Volume 24 | Number 8097 | 2 RiyalsFriday 6 December 2019 | 9 Rabia II 1441 www.thepeninsula.qa

BUSINESS | 15 SPORT | 18

Sri Lanka name Mickey Arthur as their new head coach

New world order offers Turkish

economy great opportunities

Amir to honour winners of International Anti-Corruption Excellence AwardQNA DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will honour winners of the International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award in its fourth edition during a ceremony which will take place on Monday in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, in cooperation with the United Nations, and in the presence of the President of Rwanda, H E Paul Kagame.

H H the Amir and H E the President of Rwanda will honour the winners of the four awards which are The Award for Academic Research and Education, The Award for Youth Creativity and Engagement, The Award for Innovation, and The Award for Lifetime/Outstanding Achievement.

Ashghal opens second underpass at Mesaimeer InterchangeTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) announced yesterday opening of the second underpass within Mesaimeer Interchange with a length of one kilometre easing commuters free flow from E-Ring road heading to Indus-trial Area Road. This opening is designed in coordination with the Traffic Department, Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The new underpass is around one kilometre in length con-sisting of one-way traffic with two lanes and emergency lane connecting the E Ring Road with the Industrial Area Road with a capacity of around 4,000 vehicles per hour.

In the beginning of November

2019, Ashghal had opened the first underpass linking traffic between E Ring Road and Rawdat Al Khail Street, and thus two out of nine tunnels at the interchange being completed so far.

On this occasion, Eng. Hassan Al Ghanim has con-firmed that the newly opened underpass is the second achievement at Messaimer Interchange after the opening of the first underpass in November, which was com-pleted six months ahead of scheduled delivery. He also noted the speedy works of the Interchange completing 76 percent of total works so far.

The new underpass connects the E-Ring road with the Indus-trial Area Road easing com-muters’ access from Al Thumama

and Old Airport areas without the need of using the existing diversion, resulting in less travel time and free flow traffic.

The newly-constructed Inter-change consists of three levels, the first of its kind in Qatar, con-taining nine underpasses pro-viding free flow of traffic.

Besides, it contains two main bridges, one of them con-necting Rawdat Al Khail Street and the Industrial Area Road and vice versa and the other one connecting E Ring Road with Doha Expressway South in one direction, ensuring free flow traffic in all directions and connecting the main strategic roads together.

The project includes 6.1km length of construction works and it can intake 20,000 vehicles per

hour in both directions on completion.

The Interchange will be oper-ational by the second quarter of 2020 and will play a major role in improving the traffic movement and saving more than 60 percent of travel time.

In order to complete the works in the newly opened underpass, a 12-hour closure will be implemented at

Mesaimeer Interchange for traffic coming from E Ring Road towards Doha Expressway and Industrial Area Road today from 1am until 3pm.

Commuters from E Ring Road towards Doha Expressway and Industrial area Road can turn right on Rawdat Al Khail Street and take the U Turn at the next roundabout to reach their destinations.

All Doha Metro network to be operational from TuesdaySACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Ministry of Transport and Communications announced yesterday that test operation of the Doha Metro Green Line will start from this Tuesday. On the same day, Doha Metro will start

its preview service for Hamad International Airport station and for Katara, Qatar University and Lusail on the Red line.

“The test operation of the Doha Metro Green Line will start this Tuesday, December 10, which means test operations for all Doha Metro lines will have

been conducted,” said the Min-istry in a statement yesterday.

Green Line’s operating hours are the same as that of Red and

Gold Line, from 6am to 11pm Sat-urday to Thursday and from 2pm to 11pm on Fridays

The Green Line, which runs across east to west of Doha, covers 11 stations including Al Mansoura, Msheireb, Al Bidda, The White Palace, Hamad Hos-pital, Al Messila, Al Rayyan Al Qadeem, Al Shaqab, Qatar National Library, Education City and Al Riffa (Mall of Qatar).

The launch of new service will not only make it convenient to travel to new areas in Doha but will also make their journey affordable. Travellers will be able to complete a one way journey between two stations in Gold, Red and Green Line in just QR2.

Metrolink services will be available during these timings to transport passengers from and to metro stations from the areas near the stations. Available routes can be found at Qatar Rail application and the company’s website.

The opening of all the three metro lines is a big news for resi-dents of Qatar. Since starting preview service for the first part of the Doha Metro’s Red Line in May this year, the train service has become hugely popular among residents. They are now opting metro over private cars and taxis for travelling, particularly in case of going for public event such as sports events such as football matches. �P3

Fans on their way to Al Janoub Stadium for the semi-final match between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in Al Wakra Metro Station yesterday. PIC: ABDUL BASIT THE PENINSULA

Over-speeding cases topped traffic violations in NovemberSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Most of the violations committed last month were about over-speeding, which is the most common cause of traffic acci-dents, said Colonel Jaber Mohamed Rashid Odaiba, Assistant Director of the Media and Traffic Awareness Department.

Odaiba said that those who are caught speeding above 180km per hour are referred to Public

Prosecution for penalties pre-scribed by law that may lead to imprisonment. The vehicle of the violator also will be booked, adding that the authorities con-cerned will not tolerate any kind of reckless driving on Qatar roads.

“Such violators who are caught speeding above 180km per hour will be stopped directly by traffic patrols in a safer way that does not affect the traffic or public security,” Colonel Odaiba confirmed while speaking to a local channel.

The official called on road users to not panic if they are pressured by some reckless drivers and should give way only after ensuring that the road on the right side is clear. “The traffic patrols will be on the lookout for these reckless drivers,” he added.

He also pointed out that most of the reckless driving cases are reported on highways, especially on the weekend, leading to Al Khor, Sealine, Dukhan and Salwa.

About the winter camping

season, he said that the new awareness campaign under the slogan “Camping Without Acci-dents” aims to achieve a number of goals, including the concept of social responsibility during traffic accidents, the importance of respecting traffic law, adhering to traffic safety rules during camping season, reducing deaths and injuries among young adults and to provide safe envi-ronment for campers.

The winter camping season drive began last month and will

continue until the end of next March. The winter camping season, poses a challenge to traffic department’s expectation of keeping number of accidents lower.

The General Directorate of Traffic is conducting many awareness campaigns for safe driving to provide guidance on traffic safety specially in Sealine area. The tips include safety measures for avoiding accidents, safe motorcycle use, and child safety.

The Green Line, which runs across east to west of Doha, covers 11 stations

Doha Metro will start its preview service for Hamad International Airport station and for Katara, Qatar University and Lusail on the Red line.

Sheikha Moza to attend opening of DICDD tomorrowQNA DOHA

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, founder of Qatar Foundation for Social Work (QFSW), will sponsor the inaugural Doha International Conference on Disability and Development (DICDD) tomorrow, at the Qatar National Convention Center.

The two-day DICDD will take place under the theme “Leaving no one behind”, organised by the QFSW in col-laboration with local and inter-national partners.

The conference will feature several distinguished speakers including Amina Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-general of the United Nations, deputy secretary general of the UN; Xavier Torres, advisor of the Presidential Gov-ernment of Ecuador; and Edward Ndopu, as well as a number of Their Excellencies and senior officials, with the participation of more than 40 speakers and more than 1000 people from Qatar and the world.

The aim of the DICDD is to highlight and address the issues and challenges faced by people with disabilities, which affect more than 1.5 billion people worldwide.

The DICDD will culminate in the announcement of the “Doha Declaration,” which will become a key international reference point for policy development and the advancement of human rights and sustainable social development for persons with disabilities.

The State of Qatar is leading a global initiative to bring about the desired change at the level of the living conditions of about 15 percent of the world’s popu-lation, in addition to enhancing their capabilities and providing opportunities for them to exercise their full rights in ful-filment of its obligations towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

02 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019HOME

Amir condoles with

President of France

Amir sends greetings

to King of Thailand

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

sent a cable of condolences

to the President of the French

Republic, Emmanuel Macron,

on the victims of the two hel-

icopter crash in Mali. The

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdul-

lah bin Hamad Al Thani sent a

similar cable of condolences

to the French President on the

victims of the two helicopter

crash in Mali. The Prime Min-

ister and Interior Minister H E

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser

bin Khalifa Al Thani sent a

cable of condolences to the

Prime Minister of the French

Republic, Edouard Philippe, on

the victims of the two helicop-

ter crash in Mali. QNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

sent a cable of congratulations

to H M King Maha Vajiralong-

korn of the Kingdom of

Thailand on the occasion

of his country’s National

Day. The Deputy Amir H H

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani also sent a simi-

lar cable of congratulations

to HM King Maha Vajiralong-

korn. The Prime Minister and

Interior Minister H E Sheikh

Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-

lifa Al Thani sent a cable of

congratulations to the Prime

Minister of the Kingdom of

Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha,

on the occasion of his coun-

try’s National Day. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWSMinister of Administrative Development meets Unicef Regional DirectorThe Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, H E Yousuf Mohamed Al Othman Fakhroo, met with Unicef Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Ted Shiban and the accompanying delegation. They reviewed areas of joint cooperation between the two sides.

Chief of Staff meets President of International Military Sports Council

The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General (Pilot) H E Ghanem bin Shaheen Al Ghanim met here with the President of International Military Sports Council (CISM), Herve Piccirillo, who is currently visiting the country. The meeting discussed areas related to military sports activity.

Financial Affairs Committee of Shura Council discusses public budget Project for 2020QNA/DOHA

The Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the Shura Council held yesterday a meeting under the Chairmanship of its Rapporteur H E Ali Bin Abdul-latif Al Misnad Al Mohannadi.

The Committee discussed the State’s public budget for the fiscal year of 2020 in the attendance of the Ministry of Finance Undersecretary, H E Khalaf bin Ahmed Al Mannai, H E President of the Public

Works Authority Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, Assistant Undersecretary for Monetary Policy Affairs for the Ministry of Finance Abdulrahman Al Mudahka, Assistant Undersec-retary for Fiscal Policy Affairs for the Ministry of Finance Abdul-rahman Jolo, as well as to Head of Budget Affairs for the Ministry of Finance Salman Al Mahmoud, in addition to Head of Public Budget follow-up department for the Ministry of Finance Maryam Al

Obaidli, and assistant director of the Buildings Projects Department for the Public Works Authority Jarallah Mohammed Al Marri. The Committee decided to approve the state’s public budget project for fiscal year of 2022 and its recom-mendations to the Shura Council.

The Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Shura Council also held a meeting under the chairmanship of Rap-porteur of the Committee, Nasser bin Rashid Al Kaabi.

H E Ali Bin Abdullatif Al Misnad Al Mohannadi chairing the meeting.

Yara, Ibrahim Dashti wow Doha crowdsTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Two of the most popular singers in the Middle East – Yara and Ibrahim Dashti – kicked off the Qatar Live series of concerts last night with a spectacular performance at Katara Amphi-theatre. They wowed a crowd of hundreds of residents, visitors, and football fans from countries across the Arabian Gulf who were in Doha to support their countries’ national football teams for the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup Qatar 2019.

Qatar Live is a series of special music concerts and fes-tivals organised by Qatar Airways and Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), supported by

Ooredoo as Platinum Sponsor. The events have been organised to align with the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup Qatar 2019 (November 26 to December 8) and the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 (December 11 to 21 ) to provide world-class entertainment for football fans, visitors, and local residents.

On Saturday, Rahma Riad, Fahad Al Kubaisi, and Omar Al Abdallat, will perform at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC), followed by Cheb Khaled and Hatim Ammor (December 13 ), Katy Perry (December 15), Maluma (December 16), and Maroon 5 (December 19).

For fans of electronic music, Qatar Airways and QNTC are

bringing Daydream Festival to Qatar for the first time on December 12 and 20 at the Ritz-Carlton. The world-renowned festival takes place each year at different locations around the world, bringing together the best DJs in dance and electronic music. On 12 December the line-up of DJs includes Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Robin Schulz, Sam Feldt, Matt Sochon and Wankelmut. On December 20, Afrojack, Lost Frequencies, Mark Knight, Steff Da Campo and Matt Sochon will perform at the fes-tival. Tickets for all events can be purchased at qatarlive.qa.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Secretary-General

of QNTC, H E Akbar Al Baker, said: “The performances by Yara and Ibrahim Dashti were a fan-tastic way to kick off Qatar Live. It was our honour to have them perform here in Doha. The fan-tastic live performances on offer in Qatar, alongside the football, make Qatar the place to be this December. I hope that residents and visitors alike take the oppor-tunity to enjoy such a unique mix of sport and music.”

For visitors travelling from Kuwait and Oman, Qatar Airways is offering amazing fares on Economy and Business Class tickets and Qatar Airways Hol-idays is offering special packages that will cover flights, hotels and

concert tickets when travelling to Qatar. In addition, stopover packages for passengers

travelling from the rest of the world are available through Dis-cover Qatar.

Ibrahim Dashti performing at Katara Amphitheatre.

Woqod opens Al Khor Petrol StationTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

Qatar Fuel “Woqod” opened Al Khor Petrol Station yesterday, taking the total count of its total petrol stations to 94. Woqod’s Managing Director & CEO, Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi, said: “We are pleased to open new fixed petrol station in Al Khor. Woqod aspires to expand its petrol stations network in the country to meet the rising demand for petroleum products and achieve the goal of providing customers with access to best-in-class products and services at their convenience and comfort. Woqod has recently accel-erated the process for the construction of new petrol stations to meet the fuel and energy needs of the country. Woqod team would like to extend their gratitude to all concerned governmental and private entities that contributed

to the completion of this project.”Al Khor Petrol Station is

spread over an area of 15,000 square meters and has four lanes with 12 dispensers for light vehicles. The new Petrol Stations offer round-the-clock services to residents, and include Sidra convenience store, Manual Car Wash, Oil Change and Tire Repair, and sale of LPG cylinders “Shafaf”, in addition to sale of gasoline and diesel products for

light vehicles. Further, Al Muhannadi added that Woqod is currently overseeing the implementation of 18 new petrol stations, which most of them will be completed in the current year 2019. Al Muhannadi con-cluded his announcement by saying that “As part of its stra-tegic expansion plan, Woqod is targeting the achievement of a total of 114 fuel stations by the end of 2020”.

The newly-opened petrol station in Al Khor.

Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs receives letter from Indian Foreign Minister QNA/DOHA

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani received a written letter from the Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India, Dr. Subrah-manyam Jaishankar, concerning bilateral relations. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi received the letter during his meeting with Indian Ambas-sador H E P Kumaran.

DAKAR: The Minister

for Foreign Affairs of the

Republic of Senegal, Ama-

dou Ba, received a copy of

credentials of the Ambas-

sador of Qatar Mohammed

bin Kurdi Talib Al Mankhis Al

Marri. QNA

Senegal FM receives copy of

Qatar envoy’s credentialsMother of Prime Minister passes awayQNA DOHA

Sheikha Mariam bint Abdullah Al Attiyah, mother of the Prime Minister and Interior

Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, passed away in London.

The funeral prayer will be performed today after Jumu’ah (Friday) prayer at

Imam Muhammad ibn Abd Al Wahhab Mosque, and the burial will be at Muraikh cemetery. Condolences can be offered at the Majlis of the late Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani in Muraikh.

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum19oC 27oC

HIGH TIDE 11:26 – 00:00 LOW TIDE 20:15 – 00:00

Misty at places at first becomes moder-

ate temperature daytime with scattered

clouds, relatively cold by night.

FAJRSHOROOK

04. 44 AM

06. 06 AM

11. 25 AM

02.24 PM

04. 46 PM

06. 16 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

03FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 HOME

Ties with Qatar on upward trajectory: Thai envoy

RAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

Thailand’s Ambassador to Qatar, Nathapol Khantahiran has said relations between the two coun-tries have witnessed growth in different areas as shown by increase in trade volume, exports and tourist arrivals.

The ambassador was speaking at Thailand’s National Day reception on Wednesday with H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health and H E Yousuf bin Mohamed Al Othman Fakhroo, Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs as guests of honour.

“The Kingdom of Thailand and the State of Qatar have enjoyed amiable relations for almost four decades since the establishment of diplomatic rela-tions on August 7, 1980. I’m very pleased and proud to have wit-nessed an upward trajectory in our bilateral relations and in the multilateral framework,” said the ambassador.

He said the visit of H R H Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati to Qatar in December last year and the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Thailand in August this year have further strengthened ties between the two countries.

“On economic front, the ongoing crisis doesn’t deter Thailand from her strong deter-mination to strengthen the existing ties with Qatar. Qatar still remains one of the biggest suppliers of LNG to Thailand. While export from Thailand to Qatar increased by around 24 percent in 2018 over the previous year, the total trade rose up to $3.9bn in 2018,” he said.

“On people to people exchanges, Thailand is very happy to learn that last year, there were around 35,000 tourists from Qatar visiting Thailand which was 27.5 percent increase from the pre-

vious year,” he added.As Qatar and Thailand

marks 40th anniversary of dip-lomatic relations next year, the ambassador expressed strong belief the two countries would witness more cooperation having established excellent groundwork.

“As our relations continue to flourish Thailand stands ready

to support Qatar in achieving the country’s national vision and hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022,” he stressed.

He thanked Qatar for taking good care of Thai people working here while lauding the State for the labour reforms aimed to improve workers’ welfare. He also wished Qatar “great success, prosperity and happiness on the

upcoming Qatar National Day.”The ambassador noted that

2019 had been a pivotal year for Thailand for several reasons including the coronation of H M King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the elections and Thailand’s ASEAN chairmanship.

Ambassadors and represent-atives of diplomatic missions, Thai Embassy staff and Thai

community members attended the event held at Grand Hyatt Doha which featured traditional performances and Thai cuisine.

It was a triple celebration as Thailand’s National Day, the birthday anniversary of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and Thailand’s Father’s Day are all marked on December 5 every year.

H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari(fifth left), Minister of Public Health; H E Yousuf bin Mohamed Al Othman Fakhroo (fifth right), Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs; and Nathapol Khantahiran (center), Thailand’s Ambassador to Qatar, cutting the cake as other ambassadors look on during Thailand National Day celebration at Grand Hyatt Doha on Wednesday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi (right), met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, Ruben Dario Molina, on the sidelines of the 12th Bali Democracy Forum held at the Indonesian island of Bali, yesterday. They reviewed bilateral cooperation relations.

The President of the Republic of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte (left), met with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi. Al Muraikhi conveyed the greetings of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Philippine President and his wishes for the Philippine people of more progress and prosperity. For his part, the Philippine President entrusted the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to convey his greetings to H H the Amir, wishing him good health and happiness, and further progress and prosperity to the people of Qatar. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

Al Hammadi meets Libyan official

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi met with the Libyan Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Technical Affairs, Mahmoud Khalifa Al Telisi, who is recently visiting the country. They viewed bilateral relations as well as issues of common concern.

Secretary-General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs meets Unicef Regional Director

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, met with Unicef Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Ted Shiban, who is currently visiting the country. They discussed the bilateral relations and the prospects for cooperation, in addition to matters of common concern.

General Directorate of Civil Defence launches 13 new fire trucksTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

As part of efforts to modernize and develop the fleet to keep pace with the urban development taking place in the country, the General Directorate of Civil Defence added to its fleet 13 modern fire trucks yesterday.

The launch of the new fire trucks was held in the headquarters of the Department.

The new fire trucks have a larger capacity for water tanks and great speed to deal with various incidents while it accommodates all the equipment and tools needed by the civildefence in the fire and rescue operations.

Brig. Hamad Othman Al Duhaimi, DG of Civil Defence said that these are the first batch of new fire trucks that will be added successively to the Civil Defense fleet to

supply it with modern equipment and machinery and keep pace with the tech-nical developments in the field.

The Director General added that the Directorate is keen on the continuous mod-ernization of the civil defence to keep pace with the urban boom and population growth witnessed by the State of Qatar and ensure security coverage for major events hosted by the state.

Qatar attaches great importance to building comprehensive stateQNA/BALI

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi has said that the State of Qatar pays great attention to building a comprehensive state for many years, by working hard to develop its educational, economic, social and cultural policies and directing them towards building a state based on citizenship rights for all its citizens and non-discrimination among them, as well as pushing for more comprehensive devel-opment and strengthening the bonds of social integration among all members of society and its different groups.

Speak at a panel titled “Moving Towards Inclusive State Building” at the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF), H E the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that all of this was strengthened with the beginning of the crisis of the unjust blockade on the State of Qatar, and the standing of the entire Qatari people as

one hand in facing the chal-lenges imposed by the blockade an all levels.

He added that it is well known that the State plays a major and important role in achieving the concept of inclusion in societies, whether in the fields of economy and development or in the field of political participation and decision-making, pointing out that the basic idea of the concept of inclusion is based on the need to involve all members of society in the process of building and actively participating equally in the public space, including the integration of persons who may be excluded or marginalized for various reasons, such as women, minorities and persons with special needs.

H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi stressed the importance of public policies in the building of a comprehensive state, social integration and citizenship, as the state is the most important actor in society and the most capable

of playing a pivotal role in this process through the great potential and the material and moral authority that it has.

H E said that public policies work to achieve the goals of inclusion through a number of tools available to the State,

such as education, media, political participation, social welfare pro-grams, cultural programs, economic and development policies and other areas that enable the State to empower the society, with all its cat-egories, to get all its rights, build a Citizenship State, and achieve the

values of equality and solidarity among all members. H E pointed out that a pattern has been estab-lished during the past decades in a large number of the third world countries in particular, based on “discrimination and exclusion” as a tool of governance by a

dominant political and economic elite, working to dismantle society and its ties, isolate groups of the population, systematically dis-criminate between citizens use political sectarianism based on race, religion, or language as a tool of governance and domination.

The Ambassador thanked Qatar for taking good care of Thai people working here while lauding the State for the labour reforms aimed to improve workers’ welfare.”

The newly-launched fleet of fire trucks.

All Doha Metro network to be operational from TuesdayFROM PAGE 1

A huge rush of football fans were seen yesterday at several Metro stations who opted to take Metro to visit Al Janoub Stadium to watch thrilling semifinal of 24th Arabian Gulf Cup between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Karwa shuttle buses were arranged to take fans to and from Wakrah Metro station and Al Janoub Stadium.

Huge rush was also witnessed on previous matches also. Doha Metro recorded 95,000 journeys on December 3, as resi-dents used the Metro to reach Khalifa International Stadium, where Qatar National Team played against the UAE in their crucial group match.

Travellers can purchase Travel Cards at metro stations. Pre-loaded Standard Travel Cards can be purchased from licensed retailers including Al Meera, Lulu, Carrefour, Jumbo Electronics, and Family Food Centre. Gold club travel cards are available from dedicated gold club offices at all Metro stations.

04 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Sudanese visual artist honoured

Erdogan attends opening of Cambridge Central Mosque

58 migrants dead after boat capsizes off MauritaniaAP/NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA

Scores of migrants who swam through rough Atlantic Ocean waters to safety from a capsized boat were receiving care yesterday in Mauritania after 58 others drowned in one of the deadliest disasters this year among people making the perilous journey to Europe.

The boat that left Gambia a week ago had been carrying at least 150 people, including women and children. It was headed towards Spain’s Canary Islands but tried to approach the Mauritanian coast to get fuel and food, Laura Lungarotti, chief of mission in the West African nation with the UN migration agency, said.

“Many drowned. The ones who survived swam up to the Mauritanian coast close to the city of Nouadhibou,” she said. The sur-vivors were recovering from shock, she said, adding that they were given first aid kits, blankets and other supplies. Local author-ities searched for an unknown number of missing people.

At least 83 people swam to shore, including two women and

at least 10 minors, the UN agency said. Mauritanian authorities said they found at least 85 sur-vivors, 10 of whom were taken to the hospital for “urgent” treatment. The survivors were receiving care in accordance with “human solidarity, fra-ternity and African hospitality,” Interior Minister Mohamed Salem ould Merzoug said in a statement that estimated the boat held as many as 180 people, most of them aged 20 to 30.

Mauritania will open an investigation into those respon-sible for “this drama” including possible trafficking networks, the statement said.

While thousands once died off Mauritania’s coast in attempts to reach the Canary Islands between 2005 and 2010, that later calmed, the statement said. But in recent months authorities have detained boats mostly car-rying hundreds of migrants from Senegal, which neighbours Gambia, it said. Survivors said the boat that capsized had left Gambia on Nov. 27. Gambian consular offi-cials were meeting with survivors.

In recent years, tens of thou-sands of people have set off from Gambia in hopes of reaching Europe. Despite the country’s small size, more than 35,000 Gambians arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2018, according to the U.N. migration agency.

A 22-year oppressive rule by former President Yahya Jammeh severely affected the country’s economy, especially for youth, and contributed greatly to the exodus. Since Jammeh fled into exile in January 2017 after a sur-prise election loss, European countries have been pushing to return asylum seekers. But Gam-bia’s economy still suffers.

Khamenei orders Iran unrest victims treated as ‘martyrs’AFP/TEHRAN

Iran’s supreme leader has agreed that people killed in nationwide unrest last month who had no role in fomenting it should be treated as “martyrs” with their families compensated.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decision marked a significant softening of position by the Iranian authorities towards those killed during the protests that erupted on November 15 fol-lowing a surprise hike in fuel prices.

He was responding to a report on the protests he com-missioned from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, his official website said Wednesday.

He ordered that its recom-mendations “be implemented as soon as possible”.

Iran has yet to give overall figures for the number of people killed or arrested when security forces moved in to quell the unrest that saw buildings torched and shops looted.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday that at least 208

people had died. But Iran has dismissed the high death tolls reported by foreign sources as “utter lies” and has so far con-firmed only five dead — four security force personnel killed by “rioters” and one civilian.

Khamenei agreed that “ordinary citizens with no role in the recent protests and riots who died in the clashes” should be treated as “martyrs” with their families eligible for support from the Martyrs and Veterans Foundation.

Iran usually grants the title of martyr to soldiers killed on duty and the foundation is tasked with providing their fam-ilies with financial benefits and better housing, employment and education opportunities.

Khamenei said that families whose loved ones “lost their lives in any way during the demon-strations” would be “paid their blood money as restitution”.

Blood money is an Islamic legal term for financial compen-sation payable by law to the families of murder victims.

Even the families of those “killed while armed and in

clashes with security forces” would not be held accountable for their loved ones’ actions but would be shown “Islamic clemency” and “compensated proportionally”, Khamenei’s statement said.

The recommendations con-trast with the firmness shown by the government from the very beginning of the unrest, during which they ordered a near-total internet blackout that lasted for more than a week.

Iran has blamed the violence that broke out during the pro-tests on “thugs” backed by its foes the United States and Israel.

It has singled out exiled roy-alists and the People’s Mujah-edeen of Iran (MEK), an exiled former rebel group which it con-siders a “terrorist” cult.

“The people foiled a deep, vast and very dangerous con-spiracy on which a lot of money was spent for destruction, viciousness and the killing of people,” Khamenei said on state television. Last month, the Rev-olutionary Guards praised the “timely” action taken against “rioters”.

REUTERS/NAIROBI

Landslides in Burundi have killed at least 26 people and injured seven, while 10 more people remain missing, the Security Ministry said yesterday.

All the victims were living on a hillside which gave way after heavy rains on Wednesday, a local government official in the northwestern province of Cibitoke said by phone.

“They are still digging up dead bodies,” the official, who declined to be identified, said.

The ministry said homes and fields had also been damaged by the landslides. Search and rescue operations were going on.

East Africa is experiencing unseasonably heavy rains because the Indian Ocean is warmer than usual, partly as result of a cyclical weather phenomenon and partly because oceans are warming.

Floods, landslides, and a cyclone have killed more than 1,200 people across East and Southern Africa this year, according to a Save the Children count based on UN and government figures.

Flooding has also displaced nearly half a million people in Southern Sudan, 200,000 in Ethiopia and at least 370,000 in Somalia this year, the United Nations said.

Landslides in northwest Burundi kill at least 26

Netanyahu lawyer to be charged with money launderingAFP/JERUSALEM

Israel’s attorney general said yesterday he intends to charge the personal lawyer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with money-laundering in the state’s purchase of submarines from German firm Thys-senkrupp.

The justice ministry said that charges were also expected against a businessman who rep-resented the firm in Israel and against a former head of the Israeli navy. Attorney general Avichai Mandelblit last month announced charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against Netanyahu in three different cor-ruption cases, nicknamed cases 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000.

Yesterday he announced his intention to indict on case 3,000, which involved Ger-many’s sale of military subma-rines and other Thyssenkrupp designed vessels for a total sum of around two billion dollars.

The ministry statement announced indictments against Netayahu’s personal lawyer David Shimron, Thyssenk-rupp’s local agent Michael Ganor and former head of the navy Eliezer Marom, among others. The Israeli police announced in November 2018 it had enough evidence to charge a number of suspects, including Shimron, who is also Netanyahu’s cousin.

Lawyers for Gaza raid victims to appeal ICC decisionAFP ANKARA

Families of those killed aboard an aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010 will appeal the International Criminal Court’s decision not to press charges against Israel, their lawyers announced yesterday.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Monday there was “no reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation”.

Nine Turkish citizens lost their lives when Israeli com-mandos stormed the Mavi Marmara ship, which was trying to breach the embargo on Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid.

One more died in hospital in 2014.

The ICC’s decision shows the “intent is to safeguard Israel — so blatantly and flagrantly right under the international commu-nity’s nose — against any indict-ments of war crimes,” the

families’ lawyers said in a joint statement.

“We expect the High Court to accept our appeal and initiate the investigation by overturning the prosecutor’s decision,” they added.

The ICC prosecutor’s decision came three months after the tribunal’s judges in The Hague ordered her for a second time to reconsider investigating the case.

The legal process was

triggered in May 2013 by the Comoros, the Indian Ocean nation where the ship was registered.

The prosecutor’s office said in 2014 that the case was “not of sufficient gravity” to come before the international court.

The families’ lawyers said it was not an isolated problem and that the prosecutor’s office “wil-fully refuses” to open investiga-tions involving Palestinian causes.

Sudan captures six Boko Haram suspects

AFP/KHARTOUM

Sudan’s army said yesterday it had caught six Chadians accused of belonging to Boko Haram, in the country’s first such arrests of suspected members of the militant group which originated in Nigeria.

“Sudanese army intelli-gence captured six members of the Boko Horam terrorist group inside Sudanese territory,” the army said in a statement.

“They are Chadian nationals and since there is a security agreement between the two countries, Sudanese authorities handed them to Chadian authorities.” It did not specify when the alleged militants were arrested or handed over.

It is the first time that Sudanese authorities have reported the arrest of suspected Boko Haram militants inside the country. Chad, a vast and mostly desert nation with more than 200 ethnic groups, shares a long border with Sudan.

Under President Idriss Deby, a former head of the armed forces, Chad has taken a leading role in the fight against militants in the Sahel region. It is part of a West African coalition fighting the Boko Haram insurgency, and a member of the French-backed G5 Sahel anti-terror alliance, which also includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.

Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands (right), looks on as Sudanese visual artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishag receives the Great Prince Claus Award 2019 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, yesterday.

The boat that left Gambia a week ago had been carrying at least 150 people, including women and children. It was headed towards Spain’s Canary Islands but tried to approach the Mauritanian coast to get fuel and food.

Tunisian PM-designate vows to form ‘harmonious’ governmentANATOLIA/TUNIS

Tunisia’s Prime Minister-designate Habib Jemli has pledged to form a “harmo-nious” coalition government in line with the aspirations of the people.

The Tunisian people “want those parties [in the government] to meet their expectations in the areas of employment, local and regional development, raise the standard of living… and also fight cor-ruption,” Habib Jemli said in an interview.

Jemli said a government should be “effective in responding to the people’s demands and both social and economic fields are his top priority.”

He pointed out the need to improve the national economy by “focusing on encouraging investments in the public and private sectors because it is the first premise and the first motive in creating wealth, without which, the [current] sit-uation cannot be fixed.”

The prime minister-designate said his government will be “totally different”

from the former governments, and pledged to carry out required reforms in the economic and social fields.

He also declared openness to all political parties and civil society organ-izations without any distinction or bias.

Jemli said he will not have incli-nation towards any political party -- including Ennahda movement that tasked him to form a government. Speaking about his economic plans, the prime minister-designate said his government’s fiscal policy will focus on national efforts and the country’s broken production capacity.

He also stressed that the country will rely on national capital, in addition to the search for new internal and external financing sources. Along with this policy, Jemli said, the government will not stop dealing with international financial insti-tutions — including IMF, the World Bank and others. He also vowed to balance the debt policy, saying the funding will be directed only to production and devel-opment structures.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan adressing the audience during the official opening of the new Cambridge Central Mosque, in Cambridge, Britain, yesterday. Erdogan said racism, discrimination and Islamophobia spread like a poison in countries once seen as cradles of democracy.

05FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 ISLAM

Make travelling a SunnahMARIA ZAIN

Avid travellers who suddenly find they have embraced Islam tend to view the world in a new light.

Al Bukhari relays in a hadith that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said:

“Be in the world as a traveller or stranger”, reminding Muslims that although the world is a temporary abode, the appreciation of beauty still falls as an obligation upon every Muslim: to seek the world in contentment and to appreciate the bounty of God in all things big and small.

Travelling is also an important Sunnah in Islam as the Prophet (PBUH) encouraged his followers to seek knowledge even as far away as China, indicating that knowledge is borderless and travelling is a good way to expand the horizons of knowledge and experience.

Travelling like this can also be for leisure, as long as the underlying intention is a good one, like to recu-perate before going back to work, to appreciate a new culture or country, or to spend time with family.

In Islamic history, Arab traders were ardent travellers, crossing into multi-nations for business purposes. This was soon followed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the first Muslims who migrated to different countries on dif-ferent occasions and later worked hard in spreading dawah to different communities.

Even members of the companions were widely known to cross borders for the sake of Islam. They came as far as Abyssinia, Persia, amongst others, in order to seek knowledge from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and later crossed oceans to spread their love for Islam.

Travelling as a Muslim is not dif-ferent as compared to travelling before becoming a Muslim, as long as certain guidelines are adhered to. Tourists, Muslim or not, are required to be respectful of their place of travels, to represent themselves and their own country in a positive light. For new Muslims, there is now a bigger obligation to represent Islam as a religion of knowledge and beauty.

As a new Muslim, researching the fundamentals of worship when it comes to travelling is important. Islam provides ease and flexibility for Muslims to travel in comfort, especially with regards to prayers. The prayers of Dhuhr and Asr can be shortened and combined within their stipulated time frame, and so can the prayers of Maghrib and Isha. Having said that, it would be wise to check in on prayer times of the given destination as this would also help plan daily activ-ities around such prayer times.

If travelling during Ramadan, or cus-tomary fasting days–such as Mondays and Thursdays–checking appropriate times for Fajr and iftar is vital, and packing quick snacks will help with the pre-dawn meal and breaking of fast, especially if the day holds plenty of activities. Searching for a masjid (mosque) or a Muslim community will also ease the travel for a new Muslim. At the very least, there will

be a proper place for prayers.

A Muslim’s Intention of TravelA Muslim’s intention as part and

parcel of his or her travels is also important. Muslims are required to please God in whatever they do, whether it is in business, for leisure, during edu-cational trips or family vacations.

Thus, visits need to be planned with good intentions: To search for better living, to learn something new, to spend quality time with loved ones or just to enjoy God’s blessings in His world, through tourism.

After all, in order for a person to travel, God has provided wealth to facil-itate the journey, making it important that the same person uses the given resources with good intentions.

It has been narrated that “There are four types of people: one is a man whom Allah has given knowledge and wealth. He acts with respect to his wealth based on his knowledge. Another person says that if Allah had given him similar to what He gave the first man, he would have acted in the same fashion. The

reward for both of them will be the same. A third person is one, whom Allah gives wealth but He does not give knowledge. Therefore, he spends money according to his desire. Another man says that if Allah had given him what He had given that person, he would have acted in the same manner. These two will have the same burden upon them.” (Ibn Majah, 4228)

In light of this, Muslims need to refrain from anything that could com-promise their faith, like visiting night clubs, pubs, other places where alcohol is rampant, engaging in activities such as gambling and spending time in places where there is free intermingling of genders. These activities could very well compromise the intention to serve God as a believing Muslim. There are plenty of activities that Muslims can engage in that are fun, educational and healthy, without venturing into those that are specifically forbidden.

Dealing with other ConcernsLooking for halal dining facilities,

knowing the direction for prayer,

searching for prayer facilities and Muslim-friendly activities can also be challenging for the Muslim traveller. Consulting Muslim travel agencies is a good place to start. Many service pro-viders have a suite of travel packages for travelling Muslims, including airline services that will accommodate halal meals; Muslim-oriented sight-seeing trips that include breaks for prayer times and visits to local masjids; halal dining throughout the stay and other activities that are Muslim-friendly. This would be helpful if travelling to a non-Muslim country for the first time.

Otherwise, researching a place of destination on one’s own is also pos-sible. Islamic Finder is a great website as a starting point, pooling Muslim com-munities, their masjids (mosque), and places of interests for the Muslim trav-eller. Getting to know local Muslims before hitting the roads is a good way to begin one’s travels. Zabihah is also another website that has been proven useful for the mobile Muslim. It lists out halal dining facilities around the world, complete with recommendations and

reviews by other Muslims. Another site, Crescent Rating, pools Muslim-friendly accommodation, halal-dining facilities, masjids, du’as for travelling Muslims, airports with prayer facilities, Muslim-friendly activities in various countries, amongst others. With the worldwide Muslim population growing rapidly, it is safe to say that Muslim travel is becoming easier, especially with the widespread of information with respects to unique Muslim needs.

Share Your ExperienceSharing travelling adventures with

others is part and parcel of being a member of a progressive Muslim com-munity. Sharing a travelling experience will help promote Muslim service pro-viders, Muslim-friendly service providers and add to the ease of travel of fellow Muslims. Travelling the world in the Islamic style is a good way to revive the important Sunnah of learning of other cul-tures, spreading a good image of Islam or simply enjoying the world from the lens of a Muslim, being reminded that diversity is indeed the will of God. As a new Muslim, there are many ways one can enjoy being a tourist as long as one refrains from engaging in activities that are frowned upon. Most importantly, a believing Muslim will find blessings in a trip if he or she wishes to please God and will really experience the essence of being a mere stranger or tourist. www.onislam.net

Through the declaration of broth-erhood, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) successfully

solved two major problems that immi-grants face: Housing and food. He asked Ansars of Madinah to share their houses with their migrating Makkan brothers, and they did: they would divide their houses in half and give the second part to their brothers and sisters. Also, they shared their food.

This helped immigrants to stand on their own feet. The most interesting part of this brotherhood is that it was not bound by force but by conviction. When the helpers shared their houses and food with the immigrants, they were doing it from their own will and from the depth of their hearts, without being forced.

Until the Quranic revelation came and put new legal regulations on inher-itance, the tradition of being each others’ heirs remained. This tradition became an example of generosity

throughout the history of Islam. One of the collectors of the sayings of the Prophet, Muslim bin Hajjaj (d. 874 C.E.), mentions in his Sahih these stories of the generosity of the companions of the Prophet, the immigrants and the helpers, under the title of “The Merits of Companions.”

Just to show how strong the gener-osity and sacrifice were, one can think of the following example. In the inter-pretation of the Quranic verse... “And they prefer their brothers and sisters over themselves even if they are in need.”

The famous Quranic commentator Al Tabari narrates the following story.

A hungry man among immigrants came to the Prophet to be his guest. The Prophet didn’t have any food to provide. Therefore, he asked if anyone could host him. One of the helpers, Abu Talha, took the men to his home. He advised his wife to honour the Prophet’s guest, yet they were also not very rich. Their

food was enough only for one person. So, the helper dimmed the lights and put his children to bed. He talked to his wife and decided that they would pretend to eat, so that there would be food for this hungry immigrant. The Quranic verse praises their generosity and sacrifice.

The tradition of brotherhood that the Prophet established prevented several possible conflicts. It prevented animosity based on tribalism and racism. It also prevented arrogance based on wealth.

A compassion and respect developed between immigrants and helpers. One can argue that this decla-ration of brotherhood can be con-sidered one of the most important and exemplary practices of integrating dis-parate fragments of society in human history.

At this juncture, it is important to elaborate on the implications of this tra-dition in our modern-day context.

Today, we witness a great number of immigrants around the world, espe-cially from the war-torn Syria and other places. America itself is an immigrant society.

However, these examples almost seem irrelevant as far as worldwide immigrant situations are concerned. We don’t have any such financial and spir-itual help for immigrants. If we have a chance to listen to stories of early immi-grants in the US, for example, they will tell us of the hardships they faced at the time of their migration. Although nat-urally American society is open to immigrants, we still have not solved racism. Slavery was abolished, but there are immigrants who work for wages far lower than the wages of non-immigrants.

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) asks employers to pay the wage of employees before their “sweat is cold.” That is to say, do not delay their pay. D e s p i t e t h e i r s a c r i f i c e s ,

most immigrants face big challenges in stabilising their lives after migration. What one can see and learn from his-torical events in Islam is that adminis-trators can provide a warm and good environment for immigrants in order to integrate them with the regular cit-izens, as the Prophet (PBUH) did in the city of Madinah. And the potential power of immigrants will be dramati-cally strengthened and the economy and social harmony will boom as a result.

Unparalleled generosity and sacrifice The tradition of brotherhood that the Prophet established prevented several possible conflicts. It prevented animosity based on tribalism and racism. It also prevented arrogance based on wealth.

An interior view of the new Cambridge Mosque is seen in Cambridge, England. In addition to its award-winning architecture, which adheres to Islamic traditions, the mosque attracts attention with its environmentally friendly systems that store rainwater and the building provides some of its electricity from solar energy. The mosque, which uses natural materials such as wood and marble, also attracts attention with having zero carbon footprint.

A Muslim’s intention as part and parcel of his or her travels is also important. Muslims are required to please God in whatever they do, whether it is in business, for leisure, during educational trips or family vacations. Thus, visits need to be planned with good intentions: To search for better living, to learn something new, to spend quality time with loved ones or just to enjoy God’s blessings in His world, through tourism.

06 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019ASIA

Chidambaram targets PM Modi over his silence on economyIANS NEW DELHI

Former finance minister P Chidambaram yesterday trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on economic slowdown and termed the government an “incompetent manager of the economy”. He also described the disinvestment of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) as a “scandal”.

Chidambaram also said that the Congress will oppose the Cit-izenship Amendment Bill and that he supports the protests of the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the IIMC and other institutions over the pro-posed fee hike.

Addressing a press con-ference at the party head-quarters, a day after his release from Tihar Jail on bail, he, however, refused to comment on his case, only saying that the order would clear the “many layers of dust” that have settled on the understanding of criminal law and the manner in which it had been administered by the courts.

Targeting the government over the slowdown, he said: “The government is an incompetent manager of the economy.” Hitting out at Modi over his silence on the economic slowdown, the senior Congress leader said: “The Prime Minister has been unusually silent on the economy. He has left it to his ministers to indulge in bluff and bluster.”

He also charged the gov-ernment with making mistakes, saying it believed that the problems faced by the economy

were “cyclical” even after seven months into the current financial year.

“It is wrong. Let me repeat, the government is wrong and they are wrong because they are clueless,” he said, adding that the government was unable to look for the obvious clues because it is “stubborn and mulish” in “defending its catastrophic mis-takes like demonetisation, a flawed GST, tax terrorism, reg-ulatory overkill, protectionism, and centralised control of decision-making in the Prime Minister’s Office”.

According to the Congress leader, the previous UPA dispen-sation had lifted 14 crore people out of poverty between 2004-2014, while the NDA had pushed millions of people below the poverty line since 2016.

Stressing that every number pointed in the direction of a floun-dering economy, he said that the economy can be brought out of the slowdown but this government was incapable of doing it.

“We will be lucky to end the year if growth touches five percent. Please remember (former Chief Economic Adviser)

Arvind Subramanian’s caution that five percent under this gov-ernment, because of suspect methodology, is not really five percent but less by about 1.5 percent,” Chidambaram said.

To a question over the gov-ernment’s plans to disinvest many Public Sector Units (PSUs) like BPCL, he said: “BPCL is a scandal. My colleague Jairam Ramesh pointed it out some months ago. By asking one PSU to buy another PSU is accounting manoeuvring. Government coffers are full and it doesn’t make any difference to me, the

organisation or the company or the economy. Let us see who buys BPCL, that will give a clue where the scandal lies.”

Attacking Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her remarks on onions, he said: “This shows the mind-set of the gov-ernment.” He was referring to Sitharaman’s remarks in Par-liament on Wednesday where she said that she does not eat onions and garlic.

Questioning the delay in pro-curing onions, he said: “They should have planned in advance. What’s the point of importing now?”

To a question on industrialist Rahul Bajaj, who had told Union Home Minister Amit Shah if people were scared to criticise the government, he said: “There is fear everywhere. Media also gripped with fear.”

On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Chidambaram said: “My first thoughts upon my release were with the Kashmiri people who have been denied their basic freedoms since August 4, 2019 - the day before the Con-stitution’s Article 370 conferring the region special status was removed.

India’s former finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram (left) leaves the Parliament House in New Delhi, yesterday.

Govt reviewing release of Kashmir political detaineesIANS SRINAGAR

The Jammu and Kashmir government is constantly reviewing the release of political detainees in Kashmir, a top official said here yesterday.

“The issue is being reviewed regularly and people have been released as well after enquiry. About the rest of the detained leaders, the review is going on,” Farooq Khan, advisor to Lieu-tenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu told reporters.

“We are not detaining them for a life term. It was done to control the situation. Some things are inevitable and the adminis-tration has to take strict measures... this was done to safe-guard the life and properties of people in Kashmir,” Khan said.

Three former chief min-isters are among close to 50 politicians detained since August 5 — the date when Article 370 was abrogated.

While Farooq Abdullah, a sitting MP from Srinagar has been detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) at his home on Gupkar Road in Srinagar, his son and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been lodged in Hari Niwas.

Another former Chief Min-ister Mehbooba Mufti was recently shifted to a government accommodation from Chashma Shahi after the onset of winter.

Thirty five politicians who were detained in the Centaur Hotel on the banks of the Dal Lake were recently moved to the MLA Hostel in Srinagar.

Protest against Citizenship (Amendment) BillKrishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists shout slogans during a demonstration against the government’s Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, in Guwahati, yesterday.

India may force social media platforms to offer user verificationREUTERS DELHI

India’s proposed new privacy bill may require large social media platforms to offer an iden-tity-verification option, a poten-tially precedent-setting effort to rein in the spread of “fake news”, two government sources said yesterday.

The requirement would likely raise a host of technical and policy issues for companies including Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram units, Twitter and Chinese app TikTok,

all of which have millions of users in India.

Companies would have to offer a mechanism for users to prove their identities and display that verification publicly, akin to the blue check-mark that Twitter has used to confirm the authen-ticity of some high-profile accounts, including those belonging to celebrities and politicians.

Verification would be optional for users, the sources said.

The Personal Data Protection bill, whose first draft was made

public last year, is keenly awaited by top technology com-panies and industry stakeholders as it could alter the way all major Internet companies process, store and transfer Indian con-sumers’ data.

The identity verification requirement, introduced in the latest draft of the bill, would be one of the most ambitious efforts globally to battle disinformation and fake news, which is often spread by pseudonymous or fake accounts.

“The idea was to reduce the spread of fake news and online

trolling,” said one of the sources, a federal IT ministry official.

The privacy bill was cleared by cabinet on Wednesday and will be presented to parliament soon, officials said. But passage is not imminent, one of the sources said, as the legislation will likely be referred to a par-liamentary expert committee or a panel for further review.

Since 2017, fake news and rumour-mongering on social media in India has led to more than 30 deaths, data portal Indi-aSpend said last year.

The companies have taken

some measures to combat the problem — including a move by WhatsApp to limit group-for-warding of messages.

But Facebook and other com-panies have resisted the idea that they should verify the identify of their users, partly on the grounds that people in many countries would struggle to provide suffi-cient documentation.

The voluntary verification scheme would give users more confidence in the validity of information on the verified accounts, though it would not eliminate fake accounts.

Moderate to heavy turnout recorded in Karnataka by-pollsIANS BENGALURU

The crucial by-elections yesterday to 15 Karnataka assembly seats, which are set to have a bearing on the state’s political course, witnessed moderate to heavy turnout with over 70 percent in seven constituencies by 5pm, and about 60 per cent in the rest eight seats, an official said.

“Voting has been full swing since 3pm, as evident from over 70 per cent polling till 5pm in 7 of the 15 Assembly seats,” poll official G. Jadiyappa said.

Of the seven constituencies, which posted over 70 percent turnout, Chikkaballapur recorded a whopping 79.80 per cent by 5pm, followed by 76.19 percent in Hosakote, 75.87 percent in KR Pete, 74.47 percent in Hunasuru, 72.42 percent Hirekerur, 72.23 percent in Yel-lapur and 70.73 in Athani.

Polling in Bengaluru’s four crucial seats gained slight momentum after remaining dull since morning to 3pm, and the percentage was 37.5 percent (lowest) in KR Pura, followed by 40.47 in Mahalakshmi layout in Bengaluru west, 41.43 per cent in Shivajinagara and 48.34 in Yeshvanputapurav

In the remaining four seats, voting percentage till 5pm was 69.76 percent in Kagwad, fol-lowed by 67.92 in Rannebennur, 66.64 in Gokak and 58.93 percent in Vijayanagara.

The 15 constituencies have nearly 38 lakh eligible voters - 19.25 lakh men and 18.52 lakh women. There were 3,185 polling stations with a total of 8,326 ballot units and 8,186 con-trolling units and 7,876 VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) for the bypolls.

Barring glitches in the EVMs and voters names missing in the electoral list in some polling sta-tions, voting was peaceful amid tight security. However, there were also reports of voters boy-cotting the polls in some areas over various issues.

“We are confident that the average voter turnout in most of the seats will be 75-80 percent,” BJP state unit spokesperson G. Madhusudan told IANS. “Voting has always been moderate to heavy in semi-urban and rural areas unlike in cities where urban apathy to voting has been the bane of elections in the past too,” he lamented.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediy-urappa appealed to the elec-torate to exercise their right to vote in large numbers and strengthen democracy.

Congress leaders also appealed to the people to come out of their homes and exercise their right to vote.

Meanwhile, the poll official said: “The Election Commission has declared paid leave for the voters working in public or private offices to exercise franchise in their polling stations.”

2018 order on Sabarimala not final word, says SCIANS NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court yesterday said its 2018 verdict allowing women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple was not the “final word” and the matter had been referred to a larger Bench.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing Bindu A, a woman devotee, alleged her client was attacked and the police refused to help her. She insisted that the

September 2018 judgement allowing the entry of women into the temple had not been stayed.

The Sabarimala temple would close soon and her client wanted to visit the temple, Jainsing submitted.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said there was an order for a larger Bench to decide the matter, and there was no final word yet.

The court said it would list the matter next week with other

petition, where a woman iden-tified as Rehana Fathima had raised the issues of the entry.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution Bench through a majority 4:1 verdict allowed girls and women of all ages to visit the Sabarimala temple insisting on the right to equality.

On November 14, another Constitution Bench, headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, in a 3:2 majority verdict referred the judgement to a seven-judge

Bench and also included issues on entry of women to places of worship of other religions.

Bindu has contended that the police failed to act in time or to give her adequate protection as she was attacked while paying a visit to the temple. “The situation is the same for any woman, aged 10-50 years, who wanted to visit Sabarimala, as there is an atmos-phere of fear and lawlessness en route to the temple”, she said in the petition.

Chidambaram also said that the Congress will oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill and that he supports the protests of the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the IIMC and other institutions over the proposed fee hike.

07FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 ASIA

Court gives govt and oppn 10 days to end deadlock on ECPINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) yesterday issued directions for the parliament to resolve the deadlock over the appointment of members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within 10 days.

During the hearing of a petition challenging the appoint-ments, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah appreciated the efforts made by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to resolve the deadlock.

He said: “National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman are neutral and they can end the deadlock between the oppo-sition and the government.”

The additional attorney general had requested the court for more time, saying that the seventh meeting of the Parlia-mentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Members of the Election Com-mission of Pakistan was held on Wednesday.

During the proceedings, Justice Minallah asked PML-N leader Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha if a petition in this regard had been filed in the Supreme Court.

Members of opposition parties had filed a petition in the top court on Wednesday, requesting it to “pass an appro-priate order” in the wake of an impasse in parliament on the appointment of the CEC and two ECP members.

“(I) don’t understand why

you have gone to court when the matter is moving towards a solution,” he remarked.

“Why do you bring such matters in court? It is beyond understanding; everything is in your hands, you are an elected representative, solve matters yourself.” The judge further said that while it was “easy to hear the case”, the court wanted to “see a strong parliament”.

“You shouldn’t come to us, instead resolve all conflicts in the parliament. We want to see a strong parliament and you have to do it,” the IHC chief justice said.

Justice Minallah also observed that the CEC position was an important one and the government and opposition should come together to end the impasse on his appointment.

The hearing of the case was adjourned until December 17.

The positions of ECP members from Sindh and Balo-chistan have been lying vacant since the retirement of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch in January, owing to a deadlock between the government and the

opposition over the appointment of the members.

After the government and opposition failed to reach a con-sensus over the names, President Dr Arif Alvi on August 22 appointed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s nominees as ECP members, giving way to controversy.

Matters worsened when incumbent CEC Sardar retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza refused to administer the oath to the members appointed by the president. A case against the appointments was also filed in the IHC.

The high court, in October, ordered that the matter be resolved in the parliament, fol-lowing which Qaiser and San-jrani held meetings to find a way to end the deadlock.

Furthermore, the bicameral and bipartisan committee of par-liament, headed by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, have held meetings to consider names of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan that have been recommended by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. Both Shahbaz and Prime Minister Imran have separately recom-mended three names for the positions of the members.

A deadlock, however, has persisted with contradictory claims from both the gov-ernment and the opposition.

The government and oppo-sition have also not been able to reach a consensus over the next CEC ahead of Raza’s retirement on December 6.

An Afghan light candles for Japanese doctor Tetsu Nakamura, who was killed in Jalalabad in an attack on Wednesday, in Kabul, yesterday.

Afghans hold candlelight vigil for slain Japanese doctorAP KABUL

Afghans, shocked at the killing of a beloved Japanese physician who was gunned down along with five Afghans in a roadside shooting the previous day, held a candlelight vigil in the capital Kabul yesterday.

Scores of activists, carrying banners emblazoned with Tetsu Nakamura’s picture, con-demning his death and calling him a hero, gathered in the well-guarded Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood of Kabul, in a square near the Japanese Embassy. Some of the partici-pants carried Japanese flags, while others carried flowers and the Afghan flag.

“When we heard the news yesterday my whole family was

crying,” said Farida Nikzad, an activist at the vigil.

“The people who did this are the enemies of Afghanistan, who are against the development of this country.”

Nakamura was killed in a roadside shooting Wednesday on his way to Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. The 73-year-old physician had been in Afghanistan since 2008 and had taken the lead in water projects in rural areas. His services to the people earned him the nickname “Uncle Murad.”

The Taliban issued a statement soon after the shooting denying responsibility for the attack. Police say their investigation is still looking for those behind the attack.

The Taliban control or hold sway over nearly half of Afghanistan,

staging near-daily attacks that target Afghan forces and government offi-cials but also kill scores of civilians.

At the vigil, speakers asked the government to name a uni-versity or prominent place in eastern Nangarhar province for

Nakamura “so that we may always remember him.” Nakamura had previously been given honorary Afghan citi-zenship for his work in rural communities. When Nakamura arrived in Afghanistan in 2008 he replaced a colleague who had been kidnapped and killed by Taliban insurgents.

“The vigil shows our respect and love for him and our shame that we couldn’t save him,” said Nikzad, the activist.

Hundreds of social media posts also expressed sorrow and outrage over the attack.

Imran forms committee for fresh legislationINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted an eight-member committee headed by Law Minister Farogh Naseem apparently to make fresh legis-lation/amendment to the Constitution regarding the appointment of the army chief and extension in his tenure as directed by the Supreme Court.

The Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) was constituted in terms of rule 17(2) of the Rules of Business, 1973.

“The committee shall examine the cases of fresh legis-lation as well as amendments to the existing laws and give its rec-ommendations whether they are to be introduced in the parliament or otherwise, subject to ratifi-cation by the cabinet,” the com-mittee’s terms of reference stated.

Secretarial support to the committee will be provided by the cabinet division.

Other members of the CCLC are Attorney General Anwar Mansoor, Minister for Parlia-mentary Affairs Azam Khan Swati, the federal minister concerned [by special invitation], Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Account-ability Mirza Shahzad Akbar, the law and justice secretary, a joint secretary [Prime Minister Office] and the cabinet secretary as sec-retary of the committee.

The Supreme Court had in a recent verdict allowed extension/reappointment of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as Chief of the Army Staff for another six months.

At the same time, the apex court directed the government to determine the tenure, terms and conditions of service of the army chief through legislation within this period.

Prosecution: ICC judges were wrong to reject Afghan probeAP THE HAGUE

International Criminal Court judges overstepped their powers when they refused to authorise an investigation into allegations of widespread abuses by government forces, the Taliban and US military and intelligence operatives during the Afghanistan conflict, a prose-cution lawyer and victims’ repre-sentatives said yesterday.

But a lawyer representing Afghanistan at an ICC appeals

hearing countered by saying that Afghanistan opposes an interna-tional investigation and should be allowed to prosecute war criminals in its own courts.

They were speaking on the second day of a hearing into the ICC prosecution office’s appeal against an April decision by a pre-trial chamber to reject a proposed investigation in Afghanistan.

The high-stakes hearing at the Hague-based court is focused on a proposed investigation that could for lead the first time to ICC

indictments against Americans and help end widespread impunity for crimes in Afghanistan.

It is extremely unlikely that, even if the investigation were to go ahead and prosecutors indicted Americans, they would ever appear in court. The United States government is not a member of the ICC and refuses to cooperate with it.

The hearing came on the day the court’s prosecution office issued an annual report on progress in other preliminary

probes, including high-profile cases in the Palestinian terri-tories, Ukraine, Venezuela, the Philippines and into allegations of crimes by UK forces in Iraq.

The report said that in the case of alleged crimes by Israel and Pal-estinians in the occupied terri-tories, the prosecutor “believes that it is time to take the necessary steps to bring the preliminary examination to a conclusion.” It did not provide a time frame.

After the preliminary probe in Afghanistan that lasted more

than a decade, the court’s Pros-ecutor, Fatou Bensouda, asked judges in November 2017 to authorise a far-reaching investigation.

She said there is information that members of the US military and intelligence agencies “com-mitted acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon per-sonal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period.”

Sri Lanka-Maldives tiesSri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (right) greets Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid during a meeting in Colombo, yesterday.

US hails Pakistan’s reforms to strengthen economyINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The United States has credited Pakistan’s reform efforts and the programme it has signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Moody’s recognition of the country’s economic stability.

Earlier this week the New York-based international credit rating agency raised Pakistan’s economic outlook from negative to stable on the back of the coun-try’s reforms supported by the IMF programme.

“Pleased to see that Moody’s Inv Svc has revised Pakistan’s credit outlook to stable, thanks to Finance Ministry Pakistan’s reform efforts and IMF pro-gramme,” said head of the US State Department’s South and Central Asia Bureau, Alice Wells.

“With bold economic reforms, Pakistan can boost growth, attract private capital, and expand exports,” she wrote in a tweet.

Wells also said the United States would be bringing 15 trade delegations from Pakistan next

year to enhance commercial ties between the two countries. The US Commerce Department said these will be buyer delegations and will attend US and regional trade shows over the next year.

She also commended Pakistan for surging 28 slots on the World Bank’s 2020 Ease of Doing Business ranking and for “being highlighted as one of the top ten reformers globally”.

Moody’s said improvements in the balance of payments was a primary driver of the rating action but added that foreign exchange buffers would still take time to rebuild.

The upgrade was welcomed by Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance, which attributed the devel-opment to an “improvement in the balance of payments position, supported by policy adjustments and currency flexibility”.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said at a news briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday that Moody’s report was not the only agency to appreciate Pakistan’s reforms, other leading financial

institutions were also doing the same.

Moody’s had in June last year lowered Pakistan’s outlook to negative from stable owing to erosion in foreign exchange buffers due to heightened external pressures.

The agency’s representatives visited Islamabad on Nov 27 and noted that Pakistan’s economic fundamentals were still suscep-tibile to risks but the country’s institutional strength had increased.

In October, the World Bank listed Pakistan among ‘top 10 improvers’ on its Ease of Doing Business Index, placing it among the most notable improvers, alongside Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Kuwait, China, India, and Nigeria.

“This rise is significant and made possible by collective and coordinated actions of the federal government and pro-vincial governments of Sindh and Punjab over the past year,” said Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.

“National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman are neutral and they can end the deadlock between the opposition and the government,” a Judge in the Islamabad High Court said.

Residents of flood-prone megacities, like Lagos and Mumbai, should not have to put their lives on hold and weather inhospitable and sometimes deadly conditions every time extreme rainfall strikes.

THE WASHINGTON POST

08 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019VIEWS

Forget about water at your peril

Even by climate change’s destructive standards, water is in an increasingly grim bind.

Droughts and monster floods are having devastating effects on the human civilisation, as the situa-tions in much of Africa, Australia, and China attest. Water shares per capita continue to drop, particularly in places where there is little, to begin with. From rising sea levels to fast-disap-pearing glaciers, and hurricanes of unprecedented strength, water is headlining many of the planet’s most pressing problems.

And that is just the global picture. Many of the projections in the devel-oping world make for even more unsettling viewing. Jordan could run out of water within a few decades, as could many small Pacific and Car-ibbean island states. Cities like Cape Town, Chennai, and Sao Paulo have already signalled the possible future of some urban areas - no water at all.

This is what a devastating water crisis looks like, but you would not know it by the global response. The focus is not there. At the climate summit in New York in September, there was a big push to transform food production systems and stem biodi-versity loss, but water was barely mentioned. The Paris Climate Agreement all but ignored water, while the Global Commission on Adaptation, an ambitious new initi-ative to combat climate change, only

included a water chapter after fierce lobbying. Time and again, water is passed over or given a lesser billing than the likes of agriculture or forestry at the negoti-ating table.

Crucially, the coordi-nation is not there, either. That lack of attention at the very top is pushing water down

the pecking order among regional, national, and local authorities, and in so doing, it is crushing momentum at every level. In practical terms, this means water is grossly undervalued from national capitals right down to smalltown district centres just as climate change wreaks havoc with our already energised water cycle. For all the lip service paid to water’s impor-tance - and the magnitude of its problems, water sometimes seems to get platitudes, statements of concern, but little in the way of concrete, life-saving policy prescriptions.

There is a bitter and unfortunate

irony to all of this, of course. Though water is fundamental to everything and everyone, it is increasingly hostage to our deeply fragmented political climate. Water seldom respects borders, which makes interstate and intercommunal cooperation, and infor-mation sharing all the more necessary. With less and less of that going around, water and its roughly 7.7 billion dependents are becoming mired in paralysis that benefits no one. Given that most people either have or soon will first experience climate change through water, that is a tragedy.

But this crisis - and our reaction to it - also speaks to the obstacles the water community faces in rallying around an issue of this size and signifi-cance. Because of water’s ubiquity, we have divvied up responsibility for its component “parts” among different organisations over the years - water for humans, water for agriculture, water for nature - so there is no powerful body capable of championing its cause.

The net result is that our key resource lacks the stature to fight its own corner at a time when messy pol-itics is hamstringing action across the board. To put it bluntly, people are dying from climate-related catas-trophes because our mechanisms for collaboration are not up to scratch.

Perhaps the greatest shame of all, though, is that many of these crises could just as easily be opportunities for progress. We know what can and should be done, just as we know well the consequences of a failure to act.

Residents of flood-prone megac-ities, like Lagos and Mumbai, should not have to put their lives on hold and weather inhospitable and sometimes deadly conditions every time extreme rainfall strikes. But until water institu-tions are empowered and infrastruc-tural investment unleashed, millions of people will stew in floodwaters, sometimes for months at a time. To compound this madness, improved urban water access could yield a trillion-dollar economic boost, instead of billions in losses.

Farmers, too, need not lose every-thing whenever vicious and increas-ingly frequent droughts hit, but until water receives the focus it warrants, we will have insufficient resources and clout to build resilience among the planet’s poorest people across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. For example, introducing simple technologies for capturing floodwaters to recharge underground resources can help farmers endure these long dry spells.

Introducing technologies, such as satellite data and monitoring from sensors which help farmers irrigate only when crops require water by informing them of soil moisture rates, requires the kind of political buy-in that we often lack. At the very least, we can deploy early warning systems, and thereby ensure that the local authorities - and the people who depend on them - meet disasters with maximum preparation.

Morocco, for example, has already taken such measures in its parched deep south. It has enacted a law that helps manage the movements of tradi-tional agro-pastoralists during droughts to ensure grazing areas are not over-stressed and damaged.

There are no one-size-fits-all solu-tions, but through policy and regu-latory reforms, improvements to gov-ernance, and the use of nature-based tools alongside digital technology, we have an array of answers.

And unless greater emphasis is placed on improving global water gov-ernance, we risk undoing whatever climate action we have engineered so far, while also missing out on a golden opportunity to deliver potentially seismic changes elsewhere.

It is really no coincidence that water insecure states tend to be polit-ically and economically fragile as well. It is our contention that improved water management can be a catalyst for superior state-wide governance and treatment of women and marginalised communities. From Yemen to northern Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan and many places in between, we are desperate to turn water from a source of tension and misery to a basis for development and cooperation.

Even in an optimistic scenario, there will be no preventing some of the damage climate change will wreak. The threats are too many and water too enormous a resource to completely shield. But contrary to some of the more dispiriting news coverage, there are solutions out there. We just need to mobilise the interna-tional community to deploy them.

At the ongoing climate change conference in Madrid, we have another opportunity to resurrect climate action, and it is our firm belief that if this gathering is to succeed where previous ones failed, we are going to have to put water front and center. Its all-consuming nature makes it a fitting focal point for us to coalesce around. Its deadly toll leaves us no choice.

RACHAEL MCDONNELL AL JAZEERA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Racism, discrimination and Islamophobia have spread like poison

ivy in countries once seen as cradles of

democracy.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish President

An insult to sports worldwide

Russia’s sports program now faces a crisis. The executive committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, known as

WADA, is to meet next Monday in Paris to decide whether Russia should be excluded from all international sporting events, including next year’s Tokyo Olympics, for four years. The sanction is harsh, but the offense is odious: Russia has been caught anew manipulating records, smearing a whistleblower and misleading the rest of the world. The executive committee should punish Russia but spare indi-vidual athletes who are clean, per-mitting them to compete as indi-viduals without flag or anthem.

The sordid tale begins at the Sochi Winter Olympics of 2014. Russian sport officials, with help from the FSB, the Federal Security Service, ran a sophisticated operationin which ath-letes were given

performance- enhancing drugs that were concealed by clandestinely replacing tainted urine samples with clean urine. In 2016, Grigory Rod-chenkov, head of a Moscow labo-ratory, revealed the covert program involving dozens of athletes, calling into question the integrity of the com-petition. Russia was suspended from international sport but reinstated in 2018 on a promise that it would provide WADA with a database from the Moscow laboratory. The Moscow data was considered critical because it would allow an accounting of who among Russian athletes were given the drugs and clear those who were clean of any suspicion. The database, WADA said, would “enable the anti-doping community finally to resolve and draw a line under the allegations of a systematic conspiracy to dope Russian athletes.”

But when the database was turned over to WADA on Jan. 10, it contained a whole new set of deceptions that

was discovered when investigators compared it with a copy the agency had obtained from Rodchenkov in 2017. Adverse findings were deleted, others backdated and efforts made to cover up the data manipulations, as well. The New York Times reported that “15,325 files and folders con-taining the ‘most relevant antidoping data’ had been deleted.”

Even more egregious, in the database turned over to WADA, the Rus-sians created fake messages that attempted to smear Rodchenkov by suggesting that he and two others had falsified entries as part of a scheme to extort money from athletes. At the same time, significant original messages were deleted that would provide evidence of the coverup of the doping of Russian athletes in 2014 and 2015. WADA’s Compliance Review Committee-calledthe manipulations “an extremely serious case of non-compliance” with its demand for the database and recom-mendedthe four-year ban.

A well-connected metro with buses to take care of the last mile problem is of great value to any country, especially Qatar as it is experiencing a tremendous growth in the number of tourists from all around the world and a modern transport system is what makes life easier for the visitors.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI

osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Another Metro milestone

The announcement yesterday by Ministry of Transport and Communications that the Doha Metro will open the third line – Green Line – on Tuesday is a

momentous occasion for Qatar as it marks a major achievement for the country in its transport sector and also one step closer to completing the necessary infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The metro network and its feeder bus service make it much easier to access the World Cup stadiums and fans will find it very easy to travel between stadiums and fan zones. The fact that the metro network and the stations are ready so far ahead of tournament shows how ready the country is to host the marquee sporting event.

Two stadiums out of the eight, which will host the 2022 World Cup, Khalifa International Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium, are already ready and hosting matches including the ongoing 24th Arabian Gulf Cup while Education City Stadium will be unveiled on December 18, Qatar National Day, in time to host the Club World Cup semi-final and final matches.

All these three stadiums can be easily reached using the Doha Metro and the football fans can avoid the evening traffic and parking woes. The crowd on Monday to watch the last group match of Qatar against UAE at the Khalifa International Stadium and yes-terday for the semi-final between Qatar and Saudi Arabia at the Al Janoub Stadium shows that the fans have embraced the Doha Metro wholeheartedly and thousands were seen using the network to reach the stadiums.

Doha Metro has also announced that they will open the rest of the stations on the red line including the one at the Hamad International Airport on the same day completing the whole network and stations. The other stations include Katara, Qatar University and Lusail.

With all the lines and sta-tions operational, a lot of popular cultural and tourist des-tinations like Souq Waqif, Qatar National Library, Katara,

Museum of Islamic Art and malls like Villaggio, Mall of Qatar and City Center are now easily accessible using the metro and its feeder bus services.

A well-connected metro with buses to take care of the last mile problem is of great value to any country, espe-cially Qatar as it is experiencing a tremendous growth in the number of tourists from around the world and a modern transport system is what makes life easier for the visitors.

As an added benefit, the metro also helps remove a large number passenger vehicles off the roads and thus con-tribute to sustainable development and cleaner environment.

Cracks are seen in the dried-up municipal dam in drought-stricken Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, on November 14, 2019.

One of Macron’s election promises was to replace this jumble of schemes with a universal points system. It’s a popular idea: According to a recent poll, 64% of the French support it, and that goes up to 80% among Macron voters; there’s no majority for the proposals only among the backers of far right leader Marine Le Pen.

09FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 OPINION

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World leaders have long mocked each other. WithTrump, they mean it.

Why the French have gone on strike again

ADAM TAYLOR THE WASHINGTON POST

LEONID BERSHIDSKY BLOOMBERG

It’s rarely nice to hear others’ unvarnished views about you. But when you’re the president of the United States - even one

whose craving for affirmation requires a daily avalanche of false and misleading statements - the candid truth shouldn’t be such a shock.

On Tuesday, a group of world

leaders gathered at a reception at Buckingham Palace. Unaware they were being filmed, they appeared to discuss the elephant in the room. “I just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said to the circle, which included French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

His name was not mentioned in the clip, but President Donald Trump had little doubt he was the elephant. On Wednesday morning, he abruptly canceled a planned news conference to head home early, telling reporters that the Canadian prime minister was “two-faced” and adding that Trump had “called him out on” Canada’s low defense spending.

Trump was later heard on an audio recording praising his own response. “That was funny when I said that guy was two-faced,” he told an unidentified attendee of the NATO summit.

But by the standards of world leaders’ insults, the chatter from Trudeau and his circle, a response to

Trump’s insistence on a marathon of news conferences on Tuesday, was mild. Foreign leaders are basically just ordinary people with bigger egos; they love to moan when they appear to be in private.

Often, their secrets come out only when they think the mics are off. Numerous world leaders have been caught giving unflattering remarks about their peers over the years. “What more does this housewife want from me? My balls on a plate?” French President Jacques Chirac said of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during one memorable European meeting in 1988.

Another French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, was speaking to President Barack Obama in 2011 when he offered an undiplomatic view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that was accidentally broadcast to journalists and later pub-lished on French websites. “I cannot bear Netanyahu. He’s a liar,” Sarkozy said, before Obama lamented that he had to “deal with him even more often than you.”

American leaders aren’t always so contrite. As captured by the tapes he made of his presidency, Richard Nixon in 1971 called Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s father, a “pompous egghead,” accom-panied by other, much saltier lan-guage. When the elder Trudeau found out he had been called one particular insult by Nixon, he responded: “I’ve been called worse things by better people.”

Even the special relationship between Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s may not have been so cordial. Later accounts from British officials during the period suggest there were major policy dif-ferences between the pair, with Thatcher apparently worried about the U.S. administration’s “amateur-ishness and disarray” in the Middle

East. “If I reported to you what Mrs. Thatcher really thought about Pres-ident Reagan, it would damage Anglo-American relations,” Nicholas Hend-erson, the British ambassador to Washington under Thatcher, later once told a British politician.

For some Trump supporters, the laughter behind his back was proof that Trump was doing something right. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host, suggested that it was “great news” for Trump and said that all Republican presidents since Reagan had been mocked by foreign leaders.

Certainly, both Reagan and Pres-ident George W. Bush were looked down upon by their foreign peers. Britain’s Johnson, in a past life as a columnist and editor, once wrote that the younger Bush was “a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inartic-ulate, who epitomizes the arrogance of American foreign policy.”

But there’s something different about Trump’s relationship with other world leaders. He is much more pugil-istic in his instincts, willing to engage in vicious spats with foreign officials ranging from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to London Mayor Sadiq Khan. And scores of foreign officials have been more than happy to insult him pub-licly and privately.

When push comes to shove, Trump can respond forcefully: He effectively forced a British ambas-sador out of Washington after the dip-lomat’s private and unflattering thoughts on Trump were leaked. But at points, he has been blindsided by the mockery, such as when a remark during a United Nations speech that said his administration had “accom-plished more than almost any admin-istration in the history of our country” drew laughter.

“America’s - so true,” Trump said, stumbling over his words and visibly surprised. “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”

France went on strike Thursday with transportation disrupted, some roads blocked and many schools closed. But the reason

for the protests isn’t really there yet: Though President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to reform the country’s pension system, he hasn’t presented a specific bill describing how this will be done.

That the French are protesting against a plan that has yet to be finalized shows Macron was right to some extent in 2017, when he called France “not a reformable country” and last year, when he referred to the French as “Gauls who are resistant to change.” But there’s a more generous explanation, too: As is often the case with Macron, he has teased ambitious changes without properly explaining how they would impact those affected by them. The strikes are as much about Macron’s haste and per-ceived distance from people’s eve-ryday struggles, as they are about his generally sensible ideas on changing France’s complex and expensive retirement benefits system.

Today, the system has 42 man-datory, sector-specific pension plans, of which the average worker has con-tributed to three. One-third of workers are entitled to payouts from more than four of them. They often have trouble working out how much they’re owed.

Just as it’s hard for workers to understand the system, it’s difficult for the government to keep track of its financial sustainability - and it’s on the hook for covering deficits. It pays out 5.5 billion euros a year ($6.1 billion) to cover the shortfalls in just three schemes - those of the state railway company SNCF, the Paris metro operator RATP and state utility companies.

This year’s Mercer Global Pension Index rates France’s pension system on the same level as those of the U.K. and the US, but lower than those of the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany or Canada, saying it “has some good features but also has major risks and/or shortcomings that should be addressed” to make it sustainable.

One of Macron’s election promises was to replace this jumble of schemes with a universal points system. It’s a popular idea: According to a recent poll, 64% of the French support it, and that goes up to 80% among Macron voters; there’s no majority for the pro-posals only among the backers of far right leader Marine Le Pen.

A year ago, the government’s High Commission for Pension Reform pre-sented some guidelines for the pro-posed changes. All public and private sector workers would use their pension contributions to buy pension points, whose number will determine the eventual pension. Extra points

would be allocated for children, arduous and hazardous work and other special cases. There would be a transition period: People born before 1963 won’t be affected.

But lots of key parameters are still up for discussion. For example, the commission has proposed paying full pensions starting from the age of 64 and applying a discount if a worker wants to retire at 62, the current retirement age for most French people.

The rules for indexing the value of a point are also still unclear; it’s pro-posed that pensions increase in line with nationwide salary growth, but some kind of role for “social partners” - employers and unions - also is envisaged.

Under a universal plan, France’s powerful labor unions would have much less negotiating power than today. That irks the more left-wing ones, which, not coincidentally, rep-resent most public sector workers. They are the ones who are leading the strike that began on Thursday.

Macron, of course, has faced down the unions before, when he reformed France’s convoluted labor code to create easier ways to hire and fire workers and make low-wage jobs more attractive than receiving unem-ployment benefits. The measures have largely paid off, contributing to lower unemployment and fewer short-term contracts. This time around, however, Macron faces pow-erful resistance even before it’s clear exactly what he’s about to do. The turnout on Thursday, and how long the strike lasts, will determine whether he’s forced to deal with the ghosts of 1995, when mass protests forced then Prime Minister Alain Juppe to abandon pension reform plans.

It may appear contradictory that while a majority of French people back the principle of Macron’s reform, 58% also support the strikes against it. But it isn’t, really.

In September, the government launched consultations with stake-holders and a public discussion of the proposed reform’s key principles, keen to show its willingness to listen to all of the stakeholders before taking final decisions. The process is meant to last until the end of the year. But so far workers have no easy way to compare the pension due to them under the current system and under

Often, their (world leaders) secrets come out only when they think the mics are off. Numerous world leaders have been caught giving unflattering remarks about their peers over the years.

Macron’s. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to unveil the details as soon as next week. In the meantime, the dearth of infor-mation allowed one of the labor unions, CGT, to claim that pensions will fall dramatically and to call on members to defend the key achievement of the current pension system - one of the world’s lowest poverty rates for people under 65. Neither the union nor the strikers are deterred by the government’s promise that the minimum pension will be 1,000 euros for everyone, while today, 38% of women and 22% of men receive less.

Given the government’s intention to provide for a relatively long transition period, it could take a little more time to write the actual draft legislation and present it, along with a publicly accessible comparison calculator. Pension reforms are notoriously hard to sell, and the proposals must be precise and universally under-standable to reduce the risk of mass protest. Three months are probably too little time for a proper explan-atory campaign and a bargaining exercise with the unions.

Yet, as he’s often done in both domestic and European affairs, Macron appears to be rushing things, seemingly convinced that everyone else should see what’s obvious to him. But it’s very dif-ficult to win that argument without putting all of the cards on the table. Macron should show his hand and make a greater effort to convince the French that he’s not out to make them poorer in their old age.

People taking part in a demonstration against the pension overhauls, in Paris, yesterday.

10 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019ASIA

Moon calls for Chinese role in denuclearising North KoreaAP SEOUL

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday the global diplomatic push to defuse the nuclear standoff with North Korea is at a “critical crossroads” and called for China to continue serving a “positive role” in denu-clearising the Korean Peninsula and stabilising peace.

Moon made the comments during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at Seoul’s presidential Blue House. Wang made his first visit in four years amid efforts to patch up relations damaged by South Korea’s deployment of a US anti-missile system China perceives as a security threat.

“The process for the complete denuclearising of the Korean Peninsula and permanently sta-bilising peace is at a critical cross-roads,” Moon said. “I would like to ask for continuous support from the Chinese government until the new era of a peaceful and denuclearised Korean Peninsula opens.”

Wang called for stronger “strategic communication” between Beijing and Seoul and took a jab at the Trump adminis-tration, which is locked in trade war with Beijing, saying that

international order was being threatened by “unilateralism” and “forcible politics”. “China and South Korea as neighbours should strengthen dialogue and cooper-ation to jointly uphold multilat-eralism and free trade,” Wang said.

The Blue House said Moon during his meeting with Wang called for stronger bilateral efforts to facilitate tourism between the countries and expressed hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit South Korea at an “early time” next year.

Wang told Moon that China would continue to play a “con-structive role” in the efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis despite “recent difficulties in the political situation sur-rounding the Korean Peninsula,” the Blue House said.

Wang on Wednesday met with South Korean Foreign Min-ister Kang Kyung-wha and

discussed issues related to North Korea and details of a trilateral summit between Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo planned later this month in China. They also dis-cussed facilitating high-level exchanges and arranging a pos-sible visit to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping next year, South Korea’s Foreign Min-istry said.

His visit comes after years of tensions over the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system placed in southern South Korea and amid concerns that a US-led diplomatic push to resolve a nuclear standoff with North Korea is beginning to fall apart over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament.

There’s also uneasiness over the US-China trade war, which has hurt South Korea’s export-dependent economy and included US demands that South Korean companies stop using equipment from Chinese technology giant Huawei based on security concerns.

Wang last visited South Korea in 2015, a year before relations soured over Seoul’s decision to deploy THAAD, which China claimed could be reconfigured to peer deep into its territory. South Korea has said China retaliated

by limiting Chinese tour group visits to South Korea, whose economy is increasingly dependent on Chinese tourism, and demand for its industrial products.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying mentioned THAAD among issues affecting the bilateral ties that the sides had “agreed to continue to properly

deal with.” The spokesperson also reiterated China’s position that North Korea’s “legitimate concerns.... in terms of security and development should be taken seriously,” and that the North should be offered sanc-tions relief “in light of the devel-opment of the situation so as to encourage all parties to move forward in the direction of political settlement.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is greeted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right) during their meeting at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday.

Samoa shuts down in unprecedented battle against measlesAFP WELLINGTON

Samoa entered a two-day lockdown yesterday to carry out an unprecedented mass vacci-nation drive aimed at containing a devastating measles epidemic that has killed dozens of children in the Pacific island nation.

As the death toll climbed to 62, officials ordered all busi-nesses and non-essential gov-ernment services to close, shut down inter-island ferries and told people to keep their cars off the roads.

Residents were advised to obey a dawn-to-dusk curfew, staying in their homes and dis-playing a red flag if any occu-pants were not yet immunised.

Hundreds of vaccination

teams, including public servants drafted in for the operation, fanned out across the nation of 200,000 in the early hours of the morning.

They plan to go door-to-door in villages and towns to admin-ister mandatory vaccinations in red-flagged houses.

The markets on Apia’s water-front, usually packed with tourists buying handicrafts, were silent as stalls stood empty, while there was hardly any traffic in the city centre.

“It’s very, very quiet out here. I can just hear a few barking dogs. The streets are empty. There are no cars,” UNICEF’s Pacific islands chief Sheldon Yett said. “People are staying at home waiting for the vaccination cam-paign. The teams are getting their

supplies together and getting ready to go out.” The operation, carried out under emergency powers invoked as the epidemic took hold last month, is a des-perate bid to halt measles infection rates that have been inexorably rising since mid-October, with most of the victims young children.

“I’ve seen mass mobilisation campaigns before, but not over an entire country like this,” Yett said.

“That’s what we’re doing right now. This entire country is being vaccinated.”

Immunisation rates in Samoa dropped steeply to just 30 percent before the outbreak, the World Health Organisation said, blaming an anti-vaccine mes-saging campaign.

Two babies died after receiving measles vaccination shots last year, which lead to the temporary suspension of the country’s immunisation pro-gramme and dented parents’ trust in the vaccine.

It was later found the deaths were caused when other medi-cines were incorrectly administered.

Rates of 90 percent are inter-national best practice. Immuni-sation rates in Pacific island nations Tonga and Fiji are at around 90 percent, and their measles outbreaks have been far milder. Yett said social media had been used to spread anti-vaccination misinformation in Samoa and the online giants running the platforms needed to clamp down on such “incredibly

irresponsible” material.“It’s quite clear that they

have a corporate responsibility to step up to the plate and make sure that populations, particu-larly vulnerable populations, get accurate information that’s going to keep children alive,” he said.

Samoa’s immunisation rate has risen to 55 percent over the past fortnight and Yett said this week’s two-day drive aimed to push it above 90 percent, which should help curb the current out-break and stop future epidemics.

Even Prime Minister Tui-laepa Sailele Malielegaoi’s resi-dence had a red flag fluttering outside it yesterday, with the leader saying his nephew had recently arrived from Australia and needed a measles shot.

A ferry makes its way from Taronga Zoo to Circular Quay, with the CBD skyline barely visible in the background through smoke haze from bush fires, in Sydney Harbour, Australia, yesterday.

Sydney smoke crisis ‘longest on record’AFP SYDNEY

Australian bush fires have caused unprecedented pollution in Sydney and along the coun-try’s east coast, officials said yesterday, with smoke and dust burning residents’ eyes and prompting a spike in respiratory complaints.

Hundreds of bush fires have burned out of control since Sep-tember up and down the eastern seaboard, blanketing cities from Sydney to Brisbane in smoke for weeks on end.

The extent of the crisis was

made clear yesterday, with the New South Wales department of environment declaring bush fires and dust had caused “some of the highest air pollution ever seen” in Australia.

The region “has experienced other periods of poor air quality that lasted several weeks, including the 1994 Sydney bush fires and the Black Christmas bush fires of Dec 2001-Jan 2002,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

“This event, however, is the longest and the most widespread in our records.” New South Wales Rural Fire Service said more than a dozen fires were

burning near Sydney yesterday, including three that carried an emergency warning.

For three weeks the city has seen almost daily air quality warnings.

Bush fires are common in Australia, but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought fuelled by climate change.

New South Wales health officials said more people with asthma were turning up at hos-pitals, and ambulance call-outs for breathing problems were up 24% in the week to December 1.

N Korea says Trump remarks undermined leader’s dignity REUTERS SEOUL

US President Donald Trump’s comments on military force and the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would represent “a very dangerous challenge” if they were intended to provoke Pyongyang, a top North Korean diplomat said yesterday.

Trump’s comments threaten to return the two countries to the tensions of two years ago, Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs for North Korea, said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

Kim has warned that the United States has until the end of the year to change its stance or he could take an unspecified “new path.” On Tuesday Trump once again called Kim “Rocket Man” and said the United States reserved the right to use mil-itary force against North Korea.

“If this is meant to make expressions, reminiscent of those days just two years ago when a war of words was fought across the ocean, surface again on purpose, it will be a very dangerous challenge,” Choe said, arguing that the comments aroused concern and undermined the dignity of North Korea’s leader.

The lack of courtesy shown to Kim had “prompted the waves of hatred of our people against the US and the Americans and they are getting higher and higher”, Choe said.

“It would be fortunate” if Trump’s remarks were simply “an instantaneous verbal lapse, but the matter becomes dif-ferent if they were a planned provocation that deliberately targeted us”, she said.

North Korea would watch closely to see if Trump repeated the comments, Choe said.

“If any language and expressions stoking the atmos-phere of confrontation are used once again on purpose at a crucial moment as now, that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard,” she concluded.

Hong Kong authorities allow protest march on SundayREUTERS HONG KONG

Hong Kong authorities granted protesters permission to march this weekend, organisers said yesterday, giving the green light to a rally seen as a gauge of the pro-democracy movement’s support following its sweeping victory in local elections.

The Civil Human Rights Front, the group that organised million-strong marches in the China-ruled city in June, said it had received permission from police for a planned Human Rights Day rally on Sunday.

During the past six months of increasingly violent anti-Beijing demonstrations, author-ities had denied requests from the group to hold rallies. Some calm has descended since the November 24 district elections, when pro-democracy candi-dates won nearly 90% of the seats.

The protests were sparked by a controversial extradition bill, since withdrawn, and have swelled into broader calls for greater democratic freedoms. The months of unrest have posed the biggest popular chal-lenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

A motion to remove the city’s Beijing-backed chief exec-utive, Carrie Lam, failed to pass in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council yesterday, as it was

rejected by pro-Beijing law-makers, local broadcaster RTHK said.

Thirty-six lawmakers voted against the impeachment motion while 26 voted for it, RTHK said. While backing Lam, the leader of the biggest pro-Beijing party also criticised her administration, saying it had been unable to prevent “violence unleashed by rioters”, the broadcaster said.

Separately, a protester who was shot by police in an alter-cation two months ago appeared in court for the first time to face charges of rioting and assaulting a police officer.

Tsang Chi-kin, who had been hospitalised after the October shooting, walked into a Hong Kong court and left about an hour later after his case was adjourned until February.

An officer shot Tsang in the chest with a live round. Police said the officer involved was under serious threat and acted in self-defence.

Police say they have exer-cised restraint in the face of escalating violence, but they are facing accusations of excessive use of force.

A rally has been planned for Friday evening to protest against the use of tear gas by police.

Demonstrators have repeatedly called for an inde-pendent inquiry into police use of force as one of their “five demands”.

Japanese court reduces Peru man’s death sentence to lifeAP TOKYO

A Japanese appeals court reduced the death sentence of a Peruvian man convicted of killing six people to life in prison yesterday.

The Tokyo High Court issued the ruling in the case of Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludena, a court official said on customary condition of anonymity.

The Saitama District Court had found him guilty in March last year.

Nakada was charged with breaking into three homes in Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo, in 2015 and killing six people over several days, including two children aged 7 and 10.

Lawyers had sought an acquittal, saying he was men-tally ill and not fit to stand trial.

During his arrest, Nakada threw himself off the second floor of a house and slashed himself on the arm several times.

Japanese media reports said he was muttering nonsensical things and expressed fears about getting killed.

Executions in Japan are by hanging.

Prosecutors had argued that Nakada was aware of what he was doing.

South Korean president expresses hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit South Korea at an “early time” next year.

11FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 EUROPE

Strike snarls France as unions protest pension overhaulAFP PARIS

A nationwide strike brought much of France to a standstill yesterday as tens of thousands hit the streets to protest a pension overhaul by President Emmanuel Macron, which unions say will force millions of people to work longer or face curtailed benefits.

Trains, metros and buses, as well as some flights, were can-celled while most schools were closed or only assuring daycare services, forcing many parents to find alternatives or stay home from work.

Authorities said around 285,000 people had taken part in rallies across the country by midday, a figure that did not include the several thousand at a Paris march that began at 2:00 pm.

“We haven’t seen such a turnout in a very long time,” said Yves Veyrier, head of the Force Ouvriere union at the beginning of the Paris rally toward the Place de la Nation.

“We now expect the gov-ernment to take the measure of this mobilisation, and under-stand that its universal system is a bad idea,” he said.

Although the Paris march

began peacefully, black-clad protesters later set fire to a storage trailer and broke store-front windows, prompting police to fire tear gas to try to halt the vandalism.

Police also fired tear gas in the western city of Nantes, where some protesters scuffled with firefighters and security forces.

Public transport unions said they would extend until at least Monday their open-ended strike, which saw 90 percent of TGV and regional trains cancelled and nearly all lines on the Paris metro affected.

Rush-hour traffic was lighter than usual in the French capital as many people simply took the day off to avoid the travel chaos, with several stores and restau-rants shuttered because employees could not get to work.

Bike paths were packed as commuters turned to bicycles and electric scooters, while several ride-hailing companies were offering special strike promotions.

National newspapers were unable to publish their print edi-tions, and the CGT union said workers had blocked seven of the country’s eight oil refineries, raising the prospect of fuel shortages if the strike continues.

The SNCF rail operator said 90 percent of TGV trains would again be cancelled Friday while warning of “very severe disrup-tions” for the Eurostar and Thalys trains serving London and Brussels.

Air France said it would again cancel 30 percent of its

domestic flights, and 10 percent of its short-haul international routes.

Macron has faced a wave of opposition this year, from the “yellow vest” movement demanding improved living standards to more recent pro-tests from police, firefighters, teachers, hospital workers and lawyers. The president has so far largely succeeded in pushing through a series of controversial reforms, including loosening labour laws and cutting taxes for businesses.

Union leaders are

demanding that Macron scrap his plan for a “universal” system that would do away with 42 “special regimes” for sectors ranging from rail and energy workers to lawyers and Paris Opera employees, which often grant workers higher pensions or early retirement.

Critics say the changes would effectively require millions of workers in both the public and private sectors to work beyond the legal retirement age of 62 if they want to receive the full pension they have been promised.

Policemen stand ready as protesters run away from tear gas during a demonstration against French government’s pensions reform plans, in Paris, yesterday.

Brexit Party hit by split a week before UK polls AP LONDON

One week before Britain votes in a national election, fractures were emerging yesterday within jittery political parties unsure how a volatile electorate will judge them.

The Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage, which became the UK’s top party in European elections earlier this year, saw four senior officials quit with a broadside accusing Farage of putting Brit-ain’s exit from the European Union at risk.

Meanwhile, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn both faced criticism of their moral character.

Appearing on “This Morning” — a cozy morning chat show — Johnson was asked about a 1995 magazine article in which he called the children of single mothers “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate.” “You must be able to understand how hurtful that is to someone’s feelings,” host Holly Willoughby said.

Johnson swerved the question, saying “I don’t think this is the time to talk about articles that were written a very

long time ago.” Johnson has made offensive comments much more recently, including a news-paper column last year in which he called Muslim women who wear face-covering veils “letter boxes.” Asked about that and other comments, Johnson has said he’s sorry if his words caused hurt - but hasn’t apolo-gized for writing them.

All 650 seats in the House of Commons are up for grabs next week when voters will pass judgment on an ill-tempered and divisive election.

Johnson pushed for the December vote, which is taking place more than two years early, in hopes of winning a majority and breaking Britain’s political impasse over Brexit. He says that if the Conservatives win a majority, he will get Parliament to ratify his Brexit divorce deal and take the UK out of the EU by the current January 31 deadline.

Labour says it will negotiate a new Brexit deal, then give voters a choice between leaving on those terms and remaining in the bloc. It also has a radical domestic agenda, promising to nationalise key industries and utilities, hike the minimum wage and give free Internet access to all.

Johnson’s Conservatives are

ahead in opinion polls, but ana-lysts say this election is particu-larly hard to predict because Brexit cuts across traditional party divides.

The 2016 referendum on Britain’s EU membership split the country into two camps: “leavers” and “remainers.”

The Conservative lead sug-gests the party has managed to win over many Brexit-backing voters, while Labour faces com-petition for pro-EU electors from

the centrist Liberal Democrats and several smaller parties.

The four, who were among 29 Brexit Party members elected to the European legislature in May, accused Farage of putting Britain’s EU exit at risk by siphoning pro-Brexit votes from the Conservatives.

The Brexit Party is not running in 317 Conservative-held seats, but is fielding candidates in about 300 other constituencies.

FROM LEFT: Former Brexit Party MEPs, Annunziata Rees Mogg, MEP for East Midlands; Lance Forman, MEP for London; Lucy Harris, MEP for Yorkshire and Humber; and John Longworth, MEP for Yorkshire and Humber attend a press conference after resigning the whip to back the Conservative Party in the upcoming General Election, in Westminster, central London, yesterday.

Protest against coalAn activist wearing a mask depicting Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe takes part in a protest to demand Japan to stop supporting coal, outside the venue of the UN climate change conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, yesterday.

Germany may deport convicted Syrians

AFP BERLIN

Interior ministers from Germany’s federal states said yesterday they plan to ease deportation rules to allow Syrians convicted of serious crimes to be returned to the war-torn country.

The move has been pushed by conservative and far-right lawmakers following a series of high-profile crimes involving migrants in recent years.

“The will to deport crim-inals to Syria as well as Afghan-istan is there,” Joachim Grote, chairman of the conference of interior ministers and a member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, told reporters after a meeting in Luebeck in northern Germany.

But Grote admitted imple-menting the policy would be tough as Germany has “no contact person in Syria”.

A further complication is that each German state will have to debate the issue before deportations can resume.

Germany has put deporta-tions to Syria on hold since the start of the conflict, which has killed 370,000 people.

The suspension has been extended every six months.

But major crimes have sparked calls for the policy to be relaxed in the case of crim-inals such as the 24-year-old Syrian man convicted for killing a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz last year.

The murder led to protests by far-right groups.

Merkel, in power for 14 years, has been under pressure ever since 2015 when she decided not to close German borders to a mass influx of ref-ugees and migrants.

The move earned her much praise but also sparked an angry backlash that fuelled the rise of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has been vocal in calling for deportations.

The Pro Asyl migrant charity said the deportation ban should be extended again “given the disastrous human rights and military situation in Syria”.

Activists sabotage ‘ecologically catastrophic’ e-scooters in FranceAFP PARIS

The radical environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion yesterday claimed the sabotage of 3,600 electric scooters in Paris and other French cities, saying the green image of the fashionable gadgets hid an “ecologically cata-strophic” reality.

Its action came as thousands of commuters in Paris took to the scooters in a bid to overcome a nationwide strike in France that is expected to paralyse public transport across the country for days.

Extinction Rebellion said it had sabotaged 3,600 scooters, including over 2,000 in Paris as well as in Bordeaux and Lyon, by obscuring the QR codes that

riders use to unlock them with their smartphones.

“Contrary to their reputation as a ‘soft’ or ‘green’ way of getting around, the electric scooters are ecologically cata-strophic,” the group said in a statement on its French Facebook page.

The damage to the scooters was reversible, the group said.

It claimed that using the scooter still involved the emission of some 25 percent of greenhouses cases that would be emitted if the journey was made by car, and 40 times that of a journey by public transport.

It also argued that studies showed that rather than replacing car journeys, people opt for e-scooters rather than going on foot.

“The electric scooter is just

a toy of green capitalists, we don’t want them in our cities,” the group added, also con-demning their use as “strike-breakers” by commuters in the shutdown.

The use of the scooters has mushroomed in Paris over the last year, with many regarding them as a nuisance which clutter up the city and have a much deeper environmental footprint than at first apparent.

But operators insist they do have a positive environmental impact, with everything done to ensure recycling and a minimum of emissions.

Extinction Rebellion has staged a string of colourful but disruptive actions in Britain and elsewhere in Europe in a bid to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

Russia expels Bulgaria envoy in spy affairAFP MOSCOW

Russia said yesterday it was expelling a Bulgarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Sofia asked a Russian diplomat to leave the country over suspi-cions of espionage.

The Russian foreign min-istry said the Bulgarian ambas-sador in Moscow, Atanas Krastin, had been handed a note informing him that an employee of the mission was declared “persona non grata”.

“The step is a retaliatory measure in response to a decision by the Bulgarian authorities to expel a Russian diplomat from the country in October,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

No further details were provided.

In late October, Sofia expelled a Russian diplomat after he ignored a request to leave following a probe which confirmed he had been spying in the EU member country.

The Russian ambassador was told at the time that the diplomat in question, a first sec-retary at the embassy in Sofia, has 24 hours to leave the country. NATO and EU member Bulgaria was previously a Soviet satellite and is now a rare ally of Russia in Europe.

But tensions spiked in Sep-tember when Bulgarian prose-cutors charged a pro-Russian activist, Nikolay Malinov, with espionage and banned his alleged Russian handler from entering Bulgaria.

Malinov, a former law-maker, heads Rusofili, the largest pro-Russia non-govern-mental organisation in Bulgaria.

Authorities said around 285,000 people had taken part in rallies across the country by midday.

Eight dead in Poland gas explosionAFP / WARSAW

Eight people, including four children, were killed after a gas explosion destroyed a house in a ski resort in the south of Poland late Wednesday, local authorities said.

Around 200 rescuers had scoured the debris of the house in Szczyrk yesterday morning to find the bodies. No one else is believed to have been inside when the explosion occurred.

“It appears that this is the final toll,” local prefect Jaroslaw Wieczorek told reporters, but added that rescuers will con-tinue looking just to make sure.

The local gas distributor, PSG, said the explosion had been preceded by a sudden drop in pressure in the gas pipeline

12 FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019AMERICAS

Venezuelan migrant kids left at risk in Brazil: HRWAP CARACAS, VENEZUELA

Hundreds of Venezuelan children are fleeing into Brazil alone and at risk of becoming homeless, abused or recruited by gangs, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

The human rights group cited government figures indi-cating that over 500 children have crossed into the Brazilian state of Roraima since May.

Ninety percent of the Vene-zuelan children were between

13 and 17 and travelled alone or with an adult who was not a rel-ative or legal guardian. Many were fleeing hunger, looking for healthcare to treat serious ail-ments or trying to find work in Brazil.

“The humanitarian emer-gency is driving children to flee Venezuela alone,” said César Muñoz, senior Brazil researcher at Human Rights Watch.

An estimated 4.6 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic and political turmoil, a figure that the United

Nations believes could reach 6.5 million by the end of 2020, making it one of the largest mass migrations on the planet today.

More than 224,000 have fled to Brazil, where many remain in the border state of Roraima because of its relative isolation from the rest of the country. Human Rights Watch found that many of the shelters there are overcrowded, meaning children often end up living on the streets and unable to access government services.

One 16-year-old boy was

found choked to death in October, his body left in a plastic bag.

“While Brazilian authorities are making a great effort to accommodate hundreds of Ven-ezuelans crossing daily into Brazil, they are failing to give these children the protection they desperately need,” Muñoz said.

The study encourages Bra-zil’s federal government to work with local authorities to identify, track and support unaccom-panied Venezuelan minors.

OAS: ‘Malicious manipulation’ altered Bolivia vote resultAFP WASHINGTON

The Organization of American States released its final report on Wednesday into the October election in Bolivia, concluding that “malicious manipulation” had affected the vote, which has tipped the country into turmoil.

Incumbent president Evo Morales, who had been seeking a fourth term after ruling for nearly 14 years, claimed a narrow victory, but opposition

groups accused him of rigging the results.

Isolated and abandoned by the police and military, Morales resigned on November 10 and fled to Mexico.

“The audit team detected malicious manipulation of the elections,” the OAS said in its report. “Based on the over-whelming evidence, what is pos-sible to say is that there was a series of malicious operations aimed at altering the will expressed at the polls.”

Colombian protesters march in third strike against presidentAP BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Protesters marched in Colombian cities on Wednesday in a third strike against President Iván Duque as attempts to start dialogue drag on and the patience of ordinary citizens begins to wear thin.

Tens of thousands of stu-dents, workers and indigenous leaders carried signs decrying a wide range of grievances with D u q u e ’ s c o n s e r v a t i v e government.

The turnout was consid-erably smaller than an initial mass strike on November 21 that drew an estimated 250,000 to the streets, but the demonstra-tions were still large enough to cause traffic headaches for many around Bogota.

“It’s fair that they protest, but we’re the ones who suffer,” said Diego Monroy, who works at a parking lot that generally has 40 vehicles but had only two Wednesday. “If the protests con-tinue, I’m going to be left out of work and that is not right.” Duque and members of the

National Strike Committee, which is comprised of labour unions and student activists, are due to sit down again Thursday as they try to settle on conditions to begin a dialogue.

Protest organizers want direct talks with Duque over 13 demands, but the government is only willing to meet them halfway. On Monday, Duque’s administration offered to hold separate talks with protesters specifically on their demands but have since reiterated that it would still be under the umbrella of the president’s “National Con-versation” with various groups.

“The government is entirely willing to keep talking and find solutions for the problems of Colombia,” said Diego Molano, who is coordinating the national

dialogue that Duque is embarking upon.

Protesters are upset with a government they contend hasn’t done enough to address long-standing issues like corruption and inequality. The protesters are also complaining about pro-posed tax and labour reforms as well as continuing violence in the aftermath of the country’s 2016 peace accord with leftist rebels.

The latest demonstrations were joined by indigenous guards who have come under attack in parts of Colombia by remnant illegal armed groups trying to take charge of areas once controlled by the leftist rebels. The guards, who do not carry firearms, formed a pro-tective barrier in front of pro-testers as a way of deterring any

heavy-handed response from police.

An 18-year-old high school student died after being struck by a projectile fired by riot police during a protest in late November.

“Today the Colombian indig-enous movement is mobilized in Bogota in the defense of life,” said Luis Fernando Arias, an

indigenous leader. The National Strike Committee’s 13-point list of demands include asking Duque to withdraw from a pro-posed tax reform, eliminate the police unit accused in the death of the student protester, review free-trade agreements and fully implement the historic peace accord with rebels.

Though protesters have not

yet officially begun discussing their demands with Duque’s gov-ernment, there are indications the demonstrations have caught the ear of lawmakers.

Colombia’s protests are part of a larger wave of unrest taking place in many countries around Latin America where citizens have risen up against presidents across ideological spectrums.

People, mostly students, block a street to protest against Colombian President Ivan Duque in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday, as the national strike that began on November 21 continues.

Protesters say the government has not done enough to address long-standing issues like corruption and inequality. They are also complaining about proposed tax and labour reforms as well as continuing violence in the aftermath of the country’s 2016 peace accord with leftist rebels.

13FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019 AMERICAS / CLASSIFIEDS

CHANGE OF NAME

I, Samantha Dulcine Seqeira, holder of India Passport

No. L1448250(Qatar ID No. 29635600208) hereby change my name to SAMANTHA DULCINE

SEQUEIRA.

Any objection, please contact the Immigration and Passport Office within 15 days from the publication of this notice.

I, Foster P Mawuli, holder of Ghana Passport

No. G2264618(Qatar ID No. 28828800188) hereby change my name to ERIC NANA GYAMFI.

Any objection, please contact the Immigration and Passport Office within 15 days from the publication of this notice.

Democrats to pursue articles of impeachment against TrumpREUTERS WASHINGTON

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday said she has directed a House committee to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump over his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival, a historic step that sets up a fight over whether to oust him from office.

Pelosi, speaking in somber tones in a televised statement, accused Trump of abusing his power and alluded to Britain’s King George III, the monarch against whom the American col-onies rebelled in forming the United States in 1776.

“Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. The president has engaged in abuse of power, undermining our national security and jeopard-izing the integrity of our elec-tions,” Pelosi said.

The impeachment fight undertaken by Pelosi and her fellow House Democrats is unfolding even as the Republican president is running for re-election in 2020.

At the heart of the battle is Trump’s request in July that

Ukraine launch an investigation targeting former US Vice Pres-ident Joe Biden, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presi-dential nomination to face Trump.

“Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and our heart full of love for America, today I am

asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment,” Pelosi said, referring to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

Articles of impeachment rep-resent formal charges against Trump and would originate in the Judiciary Committee before going to the full House. If the

Democratic-led House passes articles of impeachment as expected, that would lead to a trial in the Senate on whether to convict Trump of those charges and remove him from office. Republicans control the Senate and have shown little support for Trump’s removal.

Trump reacted to Pelosi’s

announcement on Twitter by writing, “The Do Nothing, Radical Left Democrats have just announced that they are going to seek to Impeach me over NOTHING.”

“The good thing is that the Republicans have NEVER been more united. We will win!” Trump added, while predicting that impeachment now “will be used routinely to attack future Presidents. That is not what our Founders had in mind.” Pelosi acted after receiving over-whelming support to push forward with the impeachment charges in a meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday night, a source familiar with the meeting said.

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing in which three constitutional law experts called by Democratic lawmakers said Trump had engaged in conduct that repre-sents impeachable offenses under the Constitution. A fourth e x p e r t c a l l e d b y

Republican lawmakers called the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry rushed and flawed.

The three law professors chosen by the Democrats made clear that they believed Trump’s actions constituted impeachable offenses including abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice.

The focus of the inquiry is the July 25 telephone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian Pres-ident Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden and into a discredited theory pro-moted by Trump and his allies that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 US election.

Hunter Biden had joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was US vice-president. Trump has accused the Bidens of corruption without offering evidence.

They have denied wrongdoing.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, yesterday. The Speaker discussed the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

Trump files appeal at US Supreme Court in financial records fightREUTERS WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump yesterday filed court papers asking the US Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling directing an accounting firm to hand over his financial records to a Democratic-led congres-sional panel, setting up a major clash between branches of government.

Trump turned to the jus-tices after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided on November 13 that it would not revisit its October decision backing the House of Repre-sentatives Oversight Commit-tee’s authority to subpoena the records from Mazars LLP, Trump’s longtime accounting firm.

The Supreme Court on November 25 put that ruling on hold, giving Trump until yes-terday to file his appeal.

“This is a case of firsts. It is the first time that Congress has subpoenaed personal records of a sitting president,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

The Republican president’s lawyers have called the Over-sight Committee’s subpoena to Mazars illegitimate.

The lower court ruling, if left intact, would bring House Democrats closer to shedding light on the inner workings of Trump’s business interests even as they pursue an impeachment inquiry against him focusing on his dealings with Ukraine.

In a separate case, Trump has already asked the Supreme Court to review a New York-based federal appeals court’s

ruling that local prosecutors can enforce a subpoena also issued to Mazars demanding Trump’s personal and cor-porate tax returns from 2011 to 2018.

The justices are due to discuss whether to hear that case at a meeting on December 13. In a third case, the New York-based appeals court on Tuesday directed Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to comply with different subpoenas from con-g r e s s i o n a l D e m o c r a t s demanding similar material.

Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing on Wednesday they would ask the Supreme Court to put a hold on that case as well. As the court already blocked the similar Mazars ruling, it would likely grant that request.

Trump lawyer meets Ukraine MP who called for Biden probeAFP KIEV

US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer discussed “international corruption” with an MP in Kiev who had claimed to have dirt on the White House’s Democratic rivals, the Ukrainian lawmaker said yesterday.

Posting photos of himself and Rudolph Guiliani on Facebook, MP Andriy Derkach said they had also talked about “ineffective use of American tax dollars by Ukrainian gov-ernment representatives”.

The lawmaker earlier claimed to have evidence of US presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter receiving lobbying money from gas company Burisma.

Derkach has held several press conferences in recent months accusing Hunter Biden

of receiving Ukrainian money “by criminal means.” The New York Times reported earlier that Giuliani, who is reportedly under investigation himself in the US, had travelled to Budapest on Tuesday and Kiev on Wednesday.

According to the Times, the former mayor of New York was also meeting with former Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lut-senko, a central figure in the impeachment case Democrats are building against Trump.

Lutsenko’s spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the former prosecutor had met Giuliani “to record a docu-mentary”, without providing details.

A journalist with right-wing OANN channel Chanel Rion posted photos of the two together on Twitter yesterday, saying she interviewed Lutsenko in Budapest.

Three dead after Pearl Harbor sailor shoots civilians, himselfAP HONOLULU

A Navy sailor shot three civilians, killing two of them, before taking his own life at Pearl Harbor just days before thousands were scheduled to gather at the storied military base to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing that launched the US into World War II.

Rear Admiral Robert Chadwick, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said the service would evaluate whether security should be upgraded before the annual ceremony. About a dozen survivors of the 1941 bombing were expected to attend, along with dignitaries and service members.

Chadwick said he didn’t know the motive behind Wednesday’s shooting at the naval shipyard within the base. The third victim was hospitalized.

It wasn’t known if the sailor and the three male civilians had any type of relationship, or what the motive was for the shooting, Chadwick said.

“We have no indication yet whether they were targeted or if it was a random shooting,” Chadwick said.

The sailor was assigned to the fast attack submarine USS

Columbia, which is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for maintenance.

He was identified as a 22-year-old enlisted sailor, according to a military official speaking on condition of ano-nymity to provide details that hadn’t been made public. It wasn’t immediately known what type of weapon was used or how many shots were fired. Chadwick said that was part of the inves-tigation. Personal weapons are not allowed on base.

Names of the victims will not be released until next of kin have been notified.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and eve-ryone involved. I can say that we are mobilizing support services for naval shipyard personnel as well as everyone else who may be affected by this tragic event,” Chadwick said.

The base went into lockdown at about 2:30pm when the first active shooter reports were received.

A guard stands by at the Nimitz Gate of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii shortly after a sailor fatally shot two civilians at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 4, 2019.

At least 10 dead in Mexico bus crashAP MEXICO CITY

At least 10 people are reportedly dead and more than two dozen injured after a bus crashed in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.

The chief of firefighters and civil defense for the town of Saucillo told El Heraldo de Juarez that the accident was reported before dawn yesterday.

He said the bus was traveling from the border city of Ciudad Juarez to Torreon and that authorities did not yet know what caused the crash.

The official said 10 pas-sengers died and about 28 were hurt. El Heraldo did not name him but posted video of the interview. The paper later updated that 12 were killed.

If the Democratic-led House passes articles of impeachment, it would lead to a trial in the Senate on whether to convict Trump of those charges and remove him from office, but the Senate is controlled by the Republicans who have shown little support for Trump’s removal.

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