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Volume 22 | Number 7295 | 2 RiyalsMonday 25 September 2017 | 5 Muharram 1439 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com”

”I express my pride in my Qatari people, alongwith the multinational and multicultural residents in Qatar. #Tamim_almajd

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Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-Chief

A grand, historic welcome for Tamim Al Majd →PAGE 3

OPINION

‘All of us’ for Tamim

Irfan Bukhari & Sidi Mohammed The Peninsula

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was accorded a rousing welcome on his return to the country yesterday as after being received by a number of Their Excellencies at Doha International

Airport, the Emir was greeted with rose petals and “we love Tamim” slogans at Doha Corniche by thousands of citizens and expatriates.

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani returned to Doha after paying successful visits to Turkey, Germany, France and the US, where he also delivered a historic speech at the opening session of UN General Assembly.

The Emir was welcomed upon arrival at Doha International Airport by Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, H E Sheikh Kha-lid bin Hamad Al Thani, H E Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Personal Representative of H H the Emir H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani and H E Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The Emir was also welcomed by Prime Min-ister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Speaker of the Advisory Council H E Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi, a number of Their Excellencies sons of H H the Father Emir, Sheikhs and Ministers, H E the Deputy Speaker of the Advisory Council, members of the Advisory Council, and a number of dignitaries.

A large number of citizens and residents lined up along Doha Corniche to welcome the Emir. Thousands of families, both citizens and expatri-ates, gathered at the Corniche holding iconic Tamim Al Majd images and Qatar’s flag. The majority of children were wearing shirts carry-ing Tamim Al Majd image while a number of women and girls were dressed in attire repre-senting Qatari flag.

A large number of citizens and residents lined up along the Corniche to welcome H H the Emir. Thousands of families, both citizens and expatriates, gathered holding iconic Tamim Al Majd images and Qatar’s flag.

The huge public reception was a popular initiative launched by citizens and residents on the social media under the hashtag #All_Qatar_Receives_Tamim. Before the arrival of convoy of the Emir at Corniche, a number of motorists kept on playing national anthem and other patriotic songs to warm the ambiance while a number of companies were distribut-ing free cold drinks, sweets and flags among the people.

Thousands of men, women and children, lined up along Doha Cor-niche, did not leave their place with the apprehension that it might deprive them of the opportunity to catch a glimpse of H H the Emir from the front rows. Despite huge crowd, no com-motion was witnessed anywhere and all eyes were just set on the road to see the glimpse of the Emir.

As the convoy of the Emir reached Corniche, people greeted the Emir by showering rose petals and reciting

patriotic songs. “Welcome Tamim Al Majd, we like you Tamim Al Majd and not like anyone except you,” a group of Qatari citizens was singing this. Eve-ryone from kids to elderly people had

directed cameras of their smart phones to the road to save the memorable moments.

Residents had come to praise H H the Emir after his historic speech at the opening session of the 72nd ses-sion of the UN General Assembly. Qatari citizens observed that they were very proud of their Emir and they were standing behind him and renewing their loyalty with him.

→ Continued on page 4

The huge public reception was a popular initiative launched by citizens and residents on the social media under the hashtag #All_Qatar_Receives_Tamim.

I want to say that today is an exceptional day for all of us; it is like the national day.

It (grand reception) is a message that we are united and standing behind our Emir.

Representing people of Oman, I repeat my commitment of standing with our brothers of Qatar.

The Emir has raised our voice at UN and we are proud of him.

A show of unity and loyalty to EmirPAGE 2More picturesPAGES 3 & 4

INSIDE PAGES

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani receiving a grand welcome on his arrival in Doha yesterday. A large number of citizens and residents gathered along the Corniche to celebrate H H the Emir’s return.

02 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

A show of unity and loyalty to Emir

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani returned to Doha yesterday evening. A large number of citizens and residents gathered along the Doha Corniche to celebrate the Emir’s return to homeland after a working tour which included Turkey, Germany and France, and concluded with the Emir’s participation in the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

03MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 HOME

Huge crowds of nationals and expatriates waited for Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani along the Doha Corniche yesterday, welcom-ing him with flowers, flags and his pictures. The

crowds stretched for more than eight kilometres and they were full of emotion and eagerness to meet the leader and the builder of the state and its glory.

Great passion was visible on the faces of those who received the Emir, whose parade could not move on the Corniche road and HH got off from his car to hug, shake hands and embrace the public from all ages with his usual big smile which expresses his love to his nation and its people.

The spontaneous welcome and the festive spirit have confirmed the sincerity of love to him and gratitude to his efforts to place Qatar among the great nations and put its fingerprint on the world map.

It was an exciting evening and a historical moment that will remain etched forever in the memory of Qataris and all free nations. It was a moral lesson for those who had doubts about the intimate relationship between the leader and his people. Words cannot express what eyes have seen yesterday, with waves of masses gathering in different parts of Doha to receive Tamim Al Majd.

Dignity and pride are part of his character, qualities which he passed to his people which made Qatar a vic-tim of jealousy, allegations and continuous fabrications in an attempt to weaken its political power and make it dependant. These are absolute facts which we need not talk about, as HH the Emir made clear in his speech at the UN General Assembly recently. There is no compro-mise or dialogue on the political decisions of the State of Qatar. Other than this, Qatar is ready to discuss any issue on the basis of brotherhood without undermining the sovereignty of any country.

Everyone who sees this grand welcome to the Emir will realise that Qatar has written a national epic on the love for their leader.

The spontaneous gathering of the public which stretched from the airport and along the Doha Cor-niche was the strongest response to those spreading lies and thus discredit our unity.

Lessons on morality, humbleness, good manners and dignity have been learned from the leader H H Sheikh Tamim and will remain imprinted in history. It will remain a model for anyone who lives in Qatar and an example of unity between people and their leader for generations.

OPINIONDr. Khalid Al-Shafi

Editor-in-Chief

A grand, historic welcome for Tamim Al Majd

Doha Corniche erupted in joy as Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani returned to the country after a world tour. Thousands of citizens and residents, including women and children, welcomed the Emir with flags, banners and his pictures.

Pictures by: Qassim Rahmatullah, Salim Matramkot, Abdul Basit, Kammutty VP and Baher Amin.

04 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani met with Chief Executive Officer of Japan’s JERA Company Yuji Kakimi and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of their visit to the country. They discussed cooperation between the two sides and prospects of development, especially in the field of energy and investment.

PM meets CEO of JERAThe Peninsula

Qatar Chamber has announced that the State of Qatar will officially join

the World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC) in early December 2017.

This came during a meeting for the International Certificate of Origin Council which was held on the sidelines of 10th World Chambers Congress in Sydney. Director-General of Qatar Cham-ber Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi headed the chambers delegation to the conference.

In a statement issued by Qatar Chamber yesterday, Al Sharqi said that the Chamber has been invited to join the World Certificates of Origin Chain, noting that the chamber applauded the invitation and would accept it soon.

He said that that the meet-ing discussed many issues

including Electronic Certificates of Origin and Rex and Exportal systems which are being estab-lished to facilitating the issuance of the World Electronic Certifi-cates of Origin and thereby facilitating trade transactions among countries.

Al Sharqi noted that the World Chambers Congress is a dynamic forum that facilitates the exchange of ideas in the real world and best practices in rooms and businesses. It was a platform that discussed many issues regarding the flow of goods around the world and exchanging expertise and press-ing issues facing world business community.

The conference was held by the World Chambers Federation and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), in conjunc-tion with the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, for three days with the participation of more

than one thousand delegates representing 109 countries around the world.

Qatar hosted the 8th World Chambers Congress in 2013. About 2600 people represent-ing more than 143 countries participated in the event.

The ATA Carnet is an inter-national customs document that permits the tax-free and duty-free temporary export and import of goods for up to one year.

The Carnet reduces costs to the exporter and eliminates value-added taxes (VAT), duties, and the posting of security nor-mally required at the time of importation. It simplifies cus-toms procedures and allows a temporary exporter to use a sin-gle document for all customs transactions, make arrange-ments for entry to many countries in advance, and do so at a predetermined cost.

Qatar to join World ATA Carnet in December

Sachin KumarThe Peninsula

Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh

Al Sada inaugurated the first edition of MedFood 2017 exhi-bition yesterday. The exhibition will provide a big boost to Qatar’s self sufficiency in the area of food and medicine as it puts spotlight on local manu-facturers in these sectors.

The three-day exhibition, being held at Sheraton Hotel, is organised by Qatar Chamber in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Industry.

After a tour around the exhi-bition, the Minister said the current edition focuses on local industries and companies and will be expanded in coming years to include international products and companies.

The Minister said the first edition of the expo brings together a number of national companies that work in the food industry and pharmaceutical companies, with an aim to achieve more self-sufficiency especially in the field of food and medicine. The Minister revealed the expo represents

an important opportunity to introduce the audience to Qatari products and to closely see the initiatives of entrepreneurs in the field of food and medicine.

In addition, the expo will help exchange views and exper-tise of the producers and businessmen as well as provid-ing the government the chance to exhibit incentives provided in different fields.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim

bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chair-man, Qatar Chamber said the expo reflects Qatar’s eagerness to support and strengthen the national food products, in addi-tion it will encourage investors to get involved in new produc-tions in the field of food and medicine.

On the sidelines of the expo, he said that Qatar Chamber responded to the directives of the wise leadership that called on

opening the economy to different initiatives and investments that would help on enabling the state to produce its food and medicine, and diversify its income and achieve economic independency. The chamber immediately began organising the expo in coopera-tion with the Ministry of Energy and Industry in order to highlight the national product and provide it with the needed support, he added.

Expo to boost self-sufficiency in food and pharma sectors

Continued from page 1Talking to The Peninsula,

Mohamed Mahmoud, a Qatari citizen said: “I want to say that today is an exceptional day for all of us; it is like the national day. It is a form of our commit-ment to stand with the Emir. Our Emir is proud of his people and we too are proud of him.”

Mahmoud said that both H H the Emir and H H the Father Emir had done a lot for Qataris. “It (grand reception) is a mes-sage that we are united and standing behind our Emir. This

is the reason that I came here very early along with my whole family members to welcome the Emir.”

Another Qatari citizen Abou Nasser Al Yafee termed the day as “historic day”. “This is a his-toric day to receive the Emir H H Tamim Almajd. People have come to say that they are united and proud of their Emir and not only Qataris but a large of expats too are present here to welcome the Emir.”

He said: “People are stand-ing united with their wise

leadership. You know that the Emir in his speech at UN has appreciated the residents’ role in Qatar.”

Abdullah Ahmed, a Qatari young boy, said that he was very keen to attend the grand recep-tion of H H the Emir. “The Emir has raised our voice at UN and we are proud of him. In his speech, he didn’t talk only about Qatar, he also talked about dif-ferent issues like Rohingya Muslims’ sufferings and demanded immediate help for them. He also talked about Libya,

Syria and Iraq. Finally, I want to say that I am happy to be here to welcome the Emir on his return to Qatar”, he said.

Mohamed Salem, an Omani national who was present at Cor-niche with his Omani friends to welcome the Emir, said: “I have come here to share the happi-ness of Qataris and expats which they are experiencing on receiv-ing H H the Emir and I pray to Allah to protect him. Represent-ing people of Oman, I repeat my commitment of standing with our brothers of Qatar.”

Like on Corniche, love and loyalty of people for the Emir was the loud and dominant on social media sites. “Welcome back Sheikh Tamim, this is a proud moment for us. You and only are our leader,” said Yasir in his tweet. Another citizen said that sky was full with clouds as Allah had blessed Qatari people with beau-tiful weather to welcome their prince. “The amount of love (for the Emir) has engulfed the whole Doha right now and it has brought tears of happiness in my eyes,” wrote another twitterati.

‘All of us’ for Tamim: A show of unity and loyalty

Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, with Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassem Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman, Qatar Chamber, and other officials taking a tour of the Exhibition after the inauguration at Sheraton Grand Doha Hotel yesterday.Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

05MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Public Health, third Qatar Pat ient Safety Week with

the slogan “United for Patient Safety” kicked off yesterday in the presence of the Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and over 1,000 health practitioners from both public and private health-care establishments.

“The State of Qatar, under the wise leadership of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has made quality and safety of health services the basis for the development of the health system, as Qatar National Vision 2030 emphasises the development of an integrated healthcare system that provides high-quality preventive and treatment health services according to the highest inter-national standards,” said H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

In a statement on the occa-sion of opening the third Qatar Patient Safety Week, the Min-ister underlined that the health sector works to ensure the high-est levels of patient safety through the provision of the best safe and effective healthcare.

“The slogan of this week “Together for Patient Safety” reflects the importance of con-certed efforts by all through strong partnerships at the level of the health system as a whole,” Dr. Hanan said, noting that patients and their families are key partners in this field.

The minister underlined that activities organised over the week with an active participa-tion of the health sector institutions contribute to the establishment of a culture of patient safety for all concerned, thus ensuring that patients enjoy safe and high quality medical care.

Qatar Patient Safety Week is an initiative and an

educational and awareness campaign that promotes the concept of patient safety among employees and users of health-care institutions.

This year Qatar Patient Safety Week (QPSW) is inviting international, regional and local speakers to contribute to the delivery of 7 tracks that span some of the most pertinent areas of focus for patient safety in Qatar; Leadership and Cul-ture of Safety, Medication Safety & Technology, Capacity, Capa-bility & Staff Engagement, Patient & Family Engagement, National Clinical Guidelines, Infection Prevention & Control, and Benchmarking: Data Driven Decision Making.

The event includes a number of activities, including lectures, workshops and train-ing programs, with the participation of distinguished experts in the field of quality of healthcare and safety of patients from inside and outside Qatar.

Public awareness cam-paigns will take place on September 26th, in a number of health centers. On September 29th and 30th the campaign will be help in one of the malls to contribute to expanding aware-ness and launch initiatives on patient safety as well as discuss the importance of medical safety and infection control, and to encourage the attendees to participate and share their views on the provided health services to contribute to its development.

Addressing the opening cer-emony, Acting Director of the Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Department at the Min-istry Huda Amer Al Katheeri highlighted the role of the Min-istry in promoting the Patient Safety and providing the best quality health services accord-ing to the highest standards to all citizens and resident of Qatar.

Huda Al Katheeri said that the ministry is effectively

setting policies, legislations and special standards in the field of patient safety. “The ministry also controls the implementa-tion of these standards in health institutions, which guarantees the quality of various health services,” she added.

“Through the ministry’s piv-otal role in facing the obstacles

of patients’ safety, it cooperates with international and regional entities and has an obligation towards these entities to work on bettering patient safety, alongside its guiding role to build capacity and provide plat-forms for the exchange of experiences and information,” Al Katheeri said.

Al Katheeri said the State of Qatar is considered a developed country in the field of patient safety and continuously works on advancing the standards and procedures in this field. She fur-ther noted that two of Qatar’s hospitals have succeeded in applying the World Health Organization (WHO) patient safety friendly hospital initia-tive standards, which shows how far standards are imple-mented locally.

In response to a question about the criteria for granting work permits to private health facilities, which some believe to be strict, she explained that these standards are ultimately aimed at protecting the safety of patients and that MoPH is continuously reviewing the cri-teria for granting licenses and listening to the views of inves-tors in the public health sector

in order to develop the services provided and encourage these investors. With regard to the 3rd Qatar Patient Safety Week, she explained, it aims to raise awareness and spread the con-cept of patient safety among healthcare users and providers in Qatar, as well as to use the event as a platform to showcase experience and initiatives to improve patient safety in health institutions.

Al Katheeri said the activi-ties of the event week include scientific lectures, work papers, projects and initiatives to develop and improve the qual-ity of the patient safety field, as well as training courses, includ-ing a training workshop by Sidra Medical and Research Center as well as a simulation to meet the challenges of patient safety addressed to doctors and nurses.

Patient safety top priority: Health Minister

Minister of Public Health H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and Dr. Victor J Dzau, President of US National Academy of Medicine, with other officals during the 3rd Qatar Patient Safety Week held by the Ministry of Public Health at Grand Hyatt Hotel yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

“The State of Qatar, under the wise leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has made quality and safety of health services the basis for the development of the health system, as Qatar National Vision 2030 emphasises the development of an integrated healthcare system that provides high-quality preventive and treatment health services according to the highest international standards,” said H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

The Peninsula

The Arab Centre for Research & Policy Studies’ (ACRPS) sixth annual con-

ference on the democratic transition opened in Tunisia on September 22.

This year’s meeting, devoted to the theme of “Arab Youth, the Generational Shift and Demo-cratic Transition” is held over three days in the resort town of Hammamet, a short distance from the Tunisian capital.

In his opening address, H E Dr. Mehdi Mabrouk, the Chief of the Tunisian bureau of the ACRPS, spoke of the vital role played by the youth in the Arab Spring. Mabrouk then went on to give an overview of the set-backs suffered by the activists who led a wave of revolutionary change in the Arab region begin-ning in 2011. Before passing the stage on to the next speaker, Mabrouk posed a question: Could the political conflict over democratisation in the Arab region be understood through the prism of a generational conflict?

Abdelfattah Madhi, an ACRPS researcher, who is also the Coordinator of the Demo-cratic Transition series of conferences, began his address with an explanation of the sig-nificance of Tunisia as a venue for the conference. As Madhi explained, the Tunisian experi-ence had demonstrated to the world that democracy was pos-sible in an Arab country provided

that all political actors within the country were in consensus on the need for democracy and could resolve their political dis-putes through political means. Madhi also spoke of the signifi-cance of this particular conference examining the role of youth, and of the role played by a new generation of Arabs in bringing about genuine democ-racy in the Arab region.

In closing, Madhi also described the extensive level of interest which the conference attracted across the Arab region, with the organizers receiving an initial 160 research proposals, of which 100 were accepted in principle. Of these, authors sub-mitted 94 completed drafts, out of which a total of 37 presenters were invited to take part in the meeting in Tunisia.

The first session was dedi-cated to a number of presentations discussing the conceptual underpinnings of the generation. Almanji Alzaidi, spekaing first, offered an over-view of the concept of a generation and its applicability to the sociology of youth. Alza-idi made it clear that a generation remained “flexible” concept within the social sciences, and criticised those who were too willing to adopt its literal, quasi-biological definition. Alzaidi also described the importance of dis-tinguishing between various types of generation and of gen-erational sub-units. Alzaidi also addressed several theoretical issues related to the concept of

a generation, making clear his opinion that a generation could only be understood in the con-text of wider societal changes.

In terms of political science, the concept of there being a “political generation” suggested the existence of a cohort of indi-viduals who shared a given political consciousness, and that they would be prepared to cre-ate political change given the right circumstances and the appropriate foundational event. Alzaidi also made clear that the use of the concept of a genera-tion and of generational change only recently became a point of concern for Arab social scien-tists, and that these terms continued to have their own connotations, set out in moral and literary terms and that these failed to convey the reality of struggle and conflict which was otherwise a part of the genera-tional shift.

The next speaker on the panel was Ahmed Al Tuhami Abdelhay, whose paper argued that generational shifts led not only to changes in political par-ticipation, but also held out the conceptual possibility of under-standing wider political development and also demo-cratic transition. Abdelhay also made clear that a generational shifts could in their turn be viewed as a reaction to the pre-vailing political orders which in turn helped to shape the politi-cal consciousness of a “political generation” but that these might not necessarily, in the end, lead

to a more democratic or more politically engaged new generation.

Abdelhay was followed by Jaber Algafsi, whose paper argued that a “political genera-tion” was not necessarily defined by a similarity of ages, but could be brought together by social and political factors which created a “youth ideology” and which cre-ated a shared awareness of that ideology and its importance to a specific issue or group of issues. Algafsi pointed out how these concepts could be used to better understand the Tunisian case, where interconnections across an entire generation compen-sated for the lack of a rigid apparatus of a political party, whichw ould have been the mainstay of political parties. Algafsi also pointed to the “youth ideology” of Tunisia, and the widespread sense of egalitari-anism among its people, and particularly amongst young Tunisians.

An open question-and-answer session which followed the three speakers focused on a number of specific topics, including the concept of a gen-eration and of the “digital generation” as well as “social capital”. Participants in the first day of sessions continued to explore the question of Arab youth, and its relation to wider democratization.

Youth playing vital role in Arab region, meet hears

This year’s meeting, devoted to the theme of “Arab Youth, the Generational Shift and Democratic Transition” is held over three days in the resort town of Hammamet.

06 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

Officials of AI Rawabi Group of companies announced the lucky winners of the “Festive Drive” Mega Promotion Draw at Grand Hypermarket, Kharthiyath, in the presence of Abdul Malik Yousaf AI Abdul Malik, who represented the Minisrty of Consumer Protection; Ajmal M P, one of the Director Board members; Adv Mohammed Jamsheer, Administration Manager; lsmayil, Senior Manager of Retail Division; Shiju krishnan, BDM; Ameen Sayyaf, Department of HR and Shoukath Ali Mohammed, Department of Advertisement. The winners were Kadir Nadeem (1372546), who won GMC Siera, and Camry cars were won by Badaria Ali Nasar (940635), Sayed ali Mohammed (1030125), Omar Farooq Abdul Hassan (721543), Akbar Al sayeed Basha(1265487) and Khalid Rashid Akasha (739796).

Al Rawabi Group announces winners of ‘Festive Drive’

QNA

Qatar Red Crescent (QRC), through its representative mission in Yemen, has

launched a project to distribute medical equipment and sup-plies within a multi-sector humanitarian programme including four Yemeni cities, Taiz, Sana’a, Ibb and Hodeidah, at a total cost of QR340,000.

These medical supplies, funded by QRC, include ultra-sound devices, pressure gauges,

a medical microscope, blood test laboratory equipment, test tubes, birth equipment, patient waiting seats and other medi-cal assistance that is planned to benefit approximately 83,000 patients in health centres.

These medical supplies are distributed to the Revolution Complex centre for the dis-placed in Sana’a, Bani Ali Center in Ibb governorate, Al-Shaheed Al-Durra Center in Jabal Habashi in Taiz and May 22nd center in Muzaffar Governorate,

And Al Khokha center in Hode-idah province.

Director of the Martyr Mohammed Al-Durra Health Centre Dr. Ahmed Hashed praised QRC for its support to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people by providing such necessary medical equip-ment in the light of the current circumstances and the dis-placement of many people from cities to the countryside. He also praised QRC’s assistance to the poorest families of displaced

and war-affected people in the Jabal Habashi Directorate, especially the vulnerable and marginalized groups of widows, orphans, poor, destitute and people with special needs.

Dr. Hashed explained that this project is the first of its kind in the field of health in this region since the beginning of the war, where no humanitar-ian organization has ever provided medical equipment there, hoping that the project is a good sign for the region. For

their parts, directors of other health centres, parents, fami-lies and individuals benefiting from this project expressed their sincere thanks to the State of Qatar for providing vital assistance, especially to dis-placed people and patients under war and the difficult con-ditions experienced by Yemen, especially since most of these centres lacked services and medical equipment and some have not received any support for more than two years.

QRC supports health centres with medical equipment in Yemen

The Peninsula

A keen appreciation of cul-tural values is essential to deliver patient satisfac-

tion in Qatar and the wider region, according to a health-care expert speaking at the first installment of the new season of Grand Rounds lectures at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).

Speaking to an audience of fellow healthcare professionals at WCM-Q, Dr. Samuel Stafrace, Attending Physician in Paediat-ric Radiology and Medical Director – Education for the Foundational Services Clinical Management Group at Sidra Medical & Research Center, pre-sented his regional research, conducted in collaboration with Imperial College London.

Dr. Stafrace explained that the cultural context of the region must be appreciated in order to deliver a service that patients will trust and feel comfortable.

Dr. Stafrace, who also holds the faculty position of Assistant Professor in Clinical Radiology at WCM-Q, said: “As healthcare professionals, we all want to provide patient satisfaction but it can be challenging because so many different factors come into

play. In the GCC region, with its very diverse cultural and ethnic populations, economic prosper-ity, mixed healthcare systems, recent rapid growth and speed of change, patient expectations can be difficult to judge. As such, this is a very important area of study.”

Dr. Stafrace, who has a strong professional interest in medical administration and patient satisfaction, conducted research into the subject by interviewing senior healthcare executives with years of expe-rience in Qatar and across the GCC. He learned that cultural factors are extremely influen-tial in determining both patient expectations and satisfaction, and that these cultural factors may play a larger role in the GCC

compared to other parts of the world.

Dr. Stafrace, said: “Under-standing the particular expectations of patients in the GCC is clearly at the heart of improving patient satisfaction here. Ways institutions can achieve this include actively developing institutional cultural intelligence, improving commu-nication skills, working hard to understand the needs and desires of the diverse groups of people they serve and being fluid and adaptable to the pop-ulation changes.

“Crucially, many of the regional determinants of patient satisfaction are dependent on one another. As such, a holistic approach to improving patient satisfaction is key.”

Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, Sen-ior Associate Dean for Medical Education and Continuing Med-ical Education at WCM-Q, said: “We are delighted to have heard from Dr. Stafrace who has many very important insights into patient satisfaction with specific reference to our region. In order to develop world-class health-care institutions it is essential to understand the cultural values and needs of the population you serve.”

Cultural values play key role in healthcare: Expert

Dr. Samuel Stafrace, Attending Physician of Sidra Medical & Research Center and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), speaks about patient satisfaction at WCM-Q’s Grand Rounds.

The Peninsula

Ooredoo is seeing strong demand for the Ooredoo Conferencing Solution,

which is bringing together Qatar-based and international consultants and contractors to drive new levels of collabora-tion and communication.

The Ooredoo Conferencing solution, which is available on all major mobile and device platforms, includes high-qual-ity audio and video conferencing, document and desktop sharing, recording and playback for conferences, and dedicated applications.

The solution offers cost-effective monthly billing and is proving to be a vital tool for Qatar’s mega-projects as they ramp up their delivery and need to communicate at a moment’s notice with consultants and con-tractors around the world.

“More than ever before, Qatar’s organisations face an urgent need to have the col-laboration tools in place to connect local and international employees. With Ooredoo Con-ferencing, Ooredoo is dedicated to providing Qatar’s organisa-tions with the best-in-class

collaboration solutions that can enhance productivity, decision-making, and flexibility,” said Yousuf Al Kubaisi (pictured), Ooredoo COO.

Ooredoo Conferencing is powered by the industry-lead-ing Cisco WebEx online meetings and video conferenc-ing solution. Packages, include the Enterprise Edition, which comprises of the Meeting Cen-tre for online conferences, Training Centre for e-learning, the Event Centre for events and webinars, and a Support Centre for fast and personalised cus-tomer service.

Qatar’s business customers can leverage the Ooredoo Advantage, thanks to its breadth and depth of talent, best fixed and mobile networks, broadest portfolio of ICT services and solutions, making Ooredoo the “Best for Business” trusted part-ner for more than 60 years.

Ooredoo Conferencing ups business collaboration

The Peninsula

The Municipal and Environmental Stud-ies Center of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has

honoured 25 trainees among 116 employ-ers who participated in the ‘Training and qualifying new employees’ programme.

The honouring ceremony was attended by Dr. Mohammed Saif Al Kuwari, Direc-tor of Municipal and Environmental Studies Center and heads of sections and some trainers and specialists in the center.

About 14 employees got grade ‘excel-lent’, and 31 employees got very good grade and 16 employees got grade good. The gen-eral evaluation for the trainers of the program is 93percent and about 6 special-ist trainers have participate in this programme. The first three honors were from Agricultural Research Department and one from Doha Municipality.

The centre organised the training pro-gram for about 116 employees during the

period from February 26 to April 6 this year, and includes both theoretical and practical side. The theoretical side includes aware-ness lectures about the ministry vision and

the rights and commitment of employees. The programme came in the framework of developing and improving the skills of new employees.

Municipal and Environmental Studies Center honours 25 trainees

The staff of the Municipal and Environmental Studies Center of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment with the trainees during the honouring ceremony.

Dr. Stafrace explained that the cultural context of the region must be appreciated in order to deliver a service that patients will trust and feel comfortable.

These medical supplies, funded by QRC, include ultrasound devices, pressure gauges, a medical microscope, blood test laboratory equipment, test tubes, birth equipment, patient waiting seats and other medical assistance that is planned to benefit approximately 83,000 patients in health centres.

07MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

Qatar Airways, a sup-porter of premier sporting events around the globe, has signed on to become

the Official Airline for three edi-tions of the Mckayson New Zealand Women’s Open. The event features a $1.3m prize purse and will mark the first ever LPGA Tour event to take place in New Zealand.

As part of this sponsorship,

Qatar Airways will have exten-sive marketing and branding rights at the Mckayson New Zea-land Women’s Open, with millions of overseas spectators expected to tune in from Sep-tember 28 to October 1, 2017, when the Open takes place at the spectacular Windross Farm golf course in Ardmore, south of the Auckland central business district.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is proud to lend

our support to the historic Mckayson New Zealand Wom-en’s Open. As a major global sporting partner, we see sports as a means of bringing people together, something at the core of our own brand message – Going Places Together. It has been eight months since Qatar Airways began operating the world’s longest flight from Auck-land, and we have been welcomed with open arms by Kiwi travellers. The Mckayson New Zealand Women’s Open is

our opportunity to support the city of Auckland as the world’s golfing finest come to play.”

Tournament Director of the Mckayson New Zealand Wom-en’s Open, Michael Goldstein, said: “It was serendipitous tim-ing that Qatar Airways, a passionate sponsor of global sporting events, launched in New Zealand in the year of the first-ever LPGA Tour event in New Zealand. We are thrilled to part-ner with Qatar Airways as our Official Airline of the Mckayson

New Zealand Women’s Open, and hope that many of their pas-sengers experience seeing the world’s best in our backyard.”

The announcement builds on Qatar Airways’ sponsorship strategy of supporting a range of exciting international and local initiatives dedicated to enrich-ing the global community that it serves. Besides the Mckayson New Zealand Women’s Open, Qatar Airways is a proud part-ner of the Sydney Swans in Australia and the Formula E

electric car races in Paris and New York, among others. Qatar Airways is also the official FIFA partner of many top-level sport-ing events, including the FIFA 2018 and 2022 World Cups to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively.

Qatar Airways is one of the fastest-growing airlines operat-ing one of the youngest fleets in the world, with 200 aircraft fly-ing to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents.

QA official airline of Mckayson Women’s Open

The Peninsula

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched “Heroes Come In All Sizes” cam-

paign, which aims to raise awareness about childhood cancer.

The event, which falls in every September was sponsored by Doha Bank, in collaboration with Mall of Qatar, zaater w zait, Lecid Bar Ber .

Dana Mansour, Health Edu-cator, said, “Different types of cancers that develops in children between birth and 14 years in Qatar. Cancer is the second lead-ing cause of death in children (after accidents). Leukemias, which is cancer of the bone mar-row and blood, are the most common childhood cancers. Brain and central nervous sys-tem tumours are the second most common cancers in children.”

Radiation, environmental radiation, radiation during preg-nancy, excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and infec-tions are risk factors and some of childhood cancers are caused by some viral infections. In addition

to this, active or passive smoking during pregnancy, or during the period prior to conception causes cancer , beside inherited genetic abnormalities.

Early signs and symptoms summarised in’ continued, unex-plained weight loss, headaches, often with early morning vomit-ing, In addition to this, increased swelling or persistent pain in bones, joints, back, or legs, lump or mass, especially in the abdo-men, neck, chest, pelvis, or armpits , development of exces-sive bruising, bleeding, or rash, constant infections, a whitish col-our behind the pupil , nausea which persists or vomiting with-out nausea , constant tiredness or noticeable paleness, eye or vision changes which occur sud-denly and persist, recurrent or persistent fevers of unknown ori-gin are also the signs of cancer.

Dana also said that, “ You can reduce your child’s risk of cancer by minimising radiation exposure during pregnancy and breast feeding for 6 months or longer. Make sure that your child is tak-ing all scheduled vaccines. Help them adopt a healthy lifestyle

with healthy eating habits and plenty of exercise to keep a healthy weight. Protect your child from smoking , create a

happy, laughter filled house; which will improve their immune systems. Keep your children safe during sun, keep healthy

sleeping pattern for the children. She gave advice to parents say-ing, “parents should be sure that their children have regular med-ical check-ups and watch for any unusual signs or symptoms that do not go away.”

She added that some children have a higher chance of develop-ing a specific type of cancer because of certain gene changes they inherit from a parent. These children may need careful, reg-ular medical check-ups that include special tests to look for early signs of cancer.

QCS launches ‘Heroes Come In All Sizes’ cancer campaign

Mohammed Osman The Peninsula

Al Wakrahh City has joined more than 100 cities of learning in 40 countries

around the world. Al Wakrah City announced this yesterday during a press conference held at the Ministry of Education.

Thanks to those prepared the nomination file of Al Wakrah City including Municipality of Al Wakrah and College of the North Atlantic Qatar, said Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti; Secretary-General of Qatar National Commission for Education, Cul-ture and Science.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-zation (Unesco) has approved the membership of the Al Wakrah City in the Unesco Global Net-work of Learning Cities (Unesco GNLC) at the Unesco Institute for Lifelong Learning stressed Dr. Hamda, adding that the city ful-filled all the criteria required to acquire this membership includ-ing the dissemination of the concepts of sustainability and partnership with civil society organizations to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities is an interna-tional policy-oriented network providing inspiration, know-how and best practice. The Network supports the achieve-ment of Susta inable Development Goals (SDGs), including the goal to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. In

additionally; the goals to achieve SDG 11 which aims ‘make cities and human settlements inclu-sive, safe, resilient and sustainable’. Al Wakrah City as member of the GNLC will bene-fit greatly from sharing ideas with other cities, as solutions for issues that arise as one learning city develops may already exist in other cities says the Unesco.

The Unesco GNLC supports and improves the practice of life-long learning in the world’s cities by promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among mem-ber cities.

The news conference was attended along Dr. Hamda Al Sulaiti, by Mansour Ajran Al Buainain, Director of Al Wakrah Municipality, and Dr. Ken McLeod, President of the North Atlantic College.

“The project comes within the framework of the keenness of the State of Qatar and the Min-istry of Municipalities and Environment to join the GNLC, which is of great value to pro-mote inclusive learning within the educational system, achieve sustainable development, as well as follow best practices and share experiences with global cities Dr. Hamda outlined.

The Director of Al Wakrah Municipality, Mansour Ajran Al Buwainin expressed his thanks to the Qatar National Commit-tee and President of the North Atlantic College for their support of the Wakrah City to join the GNLC.

The event is honor for Qatari cities and conveys a clear mes-sage about the status the country

has reached on areas of educa-tion, culture and sustainability development programs.

Al-Buainain said: “The strat-egy adopted by Al-Wakrah Municipality has contributed to the progress in spreading the awareness of sustainability and green buildings in Al-Wakrah, as well educating students on the principles of green buildings and their importance for our life.

“We are very pleased to be here to celebrate the announce-ment of Wakrah joining the Unesco GNLC said the President of the North Atlantic College in Qatar. He outlined that “Al Wak-rah has joined more than 100

cities of learning in 40 countries around the world”

The College of the North Atlantic in Qatar has for years been the Unesco-UNEVOC Center in Qatar and the Unesco Chair for Education, Technical and Vocational Training and Sustainable Development he added. As a result of concerted efforts between the North Atlan-tic College and the Qatar National Commission for Edu-cation, Al Wakrah Municipality was invited to apply to become part of the Unesco GNLC, a won-derful thing that we are here to celebrate said Dr. Ken McLeod.

Al Wakrah Municipality has

confirmed in the membership nomination form the adoption of the concept of Learning City, which is a solid foundation for realizing Qatar 2030 Vision.

Meanwhile, GNLC defined by the Unesco as a learning city as a city that effectively mobilizes its resources in every sector to promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education; revi-talizes learning in families and communities; facilitates learn-ing for and in the workplace; extends the use of modern learn-ing technologies; enhances quality and excellence in learn-ing; and fosters a culture of learning throughout life.

Al Wakrah City joins Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities

FROM LEFT: Mansour Ajran Al Buwainin , Director of Al Wakrah Municipality; Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, Secretary-General of the National Commission for Education, Culture and Science (QNCECS); and Dr. Ken MacLeod, President of the College of the North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q) at a press conference announcing the joining of Al Wakrah City in Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities, at the Ministry of Education in Doha, yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

The Peninsula

As part of the Qatar Ger-many 2017 Year of Culture, the German

classic silent film ‘Metropo-lis’ will be screened tomorrow at 7.30pm at Katara Opera House.

In partnership with Qatar Museums, the German Embassy and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the Doha Film Institute (DFI) will present the screening of the science fiction master-piece by director Fritz Lang released in 1927.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will be accompa-nying the film with the original scores composed by Gottfried Huppertz. The film concert will be part of a larger screening series by DFI called ‘A Symphony of Films’.

‘Metropolis’ has been known as the pioneering work in the science-fiction genre and belongs to the first feature length movies. The story takes place in the future, in the city of Metropolis, which is divided into two parts, the rich and powerful in the Upper Town and the slave-like workers who run their machinery in the Lower Town. Dr. Gabriele Land-wehr, General Manager of the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region said, “The 1927 classic fiction ‘Metropolis’ is a silent film that speaks a thousand words.” With Gottfried Huppertz´original score music played by Qatar Phil-harmonic Orchestra, DFI is presenting an outstanding film and music experience to the Doha public.

The music plays an important part in the movie. The original score has been neglected over a long period of time and parts of it were considered lost. The film was not able to recover its pro-duction costs of 5 million Reichsmark at its release and had to face several cuts. Only after a lucky find in 2008 in Buenos Aires it was possible to restore the entire film. After the restoration, it was shown in its original form of two hours and 25 minutes, with the original score by Hup-pertz. The screening of ‘Metropolis serves as the con-clusion of ‘A Symphony of Films’ series. Tickets for the film concert can be purchased via the website of Qatar Phil-harmonic Orchestra: http://qatarphilharmonicorchestra.org Qatar Germany 2017 Year of Culture is a year-long pro-gram designed to deepen understanding between nations through the mutual exchange of arts, culture, her-itage and sport, developed by Qatar Museums in partner-ship with the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, the German Embassy in Doha and the Embassy of Qatar in Germany.

‘Metropolis’ to be screened at Katara Open House tomorrow

Children participating in the campaign “Heroes Come In All Sizes” organised by QCS to raise awareness about childhood cancer.

According to an expert, you can reduce your child’s risk of cancer by minimising radiation exposure during pregnancy, breast feeding for 6 months or longer. Make sure that your child is taking all scheduled vaccines. Help them adopt a healthy lifestyle with healthy eating habits and plenty of exercise to keep a healthy weight.

08 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

Joint research undertaken by Dr. Ingmar Weber (pictured)of Qatar Computing Research

Institute, part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, along with scientists from Oxford and Princeton universities, has won a Data2X Big Data for Gender Challenge Award from the United Nations Foundation.

The winners of the award, that aims to explore how dif-ferent methods of collecting and analysing big data can monitor gender gaps, were offi-cially announced at an event at the UN General Assembly on September 19.

The research, Using Face-book Ad Data to Track the Global Digital Gender Gap, uses Facebook advertising data to identify countries with gender gaps in Internet and mobile phone access in real time around the world.

The technology then com-bines the Facebook data with offline statistics in areas such as Gross Domestic Product data or literacy rates, to make more accurate predictions about the number of women and girls using the Internet, compared to men and boys.

The award includes a $50,000 grant, which is to be used to develop an automati-cally updating system to monitor gender gaps, in collab-oration with Oxford University. Dr Weber said the award was important as the grant would enable future research into improving the measures of data that could impact the empow-erment of women and girls. Achieving gender equality is among the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

As an example of their find-ings combining both Facebook and offline information, Dr. Weber and his scientist

colleagues found that Internet access is almost equal for men and women in Qatar with a ratio of 0.982, where 1.0 is equal access for both genders. (More than 90 percent of peo-ple living in Qatar have a Facebook account.) As a com-parison, the United States has a slightly higher ratio of 0.997. The scientists’ findings of both countries’ gender gap ratios are similar to known “ground truths” in both of those countries.

However, the researchers were also able to use the Face-book data to predict gender gap ratios in countries where there is no existing data. They found that Rwanda, for instance, where there are no previous statistics, has a ratio of 0.671.

“In order to track the impact of policy, it is important to measure the data as accu-rately as possible and hopefully we could help see progress in certain countries if they are able to create new, data-driven pol-icies,” Dr. Weber said.

Dr. Weber’s project is joint work with Ridhi Kashyap, a professorial fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University and Masoomali Fatehkia, a student in Operations Research at Prin-ceton University.

Scientists win UN award for research on gender gap

The Peninsula

Nakilat, a Qatari LNG transport company, has gifted iPads, laptops and

tablets to children with cancer at Hamad General Hospital.

Nakilat organised a ‘Make-A-Wish’ init iat ive in collaboration with Hamad Gen-eral Hospital (HGH) in Doha, granting wishes to several chil-dren battling long-term cancer.

‘Make-A-Wish’ is a concept adopted worldwide to infuse hope, strength and joy in chil-dren diagnosed with life-threatening medical condi-tions. It was an emotional affair as Nakilat representatives pre-sented gifts to the children at the hospital. Accompanied by their families, the children were over-joyed to discover new electronic

gadgets they had wished for, such as iPads, laptops and tab-lets, being gifted to them.

“The initiative aims at bring-ing smile on the faces of these children and strengthen their will by showing that society cares for them,” said Nakilat Public Relations Manager, Jas-sim Al Naama. Nakilat is also committed to giving back to the community through its various

outreach programmes outlined within its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) pillars of community, health, education and environment.”

“I appreciate this initiative which is part of the social responsibility program by Nak-ilat on behalf of the community,” said Saad Al Dosari, Assistant Executive Director of Public Relations at Hamad Medical Corporation. “We look forward to continuing to share in the col-laborative efforts between Nakilat and HMC. Fulfilling the wishes of these young children will bring joy into their lives and also serve as a powerful morale booster, which we hope will not only put a smile on the faces of these brave children, but also have a positive impact on their outlook during their treatment process.”

Nakilat gifts electronic gadgets to children diagnosed with cancer

Officials of Nakilat give gifts to children at HGH.

The Peninsula

A policy briefing published by the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies (AJCS) on “The

Impact of the Gulf Crisis on the Regional Balance of Power”, has concluded that if the crisis remains as is without being resolved, this would result in a (new) pattern of relations that would leave its fingerprints on the entire region.

The paper has reasserted that Qatar would never back off from its strong relations and its agreements with Turkey and that it would never switch back to countering Iran for mollify-ing Saudi Arabia, said a statement issued by AJCS.

The briefing has also noted that the Sultanate of Oman remained keen on strengthen-ing its relations with Iran. As a result of the current Gulf crisis, Kuwait has actually begun to reassess its security and strate-gic plans, as a precaution against a possible crisis with it, similar to the one currently experienced by Qatar, the paper noted.

On the repercussions of the Gulf crisis on the regional rela-tions, the briefing points out that Saudi Arabia is attempting to reconcile with Iran after its defeat in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, in an attempting to undermine these countries’ support to Qatar.

The briefing concluded that much doubt prevails as regards making progress on the sphere of Saudi-Iranian relations in the short run, because of

the magnitude of accumulated divisions between the two countries.

On the Saudi-Egyptian rela-tions, the paper predicted further divisions between the two countries, despite their rap-prochement over the Gulf crisis, because of the possible poten-tial burden to be imposed by Cairo on Riyadh which is facing a depletion of resources on sev-eral fields.

The briefing traces the ostensible rapprochement in Saudi-Israeli relations as reflected in open and covert vis-its by former Saudi officials to the Jewish state and the Saudi-Egyptian agreement over Tiran and Sanafir islands.

The Saudi rapprochement policy with Israel aims at win-ning an ally in confronting Iran, in case attempts to resolve the p r o b l e m s h a m p e r i n g

Saudi-Iranian relations failed to bear fruit, the briefing noted. Such rapprochement, it added, aims at gaining Israel’s support, particularly in the USA scene, to the blockade on Qatar, in their attempts to subjugate the country.

On the implications of the Gulf crisis on relations with Tur-key, the briefing points out that the crisis has strengthened Tur-key’s role in the region, particularly after Turkish troops arrived in Qatar, a step that has practically helped aborting mil-itary escalation plans by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The paper noted that Turk-ish-Saudi\UAE relations experienced a chill, resulting from the ramifications of Tur-key’s supportive stance to Qatar. Meanwhile, Turkey’s relations with Iran became warmer because of the growing cooper-ation between the two countries on policy lines and attitudes aiming at maintaining support to Qatar.

The paper concluded assess-ing the implications of the Gulf crisis on regional relations by stating that it was an exaggera-tion, at least in the current stage, to describe the changes in rela-tions between the Gulf States and the regional and interna-tional powers as a sign of new emerging alliances. Impacted by the Gulf crisis, bilateral relations between some countries have become stronger, while relations in other cases have relapsed into hostility and enmity levels.

AJCS: Siege strengthens Turkey’s role in region

The paper has reasserted that Qatar would never back off from its strong relations and its agreements with Turkey and that it would never switch back to countering Iran for mollifying Saudi Arabia, said a statement issued by AJCS.

The Peninsula

The e-Spectrum Service Portal, a consumer-centric public service under the

Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), has received Arab Government Achievement Award by the Pan Arab Excel-lence Awards Academy.

The e-Spectrum Services Portal, launched in January 2017, is the public interface of the CRA’s Automated Frequency Management System (AFMS), and allows spectrum users to submit applications online for issuing, modifying, or canceling their spectrum licenses.

Users can also view active licenses, track submitted appli-cations, register radio network/ area deployments, view invoices and make online payments. The Portal is also compatible with personal computers, tablets and smartphones.

The AFMS has been designed

in line with international best practices and plays an impor-tant role in efficient management of the radio fre-quency spectrum in Qatar. Through this system CRA aligns its services with the Qatar Dig-ital Government initiative, and the system is part of CRA’s stra-tegic objective of digitizing the application process for spectrum users in Qatar.

“CRA is pleased at the rec-ognition of its e-Spectrum Services Portal. The Portal has user-friendly functionalities to apply and review processes,

which significantly increases the efficiency, speed and transpar-ency of the process,” said Faisal Al Shuaibi (pictured), CRA’s Offi-cial Spokesperson.

“CRA is continually updat-ing its services and looking for ways to improve the experience of telecoms consumers in Qatar. Furthermore, it is in line with the CRA’s wider strategy of ensur-ing that people have the right tools and technology at their fin-gertips to contribute to CRA’s vision of making Qatar a smart, connected nation,” he added.

To benefit from this service, users should create an account using the e-Spectrum Services Portal via this link https://e-spectrum.cra.gov.qa. Each applicant can only register one

account and once the approval is obtained, users can collect the license from CRA’s offices in Al Nassr Tower (B), Al Corniche Street.

CRA e-Spectrum Service Portal wins award

The Peninsula

Qatar Academy Sidra (QA Sidra), an International Baccalaureate school

under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Pre-Univer-sity Education, celebrated the United Nations (UN) Interna-tional Day of Peace on Thursday with students, staff, families, and board members in a special ‘Peace One Day’ event.

Ahead of the event, students from both the primary and sec-ondary school explored the mission and values of QA Sidra to develop a deeper understand-ing of how individual and collective choices impact the learning environment. From

there, QA Sidra’s very own kind-ness movement was born.

Kim Green, Director, QA Sidra, offered her support and enthusiasm for the student-led Day of Peace and kindness movement. “For our ‘Peace One Day’ celebrations, Qatar Acad-emy Sidra launched #BeKind. At Qatar Academy Sidra we believe that kindness is in everyone. We want to engage all members of the community through our #BeKind movement, and encour-age individuals to show compassion to one another,” said Green. “The mission of our #BeKind movement is to inspire kindness through spontaneous and thoughtful actions that dem-onstrate team synergy and

positive relationships. As inter-nationally minded young leaders of the future, Qatar Academy Sidra students know they are the sum of their experiences. They understand that we can be greater and more beautiful when we extend kindness.”

The International Day of Peace event kicked off with a powerful performance of ‘Asalamu Alykom’ led by the

Arabic department. After a warm welcome by Green, the Grade 5 students showcased their musi-cal and film talents. The assembly concluded with secondary school students introducing the #BeKind movement. The students took the initiative to look at areas of the school where they could make the biggest impact in making a positive difference to the school’s environment.

QA Sidra celebrates International Day of Peace

Students and staff of QA Sidra during the events marking International Day of Peace.

The ‘Make-A-Wish’ initiative aims at bringing smile on the faces of these children and strengthen their will by showing that society cares for them.

09MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

A woman on horseback participates in a Heritage Day carnival celebrating the country’s diverse cultures and origins in Pretoria, yesterday.

Heritage Day carnival in Pretoria

Israel forces ravage part of east Jerusalem

Three UN peacekeepers dead in Mali explosionAbidjan

Reuters

Three United Nations sol-diers from Bangladesh were killed by an explo-

sive device that detonated as they were escorting a convoy in northern Mali yesterday, the West African country’s peacekeeping mission said.

Attacks on peacekeepers in Mali, where Islamist groups continue to operate in the vast desert in the north of the coun-try, have made the UN mission there. Another five UN troops were seriously wounded in the explosion, which occurred at around 7am (0700 GMT) on the main road between the towns of Anefis and Gao, a statement from the mission, MINUSMA, said in a statement.

“Our thoughts go firstly to the families and loved ones. We pledge our complete support to them during this painful ordeal,” the head of MINUSMA, Koen Davidse, said. “The mis-sion will use all means to ensure that justice is rendered.”

The UN did not immedi-ately release the nationalities of the soldiers. But the Bangla-desh military’s media department confirmed that three of its soldiers had died by an improvised explosive device during an encounter with mil-itants, adding that four other Bangladeshi peacekeepers were injured in the attack.

West Africa’s arid Sahel region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups — some linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State — that European countries, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked.

Kenya to probe officials over botched electionNairobi

Bloomberg

Kenya’s public prosecutor ordered an investigation into the country’s electoral

authority over its handling of last month’s annulled presidential election. Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions investigators will seek to establish whether offi-cials at the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission com-mitted any crimes, according to a statement posted on its Twitter account on Saturday. The ODPP asked for the investigation to be completed within 21 days.

The probe will focus on the “irregularities and illegalities

found by the Supreme Court of Kenya to have been committed by the IEBC” in the August 8 vote, the office said. A rerun is sched-uled for October 26.

The new vote has clouded the outlook for East Africa’s biggest economy where growth is already slowing, and risks tainting its rep-utation as one of the continent’s top investment destinations. Kenya is the world’s largest ship-per of black tea and a regional hub for companies including General Electric Co. and Coca-Cola Co.

The court nullified the ballot on September 1, the first time a presidential-election result has been legally overturned in Africa, after finding the commission

failed to conduct the vote in line with the constitution. The court cited a litany of failures, including that the body declared the out-come of the vote without the proper documents.

The ODPP investigation fol-lows a demand by the main opposition National Super Alliance that the prosecutor charge elec-toral officials for allegedly breaking the law to influence the election. President Uhuru Keny-atta was declared the winner of the vote over opposition candi-date Raila Odinga.

IEBC spokesman Andrew Limo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The prosecutor will also probe

two officials from the opposition alliance, including co-leader Musalia Mudavadi and lawyer James Orengo, after Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party alleged that the two unlawfully accessed the IEBC’s computer servers. Alliance spokeswoman Kathleen Openda didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Odinga has demanded an overhaul of the electoral author-ity, including the removal of key officials including Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba, before he’ll take part in the rerun. Kenyatta has called the court’s decision to overturn the vote a “judicial coup,” but said that he’ll abide by the ruling.

Syrian men and women dance after the First Constituent Conference of Deir Al Zor Civil Council was announced, in the northern area of Deir Al Zor, yesterday.

US-allied groups form council to run Deir Al ZorDeir Al Zor Reuters

US-allied militias in north-ern Syria announced the formation of a civilian

council to govern the oil rich eastern province of Deir Al Zor where they are racing with the Syrian army to capture territory held by Islamic State.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes Arab militias but is dominated by the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched an operation in Deir Zor province which bor-ders Iraq earlier this month which captured its northern countryside and advanced east of the Euphrates River.

On Saturday they seized a major gas field in Deir Al Zor province from militants in rapid

advances that preempted the Syrian government that was also heading in that direction.

In a separate offensive, Syr-ian army and Iranian backed militias with Russian air power had also this month broke a years-long Islamic State siege of government-held parts of Deir Al Zor on the other side of the Euphrates river.

The advances against Islamic State have brought US-backed forces and the Syrian government side, backed by Russia and Iran, into close prox-imity. The assaults by the Russian-backed Syrian army and the US-backed SDF have at times raised fears of clashes that could stoke tensions between the competing world powers.

The SDF appointed one hun-dred tribal figures to meet and

elect a council to run the prov-ince yesterday. In a final communique the council said its priority was the return of tens of thousands of displaced resi-dents of the province who fled during the conflict and restor-ing basic utilities. It urged the US led coalition to provide aid to the war-torn province. “We want to cement ties among the people of the province,” the statement of the newly formed Deir Al Zor civil council said.

The extent of Kurdish con-trol in the eastern province that lies at the heart of Arab tribal area is sensitive both for resi-dents and for Ankara, which has fought a three-decade Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey and fears growing YPG ascendancy just over the border in northern Syria.

Occupied Jerusalem

QNA

Israeli military bulldozers, guarded by military patrols, began to pave a road in the town of Hizma, northeast of occupied Jerusalem,

yesterday.The Palestinian News Agency

(WAFA) reported that the occu-pation bulldozers ravaged and destroyed the lands belonging to Palestinian citizens without jus-tification, without knowing the reasons. Also, the Israeli occupa-tion court extended the arrest of the two Jerusalemite teachers Hanadi Halawani and Khadija Khois. The occupation forces arrested the two Jerusalemite on charges of “Rabat” in the Al Aqsa Mosque, noting that the occupa-tion arrested them more than once. The Israeli occupation forces opened fire at a Palestin-ian vehicle south of Hebron.

Meanwhile, forces detained 11 Palestinians from several cit-ies in the occupied West Bank, yesterday. The Palestinian Pris-oners Society (PPS) said Israeli forces detained five Palestinians in Qalqilya, four in Bethlehem, and two, including a former pris-oner, in Hebron. Security officials said the Israeli forces set up bar-riers at the entrances of towns, villages and camps in the Hebron governorate and those leading to the city of Hebron, and searched the vehicles of citizens and checked their IDs. The Pal-estinian prisoners in the Israeli Ramla hospital called for inten-sifying all efforts to save their lives from what they called pol-icy of deliberate and systematic

medical negligence, carried out by the Israel Prison Service.

Palestinian Prisoners’ Soci-ety lawyer Moataz Shqairat said yesterday that prisoners’ bodies are covered in infections, where the hospital’s management are undergoing the worst medical murder policies such as refusing to transfer the prisoners to civil-ian hospitals, depriving them of the necessary treatments, and merely giving them painkillers and hypnotics. Shqairat explained that 14 prisoners in the Ramla prison hospital are suf-fering chronic diseases.

On the other hand, Israeli settlers torched olive trees near the village of Kafr Qalil, to the south of Nablus city in the West Bank, according to local sources.

In addition, a group of set-tlers carried out some Talmudic rituals in Ghazali Square in front of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and other settlers resumed their incursions into the Al Aqsa Mosque from the Bab Al Maghriba with heavy security guards of the special Israeli forces and a significant presence of worshipers in the mosque.

US strikes IS camp in Libya; 17 deadWashington

AFP

US forces carried out six “precision air strikes” against an Islamic State

camp in Libya, killing 17 peo-ple, the US Africa Command said yesterday. It said the air strikes were conducted, in coordination with Libya’s Gov-ernment of National Accord, hitting a desert camp 240km southeast of the city of Sirte.

“The camp was used by ISIS to move fighters in and out of the country; stockpile weapons and equipment; and to plot and conduct attacks,” it said in a statement. The air strikes were believed to be the first in Libya by US forces since US President

Donald Trump took office.The last known US air

strikes were carried out in early January under then-president Barack Obama, targeting two IS camps where militants were suspected of actively planning operations in Europe. It pro-vided few other details. “The United States will track and hunt these terrorists, degrade their capabilities and disrupt their planning and operations by all appropriate, lawful, and proportional means, including precision strikes against their forces, terror training camps and lines of communication, as well as partnering with Libyan forces to deny safe havens for terrorists in Libya,” the com-mand said.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga arrives to address at a rally in Kawangware, Nairobi.

The Palestinian News Agency reported that the occupation bulldozers ravaged and destroyed the lands belonging to Palestinian citizens without justification, without knowing the reasons.

Moscow

AFP

A Russian general was killed while battling Islamic

State group militants near the eastern Syrian city of Deir Al Zor, Moscow’s defence ministry said yesterday.

“Division general Valeri Assapov was killed when a shell exploded during shelling by IS fighters,” the ministry was quoted as saying by local media, adding that the officer was serving as an advisor to Syrian govern-ment troops. The ministry said Assapov would be posthumously decorated for his service.

Deir Al Zor province, on Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, is rich with oil and gas fields that served as a key revenue stream for IS at the peak of its power. Russia intervened in support of the Damas-cus government in September 2015 and has been assisting regime forces in an assault on Deir Al Zor from the west.

Meanwhile, Russian air strikes have killed 45 members of a rebel group in the northwestern Syr-ian province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said yesterday.

Russian general dead in fighting IS in east Syria

Verbal fires are continuing to rage over North Korea. It was started by US President Donald Trump in his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly, where he called Kim Jong Un a “rocket

man” and said that America may be forced to totally destroy the rogue nation if it persisted with its nuclear programme. That speech came amid sharply escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

North Korea being North Korea, it was expected that the Kim regime would spit an equal and even nastier amount of fire and fury. Addressing the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho called Trump a “mentally deranged person full of megalomania,” and said targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after “Mr Evil President” made an “irreversible mistake” by calling Mr Kim “rocket man”. He said Pyongyang was now “only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state’s nuclear force”. Hours after the speech, Trump hit back. He warned Pyongyang’s foreign minister that if “he echoes thoughts” of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un they both “won’t be around much longer”.

Tensions between North Korea and the US have increased in the past few weeks and intensified when the North conducted its sixth and largest

nuclear test on September 3. It has also threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.

There will be no end to this bellicose rhetoric and threats if both sides choose to indulge in it, but such threats won’t bring them any closer to a solution to the crisis. While the leaders of a rogue state whose only objective is to acquire nuclear weapons can spit venom and fury, leaders of democratic states should refrain from fanning the flames.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

struck a more cautionary note saying a softer touch was needed to defuse the crisis. He warned of a “very unpredictable nosedive” if Washington does not ease up on its fiery rhetoric with Pyongyang. He also said the US would not take military action against North Korea because “they know for sure that it has nuclear bombs.” “I’m not defending North Korea. I’m just saying that almost everyone agrees with such an analysis,” he said.

There is a danger that the insults and threats will trigger a war. Kim-Jong-Un is unpredictable and reckless. He likes provocation and insults. Competing with him with tit-for-tat rhetoric will blur the difference between him and other leaders.

10 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017VIEWS

E S T A B L I S H E D I N 1 9 9 6

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Bellicose rhetoric

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We will take the necessary measures to preserve the unity of the country. We will not permit anyone to play with Iraq and not pay the consequences.

Haider Al Abadi Iraqi Prime Minister

Competing with Kim-Jong-Un with tit-for-tat rhetoric will blur the difference between him and other leaders.

So far, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the Kurdish Peshmerga have come to the brink of a serious civil war twice already, once in 2008 and then in 2012, during previous Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s tenure.

In the first crisis, the ISF elements entered the town of Khanaqin in the Diyala governorate near the Iran border. At the time, the storm was weath-ered thanks to the US intervention. The 2012 crisis stemmed from Maliki’s military buildup along Diyala, Kirkuk and Salah ad-Din through the initi-ation of the Dijala Operations Command.

With incumbent Prime Minister Haydar Al Abadi assuming office, and due to the pressing Daesh threat, the tensions between Erbil and Baghdad have relatively eased. This time, Iraq might be moving closer to an uncertain path, which could end up in a civil war, due to Erbil’s plans to make an independence referendum despite objections.

In fact, during the course of the counterter-rorism operations to defeat Daesh, the KRG Peshmerga forces have continuously attempted to bring about new fait accompli situations in the disputed territories.This military expansion-ism now manifests itself in the referendum plans. Politically, the million-dollar question is: “Can Barzani really accomplish what he thinks”? Militarily, the same question is a little bit different: “If the conflict becomes inevitable, what would the day-after look like”?

• Can Baghdad take military action?When Daesh captured Fallujah and Mosul,

the ISF was mostly portrayed as an obsolete entity with a collapsed chain of command and lost fighting spirit. What else could be said for the Iraqi military formations? Indeed, the ISF deploy-ments in Mosul had outnumbered the Daesh offensive by a very advantageous force-to-force ratio. Furthermore, they enjoyed much better equipment, including high-end platforms left by the US forces. Yet, the ISF could not hold its ground against hybrid warfare concepts. Many of the Iraqi Army’s US-manufactured Abrams main battle tanks were damaged — and some were destroyed — by anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).

More disgracefully, the entire Iraqi Army leadership collapsed during the Battle of Mosul in 2014. At the time, some eyewitnesses reported that the Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions and units, even their uniforms, and deserted. Nothing worse could be imagined for an army in terms of military dignity.

A critical parameter of the KRG referen-dum’s military dimension is the warfighting capabilities of the ISF. Following the disastrous 2014 – 2015 period, the ISF has witnessed a major reshuffle in its doctrinal order of battle. While there are various open-source surveys about the number of brigades that Baghdad could use, most of them are undermanned. Some of these brigades are even the equivalent of a battalion with only 1,000 men in uniform.

While many of these units’ combat-readi-ness levels are questionable, some are truly battle-hardened and well-experienced follow-ing the successful anti-Daesh campaign. Without a doubt, the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) comes into the picture as the most com-bat-ready and combat-capable unit of the Baghdad government.

Due to the operations to liberate Mosul from Daesh elements, both the ISF and its accompa-nying militia have reached a robust concentration close to the KRG-controlled areas. However, it should be noted that some of Baghdad’s military formations are deployed around the rural and suburban belt around the

Military dimension of Kurdish referendumDr Can KasapogluAnatolia

capital and some are conducting counter-terrorism operations in areas away from the KRG. For instance, at the time of writ-ing, anti-Daesh operations in the province of Anbar were continuing.

In summary, although Baghdad has the means to act militarily against the ref-erendum, setting up the necessary deployment levels close to the attack posi-tions would take time.

In addition to the risk of an escalation between the ISF and Peshmerga, there remains a stronger likelihood for the Popu-lar Mobilisation Forces (PMF) to act if Erbil carries on with the referendum. Especially given the Israeli support to the KRG’s inde-pendence agenda, some radical PMF factions could capitalize on their militias’ aggressive sentiments and may attempt to conduct retaliatory countermoves. Espe-cially the Mosul campaign revealed that although they operate in cooperation with the core ISF formations, some PMF groups could show ethno-sectarian aggression and cannot be fully controlled by the cen-tral government of Baghdad. Furthermore, the PMF is not a homogenous force, and reflects intra-Shi’a rivalry.

Thus, some PMF stakeholders could see their reaction to a possible Kurdish referendum as a good investment for the forthcoming 2018 elections in Iraq. Besides, some PMF factions are extremely pro-Iran and have been heavily supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Forces. Therefore, Tehran’s negative stance about Erbil’s independence tendencies might go well beyond rhetoric through proxies.

However, it should be noted that both the PMF and the IRGC remain overstretched due to the pressing anti-Daesh battlefields in Iraq and Syria. As a result, they may not have enough force concentration to shortly fight Peshmerga units in a tough geography that favors the defensive side.

• Peshmerga factorAt this point, an important question

arises about the unity of the Peshmerga forces in case of a military escalation. Although there have been efforts to form a centralised command structure for the KRG’s military apparatus, there is no uni-fied and central political oversight on the ‘Peshmerga’ forces. Furthermore, these fighters have a record of fighting each other during the Kurdish civil war between 1994 and 1998. Geostrategic impacts of the fierce clashes between the KDP and the PUK are still visible in the control of terrain. This political terrain has transformed upon the Gorran (change) movement’s initiation into the Iraqi Kurd-ish politics a decade ago.

Furthermore, recent open-source intelligence reports from the ground sug-gest that there is a gap between the equipment of the Peshmerga forces out-side of Mosul and the disputed territories centered around Kirkuk. According to these reports, the KRG elements in Kirkuk lack modern arms and are equipped with Soviet and Yugoslav-made weapons.

• Turkey’s military perspectiveFrom the Turkish administration’s

standpoint, the PKK-affiliated groups’ recent concentrations around Sinjar dangerously complicate the picture. The PKK and its affiliates have adopted a negative stance about Barzani’s efforts, since they do not want to lose their momentum to another separatist actor. Thus, there is a likelihood that the referendum attempt could trigger an intra-Kurdish conflict as well.

The terrorist threat emanating from the PKK and its offshoots remain the primary national security con-

cern for Ankara. Thus, within any scenario regarding the referendum, the rise of the PKK-affiliated groups should be taken as an indicator suggesting Turkey’s military reaction. In fact, the Turkish Air Force has conducted strikes against PKK elements in this region before. When it comes to a land incursion, however, it should be noted that a campaign for Sinjar would involve more complicated political-military parameters compared to Operation Euphrates Shield, which captured Al Bab from Daesh.

Militarily, operating in Sinjar would mean setting up a much longer logistical support line, which would be risky in the hostile territory. Secondly, fire-support by artillery elements would have to be con-ducted within foreign territory, whereas Euphrates Shield was supported from frontier areas.

Thirdly and finally, such a campaign would reflect a combination of hybrid warfare and mountain warfare operations. In doctrine, mountainous terrain puts extra pressure on military concentrations during offensives. Besides, the key neces-sity in attacking from higher elevations to lower ones is very well-trained units with professional experience in maneuvering in harsh mountainous terrain.

Turkey does have elite mountain com-mando units to get the job done. Yet, some of these formations are assigned to counterter-rorism missions within the Turkish territory. Politically, deploying large combat forma-tions into that deep Iraqi territory would also be very complicated. Thus, although a land incursion into Sinjar does not seem highly likely in near future, seeing more Turkish airpower may not be surprising.

Turkey’s military power remains a game-changer in the region. Recently, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) launched high-profile drills near the Habur border crossing with the KRG-controlled areas. The formidable military buildup includes heavy armor, artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, mobile air defenses, and mechanized formations.

Although the reported force concen-tration itself (around 100 tanks and armored vehicles) would not be adequate for an incursion, this exercise remains Ankara’s most significant political signaling to make Erbil return from a very risky path.

Furthermore, Turkey’s Second Field Army has been significantly reinforced in its area of responsibility along the Iran/Iraq/Syria borders. Thus, should Ankara opt for launching a military campaign, the units currently engaged in drills could as well act as the tip of the spear for a much larger follow-on force. It should be noted that any aggression against Iraqi Turk-mens could trigger Turkey’s military reaction too.

Although Baghdad has the means to act militarily against the referendum, setting up the necessary deployment levels close to the attack positions would take time.

ED ITOR IAL

11MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 OPINION

distribution of the benefits of this trade?One of the key questions in defining the UK’s

position on the world stage is the role of interna-tional aid. This is an important issue and there are real decisions to be made. For example, how do we ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness of our aid? And how do we tackle poverty that is increas-ingly concentrated in fragile states, in a vicious circle with conflict and displacement?

In the current political atmosphere, as we hurtle at full speed towards making decisions that affect the future of our country, we can be too often pre-sented with false choices. Instead of falling into the trap of making decisions based on either/or scenar-ios, let’s identify the false choices so we are able to get on with making the real ones.

The first false choice is the choice between trade and aid. On one hand, there are those who argue that aid impedes development and that only the pri-vate sector can defeat poverty. On the other side, there are those who are instinctively wary of private sector involvement in aid and development.

It is not necessary to choose between business and development. Business benefits from a stable international economic and political environment that aid helps deliver. Meanwhile, we do not have to reject the private sector in order to achieve the aims of global development — in fact, quite the opposite.

Immigrants are a fiscal boon for US, not a burden

Immigration restrictionists give a number of reasons why they want fewer people settling in the US. Most of these reasons don’t hold up under scrutiny. For example, the best available data says that immigrants don’t take native-

born Americans’ jobs, or drive down their wages; indeed, it’s more likely, that skilled immigrants boost the earnings of the native-born. In the US and in Canada, immigration tends to reduce crime. And both history and data show that in the US, immi-grants assimilate successfully into the local culture and social fabric.

But there is one anti-immigration argument that sometimes does have merit. In countries with strong welfare states, immigrants can impose a large fiscal burden on the government. Governments in advanced countries tend to levy heavy taxes on the rich, and use these to pay for services for the poor, the old and the sick. If immigrants are disproportion-ately poor, old and sick, they will increase the tax burden, which could hurt the economy. That in turn could lead governments to cut welfare benefits, making life harder for the native-born who need help.

This is a real problem. But how severe of a prob-lem is it in reality? It’s crucial to look at evidence to determine whether immigrants really are a fiscal burden.

Unfortunately, many restrictionists don’t want to take this approach. Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services put out a report suppos-edly showing that refugees — one very small subset of immigrants — pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. President Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller, an ardent supporter of immigration restrictions, then reportedly attempted to censor the report, removing

all mention of refugees’ tax contributions. This sug-gests that many restrictionists are relying on their anti-immigrant convictions instead of hard evidence.

But outside the tightly controlled world of the executive branch, economists are on the job. A recent paper by William Evans and Daniel Fitzgerald also looked at the fiscal impact of refugees. The authors’ data allowed them to build a statistical picture of ref-ugees’ income and educational attainment over a 20-year period after arriving. That, plus knowledge of how much the government spends on refugees, allowed them to construct a model of how much these immigrants paid in taxes and received in gov-ernment benefits.

During their first 20 years of life as working-age Americans, Evans and Fitzgerald found, refugees contributed about $21,000 more to the system than they took out. At first, refugees are a fiscal drain, since the government spends money to help them relocate and get started in the US, and because at first many refugees have trouble finding a job. But refu-gees steadily learned how to make it in the new land — six years after arriving, they hade higher employ-ment rates than the average native-born American. They then mostly got off welfare and became taxpay-ers for many years.

Evans and Fitzgerald’s analysis is incomplete because it has difficulty tracking refugees after age

about 65. When refugees stop working and start col-lecting Social Security and Medicare, their net fiscal contribution inevitably goes negative, just as it does for native-born Americans.

Those benefits are likely to exceed the amount that refugees pay in during their working years, which by Evans and Fitzgerald’s estimate is only around $1,000 per year. So refugees probably are a net drain on the US’s fiscal resources over their life-times. But because refugees work a lot, the drain isn’t as big as many worry.

Now it’s important to remember that refugees are only a very small fraction of the people who move to the US What about the fiscal impact of immigrants as a whole? Here there is a wealth of evidence. For example, a 2016 National Academy of Sciences report examines this question thoroughly.

The NAS finds that low-skilled immigrants — that is, immigrants with no high school degree — tend to cause a modest net fiscal drain at the state and local level. This isn’t because immigrants go on welfare, but because they tend to have a lot of kids, which the government then pays to educate. However, the chil-dren of immigrants — the second generation — tend to do very well economically, with high employment rates and good wages. This makes them net fiscal contributors.

Overall, the NAS finds that the long-term fiscal

On March 5th, 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech in Ful-ton, Missouri. It was to be remembered as his famous “Iron Curtain” speech - and in

it Churchill sought to define a new global role for the UK and US in opposing Soviet Russia. Many see this speech as marking the start of the Cold War, but it was also a clear rallying call for the UK to remain engaged on the world stage, whilst looking to redefine Britain’s identity after the sec-ond world war at a time of declining colonial powers.

Fast forward 70 years and we are at a similar crossroads. We are not picking up the pieces of a world war, nor opposing the Soviet Union, but post-Brexit, the UK is facing an identity crisis and great global challenges of security, peace and eco-nomic development. At a time of extraordinary change, our nation must once again identify a place for itself in the world.

Prime Minister Theresa May has called for the UK to be a “great global trading nation” and few would disa-gree with that aspiration. What that means, though, is subject to intense debate. What should the nature of

future trade deals be, for example? What are the implications for workers’ rights, environmental standards and equitable

Britain doesn’t have to choose between trade and aid

A file photo of people holding sign supporting immigrants during a rally outside a federal courthouse in Detroit.

This false dichotomy between trade and aid is reflected in other false choices — between compassion and rationality, and between morality and reality. Leaders in business are not heartless, and aid propo-nents do not live in a dreamland. There are examples of bad practices on both sides, but there is no fundamental conflict. It is possible to be clear-eyed, moral, rational and com-passionate all at the same time.

Which brings us to the final false choice - between prioritising the UK’s interests and maintaining a well-funded, effective aid strategy. While there are calls to use the aid budget explicitly to advance UK commercial interests, this is not necessary — we will ben-efit anyway. Of course, not all aid is successful and, as I’ve previously written, we in the aid sector need to do better at commu-nicating the challenges and risks. But overall the effects of aid are unquestionably positive, both for economic development generally

and UK interests in particular. Aid helps to deliver a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world for us all. It is possible to have a pro-UK, pro-business vision alongside a smart and effective aid strategy — and to do so both morally and ration-ally, with an eye for the UK’s place in the world.

Churchill said in 1946: “… do not suppose that … half a century from now, you will not see 70 or 80 millions of Brit-ons spread about the world and united in defence of our traditions, our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse.” Seventy years on and UK society is, like other countries, worryingly polarised. But far from adding to this polarisation, aid has the potential to unite us.

UK aid is recognised as among the best in the world. It helps define our global role and we should be proud of it. With all the major parties including the 0.7 percent commit-ment in their manifestos, Theresa May now has a singular opportunity. The prime minister can choose to work across the political spectrum, which she’s recently stated is a prior-ity, and place our aid programme at the centre of our global identity in a post-Brexit world. As we forge that identity we must reject the false choices. The real choice is whether we have the courage to unite behind a vision of the UK as an active and compassionate player on the world stage.

The writer is the executive director of Mercy Corps Europe and sen-

ior vice president for Global Partnerships. An experienced

development professional with two decades working in numerous

countries in Africa.

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impact of the lowest-skilled immi-grants is negative, while that of skilled immigrants is positive:

The issue is tricky, because the impact of immigration on things like infrastructure and defense are not easy to calculate. The report explores lots of alternative assump-tions, but this pattern — low-skilled immigration as a fiscal drain, high-skilled as a fiscal plus — stays constant.

It’s important to remember that immigration to the US has become much more high-skilled, on aver-age, in the last decade:

This is largely due to the end of net illegal immigration into the country. That means that although immigrants might have been cost-ing the government money back in the 2000s, they now are helping to fill public coffers. Refugees are still costing the taxpayer, but this is insignificant compared to the broader, positive effect of the high-skilled legal immigration that now comprises the bulk of the inflow into the US.

In other words, immigrants are paying for the retirements, the health care and the welfare benefits of the native-born. Restricting immigration, as Miller and others want to do, would either increase the tax burden on native-born Americans, or cause benefits to be cut — probably for the elderly. That hardly sounds like a good way to put America first.

The writer is a Bloomberg view col-

umnist. He was an assistant professor

of finance at Stony Brook University,

and he blogs at Noahpinion.

Noah SmithBloomberg

Immigrants are paying for the retirements, the health care and the welfare benefits of the native-born. Restricting immigration would either increase the tax burden on native-born Americans, or cause benefits to be cut — probably for the elderly.

Simon O’Connell Al Jazeera

The real choice is whether we have the courage to unite behind a vision of the UK as an active and compassionate player on the world stage.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, addressing a press conference at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

12 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Kurds to vote today despite regional fearsErbil

Reuters

Iraqi Kurds are expected to vote today to back an inde-pendence drive that neighbouring countries and Western powers fear could

break up the country and stir broader regional ethnic and sec-tarian conflict.

Kurdish red-white-green tri-colours set with a blazing golden sun adorn cars and buildings throughout the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region. Bill-boards exhort “the time is now — say ‘yes’ to a free Kurdistan!”

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region since 2005, has resisted efforts by the United Nations, the United States and Britain to delay the referendum. Neighbouring Turkey is holding army border exercises to under-line its concerns Iraqi Kurdish separatism could feed insurrec-tion on its soil.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on live television on Friday the vote posed a threat to national security and Ankara “will do what is necessary” to protect itself. He did not elaborate.

But Hoshyar Zebari, a senior advisor to Barzani, said: “This is the last five metres of the final sprint and we will be standing our ground.”

Many Kurds see the vote, though non-binding, as a historic opportunity to achieve self-deter-mination a century after Britain and France divided the Middle East under the Sykes-Picot agree-ment. That arrangement left 30 million Kurds scattered over Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Zebari said delaying the vote

without guarantees it could be held on a binding basis after nego-tiations with Baghdad would be “political suicide for the Kurdish leadership and the Kurdish dream of independence.

“An opportunity my genera-tion won’t see again”.

The referendum raises most risk of ethnic conflict in the oil city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the recognised boundaries of the Kurdish region and is claimed by Baghdad. Its population includes

Arabs and Turkmen but it is dom-inated by Kurds. Turkey has long claimed a special responsibility in protecting ethnic Turkmen. Some of Iraq’s Turkmen are Shia and affiliated to political parties close to Iran. ‘’We expect those who are against the referendum to cause trouble but we are determined not to engage in any kind of violence, we don’t want to give them any excuse to intervene or to question the validity of the vote,’’ Zebari said.

Tensions between the Kurd-ish Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad hinge on oil revenue the Kurds see as the mainstay of a future Kurdish state. The Kurds have long accused Baghdad of withholding budget payments to the region, while Baghdad has opposed oil deals made by the Kurds without its consent.

A regional conflict could theaten oil supply from Kurdish and northern Iraqi fields to world markets, carried through a pipe-line to Turkey. Already at least one Kurd has been killed in pre-refer-endum clashes in Kirkuk, and security checkpoints have been erected across the city to prevent further violence.

The central government in Baghdad, Iraq’s neighbours and Western powers fear the vote could break up a country that has seen devastating sectarian and

ethnic conflict since a 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

It could also undermine efforts, involving Arab and Kurd-ish cooperation, to dislodge Islamic State militants now driven from their northern stronghold in Mosul but still dug in near Kirkuk and operating across the border in Syria. Any conflict around Kurd-ish northern Iraq could have ramifications across the Middle East, not least in Syria, Turkey and Iran. Ankara, Baghdad and Tehran agreed on Thursday to consider counter-measures against the Kurdish plans.

Turkey, which has developed close commercial and political ties with the region, especially in the area of energy, has also threatened to impose sanctions.

Condemning the vote as “pro-vocative and destabilising”, the US

has urged renewed negotiations. This followed a week of escalat-ing rhetoric between the Kurdish leadership and Baghdad, where parliament voted to reject the referendum.

Though the general mood seems in favour of independence, many, especially non-Kurds, said they questioned the wisdom of holding a referendum now. “We have been always living peacefully and don’t want problems,” said Karima Attiyah, an eldery Arab woman who has spent here whole life in Kirkuk. “I don’t support the referendum.”

Some fear it would embolden an entrenched political elite in a region long been plagued by polit-ical disunity. Barzani has been a powerful force for more than two decades where the north has been spared the turmoil that has affected much of the rest of Iraq.

LEFT: Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani speaks during a news conference in Erbil, yesterday. RIGHT: A man waves a Kurdish flag in central Kirkuk yesterday, on the eve of the independence referendum for the Kurdistan region.

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region since 2005, has resisted efforts by the UN, the US and Britain to delay the referendum. Neighbouring Turkey is holding army border exercises to underline its concerns that Kurdish separatism could feed insurrection on its soil.

Trial of Boko Haram suspects to start next month: NigeriaAbuja

AFP

Nigeria will begin trying Boko Haram suspects detained in military

camps from next month and the cases will be speedily handled, the justice ministry said yesterday.

It said poor investigation and logistical problems had been responsible for the delay in prosecuting suspects.

“All is now set to begin the arraignment of suspected Boko Haram suspects in var-ious detention facilities in the country,” a statement said, adding that this would start on October 9.

Justice Minister Abubakar Malami has assigned govern-ment prosecutors while defence counsels would be provided by the Legal Aid Council, it said.

The ministry said 1,600 detainees will be tried early next month, adding that judges who would “expedi-tiously” handle the cases had been chosen. Despite claims by the Nigerian security forces that thousands of Boko Haram suspects have been arrested and were in custody, diligent prosecutions and convictions have been rare.

The most high-profile case currently in court is that of Khalid Al Barnawi, a leader of the moribund Boko Haram offshoot, Ansaru, on charges of abducting and murdering a number of foreign workers. Nigeria’s military and govern-ment maintain Boko Haram has become a spent force after more than two years of sustained counter-insurgency operations, including with neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Russia, Syria intensify bombing of Idlib & HamaAmman

Reuters

Russian and Syrian jets esca-lated strikes on rebel-held Idlib and Hama provinces,

several days after rebels opened an offensive against government-held parts of northwestern Syria, rebels and witnesses said yesterday.

The bombing campaign in heavily populated civilian areas shattered six months of relative calm. Russian-inspired ceasefires had given a temporary reprieve to tens of thousands of people liv-ing in rebel-held northwestern Syria.

But now thousands of civil-ians who had been returning to

their homes have headed back to the relative safety of refugee camps along the Turkish border, which are protected under Rus-sian-Turkish understandings, residents said.

“People are very afraid things have gone back to what they were and returned back to camps — there is no longer any hope,” Ahmad Thaib, a resident of Jabal Al Zawya.

The strikes were retaliation for last Tuesday’s assault against Hama province, which were spearheaded by Tahrir Al Sham, the Turkistan Islamic Party and rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The bombing campaign also comes shortly after a tripartite

deal struck by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to deploy an observer force in Idlib, a province where the former Al Qaeda’s Syrian off-shoot has cemented its control after it crushed opponents.

Western-vetted rebels said the Russian strikes targeted FSA groups who had signed the cease-fire agreements Russia had promoted, casting doubt on whether Moscow had any inten-tion of shoring up the ceasefire.

Civil defence workers and residents said dozens of strikes struck the major towns of Khan Sheikhoun, Jisr Al Shaqour, Saraqeb and scores of villages. At least five hospitals and several civil defence centres have been knocked out of action since the

start of the counter offensive. Rebel sources said over fifty fight-ers were killed on Saturday after jets believed to be Russian tar-geted a training camp run by Failaq al Sham, an FSA rebel group, which is at odds with jihadist groups.

Russia’s defence ministry says it is attacking hard-line mil-itants. It denies accusations it has targeted infrastructure and med-ical centres to force rebels into local truces that effectively restore President Bashar Al Assad’s grip on the country.

On Friday, Russia’s defence ministry said a submarine fired Kalibr cruise missiles at militants, who it said had tried to trap a group of Russian military

policemen. In the city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib, jets believed to be Russian destroyed the town’s major power plant on Friday, one witness said. The plant feeds northern Hama and southern Idlib.

On the outskirts of Jarjanaz, a strike barely missed a camp where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, a resident said.

At least several people were killed near the town of Kafr Sajna, one of the sites where the Rus-sian missiles landed, witnesses said. A video downloaded by activists showed a rescue worker trying to extinguish the flames on a young body charred by an incendiary bomb.

Airstrikes hit Aleppo despite ceasefireBeirut

AP

Airstrikes have targeted rural Aleppo in northern Syria yesterday for the first time

in months since a ceasefire took hold in the province, killing one, activists and a war monitoring group said. Also, the Central Mili-tary Media, affiliated with the government, reported that Iranian drones successfully struck vehi-cles of the Islamic State group along the Syria-Iraq border in the south. The report didn’t say when the strike occurred, but showed purported footage of it.

Previously, the US-led coali-tion had downed Iranian drones in the area, considering them hos-tile because they dropped ammunition near a base where US troops operated alongside allied Syrian opposition fighters. Since the two strikes in June, one of two US bases in the area has shut down

after Syrian and allied forces essentially cut off access to it, foil-ing plans to use the area as a launch pad for operations in east-ern Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian media reported that government and allied troops have seized Maadan, a town north of Deir Al Zor city and south of Raqqa, which has been scene to intense fighting with Islamic State militants. State TV Al-Ikhbariya filmed from inside the town, showing plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. The TV reporter said the town, which links the militant group’s two strong-holds now under attack, served as a key station for IS oil transport and distribution. The report hailed the capture of the town a day earlier as a major victory for the pro-gov-ernment troops, saying they have now rid the western bank of the Euphrates river of the militant group and secured the road from Deir Al Zor to Aleppo. Syrian women and children react after arriving in the northern area of Deir Al Zor, yesterday.

13MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 ASIA

India’s Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu presenting the 14th Shailikaar Prabhakar Samman media award to eminent journalist Anuradha Prasad, in New Delhi, yesterday.

Media award

Traditional drummers walking past parked taxis to go to perform during the Durga Puja festival, outside the Sealdah railway station in Kolkata, yesterday.

Festive drummers NEWS BYTES

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was visi-bly annoyed yesterday when a man interrupted him during an event here and sought to know the Hindi equivalent of ‘bullet train. As Jaitley was expounding on the bullet train initiative of the Narendra Modi government and rued that most debates on the issue he came across in India were “ill-informed”, a man in the audience stood up. He said: “Arun-ji, bullet train ko Hindi mein kya kehte hain? Hindi mein ang-rezi mat batiyaiye (What is a bullet train called in Hindi? Don’t use English words while speaking in Hindi).” A visi-bly annoyed Jaitley then told him to be a “little serious”. “Be a little serious please. You have been noticed once, thoda serious hone ka... gambhir hone ka bhi prayas kijiye (try to be serious).” The man, however, persisted he had raised a “very serious” issue.

RANCHI: Three Maoist guerrillas were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Jharkhand’s Simdega district yes-terday, police said. An AK-47 assault rifle, a carbine and a machine gun along with a huge cache of explosives were seized after the fighting at Bano between the People’s Liber-ation Front of India cadres and security personnel. A search operation was launched to nab the Maoists who escaped, police siad. Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 dis-tricts of the state.

BENGALURU: A rocket The Income Tax Department raids on Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) retail chain since Thursday found Rs6.5bn concealed income from the documents seized, said an official yesterday. “Documents seized from the search operations at 25 places of Cafe Coffee Day and its group companies in Kar-nataka, Mumbai and Chennai have revealed concealed income of over Rs6.5bn,” a senior tax official said here. The search and seize operations, which began on September 21, concluded yesterday evening in the offices of the group involved in cof-fee, tourism, IT and other areas. “The searches concluded with the group’s officials admitting to concealed income exceed-ing Rs6.5bn and the detection of undisclosed income, which is expected to be a much higher figure,” said another tax offi-cial in an e-mail to IANS. The offices and residence of CCD’s founder owner V G Siddhartha and its other officials in Ben-galuru were also searched during the last four days.

Jaitley loses cool as man asks for Hindi translation of bullet train

Three Maoists dead in Jharkhand

Tax raids on Cafe Coffee Day find Rs6.50bn concealed income

New Delhi

AFP

Fighter jets, drone deals and shared concerns over Afghanistan’s security look set to dominate the agenda

when US Defence Secretary James Mattis visits India this week. Mattis is scheduled to arrive today and is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new defence minister, in the first visit by a top US offi-cial since Donald Trump became president in January.

“The United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual inter-ests extending well beyond South Asia,” a Pentagon statement said.

Trump and Modi met in June in Washington and the visit by Mattis is a sign “the political leadership in both countries place defence cooperation as a top priority”, Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Stra-tegic Partnership Forum, said.

Delhi and Washington share concerns about Afghanistan, with Trump announcing a new strategy for the war-torn coun-try last month which cleared the way for the deployment of thou-sands more US troops.

The president has urged India to increase assistance to Afghanistan’s economy, and has lambasted Delhi’s arch-rival Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”.

Mattis “will express US appreciation for India’s impor-tant contributions toward

Afghanistan’s democracy, sta-bility, prosperity, and security”, the Pentagon said.

Experts are not expecting any Indian boots on the ground, though there may be some role for Indian military expertise in supporting the US-led training and advisory mission with Afghan security forces.

India has long vied with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, building dams, roads and a new parliament in the troubled country. Last year it offered some $1bn in aid. Delhi frequently accuses Islam-abad of stirring up violence in Afghanistan.

Mutual interests

Mattis is scheduled to arrive today and is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new defence minister, in the first visit by a top US official since Donald Trump became president in January.

“The United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia,” a Pentagon statement said.

Defence deals on table as Mattis visits India today

New Delhi

IANS

The slowdown in economic growth, the lack of jobs, a stimulus package to kick-

start the economy and the next round of assembly polls are expected to dominate the BJP National Executive meeting here today which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah with the political and economic resolutions to be its highlights.

The meeting also focus on the role of the party ideologue, the late Deen Dayal Upadhyay, during his birth centenary and how best to commemorate the

occasion.The government is con-

cerned over the latest Gross Domestic Product figures which has shown a growth rate of 5.7% and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been talking of a package to revive economic growth after the November 8 demonetisation slowed it down. An economic resolution is also likely to be passed keeping the focus on demonetisation and the roll out of GST.

The sources said the eco-nomic resolution is likely to mention demonetisation as a “bold decision to curb the men-ace of corruption” and the passage of Goods and Services

Tax (GST) as another feather in the Modi government’s cap.

Shah will deliver the inaugu-ral address today while Prime Minister Modi will address the concluding session. Modi is likely to address the concerns over the Indian economy and is all set to list his government’s achieve-ments in the last three years.

Usually, the National Exec-utive members alone attend the meeting but this time, the BJP is holding an extended meeting, with invites going to all elected representatives of the party. Besides, state Presidents, state General Secretaries and several other party functionaries will also attend.

Economic slowdown to dominate BJP meeting

Baramulla

IANS

A major terror attack was averted after three Pakistani ‘fidayeen’

were shot dead in a gunfight in a forested area near the border town of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla dis-trict, police said.

“All three Pakistani fiday-een terrorists were killed in Uri area of Baramulla dis-trict,” said a police officer said.

Director General of Police S.P. Vaid told reporters here that the slain militants had planned a major suicide strike and their elimination has averted a major attack.

Security forces had launched an operation in Kaghi forest area of Uri teh-sil yesterday morning following specific informa-tion about a group of heavily-armed militants hid-ing there.

As the security forces tightened cordon around the area, the hiding militants opened fire at the security forces t r igger ing a gunfight.

Police, however, have not confirmed whether the slain militants had recently infil-trated into the Valley from Pakistan-administered Kash-mir or had been operating here for some time.

On September 18 last year, four militants stormed Army brigade headquarters in Uri, close to the Line of Control, killing 19 soldiers before being neutralised.

Thiruvananthapuram

IANS

Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, arrived here

yesterday on a four-day visit.Al-Qasimi was received

by Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P. Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues and other top officials. After inspecting a Guard of Honour, the ruler drove to the Kovalam beach, where he will stay until his departure on September 28.

Today, he will hold a meeting with Sathasivam which will be attended by Vijayan and other top state officials. Today evening, Al-Qasimi will interact with members of the civil society and Kerala businessmen who have made it big in the Mid-dle East.

Tomorrow, the Calicut University will confer upon him an honorary doctorate.

Al-Qasimi’s trip to Kerala follows Vijayan’s invitation when he travelled to Sharjah last December.

3 militants dead in Uri gunfight

Sharjah Ruler in Kerala on four-day visit

Shimla

IANS

In the run-up to the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

will lay the foundation stone of an AIIMS in Bilaspur town on Octo-ber 3, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said yesterday.

AIIMS Bilaspur is another milestone in the list of achieve-ments of the National Democratic

Alliance government in the health sector, an official statement quoted Nadda as saying.

The Minister said the pro-posed All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bilaspur will provide the much-needed tertiary medi-cal services to a vast population of not only Himachal Pradesh but other northern states also.

Bilaspur, some 120 km from the state capital, is the hometown of Nadda.

Hailing the decision, local Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur said: “This (AIIMS) will prove to be a boon for the resi-dents as they will get world-class medical facilities in their vicinity.”

He thanked Nadda for final-ising a piece of land at Kothipura village on priority to ensure that the foundation stone could be laid by the Prime Minister at an early date.

The 68-member assembly is likely to go to polls in November. The state is currently ruled by the Congress while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the main opposition party.

Himachal Pradesh, with 68 assembly seats, is likely to go to the polls in November. The state is currently ruled by the Con-gress while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the main opposi-tion party.

Varanasi

IANS

Tension prevailed at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus here yes-

terday after an agitation by woman students, protesting molestation of a student, turned violent late on Saturday when police used force to disperse the protesters.

Additional police force has been deployed at the campus as

a precautionary measure after police carried out a baton-charge and fired in the air on Saturday night and the students threw stones in retaliation.

The University has been shut till October 2 and there were reports that protesting women students had been told to vacate their hostel rooms. Yesterday morning, the students took out a silent rally in protest of Satur-day night’s violence. As the students reached Lakshman Das

Guest House, some policemen signalled them to stay back. This infuriated the women who started the protest again.

However, when some Uni-versity workers took out a silent march in support of the admin-istration, police provided security to them. Now thousands of stu-dents want to take out a silent rally but have been denied per-mission. The students are asking if the workers can be provided with security, why can’t they.

Modi to lay foundation stone of AIIMS in Himachal Pradesh

Banaras varsity campus shut till October 2

14 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017ASIA

UN calls for assistance to RohingyaCox’s Bazar

AFP

Bangladesh needs “massive interna-tional assistance” to feed and shelter the 436,000 Rohingya

who have fled Myanmar in recent weeks, the head of the UN refugee agency said yesterday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said there were “immense” chal-lenges after visiting the overflowing camps around Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh.

“I was struck by the incred-ible magnitude of their needs. They need everything — they need food, they need clean water, they need shelter, they need proper health care,” he told reporters.

Grandi said there had been an “incredible outpouring of local generosity” but that now needed to be “beefed up by massive international assist-ance, financial and material”.

“That’s partly why I am here, to help... the government organise that response,” he said.

The UN said yesterday that 436,000 Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, had arrived from Myanmar’s Rakhine state since an outbreak of violence there a month ago.

Grandi said the influx had slowed in recent days but it was impossible to tell whether more would come.

He also said his office was providing “technical assistance” to help Bangladesh register the

Rohingya, whom Myanmar considers to be illegal immigrants.

Bangladesh only recognises a tiny fraction of around 700,000 Rohingya living in camps near the border with Myanmar as refugees, referring to the rest as undocumented Myanmar nationals.

It has “no plan for the time being” to grant refugee status to the newly-arrived Rohingya, senior Bangladesh Minister Amir Hossain Amu said yesterday.

“We want Rohingya to return to their own land,” said Amu, who chairs a cabinet committee on national security.

Bangladesh has begun pro-viding the new arrivals with identity cards and recording their biometric data, a process that began last week and is expected to take several months to complete.

Many hope that will allow them eventually to return to Myanmar. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said last week that those who had been verified as refugees from her country would be allowed back.

Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, yesterday.

Mass grave of 28 Hindus found in Myanmar: ArmyYangon

AFP

Myanmar’s Army said yes-terday it had discovered a mass grave containing

the bodies of 28 Hindus, includ-ing women and children, in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants.

Thousands of Hindus have fled villages where they once lived alongside Muslims, alleg-ing that they were targeted by militants whose August 25 raids plunged Rakhine into commu-nal violence.

The announcement could not be independently verified in a region where access has been tightly controlled by Myanmar’s army. “Security members found

and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly and violently killed by ARSA extrem-ist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State,” a statement posted on the army chief’s website said.

The Arakan Rohingya Salva-tion Army (ARSA) is the group whose attacks on police posts triggered an army backlash so brutal that the UN believes it amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.

More than 430,000 Rohingya have fled the region to Bangla-desh in under a month, telling stories of Myanmar soldiers teaming up with vigilante mobs to slaughter civilians and burn entire villages to the ground.

Around 30,000 Hindus and Buddhists based in the area have also been displaced by the

violence. Both communities have told AFP they were terrorised by Rohingya militants.

The army said that security officers found a total of 20 dead women and eight men in two graves, including six boys under the age of ten.

A strong smell led security officers to the burial site outside of Ye Baw Kya village, the army said.

Unverifiable photos pub-lished by the government’s Information Committee showed corpses laid out in rows on grass near two mud pits where they were found.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the grim discovery, as did a sen-ior police officer in Rakhine who requested anonymity.

Many still trying to flee across borderCox’s Bazar

AP

The massive exodus of Rohingya Muslims flee-ing Myanmar to escape

brutal persecution appears to have slowed down, but sev-eral recent refugees say at least tens of thousands more are huddled near beaches or in forests waiting to escape.

Some Rohingya who have fled over the last week said Myanmar army soldiers were shooting at those trying to flee to Bangladesh. Others said thousands were stuck in Myanmar because most boat-men had made the crossing to safety themselves and sol-diers had burned many of the boats that remained.

Over the last month, an estimated 430,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh as their homes and villages were set on fire by mobs of soldiers and Buddhist monks. They have brought with them accounts of soldiers spraying their villages with gunfire.

In the first three weeks of the latest convulsion of vio-lence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, tens of thousands of Rohingya poured into Bang-ladesh each day, walking for days through forests or tak-ing rickety wooden boats on the rain-swollen Naf River. Many crossed into the coun-try via the thin sliver of the Bay of Bengal that separates Myanmar from Bangladesh.

But Associated Press jour-nalists have seen only a handful of people enter by land or sea at a few border crossings over the last week. However, there are several crossing points on the border between the two countries where Rohingya have entered over the last month, making it impossible to verify how many people enter Bangla-desh each day.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, also noted that the number of incoming Rohingya appeared to have dipped.

One man who fled Myan-mar, Syed Noor, said yesterday that tens of thou-sands of Rohingya were waiting at border points in Myanmar desperately trying to escape. Noor and his fam-ily had fled overnight into Bangladesh.

Noor said other people from his village and other vil-lages near the Rakhine town of Buthidaung were hiding in forests near the Naf River.

“They are stuck in one place because the Myanmar army is shooting at us,” said Noor, exhausted and groan-ing in pain. His excruciating journey took nine days and he said there was no food to be had for the last four days.

Rumbling Indonesia volcano sparks exodus Karangasem

AFP

More than 34,000 people have fled from a rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali as

the magnitude of tremors grows, prompting fears it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years, an official said yesterday.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the number of people flee-ing their homes surrounding the volcano had tripled since Friday amid growing alarm that Mount Agung could erupt at any moment. “The evacua-tion process is ongoing and we expect the number of evacuees to continue to rise,” the agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The volcano, the highest point in Bali and located about 75km from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been rumbling since August. Officials announced the highest possible alert level on Friday following the increasing volcanic activ-ity, and urged people stay at least nine kilometres away from the crater.

“I am actually very worried to leave, I left my cows at home because we were ordered to vacate our village immediately,” villager Nyoman Asih who fled with her entire family said.

The international airport in Bali’s capital, Denpasar, was anticipating the prospect of closure but no flight sched-ules had been affected as of yesterday. The airport has prepared buses and trains to divert passengers to alterna-tive hubs in neighbouring provinces.

People look at Mount Agung in Karangasem on the Indonesian resort island of Bali yesterday.

Kabul

Reuters

A car bomber attacked a Danish convoy belonging to the Nato-led military

mission in the Afghan capital, Kabul, yesterday, wounding a number of civilians but leaving international forces unharmed, security officials said.

A Danish military spokesman said some civilians may have been killed but Afghan officials reported no fatalities. Security officials say five civilians had been wounded while the inte-rior ministry put the figure at three.

Captain William Salvin, a spokesman for Nato’s Resolute Support mission, confirmed an attack had occurred and said a team was on the scene to recover the vehicle.

“There are no Resolute Sup-port casualties as a result of the explosion,” Salvin he said in an emailed statement.

The Danish spokesman said the Danish soldiers were part of a security team normally engaged in protecting advisers travelling to and from the Afghan military academy near Kabul.

Nato personnel travelling by road normally travel in convoys

of three heavily armoured per-sonnel carriers which can resist all but the heaviest explosions. Past suicide attacks on such con-voys have usually caused casualties among nearby civil-ians while leaving their targets relatively unharmed. Nato per-sonnel now often travel even short distances in Kabul by helicopter.

The Taliban, which often exaggerates casualty estimates from its attacks, said 16 Ameri-cans had been killed and three armoured vehicles destroyed. It said it was preparing to step up the pace of attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Nato convoy attacked in Afghanistan

Bangladesh has begun providing the new arrivals with identity cards and recording their biometric data, a process that began last week.

NATO personnel travelling by road normally travel in convoys of three heavily armoured personnel carriers which can resist all but the heaviest explosions. Past suicide attacks on such convoys have usually caused casualties among nearby civilians. A truck pulls a damaged NATO coalition vehicle at the site of

a car bomb attack in Kabul yesterday.

15MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 ASIA

A student dressed in Winnie The Pooh costume protests against a popular Chinese talent show “Sing! China” after the show was forced to be cancelled at National Taiwan University, in Taipei, yesterday.

Wellington

AFP

Both of New Zealand’s major political parties moved to open coalition negotiations

with maverick MP Winston Peters yesterday after the coun-try’s general election stalemate left him in the position of kingmaker.

Prime Minister Bill English was looking for his National Party to stitch up a deal as soon as possible, while Jacinda Ard-ern’s opposition Labour Party was keen to wait until all postal and overseas votes are counted in two weeks before final deal is cut. English appeared to be in the driving seat to form a govern-ment due to tensions among the opposition parties that would

need to unite to unseat him.His National Party per-

formed strongly in Saturday’s election to claim 46.0 percent of the vote and 58 seats, three short of the 61 needed to win.

Labour, under charismatic newcomer Jacinda Ardern, polled 35.8 percent to take 45 seats, although that rises to 52 if the seven seats of close ally the Greens are included.

It means both English and Ardern would need the nine seats held by Peters’ New Zea-land First party to get over the line and reach the majority required to form a government.

While English and Ardern prepared to pitch their case to Peters, the NZF leader went fish-ing yesterday, saying the main

party leaders may make deci-sions “but they won’t have the cards that matter.”

Peters made a number of “bottom line” demands during the campaign and said he would next consult his party members and officials “and then we’ll tell you what we’re prepared to do.”

English said steps were under way to arrange talks with Peters but he would not say what was on or off the table.

“We want to get on with the job of forming the government, but we will work with NZ First at the pace they are willing to go, and as Mr Peters has indicated he also wants to move at a pace that respects the public’s desire to get the issues dealt with and get a government formed,” Eng-lish said.

“Our position going into those is almost one in two New Zealanders supported National and the voters have given us the task of forming a government with NZ First.”

Special votes, including postal votes and overseas votes, account for about 15 percent of the total and Ardern believed they would give her party a lift

“It’s hard to go too far with-out knowing that remaining 15 per cent,” she said. “At this time, parties are wanting a little extra time to consider their position and to consider the special votes. It’s making sure that everyone’s vote has been counted before we start forming a government.”

Labour campaign director Phil Twyford said Peters, known for his anti-immigration and

protectionist policies, had more in common with his centre-left party than National. “There’s much more policy alignment between New Zealand First and Labour. They’re committed to a much more hands-on approach to economic management.”

During the campaign, Labour dismissed a NZF policy to hold a referendum on the future of the seven seats reserved specifically for the indigenous Maori population.

However, Twyford said yes-terday he could not dismiss the possibility of it being part of negotiations. “I can’t say that now and I won’t because the coalition discussions are going to start today. I think all those issues are going to be on the table,” he told TV3’s The Nation.

Dhaka

AFP

The office of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday

denied as “completely base-less” some media reports of a plot by her bodyguards to kill her last month.

However a senior minis-ter said separately there had been an assassination con-spiracy, without giving details.

The prime minister’s office issued a statement con-demning the allegations carried in some news outlets as “completely baseless, mis-leading and motivated”.

Deputy press secretary Mohammad Ashraful Alam said the rumours of an assas-sination attempt on August 24 by officers of Hasina’s special security force were fabricated and damaging to the country.

Bangladesh’s state-run news agency issued an advi-sory Saturday asking subscribers not to use an ear-lier story apparently referring to the reports. Some other outlets published details of an alleged plot involving the bodyguards and an Islamist group.

Obaidul Quader, an influ-ential minister and deputy leader of the ruling Awami League party, told reporters yesterday there had been a conspiracy between local and foreign groups to assassinate the prime minister but offered no details.

Hasina, seen as a moder-ate in religious affairs in the mainly Muslim nation, was targeted by an Islamist extremist group in 2004 when leader of the opposition.

She survived a grenade attack at a political rally which killed 22 people.

Trump cranks up North Korea threat Seoul

Reuters

US President Donald Trump dialled up the rhetoric against North Korea again at the weekend, warning the country’s foreign min-

ister that he and leader Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer”, as Pyongyang staged a major anti-US rally.

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly on Saturday that targeting the US mainland with its rockets was inevitable after “Mr Evil President” Trump called Pyongyang’s leader a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

“Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Trump said on Twitter late on Saturday.

Trump and Kim have traded increas-ingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States — something Trump has vowed to prevent.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin yesterday tried to dial back Trump’s comments.

“The president doesn’t want to be in a nuclear war and we will do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t occur,” he said on ABC News. “On the other hand, the president will protect the American people and our allies.”

Analysts say the heated rhetoric is increasing the risk of a miscalculation by one side or the other that could have massive repercussions.

North Korea’s state-run television

KRT aired a video yesterday showing tens of thousands of people attending an anti-US rally at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang.

The North’s official KCNA news agency said more than 100,000 people gathered for the rally on Saturday and delivered speeches supporting com-ments made by Kim earlier in the week.

“We are waiting for the right time to have a final battle with the US, the evil empire, and to remove the US from the world,” KCNA quoted Ri Il-bae, a commanding officer of the Red Guards, as saying. “Once respected Supreme commander Kim Jong Un gives an order, we will annihilate the group of aggressors.”

UNPRECEDENTEDIn an unprecedented direct state-

ment on Friday, Kim described Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard” whom he would tame with fire.

Kim said the North would consider the “highest level of hard-line counter-measure in history” against the United States and that Trump’s comments had confirmed his nuclear programme was “the correct path”.

Trump threatened in his maiden UN address on Tuesday to “totally destroy” the country of 26 million people if North Korea threatened the United States or its allies.

It was not clear from Trump’s latest tweet if he was referring to Ri and Kim, or North Korea more broadly.

North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on September 3, prompting another round of UN sanctions. Pyongyang said on Fri-day it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

“It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK (North Korea) would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces,” Ri told the UN Gen-eral Assembly on Saturday.

BOMBERSUS Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers

escorted by fighters flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday in a show of force the Pen-tagon said indicated the range of military options available to Trump.

The US bombers’ flight was the far-thest north of the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea that any US fighter jet or bomber had flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.

Officials and experts said a small earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear test site on Saturday was probably not man-made, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its previous one.

The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean con-flict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, of planning to invade and regularly threatens to destroy it and its Asian allies.

Dhaka trashes reports of plot to eliminate PM last month

The heated rhetoric is increasing the risk of a miscalculation by one side or the other that could have massive repercussions.

An anti-US rally in Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang.

NZ parties ready to open coalition talks

Two Vietnamese dead & five held after sea chase Manila

AP

Two Vietnamese fishermen were found dead and five others were taken into

custody after they were spot-ted fishing off the northwestern Philippines, sparking a night chase where a Vietnamese boat hit a Philippine navy ship and prompted its crew to fire shots, officials said Sunday.

Philippine navy information officer Lt Jose Covvarubias said the five Vietnamese, along with their two dead fellow fisher-men, were turned over to Filipino police authorities after the Saturday incident off Bolinao town in northwestern Pangasinan province.

A Philippine security official told The Associated Press the incident unfolded closer to the Philippine coast and was not related to the main territorial disputes farther out in the South China Sea. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the Department of Foreign

Affairs in Manila was the one authorised to speak on the issue.

Still, the deadly incident underscores the danger that lurks due to overlapping terri-torial claims in a region where competition is heavy for fish, oil, gas and other maritime resources. In 2013, Philippine coast guard personnel opened fire and killed a Taiwanese fish-erman on board a boat that sailed in waters between the northern Philippines and Tai-wan, sparking protests in Taiwan. Taiwan imposed sanc-tions before the row was diplomatically resolved.

Covvarubias said details remained sketchy and that an investigation was underway. It was not immediately clear if the two Vietnamese died from gun-shot wounds or other causes.

“The information that we got is a Vietnamese fishing boat hit the navy ship,” Covvarubias said, adding that “a Vietnam-ese fishing vessel was being apprehended” when the con-frontation happened.

Sing! China

16 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017EUROPE

London

Reuters

London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured), said yesterday that it would be wrong for Britain to host US

President Donald Trump on a state visit, describing some of the US leader’s views on Islam as “ignorant”.

Khan and Trump have a history. During the US presi-dential election campaign, Khan was among many people who spoke out against Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, an idea he said would play into the hands of extremists.

Trump has criticised Khan, accusing the mayor of making a “pathetic excuse” over his statement urging Londoners not to be alarmed by the presence of additional police on the streets in response to an attack in June.

At the annual conference of his opposition Labour Party, Khan told an audience with GuardianLive that he thought having a state visit, which Prime Minister Theresa May has said is still planned, was “wrong”.

“I sometimes think people are ignorant,” he said, adding that it was his job to educate them.

Sadiq Khan said police had thwarted seven attacks by mil-itants since March this year, describing the increase in the number as a shift rather than a spike.

Khan also said the police

needed more spending to help them counter such attacks and that Internet companies must do more to crackdown on extremist content.

“Between March this year and now, there have been four attacks but seven have been thwarted,” he told a Guardian Live event.

Earlier this month, the head of the city’s police force said six militant plots had been foiled over the last sev-eral months.

Paris

AP

French President Emmanuel Macron’s unconventional political party is fighting to

make its mark on the Senate in elections yesterday for half the seats in the upper house — but the results are likely to reflect mounting disenchantment with Macron’s leadership.

His centrist Republic on the Move! party, created just last year, won a large majority in the lower house of parliament in June elections, but is unlikely to do the same in the Senate.

Polls suggest the conserva-tive Republicans party will consolidate its dominance of the chamber’s 348 seats instead. Macron’s party is likely to seek alliances in the Senate with

other centrists and moderate Republicans and Socialists to approve his business-friendly economic reforms.

The senators are not chosen by the public but by some 75,000 elected officials — may-ors, legislators, regional and local councilors — casting bal-lots in town halls across the country. Nearly 2,000 candidates are running for 171 Senate seats. It’s the first time Macron’s party is competing in Senate elections since he created it to shake up French politics and attract voters tired of the status quo. The party is hoping to win 50 seats.

The Senate voting system tends to give an advantage to locally rooted politicians from traditional parties, instead of candidates of Macron’s party, many of whom are political

newcomers. Also, many local elected officials are upset by Macron’s plan to slash budgets of local authorities, and that could see the president’s allies getting fewer votes than might have been the case a few months ago. The election also comes as Macron’s popularity is on the wane, just four months into his presidency.

Tens of thousands of people massed in Paris on Saturday to protest changes to labor law that they fear are dismantling the French way of life — and more protests and strikes are ahead. Truckers plan blockades of streets and fuel blockades today.

Macron insists the changes — which reduce union powers and hand companies more free-dom to lay off workers — are need to create jobs and compete globally.

French leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon was plunged into the eye of

a storm after comments about the Nazis that one minister branded “shameful”.

At a mass demonstration in Paris on Saturday against labour reform, Melenchon said: “It’s the street that top-pled France’s kings, it’s the street that drove out the Nazis”. He was responding to centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s comments earlier in the week that “democracy is not the street”. But Melenchon defended his remarks in the face of widespread criticism, saying on his blog that he “never compared the current government to Nazis”.

The leader of the hard left party France Unbowed, who had appealed to opponents of the labour reforms to “swamp” Paris in Saturday’s demonstrations, has sought to portray his party as the only real opposition to Macron.

Several political figures quickly condemned his com-ments, with government spokesman Christophe Castaner saying on French radio they were a “moral” and “political error”. Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud told French media that Melenchon’s remarks were “unworthy and shameful”.

Moscow

AFP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yes-terday that the United

States would not carry out a strike on North Korea because it knows Pyongyang has nuclear bombs.

“The Americans won’t carry out a strike on (North) Korea because it’s not that they suspect, they know for sure that it has nuclear bombs,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russia’s NTV television aired yesterday.

“I’m not defending North Korea, I’m just saying that almost everyone agrees with such an analysis,” the Russian diplomat said. North Korea this month carried out an underground test on a hydro-gen bomb estimated to be 16 times the size of the US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. It was its sixth and larg-est nuclear test. Lavrov said the crisis can only be resolved with a softer approach.

Britain should not host Trump: London Mayor

Madrid

AFP

The regional leader of Spain’s Basque Country, where nationalist senti-

ments run high, urged Madrid yesterday to allow independ-ence referendums like those held in Scotland and Quebec.

The comments by Inigo Urkullu come as Catalonia’s sep-aratist leaders plan to hold a referendum banned by Madrid on October 1, although whether this will happen remains to be seen given the measures taken by Spain’s central government and the courts to stop it.

“In the eyes of the world, the Spanish government is part of the problem and not the solu-tion,” Urkullu told members of his Basque Nationalist Party

(PNV) near Vitoria in northern Spain. Judges and prosecutors have fined and detained key members of the team organising the vote, and threatened to charge people who organised protests last week with sedition.

Police have seized close to 10 million ballot papers as well as other items for the referendum. Madrid, which argues that a ref-erendum violates the Spanish constitution, has also tightened control over Catalonia’s finances. This has increased resentment in the region and led to claims by its leaders that Madrid has imposed “an undeclared state of emergency”.

Urkullu said the Spanish state was “lost in its labyrinth” and that it had “failed”.

“A starting point would be to recognise the existence of two

nations (the Basque Country and Catalonia) who want to decide their future democratically, freely and with guarantees,” he added. The Basque Country is still marked by decades of vio-lence once waged by armed separatist group ETA, but the peaceful desire for independ-ence remains strong.

“We have the right and the capacity to decide our future.

“The model is Scotland, or rather the United Kingdom which accepted its pluri-national reality and accepted that Scotland decide its future democratically and freely” in 2014, he said. Urkullu also cited the “Canadian model” that allowed Quebec to hold refer-endums in 1980 and 1995.

Both the Scots and Quebec rejected independence.

Basque leader urges Madridto allow referendum vote

A woman writes on a balloon in support of the banned October 1st independence referendum, in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday.

Macron’s party faces likely blow in Senate elections

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo casts her ballot during French Senate elections at the Hotel de Ville of Paris, yesterday. Half of the seats in the upper house are up for grabs in the indirect election, in which only elected lawmakers — parliamentarians, mayors, local councillors — can vote.During the US

presidential election campaign, Khan was among many people who spoke out against Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, an idea he said would play into the hands of extremists.

US will not strike North Korea: Lavrov

Brighton

AFP

Britain’s revitalised Labour opposition kicked off its annual conference yester-

day with leader Jeremy Corbyn set to lay out his party’s agenda, free from the leadership chal-lenges of previous years.

The left-of-centre party con-founded expectations in June’s snap election by gaining an extra three million votes, a ringing endorsement for the anti-aus-terity programme of its veteran

leftist leader. His party is now polling higher than Prime Min-ister Theresa May’s governing Conservatives, unthinkable only a year ago when Corbyn had just won a leadership battle sparked by MPs angry at his lukewarm campaigning to stay in the Euro-pean Union.

“The election has changed politics in this country,” Corbyn told The Guardian newspaper in a recent interview, adding that “the strength of the party” would be the focus of the conference in Brighton on England’s south

coast. “We are now the main-stream,” he said.

Labour has yet to set out a clear position on Brexit, partic-ularly on what terms Britain will retain access to the EU’s single market. Corbyn earlier this month called for “full access”, later adding “whether that’s for-mal membership — which is only possible, I believe, if you are actually a member of the EU — or whether it’s an agreed trading relationship, is open for discussion”.

The country will be looking

for a clear indication of his plan, with 30 senior Labour fig-ures writing an open letter calling for the party to do eve-rything necessary to stay in the single market and the customs union.

However, Corbyn must also take into account the wishes of the millions of Leave voters in the party’s heartlands.

In an interview with the BBC yesterday, he said he wanted tariff-free access to the EU market, but that there were “issues of state aid rules” that

needed to be resolved so he could provide support for floundering industries, if he were prime minister.

But those hoping to gain clarity of Labour’s approach to Brexit at the party conference were left disappointed on Sun-day, after delegates opted not to vote on the issue during the event.

The decision was described as an “abdication of responsibil-ity” by Nicola Sturgeon, head of the pro-EU Scottish National Party, writing on Twitter.

Corbyn eyes path to power at Labour conference

French leftist leader in hot water over Nazi comments

17MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 EUROPE

Berlin

Agencies

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc won a lackluster victory in Ger-many’s national election yesterday while the anti-

migrant, nationalist Alternative for Germany party managed a trium-phant entry into parliament, projections showed.

Merkel’s main center-left rivals, the Social Democrats, were set for their worst result since World War II. The party, led by Merkel’s challenger Martin Schulz, vowed immediately to leave her coalition government and go into opposition. The outcome puts

Merkel on course for a fourth term as chancellor — but means that she has a tricky task in forming a new coali-tion government.

According to the initial results, announced by the electoral commis-sion, Markel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union came first with 32.5 percent of the votes — down from 41.5 percent four years ago, followed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Martin Shulz with 21 per-cent. The right-wing anti-immigrants Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured around 13 percent, making it the coun-try’s third biggest political force.

Another three parties cleared the five-percent hurdle to representations:

the liberal Free Democrats scoring around 10 percent, ecologist Greens scored about 9.5 percent and the anti-capitalist Left won nearly nine percent. Merkel was greeted at her party’s head-quarters by supporters applauding and chanting “Angie!” “Of course, we would have preferred a better result, that is completely clear,” she said. “But we mustn’t forget that we have had an extremely challenging parlia-mentary term behind us.”

“We have a mandate to form a new government, and no government can be formed against us,” Merkel added. “We want to win back AfD voters by solving problems, by taking account of their concerns and fears, and above all with good policies,” Merkel added.

Smaller parties were the chief beneficiaries of the erosion in sup-port for Germany’s traditionally dominant parties — above all the right-wing Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which was set to win up to 13.5 percent of the vote. AfD capital-ised on discontent with established politicians but particularly targeted those angry over the influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants into Germany in the past two years under Merkel. AfD co-leader Alexan-der Gauland vowed that “we will take our country back” and promised to “chase” Merkel. “This is a big day in our party’s history. We have entered the Bundestag and we will change this country,” Gauland said.

Berlin

AFP

Angela Merkel has been derided as Europe’s “austerity queen”, cheered as a saviour by refugees and hailed as the

new “leader of the free world”. But as the pas-tor’s daughter raised behind the Iron Curtain just won a fourth term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy, many Germans simply call her the “eternal chancellor”.

“Mutti” (Mummy) Merkel, with her prag-matic, modest and reassuringly bland style, has perfected the art of staying in power in a wealthy, ageing nation that tends to favour continuity over change. In the turbulent times of Trump, Brexit and multiple global crises, the 63-year-old has become the bedrock in a coun-try concerned with maintaining its enviable growth and employment rates. If there is one conviction Merkel holds dear, it is a lesson from her upbringing in communist East Germany — a firm belief that Germany and Europe must stay competitive and debt-free in a rapidly changing global economy. Germans have thanked her by keeping her in power ever since she became their youngest and first female chancellor in 2005, a contemporary of long-gone leaders George W Bush, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac.

Seemingly devoid of vanity and indiffer-ent to the trappings of power, she lives in a Berlin flat with her media-shy scientist hus-band Joachim Sauer, shops in a local supermarket and spends holidays hiking in the Alps. When international newspapers, after Trump’s surprise victory last year, declared Merkel the new torch-bearer of liberal democ-racy, she waved off the accolade as “grotesque and absurd”.

Though frequently criticised for sitting out tough challenges, Merkel has punctuated her reign with bold and surprising decisions — from scrapping nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster to opening German borders to more than a million asylum seekers since 2015. The migrant influx cost her dearly, both with vot-ers and EU neighbours, and led many to predict her demise. But as the number of new arrivals eased off and her government pushed through tougher asylum policies, her poll ratings edged back up to pre-crisis levels. So strong is her support that Ger-man media reports tend to ridicule her centre-left challengers as luckless operators on political sui-cide missions, destined to be roadkill as the Merkel juggernaut powers forward.

Merkel herself usually refuses to mention her rivals by name or engage in spirited polit-ical dialogue, which lent a slightly dreamy atmosphere to the election campaigns and infuriated her shadow-boxing opponents.

Martin Schulz, her temperamental chal-lenger, lashed out in June, labelling Merkel’s apparent tactic of keeping politics as unexcit-ing as possible “an attack on democracy” -- a comment that earned him stern rebukes from legions of the chancellor’s supporters.

But many political commentators also charge that Merkel has plunged Germany into an apolitical slumber while seeming to grow ever more remote. Der Spiegel’s Alexander Osang recently labelled her the “woman in amber”, as impenetrable “as a sphinx, diva or queen”, whose speeches were akin to “mass hypnosis”. Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in 1954 in the port city of Hamburg.

Weeks later her father, a leftist Lutheran clergyman, moved the family to a small town in the communist East at a time when most people were headed the other way. Biogra-phers say life in a police state taught Merkel to hide her true thoughts behind a poker face.

Berlin

AFP

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) Sunday became the first hard-right, openly anti-immigration

party to enter parliament with so many seats since World War II, break-ing a taboo despite calls to halt “the Nazis” in their tracks. Exit polls cred-ited the AfD with around 13 percent of the vote, making it the third biggest political force in Germany -- a stunning result for a party that was founded just four years ago. “We will change this country,” vowed Alexander Gauland, one of the party’s top candidates, pledg-ing to “go after” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.

The results mean at least 60 AfD lawmakers will sit on the opposition benches and be able to spread their views, including challenging Germa-ny’s culture of atonement over World War II and the massacre of six million Jews and others in the Holocaust. The International Auschwitz Committee warned that the “conglomerate of anti-Semites, enemies of democracy and nationalistic agitators” will bring “an inhuman coldness” to the glass-domed chamber of the Reichstag building.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily called the election “a watershed in the federal republic’s history, compara-ble to the first vote of a unified

Germany in 1990, although that case was a welcome event”.

“For the first time in more than 50 years, a nationalist, extreme-right, broadly racist party will sit in the Bun-destag ... That is sad, shameful and will change the climate in the country.”

The AfD began life as an anti-euro protest party but then shifted focus to capitalise on misgivings over the record one million asylum seekers who arrived in Germany since 2015.

Its tone turned increasingly extreme in the last stretch of election campaigning, with one of its two lead-ing candidates saying Germany should be proud of its war veterans and claiming that terror was grounded in Islam. Its supporters heckled Merkel’s

rallies across the country, jeering, whistling and chanting “get lost” in attempts to drown her out.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat, has warned that “for the first time since the end of the second World War, real Nazis will sit in the German parliament”. The Greens party has used the same term.

Merkel, more cautiously, urged voters to choose “the parties that are 100 percent loyal to our constitution”. The AfD will be a pariah in the Bun-destag as all mainstream parties have said they won’t work with it, but the party could still be vocally disruptive from the opposition benches.

A commentator in Spiegel weekly blamed Merkel for the rise of the AfD,

saying she should be voted out sim-ply for failing to stop “the Nazis from entering the Bundestag” on her watch.

Critics say widening social ine-quality, despite record employment, is also playing into the hands of AfD populists, who are most popular in the deindustrialised heartlands of the former communist east. Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, said the AfD’s rise shows that “Germany is not so different from other European coun-tries, where there are strong rightwing populist forces.” “Our population is no more virtuous than the French population,” he noted, saying that even France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen “pales in comparison”.

Angela Merkel wins fourth term

Hard-right marches into parliament

Merkel: Germany’s ‘eternal chancellor’

AfD’s entry into parliament poses ‘big challenge’: MerkelBERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany posed a “big new challenge” with its entry into parliament, as she admitted hop-ing for a better score in the election. “There’s a big new challenge for us, and that is the entry of the AfD in the Bundestag,” said Merkel, adding: “We want to win back AfD voters.”

France’s Le Pen congratulates AfDPARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen congratulated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on its break-through result in the German parliamentary election. “Bravo to our AfD allies for this historic showing! It is a new sign that the people of Europe are waking up,” tweeted Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front who reached the run-off of the French presidential election in May.

Berlin

AFP

The defeat of German Social Democrat Martin Schulz at the hands of Chancellor

Angela Merkel is his party’s worst loss since World War II and another blow for Europe’s cen-tre-left. The SPD, Germany’s traditional working class party, won just 20-21 percent in its fourth loss in a row against Mer-kel’s conservative bloc, which scored 32-33 percent, according to exit polls.

The SPD immediately announced it would head into oppo-sition rather than serve another humiliating term as junior partner to Merkel, after what Schulz called

“a difficult and bitter day”. Running against “Mutti” (Mummy) Merkel, seen by many Germans as a beacon of stability in turbulent times, has

long been considered a political sui-cide mission, and few envied Schulz for trying. The SPD campaign pledge to fight for more social

justice did not sufficiently reso-nate in a country where unemployment is at a post-reuni-fication low, even if the wealth gap is widening. For the past four years, the SPD served as junior partner to the popular Merkel -- a thankless task in which it failed to earn much credit despite pol-icy successes from a minimum wage to gay marriage.

“After the latest defeat against Merkel, Social Democrats now need to seriously rethink their approach,” said Michael Broening of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a think tank close to the SPD. “In particular, they will have to face the bitter fact that many workers have turned their back on the former workers’ party.”

Social Democrats in turmoil after historic loss

Source: Media reportsStaff, 24/09/2017

2017 German ElectionPERCENT OF VOTE NUMBER OF SEATSForschungsgruppe Wahlen exit poll for ARD, released at 1612 GMT

Forschungsgruppe Wahlen exit poll for ARD, revised at 1612 GMT

CDU/CSU SPD LEFT FDPAFD GREENS

0 10 20 30 40%

CDU/CSU

SPD

AfD

FDP

Greens

Le

Other

217SEATS

134 59

89

62

70

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, head of the Christian Democratic Party CDU, is greeted by her challenger Martin Schulz, head of the Social Democratic Party SPD, in Berlin, yesterday.

According to the initial results, Markel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union came first with 32.5 percent of the votes — down from 41.5 percent four years ago, followed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Martin Shulz with 21 percent. The right-wing anti-immigrants Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured around 13 percent, making it the country’s third biggest political force.

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves the stage after the announcement of poll results in the German general election, at CDU headquarters in Berlin, yesterday.

Alice Weidel (right), top candidate of the anti-immigration party Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) reacts in Berlin.

19MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 AMERICAS

Brazilian soldiers patrol the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday. Soldiers were sent to help Rio de Janeiro police fight heavily armed drug traffickers who have taken over much of the biggest shantytown in the country, the Rocinha favela.

Fighting drug traffickers

New York

The Washington Post

President Donald Trump’s weekend commentary on protests in the NFL was unsurprising in some respects. It’s certainly unusual for a

president to weigh in repeatedly on what’s happening in professional sports, but we’ve come to expect the unusual from Trump.

It was also unsurprising that Trump injected himself into a fraught political subject, standing firmly in opposition to those players who choose to kneel dur-ing the national anthem as an expression of their concern about racial divides in the country. Trump’s language was une-quivocal in a way that he hasn’t been in

response to other protests - such as those in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.

Washington Post-ABC polling released yesterday suggests that, even before Trump inserted himself into the

NFL protests, most Americans viewed him as a president who was doing more to divide the country than to unite it. About two-thirds of Americans felt that Trump, despite his insistent rhetoric that the coun-try needs to unite, was, in fact, driving Americans apart. About 3 in 10 said Trump had helped unite the country.

We asked this same question shortly after the election, with dramatically dif-ferent results. At that point, a plurality of Americans thought Trump was likely to do more to divide than to unite the country - but attitudes were about split.

Trump’s presidency itself, in other words, has made people feel as though he has done more to divide the country. That holds true among most demo-graphic groups. A majority of white Americans and a huge majority of black

and Hispanic Americans think that Trump has done more to divide than to unite. (The sample size of African-Amer-ican respondents, we’ll note, was fairly small, meaning the margin of error is larger.) Only among Republicans, white evangelical Protestants and conserva-tives do a majority think that Trump has been more of a uniter.

But there’s an interesting detail that is worth noting. Among those who approve of Trump - 39 percent of respondents, far fewer than other recent presidents at this point in a presidency - about 1 in 5 think he has done more to divide than to unite. Even 1 in 7 of those who approve of Trump strongly seem him as more of a divider than a uniter.

Neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama ever had so many Americans

view them as being so divisive. Bush’s worst marks on the question came in June 2005 in Post-ABC polling, when 55 percent of the country viewed him as doing more to divide than to unite. Obama’s worst numbers came in Sep-tember 2014, when 55 percent viewed him as divisive. This was shortly after the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, a period during which tensions over race relations were spiking.

There was some good news for Trump in the Post-ABC poll: Americans generally thought that he had done a good job handling the recent hurricanes that battered Texas, Louisiana and Flor-ida. It was a moment of national unity.

The poll also suggests that people have come to expect such moments as the exception, not the norm.

Two-thirds think Trump is dividing the US

Mexico City

AP

As the search continued yesterday for survivors and the bodies of people

who died in quake-collapsed buildings in Mexico, thousands of people have been left home-less because their houses or apartment buildings are uninhabitable.

Specialists have fanned out to inspect buildings and deter-mine which are unsafe after Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earth-quake, which has killed at least 318. Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente reported the new death toll on Twitter and said 180 of the deaths came in the capital.

Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera reported that 7,649 properties have been exam-ined and 87 percent of those are

safe and require only minor repairs. But that means about 1,000 left standing have been determined to be uninhabitable — and the number seemed likely to rise as more are inspected.

Mancera also said on Satur-day night on Twitter that nearly 17,000 people have been “attended to” at 48 shelters, though it’s not clear how many of those are being housed there. Many are bunking with family or friends. Families have been camped out for days at the site of collapsed apartment and office buildings awaiting word on miss-ing loved ones and holding out hope they may still be found alive.

Inspectors were also evalu-ating the safety of schools and planned to begin getting kids back in classrooms after nearly a week away. The government said it would soon release

information about which schools have been cleared to reopen today. Search and rescue crews have pulled dozens of lifeless bodies from the wreckage of buildings — and numerous sur-vivors, too. Mexico’s marines, considered the nation’s most elite troops, said they have recovered 102 bodies and rescued 115 peo-ple in the aftermath.

Many of those survivors are now in hospitals with injuries ranging from fractures and bruises to severe brain injuries. Many face an uncertain future.

In a hospital room blocks away from where he survived 26 hours buried under the rub-ble of his nine-story apartment building, Jose Luis Ponce lay sedated and on a respirator Sat-urday, alive but with fractures to multiple bones and damage to his lungs and a kidney.

As quake search continues, thousands homeless in Mexico

One dead, six hurt in Nashville church shootingA WOMAN was killed and at least six people were injured when gunfire erupted at a church in Nashville yester-day morning, officials said.

The woman died in the parking lot and medical offi-cials were treating at least six wounded church-goers after the shooting at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, according to the Nashville Police Department.

All but one of the wounded were over 60 years old and were being taken to nearby hospitals, Joseph Pleasant, a Nashville Fire Department spokesman, told Reuters. The shooter was among the wounded, he said.

The church is in Antioch, about 16km southeast of downtown Nashville in Tennessee.

Guajataca, Puerto Rico AP

Large amounts of federal aid have begun moving into Puerto Rico, wel-

comed by local officials who praised the Trump administra-tion’s response but called for the emergency loosening of rules long blamed for con-demning the US territory to second-class status.

In northwest Puerto Rico, people began returning to their homes after a spillway eased pressure on a dam that cracked after more than a foot of rain fell in the wake of the hurricane.

The opening of the island’s main port in the capital allowed 11 ships to bring in 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000 cots, dozens of gener-ators and food. Dozens more shipments are expected in upcoming days.

The federal aid effort is rac-ing to stem a growing humanitarian crisis in towns left without fresh water, fuel, electricity or phone service. Officials with the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency, which is in charge of the relief effort, said they would take sat-ellite phones to all of Puerto Rico’s towns and cities, more than half of which were cut off following Maria’s devastating crossing of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

The island’s infrastructure was in sorry shape long before Maria struck. A $73bn debt cri-sis has left agencies like the state power company broke. As a result the power company abandoned most basic mainte-nance in recent years, leaving the island subject to regular blackouts.

A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico’s

finances authorized up to $1 bil-lion in local funds to be used for hurricane response, but Gov. Ricardo Rossello said he would ask for more.

“We’re going to request waivers and other mechanisms so Puerto Rico can respond to this crisis,” he said. “Puerto Rico will practically collect no taxes in the next month.”

US Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York said she will request a one-year waiver from the Jones Act, a federal law blamed for driving up prices on Puerto Rico by requiring cargo ship-ments there to move only on US vessels as a means of sup-porting the US maritime industry.

“We will use all our resources,” Velazquez said. “We need to make Puerto Rico whole again. These are Amer-ican citizens.”

A group of anxious mayors arrived in the capital to meet with Rossello to present a long list of items they urgently need. The north coastal town of Man-ati had run out of fuel and fresh water, Mayor Jose Sanchez Gonzalez said.

“Hysteria is starting to spread. The hospital is about to collapse. It’s at capacity,” he said, crying. “We need some-one to help us immediately.”

The death toll from Maria in Puerto Rico was at least 10, including two police officers who drowned in floodwaters in the western town of Aguada. That number was expected to climb as officials from remote towns continued to check in with officials in San Juan.

Authorities in the town of Vega Alta on the north coast said they had been unable to reach an entire neighborhood called Fatima, and were partic-ularly worried about residents of a nursing home.

Washington

AFP

Two Republican senators signalled strong opposition yesterday to their party’s latest bid to overhaul

Obamacare, dealing a potentially fatal blow to one President Donald Trump’s top legislative goals. Senator Susan Col-lins of Maine said she cannot “envision a scenario” in which she would back the leg-islation, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would support it only if a key pro-vision changing the way health care funding works were dropped.

Their comments were more bad news for the White House, after US Senator John McCain announced Friday his oppo-sition to the latest Republican effort to replace or at least revamp Obama’s

signature health care law. The deadline for passing the legislation is September 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Republicans hold 52 of the 100 seats in the Senate. In the event of a tie, Vice President Mike Pence could cast a vote to break it. So the Republicans could afford only two defections at most. And now there appear to be three, meaning the bill could likely be dead on arrival when it reaches the Senate.

Collins, speaking on CNN, laid out a number of complaints, including the bill’s impact on Medicaid — the health care program for the poor and people with disabilities — and on coverage for peo-ple with pre-existing conditions.

“It is very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill,” Collins said.

Aid begins to flow to hurricane-hit Puerto Rico

Two more Senators oppose Obamacare overhaul

Spanish and Mexican rescue workers continue to search for survivors in Mexico City, yesterday, five days after a powerful quake hit central Mexico.

Somerset, New Jersey

Reuters

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump yesterday was consid-ering a replacement to his controversial executive order barring travel to the United States from several majority Muslim countries.

The current ban, enacted in March and set to expire today, extended to travellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The new order could fall short of a complete ban, instead tailor-ing travel restrictions on a country-by-country basis.

Trump received a set of policy recommendations on Friday from acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke and was briefed on the matter by other administra-tion officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a White House aide said. As of Friday, the presi-dent had not made a final decision as the contents of the new order and which nations would be affected, leaving open the possibility that the list could be expanded. He was spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Rather than a total ban on entry to the United States, the proposed restrictions would differ by nation, based on cooperation with American security mandates, the threat the United States believes each country presents and other variables, Miles Taylor, an aide to Duke, said on Friday.

Trump weighs replacement to travel ban

Washington Post-ABC polling released yesterday suggests that, even before Trump inserted himself into the NFL protests, most Americans viewed him as a president who was doing more to divide the country than to unite it.

20 MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

04:06 AM

05.23 am

ZUHRASR

11.26 am

02.51 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.28pm

06.58 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 08:15 – 19:30 LOW TIDE 01:30 – 14:15

Hazy to misty at places at first

becomes hot daytime with local

rainy clouds by afternoon and

humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum 30oC 38oC

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Curtains on expo with auction of falcons The Peninsula

The first ever Katara Interna-tional Hunting and Falcons Exhibition – S’hail 2017 — concluded on a high note yesterday at Katara’s Wis-

dom Square. During the five-day festivities, the

expo witnessed tremendous response from crowds comprising regional and international falconry and hunting enthusiasts and experts.

Still more, VIP guests visited the expo yesterday such as the Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, H E Ghaith bin Mubarak Al Kuwari and Bulgarian Ambassador Metin Kazak.

On Saturday, the daily Falcon auc-tion witnessed strong competition among eight bidders. The auction was dedicated to the falcon named ‘Wahsh’ (Al-Hurr) which is renowned for its rarity and beauty. The auction started with a minimum bidding price of QR300,000 and increased to QR700,000. It was decided to name the Falcon “Sabah” after the Emir of Kuwait, H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

Katara General Manager and Chairman of S’hail 2017 organising committee, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, said “As the host of this exhibition, Katara achieved marve-lous accomplishments to be added to the organization’s series of suc-cesses which is ideally proved by the number of visitors that the expo wit-nessed during the five-day festivities.”

The Katara Chief expressed his utmost appreciation and gratitude to the sponsors of S’hail namely Qatar National Bank (Saker Sponsor), Oore-doo (Gyr Sponsor) and Qatar Airways, (Official Carrier).

Dr Al Sulaiti praised several enti-ties for their active participation in the exhibition including the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Municipal-ity and Environment, General Authority of Customs, Al Galayl and Marmi competitions, Qatari Society of Al Gannas, Qatar Shooting and Archery Association, Al Rami Sports Club, Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital, Qatar Fine Arts Association, Simaisma Youth Center and Librtha Heritage Center.

He also thanked the exhibitors for their positive contribution throughout

the event as they displayed high-qual-ity falconry and hunting products.

“Not to forget to mention the organising committee’s efforts and their contribution to this marvellous success, considering the short prepa-ration. In addition, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my special thanks to the various media platforms including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television channels who eagerly worked to publish news, locally, regionally, and internation-ally,” he said.

Speaking on the sponsorship, Qatar

Airways Chief Commercial Officer, Ehab Amin, said: “Qatar Airways proudly supports a range of exciting international and local initiatives ded-icated to enriching the community that it serves. Falconry is one of Qatar’s old-est traditions, and deeply rooted in Qatar’s culture, heritage and lifestyle. As the official airline partner for the Katara International Hunting and Fal-con Exhibition 2017, we were delighted to welcome participants to Qatar from around the world to experience this wonderful and unique exhibition.”

Kuwait’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Hafeez Mohammed Salem Al Ajmi (left) and Oman’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Najib bin Yahya Al Balushi (second right) visit S’hail 2017 at Katara.

1,355 students attend Holy Quran learning courseThe Peninsula

A total of 1,355 students bene-fited from the summer courses for learning Holy

Quran offered by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs for citi-zens and expatriates.

Religious Call and Guidance Department at the Ministry offered various courses at 23 centres for learning the Holy Quran across the country in a bid to create opportu-nity for the children to utilize their summer vacation to learn holy Quran.

The courses include learning to recite Holy Quran, memorising parts of it and revising those the students memorised earlier.

The centres that participated in the summer courses for this year

include Ibn Al Qayyim Center in Al Mamoura, Ibn Taymiyah Center in Beni Hajar, Ibn Zakwan Center in Al Ma’rad Area, Ibn Othaymeen Center in Al Aziziyah, Abu Hareth Al Bagh-dadi Center in Dukhan, Abu Bakr Al Siddique in Umm Ghuwailina, Abu Hanifa Center at Old Airport, Al Imam Al Duri Center in Salata, Imam Nafi Center in Madinat Khalifa and Bilal bin Haris in Al Saad.

Other centres are the centre of Tirmidhi in the north, the centre of Tamim Al Dari in New Rayyan, Jas-sim bin Ahmed Center in Umm Salal Ali and Jafar bin Abdul Muttalib in Bin Mahmoud, and the centre of Hafs Al Koufi in Al Dafna Al Zubair Bin Al Awam Center in Abu Nakhla, Saeed Bin Zaid Center in Al Naim, and Al Shatbi Center in Kharaitiyat. Children being taught to recite the Holy Quran.

Qatar Airways sponsors Arabian US OpenQatar Airways brought its

award-winning hospitality and service to the Rolex Central Park Horse Show in New York City on Wednes-

day, where the airline was sponsor of this year’s Arabian US Open.

One of the most highly anticipated equestrian events of the year, the Ara-bian US Open occurred on the opening night of the fourth annual Rolex Cen-tral Park Horse Show.

The airline’s cabin crew partook in this year’s opening night events, including presenting champion win-ners’ trophies and showcasing authentic Arabian hospitality by pro-viding a traditional Arabic coffee service in the VIP Pavilion.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is delighted to take part in this year’s prestigious Arabian US Open in New York City, as we celebrate the shared Qatari and American affinity for equestrian sports. Our airline con-tinues to be a proud supporter of the equestrian industry through our glo-bal transportation of the finest equine guests. As the world’s third largest

international cargo carrier, we are committed to providing them the same notable world-class service for which our airline is recognised around the world.”

The Rolex Central Park Horse Show is held annually at the world-renowned Wollman Rink in New York City’s Central Park. The fourth annual Rolex Central Park Horse Show 2017 featured some of the greatest show jumpers and dressage riders in the world. The Arabian US Open, pre-sented by Aljassimya Farm, was invited back to the event for 2017 and kicked off this year’s programme as the open-ing night of the show.

Qatar Airways was recently the Official Airline Partner of the 2017 Dublin Horse Show and partner of the Qatar Goodwood Festival and, this past spring, flew 50 horses onboard its Qatar Airways Cargo Boeing 777 freighter to Omaha, Nebraska, for the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals.

Qatar Airways Cargo also supports the CHI Al Shaqab equestrian event held in Doha each year. The airline’s cargo service is well-equipped and

greatly experienced in transporting horses and their trainers, ensuring world-class treatment and expert handling.

Qatar Airways Cargo has seen an upsurge in the past few years in the transportation of horses. In 2016-17,

the cargo carrier transported more than 2,300 horses, a 10 percent increase over 2015-16. Qatar Airways Cargo transports a variety of animals in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) Live Ani-mal Regulations.