Qatar 2022 to be ‘unique experience’

Avoiding 'cliff-edge' Brexit

tough: Hammond

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited Qatar National Museum at the Corniche to see the latest developments of the project. The Emir was welcomed by Chairperson of Qatar Museums, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. → See also page 2

Emir visits Qatar National Museum

Included with today’s edition is a

special supplement

BUSINESS | 18 SPORT | 23

Volume 22 | Number 7199 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 21 June 2017 | 26 Ramadan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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Public Health

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The annual organ dona-tion campaign aims at increasing the number of potential registered donors to 230,000

out the year. esent, the unified regis-

e Qatar Organ Donation

uge response to organ donation driveBy 2016, Qatar saw about a 10 percent drop every year in the waiting list for kidney and liver transplants since 2009 due to the

Prepare well for a healthy flying

Physiotherapy services at Al

Shamal

RAMADAN TIMINGToday’s Iftar 6:30pmTomorrow’s Imsak 3:05am

AFP

Qatar accused 'neighbouring countries' that have cut ties with Doha of being responsi-ble for the alleged hacking attack on state media which

began the current diplomatic crisis.Attorney General H E Ali bin Fetais

Al Marri (pictured), said the case is very clear that the cyber attack emanated from "countries responsible for the siege". "We have evidence to show that iPhones originating from the countries laying siege to us have been used in this hack-ing," said Marri. "We have enough evidence to point the finger of blame at these countries."

Al Marri did not name specific countries.But when pressed to be more specific he said "neighbouring countries".

QNA website hacking linked to 'neighbours'

Washington

Agencies

The US State Department bluntly questioned the motives of Saudi Arabia

and the United Arab Emirates for their boycott of Doha, saying it

was 'mystified' the Gulf states had not released their grievances over Qatar.

In Washington's strongest language yet on the Gulf dispute, the State Department said the more time goes by, "the more doubt is raised about the actions

taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.".

State Department spokes-woman Heather Nauert expressed Washington's surprise that the GCC member states which enforced the siege on Qatar are yet to make public its

alleged claims made towards Qatar. Nauert's remarks are compatible with what the For-eign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Monday about his surprise that those countries are yet to present their demands.

US questions Gulf motives on Qatar boycott

Emiri Diwan announces Eid Al Fitr holidaysTHE EMIRI DIWAN has announced Eid Al Fitr holi-days for ministries, other government institutions and public entities, starting from Sunday, June 25, 2017 until Monday, July 3, 2017. Employ-ees will resume duties on Tuesday, July 4, 2017.

Meanwhile, the start and end dates of Eid holidays for Qatar Central Bank (QCB), banks, financial institutions under QCB's jurisdiction, and Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) shall be decided by QCB governor.

UN chief backs Kuwait mediationUN SECRETARY-General Antonio Guterres has expressed full support to Kuwait's initia-tive and efforts to alleviate tension and settle the Gulf cri-sis. In a press conference at the UN headquarters, Guterres expressed concern over the sit-uation, saying that there should be a "regional solution" for the crisis.

02 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017HOME

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani touring the Qatar National Museum at the Corniche to see the latest developments of the project. The Emir was welcomed by Chairperson of Qatar Museums, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. The Emir listened to Sheikha Al Mayassa and CEO of Qatar Museums, Mansoor Al Mahmoud, on the facilities, which will also be a research center on heritage. It will also include restoration laboratories, storage spaces for artifacts, a botanical garden, scanning, 3D digital photography, as well as permanent and temporary halls, The Emir also toured the old palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, which is part of Qatar National Museum. The new building of the Museum, the Desert Rose, is built around the palace. Sheikha Al Mayassa announced that the inauguration of the museum will be in December 2018.

Qatar National Museum inauguration in December 2018 Al Sulaiti meets French counterpartMINISTER of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti yesterday met French Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne. The meeting reviewed a number of issues of mutual interest in the field of transport and communications and means of boosting them.

The Minister gave a detailed explanation about the technical dossier that Qatar had submitted to the Interna-tional Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Interna-tional Maritime Organization (IMO) and other organisations, which includes evidence of the violations of the countries imposing the blockade on Qatar, and the substantial abuses of all the international laws and agreements regulat-ing the aviation and maritime industries as well as jeopard-ising the safety and security of all countries not only Qatar.

The Peninsula

President of the Public Works Authority, Eng Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi has said that gabbro reserves

are enough for a year, and what was imported by land will now be shipped by sea. Addressing a press conference yesterday Al Muhannadi further said that the challenges had proved “strong planning and efforts of Ashghal & contractors”.

“They (three Gulf countries) also increased our ability to be self-reliant,” he said, adding that citizens’ lands were priority and being implemented as per schedule, like other projects that were being executed on time or earlier. “We will continue

implementing our projects at the same pace as we have opened parts of our projects before their scheduled times.”

Ashghal President said that there were multiple sources and countries to get materials from such as Oman, Kuwait, India, European countries and others. “There is a QR2bn budget annu-ally for citizens’ sub-divisions d e v e l o p m e n t . ” Meanwhile, Ashghal has signed three new construction contracts for “Citizens’ Sub-Divisions Development Projects”. Ashghal President said that the signing the new contracts is a continu-ation of Ashghal's efforts in implementing infrastructure projects for citizens’ sub-divi-sions through cooperation & coordination with Kahramaa

and all concerned authorities in the country. The new con-t r a c t s w i l l p r o v i d e infrastructure facilities to over 1600 land plots and the value of the three new contracts is more than QR815m.

On this occasion, Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi said that signing the new contracts is a continuation of Ashghal's efforts in implementing projects that provide facilities and infra-structure for citizens’ sub-divisions through coopera-tion and coordination with Kahramaa and all concerned authorities in the country, in line with the directives of H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, Minister of Municipal-ity and Environment, and the great importance Qatar attaches

to this field. Ashghal President added:

"Ashghal is committed to the planned schedule for complet-ing the infrastructure of citizens' sub-divisions; being one of our top priorities, through opening for tender Infrastructure projects for 10,400 land plot over three years, to be completed in five years.”

The first contract included the Roads and Infrastructure Development Project in Al Froosh/Al Kharaitiyat (Package 1), which was awarded to Bin Omran Trading & Contracting Company at a value of more than QR 265m. The project will serve 619 land plots, and will include the construction of an 18km local roads network and a 33km sew-age network.

Gabbro reserves enough for a year HMC's emergency & inpatient services to operate during Eid holidays

All inpatient and emergency services across Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) network of hospitals will continue to operate as usual, 24 hours a day, throughout the Eid Al Fitr

holidays. All outpatient department (OPD) clinics will be closed from Sunday, 25 June to Tuesday, 27 June, unless stated below.

Hamad General Hospital: Walk-in and medication refill clin-ics will operate on 28 and 29 June. In Womens Hospital, there will be no clinics on 25 and 26 June. However, from Tuesday, 27 June to Thursday, 29 June, there will be three High-Risk Clinics, depend-ent on need, one High-Risk Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Clinic, one Fetomaternal Unit Clinic and a Newborn Screening Clinic.

In Al Khor Hospital, OPD clinics and the pharmacy will be closed from Sunday, 25 June to Thursday, 29 June and will re-open Sunday, 2 July. The Accident and Emergency Department phar-macy will open 24 hours a day. All urgent cases, including patients who require medication refill services, should proceed directly to the Emergency Department. Al Wakra Hospitals Emergency Depart-ment, including the Adult See and Treat Unit, the Pediatric Emergency Unit and the Emergency and Inpatient Pharmacies will remain open throughout the break. OPD clinics in General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Obstetrics and Gynecol-ogy, Burns Surgery and Physiotherapy will be open on 28 and 29 June. Full outpatient services will resume on Sunday, 2 July.

03WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 HOME

Paris /Doha

Agencies

Qatar Airways was cho-sen as Airline of the Year by Skytrax World Airline Awards, held during the Paris

Air Show. Qatar Airways released yesterday a statement to the press saying that it also won Best Airline in the Middle East, Worlds Best Business Class and Worlds Best First Class Air-line Lounge. Qatar Airways' home and hub, Hamad Interna-tional Airport, was this year also rated five-star by Skytrax, one of only five in the world to be given this recognition.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: "For Qatar Airways to be named the Worlds Best Airline partic-ularly at this critical point in time, is a significant testimony of our passengers belief and

trust in our unwavering commit-ment to deliver only the best. This award is also a reflection of the hard work and dedication of every employee at Qatar Airways. Our recognition at Skytrax this year is especially important as these awards are voted by trave-lers. To them I offer my sincere thanks, and I look forward to wel-coming them on board soon."

Al Baker added that "at these difficult times of illegal bans on flights out of my country by big bullies, this is an award not to

me, not to my airline, but to my country."

Qatar Airways previously won the title of the Worlds Best Airline in 2011, 2012 and 2015. The prestigious awards received in Paris today marks yet another busy year for Qatar Airways as the airline looks ahead to no less than 24 new destinations to be launched, new aircraft deliver-ies, the roll-out of the revolutionary Qsuite across the fleet and continued celebrations of the 20th year anniversary.

Qatar Airways also launched its new Business Class experi-ence Qsuite. The first fully fitted aircraft is being showcased at Paris Air Show before going into service this weekend on the London-Doha route. Qatar Air-ways patented new seat design has itself already gained indus-try notoriety after receiving the Best Airline Innovation of the Year award at the 2017 ULTRAS (Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards) for its launch of Qsuite. The prestigious award was pre-sented at a ceremony at The Savoy hotel in London, attended by Sarah, Duchess of York and HRH Princess Eugenie of York, along with industry experts and VIPs. The win was significant in that the award was given before the seat has even commenced service, such is the anticipated impact of the design on the pre-mium travel industry.

One of the worlds fastest-growing airlines, Qatar Airways recently added Dublin, Repub-lic of Ireland, to its global route network, soon to be followed by Nice, France; Skopje, Republic of Macedonia and Chang Mai, Thailand.

QA wins 'Airline of the Year' for fourth time

Qatar Airways also won Best Airline in the Middle East, Worlds Best Business Class and Worlds Best First Class Airline Lounge.

Brussels

QNA

Chairman of National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin

Sumaikh Al Marri stressed yes-terday that the European Parliament must assume its moral, legal, and humanitarian responsibility towards Qatar's siege, which he characterised as the Berlin Wall due to the sim-i l a r i t y b e t w e e n t h e humanitarian implications that impact Qatari citizens as well as citizens of the three countries that enforced the siege.

Al Marri called during a hearing at the European Parlia-ment in Brussels that they along with the European Union work to immediately end the siege and condemn it. He also called on forming a committee from the two entities to visit the head-quarters of the NHRC to examine closely the tragedy of those affected by the siege and to meet with them. He added that the NHRC is ready and

willing to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain to discuss the humanitarian implications of the decision they made regarding Qatar on all who live in the GCC.

He highlighted that the siege was illegal and lacks legitimacy, due to the social implications it had which threatened the values known of GCC regarding family unity. He noted that this crisis is threatening such values in a humanitarian precedent not seen in history. Al Marri added that this crisis divided married couples, as well as children and their parents in an unacceptable way.

The chairman of NHRC thanked the many European countries who condemned the siege of Qatar, praising as well the strength of ties between the NHRC and its counterparts in the European Union. Al Marri then reviewed a number of cases and statistics regarding human rights violations resulting from the siege. The latest stat received by the NHRC was that the total number of complaints made

were 1972, ranging from prop-erty and family unity to the freedom of movement and health and education. It also included the freedom of reli-gious practice in some of the cases. He noted that the major-ity of those violations were in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE, and the Bahrain.

Al Marri highlighted that what the Qatari people and their families in the GCC were suffer-ing from a siege, a precedent for the GCC. He stressed that it can-not be described as a boycott, but a siege and collective pun-ishment to people and an international crime.

The chairman of the NHRC called on separating human rights from any political differ-ences. He stressed that civilians and the peoples cannot be held hostage to political goals or a negotiation tactic. He stressed that the State of Qatar did not respond to these violations and crimes GCC citizens and resi-dents are suffering from.

Chairman of National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al Marri, during a hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels, yesterday.

Act against Qatar siege, NHRC chief tells European Parliament

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, displaying Skytrax World Airline Awards, in Paris, yesterday.

04 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017HOME

Irfan BukhariThe Peninsula

To ease pressure on local aviation market result-ing from the Gulf crisis, Oman Air has not only increased its fre-

quency of flights from Muscat to Doha from three to four daily, it has also increased Muscat-Cairo flights from weekly eight to eleven.

“There was a shortage of seats in the market emerging from the current situation in the Gulf and many flights were dis-rupted and all this happened in the peak season when the demand is usually very high. To accommodate the passengers, Oman Air increased the fre-quency of flights from Muscat to Doha from three per day to four,” Ahmed Hazeem Al Balushi, Country Manager of Oman Air, told The Peninsula.

He said that the current sit-uation developed when there

was additional pressure on the local market due to upcoming Eid and summer vacations. “Peo-ple usually plan their trips in advance and the seats get reserved accordingly. But due to ongoing crisis, all of their plans were disrupted. Luckily, we were able to react to the situation and Oman Air not only increased the frequency of Muscat-Doha-Mus-cat flights but also replaced

smaller aircraft with bigger ones to facilitate the passengers,” he added.

He said that the number of Muscat to Doha flights was increased from three to four daily while the Muscat had con-nections with other destinations across the globe.

Al Balushi said that Oman Air had played an important role in providing transportation to Qatari families stranded in Saudi Arabia in the early days of the crisis. “I do not know the exact number of Qataris who travelled from Saudi Arabia to Muscat to Doha through Oman Air but there number is big.”

Expressing hope that the cur-rent political crisis would be resolved very soon, Al Balushi said that Oman Air was also pro-viding services to Qataris “who are visiting Saudi Arabia to per-form Umrah these days”.

To a question about reports of fare hikes by Oman Air, he said: “If there was some

increase it was due to normal market practice. Had there been no such crisis in the region, there would have been little hike in this season as it occurs every year according to supply-and-demand rule. A lit-tle hike in this season is normal but unfortunately people are relating it to the crisis which is incorrect.”

Oman Air’ Country Manager said that Oman Air’s fares were competitive and “I can assure the passengers that we are not over-charging them, not at all”.

He said that to help Egyptian expatriates working in Qatar, Oman Air had increased the number of Muscat-Cairo flights from eight per week to eleven. “Oman Air will operate addi-tional three flights on June, 21, 25 and 28,” he added.

Al Balushi said that the wide-body aircraft, currently flying between Muscat and Doha, were also facilitating trade exchange between two countries with

more capacity to carry goods.When asked whether Oman

Air's increased frequency and upgraded aircraft had addressed existing market needs, he said: “A gap is still there. But we do not have any room to increase the frequency as our fleet of aircraft

is being fully utilized. In near future, we are set to receive new aircraft.” Al Balushi further said that the current crisis had also put extra pressure on Muscat air-port. “Our new state-of-the-art airport will be ready by next year,” he said.

The Peninsula

Commercial Bank, Qatar’s first private bank, has organised an Iftar in hon-

our of the elderly residents of the Empowerment and Elderly Care Center (Ihsan), as part of a series of CSR initiatives dur-ing Ramadan focusing on the Qatari community.

Commercial Bank team visited the elderly at Ihsan and shared an Iftar buffet with them in an atmosphere of sol-idarity and happiness that comes with the breaking of the fast.

Commercial Bank Group CEO, Joseph Abraham said: “The month of Ramadan is one of solidarity, philanthropy and reflection, and we are commit-ted to supporting a wide cross-section of the Qatari community as part of our inclu-sive CSR programme during the Holy Month and throughout the year. This Iftar is a gesture of appreciation and respect for the older generation who have made an enormous contribu-tion to Qatar, and to honour Qatari traditions during Ramadan.”

Jaber Mohammed Al Marri, Director of Public Relations and Media at Empowerment and Elderly Care Center(IHSAN), lauded the Commercial Bank visit and Iftar with the elderly community, noting that this gesture brought joy and hap-piness to Ihsan’s mothers and fathers and deeply affected

them. Seeking to provide a safe,

stable life for Qatar’s elderly citizens by offering them healthcare, social and psycho-logical services, Ihsan provides home-based care and raises public awareness, especially amongst families, about embracing the elderly,

offering them guidance to adopt the best methods in this regard. Ihsan strives to develop an integrated care system that includes the home, the hospital and the nursing home and endeavours to establish the necessary facilities and legislations to support the elderly.

Commercial Bank holds Iftar for the elderly

Oman Air adds more flights to meet surge in demand4 daily flights

The airline has increased frequency of flights from Muscat to Doha from three to four daily to meet demand.

Muscat-Cairo flights increased from eight to eleven per week to help Egyptian expats in Qatar.

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

As Eid Al Fitr is around the corner, several exchange houses in Doha are expe-

riencing a huge rush. The number of customers has increased by 12 percent due to upcoming Eid Al Fitr holidays.

Long queues of customers waiting to process their trans-actions can be seen at different exchange houses.

The services that are wit-nessing a high demand include money transfers and currency exchanges.

Talking to The Peninsula, an official from Al Zaman Exchange House, said: “As every year, this year also we are experiencing huge crowd at our exchange house.

Remittances have increased by 10-12 percent during past three days. Egypt, India, Paki-stan, the Phil ippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are the main destinations that are likely to see major remittances.”

“Currencies of most of the countries which receive major remittances from Qatar have largely remained stable in the past two months. Indian rupee is trading around 17.65 per Qatari riyal, Egyptian pound is

trading around 4.89 per riyal. Pakistani rupee is at around 28.75, Sri Lankan rupee at 41.90 and Bangladeshi taka is trading around 22.16 per Qatari riyal,” he further added.

In addition to the require-ments for the Eid holidays, many residents are preparing to travel abroad in the days ahead. Besides, it has been learnt that many companies will pay the

salaries of their employees ear-lier than usual to help them transfer money to their families in home countries or meet other expenses.

“I have a small family in Egypt, two daughters and a wife. I am here to send them money to buy Eid clothes and do prep-arations of Eid before I arrive there. Sometimes I go earlier, as this year I am going right one

day before Eid, I am sending them money earlier,” said an Egyptian expat at Western Union Exchange located in Al Wakra.

Asian countries such as India, Sri Lanka, the Philip-pines and Nepal were among the top recipients of money transfers. As for Arab countries, transfers to Egypt were the highest followed by Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco.

Exchange houses witness Eid Al Fitr rush Vodafone’s fundraising challenge raises QR364,810The Peninsula

The third edition of Voda-fone’s fundraising challenge #GivingChal-

lenge has raised a total of QR364,810, as a result of 36,481 votes. The challenge, which was launched on the first day of Ram-adan, saw three Qatari social media influencers use their social media channels to raise funds for their chosen charity.

Aqeel Al-Janahi, Ahmed Abdallah and Ahmed Khalil used their social media channels to encourage their followers to vote for their chosen charities via Vodafone’s website and for each vote, Vodafone donated QR10 to each charity.

The funds raised for each charity came to: Qatar Charity chosen by Ahmed Abdullaa- QR 153,590; Afif chosen by Aqeel Al-Janahi- QR 140,200; and RAF chosen by Ahmed Khalil - QR 71,020.

Dana Haidan, Head of Cor-porate Responsibility at Vodafone said, “We are so proud of the efforts that Aqeel Al-Janahi, Ahmed Abdallaa and Ahmed Khalil dedicated to raising funds for their chosen charities. The raised funds will now support the honourable work that the char-ities do to help thousands of underprivileged people includ-ing the provision of cataract surgery in the Niger and orphans in the Middle East.”

Ahmed Hazeem Al Balushi, Country Manager of Oman Air, speaking during an interview.

Expats standing in queue at an exchange house to send money to relatives back home.

Commercial Bank officials with the elderly people who participated in the Iftar event.

Qatari social media influencers.

05WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 HOME

People waving flags of Qatar during a demonstration held to call for the lifting of blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, in Montreal, Canada, yesterday.

Support for Qatar in Canada

The Peninsula

Hamad International Airport (HIA), Qatar’s Five Star A i r p o r t h a s announced strong

year-on-year growth in passen-ger numbers and cargo handling from January to June of 2017, making it its busiest six month period yet.

The airport served 19 mil-lion passengers from January to June 2017, eight percent more than those served in the same period in the previous year.

This includes departing, arriving and transfer passengers travelling through the airport.

With 980,000 tonnes of cargo handled by the airport from January to June 2017, HIA’s cargo operations grew an impressive 19 per cent com-pared to the same period in the previous year.

Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer at HIA, said: “Our growing passen-ger figures and cargo operations are a testament to our resilient and sustainable airport operations.

“Our promise of operational excellence is at the core of our business . HIA is a

robust organisation backed by a committed and hardworking team. Together, we have promptly and successfully pri-oritised our passengers by offering them our Five Star serv-ices and a hassle-free travel experience,” Engr. Al Meer concluded.

HIA has met a number of significant milestones in 2017 including being classified as a 5 Star Airport by Skytrax, mak-ing it one among only five other airports in the world to achieve this status.

Earlier this year, the HIA was ranked Sixth Best Airport in the World by the 2017 Sky-trax World Airport Awards, moving up four places from 2016.

HIA has also won the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ title for three years in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for two years in a row.

HIA serves 19 million passengers this year

8% increase

Eight percent increase in number of passengers compared to same period in the previous year.

HIA’s cargo operations grew an impressive 19 percent compared to the previous year.

Bedaya hosts nutrition specialists from Health MinistryThe Peninsula

Bedaya Center for Entrepre-neurship and Career Development (Bedaya

Center), a joint initiative by Qatar Development Bank and Silatech, recently held its third Mehna Café (career café) meet.

The event was held at Anima Lounge, 30 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, the Pearl Qatar and hosted nutrition specialists, Nada Al Shammeri and Hind Al Tamimi from the Ministry of Public Health. This was in addi-tion to the participation of the Faculty of Public Health at Qatar University and “Lite N’Appetite” centre.

During the session, both Al Tamimi and Al Shammeri spoke about their profession as nutri-tionists and their love, passion and experience toward this field. They also informed about their role in guiding people what they need to eat in order to live a healthy life or reach their own health goals.

The hosted specialists also highlighted the roles and func-tions of a nutritionist and the vital and important role he plays in general as well as in hospitals. According to them, this could not be overlooked in any way,

because as a food consultant, the nutritionist is in constant touch with the treating physician and doctor. The nutritionist also par-ticipates in the nutritional assessment of patients by pre-paring their diet plans, in addition to providing advice and guidance.

During the gathering, repre-sentatives from Faculty of Public

Health at Qatar University (QU) showcased the available majors at QU and the requirements of each major. The university pro-vides a vital aspect of the country's needs for qualified health and medical profession-als through the introduction of new academic programs in the light of the significant expansion of healthcare services in Qatar,

thus contributing to the achieve-ment of Qatar National Vision 2030.

“Lite N’Appetite” diet center also participated and provided the audience with free checkups including calculating the body mass index, fats level, muscles, water …etc and their placement in the body.

On this occasion, Reem

Al-Suwaidi, General Manager of Bedaya Center, said, "During the third episode of Mehna café (career café), Bedaya’s latest pro-gram, we made sure that we highlighted the role of a nutri-tionist and the importance of this specialization in today's society. Today, we hosted two prominent nutrition specialists Nada Al Shomary and Hind Al Tamimi, and we are grateful for a detailed explanation of their profession and the purpose of their special-ization, and the importance in human life.”

“We also welcomed today representatives from the faculty of public health at QU who pro-vided an insight into the new majors available, having wel-comed its first batch of students in 2016."

Mehna Café (Career Café) is a professional gathering but in an unformal atmosphere where pioneers from different careers and professions get to be hosted alongside guests and audience interested in those professions.

They provide a clear image about those professions which in return will give the attendees an in depth insight and support their aspirations to enter the arena of professional life.

Kulud Pharmacy joins Nojoom ProgrammeThe Peninsula

Ooredoo yesterday announced that its multi award-winning

loyalty programme Nojoom has added its first ever phar-macy, Kulud Pharmacy, to its earn and redeem partner list.

Kulud is the largest phar-macy chain in Qatar and a leading provider of medical and non-medical products and services at affordable prices. There are currently 45 Kulud Pharmacy branches around Qatar, and 14 of these are available 24/7. Branch locations include Al Waab, The Gate Mall, Hamad Inter-national Airport, The Pearl, Barwa City, Al Khor and more.

With the new partnership, members will be able to earn and redeem Nojoom Points at Kulud Pharmacy shops across Qatar. Members will be able to redeem vouchers for Kulud Pharmacy starting from 2,000 for a QR 50 voucher – 50,000 for a QR 2,000 voucher. Mem-bers will earn one Nojoom Point for every QR 4 spent at Kulud Pharmacy while mak-ing cash and card purchases.

The Peninsula

United Development Com-pany (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl

Qatar, has prepared a line-up of family-oriented activities for Eid Al Fitr, building on the recent success of its Ramadan initia-tives to offer a unique entertainment experience for the Island’s residents and visitors.

Celebrations will take place over the three days of Eid from 6 pm to 10 pm.

Activities include arts & crafts stations and a kitchen workshop for children, stilt walkers, jugglers, mascots and human statues in addition to three daily theatrical plays and a photo corner with props and branded photo framing.

Henna drawing, face paint-ing and balloon twisting in addition to distribution of pop-corn, cotton candy and water are also among the highlights of

the three-day event.Through such

events, Porto Arabia seeks to cement its posi-tion as an attractive tourism destination dur-ing the Eid festivities.

The activities will take place at an indoor hall at 29 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, in an ambiance of fun and joy that will bring fam-ilies together in line with Islamic traditions and Qatari culture.

Each year, The Pearl-Qatar welcomes thousands of visitors, residents and tourists from across the world, and continues to host a variety of events, pro-grams and live shows that bring joy and fun.

The Pearl-Qatar has in the past six months, witnessed the inauguration of more than 40 new outlets including cafes,

restaurants, and gift shops that have set up shops in Porto Ara-bia, Medina Centrale and Qanat Quartier, providing new lifestyle offerings to the Island’s visitors.

Pearl-Qatar to celebrate Eid with family-oriented events

Ooredoo gives Iftar boxes at KataraThe Peninsula

A Group of Ooredoo volun-teers surprised families in Katara Cultural Village

last night, by distributing Iftar boxes when the Ramadan Can-non was fired.

This initiative is part of the company’s ongoing Hand-In-Hand CSR campaign, and customers can follow Ooredoo’s activities via its Facebook, Insta-gram or Twitter page using the hashtag #ShareAMoment.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Communications, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “The firing of the “Midfa al Iftar” (Ramadan Can-non) announces the breaking of the fast, and is a very old tradition in Qatar. We’re delighted to be able to encour-age you all to go along and be part of this daily event, and our volunteers enjoyed sharing a moment with everyone in Katara last night.”

After hearing the Ramadan cannon, families gathered to break their fast and enjoy the sunset, while children took pic-tures with Ooredoo team.

Nutrition specialists with Bedaya Center officials.

An entertainment event held at The Pearl-Qatar.

Iftar boxes being distributed when the Ramadan Cannon was fired.

To commemorate the Third International Day of Yoga, the India Sports Centre

(ISC), the apex sports organisa-tion under the aegis of the Embassy of India, has organised

an event on yoga today for Health and Wellness.

The event will be held at Wakra Sports Club Hall from 9pm to 10.30pm. India’s reso-lution at the United Nations

General Assembly to declare June 21 as International Day of Yoga was unanimously adopted with the co-sponsorship of a record 177 countries including the State of Qatar.

Yoga Day at India Sports Centre

06 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Erbil

Reuters

Iraq’s army said it encircled Islamic State’s stronghold in the Old City of Mosul yesterday after taking over an area to the north of the

densely populated historic district.

The army’s 9th armoured division seized Al Shifaa district, which includes the city’s main hospitals, alongside the western bank of the Tigris river, a mili-tary statement said.

The fall of Shifaa means the Old City in the eastern half of Mosul is now surrounded by US-backed government forces, deployed north, west, south and east, across the river.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month old US-backed offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city the group came to control in the country.

Aid organisations are expressing alarm at the situation of more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water and med-icine and no electricity.

The International Commit-tee of the Red Cross on Monday said sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines are dying in “high numbers.”

The militants are moving

stealthily in the Old City’s maze of alleyways and narrow streets, through holes dug between houses, fighting back the advancing troops with sniper and mortar fire, booby traps and suicide bombers.

They have also covered many streets with cloths to obstruct air surveillance, mak-ing it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians. The Iraqi army esti-mates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on October 17. A

US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the “caliphate” that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi declared three years ago and which once covered swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi government ini-tially hoped to take Mosul by the

end of 2016, but the campaign took longer as militants rein-forced positions in civilian areas to fight back. The militants are also retreating in Syria, mainly in the face of a US-backed Kurd-ish-led coalition. Its capital there, Raqqa, is under siege.

About 850,000 people, more than a third of the pre-war pop-ulation of the northern Iraqi city, have fled, seeking refuge with

relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi headed yesterday to Iran, the second leg of a Middle East tour after Saudi Arabia to pursue efforts to foster regional reconciliation and coordination against terrorism.

Iraq lies on the fault line between Shia Iran and the mostly-Sunni Arab world.

Iraq’s army encircles Mosul's Old City

Civilians flee from the Old City of Mosul as Iraqi forces advance yesterday, during the ongoing offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Final push

The fall of Shifaa means the Old City in the eastern half of Mosul is now surrounded by US-backed government forces, deployed north, west, south and east, across the river.

The army’s 9th armoured division seized Al Shifaa district, which includes the city’s main hospitals, alongside the western bank of the Tigris river, a military statement said.

Beirut

AP

The US military said it shot down an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern

Syria yesterday, marking the third time this month that the US has downed aircraft affili-ated with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

The US-led coalition fight-ing the Islamic State group said a US F-15 fighter jet shot down the drone "after it displayed hos-tile intent" while approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. A similar drone was shot down in the same loca-tion after it dropped munitions near coalition forces on June 8.

The repeated incidents in the vicinity of the Tanf camp, where US forces train and advise local ground forces in the fight against IS, add to soaring regional tensions that could spi-ral out of control just as the fight against the extremists enters a crucial phase, with US-backed forces pushing into the group's de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The US on Sunday shot down a Syrian jet for the first

time during the conflict near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near the US-allied Syrian Dem-ocratic Forces, which are battling IS. Russia condemned the US action and in retaliation suspended a hotline intended to prevent such incidents.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said he could not discuss the matter beyond saying the US stands ready to use the line.

"The de-confliction line has

proven effective at mitigating strategic miscalculations and escalating tense situations, and to be clear, we prefer to keep this channel of communication open. We want to de-escalate, not escalate," Davis said. "We remain available on our end. I'll leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation."

The US has also fired on Syr-ian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in just the last month.

Coalition shoots down Iranian-made armed drone in southern Syria

A pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles flying over northern Iraq after conducting air strikes in Syria.

Mogadishu

AFP

At least 10 people were killed yesterday when Al Shabaab Islamists drove

an explosives-laden minibus into local government offices in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the security ministry.

The minibus rammed through a security barrier out-side offices in the southern district of Wadajir, injuring nine people including the district's top government official.

"More than 10 people died in the blast which was carried out by the Al Shabaab group and nine others are wounded," said security ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed.

Most of the dead were civil-ians, he said. "Security guards tried to stop (the minibus) but it managed to get in and the vehi-cle blew up," local security official Omar Adan said.

Another security official, Abdi Jilibey, said more than 18

people were injured and that some of the bodies were so badly burnt as to be unrecog-nisable. After a massive blast from a suicide car bombing, the gunmen roamed the restaurants, killing people they found trapped inside before security

forces intervened and killed them. The Al Shabaab group, which wants to impose a Tali-ban-style rule on Somalia, has been fighting for the last decade to overthrow successive inter-nationally-backed governments in Mogadishu.

10 dead in Mogadishu bombing

Bamako

AFP

Thirty-one people were killed over the weekend in central Mali as ethnic

groups clashed over land in a zone where the state is near-absent and jihadists roam freely.

Nomadic Fulani people and farmers from the Dogon ethnic group have engaged in tit-for-tat violence sparked by Fulanis grazing their cat-tle on Dogon land.

Dogons also accuse Fulanis in the area of collud-ing with cleric Amadou Koufa, whose Islamist group recently joined the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, a jihadist alliance with links to Al Qaeda.

The Malian army con-firmed "31 dead, (comprising) 27 Fulanis and four Dogons," along with nine more injured, in a statement. The army said it had spoken with mayors, village chiefs and imams to persuade them to halt the vio-lence in Mopti region.

Tehran

AFP

Iran has called in the Swiss charge d'affaires, who looks after US interests, to protest

against comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing "peaceful transition" in the Islamic republic.

The administration of Pres-ident Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hawkish posi-tion towards Iran since taking office in January but Tillerson's testimony to a Congressional committee last week appeared to be the first expression of sup-port for a change of government.

"The Swiss charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry to be a handed a strong

protest from the Islamic Repub-lic of Iran against the comments by the US secretary of state.... which were contrary to inter-national law and the UN charter," ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi told Iranian media. Alongside Monday's summoning of the Swiss envoy, Iran also sent a protest letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres, the ISNA news agency reported.

In last Wednesday's testi-mony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tillerson accused Iran of seeking "hegemony" in the Middle East at the expense of US allies like Saudi Arabia. Tillerson also raised the possibility of impos-ing sanctions on the whole of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran protests against Tillerson's remarks

Jerusalem

AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-j a m i n N e t a n y a h u announced the start of

work yesterday on a new set-tlement in the occupied West Bank as US envoys prepared to discuss a new peace push.

"The work on the ground has begun, as I promised, to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers," Netan-yahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a dig-ger working on a rocky hill overlooking a vineyard.

The Amichai settlement, in the northern West Bank, is earmarked for some 40 fam-ilies evicted from the wildcat outpost of Amona in Febru-ary under a high court order which ruled their homes had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.

It is the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in some 25 years. The exten-sive construction in the meantime has focused on e x p a n d i n g e x i s t i n g settlements.

Polio paralyses 17 children: WHO

A polio outbreak in war-ravaged Syria has paralysed at least 17 children since March, the World Health Organ-ization said yesterday, describing the situation as "very

serious". Fifteen more cases have thus been confirmed since WHO first announced, less than two weeks ago, that Syria had been hit by its first outbreak of the crippling disease since 2014. "We are very much worried, because if there is one case of polio with a kid that is paralysed, it is already an outbreak," WHO spokesman Tarim Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

He pointed out that for every polio-caused paralysis, there are on average nearly 200 children who have the virus but no symptoms. "The virus is circulating. It is very serious." The new cases all surfaced between March 3 and May 23, but were only just confirmed, since it can take up to two months to determine with certainty that a case of acute flaccid paralysis stems from polio, he said.

31 dead in central Mali ethnic violence

Israel starts work on new settlement

People stand next to wreckage of vehicles on the scene of a car bomb attack in Mogadishu, in Wadajir, yesterday.

07WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 ASIA

Workers standing alongside the FDN-2 Indian Navy floating dock as it is launched at a shipyard in Chennai, yesterday. Indian-designed and constructed, the platform is capable of docking warships of up to 8,000 tonnes to enable repair and maintenance work.

Floating dock NEWS BYTES

NEW DELHI: India’s northern Punjab state will waive more than $1.5 billion in loans to farmers, becoming the third state to do so in response to growing rural distress caused by food oversupply and weak prices. The South Asian nation is car-rying a huge inventory of food grains from last year’s record harvest, while exports have been hit by an appreciating rupee, falling global prices and restrictions on overseas shipments. Punjab will waive loans to farmers with holdings of up to 5 acres (2 hectares) and debts of up to Rs200,000, state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said.

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad yesterday took a step towards developing into a Smart City with the launch of 1,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots. The Telangana government in collaboration with telecom service providers launched the Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project, or Hy-Fi, which offer 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi to people with an assured bandwidth of 5-10 Mbps. Princi-pal Secretary, Information Technology, Jayesh Ranjan told reporters that another 2,000 hotspots would be added in two months. He said businesspersons, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, students, women, and tourists will benefit. The around Rs300 crore project has service operators and infrastructure pro-viders including Airtel, ACT Fibrenet, and BSNL as partners.

CHANDIGARH: Taking a serious note of the prolonged absence of 160 doctors from duty without permission, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij yesterday directed to initiate the procedure for their dismissal. The erring doctors had been repeatedly warned to either join duty or resign from their posts but they have not responded, he said. "Now, a written communication had been sent to the Principal Secretary of the department to initiate action for their dismissal. Legal opinion is also being sought in this matter," the minister said.

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu yesterday sacked former Chief Secretary I. Y. R. Krishna Rao as the chairman of Brahmin Welfare Corporation for his Facebook posts critical of the government. Naidu cracked the whip after ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) took serious note of Rao's action. and party leaders urged the Chief Minister to take the action as the former bureaucrat had crossed the limits. Naidu felt that the retired IAS officer's activities were bringing bad name to the party and the government. It all started when Krishna Rao made certain comments criticis-ing the government's move to provide tax relief for the film "Gautamiputra Satakarni" but allowing distributors of "Baa-hubali 2" to increase the ticket price.

Punjab govt announces loan waiver

Hyderabad gets 1,000 WiFi hotspots

Haryana to dismiss 160 doctors

Andhra CM sacks official for FB posts

New Delhi

Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets US President Don-

ald Trump next week in Washington, a senior Indian government official said yesterday.

Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possi-ble changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Serv-ices which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

“The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM’s visit,” Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US President Barack Obama.

However, Trump’s focus on building ties with China, cou-pled with his protectionist trade

policies and his characterisa-tion of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washing-ton that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped Amer-ican companies cut costs and create jobs.

Expansion of ties

“The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM’s visit,” Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia said.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US President Barack Obama.

Modi to discuss H-1B visa issue with Trump

Darjeeling

IANS

All the parties participat-ing in the GJM-sponsored all party meeting in Dar-

jeeling yesterday unanimously decided to continue the indefi-nite strike in the north West Bengal hills in demand of a sep-arate Gorkhaland state and to protest the alleged police atroc-ities and high-handedness in the region. The representatives of 12 political including the Con-gress and BJP that participated in yesterday's meeting also vowed to boycott the state gov-ernment announced all party meeting on June 22 in Siliguri.

"All of us agreed on the one point agenda of separate Gorkhaland. The indefinite strike in the hills would continue as a protest against the police high-handedness and atrocities

on the people of the hills," Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) Assistant Secretary Binay Tamang said.

"All the political parties that participated in today's meeting, would boycott the all-party meeting called by the state gov-ernment on June 22 in Siliguri," he added.

The GJM leader also said that they would urge the Central government to intervene in the current situation of unrest in the hills and also put forward the demand of Gorkhaland.

"We have already asked for Centre's intervention regarding the issue of Gorkhaland and the present situation in the Darjeel-ing hills. That part is also discussed in the meeting," he said. Apart from the convener GJM, major political parties in the hills including ex-Trinamool Congress ally Gorkha National

Liberation Front (GNLF), Harka Bahadur Chettri's Jana Andolan Party, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League and a non-political organisation named Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh participated in the meeting. The represent-atives of Congress and BJP were also present.

Meanwhile, sporadic inci-dents of violence and multiple rallies amid the patrolling of security forces marked the sixth day of the indefinite shutdown in the hills.

A meeting of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader-ship in Gangtok, without naming anyone, hoped that peace would return to the Darjeeling hills soon and demands of the Gorkha people would be ful-filled. The Sikkim Assembly had on March 29, 2011, passed a res-olution in favour of a separate Gorkhaland.

Members of the Gorkha community holding placards and shouting slogans during a demonstration demanding a separate Gorkhaland state from West Bengal in Bangalore, yesterday.

Indefinite strike in Darjeeling to continue

New Delhi

IANS

The Income Tax Depart-ment has attached 12 plots of RJD chief Lalu

Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti, son-in-law Shailesh Kumar, and son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav and others as parts of its probe in the over Rs 1,000 crore benami land deals, sources said.

According to official sources, the IT department has slapped the Benami Transactions Act, that came into force into force on November 1 last year, in the case.

Sources said that two assets in Delhi and several other properties in Bihar have been attached after the department issued a provi-sional order under the Benami Transactions Act.

Earlier this month, Misa Bharti and her husband had skipped the IT department summons twice.

The action comes in the wake of the May 16 searches at 22 places in and around Delhi in connection with alleged benami (proxy) prop-erty deals involving Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and his children — Tejashwi Yadav, Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav and Misa Bharti.

On May 22, the Enforce-ment Directorate has arrested a chartered accountant, Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, alleg-edly linked to Bharti and others, from Delhi.

Chennai

IANS

Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice C S Karnan, who was sen-

tenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu yesterday, said a senior police official.

"He was arrested some-where in Coimbatore about an hour ago," senior West Benga Police official Raj Kanojia said. Coimbatore is around 500 km from here.

However the official declined to answer queries as to other persons who were staying with Karnan.

According to reports reaching here, the former judge will be brought here and then taken to Kolkatta.

Karnan, who was eluding arrest for more than a month, retired from service, a few days back. According to police sources, he was picked up on a tip-off about his location.

IT slaps benami assets law against Lalu Prasad's family

Justice Karnan arrested in Coimbatore

New Delhi

IANS

In a significant move, the gov-ernment yesterday allowed the RBI to accept demone-

tised notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 received by the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) during November 10-14 last year.

The gazette notification comes on a day when the Shiv

Sena announced endorsement of NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, after the party had last week demanded that the over Rs2,270 crore lying with the DCCBs be accepted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The notification says that the DCCBs can deposit the demon-etised notes, collected during the five-day period after demone-tisation was announced on November 8, 2016, with the

Reserve Bank of India for 30 days from today. The DCCBs had been disallowed from accept-ing the notes after November 14.

It also allows banks and post offices which had collected demonetised notes prior to December 30, 2016 to deposit them with the RBI.

The deposits can be made under Specified Bank Notes (Deposits by Banks, Post Offices and District Central Coopera-

tive Banks) Rules, 2017.Officials said that the depos-

its would be taken in pursuance to an assurance given to the Supreme Court by the govern-ment that proper verification of each account would be done before any decision is taken.Such a verification was done between January and May this year and it was found that the accounts complied with the KYC norms.

Dhaka

AFP

Lightning strikes have killed at least 22 people in Bang-ladesh in the last 48 hours,

authorities said yesterday, a week after monsoon rains trig-gered a series of deadly landslides in the country. The deaths came as storms swept the country on Sunday and Monday, the head of the disaster man-agement department Reaz

Ahmed said. Among the dead were a couple and their young daughter who were were work-ing on a peanut farm when they were struck by lightning.

Hundreds of people die every year from lightning strikes in Bangladesh and experts say climate change has exacerbated the problem. They also blame deforestation and the loss of taller trees like palms that used to act as lightning conductors.

Last year authorities

declared a natural disaster when the official toll topped 200 deaths, with 82 people dying on a single day in May.

Experts say the true figure is likely much higher as many deaths go unreported. One inde-pendent monitor said 349 people were killed by lightning strikes in 2016. Disaster officials spent several months last year looking at ways to reduce the toll and later came up with a programme to plant a million palm trees.

Govt allows co-operative banks to deposit old notes with RBI

Lightning strikes claim 22 lives in Bangladesh

It’s not clear what kind of peace push the Trump administration is planning in the Middle East while giving carte blanche to Israel to pursue all its illegal activities. A mediator is expected to retain at least a modicum of impartiality and

keep an equal distance on the issue it’s trying to mediate in. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US has always been a staunch supporter of Israel, which has enabled Tel Aviv to carry out with impunity all the human rights violations it has done against Palestinians and grab Palestinian land in violation of all international laws. Opposition to Israeli aggression has been restricted to verbal pronouncements while supporting Israel in all international forums including the United Nations. If the Arab world and Palestinians have gladly accepted American mediation in the conflict until now, it was because of America’s superpower status and a realization that when push comes to shove, Washington has the power to convince Israel to make concessions and tread the path of peace for a better future. But President Donald Trump has squandered this goodwill by blatantly siding with Israel in all its actions. He proclaimed his extraordinary love for Israel during the presidential campaign and has kept his word after becoming president.

The latest incident that casts doubt on Washington’s impartiality as a mediator is Israel’s breaking of the ground for the first new settlement in the occupied

West Bank for two decades, and that too on the eve of a peace mission by White House senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. “Work began today on-site, as I promised, to establish the new settlement,” Netanyahu proclaimed on his Twitter along with the photograph of a machine digging into the ground. The timing of the start of construction is important because Kushner is expected to arrive in Israel today. Netanyahu is not only announcing his resolve to go ahead with the new

settlements, but also announcing that he had little to fear from the Trump administration over settlement building that has drawn widespread international and Palestinian condemnation.

The halt to settlement construction by Israel has been one of the key demands of Palestinians to start the peace process. The Trump administration too is acutely aware of the sensitivity of this issue and the president had asked Netanyahu to “hold back on settlements for a little bit” during a meeting at the White House in February. That request was seen as part of an effort to build trust with the Palestinians ahead of a renewed push for peace. But by ignoring a key demand of Palestinians, Netanyahu and Trump are sending the wrong signals to them -- that this peace process will be unilateral, one in which Netanyahu will dictate the terms with the support of White House.

08 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Israeli atrocities

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It‘s part of the reason there are sanctions, because untilthey are out of eastern Ukraine, we‘re going to continue to have sanctions on Russia, and we believe that is part of Ukraine, and so therefore those sanctions will remain.

Sean SpicerWhite House Spokesman

By constructing new settlements, Netanyahu is ridiculing the latest peace push being planned by the Trump administration.

One way to understand just how different President Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran is from his predecessor’s is through the lens of Oman.

For Barack Obama, the tiny Gulf kingdom was a diplomatic secret weapon. His adminis-tration took advantage of Oman’s good relations with both sides of the Saudi-Iranian cold war. Oman’s Sultan, Qaboos bin Said al Said, helped negotiate the release of Ameri-can hikers held captive in Iran during Obama’s first term. The little nation also hosted secret talks between the US and Iran that laid the groundwork for Obama’s signa-ture foreign policy achievement, the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump, on the other hand, has largely ignored the Omanis. It was the only Gulf mon-archy not to participate in a bilateral meeting with Trump during the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia last month. The aging Qaboos did not personally attend.

While Obama used Oman’s good relations with Iran to advance his diplomacy with Iran, the Trump administration sees its ties to Iran as a problem.

This was part of the delicate message Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo and Trump’s deputy national secu-rity adviser, General Ricky Waddell, delivered to Qaboos in a secret visit to Muscat on June 11. According to three Trump administration officials briefed on the diplomacy, Pompeo and Waddell urged Qaboos to crack down on Iranian smuggling routes through Omani ter-ritory that deliver personnel, equipment and weapons to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The US provides logistical and refueling support to Saudi Arabia’s Air Force in its war against the Houthis.

One US official told me that Pompeo and Waddell were careful not to ask the Sultan to cut ties with Iran. That would be impossible for the Omanis, given their economic depend-ence on Iran. But the message was clear that Oman should take more action to stop Iran’s resupplying of the Houthis.

This is a sensitive issue for Oman. Offi-cially, it supports Yemen’s president, Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, whose government is fighting the Houthis. In September, though, Hadi’s government announced that it had intercepted an arms shipment to the Houthis.

The US intelligence community however disagrees. Reuters quoted several US officials in October as saying there is evidence that the Iranians have supported Yemen rebels. The US officials who spoke to me for this column confirmed that assessment.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who directs the Intelligence Project at the Brook-ings Institution, told me Monday that the real concern for the US military and the Saudis is that Iran could be sending missile experts to Yemen to help the Houthis develop ballistic missiles. “For that you don’t need to smuggle

The United State’s secret talks with Obama’s Arab back channelEli LakeBloomberg

material,” Riedel said. “What you need are people who have that expertise, and the Iranians have that expertise.”

The prospect of the Houthis obtain-ing missiles is not merely hypothetical. They claim to have already fired short-range Scud missiles into Saudi Arabia. In September, the US blamed the Houthis for launching missiles against US and United Arab Emirates ships in the Red Sea. If the Houthi rebels were to obtain longer-range missiles, they could threaten the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Simon Henderson, director of the Gulf and Energy Policy programme at

the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told me Monday that it would be smart to take advan-tage of Oman’s diplomatic relationships with the Houthis. “On

Yemen, Washington has been very happy to use Oman for its contacts with the Houthis in the past,” he said. “That still has a value.”

Henderson said he thinks the only way to end the war in Yemen is through even-tually paying the Houthis to break off relations with the Iranians, which the Sau-dis consider to be an intolerable threat.

For now, the Trump administration has bigger fish to fry. Over the weekend, the US shot down a Syrian fighter jet after asserting the Syrians had attacked US backed rebels near Raqqa. On Sun-day, the Iranians launched ballistic missiles from their own territory into Islamic State-held positions in Syria for the first time.

When Iran tested ballistic missiles back in January, the Trump administra-tion’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, famously put the Islamic Republic “on notice.” Sunday’s missile launch was clearly a warning to the US and Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press quoted an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp general, Ramazan Sharif, as saying on state television: “The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message. Obviously and clearly, some reactionary countries of the region, especially Saudi Arabia, had announced that they are trying to bring insecurity into Iran.”

That missile launch makes Pompeo and Waddell’s secret diplomacy in Oman all the more urgent. If the Iranians are now willing to launch missiles into a for-eign country, what is to stop them from providing some to their proxies in Yemen?

For now, the Trump administration has bigger fish to fry. Over the weekend, the US shot down a Syrian fighter jet after asserting the Syrians had attacked US backed rebels near Raqqa. On Sunday, the Iranians launched ballistic missiles from their own territory into Islamic State-held positions in Syria for the first time.

ED ITOR IAL

09WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 OPINION

A retweet of his son critical of former president Barack Obama.

Praise for Camp David, where he spent the weekend.

And finally, a retweet of the White House’s “Happy Father’s Day” message that morning.

That Trump hasn’t mentioned the attacks on Muslims in London isn’t surprising. It took days for him to praise the two men who were stabbed to death in Portland, Oregon, while defending Muslim women on a train. It took almost a week for him to speak out about the shooting of two Indian men in Kansas by someone who thought that they were Muslim. In one sense, it’s odd that Trump hasn’t tweeted condolences to the victims in London, given the criticism he’s received for his slow response to the above attacks - but, again, it’s not surprising that he hasn’t, given his history.

The broader question is why Trump remains uninterested in acknowledging such attacks.

One likely explanation is that Trump sees attacks by people of the Muslim faith through the lens of a rampant anti-Western ideology but views attacks on Muslims as being one-off examples of bad actors. The emergence of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State reinforced the idea that there’s a sub-stantial, organised subset of the world’s Muslim population focused on political violence.

Absent those groups, attacks like the one on Westminster Bridge or at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub might more easily be treated as aberrant individual

Target is not limited to Qatar blockade

The almost simultaneous blockade of Qatar spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and joined by a few of its sidekick states and two perni-cious, violent attacks on two symbolic sites in Tehran may have taken the world by

surprise but the mad logic and the mischievous rhet-oric of them are anything but surprising.

The organic link between the regional, decidedly anti-Palestinian, ambitions of Israel and the sectar-ian designs of Saudi Arabia for the Arab and Muslim world at large have been known for quite some time now. The question is what has triggered that alliance between the Israeli settler colony and the Saudi gar-rison state suddenly to up the ante and come out with such ferocious intensity, throwing all pretences of “Arab brotherhood” or “Muslim unity” under the speeding Zionist bus.

As reported by Al Jazeera, there is now an active lobbying putsch in Washington, DC, coordinated among Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emir-ates, simultaneously targeting Qatar and Iran, with the future of Palestine and the fate of millions of Pal-estinians in and out of their homeland as the focal points of this treacherous alliance to sabotage and destroy the cause of Palestinian self-determination.

Taking full advantage of this crisis, the timing of the US ambassador to the United Nations, the die-hard Zionist, Nikki Haley’s visit to Israel marks Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-standing design to push

the Palestinian question completely off the global agenda. The ruling regimes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are willing and eager parties to this perfidious act.

Although there can never be any hard evidence of the Saudi instigation of the suicide attacks and bombing of two symbolic sites in Iran, the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian officials are pointing fingers at the Saudis. But we need not necessarily accept the Iranian account to realise that Israel and Saudi Arabia are (and have been for a very long time) the main beneficiaries of such violent acts against Iran and Iranians. If we put the blockade of Qatar by its Arab neighbours and the unprecedented attack on Iran analytically together, a number of crucial consequences emerge to redefine the geostrategic map of the region.

The current Saudi-Israeli alliance in trampling the Palestinians’ fate, warmongering against Iran, and subjecting Qatar to a crippling blockade domi-nates and distorts the real picture of the region. The principle enemies of the Saudi and Israeli garrison states are not their counterpart states in the region but, in fact, the defiant nations that are falsely framed by these states.

Three powerful nations in this area defy their respective states to map out their own democratic destinies: Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. These are the three nations that, in their thick historical memories and ensuing democratic aspirations, pose the great-est threat to the Saudi and Israeli colonial concoctions with no historical legitimacy on the ground. By virtue of US military and diplomatic sup-port, this Saudi-Zionist alliance dominates the geopolitics of the region beyond its historical deserve. Among these three historic nations, the Saudi Arabia and Israel falsely assume they have neutralised Egypt by recruiting the military junta that has aborted its revolutionary momentum. Egyptians as a people, as an historically self-conscious nation (remember Tahrir Square), are not to be confused with the corrupt junta that now rules it, tramples on Palestinian rights, and is even willing to sell its own territorial integrity to Saudi Arabia.

This Saudi-Zionist alliance thinks it can also dis-regard Turkey for it confuses the current coup-countercoup draconian dynamics of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government with the robust demo-cratic urges of Turks as a people, as a deeply rooted

and self-conscious nation (remember both the Gezi Park movement and the popular uprising against the military coup last year).

The alliance, therefore, laser beams on Iran for, contrary to its ridiculous claims, it is not the adven-turesome disposition of its state that bothers it but, in fact, the volcanic democratic upsurge of Iranians as a nation frightens the living daylights out of these two colonially manufactured garrison states.

It is not accidental that the primary target of those demented mercenaries attacking Iran was the Iranian parliament, next to the office of the presi-dency and the city councils the most democratic institution in an otherwise theocratic state apparatus. It is the democratic effervescence of the people of Iran (and Turkey and Egypt), trapped as they are within the framing of a misrepresenting state, that poses an existential threat to Saudi-Israeli alliance.

Keep your eyes on these three nations: Turkey, Iran, and Egypt - do not be distracted by the antics of their respective state apparatuses being dragged into the geopolitics of the region - and you will have a far more accurate conception of every single develop-ment in the Arab and Muslim world. Keep also in mind that the Palestinian cause is at the heart of these three nation’s democratic aspirations, and not a matter of systematic political abuse by their respective states.

Despite its tiny size and sparse population, though deeply informed by waves of Arab and non-Arab migrant skilled labourers, scholars, journalists, artists, and intellectuals from across the world popu-lating its universities, museums, and research institutes, Qatar has dared dreaming itself integral to the larger Arab-Muslim desire to fulfill its historic sense of dignity, which it has in part invested in putting the Palestinian self-determination at the forefront of its sense of moral identity.

Qatar is not just for Qataris. Despite all its struc-tural limitations as a minuscule rentier state with a massive US military base on its soil, Qatar has enabled an engine of social, intellectual, and artistic ambitions for the larger Arab and Muslim world. Donald Trum-plooks at Qatar and all he sees are dollar signs for his military contractor friends. Israel looks at Qatar and it is worried to see a thriving Arab capital with a sharp critical intelligence to the Palestinian politics it ena-bles. Saudi Arabia looks at Qatar and sees dangerous ideas being bandied about its northern frontiers.

Donald Trump tweeted about the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 about 3 1/2 hours after they occurred. The following month, he tweeted

about the mass shooting in San Ber-nardino, California, 90 minutes after the violence began. It took fewer than 12 hours from the time an EgyptAir flight went missing in May 2016 for Trump to specu-late publicly that the attack was terror-related. More than a year later, it’s still not clear what happened to the plane.

When terrorists drove a van into a crowd on London Bridge earlier this month, Trump tweeted about the need to be “smart, vigilant and tough” even before authorities identified terror as the motive behind the attack.

About 15 hours ago, as of this writing, a man drove a van into a group of Muslims near a mosque in London. The attack, which killed one person and injured 10 others, is being treated as terror-related by authorities in Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as “every bit as sickening” as the attacks at the London Bridge and, earlier this year, on Westminster Bridge.

Trump tweeted his condolences to the victims of those two earlier attacks — both linked to the Islamic State — the same day they happened. Trump has not tweeted about Sunday night’s attack on Muslims.

In response to a crisis, one of the sim-plest responses from a president is a carefully worded statement of support, condolence or outrage. Simpler still is a brief message on social media. Trump built his political career in part on his willing-ness to jump into any number of frays by tweeting about them. As we’ve noted in the past, he shows little reticence to tweet about things he sees on television right after he sees them. Yet, Monday morning: silence.

Trump’s use of Twitter betrays his interests and disinterests. On Sunday, Father’s Day, Trump tweeted, in order:

A two-part defense of his political suc-cess. An outlier poll showing him as more popular than he is. A retweet of the perform-ers Diamond and Silk criticising the media.

Trump’s double standard on terror attacksactions in the way that the attack on Muslims in London will be treated in some quarters. That there’s a strong but largely disor-ganized anti-Muslim undercurrent in Western societies that can make Muslims a target of violence lacks the sort of readily identifiable markers as a coordinated terror group, especially for those unwill-ing to see them.

In June 2015, when a white gunman shot nine black worshi-pers dead at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, shortly after Trump announced his presi-dential candidacy, Trump tweeted about it.

The tragedy in South Carolina is incomprehensible. My deepest condolences to all.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDon-aldTrump) June 18, 2015

It was incomprehensible in the sense that murdering nine people at church is an affront to our sense of humans as rational creatures. It was entirely comprehensible in

the sense that a white man who held racist views might target black people in a shooting spree.

To view attacks by Muslims as part of what being Muslim is about but attacks on Muslims as being distinct from the identities of the perpetrators demands seeing those two groups as fundamentally different. Trump has a presumption of guilt for Muslims that he doesn’t for the white people who committed the crimes in Kansas, Portland and at the London mosque. It’s interesting to compare Trump’s response to the Charleston shooting with his response to the 1980s rape of a white woman in Central Park, for which a group of black and Hispanic teenagers were arrested and which prompted Trump to buy a full-page ad calling for the death penalty for the accused.

Those teenagers were later exonerated when another man admitted to the crime. But Trump, even as recently as last October, seemed to believe that the teenagers were the perpe-trators. “They admitted they were guilty. The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty,” Trump said last year — eliding the critical point that the confessions were obtained under duress. In Trump’s eyes, those teenagers are guilty despite the judicial system rescinding that verdict.

Trump’s presidential campaign - and therefore his presi-dency - relied on the idea that America was under threat from terrorism and crime, a point of view that necessarily over-lapped with America’s complex racial history. That’s the other reason Trump highlights terrorist acts by Muslims and ignores those against them: He has reaped political rewards from it. Trump views terrorism through a very particular lens, and he won the presidency by articulating that lens. That it’s reflected in his Twitter account, then, is not a surprise.

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That Zionists see that dream as a nightmare is, of course, natural. That the Saudis and their sidekicks have now joined forces with these Zionists in crushing that dream is an obscenity beyond words. The marriage of convenience between Israel and Saudi Arabia as two gar-rison states, armed to their teeth by the US to spread menace and to pit one group of Muslims against another, overcomes all other dis-parities between the odd couples.

The simultaneous targetting of Qatar and Iran should forever put an end to the false flag that this is a battle between Arabs and Persians. Qatar is both an Arab and a Sunni country, and is today the target of a most pernicious blockade and def-amation by its own Arab and Sunni neighbours, while planeloads of food are being flown to Doha from Turkey and Iran.

For now, let it be remembered that Israel, with all its ridiculous claim to be “the only democracy in the Mid-dle East” (built on stolen Palestinian lands), is today in active alliance with the most retrograde and backward-ruling regimes in the region against the democratic aspirations of their nations. Let it also be remembered that the ruling family in Saudi Arabia are now in active alliance with the European settler colony that has sto-len Palestine from its rightful inhabitants. Everything else from this point forward must commence with these two sobering facts.

The writer is Hagop Kevorkian Profes-

sor of Iranian Studies and Comparative

Literature at Columbia University in

New York.

Hamid DabashiAl Jazeera

Despite all its structural limitations as a minuscule rentier state with a massive US military base on its soil, Qatar has enabled an engine of social, intellectual, and artistic ambitions for the larger Arab and Muslim world.

Philip BumpThe Washington Post

Police form a cordon in the Finsbury Park area of north London after a vehicle hit pedestrians.

10 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017ASIA

Govt aims to expedite liberation of MarawiMarawi City Reuters

Philippine aircraft and troops launched a renewed push against militants in a southern city yesterday and a

military spokesman said the aim was to clear the area by the weekend Eid festival, although there was no deadline.

The offensive came amid worry that rebel reinforcements could arrive in the city after Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan.

Fighting in Marawi City has entered a fifth week, and nearly 350 people have been killed, according to an official count.

Fleeing residents have said they have seen scores of bodies in the debris of homes destroyed in bombing and cross-fire.

"We are aiming to clear Marawi by the end of Ramadan," said military spokesman Briga-dier-General Restituto Padilla, as army and police commanders met in nearby Cagayan de Oro city to reassess strategy and operations against the militants, who claim allegiance to IS fighters.

But he added: "We are not

setting any deadlines knowing the complexity of the battle. We are doing our best to expedite the liberation of Marawi at the soonest time possible."

The seizure of Marawi and the dogged fight to regain con-trol of it has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear IS fight-ers - on a backfoot in Iraq and Syria - is trying to set up a

stronghold in the Muslim south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines that could threaten the whole region.

President Rodrigo Duterte visited a school where people who fled from Marawi are being housed and apologised for their plight, especially since it was Ramadan.

"I will help you, I will rehabil-itate Marawi, it will be a beautiful city again," he said at the school in Iligan City, about 40km from the battle zone.

Padilla said the military aimed to prevent the conflict from escalating after Ramadan ends.

"We are closely watching cer-tain groups and we hope they will not join the fight," Padilla said.

Some Muslim residents of Marawi said other groups could join the fighting after Ramadan.

"As devout Muslims, we are forbidden to fight during Ram-adan so afterwards, there may be new groups coming in," said Faisal Amir, who has stayed on in the city despite the battle.

Fighting was intense early yesterday as security forces made a push to drive the mili-tants, entrenched in Marawi's

commercial district, south towards a lake on the edge of the city.

Planes flew overhead drop-ping bombs while on the ground, automatic gunfire was sustained with occasional blasts from artillery.

Armoured vehicles fired vol-leys of shells while the militants responded with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Fighting later died down as heavy rain fell but had resumed by evening.

Military sources said troops

were attacking the militants from three sides and trying to box them towards the lake.

"We’re gaining ground and we’re expanding our vantage positions," said Lieutenant Colo-nel Jo-Ar Herrera, another military spokesman, although he declined to comment on specifics.

"We are moving towards the centre of gravity," he added, referring to the militants' com-mand and communications centre.

An army corporal near the

front line said soldiers were tag-ging houses and buildings that had been cleared.

"We still have to clear more than 1,000 structures," he said, adding infantry units were left behind at "cleared" areas to pre-vent militants from recapturing lost ground.

As yestedray, the military said 258 militants, 65 security personnel and 26 civilians had been killed. Hundreds of people are unaccounted for, with many believed to be hiding in the base-ments of the city.

US sends warplanes over Korean PeninsulaSeoul

AP

The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula yes-

terday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean offi-cials said.

The US often sends power-ful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Yesterday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a US college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defence Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two sepa-rate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidar-ity among South Korea, Japan and the US "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American col-lege student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea.

UAE court scraps death sentence for Filipina maidDubai

Reuters

AN appeals court in the United Arab Emirates acquitted a maid from the Philippines of the murder of her employer and scrapped her death sentence, the Philippine Foreign Ministry and UAE media said yesterday.

The maid, 30, was sen-tenced to death by a lower tribunal in the city of al-Ain in May 2015 for fatally stab-bing her Emirati employer in 2014, UAE-based newspaper The National said.

She had argued she was acting in self defence after he tried to abuse her, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

An appeals court in al-Ain overturned the verdict, con-victed her only of stealing a mobile telephone and handed her a five-year jail term, the statement said, identifying her as Jennifer Dalquez.

"Ms Dalquez was declared innocent without 'diyyah' or payment of blood money," the statement said. It said she would serve the jail sentence minus the time she had already spent in prison.

Bangkok

Reuters

A 61-year-old man arrested in connection with a bomb blast at a military-

run hospital in Bangkok claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday saying he objected to unelected military rulers.

The attack last month struck Bangkok's Phramong-kutklao Hospital and injured more than 20 people. It coin-cided with the third anniversary of a May 2014 military coup.

In overthrowing an elected government, the military said at the time it had to take con-trol after months of turbulence including street protests aimed at ousting the government of populist politicians who have

won every election since year 2001.

Suspect Wattana Pumret, who was detained last week, admitted to the charges against him, including conspiring to kill, causing injury and illegal pos-session of explosives.

He also took responsibility for two smaller explosions in Bangkok last month that hurt several people.

"All of my past actions were a symbolic gesture against the coup government. I don't wish to harm people," Wattana said.

"I'm a normal person who doesn't agree with a military government that wasn't elected."

He said he acted alone.Police said Wattana had

been appointed a police lawyer.

Pakistan begins building border fence along Afghanistan

Suspect admits to Thai military hospital blast

Islamabad

AP

Pakistan said yesterday that it has begun building a fence along its border with

Afghanistan to improve security, a move that has angered author-ities in Kabul.

The two nations are divided by the 2,400km Durand Line,

drawn by British rulers in 1896. Kabul does not recognise it

as an international border, caus-ing friction between the two neighbors, with Pakistan sug-gesting Afghanistan has designs on part of its territory.

The line runs through ethnic Pashtun territory, dividing fam-ilies and tribes between the two countries.

A Pakistani army statement said the first phase of the project will focus on the Bajur, Mohm-and and Khyber tribal regions — all regarded by authorities as areas prone to cross-border infiltration by militants. The mil-itary said it will also build new forts and border posts to improve surveillance and defensibility.

It said a secure border is in

interest of both countries and a well-coordinated security mech-anism is essential for peace and stability.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along their porous frontier, but Afghanistan is opposed to the building of the fence.

"Pakistan has no right to fence or construct any building along the border with Afghani-stan," said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry.

He warned of retaliatory action, referring to previous fire-fights that erupted when Pakistan sought to build border fortifications.

Sailors' bodies flown back to USTokyo

AFP

The US Navy's top com-mander visited Japan Tuesday to meet the griev-

ing families of seven sailors killed in a weekend accident, as investigators probe questions over the timing of the collision with a container ship.

Admiral John Richardson arrived at the US naval base in Yokosuka on the outskirts of Tokyo to meet bereaved rela-tives and officers who served on the USS Fitzgerald.

"It's an intimate meeting, very solemn grieving with fam-ilies, so we're not even taking

photos," Commander Ron Flan-ders, press officer at the US Naval Forces in Japan, said.

The sailors, aged 19 to 37, were found in flooded sleeping berths a day after the collision tore a huge gash in the side of their guided-missile destroyer.

Their bodies were being flown back to the US yesterday, according to the Commander US Naval Forces Japan.

Japanese coastguard inves-tigators have been interviewing the Filipino crew of the cargo ship ACX Crystal, and hope to directly hear accounts of sailors aboard the much-smaller US destroyer.

The cargo ship's crew -- who

were not injured -- apparently took nearly an hour to report the collision in a busy shipping chan-nel near the warship's home base, a gateway to container ports in Tokyo and nearby Yokohama.

Japanese officials are also investigating why the 222-metre cargo ship made a sudden turn at about 1.30am, and a sharp turn after it reported the accident around 2:20 am, as shown in data from the Marine Traffic website.

"As to the chronological order of what happened and other details, we are still inves-tigating," a Japanese coastguard spokesman said.

Debris and smoke are seen after an OV-10 Bronco aircraft released a bomb during an airstrike, in Marawi City, yesterday.

Moon urges N Korea to return detainees swiftlySeoul

Reuters

South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday said North Korea should

swiftly return South Koreans and Americans detained in the reclusive nation and that Pyongyang had "a heavy responsibility" in the death of a US university student.

Moon, who is scheduled to visit Washington next week for talks with US President

Donald Trump, also said that he hoped to draw North Korea into negotiations on its nuclear program by the end of the year, while talks with the US about military options could wait.

Dozens of North's missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the start of last year and Pyongyang's vow to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland have put North Korea at the forefront of glo-bal security concerns.

Wattana Pumret is escorted by Thai police during a crime reenactment at King Mongkut Hospital in Bangkok, yesterday.

We are aiming to clear Marawi City by the end of Ramadan. But we are not setting any deadlines knowing the complexity of the battle. We are doing our best to expedite the liberation of Marawi at the soonest time possible: Official

Urban war

President Rodrigo Duterte visited a school where people who fled from Marawi are being housed and apologised for their plight, especially since it was Ramadan.

11WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 EUROPE

Italy probes foreign ministry hacking attemptRome

Reuters

ITALY’S foreign ministry said yesterday it was investigat-ing a hacking attempt, after a group calling itself Anony-mous published what it said was stolen ministry data.

A site called cyberguer-rilla.org carried a blog post titled “Foreign Affairs Min-istry You Have Been Hacked” addressed to For-eign Minister Angelino Alfano and the head of the nat ional magis trates association.

“Regarding the attempted hack of the ministry’s web-site, a legal complaint has been lodged and investiga-tions are now underway,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

“We hope the public pros-ecutor’s office will shed light as soon as possible on what happened, and, to this end, the ministry’s technicians are working to give all possible support.”

The ministry did not name suspected perpetrators or give details about the hacking attempt, and it was not immediately clear if any sensitive information had been leaked.

Merkel urges EU to stay united on BrexitBerlin

Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the European Union’s remaining 27 mem-bers yesterday to

stick together during talks on Britain’s exit from the bloc, which began on Monday.

Merkel also said the talks were important for the future of European integration. Brexit was a setback but election results in the Netherlands and France this year have presented an oppor-tunity for the EU to push ahead, she added.

“The risk of the exit negoti-ations with Britain is that we do not take adequate care of our own future. Let’s stay together, let’s not divide from each other,” she said with reference to the remaining EU 27 and the 19 euro zone countries.

“This is not just about the exit of Britain, with which we want to remain friends, with which we want to live in a good partner-ship, but it is also about the future of the European Union,” she said at a German industry conference.

“The four freedoms that give us the internal market must not be jeopardised,” she said with reference to the EU’s freedoms of movement of goods, capital, people, and services. “This will be significant at the exit negotiations.”

Merkel said she wanted the talks to be conducted “in a good spirit” and that Britain’s position would become evident in the coming months.

“We will of course imple-ment what Britain pitches, but in a way that the interests of the 27 m e m b e r s t a t e s a r e safeguarded.”

Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor

candidate who Merkel will square up against in her bid to win a fourth term in September’s election, told the same conference:

“The best result of the Brexit negotiations would be - there wouldn’t be a Brexit.”

At their first meeting in Brus-sels on Monday, British and EU

negotiators agreed on a timeta-ble for the Brexit talks. Both sides stressed their goodwill but acknowledged the task’s huge complexity and tight deadline.

Almost a year to the day since Britons voted in a referen-dum to quit the European Union, the Brexit strategy debate within the UK government has intensi-fied since Prime Minister Theresa May lost her majority in a snap parliamentary election on June 8.

She had called the early vote herself, saying it was to strengthen her mandate in the Brexit talks.

Merkel also said she was open to the idea of a joint finance minister for the euro zone, and a common budget for the cur-rency union. “Of course one can think about a common finance minister if the conditions are in place and if we do not mutual-ise in the wrong areas,” she said.

Germany has resisted the idea of introducing so-called Eurobonds, which could allow euro zone countries to issue debt jointly, with some benefit-ing from lower risk premia thanks to Germany’s creditworthiness.

“One can indeed consider a European budget if it is clear that structures are really strength-ened and this is used to sensible ends,” Merkel added.

Portugal PM calls for explanations over wildfiresPedrógão Grande

AFP

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa yesterday led calls to know why a high-

way now dubbed the “road of death” -- where most of the 64 victims of a giant forest fire per-ished -- had not been blocked off, as questions mounted over the disaster management response.

More than 1,000 firefighters still battled to control the flames which broke out in the central Pedrogao Grande region over the weekend and spread at break-neck speed to neighbouring areas.

Costa sought “immediate explanations” why the N236 highway “had not been closed to traffic” and why it had been sig-nalled by gendarmes as an

alternative route after a nearby road had been sealed off, accord-ing to the Lusa national news agency.

Forty-seven of the 64 forest fire victims died on the N236 which has been branded the “road of death” or the “road of

hell” by the local media. Thirty of them burned to death in their cars, trapped by the flames.

A survivor told Portuguese television that gendarmes directed them to the N236 as an alternative to the nearby IC8 route which had been closed and which the gendarmes used themselves.

“When we arrived at the IC8, they told us we couldn’t pass and directed us towards the N236. We thought that the road was safe but it wasn’t,” said a survi-vor, Maria de Fatima.

“We couldn’t see anything, we couldn’t even see the road, just the flames and the pine trees falling on the road,” she said.

Costa also wanted explana-tions why emergency services communications network had been interrupted amid media

reports that the scorching heat had damaged antennae.

The blaze around Pedrogao Grande was expected to be under control shortly, said civil protec-tion chief Vitor Vaz Pinto on Tuesday.

As water-bombing planes made regular passes over the flames, there were growing sug-gestions that forestry practices and outdated emergency plan-ning might have contributed to the disaster.

Some people in the hamlets scattered through this rural region were not happy with the response of the emergency services.

Father Jose Gomes, the priest in Figueiro dos Vinhos, said that some locals had “lacked the sup-port of the firefighters, and sometimes even water.”

No guarantee of success in Cyprus talks: UNAthens

AFP

NEXT week’s talks between Greece and Turkey on the reunification of Cyprus will not be easy and there was no guarantee of success, the UN envoy on Cyprus warned yes-terday.

“The starting positions of the different sides are very different,” the UN’s Espen Barth Eide said.

“It takes quite a lot of proactivity and fresh think-ing to find ways to overcome the traditional differences,” he added.

“It’s not going to be easy.”The United Nations is

leading a new international meeting on the subject at the Swiss Alpine resort of Crans Montana, starting on Wednesday next week.

In talks in Athens Mon-day, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Turk-ish counterpart Binali Yildirim played down their differences and agreed to strengthen ties in tourism, transport and energy.

“Everyone tells me that they go to Switzerland with the intention of actually find-ing a real solution,” Eide said yesterday.

The talks could go on for weeks if necessary, if that was what it took to get agreement on the key issues of security, governance and power shar-ing, said Eide.

But he added: “I can’t promise you that it will work.”

Red Cross launches refugee aid app

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a two-day meeting of the Federation of German Industry, yesterday.

This is not just about the exit of Britain, with which we want to remain friends, with which we want to live in a good partnership, but it is also about the future of the European Union: Merkel

Maintaining ties

Firefighters work to put out a forest fire in the village of Sandinha, near Gois, yesterday.

Sofia

AFP

Macedonia will seek to mend its relations with neighbouring Bulgaria

to speed up its Nato and Euro-pean Union accession, the country’s new prime minister said yesterday.

“Macedonia shuts the chap-ter of nationalism and hatred and opens the chapter of its European future,” Zoran Zaev said after talks with his Bulgarian counter-part Boyko Borisov.

It was the newly elected Macedonian premier’s second visit abroad after Brussels since he succeeded nationalist Nikola Gruevski on June 1 ending a two-year political crisis.

Bulgaria, which joined Nato in 2005 and the European Union in 2007, was the first country to recognise Macedonia’s inde-pendence when it broke from the former Yugoslavia in 1992.

Bulgaria however claims that the Macedonian people are Bulgarian by origin and does not recognise the Macedonian

minority living on its territory.In a move to guarantee non-

interference in its internal affairs, Bulgaria has pushed since 2009 for the signing of a bilateral friendship and coop-eration treaty with its western neighbour and Zaev said yes-terday that the agreement will be inked when Borisov visits Skopje on August 2.

Bulgaria in turn promised to back Macedonia’s efforts to join NATO and the EU when it holds the bloc’s rotating presidency in the first half of 2018.

Macedonia to amend ties with Bulgaria

Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev (right) and Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov leave after laying flowers at the monument of Tsar Samuil in Sofia, yesterday.

London

Reuters

The Red Cross launched a smartphone app on Tues-day to help refugees and

migrants arriving in Italy access information and services - i n c l u d i n g m e d i c a l , psychological and legal support.

The digital platform called “Virtual Volunteer” was unveiled on World Refugee Day as new data showed the number of refugees globally reached a record 22.5 million in 2016.

“People moving are often caught in a fog of poor infor-mation,” said Jagan Chapagain, head of programmes and oper-ations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“They don’t always know what services are available to them. This is a tool that will help give them a clearer view so that they can make informed decisions,” he said.

Italy is on the frontline in the European migrant crisis which has seen hundreds of thousands of people arrive in the continent by land and sea after fleeing

wars and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Nearly 70,000 have arrived in Italy so far this year, mostly migrants from West Africa and Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Virtual Volunteer uses geolocation to show users on a map where to access every-thing from shelters, food banks, canteens, and showers to clothes distribution points, maternal health centres, free legal assistance, dentists and language schools.

Refugees and migrants can

also find advice on how to pro-tect themselves from traffickers and can access information to help them locate family mem-bers if they have become separated.

The app - developed by the IFRC and tech giant IBM – has already been rolled out in Greece and Sweden where it has been used by 30,000 people.

“Information saves lives. Ensuring that people can access unbiased, factual information has a big impact,” Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca said in a statement.

12 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017EUROPE

Queen Letizia visits El QuirinalMinisters quit Macron's govt as reshuffle loomsParis

AFP

Two French ministers have quit their jobs in the space of 24 hours a s P r e s i d e n t Emmanuel Macron

reshuffles his government to reflect his campaign pledge to clean up politics.

In a surprise decision, Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard announced yesterday she was resigning over a fake jobs scan-dal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, which allied with Macron's party in the presiden-tial and legislative elections.

Macron accepted her resig-nation and said he "respected" Goulard's decision.

Her high-profile departure came after the president on Monday asked a close ally, Rich-ard Ferrand, to leave his post as minister for territorial cohesion for a senior role in their Repub-lic on the Move (REM) party.

Ferrand is under investiga-tion over claims he favoured his wife in a lucrative property deal with a public health insurance fund when he headed the company.

Goulard's MoDem party is facing a preliminary probe into claims it misused European Par-liament expenses in the hiring

of parliamentary assistants.The minister, who was a

member of the European Par-liament from 2009 to May this year, said she could not remain in the government while facing a possible investigation.

Meanwhile Macron has been carrying out a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elec-tions on Sunday that handed him and his MoDem allies a commanding majority.

Macron's REM party crushed its rivals by winning 308 seats in the 577-seat National

Assembly and will not need the support of MoDem, which won 42 seats, to get legislation through parliament.

Goulard had been named to the defence job only a month ago following Macron's election to the presidency.

She said the possibility of an investigation made it impossi-ble for her to stay in the post given Macron's pledge to clean up politics after a series of scan-dals involving ministers under his Socialist predecessor Fran-cois Hollande.

"The president is commit-ted to restoring confidence in public office, reforming France and relaunching Europe," Gou-lard said in a statement.

"This reform agenda must take precedence over any per-sonal considerations.

"That is why I have asked the president, with the agree-ment of the prime minister, to leave the government," she added.

Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation this month into claims in the Canard Enchaine newspaper that the MoDem party was using Euro-pean parliamentary funds to pay assistants based in France.

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front party is facing similar accusations.

Finland govt survives no-confidence voteTallinn

AP

Finland's government has survived a no-confidence vote after a coalition part-

ner split in two following a leadership battle.

Finnish lawmakers backed Prime Minister Juha Sipila's center-right government in a 104-85 vote Tuesday.

The government includes 20 members from the populist, euroskeptic The Finns.

They recreated themselves on June 13 as the Blue Reform group.

The coalition has 106 seats in the 200-seat Parliament.

On June 10, Foreign Minis-ter Timo Soini stepped down as party leader after 20 years. He was replaced by immigration

hardliner Jussi Halla-aho.Sipila's Center Party and his

conservative government part-ner said they had nothing in common with Halla-aho.

When The Finns party broke up, Soini and his allies saved the government after committing themselves to the government program, includ-ing European Union and immigration issues.

Dutch students retake exams after professor disappearsThe Hague AFP

AMID scorching summer heat, most final-year Dutch uni-versity students are already partying on the beach. But one group will have to redo a key exam after their teacher dis-appeared leaving no trace of their grades.

"We've done everything we can to try to find him, and to get hold of the test papers, but he went missing several weeks ago," Aris Willems, spokesman for the ROC Mid-den Nederland university in Utrecht, said.

A delegation from the university even went to the home of the Dutch language professor, but his doorbell went unanswered.

Willems acknowledged he had never come across anything like it, but after dis-cussions with the schools inspector it had been decided that the 80 students follow-ing a cookery course would have to re-sit a Dutch-lan-guage oral exam.

Since they first sat the test back in March and April, the students have already been told their grade and have been celebrating passing their final diploma.

But as their teacher failed to enter the marks into the university's system, the results are not valid.

Showing skills Germany aims to ink deal with European arms makerParis

Reuters

The German government hopes to complete nego-tiations with European

weapons maker MBDA and its US partner, Lockheed Martin Corp about a multi-billion euro missile defence system by year-end, a ministry spokesman said.

That would pave the way for the German parliament to review and approve the pro-posed contract in 2018, the spokesman said.

He said the future structure of the MDBA-Lockheed part-nership was part of the negotiations about the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), which is to replace

Germany's Patriot air and mis-sile defence system.

The ministry had told law-makers in March that it remained committed to the programme, but did not expect to complete work on the con-tract during the current legislative period. At the time, it said there was still work to do on the MBDA proposal, and how the overall project would be managed.

The MEADS system would help Germany extend its defences and enhance air and missile defences from a range of threats at a time when fears of a greater military threat from Russia have prompted Nato to beef up its presence in eastern Europe.

UK arrests van attack suspect; probe under wayLondon

AFP

Police yesterday ques-tioned a man suspected of deliberately mowing

down Muslims in London, as the interior minister said Brit-ain was "bruised but not broken" by a string of terror attacks.

Britain was coming to terms with the aftermath of its fourth bloody assault in three months following Monday's van attack on worshippers leaving the

Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.

The family of Darren Osborne, the man suspected of deliberately driving into the Muslim group, said he was "trou-bled" and described his action as "sheer madness".

Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff in Wales, was arrested after the attack and is being questioned by police on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorism.

Police are treating the inci-dent as a terror attack but

believe the suspect acted alone.The spate of attacks had

"bruised but not broken the heart of this great nation", Home Sec-retary Amber Rudd said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been crit-icised for her response to a deadly fire in London last week, described Monday's incident as "sickening" and vowed to fight extremism in all its forms.

The attack has raised fears of retaliation against Muslims after three deadly strikes by extremists in London and the

northern city of Manchester.One man who was already

receiving first aid at the time died following Monday's London attack. Seven people remain in hospital, three in a critical condition.

"I'm sorry that my brother has been that troubled that it has taken him to this level of trou-bledness," said the suspect's sister Nicola Osborne.

His mother Christine, 72, said she screamed when she saw her son in television footage.

"My son is no terrorist -- he's

just a man with problems," The Sun newspaper quoted her as saying.

In a statement on behalf of his family, his nephew Ellis Osborne, 26, said: "We are mas-sively shocked.

His uncle was "not a racist", he said. "It's madness. It is obvi-ously sheer madness."

Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gath-ered late Monday at the scene of the attack, some carrying signs reading "United Against All Terror".

Italian police arrest notorious Nigerian human traffickerRome

AFP

A Nigerian human trafficker known as "Rambo" has been arrested in Italy on

charges of torturing and killing migrants held captive in Libya, Italian police said yesterday.

The suspect named John

Ogais, 25, was traced to a recep-tion centre in Calabria in southern Italy and clapped in cuffs on charges of belonging to a transnational smuggling ring, specialising in human traffick-ing, murder and abuse.

Detectives in Agrigento in Sicily have pulled together wit-ness testimony from migrants

who accuse Ogais of torturing people held captive in a make-shift prison, with at least two men reportedly dying at his hands.

Many of those rescued from flimsy dinghies in the Mediter-ranean as they try to make the perilous trip to Europe bear tor-ture scars and tell rescuers they

had no choice but to flee for their lives from the crisis-hit African country.

"While I was inside that ghetto, where it was impossible to escape, I heard that a man who called himself Rambo had killed a migrant," one of the wit-nesses said according to the police statement.

"My cousin and others tried to escape but they were caught and tortured nearly to death," the witness said.

Another said: "Once I saw Rambo the Nigerian kill a migrant he had gagged and tor-tured for a long time", while yet another said he "personally saw two people beaten to death, an

underage boy and a man killed by Rambo".

The latter was "killed by Rambo in front of the victim's brother. When he killed the man Rambo pointed a gun at the brother and told him not to tell his family anything and to get them to immediately send money" for their release.

Spain's Queen Letizia is surrounded by children during a visit to the public school of "El Quirinal" in Aviles, Spain, yesterday.

Nato advance force battalion group demonstrates a water obstacle crossing during an International exercise in Stasenai, Lithuania, yesterday.

Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard said the possibility of an investigation made it impossible for her to stay in the post given Macron's pledge to clean up politics.

Clean-up

Macron has been carrying out a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elections on Sunday.

13WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 AMERICAS

Los Angeles

AFP

A scorching heat wave in the western United States has grounded flights, caused

fires and prompted power out-ages, with record temperatures expected in several states includ-ing Arizona and Nevada.

The extreme temperatures prompted American Airlines yes-eterday to ground 43 flights to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, where temperatures were expected to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 Celsius).

Company spokesman Ross Feinstein told AFP the flights were run by two regional part-ners — Skywest and Mesa — which operate smaller

airplanes that cannot take off when temperatures reach a cer-tain level.

“Each aircraft has different International Standard Atmos-phere (ISA) performance specifications, which is set by the aircraft manufacturer,” Feinstein said. “This also takes into account the elevation at the airport. “For Phoenix, that is limited to 118 degrees.”

He said the airline’s other mainline flights, which concern larger jets, had not been affected by the blazing temperatures.

The soaring heat has affected much of the western United States where triple-digit temperatures were expected throughout the week, a spokes-woman for the National

Weather Service said. “We are expecting temperatures in the neighborhood of 120 degrees in Nevada and in southern Califor-nia today,” Bianca Hernandez said. “Temperatures will pretty much stay in the 110-115 range for the next coming week,” she added.

The heat has led to electricity outages in several parts of Cali-fornia, as more people turn on air conditioners to battle the heat, overtaxing the power system. Several wildfires were also burn-ing in the state. “If you can avoid being outside in general, that’s the best thing you could do today,” Fernandez said. “Everyone should hydrate, and if you have to be out-side, try to do so before the sun rises or after sunset.”

Washington

AFP

Voters in Georgia were casting ballots yes-terday in the most expensive US con-gressional race ever,

a $60m political brawl where a Democratic novice could score an upset in a conservative stronghold — and deal a blow to President Donald Trump.

Seen as an indicator for next year’s mid-term elections, the race appeared virtually dead-locked as Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old filmmaker and onetime political staffer, and Karen Handel, a Republican former Georgia secretary of state, sprinted to the finish.

Republicans are facing a sobering reminder of their pres-ident’s poor approval ratings, and sagging support within his own party could act as a drag on GOP efforts to hold the seat yes-terday — and the House of Representatives in 2018.

With Democrats potentially striking the first blow against Trump this year, the race has drawn substantial national atten-tion — and vast outside contributions.

“Today is the day! Polls are open and we’re ready to #Flip-the6th,” Ossoff said on Twitter, referring to Georgia’s sixth con-gressional district. The president meanwhile tweeted out

his support for Handel, 55. “Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn’t even live in district,” he wrote.

Handel, Trump said, “will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security — a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY.” Polls close 2300 GMT.

Ossoff, who grew up in the electoral district but lives just outside the boundary so his fian-cee can be closer to the hospital where she works, is trying to flip the Atlanta suburbs that Repub-lican Tom Price left to become Trump’s health secretary.

The Democrat won the first round against several candidates in April, but fell just shy of out-right victory. The runoff quickly became the most expensive US

House race in history, with the campaigns, political action com-mittees and other outside groups raising nearly $60m, according to government reform and eth-ics group Issue One.

“Out-of-state money has poured in on both sides. It’s become a little bit of an arms race,” Ossoff told CNN. Handel, her own campaign flooded with outside donations, has kept the race tight, emphasizing her area roots. Voters “are not interested in Hollywood, California com-ing in and buying this seat,” she told Fox News.

Republicans have held the seat since 1979. But as an increasingly well-educated, diverse suburban district it is exactly the kind of territory which Democrats need to win if they want to gain the 24 seats necessary to reclaim the House in 2018.

Even as candidates focus on local issues, “the Trump phe-nomenon is extremely dominant in this race,” and Handel’s fate is most likely tied to constituents’ views of the president, Georgia-based Republican strategist Chip Lake said.

A Handel win could energize Republicans, boosting their efforts with health care and tax reform legislation. Her loss would prompt party-wide handwringing.

“If we’re losing upper mid-dle-class suburban seats in the

Democrat eyes anti-Trump upset in Georgia race

Republican candidate Karen Handel is surrounded by media after voting at St. Mary's Orthodox Church of Atlanta in the special election for Georgia's 6th Congressional District in Roswell.

South, we need to start having discussions immediately on... how in the world are we going to limit the damage in 2018 with Donald Trump as head of our party and president of the United States,” Lake added.

Handel has aligned herself gingerly with Trump. Vice Pres-ident Mike Pence flew to Georgia to attend a fundraiser for her. Yesterday’s runoff is the third chance opposition Democrats

have to win a House seat since Trump took office.

Special elections in Kansas and Montana — also to replace Republicans who joined Trump’s team — were seen as opportu-nities for Democrats to score first strikes against the administra-tion. But with Democrats falling short in those races, and Repub-licans expected to hold a South Carolina congressional seat also up for grabs Tuesday, all eyes

have turned to Georgia. Should Democrats fail to

convert at least one of the seats, it could be a demoralizing blow for the anti-Trump resistance movement.

Yesterday’s elections come just days after the shooting of Republican congressman Steve Scalise, who remains hospital-ised in serious condition after being attacked during practice for a charity baseball game.

Grounded flights, fires and power outages as temperatures soar in US

Buenos Aires

AFP

Experts began yesterday to try to identify Argen-tine soldiers buried on

the Falkland Islands who were killed fighting Britain over the territory, the Red Cross said yesterday.

The unidentified bodies of 123 Argentine soldiers have been buried since the 1982 war in a cemetery on the remote South Atlantic islands, known in Spanish as Malvi-nas — governed by Britain but claimed by Argentina.

Forensic scientists super-vised by the Red Cross have started exhuming the bodies in Darwin cemetery and will take bone samples for genetic test-ing. “A temporary mortuary is being set up at the cemetery, where the remains will be ana-lyzed and samples collected for DNA testing in genetic labora-tories in Argentina, Spain and the United Kingdom,” the Red Cross said. “Any exhumed remains will be placed in new coffins and immediately reburied in the same location.” The bone extracts will be com-pared to DNA samples from relatives of soldiers known to have died in the fighting.

The two countries fought a brief but bloody war over the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish, in 1982 after Argentine forces under the country’s then military dictatorship occupied them.

The 10-week conflict killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders. Argentina argues it inherited the windswept islands from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century.

Britain has ruled them since 1833, when it occupied them asserting an earlier sov-ereignty claim. After years of testy relations under former leftist governments, Argen-tina has pursued a cautious rapprochement with Britain under current President Mau-ricio Macri.

Washington

AFP

Dozens of F-35 stealth fighters that were grounded for 11 days due to an oxygen-supply problem aboard

the expensive warplanes will resume fly-ing on Wednesday, the US Air Force said.

Investigators were unable to identify a root cause of the issue, which had

prompted the 56th Fighter Wing of Luke Air Force Base, Arizona to ground its F-35s. “However, specific concerns were eliminated as possible causes including maintenance and aircrew flight equip-ment procedures,” base spokeswoman Major Rebecca Heyse said.

The Lockheed Martin planes were grounded on June 9 due to five incidents since May 2 in which pilots experienced

symptoms of hypoxia, of lack of oxygen.Currently, the 56th Fighter Wing has

55 F-35A planes that are used to train pilots from the US and other air forces that are buying the jet.

Heyse said experts are continuing to probe the issue and several precaution-ary steps are being taken, including increasing the minimum levels for backup oxygen systems for each flight.

With a current development and acquisition price tag already at $379 bil-lion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft—most destined for the US Air Force—the F-35 is the most expensive plane in history, and costs are set to rise further still. Once serv-icing and maintenance costs for the F-35 are factored in over the aircraft’s lifespan through 2070, overall program costs are expected to rise to $1.5 trillion.

Mexico City

AFP

A group of prominent jour-nalists and activists in Mexico accused the gov-

ernment of spying on them, saying their phones had been hacked with Israeli spyware sold exclusively to the state.

The group said at a press conference that it has pressed charges with the attorney gen-eral’s office, accusing the government of illegally access-ing private communications and other offenses.

The nine plaintiffs at the news event included journal-ists who have published embarrassing exposes on gov-ernment corruption and activists who have investi-gated human rights violations by the state.

“This is an operation by the Mexican state, in which state agents — far from doing what they should legally do — have used our resources, our taxes, our money to commit serious abuses,” said journalist Carmen Aristegui. Aristegui, a veteran reporter, is known in Mexico for a 2014 expose revealing that President Enrique Pena Nieto’s wife had bought a $7 million Mexico City mansion from a government contractor.

She said members of her staff and her 16-year-old son were also targeted. She is among the 76 cases the plaintiffs say they have documented of high-tech spyware being installed on their phones and those of their fami-lies and associates.

The accusation were first published in a New York Times report detailing how Pegasus was used against top human rights lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists in Mexico. “What does the Mexi-can president have to say today about this treacherous, illegal spying?” Aristegui said.

Pena Nieto’s office responded with a letter to the editor of the New York Times. “There is no proof whatsoever that Mexican government agen-cies are responsible for the alleged spying,” wrote spokes-man Daniel Millan Valencia.

Victims said they received text messages with eye-catch-ing news headlines, social media posts or even commu-nications from the United States embassy—all of which were fake.

The messages would prompt users to click on a link that would secretly install the spyware on their phones.

The software in question, known as Pegasus, effectively turns a target’s cell phone into a pocket spy, accessing the user’s communications, cam-era and microphone to enable a highly detailed level of surveillance.

The spyware is made by a secretive Israeli firm called NSO Group, owned by US private equity firm Francisco Partners Management. According to the New York Times report, at least three Mexican federal agencies have purchased some $80m of spyware from NSO Group since 2011.

Mexican scribes accuse govt of spying on them

Argentina starts work to identify Falklands war dead: Report

Grounded US F-35s to resume flying after oxygen problem

Special election

Republicans have held the seat since 1979. But as an increasingly well-educated, diverse suburban district it is exactly the kind of territory which Democrats need to win if they want to gain the 24 seats necessary to reclaim the House in 2018.

A sign warning of extreme heat as tourists enter Death Valley National Park in California.

14 WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017HOME

15WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017 AMERICAS

Former Argentinian president Cristina Kirchner (second right) sings the national anthem with supporters during a rally in Buenos Aires yesterday. Kirchner launched her new Unidad Ciudadana (Citizen Unity) party.

New party launch

Los Angeles AFP

A 16-year-old boy was mauled and killed by a bear during a running

race in Alaska at the week-end, managing to text his family as the attack was under way, authorities said.

Patrick Cooper, of Anchor-age, was competing in the annual mountain race on Sun-day that goes through rugged terrain when he apparently encountered the bear. He reportedly texted a member of his family to say he was being chased by the animal.

“The mother was here with her family, her children, they were running the race,” Nathan Michell, of the Anchorage police depart-ment, told reporters.

The race director said the boy had raced up a mountain and was on his way down extremely steep terrain that goes through thick wilderness when the attack took place.

Several fellow runners and rescuers rushed to the site but initially couldn’t get close as the animal was still in the area. “The bear was remaining in the area where the young man was,” Tom Crockett, a park ranger with Chugach State Park, said.

He said a park ranger shot the bear in the face but the animal managed to escape.

Cooper’s body was found about 500 yards from the trail in heavily wooded terrain.

Bear encounters are not common in the area and it was unclear what prompted the attack, Crockett said.

Caracas

AFP

Venezuela’s President Nico-las Maduro fired four top military commanders

yesterday including the head of a police force that is accused of attacking anti-government pro-testers during months of deadly unrest. The commander of the National Guard military police, General Antonio Benavides Torres, will move on to “new responsibil-ities and battles,” Maduro told supporters in a speech.

He said he was also replac-ing the heads of the army, navy and the central strategic com-mand body. The armed forces have maintained their public backing for Maduro in more than a year of mounting volatility in the oil-rich, crisis-struck state.

Analysts say the support of the military is key to keeping the socialist president in power in the face of pressure from the opposition over a desperate eco-nomic crisis. Maduro said he was confirming the overall head of the armed forces, Defence Min-ister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, in

his post, calling him “a loyal, moral man.”

The president added that he was ordering 20,000 new police and a similar number of new National Guards to be recruited.

Prosecutors say 74 people have been killed since April in violence during daily protests by demonstrators demanding elec-tions to remove Maduro from office. Padrino this month warned the security forces not to commit “atrocities,” after some police were filmed attack-ing and robbing protesters.

On Monday, a 17-year-old boy became the latest casualty of the unrest when he was shot in the chest and killed in Altamira on the capital’s east side, officials said. Video footage by media showed uniformed security offic-ers firing at a group of protesters who were carrying makeshift shields during that clash. Military affairs analyst Rocio San Miguel said the incident indicated that “Padrino Lopez and now Bena-vides Torres have lost authority over their subordinates.”

Meanwhile, ministers from the Organisation of American

Washington

AFP

US Democrats furious with Republican secrecy brought Senate business to a standstill, launching

an hours-long protest against President Donald Trump’s party crafting a back-room Obamacare repeal plan and refusing to hold public hearings about it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants the legislation passed by June 30. Democrats fear he is purposely keeping the bill under wraps until the last minute so he can jam the controversial plan through with just a few hours of floor debate. The strategy is a 180-degree shift from the Republican position during the

2009-2010 debate on Barack Obama’s health care reforms, when conservatives demanded transparency and dozens of pub-lic hearings in a months-long process.

In the six weeks since the House of Representatives passed its Obamacare repeal legislation, Senate Republicans have insisted they will craft their own bill, but few details have emerged.

With just 10 legislative days before McConnell’s deadline, all that most lawmakers and the public have to work on is the House bill, which a non-parti-san congressional review predicted would leave 23 million fewer people insured over the next decade.

“Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because they’re ashamed of it, plain and simple,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, shortly before Democrats took to the Senate floor in anger.

Republicans argue that Obamacare has failed to prevent

premiums and other health costs from skyrocketing. Democrats warn that Trump’s delay of gov-ernment subsidy payments is leading to instability and caus-ing costs to rise.

Senator Cory Booker called the Republican strategy “tragic” and broken. “People (are) work-ing in secret on a bill that they’re going to try to force through Congress with no public input, no hearings, no meetings, no markups, no debate, no public accountability,” he said in the talk-a-thon, which dragged into a fifth hour. Even as McConnell downplays the secrecy, few Republicans appear to know what will be in the legislation. Some have begun speaking out.

“If it is an effort to rush it from a small group of people, straight to the floor in an up or

down vote, that would be a prob-lem,” Senator Marco Rubio told CNN on Sunday.

Republicans have signaled one of the main internal debates focuses on reforms to Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people.

Critics have estimated that the House bill would curtail Med-icaid by some $800bn, and some Republican senators from states where Medicaid was expanded under Obama have expressed concern about passing legisla-tion that slashes aid to thousands of constituents.

The Senate version is expected to end the Medicaid expansion more slowly than the House bill would, and it could include larger tax credits to help older Americans purchase health insurance. But with no text

finalized, it remains a guessing game.

“Most Republicans don’t have a clue as to what’s in this legislation, let alone Democrats, let alone the average American,” fumed Senator Bernie Sanders.

“So I say to the Republican leadership: what are you afraid of? Bring that bill out.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer pointed to “very good” progress on the bill, but he declined to say whether White House aides had even seen a draft. An exchange on the Sen-ate floor late on Monday highlighted the tension. Schumer asked McConnell whether there would be sufficient time to review and debate the legisla-tion. “I think we’ll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill,” McConnell said curtly.

Democrats fume over secret Republican health plan

Maduro fires top military brass; unrest continues

States failed on Monday to agree on a resolution to address the crisis in Venezuela.

The OAS opened its annual general assembly in Mexico, for-eign ministers from the 34-nation regional group scram-bled to adopt a joint response to the crisis — and came up short.

Since April 1, after Venezue-la’s Supreme Court tried to strip the powers of the opposition-majority legislature, the country has descended into running street battles between anti-gov-ernment protesters and Maduro’s security forces and supporters.

Maduro’s opponents accuse the president of clinging to

power by repressing opponents, eradicating checks and balances, and seeking to write a new con-stitution. The crisis has the rest of Latin America increasingly worried. In the Mexican resort city of Cancun, OAS foreign min-isters tried bridge their mistrust and ideological divisions to address the standoff.

The ministers had two com-peting proposals on the table. On one side stood Venezuela’s left-ist allies and Caribbean countries that for years received dis-counted crude exports from the oil giant. They back a domestic resolution to the crisis.

On the opposite side were

the United States, Canada, Mex-ico, Peru and Panama, which want to create a “contact group” on Venezuela — comprising countries that would seek to make Maduro’s government respect OAS democratic norms.

Using the Caribbean states’ proposal as a base, the two sides sought to forge a compromise in which the OAS would call on Maduro to halt the constitution-drafting assembly he has convened, guarantee human rights, and hold talks with the opposition mediated by a group of regional countries. But the proposal fell three votes shy of the 23 it needed.

Bogota

AFP

A deadly mall bombing and the kidnapping of foreign journalists have laid bare

the dangers facing Colombia even as its biggest rebel group yesterday launched the final phase of its disarmament.

The demobilization of the leftist FARC under a peace accord with the government and peace talks with the last active rebel force, the ELN, are meant to end more than half a century of violence.

But just as the FARC entered the final stretch in its long march to peace, reminders of the old conflict erupted in recent days, raising concerns for the contested peace drive.

Three women were killed and nine people injured in Sat-urday night’s bombing at a crowded shopping center in Bogota. Authorities and rebel leaders condemned it as a bid to disrupt the peace process.

Analyst Beatriz Rettberg of the University of the Andes cited the bombing and ongoing violence involving drug gangs as lingering “difficulties” for the peace drive.

“There is clear and strong opposition to the peace proc-ess and the accord,” she said.

The accord, first signed in November, was initially nar-rowly rejected by Colombians in a referendum before being redrafted and pushed through congress.

Critics such as conservative political leader Alvaro Uribe said it was too lenient on FARC members, some of whom will get amnesties or reduced sen-tences for crimes committed during the conflict. “A badly-done accord just generates more violence,” said Ernesto Macias, a senator from Uribe’s Democratic Center party.

“It is possible that there are violent groups who want to have the same impunity and benefits as the people in that bad example,” he said, refer-ring to the FARC members who are spared jail under the peace accord.

Meanwhile, there are still armed groups with a stake in the crisis.

Officials say remnants of right-wing paramilitaries are battling the leftist National Lib-eration Army (ELN) in the jungle for control of the drugs trade.

Ottawa

Reuters

Canada’s government yes-terday introduced legislation to create an

oversight panel for the actions of its security and intelligence agencies that it said would increase transparency and bet-ter protect Canadians’ privacy.

Prime Minister Justin Tru-deau had promised in his successful 2015 election

campaign to modify a law passed by the former Conserv-ative government that gave increased powers to police and intelligence agencies.

Trudeau sought to make good on that promise in the leg-islation, which would create a National Security and Intelli-gence Review Agency responsible for oversight of security and intelligence agen-cies, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service,

cyber-spy agency the Commu-nications Security Establishment and the Canadian Border Serv-ices Agency.

The agency would review “every other department and agency of the government of Canada that has a security or intelligence function,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said. The agency will be led by a committee of up to seven members appointed by the Prime Minister.

Colombia pushes on with peace drive

US teen mauled by bear during running race in Alaska

Canada launches security review agency

Washington

AFP

Tony Bennett, the 90-year-old crooner who has remained a

commercial success for seven consecutive decades, will be honoured for his life’s work by the Library of Congress.

The world’s largest library said Bennett will be the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes lifetime achieve-ment, with a ceremony to take place in November.

Bennett said that one of his earliest recordings was of a song written by George and Ira Gershwin. The Library of Congresscreated the Gersh-win Prize a decade ago to honor contributions to pop-ular music.

Tony Bennett to be honoured

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro gestures during an event with supporters in Caracas.

Health care bill

Republicans argue that Obamacare has failed to prevent premiums and other health costs from skyrocketing.

Democrats warn that Trump’s delay of government subsidy payments is leading to instability and causing costs to rise.

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The Peninsula

DariQatar, the crowd-sourced landmark film initiative by Doha Film Institute (DFI) and

Qatar Tourism Authority, has been launched on YouTube, taking the inspi-rational work celebrating a year in the life of Qatar to a wider audience in Qatar and beyond.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, said: “The creative journey that we began in 2015 with DariQatar, has now reached an important milestone with the online launch. DariQatar is now available on YouTube to view, share and appreciate. What started off as an ambitious project is now set to become

a part of Qatar’s cultural legacy, and a moving tribute to our leadership and our great nation, especially in this crit-ical period of our country’s history.

“Everyone who loves Qatar and anyone who wants to understand what it is to be in Qatar will find DariQatar a true window into our lives, while also offering them a deeper understanding of the rich values that our diverse com-munity celebrates.” Qatari director

Ahmed Al Shareef, who has curated the selection of clips that form the films narrative, said, “By presenting the story of Qatar, through its people, #DariQ-atar presents a compelling portrait of the nation, its heritage, culture and modern outlook. These personal sto-ries by Qataris and those who call Qatar home, present genuine insights into how our leadership have invested in building a modern, open

and progressive nation. This is a great participatory work of art that tells our story to the world.”

Created from video footage sourced over a nine-month period, #DariQatar covers six broad themes: hope, diversity, tradition, family, friendship and uniquely Qatar. It received an overwhelming 10,000 plus submissions from over 200 participants.

DariQatar launched on YouTube

Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, with contributors at the world premiere of DariQatar

The Peninsula

A recent study in Qatar Medical Journal, published by HBKU Press’s online, open access plat-

form, QScience.com, highlights the benefits of using Ramadan as a start-ing point to quit smoking, toting higher success rates for smoking cessation when beginning during The Holy Month coupled with faith-based inter-vention and support.

The study published in Qatar Med-ical Journal by authors Suriani Ismail et. al. was a quasi-experimental study

conducted during the Ramadan in 2015 whereby there was a planned inter-vention among smokers intended to increase the intention and the per-ceived behaviour control to stop smoking during Ramadan.

The outcomes of nicotine depend-ence were measured in the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence score and were based on saliva cotinine lev-els. Data were collected at baseline (five days before Ramadan), during Ramadan (21st day of Ramadan) and post-Ramadan (21 days after Ramadan) of two test groups: an intervention

group that received faith-based smok-ing cessation counselling & information and a control group that did not.

Smokers were required by their faith to abstain from smoking during the fasting hours, smokers in the inter-vention group were given faith-based support, information and counselling as to reasons why to quit smoking for-ever. Coupled with the very unique environment that Ramadan provides, whereby the usual environmental influences that are perceived as bar-riers to cease smoking (such as pro-smoking living and working

environments and smoking cultural norms), smoking can be overcome by default during this month as almost no one smokes in public during the day throughout this month. The results showed, that while both the interven-tion group’s and the test group’s cotinine levels decreased significantly, after Ramadan only the intervention group’s cotinine levels were sustain-ably low indicating a lessened dependence on nicotine & the positive effect of using this culturally-compe-tent intervention to encourage smoking cessation during Ramadan.

Smoking cessation: Higher success rate during Ramadan

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

LATEST NEWSUPDATE

HIGH TIDE 01:00 – 15:30 LOW TIDE 08:00 – 21:30

Strong wind at most places and ex-pected poor visibility at places day-time. Hot daytime with slight dust to blowing dust at places at times.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum36oC 43oC

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department