Volume 24 | Number 7958 | 2 RiyalsSaturday 20 July 2019 | 17 Dhul-Qa'da 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

BUSINESS | 14 SPORT | 20

Qatar's Barshim makes Diamond League return in London

Automaker BMW names production

chief Zipse as new CEO

d n

Prime Minister of South Korea arrives

Nearly 100 injured in Gaza border protests

Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Lee Nak-yeon, arrived in Doha last evening on an official visit. The Prime Minister and his accompanying delegation were greeted upon arrival at Doha International Airport by Minister of State for Energy Affairs, H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the State of Qatar, Kim Chang-mo.

Aggressive driving declines; fatality rate to decrease furtherSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Decline in aggressive driving has helped in reducing road traffic fatality rates significantly in the country thanks to strict traffic rules, Director-General of General Directorate of Traffic, Major General Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, said.

Al Kharji also said that the road traffic fatality rate is expected to further decrease in coming time. “The cases of aggressive driving have witnessed a sharp fall which is visible on the roads. Motorists have become more serious in complying with the traffic rules,” said Al Kharji.

He added that the number of deaths in road accidents has declined remarkably this year compered to the last year and it will further decline as the positive trend is expected to continue.

Speaking to The Peninsula at a recent event, Al Kharji said that adherence of motorists (citizens and expa-triates) to the traffic rules was growing day-by-day as traffic police was receiving good response from road users.

Al Kharji said that elec-tronic gadgets which divert attention of motorists during driving will be brought under the preview of traffic law which is amended every two years to keep pace with fast development of the country.

“For example, google glasses were not available when the law was amended last time. So if anyone wears them, it is not a violation as per the law. However, under new legislation,

google glasses would be a violation because they divert attention of motorists like reading while driving,” said Al Kharji.

The Director-General of General Direc-torate of Traffic hinted that fas-tening seat-belts for children in backseats of car would be man-datory in the new legislation. “I want fasting of seat-belts for children in backseat to be brought under the preview of the law because it is very necessary for the safety of children,” said Al Kharji. According to the figures released by the General Direc-torate of Traffic recently, the cases of violations of overtaking from right side have declined by over 68 percent in 2018 com-pared to 2017.

Similarly, the cases of driving without a licence recorded a decline of 16.1 percent while the violations of parking in places reserved for people with special

needs decreased by 22.4 percent during the study period. The General Directorate of Traffic launched recently ‘Accident-free Summer’ awareness campaign to make roads further safe.

Director-General of General Directorate of Traffic, Major General Mohammed Saad Al Kharji

Arabic calligraphy works by Indian artists on show at KataraRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Iconic cultural symbols and landmarks of Qatar immortalised in the works of Indian artists are among the pieces being show-cased at an Arabic calligraphy exhibition which opened on Thursday at Katara Cultural Village as part of the Qatar India 2019 Year of Culture.

Titled “Multaqa Al-Qulub Wal-Funun: A Gathering of Hearts & Crafts,” the exhibition is presented by the Indian

Embassy in partnership with India-based Radiant Arts— a platform for Dawoodi Bohra artists.

“It is indeed a pleasure for us to welcome you today in this 24th event that we are organ-izing as part of the India Qatar Year of Culture. The talent we have in calligraphy represents a facet of India’s composite culture and is also another manifestation of the links that India has with the Arab world,” P Kumaran, Ambassador of India to Qatar, said at the

opening of the exhibition.He thanked the Dawoodi

Bohra Association and Radiant Arts for their efforts in making the show possible and bringing talented artists from India to Qatar some of whom were present for live paining and cal-ligraphy demonstrations yesterday.

The ambassador also thanked Katara “for standing with us shoulder to shoulder in making so many of India Qatar Cultural Year events possible during the course of the year. We

look forward to more such support in the coming months.”

“We also have one more event in calligraphy lined up in a couple of months. This will have some real old manuscript copies from two important museums in India,” the ambas-sador announced.

Art pieces by seven artists including Samina Sachak, Mohammed Moiny, Moiz Nag-purwala, Aliasger Vaziri, Mazhar Nizar, Juzer Burhani and Bur-hanuddin Nagarwala are on display at the show. Majority of

the dozens of works on show illustrate how Arabic calligraphy has been preserved and being practised in India.

Quintessential cultural symbols and landmarks of Qatar such as the traditional dhow, the Museum of Islamic Art and the Doha skyline are celebrated by the artists through their works.

The exhibition is aimed at promoting the beauty and diversity of Indian culture with specific focus on elements which have connection to Qatari culture in particular and Arab culture in

general. It intends to showcase the art of calligraphy as another aspect of cultural exchange between India and Qatar.

The exhibition launch was led by Kumaran and Saif Al Dosari, Human Resources Director at Katara, with a number of ambassadors, digni-taries, members of the diplo-matic community, artists and art enthusiasts in attendance.

The exhibition will remain open to the public from 10am to 10pm until July 30 at Katara Building 18 Gallery 2. �P2

Iran detains British oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz REUTERS LONDON/DUBAI

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday they had detained a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf after Britain seized an Iranian vessel earlier this month, further raising tensions along a vital inter-national oil shipping route.

Britain said it was urgently seeking information about the Stena Impero after the tanker, which had been heading to a port in Saudi Arabia, suddenly changed course after passing through the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

The Revolutionary Guards said they detained the tanker at the request of Iranian maritime authorities for “not following international maritime regula-tions,” state television reported.

Relations between Iran and the West have been increasingly strained since British naval forces seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicion of smuggling oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.

Iran said it would retaliate and days later three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz. But on that occasion, the Iranian vessels backed off when confronted by a British Royal Navy warship.

“We are urgently seeking further information and assessing

the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf,” a spokesman for Britain’s Ministry of Defence said yesterday.

A person familiar with the matter said a meeting of the British government’s emergency com-mittee was being held.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s office declined to comment.

Refinitiv data showed the

Stena Impero was a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk. It showed the vessel’s des-tination as the Saudi port of Jubail on the Gulf.

The map tracking the ship’s course showed it veering off course with a sharp turn north at about 1517 GMT yesterday and heading towards the Iranian coast.

AP/WASHINGTON

Iran and the United States emphatically disagreed yesterday over Washington’s claim that a US warship downed an Iranian drone near the Gulf. American officials said they used electronic jamming to bring down the unmanned aircraft, while Iran said it simply didn’t happen. Neither side provided evidence to prove its claim.

At the White House yesterday, President Donald Trump said flatly of the Iranian drone: “We shot it down.”

But Pentagon and other officials have said repeatedly that the USS Boxer, a Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz, actually jammed the drone’s signal, causing it to crash, and did not fire a missile. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive technology.

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said: “There is no question this was an Iranian drone, and the USS Boxer took it out as the president announced yesterday because it posed a threat to the ship and its crew. It’s entirely the right thing to do.”

In Tehran, the Iranian military said all its drones had returned safely to their bases and denied there was any confrontation with the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship. “We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else,” tweeted Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on its website yesterday said the drone recorded three hours of video of the USS Boxer and five other vessels on Thursday beginning when the ships first entered the Strait of Hormuz. �P4

Iran, US differ over drone

An injured Palestinian demonstrator is being moved away from the site after the intervention of Israeli forces during a demonstration as part of the “Great March of Return” at Israel-Gaza border in east of Khan Younis, Gaza, yesterday. Ninety-seven Palestinians were injured during protests, according to health ministry. �P4

The Director-General of General Directorate of Traffic said that electronic gadgets which divert attention of motorists during driving will be brought under the preview of traffic law which is amended every two years to keep pace with fast development of the country.

02 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019HOME

Amir condoles with Japan Emperor, Prime MinisterDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

and Deputy Amir H H

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani have sent cables

of condolences to Emperor

Naruhito of Japan and

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

on the victims of the fire at

an animation studio in west

Japan’s city of Kyoto, wish-

ing the injured a speedy

recovery.

Prime Minister and Interior

Minister H E Sheikh Abdul-

lah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al

Thani has also sent a cable

of condolences to Prime

Minister of Japan Shinzo

Abe on the victims of the

fire at an animation stu-

dio in west Japan’s city of

Kyoto, wishing the injured a

speedy recovery. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Qatar condemns two explosions in AfghanistanDOHA: The State of Qatar has

voiced strong condemnation

and denunciation of the two

explosions which took place

at a police centre in southern

Afghanistan and near Kabul

university, leaving deaths and

injuries.

In a statement, the Ministry

of Foreign Affairs reiterated

the firm position of the State

of Qatar on rejecting violence

and terrorism, regardless of

motives and reasons.

The Ministry expressed the

condolences of the State of

Qatar to the families of the

victims, and the government

and people of Afghanistan,

wishing the injured a speedy

recovery. QNA

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum31oC 39oC

HIGH TIDE 05:29–18:52 LOW TIDE 02:25 – 12:26

Relatively hot daytime with slight dust at

places at times and some clouds, relative-

ly humid at places by night.

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 28 AM04. 55 AM

11. 40 AM03.06 PM

06. 27 PM07. 57 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS IDLO welcomes Qatari envoy

The Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Irene Khan, met yesterday with the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Italian Republic, Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki. The meeting took place at the IDLO’s permanent headquarters in Rome. During the meeting, Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki presented his credentials as Qatar’s representative to the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).

Doha Debates presents talk on globalisation at TEDSummitTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Doha Debates is presenting a debate on the merits and future of globalisation at the 2019 TEDSummit in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 24.

As the world grapples with the risks and rewards of globali-sation, and the future of billions of people at stake, the debate brings together diverse perspec-tives and a consensus-building expert in a session titled ‘Globali-zation: Our Future or Our Failure?’

The debate speakers include Parag Khanna, an Indian-American CEO, international strategist, and author; Sisonke Msimang, a South African writer whose work is focused on race, gender, and equality; and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the women-led American grassroots advocacy organisation CODEPINK.

Joining the debate and playing a key role in the unique solutions-focused ‘Majlis’ segment will be the debate’s bridge-building ‘connector’ Govinda Clayton, a conflict res-olution expert and researcher at ETH Zurich university.

The debate’s moderator is Ghida Fakhry; while Nelufar Hedayat will be the digital host for the debate which will be lives-treamed on Twitter.

The debate’s audience at TEDSummit will include young people from the Edinburgh area, students from QF, and TED-Summit participants from around the world. Debate attendees will be joined online by millions of viewers globally via livestream, including a special interactive screening at Qatar National Library.

Remote audiences and those in Edinburgh will be invited to join the conversation with ques-tions and comments, as well as vote on the merits of solutions-focused proposals from debate speakers.

The student participants from Qatar are part of a Doha Debates-sponsored #Doha2Edinburgh educational and cultural exchange program, taking place from July 22 to 26, and are from Georgetown University in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar, and Weill Cornell Med-icine-Qatar – QF’s partner uni-versities – as well as Hamad Bin

Khalifa University, QF’s home-grown university. Amjad Atallah, Managing Director of Doha Debates, said, “Debates about globalization are taking place in countries all over the world, especially in Europe and the United States, where the fault lines don’t easily fall into ‘left’ and ‘right’, and where the outcome of these debates will have conse-quences for the next generations across the globe. Doha Debates is proud to host this timely debate during TEDSummit.”

TED is a nonprofit organi-zation devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. Every few years, TEDSummit gathers more than 1,000 members of its community for five days of performances, workshops, brainstorming, outdoor activities, future-focused discussions and an eclectic program of TED Talks. Attendees at TEDSummit include the most engaged TED friends, TED Fellows, TED-Ed educators, TED Translators, and TEDx organizers, as well as 150 past TED speakers.

Doha Debates is a production of QF, whose Education City hosted the first two editions of the 2019 Doha Debates. Future live 2019 Doha Debates are slated for September 10 in Cape Town, South Africa; October 23 at QF’s Education City; and November 11 at the Paris Peace Forum, France.

As part of the Doha Debates-TED partnership, Doha Debates is providing four additional com-ponents at the 2019 TEDSummit. Connector Govinda Clayton will lead a TEDSummit workshop on ‘Negotiating Common Ground: How to engage in effective dis-cussion, negotiation and debate, whether in the home, the office or the world at large’.

Doha Debates and its partner Shared Studios will provide a shipping container Portal for TEDSummit attendees to partic-ipate in live life-size video chats with inspiring young people in far-flung places around the world.

Finally, TEDSummit attendees will be invited to post notes on a massive Doha Debates wall explaining why they think we should not settle for a divided world - a Doha Debates theme.

On July 24, watch the globali-zation debate livestream on Twitter through the handle @DohaDebates, starting at 2.15PM in the UK, 4.15 PM in Qatar, and 9.15 AM in New York, US. Join the conversation online using the hashtag #DearWorld

Bihar Foundation Chapter Qatar elects new office bearersTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Bihar Foundation is a single window system of Bihar government to interact with NRBs (non-resident Biharis) around the world and other hand to highlight achievements and achievers of Bihar, to showcase Bihar’s culture, craft, cuisine and work together for Bihar Bonding, Branding & Business, said Shakil Ahmed Kakvi, Founder Chairman, Bihar

Foundation, Chapter Qatar. Bihar Foundation, Chapter Qatar is planning to celebrate birth anniversary of mountain man of Bihar, late Dasrath Manjhi and Bihar Divas in Qatar. The motive of celebrations are to make aware younger gener-ation of the challenges of present Bihar and its glorious past and get motivated to work together for better Bihar, Kakvi said.

Bihar Foundation, Doha-Qatar and world Bihar

organisation had annual meeting and new office bearers were elected. Sarfaraz Hussan, Aqueel Ahmed, Belal Khan and Habibunabi were nominated as executive advisers while other office bearers are as follows: Shakil Ahmed Kakvi, Chairman; Gauhar Altaf, Vice-Chairman; Mahfuz Hassan, General-Sec-retary; Ahmad Ashfaq, Joint-Secretary; Anwar Kareem, Sec-retary, Public Relation; Saket Summan, Secretary (media); Abdul Mannan, Treasurer.

The new office bearers of Bihar Foundation Chapter Qatar.

P Kumaran, Ambassador of India to Qatar; Saif Al Dosari, Human Resources Director at Katara, and other officials and dignitaries at the launch of “Multaqa Al-Qulub Wal-Funun: A Gathering of Hearts & Crafts” at Katara Building 18 Gallery 2 on Thursday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

MOI advises passengers against carrying luggage of others SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) has advised passengers not to carry the luggage of others without prior knowledge as they may be exposed to legal account-ability if it contains something banned.

“Remember that carrying luggage of others without knowledge of its contents may impede your travel pro-cedures and expose you to legal accountability,” said the Ministry on its Twitter account.

The Ministry also urged travellers to adhere to security and safety requirements and not carry any banned items specified at airline tickets or airline counter.

“The Airport Passports Department is working to facilitate the procedures for passengers and to overcome all the obstacles. To avoid any delay, pas-sengers have to check about the validity of the passport. It is important to make sure that all the passports and tickets are with the passengers before leaving home,” said the Ministry.

These tips came in time when many citizens and residents are taking their summer vacation to spend holidays in another countries.

In the first quarter of this year, Hamad Interna-tional Airport (HIA) has reportedly served a total of 9.16 million passengers. It also handled 56,573 aircraft movements and 505,581 tonnes of cargo in total from January to March 2019.

HIA served 3.2 million passengers in January, 2.8 million in February and 3.15 million in March, which include passengers arriving, departing and transferring through Qatar’s airport, signifying a 5.07 percent increase from the previous year.

Live coverage of ‘Pacquiao vs Thurman’ on Ooredoo tv

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo has announced that its Ooredoo tv service will provide live coverage of the highly anticipated boxing match Pacquiao vs. Thurman, delighting boxing fans across Qatar.

The 40-year old Pacquiao is a Filipino professional boxer and politician, currently a senator in the Philippines.

Pacquiao is the only eight-division world champion in the history of boxing and is also the first boxer in history to win major titles in four of eight “glamour divisions” of boxing.

Pacquiao will be fighting Thurman, who is nicknamed “One Time” for his knockout power and considered one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division.

The Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman boxing fight, portrayed as Welterweight Supremacy, is part of the WBA Welterweight Championship and will take place on at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Customers can watch the much-awaited fight which will be aired tomorrow (Sunday) at 4am Doha time and will be available for all Ooredoo tv customers on pay-per-view channel 551 for just QR73.

According to a statement issued by Ooredoo Customers who do not yet have Ooredoo tv can visit any Ooredoo shop around town to sign up and collect their new set-top box.

Arabic calligraphy works on show at Katara

03SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 HOME

HEC Paris hosts module for Energy Major EMBA participants in Doha campusTHE PENINSULA DOHA

HEC Paris International Exec-utive MBA (EMBA) participants majoring in Energy, one of the eight specialisations from the International Executive MBA, have successfully concluded an intensive five-day programme in Qatar to gain a comprehensive understanding of crucial energy issues and the trends shaping the sector.

The 20 participants, coming from varied nationalities such as France, India, Spain, Ivory Coast, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Britain and Norway, attended lectures on energy and oil market funda-mentals, geo-economics and geo-politics of energy, renewable energy as well as financing and managing multi-stakeholder projects in the energy industry.

By being a part of this module, participants were able to acquire an in-depth under-standing of the energy business environment, major industry players and market drivers. Moreover, they were able to understand the constraints and opportunities associated with energy technologies and their potential impact on business models, as well as price

formation mechanisms. They also had the opportunity to meet executives from the energy world. Andrea Masini, HEC Paris Academic Director for the HEC Paris Energy major and Associate Dean of the MBA programs; Jean-Michel Gauthier, HEC Paris Executive Director of the Energy & Finance Chair; Joseph Nehme, HEC Paris Affiliate Professor of Operations Management and

Information Technology; and Yanick Latil, Managing Partner of Y&S Consulting LLP Managing Partner and HEC Paris Executive MBA Alumnus, offered their valued insights to the partici-pants through various path-breaking sessions.

In addition, the participants received a visit from Laurent-Rene Wolffsheim, Managing Director at Total E&P Group

representative; and Darina Revina, an HEC Paris alumna and Senior analyst at Nebras Power QSC, who shared their knowledge and experience on renewable energy across the region. Professor Masini said: “Owing to its increasing signifi-cance in the current economic landscape globally, the Energy sector needs deserving attention from academia.”

The 20 participants, coming from varied nationalities, attended lectures on different areas of the energy industry.

HBKU Press’s QScience publishes research on negative effects of mental health stigma in QatarTHE PENINSULA DOHA

HBKU Press’s academic platform QScience.com has recently published a research article exploring the negative effects of mental health stigma in Qatar revealing how stigmas hinder mental health patients from seeking help and treatment.

Launched in September 2011, QScience.com is a peer-reviewed online publishing platform that offers a unique and collaborative research envi-ronment for academics and scholars in Qatar, the MENA and the rest of the world.

QScience.com adopts the Open Access publishing model and hosts scholarly journals, conference proceedings, and ebooks to disseminate knowledge and understanding of scientific, social, political and health- related subjects while adhering to the international publishing standards.

“The impact of publishing this type of article is critical to share the findings of less addressed issues with the local and global audience. We thrive to set our multidisciplinary QScience Connect journal at the level where valid, ethical, and impactful research is perceived by the broadest possible audience without barriers,” said Dr. Rima J. Isaifan, the Head of Academic and Journals Pub-lishing at HBKU Press.

This article, Stigma towards mental disorders in Qatar: a qualitative study, written by researchers at the University of Calgary in Qatar and the Uni-versity of New Brunswick, Fre-dericton: Bridget Stirling, Jason Hickey, Hanin Omar and Vahe Kehyayan, investigates a previ-ously taboo subject matter that is only just being openly dis-cussed and explored in the region.

“Mental health stigma has been studied extensively in Western countries, but has received very little research attention in the Middle East,” says Dr. Jason Hickey, Associate Professor of Nursing at the Uni-versity of New Brunswick, Fre-dericton (PhD). “It is important to study mental illness stigma in Qatar in order to support the Ministry of Public Health in its efforts to provide world-class care to people in Qatar who suffer from mental illness.”

Through extensive inter-views with several outpatients from mental health clinics, the research assesses how society views people with mental illness, the experience of receiving a mental illness

diagnosis, and how mental illness and the stigma towards mental illness affects daily life.

According to the research cited in the article, 36.6% of adults receiving healthcare from Primary Health Care Centers in Qatar met the diagnostic criteria for at least one mental illness with depression being the most commonly diagnosed disorder at 13.5%, followed by anxiety disorders at 10.3%. Yet, many people do not receive the treatment needed to manage mental illness due to the stigma around the topic. In many cases, it is reported that the stigma is seen as devastating as the illness itself and a major barrier to suf-ferers seeking treatment.

The article differentiates between implicit and explicit stigmas noting that implicit stigmas come in the form of neg-ative comments or observations about the behavior of a person with mental illness, while explicit stigma pertains to com-ments made directly about a person’s mental illness.

The article also explores how mental illness stigma is avoided, to which many partic-ipants responded that they simply do not disclose infor-mation about their illness to others. However, not disclosing one’s mental illness can act as a barrier to seeking treatment as social support from people who are aware and supportive may encourage mental wellness. The article reveals how psychiatric patients who have strong social support were significantly more likely to comply with treatment.

The study concluded that the burdens created through stigma as well as the strategy of non-disclosure about one’s mental health often led to self-seclusion and anti-social behavior, which can subsequently exacerbate symptoms and impede the treatment-seeking process.

Researchers hope that this study will assist policy makers, educators, and providers in developing an appropriate response to mental health stigma. “In the future, I would like to see the State of Qatar develop programs that help people with mental illness dis-cover the resources to achieve their goals, and celebrate their strengths and resilience,” notes Dr. Hickey. “What they want more than anything is an oppor-tunity to contribute to their family and community.”

The article can be accessed at QScience.com along with thousands of other academic journals, conference pro-ceedings and books, available free to the public.

Children pluck dates from a palm tree at a residential area in Doha yesterday. LEFT: Half-ripe dates at a residential area. PICS: SALIM MATRAMKOT /THE PENINSULA

Seasonal views

51 artists take part in 6th Colours of Desert expoRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

In probably the biggest gathering of artists in Doha for this year yet, the sixth edition of Colours of Desert exhibition opened on Thursday at Katara Cultural Village featuring 102 artworks by 51 contemporary artists.

Hundreds of art connois-seurs and enthusiasts flocked to Katara Building 18 to marvel the stunning and diverse artworks that adorn the walls of both gal-leries at Katara Building 19 which were products of the unique artistry of the multicul-tural members of Middle East Art and Silk Painters-MAPS International.

“During the time of the inau-guration, we were honored to welcome over 400 guests. Eve-ryone appreciated the panorama of colours and we wish our art touches the hearts and souls of many,” Rashmi Agarwal, founder and chairperson of MAPS Inter-national, commented on the exhibition launch which she described as “amazing and heartfelt.”

The opening of the

exhibition was attended by Hamad Mohammed Al Marri, Director to Minister of Culture and Sports, Saif Al Dosari, Human Resources Director at Katara, ambassadors and members of diplomatic missions and dignitaries.

The thematically diverse and culturally rich pieces created by 22 Qatari and 29 Doha-based artists from 18 nationalities offer a vista into the vibrancy of Qatar’s art scene.

“Through art we can show people around the world the culture of Qatar and that it is not only financially rich but also cul-turally wealthy,” said Prem Chokli, one of the artists, who has been taking part in the exhi-bition multiple times.

Having lived in Qatar for quarter century, Chokli, a

full-time versatile artist who focuses on painting and sculpture, says he considers Qatar as his and his family’s second home.

For this exhibition, Chokli depicted the beauty of the Arabian horse with Souq Waqif in the backdrop. He believes his classic rendering of the image creates a link between people and the beauty of Qatar as rep-resented by two iconic cultural symbols namely the Arabian horse and Souq Waqif.

On his view of the relevance of the show, he said: “This exhi-bition promotes togetherness among artists and an effective vehicle to attract people to appreciate art. What you see here are not just paintings; they represent lots of efforts and hard work.”

Among the eye-catching pieces on display at the exhi-bition are Qatari artist Fouad Al Emadi’s highly imaginative and symbolic paintings, Shuaa Ali’s

series of abstract portraits, Richard Bentley’s digital art titled “Stream of Consciousness,” Nazish Hayyat Channa’s acrylic dot artworks and Dhiana Hijaz’s

pieces using unique materials.The exhibition is open for

public viewing from 10am to 10pm until August 1 at Katara Building 19, Gallery 1 and 2.

Hamad Mohammed Al Marri (left), Director to the Minister of Culture and Sports; Saif Saeed Al Dosari (second left), Human Resources Department Manager at Katara, and Rashmi Agarwal (second right), President and Founder of MAPS International, during the launch of Colours of Desert Series 6 exhibition at Katara building 19 on Thursday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

Hundreds of art connoisseurs and enthusiasts flocked to Katara Building 18 to marvel the stunning and diverse artworks that adorn the walls of both galleries at Katara Building 19 which were products of the unique artistry of the multicultural members of Middle East Art and Silk Painters-MAPS International.

04 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Tehran dismisses US claim of destroying Iranian droneAFP TEHRAN

Tehran yesterday denied the United States had downed one of its drones, saying all Iranian aircraft were accounted for and jesting Washington may have accidentally hit their own machine.

The latest incident in the strategic Strait of Hormuz comes amid soaring tensions between the two foes, with Washington already reeling from Iran shooting down one of its drones last month.

US President Donald Trump said an American naval vessel downed an Iranian drone on Thursday that threatened the ship as it was entering the Strait — a claim vehemently denied by Tehran.

Iran’s armed forces dis-missed Trump’s assertion as “baseless and delusional” while admitting one of their drones was flying near the US ship.

“All of (Iran’s) drones... have safely returned to their bases,” said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi.

“There have been no reports of a confrontation with the American USS Boxer” naval vessel, he added, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

The Revolutionary Guards said they will “soon” publish photos taken by one of their drones of the USS Boxer.

Images were transmitted to base “before and even after the time Americans claim” the drone was destroyed, according to a statement on the force’s Sepahnews website.

The Pentagon said the ship “was in international waters” when a drone approached at approximately 10:00 am local time (0530 GMT).

Trump said on Thursday the USS Boxer “took defensive action” against an Iranian air-craft as it was “threatening the safety” of the vessel and its crew.

But Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi quipped that the United States may have actually downed one of its own aircraft.

“I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own (drone) by mistake!” Abbas Araghchi tweeted Friday.

- Iran detains tanker - The confrontation comes after Tehran in June shot down an

American surveillance drone it said was flying in its airspace, a claim denied by the United States. Trump said he called off retaliatory strikes at the last minute following the incident.

Iran has in turn refuted US accusations that it was behind a series of recent tanker attacks off the United Arab Emirates coast and the Gulf of Oman.

The tanker troubles further intensified on July 4, when Gibraltar detained an Iranian vessel with the help of British Royal Marines.

Gibraltar’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Grace 1

Nearly 100 injured in Gaza border protestsANATOLIA & REUTERS GAZA

Ninety-seven Palestinians were injured during protests along Gaza border yesterday, according to health ministry.

The protesters converged near a security fence that sepa-rates Gaza Strip from Israel to demonstrate against Israel’s decades-long occupation of Pal-estinian territories.

Of those injured, 47 were harmed by live ammunition, said the ministry. Among the injured are two medical staff and two journalists.

No further information has been given about the state of the injured protesters.

Gaza’s National Authority for Return and Breaking the Siege (NARBS), which organises weekly rallies, called on Pales-tinians to attend demonstration and affirm on their right to return to their villages in his-torical Palestine.

Earlier yesterday, the NARBS warned Israel against any “esca-lation” against the Palestinian peaceful protestors.

Since the Gaza rallies began

in March last year, nearly 270 protesters have been martyred — and thousands more wounded — by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.

Demonstrators demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has shattered the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic amenities.

Meanwhile, Israeli plans to demolish Palestinian homes near a military barrier on the outskirts of Jerusalem have drawn international criticism, amid Palestinian fears that a precedent would be set for other buildings along the barrier route.

The deadline for residents of Sur Baher to remove the buildings expired after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in June that the structures in question vio-lated a construction ban.

Sur Baher is a Palestinian community that lies southeast of Jerusalem’s city centre in an area that Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East War. A sprawling village, it straddles the line between East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

South African President Ramaphosa dealt twin blows in anti-graft fightREUTERS JOHANNESBURG

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa suffered two major setbacks yesterday, when he was accused of misleading parliament and his predecessor Jacob Zuma won significant concessions from a corruption inquiry.

Ramaphosa has staked his reputation on cleaning up South African politics since he replaced Zuma as head of state in February 2018 and then won

a first full five-year term in May.

But he has been constrained by factional battles in the gov-erning African National Congress (ANC), where a section of the party remains loyal to Zuma and has launched a fightback against reforms which threaten their influence.

Zuma has ducked and dived this week at the inquiry, which is testing allegations that he allowed cronies to plunder state resources and influence senior appointments during his

nine years in power. He has denied those allegations.

He complained that he was being questioned unfairly, but on Friday he secured a deal whereby he will provide only written statements for now, before returning later to give more public testimony.

Political analysts say if the inquiry, which Zuma set up in his final weeks in office under pressure from rivals including Ramaphosa, fails to link the former president to serious wrongdoing it could dent Ram-

aphosa’s credibility. “By being aggressively unco-

operative and engaging in legal technicalities, Zuma has under-mined the integrity of the inquiry. It is awfully embar-rassing for Ramaphosa,” said Ralph Mathekga, an author of books on Zuma and Ramaphosa.

Zuma is a shrewd operator who survived several no-confi-dence votes before being ousted as president.

As head of intelligence for the outlawed ANC under

apartheid he was privy to sen-sitive information which he has threatened to use against former comrades in the liberation struggle.

After the inquiry adjourned yesterday, he made a rousing speech to several hundred sup-porters in downtown Johan-nesburg, saying spies had infil-trated the ANC and that he was ready to expose them.

“I know a lot about spies. That was my job in the ANC. I’ve never played around with that information, but if people want

me to uproot them I will,” Zuma said, before leading the crowd in renditions of struggle songs.

Ramaphosa’s second headache came from an inves-tigation report by an advocate with powers enshrined in the constitution to probe civil servants’ conduct.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said Ramaphosa had “deliberately misled” par-liament about a 500,000 rand ($35,955) donation he received for his campaign to become leader of the ANC in 2017.

Tripoli parliament warns of airstrikes by Haftar’s allies

AP CAIRO

Libya’s parliament based in the west says it has gathered intel-ligence warning of the use of possible airstrikes on Tripoli by allies of commander Khalifa Haftar, who launched a military offensive in April to capture the capital from the UN-backed government.

The Tripoli-based High Council of State issued a statement Thursday warning that France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were planning to “get more involved” in backing Haftar’s self-style Libyan National Army, which has “failed to achieve any progress.” The statement also warned that they would use “specific weapons” without identifying their types.

The parliament did not reveal details of the purported intelligence and there was no immediate response from the three nations.

Libya sank into chaos after Muammar Gaddafi’s 2011 ouster and is now divided between two administrations.

This combination of image grabs created from a video broadcast by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reportedly showing the footage obtained from an IRGC drone flying above an aircraft carrier at an undisclosed location. The Revolutionary Guards released the video claiming it belies the claim that the Boxer had downed an Iranian drone.

supertanker can be detained for 30 more days.

US officials believed the vessel was destined for Syria to deliver oil, in violation of sep-arate sets of European Union and US sanctions.

Following the seizure Iran branded the move “piracy” and, one week later, London said Iranian boats menaced a British tanker in the Gulf before they were driven off by a Royal Navy frigate.

That led to US calls for an international flotilla to escort hydrocarbon-laden vessels from Gulf oil fields through the Strait of Hormuz.

The incidents have raised fears of a regional conflict involving the US and its allies in the Gulf region, through which nearly a third of the world’s oil is transported.

The top commander of Iran’s Guards said they were not

seeking to “initiate a war” but would respond to hostilities.

“If enemies make a mistake in calculation, our defensive strategy and all our capacities will change to offensive,” said General Hossein Salami, quoted by Sepahnews.

His comments came after the Guards said Thursday they had seized a “foreign tanker” believed to be the Panamanian-flagged vessel Riah and its crew.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accuse the ship of smuggling Iranian fuel.

- ‘Psychological pressure’ - US Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie pledged Thursday to work “aggressively” with partners to ensure freedom of navigation in Gulf waters.

But the Guards’ deputy chief said the United States will soon realise “it is not in its interest at all to stay in the region”.

US forces are under

mounting “psychological pressure” in the Gulf, Brigadier-General Ali Fadavi was quoted by Tasnim as saying.

The drone incident comes amid a threatened breakdown of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with Washington steadily ratcheting up economically debilitating sanctions on Tehran a year after unilaterally quitting the deal.

Earlier this month, Tehran purposely surpassed the deal’s caps on uranium enrichment, aiming to pressure the remaining parties to make good on their promises to support Iran economically.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran’s oil exports are blocked through sanctions.

Last month Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran was keeping up sales through “uncon-ventional” means to circumvent the US measures.

AFP/LONDON

Britain yesterday said Iran had seized two ships in the Gulf, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemning the incidents as “unacceptable” and saying he was “extremely concerned”.

“I’m extremely concerned by the seizure of two naval vessels by Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a statement. “These seizures are unacceptable.”

Britain confirmed that one of the boats seized was British registered. The other was Liberian-flagged, but reported to be owned by British company Norbulk Shipping.

The government was to hold an emergency ministerial meeting “to review what we know and what we can do to swiftly secure the release of the two vessels”, Hunt said.

Britain’s ambassador in Tehran was in contact with Iranian authorities “to resolve the situation”, he added.

The government said it did not believe any British citizens were on board either ship, but called on Iran to let them go.

“It is essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region,” said Hunt.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced earlier Friday they had confiscated the British tanker Stena Impero, owned by Swedish shipping giant Stena Bulk, for breaking “international maritime rules”.

Liberian-flagged tanker Mesdar, owned by British company Norbulk Shipping, was then reported to have been seized after deviating sharply from its course in the same stretch of water.

Seizure of two navalvessels ‘unacceptable’: UK

End Syria hospital attacks, Russia told at UNAFP/UNITED NATIONS

Russia yesterday opposed a United Nations Security Council declaration calling for an end to attacks on health facilities in Syria’s Idlib region, diplomats said after the latest meeting over violence in the country’s last major opposition bastion.

The outcome led to a rare statement following the meeting by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock. “The carnage

must stop,” he said. Russian and regime aircraft have since late April ramped up deadly bombardment of the Idlib region of about three million people in northwest Syria, despite a deal to avert a massive government assault.

Kuwait, Germany and Belgium asked for the hastily called closed-door session, the latest of many they have sought since May in response to wors-ening fighting in Syria’s northwest. The draft text, given to journalists

and which required unanimous backing to be adopted, expressed “grave concern regarding the recent attacks on hospitals and other health facilities.”

Those included a July 10 attack on Maarat National Hos-pital, one of the largest in the area whose coordinates had been shared through the UN “deconfliction mechanism” that aims to spare civilian targets. Russia again denied bombing such facilities.

Smoke billows above buildings during a reported air strike by pro-regime forces on Khan Sheikhun in the Syria’s Idlib province, yesterday.

05SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 ASIA

All India Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (C) participates ia a sitting in protest at Narayanpur District, Mirzapur, after being stopped to meet the victims of a shooting which took place over disputed patch of farmland in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Priyanka detained in Uttar Pradesh, refuses to leaveIANS MIRZAPUR, UTTAR PRADESH

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi remained in detention here yesterday, eight hours after she was driven to a guest house after she insisted on proceeding to Sonebhadra district in Uttar Pradesh where 10 people were killed in clashes over a land dispute on Wednesday.

She also described the killings of members of the Gond tribe as “massacre”.

According to party leaders, the Congress General Secretary is firm on meeting the victims’ families. Congress MLA Lalitesh Pati Tripathi said that Priyanka was firm on going to the site where the killings took place in the clash between Gonds and Gujjars. “Priyanka Gandhi was asked to fill a bail bond of Rs 50,000, which she rejected, saying that even if she had to stay here for 10 days, she shall stay but she would not leave till the time she meets the family members of the victims. There is no question of any bail,” Tri-pathi said in a tweet.

According to the party leaders, the district adminis-tration has cut off the elec-tricity and water supply to the guest house where Priyanka has been detained since the afternoon. No arrangements

have been made for food either. Priyanka was detained at the

Chunar Guest House here after she was stopped from going to Murtiya village in Sonebhadra district. The police denied that she had been arrested.

The Congress leader arrived in Varanasi last morning and met the injured persons admitted to the Trauma Centre of the Banaras Hindu University. When she proceeded towards Soneb-hadra, her convoy was stopped on the Mirzapur border. A defiant Priyanka then squatted on the ground with the Congress workers and was later taken away in a government vehicle to Chunar.

She told reporters: “I don’t know where are they taking me. We are ready to go anywhere.”

She asked the officials for written orders as to why she was being prevented from going to Sonebhadra. “I just want to meet the families of the victims. I am willing to take only four people with me because I do not want to defy the prohibitory orders and yet the district adminis-tration is not allowing us,” she complained.

At least 10 people, including three women, died and over 24 were injured in a clash between Gond and Gujjar communities over a land dispute in Sonebhadra on Wednesday. Gandhi described the killings as a “massacre” and

demanded Rs2.5m as compen-sation to each of the deceased family. Speaking to party sup-porters at the guest house, Gandhi said that atrocities were being carried out on the tribals in the state. “They were killed because they were demanding their rights, they were fighting for their land,” she said.

Priyanka added that three days before Wednesday’s incident, the villagers had informed the police about the brewing tension in the area. “But the police did not pay heed to their complaints. They even did not take any action when such incidents were happening there,” she said. She said that she wanted to meet the victims’ fam-ilies to assure them that someone was standing with them in these difficult times. She said, “Massacre is happening here. And I was going there to show the entire country what happened in Sonebhadra.”

She later tweeted that the state’s BJP government had failed to curb violence and was instead curbing her rights to stand up for the rights of the victims. Even while she remained under detention, scores of Congress workers and local people gathered at the guest house to meet Priyanka with whom she held discussions on several issues.

Karnataka CM ignoresGovernor’s deadline; floor test on MondayIANS BENGALURU

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy (pictured), yesterday missed the second deadline of 6pm set by Governor Vajubhai Vala to prove the Congress-JD(S)coalition govern-ment’s majority in the Assembly.

“As the debate on the confi-dence motion moved by the Chief Minister on Thursday did not conclude in the Assembly, Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar could not conduct the floor test by the 6pm deadline set by the Governor for the second time,” an official said.

The Governor directed the Chief Minister to prove the majority by 6pm after the 1:30 pm deadline he set on Thursday night lapsed, as the discussions on the motion did not conclude by then even as the Speaker adjourned the House till 3pm.

In response to the demand of the ruling Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmakers to allow them to participate in the discussions, the Speaker said that he would extend the ses-sion’s time for a couple of hours, but pleaded with them to end the debate by Friday and conclude the floor test. The opposition BJP insisted on conducting the floor test by Friday night itself.

Kumaraswamy and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda appealed to the Speaker to extend the debate to Monday, assuring him to complete the floor test.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah also

sought time till Monday.“The Chief Minister failed to

prove majority in the Assembly by 1:30 p.m., the deadline set by the Governor on Thursday,” opposition BJP leader B S Yed-dyurappa told the Speaker after the first deadline lapsed.

When the former three-time BJP Chief Minister urged the Speaker to conduct the floor test forthwith, Kumar said that he would do it after the discussions on the confidence motion were completed by the treasury and the opposition members.

“Voice vote on the confi-dence motion only after discus-sions on it by the treasury and opposition members. Division of votes will be looked into if anyone demands for it after the voice vote,” said Kumar.

In a letter issued on Thursday night, Vala had directed the Chief Minister to prove majority by 1:30 p.m. on Friday, a time set in response to BJP’s complaint to him on the dilatory tactics of the ruling allies on the confidence motion Kumaraswamy moved on Thursday. Resuming the inconclusive debate on the motion, stalled six times due to

ruckus between the lawmakers of the ruling allies and the BJP, Kumaraswamy said that it was for the Speaker to decide on the Governor’s order as to when he should prove the majority on the floor of the House. “It is not for me to decide by when I should prove the majority. It is the Speaker who is the custodian of the House and has the supreme authority to decide how the session should be conducted,” said Kumaraswamy.

Intervening in the debate, Byre Gowda said the Governor cannot give such an order on the motion which was being debated by the ruling parties and the opposition members.

“We fail to understand how the Governor could direct the Chief Minister to prove majority in a limited timeframe without completing the debate by both sides and hearing the reply on it by the Chief Minister as men-tioned in the rule book,” said Gowda. A restive BJP told the Speaker not to allow the ruling combine to further delay the floor test as there was no stay on it from the Supreme Court on the trial of strength.

Relatives of the victims of a mob lynching incident pleading to a police officer as they mourn outside a hospital in Chapra, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, yesterday.

Bill to check illicit deposits introducedIANS NEW DELHI

A Bill to tackle menace of illicit deposits and another that provides a mechanism for social, economic and educa-tional empowerment of trans-genders were introduced in Lok Sabha yesterday.

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The Bill will replace the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019 and seeks to help tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activ-ities in the country, which have been exploiting regulatory gaps and duping people of their hard earned money. It has provisions for punishment and payment of deposits in cases where such schemes manage to raise deposits illegally.

The Bill was passed earlier this year by the previous Lok Sabha but could not be passed by the Rajya Sabha. The Trans-gender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was introduced by Social Justice and Empow-erment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. The Bill intends to benefit transgender persons, mitigate the stigma, discrimination and abuse against the marginalised section and bring them into the main-stream of the society.

IANS/PATNA

In another case of street justice in a Bihar village, three men were allegedly thrashed to death and one critically injured by villagers over suspicion of cattle theft yesterday, police said.

The deceased were identified as Naushad Quraishi, Raju Nut and Videsh Nut. The incident took place in Pithori Nandlal village under Baniyapur police station in Saran district, according to the

police. “Four suspected cattle thieves were caught by villagers, three were beaten badly and they died on the way to the hospital. One was seriously injured and was admitted to a hospital. Police have arrested the three accused in the case, but it was not a case of mob lynching,” said Saran Superintendent of Police Hari Kishore Rai.

Police have lodged a case of murder against half-a-dozen unidentified people.

Three villagers lynched to death

Judge asked to deliver Babri Mosque verdict in nine monthsANATOLIA NEW DELHI

India’s Supreme Court yesterday ordered a state government to extend the tenure for six months of the special judge hearing a case pertaining to 1992 Babri Mosque demolition, local media reported.

According to Press Trust of India, a local news agency, the Apex Court directed the special judge of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine all evidence, as well as prosecution and defense wit-nesses within six months and deliver the verdict within nine months.

S K Yadav, the special judge of CBI who is set to retire on Sept. 30, had sought more time from the apex court to complete the trial in the case.

Earlier, the verdict was to be delivered on April 2019.

In 1885, a Hindu religious body asked a court for permission to construct a temple to honor the Hindu deity Ram inside the premises of the Babri Mosque, said to have been built by Mughal Emperor Babur in 1526. Permission was denied.

In 1949, a group of Hindus entered the mosque premises and installed an idol of Ram there. Declaring the area disputed land, the government placed the premises under lockdown, with the idol remaining inside with one official and one Hindu appointed as stewards of grounds.

In 1986, the local Faizabad administration opened the premises to Hindus, allowing them to carry out their rituals.

In December 1992, thousands of activists from extremist Hindu groups and political parties along with BJP leaders entered the mosque and demolished it, erecting a Hindu temple in its place.

The dispute has been languishing in India’s legal system for years with no final outcome in sight.

Indian gets 10years in prisonfor murderingBritish teenagerAP/NEW DELHI

An Indian court yesterday sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for the drugging and killing of a 15-year-old British girl whose body was found on a Goa beach in 2008.

Mumbai High Court Justices R D Dhanuka and Prithviraj Chavan handed Samson D’Souza the sentence for cul-pable homicide two days after overturning his acquittal in the attack on Scarlett Keeling. But the court upheld the trial court’s acquittal of another suspect in her death.

Vikram Varma, a lawyer representing Keeling’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, said in Panaji, the capital of Goa state, he was happy with the court’s decision.It has taken a lot of time, but justice has been done, he said.

The teenager’s death caused outrage among the millions of tourists who throng the beaches of the resort city on India’s west coast. Police originally said Keeling had drowned after taking drugs, but changed their story after her mother com-plained. D’Souza’s sentencing comes after an 11-year battle for justice by Scarlett’s mother.

A trial court acquitted both of the accused in 2016 saying there was not enough evidence to convict them.

IANS/JAMMU

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu and Kashmir on a day-long visit today. Defence sources said that Rajnath Singh will be accompanied by the Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, during his visit to all the three regions of the state.

“The Defnce Minister will pay homage at the War Memorial in Drass. He will visit the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region to

review the preparedness of the deployed troops. He will also visit the Valley and review the security situation along the Line of Control (LoC) there.

“During his daylong schedule, Rajnath Singh will inaugurate two bridges in Samba and Kathua districts,” a statement issued on Friday said.

This will be Rajnath Singh’s first visit to Jammu after he took over as the country’s Defence Min-ister. He had visited Ladakh and the Valley as the on June 3.

Defence Minister to visit Jammu & Kashmir today

The Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda appealed to the Speaker to extend the debate to Monday, assuring him to complete the floor test.

06 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019ASIA

PM Imran to meet Trump hoping to mend fences and attract investmentREUTERS ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (pictured) travels to the United States tomorrow hoping the arrest of a militant leader with a $10m US bounty on his head and progress in Afghan peace talks will help secure a favourable reception.

Khan is expected to try to mend fences and attract much needed investment during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in exchange for assurances of full cooperation in ending the war in Afghanistan and fighting militant threats.

Trump, a property developer turned reality TV star, and Khan, World Cup-winning captain of the Pakistan cricket team, both came to office after achieving fame away from politics and the personal chemistry between the two may be decisive.

“A lot will depend on the kind of mood that President Trump and indeed Prime Min-ister Imran Khan find them-selves in,” said Farzana Sheikh, associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

“Neither of them is known to be particularly predictable.” Battling to stave off a balance of payments crisis and forced to seek a bailout from the Inter-national Monetary Fund, Pakistan is badly in need of foreign investment but security is likely to be the main focus of the visit.

Khan will be accompanied by the powerful Army chief,

General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Analysts believe he will play a key role in behind-the-scenes discussions where much of the serious business of the visit will take place, with the military looking to persuade Washington to restore aid and cooperation.

“It’s a visit which is closely being monitored by the military which is in desperate need for money,” said author and analyst Ayesha Siddiqa.

Last year, Trump cut off hun-dreds of millions of dollars in security assistance to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of offering “nothing but lies and deceit” while giving safe haven to ter-rorists, a charge angrily rejected by Islamabad.

But Khan will believe the arrest on Wednesday of Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of a four-day militant attack on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, will send the right signals to Trump, who exuber-antly welcomed the news on Twitter.

More than 160 people were

killed in the four-day militant attacks. Saeed is designated a terrorist by the United States and the United Nations.

Trump said Saeed’s arrest “after a 10-year search”, was the result of pressure from his administration on Pakistan to get tougher on militants.

But Saeed has been in and out of Pakistan prisons for the last decade and even addressed public rallies. As well as assur-ances that it is cracking down on militants, Khan is likely to stress Pakistan’s role in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table with the United States.

Trump has made no secret of his desire to end US military involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s cooperation will be essential to any deal to end the war and ensure the country does not become a base for militant groups like Islamic State.

“The United States, Russia and China know that without Pakistan’s co-operation, there can be no settlement in Afghan-istan,” Sheikh said.

Security officials inspecting the scene of a bomb blast near Kabul University, yesterday.

8 dead and 33 wounded in blast near Kabul UniversityAP KABUL

A powerful bomb exploded outside the gates of Kabul Uni-versity in the Afghan capital yes-terday, killing eight people and wounding 33, according to police and health officials.

Several of the wounded were in critical condition, they said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest to target Kabul.

The early morning blast also set two vehicles ablaze although it wasn’t clear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz.

The casualty tolls were

released by the Health Ministry spokesman, Dr. Wahidullah Mayar, who tweeted: “All the wounded patients were evac-uated to our hospitals and have been receiving the required treatment.”

After initial reports of six dead, Mayer said two people died of their wounds and that the number of wounded rose to 33, following reports from hospitals around the city.

The university compound houses several hostels where many students stay over the summer, attending classes and working on research projects. The university is co-ed and has women attending classes alongside men, something the Taliban oppose, saying they

accept education for women but that it should be segregated.

Massoud, an economics pro-fessor at the university who like many Afghans uses only one name, said that several lawyers were taking their exams to become judges when the explosion occurred. It wasn’t immediately clear if the lawyers were the target.

Taliban spokesman Zabi-hullah Mujahid said he was not aware of any Taliban involvement in yesterday’s attack. Also, a roadside mine killed five people who were riding in a car in eastern Ghazni province. Their identities were not immediately known. There was no claim of responsibility for that attack.

Islamabad aims to bring religiousschools into mainstreamREUTERS ISLAMABAD

Pakistan has agreed on a plan to overhaul instruction at madrasas or religious schools to bring the institutions closer into line with conventional schools and curb extremist teaching, Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said yesterday.

The plan is the latest effort to address longstanding con-cerns that the roughly 30,000 madrasas in Pakistan provide a haven for extremist teaching with a rigid curriculum based around religious studies that fails to prepare students for employment after they graduate.

Under the plan, agreed with the madrasa umbrella organi-zation, Wafaq-ul-madaris, reli-gious schools would be regis-tered and helped to strengthen conventional teaching in sub-jects like English, science and mathematics.

They would remain respon-sible for religious teaching and

in exchange would have to commit to ensuring that extremist teaching was not part of the curriculum. “There will be no preaching of hate speech of any kind against any religion or sect,” he said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, facing heavy international pressure to clamp down on mil-itant groups operating from Pakistan territory, announced plans earlier this year to “main-stream” the madrasas, often associated with feeding radi-calized youth to Islamist groups.

Numerous similar attempts have been made over the years, going back to the time of former President Pervez Musharraf almost two decades ago.

Mindful of the risk of backlash in a deeply conservative country, Mahmood said the government was not seeking confrontation with the madrasas, which are often the only form of education available to poor families. “We will not be taking over the madrasas,” he said.

Pakistan’s tribal areas set to turn the page with first-ever pollsANATOLIA PESHAWAR

Over 2.8 million voters from Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region will go to the landmark polls today to elect their repre-sentatives for the provincial assembly — the first time in the region’s history.

Formerly known as Fed-erally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) — a conglomerate of seven semi-autonomous regions — is going to witness the first ever polls after being merged with the adjoining Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) province in line with a constitutional amendment by the parliament last year.

Previously, the residents of the seven tribal agencies — now districts — were allowed to take part only in the country’s lower house — the National Assembly — polls. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, more

than 2.8 million registered voters — 1.7 million male and 1.13 million female — will be eligible to vote to elect 16 members of the provincial assembly.

A total of 285 candidates are contesting the elections, of which only two are women. Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamat-e-Islami have fielded the two women candidates from Khyber and Kurram districts respectively.

Major political parties taking part in the polls are, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), key opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Center-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), ANP and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) — an ethnic nationalist movement in the country’s northwestern and southwestern Pashtun-popu-lated areas.

The PTM, which is popular in restive North and South

Waziristan, had clinched both National Assembly seats for the two districts in 2018 elections. However, both parliamentarians — Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar — are currently in jail for allegedly attacking a military checkpoint in North Waziristan during a protest demonstration in May this year.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI — likely to win highest number of seats — is the only party that has fielded candidates for all the 16 constituencies.

Jamaat-e-Islami is hopeful to clinch seats from Bajaur district — its stronghold — whereas, the JUI — another mainstream reli-gious party — is expected to perform well in South Waziristan, and Kurram districts.

In addition to 16 seats, there are five reserved seats — four for women and 1 for minorities — which will be filled in line with the number of votes each party attains in the general polls.

People walk in floodwaters as they transport belongings on a makeshift raft following heavy monsoon rains at a flood affected area of Gaibandha District, in Northern Bangladesh, yesterday

Bangladesh rivers break their banks, 400,000 flee homesREUTERS DHAKA

Rain-swollen rivers in Bang-ladesh broke through at least four embankments, submerging dozens of villages and doubling the number of people fleeing their homes overnight to 400,000 in one of the worst floods in recent years, officials said.

Heavy rains and overflowing rivers have swamped 23 districts in northern and northwestern Bangladesh, officials said. At least 30 people have been killed since the floods began last week.

“The government has opened more than 1,000 temporary shelters but due to deep waters and lack of communications, many people aren’t able to reach them,” Raihana Islam, an official in the flood-afflicted district of Bogra, said. Islam said scores of people had instead camped on

embankments, railway lines and highways, where traffic has come to a standstill. Aside from concern over crops, authorities are also worried that rising flood waters could take a toll on livestock.

South Asia receives monsoon rains between June and October that often lead to floods later in the season, but the intensity of the deluge in Bangladesh is uncommon. “The severity of the flood of this year is worse com-pared to recent years,” Ariful Islam, an executive engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board, said.

The floods worsened after three embankments on the Brah-maputra river, which flows down from the Himalayas, through northeastern India and into Bang-ladesh, gave way on Thursday, said Mohammad Moniruzzaman, an official in the federal agri-culture ministry.

Pakistan’s former finance minister gets a week’s bailAP / KARACHI

A defence lawyer in Pakistan said a former finance minister has been granted a week’s bail in a corruption case involving natural gas imports.

The development will delay the expected detention of ex-minister Miftah Ismail who is sought by the National Account-ability Bureau.

Nihal Hashmi says the High Court in Sindh province granted Ismail bail yesterday.

Meanwhile, a court in Islamabad gave the bureau 13 days to investigate former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who was arrested on Thursday in the same case involving Ismail.

Court quashes anti-graft plea against MaryamINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The Accountability Court in Islamabad yesterday dismissed the National Accountability Bureau plea against Pakistan Muslim League-N Vice-Pres-ident Maryam Nawaz in the ‘Avenfield reference’ case.

Maryam reached the federal capital from Lahore yesterday to appear before the accountability court. Earlier this month, the court’s judge Mohammad Bashir issued summons for Maryam as the NAB claimed that the trust deeds produced by her in the case were bogus. The court dis-missed the plea, declaring it inadmissible for hearing.

Due to the former first daughter’s appearance, strict security measures were put in place outside the judicial complex and unconcerned people were barred from entry.

PML-N workers chanted slogans in favour of their party leader as police earlier arrested seven party workers.

The Pakistan Prime Minister is expected to try to mend fences and attract much needed investment during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in exchange for assurances of full cooperation in ending the war in Afghanistan and fighting militant threats.

Witness accounts and reports suggested the man had a grudge against Kyoto Animation, but police only have said the suspect Shinji Aoba, 41, who is hospitalised with severe burns and unable to talk, is from near Tokyo and did not work for the studio.

07SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 ASIA

Arson suspect had ‘grudge’ against anime studio AP & REUTERS KYOTO

Police yesterday were investi-gating at the blackened, gutted building in Kyoto where a man raging about theft set a fire that killed 33 people in a beloved ani-mation studio, crushing the hearts of comic fans in Japan and beyond.

Witness accounts and reports suggested the man had a grudge against Kyoto Animation, but police only have said the suspect Shinji Aoba, 41, who is hospitalised with severe burns and unable to talk, is from near Tokyo and did not work for the studio.

Japanese broadcaster NHK and other media said Aoba spent three-and-a-half years in prison for robbing a convenience store in 2012 and lived on government support. The man told police that he set the fire because he thought “(Kyoto Animation) stole novels,” according to Japanese media. It was unclear if he had contacted the studio earlier.

Authorities said most of the dead were killed by carbon dioxide inhalation.

Aoba wheeled a trolley car-rying at least one bucket of petrol to the entrance of the building before dousing the area, shouting “die” and setting it ablaze on Thursday, broadcaster Nippon TV said, citing police.

“I did it,” Aoba told police when he was detained, Kyodo

news said, adding that he had started the fire because he believed the studio had stolen his novel. Police declined to comment. Aoba was under anaesthesia because of burns he suffered and police were unable to question him, Nippon TV said.

He “seemed to be discon-tented, he seemed to get angry, shouting something about how he had been plagiarized”, a woman who saw him being detained told reporters.

The studio had about 160 employees with an average age of 33, according to its website. That makes it a rela-tively young company in rapidly greying Japan. Tributes to the victims lit up social media, with world leaders and Apple Inc’s chief executive offering condolences.

Aoba, a resident of the Tokyo suburb of Saitama, some

480km east of the ancient capital of Kyoto, was believed to have bought two 20-litre cans at a hardware store and prepared the petrol in a park near the studio, Nippon TV said. He travelled to the area by train, the broadcaster said.

NHK showed footage of him lying on his back as he spoke to a police officer at the time of his detention, shoeless and with apparent burns on his right leg below the knee.

He had no connection with Kyoto Animation, NHK said. None of the victims’ identities had been disclosed as of yes-terday. There were 74 people inside the building when the fire started, Kyodo said.

Last month, Aoba had a confrontation when he com-plained to a neighbour about noise in the apartment building, the Mainichi newspaper reported. When the neighbour said the noise was coming from another apartment, Aoba grabbed the neighbour’s shirt and said: “Shut up, I’ll kill you,” the newspaper said.

The fire that tore through the building spread so fast not only because it was fuelled by petrol, but because it was fun-nelled up a spiral staircase and there were no sprinklers to douse it, experts said.

Nineteen of the 33 who died were found on a staircase leading up to the roof from the third

Japanese police officers inspecting the scene where over 30 people died in a fire at the Kyoto Animation studio building, in Kyoto yesterday.

floor, bodies piled on top of each other, Kyodo said, citing author-ities. Firefighters arriving soon after the fire began found the door to the roof was shut but could be opened from the outside, Kyodo said.

The victims may have rushed up the stairs to escape the blaze and found themselves unable to open the door, it added. The fire

wasn’t put out until early yes-terday. Police investigators searched the smouldering shell of the building for evidence in an investigation that Kyodo said covered suspected arson, murder and attempted murder.

Two petrol cans, a rucksack and a trolley were found near the site, and television images showed what appeared to be five

long knives laid out by police as possible evidence outside the three-storey building.

Kyoto Animation, in a quiet suburb about 20 minutes by train from the centre of Kyoto, pro-duces popular “anime” series such as the “Sound! Euphonium”. Its “Free! Road to the World - The Dream” movie is due for release this month.

Japan-South Korea row deepens as man dies of immolationREUTERS TOKYO/SEOUL

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono summoned and admon-ished South Korea’s ambassador yesterday in a deepening diplo-matic row over compensation for Korean wartime forced labour that threatens global supply of memory chips and display screens.

The dispute took a tragic turn yesterday when a South Korean man set himself on fire in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in an apparent protest and later died from his injuries.

South Korea’s ambassador to Japan, Nam Gwan-pyo, was summoned to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono a day after a midnight deadline set by Japan for South Korea to accept third-country arbitration of the forced labour dispute passed.

South Korea has rejected third-country arbitration and Kono said Seoul must take swift measures to correct what Japan says was an improper ruling last year by South Korea’s Supreme Court ordering two Japanese firms to compensate the wartime workers. Japan says the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 treaty which established diplomatic relations between the two nations post World War Two.

“What the South Korean

government is doing now is equivalent to subverting the post-World War Two interna-tional order,” Kono said at the start of the meeting.

Nam responded that South Korea was working every day to create an environment where the lawsuits could be dealt with in a way that would be acceptable to both sides and not harm bilateral ties.

The two diplomats exchanged testy remarks in front of reporters, with Kono inter-rupting when Nam said South Korea had already proposed a plan to resolve the issue.

“Hold on,” Kono said. “We’ve already told the South Korean side the South Korean proposal was totally unacceptable, and that that is not something that would redress the situation where international law is vio-lated. It is extremely impertinent to propose it again by pretending to not know that.”

Neither official specified what that plan was, but last month Japan rejected a South Korean proposal to form a joint fund with Japan to compensate South Korean plaintiffs.

Later, South Korea’s foreign ministry rejected Japan’s call for third-party arbitration as arbi-trary and said Japan must instead remember the wrongs it committed during colonial rule and make efforts to heal the wound.

China’s space lab re-enters atmosphereQNA BEIJING

China’s space lab Tiangong-2 reentered the earth’s atmos-phere under control at around 9:06pm (Beijing time) yes-terday, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

A small amount of the spacecraft’s debris fell into the predetermined safe sea area in the South Pacific, according to the agency.

Tiangong-2’s controlled re-entry into the atmosphere marks the successful com-pletion of all the tasks in the space lab phase in China’s manned space program, Xinhua reported quoting Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program.

Efforts are being made to step up preparations for con-structing China’s space station, CMSA said. Tiangong-2, an improved version of Tiangong-1, is considered China’s first space lab. Launched on September 15, 2016, the space lab has worked in orbit over 1,000 days, much longer than its 2-year designed lifespan.

8 children dead in Philippines truck crashAP MANILA

A truck carrying more than two dozen villagers, mostly ecstatic grade schoolers on their way to a school festival, lost control yesterday on a downhill road and flipped on its side, leaving eight students and an adult dead in the central Philippines, police said.

Police investigator Nelson Saquibal said 16 others, including the driver, were brought to a hospital after the accident in Boljoon town in Cebu province. The students from two village schools were on their way to attend a cul-tural, health and sports festival in the town center, he said.

Saquibal said that some of the students were pinned under the truck while others were tossed off the vehicle by the impact and retrieved by resi-dents, police and firefighters.

Taiwan pledges help for HK protesters seeking sanctuaryAFP TAIPEI

Taiwan’s government said yes-terday that it would provide assistance to Hong Kongers seeking sanctuary after local media reported dozens of activists involved in an unprec-edented storming of the city’s parliament had fled to the island.

The pledge risks infuriating Beijing but comes as Taiwan gears up for a presidential election where a dominating issue will be relations with the mainland — which sees the self-ruled island as its own territory and has vowed to seize it.

Over 30 Hong Kong

protesters who fear prosecution for their involvement in the ran-sacking of the finance hub’s leg-islature on July 1 have arrived in Taiwan to seek shelter, Taiwan’s Apple Daily said, citing sources.

The report said the activists are staying in various locations and that some are receiving assistance from local NGOs.

The Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s top policy-making body on China, did not confirm whether any requests for sanctuary had been made.

But it issued a statement yes-terday saying it would handle such cases “under the principle of respecting human rights pro-tections and humanitarian

concerns”. “(We) can provide necessary assistance to Hong Kong residents whose safety and freedom are in urgent danger due to political reasons,” it said.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen added her support for such a move. “These friends from Hong Kong will be treated in an appropriate way on humani-tarian grounds,” Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted her as saying during a visit to the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies.

Hong Kong has been rocked by more than a month of huge and largely peaceful protests -- as well as a series of separate

violent confrontations with police — sparked by a law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China and other countries. Taiwan’s history of providing sanctuary to Chinese dissidents has been mixed. The island still does not recognise the legal concept of asylum but has, on occasions, allowed dissidents to stay on long term visas.

Tsai’s offer comes as she is seeking a second term at Janu-ary’s election. Ties with Beijing have soured since she came to power in 2016 because her party refuses to recognise the idea that Taiwan is part of “one China”.

Since her landslide victory, Beijing has cut official

communications, ramped up military exercises, poached dip-lomatic allies and ratcheted up economic pressure on the island.

Tsai has described the 2020 presidential election as a “fight for freedom and democracy”, setting herself up as someone who can defend Taiwan from an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Her main opponent Han Kuo-yu — from the more China-friendly Kuomintang party — has advocated warmer ties with the mainland. Apple Daily said around 30 more protesters are planning to come to Taiwan later hoping to stay long-term and follow the case set by Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee.

Blast rocks China gas plant, 2 deadAFP BEIJING

A huge explosion rocked a gas plant in central China yesterday, killing at least two people and injuring another 18, state media said. Another twelve people were missing after the blast, said state broadcaster CCTV, which shattered windows and doors of buildings in a 3km radius.

Official news agency Xinhua had earlier said “many people” were injured by the explosion, which happened at 5:50pm local time (0950 GMT). Xinhua said the blast occurred in the air

separation unit of the Henan Coal Gas Group factory and not in the gas tank areas, citing a source in the Yima city gov-ernment. All production at the plant has been stopped.

“Many windows and doors within a three-kilometre radius were shattered, and some interior doors were also blown out by the blast,” CCTV said on its Twitter-like Weibo social media account.

Local media showed amateur videos of a massive column of black smoke billowing from the factory and debris lit-tering the roads.

Other images showed the doors and windows of homes blown out and shuttered shops with dented metal fronts.

Deadly industrial accidents are common in China. In March, a blast at a chemical plant in eastern Jiangsu province killed 78 people and injured hundreds.

The explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng toppled several buildings in the industrial park. Authorities detained two dozen people in connection with the March 21 blast, which prompted the government to order a nationwide inspection of chemical firms.

Flooding in Chinese cityA flooded street in Dazhou City in China’s southwest Sichuan Province. Heavy rainfall from July 16 to18 caused flooding in Dazhou, with more than 2,000 people forced to evacuate.

Limited funding and an ill-equipped municipality have hampered efforts to rebuild the Old City following a fierce nine-month military operation to root out ISIL fighters who had seized Mosul in June 2014.

08 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019VIEWS

Modern revamp threatens to raze riverfront in Mosul’s Old City

Two years after Iraqi forces cap-tured Mosul from ISIL, resi-dents say neighbourhoods along the riverfront of its Old

City risk losing their historical identity due to a plan by local authorities to transform the area into a “modern city”.

Limited funding and an ill-equipped municipality have hampered efforts to rebuild the Old City following a fierce nine-month military operation to root out ISIL fighters who had seized Mosul in June 2014.

The battle left Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest urban centre and capital of Nineveh province, a dilapidated ghost city, with many of its buildings in ruins and hundreds of thousands of its resi-dents forced from their homes.

Despite the widespread destruction, some of the displaced began returning shortly after the United States-backed operation against ISIL ended in July 2017.

And in the past few weeks, local authorities have proposed to residents a plan aimed at revamping historic neighbourhoods along the west bank of the Tigris River — an area full of mostly ravaged souqs, medieval churches, centuries-old mosques, homes and schools — into a modern investment hub.

The proposal, put together by Mosul Governor Mansour Al Mar’eed and uni-

dentified investors, seeks to create a “new city” with gleaming high rises, and large supermarket and restaurant chains.

According to Mar’eed, Mosul’s local gov-ernment already owns some of the areas along the riverfront and hopes to begin the rede-velopment plan once private owners are con-vinced to sell their destroyed

properties and plots of land. While still a vision for now, local authorities have already begun talks with residents to convince them of the proposal, which, they say, is the only way to redevelop Mosul in the face of limited support from the central government in Baghdad.

Despite their difficult living condi-tions, residents who spoke to Al Jazeera said they would not sell or exchange their properties.

“If we sell our land, we sell our identity,” Nashwan Khairy, a

50-year-old labourer — believed to be the first to return to the Old City after the declaration of victory against ISIL, told Al Jazeera.

“This land is our pride and destiny,” he added. “Even if it [Old Mosul] is just a pile of dust, we will stay here.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, al-Mar’eed, the governor, said that local authorities “will be speaking with the families within the next month … to convince them of the plan to build a modern city in the neighbourhoods along the riverfront”.

In a discussion with local commu-nities last month, al-Mar’eed urged res-idents in the historic al-Shahwan neighbourhood to swap their destroyed properties with patches of land in East Mosul.

His proposals, recorded by local journalists and widely circulated among Iraqis on June 19, created an uproar among Mosul residents.

As part of the proposal, al-Mar’eed last week called on Chinese companies to invest in Mosul’s redevelopment, noting that “soon competition will be fierce because many world companies are expected to come”.

A member of al-Mar’eed’s office told Al Jazeera that the governor also met with a French delegation last week to discuss investment opportunities in the city.

According to Mosul’s local author-ities, the lack of financial assistance from Baghdad is the principal reason behind their redevelopment plan.

“With no aid from Baghdad, we could do nothing,” al-Mar’eed told Al Jazeera, referring to the destroyed homes. “The government has not allo-cated a 2019 budget for the recon-struction of the Old City,” he adds.

Echoing al-Mar’eed, provincial council member Ali Khudair said that “the government doesn’t plan on com-pensating families in Mosul”, adding that it would be difficult to rebuild homes or preserve the Old City without any funding.

Mosul’s previous administration claimed to have received nothing of a $400m fund established in 2015 to help Iraq’s reconstruction, Reuters news agency reported in 2018. The city received only $252,000 in 2017 and in 2018, according to reports.

The United Nations and the

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have said that simply repairing Mosul’s basic infrastructure will cost about $1bn, while the Iraqi government estimates that double that amount will be needed. The estimates do not include a budget for rebuilding homes or restoring her-itage sites.

But for Ihsan Fethi, an Iraqi pro-fessor of architecture and heritage con-servation, the main obstacles facing Mosul are not just financial.

“There are too many agencies working separately without any coor-dination,” Fethi told Al Jazeera, adding that without a single authority to lead the efforts, the situation in the Old City risked becoming even more haphazard as families have also undertaken rebuilding efforts.

Since victory was declared in July 2017, the majority of reconstruction projects in Mosul has been carried out by international bodies, including NGOs and UN agencies, whose efforts have mainly focused on repairing basic infrastructure such as schools and health facilities.

With 53,000 homes flattened and thousands more damaged in West Mosul alone, some 300,000 residents remain displaced, according to the NRC’s 2019 report.

Located on the western bank of the Tigris River, the Old City dates back to the 7th century, spanning the Assyrian, Abbasid and Ottoman empires. A major learning centre and strategic com-mercial hub between East and West, it has over the centuries housed renowned schools, markets and reli-gious institutions.

Experts said the local authorities’ plans disregarded the Old City’s del-icate architectural history and threatened to erase its identity and diverse culture.

“The provincial council doesn’t understand the value of Mosul,” said Fethi, who is also an independent con-sultant for the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO.

“People know Mosul’s Old City by its riverfront - it has some of the city’s most important historic features,” Fethi added, referring to the city’s old wall, the citadel, palaces and other heritage sites along the Tigris’ west bank. “It [the council] should aim to preserve Mosul’s heritage.”

ARWA IBRAHIM AND AZHAR AL RUBAIE AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

As a person, I have a strong personal

interest in my health and, as I said, 2021 is the conclusion of

my political work.

Angela Merkel German Chancellor

Youth must use right to vote to help decide future of Japan

The low voter turnout among young people is an issue that has long been pointed out.

The upcoming House of Coun-cillors election is the third national election since the voting age was lowered to 18. Young people are called on to exercise their voting rights to decide Japan’s future course.

Many young people use social networking services as their primary means of communication.

On the internet, people who agree with each other show a strong tendency to share sympathetic opinions with each other by repeatedly posting messages of a similar tone. They are also prone to not listening to those with dif-fering opinions.

An election is a process in which candidates present their own policies and voters decide

whether they approve of them. Voters are called on to use the upper house election as an opportunity to compare the pledges of individual political parties and carefully consider the differences among them.

If you visit the websites of candidates, you will be able to see their profiles and details of their policies. Looking at the campaign pledges of indi-vidual political parties, you will be able to discover their stances on such issues as social security, the environment and energy. Some online posts summarize and compare the policy pledges of the political parties. But it is necessary to pay heed to posts that do not carry names or sources linked to the material cited.

It is easy for abusive slander and inaccurate infor-mation posted by anonymous users to circulate online.

Videos have appeared online showing unsightly

scenes, such as people jeering and interrupting speeches of stumping candidates, and scuffles involving supporters of the politicians trying to stop the actions of the jeering agi-tators.Young voters are called on to select information nec-essary for voting, without being swayed by such posts.

The importance of edu-cation to enhance the awareness of young voters conducted at schools has been rising. Not a few teachers are unsure about how to deal with political themes.

Cooperation with election administration commissions could be an effective way to deal with the issue. In a class conducted by the Fukui Pre-fectural Election Adminis-tration Commission at a high school, mock voting was con-ducted after students were asked to read a campaign bul-letin. The students’ interest was likely aroused through the

mock poll, for which genuine voting booths and ballot boxes were used.

There are also things parents can do in regard to education to enhance the awareness of young voters.

According to a survey con-ducted by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the voter turnout of young people who had experience of visiting polling stations with their parents in their child-hoods exceeded that of those with no such experience by more than 20 percentage points. In the revised Public Offices Election Law enacted in 2016, children under 18 years old were permitted to accompany parents to polling stations - prior to this only “young infants” were permitted.

It is hoped that parents and their children will go to polling stations together on voting day.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI

osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Winning global laurels

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) has established exem-plary security and safety in Qatar due to its excellent, highly-professional performance as well

as won laurels globally for its initiatives and achievements.

It was the effort of the Ministry of Interior that made Qatar retain its global distinction according to the 2019 global security indicators by winning the first place in the world in terms of security and safety among 118 coun-tries and the first in Arab country, according to the annual report of 2019 crime index issued by ‘Numbeo’, the world’s largest world database in January this year.

The report reflected the constant and outstanding level of security and safety enjoyed by the country, and the significant decrease in the rates of crimes.

Again making the country proud, the Ministry of the Interior, represented by the National Command Center (NCC), received the Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from the prestigious American company in the field of Geographic Information System, ESRI,

winning over more than 25,000 participants from 136 countries and 336 largest global companies and institutions.

It is worth mentioning that MOI worked to introduce the science of GIS techniques in the field of security, and has pre-pared excellent and spe-cialised national cadres in this field during the past ten years.

The various awards MOI won underline its incessant and resolute efforts in the implementation of GIS tech-nology to deliver better services. In fact, MOI was

presenting a new tool in a tech-nologically advanced world to combat crime by linking security and crime with GIS effectively.

The Najm system of MOI is the most advanced and it aims to provide modern technological systems to ensure security through the rapid delivery of information. It connects all the departments of the Ministry related with security and safety, Lekhwiya, and the ambulance service under one system.

This linking makes it successful in employing these techniques to raise the level of emergency response and reduce the crime rate through spatial analysis and prediction of the anticipated risks before they occur.

MOI and its allied bodies have won several awards in the past too for excellence and it achieved bright success in the field of security awareness campaigns by producing various awareness means and participating in several festivals and contests, regionally and internationally.

In 2013, Najm security system received an ‘A’ grade rating for the role of the Ministry in the using of GIS tech-niques in security systems in an ideal manner.

Mosul residents say neighbourhoods along riverfront of Old City risk losing historical identity as local authorities plan to redevelop area into “modern city”.

THE JAPAN NEWS

The Najm system of MOI is the most advanced and it aims to provide modern technological systems to ensure security through the rapid delivery of information.

When Reagan took office in January 1981, he inherited what he and his administrators would call an immigration crisis. Between 1972 and 1980, more than 40,000 Haitians had migrated via boat to South Florida, fleeing political persecution and economic deprivation caused by the repressive regime of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

w

09SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 OPINION

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Uganda’s gold boom leaves small-scaleminers behind

How migrant detention became American policy

ALICE MCCOOL AL JAZEERA

SMITA GHOSH THE WASHINGTON POST

“There’s gold over there but they don’t let us touch it,” says Jalia Namatovu, pointing to hills covered

in a thick layer of vibrant green forest in Mubende, Central Uganda. Here lie some of the country’s rich gold reserves,

which are increasingly being explored by Ugandan and foreign companies alike.

“It’s owned by a muzungu [white person]. Villagers say the company put crocodiles in the river so we can’t get in. They get their water from somewhere else now,” she laughs darkly. Namatovu is a small-scale or artisanal gold miner - although the mineral has not actually passed through the 39-year-old’s hands in nearly two years. “I’m hopeful we’ll find gold soon because we have a license now,” says Namatovu, chair-person of Mubende Women Gold Miners Association.

Artisanal gold miners in Mubende, and across Uganda, have long been operating without licences. But in recent years the government has begun formalising the sector, including stricter

licencing requirements and biometric registration for miners. In May 2018, a new Mining and Mineral Policy was approved by the cabinet, and an accompanying law is in draft stage - with public consultations expected this July.

The new system recognises arti-sanal miners as players and intends to make working conditions safer and ensure the sector contributes to Uganda’s economic development, although most of these benefits are yet to be seen on the ground.

Uganda is not famed for its gold reserves. But since 2016, gold exports have rocketed in the East African country: According to official data, gold worth $514m was shipped last year - over 50 times what it was exporting a decade ago. Yet Uganda is not pro-ducing more gold itself, raising ques-tions about its source.

The answers may lie with the African Gold Refinery (AGR), a Belgian-owned firm whose deal with the Ugandan government preceded the sharp export increase. The company was recently alleged to have received gold worth $300m from Venezuela, surpassing US sanctions, and has also been accused of smuggling “conflict gold” from countries such as the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda’s main anti-corruption body is investigating the company for money laundering and tax evasion, according to Belgian newspaper De Standaard. AGR did not respond to Al Jazeera’s multiple requests for comment over two weeks.

The benefits of Uganda’s increas-ingly profitable gold trade are not yet seen by small-scale miners like Nam-atovu, and none of the miners Al Jazeera

interviewed were aware the mineral has become their country’s largest export. On the contrary, Namatovu’s livelihood has suffered: she was one of an estimated 60,000 miners evicted from Mubende mines in August 2017, and has not successfully mined gold since.

The evictions were ordered by President Yoweri Museveni on the grounds that unregistered miners were damaging the environment and illegally “invading” gold deposits licenced to AUC Mining - a locally-registered company with Ugandan and British owners, including long-time Presi-dential Adviser Gertrude Njuba.

“One morning we were preparing breakfast and getting ready to start work at the mines, when soldiers came carrying guns,” remembers Namatovu. Officers gave them six hours to leave, and people who resisted were forcibly removed, she says. Namatovu had worked at the mines for three years, supporting her two children and elderly mother.

“We quickly took what we could but had to leave a lot of things behind,” she says. Namatovu and her friends lived in temporary structures close to the mines, unable to afford daily transport from the nearest town.

“The evictions are a result of demand for gold which has led bigger companies to start coming into the country and seek to commence oper-ations,” explains Paul Bagabo, the Uganda consultant for the Natural Resource Governance Institute. Rather than benefiting from the heightened demand, small-scalers are losing work as pits previously under their management are allocated to companies.

Are the immigration detention centers on the border becoming more like “concen-tration camps”? Over 30 years

ago, the Reagan administration wrestled with the same question. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan created a detention policy for Haitian and Cuban refugees, despite his own administration’s fears that it would “create an appearance of ‘concentration camps’ filled largely by blacks.”

But then, as now, these inflam-matory labels - along with complaints of overcrowding, mistreatment and even death - didn’t change Reagan’s controversial detention policy. Instead, this crisis and the administration’s extreme measures to resolve it pro-duced an enduring change to immi-gration enforcement. Ultimately, the once-controversial idea of detention became a staple of our immigration system.

When Reagan took office in January 1981, he inherited what he and his administrators would call an immi-gration crisis. Between 1972 and 1980, more than 40,000 Haitians had migrated via boat to South Florida, fleeing political persecution and eco-nomic deprivation caused by the repressive regime of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

Then, between April and October 1980, more than 100,000 Cubans came to the United States from Cuba’s Mariel Harbor, also to escape increasing political repression. In the spring of 1980, Cuban President Fidel Castro had decided to allow departures, which were usually restricted, from the port of Mariel. Many dissident Cubans left immediately, and many Cuban Amer-icans sent boats to Mariel to retrieve friends and family members. Most of

these “Marielitos” remained in the United States, living with family members or, if that was not possible, in government-run detention camps.

Policymakers worried about an unending Caribbean refugee problem or, as one Reagan administrator called it, a “Haitian flood.” This sense of catas-trophe reverberated in an anti-immi-grant environment fueled by a combi-nation of racism and economic insta-bility. Haitians and Mariel Cubans were predominantly single, working-class black men. Although the migrants claimed asylum from political perse-cution, many Americans believed that they were seeking jobs or welfare ben-efits that rightfully belonged to American citizens.

Reports from media and gov-ernment officials alike perpetuated the sense that Haitians and Cubans were unable to assimilate. In 1980, State Department officials blamed an uprising of detained Cubans in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, on “some hardened criminals exported to the United States by Fidel Castro,” reflecting a popular misconception that most of the Mari-elitos had criminal backgrounds. In 1983, the Centers for Disease Control incorrectly identified Haitian migrants as a group that could “be considered at increased risk of AIDS.”

Reagan administration officials responded with harsh measures. Their solution? Detention of all arriving migrants, including asylum seekers. Immigration officials would only release a migrant after they found that they met the legal definition of a refugee, a process that could take years.

According to administration offi-cials, the detention policy was nec-essary to deter future immigration. Speaking before Congress, the attorney

general, William French Smith, stated that the country had “lost control of [its] borders” and would, without detention, “crumble under the burden of over-whelming numbers.”

The administration was aware that the policy would be controversial. It was careful to portray the policy as a strict enforcement of immigration laws that had existed for years. The attorney general pointed to a component of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that said that arriving migrants without visas could be detained for further investigation. This provision had been on the books since 1952, but the Immi-gration Service had rarely detained migrants during this time. Instead, if immigration officials had questioned the validity of an arriving immigrant’s visa, they would release the migrant on parole or bond until the issue was resolved. In other words, the Reagan administration changed immigration policy, but portrayed its action as a return to congressional intent.

Reagan’s immigration task force, which was chaired by the attorney general and his deputy, Rudy Giuliani, noted in a report that the detention policy “could create an appearance of ‘concentration camps’ filled largely by blacks.” Still, the task force pushed forward with this approach.

The detention policy began as an executive branch project. To enforce the detention mandate, the Immi-gration and Naturalization Service, the predecessor to the current Department of Homeland Security, held migrants in a makeshift detention camp on Krome Avenue in Dade County, Florida. There, migrants slept under threadbare blankets and ate spoiled food. The former army barracks were infested with mosquitoes and snakes.

The state of Florida campaigned to close the unsanitary detention site while human rights lawyers challenged the legality of the detention policy. In June 1982, a federal judge in Miami found that the government had not announced the procedure in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires gov-ernment agencies to give notice before changing policies. Judges on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit later held that the policy violated the Equal Protection Clause by discrimi-nating against Haitians because of their race and nationality.

These legal victories were short-lived, though. In 1982, the government gave proper notice of the policy. In 1985, the Supreme Court reversed the 11th Circuit’s decision about discrimi-nation. By that time, immigration authorities had transferred the detainees to federal prisons across the mainland United States, as well as to Fort Allen in Puerto Rico, creating what

The new system recognises artisanal miners as players and intends to make working conditions safer and ensure the sector contributes to Uganda’s economic development, although most of these benefits are yet to be seen on the ground.

the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida called a “policy of Siberian exile.”

Although the policy began in the executive branch, it took congres-sional cooperation to expand it. The attorney general and the immi-gration agencies needed funding from Congress to pay for increased detention. Although there was resistance from some lawmakers, a majority complied. In 1985, Congress authorized funding for the con-struction of a permanent immi-gration detention facility, with a capacity to hold up to 6,000 people (1,000 inside and another 5,000 to be detained in “contingency space” outdoors, if necessary) in Oakdale, Louisiana.

Congress also helped entrench another innovation of Reagan’s administration: the use of private prison companies. The detention policy launched an administrative collaboration with private con-tractors that would reshape practices of incarceration for all federal detainees. While a few state and local governments began working with private prison contractors in the 1970s, the federal government began using private contractors in the early 1980s.

All of these early federal con-tracts involved immigrant detainees. Consider, for example, the Correc-tions Corporation of America (CCA). The CCA’s first facility was a 300-bed immigration detention center in Houston, which opened in 1984. Now, the CCA - renamed as Core-Civic - is one of the country’s largest immigration detention companies.

Although members of Congress raised questions about empowering private companies that profited from detaining immigrants, a majority of lawmakers have continued to support the practice.

Migrants gathered inside a fence of a makeshift detention center in El Paso.

10 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019EUROPE

Kosovo PM quits after war crimes court summons

AP PRISTINA

Kosovo’s prime minister resigned yesterday after being invited for questioning by a Hague-based court investigating crimes against ethnic Serbs during and after the country’s 1998-1999 war.

Ramush Haradinaj said he had agreed to be interviewed at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office next week and didn’t want to appear there as prime minister.

“I considered that I cannot go to the questioning as head of the government,” Haradinaj said during a news conference.

Haradinaj, who took office as prime minister in September 2017, said that while he thought the summons was politically bad for Kosovo, “I will respect the

legal request. I will go there. I will defend myself as a fighter of my country.”

Haradinaj urged Kosovo’s president to call an early parlia-mentary election.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were estab-lished at the European Union’s urging after human rights body the Council of Europe in 2011 catalogued allegations of wide-spread war crimes committed by the separatist Kosovo Liber-ation Army.

The court started ques-tioning former Kosovo fighters this year. Haradinaj was one of the top KLA commanders during the war. A United Nations tri-bunal cleared him three times of war crimes charges.

At the time of the war, Kosovo was a Serbian province and KLA members mostly were ethnic Albanians.

A bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian sepa-ratists and civilians led Nato to intervene by bombing Serbia in spring 1999.

Kosovo eventually made a unilateral declaration of inde-pendence in the year 2008 and it is recognised by the US and most of the West, but not by Serbia and its allies Russia and China.

Merkel planning to serve full term REUTERS BERLIN

Germany’s Angela Merkel threw her weight behind her embattled new defence minister and heir-apparent yesterday, while insisting she herself was fit to carry on serving as chancellor through to the end of her term in 2021.

Merkel, who turned 65 on Wednesday and has been in office since 2005, has suffered several bouts of shaking at public ceremonies in recent weeks that have stirred speculation about her health, though she has main-tained she is fine.

On jovial form before taking a summer break, the conserv-ative chancellor said she under-stood the questions about her health, but told her annual news conference: “I can carry out this role.”

She has no history of serious health issues. Her office has given no explanation for the shaking episodes. After one such bout, a government official said that it was more a psychological issue as she tried desperately to avoid a repeat.

“As a person, I have a strong personal interest in my health and, as I said, 2021 is the con-clusion of my political work,” Merkel told reporters, adding with a smile: “But then I hope there will be another life (after politics).”

Asked how she was feeling, Merkel added: “Good.”

The chancellor, who has loomed large on European stage

since 2005, is trying to stage-manage a slow-motion exit from politics and in December gave up the chair of her Christian Democrats to protegee Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Despite a series of gaffes this year, Kramp-Karrenbauer took over as defence minister on Wednesday, entering the cabinet in a move likely to make or break her chances of succeeding her mentor as Germany’s leader by 2021.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK after her initials, was appointed with Merkel’s blessing but immediately ran into trouble after giving a lacklustre tele-

vision interview.“BLA BLA BLAKK,” ran a

front-page headline in yester-day’s edition of the mass-circu-lation daily Bild.

Merkel said she was con-fident her protegee would do a good job with the defence port-folio, which has proven a poi-soned chalice for several recent predecessors.

“I am convinced she will do that very well,” she said.

But Merkel added she would stay out of her conservative bloc’s decision on who should run in her place for chancellor at the next federal election in 2021.

“The party will decide who

will be chancellor candidate,” she said, adding that her Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party would do this together.

Merkel’s “grand coalition” with the left-leaning Social Dem-ocrats (SPD) has come close to collapse on several occasions since taking office last year, and SPD leader Andrea Nahles quit after setbacks at regional and European elections in May.

But Merkel played down sug-gestions that the governing alliance was in trouble, saying she had “very, very trustworthy” working relationships with the SPD’s interim leaders.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her summer press conference at Federal Press Conference in Berlin, yesterday.

Panic as strong quake rattles Athens

Ramush Haradinaj said he had agreed to be interviewed at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office next week and didn’t want to appear there as prime minister.

REUTERS ATHENS

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake rattled the Greek capital Athens yesterday, briefly knocking out power and telecommunications in parts of the city and sending people running from buildings in panic.

The European Earthquake Monitoring Centre recorded the quake’s epicentre at a point 22km northwest of the city. Its website quoted a witness as saying the quake was “strong but fortunately not very long”, while

another compared it to a ‘strong bounce’ lasting about 15 seconds.

The Acropolis, a complex of ancient Greek buildings including the Parthenon located on a rocky hilltop overlooking the capital, was intact, according to the authorities.

Reuters correspondents saw people evacuating buildings in the sprawling city, and hundreds crammed into Athens’s central Syntagma Square.

Two people were lightly injured by falling debris, health ministry officials said. In the port city of Piraeus, an abandoned

structure collapsed.The quake occurred at a

depth of 15km in an area affected by earthquakes in the past. Greece, along with Turkey, is among the most tremor-prone regions of Europe.

Seismologist Manolis Sko-rdilis said that, “the earthquake was close to the surface, which is why it was felt so much.”

A fire brigade official con-firmed that there had been several calls asking for help in rescuing people trapped in ele-vators, while some abandoned buildings were damaged.

A partly demolished structure seen following an earthquake at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, yesterday.

Russian suspect in tainted oil scam seeks asylum in LithuaniaREUTERS VILNIUS

Roman Ruzhechko, a suspect in a Russian probe into a major oil pipeline contamination earlier this year, has asked for political asylum in Lithuania, a Vilnius district court spokesman said.

Russian prosecutors have charged Ruzhechko, an exec-utive at a small oil transport firm, and several other people in a criminal conspiracy to pollute the network, which is owned and operated by coun-try’s oil pipeline Transneft.

A lawyer for Ruzhechko has said there was nothing in the prosecutors’ files that proved his client’s guilt.

The contamination was dis-covered in April and led to a

major disruption of supplies from Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter. Buyers are now seeking compensation worth tens of millions of dollars.

The contamination involved high levels of organic chloride found in oil sent via the Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline and to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga.

Lithuania’s prosecutor general office said Ruzhechko was detained in Lithuania on an Interpol warrant for 48 hours.

At a hearing, the Vilnius dis-trict court authorised a three-month detention of Ruzhechko at the request of prosecutors, the court spokesman said.

A country has 40 days to present a request to extradite a person, Lithuania’s prosecutors spokesman said.

French court rejects damages claim in 1994 ferry disasterAFP NANTERRE

A court outside Paris yesterday rejected a compensation claim filed by survivors and relatives of victims of the 1994 sinking of the Estonia ferry, the deadliest accident involving a European ship since the Titanic.

The court in Nanterre said that plaintiffs had not proved that the French certification agency and the German ship-builder were at fault over the ferry disaster.

Angering the lawyers of the survivors and relatives, it also ruled that the plaintiffs should pay tens of thousands of euros towards the legal costs of the two

companies. The Estonia ferry was sailing

from Tallinn to Stockholm when it sank in bad weather in the Baltic Sea off Finland in Sep-tember 1994, killing 852, from 17 different nationalities, of the 989 passengers and crew on board.

An international probe con-cluded in 1997 that the disaster was caused by a problem with the bow-door locking system.

Survivors and relatives were swiftly compensated for material damages from the now-bankrupt Estonian shipowner Estline.

But more than 1,000 sur-vivors and relatives of the deceased battled for two decades for a court in Nanterre to hear the case, which finally opened

in April.The 1,116 plaintiffs were

seeking more than $45m in damages from French certifi-cation agency Bureau Veritas and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft.

The court said in a statement that the plaintiffs were not able to prove “the existence of a gross or intentional fault attributable to the firm Bureau Veritas and/or Meyer Werft.”

The ruling was “severe” and “very disappointing”, said one of the lawyers of the plaintiffs, Francois Lombrez, adding the possibility of an appeal would be examined.

The court also ordered the plaintiffs — only around 500 of

whom it deemed to have held admissable cases — to pay legal $7,850 to Bureau Veritas and $39,000 to Meyer Werft.

“This is too much, to say the least,” said Lombrez of the legal costs order. “After 22 years of procedures, I think they could have spared the victims that.”

Swedish authorities have always opposed the ship being refloated for further investi-gation, prompting unsubstan-tiated conspiracy theories and claims of a cover-up.

Some experts, politicians and relatives in Estonia and Sweden had claimed that the sinking could have been caused by an explosion from a secret cargo of military equipment.

An admission by Sweden that Russian military equipment had been transported on board the ferry on at least two occasions in 1994 gave some credence to the theory.

But Estonian investigators dismissed this explanation and authorities in Tallinn and Stockholm have always rejected calls to reopen the case.

Henning Witte, the Swedish lawyer behind the lawsuit, said in Stockholm that the court’s ruling was “disappointing” and insisted that many questions were still unanswered.

The lawyer added that the best option now would be for a truth commission where no legal penalty applied.

Bulgaria seals deal to buy F-16 jets from USAFP SOFIA

Bulgarian lawmakers yesterday ratified a hefty $1.3bn deal to buy eight F-16 fighter jets from the US in the country’s biggest military equipment purchase since the fall of communism three decades ago.

Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov justified the big sum — significantly higher than what other countries have paid

for F-16s — as the Nato mem-ber’s first such purchase and said the government hoped for bigger discounts in the future.

“Bulgaria will be the first Balkan country to have this brand-new version of the air-craft,” he said.

The hefty outlay required the parliament to also vote to extend the country’s deficit to cover the purchase.

The deal with the US is for eight F-16 Block 70 multi-role

fighters — six of them single-seaters and two of them two-seat jets — to replace the country’s ageing, Soviet-built MiG-29s.

Lockheed Martin, the US manufacturer of the F-16s, said the US fighters have technology that features in more advanced jets such as the F-35 and F-22.

It boasted in a statement they were “a proven, capable, low-risk and cost effective solution for Bulgaria’s national and Nato defence needs”.

Dozens of migrants force entry into Melilla enclaveAFP MADRID

Around 50 migrants forced their way into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco yesterday by climbing over a towering border fence, Spanish authorities said.

About 200 migrants tried to storm the barbed wire fence at dawn but Spanish and Moroccan security forces pre-vented all but around 50 from entering the coastal city, a spokesman for the Spanish gov-ernment’s representative in Melilla said.

One migrant suffered a fractured leg and was hospi-talised and six Spanish police officers were “lightly” injured with bruises and cuts, he added.

The only other mass attempt by migrants to enter Melilla this year happened in May when roughly 50 migrants managed to scale the border fence and get across.

“There is not as much pressure on the border,” the spokesman said.

Spain’s two North African enclaves, Melilla and Ceuta, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.

They are often used as entry points into Europe for African migrants, who either climb over their border fences or try to swim along the coast.

In May, 52 migrants got over the Melilla fence in another attempt.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said 2,397 migrants reached Melilla over land between January 1 and July 15.

11SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Ukraine leader offers to swap film directorfor Russian journalistAFP KIEV

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday offered to hand Moscow a detained Russian state media journalist in exchange for Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov who is behind bars in a Russian Arctic penal colony.

Russia and Ukraine are in the midst of sensitive talks on a prisoner exchange following the first-ever phone call between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Fi lmmaker Sentsov, Ukraine’s most famous political prisoner, is serving a 20-year sentence in a Russian penal colony for planning “terrorist attacks” in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Kiev said the charges are

politically motivated and last year Sentsov staged a hunger strike and went 145 days without solid food.

Zelensky said yesterday that Kiev was ready to release 52-year-old Kyrylo Vyshynsky, a journalist working for Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency, in exchange for Sentsov.

Vyshynsky, who holds both Ukrainian and Russian citi-zenship, was detained by Kiev in 2018 and is awaiting trial on treason charges.

“If we are talking about goodwill and want (a prisoner swap) to happen in the nearest future, we are ready to exchange Kyrylo Vyshynsky,” Zelensky said.

A Kiev court later extended Vyshynsky’s detention for another two months, prompting condemnation from Moscow.

Call to protect UK citizens in no-deal BrexitAP BRUSSELS

British lawmakers met the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator yesterday, seeking an iron-clad guarantee that the 1.3 million UK citizens in the bloc won’t have their rights removed and their lives disrupted if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

The rights of UK citizens living in the 27 other EU nations, and those of the more than 3 million EU citizens in Britain, are one of the thorniest issues of the Brexit negotiations.

Their rights to live, work and study are protected under an agreement struck between the two sides — but the divorce

agreement has been rejected by Britain’s Parliament, raising the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

The UK is due to leave the bloc on October 31, and both men vying to take over as prime min-ister next week, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, say it’s imper-ative that Brexit happens, with or without a deal.

Conservative lawmaker Alberto Costa, who led the cross-party delegation that met EU negotiator Michel Barnier in

Brussels, said “if there’s no agreement, there’s no protection.”

“British nationals will poten-tially lose access to pension enti-tlement, lose access to health care entitlement, lose access to welfare entitlement and a whole gamut of other issues,” he said.

Talks between the British government and the EU on guar-anteeing citizens’ rights if the UK crashes out of the bloc have fai led to produce a breakthrough.

EU leaders insist the with-drawal agreement can’t be chopped into chunks — Britain must accept all of it or none.

Some EU member states have said they will preserve

Britons’ rights, but only if the UK reciprocates. Britain said all EU citizens living in the country can stay, but has not enshrined that right in law.

“People assume it’s fine, eve-rything’s dandy . citizens’ rights, of course they’re going to protect them, that goes without saying,” Costa said. “But we have no extraterritorial powers to pass legislation to protect British cit-izens in the EU. That can only be done with an agreement with the EU.”

The winner of the contest to become Britain’s next prime minister — widely expected to be Johnson — is due to be announced on Tuesday.

Costa said whoever wins

must ensure citizens’ rights are upheld even if there is no Brexit deal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday reiterated the EU’s long-held stance that it will not renegotiate the divorce agreement it struck with out-going British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“The withdrawal agreement is the withdrawal agreement,” she said.

“I trust very firmly that Britain will find its way,” May said in Berlin at her annual summer news conference. “It is a proud, great nation and it will remain our partner even if Britain is no longer a member of the European Union.”

Britain, Sweden agree to cooperate on fighter plansREUTERS RAF FAIRFORD

Britain and Sweden agreed yesterday to study air combat cooperation and opened the door to other potential partners in a move that could see the Scandinavian country join a planned next-generation UK fighter project.

Britain last year unveiled plans for a fighter plane and cohort of drones named Tempest, raising questions about the future of European defence cooperation as France and Germany pursue their own air combat programme to meet growing threats.

Tempest, meant to even-tually replace the Eurofighter Typhoon from 2040, will be developed and built by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence company, alongside UK engine maker Rolls-Royce, Italian defence firm Leonardo and European missile maker MBDA.

Sweden’s Saab will not immediately join the same industrial team but will be involved in a broader tech-nology study that sketches out Britain’s post-Brexit defence partnerships and could lead to further countries coming on board, officials said.

“Brexit or not, Sweden has a strategic interest to further deepen its relations with the

UK,” Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said at the Royal Inter-national Air Tattoo, a major mil-itary air show held in western England.

Britain’s defence ministry said the agreement called for a joint combat air development and acquisition programme.

The study, which is expected to yield results by autumn 2020, “lays the foundations for collab-oration and invites others to participate in our discussions,” Britain’s Defence Procurement Minister Stuart Andrew said.

Britain will remain a key partner for its European neigh-bours in Nato after leaving the European Union, he said.

Britain and Sweden have conducted joint exercises in the Baltic where Western officials say Russia has stepped up probing flights and mock bomb runs near Europe’s borders since 2013.

European nations face a combination of security threats and budget constraints that have spurred competing alliances as Europe’s fragmented defence industry vies for leadership and a slice of future spending on any new pan-European fighter.

Analysts said it is unclear whether Europe can afford more than one fighter programme in future rather than the current three — the French Rafale, Swedish Gripen and multina-tional Eurofighter, which includes Britain.

Three dead in Austrian Alps plane crashAP BERLIN

Austrian authorities said three people have been killed in a small airplane crash in the Alps near the German border.

Austrian police told the dpa news agency yesterday that the identity of those killed in the Thursday evening crash was still not clear.

The plane went down at about 5:30pm local time (1530 GMT) in the mountains near the town of Leutasch crashing into a rock face at an altitude of about 2,300 metres.

Authorities said the plane burned completely after crashing and it was not imme-diately clear where it was reg-istered or where it had been heading.

Conservative lawmaker Alberto Costa said that “if there’s no agreement, there’s no protection.”

People walk on footbridges as they visit “La Grotte de Glace” (Ice cave) on “Mer de Glace” (Sea of Ice), in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, in the French Alps, eastern France, yesterday. At 7km long and 200 metres deep, the “Mer de Glace” (Sea of Ice) glacier, which is located on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif, is France’s largest glacier.

American IS ‘sniper’ charged in New YorkAFP NEW YORK

A naturalized American who was a sniper for the IS militant group has been charged in New York with material support for a terror group after being captured in Syria and repatriated to the US, the Justice Department announced yesterday.

Kazakhstan-born Ruslan Maratovich Asainov fought for the IS group in Syria for five

years before he was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces and handed over to US custody, the department said.

Asainov, 43, was brought back to the United States on Thursday.

He fought for IS in Syria from 2013 to 2018 as a sniper and a weapons trainer for other combatants.

Over time, he rose up through the ranks of the organ-isation, and was named a chief,

in charge of weapons training. He stayed in contact with

some people in the United States, sending messages and photo-graphs of himself from the battlefield.

“We are the worst terrorist organisation in the world that has ever existed,” one of his mes-sages from 2015 said, according to court documents.

Asainov also tried to recruit another individual in the United States to join the group, who, he

did not know, was an informant for New York Police Department.

“The United States is com-mitted to holding accountable those who have left this country in order to fight for ISIS,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement.

“We hope countries around the world, including our European allies and partners, will likewise repatriate and pros-ecute their own citizens for traveling to support ISIS.”

Ice cave

‘Smell’ on cabin forces evacuation of Russian planeAFP MOSCOW

Two people were hospitalised yesterday after an Armenia-bound plane was evacuated in Moscow following a strange smell and smoke in the cabin, the airline and airport officials said.

The early morning flight operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines had to be aborted during takeoff after a “foreign smell” on board the Boeing 737, the company said.

The crew used emergency slides to evacuate the pas-sengers — 162 adults and 11 children.

Five passengers sought medical help and two were hos-pitalised, Moscow’s Shereme-tyevo Airport said.

Unrest in Puerto Rico enters 6th dayDemonstrators sit in front of a police barricade with the word “resign” taped over their mouths and displaying a sign that reads “the daughters of the crisis have had enough,” during the sixth day of protest calling for the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossello in San Juan, Puerto Rico, yesterday.

US hits four Venezuelan military officers with sanctionsREUTERS WASHINGTON

The United States yesterday stepped up its response following the death of a Venezuelan navy captain, sanctioning four top officials in Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency,

according to the US Treasury Department.

US officials last week sanc-tioned the agency, known as the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), freezing all its direct and indi-rectly-owned assets in the wake of Rafael Acosta’s death.

Yesterday’s action would freeze any of the four military officers’ assets under US-control and block any US persons or entities from any transactions or dealings with them.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government confirmed the death on June 29,

eight days after Acosta had been arrested for alleged participation in a coup plot.

Human rights organisations, political leaders and his family have accused the government of torturing the navy captain to death.

“The United States will

continue to hold individuals accountable who are involved in the former Maduro regime’s use of intimidation and repression to target and silence political opponents, innocent civilians, and members of the military,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

Chicago cops fired over alleged fatal shooting cover-upAFP CHICAGO

Four officers accused of lying about the circumstances around the fatal shooting of a black teen have been fired by the Chicago Police Board.

The 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which was captured on police video camera, sparked months of protests and became emblematic of longstanding police abuse in America’s third-largest city.

A jury in October convicted a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, of second-degree murder for firing 16 bullets into McDonald, most of which struck the teen after he fell to the ground.

The Police Board said that Sergeant Stephen Franko and three other officers had exag-gerated the threat posed by McDonald in order to cover for Van Dyke, according to a decision. “Their conduct is anti-thetical to that expected and required of a sworn law enforcement officer, who at all times has a duty to act with honesty and integrity and to accurately and completely report their observations.”

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US set to release 3,100 inmates under new lawREUTERS WASHINGTON

Roughly 3,100 US inmates, including many convicted of drug offenses, will be released early from federal prisons for good behaviour under a criminal justice reform law signed last year by President Donald Trump, the Justice Department said yesterday.

Officials detailed the early impact of the law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress last December and championed by criminal justice advocates across the political spectrum to help reduce sentencing dispar-ities for low-level offenses his-torically with higher conviction rates for racial minorities.

In addition to the good behaviour releases, officials said more than 1,691 inmates have had their sentences reduced after a provision in the law ret-roactively recalculated sen-tences to reduce disparities between those who committed crimes involving crack versus powder cocaine. Those con-victed for crack offenses histor-ically have been more likely to be a racial minority.

The law, called the First Step Act, eases harsh sentencing rules for non-violent offenders and

requires the Justice Depart-ment’s Bureau of Prisons to implement new programmes to help reduce recidivism. It also required the bureau to retroac-tively recalculate good behaviour credits, a step that reduces some sentences by up to 54 days per year.

Previously, inmates could earn only up to 47 days per year toward early release for good behaviour.

Criminal justice advocates were under the impression the new calculation would apply ret-roactively when the law went into effect. But a drafting error in the legislation prevented the Justice Department from imme-diately applying the new method of calculating good-behaviour credits until it finalised a

risk-assessment tool that will be used to determine each inmate’s risk of becoming a repeat offender.

The deadline for completing that tool was yesterday, prompting the early release of the more than 3,100 inmates from federal prisons around the United States, including people serving time for drug and weapons offenses.

The tool will assign each inmate a risk category, based on how likely it is calculated that they would commit new offenses including violent crimes. Those at a high risk of re-offending will be steered into recidivism-reduction programs.

It also allows for inmates to build up “earned time” credits enabling them to be released early into halfway houses.

In addition, Deputy Attorney-General Jeffrey Rosen said the department has allotted $75m in existing resources for fiscal year 2019, which ends September 30, to expand opioid addiction treat-ments and educational programs in federal prisons under the First Step Act. That $75m is being taken from other programs within the Bureau of Prisons, though the department did not specify which programmes may be affected.

Trump blames ‘crazed’ media for rally taunt backlashAFP WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump yesterday slammed what he called “crazed” media coverage

of taunts targeting a Somali-born Democratic lawmaker during one of his rallies, alleging political bias against him.

Facing a mounting backlash over the cries of “Send her back”

aimed at congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Trump accused the media of a “sick partnership” with his Democratic opponents.

“It is amazing how the Fake News Media became ‘crazed’

over the chant ‘send her back’ by a packed Arena.... but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Con-gresswomen,” Trump tweeted.

“Mainstream Media, which has lost all credibility, has either officially or unofficially become a part of the Radical Left Democrat Party,” he continued. “It is a sick partnership, so pathetic to watch!”

Trump hosts Apollo 11 astronautsAFP/WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump welcomed surviving Apollo 11 crew members Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the White House yesterday, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing.

“Tomorrow is a very big day... 50 years from the time we planted a beautiful American flag on the moon,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

Relatives of the late Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon on July 20, 1969, were also present, and Trump asked them to raise their hands.

The president hailed his administration’s efforts to relaunch crewed space flights with planned missions to the Moon and Mars. “We are bringing the glamour back to it,” he said.

Aldrin later tweeted: “Just had an excellent meeting with

President Donald Trump! We discussed America’s future in space, ways to address space challenges, and the need to keep exploring beyond the horizon.

“Keep America Great in Space!!”

With the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the US achieved the ultimate victory in the Space Race after losing the initial heats to the Soviet Union, which was first to put a satellite and then a man in space.

US intelligence chief forms election security positionREUTERS WASHINGTON

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who has drawn crit-icism from President Donald Trump for assessments that countered his policies, said yesterday he was creating a new position to focus solely on US election security.

“Election security is an enduring challenge and a top priority for the IC (international community),” Coats said in a statement. “In order to build on our successful approach to the 2018 elections, the IC must properly align its resources to bring the strongest level of support to this critical issue.”

Coats said he had tapped Shelby Pierson, the DNI’s crisis

manager for election security during the 2018 congressional elections, for the job.

Coats also created an Election Executive and Lead-ership Board to be chaired by the new adviser to focus on election threats.

US intelligence officials including Coats told lawmakers early this year that they had pro-tected the 2018 US congressional elections from outside inter-ference, but expected renewed and likely more sophisticated attacks on the 2020 presidential contest.

One of the five chapters of the Senate Intelligence Commit-tee’s report on Russian inter-ference in US politics will examine election systems and security issues.

The law, called the First Step Act, eases harsh sentencing rules for non-violent offenders and requires the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons to implement new programmes to help reduce recidivism.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump host Apollo 11 crew members Michael Collins (left); Buzz Aldrin (right); Neil Armstrong’s son, Rick (second left) during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, at the White House, in Washington, yesterday.

US hits Hezbollah operative with sanctions over 1994 terror attackREUTERS WASHINGTON

The United States yesterday imposed sanctions on a senior Hezbollah operative it said coordinated the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, in which 85 people died.

In a statement, the State Department also offered a $7m reward for information on the whereabouts of Salman Raouf Salman, also known as Samuel Salman El Reda, who it said helped plan and carry out the attack in Argentina.

A US administration offi-cials said they believed Salman was in the Middle East.

The announcement follows the arrival of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Buenos Aires for a regional security conference. During his visit, Pompeo will highlight the risks posed by Hezbollah, US officials said. The Iran-backed, heavily armed Shia group is part of L e b a n o n ’ s c o a l i t i o n government.

‘Remain in Mexico’ policy expanded AP HOUSTON

The US government yesterday expanded its policy requiring asylum seekers to wait outside the country to one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, where thousands of people are already camped, some for several months.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that it would implement its Migrant Protection Protocols in Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico. DHS said it anticipates the first asylum seekers will be sent back to Mexico starting today.

Under the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy, asylum seekers are briefly processed and given a date to return for an immigration court hearing before being sent back across the southern border. Since January, the policy has been implemented at several border cities including San Diego and El Paso, Texas.

The US is trying to curtail the large flow of Central American migrants passing through Mexico to seek asylum under American

law. The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to crack down on migrants, threatening earlier this year to impose crip-pling tariffs until both sides agreed on new measures tar-geting migration.

Matamoros is at the eastern edge of the US-Mexico border in Tamaulipas state, where organized crime gangs are dom-inant and the US government warns citizens not to visit due to violence and kidnappings.

The city is also near where a

Salvadoran father and his 23-month-old daughter were found drowned in the Rio Grande, in photos that were shared around the world.

Many people have slept for the last several months in a makeshift camp near one of the international bridges, including families with young children. Only a few migrants daily have been allowed to seek asylum under another Trump adminis-tration policy limiting asylum processing known as “metering.”

People waiting to apply for asylum in the United States outside the El Chaparral border in Tijuana, Mexico, yesterday.

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PAGE | 15 PAGE | 16

Microsoft cloud growth

beats quarterly expectations

Asia’s biggest EMs, and Africa, join easing tide

b

14SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019

Will ECB walk or just talk as rate circus comes to Europe?REUTERS BRUSSELS

The global march towards lower interest rates reaches Europe this week with the European Central Bank expected at least to signal easier monetary policy, while Turkey’s new banking chief is seen taking an axe to the country’s rates.

Slowing global growth, increased protectionism and in some cases weak domestic data have persuaded major central banks to loosen monetary policy, with a rate cut more or less inked in for the US Federal Reserve at the end of the month.

The ECB, whose Governing Council meets on Wednesday and Thursday, said last month that eurozone interest rates

would remain at present levels at least through the first half of 2020 - an extension from pre-vious period of until the end of 2019.

Two-thirds of economists polled by Reuters expect the ECB next week simply to change

its guidance, such as for rates to be at “present or lower levels” ahead, with a cut of the deposit rate to an all-time low of -0.50 percent at its September meeting.

“I think for now, they’ll only get to point where they consider a rate cut is on the table and then do it later. The ECB has a long history of moving very slowly,” said Capital Economics’ senior Europe economist Jack Allen-Reynolds.

But some economists believe the ECB will have to do more.

Carsten Brzeski (pictured), chief economist for Germany at ING, says he thinks of the chances of just words as 51 percent, versus 49 percent for action.

“Draghi has surprised us more often in terms of being ahead of the curve, of over-delivering, but it’s very hard to say. I think there will be a tough discussion,” he said.

If the Fed starts cutting rates and the ECB does not send out an extremely dovish message, the euro could strengthen, although at Friday’s level of $1.12 it is hardly near the pain barrier for EU exporters.

Commerzbank is one bank that predicts the ECB will act, cutting by 20 basis points “Maybe they want to prevent an appreciation (of the euro) and, like the US, they want to prolong the upswing. The data though is not as bad as you might think,” said economist Bernd Weidensteiner.

Unemployment in the eurozone is, at 7.5 percent, at its lowest level since July 2008, while industrial production and exports improved in May, albeit after declines in April.

In the United States, the case for a rate cut is ostensibly even thinner, with strong labour markets despite US-China trade tensions and factory activity strong - at a year high in the mid-Atlantic region.

Yet markets were by Thursday expecting a half per-centage point cut in US rates at the end of July, double the reduction they expected just a day earlier. The action has been sold as insurance against any negative development. US eco-nomic growth is expected to have cooled in the second

quarter, set to be confirmed in a first GDP estimate yesterday.

In Turkey, the case for action is more clear-cut given a recession-hit economy. Econo-mists polled by Reuters expect the central bank under new gov-ernor Murat Uysal to reduce the current 24 percent interest rate by an average 250 basis points.

It will follow Indonesian and South Korean rate cuts on Thursday and the Reserve Bank of Australia, which reduced interest rates in both June and July.

The trend leaves only the Bank of Canada, buoyed by higher oil exports and consumer spending, and the Bank of England as outliers, though the latter could change.

FROM LEFT: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, philanthropist Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and World Bank President David Malpass attend a meeting during the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Chantilly, near Paris, France.

Dollar on back foot after Fed shores up bets on rate cutREUTERS TOKYO

The dollar steadied yesterday but was still on the defensive after Federal Reserve officials bolstered expectations of an aggressive rate cut this month to address weakening price pressures.

At a central banking con-ference on Thursday, New York Fed President John Williams argued for pre-emptive measures to avoid having to deal with too low inflation and interest rates.

That sent the dollar down before it bounced slightly in early Asian trade, after a New York Fed representative subsequently said Williams’ comments were aca-demic and not about immediate policy direction.

Still, investors took his remarks along with separate comments from Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida as another dovish signal from the central bank, which could be opening the way for a big rate cut at the end of this month.

The dollar stood at 107.42 yen, up 0.2 percent from late US levels after having hit a three-week low of 107.21 the previous day.

The euro eased slightly to $1.1266 from $1.1282. On the week, the dollar is down 0.4 percent versus the yen and 0.1 percent on the euro. The dollar index, which hit a two-week low of 96.648, bounced to 96.792.

The greenback fell broadly on Thursday after Williams’ remarks bolstered bets that the Fed would cut interest rates by 50 basis points, rather than 25 basis points. Williams said when rates and inflation are low, policymakers cannot afford to keep their “powder dry” and wait for potential eco-n o mic pr o b lems t o materialise.

That is especially true with neutral rates that would neither restrict nor accelerate the US economy, he said. When adjusted for inflation, the neutral rate is near the Fed’s current policy rate, which is in a range of 2.25-2.50 percent.

Italian, Chinese majors vie in Pakistan’s mega LNG tenderREUTERS LONDON/SINGAPORE:

Italian oil major Eni, China’s overseas energy unit PetroChina and two trading houses are vying to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Pakistan in one of the largest tenders ever worth billions of dollars, two sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The 240-cargo 10-year tender, which is likely to be worth from $5bn to $6bn according to Reuters calculations and the estimates of another source based on current market conditions, was issued last month and closed on Thursday.

Pakistan is expected to be a significant growth driver in global LNG demand, with Wood Mackenzie estimating the country will need 25 million tonnes a year as domestic sup-plies dwindle and its economy grows. That would make it a top-five LNG buyer.

Eni and PetroChina’s Sin-gapore unit were joined by the trading arm of Azeri state oil company SOCAR and commod-ities trader Trafigura in placing offers, the sources said.

Pakistan LNG, the state-owned company that issued the tender, declined to name any bidders.

“The technical bids for our long-term LNG supply tender were received and opened yes-terday. Evaluations are underway,” it said.

SOCAR Trading SA con-firmed it had bid. Trafigura said it does not comment on tenders. A spokesperson noted Trafigura was a stakeholder in the terminal due to receive the tendered LNG.

“Trafigura owns 150 (million cubic feet a day) of LNG import capacity in that facility, which is key to its plan to supply LNG and gas to Pakistan’s private sector,” the spokesperson said.

PetroChina and Eni did not respond to requests for comment.

The tender is keenly watched due to its size and because Pakistan, gripped in an anti-cor-ruption drive under the gov-ernment of Prime Minister Imran Khan, is expected to publish the lowest prices offered by the companies.

This will give valuable insight into the opaque LNG market, which is characterised by closed bilateral trades, secret long-term supply agreements and an over-the-counter spot market.

Commercial offers are expected to be opened on August 2, one of the sources said, when Pakistan LNG is likely to reveal bids. Pakistan, like most Asian buyers, purchases LNG priced against Brent crude oil expressed as a price slope, or percentage of the oil contract.

In the last short-term tender, Pakistan said the lowest offers came in at 7.13 percent and 8.54 percent of Brent, or around $4.4 to $5.3 per million British thermal units at the prices of that day on June 14.

But multi-year contracts in the past year have tended to use a higher price slope - around 11 to 12 percent. That would place the price tag for the 240 cargoes - over 15 million tonnes in total - at between $5bn and $6bn.

Pakistan LNG issued the tender in early June to import 240 LNG cargoes of 140,000 cubic metres each for delivery over a 10-year period for the country’s second LNG terminal.

BMW names Zipse as new CEOAP FRANKFURT

BMW has named its top production manager, Oliver Zipse (pictured), as CEO to lead the luxury automaker through a shift to new ways of doing business such as electric vehicles and offering cars on a per-use basis.

The company said Thursday that Zipse, 55, would succeed Harald Krueger on Aug. 16. Krueger, 53, had said on July 5 he wouldn’t seek to renew his contract when it expires next May.

The BMW board of directors made the decision during a meeting at its plant in Spar-tanburg, South Carolina, where it turns out SUVs for US cus-tomers and for export.

The company has been buf-feted by the trade conflict between the US and China and saw its weakest profitability in a decade in the first quarter. Krueger’s four-year tenure has seen the company lose its global lead in luxury sales to rival Mercedes.

The company gained an

early edge in battery cars with its i3 city car in 2013, but was slow to follow up with more battery models, choosing to emphasize battery-internal combustion hybrids while Cal-ifornia upstart Tesla seized market share in premium battery cars.

Zipse, a mechanical engineer who started at BMW as a trainee in 1991, must now steer the company through a shifting business environment in which software and services are playing an increasing role.

Tesla has challenged auto-makers in the field of electric

cars, while tech companies Waymo and Uber are working on autonomous vehicles. BMW has joined its services busi-nesses in a joint venture with competitor Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars. Those businesses include its Free Now taxi-hailing and its Share Now car-sharing service.

BMW board chairman Norbert Reithofer, who was Krueger’s predecessor as CEO, said that Zipse “will provide the BMW Group with fresh momentum in shaping the mobility of the future.”

BMW lost €310m on its automotive business in the first quarter after the company was hit by a €1.4bn ($1.6bn) charge for an anti-trust case and by higher upfront costs for new technology.

Even without the anti-trust charge, its once-fat profit margins shrank. Only the financial services and motor-cycle divisions pushed the company to a net profit of €588m.

The company reports second quarter earnings on August 1.

Pakistan is expected to be a significant growth driver in global LNG demand, with Wood Mackenzie estimating the country will need 25 million tonnes a year as domestic supplies dwindle and its economy grows.

15SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 BUSINESS

Canada-EU Summit

REUTERS NEW DELHI

India’s government is in talks with foreign lenders to provide as much as $14.5bn in credit to millions of its small firms, two officials said, in a sign the coun-try’s banking system may not be robust enough to do the job on its own.

The government is in dis-cussions with multiple foreign lenders, including Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW Group, the World Bank and some Canadian institutions to extend lines of credit to small enterprises, one of the officials, who did not want to be iden-tified, told Reuters.

KfW’s India office con-firmed the discussions, though the main focus was on credit

lines to support small busi-nesses’ solar power generation. The talks were at an early stage, KfW said.

The World Bank’s India spokesperson did not reply to an email seeking comment.

The official said the gov-ernment plans to source up to 1 trillion Indian rupees of loans from foreign institutions because Indian banks were not in a position to provide enough capital for the small business sector, which is seen as critical to job creation.

“We are exploring, we are having discussions with various funding agencies if something can be done (for small and medium firms),” the second official said.

The officials did not provide full details of the discussions

they are having with banks, or identify all those they are talking to, but said talks are at a very early stage.

India’s micro, small and medium enterprise(MSME) ministry is discussing the pro-posal to pull in foreign banks with the country’s ministry of finance, which will make a final call, the second official said.

The push for foreign loans comes on the heels of the I n d i a n g o v e r n m e n t ’ s announcement earlier this month that it plans to borrow about 700 billion rupees by issuing overseas sovereign bonds.

India’s 63 million firms in the micro, small and medium firm sector are responsible for more than a quarter of the

country’s manufacturing and services output, and must be re-energised for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to kick-start the economy.

Gross domestic product growth fell to a five-year low of 5.8 percent in the January-March quarter, well below the 8 percent-plus rates that the government is targeting.

But credit availability for small and medium firms, which also account for about 45 percent of India’s total exports, has worsened due to a liquidity crisis in the country’s shadow banking industry that has seen big lenders struggling to remain solvent.

State-owned banks, which dominate the sector, have not been able to drive increased lending because they are

burdened with more than $145bn in bad loans.

This has led to a severe credit squeeze for smaller firms. They pay up to 17 percent annual interest on loans from banks, while the shadow banks, which are also known as non-banking financial companies (NBFCS) can charge as much as 20 percent.

Last month, a study by a Reserve Bank of India panel said the overall deficit in credit for the MSME sector is esti-mated at about 20 trillion rupees to 25 trillion rupees.

But lending to such firms can be risky as some lack proper financial information, such as historical cash flow data, which makes challenging for banks to assess the credit risks.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmstr �om, participate in a joint press conference during the Canada-EU Summit in Montreal .

Fed officials shake markets with rate cut commentsBLOOMBERG WASHINGTON

Two senior Federal Reserve offi-cials stressed the need to act quickly if the US economy looked likely to stumble, rein-forcing bets the central bank could cut interest rates by as much as half a percentage point later this month.

Fed Vice-Chairman Richard Clarida and New York Fed chief John Williams buoyed stocks with their dovish remarks Thursday afternoon, in some of the final comments from central bankers before they enter their blackout period ahead of a July 30-31 policy meeting.

Equities rose in Asia yes-terday along with European futures, buoyed by the prospect of a more aggressive policy move by the Fed. S&P 500 Index futures also gained, building on the US gains seen late on Thursday, despite the New York Fed trying to walk back the com-ments from Williams.

US money markets priced in 41 basis points of easing in July after the two men spoke. Traders later wound that back after a New York Fed spokeswoman said that Williams’s comments had been in the context of an academic speech and were not about potential upcoming policy actions. Clarida was discussing the current economic outlook in a television interview.

“You don’t need to wait until things get so bad to have a dra-matic series of rate cuts,” Clarida told Fox Business Network, citing

economic research. “We need to make a decision based on where we think the economy may be heading and, importantly, where the risks to the economy are lined up.”

Clarida’s remarks line up with testimony last week by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and

comments a bit earlier in the day from Williams, that have cemented expectations for a rate cut. Investors, weighing their words, increased bets Thursday that the Fed will move by a half point at the gathering.

While the US economy is “in a good place,” Clarida said recent global economic data have been softer than expected. “We’ve had mixed data, but I do think the global data has been disap-pointing on the downside,” he said. “Disinflationary pressures, if anything, are more intense than I thought six weeks ago.”

Clarida, the No. 2 official at the Fed, spoke not long after Wil-liams appeared in New York saying that: “When you only have so much stimulus at your disposal, it pays to act quickly to lower rates at the first sign of economic distress.”

A New York Fed spokes-woman later clarified that Wil-liams’s prepared remarks were “an academic speech on 20 years

of research. It was not about potential policy actions at the upcoming FOMC meeting.”

Will iams, answering audience questions after his speech, also voiced concern about low inflation expectations, calling it “somewhat worrisome given the otherwise-strong US economy.”

“My concern is that inflation expectations can get anchored too low, and we may be seeing that, have seen that in other countries,” he said.

In a July 11 interview with Dow Jones published yesterday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he would support a quarter-point reduction.

Not all Fed officials are on board with even a decrease of that size.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who has previ-ously expressed skepticism of the need to lower rates, underlined that view earlier Thursday in Tennessee. He rejected the notion that yields in Treasury bonds provide a warning that should cause the Fed to cut.

“It’s important for us to stay grounded in the real economy,” said Bostic, who doesn’t vote on policy this year. Clarida and Wil-liams are permanent voters.

Asked if the Fed can decide to leave rates unchanged this month, Clarida replied, “We go into every meeting looking at the range of options available to us. I think our messaging has been quite clear that we want to put in place the appropriate policies to keep the economy in a good place.’’

WASHINGTON AP

Microsoft reported quarterly profit of $13.2bn, powered in large part by a steadily growing cloud computing business that the company says now accounts for 30 percent of its total revenue.

The Redmond, Wash-ington-based company said it had net income of $1.71 per share in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.37 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.21 per share.

The increase in net income was 49 percent but was affected by a one-time tax benefit from transferring some properties from foreign sub-sidiaries to the US and Ireland. The software maker also sur-passed forecasts by posting revenue of $33.7bn in the period, a 12 percent increase over the same time last year. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $32.7bn.

The company’s fastest-growing segment was what it calls the “intelligent cloud,” which includes server products and its Azure cloud computing platform.

Kenya launches Africa’s biggest wind farmAFP LAKE TURKANA, KENYA

Kenya yesterday inaugurated Africa’s biggest wind power plant, a mammoth project in a gusty stretch of remote wilderness that now provides nearly a fifth of the country’s energy needs.

The $680-million (€600m) project, a sprawling 365-turbine wind farm on the eastern shores of Lake Turkana, is delivering 310 megawatts of renewable power to the national grid of East Africa’s most dynamic economy.

The largest private investment in Kenya’s history, the Lake Turkana Wind Power project was beset with delays and took nearly a decade to rise from the arid landscape 600 kil-ometres (372 miles) north of Nairobi.

Today the windmills -- scat-tered across Turkana’s stark lunar landscape and rocky hills - deliver 15 percent of Kenya’s entire installed capacity, con-nected to the national grid

through a 428-kilometre power line.

“Today, we again raise the bar for the continent as we unveil the single largest wind farm,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta, after touring the project.

“Kenya is without a doubt on course to become a world leader in renewable energy.” The project lies in a natural corridor dubbed “the windiest place on earth” and promises to harness this endless power at low cost.

The nearly-50 metre tur-bines were engineered to handle the fierce gusts that tear through the “Turkana Corridor”, a wind tunnel that generates optimal conditions, year round.

The winds howling near constantly through the barren valley deliver double the load capacity enjoyed by similar projects in America and Europe.

“It is unprecedented. This is one of the most consistently windiest places in the world,” said Rizwan Fazal, the executive director of the Lake Turkana Power Project.

Credit Suisse hires Wiant to lead M&A BLOOMBERGNEW YORK

Credit Suisse Group AG has hired investment banker Jerry Wiant from Lazard Ltd, where he had a two-year stint as a managing director focused on banking institutions, according to an internal company memo.

Wiant will join Credit Suisse’s global financial institutions group as a managing director and head of Americas banks’Over his career, Jerry has originated and advised clients on numerous domestic and cross-border M&A transactions with aggregate deal value of over $100bn,’ Alejandro Przygoda, Credit Suisse’s global head of financial institutions, said in the memoWiant will work closely with Jim Spencer, the vice chairman of the Americas financial institutions groupWiant was previously co-head of US financial institutions at Royal Bank of Canada’s investment banking arm, RBC Capital Markets, before joining Lazard in 2017.

Fed Vice-Chairman Richard Clarida

New York Fed chief John Williams

US money markets priced in 41 basis points of easing in July after the two men spoke. Traders later wound that back after a New York Fed spokeswoman said that Williams’s comments had been in the context of an academic speech and were not about potential upcoming policy actions.

Microsoft cloud growth beats expectations

The segment’s revenue was $11.4bn, up 19 percent from a year ago.

CEO Satya Nadella (pic-tured) said on Thursday “it was a record fiscal year for Microsoft, a result of our deep partnerships with leading companies in every industry.” In its latest cor-porate deal, the company announced Wednesday that it’s partnering with AT&T to migrate some of AT&T’s “ n o n - n e t w o r k i n f r a -structure” onto Microsoft’s cloud platform.

Microsoft shares have climbed 34 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 19%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $135.83, an increase of 29 percent in the last 12 months.

India seeks to tap foreign lenders for loans to its small firmsThe government is in discussions with multiple foreign lenders, including Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW Group, the World Bank and some Canadian institutions to extend lines of credit to small enterprises.

To mitigate such risks for foreign banks, the loans would be given sovereign guarantees and be routed through Indian government agencies such as the Small Industries Devel-opment Bank of India, the first official said.

16 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019BUSINESS

Asia’s biggest EMs, and Africa, join easing tideBLOOMBERG HONG KONG/SEOUL/JAKARTA

Central banks across key emerging markets (EMs) finally joined the tide of monetary policy easing Thursday as the world economy slows.

South Africa, Indonesia and South Korea, initially slow to follow peers in lowering bor-rowing costs, all announced a quarter-point cut in interest rates. In Latin America, Chile kept its key rate unchanged after last month’s shock half-point reduction.

The move by two of Asia’s biggest emerging markets and Africa’s most-industrialized economy demonstrates that even those reluctant to cut are now being forced to respond as global risks worsen. They had held off on easing too quickly: South Korea had worries about financial stability due to high levels of household debt, Indo-nesia needs higher yields to attract foreign investors to fund a current-account deficit and South Africa wants inflation expectations at the midpoint of its target range.

Their decision to cut is an indication of pronounced fears of a deepening downturn and demonstrates the policy space that’s opened up since the Federal Reserve’s dovish tilt. Central banks in Australia, India and Russia are among those that have recently cut. Nigeria sur-prised in March with the first reduction in more than three years.

“Dovish surprises remain the trend at this point,” said David Mann, chief economist for Standard Chartered Plc in Sin-gapore. “Inflation is low and growth is clearly decelerating,

albeit not rapidly, but the risks to the outlook are growing.” He projects global growth of 3.4 percent this year, down from 3.8 percent in 2018.

The biggest culprits dragging down the world economy are the US-China trade war, a fading technology boom and a soggy global autos market. China data this week showed second-quarter growth was the weakest since the early 1990s while business and con-sumer confidence globally is depressed.

In Asia, there’s almost daily evidence of economic pain. Japan said Thursday exports fell

for a seventh straight month in June. Singapore’s shipments plunged to the second-worst rate since the global financial crisis, in line with weakening world trade. Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indexes have been softer across Asia and in other regions.

“Many Asian economies are at the leading edge of the global industrial cycle and policy rate cuts across the region reveals expectations that the current export malaise will endure,” said Frederic Neumann (pic-tured), co-head of Asian eco-nomics research at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong.

What Bloomberg’s Econo-mists Say “The Bank of Korea and Bank Indonesia were among the last major central banks in Asia to join the easing club. Their cuts show that the policy focus has turned firmly to supporting growth, over-riding earlier concerns over financial stability risk and cur-rency pressures. The widely expected rate cuts by the Federal Reserve also makes monetary easing easier to pull off for Asian central banks.”-Chang Shu, chief Asian econ-omist In Seoul, the Bank of Korea cut the seven-day repur-chase rate to 1.5 percent from 1.75 percent. It now expects the economy to grow 2.2 percent this year, versus 2.5 percent projected in April, and inflation to rise 0.7 percent, versus 1.1 percent previously.

With the benchmark rate now only a quarter percentage point above a record low, and financial stability still a concern, BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol said the central bank still has room to act again — but not much.

The biggest culprits dragging down the world economy are the US-China trade war, a fading technology boom and a soggy global autos market. China data this week showed second-quarter growth was the weakest since the early 1990s while business and consumer confidence globally is depressed.

CROSSWORD

Two boys go to Mauritius to study and love it so much there, that they are reluctant to return home. Rishi plays Omkar’s dad who turns up from the village to surprise him and is in turn surprised by his son’s lifestyle.

JHOOTHA KAHIN KA

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

iSmart Shankar(Telugu) 2:00pm; Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:15pm; Toy Story 4 (2D/Animation) 2:15pm;The Lion King (2D/Drama) 2:30, 4:45, 7:00 & 9:00pm; Jhootha Kahin Ka (2D/Hindi) 4:30pm; Spider-Man: Far From Home 7:15pm; Sathyam Paranja Vishwasikkuvu (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm; The Kid (2D/Drama) 9:30pm; Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 6:45, 9:15 & 11:30pm

Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 8:45pm; The Lion King (2D/Drama) 2:15, 4:45, 7:00 & 8:45pm; Toy Story 4 (2D/Animation) 2:15pm; Sathyam Paranja Vishwasikkuvu (2D/Malayalam) 11:30pm; Spider-Man: Far From Home 4:00pm; Jhootha Kahin Ka (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm; The Sonata (2D/Thriller) 7:00pm Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 9:15 & 11:30pm; iSmart Shankar(Telugu) 11:00pm

The Lion King (2D/Drama) 10:45am, 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm; iSmart Shankar (2D/Telugu) 4:15pm;Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 11:15am, 1:45, 7:00, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight; Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 11:45am, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pm; Sathyam Paranja Vishwasikkuvu (2D/Malayalam) 2:15pm

MALL

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 2:30, 5:30, 8:00, 11:00pm; Aadai (2D/Tamil) 12:00noon & 5:30pm; Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 12:00noon, 1:00, 2:15, 3:15, 4:30, 5:30, 6:45, 7:45, 9:00, 10:00 & 11:15pm; iSmart Shankar (2D/Telugu) 12:30pm; Sathyam Paranja Vishwasikkuvu (2D/Malayalam) 3:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm

ASIAN TOWN

FLIK Mirqab Mall

ROXY

Aladdin (2D/Comedy) 10:45am, 3:40 & 8:30pm;Anna (2D/Action) 11:00am, 1:20, 3:05, 5:20, 8:20 & 10;35pm; Annabelle Comes Home (2D) 11:45pm; Crawl (2D/Horror) 11:40, 1:35, 3:30, 5:25, 7:25, 9:20pm & 12:20am; Finding Steve McQueen (2D/Drama) 11:10am, 3:00 & 6:55pm;John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum (2D) 11:15am;Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 9:50, 10:45pm & 12:00am; The Lion King (2D/Drama) 10:25, 11:55am, 12:50, 1:15, 2:20, 3:15, 4:45, 6:107:10, 9:35, 10:30 & 11:00pm; The Extractors 10:55pm;Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 5:40pm; Spider-Man: Far From Home 10:50am, 1:25, 3:20, 4:00, 5:50, 6:35, 8:20 & 9:10pm;Toy Story 4 (2D/Animation) 10:35, 11:20am, 12:35, 1:20, 2:35, 4:35pm; The Kid (2D/Drama) 1:00, 4:55 & 8:45pm

Spider-Man: Far From Home 12:30 & 10:30pm; Crawl (2D/Horror) 1:00, & 3:10pm; Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 3:00, 5:30, 8:00 & 10:30pm; Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 1:00, 4:30, 7:40 & 11:00pm; The Extractors 3:00 & 11:00pm; Shubha Rathri (2D/Malayalam) 10:30am, 1:10, 3:10, 6:00, 6:30, 11:40pm & 12:30am;The Lion King (2D/Drama) 1:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:00, 7:30, 8:00 & 8:30pm; Toy Story 4 (2D/Animation) 5:10pm

The Lion King (2D/Drama) 2:15, 4:30 & 6:45pm; iSmart Shankar(Telugu) 2:15pm; Ardaas Karaan (2D/Punjabi) 4:45pm; Kadaram Kondon (2D/Tamil) 2:30 & 9:00pm; Pathinettam Padi (2D/Malayalam) 8:45 & 11:15pm;Toy Story 4 (2D/Animation) 5:00pm; Spider-Man: Far From Home 5:00 & 9:15pm; Finding Steve McQueen (2D/Drama) 7:00pm The Kid (2D/Drama) 7:15pm; A.M.I (2D/Horror) 9:15pm; Super 30 (2D/Hindi) 11:00pm; Aadai (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

Trump attacks Fed, demands rate cutAFP

WASHINGTON:

President Donald Trump attacked the independent US Federal Reserve yesterday, demanding the central bank reverse course and cut interest rates -- something it is widely expected to do this month.

In another Twitter out-burst, Trump called on the Fed to “Correct!” its overreach.

“We are in a World com-petition, & winning big,... but it is no thanks to the Federal Reserve,” he said.

“Had they not acted so fast and ‘so much,’ we would be doing even better than we are doing right now. This is our chance to build unparalleled wealth and success for the US, GROWTH... Don’t blow it!”

Recent comments from Fed officials seemed to confirm the signal that poli-cymakers are prepared to act to sustain US growth in the face of a slowing global economy and persistent trade tensions with China.

“You don’t need to wait until things get so bad to have a dramatic series of rate cuts,” Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida told Fox Business Network on Thursday.

That comment echoed a statement earlier Thursday from John Williams, the influ-ential vice chairman of the Fed’s policy committee, who talked about the need to vac-cinate when rates are very low.

“When you only have so much stimulus at your dis-posal, it pays to act quickly to lower rates at the first sign of economic distress,” said Wil-liams, who is president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

SPORT Tour de France: Stage

14, between Tarbes to

Tourmalet Bareges

Brazilian Serie A:

Vasco da Gama vs

Fluminense

CYCLING FOOTBALL

17SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019

Our job is to fight. He has to prove something, and I have to

prove something. It’s easy to say things. But it’s not so easy

to do it in the ring.

Manny Pacquiao says

ahead of his bout

with American Keith

Thurman for the WBA

welterweight crown. TO

DA

Y’S

AC

TIO

N

Sun under fire, US stars set to shine at WorldsAFP GWANGJU

As the cream of world swimming limbers up for the World Cham-pionships, explosive doping alle-gations against Chinese giant Sun Yang that refuse to go away could overshadow events in the pool.

Boasting unparallelled strength in depth, Americans are expected to dominate the medals once again with swimming glit-terati Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky leading their charge for gold in South Korea.

“It’s all about racing now, about staying positive and really just rolling with it,” Dressel said yesterday.

“I’ve never been very public about goals but the point of this meet is really just getting your hand on the wall first.”

However, the spectre of another damaging doping scandal looms after a leaked FINA doping panel report appeared to confirm rumours that the sport’s pantomime villain smashed blood samples with a hammer after testers visited him last September.

Sun, a nine-time world champion and the only swimmer to win Olympic gold over 200m, 400m and 1,500 metres free-style, clashed with rival Mack Horton at Rio in 2016 -- when the Australian labelled him a

“drug cheat” over a prior three-month suspension for using a banned stimulant.

The bombshell revelations in the FINA report have stirred a hornet’s nest likely to trigger more salty reaction from athletes when they bump into Sun over the next week.

“Hopefully there will be no problems,” said FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu.

“It’s difficult to say but I don’t think it’s going to have an influence on the swimmers.”

After World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Sun faces a possible lifetime ban if found guilty at a hearing set to convene in September.

Any public row in Korea would further embarrass FINA at a world championships whose slogan “Dive into Peace” runs alongside posters of disgraced South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan -- who himself has served a lengthy doping ban.

Those not caught up in the

storm enveloping swimming’s enfant terrible will be looking to build confidence at these world championships in a dress rehearsal for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I feel really good about my preparation,” said Ledecky.

“Let’s see where we are against the best in the world so we can make adjustments going into 2020.”

American swimmers plun-dered 18 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals in 2017 with Britain (4-1-2) a distant second and Russia (3-3-4) third.

Dressel ruled the pool in Budapest, becoming only the second swimmer to capture seven gold medals at a single World Championships after Michael Phelps achieved the feat in 2007.

The 100 metres butterfly title appears Dressel’s to lose but the tattooed pin-up will find his 100m freestyle crown harder to cling to. Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers looks a good bet in the

men’s blue riband event and some sizzling performances in the run-in that suggest he could even threaten Brazilian Cesar Cielo’s 10-year-old world record of 46.91sec.

Australia flopped at the 2017 world championships, finishing eighth in the medal table but have brought a leaner, meaner team to Korea led by Chalmers and Cate Campbell, who is chasing a freestyle sprint double.

Swedish star Sarah Sjostrom, reigning world and Olympic champion in the 100m butterfly and world record holder over one and two laps of free, will have a say in the shake-down for medals.

Elsewhere, Britain’s Adam Peaty takes aim at his own world record in the 100m breaststroke as he tries to extend a five-year unbeaten run over two laps in major competitions.

“The world record is my main motivation now,” he said. “How to get below that magic 57 seconds.”

A Caeleb Dressel’s

file photo. INSET: Katie

Ledecky speaks during a press

conference in Gwangju, yesterday.

Let’s see where we

are against the best

in the world so we

can make adjustments

going into 2020: Katie

Ledecky

Cunha clinches third straight 25km open water race in Gwangju AP GWANGJU

Ana Marcela Cunha keeps setting the bar higher in open-water swimming at the World Swimming Championships.

The 27-year-old Brazilian won an unprecedented third consecutive 25-kilometer race yesterday and her second gold medal of the Gwangju titles after winning the 5-kilometer race on Wednesday.

It was also her fifth gold medal and 11th overall at the world championships since 2011.

Cunha finished in 5 hours, 8 minutes, 03.00 seconds, 8.60 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Finnia Wunram of Germany. Lara Grangeon of France claimed the bronze, 18.20 seconds behind Cunha.

In the men’s race, Axel Reymond dueled with Russian Kirill Belyaev over the final meters before the Frenchman lunged ahead for a three-tenths of a second victory.

Reymond finished the men’s race in a time of 4:51.6.20 while Belyaev clocked 4:51.06.50.

Alessio Occhipinti of Italy earned the bronze medal, 3.30 seconds behind Reymond.

Another Italian, Simon Ruffini, was fourth, 8.70 seconds behind. Australian Kai Edwards took fifth, 11 seconds behind Reymond. The top Americans in the men’s race were David Heron in 14th place, 4 minutes, 05.60 seconds behind the winner, and Brennan Gravley, who finished right behind Heron in 15th, 6:11.30 behind.

American Erica Sullivan was fifth in the women’s race, 3 minutes, 20.20 seconds behind Cunha, while teammate Katy Campbell finished in ninth place, 3:56.60 behind the winner.

Only two of the 24 starters failed the complete the men’s race, while five of 21 women did not finish their race.

The 25-kilometer races ended the seven-event open water program at the worlds. Only two open-water events will be held at the Tokyo Olympics next year - the men’s and women’s 10-kilometer races - and the top 10 finishes here qualified for those events.

Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha

celebrates during the medals ceremony, yesterday.

Pacquiao battles age, hungry Thurman in title showdownAFP LAS VEGAS

Twenty-four years after first climbing into a professional boxing ring, Manny Pacquiao will attempt to defy the march of time here today when he battles undefeated American Keith Thurman for the WBA welter-weight crown.

The 40-year-old Filipino icon clashes with Thurman at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in what is arguably his most challenging assignment since losing to Floyd Mayweather in 2015’s money-spinning “Fight of the Century”.

Pacquiao, who has managed to successfully juggle a political career in the Philippines while continuing to box at a high level, looked sharp in his last outing in January, a unanimous decision against Adrien Broner.

But the eight-division world champion is facing an altogether higher-calibre opponent in the shape of Thurman, renowned as one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division with 22 knockouts in 30 fights.

Thurman, who at 30 years old is a full decade younger than Pacquiao, sees today as an attempt to build his legacy, and has bluntly vowed to send the Filipino into retirement.

“This is a once in a lifetime

opportunity to destroy a legend,” Thurman declared, placing Pac-quiao in the boxing pantheon alongside some of the sport’s greatest practitioners.

“It’s as if I’m fighting Sugar Ray Robinson or Roberto Duran,” Thurman said.

“This is Manny Pacquiao. It’s a tremendous feeling, and it’s going to feel even greater when my hand is raised at the end of the night.”

Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 knockouts) has shrugged off Thurman’s blood-curdling pledges of destruction, insisting he harbours no animosity towards the brash American.

“For me nothing is personal,”

Pacquiao said. “Our job is to fight. He has to prove something, and I have to prove something. It’s easy to say things. But it’s not so easy to do it in the ring.”

Pacquiao’s preparations for the fight have followed a familiar routine.

After spending the first part of his training camp in the Phil-ippines, he relocated to Los Angeles to work under the guidance of long-time trainer Freddie Roach at his Wild Card gym in Hollywood.

Roach maintains that Pac-quiao has shown no sign of decline during gruelling sparring, and is confident that his speed and mobility will cause problems

for the naturally bigger Thurman.Roach, who expects

Thurman to enter the ring at around 160 pounds once he has rehydrated after yesterday’s weigh-in, is bracing for an early onslaught.

“I feel he’s going to try and come for Manny and try to prove that he’s the bigger, stronger man,” said Roach.

“He will come forward. He’s a pretty good puncher but Manny’s footwork should keep him out of trouble.

“I would love a collision because Manny will beat him to the punch every time. One guy is fast, one guy is slow. Thurman hits hard but he has no speed at all. I don’t see him being able to get close to Manny because of his speed.”

Yet Roach acknowledges that for all Pacquiao’s impressive form in training, the acid test will come under the bright lights of the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena today. Boxing history is littered with veterans who needed one fight too many to realise they are shot.

“This is true,” Roach said. “Usually it doesn’t show up

in the gym. It only shows up in the fight. And I’m very aware of that. And if it does show in the fight I’ll be the first one to stop the fight if need be.”

Manny Pacquiao (left) and Keith Thurman pose during their final press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

US Open to be richest Slam in history: USTAAFP NEW YORK

This year’s US Open will be the richest Grand Slam tennis tournament in history after organisers yesterday announced prize money for the event had been increased to $57m.

The US Tennis Association said the winners of the men’s and women’s singles titles at the tournament will receive a record payday of $3.85m while the men’s and women’s doubles champions would receive $740,000.

The purse is an eight percent increase over 2018 prize money, and enables the US Open offer the highest payouts for each round of any of the four tennis majors.

Over the past four years, payouts for first round losers have increased by 47 percent, while players eliminated in the second round of the 2019 US Open will receive $100,000.

“The US Open prides itself on offering the best tennis players in the world the richest total prize money in our sport,” USTA Chairman Patrick Galbraith said.

The US Open is also to make a $1m contribution, split evenly between the ATP Tour

and WTA Tour to help fund transition programmes for players leaving the sport.

“We strive to be inno-vative, and feel that our new contribution of $500,000 to both the ATP’s pension plan and the WTA Tour’s transition programs for players will go a long way toward the long-term financial well-being of all of our sport’s athletes,” Galbraith added.

This year’s US Open takes place at Flushing Meadows in New York from August 23.

M e a n w h i l e , A n n a Tatishvili, who was stripped of her entire 46,000-euro ($52,000) prize money at Roland Garros for “not playing at a professional standard”, has had her punishment over-turned, the player announced on Twitter, yesterday.

The US Tennis

Association says the

winners of the men’s

and women’s singles

titles at the tournament

will receive a record

payday of $3.85m while

the men’s and women’s

doubles champions

would receive

$740,000.

18 SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019SPORT

Alaphilippe wins time trial, extends leadREUTERS PAU, FRANCE

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe continued to amaze as he claimed an impressive victory in the Stage 13 of the Tour de France, a 27.2-km individual time trial, to extend his overall lead yesterday.

The Deceuninck-Quick Step rider clocked 35 minutes over the lumpy course to beat defending champion Geraint Thomas by 14 seconds and Belgian Thomas De Gendt by 36 seconds.

Following his second stage win this year, Alaphilippe leads Thomas, who is emerging as

Team Ineos’ sole leader, by 1:26 and Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk by 2:12.

Today’s 14th stage is a 117.5-km mountain trek from Tarbes ending at top of the Col du Tourmalet, where the pre-race favourites will show their hands.

“I knew on that kind of course I could perform but I didn’t think I could win. The route suited me so I told myself ‘give everything, you have nothing to lose’,” said world number one Alaphilippe, winner of the Milan San Remo classic this season.

“I pushed my limits, it was crazy with the crowds, I don’t realise yet.”

Alaphilippe is the first Frenchman to win an individual time trial - prologues, which are shorter, excluded - since Jean-Francois Bernard in 1987.

Thomas’s team-mate Egan

Bernal lost ground as the Colombian finished 22nd, 1:36 off the pace and slipped from third to fifth in the general classification.

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who lost considerable ground when caught at the wrong end of a bunch split last Monday, moved up to seventh thanks to a solid performance that kept him within two minutes of Thomas and took him to 30 seconds behind Bernal.

Alaphilippe’s team mate Enric Mac also had good day as the Spaniard moved up to fourth overall and snatched the white jersey for the best Under-25 rider from Bernal.

Today’s Pyrenean stage is expected to be a major test for the GC riders, and all eyes will be on Thomas, who will be expected to start gaining time on Alaphilippe.

“It’s not going to be like any-thing we’ve seen so far during this Tour,” the Frenchman said.

“I will give my best and I

hope I won’t crack. I will cer-tainly not give up.” Thomas remained calm.

“There’s a long way to go and a lot of hard stages to come now,” the Briton said..

“I didn’t really expect that, He’s obviously going incredibly well, so he’s certainly the favourite and the one to watch at the minute.” The time trial was a sobering moment for Briton

Adam Yates, who slid down to 10th in the GC after losing 2:08 on Alaphilippe.

No Frenchman has won the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985.

TOUR DE FRANCE

Following his second

stage win this year,

Alaphilippe leads

Thomas, who is emerging

as Team Ineos’ sole

leader, by 1:26 and

Dutchman Steven

Kruijswijk by 2:12.

ICC approves concussion substitutesREUTERS LONDON

Men’s and women’s teams across all formats of interna-tional and first class cricket will be allowed to replace concussed players during matches following a two-year trial in the domestic game, the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) has said.

The rule has been included in the governing body’s playing conditions and will be effective starting August 1 when the Ashes series between England and Australia begins at Edgbaston.

Decisions on concussion will be made by the team’s medical representative while the incoming player, who will be

allowed to bat and bowl, must be deemed a “like for like” replacement approved by the match referee.

“Following a two-year trial... in domestic cricket, the ICC approved concussion player replacements in all formats of men’s and women’s interna-tional cricket and for first class cricket worldwide,” the ICC said in a statement following their annual conference in London.

Concussion substitutes have been on trial in Australia’s domestic game since the 2016-17

season while the England and Wales Cricket Board adopted the regulations for its four profes-sional domestic competitions in 2018. Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers’ Asso-ciation (ACA) welcomed the ICC’s move to expand the rule to cover international cricket.

“Creating an environment where players feel comfortable in dealing with concussion... and are able to be appropriately accessed, is vital for their long-term health and wellbeing,” ACA chief executive Alistair

Nicholson said. Discussions on concussion and player safety intensified after former Australia Test batsman Phillip Hughes died in 2014, having been fatally hit on the head by a bouncer in a first class match.

Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi ignored medical advice and continued batting after being hit on the head by a bouncer in a World Cup clash with England last month, prompting demands that players should not take those calls.

CA sports science manager Alex Kountouris said the new rule would allow players to declare symptoms of concussion that could occur well after the incident, knowing their team would not be disadvantaged.

The rule has been included in the governing body’s

playing conditions and will be effective starting

August 1 when the Ashes series between England

and Australia begins at Edgbaston.

Sri Lanka to sack coaches over World Cup failure: OfficialsAFP COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s sports minister has ordered the sacking of the national cricket coach after a lacklustre World Cup campaign that saw just three wins from nine games, officials said yesterday.

Chandika Hathurusingha and his assistants would be fired after Sri Lanka’s upcoming one-day series against Bang-ladesh, said a Sri Lanka Cricket.

Sports minister Harin Fernando has ordered the coaches “should go after the Bangladesh tournament,” the official said, adding that Fernando had wanted to make the changes before the World Cup.

Under-pressure Hathurus-ingha had insisted last week he would stay to see out his contract.

“I have another 16 months,” he told reporters after returning to Colombo from the tour-nament where Sri Lanka fin-ished a disappointing sixth.

“I hope to remain until my

contract runs out.” Hathurus-ingha also acknowledged that team management had to “accept responsibility for what happened.”

Bangladesh arrive in Sri Lanka today to become the first foreign sports team to visit the island since the April 21 suicide bombings that killed 258 people.

The series starts on July 26 and ends on August 1 at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The contracts of fielding coach Steve Rixon, batting coach Jon Lewis and fast bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake will also not be renewed when they end, according to Sri Lanka Cricket officials.

Sri Lanka cricket was in crisis when Hathurusingha was appointed in December 2017, after a successful three-year spell in charge of Bangladesh.

They had just been ham-mered in Tests by India at home and away, and played poorly in one-day internationals. Under Hathurusingha, Sri Lanka notched up Test wins against England and Australia.

Tamim to lead Bangladesh in SLAFP DHAKA

Bangladesh yesterday named opener Tamim Iqbal as interim captain for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour after regular skipper Mashrafe Mortaza was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Mashrafe picked up the injury during a training session shortly after he attended Bang-ladesh team’s formal press con-ference in Mirpur ahead of the tour.

“Mortaza (Mashrafe) injured his left hamstring during training today. He received immediate MSK ultrasound examination which has revealed a grade 1 injury,” Bangladesh Cricket Board senior physician Debashis Chowdhury said in a statement.

“It is a recurrent injury that could take around three to four weeks to recover from.

Therefore, he is ruled out from participation in sporting activity for a month,” he added.

BCB named Tamim as interim captain in Mashrafe’s absence as regular vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan was rested for the series.

All-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was also ruled out for the series after he aggravated an old back injury, said BCB cricket operations chief Akram Khan.

Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed and all-rounder Farhad Reza were immediately recalled as

replacements for Mashrafe and Saifuddin.

Bangladesh will play three one-day internationals in Sri Lanka respectively on July 26, 28 and 31.

All the matches are scheduled in R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Mashrafe earlier at the press conference refused to confirm if he would retire after the Sri Lanka series and likened his sit-uation to former India captain MS Dhoni.

Mashrafe and Dhoni both were expected to clear their retirement plan after the recent World Cup in England in which they struggled with individual form.

While Dhoni, who made a fifty in India’s losing semi-final to New Zealand, remained silent on his future, Mashrafe chose to continue as team captain.

Tamim Iqbal (left) and Mushfiqur Rahim during Bangladesh’s training session in this file photo.

Stokes nominated for New Zealander of the Year award: ReportREUTERS WELLINGTON

After ripping the heart out of New Zealand’s bleary-eyed cricket fans on Sunday with a man-of-the-match performance in the Cricket World Cup final, England all-rounder Ben Stokes has now been nominated for the New Zealander of the Year award.

The 28-year-old Stokes was born in New Zealand but grew up in England when his father Gerard moved there to take a rugby league coaching job.

Stokes remained in England when his parents returned home and carved out a suc-cessful cricketing career, scoring

84 not out in the final that helped his side to their maiden 50-over World Cup title at Lord’s on Sunday.

His exploits in the final earned some early nominations for the awards, as did New Zealand captain Kane Wil-liamson, local media reported yesterday.

“The way he (Williamson) conducted himself, not only in the face of such devastating

disappointment at Lord’s but throughout the tournament, resonated powerfully with Kiwis from all walks of life,” the award’s chief judge Cameron Bennett told the New Zealand Herald yesterday.

“Interesting to see some character having a bob each way: we also received nomi-nations for England’s... Ben Stokes.

“He might not have been playing for the Black Caps but, having been born in Christchurch, where his parents now live, and with Maori ancestry, there’s clearly a few Kiwis about who think we can still claim him.”

There was no immediate

response from the awards organisers when contacted.

Nominations for the award only opened on July 1 and close on September 15.

A shortlist is confirmed in December with the winner named next February.

The award is typically given to prominent members of the community with comedian Mike King, who has become a mental health and suicide prevention advocate, the most recent to receive the award.

The last sportsman to win it was former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw in 2016 after he led the side to their second suc-cessive Rugby World Cup title in late 2015.

Stokes was born in New

Zealand but grew up in

England when his father

Gerard moved there

to take a rugby league

coaching job.

Ben Stokes

Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusingha (centre) talks with Dasun Shanaka (left) as Lasith Malinga looks on during a training session in Dubai, in this September 14, 2018 file photo.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (left) poses with former French champion Bernard Hinault as he celebrates his overall leader’s yellow jersey on the podium of the thirteenth stage, yesterday.

19SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019 SPORT

Girona FC edge Al Arabi in Spain friendlyTHE PENINSULA

Girona FC beat Al Arabi 2-1 in their first friendly match played in Spain on Thursday.

The Qatari side is currently holding a pre-season training camp in Spain, in preparation for the new season.

Al Arabi took the lead in the 15th minute before the home team equalised in the 22nd minute and produced a second goal in the 43rd minute.

Al Arabi started the match with Gomez to guard the goal, Abdul Rahman Bilal Yassin Yacoub, Jasser Yahya, Fahad Shanein, Hossam Kamal, Abdullah Marafih, Abdul Rahman Anad, Youssef Abdul Razak, Fahd Khalfan and German Lasuga.

The Al Arabi coach brought in a number of players in the second half to give the opportunity to all players to participate in the friendly. The replacements included Jassim Jaber, Mohammed Assem, Khalifa Al Maliki and Mahmoud Abundi.

Al Arabi and Girona FC players in action during their friendly match played in Spain, on Thursday.

Qatar national team coach Felix Sanchez (centre)

shakes hands with Al Sadd’s

Qatari defender Abdelkarim Hassan

as his coach, Xavi Hernandez (left) looks on

during their pre-season training session in Olot,

Spain, yesterday. The Wolves will

conclude the training camp on July 29. RIGHT: Al Sadd players

in action during a training session.

United’s Lukaku still not fit to face InterREUTERS SINGAPORE

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Romelu Lukaku was not fit to play against Inter Milan in Singapore today, as the Italian side reiterated their desire to lure the striker to Serie A.

Speaking to media yesterday ahead of the match at Singapore’s National Stadium in the International Champions Cup, Solskjaer said: “He is not fit, so he won’t be able to play.”

Asked if Lukaku would still be a United player at the start of the season, he added: “I don’t have any updates.”

Lukaku is yet to feature on the pre-season trip to Australia, Singapore and China after taking a knock in training earlier this week.

The Belgium international, who joined United two years ago, has been targeted by Inter Milan, but talks between the two clubs have stalled recently, according to British media reports.

Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte, who also spoke to media on Friday, did not hide his desire to secure a deal for Lukaku.

“I like this player and I consider him an important player for us to have a good improvement. We will see what will happen but now, for sure, Lukaku is a United player,” Conte said.

Solskjaer was also pressed on the focus and form of midfielder Paul

Pogba, who joined United from Juventus in 2016 for a then-world record fee of £89.3m ($110.83m) and has been linked with a move away from the club.

“I’m looking to get all the players back to the form that we were on when I first came in. It’s not about just Paul Pogba getting back to that form. It’s every one of us,” Solskjaer said.

“Everyone has been spot on pre-season and the games they’ve played. When they are out on the pitch, I can’t fault anyone. When we have got meetings, they are more proactive. . . I ’ve been very encouraged.”

United have pledged to invest in their squad in the close-season fol-lowing a disappointing sixth-placed finish in the Premier League, 32 points behind champions Manchester City.

They have so far signed defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace and Wales winger Daniel James from Championship side Swansea City. Solskjaer said the club is working on “one or two” more targets before the transfer window closes.

Solskjaer has already said the team would need a “miraculous season” to mount a challenge in the next campaign because of how much their rivals have improved.

United kick off their new league season against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Aug. 11.

Coach Sanchez visits Al Sadd’s pre-season training camp

Lampard hoping to rely on youngsters Zouma, MountREUTERS YOKOHAMA

Frank Lampard knows he will have to rely on youth during his first season as Chelsea manager, but the former midfielder is excited about working with two of his young charges in particular - Kurt Zouma and Mason Mount.

Following Chelsea’s 1-0 pre-season friendly loss to Japanese champions Kawasaki Frontale in Yokohama yesterday, Lampard praised Zouma, 24, and Mount, 20.

French defender Zouma spent last season on loan at Everton, where he impressed so much that the Mer-seyside club’s manager Marco Silva wants him back. Lampard, however, wants to keep his man at Stamford Bridge.

“He is a very good defender for us. A very good person, professional and I want him here. Simple as that,” said Lampard.

“We are competitive with the centre backs we have in the team and he had a very good season at Everton - I understand why they want him - but he is a Chelsea player. I want him and I want him to be happy.”

Zouma played alongside David Luiz at centre back during the first half against Kawasaki and the Bra-zilian wants to make that a per-manent partnership this season.

“He is a great player and a great friend of mine so it was amazing to be with him again,” said Luiz.

“I hope he can stay because he will help us a lot.”

Another player to return to Chelsea this campaign is midfielder Mount, who played under Lampard on loan at Derby County last season.

He signed a five-year contract earlier this month and Lampard is happy to throw the Chelsea academy product into the first team immediately.

“It is time for him,” said Lampard.“His qualities will improve, even

more with the quality around him and everybody knows the hopes I have for Mason.

“He showed today just a start, a little glimmer in early pre-season of what we might see this year and going forward.”

Chelsea have enjoyed success at academy level, winning seven FA Youth Cups between 2009-2018, but few of those players have gone on to play regularly for their first team.

Yet with the club under a FIFA transfer ban for the next two windows, Lampard may have to rely more heavily on youth.

Captain Cesar Azpilicueta believes Lampard is the best man to bring through young talent.

“We are very lucky; we have the best academy in England,” said the defender.

“We know we have the manager and his staff that have worked with a lot of young players during the last seasons and in a very successful way.”

Chelsea were second best against Kawasaki and the raucous home crowd got what they wanted when Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao took advantage of some sloppy Chelsea defending to head the winner four minutes from fulltime.

Chelsea are in action again on Tuesday, when they play Barcelona in Saitama, just north of Tokyo.

De Ligt not fazed by price tag after Juventus moveAP TURIN

If you can’t beat them, buy them. That appears to be Juventus’ philosophy as it continues its quest for the Champions League title.

In 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real Madrid against Juventus to eliminate the Serie A champion from Europe’s premier club competition. A few months later Juventus signed him.

This year Matthijs de Ligt scored the goal that eliminated Juventus from the Champions League in April as he captained

Ajax to the semi-finals. On Thursday, Juventus signed the Netherlands defender.

Juventus is an over-whelming favorite to win a record-extending ninth straight Serie A title but it is desperate to end its long wait for European success.

Since Juventus’ last title in 1996, it has finished runner-up five times in the Champions League.

“We want to win them all: this is the mentality of Juventus,” said De Ligt at his first news conference as a Juventus player yesterday. “I’m 19, I can still improve and I

want to do that. It’s important to work hard every day and to learn, and I hope to become a better player.”

De Ligt became the most expensive defender in Serie A history when he completed a €75m ($85m) transfer from Ajax.

But the teen is not fazed at the price tag.

“Of course, when a club buys you for a big amount of money, there’s a lot of pressure, but pressure is normal in football,” De Ligt said.

“I think pressure is the most important thing and if

you want to be a good player, you have to deal with it.

“It’s not a big deal for me. I’ll just play my game, work hard and show it on the pitch. In the end, everyone will see how I deal with it, but it’s not going to be a problem.”

A photo emerged during the week of De Ligt wearing a Juventus shirt as a child and he admitted he grew up idol-izing Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro, who captained Italy to World Cup success in 2006.

“The photo of me in a Juventus shirt was taken when I was about six or seven, at that

time Fabio Cannavaro was a defender that I admired,” he said. “I always had a good feeling about Juventus and I’ve always been a fan.”

Another reason De Ligt chose Juventus was because of new coach Maurizio Sarri, who replaced Massimiliano Allegri at the end of the season.

“I spoke to Sarri on the phone before coming, just to get to know each other,” De Ligt said. “He was one of the reasons that I wanted to join here, I’ve heard a lot of good things about him and I like his footballing philosophy and how he prepares his defense.”

Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt

Eriksen trains alone during Spurs’ Singapore tourREUTERS SINGAPORE

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen trained on his own yesterday ahead of a pre-season match against Juventus in Singapore, adding to specu-lation the Real Madrid and Barcelona target could leave the London club.

Eriksen is entering the final year of his contract at Tot-tenham and could leave for free next summer.

Last month, the Denmark international said he was ready to take on a new challenge.

Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters Eriksen trained alone due to a “minor surgery” the playmaker underwent after Tottenham lost 2-0 in the Champions League final to Liverpool in June.

“It’s difficult for me to comment for the player,” Pochettino said when asked about Eriksen’s desire to leave the club.

“Because he got a small, little minor surgery after the final... that is why today rather to train alone.

“We give the option to stay in London but the medical staff they decide that he can be available to play, maybe, and that is why he’s here.”

Romelu Lukaku

PAGE | 17 PAGE | 19

Pacquiao battles age and hungry

Thurman in title showdown

Man United’s Lukaku still not fit to face Inter Milan

20SATURDAY 20 JULY 2019

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Star high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, the 2017 World Athlete of the Year, will be under the spotlight when the 28-year-old Qatari makes his first IAAF Diamond League appearance in 13 months tomorrow in London.

Barshim will join compatriot Abderrahman Samba and 19 reigning world champions as the British capital welcomes some of the top athletes in the world at the Muller Anniversary Games which begin today at the London Stadium.

The reigning world champion and the two-time Olympic medallist, Barshim, who was sidelined due to an injury which he suffered during an attempt on a would-be world record of 2.46m in Szekesfehervar last year, resumed training in April before making a roaring return to action, leaping to 2.27m to win at Sopot Grand Prix Athletics in Sopot, Poland, in June.

In London, he will be up against

current world leader Ilya Ivanyuk who topped 2.33m in Szekesfe-hervar, Hungary nine days ago. Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal, who took bronze at the IAAF World Champi-onships London 2017, where Barshim won the gold, is also on the slate.

Meanwhile, the men’s 400m will see a wide open contest. One-lap hurdles speciallist Abderrahman Samba will be contesting the flat after his runner-up finish in that Monaco race.

Jonathan Jones of Barbados will line up with hopes for a bit of redemption after last Friday’s fiasco during which he ran the entire lap after not hearing the recall gun that sounded an apparent false start.

In the women’s 400m, Salwa Eid Naser will start as favourite to capture her eighth 400m victory of the season, and 12th straight over the distance.

Thirteen days ago, the 21-year-old scorched to a 49.17 win in Lausanne, the second fastest of her career. But she was chased to the line there by Aminatou Seyni, the 22-year-old from Niger who clipped more than a second from her lifetime best in that race, finishing just 0.02 behind the Bahraini. She’ll be looking to better time her finish on Saturday. Jamaica’s Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson, who clocked a 49.78 lifetime best in Kingston a month ago, is also in the line-up.

The men’s 100m will round out the first day’s action on the Diamond League programme. The favourites include African champion Akani Simbine, Olympic 100m bronze medallist Andre De Grasse and Great Brit-ain’s Zharnel Hughes, the

European champion. British fans will also be delighted to see sprinter James Ellington return to the track two and a half years after surviving a serious motorcycle accident.

World leader Elaine Thompson (22.00) is the class of the field in the women’s 200m while Karsten Warholm returns to action in the 400m hurdles for the first time since his European record run of 47.33 in

Oslo in June. Another world champion,

Omar McLeod heads the field in the 110m hurdles, taking on Briton Andy Pozzi and Asian champion Xie Wenjun of

China.

Secretary General of Qatar Olympic Committee, Jassim Al Buenain and President of Qatar Swimming Association, Khaleel Al Jabir, pose for a photograph with the President of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), Julio Maglione, and other officials during the FINA General Congress and gala dinner held in Gwangju, South Korea, yesterday.

Barshim makes Diamond League return

old from Niger who clippedn a second from her lifetime

hat race, finishing just 0.02 e Bahraini. She’ll be lookingtime her finish on Saturday.s Olympic bronze medallista Jackson, who clocked aetime best in Kingston ago, is also in the line-up.

men’s 100m will round outay’s action on the Diamond rogramme. The favouritesAfrican champion Akani Olympic 100mmedalliste Grasse at Brit-

Zharnel , the

his European record run of 47.33 in Oslo in June. Another

world champion,Omar McLeodheads the fieldin the 110mhurdles, taking on Briton AndyPozzi and Asian champion Xie Wenjun of

China.

The 2017 World Athlete

of the Year will join

compatriot Abderrahman

Samba and 19 reigning

world champions at the

two-day Muller Anniversary

Games in London.

Mutaz Essa Barshim

Abderrahman Samba

Holmes, Lowry on the charge at OpenREUTERS PORTRUSH, N IRELAND

Ireland’s Shane Lowry proved master of the Dunluce links for the second successive day to move into a share of the halfway lead with American J B Holmes at the British Open yesterday.

A flurry of birdies early in a sizzling outward nine of 31 looked like giving the 32-year-old from across the border the outright lead but a bogey at the 18th left him on eight under after suc-cessive rounds of 67.

Holmes, the overnight leader, had the better of the weather earlier in the day and consolidated his chal-lenge with a 68.

They will play together in the last group today in what promises to be a battle of the beards.

Once again the par-71 layout on the Antrim coast proved tough terrain for the world’s best golfers, although there were some low numbers on a congested leaderboard.

English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood, both looking for their first majors, made hay with rounds of 68 moving them to seven under while South African Justin Hard-ing’s posted the lowest round of the day, six birdies and an eagle helping him to a six-under 65 to move three off the lead. Alongside Harding are Aus- t r a l i a n Cameron

Smith, who scored a 66, and England’s Justin Rose after a 67.

South Africa’s Dylan Frit-telli, who only secured his place last week, was also on six under after his charge was tempered by a double-bogey at the 17th.

Holmes left several other bigger-name Americans in the shade again although Brooks Koepka, the world number one, and 2017 winner Jordan Spieth, are well-placed to challenge on five under. There will be no trademark Tiger Woods charge on Saturday, however, after he missed the cut.

Woods looked more like a 15-time major champion yesterday after his opening-round 78 but his one-under 70 was in vain.

Phil Mickelson was also cut, meaning it is the first time in the 83 majors in w h i c h the

two American heavyweights have both appeared that neither survived for the weekend.

Lowry, given loud support by the packed gal-leries, opened with three successive birdies, made another at the fifth and another at the eighth to move into the lead outright.

When his ball, sporting the four-leafed clover emblem, disappeared after a monster putt on the 10th he held a two-shot lead but three-putted the 14th. A super par-save at the 17th kept him ahead but he paid for an aggressive chip on the last and missed a 12-foot par putt.

“I’m disappointed with the bogey but I’m where I want to be and happy with my two days’ work,” said Lowry, from County Offaly in Ireland. “I knew the rain was coming so I wanted to get a fast start. I’m very, very excited for tomorrow.

Fleetwood grew up playing links golf at Southport and delighted the crowd with a birdie on the 18th. Westwood, 46, has had to wait a lot longer for his first major, having had 18 top-10 finishes but never a victory.

But with his girlfriend on his bag, he rolled back the years with a brilliant round, including a 65-foot birdie at the 16th.

Koepka suffered a cool day with the putter but was happy to be in the pack. “Right where I want to be and close enough to make a run this weekend,” the four-time major winner said.

Late in the day all eyes turned to local favourite Rory McIlroy who produced a thrilling counter-attack in a bid to make the cut after his nightmare 79 on Thursday.

After 12 holes McIlroy was five under for his round and just two shots of the one-over cut mark.

US golfer J B Holmes tees off on the 18th hole during the second round of the British Open at Royal Portrush golf club in Northern Ireland, yesterday.

Three-time champion

Tiger Woods and Phil

Mickelson miss the cut.

It is the first time in

the 83 majors in which

the two American

heavyweights have

both appeared that

neither survived for

the weekend.

Qatari officials attend FINA General Congress

Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in action during the FIVB World Tour Four-star event in Espinho, Portugal, yesterday. The reigning Asian champions defeated their Italian counterparts Tiziano Andreatta and Andrea Abbiati 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) in their first Main Draw - Pool F match before going down to Spanish duo Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrián Gavira Collado 0-2 (19-21, 23-25) in the second match. The Qatari duo, ranked fourth in the world, advanced to the knockout round and will meet Canadians Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter in round 2 today.

Qatar’s Cherif, Tijan advance in Espinho