The Emir will inaugurate the new session with a comprehensive speech addressing a number of local, Arab and international issues and the current and future policies of the State at the internal and external levels.

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Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, who is on an official visit to the State of Qatar. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed bilateral relations, and ways of boosting and developing them, as well as a number of issues of mutual interest. The meeting was attended by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu.

FM meets Ethiopian Prime Minister

QNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani , and the President the

sisterly Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will hold the meeting of the third session of Qatar-Turkey Supreme Strategic Commit-tee, at the Emiri Diwan, tomorrow.

Erdogan will arrive in Doha today evening, for an official visit to Qatar.

The Emir and the Turk-ish President will also discuss means of enhancing strategic bilateral coopera-tion as well as reviewing the latest developments in the region.

Emir, Turkish President to hold talks in Doha

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable

of condolences to the Emir of Kuwait H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah on the death of Sheikha Fatma Abduallah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent similar cables.

Emir sends cable of condolences to Kuwait Emir

Emir condoles with President of Iran

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable

of condolences to the Presi-dent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Hassan Rowhani, on the victims of the earth-quake that hit western Iran, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured. Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent similar cables.

Emir condoles with Iraq President, PM

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of con-

dolences to the President of Republic of Iraq, Dr. Fuad Masum, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Haider Al Abadi, on the victims of the earthquake that hit areas in North Iraq, wishing speedy recovery for the injured.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani sent a similar cable. Prime Minister and Interior Minis-ter H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent a cable to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Haider Al Abadi.

His Excellency the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim talked in the first part of this exclusive interview about the Qatar-Turkey friendship, bilateral economic relations, and implementations of 30 bilateral cooperation agreements ranging from economy, science, culture and military and security cooperation.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Second part of the interview to The Peninsula on PAGE 5

Emir to patronise opening of Advisory Council sessionThe Peninsula

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will patronise the opening of the 46th ordinary session of the Advisory Council

today at the Council’s Headquarter. H H the Emir will inaugurate

the new session with a comprehen-sive speech addressing a number of the most prominent local, Arab and international issues and the current and future policies of the State at the internal and external levels, as well as plans to carry out projects and reforms during the new year, QNA reported.

The Council will begin its 46th session, continuing its constructive role in carrying out its tasks and duties set by the Constitution in the field of developing legislation and laws in response to Qatar’s national requirements for economic and social development and in assist-ing the government with good views on the implementation of its annual and future plans.

A week before the start of the new session, the Emir issued a decree renewing the membership of some members of the Advisory Council and appointing 28 new members. It is clear that the Emiri Decree appointing 28 new mem-bers was an affirmation of the keenness on supporting the Coun-cil with new distinct national cadres and expertise that have assumed or hold senior positions in the State in many sectors in order to enrich the role of the Advisory Council,

The Peninsula

The eighth edition of the World Summit on Innovation in Educa-

tion (WISE) kicks off here today. The three-day con-ference will feature the announcement of the 2017 WISE Prize, the first of its kind to recognize the world’s leading and outstanding con-tributions to education.

Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, at the opening ses-sion tomorrow, will award a gold medal and a cash reward $500,000 to the win-ner. The WISE Prize, which aims to raise global aware-ness of the pivotal role of education in all societies was launched in 2011 at the initi-ative of Sheikha Moza, and this year, six out of 15 projects qualified as finalists.

WISE community com-prises more than 9,000 active members in 152 countries and the summit seeks to highlight Qatar Foundation’s role in encouraging young people

to innovate in education. Over the past years,

WISE has strengthened its position as a global reference in the development of new approaches to education through the implementation of a range of leading pro-grams. The number of participants in “Learners’ Voice” program of this year session selected 25 educators representing 19 countries. The new group will start its journey through the “Learn-ers’ Voice” program at the 2017 WISE Summit in Doha today.

There is also the WISE Accelerated Development Program, which supports and develops innovative educational initiatives that are highly scalable and effective. As well the World of Learning, which is a weekly television program on education, developed in cooperation with Euronews, which is broadcasted 16 times a week in 11 languages to 330 million listeners in 155 countries.

→ See also page 9

QNA

Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani met in Doha yes-

terday with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, and his accompanying delegation, currently visiting the State of Qatar.

During the meeting, they reviewed the rela-tions between the State of Qatar and the

Republic of Papua New Guinea, and discussed aspects of joint cooperation, especially in the economic, trade and investment fields, and means of developing them.

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister and his accompanying delegation were welcomed upon arrival at Doha International Airport by Sec-retary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi.

→ Picture on page 2

Sachin Kumar The Peninsula

Interior designers, manu-factures and suppliers across the globe are show-

casing their products at Index Qatar exhibition that began yesterday at the Doha Exhi-bition & Convention Center.

Companies across the world from furniture, interior design and lighting sector is participating in Qatar’s fast growing fit-out and contrac-tor market for interior designers that is likely to reach $1.5bn next year.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman, Qatar Chamber; and Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer of Qatar Tourism Authority, opened the three-day exhibition. They were joined by Oman’s Ambassador to Qatar, Najeeb bin Yahya Al Balushi, and Italian Ambassa-dor to Qatar, Pasquale Salzano, who toured the exhibition fol-lowing its opening.

Sheikh Khalifa said that Index Qatar has witnessed a wide participation of special-ised firms from many countries to showcase latest innovations, despite the unjust siege imposed on Qatar. This confirms the confidence of international companies in the Qatari market.

→ Continued on page 3

Qatar, Papua New Guinea review ties

Eighth edition of WISE summit from today

Global firms voice confidence in Qatar market

and to respond to the needs of the next phase, including the adoption of legislation needed by the coun-try, such as the electoral law and electoral system, during the next two sessions of the Council, which was extended to three years, begin-ning from July 1, 2016 and ending on June 30, 2019. The Emiri deci-sion also included for the first time the appointment of four Qatari women: Dr Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, Dr Ayesha Yousif Al Mannai, Dr Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah and Reem Mohammed Al Mansouri.

There is no doubt that this appointment, although its first objec-tive is to enrich the Council’s march and activate its role to suit the excep-tional circumstances, is also a new affirmation of the leadership’s belief in the important role of Qatari women and their contribution to the nation’s development. The appoint-ment also reflects the wise leadership’s support for the ambi-tions of Qatari women and enhancing their status at all levels.

Ooredoo’s popular Mobile App hits milestone of one million downloads in Qatar.

Full report on page 3

02 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017HOME

NAMA Center launches expo for entrepreneursMalak Hussari The Peninsula

NAMA Center, in collaboration with Doha Festival City (DFC), yesterday launched Souq Nama exhibition which aims at promoting local prod-ucts and entrepreneurs.

By organising this event, NAMA in association with DFC have contributed to the efforts of sup-porting the ongoing Global Entrepreneur Week (GEW),

Souq Nama is a special kind of exhibition focussing on local products and home based busi-ness projects. The aim of the exhibition is to offer local products to Qatari people, and their brands. The exhibition also aims to reach these products to local market.

NAMA is one of the leading development insti-tutions in the country and has the mission to empower youth and expand their opportunities.

The exhibition includes 34 different sections, such as perfumes, clothes, candles, food, and beauty products. These products are 100 percent locally produced by creative Qatari companies, such as Barazan Palace Hospitality, Samona and Chai, Honey Producer Bu Saif Apiaries, Taraf Per-fumes, Candles Passion and Aland Al Ghamdi Photography. The exhibition also has a section for creative individuals such as photographers, paint-ers and other artists.

Talking to The Peninsula, Maryam Al Mannai, Acting Executive Manager of NAMA Center, about cooperation between NAMA and DFC, said: “the aim for this exhibition is giving a big opportunity for entrepreneurs to show their projects, in a big commercial place such as big mall, which is differ-ent from the traditional shopping place. It will be easy for these entrepreneurs to sell their products here as customers are present most of the time”.

She added: “We have launched Souq Nama at DFC for the first time, and we expect from this coop-eration to provide best results for our entrepreneurs”

She noted: “ We have allotted spaces entrepre-neurs to market their products in the past and we have achieved good results from these efforts. The entrepreneurs have registered rise in their sales and some of them of set up their shops in markets”. She added: “We also hope that other stakeholders in the country will follow the footsteps of Doha Festival City and contribute to the success of our develop-mental work in supporting this important segment of the community.”

Souq Nama, NAMA Center’s first (2017) edition, inaugurated by Maryam Al Mannai, Acting Executive Manager of NAMA Center, at Festival City Qatar, yesterday. Pics: Qassim Rahmatullah / The Peninsula

Products on display at the exhibition.

SC sponsors WISE SummitQNA

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has been announced as a

gold sponsor for the 2017 World Innovation Summit for Educa-tion (WISE), which takes place in Doha over three days under the theme “Co-Exist, Co-Create: Learning to Live and Work Together.”

This years summit will dis-cuss numerous pressing issues, particularly the state of educa-tion in relation to global troubles, conflicts, wars and the absence of economic stability. In addition, the summit will focus on mass migration, displacement, ine-quality and the rapid growth of

the technology sector. A number of prominent experts, research-ers and innovators from the fields of education, media, char-itable organizations and technology will attend the sum-mit. They will investigate potential solutions to various issues and discuss the future of education. “The SC aims to fully support local and international initiatives which significantly contribute to promoting the State of Qatar and leaving a lasting leg-acy for future generations,” SC Communications Director Fatma Al Nuaimi said.

“There are many synergies between the work of the SC and WISE. Both organizations are seeking to develop human

capacity in the country and region, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. We look forward to a successful collabo-ration with WISE,” she added.

SC will promote numerous programs during the summit, including Josoor Institute and Generation Amazing. In addition, representatives from the SC’s Qatar Behavioral Insights Unit will deliver a workshop and roundtable during the event.

In addition to the regular activities, this year’s summit will also feature an interactive forum to encourage delegates to ask questions about the future of education and develop recom-mendations for decisions makers in Qatar and around the world.

Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs in the Sultanate of Oman, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, with Qatar’s Minister of Finance H E Ali Sherif Al Emadi, who is currently visiting Muscat. They discussed bilateral relations and means to cement cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, trade and investment.

Minister of Finance meets Oman Minister

Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, and his accompanying delegation, currently visiting the State of Qatar. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations and discussed aspects of joint cooperation, especially in the economic, trade and investment fields, and means of developing them.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim meets Papua New Guinea PM

03TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

Ooredoo yesterday announced that its pop-ular Mobile App has

reached the milestone of one million downloads in Qatar. The App, which was first launched in 2013, is available for iOS and Android users and has an average score rating of 4.3 on the iTunes store.

The Ooredoo App was designed to give customers access to their services when they need it the most, and through the app, Ooredoo cus-tomers can check their balance, maintain subscrip-tions, resolve issue and much more on the go.

Most importantly, Oore-doo’s customers who use the app receive personalised deals based on their profile and usage. App users also benefit from the company’s free data giveaway, which has seen app usage drastically increase since its launch.

Thanks to the offer, Oore-doo App users can enjoy free data everyday by download-ing the latest version of the award-winning app, selecting their service number and then the ‘Deal’ tile.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director of PR and Corporate Communications, said: “This is a great milestone for Ooredoo to achieve and a clear message on the importance of provid-ing self-service options for our customers. We plan to con-tinue to invest in the Ooredoo App to make sure that our cus-tomers digital needs are met 24/7 and that we have the lat-est enhancements and new features.”

To ensure that customers have the latest Ooredoo App version, users should head to Ooredoo.qa/app or SMS ‘App’ to 114. Talking about services available via the app, Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi added: “A great mobile app needs to be simple to use and fast for cus-tomers on the move. With the Ooredoo App, our users can check their data, minutes and text usage balance, as well as subscribe to or change to new services without visiting an Ooredoo Shop. They can also view and pay their bills at any time and activate and top-up an Ooredoo Passport if abroad”.

Ooredoo app hits 1 million download milestone

First MENA Solar Art Festival opensRaynald C Rivera The Peninsula

A huge and diverse col-lection of artworks, which integrate the concept of solar energy, are on dis-

play at the first-ever MENA Solar Art Festival which opened last night at Fire Station - Artist in Residence.

Presented by Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec) in collabo-ration with Qatar Museums, the festival scheduled until Novem-ber 25 features exceptional solar art commissions created by glo-bally renowned solar artists as well as more than 200 works by Qatar-based students from vari-ous schools from Primary to University level.

“We just provided the students materials and using their imagi-nation, they created designs which combine art with the concept of solar energy. The future is solar energy, so I’m so proud of these students,” Chairman and CEO of QSTec, Dr Khalid Klefeekh Al Hajri, said at the opening of the festival.

The two-week exhibition includes the works of a wide range of international artisans who have dedicated themselves to recrea-tional uses of solar energy.

Among the most interesting pieces on display which attracted many visitors during last night’s opening event are Olafur Elias-son’s Little Sun, a global project that produces and distributes solar

lamps for use in off-grid commu-nities; Craig Colorusso’s Sun Boxes, a composite of audio speakers and solar panels that come together to create an ener-gizing environment; Anthony Castronovo and Eleonora Nicolet-ti’s Solar Shimmer, a kinetic screen that displays vibrant, geometric patterns using discarded plastics and solar energy; and the student-made Shams Mashrabiya, a living installation composed of artworks created by children in workshops preceding the festival.

Solar Art Festival also sepa-rately exhibits artworks that were developed by school and univer-sity-level students around Qatar, as part of QSTec’s award-winning Shams Generation initiative, an interdisciplinary approach to edu-cation combining science,

technology, engineering, art and mathematics. The annual nation-wide program educates youth

about the importance of environ-mental sustainability through hands-on interactive solar learn-ing activities held across school campuses and universities in Qatar.

Dr Al Hajri said: “At Qatar Solar Technologies, we are whole-heartedly dedicated to supporting Qatar as it builds a modern, effi-cient and diversified energy sector to complement its national devel-opment objectives. And to achieve our transformative goals, we must all play a proactive role in turning the exciting potential of a renew-able-energy driven future into a reality. One way to do this is to broaden our collective under-standing of solar energy and inspirit ourselves through art and education.”

A joint initiative of QSTec and Qatar Museums, the festival is also

the collaborative result of QSTec’s organizing partnership with Qatar Foundation, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, WISE Ini-tiative, Qatar Green Building Council and Fire Station – Artist in Residence.

A Solar Art Forum will be held at 7pm tonight, where registered public participants may meet the artists during an interactive panel discussion on solar design and the prospects of this field in the future. A series of informative interactive workshops for children and adults –led by visiting solar artists as well as QSTec’s Shams Generation ini-tiative educators – are also scheduled during the festival. To participate, interested community members may register for free by logging on to www.solarfestival.qa. Entry to the exhibition is free to the public.

Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti received a written message from India’s Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, pertaining to promote cooperation between the two countries in the field of information technology, and inviting the Minister to participate in the World Space Congress in India. The message was delivered by Ambassador of India to Qatar, P Kumaran, during a meeting with the Minister.

Transport Minister receives message from India’s Minister

Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi with the Attorney-General of the State of Arizona, Mark Brnovich, and the accompanying delegation. The meeting discussed promoting cooperation in the judicial and legal fields in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

Justice Minister meets Attorney-General of Arizona State

Continued from page 1He pointed out that the

growth of construction projects in Qatar is progressing with rapid pace, shrugging-off the siege. This has led major inter-national companies specialised in this field to showcase their innovations in Qatari market.

He stressed that Qatar is witnessing a growth in the

construction market and real estate projects, in addition to the constant continuation of the projects related to 2022 World Cup.

This provides great oppor-tunities for interior design companies to contribute to these projects.

He expected the exhibition to witness the signing of deals

and alliances between Qatari and foreign companies in this sector.

Index Qatar Event Director Jaafar Shubber said that research and analysis conducted on the Qatari market showed that the value of the construc-tion and interior decoration market for interior designers in Qatar will reach about $1.5bn

next year, which is consid-ered a major growth that Index Qatar will be able to contribute to achieving.

Shubber added that the exhibition is witnessing the participation of more than 50 local and international manufacturers and suppli-ers, bringing the latest furniture and decoration products to help equip hun-dreds of ongoing and future projects across Qatar.

He noted that the exhi-bition will witness daily seminars that will see the participation of renowned designers from the region and the world, as well as a series of interactive events and activities will be held on the sidelines of the three-day exhibition.

Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud (left), CEO and Special Advisor to the Chairperson of Qatar Museums, and Dr Khalid Klefeekh Al Hajri (second right), Chairman and CEO of Qatar Solar Technologies tour the exhibition at the Doha Fire Station yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

Global firms voice confidence in Qatar market

Chairman of Qatar Chamber, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, inaugurating the Index Qatar, in the presence of Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer of QTA; Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman, Qatar Chamber; Omani Ambassador to Qatar, Najeeb bin Yahya Al Balushi; Italian Ambassador to Qatar, Pasquale Salzano; Jaafar Shubber, Event Director, Index Qatar; at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

04 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

As part of its new brand campaign “The future is exciting. Ready?”, Vodafone has launched an innovative augmented reality competition

created by one of Qatar’s most exciting digital star-tups. The application has been specially created for Vodafone Qatar by Arvex VR, a virtual reality devel-opment and production company that focuses on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality app devel-opment, content creation and distribution.

The partnership demonstrates how Vodafone Qatar is supporting exciting new technologies that are helping to build Qatar’s future today by creating the products and services of tomorrow.

The competition gives members of the commu-nity a unique way to interact with and experience Vodafone’s newly launched brand campaign, and to embrace and enjoy the digital future together as partners. To take part in the competition, users will need to download the Vodafone AR application from either the App Store or Google Play to either their iOS or Android smartphones and direct the camera towards screens and posters that carry adverts that feature in the campaign.

Ian Gray, CEO, Vodafone Qatar, said: “We invite all the people of Qatar to celebrate an exciting dig-ital future with us. This competition is the perfect way to do so, by involving audiences across the coun-try in our newly launched brand campaign. By building on the best of our international network, and bringing some of the most innovative technol-ogies to Qatar, we hope to enrich the lives of all those who live here.”

Every week from now to December 2 , 2017, valid entries will be entered in a draw and a winner will be chosen at random.

Katara to organise Australian collectibles exhibition The Peninsula

Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin

Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti yesterday met with Australian Ambassa-dor Axel Wabenhorst and the Manager of the National Museum of Australia, Gerald Vaughn.

They toured the Cultural Village and discussed ways to enhance joint cultural cooperation through the establishment of cultural events and exhibitions that con-t r i b u t e t o strengthening of rela-tions between the two friendly countries.

The meeting witnessed some event-proposal submissions including an exhibition titled ‘Ancient Collectibles’ to be hosted in Katara next year.

Dr Al Sulaiti welcomed the proposal, saying that Katara is keen on presenting

diversified cultures from all over the world, which stems from Katara’s keen-ness to build communication bridges between people from all walks of life.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Dr Al Sulaiti presented a memento to the Australian envoy.

Aster to host Diabetes Expo at Industrial AreaThe Peninsula

In line with the World Diabetes Day marked globally today and the associated world-wide campaign against the disease, Aster

Medical Centre a division of Aster DM Health-care, is organizing a free, open-to-all event to raise awareness levels on diabetics amongst residents of Qatar. The ten day long event ‘Aster Diabetes Expo’17’ will be held at Aster Medical Centre, situated near to foot over bridge and BMW Service Station in Industrial Area between 4pm and 9pm from today to November 24.

An initiative of as a part of Aster DM Healthcare’s 30th anniversary under the ban-ner of Aster@30, the event would provide a platform to educate and guide people on the preventive measures against diabetes. Free health screenings for visitors will be availa-ble during the event. The expo will also bring together all possible and available diabetes care products in Qatar market.

This expo will provide a platform for low income workers living and working in Indus-trial Area to get their blood sugar screened and know more about Diabetes at free of cost. Registration to the diabetes club is an addi-tional incentive available wherein the members will be entitled to routine care and volunteer training for diabetes care.

Katara General Manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti with Australian Ambassador Axel Wabenhorst and the Manager of the National Museum of Australia, Gerald Vaughn.

Asean members to promote Qatar ties

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

The first ever Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) seminar is set to provide a window to the economic and investment

potentials of the seven member countries and enhance business relations with Qatar, next week in Doha. The seminar will be held as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Asean. The seven Asean members including Indone-sia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and

Brunei will be promoting their busi-ness, food and culture during the celebrations.

A street food festival, cultural performances and a showcase and sale of food products will be part of the celebrations, said Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum, Ambassador of Thailand, who is the Chairman of Asean Committee in Doha (ACD), speaking at a press conference held yesterday. “There will three events organised collectively by the ACD. The Asean seminar on trade and investment will be November 20.

About 100 business leaders from companies operating in Qatar, Asean and in the region are expected to attend,” he said.

Joseph Abraham, Group CEO of Commercial bank of Qatar will deliver a keynote on how Qatar and Asean can intensify mutual business relations. The seminar will be fol-lowed by the opening of Asean Street Food Festival at the Sridan Restau-rant in Shangri- La-Hotel Doha.

The Street Food Festival will fea-ture cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand,

Vietnam and Brunei and con-tinue until November 30.

Muhammad Basri Side-habi, Ambassador of Indonesia, Jai S Sohan, Ambassador of Singapore, Alan Timbayan, Ambassador of the Philippines, Mohamad Shahir bin Sbarudin, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Malaysia, Nordin Ahmad, Ambassador of Brunei and Phan Thanh Hai, First Secre-tary, Embassy of Vietnam also shared about significance of the events lined up to mark the 50th anniversary of Asean. ACD in cooperation with Lulu Hypermarket will host a Asean Food Festival at the Al Messila Branch between November 22 and 30. A large selection of food and other products from Asean members will be dis-

played and available for sale. The Food Festival will feature products from the Brunei for the first time in Qatar.

“Brunei will showcase and pro-mote food products for the first time in Qatar during the Food festival,” said Ambassador Ahmad.

Also cultural performances by Thai and Filipino artistes will be held during the opening of the food fes-tival. There are around 300,000 residents in Qatar hailing from Asean and many large and small businesses and investments here.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi with Belgian Envoy to Syria Marc Ott, who is currently visiting Qatar. The meeting discussed the developments in Syria, in addition to matters of mutual interest.

The seven Asean members including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei will be promoting their business, food and culture during the celebrations that begins on November 20. A seminar will be held as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Asean.

Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum, Ambassador of Thailand to Qatar (fourth left). and other Ambassadors of Asean members with diplomats during the press conference held yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

Vodafone launches augmented reality competition

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi with Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Qatar, Tarik Sadovic. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations and means of boosting and developing them, in addition to matters of mutual interest.

Al Muraikhi meets Bosnia and Herzegovina Ambassador Al Muraikhi meets Belgian envoy to Syria

05TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 HOME

Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-ChiefThe Peninsula

His Excellency the Prime Min-ister of Turkey Binali Yildirim talked in the first part of this exclusive inter-v i e w a b o u t t h e

Qatar-Turkey friendship, bilateral eco-nomic relations, and implementations of 30 bilateral cooperation agreements ranging from economy, science, culture and military and security cooperation.

In this second and final part of the interview he focused on Turkey’s regional role to maintain peace and security in the region highlighting, Turkey-Russia cooperation in Syria, Turkey’s relations with Russia, the European Union, the United States, it’s efforts in the ongoing global campaign against terrorism, ties with Iraq and peace and transitional process in Syria including peace talks in Astana, and Geneva.

To a question about possible next step after the Euphrates Shield and the Idleb operation to solve Syria crisis, he said: “We successfully completed Operation Euphrates Shield at the end of March 2017 which we started in August 2016 in order to ensure our border security and wipe the terrorist elements out from our borders.”

With the support of Turkish Armed Forces, 243 residential districts and 2015

sqkm area has been cleared of the ter-rorist elements by the operation and through this 2647 Daesh members were neutralised, he said.

“Thanks to the operation, the conta-gious zone in our border with Syria has been completely cleared of the Daesh elements, thus strengthening our border security. Also, enabling approximately 70,000 Syrians to return de-terrorised areas from Turkey. From the military point of view, the fact that Daesh has had to go on the defensive as a result of their bitter defeat in the Operation Euphrates Shield has contributed to the fight against Daesh in Syria.”

During the 6th Astana Meeting (14-15 September), Idleb was declared “de-escalation zone” and guarantor states came to an agreement to deploy an observer. Following the reconnais-sance activities in Idleb, Turkish Armed Forces started building observation points as of 12 October. The first obser-vation point was built on October 13, the second on October 23.

In accordance with the agreement in Astana, Turkish Armed Forces will con-tinue its deployment in the forthcoming period in coordination with other two guarantors. The fundamental duty of the Turkish Armed Forces will be to achieve the implementation of the ceasefire within the framework of Astana Agree-ment so as to ensure the security of the local people and civilians who have been displaced and had to take refuge in Idleb.

On Turkish-Russian cooperation in

Syria and what is the prospect of coop-eration, the Prime Minister said: “Through our cooperation with Russia regarding Syria which started in 2016, we prima-rily ensured the safe evacuation of 45,000 people thanks to the ceasefire we secured in Aleppo.”

“After this, we made a move to extend this ceasefire throughout Syria. As a result of our joint efforts with Russia, a cease-fire was declared throughout Syria to be effective as of December 30, 2016. In this stage, everybody gives credit to the suc-cess of the Astana Meetings mechanism which we started with the participation of Iran, another important actor in the area as well as Russia to strengthen this ceasefire regime.”

“The fact that de-escalation memo-randum signed in the Astana Talks which has significantly decreased the violations of the ceasefire constitutes another remarkable gain of the cooperation between Turkey and Russia regarding Syria. We would like to continue the cur-rent cooperation with Russia in order to contribute to the efforts to find a perma-nent solution for the Syrian conflict in the forthcoming period. We also wish to transfer the positive atmosphere we cre-ated by establishing peace on site to the Geneva Process,” the Prime Minister said.

Regarding Astana Talks and the proc-ess of political transition in Syria, he said that since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, we believed that this conflict can only be settled with a lasting and relia-

ble political solution. We have also argued that first of all peace should be established in order to negotiate the polit-ical solution.

Due to our joint efforts with Russia, it is also the goal of a nationwide cease-fire to be effective as of December 30, 2016. The whole effort in Astana is aimed at establishing peace required from the very beginning and ensure a positive atmosphere on ground through confi-dence building measures. Everybody agrees that it is true that the achieve-ments in Astana have revived and accelerated the political process carried out in Geneva,” “The fact that de-esca-lation memorandum signed in the Astana Talks which has significantly decreased the violations of the ceasefire constitutes another remarkable gain of the cooper-ation between Turkey and Russia regarding Syria. We would like to con-tinue the current cooperation with Russia in order to contribute to the efforts to find a permanent solution for the Syrian con-flict in the forthcoming period. We also wish to transfer the positive atmosphere we created by establishing peace on site to the Geneva Process,” the Prime Min-ister said.

“It is essential to derive the legitimacy of the search for a lasting and reliable solution to the Syrian conflict from the UN which addresses the political solu-tion process through Geneva negotiations. We support the outcomes of the indirect negotiations being con-ducted in Geneva between the conflicting

parties under the auspices of the UN, on the basis of the established UN parame-ters by preserving the territorial integrity and political unity of Syria and taking into account legitimate demands of our Syr-ian brothers and sisters.”

However, it is also a fact that the Geneva process has unfortunately failed to show the desired progress. Those who are accountable for this situation are obvious. The regime has not been engaged sincerely and seriously to the Geneva process so far. As long as the regime maintains its position, it is diffi-cult for the process to be successful. For this reason, we are telling all relevant parties and countries, in particular those with influence over the regime, that it is essential to put pressure on the regime

rather than adopting an approach that forces the opposition to make concessions.”

When asked whether there is any common perception between Turkey, Russia and Iran about this, he said as is known, the route map of a reliable polit-ical transition in Syria is drawn by UN Security Council Resolution 2254 bind-ing on all UN members. This resolution is binding for the guarantor states in Astana. The main aim of the Astana Talks is to establish peace on site to support the efforts for political solution.

The guarantor states of Astana have reiterated both this point and their sup-port to the Geneva process. Moreover, within the context of a political solution, it is necessary that the Geneva process should be supported not only by Astana guarantors but also by different propos-als to be put forward by other third parties.

On diplomatic crisis recently broke out between Turkey and the US, he said: “We are closely following all the issues that create sensitivity in our relations with the US.”

On October 8, the US announced a decision incompatible with our allied relations and declared that it suspended issuing visas in Turkey. This decision, which is beyond understanding and announced without consulting us, is regrettable. Of course, we reacted in response and suspended visa services for US citizens.”

“It is vital to resolve this issue that

harms the citizens of both countries as soon as possible and return to normalcy. We continue our contacts with the United States to this end. We wish that the prob-lem will be solved by dialogue and with prudence as soon as possible.”

When asked about his expectations for the future of the Turkey-US relations in light of the differences on several issues, the Prime Minister said: “We have been in a long-established and long-standing cooperation with the US.

The relations between Turkey and the US currently passing through a crit-ical period, there are serious problems between us. However, it is possible to overcome these problems.

Turkey faces several regional prob-lems such as international terrorism, problems experienced in Syria and Iraq and refugee crisis. We hope our relations and cooperation with the US, our ally and strategic partner, to progress positively and be further enhanced.

We have an expectation that the US unwaveringly take side and be in soli-darity with us regarding the matters that pose a threat for Turkey’s national secu-rity such as FETO and PYD/YPG. We believe that mutual continuation of intense contacts and efforts has a great significance for reaching a compromise on our diverse approaches and improv-ing our cooperation.”

On relations with Iraq, he said that Iraq is one of the most important coun-tries of the Middle East. Recent developments experienced in Iraq directly affect the stability and security of our region. “Independently of the ref-erendum, we have always paid strict attention to maintaining our relations with Iraq at the utmost level. Territorial integrity, sovereignty and political asso-ciation of Iraq are the fundamental principles of our relations. The referen-dum held in spite of all warnings evidently violated the Iraqi Constitution and constituted a challenge to these prin-ciples. Thereupon, we carried certain measures into effect in coordination with the Government of Iraq in order to restrain KRG leadership from making more serious mistakes. We have never targeted Iraqi Kurdish people while tak-ing these measures.

On the other hand, we announced that we supported the steps taken by the Government of Iraq to establish its con-stitutional sovereignty of the country. We

came to terms with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haydar El-Ebadi when he paid a visit to Turkey on October 25, 2017 on improving every aspect of our relations especially the fields of security, economy and energy.

Iraq is our friend, the people of Iraq are our brothers and sisters. We wish all communities making up the society of Iraq to work for providing lasting stabil-ity and security in the country and we support the steps taken for this purpose. We are determined to improve our rela-tions with the Government of Iraq within this framework.”

When asked whether Turkey will play a role in persuading the central gov-ernment to avoid the mistakes of the past with regard to the situation inside Iraq, he said: “Turkey and Iraq have profound historical relations. Turkey supports the steps taken by Iraqi government to ensure the security and stability in the country.

Our preferential expectations are that Iraq achieves a federal and democratic system based on fair share of power and income through inclusive policies; and dispatch the terrorist organisations shel-tering within Iraqi territory and also posing a threat both for Iraq and Turkey, through solidifying properly her sover-eignty and her unity within Iraqi territory.

Turkey supports the unity and integ-rity of Iraq and believes that every decision regarding the future of Iraq should be made by the consent of all rel-evant parties and the Iraqi people, within the framework of the provisions of the Iraqi constitution and through dialogue and consensus. Being just about to get rid of the evil of Daesh, it is a must for Iraq to take lessons from the mistakes made in the past; follow more inclusive policies; address the structural issues of the country; and concentrate on national consensus and reconstruction work.Our country is ready to support our neigh-bour Iraq in the steps it will take in this direction.”

On some media reports suggesting battles in which the Iraqi army has regained some towns from the hands of the Kurdish Peshmerga involved pro-Iran Shia militias and Turkey’s position over it, the Prime Minister said: “Turkey thinks that the Iraqi Government should establish the constitutional sovereignty all over the country without feeling under pressure of any kind of power.

Also, Turkey asserts that the elements participating in the military operations have to obey the instructions of the Iraqi Government. The critical demographic structure of the regions in dispute for belonging, particularly Kirkuk, requires that the regime and security structure involving all constituents of the people should be established in these regions.

Turkey delivers to the addressees on every occasion that she is ready to give support to the Iraqi Government to achieve these goals.

On recent acts of terror in Somalia, he said there has been some claims on international press proposing that the principal target of the terrorist attack occurred in Mogadishu on October 14, 2017 was Turkish Military Training Facility.

The support given by Turkey either for the reestablishment of the state or for providing the socio-economic develop-ment in Somalia since 2011 has been followed with great interest by all sec-tions in Somalia as well as the international community.

Turkish Training Facility which has been inaugurated at the end of Septem-ber will have a critical role for Somalia to attain the potential to provide the secu-rity of the people and the country. In this facility, we will train the personnel (officer and sergeant) which will form the backbone of Somalia National Military.

Turkish General Staff takes the nec-essary measures and regulations with regards to the security of the facility and the curriculum as a result of a thorough exercise. Moreover, all measures have been taken for the security of Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu.Turkish General Staff takes the necessary measures and regulations with regards to the security of the facility and the curriculum as a result of a thorough exercise. Moreover, all measures have been taken for the security of Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu.

US our ally & strategic partner: Turkish PM Turkey-Russia cooperation led to de-escalation zones in Syria An exclusive interview given by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, H E Binali Yildirim, to “The Peninsula” newspaper.

Turkey and Iraq have profound historical relations. Turkey supports the steps taken by Iraqi government to ensure the security and stability in the country.

The fact that de-escalation memorandum signed in the Astana Talks which has significantly decreased the violations of the ceasefire constitutes another remarkable gain of the cooperation between Turkey and Russia regarding Syria.

Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula with H E Binali Yildirim, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey.

06 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

The Cultural Village Foun-dation- Katara yesterday became the first govern-

ment institute in Qatar to receive the ISO 20000 certification from the British institute Intertek.

This was announced during a press conference at Katara Amphitheatre yesterday in the presence of Katara General Man-ager, Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti; Katara Director of Infor-mation Technology Department, Thamer Al Qadi; Intertek Gen-eral Manager, Sudheer Kesapragada; and British Ambas-sador, Ajay Sharma.

Dr. Al Sulaiti, said, “The Cul-tural Village Foundation- Katara received today the ISO Interna-tional Certificate in Information Technology Services. This cer-tificate comes to reaffirm

Katara’s leadership in imple-menting the latest methods, best practices and world-class stand-ards that suit and serve its audiences and employees in accordance to the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the comprehen-sive renaissance that the country is currently undertaking.”

“This new achievement, which Katara is proud to achieve, comes as an important additional aspect to Katara’s long-path of success and excellence in pro-viding its adequate services to its audience and the public with an aim to meet their needs while using the highest standards and accurate levels of efficiency and quality.”

Dr. Al Sulaiti also informed that, “it is worth mentioning that Katara has already obtained the ISO 27001 certificate for achiev-ing international standards in

information security manage-ment, and ISO 9001 certificate in the cultural affairs manage-ment field, which strongly reflects our keenness to success-fully achieve our objectives in alliance with our strategy.”

Al Qadi, said that the Cultural Village is the first governmental institute in the country that received the worldwide recog-nized ISO 20000 certification.

“The service management

certification that Katara recently attained by Intertek showcases Katara’s eagerness to constantly improve the services provided to employees, audiences, oper-ators, and other external institutes, which ideally matches the international standards of service management system,” Al Qadi explained. The ISO 20000 is a service management system (SMS) standard. It specifies requirements for the service

provider to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and improve an SMS. The requirements include the design, transition, delivery and improvement of services to fulfil agreed service requirements.

It is noteworthy that the his-tory of Intertek goes back over 130 years, and evolves from the combined growth of a number of innovative companies.

Another milestone for Katara

The Peninsula

The Cultural Village Foun-d a t i o n - K a t a r a , i n collaboration with the

Romanian Embassy in Doha, opens the Romanian Cultural

Days today with an art exhibi-tion at Building 19. The exhibition will showcase a collection of paintings and rare books on Roman history that convey vis-itors the beauty and history of Roman nature.

Four concerts will be held at Katara Drama Theater starting at 7pm. The audience will be introduced to the rich Romanian music through a number of musical genres including jazz, classical music and folk music

through the performance of the Pan Terra Jazz Band tonight ans the Con Tempo ensemble tomor-row evening. On Thursday evening, Ioana Maria Ardelean will play famous Roman folk music. These performances will

be concluded with a concert of classical music with Arcadia Quartet.

Katara has already hosted a number of Romanian events, including a night of Romanian folk music.

Romanian Cultural Days kicks off today at Katara

The Peninsula

Ministry of Economy and Commerce announces recall of

Honda CRV models of 2017 over faulty fuel feed pipe which may leak fuel.

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in collabo-ration with Doha Marketing S e r v i c e s C o m p a n y (DOMASCO), dealer of Honda vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of Honda CRV models of 2017 over faulty fuel feed pipe which may leak fuel.

The ministry also said that the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to pro-tect consumers and also to make sthat car dealers fol-low up on vehicle defects and repairs.

The Ministry said that it will coordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will communicate with customers to ensure that the necessary repairs are carried out.

The Ministry urges all customers to report any vio-lations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Com-mercial Fraud Department through the following channels:

Call center: 16001Email: info@mec.gov.qaSocial media accounts:Twitter: @MEC_QatarInstagram: MEC_QatarMinistry of Economy and

Commerce mobile app for A n d r o i d a n d I O S : MEC_Qatar

Ministry of Economy recalls Honda CRV 2017 models

Katara General Manager, Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, receives the ISO 20000 certification.

“This new achievement, which Katara is proud to achieve, comes as an important additional aspect to Katara’s long-path of success and excellence in providing its adequate services to its audience and the public with an aim to meet their needs while using the highest standards and accurate levels of efficiency and quality,” said Dr. Al Sulaiti.

Katara is first govt institute in Qatar to bag ISO 20000 certification

07TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yester-day marked the World Antibiotic Awareness Week under the theme

“consult your doctor before tak-ing antibiotics”, which was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global event to better understand and raise awareness of the problem of antibiotic resistance.

The activities will continue till November 19 with the aim of the celebration is to raise aware-ness about the rational use of antibiotics and microbial resist-ance in the world, and to promote best practices among the general public, health sector workers and other relevant sec-tors to avoid the emergence of more cases of resistance to anti-biotics and their spread, while ensuring the effective involve-ment of workers in the livestock sector of veterinarians and others.

Director of the Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety

Department at the Ministry of Public Health Huda Amer Al

Katheeri said that the celebra-tion of the World Antibiotic

Awareness Week this year high-lights the importance of microbial resistance to antibiot-ics as a multisectoral problem and represents a great burden on human and animal health, as well as on the local and global economy.

She noted that during the celebration, programmes for the optimal use of antibiotics would be promoted effectively among health care providers, policy-makers, and patients, as well as the livestock sector.

Al Katheeri added that the Ministry of Public Health, through the Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Department, continues to work on the prep-aration of the national plan of action to combat antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics in line with WHO’s recommendations this year. The events organised by the Ministry of Public Health on the occasion of the World Antibiotic Awareness Week include many important aware-ness activities to highlight

awareness of antibiotic resist-ance and its optimal use in all health facilities in the country.

It will also urge all relevant parties to effectively commem-orate this important event, as well as carrying out activities to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and its optimal use for the public, school and university students, and to provide aware-ness materials on antibiotic resistance and it will be dissem-inated in the health sector and all relevant sectors.

Ministry of Public Health held a workshop entitled ‘one healthy approach to combat microbial resistance to antibiot-ics in the State of Qatar’ as well as the Ministry’s representatives presented a scientific lecture during the 4th International Con-gress on Pathogens at the Human-Animal Interface (ICOPHAI) under the title ‘Qatar’s experience in the establishment of a national action plan to address the resistance of microbes to antibiotics’.

MoPH shares tips on optimal use of antibiotics

FROM LEFT; Manal Othman, Director of Diabetes Education HMC; H E Sheikha Dr Al Anoud bint Mohamed Al Thani, Director of Health Promotion and Non-communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Public; Dr. Abdullah Al Naama, Primary Health Care Corporation; and Dr. Abdullah Omar Al Hamaq, Executive Director of Qatar Diabetes Association; during a press conference on World Diabetes Day at the Ministry of Public Health yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

The Peninsula

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is advising the public to take nec-essary precautions as the Qatar

Meteorology Department has forecast strong winds and poor visibility across most of the country due to sand and dust storms.

Sand and dust storms usually occur when strong winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from bare, dry soil into the atmosphere. Dust consists of tiny solid particles floating in the air, which can get past the lungs’ natural defences and harm sensitive lung tissue. Fine par-ticles of dust can irritate the lungs and trigger allergic reactions or asthma

attacks, and prolonged exposure to air-borne dust can cause chronic breathing and lung problems, as well as heart disease.

“Sand and dust storms could have adverse effects on health and could trig-ger sinus allergies and respiratory infections, especially in those with chronic diseases. Those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, kidney dis-eases, and hypertension should see their doctor as soon as possible if an infec-tion due to sand or dust storm occurs,” said Dr. Yousuf Al Maslamani (pictured), Medical Director of Hamad General Hospital.

He said that while HMC’s Emergency Departments are fully prepared for all

emergencies and have additional staff on standby, residents are urged to take basic health and safety precautions dur-ing sand or dust storms.Dr. Al Maslamani advises taking precautions during inclement weather including to avoid going outside, especially during high winds or low visibility when the dust levels are particularly harmful. Spend as little time outside as possible, and avoid doing outdoor exercise. Keep win-dows and doors closed.

Cover nose and mouth with a mask or damp cloth to reduce inhalation of particles of dust, and when driving, keep the car windows closed.

Avoid rubbing eyes to prevent eye infections. Wear protective gear such

as airtight goggles and if eyes become irritated, rinse with water. Those with severe allergies are advised to use anti-histamines before the onset of allergy symptoms.

Dr. Al Maslamani highlighted that infants and young children, as well as the elderly, are at high risk of contract-ing a respiratory infection from airborne particles. According to him, others at risk include those with a history of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or other respi-ratory conditions. People with heart disease, pregnant women, and those who work outdoors, such as construc-tion or delivery workers, are also at increased risk. Dr. Al Maslamani said individuals who experience mild

symptoms such as watering eyes, cough or wheezing should go to their Primary Healthcare Center while those who have severe breathing problem may have a lung infection and should go to the Emergency Department.

HMC urges public to take precautions during dust storms

08 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017HOME

The Peninsula

Qatar University (QU) hosted the 7th awareness workshop on mass destruc-tion weapons conventions on November 12, under the patronage of Qatar Minis-ter of Defence H E Dr Khalid bin

Mohamed Al Attiyah.Organised in collaboration with the National

Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons and Doha Regional Centre for Training on the Conven-tions on Weapons of Mass Destruction, the event engaged a large number of students from QU, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Community College of Qatar, and the College of the North Atlantic - Qatar. Attendees included QU President, Dr Hassan Al Derham; National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons Head, Brigadier-General Nasir Muham-mad Al Ali; and QU Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Mariam Al Maadeed. The event’s programmes featured the screening of a video on mass destruction weapons conventions. It also included presentations delivered by National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons Secre-tary First Lieutenant, Abdelaziz Hamdan Al Ahmad; Al Wakrah Hospital Microbiology Consultant, Dr Nasser Al Ansari; National Committee for the Pro-hibition of Weapons Radiation Expert, Prof Salwan Kamal Jamil Abboud; and QU College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Dr Ibrahim Saidi.

They presented on a wide range of issues such as the objectives and achievements of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, the bio-logical weapons convention, the chemical weapons convention, the contemporary security risks of mass destruction weapons, and the nuclear weapons convention. Dr Hassan Al Derham, said: “I

appreciate the efforts of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons to raise awareness about the threats of mass destruction weapons, which are a violation to humanitarian and religious values and national law. QU is keen to participate in such a workshop in line with its commitment to spread the culture of peace.”

Nasir Muhammad Al Ali thanked QU for host-ing the workshop, saying, “This event aligns with the mission of the National Committee for the Pro-hibition of Weapons to provide social awareness activities and workshops to society in general and students in particular as they are the human wealth of the nation.”

Prof Mariam Al Maadeed, said, “This workshop comes within the framework of the understand-ing of the State of Qatar of the huge danger of mass destruction nuclear, chemical and biological weap-ons. It also aligns with the local and international efforts to prevent the proliferation of such weap-ons by recommending their abolition and investing the allocated costs to produce them to create pro-grammes aiming at ensuring international progress and growth.”

QU workshop raises awareness on mass destruction weapons

QU Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Mariam Al Maadeed, and National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons Head, Brigadier-General Nasir Muhammad Al Ali, during the Qatar University awareness workshop on mass destruction weapons conventions.

Raynald C Rivera The Peninsula

A multimedia exhibition on the current blockade will be one of the features of the

fifth Ajyal Youth Film Festival scheduled from November 29 to December 4 at Katara Cultural Village, Doha Film Institute (DFI) announced yesterday.

Titled ‘LeBlockade’, the exhi-bition will showcase films, digital artworks and installations created by citizens and residents in response to the blockade.

“Ajyal 2017 is honoured to present the works of these cham-pions at ‘LeBlockade’ - a multimedia exhibit of films, dig-ital artworks and installations showcasing the creative move-ment that emerged in Qatar as a

reaction to the blockade. Their works also highlight the impor-tance of film as a powerful medium that raises awareness, clears misconceptions and counters the phenomena of fake news,” said Fatma Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive Officer at DFI at a press conference yesterday.

DFI Chief Administrative Officer and Ajyal Deputy Direc-tor Abdullah Al Mosallam, said, “The exhibit will provide a plat-form to 17 emerging filmmakers and 12 passionate artists who brought their unique vision to life in response to the allegations against Qatar. The exhibit will also host interactive talks with some of these champions who did not hesitate to celebrate their love for the country across all platforms standing in solidarity with the

nation through unwavering opti-mism, patriotism and pride.”

The blockade has inspired creativity among citizens and res-idents with the huge number of works that were produced dur-ing this period.

“From the beginning, DFI has opened its doors to all those who want to express themselves, their emotions and their support for the nation and the leadership through film. More than 90 works have been produced during this period,” explained Al Remaihi, adding the Institute provided nec-essary support including facilities and expertise to the filmmakers.

The filmmakers produced beautiful works in order to coun-ter fake news and shed light on the human factor of the blockade. The festival will provide a

platform to these works, many of which have created impact via social media, she added.

Apart from the exhibition, DFI will provide other opportunities to showcase the works such as the Artist Night, “events that will help us shed light on these works espe-cially those that were supported by DFI throughout the blockade,” she said.

“The residents of Qatar helped transform the negative impact of the ongoing unjustified blockade into stronger unity between citi-zens and expatriates, and a greater bond between us and our leader-ship, through visual art. The people of Qatar celebrated their love for the country across all platforms, standing in solidarity with the nation through unwaver-ing optimism, patriotism and

pride,” stressed Al Remaihi. She also said it did not negatively affect it, in fact the festival has seen the most number of

participating films throughout its history, despite the absence of participants from blockading countries.

Multimedia expo on blockade to be screened at Ajyal Fest

Festival Director and Chief Executive Officer at DFI, Fatma Al Rumaihi, speaking at a press conference for the 5th Edition of the Ajyal Youth Festival at Al Jazeera Media Cafe in Katara yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

Irfan Bukhari The Peninsula

With the healthy growth of tourism sector, hos-pitality industry is also

witnessing a boom as Minor Hotels has announced opening of three new-build hotels in Qatar in spring 2018 under its Tivoli and Oaks brands.

The three properties are owned by Katara Hospitality. “Hotel News Resource” and “Hotel Management Magazine” websites have shared the news on their website along a number of other hospitality industry related digital platforms.

Separately, according to Third Quarter Review 2017 issued last month by leading regional consulting firm ValuStrat, 3,900 hospitality keys are expected to be added, of which 60 percent were completed by the end of Q3 2017.

The Review says that nota-ble hotel openings included Mondrian Doha, Al Mansour Plaza and Premier Inn Education City. 3-star hotels experienced an 8 percent rise in occupancy over the same period, despite a 13 per-cent rise in supply. This is probably due to a growing

interest for reasonably priced serviced accommodation.

The opening of new hotels in the country reflects healthy growth in tourism sector. Accord-ing to recently released official figures, over 1.8 million visitors from various parts of the world visited the country this year till September 2017. According to recently released statistics on number of visitors from January to September 2017, a total of 1,805,138 people visited Qatar.

Qatar Monthly Statistics of September reveal that 703,029 (39%) visitors are from GCC coun-tries while 136,387 (8%) people who visited Qatar are from other Arab countries.

According to fresh statistics, 474,182 (26%) were from Asia and Oceana, 345,207 (19%) from Europe, 115,924 (6%) from Amer-icas and 30,409 (2%) from African countries. Despite the seige, hotel occupancy in all categories remained 57% in September 2017 while hotel apartment occupancy rate in the same month was 62%.

About Minor Hotels’ announcement of opening three new hotels next year, another website Buyingbusinesstravel.com reported that launching in April, Tivoli Al Najada Doha Hotel

is in the final stages of develop-ment in the centre of the Qatari capital. Facilities in the five-sto-rey property will include 151 guest rooms and suites, a selection of dining options, a fitness centre, a swimming pool and a business centre, with guest rooms on the upper floors offering a panoramic view of the Doha skyline includ-ing West Bay. Oaks Hotels & Resorts will make its debut in Qatar with Oaks Al Najada Doha, also set to open its doors in April 2018. The 100 serviced apart-ments have been tastefully designed to reinvent the conven-tional residential concepts of compound and high-rise accom-modations, with elegant, minimalist interiors and an Ara-bian artistic touch. Oaks Al Najada will offer a range of pre-mier onsite facilities including an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre, alfresco dining, a pool bar and 24hr room service. Oaks Hotels & Resorts services a com-bination of corporate and leisure guests for both short and long stays, blending contemporary accommodation with onsite lei-sure facilities, while a number of properties also feature food and beverage outlets and meeting and business services.

Minor Hotels to open three new hotels in Qatar

The Peninsula

The three-day MENA Youth Capacity Building in Humanitarian Action

(MYCHA) training concluded yesterday with a humanitarian response simulation for the youth participants from across the region.

Organised by Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), a programme of Education Above All, the inten-sive training programme held at Hamad Bin Khalifa Univer-sity was designed to support the meaningful participation of youth in humanitarian con-texts. The training delivered practical learning that can be immediately applied by youth in their home countries. Once the participants return to their home countries, they will con-tinue to receive six months of ongoing support and mentor-ship by partner NGOs.

MYCHA training concludes

The Peninsula

The Department of Public Health at Qatar University College of Health Sciences

(QU-CHS) recently hosted a presentation on Qatar Public Health Strategy (2017-2022) by Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al Thani,

Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Public Health.

It was attended by QU Vice President for Medical and Health Sciences and College of Medicine (CMED) Dean Dr Egon Toft, CHS Dean and QU Biomed-ical Research Center (BRC) Director Dr Asma Al-Thani, and

QU College of Pharmacy Dean Dr Mohammad Diab. Launched in May 2017, the Public Health Strategy is a roadmap for Qatar’s efforts to improve the health of citizens and residents by creat-ing and sustaining an environment conducive to health.

QU-CHS hosts presentation on public health strategy

The Peninsula

The 9th International Con-ference on Isotopes (ICI) and its associated exhibi-

tion, organised by Qatar Physics Society and the World Council on Isotopes (WCI), are now under-way in partnership with several local and international organisa-tions and will continue until next Thursday.

Assistant Under-Secretary for Public Services Affairs at the Min-istry of Municipalities and Environment, H E Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, stressed that Qatar pays special attention to the development of its institutions concerned with the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and includes them in its future plan for sus-

tainable development.He said that within the frame-

work of the Qatar National Vision 2030, the Ministry of Municipal-ity and Environment has prepared ambitious and exten-sive projects in this field in cooperation with the Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including strengthening the regulatory infrastructure for security, radiation and nuclear safety, which involves the legis-lative and regulatory framework, the development of human resources and the building of national capacities to prepare and respond to radiological and nuclear emergencies and to ben-efit from the peaceful applications of nuclear energy in the various developmental fields, primarily

industry, human health and the environment and management of water resources, food and agriculture.

The Assistant Under-Secre-tary pointed out that the ministry is the regulatory authority for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the country. It is also the national focal point with IAEA for technical cooperation. It is responsible for preparing national projects for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and the following up of their implementation, as well as the control of radiation and nuclear safety and security, and the control of the transport of radioactive sources and dis-posal of radioactive wastes, and the implementation of continu-ous radiological monitoring and

environmental radiological measurements of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. The ninth ICI discusses seven axes, includ-ing isotopic production and instrument, isotopic research and applications and isotopes in the

environment, security of supply, safety, transport, quality assur-ance, quality control, policy and economics, global influence of isotopic production and its design, construction, operation and shutdown.

Official: Qatar stands for peaceful use of N-energy

FROM LEFT: Dr Deepak Kaura, Executive Chair of Foundation Medical Services Sidra Medicine; Eric Chevallier, French Ambassador to Qatar; H E Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Under-Secretary for Public Services Affairs at the Ministry of Municipalities and Environment; and Prof. Mariam Al Maadeed, Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies at Qatar University, during the 9th International Conference on Isotopes and Expo held at Marriott Marquis Hotel yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

This workshop comes within the framework of the understanding of the State of Qatar of the huge danger of mass destruction nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

09TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

Qatar’s first High School Medical Conference (HSMC) has been held, inspiring students to forge a career in med-

icine or the sciences. The conference was organ-

ised by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) at Qatar National Convention Center and comprised lectures and talks, workshops for teach-ers, a school exhibition, and student research presentations.

Noha Saleh, Director of stu-dent recruitment and outreach at WCM-Q, said the aim was to offer students an experience that they don’t usually have, to show them what a career in medicine has to offer, and to provide them

with a platform to showcase their skills and knowledge.

A highlight of the conference were the research presentations. Schools across Qatar were given the chance to participate in a stu-dent research contest based on the UN’s Sustainable Develop-ment Goals. Twenty-five teams from both independent and pri-vate schools entered and chose a topic under one of three fol-lowing themes: Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages; ensuring access to water and sanitation for all; making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; and ensuring sustainable consump-tion and production patterns.

They then took part in a poster presentations competition last March. Fourteen teams made

it through to the finals at the High School Medical Conference with the top three then selected by a panel of WCM-Q research experts. The winning team from Qatar International School received a fully-funded, one-week trip to WCM-Q’s parent campus in Ithaca in the US, while the runners-up - second placed Bright Future International School received iPads and invi-tations to attend a research symposium at Sidra Medicine, and third placed Musab Bin Omair Secondary School – received gift vouchers and were also invited to the Sidra Medi-cine event. The flights were provided for by Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First, WCM-Q’s health campaign.

I n a d d i t i o n t o

the presentations, the student delegates also heard from Fawz-iya Al Khater, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Educa-tion and Higher Education, Dr Marco Ameduri, Associate Dean for Pre-Medical Education at WCM-Q, and three WCM-Q alumni, Dr Aisha Al Yousuf, Dr Khalid Al Khelaifi and Dr Karima Becetti.

Dr Al Yousuf is now the Med-ical Director of Reproductive Surgery at Sidra Medicine, Dr Al Khelaifi is a Sports Orthopedic surgeon at Aspetar, and Dr Becetti is a Rheumatologist at Hamad Medical Corporation.

Finally, the high school teachers and counselors were able to benefit from professional development workshops in a

number of topics including ‘Mas-tery Learning in the Physical Sciences’, ‘Critical Reading and

Writing’, and ‘Preparing Biology Students for the Transition to University’.

Students from QIS win research trip to US

WISE succeeded in putting education on global agenda

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

The eighth World Inno-vation Summit for Education (WISE) with the largest number of participants is set to

convene in Doha today and designed to spark debate around education challenges and solutions.

WISE, an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), has positively influenced the global education sector over the years by giving innovative solutions and will gather more than 3,000 dele-gates during the latest summit, said Stavros N Yiannouka , Chief Executive Officer of WISE, in an interview with The Peninsula.

The record number of del-egates with a considerable participation from Qatar are expected to attend the biennial global summit, which will be held under the theme ‘Co-Exist, Co-Create: Learning to Live and Work Together,’ over three days.

Discussions during the sum-mit will be on the role of education in a post-truth world, with sessions focusing on media literacy, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, social entrepre-neurship, design thinking and direction for best education choices, among others.

“We feel the theme is very timely and appropriate given the situation around the world. Seems there is a retreat in inter-national collaboration around the world. We think we need to re-assert the importance of col-laboration and speak about the role that education paves the way in fostering collaboration. It’s an important theme. More important this year than in the previous editions,” said Yiannouka.

WISE 2017 will see more than 1,200 participants from over 100 countries in addition to around 1,100 local delegates. Also 700 secondary school students will be benefitting from four learn-ing labs set to give innovative education experience. While, another few hundreds of high schools students delegates will

be attending the summit to learn about issues related to education.

“This will be the largest sum-mit ever to be held, it is commendable in the given situ-ation,” says Yiannouka.

Qatar Foundation, under the leadership of Chairperson, H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, estab-lished WISE, an international, multi-sectoral platform for cre-ative thinking, debate and purposeful action in 2009. WISE has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education.

A highlight of the summit will be the announcement of the 2017 WISE Prize for Education Lau-reate tomorrow duirng the opening ceremony. The WISE Prize for Education is the first distinction of its kind to recog-nize an individual or a team of up to six people for an outstand-ing, world-class contribution to education. Sheikha Moza will present the WISE Prize for Edu-cation to the Laureate during the opening plenary session on Wednesday. The Laureate will receive the WISE Prize for Edu-cation gold medal and $500,000.

Since 2011, five outstanding educationalists have been pre-sented and honoured with the WISE Prize. While, each year, the WISE Awards recognize and pro-mote six successful innovative projects that are addressing glo-bal educational challenges. Since 2009, 54 projects have been awarded, from a wide variety of sectors and locations for their innovative character, their pos-itive contribution and their potential for scalability and adaptability.

Through both the biennial Summit and a range of ongoing programmes, WISE is promot-ing innovation and building the future of education through collaboration.

“Our most significant achievement has been that we succeeded in putting education on the global agenda. That was very much part of Her Highness’s vision and she established WISE in 2009. She didn’t want educa-tion to be forgotten as the global community has begun

discussing the development agenda. There we have many development goals and Her Highness was one of the strong-est advocates for including education within that agenda. And now education is very much succeeded in development goals,” said Yiannouka.

“I think WISE has succeeded in putting education on the glo-bal agenda. And the evidence for this is the fact that WISE has been imitated now around the world. WISE has pioneered a number of programs, we pioneered a dedicated program on education , the idea of noble prize for edu-cation,” he added.

He cited Yidan Prize for Education Research and Yidan Prize for Education Develop-ment initiated by Hong Kong as a sample of initiatives by other countries introduced in the field of education, following the WISE Prize.

Referring to the success and impact WISE has made Yian-nouka said, “We have focused on solutions. Traditionally, they tend to focus on challenges, we are very much solution oriented.” WISE is a response to the neces-sity of revitalizing education and providing a global platform for the development of new ideas and solutions.

“WISE is a global platform and think tank that promotes innovation in education and we do that primarily through three avenues. Through research where we collaborate with renowned institutions around the world and we produce, pol-icy relevant research wide range of educational topics. Second way we promote innovation in education is through our pro-gram, we have programs that recognize innovation in educa-tion and we have programmes that actively facilitate innova-tion in education. We promote innovation in education through our advocacy go and participate in different forums around the world. We have a strong social media and traditional media program where we promote our ideas on innovation education,” said Yiannouka.

The 2017 WISE Summit pro-vides an opportunity to meet the people behind pioneering inter-national projects championed by WISE initiatives all year round. These include the WISE Awards for proven, high-impact education solutions; the WISE Accelerator program, which supports promising edtech projects in education; the WISE Learners’ Voice, a mentorship program for young leaders in education; and the WISE

Research series of reports, authored by experts with lead-ing international institutions. Also there were events held ahead of the summit.

Among the activities, Empowering Leaders of Learn-ing (ELL) of WISE program is designed to support school lead-ers in improving student outcomes.

“The objective is to support the participating school leaders with strategies and tools to improve teaching practices and student learning outcomes. The program encourages educators to pursue an evidence-informed focus and to apply research on effective teaching,” says Dr Asmaa Alfadala, Director of Research and Content Develop-ment, WISE.

ELL which aims at covering all schools across the country held a workshop for 40 partic-ipants from public and private schools on yesterday. They were the third cohort of participants of the programme.

Also WISE has released 13 research reports, including three new research reports that focus on issues with direct impact on the development of education in Qatar, including school lead-ership, early childhood, and education for people with autism.

The three reports are espe-cially relevant to Qatar and are

available on the WISE website in both English and Arabic. The new reports from part of a larger series to be launched at the upcoming 2017 WISE Summit.

“The idea of releasing these reports is to help policy makers and we want to share the con-tent with them. We have partnered with international universities in making the reports and worked with local partners in collecting data,” said Alfadala.

Making a reference to the report on autism she said, “We looked at how we can support families and people with autism. Several organizations, and min-istries are providing services, but the problem is either peo-ple are unaware about the services or they cannot decide. So I think this report will help people with autism to get access to best services.”

WISE is also hosting Qatar’s inaugural education festival, ‘Doha Learning Week’ until November 16 across Doha. “Doha Learning Week, the flag-ship education festival of WISE, is intended to celebrate as well as raise awareness of the vari-ous education and learning resources and initiatives in Doha,” says Ameena A. Hussain, Director, Program and Commu-nity Development , WISE.

Held in collaboration with the Supreme Committee for

Delivery & Legacy and other local partners, the event fea-tures a series of workshops, movie screenings, exhibitions, lectures, performances, tours, and hack-a-thons.

The event is being as a pilot project this year and expected to be adopted into the WISE calendar.

While, the WISE Accelera-tor is designed to support the development of innovative edu-cation initiatives with high potential for scalability and pos-itive impact. Selected projects receive the guidance and exper-tise of qualified mentors and partners who provide effective strategies and practical support for their further development.

“Four to five projects are selected annually to join the one-year program. Throughout the year they benefit from men-torships to address specific needs. The WISE Accelerator assists the selected projects to connect with an international network, and create opportuni-ties to share knowledge and find support among potential donors and investors,” said Hussain.

Also the WISE Learners’ Voice Programme brings the perspectives of around 20 young people to the challenge of rethinking education each year and equips them with skills to take on leading roles in their fields and in the world of edu-cation. The Learners participate in the global biennial summit and in two intensive residential sessions delivered by expert faculty.

Although the WISE summit is being held as a biennial event, this year three smaller meetings were held in Tunisia, Beijing and Madrid each within a gap of six months. The three new cities for meetings to be held in next 18 months will be announced during the closing of WISE 2017 summit.

WISE 2017 will see more than 1,200 participants from over 100 countries in addition to around 1,100 local delegates. Also 700 secondary school students will be benefitting from four learning labs set to give innovative education experience.

WISE, an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), has positively influenced the global education sector over the years by giving innovative solutions and will gather more than 3,000 delegates during the latest summit, said Stavros N Yiannouka, Chief Executive Officer of WISE, in an interview with The Peninsula.

Dr Asmaa Alfadala (right), Director of Reserch and Content Development at WISE, Stavros N Yiannouka (centre), Chief Executive Officer, and Ameena A Hussain, Director, Programme and Community Development. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

The winning team from Qatar International School receiving the ticket to New York offered by Your Health First campaign.

Qatar Foundation, under the leadership of H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, established WISE, an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate and purposeful action, in 2009. WISE has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education.

Qatar has become the jewel of MENA not by empty slogans and exaggerated public relations exercises but through leading the regional countries by setting imitable examples of

commitment, care and performance. From science and education to sports and every sphere of life, Qatar is advancing towards a glorious future. To safeguard migrant workers’ rights and wellbeing, Qatar has been consistently introducing new laws and these sincere efforts also won global appreciation. It is a very proud moment for Qatar, as top officials of international labour bodies have urged other nations in the region to follow the footsteps of Qatari leadership and implement the kind of labour reforms Doha has been rolling out in the last few months.

Qatar has signed as many as 36 robust agreements with countries that provide much of its labour force to protect workers’ rights and regulate their recruitment in line with the new laws introduced as part of the reform process. Qatar is also setting up a fund, which will help settle overdue wages of workers if their employers fail to pay. The state is also set to announce a minimum wage for workers; the kind of path-breaking reforms unheard in the region.

Sharan Burrow, General-Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, lauded the courage showed by the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi backed by the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh

Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani in introducing steps to make migrants workers’ life better.

“We have a new era in Qatar”, are not only words of appreciation but an endoresement of Qatar’s untiring endeavors to safeguard rights of all individuals living in the country either Qatari citizens or migrant workers from distant lands who are contributing in the development of Qatar. She has also urged Doha’s neighbours - Suadi Arabia and UAE - to follow the footsteps of the courageous leadership of Qatar.

Last week, the International Labour

Organisation (ILO), took a unanimous decision to close the complaint submitted in 2014 claiming the failure to maintain a legal framework sufficient to protect the rights of the migrant workers. The complaint was closed in recognition to the progress made by Qatar which introduced amendments in labour law to protect rights of workers and pledged further reforms as well as technical cooperation with the concerned UN bodies.

The ILO Director-General Guy Ryder welcomed the commitment of Qatar to engage in substantive cooperation with the Organisation for the promotion and protection of workers’ rights, and looking forward to the successful implementation of the cooperation programme over the next three years. This is indeed a proud moment for the State of Qatar to be considered as a torch bearer of reforms in the region and moreover this will touch the life of thousands of people in a very positive way.

10 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 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

m.salim@pen.com.qa

Courageous move

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The United States said it would completely leave Iraq, but it didn’t. The world is not stupid, some realities are being told differently and practised differently.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish President

It is a very proud moment for Qatar, as top officials of international labour bodies have urged other nations in the region to follow the footsteps of Qatari leadership and implement the kind of labour reforms Doha has been rolling out in the last few months.

The Advisory Council will begin its 46th session today, continuing its constructive role in carrying out its tasks and duties set by the Consti-tution in the field of developing

legislation and laws in response to Qatar’s national requirements for economic and social development and in assisting the gov-ernment with good views on the implementation of its annual and future plans.

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will inaugurate the new session with a comprehensive speech addressing a number of the most prominent local, Arab and inter-national issues and the current and future policies of the State at the internal and exter-nal levels, as well as plans to carry out projects and reforms during the new year.

A week before the start of the new ses-sion, the Emir issued a decree renewing the membership of some members of the Advi-sory Council and appointing 28 new members.

It is clear that the Emiri Decree appoint-ing 28 new members was an affirmation of the keenness on supporting the Council with new distinct national cadres and expertise that have assumed or hold senior positions in the State in many sectors in order to enrich the role of the Advisory Council, and to respond to the needs of the next phase, including the adoption of legislation needed by the country, such as the electoral law and electoral system, during the next two ses-sions of the Council, which was extended to three years, beginning from July 1 2016 and ending on June 30, 2019.

The Emiri decision also included for the first time the appointment of four Qatari women: Dr. Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, Dr. Ayesha Yousif Al Mannai, Dr. Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah and Reem Mohammed Al Mansouri. There is no doubt that this appointment, although its first objective is to enrich the Council’s march and activate its role to suit the exceptional circumstances, is also a new affirmation of the leadership’s belief in the important role of Qatari women and their contribution to the nation’s development. The appointment also reflects the wise lead-ership’s support for the ambitions of Qatari women and enhancing their status at all levels.

In order to address the challenges cre-ated by the unjust siege, Qatar has moved to end and prevent it from achieving its objec-tives. It launched creative initiatives in every field to assert self-reliance and to provide the needs of the citizens and residents, accom-panied by the issuance of a lot of initiatives and laws, legislation and facilities that remove obstacles and stimulate the energies so that everyone works to serve the nation, that does not accept intervention in its affairs or attempts to influence its independent decision.

Since the first day of the siege, Qatar has succeeded in overcoming its effects, suc-ceeded in finding alternative routes after the

Advisory Council... new session on the road of steadfastness and achievementQNA

closure of the land port, and has con-cluded several agreements on air transport, new shipping lines that pro-vided for the country’s needs of various goods. The official opening of the Hamad port is the most prominent event as Qatar’s gateway to the world.

Qatar has also been able to com-pensate deposits withdrawn from banks and to support the tourism sec-tor after the decision to exempt the citizens of 80 countries from visas. Qatar had previously maintained reserves of stored raw materials which gave it an opportunity to find alterna-tives to ensure cost-effective implementation of the projects on time.

There is no doubt that the next phase will require other things to enhance the trend towards sustainable development and to create long-term sustainable solutions, achieve growth, enhance productive efficiency, export and long-term utilization of resources, as well as small and medium industries to build a solid economic base that meets the needs of the country and cit-izens and provides the opportunity and creates the conditions for transforming oil and gas-rich wealth into sustaina-ble assets and capital.

The next phase will also require the establishment of commercial and cus-toms relations and partnerships with various countries, as well as the main-tenance of infrastructure and investment in human capital through the development of Qatari capabilities, the recruitment and retention of talent,

and the promotion of reforms and perform-ance development in government sectors.

Despite the fact that the State of Qatar

has achieved many successes and achievements, there is still much work to strengthen the internal front and fortify it and enable the national econ-omy to overcome the effects of the siege. This means that the next phase needs national cadres, programs and projects that support the efforts of the government and its programs, strengthen the national structure and the internal front, preserve the achievements of the homeland and completion of the infrastructure projects associated with organizing the 2022 World Cup, and follow the work to achieve the goals set by the wise leadership to improve the homeland and citizens and move forward in pro-viding all requirements and provide all services to citizens and residents in accordance with the highest interna-tional standards.

Those facts put the Advisory Coun-cil in its new session in front of responsibilities and duties different from the previous ones, adding to the work of the Council and its role new challenges imposed by the concern to strengthen the steadfastness of the homeland and immunize it in all respects and areas.

The 45th session of the Advisory Council was full of achievements and events. The Council took part in many Arab and international meetings that dealt with the most important issues.

The promotion of the homeland and the citizen was the top priority of the Council during its session which addressed several draft laws related to several areas including the national service, national address, government schools, penalties, regulating food and water supply, regulating the entry and exit of expatriates, state budget, eco-nomic zones and other issues and projects.

The Advisory Council is concerned with discussing draft laws and decrees which are referred to it by the Cabinet, as well as the general policy of the State in the political, economic and administrative, and the State’s affairs in the social and cultural fields in general.

The Advisory Council also dis-cussed the draft budget of major general projects and follow up the activities and achievements of the State in all matters, whether or not these issues have been referred to it by the Council of Ministers.

The Council is also competent to ask questions to the Ministers with a view to clarifying a specific matter concerning a subject within its com-petence, as well as the request for data on matters within his compe-tence from the Council of Ministers for matters related to the general policy of the government and by the competent Minister for matters within the competence of his minis-try. The Council makes recommendations in the above men-tioned matters.

The Emiri decision also included for the first time the appointment of four Qatari women: Dr. Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, Dr. Ayesha Yousif Al Mannai, Dr. Hind Abdulrahman Al Muftah and Reem Mohammed Al Mansouri. There is no doubt that this appointment, although its first objective is to enrich the Council’s march and activate its role to suit the exceptional circumstances, is also a new affirmation of the leadership’s belief in the important role of Qatari women and their contribution to the nation’s development.

ED ITOR IAL

11TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 OPINION

read yet with the YouTube search results, which include weird, sometimes violent, often disturbing clips, which, of course, include ads -- that’s the point of running a commercial YouTube account. Factories that produce this kind of thing aim to put together as many clips as possible and make sure they surface in the maximum possible number of searches. Then they harvest the ad revenue as kids “surf” and parents are happy that they’re quiet.

Bridle wrote: “What we’re talking about is very young children, effectively from birth, being delib-erately targeted with content which will traumatize and disturb them, via networks which are extremely vulnerable to exactly this form of abuse. It’s not about trolls, but about a kind of vio-lence inherent in the combination of digital systems and capitalist incentives. It’s down to that level of the metal. This, I think, is my point: The system is complicit in the abuse.”

That, of course, is not just about children’s vid-eos. The Macedonian fake news industry wouldn’t have been possible without Google’s program-matic advertising technology and Facebook’s propensity to tolerate fake accounts. The former is the basis of the business model -- both for Google and for the fake news producers -- and the latter ensured distribution and ad impressions. Both Google and Facebook -- whose estimate that up to 3 percent of accounts are fake and up to 10 percent of its accounts are duplicates can’t be independ-ently verified -- are, in Bridle’s logic, complicit. I suspect that logic is correct: Both companies depend on selling enormous audiences to advertis-ers, and their platforms are designed for that goal more or less regardless of how it’s attained. But even if one gives these companies the benefit of the doubt, they are guilty of overreliance on poor technology.

Both the creators of disturbing kids’ videos and fake news writers game the platforms. The tag-filled names of the videos are designed to exploit YouTube’s search algorithms, and that clearly works since the channels that run the content keep

The big problem with artificial intelligence right now isn’t that it’s taking over; it’s that it’s being entrusted with serious tasks with real-world conse-

quences before it works properly. It’s the equivalent of letting self-driving cars operate in a city without lane markings.

A viral post published recently on Medium by artist James Bridle is the latest case in point. Bridle took a deep dive into a below-the-radar industry: children’s content on YouTube. Anyone who has ever given an iPad to a small kid knows the kind of thing children find on YouTube before they’re able to type: toy-unboxing and nursery-rhyme videos, official and pirated cartoons featuring popular characters like Peppa Pig. It’s up to parents, of course, if they are OK with their child getting engrossed in these (we took the iPad away from our 4-year-old because we noticed consuming the con-tent made her reluctant to learn to read and irritable when the tablet wasn’t within reach). But the stuff Bridle found was arguably worse than what I’d seen before my wife and I made the decision.

These are videos cheaply thrown together from 3D animation libraries or even algorithmically produced, with names that are collections of tags (“Finger Family Song Nursery Rhymes Animation Education Learning Video”). A parent launches the initial search for educational videos and leaves a kid who can’t even

Social media has failed its self-driving testproliferating. The catchy headlines of the fake stories con-tinue fooling Facebook’s supposedly sophisticated clickbait detection algorithms. During the recent congressional hearing on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the plat-forms’ representatives were asked about fake accounts but couldn’t come up with any convincing answers about their efforts to purge them.

At least the tech platforms are beginning to recognize that, in order not to be gamed as easily and as often as today, they need more human eyes and human hands. But the hype they spurred by boasting about their intelligent algorithms has acquired a life of its own. I wouldn’t be sur-prised if a company testing autonomous vehicles took seriously a recent paper by a group of Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University scientists describing something called the Moral Machine. The idea is to automate the ethical decisions that a human driver makes on the fly, even the toughest ones such as whether to hit a wall and kill the car’s passengers, includ-ing a young girl, or run over an athlete and his dog crossing the street on a red light. The researchers used a website to ask people about moral choices. The next step is to aggre-gate the data and have an AI-based algorithm figure out a decision that corresponding to the crowdsourced wisdom.

“The implementation of our algorithm on the Moral Machine dataset has yielded a system which, arguably, can make credible decisions on ethical dilemmas in the auton-omous vehicle domain (when all other options have failed),” the researchers wrote. “But this paper is clearly not the end-all solution.”

Guess which parts of this sentence a tech company would throw away if it decided to implement the algo-rithm. My bet is on “arguably” and “clearly not the end-all solution.” It has been easy for tech firms to say their algo-rithmic solutions work because they’ve gotten a free pass on this in the name of progress. Only rarely do alarm bells ring -- as in an example Bridle used in his post: A T-shirt maker selling through Amazon automated the creation of slogans and ended up offering shirts that read, “Stay Calm and Hit Her.” That story is from 2013. Algorithms may have improved, but it’ll be a long time before they can perform tasks that require human judgment without some human figuring out how to game them.

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Are South Africa’s anti-corruption crusaders racist?

In the last few weeks, more attention has been focused on South African President Jacob Zuma than usual because of the release of an explo-sive new book - The President’s Keepers, by Jacques Pauw. The book details the extraordi-

nary ways in which Zuma’s alleged corruption is enabled by criminals and spies.

It is a chilling read and - unsurprisingly - Pauw has come under considerable pressure in the after-math of its publication. The state security agency has threatened to ban the book, and as a result, pirated copies have flooded the social media accounts of many South Africans eager to know more and to defy the authorities’ desires to squash an important story. Pauw’s book has enjoyed strong support from South Africans of all races. Black and white people have been equally incensed - the middle classes who have data and the money to buy the book have gen-erally been very supportive of his efforts.

Still, at Pauw’s book launch in a tiny Johannes-burg suburb this past week, the looming question of racism couldn’t be ignored. The large crowd - over a thousand people are said to have attended - was predominantly white. Many of the black people in attendance felt uncomfortable.

Quanitaah Hunter, a journalist at the Sunday Times, the most widely read South African weekend paper, was there. Shortly after the launch, Hunter posted a message on social media in which she noted she felt there was “a smug sense of ‘see what hap-pens when you put blacks in charge’.” She suggested that for some of the white people attending the launch, their motivation for attending, indeed for reading the book, was suspect. The contents of the book, she suggested, were being used to “justify rac-ism and anti-black sentiment.”

For those familiar with daily life in South Africa, this is no surprise. In recent years racial tensions have run high. There have been a range of high-pro-

file incidents of white arrogance and racism, which have sent shockwaves across a country where black people have done so much to demonstrate their forgiveness of the collective

racism of the white population that oppressed them for so long.

Many black South Africans who had hoped the end of apartheid would signal the end of white privi-lege, have been disheartened by the way race relations have unfolded in the post-apartheid period.

This disappointment is compounded by the fact that the economic and social systems that made black South Africans poor remain firmly in place. The townships where black people were forced to live under apartheid remain largely removed from the centres of economic activity where whites live.It is no surprise that whites continue to occupy a dis-proportionate space in economic affairs: wide-scale change takes time. Yet it is the attitudes and behav-iours of many whites that have led to the sort of disillusionment voiced by Hunter. Many black South Africans had hoped the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) would inspire their white compa-triots to eschew the sort of racism that now colours the corruption debate.

For some of the white South Africans who attended Pauw’s book launch, the state of govern-ance is emblematic of the failure of black people to manage the affairs of the country. For them, govern-ment corruption is not simply linked to the dangers of any political party that has enjoyed the kind of super-majority the ANC had since it was no longer banned. They see Zuma’s scandals and the allega-tions of corruption that trail him, as a function of his race: Jacob Zuma is corrupt, because he is black.

Jacques Pauw’s book does not imply this racial connection at all. The book is meticulously docu-mented and covers much ground that has been previously reported. He joins the dots around previ-ously public information, bolstering it with new

evidence, and he does so without resorting to stereotype.

Still, it would be foolhardy to suggest that discus-sions about corruption in South Africa - which have spiked in volume as the excesses of President Zuma and his friends and family have become more and more outrageous - are race neutral.

Journalists like Pauw - who track corruption in the post-apartheid era - may simply be doing their jobs, but their stories land in a public domain that is already deeply divided across racial lines. Many of these journalists are themselves black, but this does not change the way the larger narrative of race and mismanagement is framed. This problem is not unique to South Africa of course - yet because of the country’s history, the challenge is especially close to the surface.

Some political commentators have begun to question why it is the black officials - rather than the (often) white people who corrupt them - who are under more scrutiny in the press. A case in point is the coverage of an important new book - Apartheid Guns and Money by Hennie van Vuuren and Michael Marchant. The book has received far less press than the president and his keepers. However, it is no less deeply researched, and importantly; it shows the extent to which white South African billionaires paid money to the apartheid regime in return for favours. It is easy to forget that the South African state under apartheid was deeply corrupt - not simply in a moral sense. Under apartheid, the rot was both of a racial and an economic nature.

Pauw’s book has been published at a time when white South Africans are mobilising in new ways. While their organising is ostensibly on the basis of the effect Zuma is having on the country, it is hard

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma celebrating with his supporters after he survived a no-confidence motion in parliament in Cape Town.

not to view their concern as being motivated by self-interest and an outsized sense of their importance in a country where their impor-tance is no longer guaranteed merely by virtue of their skin colour.

In April of this year, many white people took to the streets after the value of the currency fell due to mar-ket jitters related to poor governance. In general, black South Africans were pointed in their avoidance of these rallies. Some have suggested that until whites are collectively prepared to protest against the effects of gov-ernment corruption on the poorest black citizens, they will withhold their support for #ZumaMustFall campaigns. The president is unfit for office, many believe, but his demise cannot come on the basis of racist ideas about black people’s capabilities.

As the crowd gathered to listen to Pauw, a curious thing happened along the sidelines of the massive book launch last week. Members of the audience who had broken away from the ruling party - those who are the chief protagonists in the book - were asked to autograph the book. Most of them happened to be black South Africans. They were cheered and patted on the back by their white compatriots.

Cynics will suggest that these brave South Africans are seen as exceptions. This may be the case. Still, it served as an important reminder for those who may be tempted to suggest there is an inherent relationship between Afri-cans and poor governance.

Sisonke Msimang Al Jazeera

Leonid Bershidsk Bloomberg

Pauw’s book has enjoyed strong support from South Africans of all races. Black and white people have been equally incensed - the middle classes who have data and the money to buy the book have generally been very supportive of his efforts.

12 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Ankara/Baghdad Reuters

Thousands of homeless Iranians huddled against the cold late yesterday, a day after at least 450 people were killed in Iran’s deadliest earthquake in more

than a decade, state TV said.Rescue teams kept up search opera-

tions for dozens trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed houses in towns and villages in the mountainous area of the western province of Kermanshah that borders Iraq.

Iran’s English-language Press TV said more than 450 people were killed and 7,000 were injured when the magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted the country on Sun-day. Local officials expected the death toll to climb as search and rescue teams reached remote areas of Iran.

The quake was felt in several prov-inces of Iran but the hardest hit province was Kermanshah. More than 300 of the victims were in Sarpol-e Zahab county in that province, about 15km from the Iraq border.

Iranian state television said the quake had caused heavy damage in some vil-lages where houses were made of earthen bricks. The quake also triggered landslides that hindered rescue efforts, officials told state television.

At least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected, Iranian media reported. Iranian media reported that a woman and her baby were pulled out alive from the rub-ble on Monday in Sarpol-e Zahab, the worst hit area with a population of 85,000.

Relief workers said while much aid had been pledged, there was an immedi-ate need for blankets, children’s clothes, medicine and large cans to store

drinking water. TV aired footage of some people weeping next to corpses shrouded in blankets.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences on Monday, urging all government agencies to do all they could to help those affected. State TV appealed for blood donations. The government announced one day mourning on Tuesday.

Tempers frayed in the quake-hit area as the search went on for survivors amidst the twisted rubble of collapsed buildings. State TV aired footage of damaged build-ings, vehicles under rubble and wounded people wrapped in blankets.

“We need a shelter,” a middle-aged man in Sarpol-e Zahab told state TV. “Where is the aid? Where is the help?” His family could not spend another night outside in cold weather, he said.

An Iraqi meteorology official put the quake’s magnitude at 6.5, with the epi-centre in Penjwin in Iraq’s Sulaimaniyah province in the Kurdistan region, close to the main border crossing with Iran.

Kurdish health officials said at least six people were killed in Iraq and at least 68 injured, adding that in northern Iraq

Kurdish districts seven were killed and 325 wounded.

Iraq’s health and local officials said the worst-hit area was Darbandikham district, near the border with Iran, where at least 10 houses had collapsed and the district’s only hospital was severely damaged.

“The situation there is very critical,” Kurdish Health Minister Rekawt Hama Rasheed told Reuters.

The district’s main hospital was dam-aged and had no power, Rasheed said, so the injured were taken to Sulaimaniyah for treatment. Homes and buildings had extensive structural damage, he said.

The quake was felt as far south as Baghdad, where many residents rushed from their houses and tall buildings when

tremors shook the Iraqi capital.“I was sitting with my kids having din-

ner and suddenly the building was just dancing in the air,” said Majida Ameer. who ran out of her building with her three children.

“I thought at first that it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: ‘Earthquake!’”

An Iranian local official told state TV that some villages were totally destroyed.

“I lost nine members of my family ... they were killed while they slept,” a weep-ing middle-aged woman told state TV.

Local officials said hundreds of criti-cally wounded people had been transferred to other provinces as Kerman-shah’s main hospital had been badly damaged.

Brussels AFP

The French and German foreign ministers called yesterday for “non-inter-

ference” in Lebanon, after the country’s prime minister announced his surprise resig-nation in a televised statement from Saudi Arabia.

“For there to be a political solution in Lebanon, it is nec-essary that all of the political leaders have total freedom of movement and that non-inter-ference is a fundamental principle,” France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian said as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign minis-ters in Brussels.

Saad Hariri sent shock waves through Lebanon when he unexpectedly quit as prime minister a week ago, but on Sunday rejected rumours he was under de facto house arrest in Riyadh, insisting he was “free” and would return home soon.

His resignation came as tensions rise between Riyadh and Tehran, which back oppos-ing sides in power struggles from Lebanon and Syria to

Yemen. Le Drian said France was “worried by the situation in Lebanon” and wanted to see the government there “stabilise as quickly as possible”.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel there was a danger of Lebanon falling back into “political and s o m e t i m e s m i l i t a r y confrontations”.

“In order to prevent this we need especially the return of the current prime minister, recon-ciliation in the country and the prevention of influence from outside,” he said.

“Lebanon has earned the right to decide on its fate by itself and not become a pinball of Syria or Saudia Arabia or other national interests,” Gabriel said in Brussels.

Other Western countries have moved to express their support for Hariri, with US Secretary of State Rex Tiller-son calling him a “strong partner”.

Tillerson warned against “any party, within or outside Lebanon, using Lebanon as a venue for proxy conflicts or in any manner contributing to instability in that country”.

Jordan switches on world’s largest solar plant in refugee campAMMAN: Jordan has switched on the world’s largest solar plant inside a refugee camp, providing renewable energy to nearly 80,000 Syrians, the United Nations refugee agency said. The 12.9 mega-watts solar plant at Zaatari refugee camp, on the border of Jordan and Syria, will allow families to run a fridge, TV, fans and lights in their shel-ters, and recharge their phones to maintain contact with others abroad, UNHCR said. The ¤15m ($17.50m) project, funded by the Ger-man government, will provide electricity in Zaatari camp for up to 14 hours a day, the agency said.

Iran-Iraq earthquake toll crosses 450US: 40 Islamists dead in four days of Somalia strikesWASHINGTON: The Penta-gon said yesterday that US forces had killed 40 Shabaab and Islamic State fighters in a series of strikes on Somalia that began late last week. The US military has launched five strikes since Thursday on jihadist positions in the Horn of Africa country, killing 36 members of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Shabaab group and four from the Islamic State group, said Colonel Rob Man-ning, a spokesman. “In coordination with the federal government of Somalia, US forces conducted five air-strikes in Somalia against Al Shabaab and ISIS, from November 9 to the 12th, removing more than 40 ter-rorists from the battlefield,”

Beirut AP

At least 53 people were killed in a ferocious attack on a market in

north Syria yesterday that left rescuers and survivors digging late into the evening to search for residents still buried under the rubble.

There were at least three airstrikes on the market at Atareb, a town in the Aleppo countryside swollen by arrival of refugees from nearby battles, in the latest breach of a “de-escalation” agreement that has proven largely unenforceable. Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, is controlled by the government.

The attack tore market-goers apart, according to media published by the activist-run Thiqa news agency. Survivors found limbs in the rubble and corpses with heads ripped apart by the force of the blasts.

A police station by the mar-ket was also struck, killing an officer, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring

group. At least 53 people were killed according to the Observ-atory, which said the market was hit by three separate strikes. There were at least 5 children and 3 women among the dead. The Observatory said it could not determine whether the Syr-ian government or its chief backer, Russia, was behind the attack. Thiqa said at least 47 people were killed and more than 90 wounded.

Atareb and the countryside around it remain outside the control of the Damascus-based government which says it wants to retake all of Syria following six years of civil war that has killed at least 400,000 people and displaced 11 million others — half the country’s population. The war began after a violent crackdown against demonstra-tions calling for reforms in 2011. It has drawn in fighters from across the world. President Bashar Assad says he is fighting a war on terror. Russia’s inter-vention on the side of Assad in 2015 turned the tide in his favor.

Atareb and the opposition-held countryside in northwest

Syria are meant to be protected by a “de-escalation agreement” brokered earlier this year by Russia, Iran, and Turkey, the main backers to the Syrian gov-ernment and the opposition.

The US and Russia have lately renewed efforts to find a settlement for post-war Syria.

With their common enemy, the Islamic State group, nearing defeat, the two superpowers find themselves again on oppo-site sides of the conflict, with Moscow backing Assad and the US offering rhetorical support to armed opposition groups fighting the government.

In a joint statement Satur-day, the two countries said “de-escalation areas” were an “interim step” toward restoring peace in Syria and that there could be “no military solution” to the war.

It drew a sarcastic response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the two superpowers could start by withdrawing their own troops from the war and instead support holding elec-tions in Syria.

France, Germany call for non-interference in Lebanon

A Syrian man carries a child following a reported airstrike on the rebel-held town of Atareb in Syria’s northern Aleppo province, yesterday.

Gaza Anatolia

Palestinian resistance group Hamas yesterday con-demned a UN envoy for

“holding Palestinian groups accountable for every tension with Israel.”

“We strongly condemn the remarks of Mladenov which ignore the crimes of invaders, the threats against our people, and their right of self-defense,” Hamas said in a written state-ment. Nikolay Mladenov, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “The reckless actions and statements of militants in Gaza

risk a dangerous escalation.”“ P a l e s t i n i a n s h a v e

embarked on a course to solve the humanitarian crisis in the [Gaza] Strip and bring back the legitimate authorities. They should not be distracted by extremists,” he added,

On Monday, Israel arrested a leader of Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank. The arrest came after the country threatened that it would respond to a possible attack in response to Israel’s destroying a cross-border tun-nel two weeks ago, killing 10 of the group’s fighters and two belonging to Hamas.

Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, head of the Israeli military

authority in the occupied Pal-estinian territories, warned that Israel would give a “harsh and determined” response that would target Islamic Jihad’s Damascus-based leaders as well as the Hamas movement, which has ruled Gaza for the past decade.

In October, Hamas and Fatah -- Palestine’s two main political factions -- signed a landmark reconciliation agree-ment in Cairo aimed at ending 10 years of bitter division.

If it holds, the deal will allow the Fatah-led Palestin-ian government in Ramallah to assume political and admin-istrative responsibility for the Gaza Strip.

53 dead in airstrike on rebel-held Syrian town

Hamas slams UN envoy for biased statements

African leaders urge support for new security doctrineDAKAR: African leaders yes-terday used a regional forum to underline the need for the continent to assure its own security after years of West-ern interventions, while also calling for international fund-ing to support the anti-terror fight. The annual Dakar Inter-national Forum on Peace and Security this year brings together the presidents of Mali, Rwanda and host Sen-egal along with military officials and experts to discuss Africa’s serious challenges in the sector. Senegal’s President Macky Sall said a “military response must be comprehen-sive, and one of solidarity, to leave terrorist groups no place to hide. “The risk today is see-ing terrorists defeated elsewhere seeking fallback zones in Africa,” Sall added. The vast Sahel region, stretch-ing from Senegal to Sudan, has turned into a hotbed of law-lessness since chaos engulfed Libya in 2011, Islamists over-ran northern Mali in 2012 and Boko Haram rose up in north-ern Nigeria.

People inspect the debris of buildings at Sarpol-e Zahab province of Kermanshah, Iran, following a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Iraq and Iran.

Iran’s English-language Press TV said more than 450 people were dead and 7,000 were injured when the magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted the country on Sunday. Local officials expected the death toll to climb as search and rescue teams reached remote areas of Iran.

13TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 ASIA

Kashmiri boys walk along a path flanked by Maple trees during autumn in Srinagar yesterday.

Health crisisas smog chokes DelhiNew Delhi Reuters

A thick cloud of toxic smog 10 times the recommended limit enveloped India’s capital, New Delhi,

yesterday, as government offi-cials struggled to tackle a public health crisis that is well into its second week.

A US embassy measure showed levels of poisonous air-borne particles, known as PM 2.5, had reached 498 yesterday afternoon, compared with the upper limit of “good” quality air at 50.

India’s weather office said rain was forecast over the next three days which could help clear the smog.

“Light rainfall is likely in states surrounding Delhi and in Delhi over the next three days, and this could result in a change in wind pattern in the region,” Charan Singh, a scientist at India Meteorological Depart-ment, said.

“Smog will start to abate starting tomorrow.”

But Skymet, India’s only pri-vate weather forecaster, said dense smog would continue over Delhi and the surrounding area for at least the next two days.

The Supreme Court is due to hear a petition filed by a New Delhi lawyer to direct govern-ment authorities to tackle the ”intolerable and unbearable air pollution”.

The Delhi state government declared a public health emer-gency last week after pollution levels spiked, a yearly phenom-enon blamed on a combination of illegal crop burning in north-ern states, vehicle exhaust and dust.

Over the weekend, author-ities began using fire trucks to spray water in parts of the cap-ital to keep the dust and other air particles down, but it has had little effect.

A senior federal govern-ment official said there was little more that could be done.

“We can only do this much, and now we will have to wait for rains to clean the atmosphere,” said Prashant Gargava, an official at the Central Pollution Control Board.

Gargava, who is in charge of monitoring air quality, said Delhi’s air has been consistently in the “hazardous” zone, despite measures such as a halt to con-struction and increasing car parking charges four-fold to encourage people to use pub-lic transport.

US President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Manila, Philippines, yesterday.

Modi and Trump hold ‘warm, productive’ meeting in ManilaManila IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a

“warm and productive meeting” on the sidelines of the Asean Summit here yesterday and dis-cussed issues of mutual interest.

A day after they held a brief interaction at a dinner hosted by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, the two leaders “Dis-cussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest”, External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar said.

The meeting also comes a day after India, US, Japan and

Australia held talks to begin the quadrilateral process for greater cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Modi said: “Relations between India and the US are growing.”

“I also feel that these rela-tions between India and the US are not just for our mutual inter-ests but go much beyond that, and we are working together for the interests of the future of Asia and for humanity as a whole in the world.”

Modi said that in the past few days, wherever President Trump has travelled and when-ever an opportunity arose to talk about India, he has expressed

very high opinion about India said things full of hope.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam last week, Trump com-mended India for achieving “astounding” growth since opening its economy and heaped praise on Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi, saying he has been working to bring the country and its people together.

“I would like to assure you that whatever are the expecta-tions of the world, of the United States from India, India has always worked and made efforts to do our bit and fulfil those expectations and we will con-tinue to do so in the future too,” Modi said.

Northeast to get India’s first air dispensary New Delhi/Guwahati IANS

The northeast region will get India’s first Air Dis-pensary, Minister of

Development of North East Region (DONER) Jitendra Singh said yesterday.

For the air dispensary, which will be based in a hel-icopter, the government has contributed Rs25 crore as ini-tial funding.

“For quite a few months, the DoNER Ministry had been exploring the idea of introduc-ing a helicopter-based Dispensary/OPD service in such far-flung and remote areas where no doctor or med-ical facility is available and the patients in need also do not have access to any medical care,” said Singh after a meet-ing with the representatives of the aviation sector and heli-copter services.

According to Singh, the proposal, put forward by the Ministry of DoNER, has been accepted and is in the final stages of processing in the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Nearly a third of India’s population does not have access to proper hospital bed care, as a result of which poor patients living in remote areas remain deprived of crucial medical care.

”The experiment being introduced in the Northeast, at the behest of the Ministry of Northeast/DoNER, can also be emulated in other hill states having difficult topography like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh,” said Singh.

Anti-diabetic medicine sales shoot upNew Delhi IANS

Sales of anti-diabetic medi-cines, including insulin, has zoomed in India, along with

the steadily increasing number of diabetics, says a study.

The findings led by Anoop Misra, Chairman at Fortis C-DOC Hospital, showed that from Rs 151.2 crore in 2008, the sale of insulin (especially newer insu-lin) rose to Rs 842 crore in 2016.

Sales of oral drug (especially newer ones) also went up from Rs278.5 crores in 2013 to Rs700

crore in 2016.The spike could be attributed

to the rising number of patients, increased availability and aggressive marketing by phar-maceutical companies.

On the other hand, the affordability and accessibility of the anti-diabetic therapy to lower socio-economic strata remained inadequate, the study said.

“Increasing sales of high cost medications as shown by our data are particularly worrisome since most Indians pay out of their pocket and nearly seven per cent

experience catastrophic expend-iture for diabetes,” Misra said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of adults suffering from diabetes has risen from 4.7 per cent of the global population in 1980 to 8.5 percent in 2014.

In 2015, the disease touted as lifestyle epidemic affected 415 million people worldwide while there were 69.1 million people with diabetes in India -- the sec-ond highest in the world after China, which had 109 million people, according to the report “Diabetes Atlas” released by the

International Diabetes Federa-tion (IDF).

“India has to take several stringent measures to ensure that there is a balancing mech-anism in place, education of physicians, tighter regulations on price control and stricter norms for pharmaceutical com-panies around new drugs and marketing ethics,” Misra added.

The research was based on the data of sales trends from all top selling drugs (20 brands) for the past nine years (between December 2008 and December 2016).

Note ban a ‘Sholay’ like attack: RahulBecharaji (Gujarat) IANS

Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Vice-

President Rahul Gandhi yesterday told a large gather-ing in this Gujarat village that just as demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were launched by the NDA gov-ernment at midnight, Gabbar Singh, the notorious villain of popular film ‘Sholay’, too attacked people at midnight.

“The drastic step of demon-etisation was launched at midnight, the GST was also launched at the stroke of 12 midnight. Gabbar Singh too attacked villages at midnight,” he said.

Interestingly, one of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) members, Narendra Patel, was seen on the dais with him.

Gandhi continued, “During my visit to the state people have been pleading to me, with folded hands, saying please save us from Modiji. GST has crushed people. The present GST still needs to be restruc-tured. The common man’s day-to-day commodities should be exempted from GST. There should be one single GST.”

The Gandhi scion, on the last day of his visit to north Gujarat, visited the World Her-itage site of the step-well in Patan, Ran-ki-Vaav. On his way from Patan to Becharaji, he met farmers, farm labourers in Mela village, and also took some self-ies with them.

In his Becharaji public

meeting, Gandhi said, “Wher-ever Modiji goes, he brags about eliminating corruption in Gujarat. But when I went to Surat, many people came and told me that corruption is everywhere.”

Rahul Gandhi said, “All over the world fuel prices are drop-ping whereas in India fuel prices are hiked.”

PAAS member Narendra Patel, who was seen on the dais with Rahul Gandhi, had recently alleged that the BJP state pres-ident had attempted to bribe him with an offer of Rs one lakh for joining the BJP.

This is the first time any PAAS leader was seen sharing the dais on any Congress func-tion or event.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Vice Presi-dent is on the last and fourth leg of his three-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat. He will conclude his Gujarat tour by visiting the BJP bastion and the home of Patidar agitations of Mehsana and Visnagar.

Earlier in Patan, Gandhi told the media that just like magi-cians perform tricks which are mere tricks and not real, simi-larly Prime Minister Modi has been performing tricks in Gujarat on the people.

Yesterday, he began his tour of north Gujarat by visiting the Veer Meghmaya temple and had ‘darshan’ there. After that, he interacted with Dalit lead-ers of Patan. The Gandhi scion continued his attacks on Prime Minister Modi and lambasted the central government on var-ious fronts like demonetisation, the GST, unemployment and corruption.

Toll in Andhra boat tragedy rises to 21

Vijayawada IANS

The death toll in Sun-day’s boat capsize in Andhra Pradesh’s

Krishna district rose to 21 yesterday as more bodies were recovered from Krishna river and one of the injured succumbed, police and officials said.

The overloaded boat of a private operator carrying 45 tourists, including three crew members, capsized near Ibrahimpatnam Ferry Ghat near here on Sunday evening.

The tourists, majority of them hailing from Ongole town, were coming from Bha-vani Island to Pavitra Sangamam, or holy conflu-ence of Krishna and Godavari rivers to witness ‘Maha haar-athi’ ritual on the last Sunday of the auspicious month of ‘Karthika’.

Skymet said dense smog would continue over Delhi and the surrounding area for at least the next two days.

Autumn comes calling

14 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017ASIA

Indonesian officers from Nature Conservation Agency and environmental activists trying to refloat nine stranded sperm whales in Aceh Besar yesterday.

Rescue bid

PML-N to shun ‘clash’ with army, judiciaryLahore Internews

The Pakistan Muslim L e a g u e - N a w a z (PML-N) has laid out a policy of non-con-frontation with state

institutions, such as the army or the judiciary as it steps up its preparations for the 2018 elec-tion campaign.

Yesterday, the party’s high command gathered in the city for an informal dinner hosted in their honour by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

This was the culmination of a series of meetings recently held in Lahore by party chief Nawaz Sharif that chalked out the par-ty’s future strategy, with a focus on the upcoming elections.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also present on the occasion, and met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and Punjab Gov-ernor Rafique Rajwana.

Former information minis-ter Pervaiz Rashid, who was privy to the meetings Sharif recently held in the city, said: “The party has decided in prin-ciple that it does not have to fight against any institution. The PML-N will not go for confron-tation with any state institution, as our focus is on preparing for the 2018 elections”.

Outlining the party’s strat-egy, formulated in the face of

corruption references the Sharif family is facing, he said the ex-premier would resume his mass-contact campaign this month to mobilise party work-ers ahead of the upcoming polls

Saying that criticism of the Supreme Court by Sharif and his daughter Maryam was not “direct confrontation with the judiciary”, the former informa-tion minister noted that: “Everyone has the right to com-ment on judges’ verdicts in Panamagate or other cases.

The Sharif family’s criticism is aimed at the verdict in the Panama Papers case, and not at the judges as individuals.”

He said that even eminent jurists had raised serious ques-tions over the judgement, adding that “comments such as ‘Godfather’ and ‘Sicilian mafia’ reflected the emotional side of the judgement and not legal points”.

Rajapaksa aide detained over fraud allegationsColombo AFP

Sri Lanka yesterday detained a senior aide to former strongman

president Mahinda Rajapaksa on allegations of fraud, the second official close to the ex-leader swept up in a blitz on corruption.

Gamini Senarath turned himself in to authorities on Monday and will face court over allega-tions of fraud involving the construction of the Hyatt Hotel in Colombo.

Police told a court last month that Senarath was wanted in connection with the disappearance of $27m in state funds earmarked for the hotel building.

“He surrendered to the Colombo Fort magistrate’s court and was remanded till Wednesday when another hearing will take place,” a court official said.

In September another close aide of Rajapaksa was jailed for three years for redirecting $4m of gov-ernment money toward Rajapaksa’s unsuccessful 2015 re-election bid.

Current President Maithripala Sirisena has vowed to investigate alle-gations that Rajapakse’s family and friends siphoned billions from Sri Lanka’s coffers during his nearly 10-year rule. Two of Rajapakse’s three sons, including legislator Namal, have been charged with money-laundering. Those cases are still pending.

Traffic chaos as protesters besiege Pakistan’s capitalIslamabad AFP

Protesters from a hardline religious group blocked the main highway into

Islamabad for the sixth day run-ning yesterday, virtually locking down the Pakistani capital and causing commuter fury as authorities hesitated to act.

The roughly 2,000 protest-ers are demanding the resignation of the federal law minister over a hastily-aban-doned amendment to the country’s controversial blas-phemy laws.

They have camped for nearly a week on a flyover con-necting Islamabad with the

neighbouring garrison city of Rawalpindi, along which thou-sands of people commute every day to work in the capital.

Young men armed with clubs are searching anyone approaching the protest site and refusing to let vehicles pass, pelting those who come near with stones.

“I have been stuck up on the road for (the) last one and a half hours because of this mess,” said Adnan Iqbal, an employee of a pharmaceutical firm from the traffic jam where he was late for work.

The protesters, members of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Yah Rasool Allah Pakistan religious group, acted after the government

introduced an amendment which changed some wording in the blasphemy law.

The change—from “I believe” to “I solemnly swear”—did not alter the law, which carries the death penalty. The government has said the change was made inadvertently and quickly reversed it through another amendment.

But the rightwing group insisted it was an attempt to water down the hugely sensi-tive legislation.

“The protesters have base-less demands. Authorities should deal (with) them with force and move them away from the road,” said Fayyaz Hussain, another commuter.

2 Pakistani soldiers slain in cross-border militant attackIslamabad Reuters

Militants have crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and

killed a Pakistani army officer and a soldier, the Pakistani military said yesterday.

The uneasy neighbours, both of which are important US allies, accuse each other of har-bouring militants on either side of the border, and their two armies have exchanged fire across it during periods of ten-sion over recent years.

Four Pakistani soldiers were wounded in the attack on a military post in the northwestern region of Bajaur, the army said.

It did not say when the raid took place but said up to 10 of the attackers were believed to have been killed in Pakistani retaliatory fire.

Independent verification was not possible as the area is largely closed off to report-ers. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a rugged, porous bor-der of 2,500km.

Afghanistan, which does not recognise the border, has lately been angry over a Paki-stani plan to build a fence along most of it.

The Pakistani army said the absence of Afghan central government’s writ on its side of the border facilitated such militant attacks. There was no immediate response from the Afghan government.

The attack came a week after unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Pakistani diplomat near his residence in Jalalabad.

Myanmar replaces general in charge of RakhineYangon Reuters

Myanmar’s army has replaced the general in charge of Rakhine state

following a military crackdown that has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh amid reports of mass rape, torture and other crimes against humanity.

No reason was given for Major General Maung Maung Soe being transferred from his post as the head of Western Com-mand in Rakhine, where Myanmar’s military, known as

the Tatmadaw, launched a sweeping counter-insurgency operation in August.

“I don’t know the reason why he was transferred,” Major General Aye Lwin, deputy director of the psychological warfare and public relation department at the Ministry of Defence, said. “He wasn’t moved into any position at present. He has been put in reserve.”

The move comes ahead of a visit tomorrow by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who is expected to deliver a stern mes-sage to Myanmar’s generals, over whom national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, criticised in the West for failing to halt the atrocities, has

little control.Senators in Washington are

pressing to pass legislation imposing economic and travel sanctions targeting the military and its business interests.

The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Maung Maung Soe’s transfer was ordered on Friday and Brig-adier General Soe Tint Naing, formerly a director in logistics, had been appointed as the new head of Western Command.

Made up of three divisions, Western Command is overseen by the Bureau of Special Operations,

which reports to the office of the Commander in Chief of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

A senior UN official has described the army’s actions in Rakhine as a textbook exam-ple of ethnic cleansing. Myanmar says the clearance operation was necessary for national security after Rohingya militants attacked 30 security posts and an army base in the state on August 25.

On Sunday, another UN offi-cial accused Myanmar’s military of conducting organised rape and other crimes against human-ity, and said she would raise the matter with the International

Criminal Court in the Hague.“When I return to New York,

I will brief and raise the issue with the prosecutor and president of the ICC whether they (Myanmar’s military) can be held responsible for these atrocities,” Pramila Pat-ten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Vio-lence in Conflict, said in Dhaka.

“Sexual violence is being commanded, orchestrated and perpetrated by the Armed Forces of Myanmar, otherwise known as the Tatmadaw,” Patten said following a three-day tour of the Rohingya refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh.

PNG ups pressure on Australian refugeesSydney AFP

Papua New Guinea officials deployed police vehicles and buses around a shut-

tered Australian refugee camp yesterday as a deadline passed for some 400 detainees to move from the controversial centre.

Hundreds of men have refused to leave the Manus Island camp in an increasingly tense stand-off with authorities since Australia declared the facility closed on October 31 and shut off electricity and water.

Refugees said police filled in wells and drilled holes in storage tanks that they had been using to hold drinking water, as part of the effort to force them out yesterday.

Inmates sent out photos showing a line of buses and police vehicles outside the camp, built on a former PNG naval base, a day after Immi-gration Minister Petrus Thomas gave them 24 hours to get out.

More than 100 of the refu-gees have left for three “transition” centres on Manus since it was officially closed.

The remaining men, who have been held on Manus for more than four years, insist they should be resettled in third countries and not simply trans-ferred to another detention camp in PNG.

“We are still refusing to leave this prison camp for another prison camp,” tweeted Behrooz Boochani, a Kurdish-Iranian refugee and journalist.

“The party has decided in principle that it does not have to fight against any institution. The PML-N will not go for confrontation with any state institution, as our focus is on preparing for the 2018 elections”.

Residents walk along a highway blocked by activists of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Yah Rasool Allah Pakistan group during a week-long protest in Islamabad yesterday.

15TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 ASIA

Children play at an elementary school as the Mount Sinabung volcano spews smoke in Karo, Indonesia, yesterday. Sinabung roared back to life in 2010 for the first time in 400 years, after another period of inactivity it erupted once more in 2013, and has remained highly active since.

Sinabung’s fury

Manila AP

Leaders of Southeast Asian countries and China agreed yesterday to begin negotiations on a “code of conduct”

aimed at controlling aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea, a step they described as a milestone, but some experts said was unlikely to ensure compliance.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also sign an accord protecting migrant workers coming from poorer countries in the region during a two-day summit that opened yesterday in Manila, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said.

The Asean leaders will express “grave concern” over North Korea’s development of “weapons of mass destruction,

including nuclear and chemical weapons, and ballistic missile technologies,” and strongly condemn terrorism, according to a draft of a summit communique.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said China and the 10 Asean countries agreed to start negotiations on the code of conduct and would issue a statement with more details.

A separate statement to be issued after a meeting between the Asean leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the approval last August of a framework for the code of conduct was “an important milestone,” and both sides anticipated an early conclusion of the agreement.

“While the situation is calmer now, we cannot take the current progress for granted,” the leaders said in the draft statement.

It’s “important that we cooperate to maintain peace, stability, freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea in accordance with international law,” they said. “It is in our collective interest to avoid miscalculations that could lead to escalation of tensions.”

However, Gregory Poling, a South China Sea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said, “The idea that this is going to lead to a binding way to manage things like fisheries depletion and oil and gas development or coast guard cooperation is a fantasy, and Beijing knows that.”

“It took 15 years to negotiate a one-page outline that just restated the exact same thing they’re going to do with DOC,” he said, referring to a nonbinding Declaration on

the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that was signed in 2002. “If you look at the framework agreement signed earlier this year, there’s nothing there.”

China has opposed a legally binding code, and Southeast Asian diplomats said even Asean is not unanimous in seeking a binding set of rules.

China, Taiwan and four Asean member states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and

Vietnam — have overlapping claims in the waterway, which straddles busy international sea lanes and potentially has vast undersea deposits of oil and gas.

The US is not a claimant but has declared it has a national interest in ensuring that the disputes are resolved peacefully in accordance with international law and that freedom of navigation and overflight are guaranteed. China has opposed what it calls US meddling in an Asian dispute.

In a speech at the start of the meeting, Li insisted on China’s peaceful intentions and said it was the first country to accede to a 1976 nonaggression treaty signed by Asean. “We are committed to working with Asean to be good neighbours, good friends and good partners that always stand together, rain or shine,” Li told the Asean leaders.

Asean, China set for sea code talks

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (left), US President Donald Trump (centre) and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte join hands for the family photo during the 31st Association of South East Asian Nations Summit in Manila yesterday.

Trump and Duterte bond at summitManila Reuters

US President Donald Trump said yesterday he had a “great relation-

ship” with his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, while a White House official said human rights got only a brief mention when the two met on the sidelines of an Asian summit.

A spokesman for Duterte said there was no mention at all of human rights or extra-judicial killings during their conversation.

The meeting between the two presidents was one of the most anticipated at the summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Manila, with human rights groups pressing Trump to take a tough line on Duterte over his bloody war on drugs, in which thousands of people have been killed.

“The conversation focused on ISIS (Islamic State), illegal drugs, and trade,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

“Human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philip-pines’ fight against illegal drugs.”

Harry Roque, Duterte’s spokesman, told a news con-ference that the Philippine president had explained his

anti-drugs policy at length to Trump, who “seemed to be appreciative of his efforts”.

“There was no mention of human rights, no mention of extra-legal killings,” he said.

More than 3,900 people have been killed in a war on drugs that Duterte declared when he took office last year. His government says the police act in self defence, but critics say executions are taking place with no accountability.

“We are your ally. We are an important ally,” Duterte told Trump at the beginning of their talks, according to reporters allowed in to the meeting room.

Trump replied: “We’ve had a great relationship. This has been very successful. And the Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) conference has been handled beautifully by the president in the Philippines.”

Duterte, who has been called the “Trump of the East” for his brash style and provoc-ative language, said last week he would tell the US president to “lay off” if he were to raise accusations of rights violations.

Trump was criticised in May for praising Duterte during a phone call for the “great job” he was doing to counter illegal narcotics.

US President baffled by traditional handshakeManila AP

President Donald Trump is known for his long, at times aggressive, hand-

shakes with world leaders. But at an international sum-mit in the Philippines yesterday, he struggled briefly with a different kind of handshake.

Trump, in Manila, attended the opening cere-monies of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations con-ference, which began with pageantry and a group photo of the leaders.

Then, the announcer intoned that it was time for the leaders to take part in the “ t r a d i t i o n a l ” A s e a n handshake.

It’s a cross-body exercise, during which each leader extends their right arm over their left and shakes the opposite hands of those next to him.

The announcer’s instruc-tions briefly baffled Trump, who at first simply crossed his hands in front of him.

Then, looking around, he turned to the leaders that flanked him — Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to his right, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to his left — and simply extended his arms outward, only to find that wasn’t quite right either.

Then he laughed, crossed his arms and reached to the correct sides. He grimaced at first, particularly when bend-ing down to reach the hands of the two shorter leaders next to him.

And then, with an exag-gerated smile, he vigorously gripped their hands.

Myanmar assures Asean on RohingyasManila AP

Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has assured other South-

east Asian nations that her government is implementing the recommendations of a commission led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the situation in Rakhine state, where more than half a million Rohingya Muslims have f led to neighbouring

Bangladesh, a Philippine offi-cial said yesterday.

Philippine presidential spokesman Harry Roque also said Suu Kyi pledged yesterday that repatriation of the displaced people would begin within three weeks after Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh. The memoran-dum was signed on October 24. He said Suu Kyi gave no further details.

Roque said at least two Asean leaders brought up the

Rohingya issue yesterday dur-ing a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.

Roque said Suu Kyi did not refer to the Rohingya by name.

Although Rohingya Muslims have lived in Myanmar for dec-ades, the country’s Buddhist majority still sees them as invad-ers from Bangladesh. The government denies them basic rights, and the United Nations has called them one of the most persecuted minorities in the

world.Since August, when their

homes were torched by Buddhist mobs and soldiers, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also were to sign an accord aiming to protect migrant workers from the poverty-wracked region during a two-day summit that opened yesterday in Manila, according to a draft of a post-summit communique.

Junior drag driver dies in Australia crashSydney AFP

An eight-year-old girl has died after crashing her junior dragster during

her first official test run in the West Australia capital of Perth, police said yesterday.

Anita Board was trying to qualify for a junior racing license in her purple dragster “Pony Power” on Saturday when she hit a cement bar-rier at the end of the run, local media reported.

She had just turned eight on Thursday, reaching the minimum age to get the license and race her 210cc dragster.

“Tragically, the eight-year-old girl involved in a crash at the Kwinana Motor-plex... has died as a result of the injuries she sustained,” the police statement said.

North Korean soldier shot while defecting to SouthSeoul AFP

A North Korean soldier was shot and injured by his own side yesterday while

defecting to South Korea at the border truce village of Panmun-jom, the South’s military said.

The soldier, thought to be low ranking, was shot in the shoulder and elbow and was picked up bleeding on the South side of a portion of the border known as the Joint Security Area.

It is rare for the North’s troops to defect at the truce vil-lage, a major tourist attraction bisected by the borderline and the only part of the frontier where forces from the two sides come face-to-face.

”Our military has taken in a North Korean soldier after he crossed from a North Korea post towards our Freedom

House,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement, referring to a building on the South side of the village.

A JCS official quoted by Yon-hap news agency said the South’s soldiers heard a gunshot and then retrieved the unarmed sol-dier in the mid-afternoon.

He was evacuated to a pri-vate hospital by a UN helicopter, the official added, saying the solider had regained consciousness but declining to comment on whether his inju-ries were life-threatening.

No personal details have been released but the soldier’s uniform suggested he was low-ranking, Yonhap said.

No tourists were in the Joint Security Area at the time because tours do not run on Mondays, a spokesman for United States Forces Korea, which approves the visits, said.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said China and the 10 Asean countries agreed to start negotiations on the code of conduct.

16 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017EUROPE

A firearms inspector poses with seized and handed in firearms at the storage room of the London Metropolitan Police firearm forensics laboratory in central London, during a media facility to mark the beginning of a gun surrender initiative, yesterday.

Seized firearms

London Reuters

Prime Minister Theresa May’s blueprint for Britain’s exit from the European Union faces a crucial test starting,

when lawmakers try to win con-cessions from a weakened leader on the government’s legislation to sever ties.

It is yet another battle for May after scandals and gaffes that have brought questions about her leadership into the open. As many as 40 of her lawmakers would support a no-confidence motion against her, according to the Sunday Times newspaper.

But many sources in her governing Conservative Party say now is not the time to force her out because despite back-ing Britain remaining in the EU, even if reluctantly, they think she is still the best option to deliver Brexit.

That makes the debates over EU withdrawal bill all the more important as a test of her ability to steer through legisla-tion she says is crucial to give companies confidence that the rules will not change when Brit-ain leaves in March 2019.

With the power balanced in favour of lawmakers rather than the government after the Conservatives lost their major-ity in a June election, many - even within the party - will use the debate over coming weeks to put the pressure on.

“We have no intention of parliament being a bystander, we are a key participant in this process,” said Hilary Benn, a

lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party who is chair of the B r e x i t p a r l i a m e n t a r y committee.

“In the end we are going to have to vote on the final deal, and the outcome of the election and the balance of votes in the House of Com-mons now really does bring that home,” he told the Insti-tute for Government thinktank earlier this month.

The public debate in parlia-ment on Tuesday is the first of eight to discuss the bill before it goes on to other legislative stages. The schedule will be determined by the House of Commons over the course of the debates.

Lawmakers have proposed 186 pages of amendments to the bill, which largely ‘copy and paste’ EU rules and regulations into British law but also, critics say, hand the government wide-ranging powers and cut parliament out of some Brexit planning.

Paris AFP

France marked two years yesterday since its worst ever terror attacks, releas-

ing colourful balloons into the sky to remember the 130 people killed on a Friday night out in Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron laid wreaths at the six locations where gunmen and suicide bombers struck on November 13, 2015, targeting the national stadium as well as bars, restaurants and the Bata-clan concert hall. Two members of Eagles of Death Metal — the Californian band who were on stage at the Bataclan when the carnage began — performed a surprise mini-concert near the venue where 90 people were massacred. Lead singer Jesse Hughes was visibly moved as he handed white roses to fam-ilies of the victims after singing “Save a Prayer”, the song the band had just finished playing when the gunfire began.

“It is difficult to not to remember the people who were taken from us like our friend Nick Alexander (the band’s merchandise manager) and so many others,” Hughes told reporters.

“We watched people give their lives for their friends and we were able to bear witness to that,” he added.

“We have a burden of responsibility to make certain that everyone knows that is the kind of love that exists in this world.”

Macron and his wife Brigitte joined relatives of the victims as they released dozens of multi-coloured balloons in hon-our of the dead.

“I’ve never been back inside,” said a Bataclan survi-vor who gave his name only as Patrice. “But it’s important to come, for all the victims —those who did not come out

alive, and all the injured.” The Paris attacks were

among a series of militant assaults that have killed more than 240 people in France since 2015, starting with the shooting at satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Macron spoke with victims’ relatives at each of the attack sites — but some refused to meet him in protest at what they say is a lack of government sup-port. “No one has been speaking to us since Emmanuel Macron got rid of the office for victims’ support,” said Michael Dias, whose father Manuel was killed by a suicide bomber outside the stadium.

“We have been completely left behind,” he told the BFM news channel. Elisabeth Bois-sinot, whose daughter Chloe was killed at the Carillon bar, declined her invitation to what she criticised on Facebook as a “victory lap” by the president at

the time when she said victims had been “forgotten”.

The Bataclan reopened last year, revellers have returned to the bars that were hit, and the huge piles of flowers mourning the dead have been cleared away.

But some locals expressed regret that relatively few Paris-ians turned out to mark the anniversary of the attacks.

“Maybe life conquers all, but this loss of memory is very exas-perating,” said 86-year-old Francine Best.

“The solidarity that allowed this neighbourhood to bounce back so well has disappeared, bit by bit.”

The attacks profoundly shook France, triggering a state of emergency that was lifted only this month after Macron signed a controversial new anti-terror law.

The law gives authorities sweeping powers to search

homes, shut down places of worship and restrict the move-ments of suspected extremists.

Some 7,000 troops mean-while remain on the streets under an anti-terror operation known as Sentinelle, carrying out patrols and guarding vul-nerable sites such as tourist hotspots.

The sprawling police inves-tigation into the Paris attacks continues with Salah Abdeslam, the only man directly involved in the attacks to have survived, awaiting trial.

Abdeslam, a 28-year-old petty delinquent turned jihad-ist, was captured in a dramatic police operation in Brussels in March 2016 after four months on the run.

Police had hoped he could provide a wealth of information about the planning and execu-tion of the attacks, but he has so far refused to cooperate.

London Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government is considering granting

diplomatic protection to a jailed aid worker in Iran as part of an effort to secure her release from a jail in the Islamic Republic.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thom-son Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years after

being convicted by an Iranian court of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges.

Her husband, Richard Rat-cliffe, said the case had become a bargaining chip for Iran in its relations with Britain and urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to extend diplomatic protection for his wife.

It is unclear how such pro-tection could be offered retrospectively to a dual

Iranian-British citizen, or whether such a move would secure her release, but May’s spokesman said that it was one option being considered. “I think that the foreign secretary has obviously spoken with her hus-band and that is one of the options being looked at,” the spokesman said.

“The prime minister has been involved with this case from the outset, she’s raised it with the Iranian president on at

least two occasions, the entire government is working towards securing her release as quickly as possible.”

A legal opinion prepared for human rights charity Redress on Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case said the British government could grant her diplomatic protection as she is “predominantly” a British cit-izen who has been denied a fair trial. It is unclear how Tehran would view such a step which would explicitly make

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate an issue in state-to-state relations rather than a purely consular case.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s fate become a major political issue in Britain after Johnson said on November 1 that she had been teaching people journalism before her arrest in April 2016, contra-dicting statements from her employer. Iranian state television said Johnson’s comments showed Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s guilt and that she was involved in spying.

Bucharest AFP

The powerful boss of Romania’s ruling left, Liviu Dragnea, is being

investigated for abuse of power and embezzlement of European Union funds, the national anti-corruption agency said yesterday.

The Social Democrat party (PSD) leader is alleged to have misappropriated EU money earmarked for infra-structure projects worth ¤21m ($24.5m), while he was coun-cil chairman of southern Teleorman county between 2000 and 2012.

Dragnea told journalists in Bucharest that he “categor-ically denies all the accusations”. The 55-year-old was found guilty of electoral fraud in 2016 and received a suspended two-year prison sentence. The conviction meant he was barred from running for premier after the PSD won elections last December, however he is widely acknowledged as pull-ing the strings in the party.

Dragnea is also on trial for alleged abuse of power in a separate case. He has rejected the charges.

In the latest case, Dragnea is accused of “obtaining, either directly or via aides, goods and services used for personal purposes or for his party”, Romania’s anti-cor-ruption prosecutor’s office (DNA) said in a statement. Eight other people are also under investigation, it added.

London Reuters

Hundreds of people displaced by a fire that killed about 80 people in London in June are still living in hotels or friends’ houses

because of a failure by local authorities to rehouse them, the lawmaker representing the area said yesterday. The 24-storey Grenfell Tower, a social housing block in a deprived area within the wealthy borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was destroyed on June 14 in a blaze that left hundreds bereaved and homeless.

A criminal investigation is under way into the causes of the fire, while a separate public inquiry is also going on to establish whether there were failures in planning, construction, maintenance or other aspects of the tower’s history.

“The council and the government are failing in their duty of care to Grenfell survivors, evacu-ees and near neighbours every day,” said Emma Dent Coad, a member of parliament from the opposition Labour Party who represents Kensington.

In a report on housing and inequality in the borough, she wrote that most children displaced by the fire were still in emergency

accommodation five months later even though it was unlawful to keep them in such accommoda-tion for longer than six weeks.

The Conservative-run local authority, Ken-sington and Chelsea Council, denied that the slow pace of re-housing people was due to any failure on its part. A spokesman said the process was tai-lored to the bereaved and going at their own pace.

Of the 206 households from the tower itself and from nearby Grenfell Walk who needed new homes, 28 have moved into permanent homes while 49 have moved into temporary ones, the council said.

It said a total of 178 children were still in emer-gency accommodation, including living with friends, in hotels or in serviced apartments.

Dent Coad dismissed the suggestion that any of the families were still in emergency accommo-dation out of choice. She said she had visited many families and they were all desperate to move into a permanent home. The problem, she said, was that they were not being offered suitable homes.

“A lot of people are losing their minds,” Dent Coad said, describing visits to families in cramped hotel rooms where children had nowhere to do their homework and parents broke down in tears when they talked about their situation.

France mourns Paris attack victims

FROM LEFT: Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, French President Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte Macron, former French president Francois Hollande and former interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve release balloons at Paris 11th district town hall yesterday during a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the Paris attacks of November 2015 in which 130 people were killed.

London authorities failing people displaced by deadly fire: MP

May faces test in House over Brexit plans

It is yet another battle for May after scandals and gaffes that have brought questions about her leadership into the open. As many as 40 of her lawmakers would support a no-confidence motion against her, according to the Sunday Times newspaper.

Britain considers diplomatic protection for jailed aid worker Romania’s ruling left leader in fresh corruption probe

17TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 EUROPE

NEWS BYTES

Vehicles are seen on a road during the first snowfall of the season on an autumn day in Ljubljana, Slovenia, yesterday.

Autumn snowfallTurkish plane investigated in Copenhagen airport after threatCOPENHAGEN: Danish police were investigating a plane at Copenhagen airport due to depart for Istanbul, in response to a threat against aircraft of Turkish airline Atlasglobal in Europe, the airport said yesterday. “Copenhagen police have said there is a threat against all Atlasglobal’s planes in Europe,” a Copen-hagen Airports spokesman said. The Atlasglobal plane had been moved to a remote part of the airport while police carried out further investigations. Authorities briefly closed ten gates at the airport due to the investigation, but these were later reopened. Copenhagen police confirmed to Reuters that officers were investigating a suspicious incident at the airport but did not give further details.

4-year-old migrant reunited with mother in Spain after 7 monthsMADRID: A four-year-old migrant boy who reached Spain from Ivory Coast was reunited yesterday with his mother seven months after she arrived on a different boat, a women’s char-ity said. Bahoumou Totopa, 33, arrived on Spain’s southern coast on an inflatable dinghy in April while her son Abdurrahmane entered the country’s North African enclave of Melilla the pre-vious month with his aunt. Totopa was not allowed to contact her son, who was taken in by child protection services in Melilla, until she could prove she was his mother, legal NGO Women’s Link said. After a positive DNA test Totopa was able to pick up her son in Melilla and take him to Jerez de la Frontera, where she is living in a migrant reception centre, Women’s Link said.

Italy museums see record numbers of visitors, revenueROME: Italian museums are on track for another record-set-ting year in 2017 in terms of visitors and revenue, with the outdoor Colosseum in Rome and Pompeii near Naples topping the Culture Ministry’s most-visited and most-lucrative list. The ministry issued a three-year review of its revolutionary deci-sion to bring in non-Italian museum directors and give museums greater autonomy. The results were significant: an 18.5 percent increase in the number of visitors nationwide from 2013-2016, and a 38.4 percent increase in revenue, to ¤175m.

EU appoints new envoy on Georgia crisis and KarabakhISTANBUL: The EU unveiled Estonian diplomat Toivo Klaar as a Special Representative for South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, including the ongoing conflict over occupied Kara-bakh. Klaar, a former head of the EU’s monitoring mission to Georgia, replaces Germany’s Herbert Salber who had held the post since 2014. Azerbaijan and Armenia remain in dispute over the occupied Karabakh region. Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Armenian military support.

Brussels Reuters

Madrid believes Russian-based groups used online social media to heavily

promote Catalonia’s independ-ence referendum last month in an attempt to destabilise Spain, Spanish ministers said yesterday.

Spain’s defence and foreign ministers said they had evi-dence that state and private-sector Russian groups, as well as groups in Venezuela, used Twitter, Facebook and other Internet sites to massively publicise the separatist cause and swing public opinion behind it in the run-up to the October 1 referendum.

Catalonia’s separatist lead-ers have denied that Russian interference helped them in the vote.

“What we know today is that much of this came from Russian territory,” Spanish Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal said of Russian-based internet support.

“These are groups that, public and private, are trying to influence the situation and create instability in Europe,” she told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign and defence min-isters in Brussels.

Asked if Madrid was certain of the accusations, Spanish For-eign Minister Alfonso Dastis, also at the meeting, said:

“Yes, we have proof.”Dastis said Spain had

detected false accounts on social media, half of which were traced back to Russia and

another 30 percent to Vene-zuela, created to amplify the benefits of the separatist cause by re-publishing messages and posts.

Ramon Tremosa, the EU lawmaker for the PDeCat party of Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, repeated yesterday that Russian inter-ference had played no part in the referendum.

“Those that say Russia is helping Catalonia are those that have helped the Russian fleet in recent years, despite the EU’s boycott,” Tremosa tweeted, referring to Spanish media reports that Spain was allow-ing Russian warships to refuell at its ports.

Those who voted in the ref-e r e n d u m o p t e d overwhelmingly for independ-ence. But turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans

Bled, Slovenia AP

Slovenia’s President Borut Pahor was re-elected to a second term yesterday

after winning a runoff election against a former comedian who currently serves as the mayor of a northern town.

Pahor, 54, a veteran pol-itician known as the “King of Instagram” for his frequent use of social media, won 53 percent of the vote to chal-lenger Marjan Sarec’s 47 percent, results from Slove-nian election authorities showed after a completed preliminary count.

Pahor thanked voters and vowed to further boost their faith in democracy. He con-gratulated his opponent for his performance. “I will be a pres-ident of all,” Pahor said. “I’ll bring people together and build on what brings us closer.”

Pahor is only the second Slovenian president to win a second term in office since the country gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The country of 2 mil-lion people in Central Europe is the birthplace of US first lady Melania Trump and known for its Alpine moun-tains and lakes.

A former model like the US first lady, the telegenic, blue-eyed politician has held a number of public posts and was Slovenia’s prime minis-ter before he first was elected president in 2012.

Bonn AFP

Climate change imperils one in four UN-listed natural heritage sites, including

coral reefs, glaciers, and wet-lands — nearly double the number from just three years ago, a report said yesterday.

The number of Unesco natu-ral sites at risk has grown to 62 from 35 in 2014, when one in seven were listed, according to the International Union for Con-servation of Nature (IUCN), which released the report at UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany. Among the ecosystems most threatened by global warming are coral reefs which bleach as oceans heat up, and glaciers which melt.

“Climate change acts fast and is not sparing the finest treasures of our planet,” said IUCN director general Inger Andersen.

“The increase and the speed in which we are seeing this trend shift over just three years has been shocking to us, and the report warns that this number is likely to grow,” she told jour-nalists in Bonn.

The report found that 29 percent of Unesco natural sites faced “significant” threats, and seven percent —including the Everglades National Park in the United States and Lake Turkana in Kenya — had a “critical” out-look. “The scale and pace at which it (climate change) is damaging our natural heritage underline the need for urgent and ambitious national commit-ments and actions to implement the Paris Agreement,” said Andersen. Negotiators are gath-ered in Bonn to work out a nuts-and-bolts rulebook for executing the pact adopted by nearly 200 countries in the French capital in 2015.

The agreement seeks to limit average global warming caused by greenhouse gases from fos-sil-fuel burning to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, and to 1.5 C if possible. The 1 C mark has already been passed, and scientists say that on current country pledges to cut emissions, the world is headed for a 3 C future. The IUCN monitors more than 200 natural Heritage Sites listed by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Three World Heritage-listed coral reefs — the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean, the Belize Barrier Reef in the Atlantic, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the biggest on Earth — have been affected by “devastating” bleaching events over the last three years, said the IUCN report.

Climate change imperils one in four Unesco natural sites

Former speaker of Catalonia’s dissolved regional parliament Carme Forcadell (second left), former first deputy Anna Sim (left), former second vice-president Jose Maria Espejo-Saavedra Conesa (second right) and Carlos Carrizosa of Ciudadanos political party attend a meeting with the permanent provincial government at the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona, yesterday.

Spain sees Russian meddling in Catalonia

who favour remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot.

The separatist vote has plunged Spain, the euro zone’s fourth-biggest economy, into its worst constitutional crisis since its return to democracy in the 1970s.

Dastis said he had raised the issue with the Kremlin.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any such interference and accuses the West of a campaign to discredit Russia.

Nato believes Moscow is

involved in a deliberately ambiguous strategy of informa-tion warfare and disinformation to try to divide the West and break its unity over economic sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

US intelligence agencies con-cluded in January that Russia interfered in the U.S. election to try to help President Donald Trump defeat rival Hillary Clin-ton by hacking and releasing emails and spreading propa-ganda via social media.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who attended the EU meeting in Brussels, declined to comment on Spain’s accusations, but the alliance’s top commander said last week that Russian inter-ference was a concern.

Nato’s Supreme Allied Com-mander Gen. Curtis Scaparotti said “Russian malign influence” was trying to sway elections and other decisions in the West, describing it as a “destabilisation campaign,” although he did not directly address the Catalonia referendum.

Slovenia’s president wins second term in run-off electionSpain’s defence and

foreign ministers said they had evidence that state and private-sector Russian groups, as well as groups in Venezuela, used Twitter, Facebook and other Internet sites to massively publicise the separatist cause and swing public opinion behind it in the run-up to the October 1 referendum.

Reykjavik AFP

Iceland’s political leaders began new negotiations to form a government, a week

after left-led coalition talks broke down, the president’s office said. Outgoing Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s conservative Independence Party, which came out on top in the elections but lost almost a quarter of its seats after being tainted by scandals, has now entered the talks.

“The leaders of each party have expressed their willing-ness to start official negotiations in order to reach an agreement about the future government and ministerial posts,” a statement from Pres-ident Gudni Johannesson’s office said. Iceland’s snap elec-tion in October saw a record eight parties win seats but left none close to a majority.

Under the Icelandic system, the president, who holds a largely ceremonial role, usually charges the leader of the big-gest party with putting a government together. But it was Katrin Jakobsdottir, whose Left-Green party came second in the polls, who was first tasked with holding coalition talks.

Last week she failed to reach agreement with the Social Democratic Alliance, the anti-establishment Pirate Party and the centre-right Progressive Party. Benedikts-son called the snap election on October 28 after a junior member of his centre-right coalition quit over a legal scandal involving Benedikts-son’s father. Growing public distrust of the elite in recent years has spawned several anti-establishment parties, splintering the political land-scape and making it increasingly difficult to form a stable government.

Icelandic parties begin new talks to form govt

18 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017AMERICAS

Brazilian President Michel Temer and First Lady Marcela Temer receive a tribute during an event to announce the creation of the Social Plan to Combat Violence in Rio de Janeiro. Violence between gangs and clashes with police have become increasingly frequent and deadly following last year’s Rio Olympics. More than 110 police officers have died since the start of the year in Rio.

Combating gang violence

Little RockAFP

When it comes to the herbicide d i c a m b a , farmers in the southern state

of Arkansas are not lacking for strong opinions.

“Farmers need it desper-ately,” said Perry Galloway.

“If I get dicamba on (my products), I can’t sell anything,” responded Shawn Peebles.

The two men know each other well, living just miles apart in the towns of Gregory and Augusta, in a corner of the state where cotton and soybean fields reach to the horizon and homes are often miles from the nearest neighbor.

But they disagree profoundly on the use of dicamba.

Last year the agro-chemical giant Monsanto began selling soy and cotton seeds genetically modified to tolerate the herbicide.

The chemical product has been used to great effect against a weed that plagues the region, Palmer amaranth, or pigweed -- especially since it became resistant to another herbicide, glyphosate, which has become highly controversial in Europe over its effects on human health.

The problem with dicamba is that it vaporizes easily and is carried by the wind, often spreading to nearby farm fields -- with varying effects.

Facing a surge in complaints, authorities in Arkansas early this summer imposed an urgent ban on the product’s sale. The state is now poised to ban its use between April 16 and October 31, covering the period after plants have emerged from the soil and when climatic conditions favor dicamba’s dispersal.

“Dicamba has affected my whole family,” said Kerin Hawkins, her voice trembling. Her brother, Mike Wallace, died last year during an altercation with a worker from a

neighboring farm whom he had met to discuss his concerns over the herbicide.

A jury is set to rule on whether Wallace’s fatal shoot-ing constituted homicide or self-defense.

This year, the family says, drifting dicamba has affected some 75 acres (30 hectares) of peanuts and 10 acres of new varieties of vegetables planted on their farm, sharply reducing profits.

To protect themselves against the product’s impact, the family has decided to plant cot-ton seeds genetically modified to resist dicamba.

“This is not just a dicamba issue, this is not just a Monsanto issue, this is about how we as human beings treat other peo-ple,” Kerin Hawkins said.

She was testifying Wednes-day at a public hearing in Little Rock, the state capitol, organized by the agency that regulates pes-ticide and herbicide use in Arkansas.

Immediately afterward the agency called for curbs on the use of dicamba, a decision sub-ject to legislative approval.

So large was the turnout for the hearing that the agency had to move it from its own offices to a meeting room in a hotel. In all, 37 people stepped up to the microphone to explain -- often in voices shaking with emotion

-- why they favored or strongly opposed the product. “I’m here to tell you we used dicamba and we had a wonderful year,” said Harry Stephens, who with his son grows soybeans in Phillips County.

At a time when some younger farmers are struggling to make ends meet, he said, ban-ning dicamba could “put them

out of business.”Richard Coy, who raises

bees, said dicamba has had a devastating impact on hives located near farm fields where dicamba is in use.

“I lost $500,000 in honey production and $200,000 worth of pollination contracts to Cali-fornia farms due to the poor health of my beehives,” he said.

Weed-killer prompts angry divide among US farmers

WashingtonAP

President Donald Trump is nominating white men to America’s fed-eral courts at a rate not seen in nearly 30

years, threatening to reverse a slow transformation toward a judiciary that reflects the nation’s diversity.

So far, 91 percent of Trump’s nominees are white, and 81 per-cent are male, an Associated Press analysis has found. Three of every four are white men, with few Afri-can-Americans and Hispanics in the mix. The last president to nom-inate a similarly homogenous group was George H W Bush.

The shift could prove to be one of Trump’s most enduring

legacies. These are lifetime appointments, and Trump has inherited both an unusually high number of vacancies and an aging population of judges. That puts him in position to signifi-cantly reshape the courts that decide thousands of civil rights, environmental, criminal justice and other disputes across the country. The White House has been upfront about its plans to quickly fill the seats with con-servatives, and has made clear that judicial philosophy tops any concerns about shrinking racial or gender diversity.

Trump is anything but shy about his plans, calling his imprint on the courts an “untold story” of his presidency.

“Nobody wants to talk about it,” he says. “But when you think

of it ... that has consequences 40 years out.” He predicted at a recent Cabinet meeting, “A big percentage of the court will be changed by this administration over a very short period of time.”

Advocates for putting more women and racial minorities on the bench argue that courts that more closely reflect the demo-graphics of the population ensure a broader range of viewpoints and inspire greater confidence in judicial rulings.

One court that has become a focus in the debate is the East-ern District of North Carolina, a region that, despite its sizeable black population, has never had a black judge. A seat on that court has been open for more than a decade. George W. Bush named a white man, and Barack Obama at different points nominated two black women, but none of those nominees ever came to a vote in the Senate.

Trump has renominated Bush’s original choice: Thomas

Farr, a private attorney whose work defending North Carolina’s redistricting maps and a voter identification law has raised con-cerns among civil rights advocates. Kyle Barry, senior policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that when diversity is lacking, “there’s a clear percep-tion where the courts are not a place people can go and vindi-cate their civil rights.”

In recent decades, Democrats have consistently named more racial minorities and women on the courts. But even compared to his Republican predecessors, Trump’s nominees stand out. So far, he has nominated the highest percentage of white judges in his first year since Ronald Reagan. If he continues on his trend through

his first term, he will be the first Republican since Herbert Hoover to name fewer women and minor-ities to the court than his GOP predecessor.

The AP reviewed 58 nomi-nees to lifetime positions on appellate and district courts, as well as the Supreme Court, by the end of October. Fifty-three are white, three are Asian-American, one is Hispanic and one is Afri-can-American. There are 47 men and 11 women. Thirteen have won Senate approval.

The numbers stand in marked contrast to those of Obama, who made diversifying the federal bench a priority. White men rep-resented just 37 percent of judges confirmed during Obama’s two terms; nearly 42 percent of his judges were women.

Trump nominating white men to federal courts

Gossip columnist Liz Smith dead at 94

Eight killedin Mexico’s AcapulcoAcapulcoAP

Eight people were killed and five other bodies found in a clandestine

grave in Acapulco on a par-ticularly bloody Sunday for the violence-plagued Pacific coast resort city. “It was a horrible day,” said Roberto Alvarez, security spokesman for Guerrero state, which is home to Acapulco.

The violence began early when police were alerted to the dead bodies of three young men found with tourniquets around their necks and signs of torture in the San Agustin neighborhood on Acapulco’s northern outskirts.

Later in the morning, a gun battle broke out between police and armed men on a central avenue, setting off a chase that ended with one suspect killed and three arrested. Still before noon, two gunmen stormed into a bar and shot dead a man and a woman who were drinking there. Police patrolling nearby responded and caught the aggressors.

The suspects told police that the bar contained a clan-destine grave, and an excavation by authorities turned up the bodies of four men and one woman.

New YorkReuters

New York gossip column-ist Liz Smith, who covered the breakup of

US President Donald Trump’s first marriage and helped lead the media’s charge into celeb-rity news, died on Sunday at her Manhattan home, the New York

Times and other media reported. She was 94. The Texas native chronicled the lives of Holly-wood and Broadway stars, along with moguls, models and the wealthy, starting in the 1950s.

She famously broke the news of Trump’s separation from his first wife, Ivana, in the New York Daily News, one of several papers where she

worked over the years. She also worked at New York Newsday and the New York Post. Her col-umn was widely syndicated, and at her peak she earned more than $1m a year. Unlike her predecessors in the gossip field, her coverage often had less to do with scandal and more about offering readers a window into the lives of the rich and famous.

Top court to hear dispute over pregnancy centre lawWashingtonReuters

The US Supreme Court yes-terday agreed to decide whether a California law

requiring private facilities that counsel pregnant women against abortion to post signs telling clients how to get state-funded abortions and contraceptives violates free speech rights.

The justices will hear an appeal brought by Christian-based non-profit facilities sometimes called “crisis preg-nancy centers” of a lower court ruling that upheld the Demo-cratic-backed 2015 California law. The challengers argue that the law, by forcing them to post the information, violates the US Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

California argued that the Reproductive FACT Act, passed by a Democratic-led legislature and signed by Democratic Gov-ernor Jerry Brown, is justified by its responsibility to regulate the healthcare industry and is needed to ensure that women know the state has programs providing abortions and birth control.

The law requires licensed healthcare facilities to post a notice saying that the state has programs for “immediate free or low-cost access to comprehen-sive family planning services ...

prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women.” For non-licensed medical facilities, an additional notice is required stat-ing that the center “has no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services.”

The facilities had asked the high court to hear their appeal of a ruling last year by the San Fran-cisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the law.

In 2014, the US Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to similar law in New York City, although that case differed from the California dis-pute because the lower court had struck down several pro-visions, including one that required centres to disclose whether they provide abortions and other reproductive care.

The “crisis pregnancy cent-ers” counsel women not to have abortions. These facilities, according to critics, often are located near hospitals and abortion clinics, offer ultra-sounds and are staffed by people wearing medical garb. Some are medically licensed facilities, others are not.

Challengers included the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, an umbrella group for anti-abortion preg-nancy crisis centers that said its members include 73 centres in California that are medically licensed and 38 that are not.

A public hearing of the Arkansas Plant Board in Little Rock, Arkansas, yesterday. The use of the herbicide Dicamba has pitted farmers against each other.

91 percent white

Trump’s action threatening to reverse a slow transformation towards a diverse judiciary.

So far, 91 percent of Trump’s nominees are white, and 81 percent are male, according to AP.

19TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 AMERICAS

Central American migrants seeking for asylum in the United States walk to the US-Mexico border at El Chaparral port of entry, in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico. The self-called “Viacrucis Guadalupano Migrantes Solidarios” started their march on October 8 at the Guatemala-Mexico border.

Asylum march

Pharmaceutical executive is Trump’s health secretaryWashingtonAFP

US President Donald Trump, who harshly criticized pharmaceu-

tical firms during his campaign, said yesterday he has chosen an executive from the industry to be his new sec-retary of health.

“Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary. He will be a star for better health-care and lower drug prices!” Trump said in a tweet.

Azar worked for a decade at Eli Lilly and Company and most recently headed the pharmaceutical giant’s US operations.

He left in January 2017 and formed strategic consult-ing firm Seraphim Strategies, according to Azar’s LinkedIn profile.

Azar also has high-level experience in the department he is being asked to head. He served as deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2007 during the George W. Bush administration, and as its general counsel for the four years prior.

The nomination comes six weeks after Tom Price resigned as health secretary amid a scandal over his tax-payer-funded travel.

That departure left a hole in the Trump administration as it grappled with address-ing a deadly opioid epidemic, and as Trump’s Republicans failed to repeal and replace former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

WashingtonReuters

US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called yesterday for Roy

Moore, the party’s Senate can-didate in Alabama, to “step aside” over allegations he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl decades ago.

McConnell told reporters in his home state of Kentucky that party officials were considering whether a Republican write-in candidate could be found to challenge Moore in the Decem-ber 12 special election.

“I think he should step aside,” said McConnell, who had previously said Moore should leave the race if the allegations were true. “I believe the women.”

Moore, a Christian

conservative who was a heavy favorite to win the election against Democrat Doug Jones, has denied allegations in the Post story about his relation-ships with women when they were teenagers, including a charge he initiated sexual con-tact with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s.

He has refused to leave the race and said on Twitter that McConnell was the person who should step down. “He has failed conservatives and must be replaced,” Moore said.

Other national Republicans also have backed away from Moore.

The Republican Senate cam-paign arm on Friday severed its fund-raising relationship with him for the special election to fill a seat vacated by Jeff Ses-sions when he became US

attorney general earlier this year. “I stand with the Majority Leader on this,” Utah Republi-can Senator Orrin Hatch tweeted yesterday. “These are serious and disturbing allegations.”

But the state party and many other Alabama Republicans have not wavered in their sup-port of Moore, who scored a decisive primary victory in Sep-tember over Luther Strange, who was appointed to fill the Sessions seat on an interim basis and was supported by President Donald Trump.

A Democratic win in Ala-bama would be a blow to Trump’s agenda and shift the political outlook for next year’s midterm elections, giving Dem-ocrats a shot at gaining the three seats they need to recapture control of the US Senate.

WashingtonAFP

Hate crimes across the United States accelerated in 2016 as the divi-sive election battle

that saw Donald Trump elected president progressed, FBI sta-tistics showed yesterday.

Hate crimes -- acts moti-vated by bias toward race, ethnicity, religion, sexual ori-entation or gender -- rose overall for the second straight year to 6,121 incidents, up 4.6 percent from 2015.

They also rose steadily quarter by quarter last year to hit 1,747 in the final three months of 2016.

That quarter covered the period just before and just after Trump won the White House, leaning heavily on the support of white Americans while other groups largely backed his rival Hillary Clinton.

Excluding a handful of “multiple bias” incidents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said 57.5 percent of all incidents last year were based on hate related to race, ethnicity or ancestry.

Another 21.0 percent were for religion, and 17.7 percent sexual orientation.

Around 62 percent of the crimes were against people while 37 percent were against property.

More than half of those against people were assault

cases, while nearly 45 percent were crimes of intimidation.

“No person should have to fear being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe, of how they wor-ship,” US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement yesterday.

The FBI did not explain the two-year rise.

Trump repeatedly made comments during last year’s campaign seen as disdainful toward blacks, Latinos, women and other groups.

He won the white vote by a 21 percentage point margin over Clinton, while she cap-tured black voters by an 80 point spread and Hispanic vot-ers by 36 points.

Protestants also supported Trump by a large margin and Catholics by a more narrow spread, while other religions were solidly in Hillary Clinton’s camp.

US hate crimes rose during 2016 election: FBI

Property targeted

Hate crimes rose overall for the second straight year to 6,121 incidents, up 4.6 percent from 2015.

Around 62 percent of the crimes were against people while 37 percent were against property.

WashingtonAFP

A week after the worst mass shooting in Texas’ history, hundreds gathered near

the First Baptist Church in Suth-erland Springs for a Sunday morning service as mourners sought healing through prayer.

Held in a large white tent in a baseball field a few blocks from the church, around 700 people listened to pastor Frank Pomer-oy’s sermon and sang hymns, according to local media reports.

“I knew everybody who gave their life that day. Some of them were my best friends. And my daughter,” an emotional Pomeroy told the congregation, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Pomeroy’s 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, was one of 26 people killed on November 5 when gun-man Devin Kelley opened fire with an assault rifle at the church, located 30 miles south-east of San Antonio.

“I have no doubt they’re dancing with Jesus today,” the pastor, also joined by Texan Senator John Cornyn and local pastor Mark Collins, added.

Members of the crowd -- which included victims and their families -- each received a printed prayer sealed in a plastic bag, the Express-News reported. “Lord, heal the hurting. Be with those that are alone after losing their loved ones. Give them the strength to go on,” it read.

Later Sunday, a temporary memorial opened inside the church. Cleaned, restored and painted completely white by volunteers, it contained 26 empty chairs, accompanied by recordings of previous sermons playing in the background.

Inscribed in gold with a vic-tim’s name and arranged in the spots where they sat during worship, each seat was also adorned with a single rose.

“I haven’t seen this done in other catastrophes,” Pomeroy said, the Washington Post reported. “But I want the world to know that that building will be open so that everyone who walks in there will know that the people who died lived for their lord and saviour.”

Hundreds attend Sunday service a week after Texas church shooting

Google under investigation by Missouriattorney-general Jefferson CityAP

Missouri’s attorney gen-eral announced yesterday that his

office is investigating Google for potential violations of the state’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws.

Republican Attorney Gen-eral Josh Hawley, who also is running for Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s seat in 2018, told reporters that he issued an “investigative sub-poena” to the tech giant to gather information. Asked whether his Senate bid influ-enced his decision to investigate, he said the goal is to “protect the people of Missouri.”

Hawley’s office is check-ing into what Google does with the user information it collects and allegations that it inappropriately scrapes information from competi-tors’ websites. It’s also looking into allegations that the com-pany manipulates search results to favor its own web-sites over competitors’, which has been the subject of recent scrutiny in Europe.

Google spokesman Patrick Lenihan said in a statement that the company has not yet received the sub-poena. “However, we have strong privacy protections in place for our users and con-tinue to operate in a highly competitive and dynamic environment,” Lenihan said.

The Missouri investigation comes on the heels of a $2.7bn antitrust fine issued to the tech giant by the European Union in June for unfairly fea-turing its own shopping services in its influential search results.

Appeals court lets Trump travel ban go partially into effectWashingtonReuters

A US appeals court in Cal-ifornia yesterday let President Donald

Trump’s latest travel ban go partially into effect, ruling the government can bar entry of people from six Muslim-major-ity countries with no connections to the United States.

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals par-tially granted a Trump administration request to block at least temporarily a judge’s ruling that had put the new ban on hold. Trump’s ban was announced on September 24 and replaced two previous ver-sions that had been impeded by federal courts.

The action means the ban will apply to people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad who do not have con-nections to the United States.

Those connections are defined as family relationships and “formal, documented” rela-tionships with US-based entities such as universities and reset-tlement agencies. Those with family relationships that would allow entry include grandpar-e n t s , g r a n d c h i l d r e n , brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of people in the US.

The ruling does not affect people from the two other countries listed in Trump’s ban, North Korea and Venezuela.

The state of Hawaii, which sued to block the restrictions, argued that federal immigra-tion law did not give Trump the

authority to impose them on six of those countries. US District Judge Derrick Watson in Hono-lulu ruled last month that Hawaii was likely to succeed with that argument.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin said the court’s decision tracked what the Supreme Court said in June when it partially revived Trump’s second travel ban, which has now expired. “I’m pleased that family ties to the US, including grandparents, will be respected,” Chin added.

Trump issued his first travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries in January, just a week after he took office, and then issued a revised one after the first was blocked by the courts. The second one expired in September after a long court fight and was replaced with another revised version.

Trump has said the travel ban is needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Muslim militants.

As a candidate, Trump had promised “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US.” Critics of the travel ban in its various iterations call it a “Muslim ban” that violates the US Constitution by discriminat-ing on the basis of religion.

The 9th Circuit is due to hear oral arguments in the case on December 6. In a parallel case from Maryland, a judge also ruled against the Trump administration and partially blocked the ban from going into effect. An appeal in the Mary-land case is being heard on Dec. 8 by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Visitors tour the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after it was turned into a memorial to honour those who died in the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

McConnell calls on Moore to ‘step aside’

20 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

04.31am

05.50 am

ZUHRASR

11.18 am

02.25 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

04.48 pm

06.18 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 03:00 – 13:30 LOW TIDE 07:15 – 20: 45

Mild daytime with some clouds and

slight dust.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

23oC 31oC

Raynald C Rivera The Peninsula

A record 103 films from 43 countries are participating in the fifth Ajyal Youth Film Festi-

val, which will open with The Breadwinner — a film execu-tive produced by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie— Doha Film Institute (DFI) announced yesterday.

This is the largest number of films taking part in Ajyal since it started in 2013. The number of young jurors has also seen an increase from 300 in 2013 to 550 this year coming from more than 45 countries.

The six-day event, to be held from November 29 to December 4 at Katara Cultural Village, will feature 36 public screenings of the films, 18 screenings dedicated to the Ajyal jury, interactive panel discussions, red carpet events, and community-oriented activities for all ages.

Ajyal 2017 will open with the Middle East premiere of The Breadwinner by Nora

Twomey and executive pro-duced by Angelina Jolie. It is an animated Afghan tale of a young girl’s will and determi-nation and is based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis.

Announcing the line-up, Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Exec-utive Officer of DFI, said: “From its inception, the Ajyal Youth Film Festival has viewed film not just from the perspective of entertainment but as a medium that can bring about social change and transformation, especially among the youth. We had to address this important con-stituency, with young people aged 15 to 25 making up a fifth of the world’s population.”

“Through cinema, young people get a world-view of the times we live in, and gain fresh perspectives to examine humanity with greater under-standing and empathy. Ajyal is a festival of cinema for the community, for all genera-tions,” she added.

Other highlights of Ajyal 2017 include the MENA pre-miere of Looking for Oum Kulthum from celebrated

visual artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat, Qatar premiere of Loving Vincent – the world’s first fully painted fea-ture film, among others, along with world premieres of the next completed projects from the 2015 and 2016 Qatar Film Fund, Aisha Al-Jaidah’s 1001 Days and Hamida Issa’s Ele-vate respectively.

Among other features of

this year’s festival are a trib-ute to the late Kuwaiti actor Abdulhussain Abdulredha and a Made in Kuwait section as well as the Ajyal Creativity Hub which includes among others Geekdom – a hub for music, games, competitions, talks and films and Ajyal Talks – intimate and in-depth dia-logues on relevant issues that impact youth across the globe.

Tickets for are available for purchase from November 15 for QR25 for general screenings online at www.dohafilminstitute.com and from Ajyal FNAC Ticket Out-let at FNAC (Doha Festival City). From November 18 tick-ets are available for purchase from the Ajyal Katara Box Office in Katara Building 12.

103 films to be screened at Ajyal fest

The Peninsula

Some indicators and complications of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

are unique to women, although most symptoms of the disease are common with men and women, says Manal Othman (pictured), Director of Diabetes Edu-cation at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

Diabetes can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, or lifestyle, how-ever, according to Othman, women may be at greater risk of the disease’s com-plications due to limited knowledge about symp-toms that are unique to females.

“Both men and women with diabetes experience many of the same symp-toms, such as increased thirst and hunger, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss or gain, blurred vision, and fatigue. How-ever, women with diabetes may also experience other symptoms such as vaginal and oral yeast infections, itching or pain, urinary tract infection (UTI), and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). These symptoms are not recognized by most women, and even by some healthcare professionals, as warning signs for dia-betes. This lack of knowledge can result in the disease being initially mis-diagnosed or even

undiagnosed,” said Othman.

“Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart dis-ease. Almost two-thirds of patients with diabetes die from cardiovascular dis-ease. Recent studies suggest that death by heart failure is more common in women than in men. Many studies have also found that women with diabetes are at greater risk than men of kidney disease, depression, and high blood pressure,” said added.

She also said that dia-betes also affects men and women differently, with women being more sus-ceptible to fatal heart disease. Further, pregnant women are urged to seek proper prenatal care, ensuring they have their blood sugar level tested. She added that one in four births in Qatar is affected by gestational diabetes.

Diabetes describes a group of metabolic dis-eases in which a person has high blood sugar due to problems processing or producing insulin.

Diabetes symptoms & risks differ in men and women

Festival Director and Chief Executive Officer of the DFI, Fatma Al Remaihi (right), Chief Administrative Officer, Abdulla Al Musallam, and DFI Senior Programmer, Chadi Zeneddine (left), at the press conference for the 5th Edition of the Ajyal Youth Festival at Al Jazeera Media Cafe in Katara yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

The Peninsula

Fifty One East, Qatar’s favourite department store, held Bridal Lounge’s grand opening ceremony in the presence of New York

Fashion designer, Naeem Khan, who presented his RTW Spring/Summer 2018 and Bridal Fall 2018 collections. The grand opening was attended by high profile personnel and VIP cli-ents along with respected guests from the media.

Located in Lagoona Mall, the Bridal Lounge - Fifty One East was designed to create a seam-less and delightful experience in an off-white and silver coloured setting appealing to clien-teles in search of rare emotions. The new concept offers everything needed for the perfect wed-ding. A detail-oriented, dedicated dream team of experts is on hand to advise clients on each and every element needed to make the brides’ big day even more special. Bridal Lounge, together with selected local and international partners, offers services and one-on-one exper-tise for every planning need. From customized couture gowns, stylists and planners to florists, jewellers and caterers, right down to a photog-rapher who captures every special moment leading up to the big day, Bridal Lounge provides a one-stop destination for brides-to-be.

Mr. Bader Al-Darwish, Chairman and Man-aging Director of Fifty One East, commented: “We have combined the trusted expertise and heritage of Fifty One East with the knowledge of the best bridal experts in the market and the stunning work of premium designers, to create the ultimate destination that offers a truly per-sonalized service to each and every bride.”

Available by appointment only to create an even more exclusive experience, Bridal Lounge clients enjoy a one-on-one consultancy to help the bride-to-be plan the wedding of her dreams, including choosing the perfect dress that matches her unique style and personality, selecting the ideal venue, choosing flowers and caterers and more. To make all of this possible, the Bridal Lounge - Fifty One East has teamed up with sev-eral prestigious partners. These include The Planner, wedding plan service; Brilliance, events and weddings designer; Plaza Hollandi, flower services provider; Rolex, CHANEL Fine

Jewellery and Boucheron; Fauchon, Pierre Hermé, Patchi, and Prime Bites caterers; CHANEL Beauty and Fragrance; Diva Lounge, spa and beauty services provider; Photolive photogra-phy services in additions to Sheraton Hotel and Mondrian Hotel amongst many more.

Each member of the Bridal Lounge team is trained by global designers, ensuring that they are up to date with changing trends and able to make suggestions that will ensure a smooth wed-ding event. Dedicated consultants are available to help the bride-to-be make her dress selec-tion from collections designed by Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Naeem Khan, Monique Lhuillier, Marchesa, Zuhair Murad and other international brands.

Fifty One East opens Bridal Lounge

The Peninsula

The inaugural Aspire Lake Festival, organised by Aspire Zone Foundation

(AZF), attracted a record more than 75,000 visitors and reached more than 4.1m social media users mostly via Face-book and Instagram.

AZF handled the large crowds with the utmost safety in collaboration with local organisations who provided the highest measures of safety and security standards. There were no notable incidents.

Driven by the effective partnership between AZF,

Katara and Ooredoo, the event’s success has prompted AZF to turn the Aspire Lake Festival into an annual event on Qatar’s tourism agenda in the coming years. As such, the organisers at AZF have already begun developing plans for next year, building on feed-back this year to ensure they host an even bigger and bet-ter event next time.

The event garnered very positive remarks from the vis-itors, including prominent media personalities, social media influencers and local SME owners.

“My family and I were

very impressed by the volume of people here. The perform-ances captivated us. We usually see these events when we travel abroad, so it was great for Aspire Zone to host such an event here at home. We hope to see other similar events organisedin Qatar in the future,” said Ali Al Mesle-mani, prominent local Aljazeera presenter.

“The show exceeded my expectations. Everything looked so beautiful and the performance was a lovely sur-prise to us and the many families that attended,” said Hassan Al Sai, Qatar TV

presenter and social media influencer.

“It’s a real pleasure to see so many local and expat com-munity members enjoying themselves at Aspire Park by taking part in a world-class show like this. People are always excited by the oppor-tunity to take part in unusual and unique events, especially when they’re hosted in land-mark locations such as Aspire Park. That is why there were a number of prominent media figures are in attendance. The huge turnout is proof of the Aspire Lake Festival’s suc-cess.” – Asma Al Hammadi,

local media influencer. “We’re honoured to see

this remarkable show in Aspire Zone. The Aspire Lake Festival is unlike any other event we’ve seen in Qatar. Aspire Zone Foundation has evolved from being a sporting institution to an organisation that is also facilitating cultural exchange through events such as the Aspire Lake Festival. It has exceeded our expectations and we hope to see other events like this organised in Qatar in the future,” said Mohammed Al Hammadi, young presenter on Qatar TV and Sout Al Khaleej.

Aspire Lake Fest attracts 4.1m visitors on social media

Officials and staff during the inauguration.