Volume 24 | Number 7856 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 9 April 2019 | 4 Sha'baan 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

New Ooredoo tvYour hero for family entertainmentGoogle, Android, Android TV, Chromecast and other related marks

and logos are trademarks of Google LLC.

BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 12

Al Duhail and Al Ain share points in four-goal thriller

Corruption is most common form of

occupational fraud in Mena

BU

Corrucom

Qatar files lawsuit against currency manipulatorsQNA DOHA

The State of Qatar yesterday announced that it has filed legal proceedings in New York and London taking actions against financial institutions that engaged in manipulation of the Qatari Riyal, bonds issued by the State of Qatar, and related financial instruments, the Government Communications Office said in a statement yesterday.

A lawsuit was filed against Banque Havilland in London for its role in designing a plan to attack Qatar's currency and its financial markets. It also names as a defendant the individual at Banque Havilland, Vladimir Bolelyy, who was responsible for preparing the plan to attack Qatar's financial markets. In addition, a separate lawsuit was filed in New York against two financial institutions that engaged in financial market manipulation, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Samba Bank, the statement added.

It said that the filing of the lawsuits follows an investigation into market manipulation announced by Qatar in December 2017, and represent the first legal actions that the State has brought based on the findings of that investigation. The investigation is continuing and the State may bring actions against other bad actors in due course.

In June 2017, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an illegal blockade on

the State of Qatar and took a number of actions designed to damage Qatar, its economy, and its residents. As a result, Qatar initiated a number of legal pro-ceedings before the International Court of Justice, International Civil Aviation Organisation and World Trade Organisation, the statement said.

In July 2018, the Interna-tional Court of Justice issued a ruling indicating provisional measures in favour of Qataris who been discriminated by UAE cohesive measures, it noted.

The statement said that the actions undertaken by the entities that Qatar has now sued were illegal and were designed to destabilise Qatar's currency and financial markets in order to undermine confidence in Qatar's economy and, by doing so, to cause damage not just to

Qatar but also to domestic and international investors.

Their actions were deliber-ately designed (and intended) to force Qatar to take measures to counter this financial market manipulation. The defendants in the New York legal action directed their manipulative conduct at New York by among other things, submitting fraud-ulent quotes to foreign exchange platforms based in New York, to manipulate New York-based indices, and disrupt financial markets in New York, where sig-nificant Qatari assets are held and many investors in Qatar are located. As a result of the Defendants manipulative conduct, the State of Qatar, and many investors suffered harm in New York, the statement added.

The manipulation involved a number of financial institu-tions, two of whom are already named as defendants in the legal action in New York, and the State may bring additional actions against other bad actors in due course.

This financial market manip-ulation violated all norms of accepted conduct and will not be allowed to go unchecked. While the financial market manipulation failed in its efforts to undermine confidence in the Qatari Riyal and Qatar, it none-theless caused economic losses and Qatar is compelled to take the actions necessary to call to account the financial institutions that engaged in illegal market manipulation, the statement underlined.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani met yesterday with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Gabriela Cuevas Barron, on the occasion of convening the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Doha. They reviewed a number of issues of mutual concern, especially in terms of cooperation in the parliamentary and legislative fields, and ways of developing and strengthening it.

Prime Minister meets IPU President

Trump brands Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisationREUTERS WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump yesterday branded Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation, an unprecedented step that raises the spectre of retaliation from Tehran in an increasingly tense Middle East.

It is the first time the United States has formally labelled another country’s military a ter-rorist group.

“The IRGC is the Iranian gov-ernment’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” Trump said in a statement.

Iran immediately con-demned the decision as an illegal act prompted by Tehran’s regional influence and “success in fighting against Islamic State,” according to state television.

Tensions between the two countries have grown since Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran last May and reimposed sanctions that had crippled Iran’s economy. Trump said the accord did not address Iran’s ballistic missile activity or what he saw as its malign influence in the region.

The IRGC is Iran’s most pow-erful security organisation and has a huge influence in its

political system, controlling large swathes of the economy and the armed forces.

The IRGC’s involvement in Iran’s banking and shipping industries could complicate matters with US allies, including the European Union, which is setting up a new mechanism to facilitate payments for Iranian exports.

It was not immediately clear how yesterday’s move would impact Europe’s trade ties with Iran.

Those who do business with the Guards could now receive up to 20 years in prison and be barred from entering or doing business in the United States. �P10

Parliamentarians stress need to curb fake newsSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The parliamentarians from around the world have stressed the need of legislation to monitor social media to limit the dissem-ination of lies and fabricated news through these platforms.

During a debate by the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights on the sidelines of the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union (IPU), they unanimously agreed on the need to deal with fake news through effective legislation while protecting the freedom of press and expression.

They also suggested the establishment of an international body to address the new chal-lenge as individual countries could not provide solutions to counter the phenomenon of fake news and other cyber crimes.

They noted that it is difficult to distinguish between the correct and fabricated news because of the software and modern technologies that publish news and videos and falsely attribute them to public

figures in a way that is not easily verifiable.

The session also discussed previous IPU resolutions from recent years which included democracy in the digital era and the threats it causes to privacy and individual rights approved in 2015, as well as the

use of media for citizen engagement approved in 2013 and freedom of expression and the right to receive information approved in 2009.

They also discussed the actions taken by their respective countries and the measures adopted during the

previous years, aiming to reduce the risks of uncontrolled flow of information on social media sites.

The majority of speakers in the meeting supported the need to take the necessary measures to meet the challenge posed by the new media. �P2

A panel discussion by the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights on the third day of the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, yesterday. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/

THE PENINSULA

A lawsuit was filed against Banque Havilland in London for its role in designing a plan to attack Qatar's currency and its financial markets. It also named Vladimir Bolelyy, an individual at the bank as defendant. Suits against First Abu Dhabi Bank and Samba Bank filed in New York.

Doha to host 8th Global Warming ConferenceQNA DOHA

Doha will host the 8th Conference on Global Warming, organised by Qatar University with the support of the Qatar National Research Fund, which will be held from April 22 to 25.

The conference, which is attended by more than 170 researchers and lecturers from the world’s leading universities, aims to develop a better understanding of global warming by promoting research and related studies in partnership with many interested academic and industrial sectors to shape the future of this field and develop related research.

The conference will include plenary sessions and keynote lec-tures on energy, environment, materials, sustainable development and industrial waste, as well as the development of the gas, oil and petrochemical industry, providing greater opportunities for exchange of technical information, presen-tation of new policies and scien-tific progress to promote sus-tainable development.

T h e o r g a n i s e r s o f

the conference at the College of Engineering at Qatar University have confirmed that six interna-tional journals have been con-tracted to publish high-quality sci-entific papers, which will be pre-sented to the conference, on a large scale in special editions.

Conference Chair Rahul Bhosale said that this event has been successfully organized since 2008 in different parts of the world adding that the organizing com-mittee started working on a large scale to promote success, especially in terms of developing its technical and social content.

Six international journals have been

contracted to publish high-quality scientific

papers, which will be presented to the

conference, on a large scale in special editions.

02 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019HOME

Shura Council welcomes dignitaries attending IPUQNA DOHA

The Shura Council held yesterday its regular weekly session under the chairmanship of the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Sulaiti.

At the outset of the meeting, the Shura Council welcomed Their Excellencies heads of par-liaments and national, legislative and federal councils, national assemblies, parliamentarians, elders and heads of the delega-tions members of the Inter-Par-liamentary Union, who are con-vening in Doha currently within the framework of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and its associated meetings.

The Shura Council expressed

its pride in hosting the State of Qatar for this important inter-national historic event, which reaffirms the prominent position of the State of Qatar and its effective and influential role in the regional and international arenas under the wise leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The Shura Council expressed the hope that the meetings of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union would be a success and come out with results that contribute to realizing the ambitions and aspi-rations of the peoples of the world in peace, development and progress.

The Shura Council then dis-cussed a draft law regulating the auditing profession. The draft law, which includes (57) articles,

defines the records of the auditors, the conditions and pro-cedures of registration in the records, the rights and duties of the auditors, the disciplinary responsibility of the auditors and the violations and penalties to be imposed on the violators.

The Council decided to refer the draft law to the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee to study it and submit a report thereon to the Council.

The Shura Council also dis-cussed a draft law amending some provisions of Law No. (15) of 2010 on the prohibition of workers’ gatherings within the residential areas of families.

The Shura Council decided to refer it to the Services and Public Utilities Committee to study and report thereon to the Council.

Qatar, UN Counter-Terrorism Office discuss aspects of mutual cooperation

Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs H E Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhro yesterday met with the Undersecretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, who is visiting the country. During the meeting, they discussed aspects of mutual cooperation and means of supporting and developing them.

Parliamentarians stress need to curb fake newsFROM PAGE 1

“Freedom of expression is an inherent human right and one of the national principles which cannot be undermined. But we warn of chaos from the publishing and broadcasting of materials without restrictions or condi-tions that fall within the limits of deception,” said Ali Al Daqbaashi,

Member of the National Assembly of Kuwait.

He called for cooperation between countries and social media companies to achieve the required balance between reducing misleading and fake content and ensuring freedom of expression.

A member of the Gabon Parliament said that the idea of talking about

Internet related legislation by non-gov-ernmental organizations would undermine the authority of the State. He stressed the need of legislation involving all countries.

For his part, member of the Iraqi parliament stressed the need of imposing sanctions on the promoters of hate speech.

Dr. Abdullah Al Amri, member of the Consultative Council of Oman, said that the false and misleading news on social media had become one of serious threats to international peace and security.

The session hosted experts in tech-nology and new media and how they work, and possible measures to reduce the risks of false news that are becoming

a source of concern for countries and peoples.

During the session, some members propose an establishment of an inter-national body to monitor social plat-forms and to take punitive measures against violators, while some called for more cooperation between countries because it is cross-border crime.

QRCS implements relief programme in Papua New GuineaQNA/DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has completed a relief intervention to help the victims of earthquakes and floods in Papua New Guinea, with funding from Qatar Fund for Devel-opment (QFFD).

The project was coordinated with Papua New Guinea Red Cross Society (PNGRCS) and the International Com-mittee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It was designed to alleviate the suffering of those affected by the earthquake, by providing shelter, water, and sani-tation aid for Pinu village, Gabadi Kairuku Hiri District, Central Province.

A total of 200 families, or 1,200

persons, received household hygiene kits, water buckets, cooking pots, jer-rycans, and blankets. In preparation for the coming monsoon season, a stockpile of relief items was stored at ICRC warehouses, to ensure timely response.

QRCS Head of Disaster Prepar-edness, Subhi Fahid Ejjeh, said, “The partnership started last year in Sep-tember, with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between PNGRCS and QRCS to help the vul-nerable people whose lives were affected by disasters”.

Ejjeh expressed QRCSs thanks to the Government of Papua New Guinea and the National Disaster Office for facilitating the release of relief

containers from the port. “This donation was made by the State of Qatar, through QFFD, for the benefit of earthquake victims in Hela last year, and the people affected by floods early in January 2019. We hope to continue working closely with PNGRCS,” Ejjeh added.

Pinu disaster chairman, Kevau Ao, commended the joint work by PNGRCS and QRCS to bring relief to his village. “I was surprised to see that the hygiene kits had all the necessary items for both men and women. We are very happy for these contributions to our living standards. Such assistance was quite useful and met the needs of the affected population,” he stated.

MME, US Embassy organise workshop on air qualityQNA DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment, represented by the Environ-mental Monitoring Department opened yesterday a workshop in cooperation with the US Embassy in Doha, on monitoring air quality.

The workshop aims to enhance the Qatari partnership with different countries, with the aim of exchanging experiences in the environmental field and within the framework of bilateral agreements.

The Assistant Undersecretary for Environmental Affairs at the Ministry

of Municipality and Environment Eng. Ahmed Mohammed Al Sada said in his speech that Qatar’s interest in the environment and its sustainability in general and air quality in particular coincides with the global interest in this regard, and this is clearly reflected in Qatar’s National Vision 2030 in terms of protecting the environment for future generations and it is the duty of the Ministry as a responsible authority in the state to always strive to develop capabilities and benefit from the experience of others in maintaining and improving air quality, he said.

Al Sada added that the

participants will be briefed on the expertise and techniques used in air quality management in California and discuss possible areas of cooperation in this area. He hoped that the discus-sions and exchange of ideas will better improve air quality management in Qatar.

During the two-day workshop, the Chief Executive Officer and Air Pol-lution Control Officer of California Jack Broadbent, will discuss possible areas of cooperation between the two sides and exchange experiences and ideas on possible means to improve air quality management and identify best practices for best results.

Shura Council Deputy Speaker meets IPU, Tunisian Parliament officialsQNA DOHA

The Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Sulaiti, met yesterday with the President of Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) Committee to Promote Respect for Inter-national Humanitarian Law Nurhayati Ali.

During the meeting, they discussed enhancing the relations between the Shura Council and the Committee in the framework of cooperation between the Council and the IPU.

Also, the Deputy Speaker met with assistant

head of foreign relations at Tunisia’s Assembly of the Representatives of the People Mohammed Saidan.

They discussed parlia-m e n t a r y r e l a t i o n s between the Shura Council and Tunisia’s Assembly of the Repre-sentatives of the People, and ways of boosting them. In addition, They reviewed the issues on the agenda of the 140th IPU General Assembly cur-rently in session in Doha.

The Deputy Speaker also met with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for Foreign Affairs and

National Security, Sergey Rakhmanov, and Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, Shen Yueyue.

During the two meetings, the parlia-mentary relations between the Shura Council, the Belarusian National Assembly and the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China were discussed along ways of supporting and devel-oping them, in addition to reviewing the issues on the agenda of the ongoing 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Doha.The Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Sulaiti, with the dignitaries, yesterday.

03TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 HOME

Shura Council Speaker meets parliamentary heads

QNA DOHA

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also the President of 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parlia-

mentary Union (IPU) , met sepa-rately with the Speaker of the National People’s Assembly of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Cipriano Cassama; the Speaker of the Georgia’s House of Repre-sentatives, Irakli Kobakhidze; Head of the parliamentary bloc

of the Palestinian Liberation Movement, Azzam Al Ahmad; on the sidelines of the ongoing meetings of the IPU General Assembly in Doha.

During the meetings, the par-liamentary relations between the State of Qatar and each of these

countries were discussed along ways of enhancing them, in addition to reviewing the topics on the agenda of the General Assembly.

The Speaker of the Shura Council also met with the Chair of the Twelve Plus Group,

European countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Duarte Pacheco, the head of the Portuguese delegation, on the sidelines of the ongoing meetings of the IPU General Assembly.

During the meeting, they

discussed the parliamentary relations between the State of Qatar and the Twelve Plus Group along means of sup-porting and developing them, in addition to reviewing the topics on the agenda of the General Assembly.

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also the Pres-ident of 140th Assembly of IPU, met with the Under-Secretary-General of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Voronkov, on the sidelines of the IPU meetings currently in session in Doha.

During the meeting, they dis-cussed the relations between the State of Qatar and the United Nations, especially in the field of combating terrorism. The two sides also reviewed the topics on the agenda of the General Assembly.

QNA DOHA

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also the Pres-ident of 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) met separately with the President of the Consultative Council of the Sultanate of Oman, Sheikh Khalid bin Hilal Al Maawali; the Speaker of the National Assembly of the State of Kuwait, Marzouq bin Ali Al Ghanim; and the Chairwoman of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, on the sidelines of the 140th IPU Assembly currently held in Doha.

During the meeting they dis-cussed the existing parliamentary relations between the State of Qatar and the other states and ways to boost and develop them. The meeting also reviewed topics on the assembly agenda.

The Shura Council Speaker and President of the 140th IPU Assembly also met with the Speaker of the Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Larijani, on the side-lines of the 140th IPU Assembly

currently held in Doha. During the meeting, they discussed the existing parliamentary relations between the State of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran and ways to boost and develop them. The meeting also reviewed topics on the assembly agenda.

The meeting was attended by the Head of the Qatari-Iranian Parliamentary Friendship Com-mittee, Rashid bin Hamad Al Meadadi, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Qatar, Mohamed Ali Sobhani, and a number of Shura Council members.

Shura Council Speaker for launching global campaign to assist cyclone-hit African countriesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also President of 140th Assembly of the IPU, has called for launching of a global campaign to help the governments of three cyclone-hit African coun-tries.

The 140th General Assembly of the IPU resumed its proceedings yesterday in which discussions on the role of the parliaments in pro-moting education for peace, security, rule of law continued as well as emergency item on humanitarian assistance to African countries of Mozambique, Zim-babwe and Malawi affected by Cyclone Idai was also discussed.

Al Mahmoud chaired the meeting of the General Assembly to discuss the emergency item on humanitarian assistance to the African countries of Mozambique,

Zimbabwe and Malawi affected by cyclone Idai.

Al Mahmoud said that the emergency item had been adopted by the General Assembly on Sunday that called for urgent international action to help the three African countries hit by the cyclone recently.

Speaking on behalf of the State of Qatar and not as the President of the General Assembly of the IPU, the Speaker of the Shura Council expressed Qatar’s deep condolences and solidarity with three countries and their peoples. He also called for the launch of a global campaign to help the gov-ernments of the three countries to overcome the plight and to meet the needs of their citizens.

The Speaker of the Shura Council gave the floor to the rep-resentatives of the countries and organisations that asked to talk about this emergency item on the humanitarian catastrophe that left

much human and material damage in the three countries.

The speakers expressed their solidarity with these countries and with the victims of the cyclone and called for mobilising international support to provide them with assistance, especially in the fields of shelter, food, health,

environmental sanitation and clean drinking water.

The speakers also referred to climate change that causes such disasters, and the importance of recognising its risks. They also called on the countries, especially the industrial ones, to abide by the international conventions that

protect the planet and the world environment, including the Paris Convention, and work to reduce global warming and emissions in the atmosphere, including the carbon dioxide.

For their part, the represent-atives of the three affected coun-tries explained in detail the dev-astation caused by the cyclone and the emergency needs of their countries and their vision of how to deal with and overcome its effects with the help of friends, partners and the international community. They noted that many citizens in the three countries have died, in addition to the displaced and refugees, including large numbers of children and women, a matter which requires actions.

The representatives of States and organisations expressed their thanks to the IPU for discussing this disaster and expressed their gratitude for the sympathy, con-tributions and support shown by

the participating countries in over-coming the catastrophic effects of cyclone Idai.

The 140th Assembly of the IPU and Related Meetings continued its discussion on the role of the parliaments in promoting edu-cation for peace, security, rule of law, facing conflicts that are based on hate. The participants said that parliaments play a vital role in building peace, security and sta-bility in the world and in pre-venting the escalation of violence by promoting education opportu-nities for all to build healthy, willing and sustainable societies.

They said societies suffer great loss due to conflicts and spread of hatred, reflected in the economic indicators of countries with con-flict. They said these conflicts have resulted in losses estimated at $14 trillion, or about 12 percent of world GDP in 2016, reflecting the magnitude of the tragedy in those communities.

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also the President of 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at the meeting, yesterday.

Parliament Speakers discuss cooperation to strengthen legislative institutionsQNA DOHA

The heads of parliaments partic-ipating in the meetings of the 140th General Assembly of the IPU held a meeting, the first of this kind in the history of the Union, in which the speakers of councils from all over the world took part, to discuss cooperation and exchange of experiences and all means of strengthening legislative

institutions and supporting their supervisory and diplomatic roles.

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, who is also the President of the 140th General Assembly of the IPU, delivered a speech in which he welcomed all the participants who accepted the invitation to attend the meetings of the IPU as well as to attend this first-ever meeting. The Speaker of the Shura Council highlighted

the development of the legislative institutions’ roles, and the per-formance of the tasks of law leg-islation and supervision over management, as well as their sig-nificant contribution to diplomacy and foreign relations. He stressed the need to provide all resources and promote the role of media and social media to keep pace with the work of the legislative councils and inform the public opinion of their work and functions.

Minister meets Swedish parliamentary delegation

Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, H E Yousef bin Mohammed Al Othman Fakhro, yesterday met with First Deputy Speaker of the Swedish House of Representatives, Asa Lindestam, and a number of members of the House participating in the ongoing meetings of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Doha. They discussed aspects of mutual cooperation and means of supporting and developing them.

Attorney-General meets Speaker of Moroccan House

Attorney-General, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, met yesterday with the Speaker of House of Councilors at the Moroccan Parliament, Hakim Benchamach and First Vice-President of the House of Representatives at the Moroccan Parliament, Abdelaziz El Omari. They exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual interest and means of enhancing cooperation between the two countries.

04 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019HOME

‘We are not participants, Qatar is our own country’SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Secretary of the National Assembly of Kuwait, Ouda Al Ruwaie, has said that the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union (IPU) Assembly and meetings are important for all participating countries, and Qatar has succeeded in hosting and organising the Assembly as per expectations. Speaking to The Peninsula on the sideline of the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and related meetings, Al Ruwaie further said: “We are in Qatar but we are not participants; we consider ourselves in our own country.”

These parliamentary meetings are being held for the first time in a Gulf Arab country and many important topics have been discussed in relation to many issues, whether peace or education or the fight against terrorism and others.”

He said that the Kuwaiti parliamentary dele-gation had played a major role in coordination between the GCC, Arab and Islamic parliaments for the inclusion of a number of emergency items that are under discussion. Al Ruwaie noted that there are also issues of sustainable development, education, women empowerment, respect for reli-gions and minorities rights which would be dis-cussed during parliamentary meetings.

“We support the discussion on common issues that all countries are facing as it an international parliament with 162 member states,” he added.

Ambassador of Kuwait to Qatar, Hafeez bin Mohammed Al Ajmi, said that Qatar’s hosting of the 140th session of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) demonstrates the confidence of the international community in the capacity of the State of Qatar to prepare and organize important international conferences.

“It is an important meeting because it is being held for the first time in a Gulf Arab country. The presence of delegations from 162 countries and the participation of 2271 delegates including 80 Speakers is a testament to Qatar’s success in terms of interna-tional partnership,” he said.

In a press statement, Al Ajmi noted that this con-ference is being held for the first time in a Gulf Arab county and we wish more success to Qatar.

Commenting on the speech of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the opening of the 140th Assembly of the IPU, the Ambassador said: “It was a comprehensive speech especially his rejection of the American declaration of annex-ation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to Israel, which are most important issues for us as Arab countries.”

“Also all the issues discussed by the Assembly and related meetings are important for all countries of the world. I hope the Assembly will come out with a statement reflecting the hopes of Arab and Islamic peoples on issues that concern them,” he said.

Regarding brotherly relations between two brotherly countries, the Ambassador said: “ there is an active participation of the State of Kuwait with a high level parliamentary delegation headed by Speaker of the National Assembly of Kuwait Marzouq Ali Al Ghanim in the IPU Assembly.”

The Ambassador further said: “We are happy of Marzouq Ali Al Ghanim’s speech at the session of the General Assembly of the IPU on theme ‘Parliaments as platforms for the promotion of education for peace, security and the rule of law’, when the Speaker said that he was addressing the Assembly from Qatar, one of the six pearls that make bright Gulf necklaces.”

Secretary of the National Assembly of Kuwait, Ouda Al Ruwaie, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 140th Assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Union at the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort and Convention Hotel yesterday. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

Parliamentarians can play crucial role in transition to green economy: UN officialSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

As decision makers and opinion leaders, parliamentarians can play a decisive role in the transition to the green economy in their respective countries, said a senior UN official. “There several things that parliaments can do (to move towards green economy). Exer-cising their law making power they can ensure that there is more investment into technologies that promote green economy they can ensure that investment into research and development for green technologies,” Mario Socorro Manguiat (pictured),

Senior Legal Officer, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Environment Programme told The Peninsula.

“Parliamentarians can create requirements for green pro-curement because governments are usually the biggest consumer in a country. So if a country decides that it wants to go green then by requiring government to purchase services and equipment that are green then you start the revolution of supporting the green economy,” she added.

An inclusive green economy is low carbon, efficient and clean in production, but also inclusive in consumption and outcomes,

based on sharing, circularity, col-laboration, solidarity, resilience, o p p o r t u n i t y , a n d interdependence.

“Parliaments can also examine what subsidies are in place. If there

are subsidies for polluting tech-nologies and industries, par-liament can remove these sub-sidies and see that subsidies are used of other better purposes,” she added. She explained green economy looks beyond the tradi-tional model of systematic eco-nomic growth to one in which eco-nomic development maximizes human well-being within a low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive economy.

The green economy seeks to drastically reduce waste and limit the resources and energy that go into consumption and production, particularly through the devel-opment of new technologies and

other innovative processes (the principle of efficiency). At more advanced stages of development, the green economy also seeks to ensure that efficiency gains throughout the economy are not nullified by exceeding levels of consumption and production.

The transition to a green economy can advance the global sustainable development agenda by providing a pathway to poverty eradication and supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Many countries are taking, or have already taken, steps to reform their legal and governance structures to incorporate laws and

policies which promote a green economy.

The green economy is an indispensable pathway to meet the inter-related economic, social and environmental objectives of sus-tainable development. At its core, this economic model calls for a re-think of the very meaning of human development and progress as something more than material accumulation, important as this measure may be.

When fully applied, the green economy can lead to a more equi-table social order, a more fulfilling lifestyle, and a more symbiotic relationship between people and nature.

Kuwait Speaker meets Ministry of Foreign Affairs officialQNA DOHA

Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzooq Ali Al Ghanim met yesterday with Spokes-person of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lulwa Al Khater, on the sidelines of the 140th General

Assembly of the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union (IPU) meetings, currently in session in Doha

Discussions during the meeting dealt with relations between the two countries and brotherly peoples and means of boosting them.

HE the Spokesperson of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs reit-erated the appreciation of the State of Qatar for firm the stands of the State of Kuwait, its brotherly people and the Kuwaiti National Assembly towards the Arab and Islamic nations issues, at the heart of which is the Pal-estinian issue.

Secretaries-General of National Parliaments meetQNA DOHA

The Assembly of Secretaries-General of the National Parliaments held its first meeting yesterday as part of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), currently being held in Doha to discuss a number of issues on the agenda of the IPU General Assembly.

The Assembly of Secretaries-General of National Parliaments is an advisory body to the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union to facilitate commu-nication between the Secretaries-General of the Parliament, whether members of the Union or others.

The task of the Assembly is to study the practices and working methods of the various parliaments, propose special measures to improve these approaches and ensure coop-eration between the interests of these parliaments, and advise the

Inter-Parliamentary Union on some issues within its competence if the Union so requests.

At the beginning of the meeting yesterday, Secretary-General of the Shura Council H E Fahd bin Mubarak Al-Khayarin, spoke about the impor-tance of convening the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, noting that the State of Qatar attaches great importance to the work and joint parliamentary coop-eration, within the framework of j o i n t c o o p e r a t i o n a n d coordination.

He said that the agenda of the Conference of the Secretaries-General

of the National Parliaments included important topics, practical and research papers, valuable discussions, dialogues and meetings that would enrich the debate and serve as a useful resource for the deliberations of the participating members.

He reviewed the experience of the Shura Council in the State of Qatar, which dates back to 1972, and talked about its functions, structure and composition of committees.

A number of secretaries-general from several national parliaments around the world also spoke about the experience of their parliaments and the role of Parliament in

promoting joint action and some issues and developments related to parliamentary work, including the use of modern technologies, information technology and electronic services as auxiliaries in the work of parliaments.

The Assembly of Secretaries-General of the National Parliaments is scheduled to continue its three-day meetings within the framework of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Secretaries will address the role of their parliaments and review their various experiences in parlia-mentary work, as well as regional and international cooperation and the importance of training programs, in addition to addressing the issues related to the drafting of legislation and laws as well as the formulation of the draft agenda for their next meeting to be held in Belgrade, Serbia in October.

The task of the Assembly is to study the practices and working methods of various parliaments, propose special measures to improve these approaches and ensure cooperation between the interests of these parliaments, and advise the Inter-Parliamentary Union on some issues within its competence if the Union so requests.

Hafeez bin Mohammed Al Ajmi

‘Successful IPU Assembly proves world’s confidence on Qatar’

05TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 HOME

Parliamentarians highlight role of free trade in achieving economic equalitySACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

The Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade discussed the role of fair and free trade in achieving economic equality, sustainable infrastructure, industrialisation and innovation.

During a plenary meeting held within the framework of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and associated meetings, parliamen-tarians stressed on the need to encourage Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

During the meeting new pro-posals were incorporated and included on some of the draft res-olution, as well as the adoption of certain items and the deletion of other items, in order to reach the best formula and guarantee the

realization of the principle of equality among all participating countries.

The draft resolution seeks to encourage parliaments to take measures to ensure free and fair trade and investment by reviewing national and global policies to ensure equity, and calls for strong and growing investment in infra-structure to stimulate economic growth to address unemployment, improve social welfare and reduce poverty.

During the session, parlia-ments were called upon to pay particular attention to the allo-cation of foreign direct investment in specific sectors to ensure an equitable distribution of resources in all economic fields, and

They were urged parliaments to enact relevant legislation and policy frameworks to enable SMEs to enter the international supply

chain by creating an environment supporting SMEs and building their human, technical and financial capabilities so that they can understand policies and proc-esses in global supply chains and respond to these profitable requirements.

During the meeting, parlia-ments were invited to support the participation of SMEs in interna-tional trade through measures aimed at reducing trade barriers across countries, enhancing the role of foreign direct investment as a means for SMEs to access international markets and increasing access of SMEs to market information.

Parliaments were urged to use legislative and political frame-works based on fundamental prin-ciples of human rights, decent work, sustainable development and good governance to ensure

that the interests of women, youth and vulnerable communities are integrated into the development and implementation of the Gov-ernment’s trade and industrial pol-icies to achieve equality, fairness and justice.

It was also stressed that par-liaments should be actively involved in the process of consid-ering trade arrangements and rec-onciling these national

arrangements and commitments with the objectives of sustainable development.

The session stressed the importance of focusing on the current and future trade and investment system, and taking into consideration principles and mechanisms through which free and fair trade can support the achievement of sustainable devel-opment goals, and strengthening

public-private partnership.Parliaments were invited to

take action that would contribute to the strengthening of trade facil-itation infrastructure, together with the implementation of trade facilitation measures to develop trade-related infrastructure, as well as the strengthening of pro-ductive capacities aimed at increasing the competitiveness of products in export markets.

The Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade, discussing the role of fair and free trade. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

Bangladesh Speaker calls for parliamentary friendship groupSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Speaker of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament), Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, has said that parlia-mentary friendship group between Qatar and Bangladesh is likely to be formed in near future to enhance parliamentary cooperation between two countries.

“I have had a meeting with Speaker of the Shura Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud and shared with him the idea of forming parliamentary friendship group for more interaction, exchanges of visits of parliamentarians between both brotherly countries,” said Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Chaudhury said that she was very happy on being received by H E the Speaker of the Shura Council on her

arrival in Doha on April 5. “I extended invitation to the

Speaker of Shura Council of Qatar to visit Bangladesh with his esteemed del-egation,” said Chaudhury.

Speaking about women empow-erment which was on the agenda of discussion for the 140th Assembly of the IPU and Related Meetings, Chaudhury said:

“If we create appropriate atmos-phere and equal opportunities for women at work then we can have more women in career and professions, which will contribute to better building of society and nation.”

She said that the challenge was to create an enabling environment for women where they could continue their professional endeavours as the women have big responsibility towards their families and children.

“I would like to congratulate Qatar for hosting this important event which covers parliaments around the globe, its members and speakers,” said

Chaudhury.She said that Doha is a beautiful

city. “We are really enjoying our stay and having very important delibera-tions, interactions and meetings during the last three days.”

“The opening ceremony was splendid. Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani greeted us and the heads of the Parliamentary Delegations were honoured with an opportunity to meet H H the Amir before the inaugural session which was a great opportunity for me to convey best wishes from my Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and people of Bangladesh.”

The Speaker said: “Bangladesh has a very unique story to tell the world and

share with everybody else about women empowerment in our country.”

She said that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh who has been elected to that position four times, is a woman. “I have been elected to the parliament thrice. Our opposition leader and deputy leader of the House are also women,” she added.

She said that women are at very important leadership positions holding apex constitutional positions.

Speaker of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury

Speaking about women empowerment which was on the agenda of discussion for the 140th Assembly of the IPU and Related Meetings, Chaudhury said: “If we create appropriate atmosphere and equal opportunities for women at work then we can have more women in career and professions, which will contribute to better building of society and nation.”

Qatar shares experience in maternal, newborn and child health programsQNA DOHA

At a workshop organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the sidelines of its meetings in Doha, the State of Qatar yesterday outlined its experience in developing the health sector and focused on various maternal, newborn and child health programs.

The workshop was held in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). Reem Bint Mohammed Al Man-souri, Member of the Shura Council and Chairperson of the Women Parliamentarians Forum, presented Qatar’s vision on maternal and child health and reviewed the efforts made by the Ministry of Public Health and medical institutions in Qatar.

She stressed that wise lead-ership in Qatar pays great attention to the health sector in general and maternal and child health in particular as the mainstay of building the country.

She added that Qatar spent $6.33bn on healthcare in the past year, becoming the only country in the region ranked among the

top five in annual prosperity index, which topped by Sin-gapore, followed by Luxem-bourg, Japan and Switzerland.

Al Mansouri pointed to some health institutions that play an important role in ensuring maternal, newborn and newborn health, such as the Sidra Med-icine and other institutions oper-ating in the healthcare system in the country, highlighting various programs and initiatives in this regard.

During the workshop, Pres-ident of the IPU Gabriela Cuevas Barron drew attention to the Union’s plans and programs to push various countries to develop programs, funds and allocations to improve maternal, newborn and child health.

She said maternal and child health was an urgent issue of great concern to the IPU, noting that, to this end, the Union has strong partnerships with the WHO and with the United Nations.

She added that they have an important agenda for maternal and child health, hoping for deci-sions that countries will implement to improve maternal

and child healthcare.Gabriela stressed that if

countries do not allocate the appropriate budgets for health aspects, people will be vul-nerable to diseases and their public life as well as devel-opment plans will be disrupted.

The IPU President reviewed a number of statistics on maternal and child health, indi-cating that around 38 women worldwide die every day during childbirth and that 99 per cent of women deaths worldwide are in poor regions because of poor health care.

For their part, participants in the a workshop on maternal, newborn and child health reviewed their country’s plans and highlighted figures related to maternal, child and neonatal mortality.

In the field of legislation, Chairperson of the National Council of Namibia Margaret Williams reviewed the efforts made by her country, while a member of the Senate in Mexico, reviewed a number of legislative issues relating to maternal and child health in her country.

The participants at the workshop organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the sidelines of its meetings.

06 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019HOME

IIS wins patriotic song contestThe Ideal Indian School team members who secured first position in the Patriotic Song Competition organised by QMASS, a socio-cultural organisation in connection with the Republic Day of India, posing for a picture. Principal Syed Shoukath Ali congratulated the team on their glorious victory.

Qatar, Philippines discuss ways to boost ties

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, Teodoro L Locsin, met yesterday with the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Philippines, Ali bin Ibrahim Al Malki. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and ways of developing them, in addition to matters of mutual interest.

Instant fee cashback by sending money globally with Ooredoo MoneyTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo announced yesterday that Ooredoo Money customers who send money for the first time using existing Ooredoo Money International Money Transfer partners MoneyGram, Aldar Exchange or Ooredoo Exchange will enjoy up to a QR25 instant fee cashback reward.

Any Ooredoo customer who subscribes to Ooredoo Money and sends money using an inter-national money transfer option for the first time will enjoy instant cashback of up to QR15 of their transaction fee. Cus-tomers will also enjoy a QR5 instant cashback each for the second and third transactions respectively.

This will enable Ooredoo Money customers to try the service for free in most of the countries.

Also, existing Ooredoo Money cusomters will get a instant cashback of QR5 if they send money 60 days after their last international money transfer transaction using Oroedoo Money.

The new offer has been designed to encourage more people to use Ooredoo’s secure, instant money transfer services with MoneyGram.

To send money, Ooredoo customers must register for an Ooredoo Wallet via the USSD menu (*140#) or the “Ooredoo Money” app.

The Ooredoo Money app is available via the Apple App Store and Google Play store and has seven language options (Arabic, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tagalog and Nepali).

Customers can deposit money into their mobile wallet from any of over 200 Ooredoo Self-Service Machines (SSMs)

all across Qatar, through any Ooredoo Shops or partner outlets or even transfer money directly from any bank account in Qatar to their wallet.

As well as instant money transfer to 200 countries with MoneyGram, Ooredoo Money customers can also send money to any international bank accounts via Aldar or Ooredoo Exchange in selected countries. Ooredoo Money can also be used to send money locally to any mobile wallet or QNB bank account, recharge a Hala mobile account, pay Shahry bills, pur-chase data and Dawli cards, pay DPS School fees, and much more.

It can also be used to recharge international prepaid mobile numbers in over 100 countries, purchase data bundles or even pay DTH/other bills in selected countries including India, Bangladesh, the Philippines etc.

Qatar Airways launches new BRIC’s amenity kits collectionTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways has revealed its new line of luxurious amenity kits for passengers in its First Class and Business Class cabins. Created by BRIC’s, the celebrity-favoured premier luxury travel brand, the new amenity kits will be distributed to passengers in First and Business Class on long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights.

The new collection of BRIC’s amenity kits includes designs and contents created for both male and female passengers and features all natural Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio skin care products. The range includes lip balm, hydrating facial mist and

anti-ageing moisturiser in Business Class, with Night Recovery Cream included in the First Class kits. Socks, eye-shades and earplugs complete the range, with the addition of a BRIC’s signature spectacle pouch

and hairbrush in First Class.For the first time, the

versatile First Class female kit contains an adjustable strap that

transforms it into a contem-porary cross-body bag, enabling passengers to continue using their unique BRIC’s amenity kit as a fashion accessory. This kit comes in two colours, black with red trim and red with pink trim. The attractive First Class men’s kit comes in two colours, mustard yellow with navy trim and navy with green trim and can be reused as a washbag for years to come.

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Marketing and Cor-porate Communications, Salam Al Shawa, said: “We aim to provide a superior service to all of our passengers – from the comfort of their seat, to the food they are served, to their in-flight

entertainment. Our new line of BRIC’s amenity bags is of such high quality that they can be used over and over again and for the first time, our female passengers in first class can enjoy turning their amenity kits into cross-body bags.

With our men’s kits doubling up as washbags too, we are further demonstrating our com-mitment to providing superior, innovative products for our passengers.”

The airline’s new range of amenity kits comes in a variety of colours for male and female passengers – black, green, mustard yellow, navy and red – with more colours to be added in the future.

BRIC’s mustard-navy men’s kits.

The new collection of BRIC’s amenity kits includes designs and contents created for both male and female passengers and features all natural Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio skin care products.

Vietnam National Assembly Chairwoman lauds efforts of embassy and communityRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has lauded the efforts of the Vietnamese Embassy and the contributions of the Vietnamese community in boosting the rela-tions between Vietnam and Qatar.

Speaking at a meeting with the Vietnamese Embassy staff and representatives of the Viet-namese community at the embassy on Sunday, Ngan encouraged the community to abide by the local laws and reg-ulations as well as expressed hope that the community would continue to maintain solidarity and help each other in times of need.

On her second time visiting Qatar, Ngan admired the progress that had taken place since her first visit in 2009 with the rise of new beautiful buildings adding to Doha’s mag-nificent skyline.

The National Assembly in Doha to attend the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union (IPU) being hosted in Qatar for the first time which she praised for being well

organised and facilitating her comfortable stay.

Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Dinh Thao said the visit of Ngan to Qatar was important since it came just a year after Qatar and Vietnam celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. He was optimistic her visit would contribute to further bolstering the relations between the two countries.

“During the past years, the political relations between the two countries have been

remarkably developed by leaders of the two countries. Prominent in bilateral relations in 2018 was Qatar Airways’ launch of direct flights con-necting Doha and Da Nang. This event is of great significance for the development of Da Nang in particular and the Central region of Vietnam in general. Through traffic connections, economic, trade and investment sectors will be the priorities of the two sides in the future,” said the ambas-sador. Since its establishment in 2008, the Vietnamese embassy has been trying its best in pro-moting the relations between the two countries.

There are about 1,400 Viet-namese residents in Qatar rep-resented by the Vietnamese Community Liaison Board, which includes 10 members who have been trying their best to provide help and assistance to Vietnamese people in Qatar in times of need, he said.

Over the past year, the Viet-namese Community Liaison Board has closely cooperated with the Embassy to organise many activ-ities to celebrate the 25th anni-versary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Qatar, he added.

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, being welcomed by the Vietnamese Embassy officials and community members during her visit to the Vietnam Embassy on Sunday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Dinh Thao said the visit of Ngan to Qatar was important since it came just a year after Qatar and Vietnam celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. He was optimistic her visit would contribute to further bolstering the relations between the two countries.

QNA DOHA

Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) will hold its 7th annual cele-brations of the National Program for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed) on April 15.

During the celebration, Kahramaa will announce the winners of Tarsheed compe-tition, which launched this year 7 competitions, in the framework of its keenness to spread public awareness and cultural and societal values of rationalisation and con-sumption efficiency among the members of society.

The national program 'Tarsheed' announced the

launch of a number of com-petitions, including two com-petitions for students: the best story writing competition and the best graduation project for energy efficiency competi-tions, in addition to five com-petitions related to different sectors in the country, the best sustainable building design competition, the best poster design competition, con-serving buildings competition, the best renewable energy ini-tiative competitions and the best performance award for district cooling system competitions.

Since its launch until the end of 2017, Tarsheed Program has succeeded in reducing per capita consumption of elec-tricity by 17 percent, water by

18 percenr, reducing carbon emissions by 10.2 million tonnes, reducing natural gas consumption by 265,000 million cubic feet, and helped save QR5bn.

According to the second national strategy 2018-2022, Tarsheed Program started Phase II in 2017, which aims to reduce electricity consumption by 8 percent and water 15 percent by 2022, and reducing harmful carbon emissions by 7 percent, improving and imple-menting regulations and spec-ifications for all electrical and water devices and connections, and providing technical support to a number of projects in the country to produce 500-700 MW of renewable energy by 2022.

Kahramaa to hold 7th annual celebrations of Tarsheed on April 15

07TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 HOME

HBKU to explore arbitration of Human Rights disputesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The College of Law and Public Policy (CLPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will host a colloquium, Arbi-trating Business and Human Rights Disputes: A New Way Forward, on April 17. Guest speaker, Steven R Ratner, the Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, will lead the colloquium, which aims to highlight the efforts of the Business and Human Rights Arbitration Working Group of the Center for Inter-national Legal Cooperation (CILC) in The Hague.

The working group, of which Ratner is a member, provides an avenue for dispute resolution involving business and human rights issues. It seeks to fill the judicial remedy gap set forth in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Speaking ahead of the event, Dr

Susan L Karamanian, dean of CLPP, said, “Professor Ratner’s wealth of expertise in the area of corporate accountability for human right violations will undoubtedly contribute to an insightful

session, providing attendees with an opportunity to glean valuable infor-mation on this developing branch of the law. HBKU continuously seeks oppor-tunities to leverage synergies with key

international partners and build capacity and knowledge in Qatar and the region, while ensuring an inclusive, high-quality research and education ecosystem.”

Professor Ratner’s teachings and research focus on public international law and a range of legal challenges

including territorial disputes, counter-terrorism strategies, ethnic conflict, state and corporate duties regarding foreign investment, and accountability for human rights violations.

He began his legal career as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State, and has advised governments, NGOs, and international organisations on numerous international law issues.

CLPP takes a multidisciplinary approach to legal education, equipping its students with the skills to navigate complex civil law, common law and Sharia’h systems.

The college’s Juris Doctor (JD) program is the first and only graduate law degree of its kind in the region. The colloquium will take place on Wednesday, April 17, from 4pm to 6pm at Conference Room 1, Minaretein (College of Islamic Studies Building) in Education City.

Steven R Ratner (centre), the Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, will lead the colloquium on April 17 at Minaretein.

Professor Ratner’s teachings and researches focus on public international law and a range of legal challenges including territorial disputes, counter-terrorism strategies, ethnic conflict, state and corporate duties regarding foreign investment, and accountability for human rights violations.

HMC’s ambulance service provides faster approach for 8th consecutive yearTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The average time for Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Ambulance Service to respond to emergency calls in Qatar is faster than the target set by Qatar’s first National Health Strategy in 2011.

In 2018, HMC’s Ambulance Service responded to approxi-mately 115,000 priority 1 calls — the most urgent category of calls and reached the emergency site in an average time of 7 minutes within Doha and 8.2 minutes in rural areas of Qatar.

Brendon Morris, Executive Director of HMC’s Ambulance Service, highlighted the impor-tance of ambulance teams arriving in time to provide what is often lifesaving care.

“In a medical emergency, every second counts. When some-one’s life is in the balance it is vital that our paramedics are able to get to them as fast as possible and begin administering medical treatment,” said Morris.

“The National Health Strategy 2011-2016 set clear response time targets for the Ambulance Service and I am incredibly proud that we have consistently met, and even exceeded, these targets for the past eight years,” he said.

These impressive response times have been achieved despite

an increase in the number of calls received by the service year on year. In recent years the Ambu-lance Service has expanded the LifeFlight Service, introduced a new state-of-the-art ambulance fleet and built dispatch points around the country. These steps have enabled the service to reach patients quickly, regardless of their location.

This week the Ambulance Service relaunched its ‘Know the 5 to save a life’ national awareness campaign, aimed at educating the public about the key actions to take when calling an ambulance in an emergency situation.

The campaign’s ‘Know the 5 to save a life’ messages are: dial 999 immediately, know your location, answer all questions,

follow all instructions and give way to ambulances.

“This is the third time we have run the campaign and it is vital that we continue to remind members of the public of the importance of following the ‘Know the 5’ instructions,” said Ali Darwish, Assistant Executive Director of the Ambulance Service.

“The campaign asks the public to ‘Help us help you’, as the actions of the person calling 999 are essential in enabling us to respond as quickly as we do. By following each and every one of the ‘Know the 5’ instructions, our ambulance teams have all the information they need to get to the scene as quickly as possible,” added Darwish.

In 2018, HMC’s Ambulance Service responded to 115,000 priority 1 calls.

Public urged to be cautious of heatstrokeFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

With the temperatures are rising and the summer season is fast approaching, people have been urged to be cautious of heat-stroke.

Heatstroke is a condition which requires emergency treatment. People are also likely to get heat cramps and heat exhaustion, if exposed to the hot sun without a protection.

Though these conditions are not as serious as heat stroke, they can lead to heatstroke if they are not treated, said Dr Khalid Zahraldin Mohamed Esmail, Pediatric Pulmnology Consultant at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

“Heat stroke is common during summer and is a medical emergency. If this happens one should call the ambulance. The main treatment of heatstroke

involves cooling the body down,” he told media persons.

Heatstroke is a condition caused by your body over-heating, usually as a result of prolonged exposure to or physical exertion in high tem-peratures, which needs imme-diate attention.

High body temperature, altered mental state or behaviour, change in sweating, nausea and vomiting, flushed skin, rapid breathing, racing heart rate and headache are symptoms of a heatstroke.

Dr Esmail also said that people should look out for symptoms of heat cramps or heat exhaustion. “Heat cramps cause painful muscle cramps. Heat exhaustion can cause head-aches, dizziness, nausea, or vom-iting. It can also make you thirsty or tired.

If anybody present symptoms of heat cramps or

heat exhaustion, they should cool the body down right away to avoid getting heatstroke,” he said.

“To cool the body down one can spray oneself with cool water and then sit in front of a fan; move into the shade, or go into an air-conditioned building or car; take a cool shower or bath; drink water or a sports drink. Take off any extra clothing; and put a cold pack or cool cloth on the neck or armpit,” he added.

Dr Esmail also insisted that children should not be left alone in a car or in an outdoor activity, during the hot weather.

“Children should always be accompanied by an adult and should wear less clothes. If the family observes something like fast breathing they should seek medical intervention. Children should always be kept hydrated,” he added.

The Tripoli-based and UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) seemed taken by surprise. It scrambled to mobilise various militias backing it to defend the capital and eventually launched airs attacks against Haftar’s forces.

AFP

08 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019VIEWS

How far can Haftar get with his Tripoli offensive?

On April 4, Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar announced in a voice recording circulated online that he was launching

a military campaign to take over the capital, Tripoli. His media office then released a video purporting to show tens of armoured vehicles bearing the emblems of Haftar’s “Libyan National Army” (LNA) heading towards the Libyan capital. Tripoli would fall in 48 hours, his forces declared.

The Tripoli-based and UN-recog-nised Government of National Accord (GNA) seemed taken by surprise. It scrambled to mobilise various militias backing it to defend the capital and eventually launched airs attacks against Haftar’s forces.

Despite the severity of the situation and the risk of another bloody esca-lation in the years-long Libyan conflict, the response of the international com-munity was rather weak. The United Kingdom called an emergency Security Council meeting on Friday night, which resulted in a statement calling on Haftar to “halt all military advances”, after Russia and France insisted on minimal pressure on the LNA. Mean-while, the US pulled out some of its troops stationed in Libya.

As the GNA announced a “counter-offensive” on Sunday, the situation in the country remains tense. With conflicting reports coming from both sides, and what appears to be a massive battle of mis-information raging on, it is very dif-ficult to judge what is really going on on the ground.

At this point, what is clear is that Haftar has

received enough international backing to press on with his operation and its outcome will be determined by what happens in the coming weeks.

An LNA operation to take over Tripoli was always just a question of time. After securing full control over Benghazi in eastern Libya in 2017, over the past year, Haftar has steadily pressed on to expand the territories under his control, while also engaging in talks with the GNA sponsored by various foreign actors.

In January, his forces launched an operation to take over major oilfields in the south and by the end of the month were able to enter Sabha, the largest city in southern Libya. Having established control, at least nominally, over two-thirds of Libya, Haftar turned his gaze on Tripolitania (western Libya) and the capital Tripoli.

With a UN-led national conference scheduled for mid-April, Haftar has-tened to maximise his territorial gains and hence his leverage over his oppo-nents at the GNA. At the same time, the ongoing civil unrest in Algeria gave him a rare window of opportunity to launch a military operation.

Worried about the Libyan conflict spilling over into its territory, the Algerian leadership has been pressing for a political solution in Libya and has hosted several meetings between Libyan actors. For Algiers, the GNA and the Islamist forces in Libya have to be included in any conflict settlement to ensure the stability of the country. It has perceived Haftar’s zero-sum games as dangerous and potentially destabil-ising. Moreover, in its status of North Africa’s hegemon, Algiers sees his Arab allies - Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia - as geopolitical foes.

Given Algeria’s political and mil-itary clout in the region, Haftar had avoided moving close to Algerian borders and kept open communi-cation channels with the Algerian leadership until a few months ago. The purge that Algeria’s security and mil-itary apparatus went through in mid-2018 and the uprising which erupted in February 2019 against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s rule gave Haftar a unique opportunity to launch his expansionist military campaign, without much backlash from Algiers.

Haftar probably also received the green light from his foreign backers. It is no secret that Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and increasingly Russia and France, have been providing the LNA with mil-itary and political support.

In late March, Haftar travelled to Riyadh to meet Saudi King Salman, which roughly coincided with a visit Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed

bin Zayed paid to Egypt, where he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It is quite unlikely that Haftar’s closest allies were not informed about the planned operation.

The timid response by the interna-tional community to his offensive on Tripoli - which was launched as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting the Libyan capital - shows that many countries consider Haftar as the solution for Libya, not just the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Haftar is also hoping to capitalise on the increasing discontent among the civilian population in western Libya. The situation inside Tripoli - as in other Libyan cities - has been steadily deteriorating. Crime, inse-curity and corruption have been on the rise.

The capital is divided between dif-ferent militias, and the GNA is itself weak and corrupt. As nostalgia for the Gaddafi era has crept in, Haftar has tried to project himself as a military strongman who could unite the country and bring back stability and order. This self-styled image as Libya’s saviour has been promoted by a massive propaganda machine largely backed by the UAE.

The situation on the ground is changing rapidly and is rather unpre-dictable, but at this point, there are at least three possible scenarios for what happens next in Libya.

First, the Tripoli offensive can become a protracted conflict similar to the one that Benghazi witnessed, which lasted three years. This would take a heavy toll on the civilian popu-lation and infrastructure, and would spoil Haftar’s hopes to enter the capital as a popular and much-awaited saviour.

Second, a quick victory is also not out of the question and it would very much depend on whether Haftar is able to win over enough militias that would join his forces and help him take control of Tripoli without a fierce fight. He has been conducting negotia-tions with a number of militia leaders already - a strategy that had helped him make quick territorial gains in his campaign in southern Libya.

YOUSSEF CHERIF AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAYOur common

border with Turkey is protected well,

because our reciprocal agreements are being

implemented.However, there are

problems with our [EU] partner Greece.

Boyko Borisov Bulgarian Prime Minister

Border ‘emergency’: The problem Trump can’t fix

The resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen underscored the failure of President Donald Trump to

halt uncontrolled immigration, one of the key promises of his presidency.

More than two years after he took office, tens of thousands of mostly Central Americans flood across the southern US border each month, requesting asylum so that they cannot immediately be sent back home.

Trump wants his officials to take a tougher stance, but is stymied by US laws protecting migrants and a Con-gress unwilling to change them.

In the first six months after Trump took office in January 2017, the US border patrol apprehended about 20,000 undocumented migrants each month, the lowest level in years.

Since then the numbers have steadily increased. In the six months to February, apprehensions topped 60,000 a month, and March could have neared 100,000, officials say.

The number of migrants arriving in families, and as unaccompanied children, has also soared, straining facilities to house and process them. Several have died while in US custody.

Most are from Guatemala, El Sal-vador and Honduras, and they often cross the US border from Mexico in groups numbering more than 100. Once over the border they turn them-selves in to US officials and request asylum, citing poverty and violence back home. US and international laws guarantee that if a person crosses the border into the country and requests asylum, their case must be reviewed by an immigration judge.

That means the migrants can stay inside the US until their case is heard. Currently the backlog for immigration cases is nearing 900,000 with wait-times around two years. Released inside the United States to wait, most migrants are never seen again.

Trump has sought ways to deter migrants against the strong pull of better jobs and security that the US offers, but he has been frustrated by

stiff political and legal barriers, including his own courts.

He has demanded billions of dollars to build a wall along the border, but Congress has refused to fund it. In response he declared a national emer-gency to divert funds from military projects, but now faces legal challenges to that.

Trump wants Mexico to halt trans-iting migrants, but action by the Mexican government has been limited.

Last week he threatened to shut down border ports to pressure Mexico economically to act. But US business and politicians from both parties told Trump that would damage the US economy as well.

According to news reports, Nielsen resigned Sunday after opposing Trump’s push to restart a former policy to separate migrant children from their families, which he believes was a strong deterrent to crossing the border.

That policy has been ruled illegal in US courts and labelled a human rights violation by US and international rights activities.

The importance of education in disseminating knowledge and fighting ignorance as the cornerstone of all aspects of life, development and sustainable growth, was highlighted at the 140th General Assembly of the IPU and related meetings currently under way in Doha.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

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

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

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Promoting education

The world is facing many challenges in providing quality and inclusive education. The importance of education in disseminating knowledge and fighting ignorance

as the cornerstone of all aspects of life, development and sustainable growth, was highlighted at the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and related meetings currently under way in Doha. Qatar has focused on education, thanks to unlimited support from the coun-try’s leadership in terms of curriculum development and the use of new technologies in the development of teachers and students.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, giving a speech at the opening of the 140th Assembly of the IPU, said: “Education in our time has become a social right that has turned into an integral part of human rights, and has been included in the Goal 4 of the 2030 Sustainable Devel-opment Goals. Investing in quality education is one of the most important elements of building the economy, advancing societies, and achieving growth and prosperity. But igno-rance is one of the most important obstacles to people’s growth and renaissance.

“Qatar has paid special attention to international coop-eration in the field of education and provided development support to some developing countries in various regions of the world, as well as interna-tional organizations operating in this field. Our country has also launched numerous initiatives in the field of supporting and promoting education in collab-oration with national and global partners such as the initiatives: “Educate a Child”, the World Innovation Summit for Edu-cation (WISE), and other initiatives.”

Speaker of the Shura Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud said the choice of this year’s subject — parliaments as platforms to enhance education for peace, security and the rule of law — for discussion comes at a time of increasing calls for paying

special interest to the quality of education. The Speaker stressed that just focusing on expanding the provision of education is no longer sufficient, if it can’t be linked to values of love and tolerance. The Speaker highlighted that parlia-mentarians have a role to play in that regard, by promoting education that celebrates diversity, whether cultural, reli-gious, or ideological.

IPU President Gabriela Cuevas Barron said parliament members play a major role in addressing the issue of edu-cation in a rapidly changing world, the most important of which is to make education inclusive and opportunity-driven. She also highlighted the importance of instilling the culture of gender equality in new generations by teaching these values in schools and through practice.

Education is one of main pillars of a progressive society and has the power to make this world a better place for out future generations.

Libyans queue outside a bank in central Tripoli’s Al Andalus district, yesterday.

A whopping 130 million people — about half the population — spend an average of over three hours daily on social media, one of the highest rates globally.

Despite the huge volume of fake news, pollsters say that among committed supporters of either presidential candidate, false stories make little difference either way in terms of their voting choice.

09TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 OPINION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICETEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORTEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION TEL: 4462 7501info@pen.com.qa

PUBLIC RELATIONSTEL: 4455 7613pr@pen.com.qa

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870 adv@pen.com.qa

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENTTEL: 4455 7857adv@pen.com.qa

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTIONTEL: 4455 7809 / 839FAX: 44557819info@tawseelqatar.com

D-RING ROADPOST BOX: 3488DOHA - QATAReditor@pen.com.qa

All thoughts and views expressed in these columns are those of the writers,not of the newspaper.

All correspondence regarding Views and Opinion pages should be sent to editor-in-chiefoffice or mailed to the editorinchief@pen.com.qa

Venezuela’s health crisis isthe hemisphere’s problem

Indonesia’s front line in the war on fake news

MAC MARGOLIS BLOOMBERG

MOSES OMPUSUNGGU AFP

It’s hard to cross a plaza or park in metropolitan South America without running into “The Lib-erator” Simon Bolivar, sword

raised atop a bronze horse. But who remembers Arnoldo Gabaldon? The Venezuelan epidemiologist fought malaria with maps, field laboratories, quinine and armies of door-to-door

fumigators, making Venezuela a pioneer in eradicating malaria in densely populated areas.

Gabaldon would be sweating in his bed netting today. Half a century on, Venezuela is a hothouse for malaria again, but also communicable miseries from HIV/AIDS to Zika. For-gotten diseases such as diphtheria and measles rage. Leprosy, tuberculosis and typhoid fever are back, alongside emerging mosquito-borne viruses, such as dengue, Zika and chikun-gunya. New HIV infections jumped 24 percent from 2010 to 2016.

Now the worst humanitarian crisis in the Americas risks becoming a hemispheric emergency, as nearly 3 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants ferry their pathogens across the continent.

Venezuela’s failing health is no sur-prise: The disastrous Nicolas Maduro government has made the economy and national infrastructure a shambles. Serial blackouts and scarce supplies have devastated hospitals, where nursing staff are forced to ventilate intubated patients manually and to reuse disposable surgical gloves. A third of Venezuelan physicians have left the country since 2014, according to the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

Add to that the toll of global human folly: Severe droughts likely linked to disruptive climate change have forced Venezuelans to store water at home, a perfect swarm for aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads dengue, chikun-gunya, yellow fever and Zika. By 2016,

all four strains of dengue were circu-lating countrywide. Venezuela’s per person funding for populations at risk of contracting malaria was the lowest in the Americas after Peru and French Guiana. So depleted is primary care that pregnant Venezuelans prefer risking their lives and fleeing the Boli-varian republic to giving birth at home.

But when such migrants travel, they also carry ills that Venezuela’s neighbors thought they’d beaten. After logging just one case of measles between 2008 and 2015, Brazil reported more than 10,000 infections last year. Most patients bore D8 gen-otype measles, the dominant strain circulating in Venezuela. The Vene-zuela epidemic has also been linked to outbreaks in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The World Health Organization reckoned that a Venezuelan malaria outbreak was responsible for 84 percent of the increase in infections in the Americas in 2017. Venezuela alone kicked in 53 percent of all reported cases regionally in 2016 and 2017.

“The human exodus has become a disease exodus. Contagion is one of our most prolific exports,” Venezuelan infectious disease pathologist Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi, a member of the Venezuelan National Academy of Medicine, told me. Like many of his colleagues working in precarious con-ditions, Paniz-Mondolfi improvises. To speak to me, he had to go to a clinic in central Venezuela powered by natural gas, a safeguard in a country pockmarked by blackouts.

Fortunately, Venezuela’s neighbors are better prepared to deal with dangerous outbreaks. In recent decades, many have made strides in fighting debilitating and lethal dis-eases. But Venezuela’s collapse has also left health professionals in the dark; the Ministry of Health stopped publishing its once-respected health bulletin in 2016. For Venezuela’s neighbors, that disappearance makes evaluating and treating refugees a deadly guessing game.

“We see cases of encephalitic disease on the Brazilian border that appear to be viral, but no one knows for sure,” said Aileen Chang, an arbo-virus researcher at the George Wash-ington University School of Medicine,

who has studied the Venezuelan crisis. “For malaria, you draw blood and look for parasites under the micro-scope. When you have a virus and don’t know what it is or does, and have no cheap, quick way to diagnose, then you’re completely unprepared.”

Dealing with viruses like dengue is especially vexing. Spread by highly adaptable mosquitoes that breed in still clean water, bite by day and flourish in crowded quarters, dengue travels well and is wondrously adapted to chaotic urban Latin America. Six epidemics hit Venezuela from 2007 to 2016, compared with four epidemics in the previous 16 years, according to a recent study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Venezuela’s statistical blackout and chronic underreporting of infec-tions also mean that the country’s accelerating outbreaks point to a wider threat. “Mosquitoes move a couple of hundred meters over their lifetime. But people travel hundreds of kilometers if they’re walking, thou-sands if they travel by boat, bus or plane,” said Donald Shepard, a health economist at Brandeis University’s Heller School.

What’s worse is that many people - including most of those infected with dengue and up to 80 percent with malaria - carry disease but do not fall ill. “When people move they take bugs with them, even if they don’t know it,” said Duane Gubler, an expert on emerging infectious diseases, and emeritus professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore. “Viruses mutate as they pass through humans, sometimes increasing the fitness of the virus and creating epidemic potential.”

Not surprisingly, dengue and malaria are flaring on the Colombian border, a no-man’s land where outlaws lurk, wildcat miners dig for gold and then take their winnings and contagions back home, and holdout guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army roam. “It’s a hard place to work if you’re a phy-sician or health worker,” said Martin Llewellyn, who studies vector-borne diseases at Glasgow University. “It’s an open sore right on a critical border.”

A small army of “hoax busters” in Indonesia is trying to hold the line against a swarm of fake news that threatens to

sway millions of voters as the world’s third-biggest democracy heads to the polls.

While many countries fret about the explosion of online falsehoods, observers say Indonesia’s enormous social media audience — and low levels of digital literacy —make its April 17 polls particularly vulnerable.

A whopping 130 million people — about half the population — spend an average of over three hours daily on social media, one of the highest rates globally.

Analysts say much of what they are reading about the 245,000 candi-dates, who are standing for every-thing from the presidency to local leg-islative seats, is untrue.

The online battle is particularly fierce over the reputations of Pres-ident Joko Widodo, who is running for re-election, and his challenger

Prabowo Subianto. Both are hit daily with false reports and doctored head-lines circulated by fans, detractors and for-hire fake news fabricators known as buzzers.

Misinformation emerged in the 2014 election, which Widodo won, said Ari Nurcahyo, a political analyst at the Para Syndicate think tank.

“Now it’s much more difficult to contain so the effect is more destructive, not only for the candi-dates but also for society,” he said.

“If it’s not dealt with properly then we’ll have serious issues even after the election.”

Fears are growing that fake news is cracking open social and religious fault lines in the Southeast Asian nation of 260 million, which has sig-nificant ethnic and religious minor-ities, including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists.

Indonesia’s reputation for reli-gious tolerance has already been tested in recent years by extremist violence and the increasingly prom-

inent voice of Islamic hardliners. “What scares me is when hoaxes

are mixed with hate speech because they often use false information to spread animosity along on ethnic, racial and religious lines,” said Ferdi-nandus Setu, spokesman for Indone-sia’s communication and information ministry. The ministry created an 80 person, around-the-clock fact-checking team to debunk hoaxes and other fake news, with officials announcing the results at regular press briefings.

Joining the offensive are hun-dreds of volunteers at the NGO Mafindo, which is among two dozen organisations that belong to a unique digital verification coalition called CekFakta — linked to Indonesia’s top news outlets.

Widodo, who still leads Subianto by a wide margin, has blamed false information for hurting his chances in vote-rich West Java, the Muslim majority country’s most populous province. Online, Widodo haters say he is selling off the country to China and other foreign interests.

Or they claim he is a communist, intent on banning the daily call to prayer and legalising gay marriage -- unpopular moves that the practising Muslim has never advocated.

But Subianto also has online detractors who air falsehoods such as that the retired general wore smart glasses to give him an unfair edge during televised presidential debates.

“Both sides are playing with rumours, altering facts and data,” said Syamsuddin Haris, a political analyst at the Indonesia Sciences Institute.

Despite the huge volume of fake news, pollsters say that among com-mitted supporters of either presi-dential candidate, false stories make little difference either way in terms of their voting choice.

The real target — and the places the hoaxes can make a difference -- is the undecided voters which are esti-mated to number as much as 15 percent of the huge electorate and maybe enough to tip the balance.

Facebook, which has a fact checking partnership with , has

The World Health Organization reckoned that a Venezuelan malaria outbreak was responsible for 84 percent of the increase in infections in the Americas in 2017. Venezuela alone kicked in 53 percent of all reported cases regionally in 2016 and 2017.

banned political advertisements from outside Indonesia ahead of the polls, and shut hundreds of accounts and pages linked to a group accused of spreading hate speech and false claims.

Police have also cracked down, rounding up freelance fakers and members of the Muslim Cyber Army (MCA), a cluster of loosely connected groups that attack the government and stoke religious extremism on social media.

Despite a string of arrests, online trolls are still trying to confuse with claims like boxes of cash were found inside a crashed helicopter carrying a political can-didate, suggesting she was corrupt.

Photos of the downed heli-copter — which were real — were accompanied by false stories about the money.

“Many people can tell when a photo or video has been doctored, but the problem is when they’re real but the accompanying nar-rative is false,” said Mafindo co-founder Aribowo Sasmito.

Indonesians participating in a campaign rally calling for clean elections in support of presidential and vice-presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, in Jakarta.

10 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Air strikes halt Tripoli flights; thousands fleeAFP TRIPOLI

A warplane carried out an air strike yesterday against the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport and halted all flights, aviation authorities said, as fighting raged for control of Tripoli.

Thousands were also reported by the United Nations to be fleeing the capital city in the face of Haftar’s surprise assault which has left dozens dead. A security source at Mitiga airport east of the city said no side had yet claimed responsi-bility for the raid, which hit a runway without causing casualties.

At least 35 people have been killed in fighting since Haftar’s forces launched their assault on Thursday, Libya’s unity gov-ernment said. The civil aviation authority decided “to suspend aerial traffic until further notice” to Mitiga airport, said Mohammed Gniwa, a spokesman for national carrier Libyan Air-lines. An airport source, who did want to be named, confirmed the closure.

There has been heavy fighting near Tripoli since the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an assault aimed at taking the capital. Oil-rich Libya has been rocked by violent power struggles between an array of

armed groups since the Nato-backed overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Haftar, a former Gaddafi mil-itary chief, has emerged as a major player, his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) backing an administration in the country’s east in opposition to the UN-backed government based in Tripoli.

The capital’s main airport was destroyed in fighting in 2014. Mitiga airport is on a former mil-itary base on the city’s eastern out-skirts, and it was forced to close several times because of clashes between militias last year.

The offensive by Haftar on Tripoli has thrown into sharp relief the divisions between world powers over how to end the chaos that has riven Libya since the 2011.

Over the last years, com-peting factions and militias have sprouted up controlling different parts of Libya, leaving foreign

powers to back or oppose a sometimes bewildering array of groups. Haftar’s controversial and surprise offensive on Tripoli, launched last week, has forced interested parties to lay their cards on the table about what they believe is the best way to restore order in the north African country.

On one side of the struggle is Haftar, the military commander and strongman of eastern Libya. And on the other Fayez Al Sarraj, who leads the United Nations-endorsed Government of National Accord, which has control of Tripoli.

The key allies of Khalifa are the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and increasingly Saudi Arabia.

“The fighting in Libya has turned into a proxy war between Gulf rivals,” according to James Dorsey, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of Interna-tional Studies in Singapore.

Neil Partrick, a Middle East specialist based in Britain, said that Haftar has had the support of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates from the outset while recently Saudi Arabia began openly backing him as well.

Previously Riyadh had been “discretely backing” Haftar while publicly professing political support for the UN-backed gov-ernment in Tripoli.

But the strongman was invited to visit Riyadh in March in a show of support, Partrick

said. On the other side of the fight, the UN-backed Sarraj gov-ernment retains substantial support from Italy, which has close ties with and strong eco-nomic interests in its former colony.

“Historically, the Italians have always maintained very good relations with Tripoli,” said Ali Bensaad, professor at the French Institute of Geopolitics, pointing to Italy’s interests in Libyan energy reserves through its oil firm ENI.

The support of Rome, a colonial power in the early 20th century, also has a lot to do with its “priority (of) ending the flow of migrants” coming from Libya, said Arturo Varvelli, head of the North Africa Program at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.

For its part, France has

ostensibly played the role of mediator between Haftar and Sarraj, organising two meetings between the Libyan rival leaders, one in July 2017 and the other in May 2018. But in reality the French position is less clear, and Paris — which maintains close ties with Cairo, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi — has been accused of favouring Haftar’s side in the power struggle. “France is no longer playing the role of mediator,” said Bensaad. “Its strategic alliance with the Gulf countries is pushing it to mould its geopolitical strategies.”

In July 2016, France announced the death of three soldiers in a helicopter accident in Libya, where they had been supporting Haftar’s forces during an intelligence-gathering mission. “The French position is ambiguous,” said Varvelli,

arguing Paris had from 2015 “endorsed Haftar to demonstrate French commitment to the fight against radical Islamists.”

French involvement in Libya under President Emmanuel Macron has caused tensions in the past with Italy, which has his-torically been the lead European power in the country.

“France and Italy are on the same wavelength,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Russia has been seen as an enthusiastic supporter of Haftar, hosting meetings with him in Moscow. But since his offensive, Moscow has in public at least distanced itself from the military strongman, with the Kremlin calling “on all sides to reject actions that could provoke bloodshed in battle and the deaths of civilians”.

At least 35 people have been killed in fighting since Haftar’s forces launched their assault on Thursday, Libya’s unity government said, while the UN says thousands have been displaced.

Seven dead in Sudan protestsAFP/KHARTOUM

Sudan’s interior minister said yesterday that seven protesters had died, including six in the state of Khartoum, when security forces dispersed several anti-government demonstrations held since April 6. “While the demonstrations were being dispersed seven citizens died, six of them in Khartoum and one in central Darfur,” Bushara Juma told parliament, adding that about 10,000 protesters had rallied in front of the military headquarters in the capital on Saturday.

New Palestinian govt in daysAFP/RAMALLAH

Palestinian prime minister-designate Mohammad Shtayyeh will announce the make-up of his new government in the coming days, Palestinian officials said. Shtayyeh has until April 14 to form a new government which is expected to exclude all supporters of Hamas, longtime rival to the Fatah movement of both Shtayyeh and Pales-tinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Analysts say real decision-making power remains with 84-year-old Abbas, in power since 2005.

Students among 11 civilians dead in Sana’a: UNAFP/SANA’A

The United Nations called yesterday for an investigation into the deaths of 11 civilians including students in Yemen’s capital, where rebels accused a Saudi-led coalition of carrying out a deadly air strike.

Scores more civilians were wounded in Sanaa on Sunday, according to a statement released by the UN that did not specify the cause of the casualties.

A reporter on the ground said the injuries appeared to be the result of an explosion near a school in the city. The coa-lition, which regularly carries out air strikes against the rebels, denied conducting any raids on Sanaa on Sunday.

Five students were among the dead, according to the UN, whose humanitarian coordi-nator for Yemen, Lise Grande, voiced alarm at the “terrible, senseless deaths and injuries”.

“Every effort must be made to understand the circum-stances that led to this tragedy,” she said.

Netanyahu, Gantz make final pitch ahead of voteAFP JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to energise supporters on the eve of today’s elections with warnings and controversial promises, while his centrist challenger urged voters to tell the premier the country has had enough.

The general election — in which Netanyahu is seeking to extend his 13 years in office despite corruption allegations against him — is expected to be close, as ex-military chief Benny Gantz poses a serious challenge.

The two men spent the cam-paign’s final hours exhorting voters with two different strat-egies: Netanyahu repeatedly warned that his Likud was at risk of losing, while Gantz made the case that Israel was on the verge of historic change.

The truth was more compli-cated, with opinion polls giving

Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White a similar number of seats in the 120-seat parliament.

Under those polls, both would fall far short of an outright majority and would need to pull together a coalition.

If polling trends hold, Netanyahu would be best placed to build an alliance thanks to smaller right-wing parties close to him. But there have been repeated warnings about opinion polls’ historical unreliability and the fact that many voters say they remain undecided.

Netanyahu’s claims that Likud may lose were widely seen as a way to encourage his base to turn out. Netanyahu has made last-minute appeals to the right, issuing a deeply controversial pledge to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank.

If done on a large-scale, applying Israeli sovereignty there could extinguish remaining

hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

In an interview on Sunday, Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump, who is expected to release his long-awaited deal for Israeli-Palestinian peace sometime after the election, was aware of his plans.

Netanyahu said he planned to apply sovereignty gradually, and that he did not differentiate between Israel’s large West Bank settlement blocs and the isolated ones located deep in the territory on land the Palestinians see as part of a future state.

“Who else can do this? Who can do this? Come on. Honestly,” Netanyahu said, making the case as he has throughout the cam-paign that he is Israel’s essential statesman.

“Who can stand in front of the world? Who can stand in front of the American Congress? Who can move public opinion in that direction?” Gantz has called

Netanyahu’s pledge an “irre-sponsible” bid for right-wing votes.

He says he favours a “glo-bally backed peace agreement” that sees Israel hold on to the large settlement blocs in the West Bank and maintain security control over the territory.

Gantz has also highlighted his security credentials while saying he will heal divisions he accuses Netanyahu of exacerbating.

“There’s a need for change and an opportunity for change,” Gantz told Israel’s army radio . “Israel needs to choose a direction of unification, con-nection and hope—or of extremity.”

The two were also engaging in typical pre-election cam-paigning, including Gantz riding a motorcycle to his rally on Sunday and Netanyahu visiting Jerusalem’s main market yesterday.

Iran declares US ‘state sponsor of terrorism’AFP/TEHRAN

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council yesterday declared the United States a “state sponsor of terrorism” and US forces in the region “terrorist groups”, state media said.

In a statement carried by the official news agency Irna, it said the move was in response to the United States designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organisation”. The council slammed Washington’s move as an “illegal and foolish act”.

In response, it “declares that it considers the regime of the USA a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ and ‘the Central Command of America, known as CENTCOM’ and all forces related to it ‘terrorist groups’,” the statement said. Part of America’s vast military presence around the globe, CENTCOM’s area of command covers multiple war zones and hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Gulf.

Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier urged President Hassan Rouhani to place CENTCOM forces on Tehran’s list of terror groups, his ministry said. Zarif blasted the US move on Twitter, saying it was timed to support Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu ahead of Tuesday’s parliamentary election in the Jewish state. “A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous US misadventure in the region,” he wrote.

The US decision came as part of already far-reaching attempts to undermine the Iranian government. President Donald Trump said the “unprecedented” move “recognises the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”

Planes are pictured at Mitiga International Airport in Libya’s capital Tripoli after it was closed following an air strike, yesterday.

Civil defence crews and locals conducting search and rescue works after a ballistic missile dropped near a school at the de-escalation zone ‘Jisr Al Shughur district of Idlib, Syria, yesterday.

SA court okays Mozambique ex-minister’s extradited to USAFP/JOHANNESBURG

A South African court ruled yesterday that a Mozambican ex-finance minister held since December on a US arrest warrant can be extra-dited to either the United States or his home country. Michael Chang, 63, was arrested at Johannesburg’s main airport on December 29 over alleged involvement in fraudulent loans to Mozambican state firms worth $2bn. Magistrate William Schutte ruled that “there is evidence that Manuel Chang has committed the crimes he is charged with and that all conditions are met so he can be tried in the United States”.

Russia and Turkey to jointly patrol IdlibAGENCIES MOSCOW

Russia and Turkey will jointly patrol Syria’s Idlib province, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow yesterday.

“We are basically entering joint patrolling, at least patrolling from two sides,” Putin said.

Putin and his Turkish coun-terpart discussed a missile deal slammed by the US as well as closer military cooperation.

The two sides must “strengthen cooperation in the military-technical sphere,” Putin told Erdogan as they met in the Kremlin.

“These regard first of all the completion of the contract to supply S-400 anti-aircraft

missile systems to Turkey,” he said. “There are other promising projects on the agenda related to the supply of modern Russian military products to Turkey,” Putin added.

Nato member Turkey’s missile deal has tested its already soured relations with Wash-ington. The US has put a freeze on its joint F-35 fighter jet pro-gramme with Turkey in protest.

11TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 ASIA

Modi pledges to invest $1.4trn in infrastructureAFP NEW DELHI

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday vowed to spend more than $1.4 trillion on new infrastructure over five years to create much-needed jobs and to pursue his nationalist agenda if he wins an election that starts this week.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also promised $300bn for the country’s hard-pressed farmers and rural devel-opment as it went all out to stop voters being tempted by oppo-sition parties in the world’s biggest election that runs from Thursday until May 19.

The BJP’s big-spending man-ifesto made a new pledge to scrap a law that gives special privileges - such as preventing outsiders from buying property - to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi’s party also said it was committed to building a grand

temple in place of a mosque demolished by mobs in the city of Ayodhya in 1992.

“Nationalism is our inspi-ration and inclusion and good governance is our mantra,” the Prime Minister said at the man-ifesto launch.

Modi remains popular in India, but his government has come under fire over its handling of the fast-growing economy, particularly the failure to create jobs for the millions of youths coming on the labour market each year and the severe debts hitting farmers.

Facing criticism from the opposition Congress party, the BJP said more than $1.4 trillion

would be spent during the next five-year term if it wins. It promised metro trains for 50 cities and to double the national highway network.

On top of the rural devel-opment, each farmer would get an annual handout of Rs6,000. Thousands of farmers have killed themselves in recent years because of crippling debts.

The party set 75 targets - divided between the economy and its long-standing aim to transform society - to be reached by 2022 when India marks its 75th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule.

“It (the manifesto) is multi-layered and multi-dimensional because our society is very diverse. We can’t have a one-size-fits-all kind of policy,” Modi said. While the BJP promises also included lower taxes for the middle-classes and more health facilities, the Prime Minister has built his reputation over the past five years as being a hawk on

national security. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Indian security forces would be given “a free hand” to rein in extremist violence. The vow to scrap a con-stitutional amendment providing special rights to Kashmir could also spike tension in Kashmir.

The BJP has long supported ending Kashmir’s special status, but its proposal is currently before the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Congress manifesto promised a Rs72,000 payment to each of India’s poorest 250 million families.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presents the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election manifesto in New Delhi, yesterday.

Congress saysno word on jobs,black money in BJP manifestoIANS NEW DELHI

Tearing into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress yesterday said important issues like jobs, GST, black money and demon-etisation were missing from the whole announcement exercise.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP leaders - including Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah and Min-isters Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj - did not speak even a single word on those issues.

He said the BJP should start packing as people would reject its false promises and throw the party out of power.

Surjewala also questioned the BJP-led government on its earlier promises made in 2014 elections. “You promised two crore jobs every year, which translates to 10 crore jobs in five years. In reality, during these five years, number of jobs have actually reduced by 4.7 crore. And it’s not something that I am saying, but what has been said by the government’s own NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation) data,” he said.

The Congress leader added that while the BJP had promised to bring back Rs80 lakh crore in black money and deposit Rs15 lakh in each Indian’s bank account, “in reality, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya looted Rs1 lakh crore of the taxpayers’ money and fled the country right under Modi’s nose”.

He also questioned how the BJP intends to double farmers’ income considering that at the current rate of agricultural growth of 2.9 percent, it would take 28 years. “Modi also promised to turn India into an economic power. But in the last five years, he has buried the country under debt,” Surjewala said, adding that the BJP-ruled government borrowed over Rs27 lakh crore between 2014 and 2018.

The BJP manifesto pledged zero tolerance towards ter-rorism, promised pension for small and marginal farmers and 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament.

UK High Court rejects Mallya’s plea against extradition IANS LONDON/NEW DELHI

In a fresh win for India, the United Kingdom High Court has rejected fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya’s written submission for permission to appeal against his extradition order passed by a Westminster magistrate’s court.

The submission was rejected by Justice William Davis on April

5. Mallya has five days for an oral submission, said sources in New Delhi.

Mallya, wanted by India in the Rs9,000 crore Kingfisher Airlines loan default case and charges of fraud, money laun-dering and violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, had moved the High Court after the

Westminster Magistrates Court, on December 10, 2018, gave the go-ahead for his extradition.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court Chief Magistrate, Judge Emma Arbuthnot had then sent Mallya’s case to Home Secretary Sajid Javed, who had also cleared the extradition in February.

Mallya, 63, left India on March 2, 2016 after defaulting on loans amounting to Rs9,000 crore he had taken for his now-defunct

Kingfisher Airlines but he has repeatedly denied fleeing the country, saying he is ready to pay back the money he owed to the Indian banks.

India had in late 2017 filed extradition proceedings against Mallya which he contested. He is currently out on bail in London. A consortium of 13 banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), has been preparing to initiate loan recovery proceedings against

him. The proceedings are on before a special court in Mumbai under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

The Enforcement Directorate had also moved the Special Pre-vention of Money-Laundering Act Court last year to declare Mallya a “fugitive economic offender” and confiscate all his properties, estimated at more than Rs12,000 crore, making it the first such case of its kind under the new law.

Radar images prove Pakistan F-16 shot down: IAFAFP NEW DELHI

India’s Air Force yesterday presented what it called “irref-utable evidence” that it downed a Pakistan fighter jet in February, as the regional foes offer competing narratives over what happened in the dogfight.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied that it lost an F-16 over the skies in Kashmir while a US magazine, citing top defence officials, has also cast doubt on India’s assertion that a jet was

shot down.India lost an MiG-21 Bison in

the aerial skirmish and its pilot was captured by Pakistan and later returned.

But India has long main-tained that its pilot first fired on an F-16, sending the damaged jet crashing into Pakistan-administered Kashmir - some-thing Islamabad says never happened.

In a press conference, Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor repeated this assertion, reading out the evidence gathered by

India and displaying radar images he said proved the Pakistan jet was struck and crashed.

“There is no doubt that two aircraft went down in the aerial engagement on 27 February 2019,” Kapoor said yesterday, reading from a prepared statement.

India’s Air Force “has irref-utable evidence of not only the fact that F-16 was used” on the day of the dogfight, but that it was shot down by the Indian jet, he added.

Kapoor said further “credible information and evidence” backed this version of events but could not be released due to con-fidentiality concerns.

It comes just days after Foreign Policy magazine cited two unnamed senior US defence officials who said that US per-sonnel recently conducted a count of Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing.

The magazine quoted one of the officials as saying that Pakistan invited the US to phys-ically count its F-16 fleet.

Rohingya refugees construct reinforcements to prevent landslides ahead of the monsoon season at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, yesterday.

BJP’s election manifesto promises metro trains for 50 cities and to double the national highway network.

Reinforcements to prevent landslides

EU urges Colombo not to end moratorium on death penaltyAP COLOMBO

The European Union (EU) is urging Sri Lanka not to end its four-decade moratorium on the death penalty, saying capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to counter illicit drugs and related crimes.

Yesterday’s statement from the EU comes a week after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced that dates have been set for the country’s first executions in 43 years amid rising alarm over drug-related crimes.

Sri Lanka last executed a prisoner in 1976. Currently, 1,299 prisoners are on death row, including 48 convicted of drug offences.

Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Sri Lanka, where authorities have intensified a crackdown on narcotics to deter smugglers from using the Indian Ocean island nation as a transit point for distribution in the region.

While acknowledging that combatting the proliferation of drugs is a serious challenge for countries around the world, and that action to counter the illicit drug trade is important and nec-essary, the EU said “the evidence does not support the argument that the death penalty is an effective deterrent.”

“The death penalty is an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity,” the EU said.

Sirisena has said that tough law enforcement is necessary to curb crime and maintain order.

Prison authorities have begun interviews to recruit two hangmen as two people previ-ously recruited quit without exe-cuting anyone.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have crit-icized the move by Sirisena, who has modelled his country’s drug fight after the Philippines.

Sirisena visited the Philip-pines in January and praised President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug crackdown as “an example to the world.”

Thousands of suspects have been killed since Duterte took office in 2016, and rights groups have denounced the killings as extra-judicial executions.

Last week, Sri Lankan police publicly destroyed 770kg of drugs seized in 2016 and 2017. Police have seized 731kg of heroin, 1kg of cocaine and 1,607 kg of marijuana so far this year.

Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in Sri Lanka, followed by heroin and cocaine. Drug-related arrests rose 2 percent in 2017 from the previous year to 81,156.

Expedition to remeasure Everest heightAFP KATHMANDU

Nepal is sending a team of g o v e r n m e n t - a p p o i n t e d climbers up Mount Everest to remeasure its height, officials said yesterday, hoping to quash persistent speculation that the world’s tallest mountain has shrunk.

Four government surveyors will depart on Wednesday for Everest, which lies on the Himalayan range straddling the border of Nepal and China.

Its official height is 8,848 metres (29,029 feet), first recorded by an Indian survey in 1954. Numerous other teams have measured the peak, although the 1954 height remains the widely accepted figure.

But a heated debate erupted in the aftermath of a massive earthquake in Nepal in 2015, with suggestions the powerful tremor had knocked height off the lofty peak.

Nepal’s Survey Department commissioned a team of sur-veyors in 2017 to prepare for an Everest expedition in the hope of putting the matter to rest.

“We are sending a team because there were questions regarding the height of Everest after the earthquake,” the expe-dition’s co-ordinator from the Survey Department, Susheel Dangol, said.

Four government surveyors have spent two years fine tuning their methodology for measuring the peak, collecting readings from the ground and training for the extreme condi-tions they will encounter at the top of the world.

They will ascend the treacherous mountain armed with advanced equipment to collect the remaining data to derive the true height of the peak. “It will not be easy to work in that terrain, but we are confident our mission will be successful,” said the expedi-tion’s leader and chief surveyor, Khim Lal Gautam.

AgustaWestland: Sushen sent to judicial custodyIANS NEW DELHI

A Delhi court yesterday remanded Sushen Mohan Gupta, an alleged middleman in the Rs3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, to judicial custody till April 20.

Gupta was presented before Special Judge Arvind Kumar on the expiry of his two-day

Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody. He was arrested on March 26, a day after the court allowed Rajiv Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman and another alleged middleman in the deal, to become an approver.

Saxena in his disclosure statement submitted to the ED revealed that Interstellar Tech-nologies, a company that received AgustaWestland

kickbacks, was controlled among others by Gupta. According to the ED, Saxena developed the global corporate structure that laundered money for payment to politicians, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officials to influence the contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers in favour of AgustaWestland, the Rome-based helicopter design and manufacturing company.

12 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019ASIA

Hamza gets pre-arrest bail until April 17INTERNEWS LAHORE

The Lahore High Court (LHC) yesterday granted Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz pre-arrest bail till April 17 and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him in cases pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means.

The High Court also ordered him to pay surety bonds worth Rs10m and issued a notice to NAB seeking its reply on the plea.

A NAB team seeking Hamza’s arrest was embroiled in a nearly five-hour-long standoff with his private security and supporters at his family’s Model Town residence on Sat-urday. It was the second day in a row that the NAB had approached his residence for his arrest.

The stalemate ended once the LHC restrained the bureau from arresting the PML-N leader and granted him protective bail until April 8.

Hamza Shahbaz was repre-sented by Advocate Amjad Pervez before the two-judge bench. A team of the bureau’s legal experts were also in the courtroom.

The court asked NAB’s lawyer which case the bureau wanted to arrest the PML-N leader in, to which he replied that there are a total of three cases against Hamza and they wanted to arrest him in the case pertaining to assets beyond

means. The lawyer added that arrest warrants in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and the SaafPani Company cases had not yet been issued.

The PML-N leader’s legal counsel Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar told the court that Hamza had been granted bail by the LHC in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case, and added that the high court had ordered that a 10-day notice be given prior to his arrest. According to Tarar, the 10-day time period had been given so that they could secure bail from the appropriate forum.

He said that NAB had raided Hamza’s house without a warning, and added that the PML-N leader wanted to secure pre-arrest bail so that he can appear before NAB.

During the proceedings, NAB’s lawyer said that the Supreme Court had given a verdict which said the Account-ability Bureau was not required to give a 10-day notice. He added that illegal transactions had taken place in Hamza’s accounts.

“The purpose of the arrest is to ensure that the record does not disappear at the behest of Hamza,” he said, adding that the PML-N leader’s bail request should be rejected. Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan said that detailed arguments would be heard later.

On Saturday, an accounta-bility court had dismissed an application by NAB seeking police assistance for Hamza’s arrest.

Four arrested in crackdown on dollar hoardingINTERNEWS LAHORE/RAWALPINDI

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan has arrested four people in Lahore and Islamabad and seized foreign currency worth more than Rs40m in a crackdown on dollar hoarding and speculative currency trade.

The action was taken in line with the government’s drive against dollar hoarding, money laundering, hawala/hundi and illegal speculation regarding devaluation of Pakistani currency.

According to a news release, FIA Punjab Zone-I Lahore

director Muhammad Waqar Abbasi directed the authorities to take strict action against those involved in the illegal practice.

As per the government, dollars were hoarded to make rupee weaker in market and the action had caused artificial demand of dollar and an increase in its rate artificially.

The FIA Punjab zone had con-stituted six different teams, which conducted raids simultaneously at all money exchanges in dif-ferent areas of Lahore and inspected their records.

The teams took currency worth millions of rupees into

possession from DD Exchange in the city and arrested three people, identified as Hassan, Ghulam Ghaus and Omar Dar. A criminal case was also registered against their two branches. Further investigation in the case is under way. The FIA action decreased

rate of dollar in the open market. Officials said the action would continue till the end of dollar hoarding.

Federal Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, a couple of days back, had announced on Twitter that ‘a full-fledged operation against dollar hoarding and speculative currency trade’ would be launched by the FIA as panic had started appearing in foreign cur-rency markets after the dollar rate reached Rs148 in open trading on Friday. An FIA team conducted similar raids against dollar hoarding in Islamabad. The

first raid was conducted at TT and DD Currency Exchange in Islamabad that was dealing in foreign exchange without licence from the State Bank of Pakistan.

The sources said the FIA team also seized Rs4,0 61,250, 33,295 UAE Dirham, $3, 800, 2,500 pound sterling, AUD300, QAR300, 1,805 Euro and 1,610 Saudi Riyals during the raids.

The FIA team arrested Shahnawaz Khan and confiscated receipts, record registers and a computer used in illegal sale and purchase of foreign currency. An FIR was also registered against him.

Security personnel walk around the cars carrying former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur as they leave the accountability court after a hearing in Islamabad, yesterday.

Zardari appears before accountability courtINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad in a money-laun-dering case yesterday.

During yesterday’s hearing of the case, two of the accused in the case requested the court that they be allowed to testify as witnesses.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious bank accounts, including Zardari and

his sister Faryal Talpur.Zardari’s close aide Hussain

Lawai was arrested in July last year in connection with the probe.

The former President’s other close aide and Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by the FIA in August 2018.

Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources.

The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black

money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.

The case was earlier being heard in a banking court in Karachi but had been shifted to an accountability court in Islamabad upon an appeal by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Zardari, Talpur and other accused nominated in the case appeared before the court amid tight security, with at least 1,650 security officials deployed within and around the judicial complex to avoid any untoward situation during the hearing.

US Centcom commander calls on ImranINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Incoming Commander of the United States Central Command (US Centcom) General Kenneth F McKenzie Jr called on Prime Minister Imran Khan at the PM House in Islamabad yesterday.

The two dignitaries dis-cussed the Pak-US relations and the ongoing Afghan peace talks, among other matters.

General McKenzie Jr, who took over as head of the US Centcom last month after General Joseph Votel’s retirement, also led a delegation that met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa yesterday, the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

The two top commanders discussed the geo-strategic environment and regional security. The discussion also included Afghanistan and the recent standoff between the Pakistani and Indian militaries.

The FIA action brought down dollar’s rate in the open market. Officials said the action would continue till the end of dollar hoarding.

Pakistan-India meeting on Kartarpur corridor next weekANATOLIA ISLAMABAD

Pakistan yesterday accepted the Indian proposal to hold a meeting on proposed Kartarpur border corridor between the two coun-tries on April 16, an official said.

“Continuing with #Pakistan’s spirit of constructing engagement, we have agreed to the Indian

proposal for a technical meeting on 16 April,” said Mohammad Faisal, spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a tweet.

“We expect positivity from India so that the corridor becomes reality for 550th cele-brations,” Faisal added.

On Thursday, Faisal told reporters during his weekly

briefing that India has requested for a meeting of technical experts on April 15 or 16 at zero point of Kartarpur sahib and they are con-sidering Indian request favourability.

The meeting, which Pakistan said was jointly agreed on by both sides, was previously slated to be held on April 2 to discuss issues related to a proposed opening of

a border corridor that will provide visa-free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit their holy sites in Pakistan. However, on March 29, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that India has shared concerns and sought clarification on reports that controversial ele-ments have been appointed by Pakistan to a committee to be associated with the corridor.

A Philippine Navy band plays as the Russian anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs prepares to dock at the international port in Manila, yesterday. Russian anti-submarine ships Admiral Tributs and Vinogradov, including the sea tanker Irkut, are on a goodwill visit to Manila.

Russian ships on goodwill visit to Manila

NZ names top judge to head Christchurch attacks probeAFP WELLINGTON

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday named a Supreme Court judge to lead an inquiry into the massacre last month of 50 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques.

“The government will ensure no stone is left unturned as we examine as quickly as possible how the March 15 attack happened, what could have been done to stop it and how we can keep New Zea-landers safe,” Ardern said.

The Royal Commission probe, the most powerful judicial inquiry available under New Zealand law, will be led by Supreme Court Judge William Young and report its findings by December 10, she said.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-avowed white supremacist, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 of attempted murder over the mosque attacks. Ardern said the probe, due to begin hearing evidence on May 13, would play a critical role in ensuring “such an attack never happens again”.

The inquiry will involve consultation with the Muslim community and look into whether New Zealand counter-terror agencies placed an “inap-propriate concentration” of resources in tracking Islamist militants while neglecting the threat from far-right extremism.

It will probe Tarrant’s activ-ities before the attack, including how he obtained a gun licence, weapons and ammunition, and his use of social media, Ardern said. Tarrant live-streamed his attack and published a lengthy manifesto online before launching his rampage.

What knowledge intelli-gence agencies had of his activ-ities and whether any laws impeded the gathering and sharing of information by the agencies will also be part of the inquiry, she said.

12 Afghan troops die in fresh Taliban attacksAFP KABUL

Taliban fighters have killed 12 security personnel in the last 48 hours in ongoing fighting in Afghanistan’s western province of Badghis, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

In the latest assault on Afghan forces - who have faced devastating losses in recent years - Taliban fighters last week smashed through gov-ernment lines near the city of Bala Murghab, seizing several checkpoints.

“It is with great sadness we announce that during these operations, eight Afghan National Army and four police who fought with bravery and courage accepted martyrdom,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Another 10 soldiers and 24 police were wounded in the operation that killed “99 Taliban terrorists,” it added.

Clearance operations con-tinue in the district, officials said, and security forces helped Red Cross workers evacuate the bodies of Taliban fighters that had been left on battlefields.

Jamshid Shahabi, the spokesman for the Badghis Gov-ernor, said that fighting con-tinued near the district’s main marketplace.

Afghan and US-led aircraft

were striking Taliban positions, he said. “They have suffered heavy casualties.”

The Defence Ministry last week said Afghan forces had made a “tactical retreat” from a number of checkpoints in the district to “avoid civilian casualties”.

Abdul Aziz Beg, the head of the Badghis Provincial Council, had described the situation as “critical” and called for reinforcements.

The Taliban said they had conducted a coordinated attack on a series of government checkpoints, killing 12 security personnel.

The militants launched their assault ahead of a widely expected spring offensive.

They typically declare a new fighting season as winter snows melt, and have in the past sought to gain control of district centres and target government facilities.

The clash started as Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy tasked with forging a peace deal with the Taliban, was in Afghanistan, where he spoke with national leaders and stakeholders.

Taliban spokesman Zabi-hullah Mujahid said the new round of peace talks was set to begin on April 14. In January, President Ashraf Ghani said 45,000 security forces had been killed since September 2014.

13TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 EUROPE

Deadlock keeps Brexit hanging in balanceREUTERS LONDON

Britain’s exit from the European Union hung in the balance yesterday as Prime Minister Theresa May tried to coax the Labour Party into agreeing a divorce deal, two days before an emergency EU summit where she will try to delay the April 12 departure.

Brexit has already been delayed once but May is asking the EU for yet more time as she courts veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the bloc after Brexit.

May heads to Berlin and Paris today to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron and will be phoning other leaders before setting out the case for another delay at tomorrow’s EU summit in Brussels.

Nearly three years after the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU, May warned that Brexit might never happen, but said that she would do eve-rything possible to make sure

that it did. Labour’s Brexit point man, Keir Starmer, said May’s government had so far not changed its position on Brexit and so no way forward had been agreed. “Both us and the gov-ernment have approached this in the spirit of trying to find a way forward. We haven’t found that yet. We will continue to do that,” Starmer said.

“The ball is in the govern-ment’s court,” he added. “We need to see what they come back with and, when they do, we will take a collective position on that.” May’s spokeswoman said she hoped further formal talks could take place later, adding:

“The PM wants us to be able to agree with the opposition as soon as possible.”

She said May wanted Britain to have an independent trading policy - something hard to rec-oncile with Labour’s demand for membership of a customs union - and that both sides would need to compromise.

The deputy political editor of the Telegraph newspaper, Steven Swinford, said Labour and the Conservative government were still discussing both a customs union and the idea of holding a confirmatory referendum on any deal they agree. The 2016 refer-endum revealed a United Kingdom divided over much more than EU membership, and has sparked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.

Yet, more than a week after Britain was originally supposed to have left the EU, nothing is resolved as the weakest leader in a generation battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a dead-locked parliament.

EU leaders, fatigued by the serpentine Brexit crisis, must

decide tomorrow whether to grant May, who has asked for a postponement until June 30, a further delay. The decision can be vetoed by any of the other 27 member states. Without an extension, the United Kingdom

is due to leave the EU on Friday, without a deal to cushion the economic shock. While the EU is not expected to trigger such a potentially disorderly no-deal exit, diplomats said all options were on the table - from refusing

a delay to granting May’s request or pushing for a longer postponement.

The EU’s chief Brexit nego-tiator, Michel Barnier, met Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Ireland yesterday.

May heads to Berlin and Paris today to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron and will be phoning other leaders before setting out the case for another delay at tomorrow’s EU summit in Brussels.

Anti-Brexit demonstrators from Yorkshire demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in central London yesterday.

French PM sees tax cuts as solution to ‘yellow vest’ angerAFP PARIS

The French government must implement bold tax cuts in response to the “yellow vest” protests, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe argued yesterday as he revealed the results of a major public consultation on the crisis.

Giving the first conclusions of a “Great National Debate” which was launched in January, Philippe said that French citizens had expressed “an enormous exasperation” over the country’s tax burden, which is the highest in the world.

“The debates show us very clearly which way to go. We need to lower taxes, and lower them more quickly,” Philippe who told an audience in Paris. The “yellow

vest” protests, so called for the fluorescent vests worn by dem-onstrators, began in small-town France in mid-November, ini-tially over fuel taxes before spi-ralling into a nation-wide revolt against President Emmanuel Macron.

The 41-year-old came to power in May 2017 promising pro-business reforms and tax cuts for companies and investors to encourage job creation, earning him a reputation as a “president of the rich.” Philippe, a centre-right fiscal hawk who has previously called for tax cuts and reductions in public spending, said the government needed to go further.

“We have reached a point where hesitating would be worse than an error, it would be an

offence,” Philippe added. “The need for change is so radical that any conservatism, any feebleness would be unforgiveable in my view.” Macron is expected to announce his conclusions in a major speech in the next fort-night, with the “Great National Debate” billed as a watershed moment in his nearly two-year-old presidency.

Though he is known to favour further tax cuts too, he has ruled them out without reductions in public spending -- which could prove hugely con-troversial. Successive French leaders have faced street protests every time they attempted to trim France’s vast public sector, underlining the difficult bal-ancing act ahead for France’s youngest ever president. The

country has the highest taxation rate in the world, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, with taxes equiv-alent to 46.2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

French public spending is the second-highest in the world after Finland and is the equivalent of

56.8 percent of GDP, according to the OECD.

The “Great National Debate” has involved 10,000 meetings in community halls around the country, around two million online contributions and has seen Macron appear at local events for nearly 100 hours in total.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe delivers a speech during the presentation of the “Great National Debate” findings, called to quell the anger of French “yellow vests” movement, at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, yesterday.

UK plan steps up global crackdown on social mediaAP LONDON

The UK unveiled plans yesterday to vastly increase government oversight of social media companies, with a first-of-its-kind watchdog that could fine executives or even ban companies if they fail to block content such as terrorist propa-ganda or images of child abuse.

As concerns mount globally over how to monitor Internet

material without stifling free speech, the British proposal reflects a push by some coun-tries — particularly in Europe but also Australia and New Zealand — to give regulators more power.

The British plans would create a statutory “duty of care” for social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to protect people who use their sites. The plan, which includes an independent regulator funded by a levy on Internet companies,

will be open for public comment for three months before the gov-ernment publishes draft legislation.

“No one in the world has done this before, and it’s important that we get it right,” Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright told the BBC.

While the United States has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, governments in Europe have

signalled they are willing to take on the tech companies to block harmful content and prevent extremists from using the Internet to fan the flames of hatred.

Britain will consider imposing financial penalties similar to those in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which permit fines of up to 4% of a company’s annual worldwide revenue, Wright said. In extreme cases,

the government may also seek the power to fine individual company directors and prevent companies from operating in the UK.

Criticism of social media sites has grown amid concerns that extremists are using them to recruit young people, pedo-philes are using the technology to groom victims and young people are sharing dangerous information about self-harm and suicide.

Polish teachers go on strike over pay, cancelling classesAP WARSAW

Teachers in Poland went on an indefinite nationwide strike yesterday to demand higher pay, after days of talks with the government failed to meet the demands of a majority of teachers unions.

The strike by school and kin-dergarten teachers is the first such widespread action by Poland’s chronically underpaid educators since 1993, when matriculation exams for high school graduation had to be can-celled in many schools.

It comes at a sensitive time, just days before crucial end-of-school exams in primary and middle schools, and weeks ahead of this year’s matricu-lation exams and elections to the European Parliament that are key for the right-wing gov-ernment. Warsaw city officials

said some 80% percent of schools were closed yesterday. Preliminary figures from other regions showed that up to 90% of schools were affected in some areas, although Education Min-istry figures said that 48.5% of schools nationwide were on strike at noon. There are almost 400,000 schoolteachers in Poland and some 4.5 million school students.

The go-ahead for the protest was given by the main teachers unions, the ZNP, after last-ditch talks with the government failed. Only the small pro-government Solidarity union accepted the government’s proposals and was not on strike. The teachers were partly spurred into action by their anger that the government as part of its election campaign has offered financial boosts to families, businesses and, most recently, to farmers, but not to the education sector.

Russian officials agree to free ‘whale jail’ animalsAFP MOSCOW

Russian officials said yesterday they will work towards freeing all orca and beluga whales from a notorious facility in the east of the country, after a visit by US-based marine mammal advocates.

Nearly 100 whales captured for sale to aquariums have been kept in small pens for months in what the media has nicknamed a “whale jail” in the Russian Far East, as the campaign to release them gathered strength and went global.

Kremlin-backed Far Eastern governor Oleg Kozhemyako yesterday announced that he has “made a decision to free the animals into the wild,” after meeting noted environ-mentalists and campaigners Jean-Michel Cousteau and Charles Vinick who visited the facility last week.

“Our goal is to release all of them,” said a joint statement by Kozhemyako, Cousteau and Vinick. Cousteau, the son of celebrated French ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, is the founder of the US-based Ocean Futures Society, while Charles Vinick heads the Whale Sanctuary Project and has worked on rehabilitation of captive orcas in the past.

Cousteau said by phone from Vladivostok that he believed “many of the animals will be released” but that it will take time to identify the right decision for each animal.

“If some are sick we will take care of

them,” he said. He said dolphinariums should move away from using marine mammals and instead use technology to “connect the public to the ocean through 3D projections” as well as encourage seeing them in the wild.

A view shows a facility, where nearly 100 whales including orcas and beluga whales are held in cages, during a visit of scientists representing explorer and founder of the Ocean Futures Society Jean-Michel Cousteau in a bay near the Sea of Japan port of Nakhodka in Primorsky Region, Russia, yesterday.

Former Romanian leader to face crimes against humanity trial

AP BUCHAREST

Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu is to be tried for crimes against humanity for his role in the country’s bloody 1989 anti-communist uprising.

Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar announced yes-terday that the investigations are complete and the files doc-umenting the events of 30 years ago, commonly referred to as the Revolution File, will be sub-mitted to a court of law. He called the completion of the process “paying a debt of honour to history and our country.”

Iliescu to face trial, along with Gelu Voican-Voiculescu, a former vice-premier, and former Air Force Chief Iosif Rus.

The charges refer to a five-day period when Iliescu seized power after former Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu fled Bucharest on December 22, 1989. Ceausescu and his wife were summarily tried and exe-cuted on December 25. Some 1,100 people died during the revolt. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis saluted the announcement, saying that “finalising the judicial investi-gation into the Revolution events, 30 years since Com-munism collapsed, is a nec-essary act and honours our heroes.”

14 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019AMERICAS

AFP RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazilian soldiers opened fire on a family driving to a baby shower in Rio de Janeiro, riddling their vehicle with more than 80 bullets and killing one of the occupants, reports said yesterday.

Ten army personnel have been arrested over Sunday’s incident, which also wounded two others, on suspicion of “failure to comply with rules of

engagement,” the military said in a statement. The soldiers patrolling the northern district of Guadalupe apparently mistook the white car as belonging to criminals, G1 reported, citing police.

Five people were inside the vehicle, including a seven-year-old boy, who was unhurt.

The soliders had been on the look-out for a car-load of criminals during a regular patrol of the area secured by the

military, the military statement said. Police also have launched an investigation into the incident, homicide police spokesman Leonardo Salgado told G1.

“Everything indicates that the military really confused the vehicle for a vehicle of robbers,” Salgado said. No weapons were found in the car, which belonged to “a normal family who ended up being victims of the military,” he added. “I don’t

see a legitimate defence for the number of shots.” In its statement, the military said it was committed to “trans-parency and legal parameters imposed by the rule of law on the legitimate use of force by its members” and opposed “excesses or abuses that may be committed when carrying out their activities.”

The military’s central role in Rio de Janeiro state security officially ended on December

31. Former President Michel Temer took the drastic step of placing Rio security in the hands of the military, citing the police force’s inability to control heavily armed drug gangs.

Army patrols had already been used in the impoverished favelas but the military inter-vention saw generals replace civilian authorities in top security jobs, as well as an increase in the use of soldiers to back up police.

Trump orders removingSecret Service chief AGENCIES WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump has ordered the firing of the US Secret Service Director, CNN reported yesterday, one day after the resignation of another top national security official, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Trump instructed his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Secret Service Director Ran-dolph Alles (pictured), CNN reported, citing multiple admin-istration officials. One official described the firings as “a near-systematic purge” at the Department of Homeland Security.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One official described the firings to CNN as “a near-sys-tematic purge” at the Department of Homeland Security.

The Secret Service director reports to the director of Homeland Security.

Nielsen, who oversaw Trump’s bitterly contested immi-gration policies during her tumultuous 16-month tenure, resigned on Sunday amid a surge in the number of migrants at the

border with Mexico.Trump, seeking re-election

in 2020, has taken a hard line toward immigration since becoming president in January 2017, and the issue may be a central theme in next year’s election.

However, Kirstjen Nielsen said yesterday she still shares President Donald Trump’s goal of securing the border, a day after she resigned as Homeland Security secretary amid Trump’s frustration and bitterness over a spike in Central American migration.

Trump announced on Sunday in a tweet that US

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan would be taking over as acting head of the department. The decision to name a top immi-gration officer to the post reflects Trump’s priority for the sprawling department founded to combat terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nielsen had travelled to the US-Mexico border on Friday with Trump to participate in a round-table with border officers and local law enforcement. There she echoed Trump’s comments on the situation at the border, though she ducked out of the room while Trump spoke. As

they toured a section of newly rebuilt barriers, Nielsen was at Trump’s side, introducing him to local officials. She returned to Washington afterward as Trump continued on a fundraising trip to California and Nevada.

But on Sunday, she wrote in her resignation letter that “it is the right time for me to step aside.” She wrote that she hoped “the next secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which

have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s dis-course.” Nielsen told reporters outside her Alexandria, Virginia home yesterday that she con-tinues to support the president’s goal of securing the border.

“I will continue to support all efforts to address the humani-tarian and security crisis on the border,” she said in her first public remarks since the surprise

resignation, thanking the pres-ident “for the tremendous oppor-tunity to serve this country.”

Nielsen had grown increas-ingly frustrated by what she saw as a lack of support from other departments and increased med-dling by Trump aides on difficult immigration issues, according to three people familiar with details of her resignation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter.

US President Donald Trump talks to reporters as former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (right) looks on at a signing ceremony for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, US, yesterday.

However, Kirstjen Nielsen said yesterday she still shares President Donald Trump’s goal of securing the border, a day after she resigned as homeland security secretary amid Trump’s frustration and bitterness over a spike in Central American migration.

Brazil army shoots family driving to baby showerTrump urges Uganda to find kidnappers of freed US touristAP KAMPALA, UGANDA

United States President Donald Trump yesterday urged Uganda to find the kidnappers of an American tourist who has been freed, amid conflicting reports over whether a ransom was paid for her release.

Kim Endicott was released by her abductors over the weekend and will be turned over to the US ambassador yes-terday, Ugandan police said.

Endicott and her Ugandan driver were both safe, after the five-day ordeal during which they were taken from Queen Elizabeth National Park across the border to Congo, according to Ugandan authorities. Trump pressed Uganda’s government to capture the culprits, tweeting: “Uganda must find the kid-nappers of the American Tourist and guide before people will feel safe in going there. Bring them to justice openly and quickly!” Over the weekend Trump tweeted that he was pleased the tourist and guide had been released. Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga said that he did not believe a ransom had been paid.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, embraces the relative of a missing Ayotzinapa student after signing an agreement on the provision of guidance and technical assistance in the Ayotzinapa case in Mexico City yesterday.

Mexico to receive UN help in missing students caseAP MEXICO CITY

Mexico has signed an agreement with the United Nations’ top human rights official for technical assistance in its latest attempt to determine what happened to 43 missing students.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called the case of the students from the teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa “paradigmatic.” The former Chilean president said yesterday that Mexico’s government is obli-gated to find the truth and that the process would be an opportunity to make deep changes to its justice system.

Police seized the students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014 and allegedly handed them to a drug gang. Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard says the case is a priority for the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who created a truth commission to re-investigate the case in January.

Jury selected to hear murder trial of ex-Minneapolis officerAP MINNEAPOLIS

A jury of 12 men and four women was seated yesterday to hear the trial of a former Minne-apolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible rape near her home.

Mohamed Noor, 33, is charged with murder and man-slaughter in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the US who was shot when she approached his squad car.

After a week of questioning and paring down an original pool of 75 people, the jury finalised yesterday includes a firefighter and paramedic, an ob-gyn, a civil engineer, a grocery store manager, a res-taurant host, a carpenter and a Homeland Security immigration

officer. The jurors’ names were not revealed in court. Six of the jurors are people of colour, including two Filipino men, an Ethiopian man and a Pakistani woman. Noor is Somali American; Damond was white. Twelve of those selected will end up deciding the case while four will be alternates. The 12 jurors who will deliberate will be picked at the trial’s conclusion. One woman who was picked as a juror had an emotional reaction to the case last week and was asked to think over the weekend about whether she could serve on the jury. She said yesterday she had some anxiety about the responsibility.

“There’s a huge life-altering decision that everyone’s con-fronted with and that’s over-whelming a little bit,” she said. Still, she said she could put her emotions aside and serve.

Ottawa: Foreign interference in 2019 election very likely REUTERS OTTAWA

It is very likely that foreign actors will try to meddle in Canada’s October federal election, with the focus on political parties, voters and candidates, Canada’s electronic signals spy agency said yesterday.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) did not mention any specific threat from Russia.

US intelligence officials and the governments of some European Union countries have accused Russia of interfering in their elections in recent years, allegations denied by Moscow.

“It is very likely that Canadian voters will encounter foreign cyber interference ahead of, and during, the 2019 general election,” said the CSE, which noted democratic gov-ernments around the world were experiencing more cyber attacks.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said last week she was “very concerned” by possible Russian inter-ference in the vote and said there “have probably already been efforts by malign foreign actors to disrupt our democracy”.

CSE said it was unlikely a foreign cyber campaign would be as major as the one Russian actors launched against the 2016 US election, in part because public awareness of the potential threats was now much greater.

US presidential candidate calls Netanyahu ‘racist’ANATOLIA WASHINGTON

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke (pictured) has taken a major swipe at Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “racist” for forging a political alliance with a far-right Jewish political party ahead of general elections.

O’Rourke made the com-ments on Sunday while on the campaign trail in Iowa.

While saying the US-Israel relationship “is one of the most important relationships” the US has, O’Rourke argued it “must be able to transcend a prime minister who is racist as he warns about Arabs coming to the polls, who wants to defy any prospect for peace as he threatens to annex the West Bank, and who has sided with

a far-right racist party in order to maintain his hold on power.”

“I don’t think that Benjamin Netanyahu represents the true will of the Israeli people or the best interests of the US-Israel relationship or any path to peace for the people of the Pal-estinian Authority, the Gaza Strip and the State of Israel,” he said. Netanyahu has stirred con-troversy for forming an elec-toral alliance between his Likud Party’s ruling bloc and the far-right Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) Party ahead of Tues-day’s parliamentary election.

Netanyahu’s electoral gambit provoked an exceed-ingly-rare rebuke from the staunchly pro-Israel AIPAC lob-bying group, calling Otzma Yehudit “racist and reprehen-sible” and throwing its support behind an also-rare statement on domestic Israeli politics from

the American Jewish Committee.

“The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel. The party might conceivably gain enough votes to enter the next Knesset and potentially even become part of the governing coalition,” the committee said.

15TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019 HOME

NU-Q students recognised at annual awards ceremonyTHE PENINSULA DOHA

At an annual ceremony to recognise the academic work of NU-Q students, docu-mentaries about the worth of the Lebanese Lira, fiction films on the internal struggles of women with Afro hair, investigative articles on the segregation of migrant workers were recognised. An interview with Northwestern alumnus and producer of the Hollywood musical La La Land Jordan Horowitz, took centre stage.

The Media and Research Showcase and Awards recognise student work across a variety of disciplines in journalism, com-munication, and research. The nominees are determined by NU-Q faculty and then judged by a panel of judges from the local community. The nominated works are showcased during a poster session and media showcase, then awarded later that same day at a gala dinner and ceremony.

“Every year, the Media and Research Showcase turns our building into a cre-ative enterprise showcasing the work done by our students that illustrates in the best possible way their achievements in research, journalism, strategic commu-nication, and filmmaking,” said Everette

E Dennis, dean and CEO.This year, 14 students were awarded

for media and research projects they pro-duced that tackled a number of important social, cultural, and political issues.

Hassan Al Jahni, who won awards for creative writing and strategic communi-cation said that winning the awards “was highly motivating for me, especially as I near the end of my years as an under-graduate and look forward to joining the workforce,” said Al Jahni. “I was especially proud of Emsahar – my first fully-developed script that is now in the pre-production stage. It is a fictional tale about a young girl who believes an Emsahar

(mystical man) may have the power she needs to stop her grandmother from dying.”

The judges this year were invited from leading media organisations.

Previous student winners have also received regional and international rec-ognition for their work, including being selected as a judges’ favourite at the

Cannes Film Festival’s short film corner; having a documentary broadcast by the Al Jazeera network, and being published in Northwestern University’s Research Journal.

Students submit their work in ten cat-egories, with judges selected for each cat-egory to make the final selection of the winning project in each.

Student Hassan Al Jahni won awards for creative writing and strategic communication.

Free medical check-up by QIC Group & QLM Life & Medical Insurance gets huge responseTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The free medical check-up organised by QIC Group’s Health & Life insurance entity QLM Life & Medical Insurance Company in celebration of the World Health Day garnered overwhelming success.

Initiated now for the third consecutive year, both nationals and residents alike benefitted from the free medical check-up services that were made available at various medical centres, clinics and hospitals across Qatar.

At Abeer Medical Centers located at Abu Hamour & Industrial Area branches, par-ticipants opted for checking Lipid profile i.e. LDL Choles-terol (Bad Cholesterol), HDL Cholesterol (Good Cholesterol), VLDL, Triglycerides, Total Cho-lesterol, Blood Sugar Fasting, Creatinine - Serum (Kidney Function), ALT (Liver Function Test), Blood Pressure, BMI (Assess Body Fat), Physician Consultation and Dental Consultation.

At Allevia Medical Center, participants availed free Internal Medicine Consultation, Pediatrics Consultation, Obstetrics & Gynecology Con-sultation, ENT Consultation, BP, BMI, Blood Sugar, and Total Cholesterol. Whilst at Al Safa Medical Polyclinic participants availed free GP Consultation, Dermatology Consultation, Dental Consultation, Temper-ature, Pulse, Respiratory Rate, BP, BMI, Blood Sugar, Total Cholesterol (only for above 35 years old), Skin Analysis, PFT, Eye Checkup (Screening), X-ray if advised by the doctor, and 25% discount on dental procedures.

The free medical tests that were available at Asian Medical Center were Internal Medicine Consultation, GP Consultation, Total Cholesterol, Urine Analysis, Random Blood Sugar, Body Mass Index and a 25% dis-count on follow up services.

The free medical tests available at New Al Rabeeh Dental Center — Aziziyah Branch were Dental Consul-tation, X-Ray, 20% Discount on follow up services. At Al Rabeeh Dental Center — Muntazah Branch, participants availed

free Dental Consultation, X- Ray and 20% Discount on follow up services.

Speaking at the event, Salem Al Mannai, Deputy Group President & CEO of QIC Group stated, “We are deeply humbled by the overwhelming response we have received by organising this free medical checkup. Many have expressed deep appreciation for this initiative as they learnt about their health conditions such as Blood Sugar level, Blood Pressure etc. which otherwise would have remained undiagnosed.”

He further added, “We hope that through their participation at this event individuals will increase their awareness about their health condition and will take necessary steps prescribed by doctors to prevent the onset of lifestyle diseases such as high Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar, Lipid Profiles which are rampant in the population today. I firmly believe that by maintaining a healthy and an active lifestyle, we will be suc-cessful in building robust and healthier communities in Qatar.”

People taking part in the free medical check-up organised by QIC Group & QLM Life & Medical Insurance.

Deputy Group President & CEO of QIC Group, Salem Al Mannai.

The Media and Research Showcase and Awards recognise student work across a variety of disciplines in journalism, communication, and research. The nominees are determined by NU-Q faculty and then judged by a panel of judges from the local community.

Georgetown wins QUDL National Champion AwardTHE PENINSULA DOHA

QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation, recently organised the Qatar Universities Debate League National (QUDL) in English, at Al Multaqa, with a total number of 16 participating teams from seven institutions. The participants debated around five motions during the tour-nament.

The two event featured 16 teams represented by Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar University, Northwestern University Qatar, and Geor-getown University in Qatar, Texas A&M University Qatar, and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

QUDL National Award was awarded to Georgetown Uni-versity in Qatar and the

runner-up award went to Qatar University. Also the award winners of the league that con-sisted of 4 league tournaments throughout October 2018 and February 2019 were also hon-oured. Qatar University was named as the best university.

Participants also received certificates of participation and the top 10 speakers received cer-tificates and medals for their debate participation.

The champions and runners-up of QUDL National Award at the function.

QCS to hold workshops on thyroid cancerTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) will host several workshops on the sidelines of the Thyroid Cancer Conference on April 19 and 20. Awareness workshops will be held under the theme ‘thyroid vitality’ to coincide with the thyroid cancer awareness month — April.

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers in Qatar ranking second among women according to Qatar National Cancer Registry (QNCR, 2015).

Workshops will include a

number of topics. The first workshop, which will be held on April 19, will target the public and includes awareness session about thyroid cancer, the available services in Qatar regarding of thyroid gland, methods of self-examination of thyroid cancer and medical con-sultation for skin care for people with thyroid cancer.

The second workshop, which will be held on April 20, targets people who living with thyroid cancer and presents many topics as the most important infor-mation and medical advice required at a stage after treatment, yoga for thyroid

health to reduce stress. Methods of detection of injury to families of people who living with thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer conference will organise by QCS at The Ritz-Carlton, in cooperation with Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Doc-tor’s Society, and Qatar Austrian Medical Team.

Thyroid Cancer Conference is a global platform more than gathering 1,000 specialist and an expert in various areas and more than 20 top national and inter-national experts and Speakers , 18 Sessions healthcare profes-sionals .

Chevrolet Tahoe RST wins ‘Best Performance Full Size SUV’ awardTHE PENINSULA DOHA

In its latest series of achieve-ments, the Chevrolet Tahoe RST was named the ‘Best Performance Full Size SUV’ for 2019 by the Arab Motors Middle East team. The award was received in Qatar last month.

Powered by a 6.2L V8 engine coupled with a 10-speed trans-mission, the Tahoe RST delivers a powerful 420 HP and a 624 Nm torque.

Its added power is enhanced with tuned suspension and reigned in with high per-formance brakes by Brembo.

The award-winning

Chevrolet Tahoe RST is differ-entiated with its aftermarket cues, which give it a decidedly more aggressive street per-formance appearance. Ensuring an imposing stance to com-plement the design enhance-ments, the Tahoe sits on exclusive 22-inch wheels.

Commenting on the award, Samer Al Salem, General Sales Manager, at Jaidah Automotive said: “It is a great honour to receive this award for one Chev-rolet’s most iconic performance vehicles yet, particularly from a prestigious publication such as Arab Motors Middle East. With its street-performance look and increased power, the RST is the

most performance oriented Tahoe yet.

The Tahoe RST has already proven to be popular in Qatar since its introduction in December 2018, and we are

extremely proud to add this award to its long list of achieve-ments in our market.”

The Tahoe RST is a true tes-tament to Chevrolet’s com-mitment to produce cutting-edge

performance SUV trucks. Its exceptional styling is backed by equally impressive performance, all the while retaining the presence, and capability that make the Tahoe a firm favourite

in the large SUV segment. The Tahoe RST is designed

for customers who want a street performance look and increased performance without sacrificing capability or refinement.

The Chevrolet team members pose for a group photo.

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Charity’s (QC) annual forum for its overseas offices is ongoing, with 108 participants representing its field offices worldwide.

The forum, which began under the theme “The Chal-lenges of Governance and Risk Management in Charitable Work”, will conclude tomorrow.

The forum aims at creating harmony between head-quarters and its overseas offices, enhancing the capabil-ities of its staff serving in the field, developing the work envi-ronment, and strengthening the role of field offices in net-working and coordinating at the local, governmental, UN and international levels. It also aims at presenting the modern work systems, which was prepared by its headquarters.

Qatar Charityforum to end tomorrow

Burning of snowman

16 TUESDAY 9 APRIL 2019MORNING BREAK

Electrical brain stimulation can boost memory function in older peopleREUTERS/LONDON

Electrical brain stimulation using a non-invasive cap can help boost older people’s mental scores to those of people 20 to 30 years younger, according to a study.

The research, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, found that age-related decline in working memory can be reversed by stimulating two key brain areas at a specific rhythm.

The findings are early and only relate to healthy volunteers at this stage, but could point to new ways to boost brain function in people with age-related cog-nitive decline such as dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.

Using a technique known as electro-encephalography (EEG) to monitor brain activity and a another called transcranial alternating-current stimulation (tACS), the scientists stimulated the brains of a group of young and old people and were able to modulate the brainwave interac-tions linked to their working memory.

The study involved 42 younger adults aged 20 to 29 and 42 older adults aged 60 to 76, who were all assessed for their performance in a working-memory task. Working memory refers to information retained temporarily for use in imme-diate tasks such as reasoning and making decisions. Without brain stimulation, the older people were slower and less accurate than the younger ones.

This was because the younger ones had higher levels of interaction and syn-chronisation of certain brain wave rhythms, the researchers said - suggesting that targeting these types of rhythms in the older people’s brains might help their function.

While receiving active brain stimu-lation, older adults improved their working-memory test scores to the levels of the younger people. The effect lasted for at least 50 minutes after the stimulation was given, said Robert Reinhart, a researcher at Boston University in the United States who co-led the study.

A combination photo shows the Boeoegg, a snowman made of wadding and filled with firecrackers, burning in a bonfire in the Sechselaeuten square in Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday. Every year, at 6pm on a Monday in April, a snowman is set on fire on Zurich’s Sechselaeuten.

More dolphins die in Aegean Sea; group suspects navy drillsAP ATHENS

The Aegean Sea has seen a “very unusual” spike in dolphin deaths over the past few weeks, a Greek marine conservation group said yesterday, adding that the rise could

be linked to massive Turkish naval exercises in the area. Fifteen dead dolphins have washed up on the eastern island of Samos and other parts of Greece’s Aegean coastline since late February, according to the Archipelagos Institute.

Its head of research,

Anastassia Miliou, said that 15 is a worryingly high number com-pared to “one or two” in the same period last year. The group said while it’s still unclear what caused the deaths, the spike follows the Feb. 27-March 8 Turkish “Blue Homeland” exercises — the

country’s largest ever — that made constant use of sonar and prac-ticed with live ammunition.

The deafening noise of sonar, used by warships to detect enemy submarines, can injure dolphins and whales, driving them to surface too fast or beach themselves — with

sometimes fatal consequences — to escape the din. After several mass beachings of whales, Nato, to which both Turkey and Greece belong, has adopted a code of conduct for using sonar that is designed to better protect marine mammals.

Spacewalking astronauts tackle battery, cable workAP/CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA

Spacewalking astronauts tackled battery and cable work outside the International Space Station yesterday. It was the third spacewalk in just 2 ½ weeks for the space station crew.

Nasa astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques hustled through their part in battery swap-outs that began last month. “All right, you rock,” Mission Control radioed.

Next up: laying cable outside the 250-mile-high outpost to provide a backup power circuit for the station’s Canadian-made robot arm and expand wireless communications.

The ongoing battery work involves re-installing two old batteries. One of six new lithium-ion batteries did not work, so McClain had to remove an adapter plate she put in.

Last week, flight controllers used the space station’s robot arm to remove the failed battery along with an associated charging device. Working remotely, the controllers also installed a spare charging device and one of the old batteries made of nickel hydrogen. The second outdated battery will go in - robotically - later this week.

Nasa said it will send up another new battery, although it’s uncertain when. Until then, this combination of old and new bat-teries is expected to work fine, according to managers. McClain has now logged two spacewalks and Saint-Jacques one. Their six-month mission began in December.

The next spacewalk will be next month by the two Russians on board. Two other Americans round out the six-person crew.

Commander of Amiri Guard meets Pakistan Ambassador

Commander of the Amiri Guard, H E Major General Hazza bin Khalil Al Shahwani, met yesterday with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the State of Qatar, Syed Ahsan Raza Shah. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them, promoting the prospects of mutual cooperation, as well as issues of joint interest.

Galaxy S10 fooled by user’s 3D printed fingerprint

IANS/SEOUL

It is apparently easy to fool the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in Samsung’s latest Galaxy S10 as a user posted on Imgur that he able to unlock the smartphone with a 3D print of his fingerprint.

Notably, the new Galaxy S10’s fingerprint scanner uses an ultrasonic sensor and doesn’t rely on a capacitive fingerprint scanner that’s been used in other versions of the phone. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is supposed to be more difficult to spoof.

“The user took a picture of his fingerprint on a wineglass, processed it in Photoshop, and made a model using 3ds Max that allowed him to extrude the lines in the picture into a 3D version.

“After a 13-minute print (and three attempts with some tweaks), he was able to print out a version of his fingerprint that fooled the phone’s sensor,” The Verge reported late on Sunday.

This is not the first time that such an instance has been reported.

Police officers used a 3D print in 2016 to get into a murder victim’s phone, while a cybersecurity firm used a $150 face mask to defeat Apple’s FaceID on an iPhone X in 2017.

‘Goldfinger’ Bond girl Nadja Regin dead at 87IANS/LOS ANGELES

Actress Nadja Regin, who starred in two James Bond films “From Russia with Love” and “Goldfinger”, has died. She was 87. Movie bosses paid tribute to Nadja with a statement on Twitter yesterday, reports mirror.co.uk.

“We are very sorry to learn that Nadja Regin has passed away at the age of 87. Nadja appeared in two Bond films, ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Goldfinger’. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.”

She also appeared in several British TV shows in the 1960s including “The Avengers” , “Danger Man” and “The Saint”.

But she was best known for her role as the mistress of Kerim Bey in “From Russia with Love”, which starred Sean Connery as the spy James Bond.

Al Thawadi highlights power of football at Jordan ForumQNA AMMAN

The Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) Hassan Al Thawadi highlighted the potential impact of mega sporting events on young people across the region, including the FIFA World Cup, during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa in Jordan.

Speaking on a panel session titled ‘Radicali-sation: Lessons from the Past’, Al Thawadi said global events such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 had the potential to address the spread of radicalisation, rising unemployment and the marginalisation of communities.

“Mega-events, such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, can play an important and often not recognised role in providing the platforms nec-essary for youth to unleash their potential, showcase their talent and achieve their goals and aspira-tions,” said Al Thawadi.

Al Thawadi went on to reiterate Qatar’s vision for the tournament as being one for the benefit of the entire region and an accelerator for the positive development of society.

He added: “Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup - for the first time in the Arab world - is an unprecedented opportunity for this region. Accordingly, we have made a conscious effort from day one to ensure that it is a tournament that everyone in the region can benefit from, and have launched several legacy programmes to support this, including Challenge 22, Generation Amazing and the Josoor Institute.

The Challenge 22 innovation award is giving young entrepreneurs the chance to develop businesses which could boost Qatar 2022. One of the winners, ViaVii, was named by the World Economic Forum as

one of the top 100 Arab start-ups. Meanwhile, Generation Amazing has reached more than 250,000 bene-ficiaries across the region and Asia, using football as a tool for positive social development. And the Josoor Institute, an academic centre for sports and events professionals, has helped to upskill more than 3,000 people since its launch. Held under the theme “Building New Platforms for Cooperation”, this year’s forum focused on ensuring the region and global economy enters a new phase of globalisation. More than 1,000 leaders from government, business and civil society participated in the forum.

The Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), Hassan Al Thawadi (left), during the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa in Amman, Jordan.

FAJRSHOROOK

04. 00 AM05. 18 AM

11. 36 AM03. 05 PM

05. 56 PM07. 26 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum25oC 32oC

HIGH TIDE 05:57 –19:38 LOW TIDE 01:58 – 13:54

Partly cloudy to cloudy with chance of scat-

tered rain maybe thundery at times by night.