Wednesday 4 September 2019 | 5 Muharram 1441 2 Riyals · 2019. 9. 4. · Moscow, Mexico City, Mumbai, Berlin, Paris, London and Sao Paulo and in 10 districts across Turkey to get

Volume 24 | Number 8004 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 4 September 2019 | 5 Muharram 1441 www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 24 | Number 8004 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 4 September 2019 | 5 Muharram 1441 www.thepeninsula.qa

BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 08

Rafael Nadal knocks Cilic out of US Open

Qatar committed to incentivise

private sector

Qatar 2022 emblem revealedThe specially designed emblem — with swooping curves to depict 8 stadiums to be used during the 2022 event — was launched around the world as fans in several major cities watched the unveiling on digital screens.

Fans in Doha joined football enthusiasts in New York, Madrid, Seoul, Johannesburg, Moscow, Mexico City, Mumbai, Berlin, Paris, London and Sao Paulo and in 10 districts across Turkey to get a glimpse of the emblem that features elements of Arab culture and their love with the sport.

RIZWAN REHMAT THE PENINSULA

Qatar yesterday connected with football fans around the globe in style when it launched the official emblem of the 2022 FIFA World Cup simul-taneously in 23 countries.

The specially designed emblem — with swooping curves to depict 8 sta-diums to be used during the 2022 event — was launched around the world as fans in several major cities watched the unveiling on digital screens.

Fans in Doha joined football enthusiasts in New York, Madrid, Seoul, Johannesburg, Moscow, Mexico City, Mumbai, Berlin, Paris, London and Sao Paulo and in 10 districts across Turkey to get a glimpse of the emblem that features elements of Arab culture and their love with the sport.

At 20:22 hours in Doha last night, screens installed at Katara amphi-theater, Souq Waqif, Doha Tower, UNESCO World Heritage site Zubarah Fort and Ministry of Interior building revealed the emblem for the first time.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later posted a cele-bratory tweet to mark the occasion in Qatar’s journey towards hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Last night’s emblem reveal came two months after Qatar inaugurated the 40,000-seater Al Janoub Stadium, one of eight venues to be used during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In May 2017, Qatar inaugurated the iconic Khalifa International Stadium, five years ahead of schedule.

beIN Sports’ free to air channel, news channel as well as channels from HD 1 to HD 7 last night pro-duced special live broadcasts from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India and Brazil besides managing live feeds from five locations in Doha.

Fans in Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco also joined in the fun as digital screens flashed the look of the official emblem for the first time.

The number eight in the emblem symbolises the number of stadiums Qatar will use to host the 32-team tournament.

The Khalifa International Stadium, which was redeveloped and renovated in 2017, is the only venue not built from scratch. All other venues namely Al Bayt, Al Rayyan, Al Thumama, Education City, Lusail and Ras Abu Aboud are brand new venues.

The spectacular fanar lantern-inspired Lusail Stadium will host the opening match on November 21 as well as the final on December 18, 2022.

The emblem was inspired by tra-ditional woollen shawls worn during the winter months, when the FIFA World Cup 2022 will take place, in

Ideas behind the emblem

The emblem’s design embodies the vision of an event that connects and

engages the entire world, while also featuring striking elements of local and regional Arab culture and allusions to the beautiful game.

The swooping curves of the emblem represent the undulations of desert dunes and the unbroken loop depicts both the number eight – a reminder of the eight aston-ishing stadiums that will host matches – and the infinity symbol, reflecting the interconnected nature of the event.

Besides echoing the shape of the iconic FIFA World Cup Trophy, the emblem’s central form takes inspiration from a traditional woollen shawl. During winter months, shawls are worn around the world and in the Arab and Gulf region in particular by a variety of people and in various styles.

The intricate embroidered detail that often adorns shawls in the Arab world is featured and takes inspiration from various cul-tures across Asia, celebrating the continent’s second hosting of a FIFA World Cup tournament and Qatar’s diverse population. The regionally inspired winter garment also alludes to the tournament’s start dates and the fact that it will be the first FIFA World Cup™ to be played in November and December.

The new typeface created to accompany the emblem reimagines traditional Arabic calligraphy in a new, contemporary font, taking inspiration from the region and Asia, and fusing tradition with modernity.

igned emblem — with to depict 8 stadiums to be

2022 event — was launched as fans in several major cities

eiling on digital screens.

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Qatar. Like football, the shawls’ popularity reflects a unifying force, woven into the eve-ryday fabric of people’s lives in the Arab world.

The typeface of the emblem celebrates Qatar’s heritage with a global twist. It brings traditional Arabic calligraphy into dialogue with other global languages through the integration of elements like the kasheeda, a lengthening of the line connecting letters to enhance the flow and ele-gance of the written word.

Popular football figure Arsene Wenger said in a TV interview after the emblem launch: “The World Cup in Qatar will be unique. It will be a new expe-rience for the fans. Organisation will be no problem for Qatar. Preparations are on-going and magnif-icent. The only thing that remains to be seen how they build their team (for the 2022 World Cup). They are doing well. They won the Asian Cup.”

Qatar’s preparations so far include a state-of-the-art metro system that connects the entire country and the construction of hundreds of hotels to accommodate the visiting fans during the November 21 to December 28 tournament, the first one to be held in the Arab world. �P4,5,6

Sport 10,11 & 12

We are proud to unveil the FIFA World Cup #Qatar2022 official emblem across the globe. We are excited to reveal an emblem representing our Arab & Qatari identity. I thank everyone for their great efforts in making the World Cup in Doha a pride for all Arabs #seeyouin2022

Two years separate us from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in Qatar. All greetings to all brotherly and friendly countries for their continuous support to the Arab World Cup.”

PICS: SALIM MATRAMKOT & BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

02 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

03WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME


Citizens, residents celebrate launch of Qatar 2022 emblemSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Over a thousand people, including citizens and expa-triates, gathered at Souq Waqif yesterday evening to watch the live telecast of the launching ceremony of the official emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Thousands of excited resi-dents also witnessed the syn-chronised projection of the emblem onto a number of coun-try’s most iconic buildings including Burj Doha, Katara Cul-tural Village Amphitheatre, Min-istry of Interior, and Al Zubarah Fort.

A jumbo TV screen was arranged at Souq Waqif for large number of enthusiasts to get a clear view of the emblem. The excited crowd joined the countdown of launching the emblem and chanted slogans

when the emblem surfaced on the screen.

Speaking to The Peninsula, the fans described the emblem as elegant and the best in the history of FIFA World Cup. A large number of families including young children and

women also joined the event at Souq Waqif.

“This is the best emblem in the history of FIFA World Cup. We are very happy to see the emblem. We are proud of hosting this mega sporting event which not only gives honour to

citizens and expatriates in Qatar but is also a source pride for all Arab countries as it will be hosted in any Arab country for the first time,” Jaber Al Hajari, a Qatari citizen told The Peninsula.

He said that the preparation

for hosting 2022 FIFA World Cup are nearing completion with every passing day and the remaining projects would be completed much ahead of 2022. “I came to know through local media that jumbo screens would be installed at several places across the country to telecast unveiling ceremony of the emblem,” said Al Hajari, adding that he had come with his friends to join the gathering.

He said that people had come from neighboring coun-tries like Oman and Kuwait to celebrate the historic moment and share joy with Qatari cit-izens and expatriates.

Badar Mohamad Ali, another citizen said that the emblem was amazing. “I do not have words to explain the grace of emblem. It is simply the best one,” said Ali.

Abdul Satar Mueedo, an

Indian national, who is residing in Qatar from three decades was present at Souq Waqif with his family to become part of historic moment. “I left my office early today as my family was insisting to attend the event for a couple of days. The emblem is very beautiful. Qatar will surprise the world by hosting an excellent sporting event. We are very proud of being part of this great event,” he added.

“It’s a very simple and elegant logo. In the years to come, it will be remembered as one of the best FIFA logos,” said Mahmood Ahmed, a Pakistani national residing in Qatar for five years.

“It is a very good logo. Since it will be the first World Cup in the Arab world, the region’s culture is efficiently showcased in the logo,” said Abudul Rashid, a Sri Lankan citizen.

FROM LEFT: Jaber Al Hajari and Badar Mohamad Ali, Qatari citizens; and Abdul Satar Mueedo, an Indian national.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The tournament’s official logo for the 2022 Qatar World Cup is seen on a building of Qatar’s Ministry of Interior in Doha, yesterday. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 logo is projected on the Kuwait Towers, in Kuwait City. Iraqis gather at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square as the official logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is projected on the front of a building. An electronic board displays the official logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in Buenos Aires. The official logo of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is unveiled on a giant screen in Madrid. The official logo of the 2022 World Cup tournament is displayed at Tahrir Square in Baghdad.

World celebrates unveiling of Qatar 2022 emblem


Amnesty International calls on Saudi to reveal fate of Qatari citizen, son

QNA LONDON

The Amnesty International yesterday launched an interna-tional campaign to demand that the Saudi authorities to reveal the fate of Qatari citizen Ali Nasser Jarallah (70) and his 17-year-old son Abdulhadi , who entered Saudi Arabia under a family permit on August 15, 2019.

On August 18, contact was lost with the Qatari citizen and his son while travelling through Saudi Arabia to visit relatives,” the rights group said in a statement, adding, “We are con-cerned that they have been for-cibly disappeared”. In this regard, the organisation sent a letter to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to disclose their fate.

The letter said Jarallah and his son had been in contact with their family in Qatar until August 18, when they were approaching the city of Hafof in the Eastern Province and ‘since then all communications were lost with them.

Ali Jarallah has diabetes, and has heart and kidney problems, and high blood pressure, he is regularly on medication and must attend the doctor’s regular appointments in Doha. “

According to a credible source, there are good reasons to believe that the father and son

may be arbitrarily detained and held by the State Security Pres-idency,” the letter added.

It called on King Salman to immediately disclose the where-abouts of Ali Jarallah and his son Abdulhadi, “We call on dis-closing the reason for their arrest and to release them promptly unless they are charged with a recognisably criminal offense in accordance with the principles of due process recognised in interna-tional law, with the need to get Nasser Jarallah all the medical services required by his health.”

Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) “holds Saudi Arabia fully responsible for the life and safety of the Qatari citizens and calls upon the Saudi authorities to disclose their fate and release them immediately”, it said in a statement.

NHRC expressed concern about this enforced disap-pearance, especially as the Saudi authorities recently adopted a policy of forcibly disappearance of a number of Qatari citizens due to the political crisis.

NHRC called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Panel on Enforced Disappearances and the UN Human Rights Council to intervene immediately to stop these grave and systematic vio-lations against Qatari citizens.

The Amnesty International called on King Salman to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Ali Jarallah and his son Abdulhadi. NHRC expressed concern about this enforced disappearance and called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Panel on Enforced Disappearances, and UN Human Rights Council to intervene immediately.

‘Thanks Qatar, you made us very proud’SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 remained the top trend on Twitter yesterday after its official launch as thousands of citizens and residents cele-brated the historic moment with sharing pictures and comments on the social media platform.

In the first hour after official unveiling of the logo, over 40,000 tweets were posted. Twitterati said that Qatar was moving forward to fulfil its pledge of hosting the football tournament and with every passing day the world was wit-nessing Qatar’s achievements in this regard.

#EmblemOfFIFAWorld-CupQatar2022 was top trend in Arabic followed by #Qatar2022 and #WorldCup2022ForArab.

They also noted that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was not for Qatar but rather for all Arabs, Islamic countries and the region as well further saying that this is what Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had said about Qatar 2022.

“At this moment the eyes of the whole world are towards our Arab region to see the official emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Qatar has a great responsibility to make a history be uniting all Arabs. Qatar is able to do this and we are

sure Qatar will make us very proud,” Yousef Hassan said.

Another one commented: “We congratulate Qatar, H H the Amir of Qatar on the occasion of official launch of emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. We expect a great tournament and Qatar will create a lasting legacy for Qatar, the Middle East and the world.”

Faisal Al Qahtani tweeted

saying, “In these beautiful moments, we should salute Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the role he played to make us happy and cel-ebrate this beautiful moments.”

The joy was not limited to cit-izens but also residents and people of the entire region cele-brated it on the social media. “It is a joy to see many buildings in

many countries, including Arab countries decorated by the official emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. We share with Qataris this joy and are waiting for the big tournament. We are proud of Qatar to host such a big event and people from the entire region share joy with them,” wrote Mohssin Ali from Kuwait.

“Today the world will witness the realization of the Qatari dream and the harvest of years of diligence. Congratulations to Qatar and to the Arabs on this achievement and we pray for more success.” tweeted Tarshi.

Many people sharing the logo interpreted its meaning saying that the logo symbolizes the sus-tainable legacy that the 2022 FIFA World Cup will create for Qatar and the region. Some sug-gested that it also reminds about the deep bonds between Arab and Muslim people, as well as the richness and diversity of the culture of the Arab world.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Spectators watching as the emblem of World Cup 2022 is revealed. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA


Envoys congratulate Qatar on emblem launchFAZEENA SALEEM & IRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

As jubilant citizens and expa-triates celebrated the launch of official emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 unveiled digitally across the globe yesterday, the diplomatic fraternity congratulated the country’s leadership saying the logo symbolizes legacy of the country and game of football.

Heads of diplomatic mis-sions also expressed their trust that Qatar would hold the best-ever FIFA World Cup in 2022. They also extended support of their countries to Qatar to make the tournament a success.

Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires of the United States in Qatar William Grant, on his twitter account said (in Arabic and translated): “I congratulate the Amir of Qatar, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the government and the people on the unveiling of Qatar’s Official World Cup 2022 emblem.”

He further said: “We expect a great tournament and we hope the US national team will qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and we hope that our team will achieve more than qualifying. The tournament will create a lasting legacy for Qatar, the Middle East and the world. Con-gratulations to Qatar.”

Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, talking to The Peninsula, said: “The official unveiling of emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has also been projected at number of places in Turkey. The emblem is an attractive. We share with Qatari government and Qatari people the joy of this official launch of logo and hope that all preparation will go well.”

The Turkish Ambassador added: “Anyone who follows Qatar’s preparations for the World Cup believes that Qatar is well-prepared to organize FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 the best possible way and all facilities for the tournament have been built as per international standards.”

Ozer said that he was very confident that Qatar will be able to organize the tournament that would be remembered for years. “Qatar’s hosting of this tour-nament is an achievement not only for Qatar but also for all Muslim countries and the Middle East region,” the Ambassador said.

Commenting on the official launch of Qatar 2022 emblem, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Qatar, Zhou Jian, said: “Congratulations to the stunning debut of the 2022 World Cup logo. It is an extraor-dinary design which also coin-cides with Chinese culture.”

“It resembles a knot in looking, which implies unity in Chinese. It is also in the shape of 8. 8 in China is a number for

prosperity and development. For this, we heartly wish that the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be a gathering of unity and success, one that will bring more peace and development to the world.”

Fernando de Castro, Chargé d’Affaires of Spain said: “As a country of football, Spain is very proud to take part in such a

milestone in Qatar’s road to 2022. The emblem projected in our perpetually crowded square of Callao, a ceaselessly moving and changing place at an inter-section crossed by millions of people every year, in the very heart of Madrid.”

He added: “We believe that Callao symbolizes FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 philosophy: an unparalleled meeting point of cultures. We are sure that the upcoming World Cup will be a great success for the country, and we wish Qatar all the best!”

Commenting on the unveiling of Qatar 2022, the

Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of France to Qatar said, “Three years before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, this is a great moment for Qatar and a mile-stone on the road towards 2022. This logo testifies to the journey made to this day and gives body to the efforts of Qatar to prepare the World Cup. France is alongside Qatar for the success of this world-wide event.”

P Kumaran, the Ambassador of India to Qatar, said: “We are excited at the unveiling of the 2022 FIFA World Cup logo. I am happy that a prominent building in Mumbai was chosen as one of the 20 locations for the launch.”

He said that Qatar’s prepa-rations for the World Cup and the development of the necessary infrastructure were moving ahead briskly. “If past events are an indication, I have no doubt that the World Cup in Qatar will be an exemplary spectacle. The Indian community in Qatar wishes Qatar the best and is happy to extend all possible support to the Qatari authorities

for the successful hosting of the World Cup.”

Syed Ahsan Raza Shah, Ambassador of Pakistan to Qatar, said: “On behalf of the people and government Pakistan we at the Embassy of Pakistan, Doha congratulate the brotherly people of the State of Qatar on the occasion of the unveiling of the official logo of the FIFA World Cup 2022.”

“This marks an important milestone in Qatar’s extraor-dinary and proud journey to host the event. It is testament to the hard and incredible work that has gone into the preparations

of the World Cup,” Raza Shah said, adding: “Qatar will host the most successful FIFA World Cup ever. The people of Pakistan assure our Qatari brethren of our fullest support and cooperation in making the World Cup 2022

a great success.” Ambassador of Peru to Qatar,

Jose Benzaquen, said that unveiling of emblem of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was a great thing and an important occasion for Qatar. “The emblem is ice,” he added.

He said that Qatar would organize a world-class football tournament in 2022. “Excellent preparations for Qatar 2022 are going on in the country.” The Ambassador said that Qatari people loved sport therefore he was sure that Qatar would organize a very good sporting event in 2022.

Ambassador of South Africa, Faizel Moosa said: “As South Africans we are extremely hon-oured by the fact that Qatar through the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has chosen South Africa as one of the

20 countries to launch its 2022 world cup logo.”

“As a country which has hosted the world’s most spec-tacular event in 2010, we pledge our full support to the friendly nation of Qatar and are confident that Qatar will host an extremely successful and impressive event. South Africa offers its full support, experience and knowledge to the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery and Legacy as we consider our friendly rela-tions with the State of Qatar to go from strength to strength,” the South African Ambassador further said. He said that the

South African community in Qatar stood ready to add value to Qatar 2022 as a nation which had the necessary experience and the most capable volunteers.

Ambassador of Ecuador to Qatar, Ivonne A-Baki said: “Today I am glad to witness the unveiling of Qatar’s official World Cup 2022 emblem which is celebrated simultaneously in many major cities around the world. This is indeed an extreme source of pride for the citizens and residents of the State of Qatar. It genuinely and profoundly reflects the sublime guidance and wise visions of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.”

She further said: “Also, I am very impressed with the concept of the motto as it highlights Qatar’s environment with a modern touch in such a pictur-esque design. Indeed, this iconic and marvellous design is a rare gem that will be never forgotten by the Arab world and the inter-national community.”

Fikret Ozer, Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar.

Zhou Jian, Ambassador of China to Qatar.

Fernando de Castro, Chargé d’Affaires, Spain.

P Kumaran, Ambassador of India to Qatar.

Syed Ahsan Raza Shah, Ambassador of Pakistan to Qatar.

Jose Benzaquen, Ambassador of Peru to Qatar.

Faizel Moosa, Ambassador of South Africa to Qatar.

Ivonne A-Baki, Ambassador of Ecuador to Qatar.

Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires of the United States in Qatar, William Grant.

Rashad Ismayilov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Qatar.

Avazbek Atakhanov, Charge d’Affaires of the Kyrgyz Republic to Qatar.

Rashad Ismayilov, Ambas-sador of Azerbaijan to Qatar, said: “I congratulate Qatar’s leadership and its people on official unveiling of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 logo. No doubt, it is a moment of pride for the whole nation as they are moving forward to materi-alize the dream of organizing most prestigious sporting event of the world. Qatar is doing excellent preparations for Qatar 2022 and I am confident that FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be an outstanding sporting event in which fans from all over the world will witness spectacular games.”

Avazbek Atakhanov, Charge d’Affaires of the Kyrgyz Republic in Qatar, said that he liked Qatar 2022 logo. “It is unique and very beautiful. The logo shows the today’s harmonic diversity.”

He said that the preparations for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 were excellent. “My expectations for the 2022 World Cup in terms of quality and standards are very optimistic. I believe Qatar will demonstrate high class and the 2022 World Cup will be the best championship in football history.”

The projection of the emblem on the most iconic buildings. Pics: Salim Matramkot / Baher Amin / Abdul Basit



Qatar condemns Kabul explosionDOHA: Qatar expressed

its strong denunciation and

condemnation of the explo-

sion that took place in the

Afghan capital Kabul, which

resulted in deaths and

injuries. The Ministry of For-

eign Affairs reiterated the

State of Qatar’s firm posi-

tion rejecting violence and

terrorism, whatever the

motives and reasons. The

statement expressed the

condolences of the State

of Qatar to the families of

the victims and to the Gov-

ernment and the people

of Afghanistan, wishing

the injuried a speed recov-

ery. QNA

IN SHORTMessage from Singapore PM

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a written message from the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong. The message was handed to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, during his meeting yesterday with Singapore’s Ambassador to Qatar, Jai S Sohan.

QU signs MoU to develop Cyber Security AcademyTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar University (QU), repre-sented by KINDI Center for Computing Research at the College of Engineering, yesterday signed a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU) with the British PGI Group, to collaborate in the development of a Cyber Security Academy.

The MoU was signed by the Dean of the College of Engi-neering at Qatar University, Dr. Khalid Naji, and PGI’s Chief Cor-porate Development Officer, Sebastian Madden, in the presence of representatives from both sides.

Dr. Khalid Naji said that this MoU confirms the keenness of the College of Engineering at Qatar University to work with PGI group to provide, coordinate and oversee a comprehensive approach to cyber security skills training in Qatar.

He underlined the keen interest of the College of Engi-neering in cybersecurity through coordination with many local and international bodies to carry out advanced research in this field, in addition to organizing specialized courses as well as programs aimed at strength-ening cyber security at the national level in cooperation with various government agencies.

He pointed out that this memorandum contributes to activate the community part-nership and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and tech-nology with PGI for the service of the university and society, and deepen the relationship with the industrial sector towards more cooperation and mutual inter-action to support the educa-tional process and students.

The Director of KINDI Center for Computing Research, Dr. Noora Fetais, said that the development of technical capa-bilities in the field of cyber

security for all will have a sig-nificant impact on the devel-opment of society, which will contribute to the growth of the Qatari economy, and this Academy represents a fruitful collaboration between the aca-demic and industrial sectors towards supporting cyber security for all.

She added that the Academy is in response to the request of institutions and individuals to develop the practices of institu-tions and individuals and the way they deal with cyber security to spread awareness of the importance of this type of security, to protect and avoid any damages, stressing the need to focus on cyber security to reduce risks at this level.

Sebastian Madden expressed his pleasure for the partnership with QU, adding that they are pleased to be selected as a partner of the College of Engi-neering at QU to implement this valuable initiative and to enable the group to transfer knowledge and technology and develop the national capabilities of the State of Qatar in this field.

He added that the group is creating new cyber security pro-fessionals through retraining and role-based training pro-grammes, as well as the ongoing professional development of IT professionals and in all career paths through UK-accredited training.

SJC Chairman meets President of Turkish Court of CassationTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

The Chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) and the President of the Court of Cassation, H E Dr. Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi, met yesterday with the President of Court of Cassation of Turkey, Ismail Rustu Cirit, as part of his official visit to participate in the opening ceremony of the judicial year of the Turkish courts.

They reviewed areas of bilateral cooperation, including follow-up of the memorandum of understanding on judicial cooperation signed between the countries, and plans to activate programmes of exchange of experiences and expertise organised by mutual judicial training programmes.

In the framework of mutual relations, the Chairman of the SJC extended an invitation to the President of the Turkish Court of Cassation to visit Qatar and participate in the events organised by the SJC.

The meeting was attended by the Turkish General Prose-cutor of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Mehmet Akarca, and the Ambassador of Qatar to the Republic of Turkey, Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi.

The Chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council and the President of the Court of Cassation, H E Dr. Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi; Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Turkey, Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi; Turkish General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Mehmet Akarca; President of Court of Cassation of Turkey, Ismail Rustu Cirit, and other officials during the opening ceremony of the judicial year of the Turkish courts.

Dr. Khalid Naji said that this MoU confirms the keenness of the College of Engineering at Qatar University to work with PGI Group to provide, coordinate and oversee a comprehensive approach to cyber security skills training in Qatar.

Ministry of Education launches 13th Scientific Excellence AwardQNA DOHA

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has launched the 13th edition of the Scientific Excellence Award.

The Ministry said that appli-cation to participate in its various categories starts from October one until the end of the month.

The CEO of the Scientific Excellence Award, Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, held a press conference yesterday to present the objectives, vision, mission and the nine categories of the award.

Al Sulaiti stressed the importance of the award as it is an occasion to honour distin-guished Qataris in various fields in order to spread the culture of creativity and excellence in the Qatari society, pointing to its clear impact in promoting aspects of excellence among

individuals and institutions. Al Sulaiti pointed out that three of the previous winners of the award will represent the State

of Qatar in an international sci-entific forum to be held later in Geneva to encourage them for their continued excellence.

Al Sulaiti touched on the various activities of the award, including organising intro-ductory meetings for school

administrators and coordi-nators and concerned ministries and institutions, holding a number of training workshops for the award categories and the organization of its own docu-mentation exhibition.

The Executive Vice-Pres-ident of the Scientific Excellence Awards, Mona Al Kuwari, explained that the organising committee has developed an awareness plan and held some educational meetings in the summer centres of the Ministry of Culture and Sports about the award, in addition to involving parents in awareness pro-grammes to encourage them to nominate their children to par-ticipate in the various cate-gories of the award, as well as the participation of teachers who have won the award before in a number of awareness events.

Speaking at the beginning of the press conference, the

Director of Public Relations and Communication at the Ministry and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Award, H a s s a n A b d u l l a h A l Mohammadi, talked about the progress, objectives and ways to participate in the award and its various categories.

The Scientific Excellence Award is a pillar of the educa-tional system in the State of Qatar. It aims to honour the dis-tinguished Qatari students, and it is also a pathway that fosters creativity and innovation among students and educa-tional institutions.

The award works to deepen the concepts of excellence and creativity through the adoption of international standards, the implementation of specific pro-grammes and the integration of individual and institutional efforts to improve the outcomes of the educational process in Qatar.

The CEO of the Scientific Excellence Award, Dr. Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, speaking to media persons on the details of the award during a press conference at the Ministry, yesterday.

Students conduct research during internship programme hosted by HBKU’s QBRITHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), recently hosted the closing session of the fifth edition of its annual Summer Research Program, which provides partic-ipants with valuable insights and hands-on laboratory research experience in the areas of diabetes, neurological diseases, and cancer.

The annual research program offered exceptional undergraduate students intensive research training opportunities in a supportive, challenging, and conducive envi-ronment. The internships also aim to enrich participants’ expe-rience outside the laboratory through a series of seminars, workshops, and informal inter-actions with members of the sci-entific community at QBRI and other biomedical research insti-tutions in Qatar. At the end of the

program, each student prepared a poster and gave an oral pres-entation about their projects.

Dr. Omar El-Agnaf, executive director of QBRI, said, “Investing in our talented students is of par-amount importance to devel-oping our local capacity in sci-entific research and devel-opment. Our annual Summer Research Program aims to encourage students to pursue excellence in the field of bio-medical research . The partici-pants worked on several

interesting projects and I am highly impressed by the level of complexity and sophistication our young sc ient is ts demonstrated.”

The programme was divided into two batches this year, running from May 5 to June 27 and from May 19-July 11. Twenty students from universities across Qatar including Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar, Qatar Uni-versity, and the University of Calgary in Qatar spent the s u m m e r d e v e l o p i n g

their scientific research and lab-oratory skills. For the first time, the institute also hosted a student from Weill Cornell Medicine –Qatar (WCM-Q) as a part of the university’s Advanced Bio-medical Sciences Research course.

Aljazi M Al-Khalifa, a student at WCM-Q, whose project explored Cancer Lactate Metab-olism and Anti-tumor Immune Evasion in Breast Cancer, said, “During my summer research program at QBRI, I was fortunate

to work alongside a team of experts who I learned a lot from. The two–month internship gave me an opportunity to explore a career in research. More impor-tantly, it enhanced my laboratory skills and techniques and expanded my biomedical knowledge.”

During the programme, Bana Alsahan, a Qatar University student, worked on the Identifi-cation of Alpha Synuclein Anti-bodies to Identify Disease Rel-evant Protein Conformations.


Qatar Airways hosts gala dinner in AmmanTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways has hosted a glit-tering gala dinner under the patronage of HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, Jordan on Monday.

The gala dinner was attended by HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein; HRH Princess Rym Ali; HRH Prince Asem Bin Nayef; HRH Princess Sanaa Asem; HRH Prince Mired Bin Raad; HRH Princess Dina Mired; HRH Princess Najla Bint Asem; HRH Princess Salha Bint Asem; Minister of Transport of Jordan Anmar Khasawneh; Minister of Tourism and Antiq-uities Majd Shweikeh; President of the Jordanian House of Repre-sentatives Atef Al Tarawneh; Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive Akbar Al Baker; Charge’ d’Affairs of the State of Qatar in Jordan Abdulaziz Al Sada; and Ambassador of Jordan to the State of Qatar Zaid Al Lozi.

Speaking at the gala, Al Baker said: “For Qatar Airways, Jordan is a key market. We serve Amman with three-daily flights, on some of the world’s most modern wide-body aircraft, including the revo-lutionary Airbus A350. The opening

of this new office comes as a response to the increase in demand, which proves we have become a carrier of preference for the Jor-danian market. We are now keen to enhance our services and expand our offerings to the Jordanian people, and I am confident that the new office will enable us to achieve this objective” “Qatari visitors to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan reg-istered the biggest rise among all

tourists in 2018. Last year, 23,700 Qataris visited this beautiful country compared to 11,800 in

2017, a giant leap of over 100%.”During the gala dinner, HRH

Prince Ali and Al Baker had a photo taken holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar themed jerseys alongside the guest of honour, Bayern Munich football legend, Lothar Matthäus, the only outfield player in the world to compete in five World Cup tournaments.

Guests at the gala dinner were treated to an incredible per-formance by talented Qatari singer and record producer Fahad Al Kubaisi, who dedicated a special song to the VIPs, guests and the people of Jordan, reflecting on the strong rela-tionship between both countries. Additionally, globally renowned Jordanian singer, Omar Al Abdallat, also performed a remarkable line-up of his most

popular songs.Earlier in the day, the airline

hosted a media roundtable and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to offi-cially open the new office.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar actively participates in numerous Corporate Social Respon-sibility initiatives in Jordan, most notably its support to King Hussein Cancer Centre. Representatives from Qatar Airways visit the center reg-ularly, and the airline’s Kids Club mascots have made special appear-ances and entertained the young patients. Moreover, Qatar Airways has taken part in relief food distri-bution to underprivileged families in Jordan, in cooperation with Jordan Hashemite Charity Organi-sation, Qatar Charity and Qatar Red Crescent.

Qatar Airways also expressed its desire to attract more

Jordanian talent in many fields including engineering, air crew and operations. Last year, Qatar announced the creation of 10,000 jobs for Jordanian nationals in Qatar. The first Qatar Airways flight to Amman was in 1994, which makes this capital city one of the first destinations for the airline since its establishment in 1993. Currently, Qatar Airways operates 21 weekly flights between Doha and Amman.

In 2015, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian launched a code-share agreement, allowing pas-sengers of both airlines to benefit from connectivity to the most popular routes. Since then, the agreement has expanded to allow Royal Jordanian passengers to travel to the East through Qatar Airways’ hub, Hamad Interna-tional Airport.

Globally renowned Jordanian singer, Omar Al Abdallat, performing at the gala dinner.

HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (third right) and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker (centre) holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar-themed jerseys alongside the guest of honour, Bayern Munich football legend, Lothar Matthäus (second right), at the gala dinner hosted by Qatar Airways at Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on Monday.

Speaking at the gala, Al Baker said: “For Qatar Airways, Jordan is a key market. We serve Amman with three-daily flights, on some of the world’s most modern wide-body aircraft, including the revolutionary Airbus A350. The opening of this new office comes as a response to the increase in demand, which proves we have become a carrier of preference for the Jordanian market.

Since the US began talks in January with the Taliban, ostensibly to negotiate a “peace” deal and to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan have been left in the dark about both the process and the details of those dealings.

THE WASHINGOTN POST

10 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019VIEWS

The Afghan ‘peace’ deal will not bring peace to the Afghan people

In 2001, The United States gov-ernment invaded Afghanistan with the explicit aim to remove the Islamic fundamentalist group,

the Taliban, from power. Some 18 years later, the US government is negotiating a peace deal with the same violent group.

Since the US began talks in January with the Taliban, ostensibly to nego-tiate a “peace” deal and to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan have been left in the dark about both the process and the details of those dealings. Seven months and nine rounds of talks later, they are still no wiser.

On Monday, news spread across social media that the announcement of a deal was imminent. Afghans, on tenterhooks as to what decisions had been made about their future, had little choice but to refresh Twitter. This latest chapter, taking place in secrecy and uncertainty, is symptomatic of the entire process thus far, spreading fear and anxiety in the country.

The public-facing narrative of the talks has been inconsistent at best, and a major gaslighting exercise at worst. The US peace envoy, Zalmay Kha-lilzad, has spoken at length about the negotiations in many interviews, has

insisted that he “feels very good” about the negotia-tions and that “substantive progress” has been made, but has revealed little about the substance of the discus-sions taking place behind closed doors.

Pressed on why it believes that the Taliban will hold up their end of the bargain, which must include assurances

regarding counter-terrorism and a comprehensive ceasefire, the Trump administration has responded “trust, but verify”. For Afghans living through the daily slaughter and oppression of war, largely perpetrated by the Taliban, this means nothing.

Nearly 4,000 civilians have been

killed in Afghanistan in the first half of this year, with a 27 percent increase in war-related civilian deaths in the second quarter. Many of these deaths were claimed by the Taliban, although it is of note that Afghan security forces and their American allies killed a greater number of civilians in the first quarter. But a consistent pattern of increased attacks by the Taliban has emerged in recent weeks. The so-called “peace” talks fuel more violence as the Taliban use military force to maintain their negotiating position.

Since the talks were announced, civilians across Afghanistan and the diaspora mobilised and expressed their significant concerns about the exclusionary nature of the negotia-tions: in particular around the exclusion of the Afghan government, minority groups and women repre-sentatives who were barred at the Tal-iban’s insistence.

Some of these civil activists have argued that agreeing to the demands of the armed group would legitimise its position and embolden it to use the lives of Afghan civilians as leverage in the talks, but these voices have been excluded from the peace talks and silenced by the many threats the Taliban has made against anyone who dares to speak against them.

These activists warned that ignoring women and minority groups would further validate the Taliban position that the interests of these groups were secondary, but no one lis-tened. Quite the opposite: Women who spoke out about their fears of living under Taliban rule, and who urged the US not to trade their freedoms and safety by elevating the position of the Taliban were dismissed as lazy.

Cheryl Benard, the US Peace envoy’s wife, wrote an opinion piece in which she criticised Afghan women for speaking out with their concerns in Western media. She wrote: “Emanci-pation and equality aren’t the product of pity or guilt, and [Afghan women] aren’t owed them by someone else’s

army”, arguing that Afghan women needed to work for themselves and demand a seat at the table.

She appeared to ignore the fact that what had provoked her article was Afghan women doing just that. The fact that her husband is one of the key players in deciding who partici-pated in discussions appeared, to Benard, to be a negligible detail. She succeeded only in blaming Afghan women for their oppression.

The one constant factor in these talks has been to ignore and dismiss voices of those who stand to lose the most from a deal made in secret. Violent actors on one side hash out a crude and exclusionary deal with a negotiating team tasked with finding a speedy exit strategy for the sake of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

If and when the intra-Afghan talks begin, with the new power dynamic favouring the Taliban and the con-tinued delegitimisation of the elected representatives, the odds are stacked against the Afghan government.

Yesterday, as Khalilzad sat to give his first interview on Afghan national television to announce the broader strokes of an “in principle” agreement with the Taliban, the group launched a deadly attack in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 16 people and injuring over 100 civilians.

The past few months of US-Taliban negotiations have demon-strated to the Afghan people that all those around the negotiating table do not feel the need to hear their voices and consider their lives cheap.

Many Afghans are left wondering whether their sacrifices for women’s rights, democracy and freedom were made in vain. With so much suffering and death associated with Afghan-istan, what’s a little more?

Sahar Halaimzai is an Afghan writer, advocate and human rights campaigner. Horia Mosadiqi is an Afghan human rights activist, political analyst and journalist.

SAHAR HALAIMZAI & HORIA MOSADIQI AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAYThe international community must

multiply its efforts to free the Yemeni people

from the persistent injustice they have

been enduring.

Kamel Jendoubi Chairperson of the UN

Group of Experts on Yemen

Trump’s crucial decision on nuclear power

In the ongoing mash-up of the tragic and the trifling that is the modern news cycle, one crucial story getting far too little attention is President

Donald Trump’s effort to revive the US nuclear power industry. The nuclear fuel cycle is vital to our nation in terms of the power that nuclear energy can provide (without which there is no hope for sig-nificant reductions in carbon output) and the security guaranteed by our nuclear weapons. Yet both are imperiled by neglect.

On that front, there is a countdown clock ticking toward a major decision that few if any national security experts are focused on. On July 12, Trump moved decisively to change that, issuing a memo demanding “a comprehensive review of the entire domestic nuclear supply chain.” If you have heard of this memo-randum, you are ahead of 99.9 percent of policymakers, but word needs to spread, and the president’s resolve on paper needs translation into specific actions.

The uranium cycle is, basically, (1) uranium mining and milling, (2) con-version into uranium hexafluoride gas

and (3) enrichment. Natural uranium has about a 0.7 percent concentration of the fissile uranium-235 isotope. Enrichment increases that share; just under 4 percent gets you nuclear fuel for electricity while 90 percent can get you a bomb (or fuel for a naval reactor).

About 90 percent of the uranium used by US utilities is imported, thus the first step in the “uranium cycle” is dan-gerously dependent on foreign sources. Not only do you need domestic pro-duction of uranium, you need domestic enrichment.

The United States, however, saw its last plant for highly enriched uranium in Paducah, Kentucky, shuttered earlier this decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster sent shudders through the nuclear power industry.

The United States must now dilute its preexisting stockpiles of highly enriched uranium - the end product of an expensive and difficult process - into lower-state products. Like pulling up your floorboards to burn in the furnace, this solution is neither efficient nor sus-tainable in the long term. Though our current stockpiles could in theory be made to last until around 2040, facing

increasing threats from Russia and China, we can’t predict what new demands will be placed on this finite stockpile in the next few years.

Thirteen countries (including North Korea and Iran) are now ahead of the United States in terms of indigenous enrichment capacity - and all of those countries’ foreign enrichment plants are state-owned. It would be foolish to count on foreign governments to allow us to use their enrichment plants to fuel our warships or maintain our nuclear weapons. Outsourcing one of our core national security requirements is never a good idea.

If people are serious about significant slowing of carbon emissions, they have to be for safe nuclear power production. If they are serious about long-term maintenance of our nuclear deterrent, they have to be for domestic production and enrichment of uranium. If they are serious about national security in every dimension, they will agree with what the president said in his July memorandum: that the country must “reinvigorate the entire nuclear fuel supply chain, con-sistent with United States national security and nonproliferation goals.”

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK [email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM [email protected]

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI [email protected]

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Another 2022 milestone

The FIFA World Cup 2022 is 38 months, three weeks and two days away and Qatar is cruising towards it at lightning speed. The countdown to the first-ever

football World Cup in the Middle-East has well and truly begun.

Yesterday, Qatar reached yet another milestone by revealing the emblem of the 2022 World Cup with a worldwide reveal.

The logo revealed via projections on the facades of major buildings and landmarks in Qatar and 24 other countries across the world is seen as an important milestone for FIFA, the world governing body of football, and Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), which is tasked with the preparations for the event.

The SC has taken up the initiative to generate more interest among football fans worldwide which can be seen from the fact that the logo was displayed on giant screens in New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Mexico City, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Berlin, as well as in Milan, Madrid, Moscow, Mumbai, Seoul, and in various regions of Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, Beirut, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco

and Iraq.The SC said it has completed

more than 75 percent of the preparations for the tour-nament, including two sta-diums; Khalifa International Stadium and most recent one being the Al Janoub Stadium.

A third and fourth stadium, Al Bait and Al Rayyan, are to follow suit in December.

From 2010, the year it was awarded hosting rights of the FIFA showpiece event and a wave of infrastructure devel-opment has followed. Highways have been constructed, a swanky metro rail connecting ends of the city with 3 lines and 37 stations has come up.

The arrival of the World Cup has largely helped speed up the rate of development and it jells well with the ‘National Vision 2030’ plan that aims to transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of

achieving sustainable devel-opment by 2030.

The tournament in Qatar is going to be the second edition of the quadrennial flagship tournament hosted by an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member association, the first one was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002.

In December this year Qatar will be hosting the FIFA Club World Cup, which will serve as a test event for the 2022 event. The likes of Champions League winner Liv-erpool will be among the teams competing for this year’s title.

Qatar is leaving no stone unturned in making it a mem-orable World Cup which is scheduled between November 21, 2022, and December 18, 2022, instead of the conven-tional International FIFA window during June-July, thus making it the first-ever winter World Cup.

Qatar is leaving no stone unturned in making it a memorable World Cup which is scheduled between November 21, 2022, and December 18, 2022, instead of the conventional International FIFA window during June-July, thus making it the first-ever winter World Cup.

Afghan policemen inspecting the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday.

11WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 OPINION

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Prisoner swap with Russiatests Ukraine President

In Iraq’s Baiji, mines turn farms into killing fields

LEONID BERSHIDSKY BLOOMBERG

MAYA GEBEILY AFP

For months, Ukraine and Russia have been negotiating a major prisoner exchange that would clear the slate for

substantive negotiations on ending the war in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-supported separatists have set up two unrecognized statelets, the

so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peo-ple’s Republics (DNR and LNR). But so far, despite a series of false alarms, the swap hasn’t taken place; if it does, look for this name among those traded to Russia: Volodymyr Tsemakh.

The presence of Tsemakh, the former DNR air defense commander and a key witness in the investigation of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014, on the list of traded prisoners would send an important signal concerning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zel-enskiy’s intentions in further talks with Russia. It would help understand whether Zelenskiy plans to stick to his predecessor Petro Poroshenko’s implacable stance or make painful concessions in order to end the war.

About 35 people held by each side are likely to be traded. Ukraine would get back the 24 sailors Russia seized in the Kerch Strait last November, several activists arrested in Russian-annexed Crimea, including the best-known of them, film director Oleg Sentsov, and two people sentenced to long prison terms for allegedly fighting against Russian troops in Chechnya in the 1990s. Russia would likely get Kirill Vyshinsky, editor of the Ukrainian subsidiary of the propa-ganda agency RIA Novosti, and a number of separatist fighters, including those the Kremlin maintains were “furloughed” Russian service members who had fought against Ukrainian forces.

The two countries first came close

to doing the exchange before Ukraine’s parliamentary election in July. It could have been seen as a goodwill gesture from the Kremlin ahead of the peace talks, but the political moment was inopportune. The party of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s friend and ally Viktor Medvedchuk was running against Zel-enskiy’s new political party. Medvedchuk was heavily involved in the exchange talks so a successful swap could be interpreted as Putin helping his friend rather than Zelenskiy.

The deal never came together but the talks continued so that Putin and Zelenskiy could meet in the so-called Normandy format - with French Pres-ident Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel mediating - in September, per Macron’s proposal. On August 30, a false alarm in a Facebook repost by Ukraine’s newly appointed, inexperienced prosecutor general sent relatives of the Ukrainian captives to one of Kyiv’s two airports to wait for a plane with their loved ones to land. No such flight had been scheduled, however. Something had come apart.

A number of Ukrainian media and bloggers, including some I personally know and trust, have since advanced the theory that Russia had scuppered the deal with a last-minute demand that Ukraine give up Tsemakh, abducted by Ukrainian intelligence from separatist-held territory about two months ago.

Because of his involvement in the DNR air defense in 2014, Tsemakh potentially knows about the downing of MH-17, which an international investigation led by Dutch prose-cutors established was hit with a Buk missile from separatist territory. Russia has been adamant that it wasn’t involved in the downing of the plane, in which 298 people, most of them Dutch, perished, but the investi-gative team has named three Russian suspects in the case. The Ukrainian news site thebabel.net has published a purported leaked letter from the lead investigator, Fred Westerbeke, telling Ukrainian prosecutors on August 30 that Tsemakh was considered a suspect rather than a witness and that it would be a good idea to hold him for further questioning.

The Dutch daily NRC wrote on Monday that it had confirmed the

letter’s authenticity but that, according to the Dutch Public Prose-cution Service, Ukraine was free to trade Tsemakh because he was “in a Ukrainian cell for a Ukrainian case.”

Russian sources, official and unof-ficial, have never mentioned Tsemakh in the context of the planned prisoner exchange. On Monday, the Moscow daily Kommersant, which has good Kremlin sources, reported that the exchange had been held up because of legal issues, such as whether the Ukrainian sailors would be sent home with original or copies of their Russian criminal case files and what the official basis would be for the trade.

The understandable dearth of official information about the exchange makes it hard to determine exactly what’s going on. Both sides, however, say that the negotiations are continuing; both Putin and Zelenskiy appear to be loath to disappoint Macron and Merkel, who would like to hold peace talks this month. Without the exchange, the talks will be all but hopeless: both sides need to demonstrate willingness to hold a constructive discussion and com-promise if necessary.

If the exchange takes place and Tsemakh is sent to Russia, it will mean Zelenskiy is willing to use his considerable political capital - 70 percent of Ukrainians support him - to prioritize humanitarian matters over holding Russia responsible for its depredations in east Ukraine. Such an approach would make it likely that he would also favor a broad amnesty for the separatists once the “people’s republics” rejoin Ukraine, something Moscow has been demanding.

If Tsemakh is not part of the swap, that can mean one of two things: That the Russian demand for him was a false rumor or that Putin is impatient enough to restart the peace process to let the MH-17 investigation acquire a key person of interest. If the exchange doesn’t take place at all, it will stymie the peace process; Zelenskiy will be forced to let the war drag on without even a realistic hope of freezing the conflict to prevent further deaths.

For the young Ukrainian pres-ident, the exchange is a test; whatever the outcome, it will set the course of the game he’ll have to play for the next four years against vastly more experienced Putin.

One man lost his uncle. Another is mourning for two sons. Farmers and herders in Iraq’s Baiji say mines left

by the Islamic State group turned their beloved orchards into killing fields.

The improvised explosive devices, planted by jihadists trying to fend off Iraqi troops in 2015, have also dis-couraged scores of families from returning to their battered farming towns around Baiji, in the north of the country.

“Daesh’s ghosts are still here. Their crimes are still there, under the earth,” said local official Abu Bashir, using an Arabic acronym for IS. His thin face contorted into a grimace as he recalled his personal loss to those “ghosts” — both his sons.

“We came back in March 2018 and found the area booby-trapped. There was nowhere we could feel safe,” he

said. “As the kids were playing, a bomb exploded under my six-year-old son who was outside the house. He was killed immediately.”

Exactly a year later, in March of this year, unexploded ordnance also killed his 18-year-old son.

He said the experience had left him too scarred to try rebuilding his home, reduced to rubble by ferocious fighting between IS and security forces.

“A man bitten by a snake will be afraid of a rope, as the saying goes. After my two boys were killed, I’m afraid of everything.” Lahib, 21, has also been touched by IS’s deadly legacy.

“We got our houses back but the remnants of war are still there. Daesh left us with booby-trapped homes,” he said. “One of these homes blew up on my uncle. I saw it with my own eyes.”

The loss pushed him to join Halo Trust, a non-profit group clearing unexploded ordnance in Baiji since June as part of the United Nations’ Mine Action Service (UNMAS).

In temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), Halo Trust mine searchers scanned a field near Baiji for an IS speciality: plastic jerrycans packed with explosives and rigged to pressure plates.

The bombs appeared to have been planted in long rows parallel to a main thoroughfare to defend against incoming Iraqi troops.

Mine searchers used excavators to map out the bombs, then mechani-cally defused them so Iraqi troops could take the components away.

“When we talk as friends, it’s clear no one hasn’t seen injustice and explosions with his own eyes. This is why we’re doing this job,” said Lahib.

In Baiji alone, 340 explosive hazards were removed since UNMAS operations began, with up to 25 IEDs uncovered daily.

UNMAS says the scope and com-plexity of IED contamination in IS-controlled areas is “unprecedented”, with tripwires painted to blend in with surroundings and even Iraqi currency turned into bombs.

The fear of undiscovered threats has kept around 100 families away from the area, said Abu Mohammad, another local official.

“People want to come back, live in their homes and get on with normal lives, but when they see that this guy got blown up or that guy was killed, they stay away,” he said.

“This soil means so much to us and we hope this kind of thing — losing our loved ones, our children, our homes — doesn’t happen on it.”

More than 2,500 people remain displaced from Baiji, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Returns seem to be speeding up,

For the young Ukrainian president, the exchange is a test; whatever the outcome, it will set the course of the game he’ll have to play for the next four years against vastly more experienced Putin.

with some 15,000 people back in their home district since December.

For the most part, however, they are returning to an utterly destroyed moonscape.

The town of Baiji is a labyrinth of mostly-abandoned buildings, still riddled with bullet holes and craters. Twisted rebar stick out from the ruins like crushed spider legs. UNMAS hopes clearing IS-laden explosives will allow for Baiji’s reconstruction, but other challenges remain.

The area is controlled by various Iraqi paramilitary factions that must approve any activity, which aid workers said slows down their work.

“We get authorisation from one group but it doesn’t work with the others, so we end up going to four or five different groups before we can start working,” one mine removal worker said.

Iraqi parliamentarians from Sunni-majority areas, including Baiji, have also complained that the government has not allocated enough reconstruction funds to the area.

“The problem is huge but the effort to fix it is small,” said Iyad Saleh, programme director at Iraqi non-profit group IHSCO.

He spoke on the sidelines of an IHSCO awareness session at a Baiji elementary school, where volun-teers showed pupils pictures of IEDs strewn in the dirt and warned them of the gory consequences of touching them.

“If the rate of reconstruction is so weak and slow,” said Saleh, “it will take long years to return this area to the way it was before.”

Iraqi mine clearers working for Halo Trust, scan agricultural and industrial fields near Iraq’s Baiji.

Al Hammadi meets ACD Secretary-General

QNA DOHA

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, met yesterday with Secretary-General of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Pornchai Danvi-vathana, who is currently visiting the country. During the meeting, they reviewed relations of cooperation between the State of Qatar and the Asian Cooperation Dialogue, in addition to topics of common interest.


Attorney-General meets delegation from RwandaTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Attorney-General, H E Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, met yesterday with a government delegation comprising members of the pros-ecution, judges and police officers from the Republic of Rwanda. The delegation concluded a training

course at the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (Rolacc) on cybercrime, its implications and impact on the work of judicial bodies.

During the meeting, His Excellency answered a number of questions from the delegation about the nature of the judicial system in Qatar and the

achievements of the State of Qatar in combating corruption and cybercrime.

The training was part of a series of courses offered by Rolacc within the framework of the con-tinuous training plan for the African countries, which began in Gambia in March.

The three-day course covered

theoretical and practical training that includes types of cybercrimes and their multiple forms, the latest forms of such crimes and how to control them and ways to prevent and avoid them and the institu-tions combating such crimes in the state, in addition to practical exercises on how to avoid hacking electronic accounts.

Attorney-General H E Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri with the government delegation comprising members of the prosecution, judges and police officers from the Republic of Rwanda, at Rolacc, in Doha, yesterday. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr.

Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, with Secretary-General of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Pornchai Danvivathana.

Chief-of-Staff attends seminar in Jordan

QNA AMMAN

The Chief-of-Staff of the Qatar Armed Forces Lieutenant-General (Pilot) H E Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanem has taken part in the seminar of senior commanders of the countries participating in the Eager Lion exercise 2019, which is currently taking place in the Hashemite

Kingdom of Jordan.His Excellency also visited the King Abdullah

II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) accompanied by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General (Pilot), Yousef Ahmed Al Hunaiti.

During the visit, H E the Chief-of-Staff was briefed on the most important drills witnessed by the Eager Lion Exercise.

The Chief-of-Staff of the Qatar Armed Forces Lieutenant-General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanem has taken part in the seminar of senior commanders of the countries participating in the Eager Lion exercise 2019, which is currently taking place in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Regional conference on cultural diversity in Doha concludesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The regional conference on cultural diversity organised by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), concluded yesterday.

Under the slogan ‘Culture: Bridges of Dialogue and Under-standing,’ the two-day con-ference was attended by senior officials and representatives of the ACD States. The final day of the conference saw a cultural dialogue between representa-tives of a number of Asian coun-tries in two sessions moderated by Director of Wijdan (Con-science) Center Dr. Jassim Sultan.

Assistant Dean for Social and Human Sciences of Qatar Uni-versity’s College of Arts and Sci-ences Dr . Abdulnasser Saleh Al Yafei presented a paper during the first session on cultural diversity, human rights and the promotion of societal cohesion, saying that the human rights con-cepts reinforced the notion of universality, which in its extreme form meant that rights are applied to every State and indi-vidual without exceptions, but difficulties appeared in applying or interpreting it in a particular culture, adding this creates a dilemma in determining the role that culture could play in pro-

moting human rights.Dr. Al Yafei said that there is

a need to reconsider some human rights that are not compatible with different cultures and some-times threaten social cohesion.

In another paper presented by Director of the Center for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies at the University of Kuwait Dr Maha Mishari Al Sajari addressed the topic of culture as an eco-nomic resource that stimulates creativity and innovation.

She stressed that culture with its various foundations of museums, theaters and cinema has become an important eco-nomic resource, for example, the income of the Eiffel Tower is an important economic source and represents 1/15 of the national income in France, and tourism revenues in Oman in 2016 amounted to more than $ 3bn, pointing out that the highest global

income from tourism is in the United States of America at an average of $93bn annually. She also highlighted the development of tourism and the rich cultural reality in the State of Kuwait.

The third paper was pre-sented by associate professor at the University of Foreign Studies in Beijing Yeh Liang Ying on dia-logue between Chinese and Arab civilisation.

Ying underlined the achieve-ments of the dialogue between the two civilisations historically and realistically, noting that the trans-lation between the two civilisa-tions was one of the most important of these achievements, as the first translation from Arabic into Chinese was in 1899, and then the movement of cultural exchange and knowledge was activated, and culminated in the opening of more than 50 Arabic language sections in China.

The researcher at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) Dr Kareem Darwish, spoke about the role of tech-nology in promoting cultural dialogue and understanding, reviewing some of the research conducted at QCRI on automated analysis of Twitter to understand users’ diverse attitudes towards sensitive issues such as support for armed groups in the Arab world, and the adoption of racist ideas against Muslims and ref-ugees in the West.

Falconry enthusiasts throng Katara as S’hail 2019 opensRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

A large number of falconry and hunting enthusiasts flocked to the third Katara International Hunting and Falcon Exhibition (S’hail 2019) on its grand opening day yesterday at Katara Cultural Village.

Visitors thronged the various stalls and pavilions at the vast exhibition area which extends from Katara Hall to the Wisdom Square to see the massive display of some of best breeds of prized falcons, a wide array of falconry accessories, hunting weapons, camping supplies and cus-tomized off-road vehicles, among others.

In what is considered the biggest of its kind exhibition in the Middle East, the five-day event attracted more than 140 of the most prominent brands in the field of hunting and falconry sup-plies from different countries around the world including Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, Kenya, Italy, Russia, UK, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Romania, South Africa,

Spain, Lebanon, USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Turkey, Iran and Portugal.

Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara and Chairman of S’hail Organising Committee expressed his satisfaction on the progress of the exhibition and the turnout on the first day saying that the show had emerged as an inter-national hub for hunting and falcon enthusiasts with the growth it had witnessed over the years since its first edition in 2017. “The numerous interna-tional participants reflect the success of the previous editions of the exhibition which attracted more and more of hunting-spe-cialised companies and manu-facturers, including falcon breeders from 20 different coun-tries,” said Al Sulaiti.

Yesterday’s opening event also saw the attendance of VIPs, officials and ambassadors and representatives of various mis-sions in Qatar.

“I’m very much impressed not only of the size of the exhibition

but also its quality. We know that falcons are very important for Qatari society. I’m really impressed with the amount of people and the popularity of falcons here in Qatar. This fair provides an insight into Qatari culture,” said Belgium Ambas-sador to Qatar Bart De Groof.

As soon as it opened its doors, S’hail witnessed a steady stream of hunting and falconry enthu-siasts who flocked the various dis-plays and sales immediately began at various sections of the vast exhi-bition. The falcon auction, which is one of the unique elements of S’hail, has added a new feature which is digital auction.

A couple of daily competi-tions were announced by the organizers including the best falcon hood which carries prizes of $3,000; $2,000 and $1,000 for the first to third places respectively as well as the best booth with a prize of QR20,000.

The exhibition is open today, tomorrow and on Saturday from 9am to 10pm and on Friday from 3pm to 11pm.

Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara and Chairman of S’hail Organising Committee, and other officials and VIPs visiting one of the stalls during the opening of the third Katara International Hunting and Falcon Exhibition (S’hail 2019) at Katara Cultural Village, yesterday.

The final day of the conference saw a cultural dialogue between representatives of a number of Asian countries in two sessions moderated by Director of Wijdan (Conscience) Center Dr. Jassim Sultan.


QFFD, IsDB sign development loan agreement with TajikistanQNA DUSHANBE

Qatar Fund for Development, representing Lives and Liveli-hoods Fund (LLF), and Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), signed a development loan agreement with the Government of Tajikistan, aimed at improving maternal, newborn and child health services in four districts of Khatlon region.

The project focuses on four key objectives which are enhancing access to maternal, newborn and child health services, building institutional and human capacity in targeted health facilities, improving public awareness of health-seeking behavior and establishing func-tional referral system.

The vision of LFF, which is currently chaired by Qatar Fund for Development is to provide assistance to the 33 poorest member countries of IsDB. In its projects, the fund focuses on financing health care, agriculture

and infrastructure development. Qatar Fund for Development

works in partnership with

several other international donors to implement LLF’s mission of providing financial

development tools for devel-oping countries in the Islamic world.

Representatives of QFFD, IsDB and officials of the Government of Tajikistan signing the agreements during a ceremony held in Dushanbe.

QSTP gears up for third edition of AIATHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Devel-opment, and Innovation, is inviting university students from Qatar and the MENA region to apply for the third edition of its Arab Innovation Academy (AIA) – the largest entrepreneurship boot-camp of its kind in the region.

A collaboration between QSTP and the European Inno-vation Academy (EIA), the hands-on entrepreneurship program will introduce partic-ipants to an accelerated mode of experiential learning, including how to develop and launch a tech startup in a real marketplace with customer feedback.

Yosouf Abdulrahman Saleh, Executive Director, QSTP, said: “The first two editions of the program proved to be out-standing successes, as

demonstrated by the high level of participation from 30 coun-tries from across the region. The upcoming edition of the program will provide a new batch of budding entrepreneurs with the opportunity to gain invaluable insights and guidance from leading Silicon Valley mentors and experts from the world’s top corporations, who will help the aspiring participants launch their startups and market their tech products in Qatar and beyond.”

The first and second editions of the two-week startup boot-camp featured 127 and 196 entrepreneurs, respectively, from Qatar and abroad, making up a total of 34 teams. The

second edition of AIA also wit-nessed even greater partici-pation in the program from young Arab women. Several par-ticipants have gone on to launch successful startups after com-pleting the program, which aims to equip participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue technology devel-opment and make a positive impact in the world through innovation.

Alar Kolk, President, EIA, said, “European Innovation Academy is proud to partner with QTSP for the third edition of the Arab Innovation Academy, and to contribute to Qatar’s thriving startup ecosystem. With

the most innovative technology – including Artificial Intelligence and robotics – we are teaching entrepreneurship to students and young professionals as we truly believe that a new star will rise from Arab countries to disrupt economies and businesses in the future.

“We are providing the tools, and cultivating a mindset of innovation among young people to challenge the world’s biggest problems – problems that affect one billion lives every day.

Here and now is the right moment and place to create our new future.”

The EIA is the world’s largest extreme entrepreneurship program, offering aspiring tech-preneurs from across the globe the necessary support and men-torship to launch a startup in just 15 days.

The deadline to apply closes on September 30, 2019. The AIA will kick off on January 7, 2020, and will run until January 20, 2020.

2019 WISE awards winners announcedTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initi-ative of Qatar Foundation, has revealed the six winners of the 2019 WISE Awards, which initi-atives aims to recognise projects that strive to address global educational challenges

Each year, the WISE Awards recognize and promote inno-vative projects from across the world that address global edu-cational challenges, and this year’s winners include ‘Family Business for Education’, ‘United World Schools: Teaching the Unreached’, ‘Micro:bit Educa-tional Foundation’, ‘Programa Criança Feliz’, ‘Arpan’s Personal Safety Education Programme’, and ‘Akilah Institute’.

Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE, said, “We are very excited to announce the 2019 WISE Awards winners. Each project varies in terms of project focus, geographical distribution, and reach.

“The WISE Awards demon-strate once again how global organizations and governments can tackle pressing education challenges with innovative solu-tions in sustainable and scalable ways. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our jury and pre-jury members who did a thorough job in evaluating the projects.”

The winning projects inno-vatively tackle a number of pressing educational issues, including financing education, providing access to education in remote and underprivileged

areas, promoting coding across different geographical locations, implementing personalized early childhood education inter-ventions based on cognitive sci-ences, improving child safety to eliminate sexual assault and harassment, and providing women market relevant edu-c a t i o n t o i m p r o v e employability.

This year, WISE received 481 project submissions, the WISE team and a panel of pre-jurors shortlisted the submissions to 15 finalists.

The six winners were selected by the WISE Awards jury after an independent assessment conducted by L.E.K Consulting.

Ashwin Assomull, Partner, Global Education Practice, L.E.K. Consulting, said, “The WISE Awards winners represent the best of the education sector glo-bally, pushing the boundaries of innovation in the sector. L.E.K. was proud to once again support the assessment of the excep-tional finalists for these awards.”

Each winning project must be an established, innovative educational project that has already demonstrated a trans-formative impact on individuals, communities, and society of their context. They also need to be financially stable, have a clear development plan, and be scalable and replicable.

The projects will be cele-brated during the WISE Summit, which – taking place in Doha from November 19-21 – is being held under the theme ‘UnLearn, ReLearn: What it means to be Human’.

Akilah Institute, one of the WISE Awards 2019 winners.

Police Training Institute organises forum for graduates of foundation coursesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Police Training Institute held yesterday a forum for graduates of the foundation courses for the new officers (sixth batch), during which 318 officers and personnel received various training related to police work.

The first of its kind forum

comes within the framework of the Ministry of Interior’s keenness to develop various training fields, raise the capabil-ities of the employees, and strengthen the plan of the Police Training Institute to develop training programs according to a scientific methodology.

Director of the Police Training Institute Major Ali Saud

Al Hanzab stressed the impor-tance of the forum to develop the future training programs of the Institute and measure the impact of training courses in practice for graduates after they start working in various departments of the ministry.

The institute seeks to benefit from the experiences, opinions, observations and proposals of

graduates of the foundation courses of the new police in order to develop training pro-grams offered in the founding courses, stressing that the Institute will pay attention to the results of the questionnaire, which was distributed during the forum.

For his part, Head of Mil-itary and Sports Training

Department Captain Faisal Saad Al Hajri reviewed the objectives of the forum in eval-uating the subjects of the new police courses, and assessing the practical and field training, trainers and training super-vision, in addition to evaluating the level of training services and reviewing suggestions and observations.

A collaboration between QSTP and the European Innovation Academy (EIA), the hands-on entrepreneurship program will introduce participants to an accelerated mode of experiential learning, including how to develop and launch a tech startup in a real marketplace with customer feedback.

Ooredoo announces sponsorship of S’hail 2019THE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo yesterday announced it is the Official Telecommuni-cations Sponsor for the third Katara International Hunting and Falcons Exhibition — S’hail 2019, one of the most exciting cultural events on Qatar’s calendar.

The exhibition dedicated to falconry — one of Qatar’s most culturally important sports - runs until September 7 at Katara Cul-tural Village, Doha’s cultural hub.

The exhibition is the largest international exhibition dedi-cated to falcons and will be a real taste of traditional Qatari sport and culture; a falcon auction, demonstrations and exhibitions, training and even cultural activ-ities for kids, including sniper

training. There is a pavilion ded-icated to fishing handicrafts and bird supplies.

Ooredoo hosts a booth at the

exhibition to showcase its exciting devices, products and services with the latest tech-nology and developments.

Speaking of the sponsorship, Manar Khalifa Al-Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Com-munications, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Promoting Qatari culture and heritage is of vital impor-tance to Ooredoo.

It is part of our company culture to ensure we support events that preserve our identity for future generations and we actively seek every opportunity to support com-munity events and initiatives in line with this. The falcon exhibition is a fantastic event for all the family, and the perfect way to share our rich heritage and culture, and we’re

delighted to be involved.” More info on the Katara

International Hunting and

Falcons Exhibition — S’hail 2019 can be found at www.s-hail.qa or katara.net.

The exhibition is largest international exhibition dedicated to falcons and will be a real taste of traditional Qatari sport and culture; a falcon auction, demonstrations and exhibitions, training and even cultural activities for kids, including sniper training.

Ooredoo ‘s booth at S’hail 2019 at Katara Cultural Village.

TAGTech launched to produce tablets and laptopsTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global) has announced the establishment of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh for Technologies (TAGTech) with the aim to produce high-quality tablets and laptops at competitive and affordable prices.

Through this new initiative, TAG.Global is making a new breakthrough by expanding from offering professional services and shifting to the pro-duction of high-tech devices and digital tools, hence, it attests its capacity to manufacture and provide institutions and indi-viduals with any digital devices through production lines in China. Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of TAG.Global, affirmed that TAGTech has already finished manufac-turing process of TAGITOP-Plus and TAGITOP-Multi laptops with specifications that meet student needs from elementary to uni-versity education in addition to work needs at all levels.

Moreover, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said that TAGTech has also finalized the manufacturing of TAG-DC Tablet, a device that facilitates access to knowledge in the easiest and fastest way.

It is noteworthy to mention that new TAGITOP devices come with a 15.6 inch full HD with Intel HD-Graphics card.

14 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Rouhani rules out direct talks with USAFP TEHRAN

Iran President Hassan Rouhani yesterday ruled out holding any bilateral talks with the United States and threatened to further cut Iran’s commitments to a nuclear deal within days.

Iran and three European countries — Britain, France and Germany — have been trying to save the landmark agreement reached in 2015 and meant to limit Tehran’s nuclear pro-gramme after the US pulled out last year.

In a speech to Iran’s par-liament yesterday, Rouhani said any dialogue with the US would have to fall within the framework of the six major powers that agreed the nuclear deal.

“Maybe there has been a misunderstanding. We’ve said it several times and we repeat it - there has been no decision to hold bilateral talks with the US,” said the Iranian president.

“In principle, we don’t want bilateral talks with the United States,” he told lawmakers.

“If the United States lifts all sanctions... it would be possible to talk (to them) during 5+1 meetings as in the past,” Rouhani said, referring to the powers involved in negotiating the 2015 deal.

“We have received several proposals (to have talks with the United States) and our answer has always been negative.”

Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May 2018 when Trump unilat-erally withdrew the US from the nuclear deal and began reim-

posing crippling sanctions.The two countries were on

the cusp of confrontation in June when Iran downed a US drone and Trump ordered retaliatory strikes before cancelling them at the last minute.

Iran has riposted by scaling back its nuclear commitments in response to the US with-drawal from the deal, which gave it the promise of relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its atomic programme.

It has already increased its uranium enrichment and stock-piles, and Rouhani said yes-terday a “third step will be enacted in the coming days” unless the remaining parties to the deal honour their own commitments.

“If by Thursday these nego-tiations yield no results, we will announce the third step of the reduction of our commitments,” he said.

“Our steps have been taken in such a way that it doesn’t take much time to get back to the starting point,” he said.

Rouhani voiced regret over the failure of European govern-ments to fulfil pledges they made during negotiations.

Amphibious assault vehicles cruise towards the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), in Gulf of Aden, in this picture released by US Air Force, yesterday.

Report: Japan not to join US coalition in the Gulf REUTERS TOKYO

Japan will not join a US-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force inde-pendently, the Yomiuri news-paper reported yesterday.

Though the United States is Japan’s most important ally, Tokyo has fostered economic ties with Iran, and Japanese firms had been major buyers of Iranian oil until US sanctions forced them to find other sup-pliers. Citing unidentified gov-ernment sources, the Yomiuri said Japan was considering a plan to send its Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) on infor-mation-gathering missions in the areas around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab shipping lane between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea.

It would also consider including the Strait of Hormuz in the SDF’s sphere of activity if Iran agrees, the paper said.

Asked about the newspaper report, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to mention specific measures that the government was considering to ensure the safety of Japanese vessels.

“As for what kind of steps would be effective to secure the safety of navigation of Japanese ships in the Middle East, we would like to look into the matter from various angles including stable crude oil supply, and Japan’s ties with the United States and Iran,” Suga said. The Japanese government is set to make a final decision later this month, the Yomiuri said.

Possible war crimes committed in Yemen: UNREUTERS GENEVA

The United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by arming and providing intelligence and logistics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Nations said yesterday.

UN investigators recom-mended that all states impose a ban on arms transfers to the warring parties to prevent them from being used to commit serious violations.

“It is clear that the continued supply of weapons to parties to the conflict is perpetuating the conflict and prolonging the suf-fering of the Yememi people,” Melissa Parke, an expert on the independent UN panel, told a news conference.

“That is why we are urging member states to no longer supply weapons to parties to the conflict,” she said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the main parties in the coalition fighting against

the Houthi movement that con-trols Yemen’s capital, are two of the biggest buyers of US, British and French weapons.

The experts compiled a secret list of suspected war crim-inals. Investigators found potential crimes on both sides, while highlighting the role Western countries play as backers of the Arab states and Iran plays in support of the Houthis.

Panel chair Kamel Jendoubi declined to reveal details of the list of suspects, adding: “What is sure is that we have gathered sufficient facts and sufficient tes-timonies that would allow to bring those individuals to justice at a later stage.” “There are no clean hands in this combat, in this contest,” panellist Charles Garraway said.

The report accused the anti-Houthi coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE of killing civilians in air strikes and delib-erately denying them food in a country facing famine. The Houthis, for their part, have shelled cities, deployed child

soldiers and used “siege-like warfare”, it said.

The Houthis drove Yemen’s government out of the capital Sanaa in 2014. The Saudi-led coalition intervened the fol-lowing year to restore the ousted government, a conflict that has since killed tens of thousands of people.

The prospect of famine has

created what the United Nations describes as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, where 24 million people rely on aid.

The UN report said its inde-pendent panel had sent a secret list to UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, identifying “individuals who may be responsible for international crimes”.

Southern separatist fighters patrol a road during clashes with government forces in Aden, Yemen on August 29, 2019.

Palestinian student makes it to Harvard after US refusalAFP WASHINGTON

A Palestinian teenager has succeeded in entering the United States and starting classes at Harvard University yesterday after US authorities’ initial refusal to let him enter at the airport triggered wide condemnation.

Amideast, a Washington-based group that supports international education, said Ismail Ajjawi arrived on Monday at Boston’s Logan International Airport and made it safely to Harvard for the start of the academic term yesterday.

“We are pleased that Ismail’s Harvard dream will come true after all,” said The-odore Kattouf, the group’s pres-ident and CEO.

“Ismail is a bright young man whose hard work, intelli-gence and drive enabled him to overcome the challenges that Palestinian refugee youth con-tinue to face in order to earn a scholarship,” he said.

The 17-year-old based in Lebanon said he was ques-tioned for eight hours when he flew to Boston on August 23, with an airport officer asking about his religion and searching his laptop and phone.

Ismail said that an officer “started screaming at me” about political postings on his social media pages even though they were written by his friends and not by him.

As the case gathered wide media attention, Amideast said that Harvard pressed Ismail’s case and that the US embassy in Beirut reissued a visa that allowed him to travel back to the United States.

US authorities said legal reasons prevented them from explaining why they previously barred Ismail.

Kuwait, Turkey discuss boosting military tiesQNA ANKARA

The Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, met with the Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, yesterday.

During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and ways of enhancing military cooperation, according to the Kuwait News Agency.

Kuwait Ambassador to Turkey Ghassan Al-Zowawi said in a statement that the two ministers also delved into the latest developments in the region. The two sides also agreed to activate previously signed agreements between the two ministries, the ambassador added.

2 explosions in Syria town,one deadREUTERS BEIRUT

At least one civilian was killed and more than 16 wounded yesterday by two bombs hidden in motorbikes in the Syrian border town of Azaz, two witnesses and a security source said.

They said the first booby-trapped motorbike exploded at a busy thoroughfare in the bus-tling town near the Turkish border killing one person and wounding at least 11 others.

At least five more people were wounded when another motorbike exploded an hour

later near a mosque close to the first blast, a witness said.

A third motorcycle in the town of Rai to the east of Azaz was found before it exploded, a police security source said.

Rebels have long accused the powerful Kurdish YPG militia of carrying out blasts they say seek to sow fear in areas where Turkey has carved a sphere of influence.

Civil defence personnel and residents inspect the site of a motorbike explosion in Azaz district of Aleppo, Syria, yesterday.

Syrian Kurds to pull back from Turkish borderAP BEIRUT

A US-backed mostly Kurdish force in Syria yesterday carried out a patrol along with the US-led coalition near a border town with Turkey to select forti-fications to be removed as part of an agreement to set up a safe zone along the country’s northwest border, a spokesman for the group said.

Mustafa Bali of the Syrian Democratic Forces tweeted that the patrol occurred near the town Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey, which seeks to set up a buffer zone along its southern border.

The SDF announced last week that it has begun

withdrawing its fighters from the border towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn as part of a deal for the so-called safe zone in northeast Syria involving the US and Turkey.

Turkey has been pressing for a safe zone to ensure security on its border running east of the Euphrates River toward the Iraqi border. Turkey wants to control — in coordination with the US — a 19-25 mile deep zone within civil war-ravaged Syria.

Turkey wants the region along its border to be clear of Syrian Kurdish forces and has threatened on numerous occa-sions to launch a new operation in Syria against Syrian Kurdish forces if such a zone is not established.

Iran oil tanker turns off tracker near SyriaAP DUBAI

An Iranian oil tanker pursued by the US turned off its tracking beacon, leading to renewed speculation yesterday that it will head to Syria.

The imposition of heavy eco-nomic sanctions on Iran have blocked it from selling its crude oil abroad, a crucial source of government funding for the country.

The Adrian Darya, which carries 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude worth some $130m, switched off its AIS beacon just before 1600 GMT on Monday, according to the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com. The ship was some 45

nautical miles (83 kilometers) off the coast of Lebanon and Syria, heading north at its last report.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had alleged the US had intelligence that the Adrian Darya would head to the Syrian port of Tartus, just a short dis-tance from its last reported position.

Iranian officials haven’t identified who bought the Adrian Darya’s cargo, only that it has been sold.

The US, which has sought to seize the tanker, alleged in federal court that the ship is owned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organi-sation answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The US recently

declared the Guard a terrorist organization, giving it greater power to pursue seizing its assets. US officials since have warned countries not to aid the Adrian Darya, which previously said it would be heading to Greece and Turkey before turning off its tracker on Monday. Authorities in Gibraltar alleged the ship was bound for a refinery in Baniyas, Syria, when they seized it in early July. They ultimately let it go after holding it for weeks.

The actions of the Adrian Darya follow a pattern of other Iranian ships turning off their trackers once they reach near Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, said Ranjith Raja, a lead analyst at the data firm Refinitiv.

The Iranian President said his country would take the next step to reduce its commitments in coming days unless the remaining parties to the nuclear deal honour their own commitments.

15WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 AFRICA

Sudan’s PM selects Cabinet including a woman as FMREUTERS KHARTOUM

Sudan’s prime minister has approved 14 civilian members of his cabinet, the first to be appointed since the overthrow of long-time leader Omar Al Bashir in April, a source said yesterday.

The nominations include Sudan’s first female foreign min-ister, and a former World Bank economist as finance minister who will face an economic crisis that triggered months of protests against Bashir and has deepened in recent months.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok approved them along with 12 other new ministers, a member of the main civilian group in the ruling Sovereign Council said.

Asmaa Abdalla had been chosen as foreign minister, according to the member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) grouping, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ibrahim Elbadawi, a former World Bank economist who had been managing director of the Cairo-based think tank Eco-nomic Research Forum since 2017, would serve as finance minister and Adel Ibrahim was tapped to lead the Energy and Mining Ministry, the source added. General Jamal Aldin

Omar, who was a member of the Transitional Military Council that took over from Bashir, will become defence minister, he said. The government will lead a three-year transition to elec-tions under a power-sharing deal between the military and civilian opposition.

Hamdok, speaking at a press conference in Khartoum alongside Germany’s foreign minister, did not mention the appointments but said it would be “logical” for women to receive appropriate representation since “the women of my country were on the frontline of this revolution”.

“Sudan’s economic challenge is a big challenge, but we can tackle it,” Hamdok said.

“In the near-term, we need to address the shortage of

commodity items — sugar, flour and petroleum.

“On the currency front, we need to stop inflation, deal with the exchange rate of the national currency, and restore confidence to the banking system,” Hamdok said, adding he hoped to do so in six months to one year.

Elbadawi, who has a PhD in economics from North Carolina State University, had said in April that he hoped Sudan could get help from some countries which pledged aid to the military council after Bashir’s fall.

“Sudan essentially needs a mini-Marshall plan, given the destruction which happened in the country, and the corruption,” he said at the time.

“I would think, from my experience at the World Bank, in three months you can actually have an agreement with the IMF for balance of payments support. As well as, of course — the World Bank can provide budget support.”

The FFC presented lists of candidates for all portfolios except for defence and interior, for which the military chose nominees. Consultations between Hamdok and the FFC were taking place for four min-istries. Hamdok was expected to announce the full cabinet in the next two days, state news agency SUNA said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (left) and Sudan’s interim Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok attend a joint press conference in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, yesterday.

Sudan urges US to drop terror blacklistingAFP KHARTOUM

Sudan’s new premier yesterday called for the United States to drop his country from its state sponsors of terrorism list, insisting it was crucial to economic revival.

The United States in late 2017 lifted economic sanctions that it had imposed on Sudan in 1997, but kept the country on its “terror” blacklist along with Iran, North Korea and Syria.

Sudanese officials have con-sistently complained that this

has hampered economic growth by discouraging foreign investment.

“We believe that the situ-ation is suitable for removing Sudan from the terrorism list,” Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said at a joint press conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

Sudan has been “in negoti-ations with the Americans and (we) expect there would be progress on removing Sudan from the terrorism list,” Hamdok said. Maas said integration of Sudan into the global economy

was essential. “I am confident that we will... lay the foundation that gets Sudan the international support that it needs at this important stage,” he said.

But implicitly acknowl-edging that the process may take some time, he said removal from the US blacklist “will depend largely on development and reforms in Sudan over the coming weeks and months”.

Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. The UN last year ranked it 167th out of 189 in its Human Development Index.

S Africa vows crackdown as 5 die in xenophobic attacksAFP JOHANNESBURG

Five people have been killed in a surge of xenophobic violence in South Africa, police said yesterday, as President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to clamp down and the African Union, Nigeria and Zambia condemned the attacks.

Hordes of people — some armed with axes and machetes — gathered in Johannesburg’s central business district for a third day of unrest directed against foreigners, hours after mobs burned and looted shops in the township of Alexandra, prompting police to fire rubber bullets to disperse them.

Five deaths — most of them South Africans — have been reported, police said, adding that 189 people had been arrested.

In a video address broadcast on Twitter, Ramaphosa said attacks on businesses run by

“foreign nationals is something totally unacceptable, something that we cannot allow to happen in South Africa.”

“I want it to stop immedi-ately,” said Ramaphosa, adding that the violence had “no justi-fication.” Sporadic violence against foreign-owned stores and enterprises has a long history in South Africa, where many locals blame immigrants for high unemployment.

The country is a major des-tination for economic migrants from neighbouring Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Others come from much farther away, including South Asia and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

This week’s assaults appear on a greater scale than in the past, although the full details remain unclear.

The violence and looting of shops occurred in Johannesburg and surrounding areas.

Similar incidents occurred in the capital Pretoria on Monday, when local media reported shacks and shops burning in the Marabastad — a central business area largely populated by eco-nomic migrants.

Nigeria summoned its South African ambassador to express “displeasure over the treatment of her citizens” and said it would dispatch a special envoy.

Several Nigerians used social media to call for a boycott of

South African companies, including telecoms provider MTN, satellite television service DSTV and retailer Shoprite.

Separately, African Union chairperson Moussa Faki con-demned the violence “in the strongest terms” but said he was encouraged “by arrests already made by the South African authorities”. Zambia has can-celled an international friendly football match which was slated for Lusaka next weekend against South Africa.

“This is because of the security concerns, you never know what can happen,” Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) secretary general Adrian Kashala, said. “We want to be sure of the security of (the) vis-iting team”. The attacks on foreign stores began a day after South African truckers started a nationwide strike on Sunday to protest against the employment of foreign drivers.

Policemen in plainclothes patrol the Alexandra township in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday.

Supporters of presidential candidate, Nabil Karoui, hold his picture as they take part in a rally in front of the courthouse asking for his release from prison in Tunis, Tunisia, yesterday.

Tunisia court upholds detention of presidential candidateREUTERS/TUNIS

A Tunisian appeals court yesterday upheld the detention of media magnate Nabil Karoui, a candidate in this month’s presi-dential election, on suspicion of tax fraud and money laundering, his lawyer said.

Karoui, who denies any wrongdoing, had sought to be freed, but the court rejected the demand to release him, lawyer Kamel Ben Massoud said without giving details or further comment.

Karoui, the owner of Nesma TV channel, is one of the most prominent candidates in the Sep-tember 15 election along with

current and past prime ministers, a former president, the defence minister and the representative of a major Islamist party.

He is running as a campaigner against poverty in a country where economic troubles have caused widespread frustration despite the transition to democracy since a 2011 revolution.

Karoui founded a charity to combat poverty in 2017 and then set up a political party, leading his critics to accuse him of using his foundation to advance his political ambitions, which he denies.

His political says his detention is politically-motivated.

14 passengers dead in Mali mine blast AFP BAMAKO

Fourteen bus passengers were killed yesterday by a road mine in central Mali, the bus company said.

The vehicle was en route from the central town of Douentza to the northern town of Gao, Oumar Ould Mamoud of the Sonef bus company said.

“The new toll is 14 dead and eight injured,” he said, adding that there had been about 50 people on the bus.

Police earlier had given a toll of eight dead and 13 injured, and said the blast occurred 30km from Douentza.

Another police official said “terrorists” had set down the mine.

A Malian military unit by coincidence had been travelling on the same road and was able to provide assistance to the pas-sengers, the source said, and Sonef said it had sent a second bus to pick up them up.

The UN stabilisation force in Mali, MINUSMA, condemned the attack which it said had caused “many deaths and 30 injuries,” adding that some of the injured were helicoptered out.

MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado said on Twitter that two women and two children were among the injured. Northern Mali fell into the hands of militants in 2012 before the militants were forced out by a French-led military intervention. But much of the region remains chronically unstable and since 2015 vio-lence has spread to the centre of the country, an ethnic mosaic. Militants have carried out dozens of hit-and-run raids and mine attacks, striking troops as well as civilians.

In January 2018, 24 Malian and Burkinabe citizens, including women and children, were killed in a blast in central Mali as they headed to a weekly fair. The insurgents have also inflamed tensions between rival communities, particularly nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary farmers. Hundreds of lives have been lost in tit-for-tat assaults.

Burkina Faso coup leader’s wife sentenced to 30 yearsAFP OUAGADOUGOU

A military tribunal in Burkina Faso yesterday handed down a sentence of 30 years to the wife of a general convicted of leading a deadly coup bid four years ago.

The prison term imposed on Fatoumata Diendere exceeds the 20-year sentence given to her

husband Gilbert Diendere on Monday for masterminding the 2015 plot against the west African country’s transitional government.

Instigated by soldiers from an elite army unit loyal to ousted president Blaise Compaore, the putsch failed after army-backed protesters stormed the rebels’ barracks. Dozens of defendants,

including top generals and pol-iticians, were put on trial over the coup, which killed 14 people.

Gilberte Diendere, who had been Compaore’s right-hand man and a former head of the elite unit, the Presidential Security Regiment, was con-victed on Monday on charges of murder and harming state security. His wife was found

guilty in absentia of similar charges, as well as assault and battery. According to the military prosecutor, she had “suggested in a phone call to her husband that he start a rebellion from the Po region (in Burkina Faso’s south) when she knew that the coup would fail, and that he would incur the maximum penalty”.

UN migrant centre in Libya ‘severely overcrowded’AFP TRIPOLI

The United Nations said yesterday its centre in the Libyan capital for migrants singled out as “most vulnerable” was overcrowded and appealed for third countries to take in more refugees.

“UNHCR continues to call for more slots for resettlement, evacuations,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.

It said the refugee organi-sation’s centre in Tripoli was “severely overcrowded”, housing 1,000 people rather than its capacity of 700 places.

“The infrastructure and services at the GDF (Gathering and Departure Facility) are stretched thin, with deterio-rating living conditions that may lead to an unsustainable situation,” it warned. The GDF has been overstretched since a July 3 air strike that killed 53 people at a detention centre in the eastern suburb of Tajoura.

Consultations between PM Hamdok and the Forces for Freedom and Change are still under way for four ministries. The PM is expected to announce the full cabinet in the next two days, state news agency said yesterday.

16 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

Ayodhya: Muslim parties concede ‘Shebait’ rights to Nirmohi AkharaIANS NEW DELHI

The Muslim parties yesterday expressed their willingness to concede ‘Shebait’ rights from 1858 to the Nirmohi Akhara which has claimed that its rights have not been challenged by any party, on the 18th day of hearing in the Ayodhya title dispute in the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties, submitted before the Supreme Court that there no con-testation to ‘Shebait’, which he described as a manager, from 1858.

A Constitution bench com-prising of five judges and headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi is hearing the Ayodhya title dispute.

Dhavan contended before the bench to imagine a scenario where a magnificent Ram temple is built: “What would happen to Shebait after the construction of this temple?” He also argued that how did the Nirmohi Akhara get the outer courtyard because it was given to them.

The inner courtyard, which has been claimed by the Hindu parties as the birthplace of Ram is land-locked in the outer courtyard.

According to the source in Nirmohi Akhara: “The Muslim parties only conceded the rights of the Shebait in the outer courtyard. They are probably trying to target the suit number 5 filed Devki Nandan Aggarwal who claims to be the next friend of the deity, therefore avails the

legal right to represent the deity. Akhara’s Shebait right has not been challenged by anybody.” Though, Dhavan initially argued against claims of Nirmohi Akhara stating that the relief sought comes from their edginess to get the management rights.

He told the court that the Akhara wanted attachment order to go so that they could manage the property again, and they are not concerned about anything else.

Dhavan told the bench the idols were moved from the Ram Chabutra, outer courtyard, located at eastern outer wall of the dis-puted structure on the intervening night of December 22 and morning of December 23, 1949.

Justice S A Bobde, one of the judges on the bench, queried Dhavan: “Has any witness said that the same idol which was outside was installed inside, in the inner courtyard where did it come from?”

Dhavan replied that he finds a kind of break in logic, as people as a matter of belief go there and offer prayers.

Justice DY Chandrachud, judge on the bench, queried Dhavan: “Even if we were to not accept Janmasthana (the birth-place) is not a juridical person (subject to law), won’t the right of the deity as a juridical person extend to the entire area in dispute? How can you keep out Sita Rasoi and Ram Chabutara out, you worship all of that.”

Dhavan contested this argument of the Hindu parties referring the Janambhoomi as the birthplace of Ram. He contended before the court that “they (Hindus) claim we want that spot, how can this be the exact spot?” “There was a massive temple, and this is the spot?” he told the court stating that these claims were exaggerated.

Initially, during the hearing Dhavan cited the report of the Waqf inspector, a person authorised to monitor the area, but the court queried if the veracity of the contents of the report been validated.

He said according to the report ‘namaz’ was offered in the inner courtyard. He told the court under the middle dome in the inner north arch calligraph-ically ‘Allah’ has been inscribed on the wall. He also affirmed the presence of ‘wazu’ inside the dis-puted structure.

Dhavan claimed before the court that there is not a single evidence to show exclusive own-ership of Hindus over the dis-puted property, and “Parikarma” establishes worship but it cannot mean entitlement of the disputed structure.

Environmental activists and supporters take part in a rally to protest against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, in Siliguri, yesterday. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro vowed on Monday to defend his controversial Amazon policy at this month’s UN General Assembly even if he had to do so “in a wheelchair.”

Rallying for protection of Amazon forests

SJM asks PM to decline Bill and Melinda Foundation awardIANS NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to receive an interna-tional award but a RSS affiliate has raised an objection to it.

Modi has been chosen for the prestigious ‘Global Goalkeeper Award’ by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his contri-bution to cleanliness through the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. But the Swadeshi Jagran Manch has urged the Prime Minister against either attending the event or accepting the award.

According to Ashwani Mahajan, the co-convener of the organisation, PM Modi’s acceptance of the award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will not only dilute SJM’s fight against the US NGO and its policies but it will also be seen as an endorsement of its activities.

“Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for is notorious for illegal field trials. Few people lost their lives due to that. We have been fighting their pol-icies as they are a business that t h e y w h i t e w a s h a s

philanthropy,” Mahajan said in an interview.

Mahajan has also been vocal in the past to remove the Foun-dation’s India chief from the Reserve Bank Of India board, citing conflict of interest.

While it is unclear whether Modi will pay heed to the SJM’s concern, but chances are unlikely since the award is a rec-ognition that celebrates any political leader who has “dem-onstrated their commitment to the Global Goals through impactful work in their country and/or globally”.

ED arrests Karnataka Cong leader ShivakumarIANS NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate yesterday arrested former Karnataka minister and senior Congress leader DK Shiva-kumar in a money laundering case, officials said.

A senior ED official said: “Shi-vakumar was arrested on Tuesday evening following his questioning for the fourth time by the agency.” He said Shivakumar was arrested on charges of money laundering. The official said that Shivakumar was evasive and non-cooperative during ques-tioning by the agency.

Shivakumar deposed before the financial probe agency on Friday for the first time after the Karnataka High Court rejected his petition for interim protection from arrest by the agency.

An Income Tax search at his New Delhi flat on August 2, 2017 led to seizure of unaccounted cash worth Rs 8.59 crore.

Thereafter, the Income Tax Department lodged cases against the Congress leader and his four other associates under Sections 277 and 278 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and Sec-tions 120(B), 193 and 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

CEC heads Association of World Election Bodies IANS BENGALURU

India’s Chief Election Commis-sioner (CEC) Sunil Arora has been elected as Chairman of the Asso-ciation of World Election Bodies (AWEB) for two years, an official statement said yesterday.

“Arora, who succeeded Romania’s Lon Mincu Radulescu, assumed chairmanship for the next two years up to 2021 at the three-day 4th general assembly

of the Association here,” the poll panel said in a statement.

On the occasion, outgoing Chairman Radulescu handed over the Association’s flag to Arora in the presence of Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandran and partic-ipating delegates.

Radulescu is the advisor to the Romania’s permanent election authority. The flag will remain with Arora for the two-year term till 20121.

“India was unanimously nominated to the top post of the AWEB at its last general assembly in Romania’s Bucharest in 2017,” said the statement.

Citing Mahatma Gandhi’s writings, Arora said democracy was the art and science of mobi-lising the physical, economic and spiritual resources of the people in the service of all.

“The preamble of the AWEB charter spells out its vision to foster cooperation between the

electoral management bodies (EMBs) for a credible electoral process, promote free and fair elections, develop democratic culture and ensure gender equality and inclusion of people with disabilities,” Arora said.

Noting that two-thirds of the global population lives under democratic rule, the CEC said he would strive to strengthen the interaction and partnership with the AWEB secretariat, promote Association activities and

empower the EMBs through its capacity building programmes.

The general assembly also ratified the appointment of South African Election Commission Chairperson Glen Vuma Mashinini as the Association’s new Vice-Chairman and of South Korea’s Jonghyun Choe as the new Secretary-General.

About 110 delegates from 45 countries the world over are attended the three-day meeting since Monday.

Paramilitary soldiers question a motorist at a roadblock during a lockdown in Srinagar, yesterday.

Strict vigil

Three CISF men among 4 dead in oil plant blazeIANS RAIGAD

Three CISF firemen and a unit head were killed, while three others injured when a massive fire broke out in a storm water drainage network at the ONGC’s oil and gas processing plant in Uran, Navi Mumbai, officials said here yesterday.

The victims are ONGC’s Res-idential Chief Plant Supervisor C N Rao, aged 50, and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawans of the Fire Wing (ONGC Unit), who were killed in the line of duty, are E Nayaka, MK Paswan and SP Kushwaha.

Police said that according to information received by them, around 6.45am, the CISF fire brigade was alerted of a gas leak near the LPG plant on the complex and a team of ONGC and CISF personnel rushed to the spot.

They managed to detect and close a leaking valve and were waiting to observe if there were more leaks, but suddenly there was a huge blast followed by a massive fire, killing the three CISF firemen and the plant supervisor.

Even as reinforcements were summoned, the others

continued to fight the blaze in which three were hurt and hospitalised.

According to preliminary reports, the suspected cause of the fire could be a leakage and a blast in one of the pipelines in the sprawling high-security complex which is out of bounds for all.

Local eyewitnesses said they heard a huge explosion and within seconds, saw the inferno with clouds of dark smoke bil-lowing out of the conflagration on the ONGC complex, which was visible for several kms around.

“There is no impact on oil processing. Gas has been diverted to Hazira plant (in Gujarat). The situation is being assessed,” an ONGC spokes-person said earlier yesterday.

The blaze was brought under control after nearly three hours and then cooling opera-tions taken up. Preliminary reports indicate massive damage to the gas and oil pipe-lines which could disrupt sup-plies to consumers for some time.

In an immediate fall-out of the fire, gas supplies of both PNG and CNG were severely hit in Mumbai, according to Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL).

Chidambaram’s CBI custody extended IANS NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court yesterday said that former Finance Minister P Chidambaram will remain in the Central Bureau of Investiga-tion’s (CBI) custody till September 5 despite the inves-tigating agency informing the court that it does not want to

question him further.Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal

and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Chidambaram, assured the court that they will not press for his interim bail in the trial court till tomorrow.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court that the agency does not want further custodial interrogation of Chidambaram and

the judiciary must allow the law to take it’s own course.

The submission made by Mehta indicated that Chidambaram should be sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody.

The former minister on Monday had insisted that the court not send him in judicial custody.

Mehta requested the top

court not to regulate proceedings pending before the trial court. However, the top court ordered to maintain status quo in the INX media case. The top court yes-terday said that it is not inclined to hear the matter at length.

However it added: “We are conscious that we should not usurp the jurisdiction of the con-cerned trial court”.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties, submitted before the Supreme Court that there no contestation to ‘Shebait’, which he described as a manager, from 1858.

17WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 ASIA

People wade through a flooded road after heavy monsoon rains in Karachi, Pakistan, yesterday.

Heavy rains cause flooding in Karachi

Notice to TV channel in alleged tax evasion caseINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of Pakistan has served a notice to ARY Communications Limited and raised a tax demand of Rs992 million against the tele-vision channel.

The revenue board claims that the entity evaded tens of millions i n t a x e s t h r o u g h

misrepresentation, concealment and misuse of exemptions, thereby causing a substantial loss to the national exchequer.

The order follows a detailed exchange with ARY Communica-tions in which the media house was unable to clear the accusa-tions levelled against it by the FBR.

The FBR investigation states that a Dubai-based firm named ARY FZLLC undertook

transactions with Pakistan-based ARY Communications and ARY Films and TV Productions under a business agreement. The group tax assessment showed that the ARY group obtained exemptions by claiming to export locally-pro-duced content to the offshore entity in order to evade local taxes.

ARY said that the revenue board had not made correct cost comparisons.

16 dead in Kabul blast as US tries to finalise Taliban dealAFP KABUL

A massive blast in a residential part of Kabul killed at least 16 people, officials said yesterday, following yet another Taliban attack that came as the insur-gents and Washington try to finalise a withdrawal deal.

US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in the Afghan capital to discuss the proposed deal — which would see the US withdraw troops in return for Taliban security guarantees —when the Monday bombing happened.

Local television footage showed a massive crater near crumbled blast walls, twisted metal where buildings once stood and the charred remains of a petrol station that had caught fire and blown up as a result of the attack.

Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the blast was caused by a tractor packed with explosives that had been parked alongside a wall by Green Village, a large fortified com-pound that houses aid agencies a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l organisations.

Five gunmen then tried to storm the area in a “complex attack”, but Afghan security forces shot and killed them

before they got far into the com-pound, Rahimi said.

In addition to the 16 killed, 119 were wounded, he added, noting that all the victims were civilians. The bombing was the third major Taliban attack in as many days — and the violence is likely to continue, Taliban expert Rahimullah Yusufzai said.

The insurgents are con-vinced it was their military strength which has forced Wash-ington to open talks with them on a withdrawal, he said.

“This is the weapon in their hands and they will keep on

using it until they gain their objectives,” he said.

Residents in the area around Green Village were furious that their neighbourhood, which has been targeted before, had been hit once again and blamed the assault on the nearby interna-tional presence.

“All our rooms have been destroyed, and I don’t know where to go now,” a woman victim in a local hospital said.

“My two daughters have been injured and are in the hos-pital. This explosion ruined our lives.” Locals set tyres on fire,

sending plumes of thick, acrid smoke into the morning sky, and closed off a main road next to the scene of the attack. The sound of gunfire could be heard Monday morning but by the afternoon the situation appeared to have calmed.

“We want these foreigners to move out of our neigh-bourhood,” resident Abdul Jamil siad. “This is not the first time we suffer because of them... We don’t want them here anymore.” The most recent previous attack on Green Village was in January, when a powerful truck bomb killed at least four people and wounded more than 100 others.

Green Village is separate from the nearby Green Zone, a walled-off and heavily fortified part of Kabul that is home to several embassies including the US and British missions.

The Taliban claimed Mon-day’s attack, which was con-demned by President Ashraf Ghani and came as Afghanistan’s main TV station, Tolo News, was broadcasting an interview with Khalilzad.

The envoy, who has spent about a year negotiating with the Taliban, told Tolo the US would pull troops from five bases across Afghanistan under a final deal if the Taliban honour their end of the bargain.

Smoke rises from the site of an attack after a massive explosion the night before in Kabul, yesterday.

Australia says asylum seekers from Sri Lanka on the rise REUTERS NEGOMBO, SRI LANKA

The number of Sri Lankans trying to enter Australia illegally by sea is rising, an Australian general said yesterday, a day after Canberra said it had inter-cepted a 13th boat carrying asylum seekers from the Indian Ocean island.

The increase could be linked to the Easter bombings on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka, said Craig Furini, the chief of Oper-ation Sovereign Borders, that killed hundreds of people and sowed fear on the island.

“There has been a slight increase recently,” Furini told reporters in the coastal town of Negombo from where many

migrants are believed to have boarded boats.

“Obviously, the tragic Easter bombings here may have played an effect, but also a whole bunch of unknowns as to why people would be seeking to come to Australia illegally by boat,” he

added. The boat carrying 13 people was intercepted off the Cocos Islands, a remote Aus-tralian territory in the Indian Ocean. It was the 13th boat from Sri Lanka attempting to travel to Australia to seek asylum in the past 18 months.

The head of Australia’s operation to combat illegal maritime migration Major General Craig Furini (left) inspects the western fisheries harbour along with Sri Lanka Navy Director-General Operations Niraja Attygalle, in Negombo, Sri Lanka, yesterday.

UN rights investigator on Myanmar lambasts Suu KyiAFP/SEOUL

Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has washed her hands of the Rohingya crisis, a UN rights investigator said yesterday.

Yanghee Lee, a university professor in Seoul who is the United Nations Special Rap-porteur on human rights to Myanmar, said Suu Kyi was “ter-ribly misguided and misin-formed” about the abuses against the stateless Muslim minority in her country.

The Nobel laureate was under house arrest for years when Myanmar was a military dictatorship before her party won elections in 2015 by a land-slide, in the first fully free vote for generations.

Hopes were high that she would usher in a new era of

freedom, but more than 740,000 Rohingya have since been driven out of the Buddhist-majority country and into Bang-ladesh in a 2017 army crackdown.

The US in July banned Myan-mar’s army chief Min Aung Hlaing and other officers for their role in the campaign of “ethnic cleansing”.

Suu Kyi was spared from the sanctions but no longer deserved to be called a democracy activist, Lee said. “She should step up and really speak out for the treatment that the Rohingya had suffered for decades,” she said.

“It’s time for her to speak out and use the word, call them the way they identify themselves as the Rohingya.” Myanmar calls the persecuted minority “Bengali”, refusing to grant them citizenship or basic rights.

Dhaka bans mobile services in Rohingya campsAP DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Bangladesh’s telecommunica-tions regulatory body has asked operators to shut down cell-phone services in sprawling camps in the southeast where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live, citing a security threat and illegal phone use, an official said yesterday.

Zakir Hossain Khan, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, said they asked the operators to respond to the order within seven days.

“The decision has been taken for national security reasons,” he said by phone.

“We have been stunned to see that Rohingya refugees are using mobile phones illegally and we don’t have a clear understanding of the situation,” he said.

Asked what sort of security threat the country is facing, Khan said a recent survey in the camps revealed that mobile phones are being used there illegally. He said they have reports that people are present there who pose a threat to national security, but would not elaborate.

In recent months, more than 40 Rohingya have been killed amid concerns that some refugees are involved in smug-gling illegal drugs from Myanmar. Last month, a ruling party member was killed in the area and police blamed Rohingya for the murder. At least four Rohingya have been killed in recent weeks in what police described as shootouts between suspected Rohingya criminals and law enforcers.

Until mobile phone services are halted, operators have been asked to suspend data and Internet service between 5pm and 5am every day in the camps in Cox’s Bazar district, meaning that only basic phone calls can be made, Kahn said. Khan said it was clear that the law is being broken because no one is allowed to obtain a cellphone SIM card without a national identity card or passport, which most refugees don’t have.

Pakistan govt defends waivers for businesses INTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The government of Pakistan has defended its decision to write off about Rs210bn to big busi-nesses out of their outstanding Rs420bn bills on account of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC), saying it gave up ‘uncertain’ past bills to secure a lower but more certain future revenue stream.

“It is not a free lunch to fer-tiliser or any other sector,” said Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan at a hurriedly called joint news conference with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar who said the GIDC waiver ordinance was drawn up on the pattern of GIDC (Amendment) Act intro-duced by the PML-N gov-ernment for a similar set-tlement with the CNG sector.

The minister said the ferti-liser industry will have to submit to a forensic audit to determine if it had collected GIDC from farmers, and if so, to what extent and would have to refund such amounts to the farmers through future price adjustment or sur-render these amounts to the government treasury.

Qureshi speaks with Turkish,Iranian FMs on KashmirANATOLIA ISLAMABAD/KARACHI

Pakistani foreign minister yesterday discussed the deteri-orating situation in disputed Jammu and Kashmir with top diplomats from several Muslim nations.

In separate telephone con-versations with his Turkish, Iranian and Bangladeshi coun-terparts, Shah Mehmood Qureshi brought the latest situation in the Indian-administered Kashmir forefront, according to his office.

During his talk with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavu-soglu — second time over the last week —, Qureshi apprised him of “gross human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir, and escalating instability in the region”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The massive security lockdown since August 5 had caused an acute shortage of food, medicines, and other basic necessities of life in the pictur-esque Himalayan valley, Qureshi told Cavusoglu.

“The unarmed Kashmiri Muslims have been looking towards the international com-munity, mainly the Muslim world [to put pressure on India]”, the statement added.

Noting Turkey’s role for

unity among Muslim countries, Qureshi once again thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for supporting his coun-try’s stance in the current crisis and raising voice in support of Kashmiris at all forums.

He also stressed that the two countries shared similar views on many regional and interna-tional issues, and they had sup-ported each other in hard times.

The two foreign ministers agreed to continue the bilateral discussions on Kashmir, and to meet during the UN General Assembly session next month.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, in his conversation with Islamabad’s top diplomat, expressed his “deep concern” over current crisis in Jammu Kashmir cautioning that these steps would add to already

heightening tensions in the region, Pakistani Foreign Min-istry said in another statement.

Qureshi briefed his Bangla-deshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen on the “illegal and uni-lateral actions of India” to alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir, which was in “contra-vention of the international law and UNSC [UN Security Council] resolutions”, said the ministry in a third statement.

“The foreign minister high-lighted continuously deterio-rating human rights and human-itarian situation in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including severe shortage of food and lifesaving medicines, com-munications blackout and com-plete lock-down for the last 30 days. “The Bangladeshi foreign minister emphasiSed the impor-tance of resolving disputes through dialogue and discus-sions. The two ministers agreed to remain in contact,” the statement read.

Jammu and Kashmir is under near-complete lockdown since August 5. India blocked commu-nications and imposed strict restrictions while political leaders in the region have been detained. Right groups have repeatedly called on New Delhi to lift the restrictions and release political detainees.

Noting Turkey’s role for unity among Muslim countries, Qureshi once again thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for supporting Pakistan’s stance and raising voice in support of Kashmiris.

18 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

China trusts Hong Kong to end unrest, says LamREUTERS HONG KONG

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said yesterday that she had never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the Chinese-ruled city’s political crisis, responding to a media report about a recording of her saying she would step down if she could.

China for its part expressed confidence in Lam and her gov-ernment but said it would not sit idly by if the unrest threatened Chinese security and sovereignty.

Lam told a televised news conference that she had never considered asking to resign and that Beijing believed her gov-ernment could solve the three-month-long crisis without China’s intervention.

“I have not even contem-plated discussing a resignation with the central people’s gov-ernment. The choice of resigning, it’s my own choice,” Lam said.

“I told myself repeatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong... That’s why I said that I have not given myself the choice to take an easier path and that is to leave.” Lam added that she was disappointed that com-ments made in a private meeting, where she had been sharing the “journey of my heart”, had been leaked.

At a news conference given by China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, no questions were raised directly about the Lam tape, and a spokesman and spokeswoman did not refer to it.

They denounced the violence and Western countries seeking to use the Hong Kong issue to interfere in China’s affairs, and reiterated that China would never tolerate Hong Kong inde-pendence or a leader who was not loyal to Beijing.

The central government firmly supported Lam and her government, they said. But it would not sit by forever if the violence continued, spokes-woman Xu Luying said.

“The central government will not allow chaos in Hong Kong to continue indefinitely,” she said.

“If the situation in Hong Kong continues to worsen and it becomes turmoil that cannot be controlled by the SAR

government and endangers the country’s sovereignty and security, the central government will not sit idly by.” SAR refers to the “special administrative region” of Hong Kong.

The growing unrest in Hong Kong has evolved into a broader call for Hong Kong to be granted greater autonomy by Beijing, which has often accused foreign powers, particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting

the unrest. Lam said yesterday that her government had the confidence of Beijing and could bring an end to unrest itself.

Hong Kong school and uni-versity students boycotted classes and held rallies for a second straight day, calling for what protesters call their “five demands”.

Other than the formal with-drawal of the extradition bill, protesters want the retraction of

the word “riot” to describe rallies, the release of all arrested demonstrators, an independent inquiry into the police and the right for Hongkongers to demo-cratically choose their own leaders.

Under Hong Kong law, rioting can carry a 10-year prison sentence. Lam has said she is open to dialogue with protesters but has made no concessions on these demands.

Protesters gather in Tamar Park to call for a city-wide general strike as they rally against a controversial extradition bill, near the government headquarters in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Indonesia restricts foreigners’ travel to PapuaAFP JAKARTA

Indonesia is imposing restric-tions on foreigners visiting its restive Papua region, the government said yesterday, after four Australians were deported over claims they took part in independence protests.

Papua, where a low-level insurgency against Indonesian control has simmered for decades, has seen two weeks of mass protests and deadly riots sparked by anger over racism and fresh calls for self-rule.

Indonesia’s chief security minister Wiranto said yesterday that the country would limit for-eigners entering its easternmost territory — which has popular beach destinations — over safety concerns and to weed

out suspected agitators. “We’ll temporarily limit (access to Papua),” the minister, who goes by one name, told reporters in Jakarta.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t allow anyone in. There will be filters based on security and safety issues,” he added, without elaborating.

It was unclear whether the new restrictions would prevent foreign journalists from going to a region subject to a gov-ernment-ordered Internet shutdown since the unrest broke out — a policy slammed by media and free-speech advocates.

“This is to protect foreigners from becoming victims of the riots,” Wiranto said.

“It’s difficult to distinguish between foreigners who are

there to provoke and interfere from those who went as tourists,” he added.

Wiranto also dismissed accusations that the government was dragging its feet on probing claims security forces committed human rights violations, amid unconfirmed reports that the military shot dead six protesters last week.

He reiterated Jakarta’s position that it was not open to talking about Papuan independence.

“The door is closed on dia-logue about a referendum,” Wiranto said.

Indonesia took control of Papua, a former Dutch colony on the island of New Guinea, in the 1960s after an independence vote. On Monday, Indonesia said it was deporting four Australians

who had entered Papua — which shares a border with inde-pendent Papua New Guinea — on a yacht last month.

The group allegedly partici-pated in a demonstration and raised the banned “Morning Star” flag, a symbol of Papuan nationhood.

Indonesian authorities have arrested dozens for taking part in protests and banned demon-strations that could lead to what it described as “anarchist acts”.

The recent unrest appears to have been triggered by the mid-August arrest of dozens of Papuan students in Java, who were also racially abused.

In May, a Polish man was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting with rebels to over-throw the government in the province.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right), escorted by Myanmar’s President Win Myint, reviews a guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, yesterday.

South Korean President visits Myanmar

Suspect arrested after eight schoolchildren die in ChinaAFP BEIJING

Eight schoolchildren have died and two others were injured in a “school-related criminal case” in central China, with a 40-year-old suspect arrested, local authorities said yesterday, the latest attack targeting an educational institution in the country.

The man was detained by police on the spot following Monday’s incident in Chaoy-angpo Village in Hubei province, according to a statement on the website of the government of Enshi city.

The local government is making “every effort” to organise the rehabilitation and treatment for the wounded, including psychological coun-

selling, the statement said.Officials did not say how the

students were killed, but schools have been hit by a number of knife attacks in China in recent years, forcing authorities to step up security.

A knife-wielding man killed two people and injured two others at a primary school in central Hunan province in April.

The wounded were students but the age of the dead was not disclosed at the time.

In October last year, a woman attacked and injured 14 children with a knife at a kin-dergarten in China’s south-western Sichuan province.

In April 2018, a man killed nine middle school students as they were returning home in one of the country’s deadliest knife attacks in recent years.

Former headof Thai airlinesentenced for 2007 crashAFP/PARIS

A French court yesterday sentenced the former head of a Thai budget airline to four years in jail over a 2007 crash that killed 90 people, nearly two-thirds of them foreigners.

The suit, filed by the fam-ilies of the nine French victims aboard the flight, claimed the crash landing on the resort island of Phuket was “an accident waiting to happen”.

The Paris court found Udom Tantiprasongchai, the former head of the airline One-Two-Go, guilty of voluntary man-slaughter and also set a fine of ¤75,000 ($82,300).

But despite an international warrant for his arrest, Tantipra-songchai has never been detained and did not respond to the French judicial summons, and was tried in absentia.

The crash occurred on Sep-tember 16, 2007, when the Boeing passenger jet carrying 123 passengers and seven crew skidded off the runway and burst into flames while trying to land in driving rain and heavy winds. The victims’ fam-ilies accused the airline of trying to cover up a series of failings which led to the crash, including overworked pilots and falsified flight logs.

In its ruling, the court found evidence of “mistakes” by the pilots but also faulted the airline, saying the crew “did not have the capacity to react cor-rectly... because of their fatigue and stress.”

Among the dead were 33 Thai nationals and 57 for-eigners, mainly tourists from Britain, Israel and France.

One of the plaintiffs, Gerard Bembaron, who lost a brother in the crash, hailed a ruling that “sends a serious warning to air-lines with dubious practices, even if they don’t fly in France.”

French courts are allowed to hear cases involving acci-dents or attacks anywhere in the world if French citizens are victims.

One-Two-GO and its parent company Orient Thai have both ceased to operate since the crash.

China backs North Korea amid deadlocked nuclear talksAFP SEOUL

China reasserted its backing for North Korea yesterday as its foreign minister visited Pyongyang, vowing to maintain “close communication” with its longstanding ally in the face of deadlocked nuclear talks with Washington.

Beijing has long been North Korea’s key diplomatic backer and main provider of trade and aid, and while ties deteriorated over Pyongyang’s nuclear prov-ocations and China’s subsequent backing of UN sanctions, the two have since worked to repair their relationship.

Since March 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North

Korean leader Kim Jong Un have met five times, with Xi seeking to weigh in on Pyongyang’s diplomacy with Washington.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Pyongyang on a three-day trip on Monday, just two months after Xi became the first Chinese leader to visit the North in 14 years.

Wang told his North Korean

counterpart Ri Yong Ho that Beijing was ready “to promote... close communication and coop-eration on the international stage”, China’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

Reflecting on their 70 years of alliance, Wang noted that Beijing and Pyongyang have “always been in the same boat and moving forward side by side”,

it said in a statement. Ri said that North Korea is willing to work with China to “promote greater development” of their relations in the “new era”, according to the document.

Pyongyang and Washington are engaged in a long-running dip-lomatic process over the North’s nuclear programmes although little progress has been made.

Charred bones of Thai rights activist foundAFP BANGKOK

The burnt bones of a community activist who disap-peared in Thailand more than five years ago were found under water in a national park, investigators said yesterday, confirming his death for the first time.

Rights groups say 30 human rights activists have disap-peared or been murdered in Thailand since 2001, and the country is considered one of the deadliest in Asia for environ-mental defenders.

Known as Billy, ethnic Karen leader Por Cha Lee Rak-charoen was stopped by local authorities at a checkpoint in April 2014 while travelling to meet Karen villagers who had accused officials of destroying their homes in Kaeng Krachan national park. Officials later said he was questioned for ille-gally gathering honey but released. Divers found his remains in a lake in the same park in April this year, and identified the bones using DNA from his mother.

“We can assume Billy is dead, as these bones were removed from his body,” Korawat Panprapakorn, deputy director general of the Department of Special Investi-gation (DSI), told reporters.

Thai police arrest Bangkok blasts suspectREUTERS BANGKOK

Thai authorities have arrested the suspected bomb-maker responsible for the explosives used in a series of blasts in Bangkok last month as the city hosted a major regional summit, police said yesterday.

Four people were wounded when six small bombs and six incendiary devices went off on August 2 as Southeast Asian foreign ministers met at the summit attended by senior dip-lomats from world powers including China and the United States.

China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said central government firmly supports Carrie Lam and her government, but added that Beijing would not sit by forever if the violence continued.

19WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 EUROPE

Prince Harry backs sustainable tourism planREUTERS AMSTERDAM

UK’s Prince Harry, who himself has come in for criticism for using private jets, announced a new tourism initiative yesterday to transform global travel so it becomes more sustainable.

The “Travalyst” scheme is designed to improve conser-vation, environmental protection and expand local community eco-nomic development to help the travel industry become a force for good, Buckingham Palace said.

“Travel has the unparalleled power to open people’s minds to different cultures, new experi-ences and to have a profound appreciation for what our world has to offer,” said Harry.

“As tourism inevitably grows, it is critically important to accel-erate the adoption of sustainable practices worldwide; and to balance this growth with the needs of the environment and the local population.”

Harry, who is launching the initiative in Amsterdam, has faced media accusations of

hypocrisy for taking private planes to attend recent engage-ments while voicing concerns about the environment.

The criticism prompted singer Elton John, who Harry visited with his wife Meghan at his home in the south of France for a vacation last month, to launch a defence of the couple against the “distorted and mali-cious account in the press”.

“I highly respect and applaud both Harry and Meghan’s com-mitment to charity and I’m calling on the press to cease

these relentless and untrue assassinations on their character that are spuriously crafted on an almost daily basis,” he wrote on Twitter.

Last year, there were 1.4 billion international trips and travel and tourism generated $8.8 trillion to the global economy, Buckingham Palace said while consumers were becoming keen to ensure their travel was more sustainable and had less impact on environment.

A survey of travellers for Booking.com found 71% thought

travel companies should offer more sustainable travel choices and 68% said it was important the money they spent went back into local communities.

“Working with companies, consumers and communities, the partnership will initially explore and promote solutions that help drive sustainable practices and consumer choices in areas including; supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environ-mental damage, and alleviating over-tourism,” the Palace said.

Banksy artwork stolen outside Pompidou Centre in ParisAFP PARIS

A stencilled work by the elusive British street artist Banksy has been stolen from outside the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the modern art museum announced yesterday.

The image, which appeared in June 2018 on the back of a sign for the museum’s car park, features a masked rat —Banksy’s avatar, symbolising the downtrodden — bran-dishing a utility knife, the instrument he uses to cut out his stencils.

The Pompidou Centre said it suspected the thieves of using a saw to cut the sign, which had been fitted with a plexiglass cover to prevent it being pilfered.

It said its the museum’s security guards had already caught thieves trying to snatch the work a year ago.

The Pompidou, which houses Europe’s biggest col-lection of contemporary art but does not own the Banksy work, said it had filed a police com-plaint for destruction of property.

The theft comes seven months after another Banksy oeuvre paying hommage to the victims of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris was stolen from outside Bataclan, the concert venue where gunmen massacred 90 people.

Boris Johnson loses majority in ParliamentAFP LONDON

Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday lost his working majority in parliament ahead of a showdown with rebel MPs over Brexit that could lead to a snap election within weeks.

Johnson condemned a plan by lawmakers to block his Brexit strategy as “surrender” and said it would undermine his intention to negotiate a new divorce deal with the EU.

He said the move by oppo-sition MPs and members of his Conservative party to try to delay Brexit beyond October 31 if he cannot agree exit terms with Brussels was like “running up the white flag”.

Ahead of a first vote in the House of Commons yesterday evening, Johnson said: “There are no circumstances in which I will ever accept anything like it”.

His aides had already warned that defeat would force him to call a snap election ahead of a crucial EU summit on October 17 and 18 — and a mere fortnight before Brexit.

The rebels believe they have the numbers to force through the plan, which is backed by the main opposition Labour party and could delay Brexit to January 31.

In a theatrical show of defiance, Conservative MP Phillip Lee crossed the floor of the Commons while Johnson was making his statement, to defect to the Liberal Democrats.

As a result, the prime min-ister no longer has a majority in the 650-seat chamber — but the defection does not automatically bring down the government.

This can only happen if the government loses a formal con-fidence vote.

On a day of high drama, an Edinburgh court meanwhile heard a legal challenge against Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament next week for more than a month, which critics said was a bid to silence MPs.

Johnson took office less than six weeks ago, after his prede-cessor Theresa May was forced out over her failure to get her Brexit divorce deal through parliament.

From the start, he faced opposition from his own MPs who fear his threat of leaving the EU without an agreement with Brussels risks severe economic disruption.

Former finance minister Philip Hammond is among those who have joined with Labour to draw up legislation that could force the delay.

They will first try to make room in the parliamentary agenda for a debate of the bill by putting forward a motion set to be voted on by MPs.

If they succeed, they will introduce their bill on Wednesday and seek to get it through before parliament is sus-pended next week.

Johnson has rejected the

divorce deal on the table but insists he wants to reach an agreement with Brussels to ease the end of Britain’s 46-year-old EU membership.

EU leaders have refused to reopen the current Brexit text but Johnson insists progress is being made, saying that only with a credible threat to walk away will he secure a new deal.

But critics note that there are no formal negotiations with Brussels, and both sides have stepped up preparations for a disorderly divorce next month.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said yes-terday that it had yet to see any “concrete proposals” from London on how it wants to change the existing deal.

Johnson revealed that he would meet Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar for the first time in Dublin next week to discuss Brexit.

An early election could give Johnson a majority, although it is also a big risk, as the political landscape was deeply fragmented by the 2016 referendum.

Johnson would need the support of Labour to call a snap poll, as the law requires the backing of two-thirds of MPs.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly called for an election and warned that if the legislative route fails, he may try to force one by calling a con-fidence vote in the government. But many Labour MPs also fear a trap.

Boris Johnson condemned a plan by lawmakers to block his Brexit strategy as “surrender” and said it would undermine his intention to negotiate a new divorce deal with EU.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking in the House of Commons in London, yesterday.

Hungary charges man with terrorism, crimes against humanity AFP/BUDAPEST

Hungarian prosecutors yesterday charged a Syrian man arrested in Budapest last year of terrorism and crimes against humanity including the beheading of an imam in Syria in 2015.

According to a statement from the Budapest Chief Prose-cution Office, prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment without parole for the 27-year-old man, identified as F. Hassan.

The authorities believed he commanded a small unit of the

IS group in Homs province in 2015 tasked with terrorising and executing civilians and religious leaders who refused to side with the terror group.

He is accused of personally taking part in the beheading of an imam in the town of Al

Sukhnah, as well as the murders of three other people in the area between May 13 and 15 in 2015.

His unit also killed at least 25 people in the town during the period including women and children, according to the pros-ecutors’ statement.

Explosion destroys three houses in BelgiumREUTERS BRUSSELS

An explosion destroyed three houses on the outskirts of the Belgian port city of Antwerp yesterday, according to the

emergency services.Rescue personnel freed two

people from the debris, one of whom was seriously injured.

They were seeking to free a third person and were looking for a fourth person believed to

be trapped under the debris, the city’s fire service said.

It was still unclear what caused the explosion in the southern Antwerp suburb of Wilrijk, the fire service added.

Policemen inspecting the site of an explosion in the Antwerp district of Wilrijk, in Belgium, yesterday.

Italy seizes another migrant rescue shipAFP/ROME

Italian authorities yesterday impounded charity rescue vessel Mare Jonio and fined its crew 300,000 euros for entering port illegally in Lampedusa.

Charity Mediterranea Saving Humans said the ship was impounded after “entering (Italian) territorial waters with the authorisation of the com-petent maritime authorities”. “The last 31 rescued migrants on board were disembarked shortly before the seizure.”

On Monday, Italy seized the charity rescue vessel Eleonore.

Georgia’s Interior Minister nominated for PM postAFP TBILISI

Georgia’s ruling party put forward controversial Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia as prime minister yesterday, further fuelling an already tense political atmosphere in the tiny Black Sea nation.

In a televised statement, the ruling Georgian Dream party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili — a billionaire oligarch widely believed to be the man in charge in Georgia — said he “presented the candidacy of Giorgi Gakharia to the post of prime minister”.

The nomination is expected to easily win approval by par-liament where Georgian Dream holds a majority.

The move followed Mon-day’s surprise resignation of premier Mamuka Bakhtadze after just over a year in office.

Gakharia thanked the ruling party for the nomination and announced changes in the cabinet. He said he would appoint the head of Georgia’s state security service Vaktang Gome-lauri as interior minister and former prime minister Irakli Gari-bashvili as defence minister.

In protest of Gakharia’s nomination, opposition MPs dis-rupted a plenary session of Georgia’s parliament chanting “shame!” and blowing vuvuzelas as hundreds of anti-government

demonstrators rallied outside the legislature.

Independent analyst Nodar Kharshiladze said that by appointing a loyalist, Ivanishvili was preparing for parliamentary elections scheduled for October next year.

He called Gakharia “Geor-gia’s most hated politician” and said his nomination was “likely to mount a fresh wave of pro-tests in the country.”

“The move undermines Georgia’s declared pro-Western orientation,” he said.

Gakharia, 44, is perceived by many as pro-Kremlin, due to the years he spent in Russia.

Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili said that “Gakharia’s nomination is dragging Georgia deeper into a political crisis”.

In June and July, thousands rallied in Tbilisi demanding Gakharia’s departure after riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas against a largely peaceful anti-Russian protest.

The summer protests started after a Russian MP gave a speech in the Georgian parliament — seen as a provocative move in the Caucasus country whose ties with Moscow remain strained after a brief war in 2008.

Moscow reacted to what it called “Russophobic” protests by suspending direct flights between the countries.

Two WWII-era bombs defused in German citiesAP BERLIN

German authorities said two World War II-era bombs found in two major cities have been successfully defused and disposed of.

The dpa news agency reported yesterday that 15,200 people were evacuated over-night in Hannover as a pre-caution before experts defused the bomb in the morning.

On Monday evening, another bomb was successfully defused in the western city of Cologne after 4,800 people were evacuated so the oper-ation could go ahead.

Even more than seven decades after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found in German cities during construction projects.

20 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019EUROPE

Russia deploys missile systems in Kuril islandsANATOLIA MOSCOW

Ahead of bilateral meeting between Russian president and Japanese premier in Vladivostok tomorrow, reports have emerged that Moscow has deployed new missile systems “near” islands which are claimed by Japan in the Pacific Ocean.

Russia has moved missile defence systems from Kam-chatka Peninsula to northern portion of the Kuril Islands chain off Japan’s Hokkaido province, daily Japan Times reported yesterday.

Quoting a 2018 defence doc-ument, the report claimed that Russia has deployed land-to-ship missile system called the “Bastion” on the Paramushir and Matua islands on Kuril Islands chain which includes four Japan-claimed islands.

Japan Times, quoting a Russian government official, reported that missile systems has been deployed on the two islands: “They have already been moved and are now being pre-pared for operation.”

Over a question about the reports regarding possible deployment of Bastion systems on the Kuril Islands, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov in Moscow said yes-terday that this “question is not on the agenda” of the Russian-Japanese talks regarding the peace treaty.

“I do not know the plans for

our military development, but it has nothing to do with the nego-tiations that are underway on the topic of a peace treaty. We do not discuss the issues of Russian military development (at these talks),” he said.

The missile system has a range of over 300km.

Kuril Islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the north Pacific Ocean.

“It (missiles deployment) also means a defensive line stretching from the Kamchatka Peninsula to Hokkaido, which falls within the range of the missile defense systems,” the report said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow in Vladivostok in Rus-sia’s far east on the sidelines of an economic forum for talks on postwar peace treaty.

A vessel-detection radio base and an air fleet would also be installed on Matua islands, the report added.

The move comes amid plans of the United States which also s e e k s t o d e p l o y

intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region.

The decision is being taken after Washington rolled back the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia last month.

Russia calls the held-islands as Southern Kurils while Japan claims their ownership and calls them Northern Territories.

Last November, Abe and Putin had agreed to step up talks based on a 1956-agreement that mentioned the handover by the then-Soviet Union of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan once a peace treaty was signed.

But Russia has said that the possibility of US military expansion and Tokyo’s plan to deploy US-developed missile defense system would made it difficult for Russia to conclude such a treaty.

Ukraine Parliament cancels lawmakers’ immunityREUTERS KIEV

Ukrainian lawmakers voted to strip themselves of immunity from prosecution yesterday, fulfilling an anti-corruption election promise by reformist President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (pictured).

A former comedian with no prior political experience, Zel-enskiy won the presidency by a

landslide in April, tapping into voter anger over graft and low living standards.

Previously, lawmakers could only be stripped of immunity by a parliamentary vote on each individual case. But the new measure passed easily by 373 votes in the 450-seat parliament where Zelenskiy won a majority in a July snap election.

“We promised to remove immunity, we promised that

there would be no people with a special status in Ukraine,” said Alexander Dubinsky, a lawmaker in Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party. “It is our duty to vote for this law and put people who are outside this hall on equal terms with those people in this hall.”

Before the vote, the president had said it was time to consign lawmakers’ immunity “to the dustbin of history”, arguing that

90% of Ukrainians wanted to see this happen.

Opponents, however, said removing lawmakers’ protection leaves them vulnerable to polit-ically-motivated prosecutions.

Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, leader of the Voice party, said it would vote for the measure because all people should be equal before the law, but said those in power should not succumb to the temp-tation to abuse the change.

The law, which signals Zel-enskiy’s commitment to push through reforms, will take effect from the start of next year.

His party is the first in Ukraine’s independent history to command a majority on its own.

Zelenskiy called a parlia-mentary election in July to give his party control over parliament and to form a new government.

Massive hunt for missing Spanish Olympic medalistAP/MADRID

Hundreds of searchers, helped by helicopters and drones, combed a mountainous area outside Madrid yesterday, 10 days after the last known sighting of former alpine ski racer and Olympic medalist Blanca Fernández Ochoa.

Spain’s National Police said Fernández, 56, has been missing since she was last spotted on surveillance video at a shopping centre on August 24.

Yesterday, “more than 200 police officers on foot and on horse, firefighters, forest rangers and hundreds of volunteers searched the steep pine-forested landscape of gullies and peaks. They were aided by more than 100 tracking dogs, helicopters and at least seven drones.”

Blogger jailed for 5 years over ‘extremist’ tweet in RussiaAFP MOSCOW

A Russian court yesterday sentenced a blogger to five years in a penal colony for a tweet calling for attacks on the children of police, a ruling his lawyer said was unprecedented.

Vladislav Sinitsa, 30, posted the tweet in the wake of a police crackdown against protesters who called for free elections.

“It’s an act of intimidation,” said lawyer Denis Tikhonov after

a Moscow district court found Sinitsa guilty of inciting hatred.

The charges fall under Rus-sia’s harsh anti-extremism leg-islation. Tikhonov said the sen-tence was “without precedent in its severity”.

The ruling also comes in the context of an ongoing squeeze on Internet freedoms in Russia, where social media remain among few outlets offering rel-ative freedom of communication for the opposition.

Sinitsa, who regularly posted

on Twitter under the pseudonym Max_Steklov, was detained last month over a tweet he wrote on July 31.

Sinitsa, who is from a town outside Moscow, posted about attending several opposition protests and urged others to go to them.

In one tweet, a reply to a pro-Kremlin blogger, he imagined a situation in which people found the homes of law enforcement officers to kidnap and kill their children.

Russian investigators said “the criminal intent of the defendant was aimed at arousing enmity and hatred towards all law enforcement officers and their family members”.

Sinitsa’s lawyer said his client admitted to writing “this controversial post” but rejected charges of extremism.

“He said this post was not a call to anyone, it was a conver-sation with a political opponent,” Tikhonov said.

Japan Times, quoting a Russian government official, reported that missile systems have already been moved on islands and are now being prepared for operation.”

M5S members approve new Italy govt coalitionAFP ROME

Members of Italy’s Five Star Movement yesterday over-whelmingly voted in favour of forming a government with the centre-left, pulling the country back from the brink of snap elections.

Party leader Luigi Di Maio said that around 80 percent of M5S members voted ‘yes’ to backing a M5S-Democratic Party (PD) government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

“We should be proud of this digital platform... because we offered a different method for creating a government,” Di Maio told journalists in Rome.

The vote was carried out on the movement’s Rousseau online platform, an exercise in the anti-establishment party’s much-vaunted “digi tal democracy”. Nearly 80,000 people voted.

M5S leaders yesterday launched an appeal for members to support the coalition which is being thrashed out after far-right leader Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on the previous government.

“This is a delicate moment for the country,” M5S said of what Italian media dubbed “Rousseau roulette”.

“For us, a mandate from cit-izens is a serious matter, it lasts five years, as laid out in the con-stitution, so that a government

programme can be carried out,” read the M5S blog.

The M5S joined an ill-fated coalition with Salvini’s League 18 months ago, but anti-migrant Salvini hoped for fresh elections that would make him premier when he tried to bring down the government last month.

Instead, M5S is forming a new administration with its former foes from the PD. Conte is due to present the new gov-ernment programme to Pres-ident Sergio Mattarella possibly today.

Di Maio said on Monday that approving the coalition was an absolute priority.

A negative vote would have spelt the end of talks with the PD and prompted the snap elec-tions sought by Salvini.

Di Maio has been criticised in recent days for procrasti-nating on the deal, including by M5S co-founder and comic Beppe Grillo.

But on Monday he agreed that he would no longer be deputy prime minister in the new government, provided no PD politician held the position either.

M5S foes have been quick to criticise the Rousseau system, which has previously been slammed as secretive and vul-nerable to cyber attacks.

The platform is managed by Davide Casaleggio, whose father Gianroberto founded the Movement along with Grillo.

France gets tough on domestic violenceAFP PARIS

The French government announced plans to create 1,000 new places in shelters for the victims of domestic violence as outrage grows over the number of women killed by a current or former partner.

France is one of the European countries with the highest number of such murders, according to EU figures from 2017 which put it second only to Germany.

Last year, 121 women were killed in France in these circum-stances, equating to one death every three days. So far this year at least 100 women have been

killed by a current or former partner.

“For centuries, women have been buried under our indif-ference, denial, carelessness, age-old machismo and inca-pacity to look this horror in the face,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said, launching a major consultation on domestic vio-lence grouping dozens of min-isters, judges, police officers, victims’ relatives and represent-atives of feminist groups.

Philippe kicked off the con-sultations by announcing plans for legislation allowing for the wide-scale use of electronic bracelets to prevent domestic violence offenders approaching their victims.

Under the bill, judges could also order an electronic tag for a person who has yet to be con-victed of a crime but who is tar-geted by a restraining order, he said.

Philippe also called for family court judges to be allowed to suspend the visitation rights of separated fathers who attack or threaten their ex and for women hospitalised for domestic violence to be allowed file a criminal complaint from their hospital bed.

But some feminist groups expressed disappointment at the government’s failure to commit large sums of money to the fight against gender-based violence.

Women holding the pictures of victims denouncing the violence against women as they take part in a protest march on the opening day of the “Grenelle on domestic violence”, in Paris, yesterday.

ANATOLIA MOSCOW

Russia yesterday conducted a short-range ballistic missile test.

The Defense Ministry said drone footage showed the test target was destroyed successfully.

The exercise is being seen as a retaliatory response to a cruise missile test by the US last week.

Moscow tests ballistic missile

Denmark Queen visits GermanyQueen Margrethe II of Denmark, Flensburg’s Mayor Simone Lange and Schleswig Holstein’s Premier Daniel Guenther arrive at the townhall in Flensburg, Germany, yesterday.

The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for north of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida — near Jacksonville — to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, near the popular Golden Isles area in the state.

21WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019 AMERICAS

An aerial photo shows the aftermath of the Hurricane Dorian damage over an unspecified location in the Bahamas. RIGHT: A woman seeks cover from wind, blowing sand and rain whipped up by Hurricane Dorian as she walks on the beach in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

US East Coast braces for Dorian; 5 dead in BahamasBLOOMBERG BOSTON

Tropical storm Dorian is starting to move again, inching toward the northwest and potentially up the US East Coast after bashing the Bahamas for almost two days with high winds and driving rains that have inflicted huge damage, killing five on one island alone.

The storm is now crawling at 1 mile per hour with sustained winds of around 190km per hour, making it a Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said in an 8am New York time advisory. But the movement is expected to speed up later and today, with Dorian forecast to move ‘dangerously close’ to the Florida coastline as it travels north toward Georgia and the Carolinas.

While its winds have weakened, Dorian is threatening to inundate coastal communities with rain, rising sea levels and a life-threatening storm surge even if the US mainland dodges a head-on blow. Shoreline

residents and businesses in Florida, George and the Carolinas have been ordered by their respective state governments to evacuate.

“We know that these evacu-ations are inconvenient, difficult and sometimes costly,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said. “But we must realize the potential deadly cost of refusing to evacuate when told.” Mean-while, the Bahamas continue to be under attack.

‘I don’t think there has been a populated area in the entire Atlantic basin in the climato-logical record that has

experienced the severity and the intensity of impacts that Grand Bahama Island and Abaco have experienced in the past two days,’ said Ryan Truchelut, pres-ident of Weather Tiger in Talla-hassee, Florida.

Dorian is weakening in part because it has exhausted its supply of warm ocean water by

sitting over the same spot for days, Truchelut said. He doesn’t see the storm — pulled along by a low pressure system — moving much farther west, with the core of the hurricane likely staying about 75 miles off of Florida. But he said the eastern North and South Carolina are still very much at risk.

Dare County, North Carolina, which includes much of the tourist-friendly Outer Banks, issued a mandatory evacuation for visitors yesterday and for res-idents beginning today. Other parts of the state’s coastline were also bracing for the storm. Ocean-going commercial vessels and barges greater than 500 gross tonnes should make plans for departing North Carolina ports, the US Coast Guard said.

The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for north of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida — near Jacksonville — to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, near the popular Golden Isles area in the state.

While the current forecast keeps Dorian’s center offshore, forecasters are keeping a close eye for changes, according to Ken Graham, the hurricane center’s director. Grand Bahama, one of the island nation’s north-ernmost centers, remains near the center of the storm, which has caused widespread flooding in many of the islands of the

northwest and central Bahamas, the National Emergency Man-agement Agency has said. Parts of the northern Bahamas are in the “midst of a historic tragedy,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a post on Twitter.

Based on reports out of Abaco, one of the first islands to be hit, “the devastation is unprecedented,” he said earlier.

Dorian will cause at least $25bn of insurance losses, according to analysts at UBS Group AG, the costliest of any natural disaster since 2017. Depending on whether it hits the eastern coast of Florida in the next few days, the storm could cost as much as $40bn, they said.

In a briefing, Florida Gov-ernor Ron DeSantis said Florida utilities have assembled 17,000 personnel to help restore power quickly as needed. He said 72 nursing homes and assisted living centers along the coast have been evacuated, and hos-pitals were starting to evacuate as well.

This satellite image shows Tropical Storm Dorian as it sits over the Bahamas yesterday.

Teenager shoots dead five family membersREUTERS ALABAMA

A 14-year-old American boy shot and killed five family members at their home in Alabama, before throwing away the pistol and calling police, officials said yesterday, in the latest high-profile gun crime.

The shooting occurred on Monday night in the town of Elkmont, a spokesman for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office told media.

The sheriff’s office said five people were shot, with three dying at the scene and two later in hospital. “The 14-year old caller was interviewed and con-fessed to shooting all five members of his family in the res-idence,” it said on Twitter. “He is currently assisting investigators in locating the weapon, a 9mm handgun that he said he tossed nearby.” It was unclear where the teenager obtained the gun.

The killings follow a rash of mass shootings in the US, including a weekend one in Texas that left seven dead and 22 wounded, including a toddler. Last month, a gunman killed 22 people and wounded another 24 in El Paso, Texas, while another assailant killed nine and injured 27 in Dayton, Ohio.

Amid renewed national debate, President Donald Trump said at the weekend background checks on gun pur-chasers would not have pre-vented recent violence.

Justice Sotomayor encourages kids to ‘Just Ask’ in new bookAP WASHINGTON

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (pictured) has said that the seed for what has become her latest children’s book was planted the day a woman called her a drug addict.

Sotomayor, who was diag-nosed with diabetes at age 7, had gone to the bathroom of an upscale New York restaurant to give herself an insulin shot. She was in her 30s but hiding her diabetes. Another diner came in and saw her and later, as Sotomayor was leaving the res-taurant, she heard the woman tell a companion: “She’s a drug addict.” Outraged, Sotomayor confronted her, explaining that the shot was medicine, not drugs: “If you don’t know some-thing, ask, don’t assume,” Sotomayor said.

From that exchange comes the title of Sotomayor’s latest book, “Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You,” released yes-terday and intended for kids age 4 to 8. The book introduces readers to children who face what Sotomayor calls “life chal-lenges” as they work together to create a garden rich with different flowers and plants, a metaphor for their own differences.

A young Sotomayor begins the book by talking about her diabetes and encouraging children to ask about other kids’ differences. Other children introduce their own challenges,

including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, blindness and Down syndrome.

“Differences provide not just beauty in life, but they’re important to the quality of the world we live in. It’s richer because of our differences. We’re not lesser because of it. We’re stronger because of it. My book celebrates the many ways in which kids and adults are dif-ferent and do things differently,” Sotomayor said in an interview ahead of the book’s publication.

Sotomayor, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by president Barack Obama in 2009, said she has wanted to write the book “forever” and that she was also motivated by hearing the stories of friends who have children with chronic conditions. One child, she said, was separated from other stu-dents at school when it was time

to eat because he had a host of allergies. Another friend’s child who has Tourette’s syndrome and therefore tics she can’t control was told she was badly behaved by a shopper at a store.

“Those experiences struck me as a reason for me to go ahead with the book that had been in my head,” Sotomayor said. She said she was particu-larly touched by a child in her life who, after learning about how Sotomayor had confronted diabetes, set up a study area in her room and said she wouldn’t let her own challenges stop her.

Sotomayor, the Supreme Court’s first Latina justice, said she believes readers will see themselves or someone they know in her book. And she noted that her book’s children are cul-turally and ethnically diverse because “life challenges are not limited to one kind of people.”

The book is illustrated by Rafael López, who himself has dyslexia and a son with high-func-tioning autism. Sotomayor has come out with a string of books over the last year. Her memoir, “My Beloved World,” came out in 2013. In 2018, she released a version for middle school readers and a picture book.

Each of her books is also available in Spanish. “I truly believe that if I can inspire the younger generation to see them-selves as positive agents for change...that I will leave a more lasting legacy than what I can do as a judge,” she said.

US Democrats slam Pence for staying at Trump hotel in IrelandREUTERS SHANNON, IRELAND

US Vice-President Mike Pence drew fire from Democrats yes-terday when he met with Irish leaders in the capital Dublin but stayed at a hotel owned by Pres-ident Donald Trump almost 300 kilometers (180 miles) away at his boss’s urging.

Pence flew to Dublin yes-terday after spending the night at the Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg on the west coast of Ireland. The hotel also hosted the Trump family during a brief trip to Ireland by the president in June.

Asked if Trump had sug-gested that Pence stay at the property, the Vice-President’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told journalists: “I think that it was a suggestion. It’s like when we went through the trip it’s like, ‘Well, he’s going to Doonbeg because that is where his family is from, it’s like ‘oh, you should stay at my place’.”

California Democratic Con-gressman Ted Lieu accused Pence on Twitter of “funneling taxpayer money” to Trump by staying at the hotel. “You took an oath to the Constitution, not to @realDonaldTrump,” Lieu said.

The Democratic National Committee also chimed in, saying on its DNC War Room Twitter feed that Pence’s choice

of hotel meant “your tax dollars: making the Trump family richer.” Pence defended the decision, pointing to family ties and saying the hotel stay was vetted in advance.

“I understand political attacks by Democrats but if you have the chance to get to Doonbeg you’ll find that it is a fairly small place,” he told reporters of the one-street village that has a population of just 200 people.

“We checked it with the State Department, they approved us staying there and I was pleased to have the opportunity to return to that family hometown and be able to stay there... It was important to me, before our original trip plan, to at least spend one night in Doonbeg.”

Pence’s stay was paid for by US taxpayers, Short said, but the Vice-President personally paid for his sister and mother who came with him. Pence’s great-grandmother was from Doonbeg.

Trump has retained own-ership of his hotels, golf courses and other businesses, but he gave control of the businesses to his sons shortly before he took office in January 2017.

Former government ethics officials and watchdog groups say Trump has failed to put safe-guards in place to ensure that he does not directly profit from his actions as president.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said late on Monday that at least 25 people died. He said 20 bodies were recovered and five others were found but not retrieved due to unsafe conditions under the boat, which sank in about 60 feet of water.

22 WEDNESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2019AMERICAS

California boat fire death toll rises to 25AP SANTA BARBARA

Divers and search crew were still looking yesterday for nine missing people after at least 25 were confirmed dead when a boat packed with scuba divers caught fire near an island off the Southern California coast.

The dive-boat Conception became engulfed in flames before dawn as the passengers on a recreational scuba diving trip slept below deck.

“You couldn’t ask for a worse situation,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said late on Monday that at least 25 people died. He said 20 bodies were recovered and five others were found but not retrieved due to unsafe condi-tions under the boat, which sank in about 60 feet of water.

Kroll said the count of those found was based on initial reports and needed to be con-firmed through autopsies.

The search for the missing went through the night and fog and low clouds yesterday were not expected to limit the search crews in their efforts, said Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson Five crew members sleeping on the top deck jumped off and took a dinghy to safety. Two had minor injuries. A sixth crew member was among the missing

Meanwhile, authorities opened a family assistance center where counseling was

being provided to relatives of those onboard. None of their names were released.

One passenger, marine biol-ogist and veteran diver Kristy Finstad, 41, was identified in a Facebook post by her brother, Brett Harmeling of Houston. “Please pray for my sister Kristy!! She was leading a dive trip on this boat,” Harmeling wrote.

The missing and dead were among 39 passengers and crew who had departed Santa Barbara Harbor on Saturday aboard the boat for a Labor Day weekend trip. The fire broke out about 3am as the Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, about 145km west of Los Angeles. The crew appeared to quickly call for help.

“The call was garbled, it was not that clear, but we were able to get some information out of it to send vessels,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney.

Capt Paul Amaral of the vessel assistance company Tow-BoatUS also launched a fast boat

from Ventura Harbor, but it was some 48km away. By the time it got there around 5am a Coast Guard helicopter and a fireboat were on scene.

Amaral said he first searched the water and shoreline, then turned back to the Conception, which was adrift. He attached a line and pulled it into deeper water so the fireboats could reach it. “We launched that boat knowing that the vessel was on fire, lots of people aboard,” he said. The five crew members, meanwhile, went on the dinghy

to a private fishing boat, The Grape Escape, that was anchored near the north shore of Santa Cruz Island.

That boat’s owners, Bob and Shirley Hansen, told The New York Times that they were asleep when they heard pounding on the side of their 60-foot (18-meter) vessel about 3:30am and discovered the frightened crew members.

“When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern,” Hansen said. “I could see the fire coming through holes on the side

of the boat. There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.” Hansen said two of the crew members went back toward the Conception looking for survivors but found no one.

The 75-foot (23-meter) Con-ception was on a three-day excursion to the chain of rugged, wind-swept isles that form Channel Islands National Park in the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles. The fire broke out as the boat sat anchored in Platt’s Harbor off Santa Cruz Island.

A man places flowers at a memorial wall near the Truth Aquatics moorings, in Santa Barbara, California.

Gun drawn in US over a chicken sandwich sensation

AFP WASHINGTON

A man drew a gun in a Popeyes fast-food restaurant in Houston, Texas after learning it was out of a chicken sandwich that has been all the rage since being intro-duced last month, police said.

A group of five adults and a baby pulled up in a car at a Popeyes drive-in window on Monday night to order the chain’s hit new sandwich.

Told there were no more, they went into the restaurant and one of them drew a gun on employees, Houston police said on Twitter.

By the time the police arrived, the group had fled without further trouble. But the incident underscored the sen-sation created by Popeye’s new sandwich, which was launched August 12 to compete with a popular Chick-fil-A offering amid an intense publicity and social media campaign.

The rivalry has led to runs on Popeyes that have depleted its stock of the sandwich in some of its stores.

Craig Barr of Tennessee filed suit over the shortage, accusing the Louisiana-inspired fried chicken chain of false and deceptive advertising, the Chat-tanooga Times Free Press reported. Barr is seeking $5,000 in damages for all the time he says he’s wasted driving to Popeyes outlets in fruitless pursuit of the sandwich.

New York declares end of worst measles outbreak in three decadesAFP NEW YORK

US officials yesterday declared New York’s worst measles epi-demic in nearly 30 years officially over after months of emergency measures that included man-datory vaccinations.

About 654 people, many in areas with large Orthodox Jewish communities, were infected since October last year but there have been no new cases since mid-July, the city government said.

The official end of the out-break, 42 days since the last reported case, comes before the start of the US financial capital’s new school year on Thursday.

Schools and nurseries were the focal points of government efforts to stop the spread of the disease. “To keep our children and communities safe, I urge all New Yorkers to get vaccinated. It’s the best defense we have,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

Authorities declared measles eliminated in the United States in 2000 but there have been 1,234 cases of the potentially deadly disease reported in the country this year, the worst since 1992 according to the Center for Disease Control.

The rise comes as a growing anti-vaccine movement gains steam around the world, driven

by fraudulent claims linking the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, to a risk of autism in children.

New York city officials made vaccinations mandatory in the worst affected areas in April to help stem the epidemic. Schools were also allowed to turn away children who had not been vaccinated.

Those measures have been lifted, but a New York state law passed in June outlawing reli-gious exemptions that had allowed parents to circumvent school-mandated vaccination remains in place.

“There may no longer be local transmission of measles in New York City, but the threat remains given other outbreaks in the US and around the world,” said New York’s health commis-sioner Oxiris Barbot.

The city government spent over $6m and mobilized more than 500 employees to fight the outbreak.

Last month, the World Health Organization said there were 89,994 cases of measles in 48 European countries in the first six months of 2019.

That was more than double the number in the same period in 2018 when there were 44,175 cases, and already more than the 84,462 cases reported for all of 2018.

Bolsanaro to skip Amazon summit on doctor’s orders

AFP SAO PAULO

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro will skip a regional summit on fires that have devastated swaths of the Amazon because doctors want him to get ready for surgery scheduled for next week, a spokesman said.

The far-right president has been widely criticized over his support for Amazon deforest-ation and a delayed reaction to wildfires that have hit the rain forest. Bolsonaro has to go on a liquid diet starting on Friday, the same day as the summit in Colombia, and this makes the trip unfeasible, said spokesman Otavio Rego Barros.

Brazil is considering sending a substitute or even asking that the meeting be post-poned. Bolsonaro is due to undergo surgery on Sunday to correct an incisional hernia, his fourth operation since he was stabbed nearly a year ago during the presidential campaign.

Doctors said Bolsonaro would need 10 days’ rest fol-lowing the operation, which would be performed in Sao Paulo. Earlier, the president vowed to defend his controversial Amazon policy at this month’s UN General Assembly even if he had to do so “in a wheelchair”.

Ivanka Trump in BogotaPresident Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser, speaks during an event at the United States Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, yesterday.

Walmart to halt sales of ammunition for handgunsAFP NEW YORK

Walmart announced yesterday that it will halt sales of ammu-nition for handguns and some military-style rifles used in some hunting rifles, calling the status quo on guns in the United States “unacceptable.”

The moves came a month after a deadly shooting at a Texas Walmart claimed 22 lives, a calamity that has been followed by subsequent attacks, including another shooting over the weekend in West Texas that left seven dead.

Chief Executive Doug McMillon called on Congress and

the White House to enact “common sense” measures, including stronger background checks for gun purchases.

“As we’ve seen before, these horrific events occur and then the spotlight fades. We should not allow that to happen,” McMillon said. “Congress and the adminis-tration should act.” Walmart expects the changes on ammu-nition to lower its market share of bullets from around 20 percent to a range of six to nine percent.

The company plans to con-tinue to sell long-barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition used in these guns, McMillon said.

The moves announced yes-terday followed earlier actions by Walmart to restrict access to some weapons, including a decision in 1993 to halt handgun sales in all states but Alaska and in 2015 to end sales of semiautomatic guns of the sort used in mass shootings. Walmart said it was also ending sales of handguns in Alaska.

But Walmart has resisted calls to completely halt gun sales. As a gun owner, McMillon added, “we understand that heritage, our deeply rooted place in America and our influence as the world’s largest retailer. And we understand the responsibility that comes with it.”

Presidential hopefuls Sanders, Warren face 2020 showdown in New HampshireREUTERS HAMPTON FALLS

The simmering rivalry between progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, presidential contenders with similar policies but sharply different styles, is headed for a showdown in New Hampshire.

The state’s February 11 Dem-ocratic primary election is likely to decide which of the two neighbouring US senators, Sanders from Vermont or Warren from Massachusetts, emerges as the top liberal chal-lenger to establishment front-runner Joe Biden in the 2020 race to pick a nominee to take on Republican President Donald Trump.

The two progressives, who campaigned in New Hampshire over the Labor Day holiday weekend and will return again later this week, are increasing their staffing and visits in the New England state that holds the second nominating contest in the Democratic race.

Recent opinion polls show Sanders running second and the

steadily rising Warren third behind Biden in New Hampshire, where they are known quantities to the state’s big bloc of liberal voters. Exit polls in 2016 found 68% of those who cast a ballot in the Democratic primary con-sidered themselves very or somewhat liberal.

That makes New Hampshire, a traditional proving ground that can make or break presidential contenders, ground zero for the inevitable Sanders vs. Warren conflict. “It will be a real chal-lenge moving forward for the one who doesn’t win, or finishes behind the other. It will have a damaging effect,” said Jim Demers, co-chairman of Barack Obama’s 2008 New Hampshire campaign, who has endorsed US Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey in the race.

In 2016, Sanders won 60% of the primary vote in beating Hillary Clinton in the state during an unsuccessful run for the White House. Given his strong performance, Sanders faces more pressure and bigger expec-tations than Warren this time around, said Kathy Sullivan, a

former chairwoman of the state party who has not backed a can-didate. “Bernie needs to win here,” she said. “It doesn’t mean it’s over if he doesn’t, but it’s going to be much harder for him.” The two candidates share similarities in ideology and have promised not to criticize each other, but they showed plenty of stylistic differ-ences during their weekend visits to New Hampshire.

At a town hall meeting and a rally on Sunday, Sanders soberly reminded crowds he was attacked during the 2016 cam-paign for his “radical” ideas such as Medicare for All, free public college tuition and a higher federal minimum wage, all issues that have now moved into the Democratic mainstream.

“These are no longer radical ideas,” said Sanders, whose speeches were almost devoid of personal references. At an outdoor house party in Hampton Falls, Warren laced her talk with personal details and jokes, drawing a link between the financial uncertainty of her childhood in Oklahoma and the impact it had on her populist economic policies.


WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum31oC 40oC

HIGH TIDE 08:20 – 19:42 LOW TIDE 02:50 – 15:04

Misty at some places by early morning be-

comes hot and relatively humid daytime

with some clouds and slight dust at times.

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 57 AM05. 16 AM

11. 33 AM03.03 PM

05. 52 PM07. 22 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

CROSSWORD

A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor.

AFTER THE WEDDING

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

Trouble (2D/Animation) 5:15 & 6:30pmSaaho (2D/Telugu) 5:00 & 11:00pmSaaho (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 8:00pmSaaho (2D/Tamil) 2:15 & 8:15Saaho (2D/Malayalam) 2:00pmSuper Bear (2D/Animation) 5:00pm; Welad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 9:00pmAngel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 9:15pm; Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 7:00pm; Porinju Mariyam Jose (2D/Malayalam) 11:15pm

Saaho (2D/Hindi) 11:00am, 5:30 & 12:00pmSaaho (2D/Telugu) 10:30am, 1:45 & 5:00pmSaaho (2D/Tamil) 2:15 & 8:45pmSaaho (2D/Malayalam) 8:15 & 11:30pm Trouble (2D/Animation) 10:30am, 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30pmWelad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 6:30, 8:00 & 11:30pm

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Saaho (2D/Hindi) 4:15 & 10:45pm

Saaho (2D/Telugu) 12:15, 3:30, 6:45, 10:00pm & 1:15am

Saaho (2D/Tamil) 12:15, 3:30, 4:15, 6:45, 10:00, 10:45pm, 1:15am &

2:00am

Saaho (2D/Malayalam) 1:00pm & 2:00am

Porinju Mariyam Jose (2D/Malayalam) 1:00 & 7:30pm

ASIAN TOWN

ROXY

FLIK Mirqab Mall

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2D/Adventure) 10:30am, 1:10, 2:50, 4:40, 6:30, 8:20, 10:10 & 11:50pmDora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 10:30am, 2:30, 4:40, 8:30 & 12:30pm; Angel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 4:40, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:30pm; Sesh’s Evaru (2D/Telugu) 10:30am, 1:20, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50, 9:10, 3:30, 6:20pm; Knnedy Club (2D/Tamil) 7:15, 9:00 & 10:40pm; Khayal Ma’ata (2D/Arabic) 12;30, 11:10, 11:00, 3:30, 11:10pm & Ranarangam (2D/Telugu) 11:00am, 1:40, 4:30, 12:30, 3:20 & 6:10pm; Ready Or Not (2D/Horror) 6:00 & 7:10pmSheep And Wolves 2 (2D/Animation) 4:40, 6:30 & 6:50pmThe Angry Birds Movie 2 2:30 & 12:30pm

After The Wedding (2D/Drama) 1:00, 3:15 & 5:30pm; Dora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 11:00, 10:00, 12:00, 2:00 & 4:15pm; Ready Or Not (2D/Horror) 7:45 & 9:40pm; Saaho 8:40 & 9:10pm, Angel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 4:00 & 6:20pm; ,The Final Wish (2D/Horror) 11:35; 47 Meters Down: 6:15, 7:10, 9:10, 10;50pm & 0:40am; Welad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 10:40, 1:10, 3:40, 6:10, 8:40 & 11:10pm; Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2D/Comedy) 3:00 & 6:05pm, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw 11:10 & 1:40pm; Where’d You Go Bernadette (2D/Comedy) 10:40am & 12:50pm

Saaho (2D/Telugu) 5:00 & 11:00pmSaaho (2D/Hindi) 3:00, 8:15 & 11:15pmSaaho (2D/Tamil) 2:00 & 8:00pmSaaho (2D/Malayalam) 2:15pmThe Lion King (2D/Animation) 6:00pm; Trouble (2D/Animation) 5:15pmWelad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 7:00pmMission MangaL (2D/Comedy) 11:30pmAngel of Mine (2D/Drama) 9:15pm;

ROYAL PLAZA

Saaho (2D/Telugu) 2:00pm; Saaho (2D/Hindi) 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm; Saaho (2D/Tamil) 11:30pmSaaho (2D/Malayalam) 2:00pmSuper Bear (2D/Animation) 2:00pm; The Lion King (2D/Animation) 3:30 & 5:30pmAladdin (2D/Comedy) 7:30pm; The Final Wish (2D/Horror) 9:45pm; Trouble (2D/Animation) 5:15pmAngel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 7:00pm; Welad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 9:15pmPorinju Mariyam Jose (2D/Malayalam) 11:30pm

MALL

AAB Toyota unveils new ‘Granvia’ luxury people mover in QatarTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Redefining what premium stands for in the luxury people mover market, Toyota has unveiled the new Granvia in Qatar. Designed to provide an exceptional transportation space that addresses the growing demand for high-end shuttles, the new vehicle’s elegant design, luxu-rious interior, powerful engine, and advanced safety features enable customers to travel in optimal comfort while enjoying total peace of mind.

The new Granvia takes the concept of a luxury shuttle to the next level with premium seating for up to seven people, its expansive cabin delivers a level of comfort and refinement passengers would normally associate with a high-end limousine, complete with inde-pendent rear climate control, adjustable interior illumination, and luxurious woodgrain and metallic finishing, among many other features.

Takuo Ishikawa, Chief Engineer of the new Toyota Granvia, said: “The new Granvia offers more than just efficient transportation; by pairing exceptional comfort with advanced technologies it provides greater value, excitement, and a sat-isfying experience for drivers and passengers alike. The combination of a high-rigidity body frame with our new 4-link coil suspension delivers superior handling stability, quietness, and safety.”

Ishikawa continued: “This is a people mover that is designed to move passengers not only phys-

ically, but also emotionally. The new Granvia responds perfectly to changing cus-tomer values in dif-ferent markets, p a r t i c u l a r l y through its lavish interior and four independent rear captain’s chairs, which take the comfort of pas-sengers to the next level. We invite

everyone to take a ride to experience this ground-breaking luxury vehicle for themselves.”

“We are very excited to unveil the new Granvia, a true premium transport solution that meets the evolving needs of those desiring a spa-cious cabin, unrivaled comfort, and superior refinement. By providing ample personal space, we have ensured that each passenger will enjoy a smooth, comfortable ride and arrive at their destination feeling relaxed and refreshed,” said Yugo Miyamoto, Chief Representative, Middle East and Central Asia Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corporation.

While conventional luxury wagons tend to strive for an organic, emotional exterior design, Toyota’s engineers have created a more pres-tigious profile that sets the new Granvia apart. The vehicle’s wide body and low center of gravity are accentuated by cladding panels and metallic ornamentation that runs along to the bottom of the rear bumper, emphasizing its low, firmly-planted stance.

The Granvia’s front end features a large radiator grille and a stylish chrome-framed LED Daytime Running Lamp (DRL) construction, which merges with the headlamps and projects downward and outward to create a strong presence.

The new Granvia is available in a choice of four exterior colours that have been specially selected to create an impressive and luxurious presence. Customers can choose from White Pearl CS, Black, Gray ME, and Silver ME. Meanwhile, interior color options include natural beige or black-colored seats, which can be combined with Woodgrain or Black Metallic ornamentation.

Officials pose with the newly-unveiled Toyota Granvia luxury van.

The new Toyota Granvia luxury van


Documents

Wednesday 4 September 2019 | 5 Muharram 1441 2 Riyals · 2019. 9. 4. · Moscow, Mexico City, Mumbai, Berlin, Paris, London and Sao Paulo and in 10 districts across Turkey to get