Qatar's new transit visa scheme is getting ready

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THURSDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10254

October 27, 2016Muharram 26, 1438 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

BUSINESS | Page 1

Barwa’s 9-month net profi t jumps to QR626mn

SPORT | Page 1

New Zealand beat India by 19 runs tosquare seriesQATAR

REGION

ARAB WORLD

INTERNATIONAL

COMMENT

BUSINESS

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SPORTS

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8-15, 34

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INDEX

Qatar’s newtransit visascheme isgetting readySome 38 nationalities are eligible for visa on arrival in Qatar at a cost of QR100, which they can pay at the Hamad International Airport

By Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

The new transit visa scheme “is in the process of being put into ef-fect”, Qatar Tourism Authority

(QTA) told Gulf Times yesterday.Once in place, transit visas will be

available to Qatar Airways (QA) pas-sengers of all nationalities, free of charge, QTA explained.

While passengers will not be re-quired to apply for the transit visa in advance, QTA stressed they should check with their nearest QA offi ce if it has come into eff ect before planning to travel via Doha.

“If the new transit visa scheme has not come into eff ect by the time they are due to travel via Doha, passengers should apply for a tourist visa in ad-vance through QA,” QTA noted.

Some 38 nationalities are eligible for visa on arrival in Qatar at a cost of QR100, which they can pay at the Ha-mad International Airport (HIA), ac-cording to QTA.

These countries are: Andorra, Aus-tria, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Bru-nei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Fin-land, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey (visa free), the UK, the US, and Vatican City.

QTA, in partnership with Qatar’s

Ministry of Interior and QA, wants to entice a substantial number of the 30mn passengers passing through HIA annually to take the opportunity of visiting Qatar’s tourist destina-tions.

The move, aimed at further increas-ing the number of tourist arrivals to Qatar, forms part of QTA’s eff orts to promote the country as a world-class stopover destination.

QTA also wants to provide tour-ists, including cruise passengers, with “seamless tourist experience” from disembarking at point of entry to their trip to various places in Qatar.

Doha Port recently welcomed the largest private residential ship on the planet, “The World”, which is home to 165 residences with patrons from 45 countries. It is the fi rst of the 32 regis-tered ships expected to arrive at Qatar’s shores for this cruise season. Passen-gers were treated with authentic Qatari hospitality, including traditional per-formances and food.

Azamara Journey will be the second cruise ship to dock at Doha Port. The vessel is to arrive on October 31, Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) said.

The ship departed from Dubai, Port Rashid on October 25 and it is expect-ed to reach at Muscat, Oman today at 10pm. From Muscat, it will sail to Bah-rain before coming to Doha.

Built in 2000, Azamara Journey was last refurbished this year and has a maximum passenger capacity of 780 and 400 crew members.

QTA’s chief tourism development offi cer Hassan al-Ibrahim earlier said that in the near future, international cruise passengers could fl y to Qatar, enter using a transit visa, and begin and end their cruise in Doha.

MEC proposes fi sh farmingand aquaculture projects

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in collabora-tion with the Ministry of Mu-

nicipality and Environment, has an-nounced plans to launch an initiative that involves the establishment of four fi sh farming and aquaculture projects.

This comes as part of initiatives un-dertaken by the Technical Committee for the Promotion of Private Sector Engagement at the MEC to boost self-suffi ciency in sectors related to food security in the country.

The initiative will contribute to cre-ating a continuous balance throughout the year between supply and demand and reduce the local price of fi sh during inappropriate climate, the MEC said in a press statement.

The total production capacity of the four projects will be “no less than 7,000 tonnes per year” of fi sh and aquatic or-ganisms.

The initiative includes the imple-mentation of three projects for fi sh farming in fl oating cages along three northern marine sites, with each project covering an area of 90 hectares.

They will each have a production ca-pacity of “not less than 2,000 tonnes per year” and are to reach their maxi-mum production capacity within 36 months, according to the ministry.

The fourth project for fi sh farming and aquaculture will be implemented along the coastal site of El Arish, cov-ering an area of 111 hectares and with a production capacity of “not less than 1,000 tonnes per year”.

The project will reach its maximum

production capacity within 42 months. The Technical Committee is seeking

to stimulate private sector participa-tion in economic development projects through these projects to increase do-mestic fi sh production in order to meet the continued increase in demand and provide high-quality and competitive products.

“The projects aim to reduce the gap between the supply and demand in the domestic market of high-quality products of both fi sh and shrimp, and develop a strategic stock of them with competitive prices by the private sec-tor,” the MEC stressed.

“The initiative comes as part of the keenness of the committee to con-front national food security challenges through developing economic policies that are capable of dealing with the requirements of international and re-gional trade, and creating a state of sta-bility in the food chain supply, regard-less of the continuous fl uctuations that impact food trading.”

The committee, in co-ordination with the competent authorities, will be responsible for delivering the necessary facilities for the implementation of the four projects and facilitating the pro-curement of required approvals, permits and licences from the authorities con-cerned in accordance with the State law.

In line with its keenness to stimulate private sector participation in eco-nomic development projects, the com-mittee has launched an opinion poll for entrepreneurs interested in investing in the sector and all stakeholders.

BUSINESS | Review

Qatar banks stay healthyQatar’s banks “remain healthy” overall as more than 80% of their non-performing loans are provisioned, the Qatar Central Bank has said in a report. Notwithstanding persistently low oil prices, Qatar’s banking sector could continue to provide support to the real sectors by providing credit, while keeping the non-performing loans in check, the QCB said in its latest Financial Stability Review. Although the capital adequacy ratios moderated a bit, banks remain healthy overall as more than 80% of its non-performing loans are provisioned. Market liquidity stood at comfortable levels and banks borrowing cost remained under control. Business Page 1

PALESTINE | Vote

Jerusalem resolution Unesco’s World Heritage Committee yesterday voted to approve a resolution criticised by Israel, the second such decision approved bythe UN body in a month. The decision was made by a secret ballot vote rather than passed through a general consensus. Palestinians welcomed the decision, with Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), contesting Israel’s interpretation of the resolution. “Contrary to what the Israeli government claims, the resolution ... aims at reaff irming the importance of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It calls for respecting the status quo of its religious sites,” he said. Page 16

SYRIA | Confl ict

Air raids killsschoolchildren Air strikes on Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province hit a school and the surrounding area yesterday, killing at least 26 civilians including many children, a monitor and activists said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “warplanes – either Russia or Syrian – carried out six strikes” in the village of Hass, including on a school complex. Page 16

Condolences stream in forHH the Grandfather EmirQNADoha

More regional and Arab lead-ers yesterday called on HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to off er their condolences on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir met at Al Wajba Palace with Sau-di Deputy Crown Prince, Second Dep-uty Premier and Minister of Defence Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud who off ered condolences on the death of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani was present along with HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, the personal representative of HH the Emir; HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Kha-lifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani, and HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa al-Thani.

The Saudi crown prince was accom-panied by Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Prince Turki bin Hathloul bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.

Bahrain Prime Minister Prince Kha-lifah bin Salman al-Khalifah off ered condolences to HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir during a meeting at Al Wajba Palace.

HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Hamad al-Thani was also present along with HE Sheikh Ab-dulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Kha-lifa al-Thani and HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Among other dignitaries who called on HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir to off er their condolences were Palestine President Mahmoud Ab-bas, Saudi Eastern Province Governor Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Oman’s Minister Respon-sible for Defence Aff airs Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib al-Busaidi, Prince Mohamed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Chairman of the Political Bu-reau of Hamas Khalid Mishal, Deputy Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau Dr Ismail Haniyeh, General Co-ordi-nator of the High Negotiations Com-mittee for the Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces Dr Riad Hijab, former Tunisian president Mohamed Moncef Marzouki and former Leba-nese president General Michel Slei-man.

Yesterday morning, HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir received at Al Wa-jba Palace members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the state who of-fered their condolences on the death of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdul-lah bin Hamad al-Thani was present at the reception along with HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani and HE Sheikh Jassim bin Kha-lifa al-Thani.

HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir also received more mourners at Al Wajba Palace yesterday.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday received a telephone call from British Prime Minister Theresa May, in which she expressed her condolences on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani. Pages 8, 9, 10, 12

HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir with Bahrain Prime Minister Prince Khalifah bin Salman al-Khalifah.

HH the Father Emir with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani with the Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Khalid Mishal, and the Deputy Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau, Dr Ismail Haniyeh.

HH the Emir with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas.

QATAR

Gulf Times Thursday, October 27, 20168

HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa

al-Thani chaired the Qatari Cabinet’s ordinary meeting, held at its headquarters at the Emiri Diwan yesterday.

The Cabinet off ered its condolences to HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani and to the Qatari people on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, praying to Allah to bestow mercy upon his soul and make his residence paradise, and grant him the best reward for what he achieved for his homeland and nation.

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received yesterday telephone calls from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which they off ered condolences on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

Emir receives condolences from Pakistani, Indian PMs

Cabinet meetingcondoles death of Sheikh Khalifa

QNADoha

Leaders of GCC states, Arab countries off er condolences

Leaders of Gulf Co-operation Council States, Arab and Islamic countries and high-ranking of-

fi cials visited HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani at Al Wajba Palace yesterday and conveyed their condo-lences on the death of HH the Grandfa-ther Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani who passed away on October 23.

Prime Minister of Bahrain Prince Khalifah bin Salman al-Khalifah, of-fered condolences to HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir.

HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Hamad al-Thani, HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Personal Representative of HH the Emir Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdul-lah bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa al-Thani, and sons of HH the Father Emir were present on the occasion.

HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir received Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Premier and

Minister of Defence, Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who off ered his condolences on the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Tha-ni.

The Saudi crown prince was ac-companied by Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Prince Turki bin Hathloul bin Ab-dulaziz al-Saud.

The Governor of the Eastern Prov-ince of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud also met the Emir and Father Emir to convey his condolences. Prince Mohamed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud also off ered his condolences.

Among other dignitaries who called on the Emir and the Father Emir to of-fer their condolences were Oman’s De-fence Minister Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib al-Busaidi, President of Pal-estine Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas Khalid Mishal, Deputy Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau Dr Ismail Haniyeh, General Co-ordinator of the High Ne-gotiations Committee for the Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces Dr Riad Hijab, former president of of Tu-nisia Mohamed Moncef Marzouki and former Lebanese president General Michel Sleiman.

QNADoha

QATAR9Gulf Times

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas Khalid Mishal and Deputy Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau Dr Ismail Haniyeh off er their condolences to HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, at Al Wajba Palace yesterday.

Hamas leaders offer condolences

QATAR


Diplomats off er condolencesto Emir and Father EmirHH the Emir Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Father

Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani received at Al Wajba Palace yesterday morning mem-bers of the diplomatic corps ac-credited to the State who off ered their condolences on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani was also present on the occa-sion along with HE Sheikh Ab-dulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH the Personal Representative of HH the Emir Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa al-Thani and sons of HH the Father Emir.

QNADoha

QATAR


Dignitaries, citizens off er condolences

HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HH the Fa-

ther Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani received at Al Wajba Palace yesterday after-noon more mourners on the death of HH the Grandfather Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani.

HH the Emir and HH the Father Emir received Sheikhs, dignitaries and citizens who prayed to Allah to have mercy on his soul and make his residence paradise.

HH the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani was also present along with HE Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa al-Thani and sons of HH the Father Emir.

QNADoha

QATAR13Gulf Times


GU-Q studenturges accessto educationat UN sessionGeorgetown University in

Qatar (GU-Q) student Dana al-Anzy (SFS ’17)

was in New York recently, where she attended the 71st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

Al-Anzy, who is a youth ad-vocate for Education Above All (EAA), was there to promote the right of access to education for children around the world.

EAA, an initiative founded in 2012 by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, aims to build a global movement that contributes to human, social and economic de-velopment through the provision of quality education.

“My role on the team was to represent Qatari youth and in-dicate their active involvement through our training and projects in the fi eld of access to educa-tion,” al-Anzy said about her

participation in the recent UN meeting.

“Education alone is not enough. For it to be eff ective, it needs to sit alongside economic empowerment, leadership skills and psychosocial support.

This is a model unique to EAA that is not just about supporting individuals to improve their lives,

but building the skills of whole communities to build a better fu-ture,” she said.

“My aim was to relay these messages continuously on a plat-form where political leaders and infl uencers existed to insist for change and action.”

Al-Anzy has been part of the EAA youth advocacy programme since her fi rst year at GU-Q, which has enabled her to benefi t from training in leadership skills, vocational skills, cultural sensi-tivity, project management and facilitation, to support her work with the organisation.

Over the summer, al-Anzy in-terned at the United Nations Alli-ance of Civilisations in New York.

She also participated in a Gener-al Assembly High Level Thematic Conversation, at the UN head-quarters, on youth and children af-fected by violent extremism.

Conference on breastcancer starts tomorrow

The Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) will host the Qa-tar International Breast

Cancer Conference under the patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani from tomor-row.

The two-day conference un-der the theme ‘Present Stand-ards and New Perspectives,’ will be held at Sheraton Doha.

The event aims to provide healthcare practitioners from all specialities with practical in-formation to enhance the qual-ity of care for breast cancer.

The talks at the conference will be delivered by experts from Qatar, other GCC countries, Aus-tria, Canada, the US, and Egypt.

Along with the confer-ence, there will be a specialised healthcare exhibition which is an important opportunity for the healthcare industry com-panies to keep the attendees abreast of the latest innovations in the fi eld of breast cancer care at international level.

The conference is a Category 1 - Accredited Group Learn-ing Activity as defi ned by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners - Accreditation

Department and is approved for a maximum of credit 7.25 hours.

The conference aims to up-date the participants’ knowl-edge about approaches of pre-vention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer.

It also plans to provide practi-cal information to enhance the quality of care for breast cancer, familiarise the participants with the current standards of breast cancer care in Qatar as well as highlight the importance of psy-cho-oncologic support for breast cancer patients and emphasise the importance of life after treat-ment for breast cancer survivors.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds’ ‘Delightful Diwali’ campaign winner Sayed Musharaf Ali Haroon receives 500 gold coins from the company’s regional head Santhosh T V in the presence of other off icials.

Glittering gift

Shrimps imported from India safeThe Joint Committee on Human Food Control has confirmed that shrimps imported from India and available in the local market are safe for consumption. The announcement is based on the results of tests conducted at the Ministry of Public Health central

laboratories. The authorities took precaution-ary measures after the World Organisation for Animal Health issued a report about the pres-ence of White Spot Syndrome on the shrimps of Litopenaeus van-namei type and the suspension

of imports by some countries of the region. Also, the ministry has issued a circular to all its inspectors to intensify control on all the fish and shrimp imports from India to ensure they are safe and free from diseases.

‘US supportsQatar eff ortsto fight terror’

The US Department of the Treasury Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Daniel L Glaser visited Qatar and met with senior leaders, the US embassy announced yesterday in a state-ment.Glaser discussed the Qatar’s re-cent positive efforts to counter terrorist financing with HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.“The US government enjoys a close and ongoing relationship with the government of Qatar in combating terrorist financing and supports Qatar’s eff orts to deny terrorist financiers access to its financial system,” the statement said.“The US appreciates Qatar’s role as a coalition partner in the fight against ISIL,” it added.

Dana al-Anzy at the UN General Assembly.

QATAR


Study by QBRI could help in early prevention of metabolic disordersA study that could help

in the early prevention of the development of

metabolic disorders has been conducted by a group of sci-entists led by Dr Abdelilah Arredouani of the Diabe-tes Research Centre at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), a research institute of Hamad Bin Kha-lifa University, and Dr Mario Falchi of the Department of Twin Research at Kings College in London.

The research study off ers insight into the biological mechanisms behind metabol-ic diff erences and may have an impact in helping identify predictive markers of insu-lin resistance, diabetes, and obesity, making preventative care possible in Qatar and beyond.

The research was recently featured in the prestigious journal Diabetes and con-cluded that individuals with low levels of a specifi c sali-vary protein, alpha-amylase,

Researcher Dr Abdelilah Arredouani.

which is produced by the sali-vary glands and released in saliva, may cause the body’s energy production sources to

switch from sugars to fatty acids.

Dr Arredouani, one of the authors of the paper, along

with colleagues from England, Italy and France arranged the study by carefully selecting two groups of healthy women for the research project: one group of women with a low level of the salivary protein and one with a high level.

By using a technique called ‘metabolomics profi ling,’ and advanced statistical analysis methods, the scientists used se-rum samples from the women to compare their metabolism and gain an instantaneous snapshot of the physiology of their whole body. Their research indicated a signifi cant diff erence between the metabolic profi les of the two groups.

Dr Arredouani said that in-terestingly, the diff erence be-tween the two groups studied seems to be due mainly to dif-ferences in the use of fatty ac-ids. The results suggest that low levels of salivary alpha-amylase somehow reduces the uptake of glucose, the primary source of energy for the cells, and therefore the body shifts

towards fatty acids usage to derive energy.

“If confi rmed in bigger stud-ies, the outcome may have clinical importance. Thus, low salivary amylase individuals who chronically ingest starch, in the form of rice for exam-ple, as is the case in the Middle East region, should eventually be considered to be at-risk of developing metabolic disor-ders, and therefore preventive nutritional and behavioural counselling should be provided to them.”

Dr Omar El Agnaf, acting executive director of QBRI, added: “This QBRI-sup-ported study furthers our aim to take an integrative and multidisciplinary approach in providing crucial insights into a key healthcare con-cerns in Qatar. By partici-pating in collaborative stud-ies like this one, we hope to continue to advance knowl-edge and champion the cause of fostering innovation in research.”

Three-month diversion on stretch between Kheesa and Kharaitiyat

A nearly three-month diversion on Doha-bound traffi c between

Al Kheesa and Al Kharaitiyat interchanges will begin to-morrow, Ashghal announced yesterday.

As part of the diversion, ex-pected to end on January 28, a four-km long south-bound segment stretch will be shut between Al Kheesa and Al Kharaitiyat interchanges and traffi c diverted onto the exist-ing north-bound carriageway.

The diversion will main-tain three lanes with reduced width, for each direction of

traffi c fl ow with the provision of protective safety barriers segregating the two directions of the carriageway.

The collector and distribu-tor left road will be closed between the Al Kheesa and Al Kharaitiyat interchanges and new connections provided for accessing the loops on the west-bound side of the rel-evant intersections.

The traffi c change is re-quired to enable the ongo-ing construction of a fl yover, as part of improvements of Al Kheesa and Al Kharaitiyat junctions.

Temporary closure of Onaiza Street stretch

A temporary closure on the right lanes of Ona-iza Street between the

Civil Defence intersection and Qasr Al-Marmar round-about will be made between 1am tomorrow and 5am on Saturday for repairs. Dur-ing the period, traffi c from Onaiza Street towards Qasr

Al-Marmar roundabout us-ing the Civil Defence inter-section can turn right on to Mohammed bin Thani Street towards the Medical City in-tersection, or turn left to Mo-hammed bin Thani Street to-wards the Corniche to reach their destinations (as shown in the map).

Nakilat holds Qatar Project Shipping Forum

Nakilat, the shipping arm of Qatar’s liquefi ed nat-ural gas (LNG) sector,

has held the Qatar Project Ship-ping Forum (QPSF) in London over two days.

The semi-annual forum brings together many owners of leading international ship-ping companies along with ship charterers such as Qatargas and RasGas.

Topics discussed included current issues of common inter-est relevant to safety, operations, environmental laws and mari-time regulations. Other topics included operational matters, ex-change of expertise and relevant skills such as marine personnel employment and maritime train-ing on advanced technologies that would enhance safety and contribute to the reduction of operational costs.

Ford Mustang models recalledThe Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in collaboration with Al Mana Motors Company, has announced the recall of Ford Mustang, model year 2005-2014 over a potential defect in the replacement of the driver airbag inflator.The MEC said the recall campaign comes within the framework of its ongoing eff orts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow up on vehicle defects and repairs.The MEC will co-ordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and communicate with customers to ensure that the necessary repairs are carried out. The MEC has urged all customers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department through the following channels: Hotline: 16001, e-mail: [email protected], Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar, MEC mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar

Participants of the forum.

In a press statement, Nakilat said QPSF is as an “important platform, established and or-ganised by Nakilat in 2006, to address concerns covering a wide array of topics, including shipping safety, technical, ma-rine environment and logistics, and it gives an opportunity to exchange ideas related to ship-ping operations”.

Nakilat managing direc-tor Abdullah al-Sulaiti said, “We at Nakilat strive to ensure the continuation of our global growth, which contributes to the creation of a safe competi-tive environment and effi cient operations in the future. There-fore, it is essential to continu-ously exchange experiences and ideas with our partners as own-

ers, operators and charterers in the areas of maritime industry and in particular gas shipping.

“As Nakilat organises and holds QPSF in its 20th cycle this year, we aim for the exchange of experiences and ideas to build and strengthen the strategic partnership between all parties and the essential role played by Qatari companies.”

Pact to train inmates renewedAn operational agreement

between the Penal and Correctional Institu-

tions Department (PCID) and Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) - Imdad 2 –has been re-newed, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said.

The agreement was signed by Brigadier Mohamed Abdul-lah al-Ahmad, assistant direc-tor, PCID, and Fahad Moham-ed Saad al-Naimi, executive director, QRCS.

Present on the occasion

were Saad Salim al-Dousari, assistant director of the Hu-man Rights Department; Mo-hamed al-Ansari, assistant director of Qatar Technical School; and Lt Colonel Jas-sim Mohamed al-Kaabi, head of the Care and Rehabilitation Section at PCID.

The initiative, sponsored by the Sports and Social Activities Support Fund and Qatar Tech-nical School, is aimed at train-ing inmates of penal and cor-rectional institutions - through

workshops - in electrical wir-ing, welding, formation of so-lar cells, air-conditioning and refrigeration, according to the MoI statement.

Brigadier al-Ahmad said that the new agreement guarantees an opportunity for the trainees to get an accredited certifi cate from Qatar Technical School, while “incentive salaries” have been allocated for inmates to attend training programmes in order to help them cope with their needs. These meas-

ures will help the programme achieve its objectives of pre-venting inmates from returning to crime once they are released, it is observed.

The agreement also pro-vides for care to the families of inmates along with mate-rial support, counselling and psycho-social advice. Further, it includes the provision of af-tercare for inmates upon their release and during their quest to fi nd suitable jobs and start small projects in the future.

Off icials mark the occasion. Picture courtesy of MoI.

QU team working oncontinuous professional development projectA research project con-

ducted by faculty and researchers at Qatar Uni-

versity (QU), in collaboration with a team from Brunel Uni-versity London, is developing a lifelong learning framework that facilitates the enhancement of graduate attributes and con-tinuous professional develop-ment (CPD) in Qatar based on national skills and competency requirements.

The team includes QU associ-ate vice president for academic planning and development Dr Nitham Hindi, QU continuing education offi ce director and as-sistant professor of accounting at QU College of Business and Economics Dr Rajab al-Esmail, professor of digital governance at Brunel Business School and editor-in-chief of the Interna-tional Journal of Electronic Gov-ernment Research Prof Vishanth Weerakkody, founding dean of Brunel University London Col-lege of Business, Arts and Social Sciences Prof Zahir Irani, sen-ior lecturer at Brunel Business School Dr Tillal Eldabi, research fellow Dr Mohamed Osmani and research assistant Paul Waller.

The team is formulating a framework that provides the necessary guidelines for policy and decision-makers to moni-tor and actively engage in life-

Prof Vishanth Weerakkody

Dr Nitham Hindi

long learning and CPD activities in Qatar. The framework and its related information will be avail-able to the public through a web-based platform.

The platform will allow sen-ior management and HR func-tions in local organisations to appraise and recommend the Qatari workforce for CPD train-ing workshops based on inter-national standards and accredi-tations. The information and knowledge generated through this platform will be dynamical-ly accumulated and summarised to inform national policy-mak-ers and engage them in shaping attributes of the new graduate workforce.

“If we want to grow our own workforce, we have to think about how we improve our graduates’ skills while at univer-sity, and also about continued professional development after they graduate and start their employment journey,” observed Dr Hindi.

Prof Weerakkody explained that CPD is a core requirement for getting and keeping a formal professional status in profes-sions such as accounting and in-formation technology, because it demonstrates a commitment to lifelong learning.

“CPD used to be measured by hours spent studying, but the trend now is to demand refl ec-tion on learning activities of all sorts, and the assessment of their impact on the professional performance.”

QATAR15Gulf Times


Avanzcare, Mindray ink pactAvanzcare, the medical arm

of Al Sawari Holding, has signed a two-year agreement

with Mindray, a leading global pro-vider of medical devices from Chi-na, to be the sole distributor of the latter’s ultrasound and life support products in Qatar.

The agreement was signed be-tween Al Sawari Holding chairman Sheikh Turki bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani and Mindray Interna-tional vice president Jason Wang in the presence of prominent Qa-tari entrepreneur HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani and Chinese ambassador Li Chen.

In Qatar, Mindray will off er an-aesthesia, deliberator, infusion

pump, syringe pump, monitor, ven-tilator and ECG under the umbrella of life support products.

Sheikh Turki said Al Sawari Hold-ing is looking forward to a long-term, mutually benefi cial co-op-eration. “This agreement will help us off er comprehensive life support solutions from an internationally-recognised provider of top-quality medical devices throughout Qatar.”

“We also have plans to enter into other areas in medical fi eld. Howev-er, at present we like to focus on the distribution part. We will look into the feasibility of such areas and will make the right decision at a later time.” noted Sheikh Turki while an-swering a question from the media.

Observing that the Qatar healthcare market has experi-enced explosive growth over the past decade, Wang said Min-

dray is proud to partner with Avanzcare, one of the leading suppliers of medical devices in Qatar, to off er compelling so-lution for hospitals and clinics across Qatar, bettering the stand-ard of service in healthcare in the country.”

Founded in 1991, Mindray is one of the leading global providers of medical devices and solutions. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Mindray’s products and services are used in healthcare facilities in over 190 countries.

Also present on the occasion were Al Sawari Holding managing director Mohamed Shafi ek, Min-dray International general man-ager Stephen Zhang, Avanzcare general manager Dr John Adel and other senior offi cials from both the organisations.

By Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter

Sheikh Turki bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, Li Chen and Jason Wang at the event. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

HEC Paris in Qatar, QSTP sign agreementHEC Paris in Qatar has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) as part of the Doha campus’ eff orts to promote the importance of a knowledge-based economy.The agreement was signed between Prof Laoucine Kerbache, dean and CEO, HEC Paris in Qatar and Dr Maher Hakim, managing director, QSTP. Part of Qatar Foundation Research and Development, QSTP is Qatar’s primary incubator of technology development.The agreement between the two Qatar-based education and research and development institutes aims to promote mutual educational, research, development, training and service co-operation. “The MoU marks an important milestone towards a knowledge-based economy for Qatar. By working alongside QSTP on initiatives, sharing research and utilising our individual expertise, we are taking a definite step towards a stronger commitment to education and value creation in line with Qatar’s National Vision,” Prof Kerbache said.Throughout the course of the agreement, executives enrolled in the EMBA programme at HEC Paris in Qatar will advise teams in the QSTP Accelerator programme as part of their Capstone Project.Dr Hakim said the MoU has come at a time when QSTP has retailored its support programmes to further streamline business commercialisation of products and services developed by tech entrepreneurs in Qatar who are driven by innovation. Thus, the synergies with HEC Paris in Qatar are quite promising.”Employees, students and faculty members aff iliated with both HEC Paris in Qatar and QSTP will benefit from research, educational and training opportunities as a result of this agreement.

A customer who won a trolley full of items free in the ‘Win 1500 Free Trolleys with LuLu’ promotion running at all LuLu outlets is receiving his prize from a supervisor of Lulu Hypermarket, Al-Khor. Customers shopping supermarket items will have the opportunity to win their purchase free while making payment at the checkout on the POS machine. The promotion, entirely controlled by the computer system, will continue until November 6 at LuLu outlets at D-Ring Road, Al Gharrafa, Al Khor Mall and Barwa City.

LuLu promotion winner HMC names key speakers for mental health conference

Hamad Medical Corpo-ration (HMC) has an-nounced some of the

key international speakers for the fi fth Qatar International Mental Health Conference, to be held at the Westin Hotel, on December 2 and 3.

Dr Zeina Chemali, direc-tor of the Neuropsychiatry Clinics and Training in the departments of psychiatry and neurology at Massachu-setts General Hospital; Colm McDonald, professor of psy-chiatry at National Univer-sity of Ireland, Galway and consultant psychiatrist, West Galway Mental Health Serv-ices; Sube Banerjee, profes-sor of dementia and associate dean at Brighton and Sussex Medical School; and Prof Unaiza Niaz ,director of the

Psychiatric Clinic and Stress Research Centre in Karachi, Pakistan, are among them.

“The Qatar International Mental Health Conference is the premier conference in the Arab world on this topic,” said Dr Suhaila Ghuloum, sen-ior consultant psychiatrist at HMC’s Mental Health Service and chairperson of the mental health conference.

“This is the fi fth event organised by HMC to pro-mote learning and interna-tional best practice exchange among healthcare profes-sionals with an interest in mental health in this region.”

Dr Ghuloum explained mental health research is so essential but as yet under-represented in this region. “A core objective has been to en-

courage more research initia-tives. This year’s programme features several oral sessions which will showcase the re-search and quality initiatives in Qatar and from the region; and our aim is to use the con-ference as a platform to ex-plore and promote research collaborations.”

Prof Peter Woodruff , chair of psychiatry and medical di-rector of the Mental Health Service at HMC, explained: “Mental illness is common across the world and can have a major impact on people’s lives and those of their fami-lies. Research in understanding the causes of mental illnesses and the best ways to treat them is essential to provide the most appropriate up-to-date treatments and services.”

Dozens killed in Yemen after UN peace missionAFPAden

Clashes and air raids across Yemen killed dozens of people in 24 hours since

a UN peace envoy presented a roadmap to end the county’s confl ict, military sources said yesterday.

In the Nahm region, east of the capital Sanaa, forces loyal to the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi traded

artillery fi re with Shia Houthi rebels.

The sources said at least 15 rebels and fi ve pro-Hadi fi ght-ers were killed in the exchange, which was punctuated by air strikes by the Saudi-led Arab coalition supporting the govern-ment.

Six loyalist fighters and five rebels were killed in clashes around Al-Buqah border post with Saudi Arabia, they said, while four rebels and two loy-alists were killed overnight

in the central region of Baida.In Sanaa on Tuesday, UN en-

voy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed submitted a proposal to the Houthi rebels and their allies on advancing prospects for peace.

The rebels would give their re-sponse to the written roadmap on political and security arrange-ments in the coming days, the envoy said.

His visit was marred by a pro-test as hundreds of people dem-onstrated outside his hotel in the rebel-held capital, accusing the

envoy of siding with the Saudi-led coalition.

The government has so far been non-committal on the pro-posal, with spokesman Rajeh Badi telling AFP it had not re-ceived any roadmap for a politi-cal settlement.

Nearly 6,900 people have been killed in Yemen’s conflict since March 2015, more than half of them civilians, while an additional 3mn are displaced and millions more need food aid.

A Palestinian woman searches through her belongings after her family home was demolished by workers from the Jerusalem municipality in the mostly Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Beit Hanina, near the Israeli settlement of Ramat Shlomo (background), yesterday. Palestinian homes built without an Israeli construction permit are often demolished by order of the Jerusalem municipality.

A general view shows a damaged classroom at a school after it was hit in an air strike in the village of Hass, in the south of Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province yesterday.

A handout picture released yesterday by the Tasnim news agency show what Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards referred to as “suicide drone” and capable of delivering explosives to blow up targets at sea and on land, in Tehran.

Unesco adopts new resolutionon JerusalemAgenciesTel Aviv

Unesco’s World Heritage Committee yesterday voted to approve a resolu-

tion criticised by Israel as ignor-ing Jewish ties to a key holy site in Jerusalem, the second such deci-sion approved by the UN body in a month.

The decision, which was made by a secret ballot vote rather than passed through a general consensus, drew criticism from committee chairwoman Lale Ul-ker, who said she was “looking forward to having a consensus on this draft resolution.”

Palestinians welcomed the decision, with Saeb Erekat, sec-retary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO),

contesting Israel’s interpretation of the resolution.

“Contrary to what the Israeli government claims, the resolu-tion aims at reaffi rming the im-portance of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It calls for respecting the status quo of its religious sites,” he said.

In a draft of the resolution from April, Israel was heavily criticised for its control mecha-nisms at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The resolution refers through-out to the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif religious com-plex, without using the Israeli name “Temple Mount”.

It also calls on Israel to stop excavations under Jerusalem’s Old City and calls the Al-Aqsa Mosque only by its Muslim name.

Ten countries had voted in fa-

vour of the decision, while two were against and eight abstained.

One member was not present.The draft resolution, titled Old

City of Jerusalem and its Walls, was submitted to the committee by Kuwait, Lebanon and Tunisia on behalf of Jordan and Palestine, who are not on the World Herit-age Committee.

Criticism of the World Herit-age Committee decision mirrors protest over a resolution passed last week by Unesco’s execu-tive board, which largely ignored Jewish terms for holy sites, an-gering many Israeli Jews.

The Old City of Jerusalem has been a World Heritage Site since 1981.

Israel recalled its ambassador to Unesco for consultations yes-terday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, after a

second resolution accused of de-nying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

“The theatre of the absurd continues and I decided to re-call our ambassador for con-sultation,” Netanyahu said in a statement.”We will decide what the next steps will be.”

The Unesco World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution earlier yesterday saying it was “deeply concerned” by Israeli building works and archaeologi-cal excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The heritage committee, made up of 21 member states, adopted by consensus the text proposed by Kuwait, Lebanon and Tunisia.

The vote comes eight days af-ter a resolution of Unesco’s Exec-utive Council on the same theme that infuriated Israel.

Air strikes kill 26, mostly children, in Idlib province

Israel charges 13 Jews for praising Palestinian toddler’s murder

Iran Guards unveil ‘suicide drone’

AgenciesBeirut

Air strikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes killed at least 26 people, most

of them school children, in a village in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province yesterday, rescue workers and a monitoring group said.

The raids hit a residential area and a school in Haas village, the Syrian Civil Defence rescue workers network said on its Fa-cebook account.

A report on Syrian state TV quoted a military source saying a number of militants had been killed when their positions were targeted in Haas, but did not mention a school.

Idlib, near Aleppo in north-west Syria, contains the larg-est populated area controlled by rebels, both nationalist groups under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and Islam-ist ones including the former Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

The Civil Defence network, which operates in rebel-held areas in the country, said 20 of

the dead in yesterday’s attacks were children.

Photos taken at the scene showed buildings with walls re-duced to rubble, including what appeared to be the school with upturned desks and chairs cov-ered in dust.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said the warplanes had struck several locations in Haas including an elementary and middle school, killing at least one teacher as well as the children.

It gave a lower toll of 15 chil-dren killed.

The White Helmets civil de-fence group released pictures of four rescue workers clamber-ing over a mound of rubble in search of survivors after what it said was a “double-tap” strike on the school.

The raids hit Hass around 11:30am (0830 GMT), an ac-tivist with the opposition Idlib Media Centre said.

“One rocket hit the entrance of the school as students were leaving to go home, after the school administration decided to end classes for the day be-cause of the raids,” the activist

said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other activists from the province circulated a pho-tograph on social media of a child’s arm, seared off above the elbow, still clutching the strap of a dusty black rucksack.

Shaky video footage depicted rescue workers sprinting to-wards the site of the raids and pulling a frail, elderly man out of a collapsed building.

The authenticity of the pic-tures and footage could not be independently verifi ed.

Syrian government forces and their Russian ally have been criticised by rights groups for indiscriminate attacks on civil-ian infrastructure.

A leading opposition group condemned the raids.

The Istanbul-based National Coalition said Russian and re-gime warplanes “targeted chil-dren in their schools, deliber-ately and intentionally hitting civilians with high-explosive material.”

Seven days of air strikes across the northwestern prov-ince had left more than 75 ci-vilians dead and another 150 wounded, it said.

AFPJerusalem

Israeli prosecutors yesterday charged 13 Jewish men with inciting violence and ter-

ror for celebrating the murder of a Palestinian toddler and his parents in a fi rebombing that sparked international condem-nation.

The suspects, five of them minors, were among gun-waving extremists filmed at a wedding in Decem-ber celebrating the death of 18-month-old Ali Saad Da-wabsha, whose house was at-tacked in July 2015 in the West Bank village of Duma.

Ali’s parents later died from severe burns. His brother was the sole survivor from the im-mediate family.

Meanwhile, Israeli prosecu-tors decided yesterday to close the fi les of two guards who shot dead Palestinian sibling “at-tackers” at a crossing between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

The justice ministry said in a statement the guards had acted in self-defence on April 27, as the sister was carrying a knife and had been intending to at-tack them at Qalandia north of Jerusalem.

The fi rst of the two guards, who both worked for a private security fi rm, was judged to

have a “clear” case of self-de-fence, with the sister allegedly pulling a knife.

Prosecutors ruled there was a lack of evidence against the second guard, who fi red several shots at the two Palestinians.

The names of the two guards were withheld.

Palestinian witnesses gave AFP a diff erent version of events at the time of the shooting.

They said Maram Abu Ismail, 23, married with two children, and her brother Ibrahim Saleh Taha, 16, had panicked after go-ing the wrong way at the check-point.

The siblings were from Beit Surik, near Ramallah and Qa-landia.

AFPTehran

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said yesterday they had developed a “suicide

drone” capable of delivering ex-plosives to blow up targets at sea and on land.

The new drone is primarily for maritime surveillance and “has not been designed to be armed with missiles,” the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported.

“(But) it can carry heavy pay-loads of explosives for combat missions to launch suicide attacks.

“Flying at a high cruising speed near the surface of the water, the

aircraft can collide with the target and destroy it, either a vessel or an onshore command centre.”

Tasnim said the drone was de-signed to fl y as low as 2ft (half a metre) above the water at a speed of around 160mph (250kph) but could reach an altitude of 3,000ft (900m). As with previous drone announcements by Iran, the news agency released photographs of the aircraft on the ground, but no footage of it fl ying.

“It has an advanced military camera with the capability of be-ing used at night and during the day, as well as the possibility of being used in damp sea condi-tions,” Tasnim said.

Earlier this month, the Revo-lutionary Guards claimed to have

Gas tanker attacked near key shipping lane off Yemen

Unknown assailants attacked a gas tanker off the coast of Yemen close to the Bab al-Mandab waterway in the latest flare up in an area through which much of the world’s oil passes, shipping and security off icials said yesterday.The incident, the first attack on a commercial ship since July, followed missile attacks in recent weeks on military craft, including US navy vessels, which were launched from Yemen that had already raised risks for merchant shipping.Shipping group Teekay said its LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker Galicia Spirit “experienced a suspected pi-

racy attack whilst off the coast of Yemen” on Oct. 25.“No third parties managed to board the vessel dur-ing the incident and all crew members are safe and have been accounted for,” Teekay said.“As a precaution, the vessel had a Djibouti warship in attendance when heading away from the area.She has now left the high risk area without any further issues,” it added without further details.Maritime security sources said the incident oc-curred near Perim Island, which is about 14km from the southern Yemeni coast and the site of a lighthouse for ships.

produced a new attack drone, the Saegheh (Thunderbolt), by reverse-engineering a US Central Intelligence Agency RQ-170 Sen-tinel drone that was captured in December 2011.

Iran claimed one of its cyber

warfare units took control of the US drone and landed it safely, while the US says a technical problem caused it to crash.

The Guards released pictures of the Thunderbolt, but no foot-age of it in fl ight.

16 Gulf TimesThursday, October 27, 2016

REGION/ARAB WORLD

ARAB WORLD17Gulf Times


IS holdingup Iraqiarmy southof MosulReutersQayyara/Baghdad

Islamic State fi ghters kept up yesterday their fi erce defence of the southern approaches

to Mosul, which has held up Iraqi troops there and forced an elite army unit east of the city to put a more rapid advance on hold.

Ten days into what is expected to be the biggest ground off en-sive in Iraq since the US-led in-vasion of 2003, army and federal police units aim to dislodge the militants from villages in the region of Shora, 30km south of Mosul.

The frontlines in other areas have moved much closer to the edges of the city, the last major stronghold under control of the militants in Iraq, who have held it since 2014.

The elite army unit which moved in from the east has paused its advance as it ap-proaches built-up areas, waiting for the other attacking forces to close the gap.

“As Iraqi forces move closer to Mosul, we see that Daesh resist-ance is getting stronger,” said Maj. Chris Parker, a coalition spokesman at the Qayyara air-base south of Mosul that serves as a hub for the campaign.

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

The combat ahead is likely to get more deadly as 1.5mn residents remain in the city and worst-case UN forecasts see up to a million people being uprooted.

A Reuters correspondent on the southern front met villagers and police who said their relatives had been taken as human shields to cover the fi ghters’ retreat from the area.

The militants have been using suicide car-bombs extensively to fi ght off the advancing troops, according to Major General Najm al-Jabouri, the commander of the Mosul operations.

He said his soldiers had de-stroyed at least 95 car bombs since the battle started on Oct. 17.

Outside the village of Saf al-Tuth, Jabouri directed heavy ma-chinegun fi re at a sparse concrete building on a ridge where his men believed a sniper was hunkered down.

Volleys of rockets fl ew over the ridge with a whoosh and pounded the village itself with loud booms.

UN aid agencies said the fi ght-ing has so far forced about 10,600 people to fl ee.

“Assessments have recorded a signifi cant number of female-headed households, raising con-cerns around the detention or capture of men and boys,” said a press release from the offi ce of the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande.

Grande said yesterday that a mass exodus could happen, may-be within the next few days.

In the worst case scenario, Grande said it was also possible that Islamic State fi ghters could resort to “rudimentary chemical weapons” to hold back the im-pending assault.

The fall of Mosul would mark Islamic State’s eff ective defeat in Iraq.

The city, sometimes described as Iraq’s second largest, is many times bigger than any other Is-lamic State has ever captured, and it was from its Grand Mosque that the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate”

that also spans parts of Syria.US Defence Secretary Ash

Carter said on Tuesday an attack on Raqqa, Islamic State’s main stronghold in Syria, would start while the battle of Mosul is still unfolding.

It was the fi rst offi cial sugges-tion that US-backed forces in both countries could soon mount simultaneous operations to crush the self-proclaimed caliphate once and for all.

A senior US offi cial said about 50,0000 Iraqi ground troops are taking part in the off ensive, in-cluding a core force of 30,000 from the government’s armed forces, 10,000 Kurdish fi ghters and the remaining 10,000 from police and local volunteers.

Iraqi army units are deployed to the south and east, while Kurd-ish fi ghters are attacking from the east and the north of the city where 5,000 to 6,000 militants are dug in, according to Iraqi mil-itary estimates.

Roughly 5,000 US troops are also in Iraq.

More than 100 of them are em-bedded with Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces advising com-manders and helping coalition air power in hitting targets.

They are not deployed on frontlines.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yester-day Turkey would take measures should the Iranian-backed mili-tias attack Tal Afar.

145 childsoldiersfreed inS Sudan:UnicefThomson Reuters FoundationNairobi

Armed groups in South Su-dan released 145 children on Tuesday, the UN chil-

dren’s agency (Unicef) said, call-ing on warring parties to stop recruiting child soldiers as the world’s youngest nation teeters on the brink of renewed civil war.

The children were released by the rebel SPLA-In-Opposition, led by former Vice-President Riek Machar, and the Cobra Faction, which signed a peace deal with the government in 2014.

“Our priority is to get them into school and to provide services to communities so the children are able to see a more promising fu-ture,” Unicef’s South Sudan repre-sentative, Mahimbo Mdoe, said in a statement.

“With the ongoing fi ghting across the country, Unicef con-tinues to receive reports about the recruitment of children in Unity, Jonglei and other states.”

The children were released in Jonglei State’s Pibor area, to the northeast of the capital, Juba.

South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 when a row between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy, Riek Mach-ar, ended with fi ghting that often occurred along ethnic fault lines.

A peace deal was signed in 2015 but violations have been frequent, and heavy fi ghting broke out again in July.

Machar fl ed the country and is seeking medical treatment in South Africa.

He has urged his forces to re-organise for armed resistance to Kiir’s government.

Rising hate speech and incite-ment to violence against certain ethnic groups which could result in mass atrocities if the govern-ment does not act, the United Na-tions said on Tuesday.

Some 16,000 children serve in armed forces in South Sudan, with an estimated 800 newly recruited in 2016, Unicef said.

Tuesday’s release is the largest so far this year, following the de-mobilisation of 1,775 children in 2015, mostly by the Cobra Faction.

Unicef warned in August of an imminent spike in forced recruit-ment of child soldiers.

Forces attacking villages often grab children and force them, at gunpoint, to fi ght, rights groups say.

Others join to save themselves from being beaten or killed and to protect their communities.

US, Britain expectRaqa off ensive soonAFPBrussels

The off ensive to drive the Islamic State group from its Raqa stronghold in

Syria will begin in the next few weeks, top US and British de-fence offi cials said yesterday.

US Defence Secretary Ash-ton Carter and his British counterpart Michael Fallon made the predictions nearly 10 days into a US-backed Iraqi of-fensive on Mosul, the last ma-jor Iraqi city under IS control.

“It will be within weeks, not many weeks,” Carter told reporters at a two-day Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels.

During a visit on Sunday to Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan to review the Mosul off ensive, Carter said an opera-tion to isolate IS in Raqa should begin in conjunction with the

assault on its Iraqi bastion.Arriving for the defence

ministers meeting, Fallon said: “We hope a similar operation will begin towards Raqa in the next few weeks.”

The United States leads a 60-nation anti-IS coalition that has provided key support for the Iraqi army off ensive launched last week.

It comes in the form of thou-sands of air strikes, training for Iraqi forces and advisers on the ground.

The loss of Mosul – where IS leaders declared their “caliphate” – would leave Raqa the last major city still under the group’s control.

Carter said the idea of simul-taneous operations against Mo-sul and Raqa “has been part of our planning for quite a while.”

Later yesterday, he said the United States would likely work with key Nato ally Tur-key to retake Raqa when asked

about tensions between Bagh-dad and Ankara over its role in the attack on Mosul.

“We already are working extensively with the Turkish military in Syria” and this had produced “signifi cant” results, including the seizure of the “very important city” of Dabiq.

Earlier this month, Ankara-backed rebels seized the em-blematic northern town of Da-biq from the extremist group, having already taken Al-Rai.

“So we are looking for other opportunities including fur-ther within Syria, to include Raqa. That’s been part of our discussions,” Carter added.

Turkey’s positioning of troops in northern Iraq and its insistence that it has a role in the Mosul off ensive have led to sharp exchanges with the Iraqi government, creating a headache for Washington as it tries to keep both of its allies on-side.

Congested Cairo to become regional hub for Uber

Bashir to appoint prime minister to head his govt

By Eric Knecht and Nadine Awadalla/ReutersCairo

Ride-hailing service Uber plans to make Cairo a re-gional hub with an invest-

ment of more than $50mn in the next two years, building on its breakneck growth in the infa-mously traffi c-clogged city, its Egypt general manager said.

The company has commit-ted to investing $250mn over the next fi ve years in the Middle East, where Cairo, a sprawling city of 20mn, has emerged as the jewel in its growth strategy.

“Today, Cairo is the fastest growing city in Europe, Middle

East and Africa. We’ve seen an uptick starting in 2016, which is the year it started booming,” An-thony Khoury said as part of the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.

Uber has rapidly expanded to more than 450 cities since its San Francisco launch in 2010, fi ghting a series of battles with local regulators and taxi drivers who have got its services partly or fully banned in several cities worldwide.

Khoury described Egypt, typically associated with crip-pling bureaucracy, as a relatively smooth ride, though it briefl y faced protests early this year from taxi drivers who complained that lower taxes and licensing fees

gave Uber an unfair edge.The government had moved

swiftly to draft regulations that cooled the controversy, Khoury said as part of the Summit, tak-ing place in cities across the re-gion.

“The sharing economy in general is a completely new type of economy, so it’s usually a bit tricky at the beginning,” he told Reuters from his offi ce at the GrEEK campus, a hub for Cairo’s small but energetic star-tup scene. “But Egypt was very quick to see the benefi ts, create a cross-ministerial committee and start really trying to regulate the operation.”

Uber’s fl eet of Egypt drivers has grown to about 35,000 from

30 when its air-conditioned cars fi rst hit Cairo’s busy streets in November 2014.

Along with fellow ride-hailing service Careem, it has become a popular alternative to riding in often-dusty and dilapidated Cairo taxis, whose drivers are no-torious for switching off metres, jacking up fares and chain smok-ing.

Khoury said more than 2,500 new drivers join Uber’s ranks every week, in a country where double-digit unemployment helped stoke an uprising in 2011.

“From these 35,000 drivers, 40% are unemployed.So it’s re-ally an economic empowerment tool the other 60% use it on a part-time basis and it’s really

for them to supplement their in-come,” he said.

In a nod to the vast majority of Egyptians who don’t have bank accounts, Uber Egypt decided late last year to break from its credit card-only model and allow cash payments, a move that at-tracted scores of new passengers overnight, Khoury said.

The company is building a support centre in Cairo that will serve the Middle East and parts of Africa, with its current staff of roughly 175 expected to reach 1,000 by the end of 2017.

“We found that talent was available, and it’s really good tal-ent that we were not expecting to fi nd at an English-speaking, managerial level,” he said.

AFPKhartoum

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is to appoint a prime minister, reinstating

a post abolished after he came to power in 1989, offi cials said yes-terday.

The delegation of certain pow-ers to a prime minister would fall in line with reforms proposed by a national dialogue held between

Bashir’s government and some opposition groups.

Yesterday, a top aide to Bashir told the Sudanese parliament that the president will now appoint a prime minister to head his gov-ernment.

“The president’s proposal forms part of changes to be made in the country’s constitution based on recommendations from the national dialogue,” said Al-Rashid Haroon.

A prime minister is expected to

be appointed within the next two months, offi cials said.

“This is a positive step because the prime minister will have some of Bashir’s powers,” Al-Noor Ahmed, editor of leading Suda-nese daily Assayha, said.

“The prime minister will also be accountable to parliament, which is diff erent because the president is not.”

Ahmed hoped the post of prime minister would go to an “outsider” and not a member of Bashir’s Na-

tional Congress Party.“It would be better if the prime

minister’s powers are defi ned in the new constitution and not by the president,” he added.

Earlier this month, Bashir concluded a year-long national dialogue aimed at resolving the insurgencies in Sudan’s border regions and healing the country’s faltering economy.

He launched the dialogue in October 2015 but the talks were boycotted by most mainstream

opposition and armed groups.On October 10, Bashir submit-

ted a “national document” which will serve as a framework for a new Sudanese constitution.

The document has been signed by the government and some small opposition and rebel groups which took part in the talks.

Sudan currently has a tran-sitional constitution adopted in 2005.

Meanwhile, Sudanese police fi red tear gas yesterday to break

up a protest in Khartoum against what demonstrators said was a government plan to seize their land, an AFP correspondent re-ported.

Hundreds of people were dem-onstrating in the East Jreif dis-trict of the capital when clashes erupted as riot police moved in to disperse them.

Dozens of riot policemen fi red tear gas canisters while demon-strators pelted them with rocks, the correspondent reported from

the site of the protest.“Our land belongs to our ances-

tors and the government wants to give it to investors.

We are protesting to save our land,” one of the demonstrators, Ahmed Osman, said.

Protesters were accusing the government of seizing their land without compensation.

Thick stench of tear gas fi lled the area, while angry protesters burnt tyres and tried to close off all the streets of the district.

Uber Egypt’s General Manager Anthony Khoury speaks during an interview with Reuters at his off ice in Cairo.

Militants ‘shave beards’, change hideouts

Militants with the Islamic State group were shaving their beards and changing hideouts in Mosul, residents said, as a major Iraqi off ensive moved ever closer to the city yesterday.With pressure building on the 10th day of the Mosul assault, Western defence chiefs were already looking ahead to the next target – IS’s other major stronghold of Raqa in Syria.

Recent advances on the eastern front have brought elite Iraqi forces to within km of Mosul, and several residents reached by AFP said the militants seemed to be preparing for an assault on the city itself.“I saw some Daesh (IS) members and they looked completely diff erent from the last time I saw them,” eastern Mosul resident Abu Saif said.

Iraq army drives military vehicle during the operation against Islamic State militants in Qayyara, south of Mosul, yesterday.

US military vehicles are seen in Nawaran, north of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants yesterday.

AFRICA


Gambia too leaves ICCAFPDakar

The Gambia has become the latest Af-rican nation to announce its with-drawal from the International Crimi-

nal Court, accusing the war crimes tribunal of “persecuting” Africans.

The shock move announced late on Tues-day was condemned by rights groups as a “drastic blow” for victims of serious crimes across the world.

Banjul’s decision follows similar action by South Africa and Burundi this month that have shaken the only permanent inter-national war crimes court.

Gambian Information Minister Sheriff Bojang charged that the ICC had been used “for the persecution of Africans and espe-cially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West.

“Not a single Western war criminal has been indicted,” he said on state television, naming former British prime minister Tony Blair as one who should have faced prosecu-tion in the court.

“The ICC, despite being called Interna-tional Criminal Court, is in fact an Interna-tional Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, espe-cially Africans,” he said.

The Hague-based court, set up in 2002, is often accused of bias against Africa and has struggled with a lack of cooperation, includ-ing from the United States, which has signed the court’s treaty but never ratifi ed it.

Banjul’s announcement will be a personal blow to tribunal’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian lawyer and former justice minister.

Human Rights Watch said The Gambia’s withdrawal “is perhaps not surprising,” ac-cusing its government of having a “long track record of abuse, including torturing and forcibly disappearing political oppo-nents and journalists”.

“But the move risks being a real loss for victims. Withdrawal from the ICC would block a crucial path to justice when national courts fail to act,” said Babatunde Olugboji, HRW’s deputy programme director.

Amnesty International also warned the move would deal a “drastic blow” to victims all over the world.

“Rather than joining this drastic march away from justice, other African states should follow the lead of Botswana and many concerned African member states which have encouraged countries to work constructively with the Court to resolve any legitimate issues,” it said in a statement.

The Gambian minister’s critique of the ICC runs counter to comments in May by President Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled the poor West African country since taking power in a 1994 coup.

“From what I hear, the ICC is not espe-cially targeting Africa,” he told Jeune Afri-que magazine.

“Let those who want to leave the ICC go, but if African countries were less weak and more united, we could have more clout in-side the court.”

The Gambia has been trying without suc-cess to use the court to punish the European Union for deaths of thousands of African migrants trying to reach its shores.

The announcement comes just weeks before a December 1 presidential election in which the opposition is to fi eld a single candidate against Jammeh, who is seeking a fi fth term.

South Africa’s bombshell announcement on Friday followed a dispute last year when Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited the country despite being the subject of an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes including genocide.

The ICC has appealed to both South Af-rica and Burundi to reconsider.

“I urge them to work together with other states in the fi ght against impunity, which often causes massive violations of human rights,” Sidiki Kaba, president of the assem-bly of state parties to the ICC’s founding treaty, said in a statement Monday.

Kaba also called on African states to strengthen their own courts so that serious crimes could be prosecuted domestically.

Kaba had said he was concerned that South Africa and Burundi’s decisions would pave the way for other African states to leave the court, a possibility also raised by Kenya and Namibia.

Before Gambia’s announcement, former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo ac-cused Burundi and South Africa of giving leaders on the continent a free hand “to commit genocide”.

SA police clash with studentsAFPCape Town

South African police yesterday fi red stun grenades to disperse student protesters outside

parliament as the fi nance minister delivered a speech warning of the country’s weakening economy.

Pravin Gordhan cut the 2016 growth forecast sharply from 0.9% to 0.5% as South Africa struggles with political uncertainty, violent university protests and high unem-ployment.

Students and police have clashed regularly on campuses nation-wide in recent weeks during pro-tests against rising tuition fees, and Gordhan used his mid-term budget speech to pledge more money for universities.

But he also delivered grim news

over the economy, as South Africa faces the prospect of a damaging ratings downgrade to junk status later this year.

“Our economic growth will be just 0.5% this year, rising to 1.7% in 2017,” Gordhan told parliament in Cape Town.

“It is not just that our economic outlook is distressed, and there is the possibility of downgrades in credit ratings.

“Much more disturbing, and more diffi cult, is the rise in our own communities of anger and discon-tent, spilling over into violence and destructive protests.”

Gordhan is at the centre of a po-litical power struggle after vowing to cut down on government corrup-tion and excessive spending, leading him to clash with loyalists of Presi-dent Jacob Zuma.

Next week Gordhan, who enjoys

wide-ranging popular support in South Africa, is due in court on cor-ruption charges that he has said are a politically-motivated attempt to oust him.

As riot police fought with about 2,000 protesters outside the nation-al assembly building, Gordhan an-nounced an extra 17bn rand ($1.2bn) of funding for university students.

Violent demonstrations by stu-dents in Johannesburg, Cape Town and elsewhere have forced several universities to close temporarily.

“Many students face fi nancial hardships that undermine their ability to succeed academically,” Gordhan said.

“We will do everything that is possible to regain normality on our campuses. We want the violence to stop.”

Ahead of his court appearance, Gordhan’s cause has attracted

backing from Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, some ministers and scores of business leaders.

Zuma said Tuesday that he had not acted to stop the prosecution because interfering would drive the country “closer to a banana republic”.

Gordhan has led eff orts to avoid a rating downgrade by controlling spending, reforming loss-making state companies and tackling ram-pant corruption.

“Public funds must not be di-verted to private ends,” he said yes-terday.

“All citizens are entitled to de-mand accountability and integrity from those who serve them.”

Zuma has been embroiled in a series of graft scandals while in of-fi ce and has faced increasingly vocal calls from within the ruling ANC party to step down before his term ends in 2019.

Students protest outside the parliament ahead of South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium term budget speech in Cape Town.

Musicians play the a 21-string kora Mandingo style plucked string instrument during the funeral of Ibrahima Kouyate, also known M’Bady Kouyate, at the headquarters of the National Assembly the Guinean capital Conakry. M’Bady, who died last week at age 82, was known as king of the griot, a west African story teller, poet and musician.

Musical tribute

Solar battery power takes up the charge in KenyaBy Anthony Langat, Reuters Nairobi

Staff of the International Center of Insect Physiol-ogy and Ecology (ICIPE)

don’t worry too much about the frequent power outages at their campuses.

A bank of diesel generators en-sure that when power from the national grid goes off , the cen-tre’s research into insects, food and health is not disrupted.

But the fi ve generators at IC-IPE’s Homa Bay centre, on the shore of Lake Victoria in south-west Kenya, cost about $4,000 a year to fuel and maintain — and

they contribute to climate change.Now the campus is set to bid

farewell to two of its fi ve genera-tors by the end of the year as a so-lar battery system comes into op-eration to provide electric power to the centre at night.

The system, which is currently under construction, will use 144 batteries to store electricity gen-erated by 744 solar panels.

The batteries will provide up to fi ve hours of power each night.

After that, the centre will rely on electric grid power — or the three remaining diesel generators in case of a blackout.

This is the fi rst time that solar batteries have been installed in a large commercial utility in Ken-

ya, according to Solarcentury, the solar power company that is installing them.

Solarcentury, whose parent company is based in the UK, is also installing 3,460 solar panels at ICIPE’s Nairobi campus. The Nairobi system is also due to come online by the end of the year.

Together, the two solar bat-tery systems, which cost a total of $2.5mn, will generate a peak output of 1,154 kilowatts.

Gatigwa Kimana, ICIPE’s di-rector of fi nance, said that the centre wanted to fi nd a clean, reliable and renewable energy source as part of an initiative launched last year to use green energy and conserve water.

ICIPE has been using die-sel generators as its only power backup since its inception 40 years ago.

“The costs of lost opportuni-ties in the event of a power black-out is higher than the monetary costs of purchasing of diesel,” Kinama explained.

“After a feasibility study was conducted, we decided on solar energy, in line with our philoso-phy to conserve the environ-ment.”

ICIPE hopes to extend its sys-tem at Homa Bay next year to provide all-night power from the solar batteries.

“Despite the high cost of in-stallation, the use of solar sys-

tems with battery storage is not only environmentally friendly but also economical in the long run,” said Guy Lawrence, Solar-century’s East Africa director.

Lawrence noted that since Solarcentury began operating in Kenya three years ago, its three other corporate clients have cho-sen a relatively cheaper hybrid system rather than opting for battery storage.

Hybrid systems combine solar and other power sources the cli-ent already is using.

In the case of Garden City, a big mall east of Nairobi, a solar panel system has been integrated with power from the national grid and from diesel generators.

The mall boasts the biggest solar car parking lot in East Africa, with 3,500 solar panels installed on shade structures over parking spaces.

The panels produce 915 kilo-watts of power.

“The idea of installing the so-lar panels on the rooftop is for practicality, whereby cars are protected from rain and sun and other environmental elements while supplying power,” said Lawrence. The mall now uses solar energy during the day and switches to the power from the national grid at night.

Lawrence sees the market for solar panels and battery systems growing after other potential us-ers get a look at the early projects.

“The level of interest and the number of contracts we are sign-ing are growing exponentially,” he said, with interest from business-es including agricultural produc-ers and manufacturing fi rms.

Apart from the private sector, the government is also taking strides to bring more solar power into the national power grid.

The Ministry of Energy called for proposals to install solar sys-tems with battery storage early this year.

The government, through the Rural Electrifi cation Authority, a public corporation, has also be-gun building a 55-megawatt solar power plant in sun-rich Garissa, in the north-east of the country.

Mozambique opposition leader secret talks with EU cancelled

AFPMaputo

Secret peace talks between Mozam-bique’s opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama and EU mediators were

called off at the weekend after fi ghting broke out between the military and ex-rebel fi ghters, local media reported yes-terday.

It was hoped that the meeting would contribute towards negotiations that opened in May to end a simmering con-fl ict between the government and the former Renamo rebel group.

“We had agreed (with President Filipe Nyusi) that two mediators would come...to meet me,” Dhlakama told the inde-pendent weekly Canal de Mocambique.

But Dhlakama, who has been holed-up in the central Gorongosa mountains for a year now, said the military increased its presence near the bush location of the meeting on the morning of the talks.

“There was a violent shootout. I even heard the explosions from here,” Dhlaka-ma said.

“So I called (chief mediator Mario) Raf-faelli to tell him that armed forces had come to ambush me.”

He said he was “convinced” that the ruling Frelimo party “wanted to capture me during the meeting”.

“It is obvious they have a plan to kill me,” he added.

Raff aelli, the European Union-ap-pointed mediator, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

An EU diplomat, who asked not to be named, confi rmed to AFP that two me-diators had gone to Gorongosa for a meet-ing with Dhlakama. “(But) Dhlakama told them to turn back at the very last mo-ment,” said the diplomat.

A new round of peace talks resumed last week despite the killing of an opposi-tion negotiator earlier this month.

On Tuesday separate talks between the mediators and each of the feuding sides, continued as usual.

While both sides have agreed in prin-ciple to changing the constitution to al-low Renamo fi gures to be appointed as provincial governors, the talks have yet to result in a ceasefi re.

Renamo, which previously waged a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992, has refused to accept the results of 2014 elec-tions when it was beaten once more by the ruling Frelimo party — in power since the former Portuguese colony’s independ-ence 40 years ago.

Renamo’s armed wing has in recent years staged a string of deadly attacks in central Mozambique as it fi ghts to make its voice heard and to secure a greater share of power.

AMERICAS19Gulf Times


ReutersWashington

With two weeks to go until the US election, Republi-can presidential candidate

Donald Trump touted his newest ho-tel venture yesterday, citing it as an example of his business success and ability to “get things done” for the American people.

Trump’s 11th-hour detour from the campaign trail to plug his business acumen drew criticism from some of his fellow Republicans, but the former reality TV star said the project showed what he could accomplish.

Formally opening the Trump Inter-national Hotel in Washington, which has been in business since last month, Trump said he would bring the same principles to running the federal gov-ernment that he has used as a real estate developer.

“My theme today is fi ve words — un-der budget and ahead of schedule.

That’s what we do,” Trump said at a ceremony in a hotel ballroom.

“This is what I want to do for our country,” he said. “A project like this demonstrates what is possible when a team works together for a totally com-mon purpose.

It also shows how to work with gov-ernment and to get things done.”

Trump, who is making his fi rst run for elected offi ce, often highlights his business accomplishments and has held numerous events at his properties since launching his White House bid in June last year, including a trip to Scot-land to open a refurbished golf resort in June this year.

But his Democratic rival in the No-vember 8 election, Hillary Clinton, and other critics have pointed to Trump’s many business failures and bankrupt-cies in his long business career.

Trump trails Clinton in opinion polls.From Washington, he was headed for

campaign events in North Carolina, one

of the key states that could determine who wins the White House.

Today, he heads to Ohio, another battleground state.

At the ceremony, Trump said that after a successful business career he wanted to “give back” and embark on a national plan of revitalisation for poor communities and ailing infrastructure.

“The American people know what this election is about and they see it every time they get their healthcare bills in the mailbox or ride down a high-way that’s broken or go to an airport that looks like it’s from a third-world country,” he said.

The break from the campaign trail for a business event was unusual for a presidential candidate so close to the election.

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said in several television inter-views that the Washington event would not take away focus from the campaign and was “a quick pit stop.”

Asked after the event why he was in Washington instead of campaigning in a battleground state, Trump told CNN it was “a very rude question” and he worked hard on the trail every day.

But Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who led 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign, said the hotel stop was the latest inexplicable act from Trump and was atypical behaviour for someone trying to win the White House.

“The walls are collapsing,” Schmidt told MSNBC in an interview. “He is not doing any of the normal activities that you’d be doing 13 days out in a presi-dential race for somebody who’s com-petitive.

You don’t take a time-out to tend to your business interests.”

Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives and one of the few prominent Republicans who has continued to actively back Trump’s tumultuous campaign, said Trump’s appearance hit the right mes-sage.

“I think it’s a good campaign event because it emphasises under budg-et and ahead of schedule, and why a Trump government would be diff erent from the bureaucratic wasteful slow system we have today,” Gingrich told reporters.

Trump’s 263-room luxury hotel in

Washington’s Old Post Offi ce building, about a mile from the White House, has not escaped controversy during prepa-rations for its launch.

Trump has sued celebrity chefs Jose Andres and Geoff rey Zakarian for backing out of plans to run a restaurant there amid Trump’s harsh rhetoric to-wards Hispanics.

Critics have also organised protests out front.

Earlier this month, the hotel’s facade was sprayed with graffi ti, NBC News reported.

One of Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, said the Trump brand was “hotter than ever before” but that his father put his presidential campaign before his busi-ness interests. “Even if there was a price associated with it, I think he was will-ing to pay that price, because it’s just that important,” he told Fox News.

On Tuesday, Trump stopped at his Doral National Golf Club in Florida as part of a campaign swing through the state, denouncing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare over-haul because of rising insurance pre-miums.

Clinton campaigned on Wednesday

in Florida, where many public opinion polls show a tight race.

An average of polls compiled by Re-alClearPolitics showed the two candi-dates close in Florida, with Clinton at 46.4% compared to 44.8% for Trump in a race including third-party candi-dates.

Speaking at a rally in Lake Worth, Florida, she slammed what she de-scribed as Trump’s business practices.

“Today he’s in Washington DC to open a new luxury hotel,” she said to boos from the crowd. “While the hotel may be new, it’s the same old story be-cause once again...

he relied on undocumented workers to make his project cheaper.

And most of the products in the rooms were made overseas.

And he even sued to get his taxes lowered.”

With the campaigns focused on bat-tleground states, Clinton has a strong lead in the race to secure the 270 Elec-toral College votes — or tally of wins from the states — needed to win the White House, according to results from Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project released on Saturday.

A man defaced Republican presiden-tial candidate Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday, hacking out the gold lettering display-ing his name and the television logo.

A man who identifi ed himself to a lo-cal news agency as James Lambert Otis, said he vandalised the tribute with a sledgehammer and pickaxe, originally intended to remove the entire star from the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard.

He said was going to auction it and donate the proceeds to the women who allege they were groped or sexually mistreated by Trump — charges the real estate tycoon denies — but was unable to lift the paving slab.

“It was very diffi cult.The stone was like marble — hard to

get through,” he said about an hour af-ter the 5:45am attack on the star.

Dressed in construction overalls, Otis said he used the hammer and pick to hack away Trump’s name and the logo indicating the star had been awarded in the category of television — for Trump’s work on his reality show, The Apprentice.

Otis said he still hoped he can sell the pilfered pieces and return to do the star further damage.

“I’m not frightened of jail and I’m certainly not frightened of Mr Trump,” said the man, who claims to have been arrested around two dozen times for protesting various causes.

This is not the fi rst time that Trump’s Walk of Fame star, which he got in 2007, has been targeted.

In July, a Los Angeles-based street artist built a six-inch wall around the Republican presidential hopeful’s star, made of wooden planks and topped with barbed wire.

Trump has repeatedly vowed during his campaign to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, drawing criticism from rights groups.

Last year, excrement was left on the star and someone drew a large yellow X over it.

A swastika and a mute symbol were also drawn on the red tile earlier this year.

The Los Angeles police department said on Twitter they were investigating.

Trump touts his new hotel as example of business success

Donald Trump speaks during the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel as his daughter Ivanka looks on in Washington, DC yesterday. Right: A woman in a wheelchair joins people in a protest against Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump on the sidewalk outside of the grand opening of his new Trump International Hotel in Washington.

ReutersKuala Lumpur

Aboriginal and environmental groups plan to fi le lawsuits today against the government of Canada

to overturn the permit for a controversial $27bn liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) project in British Columbia, representatives of the groups said.

The planned lawsuits will name Ma-laysian state oil fi rm Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), which owns a majority stake in the project, as an associated party, the groups told Reuters this week.

In September, Canada gave the green light for the Pacifi c NorthWest LNG project in northern British Columbia with 190 conditions, despite concerns it would destroy a critical salmon habitat and pro-duce a large amount of greenhouse gases.

The decision was a major test for Can-ada’s Liberal Party, juggling the needs of an energy industry sustaining job losses and the concerns of environmentalists, who were courted by prime minister Justin Trudeau in last year’s election campaign.

A statement from the groups yesterday

said they would be launching “multiple le-gal actions” against the project at the fed-eral court in Vancouver.

A legal challenge puts the future of the project at risk after it has already been hit with a three-year delay in getting its envi-ronmental permit and as Asian LNG prices have dropped by about two-thirds since 2014. The Canadian government said it stood behind the decision to allow the plant to go ahead.

“This project underwent a three-year rigorous and thorough science-based process that evaluated and incorporated mitigation measures that will minimize the environmental impacts,” said Caitlin Workman, a spokeswoman for environ-ment minister Catherine McKenna.

Petronas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We believe there are serious fl aws in the environment assessment process,” said Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild, an environmental group fi l-ing one of the lawsuits.

Besides the defects in the environmen-tal review, SkeenaWild also alleges that Canada failed to review the project’s cli-mate impact.

Knox said the project would be one of the largest sources of climate pollution in Canada, even if it met the conditions im-posed by the government.

The Gitanyow and Gitwilgoots aborigi-nal communities have expressed similar concerns and said they would sue Canada for failing to meaningfully engage with the groups before granting the approval.

“They totally ignored whatever we put forward to them,” on salmon destruction and climate change, Glen Williams, chief of the Gitanyow, told Reuters.

The Petronas-led project plans to liq-uefy natural gas at a facility in the district of Port Edward, British Columbia, about 1,600km northwest of Vancouver.

It would then export about 12mn tonnes a year of LNG to consumers in Asia.

Companies in China, India, Japan and Brunei are minority stakeholders in the project.

Both groups said they were confi dent of a decision in their favour, especially after the approval for Enbridge Inc’s Northern Gate-way oil pipeline was overturned in June.

The federal court of appeal said the gov-ernment failed in its duty to consult with aboriginal groups.

Canada’s former Conservative govern-ment in 2014 approved Northern Gateway, but after the approval lawsuits were fi led seeking to overturn the decision.

Aboriginal group leader Williams said they were relying on the Enbridge case for a positive ruling.

“(The lawsuits) put the project at ex-treme risk,” he said.

Petronas is weighing its options given soft LNG prices and a weakening econom-ic basis for the project, Reuters reported last month.

Sources said it was considering selling its majority stake, though Petronas denied it was mulling such an action.

Dwight Newman, Canada Research Chair of Indigenous Rights at the Univer-sity of Saskatchewan, said that while the case was before the court, Petronas would need to consider whether it wanted to pro-ceed with the project if there was a deci-sion against them.

“The indigenous claims are tending to see more success (than the environmental claims) but in part that’s because the law is less defi ned and because indigenous com-munities have constitutional rights,” he said.

Aboriginal groups to sue Canada over Petronas LNG project

ReutersWashington

The Republican Party’s two-year run in the ma-jority of the US Senate

is at serious risk and may well end on November 8, senior congressional aides said yes-terday, blaming Donald Trump as a drag on down-ballot Re-publican candidates.

With 13 days to go before elec-tions, several Senate aides from both parties privately warned of trouble for Republicans.

“Things are not good... the Senate is gone,” said one Re-publican aide who asked not to be identifi ed in order to candidly discuss the turbulent outlook for the 2016 campaign.

Citing polling, the aide said Republicans could lose Sen-ate seats in six battleground states: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Missouri.

Republicans now hold 54 of the Senate’s 100 seats.

Democrats must snatch four seats to win a majority, provid-ed their presidential candidate Hillary Clinton beats Trump.

That would make Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, the tie-breaking Senate vote since the vice president votes in or-der to break a tie.

On Tuesday, the non-parti-san Cook Political Report pre-dicted Democrats would gain fi ve to seven seats.

Such a result would leave them short of the 60 votes needed to easily get things done in the Senate, but it would provide a majority.

A less pessimistic Senate Re-publican aide said Senate con-trol still “could go either way” but sketched out problems.

In Pennsylvania, the aide said, senator Pat Toomey has to “fi ght off dead weight at the top of the ticket”, referring to Trump.

He said Missouri Democrat Jason Kander, who is trying to unseat senator Roy Blunt, is “a great candidate”.

Nationally, “the reason we don’t hold the senate, if we don’t, is because of Donald Trump”, the aide said.

Of course, this has been a volatile and unpredictable year and there is still time for trends to reverse. Democrats stressed they are not breaking out the champagne.

According to RealClear Poli-tics, Toomey leads by 1.8 per-centage points in Pennsylvania while Blunt is up by a point in strongly Republican Missouri and senator Richard Burr has a 2.8-point lead in North Caro-lina over his Democratic chal-lenger.

Still, a senior Senate Demo-cratic aide said, “We have a lot more paths to a majority than they do.”

Republicans entered the 2016 Senate races at a disad-vantage, having to defend 24 seats to only 10 for Democrats.

Democratic President Barack Obama, who is still relatively popular, won at least one of his two White House races in most of the states where Republicans currently are struggling, such as New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Clinton leads Trump by about 5 points in some na-tional polls.

Studies show a pattern of voting in recent decades in which the outcome of Senate races has had a signifi cant cor-relation to who wins the White House.

Polling in the hardest-fought states points to ex-tremely close races with Re-publican incumbents’ backs against the wall.

In New Hampshire, Repub-lican incumbent Kelly Ayotte is in a tough race with Democrat-ic challenger Maggie Hassan.

Republicans may be on verge of losing Senate majority

AFP Washington

The Pentagon is halting ef-forts to claw back recruit-ment bonuses paid out

a decade ago to enlist troops to fi ght in Iraq and Afghanistan, US defence secretary Ashton Carter announced yesterday, respond-ing to public outrage. Nearly 10,000 California National Guard members were being or-dered to pay back at least $15,000 each in bonuses used as induce-ments during recruitment drives to overcome a troop shortage.

The national guard members would have faced interest charg-

es, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse to comply.

The Pentagon sought repay-ments after audits found the California National Guard had overpaid troops in an eff ort to meet enlistment targets.

The plight of the guard mem-bers, revealed over the weekend by the Los Angeles Times, ignited a fi restorm of criticism by mem-bers of Congress and others.

“I have ordered the defense fi -nance and accounting service to suspend all eff orts to collect re-imbursement from aff ected Cali-fornia National Guard members, eff ective as soon as is practical,” Carter said in a statement.

“This suspension will con-

tinue until I am satisfi ed that our process is working eff ectively.”

He noted that “many” soldiers did not know they were ineligible for the benefi ts they were claim-ing “as a result of errors and in some cases criminal behaviour by members of the California National Guard”.

“I want to be clear: this process has dragged on too long, for too many service members,” Carter said in a statement.

“Too many cases have lan-guished without action.

That’s unfair to service mem-bers and to taxpayers.”

Carter said he has ordered a team led by the Pentagon’s per-sonnel chief Peter Levine to come

up with “a streamlined, central-ised process that ensures the fair and equitable treatment of our service members and the rapid resolution of these cases” by Jan-uary 1. Carter set a July 1 deadline for making decisions on all cases.

“Ultimately, we will provide for a process that puts as little burden as possible on any soldier who received an improper pay-ment through no fault of his or her own. At the same time, it will respect our important obligation to the taxpayer,” Carter added.

The Pentagon’s plans to seek reimbursement had drawn swift condemnation. On Tuesday, the house oversight committee launched a probe, demanding the

National Guard provide audits of overpayments and related docu-mentation by November 7.

An “appalled” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday urged Con-gress to pass legislation to “right this wrong”.

“These troops deserve our support and our deepest grati-tude; they served admirably and upheld their part of the bargain,” she said.

“It is unacceptable to now subject them and their families to undue fi nancial burdens thanks to mismanagement from the California National Guard and rigid bureaucracy on the part of the Pentagon.”

Pentagon suspends claw-back of enlistment bonuses

Trump has fanned criticism by taking a break from campaigning to open his hotel

ASEAN

Gulf TimesThursday, October 27, 201620

Police chief says no room for royal insult in ThailandReutersBangkok

Thailand’s police chief said yesterday insulting the monarchy would not be

tolerated and anyone consider-ing doing so should get out of the country, after a spike in cases following the death of King Bhu-mibol Adulyadej on Oct 13.

The widely venerated king died at the age of 88 after seven decades on the throne and the military government has de-clared one year of mourning.

Speaking ill of the king and the royal family is not only taboo but also illegal under the criminal code which makes anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or re-gent” liable to 15 years in prison.

Following the king’s death, many Thais have become sen-sitive to anything they deem disrespectful, especially in an outpouring of material about the king and the royal family posted

online.National police chief Ja-kthip Chaijinda said police were investigating 20 cases of royal insult, or lese-majeste, since the king’s death and arrest warrants have been issued for eight out of the 20 suspects.

“For lese-majeste cases, if people don’t want to live in Thailand they should go abroad,” Jakthip told reporters.

“If they don’t have money for the air fare I will pay for it, they can ask me to buy their plane ticket,” he added.

The government has also been taking steps to stop what it regards as royal insults being committed abroad.

The foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had asked for the extradition of several peo-ple suspected of insulting the monarchy but it did not give details.The military has long seen itself as the defender of the monarchy and it has over decades invoked its duty to protect the monarchy to justify its intervention in politics.

Since seizing power from a populist government in 2014, the junta has taken a hardline stance against perceived royal insults and courts have handed down record sentences.

Critics and some Western governments have raised con-cern about the state of human rights since the coup.

Political activity and peaceful gatherings are banned and mili-tary courts have been used to try national security cases, includ-ing cases involving civilians. The military government has de-fended its rights record saying it must act to maintain order after a decade of divisive and at times violent political rivalry that has pitted the royalist-military es-tablishment against populist political forces.

The king’s son and desig-nated heir, Prince Maha Vaji-ralongkorn, is in line to become the next king but has asked that his formal ascension be delayed while he grieves with the peo-ple, the government has said.

City off icers conduct mosquito fogging to combat dengue at a residential complex in Lhokseumawe, Indonesia’s Aceh province yesterday.

Dengue precaution

11 feared dead in gold mine accidentAFPJakarta

Eleven Indonesian men are feared dead after water and mud engulfed an il-

legal gold mine, an offi cial said yesterday, the latest deadly ac-cident to hit the illicit industry.

The men were in a narrow, 50-metre deep shaft on Su-matra island on Monday when heavy rain sent water and earth surging into the mine.

Rescuers have headed to the remote site in Jambi province to hunt for the miners, who were aged between 21 and 55 and had been working in a pit they dug

themselves, said police spokes-man Kuswahyudi Tresnadi.

He said none were believed to have survived.

Illegal gold mining has boomed in Indonesia in recent years as the price of the pre-cious metal has surged, and deaths are common.

Twelve people were killed in

October last year when a shaft collapsed on them after they tunnelled into a disused mine on Java island in the hope of fi nding gold.

Heavy downpours during Indonesia’s months-long rainy season regularly cause land-slides, which often bury villages and cause fatalities.

Dozens of Myanmar refugees return after decades in Thai campsAFPBangkok

Sixty-fi ve war refugees re-turned to Myanmar yes-terday from Thai border

camps, the United Nations said, in the fi rst formal repatriation scheme for exiles trapped in lim-bo between the two countries.

Thailand has sheltered tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees since the early 1980s, when fam-ilies began fl eeing Karen state to escape the then-junta’s brutal counter-insurgency campaign.

But Thailand does not legally recognise refugees or off er asy-lum, while safety fears and a lack of land rights across the border have left many Karen exiles un-convinced about returning de-spite the end of junta rule.

Sixty-fi ve people crossed back yesterday, according to the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Thailand’s Ministry of For-eign Aff airs, a day after a family of six left.

“Many say they feel encour-aged by the reforms in Myan-

mar and see a better future for themselves and their families back home,” said Vivian Tan, a Thailand-based spokesperson for UNHCR.

This scheme is the fi rst volun-tary repatriation backed by both governments and supported by international aid groups, who are assisting with transportation and resettlement.

But the conditions are not yet right for a mass exodus, Tan added, urging Myanmar to fur-ther de-mine its borders and move forward with a fl edgling peace process.

Several thousand refugees from the Thai camps have slipped home on their own since Myanmar began a democratic transition in 2011 that saw the former junta-run country em-brace free elections and loosen the military’s grip on power.

A 2012 ceasefi re between the army and ethnic Karen rebels also signifi cantly eased violence.

The nation’s new de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has devoted her fi rst few months in power to organising peace talks between the army and dozens

of rebel leaders.But despite a much-vaunted summit in Au-gust, the military continues to clash with a myriad of ethnic militias around the country.

Last month fresh fi ghting broke out between the army and a splinter rebel group in Karen state, displacing thousands of people.

The Karen Refugee Commit-tee, which helps manage the Thai camps, stressed the ongo-ing unrest and cautioned against clearing the facilities too quickly.

“The government needs to stop fi ghting with ethnic groups in all areas. Without that, how could we trust them?” said com-mittee spokesperson Blooming Night Zan.

While Thailand does not give citizenship to people in camps it has allowed the UNHCR to re-settle tens of thousands of them to third countries over the past decade.

But new refugees have also trickled in during that time, with more than 100,000 still living in the nine remote camps sprawled across the two countries’ moun-tainous border.

Malaysia hospital evacuated again, day after deadly fi reAFPKuala Lumpur

A fi re again forced the evacuation of one of Malaysia’s busiest hos-

pitals yesterday, just a day after a blaze at the facility killed six patients.

Mohamed Rizal Buang, a senior fi re offi cial in the south-ern state of Johor, said via SMS that yesterday’s blaze at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in the town of Johor Bahru was “small” and quickly contained.

But it added to chaos at the facility, forcing the evacuation of patients and staff for a sec-ond straight day.

Some of the patients evacu-ated yesterday were in wheel-chairs or their beds, while some medical workers were still in their hospital scrubs.

All six who died in Tues-day’s fi re were patients in the intensive-care unit, while local reports also said three hospi-

tal staff were in critical condi-tion from smoke inhalation and burns.

Reports have said it took around 150 fi remen to put out Tuesday’s blaze.

The causes of both fi res re-main under investigation but offi cials have said faulty wiring or electrical short-circuits may have been to blame.

Following Tuesday’s fi re, au-

thorities ordered safety checks at health facilities nationwide.

Opened in 1982, Sultanah Aminah Hospital is one of the busiest in Malaysia based on patient load.

Medical workers evacuate a patient after a fire engulfed the Sultanah Aminah Hospital, a day after a blaze at the facility killed six patients in Johor Bahru, southern Malaysia, yesterday.

Indonesia approves 2017 budget with 2.41% defi citReuters Jakarta

Indonesia’s parliament yes-terday approved the gov-ernment’s 2017 budget,

described by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as a “bal-anced budget”.

The budget, at a deficit of 2.41 % of gross domestic prod-uct, is bigger than the ini-tial 2016 budget of 2.15 % but smaller than the expected 2.7 % deficit this year.

Revenue and spending tar-gets were both set below the plan for this year, at 1,750.3tn rupiah ($134.64bn) and 2,080.5tn rupiah, respectively.

Indrawati, a former World Bank managing director, had said previously that 2017’s figures were set taking into account the large shortfall ex-pected from tax revenue this year.

“With the support of the parliament, finally, construc-tion of a more balanced and

credible 2017 state budget can be completed, which hopefully can be an important instru-ment to boost a better national growth in 2017,” Indrawati told parliament.

Indrawati’s predecessor Bambang Brodjonegoro was largely criticised for setting unrealistic tax targets which led to a budget deficit crisis near the end of the fiscal year.

Cutting spending and ad-justing the revenue outlook were among the first things Indrawati did when she took office in the middle of this year to make the budget “credible”. The World Bank in its Indone-sia Economic Quarterly report

launched on Tuesday called the budget “more realistic”. Its economic growth outlook for Indonesia in 2017 of 5.3 % is more optimistic than the gov-ernment’s 5.1 %, but its revenue collection outlook for the year is $3bn less than the govern-ment’s target.

The bank also projected a larger fiscal deficit next year, at 2.8 %, “assuming the govern-ment’s policy intent to main-tain the momentum of public investment especially for pri-ority spending such as infra-structure and social spend-ing within the fiscal rule.” The bank was referring to Indone-sia’s law which limits the fis-cal deficit to a maximum 3% of GDP.

Indonesia’s economic growth was 4.8% last year, the slowest since 2009.

The government expects growth to reach 5% this year.

The 2017 budget calls for an increase in cigarette excise tax and removal of some electricity subsidies.

“With the support of the parliament, fi nally, construction of a more balanced and credible 2017 state budget can be completed, which hopefully can be an important instrument to boost a better national growth in 2017”

Rights group, UN condemn exile of Cambodian opposition leaderDPAPhnom Penh

Human Rights Watch condemned the exile of Cambodian opposition

leader Sam Rainsy yesterday, joining other rights organisa-tions that have criticised Prime Minister Hun Sen’s demand to bar him from entering the country.

Rainsy has been living in self-imposed exile in France, where he is also a citizen, since November 2015, when a seven-year-old criminal defamation charge resurfaced that could have landed him in jail.

His exile is the latest event in a months-long crackdown on the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which is seen as a major contender in the 2018 national election.

A victory would be unprec-edented in Cambodia, where Hun Sen has ruled the country under various titles for over 30

years. “The offi cial exile of op-position leader Sam Rainsy is just the latest eff ort by Cam-bodia’s ruling party to win the next national elections — by ensuring they have no real com-petition,” Brad Adams, Asia di-rector at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Hun Sen issued the directive

earlier this month, according to Human Rights Watch, and ordered that Rainsy be banned from boarding any plane to Cambodia.

He also told immigration of-fi cials to arrest him if he entered the country.

The criticism from Hu-man Rights Watch follows

that of Wan-Hea Lee, the UN High Commissioner for Hu-man Rights’s representative for Cambodia.

She told the Cambodia Daily on Monday that “exile” violates Rainsy’s rights under the Cam-bodian constitution and the In-ternational Covenant For Civil And Political Rights.

Protesters hold portraits of Senator Hong Sok Hour of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) as they demonstrate to support him, in front of the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh during the trial hearing yesterday.

AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA21Gulf Times


A pumpkin lantern show in front of a shopping mall to mark Halloween in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning province.

Pumpkin lantern

AFP Portoroz, Slovenia

Japan pleaded with the world’s whal-ing watchdog yesterday to allow small hunts by coastal communities, arguing

that for three decades these groups had been unjustly barred from a traditional source of food.

The issue of “small type coastal hunt-ing” is a key dispute between pro- and anti-whaling nations gathered in Slovenia for the 66th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

As in other years that the issue has come up, Japan’s ambitions were backed by fel-low whalers Norway and Iceland, and ve-hemently opposed by the United States, Europe, Australia and others.

All whaling other than for aboriginal subsistence or for scientifi c research is banned under an IWC moratorium intro-duced 30 years ago.

“There is this perception that we are asking (for the) total lifting of the mora-torium, that is not the case,” Japan’s com-

missioner to the IWC, Joji Morishita told delegates.

“We are just asking for a small quota based on science, and of particular species in particular water.

That’s it.”Japan seeks a quota for minke whales

in the West Pacifi c, and argues that stock numbers can sustain small hunts.

The takings would be “exclusively for local consumption” by four coastal com-munities, it said.

“I’m not asking other countries to change their basic positions,” said Moris-hita, nor “to eat whale meat.”

He urged other nations to look beyond their “principled position against whaling under any circumstances” in the quest for a compromise on this and other deeply di-visive whaling questions.

“It’s not like one side is bad and one side is good.

This is not a dichotomy or a black and white situation,” the commissioner said.

Along with Denmark and Iceland, which argued the IWC was “held hostage” by an-ti-whalers, Japan’s position was also sup-ported by Russia.

“I think that we all have to remember

that those four communities in Japan that have been asking for quota, they have a 5,000-year history of whaling,” said Rus-sia’s deputy IWC commissioner, Valentin Ilyashenko.

“Our task is not only to conserve bio-diversity but also to conserve culture and traditions.”

The European Union and United States spoke out strongly against the proposal.

“We can only reiterate our strong sup-port for the maintenance of the global moratorium on commercial whaling and our serious concerns about the impact of small type coastal whaling on whales,” the Dutch commissioner Roel Feringa, said on behalf of the EU bloc.

For the US, commissioner Russell Smith said it was also an issue of values.

“Those values for the US include ensur-ing that our subsistence farmers have their right, have the access to the whales that they need, but they also include the value that we at this time should not be engaged in commercial whaling.”

The disagreement sets Japan up for an even bigger clash later this week, about its annual whale killings in the name of scien-tifi c research — which other nations claim

is a cover-up for commercial hunting for meat.

New Zealand and Australia have sub-mitted a proposal to the IWC for scientifi c hunts, which are allowed under a loop-hole in the moratorium, to be much more closely scrutinised.

If countries cannot agree on a compro-mise on the proposal, a vote will be held, probably on Thursday.

Norway, too, came under fi re yesterday — from conservation groups which ac-cuse the IWC of giving the world’s biggest whale hunter, a free ride.

Norway, which conducts commer-cial hunts under a formal objection it had lodged to the moratorium, took 736 minke whales in 2014, according to IWC numbers, compared to Japan’s 196 — 81 minke, 25 Bryde’s whales and 90 sei whales.

With a dwindling appetite for whale meat in Norway, as in Iceland, much of the Norwegian catch is exported to Japan, and some used as animal feed, said Sandra Al-therr of Pro Wildlife.

“Commercial whaling and trade is on-going, and Norway is a huge part of that,” she said. “But we don’t see any diplomatic measures on Norway.”

Japan, West clash over ‘cultural’ whale hunts

AFP Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s legislature was again re-duced to chaos yesterday as political divisions deepen over the swearing

in of two new lawmakers who advocate a split from Beijing.

There are growing concerns in the semi-autonomous city that China is tightening its grip, fuelling an independence movement.

In citywide polls last month, a number of new lawmakers advocating self-determina-tion or independence swept to victory.

But new pro-independence lawmakers Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung are yet to be sworn in to the legislative council (Legco) — Hong Kong’s lawmaking body.

Their oath-taking was put on hold and they were temporarily barred from meetings Tuesday, pending a judicial review into their fi rst attempt at taking the pledge two weeks ago.

At that ceremony, they draped themselves in “Hong Kong is not China” fl ags and al-tered the wording of their pledges, including derogatory terms and expletives.

But yesterday morning they were bundled in to the chamber through a media scrum by supportive legislators demanding they be allowed to take their oath.

The pair ignored repeated calls from pro-Beijing Legco president Andrew Leung for them to leave, with some pro-democracy

lawmakers shouting for him to resign.The session was abandoned after around

30 minutes.New lawmaker Nathan Law, who advo-

cates self-determination for Hong Kong, said that while he may not endorse the pair’s behaviour when they fi rst took their oaths, they should be allowed to sit as elected law-makers.

“What we are trying to protect is people’s rights to vote, and Hong Kong’s legislative system,” Law told reporters.

Outside the building, thousands of pro-

Beijing supporters waved China’s national fl ag and called Yau and Baggio “scum”, holding up photos of them pierced with darts.

Legco president Leung gave Baggio and Lau a second chance to take their oaths last week — but pro-Beijing legislators staged a walkout and that session was unable to con-tinue.

Pro-Beijing lawmakers had again threat-ened to walk out this week if the two were allowed to re-take their oaths.

Hong Kong’s city leader and the justice secretary also last week launched a legal bid to disqualify Yau and Baggio because of their behaviour during the fi rst swearing-in ses-sion.

Leung said Tuesday night he would defer Baggio and Yau’s oath-taking until the judi-cial review is complete — it is due to start on November 3, but could last months.

Until that time they would not be able to enter the chamber, he said.

“This decision is painful but necessary.If I did not make it, Legco would stop

functioning,” Leung told reporters Tuesday.Pro-Beijing legislators supported his de-

cision yesterday, while critics said he had caved in to pressure from the pro-China camp.

“We hope the Legislative Council can resume order as soon as possible, and re-spect the decision made by the president,” pro-Beijing lawmaker Starry Lee told re-porters.

HK legislature stalls over pro-independence oaths

Newly elected pro-independence lawmaker Yau Wai-ching in the main chamber at the legislative council in Hong Kong yesterday.

AFP Sydney

An Australian man was yesterday sentenced to life behind bars for the

rape and murder of a young French woman in Brisbane, with a judge blasting his “cow-ardly” actions.

Benjamin Milward pleaded guilty earlier this month to the charges, more than two years after the body of business stu-dent Sophie Collombet, 21, was found in a park near her apartment in the city’s south in March 2014.

Police said she was beaten to death. Milward, who was 25 when the murder was commit-ted, was jailed for a minimum 20 years.

He was also given 15 years for rape to be served concurrently.

“You attacked a defenceless woman, you showed her no respect,” the Australian Broad-casting Corp reported Justice Ann Lyons of the Supreme Court of Queensland as saying.

“You treated her appall-ingly and then left her — you abandoned a severely injured woman...

Your actions simply defy be-lief.”

DPA Sydney

Australian authorities are preparing for an infl ux of foreign fi ght-

ers returning from Syria and Iraq who may pose a security threat, the country’s justice minister said yesterday.

As the Islamic State terrorist organisation continues to suf-fer military defeats in Syria and Iraq “its modus operandi will change... to being an under-ground terrorist organisation”, Michael Keenan said in Sydney.

Those who were not killed would seek to return to their country of origin and continue their struggle, he said, adding that there were

“a number of Australians” with “lengthy military experi-ence” and “a deepened com-mitment to the Islamic State cause”. Around 200 Austral-ians have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the confl ict on various sides since 2014, with at least 68 Australians being killed.

Meanwhile Australia is in-vestigating approximately 200 people for providing support to individuals and groups in the confl ict or seeking to travel there themselves, Keenan said.

“We must be ready with strategies to protect the safety of our communities and the welfare of children,” Keenan

said in his speech at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank.

“Terrorists returning from the Syria/Iraq confl ict zone have the potential to cause se-rious security concerns.”

Four terrorist attacks have been carried out in Australia in the last two years, accord-ing to Keenan, while authori-ties have charged 51 people on terrorism-related off ences since 2012.

Keenan said “a terrorist at-tack in Australia is most likely to be undertaken by an indi-vidual or a small group using weapons and tactics that are low-cost, relatively simple and easy to acquire”. Australia has a range of laws prohibiting Aus-tralians from taking part in for-eign confl icts.

The arrest threshold for ter-rorism off ences has also been lowered from “suspects on reasonable grounds” to “rea-sonable grounds to suspect”. Keenan defended the change, saying it has been an essential tool in many counterterrorism operations.

The justice minister said it was regrettable to see more minors, including children as young as 14, engaged in terror-ist activities.

“Of the 38 people currently before the courts for terror-ism-related off ences, six are juveniles — a year ago there were none,” he said.

Australia braces for return of militants

‘Coward’ gets life for murder of student

AFP Tokyo

A Japanese court yester-day ordered millions of dollars compensation

be paid to families of children swept out to sea by a massive 2011 tsunami.

The Sendai District Court in northern Japan ruled two local governments must pay a com-bined 1.43bn yen ($13.7mn) to 29 plaintiff s — parents of 23 children who were killed in the disaster — according to a court spokesman.

The victims, from the pub-lic Okawa Elementary School in the city of Ishinomaki, were among a total of 74 children who perished in rising wa-ters after being told to wait for more than 40 minutes at the school grounds with teachers, 10 of whom also died.

The plaintiffs had demand-ed that Ishinomaki and the larger Miyagi prefecture of which it is a part pay a total of 2.3bn yen in compensation, arguing that their children would have survived if they had evacuated to a hill just behind the school rather than waiting.

“The teachers were able to

predict the massive tsunami would reach the school,” pre-siding judge Kenji Takamiya was quoted as saying by Jiji Press. Public broadcaster NHK showed family members rush-ing towards cameras outside the court in the city of Sendai after the verdict was an-nounced.

One of them held up a ban-ner reading, “We won: Our children’s voices were heard.”

“Why did my son have to die?,” Kazutaka Sato, one of the parents, told NHK.

“I still ask this question al-though more than five years have passed since the disas-ter.

“I want teachers in Ishi-nomaki to understand how terrified my son must have been.”

In response to the verdict, Ishinomaki Mayor Hiroshi Kameyama told reporters he takes the ruling “seriously”, adding the city will decide as soon as possible whether or not to appeal.

In 2013, the same court or-dered a kindergarten pay a combined 170mn yen in dam-ages to parents of four children who died after being put on a bus that drove towards the in-coming tsunami.

Damages for tsunami deaths

Deadly park ride had just had checks: owner A water ride that killed four people at an Australian amusement park in one of the world’s deadliest theme park accidents had completed an annual safety inspection less than a month ago, the park’s owner said yesterday. Police were examining the Thunder River Rapids Ride at Dreamworld, near Gold Coast in Queensland state, where the four adults died Tuesday after being trapped under an upturned raft.The owner of the park, Ardent Leisure Group, said the ride had completed its annual mechanical and structural safety engineering inspection on September 29.“As per regulations, this safety audit was conducted by a specialist external engineering firm,” Ardent said in a statement.The ride, meant to simulate going over river rapids, uses round floating devices that seat six and can reach speeds of 45kph. It is described by Dreamworld as a “moderate thrill” attraction for those older than two. A collision between two rafts flipped one, throwing two children, aged 10 and 13, free and trapping four adults beneath it, Queensland assistant police commissioner Brian Codd told reporters. He said the adults became caught in the ride’s conveyor-belt machinery. The victims, two men aged 33 and 38 and two women aged 32 and 42, all lived in Australia, police said. The New Zealand government confirmed one was a New Zealand citizen.

Whaling nations are seeking to keep the ‘scientific’ loophole open

BRITAIN


Armed police to travel onTube in wake of bomb alert

Armed police are to travel on London Tube trains following the bomb alert

at North Greenwich station, a senior offi cer revealed yesterday.

Firearms patrols which are routinely deployed on mainline train stations in the capital are to use the Underground to travel between jobs for the fi rst time in a move to counter the terror threat and to reassure the pub-lic.

British Transport Police chiefs say they are not deploying armed patrols on the Underground but the fi rearms offi cers will use the

Tube instead of cars to get round the city in future.

BTP’s deputy chief constable Adrian Hanstock said the plan would mean the public could see armed offi cers travelling on the network on a daily basis.

He said: “They will stand out and people will see them. We hope they will provide a reas-surance that they are there and are able to respond whatever the threat may be.”

Armed offi cers were deployed on the Tube and railway in the af-termath of the 7/7 London bomb-ings in 2005 but the measure was only temporary.

Yesterday’s announcement will mean that offi cers carrying guns will now be seen on the Tube net-

work in central London on a daily basis.

Armed police routinely pa-trol main stations such as King’s Cross, Waterloo and Paddington – and the new move means they will crisscross the city as they move between assignments.

BTP chiefs will hold fi nal dis-cussions with City Hall and Transport for London before the change is launched.

Police believe the move will raise the profi le of offi cers on the Tube as well as allowing fi rearms patrols more time on duty at main-line stations.

However, it is understood to have raised some concerns at City Hall over how Londoners might react to the sight of armed of-

fi cers on the Tube. The mayor’s spokesperson said: “No decision has been taken on this proposal. It will be discussed between the Sadiq Khan, BTP and TfL in com-ing weeks.”

In a further move, BTP dog units will also use Tube trains to travel around the capital rather than using vans or cars as they do now.

The new measures were an-nounced yesterday as it emerged that members of the public raised the alarm over the suspected im-provised bomb found on a Jubilee line train last week.

Hanstock praised the pub-lic and Tube staff for how they responded to the alert. “We are very impressed that the public did

everything we have been asking them to do for many years.

“They acted as our eyes and ears and spotted something that was unusual and out of place. They reported it to staff who also made a very careful assessment and, working from a set of prin-ciples, also raised the alarm and called in the experts.”

North Greenwich Tube station was closed while the bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion on the device last Thursday.

A man of 19 was Tasered and arrested in a Holloway street the following day in connection with the alleged plot. Damon Smith, who had recently started study-ing at London Metropolitan Uni-versity, remains in custody.

40% of fl y-tipping‘takes place in capital’

Animal carcasses and arm-chairs, bathtubs and boilers … and more than 200,000

instances involving black bags of rubbish – fl y-tipping is on the rise again across England, costing its 10 biggest cities more than £32mn in cleanup and enforcement costs in 2014-15.

Over that period there were 16 dumping incidents recorded per 1,000 population in England – but the rate in London was more than two-and-a-half times higher, and both Manchester and Liverpool experienced twice as much dump-ing per head than the national av-erage.

The capital accounted for more than 40% of recorded fl y-tipping incidents in the year to March 2015 at a cost of more than £25mn in combined cleanup and enforce-ment. The next nine largest cities – Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffi eld and Sunder-land – accounted for a further 12% of the dumping incidents recorded last year.

Items dumped across the Lon-

don in the last reporting period included more than 100,000 in-stances of black bags dumped by households and businesses, al-most 10,000 fridges, washing ma-chines and other white goods, and 1,600 animal carcasses.

London accounts for seven of the 10 worst areas for fl y-tipping per head of population. The east London borough of Newham had the highest rate.

Newham council said that the increase was partly due to an in-vestment in technology and staff to tackle the issue locally. “We have new smartphone technology, linked directly to our refuse vehi-cles which means reporting, and collecting of tips has increased dramatically,” a spokeswoman said, noting that a 37% increase in fl y-tipping between April to September mirrored a rise in the number of residents reporting in-cidents through the Love Newham app.

The number of dumping inci-dents recorded across England had been on the decrease – falling to a low of 711,000 between April 2012 and the end of March 2013. But il-legal dumping has been on the rise for the past two years for which data is available.

Build Heathrowthird runwayon ramp over M25: minister

Building the third Heathrow runway over the M25 would be a more sensible, cheaper

and quicker way of completing the project than digging a tunnel for the motorway, the transport sec-retary has said.

Chris Grayling endorsed the idea after announcing the govern-ment’s backing for a third runway, six years after David Cameron withdrew support for the scheme.

The decision prompted a Con-servative rift with Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, saying it was undeliverable and Zac Goldsmith, a former London mayoral can-didate, resigning as a Tory MP to stand as in independent, trigger-ing a byelection.

Grayling said it had been neces-sary to take a “tough decision in the interest of the nation”, while declining an opportunity to apol-ogise to voters who believed the Conservative party promise not to build the runway.

The proposal to build the run-way on an eight-metre ramp over the M25 in south-west London has been under consideration for several months, since a review by Lord Deighton into ways shav-ing £2bn-£3bn off the overall bill. It now appears to be favoured by the government, although sources at the department for transport stressed that all options, including the original tunnel idea, were un-der consideration.

Grayling told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “One of the things Heathrow have been look-ing at is doing what many other airports have done around the world, which is to build the run-way over the top of the road rather than underneath it.”

He said the government was working to make sure the third runway was aff ordable and a ramp was a cheaper and quicker way of doing it than tunnelling.

“I am very concerned to make sure it doesn’t cause massive dis-ruption on the M25,” he said.

The proposals will be scruti-nised in a public consultation be-fore a decision is taken and docu-ments released on Tuesday by the DfT contained correspondence from Highways England, the body in charge of Britain’s major roads, showing that it considered the M25 scheme a major risk.

Highways England said there was a “signifi cant risk of cost overruns” in the tunnel scheme, which it estimated would cost be-tween £476mn and £1.1bn.

The roads authority described the plan as “high risk”, and said there was “a substantial risk of excessive customer frustration about what might be (a) prolonged period of disruption”.

The analyst fi rm Inrix say that traffi c and delays around the mo-torway junction are likely to in-crease by 10% after the runway is built, and by 30% during con-struction.

Grayling has begun a tour of the regions to promote the benefi ts of Heathrow’s third runway, starting in Newcastle upon Tyne yester-day where he visited an engineer-ing company to stress that it was a project in the national interest, not just for the south-east.

On Tuesday, the government hailed its plan to proceed with airport expansion as a sign of strength and decisiveness after years of delays. Theresa May told the cabinet it was a vital deci-sion that had been ducked for too long. But she immediately faced a range of Conservative resistance after she decided to partially sus-pend cabinet responsibility to al-low Johnson and Justine Greening, the education secretary, to express opposition to the plan once it was made public.

Following the announcement on Tuesday, Goldsmith resigned as a Conservative MP, describing the government’s decision as the “most polluting, most disruptive”.

American author Beattywins Man Booker Prize

Paul Beatty was named as the fi rst American to win the prestigious Man Booker fi c-

tion prize, for The Sellout, a biting satire on race relations in the US.

The narrator of The Sellout, an African-American called ‘Bon-bon’ tries to put his Californian town back on the map, from which it has been offi cially re-moved, by re-introducing slavery and segregation in its high school.

The 289-page novel begins with “Bonbon” facing a hearing in the Supreme Court, looking back over the events that led up to that point.

The language is uncompromis-ing and may off end some read-ers. So might some of the content – one old black fi lm actor asks to become Bonbon’s slave – as Beat-ty lampoons racial stereotypes. The protagonist’s father is un-justly shot by police.

“This is a hard book. It was hard for me to write, it’s hard to read,” said a tearful Beatty imme-

diately after winning the award at a ceremony at London’s historic Guildhall.

“For me, it’s just really gratify-ing that something that’s impor-tant to me is also important for other people,” he later told a news conference.

Chair of the fi ve judges for the £50,000 prize, Amanda Foreman, said The Sellout had been a unani-mous choice, reached after a meeting lasting some four hours.

“It plunges into the heart of contemporary American society with absolutely savage wit of the kind I haven’t seen since Swift or Twain,” she said.

“It manages to eviscerate every social nuance while making us laugh and also making us wince ... It is really a novel for our times.”

Asked about the language, Foreman said, “Paul Beatty has said being off ended is not an emotion. That’s his answer to the reader,” Foreman said.

The Sellout is 54-year-old Beatty’s fourth novel. He has also edited an anthology of African-American humour.

It was publisher Oneworld’s

second Man Booker victory after winning the 2015 prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings by Ja-maican Marlon James.

Beatty said he would not have written the book had his partner not persuaded him to apply for a grant that allowed him time to complete the book.

“I don’t like writing,” he said. “I’m a perfectionist in some ways and I get easily disgruntled and discouraged with what I’m doing.”

Apart from the £50,000 prize, each of the six shortlisted authors wins £2,500. Winning the Man Booker can have a major impact on a writer’s sales and reader-ship. James told Reuters recently that winning the prize can have a “seismic” impact.

In its 48-year history, the prize has gone to authors including Salman Rushdie, Hilary Man-tel and Margaret Atwood. Three years ago the rules were changed to cover any novel written in Eng-lish, regardless of the writer’s na-tionality, and published in Britain. Previously it was confi ned largely to authors from the Common-wealth.

London Evening StandardLondon

ReutersLondon

Guardian News and MediaLondon

Guardian News and MediaLondon

Winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout, Paul Beatty attends the 2016 Man Booker Prize at The Guildhall in London.

A four-year-old girl is in a serious condition in hospital after being shot in the head by an arrow. She was treated, after the incident on Saturday, first by paramedics then taken to Leeds general infirmary by air ambulance. Police said the girl was in a serious condition after surgery, although she was taken off life support yesterday. West Yorkshire police were called to a property in Illingworth, Halifax, at about 12.44pm Saturday, after a report that a child had been injured with a bow and arrow at her family home. Detective inspector Gary Stephenson, of Calderdale district CID, said inquiries were trying to determine precisely how the girl came to be injured.

A child who survived a horrific dog attack that killed his baby brother has woken up in hospital and asked for his mother. A Staff ordshire bull-terrier cross owned by their aunt attacked the brothers as they played at her Colchester home. Archie Darby, who was four months old, was snatched “from his mother’s arms” by the dog and died from injuries it inflicted earlier this month. His older brother Daniel-Jay sustained “life-changing” injuries – he was bitten and scratched on the face, legs and arms – and had been placed in an induced coma at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. The 22-month-old called for his mother when he briefly regained consciousness.

A finance manager who ripped off the women’s refuge where she worked is facing jail. Ruth Hiscock, 37, siphoned money from Harrow Women’s Centre while employed as its finance off icer between 2013 and April last year. The charity, off ering a safe haven for women in need, had received a £68,000 Harrow council grant but was plunged into crisis in April 2013 when it was stripped of its funding. Staff agreed to work for free and the charity spent some of its financial reserves to stay open, until it secured a five-year Big Lottery Fund grant. However, Hiscock was paying herself money from the charity’s accounts during the crisis. She admitted fraud at Harrow crown court.

An actor who starred in Broadchurch has been jailed for eight years for sexually assaulting two sleeping women. Nyakeh Kpaka, 26, was branded a “dangerous sexual predator” for attacking the women at house parties in Blackheath and Finsbury Park, six months apart, after each of them went to bed. The first woman woke to find he had got into bed with her and was molesting her. She ran from the bedroom screaming and police were called, in May last year. A second woman then came forward to say Kpaka had attacked her in similar circumstances at a house party in December 2014. She had barely spoken to him and did not know him before that night.

A third London hospital opened its own helipad yesterday, slashing journey times for critically ill patients. The £9.6mn site on the roof of King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill means that 4.5mn people in south-east London and Kent will have “game-changing” rapid access to its care. About 310 patients a year are expected to be brought in via the helipad. Previously, air ambulances landed in Ruskin Park and patients were driven 25 minutes by ambulance. Most patients are expected to arrive by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, although the pad may also be used by London’s Air Ambulance service.

Four-year-old girl shotin head with arrow

Boy attacked by dogwakes from coma

Boss who defraudedrefuge faces jail

Actor jailed for assaultson sleeping women

Hospital’s hi-tech helipadto help 4.5mn patients

INJURED PEOPLELEGAL VERDICT HEALTHCARE

Prince Harry meets well-wishers ahead of a visit to Coach Core at The National Ice Centre in Nottingham, yesterday. The Coach Core apprenticeship scheme was designed by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to take young people aged 16-24 with limited opportunities, and train them to be sports coaches and positive role models and mentors in their communities.

Charity initiative

BRITAIN23Gulf Times


Corbyn slamsprime ministerover lack ofBrexit strategyGuardian News and MediaLondon

Jeremy Corbyn has accused Theresa May of causing un-certainty for businesses with

her lack of a plan for Brexit.The Labour leader said the

prime minister was keeping vot-ers, parliament, businesses and the leaders of Scotland and Wales in the dark about how she would take the UK out of the EU.

During Prime Minister’s Ques-tions in the House of Commons, Corbyn compared May to the Blackadder character Baldrick, suggesting her “cunning plan is to have no plan”.

“Brexit was apparently about taking back control, but the de-volved governments don’t know the plan, businesses don’t know the plan, parliament doesn’t know the plan,” he said. “When will the prime minister abandon this shambolic Tory Brexit and develop a plan that delivers for the whole country?”

The prime minister replied: “I’ll tell you what we’re going to de-liver: we’re going to deliver on the vote of the British people, we’re going to deliver the best possible deal for trade in goods and services with, and operation within, the European Union, and we’re going to deliver an end to free move-ment.

“That’s what the British people want and that’s what this govern-ment is going to deliver for them.”

The spat over the UK’s plan for exiting the EU came after the Guardian published details of a leaked recording of an address given by May before the EU ref-erendum, in which she predicted companies would leave if the UK pulled out of the single market.

“I think the economic argu-ments are clear,” she told a meet-ing of Goldman Sachs bankers. “I think being part of a 500mn trad-ing bloc is signifi cant for us.” She said membership of the union also made the UK a safer place.

Opposition politicians said her comments to the bankers, made a month before the vote in June, showed May believed the UK was better off in the single market, even though she has signalled controls on immigration are the most important thing to secure from a Brexit deal with the EU.

EU leaders have repeatedly said the UK cannot stay in the single market if it wants to end freedom of movement for EU citizens.

Andrew Gwynne, the shadow minister without portfolio, said: “As if we needed it, this recording is cast-iron evidence of how May and other senior Tories have been saying one thing in private about the economic impact of Brexit and another in the comfort of Tory conference halls.

“It’s plain that she recognises what a disaster it would be for

Britain to lose access to the sin-gle market, so why doesn’t she be honest with the British people and say how she plans to retain it?”

The SNP accused May of show-ing “utter contempt for the pub-lic”. Joan McAlpine, convener of Holyrood’s Europe committee, said the secret recording “shows the warnings the then home secre-tary made before the referendum are actually very accurate, talking of the damage that leaving Europe would infl ict on our economy and the problems it would cause for our security.

“Expert research shows that quitting Europe threatens up to 80,000 jobs in Scotland and could cost the Scottish economy more than £11bn a year by 2030,” she said.

“We now know that May pri-vately agrees with forecasts like this. But the revelations show the utter contempt that the To-ries have for the public – assum-ing that people will forget all the warnings they made prior to the referendum about the damage of Brexit”.

Combined Tube andmainline strikes loomLondon Evening StandardLondon

Coinciding strike action halting both the Tube and mainline rail in the run-

up to Christmas was threatened yesterday.

The RMT union announced it would begin balloting almost 3,500 Tube staff on Tuesday, with the result due two weeks later on November 15.

The Aslef union is due to de-clare its result of an already-announced strike ballot among 1,000 trains drivers on South-ern Railway on November 18.

Leaders of both unions ex-pect overwhelming support for the strike calls. By law they must give seven days’ notice of industrial action, meaning the first combined walkouts could take place later next month.

The RMT said it would also ballot its driver members on Southern in the row over changes to the role of the guard and more driver-only operated trains. The result is also due on November 18.

Aslef controls the major-

ity of drivers but ballots from both unions means virtually all drivers will be taking part, threatening a total shutdown of Southern Railway. Both bal-lots were revealed earlier this month by the Standard.

The white-collar TSSA un-ion has also said a strike bal-lot among up to 1,600 ticket staff is now “inevitable”, saying London Underground (LU) has failed to protect its members from physical and verbal as-saults from passengers.

The RMT claims 873 jobs have been cut from Tube stations, leaving staff unable to cope. LU has not disputed the fi gures. Its chief operating offi cer Steve Griffi ths said: “LU remains one of the safest metros in the world. There are more of our staff avail-able to customers in public areas of stations than ever before and crime is at its lowest level.”

The next two Southern strikes by train guards take place on November 4 and 5. The operator says it is transferring responsibility for operating doors from guards to the driver to improve services and rejects claims the system is unsafe.

Under-25smust bekept out of adultjails: MPsGuardian News and MediaLondon

Young off enders up to the age of 25 should be kept out of adult prisons be-

cause of “irrefutable evidence” that the typical adult male brain is not fully formed until at least the mid-20s, MPs have said.

The House of Commons jus-tice select committee says young adults, who make up 10% of the adult prison population but ac-count for 30%-40% of police time, should be treated diff er-ently by the criminal justice system and be held in young of-fender institutions with 18- to 20-year-olds.

The MPs say that the most re-cent evidence shows that young people are reaching adult ma-turity fi ve to seven years later than they did a few decades ago, which is aff ecting the age at which most typically grow out of crime.

The justice select committee report on young adult off end-ers cites behavioural neuro-scientifi c evidence that this is refl ected in the late develop-ment of those parts of their brain that determine how individuals weigh long-term gains against short-term reward eff orts.

“As the brain is a plastic organ it can heal to an extent up to the age of 25 if taken out of ‘aversive circumstances’ which can cause brain changes, for example, sep-aration from family and friends and exposure to punitive condi-tions,” the MPs argue.

“While the brain is continu-ing to develop there is a risk that problems will be compounded by involvement in the criminal justice system itself and that opportunities will be missed to repair the developmental harm caused by brain injury or other forms of trauma.”

The committee’s inquiry found those still off ending into adulthood were more likely to have learning diffi culties or communication disorders, or to have suff ered head injuries

‘Do not fl ush’ labellingon wet wipes soughtGuardian News and MediaLondon

UK water companies are urging the national trad-ing standards body to help

stamp out “misleading” labelling on disposable wet wipes that are marketed as fl ushable but clog up drains and litter oceans at huge environmental cost.

They are calling on manufac-turers of moist toilet tissues and other non-biodegradable cleaning cloths such as bathroom clean-ing wipes – which are routinely fl ushed away by consumers in their toilets – to ensure that such products are prominently labelled as not fl ushable and are to be dis-posed of in a bin.

In a letter to the Chartered Institute of Trading Standards (CITS), Tony Harrington of the trade body Water UK urges the in-stitute to launch its own investiga-tion into an issue which he says is “adversely” aff ecting consumers and the environment.

“Wet wipes and other prod-

ucts which fi nd their way into our sewers are not dissolvable like standard toilet paper, but instead may contain materials which do not disintegrate in the same way that a paper-based tissue does,” he wrote in the letter to CITS head of policy, Melissa Dring. “This can lead to materials like plastics be-ing released into the environment (similar to microbeads, a product that has received considerable media attention, and which the government has committed to ban for cosmetics), substances which we are now aware could have con-sequences for the human food chain.”

Harrington, who is chair of the 21st Century Drainage Programme Board, a Water UK-sponsored sec-tor group looking at more resilient urban drainage systems, said that misleading labelling and instruc-tions are fuelling the problem.

“It is our belief that whilst man-ufacturers are still able to advertise their products as being ‘fl ushable’, or sell them with no suitable guid-ance on the label as to disposal, consumers will continue to dis-

pose of them by incorrectly fl ush-ing them into the sewer system,” the letter reads. “As far as we can see, having clear and prominently visible ‘Do Not Flush’ labelling and removing the word ‘fl ush-able’ from all packaging is the only acceptable and environmentally responsible way forward, while available products fail to meet wa-ter industry standards for fl ush-ability.”

In the UK alone, water compa-nies spend approximately £88mn of customers’ money clearing an estimated 360,000 blockages an-nually in the sewerage network. Half of these blockages are avoida-ble and are caused by the incorrect disposal of wet wipes and other hygiene products via toilets.

Putting wet wipes down the toilet can cause blockages that lead to massive buildups of fat, known as “fatbergs”. In 2013 a lump of congealed fat the size of a bus was found in sewers beneath London. Last year a spokesperson for Southern Water said Kent resi-dents were dumping 2,000 tonnes of wet wipes into sewers.

Model and actress Lily Cole (centre) joins a Love In Action Have a Heart photocall on the Millennium Bridge in London, yesterday, calling on the government to help child refugees displaced by the demolition of the Jungle refugee camp in Calais.

Prime Minister Theresa May greets Bahrain king Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah outside 10 Downing Street in London yesterday.

Help for refugees

Bahrain king meets May

A woman has been assaulted and raped in Man-chester, prompting a police appeal for information. The 51-year-old was punched in the face before be-ing raped by a man in Cheetham Hill Road, close to HMP Manchester, shortly before 0400BST. The attacker, who was driving a dark-coloured car, was described as in his 40s, of medium build, with dark hair and a full beard.Greater Manchester Police urged anyone with informa-tion to come forward. Police have sealed off the street. Forensics officers are currently combing the area for evidence. A warehouse worker in the area said: “Police have been there since 4am this morning.”

Former Conservative minister Nick Boles has revealed he is battling cancer. Boles said doctors had found a cancerous tumour in his head. In a series of tweets, he joked people “might think that explains a lot about my recent behaviour” and praised emergency medical staff at London’s Kings College hospital. The Grantham and Stamford MP said he would soon start treatment, adding: “I fought cancer off nine years ago and I am sure I can do it again.” MPs from across the House of Commons wished the former business and planning minister well after he revealed his diagnosis.

The French police will look into a scuff le in the European Parliament between two members of the UK Independence Party, which left one in hospital with a head injury, the speaker of the EU legislature said yesterday. President Martin Schulz said an internal inquiry he commissioned had been unable to reconcile the accounts of Mike Hookem, Ukip’s defence spokesman, and Steven Woolfe, who col-lapsed after the incident. No witnesses had come forward. “Given the seriousness of the reported facts and their possible criminal implications, further evidence is needed to clarify this matter,” Schulz told the chamber. “Therefore ... I have referred this matter to the French authorities.”

Theatre director Howard Davies has died at the age of 71, his family has announced. He was known for his work at several venues, including the Old Vic and the National Theatre, across his long career. Davies also helped set up the Warehouse Theatre in Covent Garden, which later became the Donmar Warehouse. He won three Olivier Awards for best director and was made a CBE in 2011 for services to drama. A family statement said he died on October 25 after a short battle with cancer. The National Theatre described Davies as “one of the very greatest theatre directors of his generation”. Over 28 years, he directed 36 productions for the National Theatre.

Trips by British tourists to Ireland grew at the slowest rate in over a year in the three months after Britons voted on June 23 to leave the European Union. Ireland attracted more visitors last year than in any year on record, recording a sharp rise in trips from the US, Europe and neighbouring Britain, which accounted for 40% of all tourists. A near-20-percent plunge in sterling’s value against the euro since the Brexit vote has made Ireland more expensive for Britons. The 9.3% year-on-year growth in the third quarter was down from 14.4% in the three months leading up to the referendum and a high of 17.3% in the generally quieter first quarter.

Woman raped in violentManchester street attack

MP Boles reveals cancer diagnosis

Ukip MEPs reportedto police over fight

Theatre director Davies dies aged 71

Surge in British trips toIreland eases after Brexit

CRIME PEOPLELAW AND ORDER OBITUARY TRAVEL

Premier a master of dodging questions: study

Theresa May is in a class of her own

when it comes to not answering ques-

tions, according to analysis of her major

interviews since becoming prime minis-

ter. Such is her niche skill that research-

ers had to come up with a brand new

category of equivocation: “non-specific

response to a specific question”. But

her technique may begin to unravel as

politicians press for greater detail on her

plans for Britain’s departure from the

European Union, an expert said. Peter

Bull of the University of York has spent

years studying the technique of politi-

cians when being grilled in interviews.

Writing on The Conversation website,

he said British political leaders had

an average 46% reply rate when it

came to giving a “straight answer to a

straight question”. However, May had

answer rates of only 14% and 41% in

the two big political interviews she has

given since becoming prime minister

in July. Bull has identified 35 diff erent

techniques for dodging the question,

including attacking it and rephrasing

it. He had to add a new one for May’s

“non-specific response to a specific

question” style. “May’s responses are

polite and relevant to the substance of

the question, but do not provide the

requested information,” Bull wrote.

EUROPE


25 migrants found dead in rubber boatReutersRome

Twenty-fi ve migrants were found dead in the bottom of a rubber boat in the

Mediterranean, aid group Doc-tors Without Borders (MSF) said yesterday, as sea deaths look set to break last year’s record.

Rescuers found the dead, who had apparently suff ocated after inhaling fuel, in a packed boat 40km from the coast of Libya that was also carrying 107 survi-vors, MSF said in a statement.

It took three hours to recover 11 of the trapped corpses, which were submerged in a mix of sea water and fuel, MSF said, so res-cuers enlisted the help of Sea-Watch, another aid group.

MSF said its staff also saved 139 people from another raft in the area, and Sea Watch recov-ered one body in a separate op-eration.

More than 3,740 migrants have drowned on their way to Europe so far this year, nearly matching the death toll recorded for all of 2015 when three times as many people took to the seas, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Among those rescued on Tuesday, 23 people had chemical burns, MSF said.

Medical evacuation had to be arranged for seven of the injured, two of whom were taken to Italy by helicopter.

One young woman was intu-bated by the onboard medical team before being evacuated, to stabilise her condition.

“Sea rescue operations are becoming a race through a mari-time graveyard and our rescue

boats powerless to stop the loss of life,” MSF said on Twitter.

A total 500 migrants were pulled to safety from overcrowd-ed boats on Tuesday, according to the Italian Coast Guard, which co-ordinates rescue operations

in the stretch of sea which has become the world’s deadliest crossing point for migrants.

MSF’s ship “Bourbon Argos” is due to bring 11 corpses and 246 survivors today to the port of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.

Frontex to repatriate more failed asylum seekers

Frontex is stepping up eff orts

to help EU countries repatriate

migrants who have their asylum

claims rejected, the director of

Europe’s border force agency said

yesterday.

The European Border and

Coast Guard Agency, as Frontex

is now called, has already helped

return some 7,800 economic

migrants this year, and expects

the number to rise.

Fabrice Leggeri told journalists

in Rome some member states

were having diff iculties signing

repatriation agreements with

departure or transit countries

due to political complications,

but Frontex could usefully apply

pressure on their behalf.

“If third countries say no to

Frontex on repatriation, they say

no to the EU as a whole. That’s a

big political statement,” he said.

The agency already has return

policies in place largely with the

Western Balkans, as well as coun-

tries from Pakistan to Nigeria.

The EU signed a “Joint Way

Forward” repatriation agreement

with Afghanistan this month

– among protests from some

human rights organisations – and

Italy began returning migrants to

Sudan in August, again sparking

consternation in some quarters.

Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria

and Senegal “have been identi-

fied as priority countries for the

(migration) compact” which

combines “foreign policy, political

engagement with third countries”

and repatriation agreements.

Leggeri admitted that “at the

EU level there is a relatively low

rate of return.”

Only around 40% of the return

decisions are “eff ectively imple-

mented,” he said.

But, he added, the agency was

working to help each country

improve the process.

For the repatriation to take

place, all those refused the right

to remain must have iden-

tity documents to travel or have

their nationality confirmed by

consulates and travel documents

issued.

Leggeri said consular off icials

would be invited to meet migrants

in reception centres to issue docu-

ments in order to save time.

Italy has seen nearly 157,000

people arrive on its shores this

year, with nearly 328,000 people

crossing the Mediterranean in

total.

The majority of those who

washed up on Greece earlier this

year were Syrians followed by

Afghans.

In Italy, however, the larg-

est group comes from Nigeria,

followed by Eritrea, Sudan and

Gambia.

Swiss cabinet seeks compromise approach on immigration curbsReutersZurich

The Swiss government op-poses a referendum cam-paign that would overturn

a 2014 vote to impose quotas on immigration from the European Union, it said yesterday, suggest-ing instead a compromise ap-proach whose details will emerge only next year.

The move buys Switzerland more time to handle the fraught

subject of implementing the binding 2014 referendum with-out infringing too much on EU citizens’ right to free movement, a condition for enhanced Swiss access to the single market.

Organisers of the Raus aus der Sackgasse (RASA) – “Out of the Cul de Sac” – initiative are forc-ing another vote under the Swiss system of direct democracy after the narrow victory for quotas championed by right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

The government said it agreed

with RASA’s intent to preserve close economic ties with the EU, but said it would not be proper to try to reverse the outcome of a referendum so soon after the vot-ers had spoken.

Talks between Bern and Brus-sels remain stuck ahead of a Feb-ruary deadline to implement the binding 2014 vote.

Parliament meanwhile is de-bating a compromise step that would give local people hiring preference for open jobs.

A decision is due in December.

Proponents say this approach does not violate free movement and thus needs no EU approval, a view not shared by Brussels or EU member states concerned that any fl exibility they show the Swiss might be seized on by Brexit negotiators.

Britain voted in June to leave the EU, also to help control im-migration, and needs to reformu-late ties with the rest of the bloc in two years of negotiations likely to start next year.

Political analysts say the Swiss

government was reluctant to re-ject RASA outright without sug-gesting a compromise for fear voters would again back quotas, cementing them in place.

Leaked documents show the strategies the cabinet is mulling include removing or diluting the article on quotas from the consti-tution, enshrining the supremacy of international treaties over do-mestic law, or adding an article stressing the importance of ties to the EU, its key trading partner.

The political debate pits the

far-right SVP, the biggest in par-liament, against more pro-Euro-pean coalition partners.

The SVP is enraged that par-liament is circumventing voters’ will by eschewing fi xed quotas, while others say Switzerland’s export-reliant economy cannot risk losing access to the single market that absorbs the bulk of foreign sales.

The government’s counterpro-posal is due by April.

It means Swiss voters may again have to choose: curbing

immigration to a country whose population of 8.3mn people is already a quarter foreign, or pre-serving economic ties to the EU.

Many political analysts think the Swiss would opt to uphold business ties – the government estimates losing the bilateral ac-cords would cut output by as much as 7% of GDP by 2035, and business leaders decry the im-pact on fi nding qualifi ed staff – but Europe’s migrant crisis and the EU’s faltering reputation could make it a close call.

Calais ‘Jungle’ camp clearedReutersCalais

French authorities yesterday fi nished clearing the “Jun-gle”, a squalid shanty town

built outside the port of Calais by thousands of migrants desper-ately seeking a passage to Britain, and expected to disperse the last of its inhabitants around France within hours.

The operation mostly passed off peacefully, although some tents and shelters were torched

in a last gesture of defi ance as the refugees saw their hopes of a new life in Britain vanish.

“This is the end of the ‘Jungle’,” Calais’ regional prefect Fabienne Buccio said. “Mission accom-plished.”

Riot police spread out around the camp and fi re trucks moved in to put out some of the fi res, which sent plumes of smoke into the sky.

Buccio said about 5,000 mi-grants had gone through a processing centre before being transferred away by bus, and an-

other 1,000 were still queuing there.

Local opposition to the camp, along with criticism from right-wing politicians, had stung the federal French government into action.

Migrants fl eeing poverty and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa came to Calais hoping to cross the short stretch of sea to Britain by trying to leap on trucks and trains, or even walk through the tunnel under the Channel.

Britain refused to accept the vast majority of them – apart

from a number of unaccompa-nied child migrants now being processed separately – and high fences were built to keep them away from the port traffi c, but still they came.

Hamid, 30, from Afghanistan, said he had been among those setting fi re to shelters.

“We don’t care about problems that are to come after this. We did it because we don’t want to stay in France,” he said. “We want to go to England and England only.

“It doesn’t matter if I go to jail here.”

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a makeshift shelter at the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp in Calais yesterday.

Parents face trial over boy’s absence at trip to mosque

The parents of a German

teenager who refused to

enter a mosque as part

of a school field trip may

have to appear in court

for failing to pay a fine

for their son’s truancy,

a prosecutor said yes-

terday.

On June 14, the

13-year-old boy failed to

join his fellow pupils on

a trip to a mosque in the

northern German town

of Rendsburg as part

of a geography lesson,

prosecutor Peter Mueller

Rakow said.

In a written note to the

school, the boy’s father

justified the move citing

“ideological reasons” and

concern over his son’s

safety.

The parents were

subsequently fined 300

euros ($328) for their

son’s truancy by the local

education authority, a

common practice in parts

of Germany.

When they appealed

the decision, the case was

referred to Mueller Ra-

kow, who will now decide

whether the parents will

have to appear in court.

Islamophobia has been

on the rise in Germany,

which took in some

800,000 mostly Muslim

migrants in 2015.

Montenegro’s PM stepping down for new governmentAFPPodgorica

Montenegro’s longtime leader Milo Djukanovic will not contin-ue as prime minister in the next

government, according to his party, which topped the country’s parliamentary polls.

The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) late on Tuesday said its leadership had decided to propose Djukanovic’s deputy and former national security chief, Dusko Markovic, as candidate for prime minister-designate.

The move, expected to be approved by a party committee, would end the rule of the longest-serving head of government in the Balkans, who has dominated the country for more than 25 years.

But analysts said 54-year-old Dju-kanovic, who has twice before stepped down only to return to power two years later, was likely to remain a powerful force.

“He is ever-present in Montenegro,” Balkans specialist James Ker-Lindsay told AFP, adding that the news should be “taken with a pinch of salt”.

Djukanovic rose to prominence in the communist party in the late 80s when Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia, be-coming prime minister for the fi rst time in 1991 at the age of 29.

He has since served several times as premier and once as president, stepping down from power in 2006 and again in 2010 but both times retaining his posi-tion as party leader.

He led Montenegro to independence from Serbia in 2006 and has since brought it to the doorstep of Nato and European Union membership, but his critics accuse him of corruption, cronyism and links to widespread organised crime.

Djukanovic, who faced large anti-government rallies last year, pitched the recent election as a choice between ties with the West or with traditional Slavic ally Russia, whom he accuses of funding opposition parties.

The DPS, which has topped all the elections in Montenegro since 1991, took 36 of the 81 seats in parliament in the Oc-tober 16 elections, meaning it requires coalition partners to form a government.

The election day was marred by Mon-tenegrin police’s arrest of 20 Serbians ac-cused of planning anti-government attacks.

Their detentions were dismissed by the opposition as DPS propaganda.

Fourteen of the those arrested, in-cluding retired Serbian police chief Bratislav Dikic, have been placed under one-month detention while the other six were released.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic initially questioned the timing of the arrests, but said this week that authorities in Belgrade had also made detentions over “illegal activities” pre-pared for Montenegro.

Vucic did not give more details about those arrested, but said there was evi-dence that certain people had “followed the movements of Montenegro’s prime minister”.

Students raise placards during a strike action called by the students union in Madrid yesterday against university entry exams, dubbed ‘revalidation’, that the ruling Popular Party government voted into practice last summer, dubbing them as ‘Franquist’ and aimed at ‘expelling from the education system hundreds of thousands of young people from poor families’.

‘Revalidation’ protest

EUROPE25Gulf Times


Mayors heldin terror probeAFPDiyarbakir

Protesters, demonstrating against the detention of the Kurdish-ma-jority city’s co-mayors, clashed

with police in Diyarbakir yesterday.Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli were

taken into custody on Tuesday night in a move against the leaders of a city hit by renewed fi ghting between Turkish forces and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The two were detained as part of a terrorism probe, security offi cials said.

The Diyarbakir prosecutor said in a statement that Kisanak and Anli were accused of having links to the PKK and “inciting violence”.

A group of protesters tried to march to the town hall in Diyarbakir, the larg-est city in Kurdish-majority southeast-ern Turkey.

Some threw rocks at police, an AFP correspondent said.

At least 25 protesters were now in custody, security sources told AFP.

Internet access in Diyarbakir has been out of action since the morning, according to the correspondent.

Dogan news agency reported that from 10.30am, other southeastern and eastern cities like Batman, Van, Elazig, Gaziantep and Kilis also could not ac-cess the Internet.

Offi cers responded using batons, teargas and water cannon to repel the protesters, the correspondent said.

The Diyarbakir governor’s offi ce had warned that any demonstrations yes-terday were “unlawful” and would not be allowed, saying that since August 15, public gatherings and meetings were banned in the city.

Rallies were planned elsewhere in Turkey, including Istanbul – in the city’s popular Istiklal Avenue.

A group of around 50 people tried to hold a sit-in on the avenue.

But police refused to allow the protest and threatened to intervene, the pho-tographer said.

The prosecutor said Kisanak was accused of being a member of the PKK, while both individuals had made speeches in support of the rebel group, they alleged.

They are also alleged to have allowed the use of municipal vehicles for the “funerals of terrorist members”, the prosecutor added, referring to the PKK.

The prosecutor denied the co-mayors access to lawyers for fi ve days, Dogan

news agency reported, which is permit-ted under the state of emergency im-posed after the July 15 failed coup.

More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK fi rst launched an insurgency in the southeast in 1984.

A two-and-a-half-year ceasefi re collapsed last July which led to almost daily attacks by the PKK against secu-rity forces while Ankara launched mili-tary operations in the southeast to rid urban areas of fi ghters.

Last month, 24 mayors suspected of links to the PKK were suspended.

Turkish anti-riot police off icers on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue during a demonstration yesterday following the arrest of the two co-mayors of Diyarbakir.

‘House of horrors’ murder trial opensAFPBerlin

A German couple accused of luring women to their village home with per-

sonal ads went on trial yesterday over charges they tortured and killed two of them.

Wilfried and Angelika Wage-ner allegedly entrapped at least eight women over the years in what the media has dubbed the “house of horrors” case.

They are accused of cutting up one 33-year-old woman in 2014, deep-freezing her remains and later burning them in the fi re-place of their home in the central German village of Hoexter.

At the trial’s opening the 46-year-old man, bearded with a black jacket, and the woman, 47, wearing a brown ponytail looked impassive as they sat in the dock, separated by justice offi cials.

They were arrested last May after their car broke down while they were transporting a 41-year-old woman with severe head injuries who died hours later in hospital.

Chief prosecutor Ralf Meyer yesterday outlined details of the case that has sparked wide-spread revulsion in Germany amid fears the couple may have had more victims.

Meyer said the couple drew women to their home with per-sonal newspaper ads in the man’s name, then colluded to entrap and abuse them and force them into “servitude”.

The couple sought to system-atically break their victims’ spir-it through beatings, ripping out their hair, chaining them up and exposing them to severe cold, he told the court in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia state.

In one case they allegedly held a woman for over three months in 2011-12 before fi nally allowing her to leave.

The woman, now aged 51, only dared to contact police af-ter hearing of the couple’s arrest this year.

Aside from the sadistic power games, the two also allegedly stole or extorted money from their victims, with police fi nding about 100,000 euros ($110,000) in their home.

The couple married in 1999 and fi led for divorce in 2013 – the same year the man met and quickly married the 33-year-old woman who later died.

The co-accused continued to live together until their arrest, police said.

Wilfried Wagener was previ-ously convicted in 1995 of abus-ing his then wife and jailed for two years and nine months on charges of assault, false impris-onment and coercion.

Since their arrests, the two have sought to shift the blame on each other, according to police and lawyers.

The trial, with thousands of pages of forensic evidence and witness testimony, is expected to run until at least late March.

A court spokesman told na-tional news agency DPA that “after all we are dealing with two deaths, with one corpse missing, and we don’t know who else has been harmed.”

Moscow beefs up Baltic fl eet amid Nato tensionsReutersMoscow/Stockholm

Russia is sharply upgrad-ing the fi repower of its Baltic Fleet in Kaliningrad

by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter Nato’s build-up in the region, Russian media reported yesterday.

There was no offi cial confi r-mation from Moscow, but the reports will raise tensions in the Baltic, already heightened since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Cri-mea, and are likely to cause alarm in Poland and Lithuania which border Kaliningrad.

The reported deployment comes as Nato is planning its big-gest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War to de-ter possible Russian aggression and will be seen as a riposte to that.

Russia’s daily Izvestia newspa-per cited a military source as say-ing that the fi rst two of fi ve ships, the Serpukhov and the Zeleny Dol, had already entered the Bal-tic Sea and would soon become part of a newly formed division in Kaliningrad, Russia’s European exclave sandwiched between Po-land and Lithuania.

Another source familiar with the situation told the Interfax news agency that the two war-ships would be joining the Baltic Fleet in the coming days.

“With the appearance of two small missile ships armed with the Kalibr cruise missiles the Fleet’s potential targeting range will be signifi cantly expanded in the northern European military theatre,” the source told Interfax.

Russia’s Defence Ministry, which said earlier this month the two ships were en route to the Mediterranean, did not respond

to a request for comment, but Nato and the Swedish military confi rmed the two warships had entered the Baltic.

“Nato navies are monitoring this activity near our borders,” said Dylan White, the alliance’s acting spokesman.

The Buyan-M class corvettes are armed with nuclear-capable Kalibr cruise missiles, known by the Nato code name Sizzler, which the Russian military says have a range of at least 1,500km.

Though variants of the missile are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the ships are believed to be carrying conventional war-heads.

“The addition of Kalibr mis-siles would increase the strike range not just of the Baltic Fleet, but of Russian forces in the Bal-tic region, fi vefold,” said Ben Nimmo, a defence analyst at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Foren-

sic Research Lab, who has been tracking the ships’ progress.

“The two small corvettes, with their modern, nuclear-capable missiles, may yet have an impact out of proportion to their size in the Baltic.”

Izvestia said Russia’s Baltic Fleet would probably receive a further three such small war-ships armed with the same mis-siles by the end of 2020.

It said the Baltic Fleet’s coastal defences would also be beefed up with the Bastion and Bal land-based missile systems.

The Bastion is a mobile de-fence system armed with two anti-ship missiles with a range of up to 300km.

The Bal anti-ship missile has a similar range.

Sweden’s Defence Minister said his country was worried by the presence of the warships in the Baltic Sea, complaining the

move was likely to keep tension in the region high.

“This is...worrying and is not something that helps to reduce tensions in our region,” De-fence Minister Peter Hultqvist told Sweden’s national TT news agency. “This aff ects all the countries round the Baltic.”

Swedish media said the Kalibr missiles had the range to hit tar-gets across the Nordic region.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in August that the two cor-vettes had been used to fi re cruise missiles at militants in Syria.

When asked about the de-ployment, a Polish government spokesman said Warsaw was not commenting on the situation in the Baltic sea “for the moment.”

Earlier this month, Rus-sia moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into Kalin-ingrad leading to protests from Lithuania and Poland.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg briefs the media during a Nato defence ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels yesterday.

Switzerland tells slightly tipsy volunteer firefighters: Cheers!

Switzerland is easing an alcohol ban for volun-

teer firefighters and other emergency workers

using heavy vehicles, saying it had led to staff ing

shortages when crises demanded quick action,

especially in smaller towns lacking professional

personnel.

Starting on January 1, slightly tipsy volunteer

firefighters and off -duty members of so-called

professional “blue light” organisations responding

to urgent situations will be no longer face punish-

ment – provided their blood-alcohol level does not

exceed 0.50%, the limit governing other drivers.

“This change is necessary as rescue and disaster

relief organisations today are increasingly depend-

ent on people who are not on duty or on call,” the

Swiss Federal Roads Off ice said in a statement

yesterday.

“The government is addressing the need for the

best-possible recruitment of personnel in the event

they are needed for unexpected rescue operations.”

The current ban on alcohol caps volunteer

emergency service workers’ blood-alcohol level

at 0.10%. Peter Wullschleger, a Zurich emergency

services commander, said the drinking ban

remains in force for all firefighters who are on duty

or on call and can reckon with being dispatched to

an emergency.

Easing the restriction for those who are not is

primarily aimed at small communities with no pro-

fessional firefighters that must rely on volunteers

to be ready at a moment’s notice.

“With the ban, theoretically it would have been

impossible for somebody enjoying even a nice

glass of red wine during the Christmas holidays

to fulfil their duty in the event of an emergency,”

Wullschleger said.

EU and Renzi clash over Italy spending plans

The European Commission has asked Italy to explain its spendthrift 2017 budget plans, it confirmed yesterday,

hours after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatened retaliatory measures against the bloc.

Italy is seeking to overshoot EU defi cit limits on the grounds that it needs extra money to deal with record migration infl ows and reconstruction needs after a massive August earthquake that killed 298 people.

In a letter dated October 25 and published on-line the following day, commission Vice Presi-dent Valdis Dombrovskis and Economy Commis-sioner Pierre Moscovici say there is a “substantial gap” between what Italy promised on its defi cit “last spring” and what its government is now proposing.

Speaking late on Tuesday on RAI state televi-sion, Prime Minister Renzi said Italy was dealing with a migration crisis “primarily due to Europe’s inability to be of help.”

He threatened to veto the EU’s 2021-2017 budget, in discussions starting next year, unless countries in Central and Eastern Europe, which are major benefi ciaries of aid from the bloc, drop their opposition to refugee relocation pro-grammes.

Ukraine races to meet deadline on corruption reformsReutersKiev

As the deadline nears for some 50,000 Ukrainian offi cials to fi ll out wealth declaration forms, lawmakers and min-

isters have vented their frustration at the te-dious procedure with a mix of wry jokes and angry outbursts.

The online form, to be fi lled out by Sunday night for a publicly searchable database, is part of a reform backed by the International Mon-etary Fund that is designed to prevent offi cials from amassing wealth through corruption.

Politicians say the job is keeping them awake into the small hours.

The system is prone to malfunctions, they say, and they have sometimes been unable to log on. At other times, data already entered seem to get lost.

“This is not a system, it is hellfi re,” Yegor Guz, an MP for the People’s Front party, said in a Fa-cebook post earlier this week after he repeatedly tried and failed to revise his declaration.

The leader of the populist Radical Party, Oleh Lyashko, stayed up until two in the morning fi ll-ing out the form, only to discover the next day that none of his entries had been saved. “I spat, I swore, I nearly smashed the computer,” he said.

Even Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman

said he had encountered diffi culties.“Yesterday we tried to log into the system

until half two at night, but without success,” he told a government meeting yesterday.

Early yesterday, deputy economy minister Nataliya Mykolska posted a screenshot of the e-declaration website showing an error mes-sage with a skull and crossbones.

“Good night everyone, the battle continues. There is nothing wrong with the software de-velopers’ sense of humour,” she said.

Others have seen the funny side of the dec-laration process.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote a long post speculating what the correct declarations procedure would be if he were to drink a bottle of his “dizzyingly” expensive vintage French wine with a fellow offi cial.

“Should he refl ect this drink in his declara-tion as a present or pay taxes?! I think my wine will remain undrunk,” he said.

As of yesterday, more than 42,000 offi cials have submitted their forms.

Some senior fi gures, including President Petro Poroshenko, have not yet done so.

Lawmaker Yegor Sobolev, who heads parlia-ment’s anti-corruption committee, told Reu-ters the programme could face hurdles even if the sign-up is completed on time.

“I am very afraid the website will continue to experience problems,” he told Reuters.

Riot police guarding at the entrance of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters during a protest against the arrest of the city’s popular two joint mayors for alleged links to terrorism, in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern city of Diyarbakir yesterday.

Raj Begum, ‘Nightingale of Kashmir,’ dies at 89

Police rescue sons of Delhi businessman

A fire broke out at the Don Bosco School in South Kolkata yesterday afternoon, but there were no reports of any casualty or injury, off icials said. “The fire broke out in the terrace of the school near Park Circus at around 12.30pm,” a fire off icer said. Four fire tenders were pressed into service and the blaze was controlled within an hour, he added. School authorities said the fire was first spotted in the heap of waste material kept on the roof. “Some construction work is going on in the building. Maybe, the fire was caused by bidi buds of the construction workers,” Fr Bikash Mondal of Don Bosco School, said in a press release. “The local police station and the fire brigade people were immediately informed. All students and teaching staff are safe,” he said.

Bharti Airtel yesterday launched an aff ordable 10-day validity pack for international roaming with unlimited incoming calls, available for popular destinations, the company said in a statement. The pack is designed for medium duration international trips. The 10-day roaming pack starts at Rs1,199 for Singapore and Thailand and for the US-Canada and the UK it is available for Rs2,999. These packs off er bundles of data and India calling minutes. “These aff ordable packs will enable users to now stay connected 24x7 without having to worry about high call and data charges while roaming on international networks,” said Ajai Puri, director of Market Operations (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

A 60-year-old music institute manager stabbed his wife to death in a car after a quarrel yesterday in south Delhi, police said. The incident occurred around 11.30am when Mukesh Moga was dropping his wife, Manju Moga, 58, to her off ice in south Delhi’s Anand Niketan. She was stabbed by her husband when they reached behind Mount Carmel School near the Tanzanian Embassy. “A verbal duel occurred between them. Mukesh in a fit of rage stabbed his wife multiple times in the car until she died,” a senior police off icer said. The couple lived in Hari Nagar in Delhi with their daughter and son, both in their late 20s.

Fire at Don Bosco school in Kolkata

Airtel launches 10-day global roaming packs

Man stabs wife to death in Delhi

ACCICDENT TELECOMMURDER

Legendary Kashmiri singer Raj Begum, whose voice mesmerised millions for over seven decades, died in Srinagar yesterday, family sources said. She was 89. Begum, called the “Nightingale of Kashmir,” died after a protracted illness, a relative said. She was one of the most recognised female singers in the Kashmir Valley, having rendered thousands of songs from Radio Kashmir in Srinagar and in live concerts at other places in India and abroad. Born in 1927, the journey to the hearts of Kashmiris was an uphill task for Begum, who was also fondly called the “Asha Bhosle of Kashmir.” Singing, particularly for women, was considered a big taboo in the conservative society those days.

PEOPLE KIDNAP

Bihar police yesterday rescued two sons of a Delhi businessman who were kidnapped from Patna airport on Friday. They also arrested four suspects, off icials said. “The police rescued Suresh Sharma and Kapil Sharma from a village under Karja police station of Lakhisarai on Tuesday night,” senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj said. Their father Babulal Sharma deals in marble. Majharaj said the brothers had arrived in Patna on business. They were kidnapped by Ranjit Don, alias Ranjit Mandal’s gang. The kidnappers had demanded Rs40mn as ransom. According to the police, Suresh and Kapil were allegedly invited to Bihar by Mandal for a business deal.


INDIA26

‘Dinosaur Princess’ keeps a watch over rare remainsAFPBalasinor, Gujarat

One of princess Aalia Sul-tana Babi’s most prized possessions is a fossilised

dinosaur egg she found an un-suspecting villager using to grind spices on her ancestral lands, an area billed as “India’s Jurassic Park.”

Babi rescued the egg and it now has pride of place among her col-lection of prehistoric fossils, part of a lifelong legacy of protecting the dinosaur remains on the land her family once ruled over.

“She didn’t know it was a dino-saur egg!” said Babi, 42, who has been dubbed the Dinosaur Prin-cess for her work.

“I lovingly call it my masala (spice) egg,” she added of the rare fi nd, a complete Titanosaurus egg belonging to the late Cretaceous period, around 99-65mn years ago.

It now sits in her home, in pride

of place, wrapped in white silk in-side a red velvet jewellery box.

Researchers found the 72 acre sprawling family estate of Balin-sor was littered with dinosaur fossils during a routine geological survey of the area in the 1980s.

One fi nd – estimated to be 67mn years old – was of a new species of dinosaur which sci-entists named Rajasaurus Nar-madensis after the Hindi word for king and the local area around Narmada river.

A T-rex-like carnivore, the Rajasaurus was a 30ft predator characterised by a unique crown of crested horns that feasted on long-necked sauropods – herbiv-ores that also lived in the region.

Local experts believe at least seven species of dinosaur once lived in the area.

Today visitors to the Balasinor Dinosaur Fossil Park can see fi bre-glass models of the huge beasts.

But for Babi, the full potential of the place, is going untapped.

It is estimated that around 10,000 fossilised dinosaur eggs were found in the area – but a sig-nifi cant number have been given to other museums.

The park now has a somewhat neglected air: To the untrained eye it seems little more than a wild expanse of fenced-off scrubland, and without proper markings or explanations, some of the dino-saur remains can be mistaken for ordinary rocks.

A single watchman guards the government-owned site against vandalism and local herders seek-ing grazing for their cattle.

Authorities have built a mu-seum nearby, but it has yet to be completed – at the moment the only exhibits on display are a smattering of dinosaur models and posters.

The slow pace of progress is a source of frustration for local vil-lagers, who say the site could be providing them with employment if it was fully developed.

“It’s good that Balasinor is get-ting so much attention. But it is of no use to us,” says 26-year-old Rajesh Chauhan, who is unem-ployed.

“We want the government to spare some thought for us also. They are worried about animals that are long dead and gone, but have little concern for the living.”

Babi, who conducts guided tours of the park for a fee, has lob-bied authorities to do more, but says the fact that three separate government departments are in-volved means not much happens in a hurry.

“There’s a lot of potential to this place, it’s just that we need to wake up from our slumber and get going,” she said.

It could be a contender to be given Unesco Geo Park status, but a lack of co-ordination be-tween government departments means no submission has been made to the body, local media re-port. Nonetheless, thousands of

tourists visit in the cooler winter months, thanks in part to Babi’s eff orts.

Passengers on the Maharaja Express, a luxury tourist train, can stay at the royal palace before touring the park – the only place in the world where you can hold a fossilised dinosaur egg, say local geologists.

Babi, who featured in the BBC reality show Undercover Princess-es in 2009, said her passion for dinosaurs began when she started accompanying foreign geologists to the fossil park because she was the only local person who spoke English.

“I got drawn into it as it was something which was very unique and virtually in my backyard,” she said.

“I started writing to scientists and gathering as much research material as I could.

“My affi liation is double-fold, because I feel these are my sub-jects that I need to protect.”

Yeddyurappaand relativesacquitted in bribery caseJustice is done, I stand vindicated, says the former chief minister

IANSBengaluru

A court in Bengaluru yes-terday acquitted former Karnataka chief minister

and state Bharatiya Janata Party president B S Yeddyurappa in a bribery case.

Pronouncing the verdict in a packed courtroom, judge R B Dharamaguder of the special Central Bureau of Investigation court, also exonerated Yeddy-urappa’s two sons B Y Raghav-endra and B Y Vijayendra, his son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar and seven others in the Rs400mn graft case for lack of evidence.

“Justice is done. I stand vin-dicated,” a relieved Yeddyurappa tweeted after the verdict was pronounced.

“I am happy that false allega-tions and politically motivated charges have been dismissed,” Yeddyurappa said.

The CBI registered the case on May 15, 2012, under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, over alleged grant of leases to mining fi rms as a quid pro quo for do-nations made to Yeddyurappa’s family-run Prerana Education Trust at Shimoga during his ten-ure from 2008 to 2011.

The other accused includ-ed former BJP minister S N Krishnaiah Shetty, South West Mining Company, Jindal Steel Works (JSW)), Real Techni-cal Solutions Ltd and Industrial Techno Manpower Supply and Services Ltd.

The Supreme Court on May 11, 2012, ordered the CBI to register the case on the recommendation of a Central Empowered Com-mittee (CEC) appointed by it for

investigation into the alleged kickbacks for granting mining leases to the JSW and its subsidi-ary South West Mining Ltd.

The cases pertain to the Rs100mn donation by South West Mining to Prerna Trust and the mining fi rm purchasing 1.12 acres of land that was freed from government control (denotifi ed) from Raghavendra and Vijayen-dra in 2010 when Yeddyurappa was the chief minister.

The CEC also accused Yed-dyurappa’s relatives of receiving Rs60mn as bribe from mining baron Praveen Chandra through real estate fi rms set up by them.

In August 2011, Yeddyurappa was forced to resign after Karna-taka’s ombudsman or Lokayukta, Santosh Hegde, indicted him for colluding in the illegal iron-ore mining in the mineral-rich dis-trict of Bellary. Justice Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, had famously described a mafi a of politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists running “The Re-public of Bellary.”

Claiming that the verdict had come as a relief to millions of party workers, Yeddyurappa, who was the fi rst chief minister of the ruling BJP in south India, said that justice had given him an opportunity to bring the main opposition party in the state back to power in the 2018 assembly

elections. The Congress won the state from the BJP in 2013.

The Congress dubbed Yeddy-urapppa’s acquittal as “shock-ing.”

“We are stunned, surprised and shocked that serious al-legations for which mounting evidence was provided to the CBI have been completely over-looked. This is a clear case of po-litical infl uence,” Congress lead-er Sanjay Jha said in New Delhi.

“The CBI under (Prime Minis-ter Narendra) Modi’s government has become a convenient bu-reau of investigation, the way in which NIA (National Investiga-tion Agency) has become Namo investigation agency,” Jha said.

Attacking the BJP-led central government, the Congress leader said: “Currently, the institutions meant to investigate and furnish evidence are failing miserably in their task. It is evident that these are all under political infl uence.”

Jha said Yeddyurappa will face the real test in public court, which will manifest itself in elec-tions.

On the other hand, the BJP hailed the court decision.

BJP national secretary Shri-kant Sharma said: “We are happy that the court has acquitted him of all allegations.”

“He has said earlier that the case against him was politically motivated,” Sharma said.

The former chief minister was jailed for three weeks in 2011 connection with the case before being given bail.

Yeddyurappa was made the chief minister in 2008, but was replaced after the corrup-tion case escalated by the BJP’s Sadananda Gowda. After a maze of venality charges entrapped the BJP’s top leaders, the party lost the state to the Congress.

Yeddyurappa is prominent leader of the powerful Lingayat community.

Man, 90,dies afterattack bystray dogsin KeralaIANSThiruvananthapuram

A 90-year-old man died here yesterday after he was bitten by stray dogs.

Raghavan was attacked by the dogs early in the morning while he was sleeping in the veranda of his house in Varkala, on the out-skirts of Thiruvananthapuram, a spokesman of the Government Medical College where he was taken, said.

He succumbed to his injuries in the evening.

His neighbour, who noticed the stray dogs attacking Ragha-van, raised an alarm and it was only then that his family mem-bers, who were asleep, came to know of the ghastly incident.

This is the second such death in Kerala. In August, a 65-year-old woman was mauled to death near Kovalam, a popular tourist desti-nation south of the capital city.

Meanwhile, federal minister Maneka Gandhi came under fi re yesterday after she said the Ker-ala Anti-Social (Prevention) Act (KAPA) should be used against those who kill stray dogs.

Speaking to Asianet TV channel in Delhi, Gandhi, the Women and Child Development minister, said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should not sit silent when people are killing stray dogs.

She also said Kerala’s Director General of Police should charge such people under the Kerala An-ti-Social (Prevention) Act.

The minister’s comments sparked outrage in Kerala.

The fi rst to react was lead-ing businessman Kochuouseph Chittilapally, who said “those who speak like this should un-dergo a mental check-up.”

“I am fi ne and it’s she (Gandhi) who has to undergo it. And rather than being so much concerned about dogs, she should be wor-ried for her son,” said Chittilapal-ly, who has been in the forefront of the war against stray dogs in the state.

Kerala Minister for Local Self Government K T Jaleel said Gan-dhi was not seeing anything as she is in Delhi.

“Since she is not seeing or knowing anything, she can make such statements like KAPA and such things. We do not subscribe to such things,” said Jaleel.

Aaliya Sultana Babi posing with fossilised dinosaur eggs at her palace in Balasinor, some 100km from Ahmedabad.

Yeddyurappa: vindicated

A man is hit by a water cannon used by police to disperse demonstrators during a protest against what they say is the Punjab government’s failure to arrest those involved in the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the religious book of Sikhs, in Behbal Kalan village of Punjab in 2015, in Chandigarh, yesterday.

Protest against sacrilege

27Gulf TimesThursday, October 27, 2016

INDIA

New Zealand,India vow tostep up fi ghtagainst terrorIANSNew Delhi

India and New Zealand yes-terday called for eliminating terrorist safe havens and in-

frastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and stopping cross-border terrorism, while agree-ing to further strengthen their political, defence and security relationship.

A joint statement, released after a meeting between Prime Minster Narendra Modi and visiting New Zealand Premier John Key, said the two leaders agreed to enhance co-operation to combat the full spectrum of terrorist threats in all their forms and manifestations.

“They called for eliminating terrorist safe havens and infra-structure, disrupting terrorist networks and their fi nancing, and stopping cross-border ter-rorism,” the statement said.

India has been accusing Paki-

stan of supporting cross-border terrorism. Relations between the two countries have got strained following a terror attack on an army camp in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir last month. India later said it conducted surgi-cal strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control.

The joint statement called for the early adoption of the Com-prehensive Convention on Inter-national Terrorism to strengthen the international counter-ter-rorism legal framework.

Modi and Key underlined that India and New Zealand were both maritime nations with a strong interest in the Asia-Pa-cifi c and Indo-Pacifi c regions being stable and prosperous, including by ensuring the safety and security of sea lanes and freedom of navigation.

The two countries agreed to es-tablish a bilateral ministerial dia-logue through annual meetings, in either country or on the margins of regional or global gatherings.

Mumbai police yesterday charged Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s bodyguard for illegal possession of a firearm and assaulting a waiter at a pub, an off icer said. Gurmeet Singh Jolly, who goes by the name Shera, allegedly hit the waiter with the butt of a pistol during a verbal tiff at a bar in Mumbai. Police charged Shera with assault after receiving a complaint from the victim who sustained injuries, police said. “Shera has been charged for possession of weapons and hitting the victim with a baton and the butt of a pistol before fleeing the spot,” police spokesperson Ashok Dudhe said. Shera has worked with Khan for nearly 20 years and is known to be a close confidante of the superstar, who is himself embroiled in a string of legal cases.

Salman bodyguard charged over assault

Akhilesh meets governoras party crisis continuesChief minister hands over a letter of support from 205 legislators of his party to Naik

IANSLucknow

Amid a bitter and public war of supremacy in the ruling Samajwadi Party

(SP), Uttar Pradesh Chief Min-ister Akhilesh Yadav yesterday met Governor Ram Naik at the Raj Bhavan.

There was no offi cial word from the governor’s offi ce on the meeting and offi cials said it was a routine meeting in which the chief minister extended “advance greetings” for Diwali to the governor.

Sources, however, said that the 30-minute meeting was “detailed and exhaustive” as the chief minister informed the governor of the developments within his party.

The expulsion of minister of state for forests Tej Narayan Pandey aka Pawan Pandey earli-

er in the day was also discussed. Akhilesh has been asked by the party to sack him from the min-istry as well.

An informed source said that Akhilesh Yadav handed over a letter of support from 205 leg-islators of his party and briefed Naik about the legislature meeting of his party lawmakers. The move is being seen as an attempt by the chief minister’s camp to pre-empt any move by his uncle Shivpal Yadav and fa-ther Mulayam Singh Yadav to upstage him at any point of time in the near future.

SP chief Mulayam has, how-ever, made it clear that for now, there was no move to remove the chief minister. “Akhilesh is the chief minister today and no-body has an objection to it,” the SP supremo told a press confer-ence on Tuesday.

Mulayam had also said that he himself was not interested in the job, as there were just over two months before the notifi -cation of the forthcoming state assembly polls.

“Will I become the chief min-

ister for two months? In this time only salaries of govern-ment employees will be distrib-uted,” he said.

But despite the bravado and claims that all is well Akhilesh does not seem to be in a mood to relent and has reportedly

refused to take back the four sacked ministers in his cabi-net until some young leaders and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, all expelled from the party for six years, are taken back.

Before meeting the governor,

Akhilesh met party legisla-tors, members of the legisla-tive council and other leaders, including those who have been expelled from the party.

Meanwhile, in a signal that rapprochement is unlikely be-tween the warring factions, the Samajwadi Party’s state unit president Shivpal Yadav yester-day started vacating his offi cial residence here, three days after being booted out as minister for the second time.

Earlier in the morning, in an indication that he does not want to be taken back in the state gov-ernment, Shivpal’s staff began removing his ministerial name plate from his offi cial residence.

Shivpal, the second most senior minister in the four-and-a-half years-old Samajwadi Party government, was removed last week from the ministry for the second time in the last one month. The red beacon atop his vehicle was taken away and he surrendered his offi cial vehicle to the state’s ‘Rajya Sampatti Vibhag’ (state property divi-sion), an aide said.

Sidhu faces trial for alleged corrupt practice in 2009 electionIANSNew Delhi

In a set-back to cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Supreme

Court yesterday ordered that trial be recommenced in an election petition alleging ex-cess expenditure beyond the

permitted limit and misuse of a government offi cial during his election from Amritsar in 2009.

A bench of Justices Ran-jan Gogoi and Abhay Manohar Sapre said: “The trial of the election petition on the issues/allegations that survive in terms of the present order will have to recommence. We order accord-ingly.”

Sidhu had challenged a Pun-jab and Haryana High Court order directing his trial in an election petition fi led by Om Prakash Soni. In the election held on May 13, 2009, Sidhu – who has now fl oated a politi-cal outfi t Awaz-e-Punjab, had contested as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.

The court rejected Sidhu’s

contention that Soni, who has challenged his election on grounds of corrupt practice, has not backed his allegations of excess expenditure on ad-vertisements in print and elec-tronic media by producing the copies of the newspapers in which the advertisements had appeared.

Soni has alleged that against

the total prescribed limit of Rs2.5mn, Sidhu had spent over Rs3.2mn on advertisements in print and electronic media alone.

Justice Gogoi said: “In our considered view, it cannot be said that full particulars of the allegation of corrupt practice have not been set out by the election petitioner.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav shakes hands with Governor Ram Naik before their talks in Lucknow yesterday.

28 Gulf TimesThursday, October 27, 2016

LATIN AMERICA

Rate cut possiblenext year:Peru’s top bank chiefReutersLima

Peru’s central bank does not rule out lowering the benchmark interest rate if

government reforms fail to re-vive domestic demand next year and infl ation is low, the bank’s president said.

Julio Velarde, a widely re-spected central banker recently appointed to a third fi ve-year term by Peru’s new president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, said pending government policies aimed at jumpstarting growth will not likely be felt until 2017.

“If government measures reactivate domestic demand, there’d be no reason” to lower the interest rate, Velarde said in an interview, adding “monetary policy is a crutch.”

Surging copper produc-tion has been driving eco-nomic growth in Peru this year, but non-primary sectors have slowed and private investments continue to slump.

Velarde said monetary policy is still “marginally expansive” after the bank held the interest rate steady at 4.25% for eight months.

But the stimulus will fade as infl ation cools to 2.8% or “may-be 2.9%” by year-end, before nearing the bank’s goal of 2% in 2017.

Kuczynski’s three-month old centrist government has promised to slash red tape to boost private investments while pushing out new infrastructure projects.

He also plans to trim the value added tax rate while raising cor-porate taxes.

Business confi dence has risen since Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, took offi ce in late July, replacing a former military offi cer.

But Velarde said investors are eager to see the government start passing new laws after Congress gave Kuczynski legislative pow-ers to implement his reforms last month.

Two more governors‘facing graft probes’ReutersMexico City

Eager to clean up its image before the 2018 presiden-tial election, Mexico’s rul-

ing party is weighing whether to discipline two former state gov-ernors after expelling another wanted on corruption charges.

Institutional Revolutionary Par-ty (PRI) senator Arturo Zamora said yesterday that the party’s justice committee was reviewing whether to act against former governors Roberto Borge from Quintana Roo and Cesar Duarte in Chihuahua, whom the opposition have accused of fraud and corruption.

The governors deny any wrongdoing. “Proceedings have been initiated, and we don’t know what the result of these two cases will be,” Zamora said in a radio interview, noting the par-ty was still gathering evidence.

Battered by allegations of graft, misuse of public funds and confl ict-of-interest scandals, President Enrique Pena Nieto’s PRI has vowed to go after corrupt offi cials to counter entrenched public skepticism.

On Tuesday, the PRI expelled outgoing Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, who has been missing since the attorney gen-eral’s offi ce said a week ago it was seeking his arrest on suspicion of involvement in organised crime and money laundering.

Both Borge and Duarte’s terms in offi ce ended in the months after the PRI lost control of their states in a string of regional election de-feats in June. Corruption allega-tions have swirled around several state governors in recent years, but few have led to prosecution.

Pena Nieto himself became embroiled in a confl ict-of-inter-est controversy in late 2014 when it emerged he, his wife and then-fi nance minister Luis Videgaray had all bought or made use of houses owned by government contractors.

A subsequent investigation ordered by Pena Nieto found no evidence of any wrongdoing by the three, though it was panned as a whitewash by the opposition.

On Tuesday, Pena Nieto said presidents of Mexico do not wake up thinking how to harm the country as he sought to de-fend his record.

US abstains from UN vote on Cuba embargoReutersUnited Nations

The US yesterday ab-stained for the fi rst time from a United Nations

General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for an end to a US economic embargo on Cuba, after opposing such measures every year for 24 years.

For the 25th time, the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution with 191 votes in favour. Israel, which opposed the resolution last year, also abstained yesterday.

Such resolutions are non-binding, but can carry political weight. Communist-run Cuba and the US, former Cold War foes, began normalising rela-tions in 2014.

US President Barack Obama has taken steps to ease trade and travel restrictions on Cuba, but only the US Congress can lift the full embargo.

The Republican-controlled Congress has resisted Obama’s

call to lift Washington’s eco-nomic embargo after more than 50 years.

Republican critics say Obama is making too many concessions to Cuba for too lit-tle in return, especially on hu-man rights.

The UN General Assembly applauded when US ambas-sador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, announced prior to the vote that the US would abstain.

“Abstaining on this resolu-tion does not mean that the US agrees with all of the poli-cies and practices of the Cuban government. We do not,” Power told the General Assembly.

“We are profoundly con-cerned by the serious human rights violations that the Cu-ban government continues to commit with impunity against its own people,” she said.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described the abstention as a “positive step for the future of improving relations between the US and Cuba.”

Rodriguez said in September that damage from US sanctions between April 2015 and March 2016 amounted to $4.6bn and to $125.9bn since the embargo’s inception more than 50 years ago.

In March, Obama made the fi rst visit to Havana by a US president in 88 years.

His trip was made possible by his breakthrough agree-ment with Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 to cast aside decades of hostil-ity that began soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

Since the opening, Obama has repeatedly used his ex-ecutive powers to relax trade and travel restrictions, while pushing Cuba to acceler-ate market-style reforms and boost political and economic freedoms.

The UN resolution adopted yesterday takes note of the steps taken by Obama as posi-tive but “still limited in scope.” It urges the US to repeal or in-validate the embargo on Cuba as soon as possible.

Maduro calls ministers’ meetas oppositionstages protestAFPCaracas

Opponents of Venezue-la’s President Nicolas Maduro rallied in the

streets yesterday and he con-vened a crisis security meet-ing as the leftist leader resisted their efforts to drive him from power.

Thousands of opposition sup-porters gathered at seven points around Caracas as march across the capital.

The rally was a key test of strength in a mounting politi-cal and economic crisis that is destabilising the South Ameri-can oil producer.

The socialist president and centre-right-dominated op-position accuse each other of mounting a “coup” in a volatile country rich in oil but short of food.

The opposition is furious at the authorities’ decision last week to halt their bid for a ref-erendum on removing Maduro from power.

“Today we Venezuelans are mobilising in defence of our constitutional rights and against the coup,” leading opposition fi gure Henrique Capriles said on Twitter.

Maduro for his part called a meeting yesterday of his Na-tional Defence Council. It in-cludes top offi cials including the defence and security min-isters.

The crisis prompted Pope Francis to intervene on Monday, granting a private audience to Maduro. The president said he had launched a “national dia-

logue” to settle the crisis, with the Vatican’s backing.

Leaders in the broad opposi-tion coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), de-nied they had reached any agree-ment with the government on the terms of any talks.

Analysts have warned of a risk of violent unrest in Venezuela. Clashes at anti-government protests in 2014 left 43 people dead.

The head of the armed forces Vladimir Padrino, who is also Maduro’s defence minister, de-clared “unconditional loyalty” to the president on Tuesday.

Slammed by a fall in global oil prices, Venezuela’s economy has crashed. Protests and loot-ing have broken out, sparked by shortages of food, medicine and basic goods.

Maduro calls the economic crisis a capitalist conspiracy.

The opposition blames his economic management.

A recent poll found that more than 75 % of Venezuelans dis-approve of Maduro. But he has vowed to resist eff orts to sack him before his term ends in 2019.

Maduro blasted the oppo-sition-majority legislature on Tuesday after lawmakers voted to stage a “political and criminal trial” against him. “We will not permit a parliamentary coup of any kind,” he told cheering sup-porters.

It was however unclear what

impact Tuesday’s legislative vote will have. The Supreme Court has overruled the National Assembly’s decisions since the opposition majority took over in January.

Maduro’s opponents say he controls the court and the elec-toral authorities and has used them to block the referendum. “The MUD has the political cap-ital, but the government has the power,” political scientist Luis Salamanca said.

Maduro urged his opponents to join him in talks on the Car-ibbean island of Margarita from next Sunday. He vowed he would go to Margarita. But it was unclear who from the op-position, if anyone, he would have to talk to.

The offer appeared to sow divisions in the MUD. The coalition is united mainly by its members’ shared hatred of Maduro.

The MUD said it would only agree to talks if the govern-ment respected the constitu-tional right to a referendum and freed its imprisoned ac-tivists and leaders, among other demands.

They insisted any talks be held in Caracas for greater transpar-ency.

On Monday, a students’ group said 27 people were injured in clashes with police at a protest in the western city of San Cristo-bal. The blocking of the referen-dum “has brought the politi-cal confl ict to a critical point,” Salamanca said. “It is vital to avoid the confl ict escalating into bloodshed. If the dialogue can serve any purpose, it is to avoid that.”

Opposition supporters take part in a rally against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas yesterday.

Landslide kills six

At least six people died and four were injured after a landslide in Copacabana, Antioquia department, in Colombia yesterday. A number of people are missing, according to authorities.

“Today we Venezuelans are mobilising in defence of our constitutional rights and against the coup”

UN refusal to recognise role in Haiti cholera a debacle: expertAFPUnited Nations, United States

The United Nations’ re-fusal to admit full re-sponsibility for the years-

long cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 9,000 lives in Haiti is a debacle that it has a duty to correct, a UN expert said.

The world body admits that

it is morally bound to help Haiti deal with the deadly outbreak, which is blamed on UN peace-keepers who were sent to the Caribbean country after the 2010 earthquake.

But it denies being legally re-sponsible and has ignored law-suits fi led by victims that have been rejected in US courts after the UN invoked diplomatic im-munity.

Philip Alston, UN special rap-porteur for extreme poverty and human rights, described the refusal to acknowledge respon-sibility as “morally unconscion-able, legally indefensible, politi-cally self-defeating and entirely unnecessary.”

Alston said the world body must set up a procedure to settle claims by the families of thou-sands of victims killed by cholera.

Alston was addressing a Gen-eral Assembly committee as the United Nations prepared to roll out an aid package of about $200mn to help the families of cholera victims. The United Na-tions “must turn the Haiti deba-cle into a success story,” he said.

It must also urge member states to make generous contributions to the trust fund set up for Haiti’s cholera victims, he added.

Haiti is facing the worst epi-demic of cholera in the world, with some 500 cases a week of the potentially fatal bacterial in-fection. It witnessed a new spike in cases after Hurricane Mat-thew struck early this month, leaving thousands of people without access to clean water.

About 9,300 people have died of cholera and 800,000 have been af-fected since the outbreak in 2010.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who has expressed regret but has not formally apologised for the disaster, is due to unveil the aid package for Haiti in the coming weeks.

“The organisation’s legal po-sition does not prevent us from taking eff ective steps for ad-dressing the issue of cholera in Haiti,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

He said the United Nations was acting with compassion and showing solidarity.

UN envoy David Nabarro, fresh from a fact-fi nding mis-sion to the country, said this week the storm had made action all the more urgent. “The hur-ricane has created a new set of dangers because in the commu-nities aff ected the risk of cholera is high,” he warned.

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN29Gulf Times


National Geographic ‘Afghan girl’ arrested in Pakistan

An Afghan woman immor-talised on a celebrated National Geographic

magazine cover as a green-eyed 12-year-old girl was arrested yesterday for living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers.

The haunting image of Shar-bat Gula, taken in a Pakistan refugee camp by photographer Steve McCurry, became the most famous cover image in the maga-zine’s history.

She now faces up to 14 years in

jail, a Pakistani offi cial warned.Gula was arrested by Paki-

stan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for fraud following a two-year-long investigation in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, the capital of res-tive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov-ince bordering Afghanistan.

“FIA arrested Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman, today for ob-taining a fake ID card,” Shahid Ilyas, an offi cial of the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), told AFP.

Ilyas said that FIA is also seek-ing three NADRA offi cials who were found responsible for issu-

ing Pakistan’s national identity card to Gula, who have been at large since the fraud was de-tected.

He said that Gula faces seven to 14 years prison time and fi ne between $3,000 to $5,000 if convicted by court over fraud.

Pakistani offi cials say that Gula applied for a Pakistani identity card in Peshawar in April 2014, using the name Sharbat Bibi.

She was one of thousands of Afghan refugees who managed to dodge Pakistan’s computer-ised system and to get an iden-tity card.

The original image of Gula

was taken in 1984 in a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan at the time of the Soviet occupa-tion of Afghanistan.

McCurry later tracked her down, after a 17-year search, to a remote Afghan village in 2002 where she was married to a baker and the mother of three daugh-ters.

Pakistan has launched a crackdown against those who have obtained fake ID cards fraudulently and launched a reverifi cation campaign across the country.

Offi cials say NADRA has so far reverifi ed 91mn ID cards and

detected 60,675 cards by non nationals fraudulently.

A NADRA offi cial told AFP that 2,473 foreigners, mostly Af-ghans, had voluntarily surren-dered their ID cards which they obtained fraudulently.

Some 18 offi cials of the au-thority were under investigation for issuing ID cards to foreigners and eight were arrested, the of-fi cial said.

More than 350,000 Afghan ref-ugees have returned to their war-torn homeland from Pakistan this year, UN data shows, with the tor-rent of people crossing the border expected to continue.

Pakistan has for decades pro-vided safe haven for millions of Afghans who fl ed their country after the Soviet invasion of 1979.

Pakistan hosts 1.4 mn regis-tered Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR fi gures from earlier this year, making it the third-largest refugee hosting nation in the world.

A further 1mn unregistered refugees are estimated to be in the country.

Since 2009, Islamabad has re-peatedly pushed back a deadline for them to return, but fears are growing that the latest cutoff date in March 2017 will be fi nal.

AFPPeshawar

In this photograph released by Pakistan’s Federal Investiga-tion Agency yesterday, Afghan Sharbat Gula, the ‘Afghan Girl’ who appeared on the cover of a 1985 edition of National Geographic magazine, waits ahead of a court hearing in Peshawar.

Local group ‘worked with IS on police attack’

A major Pakistani militant group worked with the Islamic State (IS) to carry

out a huge raid on a police acad-emy in the country’s southwest this week that left more than 60 dead, a spokesman said yester-day.

The claim appears to confi rm analysts’ predictions that the Middle East based group, which had previously struggled to gain traction in Pakistan, is now building links with local outfi ts as its key rival Al Qaeda loses ground.

Pakistani authorities said the attack on the Balochistan Police College, the deadliest assault on a security installation in the country’s history, was carried out by the Al-Alami faction of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) group, an anti-Shia outfi t that has turned its guns on the gov-ernment in recent years.

It was also claimed by the Islamic State group, which re-leased photographs of the at-tackers — one of whom bore a strong resemblance to a fi ghter who was killed by security forces in the attack.

Asked whether the two had worked together, Ali bin Su-fyan, a spokesman for LeJ Al-Alami, said “Yes, of course,” adding: “We are ready to work with all the groups in Pakistan whether they belong to ISIS or Al Qaeda”.

LeJ is also affi liated with the Pakistani Taliban who in turn

pledge allegiance to Al Qaeda — their main fi nancial backers during the early years of their in-surgency.

Pakistan has carried out ma-jor military off ensives against these groups in its border tribal regions that have sapped their strength and their ability to car-ry out attacks.

“The militant groups includ-

ing Al Qaeda and Pakistani Tali-ban have been completely dis-mantled and those left out are now regrouping and attempting to become part of IS,” a security offi cial based in the southwest-ern city of Quetta told AFP re-questing not to be named.

“But IS has not nominated any specifi c group as its franchise or affi liate in Pakistan and diff erent

militant groups are trying to use this open window which some-times creates a competition of sorts,” he said.

The vacuum has created op-portunities for IS to step in and develop new relationships with local jihadists, a militant source told AFP.

“Al Qaeda is no longer focused in Pakistan like it used to be, its

leaders have either been killed or shifted to Yemen and local jihad-ists have no better option but to look towards Daesh (IS).”

Pakistan’s military last month admitted for the fi rst time that the Islamic State group had a presence in the country but add-ed it had detained hundreds of its militants and prevented them from carrying out major attacks.

AFPIslamabad

Pakistani lawyers protest against the militants’ attack on the Balochistan Police College, in Lahore yesterday.

Terrorist assault in Pakistan sparks condemnation

Condolences started pouring in from across the world, condemning

the attack on the Police Train-ing Centre in Quetta that left at least 60 dead and over 122 injured.

The attack took place on the outskirts of the provincial capi-tal as terrorists stormed into the New Sariab Police Training Col-lege late Monday night.

The US, in a statement, con-demned the attack and assured its support to the government.

“The US condemns the ter-rorist attack on the police train-ing centre in Quetta.

We extend our condolences to the victims and their fami-lies, including the police cadets who are embarking on careers of public service,” US State De-partment Spokesman John Kirby said.

United Nations Pakistan Resident Co-ordinator and Hu-manitarian Co-ordinator Angela Kearney extended condolences to the victims’ families

“Our thoughts are with the Pakistani security forces, the victims and their families, as well as the Pakistani people,” she said adding that such attacks were inhuman and totally unjus-tifi able.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also condemned the terrorist attack on the police academy and stressed that ter-rorism was a common threat to the stability of the region and world.

Saudi ambassador in Pakistan

Abdullah Marzouk al-Zahrani condemned the terrorist attack and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Aff airs said attacks targeting the innocent were inexcusable.

“Japan is shocked and sad-dened by the terrorist attacks which caused numerous deaths and injuries at the police college in Quetta,” said a statement is-sued by the ministry.

France too recalled its com-mitment to support Pakistan in its fi ght against terrorism and off ered condolences to the fami-lies of the victims.

Condemning the attack, High Representative of the EU for For-eign Aff airs Federica Mogherini said the attack underlined the continuing threat posed by ter-rorism and the need for strong international cooperation in the fi ght against it, in Pakistan, the wider region and beyond Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, who is one her maiden visit to Pakistan, condoled loss of lives in Quetta.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) also strong-ly condemned the militant at-tacks in Quetta on Tuesday, which claimed dozens of lives and injured many more.

Extending his solidarity with Pakistan in its fi ght against ter-rorism, OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani reiterated the principled position of the OIC against all forms of terror-ism and extremism, and urged the Pakistani concerned author-ities to take all possible actions to bring the perpetrators of these heinous actions to justice.

InternewsIslamabad

Dozens of civilians abductedand killed in Afghanistan

Gunmen in the remote central-western Af-ghan province of Ghor

rounded up dozens of civilians and executed them on Wednes-day in an attack that offi cials blamed on Islamic State fi ght-ers retaliating for the death of one of their commanders.

If confi rmed as the work of Islamic State, it would mark a major departure for the radical group, which has hitherto been largely confi ned to the eastern province of Nangarhar since its appearance in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.

However there was no inde-pendent verifi cation and the Taliban, who denied responsi-bility, said the killings appeared to have been prompted by eth-nic rivalries fuelled by a clash over sheep-stealing.

The killings in any case un-derlined the lack of security across Afghanistan, prompted not just by the Taliban insur-gency and Islamic State vio-lence but by a wider breakdown in law and order as government control has slipped.

Government security forces have long struggled to exert control in Ghor, a poor and mountainous province with sharp ethnic and tribal divi-

sions and large numbers of il-legal armed groups that operate with impunity.

The dead appear to have been Kuchi nomads and estimates of their number varied, with governor’s spokesman Abdul Hai Khatibi putting the total at about 30, the Taliban saying 36 and some local people saying it was as high as 42.

“Afghan police killed a Daesh commander in Ghor province during an operation yesterday but Daesh fi ghters abducted

some 30 civilians from near the provincial capital and shot them all dead in revenge,” Khat-ibi said, using a name common-ly given to Islamic State.

He said the killings followed a militant attack on Tuesday near Feroz Koh, the capital of the central western province.

Hundreds of people gath-ered in the town as bodies were brought in and prepared for burial and there were angry scenes as residents demanded government action.

“Our demand to the local and central government is to bom-bard and destroy the terror-ist nests in this province,” said protester Haji Abdul Samad.

“If the government doesn’t pay attention to our civil move-ments, then we will use the power of our youth to destroy the terrorist nests.”

Amnesty International con-demned the killings as a “hor-rendous crime” and called for an immediate investigation by the government.

ReutersHerat

UN offi cial urges world to recognise Pakistan’s successes

The international com-munity must not only ac-knowledge the successes

achieved by Pakistan in counter-terrorism but also learn from Pa-kistan’s experience, said Execu-tive Director Jean-Paul Laborde of the United Nations Terrorism Committee Executive Directo-rate (CTED).

Laborde, who was on a two-day visit to Pakistan from Octo-ber 24 to 25, said this in a meet-ing with the Adviser to the Prime

Minister on Foreign Aff airs Sar-taj Aziz, offi cial sources said here yesterday.

Foreign Secretary was also present during the meeting, ac-cording to a press release issued by the foreign offi ce.

The adviser recalled that the geo-political developments had led to the rise of terrorism in the region.

He added that this had placed Pakistan at the forefront in the fi ght against terrorism.

Aziz said that the government had achieved major successes against terrorism in recent times which can be attributed to the

domestic consensus and the sacrifi ces made by the Pakistani security forces.

He told the UN offi cial that due to the sacrifi ces the number of terrorist attacks in the coun-try had declined by more than 60 this year.

He also added that this number was expected to reduce further over the coming year.

The executive director lauded the sacrifi ces of the country and eff orts of Pakistan in the global counter-terrorism campaign.

He also noted Pakistan’s major contribution to the discussions on counter-terrorism at the UN.

InternewsIslamabad

Kashmiris shout anti-India slogans in a protest in Muzaffarabad yesterday. Relations between Pakistan and India have plummeted in recent months.

Anti-India rally

Afghan men and a woman gather around the bodies of civilians, including children, who were allegedly killed by Islamic State (IS) militants in Ghor province yesterday.

PHILIPPINES


Duterte wants US troops to leave in two yearsAgenciesTokyo

Philippine President Rod-rigo Duterte said yester-day he wants US troops

out of his country in the next two years and is willing to scrap defence pacts with longtime ally Washington if necessary.

The remarks during a high-profi le visit to Japan follow a se-ries of anti-American tirades by the fi rebrand leader.

“I want, maybe in the next two years, my country free of the presence of foreign military troops,” Duterte told an eco-nomic forum in Tokyo, in a clear reference to US forces, ahead of a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“I want them out and if I have to revise or abrogate agree-ments, executive agreements, I will,” he added.

The US has a small number of Special Forces on the southern island of Mindanao to aid coun-ter-terrorism operations.

But Duterte has already said he wants US troops out of Mindanao because their pres-ence stokes tensions on the island where militants have waged a decades-long separa-tist insurgency.

Duterte has repeatedly at-tacked the US while cosying up to Beijing, upending his nation’s foreign policy in comments that have sometimes been quickly retracted.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, asked to clarify the president’s remarks, said that Duterte did not mean US troops would be ousted, stress-ing that “our national interests still continue to converge”. The acid-tongued leader arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday on his fi rst visit to Japan since taking offi ce on June 30, looking to persuade executives his country is “open

for business”, after seeming to overturn Manila’s traditional diplomatic alliances.

The 71-year-old has slammed Washington for questioning his violent crime crackdown, which has claimed some 3,700 lives and attracted widespread inter-national criticism.

Duterte has also insulted US President Barack Obama, call-ing him a “son of a w****” and announcing a “separation” from the US during a visit to Beijing last week.

Although he quickly walked back from his comments, saying

that “separation” did not mean he would “sever” ties, he reit-erated his calls yesterday for an end to all joint war games with the US.

“This will be the last ma-noeuvre war games between the United States and the Phil-ippines’ military,” he said of an event hosted in recent weeks by the Philippines.

In Tokyo, Duterte and Abe later stressed during a joint me-dia appearance their countries’ common values as democracies that respect the rule of law.

“The Philippines will con-

tinue to work closely with Japan on issues of common concern in the region...including the South China Sea,” Duterte said after their summit.

Japan announced loans total-ling 21.3bn yen ($204mn) to help improve the Philippines’ mari-time safety as well promote peace and agriculture on Mindanao.

Japan and the Philippines signed notes on two yen loan projects, including one to build two patrol boats for the Philip-pine Coast Guard to boost its capacity for search and rescue and law enforcement.

Although his Japanese hosts depend on the US for security, Tokyo has so far not responded to Duterte’s diatribes, while Washington has taken a calm approach.

Abe had worked to improve bilateral relations with Du-terte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino, providing patrol boats to support Manila in its territo-rial row with Beijing over rival claims to the South China Sea.

The Philippines took Beijing to an international tribunal over its extensive claims in the re-gion and won a resounding vic-

tory in July. But Duterte has not pressed the issue with Beijing, instead working to improve ties and attract billions of dollars in Chinese loans and investments.

Duterte, in his speech at the economic forum, attempted to calm worries in Japan over his trip to China, assuring his au-dience that he was not seeking military ties with Beijing, just a closer economic relationship.

“We did not talk about arms, we did not talk about stationing of troops,” he said. “We avoided talking about alliances, military or otherwise.”

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a joint press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo yesterday.

Firm that built China’s islands gets dealA Chinese state-owned company

said to have been involved in Bei-

jing’s island-building in the South

China Sea signed a deal to con-

struct islands for rival claimant

the Philippines as its President

Rodrigo Duterte visited last week,

reports said. CCCC Dredging will

create four artificial islands total-

ling 208 hectares of reclaimed

land in Davao, the port city on

the southern island of Mindanao

where Duterte was mayor, the

Beijing Youth Daily reported. The

islands will spread along eight

kilometres of coastline and be

used for government buildings,

commercial spaces, residences,

ports and industry in a project to

be completed by 2019, it added.

The deal with the Philippines’

Mega Harbour Port and Develop-

ment was one of several inked as

Duterte paid a state visit to China

last week, when Beijing off ered

$9bn in soft loans for develop-

ment projects. Duterte has

sought to restore his country’s

ties with China, brought low by a

territorial dispute over the South

China Sea, and during his trip

announced his “separation” from

longstanding Philippine ally the

United States. In a case brought

by his predecessor Benigno

Aquino, the Philippines won a

resounding victory at an inter-

national tribunal earlier this year

over Beijing’s extensive claims,

infuriating the Asian giant.

China has built up artificial

islands, some with airstrips, capa-

ble of hosting military facilities.

Dredging vessels owned by

CCCC Dredging subsidiary

CCCC Tianjin Dredging were

spotted working in the Spratly

archipelago disputed by Manila,

according to an analysis of

satellite imagery from IHS Jane’s

Intelligence Review. In the Davao

project, a perimeter of sand bags

will be dropped into the sea, and

sand pumped into the space,

displacing water until an island

is formed, the Monday report

explained. CCCC Dredging, a

subsidiary of the China Commu-

nications Construction Company

(CCCC), is the world’s largest

by dredging capacity, accord-

ing to the off icial website of the

Chinese shipping industry. It de-

layed an initial public off ering on

the Hong Kong stock exchange

last year due to concerns over

its work in the Spratlys.

Philippines, US to determine fate of joint exercises next monthReutersManila

Philippine and US military offi cials will meet late next month and decide

the fate of decades-old joint exercises, defence sources said yesterday, amid doubts over the future of the security alliance and a stream of mixed messages from Manila.

The meeting, an annual get-together to plan events for the year ahead, could bring some clarity to a Philippine position muddied by President Rod-rigo Duterte’s pronouncements about ending an alliance that he says has little value, contrary to the opinions of some military commanders.

“The meeting was suppos-edly on October 24, but it was moved to November 24 because they (Philippine military) want-

ed it after the US elections,” said a Philippine army general, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. “As of now, we really don’t know what military exer-cises will be stopped, because the president has not made any specifi c instruction.”

Duterte yesterday reiterated his intent to revise or cancel crucial security pacts and scrap war games that military of-fi cials maintain are pending a review.

The regular meeting between the head of the US Pacifi c Com-mand and the chief of staff of the Philippine military alter-nates each year between Hono-lulu and Manila and covers activities such as intelligence gathering, humanitarian as-sistance and disaster response, and conventional exercises.

The army general said the Philippine defence minister

would try to convince Duterte in a cabinet meeting next week to retain some useful exercises, but the Philippine side sought assurances from its US coun-terparts that it would not be treated like a vassal state.

“What we wanted is equal partnership with the United States,” the source added. “But, if there is no change, I am afraid the Philippines will distance further from the United States.”

A defence ministry offi cial told Reuters the meeting was postponed because the presi-dent has not put down in writ-ing what exercises with the US will be scrapped.

“There was nothing to dis-cuss because there was no specifi c instruction from the president,” the offi cial said, adding there are indications the Philippines would scale down the exercises. The defence de-partment says the two sides

now hold 28 exercises each year, three of them large-scale and the rest minor activities.

Washington has been Ma-nila’s closest security partner since the end of Second World War, when the Philippines won independence from the United States.A mutual defence treaty was signed in 1951.

The United States had two of its largest overseas military bases in northern Philippines before its withdrawal in 1992.

It returned in 2000 for train-ing and exercises and deployed 1,200 elite troops in the south, when it expanded its war on terror.

The alliance strengthened further in 2014 with the signing of an of Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement (EDCA) allowing US access to fi ve mili-tary bases. Duterte threatened on Tuesday to get rid of EDCA if he were in power long enough.

A man applies paint on the tomb at the Barangka Cemetery in Marikina, east of Manila yesterday, days ahead of the traditional All Souls’ Day. Millions across the Philippines will visit cemeteries to pay their respects to their dead, in an annual tradition that combines Catholic religious rites with the country’s penchant for festivity.

Getting ready for All Souls’ Day

90mn pesos China aid for typhoon victimsManila Times, AgenciesManila

President Rodrigo Duterte said the Philippines has received a total of P89.8mn

in aid from China for the victims of Super Typhoon “Lawin” (in-ternational name ‘Haima”), with “no strings attached.”

The president issued the statement during his meeting with Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua in Ma-lacanang Monday night.

“This will go a long way to re-habilitate and return the people, our countrymen to normal life. For our country it will surely go a long way,” he said.

The Chinese government committed P50mn in aid to farmers and fi shermen in ty-phoon-aff ected regions. On top of this, China will give P35mn to the Philippines’ anti-disaster eff orts.

The Red Cross Society of Chi-na will also provide humanitar-ian aid of $100,000.

The president said the assist-ance was purely out of China’s “benevolence.”

“These are the amounts that the Chinese government has given us by way of help. By the way, no strings attached,” Du-terte said.

Zhao said it was China’s “duty and responsibility” to help those aff ected by disasters.

Ex-Pagcor offi cials face plunder chargesBy Jeff erson AntipordaManila Times

Offi cers of the Volun-teers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) on

Monday fi led plunder and graft charges against former Philip-pine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Cristino Naguiat and nine other former offi cials.

The charges were fi led in con-nection with the controversial P3.21bn lease contract entered by the state gambling regulator and Vanderwood Management Corp (VMC) in 2015.

Also charged at the Depart-ment of Justice were former Pagcor offi cer Jose Tanjuatco, Board of Directors members

Enriguito Nuguid and Eugene Manalastas and Jorge Sarmien-to, former chief operating of-fi cer (COO).

The VACC also named as respondents Milagros Pauline Visque, Ramon Jose Jones, Romeo Cruz Jr, Anna-lyn Zoglmann, Kathleen De-lantar, members of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) and Manuel Sy of VMC.

In their eight-page com-plaint-affi davit, VACC found-ing chairman Dante Jimenez and board member Arsenio Evan-gelista accused the respond-ents of violating Sections 1 and 2 of Republic Act 7080 or the Anti-Plunder Act and Section 3 of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act when they approved the lease

contract in favour of VMC for which P234mn in advance rent-al was illegally disbursed from the public treasury.

The lease contract involved the 6,500-square metre prop-erty within the portion of the iconic Army and Navy Club along Roxas Boulevard that is now known as Museo ng May-nila Complex. The property was leased by the city government of Manila to Oceanville Hotel and Spa Corp in 2014.

Pagcor’s BAC fi rst held the bidding for the lease contract of the property for a casino gaming facility for a period of 15 years on September 14, 2014. There were six prospective bid-ders.

Subsequently, the BAC was replaced by another committee

composed of the respondents. A second pre-bid conference for a negotiated procurement was held but only VMC submitted an off er, prompting the BAC2 to declare a failed bidding.

The same BAC2, however, later resolved to grant VMC’s motion for reconsideration and recommended on March 24, 2015 the award of the contract to VMC. The board approved the company’s P3.2bn off er on the same day.

But the Commission on Au-dit (COA) found the award-ing of the lease contract to be highly irregular and anoma-lous because the lot was owned by the local govern-ment of Manila.

The supervising auditor of COA found that the VMC re-

ceived P234mn representing 12 months’ advance rental and six months’ security deposit at P13mn per month despite the fact that the premises to be leased were not existing at the time of the execution of the contract.

“Considering that there (were) no leased premises to speak of, the disbursement of P234,000,000 was irregular and, therefore, disallowable in audit pursuant to COA Circular No.2012-003 dated October 29, 2012,” the COA fi ndings stated.

The complainants claimed the respondents violated the anti-plunder law when they conspired and connived with each other to approve the anomalous contract in favour of VMC.

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL31


Bangladesh urges Canada to expedite Mujib killer returnBangladesh has proposed

to Canada to devise an eff ective mechanism to

move forward with the depor-tation of Nur Chowdhury, the self-confessed and convicted killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman and his family members in 1975.

Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali made the proposal at a

bilateral meeting held with his Canadian counterpart Stephane Dion in Ottawa on Tuesday.

In response, the Canadian foreign minister said they will take up the matter with relevant departments of the Canadian government and revert.

Both the ministers discussed in details the possible depor-tation of Chowdhury, said the foreign ministry in Dhaka yesterday.

Living in Canada since 1996, Chowdhury has long

been evading his death sen-tence. As a follow-up to the meeting held between the two prime ministers in Montreal last month, both the foreign ministers discussed the ques-tion of bringing Chowdhury to justice.

Among other issues, both the ministers discussed the conclu-sion of air services agreement (ASA) with Bangladesh’s latest proposal of fi fth freedom, for-eign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) and memorandum of under-

standing (MoUs) on the foreign offi ce consultations, education, culture and visa waiver on dip-lomatic and offi cial passports between the two countries.

Except FIPA, all other agree-ments and MoUs are pending with the Canadian side for their expert level reviews.

The Canadian side informed that they are working on the proposed agreement and MoUs and will soon refl ect their views on those to Bangladesh government.

Both the foreign ministers

also discussed terrorism and violent extremism, including bilateral cooperation on the se-curity and counter-terrorism.

Foreign Minister Ali said the present government maintains zero tolerance towards all forms of extremism and terrorism, in-cluding their fi nancing - both nationally and internationally.

The Canadian foreign min-ister deeply appreciated Bang-ladesh government’s tire-less eff orts to uproot all form terrorism from its soil.

He also assured all possi-

ble support under the rule of law and human rights to stand beside Bangladesh in this endeavour.

Both the ministers expressed satisfaction over the highly encouraging growth of bilat-eral trade between the two countries, which is presently $2.4bn. They discussed the trade diversifi cation and new areas of co-operation, export of pharmaceutical products to Canada and exchange of busi-ness delegation between the two countries.

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Bangladesh leads SA neighbours in gender equityBangladesh leads South Asia in gender equity, at world rank 72, followed by India at rank 87, in the Global Gender Gap Index 2016 prepared by the World Economic Forum. Pakistan figures at a lowly 143 in the ranking.After India comes Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan and Pakistan, in that order.Iceland is ranked the first country in the Global Gender Gap Index of 144 countries.According to the report, Bangladesh recorded progress in political empowerment gender gap, but its gap on women’s labour force participation and estimated earned income widened.The report found that the US fell from 28th place in 2015 to 45th when it came to closing the gap. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said that is primarily due to a more transparent measure for estimated earned income.

No room for militancy in Bangladesh, says Hasina

Upholding the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said that she wanted to see her country free from hunger and poverty.

“We want to see a hunger- and poverty-free Bangladesh, where no people will be home-less and without food.”

She was addressing a meet-ing with Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student front of Awami League, at her offi cial residence, Gono Bhaban, yesterday.

Asking BCL leaders and ac-tivists to be vocal against the militancy, the prime minister said they would have to up-hold principle and ideology to reduce illiteracy and poverty in the country.

Hasina reiterated her gov-ernment’s fi rm stance against terrorism and warned that there will be no room for militancy in Bangladesh.

“We won’t let anyone play ducks and drakes with the fate

of the people of Bangladesh ... I call upon all so that war criminals, Al Badars and Ra-zakars, and those who killed innocent people in the name of movement, engaged in money laundering and loot-ing, and embezzled funds of orphanage can never get back to power,” she said indirectly referring to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Hasina said assuming of-fi ce by these elements means looting, embezzlement of or-phanage funds and siphon-ing off money abroad. “So, all have to stay vigil so that those who bring hardship for people can never come to power,” she said.

Citing her government’s de-velopment and progresses in diff erent sectors, Hasina said: “World leaders tell me Bang-ladesh is a mystery in develop-ment and they ask me do you know any magic.”

Now Bangladesh does not extend its hand for help to any foreign countries, Hasina said, adding, “We don’t call any country as donor rather we call them as a development partner.”

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Sheikh Hasina: “We won’t let anyone play ducks and drakes with the fate of the people of Bangladesh.”

Lanka must invest in children: Unicef

The United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (Unicef) has said that Sri Lanka must

invest in its children and fi nd ev-er-more innovative ways to sup-port its most vulnerable young people.

Tim Sutton, who assumed offi ce as the new representa-tive for Unicef in Sri Lanka, said that the country now has a unique opportunity to build a peaceful future and a prosperous society.

“After years of progress in reducing poverty, promoting reconciliation and improving the lives of children, Sri Lanka now has a unique opportunity

to build a peaceful future and a prosperous society,” said Sutton.

Sri Lanka must invest in its children and fi nd ever-more in-novative ways to support its most vulnerable young people, he added.

“As Unicef Representative, I look forward to working closely with the people and the gov-ernment of Sri Lanka to deliver sustainable, positive change for children,” Sutton said.

Sutton has been with Unicef since 1996, serving in Bangla-desh and Iraq, and as Deputy Representative in Bhutan, the Pacifi c sub-region with re-sponsibility for 14 Pacifi c Island countries, and most recently in China.

With Sri Lanka’s transition from a post-confl ict environ-

ment to one of recovery, de-velopment and middle income status, Unicef said it is focused on ensuring a more equita-ble approach to advancing the rights of children across the country.

Forty refugees returning home today: A group of 40 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees hosted in camps in Tamil Nadu state of India, are arriving Sri Lanka today under the UNHCR facili-tated voluntary repatriation pro-gramme, a media report said.

According to a secretary at the prison reforms ministry, the group consisting of 40 per-sons from 13 families is sched-uled to arrive in Colombo on a SriLankan Airlines fl ight from Tiruchirappalli, India.

The group’s arrival comes just

two days after another grope of 25 Tamil refugees arrived in the country.

“Of the 40 refugee returnees, 22 are males and 18 are females. These refugee returnees will get back to Trincomalee, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Jaff na and Vavuni-ya,” said V Sivagnanasothy.

“The Sri Lanka government under the leadership of Presi-dent Maithripala Sirisena has initiated action to encourage the voluntary refugee returnee programme on a phased out ba-sis and the current trend of in-creased refugee returnees is a sign of reconciliation and mov-ing towards permanent peace,” the secretary said.

The UNHCR has been assist-ing the voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees. The organi-

sation provides free air tickets, reintegration allowance of $75 per person, transport allowance of $19 per person and monitory non-food grant of $75 per family.

According to the secretary, the refugees who lost their houses will be provided with houses un-der the housing program of the ministry.

The ministry initiated a liveli-hood assistance programme of maximum Rs100,000 per refu-gee returnee family to support the livelihood activities.

Since 2011, already 5,165 refu-gees belonging to 1,882 families have returned to Sri Lanka, ac-cording to the secretary.

More than 64,000 are sta-tioned in 109 welfare camps in India. Totally, over 100,000 refugees are currently in India.

IANSColombo

Bangladesh’s economy grew at record 7.11%Bangladesh’s economy grew at a record 7.11% in the last financial year as stronger industrial performance helped the country break out of the 6% ‘growth trap’, government said.The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 7.11% in the last 2015-16 fiscal as compared to 6.51% in the previous fiscal (2014-15), according to data released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) yesterday.The GDP growth was mainly led by the industrial sector as it expanded at 11.09% rate in the last fiscal, up from 9.67% in the previous fiscal, BBS said.Bangladesh’s per-capita income also increased to $1,465 from $1,316 in the previous financial year, it said.The government had set a target of GDP growth at 7% for Financial Year (FY) 2016.“The GDP growth figure appeared higher in the final calculation. It is good news,” Finance Minister A M A Muhith said.The economy of Bangladesh, one of the least developed countries, had fallen into a 6% growth trap since 2004 as it could not cross the six per cent trajectory in the last one decade.In 2004, the country’s GDP expanded at 6.2% from 5.26% in the previous but had maintained over 6% growth almost every year over thereafter.Planning Minister Mostafa Kamal said Bangladesh’s total GDP size increased to 173.3tn taka in the last FY 2016 from 151.58tn taka in previous FY.

The road remained deserted as people took part in a strike, keeping shops and schools closed to protest against the death of two university students in Jaff na. Sri Lanka’s former war-torn north shuts down on Tuesday, following the deadly shooting of two university students in Jaff na last week.

Strike effect

Nepal-India joint commission meeting begins in New Delhi

The fourth meeting of the Nepal-India joint commission began in

New Delhi yesterday, setting the tone for the minister-level meeting scheduled for today.

At the joint commis-sion talks, foreign secretar-ies Shankar Das Bairagi and S Jaishankar are leading the Nepali and Indian delegations, respectively. The Nepal-India ministerial level meeting is expected to focus on imple-menting the past agreements and accords signed between the two countries.

The joint commission, the highest level bilateral mecha-nism between Nepal and India that is mandated to review en-tire gamut of relations between the two countries, directs rel-evant offi cials to resolve the pending issues and chart out the future course of the ties.

The meeting will focus on securing agreements on select points, and will seek under-standing on those issues that

require more time to settle. The agreed issues will be pushed for early implementation so that India-funded projects in Nepal will see tangible progress in near future.

“The meeting will make a comprehensive review of the bilateral ties,” said Foreign Minister Mahat ahead of his India visit, adding that those issues and agendas agreed in recent high-level visits be-tween Nepal and India will be put for implementation.

The joint commission was fi rst formed in 1987. Its third and last meeting was held in Kathmandu in July 2014 af-ter a hiatus of 23 years. The meeting will review progress on issues that featured dur-ing the last joint commission meeting two years ago and other high-level exchanges between the two sides.

Sushma Swaraj is leading the Indian side at the minis-terial level meeting compris-ing secretaries from various ministries.

Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said that bilateral mat-ters like roads, cross-border

connectivity (railways, roads and bridges), water resources, inundation, security matters, boundary adjustments, com-pleting the detailed project of much touted Pancheshwor Development Authority that is executing 4,800MW hy-dropower in Nepal are some key agendas.

According to Mahat, issues like construction of integrated checkposts on Nepal-India border, power trade, imple-mentation of Mahakali Treaty, connecting roads, construc-tion of cross-border petro-leum pipeline, compensation for various victims aff ected by inundation, trade, transit and fi xing the modality of Indian reconstruction aid to Nepal.

On boundary issues, Ne-pal and India will seek some changes on design of pillars located in river areas though the both sides have achieved progress in installing the boundary pillars.

“The meeting will review the progress made by the technical level in installation of bound-ary pillars and clearing the no-man’s land,” said Mahat.

IANSKathmandu/New Delhi

Animal rights activists sterilise street dogsBangladeshi animal rights activists have launched a street campaign in Dhaka to sterilise thousands of stray dogs to limit their population in a humane manner.Non-profit organisation Obhoyaronno launched a programme earlier in October to vaccinate and sterilize 4,000 stray dogs within a year.“There is no alternative to sterilisation for dog population management,” Obhoyaronno’s president Rubaiya Ahmad told Efe news yesterday, adding they pose a threat to public health as they can transmit rabies through biting.Dhaka has 37,000 stray dogs, a lower number than other cities in South Asia but it continues to worry the authorities and its 16mn residents.The sterilisation drive will save the dogs from culling, which has been banned since 2014 by a court order, following a complaint by Obhoyarono.The organisation claims to have vaccinated and sterilised more than 10,000 dogs between 2012 and 2014, and seeks to sterilise all the remaining ones in Dhaka over the next 10 years, with the collaboration of Humane Society International.

Farmers harvest rice on a field in Lalitpur, near Kathmandu, yesterday.

Rice harvesting season

By Karin KleinThe Sacramento Bee/TNS

The public was shocked (it shouldn’t have been) and angered (it should be) to learn last month that a

half-century ago, the sugar industry paid Harvard scientists to produce a research paper, published in the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine.

The paper, for which the industry got to cherry-pick the studies, downplayed the role of sugar in heart disease and pinpointed cholesterol and saturated fat as the culprits.

One of the scientists, the late Frederick Stare, advised Americans that it was fi ne to eat plenty of sugar and that Coca-Cola was a “healthy between-meals snack” for children. He also vouched for the wholesomeness of heavily-processed foods, all while his nutrition department raked in funding from General Mills, Kellogg and Nabisco.

But that was then, and this is now, the academic world tells us.

There are ethical rules in place to

prevent underhanded shenanigans and stronger rules about disclosing sources of funding, we’re told, and that’s true.

Just last year, however, Coca-Cola joined up with researchers from various schools, including the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University, to form an organisation dedicated to informing us via science that sugar and calories in general aren’t the key to reducing obesity. Exercise is, they planned to say, even though a strong body of evidence shows that exercise has a relatively small eff ect on weight loss. Amid the ensuing outrage, the organisation announced that it was shutting down.

And it was only fi ve years ago that three Harvard scientists were disciplined for failing to disclose the millions of dollars they were given by pharmaceutical companies. One of them, Joseph Biederman, pioneered the diagnosis of bipolar disease in young children and the use of antipsychotics to treat them while taking hefty sums from the industry that makes those drugs.

Meanwhile, recent news stories have referred to studies fi nding that even mild dehydration can impair driving and mental performance. Both were funded

by the bottled-water industry, as are many of the studies that try to persuade people that they must get at least eight glasses of water a day, even though there is no evidence to back up that contention, says Stanley Goldfarb, a University of Pennsylvania kidney specialist.

Then there were University of Scranton researchers who published a “hopelessly fl awed” study that they hadn’t even conducted - it had been carried out in India - on the supposed weight-loss benefi ts of green coff ee-bean extract. The US Federal Trade Commission went after the product and the professors retracted the study.

There have certainly been well-conducted studies funded by companies. But there is far too much industry-funded research that encourages unnecessary, expensive and

even potentially harmful behaviour.There’s an even bigger long-term

impact. Scientists bemoan the lack of public confi dence in science – notably in the benefi ts of vaccines and the dangers of climate change – even though those assertions are backed by mountains of solid research overseen by the government.

It’s true that some people would rather believe what they want instead of what the evidence shows. But they also believe, with some validity, that they can’t count on academic research to be pure of soul and clean of tainted interests.

And media reports about new studies often infl ate their signifi cance while almost never including information about the source of funding even though that should be the standard, every single time.

The public has a stake in honest science, free of funding bias. But so do the scientists – at least if they want people to continue believing in their work.

Karin Klein is a freelance journalist in Orange County, California. Readers may e-mail her at [email protected].

P.O.Box 2888Doha, Qatar

[email protected] 44350478 (news),

44466404 (sport), 44466636 (home delivery) Fax 44350474

Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-AttiyahProduction Editor: C P Ravindran


COMMENT32

GULF TIMES

Tensions between India and Pakistan are considered par for the course. Ever since 1947 when British India was hastily partitioned on the basis of religion, the neighbours have struggled to maintain peace along the borders. Neither have they managed to block out each other completely from their domestic political discourse.

There have been wars, one of which produced Bangladesh, another Muslim majority country. There have been countless skirmishes on the borders that often threatened to escalate into full-fl edged confl icts, with a few nuclear-tipped threats thrown in for good measure. There have been allegations of cross-border terrorism and diabolic covert operations.

But occasionally there have been also spells of goodwill and bonhomie. They produced, among other things, great cricket matches, easy visa regimes and mushy reel and real-life love stories that contributed to heightened trust levels.

Then, when just about every peace lover begins to think that the two nations have fi nally matured and are onto something big that would make a signifi cant positive impact on global politics, something murky happens and everything is back to square one.

From then on it becomes an agonising wait. Who will take the fi rst step towards reconciliation without appearing weak? Pride and ego become stumbling

blocks.Then there is the

small matter of the hyper-patriotic media.

The media in both countries have a played a major role in the relationship between the two nations taking a nosedive of late. Referencing religion and imaginary conquests, television anchors froth at the mouth as they spew venom at “guests” from the other side of the border. The gullible public is taken in hook, line, and sinker.

Usually those invited on these shows are people from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Rabidly opposed to each other’s point of view, the “debate” quickly turns into a shouting match where truth becomes the fi rst casualty. Usually it’s the anchor who emerges as most patriotic after an hour or so of mayhem.

Some Pakistani journalists who have talked sense in the context of the country’s relationship with India have been declared anti-national and taken to court. In India, journalists who advocate peace with Pakistan and those who oppose the government line have been declared “presstitutes” because, according to their nationalistic counterparts, they are paid money by vested interests to malign India.

With airtime being hogged by the war-mongering media, it is no surprise that an atmosphere of fear and distrust has gripped both countries. In this vitiated atmosphere, everybody is either a patriot or a traitor.

Peace can wait, it’s only the TRPs that matter.

Media playing spoilsport in India-Pak ties

Tainted studies shaking our faith in research

When referendums undermine democracy

Peace can wait, it’s only the TRPs that matter

The British, Dutch, and Colombian referendums all required that complex issues be radically simplifi ed, which played to populist leaders’ strengths

By Nina L KhrushchevaNew York

Once again, a referendum has turned a country upside down. In June, British voters decided to take their country

out of the European Union; and early this month, a narrow majority of Colombians rejected a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Colombians have taken a leap in the dark – and perhaps a leap back into the violent abyss of never-ending war.

Populists everywhere are no doubt celebrating the outcome as another clear rebuke to self-interested elites who have “rigged” their governments against the people. And the people, they say, should have a direct voice in the important decisions aff ecting their lives – apparently even decisions about war and peace.

But if there really is a “democracy defi cit”, as populists claim, the increased use of referendums is no cure for it.

On the contrary, referendums tend to make matters far worse, and can undermine democracy itself. It’s an old story: Napoleon III, for example, used such a vote to reconstitute his elected presidency into the imperial title his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, had held.

After the rise of fascism and during the Cold War, the world’s democracies seemed to recognise that referendums and plebiscites are the handmaidens of autocrats seeking to concentrate power. Adolf Hitler used plebiscites in the Sudetenland and Austria to

consolidate the Third Reich. And, after Hitler, Joseph Stalin used referendums to incorporate Eastern Europe into the Soviet bloc.

More recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin organised a snap referendum in Crimea that supposedly justifi ed his annexation of the territory.

To be sure, not all recent referendums have been instruments of dictatorial power. But mendacity and deception worthy of the dictators of the 1930s was certainly on display in the United Kingdom’s “Leave” campaign, and in the opposition to a Dutch referendum in April to approve an EU-Ukraine free-trade and association agreement.

In the UK, Boris Johnson cynically helped lead the Leave campaign with an eye toward unseating, and potentially replacing, Prime Minister David Cameron.

But, when Cameron resigned in July, Johnson’s fellow Brexiteers betrayed him, so he had to settle for becoming foreign secretary in Theresa May’s new government.

In the Dutch case, Eurosceptics, seeking to drive a wedge between the Netherlands and the EU, exploited the 2014 tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which departed from Amsterdam and was shot down over Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists, leaving a deep wound in the Dutch public psyche.

The British, Dutch, and Colombian referendums all required that complex issues be radically simplifi ed, which played to populist leaders’ strengths.

In the Netherlands, voters were asked to approve or reject an agreement that runs to more than 2,000 pages, which surely no more

than a handful of voters have actually read. Instead, most voters relied on populist leader Geert Wilders’ glib talking points, which provided a less-than-candid assessment of the issue.

Similarly, the Brexit referendum posed a question with so many ramifi cations that no voter could possibly have considered them all.

And in the Colombian plebiscite, voters would have needed a deep understanding of faraway South Africa’s truth-and-reconciliation process, and post-apartheid history, to assess the peace agreement properly.

Representative government was created to manage these types of complex issues. We vote for representatives – either individually or as part of a political party with a relatively predictable platform – to advocate public policies that we support.

But, as Edmund Burke famously pointed out: “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment, and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifi ces it to your opinion.”

The populist campaigns in the major referendums this year have diff ered in important respects. For example, Colombian opponents of the peace deal appealed to universal norms of justice for war crimes committed by the military and the Farc, not to national particularism, as in the UK and the Netherlands.

Nonetheless, they have all been motivated by a desire to scuttle governments and institutions that they oppose. And they have all been willing to follow the tradition of dictators, and to resort to smears, distortions, and fantastical claims.

In the real world, messy compromises are a fact of democratic life; and the only thing messier than a negotiated peace is war itself.

As long as compromises do not violate individual rights, citizens in democracies accept them as necessary for the sake of functioning governance.

When we reduce a peace agreement, a trade treaty, or EU membership to a single sentence or sound bite, genuine democratic debate gives way to the political noise of opt-outs, logrolling, and side deals.

This is arguably a particularly ill-advised time to hold referendums, because democratic malaise has taken hold in many countries since the 2008 fi nancial crisis. In the EU, mainstream politicians must accept some responsibility for expediently blaming “Brussels” for every problem, or for fudging the truth about what EU membership or association agreements with neighbours actually mean. Mainstream leaders, to some degree, set the stage for the populist demagogues who are now trumping reasoned argument with angry, nativist appeals.

Plebiscitary governance has little to recommend it. In the decades since California introduced statewide “ballot initiatives” – which can be proposed by any voter and require a simple majority to pass – the state became practically ungovernable.

Current California Governor Jerry Brown has spent the last eight years cleaning up the fi scal mess the state’s voters created back in 1978, when they passed Proposition 13, lowering property taxes by 57%.

Europe could soon become as dysfunctional as California. This month, Hungary’s increasingly autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, held a referendum to oppose a common EU migration policy.

If more EU countries resort to such initiatives, European integration could be thrown into reverse. One need only listen to the politicians calling for referendums to know where direct democracy can lead.- Project Syndicate

Nina L Khrushcheva is professor of international aff airs and associate dean for academic aff airs at The New School and a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.

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Plebiscitary governance has little to recommend it

Hungarian women wearing traditional costumes attending a referendum on EU migrant quotas in Veresegyhaz, Hungary, on October 2. After the rise of fascism and during the Cold War, the world’s democracies seemed to recognise that referendums and plebiscites are the handmaidens of autocrats seeking to concentrate power.

COMMENT

Does taking more selfi es make you happier?Live issues

Gulf Times Thursday, October 27, 2016 33

Research done in the last 15 years shows that optimal persuasion is achieved through optimal pre-suasion

By Robert CialdiniLos Angeles Times/TNS

Today and every day we are the targets of salespeople, marketers, advertisers, fundraisers and (heaven

knows) politicians trying to persuade us to buy something, do something or think a certain way. And they’re good at it. Over the years, they’ve learned a lot about which features to build into a communication and which psychological strings to strum with that communication to elevate its success.

But, by concentrating so intently on the message itself, they’ve missed a crucial component of the process. Research done in the last 15 years shows that optimal persuasion is achieved through optimal pre-suasion: the practice of arranging for people to agree with a message before they know what’s in it.

Pre-suasion works by focusing people’s preliminary attention on a selected concept – let’s say softness – which spurs them to overvalue related opportunities that immediately follow. In one study, visitors to an online sofa store were sent to a site that depicted either soft clouds or small coins in the background of its landing page.

Those who saw the soft clouds were more likely to prefer soft, comfortable sofas for purchase whereas those who saw the small amounts of money preferred inexpensive models. (When questioned afterward, the visitors

refused to believe what they saw pre-suasively – clouds or coins – had infl uenced them at all.)

A subsequent study showed the primitiveness of the pre-suasive mechanism. Subjects became three times more likely to help a researcher who “accidentally” dropped some items if, immediately before, they’d been exposed to images of fi gures standing together in a friendly pose.

If this tripling of helpfulness doesn’t seem remarkable enough, consider that the subjects were 18 months old – hardly able to reason or review or refl ect.

Long before scientists started studying the process, a few notable communicators had an intuitive understanding of it. Some instructive examples are available.

In 1588, British troops massed against a sea invasion from Spain at Tilbury were deeply concerned that their leader Queen Elizabeth I, as a woman, would not be up to the rigours of battle. In addressing the men, she dispelled their fears pre-suasively: fi rst acknowledging their concern by admitting a weakness, which established her honesty for whatever she said next, and then following it with a strength that demolished the weakness. “I know,” she asserted,” I have the body of a weak and feeble woman. But I have the heart of a king, and a king of England, too.”

It’s reported that so long and loud were the cheers after this pronouncement that offi cers had to ride among the men ordering them to restrain themselves so the queen could continue.

The same pre-suasive, honesty-establishing tactic was employed in the late 1950s by the advertising fi rm Doyle Dane Bernbach to introduce the oddly shaped Volkswagen Beetle to a US market dominated by big, powerful, boat-like vehicles. The

“We’re ugly but... “ campaign tactically admitted to cosmetic limitations before trumpeting the auto’s strengths such as economy, reliability and simplicity (“Ugly is only skin deep.” “It’s ugly but it gets you there”).

Credited with cracking open the US market for compact cars, the ad campaign has been rated among the greatest of all time.

As national security adviser and secretary of State during the 1970s, Henry Kissinger was considered America’s greatest international negotiator. When asked who he considered the best such negotiator he had encountered, he nominated Egypt’s then-president Anwar Sadat. Why? Because of a pre-suasive tactic Sadat regularly employed that allowed him to get more from a negotiation

than was warranted by his political or military position.

Before beginning negotiations, he would assign an admirable trait to the opposing side that fi t with what he wanted. In other words, Kissinger said, “Sadat gave his opponents a reputation to live up to” – something they then did remarkably often.

In February 2015, the fi nancial investor Warren Buff ett had a problem.

It was 50 years since he had taken control of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, guiding it to astounding levels of value, along with his brilliant partner Charlie Munger. Many investors were worried that, because Buff ett and Munger were getting older, these levels couldn’t be maintained in the future, perhaps making it time to sell Berkshire stock.

To respond to these concerns, Buff ett wrote a letter to shareholders in which he recounted various reasons for confi dence in Berkshire’s continuing profi tability. But, before the description of strengths, he declared with characteristic sincerity that what he was about to assert was “what I would say to my family today if they asked me about Berkshire’s future”.

The result was a fl ood of favourable reaction to the letter (with headlines like “You’d be a fool not to invest in Berkshire Hathaway” and “Warren Buff ett just wrote the best annual letter ever”), as well as a per-share increase for the year of nearly fi ve times that of the S&P.

I can say that, as a Berkshire Hathaway stockholder, I have never since thought of selling any shares. After all, Buff ett had given me the same recommendation he fi rst declared he’d give to a family member.

With considerable success, practitioners of social infl uence have always placed persuasive prods – glowing testimonials, emotional tugs, last-chance opportunities – inside their appeals. Perhaps because of that success, they’ve mostly missed an accompanying truth. For maximum impact, it’s not only what you do; it’s also what you do just before you do what you do.

Robert B Cialdini is a behavioural scientist and author of the new book Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Infl uence and Persuade. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

The new way to infl uence people

By Dr Luisa DillnerLondon

Want to be happy? Lift your smartphone in the air, angle it to the best side of your face,

and click – because selfi es make you happy, according to a recent report. Google estimates that, in 2014, at least 93m selfi es a day were posted on Android phones alone, and the Pew Research Center says more than 91% of teenagers have posted a self portrait online.

But the ubiquitous selfi e irritates the hell out of anyone over 40 years of age and is more usually associated in the media with unhappy outcomes. Last year, more people died worldwide while taking selfi es than from shark attacks – mostly from falling but also from being hit by vehicles and even gored by a bull. The selfi e has also been linked to mental health problems.

In 2014, a study from Ohio State University found that men who posted the most selfi es on social media scored highest on questionnaires for narcissistic and psychopathic traits. An editorial by Dr Pankaj Shah in the

International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience also argued that taking selfi es was addictive and that spending more than fi ve minutes on a selfi e or taking more than three to fi ve a day may be “considered a disease”.

So, when a hoax news report in 2014 claimed that Selfi tis was a new mental health problem defi ned by the

American Psychiatric Association as “the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media”, many people believed it.

Selfi es have been linked to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD, where people obsess about perceived fl aws in their appearance) but, as Dr David Veale, a consultant psychiatrist at the

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, explains: “Some people with BDD use selfi es as a way of checking their appearance – to see if they are as ugly as they feel they are. They are taken alone and people may store hundreds or thousands of pictures on their phone that are not shared with anyone. Selfi e use in people without BDD is not pathological.”

But can selfi es actually make us happy? Should we all start taking them?

The study that suggested selfi es might be linked to happiness was relatively small. The selfi e component included asking 14 students to smile (regardless of how they felt) and take pictures of themselves three times a day for three weeks. These pictures were kept on an Android app and only seen by the students and the researchers. Nothing was posted on social media but, when the students looked at their own smiling faces, their mood improved signifi cantly.

But Yu Chen, the lead author of the study, is adamant that it didn’t suggest taking selfi es made the students happy. “It is not selfi es that make you happy,” says Chen. “It is smiling that makes you happy.”

Airports adopting discreet screening measuresBy A Ananthalakshmi and Liz Lee AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Authorities will adopt more “invisible” screening measures to step up security in and around airports as

they increasingly become targets for extremist activities, aviation industry experts said this week.

Security in areas open to the public has been in the spotlight this year after a June suicide attack killed more than 40 people at Istanbul’s main airport, and March suicide attacks by bombers killed 16 people at Brussels airport.

After the attack, Brussels set up tents outside the airport to screen passengers before entry, but industry offi cials say such a step only moves the target, rather than halting attacks.

Discreet screening measures that allow passengers and visitors to quickly get through security without crowding are likely to be adopted by airports and law enforcement, industry offi cials said at the AVSEC World conference in Kuala Lumpur.

“It can be screening and profi ling that you can never see,” said Ross Lockie, Asia-Pacifi c regional offi cer for aviation security and facilitation, at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a United Nations agency.

Licence plate readers, scanners

and facial recognition technology that do the job in a less obvious and intrusive way will be adopted to screen passengers and others, the experts said.

Besides smarter technology, more plainclothes police and greater behavioural analysis by staff or law enforcement are expected to be added.

Last week, Brussels Airport said it would soon remove its screening tents, in favour of introducing several new and less visible safety measures, such as

automatic recognition of number plates and facial recognition.

Aviation and security experts say attacks in areas open to the public are becoming increasingly attractive, because of the crowds gathered there.

“I certainly see political expectation to do more landside (security) across Europe and the world after the tragic attacks in Brussels and Istanbul,” said Alexis Long, head of security policy at London’s Heathrow airport.

“We will see a much more mature

type of checkpoint being developed, one that may not be as visible to the general public.

I think human factors are going to play an equal part.”

Turkey was also trying out new technologies after the June attacks, said Yener Cetinkaya, an assistant aviation expert at the Turkish Directorate General of Civil aviation.

It has begun to train airport employees and others, such as shuttle and taxi drivers who have regular access to the airports, to do some screening on their own, he added.

“Because they come to the airport very often, they are part of the security culture,” he said.

Security fears have pushed governments in Europe to assign more police to guard airports, and offi cers armed with machine guns have become a more common sight.

After attacks fi rst in Paris and then Nice, France now requires all passengers on international fl ights to display passports on arrival.

Earlier, visitors from the passport-free Schengen zone could land and exit without showing identifi cation.

“Landside security must be far more sophisticated, far more selective and automatic,” Henrik Hololei, director general of the European Commission’s transport department, said at the conference.

Taking photos of one’s self is often thought to be addictive and unhealthy. But a recent report suggests it could actually improve your mood

Three-day forecast

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Low : 26 C

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Low: 23 C

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QATAR


QBA hosts dinner for Pakistan presidentThe Qatari Businessmen

Association (QBA) re-cently hosted a private

business dinner in honour of Pakistan’s President, Mamnoon Hussain, and his accompanying delegation in Doha.

Held in the presence of Qa-tar’s ambassador to Pakistan, Saqer bin Mubarak al-Man-souri, and Pakistan ambassa-dor Shahzad Ahmed the event aimed to discuss the existing bilateral relations and economic co-operation between the two countries

From the Qatari side, the din-ner was headed by QBA chair-man Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, board members Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser al-Thani and Sherida al-Kaabi, as well as QBA members Nasser Suliman al-

Haider and Saud al-Mana, and deputy general manager Sarah Abdullah.

Also in attendance were members of the Qatari Busi-nesswomen Association led by vice chairwoman Aisha Alfardan and board members Awatef al-Dafaa, Natra Abdulla and Amal al-Athem.

During the event, Hussain thanked QBA members and con-fi rmed his commitment to move bilateral relations “to new levels of co-operation.”

“Such high-level visits would defi nitely contribute to the de-velopment of the economic re-lations and open up new areas to enhance trade co-operation,” the president said, referring to the historical roots shared by both countries.

He also stressed on the impor-tance of the exchange of offi cial visits between both countries, particularly the visit of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to Pakistan in 2015, in addition to several visits of Paki-stani leaders to Doha.

The president also discussed administrative reforms initiated by the Pakistani government fi ve years ago, enabling it to over-come an economic crisis.

The reforms, he said, also strengthened Pakistan’s taxa-tion system and investment laws, as he referred to support of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF, he said, expects good potential for the economy of Pakistan with the continua-tion of reforms, and considered Pakistan’s current situation “a

very encouraging investment environment,” especially in the energy, infrastructure and agri-culture sectors

Sheikh Faisal said Pakistani presence in Qatar “refl ects the depth of friendship and co-op-eration between the two coun-tries.”

He also expressed the inter-est of the Qatari businessmen to discuss opportunities for part-nership with the Pakistani side, adding that “there are discus-sions between the private sec-tors of both countries in some areas where Pakistani has rich resources including energy, la-bour, education, scientifi c re-search, health, tourism and cul-ture and arts.”

The QBA said there had been a number of memoranda of un-

derstanding between Qatar and Pakistan signed in the areas of security co-operation, devel-opment of water and electric energy, culture and tourism, customs, exhibitions and legal co-operation, along with the signing of an agreement with Qatar to import 3.75mn tonnes of liquefi ed gas annually.

QBA also said Qatar’s ex-ports to Pakistan reached about $220mn, consisting prima-rily of petrochemical and ag-ricultural products, while the country imports from Pakistan amounted to $80mn, consist-ing mainly of food products like rice, milk, red meat, grain and textile, and in the past few years, imports also included the supply of some skin, paper and sports products.

QBA officials led by chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani flank Pakistan’s President, Mamnoon Hussain, during a private business dinner held in Doha recently.

QFBA set to hold global management contest fi nal in Doha

The Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA), in association

with Adnar Group, will be hosting in Doha the interna-tional fi nal for the 2016-2017 edition of the ‘Global Manage-ment Challenge’ (GMC), the world’s largest simulation-based strategy and manage-ment competition.

The event, which will be held for the fi rst time in the GCC and the Arab world, is slated for April 10, 2017, un-der the patronage of HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi, while the awards ceremony and gala dinner will be held under the auspices of Qatar Central Bank deputy governor Sheikh Fahad Faisal al-Thani.

QFBA said the fi nal will be played over two days in April, with the winning teams of each of the participating countries competing against one another.

QFBA CEO Dr Abdulaziz al-Horr said: “It is QFBA’s absolute honour to bring the international fi nal of the world-renowned ‘Glo-bal Management Challenge’, in partnership with Adnar Group, to Qatar and the Arab world for the fi rst time ever in the competition’s 36-year his-tory.”

He added: “Not only will we witness the skilfulness and talents of some of to-morrow’s brightest business minds but we are also helping raise the status of Qatar as a strong regional supporter of skill-development and hu-man capacity building initia-tives and events, in line with the country’s National Vi-sion for the year 2030, and in harmony with the Academy’s vision, mission, and core val-ues.

“QFBA is determined to de-

liver a world-class event that matches, if not exceeds, previ-ous GMC international fi nals that were held in some of the world’s biggest capital cities, and we can’t wait to welcome the winning national teams to Doha next April.”

Randa Haidar, managing director of Adnar Group, said: “As an establishment with an extensive understanding of the various aspects of mul-tinational and local business requirements and needs, Ad-nar Group will do its absolute best to turn this extraordinary event into an extraordinary success.”

Joao Matoso Henriques, managing director of the Glo-bal Management Challenge – International, said: “Since the concept of the competi-tion emerged back in 1980 in Portugal, the Global Manage-ment Challenge has grown to be the world’s most highly-re-spected and anticipated event of its kind. Over the years, we have tweaked, updated, and perfected the competition to constantly refl ect real-world trading conditions and busi-ness risks in order to present competitors with very realistic and complex business scenari-os, with varied challenges and problems.

“This year, the GMC is big-ger and better than ever before and auspiciously marks the debut of our international fi nal in the GCC, Arab world and the entire Mena region, and we are confi dent that we, in collabo-ration with QFBA and Adnar Group, will bring professionals all over the world a fi rst-class event that continues to play a vital role in promoting busi-ness and managerial talents as well as supporting human capacity building initiatives and eff orts in this part of the world.”

QFBA CEO Dr Abdulaziz al-Horr announces the staging of the international final of the ‘Global Management Challenge’ in Doha.

Parts of Qatar likely to receive rain today

Some parts of Qatar yester-day experienced rain for the fi rst time this season

and there could be more of it today, according to the weather report.

The Met department also fore-cast foggy conditions and poor visibility – 2km or less – at some places in the early hours today.

Rain was reported from a number of places yesterday, with the weather offi ce posting sev-eral updates on its social media channels and people sharing videos online. For instance, the Met department tweeted about rain being reported from the northwestern parts of the coun-try, where thunder was felt and rain clouds were seen earlier in the day.

Some rain was also detected over the central areas, with the Met department tweeting about reports of light to moderate rain towards the east of Al Sheehani-ya. Some people, meanwhile, shared videos of rain in Al Shee-haniya and areas towards the north. The Met department, in view of the prevailing situation in some places, advised people to be careful while driving in the rain and avoid using the mobile phone.

The detailed forecast for in-shore areas today says hazy to misty/foggy conditions are likely in some places at fi rst, fol-lowed by mild conditions during the day along with some clouds. There is a weak chance of rain by the afternoon. Hazy to misty conditions are also expected in

some off shore areas at fi rst along with clouds.

On Tuesday, the Met depart-ment had said high humid-ity levels were expected in the country until today along with misty to foggy conditions and a drop in visibility. The depart-ment, in co-operation with the Ministry of Interior, also issued safety tips for motorists in view of the foggy conditions.

Around 8pm yesterday, the Met department tweeted that high humidity, low visibil-ity – especially on roads heading north – and fog were expected “within the next few hours”, ask-ing people to be careful.

Meanwhile, a maximum tem-perature of 35C was recorded in Karana, Batna and Turayna yesterday, followed by 34C in the Doha airport area, Al Shee-haniya, Al Rayyan, Abu Samra and other places. The minimum temperature, on the other hand, was 20C in Abu Samra, Al Shee-haniya and Ghuwairiyah.

Today, the mercury level is expected to reach a high of 34C in Doha and 33C in Wakrah, Me-saieed and Abu Samra, while the minimum will be 21C in Al Khor and Abu Samra. The minimum temperature will be relatively higher in Doha at 26C.

Early this month, the Met de-partment had said the rainy sea-son in Qatar was expected to be-gin on October 16 and continue for 52 days. The country had ex-perienced heavy rain on certain days in November and December last year.

Workshop discusses modern methods in police trainingA workshop on ‘Modern

means of police training and education’ started

at the Police Training Institute (PTI) yesterday.

The opening session was at-tended by Director General of Public Security Staff Major Gen-eral Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi , Police College Director General Brigadier Dr Mohamed Abdullah al-Mohanna al-Marri, PTI direc-tor Brigadier Nasser Mohamed al-Sayed, and Interior Minister’s Technical Offi ce director Briga-dier Badr Ibrahim al-Ghanim along with a number offi cers and other expert trainers.

The two-day workshop fea-tures discussions on three im-portant themes which include modern means in police training, police education and experiences in the fi elds of training and edu-cation.

In his opening remarks, Briga-dier al-Sayed said the objective is to develop the training and edu-cation of the police cadre in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and Ministry of Interior Strategy 2011-2016 to strengthen human development and ensure security and stability in the so-ciety.

“In order to achieve these goals the Police Training Institute has organised this event with the participation of experts in rel-evant fi elds from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs, Qatar

University, Ahmed Bin Moham-med Military College, Police College, Lekhwiya Force and Po-lice training institute,” he said.

The offi cial explained that the PTI was working to strengthen relationships with major train-ing and education institutions in the state and to benefi t from their experiences in order to improve the police training and educa-tion.

Prof Saad al-Magali, the direc-tor of Training department at In-stitute of Public Administration under the Ministry of Adminis-trative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs, presented a paper on ‘Means of developing the ef-fi ciency of personnel in training fi eld – experience of qualifying Qatari trainers.’

The second paper was pre-sented by Mohamed Hamdi al-Basool, from the Department of Training and Courses at Lekhwi-ya on the topic, ‘Modern meth-ods in police training.’

In the second session presided over by Major Dr Jabr Hamoud al-Noaimi, director of Adminis-trative and Economic Aff airs De-partment at Police College, Ma-jor Abdul Aziz Ali al-Mohannadi, assistant director of PTI gave his presentation on Experience of PTI in police training”. The sec-ond paper was presented by Kha-lid bin Nasser al-Khater from Ahmad bin Muhammad Military College on the institution’s aca-demic vision.

Director General of Public Security Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi and other officials at the event.

Officials addressing the workshop yesterday.

Documents

Qatar's new transit visa scheme is getting ready