BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 8 Zayid wins bronze in

INDEX tennis in DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 3-11, 28 COMMENT 26, 27 REGION 12 BUSINESS 1-7, 12-16 Qatar wholesale, retail Baku 20,894.83 10,134.90 50.73 ARAB WORLD 12 CLASSIFIED 8-11 trade hits $15.3bn in 2016 +89.99 +84.20 +0.40 INTERNATIONAL 13–25 SPORTS 1–8 +0.43% +0.84% +0.79% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978

TUESDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10462 May 23, 2017 Sha’baan 27, 1438 AH

GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Price caps for In brief 50,000 items

QATAR | Recruits Emir to patronise in Ramadan graduation ceremony he Ministry of Economy and gents, tin paper, preservatives, tissue HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Commerce (MEC) has an- paper, and household items of all kinds. Hamad al-Thani will patronise today Tnounced price caps on more The MEC has urged all shopping malls the graduation ceremony of the than 50,000 food and non-food prod- and retail outlets across the state to 8th batch of the national service ucts throughout the holy month of Ra- maintain stable prices on food and non- recruits, to be held at Al Shamal HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- madan in its latest initiative, in co-op- food items and refrain from increasing Training Camp. Abadi in Baghdad yesterday. eration with shopping malls and large prices without obtaining the approval retail outlets. of the committee that sets price caps QATAR | Reaction The price caps are the latest in a se- and profi t margins in line with article ries of initiatives launched by the MEC 2 of Ministerial Decision Number (8) Houthi attack on UN to mark Ramadan under the theme of 2013, which regulates price hikes on convoy condemned “#Aqal_Min_Al_Wajeb.” The initia- commodities and services. The State of Qatar has strongly Emir invites Iraqi premier tive comes within the framework of the The MEC stressed that it will not tol- condemned Houthi militia attack on ministry’s eff orts to maintain balanced erate any violations of the Consumer the convoy of the United Nations and stable prices, and prevent any un- Protection Law and its regulations, and Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould justifi ed increases in the prices of com- intensify its inspection campaigns to Cheikh Ahmed just after left Sanaa modities and consumer goods. crack down on violations. The ministry Airport. In a statement yesterday, al-Abadi to visit Qatar The list of capped prices cover more said it will refer those who violate laws the Foreign Ministry described the than 50,000 food and non-food items, and ministerial decrees to competent attack as a heinous and desperate QNA people progress, development, and its embassy in the Iraqi capital Bagh- including poultry, eggs and their deriv- authorities, who in turn take appropri- attempt to impede UN eff orts to find Doha prosperity. dad soon. atives, frozen meat and its derivatives, ate action against perpetrators in order a political solution to the Yemeni The Iraqi prime minister expressed For his part, the foreign minister milk (fresh, condensed and powdered), to protect consumer rights. crisis. It reiterated Qatar’s support his thanks and appreciation for the said that “his visit to Baghdad refl ects dairy products, tea, coff ee products, The MEC has urged all customers to for the eff orts of the UN envoy with H the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin kind invitation of HH the Emir and close and well established brotherly sugar, halawa, jam, legumes, cereals, report any violations to its Consumer the Yemeni parties in order to reach Hamad al-Thani has sent a promised to accept it in the coming relations between the State of Qatar rice and its derivatives, biscuits, potato Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud a political solution in accordance Hwritten message to Iraqi Prime period. and the Republic of Iraq.” chips, mineral water, fresh and canned Department through the following with the Gulf initiative, the outputs Minister Haider al-Abadi, inviting to The two sides also discussed rela- He expressed Qatar’s deep thanks to juices, canned food, edible and cooking channels: Hotline: 16001, e-mail: info@ of the national dialogue and the visit Qatar. tions between the brotherly countries the Iraqi prime minister for the eff orts oil, milk, baby food, baby diapers and mec.gov.qa, Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, In- relevant UN resolutions. Page 12 The message was delivered by HE and means of enhancing them in vari- exerted by the Iraqi government in the sanitary napkins of all kinds, personal stagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed ous fi elds. fi nal stages of releasing the Qatari na- hygiene products and household deter- for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar WORLD | Health bin Abdulrahman al-Thani during a They stressed, on the basis of the tionals and their associates and securing meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister ties of brotherhood and historical re- their release until they reached Baghdad Qatar joins meetings of in Baghdad yesterday. lations between the two countries, to airport and returned safely to Qatar. GCC panel urges review of drug pricing rules World Health Assembly The foreign minister conveyed the remove all that would disturb the rela- HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul- The 32nd meeting of the GCC drug Ministry of Public Health, discussed the Qatar is taking part in the meetings greetings of HH the Emir to the Iraqi tions between them and look forward rahman al-Thani reiterated Qatar’s pricing committee recommended the ministerial and executive decisions and of the 70th session of the World prime minister. to the future, not to think of the past continued support for Iraq in all its ac- review of pricing rules for medicines recommendations for the organisation Health Assembly in Geneva. HE the For his part, al-Abadi entrusted the and open a new page in the relations tions in order to maintain its territorial and the executive regulation for of its work, in addition to the comments Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan foreign minister to convey his greet- between the two brotherly countries. integrity and people and to achieve full the pricing of medicines in the GCC provided by companies and the report Mohamed al-Kuwari is heading ings to HH the Emir, wishing him good The Iraqi premier expressed appre- control over the country and eliminate countries. of the GCC workshop on challenges and Qatar’s delegation to the meetings. health and happiness and the Qatari ciation for Qatar’s decision to reopen terrorist groups and armed militias. The three-day meeting, hosted by the solutions held in Riyadh in March.

Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 3 QATAR

In brief Interior Ministry Qatar-Brazil ties reviewed Emir holds phone conversation with opens Umm Bab king of Jordan HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani held a telephone conversation with King Abdullah of Jordan. Coastal Centre During the phone call, they reviewed bilateral relations between Qatar and Jordan QNA ern District will have great eff ec- Malhieh said that Umm Bab and means of advancing Doha tiveness in performing all mari- Centre is one of the most mod- them, in addition to discussing time tasks that lie within the ern facilities of the General Di- regional and international area, and the search and rescue rectorate of Coast and Border issues, especially the latest he Ministry of Interior in- operations and coastal control Security to keep pace with the developments in the region. augurated yesterday Umm to ensure the safety of sea pas- development and modernisa- TBab Coastal Centre in the sengers with its qualifi ed and tion at Directorate. Emir greets Western District of the General trained cadres. He explained that the Cen- Directorate of Coast and Border For his part, Director-General tre was equipped with the lat- Yemeni leader Security, as part of the Minis- of the General Directorate of est surveillance, follow-up and HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani try’s plans to strengthen and Coast and Border Security Staff tracking systems, through the yesterday met Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply Blairo Maggi. They HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin tighten security control over Brig. (Navy) Ali Ahmed Saif al- installation of a comprehen- reviewed the bilateral relations between Qatar and Brazil and discussed aspects of co-operation, Hamad al-Thani, HH the Deputy the State’s coastal and maritime Badeed said that opening the sive integrated radar system particularly in the economic, trade and investment fields, as well as means of developing them. Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad borders in addition to search and centre completes the objectives and surveillance cameras that Qatar and Brazil are bound by a number of trade agreements including an agreement on al-Thani and HE the Prime rescue operations. of the Ministry of Interior, as are added to the national shield economic and commercial co-operation and an agreement on the establishment of the Minister and Minister of Interior HE the Director-General of part of many vital projects that system, to secure the borders intergovernmental co-operation committee. The volume of trade between the two countries Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Public Security Staff Major Gen- aim at ensuring security for citi- and coasts of the state in the reached QR2.5bn in 2016, with Qatari exports to Brazil amounting to about QR1.1bn in 2016, while Khalifa al-Thani yesterday sent eral Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi zens and residents. Western District. its imports from Brazil was about QR1.4bn in 2016. cables of congratulations to opened the centre in the pres- He added that the centre in- Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu ence of a number of offi cials at The facility includes a cludes a modern communica- Mansour Hadi on his country’s the Ministry of Interior. centre for homeland tions system at the highest level National Day. The facility includes a centre security system, of competence to deal with and for homeland security system, administrative offi ces, follow up the search and rescue Advisory Council administrative offi ces, a seaport a seaport capable of operations, and receive com- holds meeting capable of absorbing maritime absorbing maritime media munications to control maritime Two expert physicians speak media and patrols, coastal patrol and patrols, coastal patrol and land operations in the scope cars and a maintenance work- cars and a maintenance of work of the Centre. The Advisory Council yesterday shop. workshop He said that the centre has held its regular weekly session In remarks after touring the been equipped with modern at WCM-Q Grand Rounds under the chairmanship of HE the centre, HE the director-general He added that Umm Bab Cen- boats to keep pace with the lat- Speaker Mohamed bin Mubarak of public security said that the tre will be the main facility for est technology of the high speed al-Khulaifi. new facility of the Western Dis- the management of the Western boat industry and positioning eill Cornell Medicine- HE the Secretary-General of trict is one of the most modern District, including a number of techniques, in order to impose Qatar (WCM-Q) the Advisory Council Fahad bin and important centres because observation posts in order to security control within the scope Wbrought two health- Mubarak al-Khayareen read out of its geographical location and strengthen and tighten security of the work of the Western Dis- care experts from leading US the agenda and was approved. the area it serves. control over the country’s mari- trict Administration. universities to speak at WCM- The council also ratified the He noted that the centre is time and coastal borders. The opening ceremony in- Q’s Grand Rounds series. minutes of the previous meeting. equipped with state-of-the-art He noted that the plan aims cluded a documentary fi lm that Dr Linnie M Golightly of the The council then read the memos technology and marine boats basically to secure the coastal showed the readiness of the division of infectious diseases at from the cabinet on a draft law that enable it to perform its tasks areas of Qatar, and this requires General Directorate of Coast Weill Cornell Medicine in New for 2017 on amending some effi ciently, saying that with the the establishment of highly and Border Security in carrying York delivered a presentation on of the provisions of Law No 17 opening of this new facility, the qualifi ed centres in certain areas out all maritime tasks, and its the latest travel medicine advice, for 2002 on protecting society. radar network for coast and bor- in order to tighten security con- modern technical capabilities, in explaining how healthcare pro- The council agreed to refer the der security, which is called the trol, in co-operation with the addition to the speedboats used fessionals can help mitigate risks draft to the Internal and External local network of the national authorities concerned. in search and rescue operations, to the health of patients who Aff airs Committee to examine shield network, has been com- Meanwhile, Director of the security surveillance and pro- travel abroad. and present a report on the draft. pleted. Western District Adminis- tection of the territorial waters Dr Golightly explained that The memos also included a draft He underlined that the West- tration Major Abdullah Saleh of the state. health professionals must obtain law of 2017 on amending some detailed travel information from Dr Linnie M Golightly Dr Courtney M Townsend Jr. of the provisions of Law No 11 of patients and take a compre- 1990 on establishing the Qatar hensive medical history to of- to protect the health of each indi- search into pancreatic neuroen- Chamber for Commerce and fer appropriate advice. She then vidual patient.” docrine tumours, also known as Industry. The council agreed to discussed which vaccines are re- Dr Golightly also discussed NETs. refer the draft law to the Financial Qatar calls for measures to curb quired for visits to diff erent parts parasite-borne diseases such NETs can be benign or malig- and Economic Aff airs Committee of the world, including vaccina- as malaria and schistosomia- nant and develop from abnormal to examine and present a report tions against polio, yellow fever, sis, how to avoid traveller’s di- growth of the endocrine cells on the draft. organised crime, money laundering typhoid fever, hepatitis A and B, arrhoea, risks associated with in the pancreas, which produce Another draft 2017 law that cholera, rabies and others. road accidents and blood trans- hormones such as gastrin, and the council discussed was for Dr Golightly said, “Travel fusions, hazards posed by wild insulin and glucagon, which reg- amending Decree Law No 14 for QNA implement the Doha Declara- the name of HH the Emir Sheikh health advice varies depending animals, and altitude sickness ulate blood sugar levels. 1993 on passports. The council Vienna tion of the 13th United Nations Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in on the patient’s own health pro- on hiking holidays, among other Dr Townsend explained to the agreed to refer the draft to the Congress on Crime Prevention line with international eff orts to fi le, the region they are travelling topics. audience of healthcare profes- Internal and External Aff airs and Criminal Justice, hosted by achieve integrity, transparency to, countries they transit through, In another presentation, Dr sionals the molecular basis for Committee to examine it and atar has called for mak- Qatar in April 2015. and fi ghting corruption. whether they are visiting rural or Courtney M Townsend Jr., pro- the development of pancreatic present a report. ing use of all capabilities He underscored the impor- Concluding his speech, Dr urban areas, and the types of ac- fessor and Robertson-Poth dis- NETs and how they can be di- Meanwhile, the Legal and Qin confronting and curb- tance of launching the global al-Mal called on member states tivities they plan to do. It is there- tinguished chair, general surgery, agnosed using imaging which Legislative Aff airs Committee ing organised crime, corruption, programme for the implementa- to support the draft resolution fore very important to obtain as in the Department of Surgery at includes intra-operative ultra- of the Advisory Council held a drugs, money laundering and tion of the recommendations of submitted by Qatar and Japan on much information as possible in the University of Texas Medical sound, and then discussed cur- meeting yesterday under the terrorism. the Doha Declaration in co-op- follow-up to the implementation order to give appropriate advice Branch, spoke about recent re- rent and future treatments. chairmanship of its Rapporteur This came in a speech delivered eration with the United Nations of the recommendations of the Nasser Rashid Serayea al-Kaabi. by Major General Dr Abdullah Yu- Offi ce on Drugs and Crime, and 13th Congress on Crime Preven- The Committee continued study suf al-Mal, adviser to HE the Min- funding its projects for youth tion and Criminal Justice as well Qatar attends Asian Air Sports Federation meeting of a draft law amending some ister of Interior, at the opening of crime prevention through sport, as the preparations for the 14th provisions of the Advocacy Law the 26th session of the Commis- rehabilitation and reintegration Congress to be hosted by Japan. issued by Law No 23 of 2006 in sion on Crime Prevention and of prisoners, education for jus- The opening session was at- The general assembly of the Qatar Air Sports Federation members representing the five the presence of HE the Minister Criminal Justice, which started in tice, in addition to the integrity tended by the ambassador of Asian Air Sports Federation participated in the meeting which regions in Asia. of Justice Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr the Austrian capital yesterday and of the judiciary and the preven- Qatar to Austria Sheikh Ali bin (AASF) decided at a meeting in discussed a number of important The meeting approved the al-Mohannadi. continues until May 26. tion of corruption. Jassim al-Thani, and members Jakarta to participate in the Asian topics, and adopted unanimously registration of the AASF in Hong The committee decided to Dr al-Mal welcomed the ef- He also pointed out that Qatar of Qatar’s delegation participat- Games which will be hosted by the statutes of AASF and the Kong and to be headquartered in continue study of the draft law in forts made by member-states to has allocated an annual award in ing in the session. Indonesia in 2018. election of the executive board Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. its next meeting. MoI celebrates graduation of new batch of police recruits

QNA Doha

he Ministry of Interior yesterday celebrated the Tgraduation of the found- ing course of police recruits (fourth class) in a ceremony held in the Police Training Institute and in the presence of the Di- rector-General of Public Secu- rity Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi , a number of The new batch of police recruits performing exercises at the offi cials at the ministry and par- graduation event. ents of the graduates. The class included 355 trainees who had received theoretical and operational training for nearly four months, and then joined work in diff erent locations and police and security departments. Speaking to the press after the ceremony, the director-gen- eral of public security praised the high level that graduates showed, noting that the new batch of graduates will enter the Director-General of Public Security Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi, and other Interior Ministry off icials attending the that showed the effi ciency of the of Criminal Procedure, the fi eld work and it is theoretically graduation of the founding course of police recruits at the Police Training Institute. exercises during the session. principles of criminal investi- and practically qualifi ed to per- On the occasion, the direc- gation, police operations, the form its duties with all determi- ates every success in their lives Ali Saud al-Henzab expressed He added that this new trained the goals and objectives of Qatar tor-general of public secu- rights and duties of the securi- nation and ability. and their duties in providing a his pride of the new graduates and qualifi ed class comes as an National Vision 2030. rity honoured the outstanding ty function, security sense, the He called on the Qatari youth unique security service for citi- of security personnel who have embodiment of the Ministry of The ceremony included a va- graduates of the course, which art of dealing with the public, to join the police force to partici- zens and residents alike. been trained according to the Interior’s plan to rehabilitate and riety of military exercises per- included military and sports first aid, police communica- pate in preserving the security of For his part, Assistant Director highest level of expertise and ef- train cadres in the security and formed by the graduates, in ad- training, lectures on the Qa- tions, computer, and civil pro- the country, wishing the gradu- of the Police Training Institute fi ciency in the fi eld of security. service fi eld in order to achieve dition to military formations tari Penal Code and the Code tection. Gulf Times 4 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 QATAR Ashghal launches new mobile app n a new initiative to enhance Department, Saad Mohamed communication with the al-Jermozi said the application, Ipublic and facilitate access which is available both in Arabic to several services for diff erent and English, is characterised by categories of customers, Ashghal its organised easy-to-use design. has launched a new mobile appli- The home page includes all cation, Ashghal 24/7, available on contents of the applications, the Android and iOS. which have been distributed The new service provides cus- within sections, most notably tomers with an additional com- “My Ashghal” which contains all munication channel through electronic services available only which they could access impor- to registered users in addition to tant e-services easily, anywhere “Notifi cations” which allows us- and anytime. ers to notify Ashghal of anything The new app was announced that may cause public harm or at a briefi ng attended by Shared hazard such as a hole on a road. Services Aff airs director Meshal Other sections of the applica- Sultan al-Hitmi, Asset Aff airs tions include “Road Status” to see director Ahmed Mohamed Sharif the latest updates regarding the and a number of other senior closures, diversions, and openings. offi cials from diff erent depart- The section “Our Services” ments of Ashghal. presents information and reports Assistant of Information Sys- about the list of services pro- tems Department manager Ali vided by Ashghal to individuals, Abdullatif al-Kuwari said the companies and government in- Ashghal off icials announcing the launch of the 24/7 mobile apps at a meeting. launch refl ected Ashghal’s com- stitutions. mitment and continuous eff orts The section “Projects” pro- “FAQs” which reviews the most ers to fi nd the nearest customer the App Store for iOS users, then Service Strategy launched by number “188”, and the two cus- to develop the services provided vides information about Ash- common questions asked by in- zone and identify the routes to the choosing “Ashghal 24/7”. Ashghal in an aim to implement tomer zones in the West Bay and to customers, and facilitate ac- ghal’s programmes and main dividuals or companies, with centre from the user’s location. In this context, Abdulla Saad the best practices in the fi eld of Salwa Road. Those initiatives are cess to those services for citi- ongoing projects in the fi eld of their answers. The application, which works al-Saad, manager of the Public government service excellence. based on a modern, integrated zens, residents, government and roads, buildings, and drainage. Through the “Media Hub”, us- on all smart devices, can be Relations and Communications This is in addition to the Con- system for Customer Relationship private institutions. The “Tenders” displays all ers can view the latest news, pho- downloaded by typing “Ashghal” Department said “Ashghal 24/7” tact Centre, which receives cus- Management, which was imple- Head of the Development Sec- open tenders, their details, and tos and videos related to Ashghal. in the search fi eld in both the is the latest project implemented tomer calls round-the-clock mented by the programme team tion in the Information Systems the participation conditions, and The application also allows us- Play Store for Android users and within the Integrated Customer through its newly launched in co-operation with Microsoft.

$12mn Gaza Call to abide by reduced project deals 2.5km stretch of Wakrah Bypass Project to open The Chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Recon- shghal will open a 2.5km ment, the diversion will be im- Ramadan working hours struction of Gaza, ambas- stretch of a new per- plemented in two phases starting sador Mohamed al-Emadi Amanent road with three with southbound traffi c towards he Ministry of Adminis- adan. Accordingly, the inspectors has signed new project fl yovers along Mesaieed Road, Mesaieed Road tomorrow (May trative Development, La- of the ministry will conduct fi eld contracts worth $12mn. He as part of its Al Wakrah Bypass 24), followed by northbound Tbour and Social Aff airs has tours to work sites and various said that the signed projects Project. traffi c towards Al Wakrah on May called on the private sector com- companies to check the imple- include the construction of The stretch of the road marks 28 (as shown on the map). panies and corporations to abide mentation of the norm. seven residential buildings another milestone on the project Ashghal is expediting works by the reduced working hours In case of any related viola- of the third phase of the HH which is part of its 11km main for full completion on the Al during the holy month of Ram- tions, all the necessary legal pro- Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa carriageway. Wakrah Bypass Project which adan, as part of the Labour Law. cedures will be taken against the al-Thani Residential City, the Road users currently using the will deliver direct access to G In a statement, the ministry violators. Besides, the ministry launch of the Committee’s existing diversion of Mesaieed Ring Road, connecting to the affi rmed its supervisory role on will receive related complaints by headquarters project, and Road will be shifted on to the new New Orbital Highway and Truck the companies regarding the im- workers throughout its various the infrastructure project for section of road with two lanes in Route and the F Ring Road to- plementation of the six reduced communication channel and the HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa each direction. In co-ordination wards Hamad International Air- working hours throughout Ram- hotline. al-Thani’s Al Amal City. with the Traffi c Police Depart- port and Doha.

Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 7 QATAR

A scene from Nothingwood, one of the films chosen for DFI’s Spring Grants. 29 fi lms chosen for DFI Spring Grants

he Doha Film Institute (DFI) yes- Film Festival, Fatma al-Remaihi, chief DFI Producers Lab, with the latter also terday announced that 29 fi lm executive offi cer of the DFI, said: “The mentored at the 2017 Hezayah Screen- Tprojects from 16 countries have new grantees cover a broad range of writing Lab, organised in partnership been chosen for its Spring Grants 2017, subjects and represent some power- with TorinoFilmLab. which supports regional and interna- ful new voices in cinema from the Arab The GCC projects, apart from fi lms tional fi rst- and second-time fi lmmak- region and beyond, highlighting the by Qatari directors, are Days of Grace ers, as well as established Arab direc- remarkable leaps in creativity by our and Soaring Over Mayhem (Kuwait, Qa- tors for short and feature-length fi lms. emerging fi lmmakers, and their in- tar) by Abdullah al-Wazzan. In addition to two fi lms from Qa- novative and bold approach to story- The animation projects selected for tari fi lmmakers, the grantees include telling.” this cycle include Inside Me (Egypt, 24 projects from the Mena region, and There are four projects each from Al- Germany, Qatar) by Halla Tarek, and have been chosen from Angola to Indo- geria and Egypt, three from Tunisia and Night (Palestine, Jordan, Germany, Qa- nesia, bringing powerful new cinematic two each from Lebanon, Iran, Morocco, tar) by Ahmed Saleh. voices from across the world. and Palestine. One project each comes The two established directors from With the 2017 Spring Grants cycle, from Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Portu- Mena who will receive post-production the total number of projects supported gal, Somalia, Syria, France and Indone- funding are Annemarie Jacir for Wajib by DFI’s Grants programme now stands sia. Of the 29 projects, 19 are helmed by (Palestine, UAE, France, Switzerland, at over 340. women directors, including Nothing- Norway, Colombia, Qatar) and Amal The line-up includes 14 feature- wood (France, Germany, Qatar) by So- Ramsis for You Come from Far Away length narrative fi lms, eight feature nia Kronlund that has been selected for (Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar). documentaries, two feature experi- screening in the 2017 Directors’ Fort- Submissions for the next funding mental or essay fi lms and fi ve short night at Cannes. round open July 18 and close July 31. fi lms - that will receive funding for Four fi lms are from the GCC region Funding is available to projects by fi rst development, production or post-pro- including two shorts by Qatari direc- and second-time fi lmmakers from duction. tors - Last Day at Home by Noor al- around the world, with an emphasis on The Spring 2017 cycle marks the 14th Nasr and The Black Veil by A J al-Thani. support for fi lmmakers from the Mena session of the DFI grants programme, Two projects have been nurtured by region. Certain categories of fund- dedicated to supporting new cinemat- DFI-led initiatives; A Man on Fire (Leb- ing are reserved for Mena and Qatari ic voices from the Mena region and anon, Qatar) by Ibrahim Harb, and Days fi lmmakers. Post-production funding around the world. of Grace (Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar) by is available to established fi lmmakers Announcing the projects at Cannes Saleh Nass, were both part of the 2016 from the Mena region. Gulf Times 8 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 QATAR

Akbar al-Baker presented the trophy to the winning team, Renault e.dams Qatar Airways ePrix won by Sebastien Buemi

he 2017 Qatar Airways Paris is innovative, bold and smart with its streets against the backdrop of some of ePrix has been won by Sebastien approach, concepts mirrored at Qatar the most iconic cities, including Hong TBuemi, the Doha-based carrier Airways through our young and mod- Kong, Marrakech, Buenos Aires, Mo- - sponsor of the electric street racing ern fl eet, which is widely regarded as naco, Paris, New York and Montreal. series Formula E - has said. The Qatar one of the most energy effi cient in the The championship represents a vision Airways Paris ePrix took place in the sky. for the future of the motor industry, French capital on May 20. “We look forward to the ePrix race in serving as a platform to showcase the The national carrier of Qatar was the New York this summer, at which time latest innovations in electric vehicle offi cial airline partner and title spon- we will also introduce our new Qsuite technology and alternative energy so- sor of the 2017 Qatar Airways Paris Business Class off ering on our Paris lutions. ePrix, which took place around the ar- route.” Qatar Airways, the official FIFA chitectural complex of Les Invalides. The second edition of the race in partner, is the official sponsor of Qatar Airways is also the offi cial airline Paris along L’Esplanade des Invalides many top-level sporting events, partner of the fi rst-ever New York City off ered racing drivers and visitors a including the FIFA 2018 and 2022 ePrix, to be held in Red Hook, Brook- day of exhilarating competition and World Cups, FC Barcelona, Al Ahli lyn, on July 15 and 16. impressive sporting skills, the airline FC in Saudi Arabia, as well as the Qa- After presenting the trophy to the said in a press statement. VIPs, hon- tar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar Total winner on Saturday evening, Qatar oured guests as well as French and Open. Airways Group chief executive Akbar international journalists enjoyed the Qatar Airways recently unveiled its al-Baker said: “We are delighted to competition and activities organised new business class seat, Qsuite, at ITB be the offi cial sponsor of the Formula by Formula E and its partner, Qatar Berlin. It has also introduced high- E electric car races in Paris and New Airways. speed broadband that will off er the York. Qatar Airways is committed to The FIA Formula E Championship is same connectivity speed on board as promoting sports as a key element in the world’s fi rst fully-electric single- on the ground, in partnership with In- bringing people together. Formula E seater racing series, competing on the marsat (GX Aviation). Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 9 QATAR

Italian National Day celebrated Traffi c dept mulls pact with QDA

he Traffi c Department At a lecture organised yes- awareness on diabetes and is studying the possi- terday by QDA at the Traffi c conducting blood sugar tests in Tbility of signing a co- Department headquarters on case of road accidents. operation protocol with Qatar diabetes and safe driving, Ma- Meanwhile, Dr Abdullah al- Diabetes Association (QDA) to jor Odeiba said that such a co- Hamaq, QDA executive direc- benefi t from the latter’s sug- operation protocol may include tor, gave a lecture on the risks gestions about dealing with the training of some of the Traf- of driving while having too low diabetic drivers. fi c Department personnel on or too high blood sugar levels. Major Jabir Mohamed Odeiba, how to identify diabetic drivers He also stressed that traffi c assistant director of Media and during road accidents, in addi- patrol personnel should have Traffi c Awareness Department, tion to introducing awareness a device to measure the blood pointed out that the department brochures on the issue and how sugar of some category of driv- would in particular study the to deal with diabetics. ers who are suspected of being suggestion of equipping traf- He also pointed out that diabetics, as they may be mis- fi c patrol personnel with blood a QDA vehicle may be of use taken for being intoxicated due sugar measuring device. at traffi c campaigns to raise to the similarity in symptoms.

Ministry recalls Mercedez-Benz E Class 2014-2015 models

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in collaboration with Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles, has announced the recall of Mercedes-Benz E Class 2014-2015 models, because the parking lights func- A special function was held in the Italian-inspired Al Hazm yesterday to mark Italian National Day. HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, tion of the two-piece tail lamps does not correspond to factory specification. The MEC said the recall Minister of Transport and Communications; Ibrahim Fakhroo, protocol director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Pasquale Salzano, campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car Italian ambassador to Qatar; and Ali Ibrahim Ahmed, Eritrean ambassador and dean of the Diplomatic Corps, were among the dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs. The MEC has urged all customers to report any viola- dignitaries at the event. A ceremonial cake was cut to mark the occasion, with ambassador Salzano highlighting Qatar-Italy tions to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department through the following chan- bilateral relations. PICTURE: Nasar T K nels: Hotline: 16001 or e-mail: [email protected], Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar HMC off ers residents safety tips for windy conditions amad Medical Corporation exposure to airborne dust advised to keep car windows (HMC) has advised the public Strong winds forecast for parts of Qatar can cause chronic breathing closed, and opt for air con- Hto take basic health and safety and lung problems, as well as ditioning instead of fresh air, precautions against windy weather as Strong winds are again expected in parts dust is expected in some places at times. heart disease. while driving. the Qatar Meteorology Department of the country during the daytime today, Off shore, the wind (northwesterly) speed HMC has recommended People should avoid rub- has forecast strong winds for the com- the Qatar Met department has said. is likely to be 16-25 knots, reaching a the public to avoid going bing their eyes and if possi- ing days. Off shore areas, too, are likely to see high of 30 knots in the early hours of outside during high winds or ble, use protective eyewear Blowing dust kicked up by strong strong winds and high seas today, the day and decreasing to 8-18 knots by low visibility when dust lev- such as airtight goggles. If winds is expected to create hazy con- according to the weather report. The the evening. Dusty conditions have also els are particularly harmful the eyes become irritated, ditions across the country and could detailed forecast says the wind (north- been forecast at times, while the sea level and keep the windows and rinse with water, and there- pose health hazards to those with sinus westerly) speed will be 10-18 knots in may rise to 10ft in some places at first doors closed. When outside, after special care must be allergies and respiratory infections. inshore areas, going up to 23 knots in and fall to 3-5ft by the evening. people are advised to cover taken if contact lenses are Those most at risk of contracting some places during the day before drop- A maximum temperature of 40C is their nose and mouth with a used. Similarly, those who respiratory infections, including in- ping to 5-12 knots by night. It will also be expected today in Doha, Mesaieed and mask or damp cloth to lessen are prone to allergies should fants and young children, the elderly, hot during the day and slight to blowing Wakrah, followed by 39C in Al Khor. the particles of dust being start using antihistamines people with a history of asthma, bron- inhaled. Residents are also before symptoms begin. chitis, emphysema, individuals with heart disease, pregnant women and to use nebulisers and bronchial dilata- Dust consists of tiny solid particles those who work outdoors, such as con- tors directly, after the onset of asthma fl oating in the air, which can get past struction or delivery workers, are ad- symptoms and those with persistent the lungs’ natural defences and harm vised to be particularly cautious. coughs should also visit their nearest sensitive lung tissue. Fine particles can Residents with asthma and other healthcare centre if they experience irritate the lungs and trigger allergic respiratory conditions are encouraged symptoms. reactions or asthma attacks. Prolonged

Officials at the renovated Safa Al Touq Beach.

Safa beach renovated

l Khor and Al Tha- khira Municipality Ahas renovated Safa Al Touq Beach, sponsored by Ras Laff an Offi ce for Social Communication. The sands of the beach were replaced with clean sands and 33 palm trees planted in addition to green- ing a space of 5,000sq m. Canopies and kids areas were established. The beach has also been provided with a good number of parking lots. Al Rayyan Municipality building permits section is- sued 159 building permits in April, in addition to 24 dem- olition permits, 121 building completion certifi cates, and 34 excavation permits. On the occasion of the World Turtle Day, which falls on May 23 every year, the Ministry of Municipal- ity and Environment (MME) has urged people to actively co-operate to make the tur- tle nestling season a success at Fuwairait Beach, which remains closed to the public from April 1 until August 15 in this connection. Similarly, MME has re- iterated the importance of maintaining biodiversity on the occasion of the Inter- national Day for Biological Diversity on May 22. MME has also reiterated its support to the various international agreements in this regard.

Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 11 QATAR Vodafone showcases smart stadium technologies

odafone is showcasing its from 25 countries gathered to ment will form a large part of dream of, including interviews, Arena via a virtual reality tour in nected through an IoT gateway. smart stadium technolo- discuss the future of sport infra- delivering an unforgettable ex- match statistics, and live updates addition to other advanced tech- The Wi-Fi on-board keeps Vgies at the World Stadium structure development, tourna- perience for those inside the on other games. nologies used for large sporting commuters connected while on Congress, which runs until May ment delivery and legacy. 2022 venues. Through our in- Moreover, spectators and visi- events including: critical com- the go. 24 at the Westin Doha Hotel & Sheikh Hamad al-Thani, Vo- ternational network and global tors are off ered an end-to end munication networks – Tetra, Equipped with a Wi-Fi con- Spa. dafone Enterprise Sales direc- leadership in IoT technology, digital experience and premium smart bus, smart shelter, Meshh, nection and powered by solar As the Title Sponsor of the tor, said: “As Qatar’s 2022 World we are ideally-placed to provide comfort during match days and Mobile Asset Tracking. panels, the smart bus shelter is event, Vodafone said it is dem- Cup preparations accelerate, so just this and are already doing so through location-based services In order to assure eff ective self-sustaining and delivers new onstrating how the company is will fans’ expectation for super- in Turkey’s smart stadium, the based on Beacon technology. communication for public safety services such as dynamic adver- leveraging the power of its in- fast connectivity. Vodafone Arena and in Spain’s In May 2016, Vodafone Qatar offi cials and fi rst-responders it is tising and data collection. ternational network and global The ability to share videos, Valencia Football Club.” and Vodafone Turkey signed a necessary to provide coverage for When users connect to the leadership in Internet of Things pictures, and messages with Mohamed Serieh, Vodafone memorandum of understanding Public Safety Radio communica- Meshh network, they access a (IoT) technology to help de- people online will be an impor- Qatar’s head of Enterprise Mar- Vodafone Enterprise Sales (MoU) designed to accelerate the tions in public buildings and other hub of information related to the liver the ultimate experience for tant aspect of the fan experience keting, showcased the details director Sheikh Hamad al-Thani transfer of knowledge, expertise locations like sporting venues. venue or their location. sports fans and developing the and with more than a million of Turkey’s Vodafone Arena in a delivers the opening address and technological know-how Vodafone designs and deploys By connecting to the Meshh stadiums of the future. people expected to travel to the keynote presentation. during the World Stadium from Turkey’s fi rst smart-stadi- single Distributed Antenna Sys- network, sports fans will be able The congress, which has Middle East’s fi rst World Cup, At every home game played Congress 2017. um, the Vodafone Arena to one tems that can be utilised for Tet- to access match stats, stream re- grown into a leading global the level of connectivity and by Turkish Super League side, of the world’s fastest growing ra, LTE, Wi-Fi, and some of the plays, and get arena information. platform for leaders in sport in- sharing will be exceptional.” Be ikta JK, more than 40,000 displays on the 700 HD screens, football markets in Qatar. 5G prime bands. With Vodafone’s Mobile Asset frastructure and tournament He added: “Innovative tech- fans have access to Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and Vodafone Arena mobile appli- Visitors to Vodafone’s stand The smart bus features video Tracking solution, customers will delivery, kicked off on Monday nologies enabling fans to stay and 4.5G ready broadband net- cation, as well as video walls that at the event’s exhibition were surveillance, Wi-Fi and adver- know where their assets go with in Doha where representatives connected during the tourna- work connections, rich-content broadcast all the content that fans able to experience the Vodafone tisement opportunities all con- complete visibility and control. IDAM off ers Fun Ville unveils its special Iftar sixth centre in Qatar to celebrate andmark Leisure, the en- tertainment division of LLandmark Group, has Ramadan launched its sixth Fun Ville cen- tre at Ezdan Mall, Al Wakrah. DAM, Michelin starred Middle Eastern mezze, exotic The launch was held in the chef Alain Ducasse’s Moroccan soups and luxurious presence of Landmark Group Iaward-winning restaurant Iranian desserts.” representatives and guests. located on the top fl oor of the Damien Leroux, executive Silvio Liedtke, COO at Land- Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), chef at IDAM said: “Our Iftar mark Leisure, said: “We are is off ering the local commu- experience is a showcase of pleased to celebrate the launch nity the opportunity to ex- our generosity and hospitality, of the sixth Fun Ville centre in perience an Arabian culinary that is ceremoniously served Qatar. As a group, we are com- journey this Ramadan. on our guests’ tables.” mitted to enriching lives around “A menu of colourful pal- In addition to the fi ne food, us with this neighbourhood con- ettes and captivating aromas the staff at IDAM worked cept. Fun Ville is a well-balanced has been developed as part of alongside Damien Leroux to family entertainment off er- IDAM’s annual tradition to craft a selection of juices that ing relevant to the community create a specially designed se- utilise local fl avours such as around where it is located. It is lection of fi ne food to celebrate fresh chamomile, rosemary, home to all families with chil- the holy month of Ramadan,” spices and fruits. dren aged 2-10 years.” according to a statement. IDAM, Alain Ducasse’s fi rst The Fun Ville centre in Al The three-course Iftar restaurant in the Middle East, Wakrah is spread over 19,000sq menu includes a selection of will launch in the months to ft and houses the Play Zone area fresh mezze, two main course come an exclusive outdoor for 4-12-year-old children. It dishes from the fi nest local terrace extending out from the is a soft play area that aids their produce and an assortment of restaurant’s fi fth fl oor loca- physical, social, mental and desserts that include contem- tion at the heart of MIA. The emotional skills, according to a porary signatures with Ara- space will come complete with press statement. Off icials at the opening along with children. bian twists. an open dining area designed The structure inside Play Zone “The variety on off er allows by Philippe Starck and un- is multi-levelled with climbing cles, rope bridges, ball pools and nation in exploratory play. Zone, Log Flume, Super Swing locations in Qatar are Ezdan Mall, guests to experience the rich matched sea views of the Doha frames, interactive elements, slides, providing children with A selection of popular rides and and Hello Kitty is available at the Asmakh Mall, Al Khor Mall, Barwa textures of Mediterranean and skyline. crawl tunnels, padded obsta- the freedom to use their imagi- games such as Bumper Cars, Play centre. The other fi ve Fun Ville Village and Barwa City mall.

LuLu Exchange branch marks first anniversary

The Gharrafa branch of LuLu Exchange Company celebrated its first anniversary on Thursday. The celebration was held in the presence of Shaijan M O, regional director of LuLu Hypermarket, Qatar; and Arshad Hamza, general manager of LuLu Exchange Company; along with other dignitaries and staff . LuLu Exchange currently operates three branches in Qatar, with the other two located at LuLu Hypermarket D-Ring Road and Al Khor Mall. Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of LuLu Exchange Company, said: “Our main focus is to off er the best-in-class products, making sure we deliver the highest standards of customer satisfaction time and again. The Gharrafa branch being our 100th GCC branch has always been a special outlet and we will continue improving our services while constantly being the first choice for all financial services.” Pictured is the celebration being presided over by Shaijan M O along with Hamza and Ajimon Adam, GM of LuLu Hypermarket, Gharrafa, in the presence of other dignitaries. IDAM, located on the top floor of the Museum of Islamic Art, is off ering an Arabian culinary journey this Ramadan. Bollywood star displays Kalyan Saudia Group holds Mango Festival Jewellers’ ‘wearable art’ at Cannes

alyan Jewellers’ global a pale pink gown by designer Elie with Kalyan Jewellers to create brand ambassador Son- Saab. this look. Our aim was to cre- Kam Kapoor showcased To match the shade of pink ate pieces of wearable art that 18th century and Victorian-era used in the gown, Rhea Kapoor blends the best of 18th century inspired dark romance jewel- worked closely with Kalyan dark romance designs with In- lery with Indian undertones at Jewellers and chose tourma- dian idioms.” Cannes 2017. line - an exquisite gemstone. Rajesh Kalyanaraman, ex- Designed by sister Rhea Ka- This was paired with “bril- ecutive director of Kalyan poor and the team at Kalyan liantly sparkling polished dia- Jewellers, added: “The jew- Jewellers, the stone-studded monds, strings of fresh water ellery complemented Sonam rose-gold collection “can only pearls and muted Polki dia- Kapoor perfectly, and the be termed as wearable art”, the monds - all set in a rose gold most important aspect of leading jeweller has said in a base with just the right hint of this design is that they are press statement. white gold”. At 5.23 inches, the lightweight and can be eas- “Twelve artisans worked for 18 carat shoulder duster ear- ily paired with an Indian or a 35 days to create these haunting- rings weigh just 60.43gm. The more global ensemble.” ly beautiful and timeless pieces. haat phools have a more elab- Sonam Kapoor lit up the red Her glittering, customised ac- orate design with multiple carpet in Elie Saab haute cou- cessories included dramatic haat pearl strands connecting from ture paired with custom-de- phools and lightweight shoulder Sonam’s Cannes look – shoulder the finger to the bracelet, and signed and handmade jewellery The Mango Festival organised by the Saudia Group will run until tomorrow at the hypermarket. The duster earrings – each a spectac- duster earrings designed by the pair weighs 171.09gm. by Kalyan Jewellers at the The inauguration was attended by the Group’s operations manager, branch manager and marketing ular statement piece,” the state- Rhea Kapoor and Kalyan Rhea Kapoor said, “It was a Meyerowtiz Stories screening at manager. ment noted. Sonam was wearing Jewellers. memorable experience working Cannes. Gulf Times 12 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 REGION/ARAB WORLD

UN envoy Trump says concerns about eyes new Syria peace Iran driving nations closer talks in June AFP Reuters United Nations Jerusalem espite little progress in S President Donald the latest round of Syrian Trump said yesterday Dpeace talks, negotiations Uthat shared concern are set to resume in June, the UN about Iran was driving Israel envoy said yesterday. and many Arab states closer and Staff an de Mistura told the Se- demanded that Tehran immedi- curity Council that “important ately cease military and fi nan- gaps remain between the parties cial backing of “terrorists and on major issues” following the militias”. sixth round in Geneva held last In stressing threats from Iran, week. Trump echoed a theme laid The Syrian government and out during weekend meetings the opposition took part in four in Saudi Arabia with Muslim days of indirect talks aimed at leaders from around the world, ending the war that has killed many wary of the Islamic Re- more than 320,000 people since public’s growing regional infl u- 2011. ence and fi nancial muscle. De Mistura said all sides were Trump, who spoke after ar- ready to return to the table for riving in Israel on what is a new round of talks “which we thought to be the fi rst direct intend to target sometime in fl ight there from Saudi Arabia, June.” has also vowed to do whatever The envoy said the talks are is necessary to broker peace be- to lay the groundwork for “a real tween Israel and the Palestin- negotiation” and expressed hope ians. that this “will be possible before He has dubbed this “the ulti- too long.” mate deal” but in the run-up to Hopes for a breakthrough in his Holy Land visit, he gave little the near future remain dim, with indication of how he could re- the fate of President Bashar al- vive negotiations that collapsed Assad still a major stumbling in 2014. block. He focused fi rmly on Iran in The opposition insists that talks with Israeli leaders in Je- Assad must leave power as part rusalem on the fi rst day of his of any peace deal but the govern- two-day trip, pledging he would US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Sara Netanyahu and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pose for pictures before an off icial dinner in Jerusalem yesterday. ment has rejected the demand. never let Tehran acquire nuclear A series of expert-level talks arms and saying the deal struck in the region, rather than re- elected, pragmatist president, advise US offi cials are mislead- under which it agreed to limit its portunity to bring security and will take place to pursue discus- with Tehran by the Obama ad- newed eff orts to revive Israeli- Hassan Rouhani, said regional ing them.” atomic programme in return for stability and peace to this region sion on a range of issues includ- ministration needed fi xing. Palestinian peace talks. stability could not be achieved He also said Iran would contin- sanctions relief. and its people, defeating terror- ing the thorny matter of a new “What’s happened with Iran “No matter where we go, we without Iranian help, and ac- ue a ballistic missile programme “We gave them a lifeline and ism and creating a future of har- constitution, but the UN envoy has brought many of the parts of see the signs of Iran,” Trump cused Washington of support- that has already triggered US we not only gave them a lifeline, mony, prosperity and peace, but stressed that these would not be the Middle East toward Israel,” said in comments to Netanyahu, ing terrorism with its backing sanctions, saying it was for de- we gave them wealth and pros- we can only get there working decision-making meetings. Trump said in public remarks at mentioning its growing infl u- for rebels in Syria. fensive purposes only. perity and we also gave them the together. There is no other way,” “We are not seeking to draft a a meeting with Israeli President ence in confl icts in Syria, Yemen He said the summit in Saudi Trump’s foreign tour comes ability to continue with terror he said. new Syrian constitution in Ge- Reuven Rivlin. and Iraq, where it is either back- Arabia “had no political value, in the shadow of diffi culties at with all the things they can do, Later, Trump toured the neva,” said De Mistura.”We are Trump received a warm wel- ing fi ghters or has sent its own and will bear no results”. home, where he is struggling because no matter where we go, Church of the Holy Sepulchre in laying foundations for the time come in Riyadh from Arab lead- forces. “Who can say the region will to contain a scandal after fi r- we see the signs of Iran in the Jerusalem’s walled Old City and when the Syrians can do that.” ers, especially over his tough Israel shares the antipathy experience total stability with- ing James Comey as FBI director Middle East,” Trump said. became the fi rst sitting president Following closed-door Se- line on Tehran, which many many Arab states have towards out Iran? Who fought against nearly two weeks ago. Iran has repeatedly denied an to visit the Western Wall, Juda- curity Council talks, Uruguay’s states regard as seeking re- Iran, seeing the Islamic Repub- the terrorists? It was Iran, Syria, The trip ends on Saturday after intent to build atomic bombs. ism’s holiest place. Ambassador Elbio Rosselli, gional control. In his comments lic as a threat to its existence. Hezbollah and Syria.” visits to the Vatican, Brussels and At a welcoming ceremony at Trump will have visited sig- who holds the council presi- to both Rivlin and Israeli Prime Trump, who is on his maiden Rouhani said: “Americans re- Sicily. Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport, nifi cant centres of Islam, Juda- dency, said there were concerns Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, foreign trip since taking offi ce sorted to many diff erent meth- Meeting Netanyahu in Je- Trump said that in recent days he ism and Christianity by the end about the slow pace of the peace Trump appeared to dwell on in January, urged Iran to cease ods against Iran but failed in rusalem, Trump said Iran felt had found new reasons to hope of his trip, a point that his aides process. “The members obvi- forging a regional coalition to “its deadly funding, train- all...,” Rouhani said. “The prob- “emboldened” by the interna- that Middle East peace and sta- say bolsters his argument that the ously have concerns on the slow counter what he described as ing and equipping of terrorists lem is that the Americans do not tional nuclear deal, promoted bility could be achieved. fi ght against militancy is a battle movement, but at the same time, Iran’s involvement in confl icts and militias”. Iran’s freshly re- know our region and those who by Obama, that it signed in 2015 “We have before us a rare op- between “good and evil”. (are) somewhat pleased in hav- ing moved a little bit forward,” Rosselli told reporters. CONFLICT The council is also weighing Jordan has ‘hit limit’ hosting refugees whether to back a deal reached between Russia, Iran and Turkey Jordan said yesterday it has hit the limit of its ability to host Syrian refu- Hodeidah port should be kept safe: UN to set up de-escalation zones in gees as Washington’s United Nations envoy Nikki Haley visited on her Syria where a ceasefi re would be first overseas trip. “Jordan has reached the limit of its capacity to cope buttressed with a ban on fl ights with the burden of hosting Syrian refugees,” Planning Minister Imad al- Reuters Aid groups and humanitar- and where aid deliveries would Fakhoury said in a statement after meeting Haley. Syria’s six-year conflict Sanaa ian organisations have been Cholera kills 315 in be ensured. has triggered a vast exodus of refugees, millions of whom are living in saying that a military opera- Yemen in less than France said it would not sup- neighbouring states. The UN refugee agency says it has registered more tion there would put millions month: WHO port the deal reached in the Ka- than 680,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan. Amman says it hosts some he United Nations’ spe- of civilians at risk. zakh capital of Astana on May 4 1.3mn Syrians at a cost of some $6.6bn (5.9bn euros) since the war broke cial envoy to Yemen said The International Rescue Cholera has killed 315 people in unless it has strong international out in 2011. Jordan says it will need a further $8bn to cover the costs Tyesterday he wanted Committee has said any attack Yemen in under a month, the monitoring and would allow for of hosting refugees until 2018. Haley also met Jordan’s King Abdullah to prevent any attack on the targeting the port would dis- World Health Organisation has sanctions in case of violations. II yesterday as part of a trip focused on the plight of Syrian refugees in Houthi-held Red Sea port of rupt port facilities and “have said, as another aid organisation “This is a key requirement from Jordan and Turkey. Hodeidah and also called for a catastrophic impact on the warned yesterday the outbreak France,” said Ambassador Fran- the central bank’s independ- people of Yemen.” could become a “full-blown epi- cois Delattre. Britain also said ence to be maintained to allow “You all know that the chol- demic”. The WHO has recorded monitoring was key and that there TENSION it to pay salaries on both sides era epidemic has increased, another 29,300 suspected should be reports to the Security Police shoot dead Palestinian in West Bank of the confl ict. reaching more than 25,000 cases of cholera in 19 provinces Council on implementation of the Both aims have been the United Nations Special Envoy cases and there have been across the country from April Astana deal. A Palestinian tried to stab Israeli police in the occupied West Bank yester- main conditions set by the for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh many deaths in less than two 27 to Sunday, it said on Twitter. day and was shot dead, Israeli authorities said. Houthi group controlling the Ahmed, speaks to reporters weeks,” Ould Cheikh Ahmed “Cholera continues to spread The incident occurred in the Abu Dis area, near Jerusalem but located in capital Sanaa for holding talks upon his arrival at Sanaa airport. said. in Yemen,” it said. Save the the West Bank. No police off icers were hurt, Israeli police said. aimed at reaching a political “The central bank must re- Children yesterday warned that, There was no indication that the alleged stabbing attempt was linked to settlement of the confl ict. main independent and must at the current rate, more than Trump’s visit. Several such incidents have occurred in recent months. Hodeidah port and province for is to try to avoid in every belong to all the Yemeni peo- 65,000 cases of cholera are Further details on the identity and age of the Palestinian were not im- is also controlled by the Iran- possible way, the idea of a ple and salaries (must) reach expected by the end of June. mediately available. A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has aligned Houthis and has been military operation on Hou- all Yemenis,” he added. claimed the lives of 266 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, two Jor- the entry point for 70% of deidah,” the UN envoy, Ismail The country has been torn danians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP count. Yemen’s food supplies as well Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told apart by more than two years of President Abd-Rabbu Man- Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ram- as humanitarian aid. reporters after his arrival at of civil war that pits the Houthi sour Hadi, which is backed by ming attacks, the Israeli authorities say. “The fi rst issue that I came Sanaa airport. group against the government a coalition. Staff an de Mistura: positive Palestinians stop work for hunger-striking prisoners

AFP President Donald Trump in Israel ahead Ramallah of a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow. Palestinian police forces were de- alestinians were yesterday ob- ployed at contact points in the city of serving a general strike in solidar- Al-Bireh close to the Beit El settle- Pity with prisoners refusing food in ments, an AFP correspondent said. Israeli jails for more than a month over Israel announced a series of measures their conditions. to support the Palestinian economy The strike paralysed east Jerusalem and ease transportation woes ahead of as well as West Bank cities and suburbs, Trump’s visit, which were welcomed by with shops closed and both public and the US administration as “encouraging”. private sector employees refusing to Yesterday’s strike was held in soli- work, AFP correspondents said. darity with about 1,000 Palestinian The industrial action came in re- prisoners in Israeli jails who have been sponse to a call from the Palestinian fasting since April 17 over demands for striking prisoners’ support committee, improved conditions. a grassroots group. A spokesman for the Israeli Prisons The committee appealed for pro- Service said 10 fasting Palestinians were tests against Israeli military forces in evacuated for medical treatment on the occupied West Bank in support of Sunday, with two remaining hospital- the prisoners, who are behind bars for ised. security off ences against Israel and its According to the spokesman, 850 A Palestinian demonstrator holds an anti-US President Donald Trump poster during a protest in support citizens. Palestinian security prisoners were cur- of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in jails, near Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of It coincided with the arrival of US rently on hunger strike. Ramallah yesterday. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 13 AFRICA Cape Town declares drought

AFP egy to ensure that taps do not run Cape Town dry,” said Zille. The disaster alert will last for three months and can be extend- outh Africa’s Western Cape ed if the crisis persists, the state- region which includes ment said. SCape Town declared a “Our government wishes to drought disaster yesterday as the assure the public that the decla- province battled its worst water ration is no cause to panic.” shortages for 113 years. The declaration will mean that Boreholes will be drilled at authorities in the region can pri- hospitals in Cape Town, a popu- oritise public funds for drought lar international tourist destina- relief operations. tion, a mobile desalination plant Two reservoirs in the Western will be tested and the natural aq- Cape region are already com- uifer at Table mountain will be pletely dry according to offi cial tapped. statistics. Southern African nations are The Karoo and West Coast reeling from a two-year drought areas of the Western Cape pre- which has aff ected over 40mn viously declared drought disas- people, according to UN fi gures, ters in 2016, but Monday’s an- and was caused by the El Nino nouncement extends the scope climate phenomenon. of those emergency measures to “(Regional leader) Helen Zille the entire province. has offi cially declared the West- In February Cape Town an- ern Cape a disaster area in re- nounced a crackdown on splash- sponse to the current drought ing and surfer shorts at the city’s crisis — the worst since 1904,” swimming pools in a bid to save the Western Cape government water. said in a statement. It also called on residents not People queue up to collect drinking water from taps that are fed by a spring in Newlands, in Cape Town. South Africa’s Western Cape region which includes Cape Town has “The disaster declaration will to use more than 100 litres of declared a drought disaster as the province battled its worst water shortages for 113 years. accelerate...the province’s strat- water daily. Professional I Coast More people fl ed ex-rebels hunter killed block by elephant confl ict in Congo roads AFP Bouaké, Ivory Coast in Zimbabwe isgruntled former rebels demanding government than in Syria Dcompensation payments AFP management authority, con- blocked roads yesterday into Harare fi rmed the death to AFP. At least 1.5 million were sis...superseded all other crises population, with the Kamuina outbreak on May 12 in north- Ivory Coast’s second biggest “The unfortunate incident forced to flee their homes in in terms of the number of peo- Nsapu insurrection that erupted eastern Bas-Uele province, city, Bouake, as well as into the happened when the hunting Congo ple forced to fl ee their homes,” in the Kasai-Central province in 37 suspected cases are being key northern city of Korhogo, South African big-game party got in the middle of a Ulrika Blom, the NRC’s coun- August seen as the most serious monitored, said WHO’s Eugene AFP reporters said. hunter was crushed to breeding herd of elephants Thomson Reuters Foundation try director for Congo, said in a threat to stability in Congo. Kabambi. In Bouake, the former fi ght- Adeath when an elephant and were attacked by female Dakar statement. “What’s important to under- Of these suspected cases, two ers blocked the main road south picked him up and then fell on elephants,” he said, adding “Even Syria or Yemen’s brutal stand is that each time families were confi rmed in the labora- to the Ivorian economic capital, him after being shot, Zimba- that the hunt was author- wars did not match the number have to fl ee, their resilience for tory and three were regarded Abidjan, as well as the northern bwean offi cials and media re- ised. onfl ict has forced at of new people on the move in rebuilding their lives is broken as probable Ebola cases, said highway to neighbouring Burki- ports said yesterday. A spokeswoman for Botha’s least 1.5mn people to fl ee DRC last year.” down even further,” Elizabeth Kabambi. na Faso. Theunis Botha, 51, a profes- company ‘Big Game Safaris’, Ctheir homes within the Ethnic violence in Congo, Rushing, a senior strategic advi- Community health agents “We will not budge,” said Dio- sional hunter who specialised based in Limpopo, South Af- Democratic Republic of Congo Africa’s second-largest coun- sor at the IDMC, told the Thom- are monitoring 400 people who mande Megbe, the spokesman in hunting with hounds, died rica, declined to comment this year — more than triple try, has spread and worsened son Reuters Foundation. may have come into contact for ex-rebels seeking bonuses on Friday in western Zimba- to AFP, but said a statement the number uprooted within since December when President “This erosion of the social with those killed by the virus. from the government. bwe. would be issued later this Syria and fi ve times the number Joseph Kabila refused to step and economic fabric...feeds into “People who were in contact They want payments simi- He was leading a group of week. within Iraq, an aid group said down at the end of his mandate. state fragility and violence.” with the fi rst case reported on lar to those already pledged to hunters on state-owned land Botha led regular “trophy yesterday. The number of displaced More than 31mn people — one April 22 came out unscathed af- former fi ghters who demobilised in the Gwayi region when they hunts” for clients, often from The Norwegian Refugee throughout Congo has more person every second — were ter the 21 days of observation,” and signed up for the national disturbed a breeding herd and America, who pay thousands Council (NRC) warned that eth- than doubled to 3.7mn since uprooted in their home coun- said Kabambi. army after deadly post-election were charged by four female of dollars to shoot leopards, nic violence was escalating in the August 2016, according to the try in 2016 because of confl icts The Democratic Republic of violence in 2011. elephants. giraff es, elephants and other central African country, which UN Offi ce for the Coordina- and disasters, and numbers will the Congo has suff ered seven The ex-rebels on the barri- One elephant lifted Botha animals. saw the world’s highest level of tion of Humanitarian Aff airs grow unless underlying causes previous outbreaks of Ebola cades yesterday also laid down up with her trunk, and a fel- A father of five, Botha’s new displacement last year. (OCHA). like climate change and politi- since the virus was discovered their weapons but have refused low hunter shot the animal family-run company was More than 922,000 people Analysts fear growing vio- cal turmoil are tackled, the NRC in the country in 1976. The last to join Ivory Coast’s military. dead, the News24 website said. set up in 1983 and operates were driven from their homes by lence in Congo could spark a said. outbreak, in 2014, left 49 people Yesterday’s protests came As the elephant collapsed, it in South Africa, Zimbabwe, confl ict within Congo in 2016, repeat of the confl icts between A fourth person has died dead. days after a crippling four-day crushed Botha, giving him fatal Botswana, Mozambique and compared with 824,000 in Syria 1996-2003, mostly in the east, in an Ebola virus outbreak in the West Africa was worst af- army mutiny, the latest in a se- injuries. Namibia. and 659,000 in Iraq, according in which millions died, mainly Democratic Republic of Congo, fected during 2014, with the ries of armed protests which be- His body was taken to Another South African was to the Internal Displacement from hunger and disease. a spokesman from the World haemorrhagic fever claiming gan in January in the West Afri- Hwange mortuary. Simukai killed by a crocodile last month Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Dozens of armed groups con- Health Organization (WHO) more than 11,000 lives, most of can country. Nyasha, spokesman for Zim- while hunting in southern which is part of the NRC. tinue to fi ght over natural re- said yesterday. those in Guinea, Liberia and Si- That uprising ended when the babwe’s parks and wildlife Zimbabwe. “DRC’s largely forgotten cri- sources and prey on the civilian Since the WHO declared the erra Leone. government agreed to pay the soldiers bonuses of 12mn CFA francs (18,000 euros) each. Earlier yesterday in Bouake, hundreds of former rebels took to the streets after disrupting a funeral attended by a cabinet Pastoral Maasai forced into unlikely city roles minister. The minister had off ered as- sistance to help demobilised Thomson Reuters Foundation Coalition, said there are more and in ecological balance — with Livelihood Initiative Support, a stantly on the move to fi nd water Those Maasai who work as former rebels to set up business- Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania than 5,000 Maasai youth living indigenous wildlife for centuries. Dar es Salaam-based non-profi t and fresh pastures. It’s virtu- security guards complain about es or launch other projects. in Tanzania’s capital Dar es Sa- According to pastoralist rights group that advocates for the ally impossible to confi ne them the lack of job security and being But the one-time rebels laam alone. campaigners there are around a herders, described government in one area,” said Ndoinyo, the forced to work in dangerous areas shouted “We don’t want n the crowded streets Most try their luck as secu- million Maasai living in Kenya policies banning the grazing of Maasai activist. where they often risk their lives. projects, we want cash”, and then of the Tanzanian capi- rity guards while others braid and Tanzania. animals in wildlife areas as “de- For those who do move to the “Our job is very dangerous surrounded Solidarity Minister Otal, the sight of groups women’s hair, prepare tradition- But they say the continued al- liberate harassment” of pasto- cities, the hope is that they can and the weapons we use, spears Mariatou Kone’s vehicle, pre- of men brandishing spears and al herbs for sale or hawk belts, location of vast tracts of grazing ralist communities. make enough money to sustain and machetes, are very inferior venting her from getting away. clubs or hoisting wooden sticks leather wallets and bracelets. lands for wildlife parks is taking Jumanne Maghembe, Tanza- the families left behind on the when thieves come with guns,” Kone was in town for the fu- used to herd cattle is no longer Lameck Maneno, 32, from its toll. nia’s minister for tourism and land. said Ombeni Kessy, a security neral of one of the demobilised unusual. Bomang’ombe near Arusha in Three years ago, in Lo- natural resources, denied the “When I came here I expected guard working in a private home rebels, who was killed last week The men are Maasai, one of northern Tanzania, said more liondo, in Tanzania’s northern accusation. my life to change rapidly, but in the Mwenge area of the city. in a clash with former colleagues northern Tanzania’s most rec- and more Maasai land is being Ngorongoro District, more than “The decision to ban grazing things did not go as I planned. He said many Maasai watch- who had joined the army after ognisable ethnic groups, known sold to wealthy individuals and 40,000 Maasai pastoralists were activities in our national parks I am still looking for a job,” said men have also been exploited by turning in their weapons. the world over for their semi- private companies. evicted from a 150sq km tract of is consistent with the law, and Jumbe Saidim, 28, from Oldonyo police who arrest them on fraudu- nomadic lifestyle and distinc- “We remain with (only) a land ostensibly to make way for a does not target local communi- Sambu, in the Arusha region. lent charges and demand money. tive, colourful beads, red robes small area for farming or cattle wildlife corridor. ties,” he told the Thomson Reu- While a handful manage The struggle to make a living and distended earlobes. grazing,” he told the Thomson However the land has ulti- ters Foundation. to eke out a living, many fi nd has led groups of Maasai in Dar es While Maasai migration to ur- Reuters Foundation. mately been used for the es- Governments across east Af- themselves living miserable lives Salaam to join forces and create ban areas began in earnest in the “I came here two years ago tablishment of a private game rica have worked to encourage on the streets, without shelter or informal welfare organisations. 1990s, pastoralist rights activists and I was employed as a watch- park by a United Arab Emirates- nomad communities to set- enough food. “We normally call a meeting say a combination of recurrent man. My boss trusts me because based company, activists say. tle into farming as a strategy to “I have to do a lot of things once every month to discuss our drought, loss of grazing lands I don’t steal.” “Our traditional grazing land avert land disputes, said Ngu- to survive; selling cigarettes at problems and fi nd ways to help to wildlife reserves and large- The Maasai have shunned is shrinking every single day, rumwa of the Tanzania Human night, supplying herbs for men one another,” said Laibon Ka- scale agricultural investment modern life for decades and still Yannick Ndoinyo, a Maasai ac- Rights Defenders Coalition. with erectile dysfunction, even luse, a group leader in Mwenge. has forced increasing numbers of represent one of the largest pas- tivist and ward councillor in But restricting herders to one plaiting women’s hair,” said “If someone has died back Maasai to migrate to cities. toral groups worldwide, roam- Olososokwan village in Loliondo area undermines their ability to Raymond Letoto, a hawker in home, we raise some money so Onesmo Ole Ngurumwa, na- ing across southern Kenya and said by phone.”We can no longer feed their animals, especially in Tegeta area of Dar es Salaam. someone can attend the funeral,” Police off icers protect a vehicle tional co-ordinator of the Tan- northern Tanzania. sustain ourselves.” the face of climate change. “You have to diversify your he said. “If someone is sick, we carrying a minister as it drives zania Human Rights Defenders They have lived alongside — Thomas Sangale, director of “Maasai herders are con- businesses to survive.” help them.” past disgruntled former rebels. Gulf Times 14 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 AMERICAS

Ethics offi ce told to North American defence ministers meet probe Trump hotel payments

Agencies of his companies to a trust Washington controlled by his two elder sons, his lawyer, Sheri Dillon, said divesting from his busi- he top Democrat on nesses would “exacerbate” the US senate commit- potential confl icts of interest Ttee overseeing pensions because Trump would still be yesterday asked the US Offi ce entitled to royalties from the of Government Ethics to as- use of his brand. sess whether President Donald Some of the pension funds Trump is violating the Consti- have said Trump or the invest- tution and federal bans on con- ment fund that owns the hotel fl icts of interest. should answer concerns about Reuters reported on April 26 the chain because they do not that public pension funds in at have control over the assets in least seven US states periodi- the investment fund’s portfo- cally send millions of dollars to lio. an investment fund that owns Others declined to comment the upscale Trump SoHo Ho- on the payment chain between tel and Condominium in New them and Trump. York City and pays a Trump Other Democratic US sena- company to run it, according tors have criticised the presi- to a Reuters review of public dent for not divesting his hotel records. management company and the “Trump may be profi ting hundreds of other businesses from the retirement plans of that make up the Trump Or- millions of our nation’s public ganization. servants,” Senator Patty Mur- Democratic Senator Ben ray of Washington state wrote Cardin of Maryland said in a letter to Walter Shaub, the Trump was setting “an ex- director of the Offi ce of Gov- tremely dangerous precedent” ernment Ethics, citing the Re- by maintaining ownership. uters report. The infamous 2005 vide- Escorted by Regimental Commander of US Army 3rd Infantry Regiment Col. Jason Garkey, Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, Mexican Secretary of National The Offi ce of Government otape in which Donald Trump Defence General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda and Mexican Secretary of the Navy Admiral Vidal Francisco Soberon Sanz inspect honour guards during a full honour parade Ethics is the US agency that boasts to celebrity interview- for the North American Defense Ministerial at the Pentagon yesterday in Arlington, Virginia. Secretary Mattis is holding talks with his counterparts of Mexico and Canada . oversees conduct within the er Billy Bush about women executive branch and super- brought the TV show host’s vises ethics offi cials to ensure daughter to tears, Bush told they are preventing confl icts of ABC yesterday. interest and other violations. Bush — who at the time was “This looks like exactly the with the NBC show Access type of monetary fl ow prohib- Hollywood — is seen on the ited by the Constitution,” said video bantering with Trump, the senator. then the billionaire host of the Murray, who is on the Sen- hit reality show The Appren- ate Health, Education, Labor, tice, when the conversation and Pensions Committee, turns to women. Court rejects GoP’s asked Shaub to assess what The videotape was leaked to steps Trump can take to ensure the Washington Post in Octo- he is in compliance with Arti- ber 2016, at the height of the cle II of the US Constitution, US presidential election cam- which bars the president from paign. receiving additional payments “There was a powerful mo- beyond his salary from state ment, my now 16-year-old redrawing of districts governments. daughter called me...and she The fees that public pension was in tears,” Bush, 45, told The court said North Carolina the districts and split 5-3 on the ing to comply with the federal fi nance restriction that prevents dividuals can donate during the funds pay the CIM Fund III in- ABC’s Good Morning America unlawfully took race into other, with three conservatives Voting Rights Act. political parties from raising un- federal two-year election cycle. vestment fund that owns the in his fi rst public comments on consideration dissenting. That law protects minor- limited amounts of cash to spend Both those decisions eroded sec- Trump SoHo may fall into that the incident. The decision came in one of a ity voters and was enacted to ad- on supporting candidates. tions of the 2002 law. category, several constitutional Bush told his daughter not Reuters number of lawsuits accusing Re- dress a history of racial discrimi- The Republican Party of Loui- The measure is commonly lawyers have told Reuters. to worry.”And she said, ‘No. Washington publicans of taking steps at the nation in voting, especially in siana had argued that a provision known as the McCain-Feingold The White House, the Why were you laughing at state level to disenfranchise black Southern states. of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign law after the two senators who Trump Organization, and the the things that he was saying and other minority voters who The Supreme Court has never Reform Act violates free speech sponsored it, Republican John Offi ce of Government Ethics on that bus? Why were you he US Supreme Court yes- tend to back Democratic candi- said legislative districts cannot rights under the US Constitu- McCain and Democrat Russ did not respond to multiple re- playing along with it, Dad? It terday ruled that Repub- dates. be mapped based on plainly par- tion. Feingold. quests for comment. wasn’t funny.’” Tlicans in North Carolina Critics accused Republicans tisan aims like maximising one But the justices let stand a It barred state and local par- At a January news confer- His response: “’Mary, I am unlawfully took race into consid- of cramming black voters into party’s election chances. lower court’s ruling that rejected ties from taking unlimited do- ence at which Trump said he sorry. And there is no good an- eration when drawing congres- what the NAACP civil rights North Carolina Republicans the Republican challenge. The nations for any activities con- would turn over management swer for that.’” sional district boundaries, con- group called “apartheid voting said one of the two districts brief order noted that conserva- cerning federal elections. Such centrating black voters in a bid districts” to diminish their vot- was drawn on purely partisan tive Justices Clarence Thomas donations are often called “soft to diminish their overall political ing power and make surrounding grounds to benefi t Republicans and Neil Gorsuch favoured hear- money” because they are unreg- clout. districts more white and more at the expense of Democrats, and ing the case. ulated. They were a key target of The justices upheld a lower likely to support Republicans. the other was drawn to comply The conservative-leaning the 2002 law. court’s February 2016 ruling that Both districts are held by the with the demands of the Voting court in recent years has rolled The Supreme Court has previ- Trump to propose threw out two majority-black US Democrats. Rights Act. back campaign fi nance restric- ously turned down similar cases House of Representatives dis- Of North Carolina’s 13 repre- Justice Neil Gorsuch, who had tions. In 2010, the court paved challenging party campaign fi - tricts because Republican law- sentatives in the US House, 10 are not yet joined the court when ar- the way to unlimited outside nance restrictions, including one slashing Medicaid makers improperly used race as a Republican. guments in the case were heard, spending on elections in a case in 2010 just after the Citizens factor when redrawing the legis- Race can be considered in re- did not participate in the ruling. called FEC v Citizens United that United decision that focused lative map after the 2010 census. drawing boundaries of voting The US Supreme Court yes- concerned corporate spending. on the national parties and was AFP sociation issued a scathing The court was unanimous on districts only in certain instanc- terday turned away a Republican In 2014, the court struck down brought by the Republican Na- Washington criticism of the bill, warning upholding the ruling on one of es, such as when states are seek- challenge to a federal campaign limits on the total amount in- tional Committee. that it would cause millions of Americans to lose their health- resident Donald Trump care. is expected to propose Some Republicans who Pcutting $800bn from also criticised the House bill Medicaid over 10 years in a say they oppose major cuts to budget plan to be released to- Medicaid. The Senate is work- You can have four Hummers and day that would slash spending ing on its own separate health- on anti-poverty and other pro- care legislation. grammes, US media reported. The Congressional Budget The plans for the massive Offi ce, which appraised an ear- cut to Medicaid — which funds lier version of the House bill in still save planet: Schwarzenegger healthcare for low-income March, said 14mn fewer people and disabled people — come would enrol in the programme as lawmakers from his Repub- by 2026. AFP get into the movies. And I was go- plunged when Arnie took over lican Party are battling to re- The CBO is expected to re- Cannes, France ing to make millions of dollars.” when Trump left to run for the peal and replace Obamacare, lease a new score of the revised It all came true, and then some. US presidency. in which Medicare plays an im- bill tomorrow. Trump prom- “But I never thought I would have Trump blamed Schwarzeneg- portant role. ised not to cut Medicaid during rnold Schwarzenegger has the biggest movie of the year with ger, tweeting that Schwarzeneg- The $800bn cut to Medicaid his campaign last year. four Hummers and likes Terminator 2, and that I would be ger “isn’t voluntarily leaving is contingent on a healthcare His comprehensive budget Anothing better than get- doing comedy or politics.” ‘The Apprentice’, he was fi red bill passed in the House of Rep- plan to be unveiled today will ting up at 5am to ride his Harley Nor has the march of time by...his bad ratings”. resentatives earlier this month provide the most detailed look Davidson to the beach for break- dimmed his optimism. Arnie said viewers were put off becoming law, The Washington at his plans to overhaul govern- fast. Yet The Terminator star in- Asked about turning 70 in July, by its association with Trump, Post on Sunday quoted people ment spending and taxes since sists that should not stop him be- Schwarzenegger joked, “Are you the show’s executive producer. familiar with the plan as say- he issued a blueprint in March. ing an environmental evangelist. asking because you want to send That the two men fi nd them- ing. It would make drastic cuts in “Saving the planet is also about me a birthday gift? I like Monte- selves at war over climate change That bill to dismantle the Af- spending on the arts, environ- technology,” the former Califor- cristos (cigars), No 2s.” has added extra edge. fordable Care Act — as former mental protection and foreign nia governor told AFP, putting The giant Hummer is one of the former California Governor’s Schwarzenegger looks a good Trump is “back in the Stone president Barack Obama’s sig- aid, scrapping dozens of pro- his foot on a chair and wagging favourite cars two decades younger, and says Age” on the environment, nature healthcare law is called grammes but making a large a skull-ringed fi nger to make his his secret is that he “works out Schwarzenegger told AFP. — would cut federal support increase in military spending point. when Schwarzenegger the young said. “The oceans give us half the every day and I really love my life. “When I hear he wants to bring for Medicaid by more than and border security, the Post Three of his Hummers run on bodybuilding Mr Universe was food we eat and half the oxygen “One month I make a movie, coal back.... The next thing he’ll $800bn over a decade. reported. hydrogen, vegetable oil and bio- a pin-up of the “physical fi tness we breath and we better protect fl y to South Africa for a body- want to bring horses and buggies Medicaid’s expansion under Critics say the plans would diesel and he’s hoping to put an movement 40 years ago”, he said. that. Seven million people die building conference, pump up (carts) back,” he said. Obamacare extended health- amount to a massive boost for electric engine into the fourth. “We didn’t say he’s fat or she’s every year because of pollution.” some students and get my eighth His assessment of his fellow care coverage to some 11mn the wealthy. “You know one day soon we got a big ass. We celebrated the Even such apocalyptic statis- honorary degree. Republican’s time in the White previously uninsured adults. “This budget continues to are going to have hydrogen- body.” tics cannot survive long in the “Then you make a few more House is withering: “So far noth- Medicaid currently covers reveal President Trump’s true fuelled planes. We can get rid of Now on top of the global R20 white heat of the Austrian-born million dollars in a real estate ing has got done since he became more than 70mn mainly low- colors,” the Senate’s Demo- this dirty diesel tomorrow. network of regional leaders he star’s can-do charisma. deal and get up at 5am and ride president.” income and disabled people. cratic leader Chuck Schumer “I hate it when environmental- has put together to fi ght climate “Look, we can do it, we can your motorcycle to Santa Barbara Yet he won’t be tempted by The House bill would cut said in a statement on Sunday. ism comes down to ‘you can’t do change, Schwarzenegger the save the planet with people pow- for breakfast. How can you not talk that it is time to call in the federal funding for the entire “His populist campaign this and you can’t do that’. There’s activist has got behind a new er and positive attitude. feel good about your life?” Terminator. “Look, I wish Trump Medicaid programme by 25% rhetoric was just a Trojan horse a bad habit of shaming, guilt and documentary at the Cannes fi lm “If you want people to change “Imagine not enjoying what you good luck.We should support the by 2026 and shift the burden to execute long-held, hard- fi nger pointing. ‘Don’t smoke festival by the son of undersea you got to make them feel good are doing. That’s terrible. That’s things he wants to do that are to states, which would receive right policies that benefi t the this, don’t take a jacuzzi and don’t explorer Jacques Cousteau which about it. the reason for depression,” he said. good.” set amounts in the form of ultra-wealthy at the expense of take a plane.’ Everything’s bad.” he also narrates. “I had a very clear vision as a Only when you mention Don- But if the call ever came? “I grants that would force them the middle class.” Which is why Arnie is giv- Wonders of the Sea 3D will kid of what I was going to do,” he ald Trump does Schwarzeneg- was not born in America (so can’t to reduce eligibility or cut Congress must approve ing it an injection of his legen- make “people fall in love with the recalled. ger’s incredible positivity fl icker. be its head of state). But if I had benefi ts. most of the plan’s changes be- dary pumped-up positive atti- ocean”, he declared.”And if they “I was going to be a bodybuild- Specifi cally The Apprentice been, yes, I would run for presi- The American Medical As- fore they can be enacted. tude. “We didn’t blame anyone” love it they will protect it,” he ing champion, go to America and television show, whose ratings dent. That’s clear.” Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 15 ASEAN

Malaysian boat, crew, missing after chasing UN urges Indonesia to free jailed Jakarta governor fishermen AFP jailed this month for insulting freedom of religion and freedom could not disclose the reason for Jakarta the Holy Qur’an, a shock deci- of expression. the withdrawal. Nine crew members of a sion that has stoked concern “We urge the government to Purnama’s sentence was Malaysian navy boat are miss- about rising religious intoler- overturn Mr Purnama’s sen- widely criticised as too harsh ing after they lost contact with he United Nations pressed ance in the country. tence on appeal or to extend to after prosecutors had demanded their parent ship while chasing Indonesia yesterday to A group of UN human rights him whatever form of clemency that he be given just two years’ away intruding fishermen, the Trelease Jakarta’s jailed experts urged Indonesia to free may be available under Indo- probation. Prosecutors in the navy said yesterday. The nine Christian governor and repeal the 50-year-old and repeal the nesian law so that he may be case have already fi led an appeal were part of a boarding team blasphemy laws which they say blasphemy laws, which critics released from prison immedi- against the decision to jail Pur- from the warship KD Perdana, undermine religious freedom in say have been repeatedly used ately.” nama. The governor was hauled on patrol off the south coast, the Muslim-majority nation. to target religious minorities in Lawyers for Purnama earlier into court last year to face trial the Royal Malaysian Navy said. The call came as the fam- recent years. fi led documents for his appeal while campaigning for re-elec- The team was chasing several ily of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, “Mr Purnama’s blasphemy to a Jakarta court — but said tion, after the claims sparked foreign fishing boats out of Ma- known as Ahok, unexpectedly conviction and imprisonment later that the governor’s family major protests in Jakarta. laysian waters when contact withdrew an appeal against his will undermine freedom of re- turned up and asked for it not to Purnama had once been fa- was lost on Saturday evening. conviction and two-year jail ligion or belief and freedom go ahead. “The family have their vourite to win last month’s Ja- A search-and-rescue operation term for blasphemy, which had of speech in Indonesia,” said a own considerations and with- karta election but went on to Jakarta’s governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, was launched about an hour been submitted by his lawyers statement from the experts, who drew the appeal,” lawyer Ronny lose to a Muslim challenger fol- arriving at a courtroom for his verdict and sentence in his blasphemy later, after the KD Perdana failed just hours earlier. Purnama was included special rapporteurs on Talapessy told AFP, adding he lowing the blasphemy claims. trial in Jakarta. to find the boat, the navy said.

Royal visit 21 hurt in bomb attack at Bangkok military hospital

AFP orders, or under draconian royal Bangkok defamation legislation. Militant elements among pro-democra- cy groups have either been ar- bomb struck a Bangkok rested or gone to ground. The military hospital yes- one region where daily violence Aterday and wounded 21 and large bomb blasts persist people — one seriously — three is the country’s “Deep South”, years to the day after the Thai where Malay militants have army seized power in the po- fought a long insurgency. litically unstable kingdom. The But they rarely strike outside small device — which police their region — an exception be- said was potentially deadly — ing in August 2016 when a se- went off near the VIP section of ries of co-ordinated blasts hit a King Mongkut hospital as pa- string of tourist towns. tients and their families waited The country’s notoriously for prescriptions, shattering fractious domestic politics have glass and sending smoke into incubated the worst violence. the corridors. Over the past 10 years Thais Hospital director Saroj Ke- have witnessed repeated rounds okajee said the “low intensity Thai soldiers secure the area after a bomb blast at Phramongkutklao of deadly protests, a string of bomb” injured 21 people, among Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. short-lived governments and them retired military offi cers. two military coups that de- “Eight people were admit- Investigators said the bomb kok is often used by serving and posed elected leaders. The junta ted to hospital to observe their may be linked to two other sim- retired members of the armed says its 2014 coup — the 12th condition ... among them is one ilarly small devices that went forces but also treats civilians. time generals have successfully woman who needed surgery be- off in recent weeks, one outside Saroj said no senior military of- seized power — was needed to cause of shrapnel buried in her Bangkok’s National Theatre a fi cers were near the blast. bring stability and root out cor- jaw,” he said. week ago and another left in a Regardless of the motive, ruption. Thailand has remained Bangkok bin in early April. the blast will raise the political But critics say the military starkly divided since the May Both were too low yield to temperature in Thailand where is deeply hostile to ousted pre- 22, 2014 coup, but dissent has cause signifi cant injury. But violence had declined under the miers Thaksin Shinawatra and broadly been smothered by a police said yesterday’s device, military’s stranglehold. his sister Yingluck, whose par- military with sweeping security while similar in size, was more Despite a veneer of stabil- ties have won every poll since powers. serious because it was packed ity Thais remain divided and 2001. While it was not immediately with nails. uncertain over the future three Their billionaire clan is popu- clear who was behind the blast, “The people who did this are years after the ousting of the lar among Thailand’s rural and Thailand has a long history of brutal,” national police chief elected government of Yingluck urban poor and they have urged bomb attacks on symbolic dates Chakthip Chaijinda, told re- Shinawatra. a return to elections. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (left) walks with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo during a visit to — carried out by militant politi- porters. “If they (the nails) had Protest and political gather- But the Shinawatras are hated the Presidential Palace in Bogor. King Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden are on a five-day visit to cal factions or separatists linked directly impacted, they could ings are banned while dissidents by Bangkok’s military-backed Indonesia to discuss ties between the two countries. to an insurgency in the Muslim- cause death.” have been rounded up on charg- elite, who accuse the family of majority south. The clinic in central Bang- es of sedition or breaching junta corruption and nepotism. Three years after coup, rural Thais yearn for democracy

AFP chance to have their voice heard Khon Kaen, Thailand once again. “I want democracy, but the junta won’t let it happen,” said a hree years after their lat- 73-year-old man from Buriram est coup, Thailand’s arch- province, who requested ano- Troyalist military is fi rmly nymity for fear of arrest. “Nowa- dug-in. Dissent is banned, a jun- days we are under them, we can- ta-appointed legislature makes not speak much. Even talking like the law — and awards the army this can land me in jail.” an ever-burgeoning budget — “I cannot do anything, speak- while a new constitution gifts the ing in groups of fi ve or six people military power to write the script is not allowed,” he said, referring for Thailand’s next 20 years. to a junta ban on political gather- But discontent lingers and is at ings to head off protests. its sharpest in the country’s poor “The Prime Minster talks a lot but populous northeast, where but he doesn’t achieve anything,” Srisupan Boonprom, a som tam seller, in front of her restaurant in the the lacklustre economy and strict he said of junta chief Prayut Northeast Thai province of Khon Kaen. curbs on free expression are bit- Chan-O-Cha, who gives tele- ing hard. The rice-farming re- vised primetime addresses every he told AFP, referring to a dra- upan Boonprom, who sells one gion, known as Isaan, is home to a Friday night to the nation. conian law that bars criticising of Isaan’s most famous dishes: a third of the country’s population “I’m not sure if (other Thais) Thailand’s monarchy with up to spicy papaya salad known as som and some of its poorest prov- want democracy because I don’t 15 years in prison per off ence. tam. inces. People here voted in droves know what is in their hearts. But “The second thing you have to The junta has taken the most for Yingluck Shinawatra, whose I want it.” be really concerned about is cri- heat for failing to revive the king- elected government was toppled “At fi rst we thought (Prayut) tiquing the Prime Minister,” he dom’s fl agging economy, which on May 22, 2014, by army chief was a dictator, said 53-year-old Wassana Leepan, a rice farmer, looking out towards agricultural waters in the Northeast Thai province of said of junta chief Prayut. “We is one of the worst performing in turned premier Prayut Chan-O- Wassana Leepan, a farmer in Khon Kaen. Dissent is banned, a junta-appointed legislature makes the law — and awards the army an ever- are not free to express things that Southeast Asia. Cha. Khon Kaen province, a heartland burgeoning budget — while a new constitution gifts the military power to write the script for Thailand’s next we should be able to voice, such “Other people also complain These days junta critics risk for the now silent pro-democra- 20 years. But discontent lingers and is at its sharpest in the country’s poor but populous northeast, where the as when we think something is that the economy is getting arrest if they speak out — while cy ‘Red Shirt’ street movement. economy and strict curbs on free expression are biting hard. unfair.” worse. My customers come here soaring prosecutions under the “But later he did what previous “This government always and eat and I hear them complain country’s draconian royal defa- governments have done, which lus programmes. The junta has “But I still want an election... sation issues, we cannot do that. claims that they are working for that the economy is bad,” said mation law are also stifl ing de- was help rice farmers. It’s a way tried to stave off fresh political we want to be able to express We have to ask for permission the public interest... but in terms the 52-year-old, who runs a res- bate. But in conversations with for (the army) to campaign for unrest with more than $1bn in what we like, who will be good (from authorities)... mostly they of local interest they don’t care taurant in Khon Kaen province. AFP reporters, opinions from themselves. They do good things cash handouts of its own. “The for us. do not allow us,” said Sataporn about who will lose out from “I haven’t gotten a lot of profi t Isaan varied from outright anger and then villagers like them.” junta gave us three things: 800 “With elected politicians, if Roengtam, an assistant profes- their projects, where those peo- (since the coup) because things at Prayut’s autocratic agenda to Farmers from the agrarian baht ($23) per rai (around half an they are not good then at least sor of public policy at Khon Kaen ple go or what will happen to are so expensive.” acceptance of army rule as a bit- northeast formed the bedrock of acre) to harvest rice, money for they will not stay in power for Universisty. “We have to be really their families.” “I want elections and a re- ter tonic to years of violent street support for the ousted govern- fertilisers and then money when more than four years anyway.” concerned about the presenta- “It’s good that it’s peace- turn to democracy, because then protests. ment, which lavished Thailand’s we had a drought,” explained “If we want to conduct semi- tion of our ideas.” ful and there isn’t any chaos. many things will be better like Yet all expressed a longing poorest region with agricultural Wassana. “I admit that they nars, in terms of environmental “The fi rst thing that you can- But (ingredients) are at least they were before when we used to for a return to democracy and a subsidies and other rural stimu- helped,” she said. issues or in terms of decentrali- not do is (violate) lese majeste,” 50% more expensive,” said Sris- have elected representatives.” Gulf Times 16 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 AUSTRALASIA/ EAST ASIA China calls for de-escalation of tensions on Korean Peninsula

DPA agency KCNA confi rmed the get back on the track toward launch, with a government tested by missile launches by the missile, which fl ew 787km and carry out patrols near the Korean Seoul/Beijing launch yesterday, noting that it dialogue and consultation,” she spokesman in Tokyo saying that North since he took offi ce less reached an altitude of 2,100km, peninsula. had been supervised by North said. The missile was named as the missile had landed in the Sea than two weeks ago. according to North Korea’s state South Korean and US media Korean leader Kim Jong-un. a ground-to-ground medium- of Japan but did not reach Japa- The latest launch, North Ko- news agency KCNA. reported that it joined USS Carl hina’s Foreign Ministry China opposes North Korea’s to-long range strategic ballistic nese territorial waters. The ag- rea’s eighth so far this year, is That test prompted strong Vinson in the region to conduct yesterday urged all par- breach of UN Security Council missile, Pukguksong-2. gression comes one week after thought to have taken place near condemnation from the UN drills in the Western Pacifi c. Cties to de-escalate the resolutions, a Chinese Foreign Kim, known in North Korea North Korea’s last ballistic mis- Pukchang, the site of a botched Security Council. US-based The Carl Vinson carrier was tensions on the Korean Penin- Ministry said in Beijing. as Supreme Leader, called the sile test. test launch in late April in which observers said that the “Hwa- sent to the region in April in re- sula, a day after North Korea “The current situation on the launch “perfect” and gave an or- That missile also landed in a ballistic missile failed to leave song-12” missile launch dem- sponse to North Korea’s repeat- launched a ballistic missile with peninsula is sensitive, and we der approving the deployment of the Sea of Japan and prompted North Korean territory. onstrated signifi cant progress ed missile launches. a range of several hundred kilo- once again urge all related par- this weapon system for action, renewed international outcry The South Korean military’s in the communist state’s push The Ronald Reagan carrier is metres into the sea. ties to remain calm, exercise according to KCNA. against the reclusive dictator- Joint Chiefs of Staff said the pro- to develop an intercontinental thought to replace it in the long The projectile was fi red from self-restraint and avoid taking Earlier, a US offi cial had iden- ship. According to the Yonhap jectile was unlikely an intercon- missile - which could carry nu- term. a location north of Pyongyang provocative actions that would tifi ed the missile in question as a news agency, South Korean tinental-range ballistic missile, clear warheads to Japan, South President Donald Trump near Pukchang and soared escalate the tensions,” said Chi- medium-range ballistic missile, President Moon Jae-in convened Yonhap reported, amid concerns Korea, or even the US. has warned that the US could 500km before falling into the nese Foreign Ministry spokes- which has a shorter range than an emergency meeting of the that North Korea may be devel- The latest show of military take unilateral action against water, the South Korean armed woman Hua Chunying. the systems tested by Pyongyang National Security Council. oping a new type of weapon. strength comes just days after North Korea in retaliation, as forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “We should make eff orts to in its last three launches. Ja- Sunday marked the second Last Sunday’s test-fi re was of the US sent the Navy aircraft Pyongyang continues to develop The offi cial North Korean news de-escalate the situation and pan was quick to condemn the time Moon’s leadership has been a “Hwasong-12” medium-range carrier USS Ronald Reagan to its nuclear programme. North Korea declares medium-range missile ready for deployment

AFP Solid fuel missiles can be fi red Seoul far more rapidly, dramatically shortening the time available for any attempt to intervene and orth Korea yesterday de- prevent a launch. clared its medium-range Kim said “with pride” that the NPukguksong-2 missile Pukguksong-2 was a “very ac- ready for deployment after a curate” missile and a “successful weekend test, the latest step in strategic weapon”, KCNA said, its quest to defy UN sanctions adding he “approved the deploy- and develop a weapon capable of ment of this weapon system for striking US targets. action”. The state-run Korean Central The launch “completely veri- News Agency said the North’s fi ed” the reliability and accuracy leader Kim Jong-un oversaw of the device, and its late-stage Sunday’s launch, which sparked warhead guidance system, KCNA a fresh chorus of international said, adding the test results were condemnation and threats of “perfect”. North Korean ground-to-ground medium-to-long range strategic tougher sanctions. Images carried by the Rodong ballistic missile Pukguksong-2 during its test-fire. It was the latest in a series of Sinmun — the offi cial mouth- launches this year, as Pyongyang piece of the ruling Workers’ Party reach — and that it could serve responsible” weekend fi ring as steps up its eff orts to develop an of Korea — showed a smiling Kim as a platform to develop a long- “throwing cold water on the hope intercontinental ballistic missile clapping surrounded by his aides range ICBM. Sunday’s Pukguk- and longing of the new govern- (ICBM) capable of delivering a in an outdoor observation post as song-2 launch was unlikely to ment and the international com- nuclear warhead to the continen- the missile shot up into the air. be the last, said Kim Dong-yub, munity” for denuclearisation and tal United States — something It also had several pictures of a missile expert at Kyungnam peace on the Korean peninsula. President Donald Trump has the Earth said to have been taken University’s Institute of Far East- Pyongyang has long had mis- vowed “won’t happen”. from the rocket from space — the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting the test-fire of a ground-to-ground medium-to-long range ern Studies. “This will ultimately siles that can reach targets across The launches, and a threatened fi rst such pictures released by the strategic ballistic missile Pukguksong-2. lead to the development of a sol- South Korea and Japan, and sixth nuclear test, have fuelled North. Kim “said he was very id-fuel ICBM,” he said. South Koreans have been some- tension with the Trump admin- happy to see pictures of the Earth Pukchang in South Phyongan Chiefs of Staff told reporters that Nations Security Council, which So far Washington has opted what desensitised to the constant istration, which has warned that taken by our rocket and that the province and travelled about according to South Korean and will be held today. The test-fi r- for sanctions and diplomatic nuclear threats hurled by their military intervention was an op- world looks beautiful”, KCNA 500km before landing in the Sea US intelligence authorities, the ing came just one week after the pressure, while looking to China, belligerent northern neighbour. tion under consideration, send- said, adding that he ordered the of Japan, according to the South’s launch had provided the North North launched a Hwasong-12 the North’s closest ally, to help But some residents in the ing fears of confl ict spiralling. missile to be “rapidly mass-pro- armed forces. with data to improve its missiles’ intermediate-range missile, rein in Pyongyang. capital said the latest string of The latest missile tested was duced”. The rocket used a cold-launch reliability. which according to Pyongyang South Korea’s new President launches was becoming disturb- the Pukguksong-2, which uses Seoul military offi cials have system, KCNA said. But he added: “Our position was capable of carrying a “heavy” Moon Jae-in has previously taken ing. solid fuel that allows for immedi- previously said the Pukguk- The technology uses com- is that the stable re-entry of the nuclear warhead”. a more conciliatory line towards “Every time North Korea ate fi ring, KCNA said. song-2 — a land-based version pressed gas to propel a missile warhead needs more verifi ca- Analysts said that at 4,500km Pyongyang than his conserva- fi res a missile, I feel nervous,” So far almost all the North’s of Pyongyang’s submarine- upwards before its engine ignites tion.” the Hwasong-12 had a longer tive predecessors, but has reacted said college student Yoon Shin- missiles have been liquid- launched weapon — uses solid in mid-air. It is considered safer The US, South Korea and range than any previous ballis- strongly to the latest two missile hong. “Because we’re in a situa- fuelled, which have to be time- fuel. The missile, which was and also makes it easier to hide Japan sharply denounced the tic missile successfully tested by tests. tion where we don’t know when consumingly fi lled with propel- described by Washington as the launch location. launch and jointly requested an the North, putting US bases on Seoul’s foreign ministry war might break out, it’s nerve- lant before launch. medium-range, was fi red from A spokesman for Seoul’s Joint emergency meeting of the United the Pacifi c island of Guam within slammed the “reckless and ir- wracking.”

Japan protests On track against UN expert’s queries on bill to China says no mining fi ght terrorism planned in Antarctica Japan yesterday protested against a letter to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from AFP a UN independent expert Beijing raising concerns that planned legislation target- ing conspiracies to commit hina sought to dispel concerns about its ambitions in terrorism and other crimes mineral-rich Antarctica yesterday, with an offi cial saying could allow police to tram- CBeijing has no plans to start mining in the vast continent. ple civil liberties. China’s expanding activities in polar regions is a focal point as The protest by Chief Cabi- Beijing hosts the annual meeting of the Antarctic Treaty for the net Secretary Yoshihide fi rst time. Some 400 delegates from 42 countries and 10 interna- Suga drew a stiff rejoinder tional bodies were attending the forum, which kicked off yester- from Joseph Cannataci, day and ends June 1. UN special rapporteur on “There is still a gap between the goal of peaceful development the right to privacy, who of Antarctica’s resources and our understanding of Antarctica,” blasted Suga’s comments Lin Shanqing, deputy head of the State Oceanic Administration, as “angry words” with “no told reporters on the sidelines of the forum. substance” in an e-mail to Lin did not answer a question on what he meant by peaceful Reuters. resource development but he stressed that China’s Antarctic ex- The lower house of Japan’s peditions “focus on boosting our understanding of the Antarctic parliament is expected to and to better conserve the Antarctic environment.” approve the bill as early as “According to my knowledge, China has made no plans for today, setting the stage for mining activity in Antarctica,” Lin added. enactment. Tokyo says the Experts have raised concerns that China harbours a long-term People take pictures of the first freight train from Shenzhen to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, that sets out at Yantian Port in Shenzhen, legal changes are needed goal of extracting resources from the continent, which the Ant- Guangdong province, China. to ratify a UN treaty aimed arctic Treaty currently forbids. at battling international However, a protocol of the treaty forbidding raw material re- organised crime and fight- moval activity from the continent comes into review in 2048. ing terrorism, as Tokyo “2048 seems like a long way away, but... Australia PM praises magnate’s ‘game-changing’ philanthropy prepares to host the 2020 there have been concerns raised that Beijing is pursuing a long- Olympics. term ‘hedging’ strategy in case the continent is thrown open to Australian mining magnate producer Fortescue Metals Group charity – have traditionally relied from you by force of law, this is a Opponents see the propos- resource development, including mining and oil and gas drilling, Andrew Forrest yesterday Ltd, who has faced occasional on government subsidies to matter of conviction, of your love als as part of Abe’s agenda in the future,” Marc Lanteigne, lecturer on Chinese foreign policy made the country’s biggest criticism about his treatment of stay afloat. “It is a game-changer and your commitment,” Turnbull to tighten the govern- at Massey University, told AFP. philanthropic gift by a living indigenous people in the mineral- in the Australian philanthropic added, addressing Forrest in front ment’s grip at the expense “However, at present China is taking great care to stress the individual, donating A$400mn rich state of Western Australia. community,” said Turnbull of media. Forrest said he wants of individual rights. scientifi c aspects of its polar policies, promote co-operation with (US $298mn) to causes covering The donation set a new at an event to announce his donation to include A$75mn The content of the May 18 other governments, and dispel concerns that it is a revisionist health, education and fighting benchmark for private sector Forrest’s donation, attended for cancer research, A$75mn for letter from Cannataci was power in Antarctica,” Lanteigne said. modern slavery. philanthropy in Australia, by government and opposition higher education, A$75mn for “clearly inappropriate and Various countries maintain bases in Antarctica, a shared space Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull where educators, doctors and politicians, actor Russell Crowe childhood education and $75mn we strongly protested,” for scientifi c research under the 1959 international treaty, which sang the praises of the one-third arts organisations – the typical and health researchers. He said it to be directed towards fighting Suga said. China joined in 1983. owner of world No. 4 iron ore beneficiaries of private sector was a record. “This is not extracted modern slavery. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 17 BRITAIN/IRELAND Davidson branded May’s puppet in election debate

Guardian News and Media seats in the general election, single market membership in line by attempting to tell voters she But Davidson’s past record on “Davidson called Johnson a liar accused Rennie of shameful con- London was repeatedly attacked for with UK government policy. wanted to take part in the prime Brexit came under attack again on three occasions,” Rennie said. duct and scaremongering. changing her stance over Brexit “First she said we needed a minister’s Brexit talks while si- from Willie Rennie, the Scot- “Now she’s standing with May The debate also focused on as her rivals accused her adopt- seat at the negotiating table and multaneously pushing for a fresh tish Liberal Democrat leader, arguing for a hard Brexit. She’s calls for a second independence uth Davidson, the Scottish ing a series of conflicting stanc- now she has changed her mind,” independence referendum. who recalled the Tory politician’s talking about the opportunities referendum and higher rates of Tory leader, was accused of es on the EU. Sturgeon said. “It seems to me “Sturgeon says she wants a starring role as a Remain cam- that it presents for the country. income tax, but was dominated Rbeing the prime minister’s At the start of a BBC debate, that Ruth Davidson does every- seat at the Brexit table but she paigner in live debates during If Boris was lying then, does that by the attacks on Davidson, re- puppet and a liar over Brexit dur- the First Minister, Nicola Stur- thing that Theresa May tells her wants Scotland to be out of the the EU referendum campaign. In mean Ruth is lying now?” fl ecting the Conservatives’ status ing ill-tempered exchanges in a geon, said Davidson had begun to do.” UK and into the eurozone,” Dav- one of those debates, she argued Clearly stung by that and par- as the party most under attack televised election debate. by opposing Brexit, then wanted Davidson retorted by accusing idson said. “I ask myself, which vigorously against Boris Johnson, allel attacks on the economic and the threat to SNP seats posed Davidson, whose party is Scotland to remain inside the Sturgeon of also being dishonest side of the table does she want to now foreign secretary, and then a impact of her party’s promised by their surge in popularity under hopeful of seizing up to a dozen single market and now opposed about her positions on Europe be sat on?” prominent Leave campaigner. cuts on immigration, Davidson Davidson’s leadership. Labour tuition fees May ditches pledge not funded, say Tories ‘dementia

London Evening Standard London tax’ social abour has been accused of promising to scrap univer- Lsity tuition fees this Sep- tember without the money to back it up. The party has promised 400,000 students that Labour care plans will write off fees for the academic year 2017-18 at a cost to the tax- Guardian News and Media consultation document we will sell their parents’ home to do so. payer of around £3bn. London have an upper limit. But the ba- The phrase “dementia tax” The policy, which was not in- sic principles remain the same,” was used by Labour but also by cluded in Labour’s manifesto, the prime minister responded. newspapers supportive of May was seen as a last ditch attempt heresa May has said that a “Nothing has changed, noth- to highlight the idea that some- to win over younger voters as Conservative government ing has changed,” she added one suff ering from Alzheimer’s, registration for the general elec- Twould set an “absolute tersely, raising her voice to- which means heavy reliance on tion closed yesterday. But La- limit” on the amount that people wards the end of the session social care, would be less able bour appeared to row back on pay for social care, in a U-turn when a correspondent from the to pass on their home to their their promise to scrap the fees on plans included in her party’s Telegraph asked if anything else children than someone with an from September as it emerged election manifesto last week. was likely to be altered in the NHS-treated condition such as that students will still have to The prime minister claimed Tory manifesto. cancer. pay them upfront and have the that the inclusion of a cap, which The prime minister then ac- Despite May’s claim that the debt written off at a later date. comes after even supportive cused a Guardian journalist of “basic principles” of the policy The Conservatives said the fact newspapers dubbed the plans a borrowing a term from the La- were the same, there was no that students would still have to “dementia tax” triggering days bour party after it was suggested mention of a cap in the Conserv- pay made a mockery of shadow of backlash, was simply a clari- that the “dementia tax” would ative manifesto. In fact, a briefi ng education secretary Angela Rayn- fi cation. still mean a wide disparity be- note for journalists made clear er’s claim that “as of September, “Since my manifesto was tween the children of Azheimer’s that the party believed its policy students going to university will published, the proposals have and cancer suff erers. was “fairer and more equitable not be paying tuition fees”. been subject to fake claims “This is a system that will en- than the current system and the Education Secretary Jus- made by Jeremy Corbyn. The sure that people who are faced cap (of around £35,000) recom- tine Greening said: “Corbyn has only things he has left to offer in by the prospect of either re- mended by the Dilnot report”. promised that tuition fees will be this campaign are fake claims, quiring care in their own home The Health Secretary, Jeremy abolished this year but he hasn’t fear and scaremongering,” she or go into home are able to see Hunt, was asked on the BBC Ra- banked the money. As ever, Cor- said, during a speech in Wrex- that support provided for them dio 4 Today programme if the byn’s fi gures don’t add up and ham to launch the Welsh Tory and don’t have to worry on that policy was a rejection of both his shadow cabinet can’t explain manifesto. month by month basis about Dilnot’s cap and the £72,000 where the money would come “So I want to make a further where that funding is coming limit that was in the process of from.” Rayner claimed the prom- point clear. This manifesto says from. They won’t have to sell being put in place by the Con- ise was fully costed — and they that we will come forward with their family home when they servatives under David Cameron. had “gone off what the Student a consultation paper, a govern- are alive, and they will be able “Yes, and not only are we Loan Company provides to uni- ment green paper. And that con- to pass savings on to their chil- dropping it but we are drop- versities”. sultation will include an absolute dren,” she said. ping it ahead of a general elec- Labour said the cost of writing limit on the amount people have The announcement triggered tion and we’re being completely off student loans in 2017-18 would to pay for their care costs.” claims of “chaos, confusion and explicit in our manifesto that cost £3bn and would be paid for However, the prime minister indecision” from Labour while we’re dropping it,” said Hunt. by increasing corporation tax and refused to be drawn on the level the LibDems said it represented Labour’s Barbara Keeley, the a tax rise for the top 5%. However, of the new cap. a “manifesto meltdown”. shadow social care minister, the Conservatives argued that Despite May’s insistence that The Tory manifesto included told the Guardian: “What peo- if Labour won the election, they there had been no shift in po- plans to include a person’s prop- ple need is certainty, so they can would not be legally able to raise sition, she immediately faced erty in the means test used to know how their future care needs corporation tax until next April, a string of difficult questions assess payments for social care will be met. What the Tories are six months after students started from journalists who said the within the home. It set a fl oor of delivering is chaos, confusion their courses. announcement amounted to a £100,000 and promised that a and indecision over the fund- The row came as campaigners “manifesto of chaos”. family home would never need to ing of care. The Tories were go- said parents across London were “Let’s be clear we have not be sold in a person’s lifetime. ing to introduce a cap on care still “in the dark” about educa- changed the principles we set However, the policy caused costs in April 2016, then in April tion funding even after the Tories out in our manifesto. What we anger because it meant that off - 2020 and now they are talking of promised an extra £4bn to help Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a launch event for the Welsh Conservative general election have done is clarified that in spring would be forced to cover a green paper, which is another schools balance their books. manifesto in Wrexham, North Wales, yesterday. the green paper which will be a the cost, with many needing to delaying tactic.” Green Party unveils plan N Ireland ‘must stay to create ‘caring country’ in EU single market’ Reuters declared so far by his Fine Gael Dublin party’s lawmakers, said he will Guardian News and Media hope, and we need hope now like Lucas said she was alarmed at advocate special arrangements London never before,” she said. “I can’t Theresa May’s plans for Brexit. on behalf of Northern Ireland if remember a time in my life where “Let us make no mistake – she has orthern Ireland should elected prime minister. the future has felt more uncertain, no mandate for the kind of Brexit remain in the Euro- “The Irish government has a he Green party has with Brexit, with accelerated cli- she is pursuing, out of the single Npean Union’s single crucial role to play in advocating launched an election mate change, with an NHS in cri- market, out of the customs union, market and retain access to for what the people in North- Tmanifesto for what it calls sis.” Among plans in the manifesto leaving environmental protections as many EU programmes as ern Ireland voted for which was a “confi dent and caring Britain”, is to pilot a universal basic income behind, ending free movement,” possible to ensure the British to remain (in the EU) and while centred on proposals including a – a subsistence minimum income she said. “That was not on the bal- province secures a soft Brexit, that is not possible, they can universal basic income, opposi- received by all – and to phase in a lot paper. Yes, there was a vote to the favourite to succeed Enda have a soft Brexit by staying in tion to a hard Brexit and an ap- four-day week, with a maximum leave, but it’s not clear what that Kenny as Irish prime minister as many programmes as possi- peal to young voters. of 35 hours in work. leave looks like in practice. We are said yesterday. ble,” Varadkar told a news con- Introducing the 23-page docu- As well as strong environmen- the one party that is proud to stand Northern Ireland, which will ference. ment, the party’s co-leader, Caro- tal protections and moves to cre- up for the wonderful gift that is represent the only land bor- Other programmes Varadkar line Lucas, said young people had ate greener transport, the party free movement – it is an extraor- der between Britain and the EU would argue for retained ac- been betrayed by politicians. proposes ending private compa- dinarily precious gift to be able to once Britain leaves the bloc, cess to include Interreg, which She conceded there were simi- nies working in the NHS, taking work and to travel and to live and voted 56% to 44% to remain in provides funding for border larities between the Greens’ ideas railways into public ownership, to love in 27 other member states.” the EU in last year’s referendum areas, the Common Agricul- and those announced last week by scrapping university tuition fees The Greens were “making a but the United Kingdom as a tural Policy and the Erasmus the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn and writing off existing student pitch” for younger voters, in part whole voted to leave. EU exchange programme that but insisted there was space for debt. with the Brexit proposals, Lucas Prime Minister Theresa lets students attend universities the party, which has struggled in The extra public spending said. “In particular, I think it is May advocates making a clean across the bloc. recent polls to reach the near-4% would be paid for by measures young people who are being be- break from the single market He said he was advancing support they achieved in the 2015 including a tax on the top 1% of trayed by this Brexit vote,” she said. of 500mn consumers — a so- current government policy to election. earners, levies on fi nancial trans- “We know the majority of young called “hard Brexit” that would seek such special arrangements The manifesto, the Green Guar- actions, and changes to corpora- people want to stay in the EU.” impact Northern Irish busi- and this was distinct from op- antee, was aimed at creating “a tion and inheritance tax. Young people were also being nesses which trade seamlessly position calls, including by confi dent and caring Britain that Another key policy would be to “burdened by debt” and left un- across the currently invisible Northern Ireland’s largest na- reaches for a bigger future that we off er the chance of a referendum able to buy their own homes, she border. Leo Varadkar, who has tionalist party Sinn Fein, for can be proud of”, Lucas told sup- on any fi nal Brexit deal, which said, saying the party sought long- Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron visits the headquarters of food built up a near insurmountable a granting of “special status” porters in central London. would give voters the option of er tenancies and rent caps set by a manufacturer Graze, in south west London, yesterday as part of the general lead in the contest to succeed within the EU, which he said “The Green Guarantee is about Britain not leaving the EU. new living rent commission. election campaign. Kenny, according to the support was not doable. Gulf Times 18 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 BRITAIN

VERDICT LAW AND ORDER OFFBEAT TRAVEL CRIME School worker who sold Teenage scooter rider Diamond ring bought Victoria line trains now Stabbing case student may cocaine spared jail injures leg in police chase for £10 worth a fortune run every 100 seconds be expelled from college

A school worker who was caught dealing cocaine A teenager is in hospital after being knocked A diamond ring bought for next to nothing in a The capital’s first 100-second Tube service made An Oxford University medic who stabbed her ex- and ecstasy out of her Mercedes has been spared off his scooter in a police chase on a busy dual London junk sale is expected to fetch £350,000, its debut yesterday — more than a year late. The boyfriend might not be allowed to return to her prison. Tammekia Barnett, 32, an administrative carriageway. The 17-year-old, who had report- Sotheby’s auction house said yesterday. The Victoria line, used by more than 700,000 pas- studies. Lavinia Woodward, 24, attacked the man assistant at Coopers Lane Primary School in edly failed to stop for officers, slid for several owner bought the 26-carat, cushion-shaped, white sengers a day, now runs 36 trains an hour during at Christ Church college, while she was under the Lewisham, was arrested near London Bridge in metres along the tarmac after colliding with diamond ring for £10 in the 1980s and wore it the morning and evening peaks, allowing it to influence of drink and drugs. At Oxford Crown February. Police found 30 bags of class-A drugs a pursuing police car on the North Circular in while doing shopping and chores, thinking it was carry up to 3,000 more passengers an hour. The Court, judge Ian Pringle QC said the “extraordi- in her car. The Old Bailey heard she had turned to East Finchley. The teenager is believed to be costume jewellery, Sotheby’s said. “The owner new timetable is the culmination of a £900mn nary” student might avoid a jail sentence as it dealing after her mother, with whom she lives in one of four youths reported by neighbours would wear it out shopping, wear it day-to-day. upgrade of the line, including new trains and would aff ect her career prospects. But the univer- Brixton, ran up debts. Barnett, who resigned after earlier on Sunday afternoon for anti-social It’s a good-looking ring,” said Jessica Wyndham, much improved stations. The increased service, sity said the suggestion Woodward would return her arrest, admitted supplying class A drugs and behaviour. He was taken to hospital with a head of Sotheby’s London jewellery department. with a train every 100 seconds, is one of the most to her studies was “the judge’s not the college’s”. two counts of possession with intent to supply. leg injury. A Met spokesman said the incident “No-one had any idea it had any intrinsic value at frequent in the world, beaten only by the Moscow A spokesperson said there was “no guarantee” Her two-year jail sentence was suspended for has been referred to the Met’s directorate of all. She said the owner, who does not want to be Metro, which runs trains every 95 seconds. A new Woodward would be allowed back. It is believed two years and she was ordered to do 250 hours’ professional standards for an investigation as a named, brought the ring in after a jeweller told automatic Siemens signalling system has allowed the medical student had previously been warned community service. matter of course. them it could be worth something. trains to run closer together. about her drug use. Man slain ‘for Chelsea Flower Show opens making eye contact with strangers’

London Evening Standard run away. A man tried to help but London then one of the four pulled out a knife and stabbed Hosam. They fl ed running and other people young man was stabbed arrived to give us aid, but it was and killed in a cinema car too late.” Apark after “making eye Jodie Freeman, 22, admin- contact” with a group of stran- istered CPR after seeing Eisa gers, his devastated girlfriend slumped on the fl oor next to a said yesterday. car. The betting shop manager Hosam Eisa, 20, was alleg- said: “He was stabbed on the left edly set upon by four teenagers side either on the heart or close in the multi-storey car park in to it. He was trying to speak but The Brewery shopping centre he didn’t manage to say any- in Romford, before one of them thing. pulled out a knife. “After everything had hap- His partner Salma Begum, 19, pened I gave his girlfriend a cud- said she was “paralysed by fear” dle and said ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, talks to an exhibitor as she visits the Chelsea Flower Show in London yesterday. The five-day Chelsea Flower Show, held annually in the during the attack, adding: “I do anything more.’ Washing his grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, opened to the public yesterday. could not move, scream or run blood off my hands has got to be away.” the worst moment of my life.” Passers-by gave fi rst aid to Tributes to the 20-year-old Eisa before he was taken to hos- have been posted on social me- pital, where he died an hour later, dia. A friend wrote: “Thanks for at about 5.30pm on Thursday. being an older brother, always It was the 14th fatal stabbing in ready to help me. Still can’t be- London in a month. lieve you’re no longer here.” The Standard understands Another said: “I talked to Eisa was born in Egypt and you few days ago and I’m still moved with his family to Man- shocked I’m not going be able to RBS ‘nears settlement tova in northern Italy in 2002. talk to you any more. Thanks for They moved to Dagenham last all those moments together.” year. He was working as a waiter The killing took place as Met- to save money before starting ropolitan Police commissioner a university course next year, Cressida Dick spoke to commu- friends said. nity leaders in Putney about the Detectives are appealing for force’s response to the recent in landmark lawsuit’ witnesses and say many people wave of fatal stabbings. Today, were in the area at the time. It is the head of the Met’s anti-knife Reuters to settle, meaning smaller retail two sources with knowledge rights issue and says its former would cost RBS “in the tens understood the victim and the as- initiative accepted the force had London investors would struggle to fund of the situation. bosses did not act illegally. of millions of pounds”, a third sailants were not known to each failed in the past to engage with the legal fees needed for the case A spokesman for Hemmings Jonathan Nash, a lawyer rep- source familiar with the matter other and the attack happened af- communities blighted by knife to proceed, sources involved in declined to comment yesterday. resenting the claimants, ap- said. ter a “chance encounter”. crime, and called on the public to oyal Bank of Scotland is the group said. The civil trial brought by the pealed in court for an adjourn- The bank has settled with 87% Begum told how Eisa tried to help offi cers tackle the epidemic. close to settling a costly “It is going to be hard for us investors was due to open at the ment saying the two parties of the investors who originally defend himself after being pur- Detective chief superintend- Rand potentially embar- to keep going,” said one source, High Court in London yester- were in settlement talks and brought the case but the others sued as the couple left Vue cin- ent Michael Gallagher, who leads rassing case alleging it misled who asked not to be identifi ed. day but was adjourned for a day wanted longer to strike a deal. have so far rejected its off ers and ema. She told Italian newspaper Operation Sceptre, said: “We shareholders during a £12bn RBS, and the RBoS share- to allow the settlement talks to “We are involved in settle- say they were determined to go Gazzetta di Mantova: “We were are an enforcement agency and ($16bn) fundraising at the height holder action group which rep- continue. ment discussions and we are to court. together when four boys ap- we’re not the best fi t to this so- of the fi nancial crisis, sources resents around 9,000 private The plaintiff s allege former hopeful of making progress,” By doubling the amount on proached us. Hosam didn’t know cietal problem. Londoners rec- familiar with the talks said yes- investors and 20 larger insti- executives gave a misleading Nash said. off er, RBS is close to a sum the them, I have no doubt about this. ognise this and they do recognise terday. tutional claimants, declined to picture of the bank’s fi nancial The sources said RBS chief remaining investors would ac- “They made eye contact, they that we’re not going to solve it on The state-owned British bank comment. health ahead of the cash call in executive Ross McEwan was di- cept, one of the sources said, in- became immediately aggres- our own.” is in talks to settle with a group Trevor Hemmings, a mul- 2008. Months after the cash rectly involved in talks over the dicating that they might settle if sive and a fi ght broke out. They Che Pullen, 19, of Romford, of investors to end legal pro- timillionaire businessman call, RBS had to be rescued by weekend and that the bank had RBS raises its off er to 100 pence started to beat him and Hosam and a boy of 17 will appear at the ceedings that started fi ve years whom Reuters previously re- the government with a £45.8bn off ered more than 80 pence for per share. tried to defend himself, but he Old Bailey today charged with ago and have been unprecedent- ported is one of the main fi- bailout. each RBS share held, though it That represents half of the was alone against four boys. I Eisa’s murder. Two other teen- ed in English legal history for nancial backers of the claim, RBS, which remains more was not clear if any investors 200 pence per share investors was completely paralysed by agers, aged 14 and 15, were re- their size and complexity. is advocating accepting the than 70% state-owned, denies have accepted the off er. paid at the time of the rights is- fear. I could not move, scream or leased with no further action. Some large shareholders want settlement offer according to any wrongdoing over the 2008 A settlement at that price sue. Muggers slash delivery Legal woes BBC sorry after killer rider with hunting knife Brady used in quiz Guardian News and Media is clearly unacceptable and we London apologise. We are looking into London Evening Standard back. I drove away as fast as I ing daily in London. People how this has happened.” London could, I was terrified. If the like this want to use my bike to The clip has also been removed guy hadn’t have fallen off I steal mobile phones and com- he BBC has apologised from Facebook and iPlayer. think they would have stabbed mit other crimes. They need to after one of its local radio Brady and his accomplice, delivery rider yesterday me in the chest. be stopped.” Tstations ran an entertain- Myra Hindley, tortured and mur- told how moped mug- “I was in terrible pain and Police were called to ment game feature based on the dered fi ve children between 1963 A gers slashed him with losing a lot of blood but luck- Homerton Hospital after Moors murderer Ian Brady to the and 1965, and buried four of their a hunting knife in a terrifying ily I was very close to the hos- Crepaldi was admitted. disbelief of listeners. bodies on Saddleworth Moor in bid to steal his scooter. pital and they stitched me up. A Met spokesman said: “It On Sunday BBC Radio Leeds’s the south Pennines. He died last Alex Crepaldi, 36, was de- I was worried I was going to is understood the victim had Nathan Turvey asked listeners week aged 79 at Ashworth secure livering food in Hackney when lose my whole foot, the nerves just made a delivery in Hassett to try to guess the identity of a hospital in Maghull, Merseyside. he was confronted by three have been damaged and I can’t Road, and after setting off on “well-known person who has Detectives continue to search youths on a silver moped move my toes.” his scooter he was attacked by been in the news this week” from for the remains of one of the vic- speeding towards him down Crepaldi, who lives in Stam- the pillion passenger of a sil- a series of musical clues. tims, Keith Bennett, from Long- an alleyway. ford Hill, has been unable to ver scooter. They included All the Young sight in Manchester, who went A teenager on the back work since the attack at 7pm “Having suffered his in- Dudes by Mott The Hoople, the missing aged 12. leaped from the saddle with on May 13, and is relying on jury the victim did not stop theme tune to the Brady Bunch, “Whilst we are not actively a blade in his hand and tried friends to bring him his shop- and made his way to hos- Suff er Little Children by the Smiths searching Saddleworth Moor, to knock the victim from his ping. pital. There have been no and Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. Greater Manchester police will nev- £3,000 Yamaha. He said: “It’s too danger- arrests and enquiries con- Announcing the winner, Turvey er close this case. Brady’s death does The youth fell down in the ous to ride a scooter in Lon- tinue.” said: “I think most of you worked not change that,” Martin Bottomley, struggle and Crepaldi used don right now, it’s too hard. I There were 11,389 moped- out the answer was Ian Brady, the head of Greater Manchester po- the “moment of confusion” to had only just recovered from enabled crimes in London last which is someone we’re talking lice’s cold case review unit, said. hit the kill switch on the as- being knocked off by a car year, a sevenfold increase on about this morning of course, who Keith’s mother, Winnie Johnson, sailants’ scooter and acceler- and that broke my same leg. 2015 — a year in which motor- died earlier in the week.” died in August 2012 without know- ate away. But as he did so, the I’ve been left out of work and cycle thefts in London were On social media, listeners ex- ing the location of her son’s body, mugger sprawled on the floor will have to look for a new said to be have netted crimi- pressed their disapproval and despite a near 50-year campaign to slashed his left ankle with a profession in a kitchen some- nals a total of £28mn. Witness Entertainer Rolf Harris leaves Southwark Crown Court in said the feature was in bad taste. fi nd him and give him a Christian large hunting knife. where. are asked to contact Hackney London yesterday. In a statement issued to news or- burial. Brady repeatedly refused to Crepaldi said: “I didn’t look “These cases are happen- police ganisations, the BBC said: “This say where he had buried Keith. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 19 EUROPE

Macron puts his Bright and sunny in Frankfurt labour reform plans to the test

Reuters out to sell his reform plans to Paris the trade unions, particularly the hardline CGT which led weeks of sometimes violent rench President Em- protests last year to reforms manuel Macron’s com- by former Socialist President Fmitment to reform will Francois Hollande. face a fi rst crucial test today Hollande’s plans to cap when he meets unions and severance pay were eventu- employers to talk over labour ally dropped after the un- reforms he has pledged to push ions blocked oil refi neries through quickly despite deep for several weeks and cut opposition on the Left. power production at nuclear Against a background of plants. high unemployment of 9.6%, “If the government wants the pro-business, Europe- to force its reforms through minded centrist, elected just or doesn’t take into account over two weeks ago, has made our proposals, there will be a loosening of labour market anger and also mobilisation,” regulations his biggest eco- the CGT’s head, Philippe Mar- nomic priority in his fi rst year tinez, warned on Europe 1 radio in offi ce. yesterday. In essence, he wants to make Macron will be hoping to get hiring and fi ring easier by giv- on board the reformist CFDT, ing more powers to companies which supported last year’s to strike in-house deals on plans and has now overtaken working time for instance and the more militant CGT as the capping severance packages strongest in the private sector. awarded by industrial tribu- But CFDT chief Laurent nals. Berger also signalled mis- During the roller-coaster givings last week about Ma- campaign, Macron said he cron’s decision to use execu- would seek parliament’s ap- tive decrees to get his reforms proval over the summer for through. powers to push through leg- “He is wrong to think leg- Clouds hang in the sky over the landscape in Muenzenberg near Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. islation by means of executive islating via decrees over the decree. summer will help him avoid That would show his abil- social confl icts,” Berger told Les ity to act quickly on reform — Echos newspaper. something likely to impress his Macron, who has said he will EU partners and particularly personally oversee the labour paymaster Germany — while reform’s implementation as at the same time catching the one of his six manifesto pri- unions on the hop since their orities, will nonetheless rely supporters normally show lit- on Prime Minister Edouard tle readiness for street protests Philippe and Labour Minister Turkish police detain over summer months. Muriel Penicaud for day-to- Approval for using execu- day negotiations. tive decree will also depend on The appointment of Peni- whether Macron gets the re- caud, a former human re- quired majority of support in sources director at yoghurt parliament in legislative elec- giant Danone who was also a tions next month. member of Socialist grandee two teachers in raids Today, Macron is expected Martine Aubry’s staff when she to meet leaders of the Commu- introduced the 35-hour work- The two teachers were on because they feared “that their “state within a state” that threat- alty and fl ung rope nooses at the Yazici, Erdogan’s former mili- nist-backed CGT, the CFDT ing week, was well received by hunger strike and were protest could turn into death ened national security. defendants as they were marched tary aide, and Lieutenant Colo- and a third union, as well as reformist unions. losing weight fasts and new Gezi protests”, They point to the gravity of last into the building handcuff ed and nel Levent Turkkan, who was the talking with Pierre Gattaz, “She’s a woman I like,” Berg- Selcuk Kozagacli, a lawyer repre- July’s coup, when rogue troops held by the security forces. aide to Chief of Staff General Hu- head of the Medef employers’ er told French television last Reuters senting the teachers said. commandeered warplanes to Turkey blames the failed July lusi Akar. body. week. “Her nomination makes Istanbul He was referring to large anti- bomb parliament and used tanks 15 putsch on US-based Mus- The most prominent fi gure But he may have his work cut sense.” government demonstrations to kill 240 people. lim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a among the suspects, Ozturk was four years ago, when hundreds of Gulen has denied involvement. claim he strongly denies, and dressed crisply in a black sweater urkish police detained thousands of people took to the Erdogan’s critics in Turkey and has launched a relentless purge and held a blue fi le as he was led two teachers overnight streets to protest against plans to abroad say he is using the coup to against those deemed to have into the court. Twho have been on hunger build replica Ottoman barracks purge opponents and muzzle dis- backed the plot. His appearance contrasted strike for more than two months on Gezi park in central Istanbul. sent. Gulen is among 12 of the 221 with the last known image of him Hungary ‘won’t protesting against a government “I’ve been a lawyer for a long Last month he narrowly won suspects in the current trial who which showed him bearing inju- crackdown in which they lost time and have never seen such a referendum that grants him remain at large. ries including a bandaged ear af- their jobs following last year’s a reason for an arrest,” Kozaga- sweeping new powers. The remainder appeared in ter his capture two days after the backtrack on laws’ failed coup, their lawyers said cli said by phone.”In Turkish law, Rights group Amnesty Inter- court for the fi rst time inside a coup bid. yesterday. this type of pre-emptive arrest national said yesterday that the prison complex in Sincan outside The fi rst suspect to give his de- The detention of literature based on assumptions does not dismissals of state employees Ankara. fence, Ozturk vehemently denied Reuters The minister also said Buda- professor Nuriye Gulmen and exist,” he said. had been carried out arbitrarily The suspects were paraded any link to the coup bid. Budapest pest was counting on support primary school teacher Semih Gulmen and Ozakca, surviv- and had a catastrophic impact on into the building by heavily- He described how he devoted from its ally, Poland, to veto any Ozakca brought 150 people onto ing on a liquid diet of lemon and their lives. armed security forces forming his life to the Turkish military sanctions on Hungary. the streets of Ankara, chanting saltwater and sugar solutions, “The failure of authorities to two columns in front of televi- and said the charges were “unfair ungary will not withdraw The European Union’s rule of for workers rights, before riot have lost weight during their set out clear criteria for the dis- sion cameras. accusations”. its laws on asylum seek- unanimity means the Hungar- police fi red tear gas to disperse protest and doctors said earlier missals or provide any individu- Dozens of protesters holding “These accusations are for me Hers, foreign universities ian government is unlikely to be them. this month their health was de- alized evidence of wrongdoing Turkish fl ags booed at the sus- the greatest punishment,” he told and non-governmental organi- stripped of its voting rights as Some demonstrators were teriorating. blows a hole in their claim that pects, with placards saying: “For the court. sations, which were slammed Poland could block such a move. dragged away by police and de- They were tired and “knocked all the dismissals are necessary to the martyrs and veterans of July “The commanders who have by the European Parliament last “After the vote we have talked tained, but others returned about a bit”, said Kozagacli, who counter terrorism,” it said. 15, we want the death penalty.” fostered me, and my army week, Foreign Minister Peter Szi- on the phone with my Polish col- shortly afterwards trying to met them in jail early yesterday, “Instead, evidence suggests “We want the death penalty, friends, know well that I played jjarto told Reuters yesterday. league who made it very clear maintain their protest. adding that they were planning widespread abusive and dis- we don’t want them to be fed and no part in this treacherous coup The European Parliament con- that they would not assist any The teachers have said their to refuse to take the saltwater and criminatory motives behind the housed here. attempt. demned what it called a “serious kind of politically-motivated ac- hunger strike aimed to highlight sugar solutions in protest at their purge.” We want these traitors to be In fact, I had no idea.” deterioration” in the rule of law tions and they do not support the the plight of around 150,000 detention. Turkey’s Interior Ministry said buried without any fl ag,” said In a tense start to the trial, and fundamental rights in Hun- process of threatening any mem- state employees suspended or Ebru Timtik, another lawyer yesterday that it detained 1,284 protester Cengiz Ozturk. relatives of coup victims shouted gary, at the start of a process that ber state with such kind of Chap- sacked after the July putsch, for the teachers, said a group of suspects in counter terrorism Turkey abolished the death “martyrs don’t die, the mother- could theoretically lead to Buda- ter 7 issues,” Szijjarto said. which president Tayyip Erdogan lawyers was trying to speak to the raids last week, nearly one thou- penalty as part of its drive to join land cannot be divided”, a refrain pest losing its EU voting rights. “I have no doubt that Poland blames on followers of a US- prosecutor, seeking their release. sand of them over alleged links the European Union but Erdog- often used by the public and poli- It called on Budapest to re- would act in a situation (like this) based cleric. Turkey has suspended or with Gulen’s network. an has on occasion indicated it ticians in tribute to those killed peal legislation tightening rules as we would act regarding Po- Gulmen wrote on her Twit- dismissed more than 150,000 More than 220 suspects, in- could be reimposed to deal with during the putsch. against asylum-seekers and land.” ter account overnight: “Political judges, teachers, police and civil cluding over two dozen former the coup plotters. A mother of one of those killed NGOs, and a law on foreign uni- Since coming to power in department police are trying to servants and has arrested nearly generals, went on trial yesterday Twenty-six generals are yelled at the suspects before she versities that critics say is aimed 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Or- enter the house. 50,000 others suspected of links accused of being among the ring- among those charged, includ- was taken away by force. at forcing Central European Uni- ban has eliminated checks on his They are now breaking the to a movement backing cleric leaders of last year’s attempted ing former air force chief Akin There was heavy security in versity (CEU), founded by US power by taking control of much door... Fethullah Gulen. coup against Turkish President Ozturk and Mehmet Disli, the place, with a drone fl ying over- fi nancier George Soros, out of of Hungary’s media, curbing We have not and will not sur- Turkish offi cials say the crack- Recep Tayyip Erdogan. brother of senior ruling party head and armoured security ve- Hungary. the powers of the constitutional render!” down is necessary because the Furious protesters outside the lawmaker Saban Disli. hicles on site as well as snipers on Asked if Hungary would back- court and placing loyalists in top Turkish police detained them Gulen movement had set up a court demanded the death pen- Also on trial are colonel Ali the roof. track on any of the three laws, positions at public institutions. Szijjarto said: “No. Why should The nationalist-minded gov- we?” ernment in Poland has followed “These laws belong to national in Hungary’s footsteps in some competence, so I think European areas. Szijjarto also said the institutions should refrain from Visegrad countries — Hungary, French diplomat goes on trial over huge cash haul making attempts at interfer- Poland, the Czech Republic and ing with domestic issues,” Szij- Slovakia — should have a com- jarto said at the Reuters Central mon position regarding Brexit Guardian News and Media with his family near Brussels. to fi ve years in prison. was allowed to remain in his and wished to explain where the & Eastern Europe Investment talks and that Poland should take Paris When Boillon opened the Once a rising star in France’s job until the Socialist president money had come from and where Summit. the lead in this drive. sports bag that he was carry- diplomatic service, Boillon, 46, François Hollande was elected in it was going. ing, police found €350,000 a graduate of the elite Sciences 2012. On Monday, Boillon, an Arabic French diplomat and close (£302,000) and $40,000 Po university and the National He then set up his own consul- speaker, told the court he was a adviser to the former (£31,000) in cash wrapped in Institute of Oriental Languages tancy, Spartago, working mainly “big sports lover”. Asked why he Pedestrians attacked by crows Apresident Nicolas Sarkozy plastic bags and a plastic box. and Civilisations, began his dip- for Iraqi companies. had left the foreign ministry in has gone on trial after he was Boillon claimed he had been lomatic career in Algeria in 2000. He returned to the French for- 2012, he answered: “I like leaving A hospital in the German city are occurring,” Schuhmann stopped trying to leave the coun- paid the money for consultancy After Sarkozy was elected eign aff airs ministry in 2016 and my comfort zone. I wanted to be of Mannheim has been treating said. The birds do not intend try with a bag stuff ed with ban- work on a stadium construction president in 2007, Boillon joined was sent to the United Nations in in the action.One has to think like a number of people for cuts to to cause real harm, according knotes. in Iraq. him as a special presidential ad- New York. a man of action.” the head. The culprits? Angry to crow expert Matthias Luy, Boris Boillon, who was known As well as the fraud charges, he viser on north Africa and the He has since been suspended Asked why he chose Iraq, he pecking crows. A spokesman who said they merely wanted as “Sarko Boy”, appeared in a is accused of breaking strict lim- Middle East. pending the outcome of the trial. said: “My big diff erence is that I for the university clinic, Dirk to scare people away from their Paris court yesterday on charges its on the transfer of cash within He was appointed ambas- In 2010, Boillon went on Ca- go into diffi cult, dangerous plac- Schuhmann, said pedestrians young. of tax fraud and forgery following the European Union. sador to Iraq in 2009 and two nal+ to defend Muammar Gadd- es … worth the danger money.” in the area had required “Rather than going to fight, the discovery. The forgery charge relates to years later he moved to Tunis, afi , saying: “He was a terrorist, he Last November, Sarkozy was treatment for “scratch wounds the crows are flying at targets Boillon, who once appeared on documents he allegedly present- where he provoked demonstra- is no longer.We mustn’t fall into hit by fresh allegations that he to the head area.” and could scratch animals or the cover of a celebrity magazine ed justifying the cash. Investiga- tions after swearing at a Tunisian cliches. We’ve all made mistakes received €50mn from Gaddafi to A trip to the general humans with their claws or with the headline “The James tors say they have been unable journalist and raised eyebrows at in life and we’ve all the right to be fund his successful 2007 presi- practitioner for disinfectant wings in doing so,” Luy said, Bond of the diplomatic world”, to trace the source of the money. the Quai d’Orsay, the French for- forgiven.” dential campaign. would normally suff ice in stressing that injuries were rare. was pulled over by customs of- Boillon, who is facing four charg- eign aff airs ministry, after post- During a preliminary court He has repeatedly denied tak- such cases. “But our clinic is He recommended that passers- fi cers at Gare du Nord in Paris es, could be fi ned up to ing a photo posing in swimming appearance in March, Boillon ing money from the Libyan dic- in the immediate vicinity of by wave their arms in order to in July 2013 before he boarded a €855,000 if found guilty of trunks on his Facebook page. indicated he would not be exer- tator. the location where the attacks fend off potential harm. train to Belgium, where he lives each and be ordered to serve up With Sarkozy’s blessing, he cising his right to remain silent Gulf Times 20 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 INDIA

EVENT CONTROVERSY POLITICS TRAGEDY JUDICIARY Top leaders to attend VS demands white BJP chief in Telangana Fisherman killed in Court denies Dinakaran DMK chief’s birthday party paper on Vizhinjam Port on three-day visit dog attack in Kerala aide’s bail application

Amidst ongoing consultations among opposition Former Kerala chief minister V S Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah A 50-year-old fisherman, bitten by a pack of A New Delhi court yesterday rejected the bail leaders on the upcoming presidential election, top Achuthanandan yesterday demanded a arrived in Hyderabad yesterday on a three-day dogs at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, died plea of Sukesh Chandrashekar, an alleged national leaders, including Congress vice president white paper on the proposed Vizhinjam Port, visit to Telangana, aimed at strengthening the yesterday morning at the Thiruvananthapuram middleman and aide to All India Anna Dravida Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying the agreement is “not in the interest” party in the state ahead of the 2019 elections. Medical College hospital, an off icial said. Munnetra Kazhagam leader T T V Dinakaran former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq of the state. The veteran Communist Party of BJP state president K Laxman, party’s floor leader Jocelyn was attacked late Sunday night. He in a bribery case. Special Judge Poonam Abdullah and Communist leaders will attend India (Marxist) leader said the project needs in the Telangana assembly G Kishan Reddy and was walking towards the beach just after Chaudhry said it was not appropriate to grant the birthday celebrations of Dravida Munnetra re-look. “The Left’s election manifesto ahead other leaders welcomed Shah at the Rajiv Gandhi dinner, getting ready to go fishing when bail to Chandrashekar at this stage. The court Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai on June of the 2016 assembly polls had said if it came International Airport. From the airport, he left the dogs attacked him, Keston, president of observed that he is allegedly involved in a 3. DMK working president M K Stalin told reporters to power the Vizhinjam port agreement for Nalgonda district by road. During his visit to the local village council said. “This occurred serious crime and could tamper with evidence yesterday that Rashtriya Janata dal chief Lalu Prasad, would be reconsidered. The agreement is not Nalgonda and Yadadri-Bhongir districts over the around 11pm. Jocelyn was rushed to hospital, if released on bail. The court noted the Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, transparent and not in the interest of Kerala, next two days, Shah will participate in various where he passed away today morning,” said investigation in the case is still on. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandhopadhyaym, and hence the government should come out programmes. The BJP chief will meet family Keston. It was in the same place in August 2016 the court deferred the hearing on the bail plea Communist Party of India (Marxist) general with a white paper on it,” Achuthanandan said. members of Gundugoni Mysaiah, a party activist that a woman was bitten to death in a similar of Dinakaran and another aide Mallikarjuna to secretary Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of The previous Congress government in 2015 who was killed by Maoists in 1999. He will also visit canine attack. In the past one year, this is the May 26. Dinakaran, accused of trying to bribe India MP D Raja, and Puducherry Chief Minister V inked an agreement for the Rs75bn project with the homes of Dalits in Nalgonda villages. He will visit fourth casualty in the state capital district. A Election Commission off icials to get the ‘Two Narayanasamy will be present on the occasion when Adani Ports. Work on the first phase is nearing Gundrampalli village today to pay tribute to those police off icial confirmed the ghastly incident. leaves’ poll symbol for a party faction led by the diamond jubilee of Karunanidhi’s entry into the completion. Adani Ports was the lone bidder killed by ‘razakars’ or volunteers of the Nizam before “Our off icials are at the hospital where the his aunt V K Sasikala, was arrested on April 25. Tamil Nadu Assembly will also be celebrated. and sought Rs16bn as grant for the project. Hyderabad state’s merger with the Indian Union. inquest is being prepared,” he said. Chandrashekar was arrested on April 16.

Tamil group opposes Many injured Rajini plan to enter politics as Left rally

Agencies Chennai

ctivists of a Tamil group turns violent yesterday staged protests Anear actor Rajinikanth’s residence at Poes Garden here over indications he could make his political debut. Police were deployed in large numbers near his home after the in Kolkata protest announcement by the Tamizhar Munnetra Padai group. IANS against the issues of unemploy- The entire Left leadership - in- The police have set up barri- Kolkata ment, farmers’ distress and other cluding CPM politburo members cades on the roads leading to his issues. But the police did not let Mohamed Salim, Surjya Kanta residence. Vehicles were allowed us in. They forcefully stopped us Mishra and Biman Bose - hit the only after proper checking. everal policemen and Left and later put us in police vans. roads to take part in the march. “Following reports that protesters were injured They are not disclosing whether Terming the police as “hooli- members of a fringe group were Syesterday when security we are in police custody or not,” gans in uniform”, Salim claimed planning to protest in front of forces used tear gas and baton Chakraborty said. the Mamata government has Rajinikanth’s house, we sought charges on thousands of bellig- “The chief minister has fl ed turned West Bengal into a police police protection. Everything erent activists who broke bar- from the city. Is she not bothered state where people’s right to have is under control now,” a source ricades in Kolkata and neigh- about the plight of the farmers a dialogue or protest has been close to Rajinikanth said. bouring Howrah during a protest here? She has turned the state curbed. One of the protesters said Ra- march to the secretariat. into a prison,” he added. Chief “Some police offi cers are ran- jinikanth is from Karnataka and Several areas in Kolkata and Minister Mamata Banerjee is in sacking the vehicles of our activ- should not enter Tamil Nadu Howrah district turned into bat- Birbhum district to attend an ad- ists who participated in today’s politics. The protest comes after tlefi elds as the Left activists used ministrative meeting. rally. Are they police or hooligans Rajinikanth, while addressing sticks and bamboo poles to break At 1pm, the Left workers from in uniform?” he asked. his fan club members here last barricades and rained bricks and near and far fl ung districts as Bose condemned the arrest of week, hinted about his political stones on police and the Rapid also the city gathered in large Left Front lawmakers and de- aspirations. Action Force deployed in strength numbers at fi ve points here and manded their “unconditional The 67-year-old has ex- to quell the “March to Nabanna” in Howrah and tried to march to release” and accused police of pressed disappointment over organised by 11 peasant bodies af- the state secretariat, but came up committing “excesses” to thwart some Tamilians spreading ha- fi liated to the Left parties. against stiff resistance from the the march. tred on social media. The agitation was to press for heavily-armed police. Before the start of the rally, “I feel sorry for some Tamil their 18-point charter of demand The protesters sat on the road Mishra warned the administration people spreading hatred on social including measures to stop farm- and broke the barriers to contin- if the marchers’ were not allowed media. Never thought they will ers’ distress and rising unem- ue the march. to proceed. “We will remain on the stoop so low,” Rajinikanth said ployment in West Bengal. Barricades came down at Mayo streets in protest. We will resist”. last week during his interaction While Nabanna was virtually Road and Shibpur and other The Left Front said it would with fans. His comment irked converted into a fortress with all points, as some of the protest- observe a state-wide condemna- members of Tamizhar Munnetra entry points blocked and bar- ers were seen battling police and tion day today. Padai, who demand an apology. ricaded, and gates closed, sand countering batons with stones “We strongly condemn the The actor has insisted that he bunkers, barricades and guard and bricks. police provocation and attack on is very much a Tamilian. walls were put up on the ap- Police, using water cannons and our party workers who took part “I lived in Karnataka for 23 proach roads, many of which lobbing tear gas shells, managed in today’s peaceful rally. Many of years and in Tamil Nadu for 43 were closed to traffi c. to temporarily disperse the Left them got severely injured as po- years. Although I came as a Mar- However, there was high dra- workers, but they soon regrouped lice resorted to baton and tear gas athi from Karnataka, you people ma even before the scheduled and confronted police again, shelling mercilessly,” Bose said. nurtured me, made me a true start of the march, as a number shouting “Inquilab Zindabad” and “The ‘March to Nabanna’ was Tamilian,” he said. of Left Front lawmakers includ- holding aloft the red fl ags. supposed to a peaceful rally where He has said he will take a deci- ing legislature party leader Sujan Some of them even snatched we would try to penetrate police sion on joining politics when the Chakraborty reached Nabanna the sticks from baton charging barricade, and if we were stopped, time comes. around noon and shouted slo- policemen, and again dismantled we would hold a sit-in protest. Rumours that Rajinikanth gans at its gate, demanding they barricades. The situation went out of hand could visit New Delhi soon to be allowed in. But they were de- The areas, particularly Mayo due to police provocation.” meet Prime Minister Narendra tained and taken to the Shibpur Road, resembled war zones, with Bose alleged that even report- Modi have intensifi ed specula- Leftist activists try to breach a police barrier during a march towards the state secretariat in Kolkata police station. both protesters and the police ers and photographers of the print tions that the superstar is set to yesterday. Demonstrators and police clashed in Kolkata during a march held by protesters to call for “Twenty of our MLAs reached sustaining injuries, and blood and electronic media were not take the plunge into politics. pricing reforms in the agriculture sector and greater food security. the gate of Nabanna to protest oozed from their wounds. spared by the security personnel. Dangal wrestles its way into Police register murder Chinese moviegoers’ hearts case in offi cer’s death IANS (SIT) formed by Kumar had failed AFP who defi es the odds by raising strict parenting are among the Lucknow to crack the case even after the Beijing his daughters Geeta and Bab- themes in the fi lm. expiry of a 72-hour deadline. ita Phogat to become champion The issues appear to have There have been confl icting wrestlers. struck an emotional response ttar Pradesh police yes- versions and loose ends in the Bollywood fi lm about Geeta won a gold medal for In- with Chinese audiences. terday registered a case police probe into Tiwari’s death. a father who trains his dia at the 2010 Commonwealth Moviegoers praised it on so- Uof murder in the death of The family has claimed that Adaughters to become Games while her sister topped cial media site Weibo, high- Indian Administrative Service Tiwari was killed as he was about world-class wrestlers has bro- the podium at the same event in lighting its important lessons offi cer Anurag Tiwari. to disclose a major multi-million ken a box offi ce record in China, 2014. on rearing and educating chil- Tiwari was found dead on May rupee scam in the Food, Civil where its focus on feminism and Dangal is a Hindi word used dren. 17 on a roadside near a VIP guest Supplies and Consumer Aff airs tough love has resonated with to describe a wrestling competi- “A parent myself, I got some house in the state capital Lucknow Department where he was posted audiences. tion. inspiration and enlighten- under mysterious circumstances. as commissioner. Dangal has raked in 776mn In Chinese the fi lm’s name has ment on child education after Lucknow Senior Superintend- Mayank Tiwari, brother of the yuan ($112mn) since it opened on been translated into Let’s Wres- watching the movie,” said one ent of Police Deepak Kumar or- dead offi cer, has also written to May 5, offi cial data showed yes- tle, Dad. user. dered the registration of an FIR Prime Minister Narendra Modi terday. The movie was released in “It is also a story that moti- (fi rst information report) after seeking his intervention for a fair Box offi ce monitoring site India on December 23 last year vates self-improvement for chil- the dead IAS offi cer’s family fi led probe. mtime.com says this makes it the and quickly became the highest- dren.” a complaint at the Hazratganj The IAS offi cer had stayed at highest-grossing non-Holly- grossing Bollywood fi lm of all Another said: “I brought my police station. the VIP guest house on Mira- wood foreign fi lm in China. time, beating the 2014 science parents and parents-in-law to Earlier, Tiwari’s family from bai Marg for two days before his Universal’s The Fate of the Fu- fi ction fi lm PK. watch it for the second time, Bahraich met Chief Minister death on his 35th birthday. He rious holds the box offi ce record Dangal is believed to have and once again my cheeks were Yogi Adityanath. They claimed was there with his batch mate P in China for any fi lm, raking in made around $233mn in world- stained with tears.” foul play in the death of the 2007 N Singh, who is vice chairman of 2.7bn yuan in receipts since its wide box offi ce sales, according An opinion piece published batch IAS offi cer and sought a the Lucknow Development Au- debut on April 14. to industry estimates. in the People’s Daily, China’s probe by the Central Bureau of thority (LDA). The Hindi movie, direct- It made around Rs3.87bn Communist Party mouthpiece, Investigation (CBI). Tiwari was last seen having ed by Nitesh Tiwari, is based ($60mn) in India alone, analysts said the fi lm’s focus on “female The family members of IAS officer Anurag Tiwari arrives for a The family told reporters that dinner at a prominent eatery in on the true story of wrestling say. rights” had also left a “deep im- meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Adityanath assured them of justice. the state capital on Tuesday near coach Mahavir Singh Phogat, Gender discrimination and pression on audiences”. Lucknow yesterday. A Special Investigating Team Raj Bhawan. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 21 INDIA

BJP plans grand ‘Modifest’ in 900 cities to mark three years

IANS government is going to celebrate According to the BJP, events Senior BJP leader Arun Singh, in Port Blair in Andaman and Venkaiah Naidu will go to Bhu- ies for the poor people,” he said. New Delhi the three years of the historic across the country will also be who was present at the confer- Nicobar Islands on June 6, in baneswar and Chhattisgarh, “At a time the Modi govern- mandate it got in 2014.” addressed by federal ministers, ence, said several senior leaders Chhattisgarh from June 8 to 10, while Railways Minister Suresh ment is celebrating three years “In order to highlight the gov- parliamentarians, BJP chief of the party will attend the pro- and in Arunachal Pradesh on Prabhu will participate in the of its offi ce, the government he ruling Bharatiya Janata ernment’s achievements under ministers, state ministers and grammes. June 12 and 13. events in West Bengal and Mad- statistics says that over 12,000 Party has planned a grand the leadership of Prime Minister several senior party leaders. “The party has also organised Federal Home Minister Ra- hya Pradesh. farmers committed suicide every T‘Modifest’ in 900 cities Narendra Modi, a series of dia- Irani said a ‘Jan Ki Baat’ pro- intellectual summits in the cit- jnath Singh will attend the Meanwhile, Communist Party year since 2014 due to debt bur- across the country between May logue programmes will be held gramme has also been arranged ies in which the party’s ministers ‘Modifest’ in Jaipur and Mum- of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram den and the government’s anti- 26 and June 15 to highlight the in 900 cities across the country so that the people can share their will participate and interact with bai, while External Aff airs Min- Yechury said the government farmer policies,” he said. central government’s achieve- between May 26 and June 15,” she messages with the prime minis- the people,” he said, adding that ister Sushma Swaraj will attend was making two Indias - a shin- “When the ‘annadata’ (food ments in the three years of Prime said. ter directly. a programme on Swacch Bharat the programmes in Delhi and ing one for the rich and one full provider) is in distress how can Minister Narendra Modi’s gov- Irani said the programme, “A ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vi- Abhiyan has also been decided at Lucknow, he said. of miseries for the poor. the country grow? The govern- ernment. which has been named ‘Making kas’ programme will also be held every venue. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley “The Modi government as ment has taken anti-farmer Addressing a press conference of Developed India’ or ‘Modifest’, where benefi ciaries of the gov- Singh said BJP president Amit will attend ‘Modifest’ in Ben- part of the ‘Aacche Din’ slogan is steps by not increasing the mini- here yesterday, federal Textiles will be kicked off by Modi from ernment’s several schemes will Shah will attend the programme galuru and Ahmedabad, Ur- making two Indias - shining for mum support price, import duty Minister Smriti Irani said: “The Guwahati in Assam on May 26. participate,” Irani said. in Kerala between June 2 and 4, ban Development Minister M the rich people and full of miser- and input costs.” 20 arrested after public lynchings of ‘traffi ckers’

Agencies by angry mob merely on suspi- New Delhi cion of them being anti-social elements,” it said. “This is a very unprecedented olice said yesterday they and unfortunate incident that had arrested nearly 20 has taken place,” Ashish Batra, a Ppeople on charges includ- top police offi cial, told the NDTV ing murder and rioting after a news channel. wave of lynchings in Jharkhand “These messages created a that left eight dead. fear psychosis in people’s mind Mobs set upon victims with where they felt their children’s sticks and fi sts over two days security was at stake.” of violence as rumours spread While they are still investigat- on social media that a gang was ing the cases, police say there kidnapping children, police said. is so far no evidence to suggest The brutality of the murders - those who were murdered were Students throw stones during clashes between government forces inside a collage in Srinagar yesterday. Students have been protesting since April after security forces raided captured potently in one viral im- involved in child traffi cking. a college in Pulwama in south Kashmir, injuring some 50 students. age showing a bloodied man on India has seen a surge in re- his hands and knees begging for ports of human traffi cking in re- his life - has sparked outrage and cent years. Almost 20,000 wom- allegations of police negligence. en and children were victims of Jharkhand has been on edge traffi cking in 2016, a rise of 25% since the lynchings, just the lat- from the previous year, accord- est in recent months across In- ing to government data. dia, where mobs have publicly Around half the victims were murdered people for inter-faith children, mainly from West Ben- Shariah our aim, says marriages and alleged off ences gal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, As- involving sacred cows. sam, Bihar, Jharkhand and New Prashant Anand, police super- Delhi, the data showed. intendent in the state’s main city Activists say the fi gures are of Jamshedpur, said locals in two under-reported, especially due neighbouring districts attacked to a lack of awareness in rural ar- “any outsider irrespective of his eas where traffi ckers dupe poor Kashmir rebel leader community” after baseless ru- families into sending their chil- mours spread on WhatsApp and dren for work. Many end up sold Musa distances himself so that Shariah is established in past weeks and by-elections engaged in a war of national- But he had stopped short of social media. into slave-like conditions in rich from 70-year-old separatist here”. in April saw record low turn- ism, which is forbidden in Is- disowning the independence “We have so far arrested 20 houses, hotels, restaurants and movement and aligns The pronouncements, issued outs, pointing to deep disillu- lam,” he said. movement or criticising Paki- people, fi ve for lynching and 15 even brothels. Activists con- himself with ideals of Al in audio statements posted on sionment among Kashmiris and The fi ght in the region should stan. others for rioting or clashing demned the public lynchings. Qaeda social media in the past weeks, raising fears of another bloody “not be for the sake of Kashmir,” The hardening position of the with the authorities,” he said. Rishi Kant from the anti- signal a growing ideological summer ahead. he said. “It should be exclu- militant group has put pressure Distraught relatives of the traffi cking charity Shakti Vahini divide between Kashmir’s old Musa is part of a new gen- sively for Islam so that Shariah on older leaders, some of who victims have clashed with au- which works in Jharkhand, con- By Michael Safi guard of separatist leaders, and eration of anti-India fi ght- is established here.” took up arms during the fi rst thorities since the attacks last demned the lynchings, adding Srinagar a new, social-media savvy gen- ers whose numbers are small Another video released by wave of militancy in the 1990s, week, demanding a speedy in- that it highlighted the problem of eration of rebels. - roughly 210, according to the group in April went further, but have since turned to politics vestigation into the murders. poor law and order, as well as the Musa, 22, has emerged in the police estimates - but who en- criticising Pakistan. to achieve their ends. Local authorities have launched challenges of controlling rumours serious rift has emerged past year as the leading face of joy strong support among the Appropriating the slogan of Last week the All Parties a public awareness campaign, dis- spread via new technologies. within the decades-old the ongoing militancy in the public, and whose exploits and Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub- Hurriyat Conference, an al- tributing fl yers to dispel rumours “We know there is a problem Ainsurgency against Indi- state. opinions are widely shared on continent, a local branch of the liance of Kashmiri separatist about the child kidnapping racket. of missing children and women an rule in Jammu and Kashmir, He succeeded another mili- social media. terrorist group, an unnamed groups comprising the tra- Police have been criticised for being traffi cked from Jharkhand with a top militant commander tant, Burhan Wani, as the com- “Everyone is with him,” a stu- militant is shown telling vil- ditional leaders of the move- not responding quickly to dispel and people are clearly worried vowing to establish an Islamic mander of the militant group dent, Yawir, told the Guardian lagers: “This war is for Shariah ment, issued a careful press the misinformation, or to assure about their children, but this is system in the Himalayan region Hizbul Mujahideen. Wani’s at Government Degree College or shahadat (martyrdom).” release that appeared to dis- villagers about the safety of their unacceptable,” said Kant. and repudiating the goal of an death last July in a clash with in Pulwama, where last month “Pakistani fl ag is not part of tance itself from the militants’ children as fear took hold. “This not only shows us that independent nation. Indian soldiers triggered weeks students clashed with security Shariah,” he says. “Why do you comments. The National Human Rights we need better law enforcement Zakir Musa, the commander of protests that paralysed the forces, triggering a wave of pro- wave the Pakistani fl ag? Anyone “Terrorism and freedom Commission, India’s main and strengthening of the police of Kashmir’s largest anti-India valley. Security forces killed tests across the state. who waves the Pakistan fl ag will movement are poles apart,” it rights watchdog, yesterday said force, but also that we activists militia, has explicitly distanced more than 90 civilians and in- In a video statement cir- be our enemy.” said. “Our movement has noth- Jharkhand law enforcement must ensure communities are himself from the 70-year-old jured around 15,000, many culated online in March, the Before his death, Wani had ing to do with these world level agencies had failed to perform aware of possibly false infor- independence movement in the permanently blinded by pellet bearded, soft-spoken Musa appeared to drift towards the groups (Islamic State and Al their duty. mation being shared on social Kashmir Valley as well as from guns. appealed to protesters such as rhetoric of global militant Qaeda) and practically they are “A civilised society cannot al- media sites, and that they can- elements who wish to merge Protests - including some the Pulwama students “not to movements such as Al Qaeda, non-existent in our state.” - low such heinous crimes to oc- not take the law into their own with Pakistan, declaring his led for the fi rst time by young fall for nationalism”. “I see that calling in 2015 for a “caliphate Guardian News and Media cur where human lives are taken hands.” fi ght is “exclusively for Islam, women - have broken out again many people in Kashmir are (to be) established in Kashmir”.

Realtor launches new Hindu, Muslim wives donate project in Mumbai kidneys to each other’s husbands

IANS nates her kidney to the other’s umbai-based Omkar “With almost 700 units on of- Noida husband, it is possible to save Realtors & Developers fer in this project, channel part- the lives of both patients,” Amit Mhas hosted a gather- ners have a very good opportu- Devra, senior kidney transplant ing of more than 1,200 channel nity to make good business for uman blood holds no surgeon at Jaypee Hospital, said partners from across India, Du- themselves and Omkar Realtors,” narrow sectarian bound- in a statement yesterday. bai, the GCC region, Singapore said Devang Varma, director, of Haries - this was proved Convinced, the two women and Hong Kong. Omkar Realtors & Developers when a Hindu and a Muslim agreed to donate a kidney to the The channel partners at- Pvt Ltd woman donated one of their kid- other’s husband. A fi ve-hour tended the promotional event “Omkar Realtors is already neys to the other’s husband at a surgery successfully transplant- by Omkar for its new product known for quality construc- hospital here. ed the kidneys to both patients. off ering — Signet by Omkar — a tion and timely delivery, which Ekram, 29, a resident of Great- “The successful exchange of project featuring “effi cient and will surely benefit the chan- er Noida, and Rahul Varisht, 26, kidneys between Hindu-Muslim compact” 1- and 2-BHK fl ats in nel partners to take Omkar’s a Baghpat resident, were suff er- families indicates human blood Malad East on the Western Ex- new product to their customer ing from kidney ailments and holds no narrow boundaries. press Highway in Mumbai, the base towards investing in this needed a transplant. Since nei- Only the human mind holds re- company said in a statement. project.” ther family had a suitable donor, ligious reservations and if hu- The gathering was held with The product was appreciated the men’s lives were at risk. manity takes precedence over the aim of marketing Signet by the partners, including NRIs Ekram’s wife Razia, 24, was B- sectarian concerns, particu- by Omkar and evoking interest based out of the GCC and Asia- positive while he was A-positive. larly during medical emergen- among the customer base of the Pacifi c regions. Rahul’s wife Pavitra,38, was A- cies, thousands of lives could be channel partners, so that they Omkar Realtors & Developers positive but he was B-positive. saved,” said Manoj Luthra, CEO invest in the project and be part is a market leader in redevel- “We held separate meetings of Jaypee Hospital. of the Omkar family, the state- opment and luxury residential with both families and informed Both patients are doing well, ment noted. projects. Participants attend the event hosted by Omkar. them that if each woman do- doctors said. Gulf Times 22 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 LATIN AMERICA Weekly to keep exposing cartels despite reporter’s death

AFP spread around the small rented The offi ce of Valdez, who was prose,” said Ismael Bojorquez, a to take,” Bojorquez said. “We managed to establish itself as a struggle” in one of “the most Culiacan, Mexico apartment. Safety measures murdered on Monday at the age founder of Riodoce along with couldn’t not cover the issue in a respected investigative reporting dangerous places in the world to seem conspicuously absent here. of 50, is tiny: a simple table, fi le Valdez. state like Sinaloa. Either you do platform, with a wide network of practice journalism.” The entrance of the building, in boxes on the fl oor, a telephone, “Mala Yerba,” Valdez’s weekly it or you make a fool of yourself.” contacts, in a country where the In a display of both its cour- espite the threats and the centre of Culiacan, in western a printer, a framed photograph, column since 2003, refl ected Riodoce faces many challeng- threat of violence means self- age and its connections, Riodoce the murder of colleague Sinaloa state, is always open. some Post-its on the wall along those dual loves. es, not least its fi nancing. Forty censorship is the rule. on February 19 published a cover DJavier Valdez, the weekly There are no surveillance cam- with a few Riodoce frontpages. Riodoce was “overwhelmed” percent of its income comes The courage of its journalists story by Valdez on his interview Riodoce plans to continue its role eras. And the door into the green- Valdez, who was also an AFP by drug cartel violence, and felt from sales. A copy sells for 10 earned Riodoce the 2011 Maria with Damaso Lopez, nicknamed as a leader in investigating drug walled apartment that is home to freelancer and a correspond- obliged to go “all out” to cover pesos (about 50 cents), while the Moors Cabot award from Co- “The Graduate,” the one-time traffi cking in Mexico. Riodoce is not reinforced. ent for La Jornada newspaper, the traffi cking scene. digital version is free. lumbia University in New York. right-hand man of Sinaloa cartel The offi ce is austere, with Yellowing newspapers pile up had a love for “this combination “We mark certain lines (not to About 8,000 copies are sold The citation noted that the leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guz- fewer than a dozen computers in the hallways. of investigative journalism and cross) and certain precautions each week. It has nonetheless paper’s journalists “heroically man.

Honduran Colombia unrest groups I was naive back TV star for president but not guilty,

Reuters Tegucigalpa insists Brazil broad left-right alliance of Honduran opposition Agroups picked a promi- nent television show host as presidential candidate, creating a new hurdle for President Juan Orlando Hernandez as he seeks president to retain power in a November election. AFP The Supreme Court is tomor- don Temer immediately should Hernandez hopes to make Brasília row due to rule on Temer’s re- be rethought. history by winning an un- quest for the probe into his al- “I think it would be opportun- precedented second straight leged obstruction of justice to ism to go running,” he told TV term following a 2015 Supreme razilian President Michel be suspended due to supposed Bandeirantes. Court decision that overturned Temer yesterday said tampering of the incriminating The PSDB “has responsibil- a constitutional ban on re- Bhe was “naive” to hold tape recording. ity.” election. the late-night meeting which The crisis — linked to a gigan- However, if evidence against Calling itself the Opposition sparked an explosive corruption tic corruption investigation tar- Temer is verifi ed, “he would Alliance Against the Dictator- scandal, but insisted he’d done geting scores of top politicians have a moral obligation to re- ship, the coalition chose TV star nothing wrong and wouldn’t re- — threatens Brazil’s attempts sign,” Cardoso said. Salvador Nasralla to try to stop sign. to exit the trauma of last year’s The key evidence is the now Hernandez securing another Temer, who faces multiple im- Rousseff impeachment and a se- infamous recording of Temer four-year term in the violent, peachment demands, told Folha vere recession. and Batista. The president says impoverished Central America newspaper he had innocently For now, most of the action is the recording has been tampered nation. stumbled into the crisis threaten- taking place behind the scenes. with. “Today we’re an unstoppable ing to bring him down just over a A source with the presidency However, a source at the pros- force, no more drugs, no more year since he replaced impeached said Temer’s coalition is holding. ecutor’s offi ce, who asked not to violence, nor infl uence-traffi ck- president Dilma Rousseff . “The president is very con- be identifi ed, insisted that “the ing from the government,” Nas- “Naivety. I was naive,” he said. scious that he did nothing illegal evidence is robust.” ralla said, dressed in a white suit The scandal erupted last week and various leaders said they are “It’s not just audio — there and yellow shirt before a crowd when Globo newspaper revealed standing fi rm,” said the source, are documents, bank accounts, of supporters waving red and a secret audio recording in which who asked not to be identifi ed. dates,” the source said. white fl ags. Joesley Batista, an executive The vital PSDB had been due In his interview with Folha, The tie-up encompasses the from the JBS meatpacking giant, to meet with other coalition Temer lambasted Batista for al- leftist Liberty and Refoundation can allegedly be heard getting partners on Sunday, reportedly legedly profi teering from the Party (LIBRE) of deposed ex- the president’s green light for to consider the announcement scandal, which sent the Brazil- president Manuel Zelaya, Nas- paying hush money to a politi- of their mass departure. ian currency down and put JBS ralla’s centrist Anti-corruption cian imprisoned for corruption. But the meeting was can- shares into a tailspin. Party (PAC) and other groups, With Temer placed under in- celled, giving Temer a breathing “I feel calm, especially as I including a dissident from Her- vestigation for obstruction of space. said: I will not resign,” Temer nandez’ centre-right National justice and corruption, oppo- Senior PSDB member and told Folha. “If they want to, then Party. nents are demanding his head. former president Fernando Hen- they have to force me out, be- Zelaya’s wife, former presi- Impeachment petitions are rique Cardoso yesterday said the cause if I resign, that is an ad- dential candidate Xiomara Cas- piling up. party’s initial impulse to aban- mission of guilt.” tro, will serve as Nasralla’s run- The highest-profi le request ning mate in the alliance. was fi led over the weekend by Only brief delay for pension overhaul seen Hernandez is favourite to win the Brazilian bar association — re-election, though he was well a stinging rebuke for Temer, a Brazilian Finance Minister The most important leaders short of an outright majority in constitutional lawyer. Henrique Meirelles yesterday of Congress have already an opinion poll published yes- Meanwhile, Temer is scram- said a corruption scandal would understood that the fiscal terday that gave him 36% sup- bling to hold together his centre- only briefly delay an overhaul measures have to be approved, port among voters. right PMDB party’s ruling coa- of the country’s pension system and we are moving forward,” That was double the 18% of lition to prevent impeachment and not interrupt a broad reform Meirelles said, adding that he his nearest rival, Luis Zelaya of and fend off pressure to resign. agenda, even if President Michel expects a pension reform vote, the centre-right Liberal Party, Thousands of people hold a protest demanding basic rights – including health, education, So far, only smaller parties Temer leaves off ice. “The reform previously set for as early as the some of whose members have roads and drinking water – during the sixth day of a civic strike in Buenaventura, have jumped ship, but the PM- agenda at this point became end of this month, to be delayed joined the alliance fronted by Colombia’s main port on the Pacific Ocean. DB’s biggest ally, the PSDB social part of the Congress agenda. by a few weeks. Nasralla. democrats, is wavering. Mexico ‘needs to beef up New Venezuela clashes disaster management’ after man burned alive AFP burns over half of his body and Caracas six knife wounds. Reuters cut deaths and damage from and widening access to early The opposition is marching in Tepic, Mexico disasters by 2030. warning systems and public daily protests demanding elec- “We’ve made a lot of disaster risk information. octors rallied in Venezue- tions to remove Maduro from progress in terms of creating With natural disasters inten- la yesterday in the latest power. They blame him for an enaced by volcanoes, policies that will allow Mexico sifying as the planet warms, ex- Dstreet protests against economic crisis that has caused earthquakes and hur- in the next 10 to 15 years to be- perts expect the Cancun meet- the government of President shortages of food, medicine and Mricanes, Mexico has come a resilient country,” said ing to provide a check-up on Nicolas Maduro, as a young man basic supplies. made strides in forming a na- Puente, co-ordinator for Mex- how countries are progressing lay in hospital after being set on More than 200,000 protest- tional plan to reduce those and ico’s civil protection agency, with their strategies to put na- fi re by an angry crowd. ers rallied overall on Saturday in other risks, but business and in a telephone interview. “It’s tional and local disaster risk re- The death toll climbed to 48 Caracas and the western city of communities must be involved important that Mexican society duction plans in place by 2020. over the weekend, with hun- San Cristobal, according to esti- to make the country more ro- has a clear awareness that we “Mexico has already adopt- dreds injured and thousands mates by the opposition. bust in the long term, said its can’t continue building risk.” ed the measures of the Sendai detained, as the unrest entered Police fi red tear gas to break emergency services chief. Puente said the Cancun meet- Framework for the large part,” its eighth week, according to au- up the demonstration and pro- Ahead of a major UN confer- ing would be an opportunity to said Puente. thorities and rights groups. testers responded by throwing ence on disasters in the Mexican work out how wealthier coun- “We’re continuing with our In the latest gruesome unrest rocks and Molotov cocktails, in resort of Cancun, Luis Felipe tries in the Americas could as- national plan — we’re missing on Sunday, a man was beaten, scenes now familiar after weeks Puente said the country needed sist the most vulnerable, such as a series of rules regarding edu- doused in petrol and set alight of unrest. to focus on managing risks to its those in the Caribbean and Cen- cation, we’re working very hard during a protest in the capital Fresh clashes broke out be- health and education services. tral America, and how to better on the health system, and we’re Caracas, an eyewitness video tween protesters and police It is also working with busi- include risk reduction in sectors working very hard to change and photographs showed. yesterday morning on the out- nesses to ensure their policies like health and urban planning. energy production,” he added. The crowd parted as he ran skirts of Caracas, where dem- will help boost the resilience of “And in the same way with In the wake of a devastating away in fl ames. Some reports onstrators blocked streets with Mexico’s 120mn people. the African or European con- 8.1-magnitude earthquake that said the man was accused of be- barricades. Running from May 24-26, tinents, to ensure we will have killed thousands when it rocked ing a thief but the government After marches by various the Global Platform for Disas- regional strength that will al- Mexico City in 1985, Puente said alleged he was attacked for being civil groups, it was the turn of ter Risk Reduction is the fi rst low us to work together with- the country had made consider- a Maduro supporter. the Venezuelan Medical Fed- international summit since the out borders,” said Puente. able progress on ways to alert the Speaking later on television, eration to vent its frustrations 15-year Sendai Framework was The seven targets agreed in public when tremors start, and the president identifi ed the man in the streets. “We have barely hammered out in Japan in 2015, Sendai also cover curbing eco- permanently monitors the string as Orlando Figuera, 21. 3% of the supplies we need,” said setting ambitious targets for nomic losses and disruption to of active volcanoes that form Healthcare workers and opposition activists stage a rally against He said he was hospitalised Douglas Leon Natera, president governments to substantially basic services from disasters, part of the Pacifi c Rim of Fire. President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas yesterday. with fi rst- and second-degree of the federation. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 23 PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN

CRIME EDUCATION ADVENTURE TECHNOLOGY UTILITY 6 policemen killed in firing University refuses to Pakistan’s ex-army off icer Virus attack: Land record Water crisis again hits incidents in Pakistan hire transgender conquers Mount Everest services suspended Pakistan’s Gwadar city

At least six policemen were killed and one other The Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistani capital Mountaineer Abdul Jabbar Bhatti, a former Computerised land record services across the Due to lack of rain and the resultant drought-like was injured in two separate incidents of firing Islamabad has denied the appointment of a lieutenant colonel, became the fourth Pakistani to province have been suspended since Saturday situation, this port city has again been hit by a in Pakistan over the last 24 hours, police said transgender person as a lecturer. The denial conquer the world’s highest peak Mount Everest after virus attack corrupted the software of the severe water crisis, according to its residents. yesterday. Superintendent of Police Ghulam comes after reports, which suggested Aisha on Monday, state-run PTV reported. Col Bhatti is Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA). The The Akara dam, which supplies water to Gwadar Murtaza Bhutto said three policemen were Mughal, a transgender, was selected for the post an accomplished mountaineer and a recipient of Computerised Land Record Centers (CLRCs) city and its surrounding areas, has once again sitting in a parked police vehicle on Sunday of regular faculty member at the QAU Centre of the President’s Pride of Performance award and at 143 tehsils remained open yesterday on the dried up. As a result, the people of the city when some unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets Excellence in Gender Studies. Established under Tamgha-i-Basalat. He scaled Broad Peak (8,051 direction of the PLRA management since the especially its women who have to fetch water at them in Karachi, and fled the scene. All three the Centre of Excellence Act in August 2004, metres) in 1985, Gasherbrum-2 (8,035m) in 1986, concerned off icials were striving hard to resolve from distant areas — have been facing serious policemen, seriously wounded, were shifted to a the Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies is an and Spantik Peak (7,027m) in 2012. It took him the issue. The management said it might seek problems. “We have not been supplied water nearby hospital where two of them succumbed autonomous body working through its board of one-and-a-half months to complete the Everest the help of the Punjab Information Technology for over a week now,” said one of the residents. to injuries while the third was still in critical governors chaired by the QAU vice-chancellor expedition. Mount Everest stands 8,848m high Board off icials. The PLRA maintains the record of “The port city is facing acute water shortage as condition. In a separate attack late on Saturday, and funded by the government through the above sea level. The other Pakistanis to have over 55mn holdings, mainly of farmers. Sources the main source of supply the Akara Kaur (river) four policemen were killed in Kohat district of Higher Education Commission. It off ers off er MSc conquered Mount Everest are Hassan Sadpara, said the virus ‘RANSOME’ had corrupted the dam has dried up and we cannot supply drinking Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. course in gender studies. Samina Baig (2013) and Nazir Sabir (2000). software. water from there,” said engineer Shakeel Ahmed. Islamabad PTI to sue govt for cracks down on detaining supporters army criticism Reuters Interior Minister Nisar, in AFP Lahore ordering the crackdown, said Islamabad the security forces had to be protected. akistan has begun a “Unwarranted criticism of Pakistani opposition par- crackdown on online security forces and other in- ty led by former cricketer Pcriticism of its powerful stitutions responsible for the AImran Khan will take legal military, with up to 200 social defence of the realm is not al- action against the government media accounts under investi- lowed,” Nisar said in a state- for detaining its vocal online ac- gation, a security offi cial said ment last week. tivists under a controversial cy- yesterday. The opposition Pakistani bercrime law, a spokesman said The crackdown is being car- Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), some yesterday. ried out by the civilian Federal of whose members have been At least 23 supporters of the Investigation Agency (FIA) af- investigated under a tough new Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (Move- ter Interior Minister Chaudhry cyber crime law, denounced ment for Justice) party have been Nisar Ali Khan directed it to the investigations. detained and threatened with take action against social me- “It is a violation of fun- action under the Prevention of dia users posting anti-military damental rights,” said PTI Electronic Crime Act, Fawad material. spokesman Naeem-ul-Haque. Hussain Chauhdry, a spokesman “We have received a huge In January, fi ve activists for the party, said. list of suspects, active critical of the military went It is the fi rst time the new law against national institu- missing. has been used in a broad crack- tions, but we have identi- Four later reappeared but down against political opposi- fied 18 out of over 200 social left the country after being ac- tion. media activists,” a senior cused of sharing blasphemous Two have been charged under FIA official said. content online. the law, including one for shar- “They are accused of One of the activists later ing a satirical picture of Prime spreading negative material said intelligence agents were Minister Nawaz Sharif, and are against the army and other in- responsible for his abduction on bail pending further investi- stitutions,” added the offi cial, but he declined to say which gation. who declined to be identifi ed agency he thought they came “One of our supporters was as he is not authorised to speak from. abducted from Quetta and to the media. One person apparently brought to Islamabad in an ar- At least two people have caught up in the investigation moured car. been interrogated and re- is journalist Taha Siddiqui who People are being harassed and leased, he said. said that last week, an FIA of- it is spreading fear,” the spokes- Pakistan’s military remains fi cer told him to appear for man said. a powerful political force even questioning. He added the party would sue Pakistani opposition leader and head of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party Imran Khan leaves the Supreme Court after attending a under civilian governments, He did not keep the appoint- the government for intimidation hearing on the Panama Papers case in Islamabad yesterday. and relations between the gen- ment and instead fi led a court and harassment in the Islamabad erals and civilian leaders can be petition claiming harassment. High Court. nalism prize in 2014 for a docu- ists which said its wording was censorship in the name of pro- tional rights groups. sensitive. “I felt threatened and I’m In addition to the party activ- mentary he produced for France overly broad and would curb free tecting religion or preventing Four of them were returned The crackdown on online fi ling this petition as a pre- ists, a Pakistani journalist said 2, said the call amounted to an speech. obscenity. to their families weeks later, but dissent comes after a lengthy ventative measure,” Siddiqui, he had received an intimidating attempt to intimidate him and he Of particular concern was In January five secular ac- not before they were tarnished inquiry into a newspaper re- who works for France24 and phone call from the Federal In- also planned to sue the govern- a clause that empowered the tivists known for their out- by a virulent campaign to paint port that gave details leaked other media, said. vestigation Agency last Thurs- ment. government to ban speech spoken views against religious them as enemies of Islam de- from a high-level security FIA offi cer Noman Bodla day and was asked to appear in The interior ministry has de- considered “against the glory extremism and the powerful serving execution. meeting. confi rmed he had spoken to person to explain his social me- clined to comment on the cases. of Islam or the integrity, se- military disappeared — pre- One of them later told AFP Uproar over the report Siddiqui but declined to elabo- dia activity. Parliament passed the cyber- curity or defence of Pakistan”. sumed abducted by state they had been held and tortured threatened to reopen a rift be- rate. Taha Siddiqui, who won crime law last August, despite Free speech campaigners have agencies, according to op- by the shadowy Inter Services tween the army and civilian Bodla did, however, confi rm France’s Albert Londres jour- opposition from rights activ- long complained of creeping position parties and interna- Intelligence agency. government. the wider investigation. Pakistan authorities seize 20kg Afghanistan probes ‘terrorist’ heroin on London-bound fl ight attack on foreign guest house Reuters Karachi AFP Kabul akistani authorities found 20kg of heroin on Pa Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) fl ight bound for abul police said yesterday London yesterday during a they were investigating a search at Islamabad airport, K“terrorist” attack on an a spokesman for the national international guest house that carrier said. left a German aid worker and an Heroin has been found on Afghan guard dead and a Finnish PIA fl ights at least three times woman kidnapped. since August last year, includ- No group has so far claimed ing last week at London’s Hea- responsibility for the raid by throw Airport. gunmen late Saturday on the Airline spokesman Mash- guest house run by Swedish hood Tajwar said in a statement charity Operation Mercy in authorities had planned yes- A British passport holder has been arrested by Custom off icials the heart of the Afghan capi- terday to search four aircraft. at Benazir Bhutto International Airport for having 20kg of heroin tal. “From one of the aircraft hidden in his luggage. “We are investigating this as destined for Islamabad-Lon- a terrorist attack,” interior min- Gloves belonging to investigators lie in front of an international guest house after it was attacked by don PK785, 20kg heroin was thorities at London’s Heath- cember less than a week after a istry spokesman Najib Danish gunmen in the Afghan capital Kabul on May 21. A German aid worker and an Afghan guard were killed as recovered,” he said. row Airport said they found “a PIA plane crashed on a domes- said, adding the identity of the gunmen stormed an international guest house in central Kabul, off icials said May 21. After the search, the fl ight quantity of heroin” on a fl ight tic fl ight killing all 47 people on attackers was not confi rmed. was cleared for takeoff and fur- from Pakistan “concealed board. Kabul police chief Hassan nual spring off ensive, with their ministry said in a statement. increasingly been casualties of a ther investigations were going within the aircraft”. In March, Pakistani au- Shah Frogh suggested the Tali- strength growing more than 15 Operation Mercy works with surge in violence in recent years. on, Tajwar said. They said no arrests had thorities barred its new chief ban may have been behind it, but years after they were toppled local Afghan communities in Judith D’Souza, a 40-year-old “PIA has taken a stern action been made and an investigation executive, German Bernd the insurgents have yet to com- from power by the US-led inva- areas such as reducing infant Indian employee of the Aga Khan to keep its fl eet free from any had been launched. Hildenbrand, from leaving the ment on the attack. sion of 2001. mortality and women’s empow- Foundation, a prominent NGO eff ort of smuggling narcotics “We do expect that investi- country due to an investiga- “There is a possibility that the Authorities in Helsinki on erment. that has long worked in Afghani- or other contraband,” he said. gation to have an international tion into suspected corruption Taliban plotted the attack, but Sunday said they had contacted The kidnapping of foreign- stan, was rescued last July nearly In December, Pakistani au- element,” a British National in connection with the leasing why would they (Taliban) resort the family and employer of the ers has been on the rise, but a month after she was abducted thorities seized 16.7kg of heroin Crime Agency spokesman said. of planes. to such actions?” Frogh told lo- kidnapped Finnish woman and the threat of abduction is even near her residence in central Ka- on board a Saudi Arabia-bound PIA confi rmed its aircraft Hildenbrand, tasked with cal Tolo News. were investigating the incident greater for Afghans. bul. PIA aircraft. had been searched in Lon- stemming losses so the govern- “It is clear whenever they in coordination with their coun- Kabul is plagued by criminal Katherine Jane Wilson, a well- Authorities in August ar- don but said it had not been ment can privatise the carrier, suff er major casualties or their terparts in Kabul. gangs who stage abductions for known Australian NGO worker, rested 12 PIA employees fol- informed about a seizure of said at the time there appeared commanders and high profi le “At the moment, the iden- ransom, often targeting for- was kidnapped in April last year lowing the discovery of 6kg of drugs. to be confusion within the gov- offi cials are arrested, then the tity of the kidnappers in not eigners and wealthy locals, and in the city of Jalalabad near the heroin on a Dubai-bound PIA The loss-making state carri- ernment about how aircraft Taliban resort to such action.” known. Finland urges imme- sometimes handing them over to border with Pakistan. plane. er has been struggling for years. leasing works. But Taliban insurgents are diate release of the kidnapped insurgent groups. Wilson was released in March On Monday last week, au- Its chairman resigned in De- He denied any corruption. currently ramping up their an- person,” the Finnish foreign Aid workers in particular have this year. Gulf Times 24 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 PHILIPPINES

Outcry at Philippines and China play ban on rosaries down Duterte’s talk of war in vehicle AFP Reuters nomic Zone. Duterte’s rivals Manila Manila have likened his refusal to insist that China abide by the ruling as akin to surrendering sover- hilippine authorities have he Philippines and China eignty. banned hanging rosaries played down yesterday a Senate minority leader, Pand religious icons off car Twarning by President Ro- Frank Drilon, said the gov- dashboards because of safety con- drigo Duterte that China would ernment “should not allow cerns, prompting an outcry from go to war if the Philippines our country to be bullied and the Catholic Church which insists drilled for oil in the disputed threatened,” while former for- they off er “divine intervention” South China Sea. eign minister Albert del Rosa- on the nation’s chaotic roads. The outspoken Philippine rio said Manila should do joint The ban, which will take eff ect president has been facing criti- maritime patrols with tradi- on Friday, is part of a wide-ranging cism at home for being what tional ally the United States, new law aimed at eliminating dis- some people see as too soft on an idea he said Duterte had tractions for drivers. These include China over a long-running ter- jettisoned as part of his “full talking or sending messages on ritorial dispute. embrace of China”. mobile phones, putting on make- Duterte met China’s Presi- Duterte chafes at what he up, and eating or drinking coff ee dent Xi Jinping for talks in Bei- considers Philippine subser- while driving, according to Aileen jing last week and later said Xi vience to the United States Lizada, spokeswoman for the na- had warned him there would and has sought to engage more tional transport regulatory agency. be war if the Philippines tried with China, which has prom- But it is the ban on the religious to explore for oil in a disputed ised loans and investment that icons and trinkets — which visi- stretch of sea. will be vital to his ambitious tors to the Philippines inevitably Foreign Secretary Alan Pe- $180bn infrastructure over- see hanging off rearview mirrors ter Cayetano said their meeting haul. in taxis and the colourful mini- was frank and friendly, and the Supreme Court Associate buses known as jeepneys — that discussion was largely about Justice Antonio Carpio on Sat- has stirred the most controversy. preventing confl ict, not threat- Newly-installed Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano (right) delivers a statement during a flag raising at the Department of Foreign Aff airs head- urday urged the government to Roughly 80% of the Philip- ening it. quarters in Pasay City, Metro Manila, yesterday. fi le another international arbi- pines’ 100mn people are Catholic. “The conversation was tration case over the reported “This is an overreaction, insen- very frank. There was mutual He added: “I will not contra- make light of Duterte’s com- Duterte made no mention of case brought by the Philip- Chinese threat, and also lodge a sitive and lacks common sense,” respect, there was mutual dict the president’s words. I am ments, noting he and Xi had the issue during a news brief- pines against China, which was complaint with the United Na- Father Jerome Secillano, executive trust,” Cayetano told report- just telling you...my interpre- agreed to “strengthen commu- ing yesterday before he left for largely in favour of the Philip- tions. secretary for public aff airs at the ers. tation: there was no bullying nication” on important bilateral Russia. Duterte’s critics have pines. Presidential Spokesman Er- Catholic Bishops’ Conference of “The context was not threat- or pushing around, it was not a issues. made much of his refusal to China has never recognised nesto Abella said the Philip- the Philippines, said yesterday. ening each other, that we will go threat.” China was willing to work push China to comply with the case. The court said the pines was “very clear that we “With these religious images, to war. The context is how do we Speaking in Beijing, Chinese with the Philippines to handle a ruling last year by the Per- Philippines had a sovereign are not giving up our claim drivers feel they are safer, that there stabilise the region and how do Foreign Ministry spokeswoman disputes peacefully, she told re- manent Court of Arbitration right to access off shore oil and of sovereignty and sovereign is divine intervention and they are we prevent confl ict.” Hua Chunying also sought to porters. in The Hague, at the end of a gas fi elds in its Exclusive Eco- rights”. being guided and protected.”

Tough life President begins visit to Russia in blow to US

AFP year he announced the Philip- Manila pines’ “separation” from the United States. “I’ve realigned myself in your hilippine President Rod- ideological fl ow and maybe I will rigo Duterte fl ew to Russia also go to Russia to talk to Putin Pyesterday to meet his hero, and tell him that there are three seek arms and steer his nation’s of us against the world — China, foreign policy further away from Philippines and Russia. longtime ally the United States. It’s the only way,” he said at The fi ve-day trip will cement Duterte: broadening ties with nations that time. a dramatic improvement in rela- Duterte and Putin fi rst met on tions with Russia since Duterte ed South China Sea and called the sidelines of an Asia-Pacifi c came to power last year and be- for the withdrawal of US troops summit in Peru last November. gan unravelling his country’s from the Philippines. Since then, two Russian Navy decades-long alliances with the US military ties have been fl otillas have visited Manila. United States, which he accuses loosened even though China “The Russians are with me, I of hypocrisy and bullying. is expanding its presence into shall not be afraid,” Duterte said “Russia must cease to be at Philippine-claimed waters in the while touring the Russian Navy’s the margins of Philippine di- South China Sea. guided missile cruiser Varyag plomacy. Overdependence on Duterte said last week that during a port visit to Manila last traditional partners has limited Chinese President Xi Jinping month. our room to manoeuvre in a very had threatened to go to war with Duterte said last week one of dynamic international arena,” the Philippines over the territo- the top priorities of his trip to Duterte told reporters before rial row. Russia was to secure precision- leaving. But Duterte, a self-described guided bombs to use on militants “This is a strategic oversight socialist, has been determined to in the southern Philippines. A mother and her children rest at their dwelling inside a cemetery in Makati, Metro Manila yesterday. that has led to many missed op- reduce the Philippines’ reliance He had also previously said portunities for our country. I am on the United States and build he hoped the Philippines would determined to correct this.” much closer ties with China and soon be able to start acquiring The trip will also be personal Russia. other Russian weapons. for Duterte, who has described “My visit underscores the in- The Philippines and Russia Russian President Vladimir Pu- dependence of the Philippines’ established diplomatic ties 41 tin as his “favourite hero” and foreign policy and the fi rm re- years ago but until Duterte took Investigation sought over prosecutor’s killing proclaimed a bond because of solve to broaden the horizons offi ce relations remained rela- mutual passions such as guns of friendship and co-operation tively low-key. and hunting. with other nations,” he said yes- This was partly due to Ma- By Jomar Canlas sonal or related to his work as a fi scal. ered three empty shells from a calibre 45 The pair are due to meet on terday. nila’s alliance with the United Manila Times Initial investigation showed that Azar- pistol. Ramirez added they would look for Thursday. China and Russia have sup- States. con was walking to his car when the lone any CCTV cameras in the area that might Since assuming the presiden- ported or at least not criticised Philippine-Russian trade last gunman wearing a jacket and a helmet ap- have caught the incident to determine the cy Duterte has sought to build Duterte’s controversial war on year totalled just $226mn, ac- ustice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has proached the prosecutor and fi red at him identities of the suspects. strong alliances with China and drugs, which has left thousands cording to government data, directed the National Bureau of Inves- point-blank. Azarcon was the fourth fi scal killed since Russia while moving away from of people dead and led to warn- while Philippine-US trade was Jtigation (NBI) to probe the killing of a Witnesses said the gunman fi red two October 2016. the United States, the Philip- ings by rights groups that he may worth more than $18bn last year. prosecutor who was gunned down around more shots at the victim before walking to- On January 11, Quezon City prosecutor pines’ former colonial ruler and be orchestrating a crime against Duterte’s visit to Moscow will 8am yesterday by a motorcycle-riding man, ward a waiting motorcycle driven by a co- Noel Mingoa was shot at close range while most important military ally. humanity. be a “propaganda victory for outside his home in Caloocan City. hort. outside a restaurant along Commonwealth He has scaled down the Duterte has railed against the Putin and a soft-power coup for Aguirre also ordered the NBI to send a Police reports said there were six persons Avenue. Surigao City prosecutor Manuel number and scope of annual United States, particularly when Russia”, analyst Richard Javad team of agents to the residence of Prosecu- involved in the killing who were all wearing Tesioma was attacked in February and Mati military exercises with the Unit- Barack Obama was president, for Heydarian said. tor Diosdado Azarcon on 9th Avenue and masks and fl ed on board three motorcycles. City prosecutor Rolando Acido was shot ed States, barred Filipino forces criticising the drug war. “It will be their way of poking Galauran Street, Barangay 63, and check Case investigator Senior Police Offi cer 1 dead outside the Mati City Hall of Justice on from joint patrols in the disput- On a state visit to China last the eye of America.” whether the motive for his killing was per- Michael Anthony Ramirez said they recov- October 26, 2016. Executive order signed to rename Benham Rise

By Catherine S Valente ‘Benham Rise’ in local and international maps and charts of the Philippines. sued on 12 April 2012.” “The Benham ed to change the name of Benham Rise Recto (Reed) Bank, part of the Kalayaan Manila Times maps and charts, shall henceforth be He also instructed the Department Rise Region is subject to the sovereign to “emphasise the Philippine sovereign (Spratly) group of islands. referred to as the ‘Philippine Rise.’” of Foreign Aff airs (DFA), in consulta- rights and jurisdiction of the Philip- rights and jurisdiction over the area.” In a statement, presidential spokes- “In the exercise of its sovereign tion with Namria and other concerned pines pursuant to relevant provisions The president had earned criticism man Ernesto Abella yesterday reiter- resident Rodrigo Duterte has rights and jurisdiction, the Philippines agencies, to transmit the appropriate of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, for supposed inaction on China’s pres- ated that the country would not give signed an executive order of- has the exclusive power to designate notifi cations to international organi- national legislation, the Unclos (Unit- ence on Benham Rise. In April, he ad- up its rights on the territory and would Pfi cially changing the name of its submarine areas with appropriate sations. ed Nations Convention on the Law of mitted that he gave China a green light pursue its claims through peaceful Benham Rise, an undersea region that nomenclature for purposes of the na- The EO described the Philippine Sea), and applicable international law,” to conduct research activities near means. is part of Philippine territory, to “Phil- tional mapping system,” Duterte said Rise region as a 24mn hectare area “lo- the EO added. the underwater landmass but claimed “We are very clear that we are not ippine Rise,” months after reports of in the EO. cated within the Philippine exclusive Duterte renamed Benham Rise to China was not inclined to claim Ben- giving up our claim of sovereignty and Chinese activity in the area. The president tasked the National economic zone and continental shelf, Philippine Rise following reports that ham Rise. sovereign rights over certain islands in Executive Order 25, signed by the Mapping and Resource Information as well as the outer limits of the con- Chinese vessels were seen patrolling The new EO was also released days the South China Sea, at the same time, president on May 16 and released to Authority (Namria) to indicate the tinental shelf in accordance with the near the Philippine-owned territory after Duterte’s revelation that China these matters are pursued in the con- the media yesterday, states that “the name “Philippine Rise,” in lieu of recommendations of the Commission for three months in 2016. had threatened to use force against text of maintaining peace and prosper- undersea feature presently known as the name Benham Rise, in all official on Limits of the Continental Shelf is- Malacanang had said Duterte want- the Philippines if it extracted oil from ity in the region,” Abella said. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 25 SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL Everest toll mounts to 4 as rescuers fi nd body

AFP “A search and rescue team has by altitude sickness after reach- calmed over the weekend, open- mountain in a single day, Sherpa said. Kathmandu seen his body,” Thupden Sherpa ing 7,500m and died as he was ing a narrow window for climbers Legendary Swiss climber Ueli of Arun Treks and Expeditions trying to descend. His name has to make a bid for the top. Steck died in late April while said. Sherpa said that Kumar’s not yet been offi cially released. Despite the large numbers on an acclimatization climb, escuers on Everest found body was spotted about 200m crowding towards the peak, and 85-year-old Min Bahadur the body of a missing In- (650ft) from the main route More than a dozen climbers there have been no reports of Sherchan perished in May while Rdian climber yesterday, and the team was assessing the have been rescued from long queues. attempting to reclaim his title taking the toll from a deadly feasibility of retrieving it. the 8,848m (29,030ft ) Over a hundred climbers were as the world’s oldest person to weekend on the world’s highest An American doctor Roland mountain in the last three expected to attempt to summit summit Everest. peak to four. Yearwood and Slovak climber days aft er running into from Nepal’s south side yester- More than 120 climbers have Three other climbers died on Vladimir Strba both perished diffi culties on the world’s day before the weather changes successfully summited Everest Everest over the weekend, one on Sunday above the 8,000m highest peak in the next few days and brings from the south side so far this President Maithripala Sirisena: “This cabinet reshuff le will provide of the deadliest episodes since mark - an area known as the strong winds, according to season, with another 80 reaching a new impetus to Sri Lanka’s development.” an avalanche swept through mountain’s “death zone” where More than a dozen climb- forecasts. the peak from the Tibet side. base camp two years ago, killing the thin air heightens the risk of ers have been rescued from the “Today there might be as Hundreds are still waiting to 18. All the fatalities appear to be altitude sickness. 8,848m (29,030ft) mountain in many as 150 climbers reaching summit before the monsoon ar- related to altitude sickness. An Australian climber died the last three days after running the top from the Nepal side, but rives in early June, marking the Indian climber Ravi Kumar, 27, on the Tibet side of the moun- into diffi culties on the world’s it isn’t a record number,” Ang end of the short spring climbing reached the summit on Saturday tain, local media reported, quot- highest peak, helicopter rescue Tsering Sherpa, head of the Ne- season. Lanka switches but lost contact shortly after. His ing the Tibet Mountaineering operators said. pal Mountaineering Association, Last year Everest claimed the Nepali guide managed to reach Association. The season has been marked said. lives of fi ve climbers, while a to- Camp 4, just below 8,000m, but The 54-year-old from by strong winds and unusually In 2012, 255 climbers sum- tal of 640 people summited from sustained severe frostbite. Queensland was reportedly hit cold temperatures, the weather mited from both sides of the both sides of the mountain. foreign, fi nance South African ministers in permit-dodger fi rst reshuffl e

freed on bail AFP 2015 presidential elections. Colombo But Sirisena’s eff orts since then to wrestle back control of AFP government decides the fi ne his SLFP have sowed tension Kathmandu amount, he can pay and col- ri Lankan President within the joint alliance with lect his passport,” Dinesh Maithripala Sirisena an- the UNP, led by Prime Minister Bhattarai, head of the tourism Snounced his fi rst cabinet Ranil Wickremesinghe. South African who was department, said. reshuffl e yesterday, switching Yesterday’s reshuffl e detained in Nepal for “We are looking at the laws his fi nance and foreign min- had been foreshadowed for Atrying to climb Mount to decide on action against isters as he resists mounting months, and was opposed by Everest without a permit was him if he fails to pay.” pressure from a breakaway the UNP, which feared los- released on bail yesterday after Davy has said he cannot faction in his own party. ing powerful posts within the paying a $10 bond. aff ord the fine. Sirisena swapped the port- coalition. Ryan Sean Davy, 43, spent When caught two weeks ago folios held by Finance Minister Wickremesinghe attended six days in police custody after the South African told offi cials Ravi Karunanayake and For- yesterday’s swearing in cer- A patient waits for medical care at a state hospital in Colombo. being caught hiding in a cave he climbed as far as Camp One eign Minister Mangala Sama- emony for new ministers, near Everest base camp with- - at 6,000m (nearly 20,000ft) raweera in a shake-up aimed which was off limits to the out the permit costing $11,000 – despite not having proper at quelling dissent within the media. There was no imme- needed to climb the world’s equipment. uneasy government he has led diate comment from the UNP tallest mountain. His passport was confi s- since August 2015. regarding the shake-up. He was arrested during cated by government offi - The president asked his Sirisena also removed Ports Lanka health services questioning under Nepal’s cials, who ordered he return cabinet to “ensure collective Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, strict public order laws for to Kathmandu to collect it and responsibility through friend- who had been resisting gov- swearing at tourism offi cials - pay a fi ne – a journey he made ship with each other and ernment eff orts to forge a allegations he denies. by foot because he could not commitment to develop the partnership with China to de- “I paid them Rs1,000 ($10). aff ord a plane ticket. country.” velop a loss-making, deep-sea hit as doctors strike That’s what I had in my pock- Johannesburg-born but “This cabinet reshuffl e port in the island’s south. et,” Davy said at the Kathman- US-based, Davy moved to As- will provide a new impetus Ranatunga, who captained du district offi ce, where he was pen in Colorado six months to Sri Lanka’s development,” Sri Lanka to victory in the IANS being turned away from the state GMOA secretary Nalinda brought for the bail hearing. ago to prepare for his Everest Sirisena said in a statement. 1996 Cricket World Cup, Colombo hospitals without medical at- Herath said the strike was to op- The South African, who has bid, living out of a van as he The two ministers - key was shifted to the petro- tention, Xinhua news agency pose the government’s attempts no prior mountaineering experi- was short on cash. powerbrokers in the coalition leum ministry in the reshuf- reported. to arrest GMOA president Anu- ence, said he could not aff ord the He said he taught himself to - have been fending off calls fl e, which saw nine ministers undreds of patients The GMOA announced last ruddha Padeniya on contempt hefty permit fee but wanted to climb by reading mountain- for their removal from a rogue interchanged. across Sri Lanka went week that it would launch the of court charges, and the police scale Everest and document his eering books and watching faction of Sirisena’s Sri Lanka The reshuffl e comes as Hwithout treatment yes- token strike to protest several action taken against medical experience in a book and fi lm. YouTube videos. Freedom Party (SLFP). Sirisena faces mounting crit- terday as government doctors issues, including the police students last week. He still faces charges related Davy said that had he Sirisena defected from the icism from the international went on a 24-hour strike, crip- fi ring tear gas on medical stu- However, he said emergency to his summit attempt, which reached the Everest summit SLFP in late 2014, and with community over the slow pling the island’s health sector. dents during a May 17 pro- services, maternity hospitals, carries a maximum $22,000 he planned to cross to the Ti- the support of the United Na- pace of promised reforms and The strike by doctors of the test to oppose legalising the children hospitals, cancer hos- fi ne - double the cost of the bet side of the mountain – a tional Party (UNP) success- delays in addressing Sri Lan- Government Medical Offi cers SAITM College which is Sri pitals, tri-forces hospitals and permit he was trying to avoid. move that would have landed fully challenged his former ka’s wartime past through Association (GMOA) that began Lanka’s fi rst private medical renal treatment units would be “The decision against him him in trouble with Chinese boss and war-era president, a mediated reconciliation yesterday at 8am led to patients college. free from the strike. is in process but once the authorities as well. Mahinda Rajapakse, at the process.

Indian Navy finds missing boat The Indian Navy yesterday said it Bangladeshi Nepal torches wildlife parts has located a Maldivian landing craft which had gone missing two days back, and all crew members AFP are safe, IANS reports from Male. Kathmandu The landing craft Maria 3 was man killed in travelling from K Thulusdhoo, an island in the Maldives archipelago, epal destroyed thou- to another island, L Gan, on sands of valuable animal Thursday when it went missing. Nskins and other parts The Indian Navy had sent a Kora- tiger attack seized from poachers on a gi- class corvette, INS Kirch, and ant bonfi re yesterday in a sym- a Dornier aircraft to locate the bolic gesture against the illegal missing boat. By Mizan Rahman ers, more than 1,100 people, wildlife trade. Indian ambassador to the Dhaka mostly honey and wood col- More than 4,000 animal Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra, lectors and fi shermen de- parts, including endangered ti- applauded the crew of the Indian pendent on the Sundarbans ger skins and rhino hides, were Navy Dornier, Indian Navy ALH, honey collector was have been killed by tigers in burned in a large pyre at Chit- and INS Kirch and their Maldives killed in an attack by the last 10 years. wan National Park, the nation’s National Defence Force (MNDF) Aa tiger in the Sunda- Honey collectors are al- most important conservation colleagues for their exemplary rbans forest of Bangladesh lowed to enter the mangrove area. co-ordination and co-operation yesterday. forest at certain times of “As a country committed to to ensure success of the The victim was identifi ed the year. On the other hand, conservation of wildlife and bio- humanitarian operation. as Khokon Khan, 55, hailing leaf collectors gather ‘gol- diversity, Nepal has destroyed “I feel very proud of the from Shyamnagar sub-dis- pata’ (leaves of Nipa palm) animal parts stored over 20 professionalism, unflinching trict of southwestern Satkhira and other resources on a years,” Maheswor Dhakal from courage and commitment to district. regular basis under govern- the Department of National duty displayed by the Indian Abiar Rahman, a local Un- ment management since the Parks and Wildlife Conservation naval off icers in undertaking the ion Parishad member, said, leaves become useless if not said. search and rescue operation in an Khokon along with some collected. “With this we want to send a extremely challenging weather,” other honey collectors went Leaders worker Mohan Ku- message that these body parts Army personnel burn wildlife parts seized from poachers at Chitwan National Park, some 250km south of the ambassador said. to the forest area for collecting mar Mondol said, “Tigers can of endangered animals are not Kathmandu, yesterday. On Saturday evening the Dornier honey after taking pass from easily sense the presence of meant for trade.” picked a vessel floating around 60 Burigoalini Forest Offi ce three human in the vicinity from the The stockpile included 67 ti- Dhakal said the storage and them from going to market ... civil war that ended in 2006. nautical miles away from its last days ago. smoke and the smell of burn- ger skins, more than 350 rhino security of the animal speci- and it is also a statement that The government ordered offi cials known position, and informed the A tiger swooped on the boat ing beehives.” hides, hair from elephant tails mens was also a fi nancial burden the government of Nepal and the guarding wildlife sanctuaries ship which was around 50 nautical and dragged Khokon away On the other hand, leaf and other items. for the small and impoverished people believe that it (the animal) to abandon their posts to fi ght miles away, the Indian Navy said. early in the morning. collectors lose lives when The bonfi re was timed to co- country. should be in the wild,” Phocas Maoist rebels. The boat, which had its forward ramp Later his body was recov- they enter the forest to col- incide with International Day for George Phocas, the region- said. But conservation groups have collapsed and was unable to propel, ered from the forest, said Bur- lect leaves. “Tiger dens Biological Diversity yesterday. al attaché for the US Fish and “These are priceless but they praised the Himalayan nation for was then located by INS Kirch. igoalini station offi cer Belal are usually located in or Another 1,100kg of ivory Wildlife Service, said the torch- don’t have a value if they are dead its progress since then in com- “Kirch has confirmed all crew Hossain. around the Golpata trees. So is still in storage since it re- ing of the specimens was “very and in the closet.” bating poachers, who mainly members are safe. MNDF has been According to non-gov- they become easy targets,” quires a higher temperature to signifi cant”. Nepal suff ered rampant hunt tigers and rhinos in its informed,” Navy spokesperson ernment organisation Lead- Mohan said. incinerate. “It is both a way to prevent poaching during a decade-long national parks. Captain D K Sharma said. Gulf Times 26 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 COMMENT

Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Deputy Managing Editor: K T Chacko Cholera takes hold

P.O.Box 2888 Doha, Qatar [email protected] in war-weary Yemen Telephone 44350478 (news), 44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) IRIN being cared for, told IRIN the hospital Fax 44350474 Sanaa was overstretched even before the outbreak and was now having to turn away patients who had developed ilal al-Asri brought his wife kidney failure from severe untreated to a hospital in Yemen’s cholera. “Medical solutions [for IV capital, Sanaa, nearly two etc.] are barely available,” he said. Hweeks ago, expecting her “And if we have them today, there GULF TIMES cholera would be cleared up quickly won’t be any tomorrow.” and they’d be on their way. Some stopgaps are in place – aid Today, three of his fi ve children agencies are handing out chlorine share a bed next to hers, all of them tablets quickly to stop the use of hooked up to fl uid drips in a makeshift contaminated water (and may soon ward hastily assembled to deal with be stepping in to fill a gap that How Real broke an outbreak that has killed 315 and is isn’t in their normal remit: garbage suspected to have infected more than collection) – but this is a country 29,300 since 27 April, according to the woefully underprepared for a Ministry of Health’s latest count. significant escalation in the cholera Barca’s La Liga A nurse sits in a narrow corridor outbreak and badly struggling taking blood samples from new already. arrivals, all of them women and In one unseen part of society – the children in what is, in more ordinary country’s prisons – containment times, a maternity hospital. Some action needs to be taken quickly. domination patients lie on the fl oor. Children Stillhart mentioned Sanaa Central scream in pain, many of them Prison, which he estimates holds Real Madrid have the undesired tag of being the all- shockingly thin. 3,000 people in crowded conditions powerful, star-studded team that frequently ends up It’s “a disaster”, 35-year old al-Asri Public hospitals have been overwhelmed by the influx of cholera patients. and where the ICC has counted six fi nishing second best to the universally-loved Barcelona in says, watching Yemen’s epidemic cholera cases already. This could be take hold of his family and home city country’s 1.2mn public sector workers The cholera outbreak in Sana’a, an ideal place for quick spread of La Liga. But not this time. at a speed that is deeply worrisome – including doctors, teachers, and and elsewhere is, Stillhart said, “very the disease, he said, adding that the The Los Blancos became the Spanish league champions – Melissa McRae, head of mission soldiers – have gone unpaid. But in clearly a sign of how the confl ict has ICRC has already upped its work in for the fi rst time since 2012 after they defeated Malaga 2-0 for Médecins Sans Frontières, which Sanaa, at least, there have still been brought the country to its knees.” detention centres like this to improve alone has treated 1,670 patients, told ways for an enterprising populace to “In a protracted confl ict, you have hygiene fast. in their last match of the season. This triumph was even IRIN she is “very concerned that the hustle some kind of existence. The direct impact,” he said, referring to In a separate statement, Stillhart sweeter because they had prevented Barca from winning disease will continue to spread and cholera epidemic is threatening to violent deaths and injuries: “these highlighted how thousands of three consecutive league titles. become out of control”. change that. are the visible things that everybody families had no contact with relatives Those controlling the capital – an Al-Asri is worried that he won’t be focuses on.” detained in connection with the To put things into perspective, before this title glory, Barca uneasy alliance of Houthi rebels and able to aff ord his family’s treatment “But what we see less is the fact that confl ict. “Enforced disappearances had won six of the eight previous championships. So what forces loyal to former president Ali at al-Sabeen Hospital. It’s a public because of the economic downturn, and allegations of ill-treatment and did Zinedine Zidane and his boys do diff erently this time Abdullah Saleh – have this week facility and free, but patients must lack of credit line for traders, absence deteriorating conditions further add to declared a “state of emergency” in the pay for medications not in stock. “It of payment for government workers… the plight of detainees and to families’ around? city, which alone has 4,000 cases of causes one so much anxiety,” he says. all of this is taking a very heavy toll. anxiety,” he said. The potential of One of the biggest factors is that Real have been able to cholera. Poor families are hosting displaced Every single Yemeni family is now cholera festering in prisons is unlikely fi nd the back of the net in every match this season. This Cholera should be an easy disease relatives (the war has driven an aff ected by the confl ict, and the to ease their worries. Last year, the includes goals against powerhouses like Bayern Munich and to treat and control – it takes estimated 2mn Yemenis from their [collapse] of the health system really ICRC said it visited more than 11,000 rehydration, sometimes antibiotics, homes) and some are resorting to what epitomises this.” detainees in Yemen and 250 Yemeni Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and also against and containment. But after two years of aid agencies call “negative coping For a country already fi ghting off detainees in Saudi Arabia, but many their arch-rivals Barcelona in La Liga. And the goals have war, the country and its capital are worn mechanisms”, of the kind that can famine, uncontrolled cholera could be still remain off -limits. come from diff erent players, not just the star forwards. Davi down, infrastructure is destroyed, and foster cholera, in particular, according the last straw. Rare in a confl ict that has often been the outbreak is vividly and alarmingly to Unicef spokesman Mohamed al- “There is a big gap in the resources called forgotten, Stillhart pointed Carvajal and Fabio Coentrao are the only outfi eld players exposing the dysfunction, decay, and Asaadi, “using water from untreated needed to respond to the crisis,” said out that there has been a fair bit of who have failed to score in La Liga. desperation that have long been just water sources”. Unicef’s al-Asaadi, explaining that aid media attention paid to the cholera The reason for this stat is also Zinedane’s squad rotation. beneath the surface. Al-Asaadi told IRIN that local agencies are having to fi ll all the gaps epidemic. “That’s good news,” he Some examples of the city’s sanitation systems are “struggling as the Ministry of Health is virtually said, explaining how the authorities For many matches, the Frenchman hasn’t been afraid to rest degradation – the sort that have to operate and maintain liquid waste broke. Unicef has helped al-Sabeen were now facilitating the movement players like Isco, James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata from allowed cholera to take hold – are treatment and safe disposal systems”. Hospital, for example, move patients of intravenous fl uids and rehydration the starting eleven. These players would make the starting immediately evident. Garbage lies in And “in rural areas, open defecation is out of hallways and into temporary salts – important in a country where lineup for any team in the world right now. But on occasions piles on the streets, even in areas that still the norm.” wards. the movement of aid workers has been are still relatively wealthy. Collectors It’s a terrible combination: Al-Asaadi, and other extremely limited and in some places when he played with these players, the team stepped up and have been on strike, protesting wages “multifactorial”, as MSF’s McRae put humanitarians, cited “big delays impossible. delivered the results – often better than his ‘regular XI’. It unpaid by the Houthi alliance. it. Social networks have eff ectively in bringing in supplies to Yemen… The need to help Yemen prepare was this strength in depth helped them win the trophy. Other impacts of the war are less collapsed. caused by the long clearance process for the worst is made more urgent visible. The city has suff ered less from Dominik Stillhart, director of on all sorts of imported medical by the fact that the wet season, And then there’s the form of Cristiano Ronaldo this the extreme hunger – nearing famine operations for the International supplies.” The protracted process usually in July and August, is fast season. Zidane has him playing a centre-forward instead of – that has gripped other parts of Committee of the Red Cross, told IRIN involves clearance from both the UN approaching. a winger, which gets him in the right positions to display his Yemen. People here are still extremely he had seen hospitals overfl owing with and, depending on the point of entry, “Without a rapid, co-ordinated, poor. Since Hadi’s government moved potential patients, some facilities so the Saudi-led coalition. This can take and decentralised response across lethal fi nishing skills without costing the team defensively. the Central Bank to its nominal overworked that patients were sitting several weeks, if not months. the country, there is a risk of further The star striker has also power base in the southern city of with IV drips in courtyards, one man Ali Haidar, an assistant doctor in the spread, especially with ongoing heavy often been left out of key Aden eight months ago, most of the even taking his fl uids in a car. cholera ward where al-Asri’s family is rains,” said MSF’s McRae . From a matches, in order to give reinvented him a deserved rest. This Ronaldo to helped rejuvenated the 32-year-old and helped Science and international development policy Zidane’s calming him score crucial goals against Sevilla, Celta Vigo infl uence, Real and Valencia that helped By Anne-Marie Slaughter of transnational cooperation that bear in mind. Green’s commitment Perhaps most important, the empower villagers to tackle problems. to the “aid reform agenda” has scientifi c method instils habits Madrid fi ght off Barca and and Kate Himes have done Washington, DC A team of scientists and engineers, been hailed by organisations of mind – the pursuit of truth, lift the title. rather than diplomats and confl ict- like the US Global Leadership knowledge, and good government everything right Apart from the players resolution experts, can provide a Coalition, a network of CEOs and – that are not only intrinsically NGOs committed to elevating both valuable, but also essential for 21st- delivering, one of the n the surface, the village at valuable pragmatic lens on what may this season the foot of the Tian Shan appear to be a tangled set of political development and diplomacy. And he century economic progress. In a biggest factors is the Mountains looks similar to and cultural issues. During US-Soviet was deeply involved in establishing the 2016 commencement address at the reassuring presence of Zidane. The Frenchman has an Oits neighbours. Men stand arms-control negotiations during Millennium Challenge Corporation, California Institute of Technology, unmatchable resume as a player that made it easy for him to near the canal wearing traditional the Cold War, and, more recently, which provides aid to countries that the surgeon and writer Atul Gawande kalpak hats, children play in the river, during international negotiations meet clearly specifi ed economic and described science as “a commitment earn the respect of his squad. His predecessor Rafa Benitez and women bake naan, the round over Iran’s nuclear program, Western political criteria. to a systematic way of thinking, wasn’t able to handle the tricky Real dressing room but fl aky Kyrgyz bread. But unlike other and Iranian physicists often found To advance his goals, Green an allegiance to a way of building Zidane was able to calm the squad down. communities along the Aspara River, common ground more readily than the would do well to increase the knowledge and explaining the this village is addressing the water politicians. role of science and technology in universe through testing and factual Not only was Zidane able to get more out of his Galacticos security challenges they face, rather Science- and engineering-based development practice, building on observation.” but he got crucial out of players like Lucas Vazquez and than ignoring them. solutions to global challenges have the work of the Global Development That commitment implies a “weird Marco Asensio when called upon. Supported by a science-based also sparked major innovations, Lab at USAID, launched by Barack way of being,” Gawande continued. international development such as the Green Revolution, which Obama’s administration. Scientifi c “You are supposed to have scepticism With Barcelona constantly on their tail, this was one of programme, the newly created tackled the devastation caused experimentation and technological and imagination, but not too much. those times when Real did not crumble under the pressure. local water management council by wheat rust, and pioneering innovation advance eff ectiveness and You are supposed to suspend Despite losing to their arch-rivals at the Santiago Bernabeu now meets with a similar council immunisation techniques that accountability through clear metrics judgment, yet exercise it. Ultimately, across the international border in dramatically reduced the spread of of success and failure. you hope to observe the world with an in April – match considered to be a title-defi ning one — Real Kazakhstan. Together, the councils measles and polio. And such solutions Evidence-based solutions call open mind, gathering facts and testing continued to plug away and get the wins. solved a decades-old problem that continue to address development for evidence: results delivered, your predictions and expectations Barcelona ended up scoring an impressive 116 goals this aff ected the ability to feed children, challenges. A recently developed not resources invested. Original against them.” season but at times failed to win against smaller teams. In threatened regional security, and microbicide reduces the transmission development solutions grounded in Science and technology can never prevented enforcement of a 1948 of HIV/Aids by 39%. Geospatial data science are thus created in parallel be a panacea; the neutrality of the the big games the Catalans raised their game and got the treaty determining how much water locate freshwater sources and improve with innovative monitoring systems scientifi c method will always run up results but consistency was lacking and that is what Real each village may use to grow crops. development assistance eff ectiveness. that require programme evaluation. against the passions and interests of were able to deliver. Applying local solutions to And a new diagnostic tool identifi es The result is an efficient and politics, which can drive scientists development challenges, these Kyrgyz the presence of multidrug-resistant effective use of public and private to create nerve gas and atomic Real have cracked the code this season. Now to see if they water management councils built tuberculosis and guides medical staff financing. weapons as readily as new seeds and can continue it. diversion canals and installed a simple to precise treatment solutions. Moreover, science and technology- desalinated water. Still, now more meter to monitor the amount of water The list goes on. The Famine Early based approaches to development than ever, in what Alphabet Executive used by each village. Constructed from Warning System Network (FEWS can sidestep partisan posturing. Chairman Eric Schmidt calls the “age material available in the villages, the NET) alerts governments to possible Notwithstanding the intense political of intelligence,” the dissemination To Advertise new canals connect to the meter and food shortages. The Volcanic Disaster debate in the US over climate of new tools and habits to expand computers, allowing real-time water- Assistance Programme provides real- change, science is upheld globally knowledge is a core element of human [email protected] fl ow data to be shared in each village. time information about impending as a neutral endeavour, and often development around the world. – Display Though the development assistance natural disasters, from volcanoes provides an opportunity for bilateral Project Syndicate Telephone 44466621 Fax 44418811 has concluded, these international to subsequent earthquakes and and multilateral co-operation that water managers now are mitigating tsunamis. Looking forward, dirt- complements – and strengthens – zAnne-Marie Slaughter, President Classified the impact of increasing water fl ow powered fuel cells could light remote diplomatic relationships. In recent and CEO of New America, is the Telephone 44466609 Fax 44418811 from glacial melt, while intensifying villages so children can study, and years, a large number of civilian author of Unfinished Business: regional agriculture demand by co- large-scale water desalination plants agencies – including those with a Women Men Work Family. Kate Subscription designing water-use forecasts and may generate drinking water from the science focus – have been engaging in Himes, former American Association [email protected] planting drought-tolerant crops. ocean. international assistance programmes for the Advancement of Science Policy Scientifi c water management thus These are all examples that Mark and initiatives, covering areas such Fellow at USAID, is Foreign Policy solved both a development problem Green, who has just been nominated as public health, education, disease Interrupted Fellow and Adjunct 2017 Gulf Times. All rights reserved and a diplomatic problem, increasing to head up the US Agency for prevention, police training, trade Faculty at The Evergreen State water supply and fostering habits International Development, should promotion, and clean water. College. Gulf Times Tuesday, May 23, 2017 27 COMMENT How to be an open economy

By Michael Spence of rapid structural change. Because be stronger in a low-output, high- Milan supply-side adjustments are slow, unemployment economy, because it is painful, and costly, they should not be worse to be laid off in such conditions. made unnecessarily. As a rule, a government should not he word “openness” has But, like closed economies that miss introduce structural reforms until it two related but distinct out on the benefi ts of trade altogether, has fi rst gotten its economy moving connotations. It can open economies with signifi cant with fi scal and investment-oriented Tmean that something institutional or political obstacles to policies. Proceeding in this order is unrestricted, accessible, and structural change will underperform. will reduce the political resistance possibly vulnerable; or it can mean This explains why many open to change. As it happens, Europe is that something, such as a person or economies today are failing to adapt to currently experiencing a modest but institution, is transparent, as opposed new technologies and trade patterns. signifi cant surge in growth. But whether to secretive. Too often, policymakers want to policymakers will take advantage of this The first meaning is often prevent change from occurring at opportunity to pursue needed reforms is applied to trade, investment, and all. But while blocking change can anyone’s guess. technology (though most definitions protect existing industries and jobs for One fi nal lesson to bear in mind is do not match opportunity with a while, doing so dramatically deters that structural change is not just an vulnerability), which have always investment, and eventually hurts unfortunate side eff ect of growth and driven structural economic growth and employment. the creation of new jobs and sectors; changes, especially with respect to A country’s economic and social- rather, it is an integral part of these employment. Structural change can security structure can also stand in processes. be simultaneously beneficial and the way of change. As former Greek One can see this clearly in disruptive. And policymakers have Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis successful developing countries, long had to strike a balance between observes, the promise of a long-term where the recipes for growth include the abstract principle of openness growth dividend from structural openness, modern sectors, trade, high and concrete measures to limit the reform is not enough to allay people’s levels of investment, and an expanding worst effects of change. Openness increases the economic and political salience of investments in human capital and a strong social safety net. concerns about the immediate or human-capital base. These countries Fortunately, academic research near-term future, especially in a semi- are not spared from structural shifts and historical perspective can to one tradable sector can aff ect the countries that are susceptible to the article in The Atlantic in which he stagnant economy. If you replace and distributional challenges. But help policymakers respond to this entire economy. “Dutch disease” – when one strong, attributed this undesirable dislocation something with nothing, you have to their transitions are faster and less challenge intelligently. Consider the It wasn’t always so. Small- and capital-intensive sector hurts other in New England to tax subsidies in expect signifi cant political and social painful, because investments run experience of Northern Europe’s medium-size economies such as sectors by pushing up the value of southern states. Such practices, he resistance. broadly across their public and private small developed countries, which Canada, Australia, and New Zealand the currency. This has given rise to argued, would lead to ineffi ciently high If structural reforms are not sectors, and across tangible and tend to be open, and for good reason: used to have protectionist policies that continuing concerns about under- levels of industrial mobility, because accompanied by social-security intangible assets. if they were not, they would have to over-diversifi ed their tradable sectors. diversifi cation, which would make corporations would pursue profi ts reforms, they are likely to fail. The Developed economies are not so over-diversify the tradable parts of But with increased international them vulnerable to volatility in wherever they could, regardless of the “Agenda 2010” reform programme diff erent in this respect. A signifi cant their economies to meet domestic trade and specialisation, the cost global commodity markets and pose impact on individual communities. initiated by former German across-the-board increase in demand. That would impose high of domestically produced goods – challenges for employment. To prevent this race to the bottom, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder in 2003 investment might not fi x all of costs, because the small size of the such as cars – relative to imports We tend to associate structural Kennedy called not for free trade, but is a good example of this multi- their distributional and adjustment domestic market would prevent them became too high for consumers to adjustments with international trade for regulations to make trade more fair prong approach; but it proved to be problems. But it certainly would from achieving economies of scale in bear. In the 1980s and 1990s, these and investment. But industrial activity and effi cient. politically perilous for Schroder, who help to spur growth and reduce technology, product development, and three countries began to open up, changes within countries all the time, Indeed, structural changes are was not re-elected in 2005. economic and political frictions in manufacturing. and experienced diffi cult structural and creates local- and regional-level necessary to improve dynamic How reforms are sequenced also their structural adaptations. – Project But these countries’ openness has transitions that nonetheless boosted challenges. For example, US textile effi ciency. But so, too, are policies matters. For example, incumbent Syndicate increased the economic and political productivity and provided broad- production, once heavily concentrated to ensure that investments and workers will be much more concerned salience of investments in human based benefi ts to citizens and in New England, shifted mainly to the economic activities are based on real with social-security reforms in a zMichael Spence, a Nobel laureate in capital and a strong social safety net. consumers. South (before relocating to Asia and comparative advantages, and not on poorly performing economy than in a economics, is Professor of Economics Social-security policies are doubly Still, striking the right balance is other lower-cost locales). transitory “beggar thy neighbour” booming economy. Political resistance at New York University’s Stern School important for small, specialised never easy. Canada, Australia, and In 1954, then-Senator John F. incentive structures. This is to structural reforms – especially of Business and Senior Fellow at the economies, because an external shock New Zealand are all resource-rich Kennedy wrote a long, fascinating particularly important during periods from older incumbent workers – will Hoover Institution.

Letters Weather report Three-day forecast

TODAY New hospitals etc. As an HR-Welfare professional, I India can play ME sive solution to this decades-old prob- High: 40 C profusely thank the government for lem. In fact, this problem deserves to Low : 31 C Inshore: Expected strong wind at most welcome the new “healthy” initiative. peacemaker’s role be solved at the earliest. places daytime Today, Palestine and Israel need a Dear Sir, V Kalyanaraman Dear Sir, honest peace broker, which India can Doha provide under the dynamic leadership WEDNESDAY The news item “Workers’ With reference to the news “Modi of its Prime Minister Narendra Modi. High: 38 C hospitals in Industrial Area, Shamal meets Abbas, renews support to Low: 30 C and Mesaieed” (Gulf Times, May Beware of Palestine cause” (Gulf Times, May 17), Ramesh G Jethwani Sunny 14) reinforces the unassailable fraudulent calls I would like to say India and Palestine Bengaluru, India commitment of the Qatar authorities have enjoyed brotherly ties historical- in ensuring the proper healthcare of ly. India has been one of the strongest THURSDAY all foreign workers in the country. Dear Sir, supporters of the Palestinian cause High: 40 C The offi cial support extended to the outside the Arab world. India with its Please send us Low: 30 C workers in various spheres of activities A couple of days ago, I received a conviction born out of its own fi ght Sunny is laudable and worthy of emulation call from a local number, the caller against the British empire, always your letters by other countries as a proactive identifying himself as an employee stood fi rmly behind the Palestinians’ approach to enhance workers’ well- of “Vodafone”. He asked me which struggle. By e-mail Fishermen’s forecast being. language I would prefer to speak and Mahatma Gandhi was of the view [email protected] OFFSHORE DOHA While work related to the hosting I told him to speak in English. But that Palestine belonged to the Arabs as Fax 44350474 Wind: NW 8-18 KT of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup is he suggested that we talk in Hindi. I France belonged to the French. India Waves: 3-5 Feet progressing according to the schedule, told him to go ahead and he “broke” wants to see a sovereign, independent Or Post INSHORE DOHA Wind: NW 5-12 KT news like opening of the new state-of- the “happy news” that I had won a and a viable Palestinian state which Letters to the Editor Waves: 1-3 Feet the-art hospitals at various strategic million riyals in a lottery conducted by co-exists peacefully with Israel. Even Gulf Times locations comes as a great relief not only “Vodafone”. the late Palestinian leader Yasser Around the region for the workers but also their families Then he gave me a 10-digit number Arafat greatly respected India for its P O Box 2888 Weather Weather in their home countries. Thanks to the and asked me to dial it for details. I unwavering support to the cause. Doha, Qatar today Max/min tomorrow Max/min eff orts of the authorities, the concept of told him: “Ok, but let me fi rst inform Palestine President Mahmoud Ab- Abu Dhabi Sunny 35/27 Sunny 36/28 welfare has gathered momentum with a the police as the owner of a million bas, who recently visited New Delhi, Baghdad M Sunny 38/24 Sunny 34/21 All letters, which are Dubai Sunny 36/24 Sunny 37/27 keen focus on workers’ interest. riyals would require police protection”. has rightly said that India had been a Kuwait City Sunny 38/29 P Cloudy 39/28 Also the Welfare-HR professionals’ He ended the call. I called Vodafone long-standing friend of the Palestin- subject to editing, should Manama Sunny 35/30 Sunny 37/31 role and responsibilities have and informed them about the incident. ian people. Today, India has infl uence have the name of the Muscat Sunny 38/32 Sunny 37/33 undergone a sea-change in the I just wanted to share my experience at the international level and New Del- Riyadh Sunny 41/28 Sunny 42/27 recent past. There have been all- so that Gulf Times’ readers are aware hi enjoys the trust of the Arab world writer, address and phone Tehran M Sunny 32/21 M Sunny 33/19 round improvements in various of such fraudsters, who are on the from the Gulf to Maghreb. Hence there number. The writer’s areas, namely payment of salaries lookout to fl eece gullible victims. is a growing possibility of India play- name and address may be through WPS, accommodation, ing a crucial role and participating in withheld by request. medical facilities, safety measures, Abdul Kareem ET the next round of Middle East peace recruitment process, fair treatment, Doha talks, which can lead to a comprehen- Live issues Tips on reducing sweating, body odour

Tribune News Service sweat glands: eccrine glands and zChoose clothing to suit your Washington apocrine glands. Eccrine glands occur activity. For daily wear, choose natural over most of your body and open fabrics, such as cotton, wool and silk. directly onto the surface of the skin. These allow your skin to breathe. weating and body odour are Apocrine glands develop in areas For exercise wear, you might prefer Around the world facts of life for most people. abundant in hair follicles, such as your synthetic fabrics developed to wick Weather Weather Heavy perspiration and body armpits and groin, and they empty moisture away from your skin. today Max/min tomorrow Max/min odour can happen when you into the hair follicle just before it zTry relaxation techniques. Athens M Sunny 26/16 M Sunny 25/16 S Beirut S T Storms 22/18 M Sunny 23/18 exercise, when you’re too warm, or opens onto the skin surface. Consider relaxation techniques, such Bangkok I T Storms 34/27 S T Storms 34/27 when you’re nervous, anxious or under You can do a number of things on When your body temperature rises, as meditation or biofeedback. These Berlin P Cloudy 24/10 S Showers 18/10 stress. your own to reduce sweating and your eccrine glands secrete fl uid onto practices can teach you to control the Cairo Sunny 31/18 Sunny 32/18 Your body has two main types of body odour. the surface of your skin, where it cools stress that triggers perspiration. Cape Town P Cloudy 21/14 S Showers 18/12 sweat glands, and they produce two your body as it evaporates. This fl uid is zChange your diet. Caff einated Colombo T Storms 30/27 T Storms 30/27 P Cloudy P Cloudy 37/28 very diff erent types of sweat. Both and body odour eff ectively. composed mainly of water and salt. beverages and spicy or strong- Dhaka 37/28 Hong Kong I T Storms 28/26 T Storms 28/24 types are odourless, but the type of Some people naturally sweat more Apocrine glands produce a milky smelling foods may make you sweat Istanbul S Showers 19/11 P Cloudy 21/12 sweat produced in your armpits and or less than other people. Body odour fl uid that most commonly is secreted more or have stronger body odour Jakarta M Sunny 33/26 M Sunny 33/26 groin smells bad when it combines with also can vary from person to person. when you’re under emotional than usual. Eliminating these foods Karachi P Cloudy 33/28 Cloudy 33/28 bacteria found normally on your skin. See a doctor if: stress. This fl uid is odourless until may help. London P Cloudy 22/12 P Cloudy 24/14 Manila S T Storms 33/27 T Storms 32/27 Unusual changes in sweating zYou suddenly begin to sweat much it combines with bacteria found Excessive sweating, or Moscow Cloudy 18/08 P Cloudy 21/12 – either excessive perspiration more or less than usual normally on your skin. hyperhidrosis (hi-pur-hi-DROE-sis), New Delhi P Cloudy 41/28 M Sunny 42/29 (hyperhidrosis) or little or no zSweating disrupts your daily You can do a number of things on your can aff ect your entire body or just New York S Showers 21/15 P Cloudy 22/14 perspiration (anhidrosis) – can be routine own to reduce sweating and body odour. certain areas, particularly your palms, Paris M Sunny 27/13 M Sunny 24/12 Sao Paulo M Cloudy P Cloudy 26/16 cause for concern. Likewise, changes zYou experience night sweats for no The following suggestions may help: soles, underarms or face. The type that 21/16 Seoul Rain 25/16 Sunny 28/14 in body odour may be a sign of a apparent reason zBathe daily. Regular bathing, typically aff ects the hands and feet Singapore P Cloudy 31/27 S T Storms 31/27 medical problem. Lifestyle and home zYou notice a change in your body especially with an antibacterial soap, causes at least one episode a week, Sydney P Cloudy 21/13 Sunny 21/11 treatments can usually manage odour reduces the growth of bacteria on your during waking hours. – Mayo Clinic Tokyo Clear 27/19 Clear 26/18 symptoms caused by normal sweating Your skin has two main types of skin. News Network Gulf Times 28 Tuesday, May 23, 2017 QATAR

CNA-Q’s 2017 graduates. CNA-Q Class of 2017 felicitated at grand Graduation Ceremony ollege of the North At- of Administrative Develop- ing Class, I am proud to say The number of graduates in was also a time to hear from lantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) ment, Labour and Social Af- that your hard work, deter- each discipline includes 147 CNA-Q’s Class of 2017 co- Cgraduated one of the fairs; Dr Mohamed Yousef mination and commitment from Business Studies, 134 valedictorians, Mohamed al- largest classes in its 15-year al-Mulla, CEO of Qatar Pet- to your studies have paid off. from Engineering Technol- Nuami, a Business Manage- history, with 426 students rochemical Company and Congratulations to you! Your ogy, 82 from Health Sciences ment – Accounting graduate, crossing the stage last night member of CNA-Q’s Board success serves as an inspira- and 63 from Information and Rida Ambareen, a Phar- at Qatar National Convention of Trustees; and Dr Ibrahim tion to your classmates, your Technology programmes. macy Technician graduate, Centre. al-Naimi, president of Com- colleagues, your family, and “We are so pleased to see who were selected as shining The ceremony was held munity College of Qatar and to your community. strong, capable graduates examples of Qatar’s future under the patronage of HE member of CNA-Q’s Board of “You can be proud, deserv- enter the Qatari workforce leaders. Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Trustees. edly so, of your achievement. year after year,” said CNA-Q “I’m grateful for the State bin Khalifa al-Thani, Prime The graduates were wel- This evening represents one president Dr Ken MacLeod. of Qatar, for the continued Minister and Minister of In- comed to the workforce and stop in the remarkable jour- “These graduates are the rea- support of the college, faculty terior. In attendance were HE congratulated on their aca- ney of your life. You are our son we are here. As the future members for helping us, and Dr Mohamed bin Abdul Wa- demic accomplishments by leaders of tomorrow. Your leaders of Qatar, you are the the greater college communi- hed Ali al-Hammadi, Minis- the special guest speaker, HE time at CNA-Q has prepared motivation to continue of- ty for enhancing our campus ter of Education and Higher Dr al-Sada, who said: “Your you to move confidently from fering high-quality technical, experience,” al-Nuami said. Education; HE Dr Mohamed graduation is a great achieve- the classroom to your chosen hands-on education. With “I am honoured to be the bin Saleh al-Sada, Minister ment and I am pleased to join industry.” the credentials they receive female valedictorian for to- of Energy and Industry and you this evening to celebrate Students graduated from tonight, these students will day’s ceremony,” Ambareen chair of the CNA-Q Board a significant and very impor- over 32 programmes, each of become the leaders that Qa- added. “To everyone who of Trustees; HE Dr Issa Saad tant milestone in your lives. which is each tailored to the tar has envisioned in National touched our lives, we say al-Jafali al-Nuaimi, Minister To CNA-Q’s 2017 Graduat- needs of Qatar’s economy. Vision 2030. The ceremony thank you.” Rida Ambareen QU team selected for Imagine Cup grand fi nal in US

he WaCoMo team from ing and monitoring water con- ucation and an optimal learning the Department of Com- sumption, as well as providing environment, which contrib- Tputer Science and En- an interactive visualisation of utes to encouraging the stu- gineering (CSE) at Qatar Uni- the water consumption hap- dents to innovate and create.” versity College of Engineering pening at diff erent outlets in a The Microsoft Imagine Cup (QU-CENG) has been selected property to eventually reduce is a global student technology among six winning teams at the water wastage. programme and competition Microsoft Imagine Cup Middle CENG dean Dr Khalifa al- that provides opportunities to East and Africa 2017 to repre- Khalifa said the achievement students across all disciplines sent the region in the worldwide refl ects the College’s commit- to team up and use their crea- fi nal in Seattle, US. ment to provide students with tivity, passion and knowledge The team received the award opportunities to participate in of technology to create ap- from the Prime Minister of Leb- various regional and interna- plications and games and to anon Saad al-Hariri on Sunday tional initiatives to boost their integrate solutions that can at the American University of skills and develop their knowl- change the way we live, work Attendees of the cruise appreciation event organised by QTA. Beirut (AUB), Lebanon. edge and experience. and play. The team includes students This also aligns with the Col- A total of 17 teams competed Youssef A al-Hariri, Naram S lege’s vision towards excellence in this year’s Microsoft Imagine Mhaisen, and Omran A Alrash- in education, research, and Cup Middle East and Africa. id Abazeed. They were super- community service. They were from Algeria, Ango- vised by CENG assistant pro- CSE head Dr Sumaya al- la, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Ku- fessor of Computer Science and Maadeed said: “This refl ects wait, Lebanon, Morocco, Ni- QTA fetes members of Engineering Dr Osama Halabi. Qatar University’s support of geria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, The students created a its students and its ongoing ef- Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, cruise tourism industry project aimed at smart sens- forts to off er a high-quality ed- UAE, and West Bank and Gaza.

embers of the cruise yacht, an increase of 120% from with partners to carefully plan, will be a world-class cruise ship tourism industry gath- the number of cruise ships re- develop and manage the cruise hub and a tourist destination Mered to celebrate the ceived last season. terminal facilities, infrastructure in the heart of Doha, helping to close of the 2016/17 season, Addressing attendees, Hassan and operations needed to achieve position the country as a turna- which ended last month with al-Ibrahim, chief tourism de- this growth. Once all develop- round port by the 2018/19 cruise remarkable growth in both the velopment offi cer at QTA, said: ments are completed, projections season. numbers of ships and passengers. “In addition to being our busi- show that the cruise industry has QTA and Mwani have con- Representatives from across est season to date, this was also a the potential to generate over fi rmed that Doha Port will con- the cruise tourism value chain, season of many fi rsts, with Qatar QR350mn per annum by 2026. tinue to welcome cruise ships in including immigration, port and welcoming its fi rst mega-ship, Worth mentioning is that the the 2017/18 season. customs offi cials; tour guides and two cruise ships docking si- top 10 nationalities that have “Collectively, we have proven and tour operators, providers of multaneously in Doha port for visited Qatar on board cruise Qatar’s value as a successful and logistical support and opera- the fi rst time. ships are British, followed by attractive tourist destination tors of tourism landmarks were And, this season was the Italian, Spanish, German, Bel- to dozens of cruise liners and recognised by Qatar Tourism fi rst time that cruise tourists gian, French, Swiss, American, thousands of passengers,” com- Authority (QTA) for their role in were able to benefi t from a new, Brazilian and Irish. mented al-Ibrahim. “I am confi - facilitating seamless and memo- streamlined disembarkation In collaboration with partners dent that even as work begins on rable experiences for 47,000 pas- process, and the newly intro- at the Ministry of Transport & the redevelopment of Doha Port, sengers and crew. duced free 96-hour transit visa.” Communication, Mwani – Qa- we will be able to provide smooth The visitors, whose numbers QTA’s projections show tar Ports Management Company, and memorable end-to-end ex- have increased by over 1,000%, a three-fold increase in the preparations are underway to periences that reinforce Qatar’s arrived at Qatar’s shores on board number of ship calls over the begin upgrading Doha Port this position as a truly world-class The winning team from QU-CENG receives their prize from the Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad 22 cruise ships and one mega- next three years. QTA is working year. Once complete, the Port hub with deep, authentic roots.” al-Hariri.