Volume 22 | Number 7283 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 13 September 2017 | 22 Dhul-Hijja 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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QATAR

101UNDER SIEGE

DAY

ST

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met yesterday with Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The Foreign Minister conveyed the greetings of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Turkish President as well as his wishes of more progress and prosperity to the Turkish people. Erdogan entrusted the Foreign Minister with conveying greetings to the Emir, wishing him good health and happiness and Qatari people further progress and prosperity. → See also page 2

Erdogan meets Foreign Minister

Sanaullah AtaullahThe Peninsula

Minister of Energy and Industry H E Dr Moham-med bin Saleh Al Sada said yester-

day Qatar had not missed any oil or gas shipments despite the blockade imposed by the neigh-bouring countries.

“During this blockade we have never missed a single shipment of oil or gas to any of our consuming partners….That shows how committed Qatar is, not only to our economy here and reliability but also to the consuming countries because this is a very strategic commod-ity,” Sada said.

Dr Al Sada was addressing the “Diplomatic Salon-A a get-together with Dr Mohamed Bin Saleh Al Sada’ on ‘QNV 2030 & the Future of Global Gas and Oil Market’, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yesterday.

The Minister said Qatar is successfully combating the ille-gal siege and blockade by the neighbouring GCC countries, under the strong leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani. “We paid a lot of efforts to ensure that we are not missing any shipment of oil and gas to our partners. I would like to also remind all of you that Qatar became leader in LNG by producing a little more than 77m tonnes but we are also the capital of gas-to-liquid of the world”, Dr Al Sada said.

“Qatar is one of the biggest producers of LPG as well as other products. The country was able to reverse a trend of declining oil production. Back in the 1990s, Qatar was produc-ing only 400,000 barrels per day and we are now able to reverse the peaked in 2007 to reach more than double that production besides 840,000 barrel a day.

→ Continued on page 4Qatar urges UN rights body to act to end siegeGeneva

QNA

Qatar called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to take urgent

action to stop the violations resulting from the unilateral coercive measures and the unjust siege imposed by a number of countries on Qatar,

and to end the ongoing and increasing sufferings of those affected by the siege.

Ambassador H E Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri, Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, made the remarks as he addressed the 36th session of the Human Rights Council, which is taking place from September 11 to 29, noting

that the council’s failure to take swift and serious action to stop the violations undermines its credibility, objectivity and mech-anisms. The ambassador also said Qatar condemns the continuous Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as forced evictions, the con-tinuous killing and detentions, the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque by

the Israeli occupation authorities and extremist groups, and the strict measures imposed to pre-vent Palestinians from entering. Such flagrant violations of inter-national resolutions constitute an obstacle to international efforts towards achieving a fair and comprehensive solution for the Palestinian issue.

→ Continued on page 4

The Peninsula

Qatar is now an approved destination for Chinese tourists with the signing

of a bilateral agreement between Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and the China N a t i o n a l T o u r i s m Administration (CNTA).

The agreement grants Qatar Approved Destination Status (ADS), allowing it to receive tourists from China and to promote Qatar as a tourism destination within China.

Li Jinzao, Chairman of CNTA, said, “We are delighted to welcome Qatar to the list of countries that have ADS. This system aims to guarantee safe and reliable tourism services for Chinese customers, from both local travel agencies and international tour operators. We have seen the Qatari tourism sector make great strides, and

we are certain Chinese travellers will find fulfilling experiences and a high level of service in Qatar.”

Sultan Salmeen Al Mansouri, Qatar’s Ambassador to China, said: “We have been watching the Chinese outbound market grow by leaps and bounds over the past few years, reaching 135 million travellers in 2016. With growing interest from Chinese tourists to venture outside the Far East and explore the Arab world, this is a great opportunity to build new bridges between the two regions. This agreement also embodies our support for the Belt and Road Initiative, for which Qatar was one of the first countries to express support. As more projects are implemented as part of the initiative, we expect more opportunities for collaboration between our two countries, particularly in commerce, tourism, sport and

IUMS slams arrest of Saudi clericsAnatolia

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) yesterday criti-

cised the reported arrest of Muslim preachers and schol-ars in Saudi Arabia.

Reports said Saudi authorities had detained more than 20 Muslim preach-ers and scholars for unspecified reasons.

The list of detainees includes Salman Al Auda, a prominent Muslim preacher and member of the IUMS’s board of trustees, the prom-inent Saudi preachers Aaidh Al Qarni and Ali Al Omari.

Saudi authorities did not issue any official statement regarding the reported arrests, said the Doha based IUMS in statement issued yesterday.

→ Continued on page 5

culture.” Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer at QTA, added, “Thanks to a robust economy and an increasingly open tourism policy, the Chinese outbound tourism market has been the largest in the world since 2012, with the growth expected to continue. We are excited to work with our partners in the tourism industry to offer our renowned hospitality to our

Chinese guests. We look forward to welcoming visitors as they discover our cultural heritage and natural treasures.”

Award-winning five star airline Qatar Airways flies directly to six destinations in mainland China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.

→ See also page 2

Qatar and China sign tourism agreement

Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer at QTA (left) and Li Jinzao, Chairman of CNTA at the signing ceremony.

Qatar outperforms Saudi in Human Capital IndexSatish Kanady The Peninsula

World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Human Capital

Index has ranked Qatar as one of the best in the region. The Middle East and North Africa has an overall average score of 55.91. Qatar, with a score of 55, outperformed Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the region. Sau-di’s 82 score reflects the country stands several notches lower than Qatar in h u m a n c a p i t a l development.

With only 62 percent of the world’s human capital stock fully developed, the United States and Germany feature in a top ten which is otherwise dominated by s m a l l e r E u r o p e a n countries.

→ Continued on page 6

Emir ratifies decision on real estateQNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday ratified Cab-

inet Decision No 39 of 2017 on the expropriation of some real estate for public good.

The decision is effective from its date of publication in the official gazette.

The Emir also issued law No (16) of 2017 on the regu-lation of works of expertise. The law includes provisions regulating the works of expertise in a comprehensive manner, including the terms and conditions of the regis-tration of experts, their guarantees and obligations in the exercise of their work, whether before the judicial or other relevant bodies, and the rules of their disciplinary accountability.

The law also establishes a committee of experts affairs to supervise their affairs and to consider applications for registration in accordance with the provisions of the law.

The law is effective and is to be published in the official gazette.

→ Continued on page 3

Al Sada: Qatar didn’t miss oil & gas shipments

During this blockade we have never missed a single shipment of oil or gas to any of our consuming partners: Minister.

Gulf crisis will end: League ChiefQNA

SECRETARY-GENERAL of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said that resolving the current Gulf crisis will take time and deep thinking about the consequences, but “it will have an end”.

02 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara yesterday. They reviewed relations and means of boosting them, in addition to issues of common concern and a number of regional issues. The Foreign Minister briefed his Turkish counterpart on the latest developments in the Gulf crisis.

The Peninsula

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has announced the opening of representative

offices in China, with headquar-ters in Beijing, and supporting locations in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The opening comes as Qatar has officially been awarded Approved Destination Status (ADS), allowing it to receive tourists from China and to pro-mote Qatar as a tourism destination within China.

“Qatar has become an increasingly accessible destina-tion for Chinese travellers, especially after Qatar waived entry visa requirements for Chi-nese citizens,” said Sultan Salmeen Al Mansouri, Qatar’s Ambassador to China. “Chinese visitors to Qatar no longer need to apply or pay for a visa; instead, a multi-entry waiver is issued to them free-of-charge at the port of entry. At the same time, the Chinese outbound tourism market has been grow-ing exponentially, making the time ripe for Qatar to establish a presence in China and actively engage with the domestic travel and tourism market.”

The QTA office in China will aim to greatly enhance the organ-isation’s on-the-ground presence and capabilities, introducing and developing awareness and knowledge about Qatar as a qual-ity destination through pro-active marketing to tour operators, travel agencies, hospitality part-ners and media, as well as consumers.

According to Rashed AlQurese, Chief Marketing and Promotion Officer at QTA, Qatar’s marketing campaign in China will cover a wide range of promotional initiatives, including workshops, sales vis-its, travel agents destination training through QTA’s online

TAWASH programme, partner-ships with tour operators, familiarisation trips, media campaigns and a variety of innovative activities to raise Qatar’s profile as a destination among Chinese tourists.

“China has risen rapidly as a major source of outbound tourists in the world and we have identified it as key source market for future growth, among both leisure and business visitors,” said AlQurese.

The offices will be operated in partnership with PHG Con-sulting, a division of Preferred Hospitality Group; the premier global provider of representa-tion and consultancy services for tourism boards, destination management companies, air-lines, and hotel brands.

“Qatar has been developing its assets in both areas, and we look forward to working with our partners at the China National Tourism Administration and PHG Consulting to raise awareness of our unique tourism offering. Our on-the-ground presence in China will enable us to actively promote Qatar to Chinese consumers, and develop relationships with mem-bers of the Chinese travel trade who will sell Qatar as a destina-tion,” added AlQurese.

He continued, “Now that Qatar has been granted ADS, our work can begin immediately, and will culminate in a major

campaign that will kick off in January 2018, which will include advertising in major publica-tions, key outdoor locations and familiarisation trips for media to experience Qatar first hand.”

Chinese travellers interested in Qatar will also have easy access to information about the destina-tion’s tourism offerings, hospitality options and key tour-ism events online, with its official website (www.visitqatar.qa) now available in Mandarin. Addition-ally, VisitQatar will establish a presence across the most prom-inent Chinese social media platforms in the coming months.

“As demand for unique, exciting, and experience-rich destinations continues to grow among Chinese travellers, we are excited to embark on this multi-year partnership with QTA. We look forward to work-ing together to achieve Qatar’s ambitions of generating great awareness and demand for the destination’s compelling tour-ism offerings among China’s booming outbound travel mar-ket,” said Ken Mastrandrea, Chief Operating Officer of PHG.

QTA’s office in China is the third to open in Asia and the ninth globally. It joins an inter-national network covering the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Tur-key, the US, the GCC markets and South East Asia.

QNA

The Ministry of Educa-tion and Higher Education resumed the second phase of the registration and

transfer of students in public schools, which will continue until the end of next January to allow all students to register, especially those who have not been allowed to register during the past period, after the inter-ruption of registration during the Eid Al Adha holiday.

The Department of Schools Affairs in the Ministry has issued a number of standards and documents for registration and transportation.

The registration and trans-fer of Qatari students is open according to the vacancies available.

The number of students is 33 in each division. This applies to non-Qatari students, with a maximum of 30 students in each division.

Enrollment in public schools includes new or incom-ing students from private schools or those from outside the country.

Students’ assessment pol-icy regarding tests must be followed and the guardian must be informed before registration.

Meanwhile, the Department of Educational Guidance in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is undertak-ing plans and programmes for the new academic year, while

ensuring the provision of qual-ity educational services to all parties in the educational proc-ess. The focus is on the quality of educational inputs as a guar-antee for educational outcomes that achieve Qatar National Vision.

The Department has pub-lished on the Ministry’s website quarterly educational plans for learning resources for all sub-jects and all levels of education, including adult education.

Qatar started the new aca-demic year on Sunday, with the Independent and private schools resuming classes after the long summer break bring-ing usual activity back to the city.

As many as 295,400 stu-dents in all government and private schools resumed their classes at the national level. About 113,400 students were in government schools at all lev-els while 182,000 students were in 265 private schools.

Second phase of

registration of

students beginsNew rules

The Department of Schools Affairs has issued a number of standards and documents for registration.

The registration and transfer of Qatari students is open according to the vacancies available.

Qatar attaches great importance to human rights of the elderlyGeneva

QNA

The State of Qatar has affirmed that it attaches great importance to the

human rights of the elderly and considers it as one of the main priorities of the governmental and non-governmental national efforts. The State of Qatar in this regard adopted legislations pro-tecting the rights of this category and established rele-vant institutions such as the Elderly Empowerment and Care Centre (Ehsan).

This came in a speech of the State of Qatar delivered by the First Secretary at the Permanent Mission to Geneva Maha Al Mudadi during the interactive dialogue with the independent expert on the full enjoyment of all human rights by the elderly at the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, held from September 11-29.

Maha Al Mudadi said that assistive technology and tech-nology based on automatic control could contribute to ena-bling older persons to live in

dignity, independence and on an equal basis with others with-out any discrimination.

This technology should enhance the opportunities for social interaction for the elderly and encourage them to become more connected and integrated into the family and society, as well as helping them participate fully in all aspects of life.

This technology, she said, should not use to neglect, exclude and isolate the elderly from their natural surroundings and family environment, which are contrary to the values of humanity of affection and compassion.

Qatar had integrated the rights of elderly people into all relevant national strategies. For example, she said, the Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions launched Wasla Intergenerational ICT Learning Program as an innovative ini-tiative aimed at enabling elderly people to benefit from digital technology by providing them with ICT skills with the help of their sons and younger relatives.

Education Minister stresses support for Unesco activitiesQNA

Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed Abdul

Wahed Ali Al Hammadi stressed the important role played by the United Nations Educational, Sci-entific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in supporting

education, heritage and culture, preserving and protecting cul-tural and human heritage and promoting science and scientific research.

During his meeting with members of the Executive Coun-cil of the Unesco, the Minister expressed Qatar’s support for Unesco and its activities in the

fields of education, culture, sci-ence, technology and media. He also expressed Qatar’s hope for the success of H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari, Cultural Adviser at the Emiri Diwan and Qatar’s candidate for the direc-tor-general at the Unesco, in the upcoming election, stressing Qatar’s commitment to support

his candidacy which will signifi-cantly achieve the goals and aspirations of Member States. The Minister also touched on the unjust siege imposed on the State of Qatar, stressing its positive results on the Qatari society in terms of making it more produc-tive and dedicated, stronger and more loyal to their leadership.

QTA opens office in Beijing

Officials from Qatar and China signing the agreement.

FM meets Turkish counterpart

03WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 HOME

Qatar’s Ambassador to Iran H E Ali bin Hamad Al Sulaiti with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Geneva

QNA

The Permanent Repre-sentative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office in Geneva, H E Ambas-

sador Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri, stressed that countries that prac-tise intellectual terrorism against their citizens and even deny the rights to express any opinion contrary to their policies must consider their records and rec-tify their situation instead of wrongfully blaming others.

In response to the allegations of the joint statement made by the Permanent Representative of the Emirates on behalf of the siege countries commenting on Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul-rahman Al Thani’s speech at Human Rights Council, Ambas-sador Al Mansouri said that the State of Qatar has made sure to inform the facts to the Council on the violations resulting from the unilateral coercive measures taken by the siege countries against the State of Qatar in

order to enable the Council to carry out its duty through its rel-evant mechanisms to put an end to these violations and hold accountable those responsible for these violations.

Ambassador Al Mansouri explained that the State of Qatar has dealt with the Gulf crisis pro-fessionally and efficiently and with deliberate political and dip-lomatic steps that have won the respect and support of many countries and international organ-izations which rejected the continuous violations of the siege

countries against the State of Qatar, its citizens and residents for more than three months.

The Permanent Representa-tive pointed out that since the beginning of the crisis, the State of Qatar has affirmed that dia-logue is the only way to resolve it.

Therefore, Qatar welcomed the mediation of the sisterly State of Kuwait and stressed the need to resolve the crisis within the framework of the Gulf Coop-eration Council, Ambassador Al Mansouri said, adding that the State of Qatar still adheres to dialogue as the only way to over-come this crisis.

Ambassador Al Mansouri stressed that the State of Qatar does not need to defend its record in the fight against terrorism, pointing out that Qatar’s efforts in this regard are visible in all rele-vant forums and committees.

The speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs was intended to refer to the importance of not invoking the fight against ter-rorism under false pretences that are not based on evidence or logic in order to impose the g u a r d i a n s h i p , s i e g e

and to influence the political independence and the sover-eignty of States, in addition to committing widespread viola-tions of human rights in the name of counter-terrorism.

He said that the siege coun-tries failed to provide any real evidence based on solid foun-dations for their allegations that the State of Qatar supports ter-rorism, and failed as well to provide legal justifications and arguments for their coercive measures which are a “collec-tive punishment” in flagrant violation of relevant interna-tional laws and treaties.

The Permanent Representa-tive stressed that the Gulf crisis revealed the nature of the current regimes in the siege countries imposing of their repression of fundamental freedoms, destruc-tion of societies by promoting incitement and hatred, punish-ment of peoples for their sympathy and escalation of con-flicts, as well as their blacklisting of anyone who contravenes them, noting that these lists have no legal value and has been rejected by the international community.

Stop intellectual terrorism: QatarClean record

Countries that practise intellectual terrorism against citizens must rectify the situation, says Al Mansouri.

Qatar does not need to defend its record in the fight against terrorism as its efforts are visible.

QNA

The State of Qatar partici-pated in the 148th Session of the Arab League Coun-

cil at the level of Foreign Ministers, held yesterday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi chaired Qatar’s dele-gation to the session. The Minister participated earlier in the consultative meeting of the

Arab foreign ministers, which was held prior to the meeting of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level.

The draft agenda of the Arab League Council included 28 items, including the report of the Secretary-General on the activ-ities of the Secretariat and the procedures for implementing the resolutions of the Council between the two sessions (147-148), and the semi-annual report of the follow-up committee on implementation of resolutions

and commitments of the Amman 2017 Summit.

The items also included the Palestine issue, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the developments in Syria, Libya and Yemen.

The draft agenda also included items on the support for peace and development in the Republic of the Sudan, sup-port for the Federal Republic of Somalia and support for inter-nally displaced persons in the Arab countries and the displaced Iraqis in particular.

Continued from page 1The Emir also issued Decree

No 64 of 2017 ratifying a mem-orandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of energy between Qatar’s Minis-try of Energy and Industry and the United Mexican States’ Sec-retariat of Energy, which was signed in Doha on January 21, 2017, and to have the force of law in line with Article 68 of the constitution.

The Emir also issued Decree No 65 of 2017 ratifying the air transport agreement between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Tajikistan, which was signed in

Doha on February on 6, 2017, and to have the force of law in line with Article 68 of the constitution.

In addition, the Emir issued Decree No 66 of 2017 ratifying a protocol amending the air transport agreement between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was signed in Doha on February 27, 2017 and to have the force of law in line with Article 68 of the constitution.

The decrees are effective starting from their date of issue and are to be published in the official gazette.

Emir ratifies decisionon real estate

Al Muraikhi meets officialsQATAR’S Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met yester-day with Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sabri Bachtobji, on the sidelines of the 148th regular session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level.

He also met with Com-missioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Pierre Krahenbuhl.

Qatar participates in Arab League session

Envoy meets Iran Foreign Minister

04 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME

The second Mega Draw pertaining to ‘Lulu Mercedes Benz Car Promotion’ organised by Lulu Hypermarket Group was held yesterday at Lulu Hypermarket, Al Messila branch, under the supervision of Wadah, Inspector at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, wherein two Mercedes Benz Cars, E-200, Model 2017, were given away as the prizes. Mahabur (Coupon No.0605357) and Abdul Azeez D. (Coupon No.0902551) had won the prized cars, respectively. Consolation prizes in the form of Lulu Gift vouchers worth QR10,000 each and QR5,000 each were also given to other six winners. Shaijan MO, Regional Director; Shanavas PM, Regional Manager; Mohamed Basheer, General Manager-Hypermarket Operations; and other officials from Lulu Hypermarket Group were present at the draw.

Winners of Lulu Mercedes-Benz Car Promotion second mega draw

Ooredoo unveils new Shahry promotionThe Peninsula

Ooredoo launched yesterday a new promotion for busi-ness customers to gain additional data

on their post-paid Shahry Smart pack plans, supporting mobile workforces and business competitiveness.

Shahry Smart packs are full of minutes, SMS, and mobile data for different budgets and needs. Now, with this promo-tion, Ooredoo Business customers — who are either upgrading from pre-paid Hala accounts or are new Shahry Smart pack subscribers — can gain up to 20 GB of extra data per month, for three months.

Yousuf Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief Operating Officer, Oore-doo Qatar, said: “Ooredoo’s new Shahry promotion delivers great value to our business custom-ers, further enabling Qatar’s mobile workforces. Ooredoo’s business customers can use Qatar’s fastest and most relia-ble network to easily and

quickly check email, share files, and collaborate from their devices while on the go, driving new levels of business results.”

As part of the promotion, new Shahry subscribers will receive additional data per month, for three months, with automatic activationof Endless Internet Packs: Shahry Smart 55 customers will receive an extra 250 MB per month; Shahry Smart 100 customers will receive an extra 6 GB of data per month; Shahry Smart 150 cus-tomers will receive an extra 10 GB per month; Shahry Smart 250 customers and above will receive an extra 20 GB per

month. Business leaders agree that a major benefit of Endless Internet Packs is that custom-ers remain connected even after the pack is consumed.

Customers can use mobile data at a lower 2G speed until renewal, or purchase a Speed Booster to restore 4G+ connection.

Shahry Smart packs start with the Smart 55 pack, with 500 MB of data and 200 min-utes or SMS, going up to the Smart 750 pack with unlimited data, minutes, SMS, and 600 international minutes.

Ooredoo is seeing strong demand for the recently-launched Qatarna Pack, with 30 GB of local data and unlimited phone calls for QR350 per month.

Qatar’s businesses custom-ers can leverage the Ooredoo Advantage, making Ooredoo “Best for Business”, thanks to its breadth and depth of talent, best fixed and mobile networks, broadest portfolio of ICT serv-ices and solutions, and trusted partner for 60 years.

Three months of extra data delivers great value, enables mobile workforces on Qatar’s fastest and most reliable mobile network.

Ooredoo photo booth at HIA draws huge crowdThe Peninsula

Ooredoo and Hamad Inter-national Airport (HIA) have thanked the thou-

sands of travellers who participated in the company’s Eid al Adha photo booth in the departures terminal at HIA.

The photo booth, which was designed to help mark Eid Al Adha for travellers and visitors of Qatar, was open from Septem-ber 1 - 6, and invited families and friends to take pictures in the booth and then share them on social media under the #HIAQ-atar. The photographs were then used to create a special design made up of over 3,200 images. Participants could take a printed sticker of their image and place it on a large digital display in a matching cell.

Talking about the success,

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Direc-tor of PR and Corporate Communications, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “We hope this activity brightened people’s journey and helped share some of the spirit of Eid Al Adha. We thank Hamad International Airport once again for their cooperation and part-nership, as we work together to serve the community.”

Abdulaziz Al Mass, HIA Vice President – Commercial and Marketing, said: “This joint activ-ity with Ooredoo at HIA’s award-winning terminal sym-bolises the excitement of millions of passengers who travel through Qatar’s gateway to the world.”

HBKU centre offers 13-week language courseThe Peninsula

The Language Center at the Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII), part of Hamad

Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Col-lege of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), centre will offer interested participants in Qatar the opportunity to learn one of seven languages, over a 13-week period, at the Liberal Arts and Science (LAS) Building in Education City.

Language courses offered this fall include Arabic, French, Spanish, Por-tuguese, German, Italian, and Chinese (Mandarin).

All courses are scheduled to start on September 24 and will conclude by December 14.

The institute will be hosting an information session about the upcoming fall semester courses on September 18, at 5pm, in Education City’s LAS Building, giving those who aspire to learn a new language a bet-ter understanding of how the courses can be beneficial for their personal and professional development. Dur-ing the session, which is open to the public, attendees will get a free

miniature lesson from professional instructors at TII. Administrators will also be available to answer any ques-tions from participants.

Dr Amal Al Malki, founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said, “At HBKU, we focus on the holistic development of our students and the wider resident community in Qatar. Learning new languages is an essential part of developing human capacity in the country so that we can successfully function in today’s interconnected global economy.”

HBKU offers language classes to enable the students to enrich their experience of a given culture, or to assist in their professional growth at a local and international level. Imane Ayoub, who studied the Portuguese language, said, “I’m happy to say that, after six months of studying at TII, I’m now able to speak with my fiancé and his family in Portuguese.”

Daniela Cocan, another student who took the Arabic class at the cen-tre, said that the opportunity had a profound impact on her understand-ing of the language and of Arab culture.

Qatar urges UN rights body to act to end siege

Continued from page 1

Regarding the Syrian cause, Ambassador Al Mansouri expressed the State of Qatar’s condem-nation of the Syrian regime’s excessive and serious violations against its people and the recent use of chemicals in Khan Sheikhoun.

He stressed the humanitarian and legal respon-sibility compels the international community to take serious and responsible measures that ensure the cessation of these violations and crimes, and help in holding accountable everyone responsible for them. Ambassador Al Mansouri also expressed Qatar’s strong condemnation of the violent attacks against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in Myanmar, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians and the fleeing of thousands from their homes. He expressed Doha’s deep concern about reports of abuses and violations against the minor-ity, stressing the need for the Myanmar government to abide by international law to protect civilians and achieve reconciliation.

In his closing statement, the ambassador wel-comed the remarks made by the high commissioner for human rights regarding the decline in hostilities in Darfur, voicing hope that the Human Rights Council would support the efforts of the Sudanese government and the rel-evant parties to sustain and consolidate the peace achieved in the region under the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

Continued from page 1“The aim of the vision basi-

cally was to acquire sustainable social economic, human and environmental development”, he said. Powered by a development vision, Qatar has emerged as one of the best on various counts. The country’s per capita income is one of highest. Education is one of the best in the region. In terms of transparency, the Qatar standard is one of the best in the region.

On Qatar’s ongoing economic diversification programme, the Minister said: “Back in 2010, the GDP contribution of hydrocarbon was 60 percent that was reversed and last year figure that 40 per-cent contribution of hydrocarbon and 60 percent of other sectors, especially the services sector improved considerably, the con-struction sector as well. “This journey of diversification is on the

right track, so 60 -40 reverse to 40 – 60.”

Middle East holds the biggest reserve of its deposit and it would remain main supplier of oil and gas to the world. The GCC coun-tries for example together have one third of world oil reserve and one fifth of gas reserve. The region will continue energise the global economy and play a vital role in the world energy security.

Gas is increasing more than double of oil and within the port-folio of gas the LNG is particular is increasing at a rate of 4.5 per-cent annually 2 percent of total gas. So the growth LNG particu-lar is much greater in the portfolio of gas. And the LNG international gas trade is expected to grow around one third now to over half by 2030. “Oil is still the number one energy source.What will hap-pen during journey to 2040 is the

dominance of gas”, he said. He said there was a need to develop a plan for oil markets beyond March and that now was the appropriate time to look at it.

“One of the possible options is to use this agreement and this structure and possibly move it forward,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Doha, Reuters reported.

Sada also said Opec members and other countries participating in the pact to cut oil supplies had been successful in implementing their commitments. “I think Opec will certainly look at all scenar-ios but certainly Opec and the participating countries have been very successful in implementing their commitment,” he said. “They developed an excellent set up and this set up is a very good founda-tion to be fully utilised beyond March this year.”

Eid Al Adha photo booth by Ooredoo at HIA.

The photo booth, which was designed to help mark Eid Al Adha for travellers and visitors of Qatar, was open from September 1 - 6, and invited families and friends to take pictures in the booth and then share them on social media under the #HIAQatar.

Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Dr Mohammad bin Saleh Al Sada, (centre), the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HE Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi (right) and Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Eritrean Ambassador Ali Ibrahim Ahmed, at the event at Diplomatic Club yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

Qatar didn’t miss oil & gas shipments: Al Sada

05WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 HOME

Qatar Airways launches service to Adana in TurkeyThe Peninsula

Qatar Airways has r e s p o n d e d t o increased customer demand for service to Turkey by launching

direct flights to the southern city of Adana, the airline’s fourth route to the country. The new three-times–a-week service is in addition to the airline’s exist-ing flights to the capital Ankara, and services to historic Istanbul’s two main airports.

From November 6, Qatar Air-ways will operate an Airbus A320, with 12 seats in Business Class and

132 seats in Economy Class on flights between Doha and Adana Şakirpaşa Airport. It will be the first five-star Middle East airline to offer flights to and from Adana.

Located at the crossroads of Anatolia and the Middle East,

Adana is Turkey’s fifth largest city and a major agricultural and industrial centre. A short distance from the Mediterranean coast, it is also famous for its traditional Turkish cuisine, and boasts sev-eral historic monuments and architectural landmarks, mak-ing it an ideal starting point for holiday-makers wishing to explore historic Turkey.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways’ new service to Adana will help reinforce links between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkey and deepen the friendship and

co-operation between our two great countries. Adana is an agri-cultural and industrial powerhouse, so our new three-times-a-week service will help boost all-important trade and commercial links between Qatar and Turkey. It will also increase tourism to a city renowned throughout Turkey for its incred-ible local cuisine which acts as a magnet for food-lovers. We are delighted to connect southern Turkey to more than 150 desti-nations worldwide through our five-star hub, Hamad Interna-tional Airport in Qatar.”

Adana Şakirpaşa Airport is

the sixth-busiest airport in Tur-key. At just 3.5km from the city centre, its international terminal can accommodate up to three million passengers a year.

Qatar Airways currently oper-ates flights to three destinations in Turkey, with separate services to Istanbul’s Sabiha G �kçen Airport (twice a day), and Istanbul Atat-urk Airport (10 times a week) as well as daily flights to Ankara.

Qatar Airways has a host of exciting new destinations planned for the remainder of this year and 2018, including Can-berra, Australia; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

and San Francisco,US, to name just a few. Qatar Airways has received a number of major accolades this year, including Airline of the Year by the pres-tigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, making it the fourth time it has been given this global recognition. As well as being voted Best Airline by trav-ellers from around the world, Qatar’s national flag carrier also won a raft of other major awards at the 2017 Skytrax award cere-mony, including Best Airline in the Middle East, World’s Best Business Class and World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge.

New three-times-a-week service set to start on November 6 to Turkey’s fast-growing agricultural and industrial centre.

More traffic patrols during peak hours for smooth flow of vehiclesThe Peninsula

With the beginning of the new academic year and to make smooth

traffic flow of vehicles on roads, traffic department has chalked out a plan focused on all areas through distributing traffic vehi-cles on roads throughout the day.

An official at the General Directorate of Traffic Depart-ment said that “the patrols have increased on main roads and roundabouts which witness more traffic jam especially in the peak hours”.

A senior official at the Traf-fic department, Major Hamad Ali Al Misnad (pictured) advised people to go to their works early

to avoid traffic jam”.“Also parents must tell their

sons about the safety conditions of how to use school buses or vehicles and to fasten seat belt and to sit on the back seats and

not to talk to drivers,” he said.The General Directorate of

Traffic Department will organ-ise today an awareness lectures for school buses drivers at Traf-fic Department headquarters.

Organising such lectures came in the framework of ‘back to school’ campaign which launched by the Department on Sunday, and it is an annual cel-ebration aims to spread traffic awareness among students.

The lectures will be in lan-guages like English, Arabic and Urdu.

To make the ‘back to school’ campaign more success, depart-ment posted a number of tips on the department’s twitter and Facebook pages to motorists and road users.

Al Rayyan Municipality monitors slaughteringThe Peninsula

The Health Control Section at Al Rayyan Municipality during Eid Al Adha holi-

day monitored more than 5,000 slaughtered animals and destroyed 200 animals which are not fit for human consumption.

Inspectors also conducted 100 inspection tours on com-mercial complexes, sweet shops restaurants and issued 20 warnings.

It also deals with about 12 complaints, and send warnings and awareness messages through Zaheeb (ready) services.

Zaheeb is a service to mon-itor global warnings issued against food items and inform local outlets simultaneously, and through it they contact super-markets through WhatsApp or email and send messages in English advising to remove the food product temporarily from shelves.

An official from the Municipality conducting an inspection at a shop.

Agricultural quarantine offices inspect 6,386 imported shipments in AugustQNA

The Ministry of Municipal-ity and Environment’s agricultural quarantine

offices have inspected 6,386 imported shipments, weighing 118,239 tonnes, from various types of imported agricultural consignments, plant products and production inputs in August across the different customs points.

The quarantine offices destroyed 64 shipments weigh-ing more than 172 tonnes for violating the agricultural quar-antine law and for certain damages.

The agricultural quarantine is a first line of defence for pro-tection from agricultural infections. The preventive pro-cedure aims to protect the country’s agricultural wealth from foreign-originated pests. It also provides that all plants, agricultural products and any other materials shall be subject to phytosanitary regulations for its procedures and to ensure that other agricultural production inputs are in conformity with the conditions and specifications.

IUMS slams arrest of Saudi clericsContinued from page 1

IUMS suggested the arrests were related to an ongoing diplomatic crisis — now in its fourth month — pitting Qatar against a four-nation Arab bloc led by Saudi Arabia.

“In regards to the crisis [with] the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, Al Auda has done nothing but call for unity between these brotherly countries,” the statement read. It went on to quote IUMS Secretary-General Ali Qara Daghi as saying Auda was known for his “preach-ing efforts” and “moderate positions”. Regarding the current crisis Auda tweeted urging the parties to “come together for the sake of their people”. The IUMS also urged Saudi King Sal-man bin Abdulaziz to order the release of the detached preachers and scholars, who, it asserted, “should not be used as pawns in political disputes”.

Al Khor Park receives 6,000 visitors during EidThe Peninsula

Al Khor Park has received around 6,000 visitors during Eid Al Adha holi-

day, without counting children whom enter the parks without entry tickets.

Shaheen Ghanem Al Muha-nadi, an official at the park said that in July the park received more than 3,000 visitors, while the number in August was more than 2000. Entry fee is QR5 per adult.

The park has a mini zoo,

with animals and birds shifted from the Doha Zoo which is undergoing renovation.

The Public Park Department

of the Ministry earlier said that more than 170 animals and birds of 22 species are be available to entertain visitors to the park.

A view of the Al Khor Park, which has received around 6,000 visitors during the Eid Al Adha holidays.

Shipments inspected by the quarantine offices.

QRCS issues appeal for RohingyaQNA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) issued a humani-tarian appeal to raise $3m

for the relief of Rohingya peo-ple who fled the violence in their home country, seeking refuge

in Bangladesh.Under the first phase of

intervention, QRCS will operate two mobile clinics, provide 5,000 hygiene kits, build 250 sanitation facilities, distribute 5,000 food packages, and 5,000 shelter kits. Around 5,000

families (25,000 people) will benefit from this much-needed aid. QRCS Secretary-General Ali Hassan Al Hammadi stated, “Recently, a wave of violence has erupted against the Rohingya population, particularly women, children, and elderly people.

06 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017HOME / MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Building permits issued in August show 14% increaseQNA

The thirty-second issue of the monthly Statistics of Building Permits issued by all municipal-

ities of the State showed number of permits issued in August 2017 with those issued in the previous month showed a general increase of 14 percent.

Building permits data is of partic-ular importance as it is considered an indicator for the performance of the construction sector which in turn occupies a significant position in the national economy.

The publication released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics revealed the increase was clearly noted in municipalities Rayyan

(28 percent), Doha (25 percent), Umm Slal and Wakrah (14 percent) each, Al Khor (7 percent), Al Da’ayen (5 per-cent), On the other hand there was a decrease in the municipalities of Al Sheehaniya (45 percent) and Al Shamal (8 percent).

In a quick review of the data on building permits issued during the month of August 2017, according to their geographical distribution, we find that Rayyan municipality comes at the top of the municipalities where the number of building permits issued were 195 permits, while municipality of Doha came in second place with 160 permits, followed by Al Da’ayen municipality with 139 permits, then municipality of Al Wakrah with 117 permits. The rest of the municipalities

were as follows : Umm Slal 50 per-mits, Al Khor 30 permits, Al Sheehaniya 16 permits, and finally Al Shamal 12 permits.

In terms of type of permits issued, data indicates that the new building permits (residential and non-residen-tial) constitutes 58 percent (418 permits) of the total building permits issued during the month of August 2017, while the percentage of addi-tions permits constituted 39 percent (283 permits), and finally fencing per-mits with 3 percent (18 permits).

By analyzing new residential buildings permits data, we find that villas’ permits top the list, accounting for 52 percent (181 permits) of all new residential buildings permits, followed by dwellings of housing loans by 38

percent (132 permits) and apartments buildings by 8 percent (26 permits).

On the other hand, commercial buildings were found to be in the fore-front of non-residential buildings permits with 54 percent (39 permits), followed by industrial buildings e.g. workshops and factories with 28 per-cent (20 permits), then mosques with 8 percent (6 permits), then govern-mental buildings with 6 percent (4 permits).

It is worth mentioning that the release of this monthly data comes under the joint cooperation between the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to make use of the existing electronic link between the two ministries.

QM launches ‘100 days of blockade’ art initiativeThe Peninsula

As part of Qatar Muse-um’s (QM) ‘100 days of blockade’ art initiative, the Doha Fire Station yesterday unveiled

five emotive artworks produced by citizens and residents.

The powerful artworks, which are showcased on the façade of the Fire Station building, reflect each artists’ personal take on the blockade. The medium of choice was graffiti, evoking its origins as a form of activism and self-expres-sion, which is easily accessible by the broader community.

The artists involved in this ini-tiative are Mubarak Al Malik, Ali Al Kuwari, Dimitrje Bugarski, Thamer Mesfer and Assil Diab. Each artist produced an artwork which highlighted an aspect of the blockade, resulting in a series of outdoor installations that tell the story of the blockade to audiences

in the most creative manner. Khalifa Al Obaidly, Director

of the Fire Station, said: “Artists are always inspired by their environment, they’re typically moved by a significant moment or event, such as the one we’re all experiencing now - the unfair blockade on Qatar. These five talented artists used their crea-tivity to produce fantastic works that best express how they feel about the present political situ-ation, through an art form driven by the need to speak out and share one’s opinions in expres-sive and accessible ways.”

These five artworks represent the first stage of the ‘100 days of blockade’ initiative, which was launched by QM under the patron-age of its Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Kha-lifa Al Thani. The initiative provides an opportunity for those living in Qatar to express their feelings on the blockade through

creative means. As part of the second phase

of the initiative, QM is currently accepting proposals from artists based in Qatar that would like to submit an artwork that

showcases their support for the country during this historical time. Following the September 15 deadline, selected artists will get the chance to produce a mural on a bridge, tunnel or wall

within the country. A judging committee, with

members from the Fire Station and the Public Works Authority of Qatar (Ashghal), will select the best proposals, which will then be

showcased throughout Qatar. This initiative comes as part

of QM’s commitment to inspire and nurture talented artists, as well as support and celebrate the nation’s unity through art.

Five emotive artworks produced by citizens and residents of Qatar Museum’s ‘100 days of blockade’ art initiative, unveiled by the Doha Fire Station yesterday.

Baghdad

Reuters

Iraq’s parliament voted to reject a referen-dum on Kurdish independence planned for September 25, authorising the prime minis-

ter to “take all measures” to preserve Iraq’s unity, lawmakers said.

Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the ses-sion before the vote and issued statements afterwards rejecting the decision.

Western powers fear a plebiscite in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region - including the oil city of Kirkuk — could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State mil-itants. “This referendum lacks a constitutional basis and thus it is considered unconstitutional,” the resolution said, without specifying which measures the central government should take.

“Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the

session but the decision to reject the referen-dum was passed by a majority,” Mohammed al-Karbouli, a Sunni Muslim lawmaker, said.

A senior Kurdish official dismissed the vote as non-binding though an Iraqi lawmaker said it would be published in the official gazette after approval from the Iraqi presidency.

“The Kurdish parliament will definitely have a response to the resolution when it convenes on Thursday,” said Hoshiyar Zebari, former Iraqi foreign and finance minister and now a senior adviser to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani. Barzani had said he wants to pursue independence though dialogue without provoking a conflict. A Kurd-ish delegation met officials in Baghdad for a first round of talks in August concerning the refer-endum. An Iraqi delegation was expected to visit Erbil in early September for a second round of talks, but the visit has yet to happen with less than two weeks before the vote.

QNA

Qatar Charity has pro-vided relief to those affected by the chronic

drought in Somalia as part of its ongoing humanitarian efforts in the country, with the support o f Qatar i philanthropists.

In a press release, the charity said it had provided through its office in Somalia a new food aid package to displaced people in the nomadic areas in Medg prov-ince located in the central part of Somalia, benefiting 525 pastoral families and cov-ering their needs for one month.

It pointed out that the focus on these areas was due to lack of rain for more than three consecutive years.

NHRC takes part in UN Human Rights Council meetings in Geneva

Geneva

QNA

Qa t a r ’ s N a t i o n a l H u m a n

Rights Commit-tee (NHRC) took part in the meet-ings of the 36th session of the UN Human Rights C o u n c i l i n Geneva. The del-egation of the National Human Rights Committee

was chaired by its Chairman Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al Marri (pictured).

The Committee’s participation in the meet-ings of this session comes in accordance with its classification (A) among the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).

Dr Al Marri is scheduled to hold meetings on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council session in Geneva with the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, President of the Human Rights Council Joaquin Alexander Maza Martelli and a number of heads of committees and officials at the Commission and the United National and relevant international organizations to discuss the latest developments of the siege on the State of Qatar and its reper-cussions on the human rights conditions, in addition to the latest statistics of the humanitar-ian violations that occurred as a result of the embargo and its impacts on the citizens and res-idents of Qatar and citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Dr Al Marri will also discuss with UN Special Rapporteurs those violations under their respec-tive jurisdictions.

Continued from page 1

Qatar ranking shows that its per-formance was stellar in terms of human capital development, bene-fitting significantly from the strong perceived quality of their education systems.

According to the WEF’s Human Capital Index, 62 percent of human capital has been developed globally at present. Only 25 nations have developed 70 percent of their peo-ple’s human capital or more. With the majority of countries leveraging between 50 percent and 70 percent of their human capital, 14 countries nevertheless remain below 50 percent.

A fundamental tenet of the report is that accumulation of skills does not end at a formal education, and the continuous application and accu-mulation of skills through work is

part of human capital development. All too often economies already pos-sess the required talent, but fail to deploy it.

While much is often made of inter-generational inequalities when it comes to the realization of human capital, the Report actually finds that every generation faces considerable challenges when it comes to realiz-ing individual potential. For example, while younger people are consist-ently better off than older generations when it comes to the ini-tial investment in their education, their skills are not always deployed effectively and too many employers continue to look for ready-made tal-e n t . T h e p r o b l e m o f

under-deployment of skills among the young also affects those coming towards the end of their working life. Meanwhile, few among those cur-rently in employment – across all age groups – are gaining access to higher skilled work and opportuni-ties to enhance know-how.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolu-tion does not just disrupt employment, it creates a shortfall of newly required skills. Therefore, we are facing a global talent crisis. We need a new mind-set and a true rev-olution to adapt our educational systems to the education needed for the future work force,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

Qatar outperforms Saudi in Human Capital Index

Iraqi parliament rejects Kurdish referendum

QC provides relief for Somalia drought

Qatar ranking shows that its performance was stellar in terms of human capital development, benefitting significantly from the strong perceived quality of their education systems.

07WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 ASIA

Thiruvananthapuram

IANS

A Catholic priest from Kerala, Thomas Uzhunnallil, abducted by terrorists in Aden in March last year, has

been rescued from captivity from an undisclosed location in Yemen, thanks to the intervention of the Oman government.

Uzhunnallil, who belongs to Kottayam district, was brought to Muscat, the capital of Oman, yesterday morning.

Later, the Indian priest left Muscat on board a Royal Oman Air force aircraft for an audience with the Pope in Vatican.

Uzhannallil is an employee of the Vatican, which has been engaged in talks with various quarters for his release.

The Oman government took the lead in getting him released after a papal representative vis-ited Oman last month and had an audience with the King of Oman. According to a statement of the Sultanate of Oman, “In response to the Royal Orders of H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said and as per a request from the

Vatican to assist in the rescuing of a Vatican employee, the con-cerned authorities in the Sultanate, in coordination with the Yemeni authorities, have

managed to find a Vatican gov-ernment employee. He was transferred this morning to Mus-cat in preparation for his return home.”

According to a Times of Oman report, Uzhunnallil expressed his thanks to God and to Sultan Qaboos, and wished

him good health and wellness. “He also thanked his broth-

ers, sisters and all relatives and friends who prayed for his safety and release,” the statement added.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted about the release of the Catholic priest,

who was abducted in March last year. “I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued,” she said.

The media in Oman con-firmed the news of the release of the priest and posted a picture of him -- standing in a room with the picture of the Oman king in the background. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed happiness at his release. “The Kerala government will now extend all the help that is needed for his treatment and other things,” said Vijayan in a Facebook post.

Former Chief Minister Oom-men Chandy said the abduction took place while he was in office in 2016. “We did everything pos-sible and the efforts of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is laudable, who was always will-ing to give her best. The Abu Dhabi diocese of the Church of the priest also took huge inter-est. We are all really happy at his release,” said Chandy.

Newly-sworn in Minister of State for Tourism, IT and Elec-tronics KJ Alphons, from whose district the priest hails, said the release became a reality because

of concerted team effort. “Spe-cial thanks to Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Min-ister Sushma Swaraj has to be said,” said Alphons.

Expressing happiness at the news, the priest’s brother Mathew Uzhunnallil said their prayers have been finally answered. Uzhunnallil’s ances-tral home in Ramapuram in Kottayam district is presently shut as two of his brothers live abroad, while another lives in Gujarat. “We have heard that he has been flown to Rome. He is attached to the Bangalore dio-cese and they also called us to tell the happy news,” said a close relative of the priest.

In March 2016, militants barged into a care home for the elderly set up by Mother Tere-sa’s Missionaries of Charity in Yemen’s Aden and shot dead many people, including four nuns of the charity organisation, among whom one was from India. After the shooting, the mil-itants took away the Catholic priest. Since then, other than a few videos released from time to time, there had been no news of his whereabouts.

Abducted Kerala priest rescued in Yemen Great effort

According to a statement of the Sultanate of Oman, “In response to the Royal Orders of H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said and as per a request from the Vatican to assist in the rescuing of a Vatican employee, the concerned authorities in the Sultanate, in coordination with the Yemeni authorities, have managed to find a Vatican government employee. He was transferred this morning to Muscat in preparation for his return home.”

Thomas Uzhunnalil, who was abducted last year during a deadly attack by Islamist militants in Yemen, answering journalists in the Omani capital Muscat, yesterday.

New Delhi

IANS

With India and Belarus celebrating the 25th anniversary of the

establishment of diplomatic ties this year, both countries yester-day agreed to further elevate their partnership.

“We reviewed the architec-ture of India-Belarus partnership and exchanged ideas to expand it,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a joint address to the media with Belarusian Pres-ident Alexander Lukashenko following delegation-level talks here.

“We exchanged views on bilateral, regional and global issues,” Modi said.

He said that both sides con-sidered new areas of cooperation

and agreed to elevate the part-nership. “We will work to diversify economic linkages. The focus will be to build upon the natural complementaries between us.”

The Prime Minister said that the bilateral relationship should evolve from a buyer-seller part-nership to deeper engagement. “There are abundant business and investment opportunities in pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, heavy machinery and equip-ment,” he stated.

Modi said that last year Indian companies made a posi-tive beginning with three joint ventures in pharmaceuticals.

“Possibilities for partnership also exist in manufacturing of tyres, agro-industrial machin-ery and mining equipment,” he said.

“Similarly in heavy duty con-struction machinery, India has a growing demand and Belarus has industrial strengths.”

He said the two countries will encourage joint develop-ment and manufacturing in the defence sector under the Make in India programme.

Modi said that discussions also covered utilisation of the $100 million line of credit that India had offered to Belarus in 2015. “India is linked with Bela-rus through multilateral economic initiatives such as the Eurasin Economic Union (EEU) and the International North-South Corridor,” he said, adding that India was negotiating a free trade agreement with the EEU.

“Science and technology is another area of focus for stronger cooperation.”

India-Belarus to elevate ties Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) shakes hands with President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, before a meeting in New Delhi, yesterday.

Ahmedabad

IANS

The city of Ahmedabad is being decked up to wel-come Japanese Prime

Minister Shinzo Abe who arrives today on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both will lay the foundation stone of the ambitious `1.08 lakh crore Ahmedabad-Mum-bai bullet train project.

Potholed roads on the route

of the Japanese delegation are being resurfaced at a frantic pace. Many city roads have been closed during various time of the two-day visit. A litany of performances have been organ-ised to showcase the cultural diversity of the country. The city had hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015.

Abe and Modi would fly into Ahmedabad today afternoon and drive down straight to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram in the evening.

Japan PM arrives today

New Delhi

IANS

The CBI has arrested an absconding middleman, involved in six cases

related to the Vyapam admis-sion and recruitment scam, an official said yesterday.

Dilip Gupta was arrested on Monday after he surren-dered before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigators in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, the official said.

The CBI said Gupta was involved in six cases of Vya-pam — Forest Guard Recruitment Test-2013, Food and Measurement Recruit-ment Test-2012, Pre-Medical Test (PMT)-2012, Police Con-stable Recruitment Test-2012 and Madhya Pradesh Dairy Federation Co-operative Ltd Recruitment Test-2013.

Chennai

Reuters

A new resource centre for Indian migrants employed in the Gulf states will help

reduce the risk of workers being trafficked to fake jobs and exploited, officials said yesterday.

With a 24 hour helpline and a team of advisers, the Indian Workers’ Resource Centre in Sharjah in the United

Arab Emirates aims to help the thousands of Indian workers in the region who may be at risk of exploitation.

“There are numerous fake job rackets that result in migrant workers finding themselves without proper documentation, low salaries or even without a job once they arrive here,” said Dinesh Kumar, an official at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“Help for Indian workers in distress will be a phonecall

away.”Government figures show there are some 6 million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Over the years, the Indian government and non-govern-mental groups have received a steady stream of complaints from migrant workers, ranging from non-payment of wages to torture and abuse.

To register these complaints,

a multilingual toll free number (800 INDIA) will be run 24/7 at the Sharjah centre, where job offer letters will also be verified to ensure they are not fake.

In many cases, the difference in culture, language and food habits becomes a hurdle for workers migrating from poor Indian families, he added.

“We are largely dealing with blue collar workers, many of them illiterate and unaware of the terms surrounding their

work contract,” said Ankit Agar-wal of Alankit, the firm collaborating with the Indian government to run the centre.

In 2010, the Indian govern-ment opened its first resource centre in Dubai. In 2016, the Dubai centre received nearly 25,000 calls from workers and more than 2,000 letters, faxes and phone messages, including one from a university professor who wasn’t paid his dues.

Govt sets up centre to help workers in the GulfCBI arrests man involved in six Vyapam cases

Bengaluru

IANS

Thousands of social activists, journalists, people’s forums and

various political party work-ers from across the country yesterday held a protest meet at Central College Grounds here to condemn the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh. A ‘resistance meet-ing’ was held here where renowned journalists, activ-ists and thinkers from demanded that the Karnataka government “hastens” the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) probe into the murder.A

The 55-year-old editor of Kannada weekly tabloid by her name “Gauri Lankesh Patrike” was gunned down by unidentified men outside her home in the city suburbs on September 5. Those present at the protest venue included CPI-M General-Secretary Sitaram Yechury, noted social activist Medha Patkar, jour-nalists P. Sainath and Sagarika Ghose and civil rights activist Kavita Krishnan among others.

Protest in Bengaluru over Lankesh murder

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to boost sanctions on North Korea to punish the reclusive state for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes. The decision was triggered

by the North’s sixth and largest nuclear test this month, which caused international concern and sent shockwaves through the region. Yesterday’s was the ninth such resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council since 2006, but this latest resolution is a huge achievement for two reasons. First, the sanctions imposed this time are tough and can hurt the Pyongyang badly. The Security Council stopped short of imposing a full embargo on oil exports to North Korea, most of which come from China, but it imposed a ban on North Korea textile exports, which is a major source of revenue for the government and put a ceiling on the country’s imports of crude oil. Secondly, despite the introduction of tough sanctions, the resolution was passed unanimously without veto from China and Russia, though the sanctions didn’t go as far as the US had wanted and the language of the resolution was changed to placate the superpowers. China and Russia are said to be wary of putting too much economic pressure on North Korea because it can lead to the collapse of the government in Pyongyang.

The UN resolution will send a powerful message to the regime of Kim Jong-Un because the new sanctions will make life tough for the government. With income from one of its key export sectors disastrously reduced and oil imports capped, normal life will be affected. North Korea must realise that there is

no alternative to a complete halt to its nuclear and missile programmes. Further nuclear and missile experiments will invite more sanctions, finally brining normal life to a halt in North Korea.

Pressure is increasing on North Korea from all sides. The European Union has said it will enforce new UN sanctions while pressing ahead with work on fresh measures of its own. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini told the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, France, that piling pressure on Pyongyang through tough and well-coordinated and better-enforced sanctions was key to forcing it to negotiate an end to the crisis.

However, the success of the sanctions would depend on cooperation from China, which is estimated to account for roughly 90 percent of North Korea’s foreign trade. Beijing has been often criticised by experts for not doing enough to implement previous UN sanctions. But this time Beijing will be under more pressure to fulfill its obligations and it must realize that the North’s nuclear adventures will only push the region and the world into a nuclear conflagration.

08 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Sanctions on North Korea

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The Myanmar government should have handled this situation patiently and not allowed the army of the law enforcement agencies to attack the common people. They should stop the violence.

Sheikh HasinaBangladesh Prime Minister

The new UN Security Council sanctions will send a powerful message to the North Korean regime.

One of the most discussed concepts in the academic field of interna-tional relations is “soft power”.

According to Joseph Nye, the eminent American scholar who

coined this concept in the context of US for-eign policy practices, “soft power” is the ability of states to get what they want through the power of attraction and persuasion, rather than the power of coercion or payment.

Theoretically speaking, for the actor A “to have” power over the actor B, the former should have an influence over the preferences and behaviors of the latter.

Capabilities that might potentially enable states to have power over others can be both tangible and intangible, such as military hard-ware, economic capacity, population, geographical location, natural resources and the image/perception that states have in the eyes of others.

Countries might possess these capabilities in abundance, yet their mere existence does not automatically translate into states’ ability to affect the choices and behaviors of others. Having power over others is something dif-ferent from being powerful in terms of capabilities.

Whereas power capabilities can be meas-ured and quantified objectively, the task of assessing to what extent one country has power over another requires an in-depth analysis of the interaction between the two.

That said, having power over the choices and actions of others might emanate from dif-ferent power capabilities.

In the context of the power of attraction, the positive image that states have in the eyes of each other does the trick.

The positive image emanates from, according to Nye, culture, political values and foreign policies. Here, the actor A does not even need to engage the actor B to impact its actions.

B would align its choices and actions with those of A automatically and voluntarily because the former would be attracted to the latter. A would get what it wants without doing anything. This is the most cost effective and ideal/utopic power relationship to exist.

The manufactured power of attraction, on the other hand, stems from purposeful and intentional investments of countries in their international image and legitimacy.

Here, the country A does something to help increase its power of attraction in the eyes of the country B without engaging it directly. Employing various branding strate-gies and marketing national stories in the global market of narratives are of vital impor-tance. In the age of global interconnectedness and information, what matters is to help manufacture attractive narratives.

While some states such as China, Russia, Brazil and India spend a lot of time and money to manufacture national narratives in a top-down manner, some others, such as the US, do it in a bottom-up manner through the agency of non-governmental organisations and civil society.

To Nye, the reason why the United States has for long topped the list of soft power countries is the civil society input in this

Soft power and US foreign policyTarik OguzluAnatoila

process. In the context of the power of persuasion, “having power” would origi-nate from the successful use of diplomatic capabilities with a view to helping convince others to the appropri-ateness and legitimacy of one’s own narratives, choices and behaviors.

What is required for the state A to help convince/persuade the state B is the employment of deliberate argumenta-tion, direct diplomatic engagement and trust building.

The diplomatic language that states use and the way how they treat each other would matter a lot in this regard. “Normative power” EU is seen by many as the ideal example of this category, though recent years have witnessed a radical erosion in EU’s normative power identity.

In the context of power of tempta-tion/enticement, states’ power over others originates from their “civilian power” identity.

Here, the country A would try to coax and cajole the country B through entice-ment strategies.

The most effective way of doing this is to offer economic rewards and pun-ishment selectively. Economic carrots and sticks would be employed in order to have an influence on the choices and actions of others.

The EU’s relationship with would-be members and the application of the con-ditionality logic that it applies to its relations with candidate countries is the best example in this regard.

For long, the EU’s ability to help transform those countries lying in its peripheries in the image of its values and norms has stemmed the instrumental reasoning on the part of the targeted countries that redesigning themselves in European image would yield more ben-efits than costs.

As of today, the EU seems to be far away from the heyday of its civilian power identity amid various internal and external challenges. In the context of the power of coercion, one talks about “hard power” Here, the power of states to get what they want would emanate from their coercive capabilities. Here the country A would simply dictate/impose its preferences onto the actor B and the latter would do what the former wants because of fear. The power of coercion manifest itself best in US foreign policy practices, despite the fact that US has

simultaneously been the country pos-sessing the highest degree of soft power for long.

In the real world, it is neither possible nor appropriate to place countries into one single power cat-egory. All states, no matter how big and powerful they are in terms of their capabilities, tend to evince a mix of all these power relationships in their foreign policies.

With Trump being elected as the US president and given his foreign policy performance during the first eight months of his presidency, it would not be wrong to argue that the soft power credentials of the US have deteriorated.

The image of the US under Trump’s presidency has worsened and many polls conducted across the globe reveal that trust in US’s global leadership has declined steadily.

Compared to Obama’s global ratings during the first year of his presidency, Trump’s performance is undoubtedly discouraging from the soft power per-spective. Rather than investing on power of attraction and power of persuasion, Trump seems to believe that power of temptation/enticement and power of coercion would yield more benefit to his country.

Trump cut the budget of the State Department and truncated the official money transfers to other state institu-tions in charge of international development and humanitarian aid.

Many high level posts in the Depart-ment of State are still vacant and the exodus from the Foggy Bottom still con-tinues. The money spent on cultural and public diplomacy has been in decline while Pentagon has been given extra money in addition to its immense budget.

The way how he deals with the North Korean problem and sees nuclear weap-ons in global politics also suggests that he is not a soft power guy.

The writer is a Member of the Department of

Political Science and International Relations

at Antalya Billim University in Turkey.

The power of coercion manifest itself best in US foreign policy practices, despite the fact that US has simultaneously been the country possessing the highest degree of soft power for long. In the real world, it is neither possible nor appropriate to place countries into one single power category. All states, no matter how big and powerful they are in terms of their capabilities, tend to evince a mix of all these power relationships in their foreign policies.

ED ITOR IAL

With Trump being elected as the US president and given his foreign policy performance during the first eight months of his presidency, it would not be wrong to argue that the soft power credentials of the US have deteriorated.

09WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 OPINION

Since tests begun, 70 holes have shown positive results. The majority of fields rich in oil can be found in northern Bosnia at a depth of more than 600 meters. When the Americans tested in the Dinaric Alps (or Dinarides, a mountain range in south-western Bal-kans), they also found the presence of gas as well as oil. To drill one kilometer would cost one million KM (Convertible Mark Bosnia’s currency), so for Dinarides, it would cost 10 million KM, equivalent to about US$6 million.

Amoco, contracted by Energoinvest, took three years to complete the first phase of its prospecting work in the Dinarides region. Back in 1973, the Execu-tive Council, the government of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina granted Energoinvest a concession to start prospecting for oil throughout Bos-nia. During the previous 10 years, from 1963-1973, Croatia’s INA was the main concessionary and it con-ducted several extensive surveys especially in northern Bosnia.

Looking for oil in Bosnia goes back to the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when the first oil field was discovered in Mount Majevica near Tuzla and Brcko in 1898. In 2016, French oil giant Total expressed interest in oil and gas exploration in Bosnia and was ready to offer $1 billion for a contract.

But Total was not the first company to express an interest in exploration in post-war Bosnia, it is the third company so far. Originally Shell Exploration entered talks but pulled out in September 2016 after Bosnia’s government changed the law on oil and gas exploration.

In December 2015, Key Petroleum also expressed interest. Bosnia’s government planned to release a public call for expression of interest for oil and gas exploration in the Federation of Bosnia by the end of November 2016, but this was postponed.

Hurricane does little to change people’s minds on climate change

For the past two weeks, Americans have been gripped by the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey. This only intensified over the weekend with the landfall of Hur-ricane Irma. The recovery from these

catastrophic storms will take months, if not years. As the focus shifts from recovery to planning for the future, people will undoubtedly focus on climate change. While the science suggests that severe weather will become more frequent thanks to global warming, it is difficult to say that global warming caused any specific storm. Scientists, however, are more certain that effects of climate change are mak-ing storms like Hurricane Harvey worse.

This raises an awkward political question — do extreme weather events like hurricanes change peo-ple’s minds about whether global warming is taking place? Some, like Sarah Posner at The Washington Post, note that millions in Florida are without power, and hope that “these storms will be a wake-up call for Republican voters, if not for their leaders.” Activ-ists and politicians use extreme weather events to push for more action on climate change.

Yet the assumption that extreme weather events will change people’s minds en masse doesn’t have much backing. Our research shows that people who experience severe weather are only modestly more likely to support the types of efforts we need to build resilience to climate change.

In theory, people who have experienced hurri-canes should be more concerned about global warming. If people draw a connection between dra-matic weather events and global warming, this could lead the public to put pressure on government to act. As we discuss in our research, living through hurri-canes and other extreme weather might plausibly have big consequences for people’s beliefs about cli-mate change and how to respond to it. For example,

people who live through storms, such as Harvey or Irma, might start supporting policies designed to help us build resilience against climate change. After all, people who live through these events experience the effects of extreme weather in a very real and visceral way, that might make them stop thinking of global warming as an abstract problem for other people.

We might also expect people in general to be less willing to support policies intended to mitigate the problem of climate change than policies intended to help their localities adapt to global warming. Policies aimed at reducing, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, will have immediate local costs, and ben-efits for people elsewhere in the world and in future generations. Some oppose international agreements, such as the Paris accord — but they should not be so ready to oppose climate adaptation policies which have immediate and local benefits for their own homes and communities. Again, we might expect that support for global warming adaptation would be strongest among those at most risk for extreme weather. In practice, it’s more complicated

In a research article that has just been published, we set out to find whether people who have experi-enced more frequent bouts of extreme weather are more likely to support climate adaptation policies than those who have not.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration collects detailed data on the fre-quency and severity of different kinds of extreme weather, from 122 Weather Forecasting Offices nationwide. We combined this data with questions about climate adaptation policies that we asked in a nationally representative survey.

Our questions mirrored policy proposals on coastal development restrictions, residential water use restrictions, and storm water control measures that are being adopted or considered for adoption. For example, we asked whether it is a good idea to mandate that the bottom floor of structures must be elevated above the highest estimated flood levels. This was based on parts of the San Francisco Bay Plan. We also asked a more general question about how much effort people thought should be devoted to planning for the impacts of climate change.

We found that there was broad support for gen-eral adaptation planning. Over 65 percent of the people surveyed, for example, supported some level of effort being made to plan for climate change impacts. There were similar levels of support for individual adaptation policies, including among those living in places that would benefit most directly from the adaptation measure in question.

However, we did not find that there was much of

In 1989, an American oil company Amoco won exclusive access to assess oil fields in Bosnia, joining them was a British consultancy, Exploration Con-sultants Limited (ECL), to conduct

exploratory research.This resulted in an oil find in the north

and south of the country. However, the 1990s war in Bosnia prevented the start of oil investment and drilling and this halt lasted nearly two decades.

The oil dispersed between two entities — the Federation of Bosnia and the Republic Srpska has seen its most promising find in Orasje in northern Bosnia, with 180 million barrels that are priced today at US$14 billion and rising.

The ECL project lasted for two full years paid for by a $2.5 million loan from the World Bank, while Amoco funded the entire project from their own funds for which they managed to secure the exclusive contract with Bosnia’s firm Energoinvest.

With the latest weather crises in the US and surrounding islands, oil traders went from expecting turbulent days ahead to oil sliding 3 percent on worries that energy demand would be hit hard.

But if Bosnia plays its cards right, it could lay the ground for becoming Europe’s cradle of black gold. With this discovery in Bosnia, the country could enjoy cheaper oil prices and could export it to its neighbours.

A recent estimate by Australia’s Key Petroleum states that in the Federation entity, there are 600 million tonnes of oil reserves. As of September 4, 2017, the price of unleaded petrol per liter in Bosnia amounted to €0.87, while in oil-rich Kuwait prices of merely €0.18 per liter were seen.

Currently, Bosnia does not export oil, but in 2013, imports were estimated at 20,690 barrels per day. Bosnia’s GDP growth in 2016 exceeded 3 percent a year.

Bosnia’s simmering black gold

British Army commandos take part in recovery efforts after Hurricane Irma passed Tortola, on the British Virgin Islands.

In May 2017, the Bosnian government was planning to appoint a body to carry out the search for consultants that would ultimately also end up with awarding the contract to the highest bidder for exploration of oil and gas in the Federa-tion of Bosnia.

However, one way Bosnia’s energy is moving forward is through the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) — a 516 kilometer-long gas pipeline running from Fier in Albania through to Montenegro, Bosnia to Split in Croatia. Azerbaijan’s company SOCAR built the project that is sponsored by the European Union.

In May 2017, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro signed a joint deal to develop a natural gas pipeline that could stop their reliance on Russian gas. The project itself is backed by the U.S. development agency, USAID.

The IAP would be bi-directional and would connect to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which will run from Greece via Alba-nia and the Adriatic Sea to Italy and onto Western Europe. It is planned that the IAP will carry 5 billion cubic meters of natu-ral gas per year.

In January 2009, Bosnia and its neighbors, who rely heav-ily on Russian gas, almost froze as the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over the price the latter should pay the former. At the time about 70 percent of Russian gas flowed through Ukrainian gas pipelines and onto Europe including Bosnia. But it is this exact monopoly Russia holds on gas and uses political means to control the Balkan countries that the EU and the USAID are seeking to stop, and it is with the IAP that they just might win the energy war with Russia. But Bosnia is also capable and self-sufficient with 41 percent of all con-sumption deriving from renewables. The country generates 40 percent from hydropower and 60 percent from coal-fired power plants.

In 2016, there was a 10 percent production increase in coal mines meaning a significant increase in its greenhouse gas emissions. To decrease greenhouse gas emissions, Bos-nia’s arm of the Nordic Power Partners (NPP) will build a 48-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Mostar, in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina at a cost of $74 million, which will take three years to complete starting this summer.

NPP is also planning to build another 48 MW in Podve-lezje near Mostar as well as another 500 MW of wind power over the next few years. Bosnia is in a prime position because it is able to export power due to its hydro capacity.

If it can also sign a deal with Total or another oil company, it could soon export oil too and with that, pay all its debts, rebuilt the country and provide much-needed jobs for its population of frustrated unemployed but well educated young people.

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a difference between people who had likely themselves directly experienced more frequent hurri-canes, floods, droughts, and types of extreme weather. People in areas that have experienced extreme weather are more likely to support these policies — but not by much. Other factors, such as parti-san identification and political ideology, were much more impor-tant to people’s views. Moreover, the effect of extreme weather dis-appears quickly; there was no discernible difference after a month between people who expe-rienced more extreme weather, and those that did not.

It could be that these results reflect imperfections in the data. Further research with dif-ferent questions covering other geographic areas might reveal different patterns. It is also quite possible that things will look different if there is an identifiable increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather.

However, if our findings are right, it suggests that severe weather will only have a small and transient effect on peoples’ support for climate adaptation. Even though events like Hurricane Irma are tragic, it may very well be that people tend to forget about them quite quickly, and get on with the rest of their lives.

Hughes is associate professor at the

Crawford School of Public Policy, Aus-

tralian National University and David

Konisky is associate professor in the

School of Public and Environmental

Affairs, Indiana University.

The recovery from these catastrophic storms will take months, if not years. As the focus shifts from recovery to planning for the future, people will undoubtedly focus on climate change.

Nadina RoncAnatolia

Llewelyn Hughes& David KoniskyThe Washington Post

If Bosnia plays its cards right, it could lay the ground for becoming Europe’s cradle of black gold. With this discovery in Bosnia, the country could enjoy cheaper oil prices and could export it to its neighbours.

10 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017ASIA

Islamabad

AFP

Pakistan has not received specific requests from the US to target alleged mili-

tant sanctuaries, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said yes-terday, as he vowed to tighten security along the border with Afghanistan.

The premier’s remarks come

weeks after President Donald Trump lambasted Pakistan dur-ing a speech outlining US policy on Afghanistan, accusing Islam-abad of hosting safe havens for insurgents who cross the border to attack Afghan and Nato forces.

During a press conference Abbasi denied the accusations that Pakistan supported mili-tants groups as he batted away s u g g e s t i o n s t h a t

Trump’s comments would upend relations between the Cold War allies. “We don’t think the Paki-stani-US relationship will be defined by Afghanistan,” the prime minister told reporters in Islamabad.

“This relationship (is) 70 years old (and) cannot be rede-fined by one issue or it should not be redefined by one issue.”

Islamabad has repeatedly

rejected claims of being soft on militancy, accusing its ally of ignoring the thousands who have been killed in Pakistan and the billions spent fighting extremists.

Following Trump’s remarks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cautioned that Pakistan could lose its status as a major US ally and see its US military aid suspended.

Singapore

AFP

Singaporeans yesterday poured scorn on the proc-ess to select their new

president after an establish-ment figure was deemed the only eligible candidate, mean-ing no election will be held.

Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the city-state’s Muslim Malay minority, will be the first woman to hold the largely cer-emonial role if — as expected — she is formally nominated to the presidency today.

But the 63-year-old will avoid an election originally slated for September 23, as oth-ers hoping to run against her were judged by authorities not to have met strict eligibility cri-teria. Five people had expressed an interest in becoming presi-dent of the tightly-controlled, affluent nation of about 5.5 mil-lion people.

Two were disqualified as they were not Malay -- the presidency was on this occa-sion reserved for members of the ethnic minority -- while two Malay businessmen were dis-qualified as their companies were too small.

“All Singaporeans are unhappy that meritocracy and electoral fairness, core Singa-porean values, have been eroded to fulfil perceived polit-ical goals,” writer and political commentator Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh said.

There was criticism of the process on social media, with Facebook user Hussain Sham-suddin commenting: “As a citizen of this democratic island n a t i o n , I ’ m d e e p l y embarrassed.”“Don’t call it an election if we Singaporeans can’t vote,” wrote Fazly Jijio Din on Facebook.

When asked for a response, the Singapore Elections Depart-ment referred AFP to information about the presidency.

Under election rules, poten-tial candidates must either have served in public office, headed a government-linked organi-sation, or headed a company worth at least Sg$500m (US$370 million) in shareholder equity.

United Nations

AFP

North Korea yesterday condemned “vicious” new UN sanctions

imposed over its sixth and larg-est nuclear test, warning it would make the US “suffer the greatest pain” it has ever experienced.

The new sanctions imposed unanimously by the UN Secu-rity Council Monday ban North Korean textile exports and restrict shipments of oil products.

The resolution, passed after Washington toned down its original proposals to secure backing from China and Russia, came just one month after the council banned exports of coal, lead and seafood in response to the North’s launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea yesterday cat-egorically rejected the new measures, with UN ambassador Han Tae-Song saying in Geneva that the US had “fabricated the most vicious sanction resolu-tion” and warning of retaliation.

“The forthcoming measures by DPRK (North Korea) will

make the US suffer the greatest pain it has ever experienced in its history,” he told a disarma-ment conference in the Swiss city. US ambassador Nikki Haley said on Monday at the UN the tough new measures were a message to Pyongyang that “the world will never accept a

nuclear-armed North Korea”. But she also held out the pros-pect of a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

“We are not looking for war. The North Korean regime has not yet passed the point of no return,” Haley told the Security Council, adding: “If North Korea

continues its dangerous path, we will continue with further pres-sure. The choice is theirs.”

During tough negotiations, the United States dropped ini-tial demands for a full oil embargo and a freeze on the foreign assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

N Korea to make US ‘suffer’ over sanctions

Members of the Korean Veterans Assosiation hold up banners during a rally demanding the re-deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea to cope with North Korea’s nuclear threat, in Seoul, yesterday.

Yangon

Anatolia

Myanmar’s de facto leader has cancelled plan to attend the upcoming UN

General Assembly as her gov-ernment faces growing international pressure over its crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Kyaw Zeya, spokesperson of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s Foreign Ministry, said that Vice-President Henry Van Thio will instead attend the New York meeting later this month.

“The state counsellor has domestic issues that need more attention, and therefore the vice president will lead the Myanmar delegation,” he said.

In recent days Suu Kyi has faced calls to revoke her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize over her gov-ernment’s violent crackdown on the Rohingya, which the UN human rights chief called “a

textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Since August 25, more than 370,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine to Bangladesh, according to the UN. The refugees are fleeing a fresh security operation in which security forces and Bud-dhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages. According to Bangla-desh, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

Myanmar’s government also announced yesterday the for-mation of a committee to implement the recommenda-tions of a commission on the situation in Rakhine led by former UN chief Kofi Annan and a separate commission led by Vice-President U Myint Swe, who is a former junta leader.

The 15-member committee is chaired by Win Myat Aye,

Myanmar’s social welfare, relief and resettlement minister, and co-chaired by Rakhine State Chief Minister Nyi Pu, said a statement. It added that a tech-nical team will be formed soon with local and international experts to assist the committee’s implementation process.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most per-secuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in commu-nal violence in 2012.

Last October, following attacks on border posts in Rakhine’s Maungdaw district, security forces launched a five-month crackdown in which, according to Rohingya groups, around 400 people were killed.

The UN documented mass gang abuses, killings — includ-ing of infants and young children — brutal beatings and disap-pearances committed by security personnel.

Suu Kyi to skip UN meetingRohingya Muslim refugees disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi side of Naf River in Teknaf, yesterday.

Pakistan: US has not issued demands over Afghanistan

Colombo

AFP

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena yes-terday sacked a minister

who had threatened to split his coalition government, three weeks after another was fired for publicly criticis-ing a government decision.

Sirisena’s office said Arundika Fernando, junior minister for tourism and Christian affairs, was expelled from the government under the executive powers of the president. The move pre-vented Fernando from engineering defections to a breakaway faction of Sirise-na’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

“With this the president asserted his authority and sent a signal he won’t hesi-tate to expel more,” a source said, citing Fernando’s previ-ous assertion that a dozen ministers were planning to leave the government.

Manila

Reuters

Philippine lawmakers allied with President Rod-rigo Duterte yesterday

voted to allocate an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($19.66) to the Commission on Human Rights, a public body investigating Duterte’s war on drugs.

About 119 of the 151 lower house members present sup-ported the move to dramatically cut the budget, in what critics of the anti-drugs campaign call retaliation for the agency’s crit-icism of Duterte and its efforts to investigate thousands of kill-ings over the past 15 months.

The rights agency deserved a low budget for being a “use-less” body and defending criminals’ rights, the speaker of the house of representatives, Pantaleon Alvarez, said in a tel-evision interview.

“If you want to protect the

rights of criminals, get your budget from the criminals,” he said. “It’s that simple. Why should you get budget from the government and yet you are not doing your job?”

Thirty-two minority law-makers opposed the measure, said Congressman Edcel Lag-man, adding that the president’s supporters were “virtually imposing the death penalty on a constitutionally created and mandated independent office”.

The agency requested a budget of 1.72bn pesos for 2018, but the government proposed 678m pesos. On the second reading of the legislation, Con-gress approved that the figure be slashed to just 1,000 pesos, a huge cut from the 2017 budget of 749m pesos. Though the motion still requires another reading and Senate approval, opponents say it is likely to be passed, as Duterte enjoys a supermajority in the two chambers.

Singapore elects President without a vote

Minister sacked for rocking coalition in Sri Lanka

Growing ire

Halimah Yacob will be the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role if — as expected — she is formally nominated to the presidency today. But the 63-year-old will avoid an election originally slated for September 23, as others hoping to run against her were judged by authorities not to have met strict eligibility criteria.

Manila

AP

A tropical depression dumped heavy rain on the Philippines yesterday,

flooding metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces and caus-ing landslides and flash floods that killed at least four people.

Six others were missing, including five residents of Laguna province, where floods swept away a house next to a swollen river, disaster relief offi-cials said. The other missing

person was reported in nearby Cavite province, where several areas were submerged.

Financial markets, govern-ment offices and schools were closed and at least 21 flights were canceled or diverted.

The weather bureau said Tropical Depression Maring made landfall in eastern Que-zon province yesterday morning and was moving northwest with winds of 60km per hour and gusts of up to 100km per hour. It warned that continued mod-erate to heavy rain in Manila and

nearby provinces along the storm’s path could trigger more floods and landslides.

Disaster response official said two brothers aged 14 and 17 died when a landslide cov-ered their home at the foot of a hill in Taytay town near Manila. Officials ordered mandatory evacuations in risky areas after some residents refused to leave, he added. In Quezon province, a 2-month-old girl was killed and seven others were injured when a concrete wall collapsed on three houses.

Four dead in Philippine floods

Philippines allocates low budget for rights body

Good samaritans

11WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 EUROPE

Anti-deportation protesters are escorted by police officers at Duesseldorf Airport in Germany, yesterday.

Three astronauts set for International Space Station blast-offBaikonur

AFP

Two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut were set to blast off for the Inter-

national Space Station soon in a late-night launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Alexander Misurkin of the Russian space agency, NASA first-time flyer Mark Vande Hei and veteran colleague Joe Acaba prepared to set off for a mission of more than five months aboard the ISS at 2117 GMT.

The Soyuz spacecraft is

expected to dock at around 0300 GMT today.

As NASA beefs up its crew in space, the launch will mark the first occasion two US astronauts have blasted off together on a mission to the ISS from Russia’s Baikonur since June 2010.

The American space agency stopped its own manned launches to the ISS in 2011 but recently moved to increase its crew complement aboard the orbital lab as the Russians cut theirs in a cost-saving measure announced last year.

Acaba, 50, has spent nearly 138 days in space over two

missions. Rookie Vande Hei, 50, served with the US army in Iraq prior to training as an astronaut. Misurkin, 39, who is beginning his second mission aboard the ISS, also has a military background.

Speaking at the pre-launch news conference on Monday, Acaba, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, said he would be tak-ing some “musica Latina” on board to lift his crewmates’ spirits.

“I can guarantee my crew-mates they will not fall asleep during that music and if you want to dance at about 3am

tuned into our Soyuz capsule I think you’ll enjoy it,” he told journalists.

The launch has been over-shadowed by deadly storms that have battered the Caribbean and the southern half of the United States. External cameras on the ISS captured footage of hurri-cane Irma last week brewing over the Atantic as it prepared to wreak deadly havoc.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston said earlier this month it suffered “signifi-cant” damage during Hurricane Harvey, although Mission Con-trol remained operational.

Vande Hei struck a sombre note in his pre-launch tweet on Monday. “L-2 days. Sunrise over Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Praying for the people of Florida as well as the continued recovery of the Texas Gulf Coast,” he said.

Space is one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the US that has not been wrecked by ten-sions over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The ISS orbits the Earth at a height of about 400km, circling the planet every 90 minutes at a speed of about 28,000km per hour.

Eastern European nations urged to take in refugeesBrussels

Reuters

Eastern European Union states must drop their resistance and accept their share of refugees who

arrived in the bloc, officials and diplomats said yesterday after a court ruled they must abide by the quota.

The EU’s highest court ruled last week that member states must take in a share of refugees who reach Europe, dismissing complaints by Slovakia and Hungary and reigniting an east-west row that has shaken the bloc’s cohesion.

Brussels and other capitals hope member states will respect the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling.

Poland and Hungary are opposed to accepting anybody, their reluctance shared by ex-communist peers Slovakia and the Czech Republic, who have, however, accepted a handful of people under a 2015 EU scheme designed to move 160,000 from Italy and Greece.

“All members of the EU must respect the ruling,” Manfred Weber, the head of the of the largest faction in the European Parliament, told a news confer-ence. “The legal fight is over.” “Migration is still a political wound of the political landscape all over Europe ... All the reason-able and all the responsible politicians have to go now (towards) a compromise.”

EU officials and diplomats say they will make another push this autumn to try to bridge the divisions. EU inte-rior ministers will debate the matter in Brussels today.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said he will fight on. Poland, whose nationalist government is now engulfed in spiralling feuds with the bloc, said its migration stance has not changed.

Italy and Greece, where most of the people crossing the Mediterranean disembark, as well as Germany, Sweden and other wealthy EU states where refugees and migrants want to head, want a quick aid scheme for any repeat of 2015.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped the dis-pute will soon be over after the ECJ ruling, but also made clear she saw it unacceptable for EU states to disregard the court.

The bloc may eventually vote on any changes to its migration and asylum laws by majority, leaving those reluc-tant behind, a move that would also widen the east-west splits in the bloc.

“I don’t think there is any-thing to argue about anymore. The decision is there for mem-ber states to implement,” said a senior EU diplomat.

Struggling to control cha-otic movement of people at the height of the crisis, some EU states introduced emergency border checks inside what nor-mally is the bloc’s Schengen zone of control-free travel.

Brussels and other capitals hope member states will respect the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling.

IS flags not flying in Bosnia: PMSarajevo

Reuters

Islamic State flags are not flying in Bosnia, Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said

yesterday, dismissing allega-tions by some European leaders that radical Bosnian Muslims in the Balkan coun-try were posing a terrorist threat for Europe.

Bosnian Muslims gener-ally practise a moderate form of Islam but some have adopted radical Salafi Islam from foreign fighters who came to the country during its 1992-95 war to fight alongside Muslims against Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.

Some joined Islamic State in Syria and Iraq but police said departures had stopped completely in the past 18 months and more than half of those who returned have been jailed under a law pro-hibiting people to fight in foreign countries.

Czech President Milos Zeman has said there was a risk Islamic State may form its European base in Bosnia, where “ISIS (Islamic State) black flags are already flying in several towns”, according to reports.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has warned of “thousands of fighters returning to Bosnia from Syria and Iraq”, while Croatian magazine Globus last week put the number of radicalised Bosnian Muslims at 5,000-10,000.

Zvizdic said such allega-tions were unfounded and politically motivated and could damage Bosnia as an investment and tourism destination.

British family that enslaved 18 men sentenced to prisonLondon

Reuters

Nine members of a British family who enslaved vul-nerable adults while

enjoying a lavish lifestyle have been sentenced to a total of more than 80 years in prison followed one of the largest investigations of its kind in the country.

The Rooneys, a traveller family, exploited 18 men at their driveway resurfacing company and other businesses, forcing them to work for little or no pay and accommodating them in “truly shocking” conditions, police said. The exploitation funded holidays to Barbados, Australia, Egypt and Mexico. The

family also bought high perform-ance BMWs and spent money on spa days and cosmetic surgery.

Police said the Rooneys lured their homeless victims, some of whom had learning dis-abilities or mental health issues, with the promise of work, food and accommodation.

They were taken to travel-ler sites in the eastern city of Lincoln and housed in squalid caravans, without running water or toilets. Some lived in stables next to the dog kennels.

The men, aged 18-63, were told they owed money and made to work for long hours at the businesses and around the sites.

In a statement read out at Nottingham Crown Court, one victim described life with the

Rooneys as “a living hell”.Victims were often only pro-

vided food when they worked and at times it was restricted to the family’s leftovers, police said. The men were also sub-jected to beatings and threats to keep them from leaving.

Sometimes their only pay-ment was tobacco.

Police believe one man was held for 26 years. On one occa-sion, he was made to dig his own grave, according to the BBC news site.

The BBC reported that one of the family, John Rooney, pointed to the hole and told his victim: “You’re going to work for me for the rest of your life ... if you don’t sign this contract that is where you’re going.”

Macron & Johnson reject criticism of slow Caribbean relief response Marigot

AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron and British For-eign Secretary Boris

Johnson travelled yesterday to the hurricane-hit Caribbean, rebuffing a wave of criticism over the relief efforts as Euro-pean countries step up aid to their devastated island territories.

Macron’s plane touched down in Guadeloupe yesterday en route to St Martin, a French-Dutch territory, amid growing frustration about lawlessness there. “He needs to come to look around, so that he realises the horror here,” local resident Peggy Brun said.

Speaking in Guadeloupe,

Macron said the government began preparing “one of the big-gest airlifts since World War II” days before Irma hit last Wednesday.

“Now is not the time for controversy,” he said, adding: “Returning life to normal is the absolute priority.”

The French, British and Dutch governments have faced criticism for failing to anticipate the disaster with an editorial in The Telegraph newspaper last week calling the response “appallingly slow”.

But Macron assured that “it wouldn’t have been possible to have had better anticipation”.

Johnson will visit the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, where Britain has now sent 997 military personnel to help with

relief efforts and security.“The UK is going to be with

you for the long term,” Johnson assured in a video message to islands’ residents.

Johnson has dismissed the criticism as “completely unjus-t i f i e d ” , s a y i n g a n “unprecedented” relief effort was under way.

“This is a very big consular crisis and I am confident we are doing everything we possibly can to help British nationals,” he said.

Dutch King Willem-Alexan-der is already in the region, which bore the brunt of one of the most powerful storms on record and where local resi-dents and holidaymakers are becoming increasingly desperate.

French President Emmanuel Macron waits on the tarmac of Pointe-a-Pitre airport on Guadeloupe island before boarding an helicopter towards the French Caribbean islands of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy, yesterday.

Sham marriage ring busted in Germany Berlin

AFP

German police yesterday said they have broken up a fake marriage ring

that paired Portuguese women with Nigerian men who paid thousands of euros for a chance to gain EU residency.

Police arrested five sus-pects, including four women, as they carried out raids in more than 40 locations across the German capital, Berlin police and prosecutors said in a statement.

Authorities also raided homes in nearby Potsdam, Frankfurt and the eastern city of Goerlitz.

Investigators believe the suspects recruited women in Portugal, while in Nigeria, the gang charged men up to ¤13,000 for the scheme, with part of the money going to the Portuguese “brides”.

The ring would then fal-sify documents such as marriage certificates.

Armed with the fake mar-riage certificate, the pretend couples would meet briefly in Germany to present them-selves to authorities and apply for a legal, EU residency permit for the “husband”, news agency DPA reported, q u o t i n g a p o l i c e spokesman.

“So far we have estab-lished more than 70 cases where marriages were faked to obtain EU residency per-mits,” the police statement said.

12 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017EUROPE

A traditional fiaker horse carriage passes election campaign posters of OeVP’s party head Sebastian Kurz, reading “It’s time”, in Vienna, Austria, yesterday.

Approaching elections

Thousands protest Macron’s labour reformsParis

AFP

Tens of thousands of French protesters marched against Pres-ident Emmanuel Macron’s flagship eco-

nomic reforms yesterday in the first major demonstrations against his pro-business agenda.

The day of strikes and rallies are seen as a key test for the young French leader as he stakes his presidency on overhauling the sluggish economy, while pro-testers are eager to show they are able to mobilise in large numbers.

Some 4,000 strikes and 180 protests were called by France’s biggest trade union, the CGT, with rail workers, students and civil servants urged to join the protests against proposed changes to labour law.

“It’s a first one and it looks like it’s a success,” the head of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, said at the start of a rally in Paris, claiming that 100,000 people had answered his union’s call countrywide.

Police figures for the number of demonstrators are likely to be significantly lower, with turnout being scrutinised as a measure of the strength of resistance to the reforms. As well as Paris, crowds of a few thousand people gath-ered in the cities of Nice, Marseille, Saint Nazaire, Toulouse

and Caen. The disruption to rail networks, air traffic control and public services appeared limited, however.

The business-friendly Macron wants to make France more attractive for both French companies and foreign investors who have long complained about restrictive labour laws and the power of trade unions.

He has vowed to press ahead with the reforms which aim to give companies more flexibility in negotiating terms and condi-tions with their employees while reducing the costs of firing workers.

But the 39-year-old presi-dent antagonised his opponents with outspoken comments last week when he described critics of his government’s efforts as “slackers” and “cynics”.

Bruno Cautres of the Cevipof

political research institute said the former investment banker had “added fuel to the fire” with his choice of words.

“With the ‘slackers’ com-ment, there are all the ingredients for this to heat up,” he said. Protesters seized on the remark Tuesday, with the word daubed on banners and placards while others shouted “Macron

you’re screwed, the slackers are in the street.”

“I think that it led lots of peo-ple to come out today,” said Mehdi, a protester in Paris whose friend held a sign saying “Come and see how the slackers work!!!”

- Divided unions -But Macron can also count

on deep splits in the labour movement between the CGT and

its hardline allies, which are determined to obstruct the reforms, and others prepared to compromise and negotiate.

“We need to stop thinking that trade union action only makes sense when we demon-strate,” the head of the moderate CFDT, Laurent Berger, told Fran-ceinfo radio on Tuesday.

The CFDT, the largest union

in the private sector, and the leader of the usually fiery Force Ouvriere (FO) union have both declined to join the strike action.

A separate protest movement on Tuesday by fairground oper-ators swelled the numbers on the streets and their trucks, some towing merry-go-rounds on trailers, blocked roads in Paris and some regional cities.

Macron is hoping to avoid a re-run of mass demonstrations against labour reforms initiated by his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande that rocked France for months last year.

Macron -- whose approval ratings have slumped sharply since he came into office -- was in the Caribbean on Tuesday vis-iting French islands hit by hurricane Irma last week.

“What is going to be a surprise is when he ends up giving ground,” hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melen-chon told reporters as he joined a protest in the southern port of Marseille on Tuesday.

“This country doesn’t want the liberal world... France isn’t Britain,” he added.

The CGT plans to follow Tuesday’s actions with a second protest day on September 21, with another two days later called by far-left firebrand Melenchon. The centrist presi-dent, who swept to power in May on promises to reinvigorate the economy, has used executive orders to fast-track the changes.

The business-friendly Macron wants to make France more attractive for both French companies and foreign investors who have long complained about restrictive labour laws and the power of trade unions.

Lviv

AP

Former Odessa governor Mikheil Saakashvili has been served legal notice

by Ukrainian authorities after the stateless politician forced his way across the border from Poland, a move that puts him on a collision course with the government in Kiev.

Ukrainian border guards and police turned up at the hotel in the city of Lviv where Saakashvili was staying yester-day and presented him with an official document detailing his alleged violation of crossing the border illegally.

Local media reported that the ex-Georgian president and former governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region was ordered to appear at a court hearing over the incident on Monday.

The headstrong and divisive Saakashvili poses a challenge to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who once was his patron but revoked his Ukrain-ian citizenship in July. Surrounded by supporters, Saa-kashvili broke through a cordon of Ukrainian border guards at

the Ukraine-Poland border Sunday.

But returning to Ukraine is also a risk for Saakashvili, who is stateless because he was forced to give up citizenship in his native Georgia when he received Ukrainian nationality. “We are acting lawfully and protecting the law,” Saakash-vili said during an improvised press conference outside his hotel Monday that his support-ers livestreamed.

He announced plans to hold rallies in towns across Ukraine and to travel to the capital, Kiev.

Poroshenko has said that Saakashvili committed a crime by entering the country.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Facebook yesterday that five people who crossed into Ukraine from Poland with Saa-kashvili were arrested on criminal charges. Saakashvili leads a small Ukrainian political party called the Movement of New Forces and has vowed to shake-up Ukrainian politics now that he is back in the country.

In an interview, Saakash-vili called the current situation in Ukraine “tragic”.

Next round of Brexit talks postponed to September 25Bloomberg

Brexit negotiators postponed next week’s scheduled round of divorce talks by

a week, adding to signs that UK Prime Minister Theresa May is planning a public speech on her latest strategy.

Officials from the European Union and Britain were due to meet in Brussels on Monday for the fourth time since June, but will now gather on September 25. The aim is to give negotiators more time to ensure they make progress when they do convene,

a UK government spokesman said in a statement. Another offi-cial, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited Britain’s polit-ical calendar.

The delay is being formalised a week after the European Par-liament’s Guy Verhofstadt said May was preparing to make an “important intervention” that might require rescheduling.

Such a speech would mark a follow-up to the one May gave in January in which she first unveiled her vision for the sep-aration of the UK from the EU, in language that was seen at the

time as hard and uncompromis-ing. The likeliest time spot is looking to be after her return from attending the United Nations in New York, around September 22.

Her Conservative govern-ment has been forced to soften its approach after losing its par-liamentary majority. It has shown more willingness to compromise on the need for a transition and paying a divorce bill, although EU officials complain a refusal to dis-cuss the details of the financial settlement mean the two sides are in deadlock. This time, May’s

speech is intended to try to force the pace of negotiations in the run-up to a summit in October when EU leaders are scheduled to give an assessment of whether “sufficient progress” has been made on separation issues to ena-ble the start of trade discussions. A date for the speech has yet to confirmed.

May will use the occasion to explain how a raft of British position papers offer a vision of a “deep and special partner-ship” with the EU, and make the case for continuous talks to inject urgency, according to

May’s team last week.As diplomacy before next

month’s summit intensifies, May is also set to talk at the end of September to her European counterparts at a gathering in Tallinn, Estonia — which on the cards is about digital issues but could cast light on the state of Brexit affairs.

Last week, the EU’s Barnier said he was “very disappointed” by the UK position on the bill because the British government “seems to be backtracking” on commitments to honour its international commitments.

Rome

Reuters

An Italian couple and their 11-year-old son were killed yesterday

when a hole opened up in the ground at a bubbling volcanic crater near Naples, a popular tourist site.

Italy’s fire brigade said it pulled three dead bodies from a shallow hole in a section of the crater at the Solfatara vol-cano, which was surrounded by a wooden fence meant to keep tourists out.

The victims were a 45-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman and their son. Another seven-year-old son did not fall into the hole and was unharmed, national fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari said.

“Either there was a small explosion, or the ground sim-ply gave way from their weight, and they fell into this hole,” Cari said.

“It was inside a fenced-off area.”

Firemen on the scene said the three victims, who were on holiday from northern Italy, appeared to have died from asphyxia, possibly because of hot gases emanat-ing from the ground.

The official cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.

The Solfatara volcano is one of many volcanic craters in the Campi Flegrei area, 20km west of Naples, which first opened up to tourists in 1900, according to its web-site. The accident happened at the Bocca Grande (Big Mouth), the largest of the fumaroles in the area, which the ancient Romans called the home of the deity of fire.

The ground at the site emits water vapours of 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit) and gases includ-ing poisonous hydrogen sulphide, the website said.

Three die after falling into hole on volcano

Ukraine slaps legal notice on Saakashvili

Cigarette: Merkel admits to youthful sin Berlin

Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, usually reluctant to speak on personal mat-

ters, yesterday conceded an early indiscretion—smoking a cigarette and hiding the fact from her parents.

Merkel, the daughter of a pastor, was asked by

broadcaster NDR about any “youthful sin” after her main challenger, former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, admitted to throwing a packet of laundry detergent into a public pool during one “crazy night”.

“I smoked a cigarette fairly early on, and didn’t tell my par-ents. So, a small sin, I would say,” Merkel told NDR.

Merkel, 63, is poised to win a fourth term in a national elec-tion on September 24. Her party has a double-digit lead over the Social Democrats, junior part-ners in the ruling coalition.

After 12 years in power, Chancellor Angela Merkel is pre-senting herself as more than just Germany’s “Mutti”, or mother, campaigning in cyberspace to get in with younger voters.

Activists wave banners and shout slogans at a demonstration against labour law reforms in Paris, yesterday.

13WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 AMERICAS

Key Largo

AFP

Residents of the Flor-ida Keys began trickling back yester-day to the tourist haven delivered a

crushing blow by Hurricane Irma, as officials warned that at least a quarter of homes on the island chain have been destroyed.

The Keys — which bore the brunt of Irma’s wrath in Florida — were limping back to life. Brock Long, director of the Fed-eral Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said Irma caused major damage in the Florida archipelago south of Miami, known for boating, scuba diving and fishing.

There have been no reports of fatalities in the Keys since Irma made landfall there as a Category Four hurricane, but the islands have been all-but cut off since the storm struck early on Sunday.

“You just pray that every-body is alive,” Governor Rick Scott said of the Keys residents — estimated to number several thousand — who ignored orders to evacuate.

Despite forecasts of cata-strophic damage, most of the Sunshine State appeared to have escaped the worst as Irma raked the western coast of Florida, eventually being downgraded to a tropical storm.

The Keys stands as the major exception. “Some of the initial estimates are — and this is why we asked people to evacuate, largely from storm surge -- 25 percent of the houses in the Keys initially have been destroyed and 60 percent have been damaged,” Long told a news conference. “Basically every house in the Keys has been impacted some way or another,” the FEMA chief said.

Keys residents were just beginning to make their way home yesterday, with most of the archipelago still closed to traffic

as authorities assess the condi-tion of bridges connecting the single highway that links the islands.

“Returning residents should consider that there are limited services. Most areas are still without power and water. Cell service is spotty. And most gas stations are still closed,” Monroe County authorities said in a Facebook post.

With over 15 million people without electricity in Florida, one million in neighboring Georgia and 300,000 in Puerto Rico, authorities launched a massive effort to restore power.

“We’re having over 30,000 individuals from out of state helping us get our power back on,” Governor Scott told report-ers while touring flood damage in the northeast city of Jackson-ville. Scott said the authorities had rescued more than 300 peo-ple in Jacksonville, a city of 880,000 which was hit by flood-ing on Monday.

Before reaching the United States Irma tore through a string of Caribbean islands, going from tiny Barbuda on Wednesday to the tropical paradises of Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin, the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Naples

AFP

Twisted pieces of aluminum roofing litter Donald Lar-com’s yard, but the retiree

says he doesn’t even know which house it came from. The Florida mobile home park where he lives was devastated by Hurricane Irma.

The storm’s fierce winds tore apart some of these small, prefabricated homes, which line what were tidy lawns in this neighborhood. Now, the streets are covered with floodwaters dotted with floating pieces of particleboard and Styrofoam, and not many trees are left standing.

Mobile homes were a par-ticular worry as Irma approached Florida, as they are simply placed on bricks or cin-der blocks, then anchored to the ground. They can be quickly dis-mantled or moved onto the back of a large truck.

Mobile home parks can be found in nearly every American city, and are often filled with

working class families. In holi-day destinations, these neighborhoods are popular among retirees enjoying the quiet years of their life.

Larcom and his wife Marie live in the “Enchanted Shores” mobile home park, in the sea-side city of Naples away from the historical center where upscale mansions are found. There are no young families or children here, the only residents are 55 or older.

With streets named after precious stones like amethyst, sapphire and turquoise, two-thirds of the homes here are occupied only from November to Easter, when retired Ameri-cans who live in the northern parts of the country flock south to enjoy Florida’s mild winter weather.

Some of these “snowbirds,” as they are known, will have to give up their little winter havens after Irma’s battering. But oth-ers, like the Larcoms, were lucky, making it through the storm without major damage.

As Donald Larcom explains,

the older homes did not survive because they weren’t built to withstand major hurricanes. “From the early 1990s to after (1992 hurricane) Andrew went through, they just doubled eve-rything” in terms of strength, he said, noting that wooden rods used in the frames are now tri-ple the thickness of pre-1990s construction.

Homes from the 1990s and later are built to withstand winds of up to 177km per hour, he said. But Irma sometimes exceeded those speeds as it cut a deadly path from the Carib-bean through the southeastern United States. By yesterday, Irma had dissipated, though parts of the US remained flooded and millions were with-out power.

Larcom, who worked for 32 years at General Motors, esti-mates that his mobile home weighs 15 to 20 tons but “it’s nothing when they get a 130, 140 or 150 mile an hour wind.”

A neighbour’s home, which looks like a traditional house, was knocked on its side.

New York

AFP

Hillary Clinton, who yes-terday released her tell-all memoir about the

2016 presidential campaign, said she has “no doubt” that Donald Trump’s associates helped Rus-sia interfere in the US election.

Last year’s failed Democratic nominee told USA Today news-paper that there “certainly was an understanding of some sort” — and direct communication — between Trump’s campaign officials or associates and Russia.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are a tangle of financial relationships between Trump and his operation with Russian money,” she said in the interview published hours before she kicked off her first book-signing for the memoir, “What Happened”.

“And there’s no doubt in my mind that the Trump campaign and other associates have worked really hard to hide their connections with Russians.”

The Trump campaign’s links to Russia are under investiga-tion by special counsel Robert Mueller and by multiple con-gressional committees.

Clinton’s assertions in sev-eral interviews coinciding with the book launch amplify a core

message of her campaign con-fessional: that a series of external forces conspired to prevent her from becoming the nation’s first woman president. “There were all of these outside forces com-ing at me right until the very end,” she told National Public Radio.

Among them: the FBI’s relentless investigation of her emails, and the announcement by then-director James Comey, just 11 days before the election, that the bureau was re-opening its probe into her use of a pri-vate account and server while secretary of state. “After the Comey letter, my momentum was stopped,” Clinton told NPR.

“My numbers dropped, and we were scrambling to try to put it back together, and we ran out of time.”

Clinton also lashed out at her progressive rival Bernie Sand-ers, whom she felt refused to fully back her general election campaign. “I didn’t get anything like that respect from Sanders and his supporters. And it hurt,” she told Pod Save America, an internet podcast.

Clinton might be finished as a presidential candidate follow-ing her November loss, but she is not going away quietly. Her 15-stop book tour is intended not only to drum up sales but per-haps burnish Clinton’s standing

as a prominent figure in US political life.

In her memoir the 69-year-old assumes her share of responsibility for her stunning defeat — “My mistakes burn me up inside,” she writes of her topsy-turvy campaign.

But the former first lady and political survivor, who in a quar-ter century in public life rarely gave Americans a personal peek behind her professional veneer, shows a vulnerable side in her book as she describes her post-campaign funk.

She admits that not a day goes that she doesn’t think about why she lost, and “the aching sense that I let everyone down.” “It’s going to be painful for quite a while,” Clinton writes. “But I’m not going to sulk or disappear. I’m going to do everything I can to support strong Democratic candidates everywhere.”

She does not hold back in her criticism of Trump, brand-ing her billionaire nemesis as an incompetent, unworthy, sexist “liar” in her book.

Clinton offers a personal reckoning of her election loss: how she was expecting an easy victory but was “shell-shocked” on election night; how she refused antidepressants and therapy, but drank her fair share of “Chardonnay;” and how she sought refuge in her family.

Over 15 million without power in Florida

Residents return

Keys residents were just beginning to make their way home, with most of the archipelago still closed to traffic.

Authorities had rescued more than 300 people in Jacksonville, a city of 880,000 which was hit by flooding on Monday.

Hillary says won’t ‘sulk or disappear’

Irma exacts heavy toll on Florida’s mobile homes

Houston

Reuters

Texas has launched aer-ial at tacks on mosquitoes swarming

coastal regions of the state and threatening to spread dis-ease and hinder disaster recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

US Air Force C-130 cargo planes began spraying insec-ticides over three eastern Texas counties over the weekend and will expand to other areas over the next two weeks, officials from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said. About 1.85 million acres have been treated as of today, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e department.

Officials hope the spray-ing can avoid outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases. Texas reported 441 human cases of West Nile virus and 21 deaths since the start of 2016, according to figures released yesterday. It reported 342 cases of Zika virus during the same period, including one likely spread by a mosquito bite this year.

Most mosquitoes that appear after floods are not the disease-carrying varieties but can hurt recovery operations by swarming residents and disaster workers during cleanup efforts, said DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen.

Harris County, the state’s most populous county and home to Houston, is expected to begin night-time spraying soon, said Dr. Mustapha Deb-boun, director of the Mosquito and Vector Control division of Harris County Public Health.

“Under the circum-stances, when you have a hurricane of a magnitude like this, we would like them to spray the whole county ... everyone was affected,” Deb-boun said.

Harris County identified areas with dense mosquito groupings and dispatched fogging trucks every night since September 4.

Manchester

Reuters

A Democratic member of President Donald Trump’s bipartisan com-

mission to investigate possible voter fraud after the 2016 US presidential election said yes-terday its mission is being threatened by “extreme partisanship.”

Dozens of protesters gath-ered near the Presidential Advisory Commission on Elec-tion Integrity’s second meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire, where it is investigating reports of voter fraud. Trump estab-lished the commission in May after charging that millions voted unlawfully in November’s presidential election.

Commission member Kris Kobach, the Republican secre-tary of state for Kansas, stirred controversy last week when he said in a Breitbart News column that voter fraud in New Hamp-shire led to former Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan defeat-ing incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte for a US Senate seat.

Kobach, an advocate of tougher immigration laws and voter identification, also said Democratic presidential

nominee Hillary may have won New Hampshire due to illegal voting by non-residents.

His comments prompted New Hampshire’s four-person, all-Democratic congressional delegation to urge New Hamp-shire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, also a Democrat, to resign from the commission. Gardner said he would not.

“New Hampshire people aren’t accustomed to walking away or stepping down from their civic duties,” Gardner said at the meeting’s start. “I will not either.” He said the commission has faced opposition since it was launched, even though it has not yet reached any conclusions.

“The specter of extreme political partisanship already threatens our ability to reach a consensus,” Gardner said.

Trump has said on Twitter that New Hampshire, which he lost to Clinton by fewer than 2,800 votes, and two other states had “serious voter fraud.”

Most state election officials and election law experts say that US voter fraud is rare. States rejecting the commis-sion’s attempts to gather voter information have called it unnecessary and a violation of privacy.

Partisanship threatens Trump’s election panel

Boats, cars and other debris clog waterways in the Florida Keys two days after Hurricane Irma slammed into the state, in Marathon, Florida.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arriving for a signing of her new book ‘What happened’ at Barnes & Noble bookstore at Union Square in Manhattan, yesterday.

Texas calls in US Air Force to counter surge in mosquitoes

14 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017AMERICAS

US President Donald Trump greets Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, yesterday.

Demonstrators clash with riot police during a protest marking the 44th anniversary of the 1973 Chile military coup in Santiago, Chile.

Trump meets Malaysian PM

Chile unrest

Washington

AFP

Republican lawmakers yes-terday proposed making it easier to buy silencers

for firearms, scandalising Dem-ocrats. The proposed legislation aims mainly to benefit hunters or owners of firing ranges and contains several provisions, including the one on silencers.

Since 1934, a government permit has been required to buy a silencer. Applicants have to undergo a background check, provide fingerprints and a pho-tograph, and pay a $200 fee.

But sales of silencers are on the rise and Republicans argue

that hunters need them to pro-tect their hearing from the sound of their guns firing.

“My father himself suffered from it,” Tom McClintock, a Republican representative from California, said at a House hear-ing on the bill. He said silencers also would help reduce noise at shooting ranges near residen-tial areas.

“In my district, it’s been a major complaint of residents near a recently opened outdoors shooting range,” he said. The Republicans want to make buy-ing a silencer no different from buying most firearms, subject only to a quick background check run by gunshops.

But even those controls are not applied to firearms sold at gun fairs or between individu-als. “It seems sportsmen have to choose between damaging their hearing and being able to hunt, shoot, target practice,” said Liz Cheney, the Republican repre-sentative from Wyoming.

“You shouldn’t have to injure your hearing to exercise a con-stitutional right,” said Stephen Halbrook, a gun rights activist from Fairfax, Virginia.Opponents of easing the rules say a shooter equipped with a silencer is a greater threat to police. Silenc-ers don’t suppress the sound of a gunshot completely, but they do muffle and deform it.

Brasília

AFP

Brazil’s President Michel Temer lashed out yesterday against what he described as an out of control judi-

ciary’s use of unsubstantiated corruption allegations to destroy reputations.

The center-right leader issued the unusually strongly worded statement in the wake of new reports that he gained millions of dollars in benefits from a corruption scheme. The statement also came ahead of the expected filing of fresh crim-inal charges against Temer this week.

“We have reached the point where they try to convict peo-ple without even hearing them—without ending the investigation, without uncover-ing the truth, without verifying the existence of real proof,” Temer’s office said.

“Individual rights are being violated every day without the slightest reaction,” the statement said. It also lambasted prosecu-tors’ frequent use of wire taps and plea deal testimony from businessmen and politicians admitting to corruption.

“Reputations are shattered in conversations founded on clandestine actions,” the state-ment said. “Bandits concoct versions based on hearsay in exchange for impunity or to obtain a pardon, even partial, for their innumerable crimes.”

Temer’s attack on

prosecutors and their methods followed leaks in the Brazilian media late on Monday of a fed-eral police probe reportedly finding that he and other lead-ers of his PMDB party formed a criminal “gang.”

The leaks also come just as chief prosecutor Rodrigo Janot is reportedly preparing to file criminal charges against Temer, possibly for obstruction of justice.

A first criminal charge of bribe-taking lodged by Janot in June was overwhelmingly rejected by Congress, which has power to accept or throw out charges against the president. Analysts say Janot’s second charge would also have little hope of passing in the legislature.

However, the reports of the police investigation have embarrassed Temer, who is

named as a key figure in the PMDB’s corrupt dealings with donors.

According to Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, police believe Temer was in charge of placing allies in “strategic posts to nego-tiate with companies in the scheme and to receive money for electoral donations.”

The report said Temer received $10 million worth of unspecified “benefits” from companies, including the scan-dal-plagued construction giant Odebrecht.

A massive probe over the last three years codenamed operation “Car Wash” has uncovered systemic bribery of politicians by major companies like Odebrecht, as well as mas-sive embezzlement by high ranking politicians and execu-tives from state oil company Petrobras.

In the possible obstruction of justice charge that Temer could face from Janot, the pres-ident allegedly also authorized payments of hush money to an imprisoned former PMDB leader to prevent him from testifying.

Temer has denied any involvement in corruption or in the alleged payments to the jailed politician. In the presiden-cy’s statement yesterday, it said that companies contributed to political parties in “a perfectly legal” way. “You cannot crimi-nalize correct actions that are protected by the constitution.”

Janot’s term as prosecutor general ends Sunday and he is going out with guns blazing.

San Francisco AFP

A bizarre two-year court battle over who owns the copyright of a “monkey

selfie” which went viral was finally settled on Monday — in favour of a British nature pho-tographer. A black macaque with a goofy grin snapped itself in Indonesia while staring down the lens of camera belonging to David Slater in 2011.

After Slater published the pic-tures in a book, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco in 2015 seeking to have the monkey “declared the author and owner of his photograph”.

PETA said the selfies were taken by a six-year-old called Naruto on the island of Sulawesi, although even the identity of the monkey was the subject of legal

wranglings. In filing the law-suit, PETA argued that “US copyright law doesn’t prohibit an animal from owning a cop-yright, and since Naruto took the photo, he owns the copyright, as any human would”.

Slater insisted that he owned the rights since he set up the tri-pod and walked away for a few minutes, only to find out that the monkey had grabbed his cam-era and snapped away.

Following the settlement, PETA wrote on their blog: “As a part of the arrangement, Slater agreed to donate 25% of any future revenue derived from using or selling the monkey selfies to charities that protect the habitat of Naruto and other crested macaques in Indonesia.”

It added: “Naruto and the famous ‘monkey selfie’ photo-graphs that he undeniably took clearly demonstrate that he and his fellow macaques ... are highly

intelligent, thinking, sophisti-cated beings worthy of having legal ownership of their own intellectual property and hold-ing other rights as members of the legal community.”

A joint statement read: “PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for non-human animals, a goal that they both support, and they will con-tinue their respective work to achieve this goal.”

When the copyright contro-versy erupted, Slater said that the widespread distribution of the photos online had cost him a lot of money by robbing his book of potential sales — so it’s unclear how much money the habitat charities will clear in the deal. Slater’s company Wildlife Personalities, and the self-pub-lishing platform Blurb were co-defendants in the case.

Temer lashes out at graft allegations

Republicans want to make it easier to buy silencers for guns

NEWS BYTES

Hope Hicks named White House communications directorWASHINGTON: Twenty-eight-year-old Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks has been named White House communication’s director, formally taking on one of the most powerful roles in Washington. Hicks — who had been acting director since the spectacular departure of Anthony Scaramucci — con-firmed her appointment via email yesterday. The former model and PR operative is known around the West Wing for her close relationship with the Trump family and as a keen defender of Trump’s image. She previously advised Ivanka Trump and was spokesperson for Donald Trump’s presiden-tial campaign, her first job in politics. Since the beginning of the administration she had a floating role, a trusted advisor to the president who was able to channel Trump’s thinking on issues related to the press. Her appointment brings her more tightly into the formal White House communications structure. Although less visible than press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House communications direc-tor is responsible for shaping the administration’s message.

11 die in shootout with soldiers in Venezuela’s southeastCARACAS: Eleven people died in an exchange of gunfire with soldiers in Venezuela’s southeast, where criminal gangs dispute control of gold mines, the national prosecutor’s office said. The gunfight occurred on Sunday in the town of Tumer-emo when a patrol following up reports of an “armed organization” in the area were “surprised by a group of uni-dentified individuals,” the office said. “That caused an exchange of gunfire. As a result of the clash, 11 men died and an army officer was wounded,” it said, adding an investiga-tion had been opened into the incident. The violence followed a similar confrontation on August 14 between a suspected gang and a mixed patrol of soldiers and police, in the nearby town of El Callao. Eight people died in that incident. The region has a reputation for lawlessness and violence, fuelled by the mining and trading in gold. Last year in Tumeremo a mass grave was found with the bodies of 17 miners who had been shot in the head and chest.

Trump becomes a grandfather againWASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump became a grand-father for the ninth time yesterday. His son, Eric Trump, announced the news on Twitter: “@LaraLeaTrump and I are excited to announce the birth of our son, Eric ‘Luke’ Trump at 8:50 this morning.” The 71-year-old US president is the father of five children from three marriages. His daughter Ivanka has three children and Donald Trump Jr has five chil-dren. Donald Trump Jr issued congratulations on Twitter, and joked about “older brother revenge” for Eric buying his kids a drum set.

‘Monkey selfie’ case settled

Washington

AFP

US environmental reg-u l a t o r s a r e investigating whether

the Arkema chemical plant in Texas followed safety rules ahead of explosions last month caused by flooding from Hurricane Harvey, according to media reports.

The Environmental Pro-tection Agency has asked the company whether it followed risk management plans sub-mitted to the government ahead of the explosions at the plant, which began on August 31, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said.

Unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in south-east Texas on August 26, cut power and knocked out backup generators at the plant—disabling the refriger-ation required to prevent volatile organic peroxides from exploding. Authorities had already evacuated an area within a 2.4km radius of the plant. But emergency workers who responded to the explosions have since sued the plant’s operators for exposing them to smoke.

“There is some question about whether the RMP that was in place was actually complied with,” Pruitt told Washington Examiner, refer-ring to a risk management plan. The September 7 letter gave Arkema 10 days to answer to EPA queries.

The EPA wants to deter-mine what quantity of chemical substances were stored at the plant and what safety measures had been taken in advance of possible flooding and power loss.

US regulators probe Arkema after explosions

The centre-right leader issued the unusually strongly worded statement in the wake of new reports that he gained millions of dollars in benefits from a corruption scheme.

15WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017 BREAK TIME

Yesterday’s answer

BABY

BLU

ES

ALL IN THE MINDBITS, BYTE, CACHE, COMPUTER, DATA, DESKTOP, DIGITAL,DISK, DRIVER, FLOPPY, GIGABYTE, HARD DRIVE, HARDWARE,HEXADECIMAL, INPUT, INSTALLATION, INTERNET, KEYBOARD, KILOBYTE, LAPTOP, MAINFRAME, MEGABYTE, MEMORY, MICROCHIP, MODEM, MONITOR, MOUSE, NOTEBOOK, OUTPUT, PASSWORD, PERIPHERAL, PRINTER, PROCESSOR, PROGRAM, SCANNER, SCREENSAVER, SOFTWARE, UTILITY, VIRUS, WIZARD.

08:00 News

08:30 The Listening Post

09:00 Art Trafficking

10:00 News

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 TechKnow

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 Al Jazeera World

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:00 News

17:30 The Stream

18:00 Newsgrid

19:00 News

19:30 Witness

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 The Stream

23:00 Witness

13:10 Alaska: The Last

Frontier

13:55 The Island With

Bear Grylls

14:40 Deadliest

Catch

15:25 Fast N' Loud

16:10 Wheeler

Dealers

17:00 How Do They Do

It?

18:20 Storage Wars

Canada

18:50 The Island With

Bear Grylls

19:40 How Do They Do

It?

21:00 Harley And The

Davidsons

22:40 X-Ray Mega

Airport

23:30 Fast N' Loud

00:20 Wheeler

Dealers

01:05 Harley And The

Davidsons

09:10 Bad Dog

10:05 Bahama Blue

11:00 Snake Sheila

11:55 Project Grizzly

12:50 After The Attack

13:45 Bad Dog

14:40 Bahama Blue

15:35 Untamed &

Uncut

16:30 Treehouse

Masters

17:25 Dr. Jeff: Rocky

Mountain Vet

18:20 Treehouse

Masters

19:15 Bad Dog

20:10 Snake Sheila

21:05 Dr. Jeff: Rocky

Mountain Vet

22:00 Treehouse

Masters

22:55 Bahama Blue

23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:45 Treehouse

Masters

01:40 Bad Dog

13:05 Star Darlings

15:15 Elena Of Avalor

15:40 Stuck In The

Middle

16:05 Liv And Maddie

16:30 Whisker Haven

Tales With The

Palace Pets

17:00 K.C. Undercover

17:25 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug And

Cat Noir

17:50 Girl Meets World

18:20 Bizaardvark

20:35 K.C. Undercover

21:00 Austin & Ally

21:25 Stuck In The

Middle

21:50 Sunny Bunnies

21:55 Bunk'd

22:20 Miraculous Tales

Of Ladybug And

Cat Noir

22:45 Lolirock

23:05 Disney Mickey

Mouse

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

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

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

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

contains the same number only once.

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

NOVO — Pearl

ROXY

American Made (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm&12:00midnight IT (2D/Horror) 10:10am, 12:00noon, 12:50, 3:00, 3:30, 6:00, 6:10, 8:50, 9:00, 11:30pm & 12:00midnightAl Khalya (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:10, 3:15, 4:50, 8:30 & 9:30pmTerminator 2 (2D/Action) 12:30, 5:45 & 11:00pm Car Go (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm London Heist (2D/Action) 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm Wish Upon (2D/Thriller) 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightAnnabelle 2 (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 2:40, 7:20pm & 12:00midnight The Glass Castle (2D/Drama) 11:30am, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight The Hitman's Bodyguard (2D/Comedy) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnight IT (2D IMAX/Horror) 10:00am, 12:45, 3:30, 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pm

Neruppuda (2D/Tamil) 2:00pm Velipadinte Pushtakam (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 11:30pm Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 6:15pm Punjab Nahi Jaungi (2D) 4:15, 8:45 & 11:30pm Poster Boys (Hindi) 4:00pm Daddy (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm Car Go (2D/Animation) 4:45pm The Glass Castle (2D/Drama) 7:00pm IT (2D/Horror) 7:45, 9:15 & 11:30pm London Heist (2D/Action) 10:00pm

Velipadinte Pushtakam (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:15pm Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 4:00pm Poster Boys (Hindi) 4:45 & 9:15pm Al Khalya (2D/Arabic) 5:00pmCar Go (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 5:30pm

IT (2D/Horror) 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pm The Glass Castle (2D/Drama) 7:15pm Kathanayagan (2D/Tamil) 7:15pm London Heist (2D/Action) 9:30pm Neruppuda (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

Car Go (2D/Animation) 2:00 & 3:45pm Poster Boys (Hindi) 2:30pmThe Glass Castle (2D/Drama) 4:45pm The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (2D/Animation) 5:30pm London Heist (2D/Action) 7:00pmIT (2D/Horror) 7:00, 9:15 & 11:45pm Al Khalya (2D/Arabic) 9:00pmVelipadinte Pushtakam (2D/Malayalam) 11:30pm

Velipadinte Pushtakam 5:30, 6:00, 8:15, 8:45, 11:00, 11:30pm Neruppuda (Tamil) 9:00pm Kathanayagan 11:30pm Daddy 6:30pm

The Nut Job 2 (Animation) 4:00 & 6:00pm Terminator 2 (Action) 8:00 & 10:50pm

Car Go (2D/Animation) 12:00noon & 2:00pm Yudham Sharanam 2:30, 5:30 & 8:30pm

Pushtakam (2D/Malayalam) 12:00noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30pm & 12:40am American Made (2D/Action) 12:00noon & 11:30pmIT (2D/Horror) 12:00noon, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm

AL KHORThe Nut Job 2 (Animation) 11:30am & 1:30pm

Emoji 10:30am & 2:30pm Despicable Me 3 11:30am & 3:00pm

Captain Underpants 12:30 & 4:30pm Daddy 9:15 & 12:00midnight

IT 3:30 & 6:15pm Neruppuda (Tamil) 6:30pm Kathanayagan 8:30 & 11:15pm Terminator 2 (Action) 3:30 & 6:00pm Velipadinte Pushtakam 9:00 & 12:00am

16 WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2017MORNING BREAK

HIGH TIDE 10:45 – 21:15 LOW TIDE 03:15 – 11:30

Hazy to misty / foggy at places at

first becomes hot daytime with some

clouds and humid by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum32oC 39oC

Cupertino

AP

“One more thing.” With that phrase, Apple paid hom-age to its late

co-founder Steve Jobs for the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone yesterday when it unveiled its lat-est — and almost certainly most expensive — new version of the device, the iPhone X.

CEO Tim Cook called it “the biggest leap forward” since the first iPhone. (“X” is pronounced 10, not the letter X.) It loses the home button, which revolution-ized smartphones when it launched; offers an edge-to-edge screen; and will use facial recog-nition to unlock the phone.

Apple also unveiled a new iPhone 8 and a larger 8 Plus with upgrades to cameras, displays and speakers.

Those phones, Apple said, will shoot pictures with better colours and less distortion, particularly in low-light settings. The display will adapt to ambient lighting, similar to a feature in some iPad Pro models. Speakers will be louder and offer deeper bass.

Both iPhone 8 versions will allow wireless charging, a feature thought to be limited to the anni-versary phone. Many Android phones, including Samsung’s, already have this.

This is the first product event for Apple at its new spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino, California. Before getting to the new iPhone, the company unveiled a new Apple Watch model with cellular service and an updated version of its Apple TV streaming device.

The event opened in a dark-ened auditorium, with only the audience’s phones gleaming like stars, along with a message that said “Welcome to Steve Jobs

Theater.” A voi-ceover from Jobs, Apple’s c o - f o u n d e r who died in 2011, opened the event before CEO Tim Cook took stage.

“Not a day that goes by that we don’t think about him,” Cook said. “Memories espe-cially come rushing back as we prepared for today and this event. It’s taken some time but we can now reflect on him with joy instead of sadness.”

Apple’s latest Watch has built-in cellular service. The number on your phone will be the same as your iPhone. The Series 3 model will also have Apple Music available through cellular service. “Now, you can go for a run with just your watch,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief oper-ating officer and in charge of Watch development.

Apple is also adding more fit-ness features to the Watch, and

says it is now the most used heartrate monitor in the world. Now, Apple Watch will notify users when it detects an elevated heart rate when they don’t appear to be active. It’ll also detect abnormal heart rhythms.

The Series 3 will start at $399. One without cellular goes for $329, down from $369 for the comparable model now. The orig-inal Series 1, without GPS, sells for $249, down from $269. The new watch comes out Sept. 22.

A new version of the Apple TV streaming device will be able to show video with sharper “4K” resolution and a color-improve-ment technology called high-dynamic range, or HDR.

Apple unveils three iPhones

Sidi Mohamed The Peninsula

A number of academ-ics, economists and media personnel have stressed that Qatar has succeeded

in tackling the siege in all sides whether in diplomacy, economy or media.

During a symposium organ-ised last night by Qatar TV marking 100 days of the siege, they said that Qatari diplomacy played a vital role during the cri-sis. Since the first day, it had shown a coordinated position for Qatar unlike the siege coun-tries which were contradicting and afraid of dialogue.

On the first day of the crisis, Qatar denied the statement which was attributed to H H the Emir, and said that its agency was hacked. It also said such types of disputes must be dis-cussed through dialogue and there was nothing better than to sit on the negotiation table.

Qatar has always welcomed any dialogue that respects its sovereignty, and that it will not accept dictation from any coun-try that is why the world has said that Qatar is on the right track. It also maintained its relations

with these countries sending messages in all occasions.

On the other hand, the siege countries were contradicting on their positions, sometimes accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism, at times saying Qatar has good relations with Iran.

The siege countries have no desire to solve the crisis, instead the crisis has passed through gradual process starting with disputes, then withdrawal of ambassadors.

Another aspect that gave Qatar a good position is that Qataris were united behind Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the world was monitoring that, while these countries were expecting some-thing different.

The guests also confirmed that the Qatari media had played a good role in revealing the lies committed by media of the siege countries. The media had shown Qatari attitudes and didn’t abuse any country, while the media of the siege countries intended to abuse Qatar. The Qatari media published what the siege media had published so readers could see the truth. The siege countries punished their people who showed sym-pathy with Qatar and even those

who kept silent also got punish-ment and sent to jail. So it can be said that Qatar succeeded morally before succeeding polit-ically, and the Qatari model of dealing with crisis became a model to many countries which can be studied in universities.

“Qatar, since the beginning of the crisis, has explained its position to the world and all the countries, that Qatar’s Foreign Minister visited, have welcomed Qatar’s position. The siege coun-tries on the other hand didn’t convince itself or its people, that is why their foreign ministers were contradicted in every country they visited,” said Dr. Khalid bin Mubarak Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula.

The economic dealing with the crisis was very strong that in just 24 hours Qatar opened new lines to import goods from other countries instead of the siege countries. The government had given directions to private sector and all facilities to offer new alternatives and it suc-ceeded in doing that.

The media of the siege countries were spreading lies and saying that 2022 World Cup companies were threatened and preparing to leave Qatar.

The crisis was a chance to be self dependent and focus more on local production to achieve self-sufficiency. A number of projects have been achieved, like the opening of Hamad Port, which can handle

around 30% of the trade exchange in the region and will be a competitor to Jebel Ali port. Many companies came to sign agreements with this port. Now businesses have become more confident in the Qatari market.

‘World welcomes Qatar’s position on siege’

Apple Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone X during a launch event in Cupertino, California, yesterday. (Below) Apple’s latest Watch.

“Qatar, since the beginning of the crisis, has explained its position to the world and all the countries, that Qatar’s Foreign Minister visited, have welcomed Qatar’s position. The siege countries on the other hand didn’t convince itself or its people, that is why their foreign ministers were contradicted in every country they visited,” said Dr. Khalid bin Mubarak Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula.

Dr. Khalid bin Mubarak Al-Shafi, Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula, speaking at the symposium held by Qatar TV.

FAJRSHOROOK

04.02 am

05.19 am

ZUHRASR

11.30 am

02.58 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.43 pm

07.13 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS