Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has sent a written message to HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said of the sisterly Sultanate of Oman, pertaining to the brotherly relations between the two countries, the latest developments on the Gulf arena as well as regional and international developments. The message was handed by Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during a meeting with H H Sayyid Asaad bin Tariq Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for Relations Affairs and International Cooperation, and Special Representative of Sultan Qaboos. → See also page 2

Emir sends message to Sultan Qaboos of Oman

Wimbledon: Venus wins, Kerber crashes out

IBA to invest QR550m in Ras

Bufontas SEZ

BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 24

Volume 22 | Number 7219 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 11 July 2017 | 17 Shawwal 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is on a GCC tour. Tillerson's visit is part of the efforts to resolve the GCC differences. The US has stressed its support to Kuwaiti mediation. → See also page 6

Istanbul

QNA

Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said the unfair siege

imposed by the neighbouring countries has highlighted the strength, rigidity and diversity of the State of Qatar's economy.

At the opening session of the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) here, the minister said Qatar's exports to Japan, India, South Korea and China forms nearly three quarters the country's total exports and are not affected by the siege, while exports to the UAE, Saudi Ara-bia and Bahrain form less than eight percent of total exports, hence the siege's impact is limited.

Dr Al Sada said Qatar is a trusted and reliable supplier that guarantees supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its partners for more than 20 years, and it remains committed to all partner-ship agreements and is keen to maintain its place in spite of the unlawful and unfair imposed siege.

The minister confirmed the importance of achieving a balance between supply and demand, and to harmonise all the different

energy resources, its production and consumption. Energy serves as the heart of the global econ-omy and will remain to play a pivotal role in contributing to the

economy's growth and prosper-ity in the near future, Dr Al Sada added.

→ Continued on page 2

��Qatar's exports to Japan, India, South Korea and China form nearly three quarters the country's total exports and are not affected by the siege.

��Exports to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain form less than eight percent of total exports, hence the siege's impact is limited.

��Qatar is committed to all partnership agreements and is keen to maintain its place in spite of the unlawful and unfair blockade.

Committed to

all agreements

Unfair siege shows Qatar's economy is strong: Al Sada

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

Despite the ongoing blockade imposed on Qatar by three Gulf countries, the business

at Hamad International Airport (HIA) is going as usual and HIA served 580,000 passengers and handled 3,300 aircraft movements in first half of this year.

Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer at HIA, told The Peninsula:

“Our growing number of passen-ger and cargo operations are a testament to our resilience and sus-tainable airport operations. Our promise of operational excellence is at the core of our business. HIA is

a robust organisation backed by a committed and hardworking team. Together, we have promptly and successfully prioritised our passen-gers by offering them our five star services and a hassle-free travel experience.”

Rasha, an Egyptian lady travel-ling from a private airline said: “I have been living in Doha for long now, my husband is an engineer working for a construction company. I am travelling to Egypt to spend my daughter’s summer vacations for one month. I faced no issues. It was just a usual procedure and we will get a chance to see Istanbul Airport for which my kids are excited.”

→ Continued on page 2

'Qatar and Tamim are one' hashtag launchedCONTINUING their support for the Emir, Qataris yesterday launched hashtag "Qatar and Tamim are one" in which all Twitter users said that Qatar and Tamim could not be separated as both were soul and body. → See also page 3

Qatar launches project to renovate 600 homes in GazaHEAD of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruc-tion of Gaza H E Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi signed a project to renovate 600 houses for poor families in the Gaza Strip at a total cost of $3m. He asserted that Qatar's support for the Gaza Strip "will not be affected" by the siege measures announced by several Arab countries on June 5.

No impact of blockade as HIA functions normally

Passengers waiting for check-in at the departure lounge of Hamad International Airport.

Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada speaking at the opening session of the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC), in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

QNA

DIRECTOR of the Government Com-munications Office of the State of Qatar, H E Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani said that the siege laid on Qatar is a clear violation to the Charter of the GCC, to the Riyadh agreement 2013-2014 and its implementation mechanisms.

He told CNN that the provisions and articles of Riyadh agreement aimed to enhance cooperation between sovereign GCC states and avoiding interference in internal affairs. He added that the recent developments were an unwarranted

and unprecedented attack on Qatar's sovereignty by the siege countries.

Sheikh Saif added that the demands bore no relation to the Riy-adh agreements which included shutting down Al Jazeera and paying damages, adding that the procedures of the siege countries led to breaking up of GCC families. His Excellency noted that neither Saudi Arabia or UAE communi-cated their concerns to the State of Qatar ahead of the crisis, in accordance to the mechanisms of Riyadh agreement.

On the documents broadcast by the CNN channel allegedly revealing the contents of the Riyadh agreement

2013 and the supplementary agree-ment in 2014, Sheikh Saif said he was unaware of the channel's report on the two agreements and whether it contained the full agreements or parts of it. He stressed that some of the alle-gations and demands of the siege countries have no basis, while the other were an unwarranted and unprecedented attack on the sover-eignty of Qatar in violation to all international and regional agree-ments. This prompted Qatar rejected those demands as they were illegiti-mate and were condemned by the international community.

Siege on Qatar a clear violation of Riyadh agreement

Qatar Media Corporation launches portrait of 'Tamim Al Majd'EMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is not only political icon, but also leading social role model, said H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani, CEO of Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), after placing his signature on “Tamim Al Majd” portrait launched yesterday by the cor-poration. The launch event was attended by considerable number of media personnels, officials and employees.

→ See also page 3

THE NATIONAL Human Rights Committee (NCHR) has called on the US Department of State to take a clear and firm stance against violations and collective punishment against the Qatari peo-ple and residents as a result of the siege imposed on the State . This came during a meeting of Dr. Ali Bin Smaikh Al Marri, Chairman The National Human Rights Committee at the State Department here today with HE Ellen Germain, Acting Assist-ant Secretary of State, and HE Christina Lucosen, Head of the Office of Human Rights and Workers' Affairs of the US Department of State.

Dr. Al Marri gave a detailed explanation on the violations of the basic human rights principles of the citizens and residents of the State of Qatar, the GCC citizens and other nationalities. He explained the steps and legal procedures adopted by the NHRC since the beginning of the crisis and the extent to which specialised international organi-sations and agencies responded to them and their condemnation of this blockade.

Al Marri to US: Take clear and firm stance against violations & punishment

02 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017HOME

Minister of State for Defence Affairs, H E Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah met Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, yesterday. They discussed areas of cooperation and coordination between the two sides, means of enhancing and developing them, and the Gulf crisis. The meeting also discussed the developments in Yemen and Libya.

Dr Al Attiyah meets ICC Chief Prosecutor

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the 44th session for foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), currently under way in Cote d'Ivoire's capital Abidjan. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations and means of boosting and developing them. The Turkish Foreign Minister was briefed on the latest developments of the Gulf crisis and all the illegal measures that were taken against the State of Qatar.

Al Muraikhi meets Turkish Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met yesterday with the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the sisterly Sultanate of Oman, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, during his visit to Muscat. The two sides reviewed bilateral relations and means of boosting and developing them, in addition to issues of common concern. The Foreign Minister briefed his Omani counterpart on the latest developments of the Gulf crisis, and the illegal measures taken against the State of Qatar.

FM discusses Gulf crisis with Omani counterpart

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

Although Qatar’s major-ity of population is expatriate, yet there is a special segment of expatriates for whom

this country means more than their home country. People from Palestine are from such section who has been calling this coun-try home for generations.

Speaking to The Peninsula, they expressed solidarity with Qatar and said they would do ‘anything’ to defend Qatar.

“Qatar is my home, my life and everything,” said Ahmed Alhabali, an IT professional who was born and raised in Qatar. He has been to Palestine. “Some don’t realise how Qatar is giving and supporting many people. Qatar has given us everything

including education, health and a safe environment to live. I was born in Qatar and completed my school education here, did my higher education in the US. All my life I have been to the Palestine only four or five times,” he said.

“Qatar is not just home for me, but is home for my children as well. They haven’t been to the Palestine so far. Qatar is home for them. Qatar means so much for us and we stand by this country and its leadership,” he added.

Similar to Ahmed, the family of Eyad Alseadi’s moved to Qatar in 70’s. He is an engineering grad-uate from the Qatar University.

“I have been to Palestine only about four times. For anyone home is where you feel safe and Qatar is my home,” he said.

“Qatar knows that we can’t live in our country and it hosts us. They never told us to leave, it’s

like that parents will not ask their children to leave home. Some-times only when I see my passport I realise that I am not a Qatari cit-izen,” he added.

Alseadi’s parents moved here upon an invitation by a Qatari friend and Qatar has become their home for the third generation. His three children haven’t been to Palestine yet. “My father is a law-yer and once helped a Qatari outside Qatar. In regard their family invited my father to come here. Since then they treat us like a family. They see me as their children and for me they are my uncles,” he said.

“The current situation has given us a chance to realise more about this country, what this country mean to us. Will do any-thing for this country, even if have to fight and sacrifice life,” he added.

Qatar is home away from home for many Palestinians

→ Continued from page 1Qatar's strategy, led by its wise lead-

ership, aims to encourage investment in the energy sector, referring in this regard to Qatar's announcement last week about the increase in its LNG pro-duction capacity of the North Field from 77 million tonnes to almost 100 million tonnes within five to seven years.

The Minister touched on the global economic effect the decrease in oil prices is having in the past three years and its impact on the energy sector investments. He also referred to the important and effective role Qatar played to rebalance the oil market through coordinating the efforts of oil-producing members and non-members of Opec during its presidential term in 2016 and most of 2015, which resulted in the Vienna agreement by Opec mem-bers and major non-member oil-producing countries that decided to decrease production to nearly 1.8 mil-lion barrels per day.

Referring to the 2017 WPC's theme of "Bridges to our Energy Future," the Minister said that in order to build those bridges, a better investment environ-ment must be provided in the energy sector, adding that it requires more efforts and close cooperation among producers and consumers.

Dr Al Sada noted the increase in demand for fossil fuel's oil, gas and coal. These fuels will remain to form nearly three quarters of the world's energy sup-ply in 2040 and only the share of LNG will increase from 33 percent to around 50 percent by 2035.

→ Continued from page 1

Several tourists to Qatar were heading back to their homeland after enjoying their stay in Qatar. A number of visitors had come to spend Eid and the others came to visit Qatar during their annual leaves.

A tourist from London travelling back expressed his feelings in these words: “This was a memorable trip, I really enjoyed different visiting spots like Katara, The Pearl, Museum of

Islamic Arts, Souq Waqif and many more. I faced no issues getting my tran-sit visa as well. Despite the hot weather, me and my wife enjoyed these days here. Qatar gave me a very warm wel-come and pleasant good-bye. I will definitely pay a visit to Qatar next year as well.”

Employees at HIA were in a hustle as well. The long queues had made the work-load more hard. “Number of con-necting flights have increased due to

the blockade but the business is still customary. The passengers on Qatar Airways have been increased. Every-thing is normal, people are facing no difficulty in travelling back home and coming to Doha for a visit. Airport is packed with passengers at arrival ter-minal and departure due to ongoing school holidays and annual leaves of people working in different compa-nies,” said an employee at HIA.

In a recent report of HIA it was

mentioned that the Airport served 19 million passengers from January to June 2017. An increase of more than 8 percent when compared to the same period of the previous year. This includes departing, arriving and trans-fer passengers travelling through the airport. In addition to this, HIA man-aged to handle 980,000 tons of cargo from January to June 2017, which is 19 percent more than the same period in the previous year.

Qatar's strategy aims to encourage energy sector investment

Several tourists enjoy pleasant stay in Qatar

Advisory Council's 45th regular session adjournedQNA

The Advisory Council held on Mon-day its regular weekly meeting during its 45th ordinary session

under the presidency of Speaker H E Mohamed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi.

At the outset of the meeting, Sec-retary-General H E Fahad bin Mubarak Al Khayareen read the approved agenda before the council ratified the minutes of its previous meeting.

During the session, the memo of the cabinet's general secretariat on a 2017 draft law regarding the national system of accounting for and control of nuclear material, where the council decided to refer the draft law in ques-tion to the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee and submit its report ther-eon to the Advisory Council.

The session discussed the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee's report on the draft law regulating real estate

registrations and decided to refer their recommendations thereon to the Cabinet.

The Secretary-General read out Emiri Decree No. 31 of 2017 regarding

the adjournment of the 45th ordinary session of the Advisory Council, which stipulated that Emir H E Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, after reviewing the constitution, Emiri Decision No. 25

of 2016 on extending the Advisory Council's term, Decree No. 41 of 2016 on calling the Advisory Council to con-vene for the 45th ordinary session, and the Cabinet's draft decree, has ordered the Advisory Council to adjourn its 45th ordinary session starting today.

The Emiri decree also ordered all relevant entities, each in their respec-tive capacity, to implement the decree starting from its date of issue and ordered the decree to be published in the official gazette.

On the occasion of the session's adjournment, the Speaker extended thanks to Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for his continuous sup-port to the council. The Speaker highlighted the sincere efforts and con-structive discussions that resulted in worthy recommendations during the session, which was full of achievements in terms of draft laws, general discus-sion requests and proposals.

'Tamim Al Majd' image set as screen saver on computers of Advisory Council members.

03TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 HOME

QMC and media chiefs join hands to show solidarityThe Peninsula

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is not only political icon, but also leading social role model, said H E

Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani, CEO of Qatar Media Cor-poration (QMC), after placing his signature on “Tamim Al Majd” portrait launched yesterday by the corporation.

The launch event was attended by considerable number of media personnels, officials and employees.

Sheikh Abdulrahman thanked all nationals and expatriates and media personnels who wrote their message on the image on the first day with their signatures and spontaneous expressions of love and respect to Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The launch of the iconic image has come in response to the desire of media colleagues who are part of the Qatari social fabric and wanted to express their love to the Emir, he stressed.

The CEO of the QMC said: “Let me take the advantage of this occasion to thank Ahmed Majid Al Ali, for the beautiful image and for all who placed their signature and expressed gratitude to HH the Emir.

This is great response to the

liars trying to create confusion and hesitation about this initia-tive, he said, noting that Qataris and expatriates in Qatar are tak-ing the initiative to sign by themselves.

For his side, Qatar TV Direc-tor Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Thani Al Thani thanked everyone who participated in this good initia-tive and said: “We witnessed a very strong reaction from all — employees and officials — from Qatar Media Corporation. They came to express their love and loyalty and their full support to each other. The journalists

stressed that there is no differ-ence between citizens and expatriates.

He also added that “all who attended and expressed the good feeling in this beautiful image in a few words but is has deep meaning, and we are happy to participate in this".

And replying about the suc-cess of “Truth” talk show, which is being broadcast on Qatar TV, he said, "All who are responsible for this Talk Show, either employ-ees or guests, have contributed to its success. In this Talk Show we have discovered a lot of skills and

academic guests who deserve respect".

Mohamed bin Nasser Al

Mohannadi, Qatar Radio Direc-tor said: “We are happy by this strong reaction from people who

got chance to show their loyalty to Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani."

QA celebrates winning awards by offering up to 40% discountThe Peninsula

Qatar Airways is celebrat-ing winning the Skytrax “World’s Best Airline”

award by offering passengers up to 40% off all inclusive fares on flights to popular holiday destinations across its growing global network, as part of its ‘Fly with the World’s Best Air-line’ global sales campaign launched this week.

This special promotion fol-lows a string of major recent wins for Qatar Airways at the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards held during the Paris Air Show last month, where it was named ”World’s Best Airline,” “World’s Best Business Class,” “Best Airline in the Middle East,” and “World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.”

Passengers can now take advantage of special discounts on fares to a host of popular holiday destinations, including its recently launched routes to Nice, France and Dublin, Republic of Ireland, as well as many other destinations on the airline’s growing global net-work that now spans six continents.

Additionally, Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will

enjoy double Qmiles when they book during this offer.

Qatar Airways Chief Com-mercial Officer Mr. Ehab Amin said: “We are tremendously proud to have been named World’s Best Airline, in addi-tion to having been awarded the titles of World’s Best Busi-ness Class, Best Airline in the Middle East, and World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge. We are delighted to celebrate these great wins with our passengers from all over the world, and we hope this unique offer will allow them to experience our renowned, world-class service on our rapidly-expanding glo-bal network.”

From 10-19 July, passengers will enjoy discounts up to 40% off all inclusive fares on flights for travel until 10 December 2017. Further discounts are also on offer for our recently announced destinations includ-ing Nice, France; Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; Sohar, Oman and Prague, Czech Republic.

The airline has maintained its position at the forefront of international air travel with the introduction of a game-chang-ing, patented new Business Class seat, set to transform the

face of aviation and Business Class travel: “Qsuite.” Qsuite features the industry’s first-ever double bed available in Business Class, with privacy panels that stow away, allow-ing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own pri-vate room.

Adjustable panels and mov-able TV monitors on the centre four seats allow colleagues, friends or families travelling together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together. These new features provide the ulti-mate customisable travel experience that enables passen-gers to create an environment that suits their own unique needs.

With a rapidly growing net-work and a modern fleet of 200 aircraft, the airline will expand its global destinations in 2017-18, adding Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kiev, Ukraine and many more exciting new destinations.

To avail this offer, please visit any Qatar Airways sales office, your preferred travel agency or qatarairways.com/WorldsBestAirline.

Qatar Airways inducts 42 students to Al Darb programmeThe Peninsula

Qatar Airways inducted 42 Qatari university students into its Summer Intern-

ship programme, as part of its Al Darb Qatarisat ion Programme.

The programme provides interns the opportunity to work across various Qatar Airways divisions including commercial, finance, information technol-ogy, human resources, legal and technical, as well as with Qatar Airways’ subsidiaries, includ-ing Qatar Airways Cargo and Qatar Aviation Services (QAS), allowing them to gain the nec-essary knowledge to work for the airline after they graduate.

The induction ceremony, held at the Oryx Rotana in Doha, celebrated the fifth year of the programme. Qatar Airways’ Al Darb Qatarisation Programme is a hands-on project that brings young Qataris to develop them-selves and their country through the national airline and allows them to apply what they learn in real-life situations in Qatar Airways’ offices around the world.

Students at the Summer Internship programme, as part of the Al Darb Qatarisation Programme of Qatar Airways.

Long-life flavoured milk fills shelvesSanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

Long-life flavoured milk packs have started coming in local markets from new sources

like Kuwait and Turkey, replac-ing the stocks of previous brands imported from seize countries.

The new stock of flavoured milk is a big relief to the parents who were worried over gradual decline of old stock due to block-ade because their children depended almost on it.

The newly arrived stock from Kuwait and Turkey are available in strawberry, chocolate and banana flavours at various com-mercial major outlets , supermarkets and groceries. A tetra pack of 200ml of new long life flavoured milk costs about

QR2.5 per piece but in case of buy-ing full box the consumers will have to pay only QR1.8 per piece, The Peninsula noted.

A box containing 24 pieces (in packs of 200ml) of long life fla-vored milks of Kuwaiti brand “Kdcow” was available at QR44.5 at a famous commercial outlet operating at Ayin Khalid yester-day. However, supermarkets and grocery shops were selling at QR2.5 per piece. Another fla-voured milk of Turkish brand “Sutas” is also available in tetra pack of 200ml at QR2.5 per piece at various outlets in local markets. The newly arrived stock is very similar to those coming from seize countries in term of prices and tastes, the consumers said.

“I took a big box of Kdcow fla-voured milk for my four years

daughter," said Abdullah Ansari, a Pakistani national who came to a commercial outlet with his fam-ily for shopping. “I gave a piece to my daughter she liked it. She had been drinking Al Marai doubled strawberry flavoured milk."

Since the stock run over from the markets, I switched to Lacnor flavoured milk but it is also disap-peared from the outlets so I took Kdcow," he added.

“Kuwaiti long-life milk (fla-voured and sample) of Kdcow brand are very delicious compared to other branded available in the local markets,” said Umm Aisha, an Indian woman. Consumers (citizens and expatriates) are accustomed to the taste of GCC countries for dairy products because most stock was coming from neighbouring coun-tries, she added.

'Qatar and Tamim are one' hashtag launchedSidi Mohamed The Peninsula

Continuing their support for the Emir, Qataris yes-terday launched hashtag

"Qatar and Tamim are one" in which all Twitter users said that Qatar and Tamim could not be separated as both were soul and body.

The messages of loyalty and love from Qataris with Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani have become an essential part of social media platforms from the beginning of the crisis. Yester-d a y , t h e h a s h t a g #QatarAndTamimAreOne was among the top hashtags on Twitter in Qatar. Qataris said that there is no difference between Qatar and Tamim

"because Qatar is Tamim and Tamim is Qatar".

Al Kouri in a tweet said “please don’t make choice us between Tamim and Qatar because by doing so you are actually asking us to choose between soul and body. Qatar and Tamim is like soul and body, nothing can separate them."

They (blockading coun-tries), Roda, a Twitter user tweeted, will never understand that “Qatar is Tamim and Tamim is Qatar.

Another person said: “I swear even if the barking of siege countries reaches the moon, our loyalty will continue to Tamim Al Majd, the Emir."

Others said that the siege countries and their demands had become a joke for the

people and everyone was rid-iculing those countries.

Another Twitterati said: “They ask us Qatar or Tamim? But a very little they know that Tamim is Qatar and Qatar is Tamim."

One Kuwaiti tweeted: “Qatar and Tamim have became role model for free people in the world who are not accepting the dictations”.

Qataris saying that the pic-tures of Qataris signing on Tamim Al Majd image bill-boards will remain in the memory.

One sympathetic Saud Al Qarni said that this hashtag #TamimAlMajd represents him, and others said that the Gulf countries must be unified because they are the same brothers and the tribes.

H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani, CEO of Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), writing his message and signing on the image of 'Tamim Al Majd'.

H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani (centre), CEO of Qatar Media Corporation; Abudallah Al Azba (fourth left), Editor In-chief of Al Arab; Sadiq Mohammad Al Amari (fourth right), Editor-in-Chief of Al Sharq; Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi (third right), Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula; Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Thani Al Thani (second right), Director of Qatar TV; and Faisal Al Mudahkha, Editor In-Chief of Gulf Times, with other dignitaries in front of 'Tamim Al Majd' image.

04 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017HOME

Qatar-Philippines ties strong: AmbassadorRaynald C Rivera The Peninsula

Bilateral ties between the Philippines and Qatar have been strong and the Philip-pine economy is

robust, said Philippine Ambas-sador Alan Timbayan as he spoke before the diplomatic commu-nity at the Philippine Independence Day diplomatic reception on Sunday.

Timbayan said the recent state visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Qatar “reaffirmed the strong bilateral relations between the Philippines and Qatar which was built on the foundation of mutual trust and respect, spanning 36 years.”

“The visit saw the signing of four bilateral agreements which are expected to boost trade and cooperation initiatives for halal products and services, as well as promote investment opportuni-ties in the Philippines,” he said.

He spoke of the Philippine economy performing well due to “the government spending on public goods and services, sus-tained investment flows and domestic consumption.”

“Inflation slowed down to 2.8 percent in June 2017 and is

expected to settle for the rest of the year. Despite the ongoing armed conflict in Marawi and other economic setbacks, the Philippines remains to be one of the fastest growing economies in Asia,” he said.

The Ambassador cited the International Monetary Fund forecast the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 6.8 to 7 percent this year which is within the government’s target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent.

Apart from trade and econ-omy, the Philippines also aims to bolster relationship with Qatar and other countries in other fields including culture and tour-ism among others, according to the envoy. “As the Philippines aims to experience robust eco-nomic growth, we also aim to strengthen cultural exchanges through a vigorous tourism pro-motion campaign which will enable tourists to discover the wonders of our fascinating tour-ist destinations,” he said.

With the Philippines' chair-manship of ASEAN this year, the Ambassador emphasized, “the Philippines aspires for a prosper-ous and “drug-free” ASEAN that is a catalyst for positive change in the world community.”

He concluded his speech thanking Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Qatari community for the warm hospi-tality accorded to more than

220,000 Filipinos working and living in Qatar. “We are honoured to be able to contribute to the progress and development of Qatar. We look forward to sustain-ing the strong bonds of friendship between our two countries in the years to come,” he ended.

The event organised by the Philippine embassy at City Cen-tre Rotana Doha was graced by Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Wahid

Ali Al Hammadi, Minister of Edu-cation and Higher Education, and attended by ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions, VIP guests and Filipino community leaders.

It follows the grand Inde-pendence Day celebrations two weeks ago which saw three days of cultural performances, trade and food fair, and free lectures and workshops.

H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi, Minister of Education and Higher Education; Ibrahim Fakhroo, Director of Protocol; and Alan Timbayan (centre), Philippines Ambassador, with other officials during the Philippines National Day celebrations. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

Philippine Ambassador Alan Timbayan said that the recent state visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Qatar “reaffirmed the strong bilateral relations between the Philippines and Qatar which was built on the foundation of mutual trust and respect, spanning 36 years.”

Banana Island Resort hosts Ghanim Al MuftahThe Peninsula

Ghanim al Muftah (pictured) is an inspiration the world over. At just 15 years old,

this budding entrepreneur, aspi-rational Para-Olympian and social media success has won the hearts of nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and practically every-one he’s ever met. Suffering from a rare syndrome called Caudal

Regression Syndrome, Ghanim has only ever confronted his situation with courage and determination. Although still just a teenager, Ghanim has achieved so much in his lifetime, despite his physical impediments.

Banana Island Resort Doha had the pleasure of hosting Ghanim, inviting him to experi-ence everything the resort has to offer. Welcomed by the resort’s

General Manager and team, his time at Banana Island was a well-earned break from running his suc-cessful ice cream business as well as his constant social media activity to build awareness around disability.

Ghanim partici-pated in a variety of different activities around the island.

From watersports such as surfing, kay-aking and taking a banana boat ride, he also went bowling and watched a movie at the resort’s cinema. After enjoy-ing one of several delicious dinners at the resort’s restau-rants, Ghanim was even invited into the kitchen to learn how to ice cupcakes!

He and his fam-ily were guests at one of Banana Island Resort Doha’s famed villas, where they com-fortably spent their days and nights relaxing.

Banana Island Resort Doha was honored to have Ghanim al Muftah and his family as guests and wish him the best of luck in all the adven-tures he has to come.

Qafco organises first career fair to support QatarisationThe Peninsula

As part of the Qatarisation strategy and achieving of Qatar National Vision 2030 goals Qatar Fertiliser Company (Qafco) held a career fair at the Sharq

Village and Spa hotel. The fair was aimed to meet Qatari students and graduates and familiarize them with the opportunities tointern or work at the company. The career fair witnessed a remarkable number of Universities and schools graduates, in addition to the qualified national cadres.

Qafco staff welcomed the visitors and responded to their queries about the nature of work at the company and types of jobs as well as training and development programs. Qafco personnel from various trades inter-viewed applicants from more than 500 applications received and signed contracts to fill technical and admin-istrative positions at Qafco.

Dr Hamed Al Marwani, Chief Administrative Officer at Qafco, said, “As part of our commitment to Qatarisa-tion policy, we are keen to recruit and develop the Qatari youth, and continue to attract and prepare the national cadres to work for the company." “Qafco offers a wide range of opportunities in different fields for young Qataris looking for jobs, including technical and administration fields. In the field of training, Qafco is a pioneer in pro-viding scholarships to its Qatari staff to equip them with the necessary knowledge.” Dr Al Marwani further added.

Speaking on the occasion, Maryam Mattar, Qafco Pub-lic Relations and Communications Manager said: “Qafco gives special consideration in recruiting Qatari youth, and developing them to meet future challenges. While Qafco is looking forward with renewed confidence and clear vision for future improvements, the company rec-ognises the importance of adapting to the dynamic situation and thereby help Qafco consolidate its position as one of the world’s largest fertiliser producer. ”

The opportunities at the fair covered various func-tions at the company. For university graduates, opportunities were galore in supply chain, information technology and Laboratory as well as different branches of engineering. As for the higher secondary schools stu-dents the company invited applications in the fields of security, fire fighting, warehouse and other operational and technical fields within the company. It is worth to mention that QAFCO complex is comprises of six com-pletely integrated trains, each has 2 production lines: ammonia and urea.

Participants at the fair.

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Sub-Editor

05TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 HOME

Malabar Gold & Diamonds announced the final winners of their campaign ‘Win up to 75 Gold Bar & Be A Gold Bullionaire’. Raveendran, Subash, Ketan, Sajida and Latifa won 100gms of Gold, each, through a raffle draw conducted at Malabar Gold & Diamonds in the presence of Saad Al Sulati & Ebrahim Al Hammads of the Ministry of business & Trade; Naufal Thadthil, Zonal Head; Raju T Johny, Deputy Branch Head and others.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds picks raffle draw winners

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Trans-p o r t a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s (MOTC) and Vodafone Qatar signed yesterday

a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) to support the implementation of the executive phase of Better Connections Program.

As per the MoU, Vodafone Qatar will support the ministry efforts in raising the ICT aware-ness and achieving better connections amongst migrant workers by providing Internet connectivity services and devices in 1500 ICT established for the Better Connections Program.

The MoU was signed by Reem Al Mansoori, the Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Soci-ety Development at the Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions and Ian Gray, Vodafone Qatar CEO and attended

by Khalid Al Ghanim, Labor International Relations Depart-ment Manager at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA).

“MOTC will continue work with different entities and bod-ies concerned in the State of Qatar to broaden the program me scope, increase the number of its beneficiaries and achieve more progress in digital inclu-sion across all the society,” said Al Mansoori on the occasion.

“I believe that such work and cooperation with our partners and stakeholders will make a positive difference towards achieving the programme goals and bear amazing fruits in the years to come,” she added.

From his part, Ian Gray, CEO, Vodafone Qatar, said: “Vodafone globally have long championed the importance of giving Inter-net access to all members of society so we are delighted that

thousands of workers will ben-efit from being included in the digital world through the MOTC’s Better Connections Program that utilises our world class network.”

“The Better Connections Pro-gram seeks to enable employers to provide ICT tools and the Internet to migrant workers in their accommodation places in order to integrate them into the digital community, keep them connected with their friends and families, and enhance their dig-ital skills, in addition to helping them be aware of their work rights and responsibilities,” said Khalid Al Ghanim, Labor Inter-national Relations Department Manager at MADLSA.

In its coming executive plans, the programme targets the fol-lowing: 1.5 million workers in the country, establishing 1500 ICT Lab, providing 15,000 computer devices at a cost of QR 55 million and securing 3000 volunteers,

he added. Following the MoU signing, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Bin Jassim Al Thani, Chief Operating Officer, Voda-fone Qatar, handed over representatives of a number of contracting companies partici-pating in the program their Vodafone internet devices.

Launched by MOTC in coop-eration with MADLSA last May, the executive phase of the Bet-ter Connections Program aims to broaden the program scope over the coming two years, tak-ing the total number of ICT labs up to 1500 and achieving digital inclusion across all migrant

workers in the country. Note-worthy, the Better Connections Program, launched in 2014, is a unique initiative that will help workers reach their families back home, learn basic IT skills and build their wider knowledge through being digitally connected.

MOTC and Vodafone Qatar sign agreement

Officials, of MOTC and Vodafone Qatar, during the MoU signing ceremony.

The Peninsula

Communications Regula-tory Authority (CRA) participated in the ‘Tele-

communications Retail Price Benchmarking for Arab Coun-tries’ study by AREGNET which compares the prices of a range of telecoms services across the GCC, Arab and OECD (Organi-sation of Economic Co-operation and Development) markets. Overall, the study revealed that the prices of telecoms services in Qatar are broadly lower than the rest of the GCC and Arab region.

The survey showed that mobile voice prices in Qatar

have fallen 57 percent since 2008, which is in line with the rest of the region. However, importantly, for mobile voice services that included data bun-dles, prices in Qatar are below the GCC and Arab average (for Low and Medium usage) and on par with the OECD average. For mobile voice services not includ-ing data packages, Qatar’s prices are on a par with the GCC and Arab averages but above the OECD average. In both cases Vodafone Qatar was cheaper than Ooredoo.

“The AREGNET Benchmark-ing Report is a vital tool for assessing the growth and impact of competition in the

telecommunications sector in Qatar. As the communications sector evolves and looks to sup-port Qatar’s National Vision 2030, open and fair competition has increasingly become impor-tant to encourage sustainable growth and success. We shall use competition as a means to fos-ter growth and innovation for everyone’s benefit. While the report highlights significant progress, with mobile voice call prices falling 57 percent in 8 years, there is still a long way to go,” Mohammed Ali Al-Mannai, President of CRA said. For Mobile Broadband services, there have been significant changes in Qatar over the last five years.

Mobile voice prices drop 57%

06 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Bahraini activist sentenced to 2 years in prisonDUBAI: One of Bahrain's most prominent activists was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison in a verdict that rights groups say is the latest in a years-long crack-down on dissent that has seen all political opposition groups disbanded and activ-ists jailed or forced into exile.

Nabeel Rajab was sen-tenced on charges related to TV interviews he gave in which prosecutors allege he disseminated rumors and false news relating to the situation inside Bahrain in a way "that undermines the prestige of the state," according to several human rights groups closely monitoring the case.

Rajab's case drew partic-ular attention because he was a leading figure in the tiny island-nation's 2011 Arab Spring protests, when tens of thousands of Bahrainis, who are majority Shias, took to the streets to demand a greater say in government.

Mosul

Reuters

Iraq’s prime minister declared vic-tory over Islamic State in Mosul yesterday, three years after the mil-itants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a “caliphate” they said

would take over the world.“I announce from here the end and

the failure and the collapse of the terror-ist state of falsehood and terrorism which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul,” Haider Al Abadi said in a speech shown on state television, using an Ara-bic acronym for Islamic State.

A 100,000-strong alliance of Iraqi government units, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shia militias launched the offensive to recapture the northern city from the militants in October, with key air and ground support from a US-led coa-lition. Abadi, wearing a black military uniform and flanked by commanders from the security forces, thanked troops and the coalition. But he warned that more challenges lay ahead.

“We have another mission ahead of us, to create stability, to build and clear Daesh cells and that requires an intelli-gence and security effort, and the unity

which enabled us to fight Daesh,” he said before raising an Iraqi flag.

Iraq declared a week-long holiday to mark the victory. People celebrated in the streets of the capital Baghdad and southern cities. Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate military

commanders who have waged a nearly nine-month battle to recapture the city, many parts of which were reduced to rubble.

Gunfire and explosions could be heard earlier in the day as the last few Islamic State positions were pounded.

The coalition said in a statement Iraqi forces were in “firm control” of Mosul, but some areas still needed to be cleared of explosive devices and possible Islamic State fighters in hiding.

Around the time of Abadi’s announce-ment, Islamic State released a statement claiming to have mounted an attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Abadi had been meeting military and political officials in Mosul in an atmos-phere of celebration that contrasts with the fear that spread after a few hundred Islamic State militants seized the city and the Iraqi army crumbled in July 2014.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shocked the Middle East and Western powers three years ago by appearing at the pulpit of Mosul’s Grand al-Nuri Mosque to declare the caliphate and himself the leader of the world’s Muslims.

A reign of terror followed which even-tually alienated even many of those Sunni Muslims who had supported the group as allies against Iraq’s Shi’ite majority. Oppo-nents of Islamic State were executed and such crimes as smoking a cigarette were punishable by public whipping.

Jenin

Reuters

State-owned Israel Electric Corp and the Pal-estinian Authority signed an agreement yesterday to boost Israeli electrical supply to

the occupied West Bank, even as Gaza endures daily blackouts in a Palestinian political dispute.

Under the deal, a new electrical substation was inaugurated near the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Israeli Energy Ministry Yuval Steinitz cut the red ribbon in a rare show of Israeli-Palestinian coop-eration, three years after peace talks collapsed.

The facility will transmit 60 megawatts of elec-tricity purchased from the Israel Electric Corp (IEC), officials said. The West Bank is dependent on Israeli electricity and the internationally-funded substation is one of four that will be operated in the area by a Palestinian Authority-owned transmission company.

A power boost for the West Bank coincides with an energy crisis in the Gaza Strip, where elec-tricity flows only two to three hours a day and medical facilities and residents who can afford to buy fuel largely rely on generators. Since last month, the IEC has cut by nearly half the amount of power it supplies to Gaza after the PA slashed its payments to the company for the electricity.

Iraqi PM declares victory over IS in Mosul

Kuwait City

AFP

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived yester-day in Kuwait, the key

mediator between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, for talks aimed at defusing the Gulf's worst cri-sis in years. Tillerson will shuttle between Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia until Thursday in what is the first serious intervention by Washington in the Gulf crisis.

He immediately held talks with Kuwait's Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah who is leading the medi-ation effort between the Gulf states, the official Kuna news agency reported.

Tillerson is due to discuss the crisis later with Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah. UK National Security Adviser Mark Sidwell, who was also received by the Emir, is

scheduled to attend part of the meeting between Tillerson and the Kuwaiti foreign minister.

A spokesman for Tillerson said ahead of his landing in Kuwait that it remained to be seen "if there's even a possibil-ity of some outcomes" towards resolving the crisis.

"Right now, after Egypt, we're months away from what

we think would be an actual res-olution and that's very discouraging," RC Hammond told reporters.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt abruptly severed dip-lomatic ties with Qatar, suspending transport links with Doha and ordering all Qataris to repatriate within 14 days.

Tillerson, the former chief

executive of energy giant Exxon Mobil, arrives in the Gulf after a stop in Istanbul, where he dis-cussed the Syria war and a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

Analysts say Tillerson's suc-cess in the Gulf may be contingent on his ability to manoeuver regional scepticism over conflicting stances from Washington on the crisis.

US President Donald Trump

initially supported longtime US ally Saudi Arabia, but his stance was later contradicted when the US Department of State took a more neutral position.

Tillerson's impact largely depends on whether regional officials "believe that the secre-tary of state is fully backed by President Trump", London-based political analyst Neil Partrick said.

Tillerson looks to defuse crisis on Gulf tour

UN: Truce deal holding in southwest SyriaGENEVA: The UN envoy for Syria said yesterday the ceasefire agreement to de-escalate fighting in southwest Syria has held on, and could contribute to fresh peace talks in Geneva.

"The agreement is basi-cally broadly holding quite well. l know in all agree-ments, there is a period of adjustment, we are watching that very carefully," Staffan de Mistura told reporters on the first day of the seventh round of Syrian peace talks at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The US and Russia reached a ceasefire agree-ment for southwestern Syria on Friday at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany fol-lowing a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The leaders decided to establish three de-escalation zones in Syria where joint security forces of the US, Jordan and Russia will ensure peace. Speaking about the ceasefire, de Mistura said, “We can say, we believe it has fairly good chances of work-ing out. We consider it a significant step forward.”

Dakar

AP

Hundreds of people filled the streets of Dakar outside the airport yesterday to welcome

former Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, who has returned to lead his party into legislative elections after spending years abroad following a failed bid for a third term in office.

The 91-year-old flew into Dakar Monday from Paris, accompanied by his wife Viviane. He retains a strong support base in Senegal, which is holding legislative elections July 30.

Wade has returned to head up the list of candidates for his opposition Senegalese Democratic Party. He is also heading up other opposition par-ties who are coming together in an effort to get a majority in parliament, and Wade's return is key to that effort.

Security was tight as those eagerly awaiting his arrival held up signs and cheered him. He stood waving from the sunroof of a car, dressed in blue and gold with a white scarf and black hat. Wade last returned to Dakar in April 2014 as his son, Karim Wade,

was to face trial for charges of cor-ruption and illegally accumulating fortune. Authorities then had canceled a rally that was to welcome him, cit-ing security concerns.

Karim, a former Cabinet minis-ter, served half of his six-year prison sentence and moved to Qatar after being freed in 2016. Wade's support-ers said his 2015 conviction was evidence of a personal vendetta against the family. The Wades have dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

Wade became president in 2000, but his reputation as a rare African democrat crumbled in the months before the 2012 election amid criti-cism that he was giving increasing power to his son. Senegal was rocked by street protests that paralyzed the capital during the elections. Demon-strators called for Wade not seek a third term.

Wade finally lost to current Pres-ident Macky Sall in the 2012 runoff, and withdrew abroad. Senegal on July 30 will elect 150 deputies to Parlia-ment. If Wade's party obtains more than 75 seats, it will be a majority.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with Emir of Kuwait, H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, at Dar Salwa Palace in Hawally, Kuwait, yesterday.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held talks with Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah who is leading the mediation effort between the Gulf states, the official Kuna news agency reported.

Destroyed buildings are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, yesterday.

West Bank gets Israeli power boost as Gaza endures energy crisis

Senegal's ex-president returns for legislative polls

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07TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 ASIA

Anantnag

IANS

In a rare attack on the Amarnath Yatra, terrorists killed seven pilgrims and injured 14 others, includ-ing policemen, when they

struck at a bus carrying them in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantang district. The bus was attacked in Batengoo around 8.20pm while returning from Baltal to Mir Bazar after darshan, J&K police and CRPF said.

The militants also carried out two attacks on security forces in the area. Police sources said, the militants attacked a mini bus carrying pilgrims from Gujarat. The bus was not offi-cially registered with the Amarnath Shrine Board for the pilgrimage and was without police escort, they said.

Inspector General of Police Munir Khan said that seven pil-grims were killed, and 14 injured. The injured have been

taken to the Army Base Hospi-tal in Srinagar.

Khan said the attack was aimed at the security forces and not the yatris. The last known terror attack on the Amarnath Yatra was the killing of 30 per-sons, mostly pilgrims, in the base camp in Pahalgam in 2000.

A CRPF statement said the bus was not part of the official yatra and not registered with the Amarnath Shrine Board.

Rare attack

Police sources said, the militants attacked a mini bus carrying pilgrims from Gujarat. The bus was not officially registered with the Amarnath Shrine Board for the pilgrimage and was without police escort.

Seven Amarnath pilgrims dead in terror attack

Chennai

IANS

The week-long trilateral Malabar naval exercise began yesterday with 16

ships, including many frontline warships, and than 95 aircraft of India, the US and Japan par-ticipating in the annual event in the Bay of Bengal.

This is the 21st edition of the

exercise, which started as a bilateral exercise between India and US and now has Japan as a permanent member.

"Malabar-17 will be another milestone with participation of 16 ships, two submarines and more than 95 aircraft, towards strengthening mutual confi-dence and inter-operability as well as sharing of best practices between the Indian, Japanese

and US Navies," a statement from Indian Navy said.

"The exercise is a demon-stration of the joint commitment of all three nations to address common maritime challenges across the spectrum of opera-tions and will go a long way in enhancing maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, for the benefit of the global maritime community."

Japanese Rear Admiral Hiroshi Yamamura speaking during the inauguration of joint naval exercises with the United States and India in Chennai, yesterday.

India, US & Japan navies start joint exercises

Aluva

IANS

Malayalam superstar Dileep was yesterday evening arrested by a

Kerala Police team probing the abduction of a popular actress in February this year.

The office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed the news of the arrest to the media.

Dileep was questioned last month for 13 hours in the case and was let off.

Yesterday, he was ques-tioned at an undisclosed location near here, and after five hours the police probe team recorded the arrest of the actor.

Around 7.20 p.m., Dileep was brought to the Aluva Police club from the place where he was questioned.

Dileep is understood to be behind the abduction of the young actress on February 17.

On that day, the hugely popular actress was travel-ling from Thrissur to Kochi by road when she was abducted.

Actor Dileep arrested in Kerala actress abduction case

G20 summits, which are global media events due to the presence of the world’s most luminous leaders, are not known for taking extraordinary decisions to solve the world’s pressing problems, but

they are, nevertheless, seen as a necessity as they provide an opportunity for world leaders to discuss issues and share views that could finally lead to the much-needed consensus on major issues. But the latest G20 summit which concluded in Hamburg in Germany attracted more attention for a different reason: as another test of the popularity and diplomacy of US President Donald Trump among the world leaders and the result was disastrous, according to many analysts. In the international and American media, Trump was portrayed as ‘a lonely and friendless leader at the summit, a leader with whom other leaders were not comfortable with. In one telling photograph, Trump was seen standing alone while other leaders were seen talking or discussing. The verdict from some analysts, especially from a veteran Australian journalist, was searing: that instead of making America great again, Trump made America weak, an unfortunate development for a nation which is supposed to lead the world.

On two major issues of climate change and trade, Trump stood isolated from others. In the fight against

climate change, world leaders banded together without the US as Trump has chosen to pull out of the climate deal which is supported by more than 150 countries in the world. In the drafting of a common communique on the climate issue, it was 19 in favour and a lone Trump against. Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,

however, was friendly and Trump was able to assuage fears about Russian meddling in US elections.

Trump also came under negative spotlight for giving his seat briefly to his daughter Ivanka when he was not present at the summit. The global media reacted with puzzlement at how a democratically elected leader could indulge in such nepotism. Lawrence Summers, a former World Bank official and economic adviser under former president Barack Obama, summed up the anger and surprise when he said that it was rare for government heads to leave during major summits and foreign ministers or other very senior government officials normally fill in when they do. “There is no precedent for a head of government’s adult child taking a seat. It was insulting to the others present and sent a signal of disempowerment regarding senior government officials,” ,” he wrote in the Washington Post.

The summit also created headlines for the orgy of violence at the venue by protesters. German ministers and media called it an embarrassment for Germany.

08 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Lonely at G20

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The recovery of Mosul is a significant step in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

Antonio GuterresUN Secretary-General

The G20 summit made Donald Trump look weak.

In an editorial addressing the Qatar-Saudi bloc diplomatic crisis on June 19, 2017, The New York Times observed: “Aiming to play a regional mediating role, Qatar has also angered the Saudis by fostering ties with other

hostile groups, including the Afghan Taliban, Hez-bollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, giving the leaders of some of them airtime on its freewheeling TV network, Al Jazeera.”

In another editorial dated June 21, The New York Times went on to denounce the Saudi et al demand for the closing down of Al Jazeera, stat-ing clearly: “By attacking Al Jazeera, the Saudis and their neighbours are trying to eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers. Al Jazeera was the prime source of news as the Arab Spring rocked the Middle East in 2011.” But even in this support for Al Jazeera, the editorial board of The New York Times felt obliged to reiterate: “Al Jazeera is hardly a per-fect news organisation: Critical reporting on Qatar or members of Qatar’s royal family is not tolerated. But much of the rest of its reporting hews to international journalistic standards, provides a unique view on events in the Middle East and serves as a vital news source for mil-lions who live under antidemocratic rule.”

So not only is Al Jazeera, in the esteemed opinion of The New York Times editorial board, a “freewheeling” outlet at best, but even when under pernicious attack for its very existence by the Saudis and their fraternity club it must be reprimanded for being “hardly a perfect news organisation”.

The New York Times editorial board, like the Saudis and Emiratis, are, of course, entitled to their opinion. But the question that the world at large, outside The New York Times editorial board, would be interested to know is not whether Al Jazeera is a specimen of “freewheel-ing” journalism or if it comes short of being a “perfect news organization”, but far more urgently and simply: Who died and made The New York Times the judge on “freewheeling” journalism or being a “perfect” news organisation?

Let me state right here that I have complete sympathy and even solidarity for The New York Times and all other US media as they go through this nasty “alternative fact” era when US jour-nalists are as much at the mercy of President Trump’s incitement to violence against them as Al Jazeera is to Saudis’ censorial swords. But “freewheeling?” and “not perfect?” Really? Prick yourself with a needle, as we say in Per-sian, before you stab others with a dagger.

The question is not which brand of journal-ism closely approximates to the truth. None do completely: They all come close to truth with their specific fusion of blindness and insights. The question for the world at large is how The New York Times and its Israeli shadow, Haaretz, have lost their monopoly of telling the truth in a manner that best safeguards their common interests in normalising the interests of US/Israeli military domination of the globe — for that is their paramount function.

What troubles The New York Times (and that anxiety shows itself when it accuses Al Jazeera of “freewheeling”) is the mere possibility of positing an alternative narrative of world events. The New York Times today makes a blissful recovery of its declining reputation by acting holier than thou against the antics of Trump and his propa-ganda stormtroopers such as Kellyanne Conway and her insidious idea of “alternative facts”. All my nasty ulcers and shingles caused by New York Times coverage of the Arab and Muslim

Freewheeling journalism & the ‘monopoly of truth’Hamid DabashiAl Jazeera

world notwithstanding, today I will take my hometown’s “paper of record” over Kelly-anne Conway’s rank charlatanism every day of the week and twice on any given Sunday, when the Times offers those mag-nificent magazines and art sections. But, dear members of the jury, The New York Times may today have successfully repressed the memory of its own “alterna-tive facts”, but the world has not.

If the fake news of Trump’s campaign won him the US presidential election, the fake news of Iraqi weapons of mass

destruction (WMD) that The New York Times gave space and editorial endorsement to its fraudulent journalist Judith Miller to propa-

gate resulted in the destruction of an entire country and the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The New York Times coverage of the non-existent Iraqi WMD was and remains the mother of all fake news.

Today next to Kellyanne Conway, The New York Times may legitimately feel like God’s gift to journalism. But history will remember “the paper of record” differ-ently. The New York Times must entertain a measure of modesty and humility when accusing other media of “freewheeling”.

It is not just this one calamitous inci-dent in which, through its institutional endorsement of a deceitful journalist, The New York Times helped George W Bush’s administration to fabricate “alternative facts” to invade, occupy, and destroy an entire country— and with it alter the course of the regional history to culminate in the creation of the murderous Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The fundamental task of The New York Times has always been narratively to normalise the liberal imperialism of US global and Israeli regional warmongering.

In their impeccable study, The Record of the Paper: How the New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy, Howard Friel and Richard Falk have thoroughly docu-mented the calamitous editorial policies of The New York Times in facilitating US imperialism. Even before them, in their now classic Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, Edward S Herman and Noam Chomsky exposed the blatant role of The New York Times in serving the ruling elite in the US. Is The New York Times really in a position to call any other news outlet “freewheeling”? It has a long history of being the mother of all “freewheeling” journalism when it comes to serving the nefarious expansionist warmongering of the US and Israel.

Slightly to the left of The New York Times, to give the Israeli settler colony a

more liberal facelift and a more demo-cratic outfit to camouflage the systematic theft of Palestine, Haaretz corroborates the centrality of The New York Times narrative and extends it into the colonial interests of Israel. Al Jazeera has pulled the rug from under both their feet not because it has any claim on a more solid grip on truth but, far more dangerously for them, because it dis-mantles that normalising narrative of both The New York Times and its Israeli side-kick. Al Jazeera does not serve any empire. Qatar is no empire. Qatar is not Russia or China. Qatar is a tiny rentier state that had to give the big US bully in the neighbour-hood the military bases it needs to map out the entirety of the globe under its military thumb but then used that “protection” to help create an environment that enables a different vision for Arabs and Muslims of themselves.

While serving the very logic of an abu-sive militaristic empire, The New York Times points a finger at Al Jazeera for no “critical reporting on Qatar or members of Qatar’s royal family”. Yes, Qatar is not a democracy. Qatar’s not being a democracy is integral to the fact that it is also the site of a US military base. You cannot, as The New York Times does, normalise US imperialism and then point a finger at the silly truism that Qatar is not a democracy.

Of course Qatar is not a democracy. The “only democracy” in its neighbour-hood is a European settler colony built on the stolen land and the broken (but defi-ant) back of Palestinians, aided and abetted by another great democracy that has just endangered the globe by electing a racist thug as its president. Indeed, Qatar has a long way to go before it produces a democratically elected Qatari version of a European settler colonialist such as Ben-jamin Netanyahu or xenophobic white supremacist such as Donald Trump— the finest specimen that “Western democracy” has gifted our world.

Meanwhile, the very undemocratic Qatar is the home of Al Jazeera, and it was precisely during the US warmongering in the Arab and Muslim world and the most recent phases of the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians, both of which were ideologi-cally sustained and narratively normalised by The New York Times and Haaretz, that Al Jazeera became Al Jazeera.

The significance of Al Jazeera has absolutely nothing to do with it being a better or a worse version of the truth - or even that it has offered an alternative site for critical reflections on our daily history. Its solitary (and modest) achievement is that it is a great equaliser. It has challenged The New York Times, Haaretz and the BBC and their ilk on entertaining the delusion of telling the truth to the world when it is in fact on behalf of US, UK, and Israeli mil-itary and ideological domination of the globe and the region where they are busy manufacturing consent by pretending to be “the paper of record.”

Al Jazeera just adds one lens, a very modest lens, like all other lenses predicated on both its blindness and insights, limita-tions and abilities, and it is precisely that modesty which has exposed all other news venues, chief among them “the papers of record”, for what they are: a vested interest in telling us how to think. Al Jazeera does not replace or supplant The New York Times or Haaretz or the BBC. It just puts them in their rightful place: just one quick “freewheeling” click away from Al Jazeera, and then let the chips fall where they may!

Al Jazeera just adds one lens, a very modest lens, like all other lenses predicated on both its blindness and insights, limitations and abilities, and precisely in the fact of that modesty has exposed all other news venues, chief among them ‘the papers of record’, for what they are: a vested interest in telling us how to think.

ED ITOR IAL

09TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 OPINION

8,500 troops. It seems clear, though, that the admin-istration is divided over the decision - and Steve Bannon is the most influential adviser in the White House urging Trump to think twice before deploying those forces. In fact, Bannon may be the only aide among the non-interventionist camp in the White House, which also includes senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, who has sufficient access to the presi-dent to persuade him to carefully review the military’s request before approving it.

In this case, Bannon, who was removed from the National Security Council in April, is right. One doesn’t have to agree with Bannon’s world view or nationalist ideology to recognise his logical and prag-matic perception of the war in Afghanistan.

After more than 15 years of combat, the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and the ultimate sacrifice of nearly 2,400 US troops, it’s tragic that more officials in Washington can’t see the war as it is: a chaotic environment full of false hopes, unrealistic promises, and an American inabil-ity to come to grips with the impossibility of creating a safe, democratic, and prosperous nation in a coun-try where corruption, violence and patronage determine who wins and who loses.

America’s military intervention in Afghanistan was the quintessential example of a war launched on solid moral and strategic grounds. The Taliban regime, after all, harbored Al Qaeda, the group behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washing-ton. Rooting out al Qaeda from Afghanistan, killing its top leadership, cutting off its financing and ousting the Taliban were all objectives that US liberals and conservatives alike could agree on.

But after the invasion, the US objective switched from destroying al Qaeda in Afghanistan to develop-ing a new government in Kabul from the ground up. Because Afghanistan had not possessed a national army or police force since the Soviet-backed govern-ment collapsed in the early 1990’s, the US was also put into the position of starting one from scratch. The principal US goal of uprooting al Qaeda’s infrastruc-ture in Afghanistan was diluted.

Perhaps it was hubris to think that the West could construct a democratic state in the middle of Central Asia, unshackled by corruption and strong enough to keep the militants and warlords at bay. Or perhaps Washington truly believed it could pacify a country

Daesh far from over despite fall of Mosul

IIraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi’s recent announcement of Mosul’s liberation from the last remnants of Daesh forces has been per-ceived by many as the last nail in Daesh’s coffin.

This jubilation, however, remains somewhat incomplete mainly because the senior leadership of Daesh has never been captured, nor has any material proof been brought forth verifying the allegations of its demise.

More importantly, the rank and file of this terror-ist organisation seem to have vanished into thin air, which suggests that the Iraqi government and its allies have conveniently allowed these combatants to slip through the backdoor to avoid a potentially never-ending siege which would further embarrass the Iraqi army and a hodgepodge of Iranian-sup-ported local militias.

Despite the fall of Mosul, Daesh is far from being vanquished as it still commands the Syrian city of Raqqah and has withstood a barrage of campaigns launched by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Mainly composed of Kurdish groups with only a token presence of a few Arab factions, the SDF has repeatedly failed to uproot Daesh from Raqqah and will obviously continue to fail to secure the area given the sequence of events.

The SDF’s disappointing performance, however, cannot be attributed to military factors as the group has been on the receiving end of a huge largesse of funds and military hardware from the US adminis-tration, who views these Kurdish forces as moderate allies against Daesh and other extremist factions.

The overreliance on these supposedly moderate Kurds is essentially the Achilles heel that Daesh has exploited and will continue to exploit to keep Raqqah in its hands even after its destruction.

Daesh’s occupation of Raqqah has been sustained through brute force and coercion, but also includes an implicit agreement with the native tribes and inhabitants that they will be protected against any external aggression particularly from their Kurdish neighbors to the north.

These native obsessions are not unfounded as these Kurdish forces have been accused time and again of ethnically cleansing many of the Arab towns and villages they liberated from Daesh, such as the town of Ras Al Ayn on the Syrian-Turkish border.

According to many people in Raqqah, living under Daesh is far better than losing their lives and their homes to the Kurds.

This logic assumes Daesh’s occupation is tempo-rary, and that Daesh will sooner or later be defeated; however, if this victory is to come through the Kurds, this will most probably include their own demise or at best their permanent displacement at the hands of hostile Kurdish militias who do not hide their wish to carve out a state for themselves.

These Arab apprehensions are further cemented by the fact that the four major campaigns launched against Daesh in Raqqah thus far have deliberately sidelined the SDF’s Arab troops.

Many of these veteran/secular Arab fighters, rem-nants of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), have been

banned from participating in the assault or have been simply banned from controlling any of the heavy and advanced weaponry made available to their Kurdish comrades in other SDF units.

These Arab regiments have been virtually quar-antined in the village of Ain Issa at a distance of 55 km from Raqqah since 2014 and have been ineffec-tively used by the SDF and their allies as a fig leaf to refute allegations of Kurdish-Arab hostilities.

Regionally, however, the Kurdish element can only make an already volatile situation worse, as the Turkish government has made it clear that they will not allow any further Kurdish expansion near its boarder. Consequently, the Trump administration by allowing the Kurds to monopolise these campaigns is losing Turkey’s full commitment to the war against terrorism, as the former will always be rightfully sus-picious of the Kurdish political and military aspirations, thus allowing Daesh more time to maneuver.

The people of Raqqah and Mosul never adopted Daesh’s skewed vision of Islam, nor fought with it, because if they had opted to do so, Daesh would cer-tainly be in a much better position than it is today.

However, the likely fall of Raqqah to the SDF might end Daesh’s aspirations for its so-called Islamic State, but it will certainly not make the region

The trio known in foreign policy circles as the adults of the Trump administration wants the presi-dent to send more American soldiers into Afghanistan. Defense

Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser H R McMaster, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are advocating for yet another troop increase less than three years after the US officially transferred all secu-rity responsibility to the Afghans. But it’s Steve Bannon, the White House’s contro-versial chief political strategist, whom President Trump should listen to before dispatching his advisers to brief Congress on the strategy in mid-July.

As commander-in-chief Trump has granted the US military tremendous lati-tude to resource operations as it sees fit. So Trump may not be inclined to overrule the

Pentagon’s recommenda-tion for 3,000 to 5,000 more American trainers and advisers to support the

Another troop increase in Afghanistan

Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul after the government’s announcement of the liberation of the embattled city.

that knew nothing but war since the late 1970s. Whatever the reason, Afghanistan translated virtually overnight into a labora-tory where the establishment of a presidential system could be tested.

This context is important because the men and women of the US Armed Forces have been fighting and dying in Afghani-stan to this very day - with little sustainable, strategic success to show for it. It’s a policy failure, not a military failure. And as the US should have learned already through two troop surges - the first of which took place in 2007 and the second in 2010-2011 - a policy failure cannot be solved with a few more troops.

The latest quarterly report from the Special Inspector Gen-eral for Afghanistan Reconstruction shows the war is nowhere close to being over. According to United Nations statistics, 2016 was the bloodiest on record for Afghan security forces and civil-ians alike.

Over a third of the country’s districts are either under the control or influence of the Taliban. It’s difficult to say US policy is going smoothly when General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, calls the war a stalemate in public testimony to the US Senate. It’s even harder when so many “ghost” troops - non-existent soldiers listed by corrupt Afghan officials to obtain additional US taxpayer funding - are on the Afghan army’s payroll that Washington can’t be certain where its money is going or whether the Afghan security forces are equipped to respond to a crisis.

None of this lies at the feet of the corporal or sergeant on the ground risking their lives. Rather, the blame lies squarely on the policymakers in the national security bureaucracy who still think that the Afghanistan mess can be sorted out if just a few thousand additional soldiers are deployed, or a bigger check is written, or a few more years are dedicated to the mission. The blame should be directed at the generals and officials who fail to ask why 5,000 more trainers, advisers, and special operators will be capable of doing what 140,000 soldiers in the field dur-ing the troop surge couldn’t.

Congress shares the blame for deferring to the generals without asking questions and for failing to understand that mili-tary power alone can’t quash an insurgency, especially when those insurgents can cross the border to find safe havens in neighboring Pakistan.

We don’t know yet if Trump will follow the advice of the Mattis trio or his political adviser. But the fact that the president didn’t announce his intentions at the May Nato summit in Bel-gium suggests that something may have made him think twice on troop deployment. Thanks perhaps to Steve Bannon, the president may be slower to repeat the mistakes of his predeces-sors - at least when it comes to Afghanistan.

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a

more peaceful place, but rather unleash a new beast with an appe-tite for ethnic conflict, something which an already war-torn Syria can definitely live without.

Ultimately, the actual question is not whether Daesh will be defeated or not, but rather whether these barbarous groups can remain vanquished. Looking at the fight against Daesh both in Mosul and Raqqah suggests that it will only return but with a new and perhaps more vicious face.

Any act of liberation in Iraq or Syria that condones any one sect or an ethnic group persecuting another can only serve to make the resurrection of violent extremists groups even more prompt and all the more precarious.

Dr Makram RabahAnatolia

Despite the fall of Mosul, Daesh is far from being vanquished as it still commands the Syrian city of Raqqah and has withstood a barrage of campaigns launched by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Dan DePetrisReuters

Daesh’s occupation of Raqqah has been sustained through brute force and coercion, but also includes an implicit agreement with the native tribes and inhabitants that they will be protected against any external aggression particularly from their Kurdish neighbors to the north.

After more than 15 years of combat, the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and the ultimate sacrifice of nearly 2,400 US troops, it’s tragic that more officials in Washington can’t see the war as it is: a chaotic environment full of false hopes, unrealistic promises.

10 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017ASIA

An aerial picture shows a building immersed in floodwaters in Ezhou, China. Severe rainfall in central China's Hunan Province since June has affected over 12 million people and left 83 dead or missing, according to the provincial government.

China floods

UN envoy visits Rohingya refugee campGraft probe of Sharif finds wealth disparityIslamabad

AP

An official investigation into corruption allega-tions against Pakistan's

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has found a "sig-nificant disparity" between their declared wealth and known sources of income.

Sharif, who has previously denied allegations of abusing his authority to enrich himself, has been under pressure since doc-uments leaked in 2016 from a Panama-based law firm dis-closed that his family had offshore accounts.

Sharif and members of his family have appeared before a team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate their off-shore companies. Sharif has faced corruption allegations

since coming to power in par-liamentary elections in 2013.

"There exists a significant disparity between the wealth declared by the respondents and the means through which the respondents had generated income from known or declared sources," the report said, according to a partial copy

released to reporters.At one point the report

refers to the "irregular move-ment" of cash gifts and loans from companies based in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emir-ates and Britain to Sharif, his son and companies linked to them.

The report suggests that the courts pursue action based on a 1999 accountability law intended to help stamp out cor-ruption. But the final decision rests with the Supreme Court, which will take up the case next yesterday.

A minister from Sharif's rul-ing party dismissed the report, saying its findings were "unsubstantiated."

"The report contains no sub-stance of corruption, tax fraud or any wrongdoing," said Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning and development.

Corruption charges

"There exists a significant disparity between the wealth declared by the respondents and the means through which the respondents had generated income from known or declared sources," the report said.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (third left) walking during a visit to a Rohingya refugee camp in the Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazar yesterday.

Chaman

AP

A suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle struck a vehi-cle carrying a police chief

in the southwestern Pakistani town of Chaman near the Afghan border yesterday, killing the officer, his guard and a civilian, a government official said.

Eleven people were also wounded in the attack that tar-geted police chief Sajid Khan Mohmand's vehicle in the main bazaar, said Shahzada Farhat, police spokesman in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The wounded included three police officers and eight passers-by. Kashif Alam, an assistant commissioner in Chaman, said the suicide bombing also dam-aged nearby shops.

No one immediately claimed

responsibility for the bombing in Chaman, which is near the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak. Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have

claimed previous attacks in Chaman.

Also yesterday, a roadside bomb struck a convoy of security forces in the northwestern

Kurram tribal region, killing two officers and wounding five, according to government admin-istrator Irfan Khan. He said a manhunt is underway to find and arrest the perpetartors.

Pakistan has been battling Islamist and nationalist insurgen-cies in mineral-rich Balochistan, the country's most restive prov-ince, since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.

Bordering Iran and Afghani-stan, it is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities has reduced the vio-lence considerably in recent years.

Bomb blast leaves 3 dead in SW Pakistan

Police and security personnel standing next to a damaged police vehicle after a blast in Chaman, yesterday.

Manila

AFP

Children and hostages are being forced to fight alongside pro-Islamic

State gunmen waging a seven-week battle for a Philippine city, the country's military said yesterday.

Militants seized Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philip-pines, on May 23 in a bid to create an IS province, and over 100 remain holed up in the city despite intense military efforts to oust them.

Some of the extremists are teenagers who may have been recruited and trained to use guns when they were still chil-dren, said Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla, a military spokesman.

"We continuously get dis-turbing narratives from (escaped residents) that chil-dren as well as hostages are being employed in the fire-fight," Padilla told reporters in Manila.

Casualties among children and civilians forced to take up arms could not be ruled out, Padilla said.

"As disturbing as it is, our troops are doing their best to avoid any casualty among these children that are being employed," he said.

"But in the event... they bear arms and are involved in the fighting, there is nothing much that we can do. Similarly to the

hostages who are being forced."Shortly after seizing

Marawi gunmen took at least a dozen hostages, including a Catholic priest. Some of the estimated 300 other civilians still trapped in the area may have also been taken captive, said Padilla.

The military earlier said civilians had been forced to help the gunmen by carrying supplies and ammunition, bearing their wounded and even helping them loot the city.

More than 500 people have been killed in the fighting, including 89 soldiers and police, 39 civilians and 379 mil-itants, according to figures released by the government yesterday.

Nearly 400,000 civilians have fled their homes.

Daily air strikes and artil-lery barrages against militant snipers who control tall build-ings have left Marawi's central business district a ghost town.

Philippine president Rod-rigo Duterte last month vowed to "crush" the militants but sev-eral government-set deadlines to end the conflict have already been missed.

The fighting also prompted Duterte to declare martial law over the entire southern Phil-ippines. Padilla yesterday expressed hope that the fight-ing would soon be concluded.

"We continue to gain head-way with our operations on the ground," he said.

Militants force kids and hostages to fight in Marawi

Manila

AFP

Bertha, believed to be the world's oldest hippo-potamus, has died aged

65, the Manila zoo said yes-terday, having beaten the typical lifespan for the mostly herbivorous mammals by decades.

The 2.5-tonne female was found dead Friday in her enclosure, with a post mor-tem examination concluding that Bertha, the zoo's oldest resident, had died from mul-tiple organ failure, zoo director James Dichaves said.

"Bertha was among the pioneer animals here. Her mate died sometime in the 1980s and the couple failed to produce any offspring," he said.

A seven-year-old Bertha arrived at the zoo in the Phil-ippines' capital the year it opened in 1959. The zoo has lost the records of where she came from, Dichaves said.

Fed a diet of grass, fruit, and bread in a 1,000 square-metre (quarter-acre) pen, Bertha lived far beyond the 40 to 50 year lifespans which are typical for the species in the wild and in captivity respectively, Dichaves said.

Two years ago, an adult male hippo named Bertie was euthanized at the Denver Zoo in Colorado at the age of 58, the reports said.

Seoul

AFP

South Korea intends to build a museum in memory of wartime women slaves for

Japanese troops, a government minister said yesterday, re-igniting perennial tensions in the two neighbours' relationship.

The plight of the so-called "comfort women" who were forced into slavery for Japanese troops during World War II is a hugely emotional issue that has marred ties between the US allies for decades.

Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women -- mostly from Korea but also other parts

of Asia including China — were forced to work at Japanese army brothels across the region dur-ing the 1939-1945 conflict.

"We are planning to build a 'comfort women' museum in Seoul," said new gender equal-ity minister Chung Hyun-Back at a shelter for a shrinking number of survivors, who now number only 38 in total.

The "House of Sharing", in a rural area south of Seoul, has a memorial hall but Chung said the country needed a museum in the capital with better pub-lic access. She did not elaborate on when it will open or what kind of materials it will display.

But it is likely to worsen the relationship between Seoul and Tokyo, two US allies whose co-operation Washington needs as Donald Trump seeks to address the threat from nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

Japan maintains that there is a lack of documentary proof that the women were forcibly made to work at the brothels.

In late 2015, under now-ousted president Park Geun-Hye, Seoul and Tokyo reached what they described as a "final and irreversible" agree-ment under which Japan offered an apology and a one-billion yen ($8.6 billion) payment to South Korean survivors.

Kabul

AFP

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has signed into law a cybercrime bill

targeting online crime and mil-itancy by groups such as the Taliban and Islamic State, offi-cials said yesterday, amid concerns it could limit free speech. The Cyber Crime Law criminalises a range of online activities including hacking, spreading ethnic hatred, distri-bution of online defamatory speech, exposing government secrets, and cyber-terrorism within the provisions of the newly reviewed penal code.

"The law has 28 articles and it is going to control all cyber-crimes. All criminals will be tracked and referred to courts," Najib Nangyal a spokesman for the ministry of communication said. While much of Afghanistan remains deeply rural, over 8.5m Afghans are using the internet in big cities such as Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, most of them vocal on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

The guerrilla war waged by militants and grisly video foot-age of war casualties, torture, hostage victims and destruction compete daily with celebrity gossip and the latest sports news in Afghan online communities.

South Korea to build wartime slaves museum World's oldest hippo dies at Philippine zoo

Afghanistan enacts law to control cyberspace

11TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 EUROPE

May calls for oppn to back Brexit policies

UK court begins hearing case of terminally ill babyLondon

AFP

A British court yesterday began re-examining the case of a terminally ill

baby whose life support is due to be withdrawn at a London hospital, after Pope Francis and US Donald Trump intervened in the case.

Great Ormond Street Hos-pital last week said it had received "claims of new evi-dence" that 11-month-old

Charlie Gard could be treated for his disease and has asked a court to rule on how to proceed.

Gard's parents, who submit-ted a petition of over 350,000 signatures demanding that they be allowed to take him to the United States for treatment, attended the hearing at the High Court in London.

Pope Francis last week expressed his support for the baby's parents and said he hoped doctors would allow

them to "care for their child until the end".

Bambino Gesu, a Vatican-run hospital in Rome, has since offered to treat Gard and sent medical advice suggesting that treatment could be possible.

Trump also waded into the debate last week, tweeting that the United States "would be delighted" to help.

A US doctor has also pro-posed treatment for Gard.

The British hospital on Fri-day said it stood by its opinion

that Gard's rare form of mito-chondrial disease, which causes progressive muscle weakness in key organs such as the heart, was not treatable.

Doctors there believe Gard's brain damage is "severe and irreversible" and have said the baby may be suffering, in con-tradiction to the parents' views.

But doctors said it was "right to explore" any new evidence and said they were seeking the court's view.

Gard's parents have lost a

series of appeals in British courts and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and had no further legal recourse.

"He's our son, he's our flesh and blood. We feel that it should be our right as parents to decide to give him a chance," his mother Connie Yates said.

"The whole world knows about us and about Charlie and our fight... Until you're in this situation, you don't understand the power of hope," she said.

Divers found human bonesin Adriatic SeaZagreb

AP

DIVERS have located human bones near the wreckage of a US bomber that crashed in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia in 1944.

The discovery was made last week at the site of the crash of The Tulsamerican, the last B-24 Liberator bomber built in Tulsa, Okla-homa, near the end of World War II, according to Croatia's state TV.

"The remains of human bones have been found, but we can't say anything with-out further analysis," Zadar University archaeologist Mate Parica said.

The wreckage itself was found at the bottom of the sea at a depth of some 40 metres-near the island of Vis in 2010 after a 17-year search.

Tomo Medved, who heads Croatia's ministry for war vet-erans, said the US is still looking for some 200 Amer-icans who perished in Croatia during WWII.

London

AFP

Seventy firefighters battled a large fire in a building housing many boutique

shops in London's popular Camden Lock Market early yesterday.

The emergency service said it had sent 10 fire engines to the scene and the fire was extin-guished within around three hours with no casualties reported.

"The first, second and third floors, plus the roof, of a build-ing within the market are alight," the London Fire Brigade

said on Twitter after the fire broke out.

Fire brigade spokesman David Reid said: "Crews worked hard to get the fire under con-trol and to stop it from spreading to neighbouring buildings."

Images shared on social media showed tall flames and a burnt-out building at the north London market, which is popular with Londoners and tourists.

"The fire was moving very fast," witness Joan Ribes, 24, said. adding that the fire "was flying through the air to the sur-rounding areas".

Storm unleashes record rainfall on ParisParis

Reuters

A storm yesterday lashed Paris with the highest rainfall ever recorded in

the French capital, while other areas of France's centre-west saw as much rain as would nor-mally fall in the entire month of July.

Country's weather author-ity Meteo France confirmed that

the 49.2 millimetres fell in one hour between 9:00pm and 10:00pm.

The previous record for heavy rainfall in Paris was set on July 2, 1995, when 47.4 mil-limetres fell.

In total, 66 millimetres of rain fell on the city from 8:00am on Sunday until 8:00am yesterday.

Civray, in the Vienne region, saw 86 millimetres of rain and

Lons-le-Saunier, in the Jura region, saw 77 millimetres dur-ing the same period.

Metro services in the French capital were disrupted into yes-terday morning.

Social media footage showed water cascading down the steps onto the platform at one station, pouring from the ceiling in another, and com-muters climbing fences to avoid walking through water.

70 firefighters battle fire at Camden Lock Market

France may close up to 17 nuclear reactorsParis

AFP

France's new environment minister said yesterday that nearly a third of the

country's nuclear reactors could be shut under plans to scale back the amount of electricity pro-duced from atomic power.

In 2015, the previous Social-ist-dominated parliament passed a law obliging the gov-ernment to reduce the proportion of electricity gener-ated from nuclear to 50 percent by 2025 compared with around 75 percent now.

"We can all understand that to reach this target, we're going to have to close a certain number of reactors," Nicolas Hulot said. "It will be perhaps as high as 17

reactors, but we need to look into it."

Hulot, a celebrity environ-mentalist, was named minister

for ecological transition in the first government of 39-year-old centrist President Emmanuel Macron, elected in May.

He presented a Climate Plan last Thursday which included a number of ambitious targets for reducing emissions, such as stopping the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, but it was criticised by some for lacking detail.

France has 58 nuclear reac-tors operated by state-owned EDF, which produces some of the lowest-cost electricity in Europe. The country earns about $3.4bn each year from exports to neighbouring countries.

The ageing nuclear power network was once a source of national pride, but support fell after the disaster at the Fuku-shima plant in Japan in 2011 and the government is keen to encourage the transition to renewable energy sources.

London

AFP

British Prime Minister T h e r e s a M a y acknowledged the "reality" of her weak-e n e d p o s i t i o n

yesterday by appealing to other parties to help implement Brexit, as she sought to relaunch her year-old premiership.

One month after losing her parliamentary majority in a snap election, the Conservative leader said she was still committed to "bold action" to fulfil her prom-ises of change.

But as fresh rumours swirled of plans to oust her, May accepted that "the reality I now face as prime minister is rather different" than it was.

Her comments came in excerpts of a speech due to be delivered today, the anniversary of her winning the Conservative Party leadership race after last year's referendum vote to leave the EU.

"In this new context, it will be even more important to make the case for our policies and our values, and to win the battle of ideas both in parliament as well as in the country," May will say.

"So I say to the other parties in the House of Commons... come forward with your own

views and ideas about how we can tackle these challenges as a country."

May has been struggling to maintain her authority since the June 8 election, which she called three years early only to lose seats, leaving her with a minor-ity government.

The Mail on Sunday reported that former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell had told a private meeting of MPs that May was "dead in the water" and must quit.

Justice Secretary David

Lidington said this and other rumours were the result of pol-iticians enjoying "too much sun and too much warm Prosecco" at summer parties.

May's de facto deputy Dam-ian Green insisted yesterday that her call for cross-party cooper-ation was a "grown-up way of doing politics".

May had been accused of sti-fling dissent over her plans to take Britain out of Europe's sin-gle market, end jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and leave the bloc without a deal in place.

But members of her cabinet have been increasingly outspo-ken since the election, particularly finance minister Philip Hammond, who favours a more conciliatory approach amid fears of the damage a clean break could do to business.

A new cross-party parlia-mentary group was launched on Monday calling for the "closest possible relationship" with the EU and demanding that "all options are kept on the table" in the negotiations, which began last month.

It is co-chaired by opposition Labour MP Chuka Umunna and Conservative former minister Anna Soubry, both outspoken pro-Europeans, and backed by the smaller Liberal Democrats.

In this new context, it will be even more important to make the case for our policies and our values, and to win the battle of ideas both in parliament as well as in the country: May

Teamwork

May's de facto deputy Damian Green insisted yesterday that her call for cross-party cooperation was a "grown-up way of doing politics".

Camden Market is seen ablaze in London, Britain, yesterday.

File photo of the Cruas Meysse nuclear power plant located in Cruas and Meysse, next to the Rhone River.

Expedition 52 pre-launch activity

Expedition 52 flight engineers Paolo Nespoli of ESA (left), Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos (centre) and Randy Bresnik of NASA visit Red Square to lay roses at the site where Russian space icons are interred as part of traditional pre-launch ceremonies, in Moscow, yesterday.

12 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017EUROPE

Nato supports Ukraine against Russia's threatKiev

AFP

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg pledged support for Ukraine during a visit to Kiev yesterday, as the ex-

Soviet republic battles a bloody insurgency by pro-Russian sep-aratists in the east.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since a Russian-backed rebellion against the pro-EU government in Kiev erupted in April 2014.

Ukraine and the West accuse Moscow of smuggling weapons and troops across the porous border in support of the separa-tists, a charge has repeatedly denied.

"Russia has maintained its aggressive actions against Ukraine, but Nato and Nato allies stand by Ukraine and stand on your side," Stoltenberg said at the Nato-Ukraine Commission ses-sion in Kiev.

"Russia must withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Ukraine and stop supporting the militants," he added during a press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 have driven ties between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.

"We are also here to demon-strate Nato's solidarity with Ukraine and our firm support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of your country,"

Stoltenberg said."Nato allies do not and will

not recognise Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea."

The Nato chief's trip came a day after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a maiden visit to Kiev and urged Moscow to take the "first step" to ease the conflict in Ukraine's east.

The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia, although Moscow has denied backing the rebels.

Ukraine sees Nato accession as a way to bolster its defences against former master Moscow.

In June, Ukraine's parliament voted to back attempts by the nation to seek membership of the 29-member bloc.

It approved legal amend-ments enshrining membership in Nato as a foreign policy priority.

But the Kremlin has long been angered by NAto expansion into what Moscow views as its sphere of influence in the former Soviet region.

"It (Ukraine's rapprochement with Nato) will not contribute to the strengthening of stability and security on the European conti-nent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Moreover, Kiev has yet to officially apply to start the lengthy and politically challeng-ing process of joining the US-led alliance.

Poroshenko explained that embattled Ukraine was eager to join the bloc, but painful politi-cal and economic reforms need to be implemented before the country was ready to lay out its claims on membership.

"We are determined to reforms... to meet the member-ship criteria," Poroshenko said.

"Nato will continue to sup-port Ukraine on the path towards closer relationships with Nato," Stoltenberg added.

Austria bars Turkish minister over rally plansVienna

AFP

AUSTRIA said yesterday it had barred Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci from entering the country to attend a rally marking the anniver-sary of last year's failed coup attempt in Turkey.

"He has been barred because his visit was not planned as part of a bilateral exchange, but was about his public appearance at an event marking the coup attempt," foreign ministry spokesman Thomas Schnoell said.

Zeybekci's attendance at the "large event" would have represented a "danger for public order", Schnoell added.

"The Turkish government wants to exert its political influence in Austria. We won't allow that," Austrian Chan-cellor Christian Kern said.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu hit back at Vienna, accusing Austrian authorities of demon-strating they were "not sincere in defending democratic values".

The rally is scheduled to take place in Vienna on Sun-day. It is being organised by the Austrian branch of the Union of European Turkish Democrats, a pro-Ankara group present in several European Union countries.

Minister seeks more EU cooperation after G20 riotsBerlin

AP

Germany's justice minister called yesterday for bet-ter exchange of

information on violent extrem-ists in European Union following the riots that accompanied the Group of 20 summit.

Hamburg saw three nights of violence amid anti-globalisa-tion protests as leaders of the world's biggest economic pow-ers met.

Police arrested 186 and tem-porarily detained a further 225 people.

"The brutal riot tourists stop at no borders," Justice Minister

Heiko Maas said yesterday. "A high proportion of the

violent extremists traveled to the G-20 from other European countries."

He added that "we experi-enced a new quality of violence, which we should react to with

more cooperation in combating extremists."

Germany temporarily reintroduced border controls with its European neighbours weeks before the summit.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said "several hundred" known extremists were turned back.

Other people were searched but in some cases there was no legal reason to deny them entry, such as traveling with weapons like slingshots.

"We are talking about a year and half to two years of prepa-ration in the left-wing extremist scene," de Maiziere said. "I wouldn't be surprised if much of

the material with which police officers were wounded came to Germany long before border controls were introduced."

"The events surrounding the G-20 summit must be a turning point in our view of the left-wing scene's readiness to use vio-lence," he added. There must be "no tolerated retreats" in Ger-man cities for violent far-left extremists, he said.

De Maiziere is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's con-servative party.

Minister Maas belongs to the centre-left Social Democrats, its current partners in a national governing coalition of traditional rivals.

Bosnia set to mark 1995 genocide anniversarySarajevo

Anatolia

Bosnia today will mark the 22nd anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide

by burying 71 recently identi-fied victims in a collective funeral.

Every year on July 11 newly identified victims of the geno-cide -- which claimed the lives of over 8,000 people -- are buried in a memorial cemetery in Potocari, eastern Bosnia. Thousands of visitors from dif-ferent countries will attend the funeral service and burials.

Among this year's guests will be Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus

plus Serbian politicians Cedomir Jovanovic and Sasa Jankovic.

Jovanovic and Jankovic were candidates in Serbia’s presidential election in April which was eventually won by Aleksandar Vucic.

After this year’s funeral the number of burials in the cem-etery will rise to 6,575.

Damir Suljic, who was 15 when he was killed, will be the youngest victim to be buried this year. Alija Salihovic, the oldest, was 72.

The remains of the 71 gen-ocide victims were loaded on a truck in the Bosnian city of Visoko on Sunday morning for their final journey to Potocari.

Coal-fired plants top polluters in EuropeHelsinki

AP

Coal-fired power stations are responsible for the most pollution in Europe,

with Britain among the top pol-luters, the European Union says.

The European Environ-ment Agency said in a report that half of the plants respon-sible for the largest releases of air and water pollution were in Britain, with a total of 14.

Germany was second with seven, followed by France and Poland, each with five.

The agency reviewed emissions data from 35,000

industrial plants in 2015 — the latest available data — includ-ing power stat ions, petrochemical refineries and metal processing units from the 28 members of the EU, and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Nor-way, Switzerland and Serbia.

It said that "good progress is being made by the EU toward its climate and energy policy objectives for 2020 and 2030." However, it noted that coal remains the most used fuel in large combustion plants despite a decreasing amount being used over recent years, and a threefold increase in bio-mass use between 2004 and 2015.

Coal is still responsible for the largest releases of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the envi-ronment, although some plants have significantly improved their environmental perform-ance over recent years, releasing fewer emissions into the environment.

The worst in 2015 were the Belchatow power plant in Poland, which released the highest amounts of the three pollutants, while the Drax power station in Britain, Jaen-schwalde in Germany, and Kozienice in Poland were listed as top polluting plants for each of the three pollutants.

Three Portugal officials quit amid probe into trips abroadLisbon

AP

A police investigation into foreign trips for officials provided by a national

energy company is making dents in Portugal's government.

The attorney general's office said yesterday that the public prosecutor has classified three junior members of the centre-left government as formal

suspects in the probe into pos-sible improper conduct in public office.

That anti-corruption law carries a prison sentence of up to five years.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa said late Sunday he has accepted the resignations of those three officials, who were his secretar-ies of state for tax affairs, industry and business internationalisation.

They work under more sen-ior government ministers.

The public prosecutor is questioning people who accepted trips from energy com-pany Galp to watch Portugal's national soccer team play at last year's European Championship in France.

Galp was the Portuguese team's official sponsor and alleg-edly provided fl ights, accommodation and match tick-

ets to the officials it invited. At the time, Galp was seek-

ing to escape a new tax the government was introducing.

Investigators are assessing whether the trips amounted to influence-peddling and misconduct.

The attorney general's office said in its statement that a gov-ernment special adviser, a chief of staff and a former chief of staff are also suspects.

In a statement released yes-terday, Galp company denied any wrongdoing and said it is cooperating with the investigation.

The payment of flights, meals and match tickets for guests was in line with the law, it said, add-ing that such conduct is a "traditional practice" in business and aimed only to gather sta-dium support for the Portugal team.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and members of the delegations after their talks in Kiev, yesterday.

Russia has maintained its aggressive actions against Ukraine, but Nato and Nato allies stand by Ukraine and stand on your side. Russia must withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Ukraine and stop supporting the militants: Nato Chief

Stoltenberg in Kiev

"Nato allies do not and will not recognise Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea."

We experienced a new quality of violence, which we should react to with more cooperation in combating extremists: Minister

Airbnb owner likely to face charges after check-out rowAmsterdam

Reuters

DUTCH prosecutors said they were considering charging an Amsterdam Airbnb property owner with attempted mur-der after he allegedly pushed a guest down a flight of stairs in a row about the check-out time.

Police said the alleged victim, South African woman Siba Nkumbi, had been treated for her injuries in hos-pital and would press charges.

Prosecutors were consid-ering a charge of attempted murder but were still study-ing the facts, an official from the prosecutors office said.

A video purporting to show Nkumbi falling head first down a steep flight of stairs has appeared on social media.

Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky would contact the guests involved, the com-pany said in a statement.

"Appalling and uncon-scionable behaviour against members of our community runs counter to everything Airbnb stands for," David King, an Airbnb official, said.

People gather at Potocari Memorial Center before the funeral ceremony of the 71 victims of 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, yesterday.

13TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 AMERICAS

Washington

Reuters

President Donald Trump’s effort to roll back Obamacare faced growing obstacles yes-terday as Republicans

who control the US Senate remained divided over how to curb the costs of their proposed healthcare bill and prevent mil-lions from losing coverage.

White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said that Trump still expected the Senate to pass a healthcare bill either before the start of Congress’ August recess “or maybe a little bit into” the recess. Trump made the repeal and replacement of the Afford-able Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, a central plank of his 2016 campaign.

“I cannot imagine that Con-gress would dare to leave Washington without a beauti-ful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” Trump said early yesterday in a p o s t o n T w i t t e r .

Other Republicans were more pessimistic. “My view is that it’s

probably going to be dead,” Sen-ator John McCain of Arizona said of the healthcare legislation on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

Some conservative senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, have said they cannot support the proposal unless it goes further to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of President Barack Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is weighing how to shore up support for the health-care bill, which would repeal parts of Obamacare and elimi-nate the tax increases that fund it.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May passed its own version of a bill overhauling healthcare.

McConnell warned at a luncheon in his home state of Kentucky last week that if Republicans were unable to pass their own replacement bill, they might need to work with Dem-ocrats to bolster the insurance

markets created under Obamacare, according to the Associated Press.

During a week-long recess last week that coincided with the Fourth of July holiday, liberal groups organized town halls and protests and ran advertisements criticizing the proposal.

Most Republican senators kept a low profile on the issue,

including McCain, who traveled to Afghanistan to visit troops, and Senator Jeff Flake, a fellow Arizonan who faces a tough re-election fight next year.

Last week, groups such as the state chapter of Planned Parent-hood and Ability 360, an advocacy organization for disa-bled people, participated in events that spotlighted the Sen-ate bill, including a town hall in Phoenix.

At the Phoenix event, there were empty chairs on a stage with placards for McCain and Flake, who were invited but did not attend.

Arizonans such as Rosemary Dixon, who had a kidney

transplant in 2015 and worries about how she will pay for her medication, spoke about the potential impact of the legislation.

Republicans have long crit-icized Obamacare as ineffective and a government intrusion into a key sector of the economy. But opponents deride the Republi-can healthcare bill as a giveaway to wealthy Americans who would see some tax increases rolled back. Critics also warn the legislation would cause millions of poor and sick Americans to lose healthcare coverage.

The Obamacare law expanded health insurance cov-erage to some 20 million people, largely through an expansion of Medicaid, a government health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

Senators from states such as Ohio, Nevada and Arizona that expanded the Medicaid program under Obamacare are taking heat from Republican governors over the Senate bill’s proposal to phase out the expansion.

In Arizona, for example, more than 400,000 have signed up for Medicaid since its expan-sion there and 1.9 million are now insured by the program.

The Senate legislation would also drastically cut federal Med-icaid spending beginning in 2025, repeal most of Obamacare’s taxes, end a pen-alty on Americans who do not obtain insurance and overhaul Obamacare’s subsidies to help people buy insurance with tax credits.

The nonpartisan Congres-sional Budget Office, which assesses the impact of legislation, estimated 22 million people would lose health insurance over the next decade under the Sen-ate bill. In a separate report, it found the proposal would cut government spending on Med-icaid by 35 percent come 2036.

The Senate bill is unpopular with voters. Just 24 percent of adults approved of the proposal, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online opinion poll of 1,554 adults taken from July 2 to 6.

Trump’s healthcare push faces trouble Growing obstacles

Some conservative senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, have said they cannot support the proposal unless it goes further to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of President Barack Obama.

White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said that Trump still expected the Senate to pass a healthcare bill either before the start of Congress’ August recess “or maybe a little bit into” the recess.

Chicago

AP

Prosecutors have brought felony charges against four of six Greenpeace

activists accused of unfurling a banner from Trump Tower in Chicago to protest the pres-ident's stance on global warning.

The four face felony crim-inal damage to property and misdemeanor reckless con-duct charges. Prosecutors said that Friday's act of pro-test caused thousands of dollars in damage to the skyscraper.

Greenpeace USA issued a statement calling the charges "grossly inflated" and saying they are an attempt "to chill lawful protest." The banner had the environmental group's name and the words "resist" and "defend" on it. "Defend" covered a picture of the earth. A Cook County judge released the four with electronic monitoring. They also are prohibited from vis-iting Trump Tower.

Activists charged after banner hung at Trump Tower

Toronto

Reuters

British Columbia on Mon-d a y e v a c u a t e d thousands more resi-

dents from the path of wildfires spreading across the Western Canadian province amid expectations the blazes will grow as forecasters pre-dict more hot, dry weather the week.

British Columbia’s chief fire spokesman Kevin Skrep-nek told CBC News that more than 10,000 people had been forced from their homes, up from about 7,000 the previ-ous day. On Friday, 138 fires started as electrical storms and brisk winds passed through the interior of the bone-dry province, which has not seen significant rains for weeks. British Columbia declared its first state of emergency since 2003, deploying some 1,600 per-sonnel over the weekend to respond to the fires.

Some 24,000 hectares were ravaged by wildfires as of midday Sunday, according to official tallies.

British Columbia evacuates thousands more

Washington

AFP

The US newspaper indus-try yesterday warned of a "duopoly" in online

news by Google and Facebook, and called for legislation that would relax antitrust rules allowing collective negotiations with the Internet giants.

The News Media Alliance said that because Google and Facebook dominate online news traffic digital advertising, "publishers are forced to sur-render their content and play by their rules on how news and information is displayed, pri-oritised and monetised."

A statement by the associ-ation of some 2,000 media groups said news organisations "are limited with disaggregated negotiating power against a de facto duopoly that is vacuum-ing up all but an ever-decreasing segment of advertising revenue."

The group, formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America, includes large dai-lies like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal as well as hundreds of smaller media groups and regional news organizations.

He said Google and Face-book account for more than 70

percent of the $73bn spent each year on digital advertising, and they eat up most of the growth, with nearly 80 percent of all online referral traffic coming from the two firms.\

"But the two digital giants don't employ reporters. They don't dig through public records to uncover corruption, send correspondents into war zones, or attend last night's game to get the highlights," Chavern said. "They expect an econom-ically squeezed news industry to do that costly work for them."

Facebook and Google, which share some revenue with news organizations on certain platforms, have been stepping up efforts to help media groups with grants and other pro-grams.Facebook's head of news partnerships, Campbell Brown, said, "We're committed to help-ing quality journalism thrive on Facebook. We're making progress through our work with news publishers and have more work to do."

Google said in a statement: "We want to help news publish-ers succeed as they transition to digital. In recent years we've built numerous specialized products and technologies, developed specifically to help distribute, fund, and support newspapers."

Washington

AFP

A US high school student has scored an exclusive interview with Pentagon

chief Jim Mattis after an aide of President Donald Trump inad-vertently exposed the defense secretary's cell phone number.

The Washington Post in May ran a photo of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller walking outside the White House, with Schiller clutching a bunch of papers.

Sharp-eyed readers noticed that atop the papers was a yel-low sticky note that said "Jim, Mad Dog, Mattis" along with a phone number. Retired four-star Marine general Mattis has

been nicknamed "Mad Dog" by some in the media and by troops that served under him.

The newspaper quickly took the photo down but not before Teddy Fischer, a sopho-more (about 16 years old) from Mercer Island High School saw the number and called Mattis with an interview request. "I called it to see if it was him, because I was pretty curious if this is actually his number or is it kind of a joke," Fischer told the King 5 local news channel in his home state of Washing-ton. He didn't leave a message but went on to text an interview request. To his surprise, Mattis called back and agreed to schedule an interview, which would last for 45 minutes.

A commuter ferry is seen departing from the Hoboken terminal on its way to New York, in New Jersey, US, yesterday.

Ferrying to New York

US newspaper group assails Google-FB online 'duopoly'

US student scores interview with Mattis

Los Angeles

AFP

More than a dozen wild-fires were raging across California yesterday

forcing thousands of residents of the most populous US state to flee their homes.

Further to the north, the Canadian province of British Columbia was under a state of emergency as fire crews there also battled blazes fueled by searing temperatures and high winds.

The worst of the brush fires in California was the Alamo fire in San Luis Obispo County,

which had burned nearly 29,000 acres (117 square km)as of yesterday morning, accord-ing to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection known as Cal Fire.

More than 1,200 fire person-nel were battling the Alamo blaze, Cal Fire said, adding that hot and dry conditions were expected to continue for the next several days and the inferno has been only 15 percent contained so far.

The California fires have forced the evacuation of around 8,000 people while another 10,000 have fled their homes in British Columbia, Canada's

westernmost province, where around 200 blazes of varying degrees of intensity have been reported.

The Alamo fire, which began four days ago, has spread to Santa Barbara County, approx-imately midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and is currently the state's largest active fire, according to Cal Fire.

Fire containment efforts were particularly aimed at guarding mountain peaks hold-ing vital infrastructure such as a high-voltage line that delivers power to nearby cities, accord-ing to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Thousands flee California fires

Structures at Rancho Alegre Boy Scouts of America outdoor school are left in ruins after the Whittier Fire swept through Santa Barbara in California, yesterday.

14 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017AMERICAS

United Nations

AFP

The UN Security Coun-cil yesterday decided to establish a new mis-sion in Colombia to help FARC rebels

reintegrate in society as the peace deal moves to a challeng-ing phase after the laying down of weapons.

After the historic agreement ended half a century of guerrilla war, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) com-pleted the handover of individual weapons on June 27, under UN supervision. The council unani-mously adopted a British-drafted resolution that sets up the new verification mission as of Sep-tember 26, when the first mission overseeing the disarmament ends. Britain and the United States stressed that this new phase, when 10,000 rebels are to begin new lives as civilians, is shaping up as a crucial test for the peace deal reached last year.

"Experience from our own history in Northern Ireland has taught us that the hardest part remains ahead," British diplo-mat Stephen Hickey told the council. "A sustainable and last-ing peace will depend on the FARC's successful reincorpora-tion into civilian life."

US Deputy Ambassador Michele Sison said the peace deal

was entering a "critical next phase" and stressed the impor-tance of rural development and counter-narcotics.

For decades, the FARC con-trolled areas where coca leaf and cocaine production flourished but now farmers in those areas will be given incentives to turn to other forms of agriculture.

The rebel group will also set up a political party while thou-sands of combattants currently in jail will receive amnesty.

France is providing a pack-age of aid and loans of ¤820m ($930m) to support the peace

process, Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

The council asked UN Sec-retary-General Antonio Guterres to provide a report to the coun-cil in August on preparations for the new 12-month mission including details on its size and mandate. Addressing the coun-cil, Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin acknowl-edged that bringing peace and

prosperity to the FARC's former strongholds in the countryside is "our main challenge."

"The development of politi-cal participation, greater equity and better justice will be funda-mental to become the country that we want to be," she said.

In the coming two months, the FARC will finish handing over weapons stashed in arms caches, completing the

disarming process, the foreign minister said. UN envoy Jean Arnault told the council last month that the FARC were strug-gling with "a deep sense of uncertainty" over their physical safety and their future after the disarming. Ensuring that the former combatants can join mainstream society is the "first and most urgent challenge" in Colombia, he stressed.

New UN mission to help FARC rebelsTowards peace

In the coming two months, the FARC will finish handing over weapons stashed in arms caches, completing the disarming process, the foreign minister said.

Britain and the United States stressed that this new phase, when 10,000 rebels are to begin new lives as civilians, is shaping up as a crucial test for the peace deal reached last year.

Georgetown

AFP

One prison officer was killed and seven oth-ers were injured

during a jailbreak in South America's Guyana that saw inmates set fire to the facility and four prisoners escape, authorities said.

Chaos broke out at the colonial-era maximum secu-rity prison in the capital city of Georgetown after inmates obtained firearms and took control of the facility, with police and fire officials ini-tially unable to enter the compound.

Prisoners set the facility ablaze in an effort to distract guards, Public Security Min-ister Khemraj Ramjattan told journalists, calling the escap-ees "very serious criminals."

Eight police officers were injured, one of whom died during treatment for a gun-shot injury to his chest.

Heavily armed soldiers had taken up strategic posi-tions around the facility in the former British colony, home to just over 750,000. Police Commissioner Seelall Per-saud said authorities in neighboring Suriname were on high alert in the search for escapee Royden Williams, who was sentenced to death in February for killing eight people, and Uree Varswyck, whose trial for robbery and murder was pending.

Caracas

AFP

Venezuela hit its 100th day of anti-government pro-tests, amid uncertainty

over whether the release from prison a day earlier of promi-nent political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez might open the way to negotiations to defuse the pro-found crisis gripping the country.

Lopez was placed under house arrest immediately after his surprise release from a

military prison. Still, the gesture -- the most visible sign of con-ciliation since protests erupted April 1 -- triggered speculation over the prospect of talks between the opposition and the embattled leftist government of Nicolas Maduro.

Three months of destructive street protests have left at least 91 dead. On Sunday demonstra-tions continued as 2,000 people marched in eastern Caracas, wearing T-shirts with Lopez's face and carrying banners that read: "One hundred days and I

continue to rebel against tyr-anny." Meanwhile, thousands of government supporters marched in the city center. Maduro on Facebook voiced support for his controversial plans to form an assembly tasked with rewriting the con-stitution, which he said had "the hope to build a solid peace among all."

Voting for members of the assembly -- which the opposi-tion has rejected as Maduro's bid to maintain power -- is sched-uled for July 30.

London

Reuters

A wharf in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro used as a marketplace

for African slaves has been declared a United Nations her-itage site to preserve evidence of “one of the most brutal epi-sodes in the history of humankind”.

The UN’s cultural organi-sation Unesco said up to 900,000 enslaved Africans are believed to have landed at Val-ongo Wharf, the busiest slave port in Brazil, from when the stone wharf was built in 1811 until it was landfilled in 1842.

Brazil was the world’s greatest importer of slaves, tak-ing in about five million Africans, and the last country in the world to officially abol-ish slavery, in 1888.

A Unesco statement said warehouses built at Valongo could accommodate more than 2,000 slaves, often in toxic and suffocating conditions which fuelled diseases and led to mass graves at the site with a ceme-tery holding up to 6,000 burials.

Remnants at Valongo, including bones, implements and food, are evidence of the

brutal treatment of slaves. “The presence of the sacred and the sense of ancestry found in the place has turned Valongo into a symbolic landmark for social movements promoting racial equality,” Unesco said in statement.

“From a historic point of view, this is a testimony to one of the most brutal episodes in the history of humankind.”

Although Brazil abolished slavery about 130 years ago, Latin America’s largest econ-omy acknowledged in 1995 the use of slave labour in its econ-omy. The 2016 Global Slavery Index produced by the Aus-tralia-based Walk Free Foundation estimated that there are currently about 161,000 slaves in Brazil.

Brazil has been praised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and activ-ists for making progress on tackling slavery in the past decade.

Efforts have included set-ting up mobile units of inspectors, prosecutors and police who raid places where slave labour is suspected, and the creation of a “dirty list” of employers investigated by labour inspectors and found to be using slaves.

Miami

AFP

An unmanned Nasa spacecraft is about to fly over a massive

storm raging on Jupiter, in a long-awaited a journey that could shed new light on the forces driving the planet's Great Red Spot.

The flyby of the Juno spacecraft, surveilling the 16,000km wide) storm, was scheduled for 9:55pm yesterday.

"Jupiter's mysterious Great Red Spot is probably the best-known feature of Jupi-ter," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

The storm looks like a churning red knot on the planet's surface. It has been monitored since 1830, and may have existed for more than 350 years, the US space agency said.

Juno, which earlier this month marked its first year in orbit of the gas giant, will offer "humanity's first up-close and personal view of the gigantic feature," Nasa said.

Nasa's spacecraft to fly over Jupiter

Activists protest outside the United States embassy in Bogota demanding the release of FARC member Simon Trinidad, imprisoned in the US, and of other political prisoners, in Bogota, yesterday.

Brasília

AFP

For many politicians, a jail sentence means the end of your career, but not for

lawmaker Celso Jacob. He still comes each day to Brazil's National Congress — straight from prison.

Each morning he gets up at 5:00am in the Papuda jail near Brasilia and waits for a car to take him to work. In the evening he returns and changes from his suit back into white prisoner's

overalls. "I am imprisoned, but I am not a prisoner," says the 60-year-old, on day release as he serves a seven-year jail term for administrative fraud when he was a mayor. Many convicts are allowed to work in Brazil under such partial release arrangements. But Jacob is the only member of Congress known to have been allowed to keep working in such a situation.

Under the partially-open prison regime, he is forbidden from going to the cinema, shop-ping or visiting his family.

But he is allowed to go to Congress and vote on the nation's laws and big political issues of the day. That includes casting a vote in support of President Michel Temer, who himself risks facing trial for corruption.

Jacob became a full member of the lower house of Congress in January. That was partly due to a reshuffle after the speaker of the chamber Eduardo Cunha was sacked, having himself been convicted of corruption.

Six months later, a case dat-ing to Jacob's time as mayor of

the town of Tres Rios in 2003 caught up with him. The Supreme Court found him guilty of forgery and of irregularities in the awarding of a public contract. He was arrested on June 6 at Bra-silia airport.

He arrived to prison fearful: with a history of gruesome gang riots, Brazil's prisons are consid-ered some of the most dangerous in the world.

"The penal system in Brazil is not designed to rehabilitate anyone," he tells AFP in his office in Congress. "Where I am is

better than some places, but I would not recommend it."

Jacob denies the charges that were made against him, saying he just made "technical" errors.

He says he was tricked by his advisers who slipped an unap-proved clause into a legislative bill before handing it to him to sign. In the case of the public works contract, he says he pushed through the deal to get a nursery built since the project had been delayed for years.

"Those who know me -- and in my town they know me well

-- are suffering with me," he says. "Those who don't know me think I am just another thief who embezzled and robbed. It is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff."

Jacob's conviction cannot be appealed but he hopes to gather new testimonies and get the case reopened. It is a hard time to be doing that in Brazil.

Jacob is just one of hundreds of senior politicians convicted in a wave of fraud and graft scan-dals that finally reached Temer's door last month.

Venezuelan riot police throw tear gas during an opposition activists blockade in Caracas, yesterday.

Hopes for talks rise in Venezuela

Brazil slave port given heritage status to preserve brutal episode

Brazil convict: Jailbird by night, Congressman by day

Inmates set Guyana prison ablaze; 1 dead

15TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017 BREAK TIME

Yesterday’s answer

SHOWING ATVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

BABY

BLU

ES

ALL IN THE MIND

BALLET, BALLROOM, BARN DANCE, BELLY DANCING, BOLERO, BREAK DANCING, CHA CHA CHA, CHARLESTON, CLOG DANCING, CONGA, DISCO, FANDANGO, FLAMENCO, FOXTROT, GAVOTTE,HIGHLAND FLING, IRISH JIG, JIVE, LINE DANCING, MINUET, PAS DE DEUX, PASO DOBLE, POLKA, QUICKSTEP, RAIN DANCE, REEL, RUMBA, SAMBA, SQUARE DANCE, SWORD DANCE, TANGO, TAP DANCING, TARANTELLA, TWIST, TWO STEP, WALTZ.

08:00 News

08:30 Counting the Cost

09:00 Al Jazeera World

10:00 News

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 AJ Selects

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 Prison Lives: Inside

And Out

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:00 News

17:30 The Stream

18:00 newsgrid

19:00 News

19:30 My Nigeria

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 The Stream

23:00 Al Jazeera World

10:10 Gold Divers

10:55 Deadliest Catch

13:10 Gold Rush

13:55 Deadliest Job

Interview

14:40 Gold Divers

15:25 Fast N' Loud

16:10 Wheeler Dealers

17:00 How Do They Do

It?

18:20 Baggage Battles

18:50 Deadliest Job

Interview

20:10 How Do They Do

It?

21:00 The Island With

Bear Grylls

21:50 The Wheel: Survival

Games

22:40 Running Wild With

Bear Grylls

23:30 Fast N' Loud

01:05 The Island With

Bear Grylls

01:50 The Wheel: Survival

Games

13:45 Catching

Monsters

14:40 Wildest Latin

America

15:35 Tanked

16:30 River Monsters:

Lair Of Giants

17:25 Dog Rescuers

18:20 Guardians Of

Rescue

19:15 Tanked

20:10 Dr. Dee: Alaska

Vet

21:05 Dog Rescuers

22:00 Guardians Of

Rescue

22:55 Wildest Latin

America

23:50 River Monsters:

Lair Of Giants

00:45 Animal Cops

Philadelphia

01:40 Guardians Of

Rescue

02:35 Tanked

13:10 Girl Meets World

13:35 Austin & Ally

15:20 Bizaardvark

15:45 Elena Of Avalor

16:10 Liv And Maddie

16:35 Descendants

Wicked World

16:40 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

18:20 Tangled Before

Ever After Sneak

Peek

18:50 Best Friends

Whenever

20:10 The Adventures

Of Disney Fairies

20:35 Cracke

20:40 Bizaardvark

21:05 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

22:00 Bunk'd

22:50 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug...

23:35 Lolirock

00:00 Hank Zipzer

00:45 The Hive

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

placing puzzle based on a 9×9 grid. The object is to

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each 3×3 box

contains the same number only once.

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

NOVO — Pearl

ROXY

Tisbah Ala Khair (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 12:20, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:40, 6:00, 8:00, 8:20, 10:00, 11:00pm, 12:00midnight & 01:40am Spider Man: Homecoming (3D/Adventure) 12:00noon, 2:45, 5:30, 7:00, 8:15, 9:40 11:00pm & 12:20am The House (2D/Comedy) 11:30am, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pm Despicable Me 3 (2D/Animation) 10:00, 11:00am, 12:00noon, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 & 6:00pm Transformers: The Last Knight (2D/Action) 8:00 & 11:00pm Overdrive (2D/Action) 10:30am, 2:45, 7:00 & 11:15pm Antar Ibn Shaddad (2D/Arabic) 12:30, 4:45 & 9:00pmPirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:40, 3:20, 6:00, 8:40 & 11:20pm Inconceivable (2D/Thriller) 10:30am, 3:00, 7:30pm & 12:00midnight How To Be A Latin Lover (2D/Comedy) 12:40, 5:10 & 9:40pmSpider Man: Home Coming (3D IMAX/Action) 10:40am, 1:20, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20pm & 12:00midnight

Despicable Me 3 (2D/Animation) 5:00 & 6:00pmMom (2D/Comedy) 6:30 & 9:00pm Spiderman: Homecoming (2D/Adventure) 2:30, 6:30, 9:00 & 11:15pm Ninnu Kori (2D/Telugu) 2:00pm The House (2D/Comedy) 4:30pm How To Be A Latin Lover (2D/Comedy) 2:00pm Inconceivable (2D/Thriller) 11:30pm Tisbah Ala Khair (2D/Arabic) 7:30 & 9:30pm Guest In London (2D/Comedy) 4:00pm Role Models (2D/Malayalam) 11:30pm

Despicable Me 3 (2D/Animation) 2:00, 4:00, 5:00 & 7:00pmRole Models (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 8:30pm How To Be A Latin Lover (2D/Comedy) 3:00pm Spiderman: Homecoming (2D/Adventure) 4:30, 6:45, 9:15 & 11:30pm Tisbah Ala Khair (2D/Arabic) 6:00 & 9:30pm The House (2D/Comedy) 8:00pm Guest In London (2D/Comedy) 11:00pm Inconceivable (2D/Thriller) 11:30pm

Spiderman: Homecoming (2D/Adventure) 2:00, 4:30, 9:00 & 11:30pm Ninnu Kori (2D/Telugu) 2:30pm Mom (2D/Comedy) 2:30 & 11:30pm Despicable Me 3 (2D/Animation) 5:00 & 6:30pmInconceivable (2D/Thriller) 5:00 & 11:30pm Tisbah Ala Khair (2D/Arabic) 7:00 & 9:30pm How To Be A Latin Lover (2D/Comedy) 7:00pm The House (2D/Comedy) 8:00pm Role Models(2D/Malayalam) 9:00pm

Role Models (2D/Malayalam) 4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 10:30pm

Ninnu Kori (Telugu) 6:30 & 9:30pm

Guest In London (Hindi) 5:45 & 10:45pm Mom (Hindi) 8:15pm

Despicable Me (Animation) 12:00noon, 2:30, 4:30 & 6:30pm Tisbah Ala Khair (2D/Arabic) 12:00noon, 2:10 & 4:20pm

Spiderman: Homecoming (2D/Adventure) 12:00noon 2:45, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm Mom (2D/Comedy) 12:00noon & 2:50pm How To Be A Latin Lover (2D/Comedy) 8:30 & 11:00pm Vekham Vedra (Tamil) 6:30, 9:30 & 12:30 Role Models 5:40, 8:30 & 11:20pm

16 TUESDAY 11 JULY 2017HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

03.23 am

04.51 am

ZUHRASR

11.39 am

03.03 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.30 pm

08.00 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

Amna Pervaiz Rao

The Peninsula

Qatar Foundation for Social Work (QFSW), installed the ‘Tamim Al

Majd’ icon at the Tornado Tower's outer yard to enable the employees of the Founda-tion and the seven centres working under the umbrella of QFSW to imprint their feelings.

All the employees used their own words to express their affection towards Qatar and unlimited support for the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to stand with him through this phase.

Amaal bint Abdullatif Al Mannai, QFSW’s CEO told The Peninsula: “We have gathered here as a family, all seven social organisations which work under the umbrella of QFSW to ‘thank’ our Emir and the government to stand with us together. We as a family serve humanity regardless of

their religion, gender and nationality.

The center aims to stand with all the people in Qatar. As our motto is same “We are Qatar”. Today my message will be “Thank-you to make us stand tall in Qatar.”

“In Qatar, we follow the words of our Emir ‘We are people who are committed to our principles and our values. We do not live on the margins of life, we do not aimlessly wander without a destination and we are not followers of anyone from whom we receive guidance’. We also affirm to everyone that we only bow down to God Almighty,” she added.

Expressing his generous attitude towards the GCC countries. Mansoor AlSaadi, Executive Director of Aman Center (Protection and Reha-bilitation) said: “ The situation which is on-going in our country did not happen before and will not happen in future

by the Grace of Allah. We have utilised this opportunity to express our love and support. We are all one not only Qataris but all the nationalities who stood with us together ‘We all are Qataris’, ‘We all are Qatar’.

“This occasion was hosted to utter our sentiments on this ionic picture of Emir. We don’t have any issues with our

brothers if others have prob-lem we will deal it in our way. We still have relations with all GCC countries, as we are brother-in-laws, cousins, as we have families there and they have families here. We are standing with our Emir without creating disputes with others,” he added.

Another Employee at

QFSW, Karimi Abdul Wahid, conveyed his fondness towards Qatar by saying, “ I came in Qatar in 2006, I con-sider myself a Qatari. We are here to show that no matter what the circumstances are we all will stand with unity. This is Qatar, the love we share can never break the strong bond between us.”

QFSW expresses support to Qatar

The Peninsula

To show the company’s support for the lead-ership of Qatar,

Ooredoo has completed a host of activities, including updating the name of its network to ‘Tamim Al Majd’, and installing canvases of the Emir at Ooredoo’s HQ1 and HQ2.

To ensure that Oore-doo’s staff and visitors can show their support for Qatar, the company installed a huge Tamim Al

Majd canvas at its HQ1 and HQ2 buildings. The display was unveiled yesterday in the presence of senior man-a g e m e n t m e m b e r s including Ooredoo’s Chair-man, Shiekh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Group CEO, Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, and Ooredoo Qatar CEO, Waleed Al Sayed.

The event, which was documented for customers by the Ooredoo social media team, saw Ooredoo’s senior management be the

first to sign the HQ1 display. Talking about the event and activities, Waleed Al Sayed, said: ‘As a Qatari company, we are extremely proud of the way our customers and employees have supported Qatar and helped us show our pride in our countries leadership. Gestures such as temporarily changing our network name and distrib-uting Qatar themed gifts is our way of helping unite Qatar’s communities and we plan to do more initia-tives in the coming weeks.”

Ooredoo completes host of activities

The Peninsula

The Qatar Financial Cen-tre (QFC) yesterday inaugurated the “Tamim

Al Majd” mural at its head-quarters in West Bay, Doha.

The event was attended by Yousuf Al Jaida, CEO of the QFC Authority, Michael Ryan, CEO of QFCRA, Faisal Rashid Al Sahouti, CEO of QICDRC and Dr Abdulaziz Al Horr, CEO of QFBA. The mural, which reads “Tamim, the Glorious” in Arabic, is an initiative to show loyalty and support for Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani. After the inauguration, the mural was signed with expressions of allegiance to Qatar and to the wise leadership, both from the staff of the QFC and the employees of its licensed firms.

Earlier this week, Yousuf Al Jaida said that business at the QFC continues as usual and all the companies licensed by it are operating normally, reit-erating its confidence in continued growth and how the current regional situation can serve as a catalyst for a stronger economic outlook.

QFC shows allegiance to Qatar leadership

The Managing Director of Nakilat, Eng. Abdullah Al Sulaiti and employees in front of the mural board of “Tamim Al Majd” installed by Nakilat yesterday at its Head Office in Shoumoukh Tower. The mural, resembles Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has become the symbol of unity, perseverance and strength for Qataris and expatriates.

Nakilat installs 'Tamim Al Majd' mural

Amal bint Abdullatif Al Mannai, CEO of Qatar Foundation for Social Work Group, with supporters in front of the banner of Tamim Al Majd icon at the Tornado Tower yesterday.Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

The officials of the QFC signing in the board to express their support for Qatar.

Ooredoo officials, pose before the image of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, expressing solidarity with Qatar.

HIGH TIDE 05:15 – 19:00 LOW TIDE 01:45 – 11:15

Expected low horizontal visibility at

places at first. Hazy to misty / foggy

at places at first becomes hot day-

time with some clouds and relative-

ly humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum33oC 43oC

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department