FM: 2022 - Gulf Times

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QATAR

since 1978SUNDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10586

September 24, 2017Muharram 4, 1439 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

Global Finance namesQIB ‘safest Islamicbank in Qatar’

BUSINESS | Page 1

Al-Attiyah wins jump-off for equestrian gold

SPORT | Page 1

QATAR

REGION

ARAB WORLD

INTERNATIONAL

COMMENT

BUSINESS

CLASSIFIED

SPORTS

22, 23

1-4, 15-20

5-14

1-8

2-7

8, 9

9

10-21

INDEX

FM: 2022World Cupto promoteinnovation

An occasion to ‘bring people together, overcoming geographical, religious, cultural and linguistic diff erences’

QNANew York

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is a first and foremost opportu-nity for the Arab world and

the Middle East to highlight their true and peaceful nature to the rest of the world, HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has said.

He was speaking at the inaugura-tion of the “Adaptation of Sport for Sustainable Development” Exhibition organised by Qatar’s Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), on the sidelines of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“The organisation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup gives the State of Qatar a great opportunity to stimulate inno-vation, positive change and sustain-able development. The State of Qatar is currently building eight stadiums, 64 training grounds, fi ve fan areas and accommodation, as well as major infrastructure developments includ-ing roads, railways and airports,” HE Sheikh Mohamed explained.

“The State of Qatar is taking ad-vantage of this opportunity to pro-mote innovation and technology and provide a platform for young people for innovation and entrepreneurship, noting that all this is under the um-brella of sustainability, with respect for culture, and aims to accelerate progress towards achieving national development goals as well as creating a lasting legacy for Qatar, the Middle

East, Asia and the world.“It is a great honour to be happy in

a country that has been chosen to be the host country for the events of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as it is the first time to host such a tournament in our region.

“The World Cup is an occasion to bring people together, overcom-ing geographical, religious, cultural and linguistic diff erences,” the for-eign minister said, adding that there are well-organised activities that will teach participants values such as tol-erance, empathy, integration, respect, dialogue, reconciliation, courage, self-discipline, strategies and leader-ship,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SC secretary-gen-eral Hassan al-Thawadi highlighted at the event sport’s power to transform a region’s social and economic develop-ment during a speech at the United Na-tions.

He pointed out Qatar’s vision had not changed since the country won the right to host the tournament in 2010.

“When we bid to host the FIFA World Cup, we recognised the im-mense potential of bringing an event to the Middle East and the Arab world for the first time,” he pointed out.

“We fi rmly believed that the time was right for our region to be given the opportunity to showcase itself to the world in a new light. It is an unfor-tunate reality that much of the world views our region through a lens cloud-ed by confl ict and negative headlines. Our vision is to transform that view.” Page 3

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani speaking at the event in New York.

Qatar Chamber: private sector unaff ected by siegeThe Qatari private sector has

demonstrated its ability to face the siege imposed by three Gulf

states on Qatar since June 5, according to Qatar Chamber vice chairman Mo-hamed bin Towar al-Kuwari.

In a media statement, al-Kuwari said: “More than 100 days after the unjust blockade, the Qatari market re-mains unaff ected contrary to the ex-pectations of the siege countries, which considered Qatar a small country in terms of geography and population.

“These countries thought that Qa-tar will not withstand the land, sea, and air blockade but they have forgot-ten that a country’s economic strength is not measured by geographical area and population, and perhaps the sim-plest example is Singapore, which set the largest economic success story in the world.”

Al-Kuwari said the State of Qatar had succeeded in building a strong knowledge-based economy, includ-ing a genuine partnership between the public and private sectors under the patronage of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

He said the State had utilised many options and alternatives to secure the needs of the local market such as food

or raw materials for construction. Al-Kuwari said the launch of maritime routes between the Hamad Port and a number of ports in Oman, Turkey, and other countries in East Asia contrib-uted to the strengthening of the move-ment of Qatari imports from diff erent international sources.

“Since the fi rst day of the blockade, there was no interruption in the fl ow of commodities. The goods coming from siege countries were covered by alter-native countries without any impact on consumers,” al-Kuwari said, citing the “great response” by businessmen

and “the pivotal role played by Qatar Chamber.”

“No matter how long this siege will last, it will not aff ect the Qatari econ-omy. Qatari businessmen and Qatari companies now have working relations with suppliers from around the world. The fl ow of commodities needed by the Qatari market will continue without any obstacles,” al-Kuwari emphasised.

Al-Kuwari also lauded Qatar Cham-ber’s eff orts in responding to the needs of the market immediately after the announcement of the economic blockade. “Qatar Chamber has moved in all directions to confront the crisis and maintain the fl ow of goods and products,” he said.

He noted that the chamber has ex-panded its network to fi nd new import destinations and visited “sisterly and friendly countries,” including Oman, Pakistan, and Turkey, to secure part-nerships between Qatari businessmen and their counterparts.

The chamber also received a number of Arab and foreign business delega-tions to enhance trade exchange. It also called for the need to direct pri-vate sector investments to establish projects needed by the market, espe-cially in the fi eld of food security.

Qatar Chamber vice chairman Mohamed bin Towar al-Kuwari.

ARAB WORLD | Deployment

Turkey ratifi es motion on Iraq and SyriaTurkey’s parliament yesterday ratified a motion to extend for another year approval for the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria. The parliament’s decision came in an extraordinary session held to discuss the motion which was submitted by the government to extend the troops’ deployment. During the session, Turkey’s national defence minister Nurettin Canikli said that the referendum poses a serious threat to Turkey’s national security, and it “would be declared null and void for us.” “We call once again for the cancellation of the referendum and giving up adventurism,” said Canikli.

REGION | Armament

Iran successfullytests new missileIran said yesterday that it had successfully tested a new medium-range missile in defiance of warnings from Washington that such activities were grounds for abandoning their landmark nuclear deal. State television carried footage of the launch of the Khoramshahr missile, which was first displayed at a high-profile military parade in Tehran on Friday. It also carried in-flight video from the nose cone of the missile, which has a range of 2,000km (1,250 miles) and can carry multiple warheads. Page 8

BRITAIN | Incident

Six believed injured insuspected acid attackSix people were believed to have been injured yesterday after a group of males reportedly sprayed a noxious substance in a number of attacks in an area around a shopping centre in east London, police said. The incident was not being treated as terror-related, a police spokesman said. The attacks occurred near the Stratford Centre, in Stratford, police said. Earlier they had said the incident took place around the bigger Westfield shopping centre which is nearby.

EUROPE | Election

Merkel seen winninga historic fourth termGermans vote in a national election today that is likely to see Chancellor Angela Merkel win a historic fourth term and a far-right party enter parliament for the first time in more than half a century. Merkel’s conservative bloc is on track to remain the largest group in parliament, opinion polls showed before the vote, but a fracturing of the political landscape may well make it harder for her to form a ruling coalition than previously. With as many as a third of Germans undecided in the run-up to the election, Merkel and her main rival, centre-left challenger Martin Schulz of the Social Democrats (SPD), urged them yesterday to get out and vote. Page 14

BUSINESS | Finance

Britain’s credit ratingdowngraded by Moody’sThe Britain’s credit rating has been cut over concerns about the Britain’s public finances and fears Brexit could damage the country’s economic growth. Moody’s, one of the major ratings agencies, downgraded Britain to an Aa2 rating from Aa1, the BBC reported. Downing Street said the firm’s Brexit assessments were outdated.It said leaving the European Union was creating economic uncertainty at a time when the UK’s debt reduction plans were already off course. Business Page 1

N Korea, US ramp up tensions with fi ery rhetoric

American heavy bombers fly furthest north of demilitarised zone in clear warning

DPAWashington/Beijing

US Air Force bombers and fi ghter jets fl ew over international wa-ters yesterday off the east coast

of North Korea in a “demonstration of US resolve” in the face of Pyongyang’s provocations, the Pentagon said.

Meanwhile, a top North Korean of-fi cial told the UN General Assembly that Pyongyang will take “merciless preventive action” if the United States shows any sign of “decapitating” the regime.

The US military’s Pacifi c Command described the bomber mission as the furthest north of the Korean penin-sula’s demilitarised zone fl own by US strike aircraft in the region since at

least the 1990s, “underscoring the se-riousness with which we take [North Korea’s] reckless behaviour.”

B-1B Lancer supersonic heavy bombers from a base in the Pacifi c on Guam - which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has threatened with a pre-emptive missile strike - were es-corted by F-15C Eagle fi ghters.

The fl ight was a “clear message” of US military options “to defeat any threat,” the Pacifi c Command said.

“North Korea’s weapons programme is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacifi c re-gion and the entire international com-munity. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies,” the statement said.

In New York, North Korean For-eign Minister Ri Yong-ho said that US President Donald Trump’s threats are “making our rocket’s visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more.”

In his own speech on Tuesday to the United Nations, Trump vowed to “to-tally destroy” North Korea if forced to defend the United States or US allies.

The Trump administration, which took offi ce in January, has stepped up US rhetoric in response to North Ko-rea’s heightened pace of nuclear tests and missile launches. Washington has also pressed China, North Korea’s main ally, to force Pyongyang to nego-tiate over the weapons programmes.

Ri said that North Korea does not need international recognition of its nuclear capabilities, and said that un-til international justice is realised, the “nuclear hammer of justice” is the only option.

South Korea and Japan are US “stooges,” and only countries that participate in US actions against North Korea are endangered, he said.

Trump is the “gravest threat to in-ternational peace,” said Ri, referring to the US leader as “President Evil” hold-ing the nuclear button.

An earthquake registered earlier yesterday in North Korea near the site of a previous nuclear test prompted a fl urry of speculation that the reclusive regime had carried out another such test.

However, various national geologi-cal agencies said that it was a natural seismic event and had not been caused by an explosion.

Scientists in multiple countries re-ported measuring the magnitude at 3 to 3.4.

The South Korean geology agen-cy said its analysis had determined that the quake struck around Kilju in north-eastern North Korea, about 20km south-east of the site of the latest nuclear test on September 3, and was “presumed to have occurred naturally,” the Yonhap news agency quoted an offi cial as saying.

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sep-tember 3, claiming the blast was a hy-drogen bomb that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Separate geological agencies had detected two artifi cial tremors near North Korea’s previous test site before Pyongyang touted its “perfect suc-cess” in an announcement later that day.

The test provoked international condemnation and led the UN Secu-rity Council to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has lashed out as world leaders have tightened the screws over his regime’s nuclear programme and repeated mis-sile tests.

Kim said this week that Trump’s “mentally deranged behaviour” and threat to destroy North Korea “con-vinced me ... that the path I chose is correct and that is the one I have to follow to the last.”

“I will surely and defi nitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fi re,” Kim said in a statement.

Kim said Trump would “pay dearly,” and that after his “ferocious declara-tion” of war, Pyongyang would con-sider a “corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure.”

When asked by reporters in New York what the countermeasure could be, Ri said: “It could be the most pow-erful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacifi c.” Page 12

Pyongyang threatens to detonate H-bomb in Pacific, tame Trump

“We fi rmly believed that the time was right for our region to be given the opportunity to showcase itself to the world in a new light”

2 Gulf TimesSunday, September 24, 2017

QATAR

Qatar ready to help inrebuilding of Iraq: FMQNANew York

Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrah-man al-Thani has affi rmed

Qatar’s readiness to support Iraq in order to restore the unity of its people, rebuild its damaged areas and restore its Arab, regional and international role.

Addressing a high-level event on supporting accountability and justice for post-confl ict in Iraq, the Foreign Minister expressed Qatar’s aspiration to work with the international community to support Iraq and to promote in-ternational peace and security.

He said that the presence IS group in Iraq and the horrifi c crimes it had committed posed a threat to the stability of that country and the security of the region and the world.

He said IS crimes have forced large waves of people to escape and leave their homes and areas in order to preserve their lives.

The Minister said that the uni-ty and solidarity of the interna-tional community was the deci-sive factor in defeating terrorists at all levels.

He referred to “the harsh and costly experience of the spread of terrorism and its grave dangers to the unity and stability of states and the atrocities committed by terrorist organisations constitute a fl agrant violation of the interna-tional law, the international hu-manitarian law and human rights”.

“It is important to recognise that the defeat of terrorism and the gains achieved have been ex-tremely costly at various levels,” Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul-rahman said, adding “Qatar ap-preciates the sacrifi ces made by its counter-terrorism partners

and reiterates its commitment to work with them to combat ter-rorism in all its forms, depriving it of safe haven and drying its sources and resources.

He said “this encourages us for further co-operation and joint action.”

“We are meeting today to dis-cuss what needs to be done after the elimination of the ISIS in Iraq and soon in Syria and wherever terrorists are.”

The Minister considered that

the transition to peace, justice to victims and holding terrorists accountable “will be a message of hope for the family of the state that we are on the right track to eradicate terrorism and punish terrorists for their crimes and to deal with the roots of terrorism based on the international law.”

He stressed that adherence to the rule of law, respect for human rights and protection of the peo-ple is crucial to root out terrorism and consolidate the gains made.

The minister said that the bar-baric destruction and looting of archaeological sites and cultural property constituted a human-ity as a whole, “as these sites and monuments are part of the hu-man heritage”, and called for the prosecution of perpetrators.

The Foreign Minister con-gratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and the Iraqi people on “the decisive achieve-ments made in defeating terror-ism and liberating Iraqi lands

from the forces of evil and dark-ness.”

He expressed his deep con-dolences to the families of the victims and expressed his deep appreciation to the International Coalition Against the IS for its great role in supporting Iraq and confronting terrorism in the re-gion and the world.

HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman thanked UN Sec-retary-General Antonio Guterres for the UN eff orts in Iraq.

Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani attends a meeting on Iraq in New York.

Expert stressesimportance ofgetting researchfunding right

The importance of getting research funding right – and ensuring it ena-

bles discoveries and innova-tions that can make a genuine impact – was outlined by an international expert through a Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D) ‘Research Dialogue’ discus-sion.

Prof Jonathan Grant, as-sistant principal, Strategic Initiatives and Public Policy at King’s College London, em-phasised how funding for re-search is essential to producing outcomes that bring economic and social benefi t, and improve lives, as well as for retaining public faith in research and development, during a recent talk at Qatar Science & Tech-nology Park (QSTP), part of QF R&D.

The seminar, titled ‘How Research Makes a Diff er-ence: The Eff ectiveness and Effi ciency of Research Fund-ing’, outlined that funding for the “wrong type of research” poses an “emerging threat” to the science and innovation ef-forts of countries around the world, drawing on global case studies and policy develop-ments concerning the analysis and measurement of research impact.

QF R&D is home to an inter-nationally-renowned funding organisation, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), which supports original, competi-tively-selected research that addresses Qatar’s priorities.

“There is a social contract between the researcher who receives a grant and the citi-

zens of the country that is funding their research,” Prof Grant said.

“Conducting research is a huge responsibility and privi-lege – it allows a researcher to explore a topic they are pas-sionate about, but they must also ensure that their work serves the country that is sup-porting them. Without this, research will not have legiti-macy, and so nations have a moral imperative to assess and demonstrate the impact and benefi t of the research they fund, and to ask themselves whether this funding is not only eff ective, but also effi -cient.”

With his chief areas of re-search interest being biomedi-cal and health R&D policy, research impact assessment, and the use of research and evidence in decision-making and formulating policy, Prof Grant’s career has seen him hold numerous high-level positions. He was formerly president of RAND Europe, a not-for-profi t research insti-tute, and head of policy at the Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research charity.

“QF R&D is focused on ena-bling and supporting research and innovation that generates economic and societal impact for Qatar, and this is refl ected in our portfolio of funding pro-grammes, including QNRF’s mission-driven National Pri-orities Research Programme and QSTP’s Product Develop-ment Fund for startups and SMEs,” said Dr Hamad al-Ib-rahim, executive vice president of QF R&D.

Qur’an contest registration

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Aff airs has said registra-tion for the 24th edition of the Sheikh Jassim bin Mohamed bin Thani Holy Qur’an contest for males and females will start on October 1. The registration will continue until October 12, from 8am to 12.30pm, and from 4pm to 8pm, at Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Hall, Freij Keleib, the contest’s organising committee said in a statement yesterday.

HMC services not hit by blockade: offi cialThe Hamad Medical Cor-

poration (HMC) has con-tinued to off er its services

as usual and its development plans and programmes have not been infl uenced negatively by the blockade in any way, an of-fi cial told Arabic daily Arrayah.

HMC’s future development plans are going on as planned. For instance, the construction

works of the building of the trauma and emergency facility are progressing as per schedule. The centre is considered the one of the largest health facili-ties in the region, and its open-ing is expected to be in 2018 as decided earlier. In addition, all the other health services have been off ered to the public unin-terrupted.

In the meantime, a number of offi cials at the private health facilities affi rmed that all their future expansions are going on according to the schedule and have not aff ected by the block-ade.

Abdulrahman al-Emadi, CEO of Al Emadi Hospital, pointed out that the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has asked them

to nominate a representative of the hospital to attend a meet-ing that would be held soon re-garding the coding of the health insurance services. He said the hospital has already nominated the person, who would be re-sponsible for the health insur-ance fi le.

He also said that the MoPH is communicating with hospitals

of the private sector in prepa-ration for the launch of the new health insurance system, discussing its mechanisms and way of implementation, in co-operation with all the involved parties.

Dr Nadir Samih, director of the Health Insurance at Doha Clinic, said also the MoPH has contacted the hospital regard-

ing the issue. He hopes that the meeting will be held soon.

In the meantime, an offi cial stressed that HMC was quick to deal with the immediate con-sequences of the blockade im-posed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, and managed quickly to secure all the necessary supplies from other countries.

Special Forces parachute team win fi rst place in Military World CupQNASion, Switzerland

The Qatar Special Forces Parachute Team have won the fi rst place in the Mili-

tary World Cup which took place in Sion, Switzerland, .

The event was attended by 16 teams from eight countries.

The Directorate of Moral Guid-ance at the Ministry of Defence said that the military jump team participated with three groups in the tournament where the fi ve-person Tigers team won the fi rst place with three gold medals, and team won the tournament Cup in all categories.

The Commander of the Joint Special Forces Brigadier General Hamad Abdullah al-Fetais al-Marri (pictured) said: “I dedicate

this achievement to His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and to the Qatari people,”. He said the achievement was due to the relentless follow-up and unlim-ited support of HE the Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Kha-lid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah.

“Me and the team look forward to winning other tournaments in the future,” he said.

Al-Marri noted that the Joint Special Forces have a professional military team that can win cham-pionships in any competition.

The team also includes Qatari youth with unlimited capabili-ties and a futuristic outlook who are determined to win and raise the fl ag of Qatar at all interna-tional forums, despite the block-ade, he added.

The victorious team

Survey seeksopinions onexpectationsabout Sidra

Sidra Medical and Re-search Center (Sidra) has launched a survey to seek

insights into the expectations from families in Qatar about the medical and research centre.

The survey is available at ht-t p s : //w w w.s u r vey m o n key.com/r/Q3CAMP.

The approach is a key step to-wards the organisation’s eff orts to deliver patient and family focused care – by ensuring that the community is at the centre of hospital decision making.

Community engagement and events manager Dr Eman Nasral-la said: “Our ability to enhance patient care at Sidra hinges on having an open dialogue with the community. We encourage parents, expectant mothers and families in Qatar to answer the short survey. Their feedback and expectations about Sidra and our services are important to us, so that we can make improvements and implement changes to en-sure that the needs of the com-munity are met.”

The survey includes questions related to what is important for patients and families when they receive healthcare from physi-cians, nurses, reception staff and the organisation itself.

It is also seeking to get a bet-ter understanding of how the community would like to be kept updated about Sidra as well as health topics that would be of interest.

QATAR3Gulf Times

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Al-Thawadi highlights sport’s ‘power to transform’ at UNThe Supreme Committee

for Delivery & Legacy (SC) secretary-general Hassan

al-Thawadi highlighted sport’s power to transform a region’s social and economic develop-ment during a speech at the United Nations (UN).

He was speaking during the ‘Harnessing the Power of Sport to Achieve Sustainable Devel-opment exhibition’, which was organised to showcase that the 2022 FIFA World Cup is an op-portunity for the Middle East and Arab world to illustrate its potential. It also highlighted sport’s power to transform the region’s social and economic development.

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul-rahman al-Thani, UN Deputy

Secretary-General Amina J Mo-hamed, and Qatari diplomat and former permanent representa-tive of Qatar to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser also spoke at the event.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2017 UN General Assembly in New York, al-Thawadi said Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will accelerate and inspire social development, cul-tural expression, technological progress and economic empow-erment across the country and region.

“Don’t underestimate the shared love of sport … it is vitally important that the power of sport is utilised to realising the ambi-tions across the full extent of the 2030 Agenda and achieving its aim, to profoundly improve

the lives of all – and transform our world for the better.

“Events of this stature are able to bring billions of people together from every corner of the world. They can serve to ac-celerate and inspire…in a man-ner and at a pace that few other initiatives can match,” said al-Thawadi.

During his speech, the secre-tary-general outlined the SC’s legacy projects, including Gen-eration Amazing, Challenge 22 and the Josoor Institute.

He also highlighted the tour-nament’s desired impact on young people across the region, and the opportunities such a historic opportunity creates.

“Sport is uniquely equipped to play a signifi cant role in attain-ing these goals,” he continued.

“It breaks down barriers, cre-ates friendships and enhances cultural understanding. No mat-ter our creed, belief, nationality or economic status, sport touch-es on our passion and brings out the best of us as individuals and human beings.”

Al-Thawadi concluded by saying Qatar’s vision had not changed since the country won the right to host the tournament in 2010.

“When we bid to host the FIFA World Cup, we recognised the immense potential of bringing an event to the Middle East and the Arab world for the fi rst time,” he pointed out.

“We fi rmly believed that the time was right for our region to be given the opportunity to showcase itself to the world in

a new light. It is an unfortunate reality that much of the world views our region through a lens clouded by confl ict and nega-tive headlines. Our vision is to transform that view.”

He added: “We won’t deny that our goals are ambitious. While we are aiming for the stars, our feet are fi rmly on the ground.

“This is about dreaming big, to extract as much benefi t as possible for people – in Qatar, the region and around the world. It is a precious opportunity that we must not waste.

“An opportunity to share a common mission and make a diff erence through creating a better future. We intend to make the most of it. I invite you to join us on our journey.”

SC secretary-general Hassan al-Thawadi addressing an event at the UN, in New York.

Qatar Chamber panel mulls steps to boost tourism sector

Qatar Chamber’s Tourism Committee is looking for solutions to develop the

country’s tourism sector amid “the current challenges,” it was announced in a statement.

The committee, which is chaired by Qatar Chamber board member Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed al-Thani, reviewed the current state of Qatar’s tourism sector and discussed ways of developing it in co-

operation with concerned authorities.

During the meeting, the com-mittee agreed to hold an exten-sive meeting to discuss Qatar’s tourism sector with concerned authorities in the country.

The meeting also discussed the restructuring of the Tour-ism Committee and the elec-tion of Salman Abdullah Abdul Ghani as deputy chairman of the committee. Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed al-Thani

Ooredoo reaffi rms commitment to reduce digital inequality

Broadband technolo-gies are today driving substantial trans-

formation in many devel-opment-related sectors, including health, educa-tion, fi nancial inclusion and food security, making them a key accelerator towards achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable De-velopment Goals (SDGs), says ‘The State of Broad-band 2017: Broadband Catalysing Sustainable De-velopment’ report, released by the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

The report was released just ahead of the commission’s fall meeting in New York City on September 17, and amid the UN General Assembly taking place until September 25, also in New York.

According to the report, while 48% of the global pop-ulation is now online, some 3.9bn people still do not have Internet access, with the digital gap growing between developed and developing countries. In addition, only 76% of the world’s popula-tion lives within access of a 3G signal, and only 43% of people within access of a 4G connection. The disparities in gender access are also be-coming wider in developing countries.

ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao, who serves as co-vice-chair of the com-mission with Unesco direc-tor-general Irina Bokova,

said: “The goals for educa-tion, gender equality and infrastructure include bold targets for information and communication technology. The State of Broadband 2017 report outlines how broad-band is already contributing to this and makes valuable recommendations for how it can increase this contribution into the future.”

Sheikh Saud bin Nass-er al-Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “The report shines a crucial light on the ongoing global challenge to help people across the world access the life-changing benefi ts of internet access. At Ooredoo, we continue to invest in mobile technology, people and resources that enable our communities –

in particular underserved women and youth – to en-joy the Internet and use it as a means to improve their lives and achieve their full potential. As we deploy the power of digital technology to give people access to the services and support they need, we urge governments, operators and regulators to continue working closely together to address the deepening digital inequal-ity in global connectivity.”

Ooredoo’s commitment to reduce digital inequal-ity stems from its core mis-sion to make the Internet accessible and enjoyable for everyone. This is high-lighted within the report with several examples of Ooredoo’s eff orts to harness

broadband for sustainable development, including Ooredoo Myanmar’s mA-gri app Site Phyo, an app that provides farmers with localised weather informa-tion and best practices for growing and maintaining specifi c crops; Ooredoo Maldives Smart Campus, an end-to-end solution for distance education of-fered in partnership with Microsoft, which enables educators to maintain their curriculums online; and In-dosat Ooredoo’s Indonesia Belajar, a digital education programme that aims to use technology to help make education more available and accessible for children across Indonesia.

Delivery of this com-mitment rests on Ooredoo maintaining cutting-edge mobile technology across its global footprint, in both developed and developing markets. As such, Ooredoo has continued to invest in 5G-ready networks and in 2016, completed net-work modernisation pro-grammes across all of the 10 countries it operates in.

This investment is rec-ognised in the report with Qatar’s path towards 5G highlighted in a dedicated viewpoint. Qatar is refer-enced as a regional pioneer in delivering cutting-edge broadband technology. The viewpoint observes that Qatar is one of a few nations around the world to have successfully tested 10 Gbps FTTH services, as well as completing one of the fi rst 5G mobile trials in the Mena region, reaching speeds of 35.46 Gbps.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo.

Broadband accelerates substantial transformation in development, says global report

Call for more focus on Alzheimer’s research

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Educa-

tion, Science and Community Devel-opment, recently hosted an interac-tive public event at Education City, in association with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Ministry of Public Health, to address the chal-lenges faced by people in Qatar who suff er from various types of dementia, notably Alzheimer’s disease, and their caregivers.

Presentations were made by Dr Hanadi al-Hamad, chair of geriatrics and long-term care department at HMC; experts from Ehsan, Centre for Empowerment and Elderly Care; re-searchers from Qatar University; and Rumailah Hospital, part of HMC.

Additionally, a moving personal testimony from a participant whose spouse suff ers from Alzheimer’s was given. Many of those who spoke re-

ferred to the need for further focus on research and outreach programmes.

The event ended on an encouraging note, with Dr Walid Qoronfl eh, di-rector, Policy and Research at WISH,

highlighting the positive collabora-tive work being undertaken by vari-ous stakeholders in Qatar and the ef-forts being made to engage with the community.

Participants attend presentations at an event on various types of dementia.

QATAR

Gulf Times Sunday, September 24, 20174

Cultural events conclude

The Ministry of Culture and Sports concluded its three-month activities, held in a number of commercial complexes in Doha, including several cultural and entertainment events. The closing ceremony was held yesterday night at Azdan Mall in the presence of a number of off icials of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and a gathering of artists and audience. The closing ceremony included honouring people who contributed to the success of the events.

S’hail 2017 ends todayHE the Minister of

Development Plan-ning and Statistics

Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit and Turkish am-bassador Fikret Ozer were among the dignitaries who visited the Katara Interna-tional Hunting & Falcons Exhibition - S’hail 2017 yesterday.

The fi ve-day event, which has been attract-ing hunting and falconry enthusiasts right from the start, concludes today.

During the visit, Ozer expressed his country’s readiness to participate in the second edition of S’hail as it drew a wide range of audiences and featured high-quality participation of local and international repute, according to a press statement from Katara – the Cultural Village Foundation.

Among the unique at-tractions of the expo are some special creations from Saker Arts, meant for the discerning client. Made of precious metals and lat-est technological designs, the falcon icons are exclu-sive works of art that cap-ture the passion of falconry and Arabic heritage.

Catering to the tastes of Qataris for several years now, Claire and Rogers Griffi ths have been excel-ling for Saker Arts in the region. Claire stressed that the fi rst edition of the ex-hibition has been a revela-tion, saying: “We produce exclusive works of art based

on the art of falconry. We design custom-built art pieces using modern tech-nology for the discerning client, which we are show-casing at the exhibition.

“We fi x appointments with our clients, lay the de-sign brief and take it from there. Most of our pieces would cost a minimum of QR500,000.”

Adding a slice of nos-talgia to the exhibition are vintage cars and trucks parked just outside the main venue.

A set of vintage trucks and 4x4 vehicles used for hunting years ago are on display. The well-preserved cars are of various makes, which Qataris mainly used for hunting trips. Some of these date back to the 1950s.

The vehicles on display have drawn the attention of amateur photographers, who have been lining up to take pictures of both the exterior and interiors. It’s a great opportunity for automobile lovers to actu-ally see these phenomenal machines and that, too, in mint condition.

While there are many restaurants and eateries all around the Cultural Village, the one specially set up for visitors to the Katara Inter-national Hunting & Falcons Exhibition - just outside the venue hall and facing the fountain area – come with a particularly scenic setting as well as authentic and delicious off erings.

HE the Minister of Development Planning and Statistics Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit during his visit to the exhibition.

Bedaya workshop on ‘emotional intelligence’The Bedaya Centre for En-

trepreneurship and Ca-reer Development (Be-

daya Centre), a joint initiative by Qatar Development Bank and Silatech, in collaboration with coach Joseph Haddad, recently hosted a workshop to highlight the importance of ‘Emotional Intelligence’.

Bedaya Centre said the work-shop aims to demonstrate how emotional intelligence – consid-ered by many as one of the critical factors that sets star performers apart “from the rest of the pack,” taps into a fundamental element of human behaviour that is dis-tinct from one’s intellect.

To give the attendees an un-

derstanding on the basics of emotional intelligence and its impact on one’s professional success, the workshop demon-strated how emotional intel-

ligence aff ects one’s behaviour, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results.

Explaining the concept of

emotional intelligence, Haddad said: “It is the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others. It is generally said to include three skills: emotional awareness; the ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like think-ing and problem solving; and the ability to manage emotions, which includes regulating one’s own emotions and cheering up or calming down other people.”

According to Haddad, people with higher emotional intelligence are also better at understand-ing their own psychological state, which can include managing stress eff ectively and being less likely to suff er from depression.

He said many people had al-ways assumed that the sole source of success is intelligence quotient (IQ). However, a recent article by Harvard Business Review maga-zine stated that emotional intel-ligence is a powerful way to focus one’s energy in one direction with a tremendous result and is key to professional success.

“Emotional intelligence is the foundation for a host of critical skills – it impacts most every-thing one says and does each day. People with higher emotional intelligence fi nd it easier to form and maintain interpersonal re-lationships and to fi t in to group situations,” Haddad said.

Comparing cognitive intel-

ligence or intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional intelligence, Haddad said: “IQ alone is not enough; EQ also matters. In fact, psychologists generally agree that among the ingredients for suc-cess, IQ counts for roughly 10% (at best 25%); the rest depends on everything else, including EQ.”

He said research revealed that people with higher levels of emotional intelligence enjoy more satisfying and successful careers and relationships, and if one think’s about ways to en-hance emotional intelligence, he or she is likely to become more charismatic, interesting and at-tractive to others.

Haddad said communication

between one’s emotional and rational “brains” is the physical source of emotional intelligence. He explained that the pathway for emotional intelligence starts in the brain, at the spinal cord.

“Your primary senses enter here and must travel to the front of your brain before you can think rationally about your expe-rience. However, fi rst they travel through the limbic system, the place where emotions are gener-ated. So, we have an emotional reaction to events before our rational mind is able to engage. Emotional intelligence requires eff ective communication be-tween the rational and emotional centres of the brain,” he said.

Coach Joseph Haddad delivers a lecture the value of emotional intelligence.

QATAR

Gulf TimesSunday, September 24, 20176

A key handover ceremony for winners of the LuLu Mercedes-Benz Car promotion, organised by LuLu Hypermarket Group, has been held at the Group’s regional off ice on D-Ring Road, Doha. All 10 winners of the promotion collected the keys to their Mercedes-Benz E200 (2017 model) cars from Shaijan M O, regional director, and Shanavas P M, regional manager, LuLu Hypermarket Group, in the presence of other LuLu off icials and staff . The winners are Kaleefa Mohamedsali (coupon No 0753504), Md Anawar Hossain (coupon No 0445593), Mahabur Shamser Ali (coupon No 0605357), Moidu Kunkankandi (coupon No 0987003), Abdul Azeez Devaswathil (coupon No 0902551), Lomas Adhikari (coupon No 0609782), Christian Kwasi Agbanyo (coupon No 1143828), Vijayalakshmi Kennedi (coupon No 2039296), Asif Saleem (coupon No 0602949) and Pendo Kibwana Harrison (coupon No 0987003).

LuLu Mercedes-Benz Car promo key handover ceremony

Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Vito launched in QatarNasser Bin Khaled (NBK) Auto-

mobiles, the authorised general distributor of Mercedes-Benz

in Qatar, has said it is providing the Qatari market with “reliable and eff ec-tive solutions” via its multi-purpose vehicles, the luxury V-Class and Vito.

The two MPVs are now available at the NBK Automobiles showroom on Salwa Road, off ering integrated transport solutions to individuals and corporates, according to a press state-ment.

“While the V-Class is ideal for indi-viduals to spend amazing outdoor va-cations and for corporates as a luxury transportation vehicle, the multi-pur-pose Vito gives companies all the solu-tions for their business,” the statement noted.

The new V-Class combines room for up to eight people and exemplary func-

tionality with the high-class appeal, comfort, effi cient driving pleasure and safety that distinguish automobiles bearing the three-pointed star.

Also, the V-Class provides optimum fl exibility when it comes to use of the interior and always cuts an elegant fi g-

ure at the same time. It is a versatile, multitalented vehicle that off ers value, effi ciency and safety at the highest level.

At market launch, the new V-Class comes to the starting line with a 2.1-li-tre four-cylinder turbodiesel engine

with two-stage turbocharging. To en-hance personal driving pleasure, the V-Class is the only vehicle in its seg-ment to off er the Agility Select func-tion in conjunction with the automatic transmission.

At the push of a button, the driver

can select from four driving modes: economical, comfortable, sporty and manual.

The interior of the V-Class is a com-pletely new MPV experience, and not only because it is pleasantly quiet. High-quality materials with a pleas-ant touch and feel and a harmonious colour concept, intricate details as well as a progressive and sensuous design idiom convey outstanding high-class appeal in the segment.

Off ering tangible external strengths, great intrinsic values, maximum ben-efi t and low costs, the new Mercedes-Benz Vito is the versatile and real professional among mid-size vans. Whether as a panel van, a people car-rier or a mix of both – one can simply choose the best vehicle for his/her business.

One thing is certain: the new Vito

won’t shun any location or shirk any challenge.From skilled crafts and trades to retail, service providers, shut-tle services and taxis – the new Vito is truly one vehicle for all. The Vito panel van is the only model in its class avail-able in three lengths - Compact (C), Long (L) and Extra-long (E). Mean-while, the Vito Mixto combines the advantages of a panel van with those of a crew bus. The new Vito Tourer sees Mercedes-Benz opening an entirely new chapter in passenger transport.

With its wide range of confi gura-tions, seating from two to nine, along with numerous equipment choices, the new Vito Tourer is as individual as passengers. Available in three basic designs – Vito Tourer Base, Tourer Pro and Tourer Select – it serves all seg-ments in the fi eld of commercial pas-senger transport.

The Mercedes-Benz Vito Kastenwagen.The Mercedes-Benz V-Class.

Call for translated version of labour laws

Several expatriates have stressed the need to make available translated cop-

ies of the country’s labour rules in diff erent languages, including English.

Justifying the demand, they said providing copies of the Min-istry of Administrative Develop-ment, Labour and Social Aff airs’ guidelines in languages that are most commonly spoken by the country’s expatriates would help off er clarity on ways to address the issues faced by workers.

Some expatriates who are fac-ing problems at their workplace, as well as with a sponsor or his/her representative, say “lack of clarity and information on the labour rules” have left them clueless about lodging com-plaints in the event of any dis-pute at work.

One of them said a number of aff ected people are unable to

get convincing replies from even those (including licensed man-doops, or public relations offi c-ers) who claim to be aware of the country’s labour rules pertaining to issues such as delay in salary payments or non-payment of salaries against the work deliv-ered. The expatriate said when he faced some problems related to non-payment of salaries by his employers, he approached a few people in the community seeking advice.

However, he soon realised that the responses varied and none seemed to off er a clear idea of how to proceed with the matter.

Such issues could be eff ectively addressed if translated copies of the labour rules are made avail-able, preferably in the mother tongue of the aggrieved party, he suggested and cited various ex-amples of information and servic-es available in diff erent languages.

QATAR7Gulf Times


Genesis G70 Mideast specs coming in 2018Middle East specifi cations for

the all-new Genesis G70, which was recently unveiled

in South Korea, are planned to be an-nounced in early 2018.

Informing this, a press statement said the G70 – the third Genesis model — is an “athletic sedan characterised by its graceful and dynamic exterior styling, elegant and intuitively designed interior”.

The G70 also incorporates “numer-ous advanced driver assist systems and a high level of connectivity” with serv-er-based voice recognition technology using Kakao Corp’s artifi cial intelli-gence platform.

In Qatar, Skyline Automotive is the offi cial partner for the Genesis brand.

Genesis launched the G70 at a spe-cial festival in Seoul’s Olympic Park.

“The launch of the Genesis G70 is an important milestone for our brand,” said Manfred Fitzgerald, head of Gen-esis Division.

The all-new G70 showcases the fu-ture direction of the Genesis brand’s design identity.

Athletic elegance is represented in the exterior styling, as the car captures both beauty and tension, like an athlete poised to perform.

Luc Donckerwolke, head of Genesis Design, added: “The G70 is designed to captivate all senses with its sensuous

and tensioned muscular volumes.”From the front and side, the promi-

nent crest-type grille, character lines extending from the hood emblem, and pronounced air intakes, communicate muscular performance.

In the rear, the LED rear combination lamps continue the quad lamp theme, while the raised trunk lid and compact bumper designs give the G70 a poised character. The G70’s interior is con-fi gured to prioritise an excellent user experience, with superb fi t and fi nish throughout. The interior packaging re-fl ects simplicity, with an emphasis on genuine functionality.

The G70 off ers three powertrains internationally – a 3.3-litre V6 petrol turbo, 2.0-litre I4 petrol turbo and a 2.2-litre I4 diesel.

Dynamic performance features in-clude Launch Control to maximise power control in acceleration mode; rack-mounted, motor-driven power steer-ing and multi-link rear suspension for precise handling and comfortable ride; dynamic torque vectoring system to im-prove vehicle cornering control; and me-chanical limited slip diff erential for safe driving capabilities in low friction road conditions such as rain, snow and ice.

Following the lead of the G90 and G80, the G70 off ers the most compre-hensive levels of safety in its class.

Overall body stiff ness and rigidity have been dramatically strengthened, while passengers are protected by nine airbags.

A suite of advanced driver assist sys-tems is integrated into the ‘Genesis Ac-tive Safety Control’ package to off er the highest level of safety and convenience in its class.

These include Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Highway Driving Assist, Blind spot Collision Warning and Driver Awareness Warning.

The G70 also incorporates a diverse range of advanced technologies that deliver ultimate convenience and con-nectivity.

An example includes the smart pos-ture control system.

When the driver’s body information is input, the system automatically ad-justs the seat, steering wheel, outside mirror and heads-up display to the op-timal position, ensuring minimal stress even on long journeys.

Advanced convenience and con-nectivity features include an 8-inch touchscreen display supporting Mir-rorLink, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and server-based voice recogni-tion technology, using Kakao’s artifi cial intelligence platform ‘Kakao I’.

The G70 completes the Genesis brand’s sedan lineup, along with the G90 fl agship and mid-luxury G80.

The Genesis G70.

REGION


Iran tests new ballistic missileReuters Dubai

Iran said yesterday it had suc-cessfully tested a new bal-listic missile with a range of

2,000km and would keep devel-oping its arsenal, despite US pres-sure to stop.

The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, say-ing its missile tests violate a UN resolution, which calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Iran says it has no such plans. Britain voiced concerns about the latest test.

Iran said in its announcement yesterday that the Khorramshahr missile could carry several war-heads.

State broadcaster IRIB carried footage of the missile test without giving its time and location.

It included video from an on-board camera which it said showed the detachment of the cone that carries multiple war-heads.

“You are seeing images of the successful test of the Khor-ramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000km, the latest missile of our country,” state television said, adding this was Iran’s third missile with a range of 2,000km.

The Khorramshahr missile was fi rst displayed at a military pa-rade on Friday, where President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would strengthen its missile capabilities.

Trump told the UN General As-sembly on Tuesday that Iran was building its missile capability.

He also criticised a 2015 pact that the United States and other world powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic

sanctions. Iran’s defence minister said yesterday foreign pressures would not aff ect Iran’s missile programme.

“On the path to improve our country’s defensive capacity we will certainly not be the least af-fected by any threats and we won’t ask anyone’s permission,” Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in remarks carried by state television.

The United States says Tehran’s ballistic missile tests violated a UN resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal.

Iran denies its missile develop-ment breaches the resolution and says its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

“The weight of the Khorram-shahr missile’s warhead has been announced to be 1,800 kg (4,000 lbs),...making it Iran’s most pow-erful missile for defence and re-taliation against any aggressive enemy,” state television said.

A TV grab taken yesterday from the Iranian Republic Islamic Broadcasting (IRIB) shows a Khorramshahr missile being launched from an undisclosed location, a day after the missile was first displayed at a high-profile military parade in Tehran.

Skyscraper facades being replaced after series of fi resReuters Dubai

Dubai authorities have begun telling owners of high-rise

buildings across the emirate to make the facades more resistant to fi re, the govern-ment said yesterday, after a string of skyscraper blazes.

The government did not specify how it would ensure that owners complied with the policy, which could be costly, or reveal how many buildings might be aff ected in the fast-growing city, home to hundreds of high-rise towers, including the world’s tallest skyscraper.

But it said it had already implemented the policy with a number of compa-nies, including Dubai Prop-erties Group, which is the investment vehicle of the emirate’s ruler and oper-ates skyscrapers in Dubai’s business district.

The government’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency “is now strongly encour-aging all owners to replace non-fi re-resistant build-ing facades in collabora-tion with the city’s real es-

tate developers”, an offi cial statement said.

Eyewitness reports and in-vestigations have suggested that cladding fi xed to the out-side of buildings for decora-tion, insulation or protection may have contributed to the spread of many fi res in Dubai over the last three years.

Global concern about cladding grew after London’s Grenfell Tower fi re in June, which killed about 80 people.

A public inquiry into the blaze is underway following initial reports that it spread throughout the residential tower because of fl ammable cladding used as insulation.

The United Arab Emir-ates, of which Dubai is a member, revised its building safety code in 2013 to require that cladding on all new buildings over 15 metres (50 feet) tall be fi re-resistant.

But the new rules did not apply to buildings erected before that year, so the vast majority of the country’s skyscrapers fell outside the regulations.Among Dubai’s skyscraper fi res, a blaze hit the 337-metre, 79-storey Torch residential building last month, forcing hun-dreds of occupants to fl ee.

It was the second fi re at the building since 2015.

In August 2016, a fi re dam-aged part of a tall building under construction in Dubai and in July 2016, a blaze broke out in Dubai’s residential, 75-storey Sulafa Tower.

Global concern about cladding grew after London’s Grenfell Tower fire in June, which killed about 80 people

Saudi Arabia, yesterday condemned the government of Myan-mar’s “policy of repression” against minority Rohingya Muslims.“My country is gravely concerned and condemns the policy of repression and forced displacement carried out by the govern-ment of Myanmar against the Rohingya minority,” Foreign Minis-ter Adel al-Jubeir said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Bangladesh and aid organisations are struggling to help 422,000 Rohingya Muslims who have arrived since Aug 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants triggered a Myanmar crack-down that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.

‘Repression’ in Myanmar slammedCRITICISM

REGION/ARAB WORLD9Gulf Times


US-backed force seizes major Syria gas plantAFP Beirut

A US-backed militia has seized Syria’s big-gest pre-war gas treatment facility from the Islamic State group in the eastern prov-

ince of Deir Ezzor, a spokesman and monitor said yesterday.

“The Syrian Democratic Forces and the Deir Ezzor Military Council were able to take control of the Conoco plant in northern Deir Ezzor province after two days of clashes,” SDF spokesman Talal Sello said in a statement.

The advance in the resource-rich province was confi rmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, which added that the militia had also captured the adjacent gas fi eld.

The SDF did not confirm that the gas field had been captured, saying only that its forces were “combing the plant and surrounding points.”

The facility known as the Conoco plant had the largest capacity of any in Syria before the confl ict erupted in 2011: 13mn cubic metres of natural gas per day, according to The Syria Report, an eco-nomic digest.

It was constructed by a partnership of Cono-coPhillips and Total, and came up to full capacity in 2002.

In 2005, it was handed over to the state-run Syrian Gas Company when Conoco withdrew from the country.

The plant and adjacent gas fi eld were fi rst cap-tured by rebels in late 2012, a year into the upris-ing that began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

In 2014, the Islamic State group captured the facility and gas fi eld as it rampaged across parts of Syria and Iraq, seizing large stretches of ter-ritory that it eventually declared its “caliphate”. The US-backed SDF and its Deir Ezzor Military

Council are battling IS on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river that slices diagonally across Deir Ezzor province.

Syria’s army, backed by Russian fi repower, is carrying out a separate operation largely on the western bank of the river, including in the provin-cial capital Deir Ezzor city.

Deir Ezzor province, on Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, is rich with oil and gas fi elds that served as a key revenue stream for IS at the peak of its power.

Syria’s Kurds have captured key oil fi elds in the country in recent years, including in Rmeilan in Hasakeh, where they are refi ning crude.

Fighters from Free Syrian Army hold their weapons during a military display as part of a graduation ceremony in the Syrian city of Al-Bab, yesterday.

A picture taken yesterday in Kuwait City shows a sticker on a car’s rear windshield bearing the image of His Highness the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, with a caption in Arabic reading: “We are all Tamim.”

Support for Qatar’s Emir in Kuwait

Kurdish govt holds meetings in Baghdad

Reuters Erbil, Iraq

A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government held

talks with the Iraqi ruling coalition in Baghdad yes-terday, two days before a planned referendum on se-cession from Iraq.

“The delegation will dis-cuss the referendum but the referendum is still happen-ing,” Hoshiyar Zebari, a top adviser to Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, told Reu-ters. “We said we would talk to Baghdad before, during and after the referendum.”

The KRG has said the vote is intended to give its autonomous territory a legitimate mandate to achieve independence from Iraq through dialogue with Baghdad and neighbouring powers Turkey and Iran. Ankara and Tehran are wor-ried that the vote could re-vive separatist aspirations.

The Kurdish delegation met with representatives of the ruling coalition in Bagh-dad, and with the Iraqi pres-ident, Fuad Masum, himself a Kurd, whose role is largely ceremonial. Executive pow-ers are concentrated in the hands of the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.

Abadi’s offi ce said he didn’t meet the delegation.

Hemin Hawrami, an as-sistant to Barzani, tweeted: “Our delegation in Baghdad to deliver a message: We’re ready for talks after 25/9.”

Turkey said yesterday it would take security and other steps in response to the planned referendum, which it called a “terrible mistake”. The Turkish par-liament convened for a de-bate and vote on extending a mandate that authorises Turkish troop deployments to Iraq and Syria, and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim al-luded to possible military moves.

The US has urged the KRG to cancel the vote, while the UN Security Council warned in a statement of its “potentially destabilising” impact on Iraq.

Newly unveiled statue pays tribute to the Peshmerga, Iraqi Kurdistan’s main fighting forces in Kirkuk, yesterday.

AFRICA


Ghana favoured in sea border dispute with Ivory CoastReutersDakar/Accra

The International Tribu-nal for the Law of the Sea yesterday drew an ocean

boundary favouring Ghana in a dispute with its neighbour Ivory Coast, opening the way for de-velopment drilling to resume on Ghana’s multi-billion dollar TEN deepwater oil and gas project.

The decade-old row between the two West African neighbours has slowed the development of oil fi elds and at times soured re-lations between the two oil pro-ducers, who also together grow 60% of the world’s cocoa.

“The Special Chamber unani-mously fi nds that Ghana did not violate the sovereign rights of Côte d’Ivoire,” said Judge Boualem Bouguetaia, president of the Special Chamber.

An offi cial at the court said that the boundary delineated by the tribunal did not correspond with the claim of either party.

However, the angle appeared to be very close to the line claimed by Ghana.

Ivorian offi cials were not im-mediately available to comment.

“We can now restart work on the additional drilling planned as part of the TEN fi elds’ plan of development and take the fi elds towards their full potential,” said Paul McDade, chief executive of London-listed oil company Tul-low Oil, the lead operator of the project.

Tullow said in a statement it now expected to resume drill-ing around the end of the year, which would allow production to start to increase towards the full capacity of the fl oating pro-duction, storage and offl oading vessel of 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) from around 50,000bpd currently.

Kosmos Energy, Anadarko Pe-troleum Corp, Ghana National Petroleum Corp and PetroSA also have stakes in the TEN project.

The ruling, while expected since Ghana’s claim was based on

the customary equidistant line, comes as a huge relief for Ghana which is counting on oil revenues to boost its economic growth back to the levels hit before a 2014 fi scal crisis.

Ivory Coast had been seeking compensation for oil fi eld devel-opments in the area but the tri-bunal rejected this claim.

Analysts had predicted that a loss for Ghana would have result-ed in complicated contract rene-gotiations and loss of signifi cant revenue that could worsen the economy, dogged by high public debt.

Tullow has said it has already invested around $4bn in the TEN project.

Ghana, also Africa’s second largest gold producer, discovered oil in 2007, prompting its west-ern neighbour to revive a claim to some of its territorial waters.

Several rounds of talks failed to result in a deal on the border which, like many other African sea borders, had until now never offi cially been set.

Kabila at UN pledges Democratic Republic of Congo elections but still no dateAFPUnited Nations

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila yesterday told the

United Nations that his country is moving towards holding elec-tions but vowed to resist “foreign

diktats” on setting a date for the historic vote.

Addressing the General Assem-bly, Kabila appealed for support from his “true friends” as his coun-try confronts what he described as major logistical and security chal-lenges to organise the vote.

Under an agreement reached with opposition groups last year,

elections are to be held this year in the large mineral-rich African country, paving the way to the DR Congo’s fi rst democratic transition.

But months later, a date has still not been set for the polls. “We can affi rm that we are most certainly moving towards cred-ible, transparent and peaceful elections,” Kabila said. “This is

an irreversible process and this should be put in place without external diktats or interference.”

In power since 2001, Kabila of-fi cially ended his term in offi ce in December, but he was allowed to remain under the New Year’s Eve deal in exchange for guarantees that elections will be held.

The UN Security Council has

demanded that elections be held before the end of this year, but concerns are growing after elec-tion offi cials said in July that a vote in 2017 was unlikely.

Kabila told the UN assembly that organising the elections in the vast country presented major logistical and security challeng-es, but that he was confronting

these “with undeniable tenacity.”Voter registration is progress-

ing with 42mn people out of a to-tal of 45mn citizens of voting age now on the electoral lists, he said.

The United States has threat-ened to slap sanctions on the DR Congo unless elections are held this year.

Kabila defended a military

campaign in the Kasai region, which the United Nations has said resulted in hundreds of ex-trajudicial killings, saying his forces were fi ghting “terrorists”.

Kasai has been in turmoil since a tribal chieftain known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who rebelled against Kabila’s regime, was killed in August.

Somalia’s Puntland region captures weapons-laden boat from YemenReuters Bosaso, Somalia

Somalia’s semi-autono-mous region of Puntland yesterday seized a boat

loaded with weapons from Yemen, the regional maritime police chief said.

Puntland authorities dis-played dozens of anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, AK-47 rifl es and dozens of boxes of ammuni-tion seized from the boat after it was stopped in coastal waters off the Horn of Africa region.

The journey of the small ves-sel, known as Al Faruq, was tracked from Yemen by Euro-pean maritime forces patrolling sea lanes off Somalia, Abdirah-man Mohamud Hassan, the di-rector general of Puntland mari-time police force, told Reuters.

He said they had seized other boatloads of arms destined for Islamic State and Shebaab mili-tants active in Somalia though on this occasion the cargo was believed to be owned by arms smugglers who would have sold them at local retail outlets.

“Today, we suspect traders own these weapons, but we shall investigate further,” he said.

Puntland has been hit by heavy fi ghting in recent months as Shebaab and a splinter group linked to Islamic State attacked government troops around the Galagala hills, 30km southeast

of the regional capital Bosaso.In June, Shebaab overran a

military base in the town of Af Urur in the hills area, killing 38 people, mainly soldiers.

Unlike the rest of Somalia,

Puntland rarely suff ered from militant attacks before the re-cent surge in violence, mainly because its security forces are relatively regularly paid and re-ceive substantial US assistance.

Somali Puntland forces receive weapons, seized from a boat on the shores of the Gulf of Aden, in the city of Bosasso.

AMERICAS11Gulf Times


Wisconsin, Ohio, Cali-fornia and 10 other states said on Friday

that they were among 21 states that Russian government hackers targeted in an eff ort to sway the 2016 presidential election in fa-vour of Donald Trump, although no votes were changed.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confi rmed that it had notifi ed the states of the ac-tivity but did not identify them.

Russia has denied election meddling, and President Trump has denied any collusion with Russia.

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Minne-sota, Texas and Washington state have also confi rmed that they were targeted by Russian hackers but said they were not successful.

Arizona and Illinois confi rmed last year that they were targets.

The Associated Press con-fi rmed that Iowa, Maryland, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Oregon, Oklahoma and Virginia were also targets, bringing the total states identi-fi ed to 21.

Those states did not imme-diately return messages seeking comment late on Friday.

“There remains no evidence that the Russians altered one vote or changed one registration,” said

Judd Choate, president of the US National Association of State Election Directors.

Wisconsin Elections Commis-sion Administrator Michael Haas said the DHS told the states that “Russian government cyber ac-tors” targeted state voter regis-tration systems.

Homeland Security offi cials have said that in most of the 21 states, only preliminary activity was observed from hackers and a small number of networks were compromised.

Some states had complained in June that they had no idea if Rus-sians had attempted to infi ltrate their systems.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said on Friday that

hackers had scanned state elec-tion systems but not breached the system.

“It is completely unacceptable that it has taken the DHS over a year to inform our offi ce of Rus-sian scanning of our systems, despite our repeated requests for information,” he said.

Homeland Security spokes-man Scott McConnell said in a statement that the government believes “offi cials should be kept informed about cybersecurity risks to election infrastructure” but also wants to protect “the in-tegrity of investigations and the confi dentiality of system own-ers”.

US intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orches-

trated an operation that included hacking and online propaganda intended to help Trump win, Re-uters reported in August.

Senator Mark Warner, a Vir-ginia Democrat who co-chairs the Senate Cybersecurity Cau-cus, said on Friday in a statement that it is “unacceptable that it took almost a year after the elec-tion to notify states that their elections systems were targeted”.

He said offi cials must inform states of attempts to enter elec-tion systems “just as any home-owner would expect the alarm company to inform them of all break-in attempts, even if the burglar doesn’t actually get in-side the house”.

Colorado Secretary of State

Wayne Williams said the DHS told the state authorities that its systems were scanned in the weeks before the 2016 election.

“A scan is similar to burglars jiggling the doors of a house and moving on when they realise the doors are locked,” the state said.

Washington state’s top elec-tion offi cial, Kim Wyman, said the state learned in 2016 of at-tempted intrusions from Russian Internet addresses and immedi-ately alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The list of targets includes battleground states like Wiscon-sin, Ohio and Iowa, but other key states like Michigan said on Fri-day that they were told they were not targeted.

It also included states that were not seriously contested like California and Texas.

Wisconsin was one of a hand-ful of battleground Midwestern states that helped Trump win the presidency over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump carried the state by 22,748 votes, or about 0.8 of a percentage point.

Many of the other states were not seriously in contention in the 2016 race.

Several congressional com-mittees are investigating and special counsel Robert Mueller is leading a separate probe into the Russia matter, including wheth-er Moscow colluded with the Trump campaign.

Wisconsin, Ohio, California among 21 states targeted by hackersReutersWashington

Donald Trump went on the attack on Twitter yester-day over the latest failure

of the Republican-controlled Senate to pass healthcare re-form.

In a series of tweets starting at 6.42am, the president attacked Senator John McCain, whom he said had “let Arizona down”; goaded wavering Republicans in an attempt to persuade them to come on board; and praised Graham-Cassidy, the current and controversial plan to repeal the Aff ordable Care Act (ACA).

On Friday, McCain seemed to quash Republican hopes to push Graham-Cassidy through the Senate before a September 30 deadline, after which it would require a 60-vote supermajor-ity to pass, on the way to making good on a seven-year promise to undo Barack Obama’s signature domestic reform.

In a statement, McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said: “I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working togeth-er, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried.”

McCain joined the Kentucky conservative Rand Paul in stat-ing his intention to vote against the bill.

Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, mod-erates who joined McCain in voting down the last attempt at Senate reform, have not con-fi rmed their position, although Collins said on Friday that she was “leaning against” it.

Republican Senate leadership can only aff ord to lose two votes to pass Graham-Cassidy.

At a Friday night rally on be-half of Alabama senator Luther Strange, who is facing a close primary run-off on Tuesday, Trump said that McCain’s op-position to the new bill was “to-tally unexpected” and “terrible”.

“It was sad,” the president said. “We had a couple of other senators, but at least we knew where they stood. That was re-ally a horrible thing, honestly. That was a horrible thing that happened to the Republican party.”

He amplifi ed his criticism yesterday, fi rst tweeting: “John McCain never had any inten-tion of voting for this bill, which his Governor [Brian Sandoval] loves. He campaigned on Repeal & Replace. Let Arizona down!”

Trump continued: “Ari-zona had a 116% increase in Obamacare premiums last year, with deductibles very high. [Senate minority leader] Chuck Schumer sold John McCain a bill of goods. Sad.”

Referring to Graham-Cas-

sidy’s proposed transfer of healthcare administration away from the federal government, he added: “Large Block Grants to States is a good thing to do. Better control & management. Great for Arizona. McCain let his best friend LG down!”

“LG” was a reference to the South Carolina senator Lind-sey Graham, a close friend of McCain who is a co-sponsor of the new bill with Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

The proposal would eliminate the expansion of Medicaid, the federal programme that provides access to healthcare for low-in-come Americans under the ACA.

It would also enable states to circumvent ACA requirements

for coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Trump targeted two other Re-publicans.

“I know Rand Paul and I think he may fi nd a way to get there for the good of the party!” he wrote.

The Kentucky senator op-poses Graham-Cassidy from the right, believing it leaves too much of the ACA in place.

He also tried to win Murkowski round.

“Alaska had a 200% plus increase in premiums under Obamacare, worst in the coun-try. Deductibles high, people angry! Lisa M comes through,” Trump wrote.

Murkowski has been viewed as the GOP (Grand Old Party, a nickname for the Republican Party) sceptic most likely to change her vote.

Republican leaders reportedly promised huge concessions for Alaska.

Despite Trump’s tweets, ef-forts to pass Graham-Cassidy by the end of the month have stalled.

On Friday Senator Joni Ernst, of Iowa, admitted: “I’ll be hon-est, it seems unlikely that we’ll be voting on this.”

The result is that any health-care legislation in the near future is likely to be far more modest in scope and will require bipartisan support to reach the 60-vote supermajority needed to avoid a fi libuster.

There are currently 52 Repub-lican senators and 48 Democrats and allied independents.

Trump raps party rebels over healthcare failurePresident says veteran Republican senator has ‘let Arizona down’ after McCain seemed to have dashed GOP hopes of repealing Obamacare

By Ben JacobsGuardian News & Media

Trump speaking at a campaign rally for Senator Luther Strange in Huntsville, Alabama, where the president slammed McCain for ‘letting Arizona down’.

McCain: I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried.

First Lady Melania Trump arrived yesterday in To-ronto on her fi rst trip out-

side the United States without her husband since President Donald Trump took offi ce in January.

She was leading a presidential delegation, including cabinet member David Shulkin, secre-tary of the Veteran Aff airs De-partment, at the opening cer-emonies for the third Invictus Games.

The Games are a competition

for wounded military members and veterans.

The fi rst lady was to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Jus-tin Trudeau and Britain’s Prince Harry, founder of the event, during the one-day trip.

Harry, a former British Army helicopter pilot who served two tours in Afghanistan, launched the Invictus Games in 2014 to encourage rehabilitation and respect for wounded service members.

The games in Canada are ex-pected to have more than 550 participants from 17 allied coun-tries in 12 sports, including sev-eral using wheelchairs.

The US team at the games has more than 80 competitors.

The event allows “wounded servicemen and women from many diff erent countries to participate in adaptive sports competitions – something that should be lauded and supported worldwide,” Melania Trump said in July, in a statement announc-ing her travel plans.

The fi rst Invictus Games were held in 2014 in London, followed by a 2016 competition in Orlan-do, Florida.

Harry visits mental health hospital ahead of Invictus Games/Page 13

Melania Trump goes on fi rst solo overseas trip as fi rst ladyDPAWashington

Law enforcement off icers take mobile phone pictures after US First Lady Melania Trump arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport for the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games.

A gunman who massacred eight people at a hair salon in a California beach town

six years ago was sentenced on Friday to life without parole.

Scott Dekraai opened fi re at the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles, in October 2011, killing ex-wife Michelle and her friend, who had testifi ed

against him at a custody hearing, as well as six others.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals handed the 47-year-old eight consecutive life sentences – one for each victim – describ-ing him as the “face of evil” in the community.

Dekraai was facing execution but Goethals removed capital punishment as an option follow-ing allegations over the misuse of informants in the county jail system.

During the sentencing hearing, relatives of Dekraai’s victims re-peatedly lashed out and insulted the bespectacled defendant.

Given a chance to speak, Dekraai said he wished he could “turn back the hands of time” and that he had been “waiting a long time to apologise”.

He also apologised to his son “as a father and as a role model ... I was wrong for what I did. I’m totally to blame for my total loss of self-control”.

Dekraai admitted his crimes more than three years ago, amid allegations that his rights had been violated by a jailhouse in-formant who heard him make damning comments about the murder spree.

At issue was whether the com-ments were “overheard” by the informant or if the inmate lured Dekraai into revealing the infor-mation.

Informants are not allowed to question defendants represented

by an attorney but they are free to pass along overheard comments to their handlers.

Dekraai’s attorneys, led by As-sistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, unearthed a litany of cases involving jailhouse inform-ants used in ways they claimed violated the rights of other in-mates.

Goethals replaced the prose-cution team to head off the scan-dal and eliminated the option of execution, arguing that Dekraai

could never get a fair trial in the penalty phase.

“The criminal justice system here in Orange County has large-ly failed you. You deserve better,” Goethals told relatives at Friday’s sentencing.

Sanders estimates 16 defend-ants have won new trials or re-ceived reduced punishments following the scandal, although District Attorney Tony Rack-auckas, whose team was booted off the case, puts the number of

aff ected cases at just four.The Orange County District

Attorney’s Offi ce (OCDA) said in a statement it continued to disa-gree with the judge’s decision.

“The OCDA fought for the death penalty because it is hard to fathom how anyone who has heard Dekraai’s chilling recorded confession immediately follow-ing his arrest would think that this evil person should get any-thing less than the death pen-alty,” it said.

Gunman in California salon massacre sentenced to life imprisonmentAFPLos Angeles

Trapped spelunker rescuedReutersBloomington, Indiana

A 19-year-old Indiana University student was grateful to be alive after

he was left behind by a college spelunking club and spent nearly three days locked in a cave with-out food or drinking water.

“I managed to get some water from the cave walls, by basically licking the moisture off the wall,” Lukas Cavar said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Cavar was on a beginner’s fi eld trip to a cave south of the univer-sity’s main campus in Blooming-ton, Indiana.

He said he was separated from his group on Sunday and found nearly three days later, curled in a ball and sleeping by the cave’s locked entrance.

“My biggest worry was not making it out alive,” Cavar said. “I was afraid I would never see my friends or family again.”

University offi cials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

According to the Indiana Daily Student university newspaper, leaders of the school’s Caving Club would not comment on how Cavar became separated from the group.

When Cavar reached the cave’s gated entrance he found it padlocked.

He yelled for hours, trying to attract the attention of people on a nearby road. His cellphone could not get a signal.

After a while, Cavar said peo-ple began to notice he was miss-ing, including the person with whom he shared a ride to the cave and they organised a search.

By Tuesday night, Cavar’s parents had called the university and reported their son missing.

A few hours later, a leader of the Caving Club rescued him, the university newspaper said.

Bieber rallies for Black Lives Matter

Justin Bieber on Friday took an unexpected political turn as he hailed the Black Lives Matter movement.The 23-year-old took to Instagram to show support for the movement that has arisen in response to police killings of African Americans.“I am a white Canadian and I will never know what it feels like to be an African American but what I do know is I am willing to stand up and use my voice to shine light on racism,” he wrote.“It’s a real thing and it’s more prevalent now than I have ever seen in my lifetime,” Bieber wrote, adding: “We’re all God’s children and we are ALL EQUAL.”

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA


North Korea quake natural, not a nuclear test: expertsReuters Seoul

A small earthquake yester-day near North Korea’s nuclear test site was prob-

ably not man-made, the nuclear proliferation watchdog and a South Korean offi cial said, easing fears Pyongyang had exploded another nuclear bomb just weeks after its last one.

China’s Earthquake Admin-istration said the quake was not a nuclear explosion and had the characteristics of a natural trem-or.

The administration had said earlier the magnitude 3.4 quake detected at 0829GMT was a “suspected explosion”.

The CTBTO, or Comprehen-sive Test-Ban Treaty Organiza-tion, which monitors nuclear tests, and offi cials of the South Korean meteorological agency said they believed it was a natural quake.

The Pentagon and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for com-ment.

A US intelligence offi cial and US-based non-governmental experts said their initial assess-ment was that the quake was either natural or connected to North Korea’s latest and largest nuclear test on September 3, and not caused by a new nuclear test.

“It seems likely that these small tremors are related to the shifts in the ground due to the recent large test,” said David Wright of the Union of Con-cerned Scientists in the United States.

The seismic activity came just hours before North Korea’s For-

eign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who warned on Thursday that North Korea could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacifi c, was due to address the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly in New York.

Ri did not respond when asked by reporters whether North Korea had conducted a new nuclear test.

A US government intelligence analyst said the events could have been a “mine-type” col-lapse of tunnels damaged by North Korea’s previous nuclear test, but was more likely a small earthquake.

An offi cial of South Korea’s Meteorological Agency said acoustic waves should be detect-ed in the event of a man-made earthquake.

“In this case we saw none. So as of now, we are categorising this as a natural earthquake.”

The earthquake, which South Korea’s Meteorological Agency put at magnitude 3.0, was de-tected 49km from Kilju in North Hamgyong Province, where North Korea’s known Punggye-ri nuclear site is located, the offi cial said.

All of North Korea’s six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 or above.

The last test registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake.

A secondary tremor detected after that test could have been caused by the collapse of a tunnel at the mountainous site, experts said at the time.

Satellite photos of the area after the September 3 quake showed numerous landslides apparently caused by the mas-sive blast, which North Korea said was an advanced hydrogen bomb.

The head of the international nuclear test monitoring agency CTBTO said yesterday that ana-lysts were “looking at unusual seismic activity of a much small-er magnitude” than the Septem-ber 3 test in North Korea.

“Two #Seismic Events! 0829UTC & much smaller @ 0443UTC unlikely Man-made! Similar to “collapse” event 8.5 mins after DPRK6! Analysis on-going,” CTBTO executive sec-retary Lassina Zerbo said in a Twitter post, referring to the September 3 test.

Russia’s emergency minis-try says background radiation in nearby Vladivostok was within the natural range.

The US Geological Survey said it could not conclusively con-fi rm whether the quake, which it measured at magnitude 3.5, was man-made or natural.

“The depth is poorly con-strained and has been held to 5km by the seismologist,” USGS said.

Jeff rey Lewis, head of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies at Monterey, California, said: “Seismologists are very good at discriminating between earthquakes and explo-sions. I see no reason to doubt that it was an earthquake.”

There was no immediate reac-tion from China’s Foreign Min-istry, but the news was widely reported by Chinese state media outlets and on social media.

North Korea’s nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the fi rst since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons programme.

New Zealand’s ruling Nationals win most votes, NZ First Party kingmakerReutersWellington

New Zealand’s ruling Na-tional Party yesterday won the largest number

of votes in the country’s general election, securing a comfortable margin over the Labour Party after what had promised to be the most hotly contested race in recent history.

National and Labour had been almost neck and neck in opinion polls, with charismatic 37-year old Jacinda Ardern al-most single-handedly dragging Labour back into the race after taking over the party’s leader-ship in August.

National took 46% of the vote, the Electoral Commission said, while support for Labour was 35.8%.

A fi nal tally including over-seas votes will be released on October 7.

The results set up the nation-alist New Zealand First Party to

hold the balance of power and form the next government with 7.5% of the ballot.

Veteran New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been minister under both major par-ties and has not said which party he would favour as a coa-lition partner. Previously he has backed the party with the larg-est number of votes.

All party leaders said they would have conversations over the next few days, with some of them already trying to woo Pe-ters on election night.

“I want to acknowledge the strong performance of Winston Peters and New Zealand First,” Bill English said in a speech to his supporters.

“The voters of New Zealand have given New Zealand First a role in forming the next govern-ment,” he said.

For English, who campaigned heavily on National’s economic credentials after taking the party leadership last year, the strong showing was a vindica-

tion after National crashed to its worst ever election result in 2002 under his fi rst stint as leader.

“Bill English and National have taken the largest number of votes. I’ve called Bill and ac-knowledged that,” Ardern told her supporters, adding she was planning conversations with both the Green and New Zea-land First parties. “It’s not over yet.”

Peters sounded buoyant but kept his cards close to his chest.

“We have been strong enough and honest enough with our supporters to make it home,” he said.

New Zealand First had “not all the cards but we do have the main cards,” he added, saying he would not be rushed into giving any answers immediately.

Ardern and English were ex-pected to maintain fi scal pru-dence, but to diff er on monetary policy, trade and immigration.

New Zealand uses a German-style proportional representa-

tion system in which a party, or combination of parties, needs 61 of Parliament’s 120 members — usually about 48% of the vote — to form a government.

The results secured 58 seats for National in parliament, and 45 for Labour.

New Zealand First has nine seats and Greens, which won 5.8% of the votes, have seven.

National’s 58 seats were high-er than Labour and Greens put together at 52, but neither com-bination had enough to govern on their own.

“It’s all over, bar the special votes — but even they won’t change the basic maths. They won’t change any crucial seats and National is extremely un-likely to go up. So Winston Pe-ters rules,” said Bryce Edwards, analyst at Wellington-based Critical Politics.

A record 1.2mn ballots were cast before the day of the elec-tion, accounting for about a third of the 3.3mn New Zea-landers enrolled to vote.

New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English (R) and his wife Mary react on stage alongside family members during an election night event in Auckland yesterday.

Britain’s Dominic Sewell (left) and Per Estein Prois-Rohjell of Norway compete in the inaugural World Jousting Championship at the St Ives Medieval Faire in Sydney yesterday.

Joust for fun!Thai junta says police helped Yingluck escapeAFPBangkok

Thailand’s deputy junta leader has accused three police offi cers of helping sneak ex-prime minister

Yingluck Shinawatra out of the country last month, a vanishing act that stunned the kingdom.

Yingluck, whose government was top-pled by the military in 2014, has not been seen since August 25, when she failed to turn up for a court verdict in her criminal negligence trial.

Thailand’s junta says it was unaware she was planning to escape — something many Thais have found diffi cult to be-lieve given the round-the-clock surveil-lance Yingluck frequently complained of.

Analysts say the former premier, who faced up to a decade in jail, most likely cut a secret deal with the junta to exit the country.

But the military has denied the charge and is now pointing the fi nger at the po-lice.

Authorities interrogated three police offi cers last week after seizing a car that was allegedly used to drive Yingluck to the border with Cambodia, from where she is believed to have fl own to a third country.

“They said they received the order (to help her escape),” Prawit Wongsuwon, the junta’s number two, said of the police offi cers.

Prawit refused to elaborate on who masterminded the plot when asked by journalists.

“I will not tell the media but the person who ordered it is in Thailand,” he said, adding that Yingluck was unlikely to have crossed into Cambodia through a formal checkpoint.

Earlier in the week the kingdom’s deputy police chief said the three offi c-ers were involved in Yingluck’s escape, but would not face charges because there

was no arrest warrant out for her at the time.

Critics have asked for hard evidence, such as clear photos or CCTV, to back up the allegations.

Yingluck’s whereabouts remain un-known, but there are widespread reports she has joined her brother Thaksin, who was also toppled in a 2006 coup, in Dubai.

The siblings are massively popular among the rural poor and have dominated elections for more than a decade.

But they are loathed by Thailand’s elite and its military allies, who have battered the Shinawatra dynasty with a series of protests, coups and court rulings.

The junta, which seized power in 2014 and has repeatedly delayed a return to de-mocracy, is desperate to avoid any insta-bility that could challenge its regime.

Analysts said the generals feared that jailing Yingluck could unleash protests among her fervent supporters.

The Supreme Court will now deliver its ruling in absentia on September 27.

Thousands fl ee homes in Bali, volcano alert at highest levelBy Ahmad Pathoni, DPAJakarta

More than 14,000 people have fl ed their homes as fears of an eruption grow after Indone-

sian authorities set the alert for a vol-cano on the resort island of Bali to its highest level.

Authorities late on Friday set the alert level for Mount Agung in Bali’s Karangasem district to Level 4, indi-cating that an eruption could be im-minent.

“The situation is worrying, and there are fears of a sudden eruption,” said government vulcanologist Gede Suantika.

Villagers living nearby were trans-ported by trucks to temporary shelters in government buildings, sports halls and on open fi elds, said Putu Juli Ad-nyana, an offi cial at an emergency post set up to care for the displaced.

“Some of them brought with them their own belongings such as motor-cycles, mattresses and even cattle,” he said.

More than 10,000 personnel have been deployed to assist with the evac-uation, according to Sutopo Nugroho, a spokesman for the the National Dis-aster Management Authority.

“Our focus is now evacuating the residents and providing them with their basic necessities such as food, water and sanitation,” he said.

About 80,000 people live near the volcano.

Sutopo said that Bali remained safe for tourists to visit and that the airport was operating as normal.

“The government will surely give an early warning and accurate informa-tion if there’s a threat to the public,” he added.

Mount Agung, at 3,030m tall, last erupted in 1963-64, killing about 1,500 people.

The volcano is popular among local and foreign trekkers.

Indonesia sits on the Pacifi c Ring of Fire, an area known for frequent seis-mic upheavals and volcanic eruptions.

The country is home to about 130 active volcanoes.

BRITAIN/IRELAND13Gulf Times


Prince Harry met staff and patients at a Toronto men-tal health facility also vis-

ited by Princess Diana, hours be-fore the opening ceremony of the third Invictus Games, yesterday.

The British royal was sched-uled to offi cially open the games – for disabled or wounded sol-diers and veterans – alongside US First Lady Melania Trump and

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the evening.

As on Friday, Harry – dressed in a blue blazer and beige pants – spent time with athletes yester-day, following a tour of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where his mother Diana visited 26 years ago.

The prince, who was not joined by girlfriend, actress Meghan Markle, met hospital staff and young patients before greeting fans and posing for pictures out-side.

Hours before the opening cer-emony, speculation mounted over whether the British royal would arrive at the event with Markle.

Since the Suits actress, 36, told Vanity Fair the couple are “in love” last month, fans and the press have been eagerly awaiting an offi cial appearance.

According to his schedule, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson plans to stay at Markle’s Toronto home for the entire eight days of the Games.

After last year’s Games in Or-lando, Florida, the third edition of the Games in Toronto brings together more than 550 injured soldiers and veterans from 17 countries.

The fi rst Invictus Games, based on the Paralympic Games, were held in September 2014 in London.

They were launched by Prince Harry, who served with the Brit-ish Army in Afghanistan.

This year’s Games were re-served for Canada, which is

marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of its confederation and the centenary of the Battle of Vimy during World War I.

Performances from Canadian pop artists Sarah McLachlan and Alessia Cara, and British soprano Laura Wright were set for the opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, American rocker Bruce Springsteen will headline the closing ceremony on Sep-tember 30, joined by Bryan Ad-ams and Quebecois artist Couer de Pirate.

Prince Harry visits mental health hospital ahead of Invictus GamesAFPToronto

Prince Harry speaks to an athlete at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, ahead of the Invictus Games in Toronto.

Half a million people have signed an online peti-tion in under 24 hours

backing Uber’s bid to stay on the roads of London, showing that the company is turning to its tried-and-tested tactic of ask-ing customers for help when it locks horns with regulators.

Transport for London (TfL) stunned the US start-up on Friday when they deemed Uber unfi t to run a taxi service for safety reasons and stripped it of its licence from September 30, although it can operate while it appeals.

The regulator cited failures to report serious criminal off ences, conduct suffi cient background checks on drivers and other safety issues, threatening the US fi rm’s presence in one of the world’s wealthiest cities.

Uber immediately urged us-ers in London to sign a petition that said the city authorities had “caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict con-sumer choice”.

By 1400 GMT yesterday, near-ly 540,000 people had signed, although it was not clear how many of them were in London.

Uber counted 3.5mn active users in London in the past three months.

Even if many tourists are probably included in the total, the fi gure represents a poten-tial political force of commuters who face long journeys between their home and offi ces and who use Uber as a cheaper alternative to other taxi fi rms.

Turning to users for help is one of the fi rst steps in Uber’s playbook.

In Jakarta, Budapest, Toronto, and Portland it asked riders to sign petitions and built online tools to contact lawmakers to show their support.

Regulators have at least partly relented in Portland, Toronto and Jakarta, but Budapest re-mains a work in progress.

Uber now faces a showdown with London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said this month that he wouldn’t let his teen-age daughters use cabs like Uber on their own over fears for their safety.

Khan, a leading fi gure in Brit-ain’s opposition Labour Party, said yesterday that he had sym-pathy with Uber drivers and customers.

“But their anger really should be directed at Uber,” Khan said in a statement. “They have let down their drivers and custom-ers by failing, in the view of TfL, to act as a fi t and proper opera-tor.”

But he also suggested that Uber might eventually be al-lowed to continue operating in London.

“I want to be absolutely clear that there is a place in London for all private hire companies

that play by the rules,” Khan said. “I suspect it will take some time before this situation with Uber fully plays out.”

As mayor, Khan is chair-man of TfL, the regulator which stripped Uber of its licence.

London’s decision is the fi rst major challenge for new Uber chief executive Dara Khosrow-shahi, who took over from co-founder and former chief execu-tive Travis Kalanick.

He was forced out after inter-nal and external investigations into sexual harassment com-plaints, the thwarting of gov-ernment inquiries and potential bribery.

So far, Khosrowshahi has adopted a softer tone to the cri-sis in London than his predeces-sor did in similar situations.

“Dear London: we (are) far

from perfect” Khosrowshahi tweeted on Friday.

But he noted that 40,000 drivers and millions of riders were dependent on the service. “Please work with us to make things right.”

Khosrowshahi appeared to be following earlier game plans, said Bradley Tusk, an Uber in-vestor who advised on policy in New York City for the company.

“Many people rely on it, so there’s going to be a lot of fertile ground to mobilise,” Tusk said. “If real people are angry, it’s a lot harder for regulators.”

But while Uber has been ready to make campaigns personal in the past, Khosrowshahi may take a more moderate tone.

In New York City, Austin, Texas and Washington, DC, Uber hired political ad agen-

cies and consultants and blasted political leaders for supporting measures that could eliminate jobs and worsen traffi c.

During a stand-off in New York City in 2015, Uber named a mock feature on its app after the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, and used it to warn that a regu-latory proposal he backed could increase waits for rides.

Kalanick issued tweets criti-cising opponents, including an all-capitalised message saying “WATCH THIS!” which linked to a video that suggested the mayor was obstructing social progress.

“They have a lot more scruti-ny on them now,” said Reed Ga-len, a political consultant who worked with Uber on a campaign in Austin. “Going with the old idea of punching the local leader in the nose, that strategy doesn’t work when you’ve had the issues Uber has had.”

Khosrowshahi’s statements on Friday were an “absolutely diff erent take”, Galen said.

In an internal e-mail seen by Reuters, Khosrowshahi said there was a “high cost” to having a bad reputation.

He described it as “critical” that employees “act with in-tegrity in everything we do, and learn how to be a better partner to every city we operate in”.

For a company known for the speed of its growth, Uber has shown patience when needed.

It has long treated tussles with government as inevitable chal-lenges, but ones it sees as tem-porary setbacks.

Uber has suspended its serv-ices for months in some markets, including Alaska and Texas.

But it’s been able to return within a year or two in most cases by working out new rules or turning to higher authorities such as courts and state govern-ments.

The eff orts have a cost.Uber and rival Lyft Incorpo-

rated together spent more than $10mn on a failed ballot-box campaign in Austin and millions more on lobbying elsewhere in Texas.

Uber continues to engage in a cat-and-mouse game with city offi cials in many of the 600 plus cities in which it operates.

It suspended services in July in Finland but plans to re-enter Helsinki next year after a law was passed de-regulating taxi services.

Whether Uber continues such tactics is unclear.

However, Tusk said Uber was probably already in touch with members of Britain’s parlia-ment.

In a sign of early political op-position to London’s move, Greg Hands, the minister for London in the Conservative government, hit out at what he called a “blan-ket ban” on Uber.

“At the fl ick of a pen Sadiq Khan is threatening to put 40,000 people out of work and leave 3.5mn users of Uber stranded,” Hands tweeted late on Friday. “Once again the ac-tions of Labour leave ordinary working people (to) pay the price for it.”

More than 500,000 sign petition backing UberUber, reviving old tactic, is backed by more than half a million in London row

By Paresh Dave and William Schomberg, ReutersSan Francisco/London

A woman poses holding a smartphone showing the app for ride-sharing cab service Uber in London.

Brexit hung like a cloud over Ireland’s biggest agricul-tural fair this week, with

the country’s food and farming industries, heavily reliant on their British neighbour, feeling the impact already.

Nearly 300,000 people vis-ited the 2017 National Ploughing Championships outside Tullam-ore in the central County Off aly.

Their boots quickly churn-ing up the muddy fi elds, visitors were keen to trade talk of farm machinery and production vol-umes.

The annual gathering was also an occasion for families to see the animals, play the Irish sport of hurling and soak up the festive atmosphere.

However, for the exhibi-tors, the atmosphere is some-what weighed down by Britain’s looming departure from the European Union and the slide of its sterling currency, which has made Irish exports over its only border exceedingly expensive.

John Keena, a cattle breeder, wears a stern face when talking about the 20% fall in sterling against the euro, since Britain’s vote in June 2016 to leave the EU.

“Meat factories maybe are taking full advantage of Brexit, like they have dropped the prices in the last six weeks by some-thing like 30 cents the kilo. We

think it’s unjustifi ed and that we should be back at €4 the kilo,” he said.

Economic ties between Brit-ain and Ireland – which was part of the UK before independence in the 1920s – are strong.

The Irish pound, replaced by the euro in 2002, was linked to sterling until the late 1970s.

Joe Healy, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, in-between selfi es and chomps on his muffi n, expressed concern about Brexit.

“We export 90% of our beef. Fifty per cent of that goes to the UK, 45% to Europe and 5% onto international markets,” he said.

“But of the 45% that goes to Europe, half of that uses the UK as a land bridge to get to the Eu-ropean market,” said Healy, un-

derlining the sector’s depend-ence on its nearest neighbour.

Like beef, Ireland’s agri-food sector – the biggest employer in the republic with 8.4% of the workforce – exports 37% of its production to Britain.

The mushroom industry, which sends 80% of its produc-tion, has felt the pinch of the fl uctuating pound, with already narrow margins tightening fur-ther and driving several opera-tors into bankruptcy.

Farmers, breeders and proces-sors are also anxiously awaiting the outcome of London’s nego-tiations with Brussels, fearing a return of customs barriers be-tween Britain and the EU.

“What we’re trying to do is plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said Tara McCarthy,

the chief executive of Bord Bia, the government’s state food agency which has provided ex-porting companies with infor-mation and marketing tools to help them come up with new strategies to cope with the situ-ation.

Dublin is also looking for new destinations if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal.

“The gap would be huge in the worst case scenario – we’re talking about 250,000 tonnes of beef,” said McCarthy.

The country is eyeing up busi-

ness with China in particular.“We don’t have access yet but

the Chinese market would be a huge opportunity”, McCarthy said.

Unlike the meat and mush-room sectors, milk producers are better off thanks to a recent rise in dairy prices after a tough 2016, according to John Wicher-ley, a dairy farmer from County Cork in the southwest of Ireland.

The situation is “stable”, he said, revealing he was “cau-tiously confi dent”.

His cows produce milk for

the Irish cheese industry, which provides 80% of the cheddar eaten in Britain.

“Without the UK for our cheddar cheese, there isn’t really a market,” Healy said of Britain leaving the European customs union. “Like farmers and proc-essors, we’ve all invested a lot in producing the type of product that the UK market and the UK customers require.”

Without easy access to the UK market, the Irish food producing industry looks particularly vul-nerable.

Brexit weighs heavy at Irish farming fairBy Julien Lagache, AFPTullamore, Ireland

A woman stands outside the EU stand at the National Ploughing Championships.Farmers take part in the National Ploughing Championships.

Head of detention centre quits afterabuse claimsBy Caroline DaviesGuardian News & Media

The head of a G4S-run im-migration removal centre, which was the subject of

an undercover BBC Panorama investigation over allegations of bullying and abuse, has resigned with immediate eff ect.

Ben Saunders, the director of Brook House immigration re-moval centre (IRC) near Gatwick airport, was placed on adminis-trative leave earlier this month.

G4S has confi rmed his depar-ture.

Jerry Petherick, managing director for G4S custodial and detention services, said: “Ben Saunders has resigned from his role as director of Gatwick IRCs. Lee Hanford will be taking up the role of interim director of Gatwick IRCs with eff ect from Monday, 25 September, pending the eventual appointment of a replacement director.”

BBC1’s Panorama screened footage from Brook House that apparently showed ill treatment of people being held there.

Offi cers were seen to mock suicidal detainees and one of-fi cer is alleged to have attempted to choke a detainee.

In one scene from the pro-gramme, a custody offi cer brags: “We don’t cringe at break-ing bones. If I killed a man, I wouldn’t be bothered. I’d just carry on.”

In another incident, a detain-ee was self-harming by trying to strangle himself and putting a mobile phone battery in his mouth.

A custody manager allegedly remarked: “Plug him in and he’ll be a Duracell bunny.”

It was claimed that later dur-ing the same incident, when the detainee was being physically restrained, another member of staff was fi lmed choking the de-tainee.

Panorama’s undercover re-porter said the staff member “basically stuck both of his fi n-gers into his neck, and he was pushing so, so hard I could hear the detainee trying to gasp for breath”.

G4S regional president for the UK and Ireland, Peter Neden, told the committee that he felt “ashamed” by what he had seen, and apologised.

The footage was fi lmed by a G4S employee, former custody offi cer Callum Tulley, who was so disturbed by the behaviour of his colleagues that he contacted the BBC and began working un-dercover on their behalf.

G4S sacked three personnel and suspended 10 others after the programme aired this month.

Tulley said he saw people dealing and taking drugs, self-harming and fi ghting.

“There’s a culture of violence at Brook House. It’s not just a pocket of offi cers abusing peo-ple behind closed doors,” he said. “People will just speak about it so openly or freely.”

Saunders was the head of two G4S-run IRCs near Gatwick: Brook House and Tinsley House.

G4S said it began an investi-gation after the claims made in the programme.

EUROPE


Germany is on guard against any last-minute meddling in today’s elec-

tion but experts have seen only isolated attempts to swing votes during the campaign.

There are also no signs that fake news will aff ect the outcome of the election, which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Dem-ocrats are expected to win.

The broadly clean bill of health from political experts and social media watchers is in contrast to the US and French presidential elections of the past 12 months, in which Russia was accused of trying to infl uence the outcome.

“People generally aren’t ex-pecting a huge amount of digital meddling because in the end it didn’t work in France, and it’s just too closely associated with Russia. It would hurt them (Rus-sia),” said Sergey Lagodinsky, a lawyer and researcher with a Green Party-connected think tank in Berlin.

The sharing of false or mis-leading headlines and mass post-ing by automated social media “bots” have had little infl uence in Germany’s quiet campaign, government offi cials and politi-cal experts say.

And an Oxford University study concluded this week that far less fake news was being spread in Germany than in the United States before the 2016 presidential election.

Concern had been raised in Germany by the accusations of Russian meddling in last year’s US presidential election to pre-vent Democrat Hilary Clinton winning and in this year’s French presidential election, in which eventual winner Emmanuel Ma-cron’s team complained his cam-paign was targeted by a “massive and co-ordinated” hacking op-eration.

Russia has denied meddling in foreign elections.

Germany’s biggest political parties, worried about the im-pact of a hack that stole politi-cians’ data in 2015, agreed this year not to exploit any informa-tion that might be leaked as a re-sult of a cyber attack, and not to use bots.

Social media watchers spot-ted a small-scale eff ort late in the campaign by Russian accounts on Twitter to amplify a call by German far-right activists for their supporters to volunteer as observers at polls to prevent pos-sible voting fraud.

The far-right call for election monitors centred on a site with a tiny following called wahl-beobachtung.de, which features demands for a recount if many invalid ballots are found.

It was retweeted by a Russian “bot-for-hire” 169 times in re-cent days, fake news tracking site Digital Forensic Research Labs said.

The site, run by EinProzent (One Per cent), an anti-immi-grant, anti-Merkel “patriotic citizens’ network”, has drawn just 305 Facebook users to sign up as monitors so far.

German voters will cast votes at some 88,000 polling stations.

Of 1mn tweets tracked by the Oxford group in the fi rst 10 days of September, 30% were tied to the anti-immigration Alterna-tive for Germany (AfD), far out-weighing support shown for the party in polls: it is running at around 10%.

That puts the AfD on track to enter parliament for the fi rst time as the third largest party.

Facebook Germany spokes-man Klaus Gorny said the com-pany was keeping a close eye on abuse while sticking to its princi-ples of allowing free speech.

He said there was no doubt that right-wing postings, some of them quite off ensive, had in-creased, but Facebook was only removing content that was il-legal.

“There are certainly things that are completely off , but they’re not illegal,” he said.

Election campaign largely unaff ected by fake news or botsBy Andrea Shalal and Eric Auchard, ReutersBerlin/Frankfurt

Chancellor Angela Mer-kel and her rival Martin Schulz rallied voters yes-

terday on the eve of today’s elec-tion, urging Germans to shun the fi rst hard-right party expected to enter parliament in force since the end of World War II.

Merkel, the clear frontrun-ner after 12 years in power with a double-digit lead, also told her conservative base not to get complacent and to cast their bal-lots, rousing them with a folksy call to “bring home the bacon”.

Her Social Democratic (SPD) rival Schulz told voters to reject the “sleeping-pill politics” of the famously cautious chancellor nicknamed “Mutti” (mummy) in a passionate Berlin speech on Friday, and to vote against “an-other four years of stagnation and lethargy”.

Yesterday he told his support-ers that they gave him “courage on the home stretch” and that “no matter what happens, it was a great campaign”.

Both Merkel and Schulz im-plored voters to resist the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has railed against the infl ux of around 1mn mostly Muslim migrants and refugees, half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The party with links to the far-right French National Front and Britain’s Ukip has been poll-ing around 11% and 13% and is expected to enter the opposi-tion benches of the Bundestag, heightening its visibility and state fi nancing.

The International Auschwitz Committee warned that the “conglomerate of anti-Semites, enemies of democracy and na-tionalistic agitators” will bring “an inhuman coldness” to the glass-domed chamber of the Re-ichstag building.

Merkel – who has been heck-led and booed as a “traitor” by AfD followers – headed back into one of their strongholds yester-day, her Baltic coast constitu-ency where the anti-Islam party beat Merkel’s Christian Demo-crats (CDU) in state elections last year.

At Merkel’s fi nal major stump speech on Friday in the south-ern city of Munich, activists had tried to drown her out with whis-tles and vuvuzelas and chants of “get lost”.

But the 63-year-old refused to be derailed from her stability-and-prosperity stump speech, telling the crowd that “the future of Germany will defi nitely not be

built with whistles and hollers”.Schulz, for his part, recalled

with pride the SPD’s history of resisting the Nazi regime and told the Berlin rally that “this Alternative for Germany is no alternative. They are a shame for our nation”.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, also a Social Demo-crat, warned that “for the fi rst time since the end of the Second World War, real Nazis will sit in the German parliament”.

One of two AfD leading can-didates, Alexander Gauland, has called for Germans to shed their guilt over two world wars and the Holocaust and to take pride in their veterans.

He has also suggested that Germany’s integration commis-sioner Aydan Ozoguz, who has Turkish roots, should be “dis-posed of in Anatolia”.

Forsa polling institute chief Manfred Guellner predicted that the AfD will soon spark its own decline through its chronic in-fi ghting, and added that its rise was “unfortunate but no catas-trophe because Germany as a whole is a solid democracy”.

Aside from the hard-right populist noise, the past two months of campaigning by the major parties have been widely criticised as lacklustre and un-inspired, with few hot-button issues dividing the main con-tenders.

For the past four years, Mer-

kel’s CDU has ruled Europe’s top economy with the Social Demo-crats as its junior partner, a time during which both parties have broadly agreed on major policies, from foreign policy to migration.

In a last-ditch bid to stir vot-ers, the SPD’s Gabriel accused Merkel of caving in to the de-mands of US President Donald Trump by pledging to raise de-fence spending to 2% of GDP.

“Germany is the voice of peace and disarmament and not the European off shoot of Trumpian military armaments policy,” he said.

Governing in Merkel’s shadow has cost the SPD voter support, and polls give it 21-22% com-pared to 34-36% for Merkel’s conservative bloc which also in-cludes the Bavarian CSU.

Looking at the surveys, many rank-and fi le SPD members wonder whether the tradition-al working class party needs a stint in opposition to rekindle its fi ghting spirit.

This would leave the presumed winner Merkel in need of new coalition partners – possibly the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), who are hop-ing for a comeback after crashing out of parliament four years ago.

Another potential partner is the ecologist and left-leaning Greens party, which however starkly diff ers with the FDP on issues from climate and green energy to migration policy.

German politicians in last bid for votesAFPBerlin

Merkel takes part in a resuscitation event organised yesterday by the medical university of northeastern town of Greifswald, on the eve of the elections.

Right: Schulz speaks yesterday during the final campaign rally in Aachen.

An AfD activist distributes campaign flyers during a local campaigning event in Berlin.

Yesterday Social Democrat Martin Schulz read out a message he received via

Facebook from a young Syrian migrant who called on Germans to exercise their right to vote in today’s national election.

In an open letter to the German people, Abdul Abbasi, a transla-tor at a migrant legal clinic in Goettingen, talked of watch-ing friends killed before his eyes

while participating in pro-de-mocracy demonstrations in Syria in 2012, Schulz said.

“Their goals and desires were things that are considered nor-mal in Germany in 2017. They died because they wanted to live as free people... they wanted the right to participate in the politics of their country,” Abbasi wrote.

“The ability to vote and live in a democratic country is a dream of many in this world. Go vote and protect your democracy, protect us from people who divide us into categories, fi ght against our

ability to live together and want to divide the society.”

Abbasi was not immediately available to comment.

His Facebook profi le said he was from Aleppo, Syria, and was studying dentistry at university.

Schulz said that the letter un-derscored the importance of vot-ing at a time when the anti-im-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is poised to become the fi rst far-right party in the Bundestag since the end of World War II.

Abbasi posted the open letter

in response to a Facebook posting in which Schulz called the AfD “a danger to our democracy” and said it “has no business being in parliament”.

Founded in 2013 to oppose bailouts of fi nancially strapped eurozone countries, the AfD has gained support after Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015 opened the doors to about 1mn migrants.

“What a wonderful letter, and what a challenge for us,” Schulz told thousands of supporters gathered for his fi nal campaign appearance.

Migrant tells Germans: cherish your democracy

ReutersAachen

Workers on Friday cut out part of a new monument to Mikhail

Kalashnikov, inventor of the So-viet Union’s legendary AK-47 assault rifl e, after eagle-eyed Russians noticed that it mistak-enly depicted a German weapon of World War II.

Just three days ago, the mon-ument to the creator of one of Russia’s best known export brands was unveiled with much fanfare in central Moscow.

A metal bas-relief behind a statue of Kalashnikov depicts the AK-47 and other weapons all supposedly designed by the engineer, who died in 2013.

But on Friday, embarrassed sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov had to admit that among them was the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) assault rifl e used by Nazi troops at the end of World War II.

“We will rectify this,” Sh-

cherbakov said in comments broadcast by state-run Rossiya 24 channel. “It looks like this (mistake) sneaked in from the Internet.”

By Friday evening a square hole gaped where the German rifl e had been depicted in the bas-relief.

Kalashnikov’s weapon, cre-ated in 1947, does have a striking resemblance to German arms designer Hugo Schmeissers’s StG 44 rifl e, created in 1942, al-though they have major design diff erences.

Kalashnikov was known to have said he had heard specula-

tion that he had copied the Ger-man rifl e.

Vladislav Kononov, executive director of the Russian Military and Historical Society, was cited by Russian media as saying that the fact that angry Russians had spotted the error in the relief disproved that.

Many had earlier vented their disapproval on social media.

“Every cloud has its silver lin-ing – thanks to this mistake ... a myth has been destroyed that Kalashnikov borrowed some el-ements of his invention from his foreign colleagues,” he said.

The AK-47, the small-arms mainstay of Russia’s armed forces for over 60 years, is called by some experts the most eff ec-tive weapon ever made.

Every fi fth fi rearm in the world is a Kalashnikov, with more than 70mn of the assault rifl es produced over the past 60 years, the Kalashnikov Concern manufacturer said on its web-site.

Kalashnikovs are in service in 50 foreign armies, it added.

Monument to Kalashnikov ‘scarred’ReutersMoscow

A view of a sketch allegedly featuring German StG 44 rifle at a fragment of the newly-unveiled monument to Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.

British actor Colin Firth gets Italian citizenship following Brexit voteBritish actor Colin Firth, who has often played the role of a quintessential Englishman in his many films, has become an Italian citizen, Italy’s interior ministry said.“The very famous actor, who won an Oscar for the film The King’s Speech, is married to a citizen from our country and has often

declared his love for our land,” the ministry said in a statement.Firth said he would remain a dual national, adding that his Italian-born wife would also be seeking British nationality.“We never really thought much about our diff erent passports,” the actor said.

“But now, with some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same,” he added, in an apparent reference to last year’s British vote to leave the European Union.Firth has been married to Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli since 1997.

A large majority of Muslims in Europe feel closely con-nected to the country they

live in and trust public institu-tions despite facing “widespread discrimination”, a study suggest-ed this week.

The fi ndings come ahead of elections in Germany today and in Austria next month when rightwing parties critical of Muslim immigration are expect-ed to perform well.

Seventy-six per cent of 10,527 fi rst and second-generation Muslims in 15 European Union member states feel “strongly at-tached” to their country of resi-dence, according to the survey by the Vienna-based EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Nonetheless, nearly 40% also reported suff ering discrimina-tion and harassment because of their ethnic or immigration background, particularly in the Netherlands and France.

Both countries have large Muslim communities and far-right parties sharply critical of Islam came second in elections this year.

“Our survey results make a mockery of the claim that Mus-lims aren’t integrated into our societies,” says FRA director Michael O’Flaherty. “On the contrary, we see a trust in demo-cratic institutions that is higher than much of the general popu-lation.”

He warned that key obstacles to Muslims’ social inclusion were the large-scale discrimination and “hate” crimes they experi-enced on a regular basis.

One-third of Muslim job-seekers said they had encoun-tered bias during their hunt for work over the past fi ve years.

Many also described having trouble gaining access to hous-ing or education because of their name or attire, for instance.

The study singled out its host country Austria, where the far-right may enter government fol-lowing elections on October 15, as one of the EU’s least Muslim-friendly countries.

Austria’s anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe) has long railed against Muslims but the two main centrist parties have also taken a harder line in cam-paigning ahead of the vote.

“Austrians’ strongly negative attitudes toward Muslims are being infl uenced by the public discourse,” FRA spokeswoman Katya Andrusz said.

Muslims ‘attached’ to Europe despite discrimination: studyAFPVienna

Lithuania gets minority government after coalition collapsesLithuania’s government lost its majority in parliament yesterday after its junior coalition partner quit, saying they has been sidelined over policies ranging from alcohol age limits to subsidies on central heating.A parliament vote on next year’s budget, expected by early December, will be the first test for the minority government following the departure of the Social Democrats after less than a year in power.

The government will now need to convince opposition parties to support it on a case-by-case basis.The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, the sole party remaining in power, have a block of 57 members in Lithuania’s 141-seat parliament.Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, a Social Democrat, told Reuters that he will leave his party to continue in the government.

EUROPE15Gulf Times


French far-left opposition party leader Jean-Luc Me-lenchon drew tens of thou-

sands to a rally yesterday against President Emmanuel Macron’s labour reforms, aiming to rein-force his credentials as Macron’s strongest political opponent.

Trade union protests against Macron’s plan to make hiring and fi ring easier and give companies more power over working con-ditions seem to be losing steam, but Melenchon said his “France Unbowed” party was calling on unions to join them and together “keep up the fi ght”.

“The battle is not over, it is only starting,” Melenchon told the crowd gathered on the Place de la Republique where the rally against what Melenchon has called “a social coup d’etat” end-ed.

In a warning to Macron, who has said he will not bow to street pressure, Melenchon said: “It is the street that defeated the kings, it is the street that defeated the

Nazis” while the crowd chanted “Resistance! Resistance!”

It remains to be seen whether Melenchon and his party have the capacity to mobilise the kind of street resistance which forced the last two presidents to dilute their own attempts to loosen the labour code.

Melenchon tweeted that more than 150,000 demonstrators had turned up while police put the number at 30,000.

A campaign rally in March, weeks before the presidential election, drew some 130,000 people, party offi cials had said.

“Today we are sending an ex-traordinary strong message to the workers that they are not alone,” Melenchon added.

Macron campaigned for the presidency as someone who could bridge the divide between left and right.

But since his election, he has already alienated many, especial-ly on the left, by saying that he would be a “Jupiter-like” presi-dent, above the fray, and with his avowed determination not to tol-erate “slackers”.

Some of yesterday’s protest-

ers carried banners reading “The slackers are in the streets” or “Macron president of the wealthy”.

Party offi cials said about 150 buses had brought protesters from all over France.

Brigitte Gerard, a 59-year-old schoolteacher from Rennes, in western France, carried a banner reading: “Watch out Jupiter, the people are rumbling.”

“There is a lot of anger,” she said as the march set off for the Place de la Republique. “I don’t think they’re aware of it. They’re cut off from reality.”

The new labour rules, dis-cussed at length in advance with unions, will among other meas-ures cap payouts on dismissals that are judged unfair.

“Emmanuel Macron has start-ed an arm-wrestling contest with the French people ... but I think we can stop these decrees,” France Unbowed lawmaker Adr-ien Quatennens told Reuters.

A string of opinion polls show-ing the far-left maverick Melen-chon as the strongest opponent to Macron’s upstart En Marche (On The Move) party, highlight

the weakness of the traditional mainstream parties.

The Socialists, who ruled from 2012 to 2017, are in tatters, the

conservative Republicans are di-vided over whether to back Ma-cron, and the far-right National Front, whose leader Marine Le

Pen reached the second round run-off against Macron, is weak-ened by internal fi ghting.

Ironically, Melenchon’s

strength could be a good thing for Macron, because polls also indicate that he is not seen as a credible alternative but rather as a conduit for protest.

In an Odoxa survey carried out this week, 66% of respondents said Melenchon would be a bad president.

The centrist president for-mally signed the labour decrees on Friday, and they are due to en-ter into force by the start of next year.

The measures are only the fi rst step of a series of reforms that will also amend the unem-ployment benefi t and pension systems, changes that could well provoke more protests than changes to the labour code.

Far-left leader urges resistance against MacronReutersParis

A demonstrator tries to prevent a group of balaclava-clad people from trying to take over a stage platform during a protest in Paris yesterday against the French government’s labour reforms.

Left: Melenchon waves during the protest in Paris. The writing on the banner, partially shown, reads ‘against the social coup d’etat’.

Catalonia’s executive has accused Madrid of tak-ing control of its regional

police force after prosecutors tasked the interior ministry with co-ordinating all operations aimed at stopping an outlawed independence referendum.

The row is likely to further raise tensions between the cen-tral government and Catalonia, a northeast region divided over independence with its sepa-ratist leaders seeking to hold a vote on October 1 despite Ma-drid’s refusal and a court ban.

Yesterday morning, Catalo-nia’s chief prosecutor told the heads of the national police, Guardia Civil force and Mossos d’Esquadra – the regional squad – that the interior ministry would co-ordinate operations “in light of what happened last week”, a spokesman at the min-istry said.

Barcelona was rocked by pro-tests on Wednesday as thou-sands took to the streets when key members of the team or-ganising the vote were detained, and six of them were subse-quently put under investigation for disobedience, embezzle-ment of public funds and mal-feasance.

The Catalan government, however, said in a statement that it did not “accept the inte-rior ministry taking command of the Mossos d’Esquadra”.

Joaquim Forn, the region’s interior minister whose de-partment manages the Mossos, tweeted that they were looking into taking legal action against “this interference from the state”.

The interior ministry in Ma-drid retorted that it was not taking any power away from the Mossos.

The spokesman pointed out that the same process had been implemented in aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Barce-lona and Cambrils last month, with the Mossos tasked with co-ordinating operations at that time.

Unions at the Mossos reacted angrily.

The SAP union said the Secu-rity Board of Catalonia, which it says is responsible for co-or-dinating police forces in the re-gion, had not been convened to discuss the matter and slammed the decision as “political”.

Madrid has used the legal ar-senal at its disposal to stop the Catalonia vote.

But Catalan leaders say they

are still determined to see the referendum through even if they recognise their plans have been seriously hindered.

Prosecutors are pushing for possible sedition charges against leaders of protests in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Madrid has tightened con-trol over the region’s fi nances and the Constitutional Court fi ned 24 referendum organis-ers between €6,000 to €12,000 ($7,200 to $14,300) a day until they stopped.

These included members of an electoral board set up for the referendum which was subse-

quently hastily dissolved by the regional government to avoid paying the fi nes.

And police have seized close to 10mn ballot papers destined for the vote.

All the measures have dam-aged separatist plans to conduct a referendum with a semblance of legitimacy, even if it was never going to be recognised by Madrid.

Still, yesterday Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont posted another link to a website that lists places where Catalans will be able to vote, after others were taken down.

On the streets of Barcelona, meanwhile, protests had dwin-dled.

Several dozen students were still rallying in a University of Barcelona building in the city centre, but other street gather-ings had dissolved.

Polls show Catalans are di-vided on whether they want independence or not, with the latest survey in July showing 49.4% against and 41.1% in fa-vour.

Despite the divisions, a large majority of Catalans want to vote in a legitimate referendum to settle the matter.

Police row erupts in CataloniaAFPBarcelona

Catalan police, known as Mossos d’Esquadra, stand guard in downtown Barcelona yesterday.

Italy’s populist 5-Star Move-ment (M5S) unveiled its can-didate for prime minister

yesterday as it braces to attempt a revolutionary shift from protest to ruling party.

Political darling Luigi di Maio, 31, considered the reassuring face of Italy’s anti-establishment in-surgency, pocketed 30,936 of the 37,442 ballots cast.

“I’ll start work tomorrow on putting together a team for gov-ernment ... one the people will be proud of,” he said in an emotional speech in the sea-side town of Rimini as his victory was an-nounced. “It’s a huge responsi-bility, but together we can do it.”

The clean-shaven lawmaker had been openly groomed to run for the top job in the spring 2018 general election as an everyman able to win over average voters and fi nancial markets alike.

“Di Maio is studying how to become prime minister; he be-haves, speaks, walks like one. He scrutinises the rules of the game to try and beat the house,” Lu-iss University communications expert Alberto Castelvecchi told AFP.

The telegenic youngster had gone up against six totally un-known candidates and a low-profi le senator in an electronic vote on Thursday that had both amused and irked traditional parties and the country’s main-stream media.

“The pathetic primary with Di Maio as a lone candidate (...) is not only a symptom of a lack of democracy” within M5S, wrote Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, which is usually the most sympathetic to the movement.

“It is also proof of the eternal immaturity, incompetence, in-experience and thrown-together

nature of a movement that is get-ting bigger but not growing up,” the paper said.

Italy’s media were also quick to point out the movement had hoped more than its over-140,000 members would vote.

M5S, which bases much of its appeal on fi ghting corruption, emerged as a major force in 2013 general elections and went on to win mayoral seats in Rome and Turin last year.

And despite a worse-than-expected performance at local elections in June, for months now it has been neck-and-neck in the polls with the centre-left ruling Democratic Party (PD), with recent projections showing it would win 28% in a national race.

M5S supporter Roberto Pa-vanello told AFP he had voted for Di Maio and hoped he would pro-vide “the turning point that Italy needs”.

Critics say that regardless of who is candidate for prime min-ister, 5-Star’s outspoken found-er, comic Beppe Grillo, will con-tinue to determine how the party is run, crushing any dissent.

Grillo has promised to remain the “guarantor” of the move-

ment’s model of direct democ-racy.

Members were told whoever got the PM candidacy and par-ty leadership would be a mere spokesman, obliged to follow a political programme “for Italy, written by Italians”.

The movement has always defi ned itself as on neither the political left nor right, though it was driven at the start by largely leftist ideals such as calls for a minimum wage, according to political watcher Vincenzo La-tronico.

Its leaders have moved sharply across the spectrum since, often echoing the anti-immigration Northern League party.

The movement may have picked its PM candidate, but it will still have an uphill struggle to reach high offi ce.

It categorically refuses to form alliances with any other parties and under Italy’s proportional electoral system would need to pocket 50% of the vote plus one ballot to obtain a majority in the upper house of parliament.

It would only need 40% of the vote in the lower house – but analysts say that looks like a tall order.

Italy 5-Star favourite wins PM bidAFPRimini, Italy

Grillo with Di Maio during the gathering in Rimini.

Monaco ex-minister detained in influence-peddling inquiryThe former justice minister of Monaco was detained on Friday by police looking into his relations with a Russian billionaire embroiled in a long-running fraud dispute with a Swiss art dealer.Philippe Narmino was brought in for questioning after prosecutors opened an inquiry into suspected influence peddling, a source close to the case said.Narmino quit his post earlier this month after French daily Le Monde detailed his ties with Dmitry Rybolovlev, owner of the AS Monaco football club.The paper noted that Narmino and his wife were treated with gifts and expensive dinners, and were guests at Rybolovlev’s Swiss chalet in early 2015, just as the fraud dispute erupted between Rybolovlev and Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier.Bouvier was arrested in Monaco in February 2015, and French news site Mediapart in August published extracts of telephone calls between Rybolovlev’s lawyer and Monaco police off icials, suggesting that

he may have tipped off the police to Bouvier’s arrival in the principality.“The accusations against me and the repeated attacks sustained by the judiciary no longer allow me to properly assure leadership,” Narmino said in announcing his resignation.Rybolovlev had once been one of Bouvier’s biggest clients, buying a total of 37 masterpieces worth €2bn ($2.4bn) over a decade.But their relationship collapsed after Rybolovlev claimed he had been hugely overcharged.Bouvier is also one of the leading organisers of off shore storage facilities for wealthy collectors, shuttling works between high-tech storage facilities in low-tax countries such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore.Rybolovlev, who made his fortune in the fertiliser business after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has an art collection to rival major museums.

Shiv Sena activists participate in a protest rally against petrol and diesel price hike in Mumbai yesterday.

First phase ofnew Mumbai airport to be ready by endof 2019: CM

IANSHyderabad

The fi rst phase of the new Mumbai airport will be completed by the end of

2019, Maharashtra Chief Minis-ter Devendra Fadnavis said yes-terday.

He told reporters on the side-lines of an event at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here that the pre-development work had already started.

“This being a marshy land, we have to level it out, cut a hill and change the course of a river. The pre-development works have been awarded and the work has started,” he said.

Fadnavis said the site for de-velopment work by the conces-sionaire will be ready by May next year.

“The concessionaire is nearly short listed. It’s a matter of time before we award letter of intent to concessionaire,” he added.

Earlier, addressing the ISB Leadership Summit, Fadnavis said eight NOCs (no-objection certifi cates) for the airport were awaiting clearance for 10 years but were resolved by the central government after he took over as the chief minister.

He said work on the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link would be-gin by November and it would be completed in four years.

The chief minister said the 22km sea link was conceived in 1997 and when he took over in 2014, not a single clearance was in place.

Fadnavis said all clearances for the Rs170bn project were ob-tained in eight to nine months.

Referring to the Mumbai Metro, he said it took 10 years to complete work on 8km but his government fast-tracked the project, which would be com-pleted in four years.

The Metro will have a carrying capacity of 9mn passengers eve-ryday as against the existing 7mn capacity of the suburban railway.

Fadnavis said he expected the total carrying capacity of Mum-bai’s public transport system in-cluding mono rail and water way to be 13mn.

The state government plans to integrate the transport system to provide end-to-end connectiv-ity.

“This integrated transport system will reduce 40% vehicu-lar traffi c in Mumbai,” he added.

Shiv Sena hitsout at ally BJPover fuel pricerise, infl ation

We all lied about Jaya’s health, says TN minister

IANSMumbai

The Shiv Sena, which is an alliance partner in both the Bharatiya Janata

Party-led central and Mahar-ashtra governments, yesterday launched protests against the runway fuel price hike and in-fl ation by carrying empty gas cylinders and organising mock funerals of the BJP.

Thousands of Shiv Sena activ-ists led by ministers, MPs, legis-lators and local unit leaders led the agitations held at 12 places all over Mumbai and its suburbs.

Scores of Shiv Sainiks includ-ing MPs Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai, several sitting and former legislators and municipal cor-porators, and local leaders were detained across Mumbai.

The Sainiks, many carrying empty gas cylinders, fuel cans, posters and placards, raised deafening slogans attacking the central and state govern-ments headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Min-ister Devendra Fadnavis respec-tively.

The protests by thousands of activists shouting “BJP Come to Your Senses, Or Get Out” caught the attention of weekend com-muters and tourists.

In Bandra, Yuva Sena presi-dent Aditya Thackeray reiterated that demonetisation has com-pletely failed and multiplied the miseries of the common man.

The protests were held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maha-raj Terminus, Borivali, Kandi-vali, Jogeshwari, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Chembur, where the speakers alleged a scam in the current high prices of petrol, diesel and gas, and or-ganised a mock funeral of the BJP government in Borivali.

Desai said party MPs and MLAs had brought to the notice of the prime minister and chief

minister the perils of infl ation and the sky-rocketing prices of petrol and diesel.

He said people had become disappointed due to infl ation and everything had become un-aff ordable.

The government has forgot-ten that it had defeated the Con-gress after committing itself to the poor and the middle class, he said.

Sawant said the BJP-led gov-ernment was taking decisions arbitrarily, without taking its al-lies into confi dence.

“Today, the government is taking decisions without taking anybody into confi dence. Modi should go through the speeches he delivered before becoming the PM, when the fuel prices went up during the Congress rule,” Sawant said.

“Likewise, union ministers Smriti Irani and Rajnath Singh should also be shown their speeches made before the BJP came to power. All of them had hit the streets. Today, the prices of crude oil globally are far less than before, yet the fuel rates here are going up,” he added.

In a veiled attack on Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthan-am, who had defended the fuel price hike, Sawant said, “One of their ministers shamelessly in-sults the people and rubs salt on their wounds. We want to know if this is the ‘acche din’ promised by them.”

Alphons, who was recently in-ducted into the council of minis-ters, had said, “Who buys petrol? Somebody who has a car or bike. Certainly he’s not starving. People who can aff ord to pay should pay.”

This is the second major agi-tation spearheaded by the Shiv Sena, which is a constituent of the BJP-led National Democrat-ic Alliance at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

Earlier this month, the party had organised protests across the state demanding the implemen-

tation of total farm loans waiver package announced in June.

Yesterday’s protests were sharply criticised by Mum-bai BJP leaders Ashish Shelar Dhananjay Munde.

Shelar said those who were elected to power on the strength of Modi are today raising slogans against him.

“It is said that when you raise slogans for the death of a living person, he lives a longer life,” he said.

Munde said the Shiv Sena’s protests are “a sham” as the par-ty continued to stick to power.

Similar protests were organ-ised by Shiv Sena units in Kol-hapur, Thane and other districts in Maharashtra after a call was given by party president Uddhav Thackeray last week.

Meanwhile, Petroleum Min-ister Dharmendra Pradhan yes-terday favoured including petro-leum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime “in people’s interest”, even as he insisted petrol and diesel prices had started falling.

Pradhan told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Gandhi-nagar that the central govern-ment had asked the GST Council to consider implementing the new taxation regime in the pe-troleum sector.

“We have appealed to the GST Council to implement GST on petroleum products, which would ensure interests of the people. This way, the interests of the state and central government will also be secured,” he said.

Pradhan also stressed on the need for states to have a balanced model, so that taxes can be col-lected without the people being aff ected by it.

Attributing the recent hikes in fuel prices to market fl uctua-tions caused by hurricanes Irma and Harvey in the US, he said: “The prices have begun to fall, in fact they had gone down even during the last two days.”

IANSChennai

A Tamil Nadu minister has sought people’s apol-ogy for “lying” about

the health of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa before her death.

Speaking at a public meeting in Madurai, around 500km from here, on Friday night, Minister of Forests C Sreenivasan said: “We would have told lies that she had idlis and people met her. The truth is that nobody saw her.”

Sreenivasan said he is seek-ing apology from the people now for “those lies”.

According to him, everyone in the government and in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party “lied about the people” who had met Jayalalithaa in Apollo

Hospital, where she was ad-mitted on September 22 last year.

Sreenivasan said it was only V K Sasikala, a close aide of Jay-alalithaa for several years, who used to meet Jayalalithaa.

He said even central leaders including Congress vice presi-dent Rahul Gandhi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Governor Vidyasagar Rao were also not allowed to meet her.

“When they came to the hos-pital, they were made to sit in the hospital owner, Pratap Red-dy’s room. Sasikala would come down and talk to them and they will return, that’s all. No one was allowed on the fl oor where she was kept,” he said.

“We all lied then so that the party’s secret does not get leaked,” Sreenivasan said.

He said nobody met Jayala-lithaa in her hospital room.

She died in the hospital on December 5.

During her stay in the hospi-tal, information from the gov-ernment and the hospital about her health was scarce.

Most of the communication about her health stated that she was on the road to recovery and was doing well.

Reacting to the charge, T T V Dinakaran, nephew of Sasikala, said after October 1, 2016 even she was not allowed inside Jay-alalithaa’s room.

He said on the instruction of doctors Sasikala would go in-side Jayalalithaa’s room for two minutes.

“The governor also met her. And saw her condition…These ministers are changing their stand for power and money,” Dinakaran said.

Congress demandsminister’s ousterIANSThiruvananthapuram

The Congress Party in Kerala yesterday asked Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan to sack Transport Minister Thomas Chandy over allegations of land encroach-ment.

“All the defence put up by Chandy about the allegation levelled against him has fallen fl at with the preliminary re-port of the collector indicating that land has been usurped,” state Congress president M M Hassan told reporters.

“The preliminary report re-veals that Chandy has violated the law and has misused his pow-ers and hence he has to go. Oth-erwise the chief minister has to boot him out,” Hassan said.

The district collector had conducted a preliminary probe using satellite images of a re-

sort the minister was building after allegedly encroaching upon land belonging to the Mathur Devaswom in Alap-puzha district.

However, Vijayan has failed to react whenever this ques-tion was put to him by the me-dia in the past two days.

Trouble started for Chandy after Asianet television chan-nel reported the alleged land grab which created a furore in the assembly.

However, Chandy yesterday ruled out resigning overt the over allegations.

He said he had not en-croached on government land and also alleged a conspiracy.

The minister said the district collector fi led a report against him without hearing his argu-ments.

According to reports, Math-ur Devaswom had complained to Alappuzha District Collec-tor T V Anupama.

A senior journalist and his aged mother were found dead in their home in Mohali town in Punjab adjoining Chandigarh yesterday, police said. K J Singh and his mother were attacked with a sharp-edged weapon. Police said that Singh’s mother Gurcharan Kaur, 89, was strangulated. Singh was stabbed in the stomach and his throat was also slit. The bodies were discovered yesterday afternoon when a maid came to the house but no one answered the bell. The house was found ransacked. Singh’s car was also taken away by the assailants. Singh, a bachelor, was Chief News Editor of The Tribune.

‘Feels’, a solo art exhibition featuring the works of lawyer Radhika Gupta was inaugurated by Minister of Culture and Environment Mahesh Sharma on Friday evening in New Delhi. The exhibition is open for public display till today. “It is a great pleasure to be here to witness Radhika’s work. She is better than the best as she is trying to find herself through art. I take this opportunity to extend my good wishes and blessings,” Sharma said at the inauguration function. Gupta said the exhibition was a compilation of her creations over the last 15 years and that it represented her journey and transformation.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) yesterday filed a charge-sheet against Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah and alleged hawala dealer Mohamed Aslam Wani in connection with an ongoing money laundering case. The agency filed the charge-sheet in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma in New Delhi against the two under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Shah and Wani, both in judicial custody now, will attend the hearing on September 27 through video-conferencing. Shah was arrested by the ED on July 25 in a money laundering case of 2005. The ED arrested Wani on August 6.

Chief Election Commissioner A K Jyoti will be in Shimla along with his team for two days from today to review preparations for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections likely to be held in November. He will hold a series of meetings with police and state election off icials. Off icers of various departments will give presentations on election preparedness before the Election Commission team today, an off icial statement by the state government said. A meeting with leaders of various political parties will also be held today. Himachal Pradesh, with 68 assembly seats, is ruled by the Congress while the Bharatiya Janata Party is the main opposition party.

Ghaziabad police yesterday accused the Noida Commercial Co-operative Bank chairman and his son of forgery and cheating. “The complainant Jitendra, a resident of Raheespur, lodged a complaint that Karan Pal Singh and his son Rahul Chaudhary, a realtor, had cheated him,” the police said. Jitendra alleged that the father and son had opened a current account in his name at the Sashtri Nagar branch of the bank and later converted it into an overdraft (OD) account, and withdrew Rs8mn without his knowledge. “The new OD account was opened in the name of Ratan Enclave in which I was named owner of the company,” Jitendra alleged.

Journalist, mother murdered in Mohali

Minister inaugurates art exhibition in Delhi

ED files charge-sheet against Shabir Shah

Poll chief in Shimlaahead of elections

Bank chairman, son accused of fraud

CRIME CULTUREINVESTIGATION POLITICS SCAM

Farmers pick chrysanthemums from a garden in Vaddarahalli village, some 75km north-west of Bengaluru yesterday. The flowers are widely used for decoration and in garlands during festive occasions like weddings, religious ceremonies and also during funeral procession making it a much sought after crop throughout the year.

Blooming business

INDIA


17Gulf TimesSunday, September 24, 2017

INDIA

We don’t believe in vote bank politics: PMIANSVaranasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday the Bharatiya Janata Party did

not believe in vote bank politics as the country was above party poli-tics.

On the second day of his visit to his Varanasi parliamentary constit-uency, Modi told a gathering that he had launched a major war against corruption and the corrupt to ease the life of the common man.

“Governance for us is not about votes or winning elections. The priority is the development of the nation. For us, the country is big-ger than party,” he said, in his ad-dress to farmers in Shahanshahpur on the outskirts of Varanasi.

He said most of the problems faced by the common people in In-dia were rooted in corruption.

“I have launched a war against it and will take it further to ensure

that graft is weeded out from the country.”

Modi urged the people to also ensure that the mission for clean-liness gets their support.

He said it was his good fortune to lay the foundation stone of a public toilet in Shahanshahpur village “because sanitation is also a kind of worship for me.”

“It will rid the poor of my coun-try of various diseases and the economic burden due to those diseases that result from dirty sur-roundings. Hundreds of diseases come knocking at your doorsteps because of lack of hygiene.”

He quoted a Unicef report that each household in India which does not have a toilet spends around Rs50,000 a year on treat-ment for diff erent ailments.

“It is the responsibility of every citizen and every family to keep their surroundings clean so we are able to build clean villages, clean cities and a clean nation,” Modi said.

Accused in school murdercase sent to CBI custodyIANSGurugram

A court yesterday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation custody of

three people arrested in con-nection with the murder of a seven-year-old student at Ryan International School here ear-lier this month.

The court allowed a day’s custody of bus conductor Ashok Kumar, 42, who the po-lice initially claimed murdered Pradhuman Thakur.

However, two others - North India head of Ryan Interna-tional School Francis Thomas and HR head Jeyus Thomas will remain in CBI custody till to-morrow.

The CBI took over the case on Friday and registered an FIR following the order received from the central government.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had rec-ommended a CBI inquiry into the killing of the Class II stu-dent.

Earlier in the day, a CBI team reached Ryan International School for gathering evidence. The student was found dead on September 8 with his throat slit inside the school’s washroom, within an hour after his father dropped him.

The team also interrogated some teachers, gardener Har-pal and bus driver Sourav Ra-ghav.

Police alleged that the school bus conductor killed the student with a knife as he resisted a sexual assault. How-ever, conductor’s parents and two other Ryan school staff ers claimed he was being made a scapegoat.

The Haryana police are also seeking to question school CEO

Ryan Pinto and director Augus-tine F Pinto.

The case snowballed into a major national issue involving the safety and security of chil-dren in schools, with vocifer-ous protests held by parents and activists outside Ryan In-ternational Schools in several states.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday re-fused to stay the arrest of Pinto family. The matter will now be heard tomorrow.

The Pinto family’s antici-patory bail plea was earlier rejected by the Bombay High Court, citing jurisdiction is-sues.

The Gurugram district ad-ministration has taken over the Ryan School management for three months. Authorities or-dered closure of the school till tomorrow, after it reopened on Monday.

Another ‘guru’arrested onrape chargeAgenciesJaipur

A popular guru was arrested yesterday in Rajasthan for allegedly raping a 21-year-

old woman, the second such arrest in the country in recent weeks.

Kaushalendra Prapannach-arya Falahari Maharaja, 70, was arrested for assaulting the wom-an, a law-student, at his hermit-age in Alwar in August, police spokesman Paras Jain said.

The self-proclaimed Hindu holy man checked into a private hospital complaining of “high-blood pressure” after the woman reported him to the police.

A medical examination con-ducted at a government hospital found him to be in good health, police said.

“Our initial investigation has found there is basis to the rape charges against him. We have ar-rested him and will question him in the case,” Jain said.

Called Falahari Baba, or the one who consumes only fruits, the “godman” has many devo-tees in India and abroad and has been seen in photographs with Indian political leaders and ce-lebrities in the past.

He could face 10 years in pris-on if found guilty by court.

Media reports said the victim was warned by the guru against telling anyone about the assault but she broke her silence after another high-profi le guru, Gur-meet Ram Rahim Singh, was sen-tenced to 20 years in prison last month for raping two disciples.

Meanwhile, Haryana Direc-tor General of Police (DGP) B S Sandhu said an international alert has been sounded for three senior members of Gurmeet’s Dera Sacha Sauda sect - his adopted daugher Honeypreet, Pawan Insan and Aditya Insan.

The Haryana police have booked all three on charges of sedition, inciting violence and criminal conspiracy.

The DGP said there was no pressure on the police and the investigation into the matter is being done independently.

“The private properties of Hon-eypreet, Pawan Insan and Aditya Insan would be seized,” he said.

Sandhu said investigations into the August 25 violence that took place after the Dera chief was jailed were heading in the right direction.

“Arrests are being made on the basis of evidence. As many as 1,100 people have so far been arrested, including 44 from Sir-sa, whose involvement was con-fi rmed,” the DGP said.

He said the police have re-leased a list of 43 people who were involved in the violence that took place in Panchkula.

“Search operation is under way to nab the three most wanted. In-ternational alert has been issued on them and teams are conduct-ing raids to nab them,” he said.

There were reports that Hon-eypreet could have escaped to Nepal and could try to fl ee to another country. Aditya Insan, chief spokesman of the Dera and a close aide of Gurmeet, has been on the run since August 25.

Asked why Honeypreet was not arrested earlier as she had accompanied Gurmeet to Pan-chkula and later to the Rohtak jail, the DGP said: “Until August 25, no case was registered against Honeypreet. But after the ar-rest of Surender Dhiman, Hon-eypreet was found to be accused of provoking violence. Therefore, a case was registered against her and search was on to nab her.”

Sandhu said the police had in-formation that after the violence in Panchkula, Honeypreet came to the Dera headquarters in Sirsa. He said as per the Punjab and Hary-ana High Court orders, a search operation was carried out in the Dera headquarters campus under supervision of the court commis-sioner who would submit his re-port to the court on September 27. One copy of the report would be given to the Haryana government.

“Further action will be taken according to the court orders,” he added. Referring to the rev-elations of Honeypreet’s ex-husband Vishwas Gupta on the relationship between her and the Dera chief, the DGP said Gupta had met the Panchkula police commissioner, but he had not given any complaint in writing. If any written complaint is received, the police would include it in the investigations, the DGP said.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani congratulates a student as Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan look on during the sixth annual convocation of Pandit Dindayal Petroleum University in Gandhinagar yesterday. Ambani is the chairman of the university’s governing board.

Ambani attends convocation

Congress targets govtover visit of Dawood wifeIANSNew Delhi

The Congress Party yes-terday said Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s

government should explain how fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s wife managed to visit Mumbai last year undetected.

The issue raises questions about the credibility of the central and Maharashtra governments as well as the state and central se-curity agencies, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

“Wife of Ibrahim, Mehajabin Shaikh came to meet her father in 2016 in Mumbai and the Modi government kept on sleeping,” Surjewala said in a video message.

His remarks came a day af-ter Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar, the

brother of Ibrahim, told inves-tigators that Mehjabin visited Mumbai sometime in 2016 to meet her father Salim Kashmiri before quietly departing.

Kaskar was arrested last week for his alleged role in an extor-tion racket.

“Indian National Congress demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Min-ister Rajnath Singh apprise the nation about the national secu-rity failure and circumstances in which wife of a dreaded terror-ist entered and left India with complete ease, without being questioned or detained,” Sur-jewala said.

“Let the PM state as to what responsibility has been fi xed and what action would be tak-en,” he added.

Targeting the investigative

agencies of the government, Surjewala questioned: “What was the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) doing? What was the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) doing?”

Slamming the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party (BJP) government, the Congress leader said: “Wife of a terrorist, who is wanted in many terror cases arrives in In-dia to meet her father and then goes back.”

“Why she was not arrest-ed? Why no action was taken against her?”

Surjewala also said that the name of various BJP leaders had been linked to Ibrahim.

“It is also intriguing as to how names of various BJP lead-ers have cropped up whenever there were questions about links to Dawood Ibrahim. Ma-

harashtra BJP minister Eknath Khadse had to resign when there were allegations of his telephonic conversations with Dawood Ibrahim,” he said.

“The entire country wit-nessed when several BJP minis-ters and leaders of the Devendra Fadnavis government recently attended a wedding of Dawood Ibrahim’s relatives,” he added.

Kaskar was arrested early on Tuesday by a team of the Thane Anti-Extortion Cell headed by former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma.

Congress Rajya Sabha leader Rajiv Shukla termed the matter as very serious and said it raises questions about the credibility of the central and state govern-ments as well as the central in-vestigative agencies.

“...What was Mumbai Police

doing? What were the central and Maharashtra government doing? What were the other agencies doing,” he asked.

“It is a very serious issue. It is like ‘diya tale andhera’ (darkness under a lamp - or something taking place right under your nose). The state government, Mumbai police and all the cen-tral agencies should answer how it happened as it raises questions on their credibility,” he added.

However, the Thane police on Friday said Mehajabin did not visit India.

“Dawood’s wife did not come to India. She had visited Du-bai last year using a Pakistani passport to meet Iqbal Kaskar’s family (wife and children). It is then that Iqbal had spoken to Mehjabeen over the phone,” the police said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering at Shahanshahpur in Varanasi yesterday.

Activist claims getting threat call over case against BJP leaderIANSMumbai

Activist and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Anjali Damania yesterday

claimed to have received death threats in a call made from a landline number in Karachi.

“At 12.33am, I got a threatening call asking me to withdraw all cas-es against (former Bharatiya Jana-ta Party minister) Eknath Khadse,” Damania said in a statement.

She said the person told her: “Tune jeena haram kar rakha hai

sabka. Teri family hai na... (You have made life miserable for eve-rybody. You also have a family).”

Damania said the number (starting with codes +92 21) was from a landline in Karachi.

She spoke with top offi cials and lodged a complaint with the Vakola police station in San-tacruz east yesterday morning.

“Informed Chief Minister De-vendra Fadnavis and Joint Com-missioner of Police (Crime) is investigating the matter,” she tweeted later.

Khadse, the most senior BJP leader in Maharashtra, resigned

as the revenue minister in June 2014 after his name cropped up in a dubious land deal in Pune.

Subsequently, Damania had also accused Khadse of allegedly favouring certain contractors in the multi-million rupee irriga-tion scam which is under investi-gation. Earlier in September, the Vakola police had booked Khadse for allegedly making “obscene’ remarks” against Damania in a speech at a public function.

Damania at the time alleged that Khadse passed objection-able comment about her. She was informed about the speech by an

associate of her in Jalgaon. Fol-lowing this, the activist demand-ed that police fi le a case against the BJP leader and even camped at the Vakola police station.

The AAP has strongly con-demned the incident and de-manded that since the matter concerns a number said to be-long to a fugitive don like Da-wood Ibrahim, the investigation must be handed over to special-ised agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) or the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said: “This

kind of investigation is complete-ly inadequate and the investiga-tion must be handed over to spe-cialised agencies like the RA&W or IB as this number is said to be-long to Dawood Ibrahim.”

She pointed out that an ethical hacker Maneesh Bhangale had said in the past that the number belongs to Dawood’s wife Me-hajabeen Shaikh and is regis-tered in Karachi.

However, Bhangale was later arrested for making false claims and the Cyber Police are still probing him in the matter while Khadse was given a clean chit.

“This call to Anjali Damania is on Eknath Khadse’s behalf from Dawood’s residence. What more proof is required that Khadse and Dawood work together? What is more important is that the state has totally failed to pro-vide safety to activists and jour-nalists and we fear for the safety of Anjali Damania and her fam-ily,” Menon said.

She demanded that the probe should be handed over to a na-tional agency which cannot be infl uenced by Khadse the way in which the state agencies were infl uenced in the past.

Damania: claims getting threatening call

LATIN AMERICA


Quake hits traumatised Mexico CityAFPMexico City

A new quake yesterday sowed panic in Mexico City, causing no casual-

ties but suspending rescue op-erations to free survivors from the earlier, more powerful earth-quake this week that devastated parts of the capital.

The seismic disturbance, with a magnitude of 6.2, was smaller and farther to the south than the 7.1-magnitude one that struck on Tuesday, killing nearly 300 peo-ple and toppling 39 buildings in the capital.

But as an alarm sounded yes-terday, residents raced out into the street, some barefoot, some carrying children.

Trauma from the previous quake was evident.

“Oh God, have mercy,” ex-claimed Teresa Martinez, 74, who had run out in to the street for safety.

She and other woman stood around in tears.

“This time we didn’t feel the ground move...maybe since the last one we’re getting used to them,” said Pablo Martinez, who had run out of his central apart-ment block with his 6-year-old daughter in his arms.

The new tremor sparked con-cern it could have caused heavy rubble on top of survivors await-ing rescue in the capital to shift — posing a danger both to those trapped and to rescuers.

Mexican and foreign rescue crews rapidly evacuated three sites in the capital where they had been working.

At one site, where possibly dozens of people were under the debris, crews hesitated to go back in, discussing the added risk.

The US Geological Survey ini-tially registered it at 6.2 magni-tude, but later lowered it to a 6.1.

The quake occurring at 12.53GMT with an epicenter 18km southeast of the city of

Matias Romero, in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The head of Mexico’s civil protection service, Luis Felipe Puente, tweeted that there were no casualties immediately re-ported, adding: “We are continu-ing to monitor.”

A bridge near the town of Ju-chitan collapsed, however, with television images showing it sev-ered and buckled.

In Mexico City, anxious fami-lies have been carrying out vigils at the fl attened sites where their relatives were when Tuesday’s quake hit.

They have been urging ex-hausted emergency workers to keep trying to reach them, de-spite the 72-hour window for likely survival to have closed.

“A lot of time has passed (since Tuesday’s quake). But we won’t give up,” the civil protection service’s Puente said.

“Time has gotten the best of us. There are structures that are very complicated to access. But

we’re going to keep fi ghting for the families,” he told TV network Televisa.

But psychologists dispatched to the scene were already pre-paring to help relatives deal with tragic news.

“The families are still hopeful, but we psychologists are starting to prepare ourselves to counsel them in the context of mourn-ing,” said Penelope Exzacarias, who was on standby at a col-lapsed offi ce building in Mexico City’s trendy Roma neighbor-hood.

Some 70 people were at work in

the building when the 7.1-magni-tude earthquake struck.

Only 28 have made it out alive so far — all in the fi rst hours.

Many Mexicans remember “miracle” rescues a week after a 1985 quake that killed more than 10,000 people in the capital, spurring hopes that people might yet be pulled out alive.

In all likelihood, however, the death toll will rise above the lat-est fi gure of 295.

Mexico City recorded the highest number of fatalities at 157, with more bodies certain to be found.

The rest of the deaths occurred in the states of Morelos, Mexico, Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

The toll includes eight foreign-ers: four Taiwanese, a Korean, a Spaniard, a Panamanian and an Argentine, authorities said.

Several countries, including the United States, Israel, Japan, Panama and EU states have sent crews to help the rescue eff ort.

At the building in the Roma district, Jose Gutierrez, father of one of those trapped, and also a civil engineer, warned that “the structure is at risk of total col-lapse.”

Yesterday’s new quake esca-lated those fears.

In the south of Mexico City, at a fl attened school where 19 chil-dren died, white wreaths lay out, testimony to the mourning of relatives and neighbors.

Families were starting to hold funerals.

One of the fi rst was that of Gabriel Morales and Agueda Mendoza, a married couple found locked in embrace under the rub-ble along with their dog Quino.

“I remember them as such a united, loving couple,” said Juan Carlos Williams, their nephew.

Mexican and international rescue teams search for survivors in a collapsed building in the Roma neighbourhood of Mexico City.

Dam fails in Puerto Rico, 70,000 told to evacuateAFPSan Juan

Some 70,000 people have been or-dered to evacuate their homes after a rain-swollen dam in Puerto Rico

failed in the latest disaster caused by Hur-ricane Maria, which was yesterday ex-pected to head into open waters.

With the storm death toll standing at 33 across the Caribbean, Puerto Rico’s Na-tional Weather Service issued a fl ash fl ood warning for people living along the Gua-jataca River in the northwest of the island, saying an earthen dam there was in danger of collapsing.

“All Areas surrounding the Guajataca River should evacuate NOW. Their lives are in DANGER!,” the NWS tweeted on Friday night, saying fl ooding had already begun downstream.

Governor Ricardo Rossello also issued an order for 70,000 people living in the area to fl ee.

Public safety chief Hector Pesquera said a drain which normally releases water from the dam in a controlled fashion had stopped working, the El Vocero daily re-ported yesterday.

Footage from WeatherNation TV showed water gushing down a ramp-style conduit, washing away huge chunks of soil from the grassy green slopes of the dam.

Yesterday morning, the NWS extended the warning to the western Quebradillas and eastern Isabela areas, home to another 8,000 people.

Puerto Rico was already battling dan-gerous fl oods after Hurricane Maria hit

early Wednesday, devastating the Carib-bean island.

Rossello has called Maria the most dev-astating storm in a century after it de-stroyed the US territory’s electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

So far, a preliminary assessment said 13 people had died as a result of the storm, he told CNN.

“Right now our eff orts are to make sure we have everybody safe, that we can res-cue people. Our eff orts have already pro-duced almost 700 rescues so we’re clearly focused on that.”

In its latest update at 0900 GMT, the US National Hurricane Center said Maria was tilting toward the western Atlantic and away from the Bahamas, where storm warnings were discontinued.

It was a welcome reprieve for the ar-chipelago that had already been badly battered by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.

So far, at least 33 people have been con-fi rmed dead as a result of Hurricane Maria, including 15 in Dominica, three in Haiti and two in Guadeloupe.

After speaking with Puerto Rico’s gov-ernor on Thursday night, US President Donald Trump promised to speed up relief eff orts.

Of the 13 victims, eight died in the northern town of Toa Baja, one of the worst-hit areas which was ravaged by winds of more than 200kph and then hit by fl ooding when the island’s largest river, La Plata, burst its banks.

Many residents did not evacuate on time, while others say they never heard the warning sirens.

Others could be seen returning home after several days away to begin the ardu-ous process of clearing their homes of the heavy mud left by the fl oodwaters in order to start the process of rebuilding.

Marisol Rosario, a 55-year-old house-wife who fl ed with her husband, said the violent winds forced her to fl ee without taking their dog.

“I thought I would fi nd him dead, but he managed to climb on top of the furniture and survive,” she said tearfully.

Across the island, streets were littered with debris from the storm, with toppled trees, street signs and power cables strewn everywhere.

The torrential rain also turned some roads into muddy brown rivers, impass-able to all but the largest of vehicles.

Puerto Rico’s electricity network has been crippled by the storm and engineers say it could take months for power to be fully restored.

The local electricity board has pledged to prioritize restoring power to hospitals, wa-ter treatment plants and pumping stations.

US federal emergency chief Brock Long said ships carrying millions of meals and bottles of water were trying to dock as the island’s ports are slowly reopened.

After devastating Puerto Rico, the storm headed west toward the Dominican Repub-lic where it damaged nearly 5,000 homes, forcing the evacuation of more than 18,000 people, the president’s offi ce said.

By yesterday morning, Maria had been downgraded to a Category Three hur-ricane with winds of 150kph which was churning in the sea some 500km east of the central Bahamas.

Locals wade through a flooded street with a donkey in Catano municipality, southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Army deploys in Rio after favela shootoutAFPRio de Janeiro

Brazilian soldiers deployed by armored vehicle, truck and helicopter on Friday to re-

inforce police after heavily armed drug traffi ckers rampaged through the country’s biggest favela, spray-ing bullets and terrifying locals.

Intense exchanges of gunfi re between police and criminals be-gan early morning inside the Roc-inha favela, where approximately 70,000 people live in a teeming cluster of small houses on hillsides overlooking wealthy western Rio.

Amateur footage broadcast on Globo television showed men with a variety of rifl es and pistols fi r-ing volley after volley in a densely built-up area.

A bus was set ablaze near a major road tunnel underneath the favela, and the main highway was tempo-rarily shut down by police, causing traffi c snarls on one of the city’s main east-west arteries.

Gunshots could be heard from inside Rocinha and black smoke rose from the upper section.

As the situation spun out of con-trol, Defense Minister Raul Jung-mann agreed to pleas from civilian authorities for help, ordering 950 troops onto the streets.

Soldiers arrived soon after in convoys of trucks guarded by ar-mored personnel carriers. Globo also showed troops abseiling from a helicopter on a hilltop.

“We will help to secure the re-gion, control traffi c and control airspace, with the goal of freeing up police units to do more specifi -cally police work,” General Mauro Sinott told journalists.

Inside Rocinha, AFP journalists saw elite police offi cers in camou-fl age moving through the narrow streets.

People have been scared since last week,” said James, a 38-year-old resident who did not want to be identifi ed.

“You hurry home or you wait for friends and go directly to your house. No one hangs around in the streets. It’s pretty terrifying there.”

Violence is common in fave-las — home to almost a quarter of Rio’s population — with drug gangs controlling much of the territory and police forced to remain on per-manent alert.

However, the situation spun dramatically out of control in Roc-inha last Sunday when members of a narco gang poured into the favela to try to push out rivals.

Antonio Ricardo Lima Nunes, the local police chief, told AFP “it’s a war between two bandits.”

“Two former allies started this war to try and recover a monopoly over the drug trade,” he added.

Footage taken by residents of groups of men with rifl es moving unimpeded through the streets in quasi-military fashion shocked Rio residents.

That dismay deepened when it was revealed that police had hid-

den themselves in their station and Rio state Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao said he’d ordered the secu-rity forces not to intervene.

Pezao had said Wednesday he did not want to risk a spillover of the violence as tens of thousands of people were using the highway below the favela to reach the Rock in Rio music festival.

The festival continued through the weekend.

Pezao asked the federal gov-ernment for urgent help from the army in Rocinha and elsewhere in Rio, where security has declined steadily since last year’s Olympic Games.

Thousands of troops were de-ployed to the state in July.

The rising crime rate and in-creasing inability of the security forces to reestablish control is also linked to Rio state’s near bank-ruptcy.

A steep fall in oil prices, national recession and runaway corruption have created a perfect economic storm in the state, contributing to a budget hole that leaves pub-lic employees, including police, sometimes waiting months for salaries.

On Wednesday, former governor Sergio Cabral was sentenced to 45 years in prison for money launder-ing and leading a criminal organi-zation.

Cabral was in offi ce during much of the runup to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and Rio’s hosting of the 2016 Olympics.

Soldiers take up a position during a operation in Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro.

PAKISTAN19


Peshawar farmers losing land to property boomIn the last decade since the

motorway surfaced along Hargoni village, where Noor

Rehman grew old cultivating land, unplanned development has crept into the lives of farm-ers like him in ways they had not foreseen.

Slowly but surely, it has robbed them of their livelihood.

Twenty years ago, Hargoni located in the eastern sub-urbs of Peshawar was all green fi elds and orchards. Acres of crops, vegetables and fruits were peppered with sparse settlements, where six to 10 families, original inhabitants of Hargoni, lived.

Now, the village is all concrete structures, mostly residential quarters with mere patches of land, where only clover is grown and sold as fodder. Once around 30 farmers like Noor Rehman worked in the land but now, there are only two.

“As more and more settle-ments have been built on ag-ricultural land, farmers have left the village,” said Rehman, 70, who has been a farmer al-most all his life. Rehman who is tenant said that Khans (land-lords) are selling their lands to outsiders migrated from tribal area and other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Research conducted by a teacher of University of Pesha-war shows that total agriculture land in Hargoni village was 115

hectares in 1991 and its built up area was six hectares. In 2009 the built up area in the village increased to 39 hectares.

A large-size plot opposite Hargoni measuring 100 acre is being turned into housing colo-ny. Concrete structures are be-ing raised on farm lands on both sides of the Grand Trunk Road and beyond.

Peshawar is losing fer-tile lands on its southeastern suburbs that experts call the ‘food basket’. The construction boom is swallowing agriculture lands in the adjacent districts of Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan, too.

KP is already defi cit in food production especially wheat. The development statistics of KP-2016, a document of the

Bureau of Statistics Planning and Development, said the province’s total wheat produc-tion in 2014-15 was 1,155 tonnes against its total requirement of 3,056 tonnes, showing 1,901 tonnes of shortfall.

Naveed Mukhtar, direc-tor, agriculture, said the gov-ernment had no legal tool to stop conversion of farm lands for housing and commercial activities.

He said the directorate and its parent department were helpless to protect diminishing agriculture lands.

“The directorate could not protect its own assets,” said Mukhtar while referring to the recent allotment of 25 acres of land at the Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab Farm for the

establishment of the Peshawar expo centre.

The offi cial records show that the total agriculture land in Pe-shawar district was 109,883 acres in 2001-02, which shrank to 106,576 acres in 2013-14. The successive government could not frame law to restrict use of agriculture land for other purposes.

Attaur Rehman, who teaches geography at the University of Peshawar and urban and re-gional planning in the Universi-ty of Engineering and Technol-ogy, Peshawar, said farmlands in Peshawar and its adjacent districts were under pressure due to the rapid and unplanned urbanisation.

He said farmlands further diminished due to the massive

migration from tribal areas and other districts of the province and the stay of Afghan refugees.

“Twenty years ago, 80% of the total territory of Peshawar district was used for agricul-ture purpose. Currently, 700 hectares are required for con-struction of houses in Peshawar every year,” he said.

Rehman said with the ar-rival of Afghan refugees in early 1980s Peshawar started ex-panding horizontally and now the trend shifted to vertical structure because of increasing land cost.

Recently, building control authorities have been set up in four municipal towns of the city, but miserably failed to check mushroom growth of housing schemes.

InternewsPeshawar

Kulsoom discharged after third surgery

The wife of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Kulsoom Nawaz, was dis-

charged from a London hospital after her third surgery yesterday.

The announcement was made in a tweet from her daughter Maryam Nawaz’s verifi ed Twit-ter account (@MaryamNSharif): “Just brought Ami home. She is Alhamdolillah recovering well after her 3rd surgery. Jazak’Allah for your valuable prayers.”

She spent two nights in the hospital after her surgery, in-cluding one night in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to an-other tweet from Maryam: “Ami just came out of ICU. She was operated upon yesterday. Recov-ering Alhamdolillah. Jazak’Allah for your valuable prayers.”

Kulsoom was admitted in the hospital on Wednesday.

Maryam tweeted a short video clip on the day and said: “Arrived at the hospital for Ami’s 3rd sur-gery. Request for prayers.”

Kulsoom recently won the NA-120 by-poll and is undergo-ing treatment for cancer in the United Kingdom.

InternewsKarachi

Petrol sales hit all-time high

Petrol sales hit a record high of 681,938 tonnes in Au-gust, according to an offi -

cial of the Oil Companies Advi-sory Council.

Petrol sales were 607,411 tonnes in May, a record that was broken in July when people bought 615,178 tonnes of fuel.

Out of total sales recorded last month, the share of local petrol was 175,819 tonnes or 25.8%. The rest consisted of imported fuel as well pre-existing stocks, the of-fi cial said.

Multiple factors contributed to surging demand for petrol, including robust growth in the sales of two-wheelers and lo-cally assembled vehicles as well as rising imports of used cars of mostly 660cc.

Moreover, the three-day clo-sure of CNG stations every week in Sindh led a number of motorists to switch over to motor gasoline.

In contrast, CNG stations in Punjab have not observed weekly closures for the last one year due to the arrival of imported LNG.

The CNG price went up over Rs10 per kg December 2016 on-wards in Sindh after its deregu-lation by the government. CNG station operators believe that their fuel still costs 28pc less than petrol.

Similarly, an increasing number of vehicles are plying the roads as part of Uber and Car-eem, private taxi services. These air-conditioned cars usually run on petrol.

A taxi driver said that at least fi ve to six vehicles out of every 10 cars that are currently on roads are Uber/Careem taxis. Petrol demand may increase further as more cab companies are coming along.

Sales of locally produced vehi-cles in July-August were 35,002 units, up 28pc from 27,317 units a year ago. Car sales rose 2.5% to 185,781 units in 2016-17.

Bike sales have also been showing positive growth of late. Japanese assembler Honda sold 187,249 units in July-August compared to 136,476 a year ago, an increase of 37.2%. Similar-ly, sales of Chinese assembler United Auto Motorcycles swelled 35.5% to 67,023 units over the same period.

Sales of Honda and United motorcycles in 2016-17 stood at 960,105 units and 326,298 units, respectively.

Total sales of bikes and three-wheelers surged more than one-fi fth to 1.63mn units in 2016-17 from 1.35m units a year ago.

InternewsKarachi

100,000 youth to get vocational training

The National Voca-tional and Technical Training Commission

(NAVTTC) will impart tech-nical and vocational training to 100,000 youths both male and female in 116 trades next month under the fourth phase of the Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development Programme (PMYSDP).

We will continue striving to enhance the quality of training and bring it on par with in-ternational standards so that our youth is well equipped and easily secure jobs both at home and abroad.

This was said by NAVTTC executive director Zulfi qar Ahmad Cheema while ad-dressing a conference at-tended by senior offi cials of the commission from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.

The NAVTTC is the apex body at the national level to regulate, facilitate and provide policy direction in Vocational and technical training.

During the session, status

of the training under PMYS-DP was thoroughly evaluated and further reforms were dis-cussed to make the existing setup more transparent, ef-fective and meaningful in the fourth phase.

Zulfi qar Cheema said the industrial linkages should be strengthened so that our youth could easily get jobs upon completion of their training.

He said that in the next phase, students will be pro-vided with on-the-job train-ing at various industries so that they get hands on experience.

“Training a hundred thou-sand young boys and girls will in fact make a hundred thou-sand families fi nancially stable which will contribute in the economic development of the country,” he added.

He asked the NAVTTC of-fi cers to visit the training institutes to assess the qual-ity of training and initiate an awareness campaign to attract young boys and girls towards skill sector. He said Batch-01 of Phase-IV would commence on October 25.

InternewsIslamabad

Villagers shout anti-Indian slogans following cross-border shelling by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) at Dani Slariya village along the Sialkot Working Boundary in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Friday. Six people were killed and over two dozen wounded in firing by Indian troops, in the latest cross-border violence between the neighbours.

Protest against cross-border shelling

Govt collecting less, paying more to pensioners: offi cial

The contributions being received by the Employ-ees’ Old-Age Benefi ts

Institution (EOBI) are far less than the amount being handed out in pension payments an-nually, said EOBI chairman Khaqan Murtaza yesterday.

Addressing a meeting pre-sided over by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistani and Hu-man Resource Development Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashidi, Mur-taza said 40,000 new pensioners are added annually.

Sharing details of the fi nan-cial defi cit faced by EOBI year after year, he said that in 2014-15, EOBI collected Rs13.6bn contribution, but disbursed Rs16.3bn amongst registered pensioners. In 2015-16, it re-ceived Rs15.3bn while dis-bursements were Rs22.8bn.

The EOBI chairman briefed the federal minister that the institution has established CNIC-based data for in-sured persons throughout the country. In case of change in employment, his/her con-tribution may be deposited in the CNIC-based EOBI ac-count accordingly, he added.

On the occasion, Rashidi directed the EOBI chairman to approach the State Bank governor for connecting Bank Alfalah ATM cards with 1LINK. He said this will allow pensioners to receive their pension payments without deduction of Rs17 for trans-actions from banks other than Bank Alfalah.

The minister also directed the EOBI to launch a coun-trywide national awareness campaign for workers be-longing to the private sector so that deserving employees are not deprived of their fun-damental right of pension.

InternewsKarachi

Film industry supports MahiraIANS

Islamabad

Popular actors like Ali Zafar, Humaima Malick, Mawra and Urwa Hocane have lent support to actress Mahira Khan, who was trolled over social media over a leaked photograph where she can be seen smoking.In the image that surfaced online, Mahira can be seen smoking alongside Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor. Soon after the photograph went viral over social media, a lot of people started slamming Mahira for smoking and wearing a short dress.However actors from the

Pakistani film industry took to Twitter to extend support to Mahira and slam her haters.“Every woman has the right to make her own choices in life (as long as she’s not hurting anyone else) just like we men do. How we react defines our own character. Choose wisely, for we shall be judged,” Ali said in a handwritten note while tagging Mahira.Humaima tweeted: “Ok. So now you can’t date anyone, can’t smoke, can’t go out, can’t wear what you want to just because you are a celebrity. More power to all artist and girl. Mahira Khan live your life your way.”Mahira, who made her Bollywood debut with Raees earlier this year that had superstar Shah Rukh

Khan in the lead role, also found support from Mawra and Urwa among others.“Strength your way! Mahira Khan,” Mawra posted on Twitter.Urwa wrote: “Stay stronger Mahira Khan! Love and power your way.”Actor Osman Khalid Butt shared a photograph of himself smoking along with a friend and wrote: “... your double standards.”Singer Momina Mustehsan also came out in support of Mahira and tweeted: “Can we please give Mahira Khan a break?! Why are we so quick to judge and attack?! Especially if it’s a woman in question. It’s her life!”

Gilgit-Baltistan auctions permits for trophy hunting

The Gilgit-Baltistan wildlife de-partment yesterday auctioned permits for the hunting of 113

rare species under the trophy hunting programme 2017-18, with the hunting of endangered astor markhor fetching the highest licence fee of $100,000 in the history of trophy hunting.

Foreign and local hunters participat-ed in the bidding for the licences which was held at the GB wildlife depart-ment’s head offi ce, where GB Minister for Wildlife, Forest and Environment Imran Wakeel and wildlife offi cials were present.

In the bidding, licences for hunting four Astor markhors, 14 blue sheep and 95 ibex were awarded.

Hunting permits for four Astor markhors were auctioned for $68,000 to $100,000, 14 blue sheep for $8,000 to $10,000 and 95 ibex for $3,600.

The hunting season in the region be-gins in November and ends in April.

According to offi cials, the trophy hunting quota was created on the basis of annual surveys conducted by wildlife experts.

Last year, licence for hunting Astor markhor was auctioned for $55,700.

The offi cials said the previous trophy hunting programme earned $248,000.

Eighty per cent of the money re-ceived from the trophy hunting pro-

gramme goes to local communities who spend it on education, health and other development projects.

The remaining 20% money is depos-ited in the government exchequer.

GB is rich with fl ora and fauna because of its varied climatic conditions and ecosystem. The region is home to many rare species, such as Marco Polo sheep, ibex, markhor, urial, blue sheep, lynx, snow leopard, leopard cat, brown and black bears, wolf, fox, marmote, chakor and ram chakor and golden eagle.

However, some of these rare spe-cies are facing the threat of extinction due to illegal hunting, negligence of the wildlife department and the climate change related issues.

According to Karim, who has been

associated with the fi eld of wildlife for 35 years and is a member of the com-munity conservative wildlife commit-tee in Passu village of upper Hunza, the population of protected animals is shrinking rapidly in the region.

He says that the major cause of the endangered animals’ shrinking popu-lation is illegal hunting for which he blames negligence of the wildlife de-partment’s offi cials.

Foreign tourists and infl uential peo-ple from across the country visit the region for hunting every year, he says, adding that they get hunting permits from the wildlife department but al-ways violate hunting rules.

Besides, he adds, there is a large-scale illegal hunting in the region.

He says that there was a report of the hunting of a female Marco Polo sheep last year which is not allowed accord-ing to rules.

InternewsGilgit

The endangered astor markhor fetches the highest licence fee trophy hunting auction.

PHILIPPINES


Duterte reveals politicians’ funding for Marawi siegeBy Catherine S ValenteManila Times

President Rodrigo Duterte has released a “matrix” of drug lords and politi-

cians who allegedly funded the deadly siege in Marawi City, which entered its fourth month yesterday.

Duterte, during a dinner with reporters in Davao City late Fri-day, showed a diagram labeled “LDS (Lanao del Sur) Drug Trade Linked Diagram.” He fi rst revealed it on Thursday during his fi fth visit to Marawi City.

The president said the matrix was a result of intelligence work in the last three months, when government troops were able to gain access to Marawi.

“That’s for public consump-tion already. The details on how they operated the drug cam-paign in Marawi and the en-tire of Mindanao…I told them that we should make it public already, it’s no use keeping it a secret, for what? We cannot consume it. That would explain really the many killings here,” Duterte told reporters.

“There they discovered that the Maute was really preparing for a long haul. Until now, they have never run out of ordnance, explosives, ammunitions, and all. I really do not know the ex-tent now of the contamination,” he added.

Duterte claimed the purport-ed IS chief in Southeast Asia, Isnilon Hapilon, and the Maute brothers who led the insurgency in Marawi City were far from “being the main protagonists.”

“On the list, it’s really those who are in the government,” the president said.

However, Duterte said the government did not yet know how much of the alleged drug money was used to fund ter-

rorist activities. “How come that Marawi until now is still fi ghting? Let me ask you a ques-tion. We’re in the third month. How come the Maute brothers and the terrorists were able to stockpile so much ordnance and bullets and ammunition and IED? Where did they get that?” he asked.

“And three months, I said, there were still fi ghting. I don’t know if there’s fi ghting going on. But that is one. And we were looking for the source of the money. And I will just point out to you,” he added.

Duterte then claimed that slain Ozamiz City Mayor Rey-naldo Parojinog was one of

those who poured cash on the extremists that occupied Ma-rawi.

Some local offi cials in Cen-tral Mindanao are also fi nancing terrorists, he said, but did not elaborate.

The single-page matrix has a column on each side. The left names “drug lords,” who include a number of incum-bent local executives, the right names “drug dealers,” and the centre contains circles within which are the names of “nar-co-politicians” and other ma-jor players. Arrows show their supposed connections to each other.

Among those mentioned in

the centre is the “Parojinog Drug Trade (Ozamiz City),” an obvious reference to the net-work allegedly run by the late Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog.

Other politicians whose names appear on the matrix are Mayors Noron Dadayan of Buadiposo Buntong and Hadji Jamal Abdusalam of Mulondo, and Vice Mayor Noridin Adiong of Ditsaan Ramain, all in Lanao del Sur. They are in the “drug lords” column.

Other names in the centre are former Marawi mayors Fa-had “Pre” Salic and Solitario Omar Ali, who were both ar-rested soon after the Marawi crisis erupted on May 23, as

well as Solitario’s son Arafat, the incumbent vice mayor. The president further tagged at least 19 “drug dealers,” including a councilor and several village ex-ecutives.

“All drug trade in LDS pass to former mayor Pre and Solitario (through) barangay chairman Aliodin, and Vice Mayor Arafat and brothers Samer and Walid, respectively,” the drug matrix read. “Pre and Solitario au-thored the kidnapping and liq-uidation of all drug lords… Ar-rows indicate drug trade control relationship,” it added.

On the night of the National Day of Protest on September 21, Duterte admitted to ordering

the wiretapping of some gov-ernment offi cials allegedly in-volved in the illegal drug trade.

“Whoever he was talking to, I was listening to him. Don’t ask me how I, andwhat kind of listening device I had. It was a whisper from God I was listen-ing to,” he said, referring to the alleged involvement of Paro-jinog and Iloilo Mayor Jed Ma-bilog in illegal drugs.

Asked if what Duterte was doing was within legal bounds, Palace spokesman Ernesto Abella said the president always adhered to the law.

“I’m sure that being a law-yer, he was operating within the bounds of legality,” Abella said on Friday.

On May 23, the president placed the entire Mindanao under military rule after the Islamic State-linked Maute ter-rorist overran Marawi City.

After the declaration reached the 60-day limit, Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend martial rule in the strife-torn region until the year-end.

Duterte earlier admitted there was a failure of intelligence in the course of the bloody stand-off . He likewise blamed Ma-ranaos who were supposedly “in cahoots” with the extremists.

The president has also re-peatedly said that drug money fuelled the insurrection in Ma-rawi.

In July, government forces discovered 11 kilograms of high-grade methamphetamine or shabu during clearing opera-tions in Marawi.

A few days later, authorities seized two kilos of shabu worth P10mn in the house of former Marawi mayor Omar Solitario Ali.A total of 673 terrorists, 47 civilians and 149 government troopers have died since the clashes started, according to latest offi cial data.

Fried chicken to crayfi sh wraps: Jollibee eyes deals to growReuters Manila/Singapore

Filipino billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong, who has built Jollibee Foods Corp into

a near-4,000 store purveyor of sweet-style spaghetti, burg-ers and fried chicken, is looking to buy existing brands in ma-ture markets to help fuel future growth.

Dominant at home, where Jollibee has 1,000 eponymous stores welcoming diners with its smiling bee logo, Tan now wants to reshape the $5bn group as a global fast-food company, bankers and fund managers say.

Primary targets include the United States and China, where it already has joint ventures, in-cluding Dunkin’ Donuts.

Tan, 64, said at a company event in July that half of Jol-libee’s total sales would come from overseas stores in the next fi ve years.

Currently, foreign stores in-cluding joint ventures account for 30% of sales.

This week, people famil-iar with the matter said Jol-libee was considering bidding for Pret A Manger, a UK-based

chain selling organic coff ee and wholesome sandwiches to offi ce workers. It is still working out a valuation and has not yet decid-ed to bid, the people said.

“Jollibee has to keep chasing growth. They own pretty much

every large chain in their home market,” said a regional banker who has dealt with the compa-ny. “They are defi nitely not shy when it comes to looking at ma-ture markets.”

Ysmael Baysa, Jollibee’s chief

fi nance offi cer, told Reuters this week that buying new business-es “has always been part of our growth strategy.”

Tan started out with two ice cream parlours in the 1970s, and expanded Jollibee rapidly into

a fast food chain dubbed “the McDonald’s of the Philippines”. Forbes ranks him as the country’s eighth-wealthiest man.

“They see where they could utilise the knowledge and syn-ergies they have,” said Robert

Ramos at Unionbank, who helps manage $795mn in funds and holds Jollibee stock.

“They are increasing the rev-enue stream beyond the busi-nesses they have now...They are choosing businesses in line with their core competence.”

As discretionary incomes have grown in Asia, the region has be-come the second-largest fast food market globally after North America.

Jollibee has created new do-mestic brands and has tie-ups with foreign chains.

It bought a stake in Highlands Coff ee, which outsells Starbucks in Vietnam, and opened its own outlets in Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Jollibee’s interest in Pret A Manger — which owner Bridge-point is said to be preparing for a US listing this year — comes just two years after Tan paid around $100mn for a 40% stake in US-based chain Smashburger, his biggest overseas deal to date.

“If Jollibee wanted to do a $1bn acquisition, it will have access to capital. It’s very liq-uid whether overseas or on-shore. Jollibee is a premium credit,” said a person close to the company, who was not au-

thorised to speak to the media and asked not to be named.

“Jollibee is very clear where they would like to grow: the Philippines, China and the US.”

In China, the company op-erates about 400 stores of various brands, including joint ventures.

While Jollibee’s original menu is a hit at home and among the diaspora of millions of Filipinos working overseas, it’s a challenge to broaden its appeal to interna-tional diners — hence the drive to acquire global brands.

Jollibee’s revenue has more than tripled over the past decade to 113.9bn pesos ($2.2bn), its net income has jumped to 6.16bn pesos, powered by strong con-sumer spending in one of the world’s fastest-growing econo-mies, and its shares trade at around 242 pesos each, up from 51.50 pesos a decade ago.

Other Philippine companies, too, have used their plentiful cash and access to bank credit to make overseas deals, such as Universal Robina Corp’s acqui-sition of Snackbrands Australia for $462mn last year, and Al-liance Global Group’s earlier $291mn buy of Bodegas Funda-dor from Beam Suntory.

Customers eat at a Jollibee fastfood outlet in Quezon City, Metro Manila.

President Rodrigo Duterte hosts dinner for members of the press at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City.

Marcos Jr denies ‘gold off er’ to publicBy Bernadette E TamayoManila Times

Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday de-nied reports that his

family was off ering cash and “gold” to the public.

He made the clarifi cation after his family received re-ports of thousands of people gathering inside the UP Los Banos (ULPB) campus in La-guna “because of promises of gold from the Marcoses.”

“We do not know of nor have any involvement of any of these gatherings,” Marcos said.

“It’s a scam pure and sim-ple,” said the former senator,

the only son of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos.

President Rodrigo Duterte last month claimed that the Marcos family, through an unidentifi ed emissary, has ex-pressed intention to “return” a portion of their wealth, in-cluding gold bars, to help the government fund its pro-grammes.

The people who fl ocked to the event came from near-by provinces and as far as Marinduque.

“I have repeatedly warned the public against unscrupu-lous individuals who have been using our family to advance their personal interests. To-day’s event is a classic example

of that,” Marcos said.One of the co-ordinators

interviewed by an online re-porter, identifi ed as Amelita Lopez, 67, said those who reg-istered for the event will re-ceive P500,000 each.

However, the amount will be given in tranches, P10,000 monthly, through a bank. But she failed to indicate where the money would be sourced and which bank would release the money.

The gathering was report-edly organised by One Social Family Credit Co-operative. The group reportedly obtained permit from the Department of Human Kinetics-College of Arts and Sciences.Marcos Jr: denying ‘gold’ off er

Most Filipinos satisfi ed with democracy: surveyMore than 30 years after the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled a dictatorship, eight in every 10 Filipinos are satisfied with the way democracy works, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. This was six points below the record 86% logged in September 2016 and similar to the previous record of 80% in June 2013, Manila Times reported. SWS interviewed 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.Satisfaction with democracy has been above 60% since June 2010, ranging from 64% to 86%. It exceeded 50% in only two out of 31 surveys from October 1999 to June 2009. The best read-ings were in October 1992 at 70%, July 1998 at 70%, June 2010 at 68%, and September 2016 at a record 86%. SWS said the peaks during those periods were due to “successful presidential elections.” “The previous record of 80% in June 2013 was achieved after the May 2013 senatorial elections,” the pollster noted. “On the other hand, satisfaction with the way democracy works was a disappointing 44%” in June 2004, or after the election that gave President Gloria Macapagal

Arroyo a full term. The term “satisfaction in the way democracy works” originated from the Eurobarometer surveys and is also used in Latin American and Asian barometer projects, accord-ing to SWS. The results of the 2017 Eurobarome-ter survey of 28 European Union member states showed that an average of 55% of Europeans were satisfied with the way democracy worked in the European Union. The SWS survey also found that 61% preferred democracy over any other form of government, while 19% said that “under some circumstances, an authoritarian govern-ment can be preferable to a democratic one.”Another fifth of the respondents said it did not matter whether the country had a democratic or a non-democratic regime.SWS said preference for democracy has been above 50% since February 2009, reaching a record 65% in June 2013.“People’s preference between democracy and authoritarianism is a diff erent issue from the de-gree of satisfaction with how democracy works, and is probed by a separate question,” the SWS explained.

Cabinet executives ‘have right to privacy’By Catherine S ValenteManila Times

Malacanang yesterday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet offi -

cials “still have the right to pri-vacy” over certain items in their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

Palace spokesman Ernesto Abella issued the statement after a report by the Philippine Cen-tre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) showed that information in the SALNs of Duterte Cabinet members as of December 2016 were redacted or shaded with a black marker.

“While we uphold the princi-ple of transparency and account-ability in public service, those working in the government, such as members of the Cabinet, still have the right to privacy,” Abella said in a statement.

Abella noted that some people “may use the sensitive personal information and other data con-tained in the SALNs to harass people or commit fraud.”

“With the Data Privacy Act in full force and eff ectivity this year, data protection offi cers are obliged to redact items in SALN to protect the right to privacy of all state workers, including Cab-inet members. This is consist-ent with global data protection regulations,” Abella said.

In stories published on Fri-day, the PCIJ reported that sig-nifi cant redactions were made in the copies of SALNs fi led in December 2016 by Duterte Cab-inet members. The redactions in SALNs released to the media were in the form of black lines shading or covering relevant in-formation.

For instance, the PCIJ said 28 of the 29 SALNs received by En-trepreneur Philippines “had the acquisition costs or amounts of personal properties blacked out.”

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL21


Rohingya infl ux grinds to a halt, says DhakaThe fl ood of Rohingya refu-

gees into Bangladesh has come to a virtual halt,

Dhaka offi cials said yesterday, almost a month after violence erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and sent nearly 430,000 people fl eeing across the border.

Offi cials gave no reason for the dramatically reduced numbers. But Rohingya Muslim leaders said it could be because villages located near the border in My-anmar’s Rakhine state were now empty.

Bangladesh Border Guard commanders said hardly any refugees are now seen crossing on boats coming from Myanmar or trying to get over the land border.

In the past two weeks there have been up to 20,000 people a day entering Bangladesh.

The UN says 429,000 Ro-hingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh since attacks by Ronhingya militants in Rakhine on August 25 sparked a major Myanmar military crackdown.

Many gave up money and jewellery to get places on boats crossing the Naf river, which marks part of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

“Our guards have not seen any Rohingya coming in the past few days. The wave is over,” Bangla-desh Border Guard commander S M Ariful Islam said.

The United Nations also said “the infl ux has dropped”. It said it will now release updates on the numbers of refugees entering Bangladesh once a week, rather than daily.

Rohingya community leaders said most of the Rakhine villages near the Bangladesh border are now deserted.

“Almost all the people I know have arrived in Bangladesh,” Yu-suf Majihi, a Rohingya leader at a camp at Balukhali, near Cox’s Bazar, said.

“Village after village has be-come empty due to the attacks

AFPCox’s Bazar

Rohingya refugees scuff le as aid is distributed in Cox’s Bazar yesterday.

by Myanmar soldiers and torch-ing of the houses by Moghs (Bud-dhists),” he added.

“Those who are left in Rakhine live far off the border,” he said.

Farid Alam, another Rohingya leader, said “I have not heard of any Rohingya crossing the border in the past fi ve days. All I could see is people concentrating near the main camps.”

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said this week that troops had ceased “clear-ance operations” targeting Ro-hingya militants in Myanmar’s border area.

The United Nations previous-ly said the military crackdown could amount to “ethnic cleans-ing”.

But despite the calm on the

border, there were new signs of unrest in Myanmar.

While the army chief blamed Rohinyga militants for an explo-sion outside a mosque in Ra-khine, Amnesty International accused the military of starting fi res in the region to prevent ref-ugees from returning.

Myanmar commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing issued a statement saying Rohingya militants planted a “home-made mine” that exploded in between a mosque and ma-drasa in Buthidaung township on Friday.

The army chief accused militants of trying to drive out around 700 remaining villagers. Analysts highlighted however that the militants’ infl uence de-

pends on the networks they have built across Rohingya communi-ties.

Amnesty said new videos and satellite imagery indicated fi res were still raging through Ro-hingya villages, scores of which have already been burned to the ground.

According to government fi g-ures, nearly 40% of Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine have been abandoned over the past month.

Human Rights Watch yester-day also echoed allegations from Bangladeshi offi cials that Myan-mar security forces were laying landmines along the border.

A number of Rohingya, includ-ing children, have been killed by mines at the border.

Bangladesh authorities are meanwhile stepping up eff orts to bring order to the chaotic aid dis-tribution for refugees.

Soldiers have been deployed around a 70sq km area where Ro-hingya have built camps on hills or in open spaces near existing UN run camps.

“We are in the process of tak-ing over the whole relief dis-tribution,” an army spokesman said.

He said the troops would dig hundreds of latrines for refu-gees after doctors warned that the camps were on the brink of a health disaster.

Even before the latest exodus, the camps were home to some 300,000 Rohingya who had fl ed previous violence in Rakhine.

UN needs $200mn for refugees

The United Nations will need $200mn over the next six months to face

the “catastrophic” infl ux of more than 420,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, a top UN offi cial has said.

The Rohingya Muslims, es-caping ethnic unrest in Myan-mar, have overwhelmed Bang-ladesh’s Cox’s Bazar in under a month.

The UN made an emergency appeal for $78mn on Septem-ber 9, but UN resident coor-dinator in Bangladesh, Rob-ert Watkins, said much more would be needed as the exodus grows.

“Our best estimate at this point is $200mn. We are putting together a plan right now that will be ready in about four or fi ve days,” Watkins said.

He said aid workers were already struggling to get food, medicine and drinking water to the refugees, many of whom were limited to one meal a day.

The Doctors Without Bor-ders (MSF) group has warned that refugee camps are on the brink of a “public health disaster”, saying fi lthy wa-ter and faeces fl ow through shanties now bursting with Rohingya.

“The fact that there are 430,000 refugees here is in fact a catastrophic event. There is no question about that. We are coping the best we can,” Watkins said.

“We are working very hard with the govern-ment to get out assistance to all the people, to make sure that everyone is cov-ered with shelter, getting food and getting access to healthcare and pure water and sanitation. This is our priority right now.”

He described the govern-

ment allocation of new land for a massive new refugee camp as a “big breakthrough”.

The 2,000 acres of land be-tween two existing camps is already being developed.

“People have been supplied with building materials so they can build their own shel-ters in the short term. In the medium term they can build something more resilient.

He also off ered UN help in government attempts to reg-ister refugees.

“The government has start-ed doing that. We have been off ering the government to assist with our biometric reg-istration technology and staff and that is still being negoti-ated with the government.”

The registration could play an important role in any fu-ture accord to send Rohingya back to Myanmar, where the Buddhist-dominated army has been accused of killing Rohingya and burning their villages.

A huge relief operation has started with truck convoys carrying aid to some of the re-motest border areas.

Some 100 tonnes of food, tents, sleeping mats and blan-kets sent by Saudi Arabia have started arriving in Cox’s Ba-zar. The United States has also pledged $32 million to help Bangladesh cope with the in-fl ux.

The International Organi-sation for Migration said the Saudi aid would be distributed “to some of the thousands of people who have arrived from Myanmar with nothing and are now camped out and living rough on the side of the road or in muddy fi elds.”

“We urgently need more supplies like food, water, medicine and shelter. We can and we must do more,” Save the Children Interna-tional chief executive Helle Thorning-Schmidt said at the United Nations in New York.

AFPDhaka

Deuba: proximity to India, China provides ‘immense’ opportunity

Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba says that his landlocked Himalayan republic has an “immense opportunity” to benefit from the economic transformation of India and China, and advocates an independent foreign policy without “fear or favour”.Speaking at the high-level UN General Assembly session yesterday, he said, “Geographical proximity to India and China provides Nepal a rare opportunity to benefit from unprecedented economic transformation in its neighbourhood, opening up immense opportunity for trade and investment.”“We consider regional co-operation an important means for building trust and confidence among nations and making the best use of complementarities for shared prosperity,” he added. “Connectivity remains at the core of deeper integration and for creating a win-win situation.”Laying out the basis of international relations for his country that straddles competing giants, India and China, he said his country believes in “multipolarity”.“In exercise of our independent foreign policy, we judge every issue on its merit without fear or favour,” he asserted.Harking to Nepal’s civilisational heritage, he declared, “The essence of Nepal’s foreign policy is Panchsheel -five principles of peaceful co-existence that are derived from the teachings of Lord Buddha -- the enlightened son of Nepal.”“These principles serve as foundations for managing harmonious relations among nations in this time of increasing uncertainty and turmoil,” he said.He said his country supported the long overdue reform of the Security Council to remedy the under-representation of developing countries in recognition of their growing contributions in shaping global agenda.

Rohingya in Nepal struggle to survive

To reach Mohammad Idrees’ tin hut on the edge of a slope on the

outskirts of Kathmandu, you have to descend a slippery trail made precarious by monsoon rains.

The 26-year-old Rohingya refugee shares the cramped quarters with his wife, three children and mother.

Wearing a sarong, a tradi-tional garment for men covering the lower part of the body, Id-rees stares vacantly at the ver-dant hills surrounding the slum.

But the view off ers little sol-ace for Idrees, a Muslim who fl ed religious persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar fi ve years ago.

Nepal hosts 330 Rohingya, more than half of them children.

As a new wave of violence

grips his home state of Rakhine in Myanmar, he and his fel-low refugees are struggling to survive.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) cut their monthly al-lowances in 2015 but still pro-vides some support to women, children and the elderly.

Idrees fl ed Myanmar in 2012 after his 28-year-old brother was killed outside his house.

He sold his wife’s gold jewel-lery to fund a trip to Bangladesh.

Later spending several years in India, he arrived in Kath-mandu a year ago and fi led for asylum with the UNHCR.

He is yet to be recognised as a refugee, which means his life remains in limbo.

His 65-year-old mother suf-fers from a life-threatening disease, and he cannot aff ord to send his 5- and 3-year-old children to school.

“I was uprooted from my home. My life was ruined early

on. But why should I ruin my children’s future?” he said.

Rafi q Aalam, 35, a former school teacher, arrived in Kath-mandu in April 2013 after a sim-ilarly perilous journey.

He worked in the rice fi elds in India to pay smugglers for the trip.

After Aalam received a refugee ID from the UNHCR three years ago, he returned to Bangladesh to bring his preg-nant wife to Nepal, paying smugglers to help them along the way.

Four years ago, they moved to the neighbourhood in Kath-mandu where the Rohingya lease a barren hillside plot from a local businessman, who charges them Rs150,000 ($1,446) per year and has allowed them to set up huts.

Monsoon season, which lasts from July to September in Ne-pal, is the worst time of year for the refugees. The tin roofs

in the slum leak, wetting their beds, clothes and other meagre possessions.

The refugees lack basic items such as clean drinking water and toilets.

Sandbags are placed along the path, but the trail holds signs of devastation. A month ago, a mudslide triggered by monsoon rains buried a hut belonging to a Rohingya woman while she was away.

It took them about a month to create the hillside slum, where huts are fashioned from corrugated tin salvaged from construction sites.

Outside their ramshackle homes, the Rohingya are vul-nerable to exploitation from builders, who take advantage of the fact that refugees are not allowed to work.

Sayeed Hussein, a 33-year-old father of three, said they have been surviving as best they can by tak-ing whatever jobs are available.

“We do all sorts of work. Sometimes people in the neigh-bourhood hire us for menial work. But the builders always cheat us. Locals are paid Rs800 a day, but we are given only Rs500,” said Hussein.

As the conversation turned to the mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar, which the UN and rights groups have referred to as “ethnic cleansing,” Ro-hingya men gathered outside his hut, showing video footage of the people fl eeing Myanmar for Bangladesh.

Jaff ar Alam, a 27-year-old who serves as the communi-ty’s leader, said he was wor-ried about their future after a local television station re-ported the government was considering deporting them to Myanmar.

“We have already faced so many problems. We don’t have enough space to accommodate our people. We want to move

out to a larger area, but we are afraid it might attract the atten-tion of police,” he said.

Nepal is not a signatory to a 1951 United Nations conven-tion on refugees, and so the country’s home ministry refers to the Rohingya as “illegal im-migrants.”

But rights groups say the ref-ugees will not face deportation since they have been recognised as refugees by the UNHCR.

While authorities often turn a blind eye to the Rohingya’s plight, local Muslims have of-fered to help the refugees.

Kamaruddin Miya, a social worker, said they provided the Rohingya with food and clothes that were donated by fellow Muslims during the festivals of Eid and Ramadan.

“Their living conditions are deplorable. They need all the help. The UN and our govern-ment must look after them,” he said.

By Deepak Adhikari, DPA Kathmandu

Lanka in talks with Chinese fi rms for $3bn refi nery

Sri Lanka is in talks with two Chinese companies about investing up to $3bn

to build in a new refi nery at its Chinese-controlled port, a top government offi cial has said.

Sri Lanka wants to build a new refi nery in its south-ern Hambantota port, where China Merchants Port Hold-ings (CMPH) has a 99-year lease to handle commercial operations.

Located near the main ship-ping route from Asia to Europe, Hambantota port is likely to play a key role in China’s “Belt and Road” trade route initiative.

Mangala Yapa, a director at the state-run Board of Invest-ment, said two Chinese com-panies had put forward a joint venture proposal for the refi n-ery, which is expected to pro-duce 5mn tonnes per annum with an investment between $2.5bn and $3bn. He did not name the Chinese fi rms.

“The investment is large and we are discussing with the two

companies on that basis,” he said, adding the joint venture plan was chosen from three bids including one from a US com-pany through a local partner.

“The refi nery needs around 500 acres of land and we can’t reserve the land. Many people try to get the land fi rst and then look for investors.”

Yapa did not elaborate on the plans of the proposed refi nery.

China’s infl uence over Ham-bantota port has sparked wide-spread anger in Sri Lanka.

The deal with CMPH, which has a majority stake in the lease,

fuelled speculation the port could be used for Chinese naval vessels. CMPH is also in talks with the government to develop an industrial zone next door.

This year, the government revised its original deal with CMPH to give greater infl uence to the Sri Lankan Ports Author-ity to try to allay concerns—in-cluding from Japan, the United States and India—that the port might be used for military pur-poses.

The investment zone deal is yet to be signed.

The Hambantota refi nery will

ReutersColombo

be the second new refi nery the island nation has planned in the country.

Sri Lanka already has a deal for 100,000 barrels per day-plus (bpd) refi nery with Indian Oil Corp at the country’s eastern port city of Trincomalee with the aim of exporting fuel.

Sri Lanka’s sole oil refi n-ery, state-run Ceylon Petro-leum Corporation’s decades-old 50,000 bpd plant, was originally confi gured to run on Iranian crude and Sri Lanka had to im-port more refi ned oil products after US sanctions led it to stop imports from Iran.

China’s influence over Hambantota port has sparked widespread anger in Sri Lanka.

Antibiotics not only heal infections: They also staunch bleeding after childbirth; help cleanse people living in dirty cities; and protect those who work with animals.

However, hospitals across the world believe that the overuse of such medicines leads to the spread of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

Their excessive use over the past decades has brought us to the brink of a post-antibiotic era.

The spread of “antimicrobial resistance,” as experts call the problem, means that simple illnesses could turn into lethal ones, and that medical advances in surgery or chemotherapy could be lost as doctors can no longer stop infections.

“To some extent, this is happening now,” said Elizabeth Tayler, a senior expert on antimicrobial resistance at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.

Resistant bugs kill an estimated 25,000 people each year in Europe and a similar number in the United States, she said.

For example, intensive care units struggle with this problem, as patients whose immune systems are already weakened catch pneumonia that is caused by hard-to-treat superbugs.

The medical aid group MSF has sounded the alarm in crisis regions such as Iraq and Syria, where very large shares of patients are resistant to multiple drugs.

People tend to take too many drugs in crisis situations, said Burtscher, who has witnessed it in Afghanistan, Iraq, and in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

“It’s soothes them in a way,” she said. “It gives them comfort.”

It would be a mistake, however, to see war zones as the only breeding grounds for nasty bacteria.

Antibiotics can be bought without prescriptions in several southern European countries, she notes, increasing the risk of overuse.

A EU briefi ng paper showed in November that a certain type of

superbug that can cause blood and lung infections is now endemic in Malta, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

WHO and other organisations have been lobbying governments, hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and patients to adopt simple and eff ective measures.

For example, doctors should routinely ask patients what medications they have been taking, and they should tell them how to avoid washing hands.

WHO has recently issued new guidelines to surgeons, telling them to cut down on unnecessary antibiotics use.

Changing attitudes is diffi cult, even if progress has been made in Western countries, Tayler said.

“If there is a chance that there is an infection, no doctor wants to miss an infection” she said, explaining why many medics still hand out antibiotics when in doubt.

WHO has developed an action plan that puts a strong focus on improving sanitation and hygiene around the globe, because no new, more eff ective drugs are expected anytime soon.

“Currently, most major pharmaceutical companies have stopped research in this area,” the action plan says.

Companies fear that anything they develop will soon become useless as bacteria adapt to the new drugs.

In September, world leaders at the United Nations in New York therefore issued a statement that called on governments, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions and non-governmental groups to all support the much-needed research eff orts.


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QNADoha

President of the Community College of Qatar (CCQ) Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al-Nuaimi has affi rmed the Cabinet’s

approval of a draft Emiri decree to reorganise the college to place it at the forefront of higher education institutions in the State with the opening of new disciplines to serve the labour market by granting a bachelor’s degree.

In this context, Dr al-Nuaimi praised Qatar’s great interest - under the wise leadership of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani - in education and the sponsorship of the CCQ, which has already made it a college that serves the community and is concerned with the human development, one of the pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030.

Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Dr al-Nuaimi revealed that the college will put some of the decisions in principle in its new branch in Al Khor, which receives students starting from October 22, and added that it wants Al Khor experience to succeed in excellence, calling at the same time the students from northern area to join this branch as it is near their residential areas.

He explained in this regard that 1,800 students attending the college are from the northern regions of the State.

He said that apart from Al Khor a plot of land was allocated for the establishment of another branch in Al Wakrah, which is in the design stage. The college is also considering the establishment of a third branch at Al Sheehaniya.

Dr al-Nuaimi noted that the college is now in a diff erent situation from what it was in 2010: there are now fi ve buildings serving students separately, more programmes and disciplines and the number of male and female students has increased from 900 to about 4,500 now, besides the allocation of a plot of land at Al Mazruaa area to establish the college’s main management building.

He said that the college’s programmes and disciplines have increased signifi cantly. Besides off ering the diploma programme in arts and sciences, it is also off ering programmes at the level of bachelor’s degree in engineering, general administration and information systems, as well as joint programmes for these two levels, as in the case of public administration of personnel in diff erent sectors of the State.

The college constantly off ers each year a programme or two in new disciplines serving the community at the level of diploma or bachelor, he added.

He noted that the college has many cultural, scientifi c, vocational, technical and applied programmes and activities.

It aims to prepare specialised technical cadres trained in academic and practical fi elds that meet the needs of the community and the labour market.

Dr al-Nuaimi said that the college

has a programme with an Australian Border Management University that is complementary to a programme launched with the General Customs Authority for high-level outputs in the customs sector.

The college has previously signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the General Customs Authority and the Customs and Tax Studies Centre at Charles Sturt University in Australia, to provide customs-related educational services and technical and research assistance.

In addition, Dr al-Nuaimi noted that the college also has a programme of arts in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports and another for Health Information Systems, one of the scholarship programmes for the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Aff airs.

And then the “Teacher Assistance” programme which is held in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the minimum requirements for admission is to obtain a high school certifi cate, that besides the diploma programme of logistics and supply management, pointing out that the college is keen that its programmes do not confl ict with what already exists at Qatar University to prevent repetition and duplication.

On the possibility of the college granting postgraduate degrees in the master’s or doctorate, Dr al-Nuaimi noted that these programmes are available at the Qatar University, the Education City and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, but he saw in this regard the importance of diversifi cation and accumulation of experiences.

On whether it is an academic, vocational or practical college, Dr al-Nuaimi said it is primarily an academic college, but it off ers programmes in applied sciences up to 10% at the bachelor’s and diploma level, noting that 50% of the teaching staff are under the sponsorship of the college and the rest are assigned from several quarters in the State with various disciplines and according to specifi c controls.

Dr al-Nuaimi underlined the importance of continuous training for students at the bachelor’s or diploma level as well as for the teaching staff to serve the labour

market in areas of languages, public administration, technical specialities, health information, etc., attending and participating in various seminars and events inside or outside the country, or inviting experts and specialists to come to Qatar to this end, noting the partnership of the college and the private sector and other state institutions in this important vital area.

The CCQ president stressed that the college is inspired by the spirit of the speech delivered by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the citizens and residents on July 21, as a roadmap for future options and how to deal with them, especially with the challenges imposed by the current circumstances, making imperative for everyone in various educational institutions and others to adhere to diligence, creativity, thinking and self-reliance, for scientifi c initiatives in all disciplines required by the State, away from laziness and dependency.

He said that the college follows the policy of open admission for every Qatari who holds high school, government, commercial or industrial secondary school certifi cate at any rate and for any year.

He called on students to make the most of the golden educational opportunities provided by the State to them, in order to serve their country by providing the required competencies and benefi ting their society and themselves.

At the same time, he called on government and private institutions to put forward programmes according to their desire to develop their cadres and provide them with the necessary skills in their fi elds of work, stressing that the college will do everything necessary to implement the strategic plans in this area.

On whether admission is limited to Qataris only or others, Dr al-Nuaimi said that the college regulations do not limit the admission process to Qatari students, explaining that the space capacity the college started with would not allow it to accept more than its potential, but he expressed the hope that in the future, the college will have the opportunity to accept non-Qatari students.

On Qatari students aff ected by the siege imposed on Qatar, Dr al-Nuaimi said that there was a co-

ordination between the college, Qatar University, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Hamad Medical Corporation and the Committee for Receiving Complaints and Grievances to fi nd suitable solutions for them.

He called on those students, who are about 350 students, not to despair and to feel frustrated as the all concerned parties in the State are keen to solve their problems and provide opportunities for them to continue their education.

Dr al-Nuaimi also highlighted the college’s care for students with special needs, learning diffi culties and various types of disabilities.

He said that the college provides them with everything that help them to easily receive the knowledge with assistance of professional supervisors to help them.

The Community College of Qatar, in collaboration with Houston Community College, opened its doors for the fi rst time in September 2010 with an enrolment of 308 full-time students at the West Bay Campus.

Ever since, the college has seen an increase in enrolment every semester.

Today, CCQ is the fastest growing institution in Qatar with an enrolment of 4,300 students at four diff erent campuses.

The college off ers a number of associate and bachelor degree programmes that meet the needs of the labour force in Qatar.

Among them are two-year Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degree programmes for students wishing to transfer to four-year universities, high demand 2+2 associate and bachelor’s degree programmes and two-year Associate of Applied Arts and Applied Science degree programmes.

CCQ also off ers short-term continuing education and marketable skills certifi cates for those who wish to upgrade their knowledge and skills to become more marketable in the job market.

In addition, the college has partnered with a number of local and international four-year universities in order to provide students with the opportunity to seamlessly transfer to a university to obtain a bachelor’s degree without losing the validation for any of their coursework.

By Jamal AbdullahTRT World

A new manual for the Gulf is emerging as the stalemate between the Saudi-led bloc and Qatar pushes countries

in the region to form new alliances.There is no longer any doubt that

the crisis between the three Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain), in addition to Egypt, on the one hand, and Qatar, on the other, is a manufactured crisis that was planned and implemented after Donald Trump’s ‘historic’ visit to the Saudi capital.

What’s new in this crisis is the unusual and innovative method – in the Arab world, and in the Gulf in particular – in the way it was triggered, starting with the hacking of the Qatar News Agency website.

There are undeclared reasons for the current Gulf crisis, the most important of which is the build-up of divergent opinions on the strategic interests of the states that are party to the crisis, through managing each of these countries in relation to specifi c regional fi les according to their vision for the region. For over two decades Qatar has been accused of overstepping boundaries in the Gulf by pursuing an independent foreign policy that is often incompatible with the foreign policies of its Gulf neighbours. It is accused of relying on the ‘paper of the Arab peoples’, until it became an infl uential player in the region.

On the other hand, other Gulf countries have relied on ‘building an internal, national orientation’ that has strengthened their capability to adopt an approach that enables them to form political alliances, which contribute to regional and international infl uence – even to the point of foreign military intervention.

For the past decade and a half (1995–2010), Qatar’s foreign policy had been neutral, with a focus on resolving confl icts as a key principle, enforcing Article 7 of the Qatari constitution, which stipulates that “the foreign policy of the State shall be based on the principle of the consolidation of international peace and security, by promoting peaceful settlement of international disputes”.

When the so-called Arab Spring broke out in 2010, Qatar shunned the impartiality that had previously characterised it based on one of its constitution’s articles which stipulates “supporting the peoples’ right to self-determination”.

Therefore, Doha adopted a position in favour of Arabs standing up to their tyrannical rulers, and in support of these peoples’ demands for freedom and dignity.

This shift in the course of Qatar’s foreign policy – from neutrality to infl uence – resulted in Doha playing a leading role in the changes and transformations witnessed in the region at the time. They fi lled the void created by the absence of conventional regional powers like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

The events of the Arab Spring on the one hand, and the preoccupation of some regional powers with domestic concerns on the other hand, opened the door for Doha to enter the fray in an attempt to take over leadership of the region in that period. King Salman’s ascension to the top of the power structure in Saudi Arabia in January 2015, and the arrival of the descendants of the founding King Abdulaziz al-Saud to the top ranks in the kingdom’s leadership – through the appointment of emirs Mohamed bin Nayef as Crown Prince, and Mohamed bin Salman as Deputy Crown Prince – changed the equation and shifted balance in the region.

This shift was made even clearer following the formation of the Riyadh-led Arab coalition in March 2015, and the declaration of war in Yemen against the loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the allied Houthi group supported by Iran. The war in Yemen is often viewed as simply a ‘proxy war’ between two regional rivals – Iran and Saudi Arabia – for leadership in the region.

Doha understood the dynamics of the changes that have occurred, and opted to withdraw quietly and to take a step back, leaving leadership to its larger neighbour Saudi Arabia with whom it had good relations on a number of matters in the region, especially Yemen, and co-ordinating with it on the Syrian issue. Despite the change in Qatar’s foreign policy, it did

not rise to the level of a “departure” from its established principles and independent nature.

It is clear to experts and observers that the new Saudi leadership’s ambitions go beyond national borders, especially when it comes to confl icts of interest, where all options are on the table – including the military option. This nearly happened in the case of the Gulf crisis, but the Kuwaiti intervention to mediate stopped it. This was revealed by the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, in statements made during a press conference held in Washington with his US counterpart in September.

These dynamics in the Arabian Gulf are pushing for the reshaping of alliances and blocs in the Middle East as a whole. In light of the Gulf crisis, Turkish-Iranian rapproachement has begun to emerge, which may prompt Doha to come closer to this axis and encourage it to review its positions on some regional issues, particularly those related to Syria.

If the above hypothesis is valid, Iran is the biggest benefi ciary of the Gulf crisis. The outcomes of this crisis proved that the dispute between regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, is political, not ideological.

The reshaping of the New Gulf is intertwined with the implications of possible changes after the arrival of Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who is expected to reach the top of the power structure in Saudi Arabia, and the subsequent domestic reforms which will undoubtedly aff ect the Gulf and regional states.

President of the Community College of Qatar (CCQ) Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al-Nuaimi speaking to Qatar News Agency.

COMMENT

Daily half hour’s exercise ‘could prevent early deaths’

Trump’s bigger Russia problem

ReutersLondon

People who exercise fi ve days a week for 30 minutes signifi cantly reduce their risk of dying early and of

developing heart disease, even if a sports club or gym is not an option, according to a new international study.

Tracking 130,000 people in 17 countries, both rich and poor, the study found that whether it’s going to the gym, walking to work, or tackling household chores like laundry or gardening, being physically active extends life and reduces illness.

The researchers, led by Scott Lear, a

heart specialist at St Paul’s Hospital in Canada, also found a so-called dose response: The more people exercise, the greater the reductions are in their risks of getting heart disease or dying early.

The study found “no ceiling eff ect”, the researchers said, and “no risks associated with extremely high levels of physical activity,” defi ned as more than 2,500 minutes, or more than 41 hours, per week.

Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death and a major economic burden in treatment and care for those who develop it.

It killed 9.48mn people globally in 2016.

“Walking for as little as 30 minutes most days of the week has a substantial benefi t, and higher physical activity is associated with even lower risks,” Lear said in a comment about the fi ndings, published yesterday in The Lancet medical journal.

He also noted that some measures to prevent or treat heart disease, such as taking medicines or eating more fruit and vegetables, can be unaff ordable for the world’s poorest people.

Yet walking is free and brings substantial health gains.

The World Health Organisation recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout each week, as well as muscle strengthening exercises at least two days a week. But experts estimate almost a quarter of the world’s people do not reach these guideline levels.

Lear’s team said their study fi ndings suggest that if the entire population were to meet the guidelines, one in 12 of the world’s premature deaths would be averted and 4.6% of heart disease cases prevented.

By Anne-Marie Slaughter and Nina JankowiczWashington, DC

Shortly before taking offi ce, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to outline his vision for his country’s

relationship with Russia. “Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he declared in one tweet. “When I am President,” he proclaimed in another, Russia and the US “will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!”

Of course, Trump is not wrong to try to improve relations with Russia. (The last several US presidents all sought the same goal.) But he must recognise that achieving that objective is not worth selling Russia’s pro-democratic activists down the river.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has eff ectively eliminated popular dissent in Russia. In 2012, soon after Putin’s return to the presidency, the Duma enacted the so-called foreign agent law, which focused on silencing organisations that receive funding from abroad and engage in anything that can be labelled “political activity.”

Since then, Russia’s government has unilaterally declared 88 organisations to be “foreign agents” – a term that sounds a lot like “spy.” The list includes a respected election-monitoring group, human-rights activists, pollsters, and even some scientifi c research groups. Their mandates vary, but the government’s message to them and others is clear: be critical of the Kremlin, and you will be silenced.

Russia’s government has taken several more steps to suppress dissent over the last fi ve years, including labelling as “undesirable” several international organisations that have supported democracy activists and criminalising Russian citizens’ involvement with them. It has also expanded the security agencies’ authority to track citizens’ online activities and curtail their right to free speech, while intensifying discrimination against certain individuals and persecuting religious groups. And Kremlin critics have been arrested and even assassinated.

Such activities have apparently not fazed Trump. Even after the detention of thousands of anti-corruption protesters in more than 100 cities across Russia in March, the Trump administration issued only a tepid statement. On his visit to Moscow the following month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mirrored this approach, eschewing the State Department tradition of meeting publicly with civil-society activists, despite urging from the US Congress.

Trump and Tillerson, it seems, are fully willing to ignore the Kremlin’s repression of its opponents – not to mention its interference in America’s own democratic election, new evidence of which emerges almost daily – if it means avoiding uncomfortable conversations with Putin. They evidently believe that this approach has yielded results – most notably the fragile Syrian ceasefi re that the US and Russia brokered in July.

But Russia took that deal out of self-interest, not because of the Trump administration’s obsequiousness. In fact, it is American interests that

are being undermined by the Trump administration’s determination not to poke the Russian bear.

Whatever short-term “win” Trump might be able to secure by pandering to Russia, it means little compared to America’s long-term interest in the life, liberty, and equality of all human beings, as well as in the safeguarding of self-government. This is not to say that the US should not engage or collaborate with governments that operate on diff erent principles. But we must be clear about what we are not willing to accept – beginning with the quashing of political dissent.

Upholding America’s core principles is not just the right thing to do; it is smart strategy. Putin’s authority may appear unshakeable, but it is actually propped up by propaganda and fear. When the US betrays its own values to avoid challenging Russia, it strengthens Putin’s hand considerably. Meanwhile, the perception that he has the US on the ropes enables Putin to continue silencing his opponents.

In the run-up to next year’s presidential election, Putin will not hesitate to take advantage of the leeway foreign leaders give him. Already, he has ensured that the opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted of embezzlement, giving the government an excuse to bar him from the ballot.

But Navalny, who has already withstood years of Kremlin pressure, will not give up so easily; nor will other opposition activists. Just last Sunday, more than 200 Putin opponents won seats on local councils in Moscow’s municipal elections. Anti-corruption protests have continued throughout the year. And Navalny has just released a new

exposé on Putin’s secret dacha near the border with Finland.

To be sure, Putin is expected to win a fourth term in offi ce easily. But he will not lead Russia forever. Until then, the entire Russian population deserves to participate in democratic elections. Yet none of those held during Putin’s long tenure has been assessed as free or fair by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. By extending public support to election monitors and activists working to uphold democratic principles, the Trump administration could hearten the Russian opposition and advance a diff erent vision for Russia’s future.

In the short term, a little hypocrisy may seem like a small price to pay for a quick victory. But both US foreign policy and America’s national narrative are long games. And, in the long term, the US would be much better off engaging with a democratic Russia where human rights were protected and political dissent tolerated.

Russia’s 2018 elections represent an important opportunity for Trump to advocate for such an outcome, and prove that American values are not up for negotiation. The US would not stoop to Putin’s level and interfere covertly in Russia’s electoral processes. But it should stand up for democracy and human rights – and stand with those who aspire to build free societies. The world must know that the US still has a soul. – Project Syndicate

Anne-Marie Slaughter is President and CEO of New America. Nina Jankowicz, a George F Kennan fellow at the Wilson Center, is a 2017 Foreign Policy Interrupted fellow.

Gulf Times Sunday, September 24, 2017 23

By Robert J ShillerNew Haven

The US stock market today is characterised by a seemingly unusual combination of very high valuations, following

a period of strong earnings growth, and very low volatility. What do these ostensibly confl icting messages imply about the likelihood that the United States is headed toward a bear market?

To answer that question, we must look to past bear markets. And that requires us to defi ne precisely what a bear market entails. The media nowadays delineate a “classic” or “traditional” bear market as a 20% decline in stock prices.

That defi nition does not appear in any media outlet before the 1990s, and there has been no indication of who established it. It may be rooted in the experience of October 19, 1987, when the stock market dropped by just over 20% in a single day. Attempts to tie the term to the “Black Monday” story may have resulted in the 20% defi nition, which journalists and editors probably simply copied from one another.

In any case, that 20% fi gure is now widely accepted as an indicator of a bear market. Where there seems to be less overt consensus is on the time period for that decline. Indeed, those past newspaper reports often didn’t mention any time period at all in their defi nitions of a bear market. Journalists writing on the subject apparently did not think it necessary to be precise.

In assessing America’s past experience with bear markets, I used that traditional 20% fi gure, and added my own timing rubric. The peak before a bear market, per my defi nition, was the most recent 12-month high, and there should be some month in the subsequent year that is 20% lower.

Whenever there was a contiguous sequence of peak months, I took the last one.

Referring to my compilation of monthly S&P Composite and related data, I found that there have been just 13 bear markets in the US since 1871. The peak months before the bear markets occurred in 1892, 1895, 1902, 1906, 1916, 1929, 1934, 1937, 1946, 1961, 1987, 2000, and 2007. A couple of notorious stock-market collapses – in 1968-70 and in 1973-74 – are not on the list, because they were more protracted and gradual.

Once the past bear markets were identifi ed, it was time to assess stock valuations prior to them, using an

indicator that my Harvard colleague John Y Campbell and I developed in 1988 to predict long-term stock-market returns. The cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio is found by dividing the real (infl ation-adjusted) stock index by the average of ten years of earnings, with higher-than-average ratios implying lower-than-average returns. Our research showed that the CAPE ratio is somewhat eff ective at predicting real returns over a ten-year period, though we did not report how well that ratio predicts bear markets.

This month, the CAPE ratio in the US is just above 30. That is a high ratio. Indeed, between 1881 and today,

the average CAPE ratio has stood at just 16.8. Moreover, it has exceeded 30 only twice during that period: in 1929 and in 1997-2002.

But that does not mean that high CAPE ratios aren’t associated with bear markets. On the contrary, in the peak months before past bear markets, the average CAPE ratio was higher than average, at 22.1, suggesting that the CAPE does tend to rise before a bear market.

Moreover, the three times when there was a bear market with a below-average CAPE ratio were after 1916 (during World War I), 1934 (during the Great Depression), and 1946 (during the post-World War II recession). A

high CAPE ratio thus implies potential vulnerability to a bear market, though it is by no means a perfect predictor.

To be sure, there does seem to be some promising news. According to my data, real S&P Composite stock earnings have grown 1.8% per year, on average, since 1881. From the second quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of 2017, by contrast, real earnings growth was 13.2%, well above the historical annual rate.

But this high growth does not reduce the likelihood of a bear market. In fact, peak months before past bear markets also tended to show high real earnings growth: 13.3% per year, on average, for all 13 episodes. Moreover,

at the market peak just before the biggest ever stock-market drop, in 1929-32, 12-month real earnings growth stood at 18.3%.

Another piece of ostensibly good news is that average stock-price volatility – measured by fi nding the standard deviation of monthly percentage changes in real stock prices for the preceding year – is an extremely low 1.2%. Between 1872 and 2017, volatility was nearly three times as high, at 3.5%.

Yet, again, this does not mean that a bear market isn’t approaching. In fact, stock-price volatility was lower than average in the year leading up to the peak month preceding the 13 previous US bear markets, though today’s level is lower than the 3.1% average for those periods. At the peak month for the stock market before the 1929 crash, volatility was only 2.8%.

In short, the US stock market today looks a lot like it did at the peaks before most of the country’s 13 previous bear markets. This is not to say that a bear market is guaranteed: such episodes are diffi cult to anticipate, and the next one may still be a long way off . And even if a bear market does arrive, for anyone who does not buy at the market’s peak and sell at the trough, losses tend to be less than 20%.

But my analysis should serve as a warning against complacency. Investors who allow faulty impressions of history to lead them to assume too much stock-market risk today may be inviting considerable losses. – Project Syndicate

Robert J Shiller, a 2013 Nobel laureate in economics and Professor of Economics at Yale University, is co-author, with George Akerlof, of Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception.

The coming bear market?

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