Xavi, Al Haydos and Tai-hee shortlisted for QFA award

QSE keen to develop diverse

investor base

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a written message from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, inviting the Emir to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit with the United States, and Arab, Islamic and US Summit, which will be held in Riyadh on May 21. The message was handed by Saudi Minister of Commerce and Investment, Dr Majid Al Qasabi, during a meeting at the Emiri Diwan, yesterday. → See also page 3

Khalifa International Stadium, one of the landmark venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, after the renovation, last evening. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

Emir receives invitation from Saudi King

New-look Khalifa Stadium

BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 28

Volume 22 | Number 7158 | 2 RiyalsThursday 11 May 2017 | 15 Sha'baan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

MEDINA CENTRALEMEDIINANA C CENENTRTRALESpecial Lease Offer

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3rd Best News Website in the Middle East

Irfan Bukhari The Peninsula

Under an ambitious revamp-plan, Qatar Post is set to estab-lish 28 new branches in country

this year and 10 new smart lock-ers will also be installed at well-populated areas to facili-tate customers.

Q-Post is also working on a plan to build a new storing facility measuring 40,000 sq metres to automate process-ing of mail volumes, increase efficiency and customers service.

Another service, “Digital Mailroom Solutions” of Q-Post will provide document archiv-ing and compliance management through digitisa-tion solutions. The authorities of Q-Post unveiled future plans among others yesterday during a workshop for Q-companies and corporate entities. Qatar Post also announced that it would establish "digital touch points" to make services cus-tomers’ friendly and accessible to the residents.

Yesterday Q-Post organised workshop for Qatar’s corporate entities. While giving presen-tation to the audience on the transformation of the company, company's top officials shed light on upcoming plans of the company including establish-ment of 28 new branches.

Talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the event, Muad Daniel, Head of marketing and Communications, Qatar Post, said that the new branches would be opened at locations convenient to public like malls. “Now we are moving from stan-dalone branches to the

locations most frequented by public so that they can conven-iently avail our services,” she added. Daniel said that an over-all revamp of Q-Post was underway. “From human resource department and train-ing of staff to equipment; retail strategy to expansion of branches and infrastructure; everything is going to be modernised.”

She said that Qatar Post was also set to launch a customer friendly mobile application. “Q-Post under its digitisation pol-icy will also install self service machines at various places includ-ing shopping malls,” she said.

Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Post, Faleh Al Naemi, was not only present at the workshop but he also kept on interacting with guests by visiting various tables to get ‘valuable input’ of Q-Post customers..

The company officials said that Q-Post was also providing "Mailroom Management Serv-ice" to a number of leading banks of Qatar that optimizes efficiency in the management of mail-rooms and daily corre-s p o n d e n c e t h r o u g h inter-branch, intra-branch, external deliveries and mail-room setup.

Draft law on economic zones under study

Sidi Mohamed The Peninsula

To protect the workers from direct sun, the General Cleanness Department at

the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has provided new shaded cleaning trolleys. The first-it-kind trolleys will protect workers from heat stroke.

The new trolleys will enter services this week and will be used in commercial streets at all areas. They are marked by their good quality and light weight which will help workers to do their works faster as well.

Speaking to The Peninsula, Safar Mubarak Al Shafi, Direc-tor of the General Cleanness Department, said that the min-istry was keen to develop and improve its services especially the ones related to workers.

The Ministry gives special priority to workers and offers all requirements which meet modern work environment. Workers will use it within this week, and will be used in the

commercial streets at all areas,” he said.

“The number of trolleys is enough to cover all commer-cial streets and even some specific residential area and from today the trolleys will dis-tributed and by next week it will be at all commercial streets”, he added.

He further said: “I can’t mention the exact number of trolleys we have but I know

that only in Doha there are 27 commercial streets, and the number will be enough for all streets not only Doha. The trol-ley is light and equipped with all necessary things workers need."

Al Gharafa, Central Munici-pal Council member, Mubarak Farish said: “We are appreciat-ing this initiative because it is a human initiative, and our lead-ers are giving priority to workers.”

→ Continued on page 4

Q-Post plans 28 new branches; 10 smart lockers

First-of-its-kind cleaning trolleys with sunshades launched

In more than two decades after its inception, Qatar Foundation (QF) has created the foundations for education, research and develop-ment , and community

development and is continuing on its journey to make a positive impact locally and internationally.

Education City, QF’s flagship devel-opment, serves as a hub of academic excellence and houses a range of edu-cational facilities, from QF schools to partner universities and the homegrown research institution, Hamad Bin Khal-ifa University (HBKU). Through partnership model with international

Nurturing the future leaders of Qatar

T H U R S D AY 1 1 M AY 2 0 1 7

10 Made in Qatar films in CannesTHE PRESTIGIOUS 2017 Cannes Film Festival will wit-ness a true celebration of Qatari cinema and talent with the screening of ten ‘Made in Qatar’ films.

The Doha Film Institute (DFI) shines the spotlight on Qatar’s emerging talents with a special Market screening of ‘Made in Qatar’ films on May 24 at the festival.

→ See also page 18

The Peninsula

THE MINISTRY of Economy and Commerce (MEC) caught 112 violations in April during its intensive campaign to ensure the compliance of sup-pliers (retail outlets) with Law No. 8 of 2008 on Consumer Protection. The nationwide campaign by the Ministry’s inspectors found violations like missing price tags for products and services, failing to issue complete invoices, providing with false or misleading prod-uct descriptions, failing to display prices in Arabic and failing to offer service guaran-tees for an appropriate period or refunding customers.

→ Continued on page 7

Safar Mubarak Al Shafi

Q-Post is also working on a plan to build a new storing facility measuring 40,000 sqm to automate processing of mail volumes, increase efficiency and customers service.

THE CABINET, in its ordinary meeting yesterday, ordered to take necessary measures to issue a draft law on eco-nomic zones, after the Council of Ministers reviewed the rec-ommendation of the Advisory Council on the draft law.

Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani chaired the Cabinet meeting held at the Emiri Diwan premises.

Under the provisions of the draft law, the Council of Min-isters, upon the proposal of the Board of Directors of Economic Zones Company, is authorised to establish one or more eco-nomic zones, with a view to setting up projects and encour-aging and attracting investment. All types of com-panies, partnership contracts or any other legal entities, whether owned by one or more natural or legal persons, may be founded or established in the zone by citizens or others.

MEC reports112 violations

Included with today’s edition is a 16-page special supplement

"The new trolleys will enter services this week and will be used in commercial streets at all areas. The trolley is light and equipped with all necessary things workers need."

02 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017HOME

03THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 HOME

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, at the Emiri Diwan yesterday. The meeting reviewed a number of issues related to the promotion of joint GCC action and ways of developing it. The Secretary-General briefed the Emir on the latest preparations and the most important issues on the agenda of the 17th consultative meeting of the leaders of the GCC states, and the summit of the leaders of the GCC countries and the US.

Emir meets GCC Secretary-General

Ashghal launches e-services portalThe Peninsula

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has launched its e-services portal, provided

by Ashghal’s Customer Zone, which includes a range of 18 serv-ices and applications that can be easily reached and submitted by individuals and businesses.

They can reach through the portal (customerzone.ashghal.gov.qa). The Public Works Authority continues to imple-ment its Customer Service Excellence Programme, which was launched in 2013 with the aim of developing the services offered to customers of all

categories and facilitating access to these various services, said a statement.

Eng. Ali Abdullatif Al-Kuwari, Assistant Manager of Information Systems Depart-ment in Ashghal, stated that the e-services portal has an organ-ised and accurate interface that enables customers, individuals or businesses, to easily access the services they need.

The services are categorised in lists based on their type, including: Roads Services, Drainage Services, Infrastruc-ture Services, Complaints, Suggestions, and Enquiries lists, in addition to Notifications

which are different from com-plaints in that they are not related to a personal matter but rather to anything that might cause a public hazard or dam-age. The application process is easy and fast; it only requires selecting the service and click-ing on application’s icon, then filling the required fields of information.

In addition, documents can be uploaded and attached with the application to finish the process and submit complete applications electronically.

Eng. Ali Al-Kuwari added that the Roads Services include seven services and permits.

04 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017HOME

QNA

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdul-lah bin Nasser bin Khalifa

Al Thani attended the gradua-tion ceremony of the second mandatory qualifying course for graduates of civil universities at the Police College, which was held at the College's headquar-ters yesterday.

The ceremony included var-ious training presentations and military formations as well as a military parade under the super-vision of Chinese infantry instructors.

It also included the screen-ing of a documentary about the graduates during the training course.

At the conclusion of the cer-emony, the Prime Minister honoured the first in the course and handed over certificates to graduates.

The Prime Minister also hon-oured the Chinese infantry instructors who participated in the training of a group of offic-ers, non-commissioned officers and instructors at the Police Col-lege on the Chinese basic infantry course.

The second mandatory qual-ifying course for graduates which was organised by the College

included 99 trainees from a number of military entities in the state with various specialties.

During the course, which lasted for six months,

the graduates received various military, sports and police-related academic training.

Speaking on the occasion, Director General of Police

College Brigadier Dr Muhammad Abdullah Al Mohanna Al Marri said that the six months course has qualified the graduates and helped them to gain military

knowledge and legal and secu-rity disciplines that prepare them for their future military career in the police force, capable of carrying out their functional

duties entrusted with contribut-ing to the protection and security of the capabilities of this State in various locations.

PM attends graduation of qualifying course of Police College

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani at the graduation ceremony at the Police College, held at the College's headquarters, yesterday.

Future of media discussedThe Peninsula

Digital and traditional media are comple-menting each other. “Digital transforma-tion will never end,

but it doesn’t need to be zero-sum disruption,” said Paul Lee, Partner and Global Head of Research for the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) industry at Deloitte, speaking at the two-day media summit, which kicked off yes-terday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha.

The 'Future of Media – Lead-ers’ Summit' is organised by Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) under the patronage of H E Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, its Chairman, with inter-national broadcast industry leaders, CIOs, ICT professionals and media experts discussing how business and innovation are affecting the future of media.

In his keynote speech during the opening, Lee added that “it doesn’t have to be them versus us; it can be them and us”. The conference comes within the framework of AJMN's continu-ous keenness to keep abreast of the great developments wit-nessed by the media technologies, content publishing platforms and ways to reach the

public, said Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani in his opening remark.

The event represents an opportunity to learn about the latest technologies used in var-ious fields of media and to discuss challenges facing media professionals and technicians to cope with the rapid technologi-cal development, Sheikh Thamir added, expressing hope that the event will be an opportunity for coming up with important rec-ommendations and guidance that would pave for a better anticipation of the future of media and preparation for the expected changes in the nature of this field.

Shiekh Hamad bin Thamer Al-Thani praised the efforts being exerted by AJMN's partners in organizing the event, including Microsoft, Cisco, Avid, Commvault, Tech Mahindra, SIP, Smart Global and the Ministry of Transport and Communication and their support

to transform the Conference from idea into reality.

The Summit is the first of its kind in the region, on the model of similar events held in the Netherlands and Las Vegas.

Lee’s speech was followed by a panel discussion on how media organisations are adapting to digital transformation.

How Al Jazeera has constantly adapted to changing technology over its 20-year history was a topic presented by Mohamed Abuagla, CIO/CTO of Al Jazeer Media Network. “Transformation has to be holistic, involving peo-ple, processes and technology,” he said pointing out that “to become more transformative, you need to become a service provider.”

Rainer Kellerhals, Industry Lead for Media and Cable EMEA at Microsoft, spoke on cloud and cognitive computing’s impact on newsrooms; and Jeff Rosica, President and CMO of Avid Tech-nologies, discussed transforming and unifying workflows with a platform approach.

The discussion ended with a c a s e s t u d y a b o u t

Sinclair’s digital reinvention of contribution and distribution presented by Delbert Parks, CIO of Sinclair Media Group.

The summit concludes today with another full slate of thought leaders. Al Jazeera Executive Director Dr Yaser Bisher will open with a presentation about Al Jazeera’s digital strategy. Moham-med Nanabhai, Deputy CEO at

Media Development Investment Fund, will deliver a keynote address on social media’s impact on media, content and audience.

Other speakers scheduled for the final day include Haroon Meer, founder of Thinkst Applied Research; Ken Morse, Media CIO at Cisco Systems; and Mohamed Abuagla, CIO/CTO of Al Jazeera Media Network.

CMC members welcomethe new initiative→ Continued from page 1

“Workers need these trol-leys and this is summer, and we hope some awareness campaigns will be conducted by authorities concerned to tell people to help workers by throwing wastes in designated places, because it will help workers,” he said.

He suggested that the authorities could make work hours in the evening so that workers could avoid sum-mer sun, or to make the

work shifts three hours.CMC Vice-Chairman

Hamad Lahdan Al Mohannadi welcomed the initiative and tweeted: "It is good initiative from General Cleanness Department to reduce the temperature for cleaners." Sheikha Al Jufairi, CMC mem-ber, said: “I thank the Ministry for this initiative because it came on time and I consider it a qualitative leap and hope the number of trolleys will be enough”.

Al Jazeera summit

The event represents an opportunity to learn about the latest technologies used in various fields.

Summit the first of its kind in the region, on the model of similar events in Las Vegas and the Netherlands. H E Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, Chairman of Al Jazeera

Media Network, opening the summit at Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha, yesterday.

The new trolleys introduced by the General Cleanness Department.

05THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 HOME

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi received a copy of credentials of Ramesh Prasad Koirala as Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to Qatar, in Doha yesterday. The Minister wished the new Ambassador success in his mission and further progress in bilateral relations.

Al Muraikhi meets Nepal ambassador

The Peninsula

Qatar Airways Cargo made several key announcements on the first day of Air Cargo Europe 2017, including

plans to launch a transit facility for temperature-controlled ship-ments as well as the scheduled launch of weekly freighter serv-ice to London’s Heathrow airport.

Qatar Airways Cargo announced that it will soon be operating a brand new Climate Control Centre, a 2,470 square metre airside transit facility for temperature-sensitive cargo. The facility will feature two zones operating for 2°- 8°C or 15°- 25°C with capacity to hold a total of 156 ULDs (unit load devices) at a time. Segregated sections within the facility enable storage of pharma-ceutical products in compliance with ‘good distribution practice’ (GDP) regulations. To ensure complete temperature integrity, the facility will be equipped with six truck docks, each with inflated

curtains and an ante-room as a staging area. In response to the growth in global demand and to provide increased and dedicated uplift for Swiss pharmaceuticals, Qatar Airways Cargo added a fourth, weekly Basel-Doha, Pharma Express flight on May 8, served by its Airbus A330 freighter.

Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann, told a well-attended press conference: “We are pleased to once again

convene at Air Cargo Europe to meet and discuss business oppor-tunities with our global customers and partners. Europe is a major market for Qatar Airways Cargo, and we have expanded our oper-ations immensely by increasing our freighter flights to the prime European cities such as Luxem-bourg, Liege and Brussels in recent months. This includes the launch of our fourth Pharma Express flight weekly from Basel to Doha on May 8. Ultimately, we aspire to be the preferred cargo service provider to connect our customers’ businesses across the globe with quality and speed via our state-of-the-art Doha hub.”

The Qatar Airways Cargo two-storey stand at the Air Cargo Europe trade show in Munich hosted global cargo cus-tomers and business partners

The opening of a dedicated transit facility for courier and mail products at HIA was also announced. With a built-up size of 6,700 square metres and a capacity for 256,000 tonnes annually, the facility is complete with screening, handling and storage areas. The award-win-ning carrier’s cargo terminal 2 (CT2) project is underway with phase 1 scheduled to be com-pleted in 2021. The ground-breaking CT2 has a build-up area of 110,000 square metres, which will boost the airline’s annual cargo capacity to 4.6 mil-lion tonnes.

Ogiermann also announced the launch of weekly Airbus A330 freighters to London Hea-throw, due to commence on June 3, 2017. The carrier has operated freighters to London’s Stansted Airport since May 2014.

QA Cargo introduces

Climate Control CentrePharma flight

Qatar Airways Cargo adds fourth, weekly Basel-Doha, Pharma Express flight, served by its Airbus A330 freighter.

A dedicated transit facility for courier and mail products at HIA opened.

The Peninsula

The Health Monitoring Sec-tion at Doha Municipality conducted inspections

against street vendors at Al Asmakh and caught several por-ters and vendors violating rules.

The campaign came in the framework of cooperation between the Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Com-merce and authorities concerned at the Ministry of Interior.

Hamad Sultan Al Shahwani, the public monitoring section head, said that this joint campaign aims to control markets and catch and remove violations.

The Ministry of Municipal-ity cleaned the area and removed wastes and confiscated large quantity of vegetables,

fruits and fish unfit for human consumption. A number of ani-mals were also seized when their owners ran away, leaving then in their cars.

Meanwhile, the Al Gharafa

section at Al Rayyan Municipal-ity conducted many inspections during February and March at Rawdat Qdeem to remove encroachment of state property.

Raids against illegal street vendors

The new Climate Control Centre. Street vendors at Al Asmakh.

06 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017HOME

Rayyan Municipality issued most building permitsThe Peninsula

Rayyan Municipality came at the top of the municipalities in April 2017 where 155 building permits

were issued in one month. These 155 building permits

issued in Rayyan municipality make 25% of the total issued permits while Doha Municipal-ity came in second with 135 permits making 22% of the total issued permits, said a state-ment of the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.

In Al Wakrah Municipality, 110 permits (18%) were issued followed by Al Da'ayen with 90 permits (15%).The rest of the municipalities are as follows: Umm Slal 60 permits (10%), Al Khor 39 permits (6%), Al Shamal 15 permits (2%), and finally Al Shahaniya 14 permits (2%).

The Ministry of Develop-ment Planning and Statistics released these figures in the 28th issue of the monthly Sta-tistics of Building Permits issued by all municipalities.

Building permits data is of particular importance as it is considered an indicator for the p e r f o r m a n c e o f t h e

construction sector which in turn occupies a significant position in the national economy.

The release of this monthly data comes under the joint cooperation between the Min-istry of Development Planning and Statistics and the Ministry of Municipality and Environ-ment to make use of the existing electronic link between the two ministries.

In terms of type of permits issued, data indicates that the new building permits (residen-tial and non-residential) constitute 58% (359 permits) of the total building permits issued during the month of April 2017, while the percent-age of additions permits

constituted 39% (238 permits), and finally fencing permits with 3% (21 permits).

By analysing new residen-tial buildings permits data, we find that villas’ permits top the list, accounting for 49% (146 permits) of all new residential buildings permits, followed by dwellings of housing loans by 40% (120 permits) and apart-ment buildings by 9% (25 permits).

On the other hand, indus-trial buildings e g workshops and factories were found to be in the forefront of non-residen-tial buildings permits with 38% (23 permits), followed by com-mercial buildings and mosques alike with 26% (16 permits) each, then governmental build-ings with 5% (3 permits).

Comparing number of per-mits issued in April 2017 with those issued in the previous month we noted a general decrease of 7%. This decrease was clearly noted in the munic-ipalities of Al Shamal (25%), Rayyan (18%), Doha (14%), Al Da'ayen (1%). On the other hand there was a clear increase in the municipalities of Al Khor (18%), Umm Slal (7%), Wakrah (1%), but Al Shahaniya munic-ipality maintained the same number of issued permits.

April data

The 155 building permits issued in Rayyan Municipality make 25% of the total issued permits while Doha Municipality came in second with 135 permits making 22% of the total issued permits.

Aspire Academy students win Life Skills competitionThe Peninsula

Organised for the fourth consecutive year, Aspire Academy’s Life Skills

competition has reached a suc-cessful conclusion, with Aspire Academy students clinching the win. The competition featured boys’ teams from local inde-pendent and private schools and comprised several sporting activities that tested students in feats of teamwork and decision making. While Aspire Academy took home the competition’s title, all the boys taking part in the yearly event left the Aspire Dome with new valuable lead-ership skills under their belt.

Speaking about the tourna-ment, Badr Jassim Al Hay, Director of Education and Stu-dent Care at Aspire Academy, said: “We would like to thank all

the schools that took part in the competition. With this initiative, we hope to inspire not only Aspire Academy’s students, but all young people in Qatar. The competition is derived from the Academy’s ‘Ehteraf’ programme, which is an important initiative that teaches young kids valuable life skills such as responsibility, respect for others, time manage-ment, teamwork and goal-setting. These young chil-dren will one day grow up to be Qatar’s future leaders, and Aspire Academy aims to play a leading role in their development and wellbeing.”

In all, six local independent and private schools took part in the tournament. Participating schools included: Al Furqan Pri-vate School for Boys; Omar Bin Al Khattab School (who won second and third place

respectively); Hamza Bin Abdul Muttalib Independent School; Al-Andalus Private School; Aljazeera Academy; and Al Maha Academy.

Abdulaziz Al Naama, from Aljazeera Academy, commented on his team’s participation say-ing: “Even though our school didn’t win the title, we really enjoyed the game and chal-lenged ourselves in this competition. We were all play-ing as a team, with a common goal of winning. It was a lot of fun and we hope to take part in future competitions.”

The Life Skills competition is an annual competition, organ-ised by Aspire Academy’s Leadership Department. The tournament is a part of depart-ment’s ‘Ehteraf’ programme (translates into ‘becoming a pro’ in Arabic).

CCQ hosts learning and civic engagement meetThe Peninsula

The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) hosted yes-terday the Second Annual

International Learning and Civic Engagement Symposium, under the title "Nurturing Com-munity Engagement through Integration, Innovation and Impact". The Symposium was attended by members of the CCQ Board of Trustees, CCQ President Dr.Ibrahim Al Naimi and CCQ Dean Dr Abdallah Hazaimeh, as well as local and international educational lead-ers, scholars and researchers in the fields of learning and civic engagement.

In his opening speech, Dr Ibrahim Al Naimi stressed the importance of the Symposium

in raising awareness and involvement in learning and civic engagement; promoting collaboration among students, faculty, and the community as they are inspired to establish more learning engagement pro-grams in Qatar and beyond; and sharing experiences and best practices in learning and civic engagement.

This year’s Symposium attracted civic engagement thought leaders and research-ers with a keynote address by Dr Eduardo Padr�n, President of the largest community college in the United States, Miami Dade College in Florida, and who was recently awarded the prestigious US Presidential Medal of Freedom, for being a prominent national voice for

access and inclusion in higher education. The event will also bring together presenters from North America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Arab world, aug-menting its global impact.

Various important topics related to civic engagement were covered through the Symposium sessions, including Community Engagement for the Public Good, Community Engaged Teaching and Learning, Impactful Experi-ences Abroad, and the Role of Information Technology in Civic Engagement”. The sessions also explored the best practices in civic engagement and service learning.

The First International Learn-ing and Civic Engagement Symposium was held under the theme of “High Impact Learning

The Peninsula

Traffic Awareness Section at the General Directo-rate of Traf f ic

Department yesterday organ-ised an awareness symposium about big vehicles traffic safety rules for companies .

Officials from transporta-tion companies attended the symposium to know about safe driving rules for drivers.

First Lieutenant Fahd Mubarak Sherida said the sec-tion has put a traffic plan for vehicles drivers in order to reduce accidents and viola-tions committed by drivers.

Among the mistakes which big vehicle drivers make are driving at peak hours which cause traffic jams, overtaking from the right and taking unauthorised lanes.

Some of the vehicles do not

cover what they are carrying, which may fall on the road and can cause accidents.

He also added that some drivers met with accidents due to speeding specially on Al Shamal Road, Al Wakra, and also some of them not make any maintenance for the vehicles which create many accidents and make the vehicles stop suddenly in the road.

Engagement Practices Beyond the Classroom Experience”, as part of CCQ's ongoing effort to pro-mote and sustain learning and civic engagement pro-grams in the MENA region.

Aspire Academy’s Life Skills competition featured boys’ teams from local independent and private schools.

Event on safety of big vehicles

MoI Telecom Dept receives recognitionThe Peninsula

The Telecommunications Department at the Min-istry of Interior received

the Cisco Plaque of Recogni-tion in recognition for being a Cisco Networking Academy, Academy support Centre and Instructor Training Centre of the year 2017.

Director of Telecommu-nications Department at the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier Engineer Ali Salim Al Henzab, received the award from Edwin Paalvast, Senior Vice- President, Cisco Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia.

The award comes as an acknowledgment of the efforts of the Training and Development Unit in the Tel-ecom Department.

07THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 HOME

HMC creates awareness about lupusThe Peninsula

To highlight World Lupus Day and create awareness of Systemic Lupus Ery-

thematosus (SLE), a serious and disabling autoimmune disease, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) recently organised a series of events for staff, patients, and the local community.

As part of the events organ-ised to acknowledge the day, HMC clinicians attended a sym-posium to discuss lupus, its

symptoms, and diagnosis and treatment options. Patients and their caregivers have been invited to attend a networking event today to raise awareness of the disease. The event is meant to ensure patients are in communi-cation with their healthcare team and know that early diagnosis is crucial to preventing long-term consequences of the illness.

Dr Samar Al Emadi, Head of Hamad General Hospital’s Rheu-matology Section, said according to international figures, an

estimated five million people worldwide have lupus. It is thought to be most common among women of childbearing age. “Lupus could be very chal-lenging to treat during pregnancy and it can lead to both mother and foetus losing their life.”

Dr Al Emadi has established a specialised clinic to look after pregnant women living with lupus and their foetus. The clinic is thought to be the first of its kind in the Middle East. Since its establishment, the clinic has

been recording excellent out-comes among patients.

“The exact cause of lupus is not known. However, its symp-toms can come and go over a long period of time. The symp-toms also change over time making lupus difficult to diag-nose. Common symptoms include joint pain, skin rashes, overwhelming fatigue, and fever that last for days or weeks,” Dr Abdel Rahiem Saim, Senior Con-sultant Rheumatologist at HMC explained.

Ooredoo is Emir Cup's official telecom partner

The Peninsula

Ooredoo has once again been named the Official Tele-communications Partner of the Emir

Cup, as the company continues to promote sports across Qatar.

As the main telecommuni-cations partner for the Emir Cup, Ooredoo is hoping to build excitement for the contest by organising a fun footballing activity from today until 19 May in Landmark mall.

The activity, which will include a football obstacle course, promotes athleticism as well as community spirit. Each competitor who completes the course without hitting an obsta-cle will win a prize.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director Community & Public Relations, Ooredoo, said: “The Emir Cup is one of the most

exciting events of the year and we’re delighted to once again support the event. This year, we hope to encourage as many people as possible to attend the matches, cheer on their favour-ite team, and begin a love of sport.”

To help build excitement for the finals of the Emir Cup among its employees, Ooredoo has also hosted the Emir Cup trophy at its HQ1 and HQ2 offices in Doha, as the nation-wide Cup tour of the main sponsors and partners of the tournament continues.

Organised by the Qatar Football Association (QFA), the Emir Cup is Qatar’s most pop-ular annual football tournament and will run until 19 May, with the winners guaranteed a place in the 2018 AFC Champions League, and awarded with the 2017 Emir Cup trophy.

This is the latest in a long line of agreements between Ooredoo and the QFA. Last year, Ooredoo signed a three-year partnership agreement with Qatar Football Associa-tion (QFA) to support the QFA’s top events; the Emir Cup and University League, as well as the Qatar National 'A' Team and Qatar National Olympic Team.

Promoting sport

Ooredoo is hoping to build excitement for the contest by organising a fun footballing activity from today until May 19 at Landmark Mall.

Officials with the Emir Cup.

Cheaper food items at Katara

Around 35 shops selling cheaper food items will open doors at 4pm

today at the southern area of the Cultural Village Foundation-Katara.

‘Meerat Ramadan at Katara’ will see the participa-tion of local food supply companies and coincide with the preparations for the Holy Month of Ramadan.

It will last through the Holy month.

Fire Safety meet kicks off on May 17The Peninsula

With the construction i n d u s t r y g o i n g through a transition

phase due to the updated Qatar Construction Specifications (QCS) and Fire Safety Codes, Ashghal and Qatar Civil Defence are endorsing and par-ticipating at the Qatar HSE & Fire Safety Conference on the 17th and 18th of May at the Marriott Marquis City Center in Doha.

Ehab Saleh, Senior Safety Engineer, Quality & Safety Department, Ashghal, will be addressing the new specifica-tions concerning the conditions and criteria of safety manage-ment systems, the prevention of accidents, and the assurance of optimal application at all work sites for the Public Work Authority projects.

The conference will pro-vide a platform for knowledge sharing, networking with spe-cialists in HSE, procurement, project management and fire safety and key government ministers. Participants will gain a better understanding of

international standards and how to enforce and comply with local Qatari fire safety codes, resulting in improving occupational health and safety for a sound working environment.

The two-day programme will cover a broad range of

relevant topics from evacuation planning for cities to smart safety innovations and latest fire protection technology that will achieve on-time project deliv-ery while maintaining a well-planned health and safety strategy. An interactive session hosted by Clyde & Co will

challenge delegates to assess their own processes as real-life examples will highlight the lack of awareness of site accident procedures and reporting obli-gations. Clyde & Co will share practical tips on how to best manage each step of the process.

Qatar Civil Defence will take part in the Qatar HSE & Fire Safety Conference.

Violations include failure to report defective products

Continued from page 1Violations also included failure

to report defective products that may cause harm to consumers to competent authorities, non-com-pliance with promotional offers, not using Arabic in ads and description of goods, lack of displaying expired or substandard products, selling with higher prices than advertised, or offering discounts without obtaining approval of competent departments.

The penalties resulted in admin-istrative closures, as well as fines ranging between QR5,000 and QR 30,000 in line with the applicable consumer protection laws. The fol-lowing is a breakdown of the type and number of violations registered in April 2017. The Ministry said it will refer those who violate laws and min-isterial decrees to competent authorities that will in turn take appropriate action against perpetra-tors in order to protect consumer rights.

The Ministry urged all consum-ers to report violations to the Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud department.

Qatar University awards studentsThe Peninsula

Qatar University (QU) announced the win-ners of the Student

Life Awards 2016/2017 under five categories — Stu-dent Leadership Award, Student Clubs and Organi-zations Award, Volunteering Award, Student Athletic Award, and Student Employment Award -- dur-ing its annual Takreem ceremony on May 9 and 10.

327 students (175 males and 152 females) were hon-oured for their outstanding performance in student life and activities.

The two-day ceremony was attended by QU Presi-dent Dr Hassan Al Derham, QU Vice President for Stu-dent Affairs Dr Khalid Al Khanji, and QU Director of Student Services and Activ-ities Abdulla Al Yafei, as well as QU officials, faculty, stu-dents and their families.

In his remarks, Dr

Hassan Al Derham said: “I am proud of our students. QU has graduated numer-ous generations and leaders, many of whom participated in extra-curricular and vol-unteering activities during their journey at the univer-sity. This contributed to unlocking their potential and to heightening their skills and personalities in various areas. QU is keen to honor its outstanding stu-dents who took part in various extra-curricular activities throughout the academic year. The Univer-sity is also planning to expand its infrastructure and facilities in order to pro-mote its ex-curricular activities. Dr Khalid Al Khanji said: “Since its estab-lishment, QU is keen to merge curricular activities with extra-curricular activ-ities. This annual event aims to recognise students who made a positive impact on student life.”

08 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017HOME

Ambassador of India to Qatar, P Kumaran, inaugurating the Mango Festival — Mango Passion 2017 — at the D-Ring Road branch of Lulu Hypermarket yesterday. Lulu Group Director, Mohamed Althaf, several dignitaries from the Ministry, retail/FMCG sectors, different communities and senior officials from Lulu chain were present at the event. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

'Mango Passion 2017' opens in LuluThe Peninsula

Lulu Hypermarket Group has organised the Mango Festival by the name of

‘Mango Passion 2017’ from 10th to 17th May. The festival was inaugurated by P Kumaran, the Ambassador of India to Qatar, at Lulu Hypermarket, D-Ring Road, in the presence of Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Group, and a host of dignitaries from the Ministry, retail/FMCG sectors, different communities and offi-cials from the Lulu chain.

Lulu Group has been organ-ising the Mango Festival for the last 14 years in succession and they are the first hypermarket to introduce this Festival to the Middle East and in Qatar it was organised for the first time in 2003. Every year, it draws an overwhelming response from all corners.

The management says that this festival is going to be differ-ent for connoisseurs of mangoes in Qatar. They are being focussed under a promotional campaign

that not only highlights the mango season to its maximum but also introduces the many fla-vours of more than 60 varieties of the luscious fruit mainly grown all over India, and around the world. This year the Festival will exhibit a wide variety of popular and delicious mangoes from India, Yemen, Malaysia, Kenya, Thailand, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast, Peru, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, USA, Mexico and Spain namely Malgova, Himapasanth, Chakkaragund, Mallika, Moovandan, Priyoor, Alphonso, Badami, Rajapuri, Thottapuri, Kesar, Daseri, Neelam, Sindoo-ram, White Malgova, Rumaniya, Cheeri, Kesar, KO Mango, Vazhapoo, Nadan, Nadasala, Natty Gold, Panchavarnam, Green Sweet, Nam Doc, Kartha Colombo, Red Villard, Kent, Palmer and Ataulfo etc. Besides, the festival will also exhibit organic mangoes of historical importance.

The Festival will also feature a wide range of mango-based

products namely Mango Raita, Mango Chick Peas Salad, Chem-meen Mango Curry, Fresh Mango Cake, Nada Fresh Mango, Man-bazha Payasam, Mango Muffin, Mango Swiss Roll, Igloo Mango Ice Cream, Eastern Mango Pickle, Rani Juice Mango and Tango Instant Milk etc.

Lulu outlets have made it convenient for the connoisseurs of this exotic fruit to taste the versatility and to buy the best taste that suits their palate. The idea behind the festival was to promote the agricultural pro-duce of India and to make it popular among the local com-munity and in the Middle East at large.

Mangoes are seasonal fruits; full season of fresh mango fruit begins in March and lasts until August, when the rich fragrance of the fruit heralds its arrival, and is usually harvested while they are green but perfectly mature. Unripe ones are extremely sour in taste. It is believed to have originated in the sub-Himalayan plains of the

Indian subcontinent and is one of the most popular, nutrition-ally rich fruit with unique flavour, fragrance, taste, and health promoting qualities mak-ing it a common ingredient in new functional foods.

It is quite interesting to know that mango is the national fruit of many countries viz India, Pakistan and Philippines, and mango tree is the national tree of Bangladesh. In Australia, where mangoes are considered a symbol of summer, the first tray of mangoes of the season is traditionally sold at an auction for charity.

Mango fruit is rich in pre-biotic dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and poly-phenolic fla-vonoid antioxidant compounds. According to a new research study, mango fruit has been found to protect against colon, breast, leukemia and prostate cancers. Consumption of natu-ral fruits rich in carotenes and potassium is good to protect body from lung and oral cavity cancers.

ICBF and Ministry of Interior officials announcing the event.

ICBF cultural event tomorrowThe Peninsula

The Indian Community Benevolent Fund (ICBF) under the Embassy of

India in association with Min-istry of Interior will be organising a mega cultural and awareness event on the occa-sion of International Labour Day from 5pm tomorrow at Asian Town in Doha Industrial Area. The celebration with par-ticipation of 7 departments from the Ministry will include stage performances of the workers of various nationali-ties and a few cultural

performances from affiliated organisations followed by live musical programme.

The unwavering support of the Ministry of Interior and the noteworthy interest exhibited by the Ministry of Labour in the affairs and welfare of the expa-triate working communities in Qatar is the evidence of the Qatar government’s farsighted-ness and great vision towards keeping the country as heart-warming and welcoming as ever for its committed expatriate workforce contributing to the nation’s development. The firm association of Ministry of

Interior (MOI) and Ministry of Labour (MOL), with ICBF, lays the corner stone to ICBF’s unde-terred efforts in the direction of betterment of workers, said the President of ICBF, Devis Edakkalathur.

We realised that celebrat-ing the essence of International Labour Day on 12th May 2017 at Asian Town, Industrial Area, will be a gesture to portray our commitment hand-in- hand with the respected ministries for the common cause – a smile on the faces of our hardwork-ing brothers and sisters, he added.

Hand hygiene awareness events held

The Peninsula

Hamad Medical Cor-poration (HMC) again this year marked World Hand Hygiene

Day (WHHD) by holding a number of activities across its network of hospitals to empha-sise the importance of hand hygiene.

World Hand Hygiene Day, observed every 5 May, is a glo-bal campaign declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote good hand hygiene practices among indi-viduals working in healthcare. The theme for this year’s WHHD campaign is ‘Fight Anti-biotic Resistance - It's in Your Hands.’ Each year, the WHHD campaign aims to enhance the global profile of good hand hygiene in healthcare and bring people together in support of hand hygiene improvements. The WHHD campaign at HMC was organised by the Corpo-rate Infection and Prevention Control Program (CIPC). The CIPC is a strategic programme that aims to develop effective infection control practices to drive continuous quality improvement within the organisation.

Such practices can prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections caused by blood and other bodily fluids.

During this year’s cam-paign, HMC staff were

encouraged to revisit the five key moments of hand washing, as defined by WHO for health-care workers. These include: before touching a patient, before cleaning and aseptic procedures (insertion of devices such as catheters), after contact with bodily fluids, after touch-ing a patient, and after touching a patient’s surroundings.

“All healthcare workers should be aware of and follow these hand washing practices. While the compliance rate at HMC is above international standards, there is always room for improvement. Improving hand hygiene will save lives, unnecessary suffer-ing, and is cost effective. The support of all staff is vital to achieving these goals,” said Dr Jameela Al Ajmi, Executive Director, Corporate Infection Prevention and Control, Qual-ity and Patient Safety and Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases, HMC.

According to the WHO, every year millions of patients globally are adversely affected by healthcare-associated infec-tions. More than half of these infections can be avoided with properly cleaned hands.

“Worldwide, millions of healthcare-associated infec-tions (HCAIs) occur on a daily basis, many of which result in serious harm or death. HCAIs include a range of infections acquired in hospitals or as a result of healthcare interventions.

HCAIs are a serious dis-ease burden and have a significant economic impact on patients and healthcare systems. Yet good hand hygiene – the simple task of cleaning hands at the right times and in the right way – can save lives,” she said.

Chinese artist displays works at Katara The Peninsula

Renowned Chinese artist Yu Hanyu is displaying 33 of his paintings at the

‘Spiritual & Holy Territory’ which opened yesterday at Gal-lery 1 of Katara’s Building 19.

The exhibition, which offers a unique interpretation of spir-ituality through the medium of paint, was opened by Katara General Manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, Deputy Gen-eral Manager and Head of Operations, Ahmad Al Sayed, representatives of diplomatic missions and media.

Aside from the paintings created using traditional Chi-nese ink, the exhibit also presents four Chinese calligra-phy posters depicting classic poetry. The art pieces focus on

the landscape of Tibet, portray-ing snow mountains and glaciers in the region.

The artist uses a technique that departs from the more tra-ditional styles used by his p r e d e c e s s o r s a n d contemporaries.

The ink paintings use lay-ers of gold powder and myriad shades of green to do justice to the stunning sunrises and sun-sets the mountainous region of Tibet is renowned for.

The use of intricate and light ink strokes add depth to the outlines of snow moun-tains and glaciers, bringing to life the mysticism and spirit-ual realms of Chinese culture, attributes which generally defy visual representation or imitation through any kind of medium.

HMC move

HMC staff were encouraged to revisit the five key moments of hand washing, as defined by WHO for healthcare workers.

Katara General Manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti examines one of the paintings at the opening of the exhibition by renowned Chinese artist Yu Hanyu at Katara, yesterday.

Aspetar makes headway in treating injuriesThe Peninsula

Aspetar, the orthopae-dic and sports medicine hospital,

recently introduced a locally developed protocol for the treatment and rehabilitation of hamstring injuries in ath-letes, drastically improving the quality of care.

Developed following comprehensive, evidence-based research, Aspetar has established the standardised protocol to accelerate the rehabilitation of players from injury.

The protocol is aimed at addressing some of the most common aspects of hamstring injuries, which occur mainly in football, but can be adjusted to address the needs of athletes competing in var-ious other sports too.

Hamstring injuries are usually associated with sports that involve running at high speed as well as rapid accel-eration or deceleration, such as sprinting, jumping, pivot-ing, turning or kicking.

A vicious cycle of re-injury is not uncommon, resulting in significant morbidity in terms of symptoms, reduced per-formance, and time lost from taking part in a sport.

09THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Riyadh

AFP

King Abdullah II of Jor-dan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Niger's Mahama-dou Issoufou are among

leaders invited by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Sal-man bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia for a summit with US President Donald Trump.

The Arab-Islamic-American Summit will be among a series of talks expected to be held in Riy-adh on May 20-21, Saudi officials said.

Trump has frequently been accused of fuelling Islamophobia but aides described his decision to visit Saudi Arabia as an effort to reset relations with the Muslim world.

There will also be a separate meeting between leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and Trump, as well as bilateral talks between the Saudi and US leaders, Riyadh's Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir has said.

In addition to heads of state from Jordan, Algeria and Niger, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that King Salman asked Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and Morocco's King Mohammed VI to attend.

The leaders of Turkey, Pakistan,

Iraq and Tunisia have also received invitations, the Arab News daily reported yesterday.

Saudi Arabia will be Trump's first foreign stop since becoming president in January.

"It is a clear message to the world that the United States and the Arab and Islamic countries can form a partnership," Jubeir said in Washington, according to SPA.

"We believe that it will strengthen cooperation between the United States and Arab and Islamic countries in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and the visit will have enormous benefits for the region and the world."

The Saudis have found a more favourable ear in Washington under Trump, who has echoed their concerns about Iran's influence in the region.

Saudi King invites Muslim leaders for Trump summit

Sana'a

AFP

Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh is open to negotiations with Saudi Arabia, two years into a

deadly war between Saleh's Houthi rebel allies and the Saudi-backed government. "We have no choice but dialogue," Saleh said at a meeting of his General People's Congress party in the capital Sana'a.

"We are ready to go to Riyadh, Khamis Mushit, Muscat or elsewhere to start dia-logue and to reach an understanding," Saleh said, referring to cities in Saudi

Arabia and neighbouring Oman. Saleh, however, reiterated his rejection of the government of internationally recognised President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and said Saudi Arabia would have to find "new leadership".

Members of Saleh's circle have been meeting unofficially with Saudi delegates for weeks in Berlin, a Yemeni government official said yesterday. The Yemeni leader also said he hoped to "form an alliance with Iran that would serve the interests of Yemen".

Saleh, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, has repeatedly said he was open to talks with Saudi Arabia.

But he ruled out mediation by UN spe-cial envoy Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed, who aims to resume stalled peace talks by the end of May, accusing him of bias.

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Ould Sheikh Ahmed is currently in Riy-adh for talks on the Yemeni crisis, which the UN estimates has killed more than 7,700 people since March 2015. Saleh said 11,000 rebels had been killed and more than 25,000 injured in the past two years. While Saleh resigned under massive popular pres-sure in February 2012, he remains highly influential in Yemen. He was succeeded by Hadi, previously his vice-president.

Bomb threat causes panic on Saudi flightCAIRO: An apparently men-tally unstable man caused panic among passengers on a airliner heading for Cairo from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday when he threat-ened to blow up the aircraft, airport sources said. The 61-year-old man, a retired textile worker from Egypt, was subdued by secu-rity staff on the plane, operated by Saudi airline Fly-nas, and arrested when it landed in the Egyptian capi-tal, the sources said. The man told police he was not aware of what he had done, according to the sources. He was being ques-tioned and was expected to be referred to a psychiatrist to determine his mental state.

SA rhino orphanage closes after attackJOHANNESBURG: A South African rhino orphanage that closed after being attacked by poachers will be turned into a wildlife rehabilitation center.

Christiaan DuBuson, the anti-poaching head at Thula Thula wildlife reserve in Kwa-Zulu-Natal province, said yesterday that the old rhino facility will be used to care for antelope, birds and other wildlife in need. DuBuson says the rehabilitation center will open late this month.

On May 1, the rhino orphanage at Thula Thula said it was closing because of security concerns.

Staff were assaulted in the February attack, and two rhino calves died after being shot and having their horns removed. Staff moved the remaining animals to other locations. Police are investigating.

The rhino orphanage was administered by the Law-rence Anthony Earth Organization, an international nonprofit group.

Ankara

Agencies

T urkey yesterday slammed as unacceptable a US plan to arm Syrian Kurdish

fighters whom Ankara consid-ers terrorists, but the militia applauded a "historic" move that would speed up the defeat of Islamic State (IS) extremists.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the United

States to immediately reverse the decision.

"I hope very much that this mistake will be reversed imme-diately," Erdogan said after Washington announced it would arm the Kurdish Peoples' Pro-tection Units (YPG) in the fight against jihadists in Syria. Erdogan vowed to bring up "our worries" on the issue in talks with US President Donald Trump on May 16 in Washington.

The US decision to provide weapons for Kurdish militants in the fight against Islamic State in Syria is a “crisis”, Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said yesterday, adding that the deci-sion would not benefit the United States or the region.

Speaking to broadcaster NTV on the sidelines of a defence con-ference in Istanbul, Isik said Turkey should not be expected to support any potential operations

in Syria involving “terrorist organ-isations”. Turkey urged the United States to reverse the decision, say-ing every weapon supplied to the YPG militia constituted “a threat to Turkey”.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said he was confident the United States would be able to resolve tensions with Turkey the decision.

Meanwhile, air strikes killed at least 11 people, including four

children, in a village north of the Syrian city of Raqaa overnight, a war monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes, thought to belong to the US-led coalition against Islamic State, hit Al Salihiya village before midnight and also injured sev-eral civilians.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment.

Turkey slams US arming Syrian Kurds in IS fight

Saleh open to negotiations with Saudi

Beirut

AFP

A US-BACKED alliance yes-terday captured Syria's Tabqa and its nearby dam from the Islamic State group, a day after Washington said it would arm the force's Kurd-ish fighters.

Turkey slammed the US decision to arm the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara consid-ers terrorists but which Washington sees as an indis-pensable ally in the fight against IS. The issue risks stoking tensions between the two countries less than week before US President Donald Trump and his Turkish coun-terpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet for the first time as heads of state.

The YPG makes up the bulk of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which on Wednesday scored a major victory against IS in the Syrian city of Tabqa.

The SDF said it had "com-pletely liberated" Tabqa and the adjacent dam after weeks of fierce fighting. "The comb-ing operations are ongoing to ensure that the city is clear," said spokesman Talal Sello.

Abuja

AP

Parents of the 82 Nigerian schoolgirls released over the weekend from Boko

Haram captivity said yesterday they still were awaiting word from the government on when they will be able to see their daughters.

One father said he was thrilled to find out his daughter

was among those released in exchange for five Boko Haram commanders.

But Abana Ishaya said he cannot travel the long distance from his home in northern Nigeria to the capital without the government's invitation and assurance that he will see her.

Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chi-bok in April 2014, bringing the

extremist group's deadly ram-page in northern Nigeria to the world's attention. A first group of 21 girls was freed in October and they have been in govern-ment care since then, despite calls by families and human rights groups for them to be released to their loved ones.

"I'm very anxious to meet her so I can celebrate with her and others that were freed, and also to pray for the remaining

ones who are still missing so they can be rescued," Ishaya said. "I really want to see my daughter, but I can't come unless with government invitation."

Families say 113 of the Chi-bok schoolgirls remain missing. They are among thousands kid-napped by Boko Haram during its eight-year insurgency that has left thousands dead and driven millions from their homes.

Parents of freed Nigeria schoolgirls still wait to see them

Tunis

Reuters

TUNISIA’S President Beji Caid Essebsi yesterday ordered the army to protect phosphate, gas and oil production facilities after pro-tests aimed at disrupting output broke out in the south of the country. It is the first time troops in Tunisia will be deployed to protect industrial installations vital to Tunisia’s economy. Pro-tests, sit-ins and strikes in recent years have cost the state billions of dollars.

For several weeks, about 1,000 protesters in Tatouine prov-ince, where Italy’s ENI and Austria’s OMV have gas operations, have been demanding jobs and a share in revenue from the area’s natural resources. Protests have also broken out in another south-ern province, Kebili, and yesterday police fired tear gas to break up rioting in a town west of Tunis after a fruit seller set himself on fire in protest against the police. In an incident similar to the self-immolation in 2011 that sparked the uprising that toppled autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the vendor in Tebourba poured gasoline over himself and set it ablaze.

There will also be a separate meeting between leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and Trump, as well as bilateral talks between the Saudi and US leaders, Riyadh's Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir has said.

Illegal migrants arrive by boat at a naval base after they were rescued by Libyan coastguard in the coastal city of Tripoli, yesterday.

A Yemeni man drives a truck through a flooded street following heavy rain in the capital Sana'a, yesterday.

Flooded street Tunisian President orders army to protect oil and gas facilities

US-backed force seizes key Syria city and dam

Illegal migrants

Every election brings change, in some cases seminal. The election of Moon Jae-in as South Korea’s new president is certain to change the mood for the better in the Korean peninsula which

has seen an uptick in tension due to a permanent stand-off with North Korea over its nuclear programmes. Moon, a former human rights lawyer, won Tuesday’s election with a landslide and succeeds Park Geun-hye, who is awaiting trial on corruption and other charges after being impeached late last year after a prolonged period of crisis. Moon’s political agenda is starkly different from that of his conservative predecessors, its most important element being his keenness to explore peace with North Korea. He set the mood for this soon after the election, saying he would be willing to travel to North Korea to meet its leader Kim Jong-un if it can bring lasting peace. Moon said: “I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean peninsula if needed. I will fly immediately to Washington, I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo. If the conditions are right, I will go to Pyongyang.” Peace is at the top of his mind because he realizes that without peace, security, progress and everything else is at stake.

Moon faces several challenges and will have to work hard to fulfill the promises he made. He has vowed to build a South Korea that is equal and just,

where growing inequality and youth unemployment are major issues. He will have to bring under control the chaebols, corporate giants with extraordinary influence, which are now seen by some as a symbol of the country’s domestic ills. He takes charge after months of political turbulence and uncertainty caused by

charges of corruption and abuse of power against Park. Moon had actively taken part in demonstrations calling for Park’s dismissal, but after victory, he has chosen to send a message of reconciliation to his opponents. He cannot move on without support from all sides. His Democratic party holds only 120 of the 300 seats in the national assembly.

His biggest test will be North Korea. He will be dealing with a crazy and unpredictable leader who is not bound by the normal rules of diplomacy. But he has a track record of supporting engagement with Pyongyang and Kim Jong-un is unlikely to doubt his noble intentions. Moon will also have to coordinate closely with the US and China, especially since Donald Trump has threatened to use force to contain Pyongyang. If Moon succeeds in his mission, he will be bringing peace to the entire region and the world, not just to South Korea.

10 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Change in South Korea

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It is high time to understand that this is a war where nobody is winning. There will only be peace in Syria or in any of the other conflicts that we are witnessing when the parties to the conflict understand that they cannot win.

Antonio GuterresUN Secretary-General

South Korea has a new president who is ready to talk to North Korea to bring peace.

On paper, Emmanuel Macron is an antonym to Donald Trump. Yester-day’s French presidential elections will have ramifications on both transatlantic relations and the Mid-

dle East. The two novice leaders, who never held elected office, have a choice to either mend fences, confront or manage their deeply rooted ideological and political differences.

After all, Macron officially declared his candidacy just one week after Trump’s elec-tion victory. That monumental shift in the United States, as well as the fallout from Brexit, became a wake-up call in French poli-tics, causing people to start scrambling around the country to find an acceptable can-didate to beat the far-right contender, Marine Le Pen.

In that sense, Macron’s ascendance to power was meant to be the French rebuttal to the wave of populism and anti-globalisation in London and Washington. Yet, it’s not the first time that politics in both countries were so intimately intertwined and overtly polarised.

US-French relations hit a low between 2003 and 2008 following Jacques Chirac’s defiance of George W Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Nicolas Sarkozy’s honeymoon with Barack Obama was short-lived and the US in the past eight years favoured Germany as the main European interlocutor.

Trump will now have a working relation-ship with a French leader who sought the endorsement of his nemesis, Barack Obama. The US president will need to make overtures after tarnishing the French pride during his campaign by asserting “Paris is no longer Paris”.

Trump versus MacronWhat they have in common though is a

similar business background, and both are non-traditional and non-ideological leaders who claim to lead a movement. An inde-pendent centrist, Macron leans to the left on social issues and veers to the right on the economy.

He believes in a “protective Europe”, which would strengthen Germany’s hand in trade negotiations with the US. The chal-lenge is whether key differences on trade and climate change will cloud their coop-eration on foreign policy and the Middle East.

While Trump’s source of inspiration is mostly Richard Nixon, Macron operates on a platform inspired by Charles De Gaulle, Fran-cois Mitterrand, and Jacques Chirac. Hence, he might have no hesitation in diplomatically challenging US influence when it serves French national interests. He might even entertain the idea of playing up differences with Trump for domestic reasons.

Macron wants France to be an “independ-ent, humanist, European power”, whereas

Macron, Trump and the Middle EastJoe MacaronAl Jazeera

Trump has an “America first” slogan strengthened by a hard power approach.

However, both leaders are generally cautious in getting entangled in wars. Since Brexit became a reality, France has become the only European Union mem-ber holding a veto power in the United Nations Security Council, which will give Paris a unique opportunity to assert itself and might subsequently lead to occa-

sional disagreement with Washington. Macron believes that European major pow-ers should fill the vacuum of the US’

gradual retreat from the world, hence will be keen to raise doubts about the US-Russian coordination and even chal-lenge it when needed.

Since both leaders have no clear doctrine, they share three similar trends: flip-flopping on issues from left to right; infighting between their team; and lead-ing a conventional foreign policy. In a similar fashion to Trump, Macron has moved from suggesting a balanced approach in Syria last January to hinting a military intervention under the aus-pices of the UN after the Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack. While Macron believes in the “logic of building peace” rather than “the logic of inter-vention”, he seems, like Trump, to be more inclined to use surgical strikes when needed.

US-French coordination in the Mid-dle East

The only viable document to assess Macron’s programme, the platform he released last March, had little mention of foreign policy. While it is too soon to assess what foreign policy team Macron will have, his support comes from a wide spectrum; from those who have previ-ously supported Jacques Chirac, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and Francois Hollande.

Even names such as defence minis-ter Jean-Yves Le Drian, Jean-Claude Cousseran and Aurelien le Chevalier are among his supporters. While it took Trump three months to begin identify-ing with the US national security establishment, the new French presi-dent will have a head start as a

conventional president.Macron is closer to the US view that

toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should not be the prerequisite of every move in Syria.

His stated focus is to cooperate with the US to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and al-Qaeda, while attempting to secure a place for France on the table instead of having Washington and Mos-cow play it alone.

Like Obama, Macron has no clear stance on Turkey and wants to put Iran and Saudi Arabia on an equal footing. He seems interested in taking distance from Gulf countries unlike Sarkozy and Hol-lande before him. It is yet to be seen if he can get this balanced approach through the French establishment, however he will probably succeed given French eco-nomic interests in both the Gulf countries and Iran.

The new French president aims to refocus efforts in North Africa, the Sahel and the sub-Saharan Africa. He sees Libya through the lense of the refugee crisis and fighting terrorism, which might result in expanding military advis-ers in areas controlled by renegade general Khalifa Haftar while encourag-ing the latter to forge a unity deal with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj. Macron’s description during the election campaign of France’s colonial past as “genuinely barbaric” will give him credit to re-assert French influence in North Africa where the US role will be in retreat under the Trump administration.

What to expect in the futureImpulsive characters, such as Bush

and Sarkozy, have clashed with more reserved personalities such as Chirac and Obama. The same rule might apply now for Trump and Macron. While Chirac doubted US intentions to invade Iraq, Sarkozy pushed Obama to inter-vene in Libya. The lesson of Libya helped Hollande and Obama cooperate on Mali, while Hollande did not use his anti-Syr-ian regime policy to convince Obama to intervene in Syria. Both Hollande and Obama worked on the campaign against ISIL and Iran’s nuclear deal, but differed on who would lead the mediation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It is safe to say that the relationship between Trump and Macron will not be a replica of the one between Thomas Jef-ferson and Marquis de Lafayette, neither in substance nor in synergy. The coming four years will most likely extend two decades of cool transatlantic relations during which Washington and Paris managed their differences with a diplo-matic face while occasionally bickering or cooperating in a case-by-case approach. The challenge and opportu-nity for both leaders are that neither has a doctrine nor a Middle East strategy.

The writer is a policy analyst at the Arab

Center Washington, DC.

Macron’s description during the election campaign of France’s colonial past as ‘genuinely barbaric’ will give him credit to re-assert French influence in North Africa where the US role will be in retreat under the Trump administration.

ED ITOR IAL

11THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 OPINION

cherry-pick a Bolivarian dream team to deliver what will presumably be an even more authoritar-ian one.

If the proposal stands, as virtually all of Madu-ro’s decrees have stood to now, the new law in turn would bury the cherished trope among contempo-rary Latin American strongmen that their word, no matter how arbitrary, is still anchored in democratic process. “Maduro’s proposal was not just flagrantly unconstitutional. It was the most radical move in more than 17 years of Chavismo,” said Diego Moya-Ocampos, chief political risk analyst at IHS Markit, a London-based business consultancy.

Brazilian foreign minister Aloysio Nunes went further, labeling Maduro’s proposal a “coup” and a breach of democratic civility. “Maduro chose to rad-icalize,” Nunes told me in an interview. “This proposal is incompatible with the democratic proc-ess, slams the door on dialogue, and is a slap in the face to the Pope’s appeal for a negotiated solution.”

What’s equally clear is that the Venezuelan leader’s power play was a gesture of desperation camouflaged as show of muscle. Ever since Chavez built the so-called Bolivarian revolution for 21st-century socialism, Venezuela has been split roughly in two, with the neglected urban and rural poor banking on redemption under “Chavismo,” and the middle class and intellectuals bracing for outright authoritarianism. After four years of self-immola-tion, however, the Maduro government has squandered even that reliable pro-government capital.

Venezuela has the hemisphere’s highest infla-tion and South America’s worst homicide rate. Misguided price controls and state intervention have emptied store shelves, empowered black-market vendors, and turned the search for scarce food and medicine into a daily torment. Now even hidebound Chavistas have turned coat, as prosecu-tor general Luisa Ortega Diaz did in March, when she decried the stacked Supreme Court’s move to usurp the power of the legislature. These apostates helped deliver control of the National Assembly to the country’s opposition in the December 2015 elec-tions. A survey in March showed that eight out of every 10 Venezuelans disapproved of Maduro’s gov-ernment, while 63 percent of those polled in December said they wanted him gone. Even urban slum dwellers, long a reliable Bolivarian demo-graphic, have since joined the street rebellions.

Uniting South Koreans daunting job for Moon

New South Korean leaders are used to governing from the shambles of their predecessors’ failed presidencies, given the country’s long history of disgraced ex-leaders. No recent president-elect,

however, has faced wreckage quite like this.Moon Jae-in, the liberal former human rights

lawyer who took up presidential duties after being declared winner of Tuesday’s special election, must lead a country still deeply divided between conserv-ative and liberal — even as he navigates the political mess left by ousted President Park Geun-hye, the imprisoned daughter of a dictator who once jailed Moon for leading student protests.

The historical, political and personal baggage Moon inherits only adds to what’s already one of Asia’s toughest jobs. At home, Moon is expected to tackle festering social, political and economic anger. Then there’s the existential threat that looms across the border with the world’s most belligerent nuclear-armed dictatorship.

The scale of the flame-out by Park, and its impli-cations for how Moon does his job, is hard to overstate.

In just six months, Park went from the country’s most powerful person to languishing in a jail cell as she awaits a corruption trial. Her fall ends a political dynasty founded by her late father, the dictator Park Chung-hee, whose economic policies helped lift South Korea from poverty even as he abused dissi-dents and trampled the constitution.

Her disgraceful exit does not eliminate the chasm between conservatives and liberals here. That divide has been around since the Korean Peninsula was separated into a US-backed south and Soviet-backed north at the end of World War II, and only widened during her presidency. It may have grown further during the scramble by wounded conservatives to

salvage some sort of political direction after her fall.Moon’s North Korea policy, which will likely

mark a big break from Park, risks alienating conserv-atives yet more.

Moon can point to the failure on North Korea of the last decade of hard-line conservative leadership, including Park’s truncated rule. There have been threats of war, bloodshed and a growing North Korean arsenal of nuclear-armed missiles.

This won’t help Moon with conservatives, many of whom look with shock at his proposals for a softer approach, including possible direct talks with dicta-tor Kim Jong Un, and the possible return of massive inter-Korean projects. This was all tried during a decade of earlier liberal rule, part of which was over-seen by Moon’s mentor, late President Roh Moo-hyun. None of it, many conservatives say, did much to check North Korea’s arsenal or its bellicosity toward Seoul.

At home, fury over economic injustice, and espe-cially the sense that big businesses have conspired with the government to fix the rules in a way that bars many regular South Koreans from prospering, drove the huge protests that felled Park.

Park is accused of accepting or pushing for tens of millions of dollars from big corporations, including Samsung, whose head is now jailed on related cor-ruption charges. She denies this.

Moon is a veteran of the fight for democracy against the dictatorships of the 70s and 80s, and his supporters believe he’ll be well-placed to tackle eco-nomic injustice.

But Duyeon Kim, a visiting fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul, said that “it remains to be seen whether (Moon) will be able to deliver” the economic and political reforms many South Koreans seek. “It will depend on his presidential priorities and man-power to implement the reforms needed for the kind of ‘true’ democracy desired by the people.”

Moon must also overcome his party’s lack of a majority in a bickering parliament.

Despite the discord, Moon will be leading a coun-try that can feel pride over its handling of the Park scandal. It has shown itself capable of peacefully and democratically driving a leader from office. This is a big deal in South Korea, which has a long history of

An economy in shambles, lethal street crime, dungeons packed with political prisoners, and South America’s worst refugee crisis — it’s hard to find a mis-

ery that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government hasn’t visited on his compatriots in his four years in office. But by calling for a new constitution, (Vene-zuela has had 26), as he did this week, Latin America’s ranking strongman may well have trumped his own dismal record.

On May 1, with the streets of Caracas and other major cities teeming with anti-government protests, Maduro announced a plan to convoke a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. As anti-cli-mactic as that sounds, this was an autocratic milestone even for the country that has turned political and economic fiat into a science. In a single flourish, the Ven-ezuelan leader proposed not just to bend the rules, as he has done repeatedly since coming to power in 2013, but also to junk

the latest constitution — which his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, fashioned into a tyrant’s toolbox — and

Venezuela’s leader shreds the constitution

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-In (Center) stands with his wife Kim Jeong-Suk as he waves to his supporters as he greets members of staff as he arrives near the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Maduro, predictably, has answered his critics with politi-cal whack-a-mole, clubbing every opposition advance with court orders, riot police or the colectivos, as the roving armed bands of pro-government citizens’ militias are known. With opponents of the regime leading the polls, the government-pliant national electoral board thwarted an opposition-driven presidential recall referendum and sum-marily suspended last December’s election for governors and mayors, while the comptroller general banned headline opposition leader Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, from elected office.

Such blunt force has stirred unprecedented international reaction, drawing comment from Pope Francis, a threat of sanctions from the Trump administration, and warning from Venezuela’s normally indulgent neighbors. Nineteen of the 35 member nations of the Organization of American States voted to discuss Venezuela’s political crisis, and 14 of them signed a statement calling for the Maduro government to safeguard democratic rights. Maduro’s response? Vexit: a for-mal announcement of intent to withdraw from the hemispheric diplomatic body.

As Maduro cages himself in, it’s hard to see the way for-ward. As enfeebled as his government appears, he is not alone. Analysts argue he would not have dug in without cover from the Venezuelan military, whose high command the gov-ernment has drawn closer by delegating key sectors of the national economy. In that sense, Venezuela is moving ever closer to the Cuban model of a supreme ruling party backed by military command.

“Political scientists are trained to look for the cracks among the elite, but so far they aren’t showing,” Javier Cor-rales, a political scientist at Amherst College told me. “As long as Maduro avoids competitive elections, this group can sus-tain him in power.”

That pact is not bulletproof, and the continuing wave of mass street demonstrations will test the convictions of Madu-ro’s guarantors, especially if violent clashes and casualties continue to mount. One way beyond the current impasse might be for opposition leaders to assure that the eventual fall of the ruling coalition does not mean its political death. “We know from other nations that you cannot have democ-racy if those who lose office lose everything,” Corrales said.

Of course, magnanimity is rarer than toilet paper in the Venezuelan street these days and it alone may not persuade a repressive regime to stand down. “Latin America has a good deal of experience in how to make the transition from dicta-torship to democracy, but that takes dialogue and mutual recognition among political opponents,” Brazilian foreign minister Nunes told me. “Instead, Maduro has chosen revolution.”

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military coups, bloodily suppressed democracy movements and dictatorships.

“All countries have scandals; what matters is how they handle them. South Korea has proven that it can change things demo-cratically and constitutionally,” said Robert Kelly, a political sci-ence professor at Pusan National University in Busan.

With only around an estimated 40 percent of the total vote, Moon’s problem, Kelly says, is that he lacks a strong mandate.

Moon will probably look to reverse three big Park policies: a deal to settle Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II; the closure of the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, a jointly run factory park in the North; and the deployment of a US missile defense system that infuriates China.

Despite what the election numbers suggest, Moon may actually have stronger political support because of widespread dissatisfaction with conserva-tive rule, said John Delury, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei Uni-versity. Even so, the job will not be easy.

“Moon is looking straight up at a cliff that he’s got to climb,” Delury said. “This is a very difficult time to govern South Korea.”

The writer is AP’s bureau chief in

Seoul, has covered the Koreas since

2005.

Foster KlugAP

Moon is a veteran of the fight for democracy against the dictatorships of the 70s and 80s, and his supporters believe he’ll be well-placed to tackle economic injustice.

Mac MargolisBloomberg

Venezuela has the hemisphere’s highest inflation and South America’s worst homicide rate. Misguided price controls and state intervention have emptied store shelves, empowered black-market vendors, and turned the search for scarce food and medicine into a daily torment.

12 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017ASIA

India & Russia to boost strategic partnershipNew Delhi IANS

Ahead of their annual bilateral summit next month, India and Russia yesterday reaffirmed their

intention to strengthen their stra-tegic partnership and agreed to take forward collaborative ideas in diverse fields, including secu-rity, nuclear and space.

"We were unanimous in our intention to further strengthen the special and privileged stra-tegic partnership that exists between India and Russia," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the media after co-chairing a meet-ing of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commis-sion (IRIGC) with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin here.

"We made good progress in implementing the agreements that were signed in the last sum-mit meeting held in Goa in October 2016," she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held the last annual bilateral summit in Goa ahead of the BRICS (Brazil, Rus-sia, India, China, South Africa) Summit that India hosted. The two

leaders will hold the next summit in St Petersburg on June 1.

Sushma Swaraj said that in yesterday's meeting, both sides "agreed to work closely in the months ahead to take forward many of the collaborative ideas that emerged in diverse fields, including security, nuclear, space, disaster management, trade and economy, science and technology, and people-to-peo-ple linkages".

She said that both sides also took stock stock of the forthcom-ing annual bilateral summit.

Stating that ties with Russia form "one of the most important pillars" of Indian foreign policy, Sushma Swaraj said that the two countries are celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations this year.

"The roadmap of events adopted at the last India-Russia annual summit is being

enthusiastically implemented and more than 100 events are scheduled," she said.

Rogozin, who was also present at the media briefing, said that this year is very

important for bilateral relations as the two countries are celebrat-ing 70 years of diplomatic ties. He said that yesterday's discus-sions focused on trade and economic cooperation as also

atomic energy, transport corri-dor, agriculture and space cooperation.

"We have different areas of cooperation in agriculture and space," he said.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin during a meeting in New Delhi.

ICJ halts execution of Jadhav

Dharamsala

IANS

US Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi yesterday reaffirmed Washington's

continued support to the Tibetan cause and accused China of using economic lever-ages to silence friends of Tibet.

The senior Democratic leader from the US House of Rep-resentatives took a tough stand over the situation in Tibet and said: "We will not be silenced by the brutal tactics of China."

"China uses its economic leverages to silence the voices of friends of Tibet," Pelosi said in her address at a public event here where Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was also present.

Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China, yesterday slammed the US after Pelosi

met the Dalai Lama, saying the meeting gave "a wrong signal of supporting Tibetan independence".

Pelosi, leading a bipartisan eight-member Congressional delegation, flew into Dharam-sala yesterday to meet the 81-year-old Nobel peace lau-reate and top officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile here.

"But if we do not speak out against repression in Tibet because of China's economic power, we lose all moral authority to talk about human rights anywhere else in the world," she said.

"We will not be silenced, you will not be silenced.

"The brutal tactics of the Chinese government towards religion, culture and language of the Tibetan people chal-lenges the conscience of the world.

Srinagar

AFP

MMilitants abducted and murdered a 22-year-old Kashmiri Army

officer from a family wedding in Jammu and Kashmir's trou-bled Shopian district, triggering outrage. And yesterday, stone pelters clashed with security forces when his body was laid to rest. Ummer Fayaz was on leave and visiting his native place in Kulgam to attend the marriage of his maternal uncle's daughter in Batapura village when militants kidnapped the unarmed officer around 10pm on Tuesday.

His bullet-riddled body was found yesterday morning at Harmen in Shopian district. The officer, from Rajputana Rifles, had joined the Army only in December last year.

"This marks a watershed moment in the Kashmir Valley and people of Kashmir will decisively turn the tide against terrorism," said Lt Gen Abhay

Krishna, Colonel of Rajputana Rifles and General Officer Com-manding in Chief of the South Western Command.

In a condolence message, he

said the Army fraternity stood by the grieving family. "I assure the family that the perpetrators of this heinous crime and das-tardly act will not be spared."

Yesterday, about two dozen demonstrators pelted stones in an attempt to disrupt the funeral procession of the officer when his body was being laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard with full military honours, police said. The protesters were chased away by police. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley called it a dastardly act of cowardice by terrorists.

"We share the grief of the family and stand in solidarity. (The officer) will continue to inspire the youth from the Kashmir Valley," he said.

"His sacrifice reiterates the nation's commitment to elimi-nate terrorism from the Valley."

Kochi

IANS

The first service trials of the Kochi Metro began here yesterday paving

the way for commercial oper-ations. The metro train service will commence from June, an official said.

The trial runs began at 6 a.m. There are 142 listed trial runs till 9pm. Trains with four coaches are undergoing the service trials.

Even though the Rs 5,180 crore project would run 25 km from Alwaye to Petta, the opening in June would see the train service operating a dis-tance of 13 km from Alwaye to Palarivattom.

The trials included every procedure – signalling, sta-tus display at the stations and the announcements for pas-sengers. Every aspect was being checked.

Authorities are now wait-ing for the exact date from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to officially open the service. Elias George, who is heading the Kochi Metro Rail Corpo-ration (KMRC) is a proud person as this would be the fastest completed Metro project in the country.

It was the Oommen Chandy government which took up the ambitious project after it was first mooted by him in 2005.

New Delhi IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Sri Lanka today and tomorrow on a

visit which a senior official has said will boost bilateral rela-tions. Modi will be the Chief Guest at the UN-recognised 14th International Vesak Day meant to mark the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Lord Buddha.

The visit follows the invita-tion of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. It will be Modi's second trip to Sri Lanka

as Prime Minister after March 2015.

In a pre-departure media briefing here, Sanjay Panda, Joint Secretary (Indian Ocean Region) in the Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs, said that this is the first time that Sri Lanka will be hosting the International Vesak Day celebrations.

"The theme of the event is Buddhist teachings for social justice and sustainable world peace," Panda said.

He said that various reli-gious and political leaders from various countries, especially those with Buddhist traditions,

have been invited for this celebration.

"The Prime Minister's visit to Sri Lanka for the Vesak Day celebration assumes signifi-cance because this is a reflection of our shared Buddhist heritage which is spanning over centu-ries," he said.

As part of the celebration, Modi will participate in a lamp lighting ceremony at the Gan-garamaya Temple in Colombo, one of the most important tem-ples in Sri Lanka. Modi will also pray at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic at Kandy in central Sri Lanka.

New Delhi IANS

In a reprieve for alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jad-hav, the International Court

of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands has suspended the death sentence on him by a Pakistani military court, Exter-nal Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said yesterday. "I have spoken to the mother of #Kulb-hushanJadhav and told her about the order of President, ICJ under Art 74 Paragraph 4 of Rules of Court," she said in a tweet.

She also said that legal lumi-nary Harish Salve was representing the country on the matter. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ICJ said: "On 8 May

2017, the Republic of India insti-tuted proceedings against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, accusing the latter of aegregious violations of the Vienna Conven-tion on Consular Relations' in the matter of the detention and trial of an Indian national, Mr. Kulb-hushan Sudhir Jadhav, sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan," the ICJ said in a state-ment on Tuesday.

"The Applicant contends that it was not informed of Mr. Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest and that Paki-stan failed to inform the accused of his rights," the statement said.

Under Article 74, paragraph 4 of the ICJ rules, which says "pending the meeting of the Court, the President may call upon the parties to act in such a

way as will enable any order the Court may make on the request for provisional measures to have its appropriate effects", ICJ Pres-ident Justice Ronny Abraham has written to Pakistan seeking the suspension of the sentence.

India had moved the court on Monday seeking a set of reliefs including "by way of sus-pension of the sentence of death awarded to the accused", and "restraining Pakistan from giv-ing effect to the sentence awarded by the military court".

It had also sought the sen-tence of the military court "arrived in brazen defiance of Vienna Convention rights" as well as the rights of the accused be declared violative of inter-national law.

Lucknow

IANS

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh

Yadav yesterday stirred con-troversy with his comment that while soldiers from all states were being killed in Jammu and Kashmir there were no casual-ties from Gujarat, drawing sharp reaction from political parties.

Akhilesh, speaking in Jhansi, raised questions on the central government's response to the mutilation of the bodies of two soldiers on the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistan Army earlier this month.

"The Pakistani soldiers beheaded Indian soldiers, they mutilated their bodies so badly. No one is debating or discuss-ing that. You didn't tell which body parts were mutilated, you are not debating on that. We have seen martyrs from Bihar, UP, MP, Jharkhand and south Indian states. But why no mar-tyrs from Gujarat?" Yadav said.

Uttar Pradesh Power Min-ister and state government spokesman Srikant Sharma told the media yesterday that Akilesh Yadav's statement was very unfortunate and reminded the Samajwadi Party (SP) pres-ident that soldiers guarding the frontiers belonged to the nation and not to any particular state.

Rebels kidnap and murder army officer in Kashmir

Members of the Association of the Parents of Disappeared People take part in a protest in Srinagar, yesterday.

Tibetans in exile holding Tibetan and US flags as spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speak in McLeod Ganj, yesterday.

Nancy Pelosi reaffirms support to Tibet

Modi to visit Sri Lanka todayKochi Metro begins first trial runs

'Why no martyrs from Gujarat' remark stirs row

Strengthening ties

"We were unanimous in our intention to further strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership that exists between India and Russia," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

13THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 ASIA

Moon sworn in as S Korea president

West warns against kidnap threat in PhilippinesManila

AFP

Terrorists are planning to kidnap foreigners in tour-ist hotspots across the

central and western Philippines, Western governments said yes-terday following a foiled abduction attempt by militants a month ago.

President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) said security had been increased on the western island of Palawan, one of the Philippines' most popular tour-ist destinations, after the US embassy warned of a kidnap-ping threat there.

"The US Embassy has received credible information

that terrorist groups may be planning to conduct kidnapping operations targeting foreign nationals in the areas of Pala-wan," it said in a travel advisory.

The embassy identified two locations -- the capital city of

Puerto Princesa and the nearby underground river that attracts thousands of visitors daily -- as areas the kidnappers were targeting.

Puerto Princesa is about 400km northwest of southern islands that are strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf, militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and fre-quently kidnap foreigners.

The Abu Sayyaf last month attempted a kidnapping raid on Bohol island, a popular tourist destination in the central Phil-ippines, but were foiled after authorities became aware of the plot.

The Bohol raid occurred days after the US embassy

issued a warning of potential kidnappings there and the neighbouring island of Cebu, which has a major city of the same name.

Fresh advisories from the Canadian and British embassies yesterday that backed up the American warning about Pala-wan also referred to tourist hotspots in the central Philip-pines near Bohol.

These included Dumaguete, Siquijor and Cebu.

Asked in Manila about the latest travel warnings for Pala-wan, Duterte said he wanted the suspects dead.

"My order to the security forces is shoot them on sight. Kill them".

Duterte last year ordered a major military offensive to extinguish the Abu Sayyaf on their southern bases, but the militant threat continued to grow.

The Philippines is looking to conduct joint patrols with Indonesia and Malaysia to stop the rising number of kidnapping raids on cargo and merchant vessels near the Abu Sayyaf's bases.

Duterte yesterday repeated a warning that the Islamic State group was gaining influence in Philippines.

"We have a problem with terrorism. What looms very big ahead is the IS. They are com-ing in".

Sydney

AFP

Australia's world-renowed Opera House is to undergo its first major

renovation since being opened in 1973 to help tackle sound problems that have haunted the building for years.

The decades-old equipment that power performances beneath its iconic white sails are ageing and will be updated to improve the experience for artists and audiences.

Backstage engines, rigging and hoists that have supported the lighting and props for hun-dreds of ballet and opera productions will be replaced.

A "state-of-the-art acous-tic enhancement system" will also be installed to address the

building's notoriously poor sound quality.

The work in the Joan Suth-erland Theatre, to begin on May 20, kicks off a $201m project at the heritage-listed landmark, one of the world's most famous buildings.

"All of this machinery and the technology we use... was used in the 70s, and we installed it back in the 60s to be ready for that, so it was actually designed in the 50s," technical manager Philby Lewis said.

"So we are really using here at the moment, and trying to keep alive, 1950s technology."

The Austrian company that first constructed the backstage equipment installed before the Opera House opened has been called on again to carry out the work.

Opera House in Australia to be renovated

A view of the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House, yesterday.

Hun Sen threatens to wage war on protestersPhnom Penh AFP

Cambodia's strongman pre-mier Hun Sen warned yesterday that he would

not hesitate to quash protests with military might if they turn violent, raising tensions as the country braces for elections.

Hun Sen is preparing for local polls in June and a 2018 national election after clamping down on opposition figures trying to break his 32-year grip on power.

The warning was a reference to opposition protests that broke out during the last election in 2013, when a crowd destroyed at least two police cars over alle-gations of voter fraud.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) also accused Hun Sen of rigging the poll in his favour and led a months-long protest over the election results.

Dressed in a military uni-form, Hun Sen told a gathering of former soldiers such protests

would not be tolerated this time around.

"Remember, in the 2017 and 2018 (elections), if your group does such activities again, armed forces will crack down on them immediately. If war happens, let it be."

"I still insist that war will happen if the (ruling) Cambo-dian People's Party isn't in power".

Hun Sen has long main-tained that violence would break out if his party were ousted in

elections. The former soldier first took office in 1985, when Cambodia was emerging from the ravages of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.

Through a mix of strongarm tactics and political guile,e prime minister has dominated the country ever since, amassing extensive control over its judi-cial system, security forces and economy.

He portrays himself as the only force who can bring stabil-ity to the nation.

Seoul

AFP

South Korea's new Pres-ident Moon Jae-In was sworn in yesterday, just a day after a landslide election victory, and

immediately declared his will-ingness to visit Pyongyang amid high tensions with the nuclear-armed North.

Left-leaning Moon, a former human rights lawyer, backs engagement with Pyongyang in the quest for peace -- in contrast to the threatening rhetoric from the Trump administration in recent weeks.

"If needed I will fly to Wash-ington immediately," Moon said after taking the oath of office in Seoul's National Assembly building.

"I will also go to Beijing and Tokyo and even Pyongyang in the right circumstances."

Moon will have a difficult

diplomatic path to tread in his approach to the North, which dreams of a missile capable of

delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States, and has vast artillery forces trained on Seoul.

He also begins his term fac-ing multiple domestic challenges, including the aftermath of the huge corruption scandal that saw his conservative predecessor Park Geun-Hye impeached and swept him to power, but leaves the country bitterly divided.

"I will be a president to all people," Moon said, promising to "serve even those who did not support me".

"I will become a president who is at eye-level with the peo-ple," he added, saying he would talk to market traders on his way home from work.

The low-key ceremony -- which began with him walking into the building to a drum roll, accompanied by his wife -- came hours after he was formally declared the winner of Tuesday's election.

Moon took 41.1 percent of the vote, far ahead of Hong Joon-Pyo of Park's Liberty Korea party, on 24.0 percent, and centrist Ahn Cheol-Soo on 21.4 percent.

Ahead of the swearing-in, Moon met with leading lawmak-ers of Liberty Korea -- which advocates a hard line on the North and has repeatedly accused him of being a Pyongyang sympathiser who

would "hand the whole country to the North once elected."

"I'd like to show our people that all of us are moving forward together," Moon told them, say-ing he would seek their opinions on matters of national security.

"I am begging for your cooperation."

Since the beginning of last year the North -- which says it needs atomic weapons to defend

itself against invasion -- has mounted two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches.

In recent months the Trump administration has suggested a military option is on the table, sending fears of conflict spiral-ling -- although the US president changed tone last week, saying he would be "honoured" to meet the North's young ruler, Kim Jong-Un.

Duterte slams police officers over new ransom scandalManila

AFP

PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) yesterday launched another tirade against corrupt police who are the frontline troops in his deadly drug war, after four more officers were accused of kidnapping and extortion.

The arrest of the four from Makati was the latest in a series of scandals involving police that have raised con-cerns about their suitability to prosecute the drug war.

Duterte said yesterday he planned to appoint the armed forces' chief of staff, General Eduardo Ano, as interior sec-retary when the general retires late this year, to help clean up the police force.

"I need him because I have a problem with the police".

The force again came under fire last month after a dozen people, mainly drug suspects, were discovered inside a closet-sized secret cell at a Manila police station.

Acting on a tip-off, staff from the Commission on Human Rights, an independ-ent government agency, made a surprise visit to the police station and uncovered the cell.

The detainees told them that the police were demand-ing money to release them. The commission yesterday filed a complaint with the ombudsman in that case, accusing police of illegal detention.

China frees two rights lawyersBeijing

AP

China has released two prominent human rights lawyers detained nearly

two years ago, after they alleg-edly confessed in court to collaborating with foreign organisations and media to smear and subvert Communist Party rule.

The two men's release nar-rows the list of human rights campaigners who are still being held as part of China's "7-09 crackdown," in which authori-ties on July 9, 2015, detained hundreds in a coordinated nationwide sweep that sent a chill through the country's activ-ist movement.

The cases of Xie Yang and

Li Heping, suddenly freed after two-year ordeals, follow an established pattern of the Chi-nese government exerting enormous pressure on human rights advocates, their family members and colleagues, seemingly with the goal

of forcing public displays of submission rather than mean-ingful convictions in a court of law.

An attorney representing Xie said yesterday that the activist lawyer was freed and at home celebrating his mother's birthday.

Xie's release came shortly after he pleaded guilty in a cur-sory trial to inciting subversion of state power and read from a prepared statement denounc-ing his past activism and warning other human rights lawyers against pursuing such work.

He also recanted previous allegations of torture which had gained international attention. It's not clear whether he had been sentenced.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in greets his supporters and neighbours as he leaves his house in Seoul, yesterday.

Moon declared his willingness to visit Pyongyang amid high tensions with the nuclear-armed North.

Moon Jae-In begins his term facing multiple domestic challenges, including the aftermath of the huge corruption scandal that saw his conservative predecessor Park Geun-Hye impeached and swept him to power.

Challenges

China released the two activist lawyers after they allegedly confessed in court to collaborating with foreign organisations and media to smear and subvert Communist Party rule.

Rights campaigner

14 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017ASIA

Nato assessing Afghan troop requestLondon

Reuters

Nato is assessing a request from the alliance's mili-tary authorities to send

more troops to Afghanistan and will make a decision on the scale and scope of the mission within weeks, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (pictured) said yesterday.

The request for what Stolten-berg said was "about a few thousand" more troops reflects the West's alarm about the wors-ening security situation in Afghanistan, territorial gains by Taliban militants and military and civilian casualties.

"We are now assessing that request. We will make decisions on the scale and scope of the mission within weeks but this is not about returning back to a c o m b a t o p e r a t i o n

in Afghanistan," he said after meeting British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Reuters reported in late April that US President Donald Trump's administration was weighing sending between 3,000 and 5,000 US and coali-tion troops to Afghanistan.

Nato already has some 13,450 troops in Afghanistan, including about 6,900 US

military personnel, who are training the Afghan armed forces to eventually take over the coun-try's defence and security.

In addition, the United States has about 1,500 more troops in a parallel mission, part of a counter-terrorism unit that mostly targets pockets of al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters.

Stoltenberg stressed that any new Nato arrivals would not be in a combat role.

"It will continue to train, assist and advise operation," he said of the so-called Resolute Support mission that was launched in January 2015 and signalled the end of an official combat role for Nato troops in Afghanistan.

A decision could be taken by Nato defence ministers in June, according to an alliance official.

The Nato leaders summit in Brussels on May 25 was proba-bly too soon, the official said.

Almost 16 years since the US tried to topple Afghanistan's Tal-iban, who had harboured Al Qaeda militants behind attacks on New York and Washington, the West remains entangled in an effort to stabilise a country facing resurgent rebels.

Facing public fatigue at the long-running conflict, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has sought to progressively reduce

its presence in the country by building up the country's armed forces, notably creating an Afghan air force.

However, loss of territory to Taliban and Islamic militants, a rise in civilian casualties and a fall in the number of Afghan security forces have led the US administration under Trump to review Afghanistan policy.

Over the past 18 months, Tal-iban insurgents have twice succeeded in seizing the north-ern town centre of Kunduz for brief periods and the latest fight-ing underscores the challenge

Afghan forces face to quell the insurgency.

"I strongly believe that the best answer we have to terror-ism, the best weapon against terrorism, is to train local forces to fight terrorism, to stabilise their own country," Stoltenberg said.

Thailand hunts four bombing suspectsPattani

AFP

THAILAND'S military said yesterday it was hunting four suspects over a large car bomb which wounded more than 60 people outside a supermar-ket in the insurgency-plagued south.

On Tuesday, two bombs -- a small device followed by a much larger car bomb -- went off outside a busy supermarket in the town of Pattani, the largest attack for months on a civilian target in the south.

Colonel Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the southern army, said the investigation was focused on two people who allegedly rode up on a motorbike to drop off the first device and on two others who left the much bigger car bomb out-side the supermarket.

"Please give us some time, we hope to arrest them very soon," he said, adding the perpetrators intended to "kill en masse and secondly to destroy the economy".

Authorities said more than 60 people were wounded in the blast, some of them seriously, with 20 victims still in hospital yesterday.

Ethnic Malay militants have been fighting the mili-tary in Thailand's three southernmost reasons since 2004 after dozens of civilians died in army custody.

Some 6,800 people have since died in the conflict, most of them civilians, with both sides accused of rights abuses.

Pakistan and Iran form joint border commissionKarachi

Anatolia

Pakistan has announced the formation of a joint border commission with

Iran to curb cross-border “movement of terrorists”, just days after the Iranian army chief threatened to bomb mil-itant hideouts allegedly inside its nuclear-armed neighbor.

Foreign Affairs Adviser Sar-taj Aziz said the first meeting of the commission, which com-prises of four members from each side, would be held within

a month, either in Iran or Pakistan.

Aziz said a large number of militants loyal to Jaish-e-Adl, which has been involved in attacks on government forces in Iran’s Sunni-majority Sistan-Bal-uchistan province in the recent past, were also present on the Iranian side of the border.

"Smugglers and other ele-ments are also present along the Pak-Iran border. Terrorists can enter Pakistan from Iran as well," he said and added: “Iran and Afghanistan are not ene-mies of Pakistan”.

Mission

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that any new Nato arrivals would not be in a combat role. It will continue to train, assist and advise operation.

Two dead in Kandahar bomb attackKabul

AP

An Afghan official says a bomb planted on a car killed a tribal leader and

another civilian in the southern Kandahar province.

Zia Durani, a spokesman for

the provincial police chief, said yesterday that the attack took place the night before in the Spin Boldak district near the border with Pakistan, killing tribal leader Faizullah Khan. Three others were wounded in the blast.

Elsewhere in Kandahar province, militants killed a cleric

in Kandahar city on Tuesday, and a roadside bomb killed a civilian in Arghandab district.

No one immediately claimed any of the attacks, but both the Taliban and an increasingly powerful IS affiliate have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks.

Turkey and Pakistan ink defence dealIstanbul

Reuters

Turkey and Pakistan have signed a memorandum of understanding for the sale

of four Turkish made corvette warships and 52 Pakistan-made training planes for Ankara's armed forces, Turkey's defence industry undersecre-tariat said yesterday.

Karachi Shipyard (KS&EW) will buy four corvettes made under Turkey's MILGEM war-ship programme, aimed at

designing and building locally a fleet of multipurpose cor-vettes and frigates that will replace older ships.

The Turkish defence undersecretariat said the final deal was expected to be signed on June 30.

The statement did not pro-vide any financial details.

Turkey will buy 52 Super Mushshak training planes from Pakistan Aeronautical Com-plex - Kamra, to replace the T-41 and SF-260 planes cur-rently in use, a statement by

Ankara's defence undersecre-tariat said.

This would be the first time a Nato country has used Super Mushshak planes, the state-ment added.

Two warships built under the MILGEM project so far, named TCG Heybeliada and TCG Buyukada, were delivered to the Turkish navy in 2011 and 2013. Construction is ongoing for TCG Burgazada and TCG Kinaliada, which are expected to start active duty in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

Aussie senatorbreastfeeds on Parliament floorCanberra

AP

AN Australian senator has made history by breastfeed-ing her infant daughter on the floor of the country's Parlia-ment.

The Sydney Morning Her-ald reports Senator Larissa Waters returned to Parlia-ment on Tuesday for the first time since giving birth.

She breastfed baby Alia during a vote on the floor of the chamber in the capital, Canberra.

She later tweeted a photo of herself and Alia during the moment and added: "So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breast-fed in the federal Parliament! We need more #women & parents in Parli."

Waters earlier instigated changes to Senate rules giv-ing new parents the option of briefly caring for infants on the floor of Parliament.

Call to repeal blasphemy lawJakarta

AFP

Indonesia is facing renewed calls to repeal its controver-sial blasphemy law after the

jailing of Jakarta's Christian gov-ernor, with critics pointing to a sharp increase in its use to tar-get minorities.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was jailed for two years on Tuesday for blasphemy over comments he made about Islam while campaigning for re-elec-tion, a far harsher sentence than

had been expected.Critics viewed the case as

unfair and politically motivated. Activists say the growing use of the blasphemy law curbs free speech and is one example of minorities coming under increased pressure.

Local rights group the Setara Institute said of the 97 blas-phemy cases brought to court since the law was enacted, 89 of them were since 1998.

Phelim Kine, deputy direc-tor of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, said Purnama's

conviction made him "exhibit A of the law's danger and the urgent need for its repeal".

"The blasphemy law has been used to prosecute and imprison members of religious minorities and traditional religions."

Champa Patel, Amnesty International's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, criticised the "inherent injustice of Indonesia's blasphemy law, which should be repealed immediately", while the UN urged a review of legislation.

Nine endangered Royal turtles born in CambodiaPhnom Penh

AFP

The birth of nine Cambo-dian royal turtle hatchlings has sparked

hope for the future of a species on the brink of extinction, con-servationists said yesterday.

The baby turtles hatched this week, three months after a villager discovered a 14-egg nest in sand along a river in southwestern Koh Kong Prov-ince -- the only place where the reptile is still found in Cambodia.

The freshwater turtle, also known as the southern river terrapin, was thought to be extinct in Cambodia until 2000, when a small population was re-discovered in the Sre Ambel river.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC) and Cambodian government have been desper-ately trying to protect the species ever since with a pro-gramme that hires former egg collectors to search for and

protect nests, instead of har-vesting the eggs.

"I am proud of the result, especially to be part of conserv-ing Cambodia's royal turtles from extinction," villager Long Sman, who helped guard the nest of the latest hatchlings, was quoted as saying by the WSC.

The turtle species acquired its name because only Cambo-dia's royal family was historically allowed to consume its eggs.

The nine new hatchlings will join around 200 others in a nearby conservation centre "for feeding, raising and possi-bly breeding in the future," the WSC said in a statement yesterday.

The group warned that sand dredging, illegal logging and fishing remain critical threats to the small number of royal turtles in the wild.

Only one nest was found this year compared to two nests found in 2016 and three nests in 2015, said WSC's technical advisor Som Sitha.

Security personnel during fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan forces, in Kunduz, yesterday.

A policeman gestures next to a wreath, for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama outside the police headquarter jail, in Jakarta, yesterday.

15THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 EUROPE

FROM LEFT: King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Princess Mabel of the Netherlands, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands arrive at Honnorbrygga in Oslo for a lunch trip on The Royal Yacht to celebrate the 80th birthday of Norway's King Harald V and Queen Sonja.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May greets Secretary General of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, upon his arrival in Downing Street in London, yesterday.

May meets Nato Secretary-General

Hungary and Slovakia challenge asylum quotaLuxembourg

Reuters

Hungary and Slova-kia told the European Union's top court yesterday that sharing out

asylum-seekers among mem-ber states under a quota system was unlawful, clashing with Germany, France and others in a dispute that threatens to tear the bloc apart.

Some 1.6 million migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean and entered the EU since in 2014, mostly fleeing conflicts or poverty in the Mid-dle East and Africa.

The EU proposed in 2015 redistributing just 120,000 of them to help relieve pressure on frontline states Italy and Greece but ran into fierce resistance from ex-communist countries.

During a hearing at the EU's Luxembourg-based Court of Justice, Hungary and Slovakia defended their refusal to take in asylum seekers, drawing a clear rebuke from Germany and oth-ers who stressed the need for European solidarity.

"One of the main arguments is the incorrect legal basis," said Krisztian Kecsmar, a Hungarian justice ministry official. "It is a matter of institutional equilib-rium, what role the institutions play in decision-making."

The leaders of Hungary and

Slovakia, Viktor Orban and Rob-ert Fico, have sought to cast the quota system — agreed by EU in a majority vote against the will of four eastern states — as an example of heavy-handed rule by remote bureaucrats in Brussels.

Poland's previous, pro-EU government reluctantly voted in 2015 for the quotas, which are based on a country's population and wealth, but it has since been replaced by a more eurosceptic administration which has also refused to implement the deci-sion. Yesterday, Poland was the only EU state in the courtroom to back Slovakia and Hungary. A Polish envoy said accepting migrants and refugees could pose a threat to national security.

Ranged against the eastern-ers in court were Germany, France, Sweden, Luxembourg,

Belgium, Italy, Greece and the EU's executive European Com-mission, which argued that the fundamental principle of EU sol-idarity was at stake in the case.

"The answer you will give to this question will have signifi-cance that goes way beyond this case," German representative Ralf Kanitz told the court.

Germany, which faces an election in September, took in the bulk of asylum-seekers in 2015 and 2016, in stark contrast to Poland and Hungary, which refuse to host a single person under the EU's programmes to move a total of 160,000 people. Many other EU states have also dragged their feet and only some 18,000 people have moved from Greece and Italy in more than a year-and-a-half under the plan, which expires in September.

Germany and other net con-tributors to the EU budget are increasingly upset that the east-erners are failing to help out even as they benefit from the bloc's generous development funds. The tribunal's advocate general will present on July 26 an opinion on the case, which may be indicative of the ruling that is expected this autumn.

If the court rules against Slo-vakia and Hungary, it would give Brussels and other EU states more arguments to pressure the easterners to take in asylum-seekers, and could also lead to more legal wrangling and fines.

The EU proposed in 2015 redistributing just 120,000 of them to help relieve pressure on frontline states Italy and Greece but ran into fierce resistance from ex-communist countries.

Gabriel is new EU Commissioner of BulgariaSofia

Reuters

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov yesterday nominated European Par-

liament deputy Maria Gabriel, a member of his centre-right GERB party, to become the country's new European commissioner.

She will replace Kristalina Georgieva, who became chief

executive officer of the World Bank at the start of the year.

"Thanks to her professional qualities and long experience in the European Parliament, I am convinced that Maria Gabriel will make an important and valua-ble contribution to the work of the Commission," Borisov said in a statement.

Borisov discussed the issue of the nomination with European

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last Friday. Gabriel's portfolio will be dis-cussed with the commission next week when she will meet Juncker. Official sources said the 37-year-old was being consid-ered to replace EU Digital Economy and Society Commis-sioner Guenther Oettinger, who vacated that position in January.

Party infighting: Austrian vice-chancellor quitsBerlin

AP

Austria's vice-chancellor announced his resigna-tion yesterday amid

persistent infighting in his cen-tre-right party, saying that he is also stepping down as its leader.

The country's chancellor said he regrets Reinhold Mitterlehn-er's resignation, but signalled that he hoped to keep the gov-erning coalition alive until an election that is due late next year. Mitterlehner, who is also

Austria's economy minister, said in a hastily arranged news con-ference that he would quit all his posts May 15.

Mitterlehner's Austrian Peo-ple's Party is the junior partner in an often bad-tempered "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats of Chancellor Christian Kern.

The two parties are tradi-tional rivals but have governed Austria together for the past dec-ade, and for much of the time since World War II. Last year, neither party's candidate made

it into the runoff vote for the Austrian presidency.

Austria is due to hold a par-liamentary election in the fall of 2018, though there has been long-running speculation that the date might be moved for-ward. The two governing parties and the anti-immigration Free-dom Party are the country's strongest. People's Party lead-ers are expected to meet over the weekend to choose an interim leader, Mitterlehner said. It wasn't immediately clear who that will be.

The ambitious foreign min-ister, 30-year-old Sebastian Kurz, is widely viewed as a likely future leader. However, he recently said he didn't want to take over the party at this point.

Mitterlehner, the fourth leader of the Austrian People's Party since it lost the chancel-lery in 2007, criticized the behavior of some party members.

"I think it is impossible ... to do government work on the one hand and at the same time be our own opposition," he said.

Germany promises to reform military after far-right plotBerlin

Reuters

Germany's defence minis-ter promised to reform the military after the

arrest of soldiers accused of plotting to carry out an attack motivated by right-wing extremism, but her pledge failed to quell growing criticism of her leadership.

German police on Tuesday detained a second soldier sus-pected of involvement in what prosecutors believe was a plan

by a military officer and a stu-dent, both in custody, to carry out an attack and blame it on migrants. Ursula von der Leyen, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it could take months to address what she ini-tially called "weak leadership" across the military that allowed incidents of extremism, assault and bullying to fester.

But members of the Social Democrats (SPD), junior part-ners in Merkel's ruling coalition, the Greens and other parties criticised von der Leyen for not

taking personal responsibility, despite over three years on the job as commander of the troops.

"Extreme mistakes were made at a high level," Rainer Arnold, defence spokesman for the SPD, told reporters. He said her comments had created "an environment of uncertainty and mistrust" that were hobbling the military's response. He said von der Leyen had failed to tackle problems with the internal lead-ership structures despite warning signs when a harassment scan-dal first surfaced last autumn.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (right) talks to State Secretary Gerd Hoofe (centre) and General Inspector of the German Armed Forces, Volker Wieker, as she faces the defence commission of the lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, yesterday.

Bulgarians & Romanians face limits to jobs in SwitzerlandGENEVA: Switzerland's execu-tive branch ordered a one-year cap on the number of workers from Bulgaria and Romania who can access Swiss jobs, after an influx from the two European Union member states in recent months.

The decision by the seven-member Federal Council invokes rules of a deal between Switzerland and the 28-member bloc, of which Switzerland is not a member.

The deal generally allows for open-access work rights and freedom of circulation, but allows some exceptions based on how many people enter and other factors.

Citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, as relatively new EU members, first obtained such enhanced access to jobs in Switzerland last July.

But after a relatively high influx of Bulgarians and Romanians, mainly for sea-sonal construction jobs, the council ordered that net immigration from the two countries be set at 996 peo-ple over the coming year.

No charges over poll expense fraud by ConservativesLondon

Reuters

No criminal charges will be brought over allega-tions of expenses fraud

by Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives during their 2015 election campaign, prosecutors said, removing a cloud over the party before a new election next month.

According to media reports, more than 30 lawmakers and their electoral agents were under investigation over their spending, which is governed by tight, complex rules. The Crown

Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had considered evidence from 14 police forces across the country. "We reviewed the files in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the Code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised," said Nick Vamos, the CPS head of special crime.

Opinion surveys before the 2015 election had predicted a tight result with no clear victor, but the Conservatives under then-leader David Cameron secured an absolute majority of 12 in the parliament.

Celebrating Norway's King & Queen's 80th birthday

16 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017EUROPE

Martin Schulz, SPD party leader and candidate for chancellor visits a senior citizens centre in Pasewalk, northern Germany, yesterday.

Campaign in Germany

Kosovo govt falls; snap elections soonPristina

AFP

Kosovo's government collapsed yesterday after it lost a confi-dence vote in parliament, a move

expected to trigger a snap elec-tion after more than a year of political crisis in the tiny Balkan country.

The ruling coalition had long been strained by growing dis-cord between its two main parties, President Hashim Tha-ci's centre-right PDK and the conservative LDK of Prime Min-ister Isa Mustafa. Under the constitution fresh elections have to be held within 45 days, and the president is expected to call them by the end of the week. Of those present, 78 deputies in the 120-member parliament backed the no confidence motion while 34 were against it, speaker Kadri Veseli said.

The main trigger for the vote was a border demarcation deal with neighbouring Montenegro, the final condition for obtaining visa-free travel in the European Union. Three opposition parties strongly oppose the move, alleg-ing that the deal deprives Kosovo of several thousand hec-tares of land.

Since the signing of the deal, the main opposition Veteven-dosje (Self-Determination) party has organised violent street demonstrations and fired tear gas in parliament to prevent the text from being examined.

Kosovo's political crisis has also been fuelled by another

agreement, reached with former foe Serbia in mid-2015, that envisages political autonomy for the Serb minority.

The opposition also fiercely opposes this deal.

Thaci's PDK eventually sup-ported the rest of the opposition to push for a snap parliamen-tary vote, before the scheduled date next year. The AAK party of former rebel leader and ex-premier Ramush Haradinaj has also long called for elections.

Haradinaj returned to Kos-ovo last month after being blocked for five months in France, where has rejected a request for his extradition to Serbia over alleged war crimes during the late 1990s Kosovo war. The episode could revive his popularity.

Western analysts says the PDK backing for a snap vote could reflect its desire to strengthen its popular legiti-macy through electoral success, in view of progress at a new spe-cial tribunal at The Hague set up

to try former leaders of the Kos-ovo Liberation Army (KLA) for alleged war crimes.

Thaci, a PDK founder and its longtime leader, figures among several former guerrillas cited as potential indictees. "There are indications that people who are regarded as Kosovo heroes may soon become the opposite," LDK deputy Arben Gashi told the lawmakers during Wednesday's debate, referring to the tribunal.

The 1998-1999 conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces sent by Slobo-dan Milosevic, was the last of the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

Of the 13,000 killed in Kos-ovo's conflict some 10,000 were ethnic Albanians.

The war ended after a NATO bombing campaign against Ser-bia, which led to the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo.

The territory was then put under the protection of NATO and international forces.

Kosovo, home to around 1.8 people who are mostly ethnic Albanians, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The move is now recog-nised by more than 110 countries. But Serbia, supported by its traditional ally Russia, still rejects it. In 2011 Belgrade and Pristina began EU-brokered talks to improve their relations, but they remain tense.

And the 100,000 to 150,000 Serbs who still live in the former province continue to consider themselves as citizens of Serbia, refusing to recognise Kosovo.

The ruling coalition had long been strained by growing discord between its two main parties, President Hashim Thaci's centre-right PDK and the conservative LDK of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa.

Billionaire Czech finance minister under firePRAGUE: The Czech Repub-lic's finance minister found himself under heavy fire in parliament yesterday over his business dealings and leaked conversations that led the prime minister to try to sack him last week.

Andrej Babis, the second wealthiest Czech, leads the centrist ANO (Yes) movement which opinion polls show headed for victory in legisla-tive elections later this year.

He is at the centre of a week-long political crisis sparked by doubts over his business dealings, which the tycoon insists are all legal.

Parliament wants him to explain how he raised the money to buy his sprawling Agrofert farming, chemicals and media conglomerate.

"I'd like to ask the Czech public: Stop believing that when someone's rich, he's a safer choice," Foreign Minis-ter Lubomir Zaoralek of the leftist CSSD party, which gov-erns in coalition with the smaller ANO and the Chris-tian Democrats, told parliament.

Hollande nears exit as Socialist Party begins to fall apartParis

AFP

French President Francois Hol-lande chaired his final cabinet meeting before handing over the

reins to Emmanuel Macron, while the governing Socialist Party began to splinter. Macron will be inaugurated on Sunday and the centrist's victory over far-right leader Marine Le Pen is threatening to rapidly re-draw the French political map.

The bruising contest left the tra-ditional parties on the sidelines, and Hollande's ruling Socialist Party is in disarray after the two-round election.

After former prime minister Manuel Valls shocked the party by saying it was "dead" and he wanted to be a parliamentary candidate for Macron's year-old "Republique en Marche" (Republic on the Move) movement, another leading Socialist struck out yesterday.

Benoit Hamon, who as

the Socialist presidential candidate finished fifth in the first round of the election, said he planned to launch a new leftwing movement.

Macron, 39, has promised to reju-venate France's jaded governing class by bringing more people into parlia-ment who, like him, have never held elected office.

The incoming president has said half of Republique en Marche's can-didates for the 577 seats up for grabs in the June 11-18 elections to the National Assembly will be new to politics.

The rest will be from the centrist Modem party or rebels from the Socialists and rightwing Republicans — and he will likely need to form a coalition to govern.

The candidates will be announced today but Macron's movement said yesterday that Valls had "not yet" ful-filled the criteria.

The ramifications of Macron's vic-tory are also being felt in Le Pen's National Front (FN), following the

announcement that her influential niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen is quit-ting politics — for now.

Marechal-Le Pen, 27, who has been tipped as a future leader of the party, told a regional newspaper in southern France she would resign her parliamentary seat because she wanted to work in the private sector and spend more time with her two-year-old daughter.

Behind her decision though is a battle for the far-right party's future between the more socially progres-sive wing led by her aunt and the more Catholic, conservative branch based in the south of France represented by Marechal-Le Pen.

She was openly critical of Marine Le Pen's score of 33.9 percent against Macron, reflecting the opinion of many critics of her aunt that any score below 40 percent was a failure.

Marine Le Pen, a mother of three, tweeted that "as a political leader I deeply regret Marion's decision but, alas, as a mum, I understand it".

French President Francois Hollande (right) and Segolene Royal, Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, hold hands after last weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, yesterday.

Italy investigating migrant aid workers for people smugglingRome

Reuters

An Italian prosecutor said yesterday he is investi-gating some members of

humanitarian organisations res-cuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on suspicion they may have cooperated with people smugglers.

Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor of the western Sicil-ian city of Trapani, told a parliamentary committee in Rome that the organisations themselves were not a target of the inquiry.

Suspicions arose because

some rescue crew seemed to know in advance where to find the flimsy boats crowded with migrants after smugglers sent them off from north African ports, he said.

Migrant arrivals to Italy by sea are up almost 40 percent this year over the same period in 2016, and more than a half-million people have come in the past three years.

Some Italian politicians have begun saying the non-govern-mental organisations (NGOs) run a "taxi" service bringing migrants to Italy. "We under-stand that NGOs made some rescues at sea without

informing the Coast Guard," Cartosio said. Italy's Coast Guard is in charge of coordinating all rescues in international waters off the shores of Libya.

The prosecutor gave no fur-ther details. By law, information regarding ongoing probes must be kept secret. Aid groups have strongly denied any ties to human traffickers.

NGO boats operating off the coast of Libya have come in for criticism in Italy in recent months after the prosecutor in Catania, on Sicily's east coast, opened a fact-finding probe into possible ties between NGOs and Libya-based traffickers.

Firefighters work at the scene where scaffolding on a building collapsed on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin in central Paris yesterday. Firefighters were called in after the scaffolding, 20 metres high and 25 metres wide, partly collapsed, slightly injuring one person.

Building collapses

Hamon to launch left wing partyPARIS: French Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon, who crashed out of the election's first round, said he plans to launch a new left wing movement. Hamon vowed to "rebuild the left" while remaining a member of the outgoing Socialist Party, crippled by deep ideological divisions.

"I invite men and women who belong to polit-ical parties or who do not. I invite them to continue

this essential work to rebuild the left," Hamon said. He said the "broad-based" movement would be launched on July 1.

Hamon was the surprise winner of the Social-ist nomination for the presidential election, beating former prime minister Manuel Valls. But his left wing policies, and his association with Francois Hollande, proved unpalatable to voters.

World’s heaviest man goes under knife in Mexico

17THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 AMERICAS

Washington

AFP

President Donald Trump yesterday defended the shock firing of FBI director James Comey, as critics slammed an

apparent bid to kill off an agency investigation of his team’s ties to Russia.

Hours after sacking the man heading a probe into Moscow’s alleged meddling in last year’s US election, Trump hosted Rus-sia’s top diplomat at the White House in his highest-level Krem-lin encounter since taking office.

Seeking to contain the fire-storm triggered by Comey’s dismissal, Trump and his aides repeated yesterday that it was nothing to do with Russia, and motivated solely by concerns over his handling of the high-stakes probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails. “He wasn’t doing a good job, it’s very sim-ple, he was not doing a good job,” Trump told reporters.

Under Comey, the FBI con-cluded that Russia tried to sway the election in Trump’s favour through an influence and cyber-hacking campaign. The bureau has been probing whether Trump’s campaign colluded with such an effort — something the president dismisses as “fake

news”. The president’s com-ments came moments after he hosted Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office, a rare honor for a foreign minister and one that threw salt in the eyes of Trump’s critics. Trump described the meeting with Lavrov, the high-est-profile Kremlin official to visit the White House in years, as “very very good”.

Lavrov, who last set foot in Washington in August 2013, meanwhile dismissed all claims of election meddling as “fabrications”.

Trump’s decision to termi-nate Comey’s tenure, effective immediately, drew comparisons

to the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon, and stunned Washington. By midday, hundreds of demonstra-tors had gathered in protest in front of the White House.

Meanwhile, furious Demo-crats demanded a special counsel

be appointed by the Justice Department to look into Trump’s links to Russia. They fear that current investigations in the Republican-controlled Senate and the House of Representa-tives, and now the FBI have been irrevocably politicised.

The White House says Comey was fired because of his handling of the investigation into the email practices of Trump’s 2016 rival Clinton. Trump took to Twitter early yesterday to launch a vocif-erous defence of his decision to fire Comey. “Comey lost the

confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thank-ing me!” he insisted.

“James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI.”

Before Tuesday only one FBI director had been fired in the bureau’s century-long history. The post is normally considered above politics, with incumbents serving one 10 year term.

“This is nothing less than Nixonian,” charged Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who called Trump’s official justifica-tion for firing Comey “absurd.” “That fig leaf explanation seeks to cover the undeniable truth: the president has removed the sit-ting FBI director in the midst of one of the most critical national security investigations in the his-tory of our country — one that implicates senior officials in the Trump campaign and adminis-tration,” Leahy said.

The top Democrat in the Sen-ate, Chuck Schumer, said Trump had made a “big mistake”. Unless the administration appoints a spe-cial counsel to probe the Russian meddling, Schumer added, “every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire director Comey was part of a cover-up.”

Curitiba

AFP

Brazil’s former leftist pres-ident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faced the country’s

top anti-corruption judge yes-terday in a trial that could doom his bid to return to power in 2018. Lula, 71, was being grilled by Judge Sergio Moro on charges that he received a bribe in the form of a seaside apartment near Sao Paulo. He arrived at the courthouse in the southern city of Curitiba at 1700 GMT for the hearing, which was barred to the public and media.

Security was exceptionally tight by Brazilian standards. Sev-eral hundred riot police, watched by an officer on a rooftop, stood guard, keeping thousands of Lula supporters and even local residents away

from the area. Moro heads the “Car Wash” graft probe, that has revealed mammoth bribery and embezzlement in Brazil’s polit-ical establishment, and Lula is his biggest target yet.

A verdict is not expected for weeks, but if Lula is found guilty, and then loses an appeal, he would be barred from seeking office, likely including running for re-election in 2018. He could even face prison time.

A fiery orator who rose from shoeshine boy to union leader and founder of the Workers’ Party before leading Brazil from 2003-2010, Lula is a polarizing figure in Latin America’s biggest country. He leads opinion polls ahead of next year’s election, but inspires hatred among oppo-nents fed up with corruption revelations and a devastating recession that began under

Lula’s handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff.

Supporters, however, are equally passionate, citing the booming economy and historic social programs during his own presidency. “I think he is inno-cent. If they had something concrete against him, there’s no doubt he’d have been arrested,” said Gerson Castellano, 50, who joined Workers’ Party support-ers who bussed in to Curitiba.

The “Car Wash” probe revealed that top politicians from both the left and right sold access to juicy contracts at state oil com-pany Petrobras throughout most of Lula’s presidency. Scores of senators and other powerful fig-ures have been convicted or are under investigation.

In yesterday’s case, Lula is alleged to have taken a luxury seaside apartment near Sao

Paulo as a bribe from the OAS construction company, which did lucrative business with Petrobras. Prosecutors say they suspect he not only took bribes and sold influence, but amounted to a kingpin over the wider scheme.

Lula, who also faces four other corruption court cases, vigorously denies the charges, describing the onslaught as an attempt to destroy him and his leftist movement. Against that backdrop, the court hearing was seen as a political high noon between the veteran politician and the implacable.

Raising pressure on Lula, a judge in Brasilia on Tuesday ordered the suspension of activ-ities by the Lula Institute, a social research body set up by the ex-president, over suspicions it was linked to criminal activity in a separate corruption case.

Guadalajara

AFP

The world’s heaviest man, who at one point weighed almost 600kg,

has undergone successful gas-tric bypass surgery, his doctors in Mexico said. The procedure on Juan Pedro Franco is intended to reduce his weight by half, and is expected to be followed up with another operation, his surgeon Jose Castaneda said Tuesday.

“The surgery was quite successful. But now we have to wait and see how he responds to the (systemic) change. Let’s hope everything goes well,” Castaneda said. The procedure has left the patient “quite delicate”, and he is being closely monitored, Castaneda said.

Franco, who at his peak tipped the scales at 595kg, was told that in order to be eligible for surgery, he had to lose a large amount of his ini-tial bulk. He also had to get his diabetes and blood pressure under control.

The operation was given the green light when doctors said they were pleased with his steady progress and moti-vation, which marked a change for Franco, who had spent years in bed.

When the second proce-dure is done, likely in November, Franco’s stomach size will be reduced and his intestines modified.

Most importantly, the patient has to progress on the psychological and nutritional fronts. “If that does not hap-pen, the entire thing will fail,” Castaneda warned.

Mexico’s Manuel Uribe, who in 2007 held the record for being the world’s heaviest man at 597kg, died last year.

Egyptian Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, who was believed to be the world’s heaviest woman, recently underwent gastric bypass surgery in India.

Doctors said her treat-ment, which also included a modified diet, helped her lose 323kg in three months, to stand at around 177kg.

Caracas

AFP

Venezuela’s opposition and rights campaign-ers voiced alarm over

claims that the military is holding and prosecuting scores of people detained in recent anti-government pro-tests. One lawyer working for those detained, Tony Marval, said 70 of them were being held in the northern state of Carabobo on the order of mil-itary courts.

The non-governmental criminal justice body Foro Penal said a further 11 were in a similar plight in Caracas and the northwestern state of Lara. President Nicolas Maduro has yet to respond to the claim, which has raised claims of an authoritarian turn in Venezue-la’s political crisis. Government officials have not confirmed the arrests, or the military processing of civilian suspects.

Defiant Trump defends firing FBI chief

Corruption court hearing opens for Lula

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez rallies with protesters against President Donald Trump's firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, outside the White House in Washington, yesterday.

Russian meddling

Under Comey, the FBI concluded that Russia tried to sway the election in Trump’s favour through an influence and cyber-hacking campaign.

Senate leader Mitch McConnell dismissed calls for a special prosecutor, or an independent commission of inquiry.

Venezuela military courts claim sparks alarm

NEWS BYTES

LOS ANGELES: Workers yesterday began to plug a hole inside a collapsed tunnel at a nuclear site in the western US state of Washington where an emergency was declared and thou-sands of workers placed on lockdown. Federal officials said approximately 50 truckloads of soil will be used to fill the hole in the tunnel at the Hanford Site, a sprawling complex located about 275km southeast of Seattle. The tunnel is one of two at the site containing radioactive waste from the time the facil-ity helped build nuclear bombs, including the one that ended the second world war. The Hanford facility has some 9,000 employees, most of whom were told to stay home.

QUEBEC: A toddler likely did not survive after disappear-ing with her stepfather in Quebec floodwaters three days ago, authorities said yesterday. Rescuers pulled the step-father’s body from the river on Monday afternoon. Police officers searched for the missing girl on the Sainte-Anne River, a Saint Lawrence River tributary, as floodwaters receded, but the debris-filled water was too murky for divers. Authorities believe the child did not survive in the frigid, choppy waters, said spokesman Sgt. Claude Doiron. “The temperature, the strong pull of the river, all these factors mean that, unfortu-nately, we are searching for a body,” Doiron said.

CARACAS: Deaths of babies soared by 30 percent last year in Venezuela, hit by shortages of food and medicine in an economic and political crisis, the health ministry said yes-terday. Deaths of mothers in childbirth soared by two thirds meanwhile, according to the data published online by the min-istry — the latest such figures since 2015. It said 11,466 babies younger than one year old died in 2016, up from 8,812 the year before. The report gave no comparative rate in relation to the number of births. Among the causes of infant death it cited were septicemia, pneumonia, premature birth and breath-ing difficulties. The report said 756 women died in childbirth, just under 66 percent more than the previous year. Cases of malaria rose by 76 percent to more than 240,000. The col-lapse in prices for Venezuela’s crucial oil exports has left it short of cash to import medicine and basic goods.

VIRGINIA: A West Virginia journalist was arrested and jailed yesterday after he repeatedly asked a question of US Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price as he toured the state's capital with White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, the reporter said. Journalist Dan Heyman was following Price down a hallway in the Capitol building in Charleston asking him about the healthcare bill passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives when he was grabbed by security and handcuffed, he said at a press conference with his attor-ney late on Tuesday.

Workers plug hole in collapsed tunnel at US nuclear site

Police believe toddler died in frigid Quebec floodwaters

Baby deaths soared 30%in Venezuela last year

West Virginia reporter arrested

New York AFP

A New York cab driver has been fined $2,500 for swindling migrants

fleeing Donald Trump’s America by over-charging for 30-minute taxi rides to the Canadian border, officials said yesterday.

Christopher Crowning-shield from upstate New York charged vulnerable customers up to $300 for a trip that would normally cost $50-75, said state attorney general Eric Sch-neiderman. A flood of asylum seekers have entered Canada from the United States since Trump was elected president.

According to the Canadian government, federal police intercepted 1,860 border jumpers in the first three months of 2017. One route was from Plattsburgh the last pub-lic transport stop before the border. Migrants then took a cab from the bus station for a 38km journey to the small town of Champlain and walked across a stream into Canada.

NY cabbie fined for exploiting migrants

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LATEST NEWSUPDATE

Cannes to screen 10 'Made in Qatar' filmsThe Peninsula

The prestigious 2017 Cannes Film Festival will witness a true cele-bration of Qatari cinema and

talent with the screening of ten ‘Made in Qatar’ films.

The Doha Film Institute (DFI) shines the spotlight on Qatar’s emerg-ing talents with a special Market screening of ‘Made in Qatar’ films on May 24 at the festival, in addition to its annual presentation of the dedicated programme at the Short Film Corner from May 17 to 28.

This year marks one of the most significant showcases of works by the country’s filmmakers with six films included in the Market screening and 10 titles at the Short Film Corner. Fur-ther, the Institute is also hosting two emerging filmmakers from the coun-try – Rawda Al Thani and Hend Fakhroo – as part of the DFI delega-tion attending the world’s leading film event, to participate in a series of workshops, meetings, advisory ses-sions and events designed to further their filmmaking careers.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “We are proud to represent Qatar at this important plat-form and showcase the creativity that exists in our country at this ultimate gathering of the world’s film industry. Our first Market screening of films by Qatari talents, will put the spotlight on new voices from our nation and is a great opportunity to take our stories to international audiences at Cannes, and build a true global outreach.

“In addition, our young Qatari directors will have an opportunity to connect with their peers from the glo-bal entertainment industry and learn from some of the world’s most prom-inent film experts. The networking

sessions and the screenings at Cannes will help them gain insights into the newest trends in filmmaking, which they can apply in their creative pur-suits and add to the pride of Arab cinema,” said Al-Remaihi.

The Market screening of ‘Made in Qatar’ films includes Al-Johara directed by Nora Al-Subai, Amer: An Arabian Legend by Jassim Al-Rumaihi, Kashta by AJ Al Thani, Makh'bz by Aisha R. Al Muhannadi, Smicha by Amal Al Muf-tah, and Red by Kholoud Al-Ali.

Marking the Institute’s seventh year of participation at the Cannes Short Film Corner, dedicated to show-casing films from more than 90 countries, DFI will screen 10 titles as part of the 2017 ‘Made in Qatar’ pro-gramme including the six titles from the Market screening.

Stills from Al-Johara (top) and Amer: An Arabian Legend (below).

19THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 HOME

20 THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017HOME