Volume 24 | Number 7897 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 21 May 2019 | 16 Ramadan 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

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BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 23

PSG say Mbappe to stay at club next season

Ebn Sina Pharmacy

reopens at City Center

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Palestinian President arrives in Doha

Ramadan Timing

Today's Iftar: 6:17pm

Tomorrow's Imsak: 03:10am

President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in Doha yesterday, on a working visit to the country. Abbas and his delegation were greeted upon arrival at the airport by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi and Ambassador of Palestine to Qatar, Munir Ghannam.

Qatar tops mobile Internet and broadband speed in Gulf regionTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar has ranked first in the Gulf region and fifth globally on the mobile Internet speed index at 59.90 Mbps, followed by UAE at the seventh place globally at 56.33 Mbps, Saudi Arabia at the 35th place globally at 35.06 Mbps, Oman at the 36th place at 35.06 Mbps and Bahrain at the 59th place at 26.37 Mbps, according to Speedtest Global Index, which ranks mobile and fixed broadband speeds from around the world on a monthly basis.

The Index also ranked Qatar first among all Gulf countries and 39th globally in terms of fixed broadband Internet speed for the month of April with a speed of 62.65 Mbps.

The Index indicated that the upload speed in Qatar reached an average of 16.6 Mbps from the mobile Internet and 32.20 Mbps from the fixed broadband Internet.

Norway ranked first glo-bally in terms of mobile Internet speed at 65.41 Mbps, followed by Canada at 64.42 Mbps and S Korea at 63.81 Mbps.

Singapore ranked first glo-bally in terms of fixed broadband Internet speed at 197.50 Mbps, followed by Hong Kong at 172.67 Mbps and S Korea at 144.76 Mbps.

QFFD provides QR8.15bn in aid to several countriesSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) has provided QR8.15bn aid to several countries around the world since 2015, said a senior official of QFFD on the occasion of launch of its annual report.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Chairman of QFFD, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, launched the Annual Report for 2018, in a ceremony held in the diplomatic club on Sunday. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs H E Lulwa Al Khater and other senior officials were present during the event.

“Qatar Fund for Devel-opment provided financial aid and effectively responded to humanitarian and development assistance in many countries. From 2015 till May 2019, the total aid amounted to QR8.15bn, which equates to $2.24bn, an

annual growth rate of 19 percent,” said Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari, Director General of QFFD, speaking at the launch event.

The fund distributed QR2.1bn aid to 70 countries last year, he said. “In 2018 alone, the Fund’s assistance reached more than QR2.1bn or $585m, including $206.7m in humanitarian aid andQ $378.6m in development assistance. This aid was dis-tributed geographically among

70 countries around the world,” Al Kuwari said.

“The total value of aid to Arab countries amounted to $451.8m, whereas the aid to Africa totaled to $64m, Asia $28.5m and $17.9m was dis-bursed in aid to North and South America. In terms of international and multilateral organizations, the amount of assistance provided for core funding has reached $20.1m,” he added.

Speaking about the Fund’s work, Al Kuwari noted, “The Fund’s work is focused on empowering people through the promotion of education, health and economic development. This is visible in the increase in the annual allocations of these sectors which reflects our belief that these sectors serve as the foundation for human and eco-nomic development and a gateway for achieving peace and justice’’ �P4

Shura Council approves draft law on DNAQNA

DOHA

The Shura Council held its regular weekly meeting yesterday under the chairmanship of Speaker H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Council discussed draft law amending certain pro-visions of laws related to energy affairs. Under the amendment, the statement of “Minister of State for

Energy Affairs” is replaced with “Minister of Energy and Industry,” which is mention in a number of laws related to energy affairs.

After the discussion, the Council approved the draft law and decided to refer it to the gov-ernment. The Council also dis-cussed the report of the Internal and External Affairs Committee on the draft law on DNA, which replaces Law No. 9 of 2013 as part of the modernisation of legislation.

The draft law, which

included 14 articles, states that a DNA database shall be estab-lished at the Ministry of Interior and shall be attached to the rel-evant authority at the Ministry. The database shall be used to store genetic information obtained from DNA samples as per the law. Biochemical sam-pling, biopsy, DNA testing, data preservation on the DNA database, or using it in investi-gation or trial is prohibited unless it was based on a decision

from Public Prosecution or a rel-evant court. Data stored in the DNA database shall be confi-dential and cannot be viewed without the permission of the Minister of Interior, the Public Prosecutor or a relevant court.

DNA tests and data kept in the DNA database are authentic in evidence unless proven oth-erwise, except for rulings of descent provided for in chapter two of part six of the family law.

In its report, the Committee

recommended amending article 11 of the draft law on penalties.

After the discussion, the Council approved the draft law as amended and decided to forward its recommendations to the gov-ernment. At the end of the meeting, the Council received a report from its delegation partic-ipating in the second conference of the League of Parliamentarians for Al Quds held in Istanbul, Turkey titled “Jerusalem is the Capital of Palestine”. �P2

Minister of Public Health leads Qatari delegation in World Health AssemblyQNA/GENEVA

The 72nd Session of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Assembly kicked off yesterday with the partici-pation of a delegation from the State of Qatar chaired by Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

World Health Assembly has identified the main theme of its

meetings, which will continue until 28 May, as health for all.

The meetings will discuss the topics of providing primary health care to achieve universal health coverage. In addition, the meetings will discuss community healthy workers, as well as the preparations of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on compre-hensive health coverage and the

implementation of the 2030 Sus-tainable Development Plan.

The meetings will also discuss public health emergency preparedness and response, where the report of the Independent Over-sight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Program will be discussed as well as the WHO’s work in health emer-gencies and International Health Regulations (2005).

The meetings will also discuss the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian ter-ritory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, WHO reform processes, including the transformation agenda, and implementation of United Nations development system reform, multilingualism and agreements with intergov-ernmental organizations.

It will also discuss health, environment and climate change, address the global shortage of, and access to, med-icines and vaccines, follow-up to the high-level meetings of the United Nations General Assembly on health related issues: antimicrobial resistance, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and ending tuberculosis. �P2

SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

The Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, has said that Qatar received 588,000 visitors during the first quarter of this year, an increase of 10 percent compared to the Q1 last year.

“We are making strong

progress and the results of first quarter (Q1) of 2019 are encour-aging. We welcomed 588,000 visitors representing 10 percent increase over Q1 of 2018 and wit-nessed excellence occupancy rates in the recent months,” said Al Baker while addressing an event yesterday. The event, Annual Tourism Ghabga, was organised by QNTC at Doha Sheraton Hotel for the repre-sentatives of tourism sector. He

said that another success story is the result of the cruise season 2018-19 which concluded on May

10 with arrival of seasons’ last ship Seabourn Encore. “We wel-comed four ships carrying over

140,000 people making 100 percent increase over the last season,” said Al Baker. �P4

Qatar attracts 588,000 visitors, 10% rise in Q1 of 2019

The Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, and Hassan Al Ibrahim, Qatar Tourism Authority Acting Chairman, during the Annual Tourism Ghabga held at Sheraton Hotel, yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

“We welcomed four ships carrying over 140,000 people making 100 percent increase in cruise trip visitors last season," says Al Baker.

In 2018 alone, the Fund’s assistance reached more than QR2.1bn or $585m, including $206.7m in humanitarian aid and $378.6m in development assistance in 70 countries.

02 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019HOME

Qatar attends Arab League meeting on nuclear weapons in CairoQNA CAIRO

The 53rd meeting of the Arab League’s Committee of Senior Arab Officials on Nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction kicked off yesterday at the headquarters of the Arab League General Secretariat.

The State of Qatar is partic-ipating in the meeting with a del-egation headed by Director of the International Organizations Department at the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, Yousef Sultan Yousef Sultan Larem.

The two-day meeting will discuss Israel’s nuclear capabil-ities and Arab coordination at the 63rd Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, which will be held from Sept. 17 to 21.

The meeting will also discuss a proposal to establish a com-mittee of Arab experts to prepare a draft treaty to make the Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of

mass destruction.The Director of the Arab

League’s Department of Disar-mament and Regional Security, Fadi Hanna Achaia, said this meeting is held periodically to discuss the latest developments in the international arena in order to evaluate the interna-tional conferences on disar-mament held during the last period, the most recent of which is the third Preparatory Com-mittee for the 2020 Review Con-ference of the Parties to the

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to be held in New York in 2020.

He stressed the importance of the meeting to coordinate the Arab positions for the coming year ahead of the conference in New York, as well as the Arab action to activate the decision taken at the UN General Assembly to hold a conference to establish a nuclear-free zone and other weapons of mass destruction in November this year.

123,000 beneficiaries of QC’s Ramadan projects in PakistanTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Nearly 123,000 people in Pakistan are expected to benefit from Qatar Charity’s projects implemented during holy month as part of its ‘Ramadan, the Gift of Giving’ campaign for the year 1440 AH.

Qatar Charity has been implementing the Iftar project at four major hospitals in three provinces of Pakistan since the first day of the holy month, which are the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Nishtar Hospital in Multan, Panjab Province, Gulab Devi Hospital in Lahore, Punjab Province, and Sandeman Hospital in Quetta, Baluchistan Province.

Qatar Charity carries out the project in cooperation with the Bait-ul-Mal, a government insti-tution in Pakistan. These hos-pitals are provided with 500 ready-to-eat meals daily, part of which is distributed to patients directly, and the other part is dis-tributed through Ramadan tables located in the hospital yard, which are attended by patient attendants and medical staff.

Besides, four Ramadan tables have been organised in the Punjab Province. Each of them provides 500 meals daily in areas suffering from high rates of poverty and malnutrition as well as high temperatures in the summer, benefiting approxi-mately 60,000 people throughout the holy month of Ramadan.

Qatar Charity also organised Ramadan tables in Kashmir for its sponsored orphans along with their mothers, in addition to other Ramadan tables organized in Swat, Tando Muhammad Khan, Muzaffargarh and other areas. These tables are held in public parks and mosques.

Qatar Charity will soon implement a food project to dis-tribute 8,000 packages con-taining essential food items in the provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Sindh at the cost of QR1.6m.

Qatar Charity has allocated QR54.5m for its Ramadan projects implemented this year outside Qatar.

Nearly 2.6 million people in 30 countries are expected to benefit from these projects. A view of the Iftar event organised by Qatar Charity in Pakistan.

Shura Council approves draft law on DNA

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, holding a regular weekly meeting of the Council, yesterday. The Council discussed, among various matters, the report of the Internal and External Affairs Committee on the draft law on DNA.

QSRSN bags 22 medals in school Olympics for persons with disabilitiesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Society for Rehabilitation of Special Needs (QSRSN) won 22 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, and 6 bronze) at the Special Olympics for persons with disa-bilities, organized by Qatar Sports Federation for Special Needs and Qatar School Sports Federation under the auspices of Qatar Olympic Committee.

The three-day school Olympiad was held at the fed-eration headquarters in Al Duhail and Qatar SC stadium. QSRSN’s members and a large group of students in inde-pendent schools, private schools, and centers specialized in the rehabilitation and edu-cation of persons with disabil-ities in the state participated in the event.

The competition covered a variety of sports, including running competitions (60, 100 and 200 meters), jumping, throwing and boccia.

Taleb Afifah, member of the Board of Directors of QSRSN, explained that the Olympics seeks to introduce the activities carried out by persons with dis-abilities in the sports field as well as to provide opportunities for students with disabilities in all educational centres and schools in Qatar to participate in sports events, and to encourage them to be compet-itive in addition to, contribute to their integration into the society with all its diverse social, cultural and sporting activities, which plays a major role in achieving a decent life for them.

He expressed pride with the achievement of the members of QSRSN and its centers, “edu-cational, rehabilitation of girls and rehabilitation of boys” after winning 22 medals.

Taleb Afifah added that QSRSN’s members participate annually in the Special Olympics games for persons with disabilities.

Health Minister meets

Iranian and Swedish

counterparts

GENEVA: Minister of Pub-

lic Health H E Dr Hanan

Mohamed Al Kuwari met

separately yesterday with

the Minister of Health and

Medical Education of the

Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr

Saeed Namaki, and the Min-

ister of Health and Social

Affairs of the Kingdom of

Sweden, Lena Hallengren, on

the sidelines of World Health

Assembly in Geneva. During

the two meetings, they dis-

cussed ties of cooperation

between the State of Qatar

and each of Iran and Swe-

den, especially in the health

fields as well as a number

of issues of common con-

cern. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari at the 72nd Session of the World Health Assembly that kicked off yesterday in Geneva.

Health Minister leads Qatari delegation in World Health AssemblyFROM PAGE 1

The meetings of the 52nd ordinary session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health and its executive office were held on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly with the par-ticipation of the State of Qatar.

The meeting discussed a

number of important topics, most prominently the Arab Board of Health Specializa-tions, the health conditions of the people in the State of Pal-estine, the unified word of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health to the 72nd Session of the WHO’s World Health Assembly.

As well as the Arab strategy on providing public health services in the context of asylum and displacement in the Arab region, in addition to the formation of the Arab doctor award committee and the for-mation of the executive office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health.

Fasting can be effective way to manage depression, angerTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Ameera Al Ishaq, Clinical Psychol-ogist, and Deputy Head of the Psychological Service Unit at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has said that fasting during the holy month of Ramadan can be an effective way to manage depression and anger, and to strengthen self-restraint and patience.

“The social traditions that accompany the practice of fasting can have a number of mental and emotional benefits. During Ramadan, families sit down together to break their fast each evening and this and many of the other communal aspects of Ramadan have been proven to impact mental health in a positive way,” said Al Ishaq.

“These benefits are particu-larly pronounced for those expe-riencing depression and lone-liness. Engaging in fasting can bring families and social groups closer together and this can be reassuring for individuals who are managing depression or anxiety. Fasting can be a natural way to alleviate the symptoms of many mental health illnesses. Ramadan can also be a great time to break unhealthy habits like smoking and to establish new, healthy habits,” added Al Ishaq.

According to Al Ishaq fasting, and the spiritual and social

practices that accompany it, can help some individuals cope with many of the stresses of daily life. The practice of fasting can also help improve self-restraint and support anger management in individuals who are easily angered. “Fasting and associated acts of worship, such as the Taraweeh prayer, encourage communication and social inter-action. For many individuals, the prayers, and the act of praying as a group can have a calming effect,” said Al Ishaq.

Al Ishaq said in addition to causing family conflict, uncon-trolled anger and anxiety have long-term negative physical effects and can cause increased heart rate, high blood pressure, narrowing of blood vessels, and increased clotting, all of which can be heart attack triggers.

She notes the Qur’an and Sunnah provide useful guidance on addressing a range of emo-tions, including anger, and says the Prophet Muhammad offers guidance on how to control anger and overcome the inclination to become angry. “We are guided to sit down, break the sequence of events, and seek refuge in Allah as a way to move past anger. It is recommended believers make wudu’ as this will help them move away from a place of anger and allow time and space to think before speaking or reacting,” said Al Ishaq.

Amir congratulates

Indonesian President

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh

Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani and Prime Minis-

ter and Interior Minister H E

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser

bin Khalifa Al Thani sent

yesterday cables of congrat-

ulations to President Joko

Widodo of the Republic of

Indonesia on the occasion

of his re-election as Presi-

dent. QNA

03TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 HOME

QCDC opens registration for inaugural ‘Career Academy’THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has opened registration for the first edition of its ‘Career Academy’ program, which aims to take high school students on an educational journey that explores career opportunities – within the private and public sectors – and jobs that are in high demand.

‘Career Academy’, which will be delivered in Arabic, will take place over the course of two weeks, from June 30 – July 11, 8am – 1pm at Multaqa (Education City Student Center). Students can register for the two-week program, or may choose to reg-ister for one week only. All stu-dents who successfully complete the program will be awarded par-ticipation certificates.

Abdulla Al Mansoori, Director, QCDC, said: “It’s important for

students to engage in activities that help them explore their per-sonal abilities and potential in order to identify career paths that best align with their skills. QCDC endeavours to offer various pro-grams and activities that provide our youth with the opportunity to gain insight into career paths that serve the needs of the country and enable professionals to contribute to Qatar’s development.”

“The program features a variety of activities – including field trips, workshops, and rec-reational and educational activ-ities – to help students prepare both mentally and practically to embark on the career path that best suits them.”

The program will include field trips to both private and public institutions in Qatar, including Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Airways, and Es’hailSat. These field trips will offer partic-ipants the opportunity to connect

with professionals and learn to which extent these jobs match their skills and potential, and what to expect from each profession.

Students will also be given the opportunity learn about Qatar-based universities, such as Qatar University, QF member Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and QF partner universities. Represent-atives of these institutes will provide students with overviews of the academic programs and admission requirements, helping participants to make informed academic choices. The program will also include a number of character-building workshops designed to help prepare students for university, featuring topics such as ‘Preparations to study abroad’, ‘How to write a resume’, and ‘How to introduce yourself to society’, as well as sessions to empower participants to become independent.

A variety of recreational and

educational activities will also be on offer. Participants will attend a series of practical workshops

that aim to equip students with a wide range of personal and life skills, as well as to improve their

self-confidence, communication, public speaking, and teamwork abilities.

The participating students at the registration programme.

HBKU delegation visits Kuwait UniversityTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently travelled to Kuwait City to meet with representatives from Kuwait University and explore its facilities, graduate programs, and future collaborations.

Faisal Al Mohannadi, senior student engagement supervisor, met with Dr Ali Al Namy, dean of student affairs, and Salman Al Anzi, assistant dean for student services, at the Deanship of Student Affairs at Kuwait University.

Dr Al Namy provided a comprehensive overview of the role student affairs plays in ensuring the effective man-agement of student unions and clubs.

The initiative was part of a wider Kuwait visit encom-passing various departments a n d s p o r t s - r e l a t e d initiatives.

As part of the Kuwait Uni-versity visit, the delegation

visited the College of Engi-neering and Petroleum and met with Dr Khaled Al Hazza, associate dean for student affairs at the college. The itin-erary also included a tour of the College of Graduate Studies, represented by Dr Bader Al Bidawi, dean of the college.

Additional visits included meetings with the cultural, sports, and academic guidance departments. HBKU regularly collaborates with local and international partners to promote knowledge exchange, explore ongoing partnerships, and showcase its innovative approach to delivering world-class graduate programs.

The university’s student affairs department is actively engaged with the internal community and external stakeholders at-large.

It plays an active role in strengthening the cultural and social fabric within HBKU, while ensuring inclusivity and nurturing diversity within.

Education Minister meets teachers of Tiba Primary School for GirlsQNA DOHA

Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi met with the admin-istrative and teaching staff of Tiba Primary School for Girls and listened to their views and observations during his visit yesterday to the school in the framework of consultative meetings with all parties of the educational process.

The Minister discussed with a number of Qatari teachers and coordinators the issues of edu-cation, teaching and job-related matters, the role of the assistant teacher, the schedule of classes, and extracurricular activities

and their role in the educational process.

Also, they discussed the development of the educational process and the preservation of the student’s academic and edu-cational performance as the focus of the educational process, which must be nurtured and prepared to meet the require-ments and needs of the state.

The Minister of Education and Higher Education listened to the observations and views of the teachers in order to achieve the goal of the visit, expressing appreciation of their exerted efforts.

The Minister pointed out that the important remarks made during the meeting will be considered.

Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi meeting with the administrative and teaching staff of Tiba Primary School for Girls.

The officials of HBKU and Kuwait University at a function in Kuwait City.

Qatar attends 28th session of Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in ViennaTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The State of Qatar is participating in the 28th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice being held in Vienna from May 20 to 24 2019.

Maj. Gen. Abdullah Yusuf Al Mal, Adviser to the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Follow-up Committee for the World Programme for the Doha Declaration, delivered the speech saying that Qatar’s joint efforts over the last decades have made the world safer from organised crime but traditional and emerging threats are growing including the

cybercrime.“This requires us to be more

proactive in meeting these chal-lenges through enhanced interna-tional cooperation and capacity building,” he added.

Al Mal further said: “Our work here in Vienna has become an example of the ability of joint inter-national action to confront the common threats and challenges. The well being of our planet depends on our common effort to establish justice, fairness, equality.”

“This session was marked by ten draft resolutions dealing with enhancing the aspects of our joint work in the areas of prevention; the role of education and sport in

crime prevention; the development of criminal justice systems and the fight against new crimes, particu-larly cybercrime,” Maj. Gen. Al Mal said.

“The State of Qatar is proud to have pioneered international efforts to combat organized crime and related crimes and hosted the 13th Conference on Crime Pre-vention in 2015, which resulted in the Doha Declaration as a compre-hensive and integrated interna-tional plan. Qatar has also financed an international program imple-ments by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to assist coun-tries in implementing the recom-mendations of the Doha Decla-

ration,” Al Mal said.More than 30,000 profes-

sionals from over 190 countries have benefited from its activities of the World Program for the Doha Declaration since its implemen-tation. The Program has provided direct technical assistance to 34 countries.

“We are pleased to announce Qatar’s approval to extend the World Programme for the Doha Declaration for an additional year ending December 31, 2020. We are also pleased to announce that Qatar is considering the sustaina-bility of some of the activities of the program beyond its term,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Abdullah Yusuf Al Mal delivering the speech at the session in Vienna.

Qatar condemns attack in MaliQNA DOHA

The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the attack on a checkpoint south of Mali, killing seven people, including two policemen, a customs officer, and four civilians, including two Ghanaians.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the State of Qatar’s firm stance on rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of motives and reasons. The statement expressed the condolences of the State of Qatar to the victims’ families, the govern-ments and peoples of Mali and Ghana.

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 21 AM

04. 47 AM

11. 30 AM

02. 56 PM

06. 17 PM

07. 47 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum28oC 36oC

HIGH TIDE 05:05 –18:42 LOW TIDE 01:33 – 12:40

Thundery rain expected at some places

associated with sudden strong wind.

Attorney-General meets Gambian FM

Qatar’s Attorney-General, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, met yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and the Gambians Abroad of the Republic of Gambia, Mamadou Tangara, who is currently visiting the country. During the meeting, they exchanged views on a number of issues of common concern and means of strengthening legal cooperation. H E the Attorney-General also met with the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Secretariat of Policy-Making Organs of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr Semra Turkovic-Hrle. During the meeting, they exchanged views on a number of issues of common concern.

04 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019HOME

Director of Public Security meets Syrian envoyQNA / DOHA

The Director of Public Security Staff, H E Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, met yesterday with the Syrian Ambas-sador to Qatar, Nizar Hasan Al Haraki. During the meeting, they discussed a number of issues of common concern.

Senior Design Project at QU elevates engineering competence of students THE PENINSULA DOHA

The Senior Design Project 35 – Spring 2019 recently held at Qatar University which was organised by the Electrical Engineering Department in partnership with QICC and Kahramaa.

As part of this collaborative effort, both QICC and Kahramaa provided juries to represent each company in judging the projects of the future Electrical Engineers

of Qatar University. This project has been set in motion in 4th Quarter of 2018. QICC CEO, Max-André Delannoy and GCC HR and Administration Director, Karima Cherifi both met with Qatar Uni-versity’s Head of Engineering Department, Nasser Ahmed M A Al-Emadi together with the Section Head of Employer Rela-tions, Abdulaziz Yousef Alkhaldi and Employer Outreach Coordi-nator, Wadha Ali Al-Marri to develop a program together with

Qatar University that would help students be more innovative by participating in a competition for the Senior Design Engineer. This program aimed to elevate the stu-dent’s competence as an Engineer.

As a support to Qatar’s 2030 vision, the Senior Design Project surely will help the future engi-neers of Qatar to explore their abilities and equip them in tackling the world’s challenges and be one of the innovators of Qatar’s future.

The officials of Kahramaa, QICC and QU at the Senior Design Project 35 - Spring held at QU.

Microsoft honours Ooredoo with awardTHE PENINSULA / DOHA

Recognising the potential of the new AI and its transformational effect on fan engagement with sport, Microsoft honoured Ooredoo with its Digital Transfor-mation Award at the annual Microsoft Digital Transformation Awards event held last week at the Mondrian Hotel in Doha. The

awards recognise those organi-sations and entities that are playing a leading role in driving successful digitisation initiatives that lead to better engagement of customers, optimised operations and reinvented products and services.

Ooredoo had used Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Summit to announce the launch of Ooredoo

Sports, a new partnership with Microsoft that will revolutionise the way fans engage with their favourite sports. Ooredoo Sports is a new sports conversational Artificial Intelligence developed in partnership with Microsoft, which leverages Microsoft AI and Augmented Reality technologies to transform fan engagement with many different sports.

QRCS holds Ramadan Iftar program in Al QudsTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society’s (QRCS) representation mission in the West Bank and Al Quds has started a Ramadan Iftar project in the yards of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Over the holy month of Ramadan, group Iftar banquets are held to receive the fasting Palestinians who visit the mosque for prayer and worship. In total, the banquets are expected to serve up to 12,900 fasting persons. Each Iftar meal

contains rice, chicken, dates, water, yoghurt, fruits, and dessert. The project worth $161,000 involves the distribution of food parcels in Al Quds. These distributions will sustain more than 1,770 Al Quds families, or 8,850 persons.

Qatar’s tourism features get well display at ITB China 2019THE PENINSULA DOHA

The Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) made its debut at ITB China 2019, one of the leading travel trade shows in China, in Shanghai on May 15 to 17.

The Qatar pavilion show-cased a strong delegation of leading private sector partners including Qatar Airways, desti-nation management companies and other hospitality suppliers, providing a comprehensive one-stop welcoming service to meet with China travel trade.

Rashed AlQurese, Chief Marketing Officer QNTC, said, “China is a key source market for us, and we hope to continue building this relationship. In 2018 we saw significant growth

in the number of Chinese visitors to Qatar, with over 62,000 vis-itors in 2018, we saw a 38% growth from the previous year. He added, “We’re delighted to work with our partners in China to share Qatar’s unique experi-ences with a wider audience.”

The delegation’s partici-pation is part of QNTC’s efforts to shed light on Qatar’s unique experiences, and promote the country as a tourism destination among travel professionals and tourism industry leaders in China. The award-winning national carrier, Qatar Airways, currently connects Doha to 6 cities in mainland China including Beijing, Shanghai, G u a n g z h o u , C h e n g d u , Chongqing and Hangzhou.

A B2B travel exhibition exclusively focused on the

Chinese Travel Market, ITB China, inaugurated in 2017, has established itself as one of the leading travel trade shows in the country. This year’s exhibition hosted more than 850 top buyers from more than 300 travel agencies, representing the full range of China’s largest industry players. In attendance were industry professionals from all around the world.

QNTC has received multiple accolades while representing Qatar in leading tourism confer-ences around the world. Fol-lowing its participation in ITB Berlin 2019 this March, QNTC received the ‘Top Destination Ranking in the Middle East for 2019’ by the German magazine fvw, which ranks destinations based on the number of German tourists received.

Qatar attracts 588,000 visitors, 10% rise in Q1 of 2019FROM PAGE 1

Al Baker said that this growth is expected to continue in the coming years and Doha Port to be one of most important winter cruising ports broadening oppor-tunity for Destination Man-agement Companies to handle these cruise visitors. “As all trav-ellers know every tour needs a good tour guide as first point of contact between visitors and the host country. They are integrals to our visitors overall experience. To this end, we continue to train

and license tour guides, equipping them with knowledge how to bring our destination to life,” said Al Baker.

He said that a total of 132 tour guides have been licensed and the goal is to ensure that everyone involve in this pro-fession should have the proper licensing, required training to welcome guests.

“With ‘Summer in Qatar’ soon to start, we have an exiting range of activation events and initiatives that will engage with local, regional and international

guests helping to strengthen Qatar’s reputation as an attractive destination for leisure, entertainment and retail,” said Al Baker.

He said that the partnership between both private and public sectors is a key element for ‘Summer in Qatar’. “We will con-stantly develop further assets to broaden appeal of Qatar to include families and cultural tourism seekers while making Doha more recognized and attractive short-break dis-tention,” said Al Baker.

He said that Qatar’s stop-over program has brought 100,000 visitors while Qatar Airways will continue to promote the product and has brought close to 200,000 visitors to Qatar.

“Discover Qatar will also launch exiting new products over the coming months including a fully managed kinds of facility, luxury desert resort, profes-sionally organized tours to view the amazing population at the cost of Qatar,” said Al Baker. He said that Qatar Airways is going

to invest millions of Qatari Riyals in developing these facilities and then eventually handing them over to the private sector.

“It is heartening to see that Qatar is becoming a genuine seven-night winter destination for visitors specially from Europe,” he said, adding, “As the result of products enhancement, Qatar Airways providing hugely competitive rates to the trade, tour operators.”

He further said: “We developed the tourism products further and even more optimistic

for the future.” He said that Qatar Tourism Authority has became National Tourism Council putting tourism on high in national agenda and will facilitate closer cooperation between public and private sectors partners to build a thriving sustainable tourism industry.

“We can build the industry in a sustainable manner realising the value for all stockholders including hotels, DMCs, MICE and retails,” said Al Baker. He said that Qatar’s hospitality industry continues to expand.

The pavilion of Qatar National Tourism Council at ITB China 2019 in Shanghai.

QFFD provides QR8.15bn in aid to several countries

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Chairman of QFFD, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi; Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lulwa Al Khater, and Director-General of QFFD, Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari, with other officials, during the QFFD 2018 Annual Report Launching and Gala Dinner held at Diplomatic Club on Sunday. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

FROM PAGE 1

QFFD on behalf of the State of Qatar, has been able to finance projects with a total aid of $585m, including humanitarian and development assistance. The assistance was allocated to four main sectors: infrastructure,

education, relief and economic development.

By focusing on these sectors, QFFD aims to promote sustainable development to realize its vision to give hope and promote peace and justice. In addition to providing assistance to many countries in

the world, QFFD, through its various partnerships, has been able to fund UN organisations with $20.1m as means to explore innovative solutions to the problems facing the devel-oping countries today especially populations living below the poverty line.

The Information Systems Department of the Public Prosecution was honoured with Digital Transformation Award to support Qatar E-Government 2020 Strategy by Microsoft. The award was received by the Director of Information Systems Department at the Public Prosecution, Maryam Hajji, at an award ceremony organised by Microsoft. This award recognises the efforts of the Information Systems Department in the field of upgrading the work and providing digital technology solutions according to the best international practices in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and with the directions of the National Development Strategy as well as Qatar E-Government 2020 Strategy.

05TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 HOME

Texas A&M University presents Dr Al Sada with honorary doctorateTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Texas A&M University recently presented an honorary doctorate to H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada during commencement cere-monies of Texas A&M University at Qatar at the Qatar National Convention Center.

The honorary Doctor of Letters degree was presented to Dr Al Sada by Texas A&M Provost and Chief International Officer, Dr Michael Benedik; Texas A&M Uni-versity at Qatar dean Dr César Octavio Malavé and Dr Hassan S Bazzi, associate dean for research at the Qatar branch campus.

Texas A&M President Michael K Young and Provost and Executive Vice-President Carol A Fierke rec-ognised Dr Al Sada for his scholarly work and his numerous contribu-tions to education in the region with a private ceremony in Doha. “Texas A&M is a proud contributor to Qatar’s development and an enthusiastic partner in achieving the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030,” Benedik said, “and His Excellency has been an essential part of our efforts and successes. Thanks in large part to his guidance and support, Texas A&M is able to contribute directly to the human capital required for Qatar to flourish.”

An advocate for education at

every level, Dr Al Sada has men-tored young people, supported development of primary and sec-ondary education policy and practice and advocated for teachers through non-profits such as Teach for Qatar.

He has been an avid supporter of Texas A&M’s Qatar campus since its earliest inception of part-nership with Qatar Foundation and the renowned Education City initiative, now known as home to several leading universities and research institutes. Serving as chairman of the Texas A&M at Qatar Joint Advisory Board, Dr Al Sada has been instrumental in the branch campus’s emergence as the premier provider of engineering education in the region.

Malavé said, “H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada has been instrumental in the growth and development of Texas A&M at Qatar, and his work has been

essential in the dynamic evolution of the energy and industry sectors in the State of Qatar. Since the ear-liest days of the Texas A&M branch campus in Qatar, His Excellency has been a steadfast supporter of high-quality engineering edu-cation. He is a role model and source of inspiration for our stu-dents, and it truly is a privilege to

recognize him for his tremendous support of Texas A&M at Qatar.”

Born and raised in the small rural town of Ruwais, Qatar, known for fishing and pearl diving, Dr Al Sada rose to a distinguished career as respected global leader for energy, engineering and edu-cation. He graduated from Qatar University with a bachelor’s

degree in marine science and geology. Later he received mas-ter’s and doctoral degrees in cor-rosion science and engineering from the University of Manchester in the UK.

He began a career with Qatar Petroleum in 1983 and would go on to lead numerous of the com-pany’s divisions and subsidiaries.

In 2007, he was named Minister of State for Energy and Industry Affairs and subsequently, in 2011, Minister of Energy and Industry, where he not only helped direct the economic transformation of Qatar and the world’s energy markets, but also advanced the social devel-opment of his country through education.

H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada being honoured during commencement ceremonies of Texas A&M University at Qatar at QNCC.

Texas A&M President Michael K Young and Provost and Executive Vice-President Carol A Fierke recognised Dr Al Sada for his scholarly work and his numerous contributions to education in the region with a private ceremony in Doha.

Public Prosecution receives award

QA congratulates Al Duhail Sports ClubTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways, the Official Airline Sponsor of the Amir Cup 2019, has congratulated Al Duhail Sports Club, the winner of this year’s Amir Cup 2019. The exciting final game took place on May 16 at Al Janoub Stadium, the second Qatar 2022 World Cup Stadium to be officially revealed.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways extends its warmest congrat-ulations to Al Duhail Sports Club on their incredible victory on Thursday at the new, state-of the-art Al Janoub Stadium. We are delighted to continue our longstanding partnership with the Amir Cup, and to see the tremendous

success of the tournament. As an airline, we believe strongly in the power of sports in bringing people together, and continuously seek to engage with premier sporting teams and events around the world. We look forward to bringing football fans from around the world to Doha in 2022.”

Qatar Airways is proud to sponsor premier sporting clubs around the world. In May 2017, the award-winning airline announced its ground-breaking sponsorship deal with FIFA, which saw it become the Official Partner and Official Airline of FIFA until 2022. The agreement also sees Qatar Airways become the Official Airline Partner of the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the FIFA U-17 World

Cup, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the FIFA eWorld Cup, and the FIFA Women’s World CupTM.

In 2018 Qatar Airways signed a five-year partnership agreement with leading German football team FC Bayern München AG, making the award-winning airline an FC Bayern München AG platinum partner until June 2023.

The airline also recently revealed multi-year sponsorship agreements with Italian football club AS Roma, for which it is the Official Jersey Sponsor through the 2020-21 season; and with Argentinian football club Boca Juniors, for which it is the Official Jersey Sponsor through the 2021-22 season.

Qatar Airways is sponsoring premier sporting clubs around the world.

Green Tent discusses role of cultural institutions in stimulating tourism in QatarQNA DOHA

The 6th session of the Green Tent of the ‘A Flower Each Spring’ program discussed the role of cultural and recre-ational institutions in supporting the tourism sector in Qatar, in the presence of a number of tourism experts in the country.

The Head of ‘A Flower Each Spring’ program, Dr Saif Ali Al Hajari, said that Qatar has many natural and tourist attractions and it is characterised by an environment that includes many rare animals and plants and attracts many tourists from all regions of the world.

Dr Al Hajari added that the State of Qatar has a strong infrastructure, a good road network, a variety of parks, high technology services and high-speed internet, and also has flights to all parts of the world, adding these factors are a great support for businessmen to increase investment in tourism sector and work on its development.

Dr Al Hajari called for taking

advantages from the potential provided by the State to serve the tourism sector by expanding hotel facilities in view of the preparation for the 2022 World Cup.

In his presentation to the session, Dr Hassan Ali Diba stressed the role of cultural institutions as a joint platform that brings together individuals from dif-ferent backgrounds, qualifications, spe-cialities and different experiences, pointing to the great role of employees and workers in cultural institutions in enhancing the reputation of the tourism sector and achieving its objectives.

He said the organisational culture of the institution plays an important role in maintaining identity and directing behaviour through the rules and regu-lations, noting that the culture of any institution is a combination of values, beliefs and expectations shared by indi-viduals and used to guide their behaviour and solve their problems.

In the same context, Acting CEO of Qatar Museums (QM) Ahmed Al Namla said that the newly opened museums have greatly supported the tourism

sector and attracted many visitors to the country, especially as it is one of the most important elements of cultural tourism.

Al Namla added that the number of visitors to the National Museum of Qatar, which opened last March, reached more than 160 thousand visitors, and exceeded in some days the barrier of 8,000 visitors. He stressed that within the framework of the vision of the State of Qatar, which seeks to expand in national museums, a sports museum will be open in the coming period and will include seven halls and presents the history of the development of sport in Qatar and the world, in line with hosting the 2022 World Cup.

A number of experts from tourism companies operating in the country said that the tourism sector in Qatar is wit-nessing unprecedented growth despite many of the surrounding international conditions and major challenges facing the region, pointing to the presence of more than 120 new tourism facilities in Qatar.

Radio Olive receives ISO certification

06 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019HOME

QBIC Demo Day a great success: Ooredoo

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo announced yesterday that the recent Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC) Demo Day was a great success, with two new start-ups selected to join the incubation programme devised jointly by QBIC and Digital & Beyond, the specialised incubator powered by Ooredoo.

The event offered the oppor-tunity for start-ups in the region to showcase their offerings and demonstrate the benefits their start-ups would provide.

The grand finale of the Lean Start-up Programme offered participants the opportunity to pitch for a space on incubation

programmes devised by QBIC and Digital & Beyond.

In total, 12 start-ups pitched for QBIC General and Digital & Beyond, of which only two have pitched to be incubated by Oore-doo’s Digital & Beyond programme.

As a result, AY Tech and Alternative Operations have been incubated by Ooredoo and will move to the next devel-opment phase. Ooredoo, as a supporter of start-ups, is playing a major role in Qatar’s economic diversification, building and sup-porting a robust entrepreneurial eco-system and targeting potential start-ups to capture financial benefits through access to its superior technology and

innovation, employee motivation and faster time from inception to market.

Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Com-munications at Ooredoo, said of the event: “We were delighted to see so many interesting, inno-vative start-ups pitching for the opportunity to be incubated under Ooredoo’s Digital & Beyond programme, and we’re excited to see what’s next for the two start-ups chosen.

We see initiatives such as the incubation programmes as vital to our future development; they allow us to identify new business opportunities and improve and develop the industry ecosystem, as they help us to reap the

benefits of evolving technology and ensure this new technology is faster to market.”

Hamad Al Qahtani, General Manager at QBIC, said of the incubations: “We’re delighted to be working with Ooredoo to offer opportunities to innovative start-ups, as there are benefits on both sides; the start-ups clearly get a phenomenal oppor-tunity to work with industry leaders, gain experience and let their ideas fly, while industry-leading businesses such as Ooredoo get access to innova-tions that could potentially prove incredibly beneficial to the future of their business. It’s a win on both sides and we’re honoured to be involved.”

The officials posing for a group photo.

CNA-Q signs agreement with top Canadian University, DalhousieTHE PENINSULA DOHA

College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) has signed an articulation agreement with Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, establishing a seamless pathway for graduates of CNA-Q’s Information Tech-nology and Business Studies diploma programs.

The pathway recognises two years of credits earned at CNA-Q, whereby students can complete credits at Dalhousie University within an additional two years to earn a Bachelor of Applied Computer Science or a Bachelor of Management.

The agreement marks the first articulation between CNA-Q and a Canadian university, facil-itating a complete four-year pathway towards a bachelor’s degree. This articulation is part of CNA-Q’s strategic agenda to create diverse opportunities for progression for its graduates at exceptional international institutions.

“Our partnership with Dal-housie University is one we are particularly proud of,” said Dr. Samah Gamar, Vice-President, Academic.

“Dalhousie is one of Can-ada’s most respected, research-intensive universities, and of the country’s oldest — having been established in 1818, before Canada became a country. Dal-housie also has deep roots in applied, technical education,

since it assumed the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) as part of its campus in 1997, which delivered degree pro-grams that aligned to industry and businesses. This agreement demonstrates exceptional part-nership between a technical college and a renowned uni-versity, and paves the way for future collaboration between these two streams of higher edu-cation,” said Dr. Gamar.

“It also follows a global trend in academia and a mandate in many leading nations, including Qatar, to increase vertical per-meability and transferability within the higher education system” she stated.

Starting in the new Aca-demic term of 2019-2020, CNA-Q Business and IT grad-uates can avail of this degree pathway, with applications to Dalhousie now open for graduates.

The partnership works to further strengthen ties between Qatar and Canada, with Canada being an ideal destination for education for many citizens and residents of Qatar.

Dr. Samah Gamar (left) presenting a gift to Dr. Teresa Balser, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, Dalhousie University.

Arab International Academy now a fully-accredited IB SchoolTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Arab International Academy (AIA) in Doha recently received accred-itation from the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) for three of their programs: the PYP (grades K-5), the MYP (grades 6-10), the DP (grades 11-12), to become a full International Baccalaureate (IB) school. The school received three visiting teams, one for each program, during the current academic year. AIA is now one of seven schools in Qatar with the IB accreditation for all three programs.

It is the only school in Qatar that implements the program in

primary schools in Arabic and English, with particular interest in deepening the understanding of Arabic culture and pride among students and equipping them to learn Arabic at an advanced level. AIA received also the Qatar National School Accreditation (QNSA) this year after a five days’ extensive visit from the QNSA team back in March.

It should be noted that all of the accreditations were received in less than three years, which is record time compared to other schools. The IB Program is one of the world’s most distinguished academic programs. It is imple-mented by thousands of schools

around the world. It focuses on developing the

whole person cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically. Addi-tionally, it helps students face challenges with optimism and open-mindedness.

Many scientific studies have shown that the IB DP program is one of the best school preparation programs, in terms of knowledge and skills, for success and excel-lence at the university level. The program adopts learner-centered methods based on research, con-ceptual development, and respon-siveness to students’ different learning styles. The IB Program focuses on the development of a

range of skills by students.As mentioned in the IB Phi-

losophy, the program helps stu-dents to become thinkers, inquirers, communicators, risk-takers, balanced, reflective, prin-cipled, caring, knowledgeable, and open-minded.

Arab International Academy (AIA) was founded in Doha, Qatar in 2016, with the goal of estab-lishing an advanced international school that provides a rigorous and global educational experience. To achieve that goal, AIA has drawn on the very best of international philosophy in the choice of cur-riculum and approaches to 21st-century teaching and learning.

The agreement marks the first articulation between CNA-Q and a Canadian university, facilitating a complete four-year pathway towards a bachelor’s degree.

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Best Buddies Qatar in cooper-ation with Ooredoo, Commercial Bank of Qatar and Behavioral Health Support Center marked Garangao for its 180 members from primary schools, centers for persons with disabilities and Medical Corporation Education Center.

The celebration of this event was initiated to revive Qatari her-itage and remind the younger gen-erations about the customs and traditions, as a folklore, that strengthened the social and moral relations within and outside of families, and to instill the spirit of affection and warmth among them. On this night, the girls come out in their most beautiful and bright traditional dresses, adorned with golden threads on the limbs and ornaments. The boys wear new clothes.

Laalei Abu Al-Fain, Executive Director of Best Buddies Qatar, said: “Each Year we are keen to celebrate this heart-warming event with the persons with disabilities, because our beloved country, Qatar, has a prominent and rich heritage. Moreover, we are pleased to enlighten the heritage and to contribute to its constant revival.

Laalei Abu Al-Fain added: “We partnered with many organ-izations in celebrating this occasion in order to reinsure the

community participation in Best Buddies Qatar programs to asset to its mission and objectives and to engage more entities and vol-unteers to support the aim of enhancing life of persons with dis-abilities through social integration and one-to-one long lasting meaningful friendships.”

Manar Khalifa Al-Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Com-munications, Ooredoo, high-lighted: “Garangao is a special time for children during the Holy Month of Ramadan. We are delighted to support Best Buddies Qatar to

make sure this event is a success and that children from across Qatar’s communities can enjoy a great traditional night. We are always happy to engage in such events as part of our social respon-sibility to contribute in keeping Qatari traditions alive for future generations.” Rashid Mohammad Al-Naemi, Director of Behavioral Health Support Center, com-mented: “The Center believes in the importance of social respon-sibility of public entities towards Qatari community to provide opportunities for all its members,

to participate in national, religious, social celebrations.”

Sara Al-Ali, Employee Engagement Officer of Com-mercial Bank, said: “Today, on behalf of Commercial Bank, I would like to thank Best Buddies Qatar for hosting us in Garangao celebration. Commercial Bank focuses on such social and humanitarian initiatives especially in the Holy Month, which aims to plant the seeds of wellbeing and love. It is one of the leading insti-tutions in the field of charity and humanitarian contributions.”

Best Buddies Qatar celebrating Garangao.

Ameer Ali, Managing Director of Radio Olive & Radio Suno receiving ISO 9001: 2015 certification for Radio Olive 106.3 FM from Tamer Kamel, Operation Manager of BQS in the presence of Sheikh Faleh bin Ghanim Al Thani.

Best Buddies Qatar marks Garangao

07TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 MIDDLE EAST

Political solution only way to end conflict: Palestine PMQNA & REUTERS RAMALLAH

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtayeh said that any solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will only be through political solutions that end the occupation and acknowledge the rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign and viable state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return of refugees, based on the resolutions of inter-national legitimacy and interna-tional law.

Ishtayeh said during the weekly Palestinian cabinet meeting, according to the Pales-tinian News Agency, that the financial crisis facing the Pales-tinian National Authority today is the result of the financial war that is being waged against it in order to extort political positions. He stressed that Palestine is not subject to extortion and the Pal-estinians do not trade their national rights for money.

He confirmed his total rejection of the arbitrary Israeli measures relating to the con-tinued deduction of Palestinian funds due from the tax clearing, calling on the Israeli entity to return these funds in full. The

Palestinian Prime Minister also called on the international com-munity and the sponsors of the agreements to release all Pales-tinian funds and to establish an international mechanism to investigate any cuts related to water, electricity, wastewater and others.

Another report by an agency says, Palestinians will stay away from a US-led conference in Bahrain next month that the Trump administration has cast as an overture to its own plan for peace between them and Israel, a Palestinian cabinet minister said yesterday.

Washington announced the conference on Sunday, describing it as an opportunity to drum up international investment for the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians, who have boycotted the Trump adminis-tration since it recognised Jeru-salem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, have shown

little interest in discussing a plan on which they had no input and that they anticipate will fall far short of their core demands.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said yes-terday that his government had not been consulted on the June 25-26 gathering in Manama. After the cabinet met, Ahhmed Majdalani, the social devel-opment minister and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive com-mittee, said: “There will be no Palestinian participation in the Manama workshop.” “Any Pal-estinian who would take part would be nothing but a collabo-rator for the Americans and Israel,” he said.

Shtayyeh reiterated Pales-tinians’ aspirations for a two-state peace agreement with Israel entailing control of the occupied West Bank and Gaza as well as East Jerusalem as their future capital. Internationally-mediated talks to that end have been stalemated for years. Israel

calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital and has said it might declare sovereignty in its West Bank settlements, which are deemed illegal by the United Nations and most foreign governments.

The US officials have pre-dicted the Manama event will

include representatives and business executives from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as some finance ministers. The economic component discussed will constitute an announcement on the first part of the Trump peace plan, US officials have said.

But Bashar Masri, a

Palestinian businessman and the founder of Rawabi, the first Pal-estinian planned city in the West Bank, said he had turned down an invitation to speak at the con-ference. “We will not engage in any event outside the Palestinian national consensus,” Masri wrote on social media.

A Palestinian group calling themselves ‘We are not numbers’ perform above a building which was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Gaza.

Palestinians will stay away from a US-led conference in Bahrain next month that the Trump administration has cast as an overture to its own plan for peace between them and Israel, a Palestinian cabinet minister said yesterday.

Cafu, Brazil FIFA World Cup-winning captain in 2002 said, “Its a marvellous stadium. Its a grand football venue with a lot of uniqueness. It is different. I like it. I am sure Qatar is progressing nicely. They have done a fantastic job. Qatar is doing all the right things to stage a great World Cup.

BLOOMBERG

08 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019VIEWS

Legends laud Al Janoub Stadium following spectacular launch

On Thursday evening Qatar reached a major milestone on the road to 2022, the opening of its second tour-

nament-ready venue, and the first to be built from scratch; the magnificent Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah City.

Al Duhail ran out 4-1 victors against Al Sadd on the night, to lift the Amir Cup for the second consecutive season. Before the game got underway, the stadium was launched in the presence of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Also in attendance on the night were some of the biggest names in FIFA World Cup history, as legends from across the globe traveled to Qatar to attend the game.

Cafu, Brazil FIFA World Cup-winning captain in 2002 said, “Its a marvellous stadium. Its a grand football venue with a lot of uniqueness. It is different. I like it. I am sure Qatar is progressing nicely. They have done a fantastic job. Qatar is doing all the right things to stage a great World Cup. They are ready to welcome the world. As for the national team, Qatar will play at the Copa

America next month. It will be good for the players. It is a big tour-nament and Qatar have the oppor-tunity to learn a lot as they build a strong squad.” Xavi, SC Ambas-sador and 2010 FIFA World Cup winner with Spain, poited out, “I think its a very good stadium that will have a great atmos-phere. Its one of the stadiums for the World Cup and its

amazing. The facilities, the pitch, eve-rything in 2022 will be amazing and I think a lot of people will be very sur-prised with what Qatar is doing. Its going really well. We also played in the first opening - that of Khalifa Interna-tional Stadium - and this is the second

one. Theyre doing really well. “ Ruud Gullit, former Milan, Chelsea, and Netherlands midfielder said, “The thing is there were a lot of talks about can they do it, can they not do it (build such a stadium). Look, they can do it. If you see the design, it is amazing. If you come into the stadium, it is a real football stadium. But, for me, what is more, important is that the pitch is fantastic. As a football player, you want to play on this pitch.” Samuel Eto’o, SC Ambassador and former Bar-celona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, and Cam-eroon striker, said, “We have been given the privilege to discover this beautiful jewel. We hope for whoever will play in this magnificent stadium, that they will have a lot of pleasure, both now and at the 2022 World Cup.” Roberto Carlos, former Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Brazil defender, said, “First, we have to congratulate the organizing committee on the excellent stadium they have built here. I was amazed by the whole structure and

the temperature inside. The players and fans will feel great while games are on. Qatar is doing a great job.” Ronald de Boer, former Barcelona, Ajax, Al Rayyan, and Al Shamal mid-fielder, pointed out, “When we arrived, I saw the stadiums beauty from outside.

From inside, what I like is that it is a proper football stadium. Every time I come here, I am surprised. I was here eight months ago. I am sure they will achieve a lot. It is hard work but I am sure they will pull it off. The Qatar team is progressing well. There are still three years to go before the World Cup so they have time to improve their players further. I am sure they are on the right track.” Tim Cahill, who appeared at four consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments, said, “Its amazing. You look at the stadium and its got a really good feel to it. The fans are very close to the pitch and when you look around it actually feels like youre at a World Cup.”

QNA DOHA

QUOTE OF THE DAYWe are against foreign intervention, resorting

to undemocratic means, including coup

attempts, imposing unilateral sanctions

to replace legitimate governments.

Mevlut Cavusoglu Turkish Foreign Minister

Trump’s Huawei attack is a serious mistake

In its struggle with China over trade and national security, the US has many legitimate griev-ances, and a variety of weapons

for seeking redress. That doesn’t mean it should use all of them.

The nuclear missile the US just launched at Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is a case in point. Last week, the Commerce Department placed Huawei and nearly 70 of its affiliates on an “Entity List,” which means that US suppliers may now need a license to do business with them. Both Hua-wei’s mobile phones and its network equipment rely on American compo-nents, including advanced semicon-ductors. If the ban is applied strin-gently, it could drive one of China’s most high-profile companies - employing more than 180,000 people - out of business.

That would be a serious mistake. The US has long argued that Huawei poses a national-security threat. And there certainly are legitimate reasons to worry that incorporating Huawei gear into America’s networks will leave them vulnerable both to spying and, in the event of a conflict, sab-otage. But the US is already taking other prudent steps to prevent Huawei equipment from being used domesti-cally. Seeking to put the company out of business as well is both dispropor-tionate and deeply unwise.

For one thing, it will

impose collateral damage. Blameless companies around the world - including Huawei’s American sup-pliers - could lose business, face dis-ruptions and incur significant new costs. Allies that have resisted US pressure to shun Huawei’s equipment will resent being backed into a corner: Even if President Donald Trump loosens the noose a bit, they can hardly take the chance that restric-tions won’t be re-imposed later. China will only redouble its efforts to produce advanced technologies domestically.

As a negotiating strategy, the decision makes even less sense. US officials claim it had nothing to do with stalled trade talks, but it certainly looks like Trump wants to use Huawei as leverage, just as he did last year with ZTE Corp. Trump has already invoked national security far too often in pursuing his scattered trade battles. Doing so here would set another ter-rible precedent while almost certainly backfiring: It will aggravate the current impasse and give Beijing little incentive to abide by any eventual agreement.

Worse, the decision undermines the implicit point of any US-China trade deal: not just to increase com-merce but to stabilize relations between the world’s two most pow-erful nations. While tensions are inevi-table, a healthy trading relationship should in theory restore ballast, reminding both sides of the benefits of

cooperation and strengthening con-stituencies that have reason to prefer peace to war. By contrast, targeting Huawei so nakedly will only further marginalize the few moderates in the Chinese leadership and embolden hawks who see conflict as una-voidable. For ordinary Chinese, it will be hard to avoid the impression that the US is simply trying to limit their economic possibilities.

Even on its own terms, finally, this gambit is likely to fail. To be effective, an assault on Huawei would need to be embedded in a larger strategy with a clearer endgame in mind. That’s nowhere in evidence: Is the aim to cripple China’s tech industry? Teach the country its place? Give a boost to non-Chinese suppliers? Provoke a conflict? End one? Without a more focused goal, Trump risks simply alienating US allies, infuriating average Chinese and raising the chances of confrontation, all to no obvious end.

What the US needs is a larger plan that seeks a healthier coexistence with China. That means building up America’s defenses, leveraging its competitive strengths, working with allies to pressure China to conform to global norms, and taking the lead in writing new rules that can constrain its more disruptive behavior. Crushing Huawei, by contrast, simply looks like a strategic miscalculation - and one with potentially disastrous consequences.

The successful surgery has proven Qatar’s efficiency yet again and also shown the world that the nation has a fully fledged team ready in hand to face any healthcare challenge. There is no doubt that this will open a new path of opportunities for them and thus in turn, it will lift the nation’s fame to more horizons.

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

Hats off to HMC team

Keeping fingers and toes crossed throughout the nail-biting session, the medical world was keenly observing the rare and the most complicated kidney

transplant in Qatar. A team of the most proficient and highly qualified healthcare professionals of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) withheld global attention for a while and finally, they came out from the operation theatre in utmost confidence to inform the world a big success story as Qatar was adding one more golden feather to its crown.

A surgery for an organ transplantation may not gain much attention in this world of medical advancements. However, this transplant was done on a person whose blood did not match with the donor. In usual cases, blood type match between the donor and recipient is a must for organ transplant. With this unprecedented surgery, HMC has become one of the very few organ transplant centres around the world that perform such a transplant. The greatness of the deed will be more when you realise the fact that these centers represent only 5 percent of the total organ transplant centers worldwide. With this great

advancement, the nation has made a big leap in healthcare and the nation’s pride was lifted to new heights yet again by its committed team; thanks to HMC for nurturing such a wonderful team, a real asset for the nation forever.

Qatar has been giving much importance to its healthcare as it invests sen-sibly for its advancement. Qatar’s healthcare system has become the best healthcare systems in the world under the wise leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The success of this trans-plant will definitely open the door for more transplants from living donors and HMC anticipates a 20% rise in the number of kidney transplants in Qatar. About 20 organ transplant surgeries, involving living and brain-dead donors, have been performed at HMC last year.

The first kidney transplant surgery in Qatar was per-formed in 1986. On September 4, 2010, the national organ

donation campaign was launched under the theme “Together We Plant Hope” to officially kick off the journey of HMC’s organ transplantation programme and turn HMC a hub of it. Qatar has kidney, liver, and cornea transplan-tation programmes.

The successful surgery has proven Qatar’s efficiency yet again and also shown the world that the nation has a fully fledged team ready in hand to face any healthcare challenge. There is no doubt that this will open a new path of opportunities for them and thus in turn, it will lift the nation’s fame to more horizons.

Former football players Roberto Carlos (left), Cafu (right), Fernando Ruiz Hierro (second right) attending the opening ceremony of Al Janoub Stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Al Wakrah, Qatar last Thursday.

With each scandal, Kurz distanced himself from the far right without seriously calling the coalition into question. And while the far right’s support fell, his remained solid, even though the opposition argued he must share the blame.

09TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 OPINION

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Has India’sopposition failed?

Austria’s Kurz hopes to sidestep scandal to stay in power

RANA AYYUB AL JAZEERA

FRANCOIS MURPHY REUTERS

India’s six-week-long multi-phase election has finally come to a close. According to exit polls released on Sunday, the ruling

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a legislative majority.

While the final make-up of the leg-islature will become clear on May 23, when final results are released, what is

already clear is that the Indian oppo-sition has failed to effectively counter the political appeal of the BJP and its nationalistic ideology.

The main challenger to the BJP’s second mandate in this election season was the Indian Congress Party led by Rahul Gandhi, a fourth-generation leader of the Nehru family. After his party was decimated in the 2014 general elections, Gandhi had to work hard to make its platform politically relevant once again and revamp his own image of an elitist and detached political leader.

Under his leadership, Congress adopted a strategy of trying to present Modi as an ineffective chowkidar (or caretaker). Almost every speech he made would begin or conclude with the slogan “chowkidar chor hai” (or “the protector is the thief”), accusing Modi of shielding big businessmen and industrialists and failing on his promises to improve the life of the ordinary Indian.

Congress also tried to put a dent in Modi’s image as the scrupulous and honest leader by using a major cor-ruption scandal which involved the purchase 36 French fighter jets which erupted last year. Although a big part of the Indian and international media covered the Rafale scandal, the issue did not stick on the ground. When I travelled to rural areas in India, farmers, lower income group workers, and labourers claimed ignorance of the issue, calling it a rich man’s concern.

The party also tried to win the poor vote by criticising the BJP’s disastrous agrarian policies, costly demoneti-sation move, and failure to combat poverty. Among the party’s campaign promises were an $80 monthly transfer scheme for households below the poverty line. None of these

strategies resulted in a significant shift in the rural and urban poor vote.

Congress also tried hard to fight back the BJP’s religious attacks and accusations that it was an “anti-Hindu” and “pro-Muslim” party. As the country witnessed lynchings, increasing majoritarianism, and attacks on minorities and civil liberties, Gandhi chose to embark on a series of visits to major Hindu temples across the country and often remained silent on the victimisation of minorities. The soft Hindutva approach of Congress seems to have backfired. As one BJP leader told me, “When you have the original Hindutva leaders, why would voters rely on a copy?”

The Congress leader himself went through a significant transformation. Having long been accused of living it large at his posh Tughlaq Lane resi-dence in New Delhi, hobnobbing with his elite friends, and going off on vaca-tions abroad exactly when the country needed an opposition leader to take on Modi, this election season Gandhi made a strong effort to be seen as a politician connected to the ground.

Although previously he was known to shy away from the media glare, in the past month he spoke to almost every media house in the country, whether regional or national. He was everywhere: news websites, television channels, newspapers; almost every request for an interview has been granted. Gandhi was joined by his sister Priyanka, who actively cam-paigned in the key state of Uttar Pradesh. But her entry was late and failed to sway voters in a state where the BJP cadres had been successfully managing a sustained Modi campaign for the last two years.

But perhaps the biggest mistake by Congress, which potentially helped the BJP seal an electoral victory, was not pushing hard enough to create a united front of major national and regional parties. In New Delhi, the party did not form an alliance with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi party which rose to fame in 2014 with a rebellious electoral campaign and victory. Neither Gandhi nor Kejriwal, both critics of Modi, could set aside their dif-ferences to jointly contest elections in the capital. As a result, the BJP is slated to take all seven seats contested in New Delhi, at least according to exit polls.

Congress also refused to be the adhesive that could stitch an alliance with two important players in the key state of Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party. The two, along with another local outfit, the

Rashtriya Lok Dal, had formed the Mahagathbandhan, which was the most powerful opposition to the Modi campaign in the state.

Mayawati, in particular, was the most formidable cultural and political challenger to Modi’s image of being a man from a humble background, a chaiwala (or tea seller). She is a Dalit, an assertive voice from the underprivi-leged caste, the daughter of a tele-phone operator, who has fought caste hierarchy and patriarchy to become the most important Dalit leader in the country today.

Wile Mahagathbandhan managed to “steal” some seats from BJP, the presence of Congress might have split the opposition vote, which again would benefit the ruling party.

But it wasn’t only Congress that failed to effectively counter the BJP. In West Bengal, its main challenger was Mamata Banerjee, who leads the Tri-namool Congress (TMC), a splinter party of the Congress.

The BJP sought to win votes cam-paigning on a single issue: the “threat” of Bangladeshi migrants. It accused Banerjee of shielding “infiltrators” in order to appease the Muslim minority. A feisty and outspoken politician, the TMC leader took the ruling party head-on. Yet her campaign also failed to stave off its political advance.

According to the exit polls, the BJP, which so far only had two seats in West Bengal, is now poised to enter the double-digit mark for the first time in a state long known for being a bastion of the left. Its anti-migrant policies and campaign have worked not just in West Bengal but also in the neigh-bouring state of Assam which now shows a sweep for the BJP.

Overall, if exit polls prove to be true, it seems the BJP has not only managed to defeat Congress, but also regional parties, which constituted its biggest opposition.

Congress functionaries have already begun lamenting the failures of the party. Some have blamed the top leaders and the coterie surrounding them for being unable to sense the mood of the Indian streets full of polarised voters enamoured by Modi’s presidential-style election campaign. The party found itself on the wrong foot, unable to counter the nationalist narrative of the ruling party and build a united front against it. The BJP kept baiting the opposition with its ultra-nationalist statements and Congress and other parties found themselves falling for the narrative and spending more time countering Modi on his sur-gical attacks rather than listening to the voice of the people.

Even though he brought the far right into power, Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz hopes voters will see him as

having put his country first by sticking by his coalition partners despite their history of scandals, and then ditching them. It just might work if the public believes his disavowal of his former allies in the Freedom Party (FPO) and the maths go his way in September, when Austrians are expected to vote in a snap election brought about by the latest FPO transgression.

Kurz called off his coalition with the FPO on Saturday after its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, was caught on video offering to fix government contracts for a woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece. The apparent sting operation followed a series of lesser scandals that strained the gov-erning coalition.

Most were related to anti-Semitism or racism involving the FPO, a party formed in 1956 and first led by a former officer in the SS - the armed wing of the Nazi party - and which has struggled for years to clean up its image. With each scandal, Kurz dis-tanced himself from the far right without seriously calling the coalition into question. And while the far right’s support fell, his remained solid, even though the opposition argued he must share the blame.

To remain in power after Septem-ber’s election, however, the conserv-ative Kurz will need another coalition partner and his options are limited. The speech in which he pulled the plug on the coalition offered clues as to how he might change the calculus.

“His speech on Saturday was basi-cally ‘I’d like an absolute majority’,” said political analyst Kathrin

Stainer-Haemmerle of Carintha Uni-versity of Applied Sciences.

She added, however: “An absolute majority won’t happen as things stand.” Austria’s proportional repre-sentation system means it is rare for one party to get a majority and coali-tions are almost always necessary, which is why in December 2017 Kurz made Austria one of the few European countries to have the far right in government.

The only other party that could have given him a majority in par-liament are the Social Democrats, with whom a coalition appears highly unlikely for now. To avoid having to turn to either of those two parties, Kurz seems to be aiming higher.

“I don’t believe it is currently pos-sible with anyone,” Kurz said on Sat-urday, referring to the possibility of forming a government free of scandal that will implement his agenda.

“The FPO is unable to, the Social Democrats do not share my political ideas, and the small parties are too small to really provide support.” But if he can increase his share of the vote to 40 percent or more, a coalition might be possible with the small, liberal Neos party, which has similar policies on deregulation and helping business.

“The aim is to have options, more than one option,” political analyst Thomas Hofer said. “The best would be with a small party.” It will be a tall order for Kurz, whose coalition with the far right has ended in the kind of mess that critics predicted when the alliance was formed.

The first opinion poll since the coa-lition collapsed showed support for Kurz’s party rising to 38 percent and the Neos jumping to 9 percent - the two parties were the biggest gainers. The survey had a margin of error of around 4 points.

To achieve a similar jump in

While the final make-up of the legislature will become clear on May 23, when final results are released, what is already clear is that the Indian opposition has failed to effectively counter the political appeal of the BJP and its nationalistic ideology.

support at the upcoming election, however, Kurz will have to avoid becoming tainted by the scandal that brought down his vice chan-cellor and sank their coalition.

That means voters must believe Kurz’s account that he suffered through his coalition with the far right rather than being responsible for the outcome.

“There were many situations in which I found it very difficult to swallow all that,” he said on Sat-urday, referring to previous scandals involving the FPO. Whether he manages to convince Austrians of that narrative remains to be seen.

“It requires a certain shame-lessness or a certain chutzpah to stand there and stick to something that hard, even if it doesn’t seem very plausible,” Stainer-Haemmerle said. She said it was, however, a leadership quality. “(U.S. President Donald) Trump does it very simi-larly ... It just is how he says it is, and he believes it so firmly that he even manages to bring other people to believe it, too.”

People attending a protest after far-right Freedom Party leader Strache’s corruption scandal in front the Federal Chancellery in Vienna.

10 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Zarif:Trump’s genocidal taunts won’t end Iran

AGENCIES TEHRAN

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said yesterday that the “genocidal taunts” of US President Donald Trump will not “end Iran”, as tensions spike between the two countries.

“Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect — it works!” he added.

In another tweet, Zarif accused Trump of allowing his team to “trash diplomacy” and “abet war crimes — by milking despotic butchers via massive arms sales”. The riposte by Iran’s top diplomat follows an ominous

warning by Trump, who on Sunday suggested the Islamic republic would be destroyed if it attacked US interests.

“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again,” Trump tweeted.

In the meantime, reports came out that Iran quadrupled its uranium-enrichment pro-duction capacity. Over Tehran’s atomic programme, nuclear offi-cials said yesterday, just after

President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister traded threats and taunts on Twitter.

Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, making it usable for a power plant but far below what’s needed for an atomic weapon. But by increasing production, Iran soon will go beyond the stockpile limitations set by the accord. Tehran has set

a July 7 deadline for Europe to come up with new terms for the deal, or it will enrich closer to weapons-grade levels in a Middle East already on edge.

Relations between Wash-ington and Tehran plummeted a year ago when Trump pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and imposed tough sanctions. Iranian officials have repeatedly slammed the uni-lateral US sanctions as “economic terrorism,” saying that they have impeded the flow of essential goods. Tensions have risen

further this month with Wash-ington announcing more eco-nomic measures against Tehran, before deploying a carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf over unspecified alleged Iranian “threats”. The Trump adminis-tration last week ordered non-essential diplomatic staff out of Iraq, citing the danger posed by Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups.

While the US claim of Iranian “threats” has been met with widespread scepticism outside the United States, the mounting

tensions have sparked growing international concern. “I would say to the Iranians, do not under-estimate the resolve on the US side in the situation,” British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt told reporters yesterday in Geneva.

“They don’t want a war with Iran, but if American interests are attacked they will retaliate,” he added. Hunt said that Britain wanted “the situ-ation to de-escalate” and urged Iran “to pull back from the destabilising activities it does throughout the region.”

Sailors conducting various inspections on the flight deck of the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in Arabian Gulf, yesterday.

UN concerned about rising US-Iran rhetoricAFP / UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations voiced concern yesterday about the rising rhetoric between the United States and Iran and called on the two sides to dial down their remarks.

The appeal came after President Donald Trump on Sunday warned that any attack from Iran would be met with a devas-tating US response that would mean “the official end of Iran.” “We are concerned about the rising rhetoric,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who cited the firing of a rocket on Sunday, which struck a Baghdad area that houses foreign embassies including that of the US, as being “also a concern.” “We would ask all parties to lower the rhetoric and lower the threshold of action as well,” said the spokesman. UN officials are holding contacts with the US and Iran at various levels to try to calm the situation, said Dujarric, but he did not provide details of those talks.

UN warns aid to Yemen could be suspendedAFP ROME

The UN’s World Food Programme has warned that aid could be suspended to areas of Yemen under the control of Houthi rebels unless they abide by accords aimed at ensuring that supplies are not diverted.

“If the beneficiary targeting and biometric exercise is not carried out as agreed, WFP will be left with no option but to suspend food distributions in the

areas controlled by Ansarullah,” the Houthis, David Beasley, the agency’s executive director, wrote in a letter sent to the rebel movement.

He was referring to accords the WFP signed with the warring parties in December and January.

H e r v e V e r h o o s e l , spokesman for the WFP’s Geneva office, said yesterday that the letter was hand-delivered to the Houthi lead-ership in Yemen.

It was “the second letter WFP has sent requesting greater access”, he said. “WFP noted some progress after the first letter was sent in December, but in recent weeks that progress has halted and in some cases it has been reversed.”

The Rome-headquartered WFP lamented that in Yemen “our greatest challenge does not come from the guns... it is the obstructive and uncooperative role of some of the Houthi leaders in areas under their

control.” “Humanitarian workers in Yemen are being denied access to the hungry, aid convoys have been blocked, and local authorities have interfered with food distribution,” the WFP said in a statement.

“Most importantly, there have been repeated obstacles placed in the way of our inde-pendent selection of benefici-aries and a request for a rollout of a biometric registration system.” “This has to stop,” WFP said. The Yemen conflict has

killed tens of thousands of people since a Saudi-led mil-itary coalition intervened in support of the beleaguered gov-ernment in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 3.3 million people still displaced and 24.1 million — more than two-thirds of the population — in need of aid.

Nineteen killed in eastern Chad ethnic violenceAFP / N’DJAMENA

At least 19 people have been killed in a new bout of ethnic violence in eastern Chad, bringing the death toll since Thursday to more than 31, local officials said.

Fighting erupted on Sunday in two villages called Amchaloka et Amsabarna in Sila province and continued on Monday, they said. Separately, a hospital worker put the toll at 21 dead and 29 wounded.Twelve people were killed on Thursday in the neighbouring province of Ouaddai when a village was attacked by armed men, provincial public prose-cutor Hassan Djamouss Hachimi said.

Sudanese protesters gather for a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum yesterday.

Dispute over top job main sticking point in Sudan talks: Protest leaderAFP KHARTOUM

A “dispute” over who should lead Sudan’s new governing body was the key sticking point in overnight talks between army rulers and protesters, a protest leader said yesterday.

The latest negotiations were launched Sunday evening fol-lowing international pressure to install a civilian-led adminis-tration — a key demand of thou-sands of demonstrators who have spent weeks camped outside Khartoum’s army headquarters.

Hours of meetings into the early hours of yesterday ended without agreement, but the ruling military council announced the talks would resume. A prominent protest leader who was involved in the

Sunday night talks said they had revolved around who would lead the new governing body.

“The dispute over the pres-idency of the sovereign council and participation between the civilian and military still exists,” said Satea Al Haj, from the umbrella protest movement the Alliance for Freedom and Change. The Alliance, which led the nationwide campaign, has been at loggerheads with the military over the makeup of the new body, set to rule Sudan for a three-year transitional period.

“The military council is still insisting that the president of the sovereign council should be from the military,” he said.

“They are justifying it by saying the country faces security threats.” The protest movement insists that the head of the body should be a civilian and that the

council should have a majority of civilian members, a demand backed by major world powers, Al Haj said.

“The international com-munity and the African Union will not accept to deal with a military government,” he added.

“The people (of Sudan) also want a civilian government.” However, he said on Sunday night’s talks were “positive” overall, and the ruling military council has said they will resume. Military council spokesman Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi said the “structure of the sovereign authority” had been discussed during the night and that a “final deal” would be agreed later on Monday. Previous rounds of talks have seen the generals and protest leaders agreed on key issues.

DR Congo PM appointed under ‘political agreement’ with KabilaAFP LUBUMBASHI, DR CONGO

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi yesterday named a government veteran, Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, as the next prime minister, a move that came nearly four months after his inauguration.

Ilunga Ilunkamba was appointed under “the political agreement” between Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila “regarding the creation of a coalition government,” presidential spokesman Kasongo Mwema Yamba Yamba said. Illunga Ilunkamba, whose government career spans decades, replaces Bruno Tshibala, who had been appointed by Kabila in 2017. Ilunga Ilunkamba’s aides gave his age as 78.

Tshisekedi was sworn in on January 24 after elections that marked the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first peaceful transition of power since the vast country gained independence from Belgium in 1960. But the vote was marred by allegations of rigging, and Tshisekedi is struggling to push

through with pledges of reform.The country’s politics

remain overshadowed by Kabila, who amassed extensive clout after 18 years in power.

His political allies retain the upper hand in parliament, pro-vincial assemblies and gover-norships across the unstable country. His men also play a major role in security services.

Ilunga Ilunkamba, speaking to the press after meeting Tsh-isikedi, said, “ I would like to thank his excellency, Joseph Kabila Kabange, who proposed me as prime minister and assured me of his trust.” He vowed to throw himself into ensuring the “harmonious gov-ernance of the coalition.” Tsh-isekedi told him the priorities would be “social, meaning edu-cation, health, security and establishing peace,” he said.

A PhD in economics from the University of Kinshasa, Ilunga Ilunkamba began his political career under former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997.

His long record in gov-ernment includes four spells as vice-minister and two as min-ister for planning and finance.

9 bodies found after boat sinks in Uganda lakeANATOLIA / KAMPALA

Ugandan police yesterday recovered nine bodies — and rescued 32 people — after a boat capsized in Lake Albert.

On Sunday evening, a boat carrying dozens of passengers capsized on Lake Albert — Africa’s seventh-largest body of water — only minutes after taking off from a landing stage.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga said that at least 18 people still remain unac-counted for. “We have so far recovered nine bodies and rescued 32 people,” he said. “We’re still searching for more bodies.” “None of the pas-sengers were wearing life jackets,” he added, “and the boat appears to have been dan-gerously overloaded.”

Algeria army chief urges protesters to accept pollAFP ALGIERS

Algeria’s army chief yesterday urged demonstrators to accept presidential polls set for July 4 to elect a successor to former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Protest leaders say the North African country’s existing insti-tutions — and personalities — are too tarnished by corruption to guarantee a legitimate vote, but the military has insisted the

election go ahead as required by the constitution. “Holding a pres-idential election could help (Algeria) avoid falling into the trap of a constitutional void, with its accompanying dangers and unwelcome consequences,” General Ahmed Gaid Salah said in a speech, .

Emphasising “the need to accelerate the establishment of an independent body to organise and oversee the elections”, he said holding the poll would “stop

those who are trying to prolong this crisis”. Massive street pro-tests broke out in February after Bouteflika announced his intention to seek a fifth term, extending his two decades in power. As pressure mounted and even longtime loyalists called for his departure. But demonstrators have continued to rally in Algiers and across the country, demanding that transitional bodies be set up ahead of any election.

“Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. Economic terrorism and genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Never threaten an Iranian. Try respect — it works!” he added.

11TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 ASIA

Indian Border Security Force personnel stand guard outside a sealed room where Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are kept at a Khalsa College in Amritsar, Punjab, India, yesterday.

BJP demands re-poll in violence-hit BengalIANS NEW DELHI

A BJP delegation yesterday met top Election Commission officials and demanded re-polling where violence had taken place during all phases of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and requested deployment of central forces till the model code of conduct is in force.

“We have met the Election Commissioners and informed them about the violence that had taken place in all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls and requested for re-polling in all the violence-affected constitu-encies,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after meeting

Election Commission officials. He was accompanied by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior BJP leaders.

Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of threatening BJP candidates, poll agents and party sympathisers, he urged the EC to take cogni-sance of the matter.

“We saw incidents of violence took place till the last phase of polling. There is possibility of vio-lence even after counting of votes. So, we have requested the Commission to deploy the central forces in Electronic Voting Machine strongrooms till the end of counting to allow free and fair counting,” he said. He said the central forces should be there till

the model code of conduct is in force. The senior BJP leaders also appealed to the poll panel to ensure the sanctity of the counting process in Odisha, Kar-nataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

“Independent observers must be sent in these states and CCTV cameras must be installed in all counting stations in the five states,” he said.

Meanwhile, as many as 200 companies of central armed par-amilitary forces (CAPFs) will remain deployed in West Bengal till May 27 in a bid to curb any post-poll violence that might occur in the state, Central Police Observer Vivek Dubey said yesterday.

Members of All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) pay tribute to former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on the eve of the 28th anniversary of his death, in Amritsar, yesterday.

NIA raids 10 places in TN in Islamic State module caseIANS CHENNAI

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) yesterday carried out searches at 10 places in Tamil Nadu in connection with the investigation into an Islamic State module case, where few people conspired to raise funds and wage armed struggle against the state.

According to a senior NIA official, searches were carried out in Muthupet, Keelakarai, Devipattinam, Lalpet and Salem to unearth details on the terror modules of the Islamic State and smash the network. The module is called “martyrdom is our only motto”.

According to the agency sources, raids are underway at the residence of Sheik Dawood, Mohammed Riyaz, Sadhik, Mubharis Ahmad, Rizwan and Hameed Akbar, whose names are mentioned in the case.

The official said during the raids the agency seized a number of digital devices, including three laptops, three hard disks, 16 mobile phones, eight SIM cards, two pen drives, five memory cards and one card reader, two knives and a large number of incriminating documents.

The case relates to a group of 10 people, belonging to dif-ferent parts of Tamil Nadu, who had formed a WhatsApp group named ‘Shahdat is our goal’ (martyrdom is our only motto).

In 2018, according to the NIA, the group conspired to procure arms, raise funds to wage armed struggle, facilitate escape of terrorists from jails and propagate their ideology to act against the state.

SC to hear Centre’s plea in black money case todayIANS NEW DELHI

The Centre yesterday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court order, which has ruled that the black money law can’t have a retrospective effect, that is, it cannot be applied prior to April 1, 2016, as fixed by Parliament.

Mentioning the matter before a Vacation Bench of Jus-tices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the high

court order would have impli-cations on several cases pending before courts. The court will hear the case today.

The Delhi High Court passed the order on May 16, preventing the government and the Income Tax Department from initiating any punitive action against advocate Gautam Khaitan under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

Khaitan, an accused in the VVIP chopper deal scam, was

arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 26 for allegedly depositing money in offshore accounts.

Khaitan challenged his arrest contending the Centre’s notification, which stated the Act would come into force from July 1, 2015, instead of April 1, 2016 (before it became opera-tional), was ultra vires.

He also contended unnec-essary action had been initiated against him under the Act for assets that didn’t exist before the law came into force.

The high court queried the Centre on the applicability of the retrospective effect of the Act, from July 2015, till its enactment in April 2016, to take into consideration undisclosed foreign income and assets.

The high court said, “... at this stage, we are prima facie of the considered view that, the official respondents could not have exercised powers granted to them under the provisions of Sections 85 and 86 of the said Act, prior to its enactment itself...”

A worker dries vermicelli made from saffron and milk at a workshop in Ahmedabad, India, yesterday. Saffron vermicelli are in high demand during the Holy month of Ramadan.

Fresh notices issued to film stars in Blackbuck case IANS JAIPUR

The Rajasthan High Court yesterday served fresh notices to Bollywood stars Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari and Dushyant Kumar, a local resident, in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case following the state govern-ment’s appeal against their acquittal.

On the state government’s plea, the High Court earlier issued notices to the five respondents on March 11.

Justice Manoj Garg yes-terday issued them fresh notices after prosecution counsel Mahipal Singh told the court that none, except Neelam Kothari, received its earlier notices.

The court asked all the five respondents to reply to the notices within eight weeks. In its plea filed on April 5 last year, the Rajasthan government questioned the acquittal of the five persons for lack of evidence, when actor Salman Khan, who was accompanying them, was proven guilty.

Khan was awarded a five-year imprisonment, along with a penalty of Rs 10,000, after being held guilty under Section 51 of the Wildlife Pro-tection Act for killing two blackbucks in 1998 during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hai. His appeal is pending in the High Court.

Rights groups seek UN probe into torture in KashmirAFP SRINAGAR

Tens of thousands of people in Kashmir have been subjected to torture in the past three decades, according to a report released yesterday by two prominent human rights groups which called for a UN investigation.

The report said at least 40 people in 432 case studies researched died “as a result of injuries received during torture.” The Indian government declined to make an immediate comment on the claims by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. Offi-cials said authorities would study the allegations first.

Kashmir is marking the 30th anniversary of an uprising which has left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians.

Kashmir civilians have been systematically tortured by the Indian state to curb dissent, said

the report titled: “Torture: Indian State’s Instrument of Control in Indian Administered Jammu and Kashmir.” While past scandals involving US prisons at Guan-tanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in Iraq had received international attention, “torture remains hidden in Jammu and Kashmir, where tens of thousands of civilians have been subjected to it,” said a statement issued by the groups.

The report said the 432 indi-viduals investigated had been subjected to water-boarding, beatings with iron rods and leather belts and electric shocks to the genitals.

It said the latest death was in March when a school prin-cipal, Rizwan Pandith, died while being held by a police special counter-insurgency group.

The rights groups called for an international investigation led by the UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights.

NDA leaders meet ahead of election resultsIANS/NEW DELHI

Buoyed by the exit poll predic-tions, BJP President Amit Shah has convened a meeting of the leaders of the National Demo-cratic Alliance (NDA) today, ahead of the counting of votes on May 23.

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) said that Shah is likely to host a dinner for the NDA leaders and would chalk out alliance’s strategy.

Twelve of 14 exit polls pre-dicted the NDA getting full majority with seats ranging from 282 to 365. A party or an alliance needs 271 seats to form the government as Lok Sabha elections were held on 542 of the 543 seats.

21 Indian opposition parties meet today to discuss allianceIANS NEW DELHI

Two days ahead of the counting of votes for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 21 opposition parties will meet today here to discuss the possibilities of a non-NDA alliance.

The meeting of the 21 oppo-sition parties will be held at the Constitution Club here at 1.30pm, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) sources said yesterday.

The meeting will be attended by the several senior leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI, CPI-M, AAP, NCP, National Conference, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK, Janata Dal-Secular and the TDP.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Min-ister and TDP chief N Chan-drababu Naidu, as part of his efforts to unite the opposition in the last four days, held meetings with the leaders of several parties in the national capital, Lucknow and Kolkata.

Naidu had met UPA chair-person Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik

Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury in the national capital.

He met BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.

The TDP leader also met his West Bengal counterpart in Kolkata on Monday evening.

Naidu has been moving across the country in a bid to unite them and form an alliance to stake claim in case the NDA fails to get majority.

A delegation of opposition parties will also meet the Election Commission today to complain about the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the VVPAT slips.

According to a senior Telugu

Desam Party (TDP) leader, a del-egation of 21 opposition parties will approach the poll panel to complain about the EVMs and the VVPAT slips.

The delegation will be headed by Naidu. The delegation will visit the Election Com-mission at 3pm today.

The opposition parties have been complaining about EVM malfunctioning and demanding the use of ballot papers from

even before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The TDP leader said that besides their party, the dele-gation would also include the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Com-munist Party of India (CPI), CPI-M and many other parties.

Meanwhile,terming exit polls in the past as “inconsistent” and “incorrect”, the opposition

parties have played down the predictions for the Lok Sabha elections, claiming that the actual results to be announced on May 23 would be different.

The exit polls on Sunday largely predicted full majority for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with seats ranging from 282 to 365 while the United Pro-gressive Alliance (UPA) was pro-jected to be restricted between 82 and 165 seats.

A delegation of 21 opposition parties will also approach the Election Commission today to complain about the EVMs and the VVPAT slips.

Rajiv Gandhi remembered

Making of vermicelli

12 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019ASIA

Men, who supply fuel, sit on a parked tanker at a compound as they break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan, yesterday.

Qureshi: Kuwait ties to be transformed into trade partnershipINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says Pakistan and Kuwait have agreed to transform bilateral relationship into economic partnership and there are bright chances of growth in cooperation for mutual prosperity.

This he stated in a statement issued after the conclusion of two-day official visit to Kuwait.

The Foreign Minister expressed the confidence that issues related to visa restrictions and overseas Pakistanis will be resolved amicably.

He said Kuwait has expressed solidarity with Pakistan over Kashmir issue and reiterated support to our stance.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his meetings with Amir of Kuwait, Foreign Minister and Interior Minister had been very useful and both countries have shown commitment to increase cooperation at all levels.

Addressing a news con-ference in Kuwait, Qureshi said in his meetings with Kuwaiti leadership, he highlighted problems of the Pakistani com-munity in Kuwait regarding visa restrictions. He said Pakistan’s Ambassador will hold a meeting with Kuwaiti authorities to sort out this issue at the earliest.

Qureshi said Kuwait had expressed the resolve to con-tinue supporting Pakistan on regional and international fora on matters of common interest.

Meanwhile, addressing Pakistani Community in Kuwait,

Foreign Minister said Overseas Pakistanis were playing pivotal role to get Pakistan stand on its own feet. He said the Gov-ernment of Pakistan was in contact with Kuwaiti gov-ernment to resolve problems being faced by Pakistanis in that country. He said Pakistan strongly supports peace in Afghanistan and considers it imperative for development in the region. The Foreign Minister said Pakistan will befittingly respond to any misadventure against the motherland. He said Pakistan has rendered unprec-edented sacrifices in war-on-terror which are being appre-ciated and acknowledge by international community.

Qureshi also urged the Kuwaiti authorities to soften its visa policy for Pakistani community.

Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Min-ister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al Jarrah Al Sabah assured the Foreign Min-ister that government of Kuwait will sympathetically look into the issue and will take serious steps to resolve it.

PM Imran raises funds for cancer patientsINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan with young cancer survivors who received successful treatment at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, during a fund-raising event at Islamabad, expressed thanks to the donors.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital generated record Rs200m in its fund raising function in federal capital Islamabad on Sunday night.

In a tweet yesterday, Prime Minister Imran Khan thanked the donors for contributing such a hefty amount to the noble cause.

Court to hear plea against Imran next weekINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The Lahore High Court (LHC) yesterday set a disqualification petition against Prime Minister Imran Khan for hearing for next week.

The disqualification petition was filed by the Lawyers Foun-dation for Justice in November 2018. The federal government and the Premier were made party to the petition.

LHC judge Justice Shahid Waheed heard a civil

miscellaneous petition yesterday requesting early hearing of the disqualification petition against the Prime Minister.

The petition maintains that Imran had, during the former government’s term, instigated people to take part in civil diso-bedience during the 2014 sit-in. He had also instigated people not to pay their taxes or send money from abroad, the petition stated.

The petition stated that Imran had taken steps against the country’s integrity and had tried to ruin Pakistan’s political

system. The petition argued that Imran is ineligible to be a member of Parliament as under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Consti-tution, and requested that action be taken against him under Section 124A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

In December 2017, the Supreme Court had rejected PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi’s petition for Imran’s disqualifi-cation but disqualified PTI leader Jahangir Tareen for being “dis-honest” in a misdeclaration of assets case.

5 Afghan civilians dead in airstrikes; 3 policemen killed in Kabul ANATOLIA/AP KABUL

Airstrikes killed five civilians in Afghanistan’s restive Helmand province, officials and local media confirmed yesterday.

Residents of Taliban-held parts of the province staged demonstrations outside a public hospital in provincial capital Lashkargah to protest the deadly air raids.

According to local officials,

the strikes left five people dead in Helmand’s Nehr-e-Siraj dis-trict and a dozen others injured, including women and children.

Umer Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, con-firmed the raids, saying investi-gations were now underway with a view to assessing civilian casualties.

The NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, meanwhile, has yet to comment on the attack, which was the second incident

of its kind in Helmand within the last four days.

Last week, at least eight Afghan policemen were killed in a similar air raid carried out by US forces.

According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, last week’s air-strikes also targeted positions in Helmand’s Neher-e-Siraj district.

Since 2014, only US forces have continued to engage in anti-insurgency operations

inside Afghanistan. They have also continued to provide air support to Afghan forces oper-ating on the ground.

Helmand, where Taliban militants remain in control of vast swathes of territory, is con-sidered one of the country’s least secure provinces.

Afghan forces, with US air support, recently managed to reclaim considerable territory in Helmand in a fresh round of fighting that left numerous dead

and injured on both sides.Meanwhile, an Afghan

official said gunmen stormed a checkpoint in Kabul, killing at least three police officers.

Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid saod three other policemen were wounded in Sunday night’s attack on the out-skirt of the city. He added that the attackers first threw hand grenades then opened fire on the police in the city’s Doghabad area.

A man prepares traditional sandals to sell, ahead of the festival of Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, yesterday.

Gunfight between forces, rebels kills schoolgirl in MyanmarANATOLIA YANGON

A 10-year-old girl was killed during an armed clash between Myanmar military and an ethnic rebel group in the country’s western Rakhine state, police and family said yesterday.

The government troops and Arakan Army, a militant group that recruits mainly from the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, clashed on Sunday near Myauk Taung village in Kyauk Taw Township, said Maung Maung Soe, deputy police chief in Rakhine.

He told Anadolu Agency that a stray bullet hit the schoolgirl, identified as Thein Chay, in the head while her three cousins were injured. “The youngest boy is aged 3 and was seriously

injured. He was taken to Sittwe hospital,” he told by phone.

He declined to comment on whether the bullet came from the military or the rebel group.

Local media however reported the girl was killed by army gunfire. Hla Thein Yin, mother of Thein Chay, said the incident occurred on Sunday evening when the children were on their way home from the vil-lage’s monastery where they had donated juices to monks.

“When the children heard shouting from soldiers they became frightened and started running. My daughter was hit in the head by something sharp. I don’t know if it is a bullet,” she told Anadolu Agency by phone.

She said the villagers live peacefully and no one she knew of had joined the Arakan Army.

Maldives court annuls ex-VP’s conviction in boat explosionAP MALE, MALDIVES

A Maldives court yesterday set aside the conviction and 15-year prison term given the former vice-president on allegations he conspired to assassinate former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

The High Court annulled the Criminal Court’s conviction of Ahmed Adeeb and ordered a new investigation. Adeeb has been serving a combined 33 years in prison after being con-victed of corruption and causing an explosion on Yameen’s speedboat in 2015 in an alleged assassination attempt. With the court decision, his prison term was reduced to 18 years.

Adeeb, previously a confi-dante of Yameen, was arrested after the blast on the boat injured Yameen’s wife.

The U.S. FBI said it found no evidence of explosives on the boat. The allegation against Adeeb was widely seen as polit-ically motivated and his trial as lacking due process.

Yameen jailed nearly all of his potential rivals during his five-year term, which ended last year with his election defeat.

Sirisena denounced over China trip and son’s wedding after terror attackREUTERS COLOMBO

After coming under fire for not acting on warnings about Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena is now facing criticism over his lead-ership in the aftermath of the militant attacks.

On Monday last week, just as anti-Muslim riots were spreading in apparent reprisal for the attacks, Sirisena embarked on a three-day trip to key financier

China, leaving some Sri Lankans feeling abandoned.

Going ahead with his son’s wedding on May 9 also struck some as an affront to families still in mourning after the April 21 bombings, claimed by Islamic State, which struck churches and hotels.

That leaves Sirisena in a weak position ahead of this year’s presidential election, voters and analysts say, poten-tially paving the way for former wartime defence chief Gotabaya

Rajapaksa to take over.Sirisena’s allies say he did the

best he could in a volatile situ-ation, citing measures like tem-porarily shutting down social media and deploying the army to stem violence in the multi-ethnic, Buddhist-majority island.

But that rings hollow to voters like 56-year-old con-struction worker Sunil, who voted for Sirisena in 2015 amid hopes the career politician would combat corruption but now feels the president has not focused on

governing. “The president has no time for this because he is busy going all over the place,” said Sunil on a recent morning in Colombo, vowing never to vote for Sirisena again.

Sirisena’s trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping, was pre-planned and beneficial to the nation, coordi-nating secretary Shiral Lak-thilaka told Reuters.

Sirisena returned to Sri Lanka on Thursday and only addressed attacks on Muslim

homes and shops on Friday, five days after the violence erupted.

Some disgruntled Sri Lankans were also frustrated that Sirisena’s son’s wedding went ahead. It was originally scheduled to be held in the Shangri-La, which was bombed, and ultimately celebrated at the Hilton Colombo.

Spokesman Ekanayake pushed back at the criticism, saying the wedding was scaled down and that Sirisena did not attend all the festivities.

Security on alert as Sri Lankan schools reopen today

AFP COLOMBO

Sri Lanka has tightened security ahead of the reopening today of some Catholic schools for the first time since the Easter bombings that killed 258 people, the army chief said eysterday.

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake said security forces would ensure that schools were not targeted by militants respon-sible for the April 21 bombings. “Army and sister services are fully and confidently assisting law enforcement authorities to apprehend the culprits,” Sena-nayake said Monday, adding that operations had shown “marked progress” without giving details.

Dozens of private Catholic schools are to start reopening Tuesday after Easter holidays were extended because of the suicide bombings on three churches and three hotels.

A Roman Catholic spokesman in Colombo said schools would reopen on a stag-gered basis over the next two weeks and that school author-ities had been asked to ensure safety.

“In some places children will not attend classes in their uni-forms,” the spokesman said. “Advanced Level classes will start on Tuesday but primary and middle school will reopen gradually in the weeks to come.”

Foreign Minister said that his meetings with H H the Amir of Kuwait and Foreign and Interior Ministers were very useful and both sides have committed to strengthening cooperation at all levels.

Breaking fast atop oil tanker

Traditional shoemaking

13TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 ASIA

32 killed in Tajikistan prison riotAFP DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN

At least 32 people were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan, including 19 members of the Islamic State group and three guards, authorities said yesterday.

Five inmates and the three guards were initially killed by prisoners in the violence that erupted on Sunday evening, and the others died in clashes with security forces trying to restore order, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The prison in Vakhdat, 17km) east of the capital Dushanbe, holds 1,500 inmates. The Min-istry said the rioters first stabbed to death three guards, and then five other inmates “in order to intimidate” the others.

They then took other pris-oners hostage before opening fire in the jail’s medical facilities.

“Following a reprisal oper-ation, 24 members of this group were killed and 35 others arrested. The hostages were freed” and calm restored, the statement said.

Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry later specified that 19 of those killed had been convicted for having ties to IS. Five were activists of the banned

opposition group Islamic Ren-aissance Party of Tajikistan.

Others were convicted of various crimes, including drug trafficking. The rioters also beat and injured 10 inmates, the Min-istry said.

Among the alleged leaders of the riot, the authorities iden-tified Bekhruz Gulmurod, the son of the former head of Tajik special forces who became a member of the IS leadership in Syria and was killed there in Sep-tember 2017.

The 20-year-old was sen-tenced to 10 years in prison in July 2017 for attempting to join IS in Syria. He was previously detained at Dushanbe airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul.

The authorities said the prison was now functioning nor-mally, with the “situation cur-rently under control”.

The prison is a short drive from Dushanbe, with residential

neighbourhoods nearby. It houses inmates convicted of various crimes, including terror and extremism charges, and is secured by armed guards.

Families of inmates gathered near the prison yesterday to find out if their relatives were safe.

In November 2018, another riot claimed by IS left 26 people dead in Khujand, a city in the northeast of the country. That

riot was initiated by a former IS member seeking to spark a mass escape.

Last week a Tajik court sen-tenced nine of the prison staff, including the head of the prison, to jail terms up to four years of prison for “negligence”.

The rioters are awaiting sen-tencing and face new prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years.

Tajikistan, a poor moun-tainous country of nine million people bordering Afghanistan, has suffered from severe conflict since it gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in Tajikistan during a five-year civil war in the 1990s when rebel groups rose up against the government.

Relatives of inmates reacting after reports about deadly riot inside a prison in the city of Vakhdat, Tajikistan, yesterday.

French drug smuggler sentenced to death in IndonesiaAFP MATARAM, INDONESIA

An Indonesian court yesterday sentenced a French drug smuggler to death by firing squad, in a shock verdict after prosecutors had asked for a long prison term.

The three-judge panel in Lombok handed a capital sen-tence to Felix Dorfin, 35, who was arrested in September at the airport on the holiday island next to Bali, where foreigners are rou-tinely charged with drugs offences.

Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug laws - including death for some traffickers.

It has executed foreigners in the past, including the master-minds of Australia’s Bali Nine heroin gang.

While Dorfin was eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors instead asked for a 20-year jail

term plus another year unless he paid a huge fine equivalent to about $700,000.

But Indonesian courts have been known to issue harsher-than-demanded punishments.

Dorfin was carrying a suitcase filled with about three kilogrammes (6.6 pounds) of drugs including ecstasy and amphetamines when he was arrested. “After finding Felix Dorfin legally and convincingly guilty of importing narcotics... (he) is sentenced to the death penalty,” Presiding Judge Isnurul Syamsul Arif told the court.

The judge cited Dorfin’s involvement in an international drug syndicate and the amount of drugs in his possession as aggravating factors.

“The defendant’s actions could potentially do damage to the younger generation,” Arif added. The Frenchman made headlines in January when he escaped from a police detention

centre and spent nearly two weeks on the run before he was captured. A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape from jail

in exchange for money.It was not clear if the jail-

break played any role in Mon-day’s stiffer-than-expected sentence.

Frenchman Felix Dorfin is escorted before his trial at Mataram court in Lombok island, Indonesia, yesterday.

Activists using an improvised hand fan with a slogan cover their faces during a protest against the lowering of minimum age of criminal responsibility, in front of the Senate building in Manila, yesterday.

Beijing slams US warship sail-by in South China SeaAFP BEIJING

China yesterday denounced a US warship sail-by near disputed islands in the South China Sea as a violation of its sovereignty, amid mounting tensions over trade between the two countries.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) organised air and naval forces to warn the USS Preble to leave, said a PLA spokesman, after it entered waters near China-claimed Scarborough Shoal yesterday morning.

“The relevant actions from the US side endanger the safety of both Chinese and American ships and personnel, and undermine China’s sovereignty and safety,” said Li Huamin, spokesman of the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command.

“We express our resolute opposition,” he added.

The move comes as both countries adopt toughening stances on a host of economic and diplomatic issues, namely trade and hi-tech rivalry.

Earlier this month, US Pres-ident Donald Trump hiked tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods, with China announcing it would raise tariffs on $60bn in US merchandise from June 1 in retaliation. Trump has also barred US companies from engaging in telecommunica-tions trade with foreign com-panies said to threaten American national security. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installa-tions in the sea, including on the Spratly Islands, which Beijing calls Nansha. China claims nearly all of the sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. The US Navy regu-larly conducts “freedom of nav-igation operations” to challenge Beijing’s vast claims in the sea.

Earlier this month, two US warships entered waters adjacent to Gaven and Chigua reefs in the Spratlys, sparking fury from China.

“We strongly urge the US side to immediately stop such provocative actions so as to not harm China-US relations and the peace and stability of the region,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Australia’s Prime Minister set to form majority governmentAP SYDNEY

Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday looked set to form a majority government as vote counting from Australia’s weekend election allayed fears that his conservative coalition may have to rule in the minority following its shock victory.

The coalition was returned to power in a stunning result on Saturday, after opinion polls and odds-makers had tipped the opposition Labor Party to win. The outcome ranks as Australia’s biggest election upset since 1993, when Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating was returned to power.

With 76 seats in the House of Representatives needed for majority rule, figures from the Australian Electoral Commission yesterday showed that with around 84% of votes counted, the coalition was on target to win 78 seats - an increase of five after going into the election as a minority government.

The Labor Party was set to claim 67 seats, with inde-pendents and minor parties taking six.

Winning a majority of the seats would also allow Morri-son’s coalition to appoint the house speaker from its own ranks, rather from among inde-pendent or minor party

lawmakers. As Morrison began finalising his new Cabinet yes-terday, the stock market wel-comed the election result. Aus-tralia’s benchmark S&P ASX 200 index climbed 1.7 percent on the day - reaching its highest level since 2007, just before the global financial crisis.

After being elected in 2016 with 76 seats, the power base of Morrison’s coalition was dimin-ished through a series of by-elections late in its three-year term. One such defeat was trig-gered by the ousting last August of then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in an internal party vote.

That move, which ended in Morrison becoming Prime Min-ister, caused widespread disgust among Australian voters sorely disillusioned by seeing another one of their leaders replaced without them having a say.

Morrison had become Aus-tralia’s sixth Prime Minister in only eight years. Four such changes had been brought about by lawmakers voting to dump their party’s leader, two each from the coalition and the centre-left Labor Party.

Morrison’s predecessor, Turnbull, had himself become Prime Minister in 2015 through an internal party coup that dumped Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party.

Japan wants arbitration over compensation disputeAFP TOKYO

Japan yesterday said it wants to bring a bitter dispute with South Korea over compensation for wartime labourers to a panel for arbitration.

Relations between the two US allies have been increasingly strained after South Korea’s top court last year ordered a Jap-anese steelmaker to pay com-pensation to victims of a wartime policy of forced labour.

The ruling drew the ire of Tokyo, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe describing the decision as “impossible.”

Japan yesterday said it now wants the issue referred to an arbitration panel, under the terms of an agreement signed by the two countries in 1965.

“The Japanese government has communicated to the South Korean side that we will refer the matter to arbitration,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The South Korean gov-ernment has an obligation under the Agreement on the Settlement of Problems, and the Japanese government strongly demands South Korea accept arbitration,” it said.

Under the terms of the treaty, each country names one representative to the panel, and those two members jointly select an additional member from a third country. South Korea’s foreign ministry said it would review the request.

US Envoy makes rare visit to TibetAFP BEIJING

The US Ambassador to China is making the first trip to Tibet by an American envoy in four years after obtaining rare access to the restricted region, the US Embassy said yesterday.

The visit by Ambassador Terry Branstad comes two months after the US State Department said Beijing had “systematically” impeded access to Tibetan areas for US diplomats, journalists and tourists. Branstad was scheduled to visit Qinghai province and the neighbouring Tibet Autonomous Region from Sunday until this Saturday, an Embassy spokesperson said.

“This visit is a chance for the Ambassador to engage with local leaders to raise long-standing concerns about restrictions on religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetan culture and lan-guage,” the spokesperson said.

“The Ambassador wel-comes this opportunity to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region, and encourages authorities to provide access to the region to all American citizens.” Branstad will have official meetings, visit schools and tour religious and cultural heritage sites.

Branstad’s predecessor, Max Baucus, visited Tibet in May 2015. According to the State Department’s March report, five out of nine US requests to visit Tibet were rejected last year, including one by Branstad.

China has rejected the US report as “full of prejudice”.

Chinese authorities have cited special “geographic” and “climatic conditions” as reasons for restricting access to the Himalayan region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware about a previous request by Branstad being rejected. But Lu said that if dip-lomats want to visit “special places”, it is “of course probably necessary to talk things over with the relevant parties before they can embark on the trip.” Lu said Beijing welcomes Bran-stad’s visit so he can witness “the earth-shaking changes in the economy, society and peo-ple’s production and life over the past 60 years after its peaceful liberation”.

Authorities said 19 of the victims were IS members while five were activists of the banned opposition group Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

Protest against lowering age of criminal responsibility

14 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019EUROPE

Zelensky sworn in as Ukraine President AFP KIEV

Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky stepped into his new role as Ukrainian president with his inauguration yesterday, launching a new era for the country wracked by war and economic difficulties.

A month after scoring a land-slide election victory against incumbent Petro Poroshenko, the 41-year-old became Ukraine’s youngest post-Soviet president.

In a ceremony in parliament, he placed his hand on a copy of the constitution and pledged to “protect the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

He used his inaugural speech to announce that he is dissolving parliament, after wrangling with lawmakers in the lower house, in order to call early parlia-mentary elections, which had originally been scheduled for October.

“People must come to power who will serve the public,” Zel-ensky said.

Critics had questioned whether Zelensky would be able to govern without a parlia-mentary majority. Even setting

a date for his inauguration took weeks of negotiations with hostile lawmakers, whom Zel-ensky exasperatedly called “petty crooks”.

He also vowed that his first task was to bring a ceasefire in

the conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has so far caused some 13,000 deaths.

“We didn’t start this war but it is up to us to end it,” he said.

The separatist authorities have indicated that they could be ready to negotiate with Zelensky.

Dressed in a dark suit and tie, the president took a non-tradi-tional route to his inauguration — walking on foot from his home nearby, after saying he wanted a less pompous ceremony.

In a sign of his more informal style, he exchanged high fives with supporters waiting outside and took selfies with them.

So far little is known about his precise policies after a cam-paign that capitalised on public disillusionment with the political establishment and promised to “break the system”.

Uniquely for a first-time president, Zelensky had played the inauguration scene before — for laughs. He starred as a history teacher who was unexpectedly elected president in a television comedy series, “Servant of the People”.

Just a few months ago, the idea that Zelensky would be

inaugurated for real seemed equally unlikely.

When the actor and comedian announced his can-didacy on December 31, few took it seriously, but after an unprec-edented campaign largely waged through social media, he won more than 73 percent in the second round on April 21, trouncing Poroshenko.

Poroshenko led Ukraine for five years, overseeing the fallout over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in the country’s east.

While Poroshenko averted complete collapse and launched a series of key reforms he was widely criticised for failing to improve Ukrainians’ living standards or effectively fight all-pervasive corruption.

Zelensky has vowed to con-tinue the country’s pro-Western course but beyond that his pro-gramme is still sketchy and his team largely unknown. His critics question how he will deal with the enormous challenges of the separatist conflict and ongoing economic problems.

Ukraine’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky holding Bulava, the Ukrainian symbol of power, during his inauguration ceremony at the parliament, in Kiev, yesterday.

UK appoints first international human rights envoyREUTERS LONDON

Britain appointed its first inter-national ambassador for human rights yesterday to support its work in the United Nations and promote its campaigns around the world.

Rita French will be based in Geneva and will focus on issues including modern slavery, media freedom and rights of religious expression, the government said.

“Ambassador French’s new role will be central to our work in defending human rights across the globe,” said Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in a statement.

“Standing up for human rights is not only the right thing — it helps to create a stable, more prosperous world.”

French, an economist, first worked for the government advising on tax. She served as a senior aide to Hunt during his

time as culture minister, over-seeing the organisation of the 2012 Olympics.

Human rights groups wel-comed the announcement but urged Britain to scrutinise its own record.

“The appointment of Ambas-sador French is an encouraging one, especially if it helps make the UK’s human rights work more principled, consistent and robust,” said Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK.

She said French would face “an immediate test” in how Britain responded to current human rights violations in countries including China and Saudi Arabia.

French will support the UK’s permanent representative in Geneva, Julian Braithwaite, and will act as the deputy permanent Representative to the UN.

She will also work with indi-vidual countries to help them meet their human rights commitments.

Britain plans to bring in new spying lawREUTERS LONDON

Britain is preparing to bring in a new spying law and is consid-ering updating treason legis-lation to counter the threat from hostile states in the wake of the nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury last year, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said.

Javid added that the moves were necessary to cover “real gaps” in existing laws, saying it was important that Britain had the powers to address threats for when it leaves the European Union.

“The conclusion of the Cold War was not the end of state-on-state threats that many had actually predicted. Salisbury was a sharp reminder of that,” he said in a speech at London police’s Scotland Yard headquarters.

“Getting this right and having the right powers and resources in place for countering hostile states must be a post-Brexit priority.”

Plans for a new Espionage Bill come after the Novichok poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in southwest England in March last year for which Britain has blamed Russia.

Moscow has denied any involvement and said the men Britain has accused of being the

Russian agents who carried out the attack were innocent tourists.

The incident led to Britain, European countries and the United States expelling 100 Russian diplomats.

Javid said the new spying law would give British security services unspecified “new and modernised powers”.

“The areas this work will consider includes whether we follow allies in adopting a form of foreign agent registration and how we update our Official Secrets Acts for the 21st century,” he said.

He added that officials had also been asked to consider updating treason laws.

“If updating the old offence of treason would help us to counter hostile state activity, then there is merit in consid-ering that too,” he said.

In his speech, Javid also said he could use counter-terrorism powers to make it a crime for British nationals to travel to certain areas in Syria and might also similarly designate parts of west Africa as no-go areas in the future.

He also revealed that Brit-ain’s security services had thwarted 19 major terrorist attacks in the past two years, 14 of which were of IS militant group origin and five motivated by far-right extremism.

Eiffel Tower evacuated after climber spottedAFP PARIS

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated yesterday after a man was seen climbing up the iconic Paris landmark, one of France’s biggest tourist draws, the oper-ating company said.

“A climber has been spotted. It’s the standard procedure. We have to stop the person, and in that case we evacuate the tower,” an official with the SETE operator said.

The esplanade underneath the monument was also evac-uated, as was a large section of the adjacent Champ de Mars park.

“We kindly advise our vis-itors to postpone their visit,” SETE added on Twitter.

Police have made contact with the climber but do not yet know why he began his ascent up the iron beams, a police source said.

At around 5:30pm firemen

were trying to reach the climber, dressed in a black jacket, by rap-pelling down from third-floor observation deck near the top.

Crowds of tourists remained in the area, hoping the tower will

reopen soon. “We’re really disappointed,

we’re only here for a week and this messes with our whole pro-gramme,” said Sylvie and Celine Forcier from Quebec.

A man climbing up the Eiffel Tower without any protection, in Paris, yesterday.

First-ever set of sextuplets born in Poland: PhysiciansAFP WARSAW

A woman has given birth to Poland’s first sextuplets with each newborn weighing about one kilogram (2.2 pounds), physicians at the University Hospital in the city of Krakow announced yesterday.

“This is the first birth of sextuplets in Poland and one of the few in the world,” University Hospital Professor Ryzszard Lauterbach was quoted as saying by the Polish PAP news agency.

The four girls and two boys, ranging in weight from 890 grammes to 1.3kg, were delivered by caesarean section at the 29th week of pregnancy, he added. “We had five teams with five incu-bators ready waiting, and when all were taken another baby, a girl, appeared”.

Their mother is “very involved, smiling and happy”, according to the physician who said that the 29-year-old woman already has one two-year-old boy at home.

Doctors in the southern city of Krakow said the birth of sextu-plets, was an extremely rare event.

President Andrzej Duda congratulated the parents and the doctors on Twitter, while the local football club, Cracovia, has offered life-long tickets and said they were keeping fingers crossed for the babies.

Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he is dissolving parliament, after wrangling with lawmakers in the lower house, in order to call early parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister steps downAFP KIEV

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volo-dymyr Groysman yesterday said he was resigning after comedian Volodymyr Zelensky was inaugurated as president.

“I’ve decided to tender my resignation on Wednesday after a government meeting,” he said.

“The government resigns

before the newly elected Verkhovna Rada (parliament), not before the newly elected president,” said Groysman, who has been prime minister since April 2016, to underscore that he did not have to resign but chose to.

He said that he had offered to work under Zelensky but added that “the president chose a different path.”

Salvini fumes as Italy’s M5S slows anti-migrant billAFP ROME

Italy’s governing populist Five Star Movement (M5S)appeared to have coalition partner Matteo Salvini (pictured) on the back foot, as it challenged the strongman over his latest anti-migrant decree.

The head of the far-right League is courting votes ahead of the European elections by waging war on refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe by boat, and he wants his bill adopted ahead of the May 26 ballot. But while the bill was slated for debate at a cabinet meeting yesterday, the M5S sig-nalled it was not prepared to pass the law in its present form.

The draconian update to Sal-vini’s earlier security decree has drawn fire from his coalition

partner M5S, the Catholic Church and even the UN’s human rights agency.

While the M5S reluctantly passed the initial security law in November, political watchers said it knew it could stand up to Salvini now because he would not risk the government col-lapsing just before the EU vote.

Any large-scale crisis in the

government could affect the per-formance of the League and its plans to head up a nationalist grouping of far-right parties in the Europe parliament.

“If (the decree) is just an empty electoral stunt it means they’re taking Italians for a ride,” said M5S head Luigi Di Maio.

“We’ll see (at the cabinet meeting). The interior minister hasn’t let us read it yet,” Di Maio said of the final draft.

The League has not appre-ciated the recent change in the anti-establishment M5S from yes-man to challenger.

Cabinet secretary and League member Giancarlo Giorgetti described his party’s loyalty to the M5S yesterday as “unreasonable”, saying it “cannot last forever”.

He also said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte — whose name was put forward by the M5S

when the coalition was formed — could not be a neutral leader.

Salvini lashed out at all and sundry on Sunday after discov-ering live on television that a Sicilian prosecutor had over-ruled his order to close the ports to migrants rescued by the German charity Sea-Watch.

The furious minister said early yesterday that the gov-ernment was not at risk — “as long as people keep their word”.

“I wouldn’t want, for example, ports to be opened after everything I’ve done” to close them, he said.

“For my part, the gov-ernment will 100 percent go on... there are two of us though,” he said in reference to Di Maio, who insists the draft law is flawed as it fails to properly address the return of migrants to their home countries.

15TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019 AMERICAS/EUROPE

Call for regional development to stem migrationAP MEXICO CITY

A UN commission yesterday presented a roadmap to boost economic development in three Central American nations whose poverty and violence now pushes desperate migrants to travel across Mexico to the United States.

The plan calls for hefty increases in social spending, tackling corruption and improving security — as well as a hefty dose of financial support and investment, possibly from US.

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the plan laid out by the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Car-ibbean (ECLAC) was the United States’ best option for stemming the flow of immigrants.

“It goes to the root of the problem,” López Obrador said. “People migrate out of necessity, for a lack of job opportunities or because of violence.”

The UN’s regional economic arm developed the plan after López Obrador announced the idea of developing southern Mexico together with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador upon taking office in December.

The diagnosis was that a lack of economic growth, staggering inequality, swollen cities and ignored rural areas, combined with droughts, floods, oppressive violence and the possibility of much higher pay in the US, propel hundreds of thousands of people north.

“We’re not going to stop it at the end of the day, but we can certainly change the nature,” said Alicia Bárcela, executive sec-retary of ECLAC.

To do so, Mexico and the Northern Triangle governments need to up their social spending, create an environment for eco-nomic development, invest in the energy sector and improve logistics, Bárcela said.

They need to provide security for their people, better address natural disasters amplified by climate change and integrate their economies.

There are many obstacles, and many of the goals echo pre-vious proposals to develop the region.

Creating an environment to attract international investment requires tackling corruption. While López Obrador has made that a priority of his young gov-ernment, Guatemalan officials are expelling a UN anti-cor-ruption mission that has success-fully helped prosecute some of

the country’s most powerful figures.

El Salvador is waiting for its new president to take office in July and Guatemala has presi-dential elections scheduled for June. Many Honduran migrants travelling in caravans in recent months cite that country’s cor-ruption among their motivations for leaving.

Asked where the money would come from, Bárcela said governments and international organisations have been waiting for a plan and now that there is one, they can work on getting financial commitments.

The US and Mexico have been discussing an arrangement under which the US government would guarantee some $10bn in development investments for Mexico and Central America.

The Mexican president repeated his desire to shift US aid from security to economic devel-opment. “This is also an option for them (United States), an alter-native, the best.”

Fifth migrant child died in Border Patrol custodyAP HOUSTON

The US government said a 16-year-old Guatemalan died yesterday at a Border Patrol station in South Texas, the fifth death of a migrant child appre-hended by border agents since December.

US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that Border Patrol apprehended the teenager in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley on May 13. The agency added the teenager was found unresponsive yesterday morning during a welfare check at the agency’s Weslaco, Texas, station. The teenager’s cause of death is unknown.

The agency did not say why the teenager had been detained for a week, but said he was “due

for placement” in a facility for youth operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal law requires the Department of Homeland Security to send minors unac-companied by a parent or legal guardian to HHS within 72 hours of determining that the child is unaccompanied.

The Border Patrol has faced months of scrutiny over its care of children it apprehends at the border.

A 2-year-old child died last week after he and his mother were detained by the Border Patrol.

The agency said it took the child to the hospital the same day the mother reported he was sick, and he was hospitalised for several weeks.

Sweden requests detention order for WikiLeaks founderAP COPENHAGEN

Swedish authorities yesterday issued a request for a detention order against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain, a Swedish prosecutor said.

Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson said if the Swedish court decided to detain Assange “on probable cause suspected for abuse ... I will issue a European Arrest Warrant.”

The development sets up a possible future tug-of-war between Sweden and the United States over any extradition of Assange from Britain.

Assange was evicted last month from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had been holed up with political asylum since 2012. He was then imme-diately arrested by British police on April 11 and is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for jumping bail in 2012.

The Australian secret-spiller also faces a US extradition warrant for allegedly conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.

Persson said that British

authorities will decide any con-flict between a European arrest warrant and USextradition request for Assange.

On May 13, Swedish prose-cutors reopened a preliminary investigation against Assange, who visited Sweden in 2010, after two Swedish women said they were the victims of crimes committed by Assange.

While a case of alleged mis-conduct against Assange in Sweden was dropped in 2017 when the statute of limitations expired, an abuse allegation remains. Swedish authorities have had to shelf it because Assange was living at the embassy at the time and there was no prospect of bringing him to Sweden.

The statute of limitations in the case expires in August next year. Assange has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the allegations were politically motivated and that the sex was consensual.

Persson said the day and time for the detention hearing at the Uppsala District Court north of Stockholm that will make the decision has not yet been decided.

Brazil gun attack leaves 11 deadAP RIO DE JANEIRO

A gang of gunmen reportedly attacked a club in the capital of Brazil’s northern Pará state on Sunday afternoon, and author-ities said 11 people were killed.

The state security agency confirmed yesterday only that six women and five men died in the incident in the Guamá neigh-bourhood of the Pará state capital, Belém.

The G1 news website said police reported that seven

gunmen were involved in the attack, which also wounded one person. The news outlet said the attackers arrived at the club on one motorcycle and in three cars.

In late March, the federal government sent National Guard troops to Belém to reinforce security in the city for 90 days.

Brazil hit a record high of 64,000 homicides in 2017, 70% of which were due to firearms, according to official statistics.

Much of Brazil’s violence is gang related. In January, gangs

attacked across Fortaleza, bringing that city to a standstill with as commerce, buses and taxis shut down.

Rio de Janeiro, the country’s second biggest city, experiences daily shootouts between rival gangs and also between police and criminals, battles that often result in the deaths of innocent bystanders. Fogo Cruzado, a group that monitors shootings in the Rio metropolitan area, says there were 2,300 shootings in Rio and its suburbs during the first 100 days of this year.

Police officers are seen outside a club after a shooting, in Belem, Para state, Brazil, yesterday.

The UN’s plan calls for hefty increases in social spending, tackling corruption and improving security - as well as a hefty dose of financial support and investment, possibly from the US.

Pressure at Russian daily triggers mass walkoutAFP MOSCOW

The entire politics desk of one of Russia’s top daily newspapers, Kommersant, quit yesterday in protest over censorship after two veteran reporters were fired.

The walkout at the news-paper controlled by pro-Kremlin tycoon Alisher Usmanov is a rare form of protest in Russian media industry where nearly all print outlets toe the government line.

“The shareholder has a right to make staffing decisions,” deputy editor Gleb Cherkasov wrote on Facebook. “The employees have a right to dis-agree with them in the only way possible: by changing their place of work.”

Cherkasov said he and another ten journalists — making up Kommersant’s political desk — quit after the management forced two veteran reporters to resign over a story.

Ivan Safronov and Maxim Ivanov, both of whom worked for a decade at the newspaper, last month wrote an article saying Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the Russian parlia-ment’s upper house, could be replaced.

Renata Yambaeva, deputy editor at Kommersant, said yes-terday that the dismissals were just the latest example of recent pressure on the newspaper’s edi-torial staff.

A picture shows Kommersant daily newspaper issues.

US measles cases climb to 880ANATOLIA WASHINGTON

The number of measles cases in the United States has climbed to 880 with 41 new cases reported this week, according to a weekly report published yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

While the rise in cases has not been as dramatic as previous weeks, this year’s outbreak is on track to surpass the previous record for the most measles cases in a year set in 1994, at 958.

US authorities had declared person-to-person transmission of the disease eliminated in 2000.

Oklahoma has become the

latest state to report cases of measles, joining 23 other states across the country.

There are currently measles outbreaks in Butte, Los Angeles and Sacramento counties in Cal-ifornia, Rockland County in New York state, New York City and the states of Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsyl-vania and Washington.

The highest number of cases was reported in New York City, where there was an outbreak in O r t h o d o x J e w i s h neighborhoods.

The outbreak began when an unvaccinated child travelled to Israel and returned with the disease, according to the city’s health department.

The CDC said the majority of those affected had not been vac-cinated, which has led to an unprecedented spread of the disease.

In response to the outbreaks, states have taken action against parents who are purposefully not vaccinating their children.

The governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, signed a law last week that removes parents’ ability to refuse to vaccinate their children against measles, mumps and rubella for personal or philosophical reasons before they attend a day care center or school.

New York City imposed a mandatory vaccination order for all residents.

Four arrested in Venezuela money laundering probeAP MADRID

Spanish police said they have arrested four people as part of a judicial probe into a money laundering racket allegedly involving funds coming from Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA.

Police have confirmed Spanish media reports that the four detainees are also facing charges of corruption in international monetary transactions and the falsification of documents, in addi-tion to money laundering.

The arrests took place yesterday when Spanish police saidthey raided eight locations.

The investigation is being ordered by an investigative judge in Madrid.

US House Speaker Pelosi honoured with JFK Profile in Courage AwardAP BOSTON

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured) has been honoured with the 2019 John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Pelosi was recognised for her efforts to pass former pres-ident Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the US House during last year’s elections.

“I’m totally at a loss for words. I’m speechless. I’m over-whelmed by the honour of it all,” Pelosi said.

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late president, calls the California Democrat “the most important woman in American political history.”

Kennedy said Pelosi, who has served in the House since 1987, “leads with strength, integrity and grace under pressure.”

The award was presented to Pelosi in a Sunday evening ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Previous honourees of the annual award include former Presidents Obama and Ford and prominent lawmakers including Rep John Lewis (D-Ga.) and the late Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.).

16 TUESDAY 21 MAY 2019AMERICAS

Trump orders McGahn to skip House testimonyAP WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump directed former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that McGahn would have immunity from testifying before Congress about his work as a close Trump adviser.

The decision is certain to deepen tensions between con-gressional Democrats and the Trump administration. They’ve accused Trump and Attorney General William Barr of trying to stonewall and block Congress from carrying out its oversight duties.

Democrats have been eager to hear from McGahn, a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation who described ways in which the president sought to curtail the probe.

The House Judiciary Com-mittee had issued a subpoena to compel McGahn to testify today, and the committee’s chairman, Rep Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has threatened to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t testify.

The White House instructed McGahn not to comply with the subpoena to further its strategy of trying to block every congres-sional probe into Trump and his administration.

Officials mulled various legal options before settling on pro-viding McGahn with a legal opinion from the Department of Justice that justifies him defying the subpoena.

“The immunity of the Pres-ident’s immediate advisers from compelled congressional tes-timony on matters related to their official responsibilities has long been recognized and arises from the fundamental workings of the separation of powers,” the Justice Department’s opinion reads. “Accordingly, Mr. McGahn is not legally required to appear and testify about matters related to his official duties as Counsel to the President.”

The Judiciary committee still plans on meeting even if McGahn doesn’t show up.

If McGahn were to defy the White House, it could endanger his own career in Republican politics but also puts his law firm, Jones Day, in the president’s crosshairs.

Trump has mused about

instructing Republicans to cease dealing with the firm, which is deeply intertwined in Wash-ington with the GOP, according to one White House official and a Republican close to the White House not authorised to speak publicly about private conversations.

Trump has fumed about McGahn for months, after it became clear that much of Muel-ler’s report was based on his tes-timony. He has bashed the former White House counsel on Twitter and has insisted to advisers that the attorney not be allowed to humiliate him in front of Con-gress, much like his former fixer Michael Cohen did, according to the official and Republican.

The Justice Department has long held the opinion that close presidential advisers have “absolute immunity” from being compelled to testify before Con-gress about their work for the president.

A similar legal opinion issued in 2014, under the Obama admin-istration, argued that if Congress could force the president’s closest advisers to testify about matters that happened during their tenure, it would “threaten exec-utive branch confidentiality, which is necessary (among other things) to ensure that the Pres-ident can obtain the type of sound and candid advice that is essential to the effective discharge of his constitutional duties.”

‘Trump plans official launch of re-election campaign in mid-June’ REUTERS WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump, facing a potentially difficult path to winning a second term in November 2020, plans an official rollout to his re-election campaign in mid-June, the four-year anniversary of his first run, sources said yesterday.

Trump is likely to kick off his campaign with a rally in Florida, possibly on June 15, followed in the days afterward with stops in battleground states, said the sources, who are close to the White House and spoke on con-dition of anonymity.

The date will be close to the four-year anniversary of when Trump rode the escalator at Trump Tower down to a crowd of supporters and announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015.

Trump’s camp declined to comment. The president has already been raising money for his re-election and holding political rallies for many months.

Trump considers Florida to be something of a second home, since he owns the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach and stays there regularly.

He won Florida in 2016. But as is the case for Trump in many battleground states, his victory is not assured there in 2020 and he will likely face a fight to win

it again.Since Trump took over as

president in early 2017, the US economy has soared with low unemployment and strong growth. Typically presidents with an economy this vibrant would be strong bets for re-election.

But Trump’s polarising pres-idency has given hope to a host of Democratic contenders that he can be denied a second term.

Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, who was vice-president to President Barack Obama, has sounded a unifying theme to try to rally Americans behind his candidacy.

In second place in the Dem-ocratic polls is democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.

Trump has dubbed Biden “Sleepy Joe” to try to undermine him, in much the same way as he gave Republican contender Jeb Bush the nickname, “low-energy Jeb” in 2016.

Trump tweeted yesterday that China, locked in difficult trade talks with Trump, would like Biden as president.

Trump is expected to stress the strong economy in his re-election effort, but he told the Fox News Channel’s “The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton” last week that the economy alone will bore his supporters at his rallies.

US Senator proposes measure to close gender gapREUTERS WASHINGTON

US Senator Kamala Harris, one of two dozen Democrats vying for the 2020 presidential nomi-nation, yesterday proposed closing the gender pay gap by requiring companies to disclose pay data and secure an “equal pay certification” or be fined.

The senator’s’ proposal aims to shift the burden from workers, who now must prove pay discrimination by employers, to corporations, which would have to show they eliminated pay disparities between men and women

doing work of equal value. In 2017, full-time, year-

round working women earned 80% of what male counterparts earned, the US Census Bureau says, and minority women earned even less.

At a college rally in Los Angeles yesterday, Harris decried the pay gap between men and women. “This has got to end,” she said, to audience cheers.

Harris said her plan would incentivise corporations to close the pay gap, because “There will be penalties if they don’t.”

Under Harris’ proposal, which would require approval

by the US Congress, companies with 100 or more employees would give their pay data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

They would also have to prove existing pay gaps were not based on gender but merit, per-formance or seniority, and commit to policies barring man-datory arbitration pacts for job disputes and questions about salary history during hiring.

Companies falling short of the criteria would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap found after adjusting for var-iables such as experience and performance.

US Senator Kamala Harris during her first organising event as she campaigns in the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, in Los Angeles, California, yesterday.

Mr McGahn is not legally required to appear and testify about matters related to his official duties as Counsel to the President, the Justice Department’s opinion reads.

Colombia army denies pushing officers to hike rebel, criminal tollREUTERS BOGOTA

Colombia’s army yesterday denied putting pressure on high-ranking officers to sharply increase the number of rebels and gang members killed or captured in military operations across the Andean nation.

The denial followed a New York Times report over the weekend, which cited military sources as saying the armed forces leadership had ordered a doubling in the number of dead, captured or surrendered guer-rillas and criminals, even though the policy could pose increased

risks for civilians. “I haven’t done any pres-

suring,” army chief General Nicacio de Jesus Martinez told reporters. “No battalion com-mander has been relieved (of their duties) because of results.”

In its report, the New York Times said Martinez had con-firmed giving an order to double operational results because of continuing security threats in the country.

The newspaper drew parallels between the policy and the so-called “false positives” scandal of the late 2000s, when some army units were found to have killed civilians and then listed them as

guerrillas killed in combat to pad casualty numbers and earn rewards from superiors.

Dozens of former military

officials have been convicted of crimes connected to that scandal. The victims were largely poor young men from slums or rural areas.

Defence Minister Guillermo Botero (pictured) said the mil-itary had been pushing for an increase in guerrilla and gang member captures and sur-renders, instead of deaths, since 2007.

But he denied there was a policy specifically aimed at exerting pressure on com-manders, or using incentives such as increased vacation time, to boost arrest and casualty numbers.

The armed forces have increased operations 110 percent since President Ivan Duque took office in August 2018, Botero said, linking the surge to a boost in illicit drug production and trafficking.

Armed groups are bolstering their ranks and training in neigh-bouring Venezuela, he added.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused military offi-cials of collaborating with right-wing paramilitary groups and of looking the other way when those groups committed mas-sacres, rapes and torture.

Armed forces chief Luis Fernando Navarro, speaking at

the same news conference as Botero and Martinez, said the military would halt any oper-ation that looked likely to put civilians at risk.

“The army metes out pun-ishment when the law is violated or when human rights standards or international humanitarian law are violated,” said Botero.

Colombia’s armed forces battle criminal gangs, many comprised of ex-paramilitaries, Marxist-led National Liberation Army rebels and the remains of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group, which officially demo-bilised in 2017.

Venezuela boat accident leaves 20 missingAP CARACAS

A small boat carrying at least 20 people from Venezuela sank in Caribbean coastal waters and most of those on board are missing, an official said yesterday, in what appeared to be another case of Venezuelans taking risks to escape their country’s humanitarian crisis.

The boat left Guiria in Sucre state and was on its way to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago when it sank on Thursday, according to the official from the civil protection agency. The official was not authorised to speak to the media and gave the information on condition of anonymity.

Relatives of those on board the boat have been appealing for information.

One of the passengers was apparently rescued by Robert Richards, an American busi-nessman and sailor who said on Facebook that he and his crew rescued a young man from Venezuela who had been in the water for 19 hours.

Robert Alcalá, a member of Venezuela’s opposition-con-trolled congress, said those on board were migrants trying to escape Venezuela’s humani-tarian crisis.

Last month, a boat carrying Venezuelans sank in the same area.

Maduro marks anniversary of election winAFP CARACAS

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rallied hundreds of supporters in Caracas yesterday to mark the anni-versary of his controversial May 2018 re-election following polls widely denounced as rigged.

Carrying “March for Victory” banners, Maduro supporters took to the streets of the Vene-zuelan capital, many waving flags of the ruling Socialist party and wearing red T-shirts.

Some carried banners saying

“Trump, unblock Venezuela” —a reference to a raft of crippling US sanctions aimed at Maduro’s socialist regime.

“We celebrate the first anni-versary of the popular victory of May 20, the day in which Vene-zuela decided in favor of peace, democracy and freedom,” Maduro wrote on Twitter.

The rally was taking place exactly one year after Maduro was re-elected with 68 percent of the vote in an election boy-cotted by the opposition.

“It’s been a battle, a war. They haven’t let him govern,” said

Maduro supporter Hector Aular, 62, describing the first year of the new government as “hard.”

Maduro has presided over the collapse of the oil-rich coun-try’s economy, leading to shortages of basic foodstuffs and medicines, and causing millions of Venezuelans to flee.

Maduro was sworn in for a second six-year term in January, shortly before US-backed oppo-sition leader Juan Guaido, claiming constitutional legit-imacy as the National Assembly speaker, declared himself acting president.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a rally in front of Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, yesterday.