Volume 22 | Number 7438 | 2 RiyalsThursday 15 February 2018 | 29 Jumada 1 I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

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Dominant Wozniacki, Halep cruise into third round in Doha

QDB registers huge jump in post-siege

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BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 40

Emir meets British Parliament delegation

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met yesterday with a delegation from the British Parliament. They reviewed the close cooperation between Qatar and the United Kingdom and ways to develop them as well as discussion of a number of regional and international issues. Speaker of the Advisory Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud was also present.

Qatar pledges $1bn for Iraq rebuildingQNA

KUWAIT: Qatar yesterday pledged to provide a package of loans and investments in infrastructure and recon-struction projects in the sisterly Republic of Iraq worth $1bn, based on its constant concern to help the fraternally Iraqi people, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced.

In his speech, the Foreign Minister presented the greetings of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the participants in the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI), stressing the interest of the Emir in the proceedings of the conference and its support for the brotherly Iraq to regain its role and place in its regional and international environment.

H E Sheikh Mohamed said that the meeting is taking place under precise circumstances that call for concerted Arab, regional and international efforts to support efforts to sta-bilise Iraq as well as supporting the government’s efforts and reconstruction programme and support to national devel-opment plans 2018/2022 and 2023/2027. He expressed appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Iraqi gov-ernment to restore stability, achieve reconciliation and

establish civil peace.The Deputy Prime Minister

and Foreign Minister affirmed the keenness of Qatar to support Iraq and all efforts aimed at guaranteeing its unity and sovereignty, enhancing its security and stability, and building a democratic Iraq in cooperation with all political parties and all components of Iraqi society.

The minister praised the sacrifices and courage of the Iraqi people and their armed forces in the great victory they have achieved in their war against ISIS, terrorism, and extremism in all its forms. He pointed out that these sacrifices led to the liberation of all Iraqi cities and villages from ter-rorism, adding that what has been achieved contributes to the enhancement of security as well as Iraq, the region and international stability.

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The Foreign Minister presented the greetings of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the participants in the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI).

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Airways announced yesterday that it has acquired the Sheraton Melbourne Hotel, further expanding the growing portfolio of its hospitality division, Dhiafatina Hotels.

The Sheraton Melbourne joins the list of establishments acquired and managed by Dhiafatina Hotels, including the Sheraton Skyline Hotel at London’s Heathrow Airport, The Novotel Edin-burgh Park in Edinburgh Scotland, the Oryx Rotana Hotel in Doha and The Airport Hotel located at Doha’s Hamad International Airport (HIA).

Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive Akbar Al Baker said: “The acqui-sition of the Sheraton Melbourne Hotel

complements Qatar Airways’ global strategy for growth and further strengthens our offering for passengers travelling on board our daily flights to Melbourne, which is an important des-tination on the Qatar Airways network. Last year we began flying state-of-the-art Airbus A380 aircraft to Melbourne”.

“Qatar Airways is committed to going places together with our passengers and I am delighted to announce the acqui-sition of the Sheraton Melbourne Hotel as part of the Dhiafatina portfolio, hand-picked to extend the excellent service our passengers receive both in the air and at their destination,” he added.

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Vaccine that can prevent cancer causing virus soon

DOHA: The State of Qatar will introduce an important vaccine this year that can prevent cancer causing virus.

The vaccine, named Human Papil-lomavirus (HPV) Vaccine, can prevent cervical cancer and genital warts. It will be introduced under National Immuni-sation Programme, said a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday.

HPV will be launched during the World Immunisation Week in April and later made available at public healthcare facilities, said Dr Hamad Eid Al Rumaihi, Director, Health Protection and Com-municable Disease Control Department at the MoPH.

“The vaccine has been approved by National Immunisation Committee. It will be included into our National Immu-nisation Programme and made available at government healthcare facilities within this year,” Dr Al Rumaihi said, while speaking on the sidelines of a workshop held at the Hilton Doha.

“We will start creating awareness about the importance of the vaccine during World Immunisation Week in April this year,” he added.

“HVP can prevent cervical cancer

and helps prevent genital warts. The vaccine will not be made mandatory but recommended for both the genders - male and female - between the age of 12 and 26 years,” he remarked.

Qatar’s National Immunisation Pro-gramme includes a wide spectrum of vaccines covers for more than 14 dis-eases and it is considered as one of the unique, updated and advance immuni-sation programmes in the region and ranked in the same level of such pro-grammes of western countries.

The National Immunisation Com-mittee makes changes in the vaccines as required. HPV vaccines prevent infection by certain types of human papillomavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends HPV vaccines as part of routine vaccinations in all coun-tries, along with other preventive measures.

According to the WHO, HPV are common throughout the world. Although most infections with HPV cause no symptoms, persistent genital HPV infection can cause cervical cancer in women. Virtually all cervical cancer cases (99percent) are linked to genital infection with HPV which is the most common viral infection of the repro-ductive tract.

FAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Emir condoles with Queen of Denmark

Emir to attend Munich Security Conference

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of condolences to Queen Margrethe II of the Kingdom of Denmark on the death of her husband Prince Henrik. Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a similar cable.

QP rolls out new corporate strategyTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Petroleum has rolled out its new corporate strategy and core values designed to firmly place this energy icon on the road to realising its vision “to become one of the best national oil and gas companies with roots in Qatar and a strong

international presence”. The rollout signals a new era of growth for QP, led by the planned expansion of North Field production, which will further boost Qatar’s leading global position by raising its LNG production from 77 million to 100 million tons per year. → FULL REPORT ON PAGE 21

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Cabinet reviewed in its regular meeting yesterday the letter of Minister of Municipality and Environment on the Minis-try’s views on a draft decree allocating some of the lands to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (QGEWC) to establish a solar power plant and took the appropriate decision thereon.

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and fol-lowing the meeting, Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi stated that the Cabinet reviewed topics on its meeting’s agenda.

Topics reviewed included adoption of the necessary measures to pass a draft law on the national system of the Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Materials.

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Cabinet reviews land allocation for solar power plant

DOHA: Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will attend 54th session of Munich Security Conference from February 16 to 18 in Munich, Germany.

Qatar Airways acquires Sheraton Melbourne Hotel

British delegation reviews Qatar’s efforts in handling siege damagesQNA

DOHA: A British parliamentary delegation praised the efforts of Qatar in the field of protecting and enhancing workers’ rights and its keenness on legislative progress in the laws of labour and wage protection.

The remarks were made during a meeting yesterday between National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Chairman H E Dr Ali bin Sumikh Al Marri and the delegation, which is cur-rently on a visit to Doha and led by MP Alistair Carmichael. The

delegation said they would get in touch with the British Foreign Office following their return from Doha and give the chairman of the British Parlia-ment’s Foreign Affairs Com-mittee copies of the report on the repercussions of the siege on human rights, which was drafted by the technical mission of the Office of the OHCHR.

Dr Al Marri said that the committee will contact the UN Human Rights Council and the special rapporteurs on human rights regarding the report of the international organisation’s mission and call upon them to

take urgent steps to redress the victims of the siege whether citizens, residents or citizens of GCC especially after the issuance of the UN report, which is considered a legal document and an important reference that neutrally and credibly confirms the damage caused by the siege.

Al Marri made a presen-tation to the British delegation on the developments of the current crisis and said that the highest priority is to stop the increasing humanitarian vio-lations and stop the suffering of civilians.

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Phase two of HGH surgical services expansion openedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari yesterday inaugurated phase two of Hamad General Hospital’s state-of-the-art surgical services expansion.

The second phase of the sur-gical services expansion, which is part of Hamad Medical Cor-poration’s (HMC) busiest expansion programme in more than a decade, includes 16 rooms to receive patients from wards, 30 recovery rooms, a dedicated nurses’ station, conference room, and enhanced staff areas. Each of the new patient rooms is fitted with the latest monitoring equipment and other facilities, which will ensure the highest level of patient safety.

The expansion of Hamad General Hospital’s surgical services is part of an ambitious and comprehensive plan to increase capacity and revitalise

the country’s largest and busiest hospital. The surgical services facility is situated adjacent to the large-scale trauma and emer-gency re-development site, which is currently under construction.

“This new phase in the expansion is an integral part of HMC’s commitment to extend its surgical, trauma and emergency health infrastructure with inno-vative services and amenities. It is also part of a commitment to enhance the hospital’s surgical capacity and capabilities, pro-viding the most advanced tech-

niques available to Qatar’s pop-ulation,” said Dr Al Kawari.

“These new facilities are designed to enhance the patient experience. It highlights the fact that HMC continues to provide the latest technologically-advanced operating rooms and surgical equipment as well as restorative pre and post-operative rooms that emphasise patient safety and comfort,” she added.

HMC’s Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Abdulla Al Ansari said the new facilities met and exceeded world standards for patient safety and medical

equipment. “With additional capacity for patient recovery after surgery as well as extra space, this expansion will greatly enhance the efficiency of our operating theatre complex by improving patient flow. This will also have direct impact on our patients’ pathways, making it a better overall experience for them,” said Dr Al Ansari.

The first phase of HMC’s sur-gical services expansion was

officially opened in 2016 by Prime Minister and Interior Min-ister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. It houses 20 ultramodern surgical theatres, a 19-bed Trauma Intensive Care Unit, a 15-bed Surgical Intensive Care Unit and three hybrid operating rooms that provide state-of-the-art real-time imaging through CT, MRI, Brain Lab and Artis Zeego imaging technology.

Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, touring the state-of-the-art facility of the phase two of Hamad General Hospital’s surgical services expansion, after its inauguration yesterday.

Prime Minister receives British Parliament delegation

Prime MInister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with a delegation from the British Parliament, on the occasion of their visit to the country. They reviewed the close cooperation between the State of Qatar and the United Kingdom and the ways in which to develop them.

Speaker of the Advisory (Shura) Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud with the British Parliament delegation.

The second phase of the surgical services expansion, which is part of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) busiest expansion programme in more than a decade, includes 16 rooms to receive patients from wards, 30 recovery rooms, a dedicated nurses’ station, conference room, and enhanced staff areas.

QA acquires Sheraton Melbourne Hotel

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The elegant five-star Sheraton

Melbourne Hotel is located in the Paris end of Melbourne’s Little Collins Street, just minutes away from many well-known restaurants, theatres and designer boutiques as well as Mel-bourne’s Central Business District. It is also within walking distance from the iconic Parliament House and the Melbourne Museum. With its 174 lux-urious rooms and suites, it is ideally situated for guests choosing a city break as well as business travellers who are attending one of Melbourne’s many events and exhibitions.

The hotel features the Little Collins Street Restaurant with its Signature Seafood Buffet and High Tea, as well as its magnificent view of Melbourne. The hotel also fea-tures the distinguished East Res-taurant on the ground floor, as well as the many scrumptious delights of Crux & Co Pâtisserie.

The Spa at the Sheraton Mel-bourne features five treatment rooms, an indoor heated lap pool and a state-of-the-art fitness centre. A dedicated floor offers 670 square meters of meetings and events space and extensive event coordinating and catering facility.

03THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

Deputy PM and FM attends Iraq reconstruction meet

Qatar Rail begins workshops on security and emergencyTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Rail has kicked off it first working groups meeting for Security and Emergency in preparation for the oper-ational phase of the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram projects. The workshop, held at La Cigale Hotel in Doha, was attended by high-ranking officials and representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), HMC Ambulance Services , Ashghal and Kahramaa.

“We are on the verge of a very sig-nificant stage as our projects are wit-nessing a rapid progress as we approach the operational phase. As such we have adopted a proactive approach toward ensuring the safety and security of our network,” said Eng Abdulla Al Subaie,

Qatar Rail’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer speaking at the event. “At this meeting we have brought together, Qatar Rail team, RKH – the network operator and key external stakeholders to outline security and emergency measures as we fully appre-ciate the fact that the success of our operations will not be possible without the support of our partners and the early involvement of our key stakeholders including the Ministry of Interior and its various departments, MoTC and other government bodies. The workshop series is aimed at facilitating commu-nication and reinforcement of efficient coordination between all the concerned parties in case of an emergency. As the safety and security of the railways system is a responsibility that we all carry equally,” he added.

Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, Director General of Public Secu-rity (Chief of Police), stated: “We would like to thank Qatar Rail for its efforts to organize this workshop which helps us to have a better understanding of the nature of railway network operations, as well as the neces-sary security requirements. On our part we

will endeavor to put together the plans and strategies needed to prepare for the upcoming phase of operations by allocating all the right resources and equipment nec-essary to prepare all the security cadres and train them on this new system”.

Brigadier General Abdulla Mohamed Al Suwaidi, Chairman of the National

Command Center, said: “The creation of a unified communications platform and achieving integration between all concerned authorities are at the top of our priorities at the National Command Center due to the high importance of the operation of railway networks”.

Hassan bin Hassan Al Hail, Advisor to the Minister of Transport and Communica-tions, stated: “MoTC seeks to reinforce joint efforts aiming at guaranteeing the safety and security of the transportation system of Qatar. In the near future, railway services will launch and we are working closely with Qatar Rail and all the concerned authori-ties to make sure that we are fully prepared for this important phase, as well as provide recommendations pertaining to the safety, security and integration of the railways system with other elements of the transpor-tation system”.

Qatar Rail Managing Director and CEO Eng Abdulla Al Subaie speaking at the event.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attending the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI), in Kuwait City, yesterday.

No major incidents of Tetanus, Diphtheria and whooping coughFAZEENA SALEEM

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar has not recorded any outbreak of three common bacterial infections (Diphtheria,Pertussis,Tetanus) in the last seven years. The diseases has been eliminated due to the effective national vaccination programme implemented in the country, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

There has not been any major incidents of Tetanus, Diphtheria (a serious bacterial infection that affects respiratory system) and Pertussis (whooping cough) in the country and majority of people are vaccinated against the diseases, said Sheikh Dr Mohamed Al Thani, Director of Public Health MoPH yesterday.

“In the last seven years, we didn’t report any endemic of the diseases in Qatar,” he said.

However, two cases of Diph-theria were reported in 2017 and two Pertussis cases in 2016, among

those who were not vaccinated against the diseases, Dr Al Thani further said, speaking on the side-lines of a workshop held related to upcoming Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (Tdap) National School Vaccination Campaign for students in the tenth grade.

The eighth annual Tdap cam-paign will begin on February 18 and aims to vaccinate 9,000 stu-dents in independent and private schools. Dr Hamad Eid Al Rumaihi, Director, Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control Department at the MoPH said, “Our aim is to keep Qatar free from these (Tdap ) diseases. The cam-paign is in its eighth year. Our aim is to sustain a strong

national vaccination programme for children and keep them safe from infections. We are having such a campaign because every vaccine has its time-bound effi-cacy. When a child reaches ado-lescent age the immune level induced by the vaccine given at childhood becomes weak.”

During the vaccination cam-paign, doctors and nurses from the MoPH and Primary Health care Corporation will visit schools to vaccinate students. However, chil-dren will be vaccinated only if par-ents give their consent.

“We have already distributed the consent forms among parents. So if parents reject we won’t vac-cinate the child. The more parents will cooperate, the more we will be able to protect children. Last year we reached around 70 per-cent of the targeted number of children and this year we aim at reaching at least 80 percent,” said Dr Al Rumaihi.

The eighth annual Tdap campaign aims to vaccinate 9,000 students in independent and private schools.

04 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

QF concludes 3-day Kuwait roadshow

DOHA: Qatar Foundation (QF) successfully concluded its inau-gural Education City Roadshow in Kuwait yesterday.

The three-day event provided young men and women with an opportunity to learn more about QF’s multidisciplinary environment at Education City, including Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and QF’s eight international partner universities.

Engineer Saad Ibrahim Al Muhannadi, Lifetime Member of the Board of Directors, QF, said: “Our Education City Roadshow in Kuwait represents a unique oppor-tunity to showcase our multidisci-plinary education ecosystem. Through our homegrown uni-versity, HBKU, and our eight partner universities, we work to empower and support students from the first day of college through to advanced post-graduate studies, equipping young people with the skills and tools to serve the needs of the wider region.”

High school students attending the roadshow were able access

information about scholarships and funding opportunities, cross-registration classes, student housing, and life in Qatar.

Kholoud M Al Ali, Director, Internal Communication, QF, said: “Education City is home to branch campuses of some of the world’s leading higher education institu-tions. For Kuwaiti students who want to obtain a world-class edu-cation without having to travel too far from home, our universities offer the possibility of developing their skills and potential – academ-ically and personally – in a safe and multicultural environment.”

Representatives from all nine QF universities attended the roadshow, allowing visitors to ask questions and learn more about the diverse range of higher edu-cation programs available across Education City.

Roadshow visitor Assaad Abdel Karim said, “My daughter graduated from Virginia Com-monwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar in 2011, and her experience was just wonderful. We were worried about her studying abroad, but it became like a second home to her. The administration was fantastic, and the staff took care of her.”

Mahmoud Omar Abdullah, a Jordanian resident living in Kuwait, said, “My children love Qatar, and they would like to con-tinue their education there. The Education City Roadshow is very important for many people here, and we wish Qatar Foundation all the best.”

Over the past two decades, QF, a non-profit organization that sup-ports Qatar on its journey to becoming a diversified and sus-tainable economy, has developed the foundations for education, research, and community devel-opment both locally and internationally.

The three-day roadshow provided young people in Kuwait with an opportunity to learn more about Qatar Foundation’s offerings at Education City.

Hundreds participate in Ooredoo Sport Day event at MIA ParkTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo’s Sport Day activities at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park was a huge success with hundreds of families and friends attending the free daylong event. The Ooredoo Sport Day event ran from 8am until 5pm and offered over 40 sporting activities available free of charge to try.

Highlights of the day included the Ooredoo VS Qatar Football League friendly match featuring Mubarak Mustafa, Al Mu’zz Ali, Talal Al Bloushi, Mohammed Salem Al-Mal, Mohsen Al Yazidi, Saud Al Hajri, Abdulla Taleb, and Ahmed Kanoo from Oman. Other popular activities were the human chess game, and the amazing family friendly inflatable zone which attracted a host of people.

Mini-golf, boxing, table tennis, archery, tug of war, karate, aerobics, basketball, and more were also available on the day. On top of free sporting activities, Ooredoo encouraged people who were less active to walk MIA Park in order to receive up to 750 Nojoom Points.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director of PR and Corporate Communications, Ooredoo, said:

“We’re extremely happy with the outcome of our Sport Day 2018 event. This was the seventh year that Ooredoo has partnered with MIA Park to bring Qatar’s com-munities together and this year we had more activities and par-ticipants than ever before”.

As well as sporting activities, healthy food options were sold at the park alongside fresh juice and water, and Ooredoo encouraged families to bring a picnic and enjoy the daylong

event. “We hope our Sport Day event enabled everyone to try out a range of new sports and activ-ities and we encourage everyone in Qatar to try and keep these activities up throughout the year, to become healthier and fitter,” Manar Khalifa al Muraikhi added.

Ooredoo’s support for Qatar’s Sport Day is part of its ongoing commitment to raise awareness of the importance of fitness and health to the people of Qatar.

Ooredoo Group Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani at NSD 2018.

The three-day event provided young men and women with an opportunity to learn more about QF’s multidisciplinary environment at Education City, including Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and QF’s eight international partner universities.

Artists at the 7th Heaven Arts Qatar event. The revenue from the selected artworks will be allocated to Qatar Cancer Society.

Qatari women artists attend ‘Rahma’ eventTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Under the theme Rahma (mercy) the 7th Heaven Arts Qatar in collab-oration with Qatar Cancer Society recently organised an event of arts.

The Event was attended by honourable guests including the wife of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah; wife of Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanem bin Al Ali; wife of H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari, Min-ister of State, wife of the CEO of the First Bank alongwith a number of businesswomen and wives of ambassadors.

The event has come as part of the actual start of the activities of the 7th Heaven Arts, where an agreement was signed with Qatar Caner Society appointing Amal Al Athem as ambassador for the caner society.

A number of Qatari female artists participated in the event and the hon-ourable guests selected a number of art works and the revenue collected through the activity was allocated for the Qatar Cancer Society.

The 7th Heaven Arts takes interest in innovation and the development of talent in all areas of the visual arts in order to par-ticipate in activities of cul-tural entities.

Workshop on community policing for Nepali expats heldDOHA: Community Police Department at the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with Overseas Nepali Forum Qatar organised a workshop to educate the representatives of Nepali expatriate community about community policing, its role and the services it provides to the community.

Qatar’s labor law and other rules and regulations related to safety and security of the residents in the country were also discussed at the workshop, said a release. The workshop entitled “Intro-

duction and Interaction Pro-gamme between Community Police and Nepali Community” was held at Al Rayyan Security Department recently.

The Qatar’s Labour Law of 2016 of Nepali version trans-lated by Prof Mohammed Ramzan Ali Miya, a Doha-based Nepali human rights activist and social worker, was released at the event.

The book was edited and ver-ified and printed by Qatar Embassy to Nepal in coordination with Tribhuvan University in

Kathmandu. The event was attended by 1st Lieutenant, Ali Audh Al Hubabi, Community police officer at Rayyan Security Department; Lt Col Hamed Mohammed Al Mohannadi, Head of Community Policing Affaires; Captain Thalal Munassar Al Madoor, Head of Administration; Chanak Pokhrel, President of Overseas Nepalese Forum.

Speaking at the workshop, Col Sulthan Mohammed Al Kaabi, Assistant Director for Community police department appreciated the role of Nepali community in the infrastructure development

of Qatar and promised to provide all possible support to provide them a better life in the country. There are more than 400,000 Nepali expatriates in Qatar.

The representatives of Nepali Community demanded the Com-munity Police to hold awareness programme in Nepali language. In response, an official assured that a Nepali translator will be appointed soon to remove the language barrier.

The members of Nepali com-munity were taken to the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior at the facility of the old traffic department at Madinat Khalifa to interact with the officials.

The representatives of Nepali Community were asked to educate their fellow citizens about Qatari law, rules and reg-ulations like wearing decent dresses and those related to alcohol to ensure their safety and others in the country. A total of 100 representatives from Nepali Community attended the workshop.

THE PENINSULA

The participants showing the Nepali version of Qatar’s Labour Law.

THE PENINSULA

05THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

Orbital Road reduces 50% of travel time THE PENINSULA

DOHA: As part of the awareness campaign of the completed external roads, the Public Works Authority, ‘Ashghal’, in collabora-tion with the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has gone ahead with an awareness campaign of the Orbital Road following the recent accomplishment of many of the highway sections and junctions.

The Orbital Road possesses various benefits, on top of them is it reduces roughly 50% of travel time from South to Centre and North of the country since it has lanes that currently accommodate approximately 8,000 vehicles per hour and provide a free traffic movement.

The road has become one of the safest routes in Qatar thanks to its seven lanes (five only open) and the separated lanes for trucks and cars, the hard shoulders and lights along the whole highway, unlike the old road which com-prised only two lanes for heavy and light vehicles alike.

Strategically speaking, for a distance of over 125km, the Orbital Road meets with a number of key highways that feed several resi-dential and business areas.

The Orbital Road connects at Bu Jood Interchange with G-Ring Road, a key highway which its recent opening has caused a rad-ical change on traffic in the country. Such connectivity cre-ates a streamlined traffic for all movements coming to and from the North and Doha, Hamad Inter-national Airport (HIA) as well as Industrial area and Mesaieed in the south.

Also, the people living in Al Wakrah, Al Wukair and South Doha can use the G-Ring Road to Join the Orbital Road then head for Al Khor and Lusail in the North or Dukhan in the West through a

seamless traffic. Salwa Road is another vital artery that meets with Orbital Road at Interchange 24 (Mesaieed Interchange). Trav-ellers coming from the areas around like Industrial Area, or housing areas of Ain Khalid, Umm Al Senee, Al Waab or Al Murra can enjoy a journey on the Orbital Road towards Mesieed in the south or Al Khor in the north or Dukhan in the West, avoiding traffic in Doha or 22 February Street.

Providing the junction linking Dukan Road and Orbital Road easy traffic in all directions, people residing in Al Rayyan and Al

Wajba along with the external areas of Al Sheehaniya, Lejmiliya and Dukhan can use the Orbital Road towards the northern area and Al Khor and the southern areas and Mesaieed alike and then join Salwa Road, as well, to get into Doha and join G-Ring Road towards Hamad International Airport.

The Orbital Road is branched into two major routes, one towards Lusail which intersects with Al Shamal Road at Al Maz-rooah Interchange, and abother one towards Al Khor, which

intersects with Al Shamal Road at Umm Asmira Interchange.

Therefore, travellers coming from Umm Slal and Al Kheesa can enjoy a journey to Mesaieed crossing over Dukhan Road and past the businesses around such as Mall of Qatar then continue to Salwa Road with no need to com-mute within Doha or o Doha Expressway.

Travellers coming from Al Khor can go straight to Dukan Road through the Orbital Road where they can head for business facilities in the vicinity and the external areas of Al Sheehaniya. They can continue to Slawa Road

to reach areas in Souhern Doha and Hamad International Airport via G-Ring Road in addition to the southern parts of Qatar like Al Wakra , Al Wukair and Mesaieed.

The Public Works Authority opened Khuwaitim Interchange by February 2018, to involve 5 lanes on the dual carriageway of the orbital Road for a distance of 6.5km to extend from Khuwaitim Interchange to Birkat Al Awamer Interchnage. The opening double the road capacity improving the traffic movement.

Also, the opening included

two lanes of the main bridge along with the four loops and the right turns of the junction to and from the Orbital Road carriageway.

The new junction a key access point to link the traffic to and from Hamad Port, Mesaieed Road, G-Ring Road, Salwa Road and Dukhan Road towards Al Shamal Road and Al Khor.

Khuwaitim Interchange has special location as it provides free flowing traffic for the trucks heading for Mesaieed besides Al Afja Area where there are waste treatment plants. There is also a direct connection with Al Afja Area and expansion of the road leading to four lanes in each direction.

The new junction will reduce travelling time as the trucks used to take because the diversion in place has been removed saving six kilometres. The road to Al Fja area has been widened into five lanes that lead to better road capacity besides the safety thanks to the new hard shoulder.

2017 was a year of huge milestones for the Orbital Road, featuring 125km opening of the carriageway, stretching from Hamad Port Interchange to Al Al Shamal Road along with some junctions. As well, the 14km long Hamad Road was opened to connect Hamad Port and G-Ring Road, and include four lanes in each direction, easing the move-ment of trucks between Hamad Port and Industrial Area, enhancing the movement of goods between the port and all areas of the country, especially that the road is considered a cor-ridor that reduces journey times, instead of the main Orbital Highway.

A view of the Orbital Road.

QU signs pact with UON to boost research in energy sector THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar University (QU) and The University of Newcastle – Australia (UON) signed on February 11 a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration and cooperation on the design and development of advanced mate-rials for energy and environ-mental applications.

The MoU was signed by QU VP for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Mariam Al Maadeed and The University of Newcastle – Australia Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innova-tion), Prof Kevin Hall, in the pres-ence of officials from both institutions.

The terms of the MoU include collaboration between QU and The University of Newcastle – Australia on the exchange of researchers or students, as well

as information through joint sem-inars and publications. Both insti-tutions will also collaborate to implement cooperative research.

Other areas of collaboration

include joint supervision of grad-uate students and the establish-ment of joint research proposals.

QU VP for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Mariam Al Maadeed, and The University of Newcastle – Australia Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Prof Kevin Hall, signing the MoU.

Qatar seeks Holland’s cooperation in modern agricultural technologyTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar is seeking coop-eration of Holland in the field of modern technology for agri-cultural production and food security.

Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, dis-cussed with Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Holland, about cooperation between two countries in the fields of modern technology for agricul-tural production in greenhouse and food security during his visit to Holland, said a release.

The Minister of Municipality

and Environment was on a two day visit to Holland on the invi-tation of Dutch Minister of Agriculture.

Al Rumahi with his accom-panying delegation visited Cen-tral Market at the Port of Notre Dame and Dutch companies for greenhouse and agricultural produce.

He also visited University of Vakhtang, one of the largest varsity in agriculture.

They discussed for cooper-ation between the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and University in the field of agricultural guidance and research for farmers.

Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi receiving a memento from Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Holland, during his visit to Holland.

Strategically speaking, for a distance of over 125km, the Orbital Road meets with a number of key highways that feed several residential and business areas.

Qatar pledges $1bn for Iraq rebuildingCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

He said reconstructing Iraq in light of the current challenges, it faces, is a responsibility that all donor states and regional and international organisations should effectively take part in. He high-lighted that Qatar’s participation in the conference comes as part of its continuous support to Iraq and its people to reconstruct it.

H E Sheikh Mohamed said Iraq is a historic legacy that abundantly served the human civilisation due to its many aspects. Iraq is rich in wealth and qualified human resources, which gives positive and immediate results to any develop-ment effort.

The Deputy Prime Minister and

Foreign Minister reiterated Qatar’s commitment and continuity to exert needed efforts and provide its developmental aids for broth-erly and affected countries, where Qatar takes responsibility and plays its role as an effective participant in the global community. This comes as part of its belief that peace, safety and development are interlinked and complementary to one another and meeting human-itarian and developmental needs is the gate to political, security, social and economic stability, he added.

He further said that at govern-mental and non-governmental level, Qatar has provided and con-tinues to provide all forms of

humanitarian support through humanitarian relief and develop-ment projects in education and health. The minister said the Qatar Red Crescent Society established field hospitals, conducted hundreds of operations for civilians, victims of terrorist organisations and those killed in military operations during the liberation of Mosul as well as assisted hundreds of displaced families.

He added that specialised Qatari institutions announced during the last couple of days, plans to support Iraq in the humanitarian and educational fields. He expressed his gratitude to Kuwait, its Emir, government and people, United Nations, EU and WB.

06 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

Ashghal team in Somalia to aid projects of QFFD

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: A technical delegation from the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has visited the Republic of Somalia, with an aim to achieve the objectives of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Ashghal and Qatar Fund For Devel-opment (QFFD) to provide tech-nical services and consultations, and manage the projects financed by QFFD outside Qatar.

The delegation was headed by Eng. Ahmed Ali Al Ansari, the Technical Office manager of Ashghal, accompanied by Eng. Abdulaziz Ali Al-Sada, Assistant Roads Design Department Manager and Eng. Abdulaziz Salah El-dein Omar, Senior Road Design Engineer.

The visit aims to study the implementation of two Roads projects; Mogadishu - Afghoy which is 30km long, and the road of Mogadishu - Balad - Jowhar which is 90km long.

The team visited and met a number of Somali officials to obtain all technical information related to the two projects, in addition to discussing the

available capabilities and resources locally, as well as reviewing laws and contractual procedures in the Republic of Somalia.

The delegation also con-ducted site visits to the two projects accompanied by a tech-nical team from the Somali side to inspect the current con-struction works and the traffic situation on the two roads, in addition to checking restoration and maintenance records.

Ashghal’s team will prepare

a detailed technical report on the visit and its results, as well as prepare suitable recommenda-tions and proposals for the planning and execution of the projects in line with the esti-mated costs and the contribu-tions specified by QFFD.

On the sidelines of the visit, the Public Works Authority del-egation met the Prime Minister of Somalia, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Minister of Public Works, Min-ister of Justice, the

Under-secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office Director of the President of Somalia. The delegation con-veyed the greetings of the Pres-ident of Ashghal and the Author-ity’s employees to the Somali Officials, emphasizing Ashghal’s keenness to complete the two projects according to the time-tables set for them with the required specifications, and to put all its expertise and capabil-ities in the service of the projects and the official Somali entities.

The officials of Ashghal and QFFD pose during their visit to aid QFFD projects in Somalia.

Eng. Ahmed Ali Al Ansari, the Technical Office manager of Ashghal, receiving a memento from the Prime Minister of Somalia.

DFI, Gobelins in pact to train Qatar talents in animation THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Doha Film Institute has partnered with Gobelins, l’école de l’imagein Paris, a leading animation school, to offer comprehensive animation workshops to Qatar-based talents.

A global reference in the fields of digital communication, interactive design and enter-tainment for over 50 years, Gobelins - one of the schools of the Paris Ile-de-France Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry - is renowned for its exceptional depth of training in Photography, Animated Film-making, 3D Animation, Motion Design and Video Gaming.

In a first-of-its-kind part-nership with the Doha Film Institute, Gobelins will lead four workshops of two weeks in length, from April 2018 to April 2019, offering participants in Qatar invaluable hands-on training through the full pro-duction cycle of short animation resulting in the delivery of a short-animated project at the conclusion of the workshops. Gobelins will also conduct an annual one-week youth ani-mation workshop in Doha that will include placement for one Qatari student at its summer school in Paris.

“Cultural shifts among the region’s young people have spawned a tremendous creative

energy that is fuelling demand for local content. Central to our organisational vision to nurture the next generation of film talents here in Qatar is providing the best in knowledge and resources to the community,” said Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute.

“Our guiding principle is to ensure that students, appren-tices, and trainees at Gobelins receive the training needed to acquire the highest technical, creative and professional skills,” said Cécile Blondel, Head of International Relations.

The Cinéma Department of Animation at Gobelins was founded in 1975 by Pierre Ayma.

Alumni have moved on to con-tribute to the world’s leading ani-mation studios, including Disney, Universal, Hanna Barbera, Pixar,

DreamWorks and Warner Bros. The first Gobelins Animation

Workshop at the Doha Film Institute held in Partnership with

the French Embassy in Qatar, will be led by Aïda del Solar, ped-agogical coordinator and titular teacher at the Animation Department at Gobelins, and programmer of Opening Shorts at Annecy International Ani-mation Festival. She has a Masters Degree in Filmmaking and Animation in ENSad and Scriptwriting at La Femis schools.

Providing animation for nar-rative, documentary and inter-active projects, key projects included developing an inter-active gaming path for a museum of the famous cheese The Laughing Cow for Bel, video games for Sony, Philips and an animated TV series for Xilam Studios, Stupid Invaders.

A participant at a DFI animation workshop.

Q-Post marks Sport Day with WalkathonTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Post, organised a host of sport activities at Aspire Zone for the staff and their families to mark Qatar National Sport Day.

This year is the seventh edition of Qatar’s Sport Day. Qatar Post activities started with a walkathon led by Faleh Al Naimi, Chairman of the Board of Directors and senior management. Several group games were organised for

the staff to play football, volleyball, tennis, tug of war, in addition to inflatable playgrounds dedicated for kids.

Qatar Post Chairman Faleh Al Naemi thanked the staff for attendance and participation.

Ali Sayyar Al Tamimi, Head of Public Relations at a Qatar Post, said, “We always look at these events as great opportunities for our staff to escape from the daily routine, and to build rapport and teamwork.”

Employees of Qatar Post during the National Sport Day celebrations.

Naseem Al Rabeeh Health Centre opens two new branches THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Naseem Al Rabeeh Health Centre announced the opening of two new branches, in Azizia and Al Rayyan.

In a press meet conducted at St. Regus Hotel at Katara, Naseem Al Rabeeh Medical Centre announced the opening of its new branches; Naseem Al Rabeeh Medical Centre, Al Rayyan and Al rabeeh Dental Centre, Azizia. Babu Shanawaz CEO NR Health Group, narrated the groups commitment in providing cost effective medical services affordable for all class of people from different communities of the vibrant and ever growing State of Qatar.

Dr. Munir Ali Ibrahim, GM NR Healthcare Group, mentioned about the mission and future expansion of NR Group in Qatar. He mentioned that there are three new projects in the pipeline which includes the day care surgery centre and the Al Wakrah multi speciality centre.

He also discussed about the facil-ities and treatments available in Al

Rabeeh Dental Centre Azizia.Dr. Sushant Shetty, Medical

Director, Naseem Al Rabeeh Al Rayyan, explained about the facilities and services in the new branch. He mentioned about different health care packages which include screening of Hypertensive and Metabolic disorders and other health problems. He also mentioned about the availability of female radiologist in the centre.

The normal working hours of the centre will be morning 7am to mid-night, having different shifts. The facilities include services like Pharmacy, radiology department with X-Ray unit, OPG X-Ray and Ultra-sonography and Laboratory with state of the art equipment.

The management and staff of Naseem Al Rabeeh Health Centre con-veyed its gratitude towards the con-tinuing support of all its media partners in it its mission in providing care to all class of communities in Qatar. The management also invite all its valuable clients to the inaugural function in Naseem Al Rabeeh Medical Centre, Al Rayyan at 4pm tomorrow.

FROM LEFT: Babu Shanavas, Chief Executive Officer, NR Health Group; Dr. Munir Ali, General Manager and Dr. Sushant Shetty, Medical Director, Naseem Al Rabeeh Al Rayyan, during the press conference held to announce the opening of two new branches of Naseem Al Rabeeh Health Centre, in Azizia and Al Rayyan, at St. Regus Hotel at Katara. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

GDI marks Sport DayTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Gulf Drilling International (GDI) employees celebrated National Sport Day on February 13 at Aspire park with ‘a mix of physical activities’ for promoting the health of employees and community members.

These activities were attended by Mubarak A. Al Hajri, Chief Executive

Officer & Managing Director along with the

participation of office staff.

The employees of Gulf Drilling International during the celebrations.

Cabinet reviews land allocation for solar power plant

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

After it reviewed the recom-mendation of the Advisory Council on the draft law. The draft law stipulates that the National Committee for the Pro-hibition of Weapons (NCPW) shall undertake the Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Mate-rials whether they are used or produced in all activities, including research activities.

The draft defined the terms of reference of the Committee and the obligations of facilities and authorities that use nuclear materials.

Moreover, the Cabinet reviewed the adoption of the necessary measures to issue a draft law amending some provi-sions of Law No. 8 of 2008 on consumer protection after reviewing the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the draft law.

According to reports, the adoption of the necessary measures for the ratification of a memorandum of under-standing (MoU) establishing a joint supreme committee between the State of Qatar and Thailand were also reviewed in the meeting.

The Cabinet reviewed the approval of a draft resolution to amend some of the provisions of Decree No. 42 of 2013 regarding the expropriation of some prop-erties for public benefit.

07THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

13th Doha Interfaith Conference to begin on Feb 20 SIDI MOHAMED

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The 13th Doha Interfaith Confer-ence will start on February 20 under the theme “Religions and Human Rights”.

The two-day event will take place at the Doha International Center for Inter-faith Dialogue (DICID). Chairman of (DICID), Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi (pictured), announced in a press confer-ence held recently that the Fourth Doha International Award for Interfaith Dia-logue: 2018 will be presented to the selected recipients at the 13th Doha Inter-faith Conference.

Al Nuaimi also expected that 500 important figures from 70 countries, including some 240 participants from out-side the country, including religious scholars, politicians, academics, researchers and those interested in dia-logue issues, will attend the conference.

A number of research papers will be presented at the conference. “More than 80 research and work papers will be dis-cussed in the conference.”

He also added that the conference will discuss three main themes; the first theme is the vision and concept of human rights in religions. This theme will focus on topics related to freedom of religion, the rights of minorities, and the right to a peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths.

The second theme will focus on the position of religions on violations of human rights. Talks will focus on issues such as religious views on extremism and terrorism. Another subject, he said, that the second theme will focus on will be the violation of individual and group freedoms. The chairman said that the third theme will discuss human rights

issues between divine laws and interna-tional conventions. It will focus on topics such as religious teachings and the pro-motion of international human rights laws.

He stressed the need to protect and preserve human rights every time and in times of conflict and the importance of avoiding violation under the pretext of maintaining security.

“The conference is serious and sin-cere work to serve the current issues being faced by the humanity,” Al Nuaimi said adding that the continuation of the

conference over the past years and so far confirms without doubt the great success achieved by the diversity of participants.

He said that continuous organizing of the Conference reflected that Qatar is a country that is interested in dialogue and seeks to give space to religious scholars to present their views on the current issues.

Regarding The Fourth Doha Interna-tional Award for Interfaith Dialogue, he said: “It is a no secret that human rights violations are rampant in today’s world. Human rights violations come in many forms. They occur due to numerous con-flicts and wars that are taking place.”

“They also occur due to poverty, igno-rance, or political upheavals. Human traf-ficking, suppression, exclusion, illegal siege, and detentions add to this unending list.”

He said that the Award is an affirma-tion that religions, and their principles, are an important stronghold and their role and impact must not be loosen in addressing human rights issues. “It has

become evident that human rights viola-tions are a major issue not only in inter-national legislation but also in religious texts and principles.”

Therefore, the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) has decided to dedicate the 2018 Fourth Doha International Award for Interfaith Dia-logue to: “Successful experiences of reli-gious leaders and human rights institu-tions in addressing human rights violations.”

The award amount is $100,000. In addition to that, winners will receive medals and certificates from the DICID.

Among the award objectives, he said, is to support the move of leaders and offi-cials towards the use of religious values and teachings to enact laws that address human rights violations. “Also to utilize religious values to address human rights issues and violations suffered by humanity are among the objectives of the Award in addition to expand the circle of dialogue to include all those interested in the rela-tionship between religious values and human rights issues.”

Lulu Exchange and Trust Exchange employees take part in NSD eventsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: On the occasion of National Sport Day, employees of Lulu Exchange and Trust Exchange took part in various activities held throughout the country.

In lieu of the spirit of the day, Lulu Exchange and Trust Exchange jointly took part in walkathon, sprints, cricket

matches and other sports. Participants included, Trust

Exchange General Manager, KNS Das; Lulu Exchange Gen-eral Manager, Arshad Hamza, executives and other members of the exchange houses.

Qatar has always given spe-cial preference to sports activi-ties. It is both derived by ambi-tion to compete internationally and the importance of sports

promoting a healthy lifestyle. “We are aware how sports can bring together people, and as an integral part of the fabric of Qatar, Lulu Exchange is excited to be part of this movement. We have always encouraged our employees to engage in sports activities and live a healthy and fit life,” said Arshad Hamza, General Manager, Lulu Exchange.

The employees of Lulu Exchange and Trust Exchange during the Sport Day celebrations.

Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRCO) organised several sport activities at Al Arabi Sport Club, in which its employees and their families participated. QGIRCO gives importance to sport activities and support it in Qatar.

Balance work and life: Al-Ahli Hospital THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Al-Ahli Hospital organ-ised a successful event to mark the seventh National Sport Day on Tuesday, encouraging employees to do physical activity and improve a balance in between

work and life. The event held at the Sports Hall and Football Pitch of the English Modern School, included activities such as foot-ball, basketball, tennis, volleyball and handball.

Khalid Al Emadi, CEO of Al Ahli Hospital, expressed his

appreciation to Qatar and Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for giving preference and encouraging sport activities. “We are keen to contribute to the National campaign by organising and participating in the activities of National Sports Day every year.”

Al-Ahli Hospital employees during the celebrations.

AFG College holds ‘fun run’THE PENINSULA

DOHA: AFG College with the University of Aberdeen in collab-oration with NBK Holding and Al Waab City organised a ‘fun run’ at Al Ghariya Street in Al Waab area to mark National Sport Day.

The event was attended by H E Dr Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh Al Thani, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Al Faleh Edu-cational Holding; H E Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser Al Thani, Chairman and CEO NBK Holding; H E Sheikh Nasser bin Nawaf Al Thani, Second Deputy CEO of NBK Holding; Brian Buckley, Principal of AFG College, with the University of Aberdeen and senior

representatives of the sponsors and supporting companies, the event attracted huge crowds of different ages including students, employees and their families.

The proceeds generated from this event were donated to

Education Above All. Sheikha Aisha presented the cheque to Jawaher Kafoud, representative of the non-profit organization which supports education of chil-dren in different parts of the world.

The participants during the National Sport Day celebrations organised by AFG College with the University of Aberdeen.

The two-day event will take place at the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue. A number of research papers will be presented at the conference.

QGIRCO organises several sport activities

08 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018MIDDLE EAST

Donors pledge $30bn for Iraq at Kuwait summit AP

KUWAIT CITY: International donors pledged $30bn to help rebuild Iraq after the war against the Islamic State group, Kuwait announced yesterday, over-coming Western doubts and donor fatigue over Mideast crises to help the battle-ravaged nation.

While falling short of an esti-mated $88.2bn needed to rebuild Iraq, it easily surpassed the $20bn Iraqi officials initially said they needed to begin their dif-ficult work. While much of the larger donations came in the form of loans, Iraq remains an oil-rich nation and such debts can be forgiven by the countries and institutions offering them.

The pledges, if followed through with funding, could give Iraq a chance to dig itself out of the rubble left by the Islamic State group and the chaos that followed the 2003 U S-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

Still, much remains uncertain for Iraq and the greater Middle East. The Islamic State group, while dislodged from the third of Iraq it once held, remains a threat. Meanwhile, regional ten-sions could even be seen at a conference heralded by United

Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as an “enormous success.”

“Iraq has known too many hardships and we hope these hardships are now behind us,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari said. “Investments are the only way for us to move forward. We must learn from the past and move forward.”

Officials offered no breakdown of the pledges, though some countries announced them on the floor of a meeting held yesterday at Kuwait City’s Bayan Palace. The biggest single pledge came from Turkey, which announced $5 bn in credit to Iraq, while Kuwait’ Emir said his nation will give $1bn in loans and $1bn in direct investments.

The donation by Kuwait’s Emir showed the deep interest his nation has in making sure Iraq becomes a peaceful, stable country. Iraq also still owes Kuwait reparations from Saddam’s 1990 invasion that sparked the 1991 US-led Gulf War.

“This large assembly of inter-national communities that are here today is reflective of the large loss that Iraq withstood in facing terrorism,” the Emir said.

“Iraq cannot commence the mission of rebuilding itself without support, which is why we are all here today from all around the world, to stand by Iraq’s side.”

Other major donations included both Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait-based Arab Fund each pledging $1.5bn. Qatar pledged $1bn in financing and donations, while Britain pledged $1bn in export credits over 10 years.

The United Arab Emirates pledged $500m, as did the Islamic Development Bank. The UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash also tweeted there would be $5.5bn in private investments from his country home to Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, without elaborating.

The European Union also pledged $494m. The U S, while not offering direct donations, did agree to providing over $3bn in loans and financing to American firms wanting to invest in Iraq.

Officials acknowledged a feeling of fatigue from interna-tional donors, especially after the wars in Iraq and Syria sparked the biggest mass migration since the Second World War. Even in Kuwait, some questioned

donating cash while its own country needs investment.

Iraq is Ooec’s second-largest crude producer and home to the world’s fifth-largest known reserves, though It has struggled

to pay international firms running them. That’s even after the U S alone spent $60bn over nine years — some $15m a day - to rebuild Iraq after over-throwing Saddam in 2003.

Around $25bn went to Iraq’s military, which disintegrated during the lightning 2014 offensive of the Islamic State group, an outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah chairs the second day of an international conference for reconstruction of Iraq, in Kuwait City, yesterday.

Iraq coalition pares down air supportAP

BALAD AIR BASE: Now that Iraq has claimed victory over the Islamic State group after a bloody 3 1/2-year war, the US-led coalition is decreasing air support in the country — the latest indication of the coali-tion’s shrinking footprint amid a drawdown of U S forces announced earlier this month.

American and Iraqi air force commanders say the coalition will launch fewer air strikes in support of Iraqi forces and instead focus more on training Iraqi airmen. Iraq’s air force will assume more of the “mis-sions, duties and responsibil-ities” to maintain the country’s hard-fought victories over IS, according to a statement released by U S Air Forces Central Command.

However, Iraq is struggling to fund the Air Force’s $1bn budget as the country is faced with the enormous task of rebuilding in the wake of its military victories. At a con-ference in Kuwait this week, Iraq asked the international community for $88.2bn to fund post-IS reconstruction, but was only able to raise a portion of that.

“Training a fighter pilot takes years,” said U S Air Force Brig-adier General Andrew Croft at a meeting with the commander of the Iraqi Air Force, Gen. Anwar Hama Ameen. “So this is not a short term investment, this is something for the long-term.” Up until now the U S Air Force had largely been supporting Iraq’s security forces by launching air-strikes against IS targets and sup-porting the country’s F-16

program. Currently, Iraqi F-16 pilots are trained in the U S and the maintenance and security of Iraq’s F-16s is largely carried out by American contractors.

The announcement from the Air Force follows the announcement of a “shift in focus” from the U S-led coa-lition earlier this month after the Iraqi government said the U S had begun to reduce the number of American forces in Iraq. The U S is reducing the number of its troops in Iraq, but Iraqi and coalition officials say an agreement on the size of the force that will remain in the country has not yet been reached.

The coalition will now focus on “policing, border control and military capacity building,” Brigadier General Jonathan Braga said in a written statement last week.

“We will sustain the suc-cessful momentum and enhance the capacities of the Iraqi Security Forces in pur-suing Daesh, now and in the future,” he added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Coalition airstrikes proved to be decisive early on in the fight against IS and fueled Iraqi military victories throughout the more than three-year-long-campaign.

Before the U S began a cam-paign of airstrikes against IS in August 2014, the extremists could easily travel across the vast swaths of territory under their control in Iraq and neighboring Syria. Just weeks after over-running Mosul, IS fighters launched a push on the city of Irbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region that was largely repelled by coalition air power.

Bombs will litter Mosul for more than a decade: UNREUTERS

GENEVA: The Iraqi city of Mosul will remain strewn with unex-ploded bombs for a decade, endangering a million or more civilians who want to return home following the end of three years of Islamic State occu-pation, a U N demining expert said yesterday.

Pehr Lodhammar, a senior programme manager at the U N Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said the destruction of Mosul had left an estimated 11 million tonnes of debris and two-thirds of the explosive hazards were thought to be buried under the rubble.

“We estimate that it’s going to be over a decade until western

Mosul has been cleared. The density and the complexity will not allow this clearance to be completed within months or even within years,” he told a news conference in Geneva.

“We see air-dropped ammu-nition, 500-pound bombs that were dropped, that go 15 metres into the ground or even further. Just getting one of those pieces out is a matter of days and some-times weeks.” Last year, UNMAS removed 45,000 explosive hazards and 750 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across Iraq, including over 25,000 in western Mosul alone. Other areas such as Falluja and Sinjar also need more de-mining help.

Last week de-miners discovered

an IS factory for manufacturing improvised explosive devices littered with mortar rounds, artillery ammu-nition, hand grenades, rockets and 250,000 electronic components.

“It basically looked as if there had been a tornado going through an electronic store,” Lodhammar said. Clearing buildings such as the main western Mosul hospital, for-merly an IS headquarters site, was vital for restoring services for citizens.

“In this one location we removed over 2,500 explosive items, ranging from suicide belts, rocket propelled grenades, mortar shells, hand grenades — you name it, it was all there.” At Mosul’s High Court, there were 44 suicide vests and belts, nine

active IEDs, 64 IED switches, 231 mortar rounds, 48 rockets, 72 air dropped improvised munitions, 220 fuses and 109 grenades.

Once that was all cleared, stacks of property ownership deeds were found, a boost for returning citizens trying to prove legal ownership of their homes.

Most IEDs were based on readily available ingredients such as fertiliser, aluminium powder, diesel and “anti-lift devices” based on fridge door light switches.

They were placed in private homes or at regular intervals in “belts” up to 10 km long, with an IED every two metres, each with 10-20kg of home-made explosives.

19 die as truck with migrants crashes in Libya

REUTERS

TRIPOLI: A truck packed with African migrants crashed near the Libyan town of Bani Walid yesterday, leaving at least 19 dead and nearly 80 injured, officials said.

Bani Walid hospital manager Mohamed Al Mabrouk said the truck had flipped over about 80km south of Bani Walid.

At least 78 people had been injured, eight of them seriously, he said.

“We did not receive the driver (at the hospital), and we don’t know what has hap-pened to him,” said Mabrouk.

“Most likely he’s survived otherwise he would be brought here.” Among the victims were Somali and Eri-trean nationals, said a mil-itary source, who put the death toll at 25.

Bani Walid, located south of Tripoli, is a hub for smug-glers who bring sub-Saharan migrants by road from neigh-bouring countries up towards Libya’s Mediterranean coast.

They are often held and transported in brutal condi-tions, passed between smug-glers who take payments for different stages of the journey and extort money from migrants.

From northern Libya, many of the migrants attempt to cross to Italy in flimsy inflatable dinghies.

Palestinian farmers sitting by a fire next to junk and run-down appliances near Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the occupied West Bank town of Qalqilyah, yesterday.

Run-down life behind the wall

Netanyahu rejects calls to resign after police seek indictmentAFP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls to step down yesterday after police recom-mended his indictment for corruption, the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing premier’s long tenure in power.

Netanyahu again came out swinging yesterday morning, harshly criticising the police investigation against him while making clear he has no intention of resigning.

His governing coalition, seen as the most right-wing in Israeli history, appears firm for now, but reactions from key members in the coming days will be watched closely for signs of fissures. “I can reassure you that the coalition is stable,” Netanyahu said at an event in Tel Aviv.

“Neither me nor anyone else has plans for elections. We’re going to continue to work together for the good of Israeli citizens until the end of the term.” Netanyahu, prime minister for a total of nearly 12 years, also harshly denounced

the police recommendations against him as “full of holes, like Swiss cheese.” He said the police report “misleads” and is “contrary to the truth and logic.” Police rec-ommended on Tuesday that he be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of public trust after a long-running investigation.

The attorney general must now decide how to move forward with the case, a process that could take months.

A prime minister facing such police recommendations or who has been formally charged is not

obliged to resign.As it became clear police were

to issue the recommendations on Tuesday night, Netanyahu gave a televised address to the nation, pro-claiming his innocence and criti-cising the police. Ministers close to him also defended Netanyahu.

Avi Gabbay, leader of the opposition Labour party, said the “Netanyahu era is over” and called on him to step down. “He is unworthy to continue to be prime minister of Israel. It’s very simple,” Gabbay said in a video interview with the Ynet news site. Tzipi

Livni, part of the main opposition Zionist Union alliance, criticised what she called a campaign to undermine the police.

But at the same time, a key coalition minister made clear on Wednesday he was remaining in the government, though he also criticised Netanyahu’s behaviour. “A prime minister is not meant to be perfect or live an over-modest lifestyle, but he needs to be someone people look at and say: ‘This is how one should act’,” Edu-cation Minister Naftali Bennett said in a speech in Tel Aviv

09THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

New fronts emerge in Syria as allies push for victoryAP

BEIRUT: As Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies push toward final victory and the fight against the Islamic State group draws to an end, new fronts have opened up, threatening an even broader confrontation among regional and world powers.

While large areas of the country have stabilised, giving the impression of a war that is winding down, violence has exploded in other areas with renewed ferocity, killing and injuring hundreds of people in a new and unpredictable spiral of bloodshed. The United States, Israel and Turkey all have deep-ened their involvement, seeking to protect their interests in the new Syria order.

The recent chaos has been exceptional: within a week, Al Qaeda-affiliated rebels shot down a Russian jet, Kurdish fighters downed a Turkish heli-copter, Israel downed an Iranian drone and the Syrian army shot down an Israeli F-16.

Meanwhile, a joint Russian and Syrian air campaign killed hundreds of civilians in the rebel-held enclaves of Eastern Ghouta and in the northern prov-ince of Idlib, amid accusations that the Syrian government is once again using toxic agents

such as chlorine against its opponents.

In the east, the U S military launched rare airstrikes on pro-government fighters following a coordinated assault on U S-backed forces accompanied by U S advisers. That has increased fears that American troops meant to fight Islamic State mil-itants increasingly are being dragged into the war.

Over the weekend, a battle erupted along Syria’s border with Israel, which shot down an Iranian drone that infiltrated its airspace before one of its own fighter jets was downed by Syrian air defense missiles. It was the most serious flare-up between the neighbours since fighting began in Syria in 2011.

All this happened while Tur-key’s air and ground operation against Kurdish fighters in north-western Syria rages on with no end in sight.

“The spectre of the world’s worst civil war in decades is becoming demonstrably worse by the week — and even more complicated by the actions of outside forces — creating a per-fect storm of chaos and suffering in Syria,” the Soufan Center said in an analysis of the situation.

Turkey opened a new front in Syria’s nearly 7-year-old war

on January 20, launching an offensive against the US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia in the northwestern enclave of Afrin. It is the latest effort by Turkey to limit Kurdish expansion along its border with Syria and aims to drive out the militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be a “terrorist” organisation.

The Turkish campaign has strained relations between Nato allies Ankara and Washington, which has partnered with the Syrian Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Residents speak of a rapidly worsening humanitarian situa-tion, adding that medical sup-plies are running low. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says around 80 civilians have been killed so far, along with more than 160 Kurdish fighters. Turkey says it has lost 31 soldiers in the slow-moving offensive.

The Syrian government and its ally, Russia, have in the past two weeks dramatically esca-lated attacks on two of the largest and most important remaining opposition-held areas, in Idlib province in north-western Syria and on Eastern Ghouta, a besieged area near the capital of Damascus.

The sprawling region, where

rebels launch rockets on Damascus, has been a partic-ular thorn in the government’s side for years, and Assad appears determined to recap-ture it at all costs.

The recent violence has left hundreds dead and wounded amid relentless airstrikes that have transformed the besieged area into a death trap. In Idlib, the bombardment has hit hos-pitals and created yet another wave of displaced civilians.

UN High Commissioner for

Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called on Saturday for urgent international action, saying the past week in Syria “has been one of the bloodiest periods of the entire conflict.” The commissioner said the “no-holds-barred nature” of the assault included attacks on nine medical facilities and the death of 277 civilians between Feb-ruary 4 and February 9 in both Idlib and Eastern Ghouta. There were also reports of the govern-ment using toxic agents in res-

idential areas.In Eastern Ghouta, nearly

400,000 residents are trapped by the violence and a tightening government siege. At least 2 mil-lion people live In Idlib, the largest area controlled by the opposition.

The downing of an Israeli fighter jet this weekend by Syrian air defenses suggest yet another frontier in the conflict is opening up, risking a wider and possibly regional conflagration.

Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers and citizens offload aid from a lorry after an aid convoy arrived in the town of Utaya, in the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, yesterday. The first aid convoy since November entered the Syrian rebel enclave, the UN said, after intensive bombardment by the army killed more than 250 civilians last week.

Tanzanian opposition politician found deadAFP

NAIROBI: A local leader of the main Tanzanian opposi-tion party has been found beaten to death after men bundled him into a car, party chairman Freeman Mbowe said yesterday.

Daniel John was respon-sible for the Chadema party in the Hananasif district of the economic capital Dar es Salaam, where a heated local election campaign is under way.

“Daniel John was kid-napped on Monday in the street by men in a car,” Freeman Mbowe said, the leader of the opposition in parliament.

A friend of John, who was snatched at the same time but who survived the attack after being left for dead, was able to describe what then happened.

“They were beaten and tortured, and the torturers were asking why they were campaigning for Chadema’s candidate,” Mbowe said.

John’s body was later deliv-ered to a hospital, with machete wounds to the head, said Mbowe, who accused supporters of the ruling Chama Cha Map-induzi (CCM) party of being behind the attack. “The party in power wants to get everything by force,” said Mbowe.

In September 2017, senior opposition lawmaker Tundu Lissu in was shot several times at his home in the cap-ital Dodoma.

He was rushed to the Kenyan capital Nairobi where he was in intensive care for several months, before being transferred to a hospital in Brussels. Chadema accuses the ruling party of being behind that attack, claims rejected by the government.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who came to power in 2015 as a corruption-fighting “man of the people”, has been increasingly criti-cised over his authoritarian leadership style, with a clampdown on the opposi-tion, journalists and artists.

MPs set to oust Zuma today, says ANCAFP

CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s parliament will hold a vote of no-confidence in President Jacob Zuma today, the ruling ANC party said, signalling its deter-mination to eject him from office after days of stalemate.

“We have now asked the chief whip to proceed with the motion of no confidence tomorrow in parliament... so that President Zuma is then removed,” ANC treasurer-gen-eral Paul Mashatile told reporters yesterday.

He said parliament, where the ANC has a large majority,

would then “proceed to elect (Cyril) Ramaphosa as president of the republic” — perhaps as early as today or tomorrow.

Zuma, who now faces as ignomious end to his nine scandal-plagued years in power, was expected to respond later on Wednesday to the ANC’s order for him to resign.

“For us, as the ANC leader-ship, we can no longer wait beyond today,” Mashatile said.

“If President Zuma at some point will respond, he will respond, but we can’t continue waiting. The decision has been taken and must be imple-mented.” The power struggle

over Zuma’s departure has put him at loggerheads with deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, his expected successor, who is the new head of the ANC.

As the deadlock escalated, the party on Tuesday “recalled” Zuma from his post after days of failed closed-door negotiations with Ramaphosa.

The African National Con-gress (ANC) national executive committee reached its decision after meeting for 13 hours at a hotel outside Pretoria.

“Recalling” the head of state is a party-level instruction that the 75-year-old Zuma is under no constitutional obligation to obey.

Earlier yesterday, police raided the Johannesburg home of the Gupta business family accused of overseeing a web of corruption under Zuma’s rule.

Police said three unidenti-fied people had been arrested in investigations into “Vrede Farm” — allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was siphoned off by the Guptas.

Local media reported that Zuma was pushing for an exit deal that included covering his poten-tially ruinous legal fees from pro-longed court battles against mul-tiple criminal charges.

One case relates to 783

payments he allegedly received linked to an arms deal before he came to power.

Many other graft allegations against him have centred on the three Gupta brothers, who are accused of unfairly obtaining lucra-tive government contracts and even being able to choose Zuma’s min-isterial appointments.

Zuma has admitted he is friends with the Guptas, origi-nally from India, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Susan Booysen, a politics professor at Stellenbosch Uni-versity, said that Zuma may resign before the vote — albeit grudgingly.

Supporters of Bekele Gerba, Secretary-General of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), chant slogans to celebrate Gerba’s release from prison, in Adama, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, yesterday.

Egypt remands in custody aide to barred presidential challengerAFP

CAIRO: Egypt’s military prose-cution has ordered a former anti-corruption chief detained for two weeks after he suggested a sidelined presidential candi-date possessed damning mate-rial against leading officials, state media reported yesterday.

Hisham Geneina had been arrested on Tuesday following his remarks in an interview pub-

lished by Huffpost Arabi.He had been a top campaign

aide to former military chief-of-staff Sami Anan, whom the military also detained after he announced he would stand in next month’s pres-idential election against incumbent Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Anan is accused of having declared his candidacy illegally while still a registered officer in the military, as well as incite-ment against the armed forces.

Geneina is accused of spreading “false news that harms national Egyptian security and affects the military institution and threatens authority,” the official Al Ahram newspaper reported.

His detention may be renewed after 15 days as the mil-itary prosecution investigates.

In 2016, Geneina was sacked by Sisi as head of the Central Auditing Authority after being accused of exaggerating the cost

of corruption in Egypt.Geneina said the documents

Anan allegedly possessed “revolve around political events and crises Egyptian society has passed through” since the January 2011 uprising which toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The uprising left a military group led by Anan and com-mander-in-chief Hussein Tan-tawi in control of the country.

Anan had been the most

credible election rival to Sisi, who is all but certain to win.

His only remaining rival is a leader of a small party who had been a leading campaigner for Sisi until he abruptly announced his own candidacy.

Critics said he did so to save Sisi the embarrassment of being the only candidate, in a throw-back to referendums held by Egyptian autocrats instead of elections.

Ethiopia releases politician, bloggersAFP

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia released a jailed opposition leader and journalist yesterday and dropped charges against a group of bloggers in a wave of prisoner releases and pardons.

A videographer said politi-cian Andualem Arage and jour-nalist Eskinder Nega left a prison in the capital Addis Ababa before a crowd of about 100 supporters.

“The struggle must con-tinue. Better things should come for all of us, and a bright sun-shine of democracy must shine in Ethiopia,” said Andualem, who was serving a life sentence

on accusations of links to the banned Ginbot 7 group.

Their release comes amid a string of pardons and prisoner releases that began last month, after Prime Minister Haile-mariam Desalegn said the gov-ernment would release jailed “politicians” in order “to improve the national consensus and widen the democratic platform”.

“We are pleased that Eskinder Nega is finally free since his arrest and conviction was a shameful miscarriage of justice,” the Committee to Pro-tect Journalists Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal said.

Qatar’s focus on economic diversification and its determination to carry out reforms under the wise leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has won huge

praise from International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF while attending a roundtable discussion on “Strategic Outlook: Qatar in its New Era” at Qatar University, said the steady growth in Qatar’s non-oil economy is a reflection of the country’s good diversification policy. Qatar’s growth in the non-oil sector is pretty much on a par with the non-oil growth in the oil importing countries. “I spoke to His Highness the Emir and he explained to me the focus on diversification and determination on reforms will continue”, she said, adding that Qatar is an important partner of IMF.

According to the latest report by IMF, Qatar’s real GDP growth is expected to rise from 2.5 percent in 2017 to 3.1 percent in 2018. This indication is in itself commendable because as per IMF’s revised forecasts in its World Economic Outlook update, global growth is estimated at 3.7 percent in 2017 (compared to 3.2 percent in 2016) while the forecast for 2018 has been revised up from 3.7 percent to 3.9 percent.

Qatar adopted major projects that contributed to strengthening the economy, led by the inauguration of

Hamad Port, which is one of the biggest ports in the region. The launching of a network of highways and logistics centres and special economic zones, in addition to establishing projects aimed at supporting innovation as well as expanding economic partnerships with many countries in the region and around the world, has helped in boosting the economy.

The latest available trade data showed imports rebounded by 40 percent, close to the pre-siege level. It created alternative

sources of import and established new trade routes. The value of non-oil exports to all countries of the world during November 2017 was about QR1.8bn, compared with QR1.7bn during October, registering an increase of about 5.9 percent. The total value of non-oil exports during the first eleven months of last year was QR16.8bn.

In order to achieve a balanced industrial development, the government offered industrial incentives starting with exempting industrial establishments from fees imposed on machinery, equipment, spare parts and raw materials in order to encourage national industry, especially small and medium-sized. The government also continues to develop and support industries in sectors like food, pharmaceutical, environmental and knowledge industries.

Qatar’s economy has shown considerable stability and strength that enabled it to cope with the effects of the siege. The economy continues to excel and develop at a fastest pace in the region.

IN the quarter-century that the world has been dealing with North Korea’s nuclear

program, there have been precious few nuggets of good news. The US response to an olive branch from dictator Kim Jong Un may be one of them.

Kim’s gambit — sending his sister to the Winter Olympics in South Korea with an invitation for President Moon Jae-in to visit him in Pyongyang — had provoked some consternation.

Was he hoping to divide Moon, who favors rapprochement, from the more hardline views of US President Donald Trump?

On his way home from the Games, US Vice President Mike Pence said what should have been equally obvious: The allies should not allow themselves to be divided.

Talks, even between the US and North Korea, can and should proceed alongside the global pressure campaign against the North’s nuclear program.

Two things are worth recalling. First, there’s no military solution to this crisis. Any conflict would result in a US victory — but also an inconceivable number of casualties in South Korea, and possibly Japan and US territories such as Guam. That’s why talk of a “bloody nose” strategy — launching a limited strike to intimidate Kim — is foolish.

Second, sanctions alone won’t solve the problem either. Though China has gone along with far harsher restrictions than ever before, Chinese leaders will always resist any measures — such as cutting off supplies of fuel — that might provoke a collapse in the

North. Current sanctions seem to be having an impact on the North Korean economy. But it’ll take time for pressure within the system to build — and, in the meantime, Kim’s scientists will continue their race to deploy a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile. With tensions so high, the chances of a miscalculation rise by the day.

At the very least, all sides have reason to lower that risk. The Olympics have provided a temporary window of calm, with the North refraining from further nuclear or missile tests and the US and South Korea delaying scheduled military exercises.

The immediate goal should be to extend that window. Moon should make clear that any talks — let alone a summit in Pyongyang — are contingent on a continued lull in testing. If nothing else, that will help

slow the North’s progress toward a functioning ICBM.

If the US joins the talks as well, it would be worth exploring a more formal arrangement. Unsurprisingly, Pence reiterated that any serious negotiations must lead to Kim giving up his nukes. While that should remain the official goal, it’s unrealistic at the moment.

That means the US needs to focus for the foreseeable future on improving what it’s been doing for 25 years: containing and deterring North Korea by tightening economic sanctions, improving missile defenses, coordinating with allies in the region as well as rivals such as China and Russia, and so on.

That effort, too, can continue alongside talks. Such an approach won’t always produce good news, but it should prevent the worst.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the steady growth in Qatar’s non-oil economy is a reflection of the country’s good diversification policy.

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

10 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018VIEWS

EDITORIAL

Winning accolades

QUOTE OF THE DAY

What we are seeing in Syria today

not only imperils the de-escalation

arrangements and regional stability, it also undermines the efforts for a political solution.

Staffan de Mistura UN Mediator

Israel needs to stop imprisoning kids

A welcome development on the Korean Peninsula

NOUR TAMIMI

THE WASHINGTON POST

I had barely fallen asleep when I woke to find an armed Israeli soldier hovering over my bed. He told me to get up quickly and put on

a jacket. Half asleep, I was handcuffed, thrown into an army jeep, and taken to be interrogated. They had already taken my 16-year-old cousin, Ahed, the night before, and now it was my turn.

A few days earlier, the Israeli army raided our town of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank to suppress our weekly demonstration against the illegal Jewish settlement built on our land and the theft of our fresh-water spring by settlers. During the demonstration, a soldier shot our 15-year-old cousin Mohammad in the face from close range, shattering his skull. He was rushed to the hospital and had to be medically induced into a coma. About half an hour later, still traumatised by what happened to our cousin, we found soldiers in the front yard of Ahed’s home where we were sitting and tried to get them to leave. For demanding they leave, my unarmed cousin is now facing charges for confronting an armed soldier.

When a video of the encounter was shown in Israel, it went viral and many Israelis demanded that we be punished. So, the following week, soldiers came to Ahed’s home in the middle of the night and she was taken away to prison. The next day, her mother Nariman was also imprisoned when she went to check on Ahed. Later that night, I was arrested as well.

I was released on bail after 16 days, but Ahed has now been languishing in prison for nearly two months, as has her mother. On January 31, she spent her 17th birthday in a cell. The start of her trial in a military court has been delayed several times. The latest postponement came on Tuesday, when it was

rescheduled for March 11. In a blatant attempt to avoid the scrutiny of the international media, the judge also ruled that journalists will be barred from attending. The charges that Ahed faces carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. I still face charges as well.

In prison, we were treated very badly. After being arrested, Ahed

was taken into a basement cell and interrogated without a parent or lawyer present. She and I were repeatedly moved from one prison to another, held with regular Israeli criminals, and

subjected to sexist and degrading verbal harassment. The army knows how to place psychological pressure to break you. They deprived us of sleep and food, and I was forced to remain seated in a chair unable to move for long hours at a time.

When we were brought to military court for a hearing, it was very hard seeing our parents sitting in the back feeling worried and helpless. My uncle Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, and my own father know firsthand what Israeli prison feels and smells like. Both have been imprisoned multiple times because of their nonviolent resistance to Israel’s occupation.

Bassem was named a prisoner of conscience twice by Amnesty International, which has also called for Ahed’s release. They know that we were held in a freezing-cold cell as we waited for our hearing. They know the pain of the handcuffs as they are tightened on our wrists and ankles, and how dirty the cells are, and the smell of rotten food. They understand what it feels like to be isolated in a cell — completely alone, cold and frightened, unsure of what will happen to you. Like her parents and siblings, I fear for the well-being of Ahed and the more than 300 other Palestinian children currently imprisoned by the Israeli army.

Ahed and I are the second generation of Tamimis to spend our whole lives under Israel’s oppressive 50-year military rule. We grew up under the constant watch and control of Israeli soldiers. At a young age, we had to learn resilience, determination and persistence. In order to survive, we had to be acutely aware of our surroundings at all times. Even the most basic things, such as being able to move freely or take a day trip wasn’t a possibility because of military checkpoints and other impediments. We had no room to breathe - sometimes literally, as clouds of tear gas fired by soldiers engulfed us and filled our homes.

Sadly, we are used to soldiers forcing their way into our homes, their cameras clicking as they take photos of the males in the family, documenting how many windows and doors we have, and stealing and destroying our personal belongings. There is no

privacy. In addition to my father, my mother and brother have also been imprisoned. Ahed’s uncle was shot and killed by soldiers during a demonstration in 2012, while her mother was shot in the leg during another march and developed asthma because of the tear gas.

We have had our childhood stolen from us, never knowing the feeling of safety, security, and quiet. The unfortunate truth is that this isn’t only the reality of Ahed and I, or of Nabi Saleh. It is the reality of most Palestinians, especially the young ones.

Each year, Israel prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in its military courts, which have a conviction rate of more than 99 percent. Israel’s two-tiered legal system in the occupied West Bank has been condemned as “separate and unequal” by human rights groups. Settlers, including minors, are subject to Israeli civilian law while Palestinians of all ages are subject to martial law.

Palestinian children in Israeli military prisons endure systematic abuse — including threats and physical violence — and are pressured to sign confessions in Hebrew that they can’t read, all while being interrogated without a parent or lawyer.

These abuses have been well-documented by human rights groups, and even members of the US Congress are now taking action to stop them with a bill that’s intended to make sure American aid doesn’t fund Israel’s imprisonment of Palestinian children or violations of their rights.

We cannot stand up to Israel alone. The international community and all people of conscience must also stand for justice and not tolerate Israel’s abuses of our rights, especially against children. I imagine my life without the hardships of Israel’s military rule, enjoying the simple liberty of being able to make it to class on time because there is no checkpoint closing my town. Not having to worry about me or my loved ones being killed, injured, or thrown into a military prison for standing up for our rights. Like all people want, we simply want to be able live in freedom.

The author is a journalism student and activist from Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank.

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

BLOOMBERG

Israel’s two-tiered legal system in the occupied West Bank has been condemned as “separate and unequal” by human rights groups. Settlers, including minors, are subject to Israeli civilian law while Palestinians of all ages are subject to martial law.

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RICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN

AL JAZEERA

FOR the first time in history, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened

a preliminary probe against an incumbent Southeast Asian leader.

The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has waged a bloody campaign against suspected drug dealers, stands accused of committing crimes against humanity.

The Netherlands-based body is currently conducting “preliminary examination” of its jurisdiction to oversee the case. Some legal experts see this as the first step towards a full prosecution of the controversial Filipino leader, who has lashed out at the international tribunal as “hypocritical” and “useless”.

The announcement has already re-energised opponents of Duterte and his drug war, which has reportedly led to the death of thousands of extrajudicial killings across the

country. Many are hoping that the government will eventually reconsider its anti-drug campaign and hold erring officials to account.

The shadow of prosecution for crimes against humanity is also likely to cloud relations between Duterte and his international partners, especially in the West. Countries such as Canada are already reconsidering their sales of advanced military equipment to thePhilippines. Above all, victims of extrajudicial killings are hoping for a measure of justice and reparations for their suffering and loss.

In the past, the Philippine government often warned of withdrawing from the Rome Statute, which undergirds states’ obligations under the ICC. But the move would have been unable to stop the proceedings if the ICC were to embark on the full prosecution of Duterte on charges of crimes against

humanity. Duterte has been accused of

initiating a systematic campaign of state-sponsored violence, leading to suffering and death on a large-scale. Human Rights Watch has welcomed a potential ICC prosecution as a justified response to what it claims are “invariably found unlawful executions by police or agents of the police typically acting as death squads” under the Philippine government.

Since its establishment in 2002, the court has overseen the prosecution of nine high-profile cases out of as many as 12,000 complaints. Most of the indictments have come against African leaders from countries such as Sudan, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, and Uganda.

For this reason, the court at The Hague has been accused of selective justice, failing to prosecute leaders of powerful nations, especially from the West, for committing mass atrocities on an even larger scale.

Authoritarian countries such as Russia, Burundi and The Gambia have withdrawn from the ICC in recent years, though a local court blocked a similar decision by the Jacob Zuma government in South Africa for violating the constitution.

The Filipino leader, however, has remained defiant. “The president welcomes the preliminary examination because he is sick and tired of being accused of the commission of crimes against humanity,” said Presidential

Spokesman Harry Roque in a media briefing. “If need be, [Duterte] will argue his case personally and face the ICC.”

In recent months, Duterte has also re-activated the drug war campaign, which he suspended late last year amid massive public backlash over the death of several teenagers at the hands of law enforcers. Proud and peevish, the popular Filipino leader determined to dig in and not succumb to external pressure.

Based on the principle of complementarity in international law, the ICC can step in once there is sufficient evidence that local courts and institutions are unable or unwilling to ensure justice vis-a-vis mass atrocities.

Duterte’s opponents claim that local courts and institutions of accountability are either under the president’s control or face tremendous political pressure from the government. In recent months, the Filipino leader has threatened to impeach the heads of the Ombudsman Office and Supreme Court, who have stood up to Duterte and are seen as few remaining bastions of independence.

The legislature, meanwhile, is stacked with Duterte’s super-majority coalition. Nonetheless, the Commission on Human Rights, which is headed by critics of the president, has expressed its willingness to assist any possible investigation by the ICC about Duterte’s alleged crimes under drug war.

The court, however, can’t

prosecute cases that occurred prior to the Philippines’ accession to the Rome Statute in 2011. According to the ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, her office will analyse alleged crimes committed since Duterte’s ascension to the presidency in July 2016. While it’s too early to predict a full trial of high-level officials in Philippine government, the political landscape is beginning to shift.

Amid re-invigorated international scrutiny of Duterte’s human rights record, Western nations have begun to reconsider their relations with Manila. The government of Canada began revisiting its planned sales of military equipment to the Philippines, while the US Congress has refused to authorise any Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to the Southeast Asian country.

The author is a specialist in Asian geopolitical/economic affairs.

TRANSATLANTIC relations are in deep crisis. Turkish American relations is no exception to that general situation. Long-standing and

loyal allies fail to agree nearly on all critical Middle Eastern issues. Turkey is getting closer to Russia while the US is supporting the terrorist PKK in Syria. These are not just reactionary attitudes. Both Turkey and the US have held repeated negotiations for more than five years to work out an optimum agreement on multiple cases. But all efforts were doomed to fail.

There are at least two side to any kind of relationship. If there is a social interaction at play, such as war or peace, or any sort of crisis, participation and responsibility are required of both sides. No war can be fought alone. Even if one side wants to fight, without the reaction of the other side, a war will not start. Both can blame each other and tend to interpret events from their own perspectives. If one delves into details, it is quite possible to find faults and excuses for all sides.

However, in the case of Turkish-American relations, one can argue that the crisis has

been created unilaterally. The US has repeatedly changed its position with no regard whatsoever for its partner’s interests. Turkey has, on the other side, repeatedly tried to see to it that its approach would accord with that of the US but found in return neither a favorable response, nor good intentions.

In recent years, US non-involvement has dragged world politics into turbulent waters. Despite attempts by its key allies to reestablish strong ties, the US reconfirmed its resolute attitude of ignorance, recklessness, and indifference. Turkish-American relations reflect this problem more than any other bilateral form of transatlantic relations, mainly because of its geographical closeness to the crisis areas, and to Syria in particular.

Syria has become, more than anything, a field of deterioration and attrition. The US government has been following different types of foreign policy strategies. It has, in the meantime, expected Turkish loyalty and understanding without offering any meaningful counter-reaction.

In the first place, the Obama administration asked for Turkish support in democratising Syria against the Assad regime, which held close ties to Turkey at the time. Turkey hesitated, and the Obama administration put harsh pressure on Turkey

to decide its position against authoritarianism. Turkey followed. After that, the Obama administration asked Turkey to fight against Daesh to prove that it is still a champion of the transatlantic alliance. Ankara did not refuse, but requested further support in order not to fight against all terrorist groups alone. But Washington failed to fulfill its promises it had made in regard to supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and establishing a safe no-fly zone. The Assad regime used chemical weapons. Washington turned a blind eye. Iran carried into the war zone thousands of fighters from all around the Shiite world, Washington was not disturbed. Even Russia was invited to get involved in support of the Assad regime.

The Americans generally tend to think that Kobane (Ayn Al Arab) was the key to forming the last stage of the US approach to Syria. According to this logic, Turkey rejected to take action against Daesh and the PYD (the PKK’s Syrian arm) remained the only possible option in the fight against Daesh. But looking into the details today, this argument makes no sense. We can see that Kobane was merely a theatrical scene written and directed successfully in order to legitimise the US support for the PYD. It was dramatised very well and had the desired impact on the public opinion. International media centers reflected the entire affair with such manipulated news articles that one could have thought Kobane was the only place in Syria which was under Daesh attack. Or one could suspect that such a heroic and gender-representative event was the only one of its kind in the world history. The publications were so professionally maneuvered that it is impossible to think there was anything natural about the whole event. With Kobane, the Western public was prepared for the spending of millions of dollars for the PYD. Despite Turkish reactions, the US has never seriously reconsidered its support for a terrorist group. Turkey tried to change this track at least five times, but found no response.

Naturally Turkey has changed its own track. It is no longer paying attention to American priorities. It has initiated a new process of building relations with Russia; not as a choice but as an obligation. Being pushed so hard, Turkey found no other option. Presently, it is fighting against the PYD, distancing itself from the US, and cooperating with Russia.

One can ask several questions about the nature of this new way of security strategy. What people mostly ask is, how far Turkey can go down this road? Those who have left Turkey high and dry and still support the PYD are right now delivering “friendly” warnings and hurling very unfriendly threats at the same time. It is argued that such close ties with Russia can produce unexpected outcomes in the long run. However, in the long run we will all be dead. Turkey suffered

so much because of its alliance with the US between 2012 and 2016 that now nothing appears deadlier than waiting for the US to act as a real friend. There is no need to remind that Turkey came on the verge of a civil war and then it survived a coup attempt by just hours. During the same time interval, the PKK tried to disintegrate Southeastern Anatolia by starting an insurgency movement in the summer of 2015. Turkey was being attacked by three different terrorist organisations simultaneously. It was allied with the US and and the Turkish state was about to collapse. Changing the track has obviously transformed the security situation in Turkey for the better. By cooperating with the Russians, Operation Euphrates Shield became a possibility, with which Turkey eradicated a terror corridor along its southern borders. It also cleaned all Daesh elements from the Turkish border. So, if anyone asks why Turkey is cooperating with Russia, the answer is simple: because it is more secure to do so.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be in Ankara today. He will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu. People are concerned about the contents of the meetings. Is there any reason to be optimistic? Can this visit change the current track of the Turkish American relations? Or will it signify a breakdown of relations?

A straightforward answer to all such questions is a no. Nothing will change. Tillerson will come with a new set of promises, and those will not be fulfilled, either. Tillerson’s Turkish counterpart is already aware of this fact. According to some leaked information, Tillerson might offer a safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border. This was an offer made by Turkey at the early stages of the war. However, the US disregarded it for a long time. But it has reemerged just because of Afrin. When Turkey launched the Olive Branch against all reactions, the US government discovered that it had no leverage left to convince Turkey. Neither the history of the strategic partnership nor the threats regarding the future are convincing for Turkey under the recent conditions. When its survival is under threat, the US approach does not relieve Turkish concerns.

It seems that the US has nothing acceptable to offer. Without seeing any concrete steps on the part of the US, Turkey will not change the way it sees its partnership with the US If Tillerson attempts to ask that Turkey put an end to Operation Olive Branch, he will fail. What he has to offer instead is, at least, the American withdrawal from Manbij. This can serve as a starting point for further negotiations on the eastern side of the Euphrates River. Turkey will never admit a fait accompli on its borders. It is nonnegotiable. Manbij is the prerequisite of any likely negotiations regarding the entire border.

Can the ICC probe end Duterte’s deadly war on drugs?

Nothing new about Tillerson’s visit

HASAN BASRI YALÇIN

ANATOLIA

11THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 OPINION

Neither the history of the strategic partnership nor the threats regarding the future are convincing for Turkey under the recent conditions. When its survival is under threat, the US approach does not relieve Turkish concerns.

The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has waged a bloody campaign against suspected drug dealers, stands accused of committing crimes against humanity.

The shadow of prosecution for crimes against humanity is also likely to cloud relations between Duterte and his international partners, especially in the West.

12 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018ASIA

Congress hits out at Modi over J&K securityIANS

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the rising number of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress yesterday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same five questions he had shot at the UPA government over the security situation in the country ahead of the 2014 general elections.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the Modi government’s foreign and defence policies as “directionless” that have created an “unquiet border” and “dis-quiet on the border” with Pakistan.

“It shows utter hypocrisy and double standards. Not one of these five questions have been attempted to be answered by the

ruling party and by our 56-inch Prime Minister. The 56 inches is only in talk and in paper tigers,” Singhvi said.

He claimed that the number of terror incidents and killing of civilians and soldiers and cease-fire violations had increased drastically in the last 45 months of the Modi government.

“But how long can we ignore that directionless, irresolute, inconsistent, zig-zag, arbitrary foreign policy and defence policy which are going to endanger these brave soldiers. Can you get away every time by pointing a finger at the neighbour who is beyond care and beyond cure,” Singhvi said, referring to Pakistan.

He sought answers from Modi on how militants get these arms from across the borders.

“All the borders are under the central government’s jurisdic-tion. Border Security Forces come under your jurisdiction.” The Congress is “only repeating

exactly what you used to ask us” and asked Modi where do these terrorists get money and funding from. “The entire money trans-action business...is under RBI’s jurisdiction, it happens through banks. Why can’t the Prime Min-ister, Modi, keep surveillance on these transactions? This is under your jurisdiction, why can’t you stop it? A third question “in the exact same language as Modi” asks about infiltration. “Every-thing is, Prime Minister, under your control. Borders are under your control. Coastal security is under your control. Navy is under your control. Then how can these infiltrators enter India?” The fourth question seeks an answer on the govern-ment’s inability to intercept communications between the terrorists and their handlers.

“You can prevent these attacks. We want to ask you, PM Modiji, what have you done in this regard?” Singhvi asked the Prime Minister why his foreign policy has not been able to extradite terrorists who fled India and sit in foreign countries and indulge in these terror activities in India.

“Modiji, we again repeat your own words. First act with regards to these five things - then terrorism will be routed out. Modiji, you don’t have answer to the same questions, which you had asked us, once upon a time.” The Congress leader was referring to Modi’s speech at election rallies ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls during which he had boasted of his 56-inch chest to battle it out with Pakistan and the terrorist

outfits there.“Facts and figures show a

deplorable, an astonishing and a sorrowful increase in the case of major terror incidents” since the BJP came to power, Singhvi said.

He compared the number of terror incidents in the last 45 months of the Congress with the BJP’s 45 months in power.

In the last 45 months of the NDA government, there have been 207 terror incidents while there were 96 incidents in the UPA’s 45 months.

“In the same period 286 jawans got martyred while during UPA the number was 115. During 45 month period of the NDA 138 civilians have been killed while in UPA’s period the number of civilian deaths was 72.”

BJP spreading ‘false dreams’ in MeghalayaIANS

SHILLONG: Meghalaya’s ruling Congress yesterday charged the BJP with seeking to spread “more lies and false dreams” in its “Vision Document” for the state to be released here by Defence Minister Nirmala Sith-araman ahead of the February 27 assembly elections.

“Tomorrow (Thursday), BJP will release its Vision Docu-ment. But the question is whether there is a need to release another document when they have not been able to achieve anything that was promised in the 2014 Vision Document,” Congress spokes-person Gaurav Gogoi told jour-nalists here.

“Therefore, what are they going to release tomorrow? They will only release more lies and false dreams and create more frustration among the people of Meghalaya,” he said.

Gogoi claimed that it is only the Congress that can fulfil the aspiration of the young people in Meghalaya.

Attacking the regional par-ties for allowing BJP’s “false-hoods” to come in through backdoor, Gogoi said, “They (BJP-RSS) are using the regional parties as their Trojan horse. People have to realise that voting for a regional party whether it is United Democratic Party (UDP) or National Peo-ple’s Party (NPP) is the same as voting for the BJP.”

He appealed to the people

of Meghalaya to realise that this election is more about “pro-tecting the unique identity, cul-ture, and expression of faith of the people of Meghalaya because development is not going to happen under the BJP”.

Attacking NPP’s Chief Min-isterial candidate Conrad Sangma, Gogoi said: “My simple question to NPP CM candidate is that if you could not get a simple visa of the president of the world Baptist alliance, what highways will you build? What roads will you built, what jobs will you create?”

Countering BJP’s accusation that Congress is communalising the Meghalaya elections on reli-gious lines, he said: “BJP itself needs to answer why in Madhya Pradesh where they have their own government pastors are beaten, why are they are looking at festivals like Christmas and Good Friday to rename and con-vert into a government-spon-sored programme like Good Governance Day and Digital India Day. So BJP itself is dividing, divisive.... but Congress, as the word suggests, means people coming together.”

Gogoi also maintained that his party is “known for ensuring peace, allowing every commu-nity to have its own voice, its own political representative, and own platform to express their culture”, but the BJP “believes in a uniform culture, and in their case, the half pant uniform from Nagpur (the RSS headquarters)”.

Tea warehouse collapse leaves 7 deadAFP

COLOMBO: The roof of a tea storage facility collapsed yesterday in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, killing seven workers and wounding two others, police said. Military personnel were rushed to the company in the commercial quarter of Grandpass to search for those crushed inside.

Police said the cause of the accident was still unclear but investigations were underway into whether unauthorised extensions had been made to the single-storey building.

The government has ear-marked for demolition around 10,000 illegally con-structed homes and commer-cial buildings in Colombo after a seven-storey wedding hall collapsed in May, killing one and wounding 23.

AAP promises free Wi-Fi, roads & drainsIANS

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday promised free Wi-Fi in the city, as well as roads and drains in unauthorised colonies and building of 900 Mohalla Clinics, as the AAP government completed three years in power.

The Chief Minister was speaking at an event here on the third anniversary of the AAP government. Talking about free

Wi-Fi in the city, Kejriwal said, “This year to implement free WiFi in entire Delhi, the govern-ment is going to allot full budget.”

The Chief Minister said to control pollution, landscaping would be done on vacant land on both sides of the roads by planting grass and trees so that the dust would not rise in the air.

“There will be budget provi-sion to do landscaping on

500km roads,” Kejriwal said.The Chief Minister said that

there will be massive investment in the next one year on construc-tion and repair of roads. “We will try to complete roads and drains in the Kachhi colonies in the next one year,” he said.

He said whichever depart-ment digs up roads in the city will have to repair it irrespective of the land-owning agency.

He also said that he had met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal

in this regard and both the gov-ernment and the Lieutenant Governor and are on the same page.

Kejriwal said that dug up roads cause a lot of pollution as dust rises from these roads, and added that the decision would be implemented in a week’s time.

He also said that 900 Mohalla Clinics would be ready soon and 120 polyclinics would be ready in some months.

Rowhani begins 3-day India visit todayIANS

NEW DELHI: Iran President Hassan Rowhani will come on a three-day visit to India starting today at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Ministry announced yesterday.

Modi and Rowhani will hold a bilateral meeting here on Sat-urday, during the course of which both sides would review the progress achieved in bilateral relations and also exchange views on regional and interna-tional issues of mutual interest, according to a ministry state-ment. Rowhani will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday.

According to Iranian news agency Irna, Rowhani will first arrive in Hyderabad on Thursday where he will meet the city’s Muslim Ulemas. He will also meet Iranian nationals, including students, residing in India.

Citing the Iran President’s deputy chief of staff for commu-nications and information Parviz

Esmaeili, Irna said following the delegation-level talks on Sat-urday, both sides will sign a number of agreements.

Business leaders of both sec-tors are also scheduled to hold a joint meeting to review cooper-ation opportunities and capaci-ties, according to Esmaeili.

This will be Rowhani’s first visit to India after he assumed office in 2013. It comes after Modi’s visit to Tehran in 2016 during which a trilateral agree-ment on transit and transport was signed between India, Iran and Afghanistan.

India committed $85m in investment for the development of the Shahid Beheshti Port in Iran’s southeastern city of Chabahar.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and supporters attend a protest and hunger strike against the verdict in a corruption case against Bangladesh’s main opposition leader and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Dhaka yesterday. Thousands of opposition supporters are staging rallies across the country for the release of their jailed leader and demanding free and fair elections.

Khaleda Zia supporters take to streets

Millions in China journey home for Lunar New YearAP

BEIJING: Millions in China were boarding trains, planes and automobiles yesterday as the Lunar New Year travel rush, the world’s largest seasonal human migration, reached its climax.

China’s most important festival falls tomorrow and people were travelling to either return to their home-towns or flock to vacation destinations.

For many migrant workers in the country’s industrialised east, the hol-iday may be the only time of year they return home to see family and friends.

Weeks before the rush, many travellers had used smartphone apps to snatch up tickets that later sold out. Some train journeys between cities and rural areas last more than 20 hours, with passengers crowded into cabins that are standing room only.

“How long can we ignore that directionless, irresolute, inconsistent, zig-zag, arbitrary foreign policy and defence policy which are going to endanger these brave soldiers. Can you get away every time by pointing a finger at the neighbour ..,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

Couples walk to enter a temporary marriage hall during a mass-marriage ceremony in Kolkata yesterday. More that 160 economically disadvantaged couples from different religions took part in the event, organised by an NGO.

Walking towards a new life

Modi and Rowhani will hold a bilateral meeting on Saturday, during the course of which both sides would review the progress achieved in bilateral relations.

13THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 ASIA

Keep North Korea ‘under siege’: Japan’s lawmakerBLOOMBERG

TOKYO: South Korea must stay in line with US and Japanese plans to keep North Korea ‘under siege’, the chairman of Japan’s lower house committee on foreign affairs said, referring to the policy of maintaining maximum pressure on Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Just days after Kim’s smiling sister invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to a summit with her brother in Pyongyang - an overture he’s yet to formally accept, Yasuhide Nakayama attacked Seoul’s financial support of the regime.

“At this point, every grain of rice is a military resource,” the member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party who previ-ously served as vice foreign minister, said in an interview Tuesday.

He echoed his government’s line that Kim Yo Jong’s visit south was ‘smile diplomacy’. Read about Kim’s sister exposing a rift in the US-South Korea alli-ance South Korea has provided about 2.8bn won ($2.6m) to sup-port North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but has put on hold a further $8m aid package.

US Vice President Mike Pence said earlier this week that, while he was open to talks, sanctions would remain in place until North Korea takes a mean-i n g f u l s t e p t o w a r d denuclearisation.

Japan, which sees itself as a potential target of North Korean missiles, has been one of the most vocal proponents of pres-suring the regime into changing course.

The North-South rap-prochement has exposed a rift in Tokyo’s and Seoul’s approach to Pyongyang, and this may worsen the lingering animosity over history that has long ham-pered the two US allies’ ability to work together.

At a summit last week, Moon

and Abe had a prickly exchange over planned joint US-South Korea military exercises around the peninsula.

The presidential Blue House said that when the Japanese leader urged Moon to resume the drills as scheduled after the Olympics, Moon responded that the issue was domestic and that it was embarrassing for Abe to raise it directly.

After North Korea this week accused the US and Japan of trying to block an improvement in inter-Korean relations, Nakayama said the regime saw South Korea as its last chance amid its isolation from the rest of the world.

“Mr Moon is paying too much attention to domestic opinion polls in his policy,” Nakayama said. “He should realize that in international terms, now is the time to put pressure on North Korea, to keep in step.”

How North Korea Managed to Crash the Olympics Party Japan, South Korea and China should nevertheless push ahead with a trilateral summit that Abe hopes to host this year, Nakayama added. “As Prime Minister Abe says, we need to talk because we are neighbours.”

Japan, which sees itself as a potential target of North Korean missiles, has been one of the most vocal proponents of pressuring the regime into changing course.

World’s longest cotton scarfA Cambodian woman weaves ‘Kroma’ cotton scarf during a campaign to break the world longest cotton scarf record in Phnom Penh yesterday. The cotton scarf to break record is expected to reach 1,000 metres of length.

Palau to target illegal fishers with new patrol boatAFP

PALAU: The tiny Pacific nation of Palau has boosted its efforts to stamp out illegal fishing with a new patrol boat donated by Japa-nese charity the Nippon Founda-tion. Previously Palau had just one long-range boat to enforce a vast

500,000 square km no-fishing zone roughly the size of Spain.

P r e s i d e n t T o m m y Remengesau said preserving ocean resources was vital to the nation of 22,000 and the new vessel ‘Kedam’ would give it enhanced surveillance capabilities. “We are one percent land and 99 percent

ocean,” he said at the vessel’s handover ceremony Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, we are visited by problems not of our own making, including illegal, unreg-ulated and unreported fishing.

“This will go a long way to assist Palau in tackling this impor-tant challenge.”

Kim Jong Un lookalike provokes N Koreans in Olympic meleeAFP

PYEONGCHANG: A Kim Jong Un lookalike who has been making mischief at the Pyeongchang Olympics danced in front of North Korea’s female cheer-

leading team before being nabbed and hauled off by police yesterday.

The Kim impersonator, wearing thick-rimmed glasses and dressed in all black, sparked anger when he waved at the

famed ‘army of beauties’ at an ice hockey game between the joint Korea team and Japan.

Many of the cheerleaders giggled nervously and waved back, but when the fake Kim broke into an impromptu jig all

hell broke loose. Within seconds, he was tackled by three burly security officials, thought to be North Korean, before being frog-marched by police to a room inside the arena, watched by stunned onlookers.

“I walked past the cheer-leaders and waved but then three rough-looking guys, not in uniform who I suspect were North Koreans, came out of nowhere and grabbed me by the arm,” the Kim double, who goes by the stage name Howard X said.

“When I waved the unified Korean flag at them they got really pissed off and started kicking me in the shins.” After getting into a shouting match with the North Korean bouncers, the Kim lookalike pointed out he could not be arrested simply for looking like North Korea’s leader.

“If you don’t like my face there’s nothing you can do about it - I was born this way,” he protested.

However, Games security took a dim view and he was taken away by police officers.

“They didn’t arrest me, I was

detained,” the Kim impersonator said.

“I didn’t break any law. It took them a while to get a trans-lator but they said it was for my own safety because some con-servative people (in the venue) didn’t appreciate my presence.” “Kim” also caused a stir at last Friday’s opening ceremony in Pyeongchang.

On that occasion he and a Donald Trump lookalike saun-tered nonchalantly past an accredited media section in an attempt to get near to the ath-letes, including the two Koreas, who marched behind the blue-and-white unification flag.

They were not able to get close to the VIP area, where American Vice President Mike Pence and the real Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong were in attendance.

Trump substitute Dennis Alan was not present at the hockey but “will be back soon”, according to buddy Howard.

“This situation is totally messed up,” he complained. “All I did was wave the flag. Every-body else was waving the flag. Long live democracy!”.

A man impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he stands before North Korean cheerleaders attending the Unified Korean ice hockey game against Japan during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, yesterday.

Thailand’s ‘Mr Bean’ plays jails for laughsAFP

NAKHON NAYOK: With the signature red tie, brown blazer, briefcase and teddy bear, a Thai computer technician has become a national sensation through his uncanny Mr Bean impersonations that are tick-ling a country that loves slap-stick comedy.

Mongkol Preechajan, a 43-year-old father from Phuket with more than a passing resemblance to the British character played by Rowan Atkinson, shot to fame after trying out the miming routine on the popular ‘Thai-land’s Got Talent’ TV show in 2016.

The video went viral - one YouTube clip has been watched over five million times -- turning Mongkol into an overnight celebrity in a country where Mr Bean is among the most popular foreign comic turns, in part because his speechless routines cut through language barriers.

Now Mongkol tours Thai-land performing sketches and posing for selfies as the famously buffoonish character. Mongkol said his fascination with Mr Bean started as a teen-ager, when he became a fan of the British show and the char-acter’s ‘cheeky and cute personality’.

He has since spent hours twisting his face and arching his eyebrows in front of a mirror to hone Mr Bean’s trademark expressions.

“It’s quite hard because Mr Bean doesn’t speak and only communicates through his facial expressions and his body movements - that was really hard to practise,” Mongkol said. In addition to Bangkok comedy gigs and TV spots, the new-found celebrity is also per-forming at jails around the country in a bid to brighten up prison life.

A recent performance brought him to Nakhon Nayok province, where hundreds of inmates roared with laughter as he jittered around the stage with his iconic teddy bear.

Hong Kong lawyers say court affirms ‘political screening’ in electionsREUTERS

HONG KONG: A group of Hong Kong lawyers expressed concern yesterday over a court decision allowing low-ranking govern-ment officials to vet election candidates in the Chinese-ruled city which they said amounted to ‘political screening’.

The Hong Kong Bar Associ-ation, which represents more than 1,400 barristers in the former British colony, issued a statement after Tuesday’s judg-ment that also ruled it is ‘funda-mental’ for lawmakers to accept the city as an inalienable part of China.

High Court Judge Thomas Au dismissed the case of Hong Kong National Party founder Andy Chan, who advocated the city’s secession from China, an end to its ‘one country, two systems’ principle and the abolition of its mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

Au ruled that a returning

officer could throw out a candi-date’s nomination when, after looking into his personal and political beliefs, he thinks there is enough evidence to show the candidate does not intend to uphold the Basic Law.

“This regrettably is equiva-lent to the introduction of a polit-ical screening process for any prospective candidate, and there is no fair, open, certain and clear procedure to regulate this process,” the association said in the statement.

“It is particularly worrying that the requirement of ‘upholding the Basic Law’ is a vague and imprecise political concept, which has now to be interpreted and administered by a civil servant under a closed-door inquiry.” Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of a high degree of autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ formula, but activists see evidence of

growing interference by Beijing.

Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have repeatedly con-demned calls for independence, citing the Basic Law, which stip-ulates that the city is an inalien-able part of China.

Communist Party rulers in Beijing tightened their grip over the city after many young activ-ists, disillusioned after the large-scale “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations in 2014 failed to bring full democracy, began calling for independence.

Hong Kong’s returning officers barred six activists, including Chan, from running for seats in a 2016 city-wide legis-lature election. The election’s reputation took another hit when six opposition activists who won seats were kicked out of the leg-islature after a series of contro-versial court cases and a legal interpretation from the parlia-ment in Beijing.

Cambodian parliament adopts lese-majeste lawREUTERS

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s parliament yesterday unani-mously adopted a law that forbids insulting the monarchy as rights groups expressed concern the legislation, in effect in neigh-bouring Thailand, could be used against critics of the government.

The lese-majeste law stipu-lates that a prosecutor can file a criminal suit on behalf of the monarchy against anyone deemed to be insulting the royal family. Those found guilty would face between one and five years in prison and a fine of between $500 and $2,500. “An insult is expressed in words, gestures, writing, painting or objects that affect personal dignity,” Pen Panha, head of the parliamen-tary Commission on Legislation and Justice, told parliament.

King Norodom Sihamoni is officially Cambodia’s head of state, but long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen has ruled the

Southeast Asian country for more than 33 years.

Rights groups said they feared the new law could be used to target critics of the govern-ment, a concern raised by rights groups in Thailand where lese-majeste can lead to up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutions under the Thai law have risen since a 2014 coup and critics of the junta say it has been used as a means to silence dissent.

“There is a genuine danger that this law will be abusively applied to target those who express legitimate criticism of the royal government, as has been the case in other countries, such as Thailand,” Chak Sopheap, executive director at the Cambo-dian Centre for Human Rights said. Last year, Cambodia’s ruling Cambodia People’s Party had the main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party dissolved and its leader, Kem Sokha, arrested on treason charges that he says were politically driven.

14 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018ASIA

Military aid to Pakistan will help defeat IS: USINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: The Trump admin-istration has asked Congress to approve $336m of civil and mili-tary aid to Pakistan for the next fiscal year, arguing that the proposed military assistance will help defeat Al Qaeda and the militant IS group.

The total request is $10m less than the previous year and links the defence assistance to Islam-abad’s action against alleged terror safe havens on its soil.

The proposed military assist-ance includes $80m from the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) fund, $20m less than $100m from the last fiscal year. In 2017, the administration received $242.25m for Pakistan from this fund.

The 2019 proposals also mention that the FMF funds accu-mulated since 2017 include an OCO (Overseas Contingency

Operations) component of $242.25m.

The budget not used in a given year, such as those for 2017 and 2018, can be carried forward to the next fiscal year, 2019, which begins on October 1.

This is particularly important for Pakistan, as large amounts from the previous allocations were not released due to Islam-abad’s alleged links with Afghan militants.

The request for military assistance also makes clear that the implementation of FY 2019 FMF resources is ‘contingent on Pakistan taking appropriate action to expand cooperation in areas where interests converge and to address areas of national divergence, in line with the Administration’s South Asia strategy’.

A January 4 order suspended most security aid to Islamabad, but the State Department says

that the proposed military assist-ance will ‘advance US national security interests by supporting Pakistan’s capacity to improve stability and security and fight terrorism’.

The proposed assistance will also encourage Pakistan to ‘elim-inate safe havens for terrorist and militant organisations” and will

encourage it to “continue efforts to build the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency capabilities of its security forces’, it adds.

The State Department argues that these capabilities are ‘needed to improve security in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan’.

The proposed military assist-ance will also ‘help to achieve progress on joint US-Pakistan objectives, particularly bilateral efforts to confront the threat of terrorist networks, including core Al Qaeda and ISIS-Khorasan Province,’ the department adds.

The funds will also ‘improve Pakistan’s ability to participate in US-led Coalition Maritime Forces and patrol its maritime borders to stem the flow of illicit materials and personnel’, the State Department explains.

The largest unconditional budget requests are from the Economic Support Fund

and Economic Support and Development Fund, which has been used to provide annual aid of $200m since 2017. The amount remains unchanged in 2019 as well. These funds are not affected by the suspension order.

The request for military assistance is in line with a recent State Department announcement that security assistance can resume immediately if Islamabad agrees to work with the US for defeating the Afghan Taliban.

There is also a separate request of $3.5m from the Inter-national Military Education and Training (MET) funds, which are, apparently, not affected by the suspension.

The justification says that IMET programmes focus on “pro-fessionalising the defence forces of regional partners, emphasising professional military education and respect for the rule of law, human rights and civilian

control of the military. Priority recipients include Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

The State Department is also seeking $67m for Pakistan from the Global Threat Reduction Programme.

Other requests for Pakistan include $25m from the Interna-tional Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Fund. In 2017, Paki-stan received $38m from this fund.

From the Global Health Pro-grammes Fund, US Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking $22.5m for Pakistan for the next fiscal year.

The 2019 budget proposals call for slashing the State Depart-ment and USAID funding by around 25 percent, from around $53.1bn to $39.3bn.

There’s also a 44 percent decrease in the US contribution to United Nations peacekeeping missions.

The State Department argues that these capabilities are ‘needed to improve security in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan’.

Four soldiers shot dead in Quetta attackREUTERS

QUETTA: Pakistani Taliban militants shot dead four paramilitary soldiers in Pakistan’s western city of Quetta, where last month seven security men were killed in a suicide attack, police and the Islamist group said.

The Frontier Corps troopers were patrol-ling the residential neighborhood of Lango-abad on motorcycles when they were fired on by gunmen also riding bikes, said Nasee-bullah Khan, Senior Superintendent of Police for Quetta.

“The four men were shot in the head,” Khan said, adding that handguns were used in the attack. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan prov-ince, rich in resources and at the heart of $58bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) stretching from the Arabian Sea to Chi-na’s Xinjiang region.

The province, the poorest and least

developed in Pakistan, has suffered nearly a decade of separatist violence against the government.

The area also is plagued by attacks from Islamist movements like the Pakistani

Taliban, who are separate from but loosely allied with the Taliban movement that ruled neighboring Afghanistan in the 1990s and has fought an insurgency against western and Afghan government forces since 2001.

Paramilitary soldiers enter the cordoned site after gunmen shot dead four paramilitary soldiers in Quetta, yesterday.

Pakistan seizes charities linked to Hafiz Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Amid increasing pressure from the international community, Pakistan yesterday initiated a much-awaited process of seizing assets and funds belonging to Islamic charities linked to a radical cleric wanted by the US, officials said.

It was the first step against Hafiz Saeed since he was freed by Pakistani authorities in November on a court order. He is the founder of the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. His release drew criticism from both Washington and neighboring India at the time.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry issued a notification yesterday requiring authorities to imme-diately seize the assets of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation and Falah-e-Insa-niat Foundation.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is believed to be a front for Lashker-e-Taiba. The United States has offered a $10m reward for his arrest.

Saeed denies involvement in the Mumbai attacks and claims his charities are only under a UN watch list. The move came a day after Pakistan’s Cabinet approved new rules in an effort to tighten the noose around outlawed extremist and militant organisa-tions and seize their financial assets.

AP

Philippines storm death toll rises to 9AFP

MANILA: The death toll from a tropical storm that struck the Philippines has risen to nine, officials said yesterday, as some of the thousands of displaced residents returned home with floods receding.

Landslides and flash floods brought by Tropical Storm Sanba struck the main southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday and killed eight people, the civil defence office in the region said, doubling its earlier figure of four deaths.

“Most of the floods have subsided and all roads are now passable, but we have two people still missing from the flooding,” civil defence official Mark Yap said by telephone from Butuan city.

A baby also died on the central island of Leyte after a house was buried by an ava-lanche, the regional civil defence office sadi. Sanba had forced more than 21,000 people to flee, mostly on Mind-anao’s east coast, the civil defence office in Manila said. However Yap said many had since returned home.

Sanba was bearing down on the country’s western island of Palawan on Wednesday afternoon. But it had weakened after crossing the Sulu Sea and now had top gusts of 60 km an hour, the state weather service said. The archipelago nation is struck by 20 storms or typhoons each year on average, some of them deadly.

The country’s deadliest on record is Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.

Greenpeace’s iconic Rainbow Warrior sits anchored in Manila Bay during a visit yesterday. The Rainbow Warrior arrived in the Philippines to provide a platform for communities dealing with impacts of climate change such as indigenous people, farmers and the fishing communities.

Rainbow Warrior in Manila

Australian deputy PM under pressure to resignAP

CANBERRA: Australia’s deputy Prime Minister was under mounting pressure yesterday to resign as his party’s leader over revelations of a relationship with a former staffer.

Newspapers revealed last week that Barnaby Joyce and his former media adviser are expecting a baby together, and the scandal has angered many within Joyce’s conservative, rural-based Nationals party. As leader of the junior party in the governing coalition, Joyce is both the deputy Prime Minister and acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is overseas.

Nationals lawmaker Ken O’Dowd said he expected a party delegation would confront Joyce soon to consider his position.

“The party will probably talk to him and discuss the future of Barnaby and the future of the

party,” O’Dowd told reporters. “He’ll probably need the advice and someone needs to tell him where the party stands at this stage.” If Joyce resigns, “we would find a good leader, I feel sure about that,” O’Dowd added, without naming a potential replacement.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, a senior Nationals lawmaker, said most of the party still supported Joyce’s leader-ship. “If people believe that Barnaby Joyce has broken the law, then lay charges. Otherwise leave him and his family alone,” Littleproud told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Nationals President Larry Anthony, the party’s most senior bureaucrat and a former legis-lator, arrived at Parliament House yesterday telling reporters he was helping law-makers deal with “a very diffi-cult time.”

Afghan Taliban say they want to solve war through dialogueREUTERS

KABUL: The Taliban said yesterday they want to end Afghanistan’s war through dialogue but warned that their willingness to find peace did not mean they were exhausted and that their armed campaign would be sustained no matter how powerful the US opposi-tion.

A more aggressive US strategy in Afghanistan including a surge in air strikes introduced by President Donald Trump in August has pushed the Taliban back from several dis-trict centres and two provincial capitals.

But the militants control

large parts of the countryside and have responded to the more aggressive US strategy with two attacks in Kabul in the past few weeks, killing nearly 150 people.

The attacks have toughened both the US and Afghan govern-ment stand on trying to initiate talks to end nearly 17 years of war that neither side seems capable of winning.

The Taliban offer of dia-logue came in a statement addressed to the American people.

“Our preference is to solve the Afghan issue through peaceful dialogue,” the Taliban said.

In their statement, the Tal-iban did not mention a January

27 raid on a top Kabul hotel, in which more than 30 people were killed, nor a bomb attack on a crowded street a week later that killed more than 100. They claimed both attacks.

The Taliban, fighting to oust foreign forces and defeat the US-backed government, said the United States must end its ‘occupation’ and accept the Tal-iban right to form a government ‘consistent with the beliefs of our people’.

The militants only men-tioned the Afghan government to deride it on various grounds.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the statement and a spokesman for Afghanistan’s NATO-led mili-

tary mission was not immedi-ately available for comment.

It was not too late for the American people to realise the Taliban can solve problems with every side “through healthy pol-itics and dialogue”, the militants said, adding the chances for dia-logue were ‘not exhausted’.

Preliminary talks on ending the war that kills thousands of people each year have stalled.

But low-level contacts between the government, inter-national groups including the United Nations and groups close to the Taliban have continued even as the insurgency has escalated.

Progress has been blocked by the deep mistrust between

the government and the Taliban, as well as uncertainty about the position of neighbours including Pakistan, which Afghanistan has long accused of aiding the insurgents.

Pakistan rejects accusations that it sponsors the Taliban.

The Taliban said their will-ingness to play a ‘constructive role in finding a peaceful solu-tion’ should not be taken as a sign of weakness.

“This can never mean that we are exhausted or our will has been sapped,” they said.

They said they had no inten-tion to damage any other country or let anyone use Afghan territory against anyone else.

15THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 EUROPE

Denmark’s Prince Henrik dies at 83AFP

STOCKHOLM: Prince Henrik, the French-born husband of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, has died at age 83, ending a half-century struggle to win the hearts of Danes that only succeeded in his later years.

The royal family declared a month of mourning, as flags were lowered to half-mast nationwide Wednesday. Danish daily Poli-tiken headlined “Au Revoir, Henrik”.

Diagnosed with dementia in September 2017 and hospitalised in Copenhagen since January 28 for a lung infection, Henrik passed away late Tuesday.

A private funeral will be held on February 20 at the Christians-borg Palace chapel in the cap-ital, the palace said.

In line with his wishes, he will be cremated. Half of his ashes will be spread in Danish waters and half buried on the grounds of Fredensborg Castle north of Copenhagen.

The royal families in

neighbouring Sweden and Den-mark sent condolences.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the late

prince had “represented Den-mark magnificently.

“His commitment was infec-tious, and his insight great.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Henrik had helped promote the “long and unfailing friendship between France and Denmark.”¨

With a jovial face framed by understated glasses, the prince was a bon vivant who enjoyed cooking, poetry and wine.

But frequent outbursts of anger and a flamboyant style in a country that values humility and discretion irritated some Danes.

The prince moved to Den-mark in 1967 ahead of his June wedding to the then-crown prin-cess, but found having to play a

supporting role difficult.Disappointed his royal title

of prince was never changed to king when his wife became queen in 1972, Henrik voiced his frustration in the media.

He retired from public service in 2016, then announced he did not want to be buried next to his wife because he was never made her equal.

His decision broke with the

tradition of burying royal spouses together in Roskilde Cathedral west of Copenhagen.

Born Henri Marie Jean Andre de Laborde de Monpezat on June 11, 1934 in Talence, near Bor-deaux, Henrik spent much of his youth in Vietnam, then a part of Indochina, where his father was a businessman.

He met Margrethe -- then crown princess -- while stationed

in London as a diplomat.Upon marrying her, he

changed his name to Henrik, converted from Catholicism to Protestantism and renounced his French citizenship to become a Dane.

By the time Margrethe ascended the throne in 1972, the couple had two young children: Prince Frederik, born in 1968, and Joakim, born in 1969.

Flowers are seen at Amalienborg Palace after the announcement of Prince Henrik’s death, in Fredensborg, Denmark, yesterday.

A file photo of Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark during his tour at the city of Wismar, northeastern Germany.

The royal family declared a month of mourning, as flags were lowered to half-mast nationwide yesterday.

Verdict due in first Paris attacks trial

Worker dead in Heatrow airport vehicle crashBLOOMBERG

LONDON: A member of London Heathrow airport’s ground-staff was killed and passengers had to be escorted off a British Airways plane after two vehicles collided on the tarmac.

“The crash yesterday involved two airfield vehicles and happened behind the BA aircraft, which was hemmed in at the parking stand as police started to investigate. One person died in the after-math of the incident,” Hea-throw said in a statement.

Passengers were taken off the BA jet and transferred to another one, according to the airline, which said a handful of other services were delayed. Heathrow didn’t cancel any flights.

“We can confirm that fol-lowing a serious accident involving two vehicles on our airfield, an airport colleague has passed away,” Heathrow said. “We will be fully coop-erating with the police in the investigation which will follow.”

A spokesman for the air-port said that there is no indi-cat ion of terrorist involvement.

BA apologised to cus-tomers for delays to “a small number” of flights. “We are doing all we can to ensure they will be able to depart as soon as possible,” the unit of IAG SA said in a statement.

SPD interim leader urges members to back dealREUTERS

VILSHOFEN: Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) must seize the opportunity to reform the Euro-pean Union in a new governing alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the party’s interim leader said yesterday in appealing to members to back their coalition deal.

The SPD’s 464,000 members will vote in a postal ballot begin-ning on February 20 on whether the party should go ahead with the agreement its leaders clinched last week to renew their power sharing alliance with Mer-kel’s conservative bloc.

Olaf Scholz (pictured), appointed SPD interim leader, said EU reform plans included in the coalition agreement were a strong reason to back the deal.

“The window of opportunity is now, not in five or 10 years

- maybe then it won’t be there any more,” he told party mem-bers gathered in a beer tent in Vilshofen, in the southern state of Bavaria. “We need to act now.”

The coalition deal envisages stronger Franco-German coop-eration, allocating budget funds for economic stabilisation in Europe, increased German con-tributions to the EU budget, and transforming the ESM bailout

fund into a European Monetary Fund.

But EU reform, which has moved up the agenda with Britain poised to leave the bloc next year, is an issue that fails to resonate with many party members who are more concerned with jobs and working conditions.

SPD leaders, facing a slump in opinion polls, have their work cut out to convince rank-and-file to endorse the coalition deal with Merkel, a re-run of the power-sharing arrangement they began in 2013.

Many within the SPD har-bour misgivings about sharing power with Merkel, believing the party should rebuild in opposi-tion after suffering its worst result in last September’s elec-tion since Germany became a federal republic in 1949.

Results of the SPD ballot are due on March 4. A “no” vote

would likely lead to new elec-tions, prolonging uncertainty in Europe’s most populous country and economic powerhouse.

The SPD has slid into dis-array since its leaders struck the

coalition deal last week, blighted by bitter divisions over whether to join the coalition, a loss of confidence in outgoing leader Martin Schulz and discontent over the succession process.

Dutch House okays organ donation lawAP

THE HAGUE: Senators in the Netherlands approved a new law that makes all Dutch adults potential organ donors unless they opt out.

The law narrowly passed in the upper house of the Dutch parliament. The lower house last year passed the legislation with a one-vote majority.

The law’s drafter, Pia Dijk-stra, said that under the new system - which is similar to

donation laws in Belgium and Spain - every person over 18 who is not yet registered as a donor will receive a letter asking if they want to donate their organs after death.

“They will be able to reply: yes, no, my next of kin will decide or a specific person will decide,” Dijkstra said in a statement.

Those who do not respond to the first letter, or to a second letter six weeks later, will be considered organ donors,

although they can amend their status at any time.

The Dutch Kidney Founda-tion called the vote “a real breakthrough for patients on waiting lists,” saying that research in other countries with similar systems show an increase in registrations of organ donors.

The foundation’s director, Tom Oostrom, said the new law means “hundreds of patients will get back their lives and freedom.”

Saakashvili to continue fight against corruptionAFP

ROTTERDAM: Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to continue his fight yesterday, as he arrived in the Netherlands after being expelled by Ukraine.

Saakashvili, who is married to a Dutch woman, said “we are going to continue the fight,” once again denouncing what he called his “brutal kidnapping” by Ukrainian authorities.

An opposition leader in Ukraine, he was arrested by masked men in a Kiev restau-rant on Monday and deported to Poland. He has been

successively stripped of both his Georgian and Ukrainian nation-alities, rendering him stateless.

But yesterday, he spoke out-side the offices of the immigra-tion authorities in Rotterdam, where his lawyer said he was sorting out his residency permit.

“Right now I am here, and I will be here for the time being,” Saakashvili said when asked if he planned to stay in the Netherlands.

At a press conference in Warsaw on Tuesday, Saakash-vili, 50, said he had been blind-folded and rushed first by van, then by helicopter to Kiev inter-national airport.

“I want to stay a Ukrainian politician and fight the corrup-tion. When we have one million (people) in Kiev in the streets, we will go peacefully to Ukraine,” Saakashvili said.

A former governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, Saa-kashvili was once an ally of Ukrainian President Petro Poro-shenko, but became one of his greatest foes.

Former Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, exits a car as he arrives to the Erasmus Bridge, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, yesterday.

Martin Schulz steps downANATOLIA

BERLIN : Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz announced his resignation, ahead of a key vote of SPD’s 460,000 members on forming a coalition government with Christian Demo-crats.

Speaking to reporters at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Schulz said he wanted to put an end to debates about personalities within the party, and open the way for reforms.

“SPD needs a renewal, both in terms of personalities, and in terms of party programme. That is the urgent wish of our party members,” he said.

Schulz defended the coalition deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and expressed hope that the SPD’s party members would back the agreement.

AFP

PARIS: A man who rented his flat to IS militant will be sentenced in the first trial stem-ming from 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.

Prosecutors are seeking a four-year jail term for Jawad Bendaoud, though more serious terrorism charges have been dropped after they said there was insufficient evidence that he knew the men were attackers.

The court has been packed for the first trial connected to France’s worst attacks since World War II, which started days before a separate case in Belgium involving Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the only surviving gunman from the Paris atrocity.

French media nicknamed Bendaoud the “IS landlord”, after it emerged the attackers’ ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud had holed up for days afterwards in the apartment in Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Bendaoud, a 31-year-old drug dealer, became a national laughing stock after an infa-mous TV interview in which he insisted that nothing about the men had seemed suspicious.

Abaaoud and an accom-plice, Chakib Akrouh, hid out

and plotted a fresh attack before they were killed in a dra-matic police raid at the apart-ment on November 18, 2015, five days after the Paris carnage.

Bendaoud has been on trial since January 24 along with another known criminal, Mohamed Soumah, who helped arrange the apartment but also claimed he did not know the men were terror suspects.

Prosecutors last week urged the court to jail both men for four years for criminal con-spiracy, less than the maximum six years they faced for crim-inal and terrorist conspiracy.

But they are seeking a five-year sentence for a third man, Youssef Ait Boulahcen, for failing to alert authorities about a terror plot.

He is “someone who believed completely in the ide-ology of IS militant group”, the prosecutor said.

Ait Boulahcen is the brother of a woman killed along with the IS militants in the dramatic police raid at the apartment.

Bendaoud has put on a show for the courtroom throughout the three-week trial with a series of comic outbursts and one-liners which families of the victims have found distressing.

16 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018EUROPE

Boris Johnson seeks to allay Brexit fearsAFP

LONDON: Britain Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday called for UK to completely throw off EU rules and to view Brexit as an oppor-tunity, while refusing to deny he might quit if the government chose a different path.

Johnson, a leading cam-paigner behind Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, used a speech in London to try to reas-sure the millions of Britons who wanted to stay by offering a pos-itive vision of Brexit.

He said the project’s success “will depend on what we make of it” - and said it would be “absurd” if Britain left the bloc

only to align itself with all its rules in future, without having any say in them.

“We would be mad to go through this process of extrica-tion from the EU and not to take advantage of the economic freedom it will bring,” he said in a highly-anticipated speech at a think tank in London.

“In a global marketplace... it seems extraordinary that the UK should remain lashed to the minute prescriptions of a regional trade bloc comprising only six percent of humanity,” he added.

His call for a clean break with Brussels puts Johnson at odds with other members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet, not least her finance minister Philip Hammond, who wants Britain’s economy to diverge only “modestly” from the EU.

Johnson dodged a question about whether he might resign if he disagrees with any deal struck with Brussels later this year, saying only: “We’re all lucky to serve.”

His speech was the first of series of high-profile ministerial addresses on Brexit, as May’s divided government prepares for crucial talks with Brussels on the future trading relationship starting from April.

Johnson, viewed as a poten-tial successor to May, has chal-lenged her authority over Brexit several times, and admitted Wednesday that he risked causing some “irritation” with his latest speech.

But said he felt the need to “reach out to those who still have anxieties” about the 2016 vote to end four decades of EU

membership.He stressed that Britain had

not turned in on itself, saying with typical flourish: “It’s not some great V-sign from the cliffs of Dover.”

He said the vote was driven by a “legitimate and natural desire for self-government”, which was at odds with what he said was the EU’s main goal of creating “an overarching Euro-pean state”.

Johnson’s comments prompted a swift response from European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who said the idea of a European superstate was “total nonsense”.

He also risked antagonising some of those he aimed to reas-sure by falling back on phrases used by the anti-Brexit side, saying that trying to stop the

process would “frustrate the will of the people” and lead to “ine-radicable feelings of betrayal”.

Johnson also firmly rejected the idea of a second referendum, saying it would lead to “another year of turmoil and wrangling and feuding, in which the whole country would lose”

Yesterday’s speech kicks off a series of coordinated ministe-rial addresses, which will include one by May on security issues in Munich on Saturday.

Three other key cabinet min-isters will follow over the subse-quent two weeks, after which May will make a second address to the nation.

Emphasising the benefits of leaving the EU, Johnson repeated a highly contested claim from the referendum campaign that Britain could use some funds

currently sent to Brussels to pay for its state-run health service.

Britons could also “fish our own fish”, cut sales-tax on domestic fuel and develop new regulations on stem cell tech-nology, he said.

However, he was accused of failing to be honest with the public about any economic con-sequences of leaving the EU’s single market and customs union.

“The scaremongering, mis-truths, lack of detail and utter dis-regard for the economic realities of Brexit were an alarming throw-back to the referendum cam-paign,” said opposition Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna.

“More than 18 months since the referendum, this was simply more of the same Project Fantasy.”

A number of pro-EU supporters protest outside the building, in central London, yesterday.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson delivers a speech on Brexit at the Polixy Exchange, in central London, Britain,yesterday.

Slovenia teachers rally for hike in wages

Teachers and education workers protest during a demonstration called by education unions to demand higher wages, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, yesterday.

6 hurt in Paris stabbing spreeAFP

PARIS: A man stabbed six bystanders in a series of apparently unprovoked attacks in northern Paris before being arrested by police in a drunken state, a security source said yesterday.

The rampage began at around 11pm on Tuesday in an area known for its high levels of street crime and homelessness to the north of the Gare du Nord train sta-tion in the 18th district.

The injured were admitted to hospital but none suffered life-threatening wounds, the police source said, confirming a report in the Parisien newspaper.

The attacker was arrested two hours later in the neigh-bouring 10th district and was “very drunk”, according to the police source who said the knife was found nearby.

REUTERS

BUDAPEST: Hungary’s nation-alist government introduced legislation that would empower the interior minister to ban non-governmental organisa-tions (NGOs) that support migration and pose a “national security risk”.

The bill, submitted to par-liament late on Tuesday, is a key part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-immigra-tion campaign targeting US fin-ancier George Soros whose phi-lanthropy aims to bolster liberal and open-border values in eastern Europe.

The government said the bill, which would also impose a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration in Hungary, is meant to deter illegal immigration Orban says is eroding European stability and has been stoked in part by Soros.

Hungary and Poland are both under nationalist govern-ments that have clashed with the European Union leadership in Brussels over their perceived authoritarian drift deviating from EU standards on democ-racy and rule of law.

But Orban’s message has gone down well with Hungarian voters and his Fidesz party is

expected to secure a third straight term in a general elec-tion due on April 8.

The bill says that NGOs that “sponsor, organise or support the entry or stay of third-country citizens on Hungarian territory via a safe third country to extend international protec-tion ... qualify as organisations supporting migration”.

Such activity - including campaigning, advocacy, recruiting volunteers, pro-ducing information booklets - would have to be approved by the interior minister, who could deny permission if he saw a “national security risk”.

If an NGO continued with such activity, Hungarian pros-ecutors could act to withdraw the NGO’s tax number, essen-tially paralysing them, slap them with heavy fines and ulti-mately dissolve them.

Organisations that support migration will have to pay tax on the foreign funding or assets they receive, the bill says, with a possible exemption on funding that serves humani-tarian goals.

Activists who organise or support migration could also face restraining orders pre-venting them from approaching the EU’s external borders in Hungary.

Hungary submits anti-migration bill

Govt rejects return of IS militants to UKAP

BRUSSELS: Britain’s defence secretary says the UK does not want to take back two British IS militants caught in Syria despite US appeals for countries to deal with citizens who’ve become foreign fighters.

Gavin Williamson said yesterday that the two, part of a notorious British cell dubbed the Beatles, “have turned their back on British ideas, British values.”

He said: “Do I want them back in the United Kingdom? No, I don’t.”

US-backed Syrian Dem-ocratic Forces are holding thousands of IS detainees, including hundreds of foreign fighters.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said “the important thing is that the countries of origin keep responsibility for them.”

German govt plays down ‘free transport’ planAFP

BERLIN: The German govern-ment yesterday sought to play down plans to introduce free public transport, a day after the radical proposal to fight air pollution made headlines around the world.

The measure was one of sev-eral proposed in a recent letter Berlin sent to EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella as Germany scrambles to avoid big fines for falling foul of EU pollution targets.

But faced with a barrage of

questions from reporters about how the ticketless travel would be funded and which towns would benefit first, officials were at pains to stress that there were no concrete projects on the table yet and that no test cities had been chosen.

“It’s up to the municipalities themselves to decide if they want to try it,” environment ministry spokesman Stephan Gabriel Haufe said.

“The municipalities would have to come us with the pro-posal of free local public trans-port, and then we would see if

it’s feasible.” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s

spokesman stressed that the eye-catching measure was just one of many under consideration as Berlin tries to avoid being hauled before the European Court of Justice for breaching EU limits on harmful nitrogen oxides and fine particles in its cities’ air.

“We are in a process of dia-logue with the European Com-mission. They asked us for a list of measures... and that’s what we gave them,” said Steffen Seibert.

“First of all we want to hear what the European Commission

thinks of these measures.”The officials made no men-

tion of how the proposed free travel would be paid for.

“And while the letter to Brus-sels lists five pilot cities, none of them are currently considering any projects involving free travel,” Haufe said.

They may just as easily con-sider one of the other sugges-tions, he said, such as car-sharing schemes, further restrictions on emissions from buses and taxis or the creation of low-emissions zones.

Even without the pressure

from Brussels, improving air quality has become a top priority for Berlin as dozens of cities face court cases that could slap driving bans on the dirtiest diesel cars -- something the govern-ment and the nation’s powerful auto industry are keen to avoid.

Haufe stressed that the gov-ernment’s efforts to combat pol-lution should be seen as “supple-mentary” to those by carmakers to clean up their engines.

“Some media have been speculating that we are letting the car industry off the hook. That’s absolutely not the case.”

REUTERS

LJUBLJANA: Most schools in Slovenia were closed yesterday as some 40,000 teachers held a one-day strike, the latest in a week of protests by public sector workers demanding more pay amid stronger economic growth.

Police officers began a strike on Monday and nurses staged a two-hour walkout on Tuesday. Last month about 30,000 public sector employees took to the streets calling for higher wages.

About 20,000 teachers from

all over the country flooded the centre of Ljubljana yesterday, blowing whistles and holding banners, many of which mocked Public Administration Minister Boris Koprivnikar.

The minister is also the gov-ernment’s lead negotiator with trade unions and has drawn crit-icism from protesters for being away on a work trip to Dubai.

The government has so far refused the public sector unions’ demands for wage hike, saying these would amount to almost $1.24bn per year. It argues such

an increase could not be justi-fied by Slovenia’s productivity growth and could threaten the planned fiscal consolidation.

However, Education Min-ister Maja Makovec Brencic said that some of the demands for more pay were justified and that the government was in inten-sive talks with the trade unions.

Analysts said the unions’ demands also reflect the expec-tation that the government might be more generous ahead of a national election expected in June.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson used a speech in London to try to reassure the millions of Britons who wanted to stay by offering a positive vision of Brexit.

17THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 AMERICAS

Police tape blocks a visitor’s entrance to the headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA) after a shooting incident at the entrance in Fort Meade, Maryland, yesterday.

Evidence of Russia meddling in polls seenAP

WASHINGTON: Three of the nation’s top intelligence officials confirmed that they have seen evidence of Russian meddling in the upcoming midterm elections — part of what they say is Moscow’s escalating cyber assault on American and European democracies.

“We have seen Russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle,” CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Senate intelligence com-mittee. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats and Adm. Mike Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency, agreed that Russia’s interference is ongoing. “This is not going to change or stop,” Rogers said.

They didn’t describe the activity, other than to say it was related to information warfare. “This is pervasive,” Coats said. “The Russians have a strategy that goes well beyond what is hap-pening in the United States. While they have historically tried to do these types of things, clearly in 2016 they upped their game. They

took advantage, a sophisticated advantage of social media. They are doing that not only in the United States but doing it throughout Europe and perhaps elsewhere.” US intelligence con-cluded Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, which has led to the current FBI inves-tigation into possible Trump cam-paign connections. Russia denies the allegations and President Donald Trump has called the FBI probe a witch hunt.

The three testified in Congress on the same day that the intelli-gence community released its annual report on global threats. The report predicted Russian intelligence agencies will dissem-inate more false information over Russian state-controlled media

and through fake online personas to spread anti-American views and exacerbate social and polit-ical divides in the United States.

Pompeo had said earlier that he expected that Russia would insert itself in the midterms in which Republicans and Demo-crats will vie for control of the House and Senate. And last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Fox News that the US is seeing “certain behaviours” of Russian meddling in elections in the Northern Hemisphere, including “in the US” this year. But the latest testimony actually confirmed that it is occurring.

Coats said the details of any meddling needs to be shared with the American people. He said there should be a national outcry — that people need to stand up and say, “We’re not going to allow some Russian to tell us how to vote, how to run our country.” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said it’s been more than a year since the 2016 elec-tion, but the US still has no plan to battle foreign interference in elections.

Shooting outside NSA headquarters; one hurtAFP

WASHINGTON: Shots were fired early yesterday at the ultra-secret National Security Agency, the US electronic spying agency outside Washington, leaving one person injured, officials said.

Aerial footage of the scene from NBC News showed a black SUV with numerous bullet holes in its windshield crashed into con-crete barriers at the main entrance to the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. The images showed what appeared to be police surrounding a man on the ground in handcuffs. “The situa-tion is under control and there is

no ongoing security or safety threat,” the NSA said. “We can confirm there has been one person injured and we don’t know how the injuries occurred,” an NSA spokesman said.

The ABC television affiliate put the number of injured at three and said a suspect was arrested. The Baltimore office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the investigation, said the incident “has been contained.” A law enforcement source told AFP that it was too soon to know whether the incident was an attack on the facility or otherwise. They are “still trying to ascertain the facts,” the source said. “The

president has been briefed on the shooting at Ft Meade,” the White House said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with eve-ryone that has been affected.”

The NSA is the premier US sig-nals intelligence agency, eaves-dropping on electronic commu-nications and hacking computers of US adversaries and suspects worldwide, and also protects US communications and information systems from cyber attack. The agency was thrust into the spot-light in 2013 when former con-tractor Edward Snowden leaked details of its global surveillance programmes, including its collec-tion of data on Americans.

Lawyer paid $130,000 to actress linked to TrumpAFP

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s personal lawyer has told US media that he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a star who has said she once had an affair with the now US president.

Long-time Trump attorney Michael Cohen said he was not reimbursed for the payment to the actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clif-ford and who goes by the stage name of Stormy Daniels.

Cohen told the New York Times, which first reported the story on Tuesday, that the payment was legal. He declined to give details such as why he made it, or if Trump was aware of the pay-ment at the time.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said. “The payment to Clifford was lawful, and was not a cam-paign contribution or a cam-paign expenditure by anyone.”

US media reports have said the payment was made one month before the November 2016 election to keep the liaison quiet.

Trump was a private cit-izen when the 2006 encounter with Clifford alleg-edly took place. He was mar-ried at the time and his wife Melania had given birth to their son less than four months earlier.

Cohen’s statement to the Times marked the first time he acknowledged a role in what he termed a “private transaction.”

GOP women frustrated by Trump’s handling of abuse charges AP

WASHINGTON: The Trump White House’s handling of abuse charges against men in its midst is frustrating prominent Repub-lican women as the party’s years long struggle to attract female voters stretches into the 2018 midterm elections.

“It’s the mixed signals. They’ve just got to be stronger, more consistent, clearer in the message” to women, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, said. “It’s difficult being a Republican

woman to have to fight through that all the time.” The thrice-married Trump added a new chapter to his difficult history with female voters in the past week by refusing to offer public words of support to the ex-wives of two senior presidential aides.

Rob Porter, the president’s staff secretary, resigned last week after ex-wives Colbie Hol-derness and Jennifer Willoughby came forward with allegations of abuse. DailyMail.com pub-lished photos of Holderness with a black eye. Porter denied

harming either of them.A second White House offi-

cial, Trump speechwriter David Sorensen, left the White House last Friday after his ex-wife, Jes-sica Corbett, described physical abuse that included being thrown into a wall and burned by a cigarette. He too denied the allegations. But Trump has had only good things to say about Porter and voiced sympathy for him. The president has refused to express support for the women involved or personally condemn domestic abuse.

“Peoples lives are being shat-tered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new,” Trump said in a tweet on Saturday. “There is no recovery for someone falsely accused — life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?” The tweet especially frustrated Republicans.

“I’m extremely disappointed in this situation. Abuse is never OK,” Senator Joni Ernst, said on CNN Tuesday.

The President still hammers at his vanquished 2016 rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, whom he once threat-ened to throw in prison. His sup-port among Republicans wavered just before Election Day with the release of an “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump can be heard bragging about grabbing women. And more than a dozen women have accused Trump of harassing or assaulting them. Trump called them liars and said he’d sue them — though that hasn’t happened.

African-American history monthUS President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for a National African-American History Month reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Life in prison for New York bomber AP

NEW YORK: A New Jersey man who set off small bombs in two states, including a pressure cooker device that blasted shrapnel across a New York City block, was sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison by a judge who repeatedly called it a miracle nobody was killed. Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a naturalised US citizen born in Afghanistan, was criticized by a prosecutor for failing to show remorse and was scolded by a victim for not apologising to the 30 people he injured.

US District Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan said it was hard to reconcile the “reasonable enough” man he saw in court with the terrorist who tried to kill as many people as he could when he left his home early the morning of September 17, 2016, with two pressure-cooker explosives and a bag full of smaller bombs. “You sound like most people and yet your actions are totally at odds with your voice,” Berman said.

“We saw videos,” he said, referencing multiple videos at his fall trial that showed Rahimi dragging bombs in two suitcases and a backpack through Manhattan streets, setting one down a half hour before it exploded in the upscale Chelsea neighborhood and another a few blocks away that was discovered and disabled before it could explode.

“It’s really hard to square the way you appear in court to that other behavior,” Berman said.

US jail officers charged after inmate dies of thirstAFP

WASHINGTON: Three US jail officers have been charged in connection with the dehydra-tion death of a mentally ill prisoner who, his lawyer said, died a “torturous” death begging for water.

The scandal highlighted the darkest side of the penal system in the United States, which has one of the world’s highest incarceration rates and disproportionately locks up black and Hispanic Americans.

Authorities at the county jail in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, cut water to the cell of Terrill Thomas because they deemed him too noisy.

Seven days later Thomas, 38, an African American with bipolar disorder, was dead after growing progressively weaker and losing 15 kg.

Thomas had been arrested after shooting and seriously injuring someone in the chest, and later entering a casino and firing into the air.

Nearly two years after his April 2016 death, the local sheriff and district prosecutor announced on Monday the criminal charges against two female jail staffers and a male officer.

The trio includes Nancy Evans, a facility commander accused of having lied and concealed video images showing Thomas’s cell deprived of water.

She could face more than four years in jail.

Three of the nation’s top intelligence officials confirmed that they have seen evidence of Russian meddling in the upcoming midterm elections.

Republican leaders meetRep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy attend a news conference with Republican leaders after their closed conference on Capitol Hill in Washington D C, yesterday.

REUTERS

MEXICO CITY: The United States broke ground on a new $943m embassy in Mexico City, a move hailed by officials from both countries as a win for diplo-macy after months of tension over Pres-ident Donald Trump’s plan to build a tall border wall.

Officials gathered for a ceremony to mark the start of construction for the sprawling embassy, which is nestled close to the headquarters of Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, and scheduled for completion in 2022. At the ground-breaking, US Ambassador Roberta Jacobson underscored the importance of the bilateral relationship. “Mexico is one of the United States’ closest and most valued partners,” she said.

Alabama’s Caddell Construction Co is handling construction. It was one of six firms that presented the US Customs and Border Protection agency with a prototype for Trump’s proposed border wall on the Mexican border.

Trump’s rhetoric and policies have strained relations between the two countries. Trump has used the conten-tious issue of whether to shield from

deportation young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” including hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, as a bargaining chip to get funding for the wall project.

The influential Mexican newspaper Reforma incorrectly reported last year that the new embassy project had been put on hold indefinitely. Though the March story turned out be wrong, it was indicative of the tense atmosphere sur-rounding Trump’s early months in office.

Trump has threatened to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agree-ment, a lynchpin of Mexico’s economy, if he cannot rework it to better benefit American workers and interests.

The uncertainty around the future of the $1.2 trillion trade deal has rattled markets and spooked investors.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Slim said he had not seen investment affected. “Investment is continuing. Look at all this. There is no better sign,” he told Reuters, pointing at the construc-tion site.

The work on the new diplomatic headquarters in Mexico City comes in the wake of Trump cancelling a trip to London to open a new embassy there.

Trump said he did not want to endorse a deal agreed by the Obama administration to sell the old London embassy for “peanuts,” even though the

decision to move from Grosvenor Square in up-market Mayfair to the south bank of the Thames was agreed in 2008 under Republican President George W. Bush.

18 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018AMERICAS

US Ambassador to Mexico, Roberta S Jacobson, and Mexico City Mayor, Miguel Angel, Mancera (second right) attend a ceremony to place the first stone of the new US Embassy in Mexico City.

Colombia says Venezuela’s invasion fears ‘ridiculous’REUTERS

CUCUTA: Venezuelan accusa-tions that Colombia has been eyeing military action against its crisis-hit neighbour were “ridiculous,” the head of Colom-bia’s military forces said, during a visit to the border area.

Venezuela’s powerful state prosecutor Tarek Saab said that Bogota was plotting to attack the oil-rich nation.

“They are planning nothing less than a repetition of bygone times, like bombings, invasions and occupations by blood and fire, of a peaceful country like Venezuela,” Saab said during a speech broadcast on state television.

Colombia’s General Alberto Jose Mejia, visiting the border town of Cucuta that has seen heavy inflows of migrants from Venezuela in recent months,

dismissed the comments.“Just thinking about that

possibility is ridiculous,” Mejia told reporters. He walked down the Simon Bolivar bridge linking the two countries and greeted Venezuelan migrants.

US President Donald Trump last year threatened military intervention in Venezuela, but Latin American countries have strongly opposed the idea of any such action.

Use of blackface in Brazil Carnival parade sparks debateAP

SAO PAULO: A top samba school’s use of blackface in a Carnival parade sparked debate about depictions of race in Brazil, which is still grappling with a fraught racial legacy.

The storied Salgueiro school’s performance in the early hours of Tuesday featured two groups in blackface in a parade that paid tribute to African cul-ture and black women, in particular.

Many took to Twitter to express shock the school relied on a trope that has historically been used to depict black people in demeaning ways. White per-formers in minstrel shows in the United States used black face paint in racist caricatures of black people through much of the 19th and early 20th

centuries. While Brazil doesn’t have the same history of min-strelsy, there is a legacy of den-igrating caricatures of black people. “Shoot, Salgueiro!

Blackface? In this day and age 2018?” tweeted Renan Wilbert, who is from Rio de Janeiro.

Though Brazil was the world’s largest slave market and

also the last country in the Amer-icas to abolish slavery, modern Brazil often perpetuated a myth of a colourblind, harmonious society. For decades, discussing racism was taboo, but Brazilians are slowly beginning to talk about prejudice and the way the country’s searing inequality is racially tinged.

People of colour, despite making up more than half the population, have only recently begun to gain access in signifi-cant numbers to areas that tra-ditionally excluded them, like universities, prominent acting roles and senior political positions.

Dark-skinned Brazilians are more likely to be poor or suffer violence than their white coun-terparts. Salgueiro even made reference to that reality, ending the parade with a depiction of

the “Pieta” that honoured black mothers who had lost their chil-dren to violence on Brazil’s streets.

In their coverage of the night’s parades in Rio de Janei-ro’s Sambadrome, much of Bra-zil’s media described the face paint in neutral terms.

But many Brazilians thought the use of black face paint detracted from the school’s mes-sage of celebration and toler-ance. Lucia Xavier, who is the coordinator for Criola, a group that promotes the rights of black women in Brazil, said she thought it was distasteful, even if she understood there were artistic considerations.

“It was not necessary to use blackface. There are a lot of black people in this country!” she said.

On Twitter, some defended the school, saying that it was

wrong to label as blackface the mere use of black paint since the practice historically involved demeaning depictions as well.

Members of the school told O Globo newspaper that the sub-ject never came up during rehearsals, despite the fact that many of the performers are black.

“The plot was Afro. It was a more historic Afro, so we needed these darker features,” Helio Bejani, a choreographer for the school, was quoted as saying. “The makeup was the only way to achieve the right tone.”

But Barbara Weinstein, an academic who writes about race in Brazil, said the use of black-face implies some kind of limi-tation on how black people can present themselves — and that its history is known the world over.

Peru’s Foreign Minister Cayetana Aljovin (centre) speaks next to Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland (left), and Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin during a news conference after a meeting to discuss elections in Venezuela, in Lima, Peru.

Venezuela and Libya lose UN vote for third time in 3 yearsAP

UNITED NATIONS: Venezuela and Libya have been suspended from voting in the UN General Assembly for the third time in three years because of millions of dollars in unpaid dues to UN.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed the General Assembly in late January that 14 countries including Vene-zuela and Libya were in arrears, and Assembly spokesman Brenden Varma confirmed that Venezuela has lost its vote in the 193-member global organisation as a result. Libya did as well.

According to a letter from Guterres to the Assembly pres-ident, Venezuela must pay a minimum of $25,200,296 to restore its voting rights, and Libya must pay at least $6,594,842. Venezuela is engulfed in an economic and political crisis and Libya has two rival governments, each backed by an array of militias.

The other countries that lost their voting rights are Cen-tral African Republic, Domi-nica, Dominican Republic, Gre-nada, Marshall Islands, Surinam and Yemen. Equato-rial Guinea, which is on the Security Council, also lost its vote. In a resolution, the Gen-eral Assembly decided that Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia would be permitted to vote despite being in arrears.

Colombia needs aid to cope with Venezuela crisisREUTERS

BOGOTA: Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said the country needs international aid to help cope with the humani-tarian crisis caused by hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing over the border to escape the economic crisis at home.

“I appreciate the offers of financial and other aid from the international community. We are fully prepared to receive them. We need them because unfortu-nately this problem gets worse day by day,” Santos said at an event in Bogota.

Last week, Santos tightened border controls and heightened security in frontier towns.

Colombia’s migration authority has said that the number of Venezuelans living in Colombia increased 62 percent to more than 550,000 in the second half of 2017. Colombia has estimated that it costs $5 per day to give each Venezuelan migrant food and lodging.

As the number of Venezue-lans crossing the border increases, including unattended children who get free vaccina-tions and education, Colombia estimates it would need $30m to build an assistance centre to give the migrants a temporary place to stay before deciding their next move. Venezuela is in the throes of a protracted, severe recession that has cast many people into

abject poverty. That, combined with hyperinflation in the oil-rich country, has led to the mass exodus.

Last Thursday, Santos said he would institute stricter migration controls, temporarily suspend new daily entry cards, and deploy 3,000 new security per-sonnel, including 2,120 more sol-diers, along the 2,219km shared frontier.

About 1.3 million Venezue-lans have registered for the spe-cial migration card that allows them to cross the border by day to buy food and other products that are scarce in their own country. While Venezuelan pro-fessionals like doctors and engi-neers have found work in big cities or in Colombia’s oil industry, most of the poor have settled in Colombian border towns.

Not just walls, US starts work on Mexico embassyDozens of dolphins stranded off Mexico coastMEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities say dozens of dolphins have been found stranded on a rocky beach along the coast of Baja Cali-fornia Sur state.

The federal environ-mental protection agency says 54 of the marine mam-mals came onshore in the area of La Paz Bay. Workers attended to the dolphins and saved 33 of them, but 21 died.

The agency said Tuesday in a statement that they were short-beaked common dol-phins. Marine experts believe an attack by a group of bot-tlenose dolphins provoked the mass beaching. Photos released by the agency show dozens of dolphins washed up on the rocks and lined up in the sand, overseen by white-coated personnel.

The number of Venezuelans living in Colombia increased 62 percent to more than 550,000 in the second half of 2017. Colombia has estimated that it costs $5 per day to give each Venezuelan migrant food and lodging.

Elections talks

A reveller from Salgueiro performs during the Carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro.

19THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018 HOME

Satco Group: Carving out a niche in Qatar market DOHA: Satco Group is one of the top-most companies in Qatar excelling in waterproofing and insulation. Through diversifica-tion and consolidation, the company has carved out a niche in the Qatari market.

The man who steered Satco Group in its present form is Syed Muhammad Sabih Bukhari (pic-tured), better known as M S Bukhari.

He joined Satco in 1987 (five years after it had been formed). From a staff of three and about 10 to 12 workers in 1987, the group today has a staff of over 150 and 1,800 project staff and workers.

M S Bukhari began his career as a salesman at Satco. Pursuing his goal with passion and zeal to turn around the company’s for-tunes and make it into a globally

recognised conglomerate, he expanded the firm by volume and value with top focus on marketing.

Within a few years, Satco was recognised across Qatar as one of the key companies for waterproofing and insulation. At present, Bukhari is the Managing Director of Satco.

“Satco played a vital role in bringing the products and system of latest technologies from all over the world to Qatar, at com-petitive prices and at the same time ensuring sustainability,” Bukhari said.

Satco has continuously added other activities to its core business such as infrastructure contracting, construction, air-conditioning, maintenance works, to name a few.

As a businessman, he is the Managing Director of many other companies in Qatar, namely, Viz H Polybit Trading Ltd, Choice Group WLL, H P Industries Ltd

and Director of Henkel Polybit Industries Ltd.

H Polybit Trading Ltd is a reputed trading company, d e a l i n g i n v e r s a t i l e

range of technically advanced waterproofing products, allied construction chemicals, thermal insulation plaster systems , seal-ants and concrete related prod-ucts like epoxy coatings, poly-urethane floorings, grouts and adhesives, corrosive pipe wrap-ping tapes, asphalted protection boards etc.. Choice Group, Qatar is mainly involved in Real Estate, Contracting, Building materials trading, Sports Management, Sports Goods Trading, IT Solu-tions, Catering Supplies & Food-stuff, Fire Alarm System, Public Address System, CCTV System, Data / Computer Cabling System, Intercom System, Token Queuing System, Time Management System, Telephone & Internet Block Wiring and H.P.Industries WLL, Qatar is involved in

manufacturing Extruded Poly-styrene Foam Insulation (XPS).

Extruded Polystyrene Insu-lation is the best among the other alternative available for building insulation.

In a fast developing country like Qatar, where new building constructions are on rapid speed and seems to continue for a long term, it becomes of utmost necessity to adopt the environ-mentally friendly and more sus-tainable technology of insulation material production.

Bukhari has ambitious expansion plans for Satco and other companies, that will be implemented soon which includes expanding and diversi-fying in construction industry and adapting to the market requirements and needs.

PIS students learn about ‘Role of Concrete in Civilization to Present Skyscrapers’ DOHA: A one hour lecture on “Role of Concrete in Civilization to Present Skyscrapers” was given by Dr Muazzam Ghous Sohail (pictured) to the college students of Pakistan Interna-tional School (PIS).

Students from Grade XI AND XII attended the lecture together with the vice-princi-pals from Boys’ and Girls’ wings.

The resource person explained the concept of con-crete to the students. He also talked about the ongoing research projects of making concrete and cement in Qatar, including the ongoing projects of Qatar University in this field.

Moreover, in order to make the session more interactive, he showed the students visuals and documentaries about latest research related to the concept.

He also held a brief career counseling session with the stu-dents. He asked them about their fields of choice and the reason for selecting it. All the students vigorously partici-pated in this session as well.

He was so much inspired by the interest and motivation level of the students in the session that he invited the brilliant stu-dents of Pakistan International School to visit Aima Research department at Qatar University.

He further explained the students that Qatar University offers two months internship programme. In order to moti-vate the students to become researchers, he emphasised on the need of availing this oppor-tunity. He ended up the session by giving a useful piece of advice to all the students saying: “What I learned from my experience is that whatever field of engi-neering you choose, if you get good grades, you get good jobs. So, I would advise you to work hard and then you will definitely get a bright future” Moreover, while doing their career coun-seling, he emphasised on the importance of research work and said: “Engineering is the first step. You must move ahead and also think about becoming a researcher.”

Huge turnout for Terry Fox Run in CNA-Q DOHA: College of the North Atlantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) campus was buzzing on National Sport Day on Tuesday. A variety of activities were offered to appeal to all ages and abilities, including a family swim, billiards tourna-ment, tennis tournament, and kids zone with a bouncy castle.

The largest turnout was for the annual Terry Fox Run, which drew a crowd of over 300 walking, running and cycling a circuit around the state-of-the-art campus. The Terry Fox Run is an annual run in Canada to raise money for cancer research. The event raised over QR1m for cancer research here in Qatar.

National Sport Day is an opportunity to become inspired to live a healthier lifestyle, and the campus community was cer-tainly inspired by student Jamela Al Humaidi.

Jamela lost 60kg over the

past three years since starting as a student at the College. She originally sought the advice of a nutritionist and from there planned her daily eating routine, cutting out unnecessary calo-ries and started eating much healthier than she had been doing. With the help of the Col-lege’s recreation staff she learned to swim, by overcoming her severe fear of the water.

From there she started using the fitness room facilities, and is now starting to train in

powerlifting. The third year Business Management – Accounting student says she has a new lease on life.

“My whole weight loss journey made me realise things things I never imagined that I would be capable of doing. Not only my lifestyle and weight changed, but also my person-ality. Because of my journey I was able to come out of my own shell, in fact my level of confi-dence boosted to the max.”

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTERCROSSWORD NOVO Pearl Qatar

MALL

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.LANDMARK

ROXY

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

Black Panther (2D/Action) 10:00, 10:30, 11:30am, 12:45, 1:15, 2:30, 3:30, 4:00, 5:30, 6:15, 6:45, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 11:30, 11:45pm & 12:15amDen of Thieves (2D/Action) 10:30am, 1:00, 330, 6:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm The 15.17 To Paris (2D/History) 10:00, 2:15, 6:30 & 10:45pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 12:00noon, 4:15, 6:30 & 8:30pm Rupture (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 12:10, 2:20, 4:30, 6:40, 8:50 & 11:00pm Braven (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Winchester (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight All I See Is You (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Black Panther (2D IMAX/Action) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm

Aadhi (2D/Malayalam) 2:15, 8:45 & 11:30pm Black Panther (2D/Action) 2:30, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 & 11:30pm Aiyaary (2/Hindi) 2:30 & 11:30pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 5:00pmOkdet El Khawaga (2D/Arabic) 5:15pm Rupture (2D/Horror) 7:00pmAll I See Is You (2D/Drama) 7:15pm Naachiyaar (2D/Tamil) 9:30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

Black Panther (2D/Action) 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 8:45 & 11:15pm Aadhi (2D/Malayalam) 2:15, 8:30 & 11:15pm Aiyaary (2/Hindi) 2:15 & 11:15pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 5:00pmAll I See Is You (2D/Drama) 5:00pm Okdet El Khawaga (2D/Arabic) 6:45pm Rupture (2D/Horror) 7:00pmNaachiyaar (2D/Tamil) 9:15pm

Aadhi (2D/Malayalam) 2:00, 6:30 & 11:00pm Black Panther (2D/Action) 2:15, 4:30, 6:30, 8:45 & 11:15pm Okdet El Khawaga (2D/Arabic) 4:45 & 9:15pm All I See Is You (2D/Drama) 4:45pm Rupture (2D/Horror) 7:00pmAiyaary (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 11:00pm Naachiyaar (2D/Tamil) 9:00pm

Naachiyaar (Tamil) 12:30, 2:45, 7:30 & 9:45pm Aadhi (Malayalam) 1:00, 2:30, 3:00, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30, 9:00, 10:00, 11:30, 11:45pm, 12:00midnight, 01:00, 02:15 & 02:45amCarbon (Malayalam) 12:15pm Queen (Malayalam) 12:00noonAwe (Telugu) 5:00pm Aiyaary (2D/Hindi) 6:00pm

Early Man (Animation) 10:30am & 1:45pmBlack Panther (Action) 11:15am, 2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pmAadhi (Malayalam) 12:30noon, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30pm & 12:30am Naachiyar (Tamil) 11:30am, 6:30 & 11:30pm Awe (Telugu) 3:45 & 8:45pm

The Bread Winner (Animation) 12:30, 4:30 & 6:30pm Aadhi (Thriller) 10:30am, 1:20, 4:10, 7:00 & 10:10pm Naachiyar (Tamil) 10:30am, 12:45, 5:15, 7:30 & 11:50pm Black Panther (Action) 10:30am, 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 8:30, 9:30, 11:15pm & 12:15am Okdet El Khawaga (2D/Arabic) 3:00 & 9:45pm

Two officers with patriotic hearts suddenly have a fallout. The mentor, Colonel Abhay Singh has complete faith in the country’s system.

AIYAARY

20 THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2018HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

04.52am06.09 am

ZUHRASR

11.48 am03.02 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.29pm06.59pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 05:15 – 16:30 LOW TIDE 12:25 – 21:45

Hazy to misty / foggy at places at first

becomes moderate temperature, cold by

night and misty at places late night.

WEATHER TODAY

COURTESY: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 18oC 27oC Filmmaker shares

experiences with NU-QTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Award-winning photog-rapher and filmmaker, Julia Leeb, recently shared her expe-riences working in areas that are some of the most dangerous and remote places in the world, with students and faculty, and staff from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q).

From documenting polit-ical upheaval in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan to capturing the everyday life in North Korea and Sudan, Leeb says that she has “lived her life discovering others’.”

“Leeb’s work is both cou-rageous and inspiring,” said

Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO. “Her projects are exam-ples of how film and photog-raphy can be a window into an entirely new world and conse-quently bring positive change to people’s lives, which is what many of our students plan to achieve.”

Leeb also produces virtual reality and 360-degree content about remote regions, including Transnistria in Moldova, and the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. In 2014, the photographs from her visits to North Korea were published in her book North Korea: Anonymous Country.

“What I love most about my work is the power it has to give back,” Leeb said. “By capturing

the struggles and hardship of others, I am making a differ-ence by raising awareness about important, untouched issues, which can drive people to take action and help those in need,” adding, “Never under-estimate the power of a picture.”

On choosing her stories and news angles, Leeb says that she stays away from sensational news and chooses to cover undocumented stories that give viewers a real taste of how people live their daily lives. This, she said, makes her projects unique and her stories effective. “I identify stories that are not trending,” explained Leeb. “I go to places where

media coverage is low or non-existent and where most people would be scared to go. And now, through 360-degree tech-nology, I can bring other peo-ple’s reality to life so anyone around the world can see what

it is like, without being manip-ulated.” Elle magazine listed Leeb as one of the top 80 inter-national characters and Refinery29 named her as one of the most inspiring women in Germany.

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker, Julia Leeb, shares her experiences with NU-Q’s community.

Qatargas employees and their families at the ‘Qatargas Sport Day’.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatargas employees and their families participated in the ‘Qatargas Sports Day’ – a highly anticipated event which was organised on the occasion of the National Sport Day. The annual Qatargas Sport Day is an inte-gral part of the Company’s commit-

ment to promoting the health and well-being of employees and community members.

A wide variety of sporting events and activities were held at Al Gharafa Sports Club and at the Al Khor Com-munity sporting facilities. In Doha, the sporting occasion commenced with a walkathon, thereby ensuring that all

participants were warmed up and ready for the wide variety of sporting activities on offer.

Football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, fun cricket and mini golf were among the most popular choices for dedicated sporting enthusiasts and first time participants alike.

The wide range of exciting sports

activities organised in the Al Khor Community included walkathon, foot-ball, volleyball, badminton, tennis, table tennis, cricket and athletics. The participants also had an opportunity to check their blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and body mass index at a dedicated health-check area set up by the Qatargas Medical Department.

Qatargas employees celebrate National Sport Day