Volume 24 | Number 8019 | 2 RiyalsThursday 19 September 2019 | 20 Muharram 1441 www.thepeninsula.qa

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BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 12

Di Maria shines as PSG crushReal Madrid

QP and Shell sign agreement to

establish global LNG bunkering venture

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani during a visit to facilities for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. �P2

Amir tours facilities of IAAF Championships

QNA DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited yesterday morning the Khalifa

International Stadium and Aspire Zone.

During the visit, H H the Amir was briefed on the preparations to host the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, to be

held from September 27 to October 6. H H the Amir also lis-tened to a brief explanation about the ongoing preparations.

H H the Amir then toured various faci l i t ies and

areas designated to serve the participants and visitors of the tournament, including the external tour areas, the entry areas of players and manpower and the centres designated for

media, issuing permits and volunteers.

H H the Amir was accom-panied during the visit by Pres-ident of Qatar Olympic Com-mittee (QOC) and the Chairman

of Higher Organising Committee of IAAF World Athletics Cham-pionships Doha 2019, H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, and a number of officials of the Committee.

Cabinet nod for draft law on citizens' treatment abroadQNA DOHA

The Cabinet which met yesterday with Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani in the chair approved a draft law regu-lating medical treatment abroad.

Following the meeting, Min-ister of Justice and Acting

Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr. Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi stated that the Cabinet reviewed topics on its meeting’s agenda. The Cabinet approved a draft law regulating medical treatment abroad.

The preparation of the draft law replaces the Amiri Decision No. 51 of 2012 on regulating medical treatment abroad to

keep abreast of recent develop-ments in the medical treatment system to facilitate the proce-dures for the treatment of Qatari patients abroad and provide them with the best services.

Under the provisions of the draft law, the State shall assume the medical treatment of the cit-izens abroad and shall bear the expenses of treatment and other

costs in accordance with the pro-visions of this law and its exec-utive regulations.

The medical treatment shall be decided by a decision from the relevant committee in cases if the appropriate treatment is not available in the State, in accordance with the rules and procedures specified in the reg-ulation. �P3

NHRC chief urges UN rights chief to visit region to probe siege impactQNA GENEVA

The Chairman of National Human Rights Committee, (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri, called on United Nations High Commis-sioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to visit the State of Qatar and the countries of the region to

closely examine the repercussions of the violations resulting from the blockade.

He also called on her to send a technical mission to the blockade countries to investigate the effects of the blockade, espe-cially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as they continue to be

intransigent, mislead public opinion and falsify facts, and fail to comply with the resolutions of international bodies and organisations demanding an end to the violation of the rights of Qataris and residents of the State of Qatar.

Al Marri said that the com-mittee will soon publish a report

on the UAE’s evasion of imple-menting the International Court of Justice’s resolution for the second year.

In addition, NHRC will issue another report on Saudi’s con-tinuous violations against cit-izens and residents in Qatar, pointing out that the reports will be sent to all relevant regional

and international organisations and entities.

This came during a series of meetings held by NHRC Chairman with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, President of the Human Rights Council Ambassador Coly SECK and HE Head of the EU Delegation to the United Nations

Ambassador Walter Stevens. During the meetings, the

NHRC Chairman presented a brief on the repercussions of blockade on Qatar, in its third year and all legal and quasi-judicial efforts and measures taken by the NHRC to defend the rights of victims and redress them.��P3

Amir to take part in UN General Assembly; arrives in Paris

QNA/DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will head the delegation of the State of Qatar to the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, which will take place at the UN’s head-quarters in New York in the United States.

H H the Amir will deliver a speech during the opening session

of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday,September 24.

Prior to his participation in the UN General Assembly, H H the Amir arrived in Paris last evening, on a working visit to the French Republic during which His Highness will hold talks with the French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace today.

H H the Amir will visit the United Kingdom, where His Highness will hold talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, London, tomorrow, on strengthening strategic rela-tions and bilateral cooperation in various fields of partnership, in addition to exchanging views on the latest developments in the region and the world.

H H the Amir will visit the United Kingdom, where His Highness will hold talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, London, tomorrow.

Amir’s visit to boost solid Qatar-France tiesSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

The visit of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the French Republic will further strengthen the solid and strategic relations between the two coun-tries. Both countries share common vision on several issues which has made France a stra-tegic partner of Qatar.

Qatar cherishes the distin-guished relations with the French Republic which were established more than 40 years ago.

The solid bilateral relations have resulted into signing of several agreements and high-level visits in the past, which have opened up broad prospects for strengthening the relations and bilateral cooperation.

French investments and companies in Qatar have great presence, especially that Qatar has created a conducive envi-ronment for foreign investments through developing legislations, establishing free zones and issuing the laws on foreigners’ property ownership and

permanent residence. Qatar and France are working together to root out terrorism and resolve the crises in this region.

Defence relations between the two allies have witnessed con-sistent growth. Qatar had signed an agreement with France in 2015 to supply the Amiri Air Force with 24 Rafale aircraft, and later acti-vated the item by increasing the number of aircraft by 12 more. The Qatari Amiri Air Force received the first French Fighter Aircraft ‘Rafale’ this year in February.

The previous visit of H H the Amir

to France was in July last year which was very successful in boosting ties between the two countries.

The closeness of relations between Qatar and France can be understood by the remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron given during the joint press conference. French President had described the French-Qatari rela-tions as solid and strategic, adding that Qatar is a reliable partner and a friendly country with an ambition and a vision for the future, which brings the two countries closer to each other. �P4

02 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

Amir tours facilities of IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with the President of Qatar Olympic Committee and Chairman of Higher Organising Committee of IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, and other officials during a visit yesterday morning at Khalifa International Stadium and Aspire Zone.

Sheikha Moza participates in Georgetown University seminar in Washington, DCQNA/WASHINGTON

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All and UN Sustainable Devel-opment Goals Advocate, took part in a thought leadership seminar co-hosted by Geor-getown University and Education Above All in Washington, DC emphasising the need for quality education during and after times of conflict and insecurity to ensure a stable future.

“The Right to Education” seminar, held at Georgetown Universitys Riggs Library,

explored barriers to education and how they are being addressed, as well as education as the foundation of peaceful societies and the importance of protecting education during conflict.

Along with H H Sheikha Moza, the panel featured distin-guished speakers UN SDG Advocate Dr. Alaa Murabit and Executive Director of Geor-getown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security Ambassador Melanne Verveer, in a discussion moderated by Georgetown Uni-versity President John DeGoia.

H H Sheikha Moza focused on the importance of protecting education in times of crisis, viewing it as essential in pre-paring future generations to break the cycle of conflict and rebuild their communities for lasting growth and stability.

“Unfortunately, education is the first victim when it comes to times of war,” said Her Highness. “During conflict, education pro-vides normalcy, continuity and sustainability,” Her Highness said. She continued, “Education in post conflict allows young educated leaders to come back

to their countries and break the cycle of violence. They can rebuild their countries and redesign new sets of values.”

She also called onto univer-sities to take the lead in creating innovative solutions to ensure the protection of education for all regardless of fragile situa-tions. “There is no one size fits all solutions. There are different barriers to education in times of conflict. We need to be creative and innovative in these solu-tions,” she added. H H Sheikha Moza met with Georgetown Uni-versity President, John DeGoia.

Amir condoles with President of LiberiaDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani sent yesterday cables of condolences to President George Manneh Weah of the Republic of Liberia, on the victims of a fire at a Quranic school near the Liberian capital Monrovia, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. QNA

Qatar condemns attack in AfghanistanDOHA: Qatar has expressed its strong condemnation and denun-ciation of the attack on a government building in the city of Jala-labad, Afghanistan, and led to injuries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Qatar’s firm stance on rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of motives and reasons. The statement expressed the wishes of the State of Qatar of a speedy recovery to the injured. QNA

03THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

Amir sends

congratulations to

President of Chile

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh

Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani and Prime Minis-

ter and Interior Minister

H E Sheikh Abdullah bin

Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani

sent yesterday cables of

congratulations to the Pres-

ident of the Republic of

Chile, Dr. Sebastian Pin-

era, on the anniversary of

his country’s Independence

Day. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Deputy PM of

Turkmenistan meets

Qatari Ambassador

ASHGABAT: The Dep-

uty Chairman of the Cabinet

of Ministers and Minister of

Foreign Affairs of Turkmen-

istan, Rashid Meredov, met

with the Ambassador of the

State of Qatar to Turkmen-

istan, Khalifa bin Ahmed Al

Suwaidi, on the occasion of

the end of his tenure in the

country. During the meet-

ing, they discussed bilateral

relations, means of boosting

them, and issues of mutual

concern. QNA

Deputy Amir meets CEO of Royal Dutch Shell

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani met with the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Ben Van Beurden, and his accompanying delegation, on the occasion of their visit to Qatar, at the Amiri Diwan, yesterday morning. During the meeting, they reviewed the existing areas of cooperation and ways of developing them.

Qatar attends Middle East Strategic Alliance meetings in USQNA/WASHINGTON

Qatar participated in the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) meetings which kicked off on Tuesday at the headquarters of the US State Department in Washington, and will conclude today.

Qatar’s delegation was headed by the Director of Policy and Planning Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Khalid bin Fahad Al Khater.

During the meetings, the ongoing arrangements for the Alliance project in the political, security, military and energy spheres were discussed with the participation of the member states of the alliance.

The second meeting on cooperation in the energy sphere was also held.

NHRC chief urges UN rights chief to visit regionFROM PAGE 1

The Chairman praised the efforts maid by international rights organisations to expose the violations of the blockade countries, led by the report of Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in addition to the res-olutions of the International Criminal Court, International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Trade Organization which condemned the discrim-inatory measures of the blockade countries. Lastly, the decision of the Committee on the

Elimination of Racial Discrimi-nation (CERD), which rejected two complaints by the UAE regarding discrimination against citizens holding Qatari nationality.

In response to the inquiries of the officials on the develop-ments of the GCC crisis, he said the humanitarian crisis has escalated and there are no indi-cations that the blockade coun-tries are ready to stop the suf-fering of the citizens and resi-dents of Qatar and Gulf countries, especially dispersed family victims, despite all the calls made by international

The Chairman of National Human Rights Committee, Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Cabinet nod for draft law on citizens’ medical treatment abroad

FROM PAGE 1The State shall also bear the

expenses of medical treatment of students studying abroad on their own expenses, on con-dition that they provide enrollment verification.

The Cabinet also gave approval to the requirements to host the regional counter-cyber-crime headquarters in Qatar for training and education.

It also approved to host the technical workshop organised by FIRST International, which brings together a variety of computer security incident response teams on the sidelines of the Cyberse-curity Drill which will be con-ducted by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Doha during December 2019.

The Cabinet also approved a draft decision of the Minister of Interior amending some provi-sions of the executive regulation of the Traffic Law issued by Decision No. 6 of 2010.

The Cabinet also reviewed the recommendations of the Shura Council on education and the con-ditions of medical services in Qatar and decided to refer these recommendations to the Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-cation and the Ministry of Public Health to study them and provide their views in this regard.

It also approved the signing on the Arab Customs Cooperation Agreement, Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Avi-ation and the Protocol Supple-menting the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft.

The Cabinet moreover approved a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the

establishment of political consul-tations on issues of mutual interest between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Phil-ippines, and a draft MoU between the government of Qatar and the government of Kuwait on coop-eration in the areas of improving the implementation, construction and maintenance of roads.

The Cabinet also reviewed H E the Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs’ letter on the formation of a working group to study some amendments to the Labor Law promulgated by Law No. 14 of 2004 and Law No. 21 of 2015 reg-ulating the entry and exit of expa-triates and their residence, and H E the Minister of Commerce and Industry’s letter on the results of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Trade Cooperation Committee’s 57th meeting and the Industrial Cooperation Committee’s 45th meeting. The Cabinet then took the appropriate decision thereon.

human rights and humanitarian organizations to demand an end to the blockade which aggravated their suffering and deprived them the right to movement, treatment and the right to unite with their families, in addition to other basic rights mentioned in inter-national human rights laws and covenants.

Dr. Al Marri discussed with Michelle Bachelet the estab-lishment of a mechanism between NHRC, OHCHR and European Parliament to implement the recommendations of the first of its kind conference in the Middle East, stressing the readiness of NHRC to organise a future international conference, in cooperation with OHCHR, to support its efforts to promote and enhance human rights.

The Cabinet also reviewed the recommendations of the Shura Council on education and the conditions of medical services in Qatar and decided to refer these recommendations to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Public Health to study them and provide their views in this regard.

Security measures all set to stage World Athletics ChampionshipsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The World Athletics Champion-ships, the third largest in the world, will be held for the first time in the Middle East at the end of this month.

The Organizing Committee has set all preparations, and equipped trained staff to play a large role to ensure its success and confirm the leadership and sovereignty of Qatar in all areas. The committee is also keen to create a safe atmosphere for all.

Regarding the tasks of the committee, Captain Mubarak Bilal Al Ali (pictured), Chairman of the Security Committee, said: “The Security Committee is one of the units of the organising committee of the championship whose mission is to secure the stadiums and sports facilities on which the athletics competitions are held.”

Many units operate under the umbrella of the Security Committee, which is composed of various departments of the Ministry of Interior, including the General Directorate of Traffic, Department of Processions at L e k h w i y a , T e c h n i c a l ,

Telecommunication and Security Systems Units, communications and other departments in the country. The National Command Center (NCC) and the Media Unit, represented by the Public Rela-tions Department, also partic-ipate in the security committee.

He said that there are several committees under the Organ-ising Committee of the tour-nament. Each committees has started its missions through coordination since the formation of the team before the last World athletics Championships, which was hosted by London in 2017, where a delegation went there to benefit from the British

experience and organisation. The Security Committee has fully prepared for this event and is ready to secure the sports facil-ities where events are held as well as the security of hotels where participating delegations would stay. A comprehensive security plan has been prepared for the championship to ensure the success of this major event in accordance with the repu-tation of the State of Qatar.

Captain Mubarak Bilal Al Ali said that the Security Committee had sought all the security means, which includes field tours on the facilities of the championship in addition to drawing plans for roads and transport and the adoption of major roads and alternative ways to facilitate traffic for par-ticipating teams, citizens and residents.

He urged to visit the official website of the tournament for entry details as well as other organisational information. He also advised public to follow the instructions of the security men inside the stadium and not to impede the movement of others or obscure their vision and enjoy the competitions.

04 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

Qatar, Venezuela discuss boosting ties

The Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, met yesterday with the Ambassador of Venezuela to Qatar, Giuseppe Angelo Yoffreda Yorio. The meeting discussed cooperation relations between Qatar and the friendly country of Venezuela in the fields of transportation and communications and means of further enhancing them.

Qatar to participate in GCC committee meeting QNA DOHA

The State of Qatar will partic-ipate in the 29th Ministerial Meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council Agricultural Cooperation Committee to be held today in Muscat, Oman.

Qatar’s delegation will be

headed by the Minister of Munic-ipality and Environment H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie.

The meeting will discuss a number of topics related to agri-culture, livestock and fisheries.

The State of Qatar is partic-ipating in the 27th meeting of the Undersecretaries of

Agriculture Ministries of the GCC, which kicked off yesterday in Muscat. Its delegation was led by Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Under-Sec-retary for Agriculture and Fishery Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment, to prepare for tomor-row’s ministerial meeting.

Ooredoo announces partnership with Gulf ExchangeTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo yesterday announced a new partnership with Gulf Exchange, enabling Ooredoo Money customers to access Gulf Exchange services via the Ooredoo Money app.

Gulf Exchange, an ISO 9001:2015 certified company with a 40-year history of pro-viding money transfers and cur-rency/gold bullions sale and pur-chase services in Qatar, has joined the Ooredoo Money network. The partnership was celebrated with a launch cer-emony attended by several senior officials from both Ooredoo and Gulf Exchange. Ooredoo Money customers can now access quick, easy transfers to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka via

Gulf Exchange, at great rates and with competitive fees.

Transfers to bank accounts in India and bkash wallets in Bangladesh will be completed within 60 seconds and to the other countries within 72 hours.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Com-munications at Ooredoo, said:

“We’re delighted to be working with such a respected firm with a solid legacy of providing reliable, efficient financial trans-actions in Qatar. We’re proud of the service we offer with Ooredoo Money, as we know our customers rely on us to help them take care of everyday financial needs such as sending

money home to their families, and we’re pleased to have yet another partner with whom our customers can carry out these transactions. We look forward to a great working relationship that will help ensure Ooredoo Money remains the preferred digital financial transactions platform in Qatar.”

Officials pose during the event organised to announce Ooredoo’s new partnership with Gulf Exchange, enabling Ooredoo Money customers to access Gulf Exchange services via the Ooredoo Money app.

Amir’s visit to boost solid Qatar-France ties

FROM PAGE 1During the official visit of

H H the Amir, Qatar and France had signed a number of agree-ments. An agreement was signed between Qatar Free Zone Authority and Thales Group in order for the latter to open a branch in Doha. The two sides also signed an agreement on mutual recognition of driving licenses between the govern-ments of the two countries with the aim of promoting joint coop-eration between the citizens of the two countries.

Another agreement was signed between the Qatar Uni-versity and the University of Southern Brittany in order to develop the scientific cooper-ation between the two univer-sities to benefit from the common capabilities, especially in the field of cybersecurity.

Also a Letter of Intent was signed between the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in Qatar and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the French Republic aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two countries.

Another big development in the bilateral relations was the visit of Prime Minister of the French Republic, Edouard Philippe to Qatar in March this year. During the visit, Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and Prime Minister of the French Republic held official talks-session and witnessed the signing of a number of agreements and memorandums of under-standing between both governments.

The two sides witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between the Ministry of the Interior in the French Republic and the security committee for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

A n a d m i n i s t r a t i v e arrangement annexe for coop-eration between the French Ministry of Justice and the Public Prosecution in Qatar on promoting cooperation in the field of fighting cyber crimes was also signed.

The two sides also wit-nessed the signing of a letter of intent between Qatar Museums and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on moving the French Institute in

Qatar to Bait Al Zaman. A letter of intent between Qatar Museums and Palais de Tokyo in Paris and a cooperation agreement between Imagine institute for genetic diseases and Hamad bin Khalifa Uni-versity was also signed.

State of Qatar and the French Republic share a common vision that it is impos-sible to have stability in the Middle East or the world unless there is a just and compre-hensive solution to the issue through the implementing international legitimacy reso-lutions, complying with the concept of a two-state solution which was agreed to by the international community, the Arab Peace Initiative and estab-lishing the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jeru-salem as its capital.

Business ties have also strengthened between the two countries. The robust business ties are reflected in the strong growth in volume of bilateral trade. The volume of trade between the two friendly coun-tries has grown from around QR9.14bn in 2016 to over QR14bn in 2018.

Qatari investments in France include several sectors such as energy, real estate, hotels, financial services, transport, communications and sports.

France also remains one of the leading destinations for Qatari foreign investment, as Qatar’s investments in France were estimated to be around €30bn in 2018. There are a large number of French companies investing in the Qatari market. The number of French com-panies setting up business in Qatar is rising and the existing

ones are expanding their oper-ations here. Some 200 French companies are working alongside public and private stakeholders such as the QFC on key projects in oil and gas, electricity and water, transport, urban development and other fields.

Each year, delegations of businessmen from both coun-tries meet to explore potential b i l a t e r a l i n v e s t m e n t opportunities.

One of the major factors behind the growth in bilateral relations are the events organised to encourage private sector of both countries. One such important event is Qatar-France Business and Investment Forum which was organised last year.

Cultural ties between the two countries are also flour-ishing. A plethora of concerts and dance shows featuring tal-ented French artistes have also been organised in Qatar in the past years, the most recent of which was the unique show by the musical quintet called Cinq de Coeur who entertained the audience with their humor and vocal skills.

Just last year, acclaimed all-female hip hop dance company Swaggers mesmerized Doha with their uniquely crafted artistic dance show at Katara Drama Theatre.

In 2017, another French hip hop group of international renown, Pockemon Crew heated up the Katara Drama Theatre stage showcasing their originality blending cinema and dance in a spectacular show.

French musicians have also featured in the annual Katara European Jazz Festival which in the past five years has cele-brated jazz music through a series of concerts representing the various European embassies in Qatar. Cultural ties between Qatar and France are expected to get a further boost with a slew of events and activities to be organised in both countries in line with the Qatar-France 2020 Year of Culture.

The upcoming 2020 Year of Culture initiative of Qatar Museums to promote mutual understanding, recognition and appreciation between both sov-ereign nations reaffirms the deep bond that exists between Qatar and France.

Katara signs MoC with Qatar Society of Petroleum Engineers QNA DOHA

The Cultural Village Foun-dation (Katara) signed yesterday a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with the Qatar Society of Petroleum Engineers (QSPE) to take advantage of the various cultural facilities of Katara to hold cultural events, programs, courses, training seminars and exhibitions, and to encourage young people to work in this sector.

In his remarks during a press conference, General Manager of Katara Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti said that the new partnership with the QSPE seeks to attract young people to engage in petroleum engineering, strengthen the

capabilities of Qatari engineers and raise their scientific com-petence in various fields, by providing them with the optimal atmosphere of edu-cation and training through series of lectures and seminars that will be held by the QSPE in Katara’s halls and theaters.

Al Sulaiti expressed his hope that the partnership will contribute to furthering the process of engineering devel-opment and attract Qatari engi-neers to these activities to keep up with the latest technological and scientific developments in petroleum engineering in all its branches, stressing that Katara always seeks to develop the skills of Qatari youth in order to have a prominent and pivotal role in the process of devel-opment and renaissance.

205 Qatari engineers serving KahramaaSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Qatari engineers are making great contributions in term of supervising, designing and following up the key projects of electricity and water of Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), said an official.

“The number of Qatari engi-neers (male and female) reached 205 who are holding key posi-tions in the Corporation,” said Mohamad Ali Al Muhannadi, Director of Public Relation Department at Kahramaa while speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of Engineer’s Day.

Kahramaa has marked Engi-neer’s Day on third consecutive year to highlight the role of the engineers in the country.

The annual event which is observed on September 17 also aims at enhancing communi-cation and exchange of experi-ences among engineers, creating awareness of the challenges and sharing best engineering prac-tices in the sector, and revealing the possibilities, capabilities and creativity of young talent.

Kahramaa hosted Eng. Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa,

CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), as guest of honour for this year to narrate his story of suc-cesses throughout his career which started from Kahramaa.

The event was attended by Eng. Khalid Ahmed Al Nasr, Chairman of Qatar Engineers Association, and representatives from Qatar University and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Texas A&M University, a number of engineering stu-dents in Qatar.

Addressing the event, Kah-ramaa President, Eng Issa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, said: “We are keen to provide the best training and development programmes for Kahramaa engineers, in cooperation with the best insti-tutions and international firms to meet their professional ambi-tions and qualify them to con-tribute effectively to the devel-opment process of the country.”

He said that Kahramaa also provided a unique work envi-ronment that encourages young talent, stimulates creativity and innovation in the field of work and provides ideal opportunities for engineers to acquire the nec-essary professional and technical knowledge to qualify them for leadership positions. The event

included a short film about the engineer’s career in Kahramaa and the distinctive training and development programmes pro-vided by the Kahramaa in order to attract engineers and provide a work environment to boost creativity and innovation.

On the sidelines of the Engi-neer’s Day, Kahramaa organised an exhibition of projects and inventions in which a number of Kahramaa engineers partici-pated with their inventions and research projects, in addition to presenting projects from Qatar University and Texas A&M University.

Engineer’s Day witnessed a seminar entitled ‘Achievements and Challenges of Engineers in Kahramaa and How to Overcome Them’. The panellists included Eng Mohammed Yousef Al Kubaisi, Head of Operation and Maintenance; Eng. Aisha Ali Al Mohammadi, Head of Transport Planning Department; and Eng. Jaber Hamad Al Marri Senior Engineer, Major Business Projects. During the meeting, they reviewed the most important achievements of the Kahramaa and key challenges of engineers and ways to overcome them.

Abdulaziz Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB, and Eng. Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, President of Kahramaa, touring with other officials during the Engineer’s Day event and associated exhibition held by Kahramaa at Hilton Hotel, yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Another agreement was signed between the Qatar University and the University of Southern Brittany in order to develop the scientific cooperation between the two universities to benefit from the common capabilities, especially in the field of cybersecurity.

05THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

Qatar and the UK enjoy strong & historic bilateral relations, says British EnvoyTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The strong ties between Qatar and the UK in several areas have further expanded in the past years, said British Ambassador to Qatar, Ajay Sharma, in a statement yesterday.

“Over the course of the last few years, I have seen changes in the nature of the relationship between our countries,” he said.

“The relationship that we have between the UK and Qatar is historic, deep, and important. We would also like to further deepen the intergenerational relationship, so people in Qatar feel that not only was the UK the best friend of Qatar in the past, but also we are the best friend of Qatar in the future,” Sharma added.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will hold talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, London, on Friday (tomorrow), on strengthening strategic rela-tions and bilateral cooperation in various fields of partnership, in addition to exchanging views on the latest developments in the region and the world, according to the QNA.

Ajay Sharma further said in the statement: “We in the UK are entering a new period in our history as we leave the European Union. It is a good illustration of the strength of the relationship that in this key moment in our history, we have a meeting between our Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Friday (tomorrow). This goes to show how much Qatar matters to UK, but also how much the UK matters to Qatar.”

He said that the people are visiting London and Doha all the time, whether it is for tourism, sport (we all wish Qatar in hosting the world athletics this month) for business or at the political level.

“But when we have engagement at the highest-level possible between our Prime Min-ister and H H the Amir this is something special. It is a great opportunity to set the direction for the relationship.”

He added: “We are particu-larly lucky that at the top of our systems we have people who

know our two countries well. We have a Prime Minister who knows Qatar very well. He knows Qatar from his time as Mayor of London. During his tenure, Qatar has changed the London skyline with the Shard, Chelsea Barracks, and the Olympic Village.

“There is a whole series of projects that happened in London involving Qatar which have made the Prime Minister someone who knows about the country. He visited Qatar several times as Mayor of London. But he also knows Qatar not only from a London perspective but as our previous Foreign Sec-retary, when he visited Qatar just after the dispute started in the summer of 2017. He has strong relationships with people in Qatar.”

On the other side, the Ambassador said, H H the Amir knows the UK so well from his time at Sandhurst, his time at school, and his frequent visits to the UK. “So this puts us in a really good place in terms of t a k i n g f o r w a r d t h e relationship.”

Over the course of the last few years, Sharma said, I have seen changes in the nature of the

relationship between our coun-tries. “We now have a really strong commitment from the British government to work closely with Qatar on the World Cup.”

“We also have a really strong commitment — signed by our former Prime Minister Theresa May — to work with Qatar on 2030 National Vision. This has opened the door to lots of dif-ferent cooperation, whether on health, education, financial services, and has given people a structure and framework to share expertise and exchange information. We have also deepened our cooperation on defence through the Typhoon jet programme.

“This is not just about Qatar’s acquisition of 24 Typhoon air-craft, but a stronger defence rela-tionship over the next 30 years. That is transformational.”

“One of the outcomes from the Prime Minister - H H theAmir meeting will, I hope, be even stronger cooperation on areas of mutual benefit. This is about not only trade ( which is around £6.5 bn annually) and investment, security and defence, but also about the World Cup in particular, which is going to be with us sooner than we think.”

He said that three years is not really far away, and we in the UK want to do as much as possible to work with Qatar to ensure that the World Cup is a safe, secure and successful tournament. “We want to share our expertise from hosting the Olympics and dealing with large scale sporting events and football fans all coming

together in one place.”“We are committed to

helping Qatar diversify its economy. We’re very keen to get British companies involved in that agenda, whether it’s financial services, in particular fintech, or other services. The UK sees Qatar as a partner not only in the UK but also in Qatar and also – interestingly - in third countries. We should do more to explore what we as the UK can do with Qatar and Qatari busi-nesses in third countries.”

He said that investment has been another important part of

the relationship. “We in the UK are very pleased with the confi-dence and trust that Qatar has shown in the UK economy through its investments, which are over £35bn now.”

On the energy relationship, the Ambassador said, Qatar is a very important supplier of LNG to the UK. “The fact is that 20 to 30% of our gas imports come from Qatar. We in the UK rely heavily on Qatar, but we also want to be part of Qatar’s LNG expansion.”

He said that the UK and Qatar have a shared interest in

ensuring and working together in making this region as stable as possible, and that means looking at ways to promote dia-logue and peaceful resolution of disputes and disagreements.

“Qatar has a unique ability to reach parts of the region and the world. And we in the UK have multiple relationships with lots of different partners across the globe.

“That is why the UK and Qatar can do more in promoting regional stability and in support of the rules based international system.”

Ajay Sharma, Ambassador of the UK to Qatar.

QFFD participates in the UNGATHE PENINSULA DOHA

A high-level delegation led by Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari, Director General of Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), will participate in the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for 2019, being held in New York City from September 17 to 30 . The Fund’s participation in this session is based on its belief in the impor-tance of human development in the education, health and economic empowerment sectors, which the Fund focuses on through its projects and activ-ities, which in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and Qatar National Vision 2030.

On the sidelines of the

UNGA meetings, the dele-gation will participate in several side events related to development affairs in coop-eration with local Qatari and international strategic partners, such as: The role of Sport in Safeguarding and Empowering Refugees and IDPs, where QFFD worked alongside Qatar Charity.

The Fund will also partic-ipate in various events with Edu-cation Above All Foundation such as, Corporations Estab-lishing Outsourcing Centers for Y o u t h E m p o w e r m e n t : Addressing the Needs of the Global Market through Higher Education, Civic Leadership and 21st Century skills.

Moreover, QFFD will also participate in the side event effectiveness of investment in

education, skills and jobs in the health sector organized by Silatech.

During the 74th session of the UNGA, QFFD will conduct discussions on global issues that tackles problems such as human rights, sustainable development, health, youth empowerment and, finally, education.

The importance of QFFD participation in this session comes in the value of experi-ences exchange and further broadening the horizon in related fields, in addition to reaching sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the sectors in cooperation with the Fund’s strategic partners from the United Nations organiza-tions and international and l o c a l d e v e l o p m e n t institutions.

Qatar attends GCC Assistants of A-G meetingQNA MUSCAT

Qatar’s Public Prosecution took part in the 10th meeting of Assistants of the Attorneys-General, Prosecutors and Heads of Investigative Bodies in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which concluded in Muscat yesterday.

The delegation of the Public

Prosecution to the meeting was headed by First Attorney General and Director of the Judicial Inspection Department Ibrahim Abdullah Al Qubaisi.

The meeting discussed a set of topics related to the work of the Public Prosecution and the Attorney General in the GCC States, most importantly the rules of the joint cooperation

between the GCC Public Pros-ecution and the Attorney General, the guidelines for the inspection of the work of members, the rules of child pro-tection and other topics on the agenda.

The meeting comes in prep-aration for the GCC Attorneys-General meeting, due to be held in Muscat in October.

The meeting between the two leaders goes to show how much Qatar matters to UK, but also how much the UK matters to Qatar, said the UK Ambassador.

All new Toyota Corolla2020 on display at Doha Festival City THE PENINSULA DOHA

Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. (AAB), sole agents for Toyota vehicles in Qatar, is reaching out to car enthusiasts through a road show at the Doha Festival City by displaying the all new Toyota Corolla 2020 year model that was launched in June this year.

The roadshow which began on September 12 will continue till September 20, is aimed to take Toyota Corolla closer to car lovers who didn’t get an oppor-tunity to look at the latest model. AAB displayed Corolla gasoline model from September 12 to 17 and will display Hybrid model from September 18 to 20.

This is for the visitors to the booth to understand the dif-ference in technology in the Hybrid model and how the

Hybrid Electric Vehicle operates.

During the Roadshow, All and About Qatar has partnered with AAB Toyota to give visitors the chance to experience the all new Corolla 2020. This part-nership has enticed an online social media competition where you can win a test drive for a whole week with the all new Corolla 2020.

Corolla is Toyota’s all-time best-selling car and a symbolic name for everyone since the 1st generation was launched in 1966. Today Corolla is built in 13 countries and more than 47 million vehicles have been man-ufactured since the 1st generation.

With each new generation, the Corolla has evolved; new advanced features and functions have been introduced to suit the

needs of the time, all while inheriting the original model’s core DNA-reliability and usa-bility-from the very first generation.

Exemplifying Toyota’s con-tinuous commitment to pro-viding environment friendly vehicles is the addition of a hybrid electric model, which combines two power sources consisting of a petrol engine and two electric motors.

The class-leading model offers the lowest fuel con-sumption value in its category at 27.6km/L, enabling customers to contribute to a greener future while enjoying the increased driving satisfaction provided by its advanced technologies.

The new model offers excep-tional cabin quietness and smooth acceleration, especially when accelerating from a stand-still.

Toyota Corolla 2020 on display at Doha Festival City.

Sherborne Qatar completes 10 yearsTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

September 2019 marks Sherborne Qatar’s 10th birthday and the school is proud of the significant contribution that it makes to the quality of education offered in Qatar. Sherborne School in the UK, founded by King Edward VI in 1550 under a royal charter, is one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious independent schools. In 2009 the school established Sherborne Qatar, in partnership with Sharaka Holdings, the first British independent school to be a member of Qatar’s Outstanding Schools’ Programme.

The future shines even brighter for Sherborne Qatar as construction is well underway for an all girls school at Al Ebb, near Doha Festival City, welcoming girls from Pre-Prep, Prep and Seniors to Year 12 - set to open in 2020 - and a 8 form entry new co-ed school, at a location to be announced shortly, is set to open in 2021.

Today, Sherborne Qatar is providing over 1200 pupils from 54 nationalities with world-class British education that is shaped for the opportunities and chal-lenges of the 21st century. Sher-borne Qatar pupils, many of them using English as a second lan-guage, achieve excellent results.

This year’s IGCSE results were the school’s best ever with 87 percent of pupils achieving grade 4 or higher and 37 percent of all grades achieved were the top 9 – 7 grades. The A level results were also the best ever, with 82 percent of grades being grade A* to C and 39% at A* or A.

These figures are well above the UK average. Prep School pupils achieve similarly strong results. Sheikha Amal Al Thani, Managing Director of Sherborne Qatar, noted that she is delighted by the positive work ethic and determination to succeed dem-

onstrated by the pupils.Dr. Dominic Luckett, Head-

master and CEO of Sherborne School in the UK said: “I wish Sherborne Qatar a very happy tenth birthday. It has been for all of us an absolute pleasure to see Sherborne Qatar grow from small beginnings into the happy, suc-cessful and thriving schools that now exists.”

Nick Prowse, Principal and CEO of Sherborne Qatar, is proud of what it has been achieved in the ten years since 2009 and opti-mistic for our future as we con-tinue to provide an excellent edu-cation for both the Qatari and expat communities.

Sheikha Noura Al Thani, Chairman of Governors, said: “I wish Sherborne Qatar every success with their 10th birthday celebrations. My own children have attended both Sherborne School in the UK and Sherborne Qatar and I am delighted that both schools share the same values and a high quality education.”

Our 10th Year Celebration on 19th September will be attended by, amongst other dignitaries, Sheikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Thani, Sheikha Amal bint Jassim Al Thani, Sheikha Noura bint Nasser Al Thani and Sheikha Haya bint Ahmed Al Thani together with founding staff, pupils and parents who are still in the school.

Indian Islamic monuments on show at KataraRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Thirty-three stunning images reflecting the rich Islamic heritage of India are on show at a solo photography exhibition by renowned Indian art historian and prolific photographer and filmmaker Benoy K Behl.

Titled “Islamic Monuments of India,” the exhibition at Katara Cultural Village is a bril-liant showcase of centuries-old Islamic archi-tectural masterpieces found in various states of India seen through the eyes of Behl. Among the photos on display are of Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Mosque of Sultan Ahmad Shah and Bilal Khan Qazi Mosque in Gujarat, Red Fort in New Delhi, and Turkash Mahal in Karnataka.

Dr. Khalid Bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara officially launched the exhibition on Tuesday in the presence of P. Kumaran, Ambassador of India to Qatar, other officials and a number of artists.

Al Sulaiti lauded how the artist was able to document an important aspect of India’s heritage artistically capturing on lens a variety of Islamic monuments.

The exhibition is presented by the Indian Embassy and Katara and comes in line with the celebration of Qatar-India 2019 Year of Culture.

“The Qatar-India 2019 Year of Culture has opened doors to learn more about this diverse cultural heritage and this exhibition seeks to further strengthen the cultural rela-tions between Qatar and India,” he said while stressing the keenness of Katara to hold such exhibitions constantly with various embassies to build bridges of communication between different peoples.

“The most important characteristic of India is its religious and cultural pluralism, which made it carry a historical heritage and cultural spirit for more than 5,000 years,”

said Kumaran adding India is home to archi-tectural designs and landmarks which were constructed through different periods in history and reflect India’s distinctive civilization.

The Ambassador thanked Katara for its continuous efforts to open windows to dif-ferent civilizations and bring people together.

Over the past four decades, Behl has taken over 52,000 photos of Asian monu-ments and art and filmed 140 documentaries on art history. His works have been exhibited in 72 countries around the world.

The exhibition, which provides an inval-uable opportunity to learn more about India’s rich history and culture, will remain open for public viewing every day from 10am to 10pm until September 28 at Building 19 Gallery 1.

Dr. Khalid Bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, and P Kumaran, Ambassador of India to Qatar, view the photos on display at the opening of “Islamic Monuments of India” on Tuesday at Katara Building No. 19.

Among the photos on display are of Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Mosque of Sultan Ahmad Shah and Bilal Khan Qazi Mosque in Gujarat, Red Fort in New Delhi, and Turkash Mahal in Karnataka.

Two faculty members from Texas A&M University at Qatar recognisedTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Dr Nayef Alyafei, Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering, and Dr Joseph Ura, Associate Professor of Political Science, were recently honoured with the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students College-level Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching.

Alyafei is a Class of 2009 graduate of Texas A&M at Qatar and joined the faculty of his alma mater in fall 2015 after completing his PhD at Imperial College London (UK). In 2018, he was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year by Texas A&M at Qatar for his outstanding teaching and mentoring. Ura joined the faculty of the branch campus in 2019. He was selected to receive the award for his outstanding teaching in and out of the classroom as a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M’s main campus, where, in 12 years, he taught more than 4,000 Aggies of all majors and disciplines.

06 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

More embassies join ‘Green Initiative’ for recycling paper

Three more Embassies and an organisation of gas exporting countries have joined the ‘Green Initiative’ of Elite Paper Recy-cling (EPR) — a Qatari company — by signing a partnership agreement to promote envi-ronment sustainability and recy-cling across all their programmes and activities.

The initiative aims at pro-moting sustainability and pro-tecting environment by reducing the uses of paper waste through recycling and running campaigns to educate people about reducing wastage.

The agreement was signed, separately, by Ambassador of Tanzani, Fatma Mohammed Rajab; Ambassador of Ecuador, Ivonne A-Baki; Ambassador of Sweden, Anders Bengtcen; Sec-retary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), Yury Sentyurin; and Chairman, EPR, Abdalla Al

Suwaidi at an event held at the headquarters of GECF yesterday.Under the agreement, the partners will get their waste papers recycled with the support of EPR, which will deliver recy-cling cages, collect recyclable materials, and recycle waste paper in an eco-friendly manner.

“We are here today for such an important signing ceremony on environment protection issue which is something that is very close to my heart,” said Ambas-sador of Ecuador, Ivonne A-Baki.

Impressed with the initiative, Al-Baki said that she was very proud to be part of it by signing the agreement which protect environment by saving trees which give oxygen.

Ambassador of Sweden, Anders Bengtcen said: “It is important for us to sign this agreement because this is a con-crete way to ensure the sustain-ability in Qatar.” He said that recycling paper makes important resource which has significant economic and environmental

benefits. Ambassador of Tanzani,

Fatma Mohammed Rajab, said: “I am very proud to join this joint effort, Green Initiative, which helps maintain environment pro-tection in Qatar. She said that that the protection of envi-ronment is very important for all over the world. “We have just abolished plastic bags to promote the environment in Tanzania,” said Rajab.

Chairman, EPR, Abdalla Al Suwaidi announced yesterday that the company will launch new project the ‘Eco Dome’ during Qatar Sustainability Week in October. “The idea of Eco Dome is to show actual scenes to young generation and students that what will happen in case of excessive using of papers and no recycling,” said Al Suwaidi . He said that the project will help demonstrate to the children that how papers come to them which causes cutting large number trees, destroying forests and animals killed. He said that the EPR

recycles 3,000 tonnes of paper in a month. “We collect paper wastes from over 250 schools and over 300 homes daily basis. Only paper wastes from homes account 2.5 tonnes in a day,” he added.

Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), Yury Sentyurin said: The initiative which we are set to support focused on protection of environment and build a solid

ground for self-sufficiency and self-sustainability.” He said that the recycle program is one step forward to support national economy by saving consumer goods from waste.

FROM LEFT: Catina Aghayan, Business Strategy Adviser, Elite Paper Recycling (EPR); Fatma Mohammed Rajab, Ambassador of Tanzania to Qatar; Anders Bengtcen, Ambassador of Sweden to Qatar; Ivonne A-Baki, Ambassador of Ecuador to Qatar; Yury Sentyurin, Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF); and Abdalla Al Suwaidi, Chairman Elite Paper Recycling pose for a group photo after signing the MoUs between the EPR and the embassies at a function held at GECF offices in Doha yesterday. PIC BY: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

07THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events Center offers training programmeTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events Center is set to offer a training programme for the management and organisation of mass events from September 22 to 25 this year at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

The training programme targets minis-tries and institutions of the State concerned with the organisation of events, conferences and exhibitions.

The programme’s idea is to enrich and develop knowledge, skill and experience of the participants in the field of planning and organising the events, conferences and exhibitions.

Also it is meant to educate the par-ticipants about modern methods of man-aging different teams and discovering the most important obstacles and common mistakes during the planning and organisation of events and how to avoid them.

The training programme will enable the participants regarding scientific methods to organise events and develop their personal skills necessary to deal with the media and the public. I addition, the

programme will enable participants to possess that kind of personal and profes-sional skills needed for a good media speaker, his role and functions. Also, the principles of the “protocol” and “eti-quettes” will be taught during the pro-gramme as well the technique of events’ evaluation.

The programme focuses on the most important procedures and equipment nec-essary for organising events, planning to implement organisation of exhibitions and conferences, planning to organise com-mittees and support teams in the man-agement of events, and on how to market

events and via professional media campaigns.

The four-day programme will be supervised by a group of experienced trainers in the field of organising mass events namely Dr. Abdullah Jawdat Rizqallah, Media Expert and Strategic Advisor; Ali Al Ajmi, Media

Consultant specialized in professional media campaigns; Omar Ghanem, Expert of International Protocol and Etiquette and Ashraf Matar, Media Specialist.

Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events Center is expected to provide several similar training programs during the coming period, targeting the ministries and institutions of the State concerned with the organization of events, confer-ences and exhibitions.

The Center is concerned with all cultural and heritage events and cel-ebrations for national events, as well as the participation of the State of Qatar in cultural and heritage celebra-tions of Arab and international countries.

It is also concerned with devel-oping the skills of young people and making them aware of the importance of the new mass media and supporting young people to be ready and be able to use the tools of communication with the community to serve their aspira-tions and create a space for those interested in modern media in order to develop technical and creative capabilities.

Former Space Shuttle crew member says people of Qatar can ‘transform the world’THE PENINSULA DOHA

An ex-astronaut and scientist has said it would be a “travesty” for Qatar not to become a global leader in innovation — because she believes its people can change the world.

Speaking during a visit to Qatar Foundation (QF), Dr. Mary Ellen Weber, who spent almost 19 days in space on two Space Shuttle missions as a Nasa

astronaut - spoke of how she has been struck by Qatar’s com-mitment to science, research, and innovation while in the country.

“Pure research sometimes takes decades to produce results — the results of any applied or theoretical research won’t be apparent immediately,” said Dr. Weber.

“For Qatar not to participate in the global race for innovation, and be a bystander, would be a

travesty. But that is not going to happen. From what I have seen of the people I have met here, and the leadership of the country, the people of Qatar have the ability to transform the world.”

During her time in Qatar, Dr. Weber was given a tour of Edu-cation City, and an insight into QF’s work in the fields of research, development, and innovation, education, and com-munity development.

Dr. Mary Ellen Weber during a visit to Education City.

TAMM Volunteer Networklaunches series of workshopsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

As part of its programme to develop volunteer work and support young people to promote social entrepre-neurship, the TAMM Volunteer Network is organising a series of workshops to bolster volunteer work among the youth.

The first workshop will take place on September 25, 2019 and will be entitled “Introduction to Handling Dignitaries by Volun-teers”. The second workshop on “Organizing Volunteering Events” will be held on Sep-tember 29-30, 2019.

Nayef Al Shahrani, President of TAMM Volunteer Network, said that the network aspires to contribute to the development of youth volunteers so they may play a role in the service of the community.

From this respect, several workshops will be organized during the month of September for young people between the ages of 15 to 25. The workshops will focus on handling digni-taries, as well as managing and organizing events and volun-teering activities.

He further indicated that the aim of these workshops is to promote volunteer work by pre-paring and training young people to provide technical support and promote capacity building in order to cater to the needs of volunteer work and

activities. Al Shahrani added that the workshop on “Dealing with Dignitaries” will introduce vol-unteers to the basics of protocol, the art of dealing with digni-taries, the qualities of volunteer ushers and stewards, effective communication skills, body lan-guage as well as practical exer-cises during the workshop. The second workshop on managing and organizing volunteering events and activities aims at introducing volunteers to the art and skills of organizing volun-teering events and activities; planning, producing and exe-cuting events through spe-cialized committees; developing communication and marketing skills; and practical training for planning, monitoring and assessing events.

TAMM is co-founded by the Social Development Centre ‘NAMA’, Silatech, Education Above All through Reach out to Asia (ROTA), and the strategic partner the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC).

It was established to promote a shared vision and joint action towards building an integrated volunteering system and a database of volunteers connecting entrepreneurs with establishments and volunteering opportunities across the State of Qatar.

It also offers technical support and builds youth capac-ities while catering to their needs and developing their skills.

The training programme targets ministries and institutions of the State concerned with the organisation of events, conferences and exhibitions. The programme’s idea is to enrich and develop knowledge, skill and experience of the participants in the field of planning and organising the events, conferences and exhibitions.

QRCS, QFFD cover dialysis costs for Syrians in JordanTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society’s (QRCS) representation mission in Jordan has completed 9th phase of a project to provide dialysis for Syrian kidney failure patients who live out of refugee camps.

The project is fully funded by Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), with a total cost of $875,204 (nearly QR3.2m). Overall, the project covered the costs of 8,885 dialysis sessions for a total of 418 patients, almost 65 percent of all Syrian kidney failure patients who live out of camps. Also, it involves providing regular medical examinations, dialysis medications, and venous access, as well as 50 referrals to specialized hospitals.

Six hospitals were contracted to host the dialysis sessions: Irbid Islamic Hospital, Al-Qawasmi Hospital, Maqasid Charity Hos-pital, Jordan Red Crescent Hos-pital, Al-Bayader Hospital, and Italian Hospital in Karak.

According to reports, the average age of beneficiaries is 51, and 90 percent of them are jobless. They are all classified as special hardship cases (SCH) under the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Refugee Assistance Information System (RAIS).

The kidney failure cases are related to other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, depression, and stress. Dr. Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, Exec-utive Director of Relief and Inter-national Development Division at QRCS, said, “This project is vital in protecting the lives of the patients, as well as easing the burden on their families and the local community. It helps to effectively meet the demand for tertiary health care among Syrian refugees, which translates into better satisfaction, sense of security, and quality of life”.

He emphasized that the con-tracted hospitals were selected in areas near to the locations of Syrian refugees. Other humani-tarian organizations, including UNHCR, were approached to provide psychological support and other forms of assistance.

“Emergency cases were dealt with within the available resources or referred to partners who had better resources,” said Dr. Ibrahim. He thanked QFFD for its unlimited contributions over more than three years to numerous health and education projects that serve the Syrians both domestically and in neigh-boring countries.

Sidra to highlight precision medicine for diabetic childrenFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

In a major step in healthcare, Sidra Medicine is set to embark on a journey towards precision medicine in the care and treatment of children with diabetes at an upcoming conference in November.

The third ‘Current Under-standing on Diabetes, Obesity, and Related Syndromes,’ (CUDOS) symposium will highlight major findings and success stories of its precision medicine programme and the individualised and pre-ventative strategies for improving prognosis and a patient’s quality of life, said healthcare specialists addressing a press conference held at Sidra Medicine yesterday.

Sidra Medicine will host the CUDOS 2019 symposium under the theme ‘Innovative Concepts in Modern Diabetes Management between November 20 and 26 in Doha.

“The CUDOS scientific and educational series is aimed at improving the lives of children and young people with diabetes, obesity and other related diseases.

Our goal is to find solutions impacting both treatment and care for various problems asso-ciated with diabetes and its com-plications. We are looking the impact on various age groups, prevention vs early detection with a special focus on childhood dia-betes,” said Dr Ammira-Sarah Akil, Sidra Medicine Principal Investigator, Founder of CUDOS and Chairperson of CUDOS 2019. CUDOS 2019 is collaborating with Hamad Medical Corporation and its Qatar Metabolic Institute Qatar Diabetes Association, Qatar Biobank and Portsmouth Hos-pitals’ AGP Clinical Academy.

“The Symposium also repre-sents a further step along Qatar’s path to establishing the strategy of Qatar Precision Medicine — which as many of you may recall, was first announced at the grand opening of Sidra Medicine hos-pital on November 12, 2018 by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser,” said Dr Khalid Fakhro, Acting Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medicine.

“The Qatar Precision Medicine Strategy is set to transform medical care in Qatar. As a pedi-atric academic medical center,

Sidra Medicine is uniquely posi-tioned to embed precision med-icine into patient care. A precision medicine strategy will also support the discovery of the causes of diseases in Qatar, facil-itate the development of research at many levels,” he added.

CUDOS 2019 will include some ground breaking sessions with the Gulf Heart Association to highlight the cardiac risk in dia-betic patients in respect to type 1 and type 2 and related pathophys-iological mechanisms and features.

“Rising rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus in children have led to increased cardiovascular disease risks during childhood. Over time, high blood glucose from diabetes can damage blood vessels and the nerves that control the heart and

blood vessels. The longer people have diabetes, the higher the chances they have of developing heart disease,” said Prof. Ziyad M. Hijazi, Executive Chair of Pedi-atric Medicine at Sidra Medicine and Co-Chair of CUDOS 2019.

The symposium will also feature a special segment ‘Our Youth at Risk’ by Sidra Medicine, Qatar Metabolic Institute and the National Obesity Centre. The segment will discuss the preva-lence and genetic risk of obesity and the available treatment options for adolescents with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

“Overweight and obesity are major drivers for metabolic dis-eases like diabetes . Children are not spared from adults problems such as high blood sugar, blood pressure, fatty liver, joint problems. Obese children often suffer from the effects of teasing, bullying and low self-esteem,” said Dr Monica Skarulis, Deputy Director, Qatar Metabolic Institute.

In addition to the main sym-posium, CUDOS will feature several pre-conference work-shops and sessions that will be of interest to students and the public.

Dr Ammira Sarah Akil, Sidra Medicine Principal Investigator, Founder of CUDOS and Chairperson of CUDOS 2019; Prof Ziyad M Hijazi, Executive Chair of Pediatric Medicine at Sidra Medicine and Co-Chair of CUDOS 2019; Dr Khalid Fakhro, Acting Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medicine; and Dr Monica Skarulis, Deputy Director Qatar Metabolic Institute, address a press conference held yesterday, regarding the CUDOS Congress 2019.

His Excellency also affirmed Qatar’s unwavering support for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its distinguished and growing role in harnessing safe and modern nuclear technologies in all peaceful fields to serve humanity by providing a better environment in the fields of energy, treatment, disease control, food and water.

BLOOMBERG

08 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019VIEWS

Qatar calls for harnessing nuclear technologies in all peaceful fields

The State of Qatar has under-lined the importance of applying the highest standards of nuclear safety by the State

that establishes nuclear facilities in accordance with the IAEA’s approved work plan and take measures to develop contingency plans for a pos-sible nuclear accident and ensure the implementation of preventive measures for facility personnel, the civilians and the preservation of the environment, so as to ensure the development of technologies for the safe use of nuclear energy.

This came in a speech delivered by H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations organi-zations in Vienna, and head of its del-egation to the 63rd session of the General Conference of the Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), currently being held in Vienna.

His Excellency also affirmed Qatar’s unwa-vering support for the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its distin-guished and growing role in harnessing safe and modern nuclear tech-nologies in all peaceful fields to serve humanity by providing a better envi-ronment in the fields of energy, treatment, disease control, food and water.

He also praised the IAEA’s keenness to benefit from the peaceful applications

of nuclear energy under nuclear security and safety systems and to help developing countries to benefit from this energy in a way that con-tributes to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He highlighted the State of Qatar’s interest in cooperating with the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

and benefiting from its technical coop-eration programs, building capacities in the field of peaceful nuclear tech-nology through the development of the State’s infrastructure, the prepa-ration of qualified personnel, and the issuance of national legislation in the nuclear field.

He expressed Qatar’s hope to expand cooperation and partnership with the Agency in various technical projects, especially after the State of Qatar issued Law No. (3) of 2018 on the national system for the inventory and control of nuclear materials, which is currently underway in order to prepare the executive decision on the law.

His Excellency noted that many countries in the Middle East are con-cerned about the safety and security of reactors located within the region, and fear of any possible effects of these reactors resulting from natural dis-asters or the result of human error or terrorist act.

He also stressed the responsibility of the operator of nuclear reactors under international conventions to cooperate and consult with countries in the vicinity of the nuclear facility to the extent that they are likely to be affected by the facility and to provide them with the necessary information to assess the potential impacts.

HE Sultan bin Salmeen Al Man-souri reviewed the efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East and said that the State of Qatar regretted that these efforts had been hampered by the lack of political will of the international community to

implement the 1995 resolution on the establishment of the zone, although that decision was a key factor in reaching consensus on the indefinite extension of the NPT.

“The failure to implement this res-olution, which represents a com-mitment on the part of all States parties to the Treaty, especially the three depositary states that have adopted the resolution, has eroded the credibility of the Treaty and even the non-proliferation system as a whole,” he added.

He stressed that the international community today, in light of existing regional and international tensions, is in dire need to re-act to implement this resolution and to establish a Middle East zone free of such weapons as a necessary step towards the uni-versality of the comprehensive safe-guards system.

He said the State of Qatar believes that the establishment of this zone represents a comprehensive regional approach to address the problem of nuclear proliferation because the manner of dealing with each country has proved to be selective and dis-criminatory in dealing from one country to another and causes imbal-ances in regional powers.

H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Man-souri, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations organizations in Vienna, con-cluded his speech by stressing that the State of Qatar is ready to cooperate fully with the Agency as it recognizes the important role it plays in the inter-national peace and security system.

QNA VIENNA

QUOTE OF THE DAYWe will try our best

to revive the Afghan peace process. I assure

you that we will use full force so that these

dialogues proceed further. It is unfortunate

that these peace talks were suspended.

Imran Khan Pakistan Prime Minister

Angela Merkel has one last chance to help the climate

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has aspired to fight climate change at

least since she was envi-ronment minister in the 1990s. This week, ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, she may get her best chance: On Friday, her Cabinet will unveil a sweeping policy package intended to reduce green-house-gas emissions. The question is how bold she’s willing to be.

There’s no doubt that Germany, the world’s sixth-largest carbon polluter, needs to do better. At current rates, it will reach its emission goals for 2020 eight years late, and its goals for 2030 only in 2046. The government plans to get the economy off coal by 2038, but that isn’t fast enough. There’s not much consensus on how to improve this picture.

By far the best policy option would be a carbon tax, which would put a simple and transparent price on the dirty gases emitted by cars, homes and factories.

Consumers could adjust to this signal by changing their lifestyles or adopting cleaner technologies, while com-panies would be prodded to reduce fossil-fuel use and make greener products. The proceeds could even be redistributed to taxpayers as a dividend.

Unfortunately, the pros-pects for such a plan are dim. Merkel’s junior partners, the center-left Social Democrats, would support it. But her own center-right Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party balk at anything containing the word “tax” and fear a German version of last year’s “yellow vest” protests in France against higher fuel prices.

Politically, then, Germany may have to settle for the second-best option: an emis-sions-trading system, also known as cap-and-trade. This would also aim to put a price on emissions, albeit indirectly. Whereas a tax fixes the price of carbon, cap-and-trade fixes the amount of emissions and lets pol-luting companies set the price by selling and buying allowances.

Although the European Union already has such a system, it covers only a few sectors, such as steel and cement makers. For more than a decade, moreover, the cap was set too high, making prices too low to encourage companies to invest in cleaner technology. As the EU’s largest economy, Germany could try to fix this system by (for example) expanding what sectors it applies to. But as during the euro crisis, it seems reluctant to play leader.

A more realistic plan is to at least agree on a national emissions-trading system that covers transportation and the heating of buildings. This would involve complex new certification rules, require monitoring and audit systems, invite litigation, and take a while to set up. But it would still cut emissions - which is better than nothing.

The worst outcome on Friday would be for the Cabinet, composed of parties that loathe each other, to offer a watered down trading system for the sake of com-promise. Rumors are circu-lating to this effect. The idea

would be to combine a cap-and-trade system with a price ceiling. If, for example, the price of a metric ton of greenhouse gases were to rise above 70 euros ($77), the government would issue unlimited additional allow-ances to push it down again. That would require all the added bureaucracy of a trading system while under-mining its primary benefit.

As is its wont, Merkel’s government would probably disguise such a cop-out amid a thicket of other proposals. Many of these may be sen-sible, such as subsidizing electric cars and their charging stations, helping landlords install modern heating, or reducing the value-added tax on train tickets to make them more attractive relative to flights. But at heart, the package would still be a fudge.

And that would be a shame. As a leader in Europe and a potential model for countries elsewhere, Germany needs to get more ambitious about climate change - and Merkel won’t get a better opportunity than this.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIALAttracting foreign investors

Qatar’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) has joined the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), which is a step in the right direction.

The move will help in attracting Foreign Direct Investment in Qatar. The newly formed IPA was established to boost Qatar’s FDI by providing international investors with a simple and streamlined process for establishing businesses in the country.

WAIPA is an international non-governmental organi-zation that provides opportunities for investment promotion agencies worldwide to network and exchange best practices in investment promotion. IPA serves as a complete source of investment solutions for FDI in all of Qatar’s priority sectors. Its membership of WAIPA will provide the Agency access to resources and significant advances in FDI facili-tation, and the opportunity to network and share effective strategies in attracting investments.

Investments in Qatar have gone through a 6.6 percent increase in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the corre-sponding quarter of last year (Q1 2018), according to the quarterly FDI report issued by the Planning and Statistics Authority and Qatar Central Bank.

Qatar’s economy has shown resilience by registering con-tinuous growth despite illegal siege imposed by blockading countries. As per the Qatar Eco-nomic Outlook released by Planning and Statistics Authority, real GDP is projected to grow at average rate of 2.8 percent during 2018-2020.

According to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) report, payment systems in Qatar com-prising of retail and wholesale segment grew in comparison to the previous year, both in value and in volume terms. The size of Qatar’s payment system was QR4.1 trillion in 2018.

Also, shares in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QE) have risen significantly, with the current account surplus increasing and the country’s large foreign exchange reserves rebuilt.

More recently, total reserves in the banking system remained stable at QR80.3bn in July, which showed a 9.7 percent increase from July 2018 and a 43.7 percent increase since the second month

of the blockade in July 2017, Al Byraq Center for Economic and Financial Studies noted in its weekly analysis. The net foreign assets increased by 52.3 percent to QR139.97bn in July 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. In its report, the QCB reiterated that the Qatari economy was completely out of the initial negative effects of the economic blockade imposed since June 2017.

According to QCB, liquidity improved in banking system supported by benign fiscal position and current account balance. Improvements in stock market also boosted the operating environment of the banking sector. All the financial parameters show that Qatar is set to become economic power house in the region.

Qatar’s economy has shown resilience by registering continuous growth despite illegal siege imposed by blockading countries. As per the Qatar Economic Outlook released by Planning and Statistics Authority, real GDP is projected to grow at average rate of 2.8 percent during 2018-2020.

H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations organisations, speaking at 63rd session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Our strength as Muslims living in the United States, in my judgment, and if we are to have any enduring effect on this country, is precisely in our diversity, multiplicity, and in fact undecidability, in the fact that we cannot be pigeonholed and defined and ruled.

09THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 OPINION

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Countries should deal with attacks on SaudiArabia oil facilities

Who is a ‘Muslim American?’

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

HAMID DABASHI AL JAZEERA

Oil-related facilities were attacked in Saudi Arabia and as a result, the pro-duction of crude oil,

totaling 5.7 million barrels a day, was temporarily suspended. The sus-pended output accounts for half of the daily crude oil output in the country, or more than 5 percent of the world’s crude oil supply. Such large-scale attacks on major oil facil-ities, considered the mainstay for an oil-producing country, are unprecedented.

They were despicable attacks that will further heighten tensions in the Middle East, while also adversely affecting the global economy. The countries concerned need to find out the whole truth about the attacks and make diplomatic efforts to prevent

the situation from deteriorating.Houthi rebels, an armed group in

the neighboring country of Yemen, have claimed responsibility for drone attacks on the oil facilities. In Yemen, a civil war is being fought between a transitional government led by Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Houthi movement, strife that has taken on an aspect of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which supports the Hadi administration, and Iran, which backs the Houthi rebels.

Therefore, Saudi Arabia and the United States have strengthened their suspicion that Iran was behind the latest attacks on the facilities. A statement from the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said “Iranian weapons were used in the attacks.” Iran has not admitted to involvement.

Which forces launched the attacks, and from where and for what purposes? It is feared that each of the countries concerned will make asser-tions that suit its own purposes. It is vital to gather concrete pieces of evi-dence, clarify the responsibility for the attacks and deal with them level-headedly.

US President Donald Trump has said, “I don’t want war.” It is appro-priate for him to show a cautious

stance on taking military action against Iran.

Trump has dismissed hawkish presidential advisor John Bolton, who opposed Washington’s holding dia-logue with Tehran. It is important for the United States to continue looking for an opportunity to hold dialogue and ease tensions with Iran.

Iran, for its part, must wield its clout regarding the Houthis, while refraining from taking actions that would escalate regional tensions further. It is worrisome that the pros-pects for Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities to return to normal remain opaque, raising crude oil prices sharply.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest source of crude oil for Japan, which relies on the oil-producing country for nearly 40 percent of its total imports of crude oil. Should the recovery of Saudi Ara-bia’s oil production be delayed, with crude oil prices hovering at high levels for a protracted period, the prices of gasoline and other fuels will rise. It is feared that increases in the cost of transportation and the like will increase the burden on companies and general households.

If the prices of liquefied natural gas, used for thermal power gener-ation, are affected as well, electricity rates will also go up.

I recently read two very informed and informative pieces on Al Jazeera on the situation of “Muslim Americans.” One was very critical

and the other, quite complimentary. Both authors of these two short essays were making important and cogent points. I did not think I had to take side with one or the other. They were both making valid points.

In one of those articles, I read about “the political impotence of the Muslim American community,” in which Ali Al-Arian argued: “Today prominent Muslim American figures and organi-sations stifle the spirit of political resistance in our community.” In the other, Abbas Barzegar countered: “Actually, American Muslims are at the centre of the resistance,” further telling us: “Despite challenges inside and outside the community, Muslim Amer-icans have stood up to Islamophobia and the far right.”

I always read these pieces with obvious interest and a bit of curiosity for I wonder who gets to be this thing they keep calling “Muslim American?” In between their learned exchanges I kept asking myself a question they were both taking for granted.

Who is a “Muslim American?” I am a Muslim. I am also a US citizen. Am I a “Muslim American?” Yes, no, maybe - and if so in what particular sense? When they say “our community” who exactly is the member of this com-munity? Are they all Americans who profess to be Muslims, or those who congregate at certain types of mosques? The question at some point becomes quite existential.

Breaking up the stereotype Certain types of Muslims have now

cornered the market in defining who or what an “American Muslim” is. They get themselves invited to the White House, serve on certain panels, perform certain rituals. They, of course, have every right

to define how they understand what the term “American Muslim” means. But can they seriously delimit the meaning of the category in an inclusive or exclusive way? If you sport a beard or wear “the hijab,” as it is called, then you are a Muslim. If you pray in a particu-larly prescribed way or fast during the month of Ramadan or have performed your Hajj pilgrimage, well you are cer-tainly a Muslim and if you are also American then that will make you a “Muslim American”.

During the last US presidential elections, a certain Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala Khan, the bereaved parents of United States Army Captain Humayun Khan who was killed in 2004 during the Iraq War, emerged as a prominent Muslim couple speaking on behalf of these “Muslim Americans.” They were pro-Hillary Clinton and anti-Trump.

But suppose none of those things applies to you - you do not pray on a regular proscribed fashion, you do not fast during Ramadan, you do not sport a beard or wear the hijab or have per-formed your Hajj pilgrimage - and you categorically oppose war, especially the illegal and immoral US invasion of Iraq, but you are a Muslim and you are an American - would you still qualify to be called an “American Muslim” and count yourself among “our community?”

Suppose you do not carry your Islam up your sleeve, inside your head-scarf, hidden and manifest in your for-midable beard. What then? Are you still allowed into the august gatherings of “American Muslims?” If you pray, you pray privately at home, or in the hidden labyrinth of your heart and soul, not at a mosque, or a community centre. If you fast you keep it to yourself and in the sacrosanct solitude of yourself and your creator, and do not advertise it.

I have a dear friend and colleague who is a senior professor at a major Ivy

League university, a prominent scholar, a loving wife, and mother of four children. One day she confided in me, “You know,” she said, almost whis-pering, “I recently went and did my Hajj but I keep it to myself.” She does not wear the hijab or pray regularly or fast in any manifest way. She is also American. Would that make her an “American Muslim?” “The Muslim community” would be ever so poorer if she were to be denied who she is.

The unfolding history We recent Muslim immigrants who

have come to the United States before Donald Trump and Stephen Miller got to ban us altogether and make America Great for White People Again, come from all over the world. We are Arabs, Iranians, South Asians, Indonesians, Malaysians ... white, black, brown, you name it. We are Sunnis, Shias and bless them all, also “Sushis.” But all such des-ignations come together and yet they do not explain or exhaust or pigeonhole us into something called “Muslim Americans.”

Our strength as Muslims living in the United States, in my judgment, and if we are to have any enduring effect on this country, is precisely in our diversity, multiplicity, and in fact unde-cidability, in the fact that we cannot be pigeonholed and defined and ruled.

It is good that we will not, indeed cannot, put all our Muslim eggs in one denominational basket for the nefarious Islamophobes to shoot at us. The question is happily no longer who is a Sunni or a Shia. The question is something far more urgent.

The question is the future of our ancestral faith having a liberated but anchored moral rectitude that will enable our posterity to think their own thoughts, feel their own sentiments, remember their parental generation with respect but not in fear. This and next generation of Muslims must wrestle with some mighty moral issues. Pending environmental calamities, massive labour and refugee migra-tions, women’s rights, the crucial doc-trinal conundrum of same-sex mar-riage and LGBTQ+ rights, etc. These issues will unite and divide Muslims for generations to come far more seriously than any doctrinal quarrel about suc-cession to Prophet Muhammad.

The fact that despicable Islamo-phobes hate us and we hate them 10 times back cannot be the sole force of determining who and what we are.

Remembrance of things pastA key component of rethinking the

very idea of Muslims in America is to root it in the history of African-American Muslims, chief among them the unfolding legacy of Malcolm X. We must remember that the first Muslims arrived in American colonies and later in the United States as African slaves.

Equally important is to expose the sham of the white supremacist con-coction of what they call “Judeo-Christian” tradition - deliberately denying the historic facts of the “Judeo-Islamic traditions.” But it is not enough to expose this racist camouflage of the Christian Zionists. In doing so Muslims

US President Donald Trump has said, “I don’t want war.” It is appropriate for him to show a cautious stance on taking military action against Iran.

will have to find ways in which aspects of their communal faith might enter into what the prominent American sociologist Robert Bellah has called “civil religion”.

It is not enough to react to Islamophobia. We must inaugurate a far more progressive agenda of refreshing American civil liberties by adding our voices to the priceless heritage we already have in the leg-acies of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. Our recent experi-ences from Palestine to Iraq to Afghanistan to Yemen place us in active solidarity with other Amer-icans who are not Muslims, with African-Americans who might be Christians, with brave anti-Zionist activists who include a major Jewish component, with Latin-Americans, with other refugees, with environ-mentalists, social justice activists, the LGBTQ+ community, etc.

All of these are the formative moral and political forces that will define the terms of a post-Islamist liberation theology that will begin to map out the metaphysical underpin-nings of a progressive Islam from right here in the United States. The overwhelming power of Islamo-phobes and masses of millions of dollars at their disposal should not detract attention from the fact that these mostly Christian Zionists are morally and intellectually bankrupt dilatants whose advocacy for Israel is a subterfuge for their incurable and in fact doctrinal anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which itself is a flimsy cover for their white supremacist ideologies that expresses itself in such fraudulent expressions as “the Judeo-Christian tradition”.

A file photo of Democratic congressional candidate Ilhan Omar being greeted by her husband’s mother after appearing at her midterm election night party in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that his country did not want war. The Saudi defence official’s comments, and moves by the US, suggested the two allies were also working to deescalate tensions in the region.

10 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon’s Hariri suspends work at his TV channelAFP/BEIRUT

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced yesterday the suspension of Future TV, his ailing mouthpiece whose employees had recently been on strike over unpaid wages.

The channel set up by his father Rafiq Al Hariri in 1993 follows several other once-thriving Lebanon-based media outlets into bankruptcy.

“It is with a sad heart that I announce today the decision to suspend the work at Future TV and settle the rights of the workers,” Hariri’s office said in a statement.

He said the decision was

motivated by “the same material reasons that led to the closing of Al Mustaqbal newspaper” in January this year.

Hariri said the decision was not a closure and but aimed at “preparing for a new phase in which it aspires to return in the coming months.”

Future TV’s director general Ramzi Jbeily said that the “tran-sitional period” would be used to restructure and pay the chan-nel’s debts. The Saudi Oger firm, a once-mighty construction firm that was the basis of the Hariri business empire, collapsed in 2017, rendering thousands jobless.

The premier’s financial

difficulties are mirrored on the political stage, where he has nar-rowly held on to his job but struggles to juggle pressure from his rivals. Future TV’s demise

temporarily leaves him without a strong media arm in a country where all major players own a paper or channel to promote their interests.

Netanyahu falls short of majority in close vote AFP JERUSALEM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main chal-lenger Benny Gantz were dead-locked yesterday after a general election, Israeli media reported, raising the possibility of a unity government or even the end of the premier’s long rule.

Various Israeli outlets reported that Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud had 31 seats, while Gantz’s Blue and White took 32 out of a total 120 seats. But with more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Gantz’s slim lead gave no obvious path for either party to form a majority coalition, raising the possibility of negoti-ations towards a unity government.

The reports were citing elec-tions committee sources, as that level of results had not been offi-cially posted yet.

If the results hold, it will be a major setback for Netanyahu, who hoped to form a right-wing coalition similar to his current one as he faces the possibility of corruption charges in the weeks ahead. With a hoarse voice and appearing haggard after days of intense campaigning, Netanyahu spoke before supporters in the

early hours of Wednesday and said he was prepared for nego-tiations to form a “strong Zionist government.”

He seemed to hint at openness to forming a national unity government, but did not specifically say so. Gantz, addressing supporters in Tel Aviv, called for a “broad unity government” but cautioned that he was waiting for final results.

“We will act to form a broad unity government that will express the will of the people,” the former armed forces chief said. “We will begin negotiations and I will speak with everyone.”

Yesterday morning when journalists approached him as he headed out for a run, Gantz said “we’ll wait for the final results... and wish Israel a good unity government.”

Ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman could prove to be

Israeli forces, one of them carrying a map, touring the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank city, yesterday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a deeply controversial pledge on September 10 to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank if re-elected in September 17 polls.

kingmaker, with the reported results giving his secular-nation-alist party Yisrael Beitenu nine seats. The mainly Arab Joint List alliance was set to become the third-largest bloc in parliament with 13 seats, the reports said.

That could allow Arab parties to block Netanyahu from con-tinuing as prime minister if they decide to break with precedent and endorse Gantz for the job.

Israel’s Arab parties have tra-ditionally not endorsed anyone for prime minister. “The main difference in this vote is the

turnout among Arab citizens,” Joint List leader Ayman Odeh told journalists outside his home in the northern city of Haifa.

“There’s no doubt that this is what made the difference. Without that, Netanyahu would already be prime minister.”

After exit polls were released on Tuesday night, Lieberman called for a unity government formed of his party, Likud and Blue and White, saying the country was facing an “emergency.”

The election was the second

in five months for Israel, and President Reuven Rivlin, who must choose someone to form the next government, said there was a “need to avoid a third”.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, suffered one of the biggest defeats of his political career after the previous elections in April. His Likud along with its right-wing and religious allies won a majority, but he failed to form a coalition and opted for a second election rather than risk having Rivlin choose someone else to try.

AFP/JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled off his planned visit to the United Nations General Assembly due to the “political context in the country”, sources in his office said.

Initial results from Tuesday’s general election show Netan-yahu’s Likud party tied with the Blue and White alliance of his main challenger, former army chief Benny Gantz.

Kuwaiti, Turkish charities reach out to SyriansANATOLIA/AZAZ, SYRIA

Turkish and Kuwaiti charities yesterday distributed humanitarian aid to Syrian children and women. Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and Sama distributed school bags, stationery and toys to hundreds of children in the displaced persons camps in Syria’s northwestern province of Azaz.

Ibrahim Abu Bakr, a representative of Sama, said their Kuwaiti foundation wanted to reach out to children at the start of the new school year. “We will continue distributing school supplies, sewing machines and hairdressing equipment at several places,” he said.

Volunteers also visited the Ruvayda Education Center built by the IHH. They distributed sewing machines and hairdressing sup-plies to graduates who had completed their vocational training courses.

Fragments of drones and missiles recovered from the attack site, being displayed during a press conference in Riyadh, yesterday.

Turkey’s main opposition CHP to hold Syria conferenceANATOLIA/ANKARA

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will hold an International Syria Conference on September 28 in Istanbul, according to a party statement.

The conference will address topics including “the international dimension of the Syrian issue, the problems faced by Syrian ref-ugees, social life and integration, the strategic role of the regional actors, and the role of local administrations,” said the statement.

In the conference, CHP will thoroughly examine the Syrian issue with reference to self dynamics of Syria’s neighbors and the region, it added. The conference aims to understand the situation of Syria’s human resource in the foreign countries and how the neighbor countries make contribution to the solution of the Syrian issue, it said.

Journalists and employees of media belonging to the family of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri gather in the studios of the Future TV News channel in this file picture.

Netanyahu cancels UN visit

Various Israeli outlets reported that Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud had 31 seats, while Gantz’s Blue and White took 32 out of a total 120 seats. But with more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Gantz’s slim lead gave no obvious path for either party to form a majority coalition, raising the possibility of negotiations towards a unity government.

UN sends experts to Saudi to probe oil attacksAFP & BLOOMBERG UNITED NATIONS / RIYADH

UN experts are expected in Saudi Arabia to lead an international inquiry into the weekend attacks on oil installations in the kingdom, diplomats said yesterday.

“It’s very good that an inter-national probe will get underway,” said one diplomat on condition of anonymity. Another source said the experts were either traveling or already in Saudi Arabia.

The UN experts have been dispatched under the terms of a Security Council resolution on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and another resolution on a Yemen arms embargo, the dip-lomats said.

The 2015 resolution stipu-lates that UN experts can be sent if military hardware made in Iran are found elsewhere.

The Yemen resolution created an experts’ committee on how the embargo is applied. Those experts have been

activated over the Saudi attacks because the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strikes, a diplomat said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said attacks on its critical oil infra-structure were “unquestionably sponsored by Iran” but stopped short of saying the strikes were launched directly from or by the Islamic Republic, claims that could have propelled a drift toward war.

With parts of drones and missiles recovered from the

attack sites at Abqaiq and Khurais on display, Saudi Defence Ministry spokesman Turki Al Maliki yesterday showed maps aimed at proving the strikes originated from the north and could not have been launched by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who shortly after repeated their claims of responsibility.

“Despite Iran’s effort to make it appear so,” the attack didn’t

originate from Yemen, Maliki said. Iran has denied it was involved in the worst attack in Saudi Arabia’s history and Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani said earlier yesterday that his country did not want war.

The Saudi defence official’s comments, and moves by the US, suggested the two allies were also working to deescalate ten-sions in the region. President Donald Trump said he was

tightening sanctions on Iran. Iran’s economy is already under severe pressure from existing sanctions, though analysts said there were still a number of potential targets for restrictions. Iran is gradually scaling back its commitments under the deal and has said it will not reopen talks without sanctions relief.

Speaking just before landing in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signaled he was working to build interna-tional diplomatic pressure to deter Iran. Twenty-five pilotless aircraft and cruise missiles were used to attack the two sites, Maliki told reporters gathered in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia was still working to pinpoint the exact launch point, he said.

In comments made immedi-ately after the Saudi briefing, Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said some of the drones used were new, with a range of up to 1,700km, and were launched from three different points inside Yemen. He said the drones fired

long-range missiles and warned the United Arab Emirates that it could be also be targeted. The UAE said weeks ago that it was drawing down its role in the Yemen war after four years.

Maliki displayed surveillance video purporting to show drones moving in a north to south direction, however. He said Saudi Arabia was working to share the information with United Nations experts.

“We are working as I men-tioned to determine the exact position of the launch point,” Maliki said. “Whether it’s been launched from Yemen, launched from somewhere else, those people they will be held accountable, and this is a decision at a political level in our country.”

Addressing a cabinet meeting, Rouhani said the assault on the oil facilities was carried out by the Houthis retaliating against Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in their country and should serve as a “warning and lesson,” according to state TV.

Iran to hold Gulf drills with 200 frigates, speedboatsREUTERS DUBAI

Iran will hold its annual military parade on September 22 in the Gulf with 200 frigates and speedboats, the semi-official Iran Front Page website reported yesterday, at a

time of soaring tension between Tehran and Washington.

The parade will mark the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the IFP said. The semi-official Fars news agency said it would be a joint manoeuvre with the participation of regular

army and elite Revolutionary Guards’ naval forces.

“Over 200 vessels of naval forces of the army, the coast guards and the Revolutionary Guards will take part in the parade,” Fars quoted Admiral Mojtaba Mohammadi as saying.

On September 22 last year, 12 Guards members were among 25 people killed when gunmen fired on a viewing stand as mil-itary officials watched a cer-emony in the southern city of Ahvaz marking the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

11THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 AFRICA

26 children dead in Liberia school fireAFP MONROVIA

Dozens of children were killed yesterday in a fire at a Quranic school near the Liberian capital Monrovia.

At least 26 children and two teachers died in the blaze over-night, the president’s office said, citing information from the emergency services.

President George Weah visited the site in Paynesville, on the outskirts of the capital, and said the cause was still unknown.

“We are here to encourage parents of the victims to have strength, because it is painful to lose your kids in this manner,” Weah told reporters.

“We extend our sympathy to the bereaved families. We don’t know the cause of the fire yet, but we will encourage our inves-tigators to find how it hap-pened,” he added.

Rescuers in white masks and surgical gloves carried the chil-dren’s bodies in bags from the burnt-out building as crowds of people and relatives crushed together outside.

The sheet-metal roof of the building, which housed a school and boarding school, was destroyed.

“I was sleeping when I heard noise outside. My wife opened the back door and we saw smoke coming from the front.

A man looks into a burned building after a fire swept through a school killing 26 children in Monrovia, Liberia, yesterday.

We came out and saw heavy fire at the back,” said local resident Zazay.

Another resident, Ballah, whose home is near the school, said they helped in the rescue efforts.

“We went for water, trying to put it out. We were putting water up to 2.30 am. When the fire

fighters came, the fire was already going down.”

“We do not know the cause of the fire,” he said.

The fire struck while the children were asleep, said Fulani community official Amadou Sherrif.

In an earlier tweet, Weah offered condolences to the fam-

ilies of those affected.“My prayers go out to the

families of the children that died last night in Paynesville City as a result of a deadly fire that engulfed their school building,” he wrote.

“This is a tough time for the families of the victims and all of Liberia.”

Tunisia’s election front-runner vows rule by consensusANATOLIA TUNIS

Law professor Kais Saied, who won the most votes over the weekend in the first round of Tunisia’s presidential election, said he is prepared to work through consensus to improve the country.

Following the announcement of the official results of round one by the Independent High Electoral Commission, Saied spoke to reporters at the center where he has been carrying out his election campaign.

He said he and those working with him would not be hostile towards anyone and would work for the country with all its com-ponents and diversities.

“Everybody should be assured that we know our geog-raphy and history. We want respect for the nation and its sov-ereignty,” he said.

“Tunisia will remain open to the world.”

Saied called on people who did not cast ballots to head to the polls in the second round.

According to the official results released by the Inde-pendent High Electoral Com-mission, Saied received 18.4% of the vote and media mogul Nabil Karoui 15.6%.

Abdelfattah Mourou of the Ennahda movement came in third with 12.88% of the more than 434,000 votes cast but did not qualify for the second round.

Out of more than 7 million eligible to vote in the North African nation, some 3.46 million people cast ballots.

Appeals of the first-round results can be lodged Wednesday and Thursday, while the second round is expected to be held no later than Oct. 13, according to the commission.

The polls follow the death this July of Beji Caid Essebsi, Tunisia’s first freely elected president.

In Tunisia’s electoral system, a candidate needs a majority of votes to win the presidential election. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes face off in a second decisive round.

A man reading a local newspaper displaying pictures of two candidates for the second round of Tunisia’s presidential election, in Tunis, yesterday.

Zimbabwe doctors march as abducted leader is still missingAP HARARE

Zimbabwean doctors protesting the alleged abduction of a union leader were stopped by a line of baton-wielding police in the capital yesterday as fears grow about government repression.

The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association has said its president, Peter Mago-mbeyi, was abducted on Sat-urday after calling for a pay strike, and members say they will not return to work until he is found.

The southern African nation’s health care system has largely collapsed in recent

years along with the economy. The government now says it is deploying military medics and doctors to help fill the gap at hospitals.

Several government critics in recent weeks have been abducted from their homes, tortured and warned by suspected state security agents to back off from anti-government actions.

Some in Zimbabwe have expressed concern that the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa is becoming more repressive than that of longtime leader Robert Mugabe, who died earlier this month. Mugabe was accused of using abduc-tions to silence critics, and

some have never been found.Several dozen doctors

chanted and sang on Wednesday as they tried to march to Parliament from the country’s biggest hospital, Parirenyatwa, in Harare. Police insisted that they seek approval for the demon-stration first.

The health workers also have been holding candlelight vigils for Magombeyi. Their association represents hun-dreds of newly qualified doctors doing their resi-dencies. Health professionals at other government hospitals across Zimbabwe have gone on strike in solidarity, union leaders told The Associated Press. But it carries risks. The

secretary-general of the Zim-babwe Nurses Association, Nhema Edwick, said he had received anonymous death threats for bargaining for more pay for nurses.

“The government should stop targeting us as union leaders. All we are asking for is a living wage. I am also living in fear,” he told the cheering demonstrators.

Senior doctors said they have stopped working in sol-idarity with their juniors.

“It is much easier to produce one person (Mago-mbeyi) than to convince us to return to work. No Peter, no work,” said Bothwell Mbu-wayesango, a pediatric surgeon.

Algeria army orders police to bar protesters from capitalAFP/ALGIERS

Algeria’s military has ordered police to block protesters from outside the capital from entering Algiers, the army chief said yesterday, after months of mass rallies.

“I have instructed the national gendarmerie to deal with these actions with firmness,” said General Ahmed Gaid Salah, the country’s strongman since the April res-ignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Gaid Salah said orders had been issued to stop “vehicles and coaches used” to bring demon-strators to the capital by seizing them and “fining their owners”.

He made the comments in his first public speech since interim president Abdelkader Bensalah on Sunday announced December 12 elections to resolve the political deadlock gripping the country since Bouteflika’s departure.

The army chief has led the push for polls by the end of the year, despite mass protests demanding political reforms and the removal of the former president’s loyalists -- including Gaid Salah himself -- before any vote.

Morocco TV show censured for guest’s boast of ‘beating wife’

AFP/RABAT

A Moroccan television show has been suspended for allowing a celebrity guest to boast on air of “beating his wife”, the country media authority said.

“Whoever doesn’t beat his wife is not a man,” popular singer Adil El Miloudi said in June on a Chada TV show, Kotbi Tonight, drawing laughter from a fellow guest, actor Samy Naceri, and host Imad Kotbi.

“In Morocco, this is normal, anyone can do what he wants with his wife, hit her, kill her,” he insisted after Kotbi jokingly said: “It’s forbidden to hit one’s wife all over the world.”

M i l o u d i ’ s r e m a r k s amounted to “justification for violence against women, an express incitement to violence, presented in a positive way as a sign of virility... or even rec-ommended behaviour”, the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA) said in a statement. In response to this “explicitly violent speech”, the host adopted a “playful tone” and allowed his guest to repeat his call for violence against women”, it added.

The media authority said Kotbi Tonight was to be sus-pended for three weeks. So far no legal action has been taken against Miloudi, despite waves of outrage on social media in reaction to his comments.

S Africa’s Ramaphosa pledges to tackle violence against womenAFP CAPE TOWN

President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted yesterday that South Africa is one of “the most unsafe places in world to be a woman” and announced an emergency plan to stop the resurgence in violence against them.

Comparing the levels of such attacks to a war zone, Ramaphosa told a special session of the two chambers of parliament that “there is a dark and heavy shadow across our land. Women and children are under siege”.

His remarks come after Women’s Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane reported that more than 30 women were killed by their spouses in August alone. Police reported a nationwide average of 110 rapes a day last year.

Promising legislation to force longer minimum sen-tences for crimes against women and children, Ram-aphosa said a series of reforms would curb “male-perpetrated violence”.

“Those who are found guilty for those charges should not be eligible for

parole,” he said. “If sentenced to life sen-

tence, this must mean what it is, life in prison.”

Ramaphosa said his gov-ernment would release an extraordinary 1.1bn rand ($75m) budget over six months to fund the plan.

He also announced the creation of a fund for private companies to finance pre-vention and education pro-grammes to stop violence against women.

We will “ensure that justice is served, perpetrators are held to account,” Ram-aphosa said.

People holding signs during a protest of doctors and medical staff for the safe return of Dr Peter Magombeyi, the leader of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), in Harare, yesterday.

UN, Red Cross appeal for halt to bombings in Libya and SyriaAFP/UNITED NATIONS

The heads of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross joined yesterday to appeal for a halt to bombings of the cities of Idlib in Syria and Tripoli in Libya. Both are “enduring untold suffering and destruction from a hail of bombs and shells,” UN chief Antonio Guterres and ICRC head Peter Maurer said.

They called on all parties in both conflicts to refrain from using wide-impact explosive weapons in popu-lated areas. “Parties to conflict should recognize that they cannot fight in populated areas in the way they would in open battlefields,” they said. “International humanitarian law... absolutely prohibits directing attacks

against civilians or civilian objects, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, indiscriminate weapons, and using civilians as human shields,” they said.

The region around jihadist-held Idlib in Syria has been the focus of a four-month offensive by the Russian-backed regime in Damascus that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has killed more than 970 civilians. More than 400,000 Syrians have been displaced by violence in the region since the end of April, according to the United Nations.

Tripoli has been the epicenter since April of a bloody offensive by military strongman Khalifa Haftar against Libya’s UN-recognized Gov-ernment of National Accord.

At least 26 children and two teachers died in the blaze at a Quranic school near the Liberian capital Monrovia. President George Weah visited the site in Paynesville, on the outskirts of the capital, said the cause was still unknown.

12 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

Ayodhya: Mediationback, arguments to end by October 18IANS NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel in the Ayodhya title dispute case is back in the reckoning, despite it failing to evolve a consensus among the various stakeholders earlier.

The court has ruled that the mediation can continue till the arguments are concluded on October 18.

The three-member panel, tasked to resolve the vexed issue amicably, has been through crests and troughs since its appointment on March 8.

The mediators earlier tried to work out a resolution over nine weeks before it was dis-banded and the Supreme Court commenced hearing on the dispute on August 6.

The Supreme Court had in March appointed the panel headed by former apex court judge FMI Kalifulla and con-sisting of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu, with the hope that it would be able to evolve a consensus on resolution of the 70-year-old dispute.

The apex court had fixed the seat for the mediation process in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, which is approximately 7km from Ayodhya.

In May, the top court extended the time for the medi-ation committee till August 15.

The court said the members of the committee were not experiencing any difficulty in the mediation process even though the Hindu parties con-tended that it was not moving in the positive direction and told

the court it is destined to fail.On this argument, the court

had observed that the chairman of the committee indicated progress in mediation so far, and sought extension to complete the task The court had refused to divulge the details on the medi-ation. “We will not tell you the progress made, that is confi-dential,” replied the court to a counsel’s query regarding the mediation. The court’s obser-vation had come on the medi-ation report dated May 7.

In July, a plea was made by representative of the first plaintiff in the case, Gopal Singh Visharad, who implored upon the apex court to begin hearing on the case instead of waiting for mediation.

A Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Ranjan Gogoi, asked for the progress report by July 18 to assess the status of the mediation and to look into the possibility of an amicable reso-lution through this process of

engagement of parties.The court had also observed

that in case the process of medi-ation is over by then, the court will begin hearing on the matter based on merit from July 25.

The court reckoned the idea of day-to-day hearing to fast track the matter in case of adverse report in mediation.

On August 2, the apex court announced that the mediation has failed, and it will begin day-to-day hearing in the matter on August 6.

“We have received the report submitted by Justice Kalifulla. We have perused it. Mediation proceedings have not resulted in any kind of final settlement, as a result we have to proceed with the hearing of the appeal which will commence from August 6,” the court had said.

Today, the five-judge Con-stitution bench, headed by the Chief Justice, said it has received a letter from Kalifulla, saying some parties have written to him making an appeal to resume the mediation process and it can go along with daily hearing of the matter in the apex court.

The top court agreed that if parties are willing to continue mediation, they can do so, and observed that the hearing on the matter has reached an advanced stage. Therefore, the mediation can continue till the arguments are concluded on October 18.

The matter reached the Supreme Court after 14 appeals were filed against the Allahabad High Court’s 2010 verdict which partitioned the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya equally among the three parties — Ram Lalla, the Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Waqf Board.

Karnataka oppn protests flood relief delayCongress legislators and leaders stage a demonstration led by former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, at the Gandhi statue in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru yesterday, against Bharatiya Janata Party government for the delay in providing relief to the flood victims.

Armed forces most trusted, politicians least: SurveyIANS NEW DELHI

Over 70 percent of Indians in urban areas find the armed forces the most trustworthy profession, while a majority of them are sceptical about politi-cians, according to a new survey.

Scientists and teachers bagged the second and third places respectively in terms of trustworthiness in professions in India, showed the study by market research firm Ipsos.

At least 59 percent urban Indians rate politicians as the most untrustworthy profession, followed by government min-isters (52 percent) and adver-tising executives (41 percent), said the survey titled “Global Trust in Professions”.

“Armed forces are perceived to be a dedicated force, who are defined by values of sacrifice, commitment, discipline, etc,” said Parijat Chakraborty, Country Service Line Group Leader, Public Affairs and Cor-porate Reputation, Ipsos India.

“Likewise scientists and teachers are seen as persevering professions, contributing to nation building, “Politicians, despite their efforts to clean up the system, have not yet won the trust of most. Also, the adver-tising professional, writing inter-esting copies and creatives, high-lighting merits of brands, is viewed with scepticism,” said Chakraborty.

For the study, a global trust-worthiness index for each country was calculated, by

taking the sum score of trust-worthiness for all professions and subtracting the sum score of untrustworthiness of all professions.

Interestingly, on the global trustworthiness index, India has bagged the second spot, after China, said the study.

Globally, people perceive scientists (60 percent), doctors (56 percent) and teachers (52 percent) most trustworthy.

Global citizens too rate pol-iticians (67 percent), government ministers (57 percent) and advertising executives (46 percent), most untrustworthy professions, mirroring the views of Indians.

This survey involved an international sample of 19,587 adults aged 16-74.

Mamata invites Modi for inaugurating coal projectIANS NEW DELHI

Meeting the Prime Minister here yesterday after a 15-month gap amid heightened political spec-ulations, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged Narendra Modi to revive certain stalled projects in the state.

Terming the meeting with the Prime Minister good, Mamata said changing the name of the state topped her agenda. “We discussed changing the name of West Bengal to Bangla and he promised to do something about it.” The state has been trying to change the name of the state pri-marily to get central assistance early as West Bengal’s turn comes right at the end.

The stalled projects taken up at the meeting related to railways and mining, and disin-vestment of certain public sector units also figured at the meeting.

She also invited the Prime Minister for inauguration of the coal project in Birbhum.

Mamata carried a bouquet of yellow flowers and multiple packets of sandesh (sweets) for Modi.

Interestingly, during the heat and dust of the 2019 general elections, she had said, “I’ll send Modi roshogollas made of mud, pebbles so that he loses his teeth”.

The meeting comes at an interesting time, just a day after Modi’s 69th birthday that drew criticism and formation of a 14-member Central Bureau of Investigation crack team to trace Rajeev Kumar, former Kolkata top cop in the Rs 2,500 crore Saradha chit fund scam.

Congress to launch membership drive nationwideIANS NEW DELHI

With a target of enrolling 50 million members, the Congress is set to launch a nationwide drive from next month, an exercise which will be carried out digitally to check bogus membership that has been a major concern for the party.

In a circular issued by Con-gress General Secretary (Organ-isation) K C Venugopal, the party leaders have been asked to undertake door-to-door cam-paign for membership in all states, except Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand which go to polls in the next few months.

The grand old party, which has been severely hit by electoral debacles, is looking for revival to take on the resurgent BJP. In this direction, the party’s reins were handed over to Sonia Gandhi once again over a month back, after her son Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the post of Congress President in the wake of debacle in the last Lok Sabha polls.

With the BJP surging ahead in terms of electoral successes and organisational activities, the Congress has set a target of enrolling 50 million members, which is still much less than that of BJP’s 180 million figure.

“It has been decided that the

membership drive will be through digital and traditional paper mode, both. All the frontal organisations and departments shall participate in this drive in their respective booth areas,” said the note.

Emphasis on digital mode of membership is significant since the party has suffered due to bogus membership.

The party has asked its office bearers to ensure that bio data of new members are uploaded in the digital format with a pho-tograph and Voter ID Card.

The online membership form is available on the official website of the Congress party. In the form, it has been mentioned

that the new member should upload their EPIC (Election I-Card) as an identity proof. After giving certain details, they would be getting the communication via mail or SMS from the party.

According to the earlier practice, a member would be required to fill a form without providing any proof. With the digital format, a potential member will have to satisfy the party about his or her creden-tials and belief in the party ideology.

At a recent meeting held by Congress General Secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi, former Union Minister Ram Lal Rahi raised the

issue of bogus membership and said the membership drive should be genuine and not only on papers.

Another party leader said the party should communicate what it stands for, just like the RSS and the BJP are propagating their ideology. Mere paper work has already damaged the party, he said.

After successful electoral gains, the BJP has got 7 crore new members, raising the total number of its members to a whopping 18 crore. The BJP’s target was to increase its members by 20 per cent but it surpassed that and touched 50 per cent.

Space technology exhibitionSchoolchildren try on a space suit during an exhibition on space technology organised by Indian Space Research Organisation and a college in Mumbai, India, yesterday.

Rajasthan plans 75% job reservation for localsIANS JAIPUR

After Andhra Pradesh, the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan is also planning to grant 75 percent reservations for locals in private sector jobs.

The Gehlot government is contemplating providing job reservations for people of the state in big industries who have been given certain benefits by the state government in terms of financial package. Also, projects running under pubic private partnership and small industries will employ the local residents under the scheme, confirmed official sources.

Speaking in this context, state Industries Minister Parsadi Lal Meena said that “when other states are doing the same, why can’t we take a decision for the benefit of our youth.”

“In Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal, the compet-itive exams have one paper in local language which benefits the local residents. Here, we never discriminate among people on basis of where they have come, but at the same time, we are also planning to provide reservations in private sector to benefit our youth. However, the final decision shall be taken after discussion with other members.”

A high level meeting has been called at the secretariat on September 19 to discuss the issue. The representatives of industries have also been called for the meeting.

However, officials said that there are many challenges being seen in the initiative as in most cases, hiring is done on pan-India basis. And reservation can also pose a threat to the talent pool.

The court had observed that the chairman of the committee indicated progress in mediation so far, and sought extension to complete the task The court had refused to divulge the details on the mediation. “We will not tell you the progress made, that is confidential,” replied the court.

13THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 ASIA

Pakistan flays India’s ‘irresponsible’ statement

AGENCIES ISLAMABAD

Pakistan fired back yesterday at New Delhi’s “jingoistic rhetoric” after India’s foreign minister vowed to retake Islamabad’s portion of the disputed Kashmir region as tensions flare between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The neighbours have been locked in an escalating war of words since New Delhi stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its autonomy last month and imposed a security lockdown on the area, sparking outrage in Pakistan.

“We strongly condemn and reject the inflammatory and irre-sponsible remarks made by the Indian external affairs minister,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Such irresponsible and

belligerent statements have the potential to further escalate ten-sions and seriously jeopardise peace and security in the region,” it added. The statement came hours after Subrahmanyam Jais-hankar told a press conference on Tuesday that Pakistani-con-trolled Kashmir is “part of India and we expect one day that we will have the... physical juris-diction over it”.

Tensions have spiralled since New Delhi’s move on its side of the de facto border — the Line of Control — to change the status of the Himalayan territory, with Pakistan repeatedly likening

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hitler and calling for international intervention.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has held demonstra-tions across the country to protest the move and vowed to highlight the issue later this month at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has urged the political parties, par-ticularly the opposition groups, to rise above their political dif-ferences and speak with one voice in support of oppressed Kashmiri people.

Addressing the National Par-liamentarians Conference on Kashmir in Islamabad yesterday, Qureshi said Modi government has an “Akhand Bharat mindset” aimed at expansionism and the gravity of the situation demands sanity on the part of all Pakistanis.

“Certain political forces should not blow the trumpet which hurts the interests of Pakistan and benefits India,” he said. “Those planning to organise Azadi March [threatened by opposition Jamiat Ulema Islamabad to pressurise the Imran Khan government to quit] should turn it into Azadi March Kashmir.”

Appreciating Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani’s effort to hold the conference, the foreign minister said this gives the message that the elected repre-sentatives regardless of their dif-ferences are united for the Kashmiri people.

“Today’s leadership in Pakistan will not show any flex-ibility on Kashmir dispute. Today we have the prime minister who will not make any compromise on the interests of Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

The foreign minister once again categorically stated that

Pakistan stands fully behind their Kashmiri brethren, “The world can turn its face from Kashmir, but Pakistan never will. This is the decision of the nation and the prime minister of Pakistan,” he said. Speaking about the upcoming United Nations

General Assembly session in New York, Qureshi said Prime Min-ister Imran Khan will effectively present the case of Kashmiris.

He said the prime minister in his address will represent the aspirations of Pakistani and the Kashmiri people.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan

Khan warns Pakistanis against jihad in Kashmir AFP/ ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan warned citizens yesterday that anyone who goes to fight jihad in Kashmir will hurt the terri-tory’s cause, as anger simmers between Islamabad and New Delhi over the disputed region.

Indian authorities are waiting for “any excuse” to crack down in the Himalayan region, he warned, promising again to raise the issue at the United Nations General Assembly next week.

“If someone from Pakistan goes to India to fight... he will be the first to do an injustice to Kashmiris, he will be the enemy of Kashmiris,” Khan said during a speech in Torkham, on the border with Afghanistan. “They need an excuse,” he said of Indian troops. “It will provide them an excuse for torture and barbarism.” Khan spoke after Pakistan fired back yesterday at Delhi’s “jingoistic rhetoric” when India’s foreign minister vowed to retake Islama-bad’s portion Kashmir.

“We strongly condemn and reject” the remarks, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement hours after Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a press conference om Tuesday that Pakistani-controlled Kashmir is “part of India and we expect one day that we will have the... physical jurisdiction over it”.

“We strongly condemn and reject the inflammatory and irresponsible remarks made by the Indian external affairs minister,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Imran to urge Trump to restart Afghan peace talksREUTERS ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said yesterday that he would urge US President Donald Trump next week to revive Afghanistan peace talks with the Taliban militant group.

Trump abruptly cancelled secret talks with the Taliban at his Camp David retreat that were planned for September eight and has since said the talks are “dead”.

“It will be a big tragedy if these talks don’t make headway,” Khan said at a ceremony at

Pakistan’s Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan.

Khan said he would meet Trump in New York on Monday, and would emphasise that there had been “destruction and chaos in Afghanistan for the last 40 years”. “We will put our best (effort) that these talks are

resumed again,” he said. Khan said Pakistan had directed Taliban leaders to participate in earlier peace talks in Qatar and only discovered too late that talks had broken down. He said his next role would have been to convince the Taliban to open talks with the Afghan

government. Khan is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly while in New York.

The PM also said there was “no chance of talks” with India about its clampdown on the dis-puted territory of Kashmir until it lifted a curfew for people there.

Suicide bomber, gunmen attack Afghan government buildingAFP JALALABAD

At least 12 people were injured when gunmen stormed a crowded government building in eastern Afghanistan yesterday after a suicide bomber attack, with desperate survivors leaping from windows to escape the fighting, witnesses and officials said.

Security forces rushed to the scene after armed men attacked the office in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, in the latest violence to hit the war-torn country as it gears up for a presidential election on Sep-tember 28.

Terrified children at a nearby school climbed over walls to get further away from the fighting.

A provincial spokesman, Ataullah Khogyani, said the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber, and that security forces had rushed to the scene to rescue staff still inside the building.

Witnesses and a reporter could hear gunshots immedi-ately after the initial blast.

One of the centre’s employees, Haji Qudrat, said of the moment one of the gunmen entered his office. “After the explosion, we heard small gunfire in our corridor, then a man entered our office with a gun and started shooting,” he said from a hospital in Jalalabad, where he was receiving treatment for a wounded leg.

“I jumped out the window. Some of our friends are either killed or wounded.” Qudrat said there had been around 200 people inside the centre when the bomber detonated — 80 employees, and the rest people waiting to receive their national electronic identity cards, or “tazkiras”.

“I was in class when I heard a big explosion followed by intense gunfire,” said Mohammad Ullah, a teacher at a nearby school.

“The kids started crying so we had to vacate the school. We jumped over the walls to take the students to a safer place,” he said.

No group immediately claimed the attack. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan.

The assault came a day after the Taliban killed nearly 50 people and wounded dozens more in two separate attacks — one near a campaign rally for President Ashraf Ghani in the central province of Parwan, and one in Kabul.

The militants have vowed to disrupt the upcoming presi-dential election, scheduled for September 28, in which Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani is taking on his own Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and more than a dozen other candidates.

The winner is hoping for a mandate to negotiate with the Taliban for a lasting peace in the

country suffering from decades of violence. But the insurgents want to undermine the legit-imacy of the process and keep the president weak.

“We already warned people not to attend election rallies. If they suffer any losses that is their own responsibility,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement released after Tuesday’s blasts.

They have also promised more violence after US President Donald Trump called off talks earlier this month seeking a deal that would have allowed Wash-ington to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, site of

America’s longest war.But the militants have also

repeatedly voiced their belief that the US will eventually have to return to the table for more negotiations.

Chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai reiterated that stance in an interview with the BBC hours after Tuesday’s attacks, stating “our doors are open for negotiations”.

He also defended Taliban violence during the months of talks, arguing that the Americans had also admitted to killing thou-sands of Taliban during the discussions.

Afghan security forces arrive near the site of an attack in Jalalabad City, Afghanistan, yesterday.

NAB arrestsoppn leaderKhursheed ShahREUTERS KARACHI

Pakistan’s anti-graft agency said yesterday it had arrested opposition Pakistan People’s Party leader Khursheed Shah over questions around the source of his income.

“NAB’s Sukkur chapter has arrested Syed Khursheed Shah over ‘assets beyond means’,” the National Accountability Bureau said in a statement, refering to a class of case in which a defendant is accused of possessing assets higher than their known sources of income.

Sri Lanka to holdpresidential pollson November 16

AP/COLOMBO

State media say Sri Lanka will hold its presidential election on November 16.

State television Rupavahini announced yesterday that nom-inations will be accepted on October seven.

Under the law, the election must be held between November eight and December eight. Sri Lanka has a strong presidential system of gov-ernment, with the president being the head of state, head of government and head of the armed forces. A prime minister is in charge of Parliament and the Cabinet. Former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, Gotabhaya, has announced he will run as an opposition candidate.

Bangladesh’s two leading cellphone companies in legal tussle over taxAP DHAKA

Bangladesh’s two leading cell-phone companies are negoti-ating with a regulator over claims of about $1.5bn in unpaid taxes as they face a possible loss of their licenses amid a legal battle that could hurt investor confidence.

The Bangladesh Telecom-munication Regulatory Com-m i s s i o n h a s a s k e d

Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor, and Robi, an entity majority-owned by Malaysia’s Axiata Group Berhad, to pay $1.52bn for evading spectrum fees, value-added taxes and revenue since December 2014.

The two companies say the audits by the commission are flawed. Yesterday, Grameen-phone officials met with Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal, Telecommunication Minister

Mustafa Jabbar and other gov-ernment officials to try to resolve the dispute. Kamal said they dis-cussed the issue in detail and hope to settle the crisis within three weeks.Michael Foley, Chief Executive Officer of Grameen-phone, said that they are looking for an “amicable solution.” “We look forward to a positive con-clusion on this issue, which will allow the industry and the gov-ernment to refocus on building digital Bangladesh,” he said.

Sri Lankan doctors strike over salary ‘injustice’AP COLOMBO

Doctors at state-run hospitals across Sri Lanka began a 24-hour strike yesterday, demanding that the government resolve what they say is a salary “injustice.”

Two years ago, the gov-ernment gave an unusually high salary increase to legal officers in the government sector, cre-ating what Dr. Haritha Aluthge, secretary of the Government Medical Officers Association, called “a severe injustice to d o c t o r s a n d o t h e r

professionals.” “For two years, we have been urging the gov-ernment to rectify this anomaly, but so far no meaningful measures have been taken to resolve the injustice,” he said yesterday.

The strike caused hardships to the thousands of patients who arrived at state-run hospitals, where doctors were providing only emergency treatment. Gov-ernment hospitals provide free services, making them very popular with most Sri Lankans.

Due to the strike - which began yesterday morning and is scheduled to end today

morning - all routine surgeries and other medical services were not performed.

Samantha Perera, 49, who was to undergo a minor abdominal operation yesterday at the government hospital in Ragama, on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, said hospital authorities asked him to go home and come back later this week to get a new date for his surgery. “It’s really frustrating and now I have to come back on another day. Patients have to pay for the tussle between the government and doctors,” he said.

14 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

S Korea downgrades Japan trade status as dispute deepensAP SEOUL

South Korea yesterday dropped Japan from a list of countries receiving fast-track approvals in trade, a reaction to Tokyo’s decision to downgrade Seoul’s trade status amid a tense diplo-matic dispute.

South Korea’ trade ministry said Japan’s removal from a 29-member “white list” of nations enjoying minimum trade restrictions went into effect as Seoul rearranged its export control system covering hun-dreds of sensitive materials that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The change comes a week after South Korea initiated a

complaint to the World Trade Organization over a separate Japanese move to tighten export controls on key chemicals South Korean companies use to man-ufacture semiconductors and displays.

Seoul has accused Tokyo of weaponising trade to retaliate against South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese com-panies to offer reparations to South Koreans forced into labour during World War II. Tokyo’s measures struck a nerve in South Korea, where many still resent

Japan’s brutal colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

According to South Korean trade ministry, the new measures in effect mean it might take up to 15 days for South Korean com-panies to gain approvals to export sensitive materials to Japan, compared to the five days or less it took under a simpler inspection process provided for favoured trade partners.

Lee Ho-hyeon, a South Korean trade ministry official, said the change would affect about 100 local firms that export

items such as telecommunica-tions security equipment, semi-conductor materials and chemical products to Japan. He said Seoul will work to minimise disruption to South Korean companies.

Japan for decades has enjoyed a huge trade surplus with South Korea, an economy that’s much more dependent on exports. Many major manufac-turers heavily rely on parts and materials imported from Japan.

But the dispute is taking a toll. Exports to South Korea from Japan fell 9.4% last month, Japan’s Finance Ministry reported yesterday.

The trade dispute between the neighbours erupted in July, when Japan imposed tighter

export controls on three chem-icals South Korean companies use to produce semiconductors and displays for smartphones and TVs, major export items for South Korea. It cited unspecified security concerns over Seoul’s export controls. A few weeks later, Japan dropped South Korea from its own trade “white list,” triggering a full-blown diplo-matic dispute that took relations between the US allies to their worst in decades.

The dispute has spilled over to security issues, with Seoul declaring it plans to terminate a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan that symbolised the countries’ three-way security cooperation with the US.

Schools, airports closed as Indonesia fires rageAFP KUALA LUMPUR

Toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires closed schools and airports across the country and in neighbouring Malaysia yesterday, while air quality worsened in Singapore just days before the city’s Formula One motor race.

Illegal fires to clear land for agriculture are blazing out of control on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Jakarta deploying thousands of security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle them.

Indonesian blazes belch smog across Southeast Asia annually, but this year’s are the worst since 2015 and have added to concerns about wildfire outbreaks worldwide exacer-bating global warming.

Air quality yesterday dete-riorated to “very unhealthy” levels on an official index in many parts of peninsular Malaysia, to the east of Sumatra, with the Kuala Lumpur skyline shrouded by dense smog.

Nearly 1,500 schools were closed across Malaysia due to the air pollution, with over one million pupils affected, according to the education ministry.

A growing number of Malay-sians were suffering health

problems due to the haze, with authorities saying there had been a sharp increase in outpa-tients at government hospitals — many suffering dry and itchy eyes.

Indonesian authorities said hundreds of schools in hard-hit Riau province on Sumatra were shut, without providing a precise number, while about 1,300 were closed in Central Kalimantan province on Borneo.

Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Poor visibility closed seven airports in the Indonesian part of Borneo, the transport ministry in Jakarta said. Scores of flights have already been diverted and cancelled in the region in recent days due to the smog.

Air quality in Singapore worsened to unhealthy levels and a white smog obscured the striking waterfront skyline.

The worsening pollution increased fears that this week-end’s Formula One race may be affected. Organisers say the pos-sibility of haze is one of the issues in their contingency plan for Sunday’s showpiece night race, but have not given further details.

The city-state’s tourism board said spectators would be able to buy masks as protection from the haze if conditions did not improve.

Thick smoke from a forest fire nearly covers the Sun over Pekanbaru in Indonesia, yesterday.

Malaysia seeds clouds to bring rain reliefREUTERS KUALA LUMPUR

At an altitude of just 3,000 feet, flares attached to both sides of the Cessna 172 aircraft lit up brightly, dispersing chemicals over Malaysia in the hope of bringing rain to clear the smoky air. It’s dry season in Southeast Asia and fires are again flaring, especially in the forests of Indonesia.

Malaysia hopes that cloud seeding, releasing chemicals such as sodium chloride and

magnesium oxide into the air from aircraft, can encourage water droplets to form and rain to fall.

Jailan Simon, the director general of Malaysia’s Meteoro-logical Department, said rain will help clear the air, but any relief will only be temporary if more smoke rolls in from Indonesian fires. “You can reduce the severity of the haze, but cloud seeding doesn’t help if there is still burning happening at the source and the wind is blowing the haze

towards us,” Jailan said.There are no guarantees

seeding will work.“You need to have the right

kind of clouds, the right amount of moisture in the atmosphere and the right wind conditions,” Jailan said. One of the methods used to bring rain over Malaysia is called dry seeding, which can be carried out by light aircraft at lower altitudes and over smaller areas. Malaysia’s air force carried out cloud seeding in three states last weekend.

A police officer shouts to his colleagues to keep pro-Beijing demonstrators from the pro-democracy protesters (left) outside a shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, yesterday.

Hong Kong horse races, fireworks called off amid protest threatREUTERS HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s Jockey Club cancelled all races yesterday after pro-democracy protesters said they would target the Happy Valley race-course where a horse part-owned by a pro-China lawmaker was due to run.

The government also said fire-works to mark Chinese National Day on October 1 had been called off.

“It has conducted a thorough risk assessment of the race meeting tonight and concluded that it should be cancelled in order to preserve the security and safety of people and horses,” the club said in a statement, without mentioning the protests.

One dead, 7 missing after boat capsizes off JapanAFP TOKYO

A man has been found dead inside a capsized fishing boat off northern Japan, with seven other crew members missing.

The 29-tonne Keieimaru No.65 with eight Japanese fish-ermen on board lost commu-nication on waters some 640km east of Cape Nosappu in Hokkaido on Tuesday, a coastguard spokesman said yesterday.

The boat was later found capsized, and inside the boat a man was found “in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest”, he said, using the Japanese expression suggesting death but w i t h o u t a d o c t o r ’ s confirmation.

“Six of our divers are con-tinuing the search for the rest of the crew members,” he added.

The boat was fishing for sauries in the high seas as they could not find them in coastal waters, public broadcaster NHK said. Fishermen across the country are struggling this year to catch sauries, a delicacy during this time of year in Japan, and experts point to higher water temperature as a reason behind it.

Filipino coastguards convicted in Taiwan fisherman’s deathAFP MANILA

Coastguard sailors who opened fire on a Taiwanese fisherman in Philippine waters were convicted yesterday of his 2013 killing, which strained ties between the historically friendly neighbours.

The eight Filipino crewmen said they had shot in self-defence after the fisherman’s vessel sailed directly at them in the seas just north of the main

Philippine island of Luzon.A Manila court convicted the

men of homicide and sentenced them to a minimum of eight years in prison, though they will be allowed to remain free while they appeal.

“We are filing a notice of appeal so that what we per-ceived as errors of the trial court will be thrashed out,” Paul Jomar Alcudia, one of the lawyers of the officers, said. Taipei meanwhile welcomed the court verdict. “Justice has been served,”

Taiwan foreign ministry spokes-woman Joanne Ou said in a statement Wednesday.

The killing caused a deep rift between the Asian neighbours, with then Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou describing it as “cold-blooded murder”.

After the fatal shooting, Taiwan ordered a freeze on the hiring of Filipino workers, warned its tourists against trav-elling to the Philippines and staged naval drills near its sea border with Manila. Then

Philippine president Benigno Aquino repeatedly apologised for the killing and sent an envoy to Taiwan, but these actions were rejected as insincere.

An agreement was subse-quently put in place to avoid using force in fishing disputes to avoid similar incidents.

Coast Guard spokesman Armand Balilo said while they respect the court’s decision, it may “disappoint” some per-sonnel. “All I know is they did their job,” Balilo said.

Duterte offersreward for captureof felons freedfrom prisonAFP/MANILA

More than a thousand ex-pris-oners prematurely freed under a controversial law in the Phil-ippines will be captured “dead or alive” if they do not surrender before a deadline which expires today, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

His government is scram-bling to track down the former inmates who were released early due to what he concedes was a wrong application of the law and possible corruption of prison officers.

Earlier this month Duterte set a September 19 deadline for the ex-convicts to return to jail or face the consequences, and put a one million-peso ($19,000) price on their heads.

“The one million prize is available to those who can capture them dead or alive,” Duterte told reporters on Tuesday night.

“But maybe dead would be a better option. I will pay you smiling,” added the president, known for his brutal anti-drug crackdown that has claimed thousands of lives.

Nearly 2,000 prisoners have been released over the last few years, including those con-victed of heinous crimes who were found to be ineligible for a law that rewards good behaviour with shorter jail time.

The law went into effect in 2014, two years before Duterte was elected president.

The premature releases had gone largely unremarked until news broke last month that a former politician convicted in the 1990s and sentenced to decades behind bars in a noto-rious rape and murder case was about to get out early for good behaviour.

Earlier this month Duterte fired the prisons chief over the early releases, saying: “The records would show that there has been a wrong committed and maybe corruption.” At least 400 ex-prisoners have surren-dered over the past two weeks, according to police. Their cases will be reviewed by authorities with a view to returning them to prison.

Plane carrying four missing in east IndonesiaAFP TIMIKA, INDONESIA

An Indonesian cargo plane with four people on board lost contact with air traffic control yesterday, an official said, the latest incident to hit the coun-try’s poor aviation record.

The Twin Otter DHC6-400, set off from the city of Timika yesterday at 10:39 am (0239 GMT) and was headed to Ilaga, a mountainous region in the remote eastern province of Papua and was scheduled to arrive 50 minutes after taking off.

“After 2.5 hours, there has been no information from the nearest airport on the plane’s whereabouts, we decided to announce the plane has lost contact,” local transportation agency head, Yan Purba told Metro TV.

The aircraft was carrying three crew members and one passenger as well as 1.7 tonnes of rice.

Search and rescue have been assembled for the missing plane which was flying in a good weather condition, Purba said. Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but moun-tainous Papua is a particularly difficult area to reach.

The dispute over wartime labour has also spilled over to security issues, with Seoul announcing plans to terminate a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.

15THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 EUROPE

No-deal Brexit imminent if UK doesn’t get serious, EU warnsAFP STRASBOURG, FRANCE

The European Union’s two top officials handling troublesome Brexit talks warned yesterday that the risk of a no-deal exit looms large unless British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government swiftly offers concrete proposals.

“The risk of a no deal remains very real. That will maybe be the choice of the United Kingdom but never the choice of the European Union,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

If that happens, “the conse-quences are much more serious, much more numerous than you want to say,” added EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in remarks directed at pro-Brexit MEPs.

“After Brexit, you will be accountable to the citizens,” he told them.

The warnings came two days after Juncker and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met in Luxembourg for talks and just six weeks before Britain is set to exit the bloc.

Juncker emphasised Britain still has not offered any viable solutions to rewrite a withdrawal agreement struck by Johnson’s

predecessor but rejected three times by the British parliament.

“I am not sure” a new deal will be reached, Juncker said.

“We have very little time left. But I am sure we must try,” said the Commission chief, whose mandate ends on October 31 — the deadline for Britain to leave the EU. The strident messages came as Brussels and London blamed each other for moving towards a chaotic no-deal Brexit.

Barnier said “it is certainly not a question of pretending to negotiate,” adding: “It is our responsibility to pursue this process with determination, with sincerity.” His words were taken as a dig at Johnson, who is seen by many in Brussels and London as running down the clock so that Britain leaves the EU at the end of next month with or without a new deal.

If so, Johnson risks falling foul of a law hastily passed by the UK parliament requiring him

to ask for another Brexit delay — a third — by October 19 if no new deal is worked out with the EU.

Britain’s parliament is cur-rently suspended at Johnson’s initiative in a move being chal-lenged in the Supreme Court in London.

Adding pressure, the European Parliament yesterday voted a resolution noting the UK parliament’s law on asking for another Brexit delay, but stressing there must be “reasons and a purpose for such an extension”.

The decision on whether to grant an extension, however, is really up to the leaders of the other 27 EU member countries. They are to hold a Brussels summit on October 17-18, seen as the last chance to strike a deal.

London declared after Lux-embourg that discussions with the EU on rewriting the with-drawal agreement would “soon take place on a daily basis,” up from twice-a-week currently.

But an EU spokeswoman said yesterday that while Brussels was ready to meet “24/7”, daily talks were not yet happening.

Under the withdrawal deal reached last year the UK was to stay in the EU’s customs union temporarily, in case talks towards a trade deal failed.

Pro-Brexit demonstrators wave the Union flag outside the Supreme Court in London, yesterday.

People attend the open-air exhibition “But it is nice that the wall has got holes” in front of the Berlin House of Representatives in Berlin, yesterday. The exhibition commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989, 30 years ago.

World’s largest TV piracy network bustedAFP THE HAGUE

European police officials said yesterday they have smashed what they called the world’s biggest pirate streaming TV network with five million customers in Italy alone.

Italian police stormed various locations while police in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands also carried out raids coordinated by the EU’s judicial cooperation agency Eurojust.

Police arrested at least 23 suspects as part of the ongoing operation against Xtream Codes, an alleged illegal pirating oper-ation which Eurojust said caused damages worth some ¤6.5m ($7.2m) to the market.

Italian financial police said the operation had “deactivated the largest international pirate pay TV streaming network”.

For ¤12, far below normal prices, subscribers to the cut-price pirate streams could access all content from such giants as Sky Italy, Netflix and Mediaset “The damage caused to the broadcast companies, the private sector and public insti-tutions so far is immense,” Filippo Spiezia, Italy’s represent-ative at Eurojust, told a press conference in The Hague.

“The effects created by this illegal activity include unfair competition, financial loss... and thousands of jobs put in danger,” he said. Germany, France and the Netherlands shut down around 200 computer servers as part of the operation.

Law officers also seized hardware and shut down 800 internet sites used to re-broadcast channels.

The piracy operation was allegedly created by two Greek nationals, said Valeria Sico, deputy prosecutor at the public prosecutions office in Naples.

Italian media reported that the network’s mastermind had been arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece. “We discovered a new system... which was much more evolved” than previous pirating attempts, Sico said in The Hague.

The gang’s platform decrypted copyright protected television images and re-broadcast them on the Internet “on a wide scale”.

The scheme was first dis-covered when police raided a home in Naples, where they found that the criminals used a new system to infiltrate legit-imate pay-per-view channels, Sico said. Those responsible for the piracy face up to three years in prison and a fine of ¤25,000, law officials said.

Russia detains 161 N Korean fishermen in Sea of JapanAFP MOSCOW

Russia has detained 161 North Korean fishermen for fishing illegally in the Sea of Japan, the FSB security service said in a statement yesterday.

The arrests came a day after the FSB said three Russian coast-guards were injured in a clash with one of the North Korean boats, which it accused of car-rying out an “armed attack” on them.

Coastal patrols, planes and special forces were used to detain two schooners and 11 motorboats that carried the North Koreans, the FSB said.

The North Koreans, some of whom were injured, were taken to Russia’s far eastern port of

Nakhodka, it added. “Banned fishing gear and illegally obtained marine biological

resources were discovered and seized,” the statement said.

Moscow on Tuesday

summoned the North Korean charge d’affaires over the incident, expressing “serious concern.” “We demanded the Korean side to take exhaustive measures with the goal of pre-venting such incidents in the future,” the Russian foreign min-istry said in a statement.

Russian coastguards in the Far East frequently detain North Korean fishermen, many of whom use rudimentary wooden boats. Some receive prison sentences.

There are frequent disputes over fishing rights in the Sea of Japan, which is surrounded by Japan, Russia and both North and South Korea. In July, North Korea released a Russian fishing boat with a crew of 15 Russians and two South Koreans after it was detained.

A North Korean boat sailing during an incident in which Russian border guards detained two North Korean vessels in the Sea of Japan on September 17, 2019.

French President visiting ItalyAP/ROME

How Europe can better manage migrants is slated to be a key topic of discussion when Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and French President Emmanuel Macron meet in Rome on Wednesday night.

The Italian government has been demanding that

fellow EU countries routinely accept some share of the migrants that charity-run boats rescue in the Mediter-ranean Sea. Conte’s talks with other EU leaders could go more smoothly since anti-migrant League party leader Matteo Salvini abandoned the premier’s first coalition government.

Woman stabbed to death in front of three childrenAFP CAEN, FRANCE

A young French woman was killed after being stabbed 14 times by her male partner in front of their three children, prosecutors in northern France said, amid a growing campaign to halt the deaths of women at the hands of their male companions.

The man, 37, killed his 27-year-old partner during a dispute in the northern port city of Le Havre on Monday as they were in the process of sepa-ration, prosecutors said in a statement late Tuesday. Their children, aged six, four and two, looked on.

“The accused confessed to what happened and said he acted out of fear that the victim would prevent him from seeing his children,” the statement said.

The mother died instantly and the man was arrested shortly afterward. Police sources said the stabbing hap-pened in front of a supermarket.

The accused has been placed in a detention and will appear before a judge who will decide on the charges.

Police had already inter-vened at the couple’s home a week earlier, when the woman said she had fled through a window after being threatened by her partner with a knife.

He was detained at the time but it was decided there was insufficient basis for further action. According to gov-ernment statistics, a total of 121 women were killed by their partner or former partner in France last year, equating to one death every three days.

The government of Pres-ident Emmanuel Macron has embarked on a major consul-tation on domestic violence in order to stop gender-based murder and violence against women. The problem has become all the more pressing following a new spate of such killings already this year.

According to French asso-ciations battling violence against women 106 women have been killed in such crimes so far in 2019.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says Britain still has not offered any viable solutions to rewrite a withdrawal agreement.

‘Parliament shutdown not a matter for judges’REUTERS LONDON

Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament is not a matter for judges and was not done for improper reasons, a lawyer for the prime minister said yesterday as he sought to persuade the British Supreme Court the five-week shutdown was lawful.

Johnson asked Queen Eliz-abeth to prorogue, or suspend, the Parliament from September 10 until October 14, prompting accusations from opponents that he wanted to silence

the legislature in the run-up to Britain’s exit from the European Union on October 31.

The Supreme Court began three days of hearings on Tuesday to decide whether John-son’s advice to the queen regarding the suspension was unlawful.

A ruling against him would be a major embarrassment for Johnson, who has no majority in parliament. It could see law-makers, a majority of whom oppose Johnson’s promise to leave the EU even if no deal has been struck, returning early, with more time to try to

influence his Brexit plans. “We have got here the Mother of Par-liaments being shut down by the father of lies,” said Aidan O’Neill, the lawyer for about 75 law-makers who are among those challenging the suspension.

“Rather than allowing lies to triumph, listen to the angels of your better nature and rule that this prorogation is unlawful and an abuse of power,” he said in a an appeal to the court’s 11 judges.

James Eadie, a lawyer for Johnson, said the ability to pro-rogue parliament was a matter of politics or “high policy” which was non-justiciable.

30 years since fall of Berlin Wall

Malta rescues 45 migrantsAFP VALLETTA

Malta yesterday said it had rescued 45 stricken migrants attempting the perilous Medi-terranean crossing, including airlifting a pregnant woman at risk of miscarriage.

The migrants sent an SOS signal to Alarm Phone, a vol-unteer-run Mediterranean rescue hotline, saying the wooden boat they were in had run into difficulty after two days at sea.

“One pregnant woman is bleeding and maybe lost her child,” the hotline said on Twitter, adding that those on board, including children, had run out of water.

Malta said it was moni-toring the situation, before agreeing to rescue the migrants after several hours.

“The migrants were trans-ferred to a patrol boat and are on their way to Malta,” a coast-guard spokeswoman said, asking not to be named.

The pregnant woman was “airlifted by helicopter,” she said, declining to comment on her health. Alarm Phone also reported what it was the second shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia in two days.

16 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019EUROPE

Spain to hold repeat election after talks failAFP MADRID

Spain will hold a repeat general election in November — its fourth in four years — after acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez failed to secure the support he needs from other parties.

“Spain is bound to hold new elections on November 10,” Sanchez told a news conference after King Felipe VI met with party leaders and concluded there was no candidate with enough support to form a government.

Sanchez’s Socialists won an April general election but only secured 123 of the parliament’s 350 seats. That left him dependent on support from other parties in Spain’s deeply frag-mented legislature to be con-firmed premier for another term.

Sanchez had until next Monday to be confirmed or else fresh elections would be auto-matically called for November 10, but his talks with other parties to try to win their backing

have been fruitless.After wrapping up two days

of talks with party leaders on Tuesday, the King said in a statement that he would not put forward a new candidate to seek the confidence of parliament to become prime minister because no party leader had majority support in the assembly.

Sanchez blamed his rivals for the deadlock, saying he had tried “by all possible means but they made it impossible for us.”

He urged Spaniards to “speak more clearly” when they vote again by increasing the Socialists’

majority and give the country the “stability” needed to “face the great challenges” before it.

Spain, the fourth-largest eurozone economy, faces several problems for which it needs a stable government: an ongoing separatist movement in its northeastern region of Catalonia, high unemployment, low wages and job insecurity.

The country has been gripped by political instability since the December 2015 elec-t i o n s e n d e d t h e

traditional two-party system with the emergence of far-left group Podemos and the Ciudadanos.

And the rise of far-right upstart Vox, which entered par-liament following April’s election, has further complicated the political picture.

Polls suggest the Socialists would win more seats in a repeat election but still fall short of a majority.

“A new election would return another fragmented parliament,

which means the country would probably not have a government before the end of the year,” said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.

Sanchez failed twice in July to be confirmed by the assembly after he was unable to reach an agreement with Podemos over the formation of a coalition gov-ernment — which would have been Spain’s first since the country returned to democracy following the death of long-time dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.

Asylum requests down in developed countries: OECDAFP PARIS

Developed countries received sharply fewer asylum applica-tions last year, a report said yesterday, as the world remains gripped in a migrant crisis fuelled by wars and economic hardship.

Applications for asylum in the 36-country Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) dropped 34% to 1.09 million last year from 1.65 million at the height of the migrant flow to Europe in 2016.

“Because of the drop in asylum applications, the number of registered refugees also declined” from about 900,000 permits issued in 2016 to 700,000 in 2017, said the OECD.

Refugees represented 14% of permanent migrants to the OECD last year, the report said. Most were from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Venezuela.

Despite the decline in asylum seekers, humanitarian migration remained at a “historically high level”, said the bloc, whose members are from Europe, the Americas and the Pacific — many of them key migrant destina-tions. “While it is not the main channel of immigration to any OECD country... it is the second-largest channel of migration to Austria, Germany, Sweden and the United States.”

The report said OECD members received 5.3 million new permanent migrants in 2018, a 2% rise over 2017, mainly

due to families joining a growing number of expat workers.

There was also a rise of 11% in the number of temporary workers to about 4.9 million in 2017, the latest year for which data was available.

Migration has been a key issue for figures including US President Donald Trump, Italian ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini and French far-right leader Marine le Pen, with many countries seeing a sharp shift to the right ascribed partly to anti-immigrant sentiment.

“In a number of countries, a common public perception is that migration is uncontrolled and costly,” the OECD said.

While there was “little evi-dence to support these views,” it

would be a mistake to ignore people’s migration fears, the report warned.

The report expressed concern that people tend to confuse illegal and lawful move-ments, and to view all migration as driven by indigence, it said.

It said communication needs to be improved, noting a recent European study found that 60% of respondents did not feel they were well informed about immi-gration and integration.

“And EU respondents, on average, overestimate the number of migrants from outside Europe by a factor of two,” it said, adding half thought, wrongly, that there were more illegal migrants than legal ones.

Last year, the United States

was the main destination for asylum seekers in the OECD, with 254,000 applications, a drop of 23.3%. Germany was second with 162,000 applica-tions, and Turkey in third place with 83,000.

Poland was the top desti-nation for temporary migrant workers with more than 1.1 million people, mainly Ukrainians, followed by the US with almost 700,000 temporary labourers in 2017.

On average, over 68% of migrants in the OECD were employed, said the report, but in Italy and France, only about 40% had jobs.

Most temporary workers were employed either as low-skilled workers in farming,

construction, manufacturing and freight transport, or in very high-skilled fields such as IT or health.

The US saw a drop of 5% with 1.1 million new permanent resi-dents in 2017, the report noted, and refused a higher number of temporary labour permits.

Neighbouring Mexico, which Trump has pressured to hold people migrating northward to escape violence and poverty in Central America, saw a 30% rise in asylum applicants. Most were from Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador.

Britain saw a 0.4% rise in its own residents emigrating to OECD countries, a total of 131,000 last year, said the organ-isation. Most went to Spain, Aus-tralia, and Germany.

King Felipe VI said in a statement that he would not put forward a new candidate to seek the confidence of parliament to become prime minister because no party leader had majority support in the assembly.

Three dead in Venice powerboat accidentAFP ROME

Three people have been killed in Venice after a powerboat attempting to break an offshore record slammed into an artificial spit of land in the dark, Italian firefighters and media reports said yesterday.

Italian champion Fabio Buzzi and two British racers died in the crash late Tuesday while another Italian racer survived, the reports said citing Giampaolo Montavoci, president of the national offshore and endurance commission.

The accident happened as the vessel, some 20 metres long and able to travel up to 130km

an hour, tried to break the Monte Carlo to Venice record.

Firefighters said they pulled three bodies from the sub-merged boat while the survivor had been thrown clear.

The vessel was nearly at the finishing line when it hit the Punta Sabbioni spit, built to protect the city’s “Mose” flood barrier, reports said.

Large boulders piled up on one another from the sea floor run the length of the spit.

The Unesco World Heritage Site is slowly sinking — some-thing the “Mose” (Moses) system is designed to combat.

The crash was the latest in a string of accidents in the

floating city, which sees every-thing from tiny gondolas to speedboats and vast cruise ships cross its waterways.

In June, the giant 13-deck MSC Opera rammed into a dockside in Venice and knocked into a small tourist boat, injuring four people and sending others on the pier running for safety.

A month later, the 12-deck Costa Deliziosa narrowly missed a yacht while being towed out of Venice in stormy conditions.

But the hugely costly array of mobile barriers at the mouth of Venice’s lagoon has suffered years of delays, and is now only expected to be finished in 2021, La Nuova di Venezia said.

Bosnia opens organised crime probe into student’s deathAP SARAJEVO

Bosnian prosecutors have opened an organised crime investigation into the unresolved death of a student that has sparked street protests and crit-icism from the European Union.

In a statement yesterday, prosecutors said Chief Prose-cutor Gordana Tadic told the parents of Dzenan Memic that a probe was launched against several people. No other details were immediately revealed.

Memic, 22, of Sarajevo, died

in February 2016 from what prosecutors initially described as intentional homicide, but later treated as a vehicle accident. That led to street protests and allegations of corruption in the judiciary.

EU’s Enlargement Commis-sioner Johannes Hahn said on Tuesday that the delay in b r i n g i n g j u s t i c e i s “unacceptable.”

Memic’s death along with that of another student David Dragicevic, who was slain in Banja Luka in 2018, have fed discontent in Bosnia.

Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a Parliament plenary session, in Madrid, yesterday.

Moscow court orders release of anti-government protesterAP MOSCOW

A Moscow court yesterday ruled to release a protester, who was facing years in prison for assaulting police, following a mounting public campaign in support of anti-government activists and even bystanders caught up in an opposition rally.

Following their own pleas to keep the man in jail, prosecutors at a hearing asked the court to release Aidar Gubaidulin on recognisance and review the case to clarify the charges.

The court ruled in favour, and the man was allowed out of the glass cage in the courtroom that defendants are kept in.

Gubaidulin was one of a dozen Russians facing a prison sentence for his role in the July 27 opposition protest.

Public discontent has been rising against what has been per-ceived as the Kremlin’s vengeance against the oppo-sition following verdicts this month sentencing four people to prison terms ranging from two to 3 ½ years.

In a rare sign of dissent, more than 50 Russian Orthodox

priests signed a public petition late Tuesday, condemning a series of recent trials and prison sentences for the protesters.

“We would like to express our concern about the fact that the verdicts come across as an attempt to intimidate Russian citizens rather than deliver a fair ruling in the case of the defendants,” the letter said.

Most of the convictions against the protesters were based on testimony of riot police officers that didn’t correspond to what can be seen in the footage showing the defendants at the rally.Rescue workers surround the wreckage of a speed boat which crashed in Venice, yesterday.

Denmark arrests suspect in Tax Agency explosionAP COPENHAGEN

Police in Denmark said they have arrested a 23-year-old man as a suspect in an explosion that damaged the headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency and slightly injured a bystander last month.

Copenhagen pol ice spokesman Brian Belling said the man arrested at the city’s international airport late Tuesday is a Swedish citizen who isn’t being named publicly.

The suspect denies wrong-doing in the August 6 explosion. He was ordered jailed for six days yesterday while police continue to investigate.

Another person is in custody in the case. Two others also were detained as suspects and later released.

Gunman ‘fires shots’, threatens to blow up Kiev bridge: PoliceAFP/KIEV

A gunman yesterday fired shots from his car after blocking a major road bridge in Ukrainian capital Kiev and threatened to blow it up, police said.

Police said the man had stopped traffic on the bridge over the Dnipro river and was “firing shots and threatening to carry out an explosion.”

“We are conducting a special police operation,” Kiev police chief Andriy Kryshchenko said in a statement. “The incident is being treated as “preparation for a terrorist act.”

No casualties have been reported.

Kiev’s metro system, which uses the bridge for one of its lines, said it had suspended traffic on the section. Residents complained that the gunman had caused long traffic jams at rush hour.

17THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 AMERICAS

Trump names O’Brien as national security adviser

Car smashes into lobby of Trump Plaza in NYCAP NEW ROCHELLE

A car smashed into the lobby of the Trump Plaza residential tower in New Rochelle, New York, slightly injuring two pedestrians, police said.

The crash, which police were investigating as an accident, happened around 8:40pm on Tuesday in the New York City suburb, roughly 32km northeast of the more famous Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Man-hattan, where President Donald Trump has a home.

Deena Grotto told the

Journal News that she had just taken the elevator to the lobby to walk her dog when she heard a loud boom.

“The door opened, I saw broken glass and smoke and somebody yelling, ‘Police! Police!’ I didn’t know what it was. I just closed the elevator door and I went back upstairs because I was scared,” Grotto said.

The black Mercedes-Benz crashed through glass doors before coming to rest inside. Police didn’t immediately release any information about the driver.

The concierge was bleeding and looked “really shook up,” maintenance worker Kevin Jenkins said.

Yesterday, the entrance to the building was curtained and blocked off with two large potted plants; a doorman greeted resi-dents at a side door.

The apartment building, which opened in 2007, is among the lesser-known real estate developments that carry the Trump Plaza brand. More famous properties with the moniker have included the now-demolished Trump Plaza hotel and casino in Atlantic City.

Police officers standing near a car after it crashed into the lobby of the Trump Plaza in New Rochelle, New York, yesterday.

Acting intelligence director balks at House subpoenaAP WASHINGTON

The acting director of national intelligence is balking at demands from the House intel-ligence committee to turn over a secret whistleblower complaint or appear at a hearing this week, escalating a weeklong standoff.

Committee Chairman Adam Schiff subpoenaed Joseph Maguire last week, saying he was withholding a whistleblower complaint from Congress and questioning whether he had been

directed to do so by the White House or the attorney general. Schiff did not divulge the subject of the whistleblower complaint, but said the committee has been told that the intelligence com-munity’s inspector general deter-mined it to be credible and a matter of “urgent concern.”

Schiff said if the complaint was not turned over, Maguire would be required to appear at a Thursday hearing.

In a letter, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,

Jason Klitenic, wrote that such a hearing would be “premature” and that Maguire was not available to testify this week.

Klitenic wrote that the agency is protecting the whistleblower and argued the allegation does not meet the definition of “urgent concern.” He said the complaint “concerned conduct from someone outside the intelligence community and did not relate to ‘intelligence activity’ under the DNI’s supervision,” adding that the office was still willing to nego-tiate with the committee.

Schiff said on Tuesday evening that the committee must “move quickly” on the subject and that the committee’s position is clear.

“The acting DNI can either provide the complaint as required under the law, or he will be required to come before the committee to tell the public why he is not following the clear letter of the law, including whether the White House or the attorney general are directing him to do so. He has yet to provide the complaint in response to the

committee’s subpoena, so I expect him to appear on Thursday, under subpoena if necessary.”

Schiff said last week that Maguire is required to share the complaint with Congress, and “this raises serious concerns about whether White House, Department of Justice or other executive branch officials are trying to prevent a legitimate whistleblower complaint from reaching its intended recipient, the Congress, in order to cover up serious misconduct.”

FROM LEFT: Swedish environment activist Greta Thunberg; This Is Zero Hour co-founder Jamie Margolin; and Alliance for Climate Education fellow Vic Barrett, during a joint Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, yesterday.

US Congress urged to take climate action nowAFP WASHINGTON

Teen activist Greta Thunberg took her climate change fight to the US Congress yesterday, imploring the nation’s lawmakers — several of whom are global warming sceptics —to “take real action” to avert environmental disaster.

The 16-year-old Swede was joined by other campaigners who said looming uncertainty caused by inaction over climate change has led younger gener-ations to question the intentions of today’s political leaders.

Thunberg arrived last week in Washington, where she has maintained a busy schedule: demonstrating in front of the White House, attending an event with US senators and indigenous leaders from South America, and meeting with children who are suing the government for climate inaction.

On Monday, she sat down with former president Barack Obama, who hailed her as “one of our planet’s greatest advocates,” and she received an “ambassador of conscience” award from Amnesty International.

In appearance before a joint

hearing of two House com-mittees, her message was humble but blunt.

“I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the scientists,” she said in a soft voice, noting that she wanted her opening testimony to be a 2018 United Nations report, which called for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“I want you to then unite behind the science — and then I want you to take real action.”

Congress has been all but paralysed on a path forward to mitigate climate change in recent years.

Bail denied in US aircraft sabotage caseAP/MIAMI

A federal judge cited new evidence of potential terrorism sympathies in denying bail for a mechanic charged with sabo-taging an American Airlines jetliner.

US Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley imposed pretrial detention for 60-year-old Abdul Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani at yesterday’s hearing.

The new evidence pre-sented by prosecutors includes that Alani has a brother in Iraq who may be involved with the IS extremist group as well as statements Alani made about wishing harm.

Alani is a naturalised US citizen from Iraq. He’s not charged with a terror-related crime. He is charged with sab-otaging a Boeing 737 with 150 people aboard at Miami Inter-national Airport because ongoing labor negotiations were jeopardising his chances at earning overtime.

Social media firms testify on violent content preventionREUTERS WASHINGTON

Major US social media firms told a Senate panel yesterday that they are doing more to prevent to remove violent or extremist content from online platforms in the wake of several high-profile incidents, focusing on using more technological tools to act faster.

Critics said too many violent videos or posts that back extremist groups supporting ter-rorism are not immediately removed from websites.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said social media firms need to do more to prevent violent content.

Facebook’s head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, told the Senate Com-merce Committee its software detection systems have “reduced the average time it takes for our AI to find a violation on Facebook Live to 12 seconds, a 90% reduction in our average detection time from a few months ago.”

In May, Facebook Inc said it would temporarily block users who break its rules from broad-casting live video.

That followed an interna-tional outcry after a gunman killed 51 people in New Zealand and streamed the attack live on his page.

Bickert said Facebook asked law enforcement agencies to

help it access “videos that could be helpful training tools” to improve its machine learning to detect violent videos.

Earlier this month, the owner of 8chan, an online message board linked to several recent mass shootings, gave a deposition on Capitol Hill after police in Texas said they were “reasonably confident” the man who shot and killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Twitter Inc public policy director Nick Pickles said the website suspended more than 1.5 million accounts for ter-rorism promotion violations between August 2015 and the end of 2018 with “more than 90% of these accounts are sus-pended through our proactive measures.”

Twitter was asked why the site allows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to have an account given what he said were a series of brazen human rights violations.

“If we remove that person’s account it will not change facts on the ground,” Pickles said, adding that Maduro’s account has not broken Twitter’s rules.

Alphabet Inc unit Google’s global director of information policy, Derek Slater, said the answer is “a combination of technology and people. Tech-nology can get better and better at identifying patterns. People can help deal with the right nuances.”

Grandmother jailed for aiding grand-son’s deathAP/RAPID CITY

A grandmother has been sentenced in South Dakota to 9½ years in prison for being an accessory to the beating death of her 2-year-old grandson.

Federal Judge Jeffrey Vixen gave 51-year-old Sonya Dubray a sentence longer than guide-lines recommend in Rapid City.

The Rapid City Journal said Dubray, in a deal with prose-cutors, earlier pleaded guilty to being an accessory to second-degree murder in the July 2016 beating death.

Dubray’s daughter, the child’s mother, was sentenced last year to 40 years in prison for fatally beating her son. The grandmother did not call 911 right away after finding the boy unresponsive and lied to federal investigators.

AP WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump yesterday named Robert O’Brien (pictured), his chief hostage negotiator and an established figure in Republican policy circles, as his new national security adviser.

O’Brien, the fourth person in two years to hold the job, becomes the administration’s point person on national security amid rising tensions with Iran following the weekend attack on Saudi oil installations and fresh uncertainty in Afghanistan after the halt in peace talks with the Taliban.

The announcement of O’Brien’s selection comes a week after Trump ousted John Bolton from the post, citing policy dis-agreements . O’Brien, who made headlines in July when he was dispatched to Sweden to monitor the assault trial of American rapper A$AP Rocky, was among five candidates Trump said on Tuesday were under consideration.

“He’s worked with me for quite awhile now on hostages and we have a tremendous track record on hostages,” Trump said yesterday on a tarmac in Los Angeles, hours after revealing the pick on Twitter. “Robert has been fantastic. We know each other well.

O’Brien, standing alongside

Trump, said it was a “privilege” to be picked.

“We’ve got a number of chal-lenges,” he said, adding that the administration’s focus will con-tinue to be on keeping the US safe and rebuilding the military. He said he would advise Trump privately on the situation in Saudi Arabia.

Trump abruptly forced out Bolton on September 10, after he and his hawkish national security adviser found them-selves in strong disagreement over the administration’s approach to Iran, Afghanistan and a host of other global

challenges. The sudden exit marked the latest departure of a prominent voice of dissent from Trump’s inner circle as the president has grown more com-fortable following his gut instinct over the studious guidance offered by his advisers.

As the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, O’Brien worked closely with the families of American hostages and advised administration officials on hostage issues. He helped secure the release in February of American citizen Danny Burch, who was freed after 18 months in captivity in Yemen.

He has also worked on the case of missing US journalist Austin Tice, who was captured in Syria in 2012. O’Brien has said he is confident Tice is still alive.

The White House sent O’Brien to Sweden to monitor the case of A$AP Rocky, who was charged with assault. The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was permitted to return to Los Angeles to await the verdict of a Swedish court, which found him guilty in a street brawl.

Last month, Hua Qu, the wife of a Princeton University graduate student detained in Iran, told reporters that she would like to see the same level of personal attention from the government as A$AP Rocky received.

Robert O’Brien said that the administration’s focus will continue to be on keeping the US safe and rebuilding the military.

18 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019AMERICAS

Venezuela releases key oppn figure from jailAFP CARACAS

Venezuela has released key opposition figure Edgar Zambrano from jail, where he had been held since a failed uprising in May, Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced yesterday.

Zambrano — the vice-pres-ident of the National Assembly — had been held in a military prison since his dramatic arrest for supporting a failed April 30 uprising organised by opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The government petitioned the Supreme Court to release Zambrano “following partial agreements reached by the Ven-ezuelan government and sectors of the national opposition,” Saab said in a statement.

The release was greeted by opposition lawmaker Timoteo Zambrano on Twitter as the beginning of “the process of releasing political prisoners”.

Zambrano’s release appears to be linked to Monday’s announcement by the gov-ernment of President Nicolas Maduro that its lawmakers would return to the opposition-dominated National Assembly following a three-year boycott, after striking a deal with oppo-sition fringe parties outside of Guaido’s coalition.

That move is aimed at trying to sideline Guaido, who yes-terday was confirmed by the

National Assembly as its leader.The Supreme Court in May

said it was jailing Zambrano for “the flagrant commission of the crimes of treason, conspiracy and civil rebellion.”

Guaido in April led around 30 members of the armed forces in trying to spark an insurrection to dislodge Maduro, but while it provoked two days of deadly clashes, it quickly fizzled out.

Zambrano was one of 15 law-makers arrested in a subsequent crackdown on the instigators.

His arrest was the most dra-matic and drew the most inter-national attention.

The 64-year-old’s car was surrounded outside his Demo-cratic Action Party’s head-quarters before it was towed, with him still in it, to the noto-rious Helicoide prison, within the headquarters of Venezuela’s SEBIN intelligence agency.

Deputies from the ruling socialist party walked out of the National Assembly in 2016 after losing control in elections, and the government set up its own

body, the Constituent Assembly, to sideline the opposition-dom-inated body.

On Monday, Maduro’s gov-ernment said its deputies would return to the National Assembly “in the interest of deepening and extending the dialogue” with the opposition.

That announcement came hours after Guaido announced that talks aimed at resolving the country’s long-running political impasse had ended.

Maduro called off the talks, which were initially held in Oslo and then moved to Barbados, on August 7 in response to US sanc-tions against his government.

“After more than 40 days during which he refused to con-tinue, we can confirm that the Barbados (dialogue) mechanism has ended,” Guaido said.

Guaido earlier this year declared himself interim pres-ident with the backing of the US

and other western powers, saying elections that returned Maduro to power had been undermined by fraud.

However, despite months of mass protests, US sanctions, and repeated calls for military

defections, Guaido has failed to shake Maduro’s stranglehold on power.

The presidency of the National Assembly normally rotates annually under an agreement within the opposition

coalition. The position would next fall to minority movements, including parties who have signed a pact with Maduro paving the way for a return of 55 lawmakers from his socialist bloc to the legislature.

Venezuelan opposition figure Edgar Zambrano speaks with the press after being released from jail, in Caracas, yesterday.

Cuba supports Venezuela on ‘No More Trump’ campaignANATOLIA/ANKARA

Cuba gathered more than a half-million signatures to show soli-darity with Venezuela’s Pres-ident Nicolas Maduro in an anti-US campaign launched in early August to stand against Washington.

Venezuela’s Ambassador to Cuba Adam Chavez Frias thanked Cubans for their

support with the signatures, saying shows “the solidarity, commitment and brotherhood” toward two countries which consolidated “the friendship that existed between Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez,” according to Cuban’s Granma newspaper.

The targeted number of sig-natures, 13 million, has already been collected, he said, while

people from other countries, including Bolivia and Nicaragua, also accompanied the progress.

“We will continue to fight for our freedom, sovereignty, for the real brotherhood among our peoples, for true national identity, for dignity and peace in our (Latin America) and in the world,” said Chavez Frias.

The signatures for the “No More Trump” campaign will be

submitted to the UN General Assembly meetings in New York where Venezuela will urge Sec-retary-General Antonio Guterres to make a statement on the White House’s coercive sanctions.

Washington’s move earlier in August to freeze all assets of the Venezuelan government was a significant escalation of ten-sions with the South American nation.

US charges 58 in Texas with healthcare fraudREUTERS DALLAS

US prosecutors announced charges yesterday against 58 people accused of engaging in healthcare fraud schemes that centered on the illegal distri-bution of more than 6 million opioid pills across Texas.

Some 16 medical profes-sionals, including six doctors and seven pharmacists, were charged in the schemes, which featured one pharmacy in Houston that illegally dispensed more than 760,000 pills from March 2018 to September 2019, Assistant Attorney-General Brian Benczkowski told a news briefing in Dallas.

“The data in our possession shines an inescapable light on those dirty doctors, clinic owners, pharmacists and others who may have long believed that they could perpetrate their fraud in the dark, behind closed doors,” he said.

The opioid crisis has led to nearly 400,000 overdose deaths between 1999 and 2017, according to the latest US data. About 218,000 of those deaths have been from prescription opioids, while the rest were from illicit opioids including heroin.

The schemes in Texas also involved more than $158m in fraudulent claims for com-pound creams and $23m in tax evasion. Federal authorities have frozen $60m in assets of the people accused, Bencz-kowski said. “I hope today’s action brings home a simple message for those that engage in these despicable frauds.”

Criminals target defenders of Brazil’s Amazon: ReportANATOLIA ANKARA

More than 300 people have been killed during the last decade in the conflicts over the use of land and resources in the Amazon, according to a recent report.

“Deforestation in the Bra-zilian Amazon is driven largely by criminal networks that use violence and intimidation against those who try to stop them, and the government is failing to protect both the defenders and the rainforest itself,” Human Rights Watch said in the report.

“Those responsible for the

violence are rarely brought to justice,” according to the 165-page report based on 170 inter-views. More than 300 killings were registered by Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a nonprofit organisation. Fourteen went to trial.

Of the 28 killings Human Rights Watch documented, only two went to trial; and of the more than 40 cases or threats, none did, it added.

“During his first year in office, (Brazil’s President Jair) Bolsonaro has scaled back enforcement of environmental laws, weakened federal environmental agencies,

and harshly criticised organisa-tions and individuals working to preserve the rainforest,” the report stated.

“The situation is only getting worse under President Bol-sonaro, whose assault on the country’s environmental agencies is putting the rainforest and the people who live there at much greater risk,” said Daniel Wilkinson, acting environment and human rights director at Human Right Watch.

According to preliminary official data, during Bolsonaro’s first eight months in the office beginning in January,

deforestation almost doubled compared to 2018.

“Such fires do not occur nat-urally in the wet ecosystem of the Amazon basin,” the report said, referring to large-scale forest fires in August. “Rather, they are started by people com-pleting the process of deforest-ation where the trees of value have already been removed; they spread through the small clearings and discrete roads that have been carved by loggers, leaving veins of dryer, flammable vegetation that serve as kindling to ignite the rainforest.”

As the world’s largest tropical

rainforest, the Amazon plays a vital role in mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide. When cut or burned down, the forest not only ceases to fulfill this function, but also releases back into the atmosphere the carbon dioxide it had previously stored.

“The impact of the attacks on Brazil’s forest defenders extends far beyond the Amazon,” Wilkinson said. “Until the country addresses the violence and lawlessness that facilitate illegal logging, the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest will continue unchecked.”

Indictment made public for man charged in El Paso attackAP EL PASO

Officials in Texas released the grand jury indictment filed last week against a man accused of killing 22 people at an El Paso Walmart last month.

The one-page indictment against Patrick Crusius offers

few new details but lists the names of the 22 victims who were killed in the Aug. 3 mass shooting in the border city.

Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was indicted last week on one count of capital murder of mul-tiple persons. El Paso prose-cutors are seeking the death penalty. Crusius remains jailed

without bond.A previously released arrest

warrant prepared by police said Crusius told officers, “I’m the shooter,” and that he was tar-geting Mexicans. In court docu-ments, prosecutors alleged that Crusius published a screed shortly before the shooting that said it was “in response to the

Hispanic invasion of Texas.”It cited another mass

shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed scores of Muslims as inspiration for the attack.

The document allegedly pub-lished by Crusius mirrored some of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy rhetoric.

The release was greeted by opposition lawmaker Timoteo Zambrano on Twitter as the beginning of “the process of releasing political prisoners”.

Bermuda braces for Hurricane HumbertoREUTERS HAMILTON

Bermuda residents boarded up windows of homes and busi-nesses as Hurricane Humberto became a major storm on route the Atlantic archipelago, although forecasts showed they could be spared a direct hit.

Hurricane force winds and rains were expected to hit Bermuda by today, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. At 11am yesterday, the storm’s eye was to the west of the archipelago, which lies about 1,046km east of the US.

The storm packed 195 kph winds and was moving at 26 kph. It was a category 3 hurricane on the 5-step Saffir-Simpson hur-ricane scale, the NHC said.

The storm’s core is expected to pass north of the archipelago in the evening. Flights have been canceled from the main airport

and some residents covered windows with wooden planks and metal sheeting to prepare in the capital Hamilton.

Officials have said they will end government ferry services at noon and close a major bridge leading to the airport in the

evening. Schools were closed and ambulances on standby, a witness said.

The Atlantic storm season has picked up pace in recent weeks. The Bahamas is still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Dorian.

Residents boarding up their homes ahead of Hurricane Humberto in Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, yesterday.

Pete Buttigieg unveils disaster relief planAP GALIVANTS FERRY

Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (pictured) unveiled his community-focused approach to disaster relief in a South Carolina community hit hard by Hurricane Florence last year, pledging to reinforce the response to weather events he says are exacerbated by climate change.

During a speech, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor discussed his plans for a disaster com-mission to help coordinate efforts between federal agencies and the communities affected by disasters. In his plan, Butt-igieg says the commission would be tasked with streamlining data collection, in part to lessen burdens on those affected by disasters.

Buttigieg, whose campaign said he is the first of the Demo-cratic hopefuls to release a stand-alone disaster relief plan, said the commission also would aim to make it easier for sur-vivors to access funding to help them rebuild, including a per-manent block grant program within the Department of H o u s i n g a n d U r b a n Development.

Drawing on his own expe-rience with historic flooding in

South Bend, Buttigieg said in his plan that he has “seen the frus-tration that sets in for local com-munities when federal disaster response falls short, or takes too long, or is delivered in a con-fusing fashion that leaves local authorities, nonprofits, and state officials scrambling to cover for gaps and delays.”

The problems, Buttigieg wrote in his plan, are made worse by climate change, with c a t a s t r o p h i c w e a t h e r “increasing in frequency, intensity, and impact.” Building on his $1.1 trillion climate change proposals, Buttigieg said his administration would explore public-private partnerships for disaster response, like using drone technology to survey storm damage. He also proposed increasing the number of Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency-qualified dis-aster workers.

19THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

HIA launches ‘Energy Savings and Performance Awards’

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Hamad International Airport (HIA) announced its latest initiative committed to boosting sustainable and energy-saving practices at the world-class hub - the ‘Energy Savings and Performance Awards’. Implemented by HIA’s Energy Working Group (EWG), the award scheme champions airport stake-holders and Faci l i t ies Management (FM) contractors that continue to implement energy-saving strategies in their various fields of operations at HIA. The award scheme concluded in a ceremony that took place at the airport.

The Energy Saving and Per-formance Awards are comprised of three categories: Best Energy Conservation Project, Best Con-tractor for Energy Savings, and Best Stakeholder for Energy Savings. Invitations across these categories were disseminated to all concerned parties, leading to a total of 17 applications received

across Best Energy Conservation Project and Best Contractor for Energy Savings. A total of 10 stakeholders were considered for the Best Stakeholder for Energy Savings Category. All business units of Qatar Airways Group, stakeholders and contractors who have contributed to the improvement of HIA energy effi-ciency were considered for the awards.

Michael McMillan, Vice Pres-ident Facilities Management, stated: “The State of Qatar is wit-nessing rapid growth and devel-opment that demands environ-mentally-conscious practices for a sustainable future.

As the gateway to Qatar, HIA assumes significant responsibility in reducing its environmental impact and adopting sustainable

practice across all of its opera-tions. We are proud of HIA’s Energy Working Group for imple-menting an initiative that not only recognizes those who are taking considerable strides in sustainable airport operations, but also encourages our stakeholders and contractors at large to take our environment and its future as seri-ously as we do.”

“HIA’s Energy Working Group has made significant progress since officially being launched in 2016. All of our members are not only well-versed on the impor-tance of energy reduction and its association with carbon emissions and climate change, but are also committed to tackling environ-mental challenges and imple-menting more sustainable practice across our operations. While we

are proud to see that EWG is taking its work one step further by recognizing those who make active efforts in reducing their environmental impact, we are also looking forward to seeing how this award scheme will enable more transparency between our stake-holders and contractors on HIA’s energy-reduction efforts.”

The award applications were evaluated by The Energy Saving and Performance Awards Evalu-ation Committee, comprised of a selection of members from the HIA Energy Working Group as well as experts in various fields of energy-related activities including environment, electrical and HVAC.

Last year, HIA implemented its MoU with Tarsheed by launching the ‘One Degree Makes a Difference’ campaign, where the five-star hub increased the air conditioning temperature by one degree for the winter period. The initiative saved more than 2,000 MWH with carbon reduction of approximate 1,000 tons.

HIA officials during the launch of its latest initiative - the ‘Energy Savings and Performance Awards’.

Implemented by HIA’s Energy Working Group, the award scheme champions airport stakeholders and Facilities Management contractors that continue to implement energy-saving strategies in their various fields of operations at HIA.

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FLIK Mirqab Mall

Ad Astra (2D/Adventure) 12:30, 1:00, 3:30, 6:30 & 6:50pm Al Kanz 2 (2D/Arabic) 9:45pmBandobast (2D/Telugu) 6:30 & 10:00pmFinal (2D/Malayalam) 4:10pmKaappaan (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 3:45, 7:00 & 10:15pmPrassthanam (2D/Hindi) 3:50 & 8:20pmThe Big Trip (2D/Animation) 12:30, 2:20 & 4:20pm Valmiki (2D/Telugu) 12:30 & 10:00pm

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2D/Adventure) 10:40, 11:50am, 2:15, 4:40, 7:05, 9:30, 11:55pm & 0:30amAd Astra (2D/Adventure) 10:25am, 12:50, 3:15, 5:40, 8:05 & 10:30pm; Aladdin 12:30 & 3:00pm Angel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 10:10am, 12:30, 5:30, 7:50, 10:10pm & 0:10am; Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 10;10am & 2:05pm; Al Kanz 2 (2D/Arabic) 6:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm; IT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 5:50, 7:30 & 9:00pm; Kaappaan (2D/Tamil) 10:40pm; Lion King 10:50am, 1:10 & 3:30pmRambo: Last Blood (2D/Action) 10:20am, 11:20am, 12:20, 1:20, 2:20, 3:20, 4:20, 5:20, 6:20, 7:20, 8:20, 9:20, 11:20pm & 0:20am; The Angry Birds Movie 2 12:10 & 4:05pm

Love Action Drama (2D/Malayalam) 2:30pm; The Big Trip (2D/Animation) 5:00pm; Rambo: Last Blood (2D/Action) 7:00 & 9:30pm; Ad Astra (2D/Adventure) 8:45pm; Kaappaan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm; Prassthanam (2D/Hindi) 2:00pm; Pattabi Raman (2D/Malayalam) 4:30pm; The Zoya Factor (2D/Hindi) 7:00 & 11:30pm;Valmiki (2D/Telugu) 11:15pm; Finals (2D/Malayalam) 2:15pm; Nikka Zaildar 3 (2D/Punjabi) 4:45pm; Diego Mardona 7:00pm; Al Kanz 2 (2D/Arabic) 9:15pm;

ROYAL PLAZA

Prassthanam (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 6:30pm; Finals (2D/Malayalam) 2:00pm; Nikka Zaildar 3 (2D/Punjabi) 2:15pm; Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2D/Hindi) 4:15pm; The Lion King (2D/Drama) 4:30pm; Pattabi Raman (2D/Malayalam) 4:30pm; Rambo: Last Blood (2D/Action) 7:00 & 9:00pm; Diego Mardona 7:00pm; The Zoya Factor (2D/Hindi) 8:45pm; Valmiki (2D/Telugu) 11:15pm; Kaappaan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm; Ad Astra (2D/Adventure) 9:15 & 11:30pm.

MALL

20 THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2019MORNING BREAK

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum30oC 40oC

HIGH TIDE 07:40 – 18:31 LOW TIDE 02:10 – 14:31

Misty to foggy at places by early morn-

ing becomes hot daytime with slight dust

at times and some clouds, relatively hu-

mid by night.

FAJRSHOROOK

04. 05 AM

05. 21 AM

11. 28 AM

02.55 PM

05. 36 PM

07. 06 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

QU retains spot among top 500 universities worldwide THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar University (QU) has main-tained its position among the top 500 universities in the world in the recent Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2020. The results showed that QU was ranked in the range of 401-500.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020 includes almost 1,400 univer-sities across 92 countries,

standing as the largest and most diverse university rankings ever to date.

The table is based on 13 care-fully calibrated performance indicators that measure an insti-tution’s performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This achievement consoli-dates QU’s recent results in rankings as the institution moved from 332 in the QS World University Ranking in 2019 to

276 in the 2020 ranking, effec-tively jumping 56 places, and becoming one of the most improved universities. The THE ranking is a great achievement for QU and is a testament to the efforts QU has undertaken to gain international recognition.

The University stands today as a beacon of academic and research excellence, and embraces a student body of around 20,000 female and male students enrolled in its various academic programmes.

A view of Qatar University campus.

QA’s overall annual revenue rises by 14%THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways’ overall revenue and other operating income grew by 14 percent annually, said the airline in its annual report for 2018-19.

Passenger revenue grew by 14.3 percent with capacity (Available Seat Kilometres) growth of 13.5 per cent.

Cargo revenue witnessed growth of 16.8 percent with cargo capacity (Available Tonne Kilometres) growing 11.8 percent annually.

Executive jet revenue also witnessed substantial growth of 18.4 percent in comparison to previous year. The airline launched 11 new destinations during the fiscal year 2019 and has now added a total of 31 (as of September 1, 2019) since the start of the illegal blockade, growing its network to over 160 gateways around the world.

Group financial results demonstrate sustained and ongoing success in the face of adversity with cargo business

now the largest in the world and Executive Jet business seeing 18.4 percent growth

Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive, Qatar Airways, said: “2018-19 was a year of achievement in the face of adversity for Qatar Airways. Despite facing challenges that are unparalleled in the airline industry, I am very proud that we have grown our fleet, expanded our network and seen overall revenue increase to QR48bn ($13.2bn), a rise of

14 percent. Passenger numbers are up, capacity as measured by available seat kilometres has risen and our Cargo business is now the largest in the world”.

The annual report high-lights the airline group’s success and underlying robust financial health in the face of the continued illegal airspace blockade against Qatar.

“2018-19 was nonetheless a challenging year and while it is disappointing that Group

has registered a net loss of QR2.3bn ($639m) – attrib-utable to the loss of mature routes, higher fuel costs and foreign exchange fluctuations – the underlying fundamentals of our business remain extremely robust,” Al Baker said.

“Our success is due to an unwavering belief in our strategy to give our passengers the very best, backed by the perseverance and hard work of our staff. I look forward to 2019-2020 with optimism and confidence that our growth will continue and we will serve even more countries around the world,” Al Baker added.

The airline’s fleet grew by 25 aircraft to a point where it welcomed its 250th aircraft in March 2019. With more than 300 aircraft worth more than

$85bn on order (including options and Letters of Intent) the group has the capacity to continue its ambitious but sus-tainable network expansion strategy.

During the financial year, the Group further built its investment portfolio by acquiring five percent of the total issued share capital of China Southern Airlines. This shareholding sits alongside its existing holdings in airlines such as Air Italy, Cathay Pacific, IAG, JetSuite and LATAM.

Overall, the Group invested QR16.1bn ($4.4bn) in acqui-sition of aircraft and other assets as well as acquisition of shares of international airlines during the year. 2018-19 was also a year where the airline won dozens of awards, including the ‘Skytrax ‘World’s Best Business Class’ and ‘Best Airline In The Middle East’, Trip Advisor’s ‘World’s Best Business Class’ and Business Travellers’ ‘Best Long-Haul Airline’, ‘Best Business Class’, among many others.

Qatar Airways Executive jet revenue grew by 18.4 percent as compared to the previous year.

Runaway train strikes fear into Paris commuters AFP PARIS

A runaway driverless metro train that whizzed through three stations without stopping struck fear into commuters on the Paris underground system, with unions saying it underscored the need for human drivers.

The Paris metro operator confirmed that a train on the line 1 — which is fully automated with no drivers -- skipped three stops on Tuesday evening.

The incident sparked social media posts from ter-rified passengers, including one who wrote on Twitter that it had been “the fright of my life” and “we were just about to hit the train ahead”.

RATP said on its Twitter account that the train had missed the three stations “due to a technical incident” but was then brought to a halt “in line with safety procedures”.

“While it was distressing, we assure you that no one was in danger,” it added.

But urban transport union Solidaires RATP said Wednesday that the “runaway train” had left pas-sengers helpless as it rushed past the Concorde, Champs-Elysees and Franklin D. Roosevelt stations in the heart of Paris.

The union opposes the policy of automating metro lines, saying that “only an RATP employee on board who is capable of stopping the train and driving manually can ensure the safety of our passengers”.

Just two Paris metro lines are automated -- lines 1 and 14. During last week’s huge strike by RATP workers over pension reforms these were the only lines which kept working normally.

The RATP deems the two lines to be a major success and is seeking to expand the driverless technology further across the network, a move opposed by unions.

‘Lord of the Rings’ show to start filming in NZAFP WELLINGTON

US-based streaming giant Amazon announced yesterday its big-budget “Lord of the Rings” series will within months start filming in New Zealand, home to Peter Jack-son’s movies of the fantasy epic.

Amazon is reportedly spending US$1 billion-plus on the series as it seeks to emulate the runaway success enjoyed by “Games of Thrones”.

Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said the South Pacific nation offered the “primordial beauty” of Middle Earth, the setting for J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of elves, dwarf and hobbits.

“We needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople,” they said in a statement.

Amazon Studios said pre-production had already begun and shooting would start in Auckland “in the coming months”.

It has already made a multi-season com-mitment to the series, which will explore sto-rylines set long before the events depicted in Jackson’s films.

The Kiwi director’s Rings trilogy and the equally popular, but less critically acclaimed three-parter “The Hobbit”, sparked a tourism boom in New Zealand.

Millions of visitors have flocked to loca-tions used in the movies, helping tourism overtake dairy exports as the country’s biggest earner.

The movies also transformed New Zea-land’s film sector from a cottage industry into a world leader, particularly in digital special effects.

“It’s great to see New Zealand’s associ-ation with Middle Earth is continuing,” Eco-nomic Development Minister Phil Twyford said. Invest Auckland said the Amazon pro-duction would bring an “immense economic boost and job opportunities”.

New Zealanders have also embraced Middle Earth as part of the country’s cultural

identity, even now — five years after the last Hobbit movie’s release — giant models of dragons and wizards decorate Wellington airport.

Jackson has no direct involvement in the series, although last year he wished its makers well and said he was available for consultation if needed.

Amazon has previously confirmed that “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” director JA Bayona will helm the first two episodes of the series.

A file photo of the remains of the Hobbiton movie set from the film the Lord of the Rings at the town of Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand.

Hiker with broken leg makes two-day crawl to safetyAFP SYDNEY

An Australian bushwalker who tumbled down a waterfall, snapping his leg in two, told yesterday how he managed to crawl for two arduous days though scrub and forest to safety.

Neil Parker, 54, said his planned three-hour hike northwest of Brisbane went hor-ribly wrong Sunday when he slipped six metres (20 feet) down the waterfall, fracturing his leg and wrist.

“I cartwheeled and slammed into the rock and then landed in the creek at the bottom,” he told reporters from his hospital bed.

The experienced hiker said the entire bottom half of his leg was hanging loose thanks to a “clean snap in half”. “Straight away, I thought, ‘I’m now in a lot of trouble because no-one knows where I am’.” He imme-diately tried to phone for help, but after dropping his mobile “into the drink” started crawling back to a clearing where he believed he would have a better chance of being rescued.

Efforts to attach a makeshift splint to the badly injured leg

were ultimately successful, but caused pain so great he halluci-nated, Parker said.

With just a “handful of nuts, a protein bar and some lollies” to sustain him, Parker began the excruciating three-kilometre (two-mile) journey, “scrambling and lifting, inch-by-inch” to the clearing.

“What took me 40 minutes to walk up took me nearly two days to crawl back down,” he said. He saw a search-and-rescue helicopter flying overhead Sunday night, but knew there was no chance of them finding him as he was “deep under the scrub”.

Parker was eventually spotted by the helicopter and winched out on Tuesday afternoon. Parker — who founded a bushwalking club and has helped rescue other stranded hikers in the past — said knowledge had been instru-mental to his survival, as he had set out well prepared with items such as bandages, a compass, and even a sleeping bag.

But it was the thought of his family, including his estranged son, that pushed him to keep going during a mentally taxing experience.