14 Manama Sunny 22/16 Sunny 22/15 Muscat Sunny 27/17 Sunny 27/17 Riyadh Sunny 24/10 Sunny 25/11 Stop treating Google as your doctor Tehran Sunny 14/04 M Sunny 15/06

By Nishant Arora google common health symptoms. I believe that you have a sleep disorder IANS fi nd more such patients coming to me or major depression. Thus, you may with queries related to hand, wrist and make things worse by worrying more elbow,” Vaishya says. as well,” Singal notes. re you among those who Dr R K Singal of the BLK Super- Self-diagnosis is also a problem log in to Google every time specialty Hospital has an interesting when you are in a state of denial about you are down with body case study to share: “Once a patient your symptoms. Aache, fever or cold, only to in his mid-30s came to me with One may think that generalised get more confused and scared? Many severe headache. He told me that he body aches started with a worsening youngsters with smartphones in their thought he had a brain tumour. After of mood, but a doctor may elect to do hands are falling prey to the “Google- diagnosis, we found that headache an electrocardiogram for chest pain as-your-doctor” phenomenon and the was due to prolonged sore throat and that reveals possible coronary artery dangerous trend is on the rise. rhinopharyngitis (common cold).” disease, the experts feel Although there is nothing wrong “The patient visited me after a Are health websites trustworthy in checking your symptoms or trying month of self-diagnosis through the when it comes to answering health to fi nd more about your illness on the Internet. Whatever he found on the symptom queries? Internet, health experts say that one Internet made him believe that he had “I don’t see any harm in doing that should know where to stop. a brain tumour,” Singal says. because it’s about your health after The ideal situation is to use search According to Singal, people in the all. In fact, a lot of times my patients engines only when someone is 25-40 age group are more hooked on come back with queries after surfi ng Around the world diagnosed with a certain medical to the Internet and such self-diagnosis about their health abnormality on the Weather Weather condition and wants to know more only increases one’s anxiety. internet,” Chhabra says. today Max/min tomorrow Max/min about it. The information available on Dr Rahul Gupta, senior neuro and So, educate yourself as much before Athens M Sunny 13/06 M Sunny 12/04 the Internet should be used to educate spine surgeon at Fortis Hospital or after you visit your doctor, but Beirut P Cloudy 17/11 M Sunny 17/11 P Cloudy 34/25 oneself rather than trying to fi nd a abnormality, then the instant reaction in Noida, is attending to many let the experts do their job. Let your Bangkok 33/26 M Sunny Berlin P Cloudy -2/-8 P Cloudy -1/-8 cure for the disease. is to Google the symptoms before youngsters who come to him with doctor prescribe you a treatment well- Cairo P Cloudy 19/08 Sunny 19/09 “The biggest problem is that the seeing an expert or a doctor. weird health queries after scanning suited for your ailment. Cape Town Cloudy 31/22 Cloudy 29/21 Internet is loaded with enormous “But one should be careful as people Google. “One should be wise enough to Colombo P Cloudy 33/23 P Cloudy 33/23 information which could be correct normally look for symptoms to get “Self-medication via the Internet understand which is an authentic Dhaka Sunny 24/13 Sunny 24/13 Hong Kong Showers 16/18 Rain 09/05 too but then your symptoms could be rid of curiosity and anxiety but to the can be dangerous. Patients at times do website with relevant content as Istanbul P Cloudy 07/02 M Cloudy 03/-1 similar to some other disease which contrary, it just worsens the scenario not follow our advice and waste our there are a lot of paid sites which Jakarta I T Storms 32/25 T Storms 32/24 may cause confusion. Therefore, and leaves them more anxious,” time with silly questions,” he stresses. exist only to make business,” Karachi Sunny 27/14 Sunny 27/15 correct diagnosis of your health Chhabra says. According to Gupta, Google is Chhabra advises. London M Cloudy 07/03 Rain 11/04 M Cloudy P Cloudy 33/23 abnormality is very important,” says According to Dr Raju Vaishya, senior good when it comes to searching for Vaishya asks youngsters to share Manila 33/23 Moscow P Cloudy -11/-16 Snow -11/-12 Dr Satnam Singh Chhabra, head consultant (orthopaedic and joint a good doctor, checking spellings of a their Internet-acquired knowledge New Delhi Sunny 19/06 Sunny 21/08 (neuro-spine surgeon) at the Sir replacement surgeon) at Indraprastha medication and reading about general with the doctor but not to force it New York Sunny 03/-4 P Cloudy 02/-2 Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi. Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, one health-related issues. upon the doctor to follow it. Paris Sunny 04/-1 Showers 06/03 He has observed many young people should beware of getting trapped into Another danger of self-diagnosis is “Trust your doctor more than Sao Paulo P Cloudy 25/17 P Cloudy 26/17 Seoul P Cloudy -1/-12 M Sunny 0/-11 getting hooked to the Internet to “Google as your doctor” behaviour as that you may think that there is more Google,” Gupta sums up. Singapore M Cloudy 32/26 T Storms 32/26 look for every little thing, even self- this may cause more harm than good. wrong with you than there actually is. Sydney S T Storms 33/22 S T Storms 29/21 diagnosis. “Yes, there is an increasing surge in “For example, if you had insomnia, zNishant Arora can be contacted at Tokyo ClearCloudy 1 0/0 1 Cloudy 09/01 For instance, if one has a health young peoples with smartphones who inattention and depression, you may [email protected] Gulf Times 30 Thursday, January 21, 2016 QATAR HMC’s Homecare Service Ashghal recruits QU starts work on new plan engineering amad Medical Corpora- multidisciplinary healthcare ap- tion’s (HMC) Homecare proach, he said. HService Department has “A team of three to fi ve pro- started work on a new plan to fessionals, including nurses, graduates enhance home care services for a physician, a dietician and a patients. physiotherapist visit each pa- Dr Essa Mubarak al-Sulaiti, tient at home once a month,” he he Public Works Au- training teams there were ex- medical director, Homecare said. thority (Ashghal) has tremely helpful despite their Service Department, said, “We Dr al-Sulaiti said the collabo- Trecruited a batch of enormous workload,” he said. have started work on a com- ration between the Homecare young Qatari engineers who Fatima Adel al-Zaraa, the prehensive plan to improve the Service and HMC’s Mobile Doc- had graduated from Qatar fi rst student to benefi t from range of services provided to pa- tor Service, comprising around University, it was announced Ashghal’s sponsorship and tients in their homes.” 50 consultants led by the Am- yesterday. scholarship programme, re- Doctors now contribute to bulance Service team, has im- Ashghal is appointing lo- ceived her bachelor’s degree in the development of homecare proved patient care. cals to work on new develop- architecture from Qatar Uni- policies and decision-making “This model of care helps ease ment plans and programmes, versity in 2014 and joined the processes, which has enhanced pressure off the busy emergency in addition to off ering them building design department in the quality of care and improved departments, as well as in re- scholarships. October. patient services, he said. ducing the number of hospital The new development plans “Not only because of the He said this plan would see admissions,” he said. aim to enable students and scholarship, but the experi- new Qatari physicians brought Started in 2003, homecare employees to complete their ence also prompted me to bet- on board and increase the services are available daily from education and technical stud- ter organise my studies and number of doctors serving in 7am to 3pm for elderly patients ies within Qatar and abroad maintain high grades so as I diff erent departments, includ- (those aged 60 and above) and and join national cadres to could retain the scholarship.” ing general and geriatric and children with chronic diseases meet current and future needs She also expressed gratitude family medicine, to meet the in- and disabilities. Around 1,000 for trained manpower. for the support she received in creasing demand for homecare elderly patients and 70 children Abdallah Qassem, who re- developing her career. services. from across Qatar are currently Dr Essa Mubarak al-Sulaiti: “A team of three to five professionals, including nurses, a physician, a dietician ceived a bachelor’s degree Ashghal is currently spon- HSD has now adopted a being cared for under the service. and a physiotherapist visit each patient at home once a month.” in civil engineering, was ap- soring 25 students in dif- pointed September as a civil ferent branches of engi- engineer in the roads design neering specialties, namely department. civil, mechanical, electrical and Hamad al-Kaabi, a bach- chemical. elor in architecture, joined the While 10 of these students building design department, go to Qatar University, 13 are MoI holds Drive in September. attending the UK’s Liverpool Both students had the John Moores University, Cov- opportunity to intern at entry University, and Uni- Ashghal in summer 2014 versity of Brighton, and two while they were still at the are attending Arizona State Safe Campaign university. University and University of Qassem said being on a Colorado in the US. scholarship is very important Ashghal’s summer intern- he Ministry of Interior (MoI) of road safety. In the event of minor acci- as it motivates students to do ship programme takes 15 stu- launched a week-long ‘Drive Safe dents the vehicles should be moved to the their utmost. “I personally dents every year while giv- TCampaign’ in association with Gal- nearest parking places whereas the drivers learned a great deal during my ing priority to students who far Al Misnad Company. who refuse to move their vehicles will be internship in many depart- are required to complete an More than 550 drivers and equipment imposed fi nes. ments of Ashghal and the internship to graduate. operators took part in the programmes The offi cer underlined the risks of organised at work locations in Umm Salal, crossing red signals, importance of fol- Shahaniya, Dukhan, Industrial Area and lowing speed limits, besides imparting Nuaija. how to drive at roundabouts and signals. The awareness programme included The lectures were given in English and lectures on the common mistakes com- Hindi. Crossing the Empty mitted during driving and risks to drivers Galfar executive director Satheesh G and road users. Pillai said the company will continue to First Lt Fahad Sheraida al-Abdullah, work for refreshing the awareness levels Quarter explorers awareness offi cer at the Department of of its employees in order to develop a safe An MoI off icial giving a certificate to a participant. Traffi c, spoke on the important features driving culture. expected next week

British national re- tion are HE Sheikh Joaan bin Najma flat balcony caves in siding in Muscat and Hamad al-Thani, president Demand for Aa team of Omani ex- of Qatar Olympic Committee; The balcony of a six-storey plorers who have embarked Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq al- building near Hot Bread on an expedition named Said, Minister of Culture and Bakery roundabout in the Crossing the Empty Quarter, Heritage, Sultanate of Oman; more restrooms Najma area caved in on are expected to reach Doha and the Prince of Wales in Monday evening. There sometime next week. the UK. were no injuries. The The expedition started from The expedition replicates a balcony that caved in was Salalah in Oman and will cover similar journey that was made at bus station on the fourth floor of the about 1,300km by foot and across the world’s largest sand building, housing about on camel through the Arabian desert Rub Al Khali in 1930. ack of adequate number Though passengers have a dozen apartments. Civil dessert. The journey will end The expedition was made by of toilets at the Doha bus been demanding more wash- defence and municipal in Doha. the British citizen, Bertram Lstation is raising a stink rooms at the bus station, in- teams cordoned off the The team comprises of Thomas, and Omani Sheikh - literally - for its immediate quiries have found only one area and diverted traff ic Mohamed al-Zadjali, Amour Saleh bin Kalut al-Rashidi vicinity. such facility, housed in a through the neighbouring al-Wahaibi, Mark Evans, al-Kathiri. Shopkeepers in the area portacabin, is available for the roads. Sheikh Mubarak Saleh Mo- The present adventure has complain of an unbearable use of people visiting the bus hamed Saleh bin Kalut and Ali so far completed 41 days as of stench pervading the area all stand. Ahmed Sha’af Al Mshili. They yesterday and the team was the time. According to a shopkeeper, are supported by Sim Davis 199km away from Doha and men can be seen urinating in (photographer/driver) John C might have entered into the the space between the station’s Smith (photographer/driver) last leg of their expedition. It compound wall and the taxi Dr Sean Hudson (on call medi- is expected that the team will parking area. cal support) and John Apps (on be received by several Qa- “The situation becomes call medical support) tari youngsters at the Qatar acute after the sunset as peo- The patrons of the expedi- border. ple take advantage of the dark- ness and relieve themselves in the open ground. We have to cover our noses all the time as we are close to the place,” said a resident of the Bin Ghanim area, New study puts spotlight on risk from environmental toxins where the bus station is located. People use the cover of parked Shopkeepers and other resi- vehicles near the bus station to dents of the locality have urged tudies about the Gulf War toxins research journal, Proceedings of the Royal that the toxins they produce accumulate relieve themselves. Karwa authorities to open more by a former professor of Weill Cor- Society B, indicates that chronic exposure in the desert soil beneath them.” PICTURE: Jayan Orma restrooms at the bus station. Snell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) to BMAA may increase risk of neurode- In the research fi ndings announced this have been highlighted in a new research generative illness. week, scientists conducted two separate breakthrough that prove environmental Brain tangles and amyloid deposits are experiments on vervet monkeys. In the toxins may increase the risk of Alzhe- the hallmarks of both Alzheimer’s dis- fi rst experiment, vervets were fed fruit imer’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral ease and also of an unusual illness suf- that was dosed with BMAA for 140 days. A Sclerosis (ALS). fered by villagers on the Pacifi c Island of second experiment was conducted, which Cabinet decisions Former WCM-Q professor, Dr Renee Guam. Pacifi c Islanders with this unu- added a BMAA dose closer to the amount Richer, now of the University of Wiscon- sual condition suff er from dementia and the Chamorro villagers would be exposed From Page 1 tions contained in UN Security sin-Marinette, analysed why one decade symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s disease, to over a lifetime. It also approved a draft agree- Council resolutions and those after returning from deployment to the ALS and Parkinson’s disease. The diet of “This study takes a leap forward in ment for co-operation in the of the United Nations relevant First Gulf War, some US military person- the Chamorro people is contaminated by showing causality—that BMAA causes cultural fi eld and a draft agree- to combat terrorism. The report nel started coming down with the unusual BMAA. disease,” said Deborah Mash, direc- ment on maritime transport be- outlined the committee’s activi- paralytic symptoms of ALS at twice the Scientists have long suspected a link tor of the University of Miami Brain tween between Qatar and Cu- ties. incidence rate of those who received the between neurodegenerative disease and Endowment Bank and co-author of the study. ban governments. The second is a letter by the same training but were not dispatched BMAA and also in the brains of peo- The discoveries are important because The Cabinet reviewed the chairman of the National Hu- to the Gulf. ple suff ering from ALS and Alzheimer’s they have implications for populations following topics and took the man Rights Committee on the During her eight years as associate pro- disease. But this week’s announcement in areas where cyanobacteria blooms are appropriate decisions. The committee’s report on the hu- fessor of biology at WCM-Q, Dr Richer provides a new level of proof. Dr Renee Richer common, such as Qatar, the wider Gulf fi rst of these is the 16th report man rights situation in Qatar found that fl at plains in the Gulf deserts “Our fi ndings show that chronic expo- region and also Marinette, Wisconsin, on the outcomes of National during the period from 1/1 2015 are covered with dried cyanobacteria sure to BMAA can trigger Alzheimer’s- deserts of Qatar during her time at WCM- which lies on the shore of Lake Michigan Anti-Terrorism Committee’s to 30/6/2015. crusts waiting for winter rain to complete like brain tangles and amyloid deposits,” Q, she was intrigued with his hypoth- and close to Lake Winnebago. activities. The committee, es- The third is a letter by the their life cycle. Cyanobacteria are the old- said Paul Alan Cox, an ethnobotanist esis of inhaled BMAA-dust as an envi- Dr Richer added: “These new results tablished within the Ministry of Minister of Environment on a est living bacteria on earth that normally at the Institute for EthnoMedicine and ronmental trigger for ALS. Together with suggest that water quality may be an im- Interior, is concerned with the report on the outcomes of the live in water, but can thrive in a multitude lead author of the study. “As far as we are her WCM-Q postdoctoral student, Dr portant issue to now address in terms of development of policies, plans 21st session of the Conference of of environments. If these soil crusts in the aware, this is the fi rst time researchers Aspa Chatziefthimou, Dr Richer began an neurological health.” and programmes for the fi ght the Parties (COP) to the United desert are disturbed by an off -road mili- have been able to successfully replicate extensive survey of toxins in desert crusts. The parts of the research conducted by against terrorism, as well as co- Nations Framework Conven- tary vehicle or tank tread, the dust given brain tangles and amyloid deposits in an “We were astonished that up to 87% Dr Richer in Qatar were made possible by ordination of eff orts among all tion on Climate Change (COP21) off contains a neurotoxin, called BMAA. animal model through exposure to an of the deserts of Qatar are covered with a National Priorities Research Programme stakeholders in the country in held in Paris from 27/11/2015 to A new study published this week by the environmental toxin.” cyanobacterial crusts,” Dr Richer said. grant from the Qatar National Research order to carry out the obliga- 12/12/2015. Royal Society of London in the biological When Dr Richer fi rst met Cox in the “Even more concerning was our discovery Fund, a member of Qatar Foundation. Gulf Times Thursday, January 21, 2016 31 QATAR Ezdan call centre enhances services

he Ezdan Customer Service’s Call Cen- tre, which operates under the umbrella Tof Ezdan Real Estate Company, one of Ezdan Holding Group Subsidiaries, has re- sponded to more than 300,000 of tenants’ phone calls during 2015. The average was of up to 800 calls daily and 25,000 calls monthly, varying from mainte- nance and inquiries about residential services provided by Ezdan Real Estate Company, and other services. Customer Service’s Call Centre works 24/7, in which 20 employees are working in eight hour shifts. The Centre receives maintenance requests and responds to inquiries relating to the residential units owned by the Group, and Participants attend the first QTA quarterly framework marketing summit in Doha. provide a wide range of services to Ezdan ten- ants and customers. Ezdan Holding Group CEO Ali al-Obaidli pointed out that the substantial increase in calls received during 2015 was due to many reasons, most notably the expansion in the scope of services provided to tenants and the application of the group’s plans to develop the compounds, villages and buildings. Ali al-Obaidli “The Ezdan Group is keen to implement QTA plans 2016 major renovation, including furniture change “The goal behind extending Ezdan Services and the installations of water-saving devices is to provide ideal and competitive housing in in residential units,” he said. order to make Ezdan Villages an attractive and The Group CEO observed that the increase leading destination able to compete in the Qa- in tenants’ occupancy rates on the units was tari real estate market.” due to the demand for services provided by The Ezdan Real Estate’s Call Centre owns Ezdan Real Estate, leading to the rise in the a sizable database of customers and tenants interaction between customers and the Call in the Group’s villages and buildings. The da- marketing push Centre. tabase allows access to tenants’ records of “The number of dwellers in Ezdan Villages previous requests and tracks the request or atar Tourism Authority (QTA) overseas Last year also saw the launch of the new Qa- fuel prices rendering it cheaper to travel, QTA at Wakrah and Wukair exceeded more than complaint through registered phone numbers offi ces heads and stakeholders in the tar destination brand, which will form the core said in a press statement. 70,000 people, transforming the region into to ensure prompt response and prevent recur- Qtourism sector presented their market- of QTA’s marketing and promotion eff orts in According to the United Nations World a vital spot, not to mention the increase in rences. The Call Centre interacts with clients ing plans for 2016 at a meeting in Doha. 2016, as well as building on Qatar’s presence in Tourism Organisation’s recently released 2015 the number of tenants in Ezdan units in Doha, in both Arabic and English off ering them three At their fi rst quarterly framework marketing international travel and trade shows. report, tourism showed surprising resilience as bringing the number to more than 15,000 peo- options to choose from when calling; the fi rst is summit for the year, QTA’s GCC, UK, France, “To maximise the positive impact of the na- it grew by 4.4% in the past year, despite global ple. general services and leasing inquiries, the sec- Germany, Southeast Asia, and Italy offi ces pre- tion’s marketing eff orts and resources, it is vital security challenges. ond is maintenance requests, and the third is sented “qualitative and quantitative reports that all parties focus on promoting the key at- Marketing Qatar internationally involves talking with the Customer Care Centre agent. refl ecting their 2015 achievements,” along with tractions that give Qatar its distinctive cultural close collaboration between the public and pri- The Ezdan Real Estate Company, which their targets and strategies for 2016. edge,” QTA’s chief marketing and promotion vate sectors since hotels, other tourist facilities manages the real estate assets of the Group, In 2015, the overseas offi ces organised famil- offi cer Rashed al-Qurese said. “It is a question and services form key factors in the selection has also launched Customer Care Centre iarisation trips to Qatar for 120 representatives of synergy.” of the tourism products that QTA promotes (Ezdan Plus) as part of its integrated services of international trade media as well as 172 travel “We continue to avoid any dissipation or worldwide, QTA noted. and life amenities it off ers to its tenants. agents. The number of tour operators selling trips fragmentation of Qatar’s message and ensure The summit programme provided network- The Centre proposes a diverse range of serv- to Qatar increased to 188 while more than 2,200 we create a strong and positive Qatar brand po- ing opportunities for all QTA marketing per- ices, mainly house and furniture cleaning, independent travel agents registered for QTA’s sitioning that continues to resonate in our key sonnel to meet private sector representatives. It car wash, training and development services, online Tawash programme, which helps them de- overseas markets,” he said. also allowed QTA’s overseas offi ce representa- transportation, as well as Ezdan Discounts velop expertise on Qatar and its tourism off ering. Tourism is expected to play an important role tives with opportunities to interact with their Customer service executives attend to Card that off ers many advantages and dis- More than 1,200 graduated from the programme. in the global economy in 2016, with dropping counterparts in Qatar. customers at the call centre. counts to its holders. Gulf Times 32 Thursday, January 21, 2016 QATAR

HH Sheikha Moza attends Renaissance of Arabic Language Forum

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser interacts with children on the sidelines of the second edition of the Renaissance of Arabic HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser tours an exhibition featuring various entities that promote the advancement of the Arabic Language Forum, which opened yesterday. language, as part of the second edition of the Forum. PICTURES: AR Al-Baker / HHOPL. Motor show to QFC awards contest winners feature top cars, exciting programmes ar lovers can enjoy view- of Motion’ which is this year’s During the fi ve-day show, the ing top sports, luxury and theme, with a variety of exciting city will also get to experience a Cmid-range brands at this features, including a Formula 1 daily parade of unique and excit- year’s Qatar Motor Show at the driving simulator by Evotek En- ing cars that will travel around The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has awarded the top three winners of its Instagram photo competition. QFC’s chief marketing and Doha Exhibition and Convention gineering. West Bay, from off -road motors corporate communications off icer Yousef Fakhroo (second right) lauded the winners’ entries, which earned them the highest number of Centre (DECC) from January 28 Devilray by Carbondrone will and classic cars to the dynamic votes among the top ten winners. The competition was part of the QFC’s 10th anniversary. to February 1. also be on display at the show sports models. With 40 exhibitors taking part as a new addition. Carbondrone In addition to the traditional in its sixth edition, the event of- is the realisation of a dream for showroom experience, this year fers a larger automotive experi- a group of experienced industry the event will allow visitors ad- ence with 18% more brands in- professionals who come from the ditional activities in the ‘fan- cluding two surprise exhibitor world of MotoGP and Formula 1, zone.’ It is an interactive and reveals when the show opens. which will be demonstrated at experiential outdoor area at the Exhibitors include Audi, BMW, this year’s event. DECC for all ages to enjoy that HBKU honours Aisha al-Mannai Bosch, Cadillac, Castrol, Chrys- “We are thrilled with the de- will include family friendly ac- ler, Continental, Dodge, Ducati, velopment of this year’s show tivities and exciting test drive Ferrari, Ford, GMC, Harley- and how we are continuing to add experiences from leading auto- he Hamad bin Kha- Davidson, Infi niti, Jaguar, Jeep, further value and experiences for motive brands. lifa University (HBKU), a KTM, Land Rover, Lexus, Maser- visitors,” said Hamad al-Abdan, Hosted by QTA as part of the Tmember of Qatar Foun- ati, Maxus, Mercedes Benz, Mini, director of exhibitions at Qatar long-term Qatar National Tour- dation, has honoured at a spe- Mitsubishi, Nissan, Piaggio, Tourism Authority (QTA). “Qa- ism Sector Strategy 2030 vision, cial event Dr Aisha al-Mannai, Porsche, RAM, Renault, Rolls- tar Motor Show is the perfect the event has become one of the director of the Muhammad Bin Royce, Sand X, Titanium, Toyota, landscape to highlight the world- most anticipated regional con- Hamad Al Thani Centre for Triumph, VW and Ziebart. class facilities and attractions sumer and trade shows on Qa- Muslim Contribution to Civi- Entry is free to the public and that make Qatar a leading choice tar’s annual events calendar. lisation, which is part of the pre-registration will open on for business events.” Key partners at this year’s university’s Faculty of Islamic January 24. Pre-registered visi- As the largest and most excit- event include Commercial Bank Studies. tors will be given priority access. ing annual automotive event in as offi cial bank sponsor and Mar- The appreciation event For the fi rst time in Qatar, the region, the show will off er riott Marquis City Center Doha served to celebrate Dr al-Man- visitors will ‘Explore the World outdoor and indoor activities. as the offi cial hotel. nai’s considerable contribution to Qatari society. She recently received two prestigious awards relating to her humanitarian and community work. Dr al-Mannai became a re- cipient of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Henry Davison Award, in recognition of her outstanding commitment to humanitarianism. The award highlighted her role in building a culture of charitable and vol- untary work among members of the Qatari community. She was also one of the Qa- tari winners recognised at the first GCC Excellence Awards Dr Aisha al-Mannai receiving a memento from Dr Ahmad Hasnah. in December 2015. The awards were presented to people who diplomacy, economics, and personal, academic and societal At the culmination of the have made significant con- philanthropy. levels, we look to her as being event, Dr al-Mannai was pre- tribution in the GCC to areas Speaking at the honour- someone who sets an example sented with a memento in ap- such as science, medicine, in- ing event, Dr Ahmad Hasnah, for all of us to follow, and we preciation of her continued The Qatar Motor Show last year attracted a large number of people. dustry, literature, politics and president of HBKU, said: “At the wish her every future success.” contribution to HBKU. World’s most precious metals to be on display at jewellery exhibition

isitors to this year’s Doha the world, has been invited to various carats and shades. Jewellery and Watch Ex- DJWE. DJWE has perennially drawn Vhibition (DJWE) will see “We are determined to ensure the interest of jewellery and “exquisite showcases of excel- that the exhibition continues to watch afi cionados, as well as ex- lence in design and technique” build its reputation as a global perienced collectors. at the Doha Exhibition and Con- leader in quality, off ering entic- “For the majority of our visi- vention Centre from February 23 ing details of its new selection tors, perhaps, DJWE 2016 will be to 27. criteria for certain exhibitors at a rare opportunity - in many cas- Organised by Qatar Tourism the February 2016 edition of the es a once-in-a-lifetime oppor- Authority (QTA), Fira Barce- event,” QTA’s exhibitions head tunity - to witness from close up lona and Elan Events, the five- Hamad al-Abdan said. some of the most extraordinary DJWE 2016 to showcase precious World’s most precious metals will day event will gather world- The event will also showcase creations in precious metal and gems. be on display at the exhibition. renowned jewellers who will gemstones which are evaluated gemstones by some of the most be unveiling their 2016 crea- for size, clarity and quality. The prestigious brands in the world,” art and craftsmanship, a signifi - tually available for purchase,” tions. world’s most precious metals will said Elan Group CEO Jaber al- cant number of which have been he added. “This fact alone has The International Gemmo- be on display such as platinum, Ansari. designed and made exclusively always set DJWE apart from any QTA’s exhibitions head Hamad QTA’s exhibitions head Hamad logical Institute, one of the most palladium, pure and sterling sil- “It is always the elite few for for appearance at the event and other such exhibition in the re- al-Abdan. al-Abdan. trusted arbiters of standards in ver and a full range of gold in whom these unique examples of will never be seen again, are ac- gion.”