BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 21

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Volume 21 | Number 7062 | 2 RiyalsSaturday 4 February 2017 | 7 Jumada I 1438

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Washington

AP

The Trump administration yesterday imposed sanctions on 13 people and a dozen

companies in response to Iran's recent ballistic missile test, increas-ing pressure on Tehran without directly undercutting a landmark nuclear deal with the country.

Those targeted by the Treasury Department's action include various agents, com-panies and associates involved in procuring ballistic missile technology for Iran. Iranians, Lebanese, Chinese and Emir-ati individuals and companies also are now blacklisted from doing any business in the

United States or with Ameri-can citizens.

"Iran's continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide and to the United States," John E Smith, the Treasury Department's act-ing sanctions chief, said in a statement.

"We will continue to actively apply all available tools, includ-ing financial sanctions, to address this behaviour," Smith said. The sanctions are the first against Iran in Donald Trump's new presidency, reflecting his desire to take a tougher stance toward Tehran. Throughout his campaign, Trump accused the

Obama administration of being weak on Iran and vowed to crack down if elected. In a tweet last morning, Trump said: "Iran is playing with fire — they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me."

None of the new sanctions appear to reverse the Obama administration's suspension of sanctions as part of the 2015 nuclear deal. Nevertheless, the action will almost surely increase tensions with Iran.

The Islamic republic has insisted that new sanctions vio-late the deal and that it has the right to conduct ballistic missile tests now that its nuclear program has been sharply curtailed.

→ See also page 3 & 9

Irfan Bukhari The Peninsula

Weather, wind and chill remained the talk of the town yesterday as

the mercury dipped to as low as nine degrees Celsius in parts of the country halting a number of outdoor activities including the opening of weekly MIA bazaar.

Cold weather accompanied by strong winds and dust forced majority of residents to stay indoors while some people enjoyed the chilly weekend with warm snacks and ginger-infused karak. The cold spell is due to Siberian high pressure accompa-nied by strong winds and is expected to last until tomorrow.

“We postponed our earlier picnic plan of visiting Katara due to this chilly weather. The exposure of kids to this cold weather is not appropriate,” said Faisal, a resident of Najma.

Qatar Meteorology Depart-ment also spent a busy yesterday and kept on updat-ing residents on hour-to-hour weather conditions through its social media pages. In the morning when offshore wind-speed reached 45 knots and wave height was 10-14 feet, the department advised people to avoid maritime activities.

The wind-chill factor made the weather feel much colder particularly for the pedestrians.

“I usually go to my office by foot but due to this gusty and dusty weather I hired a cab today to reach office,” said an employee of a hypermarket. People were wrapped in warm-clothes, muf-flers etc during Friday prayers.

Owing to harsh weather, majority of residents cancelled their outdoor recreational trips temporarily bringing disappoint-ment for dhow workers at Corniche. This weekend, MIA bazaar organisers announced that there would be no business-activ-ity due to harsh, cold weather but

the canopy-less bazaar would be open next Friday.

The weather will remain cold in the daytime today with some clouds and cold by night. The department has also fore-casted strong winds to the Northern areas. North-westerly wind will be blowing at a speed ranging from 10-18 knots reach-ing 22 knots to Northern areas according to forecasters. The minimum temperature in the country today will be 11 degrees Celsius and maximum 19 degrees. From tomorrow,

weather will go mild in the day-time. A salesman of tea shop at Old Airport Road said that the sales of sizzling karak had increased since the beginning of cold spell. “Along karak, peo-ple are also placing orders of hot snacks,” he added.

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment also asked win-ter campers, livestock breeders and general public to take care of “cold, unstable” weather. It also advised people to remain in con-tact with official authorities for latest weather updates.

Chill brings outdoor life to a standstill

US sanctions Iran after missile test

Sanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

The Ministry of Munic-i p a l i t y a n d Environment’s various initiatives have bene-fitted farmers to get

more money by selling their pro-duce directly to the customers.

The farmers are now able to sell over 50 percent of their vegetables directly to the cus-tomers after the Ministry opened ‘farmers' market’. Farmers are able to get upto QR4 per box more by directly selling vegetables through these markets. Earlier farmers were selling their produce through auction at central market.

Many major shopping com-plexes have signed contract with the Ministry to take very marginal profit on sale of local vegetables as part of the initi-ative to support the farmers.

Separate shelves are set up at shopping complexes to showcase premium quality of vegetables which has helped farmers to get good profits.

To promote local produce,

the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has taken several initiatives. Three farmers' mar-kets located at Al Mazrouah, near Umm Salal, Al Khor-Dha-khira and Al Wakrah are currently open for farmers to sell their products directly to the customers without any mid-dlemen or brokers.

The Mahasel festival in Katara is also featuring fresh produce from local farms.

→ Continued on page 2

Farmers sell over 50% of produce directly

Date palms on the Corniche sway in the dusty breeze as the mercury dipped to nine degrees Celsius in parts of the country, yesterday.Pic: Baher Amin/The Peninsula

People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, in New York, yesterday.

Many major shopping complexes have signed contracts with the Ministry to take a very marginal profit on sale of local vegetables as part of an initiative to support farmers.

Hussey warns Aussies against sledging Kohli

Amazon shares dip as revenue

misses estimates

02 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017HOME

Wathnan Mall is celebrating its 6th anniversary along with Masskar hypermarket & Zarabi department store. The celebrations were inaugurated on February 1, jointly by the management of Wathnan Mall and Masskar Group, by cutting an 11-metre Kunafa (Traditional Arabic sweet). This has become the longest Kunafa made in Qatar, breaking the record made by them during the last anniversary. The celebrations will continue until Monday.

Wathnan Mall marks 6th anniversary

Amna Pervaiz RaoThe Peninsula

Traders in the famous Souq Al Dira and Souq Asiri in Doha claim to have lost business due to a lack of parking

facilities. Shops at Souq Al Dira and Souq Asiri situated near the Al Ahmed Street area have seen a sharp fall in the number of cus-tomers during the past several years.

“There is a huge shortage of parking slots around this souq area. Because of this, many of our customers are avoiding this souq and are attracted to shops selling ‘Readymade Garments’. Some of our long-time Qatari customers find it difficult to park far away and walk to the shop. It has affected our sales,” Kamil Yousaf, the owner of Al Massar textile store located in Souq Al Dira, told The Peninsula.

A customer at Souq Al Dira said, “Parking is the main issue here and we have to walk a lot. We regularly buy from this souq because we like it. It’s very easy to bargain and purchase the items you like the most.”

Souq Al Dira is the most col-ourful souq in Doha with an ultimate choice of textile shops.

Here, customers can find differ-ent varieties of organza sold between QR 150 and QR450 per metre. Pure silks from Italy and Korea are sold between QR120 and QR320 per metre.

Lace with beaded work is being sold at QR500 and some varieties would cost QR1,000 per metre, while a metre of plain lace could be bought for between QR150 and QR300. Tailor-made abayas are also sold at reasona-ble prices at Al Dira Souq.

Zakir Hussain, a salesman at Al Zaini Perfume shop located in Al Jabor Center, said, “ Compared to malls, we sell perfumes at very affordable prices. Malls keep a huge profit. We get a profit of only QR20 or QR30. ‘Paco Rab-anne 1 Million For Men’ perfume is sold at QR395 at different malls but here we sell it at QR220. But still we don’t get enough custom-ers, they don’t like to park far and walk here."

Shamiya, a shop selling uni-forms located in Al Jabor Center, has also been hit due to lack of parking facilities in the area near Souq Al Dira and Souq Asiri.

Muhammad Muneeb, a sales-man at Al Shamiya, said, “We sell uniforms for maids, shoes and scarves. We have some regular

customers who are coming here for more than ten years. But cus-tomers complain a lot about lack of parking facilities around the area. Our monthly income is around QR10,000 which is not enough, but we manage the expenses."

Jeena, a regular customer at

Souq Asiri, said, “I come here usually in the mornings and enjoy shopping. The parking issue is there since 2014, but I continue to come here because of the wide selection available for a reasonable price. If park-ing issues gets resolved this is one of the best places to shop.”

Sharp fall in business at

Al Dira and Asiri souqs

Traders at Souq Al Dira waiting for customers.

Raynald C RiveraThe Peninsula

Some Souq Waqif visitors braved the cold yesterday to take advantage of the vari-

ous fun activities on the last day of its annual Spring Festival.

Compared to the previous Fridays at the festival, however, not many people thronged the fair because of the cold temper-atures combined with dusty wind which prevailed through-out the day.

The thrill rides which usu-ally witness huge crowds did not see long queues when the amusement park at Al Ahmed Square opened at 4pm yester-day. For some festival-goers, however, the excitement of try-ing the thrill rides overcame the chilly weather.

“I have always wanted to try this ride since the festival started but did not have the courage, so I have decided to take the ride today since it is the last day, and

the feeling was great,” said Ronel, after taking the Ranger, an exhilarating pendulum ride.

Nine family and thrill rides such as Extreme Swing, Crazy Frog, Caterpillar and Crazy Fire were available at the amuse-ment park, which has become one of the major highlights of the festival.

Other features included the Dolphin Show, parades of street performers, musicians and acro-bats, a Kids’ Show at the Abdul Aziz Nasser Theatre, and nightly concerts featuring renowned Arab singers.

In addition, Souq Waqif Art Centre also hosted live demon-strations and workshops by artists in which saw many young participants. “It is cold but my children enjoyed the rides, ” said Abdullah, one of the visitors who came with his family to stop by before they headed back to Saudi Arabia.

He said they came to take advantage of the promotions for

the inaugural Shop Qatar and happened to know of the activi-ties in Souq Waqif which has been one of their favourite spots to visit whenever they come to Qatar.

The 15-day Souq Waqif fes-tivities, which were held simultaneously with Old Souq Al Wakrah’s Spring festival, was organized in parallel with the month-long Shop Qatar festival which comprises promotions and raffle draws combined with entertainment and activities in malls and other venues.

Shop Qatar’s outdoor activ-ities continue until tomorrow at the Hotel Park in front of Sher-aton Doha Hotel where food carts and trucks offer a wide array of snacks along with entertainment and fireworks display.

The Doha Comedy Festival and Broadway musical Cats, which both run until tonight, also staged successful shows at Qatar National Convention Center yesterday.

Mesaieed Waste Treatment Centrehas capacity of 2,300 tonnesSidi MohamedThe Peninsula

The Waste Treatment Center in Mesaieed has the capacity to treat about 2,300 tonnes of household,

agricultural and slaughter house wastes per day.

The Waste Treatment Cen-tre, under the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, is one of the largest such spe-cialized centrs in the Middle East, said a magazine of the ministry .

It was established over three square kilometers near Mesaieed Industrial Zone, and designed to meet all environ-mental safety standards. The

Minister of Municipality and Environment recently visited the facility.

The Center’s importance lies in its modern and safe treatment of wastes, which are trans-formed into usable materials.

Also, the Center’s operations include treatment of buildings waste by recycling them into materials for different uses. At the Center, waste is distributed as per its type and organic waste is discharged at the bunker to be treated according to the adopted methods.

From an economic perspec-tive, operating the Center and expulsion stations by the State or the private sector will accom-modate a large number of local and foreign workforce,

in addition to the treatment operations with estimated organic fertilizers of about 150,000 tonnes.

The Center seeks to find a complete solution for the prob-lem of household wastes in such way that a trivial percentage (3-5%) shall remain in the form of fly ash, beside making use of garbage for the production of fer-tilizers and energy at a rate of 55 MW, which is sufficient to oper-ate the Center while the surplus is added to the public network.

All processes are done inside covered sites, something which reduces the emission of bad odour. Even expulsion stations have been designed to be promptly cleaned from sedi-ments and remnants in cars.

→ Continued from page 1“We have started supplying

vegetables to City Center on a daily basis,” Mohamad Iqbal, a salesman at an outlet in Al Maz-rouah, told The Peninsula.

“We showcase our produce in Katara, Al Mazrouah and Al Khor during three days from Thursday to Saturday to sell directly to the consumers. We have now engaged four trucks to supply our products to these markets,”

“The peak season is going on

in Qatar and our production has hit about 1,600 boxes in a day. Less than 800 boxes of vegeta-bles go to the auction at Doha Central Market. Our direct sale increases significantly during weekend, when farmers' mar-ket opens. We sell about 2,100 boxes vegetables at three direct farmers markets -- Katara, Al Mazrouah and Al Khor. Our maximum direct sale happens at Al Mazrouah ,” said Iqbal. "We get extra QR4 to QR5 per boxe in direct sale compared to those

in auction," he added.“We are in peak season now

and our production of vegeta-bles reached about 1,500 boxes per day. We are also supplying to major outlets like Lulu, said Shairbaz, an employee of a farm in Umm Qarn. We see the dif-ferences in the prices upto QR4 per box”, Shairbaz.

Another farmer, Mohamad Nazim, added, “We produce about 1,000 boxes in a day. We harvest more at weekend to sell directly to the customers at

farmer’s markets, said Mohamad Nazim, representative of a farm in Jimailiya.

Al Mazrouah attracted huge customers of vegetables because of low prices. “My employer called me in the morning when he received the daily price list of the vegetables released by the |Ministry. He compared the veg-etables’ prices of Al Mazrouah with those sold in auction and he asked me give a discount QR2 to QR3 per boxes compared prices stated in the list.

Low prices help boost direct sales to customers Sudanese President praises Qatar's supportQNA

Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir praised Qatar's continuous economic sup-

port to Sudan which plays a significant role in the country's security, stability and general development.

During the inauguration of electricity production at Upper Atbara and Setit Dam Complex, eastern Sudan, Al Bashir said the

Qatari leadership stood by Sudan in all regional and international forums, saying that the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur is a great example of Arab support to Sudan extending in all aspects. The Sudanese President said that his country will continue to push forward with implementing major sustainable development projects for the sake of food security and will take use of its resources to achieve that goal.

Parking shortage

Many regular customers staying away as there is a shortage of parking slots around the souq area.

Lace with beaded work is being sold at QR500 and some varieties would cost QR1,000 per metre.

Children enjoy Caterpillar ride at Al Ahmed Square on the last day of Souq Waqif Spring Festival yesterday. Pic: Raynald C Rivera / The Peninsula

Spring Festival concludes

03SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Tehran

AFP

Iran's foreign minister said yesterday that his country will "never initiate a war", despite facing threats, in reference to a series of US

warnings over its testing of missiles.

Tehran was "unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. We'll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence," Mohammad Javad Zarif said on his official Twit-ter account. "We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defence. Let us see if any of those who com-plain can make the same statement," the Iranian minis-ter wrote.

His posts came after US President Donald Trump used his Twitter account to accuse Iran of "playing with fire".

On Thursday, Trump said "nothing is off the table" when a journalist asked him whether military action against Iran was an option. That came only hours after Trump tweeted that he was putting Iran "on notice" fol-lowing Sunday's missile test.

Iran has confirmed it tested a ballistic missile, but denied that it violated the terms of a UN Security Council resolution on its nuclear programme.

It denounced the Trump administration's warnings as "baseless" and "provocative".

Yesterday, Iran's foreign ministry said it had refused visas for US athletes due to compete in a wrestling tourna-ment in the country in response to Trump's travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations. "Con-sidering the policies adopted by the new US administration, the foreign ministry was inevitably forced to refuse travel by the US wrestling team to Iran," ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

The team had been due to take part in the event in west-ern Iran on February 16 and 17.

Luanda

AFP

Veteran Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos announced yesterday he

will not run in August elections, signalling the end to 37 years in power and naming his defence minister as the candidate to suc-ceed him.

The autocratic 74-year-old has been the oil-rich country's president since September 1979, making him Africa's second-longest serving leader -- one month short of Equatorial Guin-ea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

His rule has seen the end of civil war and an investment boom, but has also been criti-cised as secretive and corrupt, with Angola's citizens suffering dire poverty as his family

became hugely wealthy. Dos Santos told a meeting of the rul-ing MPLA party in Luanda that "the party approved the name of the candidate heading the list in the August elections as (Defence Minister) Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco".

Lourenco, a former general, emerged as the probable next president late last year at another meeting of the MPLA (People's Movement for the Lib-eration of Angola).

The party -- which faces no real political opposition -- recently issued a statement denying reports that Dos San-tos was seriously ill.

He will remain a senior fig-ure in the party, and is likely to retain some power over the gov-ernment that he has controlled for decades.

After constitutional changes in 2010, Angola does not directly elect a president, but the leader of the winning party automati-cally becomes head of state.

Despite Lourenco being a party loyalist, the end of Dos Santos's regime will mark a new era for a country largely closed off to the outside world.

The president has been rarely seen in public but he has exercised personal authority over all branches of govern-ment, politics, media and business. "The transition proc-ess has now been formalised (but) Dos Santos remaining in the party allows him to still influence the transition and pro-tect his legacies," Alex Vines, director of the Africa Pro-gramme at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said.

Angolan Defence Minister Joao Lourenco (left) and President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos (right) sing the party anthem during a meeting to decide on the candidates list for the upcoming presidential elections, yesterday.

Angola President Dos Santos to step down after 37 years

We'll never initiate war: Iran minister

Iran refuses visas

"We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defence. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement," the Iranian minister wrote.

Iran refused visas for US athletes due to compete in a wrestling tournament in the country in response to Trump's travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations.

Aden

AFP

Al Qaeda in Yemen over-ran three southern towns just days after a

deadly US raid targeting its commanders, before with-drawing from two of them yesterday, officials said.

The jihadists' entry into the Abyan province towns of Loder, Shaqra and Ahwar came as the White House defended Sunday's raid on an Al Qaeda compound as a "success", even though mul-tiple civilians and a Navy SEAL were killed.

"The Al Qaeda fighters withdrew from Loder and Shaqra after protest demon-strations by residents," a local government official said.

"Residents made clear during the protests that they were ready to take up arms if necessary." The jihadists' entry into the two towns on Thursday evening was helped by a pullout by government forces angry over the late payment of their wages. "Our forces are also angry that they have not been provided with the weapons and other equip-ment to confront the jihadists, who have been stepping up their armed attacks," the offi-cial said.

Al Qaeda fighters set up roadblocks around the towns and blew up two security service buildings. Al Qaeda has taken advantage of nearly two years of fighting between government forces and Shia rebels who control the capi-tal Sanaa to entrench its presence in the south.

HARARE: Zimbabwean protest leader Evan Mawarire was remanded in custody by a court in Harare yesterday after police arrested him on charges of subverting the government and incit-ing public violence. Mawarire, an evangelical pastor, started the popular "This Flag" protest movement last year, becoming a figure-head of opposition to veteran President Robert Mugabe's regime.

He was detained at Harare airport as he returned to the coun-try on Wednesday after fleeing in July in fear for his life when Mugabe publicly denounced him. Magistrate Elisha Singano remanded Mawarire in custody until February 17 and said he could apply for bail at the high court. The prosecutor asked the court for Mawarire to be held in custody as the police finalise investigations.

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court yesterday ordered the release of a former pro-Kurdish mayor who had been held for over two months on terror charges despite his widely-respected efforts to end the Kurdish conflict, his lawyer said.

Ahmet Turk, 74, former mayor of the city of Mardin in south-east Turkey, was ordered released after supporters expressed concern over his health, his lawyer Zeynep Ceren Boztoprak said.

DUBAI: A snow alert has been issued in the United Arab Emir-ates where a rare storm and high winds yesterday toppled one of thousands of cranes in the Gulf desert state. One person was injured and three cars were destroyed in a fire sparked by the collapse of the crane on Dubai's main thoroughfare, the multi-lane Sheikh Zayed Road, local officials said.

The storm led to the cancellation of a stage in the Tour of Dubai on Friday because of the strong winds posing a danger to the cyclists, organisers said.

Geneva

Reuters

A renewed assault on Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi city of Mosul

could force 250,000 civilians to flee, if they can find a way out, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said yesterday.

Such an exodus would be on

top of roughly 162,000 people already displaced by Iraqi gov-ernment efforts to retake the city since October.

Such numbers, although high, remain well below UNH-CR’s initial contingency plans, which anticipated a million peo-ple or more fleeing from the city.

“As many as 250,000 Iraqis could be displaced from their

homes with the anticipated esca-lation of conflict in densely-populated western Mosul,” UNHCR spokesman Mat-thew Saltmarsh said.

An expected intensification of fighting around Hawija, 130 km southeast of Mosul, could displace another 114,000, add-ing to the 82,000 who have fled since August, risking ambushes

and death. In Iraq’s biggest military

operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, gov-ernment forces have seized most of east Mosul.

But they have yet to cross the Tigris river, leaving the western half in the hands of the jihadists, who declared a caliphate there two-and-a-half years ago.

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s department of agriculture said yesterday that scientific tests have confirmed the presence of the invasive fall armyworm in the maize belt, the first time the crop-damaging pest has been detected there.

Countries with confirmed outbreaks can face import bans on agricultural products because the armyworm is classified as a quarantine pest. The pest can also cause extensive dam-age to crops and has a preference for maize, the regional staple.

The fall armyworm is an invasive Central American species that is harder to detect and eradicate than its African counterpart. The South African samples were collected in the caterpillar stage and had to emerge as moths before positive identification could be done. “This pest is a good flyer and cannot be contained in a specific area. Damage reported in South Africa so far is mainly on yellow maize varieties and especially on sweetcorn as well as maize planted for seed production,” the department of agri-culture said in a statement.

Beirut

Reuters

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday world powers must work with Damascus to create safe zones

in Syria so refugees can return to their country. It was the first time the Beirut government had lent its support to such a plan.

At least a million people have fled the Syrian civil war since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than six million.

Lebanon would not force unsafe return on any refugees, but the interna-tional community must make their return possible, Aoun’s office quoted him as

saying in a meeting yesterday with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

He said it was “important to achieve a political solution” to the conflict. Aoun is an ally of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar Al Assad.

Istanbul

Reuters

Turkey accused Greece yesterday of breach-ing international law by carrying out a military exercise on an island in the

Aegean Sea, in an escalating row between the two Nato allies. The Turkish foreign ministry said it was aware of Greek media reports that Greek special forces had parachuted onto Kos and said the exercise was a breach of a 1974 treaty that banned all such training on the island.

A Greek defence ministry source confirmed there had been a scheduled exercise at the beginning of the week involving parachutists.

“The training schedule of the Greek armed forces is not going to stop,” the source said.

Turkey warned it could take action if nec-essary. “We call on our neighbour Greece to refrain from unilateral actions that ... could trig-ger tensions and are against international law,” foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said in a statement.

Tensions between the two countries have been on the rise since a Greek court last week blocked the extradition of eight Turkish sol-diers Ankara accuses of involvement in July’s failed coup. Turkey has said relations with Greece would be reviewed. On Wednesday, Greece reported mass incursions by Turkish military aircraft over the central and southern Aegean, which Athens termed “cowboy antics”. Kos is part of the Dodecanese chain of islands, placed under demilitarisation as part of a peace accord after World War Two, when Italy ceded them to Greece.

Greek military exercise breached law: Turkey

A Syrian girl receives treatment at a makeshift hospital yesterday, following reported shelling at the rebel-held town of Douma, in Damascus.

Aoun calls for safe zones in Syria

Mosul assault driving out 250,000 civilians: UN

Al Qaeda enters three Yemen towns days after US raid

Zimbabwe's protest leader remanded

Release of Kurdish ex-mayor ordered

Snow alert issued in UAE

SA confirms presence of invasive pest 12 rebel fighters dead

Air strikes killed at least 12 Islamist rebel fighters in Idlib province in northwestern

Syria yesterday, the Syrian Observ-atory for Human Rights said.

04 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017ASIA

US and Japan reaffirm defence tiesOppn calls on Abe to oppose US refugee banTokyo

AFP

THE head of Japan's main opposition party has called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to speak up against President Donald Trump's refugee ban ahead of their summit next week.

Renho, a former TV anchorwoman of mixed Tai-wanese-Japanese parentage who took the reins of the Democratic Party in Septem-ber, said Abe's restrained remarks have been "insuffi-cient" for a national leader.

He "should express his thoughts on Trump's action in terms of human rights", the 49-year-old Renho said.

Japan and the United States share the common value of "making human rights the top priority", she added.

Abe has said little about Trump's temporary ban on all refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries ahead of his Febru-ary 10 meeting with the new US president.

Immigration-shy Japan accepts very few refugees -- last year it pledged to receive up to 150 Syrian students over five years from 2017, despite having a population of about 127 million. In 2015 it took in 27 refugees.

Tokyo

Reuters

US President Donald Trump's defence sec-retary reaffirmed America's commit-ment to its mutual

defense treaty with Japan yester-day during a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.

Jim Mattis, on his first trip since taking over the Pentagon, appeared eager to reassure Japan of USresolve, after an election campaign that saw Trump ques-tion the value of US alliances.

Mattis said provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile programmes, left no room for

doubt about US commitment. It was a similar message he deliv-ered over the past two days in South Korea.

"I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago - and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now," Mattis said.

Article 5 obliges the United States to defend territories under Japanese administrative control.

Japan has been keen for assurances that Trump's admin-istration would continue Washington's previous policy of committing to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but

claimed also by China.Kyodo news agency, citing an

unidentified Japanese govern-ment source, said Mattis had confirmed that the US defence commitment extended to the dis-puted islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Abe said he was convinced that, with Trump and Mattis, the United States and Japan could demonstrate to the world their "unwavering alliance."

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida echoed that mes-sage to Mattis in a meeting later yesterday, saying it was impor-tant to further strengthen the alliance in the face of an "increas-ingly severe" security environment in the region.

US warns North Korea over use of nuclear armsSeoul

Reuters

US President Donald Trump's defence sec-retary warned North

Korea yesterday of an "effec-tive and overwhelming" response if it chose to use nuclear weapons, as he reas-sured South Korea of steadfast US support.

"Any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and over-whelming," Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said at

South Korea's defence ministry.

"North Korea continues to launch missiles, develop its nuclear weapons program and engage in threatening rhetoric and behaviour".

North Korea's actions have prompted the United States and South Korea to respond by bolstering defences, including the expected deployment of a U.S. missile defence system, known as Terminal High Alti-tude Area Defense (THAAD), in South Korea later this year.

The two sides recon-firmed that commitment yesterday.

New mutant malaria strain a serious threatPhnom Penh Anatolia

THE emergence of a new strain of highly drug-resistant malaria in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos could have devastat-ing consequences on a global scale, a study published in The Lancet medical journal reveals.

The Bangkok-based Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit said that research found a new line of the multidrug-resist-ant P falciparum malaria established in Cambodia that “represents a serious threat to global malaria control and eradication efforts”.

“We now see this very successful resistant parasite lineage emerging, outcom-peting its peers, and spreading over a wide area,” said Arjen Dondorp, head of MORU’s malaria program.

Failure rates in treating this strain are high because of its resistance to two of the main drugs that are typically admin-istered for cases of malaria.

South Korea's Blue House blocks search amid graft probe

Singapore ex-cop to hang for murder

Kuala Lumpur Anatolia

Malaysia has sent its first ship carrying 2,300 tonnes of humanitarian

goods to Rakhine State in Myanmar to help the perse-cuted minority Rohingya Muslim community.

Prime Minister Najib Razak in Klang Port attended the send-off of the aid consisting of food, medical supplies and other basic necessities near the capital Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The mission has been organised by the 1Malaysia Club and the Malaysia Islamic Organizations Consultative

Council with the cooperation of Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi Foun-dation, which is supported by the Turkish government.

Besides Malaysia, nine other countries have contrib-uted to the mission, including France, China, Thailand, Indo-nesia, Cambodia, Germany, the US and Bangladesh.

Speaking at the event, Razak said the mission is a tes-tament to the unity of Muslim community globally, when it comes to issue of humanitarianism.

"We the Muslims, can no longer bear our Rohingya brothers and sisters being tor-tured, abused, burnt alive and killed," he said.

Trump's Indonesian partner offers help to cement ties

Singapore

AFP

A former Singapore police-man is set to face the gallows for the double

murder of a businessman and his son after his appeal was thrown out by the city-state's highest court yesterday.

Iskandar Rahmat, 37, was in 2015 convicted for the murders of car workshop owner Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his son, Tan Chee Heong, 42, at their home

in July 2013 during a botched robbery.

The pair bore multiple stab wounds, and the younger Tan had his body dragged about a kilometre after he got caught under his father's car that Iskandar had used as a getaway vehicle.

Iskandar, who was in severe financial trouble, was arrested days later in neighbouring Malaysia.

During the appeal, Iskandar's lawyers said a new

psychiatric assessment last year showed he was suffering from mental illness during the mur-ders, an argument that was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

In 2015, High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang said Iskandar had attacked the victims "cru-elly and relentlessly with the clear intention of causing death".

The elder Tan was found with 27 knife wounds while his son had 20, including an open fracture to his skull.

Malaysia sends off first aid ship to Rohingyas

Volunteers board the Malaysian ship Nautical Aliya, carrying aid and supply for Rohingya Muslims, at the Boustead Cruise Centre port in Port Klang, yesterday.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, yesterday.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis shakes hands with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo at the headquarters of the defence ministry in Seoul, yesterday.

Defence treaty

"I want to make certain that Article 5 of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago - and as it will be a year, and 10 years, from now": Mattis

Mattis had confirmed that the US defence commitment extended to the disputed islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Jakarta

AFP

Donald Trump's Indonesian busi-ness partner said yesterday he was open to helping strengthen

ties between the world's most populous Muslim-majority country and America as tensions rise after the US president's travel ban.

Indonesia, a traditional US ally, said last weekend it "deeply regrets" the tem-porary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries as it could damage the global fight against terrorism.

Indonesia is not among the countries targeted by Trump's executive order, which caused mayhem worldwide and was met with legal challenges.

Billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who is building two Trump Organization

luxury resorts in Indonesia, insisted that his relationship with the US leader was focused on business but did not rule out helping to improve ties.

"My relationship with Trump is a business relationship," Tanoesoedibjo, who attended his inauguration last month, was quoted as saying by website Viva News.

"I do know him and have a connec-tion with him -- if needed I will help."

The tension over the travel ban has cast a shadow over a bilateral relation-ship that has been largely warm in recent years. Former US president Barack Obama was popular in Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood.

Tanoesoedibjo is working on a Trump project outside Jakarta and one on the resort island of Bali, with both in the early stages.

Seoul

Reuters

South Korean special prose-cutor officials withdrew from the presidential Blue

House yesterday after it blocked them from searching offices there, in the latest twist in a cor-ruption scandal that has gripped the country for months.

Park was impeached by par-liament on December 9 on suspicion of colluding with a

long-time friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure big business to donate to two foundations set up to back the president's policy initiatives.

Park is also accused of allowing Choi to exert inappro-priate influence over state affairs. Both of them have denied wrongdoing.

The special prosecution office has not explained why it needs to search the Blue House, saying only that it would be done

in connection with its investigation.

A prosecution team trying to carry out a search yesterday was blocked at a gate into the com-pound, the office said.

The prosecution said later it had asked acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn for cooperation in getting access to search the presidential offices.

"We arrived at the conclu-sion we cannot force our search if the subject refuses," Lee

Kyu-chul, the spokesman for the special prosecutor, said.

Lee said he believed the search could go ahead if the act-ing president gave his approval.

The Blue House expressed regret and called the attempt to search the presidential office unconstitutional as the president can not be charged with a crime while in office.

"It is a deep regret that their excessive investigation with a warrant naming the president as

a suspect violates the constitu-tion," the office said in a statement, referring to the pros-ecutor's warrant to raid the office.

The law states that as long as Park remains president, she can-not be charged with any criminal offence except insurrection or treason.

The Blue House said earlier the offices could not be searched for security reasons and it would instead provide documents as requested by prosecutors.

05SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017 ASIA

M9 motorway inauguration

Duterte ends truce with leftist rebelsManila

Reuters

The Philippine govern-ment will withdraw from a ceasefire with communist rebels, President Rodrigo

Duterte said, as he ordered sol-diers to prepare to fight and declared there would be no peace with the insurgents for a generation.

Duterte was angered by the deaths of six soldiers and the abduction of three since the New People's Army (NPA) halted its unilateral ceasefire on Wednesday.

He complained that despite making multiple concessions to the communists, the NPA's demands were "just too huge".

The conflict between the government and the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has raged since 1968 and killed more than 40,000 people.

"I have lost many soldiers in just 48 hours, I think to continue

with the ceasefire does not, or will not, produce anything," Duterte said.

"I am asking the soldiers: Go back to your camps, clean your rifles and be ready to fight."

The ceasefires called by both sides were always fragile because they were unilaterally declared, with no rules to follow. Each side accused the other of violations.

Within weeks of taking office in July last year, Duterte made a peace process a priority and a prerequisite for his ultimate goal of introducing a federal system in the Philippines.

He offered leftists cabinet posts and promised - if peace talks succeeded - a portfolio for Jose Maria Sison, his former uni-versity professor and the CPP

figurehead who lives in exile in the Netherlands.

Sison is listed by the US as a "person supporting terrorism" and the government last week tried to convince Washington to remove him from the list.

"I'm really very sorry. I tried my best but like in the song, my best was not good enough," Duterte said.

"There will be no peace in this land vis-a-vis the Commu-nist Party. Let's resume the war."

The NPA on Wednesday accused the military of occupy-ing 500 barrios, or town districts, that are supposedly within their control and accused government troops of "hostile actions".

The military responded by saying the NPA had done the same on many occasions. The

NPA's ceasefire was due to expire on February 10.

Armed forces chief General Eduardo Ano described the NPA's conduct since Tuesday as "disdainful and disturbing".

Duterte said the rebels' demand for the release of hun-dreds of political prisoners was excessive, making a compromise impossible to work out. He felt he shown his commitment by freeing top communist leaders.

"I am sad to report to you that there will be no peace with the communists for the next gen-eration", he said.

Government peace negotia-tor Silvestre Bello said this week's breakdown highlighted the weaknesses of the truce, but he was confident both sides wanted to keep the peace process alive.

Trump blast rattles alliance with AustraliaSydney

AFP

Australia yesterday was scrambling to come to terms with the realisation

that decades as one of the clos-est of US allies may count for little in the "America First" vision of President Donald Trump.

Trump's ire was triggered by a vague agreement entered into with former president Barack Obama last year to take in refu-gees Australia has parked on remote Pacific islands.

Canberra is also one of the trusted "Five Eyes" countries with which the US routinely shares sensitive intelligence, but the Washington Post said that President Trump abruptly cut short a fiery conversation with Prime Minister Malcolm Turn-bull on Sunday after slamming

the refugee agreement.Soon after leaks emerged on

Thursday of "the worst call by far" Trump had with Turnbull, the new president got to work.

"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!" Trump tweeted.

Canberra, used to cosy secu-rity and political ties with successive US governments, did not see it coming despite plenty of warning.

Australia has to wake up to the new dynamic where "alli-ances don't mean much to him (Trump)", politics professor John Hewson said.

"We've seen it in his com-ments about Nato, the UN, China and many more countries.

"While we aren't going to

give up on the alliance, we should realistically say, 'Look, what can we expect this guy to do moving forward?'"

And Trump had shown "it's not just America first but also America only", the former Lib-

eral opposition leader said.The difficulty of handling

Trump was on display again within hours and his unpredict-able pendulum seemed to swing as he declared his "love for Australia".

"I have a lot of respect for Australia, I love Australia as a country," President Trump said, suggesting people should not "worry" about the "tough" calls he was making to world leaders.

Nine cops, cleric and wife dead in Afghan attacksKabul

AP

AN Afghan policeman turned his rifle on his colleagues in a northern province, killing eight, while a gunman in the country's east fatally shot a cleric and his wife, officials said yesterday.

The policemen were killed while they were sleep-ing in an outpost in the district of Almar in northern Faryab province, according to the provincial police spokesman, Abdul Karim Yuresh.

The attack happened on Thursday night and accord-ing to the spokesman, a policeman who was on duty opened fire and killed his col-leagues, then collected all their firearms and fled the scene — presumably to join the Taliban.

The Taliban made no offi-cial statement or claim about the attack but Afghanistan has seen several such incidents over the past years.

There has been a grow-ing number of cases in which Afghan troops or policemen — or Taliban militants dressed in Afghan uniforms — have turning their guns on their colleagues or US-led coalition partners.

Also on Thursday night, in the country's eastern Pak-tika province, a gunman killed a cleric and his wife, said Mohammad Alias Wah-dat, the provincial governor.

Wahdat said the gunman entered the cleric's home in the Yusof Khail district and shot the cleric and his wife. Two of their children who were in the house survived.

Police said it was not clear who was behind the attack and no one immedi-ately claimed responsibility for the killings.

Pakistan seeks Turkey's help over terrorismKarachi

Anatolia

PAKISTAN wants to benefit from Turkey’s “technologi-cal advancement” in the fight against terrorism, the head of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism agency said yesterday.

“We want a further close coordination and cooperation with Turkey in the war against terrorism as the two allies are facing similar chal-lenges in terms of counter-terrorism strategies,” Ihsan Ghani, chief of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), said.

The NACTA was estab-lished in the year 2013 to monitor terrorist groups and coordinate Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies as well as liaise with foreign coun-ter-terrorism units.

“Pakistan can benefit from Turkey’s technological advancement while Turkey can benefit from our long experience in the war against terrorism,” Ghani added.

“Turkey has done a remarkable job vis-à-vis the war against terrorism and so has Pakistan... close coordi-nation and cooperation between the two brotherly countries will mutually ben-efit them against terrorism.”

Turkey faces multiple domestic terror threats from IS, the PKK, the Fetullah Ter-rorist Organisation and far-left groups such as the Revolu-tionary People's Liberation Party-Front. It is also fighting IS and the PKK/PYD in Syria.

Fiji deports Iranian asylum seeker back to homeSydney

Reuters

Authorities in Fiji yesterday deported an Iranian refu-gee who had used false

documents to flee his home in the Pacific Ocean nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), blam-ing safety fears and homelessness, two sources said.

The man is one of about 1,200 refugees potentially eligi-ble for resettlement to the United States, although the pact showed signs of strain this week.

Loghman Sawari (pictured), who travelled to Fiji last week, had opted to live freely in PNG in return for the opportunity to leave an Australian offshore

detention centre where he had been sent four years ago, follow-ing an attempt to reach Australia by boat.

Under Australia's tough bor-der security policy, asylum seekers intercepted on such voy-ages are sent for processing to camps on PNG's Manus island and Nauru in the South Pacific. They are never eligible for reset-tlement in Australia.

But yesterday, Sawari was arrested in Fiji and placed on a plane back to PNG, according to the sources, a friend of his in

detention in PNG, and an aid worker who has worked with him. Both declined to be identi-fied as the topic is a sensitive one.

Sawari now faces a return to what he described this week as the scene of his "suffering" on PNG's Manus Island, where he spent a year in detention.

"I cannot go back to Iran, I cannot return to PNG, I want to stay in Fiji," Sawari said.

Authorities in the South Pacific nation of Fiji could not immediately be reached for comment.

Humanitarian groups urged PNG authorities to show com-passion for Sawari, amid fears for his mental health.

"This is a young man who is clearly at risk in terms of his mental health, and he needs to be given all the care to ensure he doesn't harm himself," Graham Thom, a refugee coordinator at human rights group Amnesty International, said recently.

About 90% of the more than 800 men detained on Manus Island show signs of some form of psychological illness, the UN said.

Islamabad not to take action against ridesharing servicesIslamabad

Internews

Pakistan’s Federal Inte-rior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan yester-

day took notice of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration’s move to clamp down on popular app-based ridesharing serv-ices such as Careem.

“Today, the interior min-ister directed us not to take action against Uber and Car-eem,” said Islamabad deputy commissioner retired Capt Mushtaq Ahmed.

Late December last year, the Islamabad district admin-istration issued notices to all ridesharing services to stop their businesses because they were not using commercial vehicles.

The Islamabad offices of these companies were later sealed, but they resumed their service in the capital shortly after.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior said in a brief statement that Khan took notice of a news report about Uber and Careem being banned by the deputy com-missioner, and sought a report from him in this regard.

“The people cannot be deprived of a cheap and qual-ity transport facility,” the statement quoted the minis-ter as saying.

The deputy commissioner said the minister directed him not to take action against the ridesharing services (Uber, Careem and other private cabs) for the time being.

War to resume

Duterte ordered soldiers to prepare to fight and declared there would be no peace with the insurgents for a generation.

Each side accused the other of violations.

A pedestrian looks at a newspaper headline regarding US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in central Sydney, yesterday.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (centre) attends a ceremony to inaugurate the M9 motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad, near Hyderabad, yesterday.

06 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017ASIA

New Delhi Reuters

Indian police have busted an Internet scam in which around 650,000 people lost a combined `37bn ($549m) after sending

money to a company that prom-ised they would earn cash by clicking on web links, police said yesterday.

Police, who described the pyramid-style scheme as one of India’s biggest ever, said they had arrested three ringleaders on the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital, and seized more than `5bn ($74m) from bank accounts.

“They learned that if you give some money back to mem-bers, the investments would go up exponentially,” Amit Pathak, head of a police cyber crime unit in India’s populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said.

The men ran a series of websites that promised would-be subscribers a chance to earn five rupees ($0.07) each time they clicked or liked web links sent to their mobile phones, police said.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company’s bank accounts to join the scheme, but

the web links they received were fake.

The company running the alleged scam had operated for years, but earned almost all the money over a few months from last August, after it began to dis-tribute some of the proceeds, using the beneficiaries to draw in more investors.

Police said the ringleaders had not yet appointed lawyers as the chargesheet was still being prepared.

When police raided the company’s head office in the city of Noida they found 250 pass-ports of employees and members who had been rewarded with a holiday to Australia.

The scammers planned to film the holiday and then post it online as promotional material to lure more subscribers.

The alleged mastermind spent some of the proceeds on houses, cars and celebrity parties.

Pathak said it would take time to trace most of the money, and several bank employees were believed to be involved.

“It’s a very big task for us. We have brought in the income-tax department, and other government agencies, to trace the money,” Pathak said.

Cyber crime in India, home to the world’s second largest number of Internet users, jumped 350 percent in the three years to 2014 as criminals exploited booming smartphone use, a study by auditing services firm PwC and industry lobby group Assocham showed last year.

Beijing

Reuters

US President Donald Trump’s pick for ambas-sador to China, Terry

Branstad, said he would help increase trade in a “win-win” for both countries, Chinese state media reported, amid concerns over protectionist talk from the new US administration.

Trump has railed against

China’s trade practices, blam-ing them for US job losses, and has threatened to impose puni-tive tariffs on Chinese imports.

Beijing says it will work with Washington to resolve any trade disputes, but state media has warned of retaliation if Trump takes the first steps toward a trade war. Branstad, currently the governor of Iowa, said he would help to work out differ-ences and that there was

immense potential for more Chinese investment in the United States. “We want to con-tinue to enhance the relationship and to increase trade between our two countries,” Branstad said. “I hope ... that I can play a constructive role trying to work out many of these differences in a way that makes it a win-win. It is beneficial to both of our countries, and also the rest of the world."

Geneva

AFP

Myanmar's military crack-down on Rohingya Muslims has likely killed

hundreds of people, with chil-dren slaughtered and women abused in a campaign that may amount to ethnic cleansing, the UN said yesterday.

A report from the United Nations Human Rights office, based on interviews with 204 Rohingya refugees in

Bangladesh, also found it was "very likely" that crimes against humanity had been committed in Myanmar, echoing previous UN accusations.

The so-called "area clear-ance operations" launched by the military in northwest Rakhine state on October 10 "have likely resulted in several hundred deaths", the report said. Rohingya refugees recounted gruesome violations allegedly perpetrated by members of Myanmar's security services or

civilian fighters working in col-laboration with the military and police.

"An eight-month-old baby was reportedly killed while his mother was abused by five secu-rity officers," the rights office said in a press release, citing wit-nesses. Three children aged six or younger were "slaughtered with knives", according to the report.

"What kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mother's milk," UN

rights chief Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid Al Hussein said.

"What kind of 'clearance operation' is this? What national security goals could possibly be served by this?," he added. A full 47 percent of those interviewed by the UN said they had a fam-ily member who had been killed in the operation, while 43 per-cent reported being raped.

Rights office spokesman Ravina Shamdasani told report-ers in Geneva that "the kind of s y s t e m a t i c a n d

widespread violations that we have documented could be described as ethnic cleansing", but noted that was not a legally defined offence provable in court.

The report said the violence was the result of "purposeful pol-icy" designed by one group to remove another group from an area "through violent and ter-ror-inspiring means".

The Rohingya Muslims are loathed by many among Myan-mar's Buddhist majority.

Chennai

Reuters

Port authorities in Chen-nai have impounded a BW LPG vessel and a

local ship carrying heavy fuel oil, and detained their crews, a spokesman for the port said yesterday, after their collision last week caused an oil spill affecting marine life and local fishing.

About 20 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked and a complete clean-up is expected to take eight to 10 days, according to an Indian coast guard spokesman.

BW Maple, with a total capacity of 82,000 cubic metres of liquefied petroleum gas, was half full when it col-lided near Chennai with the Indian ship Dawn Kan-chipuram on Saturday.

Indian police bust $549m Internet scam

Biggest fraud

The men ran a series of websites that promised subscribers a chance to earn $0.07each time they clicked the web links sent to their mobile phones.

The unsuspecting investors each paid thousands of rupees into the company’s bank accounts to join the scheme, but the web links they received were fake.

Police said they had arrested three ringleaders and seized more than 5bn ($74m) from bank accounts.

A Sri Lankan vendor sells national flags ahead of the island's Independence Day in Colombo, yesterday. Sri Lanka is preparing to mark the 69th anniversary of its independence from Britain today.

Sri Lanka marks 69th Independence Day

Trump pick for China ambassador sees 'win-win' boost to trade ties

Dhaka

AFP

A Bangladeshi journalist was killed while cov-ering clashes between

two factions of the ruling Awami League party in a northern district, police offi-cials said yesterday.

Abdul Hakim Shimul, a correspondent in Sirajganj in northern Bangladesh for Bangla daily Samakal, was reporting on clashes between two factions of the ruling Awami League activists on Thursday, a local police inspector said.

"One group suddenly opened fire on the other when Shimul was shot," the official said on the condition of anonymity, adding that the journalist was hit in the head and chest. Shimul was first taken to a local clinic but was later rushed to Dhaka for bet-ter treatment, district police superintendent Mirazuddin Ahmed said.

Hundreds likely dead in Rohingya crackdown: UN Scribe dead in Bangladeshpolitical clash

New Delhi IANS

Finance Minister Arun Jait-ley yesterday introduced a bill on demonetisation

in the Lok Sabha to formally make the banning of `500 and `1,000 notes a law.

The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, seeks to replace the ordi-nance on demonetisation promulgated by the govern-ment in December 2016.

The bill provides that the specified bank notes, which have ceased to be legal tender, shall "cease to be liability of Reserve Bank of India".

It prohibits the holding, transferring or receiving of the 'specified bank notes' after December 31, 2016. "On and from the appointed day, no per-son shall, knowingly or unknowingly or voluntarily hold, transfer or receive any specified bank notes," the bill said.

As per the bill, an individ-ual cannot hold more than 10 of the demonetised currency notes irrespective of value, and for the purpose of study or research, not more than 25 notes can be held.

For the violations of these provisions in the Section 5 of the bill, a fine will be imposed which can be of Rs 10,000 or

five times the amount of the old currency notes held - which-ever of the two is higher.

Those individuals who were outside India during November 9 to December 31, or have some other genuine reason, can make a declaration which will be ver-ified by the Reserve Bank of India. If the RBI is satisfied with the reason cited it may credit the value of the old bank notes in the individual's "Know Your Customer compliant bank account".

Anyone aggrieved by RBI's refusal to credit the value of old notes may approach Central Board of the Reserve Bank within 14 days of communica-tion of refusal.

Citing a false statement under this provision would be fined upto `50,000 or five times the amount of bank notes tendered, whichever is higher.

In the Lok Sabha on Friday, as the Finance Minister stood up to introduce the bill, he was opposed by Trinamool Con-gress member Saugata Roy, who termed the bill "illegal".

A war of words was wit-nessed in the House as Jaitley and the Trinamool Congress leader attacked each other over the issue.

Roy said he was question-ing Jaitley's "right to speak", adding "Let him go to the Rajya Sabha and speak".

India introduces note ban bill in parliament

Tulips bloom at The Mughal Garden at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, yesterday.

Tulip blossom

Crew detained over oil spill

Beijing

Reuters

China’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday that it hoped the government-

funded Confucius Institute could continue to play a role in South Korea after the government there said it had stopped issu-ing visas for some Chinese teachers. The visa decision comes amid anger in China at the planned deployment of an advanced US anti-missile sys-tem in South Korea, which it

says is to defend against North Korea, but which China says threatens its security, as its radar could extend into China.

China says its Confucius Institutes around the world are established by universities to promote Chinese-language learning and academic and cul-tural exchange.

The South Korean govern-ment said it had stopped issuing visas for some Chinese teachers at Confucius Institutes and the justice ministry said the deci-sion had nothing to do with

Thaad, as the anti-missile sys-tem is known.

South Korea’s foreign min-istry said on Thursday the measure to stop issuing or extending visas had been imple-mented since last June for practical reasons based on the immigration control law, play-ing down any political motive.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Confucius Institutes in South Korea were set up at the request of South Korean universities.

Institute can keep playing role: China

07SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017 EUROPE

Paratroopers perform

German paratroopers perform during the visit of Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen at the Franz-Josef Strauss Bundeswehr base in Altenstadt, Germany, yesterday.

Valletta

AFP

European Union lead-ers agreed a plan to curb mass migration from Libya at a special summit in Malta yes-

terday that was overshadowed by challenges of Donald Trump and Brexit.

Faced with a surge in migrants this spring, the 28 lead-ers backed steps including helping Libyan coastguard to stop boats to Italy and setting up temporary camps in the north African state.

But they will also, without Prime Minister Theresa May, dis-cuss future of the bloc with Britain set to leave, and an increasingly difficult geopolitical situation with new US administration.

French President Francois Hollande lashed out at Trump, who has predicted that other countries will follow Britain out of the EU and branded the trans-atlantic Nato military alliance obsolete.

“It is unacceptable there should be, through a certain number of statements by the

president of the United States, pressure on what Europe should or should not be,” Hollande said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile said Europe “has its destiny in its own hands” as it deals with a US administra-tion that seems ambivalent to Europe and Nato.

As the EU leaders boarded a

luxury yacht to cross Malta’s his-toric harbour to their lunch venue, rescue ships off Libya saved hun-dreds more people including babies from rickety boats.

The leaders signed off on a new strategy to “break the busi-ness model” of traffickers who helped 181,000 mainly African economic migrants enter the EU via Libya and Italy last year.

The plan involves funding and training Libyan coastguard to make it better able to inter-cept migrant boats before they reach international waters, and helping neighbouring countries to close routes into Libya.

EU President Donald Tusk, warned in a letter to leaders ahead of the summit that Trump was a “threat” to EU along with Russian aggression, an increas-ingly assertive China, and Islamist extremism.

On the eve of the Malta meet-ing, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counter-part signed a deal in Rome on tackling people smugglers.

That deal provides for estab-lishment of EU-funded but Libyan-run camps to house migrants pending their “voluntary

return or repatriation” to their home countries. Italy committed to funding medical services for the camps.

Rights groups warned send-ing boats back to Libya could result in children being sent back

to squalid detention centres.“We know the situation of ref-

ugees is dramatic in Libya,” said Merkel at the summit. “That is why we have to proceed as we did in context with Turkey: prevent ille-gality, to stop game of smugglers

and traffickers and improve the situation of refugees.”

May, Merkel and Hollande were all briefing their colleagues on their contacts with Trump, as Europe seeks to understand an unpredictable new president.

Moscow

Reuters

RUSSIAN prosecutors said yesterday they were seeking a suspended five-year sen-tence for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is on trial for embezzlement, a punishment that would stop him from running for the presidency in 2018.

Navalny, who denies wrongdoing and says the case is politically-motivated, has said he intends to challenge Vladimir Putin at next year’s presidential election.

Navalny’s supporters want him to stand against Putin, though opinion polls show he has substantially less backing among voters than the president.

Russian law bans anyone convicted of a serious crime of running in elections. Judges in Russian courts have a track record of handing out the same sentences as prosecu-tors ask for.

Russia’s Supreme Court struck down an earlier deci-sion by a lower court to hand Navalny a suspended five year sentence in the same case last year — a move that left him free to participate in the election.

Minsk

AFP

Belarusian President Alex-ander Lukashenko slammed Russia yester-

day as tensions bubbled between the two close allies in a spat over border controls.

Russia’s FSB security service has ordered tougher restrictions along its frontier with Belarus after Minsk last month said it was scrapping visas for short-term visits by citizens of 80 states from February 9.

There have been no border controls between Russia and Belarus since 1990s, when the two countries signed an agree-ment bolstering their political and economic integration.

Lukashenko lashed out at

what he called a “political” move by Moscow to reimpose border restrictions. “How is this a threat to Russia’s national security?” Lukashenko said at a marathon press conference that dragged on over seven hours.

“We have the right to make this decision. We are a sover-eign and independent state.”

He also struck out at Rus-sia over a convoluted energy dispute, saying he would take Moscow to court for allegedly cutting oil supplies to the coun-try after Minsk hiked transit tariffs.

The Kremlin quickly hit back at Lukashenko, insisting the bor-der measure was needed to keep Russia secure and reminding Minsk that Moscow has given it more than $6bn in loans.

Warsaw, Poland

AP

Warsaw’s mayor harshly denounced a govern-ment plan to enlarge

the Polish capital to incorporate 32 neighboring municipalities, describing it as type of power grab one expects in an authori-tarian state.

The plan would increase chances of conservative ruling

Law and Justice winning control of Warsaw in local elections in 2018. The city’s residents tend to be more liberal and more criti-cal of the government than those in surrounding areas, so they could potentially be outvoted.

Work on the plan comes as Law and Justice is centralizing its power in ways denounced by opponents as anti-democratic.

Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, with the opposition centrist

Civic Platform party, said that it was a “disgrace.” “It pushes us in the direction of Belarus or even Moscow,” she said.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo says that many people in outly-ing areas want to be incorporated because they would benefit financially and in other ways, allowing, for instance, for the development of improved public transportation for those outside the city.

Another supporter, Senate Speaker Stanislaw Karczewski, said Warsaw residents now have an “incomparably higher stand-ard of living” and that incorporation would give greater accessibility to culture, art, edu-cation and health care to those in outlying areas.

If implemented, the city of 1.7 million people would become geographically bigger than New York or London. The city is 517

squarekm; with the change it would swell to 2,514 squarekm.

Warsaw and other big cities are run by opposition parties, making them points of resistance to populist government.

Law and Justice also wants to impose limits of two terms for mayors and other local officials before the 2018 elections. That plan is also being criticised as an attempt to strengthen party’s power.

The Hague

AFP

Dutch officials yesterday unveiled what they called “the largest Mondrian

painting in the world” to cele-brate The Netherlands’ best-known abstract artist, who helped found an influential art movement a century ago.

The replica “painting” made from thin stick-on plastic sheets features Piet Mondrian’s famous design of straight black lines and striking red, yellow and blue blocks and has been displayed on sides of the city hall in The Hague.

“The Hague’s city council has d e c i d e d t o h o n o u r

world-renowned artist as part of a year of celebrating the theme ‘Mondrian to Dutch Design’,” city spokesman Herbert Brinkman told reporters.

This year marks centenary of the founding of Dutch art move-ment in 1917 called “De Stijl” (The Style) known for its bold horizon-tal and vertical lines encasing blocks of primary colours.

Mondrian and fellow Dutch painter and designer Theo van Doesburg were two of best-known artists of De Stijl, which eventu-ally dissolved in the early 1930s.

Mondrian, who shortened his name from “Mondriaan” , is best known for his 1944 canvas Vic-tory Boogie Woogie—considered

one of the most important works of 20th century art. The painting returned to The Netherlands in 1998 after it was bought from a private American collection for $40m at the time.

It now hangs in The Hague’s Gemeentemuseum. Brinkman said the city planned to adorn other buildings with similar Mon-drian-inspired works, including floating cubical pontoons on Hofv-ijver, the small lake in front of centuries-old Dutch parliament.

After his death, Mondrian con-tinued to be a source of inspiration including for a famous 1965 dress designed by Yves Saint Laurent, which sold in 2011 for a whopping £30,000 (€35,000, $37,000).

EU leaders slam Trump; ink Libya migrant deal

The 28 leaders backed steps including helping the Libyan coastguard to stop boats to Italy and setting up temporary camps in the north African state.

'Trump a threat'

EU President Donald Tusk, warned the leaders that Trump was a “threat” to the EU along with Russian aggression, an increasingly assertive China, and Islamist extremism.

FROM LEFT: Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, visit a cathedral during a break in the European Union leaders summit in Valletta, yesterday.

Belarus leader slams Russia in border spat

Russia seeks suspended sentence for Oppn leader

Plan to expand Warsaw city anti-democratic: Mayor

Dutch city unveils ‘largest ever Mondrian painting’

The Mondrian painting unveiled in The Hague, yesterday.

08 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017VIEWS

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Frankly, I don’t see in Syria the conditions to create successful safe zones. With the fragmentation, the number of actors, the presence of terrorist groups, it’s not the right place to think of that solution.

Filippo GrandiUN High Commissioner for Refugees

When Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu jumped into the US-Mexican brawl on January 28 he clearly did not expect the

fierce response he got from Mexico. Like his soul mate in the White House, who appears to conduct foreign policy via twitter, Netanyahu tweeted, “President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel’s southern border. I stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea.”

Naturally, the Mexicans were infuriated by this unwelcome interference. They called in the Israeli ambassador to Mexico and gave him a proper dressing down about the mean-ing of friendship between countries.

While the apology by Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin to his Mexican counterpart Enrique Peña Nieto “for the hurt” might plas-ter over the wound, it will not prevent it from festering for some time yet.

The truth is that Netanyahu and his right-wing government still want to do business with Latin American countries in the same manner that they have done for decades. The Israelis fail to realise that times have changed and the countries of Latin America will no longer be dictated to, or pushed around by their northern neighbour and its allies, in this case Israel. There is, in fact, intense resent-ment of any and all attempts to demean and treat Latin American countries as stereotypi-cal “banana republics”.

Last year, the government in Brasilia demonstrated this in the strongest manner when it rejected the nomination by Israel of a controversial settler leader, Dani Dayan, as ambassador to Brazil. After months of stand-off between the two, Netanyahu was eventually forced to withdraw his candidate.

The push back against Israel’s meddling is understandable and expected. It has a long history of propping up right-wing dictator-ships in the region. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that the Mexicans reacted in the way that they did to Netanyahu’s mischievous tweet. Netanyahu’s personal involvement in support of reactionary groups has been well documented.

In early December 1986, for example, the New York Times reported that during his stint at the Israeli embassy in Washington, Netan-yahu had urged aid to be given to the Contras to topple the Sandinista government. Declas-sified Pentagon documents in the 1980s revealed that Israel conducted an operation called “Tipped Kettle”, in which weapons sto-len by the Israel Defence Forces from the PLO in Lebanon were transferred to the Contras.

It is believed that the Israelis were driven to support the Contras because the Samoza regime which was overthrown by the Sandin-istas in 1979 had provided arms and diplomatic cover for Zionist agents before the creation of Israel.

That said, it is clear from the declassified documents that throughout the 1970s until

How a state should stand up for itself — A Mexican lesson Dr Daud Abdullah

the 1990s Israel had acted in concert with the US to roll back democratic change in Latin America. This was done invariably through the sale of arms and the provision of training and supplies to shadowy death squads. Several coun-tries in Central America were affected, including Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. On the South American main-land, Chile and Argentina stand out notably. In the latter, Israel was a main supplier of arms used by the military junta in its Dirty War (1976-1983) in which over 30,000 Argentinian citizens were “disappeared”.

Current Latin American approaches to Israeli provocations contrast mark-edly with that of Arab countries. While the Latin Americans are prepared to lay down clear red lines to protect their independence and national sovereignty, Arab states continue to reward Israeli aggression with acquiescence, normali-sation and even collaboration. Had there been genuine coordinated resistance by all those affected, Israel would not even have contemplated let alone actually build walls on occupied Arab land.

Furthermore, in the occupied West Bank, some unscrupulous Pal-estinian businessmen were reported to have made millions of dollars

in profit from the sale of cheap cement to the Israelis to build the apartheid wall. Last year, it was reported that there were about 36,000 Palestinians working on construction sites in the illegal Israeli settlements built on land stolen from them, their families or their friends.

Instead of getting better, things are set to get worse. US President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kush-ner — who he has appointed as special envoy to the Middle East — have donated tens of thousands of dollars to organisa-tions and institutions located in illegal West Bank settlements. Following his appointment as adviser with a special role in the Middle East there has not been as much as a whimper from any Arab head of state. Why not? Back in 1991 both Israel and the US objected to the formal participation of the PLO in the Madrid Peace Conference, so the Palestinians were only invited as part of a joint delegation with Jordan. It is thus well within the rights of today’s Palestin-ian and Arab leadership to reject Jared Kushner as an interlocutor on peace in Palestine, but there have been no objec-tions that we know of.

This, however, is easier said than done and we are probably years away from anything close to witnessing such a scenario. On the contrary, Arab leaders are lining up to pay homage and pledge allegiance to the new occupant of the White House. If and when they decide to change the realities on the ground in Palestine, the Arab states should consider building stronger ties with Latin America. They could learn a lot about how to stand up to unreasonable and objectionable politicians.

The writer is the Director of Middle East Monitor (Memo).

The Arab states should consider building stronger ties with Latin America. They could learn a lot about how to stand up to unreasonable and objectionable politicians.

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Trying to interpret Donald Trump is sometimes tricky, but there is plenty of certainty that his foreign policy is dreaded in most parts of the world due to its recklessness in deviating

from the established US policies. His brazen and unequivocal support for Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has caused deep disquiet among Palestinians and the Arab world. “I’m the best thing that could ever happen to Israel,” he boasted at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Forum in Washington DC, in December, 2015. He promised to move the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which has sent shock waves through the region. But Trump’s latest statement about Israeli settlement construction causes both doubts, fear and confusion. In its first substantive announcement on theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict, the Trump administration said it did not see existing settlements as a hindrance to peace with the Palestinians, but recognised that “expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.” Does this mean an attempt to rein in Netanyahu after issuing him a blank cheque, especially after the Israeli PM announced wide-ranging settlement expansion plans since the January 20

inauguration, including around 6,000 new homes? The statement has caused fear among Pales-tinians because the new administration does not view

settlements as an obsta-cle to peace unless previous presidents. The Israeli government has welcomed this stance, after initial fears from far-right Jewish groups that Trump could be gradually changing his policy after giving an unqualified green light on rapid settlement con-struction. There was another action from the White House that disap-

pointed Jews and Israel: a Holocaust Remembrance Day decree that ‘deliberately’ omitted any reference to Jews.

There will be more clarity on Trump’s Middle East policy after his meeting with Netanyahu in less than two weeks. It’s clear that Trump is keen to negotiate a deal between Israel and Palestinians, though his idea of a peace deal could mean giving everything Israel wants. But he must realise that peace cannot be one-sided and can’t be imposed, and he can’t bomb Palestinians into submission. Palestinians will agree to a deal only on their terms and that would require listening to their demands.

The fact is that Trump lacks a clear foreign policy that aims at creating stability in the Middle East. Pal-estinians must stand their ground and not be intimidated by Trump’s threats and unlimited support for Israel. The Trump administration will lose its right to broker peace if it supports Israel in all its illegal activities, and if the difference between Israel and US blurs. Other countries, especially from Europe, can step in to fill the vacuum created by Washington.

Unstable policy

Palestinians must stand their ground and not be intimidated by Trump’s unlimited support for Israel.

ED ITOR IAL

View of the apartheid wall in Israel.

09SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017 OPINION

no new date has been set, said two people familiar with the matter.

Michael Kergin, a former Canadian ambas-sador to Washington, said Trudeau’s caution was wise.

“He’s been playing it pretty well by restrain-ing the temptation to be publicly critical of the president. At the same time, it’s a delicate bal-ance,” said Kergin, now a senior adviser at law firm Bennett Jones.Trudeau was also right not to follow British Prime Minister Theresa May in rushing to Washington to “gin up a special rela-tionship,” only to watch Trump make an unpopular move on immigration after she left, Kergin said.

Trump labelled a refugee swap deal with

US setting up a confrontational approach with Iran

By putting Iran “on notice,” the new US administration is laying the groundwork for a more confrontational approach toward the Islamic Republic. What that means in practice is anyone’s guess, since

the White House isn’t saying. That is in line with President Donald Trump’s desire to keep America’s adversaries guessing and boost US leverage.

The US has plenty in its toolbox should it choose to confront Iran more aggressively, from ratcheting up sanctions all the way to full-out war. Each carries real risks. That’s because Iran, however unpopular in Washington, is not a failed-state pushover. It is sure to respond if it feels it is under threat.

In his surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, blasted Iran for threatening American allies and “malign actions — including weapons transfers, support for terrorism, and other violations of international norms.”

He also linked Iran directly to missile attacks by Yemeni Shia rebels known as Houthis on Saudi and Emirati ships. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are leading a coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Iranian-backed rebels. Iran denies arming the rebels.

What appeared to trigger the notice being served, however, was Iran’s Sunday launch of a medium-range ballistic missile. A UN Security Council resolution prohibits Iran from testing ballistic mis-siles specifically designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

The US and Iran disagree on whether this and previous launches — including one in March 2016 involving a missile emblazoned with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew — violate the ban.

Senior Trump administration officials have said they are considering options including economic measures and more support for Iran’s regional rivals.

Among the biggest of those adversaries are Saudi Arabia, Israel and the UAE, whose foreign minister has voiced support for Trump’s decision to tempo-rarily block entry to citizens of Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

The Saudis and Emiratis would welcome deeper American involvement for the war in Yemen, which they view in large part as a proxy fight against Iran. The US has provided logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition since it intervened in March 2015, but in

December the Obama administration halted some arms sales to the Saudis over concerns about civilian deaths. Washington could implement further unilat-eral sanctions against Iran. Nuclear-related sanctions were removed last year after Iran agreed to a deal with world powers limiting its nuclear activities, but Washington has maintained other sanctions related to support for terrorism and other actions as far back as the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Torbjorn Soltvedt, a Middle East analyst at risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, predicted that any new sanctions related to ballistic missile tests would target Iran’s engineering industry.

“There is no doubt now that further flare-ups could translate into additional sanctions,” he wrote.

Iran is as distrustful of the United States as Wash-ington is of Tehran, and the countries’ views of one another often seem like distorted mirror images.

From Iran’s perspective, the US is a meddlesome outside power that has kept it surrounded for years with warships and troops in neighbouring Afghani-stan and Iraq. Iran has not responded directly to Flynn’s comments, although the Revolutionary Guard’s acting commander was defiant that it would continue its missile development program.

“Iran’s great missile power is one of the world’s unmatched deterrent powers today,” Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran’s leaders are likely to see any new US meas-ures as a provocation in the wake of the nuclear deal.

The agreement was cheered by many in Iran because it lifted crippling economic sanctions and is opening up new business opportunities with the West, including a historic, $16.6bn deal with Boeing to buy 80 US-made jetliners.

US officials have not confirmed whether military action is on the table. It’s unlikely to be the first step.

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said a push for tougher sanctions or some form of diplomatic censure is more likely for now.

“It’s far too early in the game for us to see any kind of military moves,” she said.

Still, US forces are already in place should Trump decide to launch at least a limited strike.

Guided-missile destroyers and other US warships attached to the Navy’s 5th Fleet routinely patrol the Gulf and occasionally have unnervingly close encounters with Iranian Revolutionary Guard ves-sels. Just this week, 17 ships from the US, Australia, Britain and France took part in joint naval exercises in the Gulf.

At least one US aircraft carrier is usually in the region, although not right now. The nearest one was last reported to be in the Western Pacific.

The US does have warplanes capable of carrying out airstrikes stationed elsewhere in the region. They have been actively targeting positions of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Iran is likely to calibrate its responses based on how the US acts.

Tougher US sanctions could convince Tehran to start reinterpreting the terms of the nuclear deal, said Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst in Tehran.

“The Iranians will reciprocate,” he said. “The more the Americans disregard the agreement ... the more the Iranians will find new ways of interpreting the text that do not work to the benefit of the United States.”

More direct action could include an uptick in har-assment of US warships by Revolutionary Guard speedboats in the Gulf, or new cyberattacks like one that crippled the network of Saudi Arabia’s state oil company in 2012.

Iran also could boost support for regional allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah or the Houthis in Yemen.

A military strike could elicit a much more dam-aging response.

Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to shut the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf if Iran comes under threat. Doing so would stop the flow of a nearly a third of all oil traded by sea and likely

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking a low key approach to dealing with US President Donald Trump, seeking to avoid clashes while indirectly signalling the two leaders’ differences to a domestic audience.

Insiders acknowledge the cautious strategy could anger progressives whose support helped bring Trudeau to power in 2015 but say for now, he has no choice but to hold fire: Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and could suffer if it is targeted by Trump.

“Why poke a grizzly bear while it’s having lunch? Trump has just got into office and he is formulating his eco-nomic plans,” said one senior political source.

While Trudeau’s close friendship with former President Barack Obama was often referred to as a “bromance” and “dude-plomacy,” Canadian prime ministers have not always had close ties with US presidents. Still, few in Ottawa have experienced anything like Trump, insiders said.

“He is totally unpredictable,” said another government source. Although Canada regards the United States as its closest ally, Trudeau has yet to visit Washington to see Trump.

A visit tentatively scheduled this week was cancelled after a shooter killed six Muslims in a Quebec mosque and

Trudeau decides not to poke US ‘grizzly bear’ for now

Hossein Vayghan holding flowers as he awaits the arrival of his brother, Iranian citizen Ali Vayghan, at Los Angeles International Airport, yesterday. Iranian citizen Ali Vayghan was detained and sent back to Iran after arriving in the United States.

Australia “dumb” on Thursday after a telephone call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the Washington Post reported was acrimonious. Turnbull kept any sparring behind closed doors. Trudeau, however, has taken indirect shots. When Trump signed orders banning people from seven Muslim-majority states, Trudeau tweeted that Canada was open to those fleeing war.

His chief spokeswoman blasted US network Fox News on Tuesday for a tweet falsely claiming the Quebec gunman was of Moroccan origin. But she said nothing publicly when Trump’s spokes-man said the attack on Muslims showed why it was important to suspend immigration from Muslim nations. This approach infuriates the opposition New Democrats, who have called on Trudeau to denounce Trump’s “racist” immigra-tion policy. Trudeau team members acknowledge that over time, Liberals could lose support before a 2019 election if the prime min-ister is deemed not to be standing up for Canadian values such as inclusiveness.

“That is a risk, but we’ll address it closer to the time,” said the first Ottawa insider. Surveys show the Liberals have a healthy, but narrowing, advantage over their nearest rivals. Pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research said it was too early for Trudeau to be aggressive.

“He has to avoid making any kind of criti-cism. Trump has a very thin skin and he’s quick to lash out,” he said.

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draw the US into a naval battle. Iran could also target US mili-

tary bases or allied countries in the region with existing missiles, which it says can travel up to 2,000km. Much of the Middle East, including Israel, falls within that range.

Aam SchreckAP

In his surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, blasted Iran for threatening American allies and “malign actions — including weapons transfers, support for terrorism, and other violations of international norms.”

Trudeau, however, has taken indirect shots. When Trump signed orders banning people from seven Muslim-majority states, Trudeau tweeted that Canada was open to those fleeing war.

David Ljunggren &Rod NickelReuters

10 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017EUROPE

FROM LEFT: French journalists Nicolas Escoulan, Thomas Sotto, Fabien Namias, Isabelle Millet, and Nicolas Poincare pose for a picture during launch of radio Europe 1's ‘presidential bus’ in Paris, yesterday.

Off to a new journey

US flays Russia

The United States’ UN ambassador Nikki Haley condemned Russia’s “aggressive actions” in Ukraine.

The latest reports from both sides put the death toll in fighting since Sunday in the eastern war zone to 32.

Avdiivka, Ukraine

AFP

Clashes between Ukrainian forces and M o s c o w - b a c k e d rebels left two more dead in a flashpoint

town yesterday and four others elsewhere in bloodshed that has prompted the US to condemn Russia’s “aggressive” stance.

The latest reports from both sides put the death toll in fight-ing since Sunday in the eastern war zone to 32 — a figure that has not been reached since the height of war in 2014 and 2015.

The US criticism of Moscow will be welcomed in Kiev because it is particularly wor-ried about losing Washington’s support as new President Don-ald Trump seeks to mend ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian forces and rebels have been exchanging mortar and rocket fire near the front-line town of Avdiivka just north of the pro-Russian rebels’ de facto capital of Donetsk.

The Ukrainian army said the latest fatal victims were a local

woman and an emergency worker in Avdiivka. The toll in the industrial town now stands at 27.

Authorities said three sol-diers had also been killed in other parts of eastern Ukraine in which pro-Russian insur-gency has raged since April 2014. The rebels also said shell-ing by the Ukrainian army had reportedly killed two civilians in Donetsk.

Ukraine and Russia have traded blame over who started the violence and who was responsible for the deaths.

A reporter in Avdiivka said

yesterday the shelling had died down considerably in the town itself and that only sporadic ech-oes of mortar fire could be heard on its outskirts.

They saw rebels on repeated attack against the Kiev-held blue-collar coke plant town of some 20,000 people through-out the week.

The separatists’ sudden assault came after a month-long spell of relative calm in the 33-month war and sharpened the world’s focus deadly fight-ing in EU's back yard. The conflict began less than two months after Ukraine ousted its Russian-back leader in April 2014.

Moscow responded by annexing Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014 and then allegedly plotting eastern insurgency to keep Ukraine under its thumb after its tilt toward the West.

The Kremlin sees most of former Soviet Union as part of its geopolitical sphere of influ-ence—a stance strongly disputed by the United States and Euro-pean leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The United States’ UN ambas-sador Nikki Haley yesterday condemned Russia’s “aggressive actions” in Ukraine.

Her comments were vital for Kiev because it is concerned that Trump’s bid to mend ties with Moscow could have an impact on Washington’s stance on the Ukraine conflict.

The shelling in Avdiivka has left nearly 20,000 people with-out heating or water in freezing

weather. The town now has access to water but that pressure systems were too weak to make it accessible in the higher floors of tall buildings.

The US also said it would not lift sanctions against Russia—as many in Kiev feared it would do under Trump—until the Kremlin returned Crimea to Ukraine.

The Black Sea peninsula of some two million people is home to a tsarist-era Russian naval base

and is the bulwark of what Mos-cow sees as Nato’s aggression in eastern Europe.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to win back Crimea but has never said how this would be achieved. The possibil-ity of Russia giving up the region on its own seem extremely remote.

Avdiivka was seized by insur-gents when the conflict began but was recaptured by government forces several months later.

Paris

AFP

A French soldier patrolling at the Louvre museum shot and seriously injured

a machete-wielding attacker yesterday, thrusting security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections.

Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the renowned tourist attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 0900 GMT in a public area near one of the museum’s entrances.

The knifeman is in a serious condition. One soldier received a “minor” head wound and has been taken to hospital, security forces said.

Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the incident, which will heap more misery on city’s struggling tourism sector, was “terrorist in nature.”

It sparked fresh jitters and anger in a country still reeling from a string of terror attacks over last two years and under a state of emergency since November 2015. The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections which had been forecast to confirm the country’s shift right after five years of Socialist rule.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that a “new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART US.”

Witnesses described scenes of panic as shoppers, sightseers and workers fled the Louvre complex following the incident. “We heard gunshots. We didn’t know what it was about. Then we evacuated the employees and we left,” a man who works in a nearby restaurant told

reporters. A woman colleague said:

“We saw death coming for us, with everything that’s happen-ing at the moment. We were very, very scared.”

The lucrative Paris tourism industry has been a major cas-ualty of the terror attacks, with visitors cancelling or shortening their stays.

Thousands of troops have been deployed to guard the cap-ital, with groups of soldiers carrying automatic rifles a regu-lar sight inside Louvre and around

its sculpture-filled gardens.Security forces simulated an

attack there in early December to rehearse for such an emergency.

“It’s so sad and shocking... we can’t let them win, it’s horrible,” British tourist Gillian Simms, who was visiting Paris with her daugh-ters, said yesterday.

Jessie McCaw, a 18-year-old from the US state of Montana, said she had been evacuated but she appeared unfazed. “I’m not worried because the police seem prepared in France, which is reassuring,” she said.

The huge former royal pal-ace in heart of the city is home to Mona Lisa and other legen-dary artworks as well as shops and restaurants. City police chief Michel Cadot told reporters that a man whose behaviour was “suspicious” had also been arrested following the attack.

The series of terror attacks in France began in January 2015 when jihadist gunmen rampaged through Charlie Hebdo newspa-per and a Jewish supermarket, leaving 17 people dead in three days of bloodshed.

Ten months later, gunmen and suicide bombers from the IS jihadist group attacked, res-taurants, a concert hall and national stadium in Paris on November 13, 2015, killing 130 people.

Paris

Reuters

FRANCOIS Fillon fought to keep his place as French con-servative presidential candidate yesterday amid slid-ing opinion poll ratings and speculation about his ability to carry on after accusations his wife got public money for work she did not do.

Police carried out searches at the Senate in con-nection with fake job allegations yesterday, search-ing in particular for information concerning pay-ments there to Charles and Marie, two of Fillon’s chil-dren, public prosecutor said.

Senate President Gerard Larcher, one of Fillon’s most loyal allies, took to Twitter to deny a report in news publi-cation L’Obs that he was about to withdraw support for the presidential contender.

A second opinion poll in showed a large majority of vot-ers believed the former prime minister should pull out of election, a two-round contests that opens on April 23.

Fillon vowed at a rally in northeastern France to fight what he called a “demolition exercise”, telling a crowd of around 1,000: “People are not seeking justice. They are seeking to destroy me, and beyond me to destroy the Right and steal an election.”

Until the scandal over pay-ments to his wife and family surfaced last week, Fillon was enjoying a near unassailable lead over other presidential contenders, ahead of far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and independent cen-trist Emmanuel Macron.

An Odoxa poll for fran-ceinfo radio showed 61 percent believe Fillon was wrong to persevere in his presidential bid.

Sniping from his own right-wing political camp con-tinued, primarily from politicians connected to party grandees he beat to win the presidential ticket of The Republicans party.

Bucharest

Reuters

Romania’s ombudsman went to Constitutional Court yesterday to chal-

lenge a government decree that decriminalises some graft offences, a move that has caused mass protests as it appears to mark a major retreat from anti-corruption reform.

The decree would decrimi-nalise abuse-of-power offences in which the sums do not exceed 200,000 lei ($48,000), potentially scuttling an ongoing trial of the governing Social Democrat party chief and benefiting dozens of other public officials.

The government has rejected calls to rescind the decree, though cracks in cabi-net unity emerged on Thursday with resignation of a minister and a call from a vice-president of the ruling party for the meas-ure to be withdrawn.

Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea’s move echoed a plea from the Black Sea state’s general prose-cutor and added to a challenge by CSM council of magistrates to the top court and by centre-right President Klaus Iohannis.

General Prosecutor Augus-tin Lazar said yesterday he welcomed the Constitutional Court challenge and his office had its own case before the

Court of Appeals (CA).Experts say the CA itself

could suspend enforcement of the decree as it can rule on legality of such measures.

The government adopted the measure in an emergency proce-dure late on Tuesday, saying this was needed to align ex-Commu-nist Romania with a EU legal directive to member states that aims “to consolidate some aspects of presumption of innocence and right to be present at trials”.

It has cited a need to ease overcrowding in Romanian pris-ons as further grounds for “proposed legislative measures”, as the government refers to the decree.

Stockholm

AFP

A SWEDISH far-right law-maker was charged with assault yesterday after a fight outside a club in Stockholm last year, public prosecutors said.

“On November 24 the member of parliament was standing in line to enter a club when a fight broke out and the politician is now charged with beating another man,” the Stockholm public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The daily Expressen pub-lished a surveillance video in November showing Kent Ekeroth assaulting the victim. Ekeroth was furious at being refused entry into the club, and said he was provoked by the victim who mocked him as he walked away.

Ekeroth, 35, has admitted slapping the victim but insisted he acted in self-defence.

“I had the reflex to defend myself by giving an aggres-sor a light slap,” Ekeroth told Aftonbladet.

The victim has mean-while insisted he was punched in the face.

Clashes claim more lives in Ukraine

Residents queue for hot food distributed by Ukrainian rescue services in the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka, yesterday.

Machete attacker shot at Louvre in Paris

French police secure the site near the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, yesterday.

Fillon fights to remain in presidential race

Swedish MP charged over club fracas

Romania’s ombudsman challenges graft decree in Constitutional Court

A man dressed as a traditional character in the Baile de Negras dances on feast day of Virgin of the Candlemas in town of Diriomo, some 45km from Managua, Nicaragua, yesterday.

Festive fervour

Legal battle

The hearing was the first in a series of legal challenges to the measure the new Republican president signed last week, which blocked people holding passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

11SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017 AMERICAS

Boston / Seattle

Reuters

Justice Department lawyers across the United States were yesterday weighing President Donald Trump’s order temporarily banning

citizens of seven majority-Mus-lim nations from entering the country, a directive some attor-neys general say is unconstitutional.

A federal judge in Boston expressed scepticism yesterday about a civil rights group’s claim that President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States represented reli-gious discrimination.

The hearing was the first yesterday in a series of legal challenges to the measure the new Republican president signed last week, which blocked people holding passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The order also temporarily stopped the entry of all refu-gees into the country and indefinitely halted the settle-ment of Syrian refugees.

Federal judges in Seattle and Virginia will also weigh lawsuits filed by different states

and advocacy groups challeng-ing the order.

Early on Sunday, a magis-trate judge in Boston issued an injunction that for seven days blocked enforcement of the order, which the White House has contended is necessary for national security.

“Where does it say Muslim countries?” US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton yesterday asked Matthew Segal, an attor-ney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) repre-senting the plaintiffs in the Boston case.

“If your honour’s question is, ‘Does the word ‘Muslim’ make a profound presence in this executive order?,’ my

Judges weigh challenges to travel ban

answer is that it doesn’t,” Segal said. “But the president described what he was going to do as a Mus-lim ban and then he proceeded to carry it out.”

Gorton shot back, “Am I to take the words of an executive at any point before or after election as a part of that executive order?”

Massachusetts anti-poverty group Oxfam and seven Iranian nationals have joined a lawsuit asking Gorton to extend the injunc-tion forbidding the detention or removal of approved refugees, visa holders, and legal permanent US residents who entered from the seven countries.

Judge Gorton yesterday asked US Justice Department lawyer Joshua Press how the seven coun-

tries had been selected.Press responded the list had

come from a law passed in 2015 and amended early last year requiring citizens of the seven countries apply for visas to enter the US, “out of concern about ref-ugees that were coming, mainly from Syria and terrorist events that were occurring in Europe.”

The order caused chaos at US airports last weekend, with some travellers abroad turned back from flights into the United States and crowds of hundreds of peo-ple packing into arrival areas to protest the policies.

In Seattle, the states of Wash-ington and Minnesota were together asking a judge to suspend entire policy nationwide, which

would represent broadest ruling to date against Trump’s directive.

Should the Seattle judge rule that Washington state and Minne-sota have legal standing to sue, it could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.

During his campaign, Trump discussed the idea of temporar-ily banning Muslims from entering the country to protect against terrorist threats.

On Friday, however, he defended the restrictions as nec-essary to protect religious liberty.

A Virginia judge will consider whether to allow that state’s attorney general to intervene in another court challenge there.

Washington

AFP

A LONGTIME CIA clandes-tine operations official involved in its much-criti-cised offshore interrogations after the 9/11 attacks was named number two at the US spy agency yesterday.

Gina Haspel, the first female head of Central Intel-ligence Agency’s clandestine service, was named deputy director of overall organiza-tion under its new director, Mike Pompeo.

A veteran of agency’s undercover spy operations, Haspel joined CIA in 1985 and served in posts around the world.

She was named acting head of CIA National Clandes-tine Service in 2013, but was replaced within weeks—reportedly due to concerns over her senior role in post-9/11 interrogation operations, which involved methods widely deemed to be torture, such as waterboarding.

The Washington Post reported that year that she “had run a secret prison in Thailand where two detain-ees were subjected to waterboarding and other harsh techniques.”

Mexico City

AFP

Mexico’s foreign minis-ter and the new US secretary of state

agreed yesterday to meet soon, the Mexican government said amid a diplomatic row between the neighbouring nations.

Foreign Minister Luis Vide-garay spoke on the phone with Rex Tillerson to congratulate him on his confirmation as sec-retary of state by the US Senate on Friday, the Mexican foreign ministry said.

“They agreed to hold a meeting in the near future in order to move forward in the common challenges that Mex-ico and the United States face,” the ministry said in a statement.

They discussed the “importance of the relation-ship” between the two countries and “stated their interest in working together, in a constructive and close manner, to strengthen bilat-eral relations to the benefit of both nations.”

Videgaray travelled to New York on Thursday to meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and members of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA), a debate forum and regional

business organisation.Relations between the stra-

tegic partners descended into the worst diplomatic crisis in decades last week as Trump insisted on making Mexico pay for a massive border wall to stem illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Pena Nieto vowed to never pay for the barrier, demanded respect for his nation and can-celed a meeting with Trump in Washington.

The two presidents, how-ever, spoke on the phone last Friday and instructed their teams to continue talks.

The United States, Mexico and Canada are preparing to renegotiate the North Ameri-can Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as demanded by Trump, who called the 23-year-old pact a “catastrophe” on Thursday.

Pena Nieto, meanwhile, vowed to defend Mexico’s inter-ests in the negotiations, which his economy minister said would start in May.

“In any agreement, in any pact with the United States or any other country in the world, the president will invariably act in the defence of Mexico’s sovereignty and the interests of Mexicans,” he said at a meeting of agricul-tural industry leaders.

New York

AP

He’s locked up 23 hours a day. His wife can’t visit him. He can’t call any-

one, except his lawyers. He was denied water, his lawyers say.

The strict jail conditions for notorious Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman were outlined yesterday by defence attorneys in a failed

bid to get a judge to loosen them.Guzman smiled at his com-

mon-law wife, Emma Coronel, as he was led into Brooklyn court-room under heavy guard by deputy US marshals at his second court appearance since being brought to the US on January 19.

“This was so far the only way she has been able to see him,” defence attorney Michelle Gelernt said afterward with a silent Coronel at her side.

Guzman, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of running a massive drug trafficking oper-ation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.

Defence lawyers com-plained to US District Judge Brian Cogan yesterday that the restrictions make it difficult for him to make decisions with them about how to fight the charges.

San Francisco/Washington Reuters

UBER Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick quit President Donald Trump’s business advisory group yester-day amid mounting pressure from activists and employees who oppose the administration’s immi-gration policies.

Critics included Uber drivers, many of whom are immigrants themselves.

“Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misin-terpreted to be exactly that,” Kalanick, who had planned to attend a meeting of the group yes-terday , said in an email to staff.

Uber spokeswoman Chelsea Kohler later confirmed that he had left the group.

Social media campaigns had targeted Uber, urging users to delete accounts and opt for rival Lyft Inc. Uber has been emailing users who deleted their accounts to say it shares their concerns and will compensate drivers affected by the ban.

Kalanick said he spoke briefly to Trump about the immigration order “and its issues for our com-munity” and told the president he would not join the economic council.

The CEO came under increas-ing pressure to leave the council after Trump issued an executive order temporarily barring people from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States.

Mexico City

AFP

US President Donald Trump’s “violent” words against the media are

worrying and set a bad example for despots who could feel freer to muzzle journalists, a press rights group said yesterday.

“Donald Trump’s attitude toward the media is extremely

worrisome, of course, for the US, for freedom of the press in that country,” Reporters Without Bor-ders director general Christophe Deloire told reporters.

“He never ceases—with his words, on Twitter—to be violent against journalists and we can already see a form of radicalisa-tion against journalists that is worrisome, but it’s even more troubling for the rest of the

world, since he gives a truly bad example,” he said.

Trump and his aides have had a tense relationship with media that began during US presidential campaign and has become more confrontational since his inaugu-ration on January 20.

The US leader has accused news organisations of peddling “fake news” and journalists of being “among the most dishon-

est human beings on Earth.”“Many despots or presidents

of restrained democracies will seize on it, saying: ‘Look, even the US president says journalists are the most dishonest people on Earth,’” Deloire said.

“This will authorise some to fight journalists even harder and restrain freedom of press.”

Deloire spoke on sidelines of a news conference to present a

Reporters Without Borders report on violence against jour-nalists in Mexico’s eastern state of Veracruz.

At least 99 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, including 17 in Veracruz in the past six years, the report said.

The violence has forced many journalists from around the country to take refuge in Mexico City, Deloire said, but

some also flee abroad.“The country where most

Mexican journalists go into exile is the US and Trump’s remarks about migrants and journalists are evidently extremely troubling for those journalists,” he said.

Trump has called Mexican migrants “abusive” and drug runners, and vowed to make Mexico pay for a massive wall across the southern US border.

Trump’s anti-media rhetoric worries press rights group

People protesting against US President Donald Trump's travel ban outside the Uber offices in Queens, New York, against yesterday.

Uber CEO quits Trump’s business advisory group

Jail conditions too strict: El Chapo lawyers

US & Mexican diplomats to meet amid tensions

Woman tied to secret probes to be CIA No. 2

Unrest in jail

The uprising began in US city of Smyrna when inmates with homemade weapons overpowered staff members, seized Building C and took three guards hostage.

12 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017AMERICAS

Samah Abdullhamid (right), the first Syrian refugee in Mexico, is welcomed by Mexican students who will help her to complete her studies, on her arrival to Benito Juarez International Airport, yesterday.

An open arm welcome

Erasing old law

The vote was 221-191 to roll back the Interior Department rule that had clamped down on oil companies that burn off natural gas during drilling operations on public lands.

Republicans argued that the rule is causing job losses in energy-dependent states across the West and is undercutting domestic energy production.

Washington

AP

The Republican-control-led House voted yesterday to overturn an Obama administra-tion rule that sought to

reduce harmful methane emis-sions into the environment, part of the Democrat’s campaign to combat climate change.

The vote was 221-191 to roll back the Interior Department rule that had clamped down on oil companies that burn off nat-ural gas during drilling operations on public lands. The rule had been finalised in November.

Republicans argued that the rule is causing job losses in energy-dependent states across the West and is undercutting domestic energy production. The measure now goes to the Senate. The House vote followed

action in the Senate earlier yes-terday ending an Obama-era regulation that requires oil and gas companies to disclose pay-ments to foreign governments for mining and drilling.

The House and Senate also gave final approval this week to a measure that eliminates a rule to prevent coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams.

The votes are among a series Republicans are taking under GOP control of Congress and the White House to reverse years of what they call excessive regula-tion during Obama’s tenure. Rules on fracking, federal con-tracting and other issues also are in the GOP crosshairs.

Republicans said the natural gas rule costs energy companies more than $1bn a year and costs states and the federal govern-ment million in lost tax payments.

“This rule is a needless bur-den on American families,” said Representative Doug Lamborn, of Republican from Colorado., who said the boom in natural gas production in recent years ben-efits “everyday Americans” by lowering energy costs and reduc-ing air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Energy companies frequently “flare” or burn off vast supplies of natural gas at drilling sites because it earns less money than oil. A government report said about 40 percent of gas being flared or vented could be cap-tured economically and sold.

Gas flaring is so prevalent in oil-rich North Dakota that night-time flaring activity on drilling sites is visible in Nasa photos from space.

Environmental groups and public health organisations opposed the rollback, saying the new rule will reduce the risk of

ozone formation in the air and ozone-related health problems, including asthma attacks, hos-pital admissions and premature deaths.

Methane, the primary gas burned off during flaring oper-ations, is strong contributor to climate change. It is about 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, although it does not stay in the air as long. Methane emissions make up about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to government estimates.

The oil industry has argued that new regulations are not needed for methane because the industry already has a financial incentive to capture and sell natural gas.

Methane emissions have been reduced by 21 percent since 1990 even as production has boomed, according to the

Western Energy Alliance, an industry group.

Representative. Alan Lowenthal, Democratic from California, challenged those sta-tistics and said Republicans were doing the bidding of wealthy fos-sil fuel executives at the expense of ordinary Americans.

“Two weeks into an all-Republican government, and they are already handing out early Valentine’s Day gifts” to the industry, Lowenthal said.

“’Instead of chocolates and flowers, they are giving fossil fuel executives the right to pollute our water and our air,” he said.

President Donald Trump campaigned to do away with several measures adopted by his predecessor. He had campaigned to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature domestic leg-islation that Republicans consider federal government overreach

Smyrna, Delaware

AP

Using a backhoe to smash through a barricade of footlockers, authorities

stormed Delaware’s largest prison yesterday and ended a nearly 24-hour hostage stand-off involving inmates armed with sharpened objects. One hostage — a guard — was found dead.

A second hostage, a female counselor, was safely rescued minutes after the tactical teams forced their way into the all-male, 2,500-prisoner James T. Vaughn Correctional Center. Some inmates had shielded her from harm, officials said.

Governor John Carney called the uprising a “torturous” ordeal. In a statement, he said author-ities will hold accountable those responsible and “make what-ever changes are necessary to ensure nothing like it ever hap-pens again.”

Authorities did not explain how 47-year-old Sgt. Steven Floyd died, but head of the guards union said the 16-year veteran of the prison was forced into a closet and killed by his captors at some point.

During the takeover, Floyd yelled to other guards who were coming to help him that the inmates had set a trap, saving some of his fellow officers’ lives, said Geoffrey Klopp, union president.

The uprising began when inmates with homemade weap-ons overpowered staff members, seized Building C and took three guards and a coun-selor hostage.

One inmate told a local newspaper that they were demanding better education and rehabilitation programmes and were also upset over President Donald Trump and “all the things that he’s doing now.”

“We know the institution is going to change for the worse,” he told The News Journal in Wilmington. During negotia-tions conducted for a while via an officer’s walkie-talkie, the inmates released two hostages and got authorities to turn water back on, saying they needed it for drinking and washing. Instead, they filled up metal footlockers and built barricades.

Officers finally went in with heavy equipment and found Floyd unresponsive, authorities said. He was pronounced dead about a half-hour later.

The guards who were taken hostage were beaten severely by their captors and suffered broken bones, cuts and eye inju-ries, Klopp said. Authorities said their injuries were not life-threatening.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many inmates took part in the uprising. About 120 were in the building when it began, but dozens were let out as the stand-off dragged on.

Officers inside cellblocks are not armed, for fear they could be overpowered and stripped of their weapons. Armed guards are posted in prison towers.

The negotiations via walkie-talkie were broadcast online for more than an hour before offi-cials blocked the transmission. The conversations were mostly calm, with moments of tension. At one point, an unidentified

inmate told a negotiator that the prisoners wanted a “formal apology” from the governor for “decades of oppression.”

The prison, about 15 miles outside state capital of Dover, holds minimum-, medium- and maximum-security prisoners serving sentences, along with defendants awaiting trial, and has about 1,500 guards. Build-ing C includes inmates being disciplined for infractions.

While authorities investigate what went wrong, Delaware Homeland Security Secretary Robert Coupe noted that the prison system faces staffing shortages every day.

“Statewide, we are down on any given day about 90 posi-tions,” said Coupe, who added that the agency uses overtime to meet minimum staffing levels.

Klopp said Floyd’s death was preventable and slammed the state for understaffing and low pay.

In 2004, an inmate at the prison abused a counselor and held her hostage for nearly seven hours before he was killed by a department sharpshooter. Klopp said none of the resulting recommendations for improv-ing staffing were put into effect.

Lima

Reuters

Severe droughts gripping Peru have given way to some of the country’s most

devastating downpours in dec-ades, catching authorities off guard as they scramble to con-tain the kind of floods that climate change is expected to make more frequent.

At least 20 people have died in rain-related events in Peru in recent weeks, said Juber Ruiz, with Peru’s civil defence institute, yesterday.

Rivers bursting their banks have pushed thousands from their homes and clogged water treatment plants with rocks and

debris — forcing authorities to restrict water use in Lima and Arequipa city.

“We definitely were not prepared for this type of thing,” Prime Minister Fernando Zav-ala told reporters in Lima, where dozens of houses were damaged by floods.

Although the downpours have hit Peru during its tradi-tional “landslide season,” this year they have been much more intense and have fallen over a broader swath of Peru, Ruiz said.

The precipitation has been fueled by unusually warm tem-peratures in the Pacific that would indicate a strong El Nino if they hold, said meteorologist Abraham Levy.

Orinoca, Bolivia

Reuters

Bolivia yesterday opened a $7m museum dedicated to President Evo Morales and indigenous peoples in

Morales’s birthplace of Orinoca high up in the deserts of the Bolivian antiplano.

Morales ordered the museum to be built by decree shortly after he became Bolivia’s first indigenous president in 2006, creating a place to hold hundreds of his gifts as well as photos, videos and archeological treasures.

“This town that has raised me, this town that has taken care of me, I want to say ‘thank you, we will keep working’,” said a tearful Morales at the inauguration some 400km from Bolivia’s main city of La Paz.

Morales was elected to a third con-secutive term in 2014, a leftist holdout on a continent that is largely moving to the

political right, and is seeking a way to run again in 2019 despite losing a referendum over a fourth term.

The museum, which Bolivia’s minis-ter called the largest and most modern in Latin America, tells the country’s history with a focus on the achievements of Morales. It is divided into three wings, each named after mythic animals in Boliv-ian history.

Andean music and traditional dances from dozens of nearby communities rounded out the opening of the so-called “Museum of the Democratic and Cultural Revolution.” Some have criticized the museum as a waste of money that is too remote to attract tourists.

Bolivia is in the middle of its worst drought in 25 years. It declared a state of emergency in November amid protests in major cities and conflicts over the use of aquifers.

Brasilia

Reuters

BRAZILIAN President Michel Temer elevated his infra-structure investment secretary to a ministry-level position yesterday, granting a degree of legal protection to a trusted confidant impli-cated in a sweeping corruption investigation.

Wellington Moreira Franco, a close adviser to the president, will also be responsible for communi-cations and ceremonies, the presidential spokesman told journalists. He will retain his infrastructure role at Cabi-net level.

The promotion high-lighted Temer’s confidence in Moreira Franco, who, accord-ing to a source, had drafted a resignation letter in Decem-ber after plea bargain testimony in a major graft probe implicated him in ille-gal campaign fundraising.

Moreira Franco denied any wrongdoing or intentions to quit. His new position in Temer’s Cabinet means any case against him must be tried by the Supreme Court, which has a long backlog of cases.

Temer’s spokesman also said the president was appointing lawmaker Anto-nio Imbassahy as his minister in charge of relations with Congress, replacing Geddel Vieira Lima, who stepped down in November amid alle-gations of influence peddling.

House overturns Obama rule on natural gas flaring

Prison hostage standoff ends; guard found dead

Droughts give way to floods in Peru

Temer lifts infrastructure aide to ministry post

Bolivia opens $7m museum honouring President Morales

Bolivia's President Evo Morales (centre) with government authorities throws liquid-filled pots to inaugurate the Orinoca Museum in Orinoca, yesterday.

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13:45 Stuck In The

Middle

16:15 Austin & Ally

17:10 Elena Of

Avalor

18:00 Gravity Falls

18:25 The Little

Mermaid

20:00 Star Darlings

20:30 Elena Of

Avalor

20:55 Liv And

Maddie

21:20 Best Friends

Whenever

21:45 Austin & Ally

22:10 Mako

Mermaids

22:35 Dog With A

Blog

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

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

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

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

contains the same number only once.

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

NOVO

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

AL KHOR

Split (2D/Horror) 11:30am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30, 10:00pm, 12:00midnight & 12:15amKung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnightLive By Night (2D/Crime) 11:00am, 1:30, 2:15, 4:00, 6:30, 7:15, 9:00 & 11:30pmArsenal (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightRaees (2D/Hindi) 10:30am, 3:45 & 9:00pm Monster Trucks (2D/Animation) 1:30, 6:45pm & 12:00midnightJackie(2D/Drama)10:10am, 2:00, 5:50 & 9:50pm Pet(2D/Horror)12:10, 4:00, 7:50 & 11:50pmSing (2D/Animation) 10:15am, 12:15, 2:15 & 4:15pmLa La Land (2D/Musical) 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm Split (2D/Musical) 4:50pm XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (2D/Action) 10:30am, 2:45, 7:00 & 11:15pm Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2D/Action) 12:45, 5:00 & 9:15pmResident Evil: The Final Chapter (3D IMAX/Action) 10:30am, 2:45, 7:00 & 11:15pm XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (3DIMAX/Action) 12:30, 4:45 & 9:00pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:00pmNenu Local (2D/Telugu) 2:00pm Jackie (2D/Drama) 2:15pm Kung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 4:00, 7:15 & 9:15pm Moana (2D/Animation) 4:30pm Pet (2D/Horror) 6:00pm Live By Night (2D/Crime) 5:00 & 8:45pm Split (2D/Horror) 9:30pm Raees (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 7:45 & 11:30pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:00pmJackie (2D/Drama) 2:00pm Kung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 2:15, 7:15 & 9:15pm Nenu Local (2D/Telugu) 3:45pm Pet (2D/Horror) 4:15pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 6:00 & 9:45pm Raees (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm Split (2D/Horror) 7:45 & 11:30pmLive By Night (2D/Crime) 5:00 & 8:45pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:15pmEnakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (2D/Tamil) 2:15pmKung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 2:15, 7:15 & 9:15pmRaees (2D/Hindi) 4:30pm Live By Night (2D/Crime) 5:00 & 8:30pm Jackie (2D/Drama) 8:00pm Split (2D/Horror) 6:00 & 11:30pm Pet (2D/Horror) 7:00pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 4:15 & 9:45pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 10:45pm

Jomonte (Malayalam) 12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00, 11:15pm Nenu Local (Telugu) 12:45 & 6:45pm Bogan (Tamil) 12:30, 3:30, 9:30pmEnakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (Telugu) 3:30 & 8:45pm Raees (Hindi) 6:30pm

Jomonte (Malayalam) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm

Bogan (Tamil) 11:15am, 2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pm

Nenu Local (Telugu) 10:45am, 1:45, 4:45, 7:45 & 10:45pm

Yesterday’s answer

16 SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2017MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

04.58 am

06.16 am

ZUHRASR

11.48 am

02.57 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.22 pm

06.52 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 09:45 - 22:30 LOW TIDE 03:30 - 16:45

Strong wind to the northern areas.

Relatively cold daytime with some

clouds and cold by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

10oC 19oC

Sweihan

AFP

Women clad in emerald green abayas and men in crisp white gandoura gowns, Emi-

rati folk dancers sway to the steady beat of a Bedouin drum against the desert skyline.

The show is part of the 11th edition of the Sultan bin Zayed Heritage Fes-tival, held each year in Sweihan, 100km from the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi.

The festival aims to preserve the ways of desert life and introduce UAE youth to their heritage at a time when tradition is increasingly being over-shadowed by glitzy city life. With the rise of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, "it is very

important to keep on with the tradi-tions, with the culture of the country and the people", said Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Emirates Heritage Club.

"We have to encourage young peo-ple to come, (especially) through schools," Sheikh Sultan, a son of the UAE's founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, said.

The two-week event features arti-sanal souks, traditional music, camel races -- and a series of camel beauty contests. Dromedary contestants are divided into seven categories, includ-ing "two-year-old virgin female camels", "pregnant female camels about to give birth", and "five-year-old (and above) male camels". The competition, dubbed camel "mazayna"

(beauty) in Arabic, aims to "encourage breeders and owners to breed authen-tic strains of camels and protect them from hybridisation and blood cross-ing and create an atmosphere of honest competition ... to ensure the breeding of the most beautiful camels", the fes-tival brochure reads.

The criteria, as laid out in the bro-chure, are transparent: jurors base their scores on the shape of the cam-els' head, neck and hump as well as their posture.

Eyelash length and the sheen of the camels' hair also factor into the marks.

Awaiting the results, the animals are kept calm by their owners, lined up in front of a fleet of 80 shiny white 4X4 cars beloved of Gulf Arabs to be awarded to the first-place winners.

In earth-toned traditional garb, including a floor-length gandoura and turban, Sheikh Sultan watches the con-test from a plush oversized armchair. He greets the overall winner and her Qatari owner warmly to thundering applause, as a drone flies overhead to capture the scene.

Runners-up in second to 10th place receive between 10,000 and 45,000 dirhams (between $2,700 and $12,250) each. In 2005, Abu Dhabi produced the world's first test-tube purebred camel.

The oil-rich emirate, one of seven making up the UAE, also began using remote-controlled robot riders in its camel races that year. Camel racing is an extremely popular traditional sport in the UAE.

Emirati desert festival brings tradition back to life

Houston

AP

Lady Gaga (pictured) said she hopes her Super Bowl halftime show will cele-

brate "inclusion" and the "spirit of equality" during a time of national division. "This perform-ance is for everyone. I want to, more than anything, create a moment that everyone that's watching will never forget," she said on Thursday in Houston. Gaga wouldn't reveal what songs she would sing, how many costumes she'll wear or any staging details, but promised a "tremendously athletic" show and no reappearance of her infamous meat dress.

She also said there wouldn't be any wardrobe malfunctions — like Janet Jackson's infamous moment when she performed at the last Super Bowl held in

Houston in 2004. "Everything is going to be nice and tight," Gaga said. "I wouldn't worry about that." When Gaga debuted in 2008, her sound was a mix of electronic, dance and pop sounds, including the hits "Poker Face" and "Just Dance." Her lat-est album though, "Joanne," delves into country and acous-tic rock territory, and she said she plans to perform songs from

her entire catalog. The 30-year-old singer, who sang the national anthem at last year's Super Bowl, was nominated for the best orig-inal song Oscar last year and won a Golden Globe for her role on the FX series "American Horror Story." Gaga said she considers being asked to be the halftime headliner is due to her fans, affectionately known as "little monsters."

Los Angeles

AFP

They could have called it "Cats," if someone hadn't got there first,

for John Hurt's (pictured) strangest movie by far is an obscure Shakespeare adaptation placing him opposite 108 feline co-stars. The British knight of the realm played some of cinema's most iconic characters across 150 movies before his death in January, but even ardent film buffs are unlikely to have seen him in "Romeo.Juliet."

Hurt is the only human in Armondo Acosta's 1990 movie, playing a Venetian bag lady while the feuding Montagues and Capulets -- or should that be Cat-ulets? -- were strays voiced by leading lights of stage and screen. A sought-after curio, it was never released on home video, but Acosta has made available on the Internet rare footage of Hurt's scenes, not viewed for a quarter of a century, in tribute to the actor. Hurt, who turned 77 a few days before his death, is not the only cast member to play against gender; Juliet is por-trayed by a white Turkish Angora who in real life was a neutered male called Maria. Almost all of the cats -- they numbered 250 at one point -- were plucked from rescue organisations in Belgium.

Super Bowl halftime show is 'for everyone': Lady Gaga

Brussels

Reuters

Visitors to Brussels will soon be able to admire scores of colourful cos-tumes used over the years to dress

the city’s most famous landmark, the 400-year-old Manneken Pis.

The 61cm bronze statue of a naked boy urinating into a fountain is one of the big-gest attractions for visitors to the Belgian capital and on Saturday a museum that celebrates his extensive and diverse ward-robe will open near to the site. The museum, called Garderobe MannekenPis after the French word for ‘wardrobe’, will display 133 costumes from a 965-item

collection. They include a fireman, a coal miner, a bee-keeper, Mickey Mouse, Santa Claus, Dracula and a Chinese dragon.

A giant mural depicting the Manneken Pis in a jacket and jeans emblazons the side of the museum building.

Manneken Pis receives about 15 to 20 new costumes annually and is dressed for 130 days of the year. But there are strict rules about what he can wear - no polit-ical or religious garb, and none for commercial purposes.

The new museum is split into seven sections: geography, folklore, charity and citizens’ associations, trades, celebrities, sports and designers. Visitors will also be able to dress up a Manneken Pis model.

Brussels museum displays costumes of Manneken Pis

Costumes of the Belgian statue Manneken Pis are displayed at the museum called GardeRobe MannekenPis in central Brussels.

LEFT: Chairman of the Emirates Heritage Club, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, inspects camels during the camel festival at the Shweihan racecourse in Al Ain, on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. RIGHT: Emiratees perform a traditional dance during the festival.

John Hurt's strangest role in cat film