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Dutch 'walking-bike' helps disabled people gain mobility, sit tall

MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020 Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

Country’s most energetic holiday

National Sport Day is that time of the year when sporting spirit in the residents reach fever pitch. Tomorrow, residents will roll up their sleeves and challenge their stamina and test their strength in various sports activities planned across the country.

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Indonesian students excel in spelling

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COVER STORY02 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

Country’s most energetic holiday

SACHIN KUMAR

THE PENINSULA

National Sport Day is that time of the year when sporting spirit in the residents reach fever pitch. Tomorrow, residents will roll up their sleeves and

challenge their stamina and test their strength in various sports activities planned across the country.

National Sport Day is the perfect opportunity for resi-dents to break away from the routine of their daily lives, come together, and engage in enjoyable and challenging activities with colleagues, family, and friends.

Many organisations, including ministries, depart-ments, public and private firms, have lined up series of sport activities that would make this day memorable for the residents in Qatar. Country’s top hotels have tonnes of offers planned around National Sport Day to get residents

pumped up.The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), Aspire Zone

Foundation (AZF), Qatar Foundation, and other organisa-tions have announced exciting sports activities to make sure there is something for all ages to celebrate the coun-try’s most energetic holiday.

The enthusiasm of residents for the National Sport Day has pushed up sales of sport accessories in the country. Sport goods’ retailers say they are witnessing increased demand for sport goods.

“We have seen a strong demand for several sports related items. The sale of footballs and soft balls for cricket has risen sharply. Sale of T-shirts, caps and other sport accessories for kids have also jumped,” Marketing manager of a sports goods retailer told The Peninsula.

Malls, hotels, restaurants, showrooms have launched special offers and promotions so that residents can enjoy the day with family and friends.

Residents are excited to participate in activities with their families. “This day is important for me. I am eagerly waiting for the National Sport Day. Every year, I take my family to Aspire Park or any other place to enjoy sports activities,” said Vineet Jain, a resident of Ezdan Village 4.

Around 50 hotels will be offering special health and fitness packages to commemorate Qatar National Sport

Day. The deals will be available at participating hotels until February 12.

The promotions are designed to highlight the broad range of sport and wellness facilities that Qatar’s hospitality sector offers, while encouraging residents and visitors to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Offers include exclusive packages for families and indi-viduals, such as free access to

hotel gyms and spas, discounts of up to 50 percent on gym memberships, and complementary fitness classes. Foodies can also enjoy healthy buffets at special prices, while those seeking a staycation can avail a ‘bed-and-healthy-breakfast’ combo at attractive rates for the duration of the offer.

Ezdan Mall Company is organising energetic and engaging activities to celebrate National Sport Day at all Ezdan Malls (Al Gharaffa and Al Wakra).

The events will include football, basketball, golf and running activities. The visitors and participants will also receive gifts during competitions. The celebration agenda aims at raising awareness of the importance of sports and building a healthy community which contributes strongly and effectively to the country’s development.

Qatar Foundation has designed several community programmes — from aspiring athletes and sports enthu-siasts to those completely new to exercise — including obstacle course races, yoga sessions, full-body workouts, and sports tournaments to be held at the Ceremonial Court, the Green Spine, Oxygen Park, and Multaqa (Edu-cation City Student Center), starting at 8am.

Activities at Education City include the QF Race, which will see participants race through 17 obstacles in a test of speed, agility, strength, and endurance. Children will also

Preparations for National Sport Day are in full

swing at MIA Park. PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

03DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

NSD 2019 - 2 sports day 1

be given a chance to try out a smaller version of the contest, the QF Mini Track, which is open to boys and girls aged 4-15 years.

Un1t will provide a variety of cardio, conditioning, and weightlifting sessions; Lululemon will offer yoga sessions; and PSG Football Academy Qatar will host a series of activities for children and families, while a series of sports tournaments — including basketball and volleyball — will be held throughout the day.

The team from Dogpound, one of New York City’s most high-profile gyms, will also return this year with a full week of fitness activities, from yoga and meditation sessions to outdoor circuit trainings at Education City and in the desert, as well as a series of discussions.

Meanwhile, visitors to Education City can take a break from exercising to explore Torba Farmers Market at the

Ceremonial Court, which will offer a variety of organi-cally-grown produce, locally-prepared food and bev-erages, and sustainable products to the public.

At Katara Cultural Village, 54 public and private entities are organising different events and activities including a wide array of sports, medical checkups and health advice, activities for persons with special needs, air show, performances and marine competitions.

At Aspire Park, the activities are being organised by Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) and its member organisa-tions: Aspire Academy, Aspetar, and Aspire Logistics and will include more than 20 unique events for all members of the community to enjoy. Moreover, AZF will host more than 18 entities participating in NSD celebrations.

Aspire Dome will host a variety of activities for fam-ilies and friends, including running, hammer throwing, and plyometric challenges. Aspire Dome’s activities typi-cally attract up to 2500 people because they offer such a diverse and rewarding set of challenges for all ages, increasing endurance, strength and flexibility. In addition, the Sports Science and Football Performance department at Aspire is organising several football related activities, including shooting, dribbling, fitness challenge, football matches and more.

Sports Day events at Aspire Zone will witness activ-ities dedicated to women and girls only in an atmosphere of complete privacy. Ladies-only activities include bad-minton and basketball in the Multipurpose Hall (2) at Aspire Dome from 10:30am to 3pm.

Ooredoo will celebrate National Sport Day with an active day-out at MIA Park and with a host of exciting promotions.

The company will be offering a wide range of activ-ities in the Park from 8am until 5pm on February 11. More than 45 activities suitable for all ages and abilities will be available, from handball, volleyball and basketball to martial arts and more. There will also be group activities

on the main stage including aerobics, boot camp and a whole host of other exciting activities for all the family.

Ooredoo has announced 2020 National Sport Day Quiz promotion. Customers can track steps with the Ooredoo App and reach 10,000 to get 2020MB data abso-lutely free, and a QR69 voucher to be used at Sports Corner on a spend of QR299 in one transaction. The special 2020 National Sport Day barcode will be hidden in MIA Park; customers can find it and scan it to receive 500 Nojoom points absolutely free.

Commenting about the National Sport Day activities, Manar Khalifa Al-Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Communications at Ooredoo, said “We are looking forward to celebrating National Sport Day with as many Doha citizens and residents as possible, and to enjoying a great day of fun fitness activities for all the family. And, of course, we’re delighted to be offering special promotions in honour of the occasion, so our customers can enjoy great benefits.”

Doha Festival City is celebrating the National Sport Day throughout the whole month of February. Moreover, Doha Festival City retailers are also offering many pro-motions and discounts, while some are hosting special activities during the month.

Mirqab Mall will host a massive Human Foosball acti-vation in the food court location, free yoga and Zumba classes, as well as a pop-up soft-play obstacle course area where children can test their physical skills alongside a vast bootcamp obstacle course for children to showcase their dexterity.

Healthy dining is another promotional focus of Mirqab Mall on National Sports Day. From specialty fresh juices at Ladies & Gents Caffe on the mezzanine floor to the refreshing favourites of Lokmana on the ground floor, the Mall hosts an array of dining offerings, where healthy eating is encouraged, and meals are cooked to the highest standards.

Many organisations, including ministries, departments, public and private firms, have lined up series of sport activ-ities that would make this day memorable for the residents in Qatar. Country’s top hotels have tons of offers planned around National Sport Day to get residents pumped up.

CAMPUS04 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

Students, teachers and parents come together at PISQ’s basketball tourney RAYNALD C RIVERA

THE PENINSULA

Ahead of the ninth National Sport Day celebra-tions, the Philippine International School – Qatar (PISQ) kicked off its third annual PISQ-PTA

basketball tournament for students on Friday.Dubbed “3rd Skyline Automotive Hyundai Cup

2020”, the sports tourney spearheaded by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is aimed at honing the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of the students apart from academics, as well as involving parents in school programmes.

“The objectives are to develop the children in other aspects of intelligence in which sports forms a vital part, at the same time involving parents which is very important because they are part of the growth of any educational institution,” Jason Iyas, PISQ Principal told local media.

The school puts a strong impetus on sports in its

annual programme as it recognises the significant role sports play in “building character and refining the behaviour of children,” said Iyas.

So far, the programme has been an effective platform for students to excel in the field of sports.

“The PTA has been doing this for the last three years and we saw the development in the fact that for two consecutive years, we have been the champion in senior basketball in Schools Olympic programme in Qatar. Our girls volleyball team was also the champion in the Schools Olympics,” added Iyas, while lauding the robust support of the PTA in the school’s programmes.

Running for 10 Fridays, the tournament which involves Grades 4 to 12 comprises several categories including 3x3 basketball for boys and girls and the main event which is Under-14 and Under-19 basketball in which 12 teams are competing. In addition, there is a volleyball tournament for boys and girls which will see eight competing teams.

Even during Fridays, the school was abuzz with a

plethora of extracurricular activities that focus on developing the other talents of the learners. They include visual arts like painting and performing arts such as dance, theatre, and singing, he said, adding these activities had already born fruit with some stu-dents winning several competitions recently.

Maths and English development classes are also conducted during Fridays for learners with difficulties in academics.

The tournament’s opening ceremony on Friday wit-nessed the parade of all the teams taking part in the tournament and their muses followed by the official start of the games.

Jason Iyas (second right), PISQ Principal, with PISQ’s Parent-Teacher Association

representatives at the opening ceremony of the basketball tournament.

Teams competing in the competition parade at the start of the games at the Philippine

International School – Qatar.

05DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

Indonesian students excel in spelling bee

Six Indonesian students competed in a spelling bee organised by the Phoenix Private School in Doha — one of them, Fatih Jauhar, winning in the KS2

category.The students who took part in the competition are:

Icha (Class 7B), Fatih (Class 5A), Nayaka (Class 6A), Harlan (Class 6B), Raja (Class 4B) and Laetitia (Class 3B).

For the KS2 category, five out of six students were competing to be the champion in the final round along with 18 other participants from year 3 to 6. While another Indonesian student competed in the Year 7 to 9 category.

The spelling bee competition is annually held by the

Phoenix Private School, one of the leading international schools in Qatar.

The task was not easy. The participatns had to memorise 200 words of English and spell randomly asked words by the teacher. They did it in front of around 200 members of audience, including students, teachers, school staff and their parents.

Fatih Jauhar handled the pressure and distractions of the gruelling contest to emerge victorious.

The participation of Indonesian students in the competition was a remarkable moment, not only for their parents but also for Indonesia because they had shown courage to show up and give their best effort to win.

The students who didn’t win show no disap-pointment because they were eager to try again next year.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the State of Qatar, H E Muhammad Basri Sidehabi, expressed his appreciation of the students’ feat.

“Their achievement is in line with the Embassy’s effort to improve the image of Indonesians in Qatar. I always support any Indonesian to give their best in work, education, sports and cultural activities, starting at the earliest age, just like what the Indonesian stu-dents in Phoenix Private School did,” said the ambas-sador. — The Peninsula

Students, teachers

and parents attend

the spelling bee held

recently at the Phoenix

Private School in Doha.

Indonesian student Fatih Jauhar,

who won the spelling bee in the

KS2 category, poses with his

prize and the certificate.

DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

COMMUNITY06

‘Little Shepherds’ learn livestock breeding and trade at 9th Halal Qatar FestivalAs with its previous editions, the ninth Halal Qatar Festival

has been drawing big crowds to its wide variety of attrac-tions and features catered to schools, families and the wider

community.The nine-day heritage event which concludes today highlights

several educational activities offering young visitors enjoyable experience while learning about livestock breeding and trade as an important aspect of Qatari heritage.

One of the educational features organised especially for children at this year’s festival is the ‘Little Shepherd’ competition, which aims at reviving the heritage while teaching the new gener-ation about the skills, experiences, knowledge, ethics and values of the profession. The competition provides children the oppor-tunity to highlight their knowledge in the field of livestock and sheep husbandry.

Young children are exposed to the importance of livestock trade and other related businesses through school visits which are conducted every morning.

Camel and horse rides are among the other attractions for children at the festival, in addition to a playground where young children can enjoy inflatables and puzzles among other games.

A Bedouin tent where the process of traditional weaving (Al Sadu) is being demonstrated, from spinning the sheared sheep’s wool to dyeing to weaving using a ground loom is one of the fea-tures that children enjoy at the festival.

Traditional costumes and hand-woven products with tradi-tional Sadu patterns such as bags and boxes are on display at the tent.

Visitors also sample traditional cuisine as well as buy handi-craft and other locally-made products in dozens of shops run by Qatari families.

Organised yearly by the Cultural Village Foundation (Katara), the festival sheds light on the crucial role livestock breeding and trade had played in the past. It also attempts to preserve this integral component of Qatari culture and heritage.

The festival also supports the promotion of self-sufficiency through local livestock production. — The Peninsula

DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

07

Livestock breeding and trade — part of country's heritage

Ten enclosures showcasing

different breeds of Halal

(goats and sheep) such as

Syrian sheep, Arab sheep and

Aaridy goats are a major

crowd-puller at the ninth Halal

Qatar Festival, which

concludes today at Katara

Cultural Village.

Daily Halal beauty

competitions (Al Mazain) and

public auctions (Al Mazad) are

also main attractions at the

nine-day festival which

annually attracts Halal

breeders as well as those

interested in the livestock

industry in Qatar and other

neighbouring countries.

The heritage event is one

of the most prominent

festivals on Katara’s calendar

whose aim is to revive

livestock breeding and trade

which had occupied a very

significant place in local way

of life.

THROUGH THE LENSRAYNALD C RIVERA / THE PENINSULA

HEALTH08 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

Dutch ‘walking-bike’ helps disabled people gain mobility, sit tall

Lindsey Main from Massachusetts was an active woman who enjoyed yoga, running and walking her dog, until she suffered a stroke in January 2018

and lost mobility.While starting the long, slow process of exercise and

rehabilitation she spotted actress Selma Blair announcing on Instagram she had the nervous system-damaging disease called multiple sclerosis.

The 47-year-old star of films including “Cruel Inten-tions” and “The Sweetest Thing” posted images of herself using an Alinker mobility bike.

The two began private messaging and Blair bought Main one of the bikes.

Main says it has changed her life.Now she can walk her dog again, go to the shops and

dance on it.“I think movement actually is the best medicine. It’s

like that saying: ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’,” Main

said. The bike was created by Dutch designer and humanitarian Barbara Alink, who made it initially as a mobility device for her ageing mother to use without the stigma attached to mobility walkers and scooters.

A successful crowdfunding campaign in 2014 brought about a launch in the Dutch market and a North America launch followed in 2016. Now the bike, which costs $1,977.00 ships worldwide.

“The Alinker is for everybody who identifies as an active person and happens to have a diagnosis,” said Alink.

“The feedback that I’m getting from people is that their life has changed, they can go out again, they have agency back,” she added.

The Alinker has three wheels and riders support themselves on a saddle and move their legs to push it forward.

It has brakes and the high saddle means users can

sit almost at standing height and speak to others at their eye level.

It is used by people with Parkinson’s, arthritis, cer-ebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy and peripheral neuropathy along with those recovering from strokes and surgery.

“Isolation is a bigger disease or a bigger burden on people than the actual symptoms of the disease itself,” said Alink.

“So with the Alinker, being engaged in life again because you can go out... your radius expands again,” she added. Alinker is not classed as a medical device, so many insurance companies do not fund its purchase, leaving people to rely on crowdfunding or using the company’s rent-to-own scheme.

At its factory in Taipei in Taiwan, the company is working on prototypes for smaller Alinkers for children. — Reuters

Actress Selma Blair, who has

battled multiple sclerosis (MS),

poses with an Alinker ‘walking

bike’, a mobility device for

people with disabilities.

Factory workers

assembling the Alinker,

created by Dutch

designer Barbara Alink,

in Taipei, Taiwan.

BOOKS 09DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

In Paul Yoon’s ‘Run Me to Earth’, three orphans struggle to survive in the deadliest place on Earth

The United States never declared war against Laos. The country’s destruction was first secret, then denied and always incidental to America’s grander aims in Southeast Asia: a Dr.

Strangelove plan to defend freedom by obliterating as many people as possible. During a long sojourn of mayhem from 1964 to 1973, the CIA and US Air Force dropped an estimated 2 million tonnes of ordnance onto the tiny, landlocked country, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita ever. Worse — for survivors — millions of those cluster bombs didn’t immediately explode but waited patiently for years or decades for a farmer or a child to complete their deadly mission.

By the time Paul Yoon was born in New York in 1980, the United States was done fighting in Asia, and Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were busy fabri-cating their reputations as master statesmen. But Yoon’s family offered a portal through years of national amnesia and obfuscation. “The Korean War is personal to me,” he once said. His grandfather and young father

escaped to the south during the fighting. Much of his fiction, starting in 2009 with his first story col-lection, “Once the Shore,” revolves around the expe-rience of war and vicissi-tudes of flight.

Soon after that col-lection appeared, the National Book Foundation named Yoon one of its 5 Under 35, an annual award for promising young writers that’s as much speculation as recognition. In Yoon’s case, the foun-dation was clearly prophetic.

Though presented as a novel, “Run Me to Earth” is a tightly integrated col-lection of six masterfully written stories. It begins in 1969 in a Laotian valley called the Plain of Jars, where the sound of bombings is so frequent that nobody hears them

anymore. A gracious farmhouse, abandoned by its French owner, is the site of a makeshift hospital offering what little medical attention the exhausted staff can manage with dwindling supplies and inter-mittent electricity. Surrounded by unexploded cluster bombs, the hospital has no shortage of mangled patients, who arrive on foot or in wheelbarrows - sometimes blown to bits as they approach the building.

“Run Me to Earth” focuses on three teenagers - Alisak, Prany and his sister, Noi - who have known nothing but war most of their lives. Their parents either succumbed to opium or were shot, leaving them to wander the country as a tightknit trio. Relief arrives when a nurse spots the orphans sleeping near a river and asks if they can drive motorbikes. In that moment, they become accidental partisans in a conflict they know nothing about. “The vehicle that pulled up to recruit them could have been from the other side and they wouldn’t have cared if it meant, on that day, the promise of shelter and food,” Yoon writes. “Because they were children who had nowhere else to go. And

because, for what seemed like the first time, the people who had approached them had been kind.” Suddenly, working as couriers and orderlies, the three orphans are earning more money in a day than they used to make in a month.

Yoon’s perspective shifts nimbly from one teenager to another, catching the currents of delight, confusion or terror flitting through this “orbit of chaos.” The farmhouse, once the centre of a lucrative tobacco plantation, is now a fragment of its former glory, a surreal mix of fresh gore and abandoned art. The night air is as likely to be disturbed by cries and helicopters as the sounds of the piano on the second floor. Alisak knows better than to say it out loud, “but he felt as though he could stay here with them in the madness of this house forever. He thought there would be nothing better,” Yoon writes. “The three of them always together.”

We know, of course, how impossible that modest dream is for these three young friends working in the most dangerous spot on Earth. But Yoon’s narration is so closely pared, so free of excess drama that when violence rips through these lives, it feels especially shocking. In a sense, he’s re-created the psychological experience of battle: the weird interludes of happiness and boredom suddenly shattered by incomprehensible disorder.

From this spellbinding beginning, “Run Me to Earth” progresses over a half century. Jumping across decades and continents, the chapters delineate the tra-jectories of lives ricocheted across the world. Yoon follows Alisak, Prany and Noi as they struggle to survive, grasp for shreds of justice - or retribution - and attain whatever peace they can. Prany realizes that he has been so repeatedly displaced that “it was impos-sible for him now to define a home.”

Individually, the chapters exercise hypnotic intensity, but the overall effect is even more profound. With his panoramic vision of the displacements of war, Yoon reminds us of the people never considered or accounted for in the halls of power. Hearing bits of a speech by President Johnson, they ask, What on earth is a domino? What does your Cold War have to do with us?

Yoon makes us care deeply about these adolescents and what happens to them. For all that he eventually reveals, some details are forever dropped between the shifting plates of survivors’ memories. That’s cruel, but like everything else here, entirely true to the lives of people scattered by war. —The Washington Post

FOOD10 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

BECKY KRYSTAL

THE WASHINGTON POST

Ask me for my go-to chocolate chip brownie or chocolate cake and I’ll have an answer at the ready. Ask me for my go-to banana bread recipe

and, well, I’m stumped. As much as l love baking, and as much as I love banana bread, I had never found a can’t-live-without-it recipe for it. That changes now with this Naturally Sweet Banana Bread.

Thanks to feedback from readers and my own interest in cutting back on the amount of added sugars in the food I feed my son (not easy), I was immediately intrigued when “Half the Sugar, All the Love: 100 Easy, Low-Sugar Recipes for Every Meal of the Day” landed on my desk. Authors Jennifer Tyler Lee and Anisha Patel make a compelling argument for why we eat too many added sugars and that there are ways to reduce them without sacrificing flavour.

One of their strategies is to rely on the sweetness inherent in fruits and vegetables, which include fibre. “When sugar is accompanied with fibre... digestion and absorption of the naturally occurring sugar is slower, so that your body doesn’t get a sugar rush.” Dates are a typical MVP. “They are packed with natural sweetness and caramel-like flavour, and each date contains about 1.6 grams of fibre.” It didn’t even take the nutritional benefits to convince us of the merits of this recipe. The dates do indeed hint at caramel, which is reminiscent of sticky toffee pudding, another dish in which they star. They’re soaked and then pureed with whole milk Greek yogurt to create an especially moist, tender texture with just the right amount of spring.

Ripe bananas are also key to the sweetness here, and the only thing I wanted after making the recipe was a bit more fruit. So I took a page from the social-media-savvy likes of Alison Roman and our friend Joy “the Baker” Wilson and topped the quick bread — okay, we know it’s basically cake — with a halved banana.

Eye-catching? Check. Tasty? Check. And the pieces

had the added advantage of providing me with an S-shaped curve in which to sprinkle chopped pecans. Feel free to use both, one or none of the toppings. It’s up to you. If you decide to use only nuts, increase the amount to 1/3 cup.

This treat is satisfying and special enough to be eaten on its own as a dessert but restrained enough to work for breakfast, too. (Leftovers are great toasted and served with butter, peanut butter or a little bit of jam, if you must.) Ready to get baking? All right then. It’s a date.

NATURALLY SWEET BANANA BREAD Active: 50 minutes | Total: 1 hour 45 minutes 10 servings (makes one 8 1/2-inch loaf) Soaked dates are the key to a tender banana bread

with no added sugar. Make sure your bananas are ripe — on the dark side with speckles - so that they, too, lend their natural sweetness. The result is a loaf that’s restrained enough that you could enjoy leftovers toasted for breakfast.

Make Ahead: Store the bread tightly wrapped or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

The authors prefer Medjool dates, but in a pinch you can use deglet noor dates, which are firmer, cheaper and easier to find.

Ingredients10 ounces (283 grams) Medjool dates, pitted (about

18) 2 cups hot water, 3 medium very ripe bananas, 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk, beaten 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 3/4 cup (166 grams) plain whole milk Greek yogurt, 1 1/2 cups (213 grams) all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, 1/3 cup (58 grams) coconut oil (may substitute unsalted butter) at room temperature, 1/4 cup (53 grams) chopped pecans or walnuts

Steps Position a rack in the middle of the oven and

preheat to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan with baking spray or line with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches of overhang on each side and coating the paper with cooking spray.

Place the pitted dates in a medium bowl. Cover the dates with the water. Set aside until the dates are sof-tened, about 10 minutes. Drain the dates, reserving 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.

Mash 2 of the bananas (you should have about 180 grams of flesh) in a medium bowl and add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the dates, reserved soaking liquid and yogurt in a food processor. Process until smooth, about 2 minutes; some flecks of skin may remain, but there should be no pieces of fruit left. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the banana mixture and stir together until smooth.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and coconut oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer. Beat on low speed until the coconut oil and flour are a mealy powder, about 30 seconds. Add the date and banana mixture and continue beating until just combined and no visible flour remains.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Peel the remaining banana and cut in half ver-tically. Press the halves, cut sides up, into the batter so that they are slightly offset. Sprinkle the nuts into the S-shaped gap in between the bananas and bake until the bread is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes, loosely tenting the cake with foil for the last 15 to 20 minutes to prevent the top from becoming too dark. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn or lift out the bread from the pan. Cut into slices and serve, warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition Calories: 350; Total Fat: 12g; Saturated Fat: 6g;

Sodium: 250mg; Carbohydrates: 59g; Dietary Fiber: 5g; Sugars: 34g; Protein: 6g.

Naturally sweetened Banana bread with dates

ART 11DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

PHILIP KENNICOTT

THE WASHINGTON POST

In 1324, Mansa Musa, the emperor of Mali, made a pilgrimage to Makkah, where his wealth and largesse became legendary. On his journey, he impressed

Islamic scholars with his intellect and temperament, and literally put his country on the map. In an absorbing and inspiring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mansa Musa appears on an image of the known world made in Majorca about a century later, holding a large nugget of gold in one hand and a European-style scepter in the other.

Mansa Musa is one of the more colourful characters populating the exhibition, “Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara,” which surveys the vibrant visual culture that flourished in a region that has remained peripheral to larger art historical narratives. Sahel is an Arabic word meaning “shore,” in this case suggesting the far “shore” of the Sahara Desert, a vast, inhospitable ocean of sand separating the Mediterranean world from

sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the countries of the Sahel include not just Mali, but also Senegal, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso in its western region, the focus of this exhibition.

The region was a cauldron of empire, though the curators use the word “empire” with reservations. Among the cultures and kingdoms to arise here were ancient Ghana, Mali, Songhay and Bamana Segu, with various migrations and periods of decay and coalescence. Epic nar-ratives, still circulating today, were passed down, including the “Sunjata,” a core poem of African oral literature that recounts the life of Mansa Musa’s ancestor Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali empire. And, rather like the various empires that flourished in China and the Mediterranean, visual ideas were transferred across the centuries and from one kingdom to another, as new political elites sought to foster legitimacy and connection to the past.

The exhibition (organised by curator Alisa LaGamma) includes some 200 objects, the oldest of which dates to before 2000 BC, offering a powerful sense of immersion in these successive and overlapping cultures while deftly navigating the slightly awkward idea of “empire.” In a museum context, the word is essentially an honorific, suggesting a coherent political entity that is sufficiently rich and lasting to create its own visual propaganda. But the word also suggests a top-down gov-ernance by a self-perpetuating lead-ership that rules autocratically, and it’s not clear that this political description fits the more loosely knit

kingdoms of the Sahel. Rather, the curators argue that the empires of the Sahel were multilayered, often func-tioning more like coalitions or networks of related social groups.

That fluidity, perhaps, accounts for some of the dis-tinctive creative characteristics on view. The malleability and impermanence of clay, for example, is key to under-standing the beguiling visual culture these groups left behind. Architecture made of clay was meant to be in a continual state of transition. The protruding wooden posts that give buildings like the Great Mosque of Jenne its distinctive, slightly bristling appearance were put there to allow the surface to be recoated with earth as the elements wore away its sinuous, vertical forms. And so buildings were perpetuated by collective action - the community coming together to remake them - that sug-gests a dynamic tension between permanence and change.

Some of the most spectacular works are terra-cotta pieces made of fired clay by the Middle Niger civilization in the 12th to 14th centuries. Among them are several

seated male figures, who are depicted with a thrilling refusal to heroicise their body language. They sit with their legs folded sideways, their hands resting casually on their thighs or calves, often with a sense of quiet engagement, as if they’re listening, or daydreaming. Women were known for working with clay, so it’s rea-sonable to suppose that these curiously gentle male figures were made by female artists, who found in their subjects’ body language a daring alternative to how men might have represented themselves.

Clay, however, is also fragile, and our knowledge of the empires of the Sahel is limited by both the natural decay of the materials used and man-made destruction. The first written record of these cultures came with the arrival of Arabic, as traders from the north and east made inroads into the region. Before that, archaeology carries the narrative, but looting, climate change and amateur digging has effaced much of what we might have learned.

The arrival of Islam in the late 7th century was organic and peaceful, with Muslims and non-Muslims living in relative harmony for centuries. More militant forms began to flourish in the 18th and 19th centuries, creating internal tensions often exacerbated by resistance to a 65-year period of French colonial rule. In 2012, Ansar Dine, an Al Qaeda affiliate, claimed control of parts of northern Mali, before being forced out by a French military operation, but the region remains unstable.

Those tensions, however, seem remote from the work on view here, which has a curious sense of ease and settled composure. A recurring equestrian figure, spanning centuries of cultural production, may rep-resent figures of political or military importance, but they speak more about dignity than power. Small varia-tions in the position of hands and arms, or the elongation of the figures, gives them a range of intensity and for-mality, and they’re more evocative than many of the for-mulaic horse-and-rider images one finds in European art. A reclining figure, with an androgynous body, sug-gests a casual comfort and luxury, and even though the damaged terra-cotta is missing its head, one senses it represents contented well-being.

In the last room of the exhibition, 10 sculptural figures made by the Bamana peoples (mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries) show the full range of creative expression that emerged from centuries of exchange and development among these empires. It is an astonishing display, with seated and equestrian figures, musicians and a mother and child, all quietly, but insistently present, full of life but slightly remote, too, suggesting a vital sense of continuity with the seated male dreamers made more than a half-millennium earlier.

Encyclopedic museums like the Met often can’t exhibit art that doesn’t fall on the old European map of the world without putting it in a European context. African art is understood as an inspiration to European artists, judged by the standards of European com-mitment to one form of visual verisimilitude, or posited as an “other” that reinforces cultural difference.

This exhibition lets the visitor exist within the Sahel on its own terms, and as you encounter those 10 Bamana people figures at the end, there’s an invigorating sense that although the art may be worthy of anything that empire has produced, it embodies ideas and meanings deeper than empire. It gets at a persistence of culture and place that transcends political entities no matter how they are styled.

The Met gives a long-overdue

look at an African cultural

powerhouse

ARTSAHEL “Equestrian”

(3rd–10th century).

Bura-Asinda-Sikka Site,

Niger. Terra-cotta.

SPACE12 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

Multiple software issues and a poor radio link doomed a test flight of Boeing’s crew capsule late last year, Nasa said on Friday, revealing

for the first time a glitch that could have destroyed the spaceship on its re-entry.

The Starliner’s December 20 mission, an uncrewed test flight, was ended early when it failed to engage its thrusters on time, due to a previously reported faulty timer.

Nasa said in a statement on Friday that the problem arose because it incorrectly pulled time from its Atlas V launch rocket, creating an 11-hour mismatch.

The second problem was intermittent space-to-ground communications, impeding the flight control team’s ability to command and control the vehicle.

A third issue was confirmed by Nasa and Boeing for the first time: A coding error in the program that governs Starliner’s preparation for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

The error would have caused the service module, which contains the spacecraft’s support systems and is supposed to detach prior to re-entry, to be pushed toward the crewed module.

This could have resulted in impact, destabilising the ship or damaging its heat shield, said Jim Chilton, Senior Vice-President of Boeing’s Space and Launch division.

The error was caught and fixed via a software patch the night before landing, said John Mul-holland, Project Manager for the Starliner.

Douglas Loverro, a senior Nasa official, said the multiple errors pointed to “insufficient” oversight by his agency, but he also added: “It looks as if there could possibly be process issues at Boeing. And so, we want to understand what the culture is at Boeing, that may have led to that.” Starliner’s failure was the latest serious setback for Boeing, which is still reeling from two fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft. The crashes, in October 2018 in Indonesia and in March 2019 in Ethiopia, claimed a total 346 lives.

The findings of an independent review into the latest failure will be ready in late February.

Nasa officials have refused to be drawn on what it all means for the future of Starliner, which is scheduled to take its first astronauts to the Interna-tional Space Station in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Boeing’s space rival SpaceX is pre-paring for its first crewed flight with its Crew

Dragon, likely in the second quarter, according to boss Elon Musk.

Nasa has committed to pay the two companies $8bn in return for six trips carrying four astronauts each to the ISS. The US has relied on Russian rockets to carry its crews to the space station since ending the Space Shuttle program in 2011. — AFP

Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule

lands at White Sands.

Multiple software errors doomed Boeing crew capsule test

TECHNOLOGY 13DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

China’s Xiaomi, Huawei Technologies, Oppo and Vivo are joining forces to create a platform for developers outside China

to upload apps onto all of their app stores simultaneously, in a move analysts say is meant to challenge the dominance of Google’s Play store.

The four companies are ironing out kinks in what is known as the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). The platform aims to make it easier for developers of games, music, movies and other apps to market their apps in overseas markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The GDSA was initially aiming to launch in March, sources said, although it is not clear how that will be affected by the recent corona-virus outbreak.

A prototype website says the platform will initially cover nine “regions” including India, Indonesia and Russia.

Oppo and Vivo are both owned by Chinese manufacturer BBK Electronics.

Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi confirmed they jointly developed the GDSA as a way to upload apps to their stores simultaneously.

A Xiaomi spokesman said the alliance was not intended to challenge Google and denied Huawei’s involvement with it, but Oppo and Vivo made no mention of Huawei in their state-ments. Huawei declined to comment.

Google, whose services are banned in China, earned about $8.8bn globally from the Play store in 2019, said Katie Williams, an analyst at Sensor Tower. Google also sells content such as movies, books and apps on the Play store and collects a 30 percent com-mission. Google did not respond to a request for comment.

“By forming this alliance each company will be looking to leverage the others’ advantages in different regions, with Xiaomi’s strong user base in India, Vivo and Oppo in Southeast Asia, and Huawei in Europe,” said Nicole Peng, the VP of Mobility at Canalys.

“Secondly, it’s to start to build some more negotiation power against Google,” she added.

Together the four companies made up 40.1

percent of global handset ship-ments in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the consul-tancy IDC. While Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have full access to Google services in international markets, Huawei lost access for new devices last year after the United States barred American suppliers from selling goods and service to it, citing national security.

Chinese vendors are trying to capture a greater share of software and services as hardware sales slow, said Will Wong, a smart-phone analyst with IDC.

“App store, pre-loading apps, advertise-ments and gaming are areas that could gen-erate new revenue,” he said.

Huawei is also moving away from Google by developing its own Harmony OS as an alternative.

The GDSA’s website includes the logo of Wanka Online, a Hong Kong-listed Android “ecosystem” platform next to a contact for the GDSA’s General Secretariat. Wanka declined to confirm its involvement.

The GDSA might be able to lure some app developers by providing more exposure than the already crowded Play store, and the new platform could provide better monetary incen-tives, analysts said.

“By making it simple for developers to increase their reach across multiple app stores, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi stand to attract more developers and, ultimately, more apps,” said Williams.

However, managing the alliance may be a challenge Peng said. “The execution is difficult as it’s hard to say which company is pulling more weight and investing more in it. We haven’t seen the alliance model work well in the past.” — Reuters

China’s mobile giants to take on Google’s Play store: Sources

Google’s cash cow search business is being ‘hollowed out’

New numbers from Alphabet Inc last week confirmed a major fear that has lingered around the Internet giant for

years: the Google online search business is slowing.In its 2019 financial report, Alphabet split its advertising

revenue into three buckets for the first time: Search, YouTube and a network business that runs marketing spots on other websites. Search sales rose 15 percent in 2019, a slower pace than the 22 percent in 2018.

“This hollowing out of search is real,” Mark Shmulik, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, wrote in a note to investors after the results. To maintain growth at even this lower level, Google will have to generate more revenue from its Maps service, image search and shopping search ads, he said.

Google search is one of the most profitable businesses ever created, helping the company amass a cash hoard of more than $100bn. It took Google from a garage in Silicon Valley to a trillion-dollar giant that dominates digital advertising, online video, maps and email.

Search grew rapidly as more people got online looking for infor-mation. Smartphones also boosted usage and revenue climbed after Google loaded more ads into the top of mobile search results. But there are limits to the growth of such a large business.

Google can only stuff so many ads onto its website without low-ering the quality of search results. On mobile phones, ads often fill the entire screen, forcing users to scroll down if they want to see free listings. Over the years, Google has used various tweaks to wring more clicks out of search ads. But there may be limits to that, too. Recently, it changed the way ads are labelled, causing some people to say it was trying to blur the line between ads and free results. The company quickly backtracked. — Bloomberg

HEALTH14 DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

14

JILL U ADAMS

THE WASHINGTON POST

My hand lotion dispenser gets a workout in the winter.

I wash my hands a lot to prevent whatever virus is making the rounds of my neighbourhood. Afterward, I lotion up to prevent the dry skin that often seems to accompany cold weather.

And it’s not just hand washing that may lead to dry skin. In a study of German hairdressers, who pre-sumably have similar routines regardless of season, researchers noticed more complaints about dry and irritated skin during cold winter months.

What is it about winter that causes skin to be more dry? “It’s multifactorial,” says Daniela Kroshinsky, a Harvard University dermatologist. Humidity is a big reason. Outdoors, the cold air holds less moisture. Indoors, heating systems also dry out the air.

If you take long, hot showers, that will add to the problem because you’re washing away some of the natural oils in your skin. Harsh soaps, Kroshinsky says, can strip even more oils out.

“But soap is not the main thing,” she says. “Humidi-fiers are wonderful.” Studies on human skin function found that the top layers of skin holds less water in low-humidity conditions.

If you want to humidify your home, Kroshinsky rec-ommends a high-capacity machine. “Smaller units probably don’t change the humidity level effectively,” she says.

A humidity gauge will ascertain that the machine is having an effect - 45 percent to 55 percent relative humidity is a typical target.

The main problem with dry skin is that it is uncom-fortable. And sometimes kind of gross. My lips may crack and I can shake dander out of my clothes at the end of the day.

A review of the scientific literature on climatic con-ditions found this general truth: Low humidity and low temperatures reduce the skin’s capacity to serve as a barrier and increase the risk of dermatitis - itchy, dry and often inflamed skin.

Patients with atopic dermatitis — the most common form of eczema with its characteristic red, itchy skin - are particularly sensitive to winter dryness and can experience flare-ups.

Patients complaining of itchy skin are not uncommon beginning in November or December, says Gary LeRoy, a family physician in Dayton, Ohio, who is president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“When did you turn on your heat in your house and close all your windows? Do you take really hot baths or showers? Do you pat or rub dry? Rubbing can exfoliate the skin and can add to drying out,” he says.

LeRoy recommends taking showers that aren’t too long or too hot, patting yourself dry and applying mois-turiser while your skin is still damp. Also, “an oatmeal bath can help with itchy sensation,” he says.

The easiest route to managing dry skin in winter is to use a moisturiser. They come in varying packaging - pump or pour lotions, creams in a tube or jar, and oint-ments, such as petroleum jelly - and contain a dizzying array of ingredients.

They don’t actually add water to your skin. Rather, they keep water from escaping. Some substances, such as shea butter and lanolin, which are emollients, are

intended to make your skin feel softer.LeRoy says lotions with a lactic acid base are “pretty

doggone good.” Other ingredients to look for are sali-cylic acid, glycolic acid, and urea.

Kroshinsky says helpful ingredients include cera-mides, glycerin and hyaluronic acid.

Ceramides are naturally occurring compounds in the skin that impede water loss. Both urea and lactic

acid work in part by stimulating the skin to make more ceramides.

One study compared six commercially available moisturisers that contain different mixes of therapeutic agents on the skin of 80 people with moderately or severely dry skin. Applied twice a day for four weeks, all the products improved symptoms.

The researchers concluded that “consistent and regular moisturiser use is much more important than the moisturiser’s particular formulation.” Kroshinsky agrees. She tells her patients to choose a moisturiser that they will use: “If you don’t like the feel or the smell, that’s not good. Because you have to actually use it.” Moisturising twice a day seems to be the ideal treatment. “You’ll get the most bang for your buck after the shower,” Kroshinsky says.

That is because the lotion or cream will trap moisture gained from your shower. Plus, she says, cream-based moisturisers go on easier when your skin is damp and feels less greasy.

Both doctors agree that it’s best to avoid fragrances

and colour dyes, which can be irritating. Beware: A lotion labelled “fragrance-free” means just that, while “unscented” lotions are formulated to not have a noticeable odour, but may still contain fragrance compounds.

When should you see a doctor for dry skin? “When you become concerned about it,” LeRoy says. “Because it’s compromising your lifestyle or common fixes aren’t helping.” Other things that should be checked out are rashes that won’t go away or are getting worse, and any sign of infection - skin that’s hot to the touch, painful or weeping.

Kroshinsky says a good dermatologist will check for other causes of dry skin. Maybe it’s not just winter drying out your skin. It could be a health condition or your medication.

Some people are more sensitive to changes in climate, especially the very young and the very old.

“As we age, the oil components of our skin diminish,” Kroshinsky says. Also, skin is thinner in older people.

ntended to make your skin feel softer.LeRoy says lotions with a lactic acid base are “pretty

oggone good.” Other ingredients to look for are sali-ylic acid, glycolic acid, and urea.

Kroshinsky says helpful ingredients include cera-mides, glycerin and hyaluronic acid.

Ceramides are naturally occurring compounds in he skin that impede water loss. Both urea and lactic

Winter dries out skin, but

moisturising helps

FILM 15DOHA TODAYMONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

‘Oscars museum’ to feature Kirk Douglas tributesLos Angeles’s long-awaited museum dedicated to

the magic of movies will open this year and feature tributes to the late Kirk Douglas.

The idea for an Academy Museum of Motion Pic-tures was first floated nearly a century ago, and its current futuristic incarnation has been beset by delays.

On the eve of the Academy’s flagship event — the Oscars — a nearly completed site was opened to jour-nalists on Friday, showcasing a gleaming sphere made of glass, steel and concrete containing a state-of-the-art 1,000-seat theatre.

The orb-like structure — designed by Renzo Piano “as if it were floating” to symbolize “the fantasy and magic of the movies” — is connected by sky bridges to a converted department store housing the main galleries.

Among the 13 million photographs, scripts, cos-tumes, props and more in the Academy’s collections are Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “Wizard of Oz,” Bela Lugosi’s cape from 1931’s “Dracula” — and items related to Douglas.

“We’re close with the Douglas family. We have artefacts related to Kirk, his story will be in the museum,” director Bill Kramer said.

The items “will be weaved throughout the stories of cinema” in the galleries.

Douglas, one of the last superstars of Hollywood’s golden age of cinema and renowned for his intense, muscular performances in “Spartacus” and “Paths of

Glory,” died on Wednesday aged 103.Kramer added: “When people pass, this is a home to

help tell their stories, and we are committed to doing

that.” Construction is “substantially complete” with galleries and exhibi-tions starting to be installed.

The opening show will be the first-ever US retrospective of Studio Ghibli work from Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki, whose animation master-pieces include the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away.” In a nod to the Hol-lywood diversity row highlighted by the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, that show will be followed by an exhi-bition on the history of black cinema.

“We want to tell complete, diverse, inclusive stories in this museum,” said Kramer.

Addressing criticism of this year’s Oscars, which saw only one non-white acting nominee, he added: “We can only help, and we pledge to tell complete stories.” The museum’s initial fundraising goal of $388m has been 95 percent reached, with the final cost of the project yet to be released amid rumours of spiralling

over-spending. “Any new project has twists and turns,” said Kramer. “None of them were completely unex-pected.” — AFP

A file photo taken on September 1, 1978, shows US actor Kirk Douglas and his

wife Anne pose at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris.

The last 20 winners: 2019 - “Green Book” 2018 - “The Shape of Water” 2017 - “Moonlight” 2016 - “Spotlight” 2015 - “Birdman” 2014 - “12 Years A Slave” 2013 - “Argo” 2012 - “The Artist” 2011 - “The King’s Speech” 2010 - “The Hurt Locker” 2009 - “Slumdog Millionaire” 2008 - “No Country for Old Men” 2007 - “The Departed” 2006 - “Crash” 2005 - “Million Dollar Baby” 2004 - “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” 2003 - “Chicago” 2002 - “A Beautiful Mind” 2001 - “Gladiator” 2000 - “American Beauty”

Best picture Oscar winners of past 20 years

This year, nine films were in contention for the top prize: “Ford v Ferrari”, “The Irishman”, “Jojo Rabbit”, “Joker”, “Little Women”, “Marriage Story”, “1917”, “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” and “Parasite” 2019. The fol-

lowing is a list of the best picture Oscar winners from the last 20 years, ahead of this year’s 92nd Academy Awards in Hollywood.

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