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Sunday 26 February 2017 | 29 Jumada I 1438 Volume 21 | Number 7084 | 2 Riyals

38 schools get Emir's Sword Festival: Winners honoured DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani patronised the closing of H H the Emir's permission to Sword Equestrian Festival at the Racing and Equestrian Club in Al Rayyan, yesterday. The final races were attended by Sudanese Presi- increase fees dent's Assistant Abdulrahman Al Sadig Al Mahdi and Prince Mohammed Osman Abdulaziz bin Ahmed bin The Peninsula Fee hike Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. A total of 127 schools s many as 38 private The festival closing was and kindergartens schools and kinder- also attended by H H Sheikh gartens have got had sought Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, permission from permission to hike H E Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa the Ministry of Edu- their fees but about Al Thani, Advisory Council cationA and Higher Education to 70% of the requests Speaker H E Mohammed bin increase their fees in the next have been rejected. Mubarak Al Khulaifi and a academic year (2017/18.), a sen- number of Their Excellences ior official said yesterday. The schools that got Sheikhs and Ministers. A total of 127 schools and approval to hike the Emir handed over the kindergartens had sought per- Golden Sword to H E Sheikh fees include the MES mission to hike their fees but Khalifa bin Mohammed bin Indian School, The about 70% of the requests have Khalifa Al Thani, owner of the English Modern been rejected, said Hamad Al Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the prize distribution ceremony on the final day horse (Ebraz) the winner of the Ghali, Director of Private School, Doha College, main (Eighth) race, and handed Philippine of the three-day Emir's Sword Racing Festival held at Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) Schools Licensing at the yesterday. Following the races, the Emir handed over the Golden Sword to H E Sheikh Khalifa H H the Emir's award to Maher Ministry. International School, Ibrahim Lutfallah, owner of the bin Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani, owner of Ebraz, the winning horse of the featured race at "Almost 50% of the total Sudanese School, horse (Chopin) winner in the QREC. → Main story and results on page 27 & 28 private schools and KGs (260) Palestinian School, seventh race. had sought permission for fee and Doha increase. The Ministry has given International School. approval to only 38 private kin- dergartens and schools while before the beginning of admis- Mawaqif Qatar the rate of fee increase varies sions. "Students whose Registration process for Haj from 1 to 15%," said Al Ghali, admission procedures are addressing a press conference delayed due to processing of bags Msheireb yesterday. residency permit will be Properties deal He said that requests from 89 allowed to get registered by the to start on Wednesday schools which representing 70% end of January 2018," said Al of the total applications have Ghali. The Peninsula been rejected. The schools that got QNA English (www.hajj.gov.qa). during the last five years. The press conference at the approval to hike the fees Director of Haj and Umrah Female residents without sheireb Properties, a ministry headquarters was to include the MES Indian School, he Ministry of Endow- Department Ali Sultan Al Misi- "Mahram" should be at least 45 subsidiary of Qatar announce the start of admissions The English Modern School, ments (Awqaf) and fry underlined that the years old, and not less than 18 MFoundation, has in private kindergartens and Doha College, Philippine Inter- TIslamic Affairs announced registration process through the years, in case of an accompa- awarded Mawaqif Qatar schools in Qatar. national School, Sudanese that registration for the Haj sea- website will be easy for nation- nied person, in addition to the (QDVP PQSC), a contract to "Admissions in private kin- School, Palestinian School, and son of 1438 AH - 2017 will start als and residents who wish to availability of a "Mahram". All operate and manage car dergartens and schools will Doha International School. next Wednesday, from March 1 apply for Haj this year. passports must be read elec- parking at Msheireb Down- start on March 1 and continue Al Ghali said that only six to March 30. For Qatari pilgrims, the tronically (E-Passport). town Doha (MDD), an urban until October 12 this year, while KGs were allowed to increase The Ministry said that applicant should be at least 18 Al Misifry noted that regeneration project set in the reservation of seats will start fees by 15%, 14 KGs and schools nationals and residents can years old and an accompanied screening process will be done heart of the city. The deal from March 1 and end on May by 3%, four schools by 8%, three apply through the website of person, 16 years old. Mean- electronically as soon as the comprises the integration and 1," according to a circular issued KGs by 9%, one KG and one Haj and Umrah Affairs Depart- while, residents should be at end of the registration period future management of one of to all schools. school by 4% and four KGs by ment at the Ministry of least 18 years old, having a min- on each of the applicable con- the world’s largest under- Al Ghali said that changes 14%, 12 %, 11% and 5%. Endowments and Islamic imum of three years residence ditions contained in the ground car parks in the world. in fees are announced well → Continued on page 5 Affairs available in Arabic and and not having performed Haj statement. → See also page 3

Study to develop Air strikes in Syria tourism sector Raffle draw for DOHA: The Tourism Com- allotment of plots mittee of Qatar Chamber has prepared a comprehen- sive study including its vision The Peninsula website. for the development of the All applications were stud- tourism sector and its role he Ministry of Economy ied to check whether they in Qatar's economic devel- and Commerce will hold comply with the terms and con- opment. Ta draw for allotment of ditions, said the Ministry. Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed 119 commercial plots for devel- These commercial plots bin Abdullah Al Thani, BOD opment of multi-use facilities provide opportunities to the member of Qatar Chamber at logistic areas in Al Wakrah, investors to participate in the and Chairman of the Tourism Birkat Al Awamir and Aba Salil development of business sec- Committee, yesterday con- on February 27 at Ritz Carton tor in these areas by building firmed that the Committee Hotel. showrooms, commercial shops, has conducted a comprehen- The eligible applications clinics, banks, eateries among sive study on the reality of have surpassed the number of other facilities. Qatar's tourism sector, which plots prepared for allotment The move came within the has an important impact on and therefore the Ministry has framework of the commitment economic development in decided to pick the winners of the committee to begin pro- terms of providing foreign through a draw, said a cedures for handing over lands exchange. statement. at logistic areas in Al Wakrah, He stressed that Qatar has The eligible candidates Berkat Al Awamir and Aba Salil a great potential to develop were notified through a text to investors so they could start the tourism sector as a tribu- message to attend the raffle. the construction. tary factor of the national Civil Defence members try to put out a fire at a site hit by air strikes in the rebel-controlled Manateq, the organising It will help begin operation income and a plays major role town of Ariha in Idlib province, Syria, yesterday. → See also page 8 company, received about 878 in logistic areas slated to be in providing employment. applications online through its opened in mid 2018. 02 HOME SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

Emir greets Call for two-shift system in Indian schools Kuwait Emir EMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Irfan Bukhari still the immediate solution to problem was the launch of two end. In his email, he alleged that Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday The Peninsula Severe shortage address the shortage of schools. shifts in schools. the online registration mechanism a cable of congratulations to the Two-shift system With the available infrastructure “Though some more schools of various Indian schools was a Emir of the State of Kuwait H H fficials of Indian suggested to address and hiring separate staff, the are set to open this year, it will not “scam”. “Schools' online registra- Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber community schools schools can launch a second shift resolve the issue as the popula- tion is a scam. Actually, they never Al-Sabah on the occasion of his the severe shortage and several parents of classes because establishing tion of Indian expats has increased opened the link and they had taken country's National Day. Deputy of seats in Indian have proposed a a new school demands huge manifold in the last few years.” kids internally. The online mecha- Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin two-shift system to schools in the resources,” Srivastava noted. He said that the start of two- nism was just an eye-wash and to Hamad Al Thani and Prime Min- Oaddress the severe shortage of country. Talking to The Peninsula, shifts at schools was a viable show the so-called transparency,” ister and Interior Minister H E seats in Indian schools. Saikat Ghosh, a resident of Wak- option to address the issue at least he alleged. Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin As the admission season Many parents unable rah, said that all of his efforts on a short term basis until the He further says that some Khalifa Al Thani also sent con- draws to a close, worries of par- to get seats for their made in the last three months to number of educational institutions schools were giving admissions gratulations to Sheikh Sabah on ents who have yet not succeeded children as the get his child admitted in a kin- met the growing demand. “It will to siblings. “When we called the occasion. in getting their kids admitted in admission season dergarten had ended in failure. bring great relief for worried par- them, they said they were not any school are aggravating. The draws to a close. “Whichever school I visit, I am ents who currently are unable to entertaining from the general Ilham Aliyev new academic year in Indian told that they have reached their secure admissions for their kids. category,” Siddiqi writes, add- schools is set to start from April. capacity and no more seats are Every school has a specific ing, “This is a big scam by Indian arrives today Not only perturbed parents, solution at hand is the launch of available. In my opinion, the number of seats and they cannot schools who in the name of sib- the officials of various Indian two-shift classes,” said AK short term solution lies in two- exceed that limit and therefore the lings-intake are admitting PRESIDENT of the Repub- schools think that the short-term Srivastava, Principal of Birla shift classes,” he said, adding that introduction of the evening shift children through references.” lic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev solution to the shortage problem Public School. in case he could not secure any will help both parents and the He says: “This is not only my will arrive in Doha today on an lies in the launch of classes in He said that to address the seat, he would be compelled to school managements,” he added. experience as I know five of my official visit. Emir H H Sheikh two shifts (morning and evening). problem of school admissions, send his family back to India. Syed Ibrahim Siddiqi, an colleagues who all went through Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani “The number of existing they had floated the idea to the The owner of an Indian Indian expat, wrote to The Penin- this pain. We request the con- and the Azeri President will community schools cannot serve authorities at the Ministry of school, requesting not to be sula that he has been trying to get cerned authorities to help the hold talks at the Emiri Diwan the current population of Indian Education but the move could named, said that the swift avail- seats for his twins for four months parents who are worried about tomorrow which will cover expats and therefore the viable not bear fruit in the past. “It is able solution to the existing but all his attempts met a dead their kids’ future.” bilateral relations. AZF & Ooredoo to launch football championship

The Peninsula given the chance to watch an family and enjoy the cooler will take part, reflective of English Premier League game weather. Good luck to all the AZF’s mission to use sports as spire Zone Foundation and enjoy an all-expenses paid teams participating.” a platform to connect (AZF) and Ooredoo have trip to Europe. Second and third Nasser Abdullah Al-Hajri, people.” Aofficially announced yes- place teams will receive cash Director of PR and Communi- This is the latest in a long his- terday a partnership to launch prizes. cations at Aspire Zone tory of partnership and ‘Ooredoo Temba’, a fun football Commenting on the tour- Foundation, said: “Aspire Zone collaboration for Ooredoo and championship that gives people nament, Fatima Sultan Al Foundation always strives to the Aspire Zone Foundation. The a chance to win great prizes Kuwari, Director of Community provide new and exciting pro- Ooredoo Temba contest regis- while getting fit in Qatar. & Public Relations, Ooredoo, grammes to promote a sporting tration opened early this week The Ooredoo Temba football said: “Encouraging sporting culture and encourage healthy to men aged 18 and above, and tournament will start from March participation and healthy liv- lifestyles among members of closed yesterday after seeing The Ooredoo Temba football tournament will start from March 6 and will continue till March 11. ing is a big focus for us the local community. This incredible demand. 6 and will continue till March 11. Featuring 32 teams spread across throughout the year and we’re championship provides foot- To enter, teams had to reg- eight groups. Matches will be delighted to see such amazing ball enthusiasts with the perfect ister a squad of seven: four played on Aspire Zone’s new demand for the contest. We chance to participate in a players including a goalkeeper Anyone who has already reg- technical meeting, the rules and state-of-the-art 5A-side football hope that together with AZF we championship that is compet- and three substitutes. Matches istered will be expected to attend regulations of the competition pitches overlooking Al Waab provide a platform that brings itive yet friendly. We anticipate will last for 35 minutes (15 min- the tournaments Technical meet- will be explained to participants Street. people together, not just to play, that teams comprised of fam- utes for each half and a ing which is due to be held next and small entrance fees The winning team will be but to cheer on their friends and ily, friends or even co-workers five-minute half-time break). Tuesday, 28 February. During the collected. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 HOME 03 No end of service benefits for staff revealing trade secrets

Mohammed Osman Labour and Social Affairs has The Peninsula Doubts remain eased the notification system by Expert says doubts providing electronic forms to ccording to the new still remain about avoid dispute and facilitate doc- residency law, if an change of jobs and umentation of applications. employee discloses exit permit as the Following the issuance of the the company’s trade executive regulation new labour law and Law No 21 secrets, the employer of 2015 regulating entry, exit and of the law not issued. hasA the right to dismiss him/her residency of expatriates in Qatar. without any right to end of serv- many questions have been raised FROM LEFT: Mathieu Faupin, Senior Legal Consultant, Head of International Section at Al Sulaiti ice benefits, said a senior legal An expat allowed to in relation to exit permit, chang- Law Firm, Hussam Tantawy, General Manager, Senior Legal Consultant at Al Sulaiti Law Firm expert. do administrative ing job, electronic contract, etc. and Mubarak bin Abdulla Al Sulaiti, Chairman of Al Sulaiti Law Firm, during the seminar on The general provision of the work in another firm This is because the executive law is that if any expatriate has if he is a partner and regulation of the law is still not Changes in Immigration and Employment Laws in Qatar held at City Center Marriott Marquis a certain type of residency per- authorised to sign. issued, said Mubarak bin Abdul- Hotel yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula mit in the country, that must be lah Al Sulaiti, the Chaiman of Al respected and not violated. Sulaiti Law Firm, addressing a first impression of the employ- an open ended contract can protects the right of the labour Under the new law, an expa- up managerial positions in seminar on “changes in the ers was that it was biased change job at the end of five and this will not affect his/her triate is allowed to do some another company but his name immigration and employment towards workers, while others years and before starting their rights and the employee has the administrative works in another has to be there on the commer- law in Qatar. thought that the labour rights are sixth year in the same job or he right not to sign the contract and company if he/she is a partner cial registration issued by the The law brings many advan- still controlled by the employers. should wait until the end of a file a lawsuit against the and authorized to sign, said Hus- Ministry of Economy and Com- tages to the labour market and "Under this situation we have new contract, if he had signed a employers. sam Tantawy, General Manager merce. However, the employee makes it easier for job change, been approached by companies new contract. Mathieu R Faupin, Senior and Senior Legal Consultant at remains accountable for disclos- reduces labour cases in courts, and individuals seeking clarifi- Hussam said that there are Legal Consultant and Head of Al Sulaiti Law Firm. ing any secret of his employer. eases exit permit, ends sponsor- cations and consultation," said two opinions in this regard. One International Section at Al Sulaiti Although this is in favour of The law requires employees to ship system and ends the need for Hussam. He presented a paper suggests that he/she must com- Law Firm, presented a paper that the expatriate worker, it can cre- keep the company's secrets con- No Objection Certificate (NOC) for under the title, “rights and obli- plete the new contract and can covered Exit permit, Grievance ate conflict of interests if the fidential even after the job changes. Despite all these, gations under the employment change after five years. The other Committee and E- Employment company he manages is doing termination of their services. there are still a number of ques- contract”. view is that as long as he finished Contract. the same business. The new law has also stipu- tions that need to be answered and If the worker decided not to five years or more, he can change Faupin pointed out that the To solve such possible con- lated a number of reasons for clarifications needed to be made continue with his employer after any time during the second term major reform regarding the exit flict, Article 43 of the law has changing job, such as end of con- in the absence of the executive his contract ends, the law allows of the contract, but this issue permit is the establishment of the stipulated that job contracts must tract or five years of work under law, said Hussam. him to stay in Qatar for three needs intervention of legislators grievance committee which con- include a condition that prevents an open contract, death of the The seminar was jointly months to look for another job or to be clear, he added. sists of six members. If the the employee from working in employer, the cancellation of the organised by Al Sulaiti Law Firm rectify his status but must leave Regarding the calculation of grievance committee did not take another competing company and company for any reason or if and The Oath Law Journal to the country at the end of this three the end of service benefits after a decision within three working the ban continues for two years employer’s abuse is confirmed, address questions raised by the month period, he emphasized. five years if the employee signed days, then it shall be interpreted even after leaving the work. said Hussam. public about the law and its A question was raised in the a new contract with less basic as a rejection of the employee’s If not mentioned in the con- He added that the Ministry provisions. seminar about whether employ- salary and less payable days, decision to leave the country, he tract, the employee is free to take of Administrative Development, When the law was issued, the ees working in accordance with Hussam said that the labour law said. Msheireb Properties awards car parking contract to Mawaqif Qatar

The Peninsula experience behind them via Indigo We are delighted to have part- of France and locally through their nered with Mawaqif Qatar for this sheireb Properties, a sub- experience of managing and oper- hugely significant component of sidiary of Qatar ating the country’s prime car the MDD offering. We look for- MFoundation, has parks, they have the proficiency ward to celebrating many more awarded Mawaqif Qatar (QDVP to operate and maintain the park- milestones, continuing to forge PQSC) a contract to operate and ing facilities at MDD and to sustain new partnerships to add value to manage car parking at Msheireb reliable operating conditions the community, delivering the Downtown Doha (MDD), an based on high-end supervision essential services to the people of urban regeneration project set digital solutions, using a remote Qatar, for the future of Qatar.” in the heart of the city. management approach. Gilles Guillochon said:"We are The deal, signed by Abdulla Abdulla Hassan Al-Mehshadi honoured to partner with Msheireb Hassan Al-Mehshadi, Chief Exec- said, “Our partnership with one of Properties and bring our special- utive Officer, Msheireb Properties the Middle East’s leading traffic ized knowledge and expertise into and Gilles Guillochon, CEO of and car park management com- this transformative development. Mawaqif, is an extremely impor- panies is very important to us. It We aim to enhance customer expe- tant milestone, comprising the enables us to design and operate riences, by ensuring a smooth flow Abdulla Hassan Al-Mehshadi, Chief Executive Officer, Msheireb Properties, and Gilles Guillochon, integration and future manage- a 5-star car park, offering our of traffic with efficient systems, and ment of one of the world’s largest CEO of Mawaqif, signing the agreement. community a first class parking well maintained parking areas. The underground car parks in the and visitor experience. A project visitor experience has always been world – providing over 10,000 car Mawaqif Qatar will offer more standalone facilities, but part of the bridge the gap between the cars of this magnitude requires a spe- a top priority for us, and we strive parking spaces over 6 basements than just parking space manage- mobility chain, digitally integrated and the smart city, delivering the cialised skill set, industry to deliver exceptional services, to residents and visitors of ment at Msheireb Downtown to enable MDD to become a smart highest standard of customer serv- experience and innovative ideas matching the vision of Msheireb Msheireb Downtown Doha. Doha; car parks will not be city. Mawaqif Qatar’s mission is to ices. With a wealth of global to ensure it is perfectly managed. Properties.” Cold weather brings dip in ice sales QITCOM 2017 offers 'great

Amna Pervaiz Rao months began, the maximum we opportunities' to SMEs The Peninsula earn is QR400 every day,” he said. Thehe Ministry Ministry of of Municipal- Transport serveTransport the environmental and Communications issues, dverse weather conditions Due to the unstable weather ity andand Environment Communications marks andis taking will organizepart in QITCOM a number 2017 of have brought down sales conditions, there have been Ttodayunderlined the Qatari Environmen-that QITCOM environmentalwith a number ofactivities activities byto Aat the Ice Factory at Doha restrictions on venturing into the tal2017 Day will toprovide shed greatlight and on dis-the participationdisplay the pilotof residents projects, today to Corniche. The facility, which has sea, this winter, which has tinctState’s opportunitiesefforts to protect for ashighlight well. innovation in the dig- been operating for over a year affected fishing. Hence most of entrepreneursenvironment. and small and ital Thedomain ministry and to issuedpromote a now, runs round the clock pro- the fishermen refrain from buy- medium-sizedThe Minister ofenterprises Municipal- numberinvestment of laws opportunities, which contrib- in a viding its services to the ing ice, which is used for storage ity,(SMEs) H E inMohamed the State. bin Abdullah utededicated of maintaining space for environment it within the fishermen and restaurants in the purposes. Al Rumaihi,The 4th edition stressed of that QITCOM allo- likeexhibition the law under recently the passedname city. “One bucket of ice is sold for catingConference day andfor Exhibition,environment the related"Entrepreneurship to protection Area". of some The Factory has seven work- one riyal. Our customers usually camelargest from digital the event importance in the State to plantsThe as Entrepreneurship Al Ghaf which is con-Area ers, including five boat captains ask for one sack of ice, which is maintainof Qatar, will be heldnatural at Qatar sideredin the exhibition as one includesof the localvari- and two workers. COAF Engi- equal to five buckets of ice, and environment.National Convention Centre Qatariety of plants.activities The ministrywhich willalso neering company has provided these bags cost just QR2,” he fromThe March ministry 6 to marks8. the day issuedinvolve laws more regulating than 300 pioneers hunting ice making machinery to the said. everyCommenting year with full on fervourthe event, to ofin animalsthe digital and field, birds. in addition factory. The Ice Factory located near Assistant Undersecretary for to more than 50 local, Arab and “Government provides water jetty (Al-Bandar) on the Cor- Digital Society Development at global emerging digital compa- to the Ice Factory, which is fil- niche, functions from 7am to the Ministry of Transport and nies which will showcase their tered twice. Also, we have two 6pm. However, the facility offers Communications, Reem Al flagship projects. machines to help generate ice services at all times. Mansouri, said that the confer- The activities include for the factory. The ice is made “There is a calling bell placed ence aims to strengthen the CODECAMP competition, the every day, and usually Thursday outside the factory, and anyone areas of entrepreneurship, first-of-its-kind in Qatar which is the peak day for our sales. We can approach us anytime. The innovation and learning, as aims at supporting local talent supply ice to all customers, workers have their accommo- integral parts of the process of and helping grow the digital mostly restaurants and fisher- dation next to the company and building an active sector of economy, as to compete men and even families buy ice they are also responsible for information and communica- internationally. from us,” Abdul Nasser Abdul safekeeping the premises,” said tion technology, and thus QITCOM Exhibition and Aziz, the boat captain of PEO, Abdul Aziz knowledge-based economy. Conference is Qatar's biggest told The Peninsula. When weather is fine, the ice A customer buying crushed ice at the Ice Factory. She urged all visitors to join digital event, connecting smart “In summer, our sale is very factory is usually busy with a Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula the entrepreneurship area and technology with international good when compared to winter number of fishermen lining up contribute to Qatar's vision for expertise, industry specialists, months. We used to have sales for ice, before heading to the sea 6am, so I am here to get some 13 fish market which is located next building a smart future. key government decision mak- of more than QR600 per day in for fishing. sacks of ice. Once we return after to the Central Market,” said Sarat The Digital Incubation ers, innovators and summer. Since the winter “ We go fishing from 6pm to a good catch, we leave for the Kumar, a fisherman. Center of the Ministry of entrepreneurs. 04 HOME SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

Workshop on Korean doctors part of liver transplant team baby-friendly

The Peninsula Joint efforts hospitals team of ten leading The team from begins today doctors and nurses Korea, comprising from South Korea doctors and nurses flew-in to join sur- from Asan Medical The Peninsula geons, anaesthetists, Centre, were nursesA and technicians from THE Ministry of Public Health instrumental in the Hamad Medical Corporation will open a five-day work- success of the (HMC) for Qatar’s first live-donor shop on baby-friendly surgery, highlighting liver transplant surgery, con- hospitals, today, in collabo- ducted late last year. the importance of ration with World Health Two months after undergo- international Organisation (WHO) and the ing the lifesaving transplant collaborations. United Nations Children’s surgery, 58-year-old Zaid is now Fund (UNICEF). comfortably recovering at his The workshop aims to home in Doha. He says he owes me. The care I received was train evaluators of the baby- his life to the combined team excellent,” Zaid said, adding that friendly hospitals. specialists who seamlessly he is looking forward to return- A number of senior offi- orchestrated two complex sur- ing to his normal life in the near cials and healthcare workers geries in perfect step, despite future. from both government and living thousands of miles apart The team from Korea, com- private health facilities in the and not having worked together prising doctors and nurses from country will participate in the before. Asan Medical Centre (AMC), were workshop. The experts spent 20 hours instrumental in the success of the The workshop comes as The team of HMC and AMC, which performed the first living-donor liver transplant surgery. in the operation theatre at surgery, highlighting the impor- part of child-friendly hospi- Hamad General Hospital. First, tance of international tal initiative launched by the the team did a partial resection collaborations. The November in organ transplantation, carry- with this most recent being the more surgeries (orthopaedics and ministry in November 2016, of the Zaid’s 26-year-old neph- surgery was the culmination of ing out more than 1,200 liver country’s first living donor liver cardiology) were completed as to support and promote the ew’s, the donor, liver, which took many weeks of planning and transplants each year. The coun- transplantation. part of a collaborative relation- health of both the mother and some eight hours. The team then dedication, which included a try has one of the highest liver The living donor liver trans- ship between HMC and the two baby. removed Zaid’s liver damaged small team from Qatar spending transplantation success rates in plant surgery was conducted in South Korean hospitals, Asan “The initiative is part of due to cirrhosis and implanted a week in Korea receiving train- the world. While the first living conjunction with the first Qatar- Medical Centre (AMC) and Seoul the objectives of the National the donated portion of the liver ing in living donor liver donor liver transplantation in the Korea Medical Forum. Nineteen St. Mary’s Hospital (SSMH). The Plan of Action for Nutrition into his body, which took nearly transplantation and members of Arab world was conducted leading doctors and nurses from three organizations are exploring and Physical Activity and in 12 hours. the Korean team extending their twenty-five years ago, only a South Korea, along with sur- potential areas of collaboration in line with the Qatar National “I am so grateful to all the time in Qatar to assist with mon- limited number of liver trans- geons, anaesthetists, nurses and healthcare, research, and training Vision 2030," said Dr Sheikha surgeons, physicians and nurses itoring the status of the patients plants are completed in the technicians from HMC, partici- as part of HMC’s commitment to Al Anoud bint Mohammed Al who participated in my trans- after the transplantation. region each year. To date, HMC pated in the Forum. providing patients with access to Thani, Director of Health Pro- plant procedure and looked after South Korea is a world leader has performed 17 transplants, During the visit, five the best possible care. motion and Non-communicable Diseases at Ministry of Public Health (MoPH. "The ministry, in collab- Istanbul restaurant brings oration with international consultancies, had analysed the current situation of hos- pitals and primary health unique flavours to Doha centers in the country earlier as part of a primary workshop to introduce the initiative in The Peninsula signature kebab adorned with recreating true perfection in November," she added. The edible gold-leaf. simplicity,” Demet continued. primary aim is to ensure best ne of Istanbul’s highest- Meanwhile, entertainments “Here in Qatar, we look forward healthcare facilities to baby rated restaurants opened included a night of music from to welcome local community of and the mother. Oin Doha on recently, well-knownTurkish DJ discerning epicures to be She further said that the promising highest quality of tra- ŞenolAycan, an electrical violin delighted by our chefs’ unique workshop aims to train ditional Turkish cuisine – with show and a Turkish original work – including, in particular, assessors in evaluating the a unique, contemporary twist. Darwish Show. a wide choice of mezze with initiative ats the health facil- A number of VIPs, including The restaurant has been exquisitely judged flavour, and ities and help them to become the Turkish Ambassador as well continually praised in leading mouth-watering tenderness of international accredited as other ambassadors and their lifestyle publications and online our own specially farmed, fresh- evaluator. spouses, were invited to the grand reviews alike since its founding imported Turkish lamb. Come They will be given the opening party of the restaurant in Istanbul in 2002 as an inno- and enjoy!” certificate from National NişantaşıBaşköşe. vator in traditional Turkish The restaurant proposes to Council for Health Praction- Ahmet Demet, CEO of cuisine. offer pure, unparalleled, Turk- ers, once the training hours NişantaşıBaşköşe ,at the inaugu- “We are justly proud of res- ish authenticity with its are completed. Restaurant CEO Ahmet Demet (left) along with Turkish ral ceremony, offered the guests taurant’s continuing high permanent, all-Turkish chefs The Baby-friendly Hos- a dinner of carefully crafted reputation in our home city of and staff. Ambassador to Qatar; Ahmet Demirok (centre); at the grand pital Initiative (BFHI) was favourites. Istanbul,” said Demet. “Now, ‘the A full team of four special- opening of the restaurant in Doha. launched by the World Health Selected items will be served heart of Istanbul’s has been ised chefs has come from Turkey Organisation and the UNICEF including mezzes, döner, authentically and lovingly rec- to Doha with the aim of recre- using time-honoured techniques: Not surprisingly, the restaurant in 1991 in order to implement kebabs, and lahmacun as a wor- reated in Doha. ating ‘the real thing’ on Qatari Ali İşitmezoğlu, Oven Chef, Nuri commands one of Doha’s most practices that protect, pro- thy foil for the introduction of “Our mission is to pursue soil, using both key imported Etişgen,Döner Chef, HakanTop- vibrant, upscale locations amid mote and support the health the restaurant’s new Special culinary excellence through ingredients from Turkeyand demir, Grill Chef, and DenizÇelik, West Bay’s 5-star hotels and res- of pregnant women, new Imperial Kebab: their delicious unrelenting act of continuously fresh local produce blended Mezzes and Grill Chef. taurants, at the Melia Doha Hotel. mothers and their children. Azerbaijan rues world apathy towards its martyrs

The Peninsula Khojaly city on the night from (Nagorno-Karabakh and adja- February 25 amd 26 1992, by the During the past few cent seven regions) violating the n the eve of 25th anni- Armenian armed forces together years, a number of principles of international law versary of Khojaly with 366th moto-artillery regi- and ignoring international com- actions have been OGenocide, the embassy ment of former Soviet army was munity’s demands to stop of Azerbaijan in Qatar has said one of the unprecedented events fulfilled to draw aggression. the crime by Armenian aggres- in the history of humanity due the attention of During the past few years, a sors against Azerbaijani people to its cruelty. the international number of actions have been hasn’t received due condemna- During Khojaly genocide, 613 community to the fulfilled to draw the attention of tion by the world community to people including 106 women, 63 realities about the international community to date. children and 70 old people were the realities about Nagorno- Azerbaijani people will never killed; over 1000 civilians Nagorno-Karabakh Karabakh conflict, including forget memory of all Khojaly became disabled; 1275 people conflict, including Khojaly tragedy. martyrs and will continue the were taken hostages, the fate of Khojaly tragedy. The Organisation of Islamic struggle to restore its territorial 150 out of them still remains Conference (OIC) was the first integrity and to bring perpetra- unknown. international organisation that tors of massacres against As many as eight families 11 December 1946 & United recognised Armenia as an Azerbaijanis to the justice, said were totally exterminated; 25 Nations Convention on the Pre- aggressor and the Khojaly trag- a press release. children lost both whereas 130 vention and Punishment of the edy as genocide. Resolution No. 25 years have passed since children lost one parent; captives Crime of Genocide adopted by 8/42-C adopted by the 42nd Armenian military forces com- and hostages were subjected to the Resolution 260 (III) of the UN session of the Council of For- mitted genocide act against merciless torture. All these acts General Assembly of 9 Decem- eign Ministers of OIC member peaceful inhabitants of the city were committed by Armenian ber 1948. ) were applied. states (Kuwait, 27-28 may, of Khojaly of Azerbaijan in 1992. military mercilessly and incon- Unfortunately, the genocide 2015) calls upon Member States This genocide was committed as ceivable barbarism and human against Azerbaijani civilians have and OIC institutions to support a part of aggression, long-last- rights of those people, especially not been yet properly assessed, and actively participate in the ing ethnic cleansing and the fundamental right to life organisers and the committers events of the Campaign “Jus- genocide policy of Armenian were grossly violated. of this crime were not prose- tice for Khojaly” and exert due chauvinists and their supporters During the aggression cuted and punished. efforts for recognition on against Azerbaijan, violating the against the people in Khojaly, all Armenia continued its national and international lev- norms and principles of interna- elements of the crime of geno- aggression against Azerbaijan els of this genocidal act as tional law as well as the human cide stated in the International even after the Khojaly massa- crime against humanity as well rights and freedoms. Conventions (The UN General cre and invaded twenty percent as for bringing to justice the The massacre committed in Assembly Resolution 96 (I) dated of Azerbaijani territories perpetrators. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 HOME 05 Parents protest high rates at mall play areas

Sanaullah Ataullah Parents angry for two hours, in the soft-play The Peninsula area and QR5 for a pair of socks. Some of the parents We have discount on two chil- ith surge in have voiced their dren as QR70 for two children indoor play anger over high rates for two hours. Parents have to areas at shop- because they have to pay extra for additional hours on ping centres, pay mandatorily for hourly basis. We have enough parents have the minimum hours customers throughout the week Wexpressed their resentment over but at weekends the demand even if they avail the exorbitant minimum rates charged hikes,” said the employee. service for less time. by some of them. There is a high Regarding the high charges demand for the play-areas at of soft play area, the employee shopping centres as they provide “Play area services should be said, “We charge less than many long- hours of child-care services, charged hourly ; they should others in major shopping malls while parents run their chores. have options like QR20 for an of the country. They charge However, some of the soft hour. There shouldn’t be a min- QR60 for a child for two hours. play areas charge heavily for imum time, because most of the However, we are charging only minimum hours that are at times parents leave children in these QR40 for a child for two hours more than two hours. Some of places while going shopping in and running discount to attract the parents have voiced their the vicinity, and return in less the customers,” said the anger over high rates because than two hours,” said Abu employee. they have to pay mandatorily for Mohammed, another parent . “Some parents do complain the minimum hours even if they Meanwhile, play-areas, are about the price, however, we avail the service for less time. popping –up in all the shopping give additional services. They can “Charges of some soft –play centres, The Peninsula noted. leave their children for hours to A soft play area at a shopping mall in Al Muaither. areas are high, especially QR40 or “We receive some 200 chil- do their chores, only they are QR60 per child when you have dren on weekends, the highest required to leave their contact quite popular. We charge for our different shopping malls. A play- QR3 to QR7. In most of the more children. At some shopping number of visitors in the week,” numbers. We are prepared and services as per the operation area at a leading shopping centre places, the play-area is rented centres, we are forced to take tick- an employee of a play-area in a trained care children in the costs like rent, salaries of in Mauither chares only QR15 for out to some other company, and ets for two hours or more because leading shopping complex at absence of their parents. Some employees and maintenance of a child. here the shopping centre itself that is the minimum time they Muraikh told The Peninsula parents even leave their children play-area,” he said. “We have not increased our manages the area, hence the give,” a father of two children told showing the entry register. with us for four hours.” There is a huge difference in charges for years. Charges of price difference,” said the man- The Peninsula. “We charge QR40 per child “The service is becoming the charges of soft-play areas in other games also range between ager of the play area. Ministry adopted four steps for fee hike Armed Forces officers undergo course on

Continued from page 1 cyber security at Texas A&M University Ministry, and has directors of 2017/2018 last December and this was One school has been given per- departments and consultants as applicable to schools established at mission to increase fee by 6.6 percent members, said Al Ghali, noting that least four years ago. Private kinder- The Peninsula support development of Qatar’s human and two by 7 percent. the final step was approval by the gartens and schools seeking capital in defence and national Al Ghali said that the Ministry Minister. permission to increase fees are ighteen officers from the Qatar security. went through a four-step process to Regarding school vouchers, Al required to submit their financial Armed Forces learned fundamen- Brig Gen Mohammed Owaidha Al give the approval. First, applications Ghali said that the competent depart- reports of the past four years online Etals of cyber security and wireless Ramzani, Chairman of Reconnaissance were studied by a specialised admin- ment at the ministry was still in Arabic Language and provide with communication during a three-day and Surveillance Center (RSC), attended istrative team at the office of private evaluating some applications and the the necessary documents, course at Texas A&M University at Qatar. the closing ceremony of the course, schools licensing, then by financial result will be announced after they All applications that came after The course was organised by Texas which was one outcome of an agree- team and their report was presented take a decision. the deadline were rejected, as well A&M under Qatar’s Continuing and Pro- ment Texas A&M at Qatar and the RSC to the committee of private schools. The ministry had announced applications that did not fulfill the fessional Education programme and held signed in June 2016 that aims to develop This committee is one of the receiving applications for fee increase requirements, or if the financial report at the branch campus in Education City. the human capital and technological largest committees in the Ministry from private kindergartens and was found lacking credibility or The course was designed to be the first knowledge base needed for Qatar’s and headed by undersecretary of the schools for the academic year accuracy. of a series of training opportunities to future. 06 HOME SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 Sidra gets HIMSS certification National Car Company launches new website The Peninsula Top honour The Peninsula idra Medical and It is the first Research Center (Sidra) outpatient based ational Car Company, has achieved the clinic in Qatar to (NCC) sole agent for Healthcare Information achieve the HIMSS NMazda vehicles in Management System Analytics EMRAMSM Qatar announced launch of SSociety’s (HIMSS) Analytics the new, fully-redesigned 6 certification for EMRAMSM Stage 6 level of dis- website - mazda-qatar.com. adopting advanced tinction - an international Reflecting Mazda’s new benchmark for the use of information brand strategy. The website advanced information technol- technology to offers an enhanced user ogy (IT) to improve patient care. improve patient care. experience aimed at engag- It is the first outpatient ing premium customers and (ambulatory) based clinic in current owners. Al Thani, President Director, Qatar to achieve the HIMSS Ana- skilled talent and leading edge Mazda Qatar has built an National Car Company. “The lytics EMRAMSM 6 certification. technologies to provide safe and intuitive, user-friendly site with new site strengthens Mazda’s The accreditation was achieved world-class healthcare services enhanced shopping tools and ability to capture consumer for using electronic medical for women and children in seamless navigation. attention and connect with our records and other supporting Qatar,” he said. FROM LEFT: Acting Chief of Medical Informatics at Sidra Dr. Mazda shoppers can eas- target audience.” technologies to enhance the The Sidra Outpatient Clinic Khalid Alyafei; Paul Casterton and Chief Information Officer; ily access product information, Drawing from extensive quality of care provided to successfully passed the 0-6 Mike LeRoy pose after the clinic received HIMSS certification. promotions, warranty infor- research into how Mazda’s patients and families at the Sidra stages of HIMSS Analytics Elec- mation to make a well diverse customers shop for cars, Outpatient Clinic, It said in a tronic Medical Record Adoption rights of “closed loop” medica- quality of care. Not only are informed purchase decision. mazda-qatar.com is optimised press statement yesterday. Model (EMRAMSM). The tion administration – where there cost and resource efficien- Existing owners also benefit to align with all devices: desk- Chief Information Officer of EMRAMSM stage 6 is awarded patient records and medications cies — it also provides accurate from the redesign, with an top, tablet and mobile. Sidra, Michael LeRoy said to hospitals that have achieved both have bar codes to ensure detailing on diagnoses and a safe easily-accessible owners sec- Optimisation presents custom- achieving HIMSS Stage 6 certi- a comprehensive list of IT that the right dose is adminis- and effective way to exchange tion that features helpful ers with a fluid shopping fication within eight months of requirements. tered to the right patient at the details between practitioners. reference materials. experience regardless of the opening the outpatient clinic is One of the key technology right time. This is particularly relevant at The site’s engaging video device they are using. a major milestone for Sidra. It features available at Sidra Out- Acting Chief of Medical Sidra as our referral patients experiences, immersive visu- “At NCC, we believe human puts Sidra Outpatient Clinic in patient Clinic is the Computer Informatics at Sidra Dr. Khalid continuum of care is spread als and animation, and insight is at heart of every great the exclusive league as some of Physician Order Entry (CPOE). Alyafei said achieving this acco- across practitioners at Sidra and interaction cues help guide the design experience,” said Sathish the top technologically advanced This allows physicians to directly lade highlights the strategic set HMC or PHCC,” he noted. customer along their journey Nair; Marketing & Sales Manager, hospitals in the world. enter patient data including up for outpatient clinic and com- Sidra’s 3D printing technol- and articulate the true emotion Mazda. “We have done extensive “Patients and their families medication orders. The CPOE mitment of all the people ogy has also been integrated with of Mazda’s brand. research that enabled us to cre- can be reassured that we are has been proven to drastically working at Sidra — to ensure patient electronic medical records, “New Mazda Qatar website ate a site experience that will committed to best practice reduce errors in areas like med- patient safety. enabling clinicians to directly is equipped with a customer- take Mazda to the next level.” methodologies for benefit of ication administration and “The integration of different order a 3D model of medical first experience design, For more information on the their safety and well-being. This dosage, illegible handwriting types of technologies within scans. This allows surgeons to plan including a sophisticated new entire Mazda range, visit Mazda is a strong endorsement of our and patient allergy alerts. Sidra has a direct impact on ahead of time for surgery in terms look and eye-catching visuals,” showroom, call 44435965 or visit ongoing objective to invest in Another safety feature is the five improving patient access and of procedures and equipment. said Sheikh Ahmad Bin Nasser www.mazda-qatar.com Shops near camping areas Ali Al-Mulla’s art exhibition marks issued child safety guidelines Shangri-La Hotel’s first anniversary

Sidi Mohamed and talk to them about safety The Peninsula The Peninsula measures and how to spend a safety winter camping without hangri-La Hotel Doha, n order to save children from accidents,” he added. owned by Al Faisal Hold- accidents, traffic authorities The Community Police on Sing, headed by Sheikh Ihave asked shops located at Friday organised an awareness Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, cel- camping areas not to rent dune campaign under the theme ebrated its first anniversary. buggies to anyone who is not “enjoyable season and safety To mark the first anniver- wearing safety devices. camping” in collaboration with sary, the renowned 5-star hotel Meanwhile, parents have Media and Awareness Section launched a fine arts exhibition been asked by the traffic depart- at the Traffic Department, Civil of Qatari artist Ali Al-Mulla. ment to take care of their Defense, and Qatar Red Cres- The exhibition will run until children and must not allow parents not to allow children cent, and visited Sealine area March 31, where artworks will them driving cars, motorcycles drive without licences. In this and provided awareness lec- be showcased at the lobby, without driving licensees at win- case, only parents will be held tures to campers. lobby lounge, Horizon Club and ter camps. responsible,” said Lt. Abdul The aim of the campaign is Shanghai Club. “We visited winter campers Wahid Ghareeb Al Anzi (pic- to increase awareness about Al-Mulla, a member of Qatar at their camps, especially Sea- tured), traffic awareness officer. dangerous which may affect Fine Arts Society (QFAS) is a line area and talked to campers “Children must not go to campers especially children and unique artist, who often paints about safety measures about the places or hills which may become youth, mentioning that Sealine without using a brush. Instead, safety of children and gave them dangerous,” Al Anzi said. “It is a area marked by its sand dunes he relies on use of his skilful some pieces of advice on how second year for Media and that most of youths like to drive hands with which he expresses to remain safe from accidents Awareness Section to visit camp- in these places, said Lt Fadel a concept of modern realistic Dignitaries at the first anniversary celebration of Shangri-La in the desert. We have advised ers at their camps and meet them Nasser Al Saadi, Community expressionism using imagina- Hotel Doha. Police officer. tive techniques. As a result, his He added: “Parents must work reflects his passion and successful push in the artistic As a Qatari artist, I aspire to not allow their sons to drive dedication to art. community. I’ll be presenting a leave a footprint in my commu- motorcycles between vehi- Ali Al-Mulla, commented: few celebrities from in and out- nity and I hope everybody will cles which makes them “I’m glad to be part of the exhi- side Qatar and I’d also like to like my work.” prone to accidents”. The bition organised by Shangri-La thank Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Ali depicts some of the campaign will continue until Doha; it is a great experience for Al Thani as well as curators of world’s most famous faces in next week. me because I consider it as a this exhibition for their efforts. new perspectives and colours. His various techniques include use of tools such as knives, brushes and rolls. The use of colours is essential to his multi- hued paintings that he achieves through his remarkable skills with a knife, which demon- strates his acrylic painting techniques. His unique paint- ings are available for sale during the exhibition. The opening ceremony was attended by guests including ambassadors, representatives, corporate clients and key opin- ion leaders. Alex Willats, General Man- ager of Shangri-La Hotel Doha, said: “Shangri-La is proud to welcome special art pieces of Ali Al-Mulla to help us express the momentous occasion of our first anniversary.” “Shangri-La Doha benefits from a wide community in Doha, and beyond. As a hotel, we love showcasing arts and culture exhibitions and we invite everyone to come and celebrate our first anniversary while shar- ing our passion for Qatari talent.” SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 MIDDLE EAST 07 Top US commander Kuwaitis celebrate National Day in secret Syria trip

Qamishli “confirmation of US support for AFP Vital discussion our forces”. Syrian Democratic According to a senior source he top US military Forces spokesman in the SDF, “Votel confirmed the commander for the Talal Sello told coalition’s commitment to pro- Middle East made a reporters that Votel tecting Manbij from any attacks secret trip to northern waged by Turkey or supported discussed increased Syria to meet a US- by it, as part of its previous com- coordination and Tbacked alliance fighting the mitment to protecting the area.” Islamic State group, the alli- support to the SDF in Manjib is a city in Aleppo ance’s spokesman said. era of Donald Trump. province. General Joseph Votel, who “We did not discuss open- heads US Central Command “There were promises of ing corridors for Turkish-backed (Centcom), met with leaders heavy weapons in future stages,” forces to enter areas under our from the Syrian Democratic Sello said. In an online statement, control,” the source said. Forces in the first such trip Sello said Votel had met with sev- The Pentagon did not imme- under the new US eral SDF commanders. diately respond to a request for administration. “The results were positive. comment. SDF spokesman Talal Sello We discussed the developments Founded in October 2015, told reporters that Votel “dis- in the Euphrates Rage campaign the SDF is an alliance of Kurd- Kuwaitis picnic in a park during celebrations marking the country's National Day and 26th cussed increased coordination and shared military matters,” ish and Arab fighters that has anniversary of the end of the war with the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, in and support (to the SDF) in era Sello said. seized swathes of territory from Kuwait City, yesterday. of Donald Trump”. He described the meeting as IS across northern Syria. Saudi & Iraq discuss cooperation in several fields Baghdad Pledge to fight IS his counterpart Ibrahim Al Jaa- January 2016, became the first Iraq’s “annoyance” over what he bia, Jordan and Syria. AFP fari during the visit, who said in Saudi ambassador to Iraq in a called “unacceptable “Jubeir congratulated Iraq on a statement the visit was “the quarter century, after relations interference.” the victories achieved against Jubeir congratulated Iraq audi Foreign Minister Adel first by a Saudi foreign minister were cut following ex-president Saudi Arabia nominally sup- Daesh and pledged Saudi Ara- on the victories achieved Al Jubeir held talks in Bagh- since 2003.” Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion ports the fight against IS but Iraq bia’s support to Iraq in fighting dad with Iraq’s leadership against Daesh and “This visit is to reestablish of Kuwait. and other partners have argued terrorism,” the statement from S pledged Saudi Arabia’s yesterday, the first such visit by relations in a more stable way Hashed Al Shaabi (Popular it needs to do more to help dura- Abadi’s office said. a chief diplomat from the king- support to Iraq in fighting than previously,” a senior gov- Mobilisation) forces, which have bly defeat IS and its ideology. It said the minister had also dom since 2003. terrorism,” the statement ernment official said on played a key role in the fight As evidenced in recent “expressed Saudi Arabia’s willing- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider from Abadi’s office said. condition of anonymity. “It’s the against the Islamic State (IS) attacks, IS has retained its abil- ness to back the stability of liberated Al Abadi received Jubeir and his first visit of its kind.” group, are a paramilitary ity to sow chaos and undermine areas.” accompanying delegation, a Abadi, who has been at the umbrella dominated by Shia the Iraqi government’s author- “The whole region is heading statement from his office said, a fight against the Daesh gangs,” helm since 2014, has supported militia and seen by Riyadh as a ity even after it lost fixed towards compromise and Saudi key step in efforts to normalise it said, referring to the Islamic efforts to improve strained ties proxy for arch-rival Iran. positions in various regions. Arabia sees Iraq as an important frosty ties. State group, which Iraqi forces but the road to normalisation has Jaafari told him directly on Several of those regions player to have on its side,” he said. Both the sides during the are currently battling in the been rocky. the sidelines of a global confer- have occurred in Iraq’s vast “Iraq’s neutrality could make it a meeting“discussed cooperation northern city of Mosul. Thamer Al Sabhan, whose ence on the anti-IS war last year Anbar province, which has ground for Iranian-Saudi in various fields, including the The Saudi minister also met credentials were received in and in a statement expressing long borders with Saudi Ara- rapprochement.” 08 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 Syria talks challenged as dozens dead in attacks

Beirut During three previous rounds AFP Fight continues of talks in Geneva last year, the The Syrian Observatory rivals never sat down at the same N efforts to launch a for Human Rights said table, instead leaving de Mistura new round of Syria to shuttle between them. in all 42 people were peace talks sput- The HNC has said it wants to killed, but the tered yesterday as meet the government face-to- suicide attacks provincial governor face this time. At the end of Ukilled dozens of people, with the put the figure at 30. Friday's negotiations, de Mistu- death toll from two days of vio- ra's acting chief of staff Michael lence nearing 100. The attack came a day Contet signalled there was no The blasts targeting two after 77 people, immediate prospect of direct security service bases in Homs, mostly civilians, were talks. Syria's third city, killed a top killed in a suicide Yesterday's attack in Homs intelligence chief and close con- bombing claimed by saw bombers targeting the head- fidant of President Bashar Al the Islamic State quarters of state security and Assad, and were claimed by group in Al Bab. military intelligence in a spec- former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh tacular assault that killed General People walk on the rubble of a damaged school after air strikes in the rebel-held besieged Al Sham Front. The Syrian Hassan Daabul, a top military Douma neighbourhood of Damascus, yesterday. Observatory for Human Rights Mistura through the weekend intelligence official. "There were said in all 42 people were killed, although there was little hope for at least six attackers and several near full government control the Geneva talks. says the president's future is not but the provincial governor put a breakthrough. of them blew themselves up near since May 2014 when rebels Despite renouncing links up for discussion. the figure at 30 dead. The attack After meeting de Mistura on the headquarters of state secu- withdrew from the centre under with Al-Qaeda last year, it For the UN, the talks are came a day after 77 people, Friday, regime delegation chief rity and military intelligence," a UN-brokered truce deal. But it remains blacklisted as a "terror- about "political transition", a mostly civilians, were killed in a Bashar Al Jaafari said he would Syrian Observatory for Human has seen repeated bombings ist" group by the United Nations term contained in Security Coun- suicide bombing claimed by the study a UN paper on the "format" Rights director Rami Abdel Rah- since then, including twin attacks and Western governments. cil resolution 2254 that provides Islamic State group in Al Bab, of the talks, but gave no indica- man said. early last year that killed 64. Syria's opposition is in a the framework for the peace said the Observatory. The jihad- tion that the negotiations had any Fateh Al Sham Front said just The Observatory said that the much weaker position compared process. ists were ousted from the momentum. five militants took part in the last rebel enclave, the Waer to the last round of UN-brokered "Transition means transfer- northern town during the week The main opposition High assault, the latest atrocity in a neighbourhood, was hit by air talks in April 2016, notably fol- ring the authorities to a by Turkish-backed rebels. Negotiations Committee (HNC) six-year war which has killed strikes after yesterday's attack. lowing the loss of their transitional governance body," In Geneva, Syrian govern- described its meeting with de more than 310,000 people. Secu- Like its jihadist rival IS, Fateh stronghold in eastern Aleppo. opposition negotiator Basma ment and opposition negotiators Mistura as "positive", without rity forces locked down the city Al Sham is not party to a cease- Despite the setbacks on the Kodmani said, specifying that in were to continue meetings with elaborating on a possible path centre after the bombings. fire between government forces ground, the HNC still insists that this body "there is no role for United Nations envoy Staffan de forward. Homs has been under the and rebel groups taking part in Assad leave power. Damascus Bashar al-Assad."

Rival militias Iraqi forces push deeper into west Mosul reach ceasefire

Mosul die since the Mosul offensive in Libyan capital AFP began four months ago. In areas now rid of the jihadists, residents TRIPOLI: Militias allied to raqi forces backed by jets and told of their lives under IS rule Libya’s UN-backed unity helicopters battled jihadists and celebrated their recovered government and rivals have Iinside west Mosul yesterday freedom. "They made us wear reached a ceasefire in the cap- but still faced a tough and poten- short trousers and beards, ciga- ital Tripoli, the government’s tially protracted battle to retake rettes were forbidden. The presidential council said yes- the Islamic State group's women had to cover even their terday. bastion. eyes, it was forbidden even for The ceasefire deal comes Almost a week into a major their eyes to appear," said after two days of sporadic push on the city's west bank, they 20-year-old Othman Raad out- clashes between the govern- were gaining significant ground, side his home in Jawsaq. ment’s central security forces taking on IS on several fronts in "Now we feel relaxed, our and a militia loyal to the one of the most intense phases children are safe, we are safe," Tripoli-based salvation gov- of the four-month-old operation he said, even as fighting raged ernment, which is not to retake Mosul. blocks away. internationally recognised. Elite forces from the interior Iraqi forces launched a fresh In a statement, the coun- ministry's Rapid Response units push from the south on Febru- cil said a security panel has that retook Mosul airport pressed ary 19, nearly a month after the been formed to observe the north towards the city centre but eastern side of Mosul was implementation of the cease- their advance was expected to declared "fully liberated". fire deal. It vowed to end all slow as they moved deeper. The west bank of Mosul is features of “illegal armament” "Right now we're heading where Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in the capital and to bring towards the Mosul governorate Displaced Iraqis flee their homes during a battle with Islamic State militants, in Albu Saif, made his only public appearance those violating the ceasefire building, we're now about one south-west, Mosul, yesterday. as IS leader in July 2014 and pro- to justice. The violence broke kilometre (less than a mile) from claimed a "caliphate" straddling out after forces backing the the fourth bridge," the city's helicopters fired rockets at tar- Mohammadawi said, as tanks shot in the leg by a sniper. Iraq and Syria. salvation government southernmost bridge across the gets in the Jawsaq and troops rained fire on sus- An Iraqi female reporter, The group once controlled accused rival militias of kid- Tigris River, Lieutenant Colonel neighbourhood. pected IS snipers. Shifa Gardi, was killed yesterday about a third of Iraq but after napping four of its forces. Abdulamir Al Mohammadawi As they pushed deeper from Moments later, Rapid when a roadside bomb exploded more than two years of a gov- Last week, Fayez al-Sar- said on the front line. the outer edges of the city into Response fighters helped two as she was covering the clashes ernment fightback supported by raj, the head of the unity "We're heading towards the more densely populated areas, wounded comrades back to the in west Mosul, her channel said. powerful allies such as the government, survived an centre and also the Turkish con- resistance appeared to stiffen. rear for treatment. They moaned The 30-year-old journalist United States and Iran, the west assassination attempt when sulate, which we're about 500 "Daesh is using houses full in pain and one wore a tourni- for Kurdish network Rudaw bank of Mosul is the last major his convoy came under fire metres from," he said, as attack of residents as human shields," quet above his knee after being became the second reporter to jihadist bastion in the country. in Tripoli. Nigeria VP gets active Mugabe marks 93rd birthday with president away Matopo Hills leader who took power after his drooping head on one hand. AP independence from white minor- His wife adjusted his glasses. ity rule in 1980, declared a few Zimbabwe's challenges Lagos imbabwean President Rob- days ago that most Zimbabwe- include a strike by doctors over AFP ert Mugabe (pictured) ans think nobody can replace working conditions that has Zcelebrated his 93rd birth- him. The longevity of the world's forced army and police doctors igeria's Vice-President day yesterday amid granite hills oldest head of state is a source of to deploy in public hospitals. Yemi Osinbajo (pic- where ancient spirits are said to heartache for Zimbabwe's splin- Conditions at hospitals were performed ahead of yesterday's Ntured) seems to have dwell, defying calls to resign after tered opposition and uncertainty already deteriorating because of party at a school in Matopo Hills, been everywhere while his boss nearly four decades in power in for investors, leaving the eco- poor staffing and low supplies of on the outskirts of Bulawayo city is away. He even conducted a a region known for opposing the nomically struggling country in medicine. The government has with caves and rock art dating spot check on the public toilets British capital on January 19, man who says he'll run again in limbo. endured other crises, rejecting back thousands of years. at Lagos international airport. 59-year-old Osinbajo has rarely 2018 elections. Mugabe yesterday wore dark decades of opposition and West- The region, whose mystical- The clear aim, it seems, is been out of the newspapers or Thousands of government glasses and a multi-colored ern allegations about human looking rock formations have to give the impression of busi- off the television news. supporters, some wearing cloth- jacket bearing an image of him- rights violations, voting irregu- been the setting for religious cer- ness as usual while President His consensual style — and ing adorned with Mugabe's self in younger days, sitting larities and economic emonies, is also associated with Muhammadu Buhari is nearly short stature — have stood in image, converged in Matabele- impassively as speakers praised mismanagement. the often violent fissures of pre- 5,000 km away in London on marked contrast to Buhari, an land for a birthday bash and his leadership and delegates from Mugabe, who turned 93 on and post-colonial Africa. British medical leave. The government uncompromising former army show of strength for the ruling ruling parties in Botswana, Tuesday, has been serenaded at colonialist Cecil John Rhodes is appears keen to avoid the general who headed a military ZANU-PF party, beset by squab- Namibia, Angola and Zambia a palace cake-cutting by singers buried here. It is also the site of impression of a political vac- government in the 1980s. The bling in the past year as the kneeled at his chair to greet him. who wished him "many more" mass graves of some of the thou- uum, as happened in 2010 vice-president has met ambas- elderly president weakened and The Chinese ambassador read a birthdays. Air Zimbabwe, the sands of Ndebele people killed in when president Umaru sadors and delegations, and factions, one including his wife congratulatory message from cash-strapped national carrier, the 1980s by a North Korea- Yar'Adua fell ill and later died chaired cabinet meetings in Grace, sparred ahead of an President Xi Jinping. and other entities took out birth- trained military unit loyal to while being teated abroad. Abuja with an ease, profession- expected power vacuum. At one point Mugabe raised day notices in pro-government Mugabe, a member of the rival Since Buhari, 74, left for the alism — and visibility. Mugabe, a former rebel his fist in salute, but he also rested media. Dancers and musicians Shona ethnic group. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 ASIA 09 First US-North Korea talks cancelled

Seoul A US State Department offi- Reuters Visa denied cial denied so-called track two The talks, between discussions had been scheduled. lans for the first con- senior North Korean "The US government had no tact between North foreign ministry plans to engage in track 2 talks Korea and the United envoy Choe Son Hui in New York," the official said, States after President declining comment on individ- and former US Donald Trump took ual visa cases. officials, were Poffice were cancelled after the A South Korean foreign min- Us State Department denied a scheduled to take istry official declined to visa for the top envoy from place on March 1 and comment on the report of the Pyongyang, the Wall Street Jour- 2 in New York but cancelled meeting in New York, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo (centre) meets with New South Wales Premier Gladys nal reported yesterday. were called off after saying the reported plan did not "The talks, between senior Choe was denied a involve the US or South Korean Berejiklian (third left) in Sydney, yesterday. North Korean foreign ministry visa. government. envoy Choe Son Hui and former The meeting in New York US officials, were scheduled to would have been the first time The US government Widodo arrives in Sydney take place on March 1 and 2 in a senior North Korean envoy had no plans to New York but were called off would visit the United States after Choe was denied a visa," engage in track 2 since 2011 and the first contact Sydney they greeted Australian officials Malcolm Turnbull's harbour- the Journal said. talks in New York: between US and North Korean AP on the Sydney Airport tarmac. side mansion. It was not clear what led the Official. representatives since Trump Improving trade and invest- "Our relationship with Indo- State Department to deny the took office. ndonesian President Joko ment will be a key focus of nesia is growing deeper by the visa but North Korea's test-fir- Choe, director general for "Jokowi" Widodo arrived in Jokowi's two-day state visit with day but it has not yet reached its ing of a ballistic missile on South Korean and US offi- North American affairs at the ISydney yesterday on his first plans to finalize a bilateral free full potential," Turnbull wrote February 12 and the murder of cials have said they believe North's foreign ministry, has visit to Australia has his nation's trade agreement this year. in an opinion piece in The Syd- North Korean leader Kim Jong North Korean agents assassi- previously met former US offi- leader. The Indonesian president ney Morning Herald newspaper, Un's half brother in Malaysia nated Kim Jong Nam, the cials and academics, the last Jokowi and first lady Iriana will meet with business leaders adding Australia trades more may have played a role, the estranged half brother of Kim time in November in Geneva for Widodo landed in rainy condi- Saturday afternoon before a pri- with Malaysia, Singapore and report said. Jong Un, on February13. informal discussions. tions and clutched umbrellas as vate dinner at Prime Minister Thailand than with Indonesia. Malaysia to issue arrest Australia sued over detaining juveniles Junta appoints

Jakarta break Australian laws". $80m in compensation," said new Buddhism warrant for diplomat AFP The minors were detained the lawyer. when they arrived in Australia Indonesia was long a key unit director Kuala Lumpur Yesterday, Malaysia's tone ustralia is being sued for on people-smuggling boats transit country on people-smug- AP changed. $80m in Jakarta over between 2008 and 2012. gling routes, with migrants Bangkok Abdul Samah Mat, the Aclaims it held juvenile The vessels were typically arriving in the archipelago Reuters alaysia said yesterday police chief leading the inves- Indonesian people-smuggling crewed by Indonesians and car- before boarding wooden fish- that it would issue an tigation, said authorities would suspects in adult prisons or for ried migrants from countries ing boats and crossing illegally THAILAND'S military junta Marrest warrant for a give the diplomat "reasonable" long periods in immigration including Afghanistan and Iran. to Australia. removed the chief of the North Korean diplomat if he time to come forward. detention, a lawyer said. "They had violated the law Christmas Island, an Aus- department responsible for refuses to cooperate with the If he doesn't, police will "The class-action lawsuit because they came to Australia tralian territory just several overseeing Buddhist affairs investigation into the attack on issue a notice compelling him was launched on Thursday at a illegally, but because they were hundred kilometres south of and replaced him with a North Korean ruler Kim Jong to do so. court in the capital on behalf of minors they should not have Indonesia's Java island, was the police officer yesterday, amid Un's exiled half brother. "And if he failed to turn up 115 Indonesians allegedly been jailed in adult prisons or usual arrival point. a stand-off between officials The investigation has ... then we will go to the next detained when they were detained for more than three The flow of migrants has and monks at the country's unleashed a serious diplomatic step by getting a warrant of minors," said the lawyer repre- months," she said. stopped since Australia intro- largest temple. fight between Malaysia and arrest from the court," he said. senting them, Lisa Hiariej. Those arrested were not duced hardline policies that Thousands of followers of North Korea, a prime suspect Lawyer Sankara Nair, how- "They were either held in tried in court but held in jail or include turning migrant boats the Dhammakaya Temple in the February 13 killing of Kim ever, noted that diplomats have immigration detention centres immigration detention and later back to Indonesia when it is safe have defied orders to leave Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's immunity privileges even in for longer than three months, or sent back to Indonesia. to do so, a measure that has riled temple grounds for over a airport. criminal cases. in adult jails, both situations that "The claimants are seeking Jakarta. week, blocking attempts by police to seek out their former abbot, who is accused of money laundering. The standoff at the scan- Anti-Park protest Cambodia seeks $400m dal-hit temple represents one of the biggest challenges to the authority of Thailand's to complete demining junta since it took power in 2014. Cambodia deployed in large numbers in Prime Minister Prayuth AP 1979, when the genocidal Chan-ocha used what critics Khmer Rouge regime was call "the dictator's law" to ambodia needs more than ousted from power and began replace Phanom Sornsilp, the $400m in aid to remove 18 years of guerrilla warfare. lay head of the National Cby 2025 all of the land Years of civil conflict, as Office of Buddhism, with an mines that are a legacy of years well as bombing by the US Air official from the Department of civil war, the country's prime Force in the early 1970s, riddled of Special Investigations (DSI). minister said. the Cambodian landscape with "The reforms must be Prime Minister Hun Sen an estimated 4 to 6 million land implemented quickly and can- said in a statement marking his mines and other pieces of unex- not follow normal procedure," nation's Mine Awareness Day ploded ordnance. the statement in Royal Gazette that the mines remain a threat Hun Sen also said that some announcing the move said. and kill or maim nearly 100 1.036 million anti-personnel The DSI are currently in people a year. mines, and 24,251 anti-tank charge of ongoing operations "These mines are not only mines, along with a huge quan- to find and arrest Phra Dham- inflicting tragedy on the lives tity of other unexploded machayo at the Dhammakaya of our people, but also holding ordnance, has been removed Temple. It has ordered 14 them back from moving on with from ground and destroyed other senior monks belong- their lives and developing the since demining operations ing to the temple to give country". began in 1992. themselves up or face arrest. "Cambodia has cleared about More than 4,000 people The National Office of 1,500 sq km of mines, but nearly were reportedly killed and Buddhism is responsible for 2,000 sq km of land remains lit- wounded in 1996 from land the administration of the reli- A woman impersonating Choi Soon-sil stands in front of a cut-out of South Korean President tered with munitions". mines and other unrecovered gion followed by some 95 Some 60,000 Cambodians ordnance, but by 2016, the percent of Thais, but does not Park Geun-hye during a protest demanding Park's resignation, in Seoul, yesterday. have been killed or wounded number of dead and wounded have the power to defrock by mines since they were first had decreased to 83, he said. monks.

Thailand plans to open new zoo next to raided Tiger temple

Bangkok "The new zoo should be affiliation with the zoo and hung good last year after police wrongdoing and said last Octo- "Given the appalling condi- AP completed in two to three up. unearthed evidence of possible ber that he wanted to open a zoo tions at the former Tiger Temple, months and has no affiliation Tiger Temple had operated involvement in trafficking tigers with new tigers. which ultimately led to its clo- new zoo is planned in with Tiger Temple," the temple's in Kanchanaburi province for and their parts. While Saiyood denied any sure, we're urging the Thai western Thailand right lawyer, Saiyood Pengboonchu, more than a decade despite con- Police are still investigating links between the temple's zoo government not to activate the Anext to the closed Bud- said on Friday. cerns about trafficking and possible criminal charges and the planned zoo, animal full zoo licence needed for dhist temple that ran a lucrative A person answering a phone possible mistreatment of its against employees and monks. welfare groups still are con- another tiger entertainment tiger attraction while allegedly number listed for the new zoo's tigers. Its 137 tigers were seized Phra Wisutthi Sarathera, the cerned the new zoo will be run venue to be opened," says World trafficking in endangered beasts. holding company denied any and the temple was closed for temple's abbot, denied any by the same people. Animal Protection. 10 VIEWS SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

CHAIRMAN SHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

ACTING MANAGING EDITOR MOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED [email protected]

EDITORIAL Defending freedom

he war between Donald Trump and the US media is intensifying with the President and the White House sharpening their attack on the media and taking unprecedented measures to silence and stop them from Treporting uncomfortable facts. In a shocking development, the White House excluded several major Trump’s presidential diplomacy deal? US news organisations openly critical of the president from an off-camera briefing held by its press secretary In other words, presidential diplo- acute in the realm of foreign policy. on Friday. Reporters for CNN, New York Times, Sean W Burges macy sees the president personally drive ‘Businessman’s intuition’ Politico, Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed were not the policy-making process, give clear Trump’s turn to presidential diplomacy Al Jazeera allowed into the session in the office of press secretary direction to executing agencies, and appears to be a leap of “businessman’s Sean Spicer. The Associated Press and Time were actively partake in the implementation intuition”. His clear belief is that new deals invited to the briefing but boycotted it to protest the through repeated deployment of the are needed to make America great again, decision to exclude others. The decision created shock gravitas of his office. A central assump- and he, as the consummate deal-maker- and drew a sharp response from the media which ost world leaders are having a tion with presidential diplomacy is that in-chief, is obviously the man to get them were targeted. Dean Baquet, executive editor of The hard time adapting to Donald the president has a clear vision of how done. Logic tells him that the people with New York Times, said: “Nothing like this has ever Trump’s foreign policy style. foreign policy can be used to advance his whom the deals need to be made are his happened at the White House in our long history of None of his seemingly capri- primary policy agenda. counterparts in other countries. In best covering multiple administrations of different parties.” cious decisions fit within the Two different illus- property development fashion, it is the However, Trump’s desperation and authoritarian Mstaid models of diplomatic consistency or the trations can be found in boss of the company that meets with the tendencies will not bear fruit and will be self-defeating genteel practice of back-channel advance sig- the United States’ neigh- head of the other company to get things because the targeted media will continue to expose nalling to key partners that change may be bourhood. Under the done. Once the handshake is taken the the president with the same courage and coming. The news is brutal, direct, and straight Brazilian presidencies of minions are called in to iron out the determination. from the president’s mouth. This, of course, is Fernando Henrique Car- details, which are, of course, subject to Trump is running out of options in his war with the hardly surprising given that the traditional renegotiation should Trump change his foreign policy bureaucracy has been almost mind. media. His tirades and vituperative tweets have What Trump has yet to become bland and repetitive, while the attacks from completely shut out of an emerging system What Trump has yet to discover is that focuses on the construction of a strong that cutting a real estate deal is decid- the other side have been discover is that cutting a leader’s mastery of the “art of the deal”, rather edly simple when compared with the virulent and consistent real estate deal is decidedly than the elitist “art of diplomacy”. complexity of using foreign policy to Trump’s war causing huge damage to Understanding the confusion begins with simple when compared to kick-start something as amorphous as a the president’s already with the media a look at the people who make foreign policy the complexity of using national economy. is intensifying, abysmal reputation. go. Of the dozens of political appointments a foreign policy to kick-start While photo ops and high-minded but the latter Trump calls exposes president makes to his foreign policy team, discussions with other world leaders against him and his something as amorphous as is performing only a handful of cabinet secretaries have might assuage Trump’s ego, being the administration as fake been confirmed. a national economy. toughest negotiator in town is going to its duty as news, and calls the media The big three — Rex Tillerson (State), mean little if there is no underlying pol- a defender “the enemy of the James Mattis (Defence), and John Kelly icy coherence, which means he needs to of American American people.” (Department of Homeland Security) — seem doso (1995-2002) and Luiz Inacio Lula da appoint and listen to highly qualified Yesterday, he went further freedom and to be facing challenges getting meaningful Silva (2003-2010) presidential diplomacy people. This includes those who may not by branding the media “a advice to the president. was effectively deployed for the clear fit neatly into his idealised blueprint of values. great danger to the Exacerbating matters are the problems policy goal of national development by unquestioning personal loyalty. country” on social media. each is having in getting their preferred depu- establishing Brazil first as a credible Given the size of Trump’s ego and his The president will have to ties through Trump’s personal loyalty vetting country and then as a dynamic economy need to continuously be in the centre of stretch his ingenuity and imagination when he wants machine. The optimist might point to the at the centre of the surge in South-South an adoring spotlight, it is highly unlikely to excoriate the media next time, having already thousands of career diplomats at the Depart- relations. An alternative usage comes that he will back away from his self-con- levelled the most dangerous and seditious charges ment of State, some of whom are now from Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez ceived role as toughest negotiator on the against them. temporarily sitting in the most senior policy adopted an antagonistic attitude towards global stage. There is no end in sight to this war unless Trump chairs, sage advice ready to hand. the US to help prop up his regime. The very real risk is that he will con- changes his ways, which is unlikely because he has Yet, there is little sign these professionals Indeed, Chavez most likely learned tinue confusing the “art of the deal” with unleashed an ultra-nationalistic, protectionist, anti- are being heeded, and we can probably this skill from the Castro brothers, who the “art of diplomacy”. immigrant and anti-Muslim agenda that has divided assume that as a group they are persona non never failed to pick a fight with the US As both George W Bush and Barack the society and tarnished America’s name abroad. The grata in the White House after more than 900 when they needed to divert attention Obama learned the hard way, remedy- American media is performing its role as a powerful of their number signed a dissent memo criti- away from domestic economic and ing unintended foreign policy missteps is pillar of democracy and defending the country’s cising Trump’s earliest foreign policy decision political challenges. far more complicated and expensive freedoms against the onslaught of a xenophobic White on the travel ban directed against Muslims The point in each of these radically than refinancing a hotel redevelopment. House and the racist and right-wing forces. from seven countries. different examples is that the president Until Trump figures this out, presi- Trump’s toxic politics has created huge tension Normally this state of affairs would be of had a clear and concrete policy goal in dential diplomacy risks being like one of and apprehension in the society. A few days ago, an great concern to the president and his closest mind and successfully took personal his failed business ventures - lots of Indian software engineer was shot dead by a man political advisers, but this may not be the case control of foreign policy with an explicit expensive show with little underlying shouting ‘Get out of my country.’ Australian children’s with a transaction-minded, deal-making Oval plan to advance these priorities. substance that leaves a trail of broken book author Mem Fox has suggested she might never Office. In fact, clearing out the gaggle of irri- With Trump there is some certainty businesses and suppliers in its wake. tating questioning voices of foreign policy about his stated goal — Make America The added danger now is that stakes return to the US after she was detained and insulted by professionals may be something of a relief for Great Again — but little clarity about have risen exponentially, meaning that his border control agents at Los Angeles airport. America the president. Strength and highly visible how he plans to go about practical policy failures could very well lay waste to whole has become less safe under Trump. assertion of greatness seems key — not terms, a problem that is particularly countries, including possibly his own. patiently navigating the pitfalls and opportu- nities of the diplomatic process for the sort of deeper but more amorphous long-term gain that comes with quietly coordinating the rules QUOTE OF THE DAY of the international system. Hyper-transactionalised diplomacy The foreign policy style emerging from Trump’s Washington thus appears to be a It‘s not always easy to predict hyper-transactionalised form of “presidential that, although you are alive diplomacy” driven by a winner-takes-all under- this year, you will be alive standing of foreign affairs and diplomacy. next year. It does not matter Traditionally, presidential diplomacy sees how healthy you might a president shunt aside his foreign minister feel, the decision that you and diplomatic apparatus to take a direct, personal, active, and sustained engagement in continue to live and enjoy life the conceptualisation and execution of for- is that of one personality we eign policy. call the Almighty God. It differs from the standard presidential role in foreign policy in which diplomacy is left to the professionals and the leader’s Robert Mugabe US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Zimbabwe’s President engagement largely limited to the constitu- tional minimum. Abe at the White House in Washington. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 OPINION 11 Dutch voters, too, look for alternatives find Wilders’s message — ban the Koran, close down all the mosques — Leonid Bershidsky crass and distasteful. Baudet is among The Washington Post those providing a plausible alternative. “These are well-substantiated ideas, not a lot of screaming and t’s almost 10 pm on a Monday night but the 100 nonsense,” said Ronneke Boumans, or so people assembled in a hotel conference a former VVD supporter who room in North Holland are in no hurry to go signed up for Baudet’s party after home. They’re asking a dapper, young politician the campaign event. pointed and thoughtful questions that reveal a Baudet, who comes from a long Ihunger for political debate. line of academics and cultural fig- It would be an idyllic picture of one of the world’s ures, may be too elite for mass most accomplished democracies if the content of the appeal. But he’s not deterred. He discussion weren’t evidence of a democratic process distrusts the polls and points to the gone badly wrong. The March 15 election in the Neth- party’s successful social media erlands is expected to deliver a further strong signal campaign that generates more to global political elites that many Western voters no engagement than any of the estab- longer accept the way in which they are governed. lished parties. And that signal won’t be limited to the expected The Dutch populist revolt and strong showing for Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom the rise of Wilders are often Party (PVV). described as a rebellion of older, “Shouldn’t what you say about how mosques are less educated, more economically alien to our secular state also apply to churches?” challenged voters — just the way one woman in the Hilversum audience asks. Thierry the Donald Trump movement was Baudet, 34, leader of a party called Forum for described in the US. There is some Democracy, is ready with a reply. “The music of truth to that, but there’s also more church bells is part of our everyday life, our culture,” to it, just like there was with he says. “Cries from a minaret are not. Perhaps the Trump: A feeling of disconnection mosques should put up some bells.” The audience A billboard in Amsterdam bearing election posters for all parties contesting the national election, between the ruling elite and the breaks into applause. which is to be held on March 15. people, a desire for more participa- The Forum for Democracy (FvD) has a curious tion in how decisions are made. history. Baudet, a well-regarded legal scholar and faction with a smug political elite. membership dwindled. In 1984, the main parliamentary To young politicians such as political philosopher, set it up in 2015 as a conserva- Baudet, who has long harbored political ambitions, parties had a total of 416,727 members, about 4 percent Baudet, politics is now, for the first tive, euroskeptic think tank, not a political party. saw his opening. “There is a huge gap in the political of the electorate; that number has shrunk to 289,456, or time, about performing, campaign- Almost the first thing it did was to take part in organ- landscape,” he told me, “between the establishment, about 2 percent of the electorate. ing and engaging with voters izing a referendum on whether the Netherlands which weakens national sovereignty, and the populist On the left flank of Dutch politics, business as through various channels. To the should ratify the European Union’s 2014 association right that discredits itself by taking extreme positions. usual is also being disrupted. The GreenLeft party, old school, it was about bargaining. agreement with Ukraine. That non-binding vote was That’s the raison d’etre of my party.” the product of a merger of smaller leftist movement Rutte is old-school. He will proba- a stunning success for the Netherlands’ nationalist In all, 28 parties are competing in the election that was traditionally on the sidelines of parliamen- bly govern by inertia after this right, despite a relatively low turnout: In April, 2016, (which isn’t even a record as 55 were on the 1933 tary politics, has been revived by the leadership of election, but the paradigm is shift- 61 percent of those who voted, about 2.5 million peo- Dutch ballot). The Netherlands, which has the second 30-year-old Jesse Klaver. Prime Minister Mark ing and newer political leaders ple, rejected the trade deal. oldest written constitution in the world after the U.S. Rutte’s center-right VVD may still have the best appear to be more in line with the Robin de Keyzer, one of Baudet’s aides who took one, has long made it easy to set up a party and get chance of forming a government, but Baudet is con- engagement voters want. part in canvassing votes for the referendum, told me into parliament: 0.67 percent of the vote is all that’s vinced their days are numbered. He calls the that most people were riled up largely because the necessary to gain one seat in the 150-member lower established parties a cartel. “It’s a syndicate in which Dutch government never asked their opinion about chamber. Baudet’s party, some polls suggest, may get everyone shares the same views, wears the same participating in a deal to integrate a poor, war-torn, a single seat — which would itself be a big deal for a suits, sleeps with the same girls for all I know,” Bau- corrupt country into the EU ecosystem. Their protest party only six months old and that started without a det says. Forum for Democracy calls for the mayors vote wasn’t so much about Ukraine as about dissatis- parliament member in its midst. Either way, his gen- of Dutch cities to be elected, not appointed by the esis speaks to broader trends in Dutch democracy. government, and it wants to make it easier to hold D-RING ROAD Until recently, a small number of established par- referendums and make them binding. POST BOX: 3488 ties represented fixed pillars of society: Catholics, In the North Holland audience, a young man asks To young politicians such as Protestants, wealthy bourgeois, the labor unions. Baudet whether he thinks it useful to put complex DOHA - QATAR Baudet, politics is now, for the People tended to vote as their parents voted. “The questions to a referendum. The politician’s reply is [email protected] first time, about performing, parties played the rank and file against each other, that questions of general direction are often simple campaigning and engaging with but once they were elected, they always achieved and binary. There are nods in the audience. consensus,” says Hubert Smeets, a veteran journalist This populist message is supplemented with healthy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICE voters through various channels. and political historian. doses of antipathy toward the EU and milder nativism TEL: 4455 7741 / 767 To the old school, it was about Politics was decorous and the parliament was than the fiery Wilders variety. Both are coated in eco- FAX: +974 4455 7758 bargaining. Rutte is old-school. seen as a marketplace where decisions were a result nomic and cultural arguments. The UK is the third He will probably govern by of quiet bargaining. That started changing with the biggest destination for Dutch exports after Germany MANAGING EDITOR inertia after this election, but rise of Pim Fortuyn, a flamboyant anti-immigration and Belgium; post-Brexit, the Netherlands should be TEL: 4462 7505 populist, in 2001. Fortuyn was murdered by a leftist able to trade with it on the same terms as with EU coun- the paradigm is shifting and activist before he took parliament by storm — an tries, or it’ll become too dependent on Germany. DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR newer political leaders appear event that so shook up the Dutch political class that Baudet’s well-heeled audience, much of it made up TEL: 4455 7769 to be more in line with the it’s still remembered as a turning point. of former VVD party supporters, lapped it up. VVD mem- engagement voters want. In a secularised, post-modern Dutch society, the bership is down to 26,500 today from 38,400 in the 2012 traditional pillars have dissipated, and party election year, but many of the Dutch center-right voters LOCAL NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION TEL: 4462 7535

A fresh way to do the math on trade SPORT NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7745 said that this data point distorts the deals’ actual it enabled US consumers to access various desirable goods at impact. In 2014, 14 Democratic members of the lower prices than they could have otherwise. The benefits are ONLINE SECTION Charles Lane House — including current party-chair candidate diffuse and the job losses concentrated and acutely felt, of TEL: 4462 7501 The Washington Post and 2016 Sanders supporter Rep. Keith Ellison course — a fact of politics, not economics, that Trump’s data [email protected] (Minn.) - wrote to President Barack Obama’s trade massage seems designed to exploit. (No final decision has representative demanding that he adopt the same been made, the administration told the Journal.) PUBLIC RELATIONS math that Trump is reportedly contemplating. One There’s no legitimate full-disclosure issue here, since the he first thing you need to know of the first to defend Trump this week was Lori data Trump and his progressive bedfellows prefer is already TEL: 4455 7613 about the latest controversy Wallach, a left-wing anti-NAFTA activist at Public available from the US International Trade Commission. What [email protected] involving President Donald Citizen. they want is the trade representative’s imprimatur on their Trump’s alleged attempt to Do they have a point? Well, kinda sorta. The ideology. Meanwhile, the rigid distinction between US-made ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT manipulate economic data for headline numbers lump together made-in-the-USA goods - which “create jobs” — and all others is breaking TEL: 4455 7837 / 780 Tpolitical purposes is that Bernie Sanders exports with goods produced in third countries that down due to global supply chains. Economist Lee Ohanian of FAX: 4455 7870 probably would have done the same thing, enter the United States on their way elsewhere. UCLA has reported that the production process for certain [email protected] and quite possibly Hillary Clinton, too. Example: Samsung TVs from South Korea land at goods takes them back and forth over the US-Mexico border Mainstream economists recoiled at a Long Beach, Calif., and get trucked to Tijuana, per- 14 times before they’re ready for market. CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT Wall Street Journal report Tuesday that haps after a little repackaging. Many imports from China are assembled from inputs made TEL: 4455 7857 said Trump appointees at the Office of the Since these “re-exports” by definition aren’t in other countries. Example: the iPhone, whose components [email protected] US Trade Representative want official made by American workers, critics argue that it’s come from Japan, Korea, Germany and, indeed, the United trade balances between the United States more accurate, in terms of trade’s impact on US States. Ideally, trade figures would take the iPhone apart, so to SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION and various countries rejiggered to make jobs, to focus on the difference between purely speak, awarding each country in the chain credit for the value TEL: 4455 7809 / 839 bilateral trade deficits seem larger — and, made-in-the-USA exports and imports that remain its workers added. Analysts at the World Trade Organization FAX: 44557819 by implication, Trump’s protectionist poli- in the United States. and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cies more necessary. This would dramatically alter reported trade are working on just such a “trade-in-value-added”concept. [email protected] On his blog, Harvard University’s Greg balances with Mexico and Canada, to which nearly Their results are tentative, and not fully up to date, but still Mankiw, a former adviser to President half of all US re-exports go - since those nations bor- suggestive: The United States’ value-added trade deficit with George W. Bush and author of a leading der us and don’t have tariffs, thanks to NAFTA. The Japan in recent years was larger than the conventionally All thoughts and views economics textbook, responded simply: 2016 U.S. trade deficit with Mexico would have been measured one; by contrast, US deficits with China, Mexico and expressed in these columns “You’ve got to be kidding me.” not $63.1 billion but $115.4 billion, the Journal noted. Canada are actually smaller in value-added terms. Per long-standing international eco- The problem is that, no matter how you count it, a Economist Yingying Xu of the Arlington-based Manufac- are those of the writers, not nomic practice, the headline figure for the bilateral trade deficit (or surplus) per se is neither turers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation calculates that of the newspaper. balance of trade between the United States good nor bad — unfashionable though it may be to the United States actually ran 2009 surpluses in manufactured and any other nation has been expressed restate that basic tenet of economic theory amid the goods trade with Canada and Mexico, in value-added terms. All correspondence as the difference between two numbers: current left-right protectionist convergence. If free-trade critics inside and outside the Trump admin- regarding Views and the value of US imports from that trading NAFTA undoubtedly displaced American work- istration want information-rich, consistent measures of Opinion pages should be partner and the value of US exports to it. ers in certain sectors, just as it also created new job 21st-century trade flows, they should support innovations For years, however, left-wing critics of opportunities elsewhere — including in the vast such as trade-in-value-added — instead of perpetuating the mailed to the NAFTA and other trade agreements have logistical chain through which re-exports flow. And same old political numbers games. Obviously, that’s a big if. [email protected] 12 ASIA SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 Duterte supporters oppose anti-govt rally

Manila the prayer rally, who lit candles Protests in Manila AFP and sang religious songs. The 71-year-old president, A prayer rally for housands of support- who spent the weekend in his Duterte's anti- ers and foes of southern home city of Davao, narcotics crackdown President Rodrigo won the election last year after drew the biggest Duterte joined large promising during the campaign turnout, estimated by rallies in Manila yes- to eradicate drugs in society by police at up to Tterday, highlighting how his killing tens of thousands of 200,000. brutal drug war has polarised the people. Philippines. He launched the crackdown A prayer rally for Duterte's after taking office in June and Duterte critics eight months-long anti-narcot- police have reported killing 2,555 including ex-leader ics crackdown drew the biggest drug suspects since then, with Benigno Aquino and turnout, estimated by police at about 4,000 other people mur- Vice President Leni up to 200,000 although report- dered in unexplained Robredo, who was ers said it looked a lot less. circumstances. elected separately "Your presence here show- Duterte critics including ex- from the president, Supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gather during a vigil backing the anti-drugs cases the strong support that leader Benigno Aquino and Vice joined one of the crackdown at the Luneta Park, in Metro Manila, yesterday. your president continues to President Leni Robredo, who other rallies held near enjoy," Justice Secretary Vital- was elected separately from the the national police iano Aguirre told the crowd at president, joined one of the other rising fascism," protest leader He denounced the govern- attended by Aquino, tempers headquarters in Bonifacio Ilagan said after lead- ment's treatment of Senator Leila rose as several protesters con- Manila. ing more than 1,000 protesters de Lima, the top critic of the fronted a dozen young people at another rally earlier Duterte drug war, who was who raised clenched fists while yesterday. arrested on Friday and faces life holding up a pro-Duterte ban- rallies held near the national Ilagan, a playwright who was in prison if convicted of drugs ner nearby. police headquarters in Manila. tortured over two years in a charges. "Why did you sell your soul?" This gathering marked the police prison under Marcos' mar- De Lima, Aquino's former a white-haired man in a black shirt 31st anniversary of the victory of tial rule in the 1970s, cited the justice minister, said the arrest said, jabbing his finger at one of a pro-democracy movement that "culture of impunity" arising was an act of revenge for her the Duterte supporters and telling culminated in a bloodless "Peo- from Duterte's crackdown. decade-long efforts to expose him the president was "responsi- ple Power" revolution that ended Duterte, who ranks Marcos Duterte as the leader of death ble" for drug-related murders. Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. as one of the country's best-ever squads during his time as mayor "They (deaths) are still being Some at this rally criticised presidents, has not ruled out of Davao. investigated," the young man the drug killings, many of which using martial law himself to pre- "By arresting Senator Leila replied calmly. have been described by interna- vent what he describes as the de Lima on politically motivated Television footage showed tional foreign monitors as country's slide to narco-state drug charges, President Duterte police hosing down a group of at state-sanctioned murder. status. is effectively expanding his 'drug least 100 people protesting the The protesters warned they Last year, Duterte stoked war'," Human Rights Watch dep- drug killings, though no one was foreshadowed another dictator- large street protests when he uty Asia director Phelim Kine seriously injured. ship. By nightfall some sections allowed the Marcos family to said in a statement. In a separate demonstration of the protesters were openly bury the former leader's remains "Not only Congress, but other yesterday, around 150 anti-Mar- calling for Duterte's removal at Manila's Cemetery for Heroes. pillars of Philippine democracy cos protesters chanting "Exhume Activists march on the EDSA highway on their way to from office, chanting "Down with Wearing a black shirt, Aquino should be deeply worried," the him" marched on the cemetery Duterte". marched alongside political allies official from the US-based rights where he is buried, but riot police protest in front of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) "We are warning our people and around 2,000 other monitor added. stopped them near the gate, a headquarters. about the threat of protesters. At one point during the rally photographer saw. Taiwan bans sale of Chiang Kai-shek souvenirs Ten dead in east Taipei when the now democratic island recognisable landmarks, will The former ruler led the AFP was still under martial law. stop playing a song dedicated to KMT to Taiwan to establish a The massacre was followed Chiang at its opening and clos- separate government after los- China hotel blaze Taiwanese memorial hall by decades of political purges ing", a statement from the ing a civil war in 1949 to the named after Chiang Kai- under Chiang and his son, ministry added. Communists. Beijing to the hotel were evacuated. Ashek has stopped selling known as the "White Terror". "References to the former The hall was renamed AFP Video footage of the scene souvenirs depicting the former "Many of the victims and ruler would be removed from "National Taiwan Democracy showed thick black smoke bil- nationalist leader, authorities their families suffered long-term the names of galleries, but a Memorial Hall" in 2007 by t least 10 people were lowing out the windows of the said yesterday, as the island discrimination and pain. It is a 6.3-metre-tall bronze statue of former president Chen Shui-bian killed in a huge fire at a building before rising in a tow- deals with the "deep scar" left by deep scar hidden in the hearts a seated Chiang -- the hall's cen- of the Democratic Progressive Ahotel in eastern China, ering plume. his rule. of all Taiwanese," Culture Min- trepiece -- would remain". Party (DPP), which has its roots the official Xinhua news agency Photos showed firefighters The decision comes as Tai- ister Cheng Li-chun said. Relatives of White Terror in a movement opposing KMT's said yesterday. shooting jets of water at smok- wan prepares to mark the 70th "The Chiang Kai-shek victims have said that memori- one-party rule. "The blaze broke out at the ing, cracked wall panels, and anniversary of a brutal massa- memorial hall, which was built als named after Chiang should But his successor Ma Ying- four-storey HNA Platinum Mix working in a team to lift a shirt- cre of protesters by troops from after the leader's death in 1975 be changed and his statues jeou of the KMT reinstated the Hotel yesterday morning in less, unconscious victim from his Kuomintang (KMT) party, and is one of Taipei's most removed. site's current name. Nanchang and took nearly two the wreckage. hours to extinguish," the news Three of 16 people rushed agency said. to hospitals died while in care, Over 260 residents of a and firefighters found seven Two rebels Several Azerbaijan soldiers dead in fighting 24-storey building connected bodies amid the hotel debris.

shot dead Baku ministry said "Armenian forces positions along the south-eastern AFP attempted an intrusion into and eastern sectors of frontline. in Philippines Azerbaijani territory along the "Azerbaijan's political and loody clashes erupted yes- Karabakh frontline" in the early military leadership is increas- terday between hours yesterday. ing tensions at the frontline and Zamboanga City BAzerbaijani forces and "Fierce clashes erupted at spreads disinformation," the Anatolia Armenian separatists over the the frontline's Khojavend-Fizuli ministry said. breakaway Nagorny Karabakh sector," the ministry said in a "Armenia is committed to SECURITY forces shot dead region, claiming the lives of sev- statement, adding that Azerba- the ceasefire and calls on the two members of a local IS- eral Azerbaijani servicemen, ijani military "suffered losses in Azerbaijani side to refrain from linked terror group and Baku and rebel officials said. manpower as they courageously steps that would further esca- arrested another one in the Ex-Soviet Azerbaijan and repelled the enemy's attack." late the situation." southern city of Iligan. Armenia are locked in a pro- "The enemy continues shell- The rebel defence ministry "Gunmen from IS-linked tracted conflict over the ing Azerbaijani positions from in Karabakh said its forces have Maute group seized the vehi- disputed region, and frequent heavy artillery," it said. "repelled the enemy who suf- cle of a businessman on C-30 exchanges of fire nearly spi- Armenia's defence ministry, fered losses. Several corpses of Road in Ubaldo Lays village ralled into all-out war last year. for its part, accused Baku of Azerbaijani soldiers remain at Firefighters try to put out a fire at HNA Hotel in Nanchang, around 8:45pm on Friday, " Azerbaijan's defence attacking Karabakh army the neutral territory." Jiangxi province, yesterday. said Capt Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command. She added that the gun- men opened fire at security Indonesian authorities close down Ahmadiyah mosque forces who were on check- point to block the positions after they were alerted of the Depok officers and police were stand- its Ahmadiyah activities "perma- then-President Susilo Bambang top Muslim clerical body. incident. AP ing guard on Friday at the nently" has been circulating Yudhoyono signed a decree Last year, police removed "Terrorist group suffered mosque in Depok, a satellite city online this week. ordering its followers to stop women and children from an two casualties". n Ahmadiyah mosque has of the capital, Jakarta. It said there was no need to spreading their faith. Ahmadiyah community in "Troops also recovered an been shuttered by author- A sign erected in front bring weapons as the protest was Police said the Al-Hidayah Sumatra after threats of expul- M4 rifle with three magazines Aities in Indonesia after announces its closure for illegal intended to be peaceful. mosque in Depok was sealed on sion from the local government. and 60 rounds of ammuni- groups called for protests against activities. Human Rights Watch said Thursday by local government In 2011, three Ahmadiyah men tion and a Calibre .45 pistol the minority group they regard A notice from groups includ- that persecution of Ahmadiyah officials in the presence of police were killed by militants in West belonging to the group at the as heretical. ing the Islamic Defenders Front religious communities has wors- and clerics from the influential Java following a series of violent suspects' vehicle". Local government security to march on the mosque to end ened since 2008, when Indonesian Ulema Council, the attacks. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 ASIA 13 Pakistan allows advance remittances for Haj

Karachi catering, transportation, guides, etc, in projected local and foreign expenses ensure receipt of related invoices sub- In order to facilitate HGOs Internews Saudi Arabia, it has been decided to per pilgrim. sequently, said the SBP circular. to make arrangements of allow authorised dealers to make It also advised to receive informa- While processing advance remit- he State Bank of Pakistan has advance remittances on behalf of HGOs tion about the quota allocation letter tance request, the authorised dealer will Maktab, housing, catering, decided to allow 30 percent up to 30 percent of the Haj Package by Ministry of Religious Affairs and take all possible measures to verify the transportation, guides, etc, advance remittances on being offered by them to individual pil- Interfaith Harmony for previous Haj genuineness of the transaction. in Saudi Arabia, it has been behalf of Haj Group Organis- grims,” said EPD Circular Letter No 07 season. In case of nonperformance of con- decided to allow authorised ers (HGOs) to facilitate the of 2017 issued on Friday. It included an undertaking from tract for any reason, the authorised Tpilgrimage process in Saudi Arabia. According to SBP, the remittances concerned HGO for repatriation of dealers and HGOs will ensure repatri- dealers to make advance The State Bank issued a circular will be made on submission required funds in case of nonperformance. ation of advance payment before remittances on behalf of yesterday with details and conditions information or documents by the Information also needed about the completion of respective Haj season. HGOs up to 30 percent for advance remittances and asked the respective HGOs. invoices issued by Saudi vendors/serv- In the case of repatriation of of the Haj Package being banks to keep the process clean and Authenticated underlying contract ice providers in favour of which advance payment, exchange gain, if any, transparent while assuring genuine- with Saudi vendor and service advance remittance is being made. will not be passed on to the HGO, rather offered by them to individual ness of the clients. provider However, in case final invoices are the same will be deposited in favour of pilgrims: State Bank. “In order to facilitate HGOs to make It further advised banks to get not available with HGOs at the time of State Bank of Pakistan, said the arrangements of Maktab, housing, details of Haj Package bifurcating remittance, the authorised dealers will circular.

11 dead in ambush Summit preparations Govt upgrades Punjab schools

near Afghan mosque Lahore Internews Kabul around 38 militants, including AP 23 IS fighters, were killed in ASKING the Punjab school separate operations conducted education department to t least 10 police officers by Afghan security forces in the ensure sustainable students and the wife of a police eastern and southern regions participation rate at 95 percent Acommander were killed of the country over the past two in public schools by the mid- in an ambush by Islamic State days. dle of next year, Chief Minister group militants in northern "Eight other militants were Shahbaz Sharif has directed Zawzjan province, a provincial wounded and six arrested in the the secretary schools to raise official said. operations, which were con- the benchmark to 98 percent. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, ducted in districts across the The department is also spokesman for the Zawzjan Nangarhar and Helmand prov- ready to mitigate the prob- provincial governor, said yes- inces," the statement added. lem of multi-grade teaching terday that the police officers In another report form east- in primary schools with the were ambushed on Friday as ern Laghman province, two induction of 80,000 more they were coming out of a students were killed when a teachers from the upcoming mosque. mortar struck a school's class- academic session. "The wife of the police com- room, a news release from the The government, in an mander heard about her Education ministry said. effort to retain students, is husband being shot and rushed The statement added that busy constructing 6,000 new to the scene, where she was five other students were classrooms in public schools. also killed." wounded inside the classroom A municipal worker sweeps the road as he walks past billboards of the 13th Economic The chief minister has Meanwhile, the Interior in Mihterlam, the province's Cooperation (ECO) Summit, in Islamabad, yesterday. directed the department to Ministry said in a statement that capital. ensure availability of a tablet in each public school within a month in order to digitize and equip the schools across Punjab. National Assembly to approve Quranic education bill Shahbaz is also scheduled to distribute 17,000 solar sets Islamabad education compulsory and now The minister vowed to the Ministry of Education. government will initiate a drive to the schools in far-flung Internews it has been placed in the National enforce the imparting of Quranic However, in the next breath, asking the managements of all areas yesterday. Assembly which will approve it education even in the main pri- the minister went on to say that mosques to ensure separate sit- These decisions were he government will waste in the next session," Federal Min- vate school chains so that no KP had done a good job and his ting arrangements for women so taken in a review meeting of no time making Quranic ister for Religious Affairs and student in Pakistani schools ministry will write down a letter that they could attend Jumma the Chief Minister’s School Teducation in Arabic lan- Inter-Faith Harmony Sardar could be deprived of the divi- congratulating the KP govern- prayers there. Reforms Roadmap chaired by guage compulsory at the primary Muhammad Yousaf said. dends of the Holy Quran. ment to this effect. “We will start this move the chief minister. level and will start teaching the Implementation of Quranic To a question, he admired Imparting Quranic education from the 87 mosques of Auqaf Appreciating the availabil- Holy Quran with Urdu transla- education in all public and pri- the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gov- from class 1 to intermediate level department in Islamabad ena- ity of toilets in more than 99% tion from VI to XII class once the vate sector schools across the ernment for imparting the will help generate true Muslims bling women to take part in schools in the province, the National Assembly approves the country will be ensured as pro- Quranic education in schools with no hatred making the soci- Jumma congregations and for chief minister stressed that bill. vincial governments are very saying it was basically the pro- ety balanced and free of all kinds them every kind of facility will more toilets should be con- "The Senate has passed the much on board and have given posal of the Ministry of Religious of extremism. also be ensured in separate structed in respective schools bill for making the Quranic their nod to contents of the bill. Affairs which was shared with The minister said the arrangements". where enrolment was higher.

Japan to install face recognition Rebels refuse to sign systems at Myanmar peace deal Pakistan airports Yangon The groups include United Anatolia Wa State Army (UWSA), Islamabad National Democratic Alliance Internews thnic rebel groups have Army (NDAA), Kachin Inde- decided not to sign Myan- pendence Army (KIA), Shan THE Japanese government will Emar government’s State Army-North (SSA-N), provide a grant of $4.355m for ceasefire agreement, despite Myanmar National Democratic installing a ‘face recognition the repeated calls from State Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang system’ at major international Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi National Liberation Army airports in the country. over past weeks. (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA). The aid is designed to Leaders from seven ethnic Since independence from Brit- support security and counter- armed organisations -- none of ain in 1948, Myanmar (then terrorism by providing whom signed the government- Burma) has seen over a half- advanced face recognition sponsored Nationwide century of armed conflict Myanmar's Home Affairs Minister Kyaw Swe during a news conference regarding the killing systems to the airports. Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in involving ethnic rebels. An agreement to this of Ko Ni, in Yangon, yesterday. 2015 – held a three-day meet- Replacing the military junta effect was signed yesterday ing in a border town of in 2011, former President Thein by Japanese Ambassador Pangkham in southeastern Sein’s administration started Takashi Kurai and Economic Grudge reason behind Yangon lawyer's murder Shan state. peace talks with rebels, which Affairs Secretary Tariq Mah- After the meeting, the led to the NCA. mood Pasha. Yangon shooting of lawyer Ko Ni and are talking at a tea shop. groups said they agreed nine However, several major The system is equipped AP seeking a fourth. Senior Police Officer Zaw Win points including finding a new rebel groups refrained. with advanced Japanese tech- Home Affairs Minister Lt said they expressed their personal way to forge peace instead of Myanmar still witnesses nology, aiming at improving he assassination of a Gen Kyaw Swe acknowledged dissatisfaction with Ko Ni's activ- signing the NCA, a landmark some of the fiercest fighting security measures taken by prominent legal adviser to that many aspects of the Ko Ni ities, and that the conclusion of peace deal between the previ- between certain rebel groups airport staff to protect TMyanmar's government murder case still need investi- police investigation was that "the ous government and 8 out of and the military although the passengers. was the result of a personal gation, but that the authorities murder was because of their own the 15 rebel groups invited. Suu Kyi-led civilian govern- The system is a computer political grudge and not part of now believed that it was per- personal reasons." “Due to the lacks of all- ment took power in March, application capable of iden- a bigger conspiracy by the mil- sonal reasons and extreme The officials at the news inclusiveness, we believe 2016.Aung San Suu Kyi repeat- tifying or verifying an itary, senior security officials nationalism that led the suspects conference sought to quell spec- signing the NCA can’t bring the edly called on the rebels to join individual from a digital face said yesterday. to carry out the assassination. ulation that the army was peace,” the groups said in a the peace process by signing the images captured by closed- Police and Home Ministry In their briefing to the press, involved in Ko Ni's murder, say- statement late Friday. NCA. circuit television cameras. officials said at a news confer- police said the murder plot was ing that was a misimpression “Instead we must forge a Myanmar is to hold second Recently, it has been used ence that they have arrested hatched around April last year, fostered by several of the sus- new path to peace,” it added meeting of the Union Peace more in security systems . three men for the January 29 when its alleged planners were pects being retired officers. recently. Conference next month. 14 ASIA SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 Cracks in Congress over supporting Shiv Sena

Mumbai day after back-end efforts were IANS BMC Mayoral polls believed to be underway in Gurudas Kamat raised Maharashtra Congress to prop erious differences "strong objections" to up the Shiv Sena for bagging the emerged yesterday in even any discussion crucial post of Mayor if its tie- the Congress party over of a tie-up or indirect up with the BJP failed to the issue of extending support to the Shiv materialize. State Congress support to the Shiv Sena President Ashok Chavan and Sena in the BMC. Sfor the post of Mayor after a hung senior party leader Narayan house was thrown up in the Rane, a former Chief Minister, recent elections to the country's State Congress have already indicated an open richest civic body, Brihan Mum- President Ashok mind on the issue. An election campaign billboard for the joint campaign of the Samajwadi Party and the bai Municipal Corporation. Chavan and senior "Is the Shiv Sena an enemy? AICC General Secretary and party leader Narayan No, there are no enemies in pol- Congress party at an intersection in Lucknow, yesterday. seniormost Congress leader Rane, a former Chief itics, that is my view," Chavan Gurudas Kamat raised "strong Minister, have already said. However, he added that the objections" to even any discus- indicated an open Congress was not committing Fifth phase of UP polls tomorrow sion of a tie-up or indirect mind on the issue. anything and is "waiting and support to the Shiv Sena in the watching the unfolding Lucknow where polling will be held are hopes on tainted minister Gay- BMC. situation". IANS Amethi, the parliamentary con- atri Prajapati, against whom the "We have fought against discussion even, of having any "We have to bear in mind stituency of Congress Vice Supreme Court recently ordered both saffron parties all along for tie-up or indirect support to the that Shiv Sena is also in alliance ampaigning for the fifth President Rahul Gandhi. While lodging of FIR in a gang-rape their divisive policies, and peo- Shiv Sena in the BMC," the with BJP in Maharashtra and at phase of assembly elec- the Congress is in an alliance case. The Bharatiya Janata Party ple will not spare us if we former Union Minister added. the Centre. Ctions in Uttar Pradesh with the ruling Samajwadi Party (BJP) has named Garima Singh, attempt to align with them," He said it should be left to If they leave the govern- drew to a close yesterday (SP) for the state polls, both par- the first wife of Sanjay Singh. Kamat said in a strongly- the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya ment, then we can consider evening. Polling for 51 seats ties have fielded candidates in Voting will also be held in worded statement. Janata Party (BJP) to sort out ahead, so let them first decide," across 11 districts will be held Amethi. Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Sid- "I have also informed Con- their problems and in the proc- Chavan said. In the 227-seat tomorrow, in which 1.84 crore The Congress has fielded dharthnagar, Balrampur, gress Vice-President Rahul ess "expose themselves and their BMC house, the Shiv Sena voters will cast their votes Ameeta Singh, wife of Rajya Ambedkar Nagar, Gonda, Faiza- Gandhi of my (this) opinion. I lust for power". emerged as the biggest party including 96 lakh women. Sabha member Sanjay Singh, bad, Sant Kabir Nagar and take strong objection to any Kamat's bombshell came a with 84 seats. Among the prominent seats while the SP has pinned its Sultanpur. Bangladesh Slain techie's wife seeks answers from US govt releases Hyderabad Kuchibhotla, 32, was killed headquarters of electronics in the United States of wishes for an American life and IANS and his colleague Alok Madas- manufacturer Garmin, where America?" "me being successful in any field ani was injured in an apparent Kuchibhotla worked as an avi- The body of Hyderabad engi- I choose", Kansas City Star news- arrested he wife of slain Indian hate crime, when Adam W. Pur- ation systems engineer. "We've neer will arrive home on Monday. paper reported. But before engineer Srinivas Kuchib- inton, a white who earlier served read many times in newspapers Telangana Minister for NRI Affairs making that decision, "I need an workers Thotla has publicly sought in the US Navy, shot them at the of some kind of shooting hap- K.T. Rama Rao said the body will answer," she said. "I need an answers to what she perceived Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe, pening... And we always arrive by Air India flight at 9.45 answer from the government. was a spread in American hate Kansas state, earlier this week. wondered, how safe we are?" p.m. and Dumala and other rel- ...What are they going to do to Dhaka crimes as mourners held a vigil "I have a question in my Of the two of them, she said, atives will accompany the body. stop this hate crime?" AFP at a local church for the victims mind: Do we belong here," Suna- she was most concerned, asking Dumala said that she wanted to Dumala said that the couple of the bar shooting in which her yana Dumala asked at a news her reassuring husband: "Are we come back to their home in south were planning on having chil- angladesh garment husband died. conference on Friday at the doing the right thing of staying Olathe, fulfilling her husband's dren when he was murdered. workers arrested last Byear over wage strikes are being released, global union IndustriALL said yes- UNHRC urged to terday, adding that Oppn slams Kerala CM over NEWS BYTES international fashion brands push Sri Lanka have agreed not to boycott a remark on actress kidnap Bengal govt questions hospital for key industry conference in capital Dhaka. A strike by tens on human rights of thousands of workers in Kochi Minister who also is the Home refusal to release patient over bills December demanding higher IANS Minister stating that there is no Colombo KOLKATA: The West Bengal government yesterday sum- pay was quashed after around conspiracy in the actress IANS moned authorities of a city based private hospital for allegedly 2 weeks, with 1,600 employ- he Congress and the BJP abduction case. having refused to release a patient over money and even ees sacked and 34 workers yesterday slammed Ker- "Through this statement he UN Human Rights taking possession of his fixed deposit certificates. Against and union leaders arrested. Tala Chief Minister from Vijayan, the intentions are Council (UNHRC) has the backdrop of a series of complaints of "unethical mon- Cases alleging such things Pinarayi Vijayan, who con- now clear that he wants to close Tbeen urged to push Sri eymaking" and "negligence" against private hospitals that as burglary, arson, vandalism tended that there was no the case and fix the crime on Lanka to develop a timetable even prompted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to give their and extortion were also filed conspiracy behind the kidnap- the now arrested. for implementing the recom- managements an unprecedented public tongue lashing ear- against more than 1,500 oth- ping of a popular Kerala actress The prime accused has mendations made in 2015 on lier this week, the government said it would look into the ers, while authorities that took place last week. already gone on record to state fully restoring human rights latest incident involving the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in dismissed the workers' Both state Congress presi- that he was hired and now in the country. "greater details". demands saying that no pay dent V M Sudheeran and his BJP when the Chief Minister says In a letter to the Perma- hike would be made before counterpart Kummanem Rajas- that there is no conspiracy, nent Missions in Geneva, 2019. Global fashion compa- ekheran hit out at Vijayan who there are doubts that come up," Human Rights Watch (HRW) Terror suspect arrested in Bihar nies including H&M and had on Friday ruled out that he said. sought support in ensuring Zara-owner Inditex — top cli- there was a conspiracy and Rajasekheran in a state- that the upcoming consider- PATNA/RANCHI: A man suspected to be involved in the ents of Bangladesh's attributed the crime's planning ment said Vijayan's curt remark ation of Sri Lanka's progress 2002 terror attack on the American Centre in Kolkata has $30-billion garment industry to main accused Pulsar Sunil, that there exists no conspiracy towards implementing its been arrested in Bihar's Gaya district, police said yesterday. — later said they would pull who is in police custody. in the case is to scuttle the commitments under UNHRC Gaya Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Garima Malik out of a key conference in sup- Sudheeran said that it is probe and to put pressure on resolution 30/1 accurately said Mohammad Sarwar, the suspect, was arrested late Fri- port of the workers. ridiculous to hear the Chief the probe team. and substantively reflects the day night by the joint team of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of situation within the country, Gujarat, Jharkhand and local police. "Sarwar was taken by Colombo Gazette online the ATS team to Gujarat after arresting," she said. Before tak- newspaper reported yester- ing him to Gujarat, Sarwar was questioned by Jharkhand day. HRW noted that the police in Hazaribagh yesterday. Adventure festival resolution, adopted by the Council in October 2015 through consensus, contains Bihar CM demands debate on Ganga 25 key undertakings by the PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday stressed Sri Lankan government on the need for a national debate for a clean and pollu- across a range of human tion-free Ganga river. "If we want to save river Ganga, there rights issues. should be a strong people's campaign for it," Nitish said in A key element of the res- his inaugural address at the two-day international confer- olution consisted of ence on "Incessant Ganga" here. "I have been raising this transitional justice promises: issue since long. There is no personal or political interest a special court including involved," the Chief Minister said. "I have a close relation international judges and with river Ganga. I was born at Bakhtiyarpur, situated near prosecutors to try cases of Ganga. I used to take bath in Ganga in my childhood and war crimes by all parties to drink its clean water. the conflict, an office on miss- ing and disappeared persons, a truth-seeking and reconcil- Labour Party to support Lankan Tamils iation mechanism, and a reparations mechanism. COLOMBO: Britains Labour Party is to reaffirm its strongest A hastily drafted and possible support for the Sri Lankan Tamils at a Parliamen- passed law to establish an tary event next week, a media report said yesterday. Leading Office of Missing Persons was figures from the UK Labour, including Leader of Opposition- done without thorough con- Jeremy Corbyn, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and sultation of key stakeholders, Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, will attend the and the office has yet to be set "Tamils for Labour" event at the UK Parliament on February An Indian youth taking part in a 'bunjee jumping' activity at sunset during the 'Bhoj up. The three other promised 28 to express their solidarity with the Tamil people, both in Adventure Festival 2017' in Bhopal yesterday. mechanisms have not made Britain and in Sri Lanka, the Colombo Gazette daily said. significant progress. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 EUROPE 15 Judicial inquiry ups heat on Fillon

Paris Expenses scandal claims as politically motivated AFP but has acknowledged that his Fillon will be presidential bid had become "dif- rench prosecutors' investigated by three ficult", with hecklers often decision to launch a full magistrates over targeting him at campaign stops. judicial inquiry into allegations of Macron, a former economy claims that presidential embezzling public minister, has moved rapidly from candidate Francois Fil- funds and outsider to a frontrunner and got Flon paid his family for fake jobs misappropriating a potential boost this week when leaves him facing a fraught two corporate assets. veteran centrist Francois Bayrou months before elections, com- formed an alliance with him. mentators said yesterday. But Macron, who has never Fillon, who was previously With the first round won elected office, faces criti- leading the race as the rightwing of the election taking cism from rivals that his standardbearer, will be investi- place on April 23, the programme is too vague. gated by three magistrates over timing of the While Le Pen is forecast to allegations of embezzling pub- magistrates' decision win the most votes in the first lic funds and misappropriating could have a round, polls currently show she corporate assets, prosecutors would be beaten by either Fillon significant bearing said Friday. or Macron in the all-important on the outcome. The 62-year-old former runoff on May 7. prime minister had until now The 48-year-old National been subject to a preliminary overtaken Fillon in the polls over Front leader is facing her own probe. An editorial in Le Paris- the past month. expenses scandal. ien newspaper yesterday said the But the latest surveys before Her personal assistant was move to a full investigation rep- the prosecutors' decision showed French presidential election candidate for the right-wing Les Republicains party, Francois charged this week over allega- resented a "surge in the pressure" that Fillon had regained ground Fillon, is applauded during a public rally in Maisons-Alfort, near Paris. tions she was unlawfully paid on Fillon. and was neck-and-neck with from funds that Le Pen receives The left-wing Liberation said 39-year-old centrist candidate conservative nomination by have a pass to the National The paper also reported that from the European Parliament, he now faced a "perilous period, Emmanuel Macron in second campaigning as a "clean" candi- Assembly building. two of Fillon's children were paid where she has a seat. both legally and politically". place. date unsullied by the scandals of Lawyers for the couple said as parliamentary advisers for Le Pen on Friday refused to Fillon has not been charged Fillon did not refer to the his rivals. they were confident the investi- brief periods. attend questioning by anti-cor- at this point, but investigating new legal move in a speech near But since January he has gators would find them The Fillons have argued that ruption investigators, saying she magistrates have the power to Paris late Friday, but com- been fighting claims by Le "innocent, at last". Penelope was legitimately would only speak to them after bring charges or can choose to plained he had been Canard Enchaine newspaper The Canard Enchaine has employed and the couple's law- the election. drop the case. "relentlessly attacked" during that he had used allowances to alleged Fillon's wife was also yers say they have provided The presidential race With the first round of the the campaign. pay his British-born wife Pene- paid tens of thousands of euros proof of the work she did. remains highly uncertain with election taking place on April 23, He denies wrongdoing but lope at least ¤680,000 by a literary review, the Revue But after the allegations the unstable international pic- the timing of the magistrates' has said he would drop out of the ($720,000) over some 15 years des Deux Mondes, owned by her emerged, French television ture — from Donald Trump and decision could have a significant race if he is charged, although he as a parliamentary aide. husband's billionaire friend, broadcast a 2007 interview in Brexit to the surge of rightwing bearing on the outcome. later appeared to backtrack and Although French lawmakers Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere. which Penelope told a British nationalism in countries such as Far-right National Front said he would put his fate in the are allowed to employ family Magistrates will investigate journalist she had never been her the Netherlands — is mirrored leader Marine Le Pen has been hands of voters. members, it is unclear what work whether this amounts to misap- husband's assistant. by an anti-establishment mood bolstered by the scandal and has The devout Catholic won the Penelope did and she did not propriation of corporate assets. Fillon has dismissed the in France. Macron likely to Merkel slams SPD plan to revise labour reforms meet German Stralsund SPD chancellor Gerhard Schroeder but story,” Merkel said. Chancellor Reuters cost him his job and split the party. She said Germany needed to have a The reforms, unveiled in 2003, saw debate about an Agenda 2025 and accused next month erman Chancellor Angela Merkel many SPD members storm out and join the SPD of continually focusing on its past (pictured) hit out at her coalition the far-left Linke party. rather than looking to the future. Berlin Gpartners yesterday for proposing But Merkel praised the programme at She said it was necessary to prepare Reuters revisions to welfare reforms credited with an election campaign event in her con- Germany for a dramatic change via dig- driving the country’s economic success, stituency of Stralsund in northern italisation, and she called for research erman Chancellor ahead of elections in which their candi- Germany yesterday, saying: “That’s why spending to be tax-deductible to encour- Angela Merkel is ready date has moved in front of her in some I said when I entered office 11 years ago age small firms to carry out more Gto meet independent polls. that former chancellor Schroeder ren- research. French presidential candidate The Social Democrats (SPD) have dered great service to Germany with In his speech on Monday, Schulz Emmanuel Macron before the lagged Merkel’s conservatives in opinion Agenda 2010.” talked about protecting older workers as French election and the two polls for years. She said the conservatives had made well as introducing restrictions on tem- sides are discussing dates, a But support for the centre-left party some changes to the reforms since 2005, porary job contracts and defending German government spokes- has surged since it nominated former when they entered a coalition govern- pensions. Employers say that could hurt man has said. European Parliament president Martin ment, but had remained true to the core the economy. Macron, the election Schulz as its candidate in late January. of the programme because it had put more Schulz told the Redaktionsnetzwerk frontrunner, did not get an Schulz sought to appeal to the left of people in work, with the number of job- Deutschland media group (RND) that he decide in the last 10 days and 2 to 3 per- audience with Merkel when his party on Monday, saying corrections less halving since 2005. expected a neck-and-neck race leading cent only on the election day itself. The he visited Berlin last month, were needed to the “Agenda 2010” “But to this day the Social Democrats up to the September 24 election. result might well depend on this very 2 but was welcomed in London reforms, which were drawn up by former don’t want to proclaim it as a success “More than 20 percent of voters only or 3 percent in the end,” Schulz said. this week by Prime Minister Theresa May. The spokesman said there was no firm date yet but the expectation is that Merkel and Blessed bovine German MPs urge Macron will meet in March. In the run-up to the last French election in 2012, Mer- kel, a conservative, refused Turkey to free scribe to meet with Socialist Fran- cois Hollande, the eventual Berlin emails concerned control of winner, amid pressure from AFP Turkish media groups ...," it incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, added. The paper says Yucel, also a conservative. ozens of German law- who presented himself at the That may have contrib- makers have called on Istanbul police headquarters for uted to the rocky start in DTurkey to release a jour- questioning on February 14, is relations between Merkel and nalist for the Die Welt accused of "being a member of Hollande. Some Merkel aides newspaper who is being held a terrorist organisation, misuse later described the decision on terrorism-related charges. of data and terrorist not to meet him as a The German daily said its propaganda". mistake. correspondent Deniz Yucel, 43, "Intellectual debate is the Fillon visited Merkel in was detained on February 18 best instrument against terror- Berlin in late January, a day and his apartment searched in ism, which paradoxically is before French satirical connection with news reports what he is being accused of," weekly Le Canard Enchaine on an attack by hackers on the the group of 166 lawmakers in published a story revealing email account of Turkey's the Bundestag, the Lower that he had paid his wife hun- energy minister. House of parliament, wrote in dreds of thousands of euros The minister, Berat an open letter to Turkish in taxpayer money over a Albayrak, is a son-in-law of Ambassador Ali Kemal Aydin. number of years to be his par- President Recep Tayyip A spokesman for the Ger- liamentary assistant, despite Erdogan. man Foreign Ministry said the no evidence that she had The journalist "had reported government had "not the slight- actually worked. — like numerous other journal- est information" suggesting that Most polls now show ists from international media Yucel had violated his journal- Macron, who got a boost this — on emails that the leftist istic duties. It is not the first time week from the endorsement Turkish hacker collective Red- Yucel has run afoul of the Turk- of centrist Francois Bayrou, is French President Francois Hollande touches a cow during his visit to the International Hack had acquired from the ish authorities. In June 2015, he likely to beat Fillon in the first Agriculture Fair (Salon de l'Agriculture) at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in private email account" of was detained with three other round of the election on April Paris, yesterday. Albayrak, Die Welt said at the journalists covering the seizure 23 and face off against National time. of a Syrian border town by Front leader Marine Le Pen. "Among other subjects, the Kurdish forces. 16 EUROPE SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

Swedish PM Dutch PM vows seeks to reduce labour to keep nation migration

Stockholm safe and stable AFP weden's prime minister Campaign trail After six years in power at has said he wants to curb the head of two coalition gov- Slabour migration to the Rutte's party is ernments, Rutte is fending off Scandinavian country to pro- running neck-and- a biting challenge from his far- vide more jobs for its own neck with Wilders's right rival Geert Wilders in the unemployed, including refu- Freedom Party (PVV) March 15 elections. gees accepted in recent years. in race for control of His party is running neck- "Jobs that require little or the Lower House. and-neck with Wilders's no education will first be Freedom Party (PVV) in the race filled by the unemployed who Some 28 parties are for control of the 150-seat are already in our country," running in the Lower House of parliament. Social Democratic leader Ste- Amid the rise of populist fan Lofven told reporters in elections for the 150- and far-right parties in Europe, Stockholm. seat chamber of the Dutch polls are being seen In 2016, the country Parliament. as a litmus test ahead of other granted work permits to more elections this year, notably in than 12,000 people from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) speaks with local citizens in Wormerveer yesterday as Wormerveer France and Germany. countries outside the EU. AFP Dressed casually in jeans he campaigns for re-election ahead of the March 15 vote. This figure includes and a blue weatherproof jacket around 4,000 unskilled utch Prime Minis- against the penetrating cold 'Very unstable times' erlands defend its values. Quran and to close mosques — labourers such as cleaners, ter Mark Rutte drizzle, Rutte patiently "We are living in very unsta- "For example on immigra- a message which has found chefs, waiters and waitresses took his bid for a answered questions from curi- ble and insecure times. My main tion, for refugees we will always favour with growing number of and mechanics, according to third term to vot- ous shoppers in the tiny central task as prime minister is to keep have a warm welcome, but not voters on the back of Europe's the Swedish migration board. ers yesterday, town of Wormerveer and posed this country safe and stable," too many please. We have to worst refugee crisis since World "It's unreasonable for us Dmingling with shoppers in a for selfies. Rutte said, among a small knot keep the numbers limited," he War II. to have a labour migration small market town ahead of Some 28 parties are run- of journalists. said. In recent weeks, Rutte has that consists of dishwashers closely-watched March ning in the elections. And amid "That means that we have to There would always be a toughened his tone on immi- (and) restaurant employees elections. the country's fractured politi- reorganise the European Union, place for those fleeing war grants, urging all citizens to adapt when we have capable peo- "The VVD makes the best cal landscape, all eyes are on make Nato work better for all of "but we have to be very clear to Dutch values or leave. ple who have arrived here as coffee," Rutte sang out, as he who will emerge in the pole us, invest in our defence." about what kind of country we The latest aggregate polling refugees," Lofven added. gathered people around a food position to form the next coa- But amid a polarising debate are." survey showed Wilders' Freedom "The first thing we will do truck handing out hot drinks to lition — which analysts predict over immigration, he also Wilders has vowed to close Party would garner 24 to 28 seats is to emphasise that everyone talk politics and promote his could include up to five argued the country's 17 million Dutch borders to Muslim refu- with Rutte's VVD set to capture who can work will work," the Liberal party's policies. parties. people wanted to see The Neth- gees, to ban sales of the Holy between 23 to 27 seats. 59-year-old leader said as he presented the Social Demo- crats' programme for its party congress in April when it will lay the foundations for its Ukraine wants talks to end crippling coal strike 2018 election campaign. Lofven said there were 100,000 jobs available in Kiev AFP "The government's position mean that the strikers want to Ukraine) cannot verify the with- Sweden and some 300,000 is clear — we are ready for dia- take away our opportunity for drawal of the weapons and the jobless workers. kraine has said it was logue, for professional talks," economic growth." disengagement of the sides. Labour migration should seeking a compromise Ukrainian media quoted the pro- Ukraine bounced back from Without these verifications the therefore be limited to pro- Uwith nationalist activists Western prime minister as a 2014-15 recession in which its process will not work. There fessions where there is a lack who were cutting off coal and saying. economy contracted by about 17 must be evidence. of skilled labour, he said. other trade between the ex- "But we are not ready for percent to see 2.2 percent growth "If there is no proof and no Around four percent of Soviet republic and its sabotage." last year. trust, the process will break people in Sweden aged 15-29 Russian-backed separatist east. The strikers believe that the The trade has gone on even down," it said. were either unemployed or President Petro Poroshenko insurgents use the freight cars to as Kiev and the separatists are The OSCE SMM also accused not attending school in 2016, (pictured) warned last week that shuttle fighters and weapons to locked in a 34-month conflict the insurgents of surrounding according to Statistics Swe- protesters blocking a railway to hotspots in the war. that has claimed more than one of its unarmed teams and den. The Social Democrats the coal-rich war zone since Jan- They also accuse corrupt 10,000 lives. seizing its unmanned aerial vehi- run a minority government uary could cause power outages officials of allowing contraband One soldier was reported cle (UAV). with the Greens Party, which across the country and job losses to reach Ukraine from the east killed Monday while the Organ- The mission said the incident opposes the plan, making it as a result. along with the specific type of ization of Security and occurred on Thursday just north unlikely for Sweden to restrict Ukraine has declared a state coal used by the country's power Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) of the rebel's de facto capital of labour migration before the of emergency in the energy sec- plants throughout Ukraine. mentioned a sharp de-escala- Donetsk. September 2018 election. tor over the blockade. Groysman warned that steel tion of violence in the days since only war said it could not con- Its statement said "armed "If the Greens choose to Prime Minister Volodymyr mills "that employ 300,000" a new truce went into effect on firm that the sides had pulled men pointed their weapons at dig their heels in and fight Groysman said the cash-starved people could fall silent. Monday. backed their big guns from the (the team), advanced towards then there'll be a government and war-torn east European "That sector comprises 12 The European security body front as promised. them and seized the UAV, after crisis," Jonas Hinnfors, a country could soon start losing percent of our gross domestic in charge of monitoring the "Without the update on which one of the men opened political science professor at electricity and heating because product," he said. implementation of repeatedly inventories the OSCE SMM (Spe- fire which impacted close to the the University of Gothenburg, of the strike. "If there is a stoppage, it will broken peace deals in Europe's cial Monitoring Mission to SMM patrol". said.

Poland to get Wall of security Scottish Labour won't join plane debris tested by UK lab Tories to fight independence

Warsaw AFP Edinburgh the following year. It now has 54 of 59 Reuters seats representing Scotland in the Brit- oland has said it would ish parliament in London, taking share have a British labora- cottish Labour would not join forces mainly from Scottish Labour which has Ptory search for traces of with the Conservatives in a joint seen its support slump. explosives on samples from Scampaign to defend the United It would be “a mistake” for the head a 2010 plane crash in Russia Kingdom if Scotland held a second inde- of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Dav- that killed 96 people, includ- pendence referendum, leader Kezia idson, to lead any such new referendum ing then Polish president Lech Dugdale has said. campaign, Dugdale also said. Some pol- Kaczynski. Momentum towards a new vote is iticians have cautioned about the The state prosecutor's growing, with Britain’s impending exit potential hazards of Conservatives, in office said the tests would be from the European Union feeding seces- power in London, giving the impression carried out by the Forensic sion demands. of telling Scotland what to do. Explosives Laboratory at Fort Dugdale, whose party rejects Scot- Dugdale will tell delegates at the Halstead, near London. tish independence, told a meeting at the Scottish Labour conference the party The plane was carrying a party conference in Aberdeen she could doesn’t want another referendum which Polish delegation to a cere- “not imagine” leading Scottish Labour could break up the three-century-old mony in Russia's Katyn Forest into a joint campaign with the Conserv- union of England and Scotland. in memory of thousands of atives like the 2014 “Better Together” “The unfortunate truth is this: with the Polish army officers killed by campaign which defended the union, a SNP supported by the Greens, they have Soviet secret police in 1940. Scottish Labour official said. a majority in the Scottish Parliament. So Poland's previous liberal Despite beating Scottish secession if this country faces another referendum government blamed the crash by a 10 point margin in the 2014 refer- at any point in the future, I will work tire- on bad weather and errors by Pro-Russian fighters escort member of Ukrainian Parliament and former endum, that alliance of historic rivals lessly to make sure that our side of the the Polish pilots and Russian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko (centre), freed from a Russian jail in Labour and Conservatives was con- argument is successful again,” she is to air traffic controllers. But the May 2016, during her visit to Makiivka in Donetsk region late on Friday. sumed with infighting and ended up say. Scotland, one of the UK’s four nations, current government believes discrediting many of those involved. voted overwhelmingly to stay inside the Savchenko visited a penal colony, which holds Ukrainian prisoners of war, a fire may have erupted The Scottish referendum was then EU in last June’s Brexit referendum but to try to accelerate the process of their release. onboard before the crash, pos- followed by a historic win for Nicola will nevertheless leave because the UK as sibly the result of foul play. Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) a whole voted to do so. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 EUROPE 17

Adieu, winter! Rebels from Outcry as Russia writer Renzi's party form new joins Ukraine rebels movement Rome some of Russia's top literary prompted outpourings of bile AFP Novelist slammed awards. The shaven-headed from top literary figures with Prilepin is acclaimed writer has been a frequent vis- more liberal views. ebels from Italy's rul- for novels drawing itor to the rebel east Ukraine Viktor Pelevin, one of the ing party, who quit in on his experiences of since the start of the conflict in best known post-Soviet writers, Rdefiance of former serving with Russian April 2014, acting as a "consult- wrote on Facebook: "When your prime minister Matteo Renzi, forces in Chechnya ant" to Donetsk rebel leader books are shit, you have to earn struck out on their own yes- Alexander Zakharchenko. In an money from terrorism." terday founding a movement and as a member of interview with popular tabloid Meanwhile Dmitry Bykov, a they hailed as a "renewal" for a banned radical Komsomolskaya Pravda last poet and writer known for an left-wing politics. nationalist group. week the 41-year-old revealed award-winning biography of The Progressive and he is now the deputy com- Boris Pasternak, told Gazeta.ru Democratic Movement (DP) He has prompted mander of his own battalion, that "Prilepin deserves hatred." has emerged as the union of outpourings of bile shocking the literary scene. In a comment reported by left-wing defectors from the from top literary "I think a writer has a right state television, Vera Polozkova, ruling Democratic Party (PD) to any position," Prilepin said at one of Russia's best known and part of the Sinistra Ital- figures with more a midweek Moscow news con- young Russian poets, wrote on iana (the Italian Left, I). liberal views. ference. "He can stand with a Facebook that she "will open a "We want to build an flag saying peace to the world bottle of the best beverage when open movement... that is also Moscow or he can take up arms." they finally blow his... head off." the beginning of a centre-left AFP For Prilepin, the conflict in "The country's blogosphere renewal", the party said in its Ukraine has seen a major is buzzing. It has divided into founding manifesto. ne of Russia's best change as he has gone from a factions: those who are for Pri- In a sharp jab at Renzi's known novelists, member of a banned group lepin and those who are leadership, the DP said it Zakhar Prilepin, fiercely opposed to the Krem- against," wrote Life News would "get back on track and has sparked a bit- lin to supporting the official website. abandon the tack" to the ter row among top line. He was part of the out- Prilepin said the reaction political right undertaken Owriters by revealing he is now lawed National Bolshevik Party came as as a surprise but he since he became prime min- fighting with pro-Russian sep- led by fellow writer Eduard welcomed the fact it had "put ister in February 2014. aratists in Ukraine. Limonov, which used to see its writers back on the newspaper The DP said it aimed to Prilepin is acclaimed for illegal rallies crushed by riot front pages." restore a centre-left party of novels drawing on his experi- police, but then supported Mos- A German literary agency alliances "which will not suf- ences of serving with Russian cow's seizure of Crimea in 2014. has reportedly dropped Prilepin Russian women take part in Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) focate under the ambitions of forces in Chechnya and as a By becoming one of the most over his role fighting with sep- celebrations, a farewell ceremony to winter, in Vsevolozhsk, its leader and the arrogant member of a banned radical high-profile Russians to join east aratists who are called outside Saint Petersburg, yesterday. pretension of self-sufficiency nationalist group, and has won Ukraine's fighters, Prilepin has "terrorists" by Kiev. that would inevitably lead our adversaries to victory". The party creators cited The Olive Tree, the left-wing coalition led by Romano Prodi which won legislative Hollande hits back at Trump over Paris criticism elections in 1996 and 2006, as a model for a multi-faceted Paris not to do it to France," he said the story of a friend who used to Paris and France. "So I imagine ures in France than the US. alliance for the political left. AFP at the opening of the annual visit every year. that that is what he thinks. If it is Fears linked to terror attacks The leftwing rebels who agricultural fair in Paris. "I have a friend, he's a very, what he thinks, I expect he will have scared off visitors to Paris had been sparring with Renzi Seeking to defend his con- very substantial guy. He loves the express that. in the past two years. accused him of stifling debate rench President Francois troversial crackdown on City of Lights," he said. "Fortunately, for several In November 2015, 130 peo- within the ruling Democratic Hollande yesterday hit immigrants, Trump criticised After not seeing his friend for months American tourists have ple were killed in Paris when Party. Fback at Donald Trump after long-time allies France, Sweden a few years, Trump asked him returned in large numbers gunmen and suicide bombers The new movement is the US president criticised and Germany. how Paris was, quoting him as because they see" that French from the Islamic State jihadist headed by the ruling party's France in a veiled attack on its "Take a look at what's hap- replying: "'Paris? I don't go there authorities are making "a con- group attacked bars, restau- former leader in parliament, immigration policies and those pening in Sweden. Take a look anymore. Paris is no longer siderable effort to ensure rants, a concert hall and the Roberto Speranza and Enrico of its European allies. at what's happening in Germany. Paris.' That was four years, four security." "And I don't want to Stade de France national sta- Rossi, the head of the Tuscany "It is never good to show the Take a look at what's happened or five years, he hasn't gone make a comparison, but there dium. That attack came 10 region. slightest mistrust towards a in France. Take a look at Nice there." are no weapons circulating months after two jihadist gun- Former PD boss Pier Luigi friendly country," Hollande said. and Paris," he told conservatives Asked about the comments, here, there are no people who men shot dead cartoonists and Bersani and another former "That is not what I do at a rally outside Washington. Hollande said Trump had take weapons to shoot into the journalists at the Paris offices of prime minister, Massimo toward a friendly country and Trump trained his sights on recently told him in a telephone crowd", he said, in a reference satirical newspaper Charlie D'Alema, are also among the I ask the American president Paris in particular, recounting conversation of his "love" for to the tighter gun control meas- Hebdo. supporters. Entombed artist: It's like tripping Athens starts building

Paris AFP minutes before climbing AFP inside the rock at the Palais de first official mosque Tokyo to become what he called n artist entombed inside the boulder's "beating heart". Athens as second-class citizens?" he a 12-tonne rock for nearly However, he admitted that AFP said. Elghandour is also wary Athree days has described emotionally, his time inside has of getting his hopes up: There the experience as like "tripping", been something of a fter 17 years of delay, has been no word on whether insisting he would stick it out for rollercoaster. construction has finally the mosque will open on sched- a week. "It's very complex. You pass Abegun on the first official ule in April, and the press has Speaking to AFP through a from one feeling to another. Like mosque for Athens, but Mus- not been allowed access to the crack in the limestone boulder you are being carried away on lims in the city are not getting site. late on Friday, Abraham a raft," he said. their hopes up just yet. The project was launched Poincheval said he had been "It's like tripping." "I've been hearing people in 2000 to increase integration buoyed by how his performance To keep a hold on himself, talk about this for too long — of the city's Muslims. has "got into people's heads". the man dubbed France's most I'll believe it when I see it," said "Athens is the last capital in The artist made headlines extreme artist has been keeping Nasralla Abed, a Greek-Pales- the European Union without an worldwide when the two halves a diary, which he will later tinian translator. official mosque," said Lefteris of the rock closed around him publish. He had come to pray in a Papagiannakis, the city's dep- on Wednesday at a Paris art Poincheval is certainly no basement in Athens' Neos Kos- uty mayor in charge of refugees museum. stranger to bizarre and hair-rais- mos neighbourhood, one of and migrants. Poincheval, 44, had carved ing performances. dozens of unofficial mosques And if the goal is to prevent out a hole inside the rock in his He ate worms and beetles around the city which is home radicalisation, "It's also much own image, just big enough for while living inside the bear, was to about 300,000 Muslims. better to have official sites" than him to sit up in, with a niche to buried under a rock for eight A discreet sign marked the a shadowy network of unsanc- hold supplies of water, soup and days and navigated France's entrance to the mosque, tioned mosques, he said. dried meat. Rhone river inside a giant plas- reached through a garage. But in a country where the "People seem to be very tic corked bottle. This network of basement influential Orthodox Church is touched. They come and talk French artist Abraham Poincheval performs near the stone in He has crossed the Alps in a and apartment mosques devel- not separate from the state, get- into the crack, read poetry to me, barrel, and last year spent a oped as thousands of Muslims ting the project off the ground which he stays entombed, at the Palais de Tokyo, on February or tell me about their nightmares week on top of a 20-metre (65- migrated to the city, mainly was not easy. 22 in Paris. or their dreams," he said. foot) pole outside a Paris train from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Influential church leaders "They are not so much talk- worry inside the darkness of the at ease, in real connection with station. Egypt. Muslims cannot even were reticent, and residents of ing to me, I think, as to the stone. rock, he confessed. it. "Right now, it's sweet. Like The artist also spent 20 days bury their dead in Athens, as the western Eleonas neigh- I am very happy that the stone Without a watch — and with when you are starting to climb underground as a human mole plans for a cemetery are still on bourhood which was chosen has got into their heads." only an emergency phone line a mountain. But I know it will and lived like a Stone Age man hold: Families often have to to house the mosque, in a If he survives the ordeal, the — he has no way to tell the time. get difficult," said Poincheval, with his former sidekick Laurent bury their dead in Thrace in former military depot, staged performance artist who has pre- "I can sleep but it is very who is having to store his own Tixador on a small rocky island northeast Greece, home of a protests. After languishing for viously spent a fortnight hard. It is very strange, I don't excrement around him. in the Mediterranean off the Muslim minority of Turkish years, the project was sewn-up inside a stuffed bear, know whether I am sleeping well "For now, it is OK," he said, southern city of Marseille. descent. relaunched in 2013, and work will attempt to become a human or not." adding there had been "no acci- The pair also walled them- For Naim Elghandour, pres- began after parliament voted hen and hatch a dozen eggs by Even though he can only dents" peeing into his empty selves into a cave for a night with ident of the Muslim Association again in August 2016 to move sitting on them for weeks on end. move his feet and hands a few water bottles. hundreds of mosquitos and of Greece, the situation is a ahead with the mosque, Lack of sleep rather than inches, "I do not feel oppressed "We are already locked into crossed France in a straight line "disgrace". approving a ¤946,000 budget claustrophobia is his biggest (by the rock), I feel completely our own bodies," the artist told on foot. "Why must we be treated for the venture. 18 AMERICAS SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 Storm: California in dire straits NEWS BYTES US seeks extradition of former Fresno AP Guatemalan vice-president he bill to repair Cali- GUATEMALA CITY: The United States embassy said it will fornia’s crumbling seek the extradition of Guatemala’s former vice president roads, dams and other Roxana Baldetti and ex-interior minister Mauricio Lopez on critical infrastructure drug trafficking charges. Baldetti and Lopez were indicted in hammered by an US federal court in Washington on charges of conspiring to Tonslaught of storms this winter distribute 5kg or more of cocaine from January 2010 to May could top $1bn, including nearly 2015, knowing it would ultimately be imported illegally into $600m alone for damaged road- the United States. “The US Department of Justice has not yet ways that more than doubles what forwarded an extradition request to the US embassy,” a state- the state budgeted for road repair ment from the mission in Guatemala City read. The emergencies, officials said. Guatemalan Foreign Ministry responded on Twitter by say- Adding to the problems, ing it was not aware of the charges against the pair, who many communities have drained served in the government of former president Otto Perez their emergency budgets and are (2012-2015) and had not yet received an extradition request. looking to the state and federal Baldetti is already in prison in Guatemala, serving time on government for help. But on top tax fraud and other corruption charges, along with Lopez, of the latest damage, the nation’s who is accused of embezzlement. The ex-vice president was most populated state is strug- arrested in August 2015. gling with a $6 billion annual backlog of repairs for roads, Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire erupts highways and bridges that lead- ers can’t agree on a way to fund. GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire erupted Winter storms have dumped yesterday, spewing lava and sending up ash plumes that rained A car is seen under floodwaters in San Jose neighbourhood. enough rain and snow on the down ashes on nearby communities and could reach the cap- northern part of the state to end ital, the civil protection authorities said. The Volcan de Fuego, a five-year drought. But with the $1bn repair cost The tally includes $595m to wrecked more than 350 roads, one of the country’s three active volcanos, is located about wet weather, comes a host of clean up mudslides and repair shutting down traffic on at least 45km southwest of the capital Guatemala City. It was the vol- problems for crumbling The bill to repair state highways. Costs for evacu- 35 that await rebuilding or shor- cano’s second eruption this year. “The variable wind from infrastructure. California’s crumbling ations and non-highway damage, ing up of stretches that washed the south could carry ash toward the south of the capital,” A section of mountain high- roads, dams and other as well as for repairs at Oroville out, sunk or got covered in mud David de Leon, spokesman for the National Coordinator for way between Sacramento and Dam, whose spillways threatened and rocks, officials said. Disaster Reduction, said. The rumbling 12,345-feet volcano critical infrastructure South Lake Tahoe has buckled, to collapse and flood communi- To cover the shortfall for was pumping out a series of moderate and strong explosions. hammered by storms with repairs estimated to cost ties downstream, have not been emergency repairs, Caltrans will In addition to Fuego, the Central American country has two $6.5m. In the Yosemite Valley, this winter could precisely tallied, he said. ask for more money next month other active volcanos: Santiaguito in the west and Pacaya in only one of three main routes top $1bn. Early estimates put the fixes from an appointed board that the south, just 30km from the capital. into the national park’s major at the nation’s tallest dam as high allocates state cash for road attraction is open because of Many communities as $200m. Several more weeks projects, Wiseman said. Peru President prefers bridges to walls damage or fear the roads could have drained their remain in California’s wet sea- Aside from emergency road give out from cracks and seep- emergency budgets son, which brings the potential repairs, Gov. Brown said Friday LIMA: The first Latin American leader to visit US President ing water, rangers said. and are looking to the for more costly infrastructure that California has $187bn in Donald Trump at the White House said that he told Trump On central California’s rain- state and federal damage. The California Depart- unmet needs for water and he prefers bridges to walls and favours the free movement soaked coast, a bridge in Big Sur government for help. ment of Transportation, which transportation infrastructure. He of people across borders. However, Peruvian President Pedro has crumbled beyond repair, is responsible for maintaining suggested tax increases may be Pablo Kuczynski declined to comment specifically on Trump’s blocking passage on the north- highways, roads and overpasses, required, but he wasn’t prepared proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexican border to curb south Highway 1 through the two months of 2017 will proba- has a reserve fund of $250m that’s to offer “the full answer” to rais- illegal immigration and drug trafficking in a press confer- tourist destination for up to a bly exceed $1bn, Gov Jerry far short of what it would cost to ing enough money to shore up ence following the meeting. “I don’t want to get into the wall,” year. Until it is rebuilt, visitors Brown’s finance director, fix recent storm damage. infrastructure. Kuczynski said. “We’re interested in the free movement of can drive up to view the rugged Michael Cohen, said. Much of it “This is for 2017,” Caltrans That’s bad news for local people ... I emphasized that to President Trump and we pre- coastline, then turn back. will be covered by the federal spokeswoman Vanessa Wise- communities hardest hit by the fer bridges to walls.” Trump called Peru, a country of 30 The total cost for respond- government, which is helping man said. “So, essentially we’re storms. They say rebuilding will million in South America, “a fantastic neighbour” and said it ing to flooding, storm damage the state recover from severe talking only two months.” cost millions of dollars they don’t was an honour to have Kuczynski in the White House. and repairs statewide in the first storms, he said. Storms across the state have have. SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017 AMERICAS 19 Outcry as White House bars top media from briefing

Washington A number of news outlets open to credentialed media. CNN public servant, and the truth is a startling and very troubling.” AFP Exclusion that regularly cover the White anchor Jake Tapper decried the public good,” said Robert Reich, “Nixon failed, and he had a Friendly conservative House as part of the “pool,” move as “un-American.” a UC Berkeley economist, former deep reservoir of ill will to draw ajor US media out- outlets like Fox News, including newswires Reuters and “This is an unacceptable labor secretary and a prominent on when he got himself in real lets condemned as the One America Bloomberg, attended the brief- development by the Trump Democratic figure. trouble. And I think Trump is cre- “unacceptable” News Network and ing. The Associated Press White House,” CNN’s communi- “But he continues to lie ating the same problem for and an “insult to boycotted in protest. AFP pro- cations department wrote on incessantly, and punish media himself.” Breitbart News were democratic ideals” tested being excluded, despite Twitter. that call him out,” Reich wrote Trump’s hostility towards the Ma decision by President Donald allowed to attend, being in the “pool,” and attended “Apparently this is how they on Facebook. “These are the sort press “may be the greatest threat Trump’s White House to bar sev- while the BBC, The the briefing uninvited. retaliate when you report facts of antics we’d expect from a two- to democracy in my lifetime,” eral organizations, including Los Angeles Times The White House Corre- they don’t like. We’ll keep bit dictator but not from the said William McRaven, a retired CNN and The New York Times, and others were spondents Association said it was reporting regardless.” President of the United States.” admiral and Navy SEAL who from a daily press briefing. excluded. “protesting strongly” against the The New York Times wrote John Dean, the White House oversaw the raid that killed Al- In an escalation in the White House decision, and in an editorial that the exclusion counsel for Republican president Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden administration’s war on the promised to bring it up with was an “unmistakable insult to Richard Nixon in the 1970s, in 2011. McRaven made the media, the White House Friday “This is an White House staff. democratic ideals.” described the Trump media remarks at the college of com- excluded some outlets that have unacceptable During the off-camera brief- Several outlets refered to a bashing as “more Nixonian than munication at the University of provided critical coverage from development by the ing spokesman Sean Spicer said December interview in which Nixon.” Texas at Austin, according to the an off-camera event that Trump White House,” that the White House has shown Spicer told Politico that the Nixon blasted the media as student newspaper. McRaven replaced the traditional on-cam- CNN’s an “abundance of accessibility... Trump White House would never “the enemy” behind closed became head of the UT system era daily briefing. communications making ourselves, our team and ban a news outlet. “Conserva- doors, Dean, 78, told the Democ- after retiring in 2014. Friendly conservative outlets department wrote on our briefing room more acces- tive, liberal or otherwise, I think racy Now! radio show on “Flaws and all, I believe the like Fox News, the One America sible than probably any previous that’s what makes a democracy Friday. free press is our country’s most Twitter. News Network and Breitbart administration.” a democracy versus a dictator- “The big difference is, Trump important institution,” McRaven, News were allowed to attend, It is not uncommon for ship,” he said. is doing this right out” and chal- who has a degree in journalism, while the BBC, The Los Angeles the people,” a day after his top Republican and Democratic Media organizations were lenging the US constitution’s first added in a blog post Thursday. Times and others were excluded. strategist promised relations administrations to brief select not alone in defending the free amendment that guarantees The United States “has the finest Trump on Friday decried the with the press will get “worse reporters, but the event was ini- press. freedom of speech and of the press corps in the world, bar media as the “enemy of every day.” tially billed as a regular briefing “Trump is supposed to be a press. He described it as “very none,” he wrote.

Haiti govt Shooting raises Fight against fascism panel to probe prison fears in Kansas Kansas City U.S. cities with a troupe of 10 conditions Reuters dancers, all of whom except her are white people with an affin- Port-Au-Prince, Haiti he shooting death of an ity for Indian culture, she said. AP Indian engineer and the The shooting comes as Twounding of another man some members of U.S. minor- aiti announced a new in a possible hate crime at a ity groups have expressed government commis- Kansas club has raised fears unease with the political and Hsion on Friday to among members of the area’s social climate in the United probe the country’s prisons fast-growing Indian-American States. The Southern Poverty and other overcrowded lock- community. Law Center said in a report this ups and make The suspected gunman, U.S. month hate groups proliferated recommendations to improve Navy veteran Adam Purinton, in 2016 as Donald Trump’s bid desperate conditions for 51, has been charged with the for the U.S. presidency ener- inmates. premeditated murder in Olathe, gized the radical right. President Jovenel Moise, just outside Kansas City, of A number of Jewish leaders who was sworn in earlier this Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, and called on Trump to speak out month as Haiti’s leader for the the attempted murder of Alok against anti-Semitism follow- next five years, announced Madasani, also 32, as well as an ing a spate of bomb threats to Protesters attending the United Voices Rally outside the United Talent Agency in Beverly the creation of the nine- American who tried to Jewish community centers. Hills, California yesterday. The agency swapped the annual Oscar weekend party for this member commission on intervene. Trump this week called the rally to speak out against policies of exclusion and division and to express their support Friday. The panel will have Before opening fire, Purin- threats horrible and he has said for freedom of speech and artistic expression. a month to finish its review ton is accused of shouting “get he rejects violence and and submit a report. out of my country,” a bystander harassment. “Under my presidency, the told the Kansas City Star. The greater Kansas City Haitian nation will by no Several members of the area, which straddles the bor- means ignore what seems to Kansas City area’s Indian- der between the states of be a flagrant violation, even a American community said the Missouri and Kansas, is home Search for 6-year-old girl ends in crash contempt for the right to life attack had forced them to think to about 2 million people with that every individual should about their safety. an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Bridgeport refused to pull over when a state placed a detainer for him, an have, regardless of where he “The main reaction is Indian-Americans, although AP trooper spotted the car, which agency spokesman said in a lives,” Moise said. The presi- shock, because this is home,” exact figures are not available, had been the subject of an statement. dential announcement came said Samarpita Bajpai, 45, who said Vijay Ainapurapu, 45, the missing 6-year-old Con- Amber Alert, they said. Hernandez was being held a few days after The Associ- lives in suburban Overland former president of the India necticut girl was found in Hernandez was taken into as a fugitive from justice in Penn- ated Press published an Park and runs a non-profit Association of Kansas City. A Pennsylvania on Friday custody and taken to a hospital sylvania and couldn’t be reached exclusive report on an upsurge Indian dance company. Ainapurapu, who works in following a high-speed car for treatment. Two state troop- for comment. Bridgeport police of inmate deaths, including 21 Going forward, Bajpai said software at Sprint Corp, said by chase and crash that involved a ers also suffered minor have a warrant for his arrest. The last month at the country’s big- that for the first time in her telephone that the local Indian- car driven by her father, who’s injuries. girl was being returned to fam- gest prison, due in large part nearly 20 years living in the American community has suspected in her mother’s kill- Federal immigration offi- ily in Connecticut with the help to malnutrition-related ill- Kansas City area she will try to grown about tenfold since he ing, authorities said. cials said Hernandez is a citizen of state officials. nesses and other preventable refrain from being out late at arrived in the Kansas City area Aylin Sofia Hernandez suf- of El Salvador who had been Police issued a public alert diseases. night. in 2001. Due to the shooting, he fered minor injuries in the crash deported on Nov. 27, 2013. He about the girl at about 2:45 a.m. An AP team saw a corpse She said the local area had added, safety precautions are at about 11 a.m. on Interstate 99 has prior felony convictions Friday. Officers had gone to the and emaciated men with always been very welcoming. a major talking point for his in Benner Township, Pennsyl- including assault and threaten- girl’s Bridgeport home and sunken cheeks and protrud- Through her Gurukul Dance group. Ainapurapu, who came vania state police said. Her ing, and U.S. Immigration and found her mother, Nadia ing ribs at the infirmary at Company, Bajpai tours to the United States in 1998. father, Oscar Hernandez, had Customs Enforcement has Gonzalez, fatally stabbed. Haiti’s severely overcrowded National Penitentiary, which houses some 40 percent of the country’s inmates in squalid conditions. Canada conservationist warns of ‘cyber poaching’ Prisoners were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in cell- blocks so overcrowded they Ottawa state of Minnesota who peti- and strict rules to secure data track tagged animals. describing the widespread use are forced to sleep in make- AFP tioned for access to data on and limit the use of telemetry Canadian officials were con- of social media and other out- shift hammocks suspended northern pike movements, argu- tools for non-research activities. cerned that the animals may be reach to share findings. from the ceiling or squeeze hotographers, poachers ing that it should be publicly In an interview, Cooke noted that spooked, stressed or habituated In some cases, researchers four to a bunk. New arrivals and eco-tour operators are available because the research natural history, ecology, conser- to human interaction, which can who receive government grants jostle for space on filthy floors Pin the crosshairs of a Cana- was publicly funded. vation and resource alter their behavior and thus may be obligated to disseminate where inmates on lockdown dian conservationist who warns Australian authorities have management have all benefited influence research findings, or the information. 22 hours a day must defecate that tracking tags are being used tags to locate and cull from the use of electronic tag- lead to human-wildlife conflicts. Citing cases of US ranchers into plastic bags in the hacked and misused to harass sharks while in India, attempts ging technology. The tags, Cooke explained, send accused of trying to interfere absence of latrines. and hunt endangered animals. were made to hack the global But if left unchecked, abuses out pings that can be tracked with the reintroduction of wolves Conditions are also Steven Cooke, a biology pro- positioning system (GPS) collars could not only cause harm to with a cheap handheld radio in Yellowstone National Park, appalling at other Haitian fessor at Carleton University in on endangered Bengal tigers in animals, it could significantly receiver. and divers in the Bahamas who lockups, including severely Ottawa, says that the very tools a case of “cyber poaching.” hamper research. “So you can stalk these ani- removed satellite tags from overcrowded and unsanitary used by scientists to study and Cooke said that it is a new “Just think about all the mals in their natural sharks, Cooke also warned about pens at several police stations. protect animals and fish are phenomenon and there is no weird ways that people might try environment, instead of waiting so-called “telemetry Most of those incarcerated in being hijacked to do just the data available to quantify this to exploit this technology,” for them to wander over to you,” terrorism.” Haiti have not been convicted opposite. “troubling and unanticipated” Cooke said. he said. Following one tagged There is potential for this if of a crime but are held in pro- Cooke, the Canada research problem. But he provides a broad The idea for this research animal could also lead poachers people oppose tagging. For longed pretrial detention chair of environmental science range of anecdotal evidence in came during a family vacation to others in its group. example, some Canadian Inuit waiting for a chance to see a and biology, is the lead author of his scholarly article. last summer to Banff National Convincing scientists to fear acoustic transmitters will judge. a paper published this week in Scientists are scheduled to Park in Canada. It was then that restrict access to their data may scare away culturally important Haiti’s penal system is by the journal Conservation meet in June in Australia to dis- he learned that the park author- prove problematic, Cooke marine wildlife, and some park far the globe’s most con- Biology. cuss the problem as well as ity had imposed a public ban on acknowledged. visitors have complained that gested, with a staggering 454 The research paper cites the potential fixes. In the meantime, VHF radio receivers after pho- “It runs counter to the open tags distract from the “wilder- percent occupancy level. example of anglers in the US Cooke is calling for encryption tographers used telemetry to data movement,” he said, ness experience.” 20 MORNING BREAK SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

PRAYER TIMINGS Archaeologists The war machine FAJR 04.44 am SHOROOK 06.00 am hunt for tomb of Scottish king ZUHR 11.47 am MAGHRIB 05.36 pm ASR 03.06 pm ISHA 07.06pm Edinburgh AFP

WEATHER TODAY he tomb of a medieval king whose murder o o Tchanged the course of Scottish history in a real-life 16 C 22 C "Game of Thrones" could be Minimum Maximum unearthed in a new hi-tech project launched yesterday. Archaeologists want to digitally recreate the court of King James I of Scotland in Perth, around 64km from Edinburgh, and try to find the king's tomb buried beneath the city. They are also looking for the remains of his queen, Joan Beaufort, and of Marga- ret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England and wife of James IV of Scotland, who was also buried there a century later. The team has been inspired by the discovery of A giant, so called "Tank Bike", driven by an engine of a T55 tank and constructed of former military equipment, King Richard III of England at a bike fair in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday. beneath a car park in Leicester.

Expected thundery rain at places as- sociated with strong wind. Hazy to misty at places at first partly cloudy to cloudy with chance of scattered rain Five things to watch at this year's Oscars daytime maybe thundery at places at times and cold by night. Los Angeles Academy Award nod this year for her HIGH TIDE 05:15 - 16:45 LOW TIDE 12:00 - 23:30 AFP starring role in "Florence Foster Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department Jenkins," besting her own record for t's no secret that "La La Land" is the the most acting nominations in Oscars big favourite to earn major Oscars history. Iglory today. But there are other sto- Should she win today, the 67-year- ries sure to unfold on Hollywood's old actress will earn her fourth Oscar, biggest night. tying her with Katharine Hepburn for the most Academy Awards in the best Here are five things to watch for: actress — leading and supporting — categories. Clean sweep for 'La La Land'? "La La Land," Hollywood's love let- Oscars not so white ter to itself, heads into the Oscars with It has been a landmark year for a record-tying 14 nominations. diversity at the Oscars with African- The whimsical musical romance American actors nominated in all the is favoured to win the most coveted top categories. The diverse slate of best picture prize, beating out fellow An Oscars statue at the end of the red carpet arrivals area ahead of the nominees will help the Academy of frontrunners "Moonlight" and "Man- 89th annual Oscars outside the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, yesterday. Motion Picture Arts and Sciences put chester by the Sea," as well as six other to rest the #OscarsSoWhite contro- nominees. The gala already took a political turn watch the Academy Awards as he will versy that has dogged the awards gala The film has already nabbed many after Iranian director Asghar Farhadi be hosting the annual governors' ball for the past two years. However, a new of the top honours — Golden Globes, — nominated for best foreign language in Washington. That does not neces- Oscars hashtag — #OscarsSoMale — Baftas, guild prizes — leading up to the film for "The Salesman," after his "A sarily mean, however, that the president appears to be gaining steam, over the Academy Awards. Should 32-year-old Separation" won in 2012 — said he won't take to Twitter to react to any fact that a majority of speaking roles Damien Chazelle walk away with a would not attend the ceremony fol- "Meryl Streep moment" — she hit out in films go to men. statuette, he would be the youngest lowing Trump's controversial travel at Trump in a speech at the Golden director ever to win an Oscar. ban targeting seven mainly-Muslim Globes that won praise and criticism. Ultimate hosting test for Kimmel countries. The film's lead actress has A miffed Trump reacted by calling her Comedian and late-night host Will Oscars be 'Trumped'? also said she would snub the event, "overrated" — and Sunday might just Jimmy Kimmel will preside over the Given the tension roiling the coun- even though the travel order is cur- be Streep's chance to respond. Oscars for the first time, and critics will try since Donald Trump was elected rently on ice. be watching to see how he pulls it off president, it is all but sure that today's White House spokesman Sean Streep: another win on the in front of a television audience of tens ceremony will have a tinge of politics. Spicer said Trump likely would not cards? Streep received her 20th of millions. Film on Erdogan to release on March 3

Ankara whether to approve an exec- AFP utive presidency on April 16. Beyoglu, who bears an new film about Turk- uncanny resemblance to the ish President Recep younger Erdogan, delivers ATayyip Erdogan is due passionate one-liners in the to hit cinema screens weeks trailer, including "a person Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. RIGHT: Turkish director Hudaverdi Yavuz. before an April referendum dies only once, if we die, let on whether to boost the pres- us die like a man!" ident's powers. The actor told Kanal D raised over the film's timing The director hit back at Development Party (AKP) "Reis" ("The Chief") stars broadcaster this week he was so close to the referendum — claims of election propaganda Erdogan co-founded won well-known Turkish actor "proud" when Erdogan said it had been due to come out in ahead of the referendum: power for the first time in Reha Beyoglu as the Turkish he could see his younger self March last year — but Yavuz "This film is absolutely ours. 2002 because the director said strongman and shows his life in Beyoglu. said he had no control over the This is not propaganda," add- he wanted to finish "on a up to 1999, beginning with the For Hudaverdi Yavuz, the distribution date. ing there was no outside beautiful note". president's childhood in a film's director, he wanted to Erdogan, the most power- intervention. One key moment in the poor district of Istanbul to his tell Erdogan's life because it ful Turkish politician since "For some, my film can picture appears to be Erdog- rise to become the city's was "really interesting" and founding father Mustafa have a political meaning, for an's period of imprisonment mayor. the film's title came from the Kemal Ataturk, became pres- others it can be a burden, that after he recited a poem Turkish actress Ozlem name Erdogan has long been ident in 2014, but the role has is not my problem." deemed to be Islamist while Balci plays his wife Emine known by. usually been more Yavuz, who has previously mayor of Istanbul, a term still while child actor Batuhan Isik "When he got elected ceremonial. worked for state broadcaster remembered by his support- Gurel plays Erdogan as a boy. mayor of Istanbul, automat- Under the new constitu- TRT channel, said the film ers as a symbol of the unfair The movie, the first ever ically people used the word tion, the president would have producers did not seek Erdog- treatment of pious Muslims at feature film about Erdogan, 'Reis' (chief)... His childhood strengthened executive pow- an's authorisation nor did they that time. will be released on March 3 friends, his acquaintances, ers to directly appoint top have to. Erdogan served four across Turkey before the they call him that," he said. public officials including The film ends before the months in jail from March Turkish public vote on Questions have been ministers. ruling Justice and 1999 over the poem.