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Volume 22 | Number 7126 | 2 RiyalsSunday 9 April 2017 | 12 Rajab 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani at The Mall of Qatar after the official opening ceremony yesterday. BELOW: The Father Emir unveiling the name plaque.

Father Emir opens The Mall of QatarFazeena Saleem The Peninsula

Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday officially

opened The Mall of Qatar, a unique shopping and entertain-ment destination in the region, in the presence of more than 15,000 visitors. He marked the official opening by unveiling the name plaque and touring the premises for a short while.

The opening was followed by events by more than 200 artists performing 20 different shows. → Continued on page 2

Rules likely to promote green refrigeratorsSanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

Close on the heels of a ban on the import and sale of conven-t i o n a l a i r conditioners, plans

are afoot to introduce energy-efficient refrigerators and geysers in the local market, a senior official has said.

Qatar General Authority for Specifications and Standardi-zation (QS) and Qatar General Electricity and Water Corpora-tion (Kahramaa) are currently working on a plan to prepare specifications for refrigerators and geysers to increase their energy efficiency level, said Mohamad Al Mesaifiri, Head of ports, quality and conformity specialisation unit at QS.

GCC countries are working on a plan to prepare unified specifications for rationalisa-tion of electricity and water for member countries in the next two years, said Al Mesaifiri in a Qatar TV talk show.

“The rationalisation drive started with air conditioners. Ban on conventional air condi-tioners in the local market came into force on December 31, 2016. So we could expect that Qatar will be free from those

air conditioners within five years considering the life span and warranty period of the sold units,” said Al Mesaifiri.

During the warranty period spare parts and maintenance services for traditional ACs are required and therefore they will be accepted. They will be elimi-nated eventually as people prefer energy efficient products — win-dows and split units, he added.

“The energy efficient air conditioners that are also called star air conditioners are the costumers in many ways. They save electricity significantly compared to the traditional ACs. They are faster in cooling and heating and gave better performance,” said the official, adding that some air condition-ers have a heater option.

→ Continued on page 3

Ministry nod must for religious eventsThe Peninsula

Youth centres will have to take approval of the Ministry of Awqaf and

Islamic Affairs (Awqaf) to organise any religious activ-ity, especially during Ramadan.

The Youth Department of the Ministry of Culture and Sports recently issued a circular to directors of all youth centres in this regard.

The Department said that the deadline for taking per-mission for such planned activities for Ramadan will be May 1.

New locations get ready for central markets The Peninsula

The facilities at the Doha central market in Abu Hamour will completely

move to three new locations once the ongoing works on Al Wakrah and Sailiya central markets are completed, the Ministry of Economy and Com-merce has said.

The new fish market at Umm Salal will open its doors to the customers today evening. It replaces the year-old fish market in Abu Hamour.

The central markets project in Umm Salal, Sailiya and Al Wakra were undertaken from a strategic development per-spective in line with rapid demographic changes in the country. The markets are stra-tegically located to cater to the current and future population expansion in the north, west and south of the country, the Ministry said in a statement.

The project will also serve citizens and residents and pro-vide new business areas to increase commercial activity, and facilitate marketing of local products in these markets, which will contribute to the spread of economic activities over a wider geographical area.

The Ministry said the facil-ities and services at fish market at Umm Salal are designed according to international standards of health and food safety regulations. There are separate places for unloading, display and sale of fish.

The storage and transport comply with the best specifica-tions and food safety measures, the auction area is air condi-tioned, while the area is designed in such a way that the external weather conditions do not affect the quality of products.

The facility also has its own ice factory.

The choice locating the cen-tral market at Umm Salal came following several studies and consultations with retailers and wholesalers, fishermen and dealers, which showed that 70% of the fish at the central mar-ket in Abu Hamour was sourced from the northern part of the country while the rest is sourced from Al Wakrah.

The fish market in Umm Salal will receive customers from 6am to 10pm, Saturday to Thursday.

On Fridays, it will function from 6am to 10.30am and from 3 pm to 10 pm.

QM offers public view of art studio The Peninsula

Under the patronage of its Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad

bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar Museums’ (QM) Fire Station opened the doors of its studios in Doha last evening, offering the

public a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at one of the country’s most innovative arts programmes for the crea-tive generation.

The four-hour open evening, which was organised as part of the Fire Station: Artist in Resi-dence programme, gave visitors

the chance to explore the Fire Station’s facilities and studios, meet the 20 talented artists in residence, which includes ten Qataris, and talk to them about their works and inspiration. Art-ists currently enrolled in the programme have works rang-ing from photography and

videography, to graphic design, painting and poetry. This is the second open evening organised by Qatar Museums during this residency.

The programme runs in nine-month cycles and aims to create a space which offers a local approach to creativity.

Spectacular fireworks illuminate the sky over Doha Corniche on the last day of QIFF yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula → See also page 2

Food festival concludes37km of Orbital Highway opensThe Peninsula

The Public Works Author-ity, Ashghal, has opened 37km of the New Orbital

Highway and Truck Route project to traffic.

The opened parts included a 29km-long section of the New Orbital Highway between the intersections with the East West Corridor and the Dukhan Highway, where three out of seven lanes were opened to traffic, as well as an 8km stretch of Mesaieed Road, from South Al Wakra to Hamad Port, with two out of four lanes opened to traffic. The opening is part of a series of partial openings.

→ Full report on page 3

GCC countries are working on a plan to prepare unified specifications for rationalisation of electricity and water for member countries in the next two years.

st

Emir to visit African nationsQNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will pay a state visit to a

number of African countries from tomorrow.

The tour will include vis-its to Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa. The Emir will hold meetings with leaders and high ranking officials, with focus on enhancing bilateral relations and exchanging views on issues of joint interest. Agreements and Memorandums of Under-standing in various fields will be signed during the visits.

02 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017HOME

The Peninsula

Qatar joined the inter-national community to mark World Health Day (WHD), which is commemorated each

year on April 7. Focusing on this year’s theme on raising aware-ness of depression as the leading cause of ill-health and disabil-ity worldwide, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), and Primary Health Care Corpora-tion (PHCC), along with other health partners, organised a number of events.

The World Health Organi-zation (WHO) initiated a year-long campaign that aims to encourage more people with depression, everywhere in the world, to seek and receive help. This commitment is shared by all health partners in Qatar, whose efforts underpin this year’s WHO World Health Day slogan: “Depression: let’s talk”.

According to the latest esti-mates from WHO, more than 300 million people currently live with depression, representing an increase of more than 18% from 2005 to 2015. Globally there is a lack of effective support for peo-ple who suffer from depression. Limited diagnoses and profes-sional care access, coupled with a fear of stigma, prevent many individuals from accessing the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives.

According to the Global Bur-den of Disease Study (GBD 2010), “Major Depressive

Disorder is the most burden-some disease in Qatar”.

The limited number of stud-ies that have been undertaken in Qatar suggest that prevalence of mental disorders broadly reflect the WHO’s global esti-mates of prevalence. According to a baseline study carried out in Qatar in 2014, the barriers preventing those seeking pro-fessional help are predominantly related to fear of stigma.

The people of Qatar, like many other nations around the world, struggle to have an open and honest conversation about depression. Misconceptions, fear of social consequences, judge-ment and discomfort associated with talking about these issues with others, all tend to keep peo-ple silent. On a more personal level, depression is not often dis-cussed among family and friends because of a strong preference towards dealing with issues themselves rather than burden-ing others with their problem.

To commemorate the World Health Day, HMC, PHCC and other partners organised a series of events and interactive discus-sions aimed at creating awareness among physicians and the public about depression. They also took part in other activities such as awareness campaigns to educate the general public about depres-sion, its causes, and possible consequences. The campaign also focused on providing the public with information on available prevention and treatment options.

“Depression is a common mental illness characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that people normally used to enjoy. PHCC Health Centers are the first point of contact for patients with com-mon mental health problems like depression. As patient-phy-sician communication is an integral part of clinical practice, our physicians have undergone formal training to enhance their knowledge and skills, which are central to delivering a full and tailored service. We encourage patients to book an appointment with their local health centre should they need to discuss gen-eral well-being,” said Dr Fatema Mohammed Musa, Head of Serv-ice Development at PHCC.

Depression is different from normal sadness in that it can take over a person’s day-to-day life, interfering with their abil-ity to work, study, eat, sleep, and their ability to feel happy. Peo-ple with depression often experience a number of symp-toms, including a loss of energy.

Qatar marks World Health Day with focus on depression

Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani and Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi with British Ambassador Ajay Sharma at the function.

Several events

MoPH, HMC, and PHCC, along with other health partners, organised a number of events on the occasion.

According to WHO, more than 300 million people currently live with depression.

The Peninsula

The British Embassy on April 5 marked the 91th Birthday of Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II and cele-brated the strong partnership between the UK and Qatar.

The guests of honour in attendance were Minister of Economy & Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani and Min-ister of Municipality & Environment, H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi.

The British Ambassador to the State of Qatar, Ajay Sharma welcomed around 800 guests to the British Embassy to mark the 91st birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to cele-brate the strong partnership

between the UK and Qatar. The British Ambassador also

hosted senior Qatari figures from business, government and sport, the Diplomatic Corps and other key members of the local community. They were enter-tained by the Qatar Armed Forces band and musicians from Musiqaa, the Instrumental Music Programme at Doha College and Doha Jazz.

Ambassador Ajay Sharma said: “I was delighted that so many of the Embassy’s friends and contacts were able to attend the Queen’s Birthday Party tonight in honour of Her Maj-esty Queen Elizabeth II. This event marks an important opportunity to celebrate the close friendships and partner-ships that exist between the UK

and Qatar, through our trade and investment ties, through education, through our military ties, through tourism, and most importantly through the close personal links established over the years between Qatari and British people."

"Last week we laid the foun-dations for a bold new chapter in this partnership between our nations through the Qatar-UK Business and Investment Forum, the largest trade and investment event ever delivered in the UK. This announced Qatari plans to invest £5bn in the UK over the next five years, and saw a number of cooperation agreements signed, including the historic Memorandum of Understanding to support Qatar’s 2030 National Vision," the ambassador added.

UK embassy celebrates Queen's birthday

The Peninsula

After 11 days of celebrating and showcasing the best the country has to offer in

food and beverage, the eighth edition of Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) came to a close yesterday.

The festival’s increasingly diverse menu of cuisines and culinary experiences included local restaurants and chefs, add-ing an authentically Qatari flavour to the annual event.

Running over two weekends, from March 29 to April 8, the fes-tivities included a variety of exclusive dining experiences, cultural and edutainment per-formances, interactive food art and photography workshops as well as health awareness activities.

While the festival has drawn to a close, QIFF continues to spread its passion for exciting culinary experiences through the special QIFF Menu which will continue to run until April 30.

The Menu - a new feature in this year’s festival - allows resi-dents and visitors to enjoy mouth-watering food groupings of at least three menu items at a pre-set price of 59, 99, 139 or 179 Qatari Riyals at participating res-taurants and cafes.

Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Officer at Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), commented, “QIFF demonstrates the impact and value tourism events can deliver to various sec-tors across the economy, particularly when we join hands to create unique experiences. The collaborative spirit shown

from the various private and public partners, chefs, nutrition-ists, and artists was the key ingredient in the cultural and culinary innovations that drew people back to Hotel Park for repeated visits."

Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of Katara Hospitality, who visited QIFF dur-ing the week, expressed his pride in this edition of the Festival as well as his appreciation for the tre-mendous efforts made by QTA to ensure its success.

Hamad Abdulla Al Mulla, Chief Executive Officer at Katara Hospitality, commented, “Katara Hospitality is proud of its involvement in the 8th annual QIFF, which has, over the last 11 days, brought Qataris and visi-tors alike together to celebrate and share excellent culinary

experiences. The QIFF has given Katara Hospitality the opportu-nity to showcase the impeccable natural landscape of Hotel Park which demonstrates our com-mitment to social responsibility and sustainability."

In light of the current Soma-lian drought, QIFF organisers have collaborated with Qatar Charity (QC) to encourage par-ticipants to donate 10-20% of their revenue from the Festival to QC’s relief campaign. QC’s efforts focus on providing those affected in villages and rural areas with the necessities that will alleviate their suffering and allow them to withstand the crisis.

Over twenty local restau-rants and chefs participated in QIFF this year, providing a local flavor to the annual festival.

Continued from page 1It included vocal perform-

ances by Il Divo, stage shows such as Shaolin Warriors – a showcase of the remarkable skills of over 10 Kungfu masters who demonstrated traditional Chinese martial arts, as well as the Dinosaur Zoo live perform-ance with amazingly life-like dinosaurs and other creatures presented on stage.

Rony Mourani, General Man-ager, The Mall of Qatar, said, “We are inspired by the gracious patronage of Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and we offer His Highness our utmost gratitude for his patronage. His Highness' inval-uable support during the opening event assured visitors that Mall of Qatar is more than a mall, it is a representation of Qatar's vision for a diversified economy."

“It was a day filled with mag-nificent experiences, laughter and great times that truly set the tone for what is yet to come. We

are really looking forward to welcoming more guests from near and far, and showing them our Mall of Qatar hospitality and a truly unique experience – where a new surprise will be

waiting with every visit,” he added.

Besides the stage perform-ances, several other activities were held across the mall includ-ing tree walkers, balloon dragons

and flower walking parades for all visitors to enjoy. They also experienced thrilling kiddy bal-loon rides inside the mall.

Mall of Qatar, located in Al Rayyan, is different in its novelty

and concept from other malls in the region. It combines shopping and entertainment opportuni-ties to ensure all customers have a memorable and relaxed expe-rience while shopping.

Unlike other malls around the world, Mall of Qatar pushes the boundaries by bringing the outdoors in, featuring over 10,500 sq. m of extensive nat-ural sky lighting including a 28 metre high skylight in the lux-urious court, and 26 relaxing water features both inside and outside the mall.

Visitors can take in the fresh air and enjoy 48,000 sq m of landscaped greenery and the col-ourful, and dynamic façade from one of two signature restaurants with terraces and balcony seating.

The Mall of Qatar also stays true to offering an incredible retail mix of more than 500 brands including over 100 din-ing outlets.

Collectively, the brands will ensure an exciting collection of well-loved international luxury and high street fashion, footwear, food, health and beauty, phar-macy, optics and home furnishing brands.

Entertainment activities during the official opening of the Mall of Qatar yesterday. Pics: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

Fireworks display at the closing ceremony. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

Food festival comes to a dazzling close

Mall of Qatar different in novelty of concept in region

03SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has opened to traffic 37 kilometres of the New Orbital Highway

and Truck Route project.The opened parts include a

29-kilometre section of the New Orbital Highway between its inter-section with the East West Corridor and intersection with Dukhan Highway, where three out of seven lanes were opened to traffic, as well as an eight-kilome-tre stretch of Mesaieed Road, from South Al Wakra to Hamad Port, with two out of four lanes opened to traffic.

The opening of these parts of the Orbital Highway comes as part of a series of partial open-ings of the other remaining sections in the coming few months until the final delivery of the project in 2018.

Eng. Yousef Al Emadi, Man-ager of Expressway Department at Ashghal, stated that the new works opened 30 days before deadline since Ashghal had rescheduled some projects incor-porating the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route in line with Ashghal’s commitment to deliver the expressway projects

on or before time.The latest opening is the sec-

ond accomplishment of the New Orbital Highway project this year as Ashghal had inaugurated the linking road between Hamad Port and Truck Route on Febru-ary 27 this year.

A couple of bridges opened in the interchange linking Orbital Highway and Dukhan Highway, to be fully in use in the following months since 75 percent of the structure works of the interchange were already completed. The Orbital Dukhan Interchange is a key access point on Dukhan High-way linking the vital Al Jahhaniya Interchange on Dukhan road, Al Rayyan area, and Al Shamal Road.

Also, the interchange con-necting the Orbital Highway and East West Corridor is 75 percent complete as one of the bridges dedicated for light vehicles and a tunnel dedicated for heavy vehicles from East West Corri-dor to Orbital Highway were opened. Once completed, the junction will involve three lev-els, two bridges, and two tunnels

in order to enhance traffic between the East West Corridor and the New Orbital Highway.

The 29-km section provides a direct connection with Salwa Road and Dukhan Highway to form an alternative route apart from Doha that would help cut traffic jams.

The new route is a key con-nection to several economic and agricultural activities since a host

of farms and the logistics Village are situated along the Orbital highway. The three lanes replaced the two lanes in the previous route, catering to 6,000 vehicles per hour in each direc-tion in lieu of 4,000 vehicles per hour that would reduce journey time, and a hard shoulder was established for faster journey with less accident rate.

On the other hand, the eight kilometre long Mesaieed Road, from South Al Wakra to Hamad Port, will enhance traffic and create easier access to travellers from Doha and Al Wakra to Hamad Port and southern areas.

The Orbital Highway enhances the flow of traffic and shortens journey times by 50 percent. The New Orbital High-way and Truck Route project is considered an important addi-tion to the road network in Qatar. It will serve as a vital link between the southern and north-ern areas in Qatar. The project is located in the North, West, and South of Doha City, and includes a total of around 195km of roads, starting from Mesaieed areas in the South to the West of Al Khor city in the North.

The project also includes the construction of 21 main inter-changes, including tunnels and flyovers, connecting the Orbital with the highways and main roads such as the East West Cor-ridor, Salwa Road, Dukhan Highway, and Al Shamal. This will significantly enhance the flow of traffic and shorten the journey times by around 50% on average, compared to the time spent in the same journey using the existing roads.

Ashghal opens 37km stretch of Orbital Highway Less travel time

Opened sections include a 29km stretch between intersections with East West Corridor and Dukhan Highway.

The Orbital Highway enhances the flow of traffic and shortens journey times by 50 percent.

Vehicles passing through a newly-opened stretch of Orbital Highway.

QM’s educational events attract crowds over the weekend

The Peninsula

Under the patronage of its Chairperson, H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad

bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar Muse-ums (QM) successfully ran a series of fun educational events over the weekend that attracted families across the country.

Back by popular demand, QM’s Treasure Hunt returned on Saturday at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA). Adults, chil-dren and families took part in an educational adventure which took them on a journey through both MIA and QM Gallery Al Riwaq, where they explored one of the world’s greatest collections

of Islamic Art, discovered art-works by the internationally acclaimed Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi and took part in a series of challenges.

Prizes selected from the MIA gift shop were awarded to lucky winners with the highest scores.

Concurrently, in collabora-tion with University College

London, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art hosted an educa-tional event designed for families to experience Dia al-Azzawi’s retrospective, which is open until 16th April. During the event, chil-dren explored colours and shapes through various creative activities and created their own artworks inspired by the show.

Khalid Yousef Al Ibrahim,

Chief Strategic Planning Officer at Qatar Museums, said:

“We are very proud of the suc-cess of our educational activities, which help to inspire an indige-nous culture of creativity and innovation, and I am impressed with the level of community engagement and interaction with our programmes. At QM, it is important for us to continue to

host educational events such as these that will ultimately lead the development of imaginative, com-passionate and engaged individuals.”

QM organises educational activities and workshops all year that aim to strengthen family bonds, develop creativity, build confidence and improve com-munication skills.

ACs given stars for efficiencyContinued from page 1

The new air condition-ers available in the local market are labelled from three to six stars as per the energy efficiency level. More stars mean more efficiency.

A proposal of QS to introduce seven and eight star air-conditioners in the market was approved by the Minister of Municipal-ity and Environment H E Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi. This is called sil-ver and golden label and it is optional for companies.

So far, 44 importers have registered 127 differ-ent brands of star air conditioners at QS. QS’s offices are present at all customs checkpoints - at the airport, seaport and border check post.

Violations of specifica-tion are very little and some of them could be corrected. Major violations that lead to sending back the consignment are very few, he added.

Families taking part in an educational activity.

04 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017HOME

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Mohammad Shoeb The Peninsula

The food and food processing industries in the GCC coun-tries need to be designed in accordance with require-ments and consumption

habits of the people living in the region,

said an expert at Qatar’s leading university.

Agro-based industries in GCC coun-tries, which are getting significant focus of their respective governments as part of efforts to achieve food security, need to be developed keeping in view the local factors and variable.

Dr Tahra El Obeid (pictured,) Asst

Professor of Food Technology and Human Nutrition, at Qatar University, said: “To boost the local agro-industries, GCC countries, including Qatar, need to focus on producing commodities that are competitive, sustainable, and with-out depleting the natural resources.”

“Importing some food can be cheaper than growing them domestically, but there

are a lot of food items which can be grown and processed locally in the cost effective manner, which can leave a different impact”, Dr Tahra told The Peninsula on the sidelines of a food security event organised by GOIC here recently.

Citing examples of agro-indus-tries related to marine life, camel, date and truffle (Fagh’aa) farming, which are rich in nutrition value, can be developed not only to meet the local demand, but also for export.”

She noted that food habits of people have changed significantly over the last 50 years. People now are not eating same kinds of food that our ancestors used to eat some 100 years ago. There is more con-sciousness about different components available in the food.

Consumers are increasingly preferring healthier and leaner foods, which need to be taken into consideration while developing agro-industries.

Tahra said: “In the past 10 years, people have been eating unhealthily. They consumed more meat and meat products which contain more fat. How-ever, over the last few years, people have realised that rate of lifestyle dis-eases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer and number of cardiovascular patients, are rising. To counter that peo-ple have now moved towards more healthier foods.”

This is evident from the fact that more and more number of retail outlets and hypermarkets are keeping option of healthier food such as organic food, glu-ten and sugar-free food besides regular food inventories. “If there wasn’t a mar-ket, it (healthier food options) would have been not available in shops”, she said.

Commenting on the current status of Qatar’s food security situation, Tahra highlighted that the country has already started executing its National Food Security Programme which is in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

“The Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Qatar General Organisation for Standards and Metrology (QS), and several academic institutions, which are supporting the sys-tem to make sure food items available in the country are within set standards and specifications,” she noted.

On food safety norms, Tahra said Qatar also has adopted specific guide-lines for different growth hormones in animals, and the use of antibiotics found in chickens and poultry products. “All the products are tested at food control laboratory at the Food Safety & Envi-ronmental Department.”

The Peninsula

Under the patronage of H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, the Vice Chairperson &

CEO of Qatar Foundation, QatarDe-bate, the fourth edition of International Universities Arabic Debating Cham-pionship began yesterday.

Organised by QatarDebate Center at the Qatar National Convention Center, 87 teams representing 46 Arab and Non-Arab countries are competit-ing in the Championship.

This year’s edition is unique because of its wide international par-ticipation. Qatar is represented by five teams; a Police Academy team, two teams’ boys and girls from Qatar Uni-versity and two teams’ boys and girls from the Community College Qatar.

Preparations leading up to the Championship have been immense and well in advance.

Dr Hayat Maarafi, Executive Direc-tor QatarDebate; welcomed the delegates and said the championship is like a youth festival that includes elite group of participants from six Continents under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation.

On the sidelines of the champion-ship, a press conference was held of four participating teams from non-Arabic speaking countries to share their expe-rience in learning Arabic language and their practice to achieve personal goals and represent their countries apart from identifying different cultures and ideas which contribute to their development and progress.

Agro-based industries need to be developed: Expert

Arabic debating championship begins

Participants of the championship addressing a press conference.

The Peninsula

Qatar Charity (QC) organised “Put a smile” event to mark International Day of Down Syndrome in collaboration with Hamad Med-

ical Corporation (HMC) and other centres. Special activities were organised for Down Syndrome chil-dren along with their families.

The participants and parents of children agreed on need of this group to have such activities, and to develop programmes that are commensurate with their mental, psychological and physical abil-ities. They also stressed on significance of supporting their families and encouraging them to live normally.

Alia Al Jamaei, Qatar Charity Community Devel-opment Centre Director, Al Wakrah branch said: “Through organising “Put a smile” event, QC has participated in celebrating this day and provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy with our Down Syndrome sons and daughters. To express our respect and close contact with them, through sev-eral activities, we hosted the influential people in the community, and invested capabilities and tal-ents of our children such as reciting the Holy Quran in addition to show their achievements in life and determination to remove obstacles to make their dreams come true.

Al Jamaei greeted children’s families, and par-ticipants including Hamad Medical Corporation, Al Tamakon For Comprehensive Education, Spe-cial Education Department at Rumailah Hospital, Friends of Down Syndrome Club, Aamal Center for Special Needs, We Restaurant and the Qatar Center for Special Needs.

Fatima Al-Missned, Head of Awareness and Community Development Department at Tarsheed said:”Tarsheed has taken up QC’s invitation to take part in “Put a smile” event for its deep trust in QC Center for community development’s programmes and objectives. Tarsheed centre has a message to deliver to all people, so it has worked in collabo-ration with QC to develop a five-year plan through which they manage to integrate people with spe-cial needs into Tarsheed programmes, seeking to help them in rehabilitation and education to con-sciously deal with energy sources.”

QC organises 'Put a Smile' event for Down Syndrome kids

05SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 HOME

Unmatched services

Ezdan Shopping Malls Group has inked pacts with renowned brands, cafes and restaurants in the world in order to offer unparalleled services and entertainment experience to the visitors.

The Peninsula

Babyshop, the region’s leading one stop destina-tion in children’s

products concluded the second season of “EXPRESSIONS” with announcement of winners of grand drawing competition, which was presented by Baby-shop Qatar, for children aged between 5 and 14 years.

A grand prize distribution ceremony was organised at the Centrepoint, Al Asmakh Mall.

The event saw participants divided into three age group

categories 5-7 years, 8-10 years & 11-14 years covering a range of themes from talking about My Family and Save Water to Global Warming.

To select the winners from such a gigantic partici-pation a separate panel of judges was appointed. The judges were experts in the field of Arts.

The judges included R Udaya Shankar from Birla Pub-lic School & Salwa Hamdy from Oscar Academy and Pratibha Pai eminent painter.

Looking at the response Santosh Pai, COO Landmark

Group; Qatar said “The response for Expressions was overwhelming.

The competition provided an excellent platform for kids to explore and portray their creativity and I would specially like to thank all the parents who have made the efforts and encouraged their kids to par-ticipate this year. He also thanked the judges and volun-teers who made the event a success.

Judges were also felicitated with small souvenirs as grati-tude for the supporting the event.

In each category first three place winners were awarded.

The winners included: Category – 5-7, Theme:

My Family1st prize: Thamara R Pillai,

2nd prize: Bindiya Pramod and 3rd prize: Pranav Sai.

Category – 8-10, Theme: Save Water

1st prize: Maria Beatrice, 2nd prize: Pranay Mukala and 3rd prize: Nazeel P Sageer

Category – 11-14, Theme: Global Warming

1st prize: Nidhi Noronha, 2nd prize: Sarang Santosh and 3rd prize: Harsha Jalan.

The Peninsula

Apparel Group has announced the opening of well- known brand of “Tim Hortons” café

, one of the most famous Cana-dian brands for the first time in Al Wakrah at Ezdan Mall. This came following a remarkable success since its opening in Ezdan Mall, Al Gharafa, which has seen a large footfall of visitors.

Tim Hortons Cafe and Bake Shop is located on the ground floor of Ezdan Mall, Al Wakrah, spread over an area of 1000 sqare feet. Moreover, other famous brands such as Star-bucks coffee shop and Shake Shack are expected to open soon at the mall. The mall will also include branches of the region’s most popular brands such as LC Waikiki, H&M, American Eagle

Outfitters, “MAC Cosmetics and Bath & Body Works etc.

Ezdan Mall Al Wakrah will be offering a great dining expe-rience for its visitors as they will be able to dine in an outdoor food court and cafes with a great variety of food and beverage choices and the finest services along with a spacious seating area in an extraordinary atmosphere.

Carrefour Hypermarket

opened last December in pres-ence of its Group CEO Ali Al Obaidli, Ezdan Mall Company, Group General Manager. Malik Qaiser, and representatives of Carrefour management in Qatar. This is the second cooperation deal between Ezdan Holding Group and Majid Al Futtaim Group.

Commenting on the open-ing of Tim Hortons Cafe and Bake Shop in Ezdan Mall Al Wakrah, Malik said: “We are delighted to partner with Tim Hortons, one of the most popu-lar brand in Canada. This is our second collaboration after their success in Ezdan Mall Al Gharafa.

We are soon expecting opening of the region’s most favourite children edutainment Fun Ville on a distinct area of 20,000 sqare feet at Ezdan Mall Al Wakrah.

Ezdan Shopping Malls Group

Tim Hortons cafe opens at Ezdan Mall in Al Wakrah

General Manager added: “We have inked pacts with renowned brands, cafes and restaurants in the world in order to offer unpar-a l l e l e d s e r v i c e s a n d entertainment experience to our visitors and cater to the needs of families in Qatar and their diverse tastes.

Speakint at Ezdan Mall Al Wakrah, Malik said, after fully operational in the coming days,

the mall will be the largest of its kind in the dynamic area of Al Wakrah. The mall will enhance expressively services available to Al Wakrah community, especially as it hosts 167 outlets of various products and services. Awan informed out that the mall is located opposite to Al Wakrah General Hospital on the main road, in the sprawling area of 40,000 square metres.

Ezdan Mall Al Wakrah, one of the promising group’s projects to open in Al Wakrah, is character-ised by its modern urban design and consists of two floors with parking lots that can accommo-date more than 1,500 cars. In addition, the mall allocates space to hold various events to provide a fun and interactive atmosphere for the mall’s visitors, especially children and families.

Dignitaries cutting the ribbon to inaugurate Tim Hortons Café at Ezdan Mall, Al Wakrah.

Babyshop awards winners of ‘Expressions' contest

Santosh Pai, (fourth right), COO Landmark Group; Qatar, Rajgopal, (third left), Marketing Manager Landmark Group; and other officials with winners of Baby shop drawing competition ‘Expressions’ at Centerpoint Alasmakh Mall, yesterday. Pic Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

06 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017HOME

Expanding wings

The company currently operates eight service centres in various parts of the country and is in the process of opening two more service centres this year taking the total number to 10.

The Peninsula

Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. (AAB), sole agent for Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Qatar, honoured its

loyal customers at a function held at Sheraton Grand Doha recently. The event was part of AAB’s annual marketing calen-dar to recognise loyal customers who supported them during the year. Senior officials from rent a car companies as well as from other business establishments were present on the occasion. Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. was represented by Serdar Tok-tamis, Chief Executive Officer; R K Murugan, Chief Operating Officer (Automotive); as well as senior management team.

Welcoming the guests, Murugan emphasised on com-pany’s guiding principles of Customer first philosophy – fair-ness, integrity, respect, superior performance & teamwork.

He added that these guid-ing principles have not only helped the Toyota & Lexus to be the number 1 brand in Qatar but also to enhance customer

satisfaction of their large cus-tomer base. On behalf of the senior management, AAB expressed gratitude to loyal customers who have signifi-cant ly and posi t ively contributed in sales and mak-ing Toyota & Lexus No. 1 Brand in Qatar.

Muthu Samy, senior manger national service; gave an over-view of the after sales support provided by AAB to Toyota and Lexus customers as well as future expansion plans. Muthu Samy added AAB is always com-mitted to provide best after sales support to its customers. The company currently operates

eight service centres in various parts of the country and is in the process of opening two more service centres this financial year taking the total number of serv-ice centres to 10. For the convenience of fleet customers, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. also announced introduction of mobile service vans as it will be helpful to them since the

periodical maintenance can be carried-out at customer locations.

To serve the customers bet-ter, Toyota and Lexus showrooms are open seven-days-a-week to enable them to visit the showroom at their con-venience. The work on the new Lexus Showroom with state-of-the-art facility is progressing

well in order to provide a luxu-rious atmosphere when customers visit the showroom.

The award winners included: Hejen Racing Committee, Profit Trading & Contracting Company, Qatar Express Transportation Company, AAYAN Leasing Com-pany , Al Ijarah Limousine and Galfar Al Misnad Engineering and Contracting.

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

Qatar Foundation for Social Work (QFSW) has signed a Memoran-

dum of Understanding (MoU) with Mental Health Friends Association (Weyak), to strengthen partnership among each other and to apply the best and latest international practices to achieve the highest standards of community mental health, while adapting the practices to the Qatar’s society.

Amaal bint Abdul Latif Al Mannai, CEO of QFSW; signed the MoU with Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, Weyak’s Vice Chairman, in the context of QFSW affiliate centers for cooperation pro-tocols with the Weyak association as part of sup-porting the activities of centres associated with these

areas of competence.The MoU aims to qualify

and train psychological guides, promote mental health rights and strengthen professional practices of Qatari community in the field of mental health and social services.

Amaal Al Mannai said: “The importance of this part-nership comes within the framework of implementing our vision of applying inter-national best practices and adapting them in adherence with what is suitable for the Qatari society.”

“In order to reach the highest levels of social men-tal health through use of the latest outreach methods, as well as the qualification and training of psychosocial workers, promotion of human rights in areas related to mental health, in addition to strengthening professional

practices of the Qatari soci-ety in fields of mental health and social mental services, in the best interest of the com-munity in Qatar,” she added.

Al Ghanim said, “Weyak provides mental health serv-ices from home as mental patients usually do not pre-fer clinic visits, making their condition worse. Hence, mental health services from home will contribute to treat-ing a large number of patients.”

“The organisation is also providing telephone consul-tations since many patients feel more comfortable to talk about their issues by phone”, he added.

According to the MoU, centres working under QFSW will sign cooperation proto-cols with Weyak organisation to develop the centre’s activ-ities that are related to organisation’s expertise.

The Peninsula

Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity (HBKU) has announced launch of

two new postgraduate pro-grams that will add new area of advanced studies in Qatar: a Master of Arts in Women, Society, and Development, and a Master of Arts in Digital Humanities and Societies.

Applications are now accepted frome students wishing to join the inaugural classes, which will start this fall. A public information ses-sion featuring an academic panel for both programmes will take place at the Liberal Arts and Science Building, Education City, on, April 19 at

5pm. An additional informa-tion sessions will take take place on May 10.

The announcement of new programmes, which will be delivered by HBKU’s College of Humanities and Social Sci-ences (CHSS), demonstrates university’s commitment to develop innovative ways of serving specific educational needs of Qatar and the region. Commenting on establishment of the new programmes, Dr Ahmad Hasnah, President of HBKU, said: “At HBKU we are committed to build knowledge and capacity through pro-grammes that offer ways to accelerate thinking in areas that have been identified as priorities in our region.

“Our new programmes utilise a multidisciplinary and innovative approach to learn-ing to shed light on two fascinating fields of study. By harnessing expertise of our exceptional faculty and through exchanges and joint activities with other institu-tions, both within Education City and across Qatar, we will provide our students an opportunity for higher learn-ing experience as well as developing leaders who will impact their communities.”

“The degree will be inter-disciplinary, drawing upon a number of specialisations such as social sciences, poli-tics and international relations, law and media”,

said Founding Dean of CHSS, Dr Amal Al Malki. “Through their studies, students will develop the necessary skills and build effective mainstream public policies that can help

solve challenges encountered by women in all areas of soci-ety and will serve to enhance Qatar’s global efforts to pro-mote human development as it relates to women.”

The Peninsula

MADA Assistive Technology Centre launched e-Accessi-bility programme in coordination with govern-ment bodies. The project includes training web devel-opers and designers, audits of the e-accessibility of gov-ernment websites and putting in place remedial steps as part of a comprehensive consul-tation process.

Mada has worked to implement the policy by offer-ing a series of services, including audits, consultations and training. These efforts have been carried out to fulfill cent-er’s goal of empowering people with disabilities and elderly through greater access to infor-mation and communication technology.

Access to digital platforms and content, as well as the ability to make use of all types of information and commu-nication technology is fundamental to build a trans-parent knowledge based society. This includes provi-s ion of access ible e-government services, online banking and other crit-ical services to all residents and citizens of Qatar.

Mada launched a com-prehensive year-long project in the beginning of 2017 with the aim of increasing the e-accessibility of all govern-ment websites. The project includes training web devel-opers and designers, audits of the e-accessibility of gov-ernment websites, and putting in place remedial steps as part of a comprehen-sive consultation process.

In the first quarter of 2017, Mada Center worked with ten government minis-tries and agencies which includes Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Transport & Commu-nication, Education and Higher Education, Develop-ment Planning & Statistics, Health and Justice.

Additionally, Mada worked with Qatar Tourism Authority, Qatar Museums, the Supreme Council for Delivery & Legacy, the Qatar Aeronautical College and the Communications Reg-ulatory Authority.

AAB honours its loyal customers

AAB officials and its customers at a function held at Sheraton Grand Doha.

Mada Center launches e-Accessibility programme

Amal bint Abdullatif Al Mannai (left), CEO of Qatar Foundation for Social Work; and Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, Deputy Chairman of Mental Health Friends Association Weyak; exchange documents after signing an MoU at Tornado Tower recently. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula

QFSW & Weyak to achieve highest standards in mental healthcare

HBKU unveils multidisciplinary graduate programmes

Dr Amal Al Malki discusses new programmes at a faculty meeting.

07SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 HOME

The Peninsula

Rayyan Municipality topped all municipalities in issuing building per-

mits in March with a total of 188 permits. It brings 28% of the total permits issued during the month. Doha Municipality came second with 165 per-mits-23%, followed by municipality of Al Wakrah with 109 permits -16%, and munic-ipality of Al Da’ayen with 91 permits -14%.

The data published by Minis-try of Development Planning and Statistics in twenty seventh issue of monthly Statistics of Building Permits showed that Municipal-ity of Umm Slal issued 56 permits (8%), Al Khor 33 permits (5%), Al Shamal 20 permits (3%), and Al Sheehaniya 14 permits (2%).

The statistics which includes total number of per-mits issued by all municipalities of the State indicated that new building permits (residential and non-residential) have con-stituted 55% (367 permits) of total building permits issued during the month of March 2017.

Permits for construction of additions to buildings which already exist, constituted 39% (258 permits), and fencing per-mits 6% (42 permits).

The number of permits issued in March shows 40%

increase compared to those issued in previous month, says the data. The increase was clearly noted in municipalities of Al Shamal (100%), Doha (90%), Al Da’ayen (72%), Rayyan (44%), Al Khor (32%), Umm Slal (6%), Wakrah (4%). On the other hand there was a clear decrease in Al Sheehaniya municipality by (18%), says the data.

Building permits data is considered an indicator for the performance of the construc-tion sector which in turn occupies a significant position in the national economy.

Permits for villa construc-tions have topped the list, accounting for 59% (192 per-mits) of all new residential buildings permits, followed by dwellings of housing loans by 34% (110 permits) and apart-ments buildings by 5% (18 permits).

On the other hand, com-mercial buildings were found to be in the forefront of non-residential buildings permits with 44% (18 permits), followed by industrial buildings e.g. workshops and factories with 27% (11 permits), mosques with 20% (8 permits),then govern-mental buildings with 10% (4 permits), says the data.

The monthly statistical data gives overview of the nature of the permits in terms of their geographical distribution (according to the municipali-ties) and types of the permits whether they are new building permits, additions, fencing or maintenances along details about categories of the differ-ent types of buildings, whether they are residential or non-residential.

It is worth mentioning that

the release of this monthly data comes under the joint cooper-ation between the Ministry of Development Planning and Sta-tistics and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to make use of the existing elec-tronic link between the two ministries.

For more statistical data, please visit the Ministry’s web-site: www.mdps.gov.qa as well as “QALM” portal (Qatar Infor-mation Exchange) : www.qix.gov.qa

Rayyan Municipality tops in issuing building permits

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Public Health recently held a workshop on school eye

health , bringing in more than 50 physicians, nurses and health professionals working at private and community schools here.

The event highlighting one of the priorities of the ministry, children’s right to sight, was organised by the health promo-tion and non-communicable diseases department targeting students of private schools.

During workshop special-ists from Blindness Prevention Programme presented lectures about common eye diseases affecting students and early detection of refractive errors

and visual impairment. Poor vision in childhood affects

negatively the children's academic school performance, the experts said during the lecture.

There was a practical train-ing on how to examine vision of students as screening is obliga-tory in all schools in which nurses should know how to fill electronic screening forms fol-lowing guidelines and referring students with abnormal vision results to ophthalmologists to be diagnosed and managed properly.

“If we collaborate together to detect causes of low vision in school students in Qatar, we will definitely reduce the prevalence of low vision within children who have a high probability to

get refractive errors, strabismus, lazy eye and other eye diseases,” said Dr Kholoud Al Mutawa, head of non-communicable dis-ease section at the ministry while opening the workshop.

Blindness Prevention Pro-gramme has been conducting several training workshops since past many years and supervised the process of vision screening either in the inde-pendent and private schools of selected grades, 1,3,5,7, and 9.

Vision screening reports and recommendations have been released and in collabo-ration with WHO, the last report demonstrated a total number of 35,000 students, out of them 15 percent have vision less than normal.

Ministry of Public Health holds workshop on school eye health

Experts at the school eye health workshop.

367 permits issued

The data which includes total number of permits issued by all municipalities of the State indicated that new building permits (residential and non-residential) have constituted 55% or 367 permits of total building permits issued during the month of March 2017.

The monthly statistical data gives overview of the nature of the permits in terms of their geographical distribution and types of the permits whether they are new building permits, additions, fencing or maintenances along details about categories of the different types of buildings.

The number of permits issued in March shows 40% increase compared to those issued in previous month.

QNA

Chairman of National Human Rights Com-mittee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Sumaikh Al Marri said yesterday the Arabic calligraphy exhi-

bition on human rights in the Islamic culture included a wide range of art work that showed the link between Islam and the universal decla-ration of human rights as well as other international accords on the issue.

The exhibition was organised by NHRC on the sidelines of the 34th meeting of Arab Interior Min-isters Council in Tunisia.

The goal of exhibition was to emphasise com-mitment to cooperate to advance human rights, as well as raising awareness on Islamic principles related to the issue. He noted the exhibition was organised last year in the United Nations Office in Geneva and in France, where it was well received.

Arabic calligraphy exhibition sheds light on Islamic culture

Johannesburg

AFP

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma yesterday hit out at critics within

his own camp telling them not to use events such as funer-als or memorial services to attack each other.

Speaking himself, how-ever, at the inauguration of a former minister's tombstone, Zuma told colleagues not to use such events "to fight our political battles".

"It is wrong. That is terri-ble politics, in fact, dangerous politics," he said at the event in northern Limpopo prov-ince where former public services minister Collins Chabane was buried two years ago.

"Be brave and comradely, confront a comrade if you have got problems with (a) comrade, don't use comrades who have died as a platform to perpetuate disunity," he said without mentioning any names.

His comments came after sacked finance minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday used a Cape Town memorial service for anti-apartheid stalwart Ahmed Kathrada to warn that the government risked being taken over by "a bunch of gangsters" without making direct reference to Zuma.

US vows to keep up pressure on Syria

Palm Beach AP

The United States is vowing to keep up the pressure on Syria after the intense nighttime wave of missile strikes

from US ships, despite the pros-pect of escalating Russian ill will that could further inflame one of the world's most vexing conflicts.

Standing firm, the Trump administration has signalled new sanctions would soon follow the missile attack, and the Pentagon

was even probing whether Rus-sia itself was involved in the chemical weapons assault that compelled President Donald Trump to action. The attack against a Syrian air base was the first US assault against the gov-ernment of President Bashar Al Assad.

Much of the international community rallied behind Trump's decision to fire the

cruise missiles in reaction to this week's chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of men, women and children in Syria.

The official Saudi Press Agency reported that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia complimented Trump in a telephone conversa-tion for his "courageous decision." But a spokesman for Russian

President Vladimir Putin warned that the strikes dealt "a significant blow" to relations between Mos-cow and Washington.

At the UN, Russia's deputy ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, criticised what he called the US "flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression" whose "consequences for regional and international security could be extremely serious."

Two dead in clashes at Lebanon Palestinian campSidon

AFP

Palestinian factions battled an extremist group in a ref-ugee camp in southern

Lebanon yesterday in a second day of clashes that have killed at least two people, medics said.

The clashes erupted on Friday night as a security force of lead-ing Palestinian factions in the Ain Al Hilweh camp deployed under a new security plan, a source in the Palestinian Fatah faction said.

"It came under fire from a neighbourhood under the influ-ence of extremist Islamist

groups, which oppose the secu-rity plan of the factions and their deployment," the source said.

Palestinian factions in the camp accused a small militant group linked to an extremist Islamist of firing on the security force after demanding that the deployment not extend to its area of influence.

"The security force will be deployed throughout the camp to bring security to it, and there is no other solution," Lebanon's official National News Agency quoted a Fatah commander as saying.

Medical sources said that the

clashes killed two people and wounded 21, with at least one member of the security force among the dead.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of the camp said fight-ing was continuing on the narrow streets of its residential neighbourhoods, with the sound of machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenades audible in much of the surrounding city of Sidon.

A resident of the camp's Tireh district, where heavy clashes were ongoing, said the fighting had set at least seven houses alight and trapped

dozens of families. The fighting prompted the Lebanese army to take security measures at the entrance of the camp, including shutting the highway next to it.

And Lebanon's Health Min-istry announced it was evacuating patients from the Sidon governmental hospital adjacent to the camp and mov-ing them to other facilities.

An AFP photographer saw members of the Lebanese Red Cross wheeling a baby in an incubator on a stretcher from the hospital into the back of an ambulance for transfer.

Ain Al Hilweh is home to

multiple armed factions, and has been plagued by intermittent clashes between them as well as against smaller extremist groups.

In February, fighting erupted after Fatah pulled out of a joint security committee, prompting clashes that lasted days and killed one person.

By long-standing convention, Lebanon's army does not enter Palestinian refugee camps, where security is managed by joint com-mittees of Palestinian factions.

Ain Al Hilweh is home to some 61,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 who have fled the war in Syria.

A Syrian child receives treatment at a makeshift clinic following reported air strikes by government forces in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, yesterday.

Beirut

Anatolia

A prominent Saudi scholar has decried muted Arab reactions to this week's

suspected chemical attack in Syria's northern Idlib province.

Dozens of civilians were killed and hundreds injured in a chemical attack allegedly car-ried out by regime forces in the northern town of Khan Shay-khun on Tuesday. In response, the US early Friday fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian regime military airbase Amer-ican officials believe was used to carry out the attack.

"The UN and Arab commu-nity stood idly by. They did nothing but condemned the massacre," Salman Al Awdah told Anadolu Agency.

"While Arab people took to social media to denounce the massacre, politicians and prominent figures of society remained silent," he said.

The Saudi scholar went on

to call for taking a "deterrent response" against those respon-sible for the chemical attack on civilians in Khan Shaykhun.

"He who remains silent in the face of injustice is a tongue-less devil," he said, going on to call on Arab politicians, writers and thinkers to "make every-one aware of this massacre, which is supported by Iran and Russia".

"Keeping silent to the mas-sacre in Idlib is equal to being part of it," he said.

Lebanese MP Imad Al Hut said the Arab people were angry with the recent massa-cre in Idlib.

"Their reaction, however, was muted due to the ongoing bloodshed in Syria, which has caused to harden their hearts," he said. Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar Al Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests — which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings — with unex-pected ferocity.

Saudi scholar slams muted Arab reaction

08 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Tensions rise

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia complimented Trump in a telephone conversation for his "courageous decision".

The Trump administration has signalled that new sanctions would soon follow the missile attack.

US Vice-President pledges continued support to IraqBaghdad

Reuters

US Vice-President Mike Pence yesterday assured Iraqi Prime Minister

Haider Al Abadi of continued US support to defeat Islamic State, the Iraqi government said in a statement.

The two discussed the situ-ation in Syria and the war on Islamic State in a phone call from Pence following Friday’s

US strikes on a Syrian airbase to punish a chemical attack that killed scores of civilians this week in an area held by the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Pence “affirmed that US pol-icy in the region didn’t change, its priority is to defeat Daesh in Iraq and the region,” said a statement from Abadi’s office.

The Shia-led Iraqi govern-ment issued a statement on Friday in reaction to the events

in Syria reflecting a difficult bal-ancing act between its alliance with the United States and with Shia Iran, a key backer of Assad.

The Iraqi statement con-demned the chemical attack, without naming Assad, calling instead for an international investigation to identify the per-petrator. The statement also criticised “the hasty interven-tions” that followed the chemical attack, in an apparent reference to the US strikes.

A man and a woman cheer Iraq's Federal Police members patrolling the streets of western Mosul, yesterday.

New Gaza protests after salary cutsGaza City AFP

Fresh protests against civil service pay cuts broke out in Gaza yesterday, as

pressure builds on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to tackle the crisis.

The decision this week by the West Bank-based Palestin-ian Authority to slash the salaries of civil servants in the Gaza Strip has sparked days of protests.

Tens of thousands took to a square in central Gaza City yesterday in the largest protest since the 30-percent cut was announced, with demonstra-tors calling on PA leader Abbas to sack his government.

A handful of protesters announced they would begin a hunger strike, a spokesman said. Hamas, the Islamist move-ment that runs Gaza, has been at loggerheads with Abbas's Fatah party since the former seized the Strip in a near civil war in 2007.

Fatah runs the West Bank, the other part of the Palestin-ian territories separated from Gaza by Israeli territory.

After Hamas seized power, around 70,000 PA employees in Gaza lost their posts but they were kept on its payroll never-theless. Hamas set up its own

parallel administration with 50,000 staff, whose salaries the PA refuses to pay.

The Fatah-run PA announced the pay cuts earlier this week, saying they were necessary because its budget has been hit by falling foreign aid. In 2014, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity govern-ment that was meant to resolve their dispute but it has remained stillborn, with no real control in either territory.

Local elections set for May have also been suspended in the Gaza Strip after infighting between Fatah and Hamas, though they are expected to take place in the West Bank.

UN Middle East envoy Nick-olay Mladenov said he was "deeply concerned by the grow-ing tensions in Gaza."

He said that while the Pal-estinian government faced difficult economic conditions, it should make spending cuts "with consideration to the harsh conditions under which people in Gaza live".

He urged both parties to work together to resolve the crisis and "bring about real national reconciliation that ends the division".

Israel has maintained a blockade of Gaza for a decade, severely damaging the enclave's economy.

Zuma tells colleagues not to criticise at funerals

Somaliland jails reporterMogadishu

Reuters

A court in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has sen-

tenced a reporter to two years in jail for what it said was endangering peace and security, a journalists’ rights group said yesterday.

Abdimalik Muse Oldon was detained in February upon his return from the Somali capital.

09SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 ASIA

Mass nesting

India commits $5bn credit to BangladeshNew Delhi IANS

Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi yesterday expressed the firm belief that there will be an early solution to the

issue of sharing waters of the Teesta river with Bangladesh while announcing $5bn lines of credit to the eastern neighbour.

"Along with our shared land boundaries are our shared riv-ers," Modi said while jointly addressing the media with Bang-ladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"They sustain our peoples and their livelihoods. And, the one that has attracted the great-est attention is the Teesta".

He said this was "important for India, for Bangladesh and for India-Bangladesh relationship".

"I assure you and the people of Bangladesh of our commit-ment and continuing efforts. I

firmly believe that it is only my government and Excellency Sheikh Hasina, your government, that can and will find an early solution to Teesta water sharing," Modi said.

He also appreciated Bangla-desh's efforts to contain radicalism and religious extrem-ism and said: "We have the greatest admiration for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's firm resolve in dealing with terror-ism. Her government's ‘zero-tolerance' policy towards terrorism is an inspiration for all of us."

In his statement to the media, he announced a line of credit of $4.5bn for the implementation of projects in priority sectors for Bangladesh.

He announced a separate line of credit of $500m to sup-p o r t B a n g l a d e s h ' s defence-related procurement.

India and Bangladesh signed 22 agreements following yester-day's talks.

Stating that energy security was an important dimension of the two countries' development partnership, Modi said:

"Our agreement to open new border haats will empower bor-der communities through trade and contribute to their liveli-hoods," he stated.

On her part, Sheikh Hasina appreciated Modi "for his

dynamism and innovative ideas that are not only taking India for-ward but adding value to our our bilateral relationship".

She also reiterated her com-mitment for a peaceful border with India free of crime.

New Delhi

IANS

The central government yesterday said that it is strengthening the rules to

stop unruly air passengers from misbehaving, even as all the pri-vate airlines lifted a ban on flying Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad.

According to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, his ministry is tightening the rules so that a national "No-Fly List" can be implemented.

Referring to the incident in which Shiv Sena MP Gaikwad assaulted an Air India senior manager on March 23, Sinha said in a series of tweets: "MoCA

(Ministry of Civil Aviation) is strengthening rules so that a national no-fly list can be imple-mented, such incidents can be prevented, and safety improved.

"Air travellers should note that safety and security for pas-sengers and crew is our paramount priority. Unruly/dis-ruptive behaviour will result in severe consequences. This includes police action for a spe-cific incident as well as being placed on a no-fly list."

Currently, rules only allow airlines to refuse boarding or off-loading of a passenger whose behaviour is deemed as unruly or disruptive to the safety of flight operations.

On Friday, a letter from the

ministry to Air India detailed that in order to deal with unruly passengers in the future, an amendment to CAR (Civil Avia-tion Requirement) is being drafted by the Directorate Gen-eral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in consultation with the ministry for establishment of a national "No Fly List".

Sinha further said that Gaik-wad apologised and gave an undertaking that such incidents will not recur. It was only after that assurance that Air India was advised to revoke the ban.

"Police investigations regarding Shri Gaikwad's con-duct during the March 23 incident are underway and the law will take its own course".

President releases Moily's bookNew Delhi

IANS

President Pranab Mukherjee (pictured) complimented senior Congress leader

Veerappa Moily for re-telling the Mahabharata epic from the per-spective of Draupadi.

Speaking at the launch of "The Flaming Tresses of Drau-padi" he said, that the epics like Mahabharata have tremendous influence on Indian minds and thought process. He said the readers will not be able to put down the book until it is finished.

The book traces the life and journey of Draupadi from her birth from the sacrificial fire to her marriage to the five Pandav brothers, to losing her fortune and honour to the Kauravas in a gamble, the deep friendship she forged with Lord Krishna

and finally the culmination of the great batt le of Kurukshetra.

The high-profile Congress leader has written extensively in both Kannada and English. His most ambitious work till date is the epic "Shree Ramay-ana Mahaveshanam", which received the prestigious Moor-tidevi Award of the Bhartiya Jnanpith.

In "The Flaming Tresses of Draupadi," the protagonist emerges as a strong female character that ultimately brought to retribution all those who had done injustice to her.

Ministry tightens civil aviation rules

Kerala mother slams daily's ad on son's deathThiruvananthapuram

IANS

AN ADVERTISEMENT in newspapers detailing the sequence of events on the action taken in the alleged suicide of Jishnu Prannoy has been slammed by the engi-neering student's mother and family members.

The advertisement titled 'Jishnu Case - The truth behind it', has been released by the Kerala government yesterday which mentioned the action taken by it on the issue.

Speaking to the media, she said: "Right from day one after I lost my son, the case has been turned upside down."

"It was after 90 days, we decided to come to the state capital to seek justice by stag-ing a protest before the office of the police chief.

"We were stopped and roughed up badly by police. Our family including my son admired Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan but now he says nothing happened to us".

"But in the advertisement it says the police did not do anything to us... instead we were literally thrashed by police. Why did not the Chief Minister call Jishnu's mother at least once," she added.

Array Petrapole IANS

Nine years after the inau-guration of the Maitree (friendship) Express pas-

senger train service between Kolkata and Dhaka, the first Khulna-Kolkata train chugged into the Petrapole Railway sta-tion on the India-Bangladesh border yesterday.

Repeatedly sounding its hooter, the seven-coach diesel-hauled Maitree Express-II stopped at the railway station on the Indian side of the border around 1.40pm to loud cheers and applause.

On a trial run, it carried a 43-member Bangladesh dele-gation, who were warmly greeted and received with bou-quets and garlands by Indian railway officials.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Bangladesh counterpart,

Sheikh Hasina, inaugurated the trial run through a video link from New Delhi.

Resplendent in green and saffron border on a white base, the Maitree Express II set off from Khulna at 8.15 a.m. and entered India through Benapole from the Bangladesh side.

The 176km journey includes 96km on the Bangladesh side.

Railway officials said the regular passenger train services

are expected to begin from July."The services are expected

to kick off from July this year from Kolkata to Khulna through Petrapole-Benapole (on the Bangladesh side). The fare and the frequency of the services are yet to be decided," said Basudev Panda, Divisional Railway Man-ager, Sealdah, Eastern Railway.

Bangladesh Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer (West) Md Iftikar Hossain said: "The train will have air-conditioned and non air-conditioned compart-ments along with medical facilities. The fare will be at par with the fares of Maitree I."

"The Maitree I which runs twice a week has about 450 seats. We see on an average 80 per cent of seats are always booked," Panda said.

Panda said the two countries would initiate the process of establishing immigration and customs facilities at the

terminal destinations so that no changeover is required in between.

For the comfort of passen-gers the Indian railways planned to make Maitree I a fully air con-ditioned train, said S.N. Agrawal, General Manager, Eastern and South Eastern Railways.

"It is proposed to eliminate the customs and immigration formalities which take place at Gede at the Indo-Bangla border. Going forward, these formalities will be taken to Kolkata so that the train can run to Dhaka with-out any halts. This service will be taking place from next August," he said.

"The new passenger service will give a momentum to collab-oration between the two countries. People from the southern part of Bangladesh will benefit from the new service," said Syed Salma Jafreen, Dep-uty Secretary, Bangladesh Ministry of Home Affairs.

Bilateral ties

I assure you and the people of Bangladesh of our commitment and continuing efforts. I firmly believe that it is only my government and Excellency Sheikh Hasina govt that can and will find an early solution to Teesta water sharing: Modi

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterated her commitment for a peaceful border with India free of crime.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inspects the guard of honour during a ceremonial reception at Presidential House in New Delhi, yesterday.

Actor calls for 'fair' treatment on womenMumbai

IANS

Actor Randeep Hooda, who is seen as the host of TV show "MTV Big F

Season 2", feels surprised that even in the 21st century there are families who restrict their daughters from living their dreams.

An upcoming episode of "MTV Big F Season 2" will tell a fictional story of a young and aspiring Hijabi singer named Ayesha (played by Shernawaz Jijina) and her love for music.

Her brother, being the man of the house, doesn't allow her to take her hobby seriously.

Ayesha's love for her brother and mother restrains her from being rebellious and standing up for what she loves the most.

However, she makes an attempt and does what she wants.

Talking about it, Randeep said in a statement: "It sur-prises me that even in the 21st century there are families who suppress the passions of their daughters."

"It is high time society stops treating women as pets that need to be disciplined or caged."

"It's funny how we keep talking about equality for all genders all the time and force our own daughters to give up on their dreams. Women have the right to do whatever they want. Let them be

free-spirited, let them soar high and live their dreams. It's about time we changed," he added.

Shernawaz considers herself "lucky" to portray this role on TV.

"Women and their desires are still suppressed in our country and it's about time we should do something about it. Ayesha's story is a source of inspiration for many girls out there who know they have it in them and just need a little push," Shernawaz said.

The show delves into the psyche of Indian women to explore their hidden desires in order to give them the con-fidence to break free of societal taboos and claim their desires and their bodies.

The episode of "MTV Big F Season 2" featuring Aye-sha's journey will be aired today.

Gender equality

It surprises me that even in the 21st century there are families who suppress the passions of their daughters. It is high time society stops treating women as pets that need to be disciplined or caged: Randeep

Khulna-Kolkata train service flagged off

Newly-hatched Olive Ridley turtles make their way to the ocean at Rushikulya beach, in Ganjam district, yesterday.

Maitree Express

On a trial run, it (train) carried a 43-member Bangladesh delegation, who were warmly greeted and received with bouquets and garlands by Indian railway officials.

10 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017HOME

11SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 HOME

The terrorist attack in central Stockholm that killed four people and injured 15 when a truck ploughed into a crowd on a shopping street is further proof that terrorists never tire of killing innocent

people, and of finding new targets and places. It was the third terror attack in Europe in two weeks, coming on the heels of attacks in London and St Petersburg in Russia. The police are still investigating the Stockholm attack. A man, who is suspected to be from Central Asia, has been arrested “on suspicion of a terrorist crime through murder, but the details are not clear and there have been no claims of responsibility. But the crime bears all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.

Sweden is a very peaceful country which has given refuge to many immigrants, and its government has been in the forefront of defence of human rights all over the world. Terrorists don’t need a reason to target a country other than the devilish intention of spreading terror, and by targeting Stockholm they are spreading hate in the Scandinavian region.

Like all European leaders, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven too has said his country would not be intimidated. “Terrorists want us to be afraid, want us to change our behaviour, want us to not live our lives normally, but that is what

we’re going to do. So terrorists can never defeat Sweden, never,” Lofven said. But every attack has its repercussions. Despite the support for the Muslim community from governments and people and the statements of solidarity, these attacks inevitably add to the atmosphere of Islamophobia and Muslims are forced to

become defensive again and again. The Swedish assault also brings to the fore

another issue – the rising number of terrorists from Central Asia, a region which has been largely unaffected by the menace of terrorism. A 39-year-old Uzbek man is in custody for the attack, and interestingly, he was previously known to Swedish intelligence services as a marginal figure with no clear links to extremist groups. This brings to three the number of attacks in less than four months by an assailant believed to have links to this Central Asian country. It’s alarming trend. Central Asian leaders will have to do more to crack down on terrorism and must work hard with the cooperation of religious authorities and other organisations to prevent poor and uneducated people from their countries from joining terrorist organisations.

12 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

A savage attack

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The Arab League rejects regional and international powers’ attempts to politicise over the corpses of Syrians or at the cost of its sovereignty. Therefore, we demand that all should retreat from this dangerous escalation we are monitoring.Ahmed Abu GheitArab League’s Secretary-General

By targetting Stockholm, terrorists are trying to export terror to the Scandinavian region.

OOusting Chief Strategist Steve Bannon from the National Secu-rity Council (NSC) is one of many shake-ups that will continue to define Donald Trump’s White

House. Yet, this realignment is different in the impact it will have on US foreign policy.

Even though the move appears like a sud-den game changer, it is a merely an aftershock of unseating Mike Flynn in Febru-ary. The current national security adviser, H R McMaster, has been striving to streamline the policy advice that flows to the president, manage the administration’s competing power centres and preserve the NSC from the investigations haunting the White House. The low-profile warrior scholar has reshuffled the dynamics of the White House’s Situation Room (the boardroom, in Trump’s lingo) where decisions are made by elimination and by who has the president’s ear.

The April 4 memorandum that once again reorganised the NSC is the byproduct of a compromise between those who want to de-politicise the council and those who seek to de-operationalise it. Simply put, McMaster had his way in removing a political operative while committing to downsize an institution that significantly grew in staff and influence under former President Barack Obama.

Indeed, the previous US administration has micromanaged national security deci-sions. Flynn continued that insular decision-making style but was butting heads with cabinet-level secretaries and creating new layers of management to override his own staff. The White House’s intrusive approach in the internal operations of federal agencies had a miraculous impact in Wash-ington. The Pentagon, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, which traditionally compete for power, began syn-chronising efforts to make their voices heard. McMaster is putting these bureaucratic con-cerns at ease by reverting to the old format of traffic control role where the national security adviser reconciles conflicting policies coming to the president instead of advancing his or her own agenda. That trend will ultimately restore the ritual of federal agencies vying to influence White House policy.

Beyond the policy process, there are sig-nificant repercussions for that personnel move. First Bannon’s ousting will ultimately disengage populism from national security policy and will create a dividing line between Trump’s domestic political turmoil and his foreign policy.

Second, the national security establish-ment that Trump has long criticised is gradually turning the White House into a con-ventional US administration.

Third, we no longer have a separation between national and homeland security that has misguided Trump’s campaign narrative; both are now under McMaster’s portfolio.

While we were told in February that Trump was upset about not being fully briefed

Decoding Steve Bannon’s ouster from the NSC

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (left) with US Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell during a bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping, yesterday.

Joe MacaronAl Jazeera

on the executive order giving Bannon a NSC seat, the White House is asserting that the only news here is that Bannon’s services of watching over Flynn are no longer needed. However, in a town such as Washington it matters who is up and down in power politics. The White House’s desperate attempt to explain such a crucial personnel change makes it hard to see how Bannon can remain rel-evant moving forward.

The so-called “Prince of Darkness” has been building an aura around his character; he sees himself as the reformer chief minister Thomas Cromwell under King Henry VIII of Eng-land and has famously coined the term “deconstruction of the administrative state”. Yet, Bannon’s nationalist agenda has been politically wounded in the past few weeks. The White House’s budget proposal is far from being considered populist and will not survive Congress,

the shockwave of exec-utive orders backlashed

on

Trump, the border wall with Mexico is not gaining traction and Bannon’s tough tone with the House’s Freedom Caucus did not help secure enough congres-sional votes to repeal Obamacare.

It is no secret that Trump likes to win. Since the November 8 presidential election, Bannon has yet to hand him a feasible political victory. To add insult to injury, while Bannon was being ousted from NSC, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was in Iraq taking a military crash course on fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The weeks and months to come will tell us if the clout of Bannon has really diminished. Will he take part in meetings with foreign leaders? Will he play a key role in the coming congres-sional battle of tax reform?

Only a military person could have convinced Trump to revoke the 65-day NSC membership of his wingman Ban-non. McMaster is consolidating control and becoming the go-to contact for for-eign diplomats and officials, yet he might struggle to monopolise the coordination of national security policy. One of his most significant challenges is how to deal with the shadow Secretary of State Kushner, who has his own open diplo-matic channels - China, Israel and Mexico to name a few.

Make no mistake, Bannonism is not dead. Whenever Trump turns to election mode, populism will be his impulse and no one better than Bannon can bring that message home. However, one thing became clear after the April 4 memoran-dum: When dust settles on this presidency, Bannon for Trump will not be Karl Rove for George W Bush or Henry Kissinger for Richard Nixon.

One thing became clear after the April 4 memorandum: When dust settles on this presidency, Bannon for Trump will not be Karl Rove for George W. Bush or Henry Kissinger for Richard Nixon.

ED ITOR IAL

13SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 OPINION

attack U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.When they were first installed in Washington,

they were often crude: huge concrete blocks known as “jersey barriers” placed around monuments and government buildings. They served a purpose but didn’t look great. As the headline on a story by Ben-jamin Forgey, The Washington Post’s architecture critic at the time, put it in 1998, “Does safe have to mean ugly?”

Since then, a number of developments have made these obstacles more subtle. Permanent pro-tective bollards, sleeker in design, are believed to have prevented a number of terrorist attacks: One example is the 2007 Glasgow Airport attack, where a car filled with propane canisters was blocked from driving into the terminal by bollards, likely preventing serious injury to civilians.

In the United States, crash- and attack-resistant bollards are now installed outside “military and governmental buildings and domestic structures and areas of higher security levels,” according to the National Institute of Building Sciences. Similar measures are taken in countries such as Britain, where many bollards and barriers are designed to stop a seven-ton truck traveling at 50 mph.

The design of these obstacles is often thought-fully integrated into their environment. These days, they are often disguised as flower pots, decorative walls or even sculptures - the artful bronze bollards outside New York City’s Financial District are an obvious example. Bollards that slide into the ground, hidden from view until needed, are also common. The aim is to provide security without making a city feel like a fortress.

However, while these obstacles have

Trump has no plans for establishing peace

President Donald Trump’s decision to launch missile strikes against Syria’s Al Shayrat airfield after a chemical weapons attack on civilians was an appropriate response to an act of unspeakable horror.

Yet as analysts who have argued for greater U.S. mil-itary engagement to end the Syrian civil war, we find ourselves conflicted about the president’s decision: We fear there is simply no plan for what comes next.

To succeed beyond Thursday’s limited strikes, American leaders must decide on a clear set of objec-tives, a realistic desired final outcome, a theory of the case for how to get there and a solid understanding of the risks. We see three potential options for how the president could move forward.

The United States could pursue a limited strategy focused on one-off strikes in response to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons. In that case, the strike on the air base from which last week’s sarin gas attacks were launched will probably be enough. President Bashar al-Assad and his generals will get the message and stop using those types of weapons.

But Trump may soon find this outcome dissatis-fying. The regime will continue to terrorize civilians through airstrikes, artillery and surface-to-surface missiles against densely populated areas. It will con-tinue to employ tactics such as starvation sieges and population transfers to tear communities apart.

Pictures of dead children and “beautiful babies,” as the president remarked, will continue to appear on television. And Assad’s forces and their Russian allies may up the scale of attacks to humiliate Trump and demonstrate the fecklessness of American mili-tary force. Thus, the pressure may grow on the United States to respond, and it may be hard for Trump to resist. The United States may slowly start to expand its objectives and escalate the conflict, and eventually find itself in a situation similar to Libya in 2012, where a limited civilian protection mission morphed into a full-blown regime change operation.

Alternatively, the administration could pursue a broader set of interests than strictly deterring chemi-cal weapon use. These initiatives could, for instance, prioritize ending the Syrian civil war and closing the security vacuums that are the source of extremist attacks and massive refugee flows destabilizing American partners in the Middle East and Europe.

To achieve these objectives, the United States would threaten to launch more missiles on Assad regime targets unless Assad and his Russian allies stopped attacking civilians in opposition held terri-tory. The

United States could target a wide array of facilities to compel Assad, such as weapons factories, major mil-itary bases, even ministries in Damascus responsible for the war effort. Using the threat of missile strikes instead of flying in manned aircraft to drop bombs is much less dangerous. The United States would not have to first destroy all of Syria’s air defenses - a highly provocative step sure to result in Russian fatalities, since Russian advisers help operate many of these systems. With the Russian and regime bom-bardment from the air stopped, the United States would then work with moderate armed groups in opposition areas to marginalize extremists and stabi-lize this territory.

This approach is risky. Russians are deployed throughout Syria, whether at regime bases or in a close advising role embedded with Assad’s forces on the front lines of the civil war. If the U.S. military inadvertently kills a significant number of Russians, tensions between the world’s two largest nuclear weapons states could skyrocket. The United States can try to warn Russia in advance of the targets it is striking, as it reportedly did with the strike this week, but the risks go up as the target lists become more expansive.

Moreover, this approach requires a viable mod-erate armed opposition that can serve as an effective local partner on the ground. Such groups exist in southern and eastern Syria, but have become much weaker in the hotly contested northwest, where last week’s chemical weapons attacks occurred.

A final military option would be to pressure Assad from the south, where the United States and Jordan support a moderate coalition of armed oppo-sition groups known as the Southern Front. In recent years, these forces have generally stabilized the areas of Syria bordering Israel and Jordan, and have fought hard against the Islamic State. But the Southern Front has also been restrained by the United States and Jordan, who have preferred a stable front near Jor-dan’s border and have threatened to cut off military

support if the alliance moved too aggressively. If the restraints came off, this moderate rebel force could soon be bearing down on Damascus, putting huge pressure on the regime.

But this would require a major surge in fighting in an area that has been largely quiet the past few years. The regime would likely respond with the same scorched-earth tactics it has used elsewhere, and civilians would suffer. Moreover, the Southern Front may achieve catastrophic success and inadvertently topple Assad quickly, resulting in chaos. In that case, Jordan and Israel would feel the destabilizing effects of intensified fighting on their borders.

In the end, all of these military options are use-less if they cannot be translated into a political outcome. The three military options outlined above can provide the United States with leverage in nego-tiations with Russia, Iran, Assad, Turkey and the Gulf States - but only if Trump has a clear view of the end he is seeking.

The most viable political goal is a Syria that remains whole as one nation, but with a governance model that would feature power devolved away from the central government to local actors who hold the territory in six different zones of control that cur-rently divide the country. This idea reflects the realities on the ground and has grown in support among experts as the war has dragged on.

Such an outcome would require a major diplo-matic lift to mediate an arrangement between the Turks and Kurds in the North. The United States would have to come to a settlement with Russia and Iran on who retakes the territory currently held by ISIS and al-Qaida. And we would need to assure Israel and Saudi Arabia that Iranian influence in Syria will be contained.

Unfortunately, it is this final and most important part of any plan for Syria - the political plan - which we are most concerned about when viewing the Trump administration’s approach.

We disagreed with former President Barack

Nice, Berlin, London and now Stockholm. Over the past year, terrorist attacks using vehicles have become a sad fact of life in Europe. Such attacks are

obviously appealing to would-be mass murderers: In most European nations, a truck is far easier to acquire than a firearm or explosives, and sometimes even dead-lier. Groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida have taken note, specifically sug-gesting that a car could be a good weapon to harm civilians.

For authorities, the attacks represent a major problem. Guns and explosives can be banned, but motor vehicles are vital for many city-dwellers. So how do you protect a city from an attack like this? There is one commonly used solution, but it’s far from perfect.

Since the 1990s, many cities in North America and Europe have been installing physical obstacles designed to stop vehi-cles driving close to the site of a likely terror target. These measures actually pre-dated the rise of the modern vehicle attack - instead, they were largely designed to tackle car bombs, such as those used to

How cities are trying to stop truck attacks

Demonstrators protesting US air strikes against Syria in Los Angeles, yesterday.

proliferated outside government buildings and other high-profile areas, they have left other areas exposed.

Jon Coaffee, a professor of Urban Geography at the Uni-versity of Warwick in England who studies the impact of terrorism on urban areas, says that in US cities like Boston, he can easily see where “so-called hostile vehicle mitigation measures” had been installed. “Equally there are many potential targets that are undefended,” Coaffee wrote in an email.

“The key question raised by the Stockholm incident, as was raised recently in London, is can we or should we seek to secure all crowded locations in a city?”

Groups such as the Islamic State have exploited this, encouraging attacks on so-called “soft targets” that are at best weakly protected. The attack in Nice, France, took place upon a beachfront promenade; in Berlin, it was a Christmas Market; in Stockholm, a shopping center. Even in the London attack, which targeted the (well-protected) center of Britain’s political world at Westminster Palace, most of the carnage took place on the adjacent bridge.

The abundance of soft targets means that protecting them all is difficult, if not impossible. After the attack in Germany, Berlin Police Chief Klaus Kandt told reporters that bollards and other obstacles could not completely prevent an attack. “There are an almost unlimited number of soft targets, that’s simply the fact, so there are many possibilities to kill people with a truck,” he said.

However, the Berlin attack highlighted another way leg-islation may help. The 40-ton Scania PRT truck used in the attack is thought to have deployed its brakes when the attack occurred, thanks to an advanced emergency braking system now mandated by the European Union on heavier trucks. German government officials have said that the technology may have “saved lives,” Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in December.

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Obama when he insisted on too much certainty before taking any action in Syria. War does not always work that way: Sometimes, you have to take risks and jump into the breach.

But when it comes to Trump, we have yet to see any indicators that he has a broader political approach in mind. Less than a week ago, his team was arguing that removing Assad is unrealistic and that, instead of focusing on the civil war in western Syria, they would prioritize the effort in the east against ISIS. The president himself spent two years campaign-ing on opposition to deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East, and his team has yet to engage seriously in any of the diplomatic processes surrounding the Syrian conflict - including the intensive talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, hosted by the Russians or a major international Syria reconstruction conference held this past week in Brussels. And - most concerning of all - they have de-emphasized diplomacy, aid and reconstruction as tools of American foreign policy by calling for dra-matic financial cuts for all these efforts and making clear to the international community that the United States is stepping back from coordinating these efforts.

If the United States is to turn the limited tactical strikes in Syria into a real strategic gain, the Trump team will have to change its approach, and focus not only on winning the war - but on winning the peace.

If the United States is to turn the limited tactical strikes in Syria into a real strategic gain, the Trump team will have to change its approach, and focus not only on winning the war - but on winning the peace.

Ilan Goldenberg & Nicholas HerasThe Washington Post

Adam TaylorThe Washington Post

14 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017ASIA

Polluted water

NEWS BYTES

SEOUL: North Korea has said the US missile strikes on Syria were an "intolerable act of aggression" that "proves a million times over" that strengthening its nuclear programme was the right choice, state media reported yesterday.

"The US missile attack against Syria is a clear and intolerable act of aggression against a sovereign state and we strongly con-demn it," KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed spokesman.

"The reality of today shows that we must stand against power with power and it proves a million times over that our decision to strengthen our nuclear deterrence has been the right choice."

N Korea blasts US strikes on Syria

Multiple quakes rock Philippine provinceManila

Reuters

Hundreds of residents of coastal areas in a province south of the Philippine cap-ital fled to higher

ground fearing a tsunami yes-terday after a series of earthquakes on the main island of Luzon.

Three quakes ranging in magnitude from 5.0 to 5.9 struck Batangas province, about 90km south of Manila, around 3pm over a period of about 20 min-utes, said the US Geological Survey.

"Residents in the coastal vil-lages in two towns have evacuated to safer ground after the earthquakes," Lito Castro,

head of the provincial disaster council, said. "The people were afraid the earthquakes would generate a tsunami."

Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanol-ogy and Seismology, said the event was an "earthquake swarm" in a local faultline but had not been powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

"These swarms are natural occurences and we do not expect a big quake in this area," he said yesterday.

Batangas officials said there were no reports of casualties, but power was cut off in some areas and cracks had been reported in homes and some commercial buildings.

"Landslides were also reported in some towns and a portion of a Catholic church tower had collapsed," they said yesterday.

People rushed out of schools,

shopping malls, hospitals and other buildings during the quakes, which were also felt in the Philippine capital of Manila,

according to the national disas-ter relief agency.

The region has experienced tremors since earlier this week.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur.

Malala to become UN messenger of peaceUnited Nations AP

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has selected Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala

Yousafzai (pictured) to be a UN messenger of peace, the highest honor bestowed by the UN chief on a global citizen.

UN spokesman Stephane

Dujarric announced on Friday that she will focus on promoting girls' education worldwide and will be officially designated at a ceremony tomorrow.

The 19-year-old was cam-paigning for the right of all children to education in north-west Pakistan when she was severely wounded in a Taliban assassination attempt.

Guterres said even in the face of grave danger, she "has shown an unwavering commit-ment to the rights of women, girls and all people."

Other messengers of peace include actors Michael Douglas and Leonardo DiCaprio, prima-tologist Jane Goodall and musicians Daniel Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma.

100km of Durand Line to be fencedIslamabad

Internews

As ‘kinetic operation’ Zarb-e-Azb has paved way for Radd-ul-Fasaad a tar-

geted anti-terror operation across the country Pakistan’s new security paradigm now revolves on fencing of the Pak-Afghan border and intelligence based operations (IBOs) against emerging terror threats.

“There have been 36 cross border (militant) attacks (from Afghanistan) so far this year as compared to 85 attacks that took place during the same period last year.

“However, the movement of

terrorists across the (western])border remains a major issue to tackle,” said a senior security official yesterday.

“The roots of the problem (of terrorism) are across the border (in Afghanistan),” he added.

The official said 100km patch on the Durand Line will be fenced this year in first phase.

“Sixty-seven (67) border posts will be completed this year but the idea is to fence the entire border which is not possible in one go,” he said.

He said 473 border forts will be set up across the entire Pak-Afghan border with elaborate surveillance system that will consist of Unattended Ground

Surveillance System (UGS) and Man-portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar.

The border management sys-tem that has been implemented in Torkham since May 1, 2016 will now be extended to Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan, Kharlachi in Kurram and Angor Adda in South Waziristan.

“While the apparatus will be the same, the size of the build-ing and its staffing will be in accordance to the traffic on these posts,” he said.

The official revealed that Pakistan dismantled four main sanctuaries of terrorists in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nan-garhar province.

Pakistan seeks details of unspent funds of universitiesIslamabad

Internews

THE government of Pakistan has directed the Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC) to provide details of unspent development funds parked in bank accounts of different universities and also confirm whether they had maintained accounts in commercial banks or National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

A summary for midyear re-view of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) sent out to PM Secre-tariat states that HEC informed the PSDP review forum that 10 projects would be completed within the ongoing financial year by June this year.

In the midyear review of PSDP projects for first half of the current fiscal year, it was generally found that imple-mentation on HEC’s project implementation remained satisfactory.

The Planning Commis-sion’s Advisor Development Budget directed HEC to make every effort to complete more such projects which are near-ing completion through provision of required funds by way of re-appropriation within its allocated budget and funds.

Advisor Development Budget directed the HEC to provide brief progress hinder-ing the progress of the projects remarks column of the review pro forma it was revealed in the meeting that unspent funds are parked in bank accounts of universities.

It was directed to the HEC for pro-viding complete information regarding unspent amount avail-able in bank accounts of each uni-versity for two years including financial year 2016and 2017.

YANGON: At least 20 people were killed when a boat carrying scores of wedding guests collided with a river barge in West-ern Myanmar, authorities said yesterday, with more feared drowned as rescuers searched for the missing.

The boat, called "Silver Star" in Burmese, sank Friday evening in a river near Pathein, a port city west of Yangon.

It was believed to be carrying around 60 passengers on their way home from a wedding ceremony, according to a local police officer.

20 dead as boat sinks in Myanmar

KABUL: Foreign-backed Afghan forces said they had killed more than 50 militants in multiple operations across the coun-try over the last 24 hours.

Officials said a drone attack in northern Kunduz prov-ince on Friday killed eight insurgents, including three foreign militants.

Naseerudin Saadi, district governor of the restive Dasht-e-Archi district said the strike targeted a Taliban military facility.

50 rebels dead in Kabul air strike

Lahore

Reuters

Pakistani police said yes-terday 10 militants from Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a fac-

tion of the Pakistani Taliban, died in a gun battle in Lahore.

Police said that they were taking five militants to recover weapons and explosives on Lahore's outskirts yesterday when they were attacked by a group of about 9 militants who freed the captives.

Pol ice cal led for

reinforcements and encircled the area, challenging the mili-tants to surrender.

"A gun battle ensued. When firing stopped 10 militants were found dead by the firing of their fleeing accomplices," a spokes-man for the Counter Terrorism Department in Punjab said.

"Among those killed was a facilitator of a suicide bombing attack in February in Lahore".

The man had been arrested soon after the blast after he was spotted on security footage walking with the bomber.

Sydney

AP

The future of hundreds of asylum seekers languish-ing at an Australian-run

detention centre in Papua New Guinea remained in doubt yes-terday, with the leaders of both countries declining to provide details about what will happen

to the men if a deal to resettle them in the United States falls through.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said during a visit to the Pacific island nation that Papua New Guinea had made "significant progress" toward resettling the nearly 900 men being held at the Manus Island detention centre, which

is slated to close by the end of the year.

But Turnbull dodged ques-tions about exactly where the government plans to send those men if the United States refuses to accept them under a deal struck by the Barack Obama administration.

Australia will not settle any asylum seekers who try to arrive

by boat — a policy that the gov-ernment says dissuades migrants from attempting the dangerous and occasionally deadly ocean crossing from Indonesia.

Australia instead pays Papua New Guinea and the Pacific island nation of Nauru to house asylum seekers in detention camps that have been plagued by reports of abuse and draco-

nian conditions."We are working to solu-

tions, endurable solutions, of people who have been detained here and Nauru," Turnbull said recently.

"Working with third coun-tries, most notably, of course, the United States, to that regard. We'll take this process one step at a time."

Ten militants dead in Lahore gunfight

Fate of asylum seekers in Australia remains unclear: Turnbull

Boatmen wait for commuters in the black polluted water of the Buriganga River, in Dhaka, yesterday.

Workers stand on the grounds of an office building in the financial district of Makati, yesterday.

No casualties

The head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the event was an "earthquake swarm" in a local faultline but had not been powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

Batangas officials said there were no reports of casualties.

15SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 EUROPE

Uzbek man arrested over Swedish attackStockholm

Reuters

Swedish police arrested a 39-year-old Uzbek man on suspicion of ramming a hijacked truck into crowds in

central Stockholm, killing four people and wounding 15 in what they called a terror crime.

Police were increasingly confident they had detained the driver of the truck that ploughed down a busy shopping street and smashed through a store front in the heart of the capital on Fri-day, but did not name him.

"Nothing points to that we have the wrong person, on the contrary, suspicions have strengthened as the investiga-tion has progressed," Dan Eliasson, head of Sweden's national police, told a news conference.

"We still cannot rule out that more people are involved."

The man had previously fig-ured marginally in intelligence material, but had not been linked to extremists.

"We received intelligence last year, but we did not see any links to extremist circles," Sapo secu-rity police chief Anders Thornberg said.

Eliasson said there were "clear similarities" to an attack last month in London in which six people died, including the assailant who drove a hired car into pedestrians on a bridge.

Vehicles have also been used as weapons in Nice and Berlin in the past year in attacks claimed by Islamic State.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Sweden, which has so far been largely immune from any major incidents of this kind, and police said they tightened security around the nation.

"I think it was just a matter of time, but still one doesn't think it will happen," Cecilia Hansson,

a 25 year-old nurse, said. "It's still unreal when it happens this close."

Police said they had found a suspicious device in the vehicle but said they did not yet know if it was a homemade bomb, as reported by public broadcaster SVT. SVT said the bomb may have partly exploded, burning the driver, who escaped in the ensuing chaos after mowing through crowds and ramming into the Ahlens department store.

Local authorities in the cap-ital, where flags flew at half mast on buildings including the

parliament and royal palace, said that 10 people including a child were still being treated in hospi-tal, with two adults in intensive care. A gaping hole in the wall of the store showed the force of the impact from the truck, which was removed overnight for examination by forensics experts, and dozens of people gathered to pay their respects and leave flowers, stunned by the attack.

Crown Princess Victoria was among them, laying a bouquet of red roses. "I feel an enormous sadness, I feel empty," she told Aftonbladet TV, urging Swedes to unite in their grief.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven also visited the site and struck a defiant tone. "All of us feel anger over what has happened, I also feel the same anger, but we also need to use that anger for some-thing constructive and go forward," he said.

"We want — and I am con-vinced the Swedish people also want — to live a normal life. We are an open, democratic society

and that is what we will remain."The attack was the latest to

hit the Nordic region after shoot-ings in the Danish capital Copenhagen killed three people in 2015 and put the country on high alert and the bombing and shooting in 2011 by far-right extremist Anders Behring Brei-vik that killed 77 people in Norway. Although Sweden has not seen a large-scale attack, a failed suicide bombing in December 2010 killed an attacker only a few hundred yards from the site of Friday's incident.

Swedish police said it was especially difficult to identify "lone wolf" attackers in an open, Nordic society. "It is very hard if it is a single individual who is not part of a wider conspiracy or a more organised planning," Thornberg, head of the Sapo security police, told Swedish radio.

Police in Norway's largest cities and at Oslo airport will carry weapons until further notice following the attack.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel react after laying down flowers at a fence near the department store Ahlens in Stockholm, yesterday. RIGHT: People gather at a makeshift memorial near the scene, yesterday.

BRUSSELS: The European Union and countries across the con-tinent offered Sweden support and solidarity following what the Swedish government said appeared to be a terrorist attack using a vehicle in central Stockholm. "An attack on any of our member states is an attack on us all," said President of the European Com-mission, Jean-Claude Juncker. "One of Europe's most vibrant and colourful cities appears to have been struck by those wishing it – and our very way of life – harm.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the people of Sweden and the Swedish authorities can count on the Euro-pean Commission to support them in any which way we can. My heart is in Stockholm this afternoon," President of the European Council Donald Tusk tweeted. "My thoughts are with the victims, and their families and friends, of today's terrible attack."

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also reacted to the news. "Our thoughts are with the people in Stockholm, the injured, relatives, rescuers and police. We stand together against terror," he said in a tweet.

The French government said President Francois Hollande expressed his horror and outrage at the attack. "France expresses its sympathy and solidarity with the families of the victims and all Swedes," the Elysee Palace said.

EU & Nordic neighbours offer Sweden support

4 dead in building collapse in PolandWarsaw

AP

An apartment house col-lapsed yesterday in southwestern Poland,

leaving four people dead, four injured and two others missing, authorities said.

Scores of firefighters with dogs were searching the rubble of the building in the town of Swiebodzice (Shvyeh-'boh-tchi-tseh), according to Daniel Mucha, regional spokesman for the fire-fighters. He said the collapse of two floors of the three-floor building might have been caused by a gas explosion.

Regional governor Pawel Hreniak said the search-and-rescue operation was expected to continue through today.

"I confirm a fourth victim, an elderly man," Hreniak told

reporters. "But another resident, an elderly lady, contacted us to say she was away from the house and was fine."

Still, firefighters looking for two more survivors said there were no sounds yet coming from the building's bricks and broken wood.

The governor of Swiebod-zice, Bogdan Kozuchowicz, said the pre-World War II building was recently renovated and had been in good technical condition.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Swiebodzice and in Wroclaw. One survivor, identi-fied only by her first name Stanislawa, told TVN24 that she was "miraculously saved."

"I was in the kitchen and suddenly it was dark and full of debris and some broken wooden planks," she said from her

hospital bed in Swiebodzice. "I got on top of those planks and started calling 'Help! Help!' Two firefighters came and pulled me out by the arm."

She said her husband was

resting on the bed at the time of the collapse.

"I don't know what has hap-pened to him," she said, her voice trembling. With her teenage son, also a survivor, at her side, she

said the family had lost everything.

The head of the medical res-cue workers, Wojciech Kopacki, said two of the dead were children.

Rare Tintin drawing fetches $798,000 at auctionParis

AFP

A rare original drawing of Tin-tin from the comic book album "Tintin in America"

sold for €753,000 ($798,000) yes-terday in Paris, the Artcurial auction house said.

The 21x15 cm (8.2 x 5.9 inch) China ink drawing by the Belgian cartoonist known as Herge, one of four colour plates of the 1937 edition of the book, was valued at

between €600,000 and €700,000.

The drawing, sold with its col-our overlay, shows the intrepid boy reporter, revolver in hand, standing on the running board of a speeding taxi chasing evil-doers in the streets of Chicago.

Saturday's price almost sur-passed the record-setting price of €770,600 for another Herge drawing sold in 2015, Eric Leroy, a comic books expert at Artcurial, said.

"This proves the market sta-bility of Herge," Leroy said. "Collectors are always interested in very beautiful pieces, which was the case (today). This drawing with its colour overlay really has the quality of a museum piece."

A "European buyer" walked away with the winning bid, Art-curial said in a statement, adding that more than 80 percent of the items up for auction found buyers.

Another Tintin drawing,

which sold for €67,000, shows crusty sailor Captain Haddock wearing a plumed hat and bran-dishing a sword alongside Tintin and his dog Snowy. It was a "record" price for this type of drawing, Leroy said, valued at between €15,000 and €20,000 before the auction.

A drawing of Tintin with a model of the Unicorn vessel went for €65,000 after being valued at less than €18,000.

Herge colour plates — limited

to four in each of eight black-and-white albums from "Tintin in the Congo" (1931) to "The Crab with the Golden Claws" (1941) — rarely appear on the market.

But original Tintin comic book drawings have been known to fetch millions at auctions over the years.

In November a drawing from "Explorers on the Moon" sold for €1.55m at Artcurial, setting a record for a single cartoon drawing.

Rescuers search after a building collapsed burying several people in Swiebodzice, yesterday.

Berlin

Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel encouraged Spain

and Portugal to invest more in solar energy and said they need a better link to France amid a push for a unified Euro-pean power grid.

“The connection between France and the Iberian peninsula is a huge problem,” Merkel said yesterday in her weekly podcast. “These are, for example, two countries in which solar power naturally could be expanded.”

Merkel’s government has promoted wind and solar energy as the coun-try prepares for the closure of its last nuclear power stations in 2022, transforming the coun-try’s power markets. Green output met 29 per-cent of Germany’s electricity demand last year, about the same as in 2015, but far exceed-ing the 11 percent level of a decade earlier. The EU is aiming to break down national barriers for power, which could make supplies more secure and lower costs thanks to more trade across national borders.

Merkel asks Spain and Portugal to invest in solar

Police arrested a 39-year-old Uzbek man on suspicion of ramming a hijacked truck into crowds in central Stockholm, killing four people and wounding 15.

16 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017EUROPE

Activists stage a protest against a law that restricts women's rights to abortion, in front of Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev, yesterday, which was submitted to the Parliament for debate.

For women's rightsBritish FM cancels Moscow visitLondon

AFP

Britain's Foreign Sec-retary Boris Johnson (pictured) has can-celled a scheduled visit to Moscow, his

office announced yesterday, saying "developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally".

"My priority is now to con-tinue contact with the US and others in the run up to the G7 meeting on 10-11 April," said Johnson, who was due to travel to Moscow tomorrow.

"We deplore Russia's con-tinued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians," added Johnson.

He then called on Russia to do "everything possible to bring about a political settlement in Syria and work with the rest of the international community to ensure that the shocking events of the last week are never repeated".

"I discussed these plans in detail with Secretary Tillerson," Johnson said, adding that the US foreign minister would still visit Moscow as planned fol-lowing the G7 meeting to "deliver that clear and co-ordi-nated message to the Russians."

Johnson expressed his sup-port to the United States on Friday after it fired 59

Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airfield near Homs in central Syria.

The move was in response to a suspected chemical weap-ons attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun earlier in the week which killed at least 86 people according to the Syr-ian Observatory for Human Rights. Russia, one of the main backers of the Assad regime alongside Iran, condemned the US strike, denouncing a "fla-grant violation of international law and an act of aggression".

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow starting tomorrow, saying "developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally".

Athens

AFP

One of the world's premier art events opened in Ath-ens yesterday, bringing a

much-needed spotlight, artistic inspiration and visitor boost to crisis-hit Greece's run-down capital.

Documenta 14, the contem-porary art exhibition held every five years in Kassel, Germany, puts over 160 international art-ists on display across the city in over 40 public institutions, squares, cinemas, university cam-puses and libraries, showcasing painting, performances, sculpture and sound art.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who inaugurated the event with Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopou-los, said the event aims to break down "the political and economic barriers that divide us...to make

us understand the world that sur-rounds us."

Germans who look closer will discover that Greeks have gone through major hardship, Stein-meier said. And Greeks will find that other Europeans are not "cold and one-sided".

"We can learn from each other...and we should do it more often in Europe...but this is only possible if we do not merely seek to confirm our stereotypes," he said through a translator.

Documenta was originally launched in 1955 by art professor Arnold Bode to draw attention to works banned by the Nazis as degenerate.

"Knowledge must be con-quered again and again, lest it be forgotten. Democracy is under attack in many places, even in Europe," former foreign minister Steinmeier said.

The event has travelled out-side its birthplace for the first

time. Some 860,000 people vis-ited the last exhibition in 2012. Athens officials hope the Greek leg will draw over 6,500 visitors. In Kassel, the event will run from June to September 17.

In Athens, Documenta will be headquartered at the recently-completed National Museum of Contemporary Art, a former brewery inaugurated in October after years of restoration work. Shrouded in secrecy until the last minute, the 100-day Greek leg is titled 'Learning from Athens'.

In choosing to co-host the event in the Greek capital, organ-isers said they were inspired by the country's economic crisis and immigration challenges.

Appropriately, a large seg-ment is devoted to immigration and displacement. The inaugu-ration will feature the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra, an ensemble largely made up of war refugees. "We want to spur

people to dialogue and improve conditions here," said Kassel mayor Bertram Hilgen.

Over a million refugees and migrants have come through Greece since 2015, most of them

fleeing civil war in Syria, and over 50,000 remain stuck in camps. Greece is still struggling with recession and soaring unemploy-ment seven years after nearly going bankrupt in 2010.

Throughout this period, Ath-ens and Berlin — which has footed a large share of the coun-try's rescue — have repeatedly clashed over budget targets and Greece's perceived resistance to economic reform.

"What did we learn from Ath-ens? That we all must abandon our prejudices and plunge into the darkness of not knowing," Doc-umenta's Polish-born artistic director Adam Szymczyk told reporters earlier this week.

Today, horse riders will file beneath the Acropolis in a re-enactment of the Panathenaic procession, a 5th century BC cel-ebration to honour goddess Athena, and immortalised as a frieze atop the Parthenon.

German art exhibit Documenta debuts shared Athens experience

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Buedenbender at the opening of the Documenta 14 international art exhibition, in Athens, yesterday.

German riot police stand guard during the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) election campaign launch for the upcoming North Rhine-Westphalian federal state elections in Essen, Germany, yesterday.

Standing guard

Brexit will be 'painful' for the UK: Ireland's MinisterLondon

Bloomberg

Brexit will be painful for the UK, Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said, sig-

nalling the EU should avoid making it painful also for his nation, the only one to share a land border with the UK.

“I believe it’s going to be painful for Britain. I believe it’s going to be painful potentially for Ireland,” Flanagan said in an interview with BBC TV’s “News-night” programme. “It’s important, in our context, that we have a situation at the end

of these negotiations in two years’ time or maybe even longer where a member of the European Union, namely Ire-land, cannot be placed in a position of more disadvantage than somebody who is leaving.”

Other than Britain, Ireland is the EU nation most affected by Brexit. About 40 percent of Ireland’s exports go to Britain, and the country’s Department of Finance said in November the economic impact of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU would be “severe,” shaving as much as 3.8 percentage points off of

projected economic output over a decade.

While fearing economic damage, Ireland also is trying to draw some benefit from Brexit by attracting banks based in Britain that want to ensure con-tinued access to European markets by establishing a base in one of the remaining 27 nations. Flanagan said he saw no desire by the EU to punish Britain for its referendum deci-sion last June. “I don’t see any intent, I don’t see any disposi-tion on the part of my EU colleagues to exact retribution to punish Britain,” he said.

Germany is strong enough to weather Brexit: MinisterBerlin

Bloomberg

Germany’s Economy Minister says her coun-try will weather Brexit

because of its strong global market position, though a new European trade relation-ship with the UK also is needed.

“It’s a very ambitious pro-gramme to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union within two years,” Brigitte Zypries, whose department has a voice in trade policy and helps promote German busi-ness abroad, said in an interview. “We will do every-thing we can to make it possible.”

While decades of British ties with other European Union countries make an impact inevitable, “Germa-ny’s economy in particular is so well-positioned interna-tionally that it can handle” Brexit, Zypries said. “And hopefully we will get trading rules that will allow trade in another form.”

The comments reflect confidence within German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government that fallout from the UK’s departure can be limited and that talks on the divorce terms must precede any post-Brexit trade deal. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, warned the UK this week against seeking parallel negotiations.

“For now, we’re proceed-ing on the assumption that we’ll get it done within two years and that an extension won’t be necessary,” Zypries said in Dusseldorf, Germany, where she’s hosting talks among Group of 20 ministers on ways to steer the global economy’s use of digital technology.

With Brexit and US threats of protectionist meas-ures are causing concern in Germany, the world’s third-biggest exporter is reaching out to countries such as Japan and China as allies on free trade. Topics include pro-posed Chinese emission rules to promote the use of electric vehicles that German car-makers would like to see eased. That would buy time for automakers such as Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co. to expand EV production.

“We will talk about the status of the negotiations between the Chinese and the Germans about the electric-car quotas,” Zypries said.

London leads drop in supply of workers London

Bloomberg

Employers in London are having trouble finding staff, and Brexit may make

it even harder. London posted the fastest drop in supply of workers in 15 months, accord-ing to a monthly survey by IHS Markit and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation.

Nationally, firms also reported difficulty in getting workers, particularly in finance and information technology, resulting in full-time starting salaries rising “sharply.”

While the Bank of England

estimates there’s more slack in the labour market than previ-ously envisaged — and that wages will therefore stay rela-tively subdued — the survey suggests pay pressure may be rising in some industries. Hir-ing is “rapidly becoming employers’ biggest headache” and may be exacerbated by Britain’s decision to exit the European Union, said REC Chief Executive Officer Kevin Green.

“Our concern is that Brexit will make the problem worse, particularly if onerous restric-tions are imposed on people coming from the EU to work,” Green said.

17SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 EUROPE

A crane manoeuvres a Portakabin into Speakers Green, at the foot of the Elizabeth Tower, more commonly referred to as "Big Ben", outside the Houses of Parliament in central London, yesterday, as the first stage of refurbishment works on the tower commence.

Big Ben refurbishment

Basque group ETA gives list of arms cachesBayonne

AFP

The Basque group ETA, which has fought a long and often-bloody drive for independ-ence, provided France

with a list of arms caches yester-day under a promise to completely disarm, a move the French government called "a major step".

ETA says its initiative will bring the final curtain down on a decades-long armed campaign to gain independence for the Basque country straddling the Spanish-French border.

France mobilised nearly 200 police along with bomb disposal experts to secure the weapons in the handover, according to the French interior ministry.

Eight caches of weapons containing 120 firearms and three tonnes of explosives were on the list of sites located in the southwestern Pyrenees-Atlan-tiques department bordering Spain, according to Michel Tubi-ana, a human-rights lawyer who is a member of a group acting as intermediary.

"This stage of neutralising an arsenal of arms and explosives is a major step," French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said.

At a news conference in the French Basque city of Bayonne earlier yesterday, a group called the International Verification Commission (IVC) confirmed that it had received a list of arms caches from intermediaries that it handed "to the French authorities."

Founded in 1959, ETA has

been blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a string of bomb-ings and shootings dating back to 1968. Thousands more were injured.

In 2011, after a string of arrests among its senior ranks, ETA announced that it had aban-doned its armed campaign. But the move did not entail disarmament.

ETA more recently sought to negotiate its dissolution in exchange for amnesties or improved prison conditions for roughly 350 of its members held in Spain and France, and for cur-rent members living under cover.

But both France and Spain have taken a firm line and refused any concessions.

The IVC, set up to monitor ETA's 2011 ceasefire pledge, is not recognised by either the French or the Spanish govern-ments, but its involvement is supported by the government in Spain's autonomous Basque region.

It lists among its members Ronnie Kasrils, a former minis-ter of intelligence in

post-apartheid South Africa; Chris Maccabe, a former senior British civil servant who helped negotiate Northern Ireland's "Good Friday" peace agreement in 1998; and General Satish Nam-biar, a former deputy chief in the Indian army with experience of UN peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia.

The IVC's spokesman, Ram

Manikkalingam, a former adviser on the peace process in Sri Lanka, told the press conference in Bayonne that the panel had received the list of caches via "the artisans of peace" — a French civil society group headed by an environmentalist, Txetx Etcheverry.

An event was planned in Bayonne to mark so-called

"Disarmament Day," under the theme "We are all artisans of peace."

The governing conservative People's Party staged a "coun-ter-event" late Friday in the Basque city of Vitoria in which there was a ceremony for "the protagonists of ETA's defeat." Relatives of ETA victims took part.

The disarming of ETA is "a historical event," said Arnaldo Otegi a former leader of ETA's political wing Batasuna, stopping short of saying whether he thought the ETA would disband. "I believe that ETA must start a debate between militants about its future," added the 58-year-old, who had been imprisoned for a kidnapping.

The head of the International Verification Comission Ram Manikkalingam (right), Security chief of the Basque regional government, Estafania Beltran de Heredia (second right), Basque regional president Inigo Urkullu (left) and Basque Government's spokesman Josu Erkoreka, chat before holding a press conference in San Sebastian, yesterday, to inform about Basque separatist group ETA's weapons fully lay down.

Madrid

AFP

Spain yesterday demanded that Basque separatist group ETA apologise for decades of violence and then disband "defin-itively" after it provided France with a list of arms caches

to finalise a promise to disarm. In a statement, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the arms cache move signalled the "defini-tive defeat" of ETA, blamed for 829 deaths dating back to 1968.

Describing the separatist organisation as "terrorists", Rajoy reiterated the group could expect no government favours as a result and "still less, impunity for their crimes".

"The only logical response to this situation is (for ETA) to announce its definitive dissolution, to apologise to its victims and to disappear rather than mount media operations to disguise its defeat," said a government statement.

Madrid added it would not make an "evaluation" of the weap-ons arsenal until French authorities have neutralised eight caches of weapons containing 120 firearms and three tonnes of explo-sives in the southwestern Pyrenees-Atlantiques department bordering Spain.

French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl earlier described the move to hand over remaining arms as a "major step".

In 2011, ETA announced that it had abandoned its armed cam-paign, but did not give up its weapons. It also continued to insist on amnesty talks for some 360 jailed group members, 75 of them in France.

Spain demands that ETA apologise and disband

ETA says its initiative will bring the final curtain down on a decades-long armed campaign to gain independence for the Basque country straddling the Spanish-French border.

Clashes at Le Pen's rally in CorsicaParis

Reuters

Skirmishes broke out yester-day ahead of a campaign rally by French far-right

leader Marine Le Pen, prompting the removal of more than a dozen protesters and the evacuation of the hall in Ajaccio, Corsica.

The latest polls ahead of the April-May, two-round presiden-tial election show Le Pen — leader of the anti-immigrant National Front — neck-and-neck with cen-trist Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to beat her in the runoff.

Polls also show that right behind them, far-left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon has risen rapidly in opinion polls after his performance in a televised debate early this week, drawing level with conservative candidate Fran-cois Fillon, whose presidential bid has been tainted by corruption charges.

Around 50 Corsica national-ists demonstrated in front of the venue in Ajaccio where Le Pen was holding her rally, chanting "We do not want the National Front", according to local news-paper Corse Matin.

Some of them managed to enter the hall where Le Pen was expected to speak. They clashed with Le Pen's security team, throwing punches and

firing teargas, prompting the evacuation of the hall, the news-paper said.

A Corsican nationalist move-ment claimed responsibility for incidents. "We will never let this party, whose former leader had demanded the death penalty for Corsican political prisoners, come safely to our country," the organ-isation A Ghjuventù

Independentista, said in a state-ment, referring to Marine's father Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The campaign event was delayed for an hour and moved to another venue, French televi-sion BFM TV said.

Le Pen's campaign manager David Rachline said on twitter that local authorities had not done enough to secure the venue and

had allowed far-left "militia" to come too close.

Rachline said a National Front activist was seriously injured dur-ing the clashes.

In her stump speech, Le Pen assailed her rivals Macron and Fil-lon on immigration, security, and ties to the European Union, while making local promises to the Cor-sican electorate.

Policemen stand in front of smoke during a clash with protesters after a meeting of the French far-right Front National (FN) party candidate for the presidential election in Ajaccio, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, yesterday.

Blackout at Italy park halts rides on first dayRome

AP

A blackout at a popular Italian amusement park left people stranded on

rides on the opening day. No injuries were reported.

The most dramatic rescue yesterday at Gardaland appeared to be that of a family of four trapped on the top of a roller coaster. According to

eyewitness video of the rescue shown on Sky TG24, they were brought down by crews on a set of emergency stairs.

The head of the park, Aldo Maria Vigevani, blamed the blackout on an electricity burst generated by utility Enel that fried a park transformer. In a statement carried by the ANSA news agency, Vigevani said the park shut down and restarted all rides as a precaution.

Two Russian cops dead in attackMoscow

AFP

Two traffic policemen were killed yesterday after their vehicle came under fire in Russia's volatile

North Caucasus region, investigators said. The local branch of Russia's Inves-tigative Committee said "unidentified people ... fired multiple shots from an automatic weapon" at two traffic police-men riding in their patrol vehicle in the town of Malgobek at around 1:30 am.

The policemen died in hospital from their injuries, it said in a statement.

Attacks against police are not uncommon in southern Russia's North Caucasus, which faces a simmering Islamist insurgency.

The latest incident came days after the Islamic State group claimed the kill-ing of two other traffic policemen in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan this week. IS also claimed a separate attack that wounded three National Guard officers on Thursday in an incident Rus-sian authorities said saw one assailant suspected of involvement in the death of the Astrakhan traffic policemen shot dead.

17 held for plotting against Moldova leaderChisinau

AP

Moldovan prosecutors say 17 people have been detained in Moldova and Ukraine on suspicion they were planning to kill

one of the country's most powerful politicians.Senior organised crime prosecutor Vitalie

Busuioc said authorities knew of orders from two unnamed people to assassinate of Vladimir Pla-hotniuc, a businessman and chairman of the Democratic Party, the biggest party in Moldova's pro-European governing coalition.

18 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017AMERICAS

Caracas

AFP

Venezuelan authori-ties late on Friday banned a top oppo-sition leader from public office for 15

years, the latest move in an increasingly tense power strug-gle in the crisis-hit country.

Henrique Capriles was one of the leaders of mass demon-strations this week against socialist President Nicolas Maduro that led to clashes with police. One protester died.

State comptroller Manuel Galindo imposed a “sanction of disqualification from exercising public office for a period of 15 years,” his institution said in a ruling made public by Capriles himself.

The ruling said the sanction was due to “administrative irregularities” by Capriles in his post as governor of the north-ern state of Miranda.

Capriles rejected the move and insisted he would retain his post as governor, branding Maduro a dictator. “The only one who is disqualified in this coun-try is Nicolas Maduro. They can stick their disqualification where the sun don’t shine,” he told a news conference. “If the dictatorship is squealing, it is a sign that we are making progress.”

The state authority’s move effectively bans Capriles, a law-yer of 44, from running against Maduro in a general election due next year. If effective, it will remove from the political ring one of the most prominent con-tenders in the center-right opposition MUD coalition, which is pushing to remove Maduro from office.

Capriles’s allies vowed to push ahead with further pro-tests. “The dictatorship wants to

choose its opposition. Shall we let it? No. Tomorrow we con-tinue,” wrote leading lawmaker Freddy Guevara on Twitter.

Capriles branded Friday’s ban part of what the opposition alleges is a “coup” by allies of Maduro, who is resisting oppo-sition calls for a vote on removing him from power. “This is all part and package of the internal coup,” Capriles said on Twitter, branding the govern-ment a “corrupt drug-trafficking leadership.”

Capriles lost narrowly in the 2013 election that brought Maduro to the presidency after the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez — father of Venezuela’s “socialist revolution.”

After this week’s demon-strations, Maduro dismissed Capriles as “politically finished”. Another pro-government leader, Freddy Bernal, alleged Capriles was inciting protests “looking for a few deaths to set the coun-try alight.”

Venezuela’s political crisis intensified last week when the Supreme Court issued rulings curbing the powers of the oppo-

sition-controlled legislature.The court has consistently

ruled in Maduro’s favor since the opposition majority took its seats in the National Assembly legislature in January 2016.

It drew international criti-cism for last week’s rulings, which seized the assembly’s powers and revoked lawmak-ers’ immunity from prosecution. The court reversed the rulings days later, but the opposition intensified its protests, prompt-ing police to fire tear gas.

Capriles can appeal against his sanction within two weeks to the comptroller and within

Terre Haute AP

Dozens of police offic-ers stormed a western Indiana high school on

Friday after a caller claimed he was inside with explosives and a rifle and would start shooting students if he didn’t receive a ransom, police said.

A male called the Terre Haute Police Department about 10:30 a.m. and said he was in a bathroom at Terre Haute North High School armed with a rifle and a bag of explosives, Police Chief John Plasse said hours after authorities determined the threats were a hoax.

The caller said he would begin shooting students if he didn’t receive a ransom within 10 minutes, or if stu-dents left the building. Plasse said the caller made other threats after he was trans-ferred to police dispatch.

The school’s 1,800 stu-dents and their teachers were told to shelter in classrooms while about 50 officers entered the school, some holding their rifles to their shoulders, ready to fire if needed, the (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reported.

Students were later moved to the school’s gym while a bomb-sniffing police dog checked the entire school, which has 104 class-rooms. After no bombs or weapons were found inside the school, the student body was released just before 3 p.m. to nervous parents who had gathered outside, while other students were taken home by school bus.

Venezuela bans oppn leader amid crisis Police storm Indiana school after threat to shoot students

six months to the Supreme Court.The collapse in prices for

Venezuela’s crucial oil exports has sapped the country’s reve-nues. Ordinary Venezuelans are suffering from shortages of food, medicine and basic goods along with a surge in violent crime.

The opposition blames Maduro for the economic crisis. He says it is due to a capitalist conspiracy backed by the United States. He retains the public sup-port of the military — a pillar that analysts say could make him top-ple if removed.

A 19-year-old protester was shot dead during protests on

Thursday, the third consecutive day of violence. Public prosecu-tors said they would charge a policeman over the killing.

The wave of protests has revived fears of broader unrest in Venezuela, where 43 people were killed during riots in 2014. The country has undergone three attempted military coups since 1992.

“Maduro is scared that I will be the new commander in chief. But don’t worry, sooner or later, there will be one,” Capriles told supporters, claiming some mili-tary members reject his punishment.

More clashes

Henrique Capriles was one of the leaders of mass demonstrations this week against socialist President Nicolas Maduro that led to clashes with police. One protester died.

Capriles rejected the move and insisted he would retain his post as governor, branding Maduro a dictator.

A demonstrator against Nicolas Maduro's government returning a tear gas during clashes with riot police in eastern Caracas, yesterday.

19SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017 AMERICAS

NEWS BYTES

102 children among 314 dead in Colombia mudslideBOGOTA: More than 102 children were among 314 people killed in the giant mudslide that slammed into the southern Colombian town of Mocoa last week, the government said. The mudslide hit a week ago after heavy rains caused three rivers to flood, sending a sea of mud, boulders and debris crashing into the town. In the latest toll report, the National Disasters Risk Management Unit said 332 people were injured and at least 4,506 had been made homeless. The disasters unit said it had received information on 127 people still missing, among them three foreigners: a Spaniard, a German and an Ecuadoran.

Mexico to grant residency to 588 stranded CubansMEXICO CITY: Mexico said that it would grant residency per-mits to 588 Cubans who were stranded in the north of the country after the United States ended its “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, which had given legal status to almost every Cuban to reach US soil. Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) said the beneficiaries of the program are currently in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on the border with the United States, where the group was headed. “INM has done eve-rything to allow this group of foreigners of Cuban origin to obtain their residency in the country for humanitarian rea-sons,” the institute said in a statement.

Trump announces Army secretary pickWASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced his pick for the next secretary of the US Army, a state senator from Ten-nessee. In a statement, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis praised the nomination of Mark Green for the top civilian job in the Army. “Mark will provide strong civilian leadership, improve military readiness and support our service members, civilians and their families,” Mattis said. If confirmed by the senate, Green would succeed Eric Fanning. Green’s nomination is Trump’s second pick for the job, after Vincent Viola withdrew over concerns about his ability to separate from his large business holdings.

4 inmates found dead at a South Carolina prisonCOLUMBIA: Four inmates were found dead on Friday in a dorm at one of South Carolina’s maximum-security men’s prisons, authorities said. The inmates were found at Kirkland Correc-tional Institution in the capital city, Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told The Associated Press. Stirling did not say how they died. Department spokeswoman Sommer Sharpe identified the four inmates in a news release as John King, 52; Jason Kelley, 35; Jimmy Ham, 56; and William Scruggs, 44.

Washington

AFP

A sci-fi staple for dec-ades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US mil-itary, albeit with

capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies.

Lightsabers — the favoured weapon of the Jedi in “Star Wars” films — will remain in the fictional realm for now, but after decades of development, laser weapons are now here and are being deployed on military vehi-cles and planes.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon — all the big defence players — are developing prototypes for the Pentagon. The Navy has since 2014 been testing a 30-kil-owatt laser on one of its warships, the USS Ponce.

Lockheed Martin has just announced a 60-kilowatt laser weapon that soon will be installed on an Army truck for operational testing against mor-tars and small drones.

The weapon can take out a drone from a distance of about 500 metres by keeping its beam locked onto the target for a few seconds, Jim Murdoch, an inter-national business development director at Lockheed, told reporters this week.

But unlike in the movies, the laser beam is invisible to the naked eye. By focusing the beam onto a target, the technology rap-idly heats the inside of an incoming mortar round, causing

it to explode mid-air. An impres-sive feat considering the round is moving at hundreds of miles per hour. The laser weapon can also pierce the outer skin of a drone, taking out key circuits and making it crash. For the moment, the lasers being tested are all of about this same power.

Mark Gunzinger, a senior fellow at the Center for Strate-gic and Budgetary Assessments, sees that relatively small output increasing rapidly.

Within just a few years, he expects far more powerful pro-totypes of more than 150 kilowatts. Such a laser could knock out a missile sideways on, where it is most vulnerable. He said special operations forces want to test such a system by 2020 on an AC-130 gunship that specializes in ground support for troops.

And within six to eight years, US forces could begin using laser systems of more than 300

kilowatts, he added. That degree of power could knock out an incoming missile head-on. Eventually, reality will increas-ingly catch up with fiction.

The US military is also weighing the possibility of mounting lasers on drones fly-ing at very high altitudes, making them capable of shoot-ing down ballistic missiles shortly after launch. Another bonus for the military from lasers is the promise of seem-ingly unending and cheap firepower.

Unlike conventional canons that need shells, laser canons are limited only by the amount of electricity that can be generated. Gunzinger deems lasers as espe-cially promising on warplanes, which could potentially get an unlimited reservoir of firepower to defend against adversaries’ missiles. “An aircraft doesn’t have to return to base to upload more weapons. It could refuel and con-tinue to operate with its nearly unlimited magazine,” he said.

But before laser technology can be integrated into combat planes, it must first be shrunk in size. Currently engineers are running into physical limitations on how much portable power can be produced and ways of cooling the technology.

Lockheed wants to increase the power of its truck-mounted laser. “For a vehicle like this, there will be some engineering limits,” said Murdoch.

“We will run out of space ... that’s the kind of challenge we are working.”

New York/Fort Lauderdale

Reuters

For many supporters of US President Donald Trump, his decision to bomb a Syr-

ian airfield in retaliation for a poison gas attack was a decisive show of strength and resolve - just what they voted for in November. In interviews with more than a dozen Trump vot-ers, many acknowledged that getting the US military directly involved in the Syrian conflict was a far cry from the “America First” isolationism the Republi-can candidate espoused during the campaign.

Unlike several prominent far-right backers who denounced Thursday’s air strikes in Syria, most of the Trump voters interviewed in Texas, Florida and New York on Friday said the attack was not an abdication of his

commitment to put US interests above all others.

“Love it, love it, love it, love it. He said from Day One that he’s not going to take any non-sense,” Anthony Calvanese, 28, a construction foreman, told a reporter on a sidewalk in New York City’s Staten Island bor-ough. “He needs to start showing our superiority in the world.”

Trump’s order came despite his vow in the 2016 campaign to avoid entanglements in Mid-dle East conflicts. Four years ago, he also admonished his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, to refrain from retali-ating after the Syrian government launched a poison gas attack on its own citizens.

The apparent ideological inconsistencies angered some of Trump’s staunchest support-ers on the far right. Paul Joseph Watson, a London-based editor at Infowars, a US media outlet

praised by Trump that promotes unsubstantiated conspiracy the-ories, declared on Twitter he was “OFF the Trump train.”

Self-described white nation-alist leader Richard Spencer called Trump’s decision a “betrayal” and the “end of America First”. By contrast, sev-eral Trump voters said they still trusted the president to deliver on his promises.

Todd Recknagel, a 53-year-old managing partner of a private equity firm in Panama City Beach, Florida, said the move reinforced his support for Trump because it showed the president is willing to adjust his thinking based on events.

“I appreciate the fact that he’s not so inwardly focused that he’s willing to stand up for prin-ciple on something like Syria,” he said in a phone interview. “(Ronald) Reagan wouldn’t allow that stuff either,” he said.

Detroit

AP

Tysen Benz was at home when he saw social media posts indicating that his

13-year-old girlfriend had com-mitted suicide. The posts were a prank, but the 11-year-old boy apparently believed them.

Moments later, his mother found him hanging by the neck in his room in Marquette, Mich-igan. Now a prosecutor is pursuing criminal charges against a juvenile accused of being involved in the scheme, which Katrina Goss described as “a twisted, sick joke.”

Goss described her son as appearing “fine” just 40 minutes before she found him.

“I just want it be exposed and be addressed,” Goss said of school bullying in general and cyberbullying in particular. “I don’t want it be ignored.”

Using a cellphone he bought without his mother’s knowledge, Tysen on March 14 was reading texts and other messages about the faked suicide and decided he would end his life too, his mother said. After seeing the posts about his girlfriend, Tysen replied over social media that he was going to kill himself, and no one involved in the prank told an adult, Goss said.

The boy died Tuesday at a Detroit-area hospital. Authori-ties would not release the age of the juvenile charged or comment on what relationship the person

had with Tysen. The juvenile is being charged with malicious use of telecommunication serv-ices and using a computer to commit a crime.

The girl whose death was faked and friends who were in on the prank attended the same school as Tysen, Goss said. Even though the prank occurred out-side of school, she said, the school should have done more to protect her son.

“The principal, the assistant principal — that’s their job, espe-cially for little kids,” she said. “Kids take things to heart.” In a statement released Thursday, Marquette Area Public Schools Superintendent William Saun-ders agreed with Goss’s concerns about the dangers of social

media. He said the district has been educating students and parents through its health cur-riculum, health fairs, community forums and other efforts.

“After the gut-wrenching loss of a student, we ask our-selves, ‘How can we do more?’” Saunders wrote.

Most states, including Mich-igan, have enacted legislation designed to protect children from bullies.

Michigan’s anti-bullying act, signed in 2011 by Gov. Rick Sny-der, requires school districts to have anti-bullying policies on the books. It was known as “Matt’s Safe School Law” after Matt Epling, a 14-year-old who killed himself after a 2002 haz-ing incident.

Laser weapons edge towards military use

Twitter Inc on Friday dropped a lawsuit it filed the previous day against

the US Homeland Security Department, saying the gov-ernment had withdrawn a summons for records about who was behind an account critical of President Donald Trump.

A lawyer for the social media company, Mark Flana-gan, wrote in court papers that a US Justice Department law-yer told Twitter about the withdrawal of the summons on Friday and that the demand “no longer has any force or effect”. It was not immediately clear why the government had withdrawn the summons, or whether it had closed an inves-tigation it said it was conducting. The Justice Department, which defends federal agencies in court.

Michigan boy hangs himself after social media prank

Twitter pulls anti-Trump account suit

Many Trump voters welcome US air strikes as show of strength

New arms tech

Laser weapons are now here and are being deployed on military vehicles and planes.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are developing prototypes for the Pentagon.

20 SUNDAY 9 APRIL 2017MORNING BREAK

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

FAJRSHOROOK

04.00 am

05.18 am

ZUHRASR

11.36 am

03.05 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.56 pm

07.26 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

Hamed Sinno (centre), the lead singer of Lebanese band Mashrou Leila, performs at the Dubai International Marine Club during a music festival, late on Friday night.

Drumming and strumming

Afghan sport keeps galloping after centuries Panjshir

Reuters

A crash of horses and men deep in a mountain pass signals the start of another game of buz-

kashi, Afghanistan’s national sport.Buzkashi, which translates roughly

as “goat pulling,” has been played for centuries across Central Asia and is one of the most enduring and iconic sym-bols of Afghanistan.

It is a sport which is often violent,

but designed to showcase the riders’ horsemanship and warrior spirit.

Amid foreign invasions, civil wars, and insurgent attacks, Afghans have gathered to cheer on their favourite “chapandaz,” as the riders are known.

On Friday, a typical community match played out under the soaring, snow-capped peaks that surround the Panjshir Valley, north of Kabul.

Rusting hulks of Russian-made tanks and guns litter the Panjshir, tes-tifying to the years of war when famed

guerilla commander Ahmad Shah Mas-soud used the mountains to hold off first the Soviets, then the Taliban.

“It’s been almost 50 to 60 years that buzkashi matches have been hap-pening on this site,” said Abdul Anaan, a spectator. “I myself was a horseman and usually played buzkashi, and today many youth are interested in this game and playing it.” The game involves rid-ers on horses wrestling over half of a calf carcass, which is usually able to with-stand the pounding better than goats.

Matches may involve individual players competing, or teams, often owned or sponsored by powerful war-lords or other leaders.

In both cases, the goal is to carry the carcass and drop it on a target on the ground, all while dozens of other riders and horses grab, hit, kick, and struggle to tear the carcass away.

“If we fall down on the ground or get hurt it doesn’t mean that we are angry with each other,” said horseman Mohammed Hafiz.

Man spared jail for butterfly deaths London

AFP

A British man convicted of capturing and kill-ing two of Britain's

rarest butterflies, the endan-gered Large Blues, was spared jail but ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.

The court in the south-west city of Bristol also banned Philip Cullen from three nature reserves popu-lar with the Large Blues, a species that has protected status.

"He is extremely remorseful," Cullen's lawyer Michael Hartnell said.

"His interest in the coun-tryside and wildlife is one he has had for a long, long time."

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