qatar criticises emir holds phone talks with senegal president · qatar airways flight qr291,...

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Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani visited yesterday the Fire Station building ‘Artist in Residence’. The Prime Minister was welcomed upon arrival at the Fire Station by Chairperson of the Qatar Museums Board of Trustees, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. → Report on page 2 PM visits ‘Artist in Residence’ initiative Volume 22 | Number 7261 | 2 Riyals Tuesday 22 August 2017 | 30 Dhul-Qa’Da 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Al Rumaihi stressed that Qatar & Qatari pilgrims don’t need aid for covering the cost of Haj and portraying it as a charity, because charity has ben- eficiaries who need it more than Qatari pilgrims. Dimitrov captures first Masters title in Cincinnati Volkswagen in no hurry to sell assets BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 24 3 rd Best News Website in the Middle East Qatar criticises Saudi airline rider in Haj row QNA T he Foreign Ministry has expressed its sur- prise at the announcement by Saudi Arabia to limit the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines. The Foreign Ministry’s Information Office Director, H E Ambassador Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi said in a statement yesterday that lim- iting the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines is unprecedented, illog- ical, surprising and contravenes the teachings of Islam, which urge the facilitation of perform- ing this duty to all Muslims. HE Ambassador Al Rumaihi noted that it is usual and custom- ary for pilgrims from any country to be transported by national air, land and sea transportation in that country, in addition to other foreign means of transportation, with this taking place as part of the national mission of Haj. He pointed out that previous cases of severing diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and other countries did not see an imposi- tion of transferring pilgrims of those countries on Saudi Arabian Airlines. As for allowing Saudi Ara- bian Airlines to transfer Qatari pilgrims, the Information Office director reiterated the Civil Avi- ation Authority’s statement on August 20 that coordination is to be effected in this regard through the Haj mission, according to previous regulations so as to pre- serve the safety and security of Qatari pilgrims. He stressed that Qatar and Qatari pilgrims don’t need aid in terms of covering the cost of Haj and portraying it as a charity, because charity has ben- eficiaries who need it more than Qatari pilgrims. He added that facilitating the performance of Haj would be through an unconditional lifting of the siege on Qatar, which would go in line with the nature of this rite and comply with the teachings of Islam and international conventions; ena- bling the Qatari Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs to steer the Qatari Haj mission; and transporting Qatari pilgrims in the airline of their choice — Qatar Airways or other carriers. Continued on page 3 The Peninsula Q atar Airways’ first non-stop flight from Doha landed yesterday at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, inaugurating the award-winning air- line’s first-ever passenger service to the Czech Republic. Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter- national Airport yesterday at 8am and arrived at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague ahead of schedule at 12:50pm. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker trav- elled on board the inaugural flight with the Czech Republic’s Ambassador to Qatar, Martin Vitek, and was greeted by Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport; Pavel Klucky, Director of Department of Near East Area, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Monika Palatkova, General Manager of Czech Tourism. Prague, widely recognised as one of the world’s most beautiful cities, is known for its striking medieval architecture and old-world ambience. This picturesque Bohemian city offers visitors a wealth of choice of activities, from walk- ing the cobbled streets of the old city to enjoying Prague’s rich tradition of café culture. Akbar Al Baker said: “We are delighted to launch daily serv- ice to Prague, a long-anticipated addition to our global route net- work. This exquisite European city will be an extremely popu- lar destination for both business and leisure travellers, providing our passengers the opportunity to experience the unique beauty of the city. The launch of this new service comes at a time when we are expanding our presence in Eastern Europe, as part of our efforts to extend our reach globally. We are tremendously excited to be able to provide passengers the opportunity to visit this magnif- icent city.” Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport, said: “The proposed schedule, at two different times of operations, will support con- nections within the carrier’s network via Doha to Asian and Australian routes. We expect that passengers coming from Prague will be most interested in the connecting flights to Bali, Bangkok, Colombo, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Delhi and Sydney. Continued on page 6 The Foreign Ministry’s Information Office Director said yesterday in a statement that limiting the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines is unprecedented, illogical, surprising and contravenes the teachings of Islam. QA launches flights to Prague Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker with airline and other officials in Prague. Kahramaa in deal with Oman firm Q atar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) signed yes- terday two contracts with leading firm Voltamp Oman to supply transformers for the electric distribution grid in the country at a cost of QR350m. → See also page 3 Qatar ahead in fighting terror: Ambassador The Peninsula A mbassador of Qatar to Philippines, Ali Ibra- him Al Malki has said that Qatar is ahead of many other countries in combating terrorism by all means. “The State of Qatar has been ahead (of many others) in combating terrorism by all means. Note that the State of Qatar’s position on terrorism is consistent. Qatar condemns all forms of terrorism what- ever the causes or motives,” he said in an interview with The Manila Times yesterday. “Qatar is an active and lead- ing member of international conventions committed to combating terrorism and its financing, at the regional and international levels. Continued on page 4 Transport Resilience Program launched Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President QNA E mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al hani held last evening a telephone con- versation with President Macky Sall of Senegal. During the phone call, the two sides dis- cussed bilateral relations and means of boosting them in var- ious fields. The latest developments in the Middle East, especially the Gulf crisis, were also reviewed. Senegal Ambassador back to Doha S enegal decided yesterday to send its ambassador back to Doha. The Ambassador had been recalled for consultation following the GCC crisis in June. Senegal strongly encourages the pursuit of ongoing initiatives aimed at a peaceful settlement of the crisis between Qatar and its neighbouring countries. Senegalese government said that in the spirit of Islamic solidarity, it is willing to contribute to the ongoing efforts in this direction. QNA M inister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti launched yesterday the Transport Resilience Program in the State of Qatar, which comes under the directives of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. The programme aims to provide a multi-transportation network in Qatar that keeps pace with all changes and is resilient ensuring its sustaina- bility and operational efficiency to reach a high level of service, and encourages the public to use public transportation. Qatar is one of the first countries to launch such programmes. The programme was devel- oped within the framework of the efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Communications in responding to the main requirements of Qatar’s strate- gic transport in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. Continued on page 3 Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, and other delegates at the launch of QTRP yesterday.

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Page 1: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani visited yesterday the Fire Station building ‘Artist in Residence’. The Prime Minister was welcomed upon arrival at the Fire Station by Chairperson of the Qatar Museums Board of Trustees, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. → Report on page 2

PM visits ‘Artist in Residence’ initiative

Volume 22 | Number 7261 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 22 August 2017 | 30 Dhul-Qa’Da 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Al Rumaihi stressed that Qatar & Qatari pilgrims don’t need aid for covering the cost of Haj and portraying it as a charity, because charity has ben-eficiaries who need it more than Qatari pilgrims.

Dimitrov captures first Masters title in Cincinnati

Volkswagen in no hurry to

sell assets

BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 24

3rd Best News Website in the Middle East

Qatar criticises Saudi airline rider in Haj rowQNA

The Foreign Ministry has expressed its sur-pr ise at the announcement by Saudi Arabia to limit

the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines.

The Foreign Ministry’s Information Office Director, H E Ambassador Ahmed bin Saeed Al Rumaihi said in a statement yesterday that lim-iting the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines is unprecedented, illog-ical, surprising and contravenes the teachings of Islam, which urge the facilitation of perform-ing this duty to all Muslims.

HE Ambassador Al Rumaihi noted that it is usual and custom-ary for pilgrims from any country to be transported by national air, land and sea transportation in that country, in addition to other foreign means of transportation, with this taking place as part of the national mission of Haj. He pointed out that previous cases of severing diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and other countries did not see an imposi-tion of transferring pilgrims of those countries on Saudi Arabian Airlines.

As for allowing Saudi Ara-bian Airlines to transfer Qatari pilgrims, the Information Office director reiterated the Civil Avi-ation Authority’s statement on August 20 that coordination is to be effected in this regard through the Haj mission, according to

previous regulations so as to pre-serve the safety and security of Qatari pilgrims. He stressed that Qatar and Qatari pilgrims don’t need aid in terms of covering the cost of Haj and portraying it as a charity, because charity has ben-eficiaries who need it more than Qatari pilgrims.

He added that facilitating the performance of Haj would be through an unconditional lifting of the siege on Qatar, which would go in line with the nature of this rite and comply with the teachings of Islam and international conventions; ena-bling the Qatari Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs to steer the Qatari Haj mission; and transporting Qatari pilgrims in the airline of their choice — Qatar Airways or other carriers.

→ Continued on page 3The Peninsula

Qatar Airways’ first non-stop flight f r o m D o h a

landed yesterday at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, inaugurating the award-winning air-l ine ’s f i rst-ever passenger service to the Czech Republic.

Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport yesterday at 8am and arrived at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague ahead of schedule at 12:50pm.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker trav-elled on board the inaugural flight with the Czech Republic’s Ambassador to Qatar, Martin Vitek, and was greeted by Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport; Pavel Klucky, Director of Department of Near East Area, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Monika Palatkova, General Manager of Czech Tourism.

Prague, widely recognised as one of the world’s most beautiful cities, is known for its striking medieval architecture and old-world ambience. This picturesque Bohemian city

offers visitors a wealth of choice of activities, from walk-ing the cobbled streets of the old city to enjoying Prague’s rich tradition of café culture.

Akbar Al Baker said: “We are delighted to launch daily serv-ice to Prague, a long-anticipated addition to our global route net-work. This exquisite European city will be an extremely popu-lar destination for both business and leisure travellers, providing our passengers the opportunity to experience the unique beauty of the city. The launch of this new service comes at a time when we are expanding our presence in Eastern Europe, as part of our efforts to extend our reach globally. We are

tremendously excited to be able to provide passengers the opportunity to visit this magnif-icent city.”

Vaclav Rehor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Airport, said: “The proposed schedule, at two different times of operations, will support con-nections within the carrier’s network via Doha to Asian and Australian routes. We expect that passengers coming from Prague will be most interested in the connecting flights to Bali, Bangkok, Colombo, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Delhi and Sydney.

→ Continued on page 6

The Foreign Ministry’s Information Office Director said yesterday in a statement that limiting the transfer of Qatari pilgrims only to Saudi Arabian Airlines is unprecedented, illogical, surprising and contravenes the teachings of Islam.

QA launches flights to Prague

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker with airline and other officials in Prague.

Kahramaa in deal with Oman firm

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) signed yes-

terday two contracts with leading firm Voltamp Oman to supply transformers for the electric distribution grid in the country at a cost of QR350m.

→ See also page 3

Qatar ahead in fighting terror: Ambassador The Peninsula

Ambassador of Qatar to Philippines, Ali Ibra-him Al Malki has said

that Qatar is ahead of many other countries in combating terrorism by all means.

“The State of Qatar has been ahead (of many others) in combating terrorism by all means. Note that the State of Qatar’s position on terrorism is consistent. Qatar condemns all forms of terrorism what-ever the causes or motives,” he said in an interview with The Manila Times yesterday. “Qatar is an active and lead-ing member of international conventions committed to combating terrorism and its financing, at the regional and international levels.

→ Continued on page 4

Transport Resilience Program launched

Emir holds phone talks with Senegal PresidentQNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al hani held last evening a telephone con-

versation with President Macky Sall of Senegal. During the phone call, the two sides dis-cussed bilateral relations and means of boosting them in var-ious fields. The latest developments in the Middle East, especially the Gulf crisis, were also reviewed.

Senegal Ambassador back to DohaSenegal decided yesterday to

send its ambassador back to Doha. The Ambassador had been recalled for consultation following the GCC crisis in June.

Senegal strongly encourages the pursuit of ongoing initiatives

aimed at a peaceful settlement of the crisis between Qatar and its neighbouring countries. Senegalese government said that in the spirit of Islamic solidarity, it is willing to contribute to the ongoing efforts in this direction.

QNA

Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al

Sulaiti launched yesterday the Transport Resilience Program in the State of Qatar, which comes under the directives of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The programme aims to provide a multi-transportation network in Qatar that keeps pace with all changes and is resilient ensuring its sustaina-bility and operational efficiency to reach a high level of service, and encourages the public to use public transportation. Qatar is one of the first countries to launch such programmes.

The programme was devel-oped within the framework of the efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Communications in responding to the main

requirements of Qatar’s strate-gic transport in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

→ Continued on page 3

Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Municipality and Environment H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, and other delegates at the launch of QTRP yesterday.

Page 2: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

02 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017HOME

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with the Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Qatar, Najib bin Yahya Al Balushi. The Prime Minister welcomed the Omani envoy and wished him success in his duties and relations between the two countries further progress and prosperity.

PM meets Omani envoy

QNA

NATIONAL Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Chairman Dr Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, met with Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Morocco, Mohamed Aujjar, and Chairman of the National Human Rights Council, Driss El Yazami. The two meetings reviewed means of coop-eration in issues of mutual interest and acti-vating the mechanisms for transferring expertise and experiences in the field of human rights.

Khartoum

QNA

Assistant President of the Republic of S u d a n , M u s a Mohammed Ahmed, has lauded Qatar’s

supportive role in all fields, pointing out that the projects signed for the establishment of 10 model villages funded by the State of Qatar aim to contrib-ute directly to peacebuilding and to achieve security and sta-bility after the decline of fighting and violence in a way that awakened the aspirations for access to the stage of con-struction and reconstruction.

During the inauguration ceremony in Khartoum, the

Sudanese official said that the signing of development projects financed by the Qatar Fund for Development comes within the framework of the efforts of Qatar to support the development and stability of

Darfur and to facilitate the vol-untary return of displaced persons and refugees and con-tribute directly to peace building and stability, stress-ing that all the projects that will be implemented by Qatar

in Darfur will find all the atten-tion and care.

This is a confirmation of our view of Qatar as a true partner in the process of building peace and development in Darfur,” he said.

For his part, the Head of the Darfur Peace Monitoring Office and Supervisor of the Darfur Commissions Majdi Khalafallah said, the signing of a number of projects funded by the State of Qatar in Sudan is particularly important as their implementa-tion comes as part of the peace-building process after we have effectively overcome the peace-making process and become the next challenge,”.

“We now have to move for THE reconstruction and

development. “, he added. He said that these projects are fully consistent with the strategic plan in all development areas and Darfur development plans and will directly contribute to addressing the consequences of the conflict and violence in Darfur, as well as the return of displaced persons and refugees in the context of voluntary repatriation.

Khalafallah stressed the keenness of his government to develop cooperation with the State of Qatar in the field of joint development effort, which con-firms the sincerity of the commitment of the Qatari side to this bilateral cooperation, which he described as an ideal model for successful develop-

ment cooperation.He praised Qatar’s supportive

stances and its stand with Sudan in the difficult situation embod-ied by the Darfur issue, which enabled us to lay a solid founda-tion for peace through the completion of the Doha peace document in Darfur, which has received the support of all peo-ple of Darfur.

During the inauguration ceremony, a number of Qatari projects were also presented in Sudan including Silatech projects (Education Above All), Qatar Museums, Qatar Char-ity and Qatar Red Crescent projects as well as five Darfur projects and projects of the United Nations Development Fund in Darfur.

Qatar a true partner in peace & development: Sudan

QNA

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani visited yesterday morning the Fire Station building ‘Artist in Residence’, which is one

of the most important initiatives to support artists in the State of Qatar. The Prime Minister was welcomed upon his arrival at the Fire Station by H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, the Chairperson of the Qatar Museums Board of Trustees.

The Prime Minister toured the existing studios and exhibitions where he listened to a brief about the Artists in Residence pro-gramme which is hosted by the Fire Station and is one of the most important initiatives aimed at supporting the next generation of artistic talents in Qatar.

The nine-month residency programme helps resident artists to enhance their passion during their residency. During this time, they move into one of the studios, collaborate with fellow crea-tives and develop their own technique. The programme also allows resident artists to benefit from weekly mentoring sessions and meet arts professionals from all over the world, representing Qatar in the international cultural community. The Artist in Residence programme hosts 20 artists, including 10 Qataris.

PM visits Fire Station ‘Artist in Residence’

Al Marri, Moroccan officials discuss transfer of human rights expertise

The establishment of 10 model villages funded by the State of Qatar aims to contribute directly to peacebuilding and to achieve security and stability after the decline of fighting and violence, says Musa Mohammed Ahmed, Assistant President of the Republic of Sudan.

Page 3: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

03TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 HOME

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has received a written message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Swaziland, Mgwagwa Gamedze, pertaining to bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them. The message was handed over by Ambassador of the Kingdom of Swaziland to Qatar, Felizwe Percival Dlamini, during a meeting yesterday with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi.

Foreign Minister gets message from Swaziland minister

The Peninsula

Preparations are under way for the exhibition titled Powder and Damask:

Islamic Arms and Armour from the Collection of Fadel Al Man-soori which opens on Sunday (August 27) at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA).

Fadel Al Mansoori will be the first Qatari collector to dis-play his notable Islamic arms and armour collection at MIA.

Powder and Damask, which will run from August 27 to May 12, will showcase an impressive selection of edged weapons and firearms crafted

primarily in Turkey, Iran and India from the 17th to the mid-19th century.

The exhibition explores the art of craftsmanship, which reached unprecedented levels in these regions under the Otto-man, Safavid and Mughal empires, where these objects were considered not only as weapons but as works of art.

The objects featured in the collection are of the diverse styles and materials, such as ivory, horn, gold inlay and cal-ligraphy, used to decorate weapons during this time period. A highlight of the col-lection is its access to objects

made from Damascus steel, which has long been highly prized as an important differ-entiator of quality that is generally seen in weapons made for high-ranking mem-bers of society and denotes status.

The technique was prac-ticed by master craftsmen and metalsmiths, whose knowledge has been lost to history.

The exhibition will be divided into two main sections, with one gallery highlighting the production of edged weap-ons, while the other provides an insight into the production of firearms in the Islamic world.

Across both sections, the inter-connection between distant cultures is evident through the similar style and taste of deco-ration used across Turkey, India and Iran around the same time period.

An important aspect of Al Mansoori’s collection is his interest in conservation, encouraging other private col-lectors to educate themselves on the importance of proper care for the long-term preser-vation of historic artefacts.

Educational programmes, workshops, activities and events will be organised along-side the exhibition.

Preparations under way for exhibition at MIA

Objects being installed at the Powder and Damask: Islamic Arms and Armour from the Collection of Fadel Al Mansoori exhibition which opens on Sunday at the Museum of Islamic Art.

The Peninsula

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) yesterday

signed two contracts with Vol-tamp Oman, a manufacturer of transformers and switchgears to supply transformers for the electric distribution grid in Qatar at a total cost of QR350m.

As per the contracts, the Omani company will supply 4,900 transformers to Kah-ramaa over two years,” said Kahramaa President Eng Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari in a press conference on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

Al Kuwari said the Omani firm was picked through an ear-lier tender that was floated to four closely picked companies and at the end the two contracts were awarded to the best com-pany in terms of the technical specifications of contracts.

The Kahramaa president said the corporation will con-tinue to float the tenders that it needs in light of the ongoing infrastructure projects in Qatar, noting that Kahramaa has floated tenders worth nearly QR5bn over the past five years.

He added that Kahramaa supports investment in the field of industries related to the elec-tricity and water grids and aims to nationalize several ones in

Qatar so as to support the work of the corporation.

Al Kuwari noted that sign-ing the two contracts comes at a time when commercial and economic ties between the two countries grow, adding that these transformers will be used in supplying electricity to infra-structure projects, industrial projects as well as citizens’ lands across the country.

He said that the Omani com-pany is a leader in electric industries, noting that there are negotiations with many Omani firms regarding the electric grid and the water sector so as to cooperate together.

Al Kuwari expressed hope that the economic ties with Oman would continue to develop, with that progress reflected in more contracts with Omani firms.

For his part, Voltamp Oman Chairman Qais bin Mohamed Al Yousef said his company has a lot to offer for the Qatari mar-ket, noting that signing the contracts is one of the goals of Voltamp Oman, which looks to expand its presence in the Qatari market and benefit from the available investment opportu-nities. He said that Voltamp Oman will not hesitate to expand whenever opportunities arise.

The Voltamp Oman

chairman said that awarding the tender to his company and sign-ing the two contracts represent a historic milestone for the company.

Al Yousef said Voltamp Oman was established in 1987 as a family business and has grown to become a public shareholding company listed on Muscat Securities Market. Since then, he said, the board and executive management seek for the company’s products to cope with modern technology so as to efficiently serve its custom-ers and place high quality at the forefront of its priorities and goals.

He expressed hope that signing the contracts would act as a platform for cooperation and working together between Kahramaa and Voltamp Oman as well as the development of good relations between them, voicing his country’s keenness on investment with some Qatari investors.

Through this cooperation, Al Yousef said, the technology of transformers and electric keys can be transferred to Qatar while also nationalizing the industry, which would create local added value and help in supporting the work of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Qatari market.

Kahramaa signs QR350m contracts with Oman firm

The President of Kahramaa, Eng Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari (right), with the Chairman of Voltamp Energy Saog (Voltamp), Qais bin Mohamed Al Yousef, at the signing ceremony a Sheraton Grand Doha Resort and Convention Hotel, yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

Sanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

Qatar’s ambitious water project ‘The Water Secu-rity Mega Reservoirs’

aimed at increasing capacity of strategic water storage of the country is expected to be par-tially commissioned by the end of this year.

“One of the five mega reser-voirs and pumping stations located at Al Thumama is expected to start pumping water by the end of this year,” Ahmed Naser Al Nasr (pictured), Head of Technical Affairs Department at Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) told The Peninsula while speak-ing on the sideline of a press conference organized by Kahramaa.

Al Nasr said: “The project will be commissioned partially this year because, first of all, the pipelines will be laid to supply water then gradually one by one the reservoirs will be commissioned.”

He added that the mega res-ervoir water project aimed at increasing water reserve capac-ity of the country significantly which was currently sufficient

to meet few-days need. “Al Thu-mama water reservoir is expected to be partially commis-sioned by the end of this year and it will be commissioned fully by end next year,” said Al Nasr.

To cope with any emergency situation, Qatar is also ready to utilize its groundwater that is available in enough quantity to cover the requirement of the country for long.

“We have conducted a sur-vey about groundwater in all over the country,” said Al Nasr. “Surface water wells in many areas have potable water and some require minor treatment to make the water consumable by humans,” he added.

Al Nasr added, “Last year, we completed projects to refur-bish all these wells which are also fully equipped with ground water reverse osmosis plants

and tanker filling stations. The groundwater is reserved only for an emergency.”

The groundwater plants have been installed across the country mainly in the north of Doha. They are in a position to go fully operational any time in case of emergency. “Qatar has about 20 percent reserves of electricity and water to cover the demands for at least next five years depending on the size of growing demand,” said Al Nasr.

To meet the growing demand of electricity and water, Kahramaa launched many projects. An electricity and water plant in Umm Al Houl has been recently commissioned.

“We commissioned two big projects last year and this year, RAF-A and RAF-B stations, at Um Al Houl. One is water desal-ination plant while the other is for electricity and water both,” he added. Kahramaa is also working on a new electricity and water project whose consul-tancy has been awarded. Kahramaa has requested the municipality concerned to allot land for the project most likely in the north of the country and the project is expected to start next year, said official.

Mega reservoirs project to be partially commissioned soon

Continued from page 1One of the key benefits from

the Framework is that it will facil-itate cooperation and coordination across the transport sector’s relevant entities.

Addressing the QTRP launch event, Sheikh Mohamed bin Kha-lid Al Thani, Director of Technical Affairs Department at the Minis-try, said that Qatar’s economy has been witnessing a growing boom under the wise leadership of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

He added that transport sys-tem in Qatar was witnessing a rapid growth and continuing changes concurrently with huge investments into transport net-work infrastructure.

The few coming years, he noted, would be the best demon-stration of Ministry’s efforts for developing the performance of all transport mediums across the country, particularly with the operation of railroad networks and the upgrading of public transport services in a way that

supports sustainable social and economic progress.

The plan of action being exe-cuted by the Ministry was inspired from the Qatar National Vision 2030. That plan provides the requirements for all the new transport infrastructure invest-ments and a key priority in it is to ensure such investments deliver the expected transport benefits in a safe, consistent and reliable manner and the Program launched today is a central ele-ment of that plan, Sheikh Al Thani

said. He stressed that resilience nowadays is no longer an option; rather it is continually becoming a necessity that drives all economies.

He said that for the success-ful deployment and execution of the Program HE Minister of Transport and Communications had given directives to establish-ing a working group for the transport resilience project to develop the required framework. He added that the working group would include representatives

from transport and transport-related sectors in Qatar, in addition to industry consultants and experts. The Program work-ing group would be working collaboratively through work-shops and joint committees, he said. During the event, the Min-istry working group in charge of the Program gave a presentation on the importance of the Pro-gram, roadmap to resilience and relevant case studies of where in the world similar programs are in place.

Qatar Transport Resilience Program launched Continued from page 1

H E Al Rumaihi stressed the need to separate Haj from political differences between states, not to hinder its per-formance by placing conditions that affect sover-eignty of states or the rights and dignity of their citizens, and stay away from exploit-ing it as a tool of political manipulation.

Qatar criticises Saudi airline rider in Haj row

Page 4: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

04 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017HOME

The Peninsula

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) organises a

series of horse riding and play sessions as part of its Summer Community Program for chil-dren with autism. The camp, taking place at Al Shaqab in Education City, is benefiting children from the Qatar Autism Families Association (QAFA).

The opportunity has been made possible through the support of Al Shaqab’s Equine Education division, which has provided facilities, horses, and staff for four evenings a week during the month of August.

QAFA offers horse riding opportunities for autistic chil-dren during the cooler months of the year, but in previous years it has not been possible to provide this activity during the hot summer months. The new collaboration with WISH

and Al Shaqab has given the children access to Al Shaqab’s indoor arena, thereby allow-ing horse riding to become a year-round option.

WISH created its summer programme mindful that Qatar’s National Autism Plan focuses on the need to engage autistic children through activities that take place out-side of the classroom.

Children taking part in the horse riding activities at Al Shaqab are enjoying the chance to improve their motor and balance skills, as well as experience the sensory and emotional benefits that come from riding a horse.

The horse riding sessions commenced on August 6 and will continue through to the end of the month. A separate twice-weekly swimming pro-gramme began on July 13, in collaboration with Qatar Foundation Recreation Services.

WISH delights autistic kids with activities

QNA

Qatar Foundation for Social Work (QFSW) has been granted a consultative status at the United Nations

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), allowing it to enhance its standing among influential international organisations in the issues of sustainable economic, s o c i a l a n d h u m a n development.

The international status wo;; give QFSW an opportunity to effectively participate in the dia-logue leading to improving and empowering the most needy groups who have missed out on development or have been excluded from the human right to development.

Speaking yesterday during a press conference on the occa-sion, QFSW Chief Executive Officer Amaal bint Abdullatif Al Mannai said the consultative sta-tus allows the foundation to actively interact with ECOSOC as an important and high-pro-file platform under the comprehensive authority of the UN General Assembly, and to function among the secondary entities under the council’s juris-diction, in addition to the UN

secretariat, programs, funds and specialized agencies.

Al Mannai said that receiv-ing the consultative status allows QFSW opportunities to meet and cooperate with counterpart groups who are partners in development and the fields of social work and human rights on the local and international fronts.

It also gives the QFSW priv-ileges and benefits, especially consultation with member states and the UN as well as request-ing information and advice from specialist sides in international organizations, in addition to enlisting issues of concern to the foundation on ECOSOC’s agenda.

In addition, the consultative status allows participation in UN conferences and activities and

attending as observers in public meetings of the council, the gen-eral assembly, Human Rights Council and other UN agencies in addition to appointing official representatives of the founda-tion at UN headquarters in New York and its offices in Geneva and Vienna besides submitting written and verbal statements of relation to the work of the council.

The consultative status also allows the foundation to use the UN facilities in holding confer-ences and meetings of relation to the work of the council and accessing the UN services for media documentation and using UN libraries.

Al Mannai said the consult-ative status is another

achievement for the State of Qatar at the international level and reaffirms QFSW’s excellence in achieving its vision to be a leader in social work not only at the local level but also region-ally and internationally.

QFSW was granted the con-sultative status thanks to its contribution to planning the pol-icies and strategies of social work in the State of Qatar, promoting the previous achievements, working to establish effective partnerships, consolidating pros-pects of cooperation, and extending bridges of coopera-tion with other ministries and relevant government entities. QFSW entered into bilateral agreements and active memo-randa of understanding in this

area in order to exchange exper-tise and information.

This contributes positively to the development of centers operating under QFSW’s juris-diction, enhances their capacities, develop their role in the society, and plans the strat-egies and policies that help in promoting civil society groups under the foundation and inte-grating their services.

QFSW aims to spread the culture of excellence and inno-vation in social work in the country by following the best international practices and spreading awareness of the con-cepts of quality improvement and performance development in line with the global standards in this regard.

QFSW granted UN consultative status

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

AFG College with the Uni-versity of Aberdeen opened admissions for

second batch of students at the AFG college campus on Sunday.

Brian Buckley, Principal of the College, launched the AFG College open days for all the stu-dents and parents.

Senior staff members of the university along with AFG Col-lege staff, provided insights into the degree programmes and offered advice on prospective students suitability for admissions.

Talking to The Peninsula, Dominic Milne, Deputy Head of International Office at Aberdeen University, said: “University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495, we are one of the oldest univer-sities of United Kingdom. Proudly we are the first one to have our own campus in Doha with collaboration with AFG col-lege. We are going to teach two

bachelors degree programmes. Starting on September 10, we will start this year two under-graduate programmes, namely ‘Bachelor-Honours degree in accountancy and finance’ and ‘Bachelors-Honours degree in business management studies’. These full-degree programmes are four years long and they are identical to what we teach back in our University. Additional to this we are also offering ‘Advanced entry’ to the students who already have diploma or a higher diploma from one of the institutions already in Doha.”

“We are excited about the staff of the university which will be a mixture, including locally appointed faculty and also fly-in faculty from The University of Aberdeen. We are extremely experienced in dealing with transfer-students, the criteria will rely on the transcript and credit hours both,” he further added. Brian Buckley said: “I have been impressed by the enthusiasm shown by the pro-spective students who wish to

study with us from September 2017. We are proud to be able to offer the first UK university on a dedicated campus in Doha. We also look forward to welcoming the University of Aberdeen fac-ulty who will be teaching on the programs”.

Qatari and non-Qatari pro-spective students, attended the events, many of whom signed up to the University of Aber-deen’s Bachelor Degrees in Business Management and

Accountancy and Finance.One of the students signing-

up for the advanced level, Faisal Al Ibrahim, said: “Since I grad-uated from high school I went to Qatar University for higher studies but due to some issues I had to leave that University. I chose to complete my diploma program from CCQ as soon as I got to know about University of Aberdeen, I couldn’t wait to enroll myself and get my degree program completed in no time.”

AFG College opens admissions

QFSW has been granted a consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Qatar ahead in fighting terror: Envoy to Philippines Continued from page 1

“And the international com-munity can attest to that,” he said. The ambassador said that there was an existing coopera-tion and a broad and multilateral partnership between the State of Qatar and the United States on various issues, including terrorism and regional security.

“Qatar has enhanced this cooperation by signing the Memorandum of Understand-ing (MOU) on combating terrorism financing with the United States last July. It is so obvious for everyone at this point that if the Americans, who are leading the war against ter-rorism, are not satisfied enough with our efforts on this issue, they would not have joined us.

This alone should have silenced all the allegations of the four countries against Qatar,” Al Malki told the Phil-ippines newspaper.

To another question regard-ing the US role in resolving the Gulf crisis, he said: “The US administration, since the start of the Gulf crisis, has a crucial role in the situation. We both share a common view in

adopting dialogue as a means to resolve this crisis. Any dis-pute in this area will affect the entire regional peace and security.”

He further said, “The US was the first to call for lifting the unjust and illegal siege imposed on Qatar at the time that the four countries contin-ued to ignore the American demand to open the crossing borders and land ports, as a gesture of good faith. The recent tour of two US envoys in the region to support the Kuwaiti mediation reflects the serious-ness of the United States in reaching a solution to the cri-sis, especially after the speech

made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his last visit to the region last month, in which he also stated that telephone calls alone are not enough to achieve a breakthrough in the GCC crisis.”

The Ambassador said that except for the woeful effects on some 30,000 Qatari families which had been “torn apart” by the measures imposed by the four countries, including

Qatari college students who had been forcibly deported from these countries at the outbreak of the crisis, “life goes on nor-mally well” in all of Qatar.

Al Malki pointed out that the action of the four countries against Qatar was “not a sim-ple blockade but a siege,” and it had “absolutely failed” to bring Doha to its knees. “Instead, it has increased our strength and pushed us to work harder for our country. Qatar is a state based on a solid foun-dation of values; the good leadership supported by its loyal people is at the top of them. It will continue to rise and move forward,” he said.

The ambassador said that as a result of the siege, Qatar had been able to turn chal-lenges into opportunities. “It has managed to increase its trade volume through Hamad Port and develop alternative sea and land passages, along with sus-tainable food supply. At the same time, it has managed to enter into new economic coop-eration agreements with some countries, and to diversify its sources of income and invest-ments,” said Al Malki.

He said that despite the refusal of the four countries to dialogue, H H the Emir had responded to the crisis with remarkable sobriety and states-manship. “His recent speech on the crisis was remarkably restrained, and well-received around the world. He rejected the accusation against Qatar, without wounding any of the leaders of the four Arab states.”

Al Malki regretted the fact that despite the passage of over two months, the four countries had not been able “to justify the siege that they imposed on Qatar, based on baseless alle-gations, followed by unrealistic and not actionable demands”.

AFG College staff interacting with students as part of the open days event at the college campus yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

The Peninsula

The Assistant Professor of Law Dr Muna Al Mar-zouqi (pictured) at

Qatar University College of Law (QU-LAWC) won the Qatar University (QU) Fellow-ship Award for the 2017-2018 Cycle.

The one-year award is presented by the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University’s (GU-Q) School of Foreign Service (SFS) in Qatar. By receiving the QU Fellowship Award, Dr Al Mar-zouqi obtained membership in the Georgetown intellec-tual community. She was granted the amount of $5,000 to pursue her research project, as well as an office space and access to GU-Q library resources.

Faculty member at QU-LAWC wins fellowship award

Ali Ibrahim Al Malki

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05TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

A recent report by Aka-mai, a global leader in Content Delivery Network (CDN) serv-ices, has named

Qatar as one of the world’s lead-ers in broadband connection.

The report, which analysed the Q1 results of broadband speed around the world, has found Qatar to lead the MENA region in average broadband connection speeds in the first quarter of 2017, and had the larg-est yearly connection speed increases of some 64%.

With a 108Mbps average peak connection speed, Qatar is also ranked seventh worldwide in providing broadband speeds, beating countries in Europe and the USA, according to the recent sampling of over 146 countries.

Throughout the report, Oore-doo’s network enhancements and investments are named as

some of the main reasons for Qatar’s lead, including the com-pany’s launch of its 4.5 G Pro service, with speeds up to 800 Mbps, for customers in Doha.

Talking about the results, Waleed Al Sayed (pictured), Chief Executive Officer of Oore-doo Qatar, said: “We are

delighted to be fulfilling our vision of making Qatar one of the best-connected countries in the world and congratulate Qatar’s leadership and people for this amazing result. Ooredoo plans to continue to invest in our net-work, to provide the latest speeds for Qatar, so that it can lead in next-generation solutions and technologies.”

Ooredoo Qatar has currently installed Fibre Broadband to 96% of homes in Qatar, enabling nearly everyone who wants the service to access the lifechang-ing speeds and educational benefits the Internet can bring.

Alongside its investment in the latest networks, such as the company’s recent announcement that 10 base stations having been equipped with 5G-ready tech-nology, Ooredoo is working to fulfil the growing demand for connectivity in Qatar.

This demand has seen higher levels of customers adopting higher fibre speed plans, such as Ooredoo’s 25 Mbps plan, which has had a 20% adoption in Q1 vs the worldwide adoption rates at that level of just 12% according to the report. “To celebrate this result, Ooredoo will launch a new Ooredoo Fibre plan for Qatar in the coming days, to cater for the ever-growing digital life-styles of our customers.”

Qatar ranks No.1 in MENA on broadband speeds

The Peninsula

LG Electronics’ (LG) newest smartphone featuring the proprietary FullVision dis-play is now available to consumers in

Qatar. The LG Q6 is designed to meet the needs and expectations of discerning mil-lennial customers worldwide.

The Q6 is the first model in LG’s new Q series of smartphones and was designed for consumers who want a device that offers the technology of LG’s flagship smartphones at an exceptional price that discerning mil-lennial consumers can appreciate. The Q6 shares DNA with the award-winning G6, the first smartphone to offer LG’s FullVision dis-play. With FullVision, LG is able to offer a large screen in a phone that can be used comfortably with one hand, one of the big-gest challenges facing smartphone design this decade.

The standout feature of the LG Q6 is its 5.5-inch FHD+ Full Vision display. Not only does this unique display offer maximum space, it also allows for easy multitasking as the screen can be divided into two perfectly square windows, viewable either vertically or horizontally. Square Camera Mode ena-bles the merging of two images into one and the creation of square grid collages – pop-ular with social media fans.

The phone also comes with Face Recognition technology that lets you unlock the phone by just lifting it up and looking at it. The Improved face recognition unlocks the phone more quickly and conveniently than ever before, without typing, drawing, swiping, or fingerprinting.

Durability is another key fea-ture of this smartphone. Its metal frame is constructed of 7000 series aluminum – a strong alloy commonly used in the aerospace and marine industries – with rounded corners to dissipate impact energy when dropped. The LG Q6 was designed with MIL-STD 810G in mind, a standard that tests and measures devices for their reaction to temperature extremes, rain, humidity, sand and dust to determine their suitability for use by the United States military. The battery in the Q6 is also subjected to extra harsh testing proc-ess, more demanding than international standards. And to disperse heat most effec-tively, a thermal pad cooling system is incorporated in the interior and key com-ponents are placed far from one another to minimize internal heating.

“LG designed the Q series based on

extensive research into what millennials want from their smartphones,” said Sajed Jassim Mohammed Sulaiman, Vice-Chair-man & Managing Director, Video Home & Electronic Centre and Jumbo Electronics. “The LG Q6 delivers the key features of LG’s flagship smartphones at an exceptional price that will appeal to young consumers in Qatar.”

The LG Q6 is available in Qatar through Video Home & Electronic Centre and can be purchased from Jumbo Electronics, Spark Lifestyle Electronics, leading retailers and hypermarkets.

LG Q6 introduces FullVision experience

QNA

Doha Institute for Gradu-ate Studies organised a workshop on innovation

as part of ongoing cooperation with the institute’s Executive Education Excellence Center, Bedaya (Center for Entrepre-neurship and Career Development), and Injaz Qatar.

The workshop is part of the institute’s summer activities. It involves holding a competition for more than 30 Qatari young men and women aged between 16-24. The candidates have to present a business idea that contributes to the Qatari econ-omy and the GDP. The candidates then compete among themselves based on the companies and ideas they want to establish. Each team of

students presented their own project and how it can serve the Qatari economy.

Organizers said the goal of the workshop is to promote entrepreneurial spirit, team-work, and positive thinking that can help youth rely on them-selves. The end of the workshop featured presentations for four projects presented by the par-ticipating youth groups. The evaluation committee said that the proposed projects were very promising.

Group C were announced winners of the competition. Their project was establishing a center in Qatar to teach agri-culture. The goal of the center would be to encourage home gardens and promoting culture in the field of agriculture, which promotes GDP.

Workshop on ideas promoting Qatar’s GDP growth held

With a 108Mbps average peak connection speed, Qatar is also ranked seventh worldwide in providing broadband speeds, beating countries in Europe and the USA, according to the recent sampling of over 146 countries.

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06 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017HOME

The Peninsula

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q) have made a breakthrough which could lead to personalized blood

and heart tissue being created in a laboratory.Working with colleagues from the Ansary

Stem Cell Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Arash Rafii Tabrizi at WCM-Q in Doha postu-lated that endothelial cells – the cells that line the walls of blood vessels – are responsible for organ development.

Dr. Rafii Tabrizi, whose work has been funded by Qatar National Research Fund, said: “We hypothesized that the endothelial cells are the masterminds of organ development and dif-ferent organs have different endothelial cells that express different and specific factors called angi-ocrine factors that lead to the development and function of the organ.”

To test the theory, Dr. Tabrizi and his team isolated endothelial cells and forced the expres-sion of transcription factors using DNA vectors.

After 20 days, the cells began to multiply and were essentially transformed into

hematopoietic stem cells, which are the basis for all types of blood cells, including red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells, which are a vital part of the immune system.

Dr. Tabrizi, who is Associate Professor of Genetic Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecol-ogy at WCM-Q, said that the next step would be to translate the research to a human model, to test whether the findings can be translated to tackle different human diseases.

Dr. Tabrizi said: “If you have leukemia, for example, we would retrieve your endothelial cells and we could transform that into blood. It would be an unlimited personal source of blood for each individual. However, it is too early at this stage to make these assumptions in the absence of concrete human data”

Importantly the power of the endothelium to support cellular differentiation for blood cells is also successful with cardiac cell regeneration. By combining endothelial cells with cardiomy-ocytes – the heart’s muscle cells – the researchers were able to create muscle cells in a petri dish that beat together in a regular rhythm, similar to endogenous cardiomyocytes.

Dr. Jennifer Pasquier, Research Associate in Genetic Medicine at WCM-Q who performed

these experiments said: “Some organs function to secrete substances so, for example pancreatic cells would have to be sensitive to blood sugar levels and secrete insulin. But for cardiac cells we want them to integrate and beat in synchrony with each other. The problem is, if you trans-plant cardiac cells into your heart and then they beat at a different rate from the other cells, this would be the catastrophic for the individual.”

Scientists create blood in the laboratory

The Peninsula

Discoveries and data produced by Qatar’s research community will be managed in a more

streamlined and accessible way through a new collaboration between Qatar Foundation Research and Devel-opment (QF R&D) and Qatar National Library (QNL).

The QF R&D-QNL Research Data Project will establish a framework for ensuring the outcomes of projects sup-ported by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) are stored, preserved, and communicated effectively. The aim is to increase their visibility, maximize their potential for impact, and sharpen Qatar’s research focus on the nation’s highest priorities.

QNRF – which is part of QF R&D – and QNL, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), will work together to build capacity for research data management through the development of policies, skills, and infrastructure, while joint workshops with the research community will enhance data management skills.

“The rapid acceleration in the level of Qatar’s research output in the dec-ade since QNRF’s establishment has created the need for frameworks and

processes that ensure the products of the nation’s vibrant R&D enterprise have the greatest, and most enduring, value and impact,” said Dr Abdul Sat-tar Al Taie, Executive Director, QNRF.

“By harnessing QNRF’s capacity to facilitate mission-driven research, to the data management and curation expertise of QNL, this partnership will support the cultivation of a research culture in Qatar, and add a valuable new element to the support and guid-ance that QNRF provides to its awardees. It will bring a cohesive approach to research data manage-ment that helps to ensure the fruits of Qatar’s R&D efforts are transparent, focused, accessible, and capable of benefiting the nation both now and into the future.” The project will collate data from previous, ongoing, and future projects funded through QNRF’s port-folio of programs, as well as from public reports and publications in high-impact scientific journals. An online planning tool will capture the data, and QNL’s digital repository will be upgraded to support the curation and reuse of valuable research data sets.

“Both QNL and QNRF share the common goal of nurturing the crea-tion of knowledge,” said Susan Reilly, Director of the Digital Library, Licens-ing and Copyright, QNL.

New collaboration to boost Qatar’s research efforts QNA

Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS) and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed a memorandum

of understanding (MoU) to launch a multi-sectoral development pro-gramme in Sudan.

The programme involves the con-struction of two full-service complexes in three towns of East Darfur and West Darfur, at a total cost of nearly $13m (QR47.3m.). Under the five-year MoU, each complex would comprise two ele-mentary schools, two secondary schools, health center, police station, mosque, 15 houses for complex staff, water plant, streets, and green areas.

All complex facilities would be pro-vided with solar power. The projects would be managed by QRCS for three years, then handed over to local com-munity and authorities, like ministries of health, education, water, and envi-ronment. The agreement was signed by QFFD General Manager, Khalifa Jas-sim Al Kuwari, and QRCS Secretary-General, Ali Hassan Al Hammadi.

“This grant from QFFD will help develop the areas affected by armed conflict in Darfur, Sudan, encouraging the displaced people to return to their home and allowing an opportunity for them to settle and initiate income-gen-erating business enterprises that ensure

them a dignified life. It is part of the State of Qatar’s humanitarian strategy to mitigate the suffering of humanity and falls under the humanitarian response plan adopted by QFFD for 2017. To that effect, several agreements were signed over the year, including relief interventions for Fallujah, Syria, and Aleppo.

He added that QFFD appreciates the strong relations with QRCS and bilat-eral cooperation for the relief of the Sudanese people,” Al Kuwari stated.

“I would like to thank QFFD for this fruitful cooperation to preserve the security and dignity of the people of Darfur, who had to flee their homes, shops, and schools. As peace was

regained in the territory, it is important to help those returnees to restore their normal lives, secure their basic needs, improve their living standards, estab-lish solidarity and harmony, and eradicate the very roots of conflict and violence,” Al Kuwari added.

Pact signed to launch $13m project in Darfur

QFFD General Manager, Khalifa Jassim Al Kuwari, and QRCS Secretary-General, Ali Hassan Al Hammadi, during the MoU signing ceremony.

The Peninsula

The Shehaniyah Municipality carried out a total of 1,589 inspection cam-paign in last July; out of which 313

were conducted by the Health Control Sec-tion; 480 by General Monitoring Section and 796 by Technical Monitoring Section.

As many as 46 neglected vehicles were detained and also recorded 9 violations and 11 violations related to encroachment on public properties. Also issued 82 warn-ings and seven were a written pledges submitted by the offenders to rectify their status. The Municipality also issued 11 cer-tificates for finalising construction of buildings and eleven permission for exca-vations. The department of customer’s service was also received a total of nine complaints related to health, cleaning and technical aspects. On the other hand the Agriculture section at the ministry of Municipality and Environment is going to organise awareness day on August 28, to teach farmers how to dry the dates within the drainage rooms. The event will take place at agricultural research centre in Rawdat Al Fras beside Shamal Road. The event is to start at 9am.

Shehaniyah Municipality holds 1,589 inspections

The Peninsula

Around 670 students will participate in the fourth edition of the cultural excellence competition to be launched by the Department of The Holy

Quran and its Sciences at the Department of Da’wah and Religious Guidance at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs today.

The competition will host students of Quranic edu-cation centres for children under the age of 22 years. It aims to develop the culture of participants about The Holy Quran and Islamic teachings and motivate them to excel in various sciences emphasising the importance of Islamic culture while developing self-confidence.

The first group will include 250 students and will be hosted by Nafie Al Madani Center, the second group will include 270 students and will be based in the Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al Thani Center, and the third group is composed of around 150 students who will meet at the centre of Aseim bin Abi Al Najod.

670 students to participate in Awqaf competition

Continued from page 1Czech passengers can look forward to

a wider selection of available flights to Asia and Australia and also to comfortable con-nections to a number of other destinations, such as Windhoek (Namibia), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Sala-lah (Oman).”

As part of its rapid expansion strategy in Eastern Europe, the award-winning air-line recently launched direct service to Skopje, with service to Kyiv, Ukraine, also to commence this month.

Qatar Airways will operate its daily Prague service with an Airbus A320 air-craft, which features 12 seats in Business Class and 120 seats in Economy Class.

Qatar Airways Cargo commenced freighter operations to Prague, Czech Republic, a growing trade market in East-ern Europe, in March 2016. The airline’s cargo division currently operates three times weekly Airbus A330 freighters from Doha to Prague via Budapest, providing 180 tonnes of cargo capacity. Prague is a major gateway into Eastern Europe from Asia for electronics and automotive parts, as well as textiles, pharmaceuticals and bio-tech products.

The introduction of daily passenger flights to and from Prague will inject

additional bellyhold freight capacity on the route, connecting local businesses to the carrier’s extensive cargo network via its state-of-the-art Doha hub.Qatar Airways will be adding many more exciting desti-nations to its network in 2017 and 2018, including Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Accra, Ghana; Canberra, Australia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Utapao, Thailand; Chittagong, Bangladesh; and Mombasa, Kenya, to name a few. Qatar Airways is one of the fastest-growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 20th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 200 aircraft flying to busi-ness and leisure destinations across six continents.

The award-winning airline has received a number of accolades this year, including Airline of the Year by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Paris Air Show. This is the fourth time that Qatar Airways has been given this global recognition as the world’s best airline. In addition to being voted Best Airline by trav-ellers from around the world, Qatar’s national carrier also won a raft of other major awards at the ceremony, including Best Airline in the Middle East, World’s Best Business Class and World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.

Dr Rafii Tabrizi (right) and Dr Jennifer Pasquier.

Qatar Airways launches flights to Czech Republic

The programme involves the construction of two full-service complexes in three towns of East Darfur and West Darfur, at a total cost of nearly $13m.

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07TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

JERUSALEM: An Israeli courtyesterday extended the remand of an Islamic cleric accused of inciting violence in connection with last month’s deadly tensions over a Jeru-salem holy site, his lawyer said. Raed Salah, arrested on August 15, had his remand extended until Thursday. Prosecutors told the court on that they intend to file charges against the 58-year-old Salah.

Congo President reappoints premier BRAZZAVILLE: Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso reappointed Clement Mouamba as prime minister yesterday, four days after Mouamba and his cabinet resigned, the pres-ident’s office said in a statement. Mouamba, who resigned last week, is now charged with forming a new government, the statement said. Last week’s resigna-tions came after Sassou Nguesso said he wanted a new government to help alleviate economic woes caused by a steep drop in oil prices since 2014. Public debt has shot higher, rais-ing questions over Congo’s ability to meet coupon pay-ments for its $363m Eurobond.

Abuja

AFP

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari took to state TV on Mon-

day in his first speech since returning from a long medical absence in Britain, in a bid to dampen mounting separatist tensions in the country.

The 74-year-old, who received treatment for an undisclosed condition in Lon-don, appeared thinner than usual as he read slowly from a pre-pared statement in which he also vowed to redouble the fight against Boko Haram jihadists. He did not mention his more than three-month absence or the ill-ness that caused him to seek treatment abroad.

“I was distressed to notice that some of the comments (in my absence), especially in the social media, have crossed national red lines by daring to question our collective exist-ence as a nation. This is a step too far,” he said. “The national consensus is that it is better to live together than to live apart,” said Buhari, who returned to

Nigeria on Saturday after more than 100 days away from the west African nation of 190 mil-lion people.

Nigeria is facing a number of breakaway movements, including the Indigenous Peo-ple of Biafra led by fierce Buhari critic Nnamdi Kanu in the country’s southeast, which is

dominated by the Igbo ethnic group. The group has become increasingly vocal in its bid to win independence in recent weeks, with Kanu appearing in images meeting a private army of young men.

Arewa, a radical Muslim youth group in the country’s north, has issued an October 1

deadline for all Igbo people to leave the region. Boko Haram jihadists, meanwhile, have been fighting a bloody insurgency in the country’s northeast since 2009. Buhari vowed renewed energy for the fight against “ter-rorists and criminals”, singling out Boko Haram, kidnappers and those responsible for eth-nic violence. Don Okereke, a security analyst, accused Buhari of lacking a concrete plan.

“After more than 100 days we were expecting more details on how he’s intending to lead the country. Im not alone to say that it isn’t inspiring,” he said.

“There is no doubt that the security situation has deterio-rated since the beginning of the year: Boko Haram is worsen-ing, kidnappings are increasing,” he added.

“We really hope that all the security agencies... will not be overzealous (after the speech) just to impress their master.”

But Bismarck Rewane of the Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Company said Buhari’s return was good news for the security situation and the economy.

Beirut

Reuters

Lebanon’s Hezbollah used drones to strike Islamic State (IS) in Syria close to

the border with Lebanon, a mil-itary media unit it runs said

yesterday, their first public dec-laration that they had used such a weapon.

Hezbollah deployed the drones to hit Islamic State posi-tions, bunkers and fortifications in the Western Qalamoun area near the border with Lebanon,

achieving direct hits, the military media unit said. An official in the military alliance fighting in sup-port of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad told Reuters it was the first time Hezbollah had declared its use of the weapons.

Early on Saturday Hezbollah

and the Syrian army began an operation against an Islamic State enclave straddling the bor-der with Lebanon in Syria’s Western Qalamoun.

The Lebanese army began a separate but simultaneous oper-ation against the same jihadist

pocket from inside Lebanon.Any joint operation between

the Lebanese army on the one hand and the Syrian army on the other would be politically sen-sitive in Lebanon and could jeopardise the US military aid the country receives.

Amman

AFP

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on yesterday for new “serious and effective” peace talks

between Israel and the Palestin-ians, the royal palace said.

Meeting in Amman, they urged “the resumption of seri-ous and effective negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel to end the conflict on the basis of a two-state solution to assure an independent Pales-tinian state with June 1967 borders and east Jerusalem as capital”.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a stand-still since the failure of US mediation in the spring of 2014.

“New peace negotiations must take place according to a precise timetable and be based on international resolutions,” Erdogan and Abdullah said.

They also expressed their “unequivocal rejection of any attempt to change the legal and historical situation in the Al Aqsa mosque and any unilateral Israeli action threatening the identity of east Jerusalem”.

Jordan, the only Arab coun-try apart from Egypt to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, is custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

The sensitive Al Aqsa mosque compound in the eastern sector’s Old City — which Jews call the Temple Mount — was the focus last month of a tense standoff after Israel introduced new secu-rity measures following an attack

that killed two policemen.Jordan’s king said earlier this

month that a peaceful solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was becoming more and more difficult.

In January, US President Don-ald Trump came to power promising to push Israelis and Palestinians towards a peace deal, raising brief hopes among Palestinians that his unconven-tional approach could achieve results.

But Palestinians have become increasingly frustrated by what they see as his negotiating team’s one-sided approach.

Abdullah and Erdogan on Monday also underlined the importance of a political solution to end the war in Syria.

All diplomatic efforts to end to the conflict that has caused more than 330,000 deaths and displaced millions since 2011 have failed.

However, the two leaders welcomed an agreement that followed trilateral talks between Jordan, the United States and Russia that resulted in a truce in three regions of southern Syria.

Istanbul

AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yester-day that a joint operation

with Iran against Kurdish mili-tants was “always on the agenda”, a week after Tehran’s top armed forces commander visited Ankara for rare talks.

Turkey has battled the out-lawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for decades, while the Ira-nian security forces have also fought its affiliate, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). Both groups have rear bases in neighbouring Iraq.

“It is always on the agenda to carry out a joint operation with Iran against those terror organisations which pose a threat,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul before a trip to

Jordan. His comments came after Iran’s Armed Forces chief of staff General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri visited Turkey last week, with the two sides discussing ways to cooperate against the militants.

During the visit, Iran made a “surprise proposal” to Ankara to launch a joint operation against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq’s Kandil and Sin-jar regions, the Turkish newspaper Turkiye reported on its front page yesterday.

The newspaper claimed the proposal sparked surprise in Ankara because Turkish officials had long complained that Tehran had long left Turkey alone in its fight against the PKK’s cadres, financial structur-ing and political activities.

Erdogan confirmed that the two countries’ military chiefs

discussed how to work against Kurdish militants. “The work will continue because you know that the PKK terror organisation has a foot in Iran,” he said.

“They always cause harm to Iran and to us. We work because we believe that if the two coun-tries cooperate, we can reach a conclusion in a much shorter period of time,” he said. “I hope that we will get a successful result there,” he added, without offer-ing further details on the timing or scope of the operation.

The PKK is designated as a terror group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The Turkish army has been waging a relentless cam-paign in the last months to eradicate the PKK, and occa-sionally launches air raids against the group’s bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey, Jordan call for serious Mideast talks

Nigeria’s President slams divisions

Turkey-Iran operation against Kurd rebels possible: Erdogan

Hezbollah uses drones against IS offensive in Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reviews the guard of honour at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan, yesterday.

Sudan warns of floods as Nile water level surgesKHARTOUM: Sudan yester-day warned Khartoum residents along the Nile of likely “massive floods” as water levels of the river rose to a record high following heavy rains in neighbouring Ethiopia. The Blue Nile flow-ing to Sudan from Ethiopia converges with the White Nile in Khartoum, and from there they become the Nile which runs through the coun-try into Egypt. Almost 75 percent of the water in the Nile is brought by the Blue Nile, which swells every year during the rainy season in Ethiopia. “Water levels of Blue Nile and the Nile are ris-ing, and today the level of the Nile reached its highest in 100 years in Khartoum,” the irrigation ministry said in a statement.

Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari sitting beside his Chief of Staff Abba Kyari as he writes to the National Assembly, notifying the legislature of his return to office, after a medical vacation from London, in Abuja, yesterday.

“New peace negotiations must take place according to a precise timetable and be based on international resolutions,” Erdogan and Abdullah II said.

Israel extends remand of Islamic scholar

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As Americans spawned a wealthy franchise of sun-viewing screens and goggles to watch the celestial phenomenon sweeping the nation given to quirky political terms, both coasts of the United States came together in a

‘bipartisan spirit’. There was no missing the camaraderie between Pacific and Atlantic coasts as the sun moved across the mainland cutting a swathe among states that often pull different ways in a political climate given to vitriol.

Some bitterness was palpable in the ‘Twitterosphere’ as Ivanka Trump was trolled hundreds of miles away from the umbra and penumbra above the stratosphere. President Donald Trump’s daughter and White House aide went online to tutor US citizens about what a solar eclipse means: “Wondering how it works? In a solar #eclipse, the moon passes between the sun & Earth & blocks all or part of the sun for up to about 3 hrs.” In came a barrage of counter-tweets, the most scathing of which said: “That’s longer than most White House employees last.”

She was blasted by a fusillade of social media users who thought the slender blonde was no one to tell them how the moon’s shadow envelops the earth. “Thanks next week can u show us how impeachment works,” said another Twitter user.

On a day the American obsession with the total eclipse of the sun seemed to bring America together,

Trump was bracing to announce the fate of his forces in Afghanistan. Amid the shadow of misgovernance lurking around the White House, the embattled tycoon squinted at the sun first without glasses, and then raised his head to look at the sky after slipping on his eclipse shades.

The total lunar eclipse of the sun fades when compared to the rumpus that has

enveloped the White House under Trump. Closer to the celestial spectacle, the intransigent Trump dissolved a panel of scientists working on climate change. Many parts of the world, certainly not Trump’s Manhattan, believe that an eclipse is a bad omen. It is considered a time when the heavenly powers are distressed. Native American elders held prayers with their followers to ward off any purported ominous signs during the eclipse.

One cannot agree more that America is distressed like never before, albeit on earth. As the eclipsed sun streaked across the firmament, one could not help but contemplate about the Commander-in-Chief’s next step. A guided missile destroyer, USS John S McCain, collided with an oil tanker off Singapore. Though the Pentagon realised the gravity of the accident in which ten American soldiers went missing, the news was largely eclipsed amid a slew of headlines about the cosmic event that last took place in the US in 1979.

After gazing at the sky and eyeing the sun for the ‘diamond ring’ that formed for about two minutes, the only superpower in the world must prepare to look inside. Trump should lead his top officials into sustained introspection over what has gone wrong with America lest the eclipse of the White House threatens to stay put.

08 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

[email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

[email protected]

Eclipsed: The White House

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I was distressed to notice that some of the comments (in my absence), especially in the social media, have crossed national red lines by daring to question our collective existence as a nation. This is a step too far.

Muhammadu BuhariNigerian President

The total solar eclipse that sent Americans into a frenzy is allegorical of a fate that has befallen the nation.

Many observers are curious about Turkey’s quite recent interest in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, when Turkey said 2005 was the ‘Year of Africa’, I asked myself the same

question. Why was Turkey investing its energy in Africa?

Throughout the early 2000s, there were a very limited number of exchanges and inter-actions between Turkey and African countries. Turkey’s traditional interest lied in its affairs with the European Union. Nonethe-less, Turkey and Africa share a long history preceding the establishment of modern Tur-key, which is why Turkey should be considered an Afro-Eurasian country.

North and East Africa have traditionally witnessed the rivalry between Ottoman and Portuguese navies. Also, the Ottoman Empire had been by the side of East African commu-nities by providing defense against colonial forces.

To this day, Tripoli is known as the very last Ottoman province in contemporary Turk-ish consciousness. Besides, Africa has been seen a surge in growth and countries such as Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya are consid-ered emerging economies in the region. Although Turkey had a period of disengage-ment with Africa during the Cold War.

Diplomatic representationsToday, Turkey has 39 diplomatic repre-

sentations alongside other state agencies that complement Turkey’s engagement with Africa. The Maarif Foundation, Yunus Emre Institute, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and Turkish Airlines are key actors in furthering Turkey-Africa relations.

However, the most notable and well-established institution amongst these is the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), which operates in 17 African countries where further economic and cul-tural growth is predicted.

As part of my ongoing research in outlin-ing a pattern of Turkish foreign aid in Africa and Latin America, two continents that con-stitute recent openings, I recently visited Namibia in search for some of these patterns of Turkish aid practice.

Namibia, a former German colony and a country occupied by South Africa for decades, has not been on Turkey’s radar until the opening of a Turkish embassy in 2012. Together with the establishment of a TIKA program-coordination office in 2014, Tur-key’s presence in Namibia has grown exponentially.

In a country of two million, where Turkey was fairly unknown to local residents, Namibia represents an outstanding example of cooperation between the Turkish embassy and TIKA in attempts to expand Turkey’s presence by way of development aid and cul-tural engagement.

As of this date, more than 50 projects have been completed or are under consideration in

Tracing Turkey’s development

aid in NamibiaDr Senem CevikAnatolia

Namibia that represent Turkey’s engage-ment in the region. TIKA’s projects in Namibia are a wide array of develop-ment assistance ranging from establishing computer labs in universi-ties, thus ensuring access to global information and connectivity for Namibian college students, to preserving cheetah wildlife, thus contributing solu-tions to a growing environmental concern.

In addition, future projects are underway in establishing safe play-grounds and educational spaces for underprivileged students, which is vital in fostering an enhanced learning expe-rience for young Namibians who represent a majority of the population.

TIKA in NamibiaIn essence, TIKA’s main objective in

Namibia is to provide assistance and sustainable living conditions to under-privileged Namibians, and in doing so establish better relations between two countries.

However, Turkey’s foreign aid struc-ture, as it is with other aid agencies across the globe, is not limited to giving aid. My observations from the field nar-rowed Turkey’s commitment to Namibia to a number of aspects.

First, Turkey desires to build a posi-tive image among Namibians by increasing its presence. Since Turkey was not widely known prior to the open-ing of the Turkish embassy, it is important to close that information gap which may come from not knowing Tur-key at all.

Turkey’s trade with Africa has grown exponentially since the Year of Africa in 2005. For that reason, the second factor in Turkey’s engagement with Namibia is establishing and furthering trade. Also, Turkey has sought to expand the desti-nations Turkish Airlines serves across Africa. As a result of continuous efforts by the Turkish embassy in Windhoek and the TIKA Program Coordination Office, Turkish Airlines signed a code-share agreement with Air Namibia earlier in 2017. As a third factor, the expansion of Turkish Airlines’ partner-ship has the dual potential of increasing trade and tourism with Namibia.

By way of increasing its presence and engaging in projects that involve other international partners, Turkey is aiming to foster a positive image among other countries operating in Namibia.

In doing so, as a fourth objective, Turkey seeks to demonstrate its capacity to countries with more established aid agencies in regions such as Germany, Sweden, the United States and China.

In addition to all of these objectives, Turkey’s official presence in Sub-Saha-ran Africa is an invaluable asset in Turkey’s battle against the Fetullah Ter-rorist Organisation (FETO), which has well-established cells and networks in the region.

Turkey’s official engagement with Namibia will serve as the cornerstone of

efforts to keep FETO’s propaganda and networks away from the region.

Ankara’s foreign aid framework is oftentimes dubbed as the ‘Turkish model’, which reflects the approach Tur-key takes in providing foreign aid.

The type of projects, turnout time, allocation of resources and direct access to local coordination office are part and parcel of the Turkish model. Although it has a number of strengths, the Turkish model has room for improvement to ensure the greatest success. Given Tur-key’s relatively limited capacity within its diplomatic corps and other state agencies in terms of budget and human resources, such means should be allo-cated to projects that carry the potential to generate the maximum advantage.

Long-term relationsA well thought-out strategy, as well

as objectives, for different African coun-tries and the whole continent based on Turkey’s and the recipient’s priorities is fundamental in consolidating a uniquely Turkish style of foreign aid.

In that regard, several projects com-menced in Namibia, such as, wildlife conservation projects and initiatives that fight to empower women. These projects reach audiences outside of Namibia by way of other organisations partaking in similar development projects and at the same time bring about change to the lives of the aid recipients.

In addition, projects on enhancing com-munication technology capacity, such as equipment and training support in radio and television broadcasting across Africa, including Namibia, have the potential to create long-term relations. To conclude, Turkey should not neglect Africa and should gradually expand its diplomatic presence particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, it is important to align regional objectives and aspirations with an awareness of the limitations that might hinder efforts on the ground. Therefore it is imperative for Turkey to locally establish supportive agencies such

as TIKA, and draft a long-term regional and country based strategy.

A well thought-out strategy, as well as objectives, for different African countries and the whole continent based on Turkey’s and the recipient’s priorities is fundamental in consolidating a uniquely Turkish style of foreign aid.

ED ITOR IAL

Turkey’s trade with Africa has grown exponentially since the Year of Africa in 2005. For that reason, the second factor in Turkey’s engagement with Namibia is establishing and furthering trade.

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09TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 OPINION

torical, and willfully ignorant of the national timeline.I think especially of the monument that was taken

down by protesters on August 14, in my own home-town of Durham, North Carolina. The Confederate Soldiers Monument bore an inscription reading “In memory of the boys who wore the gray” and a seal for “The Confederate States of America”.

The statue was dedicated to the city in 1924 - 59 years after the war concluded. In fact, as has been well-documented elsewhere, the majority of these monuments emerged in the early 1900s. This wasn’t a tribute to those who fought in the war, most of whom were dead by then.

This was a tribute to Jim Crow, a reminder of sepa-rate and unequal status under the law. It has been a reminder to those entering into and departing the court of their position in the city and county. This was and is formalised, memorialised intimidation.

This isn’t history. This isn’t unity. This is the reifica-tion of white supremacy — of white power. This is the dividing line between those who have the full rights of citizenship and those who don’t, both when it was erected initially and to this day. And that’s exactly what it was meant to be.

So when you say “get over slavery” and then fight with rhetorical violence — and in some cases literal violence — to keep these monuments standing, you are ultimately showing your own inability to get over it. I am thinking today of the bravery of Takiyah Thompson, the young woman who was arrested in Durham for her role in bringing down the Confederate monument. I am also thinking of Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews’s assessment that the toppling of the monument must “serve as a sobering example of the price we all pay when civil disobedience is no longer civil”. The meaning of civil disobedience has always been markedly ambiguous, to be sure, but a non-violent protest in which no person was harmed - in which only property was damaged — certainly might be construed under this heading.

Spain terror shows Islamic State is down, not out

Spaniards have long lamented that Las Ramblas, the winding main artery of Barcelona, has devolved over the years from the tree-lined strolling place of Catalan flaneurs into a tourist trap filled by kitsch vendors. Now it will be

associated with the deaths of 13 people when a van driven by a terrorist smashed into the crowded walk-way on Thursday. More than 100 people were injured. It was one of several attacks along Spain’s Mediterranean coast, including an explosion at a house suspected of being a bomb factory. Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In the litany of European terrorist attacks over the last three years — Paris, Brussels, Manchester — the last three days in Spain were the least deadly. But in terms of European security — and the threat still posed by a terrorist group thought to be on its last legs in Syria — they are just as worrisome. And they are also just the tip of the iceberg: Last year, Europe suffered 47 terrorist attacks that killed 142 and injured 379. More than 90 other plots either failed or were foiled by police and security services. Nearly all were the work of Islamic extremists.

This data comes courtesy of a very timely report on trends in European terrorism from Anthony Cordes-man, the Arleigh A Burke chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. While Cordesman and his team didn’t come up with the data — the figures come from IHS-Jane’s and the University of Maryland’s excellent center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (or Start) — their study provides crucial context of how the threat has changed over time, particularly between 2011 and 2016. On Friday I contacted Cordesman to see how the Catalonian attacks fit into those larger patterns.

Tony Cordesman is the reigning polymath of the defense-policy elite. He has written more than 50 books for both the professional and lay audiences, and in the last year alone he has put out reports on stabilis-ing Iraq after Islamic State; the dollar cost of America’s current wars; China’s emerging power; the Gulf’s new “Game of Thrones”; key metrics and developments in the Afghan War; the postwar rebuilding of Syria; hard choices in the war in Yemen; the national security eco-nomics of the Middle East — well, that only takes us back to March, but you get the idea. Here is a lightly edited transcript of our discussion:

Tobin Harshaw: Let’s start with Barcelona. I think this series of attacks in Spain caught most Americans by surprise. The 2004 Madrid bombings, as horrible as they were with 191 deaths and 1,800 injures, are a

distant memory. Were you surprised to see the jihad-ists choose it this week?

Tony Cordesman: No one who looks at the data in detail over time sees clearly predictable patterns. If you look at trends from 1970 to 2016, you see just the oppo-site: Sudden shifts in patterns of violence, targets, methods of attack, and weapons by country. We also have no idea of how the Spanish counterterrorism forces saw the threat and reacted to the risk of vehicle attacks between the rise of this method in 2004 and the attacks in Barcelona.

A detailed review of the data on terrorism shows that terrorists innovate and adapt because they have to. It was clearly likely by mid-2016 that vehicle attacks would rise in every country with high political visibility and media coverage, but Spain is only one of many, and some early indicators show that the attacks in Barcelona suddenly shifted methods of attack and target locations when they lost their explosives.

We need to remember that we never saw Septem-ber 11 coming in the US and largely forced terrorist to chose other targets and methods of attack afterwards. This isn’t a “war” you can “win” by predicting how it will change.

Q: Of course Spain has a lot of experience with ter-rorism — you logged 3,245 incidents since 1970, primarily by Basque separatists. How did this prepare the Spanish authorities, and people, for the latest mur-ders? Are we worried about Islamic State and other jihadist groups possibly linking up with established non-Muslim groups in other countries?

A: If you look at the data, you see all too clearly that the patterns of locations of terrorism keep changing, and that this is an ongoing struggle that reaches far beyond ISIS. Historically, terrorist and extremists have also always been willing to find strange bedfellows, ranging from outside governments to drug lords.

The real risk, however, is that some movement or figure can unite extremist and jihadist movements on a broad enough level to be truly dangerous. The ideolog-ical core here is a level of extremism at the far margins of Islam, just like extremism in Israel, and Christian

extremism in the US and Europe. Historically, such movements tend to fragment and limit themselves, and there are literally well over a hundred jihadist movements recognised by the State Department. Some, like ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, however, are already far larger than others. No one can predict whether a truly charismatic leader will unify many such movements, and this is the most serious threat

Q: Looking more broadly at your data of both com-pleted and failed incidents from 2011 through 2016, the UK is far and away the most common target, including more than half last year. We know it has a large Muslim population, but so do France, Germany and the Low Coun-tries. Why is Britain so vulnerable?

A: Part of the problem is reporting. Britain is partic-ularly honest about its national statistics, although scarcely perfect. The other key issue, however, is that the number of incidents does not measure the number of casualties or killed, or track Islamic terrorism.

The incident-by-incident chronology in the Start database shows extensive low-level terrorism in Northern Ireland, and a few “nationalist” incidents in Scotland and possibly Wales. Many have unknown perpetrators, and some are absurdist actions by groups like the Earth Liberation Movement — although none quite reach the level of two of the 14 pre-Barcelona incidents in Spain between 2011 and 2014 — which Start classify as “anti-clerical.”

We must never forget that terrorism occurs for a wide range of reasons in free societies — many of which cause no casualties. Even in the US, Islamist ter-rorism killed more Americans than hate crimes between 2011 and 2016, but hate crimes physically injured far more Americans and innocent Muslims than terrorism. As Charlottesville shows, we need to look far beyond Islam or at least look far more closely and see ourselves in the mirror.

Q: The terrorists who rammed into the crowds along Las Ramblas in Barcelona eventually jumped out of the van and attempted to kill passersby with knives. We saw a similar approach in the London Bridge attack in March and on Friday in Turku, Finland. All told, use of firearms dropped from 57 incidents in 2015 to just six last year. Why the change in tactics?

A: Statistically, many incidents reflect a change in tactics from cases to case. Two incidents don’t set a pattern. The UK also has the best gun controls in Europe and knives have become the weapon of choice.

The data on the Barcelona attacks to date indicate that the perpetrators were originally seeking to use explosives and suddenly had to shift when they lost their explosives in another area. They may have rushed into van and knife attacks in a hurry, or realised that knifings were quick and give far less of a “signature” locating the terrorist than gunfire. We’ll have to wait and see what more evidence surfaces.

It’s really that simple. Let’s start by tear-ing these statues down. Let’s ask everyone’s favourite separatist, Robert E Lee, his thoughts on even the possibil-ity of these monuments. Lee ultimately

decried separatism and Confederate statues following the war, arguing instead for the nation “not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavoured to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”

Make no mistake — these are monu-ments to traitors who attempted to tear the nation asunder. Let me say this again — these are men who attempted to secede from the union because of their dedication to slavery in both theory and practice (yes, you’re right, this was an issue of states’ rights — namely, the right of states to allow slavery).

If many of these men, upon losing the Civil War, acknowledged the incompatibility of effective absorption back into the union and the memorialisation of their participa-tion in efforts to rip it apart, why is this a conversation worth having today? Isn’t this also something to “get over”? I mean, if they did why can’t you?

There’s a line going around today, in view of Charlottesville, of Durham, of Bos-ton, that claims these monuments serve as a reminder of our flawed past, or our ability to overcome. This idea is patently false, ahis-

Stop telling me to get over slavery

People display flowers, candles, balloons to pay tribute to the victims of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks on the Rambla boulevard in Barcelona.

Let’s not forget that Henry David Thoreau, who brought the term into the mainstream with the publication of his 1849 essay, “Civil Disobedience”, approved of the manner and method of John Brown’s violent abolitionist raid in 1859 at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Cute phrasing aside, civil disobedience is not necessarily non-violent. And whether or not you advocate for non-violence as a moral choice, a distinction must be made. Non-violent pas-sivity is a privilege not afforded the marginalised; non-violent action is resistance.

I am concerned then that this takedown is the “sobering example”, rather than the murder of Heather Heyer or the beat-ing of De’Andre Harris in Charlottesville at the hands of neo-Nazis. Are only those protests that seek to undermine white supremacy held to this definition of civil in civil disobedience?

It’s been said before, but it bears repeating - Germany doesn’t have monuments to Nazis because they are ashamed of the Holo-caust; The United States maintains Confederate monuments because we aren’t ashamed of ours. Germany hasn’t needed stat-ues to remind them not to be Nazis. Are the proponents of these monuments in the US claiming they do?

The after effects of slavery still frame the lives of everyone in the US — in the de jure and de facto treatment of black and non-black citizenry. It frames our experiences because these aren’t just monuments to a war - they are monuments to the “good ol’ days” of Jim Crow and segregation, and of unmasked white supremacy. Indeed, Confederate generals served in the govern-ment in the post-bellum, rather than being treated as POWs or even persona non grata.

We need these silent reminders — watching over us as we walk on college campuses and meander in our downtowns — to con-tinue the white supremacist functioning of the nation. When we see these statues, no one has to say a word. They say “I belong and you do not and will never.” They remind us of a time when Amer-ica was “great” and serve as an anchor to making it “great again”.

I can’t get over slavery because I am reminded at every turn of its existence as memory and current reality, as memo-rialisation, and in my own second-class citizenship. I can’t get over slavery because it is a fundamental thread inextricable from the tapestry of the nation. Stop telling me to get over slavery — you first.

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Q: Finally, with Islamic State dead in Mosul and on the verge of defeat in Syria, do you think the ter-rorist threat to Europe and the US will diminish or expand?

A: The defeat of the physical “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria will remove the threat of what would have been the equivalent of a terrorist state, but it will also disperse thousands of experienced local and foreign fighters with a strong incentive to strike at the West. At least in the short run, it could increase such attacks.

ISIS is also only a small part of the problem today. The Start database used by the US State Department in its annual country reports on coun-terterrorism indicates that ISIS was responsible for 4,343 incidents in 2011 to 2016 — from its rise to the end of last year. This was 6.1 percent of the world total during the same period and 7.2 percent of the total in the Middle East and North Africa. Defeating the ISIS caliphate will not begin to defeat terrorism.

More than that, it will do nothing to reduce the causes of terrorism in the Islamic and other parts of the world: Massive population growth; economic development and major unemploy-ment problems; resentment of secular governments that favour a few and are intensely corrupt; the feeling that state-supported religious figures sup-port the state and not religion; and deep internal sectarian, ethnic and tribal divisions in many states.

There are good reasons why almost no one actually involved in the fight against terrorism believes this will be over in less than a couple of decades, and the current impact of the ISIS caliphate must be kept in perspective.

Tobin HarshawBloomberg

In the litany of European terrorist attacks over the last three years — Paris, Brussels, Manchester — the last three days in Spain were the least deadly. But in terms of European security — and the threat still posed by a terrorist group thought to be on its last legs in Syria — they are just as worrisome.

Danielle Fuentes MorganAl Jazeera

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10 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017ASIA

A technician fits canisters containing silver Iodide, sodium chloride and potassium chloride onto a BQ-100 Beechcraft aircraft for the cloud seeding experiment project ‘Varshadhari’ at Jakkur Airport in the Indian city of Bengaluru, yesterday.

Cloud seeding experiment

Vehicles are seen stuck along a flooded section of national highway 34 at Malda in West Bengal, yesterday.

Flooded road

New Delhi

AFP

India’s home minister said yesterday he believed a border standoff with China would end soon, after new footage emerged showing

border guards from both coun-tries fighting on a disputed patch of land in the Himalayan region of Ladakh.

Indian and Chinese soldiers have for more than two months been facing off over a separate territorial dispute in the Dok-lam plateau, which India says is Bhutanese territory and which China claims for itself.

Some analysts have said the dispute amounts to the worst crisis in relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours for decades. Yesterday Home Minister Rajnath Singh said India wanted peaceful relations with its neighbours as he addressed a unit of border guards in the capital Delhi.

“A deadlock is going on between India and China in Doklam. But I think a solution will come out soon. China will also take a positive step from its side,” Singh said as he addressed the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

“We want to maintain good relations with our neighbours. We don’t want conflict, we want peace.”

The ITBP guards India’s 3,488km border with China along the northern Himalayan

mountain range. His comments came days after video emerged of soldiers from both sides appearing to kick and punch each other as rocks rained down on them in a disputed part of Ladakh last week.

Army sources confirmed to AFP on Monday that the video of the fighting on August 15 — India’s Independence Day — was authentic.

Asked to comment on the scuffle at a regular briefing on Monday, China’s foreign minis-try spokeswoman said its border troops were carrying out “nor-mal” patrols on the Chinese side.

“During this process, the Indian side took some violent actions, colliding with the Chi-nese personnel with their bodies and injuring the Chinese border personnel,” said Hua Chunying.

“This violated the consensus between India and China in relation to border issues. China has expressed great dissatisfac-tion” and had lodged solemn representations, she added.

India’s government had pre-viously confirmed the scuffle but said no weapons were used, without giving further details.

It happened on the shores of Pangong Lake, which lies over 4,000 metres high on the Tibetan plateau and is a popu-lar tourist attraction.

India and China share a long history of mistrust and went to war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The latest standoff began in mid-June after Chinese troops started building a road on the remote Doklam plateau.

India has an army base nearby and moved soldiers into the flashpoint zone to halt the work, prompting Beijing to accuse it of trespassing on Chi-nese soil.

China has repeatedly said India must withdraw its troops before any proper negotiation takes place. India said both sides should withdraw their forces together. India has historically been closely allied to Bhutan, but in recent years China has sought to increase its own engagement with the tiny mountainous kingdom.

That has fed into a broader competition for regional influ-ence between the two Asian powers.

Standoff with China will end soon: India

Chennai

IANS

Six months after a bitter part-ing of ways following then Chief Minister J Jayalalith-

aa’s death, the two factions of the AIADMK merged yesterday with rebel leader O. Panneerselvam becoming the Tamil Nadu Dep-uty Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator even as the party

decided to sack the now jailed V K Sasikala as General Secretary.

Panneerselvam, who was twice Chief Minister when Jay-alalithaa was jailed and again after she died in December, also got back his Finance portfolio besides Housing, Rural Housing and Housing Development. He quit as Chief Minister the last time in February after

differences with Sasikala, a long-time Jayalalithaa aide.

Immediately after the merger, Pannerselvam was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minis-ter along with his supporter K Pandiarajan, who was made Minister for Archaeology, Tamil Language and Tamil Culture at a brief ceremony for which Gov-ernor Ch Vidyasagar Rao flew in from Mumbai. Pandiarajan was

earlier the Minister for Higher Education.

With the foe-turned-friend Chief Minister K. Palaniswami by his side, Pannerselvam signed the files at Raj Bhavan.

The merger of the two fac-tions came after weeks of hectic parleys, overcoming the acrimony and last-minute tough conditions set by the Panneerselvam group which

insisted on an announcement about Sasikala’s removal. She is now in a Bengaluru jail for corruption.

AIADMK sources said the BJP played a role in the coming together of the two factions though officially that party has denied this. The merged AIADMK is poised to join the NDA and could become a part of the Modi government.

Purohit gets bail in Malegaon caseNEW DELHI: The Supreme Court yesterday granted bail to former Lt Col Prasad Shri-kant Purohit, the main accused in the 2008 Male-gaon blast which killed seven people after he had spent nine years in prison. Justice R K Agrawal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre granted the bail to Purohit after telling him not to tamper with evi-dence. Purohit had told the apex court that till date charges had not been framed against him while those under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) had been dropped.

AIADMK factions unite; Panneerselvam settles for Deputy CM

Raipur

IANS

Three children died in a government-run hospital here on Sunday night after

a disruption in oxygen supply, and hospital officials blamed a oxygen plant operator who was found drunk on duty. He has been arrested.

The oxygen pressure at the B R Ambedkar Hospital started fall-ing on Sunday night, leading to chaos as many patients com-plained of unease. Panicky

doctors and nurses on duty reported the matter to Chief Med-ical Officer Anil Baghel, who rushed to the oxygen supply plant.

There, the plant operator, Ravi Chandra, 30, was found drunk and sprawled on the floor. He was supposed to be moni-toring the oxygen supply. When Baghel tried to wake him up, Chandra started quarrelling with him. An upset medical officer then lodged a complaint with the police against Chandra, who was arrested.

The incident follows the

death of nearly 100 children in a Gorakhpur hospital allegedly due to disruption in oxygen sup-ply. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh expressed grief over the death of the three children. He told Health Department offi-cials to probe the tragedy and said the guilty won’t be spared.

According to informed sources, at least 30 children were admitted in the hospital’s Children’s Ward. Ten were on ventilator. Three who were in a critical condition passed away due to the low oxygen supply.

Three children die in Chhattisgarh hospital; low oxygen blamed

Thiruvananthapuram

IANS

Five legislators of the Con-gress-led opposition in the Kerala Assembly yester-

day began an indefinite fast in the foyer of the House demand-ing sacking of Health Minister K K Shailaja, who is facing nep-otism charges.

The Kerala High Court in its judgement last week observed that Shailaja had misused her office to appoint a member to the state Commission for Pro-tection of Child Rights.

After raising their demand on the floor of the assembly, as Shailaja rose to move a Bill, they starting protesting against her. Angry opposition members were seen tearing the Bill and throwing it in the air. Later they walked out of the House.

Thereafter, five opposition legislators V P Sajeendran, Eldose Kunnapally, Rogi M John, N Shamsudeen and T V Ibrahim began an indefinite fast in the foyer of the assembly demanding Shailaja’s ouster.

Earlier in the assembly, Congress legislator Shafi Para-mbil, seeking leave for an adjournment motion, pointed out that it was perhaps the first such instance when a minister was continuing in office despite

adverse remarks by the court.“This is not an observation

but a finding that has come in the final judgement,” Parambil said. The minister had extended the final date for inviting applications for making appointment as members to the commission and that aspirants with a doctorate in Child Rights were left out, the Congress member pointed out.

“One of the persons appointed by the minister had applied after the date was extended... The judgement said this amounts to misuse of power, which incidentally is also a violation of the oath of secrecy,” Parambil said.

Dismissing the opposition’s demand, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the ques-tion of seeking the minister’s resignation “is ruled out”.

Shailaja later told reporters that there was no reason for her to quit now, as there had been a number of instances where min-isters had held on to their posts. “The only reason the date was extended was to ensure that more applicants could apply,” said Shailaja. Meanwhile, the Ker-ala government, approached the High Court with a request that the single-bench verdict was pro-nounced without hearing the minister and hence the remarks against the minister be removed.

5 Kerala MLAs on fast, seek Health Minister’s removal

New Delhi

IANS

Delhi Social Welfare Min-ister Rajendra Pal Gautam announced a

blanket ban on manual clean-ing of sewers and warned that anyone found violating the rule will be booked under culpable homicide.

He also said that a commit-tee had been formed to find out

the best possible ways or machines to clean the gutters, within 15 days.

The directions came after Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Monday called a high-level meeting over deaths during sewer cleaning, which was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi PWD Minister Satyendar Jain and Gautam, along with officials of the departments concerned.

“It was decided in the meet-ing that no person will be allowed to go inside the gutter for sewer cleaning under any circumstances. There will be a complete ban on it. We will also put up hoardings in this regard,” Gautam told reporters.

“It is very unfortunate and shameful that people are losing their lives while cleaning sew-ers manually in the country’s capital,” the minister said.

Delhi govt imposes blanket ban on manual cleaning of sewers

BJP activists throw rotten eggs at activistKOLKATA: Nearly 100 BJP activists threw rotten eggs and staged a demonstration against Jawaharlal University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar calling him an IS ter-rorist group’s agent and “anti-national” at Midnapore town of West Bengal. The slo-gan shouting protestors rushed out from the BJP West Midnapore district party office as Kanhaiya Kumar and his comrades — now on a ‘long march’ — arrived near the Sports Complex where they were slated to be feted.

Waving the tricolour and some placards, the BJP work-ers asked Kanhaiya to go back and “shift to Pakistan”.

The activists of the Com-munist Party of India’s students’ organisation All India Students’ Federation, one of the sponsors of the Long March, also raised coun-ter slogans, but the police controlled then situation by barricading the BJP workers. Around 19 BJP activists were detained from the spot.

“A deadlock is going on between India and China in Doklam. But I think a solution will come out soon. China will also take a positive step from its side,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said as he addressed the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

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11TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 ASIA

Trump set to unveil new Afghan war planWashington

AFP

President Donald Trump was poised to unveil his strategy for Afghanistan

yesterday, putting his mark on America’s longest war in his first formal address to the nation s i n c e b e c o m i n g commander-in-chief.

Having repeatedly pledged to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan after 16 frustrating years of conflict, Trump looks set to ease his opposition and heed calls from his top generals for the United States to stay the course in his evening speech.

What began in October 2001 as a hunt for those responsible for the 9/11 attacks has turned into an effort to keep Afghani-s t a n ’ s d i v i d e d a n d corruption-hindered democracy alive.

Thousands of US troops have died battling insurgents, and the war has cost US taxpayers tril-lions of dollars.

Victory against Taliban—and now IS group—militants remains

far from certain, despite that high cost.

“The Afghan government remains divided and weak, its security forces will take years of expensive US and allied support to become fully effective, and they may still lose even with such support,” said Anthony Cordesman of The Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Trump has been wary of international involvements, but is eager to show success and steel in the realm of national security.

The administration had orig-inally promised a new plan by mid-July, but Trump was said to be dissatisfied by initial propos-als to deploy a few thousand more troops.

His advisors went back to the drawing board, examining an expanded strategy for the broader South Asian region, including Pakistan.

The options are said to include an increase in troop numbers—something on the order of about 4,000.

There are currently about 8,400 US and 5,000 Nato troops supporting Afghanistan’s security forces in the fight, but the situa-tion remained as deadly as ever.

On Friday, Trump gathered generals and top aides at the bucolic presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, saying

afterward that “many decisions” had been made.

Trump will unveil his deci-sion at 9:00PM (0100 GMT Tuesday) in an address to the nation delivered in front of US troops at Fort Myer, located just over the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia.

Nepal to hold election on November 26 Kathmandu

Reuters

NEPAL will hold a general election on November 26, the government said, hoping to conclude a turbulent journey to democracy a decade after a civil war and the abolition of its 239-year-old monarchy.

The election timing is in line with the Himalayan nation’s first republican con-stitution, drawn up in 2015, that requires a new parlia-ment to be in place before January 21 next year.

Hours after the announcement, lawmakers rejected a proposal to amend the constitution and meet some of the demands of the ethnic Madhesi community.

“Our demands are only defeated, not dead,” Hri-dayesh Tripathi, a Madhesi leader, said.

“We will try to enlist enough support for our demands before the parlia-mentary elections.”

US and South Korea begin computer-simulated drillsSeoul

Reuters

South Korean and US forces began computer-simu-lated military exercises

yesterday amid tension over North Korea’s weapons pro-grammes, while a report it has earned millions of dollars in exports is likely to raise doubt about the impact of sanctions.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the joint drills, called Ulchi Freedom Guard-ian, were purely defensive and did not aim to increase tension on the peninsula, but North Korea denounced the exercises as preparation for war.

“There is no intent at all to heighten military tension on the Korean peninsula as these drills are held annually and are of a defensive nature,” Moon said.

“North Korea should not exaggerate our efforts to keep peace nor should they engage in provocations that would worsen the situation, using (the exercise) as an excuse,” he said.

The joint US-South Korean

drills last until August 31 and involve computer simulations designed to prepare for war with a nuclear-capable North Korea.

The United States also describes them as “defensive in nature”, a term North Korean state media has dismissed as a “deceptive mask”.

“It’s to prepare if something big were to occur and we needed to protect ROK,” said Michelle Thomas, a US military spokeswoman, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

North Korea views such exercises as preparations for invasion and has fired missiles and taken other actions to show its anger over military drills in the past.

“This is aimed to ignite a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula at any cost,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.

“The situation on the Korean peninsula has plunged into a critical phase due to the reckless north-targeted war racket of the war maniacs.”

People take part in an anti-terror drill as a part of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, in Goyang, South Korea, yesterday.

Manila

Reuters

Philippine troops raided a militants’ camp on a remote southern island

and rescued a Vietnamese sailor held captive for nine months, a navy spokeswoman said.

More than 20 people, including 14 foreigners, are being held by pro-IS militants Abu Sayyaf on two islands in the south, some of them for as long as three years.

Do Trung Huige, 33, was left behind when troops attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp on Mataja

island on Saturday, Jesca May Viduya, spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao naval forces, said.

“There was no firefight because his captors abandoned him as troops approached,” she said, adding the sailor was abducted with five others in November by militants who attacked a cargo ship.

Two Vietnamese sailors are still being held, two were beheaded and another was rescued.

Duterte orders detention of rogue copsManila

Reuters

Philippine President Rod-rigo Duterte yesterday said there could have been

abuses in his government’s war on drugs and ordered the police to take custody of officers who were involved in the killing of a high school student last week.

In a hastily called news con-ference at the presidential

palace, Duterte said he would not condone abuses and the police officers would have to face the consequences of their actions if that is the recommen-dation of a formal investigation.

“There is a possibility that in some of police incidents there could be abuses. I admit that,” Duterte said.

Duterte unleashed a crack-down the day he took office on

June 30 last year after a con-vincing win in an election in which he campaigned heavily on a promise to use deadly force to wipe out crime and drugs.

The firebrand leader, how-ever, stepped back from defending the police as public anger mounts over the killing of Kian Loyd Delos Santos. Civil society groups and left-wing activists marched in the streets to protest killing.

Residents stage a rally near the site where Kian Loyd delos Santos was shot dead, in Caloocan city, Metro Manila, yesterday.

US warship collides with tanker; 10 missingSingapore

AFP

Ten US sailors were missing and five injured after their destroyer collided with a tanker near Singa-

pore yesterday, tearing a large hole in its hull in the second acci-dent involving an American warship in two months.

The badly damaged USS John S McCain limped into port in the city-state in the afternoon under escort after the dramatic pre-dawn accident, which sent water flooding into the vessel.

A major search involving ships and aircraft from three countries was launched for the missing sailors after the collision with the Alnic MC in the Singa-pore Strait, near the Strait of Malacca.

Analysts said the accident, so soon after June’s collision off Japan involving a US warship, raised questions about whether the US Navy was overstretched in Asia as it seeks to combat Chi-nese assertiveness in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The US Navy said there was “significant damage to the hull” of the warship in the latest

collision, which led to flooding of crew sleeping areas, machin-ery and communications rooms.

“Damage control efforts by the crew halted further flooding,” they said in a statement after the John S. McCain arrived at Changi Naval Base in the city-state.

A helicopter took four of the injured to a Singapore hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening while the fifth did not need further medical atten-tion, the navy said.

The 505-foot (154-metre) vessel could still sail under its own power after the collision at 5:24 am (2124 GMT Sunday) with

the Liberian-flagged tanker, which was slightly bigger at 600 feet. Two other vessels escorted it into port, journalists saw.

The warship had been head-ing for a routine stop in Singapore after carrying out a “freedom of navigation opera-tion” in the disputed South China Sea earlier in August around a reef in the Spratly Islands, spark-ing a furious response from Beijing.

The vessel is named after US Senator John McCain’s father and grandfather, who were both admirals in the US navy.

McCain said in a tweet that he and his wife “are keeping America’s sailors aboard the USS John S McCain in our prayers tonight—appreciate the work of search & rescue crews”.

President Donald Trump initially said “that’s too bad” in response to reporters’ shouted questions about the collision, as he arrived back at the White House after a holiday.

He followed up with a Tweet: “Thoughts & prayers are w/ our @USNavy sailors aboard the #USSJohnSMcCain where search & rescue efforts are underway.”

Ridzwan Rahmat, a naval expert at Janes by IHS Markit,

said initial indications suggested the US warship may not have been obeying rules designed to separate maritime traffic pass-ing through the Singapore Strait.

With the accident coming soon after the freedom of

navigation operation, it raised questions “whether there is crew fatigue setting in, whether or not the tempo of operations by the US Navy in this region is getting too fas.”

“Are they doing too much

within this region with North Korea, and Japan and then now in the South China Sea?”

Singapore, Malaysia and US ships and aircraft were all involved in the hunt for the miss-ing sailors.

Analysts said the accident, so soon after June’s collision off Japan involving a US warship, raised questions about whether the US Navy was overstretched in Asia as it seeks to combat Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Second accident

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain is seen after a collision, in Singapore waters, yesterday.

Pakistan dismisses fears over US strategyRawalpindi

AFP

PAKISTAN’S military brushed off speculation yesterday that a new US strategy for neighbouring Afghanistan could include taking a stronger line against Islamabad, insisting the country has done all it can to tackle militancy.

A Pakistani military spokesman said no group had been spared in ongoing offensives against militants, telling a press conference hours before Trump’s announcement “there is no organised infra-structure of any terrorist organisation in Pakistan”.

“Let it come,” army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said, referring to Trump’s decision. “Even if it comes... Pakistan shall do whatever is best in the national interest.”

Vietnamese hostage rescued from Sayyaf

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12 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017EUROPE

Migrants in Rome appeal for helpRome

Reuters

Dozens of refugees yester-day protested their eviction from a central

Rome office building where they had been squatting for years in the latest example of tension as authorities deal with an influx of migrants.

Some 800 people lived in the six-storey building a block from the capital’s main train sta-tion for five years until they were booted out by police early on Saturday. They have since camped outside hoping the city will find them a new home.

More than 600,000 boat

migrants have arrived in Italy from North Africa since 2014.

With no place to go after Saturday’s evictions, hundreds slept on the ground in the square in front of the building with their belongings packed in trash bags and suitcases.

Yesterday, police accompa-nied some of the former inhabitants -- most of whom are Eritrean and have been granted asylum—to collect things left behind, including TVs and clothes. A banner outside read: “We are refugees, not terrorists.”

“The other day police arrived by helicopter, the stairs and in the road and they

forcefully chucked us all out and took us to the police station,” said Simon Tesfamichael, an Eritrean with a prosthetic leg.

Rome has no state-run shel-ters for refugees. Only those in the process of seeking asylum are given food and lodging, forc-ing hundreds of migrants to sleep outside near the Tiburtina train station because they have no money to pay rent and there is nowhere for them to go.

A delegation of the evicted refugees met city officials on Monday. In a statement, the city government said it would “give absolute priority” to trying to help out families, the elderly and the disabled.

French presidency assigns official role to Brigitte MacronParis

AFP

Brigitte Macron (pictured), the wife of French Presi-dent Emmanuel Macron,

will represent the country and carry out charity work but not have the official status of First Lady, following opposition to giving her such a title, the pres-idency announced yesterday.

A proposal by Macron dur-ing campaigning earlier this year to create a new First Lady status has been shelved, but the presidency had promised to clarify her position and the

resources at her disposal.The former school teacher

will have two presidential advi-sors and her own cabinet, paid for from Macron’s budget, and will focus on working with charities helping children and

handicapped people. She will also represent

France at her husband’s side during international summits and meetings and work with the partners of other global leaders to highlight work to combat cli-mate change or domestic violence.

An online petition against creating an official First Lady role—which would have required a change in the law or constitution—garnered more than 300,000 signatures in August.

An opinion poll in early August showed a majority of

French people were also opposed, even though Brigitte Macron is a popular figure.

The 64-year-old, who has taken to public life with aplomb, said in an interview with Elle magazine last week that she would be an unofficial First Lady in the mould of previous presidential spouses.

“Like all of those before me, I will take on my public role, but the French people will know the resources at my disposal,” she said.

She accompanied the pres-ident to a G7 summit in Italy and was also by his side when he

welcomed US President Don-ald Trump to Paris in July.

Macron’s office had prom-ised a “transparency charter” which would make clear how much her role would cost.

Monday’s statement con-firmed that she would not be paid but did not reveal the over-all bill or the number of staff at her disposal.

“In legal terms, the first lady still does not have any status,” Jean-Joel Governatori, a consti-tutional lawyer, said. “In the end, it doesn’t change anything, other than giving the illusion of transparency.”

Police shoot dead Barcelona attackerSubirats

AFP

Spanish police yesterday shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub, the sus-pected driver of a van that mowed down

pedestrians in Barcelona, after a massive manhunt for the Moroccan national who was wearing what appeared to be a suicide belt when he was killed.

“We confirm that the person shot down in the incident in Subirats (near Barcelona) is Younes Abouyaaqoub, the per-petrator of the terrorist attack in Barcelona,” police in Catalonia tweeted.

Four days after his van ram-page on the tourist-packed Las Ramblas boulevard, police took down the 22-year-old in the vil-lage about 60km west of Barcelona.

Police said their operation on a winding road between two vineyards was ongoing as they were trying to determine if there were other suspects involved in the devastating twin attacks that claimed 15 lives last week.

They had removed the apparent suicide belt from Abouyaaqoub’s body but had yet to confirm if it was real or fake.

Roser Ventura, who works at a nearby vineyard, said she saw around 20 police cars drive by with sirens wailing while

helicopters rattled overhead, as she heard the news about the shot man on the radio.

Arnau Gomez, who lives about a kilometre away from where the suspect was shot, described the village of 300 peo-ple as being an ideal hideout as “it is far from everything”.

“In the hills there are many homes of seasonal workers, it’s easy to hide.”

Yesterday, police had launched an appeal for informa-tion about the fugitive described as dangerous and likely armed, believed to be the last remain-ing member of a 12-man cell

suspected of plotting last week’s deadly attacks.

The other suspects have been killed by police or detained after the vehicle rampages in Barce-lona and the seaside resort of Cambrils. The IS militant group claimed responsibility for the assaults, believed to be its first in Spain.

Authorities yesterday raised the death toll to 15, confirming that Pau Perez, a man found stabbed to death in a Ford Focus outside Barcelona on Friday, was killed by Abouyaaqoub.

The police had fired at the car as it forced its way through a checkpoint shortly after the Barcelona carnage, and later found Perez in the vehicle.

Investigators believe the vic-tim was the owner of the car, which was hijacked by Abouyaaqoub to make his getaway.

Describing Abouyaaqoub as around 1.8 metres tall, police tweeted four photographs of the man with short black hair, including three pictures in which he was wearing a black and white striped T-shirt.

Putin appoints new ambassador to USMoscow

Reuters

Russia’s next ambassador to Washington will be Anatoly Antonov, a

former defence official who is subject to European sanctions over his role in the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin announced yesterday.

Antonov takes over from Sergei Kislyak, whose contacts with members of President Don-ald Trump’s campaign team made him a central figure in the row over Russian influence over

the US presidential election.The incoming ambassador,

62, is a diplomat by training and is currently a deputy foreign minister. Between 2011 and 2016, he served as deputy defence minister, a period which coincided with Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

The European Union added him two years ago to its list of officials who are subject to Ukraine-related sanctions, cit-ing his involvement in supporting the deployment of Russian troops to Ukraine.

WWII anti-tank grenade found in AustriaVienna

AFP

AUSTRIAN police reminded the public to be careful yes-terday after a 12-year-old boy brought to his local police sta-tion a suspected World War II anti-tank grenade that he found in a bin.

The boy came across the grenade in the communal bin of his block of flats in Knit-telfeld in southern Austria on Sunday evening.

It was neutralised by police explosives experts.

“Even rusty war relics and weapons can still be danger-ous,” a police statement released yesterday said.

“Don’t touch and keep a safe distance. Call the police e m e r g e n c y n u m b e r immediately.”

More than 70 years after the war ended, weapons and unexploded ordnance still regularly turn up in Austria and Germany, particularly during construction work.

Berlin

Reuters

A Syrian refugee family in Germany has named their newly born baby

girl Angela Merkel Muhammed out of gratitude to the chancel-lor for her open-door asylum policy in 2015, hospital officials said.

“The first name of the girl is Angela, the second is Mer-kel. With this decision, the parents wanted to show their thankfulness to the chancel-lor,” said a spokeswoman for St Franziskus Hospital in the western German city of Muenster.

Angela Merkel Muhammed was born on August 16, meas-uring 53 centimetres and weighing 8.6 pounds, he said,

adding the girl was the parents’ fifth child.

Her mother, Asia Faray, and father, Khalid Muhammed, arrived in Germany with their then four children at the height of the refugee crisis in the year 2015.

Merkel, due to hold an

election campaign rally in Muenster today, lost popular support last year over worries about how Germany could absorb an influx of over a mil-lion migrants.

But with the refugee flow now stemmed, Merkel’s pop-ularity has recovered. Opinion polls put her conservatives some 15 percentage points ahead of their nearest rivals ahead of a national election on September 24.

It is not the first time that a refugee family in Germany has named its newly born baby this way.

In February 2015, Angela Merkel Ade was born in a hos-pital in the northern city of Hanover. Her mother had migrated from Ghana to Germany.

Refugee family names child after Merkel Refugees are seen on a street after being forcibly removed from a building where they had been living, in central Rome, Italy, yesterday.

This combination photo shows the suspected driver of the van that crashed into pedestrians in Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

Catalonia police tweeted: We confirm that the person shot down in the incident in Subirats (near Barcelona) is Younes Abouyaaqoub, the perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Barcelona.

Death toll rises

Authorities raised the death toll to 15, confirming that Pau Perez, a man found stabbed to death in a Ford Focus outside Barcelona on Friday, was killed by Abouyaaqoub.

Danish inventor claims reporter died in accidentStockholm

AFP

A Danish inventor accused of killing a Swedish journalist on board his homemade sub-marine claims she died in an accident before he dumped her body in the sea, Danish police said yesterday.

Peter Madsen initially claimed that he last saw Kim Wall when he dropped her off on the tip of an island in Copenhagen late on August 10 after she had interviewed him aboard the do-it-your-self craft.

But Madsen, who has been accused of negligent man-slaughter, “told police and the court that there was an acci-dent on board the sub that led to the death of Kim Wall, and that he subsequently buried her at sea in an undefined location of the Koge Bay” south of Copenhagen, police said in a statement.

Madsen’s appearance before a judge on August 12 was held behind closed doors and the investigation has been classified, so it is not known exactly when he made his statement.

But his lawyer Betina Hald Engmark said that Mad-sen “had always wanted” the information on the prelimi-nary hearing to be disclosed.

The first name of the girl is Angela, the second is Merkel. With this decision, the parents wanted to show their thankfulness to the chancellor: Spokeswoman

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Big Ben falls silent for four yearsLondon

AP

After more than 150 years as Britain’s most famous timekeeper, London’s Big

Ben bell fell silent yesterday for four years of repair work that will keep it quiet on all but a few special occasions.

The giant bell atop Parlia-ment’s clock tower sent a dozen deep bongs into a gray sky at noon, marking the hour as it has done almost continuously since 1859. It is not due to resume its regular duties until 2021.

Hundreds of parliamentary staff, journalists and lawmak-ers gathered in a courtyard under the Victorian clock tower to mark the moment,

while hundreds more tourists and passers-by lined sidewalks and filled nearby Parliament Square, cellphones held aloft.

The mood was light-hearted - it is, after all, just a bell-but total silence fell as the first bong sounded. The crowd burst into cheers and applause as the last faded away, and bells at nearby Westminster Abbey pealed a noisy farewell to their neighbour.

The bell is being stilled to allow workers to carry out much-needed maintenance to the clock and clock tower with-out being deafened. But a handful of lawmakers have crit-icised the lengthy silence, calling Big Ben an important symbol of British democracy.

Prime Minister Theresa May said last week that “it can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years.”

In response to the criticism, House of Commons officials have said they will take another look at the repairs schedule once Parliament returns next month from its summer break.

Labour Party lawmaker Stephen Pound said it was sad to see the silencing of “the chimes of freedom.”

“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” he said.

And Pound expressed skep-ticism that the repair work would be finished on schedule in 2021. “Dream on,” he said.

“Have you known any gov-ernment project ever come in

on time and on budget?”Big Ben has been silenced by

malfunction and for repairs before, most recently in 2007, but this stretch is by far the long-est. Parliamentary officials say it will still be heard on special occasions such as New Year’s Eve.

The sound of the 13.5 UK tonnes bell became associated with Britain around the globe through World War II radio news broadcasts.

The clock tower - also com-monly called Big Ben, but formally named the Elizabeth Tower after Queen Elizabeth II - is one of London’s most-pho-tographed buildings.

During the repair work, scaffolding will obscure parts of

the tower, and the clock faces will be covered at times — though at least one face will always be visible.

Adam Watrobski, principal architect at the Houses of

Parliament, said authorities are well aware of how much inter-est the bell and the tower generate. “But you know at the end of the day all buildings have to be serviced.”

London

AFP

The popularity of Brit-ain’s Prince Charles has taken a dive, according to a survey published yesterday,

as the 20th anniversary of Prin-cess Diana’s death approaches.

According to a new YouGov poll only 36% of the British pub-lic think the heir to the throne has been beneficial to the mon-archy. Four years ago, that figure stood at 60%.

“We’ve moved on 20 years. Charles’s reputation, I thought, was completely rehabilitated,” royal commentator Penny Junor said.

“He gets a hard time because his marriage failed. He’s never been forgiven for that -- because Diana blamed him and he never ever said a word,” she added.

Diana’s death in a high-speed car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, shook the mon-archy as the public and the press criticised the royal fam-ily for its silence. Since then, the monarchy’s image has recovered and the once out-of-touch Buckingham Palace press office has overhauled strategy to focus on distributing positive information.

According to Junor, in the past two decades Charles has become a “much happier, more relaxed and more confident Prince of Wales”. “And I thought

much more popular as a result.”But Charles has once gain

found himself in a negative spotlight in the lead-up to the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death.

To commemorate their mother ahead of the milestone date, Prince William and Prince Harry fronted a documentary on her and commissioned a statue to be erected in Kensing-ton Palace.

But new revelations have surfaced, including tapes show-ing the late princess of Wales speaking frankly to her voice coach about her loveless mar-riage to the heir to the British throne and about his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his wife.

Camilla’s popularity has also suffered as only 18% of people think she has made a positive contribution to the royal family, down from 28% four years ago.

In contrast, William and Harry are seen as having had a positive impact and are cred-ited with 78% and 77% of positive opinion respectively.

Prince Charles’ approval rating slumps: Poll

One dead as van hits bus stops in MarseilleMarseille

AFP

One person was killed and another seriously injured in the southern French

city of Marseille yesterday after a van ploughed into people at two bus stops, police sources said, adding that the suspected driver had been arrested.

Marseille’s prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said that investigators had “no element pointing to a terrorist attack” and that the driver was suffering from psy-chiatric problems.

“He was found with a letter from a psychiatric clinic and we are leaning towards treating it as a mental health case.”

The incident comes with Europe on high terror alert fol-lowing last week’s car ramming attacks in northeastern Spain.

The vehicle in Marseille first

drove at speed towards a bus stop in the city’s northern 13th district at around 9:00am,

hitting a woman who was rushed to hospital with serious pelvis injuries.

The driver of the stolen van then continued to the eastern 11th district, where he slammed into another bus stop, causing one fatality.

Several European cities, including London, Berlin and Stockholm, have been targeted in a wave of attacks by radicals using vehicles to run down people.

Terrorism experts have warned that the intense media coverage of the violence could spur copycat attacks by people with mental health problems and a propensity for violence.

Julien Ravier, mayor of the 11th district, said that the victim in the Marseille incident was a woman in her 40s who was waiting alone for a bus.

Police sources said the driver, who is in his mid-30s, was a petty criminal with a his-tory of stealing cars.

Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) is seen through scaffolding at the Houses of Parliament, in London, yesterday.

According to a new YouGov poll only 36 percent of the British public think the heir to the throne has been beneficial to the monarchy.

Monarchy

Serbia recalls embassy staff from MacedoniaObrenovac

Reuters

Serbia recalled its embassy staff from Macedonia yes-terday in protest at

“offensive actions” which coin-cided with reports that Skopje was joining diplomatic efforts to secure Kosovo membership of the UN cultural agency Unesco.

Kosovo, a former Serbian province, declared independ-ence in 2008 nearly a decade after Nato air strikes that ousted Serb forces and halted a bloody two-year crackdown on ethnic Albanians.

Though Kosovo is recog-nised by 114 countries, including

Macedonia and 23 European Union members, Serbia’s allies, Russia and China, are still block-ing its full membership of the United Nations.

Serbian President Ale-ksandar Vucic (pictured) said that embassy staff in Skopje were being recalled for

consultations on the basis of intelligence information there had been “offensive actions” against Serbia’s institutions. He did not elaborate.

“There is a lot of speculation right now. I think everything will be a lot clearer within the next 10 days.”

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Macedonia’s intention to press for Kosovo membership of Unesco could further aggra-vate relations between Belgrade and Skopje.

Macedonia’s position to fol-low the majority of EU member states when voting on Kosovo membership in Unesco will “directly impact good

neighbourly relations,” Dacic said yesterday.

Vucic himself said that Bel-grade would continue to develop good relations with Macedonia but “these relations will have to be based on mutual respect.”

“In voting on Kosovo mem-bership to Unesco, Macedonia will take into account the posi-tion of a majority of the EU members states,” Macedonian government said.

Maintaining good relations with neighbours is a key require-ment for the six Western Balkan states including Kosovo, Mace-donia and Serbia, to make progress towards desired EU membership.

Whatever remains!

Court names Finland knife attack suspect

Forensic police officers and security personnel gather near a vehicle following a car crash, in the southern Mediterranean city of Marseille, yesterday.

Helsinki

AFP

Court documents yester-day identified the suspect in last week’s stabbing

spree in a Finnish city, which is being probed as the country’s first-ever terror attack, as 18-year-old Abderrahman Mechkah.

Police have previously described the suspect as an asy-lum seeker from Morocco who deliberately targeted women in the attack at a market square in the southwestern port of Turku on Friday, which left two people dead and eight injured.

The motive for the attack was still not known.

The Finnish intelligence agency SUPO said meanwhile

that police authorities in south-western Finland had received a tip early this year that Mechkah “had been radicalised and showed interest in extrem-ist ideologies.”

The tip, which had been forwarded to the SUPO, “con-tained no information about any threat of an attack.”

Mechkah, whom police shot in the thigh while arresting him minutes after the rampage, is to appear before the Turku court today via video link from hospital, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said recently.

Police will ask the court to remand him in custody on sus-picion of two murders and eight attempted murders “with ter-rorist intent”.

Italy reports two tainted egg casesRome

AFP

TWO of 114 egg samples tested in Italy have shown traces of the insecticide fipronil, Italy’s health ministry said yester-day, making the country the latest to become embroiled in a Europe-wide scandal.

The ministry did not spec-ify where the insecticide traces were found. The sam-ples came from Italian and imported eggs or from food containing eggs.

Fipronil is commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals but the EU has banned its use in the food industry.

The insecticide has now been discovered in eggs in 17 European countries since the scandal came to light at the start of August, and was even found as far away as Hong Kong.

Police officers and municipal workers attempt to extinguish a fire that engulfed a residential area in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, yesterday. Russian authorities evacuated hundreds of people as a blaze spread in a residential neighbourhood.

Page 14: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

14 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017AMERICAS

Cosmic spectacle

Eclipse chasers and amateur star watchers alike converged in cities along the path of totality, a 113km wide swath cutting through 14 US states, where the Moon briefly blocked out all light from the Sun.

Crowds in Lincoln Beach were first to witness the partial phase of the Great American Eclipse, from about 1605 GMT.

New York Reuters

The University of Texas at Austin removed four stat-ues tied to Confederacy

from its campus yesterday, say-ing they had become symbols of white supremacy at a time of protests and fierce debate about race and the legacy of Ameri-ca’s Civil War.

White nationalists rallied earlier this month against pro-posals to take down a similar statue in Charlottesville, Vir-ginia, and one woman was killed when a man crashed his car into a crowd of anti-racism counterprotesters.

The violence triggered the biggest domestic crisis yet for President Donald Trump, who provoked anger across

the political spectrum for not immediately condemning white nationalists and for praising “very fine people” on both sides of the fight. The president of the University of Texas at Austin, Greg Fenves, said that the “hor-rific displays of hatred” on show in Virginia had shocked and sad-dened the nation.

“These events make it clear, now more than ever, that Con-federate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism,” Fenves said.

A growing number of US political leaders have called for the removal of statues honoring the Confederacy. Civil rights activists charge that they pro-mote racism while advocates of the statues contend they are a reminder of their heritage.

In Baltimore yesterday, authorities were investigating reports of vandalism at a 225-year-old monument to explorer Christopher Columbus, a police spokesman said. A video posted online appeared to show two hooded figures striking the obelisk’s base with a sledge-hammer after taping to it a sign that read: “The future is racial and economic justice.”

Baltimore took down four Confederate monuments last week. There are about 700 monuments to the Confederacy in public spaces across the United States, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, with the majority of them erected early in the 20th cen-tury amid a backlash among segregationists against the civil rights movement.

Charleston

Agencies

Millions of Americans gazed in wonder through telescopes, cameras and dis-posable protective

glasses yesterday as the moon blotted out the sun in the first full-blown solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in nearly a century.

Eclipse chasers and amateur star watchers alike converged in cities along the path of totality, a 113km wide swath cutting through 14 US states, where the Moon briefly blocked out all light from the Sun.

Festivals, rooftop parties, weddings, camping trips and astronomy meet-ups popped up nationwide for what Nasa expected to be the most heavily photographed and documented eclipse in modern times, thanks to the era of social media.

Whoops and cheers rose from the crowd as totality began at 1716 GMT over Oregon, and similar cries of joy erupted roughly 90 minutes later when the phenom-enon ended at 1848 GMT in Charleston, South Carolina.

“It was incredibly beautiful. I am moved to tears,” said Heather Riser, a 54-year-old librarian from Virginia, sitting on a blanket in Charleston’s Water-front Park where thousands had gathered on the grass to watch.

Crowds in Lincoln Beach, Oregon were first to witness the partial phase of the Great Amer-ican Eclipse, from about 1605 GMT. Just inland, more than 100,000 people gathered at Madras, Oregon — typically a town of 7,000 -- in what experts described as perfect viewing conditions.

In Los Angeles, “oohs and aahs” emanated from the crowd of thousands of people gathered at the Griffith Observatory in the

hills above the city as the partial eclipse began.

“This is a once in a lifetime event,” said 42-year-old Chad Briggs. “We have to start eating salad and be healthy if we want to make it till the next eclipse!” Many had hiked to the site to avoid massive traffic jams. Some watchers had fashioned their own pinhole projectors out of cardboard and scotch tape.

In Mexico, where there was a partial eclipse, astronomy buffs set up telescopes fitted with spe-cial sun filters in parks and squares in various cities.

“Put down your smartphone and experience this one emo-tionally, psychologically, physically, rather than just through the screen,” advised prominent US astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

In the US capital, where 81 percent totality occurred, Pres-ident Donald Trump watched the partial eclipse from the White

Historic eclipse turns day into night across US

The total solar eclipse is seen from Charleston, South Carolina. RIGHT: A multiple exposure image shows the solar eclipse as it creates the effect of a diamond ring at totality as seen from Clingmans Dome, which at 6,643 feet is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, yesterday.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump look up at the partial solar eclipse from the balcony of the White House in Washington, DC.

People watch the solar eclipse at Saluki Stadium on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

House with his wife Melania and son Barron. At one point, Trump glanced skywards without pro-tective eyewear. “Don’t look,” an aide shouted to him. He later donned glasses.

Eclipse watchers flocked to Washington’s National Air and Space Museum, where solar tele-scopes were set up for the occasion. The National Zoo staged a viewing party, and national parks across the country organ-ized programs for children.

In downtown Charleston, the last point in the path of totality, crowds of tourists — some in special eclipse T-shirts and star-printed trousers — had staked out prime spots on the bustling

city’s storied waterfront. “It is very exciting,” said Kwayera Davis, 34, an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston who set up viewing telescopes. One club had installed outdoor speakers which blasted Bonnie Tyler’s mega-hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart” — which she also performed live on a cruise ship.

Many eclipse-watchers are overcome by emotion as the sky goes black, birds return to their nests and the air chills. “It is such an incredible, sensory-overload kind of event,” eclipse-chaser Fred Espenak, a retired Nasa astrophysicist, said of the first total solar eclipse he saw in the United States back in 1970.

Cloudy weather and thun-derstorms dashed viewers’ hopes of a clear view in some places, including Missouri. Some of the clearest views were along the West Coast. Scientists planned to study the eclipse to learn more about the super-hot corona, or

outer edge of the Sun. Astronauts orbiting the Earth aboard the ISS were planning to document the eclipse, which they were in line to see three times. “My first solar eclipse from space... We’re ready!” Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli tweeted ahead of the event.

For those outside the shad-ow’s path or trapped indoors, a Nasa-linked website, eclipse.stream.live, and a companion mobile app provided a live stream filmed from the vantage point of 50 helium-filled bal-loons at a height of 80,000 feet.

The moon hasn’t thrown this much shade at the US since 1918, during the nation’s last coast-to-coast total eclipse. The last total solar eclipse on the US was in 1979, but only five states in the Northwest experienced total darkness. The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in 2024. The next coast-to-coast one will not be until 2045.This composite image of nine pictures shows the progression of a partial solar eclipse near Banner, Wyoming.

Texas university removes 4 ‘white supremacy’ statues from campus

NEWS BYTESUS Secret Service crunched by Trump & family’s travelWASHINGTON: The US Secret Service is fac-ing a cash crunch because of the high cost of protecting President Donald Trump, his many homes and large family, its director said in an interview published yesterday. Randolph “Tex” Ailes, the service’s chief, told USA Today more than 1,000 agents have already hit caps for the year on salary and overtime pay because of the crushing workload. With 150 foreign heads of state due to converge on New York next month for the UN General Assembly, demands on the service are only intensifying. Trump has traveled nearly every weekend to his properties in Flor-ida, New Jersey and Virginia. And the Secret Service also provides protection for his adult children on their business trips and vacations. In all 42 people in his administration have Secret Service protection, including 18 members of his family. “The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required by law,” Ailes said. “I can’t change that, I have no flexibility.” Ailes, who is seeking more funding from Congress, says he is in negotiations with key members to

raise caps on pay and overtime from $160,000 a year to $187,000 for at least the remainder of Trump’s term.

Colombia offers asylum to Venezuela prosecutorBOGOTA: Colombia offered asylum yesterday to Venezuela’s sacked chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who fled her country after defying Pres-ident Nicolas Maduro as a deadly political crisis rages on. “Luisa Ortega is under the protection of the Colombian government. If she asks for asylum, we will grant it to her,” Colombia’s Pres-ident Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter. A former loyalist of the socialist leadership, the 59-year-old Ortega had become Maduro’s most high-ranking critic in Venezuela. Immigration officials in Colombia said she arrived in the country on Friday with her husband, lawmaker German Ferrer, on a private flight from the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. Ferrer himself faces an arrest warrant issued by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court. Venezuelan authorities had banned Ortega from traveling abroad, prompt-ing her to allege “political persecution”.

Page 15: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

15TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017 BREAK TIME

Yesterday’s answer

SHOWING ATVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

BABY

BLU

ES

ALL IN THE MIND

AGLAROND, ARAGORN, ARWEN, BILBO, BOROMIR, CELEBORN, DAMROD, DEAGOL, DENETHOR, ELDARION, ELROND, EOMER, EOWYN, EVERARD, FARAMIR, FRODO, GALADRIEL, GANDALF,GIMLI, GORBAG, GRIMBOLD, HOBBIT, ISENGARD, ISILDUR, LEGOLAS, MADRIL, MERRY, MIDDLE EARTH, MOUNT DOOM, PIPPIN, SAM, SARUMAN, SAURON, SMEAGOL, STRIDER,THE RING, THE SHIRE, THEODEN, TREEBEARD.

08:00 News

08:30 Counting the Cost

09:00 Al Jazeera World

10:00 News

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 Science In A Golden

Age

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 The Big Picture

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:00 News

17:30 The Stream

18:00 Newsgrid

19:00 News

19:30 Rebel Education

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 The Stream

23:00 Al Jazeera World

12:40 Storage Hunters

13:10 Gold Rush

13:55 Running Wild With

Bear Grylls

14:40 Deadliest

Catch

15:25 Fast N' Loud

16:10 Wheeler Dealers

17:00 How Do They Do

It?

18:20 Storage Hunters

18:50 Running Wild With

Bear Grylls

19:40 How Do They Do

It?

21:00 Kings Of The Wild

21:50 Treasure Quest:

Snake Island

22:40 Legend Of Croc

Gold

23:30 Fast N' Loud

01:05 Kings Of The Wild

01:50 Treasure Quest:

Snake Island

02:35 Legend Of Croc

Gold

11:00 Gator Boys

11:55 Catching

Monsters

12:50 Monster Croc

Invasion

13:45 Preposterous

Pets

14:40 Mutant Planet

15:35 Untamed & Uncut

16:30 Treehouse

Masters

17:25 Project Grizzly

18:20 Wild Animal

Repo

19:15 Preposterous

Pets

20:10 Gator Boys

21:05 Project Grizzly

22:00 I Survived An

Animal Attack

22:55 Mutant Planet

23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:45 Treehouse

Masters

01:40 Preposterous

Pets

13:05 Star Darlings

15:20 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug And

Cat Noir

15:45 Elena Of Avalor

16:10 Liv And Maddie

16:35 Descendants

Wicked World

16:40 Girl Meets World

17:05 Stuck In The

Middle

17:30 Bunk'd

17:55 Bizaardvark

18:50 Best Friends

Whenever

20:10 Jessie

20:35 Cracke

20:40 Alex & Co.

21:05 Austin & Ally

21:30 Stuck In The

Middle

21:55 Tsum Tsum

Shorts

22:25 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug And

Cat Noir

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

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

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

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

contains the same number only once.

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

NOVO — Pearl

ROXY

Annabelle 2 (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:10, 7:20, 9:20, 9:40, 11:30pm & 12:00midnight Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets (2D/Action) 10:40am, 12:20, 1:20, 3:00, 4:00, 5:40, 6:40, 8:20, 9:20, 11:00pm & 12:00midnightSecurity(2D/Action)10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm& 12:00midnightResident Evil: Vendetta (2D/Animation) 10:15am, 12:30 & 2:45pm 47 Meters Down (2D/Thriller) 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 & 11:00pm Kidnap (2D/Thriller) 10:15am, 2:30, 6:45 & 11:00pm Wind River (2D/Action) 12:15, 4:30 & 8:45pm Youm Min El Ayam (Arabic)12:40, 5:10 & 9:40pmPilgrimage (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm Snatched (2D/Action) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight The Man With The Iron Heart (2D/Action) 10:10am, 2:40, 7:10 & 11:40pm Richard The Stork (2D/Animation) 10:00, 11:50am, 1:40, 3:30 & 5:20pm Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets (3D IMAX/Action) 10:00am, 12:40, 3:20, 6:00, 8:40 & 11:20pm

Lie (2D/Telugu) 2:30pm Snatched (2D/Action) 5:15pm The Emoji Movie (2D/Animation) 2:00pm Security (Action) 9:30pmResident Evil:Vendetta(2D/Animation)2:00pm Pilgrimage (2D/Thriller) 4:00pm Richard The Stork(2D/Animation) 3:30 & 5:15pm

Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets (Adventure) 7:00 & 9:15pmThe Man With The Iron Heart (2D/Action) 7:15pm Bareilly Ki Barfi (2D/Hindi) 5:45&11:30pm Youm Min Al Ayan 8:00pmAnnabelle 2 (2D/Horror) 9:30 & 11:30pm Varnyathil Aashanka 11:15pm

Snatched (2D/Action) 2:30 & 10:00pm The Emoji Movie (2D/Animation) 2:30pm Pilgrimage(2D/Thriller) 6:30pmResident Evil: Vendetta (2D/Animation) 3:00pm Richard The Stork(2D/Animation) 4:00, 5:30 & 7:00pm

Youm Min Al Ayan (Arabic) 4:30 & 8:30pm The Man With The Iron Heart (2D/Action) 7:00 & 9:15pm Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets (Adventure) 7:00 & 11:30pmAnnabelle 2 (2D/Horror) 9:15pm Security (Action) 5:00 & 11:30pmVarnyathil Aashanka (2D/Malayalam) 11:15pm

Pilgrimage (2D/Thriller) 2:00pm Richard The Stork(2D/Animation) 2:00 & 3:30pm

Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets (Adventure) 3:45 & 5:15pmBareilly Ki Barfi (2D/Hindi) 6:00pm Annabelle 2 (2D/Horror) 7:30 & 9:45pm Youm Min Al Ayan (Arabic) 8:15pm The Man With The Iron Heart (2D/Action) 9:30pm Security (Action) 11:45pm Snatched (2D/Action) 11:45pm

Chunkzz (2D/Malayalam) 5:15, 7:45 & 10:15pm

Lie (2D/Telugu) 5:45pm Bareilly Ki Barfi (2D/Hindi) 11:15pm VIP-2 (2D/Tamil) 9:00 & 11:45pm Toliet Ek Prem Katha 6:00pm Aashanka (Malayalam) 4:00, 7:00, 8:15 & 10:00pm

A Stork's Journey (Animation) 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00. 6:00 & 8:00pm Annabelle (Horror) 12:00noon, 6:15, 8:30, 10:50pm & 01:00midnightValerian (Adventure) 12:00noon, 2:50, 5:40, 8:30 & 11:20pm

Aashanka (Malayalam) 12:00noon & 2:50pm Kidnap (Thriller) 2:40 & 4:15pmThe Emoji (Animation) 8:00 & 10:00pm Lie (Telugu) 5:40 & 8:30pm

AL KHORAnnabelle (Horror) 10:30am, 1:00, 6:15 & 11:30pm Security 12:15, 4:45 & 9:15pm

VIP 2 (wTamil) 12:30, 6:00 & 11:30pm Valerian (Adventure) 3:30 & 8:45pm

Seven Sisters 2:15, 6:45 & 11:15pm Aashanka (Malayalam) 3:15 & 8:45pm

Page 16: Qatar criticises Emir holds phone talks with Senegal President · Qatar Airways flight QR291, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad Inter-national Airport ... he said in an interview

16 TUESDAY 22 AUGUST 2017MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03.50 am

05.10 am

ZUHRASR

11.37 am

03.06 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.05 pm

07.35 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 04:45 – 17:45 LOW TIDE 00:00 – 10:30

Hazy to misty at places at first be-

comes hot daytime with some

clouds and chance of rain at places,

humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum34oC 41oC

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

London

The Peninsula

Dana Al Fardan, Qatar’s promi-nent composer and CEO and founder of country’s only

record label, DNA Records, will bring her classical repertoire to the iconic Theatre Royal Haymarket in central London on September 17.

The concert programme, orches-trated and arranged by renowned London-based conductor, arranger and composer, Dave Arch, will be per-formed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra (LMO), conducted by Musi-cal Director, Andy Brown, in a rare showcase of the Qatari composer’s interpretation of world music to an international audience.

Dana Al Fardan, composer, song-writer, and symphonic artist, is already garnering international attention, enhanced by her most recent album release, Sandstorm. The work blends

sumptuous strings, choral vocals and soloists with traditional Middle East-ern rhythms. The album was recorded at Katara Studios in Doha. As Qatar Airways’ official composer, her music entertaining international passengers on boarding, Dana is flying the flag as the first composer and performer to bring the music of her small Gulf nation to the rest of the world. Already a fig-ure of considerable notoriety in the Gulf region, and following the success of the performance of selected pieces from Sandstorm at Cadogan Hall last year, next month’s concert will be the first time the complete album has been performed outside Qatar.

The LMO is an ensemble of world-class musicians that has been engaged by all the major Hollywood studios and worldwide record labels for over 20 years. On 17th September, the curtain will rise on the orchestra performing a full programme of a unique inter-pretation of contemporary classical

music for the first time to an interna-tional audience for one night only.

Despite the strength of Qatar’s presence in the UK property and sport-ing portfolio in the form of high-profile assets from Harrods to The Shard and Glorious Goodwood, little is reported of Qatar as a nation, its people and cul-ture, beyond recent negative press reports of regional disputes and embargos. An aspiring musician from a young age, Dana has long hoped for an opportunity to bring the interna-tional spotlight to the music and culture of her Qatari homeland. She says, “The state has invested a lot in culture, education and in human cap-ital to give nationals the opportunity and resources to expand their cultural understanding and stand out at a glo-bal level. As an artist, my job is to show this to the world.”

Part of Qatar’s “National Vision 2030” impresses the importance of women in the country’s future. Project

Manager, Grace Cruz, says, “As Qatar’s most prominent female musician, composer and music entrepreneur, having set up the country’s first/only record label, Dana represents a strong role model for the women of her nation in 2017, a woman who is proud to present her country’s culture to the world and is building its music indus-try from within the nation as a means to export Qatari culture to the inter-national community. She hopes to promote the human face of her peo-ple, a nationality about which little is known.”

Gaza

Reuters

For Palestinian fisherman Jihad al-Soltan, it was a surprise summer catch—a message in a bottle that

he netted off a Gaza beach.It had bobbed its way in the Medi-

terranean for nearly 800km (500 miles) from the Greek island of Rhodes, placed in the water by a vacationing British cou-ple in July.

“We are currently on holiday on Rhodes and we would love to know how far this bottle got, even if it’s just the next beach,” said the letter inside, signed “Faithfully, Zac and Beth”.

By replying to the email address they enclosed, Soltan discovered the two were Bethany Wright, a university student, and her boyfriend, Zac Marriner.

“Hello, Thank you for picking up this bottle. As a reward here are some magic flowers,” the couple wrote in their letter.

By the time the bottle reached Gaza’s shores last week, the flowers had wilted.

But Soltan said on Monday he was buoyed by the thought that currents

could carry a carefree message into trou-bled waters under Israeli naval blockade and fishing zone restrictions - measures Israel says are necessary to prevent arms smuggling by Gaza’s hostile Hamas Islamist rulers.

“As a fisherman I felt this letter trav-elled through borders and international waters without restrictions while we as fishermen are unable to go beyond six miles,” he said. “I hope one day we would become as free as this bottle was.”

Dana Al Fardan’s Sandstorm to be performed in London

The Peninsula

Under the patronage of Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah and in the pres-

ence of Maj Gen Hamad Talihan Al Hajri, Head of Military Manpower at the Qatari Armed Forces, the Qatar’s Joint Special Forces and US Special Operations Central Forces conducted a joint exercise in the Sealine area, southern Qatar.

The Paratroopers Battalion of the Special Mobile Force and a group of the US special operation forces took off the parachute with a free jump system.

The Directorate of Moral Guidance in the Qatar’s Ministry of Defence explained that this exercise is part of the cooperation between the two teams over the course of three years in the field of planning and training on all tasks and duties required for special forces at the Qatari Armed Forces. The two-stage parachute jump through military aircraft (C-130) included two jumps.

In the course of the joint achieve-ments, the Qatar Team for Military Jump was ranked second in the world during the latest World Military Championship in which 42 countries participated.

Qatar and US hold joint exercise

Fisherman nets message in a bottle in isolated Gaza Strip

Hitman’s Bodyguard tops weekend box officeLOS ANGELES: Critics panned “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” which only got a 38 percent fresh rating on Rotten Toma-toes, but the movie topped the weekend box office, besting critical darling “Logan Lucky.”

The two action flicks faced off this weekend, and “The Hit-man’s Bodyguard” emerged the victor with a chart-topping $21.6m, according to studio estimates Sunday, while “Logan Lucky” sputtered on arrival with $8.1m.Both had notable stars, “Logan Lucky” has Chan-ning Tatum and Daniel Craig, while “The Hitman’s Body-guard” boasts Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, both were opening in over 3,000 theaters and both cost around $30 million to produce. Also, both were targeted toward adults, although one was R-rated (“Hitman’s Bodyguard”) and one PG-13 (“Logan Lucky”).

But when it came to reviews, critics vastly preferred “Logan Lucky,” which boasts a “fresh” 93% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Palestinian fisherman Jihad Al Soltan prepares his fishing net on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip. RIGHT: Soltan displays a message that was written by Bethany Wright and her boyfriend Zac Marriner, after he found it in a bottle off a Gaza beach.