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Volume 23 | Number 7632 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 28 August 2018 | 17 Dhul-Hijja I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

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Tamim Air Base to be establishedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Deputy Commander of the Amiri Air Force Major-General (Pilot) Ahmed Ibrahim Al Malki announced the establishment of a new air base named “Tamim Air Base”.

In an interview published yesterday in the magazine of the Directorate of Moral Guidance at the Ministry of Defence, Al Malki said Al Udeid Air Base will be expanded and the Doha Air Base will be developed to welcome new aircraft and systems that have been intro-duced to the air force service,

QNA reported. “This includes the French

Rafale fighters, American F-15 fighters, Eurofighter Typhoon and other advanced aircraft. In addition, command and control systems will be developed by introducing the latest radar systems and com-munications,” Al Malki added.

Al Malki said in the era of

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, there has been a qualitative leap in the development of the air forces, where equipment have been doubled and new systems have been brought into service including aircraft, transport and helicopters.

He also touched on the reorganization of the Amiri

Air Force after introducing modern aircraft systems, highlighting that it is currently under review and will be revealed soon. He added that the most important role of the air forces is the protection of the air space, deterrence and ground attack.

Al Malki added that the greatest challenge is con-tinuous development as modern technology in the air-field is always updated and the mission of the Amiri Air Force is to assimilate modern systems, which requires the m o d e r n i s i n g h u m a n resources.

He said there are

organisational projects of strategic nature which will be seen at the Amiri Air Force. He added that in 2018 the force has welcomed the first female batch as pilot candidates.

The Qatari air force has seen significant development after 2014, and Doha has con-cluded several major deals over the past months. In December 2017, Qatar signed an agreement with the UK to buy 24 Eurofighter Typhoon after two successive agree-ments with the US to buy 36 F-15QA fighters and with France to buy 12 Rafale fighters.

Gold medallist Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba celebrates during the victory ceremony for the men’s 400M hurdles event during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta yesterday. Samba (22), broke the Games record in the men’s 400m hurdles when he finished his run in 47.66 seconds. →SEE ALSO PAGES 16 AND 17

Three govt schools to open this yearTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi has issued a ministerial decision to open three new government schools for the academic year 2018-2019.

Meanwhile, the registration and transfer of students in public schools and registration for adult students in the day school system for new aca-demic year has also been started by the Ministry of Edu-cation and Higher Education.

Under the ministerial decision, an elementary school for boys called Zubayr bin Al Awam in Madinat Khalifa North will be opened with the capacity of 594 seats.

The other school will be a secondary school for girls, Hind Bint Abu Sufyan in Al Mearad area which will provide 726 seats, in addition to a spe-cialised secondary school for boys Qatar School for Science and Technology in Umm Al Seneem area.

In its first year, Qatar School for Science and Technology will have nearly 60 Qataris in ninth grade, which will adopt an edu-cational approach based on the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in

an integrative manner, known collectively as STEM Education.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has started the registration and transfer of students in public schools, as well as the opening of registration for adult students in the day school system for the new academic year.

The registration and elec-tronic transfer of students in public schools will be made by the parents, for all nationalities, according to available seats, in compliance with the geo-graphical area of the school through the link (https://tasjeel.edu.gov.qa).

The parents can create an account to submit the application for registration or electronic transfer, while the school admin-istration will follow up these requests and verify through the national system of student infor-mation their approval or rejection within a maximum of two days, after the parent has reviewed the required docu-ments with the school.

Registration and transpor-tation through schools for all nationalities will also be in accordance with the available seats and the geographical area of the school.

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Qatar’s trade surplus hits QR16.9bn in JulyTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar’s trade surplus, which is the difference between total exports and imports, reached a surplus of QR16.9bn, showing an increase of QR5bn or 42.7 percent compared to July 2017. The huge rise in surplus shows that Qatar’s economy remains on firm footing.

According to preliminary

figures of the value of exports of domestic goods, re-exports, and imports released yesterday by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics the trade balance decreased by nearly QR1.1bn or 6.1 percent compared to June 2018.

In July 2018, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR26.6bn, registering an increase

of 45.3 percent compared to July last year, while it fell by 1.1 percent compared to June this year.

The imports of goods in July 2018 amounted to around QR9.7bn, showing an increase of 50 percent over July 2017. However, on a month on month (M-o-M) basis the imports increased by 9 percent.

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Samba brings Asiad 400M hurdles glory for Qatar

Doha 2019 a chance for unity, says AAA President THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Asian Athletics Asso-ciation (AAA) President Dahlan Al Hamad has high-lighted the importance of not mixing politics with sport.

Speaking during the Asian Games which is being held in Indonesia, the AAA chief has said that he hopes the political crisis gripping the Gulf region will be resolved before next year’s Doha World Champi-onships and the competition could be a chance for unity, AFP reported yesterday.

“We, as the organising com-mittee, have no restrictions, and Qatar is open to all. (It is) very important not to mix politics with sports,” AAA President said in Jakarta. “We hope that things will pass before we embrace the 2019 world championship.”

“Qatar said since the beginning of the crisis that everyone is most welcome.”

Hamad’s comments come after world athletics chief Sebastian Coe dismissed con-cerns over a boycott of the competition beginning on Sep-tember 28, 2019.

“Sports is the unifying activity that brings together the world despite their political and economic matters... We hope that sport will not enter the political arena,” Al Hamad said.

Qatar, Turkey to cooperate in radiometryTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Experts from the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority and the Department of Radiation and Chem-icals Protection at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment are holding meetings in Doha to coop-erate in radiometry and exchange of expertise in this field in the framework of the Ministry’s interest in developing and modernising its tools and control components in terms of human and technical devel-opment, in collaboration and coor-dination with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The visit of the Turkish experts to Doha and the holding of such

meetings is one of the activities of Qatar national technical cooperation project with the IAEA for the estab-lishment of the QAT6006 secondary dosimetry laboratory aimed at mod-ernising and developing the radiation laboratory components of the Department of Radiation and Chem-icals Protection and building human and technical capabilities, QNA reported.

The visit comes as part of the modernisation of the service of the secondary dosimetry laboratory, which is related to the assessment of the radiation exposure of workers in radiation professions in the State, in addition to assisting in the estab-lishment of the national monitoring

register and the calibration of the system, and reviewing the work pro-cedures and documenting them according to international standards.

The Manager of the Department of Radiation and Chemicals Pro-tection Aishah Ahmad Al Baker said that the dosimeter measures the amount of radiation to which are exposed the workers in the indus-trial, medical and research sectors in order to evaluate the exposure to radioactive doses during their work, pointing out that according to Qatari legislation, each worker in these sectors must carry his dosimeter at work.

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Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti (second right); Vodafone Qatar’s CEO Sheikh Hamad Abdullah Jassim Al Thani (right) and other officials at an event yesterday where Vodafone Qatar announced the switching on its first, live 5G network.

Transport Minister attends 5G network switching event

In the era of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani, there has been a

qualitative leap in the development of the

air forces, said Deputy Commander of the

Amiri Air Force Major-General (Pilot) Ahmed

Ibrahim Al Malki.

02 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018HOME

King of eSwatini meets Qatar’s Charge d’Affaires

King of eSwatini Mswati III met with Charge d’Affaires of Qatar’s Embassy in eSwatini Yacoub bin Youssef Al Mulla. The meeting discussed the bilateral relations and ways to boost and develop them, in addition to a number of topics of common interest.

Amir greets President of MoldovaQNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of congratulations to the Pres-ident of the Republic of Moldova Dr. Igor Dodon on the anniversary of his coun-try’s Independence Day.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a cable of congrat-ulations to the President of the Republic of Moldova Dr. Igor Dodon on the anni-versary of his country’s Inde-pendence Day.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent a cable of congratulations to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Pavel Filip on the anniversary of his country’s Independence Day.

QU’s medical students getorientation sessions at HMCDOHA: This month, Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Medical Education Department welcomed students attending Qatar University’s College of Medicine to orientation sessions aimed at enabling them to find out more about Qatar’s largest healthcare provider.

The orientation sessions provided medical students with an opportunity to visit some of HMC’s clinical sites, and more broadly, helped to stimulate their interest in potential spe-cialties as they begin their medical school journey.

In total, one hundred medical students attended the orientation sessions, which were held over two days. The pro-gramme included a visit to HMC’s Medical Education Center followed by talks from Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, HMC’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Qatar University, Dr Yousef Maslamani, Medical Director of Hamad General Hos-pital, and Maitha Al Bouainain, Executive Director of Com-munity Affairs and Patient Engagement at Hamad General Hospital.

The students learned about HMC as an organisation, and specifically its role as the main provider of secondary and ter-tiary healthcare in Qatar. They were given an overview of HMC’s twelve hospitals and national ambulance service and were provided with information

on the organisation’s many aca-demic accreditations and pro-grams, including the Qatar Organ Donation programme.

The formal sessions were followed by a visit to eight clinical areas in Hamad General Hospital, with small groups of five or six students rotating across each area.

Dr Al Khal, who is also Director of Medical Education at Hamad Medical Corporation, highlighted the importance of both introducing students to Qatar’s largest public healthcare provider and giving them a more accurate perception of the life-style and work they can expect if they choose a given specialty.

“We have a close working relationship with the College of Medicine at Qatar University and are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Qatar’s future doctors to HMC. It is extremely important that the medical students appreciate how important they are to HMC and to Qatar. The opportunity to take part in these orientation ses-sions enables the students to meet clinicians at their future clinical training site, ask any questions they may have, and learn more about what a career as a doctor entails,” said Dr. Al Khal.

The students

participating in the orientation sessions were joined by senior representatives from Qatar Uni-versity’s College of Medicine.

Professor Egon Toft, Vice-President for Medicine and Health and Dean of the College of Medicine, participated and reinforced the importance of the orientation sessions.

“HMC’s Medical Education Department and Qatar Univer-sity’s College of Medicine have worked together very effectively to provide students about to embark upon a career in med-icine with the opportunity to attend orientation sessions at HMC. The feedback from these sessions has been extremely positive,” he said recently.

Our students have observed what it means to work as a cli-nician across a number of spe-cialties and also what they can expect from their chosen career. This is a unique opportunity which our students found to be extremely valuable,” Professor Toft added.

THE PENINSULA

UN’s disaster risk reduction regional workshop begins in DohaTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Regional Workshop on Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, organised by the Permanent Committee for Emer-gency in cooperation with the

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), began in Doha yesterday with the partic-ipation of a number of staff members and representatives of concerned authorities in the country.

The Regional Workshop on Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted for the period 2015 to 2030 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan, in 2015.

The workshop, attended by a number of experts, addresses a range of topics on how to reduce disaster risk and strengthen national coordination mecha-nisms to reduce these risks in the context of the Sendai framework,

as well as discusses international frameworks and the Arab strategy in this regard, QNA reported.

The workshop also reviews the importance of national forums and committees in the formulation of national

strategies, policy support and decision-making in the field of disaster risk reduction, the progress made by the gov-ernment in the implementation of the Sendai framework, and other relevant topics.

Qatar and Turkeyto cooperate in radiometry field CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The dosimeter shall be delivered every three months to the radiologist to be read and to count the doses for this period in order to be certain that it does not exceed the limits allowed nationally and inter-nationally to protect his health.

Al Baker pointed out that there are about 5000 radiation workers in all sectors of indus-trial, medical and research at the state level, and stressed that the biggest burden of radiation control of these workers falls on the unit of individual control in the laboratory radiation, asserting that the Department seeks to develop individual monitoring unit and provide the latest technology in this area, in accordance with interna-tional standards.

Al Baker added that to that end, the Department was strengthening the radiological laboratory with new equipment that would meet the require-ments for radiological work and also provide all necessary requirements, including the development and documen-tation of working procedures, in order to obtain accreditation.

Aishah Ahmad Al Baker hoped that the visit of the Turkish experts to Doha and their meetings with officials of the Department of Radiation and Chemicals Protection at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment would achieve the desired benefit and establish permanent cooperation with the Turkish side in the field of radiation measurements and exchange of experiences.

The Manager of the Department of Radiation and Chemicals Protection, Aishah Ahmad Al Baker, receiving Turkish experts at the headquarters of Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

NU-Q participates in international conferences

Three govt schools to open this year CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Students will also be enrolled in specialised and tech-nical schools through schools according to the registration requirements in the admission and registration policy approved by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

The Ministry has called parents if they face any diffi-culties during the registration

period they should visit service centers in Al Rayyan, Onaiza and Mesaimeer, where a staff of the Admission and Registration Department will provide support and assistance.

The enrollment of adult stu-dents in the day school system, which runs until October 4, will be in all day schools during the morning period, and all nation-alities will be allowed to enroll in this system.

The students who do not meet the conditions of com-pulsory education, who are over the age of 18 years, or have com-pleted the preparatory stage whichever is earlier, in addition to students who were removed from day-school education because of marriages, repetition or work, according to the Min-istry’s policies in this regard can apply for enrollment in adult schools.

Qatar’s trade surplus hits QR16.9bn in July CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The year-on-year (July 2018 to July 2017) increase in total exports was mainly due to higher exports of Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons (LNG, condensates, propane, butane, etc) that reached QR16.2bn approximately in July 2018, showing an impressive increase of 42.3 percent.

Petroleum oils & oils from bituminous minerals (crude)

reached QR4.5bn, increasing by 82 percent, and the Petroleum oils & oils from bituminous min-erals (not crude) increased by QR2.4bn, showing a rise of 60.6 percent.

In July this year, Japan was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s exports with close to QR5.2bn, having a share of 19.6 percent in total exports, followed by the South Korea with almost QR4bn and a share of 15.2 percent while

India with about QR2.8bn exports, had a share of around 10.6 percent.

During July 2018, the group of “Turbojets, Turbo propellers & Other Gas Turbines; Parts Thereof “ was at the top of the imported group of commodities, with QR0.6bn, showing an increase of 81.1 percent com-pared to July 2017.

In second place was “Motor cars and other passenger vehicles “ with QR0.3bn, decrease of 24.9

percent and in third place was “Parts of Balloons Etc.; Parts of Aircraft, Spacecraft Etc.” with QR0.3bn, showing an increase by 0.7 percent.

In July 2018, United State of America was the leading country of origin of Qatar’s imports with about QR1.4bn, having a share of 14.6 percent in the imports, followed by China with QR1.2bn, a share of 12.8 percent, and Germany with QR0.8bn, having a share of 7.8 percent.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Faculty, staff, and students from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) spanned the globe over the summer presenting original research papers and partici-pating in panels showcasing their work. It included places such as Czech Republic, Nigeria, and Washington DC and Oregon in the US.

With presentations at the International Press Institute World Congress (IPI), the Inter-national Communication Asso-ciation (ICA), the International Association for Mass Communi-cation Research (IAMCR), and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Commu-nication (AEJMC), the NU-Q con-ferees took up topics ranging from Middle East media use, fake news, health communication and advertising, among others, in sessions where their work was refereed by leading experts.

“The acceptance success rate of our faculty, student, and staff research demonstrates the quality and range of their studies on important topics related to communication and journalism at these meetings,” said Everette E Dennis, dean and CEO.

“While faculty are expected to do research and present it to their peers, is it highly unusual for undergraduate students to have their work accepted at major conferences, and some of our colleagues in the field mistake them for advanced graduate students,” he added.

In addition to their partici-pation at conferences, two NU-Q researchers received special rec-ognition at AEJMC.

NU-Q Professor George Ang-helcev won second place for a paper he co-authored on the psy-chological effects of information searching and paid advertise-ments, and NU-Q’s Research Manager Elizabeth Lance received a grant from the Commission on the Status of Women in support of her dissertation on the depiction and representation of women in Qatari media.

Also at AEJMC, Dennis led a high-level panel on the rise of fake news on the internet, spe-cifically the role of social media in driving the blockade on Qatar.

The panel referenced some key findings from NU-Q’s five-year longitudinal report on media use in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, NU-Q’s Mary Dedinsky, director of the Jour-nalism and Strategic Communi-cation Program, led a panel at

IPIWC in Nigeria. Dedinsky addressed journalists’ battle against misinformation, as well as the implications of fake news and propaganda on creating a false understanding of the truth and delegitimising news media.

Three faculty members, Pro-fessors Andrew Mills, Amy Kristin Sanders, and Joe F. Khalil, pre-sented on media reforms in edu-cation and entertainment at the IAMCR conference in Eugene, Oregon. Concurrently, at the annual meeting of the ICA in Prague, Professors Banu Akdenizli and Craig LaMay pre-sented their research on digital diplomacy throughout the GCC crisis and the cultural politics of the Arab female identity in the region, respectively.

Research is a key learning component that is woven into the academic infrastructure at NU-Q to promote intellectual inquiry, enhance teaching, create new knowledge, and enrich the overall classroom experience.

Researchers from NU-Q

presented their papers

and participated on

panels at international

conferences this

summer.

03TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 HOME

ICBF launches flood relief campaignSANAULLAH ATTAULLAH THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Indian Community Benev-olent Forum (ICBF) under the patronage of Embassy of India has announced a campaign to collect donation over QR5m for humani-tarian aid to flood affected people in the south Indian states of Kerala and Kodagu district of Karnataka.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at Indian Cultural Center (ICC) yesterday.

“The campaign will continue until September 30 whereby we expect to meet the target,” said Pres-ident of ICBF, Devis Edukulathur.

He said the Forum already remitted over a half million Qatari riyals to provide relief to flood victims.

“We have raised another over QR250,000 and approaching to all Indian community to extend their helping hand for this noble cause.”

He said in Qatar, the Kerala Flood Relief Committee under Indian Embassy’s guidance has kick started a massive fund collection drive. “The collected fund will be transferred to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund by the Indian Com-munity Benevolent Forum. In order to overcome the situation and to meet the needs of cleaning, medical aid, rehabilitation, and recon-struction, a huge amount is to be generated through generous con-tributions,” said Edukulathur

He added that the donors can contact the ICBF Help Desk at ICC which is open from 8am to 12noon and 4pm to 8pm.

With the opening Indian schools, the drive for collecting money is expected to intensified. “I am leading the campaign to raise the money from Indian schools,” said Hassan Chougale adding that the target donation from Indian schools was two 20 million Indian rupees.

Prominent members of Indian expatriate community including Girish Kumar, C V Rappai, Hassan Chogule, Devis Edukulathur, Jutas Paul, Baburajan, Mahesh Gowda and Niveditha at the ICBF press conference at the Indian Cultural Center yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

MEC orders recall of Mercedes Benz E-Class & C-Class 2017 models

DOHA: The Ministry of E c o n o m y a n d Commerce (MEC), in collaboration with Nasser Bin Khaled Automobiles, dealer of Mercedes Benz vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of Mercedes Benz E-Class and C-Class models of 2017 because the front passenger seat back-rests may not be fully locked.

The ministry said that the recall cam-paign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.

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

The Ministry has urged all customers to report any violations to its Consumer Pro-tection and Anti-Com-m e r c i a l F r a u d Department.

Qatar, Kuwait boost defence tiesThe Commander of the Amiri Air Defence Forces Brigadier General (Pilot) H E Hamad Mubarak Al Dawai Al Nabit (third left) met yesterday with Commander of the Kuwaiti Air Defence Force Brigadier General Adel Ali Al Hafez, who is currently visiting the country. During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues of mutual interest, as well as ways to enhance bilateral relations in the defence and military fields. The meeting was attended by a number of senior officers of the Qatari armed forces, in addition to the delegation accompanying the Commander of the Kuwaiti Air Defense Force.

QA to fly A350-1000 with Qsuite on Singapore and Tokyo routes

DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) announced yesterday that the world’s most technologically advanced passenger aircraft – the A350-1000 — equipped with the airline’s luxurious, award-winning Qsuite will be available on flights to and from Singa-pore’s Changi Airport from November 1, 2018. The aircraft will also be introduced daily to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January 1, 2019.

The two cities will be the first of Qatar Airways’ growing Far East network to welcome the ultramodern A350-1000 equipped with Qsuite.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are tremendously excited to bring the world’s most tech-nologically advanced passenger aircraft fitted with revolutionary Qsuite Business Class experience

to our loyal customers in Sin-gapore and Tokyo. The launch of the A350-1000 on these routes is a fulfilment of the promise we make to our passengers to provide them the finest expe-rience available in the skies. We are confident that our A350-1000 flights and Qsuite cabins will be highly sought after, and look forward to bringing them to even more gateways throughout the Far East.”

Two of Singapore’s triple-daily A350-900 services will gradually transition to the A350-1000 starting from November 1, 2018. The route is expected to be served entirely with the A350-1000 by April 2019.

One of the latest additions to the Airbus family of twin-aisle, widebody jetliners, the A350-1000 offers 327 seats across two cabins – 46 Qsuite Business Class seats and 281 extra-wide 18-inch seats in

Economy Class. Similar to the A350-900 – for which Qatar Airways was also the global launch customer – the high-per-formance A350-1000 boasts an advanced airframe with extensive use of composite materials. Coupled with a fuselage innovatively built with carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, the jetliner burns lesser fuel, reducing harmful effects to the environment. On the inside, LED mood lighting mimics a natural sunrise and sunset to help reduce the effects of jet lag.

Business Class passengers will be treated to the Qsuite experience, featuring the indus-try’s first-ever double-bed in business class. Sliding panels allow passengers in adjoining seats to transform their space into private cabins so business colleagues, families and friends can work, socialise and dine together during the flight.

THE PENINSULA

04 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018HOME

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: QIC Anaya Healthcare, the revolutionising healthcare discount program, launched by QIC Insured has now introduced the Anaya Healthcare app.

Anaya Healthcare members can now get an overview of all the services and benefits offered under the program. Available for both Andriod and iPhone users, the app can be downloaded from Google Play Store or from the Apple AppStore.

The QIC Anaya app provides an updated list of all providers participating in the QIC Anaya Healthcare discount program and details an overview of the

services and benefits offered to the members, including contact information. In addition, it also provides the location of the pro-vider through a map.

In terms of user interface, the QIC Anaya app follows the ‘select and go’ model; members have to simply select the provider offering the medical service from a list of providers available on the app or on QIC Anaya’s website and book an appointment prior to visiting the provider. At the provider, members will only have to present their QID to secure the benefits.

Commenting on the launch of the Anaya app, Ahmed Al

Jarboey, Senior Claims Manager said: “We expected Anaya to have a quick uptake in the market due to the incredible benefits it offers and we are

delighted to see that the results have superseded our expecta-tions. This in itself demonstrates that there is a strong demand for affordable healthcare that Anaya will cater to. With the use of Anaya, members will be better placed to manage their medical expenses — especially for treat-ments that are not covered by most insurance programs”.

Al Jarboey further said: “QIC Anaya Healthcare has attracted members from all walks of life –right from people having extensive healthcare insurances to those who do not have any medical or healthcare insurance. We had anticipated this trend as Anaya is a unique program that

has no exceptions or exclusions.”

Stressing on the rationale behind the launch of the app, Ahmed said, “QIC Anaya is built around a straightforward formula, allowing everybody to take advantage of the benefits it offers.

“Right from its launch, we have been inundated with enquiries about treatments and specific services offered by the providers. In fact, this is one of the reasons we introduced the app to make it easy for our members to contact the pro-viders and have their queries answered directly by the provider.”

Ahmed Al Jarboey

QIC launches Anaya Healthcare app

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: To empower their migrant workers and help them lead enhanced independent lives, Galfar Al Misnad, one of the leading construction firms in Qatar, has instituted Galfar Classroom – Enriching Minds, an education based initiative for its employees.

As a part of this unique CSR program, volunteer members from Galfar’s staff conduct evening literacy classes in English language and basic mathematics for the workers at the company’s various accom-modation camps across the country. Most of the workers are from the Indian subcontinent, said a statement.

The company realized that many of their workers had little or even no formal education, which meant they could not read signboards and simple instruc-tions written in English, whether it be at work or when they were outside in Qatar. This was not just a risk to their personal safety, but their financial well-being too, as it exposed them to the possibility of being exploited by others. Galfar Classroom

- Enriching Minds was formed to assist the workers in over-coming these difficulties.

“We wanted to give our employees the confidence to handle their own issues both within the company and outside, by enabling them to com-prehend statutory instructions on site, and equipping them with the ability to conduct their affairs independently,” explained Satish Pillai, the Executive Director of Galfar Al Misnad.

The classes are based on a curriculum prepared by the HR

team and conducted by a faculty of ten volunteer staff members from different departments of the company. The HR team trained all the volunteers before starting the program and mon-itors all the classes.

The faculty members tutor the workers in English reading, writing and speaking skills, as well as the recognition and writing of Roman numerals. The program has been received well by the workers, who are turning up in big numbers to make use of the opportunity to enhance

their literacy skills. The HR team also conducts

ATM awareness sessions with the workers to boost their financial literacy. The faculty teach the workers how to operate ATMs through a com-puter simulated module in the class. This interactive module allows the workers to perform all the steps required to take out money on a virtual ATM, and thereby gain confidence in con-ducting banking transactions on their own. As the company pro-vides all salaries directly through bank accounts, this was assessed to be an important skill for the workers to learn.

These sessions are ongoing and the trainers rotate their classes amongst the different camps. Before starting any batch, the trainers evaluate the literacy levels of participants so that the session can be customized to meet their specific requirement.

All of Galfar Al Misnad’s worker accommodation camps are equipped with computer rooms with multiple worksta-tions and Wi-Fi connectivity, which workers have to their dis-posal for further learning, as well as personal communication.

A camp class for workers in progress.

Galfar Al Misnad launches literacy class for workersDodge Ram 2014-17 models recalledDOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, in collaboration with United Cars Almana, dealer of Dodge vehicles in Qatar, has announced the recall of Dodge Ram models of 2014-2017 because when using the cruise control system, the faulty (PCM) software may result in either the vehicle maintaining its current speed or possibly accelerating.

The Ministry said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.

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

The Ministry has urged all customers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department.

PISQ students fare well in HSSC-II Annual Examination THE PENINSULA DOHA: PISQ has been showing gradual upward escalation in its academic progress and it has been especially prominent over the last three years.

Particularly, it has once again done well in its recent FBISE HSSC-II annual result. This year, three PISQ students have made their alma mater proud by securing top three positions across Doha, said a statement.

The top positions are in science discipline ie pre-medical and pre-engineering. The names of the top three position holder are as under in order of positions and marks: Maleeha Asif, 1st position (967/1100) pre-engi-neering; Abdullah Nasir, 2nd position (966/1100) pre-medical; Rubab Fatima, 3rd position (964/1100) pre-medical. On the whole, PISQ has made a pool of 30 A grade holders - there are 11 A1 grades and 19 A grades. This year, the pass percentage is 97.44.

Nargis Raza Otho, prin-cipal PISQ, congratulated the students, their parents, and teachers for their combined efforts that helped students shine in the exam. She assured that PISQ will keep growing academically. She further said that this school has become the preferred choice of the community members for their children’s education down the road.

Murad Baseer, Charge d’ Affairs at the Embassy of Pakistan Doha, also congrat-ulated all the students on their success.

He urged the students, parents, and teachers to play their respective roles sin-cerely to strengthen their nation and country in the years to come.

Qatar participates in 32nd session of Arab Camp in AlgeriaQNA

ALGIERS: The 32nd session of the Arab Camp was launched on Sunday in Algeria with the participation of 1,200 scouts representing 16 Arab countries, including the State of Qatar, as well as delegations from Turkey

and the United States as guests of honour for this session.

The camp, which will last until September 5, aims to achieve the spirit of Arab unity, strengthen the bonds of broth-erhood between the Arab scouts and strengthen their unity to work on building and promoting

their Arab society. Representative-General for

Qatar Scouts and Guides Associ-ation Jassim Al Hardan told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that Qatar scouts participate in the activities of the Arab Camp in Algeria with a delegation of 16 Qatari scouts and guides, adding that this

participation comes within the framework of the keenness of the Qatar scout and guides to be present in all Arab and interna-tional forums, instilling the spirit of belonging to Qatar and the ability to assume responsibility and self-reliance. He pointed out that Qatar scout and guides will

acquire new experiences and skills as well as knowledge of dif-ferent cultures.

Al Hardan added that the camp program is diverse, devel-oping the skills and the abilities of the participants through the exchange of experiences, expertise and learn about the

richness of Algeria’s civilization, tourism and heritage elements. He pointed out that the program will organize several intellectual, physical, social, recreational, cul-tural, tourism and revealing activities, which will be held in Algeria’s capital Algiers, Tipaza Province, and Blida Province.

70% increase in number of participants at S’hail 2018RAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The number of exhibitors for the second edition of Katara International Hunting and Falcons Exhibition (S’hail 2018) has witnessed a 70 percent increase proving the growing popularity of the event on the international stage.

The much anticipated one-of-a-kind annual event which runs from September 4 to 8 at Katara Cultural Village will see the participation of around 150 companies from 19 countries.

It can be noted that he inau-gural edition of the event last year saw 87 exhibitors from 11 countries including 54 from Qatar, 15 from Kuwait, five from Spain, four from Pakistan, three from Germany, and one each from the US, England, France, South Africa, Azerbaijan and Lebanon. The exhibitors com-prised suppliers of hunting vehicles, tools, equipment and falcon-related entities.

“Preparations are in full

swing as S’hail’s second edition is scheduled to be held from Sep-tember 4 to 8. Participation has increased by 70 percent from last year,” said Khalifa Al Humaidi, S’hail 2018 media spokesman, pointing out that the number of participating companies reached about 150 Arab and international companies from 19 countries from around the world.

S’hail’s Cooperation and twinning with other international exhibitions and festivals which focus on the field of falconry, hunting and hunting weapons,

such as the British Game Fair fes-tival and international exhibi-tions in Turkey and Germany had been key to the rise in interest and participation at this year’s event, said Al-Humaidi.

They are part of a compre-hensive marketing plan to reach the largest number of agencies and companies specialized in these fields, he added.

With the huge increase in participation, the exhibition area for of this year’s edition of S’hail has been expanded to 10,000sqm, more than double the area last year which was 4,500sqm. The venue is being constructed with a new design that will accommodate all the participating companies and embody Qatari heritage, explained Al Humaidi.

Many international com-panies dealing with falconry and hunting weapons as well as those specialised in organising hunting trips, in addition to elite craftsmen, falconers and fish-ermen in the region and around the world are taking part at the

five-day event, he said.He added that this year’s

exhibition is characterised by new features building on the success it achieved in its first edition which made it one of the most important falcon and hunting exhibitions in the region.

S’hail 2018 will feature cul-tural events and activities, awareness lectures and new competitions which will give away attractive prizes such as the best pavilion which can attract visitors for its beauty and inno-

vative design.There will be three daily lec-

tures featuring experts and spe-cialists in falconry, hunting and hunting weapon discussing interesting topics such as falcon breeding and types of hunting weapons and how to use them safely.

The exhibition’s organizing committee has allocated a special section for the preparation of food including meat of game, such as birds, deer and rabbits to be pre-pared by a selection of some of

the best chefs.The event is considered the

first of its kind in Qatar and the region in such scale, diversity and quality. It is dedicated to the needs and requirements of falconers in Qatar and the region providing everything related to this field.

S’hail’s first edition gen-erated much buzz and created a lot of excitement attracting more than 3,000 visitors in its opening day. It is expected to draw even more visitors when it opens its doors on September 4.

Preparations in full swing as the launch of second Katara International Hunting and Falcons Exhibition (S’hail 2018) nears.

“Preparations are in

full swing as S’hail’s

second edition is

scheduled to be held

from September 4

to 8. Participation

has increased by

70% from last year,”

said Khalifa Al

Humaidi, S’hail 2018

spokesman.

05TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Iran urges UN court to lift US sanctionsAP

THE HAGUE: Iran went to the United Nations’ highest court yesterday in a bid to have US sanctions lifted following Pres-ident Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to re-impose them, calling the move “naked economic aggression.”

Iran filed the case with the International Court of Justice in July, claiming that sanctions the Trump administration imposed on May 8 breach a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates eco-nomic and consular ties between the two countries.

At hearings that started yes-teday at the court’s headquarters in The Hague, Tehran asked judges at the world court to urgently suspend the sanctions to protect Iranian interests while the case challenging their legality is being heard — a process that can take years.

In a written statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the legal move an attempt by Tehran “to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including re-imposition of sanc-tions, which are necessary to protect our national security.”

Trump said in May that he would pull the United States out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran.

Washington also threatened other countries with sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.

Iranian representative Mohsen Mohebi told the court the US decision was a clear breach of the 1955 treaty as it was “intended to damage, as severely as possible, Iran’s economy.”

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal imposed restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of most US and international sanctions against Tehran.

However, the deal came with time limits and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional policies in Syria and elsewhere. Trump has repeatedly pointed to those omissions in referring to the accord as the “worst deal ever.”

M o h e b i s a i d t h e

re-imposition of sanctions was unjustified as Iran was abiding by the terms of the 2015 deal. He said sanctions are already having damaging effects on Iran’s economy and society and threaten to further destabilise the volatile Mideast.

“This policy is nothing but a naked economic aggression against my country,” Mohebi told the court.

The US, which argues that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case, is to present its legal arguments to judges today.

Pompeo said lawyers would “vigorously defend” the US and “and we will continue to work with our allies to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilising activities in the region, block their financing of terror, and address Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons systems that threaten international peace and stability. We will also ensure Iran has no path to a nuclear weapon — not now, not ever.”

Iran and the US have a history of litigation at the Inter-national Court of Justice, in cases covering crises including the Tehran embassy hostage-taking and the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet mistaken by a US warship for a fighter jet.

The 1955 treaty was signed when the US and Iran were still allies following the 1953 revolution.

Iranian representative

Mohsen Mohebi

told the court the

US decision was a

clear breach of the

1955 treaty as it

was “intended to

damage, as severely

as possible, Iran’s

economy.”

Israel reopens Erez crossing with GazaAFP

JERUSALEM: Israel reopened its only crossing for people with the Gaza Strip yesterday, a week after shutting it over violence along the border with the Pales-tinian enclave.

The reopening, following days of relative calm, comes as Egypt holds talks with Pales-tinian officials as part of efforts to reach a long-term truce with Israel.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli defence ministry unit that oversees the Erez crossing con-firmed it had opened as planned yesterday morning.

On Sunday night, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lie-berman said the crossing was being reopened due to “calm that has been maintained over the past week.”

Israel closed the crossing except to humanitarian cases on August 19, after another round of protests and clashes on the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

It has enforced an air, land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, but grants permission to a limited number of people to cross for various reasons.

An average of around 1,000

Gazans cross through Erez each day, mostly those in need of medical care but also business-people, students and others, Israeli authorities said.

A second crossing with Israel, Kerem Shalom, is for goods.

There have been months of tension along the border and several military-flare ups, but recent weeks have seen relative calm.

Egyptian and United Nations officials have been mediating indirect talks on a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas, which have fought three wars since 2008.

Palestinians wait while others present their travel documents to Palestinian Authority officers at the Erez crossing with Israel near Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, yesterday.

Israel developing newmissile system: MinisterAFP

JERUSALEM: Israel is working on a new missile system capable of hitting targets anywhere in the Middle East, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said yesterday.

State-owned arms manu-facturer Israel Military Indus-tries (IMI) would deliver “within a few years” an advanced inte-grated system “allowing precise hits by remote launching”, he said in a statement.

Lieberman added that the contract with IMI was budgeted at “hundreds of millions of shekels”.

The Israeli shekel is cur-rently trading at 3.63 to the US dollar.

“The project for setting up a precision rocket and missile system is underway,” Lie-berman said in the statement.

“Part of it is already in pro-duction and part is in the final phases of research and development.

“We are acquiring and developing precision fire systems that will allow... the Israel Defence Forces to cover within a few years every point in the region.”

Israel is considered the

leading military power in the Middle East and believed to be the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons.

Foreign military experts saidit has several batteries of its Jericho ballistic missile, capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

IMI said in the year 2004 that it had produced a cruise missile, the Delilah, with a range of 250km.

It also has an array of anti-missile rocket systems but Monday’s statement quoted IMI chairman Yitzhak Aharonovitch saying that the new armament would “reflect the company’s technological capabilities, which specialise in the ability to fire accurately, to strike at a variety of ground targets”.

Israel faces a variety of threats. It is regularly targeted by rockets and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas.

Israel also shares a border with Syria, where Iran and Hez-bollah are fighting alongside President Bashar Al Assad in his country’s civil war.

Lieberman did not reveal details of the planned new system or its potential targets and his office did not respond to a requests for information.

Oppn calls for release of former Egyptian envoyAP

CAIRO: An Egyptian oppo-sition coalition of secular and left-leaning parties has urged authorities yesterday to immediately release a former diplomat who earlier this month called for a refer-endum on President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi’s government.

Masoum Marzouk, a veteran of the 1973 war against Israel who served in the Egyptian army’s special forces, was arrested along with other activists on Thursday. They were ordered to remain in custody for 15 days pending an investigation into terror-related charges.

The Civil Democratic Movement coalition said in a press conference yesterday that the arrests were “part of the government crackdown to silence opposition voices.”

King of Jordan seeks help on refugee crisisANATOLIA

AMMAN: King Abdullah II of Jordan yesterday called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the countries hosting Syrian refugees.

This came during a meeting between the Jordanian monarch and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, who arrived in the kingdom on Sunday for an official visit.

The meeting focused on cooperation between Amman and UNHCR, particularly the provision of services to refugees in the country, according to a statement issued by the Jor-danian Royal Court.

The two sides discussed the growing pressure on services in Jordan due to the high numbers of Syrian refugees in the country, the statement released recently said.

King Abdullah II, the statement said, underlined the

importance for the international community to “assume its responsibilities towards the host countries of Syrian refugees, first and foremost Jordan.”

He also called for con-tinued coordination between Jordan and UNHCR to ensure that “refugees and host com-munities receive the necessary support.”

Grandi, for his part, praised Jordan’s “great role” in pro-viding humanitarian and relief services to refugees.

King Abdullah II of Jordan (right) with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, during their meeitng in Amman, yesterday.

South Africa confident of peaceful DR Congo voteAFP

PRETORIA: Continental powerhouse South Africa yesterday expressed confidence that upcoming elections in the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be peaceful after assurances from the authorities in the troubled country.

Foreign Affair Minister Lindiwe Sisulu (pictured) said that DRC President Joseph Kabila and the electoral commission had

given guarantees to the regional SADC bloc that the country was ready to hold the delayed vote.

“We called the pres-ident of the DRC. We called in the electoral commission... by the time they left, we felt very comfortable that they had the situation under control,” Sisulu said in an interview in Pretoria.

“From the assurances that we got... we have no reason to doubt that they are not telling us the

truth,” she said.The delayed elections

are now due on December 23 and Kabila is not standing for re-election.

Kabila took over from his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, after he was assas-sinated by a bodyguard.

His tenure over the vast mineral-rich country has been marked by cor-ruption, inequality and unrest.

Out of 25 applications, the electoral commission has rejected six

presidential aspirants, including ex-warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba.

The DRC has declined offers of advice, oversight and funding to help organise the election in the impoverished country nearly five times the size of France.

Sisulu dismissed reports that South Africa had tried to appoint former president Thabo Mbeki as a “special envoy” to DRC ahead of the elections.

Turkey arrests another embassy attack suspectANATOLIA

ANKARA: Turkish police yesterday arrested one more person for his suspected links to last week’s US Embassy drive-by shooting in capital Ankara, according to a source.

A total of five suspects have so far been arrested in relation with the incident.

Ahmet Celikten and Osman Gundas, the suspected perpetrators who had been arrested hours after the attack, are currently being interrogated by police, the source said.

The detention period for the arrestees have also been extended, it added.

According to the Ankara Governor’s Office, Celikten and Gundas confessed to their involvement in the attack.

06 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018ASIA

Opposition, Shiv Sena pitch for ballot-based electionIANS

NEW DELHI: Several oppo-sition parties and ruling NDA constituent Shiv Sena yesterday pushed for reverting back to ballot paper in place of Elec-tronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and opposed simultaneous elec-tions at a meeting convened by the Election Commission which also saw some parties pitching for state funding of elections.

The Shiv Sena differed with its ally BJP to support the polls through ballot paper and the CPI-M too differed from other opposition parties and said it was not for returning to the old system of holding elections. It sought more safeguards in EVMs.

Chief Election Commis-sioner O P Rawat said after the meeting that the poll panel will take a call on all the issues raised by parties including on EVMs and ballot paper, integrity of electoral rolls and ceiling on expenditure by political parties.

“We will definitely look into the issues presented by them. There will be a satisfactory solution to them,” Rawat said.

Parties like the Congress, CPI, Trinamool Congress, BSP, DMK and Shiv Sena said that there should be a return to ballot papers while the BJP and BJD said they were satisfied with electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The AAP said either the count to verify electronic voting machine (EVM) results with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) should be increased or there should be a return to ballot paper while the

AIADMK said it was fine both with EVMs and ballot paper.

Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said the party supported “the demand of using ballot paper in the election in the present sit-uation.” He said malfunctioning of EVMs was a major issue.

“VVPATs were introduced but are not being cross-checked. We demanded that at least 30 per cent of the votes should be cross-checked,” Wasnik said.

He said more transparency was required in the voters list as a number of cases had sur-faced in the recent past where lakhs and lakhs of bogus voters were found.

“These bogus voters affect the entire electoral process.” Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai said: “We have made a point... Let us go back to ballot papers. We have insisted on ballot papers for elections to the largest democracy.”

BJP leader and union min-ister J P Nadda said the Election Commission’s efforts to match EVM results with VVPAT was a

good move.“We should think ahead. The

Election Commission has properly replied to all questions raised about the EVMs and we should look forward. (Using) VVPAT is a good move and it should be taken forward,” he said.

Asked about the Congress demand for a return to ballot paper, he said that party’s “habit of looking forward has ended”.

Nadda said the BJP laid emphasis on correct identifi-cation of voters and proper training of people involved in the process. “(For) accurate voting there should be accurate identification. There should not be proxy identification.”

Nadda said the voter slip should not be the only way for identification as it can be pur-chased by an influential can-didate and it should also be on the basis of six other identified documents.

“The other thing we said was that deletion of a voter from electoral rolls should be with a reason and should not take place below the level of district magistrate,” he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Misra said EVMs can be hacked. He said almost every party, except one, had made the demand and the world had gone back to the ballot paper.

Kalyan Banerjee of Tri-namool Congress said they were demanding state funding of elections to check corruption.

He said there was time still to implement voting through ballot paper before the Lok Sabha elections.

Indian oarswomen row during the traditional annual boat race festival at Rudra Sagar lake in Melaghar, some 55km southeast of Agartala in Tripura, yesterday.

Women’s power

Two more sentenced to life for 2002 Godhra train attackIANS

AHMEDABAD: A special trial court here yesterday sentenced two more persons to life impris-onment and acquitted three others in the 2002 Sabarmati Express train burning case at Godhra railway station, which triggered large scale communal violence across Gujarat.

Different investigating agencies had arrested five persons in 2015-16 and they were put on trial by a Special Investi-gation Team (SIT) appointed by

the Supreme Court.With this, as many as 33

people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case while 66 others have been acquitted. A Special SIT court had convicted 31 people on March 1, 2011, and 11 of them were awarded death penalty and the others were sentenced to life imprisonment. However, in October last year the Gujarat High Court commuted the death sentences to life imprisonment.

Special Additional Public Prosecutor N NPrajapati told

reporters that the court sen-tenced Farukh Bhana and Imran alias Sheru Batik to life impris-onment. The judgment was pro-nounced from Sabarmati Central Jail where the trial took place.

Investigating agencies accused Bhana of being a key conspirator of the train attack. He was arrested by Gujarat Anti-Ter-rorist Squad in May 2016. Bhana, a sitting corporator of Polan-Bazar area of Godhra munici-pality, was on the run since the day of the train burning incident on February 27, 2002.

Kerala oppn wants special account for fund driveIANS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led UDF yesterday demanded that the fund collection initiated by the Kerala government following the devastating floods should go into a special account and not into the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).

Addressing the media here after a meeting of UDF leaders, Congress leader Ramesh Chen-nithala said the need of the hour was to have a separate account for the funds that have started to come in to rebuild Kerala.

“The state government should set up a special account for rebuilding the state. We are demanding this because when Ockhi struck last year, Rs1.4bn was received and till now only Rs250m has been utilized,” he said.

“Where has the rest of the money gone? We wish to know.” Chennithala also said that soon after Ockhi struck, Chief Min-ister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a slew of measures but many of the announcements continued to be only on paper.

“In the light of how Ockhi was managed, the government cannot afford to do a callous job this time. First Vijayan announced Rs3,800 to be given to all those affected by floods, then it was raised to Rs10,000.

“We demand everyone

should get Rs25,000,” he said.So far more than Rs5bn has

come into the CMDRF.The United Democratic

Front also demanded a judicial probe into opening of the dams’ sluice gates, saying this was the single major cause for his lar-gescale damage to the state.

Meanwhile, thousands left for their once flooded homes yesterday, still leaving 342,699 in some 1,000 shelters, as an army of volunteers continued their drive to clean houses that were submerged for days.

Vijayan said at a review meeting that the relief camps should be kept open for some more days. He said in a statement that 1,093 relief shelters were now housing 342,699 flood-hit, down from 1,435 camps and 462,456 inmates on Sunday.

“The remaining camps have been asked to be kept open,” the Chief Minister said.

He said adequate stock of food materials and drinking water were available for those in the camps. Directions had been given to use pumps to flush out flood water from water-logged areas.

Of the 2.5 million houses whose power connections snapped after the devastating floods this month, only 56,000 power connections remained to be restored, Vijayan said. He added that this would be done soon.

Karnataka gets Rs461m for flood relief workIANS

BENGALURU: Karnataka has so far received Rs461.5m as funds for relief and rehabilitation of people in flood-hit Kodagu district, an official statement said.

“The Chief Minister’s relief fund has received a total of Rs461.5m through contributions from various state’s institutions, private firms and employee associations,” a statement from Chief Minister H D Kumaras-wamy’s office said.

Demand Drafts (DD) worth Rs140m were received through 153 different individuals and organisations, while more than Rs90m was transferred to the relief fund through Internet banking and digital wallets.

Kodagu’s villages, towns and public infrastructure were severely damaged after tor-rential rains caused floods and landslips in the hilly district during the southwest monsoon from August 14-22.

According to preliminary esti-mates, the district has suffered

losses worth Rs 11.40bn to public and private property as a result of the rains, Kodagu Deputy Com-missioner P Sreevidya earlier said. At least 34 village panchayats have been badly damaged.

Apart from the Chief Minister’s relief fund, several Kannada media houses, private organisations and non-governmental organisations have also been collecting funds to help the region in distress.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her visit to the district last week announced Rs 1 crore aid from Member of

Parliament Local Area Devel-opment Scheme (MPLADS), being a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.

She had also said Rs70m will be given to the affected district from the state-run defence organisations’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

While Karnataka has sought Rs 20bn interim relief from the Centre for rehabilitation measures in the hilly district, Sitharaman had said the aid will be announced only after an assessment of the losses

Rescue workers remove the rubble during a search operation for survivors after the collapse of a four-storey building in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, yesterday.

Rescue operation after building collapse

‘Stressed, weeping’ pilot caused deadly Nepal plane crashAFP

KATHMANDU: An investi-gation into a deadly plane crash at Nepal’s international airport has blamed the captain who wept and suffered an emotional breakdown during the flight after his skills had been ques-tioned, according to a draft of the report leaked yesterday.

The March 12 flight from Dhaka crash-landed at Kath-mandu airport and skidded into a football field where it burst into flames, killing 51 people in the deadliest avi-ation accident in the Hima-layan nation for decades.

The draft copy of the final investigation report con-cludes the US-Bangla Airlines captain was “under stress and emotionally disturbed” after a female co-worker had “questioned his reputation as a good instructor”.

“This mistrust and stress led him to continuously smoke in the cockpit and also suffer an emotional breakdown several times during the flight,” it says.

Captain Abid Sultan was “crying and sneezing on several occasions during the flight”, it adds.

UN investigators want Myanmar generals prosecuted for Rohingya genocideREUTERS

GENEVA: Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under interna-tional law, U N investigators said.

In a report, they called for the

U N Security Council to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The Security Council should also impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted sanctions against individuals most respon-sible for crimes.

They blamed the country’s de facto civilian leader, Nobel Peace

Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to use her “moral authority” to protect civilians. Her government “contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes” by letting hate speech thrive, destroying documents and failing to shield minorities from crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The report also criticised Facebook for allowing the

world’s biggest social media network to be used to incite vio-lence and hatred. Facebook responded yesterday by announcing that it was blocking 20 Myanmar officials and organ-isations found by the U N panel to have “committed or enabled serious human rights abuses”.

Contacted by phone, Myanmar military spokesman Major General

Tun Tun Nyi said he could not immediately comment.

A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown.

Chief Election

Commissioner O P

Rawat said after the

meeting that the poll

panel will take a call

on all the issues raised

by parties including

on EVMs and ballot

paper, integrity of

electoral rolls and

ceiling on expenditure

by political parties.

07TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 ASIA

FMs of Pakistan, India may meet in New YorkINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and India may meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) annual meeting next month, diplomatic sources in the US capital said.

“Such a meeting is possible but no decision yet,” said a senior Pakistani diplomat when asked if Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sushma Swaraj were meeting in New York next month. Both are attending the 73rd UNGA which opens on September 18.

The first report of a possible meeting between the two foreign ministers came from India days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote to Prime Minister Imran Khan, congratu-lating him on his swearing-in.

The Pakistanis are reluctant to confirm their agenda for the 73rd UNGA also because it is still undecided who will represent the country at the world body.

India has already announced that it is sending Swaraj as Modi cannot leave the country in the middle of an election campaign.

Islamabad had indicated last week that PM Khan may also skip the UNGA as part of his efforts to cut down government expenses.

But since then a number of senior Pakistani diplomats and

political commentators have urged Khan to reconsider his decision.

They argued that repre-senting Pakistan at a forum like the UNGA was not a waste of funds, particularly when there’s a new government in Islamabad and the international community wanted to know its views on key issues like Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials, however, feel that the prime minister’s presence in New York will add

a new dimension to an India-Pakistan meeting, even though he will not participate in min-ister-level talks.

Diplomatic sources in Wash-ington argue that Islamabad would also like to see how productive this meeting could be, particularly because India has already said that it’s not ready to resume bilateral or formal talks with Pakistan.

They point out this week India strongly rejected a suggestion that in his letter to Khan, the Indian prime minister had expressed interest in resuming talks.

The Indian reaction forced Islamabad to clarify that the sug-gestion was a media interpretation of the letter and Foreign Minister Qureshi, in his comments on Modi’s letter, never said that “the Indian Prime Minister had made an offer of a dialogue”.

Since then, reports in the Indian media have suggested that while New Delhi had ruled out formal talks, it “does not pre-clude interactions with Pakistan leaders at multilateral events”.

“For the Modi government, UNGA offers a great opportunity to break the ice with the new government in Pakistan before it seriously considers moving on to more substant ive engagement,” The Times of India newspaper reported.

The Indian media noted that the new Pakistani prime min-ister also expressed his will-ingness on to re-start the stalled India-Pakistan peace process, stressing that the two countries must engage in dialogue to resolve their differences, including on the Kashmir issue, and start trading.

Austerity measure: Pakistan govt bans VIP protocol at airportsINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: As part of its austerity plan, the government of Pakistan led by Imran Khan has banned VIP protocol given by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to influential people at airports.

The decision is being implemented by the gov-ernment from Monday as the ministry of interior has directed all officials con-cerned of the investigation agency’s immigration wing to implement it.

It is worth mentioning that such decisions had also been taken by previous governments but they could not implement them in a letter and spirit.

“We have decided to strictly implement the decision to provide equal opportunities to all travellers without any discrimination,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said.

It had been observed that influential people were given VIP protocol at airports so that they could avoid standing in long queues and get cleared their luggage without any hustle, he said.

“We have seen that influ-ential people used to seek assistance of FIA officials at air-ports who (officials) accom-panied them to promptly clear their luggage,” the minister said.

The VIP protocol was usually given to politicians, legislators, senior bureaucrats, judges, military officials and journalists.

The interior ministry has directed the FIA that no gov-ernment official or other VIPs would be given protocol at airports across the country.

In case any FIA official is caught giving protocol to a VIP, he would face strict action, the ministry warned in a letter sent to all zones of the agency.

Russia and Tajikistan deny any air attack in Afghan border clashREUTERS

KABUL: Afghanistan officials said yesterday a Tajik or Russian aircraft had bombed a northeastern Afghan border district during a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards, but officials in both Tajikistan and Russia denied that they had done so.

Cross-border clashes are rare on Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan, compared, for example, with fighting along Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan.

The air attack followed a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards in Durqad district of Takhar province, two Afghan officials said.

Khalil Asir, a spokesman for Takhar provincial police, said eight Taliban were killed and six wounded in the air strike after a clash in which two Tajik border guards were killed.

“It was not clear if it was a Russian or Tajik aircraft,” he said.

Jawed Hejri, spokesman for Takhar provincial governor, also said it was not clear where the aircraft came from but he said the six people killed in the clash with Tajik border forces were drug smugglers.

An Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman declined to make any immediate comment.

A spokesman for Tajik border guards in Dushanbe said Tajikistan had not carried out any bombing and did not confirm the death of two border guards.

However, the official, who declined to be identified, said

three Tajik forestry workers had been attacked by intruders from Afghanistan. Two were killed while the third escaped.

The official declined to give any more details.

Russia said its military air-craft had not conducted any operations near Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan, the RIA news agency cited the defence ministry as saying.

Much of the porous Afghan-Tajik border is in mountains and difficult for Tajik author-ities to police.

Afghan government offi-cials say Russian forces, including aircraft, help Tajikistan with security against the Taliban and other militant groups. At the same time, drugs from Afghanistan are smuggled to the outside world through Tajikistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabi-hullah Mujahid said there had been a clash, and an air attack, but it was between drug smug-glers and Tajik border guards and the aircraft bombed a for-ested area used by smugglers.

“Taliban fighters have no permission to clash with neighbour countries,” he said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U S forces in Afghanistan, said U S forces did not conduct any strikes in the area.

A retired Afghan air force general, Atiqullah Amarkhel, said those responsible for the air attack should be identified. “Afghanistan has no control over its air space due to a lack of facilities. U S forces should follow up the case,” he said.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party candidate Arif Alvi (centre) walks back with party leaders after submitting papers for the presidential election outside the high court building in Islamabad, yesterday. Pakistan will hold presidential elections on September 4.

Prospective President with supporters

Search after asylum-seeker boat runs agroundAFP

SYDNEY: An asylum-seeker boat has reached Australia for the first time in almost four years, the government said yesterday, with many of those on board the Vietnamese vessel fleeing into a crocodile-infested mangrove rainforest after running aground near the coast.

Locals said passengers from the rickety vessel disappeared into the dense forest near the Daintree River, north of popular tourist city Cairns, in the tropical far north of Queensland state on Sunday.

They will have to avoid

crocodiles, venomous snakes, ferocious sandflies and giant cassowaries — one of the world’s deadliest and most aggressive birds — that all call the ancient Daintree rainforest home.

Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 15 pas-sengers had been found so far.

The ABC added that two others, including the boat’s captain, were still missing. The Brisbane Courier Mail reported that up to 20 were unaccounted for. It said those detained were well dressed and in good health.

State Emergency Service

area controller Peter Rinaudo said earlier his crews were searching through the man-groves and near the mouth of the river, reportedly with dogs.

“It’ll be a hard slog, it’s still quite warm in there and it’ll be tough conditions for the guys,” he told the ABC.

“I hope the people, however many there are, get located — it’s not a nice area for them to be in.” A fisherman who spotted two asylum-seekers hiding in the mangroves said he took the pair on a tour of the Daintree River.

“We gave them a ride up the river and had a few laughs and

we got them to help us pull in the crab pots”, fisherman Justin Ward told television broadcaster Channel Nine, adding that they were taking photos and selfies.

He later broke it to the men that he would hand them over to the police.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the partially sunk vessel had come from Vietnam and was the first boat of asylum-seekers to reach the country since 2014.

“Australia, we believe, has received the first... people-smug-gling venture in over 1,400 days,” he told reporters

“Such a meeting is possible but no decision

yet,” said a senior Pakistani diplomat when

asked if Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sushma

Swaraj were meeting in New York next month.

Both are attending the 73rd UNGA which opens

on September 18.

“Do not despair

of our present

difficulties but

believe always

in the promise

and greatness of

America, because

nothing is

inevitable here,”

McCain wrote.

YOMIURI SHIMBUN

08 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018VIEWS

Senator McCain’s final statement: Americans have ‘more in common’

Senator John McCain expressed his deep gratitude and love of country in his final letter and implored Americans to put

aside “tribal rivlaries” and focus on what unites. Rick Davis, former presi-dential campaign manager for McCain who is serving as a family spokesman, read the farewell message Monday at a press briefing in Phoenix.

In the statement, McCain reflected on the privilege of serving his country and said he tried to do so honorably. He also touched on today’s politics.

“Do not despair of our present dif-ficulties but believe always in the

promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here,” McCain wrote. “Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”

McCain died Sat-urday from

an aggressive form of brain cancer. Plans taking shape called for McCain to lie in state Wednesday in the Arizona State Capitol on what would have been his 82nd birthday. A funeral will be conducted Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church with former Vice President Joe Biden speaking. In Washington, McCain will lie in state Friday in the Capitol Rotunda with a formal ceremony and

time for the public to pay respects. On Saturday, a procession will pass the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and arrive for a funeral at Washington National Cathedral. Former Presi-dents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are expected to speak at the service.

The Senate has draped John McCain’s desk in black fabric and placed a vase of white roses on top. Monday was the Senate’s first day back in session since his death, though McCain had not been back to Washington since December.

A private funeral is planned for Sunday afternoon at the Naval Academy Chapel followed by a private burial at the academy cemetery.

President Donald Trump was not expected to attend any of the services.

McCain was a noted critic of Trump, and Trump’s response to McCain’s death has been closely watched. On Monday, for instance, flags at the White House were not lowered. When asked about Trump’s response to McCain’s death, Davis said that the family is choosing to focus on the outpouring of support from around the world instead of “what one person has done or said.”

“The entire focus of the McCain family is on John McCain,” Davis said. “There really is no room in the McCain family today to focus on anything but him.” In Arizona, high-profile cam-paigns announced that they will suspend some activity this week.

McCain was just one of 11 US sen-ators in the state’s 116-year history, and on Tuesday, primary voters will decide the nominees in races across all levels of government. There’s also the sensitive question of who will succeed McCain. Arizona law requires the governor of the state to name an appointee of the same political party who will serve until the next general election. Since the time to qualify for November’s election is past, the election would take place in 2020,

with the winner filling out the remainder of McCain term until 2022.

Possible appointees whose names circulate among Arizona politicos include McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, former US Senator Jon Kyl and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s chief of staff Kirk Adams.

Throughout the weekend, Arizona politicos across all levels of government offered remembrances of McCain. Noting McCain’s death, several candidates, including Demo-cratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Rep. Martha McSally, who are expected to win their party’s races for the state’s other US Senate seat, on Sunday evening said they would suspend their campaigns on Wednesday and Thursday. Ducey, whose office is coordinating services at the Arizona State Capitol for McCain, will not attend any cam-paign events between now and when McCain is buried.

Tributes poured in from around the globe. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted in English that McCain “was a true American hero. He devoted his entire life to his country.” Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, called McCain “a tireless fighter for a strong trans-Atlantic alliance. His significance went well beyond his own country.”

McCain was the son and grandson of admirals and followed them to the US Naval Academy. A pilot, he was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war for more than five years. He went on to win a seat in the House and in 1986, the Senate, where he served for the rest of his life.

“He had a joy about politics and a love for his country that was unmatched,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told CNN’s “State of the Union.” ‘’And while he never made it to the presidency, in the Senate, he was the leader that would see a hot spot in the world and just say, we need to go there and stand up for that democracy.”

MELISSA DANIELS & LAURIE KELLMAN AP

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We’re going to call it the United States/Mexico

Trade Agreement. Nafta has a bad connotation

because the United States was hurt very

badly by Nafta for many years.

Donald Trump

US President

Will Imran Khan be able to build regional stability?

Will Pakistan, as a major South Asian country, be able to build a stable relationship with neigh-

boring countries, including India? The caliber of the new administration will be put to the test.

In a general election held late last month in Pakistan, the No. 2 oppo-sition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Pakistan Movement for Justice, won and a new administration led by the party leader Imran Khan as prime minister has been inaugurated.

Khan, a former star player of the nation’s national sport cricket, has no experience leading a government. Criticizing the corrupt traits of the two major political parties, which for a long time held the reins of power in the nation’s government, he has widened his support.

Rebuilding the country’s economy is a matter of urgency. The total amount of foreign currency reserves has sharply diminished and is now at a critical level due to increases in its trade deficit and foreign debt. The country is believed to be in need of assistance from the International

Monetary Fund (IMF). The problem is that the debt Pakistan owes to China has been growing. China is pushing forward with projects to improve roads and develop thermal power plants in Pakistan as the core of its Belt and Road Initiative, a scheme to create a huge economic zone.

It is also feared that China, which is progressing its development of Gwadar Port in Pakistan, might use the facility as its own military strongpoint in the future. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that there is “no rationale” for an IMF bailout that pays off Chinese loans to Pakistan. Assistance that is extended by an international organization must not be used for China’s military expansion.

The new administration should recognize the necessity of correcting its tilt toward China. The administra-tion’s relationship with its military is also a focal point. In Pakistan, the armed forces have repeatedly carried out coups d’etat, maintaining a behind-the-scenes influence. Khan is believed to have been backed by the military in the latest election. It would be difficult to ignore the intentions of the armed forces, whose source of power is based on tensions with

neighboring countries.Former Prime Minister Nawaz

Sharif, a powerful figure in the pre-vious administration, was found guilty of corruption just prior to the general election and was subsequently imprisoned. Sharif’s moves to improve relations with India, a country that has been in conflict with Pakistan over the territorial rights of the Kashmir region, triggered a backlash from the armed forces that led to his downfall.

The Pakistani forces are said to be supporting the Taliban, a formerly dominant force in neighboring Afghanistan. To improve public security in its border areas with Afghanistan, it is essential for the United States, which is continuing its war on terror, and the new Pakistani administration to cooperate.

With Pakistan possessing nuclear weapons, as India does, turmoil in its domestic politics and a deterioration of its relations with neighboring coun-tries could become serious global security concerns. It is also important for the nation to stringently control its nuclear technology and nuclear mate-rials in order to prevent them from getting into the hands of terrorist organizations, among others.

Minister of

Education and

Higher Education

H E Dr Mohammed

bin Abdul

Wahed Ali Al

Hammadi issued

a ministerial

decision to

open three new

government

schools for the

academic year

2018-2019.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

World-class education

Qatar has a world-class education system. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new academic year where more than 307,000 students are set to return to

school. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s preparations for the new season reflects the commitment of the country’s leadership to education, as it is an important factor in realising Qatar National Vision 2030 goals.

In this regard, Minister of Education and Higher Edu-cation H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi issued a ministerial decision yesterday to open three new government schools for the academic year 2018-2019. Under the decision, an elementary school for boys will open pro-viding 594 seats. There will be a secondary school for girls providing 726 seats, in addition to a specialised secondary school for boys named Qatar School for Science and Tech-nology. The Ministry added a total of 5,065 seats, by opening new schools in preparation for the new academic year. It signed a total of 711 teachers, bringing the total in public schools to 13,440, compared to 13,591 in private schools.

Qatar has always been investing in education which promotes its human and knowledge capital. The State,

through many initiatives, is also focusing on preserving national identity by promoting values of loyalty and belonging and planting them in the youth.

Currently, there are 24 higher education entities in Qatar which includes univer-sities, colleges, world-renowned institutes in terms of academic and research pro-grams. These entities provide different scientific and literary disciplines, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate, where international students are enrolled in, proving that Qatar has succeeded in localizing education and knowledge and has become an academic attraction due to its interna-tional reputation of political, economic and social stability as well as wealth and culture

diversity.It must be mentioned that the Under-Secretary of the

Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, had recently urged teachers to be role models for the students, manage classrooms effi-ciently and professionally and turn them into an inter-active and lively education environment. He also called on students to take advantage of the opportunities and academic options provided by the wise leadership such as the facilitating academic achievements in all stages and from the best universities around the world.

Qatar has established an education system that com-plies with the highest standards of global educational systems. The main goal of the educational process is to build the skills of students in line with the requirements of modern age, while helping them maintain Qatari tra-ditions and culture. The Ministry continues with the imple-mentation of its strategy for 2017-2022, which is the road map for developing a world-class educational system.

“The cultural has

to be seen as a

political tool and

priority, alongside

energy, trade and

manufacturing,”

said Ministry of Arts

official Marlon De

Bique.

09TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 OPINION

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Why China, and not the US, is the leaderin solar power

Trinidad seeks new economic muse in culture

LARRY BEINHART AL JAZEERA

GREGORY SCRUGGS REUTERS

Solar power is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. According to the Inter-national Energy Agency (IEA),

it accounts for almost two-thirds of net new power capacity globally.

In 2016, new solar capacity even overtook the net growth in coal, pre-viously the biggest new source of

power generation. The estimated value of solar power in 2015 was $86bn and is projected to hit $422bn by 2022. There’s no reason to expect it to stop there and every reason to expect it to continue to grow.

Fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, are still the world’s primary energy source. However, they have very high external costs - climate change, air and water pol-lution - and in the case of fracking - earthquakes.

These costs are rapidly increasing and people are becoming more aware of them. As a result, public demand for these costs to be counted - both through policy and litigation - is also increasing.

Moreover, the world has long been wary of the wars, threats of war and power plays that have come with oil dependency. All this was not much spoken of until recently because there seemed to be no real alternative to oil. But as renewable energy sources with minimal external costs become more practical and affordable, more people

are moving towards using them.There are several types of renew-

ables - wind, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal - but solar is by far the most effective one. Wind power is more technically demanding than solar. Hydropower usually requires damming rivers, which cause other complications.

It appears, at least for now, that solar is the future.

The basis for most modern solar power systems is the silicon photo-voltaic (PV) cell. It was invented in 1954 by three American scientists - Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson - at the Bell Labs in New Jersey.

Back then the PV cell had a very poor light-to-electricity conversion efficiency (around six percent) and was very expensive to fabricate. Over the next few years, Les Hoffman, another American scientist, improved its efficiency to 14 percent and lowered the production cost.

After that, it didn’t take too long for solar to become one of the primary energy generation methods in space. In 1964 NASA launched the first Nimbus spacecraft, a satellite able to run entirely on a 470-watt solar array. Two years later, it launched the world’s first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, powered entirely by a one-kilowatt array.

To this day, US scientists are still leading the way in solar innovation. The most efficient solar cell tech-nology yet, with a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, was developed by the US Department of Energy and Spectrolab, a subsidiary of Boeing, in 2007.

Yet seven of the world’s top 11 solar panel manufacturers are now in mainland China. Canadian Solar, one of the remaining four, is named for where it’s headquartered but does most of its manufacturing in China.

Chinese companies account for around 60 percent of total annual solar cell manufacturing capacity globally.

Why there and not in the US? China has deliberate, conscious, industrial development policies. They are modelled on the policies South Korea followed with great success in the 1960s and 70s.

In 1960, South Korea was one of the poorest nations in the world. Then the government launched a compre-hensive and concrete industrial devel-opment strategy. It nationalised all commercial banks and reorganised the banking system to give itself control over credit. It focused on five key industries - steel, petrochemical, car industry, shipbuilding, and electronics - and provided low-nterest loans to businesses in these sectors according to the needs of economic plans. It also put on a drive to have the best tech-nical education system in Asia.

Thanks to these industrial policies, South Korea is now the 11th largest economy in the world.

Today, China is following South Korea’s example and helping its solar industry to prosper as part of a long-term, well-thought-out industrial development strategy.

In the US, however, Republicans who love to say “Government should not pick winners and losers!” are now in power. Mitt Romney said it. Paul Ryan said it. Donald Trump also said it. It’s a gospel song at right-wing think tanks. They don’t mean it.

America is constantly “picking winners and losers”. For example, it has special tax policies that allow the likes of Mitt Romney to pay a much lower percentage of their income in taxes than the average worker. There were special laws that allowed sen-ators, congressmen and congress-women, and their aides, to engage in insider trading.

The word for the night was “heat”. With that prompt, spoken word artists delivered poems about love, gangs,

street food, public transport and even a trip to the barbershop.

The fashionable 100-strong crowd in this open-air performance space just off Ariapita Avenue, the bustling heart of Trinidad’s capital, snapped, clapped and cheered on the verbal dexterity.

The monthly slam poetry event is one of several cultural offerings that have emerged in recent years to liven up the slack period between the annual Carnival celebrations that flood Port of Spain’s streets with cos-tumed revellers.

Trinidad and Tobago’s cultural ecosystem still revolves around Car-nival, hooked to Ash Wednesday in February or March.

But arts advocates, creative entre-preneurs and government officials are seeking ways to stimulate a year-round scene that could build an eco-nomic alternative for a country oth-erwise dependent on oil and natural gas.

“I see the creative sector as being key in diversifying our national economy,” said Calvin Bijou, chairman of state-owned cultural promotion enterprise CreativeTT.

Besides rich oil and gas reserves, the twin-island Caribbean country has a wealth of cultural talent.

It is the birthplace of steel pan,

widely believed to be the only non-electric, acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century, and the origin of calypso.

Those musical traditions blend with folk crafts like wire-bending and costume design in Trinidad’s world-famous Carnival. Since 2014, it has brought an annual average of 36,000 visitors to the island, who spend some TTD 324 million ($48 million).

But spreading culturally driven economic activity throughout the year is a tough task, and has sparked debate over whether a small island state should focus on audiences at home or abroad.

The spoken word event, “True Talk No Lie”, began in 2013 to capi-talise on the Carnival off-season.

It runs from March through November, when the cultural cal-endar heats up again, with parties showcasing the latest soca hits ahead of the next Carnival.

Poets hit the stage at The Big Black Box, a re-purposed backyard in the former residence of a respected playwright.

Multimedia production outfit 3canal renovated the space in 2014 as a simple “black box” theatre with a mango tree soaring through the roof.

In the off-season, the venue hosts weekly live shows and rehearsals for annual productions.

It has also become an incubator for taking Trinidadian arts abroad. Two of 3canal’s rising stars toured

Pride and carnival events in Britain and the Netherlands this summer, and ensemble members will perform at the National Theatre of Scotland in November. In the run-up to Carnival, there are nightly rehearsals for 3canal’s annual show, culminating in Friday night “backyard jams” where spectators can get a taste of the work in progress.

Inside the restored gingerbread house, 3canal maintains a recording studio, office and merchandise store. Having its own infrastructure has allowed the ensemble to escape the constraints of Trinidad’s seasonal cul-tural scene.

“The convenience of having your own base out of which to explore, express and experiment can’t be beat,” 3canal’s artistic director Wendell Manwarren said as dancers rehearsed in the courtyard.

“With our new album, we could luxuriate and take our time - as opposed to that Carnival pressure cooker.” The Big Black Box has joined a cluster of historic residences con-verted for cultural use within a few blocks of each other in the Wood-brook neighbourhood.

A decade ago, a trio of creatives established an artist residency pro-gramme called Alice Yard. In 2011, Medulla Art Gallery opened to showcase contemporary Caribbean art, while older establishments like the Little Carib Theatre, built in 1947, round out the scene.

Carnival remains the centre of gravity for some activities like the #1000mokos project in Alice Yard, which teaches a new generation of stilt walkers - moko jumbies in Car-nival parlance.

Visual art is less in thrall to the Carnival rhythm, finding a larger audience through the quiet season. In May, a show opening and talk by an up-and-coming painter packed out the subterranean Medulla gallery.

But as Trinidad’s cultural scene grows, it faces a key question: should it prioritise local audiences or export abroad? For Rubadiri Victor, pres-ident of the Artists’ Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago and a former advisor to the arts minister, the answer lies overseas.

When in government from 2013-2014, he fought unsuccessfully to expand the mission of Pan Trinbago, the world body for steel pan set up by Trinidad, to “make pan and rhythm sections the festival music of Planet

China has

deliberate,

conscious, industrial

development

policies. They are

modelled on the

policies South Korea

followed with great

success in the 1960s

and 70s.

Earth”. He wanted the country’s best steel pan bands playing the world’s top festivals, including the dozens of Caribbean-style car-nivals in cities globally, which he estimates generate some TTD 15 billion ($2.23 billion) in revenues per year.

He pointed to examples of Trinidadian cultural success abroad - from several Olympic opening ceremonies choreographed by Car-nival artist Peter Minshall in the 1990s and early 2000s, to the popular steel pan band that accom-panied fans to Germany for Trini-dad’s first-ever World Cup appearance in 2006.

But exporting Trinidadian culture requires public funding and support, Victor noted. “If you don’t have those enablers, it’s just dif-ficult,” he said.

3canal’s Manwarren is more interested in local audiences. “We tend to focus too much on outside validation,” he said. “We need to break through to ourselves.” The government, meanwhile, is trying to straddle both lines.

It runs youth programmes to teach steel pan, maintains a national artist registry, and coordi-nates mentorship by master artists - including Manwarren, who teaches live show production.

It hopes to offer funding for artists to showcase their skills abroad, but lacks a national cul-tural policy that would streamline such opportunities, though public consultations are underway to develop one.

“The cultural has to be seen as a political tool and priority, alongside energy, trade and manufacturing,” said Ministry of Arts official Marlon De Bique.

10 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018ASIA / EUROPE

Priest says life in danger

for criticising DuterteAP

MANILA: A Roman Catholic priest who was one of the earliest critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly crackdown on drugs has gone into hiding due to what he says were signs he’s being targeted by motorcycle-riding hitmen.

The Reverend Amado Picardal said yesterday that he has gone into a “more secure location” and out of the public view after workers in a Catholic monastery that he visits in central Cebu city reported seeing motorcycle-riding men watching the compound, including a pair who asked for his whereabouts.

“I couldn’t go out for biking, running, walking due to security concerns,” Picardal said in an email in response to questions about his safety concerns, which he first dis-closed in a personal blog.

“I have left my hermitage in the mountain and transferred to a more secure location to continue my life as a hermit far away out of reach from the death squad,” he said.

The 63-year-old priest said that he helped document alleged extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s campaign when Duterte was still mayor of southern Davao city and that he would continue criticising the killings despite his safety concerns.

Picardal added that he is willing to testify if asked by the International Criminal Court, where a complaint against Duterte in relation to the drug killings is being examined.

Duterte has denied con-doning killings under the crackdown, which according to official police pronouncements

has left more than 4,500 sus-pects dead since he took office in mid-2016. International human rights watchdogs have cited far higher death tolls, which they said included innocent children and civilians.

The tough-talking president has often cited the killings and wounding of many policemen in anti-narcotics raids as proof of the fatal risks that prompt law enforcers to open fire on drug suspects. Human rights groups, which have looked into some of the killings, however, have reported cases where policemen killed unarmed suspects but later made them appear to have violently resisted.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Picardal should file for a so-called writ of amparo “if there’s basis for his fears,” referring to a high court petition that aims to protect the human rights of anybody who feels threatened by state forces.

Picardal gained public attention with his cross-country biking to protest the drug killings and promote peace talks with communist rebels.

When he was assigned in

Davao, Picardal said he com-piled a report on drug killings from 1998 to 2015, when Duterte served as mayor of the vast port city, and spoke for a non-government coalition that opposed extrajudicial killings and helped the Commission on Human Rights investigate the deaths.

Duterte has said none of those investigations turned up any evidence against him. Picardal said the investigations failed to pin down Duterte then because witnesses against him “were scared to testify.” A number of witnesses linking Duterte to the killings, however, have turned up in Senate inves-tigations after Duterte rose to the presidency, Picardal said, adding that he has helped provide sanc-tuary to former members of the so-called “Davao death squads” who may testify before the ICC.

“This is most likely one of the reasons that I am being tar-geted by the death squad,” Picardal said.

In an interview with The Associated Press in May 2016, Picardal recounted how he helped poor families bury young men killed by gunmen in Davao after being linked to illegal drugs. He said then that a Duterte pres-idency was “very frightening” and warned that human rights groups would need to keep a close watch and document any violations due to Duterte’s threat to replicate his anti-crime style in Davao to the rest of the country.

Picardal said in his blog late on Sunday that he was aware of the danger when he took up his human rights advocacy. “I am ready to accept martyrdom if they catch up with me, but I do not seek it nor do I make myself an easy target,” he said.

Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vu Van Tam writes in a condolence book near a portrait of the late U S Senator John McCain at the U S embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, yesterday.

John McCain helped ‘heal the wounds of war’: VietnamREUTERS

HANOI: U S Senator John McCain was a “symbol of his generation” who helped “heal the wounds of war” by pushing for diplomatic normalisation of ties with Vietnam, the Southeast Asian country’s foreign minister said on Monday.

McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran for president in 2008 as a self-styled maverick Republican and became a prominent critic of President Donald Trump, died on Saturday. He was 81.

“For both the government of Vietnam and its people, Senator McCain was a symbol of his generation of senators, and of the veterans of the Vietnam war,” Vietnam’s foreign minister Pham Binh Minh wrote in a condolence book at the U S

Embassy in Hanoi on Monday.“It was he who took the lead

in significantly healing the wounds of war, and normalising and promoting the compre-hensive Vietnam-U S part-nership,” Minh said.

McCain had been one of the most vocal proponents in Wash-ington in favour of normalising ties with Communist-led Vietnam, a former enemy of the United States.

His public relationship with the Southeast Asian country began as a naval aviator during the Vietnam War, when his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967.

He suffered two broken arms, a broken leg, and was stabbed and beaten after being dragged from a lake on the edge of the downtown area of the city.

He spent years as a prisoner of war at Hoa Lo prison - or the “Hanoi Hilton”, as it was known to American soldiers.

A monument on the shores of the Hanoi lake where McCain was captured has turned into a de facto shrine to the late senator since news of his death reached Vietnam early on Sunday morning.

Both Vietnamese people and U S citizens in Hanoi have flocked to the grey, concrete monument to offer flowers, incense, flags and other tributes to McCain.

“Condolences to senator and war veteran John McCain, who greatly contributed to the nor-malisation of Vietnam-U S rela-tions,” said one message in Viet-namese, left at the sculpture attached to a bouquet of flowers yesterday.

South Korea’s working-age population falls for first timeAFP

SEOUL: The number of people of working age in Asia’s fourth-largest economy fell for the first time ever last year, South Korea’s official statistics agency said yesterday.

In the decades after the Korean War the South pro-pelled itself from a devastated ruin to the world’s 11th-largest economy and a member of the OECD club of advanced nations.

But it faces looming demographic challenges with a r a p i d l y a g e i n g population.

The country has one of the world’s lowest birth rates as people marry and have children later, amid worries over costs and as women look to focus on their careers.

In an annual census, the working-age population, defined as those aged 15 to 64, fell by 116,000 in 2017 to 36.2 million, Statistics Korea said.

It was the first time the figure had fallen, it added.

The total population rose to 51.4 million, up 0.3 percent, with 14.2 percent of people aged 65 and over.

Earlier this month figures showed births plummeting 12 percent in 2017 to 357,771, an all-time low.

The fertility rate — the number of children a woman can be expected to have in a lifetime — also dropped to a record low of 1.05. The rate needed to keep a population stable is 2.1.

North Korea expels detained Japanese manAP

TOKYO: Japanese government officials said yesterday that they were trying to ensure the safety of a Japanese tourist whom North Korea said it had expelled after detaining him on unspec-ified charges.

The official Korean Central News Agency said late on Sunday that Japanese tourist Tomoyuki Sugimoto had been “kept under control” for questioning about “his crime,” without specifying

what he had been accused of.In a two-sentence report, the

news agency said the authorities decided “to leniently condone him” and expel him on the prin-ciple of humanitarianism.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Sec-retary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Japan’s gov-ernment was doing its “utmost,” but refused to give further details, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Japan’s government con-firmed about two weeks ago that

it was looking into reports that one of its citizens was being held in North Korea, but has not iden-tified the person by name.

Japan’s Kyodo News agency, citing a government source, said the person was believed to be a videographer in his 30s and may have been suspected of shooting video of a military facility while on a group tour to Nampo, a port city in western North Korea.

The government had sought his release through the North Korean Embassy in Beijing,

Kyodo said. Japan does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.

North Korea has also arrested other foreign nationals. Three Korean-Americans accused of anti-state activities and detained for more than a year were released and returned home in May with U S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when the two sides were preparing for the June summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

American college student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested by North Korean authorities in January 2016 after being accused of stealing a prop-aganda poster and sentenced to 15 years in prison, died in June 2017, days after he was repat-riated to the U S with severe brain damage.

Their arrests were widely seen as politically motivated and had compounded the dire state of relations over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

Representatives of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) inspect the facilities of the psychiatric hospital in Kurilo, near Sofia, yesterday. At the psychiatric hospital in Kurilo in the mountainous countryside near Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, around 100 patients languish on their beds in dilapidated surroundings.

EPA comes to the aid of mentally ill

Calls for probe into beating of Bosnian reporterAFP

SARAJEVO: Bosnian journalists yesterday demanded an inves-tigation after a reporter said he was severely beaten by unknown attackers after covering politically-sensitive protests.

Vladimir Kovacevic, who works for the TV network BN in Bosnia’s Serb-run entity, posted a photo on Twitter Sunday night of his bloodied face and bandaged head.

Two men who “clearly knew where I lived...when I passed by them they began to beat me bru-tally,” wrote the reporter, who was hospitalised in Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska.

The incident sparked outcry among local media and con-demnation from the US Embassy and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a security watchdog.

“One of us has been attacked,” said the president of Bosnia’s journalists’ association Marko Divkovic.

“It looks like a case of organised terror from politi-cians, the justice system and the police,” he alleged, adding that he feared more trouble for Bosnian journalists in the run-up to October 7 elections.

Reporters in Bosnia are rou-tinely subjected to verbal attacks, threats and libel

lawsuits in a country with a deeply polarised political climate.

Kovacevic was attacked while returning from covering a demonstration over the murky death of 21-year-old student David Dragicevic.

The young man’s death has become a symbol of corruption and injustice with protesters accusing authorities of a cover-up. The demonstrations — held daily since March — have become the leading political issue in Bosnia’s Serb-run entity as elections near.

The US Embassy in Sarajevo condemned the attack and other recent physical assaults of jour-nalists as “unacceptable”.

Dutchman suspected of murdering 11-year old in 1998 held in SpainREUTERS

AMSTERDAM: After a hunt lasting two decades, Dutch police believe they have finally tracked down a man suspected of killing an 11-year-old boy in the Nether-lands, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Spanish police arrested 55-year-old Dutchman Jos Brech - who was publicly named as the suspected killer by Dutch police last week - about 50km north of Barcelona on Sunday.

Dutch detectives said the suspect’s DNA matched traces

on the body and clothing of Nicky Verstappen, who was found dead on Aug. 10, 1998 near a summer camp in the Dutch countryside from which he had gone missing the previous night.

The match was established in June this year, police said, using

DNA provided by relatives of the suspect. Police went public with their information last week, pub-lishing the man’s picture and full name.

“Spanish police were able to arrest him after someone recog-nised the man from the picture,”

prosecutor Jan Eland said. Brech will be extradited to the Nether-lands, he said.

Over the years, police have made several wrongful arrests in the case, and even opened up the grave of one of the supervisors of the summer camp

The 63-year-old priest

said that he helped

document alleged

extrajudicial killings

under Duterte’s

campaign when

Duterte was still

mayor of southern

Davao city and that

he would continue

criticising the killings

despite his safety

concerns.

“Europe can no longer

rely on the United

States for its security.

It is up to us to

guarantee European

security,” Macron

told an audience of

some 250 diplomats,

lawmakers and

international relations

experts.

11TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 EUROPE

Russians on trial for sharing memes; networks ask for law changeAFP

MOSCOW: In 2015, Eduard Nikitin shared a joke on social media about Russia’s bleak future. Three years later he is facing trial on extremism charges over this and one other meme.

The case against the 42-year-old is part of a wider trend that has seen Russian authorities bring charges against people for seemingly innocuous, humorous posts in increasing numbers. Lawyers say the Kremlin is trying to force people to think twice before sharing opinions online — one of the last remaining spaces where the

opposition is relatively free to organise.

“It turns out that for a harmless joke, anybody who doesn’t agree with our country’s leadership can be prosecuted,” Nikitin’s lawyer Maxim Kamakin said after a preliminary hearing in Saint Petersburg on August 20.

The other features a drawing of a “vatnik” — a padded coat popular during the Soviet period that is also slang for uneducated Russians who uncritically follow those in authority.

The “absurd” case has seen Nikitin’s bank account blocked, his computer briefly confiscated and left the activist unable to

participate in any opposition campaigns. The vaguely worded charges he faces — inciting hatred or degradation of human dignity — carry a maximum six-year jail term, though most con-victions lead to a shorter sen-tence or fines.

In the Siberian Altai region, legal proceedings were opened against Daniil Markin, a 19-year-old film student who shared memes including a picture of Jon Snow, a character from the Game of Thrones HBO TV series.

Under the image was written “Jon Snow is risen — Truly he is risen!”, a play on the Orthodox Easter greeting, which has led to

the teenager’s ongoing prose-cution on the grounds of reli-gious hatred.

Maria Motuznaya, a 23-year-old who like Markin comes from the Altai city of Barnaul, faces sep-arate extremism charges for images saved on the VKontakte network — Russia’s Facebook equivalent, which rights groups say cooperates with security services. One of them, featuring apparently African children holding out empty bowls, carries the caption: “black humour is like food -- not everybody gets it”.

“Too often the actions of law enforcement agencies clearly do not correspond to the potential

threat and their reaction to posts or memes are groundlessly harsh,” Mail.ru, which owns VKontakte, said earlier in the month.

The company, itself owned by the Kremlin-friendly bil-lionaire Alisher Usmanov, called for a change in the law and an “amnesty” for “those who were unjustly convicted and serving time on such charges”.

The Russian communica-tions ministry has also supported a relaxation of the law. According to the independent rights group Agora, 43 people were given prison terms for internet posts in Russia in 2017, up from 32 the previous year.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (centre) is escorted by police officers to the police vehice, after his trial at a Moscow courthouse yesterday.

Russian court jails Kremlin critic Navalny for 30 daysAFP

MOSCOW: A Moscow court yesterday gave a 30-day jail sentence to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny over an unsanctioned protest earlier this year, just days before another planned political rally.

Judge Alexei Stekliyev of the Tverskoy District Court in the capital ruled that Navalny had repeatedly violated Russian law with a call for a mass protest in January, a witness in the courtroom reported.

Navalny was detained on Sat-urday evening outside his home in Moscow. His charges pertain to an unsanctioned protest he organised on January 28, violating Russia’s strict laws which forbid any public event without city hall’s authorisation.

In the courtroom yesterday,

Navalny’s defence lawyer asked the judge to pause the pro-ceedings for two days in order to read through the case, which contains 219 pages, but Stekliev only allowed 30 minutes.

Speaking before the decision, the 42-year-old Kremlin critic said the case was an indictment of Russia’s political system. “Over the past four years... Moscow has not once approved our request to rally where we requested,” Navalny said.

He added that the only reason he is being held on the same charge for the third time is to keep him from holding a protest on September 9 against the govern-ment’s retirement age hike. Sep-tember 9 is also an election day in several Russian regions, including Moscow, where voters will cast ballots for city mayor.

In the capital, a lack of

genuine opposition candidates on the ballot paper means incumbent Vladimir Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin is all but guar-anteed to win.

Navalny has called some of the biggest protests in Russia in recent years. His anti-cor-ruption rhetoric is especially popular among younger people who follow his online channels and blogs.

The opposition politician has criticised the planned pension age hike — a first in nearly 90 years — that has led to a rare outburst of public anger.

Navalny has also applied to register a political party called “Russia of the Future” but his bid was rejected, his website said Monday. This is the third unsuc-cessful attempt by Navalny to register an opposition party over six years.

Tribute to murdered French schoolgirlPeople release white balloons at the end of a march in tribute to French eight-year-old schoolgirl Maelys, who was abducted at a wedding and murdered a year ago, in Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin, central eastern France, yesterday. Maelys de Araujo’s body was found in February, six months after the schoolgirl went missing from an August 27 wedding in a case which shocked the whole country. Nordhal Lelandais, a former soldier aged 35, admitted in February to killing Maelys.

Merkel condemns ‘hunt’against foreignersAFP

BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday condemned far-right protesters who were “hunting down” foreigners in street mobs following the killing of a German man, allegedly by a Syrian and an Iraqi.

The far-right movement PEGIDA called for demonstra-tions for a second straight day after a gathering of around 800 people in the city of Chemnitz in the country’s ex-communist east degenerated into violent chaos, forcing police to call in reinforcements.

Several media outlets, including the Bild tabloid, reported that some demon-strators on Sunday had shouted “we are the people”, “get lost” and “you’re not welcome here” at those they took to be immigrants.

Prosecutors said yesterday that police had arrested a

23-year-old Syrian man and an Iraqi man, 22, on suspicion they had stabbed to death the 35-year-old German man in an altercation in the early hours of Sunday.

“The investigation, espe-cially into the motive, the details of the crime and the murder weapon continue,” they said in a brief statement.

In the far-right riots that followed, some protesters used bottles to attack foreign-looking people, freelance jour-nalist Johannes Grunert, who reports frequently on the far-right scene, told Spiegel Online.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert stressed Berlin’s strong condemnation of the violent protests. “Such riotous assem-blies, the hunting down of people who appear to be from different backgrounds or the attempt to spread hate in the streets, these have no place in our country,” he said.

Austria asylum seekers to be denied apprenticeshipsAFP

VIENNA: Austria will no longer allow asylum seekers to take up apprenticeship opportu-nities while their claims are being assessed, a policy reversal by the country’s anti-immigration government crit-icised by the opposition.

The government is working on a new regulation to fill vacant training places with labourers from third countries, but will no longer open them to asylum seekers, government spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal told the Austrian news agency APA.

The decision reverses a 2012 policy aimed at inte-grating refugees. A coalition of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’ conservative People’s Party (VPOe) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has governed Austria since last year, winning votes on an anti-immigration platform following the 2015 surge in arrivals of asylum seekers.

The opposition criticised the policy reversal. Christian Kern, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPOe), said closing these opportunities for asylum seekers but opening them to other foreigners was “misguided as well as mali-cious”, accusing the gov-ernment of increasing problems it said it was solving.

Rights group Amnesty International said last week that it saw a “structural problem” in how Austria assessed asylum claims.

Under Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, an FPOe hard-liner, the expulsion of rejected asylum seekers has become a priority.

Macron presses for united EU defenceAFP

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday called for Europe to stop relying on the United States for its military defence as he pushed for fresh EU integration in the face of rising nationalism around the continent.

Relaunching his diplomatic agenda after the summer break, the 40-year-old president said he would put forward new pro-posals in the coming months for the EU to boost defence coop-eration, as well as talks with Russia on their security rela-tionship — an issue of concern for countries on Europe’s eastern edge.

“Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. It is up to us to guarantee European security,” Macron told an audience of some 250 dip-lomats, lawmakers and interna-tional relations experts.

His comments follow US President Donald Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the Nato military alliance, which groups the United States with most of Europe and has underpinned European security since World War II.

Macron’s comments are likely to find support in EU pow-erhouse Germany after Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made a similar call for boosted military cooperation last week.

Writing in the Handelsblatt newspaper, Maas called for Europe to “take an equal share of the responsibility” and “form a counterweight” to Washington as Europe-US relations cool.

France and Germany have both backed the idea of a small

joint European response force over the last year, and have announced plans to develop a fighter jet together.

Macron came to power last year vowing to overhaul the EU and has pushed for deep political reforms — including a separate budget for the eurozone — which have so far met with lukewarm support.

His agenda has been hit in particular by the rise of a new eurosceptic and nationalist gov-ernment in Italy, as well as resistance from rightwing leaders in Poland and Hungary.

He admitted that “France seems sometimes to be on a sol-itary path”. But Macron lashed out at the rising tide of nationalism and called for countries to heal divisions which have widened over how to tackle the ongoing influx of migrants in particular.

“France wants a Europe which protects, even as extremism has grown stronger and nationalism has awoken,” he said. “Divisions between north and south over economics, between east and west on migration, too often fracture our European Union,” he added, urging a “humanist” approach

to the changes brought by glo-balisation. As for the solution, he insisted his approach would be to “give up nothing of the ambitions set out a year ago” when he came to office, which would mean creating a more integrated European Union with greater strategic autonomy.

“Do China and the United States think of Europe as a power with similar inde-pendence to their own? It is not the case,” he said. He also took at a swipe at ruling populists in Hungary and Italy, drily noting that their anti-EU rhetoric seemed to vanish when it came to accepting economic devel-opment aid from the EU.

“There is a clear approach of European opportunism while claiming to be nationalist,” he said, calling out Hungary’s Viktor Orban by name. He did, however, acknowledge that a lack of European solidarity had played a role in prompting bitter disputes in recent months with Italy over migration.

“But does that excuse xen-ophobic comments?” he added in what appeared to be a veiled jab at Italy’s far-right League.

“I don’t think so, and I think these xenophobes bring no solu-tions to the problem they com-plain of.” In a typically expansive overview of his foreign policy, Macron called for Europe to build “strategic partnerships” with neighbours Turkey and Russia despite their differences. Britain will also be in line for a “strategic partnership” after its departure from the EU scheduled next year -- but Macron warned that Brexit must not come at the cost of the unity of the rest of the EU.

The Jacksonville

Sheriff’s Office

identified the shooter

as David Katz, 24, of

Baltimore, and said

they found his body

near those of his two

alleged victims at The

Landing, a popular

riverside shopping and

dining location.

12 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018AMERICAS

Police seek motive in Jacksonville shootingREUTERS

JACKSONVILLE: Police were yesterday trying to determine why a gunman opened fire at a Jacksonville, Florida, video game tournament, killing two people and injuring 11 others before fatally shooting himself.

The Sunday shooting imme-diately became an issue in Florida primary elections due today when voters choose can-didates for governor and the US House of Representatives. Some Democrats called for stricter gun laws while other candidates can-celled events.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office identified the shooter as David Katz, 24, of Baltimore, and said they found his body near those of his two alleged victims at The Landing, a popular riv-erside shopping and dining location. The shooting broke out during a regional qualifier for the Madden 19 online football game tournament at the GLHF Game club and witnesses told local media Katz was angry because he lost the tournament.

It was not clear if Katz knew his victims. Local media iden-tified the dead victims as Eli Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, California, and Taylor Robertson, 27, of Ballard, West Virginia. Both had been competitors in the

tournament, local media reported, citing family of the victims.

Robertson, a husband and father, won the tournament last year and Katz won it the year before, the Miami Herald reported, citing family and friends posting on the Internet.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s office said nine people were wounded by gunfire and at least two others were injured while fleeing the scene. Officials did not respond to calls seeking updated information.

Six months ago 17 students and educators were gunned down at a high school in Parkland, Florida, an incident that inflamed the United States’ long running debate over gun rights. In 2016 a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub

in Orlando, in the second-dead-liest shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history.

The Sunday attack drew immediate statements from two Democratic candidates for gov-ernor — former US Represent-ative Gwen Graham and Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.

“We need to end these mass shootings — and the only way to do that is to vote out the politi-cians complicit in this cycle of death,” Graham said on Twitter. Levine sounded a similar note, saying, “It’s time for new leaders.” Graham and Levine are seeking the office currently held by Republican Governor Rick Scott, who in turn is challenging Democratic US Senator Bill Nelson.

The leading contenders for the Republican nomination for governor, US Representative Ron DeSantis and state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, canceled campaign events and urged cooperation with law enforcement.

The club was livestreaming the gaming competition when the gunfire started, according to video shared on social media. In the video, players can be seen reacting to the shots and cries can be heard before the footage cuts off.

Taylor Poindexter and her

A Jacksonville Sheriff officer helps keep the perimeter secure as law enforcement investigates a shooting at the GLHF Game club at the Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday.

boyfriend, Marquis Williams, who had travelled from Chicago to attend the tournament, fled when the gunfire erupted. She said she saw Katz take aim at his victims.

“We did see him, two hands on the gun, walking back, just

popping rounds,” Poindexter told reporters. “I was scared for my life and my boyfriend’s.” Another gamer, Chris “Dubby” McFarland, was hospitalized after a bullet grazed his head. “I feel fine, just a scratch on my head. Traumatized and devas-

tated,” he wrote on Twitter.Jacksonville Memorial Hos-

pital is treating three people wounded in the attack, said spokesman Peter Moberg. All were listed in good condition and one was expected to be dis-charged soon, he said.

Trump isolated in his silence on McCainAFP

W A S H I N G T O N : Donald Trump’s conspicuous failure to pay tribute to the late John McCain yesterday underscored the isolation of the US President — seen by critics as incapable of bringing a divided nation together even as it mourns a political icon.

The US flag at the White House was back at full staff yes-terday morning — in contrast to the US Capitol — after being lowered over the weekend to mark McCain’s death on Sat-urday of brain cancer at age 81.

A war hero who endured torture as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, the Arizona Republican was an uncompromising voice on issues of war and peace in the US Congress and a two-time candidate for the presidency.

But Trump, who bypassed military service himself, has had only words of contempt for the senator, famously dismissing him during the 2016 presidential campaign as “not a war hero.” “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said.

The bad blood was mutual and on display even in death. Battling cancer, McCain reportedly excluded Trump

from his funeral arrangements. Trump’s only comment so far has been a single, terse tweet, even as the US Congress pre-pares to give McCain a states-man’s send-off. Trump sent his “deepest sympathies and respect” to the bereaved family on Saturday, but offered no

words for McCain himself.The Washington Post

reported that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Chief of Staff John Kelly and other senior staff had urged a statement be released referring to McCain as a “hero”. The statement was given to Trump

for his approval, but according to the paper, which cited current and former White House aides, the president said he preferred to tweet instead.

The absence of a formal White House statement has underscored Trump’s isolation in a city where McCain’s death

otherwise has been a rare occasion for bipartisan praise for his lifetime in public service.

He will lie in state at Ari-zona’s capitol tomorrow, before a public viewing on Friday at the Rotunda of the US Capitol, an honour reserved for the likes of John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks. A national funeral service will be held on Saturday at the National Cathedral in Wash-ington, with lawmakers, foreign leaders and other dignitaries in attendance.

Former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama have been asked to deliver eulogies. The current president’s likely absence could not be more con-spicuous. Tributes have poured in from every living former pres-ident, honouring the former Navy aviator for his courage, integrity and decency.

Vice-President Mike Pence and First Lady Melania Trump offered their condolences and thanks “for your service to the nation”. Obama hailed his former rival for the US presidency in 2008 as a man of courage who showed what it meant “to put the greater good above our own.” The New York Stock Exchange observed a moment of silence in McCain’s memory.

Flowers, signs and photos are seen at a makeshift memorial to US Senator John McCain, in Phoenix, Arizona. McCain, who died on August 25 at age 81, will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Phoenix and receive a full dress funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.

Green Party member Claudia Lopez accompanied by Senator Angelica Lozano, speaks after a referendum on anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Bogota, Colombia.

Colombian anti-graft referendum vote fails to meet quorumREUTERS

BOGOTA: A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia late on Sunday, nulli-fying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support.

Corruption has become a hot topic in the country in recent years as security has improved and Colombians have increas-ingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country’s anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Graft costs the country $17bn

a year, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, the country’s comptroller has said. To be valid each question needed just over 12.1 million votes cast. With nearly 100 percent reporting, just 11.6 million people had voted, under a third of the 36.4 million eligible voters.

Each of the seven questions, including bans on house arrest sentences for corruption, forcing elected officials to publish tax returns and a three-term limit on lawmakers, had more than 99 percent support.

Voters also backed limiting monthly salaries for lawmakers and other high-ranking officials to the equivalent of 25 minimum salaries, or nearly $6,600. Law-makers currently earn more than $10,500 per month, compared with a minimum wage of about $260.

“Yes” was supported by many leftist and centrist law-makers. A faux reggaeton video starring politicians backing “Yes” was widely shared on social media this week.

Right-wing President Ivan Duque, who has promised to clamp down on graft with term limits and stiffer sentences, supported the referendum and has called corruption a “cancer.” However, several members of his party, including ex-president and current senator Alvaro Uribe, who is his mentor, said they preferred to support anti-corruption pro-posals in Congress instead.

Uribe, whose administration was dogged by corruption probes, is under investigation by the Supreme Court for alleged witness tampering and bribery.

Watt’s Hurricane Harvey fund raises $41.6mAFP

LOS ANGELES: J J Watt’s relief effort in the wake of last year’s Hurricane Harvey raised $41.6m, the Houston Texans star confirmed in a statement yesterday.

Watt’s crowd-sourced fun-draiser had initially appealed for $100,000 to help victims of the disaster but ended up becoming one of the most suc-cessful appeals of all time.

In a statement yesterday to mark the one-year anni-versary of the fund’s launch, Watt said the relief effort fol-lowing Harvey had served as an inspiration.

“As I reflect on the events of Hurricane Harvey one year ago, the memories of destruction and devastation remain, but they are accom-panied by memories of hope, selflessness and the beauty of the human spirit,” Watt said.

“The actions of profes-sional first responders and eve-ryday citizens alike were an inspiration to the world and a shining example of the inherent good that lies within us all.” Watt provided details of how the millions raised through his appeal had helped to rebuild areas affected by the devastating flooding.

Stolen police rifles replaced with toy gunsAFP

ASUNCION: Paraguayan police are investigating the theft of 42 rifles from a depot that were replaced with toy ones, Minister of the Interior, Ernesto Villamayor said.

The air rifles were replaced with replicas made from plastic or wood. “We’re trying to find out when the weapons disap-peared,” said Villamayor, fol-lowing a meeting with Pres-ident Mario Abdo Benitez.

He said there were reports that 90 handguns had gone missing between January and June this year, a situation he described as “serious” due to the potential that Paraguayan police-issued arms could end up in the hands of “interna-tional criminals”.

20 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018MORNING BREAK

HIGH TIDE 05:45 – 18:30 LOW TIDE 00:45 – 11:15

Misty to foggy at places by early morning,

becomes hot and relatively humid day-

time with some clouds, humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 31oC 39oC

FAJR

SHOROOK

03. 54 AM

05. 13 AM

11. 35 AM

03. 05 PM

05. 59 PM

07. 29 PM

ZUHR

ASR

MAGHRIB

ISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

A painting pandaGiant Panda Yang Yang uses finger paint and a brush to create a picture at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria. One hundred of her works will be sold online for €490 each, to fund a picture book about the Vienna zoo’s pandas. Yang Yang’s abstract works are reminiscent of the first attempts of a small child — black splotches on white paper.

Six to eight hours of sleep best for heartQNA

MUNICH: Six to eight hours of sleep a night is most bene-ficial for the heart, while more or less than that could increase the risk of coronary artery disease or a stroke, researchers have suggested.

The study, presented at the European Society of Car-diology Congress in Munich, indicates sleep deprivation and excessive hours in bed should be avoided for optimum heart health.

The study’s author, Dr Epameinondas Fountas of the Onassis cardiac surgery center in Athens, said: “Our findings suggest that too much or too little sleep may be bad for the heart.

“More research is needed to clarify exactly why, but we do know that sleep influences biological processes like glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and inflammations, all of which have an impact on cardiovascular disease.”

Data from more than a million adults from 11 studies was analyzed as part of the research.

Compared with adults who got six to eight hours of sleep a night, “short sleepers” had an 11% greater risk, while “long sleepers” had 33% increased risk over the next nine years.

Fountas added: “Having the odd short night or lie-in is unlikely to be detrimental to health, but evidence is accumulating that prolonged nightly sleep deprivation or excessive sleeping should be avoided.”

Emily McGrath, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “When it comes to our heart and circulatory health, this large study suggests that there may be a sweet spot between getting too much and getting too little sleep.

“This research neednt trigger alarm bells for those of us partial to a sleepless night or a weekend lie-in. However, if you regularly struggle with your sleep, its an important reminder to speak to your GP.

Study: Fish oil supplements don’t ward off heart diseaseAFP

WASHINGTON: Fish oil supplements do not help prevent heart attacks or strokes in people with diabetes, said a study yesterday that adds to a growing body of research on the ineffec-tiveness of pills containing omega-3 fatty acids.

More than 15,000 people with diabetes but no signs of heart disease enrolled in the study in Britain, the results of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Half the participants were given a daily capsule of omega-3, while the other half received a placebo pill con-taining olive oil. The study was randomized and blinded, meaning that participants had no idea which they were taking.

Patients were followed for an average of just over seven years. Among those taking fish oil pills, 8.9 percent suffered a heart attack or stroke, com-pared to 9.2 percent in the placebo group, which was not a significant difference.

“Our large, long-term randomized trial shows that fish oil supplements do not reduce the risk of cardiovas-cular events in patients with diabetes,” said principal investigator Louise Bowman of the University of Oxford.

“This is a disappointing finding, but it is in line with previous randomized trials in other types of patient at increased risk of cardiovas-cular events which also showed no benefit of fish oil supplements.”

Bowman concluded: “There is no justification for recommending fish oil sup-plements to protect against cardiovascular events.” In January, an analysis of 10 studies involving 78,000 people published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Cardiology also concluded that fish oil pills did not prevent heart disease among people at high risk.

Some observational studies have pointed to an association between higher consumption of fish and lower risks of coronary artery disease and stroke, but more rigorous, randomized trials have not supported this link.

Rescue bidA rescue team tries to move an Orca back to the sea in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Activists urge killer robot ban ‘before it is too late’AFP

GENEVA: Countries should quickly agree a treaty banning the use of so-called killer robots “before it is too late”, activists said yesterday as talks on the issue resumed at the UN.

They say time is running out before weapons are deployed that use lethal force without a human making the final kill-order and have criticised the UN body hosting the talks — the Convention of Certain Conven-tional Weapons (CCW) — for moving too slowly. “Killer robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction,” Rasha Abdul Rahim, Amnesty International’s adviser on artificial intelligence and human rights, said.

“From artificially intelligent drones to automated guns that can choose their own targets, technological advances in weaponry are far outpacing international law,” she said. “We are calling on states to take concrete steps to halt the spread of these dangerous weapons... before it is too late.”

Her comments came as a CCW group of governmental experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems began a week-long meeting in Geneva. The world body hosted the first-ever killer robot negotiations last year and

India’s disarmament ambassador Amandeep Gill, who chairs the CCW talks, told reporters “good progress” had been made since then.

Yet countries have yet to agree on which path to take in addressing such weapons. The number of states calling for an outright killer robot ban has increased, with cam-paigners saying at least 26 are now onboard.

But the states believed to have the most advanced autonomous weapons, including the United States, France, Britain and Israel, have not committed to any form of binding mechanism restricting their use.

The way forward is expected to be determined this week or at a broader CCW conference in November, but the requirement to reach consensus could prove a stumbling block. Activists are pushing nations to move on to formal negotiations on a binding treaty within the CCW.

The Campaign to Ban Killer Robots stressed that without clear progress in that direction, negotiations could also happen outside of the confines of the CCW convention. “We are willing and able to take it outside of the UN if it is blocked by consensus,” cam-paign member Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work towards a treaty banning landmines, said.

Naughty dolphin causes beach ban in French townAFP

RENNES: A love-lorn dolphin has prompted a French coastal town to ban bathing on its beaches, fearing people may be hurt by the antics of the over-excited mammal.

Roger Lars, mayor of Landevennec, on the western tip of Brittany, issued a ban on vol-untarily approaching within 50 metres of the dolphin and outlawed bathing and diving from the district’s beaches whenever the animal is spotted in local waters.

The move was made on the basis of advice from marine specialists after the visibly excited three-metre (10-foot) dolphin — nicknamed Zafar — bumped against boats and bathers, he said. “I issued the decree to ensure safety... Several bathers were really afraid — he even lifted up a woman bather with his snout,” Lars told the local newspaper Ouest France.

The ban took effect on August 20. Sami Hassani, a specialist in marine mammals at the Oceanopolis sea park, said the dolphin could accidentally cause “serious injuries” with its tail fin. But the ban has run into legal problems. Lawyer Erwan Le Cornec said he plans to file a petition to overturn the restrictions.

“With this decree the mayor is trying to make out that the dolphin is almost like a fero-cious beast, something that is completely unpredictable, able to drown people.” The mayor, he said, “will overturn the rightly pos-itive approach that people have towards dol-phins into a fear of these intelligent animals”.

Hair-raising! Japan bullet train staff made to sit by tracksAFP

TOKYO: A Japanese rail company has defended a safety exercise that requires employees to sit beside tracks in tunnels as bullet trains speed by at 300km an hour.

JR West said it has no plans to alter the exercise despite complaints from some employees. About 190 staff working on safety maintenance for Japan’s famed shinkansen bullet train have undergone the training, a company spokesman said. “The training aims to teach our maintenance staff the importance of every part of their jobs,” he said.

“We pay close attention to safety while doing the training,” he added, while acknowledging complaints from some staff members. “We will continue this training while ensuring it serves a purpose and is done safely.” JR West introduced the training in 2016 after an accident in August 2015 in which part of the bullet train’s exterior fell off, the spokesman said.

The purpose of the drill was reportedly to impress on the staff how fast the train moved and therefore how seriously they needed to take their jobs. But it has proved unpopular with some employees, local media reported. “It was a hor-rible experience,” the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper quoted one employee as saying.

Another described the experience as “just like a public flogging,” the Mainichi daily reported.

Japan’s ultra-efficient shinkansen train network connects cities along the length and breadth of the country.