Volume 22 | Number 7415 | 2 RiyalsTuesday 23 January 2018 | 6 Jumada 1 | 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

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Emir meets GECF Secretary-General

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani meeting with Secretary General of Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), Yury Sentyurin, in his office at Al Bahar Palace, on the occasion of the latter assuming his duties, yesterday. At the outset of the meeting, the Emir congratulated Yury Sentyurin on assuming the office of GECF Secretary-General, and wished him success in his duties. Both sides discussed means of supporting and strengthening cooperation between Qatar and GECF, in addition to a number of issues of mutual interest.

Flyingdemo

An instructor giving wind tunnel demonstration to attract kids during a Fun Fair at Mall of Qatar, yesterday.

PIC: SALIM

MATRAMKOT/

THE PENINSULA

More study on permanent residency ID card

Qatar-EU air & sea freight lane to grow fasterSATISH KANADY

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Qatar-EU trade lane has been projected as one of the busiest routes, both in terms of air and sea freight lanes, in the Emerging Market.

The EU-Qatar air freight lane is forecast to grow by 39.4 percent, while Qatar-EU sea freight air lane is projected to expand by a whopping 121.7 percent.

The annual Emerging Markets Logistics Index, released by global logistics leader Agility described Qatar as the “surprise GCC Index darling this year”, with its score improving by 0.24 points to 6.02, ranking it No. 11. Qatar made significant gains in Com-patibility as economic diversi-fication progressed and non-tariff barriers were judged to be less of a burden, while Con-nectivity improved thanks to better l iner shipping connections.

The index that evaluates the performance of 50 emerging markets globally, found Qatar improving its overall index ranking by one spot to (No.11). Qatar jumped two spots to No.8 in the infrastructure/transport category and maintained its grip on No. 2 for business con-ditions. Qatar leapt past Chile to rank as the No. 2 emerging market for countries with less than $300bn annual GDP. Malaysia remained the leader for smaller emerging markets.

The five fastest-growing trade lanes in 2017 are

EU-Ukraine (+40.9 percent), EU-Qatar (+39.4 percent), EU-Angola (+38.3 percent), US-Ecuador (+33.3 percent) and US-Russia (+30.8 percent). Emerging markets sea freight exports are much more diverse compared to imports, which are overwhelmingly comprised of agricultural goods. The five trade lanes forecast the fastest growth in 2017 are Qatar-EU (+121.7 percent), Nigeria-EU (+78.9 percent), Egypt-US (+75.0 percent), Ukraine-US (+70.9 percent) and Morocco-US (+58.1 percent).

Qatar stood second in the Compatibility sub-index, which is effectively a measure of market accessibility and the ease of doing business. Qatar, which halved the gap last year, has caught up even more as eco-nomic diversification progresses and non-tariff barriers diminish. The Agility report noted that Qatar’s improvement should be treated cautiously as the data has not yet got a chance to combine several factors.

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The EU-Qatar air freight lane is forecast to grow by 39.4%, while Qatar-EU sea freight air lane is projected to expand by a whopping 121.7 percent.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Advisory Council referred a draft law on the permanent residency identifi-cation card to the Council’s Internal and Foreign Affairs Committee for further study.

The Council decided to refer the draft law after extensive dis-cussions held during the regular weekly session of the council held yesterday under the chair-manship of Speaker of the Advisory Council H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.

The Internal and External Affairs Committee of the

Advisory Council held it’s first meeting at the 46th ordinary session, yesterday.

The Committee began to study the draft law on ‘Per-manent Residence ID Card’, and decided to continue deliberation in its next meeting.

At the outset of the meeting, the Committee unanimously elected member Abdullah bin Fahad bin Abdullah bin Ghorab Al Marri as its Rapporteur for this session. The Speaker of the Advisory Council briefed the Council on the outcome of the 13th Conference of the Parlia-mentary Union of the OIC

member states, which was held in Tehran on Tuesday and Wednesday.

H E Al Mahmoud also briefed the Council on the meetings which he and the accompanying delegation held with President of Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Hassan Rowhani, and with a number of heads of the councils of the OIC member states par-ticipating in the conference.

The meetings focused on the role of the councils in supporting Islamic issues, as well as the bilateral relations between Qatar and these countries and means of enhancing and developing

them in various fields. The Advisory Council wel-

comed the final communique of the 13th Conference of the Par-liamentary Union of the OIC member states.

The Council praised the position of the communique, in particular, the rejection of the principle of imposing sanctions of any kind on any of the Islamic countries and calling for their abolition, and the assertion on the centrality of the Palestinian cause and Al Quds Al Sharif as the capital of the independent Palestinian state and the third of the two holy mosques.

Survey on immigration, traffic and unified services beginsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Planning and Quality Department at the Ministry of Interior has started a survey on views about the services provided by the General Directorate of Borders Passports and Expatriates Affairs, the unified services department at the Mesaimeer Service Center, and the General Directorate of Traffic in Madinat Khalifa-South. The survey will run until today.

This survey is a

continuation of the series of surveys carried out by The Planning and Quality Department in various depart-ments of the ministry.

The survey teams dis-tributed the questionnaires prepared by the adminis-tration, which included a number of questions about the procedures carried out by the Department of Expatriate Affairs, the Department of Standard Services, and the General Directorate of Traffic.

The questions were

regarding the reception of clients, the speed of com-pletion of their transactions and the response to their inquiries by staff and officers, QNA reported.

Questions about facilities provided by the departments including the provision of suitable and convenient waiting places for the visitors, car parking, and services for people with special needs are also included.

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Saudi official defames Kuwait minister for Qatar visitTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: A Saudi official has launched a scathing and defam-atory attack on a Kuwaiti Minister after he visited Qatar and met with Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Turki Al Sheikh, Chairman of the General Sports Authority

and Adviser to the Saudi Royal Court, used twitter to pour out his frustration against Kuwait’s Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Khalid Nasser Al Roudan after their meeting with the Emir in Doha on Sunday.

Al Sheikh tweeted: “Al Roudan, in brief, is a mercenary

under the umbrella of position and is also goes against proven facts.

This mercenary will not affect the historical relations between Saudi Arabia and its sister Kuwait and what he has said only represents him as Modar poet said: If you want to know the souls, throw them

money’’. Al Sheikh’s defamatory tweet came after the Kuwaiti Minister Khalid Al Roudhan thanked the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during his recent visit to Doha, for his support and contribution to lifting FIFA’s suspension of Kuwait Football Association last month.

The delegation headed by the minister also thanked Qatar for agreeing to move the 23rd Gulf Cup to Kuwait.

The tweet, which was in a bad taste, shows the current social media climate in the coun-tries blockading Qatar.

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DOHA: The Cultural Village Foundation - Katara yesterday concluded its fifth edition of the Winter Festival which ran from January 18 to 22 by the beach. The festival saw a large number of attendees from different backgrounds and nationalities. The fest comes as part of the foundation’s goals to diversify its events and activities which is suitable for all the community with its different interests.

Katara concludesWinter Festival

QNA

WASHINGTON: Attorney General of the State of Qatar, H E Dr. Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, who is currently on his official visit to Washington, met with the Director of US Federal Bureau of Investi-gation (FBI), Christopher Wray.

During the meeting, both the parties discussed a number of issues pertaining to common concern on which they cooperate, as well as ways of dealing with some other issues.

According to reports, the Attorney General also met with the US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, where they discussed a number of issues of common interest.

Qatar’s AG meets FBI Director, US Senator

DOHA: Milaha, a Qatar-based maritime and logistics conglomerate, announced yesterday acquisition of its largest container vessel to date, Majd, a 3,768 TEU vessel.

The new vessel will be one of the 17 container vessels that the group operates, and is part of the ongoing expansion of the group’s overall fleet.

→REPORT ON PAGE 20

Milaha gets largest container vessel

02 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018HOME

Defence Minister meets Malian counterpart

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, met in his office yesterday with Malian Minister of Defence, Tiena Coulibaly. They discussed strengthening bilateral relations in defence and military fields and ways to enhance them, as well as enhancing counter-terrorism and anti-extremism efforts. Chief of Staff of Qatar Armed Forces and a number of senior Qatar Armed Forces officers attended the meeting.

Turkish entrepreneurs seek tie-up with Qatar counterpartsIRFAN BUKHARI

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: As economic relations between Qatar and Turkey are touching new heights, Turkish entre-preneurs too want to build new part-nerships with their Qatari counter-parts to boost startup ecosystem in both countries.

Erdem Dereli (pictured), founder and Chairman of Entren (Entrepre-neurship Expert Network) with second and third generations of leading com-panies in Turkey, told The Peninsula on the sidelines of Expo Turkey by Qatar 2018, recently concluded in Doha, that his organisation wanted to establish its branch in Qatar to expand relations between entrepreneurs of both countries.

“I am here not only to attract investments for technology startups of Turkey but we also want to develop long-lasting relations with Qatari entrepreneurs and startups,” Dereli said.

Dereli is a member of Musiad and also Chairman of working group “Young Entrepreneurs Council in Istanbul” that works under TOBB (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey).

He said that Turkey with its youth population, having proclivity and expertise in information technology, had a great ecosystem for startups and by investing in those startups, Qatari investors could gain maximum profits.

“The startups in Turkey are working on artificial intelligence, automation, software systems and other digital solutions. There is great

scope for Qatari investors to launch joint ventures with Turkish entrepre-neurs,” he said.

Dereli has two startup companies, Argecon and Restroid; both tech-nology-focused companies. “We are working with conglomerate corpora-tions in Turkey.”

He said that return on investment (ROI) in technology startups was far

greater than investments made in other sectors. “For example, in the real estate sector your ROI can be threefold but in tech startups it can be 10 times or more,” he added.

Dereli said that the investors from Europe and the US had invested huge sums in Turkish tech startups. “During this expo, I met many Qatari businessmen who expressed their interest in investing in Turkish startups.”

He said that from the platform of Entren, Turkish entrepreneurs wanted to develop relations with Qatari entre-preneurs. “For this purpose, I am planning to establish an office of Entren here in Doha,” he said, adding that startup ecosystem in Qatar was also very good.

He also lauded the role and efforts of Qatar Business Incubation Center for supporting entrepreneurs and companies. “We also want to host Qatari entrepreneurs in Turkey for exchange of knowledge and experiences.”

He said that Entrepreneurship Expert Network used to arrange lec-tures in colleges and schools of Turkey to promote entrepreneurship in the country.

“Entren aims to create value addition in an innovative manner for all stakeholders of the ecosystem with its own programs, projects and activities. It aims to bring the quality of the global standard for entrepre-neurship ecosystem to the local stakeholders in Turkey,” he said, adding: “We want to collaborate with Q a t a r ’ s E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p Ecosystem.”

“The startups in Turkey are working on artificial intelligence, automation, software systems and other digital solutions. There is great scope for Qatari investors to launch joint ventures with Turkish entrepreneurs,” Chairman of Entrepreneurship Expert Network said.

Quick action and technology save patient’s life at HMCTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The quick response of a multi-disciplinary team from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and a revolutionary technology are being credited with saving the life of a young man who recently had a nearly fatal heart attack while playing basketball.

The patient, a 33-year-old-man, lost consciousness and collapsed after having a sudden full cardiac arrest while playing basketball with his colleagues. His colleagues called an ambulance and began performing first aid (cardiopul-monary resuscitation). The ambulance arrived within five minutes and trans-ferred the man to Hamad General Hos-pital’s Emergency Department.

Dr Ibrahim Fawzy Hassan, Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Deputy Medical Director, Ambulance Service, and Clinical Lead, Corporate ECMO Program, said the combination of a skilled multi-disciplinary team and an innovative tech-nology saved the patient’s life. The tech-nology, called ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), was able to take over the functions of the heart and lungs, essentially breathing for the patient by

pumping oxygenated blood to vital organs.“The ECMO technology acts as the

patient’s lungs and heart, ensuring they get enough oxygen by circulating their blood outside of the body. HMC is one of only a handful of health systems in this region that uses the technology, which requires specialised training to operate. This technology, coupled with the teamwork of clinicians from across HMC, was instrumental in saving the patient’s life. His successful recovery is

a testament to the skill and resource-fulness of our dedicated team and we are all thrilled that he is doing so well,” said Dr Hassan.

The ECMO technology provided the time needed to stabilise the patient’s condition until he could be transferred to Heart Hospital, HMC’s specialist car-diology and cardiothoracic surgery hos-pital. Once at Heart Hospital, the patient underwent open heart surgery and two weeks later was discharged in good health.

Speaking during a Grand Round (a formal meeting at which physicians discuss the clinical case of one or more patients) held last week at HMC, Dr Hassan recognised the skill and quick action of the clinicians involved, stating that international research indicates only a small proportion of patients who experience a sudden cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive. He said the poor survival rate is largely the result of delays in calling for an ambulance, not providing proper first aid, and lack of access to technology such as ECMO.

Dr Alhady Yusof, a Senior Con-sultant, Medical Intensive Care at Hamad General Hospital, said the patient’s

positive outcome demonstrates the power of working together as a cohesive team to deliver comprehensive care.

Dr Yousef, together with the ECMO team, led by Dr Abdul Salam Saif, Dr Abdul Rahman El Arabi, Consultant Car-diologist, Dr Amr Salah, Anaesthesiol-ogist and Critical Care Consultant, and Dr Abdul Wahed Al Mulla, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon were part of the multi-disciplinary team of Ambulance Service

staff and clinicians from the Emergency, Anaesthesiology, and Surgery Depart-ments at Hamad General and Heart Hos-pital who cared for the patient.

HMC first began using ECMO tech-nology four years ago. To date, around a hundred patients have benefited from the lifesaving treatment. The highly-specialised therapy requires a multidisciplinary team of specialised physicians and nurses.

Members of the team who helped save the patient’s life during the Grand Round. Dr Ibrahim Fawzy Hassan

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: As part of its efforts to implement its community outreach programme to keep different segments of the public informed about the current works on the ground, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) received about 45 students from Community College in Qatar (CCQ) (Quality Section) in Ashghal’s Centre for Research and Development.

During the students’ visit to Ashghal’s Centre, they met with Eng Khaled Al Emadi, Ashghal’s Quality and Safety Department Manager, and Ali Al Marri, Head of Labo-ratories section, who presented an overview of the Centre and its main labs.

The visit included a meeting with a number of quality experts and a field tour in the Centre. El Emadi awarded a trophy from Ashghal to the CCQ represented by Dr Khalid Bazid, Professor of Public Administration.

CCQ students visit Ashghal’s R&D centre

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) announced the closure of one lane on both directions of Khalifa Street, between Post Intersection (Known as Al Maha Intersection) and TV Inter-section. The proposed closure is designed in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic and will last until February 20.

During this period, the closure will be implemented in several sections and time intervals to avoid any traffic dis-ruptions. The other two lanes will remain open for traffic.

The closure aims to enable con-struction works as part of a project to develop Khalifa Street and convert TV Roundabout to an intersection.

The Public Works Authority will install road signs advising motorists of the closure. Ashghal requested all road users to abide by the speed limit, and follow the road signs to ensure their safety.

Road closure on Khalifa Street Qatar-EU trade lane to grow fasterContinued from page 1

It added that the country is well-equipped to endure the blockade.

“Firstly, the country can rely on highly developed air and sea infrastructure. Hamad International Airport in Doha is the second-largest air cargo hub in the region, after Dubai International, and handled 1.7m tonnes of goods in 2016.

Hamad Port became fully operational in December 2016 and has an annual capacity of 2m TEUs, 1.7m tonnes of general cargo, 1m tonnes of grain and 500,000 vehicles. If necessary, Qatar can also revive operations at Doha Port, which Hamad has replaced.”

Oman was rapidly identified as the main alternative to the UAE for container transshipment,

with the country’s Sohar Port set to benefit from an increase in volumes.

In the wake of the crisis, Qatari logistics group Milaha Marit ime & Logist ics announced the launch of a regular direct service from Sohar to Hamad, whilst Maersk Line commenced feeder services from Salalah on June 19. Other container lines soon followed.

As for air freight connec-tions, cargo shipments only face lengthened flight times if they are connecting to or from southern Europe, North Africa or the Horn of Africa. Routes to northern Europe and North America generally pass over Turkey and Iran, and are thus unaffected, as are flights from Asia.

03TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 HOME

Al Sulaiti meets Kenyan Ambassador

Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti has held talks in Doha with Kenyan Ambassador to Qatar Galma Mukhe Boru. They discussed aspects of cooperation between the State of Qatar and Kenya in the fields of transport and communications, and means of enhancing them.

Dar Al Sharq and Qatar Chamber hold symposium on social responsibilitySIDI MOHAMED

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Dar Al Sharq and Qatar Chamber organised yesterday a symposium on “Social Responsibility 2018 and Beyond” which stressed on the need of the social responsibility after the blockade.

They also announced that the fifth conference and awards for Social Responsibility for 2017 will be held next month under the theme ‘respon-sibilities despite challenges’.

The symposium was organised by the Social Responsibility Committee at Dar Al Sharq in collaboration with Qatar Chamber. The website of the Social Responsibility Committee was launched during the event.

Speaking at the symposium, Sheikh Dr Thani bin Ali Al Thani, Chairman of Social Responsibility Committee, said that the upcoming conference will witness increase in activities related to enhancing aware-ness about social responsibility.

“The Committee is satisfied with the success achieved by the confer-ence during the past years, which con-tributed to raising awareness about social responsibility and its impor-tance in the society,” he added.

The economic aspects like profit

and loss are no longer the sole deter-minant of the performance of com-panies. Rather, there are other aspects that contribute to the advancement of society and its members. Cultural and social values and social responsibility have become one of the most impor-tant factors used to measure the per-formance and contributions of com-panies and institutions in society.

Al Thani also pointed out that there is an urgent need to devote more

importance to this concept and strengthen it, especially after the unjust siege imposed on the country.

Regarding the social responsibility award, he said that it aims to highlight the importance of social responsibility among companies and institutions in Qatar and also aims to create competi-tion among them to provide projects and practices that benefit people and society.

Abdullatif Al Mahmoud, CEO of Dar Al Sharq Group, pointed out the fifth conference has a special impor-tance because it will be the first con-ference to be held after the unjust blockade on Qatar.

Al Mahmoud also mentioned that the conference’s meetings and activ-ities will show Qatar’s efforts in facing the blockade.

“All the sectors have performed their responsibility and increased their products to meet the country’s devel-opment strategy, which contributed to overcoming the repercussion of the blockade,” he noted.

The annual conference was launched in December 2013.

The aim of the conferences is to educate and spread awareness about social responsibility among compa-nies through encouraging initiatives and highlighting the companies achievements in this field.

Abdullatif Al Mahmoud, Jaber Al Harami, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Chamber, and Sheikh Dr Thani bin Ali Al Thani, with other officials during the symposium.PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

Abdullatif Al Mahmoud, CEO of Dar Al Sharq Group, speaking at the event.Northwestern University

officials to visit Qatar campus at Education CityTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The dean of Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, David Figlio, and his colleague Professor James Spillane, will visit the University’s Qatar campus in Education City to discuss collaboration opportunities in education, research, and academic development.

“Dr Figlio and Dr Spillane are among the best-known researchers in their respective fields of education and lead-ership,” said Everette E Dennis, Dean and CEO of Northwestern University in Qatar.

“Their work has had a significant impact on improving education and human development in the US and inter-nationally. It is a wonderful opportunity for NU-Q to access this expertise for our campus.”

During their visit, the scholars will meet with faculty at NU-Q to discuss joint research projects, pedagogical develop-ment, and learn more about the programs they teach. In addition, they will meet with officials from Qatar Foundation to discuss collaboration efforts and engage in

dialogue about the role of education in national development.

“Both professors expressed great interest and were very impressed by Qatar’s approach to education and the develop-ment of a knowledge-based economy,” said Dennis.

“Their expertise in the field of edu-cation contributes to the very essence of NU-Q and Education City’s vision to educate the next generation of young professionals in a variety of industries.”

Figlio is one of the nation’s most influ-ential researchers on education and social policy and has advised the governments of several US states, and nations on five continents, on the design, implementa-tion, and evaluation of education policy.

The scholars will meet with faculty at NU-Q to discuss joint research projects, pedagogical development, and learn more about the programs they teach.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Bio-medical Research Center (BRC) at Qatar University (QU) held four days workshop on “Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and surveillance” which started yesterday

This workshop aimed to build national capacity in the field of testing antimicrobial sus-ceptibility. The workshop aligns with the National Action Plan for Combating Antimicrobial Resist-ance 2017-2022 approved by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

The event drew the partici-pation of over 150 human and animal health clinicians, researchers, pharmacists and laboratory technologists from institutions in Qatar.

It was organised in collabo-ration with MoPH Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Department, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP), and Bristol Antimicrobial Reference Unit, UK.

The opening session was attended by QU College of Health Sciences (CHS) Dean and BRC Director Prof Asma Al-Thani and BRC faculty, researchers, and staff.

In her presentation, MoPH Medical Microbiologist and Infection Control Specialist, Dr Nahla Sharaf discussed the National Action Plan for Com-bating Antimicrobial Resist-ance 2017-2022 and the

National One Health Surveil-lance System.

University of Bristol Pro-fessor of Antimicrobial Thera-peutics Dr Alasdair MacGowen and Senior Clinical Scientist at the Antimicrobial Reference Laboratory-Bristol Dr Karen Bowker discussed the role of antibiotics testing in clinical care and phenotypic approaches of susceptibility testing.

Senior Consultant of Micro-biology and Infectious Diseases at Al Wakra Hospital Dr Nasser Al Ansari introduced the audi-ence to the national and inter-national surveillance and con-trol programmes.

Head of HMC Microbiology and Virology Division, Dr Emad Ibrahim, highlighted the recent technologies used in the clinical and research settings to run sus-ceptibility testing. The workshop was moderated by BRC Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases, Dr Hadi Yassine.

Following the theoretical session, the participants attended the practical hands-on session provided by Dr Karen Bowker and Dr Allen Noel, clin-ical scientists at Antimicrobial Reference Unit, North Bristol NHS Trust.

They highlighted the inter-national basic techniques used to measure microbes suscep-tibility to antibiotics with the aim to standardise the meth-odology of susceptibility testing in Qatar.

In her remarks, Prof Asma Al Thani, said: “This workshop

will ensure the standardisation and reliability of antimicrobial data as antimicrobial resistance and surveillance is a keystone to the national antimicrobial stew-ardship program.

“We are delighted to accommodate practical training for more than 30 indi-viduals representing 19

institutions around Qatar. I trust this will be a successful workshop and I hope that eve-ryone would take the outcomes and the experience gained from this program to participate in developing our regulatory system to reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance in our community.”

QU workshop discusses antimicrobial susceptibility testing and surveillance

Survey on immigration, traffic and unified services beginsContinued from page 1

Brigadier Abdul Rahman Majid Al Sulaiti, Telecommu-nications Department Director said that the Ministry of Inte-rior attaches great importance to such surveys as an impor-tant measurement mechanism, because it has an effective role in supporting the decision-making process and identifying the efficiency of the services provided to the public.

He said the survey is also aimed at identifying the ease level of the electronic transactions and the obstacles faced by the users during the completion of trans-actions in order to facilitate and simplify the procedures in view of quality and accuracy in the completion of transactions and to improve the quality of performance, and provide the best services to the clients with a high level of technology and modernity,

Al Sulaiti added that the survey teams of the Department of Planning and Quality will take the views of the clients to know the extent of their knowledge about the availability of services per-formed by the three departments in order to motivate them to com-plete their transactions online and to further develop all services performed by the departments of the ministry in various disciplines.

Saudi official defames Kuwait Minister for Qatar visitContinued from page 1

Many officials and media analysts in the siege countries are using foul language and fake news to defame other citizens of the Gulf countries.

Recently a US-based firm admitted, in a filing before the authorities, that they were paid by the United Arab Emirates government to spread the anti-Qatar news on social media.

Kuwaiti social media users were seen expressing their anger at the Al Sheikh tweet targeting their minister.

“Khalid Al Roudan is a minister and his father was a minister and his grandfather was a minister, and from a well known wealthy family in Kuwait, before Saudi Arabia was established, and he is not a mercenary as you said,” Abdullah Jahlan from Kuwait said in his tweet.

Researchers during the workshop.

Survey teams of the Department of Planning and Quality will take the views of the clients to know the extent of their knowledge about the availability of services performed by the three departments.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Doha Film Institute Cinema (DFI Cinema) has unveiled its new ‘Contemporary Releases’ programme, which aims to bring a unique selec-tion of the latest internationally and regionally acclaimed films for audiences in Qatar.

The programme debuts with Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope, a film that portrays the struggles of an asylum-seeker in a heart-warming manner, coupled with humour and the spirit of human kindness. Fin-land’s best-known screenwriter and film director, Kaurismäki debuted as independent director with Crime and Punishment (1983) and gained world-wide attention with Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989).

Winner of the 2017 Silver Bear for best director at Berlin International Film Festival, The Other Side of Hope was also selected to screen at the 2017 Toronto, New York and Telluride film festi-vals. It also won the FIPRESCI Film of the Year prize at the San Sebastián International Film Festival 2017. Audi-ences in Qatar will have opportunity to enjoy the film with screenings on Thursday at 4.30pm and on Friday at 4.30pm and 7pm, at the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “The DFI Cinema series provide an opportunity to local audiences to watch films that have set standards

04 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018HOME

Ooredoo to launch SAP cloud servicesTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo, one of the region’s leading ICT providers, announced yesterday a partnership with digital transformation enabler SAP to deliver cloud solutions that can enable Qatar’s business competitiveness and fuel economic growth.

Supporting Qatar’s organisations in adopting SAP’s enterprise application solutions, Ooredoo will offer managed cloud solutions through private hosted cloud. Ooredoo can package and manage SAP business solutions, from analytics to enterprise resource plan-ning, delivered via an OpEx consump-tion model whether on-premise or via the Ooredoo Data Centre.

“Our partnership with SAP lever-ages our leading network infrastructure with SAP’s global cloud experience to

enable new digital business models. The cloud is now a must-have for Qatar’s organisations,” said Yousuf Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief Operating Officer, Ooredoo.

“By using a budget-friendly opex-based model, Qatar’s organisations can become more agile, scale up quickly and easily, and add on applications that meet their business needs. Cloud-based

applications can optimise costs, reduce complexity, and let organisations explore new technologies,” he said.

As part of the managed cloud part-nership, Ooredoo can also bundle infra-structure and hosting services, along with application life cycle management, security, and business consulting serv-ices. By bundling the technology solu-tions together, Ooredoo can reduce the complexity of their customers’ IT infra-structure, and accelerate customer deployments.

“By partnering with Ooredoo, SAP is enabling Qatar’s organisations to more readily adopt private cloud solutions to reach new levels of business competi-tiveness, and to support Qatar National Vision 2030’s economic growth goals. In the next several years, the biggest opportunity will come from Qatar’s organisations that were only light users

of cloud, as these CIOs ramp up private cloud adoption to support larger work-loads and more applications,” said Fokion Angelopoulos, Country Manager for SAP Qatar.

SAP is one of the world’s leading cloud companies, with more than 365,000 customers in 180 countries worldwide. The company offers

packaged solutions for more than 25 industries.

Business customers can leverage the Ooredoo Advantage, making Ooredoo “Best for Business”, thanks to its breadth and depth of talent, best fixed and mobile networks, broadest portfolio of ICT services and solutions, and trusted partner for 60 years.

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Business Officer of Ooredoo Qatar, and Fokion Angelopoulos, Country Manager for SAP Qatar, at the event.

Ooredoo can package and manage SAP business solutions, from analytics to enterprise resource planning, delivered via an OpEx consumption model whether on-premise or via the Ooredoo Data Centre.

Updated services in new Kahramaa appTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has launched a new version of mobile application for smart phones with a package of updated services and options. It comes within Kahramaa endeavour to provide high quality smart serv-ices as per the highest quality standards.

The new version of Kahramaa App includes update to move in and move out

services where the customer can upload the required documents and select the date of service connection for one or multiple premises or to move in to the new premises.

The customer receives SMS to pay or retrieve insurance, and follow up status where the request is completed within one to three working days.

As well, the new version includes update to service tracking, and tariff. Kahramaa mobile application includes various services

including self-meter reading where the cus-tomer can enter meter reading regularly, view due bills, apply for water connection to farms, certificates, view service centre maps and book a visit, report service disconnec-tion among more.

Kahramaa invites all customers to reg-ister or update their data via KAHRAMAA website km.qa or KAHRAMAA mobile appli-cation to complete services online and avail of the smart services package.

DFI Cinema unveils new ‘Contemporary Releases’ programme

A scene from the TTP1pieni ©Sputnik Oy.

for their craft and narrative strength, and have pushed boundaries to turn stories into brilliant and inventive cinema. With our ‘Contem-porary Releases’ program-ming series, we are pre-senting the latest works by regional and international filmmakers that have received critical acclaim, and offer our discerning audiences in Qatar with the opportunity to catch up with some of the most powerful films of our time.”

The story of two people searching for a place to call home, The Other Side of Hope is a heart-warming drama set in Helsinki, where displaced Syrian Khaled (Sherwan Haji) lands as a stowaway. Meanwhile, middle-aged salesman Wikstr �m (Sakari Kuos-manen) leaves behind his wife and job and buys a clearly unprofitable seafood restaurant. After Khaled is denied asylum, he decides not to return to Aleppo, and the paths of the two men cross unexpectedly.

Tickets to the screenings are available at www.doha-filminstitute.com or at the DFI Ticket Outlet at the MIA Auditorium, and are priced QR35 with a QR10 discount for students and Culture Pass by Qatar Museums holders.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The General Cleanliness Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environ-ment made many important achievements during 2017, which can be summarised as follows:P A total of 10,209 new garbage containers

were placed across the country.P In all, 170 new shaded cleaning trolleys

were provided to protect workers from sun.

P 250 garbage containers were placed at the beaches of the country.

P The waste sorting programme was organ-ised in 200 schools and government insti-tutions. Under the programme, many activities were held to educate students about waste sorting.

P A total of 80 billboards were installed at beaches in different locations of the country.

P An advanced system of high-tech wire-less communication devices for general cleaning operations was installed and it was connected to the internal network of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

P An underground garbage container system was implemented as a pilot project.

P The General Cleaning Complex was opened in the Industrial Area, which con-tains five residential buildings for workers, nine housing units with the capacity to accommodate 1,320 individ-uals, a separate building for single employees and 24 family flats, parking lots to accommodate 679 machines and equipment in addition to an administra-tive building and some other service facilities.

P North and northwest beaches were cleaned were oil residues and other waste were removed from a stretch of over 65km. This two-month cleaning campaign is still going.

P Cleaning services were provided to a total of 85,089 assembly points across Doha.

P A total of 1,462 violations of the law of public hygiene were caught and the vio-lators were referred to the municipali-ties concerned for legal actions.

P The General Cleanliness Department

removed 879,916.91 tonnes of household waste, 367,585.74 tonnes of solid waste, 70,619.16 tonnes of construction waste, and 364,598.44 waste of trees and other waste and sent them to the waste man-agement centres.

P The General Cleanliness Department removed 91,649 used tyres.

P The General Cleanliness Department removed 5,565 carcasses of the animals.

P A total of 8,273 requests for cleaning submitted by the people through various media sources were entertained.P General cleaning serv-ices were provided to 2,370 winter camps set up under camping season 2016-2017 across the country for a period of six months in coordination with the authorities con-cerned in the Ministry of M u n i c i p a l i t y a n d Environment.P Cleaning campaigns are being held daily and on weekly basis at all beaches, islands and ports in the country, where waste in large quantities like wood, used refrigerators, steel

barrels, fishing nets are removed. Wastes floating on the sea surface was also removed and abandoned boats were issued warning.

P A total of 19 boats, six traditional boats (sanabik) and 75 gargur boats were removed from Al Shamal Port.

P Cleaning services were provided to all venues hosting National Day celebration programme and picnicking places during the Eid as well as to sport avenues.

2017: A year of achievements for Cleanliness Department

05TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 HOME

170 tonnes of waste removed from beaches in northwestTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Under a massive beach cleaning campaign, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment represented by the General Cleanliness Department removed 170 tonnes waste from 65km stretch of beaches located at the northwest part of the country.

The beach cleaning cam-paign, which started on Jan-uary 1, was implemented in several phases, said Director of General Cleanliness Depart-ment, Safar Al Shafi in a statement.

He said that, in the first phase, about 30 tonnes of gar-bage including carcass of ani-mals like dolphin and sheep were removed from beach areas from Abu Zaluf to Al Arish.

“At least 70 tonnes of waste and carcasses of turtles were removed from beach areas from Al Arish and Al Zubara during the second phase of the campaign,” said Al Shafi.

He added that in third phase, beach areas from Al Zubara to Umm Al Maa were cleaned where 70 tonnes of waste of different kinds were picked up.

“Now fourth phase of the campaign is being imple-mented in beaches stretching from Umm Al Maa to Umm Hayish are being cleaned,” said Al Shafi.

He stressed that such pro-gramme for cleaning beaches cover all areas of the country, adding that the programme is being implemented smoothly without any impact on daily routine work of the Department.

The Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment gives high importance on main-taining hygiene at beaches and islands because they are picnic spots.

The Ministry provided all necessary support including workers and equipment to maintain hygiene at these places throughout the year as they received big number of visitors especially during the weekend and official holidays.

The Director of General Cleanliness Department has urged visitors to cooperate with the Ministry in main-taining hygiene at beaches and islands by throwing gar-bage on designated places and dustbins but not on the beaches.

Cleaning campaign at the Northwest Coast.

Safar Al Shafi, Director of General Cleanliness Department.

The new shaded cleaning trolleys provided to protect workers from sun.

06 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018HOME

QRCS gives 187 tonnes of food items in South SudanTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Red Crescent Society’s (QRCS) relief team in South Sudan has completed the distribution of 187 tonnes of food supplies to 8,000 victims of famine in the Unity State.

The project worth $300,000 was conducted in partnership with Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Four batches of maize and cereals were airdropped by United Nations aircraft over the target inaccessible districts, where the team collected and distributed them to the beneficiaries.

During the handover cere-mony at WFP’s district ware-house in Juba, a press confer-ence was attended by Hussein Maar Nyuot, Minister of Human-itarian Affairs and Disaster Man-agement, Simon Cammelbeeck, Deputy Country Director, WFP, Hassan Al-Abbassi, QRCS rep-resentative, and Jassem Qanbar,

KRCS representative. A presen-tation was given about WFP’s activities in South Sudan, and how QRCS and KRCS can utilize its resources to facilitate their humanitarian operations.

The distributions were hap-pily welcomed by the benefici-aries and community leaders, who thanked Qatar and Kuwait for their noble initiative to send this much-needed food aid.

The project comes in response to the several human-itarian appeals issued by the South Sudan Red Cross to save thousands of lives at risk of star-vation. More than 100,000 people are facing a widespread

famine in several parts of the country, and 270,000 children already suffer severe malnutrition.

QRCS’s team held a meeting with officials of the South Sudan Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to dis-cuss the workflow of joint humanitarian operations there.

They also visited WFP’s therapeutic nutrition centre in Juba, which takes care of mal-nourished children, mothers, and pregnant women.

Another visit was made to one of WFP’s 22 centres imple-menting a food security pro-gramme for vulnerable urban populations of Juba. Through these centers, vulnerable fami-lies receive cash transfers to purchase their food needs, as well as community education sessions about nutrition, hygiene, food security, and livelihood.

Innovation & entrepreneurship contest winners announcedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The 5th Annual Innova-tion and Entrepreneurship Contest 2017 winners were announced at the ceremony held at Qatar University (QU) colleges of Engineering (CENG) and Busi-ness and Economics (CBE) recently.

It drew the participation of 152 students from various disci-plines — 45% from CBE, 27% from CENG, and 28% from other QU colleges. The contest aimed to enhance students’ entrepre-neurial skills, to raise their awareness on the importance of entrepreneurial activities, and to help them discover the needed techniques and tools to create business plans.

First-place winners were students Yousef Al Nuaimi and Jamal and Jamil Hanoun (CENG). Second-place winners were stu-dents Rawda Al Marzouqi, Reem Babaker and Amna Al Sheeb (CBE) while students Yazan Qab-lawi, Majd Abduljabbar, Yousef Orabi and Raslan Abu Shnina (CENG) won the third place.

This year’s competition main theme was to create ideas that

would directly benefit Qatar’s economy. The participating teams were required to present their business ideas in front of a panel of judges. The presented ideas covered many areas such as information and communi-cations technology (ICT) and technology-based projects, busi-ness services, social enterprises, health sciences, and energy and environment.

Dr Khalifa Al Khalifa, CENG Dean said: “The College of Engi-neering is involved in this impor-tant competition based upon our belief in the importance of sup-porting students to lead and develop the business sector in the future. Additionally, the col-lege is committed to engaging students in entrepreneurial and innovative activities, which will contribute to producing the future generation of high-qual-ified engineers to pursue an exciting career within the engi-neering industry.”

“We are delighted to support our students to advance their knowledge and experience towards their future success as entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Khalid Shams Al Abdulqader, CBE Dean.

QNB Assistance General Manager of SME Khalid Majid Al-Naemi said: “QNB Group’s sup-port for the fifth edition of the Innovation and Entrepreneur-ship Contest is an effective

translation of an important aspect of our strategy that focuses on achieving the con-cepts of innovation, diversity, entrepreneurship and the impor-tance they represent.

Al Naemi thanked the Col-lege of Engineering and the Col-lege of Business and Economics at QU for the successful organi-zation of the competition for the fifth year in a row.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Vodafone Qatar has launched International Add-Ons accessible to all Vodafone Business customers, that for only QR35 per month grants them a pre-set number of minutes to make interna-tional calls to either Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

“At Vodafone we spend a lot of time speaking to cus-tomers about their needs and these new Add-Ons are a result of many customers telling us they wanted a cost effective way to call their business con-tacts and loved ones in specific countries. We are committed to using our global expertise and experience to support the growth and success of busi-nesses in Qatar with services and solutions to help them achieve their goals,” said Mahmud Awad, Chief Business Officer, Vodafone Qatar.

The project worth $300,000 was conducted in partnership with Kuwait Red Crescent Society and the World Food Programme.

The joint team members of Qatar Red Crescent Society and Kuwait Red Crescent Society.

The winners and other participants at the 5th Annual Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest 2017.

Vodafone introduces International Add-Ons

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Scientists at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) are working closely with students from Qatar Academy, a member of Qatar Foundation, to launch the Near Space Anthem Project.

The project, which recently had its practice session at the HBKU Research Complex in Edu-cation City, involves sending out a weather balloon to capture a video of the national flag descending from near space to Qatar, with an audio of students singing the national anthem.

The 10 participating students from Qatar Academy’s Gifted and Talented Program are involved in all facets of the project, including project design, balloon launch, data analysis, photog-raphy and filmography. It is an interdisciplinary project bringing together science, research, music and documentary.

Scientists from QEERI’s Air Quality and Climate Change research portfolio are supporting various stages of the project and have been helping students understand the science involved by providing the necessary hard-ware and software, as well as organising a test run. The activi-ties align with QEERI’s mandate to inspire young minds and pro-mote creative applications that encourage innovative thinking and novel design tactics among students. Dr Luis Ackermann, research associate at QEERI, said, “It is a pleasure to work with these high school students. Such a project not only helps them understand the theory involved, but also gives them firsthand practical experience. We are truly impressed with the solutions that the students have developed for the complex design issues they encountered.”

The idea for the project orig-inated in 2016 but only material-ized after meeting with QEERI

scientists. Jason Maraku, a teacher at Qatar Academy Doha and a coordinator for the Gifted and Talented Program, said, “For our students, this project is a unique learning experience in various disciplines. We have been working on this idea for a while. Having QEERI on board has cat-alysed the project and made it a reality. Their input have been invaluable to our students.”

Usama Usman, a Grade 12 student who is also one of the par-ticipants, described the experi-ence of working with QEERI’s sci-entists as both inspiring and educational. “This session with the scientists has been all that we expected, and even more. It is interesting to see how science is applied in real life, and how we can actually apply the scientific principles we learn about in class. I look forward to more informa-tive sessions with the scientists.”

The Near Space Anthem Project is expected to conclude in April 2018.

HBKU scientists & Qatar Academy students work on Near Space Anthem Project

Scientists at HBKU’s Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute with a weather balloon as part of Near Space Anthem Project.

07TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

AFP

HASSA: Turkey yesterday inten-sified its offensive against Kurdish militia targets in Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed there would be no stepping back in a campaign that has stoked concern among Ankara’s allies and neighbours.

The Turkish military on Sat-urday launched operation “Olive Branch”, its second major incur-sion into Syrian territory during the seven-year civil war.

The operation, where Turkish war planes and artillery are backing a major ground incursion launched with Ankara-backed Syrian rebels and Turkish

tanks, aims to oust the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia from its enclave of Afrin.

Turkey considers the YPG to be a terror group and the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

“We are determined. Afrin will be sorted out. We will take no step back,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara, adding that Russia had given its backing.

But the operation is hugely sensitive as Washington relied on the YPG to oust Islamic State (IS) jihadists from their Syrian

strongholds and the Kurdish militia now holds much of Syr-ia’s north. France has called for a UN Security Council meeting Monday to discuss concerns over flashpoint areas in Syria including the Turkish offensive. Ground forces had already taken 15 villages and other locations in their advance into Syria.

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s ruling party confirmed yesterday that discussions were under way on President Jacob Zuma’s departure from office, possibly signalling the coming end to his scandal-tainted nine-year reign.

Zuma has been under growing pressure to resign since he was replaced as head of the African National Congress (ANC) in December by his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa. The party executive “discussed this matter... there will be interaction between officials, President Zuma and (party) president Ram-aphosa,” ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule told reporters.

AFP

MONROVIA: To the cheers of a crowd fired by his promise to bring them jobs and pros-perity, former football star George Weah was sworn in as president of Liberia yesterday, completing the country’s first transition between democratically-elected leaders since 1944.

Weah, 51, took over from Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who over 12 years steered the country away from the trauma of a civil war, although prosperity eluded her. Weah was sworn in as president by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Francis Korkpor, at a packed sports stadium near the capital, Monrovia.

The presidents of Gabon, Ghana and Sierra Leone, along with friends and fellow African football stars, including Cameroo-nian legend Samuel Eto’o, watched as he took the historic oath of office. “I have spent

many years of my life in stadiums, but today is a feeling like no other,” Weah said, as he thanked Sirleaf for “laying the foundations on which we can now stand in peace.”His first priorities, he said, would be to root out corruption and pay civil servants “a living wage,” and encourage the private sector.

“United, we are certain to succeed as a nation, divided we are certain to fall,” he declared. Crowds queued for kilometres (miles), singing, dancing and waving the Liberian flag as they waited for their hero, who rose from the slums of Monrovia to the nation’s highest office. “Today is one of the most exciting days of my life,” said Benjamin Bee, a 21-year-old student at the University of Liberia as he waited in line with thou-sands of others. “The man I’m supporting now, President Weah, is an icon, he is my role model. Today is not just an inaugural programme for us Liberians, but signifies that Liberia has found itself.”

AFP

NAIROBI: Four Somali men charged over an explosion at a coffee shop at Nairobi’s international airport in 2014 were acquitted yesterday due to lack of evidence.

The men had denied they were members of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab Islamist group and had carried out the attack, which came four months after militants struck the capital’s Westgate mall, killing at least 67 people.

AFP

TEHRAN: A renowned Iranian lawyer raised concern yesterday over the fate of a woman she said was arrested for posing without a headscarf in Tehran in an image that went viral around the world.

The woman has not been seen in public since she stood on a pillar box on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares without a headscarf or long coat required under Islamic law.

The images posted on social media showed her waving a white scarf -- an apparent ref-erence to so-called “White Wednesday” protests against mandatory clothing rules for women.

They are thought to have been taken on December 27, a day before economic protests broke out across the country, which helped the images go viral even though they were apparently unconnected.

Thousands of social media users have shared messages, dubbing her the “Girl of

Enghelab Street” after the area in central Tehran where she staged the protest, and using the hashtag “Where_is_she?”

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a famous human rights lawyer who has been arrested and barred from working on several occasions over the years, said she went to Enghelab Street on Sunday to investigate.

Sotoudeh said could not find out the woman’s name, but was told she was 31 years old and had a 19-month-old baby.

“The witnesses on the scene who saw her being taken away and even accompanied her to the police station gave me this information. I have no contact with her family.”

Sotoudeh said the woman’s protest appeared to show someone “at the end of their tether because of all the con-trols placed on her body over the 31 years of her life”.

The incident came on the same day that Tehran’s police chief indicated security forces were taking a softer line on Islamic rules.

AFP

BRUSSELS: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas yesterday urged the EU to “swiftly” grant official recognition to the state of Pales-tine as he sought support in Brus-sels amid a bitter row with Washington over the US plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Abbas told EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini that the Palestinians were still committed to the stalled Middle East peace process and urged the bloc to take a more “political” role.

His mission to meet Mogh-erini and the 28 EU foreign min-isters came as US Vice President Mike Pence told the Israeli par-liament that Washington would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “by the end” of 2019, a step fiercely opposed by Palestinians.

In an interview with AFP on Sunday in Brussels, Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said the EU recognising the state of Palestine would be “a way to respond” to US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

“We truly consider the Euro-pean Union as a true partner and friend, and therefore we call its member states to swiftly recog-nise the state of Palestine and we confirm that there is no contra-diction between recognition and the resumption of negotiations,” Abbas told reporters on Monday.

The 82-year-old Abbas met Mogherini for one-on-one talks before joining the bloc’s foreign ministers for lunch on the side-lines of their monthly meeting, after Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu made a sim-ilar trip last month.

Abbas said the Palestinians were still “keen on continuing on

the way of negotiations” and committed to “fighting terrorism, violence and extremism locally, regionally and internationally”.

But as expected, recognition for Palestine was not forth-coming and there was also no discussion of an “association agreement” with the bloc -- mooted beforehand as a way of giving Abbas something to take away.

Mogherini said the focus had been on how the EU could help relaunch direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

She added that debate about a possible association agreement would go on within the bloc in the coming weeks.

The Italian said the two sides needed “to show more than ever before their engagement with the international community” to work for peace.

After Washington froze funding to the UN agency for Pal-estinian refugees, Mogherini told Abbas he could count on the EU to continue its financial backing, but warned it was “not possible to imagine” the bloc could cover the shortfall resulting from

Washington’s decision.The EU and its member

states are collectively the Pales-tinians’ largest donors, Mogherini said, with nearly 359 million euros ($439 million) in support given in 2017. The Palestinian

leadership has said it will not accept the Trump administration as a mediator in peace talks with Israel and wants an internation-ally led process. “The Palestin-ians are looking to move away from a US-led process to a more

a multilateral process and there does appear to be a greater will-ingness on the EU side to look at such a process,” said Hugh Lovatt, Israel Palestine Project Coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Abbas seeks EU recognition for Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Federica Mogherini, EU High representative for foreign policy, arrive at a lunch with EU foreign ministers in Brussels, yesterday.

Abbas told EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini that the Palestinians were still committed to the stalled Middle East peace process and urged the bloc to take a more “political” role.

Weah sworn in as Liberia President

Liberia’s President and former football star George Weah (centre), the country’s former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (right), the country’s new Vice-President Jewel Taylor (left) and Weah’s wife Clar Weah attend Weah’s swearing-in ceremony in Monrovia, yesterday.

Turkey steps up assault on Kurdish militia in Syria

ANC confirms talks on Zuma exit

Kenya airport blast: four acquitted

REUTERS

ISTANBUL: Turkish police have detained 24 people for “spreading terrorist propa-ganda” on social media related to Ankara’s military operation against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, and the capital city’s governor has banned all protests.

The interior ministry did not give details on the 27 arrests. Separately, state-run Anadolu news agency earlier said prosecutors in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir had issued arrest warrants for 17 people who shared material “to provoke citizens of Kurdish origin and encourage them to go into the streets”.

Police seized a pump-action rifle, a pistol and ammunition in related raids in Diyarbakir, Anadolu said.

The moves come after police used pepper gas to dis-perse pro-Kurdish protesters in Ankara and Istanbul. Authorities were also inves-tigating social posts about the military operation allegedly by HDP lawmakers.

24 held over comments on Syria in Turkey

KHARTOUM: Sudan yesterday freed Agence France-Presse’s reporter in Khartoum, Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali, and a Reuters journalist who were arrested last week while covering protests.

Idris Ali, a 51-year-old who has worked for AFP in Khar-toum for nearly a decade, was covering the protests on Wednesday in the Sudanese capital’s twin city of Omdurman, where riot police broke up a demonstration of about 200 protesters against rising food prices. He had been arrested along with a journalist from Reuters and a third colleague.

Sudan sets journalists free

Iran lawyer raises concern over missing woman protester

Water is one of the most basic needs of all. It is a strategic resource which plays a key role, not only in the well-being of people, but also in the stability of a

country. Hence providing enough potable water for its people is one of the fundamental priorities of a nation. For a country like Qatar, with a vast geography of desert land, water security is of supreme importance.

Water Security Mega Reservoirs Project is a testament to the fact that Qatar considers water security as a fundamental prerequisite for the progress of its people. The first phase of the project, being implemented by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is designed to increase water storage capacity by a week during normal times and several months in case of an emergency, is nearing completion.

In order to provide multiple water resources to ensure enough potable water is available for daily use, Kahramaa has readied ground water wells, a network of water desalination plants connecting different areas of the country and is all set to add a giant water reservoir facility.

Kharamaa President Issa bin Hilal Al Kuwari said recently: “Water security is very important because Qatar is geographically located in a desert and dried

land where rainfall is low and groundwater stock is relatively low.” So the country, instead of depending on a single source, is tapping multiple sources including desalination of sea water, which is available aplenty.

The government has plans to set up more desalination plants to meet the growing demand for water. But as sea is a single source any contamination that may happen will affect the entire water supply system of the country and one option to circumvent this possibility is to ensure a strategic reserve

of water. Keeping this in mind the government decided to implement the Mega Water Reservoirs Project, the largest concrete water storage facility in the world at a cost of QR14bn in the first phase. It will add 1,400 million gallons to the existing 1,000 million gallons water.

Ground water is precious for Qatar and it is with utmost prudence that the country taps ground water, with strict regulations controlling its exploitation. The country aims to achieve water and food security without harming ground water reserve. A well-established system, which is regularly tested for efficiency, manages the use of ground water with wells equipped with tanks and linked to pumping stations.

With the completion of the Mega Water Reservoirs Project it is sure that the people of the country will not go thirsty in an emergency. THE US has had four

partial shutdowns of the federal government

in the last 25 years. Each time, we debate who’s responsible: which party is the formal cause of it, which is being less reasonable in budget negotiations. Maybe it’s time instead to debate doing away with the possibility of shutdowns.

There’s no law of nature that requires the federal government to run at partial capacity when Congress and the president can’t agree on a budget bill. Long ago Congress could have passed, and a president could have signed, a law stipulating how the government would operate in case of such a disagreement.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio,

has treid for years to enact such a law. During the last shutdown, in 2013, he got a floor vote on an amendment for an “automatic continuing resolution.” If no appropri-ations bill were signed into law, the affected programs would keep running at their existing spending levels for the next 120 days. If no bill had passed by then, spending would be cut by 1 percent. Another 1 percent cut would be made every 90 days after that.

The amendment was defeated on a nearly party-line vote, with Portman’s fellow Republicans supportive and the Democrats opposed. Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who at the time ran the Appropri-ations Committee, made two main arguments against the idea.

The real solution to

shutdowns, according to the former senator, was not to change the budget rules but to agree on time to appropriations bills. She added that Portman’s idea was not just unnecessary but dangerous. It would be “draconian” to let those 1 percent cuts compound.

The first argument does not make sense on its own: The amendment concerned what should happen in case of a failure to agree on time. But it makes more sense in light of the second argument. Put the two together, and you can see how the amendment would shift fiscal politics in a Republican direction. If it were in place, the most conservative Republicans would have an incentive to keep appropriations bills from passing on time so that they could see the automatic cuts happen. That’s an argument

for tweaking Portman’s idea. Congress could set a different default rule for what happens when there’s no agreement on budget bills. Maybe it’s one that keeps spending flat, or keeps it growing at the average pace of the previous few years.

The point would be to avoid shutdowns. The threat of shutdowns has not proven an effective way to force timely political agreements over the budget. Shutdowns aren’t even effective in getting Congress to enact reforms - be they the abolition of Obamacare that Republicans sought in 2013 or the amnesty for illegal immigrants brought here as minors that Democrats want now.

Shutdowns serve no good purpose. So let’s finish the current round of fighting and then resolve to get rid of them.

The Qatar government decided to implement the Mega Water Reservoirs Project, the largest concrete water storage facility in the world at a cost of QR14bn in the first phase.

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

08 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018VIEWS

EDITORIAL

Water security

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We truly consider the European Union as a

true partner and friend, and therefore, we call

its member states to swiftly recognise the

state of Palestine and we confirm that there is

no contradiction between recognition and the

resumption of negotiations.

Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian President

Davos forum to tackle economic obstacles

How to get rid of US government shutdowns

QNA

THE 48th World Economic Forum will kick off on today under the theme “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World” in Davos,

Switzerland. This prominent forum will run from

January 23 to 26, with the attendance of a number of high end political and economical figures from around the world. It will include different discussions with decision makers to talk about the most prominent global issues, currently taking place.

Annually, presidents, prime ministers, financial ministers and board directors of major international companies take part in the forum. The attendees vary from members, which are almost 1,000 who represent large economical countries from around the world and representatives of civil society groups, as well as those interested in global economy. Leaders from the G7 will also participate.

This year the forum hosts 3,000 participants, 70 of which are presidents and prime ministers, 38 are heads of major international organisations. This includes UK Prime Minister Theresa May, in order to discuss topics related to strengthening global cooperation, revive economic growth, reform capitalism and prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is also planned for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver the keynote speech at the plenary session, as his country is one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world.

This year’s forum will see the participation of the US President Donald Trump, which has been met with the “Trump not welcome” campaign in Switzerland. It is planned for the US President to say a speech on the closing day of the forum. Donald Trump will be the second US president to ever attend this forum after Bill Clinton in 2000.

The forum will be attended by International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, who will officially present the IMF’s annual report on the world economy the day before the forum. The event will also be attended by Norway’s Prime Minister Erna

Solberg. More than

1,900 leaders from the private sector are planned to attend, as well as nearly 900 heads of NGOs will be attending as well as more than 1,000 company managers will be attending. Four hundred panel discussions will be held around the four

following topics: establishing intelligent governance of technology, lead sustainable economic progress, navigate a multi-polar and multi-talented world, and overcome divisions in society.

The forum aims to set a work agenda to encourage more joint work between multi-stakeholders to meet the political, economic and social challenges of our time.

The participants of the forum will contribute to various agendas, including the global program to support efforts to improve global governance mechanisms and to promote major multilateral processes, for example, the United Nations goals for sustainable development.

The economic agenda is in support of multi-stakeholder efforts to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic development in the face of low growth rates, low productivity and skill gaps, and a regional agenda that will undertake an in-depth study of socio-economic transformations occurring in all regions. In addition to an industry and business agenda that discusses the contribution to the formation of new industrial ecosystems and help industries and government leaders prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

A few days ago, the Davos World Economic Forum warned of the growing threat of political and economic confrontation between major powers, including military conflicts. The global risk report highlighted a number of major threats in 2018, including environmental risks due to weather, unusual temperatures, economic disparities and cyber attacks.

The report, made by nearly 1,000 experts from governments, companies, academics and non-governmental organisations, indicated that 93 percent expect political or economic confrontation between major powers to increase in 2018, of them 40 percent said these risks have increased sharply. Meanwhile, about 79 percent of respondents said there was a growing risk of military conflict between two states. Besides the risk of conflict on the Korean Peninsula, the report warned of the risk of new military confrontations in the Middle East.

The report cited an increase in the so-called “charismatic strongman policy” worldwide, saying political, economic and environmental risks are exacerbated by the decline in support

for rule-based multilateralism. Despite growing political concerns, the environment has topped the list of threats, with the worst weather being the most serious threat in 2018 a year after unusual storms in the Atlantic, including Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico.

With the recovery of global growth, concerns about the economy have fallen sharply, but the report has described income inequality as a “devastating problem” in many countries, as well as complacency about the economic climate due to high levels of debt and low rates of savings and inadequate retirement conditions. “The growing economic recovery gives us an opportunity we can not afford to waste,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and CEO of the World Economic Forum. “We must take the risk of a collapse of global systems seriously,” he said.

The Davos Forum is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded by Professor Klaus Schwab in 1971. This forum serves as a meeting place for elites from 1000 representatives of major multinational corporations and political leaders to discuss the economic and political problems facing the world and means to solve them.

The Forum holds its annual meetings in Davos, where joint economic plans and projects are drafted, and although officially “non-governmental, non-profit and open to those who wish”, the terms of membership require that the company’s income be at least USD 1 billion per year.

The Swiss government annually allocates about 5,000 troops to secure the high-profile event in Davos, but the entire unit is rarely used. The CHF 9 million security cost is paid by the Confederacy, the Canton of Graubunden, the city of Davos and the World Economic Forum, but the security costs of the Davos Forum are expected to rise this year as President Trump is attending in light of the anti-presence campaign.

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

RAMESH PONNURU

THE WASHINGTON POST

The forum aims to set a work agenda to encourage more joint work between multi-stakeholders to meet the political, economic and social challenges of our time.

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The colonisation of Palestine is an exemplary instance of the reality of colonialism belying successive colonial regimes’ claims of their developmental aims.

LALEH KHALILI AL JAZEERA

BRITISH newspapers these days bristle with opinion pieces waxing sentimental

about Britain’s colonial past. One Oxford don who is launching a research project to celebrate the ethical merits of the British empire admonishes the readers of The Times to not “feel guilty about our colonial history”.

After all, remembering imperial atrocities could stop the British from tackling the world’s problems, presumably at the point of bayonets or under an umbrella of aerial bombardment.

Another opinion piece, woefully ignorant of Singapore’s history or of British imperial ventures more generally, tells us that “Singapore shows us that colonialism can work”.

The author does mention its rise on the back of opium trade, but does not seem to know that Singapore, like so many other Indian Ocean port cities, was ruthlessly exploited by the British, and if the colony became prosperous, it was not because of the glories of imperial management or economic liberalism.

The Victorian buildings the author praises were constructed by local and

regional merchant capital (not imperial investment), using local workers, some of whom were forced into bonded, indentured or corvee labour.

If anything, throughout the British colonies, imperial intervention stunted economic growth, introduced limitations and barriers to already existing trade, and brutally exploited workers, peasants, sailors, soldiers and the like for profits shipped to banks in London; not to mention the use of Singapore’s port as a glorified fuel depot for colonial navies, and the deployment of military force in and around the colony to quash any resistance to the empire.

And more often than not, colonialism has left behind hardened sectarian and ethnic divisions and racialised class structures. The authoritarian rulers to whom the colonial masters handed the keys to the city pay lip service to democracy but stifle political participation by unruly publics; and in this they are supported by former colonial masters who value their “stability” and loyalty.

Apologists for empire put the economic and ecological devastation, de-development, exploitation, and global inequalities wrought by

colonialism on one side of the ledger. On the other side, they acclaim the railways, the parliaments, the infrastr-uctures, and the modern bureaucracies.

Another false claim of a colonial ‘success’ story

The colonisation of Palestine is an exemplary instance of the reality of colonialism belying successive colonial regimes’ claims of their developmental aims. The oft-repeated Zionist cliche that the European settlers colonised “a land without a people” and “made the desert bloom” ignores that the earliest colonies were abjectly failed experiments in agriculture.

It was only after the early 20th century colonists began observing and taking lessons from Palestinian peasants and farmers that they were able to adapt their methods to the semi-arid ecological conditions in a countryside with which they were unfamiliar.

From very early on, the colonists planted foreign species of plants throughout the parts of the country occupied in the 1948 Nakba (“Catastrophe”). This sowing of alpine vegetationaccelerated after the establishment of the Israelis state on lands and territories from which the majority of its Palestinian inhabitants were forcibly expelled between 1947 and 1949.

These pine forests deliberately erased the footprints of demolished Palestinian villages. In parts of the country, they also proved to be a drain on the country’s aquifers, more suited to hardy species of flora and trees adapted to surviving the semi-arid conditions of the Mediterranean landscapes.

Israeli politicians today boast more about the country’s hi-tech industry

than its agricultural advances. Whatever innovations have occurred in that sector have come out of massive Israeli military investment in technologies of repression.

Smart city algorithms, facial recognition software, drones, robotics, surveillance applications, wiretapping systems, data-mining programmes used to collate open-source data about ordinary people, all these technologies were either developed by the military’s intelligence research arm, or via incubators paid for by the Israeli military.

The Israeli government has in turn exported these technologies to some of the most repressive regimes around the world, including Arab states with which it supposedly does not have any relations. Gaza and the West Bank have been repeatedly used as laboratories in which instruments of colonial suppression could be forged.

Beyond technology, brick-and-mortar techniques of military control have been the bread and butter of Israeli colonisation of Palestine. The concrete wall that encircles Palestinian enclaves in the Occupied Territories is a prime example. Interestingly, the idea of using a wall as a counterinsurgency measure was a gift given to the Israeli military by their early colonial sponsors. The British Mandatory government, with the help of the Jewish labour union, Histadrut, was the first governmentto build a wall in Palestine in the 1930s, as a means of quelling rebellion by Palestinians.

The Israeli military has even used supposedly non-military infrastructures such as roads as a means of expanding settlements in the West Bank territorially and as a way to control the movement of Palestinians there. And so much of the construction,

BITCOIN breaks my heart. Not because I missed the great run-up (though I did) and not because I fear that the Bitcoin

bubble will end badly (it will, but that’s not my problem). Rather, it is because I have been waiting for decades for someone to invent a purely digital currency, a currency for online purchases that wasn’t linked to a credit card. It was the killer app (as we used to say) that no one ever figured out.

Thus when Bitcoin first emerged, I had hoped that it would be The One. In “Digital Gold,” his book about Bitcoin’s origins, Nathaniel Popper quotes an email from Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency’s mysterious and possibly apocryphal

inventor: “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”

That’s how all the early Bitcoin enthusiasts thought of it: It was a currency, one that allowed consumers to buy things, while sidestepping both the banking system and national governments. What the Bitcoin bubble shows, however, is that Bitcoin is just another e-currency failure. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I first began thinking about digital currency in the mid-1990s when I met a brilliant cryptographer and mathematician named David Chaum, who had invented what he called electronic cash, or e-cash. It did exactly what Bitcoin purports to do: allowed people to use virtual money, stored on their computer, to make purchases and send money to other people.

Chaum was way ahead of his time. He founded his company, DigiCash, five years before the creation of either Netscape, which populariswed the browser, or Amazon. By 1998, DigiCash was bankrupt.

What followed was the short-lived “information wants to be free” era. Napster, which was founded in 1999, used peer-to-peer technology that allowed music lovers to download songs illegally. Newspapers didn’t have paywalls, and many people came to assume that news shouldn’t cost anything. I saw my own children downloading music and even movies, and when I would tell them they were violating the law, they would tell me I didn’t understand how the world worked in the Internet age.

At the same time, as e-commerce took hold, the only means of payment was a credit card. It was a real commercial friction point: Every time you wanted to buy something you had to fill out your credit card information, plus your billing address and, if it was different, your shipping address as well. And once you had done that, your information would be vulnerable to hackers.

Electronic currency could have solved both these problems. If my children had had access to a digital currency — maybe their allowance! - Napster could have struck deals with the record companies and charged for songs. They would have happily paid. And e-cash would have made internet commerce pretty darn close to frictionless. By 2000, I quoted the chief executive of an internet bank in a Money magazine article saying, “We’ve reached the point where the internet economy needs e-cash.”

It never happened. Instead, entrepreneurs and companies created a series of work-arounds, some better than others. The best-known was PayPal, which essentially accessed your bank or credit-card account to make purchases or send money. Apple and Amazon have also made it much easier to pay for things; when I want to pay for my monthly Washington Post subscription, I hit the “Amazon Pay” button and it’s done. Even so, we still spend an awful lot of time filling out credit card information when we want to buy something online.

Meanwhile, every effort to come up with an electronic currency foundered. I remember one called Qpass and another

called WebPay. In the early 2000s, e-gold emerged as a potential solution, until it turned out that it was being used primarily by criminals. In 2008, its founder pleaded guilty to money laundering.

According to the website 99bitcoins.com, there are 89 companies that claim to accept Bitcoin as currency, including Subway, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology bookstore, and the Museum of the Coastal Bend in Victoria, Texas. But I can’t imagine anyone actually using it to pay for something. Who would use Bitcoin for a purchase when it might go up by $500 in the next 10 minutes? And who would accept Bitcoin when it could go down by $500 in the next 10 minutes?

Whatever the original intention, Bitcoin has morphed into an asset whose only purpose is speculation. “There is simply no way to predict what it will be worth,” said Pete Kight, a fintech investor who founded Checkfree in 1981. That is its fatal flaw as an electronic currency.

Or, rather, that is one of them. The other flaw is the very quality that many of its adherents love most about it: It operates separately from the government’s fiat currency. “I call it the tyranny of brilliance,” said Kight. “When you work in fintech, you often see engineering genius get out of synch with what works in the real world.”

In the case of Bitcoin, he said: “There is this thing called the Federal Reserve. Its first job is to protect the financial system of the United States. For a cryptocurrency to be successful, it has to work out with the Fed how it won’t undermine the banking system.”

I can imagine that after the bubble bursts, Bitcoin will continue to be traded. Maybe a few of the other cryptocurrencies will have similar trajectories (though most will dissolve into nothingness). I can see it reflecting the larger economy in some way, rising in certain environments and falling in others. In the best case, Bitcoin might come to be seen as the digital equivalent of gold.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But we’ll have to wait a little longer for an electronic currency that works.

In search of the ‘merits’ of colonialism

Bitcoin fans: Digital currency is still a dream

JOE NOCERA

BLOOMBERG

09TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 OPINION

Whatever the original intention, Bitcoin has morphed into an asset whose only purpose is speculation. “There is simply no way to predict what it will be worth.

agricultural prosperity, technological innovation, and economic development of which the Israeli boasts has been the result of abuse of underpaid, exploited, heavily controlled Palestinian labour force (whether from the Occupied Territories or citizens of Israel).

These Palestinian workers, even those holding Israeli citizenship, are paid far less than their Jewish counterparts and can be fired at will.

The prosperity of one people in Israel is predicated on the continued colonial control of another people, the Palestinians, on their enduring economic exploitation, and on the continued violence against them.

More than a decade ago, Paul Gilroy caustically and accurately described a British attachment to “a resolutely air-brushed version of colonial history in which gunboat diplomacy was moral uplift, civilising missions were completed, the trains ran on time and the natives appreciated the value of stability.”

The intervening time has only made this nostalgia more fervent, as memories of the catastrophic US and European interventions in Iraq have begun to fade, and as Brexit has brought out the worst of Little Englander xenophobia and fantasies of past glory (which only ever existed for a sliver of the British population at any rate).

However, the continued colonisation of Palestinian, an early 20th century instance of British colonialism morphed into Israeli settler colonial project, shows that colonialism is anything but the glorious developmental mission its advocates acclaim.

10 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018ASIA

IANS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court yesterday said the contro-versy surrounding the death of Special CBI court judge BH Loya is “serious” and it will look into the circumstances leading to his death in November 2014.

Judge Loya was holding the trial into the staged shootout deaths of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and two others.

“Matter is serious. Let us look at full records. Let it never be on our conscience that we did not look at what we should have,” the bench said as it directed all the parties to file whatever material they have relating to Loya’s death and the circumstances leading to it and set the next hearing for February 2.

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Bombay Lawyers Association, and Indira Jaising, appearing for an inter-vener, said that the records being produced by the Mahar-ashtra government were not complete as they pointed to some documents they had accessed through RTI.

“There is no question of restricting the records. Prepare a compilation of the record,”

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said allowing both the sides to file whatever documents they had in their possession.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra , Just ice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud also transferred to itself two petitions pending before the Bombay High Court and its Nagpur bench relating to the matter.

At the outset of the hearing, Dave objected to senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for

Maharashtra, saying that it was “not fair” for him to appear for the state government after appearing for BJP President Amit Shah, and that he has “done enough damage to the institution” and “there is a con-flict of interest”.

“We are on the circum-stances leading to the death of Judge Loya. Let us not comment who is appearing for whom,” said Justice Chandrachud.

In a face-off between Dave and Salve, Dave said: “Entire institution is trying to protect one man - Amit Shah and Amit Shah alone” whom he described as “politician of great excellence”.

At this, Salve objected, saying: “What is this Amit Shah, Amit Shah. You are blaming somebody in the court behind his back. You can’t caste asper-sion on somebody. You can’t jump three steps and pass com-ments just because he happens to be a prominent politician.”

Dave raised the pitch, the court intervened, saying that all the counsel appearing in the matter should assist it to “examine the documents objec-tively” and assuring that it would order the probe if needed.

Apex Court to study full records of Loya case

“Matter is serious. Let us look at full records. Let it never be on our conscience that we did not look at what we should have,” the bench said as it directed all the parties to file whatever material they have relating to Loya’s death and the circumstances leading to it and set the next hearing for February 2.

REUTERS

BEIJING: China’s top newspaper, decrying Washington as a trouble-maker, said yesterday US moves in the South China Sea like last week’s freedom of navi-gation operation will only cause China to strengthen its deploy-ments in the disputed waterway.

China’s foreign ministry said the USS Hopper, a destroyer,

came within 12 nautical miles of Huangyan island, which is better known as the Scarborough Shoal and is subject to a rival claim by the Philippines, a historic ally of the United States.

It was the latest US naval operation challenging extensive Chinese claims in the South China Sea and came even as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks Chinese

cooperation in dealing with North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.

The ruling Communist Par-ty’s official People’s Daily said in a commentary that, with the sit-uation generally improving in the South China Sea, it was clear that the United States was the one militarising the region.

“Against this backdrop of peace and cooperation, a US ship

wantonly provoking trouble is singleminded to the point of recklessness,” the paper said.

“If the relevant party once more makes trouble out of nothing and causes tensions, then it will only cause China to reach this conclusion: in order to earnestly protect peace in the South China Sea, China must strengthen and speed up the building of its abilities there,” it

said. The commentary was pub-lished under the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, meaning “Voice of China”, which is often used to give the paper’s view on foreign policy issues. The widely read Global Times tabloid, published by the People’s Daily, said in an editorial on Monday China’s con-trol of the South China Sea is only growing and it is well placed to react to US “provocations”.

REUTERS

PALONG KHALI: Bangladesh has delayed the repatriation of Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar, set to start today, because the process of compiling and verifying the list of people to be sent back is incomplete, a senior Bangla-desh official said.

The decision comes as ten-sions have risen in camps holding hundreds of thousands of refugees, some of whom are opposing their transfer back to Myanmar because of what they say is a lack of guarantees of their security.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed earlier this month to complete the voluntary repa-triation of the refugees within two years, starting on Tuesday. Myanmar says it has set up two reception centres and a tempo-rary camp near the border to receive the first arrivals.

But Abul Kalam, Bangla-desh’s refugee relief and reha-bilitation commissioner, said on Monday the return would have to be delayed.

“There are many things remaining,” he told Reuters by phone. “The list of people to be sent back is yet to be prepared, their verification and setting up of transit camps is remaining.”

A Bangladesh Border Guard official said it could be months before the transfers begin.

The International Organi-sation for Migration says the number of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh since late August now stands at 688,000. The exodus began when the Myanmar military launched a crackdown following insurgent raids on security forces on Aug. 25. The head of the UNHCR, said more time was needed to prepare the return of the Rohingya refugees to Rakhine, and urged the two governments to involve it in their efforts to resolve the refugee crisis.

The UNHCR, which is helping to administer the ref-ugee camps, is not involved in the repatriation process. Grandi said it was especially important to set up a monitoring mecha-nism in northern Rakhine for the returning people.

AFP

BALUKHALI: Attackers yesterday killed a Rohingya representative in a Bangla-desh refugee camp, the second such death in three days as tensions mount over the planned repatriation of some 750,000 refugees to Myanmar.

Sources said the dead man Yusuf Ali was a camp leader at the Balukhali camp on the border with Myanmar. Mohammad Yusuf, a leader in the neighbouring Thaing-khali camp, was shot dead last Friday.

Yusuf Ali, 60, was stabbed to death, district police chief Iqbal Hossain said. Another police official described him as a Rohingya “majhi” or camp leader.

The Dhaka Tribune described the earlier victim, Mohammad Yusuf, as a pro-repatriation leader

His wife Jamila Khatun, 35, said some 20 armed and masked men stormed their home and and shot her hus-band in the head.

AFP

COLOMBO: Exiled Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed yesterday accused China of seizing land in the politically-troubled Indian Ocean archipelago and undermining its sovereignty.

Nasheed said Chinese interests had leased at least 16 islets among the 1,192 scat-tered coral islands and were building ports and other infrastructure there.

The 50-year-old former president said the increased Chinese presence could threaten the Muslim-majority nation of 340,000 and the wider Indian Ocean region.

During a visit to Colombo, where his Maldivian Demo-cratic Party activists are based, Nasheed called the Chinese action a “land grab.”

IANS

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will file a fresh plea in the Delhi High Court today to challenge the decision to disqualify 20 party MLAs in an office-of-profit case, a party leader said yesterday.

The move comes after the AAP MLAs withdrew on Monday

an earlier plea that sought a stay on the Election Commission’s (EC) recommendation to Presi-dent Ram Nath Kovind to dis-qualify 20 MLAs for holding office-of-profit as Parliamentary Secretaries in Delhi.

On Friday, the EC made the recommendation, since approved by the President, for disqualification of the 20 AAP

MLAs. Following the President’s approval, the Law and Justice Ministry on Sunday issued a noti-fication that the President has held that the 20 members of the Delhi Assembly stand disquali-fied under Section 15 (1) (a) of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act.

Yesterday, AAP Chief Spokesperson Saurabh

Bharadwaj told IANS that the ruling party will file the fresh plea in the High Court.

Earlier in the day, Justice Rekha Palli of the High Court said the plea moved by six AAP legislators had become infruc-tuous as the President has already issued a circular to dis-qualify all 20 MLAs.

The court’s decision came

after the EC said it had already sent its opinion to the President on January 19, before the MLAs moved the court.

The EC also informed the court that the notification on dis-qualification was issued on Jan-uary 20. These MLAs’ counsel said they wanted to withdraw the plea and will examine the EC orders.

IANS

NEW DELHI: An Indian Muja-hideen operative, termed the “Bin Laden of India” and the allegedly mastermind of the 2008 Gujarat serial blasts that killed 56 persons was arrested here after a brief gunfight, Delhi Police said yesterday.

“One of the most wanted

terrorists of SIMI-Indian Muja-hideen, Abdul Subhan Qureshi (was) arrested after a brief of exchange of fire,” Deputy Com-missioner of Police Pramod Singh Kushwaha told reporters here. Qureshi, 39, was arrested from Gazipur area in east Delhi on Saturday night following an exchange of fire when he came to meet one of his

old associates. He is accused of plotting the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008 when as many as 21 bombs planted in tiffin boxes and motor cycles went off in busy markets and bus stations. Over 200 per-sons were also injured. The toll could have gone up but 29 of the improvised explosive devices failed to explode.

2008 Gujarat blasts mastermind held

Disqualification of MLAs: AAP to file fresh plea

Start of Rohingya return delayed, says Bangladesh

US forcing China to accelerate S China Sea deployments: Report

Nasheedaccuses China of seizing land

2nd Rohingya leader murdered in refugee camp

Singapore PM in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka (second right) greets Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a welcoming ceremony at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, yesterday. He is on an official visit to Sri Lanka until tomorrow.

IANS

NEW DELHI: The Group of Eight (Go8), which comprises Australia’s eight research universities, has advocated relaxed visa norms between Australia and India for students seeking to do Ph.D in either country.

The body identified lack of

finance and awareness and other logistical barriers as a few of the obstacles hampering the vice versa flow of Ph.D students.

The report also recom-mended to the Australian gov-ernment to establish a “special class of visa for researchers and Ph.D graduates”. “As the Indian government has launched a

number of initiatives to reform Indian economy, Make in India being of foremost importance, we have looked at how Indian companies and Australian com-panies based in India can jointly sponsor Indian students to stu-dents to study on Ph.D projects relevant to their businesses,” Vicki Thomson, Go8 CEO, said at the launch.

Indian researchers to get special Australian visas

Anil Kapoor opens Malabar Gold Rajkot showroomBollywood Star Anil Kapoor inaugurating Malabar Gold & Diamonds’ relocated and renovated showroom at Rajkot, Gujarat, India, in the presence of Asher O, Managing Director - India Operations, Malabar Gold & Diamonds; Nishad A K, Group Executive Director, Malabar Group; Subair M P, Regional Head, Malabar Gold & Diamonds; and other management team members on January 20.

11TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 ASIA

Pakistan awaits Afghan decree against TTP & affiliatesINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: In October last year, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa traveled to Kabul as part of efforts to improve strained ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan. One of the decisions, according to Kabul, reached during the visit was that Pakistan would seek a ‘fatwa’ or religious decree from its religious scholars against suicide bombings inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan officially never acknowledged if the army chief made any such commitment. However, now a senior official, who was privy to the outcome of Gen Qamar’s visit to Kabul, confirmed the development.

What is significant, though,

is the revelation by the official that the Afghan government was just telling ‘half-truth.’

The official, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that it was a ‘mutual commit-ment’, meaning that both the sides would seek fatwa from their respective religious scholars against suicide bombings.

Therefore, it was not just Pakistan but also Afghanistan, which agreed to obtain a ‘fatwa’ from its religious scholars, declaring suicide attacks being perpetrated by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates inside Pakistan as un-Islamic.

“But, we have yet to see any effort by the Afghan government

to honour its commitment,” the official said while pointing out that Pakistan had already made good on its promise by securing a religious decree recently from around 1,800 scholars against the suicide bombings.

Afghanistan, however, is not convinced with Pakistan’s move, insisting that Pakistani fatwa should have explicitly mentioned Afghanistan.

President Ashraf Ghani said the Pakistani fatwa should have included the entire Muslim world including Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, however, clarified that the suicide bombing was un-Islamic “whether it takes place on the moon or in any part of the world” in an effort to dispel the impression the move was

not sufficient enough to cover Afghanistan.

Giving rare insight into the recent high-level discussions between the two neighbours, the Pakistani official revealed how Afghanistan dragged its feet on certain commitments.

To substantiate his claims, the official cited the firsthand account of a meeting between Afghan President Ghani and his delegation with the army chief last October.

During the meeting, the official said, the Afghan presi-dent spoke highly of Pakistan calling Afghanistan and Paki-stan as “inseparable brothers”.

On Ghani’s encouraging remarks, the army chief requested the Afghan president to make this part of a joint

statement in order to send a positive message. The Afghan president instantly agreed.

But the moment, the high-powered talks concluded between the two sides, Ghani was surrounded by his aides and others to question how he could make such a commitment with Pakistan.

“And the rest was history. His (Ghani) positive sentiments were never allowed to reflect in a joint statement,” the offi-cial said in order to explain that how certain elements within the Afghan government were running the show in Kabul.

“Of course, those were the same elements who never wanted any improvement in the relationship between the two

countries,” the official lamented.

But the story did not just end there.

According to the official, the Afghan government was also reluctant to respond positively to a Pakistan proposal, envis-aging establishment of different working groups not only to remove trust deficit but also enter into a cooperative relationship.

The different working groups covered the entire gamut of relationship - including security, military, intelligence, political and eco-nomic between the two estranged neighbours.

“The dithering on part of Afghanistan is incomprehen-sible,” regretted the official.

Funeral for Afghanistan bomb attack victimAfghan mourners offer funeral prayers to Mufti Ahmad Farzan, a member of the High Peace Council, who died during an attack which killed at least 22 people at Kabul’s Intercontinental hotel, in Kandahar province, yesterday.

Malaysia arrests 2 ‘IS-linked militants planning attacks’AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police have arrested two suspected militants with links to the IS group, who were alleg-edly planning attacks on enter-tainment outlets and national police headquarters, officials said yesterday.

One of the suspects, an Indonesian construction worker, had previously wan-dered around Kuala Lumpur with a knife in an unsuccessful attempt to attack Buddhist monks in revenge for atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, police said.

Hundreds of suspected extremists have been arrested in Muslim-majority Malaysia in recent times, as fears grow that IS is encouraging would-be mil-itants to launch attacks in a

country that has never before suffered a major assault.

The latest arrests took place in separate police operations in January and December, with a Malaysian teacher from a reli-gious school detained as well as the construction worker.

The men were “suspected of being involved with the Daesh (IS) terrorist group”, said national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun in a statement.

The 23-year-old Indonesian was detained in the capital last week and had allegedly been planning to attack police head-quarters and other police sta-tions to steal weapons that could be used in attacks.

In November he had scouted an area of downtown Kuala Lumpur with a knife, allegedly planning to target Buddhist monks, but he did not

succeed, police said. There has been an outpouring of sympathy towards the Rohingya in Malaysia since hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, their mainly Buddhist homeland, in the wake of a military-led campaign in Rakhine state.

The suspect, who was not named, had been in contact with a senior IS leader and had raised a flag of the jihadist group at the construction site where he worked, police said.

The Malaysian teacher, 25, was detained outside Kuala Lumpur and had been planning attacks on entertainment out-lets around the capital, police said, without giving further details.

He previously served an 18-month jail term under tough internal security laws.

Philippines to deport Hamas ‘rocket scientist’AFP

MANILA: The Philippines said yesterday it would deport an elderly Iraqi man described as a scientist for Hamas and accused of helping the Pales-tinian militant group lob missiles at Israel.

Iraq tipped off the Philip-pines about the presence of Taja Mohammad Al Jabori, who was arrested on Sunday, national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa told reporters.

However, the arrest was due to visa problems rather than any evidence of militant activity, the police chief emphasised.

“He’s an illegal alien, his visa is expired so he has to be deported right away,” Dela Rosa said.

“He admitted being a member of Hamas. He’s a chemist and he has been responsible for improving the rocket technology of Hamas in firing their missiles from their area towards the other side, for Israel.” The police chief said it was the first time Philippine authorities had dealt with an alleged member of Hamas, a group labelled a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

Hamas does not recognise Israel, with which it has fought three wars, and has vied with the rival Fatah movement for control of Palestinian territory. The handcuffed detainee did not speak while being made to stand beside the Philippine police chief at a press conference.

Three dead as busy market struck by bomb in southern ThailandAFP

THAILAND: A motorcycle bomb killed three civilians and wounded two dozen others yesterday at a bustling morning market in Thailand’s insur-gency-hit south, the first such attack on a “soft target” in the Muslim-majority region for months.

A rebellion against Thai rule in the country’s culturally dis-tinct “Deep South” bordering Malaysia has left nearly 7,000 dead—the majority civilians—since 2004.

The death toll in 2017 from the insurgency was 235, the lowest in 13 years of conflict as peace talks edged forwards and the Thai junta boosted its secu-rity lockdown on the region.

But yesterday’s bomb in Yala town at a packed market

popular with Buddhists and Muslims may indicate that mil-itants are once more aiming attacks at civilian targets.

At least two bodies lay slumped over debris in the narrow alleyway, surrounded by chunks of torn corrugated roofing, destroyed motorbikes and market stalls. “The suspects parked the motorcycle in front of a stall selling pork in down-town Yala, it detonated 10 min-utes later,” the policeman said, requesting anonymity. “Three civilians were killed. It’s the first big attack in downtown Yala in two years.”

Two of the dead were Bud-dhists—the other was Muslim—while 24 people were wounded, according to an official at Yala hospital.

An army spokesman for the region confirmed the toll and

blamed “insurgents”, saying the motorbike laden with explo-sives fits their modus operandi.

“The bombing shows the insurgents never stop trying to indiscriminately destroy lives and property,” Pramote Prom-in said, adding the attack aimed to undermine faith in “the state security system”.

But later the regional army chief instead blamed “powerful local families” intent on dis-rupting the peace for financial gain -- without naming his chief suspects.

Thailand, which colonised the ethnically Malay south roughly a century ago, has for decades been confronted by fighters seeking more autonomy, but the conflict flared up into its bloodiest phase in 2004.

Japan’s Abe avoids timeline for amending pacifist constitutionREUTERS

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe opened a new session of parliament yesterday with familiar promises for economic reform and stronger defence, but steered clear of setting a time-line for his goal of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution.

The push by the conserva-tive Japanese leader to fulfil his long-held ambition coincides with rising concerns about North Korea’s nuclear and missile pro-grammes and China’s military assertiveness.

Abe’s wariness over setting a timeline reflects the delicate task he faces amending the con-stitution’s Article 9, which if taken literally, bans a standing military.

Successive governments have interpreted Article 9 to allow a military exclusively for self-defence.

But Abe, aiming to build a lasting legacy as he enters a sixth year as prime minister, wants to add a clause making clear that the armed forces are constitutional.

“I hope each party will submit concrete proposals to parliament deepen debate and move forward,” Abe said in his speech to parliament. “For the sake of our grandchildren, isn’t now the time to make progress toward building a new country?”

Amendments require approval by two-thirds of both houses of parliament and a majority of voters in a refer-endum. Abe’s ruling bloc has a two-thirds “super majority” in both chambers - at least until an

upper house election next year - but the outlook for a referendum remains murky.

Abe has proposed an amend-ment that would retain Article 9’s first clause renouncing the right to go to war and a second clause banning a standing military while adding a specific reference to the “Self-Defense Forces” (SDF), as Japan calls its military.

Those in favour of his pro-posal say it would just codify the status quo. Opponents argue it would make it easier for Japan’s military to take part in overseas conflicts. A Mainichi newspaper survey published yesterday showed 31 percent agreed with Abe’s proposal, while 12 percent supported a more drastic pro-posal that would delete the second clause while adding a ref-erence to the SDF.

Twenty-one percent opposed any change and 27 per-cent said they didn’t know.

A public vote on the consti-tution could end up a referendum on Abe, whose support last year fell sharply due to suspected cro-nyism scandals.

The Mainichi poll put support for Abe at 44 percent, though only 37 percent want to see him win a third term as LDP leader in September, a win that would put him on track to become Japan’s longest serving premier.

All of which means Abe may decide not to rush and risk rejec-tion. “Abe is flexible. He might aim for an amendment around 2020,” Harukata Takenaka, a professor at the National Grad-uate Institute for Policy Studies, told reporters recently.

A Thai forensics unit scours the aftermath of a motorcycle bombing which killed three civilians and wounded others at a market in the restive southern Thai province of Yala, yesterday.

12 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018EUROPE

REUTERS

BRUSSELS: Belgium

reduced its national threat

level yesterday, saying a mil-

itant attack had become less

likely almost two years after

bombings killed 32 people

in Brussels.

The prime minister said

yesterday that the country had

reduced the threat level to two

on a four-tier scale, indicat-

ing an average risk.

“But level 2 after the

attacks is not the same as

level 2 was before the attacks,”

Prime Minister Charles Michel

told a news conference

yesterday.

NEWS BYTESBelgium reduces security threat level

German nurse charged with 97 more murdersAFP

BERLIN: A German male nurse serving a life term for killing six hospital patients with lethal drugs out of “boredom” will face trial for another 97 murders, prosecutors said yesterday.

The third trial of Niels Hoegel, 41, accused of being the worst serial killer in German post-war history, is expected to start later this year, a court spokesman in the northern city of Oldenburg said.

Hoegel has admitted to injecting patients with drugs that cause heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could then try to revive them and, when suc-cessful, shine as a saviour before his medical peers and

superiors.In a case police have called

“unique in the history of the German republic,” he earlier tes-tified that at times he acted out of “boredom”, feeling euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life.

He was found guilty of six

killings in two earlier trials, but investigators have pushed on with toxicology tests on hun-

dreds more exhumed bodies.Yesterday, Oldenburg pros-

ecutors said they had charged

him with 97 additional murders on top of the six he has been convicted of, while saying tox-icology tests did not find con-clusive proof in three more cases.

Of the newly discovered cases, 62 patients died in the Del-menhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen and 35 in a clinic in Oldenburg.

The revelations date back to 2005, when a female nurse wit-nessed Hoegel trying to inject a patient at the Delmenhorst hospital.

The patient survived and Hoegel was arrested.

In 2008, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for several cases of attempted murder.

Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer nurse.

Hoegel meanwhile told fellow inmates and then a psy-chiatrist that he had committed scores of more killings.

He was jailed for life in 2015, but at the time it was clear he had murdered many more patients, with investigators admitting they may never know the true number as some remains had been cremated.

Separate investigations are looking at the clinics in Delmen-horst and Oldenburg and whether superiors there had cause to suspect foul play in the high number of patient deaths.

REUTERS

PARIS: French prison guards launched a nationwide strike yesterday in a showdown with President Emmanuel Macron’s government over staffing levels and violence which they say is spiralling out of control in over-crowded jails.

The strike, which kicked off with pre-dawn pickets, marked an escalation in protests after unions this weekend rejected a government proposal to recruit 100 extra prison warders this year and a further 1,000 before the end of Macron’s mandate in 2022.

Guards burned tyres and pal-lets outside several of the 188 jails in France ahead of talks hastily convened by Justice Min-ister Nicole Belloubet.

By midday, police had been

sent into four jails to replace absent guards, a prison services spokesman told Reuters. Unions said the authorities would have to deploy additional officers as other guards came off shift.

Macron is under pressure to address the unrest among prison staff after several recent attacks on guards by inmates.

The ministry has offered to meet another demand and sep-arate the most violent inmates from the rest of the 70,000 prison population, one of Europe’s largest.

Macron said before protests snowballed that a plan would be presented in February and go beyond existing pledges to build thousands of new prison cells.

France’s prison population has more than doubled since the 1970s. The guards say they no longer have enough staff or

equipment to handle violent inmates, notably convicted mili-tants and petty criminals who become radicalised while in prison.

They are also demanding

improvement on salaries which start at around $1,715.56 a month before tax.

Union representative Karar, a guard for 13 years at Fresnes prison on the edge of Paris, said

records put the number of attacks on security staff at 4,000 a year.

“You cannot put a guard in charge of 100 or 150 prisoners and just give him a whistle.”

French prison guards launch strike

AFP

GRENOBLE: More than 100 chalets in one of France’s best known ski resorts near Mont Blanc were evacuated yesterday and hundreds of people were told to stay indoors because of avalanche risks.

“The situation is extraordinary: we’ve had the equivalent of five months of precipitation in just 45 days,” the mayor of the Chamonix resort, Eric Fournier, said.

Over 1,000 residents had been contacted by midday, Fournier said: “We’re asking them to stay inside and to close up shutters on the sides exposed” to potential ava-lanche flows.

Evacuation in Alps after heavy snowfall

Court shuts down Navalny’s campaign fundAFP

MOSCOW: Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny yesterday suffered a new blow in his bid to convince Russians to boycott March presidential polls when a court ordered the closure of the foundation behind his political activities.

The charismatic opposi-tion leader used the founda-tion to finance his failed attempt to run against Presi-dent Vladimir Putin in the upcoming election and was planning on its support in his call for a “voters’ strike”.

Moscow’s Meshchansky district court issued the ruling following a request from the justice ministry to pull the plug on the Fifth Season of the Year Foundation citing var-ious irregularities, spokes-woman Yulia Kotomina said.

Navalny—seen by many as the only genuine opposi-tion to Putin—was barred last month from running for the presidency because of a fraud conviction he says was polit-ically motivated.

Ruslan Shaveddinov, spokesman for Navalny’s cam-paign, said they would appeal the ruling. “Even if we have to shutter the fund, nothing will stop. The campaign will con-tinue: we are training monitors and we are getting ready for a voter strike.”

Britain’s Princess Eugenie gets engagedAFP

LONDON: Britain’s Princess Eugenie of York has got engaged, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday, lining up a second royal wedding this year at the church where Prince Harry will tie the knot.

Eugenie, who is eighth in line to the throne, will marry her

club manager boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in late 2018, the palace said.

Eugenie, 27, is the younger daughter of Queen Elizabeth II’s second son Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and his former wife Sarah.

“The Duke and Duchess of York are delighted to announce the engagement of Princess

Eugenie to Mr Jack Brooksbank,” Buckingham Palace said yesterday.

“Her Royal Highness and Mr Brooksbank became engaged in Nicaragua earlier this month.

“The wedding will take place in the autumn of 2018 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, with further details to be announced in due course.”

Niels Hoegel, a German male nurse serving a life term for killing six hospital patients, told fellow inmates and then a psychiatrist that he had committed scores of more killings.

A file photo of German former male nurse known as Niels H. hiding his face behind a folder during his trial at court in Oldenburg, northwestern Germany.

Striking prison guards walk past burning tyres in front of Longuenesse prison, in northern France, yesterday.

Puigdemont in Denmark; no warrant issued UK to struggle to match Russian threat: Army chiefAFP

LONDON: The head of the British army warned yesterday that Britain would struggle to match Russian capabilities on the battlefield, making a high-profile intervention in a growing row over military spending.

“Our ability to pre-empt or respond to threats will be eroded if we don’t keep up with our adversaries,” Chief of the General Staff Nick Carter said yesterday.

He warned that Russia boasted capabilities that Britain would struggle to match, saying it has already demonstrated its use of superior long-range mis-siles in Syria.

Carter also highlighted the threat to Britain of cyber attacks, ahead of the speech to the RUSI military think tank in London.

“The threats we face are not thousands of miles away but are now on Europe’s doorstep.”

“We have seen how cyber warfare can be both waged on the battlefield and to disrupt normal people’s lives. We in the UK are not immune from that.”

He warned that responding to these threats now was

essential, “or our ability to take action will be massively con-strained”. The time to address these threats is now—we cannot afford to sit back.”

Defence spending is under intense pressure following years of austerity, and a review launched last year has prompted media reports that further cuts are on the way.

General Richard Barrons, a former head of Joint Forces Command, which prepares for future conflicts, warned last week that another round of heavy reductions “would break the institution”.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said Britain was committed to spending two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.

“The chief of general staff is saying that we face a range of threats, that we need to make sure we have capabilities required to address them. That’s exactly what we’re doing as part of the National Security Capability Review” launched last July.”

“And we’re doing that from a position of strength, where we have a $50bn defence budget, which will rise to almost $55bn by 2020 to 2021.”

AFP

BARCELONA: The speaker of the Catalan parliament yesterday proposed the region’s ousted leader Carles Puigde-mont as president of Catalonia, as a judge refused to re-issue a European warrant for his arrest.

Roger Torrent said Puigde-mont’s candidacy to once again head Catalonia’s regional govern-ment is “absolutely legitimate”, even though the secessionist leader faces criminal proceedings in Spain over his role in Catalo-

nia’s independence drive.The parliamentary vote to

choose a new Catalan leader is now due to take place by the end of January.

In a major blow to the cen-tral government in Madrid, sep-aratist parties once again won an absolute majority in the Cat-alan regional parliament in a snap election in December.

Puigdemont wants to be sworn in from Belgium, where he fled in late October after the Catalan parliament declared unilateral independence.

Spanish prosecutors yes-terday sought to have a Euro-pean arrest warrant for Puigde-mont re-issued as he arrived in Copenhagen in his first trip out-side of Belgium since he fled to the country.

But Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena turned down the request, arguing Puigdemont had gone to Denmark “to pro-voke this arrest abroad” as part of a strategy to boost his argu-ments in favour of being allowed to be sworn in as president of Catalonia again.

Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont arrived at Copenhagen Airport, yesterday.

Jack Brooksbank and Britain’s Princess Eugenie of York

13TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 AMERICAS

US Senators reach deal to reopen govtAFP

WASHINGTON: The US Senate yesterday reached a deal to reopen the federal government, with Democrats accepting a compromise spending bill to end days of partisan bickering that forced hundreds of thousands of government employees to stay home without pay.

The impasse, the first of its kind since 2013, cast a huge shadow over the first anniver-sary on Saturday of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The Senate was poised to pass the compromise, but the shutdown will only end formally once the House of Representa-tives approves the measure keeping the government funded until February 8 -- which it is expected to do.

As the Senate convened for the day, the chamber’s top Dem-ocrat Chuck Schumer announced that members of his party would vote with ruling Republicans to end the shutdown on day three, after a weekend of frustrating talks on Capitol Hill.

“After several discussions, offers, counteroffers, the Repub-lican leader and I have come to an arrangement,” Schumer said

on the Senate floor, referring to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“We will vote today to reopen the government.”

But he warned McConnell that he expected Republicans to make good on a pledge to address Democrat concerns over the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals (DACA) programme that shields immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation, but expires on March 5.

There are an estimated 700,000 “Dreamers” whose fates are up in the air.

“If he does not, of course, and I expect he will, he will have

breached the trust of not only the Democratic senators but mem-bers of his own party as well,” Schumer said.

Hopes that the shutdown, which began at midnight Friday, could be limited to the weekend were raised when a bipartisan group huddled for hours on Sunday trying to end the standoff, but they ultimately failed to reach a deal.

Then as Monday began, Trump goaded Democrats from the sidelines, accusing them of shutting down the government to win concessions on immigra-tion, in service of “their far left base.”

“They don’t want to do it but

are powerless,” he tweeted, referring to Schumer and other Democratic leaders.

But Schumer said on the Senate floor it was time to get back to work, and lashed out at Trump.

“The great deal-making president sat on the sidelines,” he said.

The bill needed 60 votes to advance in the 100-member Senate, meaning Republicans -- who have a one-seat majority -- could not manoeuvre on their own.

Over the weekend, Trump encouraged the Senate’s Repub-lican leaders to invoke the “nuclear option” -- a procedural

maneuver to change the cham-ber’s rules to allow passage of a budget by a simple majority of 51 votes to end the shutdown.

But Senate leaders have been wary of such a move in the past, as it could come back to haunt them the next time Democrats hold a majority.

There have been four gov-ernment shutdowns since 1990. In the last one, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary leave.

Essential federal services and military activity are continuing, but even active-duty troops will not be paid until a deal is for-mally sealed.

Tillerson visits new London embassyAFP

LONDON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson paid a discreet visit to the new US embassy in London yesterday, after Presi-dent Donald Trump cancelled plans to open it himself following a series of rows.

Tillerson bucked tradition by not holding a formal meet-and-greet at the new embassy, which the State Department said was due to the current shutdown of the US government over a budget impasse in Congress.

But even before the shut-down, the State Department had already played down Tillerson’s visit to the embassy, which

opened last week, because of controversy over Trump’s refusal to inaugurate the new building.

The president said he was unhappy at the cost and loca-tion of the new embassy, a futuristic cuboid building sur-rounded by a moat.

But the decision came after a series of rows that have dam-aged the so-called “special rela-tionship” between the two nations and after it became clear the visit would be met with mass protests.

“The purpose of the trip is to underscore our commitment to the transatlantic alliance,” a State Department spokesman said.

“First stop is the United

Kingdom, where the secretary will reaffirm the US-UK special relationship.”

Tillerson posed for photo-graphs before being shown around the new building.

Trump had been due to inau-gurate the building in February, but cancelled the visit, tweeting: “having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”

US ambassador Woody Johnson brushed off Trump’s criticism of the building, telling reporters: “The embassy actu-ally is going to really work.”

US slams Russia on Syria chemical attack reportAFP

WASHINGTON: The United States sternly criticised Russia’s failure to rein in its Syrian ally Bashar Al Assad yesterday after reports of a new regime chem-ical weapons strike.

Rights monitors say 21 people, including children, suf-fered breathing difficulties yes-terday after an alleged chemical attack on a besieged rebel enclave outside Damascus.

Washington is not yet in a position to confirm the latest report, but officials noted that Russia has hamstrung UN efforts to probe previous allegations of regime atrocities.

“Civilians are being killed and it is not acceptable,” Steve Goldstein, US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said.

Asked whether the United States would raise the issue at the UN Security Council, Gold-stein said: “We’ll see tomorrow.”

“Russia had failed to rid Syria of chemical weapons, and they’ve been blocking chemical weapons organisations. Enough is enough,” he warned.

The US has urged Russia to compel Assad to take a United Nations-brokered peace process in Geneva and Vienna seriously and come to the table.

But Moscow - along with Iran and Turkey - has been run-ning a parallel peace initiative under its own auspices out of

Astana and Sochi, and the eight-year-old civil war continues.

In 2013 the previous US administration, under president Barack Obama, balked at striking Syria over its alleged chemical arms use, choosing to work with Moscow on a disarmament plan.

Obama’s successor in the White House, President Donald Trump, launched a cruise mis-sile strike against a Syrian air-base in April 2017 in response to an alleged chemical attack.

American painter Jack Whitten diesAFP

NEW YORK: American painter and sculptor Jack Whitten has died at the age of 78, his gallery announced yesterday.

The black artist was known for continually evolving over his five-decade career—from painting to sculpture and from figurative to abstract.

Born in Bessemer, Ala-bama on December 5, 1939, he grew up in the segrega-tionist south of the United States, where he was an activist in the civil rights struggle, before moving to the city of New York in the year 1960.

EU to impose new sanctions on 7Venezuela officialsREUTERS

BRUSSELS: The European Union yesterday announced new sanctions on seven senior Venezuelan officials, saying this was an expression of the bloc’s concern with the polit-ical crisis under President Nicolas Maduro.

Reuters reported last week the EU would make the move, which introduces a travel ban and an asset freeze on people in charge of secu-rity forces accused of wide-spread abuses, particularly during the 2017 anti-govern-ment protests.

While the EU already has an arms embargo in place on Venezuela, it has not consid-ered imposing an oil embargo or blacklisting Maduro himself.

“Today the EU has again shown irrefutable evidence of its notable subordination to the racist government of (US Pres-ident) Donald Trump,” Vene-zuela’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “These decisions show an interventionist and erroneous policy toward our country and are reminiscent of the colonial manoeuvres of outdated empires.”

Oil and related products make up three quarters of Ven-ezuela’s exports to the EU. The country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves but suffers inflation and food shortages.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) and Woody Johnson, US ambassador to Britain, stand outside the new US embassy in London, yesterday.

Mexican oppn Senator joins leftist partyREUTERS

MEXICO CITY: Mexican oppo-sition Senator Gabriela Cuevas (pictured) yesterday said she will leave the centre-right National Action Party (PAN) to join the campaign of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads polls ahead of July’s presidential election.

The decision by Cuevas, who is head of the Senate’s for-eign relations committee, rep-resents a win for Lopez Obrador as he seeks to oust the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in his third attempt to clinch the presidency.

“I’ve decided to join the movement that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has created,” Cuevas told reporters as she announced her departure from the party she had been with since she was only 15.

In a statement, the PAN said Cuevas chose to leave after it was unable to guarantee her a federal representative’s posi-tion in the future.

The PAN has entered into an electoral alliance with the center-left Party of the Demo-cratic Revolution (PRD), with former PAN leader Ricardo Anaya at its head.

The coalition has put a squeeze on the number of safe seats the PRD and PAN can each

distribute among leading politicians.

Lopez Obrador, or AMLO as he is commonly known, has vowed to combat inequality and corruption.

But some international investors are concerned by sug-gestions that he might reverse parts of the government’s 2013-2014 energy legislation, which ended a decades-long monopoly by state oil firm Pemex. Anaya’s coalition is second in opinion polls.

The Senate was poised to pass the compromise, but the shutdown will only end formally once the House of Representatives approves the measure keeping the government funded until February 8. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves a meeting with Senate Democrats on Capitol

Hill, in Washington, yesterday.

Minnie Mouse gets star on Walk of FameREUTERS

NEW YORK: Forty years after Mickey, Minnie Mouse is finally joining her beau on Holly-wood’s Walk of Fame, where the cartoon darling is poised to receive a star yesterday.

“America’s sweetheart”, as Minnie became known, will be immortalized with the 2,627th bronze star-plaque to adorn the legendary Hollywood strip.

The honouring of Minnie, who made her debut alongside her flame Mickey in the 1928 movie Steamboat Willie, was

welcomed by US pop star Katy Perry.

“After 90 years of serving looks & smiles as the polka dot queen, it’s time she got that rec-ognition,” the top-selling singer wrote on Twitter.

Perry will co-host Minnie’s star dedication ceremony with The Walt Disney Company’s CEO, Robert Iger.

Walk of Fame ceremony organisers hailed the animated mouse’s “fun-loving, inde-pendent personality.”

“Minnie Mouse is a woman of the ages and her iconic status

makes her a great addition to our Walk of Fame!” Ana Mar-tinez, producer of the Walk of Fame ceremonies, said in a statement.

It took Minnie four decades longer than her boyfriend to receive the same accolade because Disney only nominated her last year, she said.

“Maybe he was more pop-ular back in the day,” she said.

Other Disney children’s idols who have had been hon-ored on the Walk of Fame include Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh and Snow White.

In a statement, the National Action Party (PAN) said Cuevas chose to leave after it was unable to guarantee her a federal representative’s position in the future.

14 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018HOME

Opening ceremony of Zam Zam BakeryAbdullah Ahmed Al Qahtani (left centre), Sponsor of Zam Zam Bakery (Zam Zam), and Former Minister of Helath, Indian Union Territory of Puducherry, E Valsaraj (right centre); jointly opening the bakery at the Souq Al Qaala, Industrial Area in Doha. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

BPS principal exhorts high achieversTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Birla Public School organised Principal’s meeting with the parents of higher achievers from 5:30pm – 6:30pm on January 8 in the school auditorium.

Around 150 students & their parents attended the session.

A P Sharma, Principal showed the gathering a video on ‘wrong education system’, which teaches a fish to fly and a bird to swim. ‘Here, each individual has its own unique merit but instead of building on the innate merit, talent and abilities, the system wreaks havoc with the original talent and merit.’

He guided the students with some ideas related to ‘how to deal with stress’. He also asked them not to be anxious looking at what is not done. He asked them to keep a pace in learning. He advised them not be over confident so there strength becomes weakness and asked them to analyse their strength and weakness in the subject area, chapter wise if possible.

He suggested training their own brain and practising memory technique such as memorising daily routine in systematic arrangements of happenings and suggested to make clouds to recall the points while learning.

Sharma called upon the

students to get rid of their anx-iety, ensure good sleep and do not sleep late.

He advised them not to be selfish but selflessly share important questions with friends, and to have small meals in between rather than having heavy meals (6 meals instead of 3).

He gave some important tips for the students to follow while preparing for exam such as not sit more 20 minutes con-tinuously, and write “I will do it” on the study table and that has to be signed by Principal.

He also gave instructions regarding how to present answers in exams like after each question leave two lines,

“Answer the questions serially and follow chronological order and leave enough space to attend later if you don’t com-plete a question, circle the question not done and solve it later, copy the answer correctly from working columns.”

Also, he suggested reaching the exam hall well in time. He gave some tips to the parents to follow like keeping things required for exam in the pouch, pens, admit card etc. He called upon parents to provide resources required for study, don’t tell the students your or somebody else’s success sto-ries in such a way that the stu-dents get irritated or disheartened.

MES conducts quiz contest for junior students THE PENINSULA

DOHA: A Quiz contest for the students of junior section of MES Indian School was conducted at the conference hall on January 18. Five teams namely; Orion, Scorpius, Lyra, Aquila and Gemini participated in the competition. Each team comprised of participants repre-senting grades 2 to 4.

There were four rounds in all with the second and third being audio and visual rounds respectively, while the fourth

one a rapid fire round of mixed bag. The overwhelming response of the audience was the highlight of the Quiz contest. All the contestants participated enthusiastically and answered the questions thus exhibiting the success of team work.

Team Orion was adjudged as the winner of the contest by virtue of its lead in points tally followed by the team Lyra for the runner up position. Certifi-cates and trophies were distrib-uted to the winners as well as the participants.

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTERCROSSWORD NOVO Pearl Qatar

MALL

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

THE PIRATES OF SOMALIA

LANDMARK

ROXY

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

12 Strong (2D/Action) 10:30, 11:30am, 12:00noon, 1:00, 2:00, 2:45, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 6:00, 7:00, 8:30, 8:15, 9:30, 11:00, 11:15pm & 12:00midnightThe Commuter (2D/Action) 10:00, 10:30am, 12:15, 12:45, 2:30, 3:00, 4:45, 5:15, 7:00, 7:30, 9:15, 9:45, 11:30pm & 12:00midnightJumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnight The Post (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 12:45, 3:00. 5:15, 7:30, 9:45pm & 12:00midnightDownsizing (2D/Comedy) 10:00am, 12:40, 3:20. 6:00, 8:40 & 11:20pmThe Pirates Of Somalia (2D) 10:00am, 2:45, 7:30pm & 12:10amlnsidious: The Last Key (2D/Horror) 12:30, 5:15 & 10:00pm12 Strong (2D IMAX/Action) 11:00am, 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:00 & 11:30pm

Nirdosh (2D/Hindi) 2:30 & 9:30pm Diwanji Moola (2D/Malayalam) 4:30pm Addu 2 (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:30pm Bunya And Babe (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:00pmDownsizing (2D/Comedy) 5:00 & 7:00pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 5:30pmThe Post (2D/Drama) 7:30 & 9:30pm The Pirates Of Somalia (2D/Drama) 7:30pm 12 Strong (2D/Action) 9:15 & 11:30pm Gulae Bhaghavali (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

Diwanji Moola (2D/Malayalam) 2:30 & 11:15pm Gulae Bhaghavali (2D/Tamil) 2:30 & 11:00pm Bunya And Babe (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 5:00pmJumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 5:00pmAadu 2 (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm The Commuter 9:30pmDownsizing (2D/Comedy) 6:30pm The Post (2D/Drama) 7:00 & 9:00pm The Pirates Of Somalia (2D/Drama) 7:15pm 12 Strong (2D/Action) 9:00 & 11:00pm

Aadu 2 (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:30pm Bunya And Babe (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 5:00pm Gulae Bhaghavali (2D/Tamil) 2:30pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 4:00pm The Commuter 7:00pm Diwanji Moola (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm Downsizing (2D/Comedy) 6:00 & 9:15pm The Pirates Of Somalia (2D/Drama) 7:15pm 12 Strong (2D/Action) 8:30 & 11:00pm The Post (2D/Drama) 9:00 & 11:00pm

Aadu (Malayalam) 6:45, 8:15, 9:30 & 11:00pm Nirdosh (Hindi) 5:45pm Sketch (Tamil) 11:15pm Gulae Bhaghavali (2D/Tamil) 6:00pm Diwanji Moola (2D/Malayalam) 5:45, 8:30 & 11:15pm

Aadu (Malayalam) 11:15am, 2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pm The Post (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 4:00 & 9:30pm 12 Strong (2D/Action) 12:45, 6:15 & 11:45pm Ferdinand 10:30pm Thaana Serndha (Tamil) 1:00, 6:30pm & 12:00midnight Downsizing (2D/Comedy) 3:30 & 9:00pm

Bunya And Babe (Animation) 10:30am, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30 & 6:30pm Diwanji Moola (Malayalam) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 & 10:00pm12 Strong (Action) 10:30am, 1:10, 3:50, 6:40 & 9:20pm

Aadu (Malayalam) 10:30am, 1:40, 4:50, 8:00 & 11:20pm The Pirates Of Somalia (Drama) 8:30, 10:30 & 11:00pm

It’s 2008, and recent Canadian college graduate Jay Bahadur is living at home, in the basement, yearning for a shot at big time writing, but stuck in the day-to-day marketing research for a napkin manufacturer.

15TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018 HOME

FAJRSHOROOK

05.01am06.20 am

ZUHRASR

11.46 am02.50 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.13pm06.43pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 08:45 – 21:30 LOW TIDE 01:15 – 16:15

Hazy to misty / foggy over most areas at

first becomes mild daytime with some

clouds, cold by night.

WEATHER TODAY

COURTESY: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum 14oC 22oC

16 TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018MORNING BREAK

German envoy visits Deutsche Bank Art Exhibition German Ambassador, Hans-Udo Muzel, with visitors and staff of Firestation - Artist in Residence — on the closing day of the Deutsche Bank Art Exhibition “German Encounters” on Saturday.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra is all set to stage a concert of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony on Saturday, 7.30pm at Katara Opera House.

The concert program to be con-ducted by Marcus Bosch (pictured) includes Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor.

The fifth symphony of Mahler consists of five movements divided into three sections by the first and last movements, which form the first and last sections. The sym-phony is characterized by greatness and innovation such as sequential musical ladders and the integration of the greatest musical forms in a manner that proves his superiority as a composer of the great works and its impact. The C Sharp Minor is a test work with the will to inno-vate, it walked towards a new vision in the cry of resurrection bearing the realization that life is stronger than death.

Gustav Mahler is considered one of the pioneers of his time not only as a composer but also as an orchestra leader. He was greatly influenced by the works of Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin

during the period of his study. He was able to form an innovative per-sonality that differed completely from contemporary composers and has since become one of the most important late-Romantic com-posers. Mahler is generally known as the last great composer of German music, and enriched the music with many immortal works, the most important of which is nine symphonies and an incomplete tenth.

Marcus Bosch has been general

music director of the State Theatre and State Philhar-monic Orchestra in Nuremberg since 2011 and principal guest conductor of the South-West Phil-harmonic Orchestra in Constance since 2016.

Since 2010, he has been in charge of the Hei-denheim Opera Festival as its artistic director, and is the founder and director of the Festival’s orchestra, Cappella Aquileia. After his conducting debut with the German State Philhar-monic in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the age of 24, this German

conductor of Brazilian-Italian descent decided to pursue the tra-ditional career path of Kapell-meister followed by many conduc-tors in Germany, which took him as music director to the state thea-tres in Wiesbaden and Saarbrucken and the State Orchestra in Halle.

From 2002 to 2012, Marcus Bosch enjoyed great success as the general music director in Aachen, and has conducted numerous large orchestras in Europe, Asia and America.

Concert of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony on Saturday at Katara Opera House

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Thousands of residents are expected to take part in the fourth edition of The Color Run on Saturday at the Qatar National Convention Centre.

With only a few tickets left, and a few days to go until this extravaganza kicks off, there are still tickets available from www.thecolorrun.qa.

In addition to having access to a day of fun, each Color Runner will receive a fun par-ticipant kit, which includes a limited edition Dream World Tour race shirt, embroidered headband, a fun temporary tattoo, rainbow pencil and some awesome goodies from sponsors. Deluxe Runners will receive the kit plus a Gold bib a wristband, tutu, party socks and sunglasses for the ultimate Color Runner look on the day. Runners can look forward to ending their race with the Finish Fes-tival where the crowd will be part of the world famous color throws.

With over 7,000 partici-pants showing up at the event last year, the 2018 edition of The Color Run presented by Sahtak Awalan: Your Health First is a unique race that celebrates health, happiness and individ-uality by both empowering and encouraging participants of all ages and abilities to focus on their health and well-being.

Participants can choose to run, walk, jog or skip around the five-kilometer course with their family and friends. The highly anticipated Foam Zone will make Color Runners feel on top of the world, as they enjoy a brand new color, and as always,

get covered from head to toe in an array of colors.

The fourth edition of The Color Run™ is presented by Sahtak Awalan: Your Health First, the flagship public health campaign of Weill Cornell Med-icine–Qatar (WCM-Q) with the theme: The Dream World Tour.

Since its inception in 2012, The Color Run has become a global phenomenon, continuing to innovate the 5k paint race genre each year. The Color Run has been experienced by over six million people worldwide in over 35 countries and has donated a staggering $5m to charity to date.

4th edition of The Color Run on Saturday

RAYNALD C RIVERA

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Following her successful debut at the Paris Fashion Week in October, homegrown Qatari designer Hissa Haddad is set to unveil for the first time in Qatar her stunning ‘Capsule’ shoe collection tomorrow at The Gate Mall.

The Qatari brand generated a lot of good buzz when it was unveiled in Paris and the same excitement is expected in its Qatar launch.

“The buyers and the media expected to see brands across Europe and they had never seen a Qatari brand. They were interested to know more not only about the inspiration and the story behind the brand but also about Qatar and its culture,” Hissa told The Peninsula as she revealed the design to local media for the first time yesterday.

Inspired by Islamic architecture and Qatari culture, Haddad’s first women’s designer shoe collection, which was a product of over a year of hard work and partnership with Italian Chamber in Qatar, will be launched here in five designs. It is made of high quality materials from Italy and pro-duced by a famous Italian

manufacturer, behind well-known brands, in Italian standards.

Hissa is the first Qatari female entrepreneur to partner with Italian Chamber in coming up with designer shoes created in one of the world’s important fashion capitals.

“We don’t get a lot of

female entrepreneurs coming to us for assistance. I was amazed of her deter-mination, hard work and her level of preparation for the project. She was a young entrepreneur who knew what she wanted and had the passion to turn her dream to reality,” said Italian Chamber Chairperson Palma Libotte.

“I have always wanted to launch a Qatari brand. We do have lots of women here who are extremely cre-ative but, perhaps, didn’t go all the way to take their brands at the interna-tional arena. I would love to be an inspiration to all those women and I would love to tell them they can do whatever they want; they just have to do it,” said Hissa.

The designer describes Hissa Haddad as a Qatari brand created in Italian standard and her debut ‘Cap-sule’ designs a classic collection which draws inspiration from Qatari culture and Islamic architecture.

“The cut is inspired by Islamic architecture, the pearls depict Qatari culture and the gold and gems are jewels we frequently wear,” she explained, adding she is soon meeting many international buyers who have expressed interest in the brand.

“There’s a lot of tradition behind the product which gives it an added value. The various design elements are strongly linked with culture which, I think, created a lot of interest among Italian manufacturers,” said Libotte.

Hissa said she had already final-ized her second collection to be launched at the London Fashion Week next month.

Qatari designer to unveil ‘Capsule’ shoe collection

Qatari designer, Hissa Haddad (left), and Italian Chamber Chairperson, Palma Libotte, hold a gold-and-pearl-studded designer shoe during a press conference at Marriott Marquis Hotel in Doha yesterday. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT

/ THE PENINSULA

IANS

WASHINGTON: Changes in the orbit of Mercury — the planet closest to the Sun in the solar system — has demonstrated the repercussions of an ageing Sun.

Like humans, the Sun is losing mass as it ages, weakening its gravitational pull. As a result, the orbits of planets in the solar system are expanding.

In the study, scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) indirectly measured this mass loss and other solar parameters by looking at changes in Mercury’s orbit.

They found key details to monitor the rate of solar mass loss, because it’s related to the stability of G, the gravitational con-stant. Although G is considered a fixed number, whether it’s really constant is still a fundamental question in physics.

“Mercury is the perfect test object for these experiments because it is so sensi-tive to the gravitational effect and activity of the Sun,” said lead author Antonio Genova, a researcher at MIT, working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

For long, scientists have studied Mer-cury’s motion, and have also charted a road map of Mercury’s orbit, called “ephemeris” to study its closest point to the Sun and its farthest point from the Sun.

Changes in Mercury’s orbit reveal an ageing Sun

IANS

NEW YORK: Even mild depres-sion among patients with head and neck cancer are associated with poorer overall survival, a new study has said.

The findings of the study indi-cated that patients should be screened and treated for depres-sive symptoms at the time of diag-nosis. “We observed that patients with depressive symptoms

suffered greater two-year overall mortality rates and this was especially true for those who did not achieve optimal response to medical treatment,” said study co-author Elizabeth Cash from the University of Lou-isville School of Medicine.

Many patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer experience symptoms of depression, which can make it difficult for them to manage

treatment side effects, quit smoking, or maintain adequate nutrition or sleep habits.To see if depressive symptoms might affect patients’ health outcomes, researchers studied 134 patients with head and neck cancers who reported depressive symptoms during the planning of their treatment. Poorer treatment response partially explained the d e p r e s s i o n - s u r v i v a l relationship.

Depression downs survival rates in cancer patients