Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition to open on Feb 24

GULF TIMES

published in

QATAR

since 1978TUESDAY Vol. XXXX No. 11462

February 18, 2020Jumada II 24, 1441 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

In brief

BUSINESS | Page 1

Nakilat posts 12% jump in net profi t to QR1bn in 2019

SPORT | Page 1

Sadd face high-fl ying Sepahan, Duhail take on Taawoun

PM meets top UN official

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani met with the Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee, Michele Coninsx, and her accompanying delegation on the occasion of their visit to Qatar. During the meeting, aspects of co-operation between Qatar and the United Nations in combating terrorism were reviewed. Coninsx praised Qatar’s eff orts and said that it is an active party in supporting global eff orts to combat terrorism. Page 10

Social media conference backs steps to ensure free speechBy Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter

Ground rules such as legality, necessity, public accountabil-ity, access to remedy and trans-

parency should be considered by all stakeholders while debating any online content regulations, an international conference on social media in Doha has suggested.

The international conference on ‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activ-ists’ organised by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) that con-cluded yesterday in the Qatar capital has also recommended that govern-ments must ensure that restrictions on online expression are lawful, necessary and proportionate.

A number of recommendations and guidelines for the use of social media to ensure freedom of speech and right

to privacy were presented at the con-cluding session of the conference at Ritz-Carlton Doha. It was attended by NHRC chairman HE Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri, Georgette Gagnon, repre-sentative of the UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights, among other dignitaries.

“States should repeal any law that

unduly criminalises or restricts ex-pression, both online and offl ine while prohibiting by law any advocacy of na-tional, racial, religious hatred that con-stitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. They should re-frain from establishing laws or arrange-ments that would require the ‘provoca-tive’ monitoring or fi ltering of content

which is both inconsistent with right to privacy and likely to amount to pre-publication censorship,” recommended the forum.

The forum has appealed to gov-ernments to adopt models of regula-tion where only independent judicial authorities, rather than government agencies become arbiters of lawful ex-

pression. States should also avoid del-egating responsibility to companies as adjudicators of content. States should establish or strengthen national human rights in line with the Paris Principles and ensure that they are not subjected to reprisals or any act of intimation.

According to the conclusions of the forum, social media companies should use international human rights law as reference and accept the companies’ responsibility to ensure protecting on-line civic space according to the Guid-ing Principles of Business and Human Rights, especially in cases of Internet shutdowns and transparency.

“Companies should uphold the San-ta Clara Principles on Transparency and Accountability in content modera-tion and implement the recommenda-tions by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of rights to freedom of opinion and expression. Companies should improve response to online attacks intimidation and threats against critical voices, through greater co-operation among technical experts, civil society actors and com-panies to improve reporting and ensure accountability,” the forum has recom-mended among several other measures. To Page 8

A number of recommendations and guidelines to guarantee freedom of speech and right to privacy presented at the concluding session of the ‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’ conference

HE Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri, along with other dignitaries at the concluding session of the conference in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Shemeer Rasheed

Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibitionto open on Feb 24

This year’s edition marks a 65% increase in the number of exhibitors and 12% growth in exhibition space

By Shafeeq AlingalStaff Reporter

The 17th Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE), which will be held under the pa-

tronage of HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, will start on February 24 at the Doha Exhi-bition and Convention Centre (DECC).

Announcing the details of the show, HE Akbar al-Baker, Secretary-General of the Qatar National Tourism Coun-cil (QNTC) and CEO of Qatar Airways Group said at a press conference yes-terday that

127 exhibitors from 14 countries and over 500 local and international brands will participate in the prestig-ious event, which has seen a 65% in-crease in the number of exhibitors this year.

Among the participants are 18 Qa-tari designers including fi ve newcom-ers who will showcase 16 jewellery brands.

With the growing popularity of the prestigious event, this show’s area has been expanded to more than 33,000sq m, marking a 12% growth in exhibition space.

International exhibitors will make up more than 58% of the total number of vendors. Along with local Qatari de-signers, they will showcase more than 451 brands of watches and jewellery, providing a unique opportunity for luxury-seekers to learn about the lat-est products and innovations from the most renowned brands in Qatar and the world, all under one roof.

Al-Baker said the DJWE has be-come a major destination for seekers of luxury and elegance from around the world. “It enables direct interac-tion between brands and customers. New brands are launched and the lat-est products and releases of some of

the world’s best-known names are unveiled. The exhibition has contrib-uted to reinforcing Qatar’s position as a host of international exhibitions, and plays a critical role in supporting Qa-tari talent by providing a platform for them to market their products, launch their brands and gain crucial experi-ence through contacts with the most prestigious players in the fi eld,” the QNTC secretary-general said.

DJWE occupies a distinguished position as an international exhibi-tion and a leading destination that at-tracts afi cionados of the world of fi ne jewellery and watches and lets them enjoy the latest trends and the most prestigious brands and interact with them. The activities and events that take place during the exhibition are in-spired by a mixture of craftsmanship, beauty, heritage, passion and original-ity.

The exhibition was the platform from where the Young Qatari De-signers Initiative was launched. This initiative provides a unique oppor-tunity for promising Qatari talents to showcase their distinct designs and creations in one pavilion alongside the

most prestigious brands in the world.“We continue to develop the busi-

ness events sector and enhance Qatar’s role in achieving its goal of sustainable tourism development, which is boost-ed by Qatar’s world-class event man-agement capabilities and facilities. We also continue to diversify tourism products in line with our target source markets,” al-Baker said.

This year’s exhibition, for the fi rst time, will include a Turkish pavilion that features 11 Turkish brands, in ad-dition to the return of the Indian pavil-ion for the second year in a row with 28 brands, which is more than double the number in 2019. The Indian pavilion will display wide and distinctive va-rieties of the latest and fi nest Indian jewellery that has been crafted to suit all tastes and occasions.

DJWE will showcase a number of exclusive pieces designed by famed global brands such as Tag Heuer and FPG, in addition to the participation of world-renowned diamond brand De Beers, which comes to Doha for the fi rst time ahead of the opening of its fi rst Qatari branch at Al Hazm.

To Page 8

HE Akbar al-Baker, Secretary-General of the Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and CEO of Qatar Airways Group and Director of Exhibitions at QNTC Ahmed al- Obaidly addressing the press conference. PICTURE: Ram Chand

8 Qatar Airways planes tocarry medical aid to ChinaBy Shafeeq AlingalDoha

Extending a helping hand to Chi-na’s ongoing eff orts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Qatar

Airways will fl y eight aircraft carrying medical aid to three Chinese cities on Friday.

CEO of Qatar Airways Group HE Ak-bar al-Baker said the planes will trans-port medical assistance from Qatar government, from Qatar Airways and various other countries and Chinese embassies around the world.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the 17th edi-tion of Doha Jewellery and Watches Ex-hibition yesterday, he said that this step aims to send a message of support from the government and people of Qatar to the people of China, noting that Qa-tar Airways was the only global airline that off ered to transport medical aid to China for free, and it has not stopped shipping operations after the outbreak of coronavirus in China.

While two fl ights will reach the Chinese capital Beijing, three each are scheduled for Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The eight fl ights will take off at an interval of four minutes each.

“Qatar Airways is not the only airline to incur losses due to the crisis in Chi-na. It has aff ected others too as China has the largest number of tourists in the world and anything that happens there must aff ect and refl ect on the move-ment of tourists to and from China,” al-Baker explained.

He added that the services to China were suspended not only due to the coronavirus outbreak, but also due to challenges being faced in operations as many countries have announced the ban on entry of crew that operate serv-ices to China.

Exuding confi dence that the crisis will be sorted out soon, he said that Qatar Airways is currently studying options for modifying the operating systems to separate the crew of aircraft that go to China and other countries.

Reuters adds from Geneva: The lat-est data provided by China on people infected with coronavirus indicates a decline in new cases but “every scenar-io is still on the table” in terms of the epidemic’s evolution, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said that a published Chinese paper on more than 44,000 confi rmed cases provided insight into the age range of infected people, disease severity and mortality rates.

EUROPE | Acquisition

Alstom to buy Bombardierrail unit for $6.7bnFrance’s Alstom has agreed to buy the rail division of Canada’s Bombardier for up to 6.2bn euros ($6.7bn ) to create the world’s No 2 train manufacturer and better take on Chinese leader CRRC Corp.The cash and shares deal, announced yesterday, is the latest attempt by Western rail firms to try to build scale. Alstom was blocked last year from merging with Germany’s Siemens.

ASIA | Coronavirus

Cruise passengers takeCambodia bus toursA scramble intensified yesterday to trace passengers from a US cruise liner allowed to disembark in Cambodia despite at least one traveller later being diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus. There are fears scores of cruise goers have been scattered across the world without full health checks — as Cambodia yesterday afternoon treated a few dozen of the passengers to bus tours around the capital Phnom Penh. Page 13

BRITAIN | Controversy

UK PM’s adviser quitsaft er backlashAn adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who had discussed the benefits of forced contraception quit yesterday, saying “media hysteria” about his old online posts meant he had become a distraction for the government. In addition to posts on contraception, Sabisky also said data showed the US black population had lower IQ than white people.

QATAR | Aid

Qatar donates $5mnfor quake-hit AlbaniaQatar has donated $5mn for the reconstruction of earthquake-aff ected areas in Albania and to alleviate the suff erings of the people hit by the earthquake. HE the Assistant to Minister of Foreign Aff airs and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs Lolwah Rashid AlKhater announced this at the international donors’ conference, “Together for Albania”, in Brussels hosted by the European Union (EU) to support the reconstruction eff orts in Albania after the earthquake that struck the country at the end of November.

2 Gulf TimesTuesday, February 18, 2020

QATAR

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and His Highness the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani have sent cables of congratulations to President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci on the occasion of the anniversary of his country’s Independence Day. HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani has also sent a cable of congratulations to Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the occasion.

Qatar took part in a parliamentary hearing which opened at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday under the title “Education as a key to peace and sustainable development: Toward the implementation of SDG 4”. The delegation of Qatar to the two-day hearing is chaired by HE the Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud.

Amir greets Kosovopresident

Qatar participates in UN session

HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Aff airs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani held separate meetings with delegations from the British parliament and senior off icials of the US Congress, who are visiting Qatar. During the two meetings, bilateral relations and a number of regional and international issues were reviewed.

Foreign Minister meets British MPs, US Congress delegation

Ashghal takes newsteps to promoteworkers’ rightsQNADoha

The Public Works Author-ity (Ashghal), represented by the Engineering Serv-

ices Department in co-operation with the Ministries of Finance, Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs, has initiated new procedures to en-sure that salaries reach workers who participate in the imple-mentation of the Authority’s projects.

The procedures for pre-serving labour rights taken by

Ashghal included a condition to add in tender documents, a statement from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs to complete the payment of work-ers’ dues in the company, and that it is one of the basic cri-teria for accepting the bidder technically.

It also stipulated the provision of project data in the Authority to the Ministry of Administra-tive Development, Labour and Social Aff airs in order for the ministry to inspect the progress of procedures for the payment of workers’ wages.

Companies are also obligated to issue a certifi cate from Qatar Credit Bureau on the fi nancial position of the company, ex-plaining the extent of its com-mitment with banks and cus-tomers.

These measures came in light of the authority’s keenness to preserve the rights of workers employed in Ashghal’s projects, and the Authority, in co-ordi-nation with the Ministry of De-velopment and related parties, will undertake to follow up the implementation of these tasks in the future to ensure their appli-cation and eff ectiveness.

Scholars discuss challenges posed by global IslamophobiaQNADoha

The College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University

(HBKU) recently organised a panel discussion on the growing tide of Islamophobia around the world.

The panel discussion which was organised under the theme: “Global Islamophobia: Understanding its Roots, Chal-lenging its Impact” joined the dots between what was once considered a uniquely Western phenomenon to recent events

in China and India.Guest panellists were invited

to draw comparisons and high-light diff erences between both manifestations before explain-ing why Islamophobia has eff ec-tively gone global.

Consideration was also given to how Islamophobia can be confronted and rolled back at the local, regional and global level.

Dr Emad El-Din Shahin, Dean of the HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies, said: “Once associ-ated with populist movements in Europe and the United States, the Islamophobia phenomenon continues to mutate, escalate, and contaminate nations around the world — including aff ecting

Qatar’s regional neighbourhood.However, efforts to tackle

a now global issue cannot be developed in isolation from countries and regions where Islamophobia is an estab-

lished problem.“Our panellists have fi rst-

hand experience of the chal-lenges posed by Islamophobia in its original heartlands. They also know what works when it comes

to countering harmful narratives and negative perceptions. We’re grateful that they shared their insights with our audience, stu-dents, and faculty members” he added.

Karen Armstrong, a panellist and renowned author of best-selling titles, said during her intervention: “Even though — or, perhaps, because our world is more closely linked than ever before — economically, eco-logically, and electronically — people are retreating into ever more narrowly-defi ned ethnic, religious, political, and national groups. They enhance their own identity by denigrating or belit-tling the ‘other’. We saw where this could lead during the twen-tieth century, which saw the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, and the Serbian mas-sacres.

“Islamophobia is only one of

the products of this narrowing of horizons in the 21st century. It is therefore increasingly im-portant that people of the east and west sit down together and reach across these fabricated di-visions to fi nd common ground and systematically deplore the misrepresentation that makes us enemies of our fellow human beings.

“The meeting in Doha be-tween Western and Muslim scholars and the important con-versation in the evening panel enabled us all to enter a little more deeply into these challeng-es. We look forward to repeating these discussions in the future,” she said.

Panellists discussing the growing tide of Islamophobia around the world at HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies.

HE the Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Aff airs Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi yesterday met the Executive Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate Michele Coninsx and the accompanying delegation.The meeting reviewed the areas of partnership and co-operation between Qatar and the UN Off ice of Counter-Terrorism, and ways to enhance the strategic dialogue between Qatar and the UN in various legal and legislative areas. During the meeting, the UN off icial praised the eff orts of Qatar in combating terrorism and extremism, and appreciated its response to all the initiatives issued by the United Nations in this regard.

Justice Minister meets top UN official

Katara and Kahramaa sign MoU QNADoha

The Cultural Village Foun-dation (Katara) and Qatar General Electricity and

Water Corporation (Kahramaa) represented in its National Pro-gramme for Conservation and Energy Effi ciency “Tarsheed” signed yesterday a memoran-dum of understanding.

The memorandum of un-derstanding aims at achieving co-operation between Kah-ramaa and Katara in the fields of awareness, experience ex-change, joint activities, events and competitions between Ka-tara and Kahramaa, that con-tribute to spreading the culture of conserving the vital resourc-es and familiarise the public with the correct practices of the optimal use of water and electricity.

In this context, the General Manager of Katara Dr Kha-led bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti ex-pressed in his speech during the press conference his hope that the agreement will contribute to open up the prospects for fruitful co-operation between

Katara and Kahramaa in order to raise awareness and educa-tion in the Qatari community the right practices to preserve

natural resources, leading to a healthy environment for cur-rent and future generations, by holding events, activities,

competitions and workshops related to the technologies helping to conserve energy.

Dr al-Sulaiti pointed out that the agreement came to comple-ment Katara’s continuous eff orts in building eff ective and fruitful partnerships with various insti-tutions and organisations.

For his part, the President of Kahramaa Engineer Essa bin Hilal al-Kuwari stressed that the memorandum symbolises Kahrmaa and Katara’s keen-ness to achieve productive co-operation between them and society, especially the activi-ties and techniques of conser-vation, energy efficiency and renewable energy to promote sustainability.

Al-Kuwari explained that the memo refl ects Kahramaa’s keen-ness in reaching and co-operat-ing with all state institutions in the fi eld of sustainability in line with the goals of Qatar’s 2030 environmental, social, economic and humanitarian vision and through the national program “Tarsheed” which celebrates its eighth anniversary soon, where it managed to reduce 12mn tonnes of harmful carbon emis-sions so far.

General Manager of Katara Dr Khaled bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti and President of Kahramaa Engineer Essa bin Hilal al-Kuwari at the agreement signing ceremony.

The Qatari-European Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Shura Council, led by HE the Chairman of the Group Yousef bin Rashid al-Khater, held a meeting yesterday with a visiting British parliamentary delegation. The meeting reviewed parliamentary relations between the Shura Council and the British Parliament and ways of supporting and developing them. The meeting was attended by members of the Friendship Group of the Shura Council and Qatar’s ambassador to the UK Yousef bin Ali al-Khater.

Qatari-British parliamentary ties reviewed

QATAR3Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

CBQ, ECGC to host Commercial BankQatar Schools Golf ChampionshipIn preparation for the annual

Commercial Bank Qatar Mas-ters, part of the European Tour,

Commercial Bank and Education City Golf Club (ECGC) are gearing up to welcome Qatar Schools Golf Championship, scheduled to be held on February 22.

The championship will run in two sections - one for experienced junior golfers who possess a golf handicap, to be played on the 18-hole championship course. As for the second section, it will be a team event that will take place on the 9-hole Par 3 golf course for lesser experienced junior golfers who may have recently picked up the game.

In addition, children with no prior golf experience are welcome to come along and give golf a try at Education City Golf Club, a brand-new course ready to host Commer-cial Bank Qatar Masters 2020 for the fi rst time.

Rhys Beecher, director of Golf at ECGC, said: “We have been work-ing hand-in-hand with Commer-cial Bank to ensure that this year’s Qatar Masters is diff erent, new and upgraded. Our activities and goals always involve and include children in the fi rst place; encouraging them to play and participate in such ac-tivities and championships, helps them adopt a healthy, active life-style.”

To participate in the champion-ship, teachers are required to reg-ister their teams of pupils by regis-tering them directly with Education City Golf Club.

Regarding the event, Abeer Al-Kalla, head of Corporate Commu-nications and CSR at Commercial Bank, said: “Through this initia-tive, we emphasise our commit-ment to support the younger gen-eration’s growth and development. The championship will highlight the benefi ts of this sport and raise awareness among the public about

golf itself, which is considered an activity that helps children prac-tise skills such as concentration and learn values such as patience and persistence.

“We believe that organising such events shall contribute in the bet-terment of our community’s life-style and health.”

Anthony Caira, head of Golf Professional, ECGC, emphasised the importance of such events as “the success of school golf educa-tion programmes is marked by the organisation of such competitive playing opportunities”.

He added, “Investing in the tal-ents and skills of today’s children is nothing but an investment in how the future would look like tomor-row.”

Shura Council discusses draftlaw on setting minimum wage

QNADoha

The Shura Council held its regular weekly meet-ing yesterday, under the

chairmanship of HE the Deputy the Speaker Mohamed bin Ab-dulla al-Sulaiti.

The Council’s session began with a discussion on the report of its Legal and Legislative Af-fairs Committee on a draft law on setting a minimum wage for workers and domestic workers.

The session discussed the draft law extensively in light of the report of the Legal and Leg-islative Aff airs Committee.

After the discussion, the Coun-cil decided to further study the draft law at an upcoming session.

The session concluded with the Council discussing the pro-posal submitted by the member of the Council Mohamed bin Ali al-Hanzab, on promoting val-ues, principles and ethics in the society.

After the discussion, the Council referred the proposal to its Cultural Aff airs and Informa-tion Committee for more con-sideration and to submit a report thereon to the Council.

The championship will highlight the benefits of golf and raise awareness among the public about the sport, which is considered an activity that helps children practise skills such as concentration and learn values such as patience and persistence.

HE the Deputy the Speaker of the Shura Council, Mohamed bin Abdulla al-Sulaiti, chairing yesterday’s session.

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 18, 20204

Qatar and Bangladesh hold political consultations

A round of political consultations was held in Dhaka yesterday be-tween the ministries of foreign

aff airs of Qatar and Bangladesh. The Qatari side was led by HE the Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi, while the Bangla-deshi side was headed by the country’s Minister of State for Foreign Aff airs Mo-

hamed Shahriar Alam. The two sides re-viewed bilateral relations, in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

Meanwhile, HE al-Muraikhi held a separate meeting with Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr Abul Kalam Abdul Momen. The meeting reviewed rela-tions between Qatar and Bangladesh, in addition to issues of common concern.

Govt constantlyworking to implement steps against disasters: QCAA chief

While Qatar is among the safest countries in the world when it comes to the risk of disasters,

the country is continuously working to implement eff ective measures and preven-tive response against disasters aimed at minimising their impact on lives and infra-structure, Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) chairman HE Abdullah bin Nasser Turki al-Subaey has said.

Speaking at the opening of the 11th Gulf Seismic Forum yesterday, HE al-Subaey highlighted Qatar’s preparedness in case natural calamities such as earthquakes hit the country.

He said the Qatar Seismic Network, equipped with state-of-the-art technolo-gy and with its nine seismic stations (three are deep measuring over 100m), provides critical data which can be used to monitor, assess and manage seismic risks.

“The Qatar Seismic Network was estab-lished in 2014 for us to be able to monitor and see the fi rst seismic signals and to dis-seminate information and issue warnings on time with regards to these (seismic) manifestations to save people’s lives,” al-Subaey said, stressing that Qatar remains to be safe from natural phenomenon like earthquakes.

He noted that QCAA, represented by the Qatar Meteorology Department, is closely working and co-ordinating with the Per-manent Emergency Committee, as well as other sectors of the state, by updating and sharing information, among others, as part of its eff orts to be fully prepared for any eventuality.

HE al-Subaey lauded the competence and effi ciency of the people who are exert-ing eff orts to do their duties, which con-tribute to achieving Qatar National Vision 2030.

The QCAA also underlined the impor-tance of organising an event such as the Gulf Seismic Forum, which serves as a platform to exchange expertise, knowl-edge, and information, as well as the latest developments in seismology and seismic engineering, aimed at reducing disaster risks and impacts.

Apart from discussing an array of is-sues and topics, the three-day forum will also present more than 65 research papers and studies on seismology and

By Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

HE Abdullah bin Nasser Turki al-Subaey speaking at the forum. PICTURES: Jayan Orma

earthquake engineering, among others. Abdulla Mohamed al-Mannai, director

of the Meteorology Department at QCAA, echoed HE al-Subaey’s statement saying that this forum serves as an opportunity to tackle key issues and have deeper under-standing on natural disasters, and come up with early warning facilities for preventive measures.

He also cited Qatar Seismic Network’s role in monitoring and following the latest developments in seismology and seismic engineering globally.

Al-Mannai also underlined the impor-tance of raising awareness and educating residents on earthquakes and disaster pre-paredness.

Abdulla Mohamed al-Mannai addresses the forum.

‘Co-operation among GCC key to mitigate impact of natural calamity’

Co-operation among GCC countries in seismology and

earthquake engineering at scientifi c and governmental levels is essential to miti-gate the risk of the impact of such natural calamity, according to professor Kha-lifa S al-Jabri, head of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.

Speaking at the open-ing of the 11th Gulf Seismic Forum yesterday in Doha, he said such co-operation serves as an opportunity to better understand the seis-micity of Arabian Plate and neighbouring regions, avoid duplication, study seismic hazard assessment based on more reliable data.

Al-Jabri stressed that such collaboration will also serve as a platform for shar-ing of knowledge and expe-riences, as well as technol-ogy transfer, to monitor and assess seismic activities and mitigate the eff ects of natural disasters like earth-quake.

“The co-operation will allow design of earthquake-resistant structures, and determine whether retro-fi tting is required for exist-ing structures. It will foster capacity building of local human resources in seis-mology and earthquake en-gineering,” he said.

Al-Jabri was the keynote speaker at the opening of the forum yesterday on “The Need of an Integrat-ed Scientifi c Cooperation Approach in the Field of Seismicity and Earthquake Engineering Between GCC Countries.”

He cited several other opportunities and benefi ts from such co-operation since real time seismic data exchange systems exist with most Gulf countries and due to the ability to fund scientifi c research and consultancy.

The professor stressed that disaster risk reduction requires investment in ef-forts toward achieving sus-tainable development goals, as well as a preparedness for catastrophic events in the future.

“The disastrous eff ects of natural disasters such as cyclones, and fl ash fl oods on the infrastructure in Oman have revealed seri-ous defi ciency in the urban planning strategies and practices in the country,” he said, adding that Oman is the most vulnerable country in the GCC to be impacted by natural dis-asters such as fl ashfl oods, cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

Because of this, al-Jabri said Oman developed “very eff ective and effi cient” early warning and crisis manage-ment systems before and during the disaster such as evacuation plans and pro-cedures, and excellent co-ordination.

By Joey Aguilar Staff Reporter

Professor Khalifa S al-Jabri speaking at the forum. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

QATAR5


Championing Arab cinema at 2020 OscarsThe Qatar-America Insti-

tute (QAI) joined together with programme partner,

Doha Film Institute (DFI), for QAI’s Expert Voices delegation to Los Angeles, US, during the 2020 Oscars week.

Expert Voices Series, a QAI initiative sponsored by the Su-preme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), invites experts from Qatar as a medium for en-couraging broader and more diverse conversations and col-laborations between Qatari ex-perts with US-based leaders in the fi elds of culture, sports and technology.

This month’s Expert Voices delegation to LA, focusing on fi lm, consisted of DFI chief ex-ecutive offi cer Fatma Hassan al-Remaihi, QAI executive director Fatima al-Dosari and Ajyal Film Festival deputy director and chief administrative offi cer of DFI Abdullah al-Mosallam.

The delegation’s objective aimed to highlight Qatar, a major investor in the US and soon-to-be home to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as a force in the fi lm world via Doha Film Institute. In addi-tion to showcasing the nation’s role in supporting and cham-pioning fi lms, fi lmmakers and creatives from the region, the Expert Voices delegation solidi-fi ed existing relationships and fostered new ones in California.

The Expert Voices trip to LA presented an opportunity for QAI and DFI to act on their new partnership and join together in strengthening the voices from the region, through the power of fi lms and storytelling, and by engaging in conversations on the

The delegates also enjoyed a private tour of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.The delegates pose for group photo after an event.

importance of female empower-ment and multicultural repre-sentation, a statement noted.

Al-Dosari said, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to join our partner, Doha Film Institute, in LA to champion the three Qa-tari-backed fi lms that were rec-ognised at this year’s Oscars: the DFI-granted fi lms The Cave and Brotherhood and the Al Jazeera ‘Witness’-supported fi lm ‘St Louis Superman’. We are also excited to showcase the strong ties between Qatar and the US through its investments and part-nerships in California, In fact, these ties will continue through Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA

World Cup, followed by a close handover from 2022 in Qatar to 2026 in the United States.”

The delegates met with indus-try leaders in Los Angeles ahead of attending the 2020 Oscars, where two of DFI-supported fi lms were nominated: The Cave, a Syrian civil war fi lm directed by Feras Fayyad was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category, while Brotherhood, a Tunisian fi lm by Montreal-based fi lmmaker Meryam Joo-beur, earned a nomination under the Best Live Action Short Films category.

Al-Remaihi noted, “Bridging the gap between east and west cultures is at the forefront of Qa-tar’s public diplomacy, so we are very grateful for this opportunity to further strengthen our ties with our peers in America. Our commitment to supporting glo-bal storytelling has given volume to important new voices, and we are proud to be associated with

a diverse range of fi lms that have won critical acclaim and top hon-ours at the world’s leading fi lm events. Arab cinema is in a good place right now due to the eff orts of our emerging fi lmmakers who continue to bring our stories to the rest of the world, with unique perspectives that promote cross-cultural exchange and encourage dialogue and discourse.”

The activity-fi lled week in-cluded a meeting at City Hall with City of Beverly Hills mayor John Mirisch’s offi ce to discuss Qatar’s pivotal role in the state of California, a relationship that extends beyond the fi nancial sphere into the fi elds of arts, sports, technology, education and entertainment.

Khalid al-Sada, consul-gener-al of Qatar in Los Angeles, hosted a dinner at his home in honor of the DFI-funded fi lms, joined by the producers behind the Oscar-nominated fi lm ‘Brother-hood’ and special guest Brigitte

Lacombe, an esteemed French photographer.

The delegates also enjoyed a private tour of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures,

prior to attending the Interna-tional Feature Films of the 92nd Oscars Reception, spotlighting the nominees for Best Interna-tional Feature Film. QAI and DFI

A High Tea and Talk on multiculturalism was also held.

also joined the exclusive lunch-eon celebrating the female Os-car nominees hosted by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.

QAI also partnered with Deb-orah Sawaf, CEO and founder of the luxury handbag brand, Thalé Blanc, to host a High Tea and Talk on multiculturalism and fe-male empowerment in the crea-tive and tech industries, with special guest speakers Alremaihi and the CEO and founder of The Female Quotient, Shelley Zalis.

Charles King, CEO, MACRO, also invited the delegation to his MACRO studio’s pre-Oscars party. Additionally, through-out the week, the delegates met with industry leaders and per-sonalities such as Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertain-ment, Egyptian-Canadian actor Omar Sharif Jr, and former NBA all-star Baron Davis. The week culminated with al-Remaihi representing Qatar at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards.

The Expert Voices trip to LA presented an opportunity for QAI and DFI to act on their new partnership and join together in strengthening the voices from the region

Off icials at the opening of the clinic at Al Wakra Hospital.

HMC opens smoking cessation clinic at Al Wakra HospitalHamad Medical Corporation’s

(HMC) Tobacco Control Cent-er, offi cially designated by the

World Health Organisation (WHO) as the fi rst WHO Collaborating Centre in Qatar and the GCC, yesterday opened a dedicated smoking cessation clinic at Al Wakra Hospital.

The fi rst Smoking Cessation Clinic to open outside Doha, it will oper-ate at Al Wakra Hospital on Mondays with plans to expand clinic hours to cope with future demands. There are also plans to open similar clinics at all HMC hospitals across Qatar.

Available to all residents of Qa-tar, appointments at the new clinic can be booked through HMC’s Nesma’ak Customer Service line (16060) or by referral from Primary Healthcare Centres. Appointments can also be booked through referral from Al Wakra Hospital or in per-son at the Al Wakra Hospital recep-tion desk.

The new clinic will provide con-sultations by specialist physicians for those who want to quit as well as off er a range of tests including carbon mon-

oxide levels and lung function, free of charge.

Dr Ahmad al-Mulla, head, Tobacco Control Center said the centre’s mis-sion is to provide health and medical advice to the public on the dangers of tobacco use in addition to behavioural support and counselling for smokers to help them kick the habit.

Staff at the centre off er smokers al-ternatives to nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco, and help them overcome withdrawal symptoms as-sociated with smoking cessation, Dr al-Mulla said.

“Quitting smoking improves blood circulation and glucose levels which regulates insulin, especially in diabetic patients, and reduces bad cholesterol as well as preventing many ailments and conditions. Smokers who quit this dangerous habit also regain the sense of smell and taste as well as re-ducing bad breath. Tobacco contains more than 45 harmful chemicals that cause cancer and this is why we advise smokers to seriously consider giving this habit up,” he noted.

Experts believe that the most eff ec-

tive way to quit smoking is for smokers to adopt lifestyle changes that would help them resist smoking temptations. Ex -smokers are also advised to avoid second hand smoking areas like cafes where cigarette and shisha smoke is present.

“Some other methods to help peo-ple quit include smokers quit include increasing exercise, drinking lots of water and minimising socialising with active smokers,” said Dr al-Mulla.

Dr al-Mulla thanked HE the Min-ister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mo-hamed al-Kuwari for her continued support for the centre’s activities and programmes.

Dr Sabah A al-Qadhi, medical direc-tor, Wakra Hospital, said the new clin-ic, is an important addition to services and programmes targeting residents in the growing southern region of Qatar. He said it was important to continue to increase awareness of the harmful ef-fects of smoking in the community to ensure a healthy population.

For more information, one can call HMC’s Tobacco control Center at 40254857 or 50800959.

Al Jazeera Media Institute organises courses in English languageAl Jazeera Media Institute has announced that it is launching a series of media training courses in the English language, in which a number of Al Jazeera media professionals are going to be trained.

The courses, which are considered the first of their kind at the Institute, include various media areas, such as mobile journalism, introduction to TV presentation, information

security, TV reporter, story-building for diff erent platforms and a data journalism course, a press statement notes.The first course in data journalism in English will

start by the beginning of next March and target those working in the press and media. The course seeks to train participants in drafting skills for news or drafting a story in a creative visual way.

QATAR


Ooredoo has announced that the all-new Samsung Galaxy S20 will be available to pre-order online at

ooredoo.qa/Samsung until March 5.In a press statement yesterday, Oore-

doo said stocks are limited and pre-or-ders would be fulfi lled on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis.

“Featuring unprecedented 5G and AI (artifi cial intelligence) camera technolo-gies, the Galaxy S20 series – including the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Gal-axy S20 Ultra – introduces a brand-new camera architecture that combines AI with Samsung’s largest image sensor yet for stunning image quality.

“Along with the camera, the Galaxy S20 makes the experience of everything we love to do with our phones, easier and better – enjoy personalised music for every moment of the day, watch videos the way they are meant to be seen, and play console-style games on the go,” the statement noted.

Ooredoo customers pre-ordering the Samsung Galaxy S20 will receive a host of benefi ts.

Prepaid customers will enjoy 10GB data valid for seven days with every de-vice purchase, as well as a further 10GB on every recharge of QR100 for the two months following purchase, and one No-

joom point for every QR1 spent on the device.

Postpaid customers will get 30% dis-count on the monthly pack price of all new subscriptions to Qatarna 380 plus plans with devices for four months, 35% discount on Clear Coat protection, and one Nojoom point for every QR1 spent on the device bought with Qatarna pack 380.

Both prepaid and postpaid custom-ers purchasing a 5G-enabled device – the S20+ 5G or the S20 Ultra 5G – will also get Samsung Galaxy Buds+, worth QR509, for free.

Manar Khalifa al-Muraikhi, director of PR and Corporate Communications at

Ooredoo, said: “We know our customers are always keen to get their hands on the latest technology, and having the newest device on the market is a huge priority, and we’re excited to be able to bring them the new S20 series as soon as it arrives here.

“The special off ers to celebrate the launch make our products and services an even better proposition, which fi ts per-fectly with our goal of complete customer satisfaction.”

To pre-order, one can visit ooredoo.qa/Samsung. For more details on Sam-sung Galaxy S20, visit www.samsung.com.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Series available to pre-order with Ooredoo

The all-new Samsung Galaxy S20 will be available to pre-order online.

As Qatar continues to di-versify local modes of transportation, students

at the Qatar Academy for Sci-ence and Technology (QAST) have found innovative ways to encourage people to use public transportation.

The recently-launched Edu-cation City tram at Qatar Foun-dation proved to be the perfect opportunity for students at the QAST to learn skills relevant to STEM, such as critical thinking, data analysis and eff ective com-munication, and a sense of re-sponsibility.

STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The school helps students en-hance their ability to solve real-world challenges by providing them with the right opportuni-

ties and encouraging an innova-tive mindset.

“Before it (Education City tram) was launched, we helped our students get acquainted with it, seeing how it refl ects our science-based curriculum,” said Vaughan Lewis, academic co-

ordinator at the QAST, which is part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education. “We of-fered our students an interactive way to help them fi nd appropri-ate ways that encourage more in-dividuals to use public transpor-tation in Qatar.”

One of the teaching methods at the QAST involves encouraging students to develop solutions to daily real-world challenges.

“We also provide them with real-life models that they can learn from, fi rst-hand,” Lewis said.

With the support of the Carn-egie Mellon University in Qatar, a

workshop was organised on how to develop a mobile app, which was one of the ideas proposed by the QAST students as a method that helps people learn how to use the Education City tram (EC Tram), according to Lewis.

“It is not an app that people can download, but it was pro-posed by our students in a pres-

entation explaining their ideas and methods of implementation to the EC Tram curators,” he said.

The QAST students invited others to attend the workshop by sending invitation cards to schools in Qatar, including those in Qatar Foundation.

The three-day workshop brought together students from

all over Qatar, who also attended a talk by the operation’s team on the importance of the EC Tram.

Students also had the chance to learn about developing a mo-bile app and create realistic project prototypes.

“Using the Education City tram as a model of learning gives students the opportunity to in-teract with a real audience, which helps them become more en-gaged and enthusiastic to learn,” Lewis added. “For example, our students learned how to operate EC Tram in physics class, collect and calculate statistics in math-ematics class, and create posters in Arabic and English language classes.

“Our role is to evaluate how they work as a team and how they communicate with each other while working on these projects.”

Education City tram ‘off ering’ STEM learning opportunities

The Education City tram.

The recently launched Education City tram was an opportunity for students at the QAST to learn skills such as critical thinking, data analysis and eff ective communication, and a sense of responsibility.

UNICEF selects Qatar Charity as a relief partner in Pakistan

Qatar Charity makes children aware of refugees’ winter plight

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has chosen

Qatar Charity (QC) as a partner in carrying out urgent relief interventions in Punjab, Pakistan.

This selection came in accordance with the emergency cooperation and partnership agreement signed by Ms. Aida Girma, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, and Mr. Amin Abdul Rahman, director of Qatar Charity’s office in the country.

Qatar Charity (QC), in cooperation with the Hyatt Plaza Mall, held

various activities aimed at educating children and parents on the challenging conditions faced by refugees in winter and their basic needs for their survival in the harsh cold.

This came as part of the continuation of activities accompanying Qatar Charity’s ‘Warmth and Peace’ campaign for the current winter.

Children have participated in many activities including playing maze game, taking a picture with a model of a happy child wearing a coat with the logo of Qatar Charity, which

7Tuesday, February 18, 2020

QATAR

Under this $1 million pact, Qatar Charity will implement relief interventions within 24 hours, once a state of emergency declared by UNICEF in the province of Punjab, and remain fully prepared for any emergencies and humanitarian operations.

The agreement, which shows the importance of the role played by Qatar Charity in Pakistan to reduce disaster risk and respond to emergencies, came as part of its keenness to cooperate with UN agencies and

helped express the delight of the child at having the feeling of warmth, in addition to drawing activities related to refugees and their winter needs. The event also had a tent resembling a real refugee tent and a picture that highlighted the role of workers in building the country.

The children, along with their families, wrote also letters in solidarity with the refugee children and came to know the needs of workers, orphans, and refugees.

Besides, the event included a fire-extinguishing workshop delivered by the General Directorate of Civil Defense, in addition to another workshop

humanitarian organizations worldwide.

UNICEF believes that the support provided by its partners helps it contribute to saving lives and providing assistance to those affected.

It is worth noting that Qatar Charity continues to implement many projects in Punjab, in partnership with UNICEF, including water, sanitation and hygiene projects, which are expected to benefit more than 44,000 families in 98 villages.

by the Traffic Department on traffic safety during the winter season.

The three-day event aimed at easing the suffering of refugees and workers by meeting their

winter needs, raising awareness about the most significant winter safety issues, marketing winter and relief products for the benefit of refugees, and supporting the campaign.


QATAR

Social media fi rms ‘have to act against fake news eff ectively’By Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter

Social media organisations and companies have to act eff ectively in curtailing or

stopping any hate posts by re-moving them instantly and en-sure that their platforms are not used for such purposes, experts said at a panel discussion on the second and concluding day of an international conference yester-day.

The International Conference on ‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’ organised by the National Human Rights Com-mittee discussed the social media challenges and freedom of ex-pression at a working group ses-sion titled ‘Regulating Big Tech - Transparency and Accountability in Content Moderation’.

The panellists at the ses-sion said some responsibilities and supervision of the content moved from countries to com-panies. They also pointed out that the social media companies

have their own agenda and drag the people into them. The ses-sion was moderated by Nazila Ghanea, professor at University of Oxford, UK, while the rap-porteur for the session was Iris de Villars, head of Tech Desk, Re-porters Without Borders, Paris.

Senior political adviser of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Aff airs in the EU, Matilda Sisatto, examined the impact of social media and various applications on human life and highlighted the impor-tance of e-privacy.

“E-privacy regulates online movement as well as offl ine move-ment. Social media intelligence must ensure the privacy of activ-ists to lead a normal life while making sure that disinformation is rooted out eff ectively,” she said .

She also noted that although these applications and websites have made it easy for people to see their important matters, they have become at the same time a way to monitor people and collect data about them. Jil-lian York, director of the Inter-national Freedom of Expression,

Electronic Frontier Foundation, noted that some governments and social media companies de-liberately ignore civil society or-ganisations in many of the agree-ments between the two sides.

York pointed out that govern-ments always have problems that they seek to confront on social media, such as extremism, ter-rorism and hate speech, but some of them deal with these issues as technical issues although they are societal rather than technical problems.

She also noted that after years of monitoring and supervision by governments on social media to face many societal problems, the result was negative, as it was un-able to provide solutions to these problems, confi rming that many governments and social media companies participate in repres-sion through the Internet.

The repression is carried out through legislation enacted by governments with companies to limit freedom of expression.

Jerald Joseph, commissioner of the National Human Rights Com-mission of Malaysia, stressed the

importance of working to change laws dating back to colonial times and called on governments to re-spect human rights and freedom of expression for which activists are being prosecuted.

Joseph said that companies, in turn, are called upon to respect human rights, noting the need to co-operate with the government side in order to make progress on these levels.

Social media expert in Taiwan and East Asia, Michel Shia, said some countries have used elec-tronic applications to monitor their citizens, while others have used them to counter false and fab-ricated news issued against them.

Fernand de Varennes, UN Spe-cial Rapporteur on Minority Is-suse, pointed to the high level of hatred towards minorities in re-cent years through social media platforms, and noted that there are major challenges in this area, which the international commu-nity must raise to reduce the level of hatred.

He explained that three quar-ters of hate in social media is di-rected against minorities.

Panellists at the discussion. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam

‘Qatar making great progressin the arena of human rights’QNADoha

Adviser and Chairman of Arab Human Rights Commission in the Arab

League, Mohamed al-Dhahi, said that Qatar looks forward to the future by organising the two-day international conference entitled ‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’ and wished Qatar success in this fi eld.

This came in a statement made by al-Dhahi on the sidelines of the Arab Human Rights Com-mission’s honouring of former member of the commission, Jaber al-Marri, in the period between 2015-2019, in the pres-ence of HE the Chairman of the National Human Rights Com-mittee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri.

Al-Dhahi explained that Qa-tar is one of the countries that support the Arab Human Rights Commission and is making great progress in diff erent fi elds, ex-pressing his hope that the Gulf crisis will end soon.

He stressed that technology plays a pivotal role in current so-cieties, and it is imposing a new reality that requires those with responsibility to take proactive measures towards it in the sense that governments have future scenarios through which future prospects can be anticipated, so that attention is paid to the posi-tives that technology provides to

society on one hand and address the negatives on the other.

In this context, he stressed the importance of caring for the future generation and instill-ing a culture of human rights in them, such as the inclusion of principles related to human rights in modern educational means. Children today and the new generation in general have a developed open mindset and technology is widely available and accessible to them, he added.

He noted the need for coun-tries in the region to be keen on the competition for development and not wait for technology to reach it, keeping pace with de-velopment is important and es-sential to identify the positives and address the negatives. He pointed out that the convening of the conference at the present time comes in light of the cir-cumstances in which attention is being paid to the issue of social media and the challenges it im-poses on the ground.

He pointed out that the com-mission supports freedom of opinion and expression, and hopes that there will be binding laws from all countries regard-ing the rights of opinion and ex-pression, whether through the United Nations and regional or-ganisations, in order to give hu-man rights activists a greater and wider dimension provided that it guaranteed no interference in personal matters, but rather that useful matters are consid-ered and work to avoid negative

matters. Al-Dhahi noted that in the past few years, Arab coun-tries went through the stages of the Arab Spring, which led to the change of some concepts, laws and governments, and that he hopes that the issue of social media will be taken into account. It is an internationally advanced mechanism with an accelerating growth.

He stressed the need for social media activists to investigate the accuracy and credibility of their reporting and opinions, given the negative consequences of the news that expose the person to take legal responsibility for which they may be held account-able.

He stated that the work of the commission diff ers from in-ternational instruments, as the commission intervened in many issues related to political, civil and economic rights, and the commission also notes and pro-vides its recommendations in this regard. Regarding communi-cation with the UN, he noted that there is no particular provision for this matter, but the commis-sion is adopting the principle of freedom of opinion and expres-sion as the most comprehensive concept for all matters as an um-brella for the issue of social com-munication.

He hoped that this communi-cation will be used for the bet-ter, and that mechanisms will be found to protect social media activists and be adopted by the Arab League.

The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Protector of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia (Ombudsman) to enhance friendship and co-operation relations between the two sides in scope of protecting the citizens’ rights as well as human rights and freedoms in the two countries. The MoU was signed by HE the chairman of NHRC Dr Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri and Serbian Ombudsman Zoran Pasalic. The MoU’s aim is to exchange experiences and knowledge, to enhance the close relations between the two sides in fields of spreading human rights culture and protecting it, to develop human rights system, strategies and work plans for each side, in addition to allowing both sides to benefit from the other in terms of technical and institutional expertise. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam

NHRC signs MoU with Protector of Citizens of Serbia

UN offi cial praises outcome of social media conferenceQNADoha

Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Di-

rector of Field Operations and Technical Co-operation Division of the OHCHR, Georgette Gag-non, underlined the importance of the International Conference on “Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms

and Protect Activists”, which concluded in Doha yesterday, in terms of its theme, the qualita-tive participations, and its out-come, in light of the continuous talk and the convergence be-tween social media and tradi-tional journalism, and the role of human rights organisations in promoting these rights and spreading their culture.

In a statement to QNA, Gagnon praised the positive role carried out by Qatar’s National Human

Rights Committee, and stressed the need for such committees and organisations anywhere in the world to be independent, non-discriminatory and not bi-ased, and to always strive to con-solidate human rights at all levels around the world.

She noted that the issue of human rights has become a glo-bal issue, therefore its standards must be global and credible.

Gagnon commended the out-come of the conference and its

recommendations, and stressed the importance for these recom-mendations to receive an inter-national attention as they are of concern to everyone.

She believed that these results and recommendations will frame the way in which social media is used in a manner that leads to a positive response, and that the conference outcomes and out-puts should receive attention from governments, civil society, and social media activists.

A section of the audience at International Conference on Social Media in Doha yesterday.

Social media conference backs

steps to ensure free speechFrom Page 1

The conference has also ap-pealed to journalists and human rights activists to ensure that all perspectives including those of under-represented groups are brought into decision making about regulation of online con-tent and in the formulation of community standards.

“They should advocate for en-hanced media literacy in national education curricula and build capacity of civil society actors amongst peers, in relation to the use of social media.

They should provide legal aid to human rights defenders and journalists in emblematic cases related to freedom of expres-

sion,” the conference has urged. The recommendations also said international and regional or-ganisations should ensure that all discussions on the formula-tion of laws and regulations for social media are fi rmly grounded in human rights law.

“They should consider how to expand civic space online through drafting an interna-tional declaration on the protec-tion of civil society operating on social media and strengthen the response against attacks and attempts to undermine vibrant civil society and independent journalism,” suggested the fo-rum.

According to the set of rec-ommendations, national human

rights institutions across the world must promote and protect online civic space by advising the governments on national legis-lation and policy to ensure they comply with international hu-man rights obligations.

The conference had brought together more than 250 govern-mental and non-governmental organisations, human rights de-fenders, media workers, the tech community, international hu-man rights mechanisms and na-tional human rights institutions. It discussed the opportunities that social media has created for promoting human rights while exploring recurrent forms of in-terference in the use of social media.

Art exhibition on rights issuesQNADoha

An exhibition of paintings by Qatari artists Ahmed al-Maadeed, Jassim al-

Kaabi and Dana al-Safar opened yesterday on the sidelines of the International Conference on

‘Social Media: Challenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’.

The opening of the exhibi-tion was attended by a number of their excellencies ministers and senior offi cials who signed a mural to support freedoms and protect activists, and victims of human rights and freedom of

expression issues. The artistic paintings covered violations of social media activists.

The exhibition witnessed a great turnout by a number of people and international organi-sation’s offi cials participating in the conference, social media pioneers and human rights ac-tivists.

Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition to start on Feb 24From Page 1

Among the highlights is the participation of Qatar Watch Club, which will exhibit a collec-tion of rare collectables and lim-ited edition pieces and the partici-pation of the prestigious French Objective Horlogerie group, which will provide various workshops, including a watch care workshop organised by the group for the fi rst time in the Middle East.

The exhibition also provides

consulting services by certifi ed experts, gem specialists, and specialists who will provide free appraisals to visitors looking to buy jewellery at the exhibition, in addition to various educa-tional and interactive activities.

A global media campaign is run in target markets in advance of DJWE featuring Sonam Kapoor as the face and the guide for visi-tors on their journey to beauty. The campaign was launched in 16 mar-kets including Kuwait, Oman, the

United Kingdom and France and it’s expected to reach 450mn view-ers, listeners and readers through social media and TV channels such as BBC, CNN, Sky News UK, Fash-ion TV, Kuwait TV and others.

The press conference also witnessed a signing ceremony between QNTC and QNB, which will be one of the key sponsors of this year’s edition.

The 17th DJWE is organised with the partnership of Qatar Airways as airline partner, the

JW Marriott Marquis City Cent-er Doha as hotel partner and Qatar National Bank, amongst other partners and sponsors.

This year’s edition also wit-nesses the continued participa-tion of some of Qatar’s premier jewellery patrons, at the fore-front of which are Alfardan Jew-ellery, Al Majed Jewellery, Ali Bin Ali Jewellery and Watches Group, Amiri Jewellery, Fifty One East, Al Muftah Jewellery and Blue Salon.

QATAR9Gulf Times


Ulster University launches campus in Qatar in partnership with City College

Ulster University (UU) has launched a branch campus in Qatar in partnership with City

College, it has been announced.The partnership/ branch campus

was offi cially launched during a cer-emony in Doha on February 12.

Attending the launch were key fi g-ures from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, ambassadors, representatives from the British em-bassy, prominent businesspersons, school heads, counsellors and parents.

In his welcoming speech, Ewan Scott, principal of City College, ex-pressed enthusiasm about the part-nership, saying: “It is a great honour and privilege to welcome Ulster Uni-versity’s rich academic and cultural history to Qatar.

This partnership is adherent to Qa-tar National Vision 2030 in the devel-

opment of a skills-based economy.”Welcoming the partnership, Dr

Khalid al-Ali, assistant undersecretary for Education and director of Higher Education Institutions, said: “We are proud to have Ulster University in Qa-tar because it is one of the top univer-sities in terms of ranking and quality of teaching.”

On his part, British ambassador Ajay Sharma said the announcement of the partnership between City Col-lege Qatar and Ulster University is an excellent example of the strong co-operation between the UK and Qatar in the education sector.

This partnership “will benefi t both countries and allow us to continue de-veloping our educational partnerships in the future”, he stressed.

Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan, deputy vice-chancellor (Research and

External Aff airs) at Ulster Univer-sity, noted: “The opening of a branch campus in Qatar for Ulster represents a signifi cant milestone in our interna-tionalisation agenda.

We very much look forward to work-ing with City College in their eff orts to develop a skills-based economy as part of Qatar National Vision 2030.

Through our presence in Qatar, we will share our business expertise, quality teaching and innovation to deliver the future business leaders of Doha and beyond.”

Professor Jackie McCoy, associate dean — Global Engagement at Ulster University’s Business School, added: “Ulster University is recognised as a critical driver of the regional econo-my in Northern Ireland and our new branch campus in Qatar will provide students with the skills and knowledge

to fuel public and private sector organ-isations to drive the regional economy in Qatar.

The range of business degree courses on off er, including our International Foundation Programme and BSc (Hons)

Business Studies. will be available to students from September 2020.”

Ulster University is an institution with a national and international rep-utation for excellence, innovation and regional engagement, making a major contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of the UK.

Its business school is the sixth larg-est business school in the UK and ranks seventh for research impact.

Students can now obtain their busi-ness degree from Ulster University while studying in Qatar; they have ac-cess to Ulster’s online resources, fac-ulty and a privilege to spend a semes-ter abroad at one of Ulster’s campuses in Northern Ireland.

Ulster University Qatar will wel-come its fi rst cohort in September 2020, with plans to move to its new campus to Lusail by 2021.

Dignitaries mark the occasion.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha celebrates big win at regional dealer meetRolls-Royce Motor Cars

Doha, the authorised dealer of Rolls-Royce

Motor Cars in Qatar, was one of the four big winners at the Rolls-Royce Regional Dealer Conference, taking home the prestigious ‘Entertain’ category – which celebrates excellence in PR, Marketing and Sales.

The event embraced the theme of ‘Performing while transforming’ and celebrated the many successes of Rolls-Royce dealers in the region.

The awards followed an en-gaging new structure, with the expected 12 categories being concentrated into four main awards titled: Engage, Enter-tain, Retain and Customer Cen-tricity.

The ‘Entertain’ category is awarded to the dealership that best combines achievements in PR, Sales and Customer Rela-

tionship Management, as well as Marketing with a focus on events.

As one of the toughest cat-egories to judge – the award is much coveted, as César Habib, Rolls-Royce regional director

for Middle East and Africa, ex-plained: “In order to win a cate-gory such as Entertain, you need to be successful in many areas of the business.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha

is able to see where opportu-nity lies and expand upon it in new and wholly original ways – maximising both business and brand opportunity.”

Nasr Jairoudi, general man-ager of Alfardan Automobiles, dealer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha, said: “To win the ‘Entertain’ title at this year’s Rolls-Royce Regional Dealer Conference is a huge honour and accomplishment for the whole team.

“We’re delighted that our in-novation, originality and hard work has been recognised. The team are relentless in their quest to preserve and strengthen this wonderful brand’s status and impeccable position – while pro-viding a masterclass in customer satisfaction. After a fruitful and successful 2019, we look forward to an exciting 2020 – full of even greater achievements.”

(From left): Ziad Boghdady, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha Marketing and PR manager; César Habib, Rolls-Royce regional director for Middle East and Africa; Hassan al-Khansa, brand manager of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha; Nasr Jairoudi, general manager of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha; and Chris Weglinski, assistant general manager for Ownership Services, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha.

The ‘Entertain’ award.

Qatar Insurance Group recently honoured its employees with long-

service awards for completing service milestones of 10, 15, 20 and 25 years of service at QIC.

The long-service award cere-mony was held at the QIC head-quarters in West Bay.

Long-service awards are a symbol of QIC Group’s appreci-ation towards its employees for their continued loyalty and ded-ication, a press statement noted.

Ali al-Fadala, senior deputy Group president of QIC Group, handed over the long-service awards to 25 recipients this year.

Al-Fadala expressed his ap-preciation for the staff , saying: “We are delighted to host the employee recognition ceremony. It clearly highlights our way of treating our human capital as the ‘most treasured asset.’ It is our employees’ loyalty, dedica-tion and commitment at work that has defi ned QIC Group’s growth trajectory and placed us as a leader in the insurance arena in the Mena region.”

QIC Group felicitates long-service staff ers

Snapshots from the long-service award ceremony.

Vodafone Qatar launches Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G smartphone

Vodafone Qatar has stressed that it “contin-ues to lead” on bringing

5G devices to the market, with its latest launch of Huawei’s re-freshed fl agship Mate30 Pro 5G smartphone.

“Packed with powerful 5G ca-pabilities, Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G boasts of a powerhouse perform-ance, an iconic design and takes phone videography to the next level,” a press statement noted.

The Mate30 Pro 5G is pow-ered by the Kirin 990 5G chipset, Huawei’s “most sophisticated smartphone chipset launched to date”.

The “king of 5G smartphones” packs a SuperSensing Cine Cam-era with a 40MP Cine Camera and a 40MP SuperSensing Cam-era as well as an 8MP Telephoto Camera and a 3D Depth Sensing Camera.

Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G also sports the AI Private View fea-

ture that enables the phone to identify the user’s face and au-tomatically hide content when extra faces are detected.

Users will also be given an

identity verifi cation in case of any changes, as well as a dual-biometric authentication com-prising 3D Face Unlock and In-screen Fingerprint.

The Mate30 Pro 5G has a curved 6.53in OLED screen, a 4,500mAh battery that sup-ports supercharging and a board memory of 8GB RAM and 256GB, in addition to dual-SIM support.

Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G is available now at select Vodafone stores in two variants — Vegan Leather Orange and Emerald Green.

It is priced at QR3,899 and comes with a limited launch off er — Huawei SuperCharge wireless car charger worth QR299.

The new Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G does not pre-install Google Mobile Services, and users will be able to download and enjoy the applications from the Hua-wei AppGallery pre-installed in the device.

Huawei Mate30 Pro 5G.

Ashghal opens fourth underpass at Mesaimeer Interchange

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) yesterday an-nounced the opening of

a new underpass at Mesaimeer Interchange.

The 500m-long underpass, opened to traffi c two months ahead of schedule, will ease ve-hicular fl ow from E-Ring Road towards Doha Expressway.

The new underpass can ac-commodate more than 3,000 cars per hour and it’s the fourth out of nine underpasses being constructed at the interchange, Ashghal has said in a statement.

While announcing the open-ing, Ashghal’s Ahmad Ali al-Emadi said the new underpass marks the fourth big achieve-ment at the Mesaimeer Inter-change.

He added that almost 80% of construction works have been completed at the interchange.

“The new underpass connects traffi c from E-Ring Road towards Doha Expressway, providing free-fl owing traffi c for road us-ers coming from Al Thumama and Old Airport towards Doha Expressway without using the existing traffi c diversion,” he ex-plained.

The Mesaimeer Interchange is the fi rst of its kind in Qatar, con-sisting of three levels with nine underpasses that facilitate free traffi c fl ow.

The 6.1km-long interchange consists of three- to four-lane carriageways to accommodate around 20,000 cars per hour in both directions.The new underpass can accommodate more than 3,000 cars per hour.

QATAR/REGION/ARAB WORLD

Gulf TimesTuesday, February 18, 202010

Qatar, UN sign pact to enhance role of parliaments in countering terrorismQNANew York

The State of Qatar, rep-resented in the Shura Council, signed yesterday

a memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) with the United Na-tions, represented in the Offi ce of Counter-Terrorism, aiming at providing a framework for co-operation to enhance the role of parliaments in countering ter-rorism and the conditions re-lated to this phenomenon.

It would facilitate co-oper-ation between the two sides in areas of mutual interest.

The MoU, signed at the UN headquarters in New York, states that the Shura Council and the UN enter into direct arrange-ments to establish the Offi ce of the UN Counter-Terrorism Programme, which will be con-cerned with the parliamentary participation in preventing and combating terrorism.

The office’s headquarters will be in Qatar and its activi-ties will cover the parliaments of world countries.

The MoU was signed by HE the Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdul-lah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud and Under Secretary-General of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, in the presence of President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Barron, a number of members of the Shura Council,

HE the Permanent Representa-tive of Qatar to the UN in New York ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, and a number of UN officials.

Following the signing of the MoU, the HE al-Mahmoud un-derlined the role of the Qatar in countering terrorism, not-ing that the establishment of the UN office in Doha affirms the confidence of the interna-

tional community in the efforts exerted by Qatar under the leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to counter terror-ism and address its roots and causes.

The Speaker of the Shura Council highlighted the es-sential role of parliaments in preventing and combating ter-rorism in light of their basic

functions in enacting legisla-tion, setting policies, allocat-ing budgets, monitoring gov-ernment actions, and ensuring the implementation of interna-tional pledges related to terror-ism.

The Doha-based Office of the UN Counter-Terrorism Programme will provide tech-nical assistance and training to world parliaments in order to

build capacity of parliamentar-ians to better understand and respond to terrorism-related issues, support the imple-mentation of major initiatives within the framework of the joint United Nations and In-ter-Parliamentary Union pro-gramme on the role of parlia-ments in countering terrorism and violent extremism leading to terrorism, and to promote

a balanced and integrated im-plementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and related Security Council resolutions.

The Speaker of the Shura Council said that the two sides agreed to start immediately the necessary arrangements to establish the office in Doha as soon as possible.

For his part, Voronkov praised

the Speaker of the Shura Council for his personal and strong com-mitment to strengthening the co-operation with the UN Offi ce of Counter-Terrorism.

He said that the partnership will give the collective eff orts of the United Nations and parlia-ments a new impetus to promote better contributions of parlia-mentarians to the international eff orts to combat terrorism.

The MoU signed at the UN headquarters in New York, states that the Shura Council and the UN enter into direct arrangements to establish the off ice of the UN Counter-Terrorism Programme in Doha.

Unicef picks Qatar Charity as partner for relief interventionsQNADoha

United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has cho-sen Qatar Charity as its

partner in implementing urgent relief interventions in Punjab province in Pakistan, under the agreement of co-operation and partnership in cases of emer-gencies signed between the two sides recently.

Under the agreement, Qatar Charity will implement relief interventions within 24 hours of the approval of Unicef to declare a state of emergency in any Pun-jab district.

The total cost of the agree-ment is more than $1mn, and it extends for four years, from December 2019 to December 2023.

Unicef carries out a compre-hensive evaluation before its

chooses its partner organisa-tions. It evaluated Qatar Char-ity in 2016 and ranked it among the organisations that meet the partnership requirements.

The agreement strengthens leadership position of Qatar Charity in the humanitarian sector at the international lev-el. The agreement also stresses the importance of the role car-ried out by Qatar Charity in Pakistan, in terms of reducing disaster risks and responding to emergencies.

The two sides stressed the importance of the agreement, and agreed to continue meet-ing to implement joint projects in several other fields.

Qatar Charity continues to implement several development projects in the Punjab province in the framework of its partner-ship with the Unicef, including water, sanitation and hygiene projects in Shorkot.

Oryx GTL marks National Sport DayOryx GTL celebrated Na-

tional Sport Day with its employees and their

families through activities held in co-operation with Al Kharaitiyat Sports

Club, Doha Cycling Center and Fitness First.

The initiative was aimed at spreading awareness of the im-portance of sport among diff er-ent age groups in Qatari society, thus helping attendees main-tain a healthy lifestyle, accord-ing to a press statement.

The list of activities included full body workouts, cycling, a football championship, volley-ball and table tennis.

Many activities witnessed stiff but enjoyable competition between the participants, in an atmosphere marked by fun and excitement among the compa-ny’s employees, the statement noted.

“Oryx GTL is keen to organ-ise a number of sports activities for children with the aim of ed-ucating young people about the importance of sport and its role in building a healthy and ac-

tive generation,” the statement added. A number of executive management members partici-

pated in the initiative to show their support for the signifi cant role played by sport in enhanc-

ing community development and improving individual perform-ance and productivity, as well as

the role of exercise in increasing physical fi tness and good health in general.

Various sporting activities were held on the occasion.

Al Khor Family Park received a good number of visitors within the first two days of its reopening, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment said yesterday. The park received around 4,000 visitors during this period, with 838 of them taking the train ride. The revamped park was opened to the public on Sunday.

Al Khor Family Park draws crowdsEU agrees naval mission to stop Libya arms fl owAFP Brussels

EU foreign ministers agreed yesterday to a naval op-eration to enforce an arms

embargo on war-torn Libya, overcoming objections from countries who feared it may en-courage new migrant fl ows.

The mission will be author-ised to intervene to stop arms shipments, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said, insist-ing the vessels would not be “having a promenade” in the Mediterranean.

The EU hopes to have the op-eration, focused on the eastern part of the Libyan coast, up and running by the end of March, Borrell said, though many de-tails — including the rules of engagement for naval units — are yet to be worked out.

The confl ict in the oil-rich but turbulent North African state was on the agenda for EU ministers meeting in Brussels, but Borrell had played down hopes of an agreement over objections from Austria and Hungary.

Making the arms embargo work is seen as crucial to sta-bilising the Libyan confl ict, where the UN-recognised Tripoli government is under attack from the forces of mili-tary strongman Khalifa Haftar, who controls much of the country’s south and east.

Military commanders will propose many of the opera-tional details, including the number of ships and the ex-act geographical scope, for EU foreign ministers to ap-prove at their next meeting on March 23. The EU hopes the new mission — which replaces Operation Sophia, set up in 2015 to fi ght people smuggling across the Mediterranean at the height of Europe’s migrant cri-sis — will be up and running by the end of March.

Austria had led opposition to reviving Operation Sophia with ships to enforce the embargo, fearing it could reactivate a rescue fl eet that would end up ferrying migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.

Hungary, whose right-wing populist government has tak-en a tough anti-immigration

stance, is understood to have supported Austria’s objections.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and his Aus-trian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg insisted the new mission was quite diff erent from Sophia. “There is a basic consensus that we now want a military operation and not a humanitarian mission,” Schal-lenberg said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said there had been a long discussion about wheth-er a naval element was needed but fi nally it was agreed it was “necessary to get a complete picture”. “But it will be only in the eastern Mediterranean, where the weapons routes run,” Maas said, not near the current central Mediterranean migra-tion routes.

Crucial to winning over sceptics like Austria was a provision that if the ships are deemed to be creating a “pull factor” — encouraging mi-grants to take to the sea in the hopes of being rescued and taken to Europe — the mari-time part of the operation will be halted.

Lebanon’s PM Diab hosts Iranian offi cialReuters Beirut

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who is get-ting the cold shoulder

from regional states, yesterday

met Iran’s parliament Speaker, the fi rst senior foreign offi cial to visit since Diab’s government took offi ce.

The heavily armed Hezbollah backed Diab’s cabinet after eff orts failed to strike a deal with Saad al-Hariri, a traditional Western

ally who stayed out of the new government. The economic crisis came to a head last year as slow-ing capital infl ows led to a liquid-ity crunch and protests erupted against the ruling elite.

Banks are curbing access to cash, the Lebanese pound has

slumped and infl ation has spiked. Foreign donors have said they will only help after Lebanon enacts reforms. However, analysts say Hezbollah’s role in forming the government, which took offi ce last month, could impede secur-ing Western and regional aid.

ARAB WORLD/AFRICA11Gulf Times


900,000 displaced by fi ghting in Syria since December: UNAFP/Reuters United Nations

A Russian-backed regime off ensive in northwest Syria has displaced

900,000 people since the start of December, and babies are dy-ing of cold because aid camps are full, the UN said yesterday.

That fi gure is 100,000 more than the United Nations had previously recorded.

“The crisis in northwest Syria has reached a horrifying new level,” said Mark Lowcock, the UN head of humanitarian aff airs and emergency relief.

He said the displaced were overwhelmingly women and children who are “traumatised and forced to sleep outside in freezing temperatures because camps are full.

Mothers burn plastic to keep children warm. Babies and small children are dying be-cause of the cold.”

The Idlib region, including parts of neighbouring Aleppo province, is home to some 3mn people, half of them already displaced from other parts of the country.

The off ensive that began late last year has caused the biggest single displacement of people since the confl ict began in 2011.

Lowcock warned yesterday that the violence in the north-west was “indiscriminate.”

“Health facilities, schools, residential areas, mosques and markets have been hit.

Schools are suspended, many health facilities have closed.

There is a serious risk of dis-ease outbreaks.

Basic infrastructure is falling

apart,” he said in a statement.“We are now receiving re-

ports that settlements for dis-placed people are being hit, re-sulting in deaths, injuries and further displacement.”

He said that a massive re-lief operation underway from the Turkish border is has been “overwhelmed.

The equipment and facilities being used by aid workers are being damaged.

Humanitarian workers them-selves are being displaced and killed.”

US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for Russia to end its support for the Syrian regime’s “atrocities” in the Idlib region, the White House said.

FULL CONTROL The Syrian army said yes-

terday it had taken full control of dozens of towns in Aleppo’s northwestern countryside

and it would press on with its campaign to wipe out mili-tant groups “wherever they are found”. The advances were made after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces drove insurgents from the M5 highway linking Aleppo to Damascus, reopening the fastest route between Syria’s two biggest cities for the fi rst time in years in a big strategic gain for Assad.

Assad said his forces’ rapid

recent gains presaged the even-tual defeat of the nine-year in-surgency that sought to oust him from power.

But in an appearance tel-evised by state media, he also cautioned that the confl ict was not yet over.

“We know this liberation does not mean the end of the war or the crushing of all plots or the end of terror or the surrender of the enemy, but it defi nitely rubs

their noses in the dirt,” Assad said. “This is a prelude to their (opposition forces’) fi nal defeat, sooner or later.”

Backed by heavy Russian air strikes and aided by militias, government forces have inten-sifi ed since the start of the year their campaign to recapture the Aleppo countryside and parts of neighbouring Idlib province in the far northwest of Syria where anti-Assad insurgents hold their last strongholds.

Russian and government air strikes yesterday hit Darat Izza, near the Turkish border about 30km north of Aleppo city, wounding several civilians and forcing two hospitals to close, according to hospital staff .

Witnesses also reported air strikes in southern areas of Idlib province in what the opposition said was a “scorched earth poli-cy” that has left dozens of towns and villages in ruins.

The advances sent hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians fl eeing towards the border with Turkey in the biggest single dis-placement of the nine-year-old war.

Turkey and Russia began a new round of talks in Moscow yesterday after several demands by Ankara that Assad’s forces should back down and a cease-fi re be put in place.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that militant attacks on Russian bases and Syrian positions have continued and “it is not possible to leave this unanswered”.

“Troops from Russia and Turkey on the ground in Syria, in Idlib, are in constant con-tact with each other, looking at changes in the conditions.

Soldiers, rebels hastily gather in South Sudan ReutersGorom

Former South Sudanese rebels in T-shirts and san-dals marched alongside

government forces in a display meant to reassure international monitors that progress is being made on tasks related to form-ing a long-delayed unity gov-ernment.

But the casual nature of the forces gathering at a camp near the capital Juba yesterday showed how the former warring sides were struggling to meet a Saturday deadline for that goal.

President Salva Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel leader Riek Machar have repeat-edly pushed back the deadline for forming a unity government, the main plank of the 2018 peace agreement that ended a fi ve-year-old war.

In November, they bought more time and pledged to form it by Feb 22. Machar ar-rived in Juba from the Suda-nese capital Khartoum yester-day and he and Kiir are due to meet today.

But in a sign preparations were not complete, more than 500 men loyal to Machar arrived at the camp on Sunday to join what is to be a 3,000-strong protection force meant to be operational by Saturday.

The VIP force will guard Kiir, Machar and other senior offi -cials in the future government.

It is intended to prevent the scenario that triggered vio-lence in Juba in 2013 and 2016 — fi ghting between the close protection forces of Kiir and Machar.

“It’s still greatly uncertain if a new government will be formed by the deadline.

The parties will not fi nish

all the agreed tasks by then, so they will have to sit and agree the path forward”, said Alan Boswell, a senior analyst with

the Brussels-based Interna-tional Crisis Group.

Both sides blame the other for not meeting the deal’s mile-

stones, especially the integra-tion of their forces. Analysts say another obstacle is that Kiir does not wish to share his

nation’s oil revenues with his longtime foe. “They are lagging behind,” said one of the inter-national visitors to the camp, Norway’s ambassador to South Sudan Siv Kaspersen.

Foreign governments backing the deal did not expect the force to be fully trained by Saturday, she said, but added it was criti-cal that forces receive equip-ment by Friday.

The hasty combining of forc-es comes after Kiir on Saturday acceded to a rebel demand by cutting the number of states in the country.

South Sudan declared inde-pendence from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in 2013 when Kiir sacked his then deputy Machar.

The confl ict killed an esti-mated 400,000 people, trig-gered a famine and created Afri-ca’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

De Klerk retracts apartheid remarks after backlashAFP Johannesburg

South Africa’s last apart-heid-era president, F W De Klerk, yesterday apolo-

gised and withdrew a contro-versial statement that apartheid was not a crime against human-ity, following an outcry.

De Klerk, 83, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Man-dela in 1993 for dismantling White-minority rule and usher-ing in democracy.

But he sparked fury among many South Africans when he publicly denied that apartheid was a crime against humanity, despite the UN declaring it such.

“The idea that apartheid was a crime against humanity was and remains an agitprop project initiated by the Soviets and their ANC/SACP allies to stigmatise white South Africans by associ-ating them with genuine crimes against humanity,” he said.

The ANC is the African Na-tional Congress, which under Mandela fought an underground battle against apartheid before coming to power in South Af-rica’s fi rst democratic elections, in 1994.

The SACP is its erstwhile ally, the South African Communist Party.

The remarks were made on February 2 in an interview with the national broadcaster SABC, and reiterated in a statement by De Klerk’s foundation.

Anger reached a crescendo on Thursday when President Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to delay his annual State of the Union address after lawmakers from the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) staged a rowdy protest in parliament, demand-ing De Klerk be ejected from the legislature.

“It is an insult to those who died and (who were) tortured...under the instructions of De Klerk to have De Klerk sitting in a democratic parliament,” it said.

Other critics were the SA Council of Churches, other op-position parties and civil soci-ety groups, while the ruling ANC eventually slammed De Klerk’s remarks as “blatant whitewash”. A foundation set up by the re-vered anti-apartheid fi ghter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said it was “irresponsible” to de-bate the “degree of awfulness of apartheid” and called for him to retract his statement.

ICC trial in The Hague one option for Bashir: minister

Sudan could send former

leader Omar al-Bashir and other

suspects to The Hague for trial

before the International Criminal

Court, but any decision would

need approval from military

and civilian rulers, the informa-

tion minister said yesterday.

Sudanese authorities said last

week that they had agreed for

Bashir and three other suspects

to appear before the ICC, without

giving details of how this could

happen. “One possibility is that

the ICC will come here so they

will be appearing before the ICC

in Khartoum, or there will be a

hybrid court maybe, or maybe

they are going to transfer them

to The Hague...That will be dis-

cussed with the ICC,” Information

Minister Faisal Salih told Reuters.

Sudan’s off er to co-operate with

the ICC marks an important step

in rebuilding relations with the

international community after

three decades during which the

country was isolated and sanc-

tioned for its links with militants

and the violence in Darfur.

Bashir, who has been jailed in

Khartoum since he was toppled

after mass protests last year, is

wanted by the ICC for alleged

war crimes, genocide and crimes

against humanity in Sudan’s trou-

bled Darfur region. Bashir’s lawyer

has said the ex-president refused

any dealings with the ICC because

it was a “political court”. The diff er-

ent options for the ICC proceed-

ings would be discussed with an

ICC delegation that was expected

to visit Khartoum, Salih said.

Internally displaced children warm themselves around a fire in Qatmah village, West of Azaz, yesterday.

24 killed in Burkina Faso church attack: governorAFP Ouagadougou

Gunmen have killed 24 people and wounded 18 in an attack on a

Protestant church in a village in northern Burkina Faso, of-fi cials said yesterday.

In a separate incident, fi ve Burkinabe soldiers in the troubled region were killed by a roadside bomb, security sources said.

A group of “armed ter-rorists” raided the village of Pansi, in Yagha province “and attacked the peaceful local population after having identifi ed them and separated them from non-residents”, the governor, Colonel Salfo Kabore, said in a statement sent to AFP.

The assault occurred on Sunday during a weekly serv-ice at a Protestant church, se-curity offi cials said.

“The provisional toll is 24 killed, including the pas-tor...18 wounded and indi-

viduals who were kidnapped,” Kabore said. A resident of the nearby town of Sebba said Pansi villagers had fl ed there for safety.

Christians and churches in northern provinces have become frequent targets by armed militants.

On February 10, suspect-ed militants in Sebba seized seven people at the home of a pastor.

Five bodies were found three days later, including the pastor, according to the local governor.

One of the poorest coun-tries in the world, Burkina Faso is on the front line of a militant insurgency advanc-ing in the Sahel.

Since 2015, around 750 peo-ple have been killed in Burkina and around 600,000 people have fl ed their homes.

Also in the north of the country, fi ve soldiers were killed on Sunday when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near Banh, in Loroum province, security

sources said. “Three of the fi ve were killed instantly and the two others died later from serious injuries,” one of the sources said.

Thirty people in Burkina Faso have died in four attacks by highway bombs since the start of the year, according to an AFP toll.

They include seven school-children in the northwest of the country who were among 14 killed aboard a bus that had taken a road that had been banned because of the secu-rity risk.

According to UN fi gures, militant attacks in Burkina and neighbouring Mali and Niger left nearly 4,000 people dead last year.

Their armed forces are weak, struggling with poor equipment and lack of train-ing and funding.

In Niger, a policeman was killed on Sunday at a police post near Ayorou, in the west-ern region of Tillaberi, in the second attack in the area in a week, a security offi cial said.

Danish troops to return to air base in Iraq on March 1ReutersCopenhagen

Denmark said yesterday it will send its military personnel back to the

Iraqi Al-Asad base on March 1 to restart training of Iraqi security forces in the fight against Islamic State.

The Nordic Nato-member last month removed most of the 130 military personnel it had stationed at the Al-Asad base due to security concerns in the wake of an Iranian mis-sile attack on the air base on

Jan 8. Denmark’s forces at the base are part of the interna-tional coalition fighting Is-lamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The Danish defence minis-try said yesterday the security situation was now no diff er-ent than before the attack, which was why it had assessed it would be safe for the Danish soldiers to return to the base.

“In the fight against ter-ror, it is important that Iraq does not again become a hot-bed of terrorists’ recruitment and training,” said Defence Minister Trine Bramsen in a statement.

Gospel singer found dead

DPAKigali

Rwandan gospel singer Kiz-ito Mihigo, who was found guilty in 2015 of plotting

to kill President Paul Kagame, has been found dead in a police cell, authorities confi rmed yes-terday.

A police statement said Mi-higo, 38, had committed suicide. Mihigo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for off ences including the formation of a criminal gang, conspiracy to murder, and con-spiracy against the established government or the president, ac-cording to Human Rights Watch.

In 2018, he was granted a presi-dential pardon by Kagame. Last week, however, he was rearrested when crossing the border into Bu-rundi, with police saying it was a breach of the conditions of his pardon.

According to the police, Mihigo had been allowed to meet family members and his lawyer.

South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), and The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) soldiers gather at the training site for the joint force to protect VIPs in Gorom outside Juba, South Sudan, yesterday.

At least 23 killed in Niger aid stampede

At least 23 people died in a stampede as Nigerian refugees rushed to get food and clothes in a community centre just over the border in Niger yesterday, off icials said. The refugees were queuing to get supplies in the town of Diff a, Nigerian regional off icials told Reuters. The area is home to almost 250,000 displaced people, according to the United Nations.

AMERICAS


Trudeau cancels diplomatic trip to Caribbean over Canada gas pipeline protestsAFPMontreal

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has can-celled an offi cial visit to

the Caribbean at the last minute due to indigenous protests that have paralysed railways in east-ern Canada for more than a week, his offi ce said on Sunday.

Following a tour of Africa and Europe, which wrapped up on Friday, Trudeau was scheduled to visit Barbados yesterday and to-day as part of Canada’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.

“The Prime Minister will no longer attend the CARICOM In-tersessional Heads of Govern-ment Meeting this week,” his offi ce said in a statement. For-eign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will go in his place.

Trudeau called for a crisis meeting yesterday morning with the ministers of fi nance, public safety, transport and indigenous

services, among others, to try and fi nd a peaceful solution.

The prime minister has been criticised by the opposition for his repeated absences while pro-testers have blocked roads, rails and ports across the country and occupied government offi ces in a bid to “shut down Canada.”

Canadian National Railway (CN), the third largest railroad in North America, moves an es-timated C$250bn (US$190bn) worth of goods across Canada each year.

The demonstrators support certain leaders of the indigenous Wet’suwet’en First Nations peo-

ple, who are fi ghting construc-tion of the Coastal GasLink nat-ural gas pipeline through their traditional lands in westernmost Canada.

The pipeline is part of a C$40bn natural gas export project that also includes a new Pacifi c coast terminal.

Indigenous Services Minis-ter Marc Miller visited one of the roadblocks in Ontario on Saturday. He spent all day talking with pro-testers and Mohawk First Nation offi cials. He said the discussions had produced modest progress, but no blockades were lifted.

Several authority fi gures, in-cluding Conservative opposi-tion leader Andrew Scheer, have called for law enforcement to intervene and lift the blockades, but Trudeau’s administration has rejected this option.

The ongoing protests are an important test for Trudeau’s ef-forts for reconciliation with First Nations people, which he has said is a priority.

A man with a sign stands near the site of a rail stoppage on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, as part of a protest against British Columbia’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, in Tyendinaga, Ontario.

New limits on trains carrying dangerous goods

Canada on Sunday announced

new measures to lower speed

limits in trains hauling dangerous

goods like diesel, gasoline and

chemicals to reduce the risk of

derailment, eff ective immediately.

Trains carrying 20 or more

cars with dangerous goods will be

limited to 35mph (56kph) in metro-

politan areas and to 40mph outside

metropolitan areas with no track

signals, Federal Transport Minister

Marc Garneau said in a statement.

Last week, Garneau announced

a temporary speed limit after a

Canadian Pacific Railway train

hauling oil derailed and caught on

fire near Guernsey, Saskatchewan,

the second such derailment in the

area in two months.

For higher risk trains, including

those with any combination of 80

or more cars containing danger-

ous goods, the speed limit will

be 30mph for urban areas and

25mph for areas with no track

signals, the statement added.

Canada’s biggest railway, Cana-

dian National Railway Co, said in a

separate statement it supported

the decision taken by Canada’s

transport minister.

Americans rescued from corona-hit cruise ship arrive homeAFPMiami

More than 300 Ameri-cans rescued from a cruise ship quarantined

off Japan because of the new coronavirus arrived back in the US yesterday to begin a further two-week period of medical se-clusion, as the epidemic claimed more lives in China to push the death toll above 1,700.

The COVID-19 virus has in-fected more than 70,500 people in China, and hundreds more elsewhere, sparking panic buy-ing, economic jitters and the cancellation of high-profi le sporting and cultural events.

Outside China, the biggest cluster of infections is from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan’s Yokohama, where an ad-ditional 99 cases were revealed yesterday.

As criticism grows of Japan’s handling of the ship crisis, gov-ernments are scrambling to re-patriate their citizens.

Canada, Australia, Italy, and

Hong Kong were poised to follow Washington in removing nation-als from the vessel.

The fi rst US fl ight touched down at Travis Air Force Base in California shortly before mid-night on Sunday, followed by the second early yesterday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

Before they boarded the fl ights, US offi cials were in-formed that 14 of the passengers tested days earlier had received positive results.

Authorities allowed them to fl y but isolated them from other passengers in a “special contain-ment area”.

Those on board will undergo a further two-week quarantine period on US soil.

“Every precaution to ensure proper isolation and commu-nity protection measures are being taken, driven by the most up-to-date risk assessments by US health authorities,” said a joint statement from the State Department and the Depart-ment of Health and Human Services.

“We continue all possible ef-forts to protect the welfare of US citizens.”

“I am happy and ready to go,” American traveller Sarah Arana told AFP before leaving the ship.

“We need a proper quarantine. This was not it.”

The latest country to order its citizens evacuated from the ship is Australia, whose more than 200 citizens still on board are expected to be evacuated tomor-row.

Some Americans on the Dia-mond Princess declined their government’s off er.

“My health is fi ne. And my two-week quarantine is almost over,” tweeted Matt Smith, ques-tioning why he should want to leave.

Forty other US passengers tested positive for the virus and were taken to hospitals in Japan, said Anthony Fauci, a senior of-fi cial at the National Institutes for Health.

It was not immediately clear if they were already counted among the confi rmed cases of infection on the ship.

Trump kicks off Daytona 500 race with loop in the ‘Beast’ReutersDaytona

President Donald Trump on Sunday took a loop around the Daytona 500 racetrack in his presidential limou-

sine, drawing cheers from fans at Nascar’s most prestigious race not long after com-pleting a dramatic fl yby on Air Force One.

Ramping up his nationwide re-election eff ort after his acquittal in the US Senate impeachment trial, Trump served as grand marshal at the annual National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing event, which takes place in the electoral swing state of Florida.

Trump, a former reality television star with a taste for showmanship, landed on Air Force One near the Daytona International Speedway. He was then driven in the presi-

dential limousine known as “The Beast” di-rectly onto the racetrack along with the rest of his motorcade.

After meeting people at the speedway and delivering brief remarks, Trump kicked off the race by announcing to the drivers: “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

Engines revved, and Trump got back into the limo with his wife, Melania, for a lap around the track, with the race cars follow-ing behind.

Some fans chanted “Four more years” while Trump was there.

Trump’s campaign planned to take ad-vantage of the president’s appearance by fl ying an aerial banner near the speedway and running a television ad during the Fox broadcast. Shortly after starting, the race was postponed until yesterday because of rainy weather.

Previous presidents who attended Nascar events at the speedway include Ronald Rea-gan, George H W Bush and George W Bush.

Florida is one of a handful of US states that swing between Democrats and Repub-licans in presidential elections.

Trump won the state, where he has golf courses and a home that is now considered his primary residence, in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Trump plans a fundraising swing and po-litical rallies in Western states this week.

He spent the weekend at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, before going to Daytona.

He later made it back to Washington for the wedding of top aide and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller to Vice President Mike Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Wald-man, at the Trump International Hotel near the White House.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump ride in the Presidential limousine as they take a pace lap ahead of the start of the Daytona 500 Nascar race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach on Sunday.

Mississippi readies for fl ood as Pearl hits 37-year highwater mark ReutersJackson

Mississippi on Sunday urged thousands of people in the Pearl River fl ood plain to

evacuate as the river reached its high-est level in 37 years near the state capital and was not expected to recede for days.

Governor Tate Reeves had de-clared a state of emergency on Sat-urday as managers of the Ross Bar-nett Reservoir just upstream from the state capital of Jackson warned they had to start releasing more wa-ter into the Pearl River because it had reached capacity.

The city of Jackson had issued a seven-day mandatory evacuation order for low-lying areas on Friday.

“It will be days before we are out of the woods and the waters start to recede,” Reeves told a news confer-ence. “This is a precarious situation that could turn at any moment.”

The river had swollen due to re-cent storms and has continued to rise even with dry weekend weather.

Offi cials held off draining the reservoir in order to allow people

downstream to prepare. Now they will attempt to release as much water from the reservoir as possible before forecast rains begin anew today and tomorrow, Reeves said.

Some 2,000 buildings including 1,000 homes were likely to be aff ect-ed by the third highest level for the Pearl River on record, Reeves said.

Barriers were set up to keep major roads from fl ooding and offi cials dis-tributed 146,000 sandbags for peo-ple to protect their homes.

The state of emergency author-ises the state the deploy resources for storm response.

Emergency responders conducted four water rescues on Saturday but none overnight as people heeded of-fi cial warnings, Reeves said.

The river rose to 11m on Sunday and forecasters said it could reach 12m in the coming days, the highest level since reaching 13m in 1983. The record level of 13.2m in 1979 forced more than 17,000 people in the Jack-son area from their homes and placed much of the capital city under water, according to the Pearl River Vision Foundation, a private, nonprofi t arm of the local fl ood control district.

Water from the flooded Pearl River swirls around a house and parked cars in the river flood plain in Jackson, Mississippi, in this image obtained yesterday from social media.

Snake gathering prompts closure of Florida park

A city in Florida closed off part of a park

last week after residents spotted dozens

of snakes which had apparently gathered

for their annual coupling.

“It appears they have congregated for

mating,” the City of Lakeland Parks and

Recreation Department said on Face-

book with a photo of one of the serpents

seen in the park by Lake Hollingsworth,

southwest of Orlando.

Off icials had on Thursday sealed off

an area where the reptiles had gathered

for their pre-Valentine’s Day tryst with

caution tape.

“This is for the protection of the public

and the snakes,” the department said.

“They are non-venomous and gener-

ally not aggressive as long as people

do not disturb them. Once the mating is

over they should go their separate ways.”

The slippery customers were identi-

fied as harmless native Florida water

snakes.

“They are generally found resting

in tree limbs over water or basking on

shorelines.

They are an important part of the

ecosystem and should not be disturbed,”

the department said.

Resident Tim Newberry, whose

Facebook photos of snakes in the park

alerted city authorities, told 10News he

saw about 25 that day.

ASIA13Gulf Times


Scramble to track cruise ship passengers over virus fearsA scramble intensifi ed yes-

terday to trace passengers from a US cruise liner al-

lowed to disembark in Cambodia despite at least one traveller later being diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus.

There are fears scores of cruise goers have been scat-tered across the world without full health checks - as Cam-bodia yesterday afternoon treated a few dozen of the pas-sengers to bus tours around the capital Phnom Penh.

Passenger Christina Kerby, whose drole tweets as the West-erdam was bounced across ports drew widespread attention, ad-mitted she “was surprised” to be allowed on a tour of the Cambo-dian capital before being given the complete all-clear from the virus.

“I have young kids back home (in the US) and wouldn’t want to risk infecting them or anyone around me if I am carrying the virus,” she said.

The Westerdam was at sea for two weeks during which it was

barred from Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thai-land over fears it could be carry-ing the virus, which originated in China and has killed nearly 1,800 people.

On Thursday, Cambodia, a staunch ally of Beijing, allowed the ship to dock at Sihanoukville.

But three days later one West-erdam passenger, an 83-year-old American, was stopped on arrival in Malaysia and later di-agnosed with the coronavirus.

Yesterday, Malaysia said over 130 other passengers who also took the fl ight with the sick American women left for the US, Europe and Australia and Hong Kong.

Thailand, a fl ight hub already used by scores of the Westerdam passengers, yesterday mulled a ban on transit by cruise goers, as the region played catch up to the risks posed by the boat.

“Passengers on ship are at risk and travel by airplane will cause risk to other passengers,” Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said yesterday.

Cruise operator Holland America is working with na-tional health authorities “to investigate and follow up with

individuals who may have come in contact with the guest”, chief medical offi cer Dr Grant Tarling said late Sunday.

Yet health risks appeared sec-ondary to authorities in Cam-bodia, a poor country with a threadbare medical system.

Yesterday afternoon, passen-gers waiting for onward fl ights were gifted the bus tour of Phnom Penh.

Photos in government-aligned media showed them smiling, giving thumbs ups and none with a mask on.

“There were tonnes of media lining the street” Kerby said, adding she “was not expecting such a showing”.

Another 233 passengers and 747 crew remain on the Wester-dam, which is still docked at Si-hanoukville.

Authorities have been al-lowing them to leave the vessel in groups based on their fl ight bookings but those on board told AFP they are now not permitted to disembark.

A Sihanoukville spokesman said health samples are being collected from all onboard the Westerdam “in order to be clear”, adding that passengers will not

AFPPhnom Penh

go off -ship until the tests are completed.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet Southeast Asian counterparts in late Laos

this week to discuss the unprec-edented health crisis, which has battered manufacturing and tourism across the region and led to an array of travel restrictions.

In China more than 70,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus while about 780 infections have been reported in other countries.

Passengers, who disembark from the Westerdam cruise ship in Sihanoukville, sitting on a bus for a visit of the capital Phnom Penh yesterday.

Thailand reports new coronavirus caseThailand said yesterday it had recorded one new case of the coronavirus and was increasing screening of visitors from Singapore and Japan entering the country in response to the widening outbreak.The new case, a 60-year-old Chinese woman whose family members earlier contracted the virus, takes the total number of cases in Thailand to 35 since January, Sukhum Kanchanapimai, the health ministry’s permanent secretary told a news conference.“This is from an old case of a Chinese family of nine, all of them have now been infected,” he said.Fifteen of the infected people in Thailand have recovered and returned home, while 20 are still being treated in hospital.Some 1,770 people in China have died from the virus, along with a handful in other countries and territories but Thailand has not recorded any fatalities so far.Thai health authorities said they will expand virus screening to cover travellers from Japan and Singapore, in addition to those from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.Japan and Singapore have two of the highest numbers of reported cases outside China.Anyone from those places who displays coronavirus symptoms will be quarantined at a government hospital.“Travellers from Japan and Singapore that developed a fever or respiratory symptoms within 14 days of entering the country will be treated like travellers from China,” Sukhum said. (Reuters)

Nepal seeks review of 1947 deal with UK on Gurkha soldiers

Nepal has offi cially proposed a review of the 1947 agree-

ment among Nepal, India and Britain over the recruitment and deployment of Gurkha soldiers and their perks and facilities.

The Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs on February 12 sent a let-ter to London, seeking a review of the tripartite agreement, reported The Kathmandu Post.

Nepal’s offi cial request for a review comes months after Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli fi rst raised the issue during his meeting in June last year with the then British prime minis-ter Theresa May in London.

After the meeting between Oli and May, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali had said that Nepal had proposed a review of the agreement, to which May had responded “positive-ly”. A joint statement issued after the meeting, however, stopped short of mentioning that Oli had raised the issue. Upon his arrival at Tribhu-van International Airport, Oli himself revealed that the UK did not accept the proposal.

The recent letter to the British government is a result of continued pressure on the Nepal government by Gurkha veterans, who have served a March 15 deadline to form a joint talks team between the two nations as per the recom-mendations made by a joint technical team in 2018 on

resolving the long-pending issue.

A senior offi cial at the Prime Minister’s Offi ce said that the letter was sent to the UK for their consideration as per the policy of the present govern-ment to scrap or review all dis-criminatory treaties and pacts signed with other countries and make them applicable to the changed context.

“We are following up on the matter in line with discus-sions held between the prime ministers of Nepal and Brit-ain last year,” the offi cial told the Post on condition of ano-nymity. “We are equally con-cerned about the grievances of Gurkha veterans.”

The tripartite pact among Nepal, India and Britain as-sures that all perks, remuner-ation, facilities and pension schemes for Nepalis serving in the British and Indian armies will be equal to those of British and Indian nationals. Howev-er, Gurkha veterans have long alleged that Britain has put in place discriminatory policies in remuneration.

After the independence of India, the recruitment of Gur-kha soldiers was organised by way of the 1947 tripartite agreement among Nepal, In-dia and Britain. The agree-ment also paved the way for the distribution between India and Britain of the then Gur-kha brigades serving in British India. Thus, the 2nd, 6th, 7th and 10th Gurkha Rifl es be-came part of the British Army after India gained Independ-ence while the rest were re-tained by Independent India.

IANSKathmandu

Lanka calls on US to review barring army chief

Sri Lanka has said the US should reconsider its deci-sion to refuse entry to the

island’s army chief over his al-leged war crimes and warned that relations were being “un-necessarily complicated”.

The US on Friday said the travel ban for Lieutenant General Shaven-dra Silva and his family was imposed over what it called credible evidence of human rights violations in the 2009 fi nale to the civil war.

US ambassador Alaina Teplitz was summoned by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Dinesh Guna-wardena on Sunday, offi cials said.

He said Colombo was “disap-pointed” with the decision, the fi rst against a Sri Lankan military offi cer.

“The minister said this action unnecessarily complicates the US-Sri Lanka relationship,” his offi ce said in a statement shortly after the closed-door meeting.

Silva was unfairly barred on unverifi ed allegations, Guna-wardena added.

The foreign ministry quoted Teplitz as saying the US would continue its cooperation with Sri Lanka, including in defence, de-spite the ban on Silva.

Silva’s appointment in August sparked international outrage be-cause of his links to alleged war crimes, and the UN briefl y suspend-ed the recruitment of Sri Lankan troops for peacekeeping duties.

Silva headed the army’s 58th division in the fi nal months of the battle against Tamil Tiger rebels. The military claimed victory in May 2009, but it also sparked al-legations that up to 40,000 civil-ians were killed by troops.

AFPColombo

Indonesia to probe radiation found at housing complex

Indonesia’s nuclear authori-ties said yesterday they would investigate the radio-

active contamination of a patch of land in a housing complex outside Jakarta, and called for calm.

The Nuclear Energy Regula-tory Agency (Bapeten) issued a statement on Friday telling resi-dents to stay away from a piece of land in Serpong, 43km south of Jakarta, because it was con-taminated. Local media said the land is next to a volleyball court.

Bapeten said it had discov-ered an elevated level of ra-dioactive isotope Caesium-137 during a routine test for radio-activity in the area at the end

of last month, causing alarm among some locals and raising questions about its source.

Radiation levels were at 680 microSv per hour when fi rst discovered last month, com-pared with a normal threshold of 0.03 microSv per hour, Bap-eten spokesman Abdul Qohhar yesterday.

“We’ll investigate the source of the contamination,” Qohhar said, adding that residents need not panic about current levels.

External exposure to large amounts of Caesium-137 can cause burns, radiation sickness and even death in some cases. It also increases the risk of cancer.

“Right now... we’re focused on the clean-up so that when residents do their activities they’re not exposed to extraor-dinary radiation,” Qohhar said,

adding that nine residents would be examined for any ra-dioactive exposure.

Qohhar said that radiation levels had fallen over the week-end because of Bapeten’s de-contamination process which included removing soil and cutting down plants.

Bapeten said it has been reg-ularly checking radioactivity levels in the area since 2013.

Djarot Sulistio Wisnubroto, a researcher at the National Nu-clear Energy Agency (Batan), said the impact should not be harmful to residents and levels had now fallen to 20-30 micro-Sv per hour.

Indonesia does not have an active nuclear power industry, but a reactor used for research is about 3km (1.9 miles) away from the site of the contamination.

Agus Budhie Wijatna, a re-searcher in nuclear science at the University of Gadjah Mada, said he thought it was unlikely contamination originated from the nearby reactor, since it was regularly inspected.

“Police should immediately investigate the party involved with the waste,” he said, add-ing it was possible it originated from industrial use. Green-peace Indonesia’s climate and energy campaigner, Hindun Mulaika, urged nuclear agen-cies to conduct thorough inves-tigations.

“This incident is a bad prec-edent for the government and Indonesia Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan), which failed to maintain public safety from the dangers of radioactive waste,” she said.

ReutersJakarta

The National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (Batan) and Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) decontaminate the soil that is exposed to radioactive waste in the residential area of Batan Indah, Tangerang, near Jakarta, yesterday.

Bangladesh likely to drop Rohingya relocation plan

Bangladesh has announced that it may drop its previ-ous plans to move 100,000

Rohingya refugees to a remote is-land located in the Bay of Bengal.

“Our main target is to repat-riate Rohingya to their original homeland, Myanmar’s Rakhine

state,” Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen on Sun-day told reporters in the capi-tal Dhaka following a meeting with the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, Yeni Safak newspaper reported.

Lauding recent development projects on the islet of Bhasan Char and plans to turn it into a business hub and “new Bangla-desh” Momen said Bangladeshi

citizens left homeless due to river erosion or other reasons should instead be settled there.

Bhasan Char, a remote is-let where the Bangladesh an-nounced in 2018 it would reset-tle 100,000 Rohingya refugees who fl ed persecution in Myan-mar, is measured 15,000 acres at low tide and 10,000 acres at high tide, according to the govern-ment sources.

The scheme had elicited concerns that the site was less than ideal. Dhaka since said it undertook projects to improve living conditions on the islet.

“We all agree not to send Ro-hingya there. Now we place our recommendations to the gov-ernment for fi nal decision on alternative use of Bhasan Char project,” said Momen.

IANSDhaka

Nepal ex-speaker cleared of charges

Nepal’s former parliament Speaker, who quit his job over attempted assault

allegations, was yesterday found not guilty after the alleged vic-tim retracted her testimony.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a senior member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party and former Maoist rebel, has been in detention since October af-ter a female employee in the as-sembly accused him of trying to physical assault her.

“He has been acquitted from the district court today,” Kath-mandu district court spokes-man Ananda Shrestha said.

Mahara’s lawyer Murahari Sapkota said he was set free by the court as the allegations were not established as the vic-tim “accepted” the ex-speak-er’s statements declining his involvement.

In a video interview published in September on an online news portal, the woman said Mahara was drunk when he arrived at her home and assaulted her.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, with-

draw her allegations a few days later, following alleged threats and pressure, media reports said then.

She eventually submitted a formal complaint and a gov-ernment lawyer fi led the case with the court.

Investigators collected evi-dence allegedly belonging to Mahara, from her home.

Mahara denied the allega-tions but stepped down as speaker.

A former rebel leader dur-ing Nepal’s decade-long Maoist insurgency, Mahara previously served as deputy prime minister and held several ministerial posts.

AFPKathmandu


ASIA/AUSTRALASIA

Rise in coronavirus infections prompts Japan to limit public crowdsReutersTokyo

Japan cancelled the emperor’s birthday celebrations next week as it moved yesterday to

limit crowds to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and said it will close the Tokyo Marathon to all but elite professional runners.

The widening fallout of the virus outbreak, which began in China in December and has al-ready killed over 1,700 people, is damaging output and tourism in Japan, which is preparing to host the Olympic Games from

late July. A further spread of the virus in Japan, which last week reported its fi rst fatality from the disease, could undermine growth and potentially push the country into recession, analysts say.

Citing “circumstances”, the Imperial Household Agency said it would cancel Emperor Naruhito’s public birthday ad-dress on February 23, his fi rst since his coronation last year. The event regularly attracts tens of thousands of people to the inner grounds of the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo.

The last time the emperor’s birthday celebration was can-

celled was 1996, amid a hostage crisis at the Japanese embassy in Peru.

Organisers of the Tokyo Mara-thon, one of the world’s biggest such races, said the 38,000 gen-eral participants who signed up for the March 1 race will not be allowed to compete.

“We cannot continue to launch the event within the scale we originally anticipated,” the or-ganisers said in a statement. In-stead, the event will be limited to top-level competitors. A total of 176 elite runners and 30 elite wheelchair athletes are registered for the race. Shares of some of the

marathon’s sponsors fell. Seiko Holdings, the maker of watches and clocks, slid 3.5%, as did shoe and sportswear maker ASICS Corp. The broader Tokyo market was little changed.

The marathon is not the only international sporting event in Japan the virus has aff ected: The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 postponed a qualifying basketball game be-tween Japan and China, originally scheduled to be held near Tokyo this week. An additional 99 peo-ple on a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama were confi rmed yesterday to be in-fected with the virus, a day after

70 were confi rmed to have the virus, bringing the total number of infections aboard the Diamond Princess to 454.

The United States evacuated hundreds of citizens from the ship early yesterday, with other countries preparing to do the same for their citizens on the luxury cruise, which was struck by the virus earlier this month. A Japanese health ministry staff member helping to test passen-gers has also contracted the vi-rus, the ministry said. Infections have also been spreading on land, where 59 cases have been con-fi rmed including one woman who

died last week. A hospital outside Tokyo said it would stop admit-ting new patients after one of its staff tested positive for the virus.

The hospital in Sagamihara, 50km west of Tokyo, said a nurse was infected after treating an in-patient who died of the disease this month. Yesterday morning, a fi fth government-chartered fl ight carrying 65 Japanese ar-rived in Tokyo from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the out-break, bringing the total number repatriated to Japan from the city to 763, NHK said. Companies are stepping up measures to prevent the spread of the virus as a grow-

ing number of cases have been re-ported in people who have neither visited China nor have had direct contact with people arriving from there.

Nippon Telegraph and Tel-ephone Corp, one of Japan’s big-gest companies, said it was urging its roughly 200,000 group-wide employees to work from home or stagger their commutes.

On Friday, NTT Data Corp said a contract employee who worked at one of its buildings was con-fi rmed as infected. The company has ordered 14 workers who were in close contact with that person to work at home, it said.

Xi recounts early role in coronavirus battleReutersBeijing

In an internal speech at a meeting of the core Chinese leadership (on Feb 3), Presi-

dent Xi Jinping spelled out his plan to contain the coronavirus crisis. Analysts said the internal speech was unusual for being released to the public, relatively soon after it was given.

It was also noteworthy for putting Xi at the centre of events earlier than had been previously revealed, analysts said, as he re-ferred to directions he’d given at a Jan 7 meeting of the same body.

Xi was mostly absent from Chinese state media coverage of the crisis in its early days. His fi rst public comments on the outbreak were on Jan 20.

In the speech, Xi admitted there were “shortcomings” in China’s emergency response systems and said local offi cials would be punished if they failed to “take responsibility” or im-plement directives. He also con-demned the “major hidden dan-ger” of eating wild animals.

Below are excerpts from the speech as translated by Reuters.

Politburo meeting“On Jan 7, I made requests for

the prevention and control work of the coronavirus outbreak when I chaired the politburo meeting. On Jan 20, I specifi cally issued an instruction on the preven-tion and control of the epidemic, stating that we must attach great importance to the epidemic and do our best to prevent it.

“I also required party com-mittees, governments and rel-evant departments at all levels to put the safety and health of the people fi rst, to implement eff ec-tive measures to resolutely curb the disease from spreading. “On Jan 22, given the outbreak was spreading rapidly and the control and prevention work faced severe challenges, I explicitly requested Hubei province to implement comprehensive and strict con-trols over people outfl ows.

“On Jan 25, I once again pre-sided over the politburo meeting to re-examine, re-arrange, and re-mobilise the epidemic pre-vention and control work, espe-

cially the treatment of patients. I also decided to set up the central leadership team for epidemic re-sponse.

“From Jan 25 until now, pre-vention and control of the epi-demic have been my main issues. I kept tracking the spread of the disease and the progress of the prevention and control work, and constantly made oral and written instructions. “Overall, the party central committee’s judgement on the epidemic situation is cor-rect, the related work arrange-ments are timely and measures we take are eff ective.”

“First, strengthen unifi ed leadership over epidemic pre-vention and control.

“When adopting prevention and control measures, all regions and departments should not only consider the demands of preven-tion and control in the region, but also consider the impact on key areas and prevention and con-trol work nationwide. All regions and departments must dare to criticise and order to rectify im-mediately those who fail to im-plement the party central com-mittee’s decisions. For those who do not obey unifi ed command and dispatch, with severe selfi sh departmentalism, and those who dare not shoulder responsibility and neglect duty, in addition to investigating their responsibili-ties, the party and government leaders must be held accountable for serious circumstances. Those who fail to perform their duties shall be punished according to discipline and law.

“Second, strengthen epidemic prevention and control in key ar-eas.

“Third, increase the rate of treatment and cure, and reduce the rate of infection and mortal-ity.

“Fourth, ramp up eff orts in re-search and development.”

“First, spare no eff ort to main-tain normal economic and social order. While preventing and con-trolling the epidemic, we must keep producing and live in a sta-ble and orderly manner and avoid secondary ‘disasters’ caused by public panic due to the increase of confi rmed cases and the tight supply of living materials.

“Second, maintain the order of medical treatment. We should

ramp up security at key areas in-cluding designated hospitals and quarantine venues by deploying special forces and strengthening organisation and leadership.

“Third, maintain social secu-rity and stability.

“We must maintain high-pressure momentum, severely crack down on illegal and crimi-nal activities that disrupt social order, such as price-gouging, hoarding, and looting by taking advantage of the epidemic. We also must resolutely crack down on the production and sale of counterfeit drugs, medical appa-ratus and sanitary materials.

“Some people have anxiety and fear. Propaganda work must be strengthened. We must coor-dinate online and offl ine, domes-tic and international, small and major news, to warm and unite people’s hearts, to better main-tain social stability.

“We should actively respond to international concerns, tell the story of China’s fi ght against the epidemic well, to show the spirit of the Chinese people’s unity and mutual help.

Diplomatic work“We should do diplomatic

work related to the prevention

and control of the epidemic in a comprehensive way, continue to maintain communication and co-ordination with the WHO (World Health Organisation) and relevant countries and regions to promote sharing of information and coordination on epidemic prevention and control strate-gies, and strive to win the un-derstanding and support of the international community.”

“We still need to stick to the economic and social develop-

ment goals and tasks for this year.“Areas with a severe epidem-

ic situation must concentrate their eff orts on prevention and control, while other areas must coordinate disease prevention work and promoting reform and development tasks, especially key tasks related to achieving the victory of building a well-off society and fi ghting against pov-erty. Those areas must not have any attitudes of ‘slowing down the pace a bit’ and ‘wait and see’.

“The impact from the epi-demic on economic operations will continue. It will mainly hit industrial companies, especially small and medium-sized en-terprises, worsening their op-erational diffi culties and slow-ing down the construction of investment projects. It will also constrain domestic and foreign business and economic activi-ties, increasing employment sta-bilisation pressure.

“First, actively promote the resumption of production. Un-der the premise of doing preven-tion and control work well, we must fully support and organise the production resumption of various enterprises to maintain the overall stability of the indus-trial chain. “We need to increase fi nancial support, ensure the rea-sonable funding needs of com-panies, and prevent the capital chain from breaking. We should especially off er preferential poli-cies on loan interest rates and terms for companies producing essential materials and fi rms that have been hit hard by the epi-demic in the short term.

“We should strengthen the support worker supply for enter-prises for resuming production, organise migrant workers in key industries to return to work in a timely manner, make good use of policies to help fi rms stabilise their employment, and solve the problems of recruitment diffi cul-ties and expensive labour costs, and stabilise employment to the full extent.

Golden season“Second, promote the con-

struction of major projects. The key is to choose the right project and ensure that the investment is targeted and eff ective. We must seize the golden season of con-struction after the Spring Fes-tival, increase the start of new investment projects and actively promote projects under con-struction. “We must adjust and optimise the investment struc-ture, prioritise and allocate the central government investment budget to projects in urgent need

in the prevention and treatment of epidemics, including emer-gency medical treatment and quarantine facilities in epidemic-stricken areas.”

“This epidemic is a huge test of China’s governance and capabili-ties.

“This epidemic revealed that we still have shortcomings in urban public environmental gov-ernance. We must thoroughly investigate and rectify them to make up for public health short-comings.”

“We have long realised that the consumption of wild animals is very risky, but the wild animal industry is still huge and poses a major hidden danger to public health and safety. We can’t just sit by!”

“Finally, I would like to em-phasise that in the epidemic prevention and control work, formalism and bureaucracy have appeared in some places. Some grassroots cadres have reported that the most typical problem of bureaucracy in fi ghting the epidemic is submitting various forms.

“Those forms are almost the same. But there is no document or department to help the towns and villages to solve the prob-lem of even a mask and a bottle of disinfectant, which they need most. Some cadres do not go into the front line of epidemic com-bat, ignorant of the basic ques-tions related to the prevention work.

“The more enemies approach the city, the more unifi ed the command should be. We must let grassroots cadres devote more energy to the front line of epidemic control, instead of add-ing burdens and burning their energy with bureaucracy. “We must examine cadres in the bat-tles. Those cadres who do not act or act indiscriminately, those who do not engage in work or in-depth work and those who do not or cannot perform well must be held accountable in a timely manner. And those who have se-rious problems must be removed from their posts.”

President Xi Jinping

Medical staff members talking at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. The death toll from the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,770 in China after 105 more people died, the National Health Commission said yesterday.

Medical personnel arrive in transport aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Hubei province, China.

Armed gang steals toilet rolls in panic-buying Hong KongAFPHong Kong

A gang of knife-wielding men jumped a delivery driver in Hong Kong and

stole hundreds of toilet rolls, police said yesterday, in a city wracked by shortages caused by coronavirus panic-buying. Toilet rolls have become hot property in the densely packed business hub, despite government assurances that supplies remain unaff ected by the virus outbreak.

Supermarkets have found themselves unable to restock quickly enough, leading to some-times lengthy queues and shelves wiped clean within moments of opening. There has also been a run on staples such as rice and

pasta, as well as hand sanitiser and other cleaning items. Police said a truck driver was held up early yesterday by three men out-side a supermarket in Mong Kok, a working-class district with a history of “triad” organised crime gangs.

“A delivery man was threat-ened by three knife-wielding men who took toilet paper worth more than HK$1,000 ($130),” a police spokesman told AFP.

A police source told AFP the missing rolls were later recovered and two suspects were arrested on scene although it was not clear if they were directly involved in the armed robbery. Footage from Now TV showed police investigators standing around multiple crates of toilet roll outside a Wellcome supermarket. One of the crates

was only half stacked. Hong Kongers reacted with a mixture of baffl ement and merriment to the heist. One woman passing by the scene of the crime who was inter-viewed by local TV station iCable quipped: “I’d steal face masks, but not toilet roll.” The city, which has 58 confi rmed coronavirus cases, is currently experiencing a genuine shortage of face masks.

The hysteria that has swept through Hong Kong since the coronavirus outbreak exploded on mainland China is partly fuelled by the city’s tragic recent history of confronting a deadly disease.

In 2003, some 299 Hong Kongers died of Severe Acute Res-piratory Syndrome (Sars), an out-break that began on the mainland but was initially covered up by Beijing - action that left a lasting

legacy of distrust towards the au-thorities on public health issues.

The new coronavirus outbreak also comes at a time when the city’s pro-Beijing leadership has historic low approval ratings after refusing to bow to months of an-gry pro-democracy protests last year. Authorities have blamed on-line rumours for the panic-buy-ing and say supplies of food and household goods remain stable.

But the panic-buying has itself created shortages in one of the world’s most densely populated cities where supermarkets and pharmacies have limited fl oor space.

Photos posted online have shown some people proudly stuffi ng their cramped city apart-ments with packets of hoarded toilet rolls.

Pneumonia forces Elton John to cut short NZ concert

Elton John has tearfully apologised to fans after cutting short a concert in New Zealand due to illness, with the British superstar saying he was suff ering from “walking pneumonia”. The 72-year-old, who is in the midst of a gruelling world tour, struggled to sing while seated at a grand piano during a performance at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday night. After being checked by a medic with a stethoscope, he battled on through two more songs before calling a halt to proceedings barely halfway through his setlist. “I can’t sing, I’ve just completely lost my voice,” he told concert-goers in a croaky rasp. “I’ve got to go. I’m so sorry.” Elton John’s illness comes as health authorities worldwide are on high alert for signs of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 70,000 and killed 1,770 in mainland China. New Zealand has no reported cases of the virus.

Backpackers and visitors to help with bushfi re recoveryDPACanberra

The Australian govern-ment said it will relax restrictions for back-

packers and other visitors on working holiday visas in a bid to help regional communi-ties recover from devastating bushfi res.

Such foreign visitors will help rebuild homes and farms as well as clear land and repair roads as they live and work in bush fi re-ravaged areas, act-ing minister for immigration Alan Tudge said in a statement yesterday.

Tudge said the new rules for working holiday visas, ef-fective immediately, would

be welcome news to hard-hit farmers and regional busi-nesses.

They are also set to likely boost the local economies. The visitors will “come as hol-iday makers but will leave as life long friends,” Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud said.

Under the changes to visa rules, visitors will be able to live and work in such areas with the same employer for up to a year instead of six months.

The government’s defi ni-tion of specifi ed work, which holders of working holiday visas have to complete if they wish to stay in Australia for longer, will also be modifi ed to include construction work in disaster zones.

BRITAIN/IRELAND15Gulf Times


Ship washes ashoreafter a year at seaGuardian News and MediaDublin

Abandoned by its crew, the cargo vessel made a lonely odyssey across the

Atlantic, a ghost ship seemingly destined never to make port.

The 77-metre MV Alta drift-ed for over a year, skirting the Americas, Africa and Europe, rusting and derelict yet reso-lutely afl oat. Its voyage came to an end during Storm Dennis on Sunday when it ran aground near Ballycotton, a fi shing vil-lage in County Cork, Ireland, overlooking the Celtic Sea. The Alta wedged itself on to rocks, apparently intact.

Yesterday experts from the local council, the Irish coast-guard and Ireland’s commis-sioner of wrecks were discuss-ing what to do with a visitor that was drawing lots of attention.

“Cork county council is ask-ing members of the public to stay away from the wreck location as it is situated on a dangerous and inaccessible stretch of coastline and is in an unstable condition,” the council said in a statement.

A coastguard team has as-sessed the Alta from a helicop-ter. With Storm Dennis having passed, a separate team was due to inspect the ship from the rocks. It is not believed to pose an immediate oil spill risk.

Built in 1976, the Alta was fl agged in Tanzania, changed owner in 2017 and was sail-ing from Greece to Haiti in September 2018 when it be-came disabled about 2,220km south-east of Bermuda.

Unable to make repairs, the 10-strong crew was rescued by the US coastguard cutter Con-fi dence, which brought the crew members to Puerto Rico. According to gCaptain, a mar-itime industry news site, the US coastguard contacted the ship’s owner to arrange a com-mercial tug to tow it to shore.

It was reportedly towed to Guyana only to be hijacked, with its subsequent fate unclear until August 2019 when a Royal Navy ice patrol ship, HMS Protec-tor, encountered it in the mid-Atlantic, apparently unmanned.

It is thought to have later drifted up from Africa and past Spain to Ireland.

Flack’s death sparks call for tougher media rulesReutersLondon

The death of one of Britain’s most famous TV stars, Love Island host Caro-

line Flack, has sparked a debate over the behaviour of the tabloid press and whether social media companies need to do more to remove toxic content.

The 40-year-old Flack, the former presenter of the hugely popular reality show Love Island and a winner of Britain’s version of Dancing with the Stars, was found dead in her London fl at on Saturday after she committed suicide.

Friends of the presenter have accused the tabloid press and social media trolls of hounding her after she was charged with assaulting her boyfriend in De-cember, a charge she denied.

Prime Minister Boris John-son’s spokesman called her death a tragedy and said social media companies needed to do more to make sure that robust processes were in place to re-

move unacceptable content.“Flack was relentlessly trolled

online, but this trolling was amplifi ed and legitimised by the mainstream press and they should not be allowed to dodge their share of the blame,” said Tracy Brabin, the opposition Labour Party’s culture spokes-woman.

Britain is once again discuss-ing the role of its tabloid press, just weeks after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan moved to Canada, partly to avoid what they said was misleading and unfair reporting.

While tabloids such as Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail play a key role in launching the careers of many reality TV stars, they also tend to track their every move and rela-tionship, and recycle some of the most toxic online criticism to generate new headlines.

A public inquiry was held into the media in 2011 after Mur-doch’s now defunct News of the World newspaper admitted hacking into the voicemails of thousands of public fi gures to get

scoops, sparking a major scandal that shook the press, police and politicians at the time.

Just hours before ITV’s Love Island was due to return yester-day after two days off air, hun-dreds of thousands of people had signed online petitions calling for another inquiry and tougher rules around the way the press can cover celebrities.

One petition called for a ban on the use of anonymous quotes, the invasion of privacy, the pub-lication of private information and medical records.

The daughter of a Coca-Cola sales representative, Flack began as a pizza waitress but became one of the most prominent fe-male leaders of Britain’s boom in reality television.

After a period as an actress in the early 2000s, she became a presenter of shows such as The X Factor and won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.

On Love Island she presented a dating show that brings together young single men and women who have to couple up in a sun-shine-soaked villa to win fame.

‘My world fell apart’ after UKcitizenship loss,claims BegumGuardian News and MediaLondon

Shamima Begum has said her “whole world fell apart” when she discov-

ered that she had been stripped of her British citizenship, in her fi rst interview since losing her appeal against the decision.

Pictured in a tent where she now lives in a refugee camp in northeast Syria, the 20-year-old said that the decision made by former home secretary Sajid Javid was not wholly unexpected but she had hoped for more leni-ent treatment.

“I kind of saw it coming be-cause I did do my research just before I came out. I thought I would be a bit diff erent because I had not done anything wrong before I came to ISIS,” Begum said in an interview with US broadcaster ABC News.

“When my citizenship got re-jected, I felt like my whole world fell apart right in front of me. You know, especially the way I was told. I wasn’t even told by a government offi cial. I had to be told by journalists”.

Earlier this month, Begum lost an appeal in a British court against having her Brit-ish citizenship revoked last year by then home secretary Sajid Javid. Although Begum had only lived in the UK be-fore fleeing to Syria, the court held that she was eligible to apply for Bangladeshi citizen-ship, the birth country of her parents.

The broadcaster found Begum at al-Roj camp in north east Syr-ia, where she was living in a rela-tively spacious heated tent with Kimberly Polman, a US-Cana-dian in her 40s who is waiting for a decision as to whether she will be allowed to return to either country.

Begum came back to promi-nence a year ago, after she was

discovered at another refugee camp by a journalist from the Times, four years after she had originally fl ed. At the time she was heavily pregnant with her third child, but the infant, Jar-rah, died shortly after he was born.

The interviewing journalist said she seemed almost unre-pentant in that and some of her other early interviews. At the time, she said “I don’t regret coming here.”

But Begum – who had come to the camp from the fi nal ISIS re-doubt in Baghuz – said that she felt threatened at the al-Hawl camp when she fi rst arrived a year ago.

“I had just come into the camp. I had just given birth. I was hearing all these sto-ries about women threatening other women, you know, for speaking to men or doing in-terviews or anything like that. I just was afraid for my life,” she told ABC.

Control of the vast 65,000-plus al-Hawl camp has been described as being in the hands of “radical women” – the last supporters of ISIS. Since then Begum was moved to the smaller al-Roj, partly for her own safety.

Begum is one of around 4,000 foreign women from over 50 countries living in refugee camps in north east Syria. The authorities have said they will start putting on trial some of the 1,000 male foreign fi ghters held separately in prisons, but it is unclear what will happen to the women.

British security sources have argued that Begum represents a security risk, and they have said she was a member of al-Hisba, ISIS’s morality police, during which time she carried a Kalash-nikov and had a reputation for strictness. Begum also allegedly “stitched suicide bombers into explosive vests”.

Floodwater rises up the front of buildings alongside the River Ouse in central York after the river burst its banks yesterday.

Storm Dennis wreakshavoc across BritainAFPLondon

Britain yesterday battled fallout from Storm Den-nis as hundreds of fl ood

warnings remained in place af-ter the second severe storm in seven days battered the country over the weekend.

The latest hazardous weather brought winds of more than 140kms an hour and more than a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours in some places, leading offi cials to issue rare “danger to life” warnings.

“This is not yet over,” warned James Bevan, chief executive of

the Environment Agency, which is responsible for fl ood protec-tion.

“We still have many fl ood warnings in force and we may still see signifi cant fl ooding in the middle of this week from larger rivers,” he told BBC radio.

Bevan said more than 400 homes in England had been fl ooded while at least 1,000 agency staff were working “to protect and support those communities which have been hit”.

More than 600 warnings and alerts — a record number — were issued on Sunday, extend-ing from the River Tweed on the border of England and Scotland,

to Cornwall in the southwest.After a day of torrential

rain, major flooding incidents were declared in south Wales and parts of west central Eng-land.

Some three “severe” warn-ings — denoting lives could be endangered by the floodwaters — remained active yesterday on two rivers in the English region.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue service on Sunday airlifted to hospital one man pulled from the River Teme, who was in a stable condition yesterday.

Emergency responders also restarted the search for a miss-

ing woman swept away near the fl ood-prone town of Tenbury. “Sadly, however, due to the circumstances of the length of time in the water and other con-ditions we believe that this will now be a recovery rather than rescue operation,” said chief superintendent Tom Harding, from West Mercia Police.

Two rivers in south Wales burst their banks Sunday, prompting rescue workers to launch operations to evacuate hundreds of people and their pets trapped in their homes.

Police there said a man in his 60s died after entering the River Tawe, north of the Welsh city of Swansea, but later clarifi ed that

the death was not “linked to the adverse weather”.

In northern England, the de-fence ministry deployed troops in West Yorkshire, hit by fl ood-ing from last weekend’s Storm Ciara. There were fears rivers there could burst their banks.

Newly appointed Environ-ment Secretary George Eustice said the government had done “everything that we can do with a signifi cant sum of money” to combat increased fl ooding.

“We’ll never be able to pro-tect every single household just because of the nature of climate change and the fact that these weather events are becoming more extreme.”

Extinction Rebellion climate protesters dug up the lawn of Trinity College, Cambridge, yesterday as part of a week-long series of demonstrations in Britain’s ancient university town. The activists dug up the grass in front of the 16th-century “Great Gate”, digging channels in the turf with shovels and pitchforks and planting Extinction Rebellion flags. Trinity had ramped up security measures, closing the college, library and chapel to tourists for the week, so the protesters were not able to access the central “Great Court.”

College lawn damaged

Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition unthinkable: Sinn Fein leaderGuardian News and MediaDublin

Nine days after Sinn Fein won the popular vote in Ireland’s general elec-

tion, party leaders have inched towards talks to see whether anybody can cobble together a coalition in the hung parlia-ment. If not, another election looms.

Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn

Fein’s leader, reiterated her de-sire to lead smaller parties in a left-wing government. “We have been elected in very large num-bers to be in government, even to lead the next government,” she said during a visit to a Dublin community centre.

She rejected suggestions of a pact between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, centrist rivals that have dominated Irish politics for a century. “The idea of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael being returned

again for fi ve years is unthink-able,” she said.

However, Sinn Fein, with 37 seats, has admitted an alli-ance with small left-wing par-ties could not muster a major-ity in the 160-seat Dail Eireann, the lower house of parliament, leaving it reliant on a deal with Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, or Micheal Martin, the leader of Fianna Fail, to get across the line.

The new parliament is due to

meet on Thursday and will vote on nominees for a taoiseach. If no one wins a majority, as ex-pected, Varadkar’s administra-tion will continue as caretaker until the stalemate is broken.

Parliamentary arithmetic and political disagreements entan-gle the emergence of a coalition with more than 80 seats. In re-cent days Varadkar and Martin have restated their refusal to enter into government with Sinn Fein, citing its IRA links and eco-

nomic policies, fuelling specula-tion of an unprecedented coali-tion between Fine Gael, with 35 seats, and Fianna Fail, with 38. They have similar policies but antipathy dating from Ireland’s 1922-23 civil war.

Varadkar, speaking before a Fine Gael parliamentary meet-ing on Monday, said his party was preparing for opposition. In offi ce for almost a decade, it felt voters’ wrath over housing and healthcare problems. Many of its

surviving MPs think opposition is the place to make a fresh start and to avert annihilation at the next election.

Varadkar said Sinn Fein should try to form a government with left-wing parties and independ-ents, or Fianna Fail should try to rule with the Greens, Labour and the Social Democrats. Fine Gael would enter government only as a last resort “if we are needed”, he said.

Shane Ross, an independent

politician who served as trans-port minister under Varadkar, predicted an eventual coalition of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens.

“People don’t say what they mean in these situations; what they do is position themselves for a final result,” he told News-talk radio. Varadkar and Martin would edge towards agree-ment, he said. “They’ll both say they’re doing it incredibly reluctantly.”

EUROPE


Members of a far-right German group who were arrested last week

are believed to have been plot-ting “shocking” large-scale at-tacks on Muslims, similar to the ones carried out in New Zealand last year, the government said yesterday.

Offi cials said that investiga-tions into 12 men detained in police raids across Germany on Friday had indicated they planned major attacks, while German media reported that the group aimed to launch mass-casualty assaults on six mosques during prayers.

“It’s shocking what has been revealed here, that there are cells here that appear to have become radicalised in such a short space of time,” interior ministry spokesman Bjoern Gruenewaelder told reporters at a Berlin press conference.

“It is the task of the state, and of course of this government, to protect free practice of religion in this country, with no refer-ence to what religion it might

be,” Chancellor Angela Mer-kel’s spokesman Steff en Seibert said. “Anyone practising their religion in Germany within our legal order should be able to do so without being endangered or threatened”.

According to media reports, the group planned to use semi-automatic weapons to copy last March’s attacks in Christchurch in New Zealand, in which 51 peo-ple were killed at two mosques.

Friday’s raids also led to

the confi scation of a number of weapons, including axes, swords, guns and handmade grenades, reports said.

Public broadcaster ARD re-ported that the police had an informant in the group – a 13th member who was not arrested on Friday.

Citing sources among inves-tigators, ARD claimed that the informant had begun providing police with detailed information about the group in October, but

had recently broken off contact.Fearing for the safety of their

source and that an attack might be imminent, investigators de-cided to carry out the raids at short notice, the report said.

The alleged leader of the group, which was known to the authorities and whose meet-ings and chat activity had been under observation, had detailed his plans at a meeting organised with his accomplices last week.

According to German daily

Bild, the leader was a 53-year-old from Augsburg named by in-vestigators as Werner S.

Of the 12 men who were ar-rested on Friday, four are be-lieved to have founded the group, while the rest had prom-ised to support them with mon-ey and weapons.

The suspects, all German citi-zens, included a police offi cer previously suspended over his links to the far-right, North-Rhine Westphalia state interior minister Herbert Reul said on Friday.

Bild claimed to have identifi ed him as Thorsten W, a 50-year-old mediaeval history enthusi-ast whose posts online included pictures of himself with a sword and shield and rants describing Germany as a “radical left dic-tatorship”.

Speaking to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, German In-terior Minister Horst Seehofer announced plans to tighten se-curity checks for civil servants.

He added that the latest ar-rests were “a great success”, but warned of the need “to act deci-sively and tirelessly on all levels against what is brewing in Ger-many”.

Meanwhile, German-Turk-ish Islamic organisation Dit-ib, which funds around 900 mosques in Germany, called for greater protections for Muslims in the country.

“We cannot stay silent in the face of hate and violence, nor can we relativise the danger coming from the right,” the or-ganisation said in a statement, adding that Muslims “no longer feel safe” in Germany.

German authorities have turned increased attention to the country’s underground far-right scene since the murder of conservative local politician Walter Luebcke last June.

In an October attack on a synagogue in eastern Halle, an assailant armed with home-made weapons killed two people at random on the street and in a Turkish restaurant after fail-ing to breach the temple’s solid wooden door.

Interior ministry spokesman Gruenewaelder said police have identifi ed around 50 extreme right adherents as “dangerous” individuals who could carry out a violent attack, compared with 660 Islamists and fewer than 10 far-left extremists.

German arrests reveal plot to attack mosquesAFPBerlin

Norway mosque shooter charged with murder, terrorism

A 22-year-old Norwegian accused of killing his step-

sister before opening fire in a mosque near Oslo

in August was charged with murder and terrorism

yesterday, prosecutors said.

Philip Manshaus was arrested after opening fire in

the Al-Noor mosque in the aff luent Oslo suburb of

Baerum on August 10 last year before he was over-

powered by a 65-year-old man.

Just three worshippers were in the mosque at the

time, and there were no serious injuries.

The body of his 17-year-old step-sister was later found

in their home.

Adopted by his father’s girlfriend, Johanne Zhangjia

Ihle-Hansen was killed with four bullets, police said.

Police have previously said they believed the motive

for the murder to be racism, saying that he killed her

because she was of Asian origin.

The charge sheet filed with the Asker and Baerum

district court yesterday contained two charges.

One was a charge of murder and the other a charge of

a “terrorist act” for trying to kill with the “intention of

creating severe fear in a population”.

The trial is expected to begin on May 7.

Manshaus’s lawyer, Unni Fries, said her client would

plead not guilty.

“My client pleads not guilty, though he admits to have

carried out the deeds,” she told AFP in an e-mail.

Manshaus has previously claimed it was a “kind of

self-defence”.

On September 9, at a court hearing to extend his de-

tention in custody, Manshaus raised his arm in a Nazi

salute to the assembled media.

Fries earlier told broadcaster NRK that the charges

did not come as a surprise.

Greece acted yesterday to placate locals incensed over government plans

to build new migrant detention centres on outlying islands, say-ing it was open to a compromise on their location.

The Athens government in-furiated residents of fi ve islands – all straddling a key route to Europe used by thousands of migrants – by announcing last week that it would expedite the construction of closed detention centres to replace open-access, severely overcrowded camps.

Local residents say they are concerned such an arrangement could become permanent.

Hundreds of islanders, an important demographic for the conservative New Democracy government, rallied in Athens last week to press calls for thou-sands of asylum-seekers now on the islands to be transferred to the Greek mainland.

The conservatives have tak-en a markedly tougher stance towards migration than their leftist predecessors, issuing a tender for the construction of a fl oating fence to deter would-be asylum-seekers arriving by sea and introducing faster asylum-processing procedures that

could increase deportations.Yesterday new Migration

Minister Notis Mitarachi said that local authorities had a week to propose alternative locations for the construction of the new detention centres.

“I’ll put the plan on hold until we discuss (it),” Mitarachi told regional governor Kostas Mout-zouris during a heated debate aired on Greek state television.

“Local authorities have one week to point out alternative lo-cations,” Mitarachi, who is from one of the aff ected islands, Chi-os, tweeted later.

Greece’s eastern Aegean is-lands have borne the brunt of a refugee and migrant infl ux that peaked in 2015-16 when more than 1mn people fl ed violence in the Middle East and beyond via Turkey, reaching Greece and then moving on to wealthier central and northern Europe, their preferred destinations.

But border closures imposed since then along the migrant corridor through the Balkans and central Europe north of Greece have left many thou-sands of later arrivals stuck on the Greek islands near Turkey, leading to acute overcrowding in camps, violent incidents and angry demonstrations by asylum seekers.

Angry locals created a mas-sive Greek fl ag overnight on the

island of Lesbos by painting stones blue and white and in-scribing “OXI” (Ochi) – Greek for “No” – with pebbles beneath it in protest at a detention centre planned at the location.

A deal that the European Un-ion brokered with Turkey greatly reduced the migrant infl ux from 2016 but there has been a resur-gence of arrivals in Greece since last September, with more than 74,000 registered last year, ac-cording to a UN tally.

Greek compromise off er on new island migrant centresReutersAthens

A pile of life jackets and a giant Greek flag made up of painted stones are in the spot where the government plans to build a new migrant detention centre, in the area of Karava on the island of Lesbos, Greece. Also pictured is the word ‘no’, similarly made up of painted stones.

Bulgarian police stop truck carrying migrants in refrigerated cargo

Bulgarian police stopped a truck carrying 15 migrants

from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in its refrigerated

trailer yesterday, and arrested the two Greek drivers.

The lorry, scheduled to continue to Hungary, had

arrived from Greece and was intercepted at Vidin, on

the border with Romania, the interior ministry in Sofia

said.

Despite several countries along the Balkan route clos-

ing their borders at the height of the migration crisis

four years ago, migrants continue to use this route to

try to reach wealthier European countries.

After more than 1mn migrants passed along the route

in just over 10 months in 2015-16, the borders were

shut to curb the flow of people fleeing conflict and

economic hardship and gaining access to EU states

without thorough checks.

Migrants frequently pay smugglers to transport them

across the countries and through the borders, often

risking their lives.

In August 2015, 71 people suff ocated in a lorry similar

to the one stopped in Bulgaria, as they were driven

through Hungary and into Austria.

The battle over the French government’s pension reform moved yesterday

from the streets to parliament, where opposition lawmakers have vowed to torpedo a plan that sparked weeks of strikes and pro-tests.

Unions are up in arms over President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to fuse France’s 42 retirement schemes into a single system, which they say will force millions to work longer.

Public transport workers walked off the job for a month and a half in December and Janu-ary in one of their biggest shows

of strength in decades, causing travel misery for millions, par-ticularly in the Paris area.

However, a fresh strike and protests yesterday caused only minor disruptions on the Paris metro, while regional trains ran as normal.

Opposition lawmakers are tak-ing up the fi ght with a legislative guerrilla campaign, introducing 41,000 amendments in a bid to keep the government from pass-ing the reform in two to three weeks as planned.

“We’re going to make life hard for them, that’s for sure,” Jean-Luc Melenchon of the France Un-bowed party told BFM television.

“Macron will never recover from this attempt to destroy pensions,” he said.

The government argues that the changes are necessary to make the system fairer for all, while also ending the deep defi -cits that have accumulated in recent years as more people live longer.

Tt will open talks today with unions on how to fi nance the system, but offi cials have warned that if no deal is reached, the re-tirement age will eff ectively be pushed pack by a few years from 62 currently.

The start of the debate comes as Macron’s centrist party reels from a sex scandal that toppled its candidate for mayor of Paris in next month’s municipal elec-tions, Benjamin Griveaux.

Griveaux, a close Macron ally and former government spokes-

man, pulled out of the running over a leaked video showing a man alleged to be the 42-year-old politician.

To replace him, the govern-ment chose Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, one of the most prominent defenders of the pen-sion reform, which will now be steered through parliament by her successor Olivier Veran.

“We have to fi x the problems of our system,” Veran told lawmak-ers, adding: “I’m 39 years old, and already I have contributed to four diff erent pension regimes.”

Macron’s centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party wants to get the bill through parliament before the municipal elections, which analysts say could be a crucial test for the party.

While it has a comfortable ma-jority in parliament, some LREM lawmakers have suggested the legislation may have to be forced through by executive decree if the opposition tries to hold it up indefi nitely.

The reforms sweep away doz-ens of separate pension schemes,

some dating back hundreds of years, that off er early retirement and other benefi ts to public-sector workers as well as lawyers, physiotherapists and even Paris Opera employees.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple, including large numbers of teachers and doctors, took part

in seven separate days of nation-wide protests in December and January.

The government argues that the French, who retire earlier on average than most Europeans, need to work for longer to keep the system afl oat, or else accept lower payouts.

French MPs launch debate of govt pensions overhaulAFPParis

Protesters hold placards reading ‘Margaret Macron, this time we will win’ under a photomontage of late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Macron as they demonstrate in front of Paris’s Louvre Museum yesterday as part of a multi-sector strike against the French government’s pensions overhaul.

Woman who fl ed COVID-19quarantine sent back to hospital

AFPSaint Petersburg

A Russian court has ordered a woman to be forcibly returned to coronavirus

quarantine in a Saint Petersburg hospital after she escaped and went home.

The Botkin hospital fi led a highly unusual request for a court order to hospitalise 33-year-old Alla Ilyina, who fl ed her isolation room, complaining of inedible food and a lack of ne-cessities such as shampoo later on social media.

The court ordered her “forced hospitalisation” and said it must be carried out immediately.

Court bailiff s escorted her to an ambulance after the hearing, local television showed.

Ilyina later posted a video from the clinic on her Instagram account.

“I’m going to honestly serve out my term,” she said, during a mock tour of her quarantine quarters.

Ilyina had visited the Chinese resort island of Hainan, return-ing by plane on February 1.

A few days after returning and being screened at the airport, she developed a sore throat.

Doctors diagnosed her with “acute virus illness” that they said does not rule out the COV-ID-19 virus.

She was placed in 14-day quarantine on February 6 but fl ed a day later, according to the local health watchdog.

Ilyina complained online that she was confi ned to the clinic against her will with bland food and no fresh air.

She said on Instagram that she short-circuited the electromag-netic lock on her door and left after doctors told her that her test came back clear.

The hospital’s chief doctor re-sponded by fi ling legal action for Ilyina’s return.

She has to stay in hospital un-til at least February 19 and must receive two negative test results before leaving.

Her lawyer Vitaly Cherkasov from the rights group Agora said she would appeal.

Ilyina told journalists that test results had taken a long time and complained she would be kept in hospital “for as long as they want”.

She has already been back in Russia longer than the presumed incubation period of the virus of 14 days.

Court offi cials did not wear face masks during the hearing, journalists reported.

Yesterday, the same hospital fi led legal action against another woman, 32-year-old Anna Ry-bakova, who fl ed quarantine af-ter Ilyina.

Two others reportedly also broke out of the hospital but lat-er returned.

Russia has reported two cases of coronavirus, both Chinese citizens who have since recov-ered.

INDIA17Gulf Times


Buffalo jockey turnsdown sprint trialAFPBengaluru

A buff alo jockey has refused to take part in a track and fi eld trial after his record-setting

performance in a traditional foot-race drew comparisons with Olym-pic sprint legend Usain Bolt.

Srinivas Gowda and his buff a-loes ran 142.5m in 13.62 seconds, setting a record in the annual race known as Kambala in Karnataka.

With a time that equates to run-ning 100m in 9.55 seconds, com-pared to the retired Bolt’s world record of 9.58sec, social media buzz erupted over the chiselled construction worker.

But with the Tokyo Olympics looming in July, Gowda politely declined an invitation from India’s sports minister to try out at the Sports Authority of India in Ben-galuru.

“I will not be attending tri-als at Sports Authority of India. I want to achieve more in Kambala,” Gowda, 28, said. “Kambala and track events are diff erent and those who have done well in one cannot replicate in the other.

“Many who have achieved in track events have tried Kambala and have not been successful. In Kambala we run on heels whereas in track it is on toes.”

Kambala is an annual race where racers splash 142m through paddy fi elds holding a rope attached to two buff aloes, who run ahead of them.

Many users have noted that the runners are pulled along by the buff aloes, who are lashed together.

“Never in my dream did I think that I would be so famous. The credit should go to my buff aloes,” said Gowda.

“I could achieve this only be-cause they co-operated with me.”

Nirbhaya convicts to hang on March 3IANSNew Delhi

A Delhi court yesterday or-dered that four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya

gang-rape and murder case be hanged “by the neck until they are dead” on March 3 at 6am after observing that deferring the execution any further would be sacrilegious to the victim’s rights.

“Article 21 merely guaran-tees an opportunity to the con-demned convicts to exercise their legal rights. However, whether to utilise this oppor-tunity is a matter of choice. The executions were deferred twice... deferring them any fur-ther would be sacrilegious to the rights of the victim for expedi-tious justice,” the court said.

Additional Sessions Judge

Dharmendra Rana was hearing a petition seeking a fresh date for the execution of the death war-rants.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in the national capi-tal in December 2012.

On January 31, a trial court had stayed “till further order” the execution of Mukesh Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Ku-mar Sharma and Akshay Kumar.

Of them, Gupta has not yet availed the remedy of either cur-ative petition or mercy plea.

“After a lapse of 33 months, Pawan has opted neither to fi le any curative or mercy petition,” the court said.

The judge said that either Gupta was satisfi ed with the Su-preme Court’s order, which had upheld his execution in 2017, or he was merely delaying the court proceedings.

Court ordersequal roles for women in the armyAgenciesNew Delhi

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that women could serve as army com-

manders, dismissing the govern-ment’s stance that male soldiers were not ready to accept orders from female offi cers as “disturb-ing”.

The top court also ordered the government to extend perma-nent service – which has only been applicable to men so far – to all women offi cers, signalling a move towards gender parity in the traditionally male bastion.

With this women will get the same opportunities and benefi ts as their male colleagues, includ-ing ranks, promotions and pen-sions, and be allowed to serve longer tenures.

Currently women are induct-ed through a Short Service Com-mission (SSC) that lets them work for up to 14 years, and only allowed Permanent Commission (PC) in the army’s legal and edu-cational wings.

“To cast aspersion on their abilities on the ground of gen-der is an aff ront not only to their dignity as women but to the dignity of the members of the Indian Army,” judges D Y Chan-drachud and Ajay Rastogi said in their ruling.

Last week the government op-posed women being appointed to top roles such as colonels and brigadiers, saying most sol-diers were men from rural back-grounds who were not “mentally schooled to accept women offi c-ers in command”.

The government also argued that men and women offi cers were physically diff erent and could not be treated equally.

The court rebuked the gov-ernment, describing its views as “disturbing” and urged “the need for change in mindsets to

bring about true equality in the army”.

It, however, did not rule on deploying women in combat roles, saying a competent au-thority needed to decide.

The court asked the govern-ment to grant PC to the women offi cers within three months and said the arguments founded on assumptions about women in the social context of marriage and family do not constitute a constitutionally valid basis for denying them equal opportu-nity.

The judges noted the policy decision taken by the govern-ment on February 25, 2019, in-dicates that PC is to apply pro-spectively. The court said it is necessary to clarify that the prospective application of the decision does not mean that it would apply to women offi c-ers who have been appointed as SSCs offi cers after the date of the decision.

“We therefore clarify that the policy decision will apply to all women SSC offi cers who are currently in service irrespective of the length of service which has been rendered by them,” said Chandrachud.

The court cited 11 instanc-es where women offi cers had achieved distinction.

It included Captain Tania Shergill, who became the fi rst Indian woman parade adjutant to lead an all-men contingent of the Corps of Signals at the Re-public Day parade; Lieutenant Colonel Sophia Qureshi (Army Signal Corps), the fi rst woman to lead an Indian Army contin-gent at a multinational military exercise named ‘Exercise Force 18’; Lieutenant Colonel Anu-vandana Jaggi, who served as the women team leader of the UN Military Observers Team in Burundi; women offi cers with complex tasks of transport-ing 30-50 vehicles’ convoys in

militancy-prone areas of Leh, Srinagar, Udhampur and the northeast; and women offi cers’ participation in the UN Peace Keeping Force since 2004 and their deployment in active com-bat scenarios in Syria, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Israel.

“Their track record of serv-ice to the nation is beyond re-proach. The time has come for a realisation that women army offi cers are not adjuncts to a male-dominated establishment whose presence must be ‘toler-ated’ within narrow confi nes,” the court observed.

India, with one of the larg-est armies in the world, has long resisted including women in combat roles, citing concerns over women’s vulnerability if captured and over their physical and mental ability to cope with frontline deployments.

India’s air force and navy of-fer permanent commission to women as well as select combat roles.

Most countries employ wom-en in various roles in their armed forces but only a handful, in-cluding Australia, Germany, Is-rael and the United States, allow them to take on combat roles.

India began recruiting women to non-medical positions in the armed forces in 1992, yet they make up about 4% of the army’s more than 1mn personnel, ac-cording to latest data.

Aishwarya Bhati, a lawyer who represented female offi cers at court, lauded yesterday’s judg-ment as one that would remove discrimination and boost wom-en’s role in the army.

“They (judges) have com-pletely negated all the farci-cal stands raised by the army to deny women equal opportuni-ties,” she said.

“These battles are watershed moments not just for women in the Indian army, but for women across the world.”

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa (left) and state minister C T Ravi (right) present a certificate to Srinivas Gowda as they honour him in Bengaluru yesterday.

A view of a slum area where a wall has been built as part of a beautification drive along the route that US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be taking during the president’s visit later this month, in Ahmedabad.

Modi ‘hiding’ Gujarat poverty to impress Trump: Shiv SenaIANSMumbai

The Shiv Sena yester-day wondered whether Prime Minister Narendra

Modi was trying to ‘hide’ the poverty in Gujarat to impress US President Donald Trump in Ahmedabad next week.

“Modi has been the CM (chief minister) of Gujarat for nearly 15 years and then the country’s PM for over fi ve years. But in order to cover up the poverty and misery of the slums in Ahmedabad, a huge wall is being constructed on the route Trump will take,” the Shiv Sena, once an ally of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said in an editorial in the party-run news-paper Saamana.

It said that after landing at Ahmedabad Airport, Trump will spend barely three hours in the city – the fi rst-ever visit by an American president to Gujarat, and for this the state government was making hectic eff orts to make it memorable,

all personally monitored by the prime minister.

While at least 17 Ahmeda-bad roads are being spruced up, the road outside the airport is being redone and some new roads are being constructed for the American leader, but what is tragic is that a wall is being built to hide the slums on the US president’s route in the city, said Saamana.

“In the past, there was the much ridiculed ‘garibi hatao’ (wipe out poverty) slogan (by the Congress), and now it ap-pears to have transformed into ‘garibi chhupao’ policy (hide poverty). What message is the government conveying by this? Has the government made any budgetary provisions for it or will Trump now off er aid to build such walls all over India?”

The Sena also commented on how – on the eve of his India trip – Trump knocked India off from the list of developing countries and upgraded it to a ‘developed’ nation, with huge ramifi cations for Indian businesses.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adity-anath is visiting Agra today to take stock of arrangements for Trump’s visit to the city of Taj Mahal.

Trump and First Lady Mela-nia are likely to visit the Taj Ma-hal on February 24 and remain in the city for around two hours.

According to a government spokesman, the chief minis-ter will be inspecting the route from Kheria airbase to Taj Ma-hal and will also hold a high-level meeting of offi cials.

A team from the US em-bassy is visited Agra yesterday to work out the modalities of Trump’s visit.

Preparations for the visit of the state guests are being di-rectly monitored by the Prime Minister’s Offi ce.

Agra divisional commission-er Anil Kumar has assigned re-sponsibilities to senior offi cials to make arrangements for the guests.

The Agra Municipal Corpo-ration (AMC) has launched a

cleanliness drive on the route to the Taj Mahal. Senior offi cials of police and administration are getting all the encroachments removed in the vicinity of the 17th century monument.

Municipal commissioner Arun Prakash said: “Our teams are already on job to make the required arrangements ahead of the US president’s visit. Be-fore the proposed inspection of CM on February 18, all the encroachments, unauthorised hoardings will be removed. Road repairing work has also been initiated and will be com-pleted very soon. The entire VVIP route will be systemati-cally maintained and decorated to welcome the guests.”

All residential and govern-ment buildings along the route will be subjected to checking. Verification of people living in houses and working in shops and showrooms has been initiated. Hotel owners have been asked to share details of all the guests on a daily basis from today.

A Maoist was killed in a fierce gun battle yesterday in the Fodevada jungles on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, an official said. According to the official, police were carrying out an anti-Maoist operation when a large number of Maoist rebels opened fire at them. The security forces team retaliated and in the exchange of fire, at least one Maoist was killed. The official said the rebels were finalising an anti-national plan at the forest hideout of their leader Sonu alias Bhupati. After the intense gun battle on both sides, the Maoists stopped firing, picked up the body of their dead comrade and fled into the forest, said the official.

A college student died under suspicious circumstances at a leading supermarket in Hyderabad on Sunday night after he was allegedly caught stealing a bar of chocolate. L Sateesh, 17 along with two friends had gone to the supermarket. According to Sateesh’s friends he lifted a chocolate bar and kept it in his pocket. This was noticed by a security guard. When the security guard stopped him when he was leaving, he panicked and collapsed. The friends took him to a hospital, where he was declared dead. They said the security guard did not attack him and suspect he might have collapsed due to the shock of being caught for stealing. The boy’s family alleged he died due to the assault by the security guard.

Just when Jharkhand’s former chief minister Babulal Marandi merged his party into the Bharatiya Janata Party in Ranchi, two of his MLAs joined the Congress in Delhi. Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey merged the party into Congress, increasing the party’s strength in the Jharakhand assembly to 18. Pradeep Yadav said: “JVM-P was organised to fight the rights of the tribals in 2006 but now the party has decided that this fight will go on under the leadership of (party interim chief) Soniaji and Rahulji.” The other MLA, Bandhu Tirkey said: “We cannot go with the BJP and we have full faith in Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.” The Congress rejected the charge by the BJP that they have poached two MLAs.

The Jammu and Kashmir government is organising a three-day Global Investors’ Summit in the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu in April with an intent to attract investments, the Indian embassy in Doha has said in a press statement. As a precursor to the mega event, a pre-summit Investors’ Meet and curtain-raiser was held in New Delhi on January 20. The aim of the upcoming summit is to exhibit various investment opportunities available in the union territory in the promising sectors of tourism, film tourism, horticulture and post-harvest management, agro and food processing, mulberry production for silk, health and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, IT/ ITeS, renewable energy,

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said his party would form the government in Uttar Pradesh on its own strength in 2022. Yadav, who was in Fatehpur to attend a wedding, said he had prepared a blueprint for 351 seats out of the 403 seats and was working on the remaining seats. “We will contest the elections on our own and form a government with a comfortable majority. People are completely disillusioned with the BJP which has betrayed the faith that the people had reposed in it. The BJP has no work to show and is trying to create a communal divide,” he said. When the BJP’s communal card does not yield results, the party resorts to caste card, he added.

Maoist killed in jungle gun battle in Maharashtra

Hyderabad student dies after shoplifting

As Marandi goes back to BJP, his party MLAs join Congress

Kashmir govt to holdglobal investors’ summit

Akhilesh confident of returning to power in UP

INSURGENCY TRAGEDYPOLITICS EVENT POLITICS

UK lawmakerdenied entryinto India overKashmir standAgenciesLondon

A British lawmaker, who chairs an all-party group on Kashmir, has been de-

nied entry to India after she crit-icised the government’s decision to strip the region of its constitu-tional autonomy.

Debbie Abrahams, a member of parliament for the opposi-tion Labour party, landed at New Delhi’s international airport yes-terday but claims she was unable to clear customs after her Indian visa was rejected.

Abrahams said she had no plans to visit Kashmir during what she called a “private visit” to India to see relatives, although she had been planning to journey on to the Pakistani capital Islam-abad to discuss the issue.

She has been critical of the Indian government for revoking Kashmir’s special status last Au-gust, which allowed the region to make its own laws, in an attempt to integrate the country’s only Muslim-majority region more fully.

Abrahams said she was “treat-ed like a criminal” and told to leave India before being marched on to a plane.

“The immigration offi cer looked at his screen and started shaking his head and saying ‘no, no, no’,” she told Sky News.

“Then he said the visa had been rejected, took my passport, went off to consult with others, kept us waiting for about ten minutes and then said: ‘No, you are being denied entry’.”

There was no immediate com-ment from the Indian govern-ment.

Kashmir has been in turmoil since New Delhi removed its au-tonomy and enforced the chang-es by deploying thousands of ad-ditional troops and imposing a communication blackout.

India has since restored limit-ed Internet connectivity, ending

one of the world’s longest such shutdowns in a democracy.

But many political leaders, in-cluding three former chief min-isters, are still in detention with-out charge six months after the crackdown, and foreign journal-ists have been denied permission to visit the region.

Shortly after the changes to Kashmir’s status were passed by parliament, Abrahams wrote a letter to India’s High Commis-sioner to the United Kingdom, saying the action “betrays the trust of the people” of Kashmir.

In other developments, the Congress party in Kashmir has said it will take part in local elec-tions if restrictions on its leaders were lifted and they are allowed to move freely.

State party president Ghulam Ahmad Mir said the party cannot be expected to take part in the panchayat bye-elections when its top leadership was barred from free movement in the re-gion.

The bye-polls are going to be held in eight phases from March 5 in the union territory.

Mir said that an assurance should come from the adminis-tration that the leaders were free to move, only then can the party take part in the elections.

“We are not allowed to move freely,” Mir said.

“Movement of the top lead-ership of the party has been re-stricted, even I as the state party president cannot move out of Jammu.”

He said the administration is applying diff erent yardsticks for diff erent phases of polling.

“In the fi rst phase of the elections 70% of the members were elected on non-party basis,” he said.

“Now we are told the elections will be held on party basis for the rest of 30% members. How can there be two rules for two phases of the panchayat polls?”

He said normally panchayat polls across the country are con-ducted on non-party basis.

Jaishankar defendsnew citizenship lawAFPBrussels

External Aff airs Minis-ter Subrahmanyam Jais-hankar yesterday defended

his country’s controversial new citizenship law and crackdown in Jammu and Kashmir, as he came to Brussels to promote what he hopes will be closer strategic ties to the Europe Union.

Delhi’s top diplomat was the guest of honour as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels with an eye to renewing relations and boosting trade with India.

EU president Ursula von der Leyen’s new Commission wants to give Brussels a more “geopo-litical role” and as part of that hopes to host a March summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“India and the European Un-

ion share a lot of things,” said Europe’s high representative for foreign policy Josep Borrell, cit-ing climate change, the digital revolution and rise of China as shared challenges.

Jaishankar, standing by Bor-rell, noted that the new govern-ment in India and the new com-mission in Brussels are “both quite fresh” and that they hoped to take relations to a “new level”.

He said he hoped the lunch talks would confi rm the “strate-gic partnership.”

Taken together, the EU mem-ber states are Delhi’s biggest trade partner, with India’s im-ports and exports to and from the bloc each representing about €45bn a year ($49 bn).

But - while Europe has inked trade deals with big Asian play-ers Japan, Vietnam and Singa-pore - the pair have no formal agreement, and India approach-

es such agreements carefully.“You don’t necessarily need

trade deals to do trade,” Jais-hankar told AFP, stressing that India’s economy is driven by do-mestic demand.

“Trade deals are useful, I mean I’m not at all denying that, but I think they are not necessarily as compelling as sometimes all of us tend to tend to think.”

European business wants to win more access to markets in a country with 1.3bn people, and Jaishankar was clear that Delhi would like closer co-operation with Europe on security and strategic policy.

But some in Europe are wor-ried about what they see as In-dia’s populist shift under Modi’s government.

Lawmakers in the European Parliament have drafted a reso-lution condemning India’s Citi-zenship Amendment Act of 2019

as “discriminatory in nature and dangerously divisive.”

But the non-binding resolu-tion has yet to be passed and Jaishankar insisted the law had been misunderstood.

The CAA laws eases citizen-ship rules for religious minori-ties from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Protests have erupted in India, and concerns have been raised abroad, led by those who fear the government is discriminat-ing against Muslims and putting secularism in danger.

But Jaishankar said Delhi’s critics have misunderstood the government’s policy and been taken in by the politics of a “very passionate” democratic society.

He compared the CAA rules to immigration and refugee re-settlement policies across Eu-rope, pointing out that many EU countries also use national

or cultural criteria.“They created pathways to

naturalisation to citizenship,” he said, citing among others Germany’s rule allowing ethnic Germans from eastern Europe to seek citizenship.

“Now, they did it with a con-text and they did it with a crite-ria. I mean, no European coun-try said: ‘Anybody anytime, anywhere in the world can come because they feel it’s nice to live in Europe’.”

He said India’s new law would reduce statelessness, and point-ed to the fi erce debates that Europe has also had around im-migrations and the “political changes” these have caused.

Modi’s government also raised eyebrows in Brussels when it stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its partial autonomy and imposed a security crackdown in its only Muslim-majority region.

A Congress supporter shouts slogans against the government during a protest against the recent increase in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price in Kolkata yesterday.

Protest against price hike

A Muslim couple get married at the venue of a protest against the new citizenship law in Chennai yesterday.

Sidhu resurfaces after‘missing’ for monthsIANSChandigarh

After months of “self-imposed” political ex-ile, Congress leader and

former Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was seen at a public function in his hometown Am-ritsar that was attended by his political rivals, including former Akali minister Bikram Majithia.

Sidhu was expected to be a star campaigner in the recently-con-cluded Delhi assembly polls, but he abstained from electioneering.

Missing from the public glare for over seven months, and even remaining absent from assembly sessions, Sidhu fi nally surfaced sitting with leaders of the Akali Dal breakaway group Akali Dal Taksali, including former min-ister Ranjit Brahmpura, besides Congress MP Gurjeet Aujla and his political rival Majithia.

The cricketer-turned-politi-cian was seen sharing pleasant-ries with Brahmpura, who later told reporters it was a courtesy call.

He was seen talking with his party MP Aujla at the event. However, he maintained a dis-tance from Majithia.

After resigning from the state cabinet on July 15, 2019, the former state power minister was seen for the fi rst time in public glare on November 9.

On that day he was among the fi rst all-party delegation of 500 pilgrims from India that went to Pakistan’s Kartarpur to pay obei-sance at the shrine of Guru Nan-ak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, after the opening of the historic corridor between the two coun-tries.

He had told the media on that occasion that he was meditating daily for 15-17 hours and had lost 25kg.

“All my old clothes fi t me,” he had said jokingly.

Sidhu, who used to swear loy-alty to former party chief Rahul Gandhi, quit the government af-ter diff erences with party veteran and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Sidhu, who had been at log-gerheads with Singh, formally resigned on July 14. Since then he had limited his public appear-ances.

Speculations in political cir-cles are rife that Sidhu may join the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the 2022 Punjab assembly elec-tions.

An indication was given by AAP MP Bhagwant Mann.

“Our party can talk to him (on the issue of his joining the party),” Mann told the media last month, adding “We will welcome good politicians. But there is no offi cial communication so far with him”.

Rahul had used ‘strong words’, says Ahluwalia

IANSNew Delhi

The now-defunct Plan-ning Commission’s former deputy chair-

man Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used “strong words” in 2013 while tearing up an ordinance on convicted law-makers, but insisted then prime minister Manmohan Singh did the right thing by not resigning.

In an exclusive interview to IANS, Ahluwalia said: “On hindsight, I think, Dr Singh took the right call.”

He said had Gandhi been a member of the then cabinet, things would have been differ-ent. “But he was the vice presi-dent of a political party.”

He said that after his brother wrote an article to advocate Singh’s resignation, he showed the article to the then prime minister.

“”The first thing I did was to take the text across to the PM’s suite because I wanted him to hear about it from me first. He read it in silence, and initially made no comment. Then, he suddenly asked me whether I thought he should resign. I thought about it for a while and said ‘I do not think a resigna-tion on this issue is appropri-ate’.”

In 2013, after the Supreme Court ruled that sitting law-makers convicted of crime would be immediately dis-qualified and not continue as MPs, MLAs or MLCs pending an appeal, the then United Pro-gressive Alliance government sought to bring an ordinance to counter the verdict.

Gandhi appeared unan-nounced at an event to oppose his own party’s line and tore a copy of the ordinance, an act seen as undermining the prime minister’s authority while he was in the US.

Stop public spats, Congress tells senior leadersIANSNew Delhi

The Congress party yes-terday cautioned its lead-ers to refrain from public

spats and avoid commenting on the matters of other states and advised them to introspect about their role in the party.

The warning comes after two Congress leaders - Ajay Maken and Milind Deora - engaged in a war of words on social media.

The party also told Deora not

to comment on the Delhi election results.

“People make such remarks in the heat of the moment, but it should not be treated (as an) aff ront,” Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.

He said party leaders need to look after their own perform-ance, responsibilities and their commitment towards the party.

A war of words erupted between Deora and former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Twitter after the ex-Mumbai Congress presi-dent praised the Aam Aadmi Party

government of Delhi.Deora in his tweet on Sun-

day said: “Sharing a lesser known & welcome fact - the @ArvindKejriwal-led Delhi Gov-ernment doubled its revenues to Rs60,000 crore & maintained a revenue surplus over the last 5 years. Food for thought: Delhi is now one of India’s most fi scally prudent governments.”

Maken was the fi rst to react to Deora’s tweet: “Brother, you want to leave @INCIndia - Please do - Then propagate half-baked facts!”

He even compared the revenue

generation in Delhi from 1997-1998 onwards and claimed that it grew at 14.87% CAGR (com-pounded annual growth rate) during the Congress regime, while during the AAP’s regime it has been only 9.90%.

Deora hit back yesterday morning when he said: “Brother, I would never undermine Sheila Dikshit’s stellar performance as Delhi CM. That’s your specialty. But it’s never too late to change! Instead of advocating an alliance with AAP, if only you had high-lighted Sheilaji’s achievements,

@INCIndia would’ve been in power today.”

Earlier, former AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk, Alka Lamba, who joined the Congress and unsuccessfully fought the recent assembly elections, too had at-tacked Deora, considered close to former party chief Rahul Gandhi.

The party also asked Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and party general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia to meet this week to sort out their diff erences.

The task of mediation has been assigned to Deepak Babaria,

sources said. The party high com-mand is unhappy over the spat between the two top state leaders, which is creating a wrong percep-tion of the party, said a leader.

Kamal Nath and Scindia have been at loggerheads on the is-sue of poll promises which have not been fulfi lled by the Madhya Pradesh government. Scindia has said he will take to the streets if the promises made in ‘Vachan Patra’ are not fulfi lled, while Kamal Nath, who met interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday and attended a party meeting on

Saturday where Scindia was also present, has dared him to do so.

The Congress has sought to play down the issue with spokesman Surjewala terming both Kamal Nath and Scindia “among the most dedicated leaders of the party”.

He said if there are any griev-ances, the party will hear them and devise a patch-up formula.

“What you see as spat is a manufactured one and the equa-tion and relation between the two are cordial and great... both are working for strengthening the party,” he said.

INDIA


Guaido lookingto ramp upcampaign against MaduroAFPCaracas

Fresh off a three-week in-ternational tour, Venezue-lan opposition leader Juan

Guaido is hoping to ramp up pressure against President Nico-las Maduro but must fi rst over-come his supporters’ increasing listlessness.

Having fl outed a travel ban imposed by the Maduro govern-ment to shore up support abroad and meet with foreign leaders such as those of Britain, France and the US, Guaido must now fi nd a way to reinvigorate his base.

The National Assembly speak-er rose to prominence in January 2019 when he declared himself the country’s acting president in a direct challenge to Maduro, whom he deems an illegitimate leader due to a 2018 re-election widely derided as rigged.

While Guaido has called for mass mobilisation against Ma-duro, his supporters are suff er-ing from a “collapse of expec-tations,” said Benigno Alarcon, head of political studies at An-dres Bello Catholic University.

The 36-year-old attracted tens of thousands of people to his rallies at the start of 2019 and garnered the support of more than 50 countries, but by the end of the year only a few hundred supporters would turn up.

And his popularity rating dropped from 63% to 39%, ac-cording to pollsters Datanalisis.

That said, his international tour was “a fl eeting work of art” con-sidering his failure to deliver on the home front, said Luis Vicente Leon, Datanalisis president.

After Guaido’s meeting with US President Donald Trump, Washington expanded its Ven-ezuela sanctions to include state airline Conviasa.

The US has already sanctioned state oil company PDVSA and imposed a fi nancial blockade that prevents Venezuela from re-negotiating its $140bn debt.

“There will be more sanc-tions... on everyone who sup-ports the dictatorship,” Guaido warned on Wednesday.

In Brussels, Guaido urged the

European Union to block Ven-ezuelan exports of gold, which have already been hit by US sanctions.

Such actions point to “a sanc-tions scheme with greater inter-national co-ordination,” Alarcon said.

Guaido was meanwhile given a bipartisan standing ovation at Trump’s State of the Union ad-dress.

However, the American pub-lic has shown little interest in a dramatic dislodging of Maduro. “The Trump administration has few options available to eff ect a material change,” said Paul An-gelo of the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.

Instead, said Alexander Main of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, US policy has “exacerbated Venezuela’s eco-nomic crisis, resulting in in-creased human suff ering.”

The US’ Venezuela policy “is tightly linked to electoral strat-egy” in a bid to win Latin votes rather than help the Venezuelan people, he said.

Maduro has said he’s willing to relaunch a dialogue with the opposition following failed Nor-way-mediated eff orts in 2019.

However at the World Eco-nomic Forum in Davos, Switzer-land last month, Guaido branded that a “joke.”

The Venezuelan government is supported by the military as well as China, Russia and Cuba and is in a “position of strength,” said Alarcon. There’s little chance of Maduro giving in to the opposition’s demands that he resign and allow new general elections.

Meanwhile legislative elec-tions are scheduled for later this year in which Maduro hopes to regain control of the National Assembly, the only branch of government in opposition hands.

The opposition has little faith that the vote will be free or fair, and many are debating whether to even participate at all, experts say.

In addition, the opposition is once again becoming fragment-ed.

A rival opposition politician, Luis Parra, declared himself speaker in Guaido’s absence.

Costa Rica indigenousleader shot in land rowGuardian News and MediaSan Jose

An indigenous leader lead-ing his people’s eff ort to reclaim ancestral land in

Costa Rica has been wounded in a gun attack – the latest in a spate of targeted violence which has gone unpunished by author-ities.

Mainor Ortiz Delgado, 29, a leader of the Bribri indigenous people in Salitre, Puntarenas province, was shot in the right leg earlier this month – the third time Ortiz has been shot alleg-edly by members of the same family in 14 months.

The suspected gunman, who carried out the gun attack in

broad daylight in front of Del-gado’s 13-year-old son, was detained but released within 24 hours.

Costa Rica, an eco-tourism hub with 5mn inhabitants, is Central America’s safest and most equitable country.

But in recent years, the Bribri people attempting to recoup lost land have been subject to dozens of violent attacks, racist harass-ment and trumped-up retalia-tory lawsuits with almost total impunity.

As a result, the Inter-Amer-ican Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures in 2015, calling on Costa Rican authorities to pro-tect the lives and physical in-tegrity of the Bribri and their in-

digenous neighbours, the Broran people.

But the violence continued because the state failed to take action, according to Vanessa Jimenez, a lawyer with the not-for-profi t organisation Forest Peoples Programme who works with the indigenous communi-ties.

The latest gun attack comes less than a year after 59-year-old Sergio Rojas Ortiz, an inter-nationally acclaimed Bribri land and human rights defender, was shot dead at home in Salitre fol-lowing years of death threats, harassment and assaults linked to his work.

At the time, the government acknowledged the growing vio-lence against the country’s in-

digenous peoples involved in confl icts with mestizo families who have illegally occupied their ancestral lands, and pledged to deliver justice. Rojas Ortiz’s kill-ers remain at large, and the land disputes remain unresolved.

“The state has relinquished its duty and has abandoned these in-digenous people to seek justice in the court system which also fails them,” Jimenez told the Guardian. “The impunity has empowered those who want to do harm to the Bribri and Broran.”

Latin America is the most dangerous continent in the world to defend land rights and natural resources, and indig-enous and rural communities bear the brunt of the violence.

Costa Rica has eight indig-

enous ethnic groups totalling 105,00 people, according to the latest census, who represent approximately 2.4% of the total population. There are 24 legally recognised indigenous territo-ries, which are exclusively for indigenous communities with historical ties to the land.

Families who settled on these lands before the 1977 Indigenous Act was enacted are considered “good faith’ illegal settlers who are entitled to compensation and relocation by the govern-ment. Those who occupied the land after the law was passed are considered “bad faith” settlers with no right to recourse.

But the law has never been implemented, and the land never returned.

Bolsonaro picks armygeneral as chief of staff ReutersBrasilia

Brazil’s far-right Presi-dent Jair Bolsonaro said he had picked army gen-

eral Walter Braga for his chief of staff, cutting links to politi-cal parties in his closest circle of advisers that are now all military men.

Braga, currently the army’s chief of staff and its second highest-ranking officer, will take office today, replacing Onyx Lorenzoni, who will move to head the citizenship minis-try.

Bolsonaro tweeted the an-nouncement of the long-awaited ministerial shuffl e that removes Lorenzoni as the last politician in his inner cabinet.

The appointment of Braga, the second active-duty gen-eral in the cabinet, raises to seven the number of military men in the 20-member cabi-net, not counting Vice Presi-dent Hamilton Mourao, a re-tired general.

“This militarisation, especial-ly of the inner circle of ministers in the Planalto Palace, reinforces the image Bolsonaro wants to have, that he is not allied to any political group,” said Leonardo Barreto at Vector Analysis politi-cal consultancy.

Distrust of politicians likely was another reason Bolsonaro, a former army captain, preferred to rely on military advisors to help run the government, Barreto said.

Bolsonaro took offi ce last year on a wave of conservative senti-

ment by Brazilians fed up with corrupt politics and vowed to break away from traditional par-ties.

He has since broken with the small party he piggy-backed on to get elected and launched his own movement called the Alli-ance for Brazil.

The replacement of Lorenzoni, one of the fi rst politicians to back Bolsonaro’s presidential 2018 bid, was expected since last year.

He failed to mobilise politi-cal support for the government’s agenda in Congress, a job that went to army general Luiz Edu-ardo Ramos in June.

The chief of staff post also lost power with the recent transfer to the economy ministry of a pro-gramme responsible for drawing investment for the privatisation of state assets.

Morales returnsto Argentina

AFPLa Paz

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales said he is returning to Argentina

from Cuba, where he had gone for medical treatment last week.

“I feel very healthy. I am still in Cuba, but today is my return trip to Argentina,” Morales said by telephone to Bolivia’s Ra-dio Kawaschum Coca (RKC) — owned by the coca planters un-ion to which he belongs.

Morales, 60, travelled to Cuba from Buenos Aires last Monday for medical treatment.

He has been living in Argen-tina after resigning as Bolivia’s president in November and fl eeing following three weeks of protests against his controver-sial re-election in a poll the Or-ganisation of American States

said was rigged.He fi rst sought asylum in

Mexico and then settled a month later in Argentina.

Morales is standing as a sen-ate candidate in Bolivia’s May 3 general election but faces arrest if he returns.

He told the radio station he would be “in a planning meet-ing” for the election with lead-ers from his Movement for So-cialism (MAS) party.

The interim government of President Jeanine Anez accuses him of sedition and terror-ism over an audio recording in which he allegedly urges sup-porters to lay siege to major cit-ies including La Paz.

He is barred from standing for president in May’s election.

From his exile in Argentina, Morales regularly rails against what he claims was a US-backed coup to remove him from office.

Support for Bukele

Supporters of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele protest against the deputies of the legislative assembly in San Salvador. Protesters called the deputies “Dipuratas,” combining deputy and pirate.

Dominican Republic’s nationwide municipal elections were suspended only four hours after voting began due to a glitch in the electronic voting system, officials said. More than 7.4mn voters were due to vote to elect 3,849 positions in 158 municipalities across the Caribbean nation. The failure of the system is likely to raise concerns ahead of the May 17 presidential elections. Julio Cesar Castanos, president of Dominican Republic’s electoral body, said nearly half of the electronic devices did not work properly and many virtual ballot papers did not load, leaving citizens unable to cast their votes.

South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co yesterday said it has resolved a dispute with the Chilean government over a $740mn suspension bridge in a deal that had required it to “give up its rights” in various areas. Hyundai has struck a deal so it can mitigate the losses it has already suff ered. The company reported at the end of December that it was “impossible” to continue construction of the southern bridge because Chile’s ministry of public works was trying to expand the scope of the contract without due compensation. The firm leads the Puente Chacao Consortium, which won the $740mn tender in 2013 to link the continent with the Chiloe archipelago.

The Colombian government has given the Farc political party that emerged from the leftist guerilla group in the wake of a decades-long armed conflict in the country until July 31 to hand over its assets. Under a peace agreement signed in 2016, Farc leaders committed to turning over assets of about 500bn pesos ($147mn) — accumulated from decades of involvement in drug traff icking, kidnapping and other activities — to compensate victims of the conflict. Emilio Archila, the presidential adviser charged with overseeing implementation of the peace accord, said that only 3bn pesos had been received thus far, Radio Nacional de Colombia reported.

Five people have been arrested in connection with an armed attack on a courthouse in the country’s north-west that led to the escape of the leader of the powerful MS-13 criminal gang, Honduran police said. Alexander Mendoza was attending a trial hearing in the city of El Progreso when about 20 heavily-armed gang members disguised as police stormed the building to free him. At least four people were killed and several others were injured in the incident. Honduran police said they had mounted a large-scale operation to recapture Mendoza. Five arrests were made and 56 weapons confiscated, they said.

Electronic glitch haltsDominican Republic polls

$740mn Chilean bridgeproject on track: Hyundai

Farc party gets deadlineto hand over assets

Five held in Honduras forgangster’s prison break

POLITICS CORPORATEDECISIONLAW AND ORDER

LATIN AMERICA


19

Former president, Evo Morales (centre), speaks next to Bolivian presidential candidate for the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, Luis Arce (left), and MAS international relations secretary, Juanita Ancieta, during a private meeting with members of their party, in Buenos Aires.

People demonstrate outside the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after problems with electronic voting systems forced the authorities to suspend municipal elections across the country.

PAKISTAN


As India allegedly contin-ues to violate the ceasefi re along the Line of Con-

trol (LoC), Pakistan is extending maximum support to United Na-tions military observers.

According to sources, the Pa-kistan army is providing the UN Military Observer Group in In-dia and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)

complete freedom of movement to investigate all ceasefi re viola-tions along the LoC.

Any time a major ceasefi re vio-lation occurs, concerned offi cials lodge a written complaint with the UNMOGIP so that it can con-duct an investigation, they said.

During visits, UN personnel are provided all requisite security and escort by the Pakistani au-thorities, the sources said.

The UNMOGIP is also provid-ed any administrative assistance

it requires whenever it requests, they added.

The UNMOGIP, then known as the UN Commission for In-dia and Pakistan (UNCIP), was formed in 1949 to supervise the ceasefi re between India and Pa-kistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is mandated to observe de-velopments pertaining to the strict adherence of the 1971 ceasefi re agreement and report them to the UN secretary-gen-eral.

In particular, it is tasked with looking into any alleged ceasefi re violations along the LoC.

Pakistan has repeatedly called on India to allow the UNMOGIP to observe the LoC from its side of the border.

Last year, then Pakistan’s Per-manent Representative to United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi called for strengthening of the UNMO-GIP in light of developments in Indian-administered Kashmir that have brought the two neigh-

bours’ ties to their lowest ebb.“The effi cacy of the UNMO-

GIP has become more signifi cant due to multiple ceasefi re viola-tions by the Indian armed forces along the Line of Control,” Lodhi said at a UN Security Council de-bate on peacekeeping operations in September.

India has restricted the activi-ties of the unarmed UN observers on its side of the LoC, claiming that the grounds for their man-date have lapsed.

The UN, however, has main-tained that the secretary-gen-eral’s position has been that the UNMOGIP can only be termi-nated by a decision of the Secu-rity Council and hence, should continue to function.

Indian troops most recently allegedly violated the ceasefi re along the LoC on Friday, injuring a teenage girl in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan military’s me-dia wing said in a statement that

the Indian border security force deliberately targeted the civilian population in the Nezapir and Rakhchikri sectors.

Yesterday Pakistan army troops responded to the target-ing of civilians by Indian forces, killing one Indian soldier and wounding three others, including a major.

The government lodged a strong diplomatic protest of re-peated truce breaches by India the same day.

‘Maximum support’ extended to UN observers at LoCInternewsIslamabad

Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted yesterday that his country is no longer a mil-

itant safe haven, and said that his administration fully sup-ports the Afghan peace process.

His assertion was however challenged hours later, when a suicide bomber targeted a reli-gious rally in Baluchistan (see report on the right).

Khan’s comments come as the US and the Taliban appear on the brink of a deal that would see US forces begin to pull out of Af-ghanistan.

In return, the Taliban would enter talks with the Afghan gov-ernment, stick to various secu-rity guarantees and work toward an eventual, comprehensive ceasefi re.

Pakistan, which has long been accused of supporting the Tali-ban and other extremist groups along its border with Afghani-stan, is seen as key to helping secure and implement any deal.

“I can tell you that there are no safe havens here,” Khan said at the two-day international conference, titled “40 years of Afghan Refugees Presence in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity”, which began in Is-lamabad yesterday. “Whatever the situation might have been in the past, right now, I can tell you ... there is one thing we want: peace in Afghanistan.”

“It is my belief that the peo-

ple of Afghanistan have suff ered more than any other human community, and I pray from my heart that these peace talks are successful,” the prime minister said, in reference to the ongoing talks between the US and the Af-ghan Taliban in Doha.

His comments came after Sarwar Danish, Afghanistan’s second vice-president, accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban

to recruit new fi ghters from Af-ghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

While Pakistan cannot “com-pletely guarantee” that no Tali-ban are hiding among the esti-mated 2.7mn Afghans living in the country, the prime minister said that his government had done all it can to prevent attacks in Afghanistan, including by building a border fence.

Khan also said that the con-

ference is a cause for celebration “because there are not many instances that those who have been refugees have conducted themselves with honour”.

He remarked that Pakistan despite its challenges has kept a wonderful relationship with Af-ghan refugees.

“A remarkable relationship has endured considering the sit-uation that our [Pakistan] econ-

omy has faced,” Khan remarked.US peace envoy Zalmay Kha-

lilzad, who has for more than a year led talks between the Tali-ban and Washington, also at-tended the conference.

He said that he is “cautiously optimistic” about progress to-ward an eventual deal.

The US has “commitments from the Taliban on security is-sues”, he said.

The Taliban, Afghanistan’s security forces and the US are supposed to be launching a sev-en-day “reduction in violence”, offi cials announced last week.

The move is part of a confi -dence-building measure ahead of the announcement of a fuller deal.

However, bloodshed contin-ued over the weekend, includ-ing a Taliban attack in Kunduz province.

Refugees began fl owing into Pakistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and continued to come during the Taliban regime.

UN Secretary-General Anto-nio Guterres, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, credited the nation for supporting Af-ghan refugees.

He said that it is “time for Af-ghans to have peace. No Afghan will forgive us if this opportunity is not seized”.

“Even though major confl ict has erupted in some other part of the world; Pakistan is still the second largest refugee host. I am struck by the extraordinary soli-darity and compassion,” the UN chief said.

He added that the UN has been proud to work with Paki-stan in hosting the Afghan refu-gees.

However, Guterres noted that international support for Paki-stan in tackling this problem has been “minimal”, compared with the eff orts taken by the Pakistani government.

“The global community must step up,” he urged.

The UN chief also praised the “remarkable transformation” of Pakistan’s security situation.

PM: Pakistan fully backs Afghan peace processAFP/Reuters/DPA/InternewsIslamabad

Prime Minister Khan: I can tell you that there are no (militant) safe havens here.

Pakistan is no longer a militant safe haven, says prime minister

Suicide blast in Quetta kills at least 10, injures scoresReuters/AFP/DPA/InternewsQuetta/Islamabad

At least 10 people were killed in a suicide blast that hit a police vehicle in

southwestern Pakistan yester-day, offi cials said.

Two police personnel were among those killed in the blast in the city of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, which borders Af-ghanistan and Iran.

The suicide bomber deto-nated his explosives in front of the Quetta press club, where members of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) were participat-ing in a rally.

“We have received 10 bod-ies so far and 35 injured in Civil Hospital,” a hospital offi cial told Reuters.

Two police offi cers were among the dead, a senior police offi cial confi rmed.

The suicide bomber wanted to target the rally, but blew him-self up when police stopped him, Quetta police chief Abdul Raz-zaq Cheema told reporters.

“As police were searching him, he detonated his vest,” he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

A spokesman for the ASWJ told DPA that at least 20 mem-bers of the group were wounded and that the death toll could go up because some of them are in a critical condition.

Baluchistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has directed the inspector-general of police to submit a report within the next 24 hours.

Taking notice of the incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan la-mented the loss of human lives in the blast, reported Radio Pakistan.

The premier also directed the authorities concerned to provide the best medical treatment to the injured.

Baluchistan Governor Aman-ullah Khan Yasinzai also con-demned the blast, saying: “Such a cowardly attack can’t weaken the morale of the nation and the security forces.”

In a statement, the gover-nor maintained that “measures should be taken to foil the nefar-ious designs of militants”, adding that law enforcement agencies should take stern action against such elements.

“Foolproof security measures should be ensured across the province for the protection of the masses,” he said, directing the provincial health depart-ment to provide the best possible medical facilities to the injured victims, and also prayed for their recovery.

Last month, 13 people were killed in Quetta when blast ripped through a mosque during evening prayers.

Mineral-rich Baluchistan province is at the centre of the $60bn China-Pakistan Eco-nomic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of Beijing’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastruc-ture project.

The corridor seeks to con-nect China’s western province of Xinjiang with Pakistan’s Gwa-dar, giving Beijing access to the Arabian Sea.

Violence in Baluchistan has fuelled concerns about the se-curity of projects, such as a planned energy link from west-ern China to Pakistan’s southern port of Gwadar.

A high-profi le local Tali-ban fi gure who an-nounced and justifi ed

the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousaf-zai has escaped detention, Pakistan’s interior minister confi rmed a few days after the militant announced his break-out on social media.

Former Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, who claimed responsibility on behalf of his group for scores of Taliban attacks, proclaimed his escape on Twitter and then in an audio message sent to Paki-stani media earlier this month.

The Pakistani military, which had kept Ehsan in de-tention for three years, has de-clined to comment but, asked by reporters about the report, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, said: “That is correct, that is correct.”

Shah, a retired brigadier-general, added that “you will hear good news” in response to questions about whether there had been progress in hunting down Ehsan.

Ehsan later told a Reuters reporter by telephone that he had already left Pakistan and arrived in Turkey together with his wife and children.

He said that he had surren-dered to the army under a deal, and escaped only after the agreement was not honoured.

Ehsan said he escaped on January 11 but did not clarify how he had broken out of a maximum-security military prison and made his way to an-other country.

Pakistani analysts and ex-perts on religious extremism and militancy have voiced doubt about Ehsan’s claim to have escaped.

They have speculated that he may have been converted into an asset by the state, and that reports he was on the run could be a ruse to plant him back in the Islamist militant scene for use as an informant.

After Ehsan’s surrender in 2017, local Geo News TV aired an interview he gave in custody in which he asserted that the intelligence services of Paki-stan’s arch-rival, India, had been funding and arming Paki-stani Taliban fi ghters.

The Pakistan army pledged to put Ehsan on trial but has not done so.

Taliban attacks in Paki-stan have declined in recent months since the army carried out several operations against sanctuaries used by the Islam-ist militant groups in lawless districts along the border with Afghanistan.

Interior minister confi rms escape of local Taliban leaderReutersIslamabad

Pakistani authorities have targeted 40mn children in the fi rst nationwide po-

lio vaccination drive of the year that began yesterday amid fears of a resurgence.

More than 250,000 health workers would be on the streets throughout the week to vacci-nate children under the age of fi ve, Pakistan’s health chief Za-far Mirza said.

“We have critically reviewed our performance during last campaign and worked with provincial and district teams for an even better preparedness for this nationwide vaccination drive,” he said.

Mirza added that the govern-ment was committed to reach-ing every last child in the coun-try with the essential anti-polio vaccine.

Last week, Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ka-zim Niaz had also said that the complete eradication of the po-liovirus was the priority of the government.

The chief secretary made these remarks while inaugurat-ing a fi ve-day anti-polio drive at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

The fi ve-day anti-polio campaign is aiming to immu-nise more than 6.7mn KP chil-dren under the age of fi ve years against the poliovirus in the province.

Thousands of police and par-amilitary soldiers would guard health workers in regions where they are routinely attacked by Islamist militants, said Shaukat Yousafzai, information minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Showbiz and sports stars joined the government to rally parents’ support for the drive, since the World Health Organi-sation (WHO) warned Pakistan that polio might become an epi-demic again.

Pakistan reported 134 new cases last year, the highest number in half a decade, which prompted the WHO to warn that the progress made over the years to control polio had halted.

The polio cases peaked in Pa-kistan at 306 in 2014, the year

when the off ensives against the Taliban began, according to of-fi cial statistics.

The Islamist militants op-posed the vaccination cam-paign, calling it a conspiracy by the West to sterilise Muslim children, and killed dozens of health workers and police offi c-ers.

However, the country man-aged to bring the number down to just eight cases of polio in

2017 through vaccinations funded by the WHO.

Pakistan is among a handful of countries in the world where polio – an infectious disease caused by a virus that can cause paralysis – is still prevalent.

In January, it was reported that the overall tally of reported polio cases across the country had reached 134 in 2019: 91 cas-es in KP, 24 cases in Sindh, eight in Punjab, and 11 in Baluchistan.

Anti-polio drive targets 40mn childrenDPA/InternewsIslamabad

A boy receives polio vaccine drops during an anti-polio campaign in Peshawar.

Five dead, dozens sick due to mystery gas leakage in Karachi’s Kemari areaAt least five people died and dozens hospitalised due to a suspected gas leakage in Karachi’s Kemari area late on Sunday, sources said here yesterday.Those hospitalised had complained of respiratory problems, police off icials and doctors said, noting that the real cause of the incident could not be ascertained.Sources said the leakage occurred during

the off loading of chemicals from a cargo ship anchored at Kemari Jetty.The deceased included two women.Federal Minister for Maritime Aff airs Ali Zaidi said the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence team of the Pakistan navy is engaged in chemical analysis of the unidentified gas, adding that around 100 patients have been treated so far.

Earlier yesterday, due to the ongoing toxic gas issues, four employees of the Customs House fainted.The Karachi Port Trust (KPT), in initial findings, said yesterday that the port authorities have stringent safety checks in place to monitor the handling of chemical material that is off -loaded from cargo ships in Kemari.

PHILIPPINES21Gulf Times


Drilon seeks extension of broadcaster’s franchiseBy Bernadette Tamayo Manila Times

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon yesterday fi led a joint resolution that

seeks to extend the franchise of ABS-CBN broadcast network up to 2022.

The senator fi led Senate Joint Resolution 11 amid uncertain-ties on the fate of the network, whose 25-year franchise expires on March 30, 2020.

Drilon said the Senate and House of Representatives need more time to review the applica-tion for renewal of the corpora-tion’s franchise.

He stressed that Congress needs to review, assess and de-termine if the network’s fran-chise should be renewed.

He noted that there are only 12 session days left before Congress adjourns on March 14, 2020.

Drilon moved to extend the validity of the franchise of ABS-CBN until Dec 31, 2022.

“On March 30, 2020, more than 11,000 employees will go home jobless and millions of viewers will be aff ected if we do not act on this resolution im-mediately. I therefore urge the immediate passage of this reso-lution,” he said.

On February 10, Solicitor General Jose Calida fi led a quo

warranto petition before the Su-preme Court to forfeit the leg-islative franchise of ABS-CBN Corp and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, for alleged violations of the terms and con-ditions of its franchise.

Meanwhile, lawmakers at the House reiterated their call to expedite the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, saying there is no guarantee that the network would continue operations after its franchise expires.

Eleven bills seeking to re-new the network’s franchise are pending at the House.

“When the ABS-CBN fran-chises expire, there is nothing that would prevent any regula-tory agency of the government from knocking on the gates of ABS-CBN to serve notices of closure, or cease and desist orders on or immediately after the expiration,” Rep. Lawrence Fortun said.

“Instead of giving ABS-CBN an illusory remedy, the House of Representatives must expe-dite the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, which has long been pending in the House commit-tee on legislative franchises,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.

Lagman and Fortun authored House Resolution 639 “urging the Committee on Legislative Franchises to report out with-out further delay for plenary

action” the pending bills.Both lawmakers said there

is no legal anchor or basis for NTC to grant a provisional per-mit.

“After the franchise expires, it is now entirely within the prerogative of the National Tel-ecommunications Commission (NTC) to issue or not to issue any provisional authority to ABS-CBN,” Fortun said.

Lagman, meanwhile, said the NTC cannot “resurrect” an expired legislative franchise by granting a “provisional author-ity to operate.”

Meanwhile, Fortun urged Congress to be clear “clear and categorical in its intention” to allow the extended operation of ABS-CBN pending franchise renewal.

“A House Resolution or, bet-ter still, a Joint Concurrent Resolution of both the House and the Senate urging the NTC and other regulatory agencies to give ABS-CBN the provi-sional authority to continue operating while its application for franchise renewal is still pending in the House, will be in order,” he said.

Cebu City First District Rep.Raul del Mar also prodded Congress to do its job by hear-ing the ABS-CBN renewal de-spite the quo warranto petition before the high court.

Filipina patrols help in keeping drug killings at bayReutersManila

Late each night, a dozen women chat and share a meal before hitting the

narrow streets of a Manila sub-urb where a death squad once roamed.

They are the “women’s pa-trol”, a group of 18 mothers and grandmothers whose nightly walks through the dimly lit alleys of Pateros have been helping to deter shadowy gunmen behind murders of residents linked to il-legal drugs.

Not long after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte de-clared a war on drugs in 2016 and promised thousands would die, Pateros was being terror-ised by attackers in hoods and ski masks, known locally as the

“bonnet gang”. With the town of 63,000 paralysed by fear, the women decided to arm them-selves with fl ashlights and patrol their community, keeping up a nightly presence to disrupt the bonnet gang.

“When we started patrols, the enthusiasm came back to our community and the fear disap-peared. Back then, people were afraid to go out,” said Jenny Helo, 39, who leads the women through the labyrinth of shops, shacks and informal dwellings.

“But when they saw how ef-fective we are, because of how we really go around the community, people regained confi dence.”

The killers have not been caught. In the deadliest periods of the crackdown, there were as many as four murders linked to drugs each day in the Philip-pines, many by gunmen riding

pillion on motorcycles.The total number of drug-

related killings since Duterte unleashed his drugs war is un-known.

Police say they killed 5,400 suspects in self-defence dur-ing their anti-drugs operations, but deny allegations by activists that elements of the force are involved in the mystery killings that plagued Pateros and other parts of Manila.

In a written response to Reuters, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo called those “inevitable results” when a government was serious about suppressing illegal drugs.

He attributed the deaths to botched drug deals, turf wars between drug syndicates, or informants being silenced.

Pateros is now safer and the gunmen have gone, say those

who live there. The women never found out who the bon-net gang were, Helo said, but believe they thwarted them.

“We disrupted them in what they do,” she said.”They know we are here to fight what they’re doing.”

Pateros police chief Colonel Simnar Gran praised the pa-trollers and said local police had worked closely with them and the mayor to tighten the town’s security.

A few officers accompany the women each night, enforc-ing curfews and smoking bans, and warning people against drugs.

“This can be replicated by other communities,” Gran said. “They’re doing this voluntar-ily without compensation. They’re just civic-minded peo-ple.”

A policeman reprimands men for drinking in public, while accompanying a volunteer group of women patrollers on the streets of Pateros, Metro Manila.

Banana group says virus dampens exports to ChinaReutersManila

Work stoppages and market closures in China stemming

from a coronavirus epidemic are hurting small and medium-sized banana growers in the Philippines, the world’s second largest exporter of the fruit, an industry group said yesterday.

Mainland China is one of the Southeast Asian nation’s big-gest buyers of bananas, its top agricultural export.

Together with Japan, it bought more than half the Phil-ippines’ exports of the fruit last year.

The Philippines’ banana shipments last year were val-ued at $1.93bn, up roughly 40% from the previous year, and ac-counting for 3% of overall ex-ports.

Representatives of the Pilipi-no Banana Growers & Exporters

Association met farm ministry offi cials yesterday to tackle the industry challenges, including the virus outbreak.

“The China problem is not as serious for the big export-ers because of their existing contracts with the import-ers,” said Stephen Antig, the group’s executive director.

The hardest hit are the small and medium-sized growers

who deal with spot buyers, he added.

“Their shipments cannot be readily delivered, because of the work shutdown and clo-sure of markets,” Antig told Reuters in an e-mail.”Chances are, some of the fruit will get rotten on the piers sooner or later.”

The initial impact of the shipment woes on banana ex-

ports is likely to show up in January trade data to be re-leased next month, he said.

“For now, it is very difficult to come up with figures, even rough estimates.”

Talks with logistics pro-viders and efforts to identify other potential markets were among the key steps the min-istry plans to help resolve the problem, Antig said.

Passengers wear protective masks inside a crowded train in Manila, yesterday.

16 more Filipinos test positive for virus in JapanThe Department of Foreign Aff airs (DFA) yesterday reported that the number of Filipinos onboard a cruise ship in Japan who tested posi-tive for coronavirus disease-2019 (Covid-19) has jumped to 27, Manila Times reported.According to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo, 16 new cases were confirmed on February 15.The DFA said that all the infected Filpinos are crew members of Diamond Princess. There are over 500 other Filipinos aboard the cruise ship.“No Filipinos are included in the new group of 70 confirmed cases announced by the Japanese

government yesterday (February 16),” the DFA said. “The Japanese Health Ministry announced that all crew and passengers onboard will be tested again, so that test results will be available by the time the ship’s quarantine period ends,” it added. The DFA said the embassy is in close co-ordination with the relevant Philippine and Japa-nese government agencies, and representatives of the World Health Organisation and Princess Cruises “to ensure that the needs of the Filipino crew and passengers are met and to facilitate their return to the Philippines.”

Senate inquiry exposes immigration bribe scandalBy Bernadette TamayoManila Times

The Chinese arriving to work for Philippine off shore gaming operators (POGOs) pay a P10,000 fee to facilitate their entry through

the country’s airports, a Senate inquiry revealed yesterday.

Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros said part of the bribe money is hidden inside rolled bond pa-per, which she said resembled pastillas, a local milk confection usually wrapped in white paper, which was handed to airport immigration offi cials.

Hontiveros heads the Senate Committee on Women, Children and Family Relations, which conducted the inquiry into the “pastillas scheme.”

The same scheme was used to bring in Chinese women to work in the ‘fl esh trade’ off ering their services mainly to POGO workers, Hontiveros said.

She added that about P1bn might have already reached the pockets of corrupt immigration offi -cials.

“Somebody sold our country’s borders for Chi-

nese money,” Hontiveros said. “The lion’s share goes to the bosses. Somebody rigged the system, centralised the operations, and made this into a billion-peso enterprise,” she added.

The senator presented a video, which she said showed an airport immigration offi cer escorting some Chinese nationals to the Bureau of Immi-gration’s Executive Offi ce, where their identity is checked against a list that was provided to an im-migration supervisor by the syndicate running the operation.

She also showed screenshots of Viber groups containing names, fl ight details and photos of the Chinese visitors.

Hontiveros said the materials came from an in-formant within the Immigration bureau.

She bared that P2,000 is split among airport im-migration offi cers and the rest goes to the syndi-cates and its affi liates in the Philippines.

“‘Do not even dare to fool the people. That is not standard procedure,” she said, referring to escort-ing the Chinese arrivals.

Hontiveros also showed photos of the cash being distributed in the bureau’s offi ce.

OFW remittances hit all-time high in 2019By Mayvelin U Caraballo Manila Times

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent home over $30bn in remittanc-es last year, an all-time high, data

from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed yesterday.

In December alone, personal remittanc-es — whether in cash or kind and capital transfers between households — reached $3.21bn, up from $3.15bn a year earlier and 21.86% higher than the $2.63bn in Novem-ber.

The full-year 2019 personal remit-tance was $33.46bn, a 3.9% increase from

$32.21bn in 2018. “The sustained growth in personal remittances during the year was primarily driven by the 3.5% increase in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more that amounted to $25.6bn from $24.8bn,” the Bangko Sentral said in a statement.

The 6.5% rise in personal remittances from sea-based and land-based work-ers with work contracts of less than one year amounted to $7.1bn, up from $6.7bn the year earlier. The BSP said OFW remit-tances accounted for 9.3% and 7.8% of the gross domestic product and gross national income, respectively, last year.

“Much of the remittances from OFWs were in the form of cash that were coursed

through the banks,” it added. Cash remit-tances rose by 1.9% to $2.90bn in December from $2.84bn a year earlier. It also surged by 22.34% from $2.37bn in November.

In 2019, cash remittances jumped by 4.1% to $30.13bn from $28.94bn in 2018.

“Notwithstanding pockets of political uncertainties across the globe, cash remit-tances in 2019 remained strong,” the central bank noted.

This was evident in remittances from Asia, the Americas and Africa, where in-fl ows grew annually by 12.3%, 10.6% and 4.8%, respectively, it added.

“The growth of infl ows in these regions more than made up for the 9.8% decline in remittances from the Middle East,” it said.

By Daron AcemogluCambridge

It used to be an unwritten rule of US politics that a socialist could never qualify for high national offi ce. But now a self-proclaimed “democratic

socialist,” US Senator Bernie Sanders, is the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Should America embrace the change?

Democrats have made the primaries about much more than US President Donald Trump. Sanders’s momentum refl ects a yearning for radical solutions to serious structural economic problems. In the decades after World War II, the US economy became steadily more productive, and wages for all workers – regardless of education – grew by over 2% per year, on average. But that is no longer the case today.

Over the last four decades, productivity growth has been lacklustre, economic growth has slowed, and an increasing share of the gains have gone to capital owners and the highly educated. Meanwhile, median wages have stagnated, and the real (infl ation-adjusted) wages of workers with a high-school education or less have actually fallen. Just a few companies (and their owners) dominate much of the economy. The top 0.1% of the income distribution captures more than 11% of national income, up from around just 2.5% in the 1970s.

But does democratic socialism off er a cure for these ills? As an ideology that regards the market economy as inherently unfair, un-equalising, and incorrigible, its solution is to cut that system’s most important lifeline: private ownership of the means of production. Instead of a system in which fi rms and all of their equipment and machinery rest in the hands of a small group of owners, democratic socialists would prefer “economic democracy,” whereby companies would be controlled either by their workers or by an administrative structure operated by the state.

Democratic socialists contrast their envisioned system with the Soviet-style brand. Theirs, they argue, can be achieved wholly by democratic means. But the most recent attempts to socialise production (in Latin America) have relied on anti-democratic arrangements. And that points to another problem with the current debate in the US: democratic socialism has been confl ated with social democracy. And, unfortunately, Sanders has contributed to this confusion.

Social democracy refers to the policy framework that emerged and took hold in Europe, especially the Nordic countries, over the course of the twentieth century. It, too, is focused on reining in the excesses of the market economy, reducing inequality, and improving living standards for the least fortunate. But while US democratic socialists like Sanders often cite Nordic social democracy as their model, there are in fact deep and consequential diff erences between the two systems. Simply put, European social democracy is a system for regulating the market

economy, not for supplanting it.To understand how social-

democratic politics has evolved, consider the Swedish Social Democratic Workers Party (SAP), which distanced itself early on from Marxist ideology and the Communist Party. One of the SAP’s early and formative leaders, Hjalmar Branting, off ered a platform appealing not only to industrial workers but also to the middle class.

Most important, the SAP competed for power by democratic means, working within the system to improve conditions for the majority of Swedes. In the fi rst election following the onset of the Great Depression, SAP leader Per Albin Hansson presented the party as a “people’s home,” and off ered an inclusive agenda. The voters rewarded the SAP with a remarkably high 41.7% of the vote, enabling it to form a governing coalition with the Agrarian Party. Following another overwhelming election victory, the SAP organised a meeting in 1938 of representatives of business, trade unions, farmers, and the government. That gathering, in the resort town of Saltsjöbaden, launched an era of co-operative labour relations that would defi ne the Swedish economy for decades.

A key pillar of the Swedish social-democratic compact was centralised wage setting. Under the Rehn-Meidner model (so named for two contemporary Swedish economists), trade unions and business associations negotiated industry-wide wages, and the state maintained active labour-market and social-welfare policies, while also investing in worker training and public education. The result was signifi cant

wage compression: all workers doing the same job were paid the same wage, regardless of their skill level or their fi rm’s profi tability.

Far from socialising the means of production, this system supported the market economy, because it allowed productive fi rms to fl ourish, invest, and expand at the expense of their less competitive rivals. With wages set at the industry level, a fi rm that increased its productivity could keep the resulting rewards (profi ts). Not surprisingly, Swedish productivity under this system grew steadily, and Swedish fi rms became highly competitive in export markets. Meanwhile, similar institutions developed in other Nordic countries – in some telling cases introduced not by socialists or social democrats but by center-right governments.

Social democracy, broadly construed, became the foundation of post-war prosperity everywhere in the industrialised world. That includes the United States, where the New Deal and subsequent reforms strengthened or introduced important components of the social-democratic compact, including collective bargaining, social welfare policies, and public education.

When intellectual and political currents deviated from the market-based social-democratic compact, things generally didn’t work out too well. Starting in the late 1960s, Swedish and Danish trade unions, under the infl uence of more radical left-wing forces, embraced democratic socialism and started demanding economic democracy and direct control of profi ts. In Sweden, this led to intense

negotiations with businesses and the introduction of “wage earner funds,” whereby portions of corporate profi ts (usually in the form of new stock issues) would be put into company-level funds for the workers. This change destroyed the co-operative agreement between businesses and unions, and distorted the incentives that had previously driven investment and productivity growth. By the early 1990s, the system’s fl aws had become apparent, and it was duly abandoned.

When free-market intellectual currents led to rightward deviations from the social-democratic compact, the results were just as bad. Inequality widened amid equally tepid productivity performance, while social safety nets were left in tatters.

What is needed, then, is not market fundamentalism or democratic socialism, but social democracy. The US needs eff ective regulation to rein in concentrated market power. Workers need a greater voice, and public services and the safety net need to be strengthened. Last but not least, the US needs a new technology policy to ensure that the trajectory of economic development is in everyone’s interest.

None of this can be achieved by socialising fi rms, especially in an age of globalisation and technology-led companies. The market must be regulated, not sidelined. – Project Syndicate

Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT, is co-author (with James A. Robinson) of The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty.


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CHAIRMANAbdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFFaisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing EditorK T Chacko

Guardiola’s plans hit by City’s European ban

Manchester City’s two-year ban from European football could undermine manager Pep Guardiola’s attempt to rebuild the team after a disappointing failure to compete with Liverpool in the Premier League title race this season.

Until UEFA handed out its ban on Friday citing breaches of its Financial Fair Play regulations, the focus at City was on how they might strengthen their squad to make a stronger bid next season.

If the club cannot off er players European competition, however, they may fi nd it harder to attract the talent Guardiola needs to catch up with Liverpool.

Liverpool could win the title this term as early as next month. They currently lead the Premier League by a massive 22 points from second-placed City, winners of the past two Premier League titles.

City are still in contention in this year’s Champions League and face a two-legged tie with Real Madrid in this month’s last 16 games.

But regardless of how they fare this campaign, their midterm future in European football looks set to be decided by lawyers and judges.

The biggest immediate question mark is over the future of Guardiola himself.

The Spaniard has made no secret of his burning desire to triumph in the Champions League — something he has hasn’t managed since his 2011 victory with former club Barcelona.

If he doesn’t achieve that this season and is barred from even attempting it for two years, that will be a major blow to the coach whose contract at City runs out at the end of next season.

There has already been speculation about whether Guardiola will extend his contract, take a break, or take on

a new challenge.One factor that could keep him in Manchester is

Guardiola’s good personal relationship with City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, who gave him his chance in management at Barcelona, and with City CEO Ferran Soriano, another ex-Barca man.

On top of that, Guardiola may feel a sense of responsibility to Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the City chairman and the man behind the club’s fi nancial power.

Even if Guardiola feels it would be wrong to jump ship, however, his players may not feel the same way.

Top midfi elder Kevin De Bruyne is 28 and time is ticking on his chances of winning the Champions League. Raheem Sterling is at the peak of his career at 25 and could be the kind of player other clubs would target.

City may fi nd themselves turning from the hunter to the hunted in the transfer market — especially if the charisma and prestige of Guardiola were to no longer be a factor.

For now, City’s spending will be focused on their legal team as they take the fi ght to UEFA and attempt to get the ban overturned or substantially reduced.

With City currently the only English team that look capable or rivalling Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool, the shape of the Premier League in the coming years may well be decided in a courtroom in Lausanne.

City are still in contention in this year’s Champions League and face a two-legged tie with Real Madrid in this month’s last 16 games

Social democracy beats democratic socialism

Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders waves to supporters at the SNHU Field House in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday night.

By Alexandra Ulmer and Zeba Siddiqui Mumbai/New Delhi

When artist Rachita Taneja heads out to protest in New Delhi, she covers her face with a pollution

mask, a hoodie or a scarf to reduce the risk of being identifi ed by police facial recognition software.

Police in the Indian capital and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh — both hotbeds of dissent — have used the technology during protests that have raged since mid-December against a new citizenship law that critics say marginalises Muslims.

Activists are worried about insuffi cient regulation around the new technology, amid what they say is a crackdown on dissent under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist agenda has gathered pace since his re-election in May.

“I do not know what they are going to do with my data,” said Taneja, 28, who created a popular online cartoon about cheap ways for protesters to hide their faces. “We need to protect ourselves, given how this government cracks down.”

Critics also accuse authorities of secrecy — highlighting, for instance, that the software’s use during Delhi protests was fi rst revealed by the Indian Express newspaper.

India’s home ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on facial recognition technology.

Modi’s government has rejected accusations of abuse during

demonstrations, and accused some protesters of stoking violence.

A spokesman for his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had no immediate comment on concerns over the use of the technology and referred questions to the government.

But police said worries about facial recognition were unwarranted.

“I’m only catching targeted people,” said Rajan Bhagat, a deputy commissioner of police at Delhi’s Crime Records Offi ce. “We don’t have any protesters’ data, nor do we plan to store it.”

He declined to give details of potential arrests, however.

When it comes to surveillance, India trails far behind neighbouring China.

New Delhi, for example, has about 0.9 CCTV cameras for every 100 people, versus about 11.3 per 100 in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai, a 2019 report by PreciseSecurity.com showed.

The Delhi police use Indian startup Innefu Labs’ facial recognition software AI Vision, which also includes gait and body analysis.

“If somebody is throwing stones at a police offi cer, doesn’t he have a right to take a video and identify him?” said Innefu co-founder Tarun Wig, 36.

Police in about 10 Indian states use Innefu products, Wig said.

Financial fraud analytics are among the services provided by Innefu, which published a social media analysis in January that concluded much criticism of the new citizenship law came from archenemy Pakistan to “destabilise the harmony” of India.

The company is representative of homegrown artifi cial intelligence

startups tapping into booming demand for facial biometrics in India, in part thanks to their testing on Indian faces and more aff ordable prices.

A few established foreign fi rms, such as Japanese telecommunications and IT giant NEC Corp, also operate in India, where the market is expected to grow from about $700mn in 2018 to more than $4bn by 2024, TechSci Research said in a report.

Facial recognition helped police in Uttar Pradesh, home to 220mn people, detain a “handful” of the more than 1,100 people arrested for alleged links to violence during protests, said O P Singh, its police chief who retired last month.

Singh gave no details but said the technology helped cut the numbers of wrongful arrests and highlighted the state’s extensive database of more than 550,000 “criminals”. Rights groups have decried what they call excessive force in Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of representatives in parliament and is governed by hardline Hindu priest and Modi ally Yogi Adityanath.

The state says tough policies have restored order.

Startup Staqu is supplying its product, the Police Artifi cial Intelligence System, to police in eight states, including Uttar Pradesh, says

the fi rm’s co-founder, Atul Rai.Fears of mass surveillance in India

were exaggerated, said Rai, 30, citing diffi culties in collecting information because of India’s large population of 1.3bn.

But there was a need for regulation to avoid potential problems, he added.

Police should have clear rules on use of facial recognition technology and there should be disclosure of the software’s audits and algorithms, the non-profi t Internet Freedom Foundation says.

“What India is seeing is a kind of personal data Wild West,” said its executive director Apar Gupta.

Law enforcement across India

could soon be using facial recognition technology.

Modi’s government is seeking bids to create a nationwide database, the National Automated Facial Recognition System, to help match images captured from CCTV cameras with existing databases, including those of passport and police authorities.

A foreign fi rm is expected to win the contract, since the bid terms require fi rms’ algorithms to be evaluated by the United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Both Innefu and Staqu said they were not bidding.

Japanese fi rm NEC’s India subsidiary helped develop the Aadhaar biometrics identity system and supplies facial recognition technology to law enforcement in the diamond industry hub of Surat in western Gujarat state.

The software has not been used during protests, however, the city’s police commissioner, R B Brahmbhatt, told Reuters.

NEC spokesman Shinya Hashizume declined to comment on whether the company was bidding to build the nationwide database.

The system will boost police effi ciency, says the National Crime Records Bureau, which launched the tender that closes at the end of March.

But critics say it puts India on the path to China-style mass surveillance.

Worried about being identifi ed, a 21-year-old Muslim protester in New Delhi has adopted the pseudonym Moosa Ali and sometimes covers his face with handkerchiefs.

“We don’t know enough about these things, but we are trying to take some precautions,” he said. – Reuters

COMMENT

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 18, 2020 23

Unequal cities bear the brunt of deadly disease outbreaks

Reversing versus preventing heart disease

By Rina ChandranBangkok

As the Chinese city of Wu-han, the epicentre of the new coronavirus, becomes the latest urban centre to

face a deadly disease outbreak, city planners and physicians say such densely packed hubs are particularly vulnerable and may need a redesign.

Wuhan, a city of about 11mn, has been under virtual lockdown for over three weeks.

More than 1,400 people on the mainland have died, according to authorities.

The outbreak has brought to mind another deadly epidemic, Sars, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed more than 770 people between 2002 and 2003.

That disease’s epicentre was a housing estate in Hong Kong, amongst the most densely populated and unequal cities in the world.

With more than two-thirds of the global population forecast to live in urban areas by 2050, cities need to be designed for good health, said Sreeja Nair, a policy researcher at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) in Singapore.

“While urban living offers prospects of better economic opportunities and infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, the way cities densify and expand plays a huge role in the spread of infectious diseases,” she said.

Wealth inequality in cities also affects their vulnerability and capacity in terms of preparedness and response, Nair told the

Thomson Reuters Foundation.“This skew on account of

socio-economic disparities and governance puts some parts of the population at higher risk,” including those lacking access to proper housing, healthcare and basic utilities such as water and sanitation, she said.

Cities have long been magnets for people seeking economic opportunities and a better quality of life.

But these areas with people living in close proximity have also enabled the fast spread of disease, from bubonic plague in the Middle Ages to bird flu, Sars and the novel coronavirus.

Although urban residents generally have better health than rural populations, the risks are distributed unequally, with most of the burden falling on vulnerable segments such as slum dwellers, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO has identified urbanisation as one of the key challenges for public health in the 21st century, even as it notes municipal agencies often implement health policies first and act more quickly than federal bodies in emergencies.

The urban environment is linked to a large number of noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, heart disease and pulmonary disease, as well as communicable diseases such as tuberculosis from crowding and poor ventilation, and waterborne and vector-borne diseases such as dengue, according to the WHO.

Urban areas also have more points

of risk because of contact between humans and animals, said David Heymann, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

That includes areas with rodents, live domestic and wild animal markets, and suburban areas where animals are raised in industrial agricultural facilities, said Heymann, a former executive director at WHO where he led the response to Sars.

“Urban areas are unique and must develop solutions in addition to strong disease detection and response systems to rapidly control emerging infections,” he said.

The proliferation of drug-resistant infections and the myriad methods of transmission can overwhelm even the cleanest and wealthiest of cities.

Singapore, among the world’s best-planned cities but also among the most connected, has reported nearly 60 coronavirus cases, one of the highest tallies outside China.

Modern cities are better able to leverage technology to strengthen monitoring of cases and populations at risk, and create strong communication channels for building awareness and avoiding panic among residents, said Nair at LKYCIC.

But in addition, cities need good design and infrastructure, noted Matt Benson, programme director at Think City, a government-backed urban regeneration agency in Malaysia.

“More than density, what facilitates the spread of diseases in cities is human behaviour.

You can have a neighbourhood of low density, but if no one picks

up their waste that could lead to a dengue outbreak,” he said.

Planners should focus on building “20-minute cities”, or villages within the city, where one can get to their job, the doctor or their friends all within 20 minutes, he said.

Melbourne is already testing such neighbourhoods where most daily needs are within a 20-minute walk, bike ride or public transport commute.

And Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is aiming for the “quarter-hour city” to reduce pollution and improve the quality of life.

These high-density areas create greater social cohesion and bring more economic and environmental benefits, said Anjali Mahendra, research director at the World Resources Institute’s Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities in Washington, DC.

What stops such areas from becoming overcrowded environments where disease transmission can be high is the availability of good quality physical infrastructure, with planning standards that promote liveability for all, she said.

Informal settlements in cities in developing countries have particular trouble accessing such services, she added.

“Cities represent places of innovation, amenities, and opportunity, so we continue to see cities grow,” Mahendra said.

“But our urban institutions should function such that the economic benefits of cities, and the value created, are more equitably shared.” – Thomson Reuters Foundation

Mayo Clinic News Network

Regular exercise, a heart-healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and not smok-ing can help prevent heart

disease. But is there anything that you can do to reverse it?

Yes, in certain cases, says Dr

Stephen Kopecky, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist.

“The heart disease you can reverse is the narrowing of the arteries in the heart,” says Dr Kopecky.

He says even if you have known heart disease, you can improve your risk factors for developing blockages that cause heart attack. And while lifestyle changes won’t open an artery

if it’s already blocked by calcifi cation, they can help prevent other blockages from happening.

“Once you do things like stop smoking, take care of your diabetes, take care of blood pressure, the progression stops,” says Dr Kopecky.

Making changes isn’t easy and it takes some time to see improvements.

Dr Kopecky says to start small. Replace a bag of chips with an apple and build from there. Because, he says, it’s worth it.

“There are so many good benefi ts to lifestyle in addition to just helping your heart. It also helps reduce Alzheimer’s disease, almost all cancers and arthritis. A lot of good things happen,” says Dr Kopecky.

India’s use of facial recognition tech during protests causes stir

In this file photo taken on January 6, protesters hold placards as they listen to speakers in the Shaheen Bagh, which has been blocked off by demonstrators protesting against the new citizenship law, near the Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi.

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Qatar Pro Wrestling’s (QPW) second edition of Super Slam has fi nally

arrived in Qatar, scheduled to be held at the Lusail Sports Arena on February 21.

A special pre-event Meet and Greet will take place at the Birds Island, Angry Birds World, Doha Festival City (DHFC), at 6pm on February 20 for fans to meet their favourite pro-wrestling super-stars live.

Five-hundred fans are invited to Doha Festival City, the plati-num sponsor for the QPW event, to welcome the world wrestling legends - including iconic names such as Kevin Nash, Mark Henry, Alberto del Rio, Brian Cage and Nzo. At Birds Island, Angry Birds World, fans will get to see and hear from these pro-wrestling legends fi rst-hand. Registration for the pre-event exclusive Meet and Greet at Angry Birds World opened at 4pm yesterday at the Doha Festival City Sports Booth in Angry Birds World.

Ali Ahmad al-Marafi , chair-man of QPW, said: “Super Slam II is going to be a memorable and historic event. The Meet and Greet is our ‘thank you’ to the amazing fans who have been so excited about this fantastic wrestling event. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet their favourite stars up-close and live!”

Robert Hall, general manager of Doha Festival City, added: “We are thrilled to welcome the world

wrestling superstars to Festival City. As the one and only choice for entertainment in Qatar, we are keen on partnering with key stake-holders to bring the people of Doha unique and unparalleled experi-ences. I’d like to invite everyone to join us to meet their favourite pro-wrestlers at Doha Festival City, what an experience!”

Considered to be the biggest gathering of professional wres-tlers outside of the US, Super Slam II is expecting an exciting line-up of international wrestlers featur-ing world legends Eric Bischoff , The Great Khali, Kevin Nash,

Mark Henry, ‘Road Warrior’ Ani-mal as well as favourites Alberto del Rio, Rob Van Dam, PJ Black, Brian Cage, Nzo, Matt Sydal, Chris Raaber, Alofa, Caprice Coleman, Brian Pillman Jr, Apolo, Carlito, Chris Masters, Matt Cross, Johnny Storm, Jody Fleisch, Apolo Jr, Dos Caras, White Eagle, Tristan Archer and Mil Muertes, a press state-ment noted.

Super Slam II will see the world’s greatest pro-wrestlers compete for four champion-ship title matches: the QPW Tag Team, QPW King of Ladder, QPW Middle East and QPW World Ti-

tles. The current QPW World Ti-tle Championship holder is the Mexican-American professional wrestler, Alberto del Rio.

Tickets are “selling out fast” and can be purchased online via the QPW-wrestling.com web-site or from the dedicated ticket-ing booth at Doha Festival City, starting from QR70 — bronze ticket, QR150 — silver, QR250 — gold, QR500 — platinum, and the VVIP pass for QR1,000, the statement notes.

Super Slam II will also be play-ing live on Fite TV for a subscrip-tion fee for those who would like to watch it from home.

Qatar Pro Wrestling has part-nered with Doha Festival City as Platinum Sponsor and Dusit Doha Hotel, the fi ve-star luxury property located in West Bay, as the Hospitality Partner for this exclusive event.

The media partners are Gulf Times as the Newspaper Partner, Qabayan Radio as the exclusive Fil-ipino Radio Partner and ILoveQa-tar as the Offi cial Digital Partner, while Qatar Living, QL Lifestyle, WhatsUpDoha and Marhaba are the Digital Media Partners.

Qatar Pro Wrestling is the fi rst and only professional wrestling association in the Middle East. Founded in 2013 in Doha, QPW brings superstar wrestlers from around the world to premiere in incredible wrestling shows with large-scale productions throughout the Arab world, the statement adds.


QATAR

Pro-wrestling fans invited to meet andgreet stars at DHFC

Foggy conditions were again experienced in Doha and other places early in the morning yesterday (pictured). A tweet by the Qatar Met department said the chances of misty/foggy conditions were expected to continue until tomorrow, urging people to “take extra care and stay tuned for latest updates”. Poor visibility (2km or less) is expected in some places due to misty to foggy conditions in the early hours today, the forecast said, adding that similar conditions are likely off shore too. PICTURE: Sajin Orma

Foggy conditions continue

Al Wasmi Garden Fest begins today

The Al Wasmi Garden Fes-tival will begin at Katara – the Cultural Village

today, continuing until Febru-ary 22.

Over fi ve days, the South Ka-tara Hills will host “a beauti-ful and rich bouquet of distin-guished cultural, entertainment and artistic activities, as it will be an opportunity for visitors to discover the luxurious designs of various forms of gardens, including international garden designs from Britain, France, Japan, India and Qatar,” Katara has said in a press statement.

The Al Wasmi Garden Fes-tival will also off er a variety of performances, including those inspired by the countries rep-resented by the international parks in the Green Zone. A range of activities and attractions

for the whole family have been planned as part of the festival, including fl oral art and craft workshops, relaxation areas and live entertainment. In addition to the Qatar Airways French Garden, other gardens will in-clude the Arabic Falaj Garden (Qatari Garden), Japanese Gar-den, English Garden and the In-dian Garden, among others.

Among the entertainment shows that will be presented at the event are ‘Dina’s Magic Gar-den Show’, ‘Peter Rabbit’, ‘Al-ice in the English Rose Garden’, ‘Jungle Book’, and ‘Beauty and the Beast’. This will take place at various times.

The Art Garden is dedicated to various types of arts, such as graffi ti and caricature, and where artists will engage in live drawing in front of the audi-

ence. The games area will be open in two periods, fi rst from 10am-1pm and then from 4pm-9pm.

In addition to the many com-petitions and workshops held in a charming natural setting, key attractions at the event include a fl ower workshop, textile work-shop, canopy colouring work-shop, peacock painting, henna and a fl ower making workshop, the statement notes.

Other activities including pottery, fl ower planting, draw-ing on rocks and fl ower arrange-ments. A major highlight of the show will be the daytime fi re-works on February 21 and 22 at 4pm. The festival’s sponsors are Qatar National Tourism Council (offi cial sponsor), Qatar Airways (offi cial sponsor) and Ooredoo (silver sponsor).

Documents

Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition to open on Feb 24