Volume 24 | Number 8012 | 2 RiyalsThursday 12 September 2019 | 13 Muharram 1441 www.thepeninsula.qa

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BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 12

Coach Sanchez rues missed chances against India

QFC steps up efforts to

attract global companies

Included withtoday’s edition is a

special supplement

Amir, Gambia President review bilateral ties

QNA DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a session of official talks with the President of the Republic of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, at the Amiri Diwan, yesterday.

During the session, they dis-cussed bilateral relations and aspects of developing cooper-ation in various fields, especially in agriculture, tourism and infra-structure. In addition, they dis-cussed a number of issues of common concern.

H H the Amir and the Gambian President witnessed the signing of two agreements between the governments of the two countries, one on mutual administrative assistance for the optimal application of the

customs law and for the sup-pression, investigation and control of customs violations, and the other on mutual inclusion of land in the satellite service area.

They also witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the fields of youth and sports, and for legal cooperation between the Ministries of Justice in both countries.

The session was attended by a number of Their Excellencies Ministers. From the Gambian side, it was attended by the members of the official dele-gation accompanying the President.

The President of the Republic of The Gambia arrived earlier at the Amiri Diwan, where he was accorded an official reception.

H H the Amir hosted a luncheon banquet in honour of

the President of the Republic of The Gambia and the delegation

accompanying him, at the Amiri Diwan. The banquet was

attended by a number of Their Excellencies Ministers.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with the President of the Republic of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, yesterday. �P2

Qatar and The Gambia signed two agreements on customs law and mutual inclusion of land in satellite service area. Two memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the fields of youth and sports, and for legal cooperation were also signed.

New law on combating money laundering issuedQNA DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued yesterday Law No. 20 of 2019, a law on combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

The law is effective starting from the day following the date of its publication in the official gazette.

Qatar Central Bank (QCB) announced yesterday the issuance of Law No. 20 of 2019

on combating money laundering and terrorism financing to replace combating money laun-dering and terrorism financing law promulgated by Law No. 4 of 2010.

The QCB said the new law reflects the State of Qatar’s con-tinued commitment to com-bating money laundering and terrorism financing in all its forms, in accordance with the latest international standards adopted by major international organisations including Financial Action Task Force

(FATF). The law also highlights Qatar’s leading and influential role in the region in setting standards in its legal and regu-latory framework for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

The new law is the result of the efforts exerted by the QCB, in cooperation with the minis-tries and other government agencies that are members of the National Anti-Money Laun-dering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Com-mittee, which is responsible for

protecting Qatar’s financial system from the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing.

The QCB said that the State of Qatar is internationally rec-ognised for its continuous efforts to combat money laun-dering and terrorism financing crimes and that the promul-gation of the new law on com-bating money laundering and terrorism financing would undoubtedly strengthen its position in this regard.

The QCB added that the new

law sets out the legal require-ments binding on the business and financial sectors related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including non-profit organisa-tions and money transfer services. The new law also sets severe penalties for anyone who violates its provisions, it also includes financial sanctions against financial institutions, specific non-financial busi-nesses and professions or non-profit organisations that vio-lated the law. �P7

Qatar concerned about enforced disappearance in Gulf crisisQNA GENEVA

The State of Qatar expressed yesterday its concern over the persistence of the phenomenon of enforced disappearance in the Gulf crisis, during which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an unfair blockade on the State of Qatar, its citizens and residents.

The State of Qatar praised the efforts of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Dis-appearances to clarify the fate and whereabouts of a number of Qatari nationals who had been subjected to unjustified enforced disappearance.

This came during the State of Qatar’s interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disap-pearances as part of the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council, item III, delivered by Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar in Geneva

Ambassador H E Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri.

H E Ambassador Al Man-souri said that despite the release of a number of Qatari nationals by the Saudi author-ities after being subjected to enforced disappearance, they are still holding Qatari student Abdulaziz Saeed Abdullah since July 2018, who forcibly disap-peared and is currently suffering from a significant deterioration in his health as a result of torture and deliberate medical negligence.

Al Mansouri expressed Qatar’s condemnation and deep concern about the enforced dis-appearance of Qatari national Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah, aged 70 and his 17-year-old son Abdulhadi, who entered Saudi Arabia on August 15, 2019, under a family permit issued by the Saudi authorities. He said that they forcibly disappeared, and arrested by the Saudi authorities and hid in an unknown location.�P3

Cabinet nod for draft law on security of marine watersQNA DOHA

The Cabinet, in its regular meeting yesterday, approved a draft law regulating the security of marine waters of Qatar. Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani chaired the regular meeting held at the Amiri Diwan.

The Ministry of Interior has prepared the draft law in line with its responsibility to secure the country’s water borders and codify the measures to be taken to protect the country from any acts harmful to national security that may occur in or through these borders.

Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr. Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi stated that the Cabinet reviewed topics on its meet-ing’s agenda.

The Cabinet also gave approval to the draft decision of the Council of Ministers on the formation of the Financial Sanctions Committee of the Communications Regulatory Authority. �P3

Afghan Ambassador hails Qatar’s role in peace talks mediationIRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

Praising Qatar’s role in Afghan peace process, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Qatar Abdul Hakim Dalili, yesterday hoped that Afghan peace talks would resume as Qatar has the ability and experience of resolving conflicts through mediation.

Addressing a press con-ference at the Embassy, Dalili said that US-Taliban talks failed due to continued acts of vio-lence by the Taliban. “Peace in Afghanistan can be established if the Taliban observe ceasefire and have direct dialogue with elected government of Afghanistan.”

The Ambassador appreciated Qatar for its efforts to ‘resolve crisis in Afghanistan on human-itarian grounds’. “Qatar has had successful experiences in this field (mediation) in a number of countries, including Sudan and Lebanon.”

“We thank Qatar for giving the Taliban an opportunity to come to Doha, hosting their

political office since 2013 and engaging them for dialogue with the United States to solve Afghanistan’s problems.”

Regarding a report published by Al Arabiya media outlet attributing some statements to the spokesman of the President of Afghanistan, the Ambassador said that it was not true. “Such lies will not affect the Qatari-Afghan relations. We have strong ties between the two govern-ments and the two peoples.”

To a question, he said that Qatar is always keen to find

solution for Afghan crisis and has no other agendas except to achieve peace which is positive.

He said that the US-Taliban negotiations were underway and an agreement was supposed to be reached between the two sides after which the Afghan-Afghan negotiation had to begin which was the most important and key phase to solve the problem. “Sud-denly, the United States President announced the cancellation of the talks with the Taliban and the reasons were clear.” �P5

Such lies (Al Arabiya report)

will not affect the Qatari-Afghan relations. We have

strong ties between the two governments

and the two peoples.”

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTTHURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019

02 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

Amir condoles with President and Prime Minister of IraqDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani and Dep-

uty Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin

Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday

cable of condolences to Presi-

dent of the Republic of Iraq, Dr

Barham Salih, and Prime Minister,

Adel Abdul Mahdi, on the victims

of the stampede in the Shrine of

Imam Hussain in Karbala, wishing

the injured a speedy recovery. The

Prime Minister and Interior Minis-

ter H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser

bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent a

cable of condolences to the Prime

Minister of Iraq, on the victims of

the stampede, wishing the injured

a speedy recovery. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the President of the Republic of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, witnessing the signing of agreements at the Amiri Diwan, yesterday.

Amir, President of Gambia witness signing of pacts

03THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

Doha to host Sports Integrity SummitQNA DOHA

Doha will host the Inter-regional Sports Integrity Summit on September 16 and 17, organised by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) and Qatar Airways in cooperation with the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA).

The summit, which will be attended by Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, will discuss a number of important topics in the presence of experts and specialists in sport integrity from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. A total of 60 experts from around the world will attend.

The summit also aims to highlight the seriousness of corruption in sport in the region, and to develop solutions by encouraging countries to adopt SIGA’s international standard legislation.

Another topic discussed will be the importance of collective action among

the region’s countries to enact legis-lation on integrity and to combat cor-ruption in sport, as its crimes has now become transcontinental in nature.

SIGA, under its Vice-Chairman Mohammed bin Hinzab, will hold a press conference today at Kempinski the Pearl to discuss the other topics on the summit’s agenda.

Cabinet nod for draft law on security of marine watersFROM PAGE 1

The Article 4 of the Telecom-munications Law promulgated by Decree-Law No. 24 of 2006, and amended by Law No. 17 of 2017, stipulates that the Com-mittee shall be responsible for imposing one or more of the financial sanctions that are set out in Schedule 1 herein on any licensee in the event of a vio-lation of the provisions of this Law and its Executive Regulation and the decisions and licenses issued in the implementation of this Law. Such imposition shall be in crimes and penalties other than those provided for in Chapter 16 of this Law.

The Cabinet approved the draft decision of the Minister of

Municipality and Environment to amend some provisions of the decision No. 351 of 2018 on organizing the sale of standard specifications, technical regula-tions, publications and related bulletins.

The Cabinet reviewed the Shura Council’s recommendation on the terrestrial and marine environment and decided to refer the recommendation to the competent authority for its views in this regard. It also gave approval to draft bilateral air services agreement between the Government of the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Brazil and draft agreement on cultural and technical cooper-ation between the Government

of the State of Qatar and the Gov-ernment of the Republic of Nicaragua.

The Cabinet took the nec-essary procedures to ratify an agreement between the govern-ments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Croatia on exempting visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and special passports. The Cabinet also took the nec-essary procedures to ratify a coop-eration agreement in the cultural field between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Croatia.

The Cabinet took the nec-essary procedures to ratify joint news cooperation and transfer between Qatar News Agency (QNA) and Croatian News Agency

(HINA). The Cabinet took nec-essary procedures to ratify a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the sports field between the Ministry of Culture and Sports in the State of Qatar and Croatia’s Central State Office for Sport.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify an MoU to cooperate in the field of edu-cation, higher education and sci-ences between the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the State of Qatar and the Min-istry of Science and Education in the Republic of Croatia.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify an MoU to cooperate in the agriculture field between the Ministry of

Municipality and Environment in the State of Qatar and Ministry of Agriculture in the Republic of Croatia. The Cabinet also reviewed and took the appropriate decisions on the draft law on the use and pro-tection of the Red Crescent emblem and the visuals of some authorities in this regard. The Cabinet listened to the presentation of H E the Min-ister of Finance on the results of the ministerial group for coordi-nation and follow-up of major projects (of strategic importance).

During the presentation, His Excellency said that various spe-cialized entities in the State com-pleted many of the highways and other projects which have mostly been completed such as those

relating to the 2022 World Cup, metro networks, and infra-structure including the devel-opment of existing and new cit-izens’ land infrastructure and projects in the health and edu-cation sectors.

His Excellency also touched on the strategic vision and future plans for projects, adding that the Ministry of Finance, in cooper-ation with Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ is working on implementing a strategic plan by linking the targeted performance indicators with approvals for new projects. This criteria will be among the main factors in determining the expenditure paths and linking them to the State economic plan.

FROM PAGE 1In this regard, Al Man-

souri added that Qatar is holding Saudi Arabia fully responsible for the life and safety of the mentioned Qatari nationals, to ensure that they have all their rights guaranteed by relevant inter-national conventions and treaties, and called on the Saudi authorities to disclose their fate and release them immediately.

In conclusion, he stressed the importance of full cooperation with the Working Group and the provision of all information on enforced disappearances, taking all measures to combat enforced disappear-ances, holding those respon-sible accountable and com-pensating victims.

Qatar concerned about enforced disappearance in Gulf crisis

The agenda of the summit, which will be held on September 16 & 17 and attended by Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali, will discuss a number of important topics in the presence of experts and specialists in sport integrity from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Shura Council represents Qatar in 6th IPU Global Conference of Young ParliamentariansQNA/DOHA

The Shura Council partici-pated in the Sixth IPU Global Conference of Young Parlia-mentarians, held in Asuncion, Paraguay, recently. under the title “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Empow-ering Youth Through Well-Being.” The Council was repre-sented at the conference by Member of the Shura Council, Nasser bin Ahmed Al Malki.

The annual global confer-ences of young parliamen-tarians at the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union are individual platforms for young members to meet, exchange, learn and identify common and inno-vative strategies for their advancement and empow-erment in such areas as political participation, peace and prosperity, social and eco-nomic integration, education and employment.

Nasser bin Ahmed Al Malki (left), a Member of the Shura Council, during the conference held in Asuncion, Paraguay.

04 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

State Audit Bureau participates in GCC Accounting & Auditing Organization meetingQNA/MUSCAT

A delegation from the State Audit Bureau, led by its Vice-President, Abdulaziz Mohamed Ahmed Al Emadi, participated in the 20th meeting of the Gulf Cooperation

Council Accounting and Auditing Organization, which began yesterday in Muscat. The meeting discussed several topics on the agenda, including the follow-up report of the decisions of the 19th meeting, as well as the

preparation of a framework and specific criteria for the implemen-tation of workshops and programs to identify decisions of joint action, and follow-up implementation of the strategic plan for training for the years 2016-2020.

QICCA, Qatar University’s CCE sign deal to implement Arabic training programmesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) has signed an agreement with the Center of Continuing Education (CCE) at Qatar University aims at imple-menting Arabic training programmes in arbitration and dispute resolution in the fields of law, investment, and trade. The programmes will be held during the current academic year 2019-2020.

The agreement was signed by QICCA board member Dr Sheikh Thani bin Ali Al Thani and Head of Strategy and

Development at QU Dr Darwish Al Emadi in the presence of Director of Center for Com-munity Service and Continuing Education at Qatar University Dr Rajab Abdullah Al Ismail.

The training programmes aim to provide a series of arbi-tration courses in sport, engi-neering, banking and maritime disputes.

During a press conference held on the occasion, Dr Sheikh Al Thani said that training pro-grams that were launched has stressed the QICCA interest to spreading the culture of concil-iation and arbitration in set-tlement of dispute by using alternative means.

He added that the new pro-grams 2019-2020 would include training courses for qualifying arbitrators through different phases that prepare participants to practise arbitration.

Sheikh noted that following the success of program of qual-ifying and preparing arbitrators, the new program would include three phases in order to provide training for a large number of trainees,

He pointed out that QICCA arbitrators who passed these programs have managed to settle trading disputes esti-mated to QR 50mn, noting that there are more than 130

arbitrators have accomplished this program, of them there are 80 Qataris.

Dr Al Emadi expressed his thanks to Qatar Chamber and QICCA for cooperation with QU, assuring that this program is in the context of QU’s strategy aiming at enhancing com-munity participation and p u s h i n g f o r w a r d development.

Dr Al Ismail said that there is continuing cooperation between QICCA and Centre for Continuing Education, noting that there is an idea to develop the program to a professional diploma in cooperation with many international bodies.QICCA and QU officials exchanging the documents after signing.

QNTC, IE University and UNWTO launch Online Tourism Academy

THE PENINSULA DOHA

QNTC, IE University and UNWTO’s Online Tourism Academy was officially launched during the 23rd UNWTO General Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia.

QNTC’s role as a founding sponsor of the Online Tourism Academy, and its partnership with IE University and UNWTO, further enhances Qatar’s strong focus on education and its bur-geoning presence in global tourism

Akbar Al Baker, Secretary-General Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, attended the 23rd session of the UNWTO General Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organi-zation (UNWTO), officially launched the world’s first digital tourism academy.

The initiative is a collabo-ration between the World T o u r i s m O r g a n i z a t i o n

(UNWTO) and IE University, with QNTC as the founding des-tination partner.

In his address during the first Plenary Session yesterday, Akbar Al Baker discussed the impor-tance of tourism to the global economy, and highlighted Qatar’s initiatives in partnership with UNWTO.

Al Baker said: “As we con-tinue to develop our own tourism sector in Qatar, we believe training and education go a long way towards enhancing the sector. We are pleased to support UNWTO in developing and delivering pro-grammes for professionals in the Travel and Tourism, Hospitality and Destination Management fields.”

The online platform for the Academy was published fol-lowing the launch. The online platform will provide profes-sionals with high quality edu-cation and training in the Travel and Tourism, Hospitality and Destination Management fields. The initiative will

provide easily accessible and exhaustive training in the tourism sector, which provides one in ten jobs globally. The Academy’s curriculum will cover strategy management, operations management, mar-keting management, finance fundamentals, as well as tech-nology and innovation management.

William Davila, Global Director of Corporate Relations at IE University and Zurab Polo-likashvili visited Qatar in April this year, where they signed numerous partnerships with QNTC to develop tourism in Qatar as well as globally.

As a United Nations agency, UNWTO is in charge of pro-moting responsible, sustainable and universally-accessible tourism. UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instru-ments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development.

Akbar Al Baker, Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, speaking at the 23rd session of the UNWTO General Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Qatar National Tourism Council’s (QNTC) role as a founding sponsor of the Online Tourism Academy, and its partnership with IE University and UNWTO, further enhances Qatar’s strong focus on education and its burgeoning presence in global tourism. In his address, QNTC Secretary-General Akbar Al Baker discussed the importance of tourism to the global economy, and highlighted Qatar’s initiatives in partnership with UNWTO.

Education Ministry issues two guidebooks for students and parentsQNA DOHA

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has issued two guidebooks for students and parents in conjunction with the beginning of the academic year 2019/2020.

This step was taken by the e-Learning System at the Cur-ricula Department of the Min-istry of Education to facilitate access to the Learning Man-agement System (LMS) for the students and the parents. It should be noted that the department continuously seeks to educate all parties of the edu-cational system about the projects applied in the schools.

The two guidebooks are effective projects that have been launched for the new school year. Learning Management System (LMS) provided by the Ministry of Education, follows the modern international standards that allow the student, teacher, parent and the school principle to use and access its advantages to order to save time and effort and allow students to learn at any time any where.

With regard to the benefits, the system enables the student to identify the scientific and lit-erary subjects, homework and grades, change personal data, and identify the most important updates and useful

educational links and solve assignments and tests, and communicate with school teachers. While the parent can track their children by fol-lowing up their attendance and their academic level and behavior and accessing school reports, communicate with the teachers, see the school announcements, and follow-up assignments and grades.

The teacher for his part can enter a lot of information such as modeling tests, classroom lessons, activities, exercises, questionnaires and other edu-cational materials of all kinds and classifications by each class.

Meanwhile, the Ministry held an introductory meeting

for the school principle on the periodic evaluation for 2019/2020 with the partici-pation of 56 schools for boys and girls, organized by the School Evaluation Department.

During the meeting, a pres-entation was held on the cri-teria of periodic evaluation of schools in the basic areas of the educational process in terms of management and school leadership, mission, vision and priorities, monitoring and follow-up and professional development, health and safety, human and material resources, communication and community participation, edu-cation and learning and edu-cational outcomes.

Woqod openspetrol stationin Umm GarnTHE PENINSULA DOHA

As part of Woqod’s ongoing expansion plans to be able to serve every area in Qatar, Qatar Fuel ‘Woqod’ opened Umm Garn Petrol Station yesterday and by this raised its network of various petrol stations to 87.

Woqod’s Managing Director & CEO, Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi, said: “We are pleased to open new fixed petrol station in Umm Garn. Woqod aspires to expand its petrol station network in the country to meet the rising demand for petroleum products and achieve the goal of providing customers with access to best-in-class products and services at their convenience and comfort.

Woqod has recently accelerated the process for the construction of new petrol stations to meet the fuel and energy needs of the country. Woqod team would like to extend their gratitude to all concerned governmental and private entities that contributed to the completion of this project.”

Umm Garn Petrol Station is spread over an area of 9600 square meters and has 3 lanes with 9 dispensers. The new Petrol Stations offer round-the-clock services to residents, and

include Sidra convenience store, Manual Car Wash, Oil Change and Tire Repair, and sale of LPG cylinders, in addition to sale of gasoline and diesel products for light vehicles. Al Muhannadi added: The Woqod is currently overseeing the implementation of 24 new petrol stations, which most of them will be operational in the current year. As part of its strategic expansion plan, Woqod is targeting the achievement of a total of 114 fuel stations by the end of 2020”.

The Umm Garn petrol station is spread over an area of 9,600 sq metres and has three lanes with nine dispensers.

05THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

Qatar participates in ITU Telecom World 2019 in Budapest

THE PENINSULA DOHA

A high-level delegation led by Mohammed Ali Al Mannai, President of the Communica-tions Regulatory Authority (CRA), represented Qatar at the ITU Telecom World 2019. The event is organised by the International Tele-communication Union (ITU) and is taking place from September 9 to 12, in Budapest, Hungary.

The ITU Telecom World is an annual event, held with the aim of delivering eco-nomic development and social good faster, it includes a high-level forum, international exhibition for digital solutions and awards programme. The event brings together gov-ernments, regulators, digital start-ups, key Information and Communications Tech-nology (ICT) industry players, consultants and experts from emerging and developed markets around the world.

ITU Telecom World 2019 includes min-isterial round tables and various forum ses-sions to discuss different topics like, the role of government in 5G and high-capacity network deployment, expanding access with

new radio technologies, regulatory dialogue: spectrum challenges ahead of World Radi-ocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19), and digital integrity: values and prin-ciples of the digital future.

On the sidelines of the ITU Telecom World 2019, Mohammed Ali Al Mannai, met with Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General and delivered to him a formal invitation on behalf of Minister of Transport and Commu-nications, H E Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti to attend Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition (QITCOM 2019). The two officials also dis-cussed ways to enhance collaboration and coordination between CRA and ITU towards the development of the ICT sector.

The Exhibition showcase innovative

initiatives, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and technologies from across the globe, and the ITU Telecom World Awards will cel-ebrate innovative ICT initiatives with real social impact. ITU Telecom World 2020 will take place from September 6 - 9 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies — ICTs. Founded in 1865 to facilitate international connectivity in com-munications networks, ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure net-works and technologies seamlessly inter-connect and strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.

Mohammed Ali Al Mannai (left), President of Qatar’s Communications Regulatory Authority, and Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, shake hands during the meeting.

IAEA Acting Director-General receives credentials of Qatar’s representativeActing Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Cornel Feruta (right), received the credentials of Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri as Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the IAEA. The Acting Director-General praised the existing cooperation between Qatar and the IAEA, particularly Qatar’s continuous support to the IAEA’s various programmes and projects to enhance international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the world. For his part, the Ambassador stressed the importance of the IAEA’s role in preventing nuclear proliferation, developing nuclear technologies and delivering them to the member states. He also commended the IAEA’s technical assistance to Qatari institutions.

Advocates propose solutions to water scarcity crisis in Cape Town edition of Doha DebatesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The world’s worsening fresh-water shortage crisis can be overcome if individuals and governments take practical steps to conserve and distribute water, argued three water supply advocates during a special edition of Doha Debates on Tuesday.

A production of Qatar Foun-dation (QF), the discussion took place in Cape Town, the South African port city of four million people, where water taps nearly ran dry last year due to a lengthy drought and inadequate water reserves.

Experts said hundreds of millions of people across six continents face the growing threat of losing access to water, while four billion people endure water shortages at least one month out of the year.

The opinions of the speakers differed on how best to address

the water supply crisis, but agreed that implementation of their combined recommenda-tions would help ensure eve-ryone has reliable long-term access to water.

Yana Abu Taleb, the Jor-danian co-director of EcoPeace Middle East who guides water-sharing in conflict areas, said, “Water scarcity is real. The solution is pragmatism. The only way to truly resolve the water crisis is cooperation.”

Obakeng Leseyane, a South African education and water conservation activist, stressed that to get water into everyone’s hands, we must “acknowledge that no system will serve the people that it is created for unless we speak about structural injustice.”

Georgie Badiel, a super-model and philanthropist from Burkina Faso whose foundation advocates for equal access to clean drinking water, argued that “our generation wants the

world to change, we need the world to change. We can do it. With money and with people like you, right here in this room.”

The programme included questions and suggestions from audience members in person, as well as millions of people around the world watching the programme via Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

The debate’s in-person and online audiences voted twice on key questions.

In the first vote, Leseyane’s position, “Water scarcity is a facade; let’s address structural injustice,” captured the most interest, with 41.07% of the audience’s votes.

Abu Taleb’s position, “Water scarcity is real; let’s find prag-matic win-wins,” received about a third of the vote at 30.6%. Badiel’s position, “Water scarcity is not the issue; let’s fund grassroots organizations,” gathered 28.33% of the vote.

After the Majlis discussion segment, the audience in Cape Town and viewers online voted a second time. Leseyane and Abu Taleb were persuasive, growing their respective posi-tions to 43.5% and 34.83%, respectively. Badiel still held a portion of the audience captive, with 21.67% of the vote.

The poll will remain live on Twitter @DohaDebates for the next six days, closing on Sep-

tember 17. The debate was also lives-

treamed at Georgetown Uni-versity in Qatar (GU-Q) – a QF partner university.

Amjad Atallah, Managing Director of Doha Debates, said, “The world’s water crisis proved to be an ideal topic for a solu-tions-focused debate, Doha Debates’ hallmark.

“Our debate’s participants offered practical suggestions to

mitigate this crisis. We thank the people of Cape Town for their involvement in this debate, and we thank our colleagues at eNCA for sharing the debate with their viewers and followers across southern Africa.”

The next live Doha Debates program is scheduled for October 23 in Qatar’s Education City, with the topic set to explore the merits and future of capitalism.

Panellists talk during a special edition of Doha Debates, in Cape Town, South Africa.

On behalf of Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, CRA President Mohammed Ali Al Mannai delivered a formal invitation to ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao to attend Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition (QITCOM 2019).

Afghan Ambassador hails Qatar’s role in peace talks mediationFROM PAGE 1

Replying to another question about the reason behind the collapse of US-Taliban talks, he said: “The problem in the dialogue was the fact that they left the ceasefire issue to Afghan-Afghan negotiations and we always insisted on the ceasefire and this was a gap in the agreement, in my opinion.”

“As a government, we hope both sides will restart the negotiations because the problem cannot be solved except by dialogue and sitting together on the negotiation table.”

The Ambassador noted that the main obstacle to achieve peace in Afghanistan was the Taliban’s keenness to continue fighting and not sitting directly with the Afghan government for dialogue. “We encourage them to renounce violence and announce ceasefire because the government represents everyone and the nation can accommodate everyone.”

Regarding challenges in Afghan peace negotiations, he said the Afghan government had made all concessions

to the Taliban and even offered to open offices for the Taliban inside the country in exchange of end of war and complete ceasefire by the Taliban.

He said that for fruitful peace talks, there should be a complete ceasefire which is very important. “Our (Afghan government) presence (in the dialogue) is very important because on the ground there is an elected and legitimate gov-ernment representing the people to convey their will.”

On failed US-Taliban talks, the Ambassador said that both parties announced that they were very close to an agreement but Afghan government had fears about the loopholes in the deal which could cause its collapse and bring all back to the beginning point.

“As we expected, the agreement failed. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad was in Kabul and the Taliban carried suicide bombing killing innocent people and destroying surrounding properties.”

He said that the attack by the Taliban was against the spirit of agreement. “The talks were aimed at reaching a peace

deal and at the same time the Taliban were carrying out armed attacks to gain leverage on the negotiation table therefore the agreement was rejected.”

He said that the US President also went through the draft agreement and found loopholes therefore he cancelled the agreement.

Reiterating Afghan government stance, the Ambassador said: “There was only way to end the war: Taliban’s direct talks with Afghan government without any conditions and giving up the violence and observing ceasefire.”

“No one can gain from the war as it brings destruction. We announce once again that we are ready to sit with them directly but two things they should comply with: ceasefire and sit directly with the government. This is because Afghan government is the only entity which represents the Afghan people.”

He said that the Taliban could hold talks with any party but the main party and representative was the Afghan government.

To another question, he said Afghanistan could make great achieve-ments in environment of peace. “We can explore and utilise our resources and manpower in a better way for more

development of the country. War destroyed the resources and for sure it affected Afghan people and slowed development pace. War is hindrance in the way of development and there are many negative impacts of the war on the country.”

He said that Afghanistan is full of resources and according to a survey conducted by an America company, there are about three to four trillion dollars worth minerals including rare ones like lithium which is called ‘future energy’.

To another question, Abdul Hakim Dalili said that he had met with Min-ister of Foreign Affairs’ Special Envoy for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution H E Dr. Mutlaq bin Majid Al Qahtani after US President Trump announced cancellation of talks with the Taliban.

“We are on the same page. Our stands are same. We are optimistic. We will work together to remove these hin-drances and go ahead to achieve the common goal (of establishing peace in Afghanistan).”

Abdul Hakim Dalili, Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Qatar, speaks during a press conference held at Afghan Embassy in Doha yesterday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

Landmark Group’s Ramadan donation to Qatar CharityLandmark Group Qatar COO, Clive Freeman, handing over Landmark Group’s Ramadan donations of QR30,363 to Qatar Charity.

06 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019HOME

Expert: Need urgent action to combat environmental crisisTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Businesses that recognise the need to tackle climate change are posi-tioning themselves for success, while “the writing is on the wall” for those that do not, a United Nations climate change expert has warned while speaking at Qatar Foundation (QF).

Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Exec-utive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), drove home the message that taking action to combat the envi-ronmental crisis facing our planet cannot be delayed, in a public lecture as part of QF’s Education City Speaker Series.

He told the audience that rather than harming economies and jobs, companies that adopt more sustainable business models are set to reap the benefits while also helping to preserve the planet – but businesses that fail to do this “will not be around for long”. Sar-mad’s talk at Qatar National Library, titled ‘Why Are We Waiting? The Urgency For Tackling The Climate Crisis’, also emphasized the need for fossil fuels to form part of the solution to climate change, and the

transition to more renewable forms of energy. “In taking climate action, there can be a fear that people will suffer because it will create a negative economic impact,” Sarmad said.

“The truth could not be further removed. Businesses that are pre-paring right now for more sus-tainable economic growth, who are reducing their emissions and working toward carbon neutrality, will thrive. For those who do not, the writing is on the wall. Nobody can do business in a world deci-mated by climate change, and it’s baffling to me that businesses do not see the advantages of adapting more sustainable business models.

“Those businesses that do this will position themselves for the future; those that do not will not

be around for long.Sarmad said that making the

transition to a low-carbon, sus-tainable growth path could boost the global economy by US$26 trillion, and create 65 million new jobs in the low-carbon industry, by 2030. But he also stressed that fossil fuels will not, and cannot, simply be eradicated.

“Fossil fuels have literally fueled the prosperity of this region, and they are not going to disappear overnight,” he said. “That is unrealistic – it would lead to the collapse of the global economy. “They will be around for the foreseeable future, so they need to be converted into being part of the solution, through a process of transition that also rec-ognizes the needs of employees within this sector.”

During his talk, Sarmad also spoke of how education is essential to addressing existential societal challenges such as climate change, saying: “Without edu-cation at the grassroots level, any-thing else we do is merely a bandage.” The talk was followed by a question-and-answer session with Sarmad, the latest global expert to share his insights and perspectives at the Education City Speaker Series.

Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, addressing a gathering in a public lecture as part of QF’s Education City Speaker Series.

Children vulnerable to food poisoning, says HMC expertTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) , Director of Dietetics and Nutrition, Reem Al Saadi (pictured), has reminded parents and caregivers who send their children to school with a packed lunch about the importance of food safety and the risk of food-borne illnesses.

“Children are among the most vulnerable to food poisoning as their immune systems are not as effective at fighting off bacteria and viruses. If your child brings a packed lunch to school, there are several ways to help ensure their lunch is both healthy and safe,” said Al Saadi.

Al Saadi said that it’s important to remember that cold foods need to stay cold and hot foods need to stay hot. She notes that keeping food containers closed until lunchtime will help keep foods cold and help prevent bacterial contamination and growth. She recommends packing two cold sources, such as freezer packs or frozen water bottles, with perishable foods that need to stay cool.

“It is essential to keep lunches that contain perishable food items like luncheon meats, eggs, labneh, cheese, or yogurt cold to avoid the development of harmful bacteria that could cause foodborne illness,” said Al Saadi.

“Pack your child’s lunch in an insulated lunch bag and use frozen gel packs and frozen juice boxes or bottles of water to keep the food out of the ‘danger zone’, which is when a food’s temperature reaches between 5 and 63 °C (41 to 145 °F) and when bacteria grow most rapidly,” added Al Saadi.

If you pack your child’s lunch the night before school, Al Saadi recommends leaving it in the

refrigerator overnight. She added that it is not advised to send hot foods like soup, salona (stew), or other heated food items in your child’s lunch, noting it is difficult to keep hot foods outside the ‘danger zone’.

“If possible, your child’s lunch should be stored in a refrigerator or cooler with ice upon arrival at their school. After lunch, make sure your child gets into the routine of discarding any leftover food, used food packaging, and paper bags. Don’t reuse packaging because it could contaminate other food and cause foodborne illness,” said Al Saadi.

Al Saadi said lunch boxes or bags should be cleaned with hot soapy water after each use and she recommends packing dis-posable wipes for children to clean their hands.

She said it is important to provide children with healthy, balanced lunches that include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products. She also recommends preparing snack-sized bags of fruits and veggies and involving children in preparing their lunches.

Al Shehaimiya Street to be closed overnight for one monthTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ has announced a temporary intermittent closure on Al Shehaimiya Street in Bu Hamour area for a month from today midnight from 12am to 5am, to enable the construction works of Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor.

During this diversion, in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic, road users wishing to continue towards Al

Shehaimiya Street, will be required to use Abu Hamour intersection and the service road to reach Al Shehaimiya Street.

Road users coming from Al

Shehaimiya Street wishing to continue towards Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor, they should use Al Watyat Street and Jabal Al Afja Street.

Ovais Sarmad said that making the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable growth path could boost the global economy by $26 trillion, and create 65 million new jobs in the low-carbon industry by 2030.

Bangle Festival at Malabar Gold & DiamondsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, one among the largest jewellery retailers globally with a strong retail network of over 250 retail outlets spread across ten coun-tries has presented a splendid collection of bangles in gold, diamonds and precious gems in its latest “Bangle Festival”.

More than 300 exquisite designs from 20 countries like Italy, Singapore, Turkey, Malaysia, Qatar, India etc. fea-turing excellent craftsmanship is being showcased at the fes-tival. The Festival started yes-terday and will run until October 5, 2019 only in all outlets in Qatar.

The latest jewellery col-lection launched in the ‘Bangle Festival’ includes both

traditional and contemporary designs in 22K gold, diamond and precious gem jewellery. Bangles of stunning designs are on display in the festival and are guaranteed to suit the tastes of their multicultural and multina-tional customers.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds has incorporated these designs as a part of various brands pre-sented at Malabar Gold & Dia-monds’ namely Ethnix - Hand-crafted Designer Jewellery, Era - Uncut Diamond Jewellery,

Mine - Diamonds Unlimited, Divine- Indian Heritage Jew-ellery and Precia - Gem Jewellery.

The customers also get an exclusive chance to exchange 22 K gold jewellery with the amazing new jewellery col-lection showcased at their show-rooms by paying only the making charge without any deduction in gold rate. This pro-motion will run at all Malabar Gold & Diamonds outlets in Qatar until October 5, 2019 only.

Nando’s Qatar joins hands with Baladna to launch new milkshakes rangeTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Nando’s Qatar, the casual dining international restaurant brand from South Africa, famous for its Flame-grilled, PERi-PERi chicken, has joined hands with Baladna Food Industries, Qatar’s largest producer of fresh dairy, to launch the Milkshake range in Qatar for the very first time. Nando’s Qatar decided to choose Baladna’s products because of their fresh, nutritious and better-

quality products. Baladna will supply Nando’s

with Halloumi cheese, Yoghurt and Laban to accommodate their various dairy products, such as Halloumi fries and yoghurt dips.

On the collaboration Nando’s Qatar’s Morne Jones, Head of Operations - Hospi-tality & Business Development said,” We are very proud to be associated with a leading Qatari brand Baladna, which believes in superior quality products and fresh ingredients

just like Nando’s. In addition, Nando’s has always taken ini-tiatives to work closely with the local community or the business”.

Over 127 tonnes of local vegetables sold out at major outlets in AugustTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Over 127 tonnes of local vegetables were sold in August under ‘Qatar Farms Program’ and ‘Premium Qatar Farms Program’.

The programs are run by the The Ministry of Municipality and Environment in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry at major commercial outlets like Lulu Hypermarkets, Family Food Center (FFC), Carrefour among many more.

‘Qatar Farms Program’ helped market 71 tonnes vegetables and ‘Qatar Farms Program’ contributed in selling 71 tonnes vegetables, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment said in a release.

Both the programs enable local farms to supply their produce to commercial outlets

without middlemen. The initiatives aim at proving reasonable prices to local farmers for their invest-ments and handwork by offering farm fresh veg-etables to the customers at competitive prices. The good yield also encourages local farms to increase their products.

The winter vegetable markets also attracted huge customers during the season. A total of 128 farms offered fresh vegetables at the markets oper-ating Al Mazrouah, Al Khor-Al Dakhira, Al Wakra, Al Shamal during weekend from Thursday to Sat-urday in the last season.

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment organises various festival like flower, honey, dates, dairy at the facilities of winter vegetable markets to attract customers in a bid to increase the sale of local vegetables.

07THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

CCQ orientation session explores IT and ET career pathsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) has organised an all-day orientation session for its incoming students and a group of students and academic advisors from 13 high schools to help them explore the Information Technology (IT) and Engineering Technology (ET) educational paths they can embark on at the College.

The event was held in response to the growing demand for competent pro-fessionals in technically-oriented posi-tions across the industrial, commercial, and government sectors in Qatar.

During the session, participating stu-dents took part in informative presenta-tions about the College’s IT and Engi-neering academic programs, in addition to meeting with representatives from a

number of leading institutions to know more about potential career opportu-nities for graduates of those programs. These institutions included Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Gas, Kahramaa, Es’hailSat, Qatar Financial Centre, and El Seif Engineering Contracting Co Ltd.

Commenting on the occasion, Chair of the Engineering Technology Program at CCQ Dr. Ahmad Al-Omari said:

“At CCQ, we pursue all prospects of

preparing our students for their journey as aspiring professionals who can con-tinually develop their skill-sets and advance their careers, while contributing to Qatar’s overall socioeconomic progress and help realize its vision as a nation.”

“The crucial role Engineering Tech-nology plays in pushing national devel-opment forward in various sectors places our ET graduates in one of the country’s fastest-growing career fields. It also qual-ifies them to secure sought-after posi-tions in state-wide infrastructure and public works, the Oil and Gas industry, as well as the transportation sector – including railway operations. This ori-entation session gave us the opportunity to inform our incoming students’ learning and career choices and introduce them to what life as an ET student and working professional entails.”

CCQ’s ET programs integrate com-munication skills, theoretical, and applied

competencies to get students up to speed with the latest technologies and engage them in a lifelong learning process.

Endorsing a flexible 2+2 learning model means that enrollees can graduate with an Associate degree in Engineering Technology in two years, following which they can choose to join the labor market, or study for two more years towards earning a bachelor degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering Technology.

To complement their theoretical learning, the 176 male and female stu-dents currently enrolled in CCQ’s ET pro-grams undergo practical training in a number of latest-tech college labora-tories equipped with state-of-the-art systems and devices, which is further augmented with internships at leading public institutions such as Hamad Inter-national Airport, Qatar Rail, Ashghal, Dolphin Energy, Qatar Petrochemical

Company (QAPCO), and many others.Some of the specialized roles ET stu-

dents at the College can assume upon graduation include maintenance, testing, installation, safety and preventive measures in telecommunications, indus-trial manufacturing, production design and development, quality assurance, research and development, and technical operations and services.

For his part, CCQ’s Chair of the Infor-mation Technology Program Dr. Mohammed Al Dorani said: “The estab-lishment of a knowledge-based society in Qatar requires building and operating a smart ICT infrastructure that powers national development in a broad range of disciplines. Certainly, vast techno-logical resources and skilled personnel are crucial factors in managing as well as safeguarding such intricate IT systems - and that’s where the specialized aca-demic programs at CCQ come in.”

In the context of promoting a greater understanding of and interest in the tel-ecommunications sector, the IT Aca-demic Department has also participated in Huawei’s annual weeklong program “Seeds for the Future”, recently in Beijing, China.

In addition to the BS in Information Technology-Cyber and Network Security program, CCQ offers a two-year Asso-ciate of Science in Information Tech-nology, as well as a 2+2 BS in Information Technology-Network and Systems Administration. Newcomers who opt for the College’s IT academic programs will be joining more than 250 currently enrolled IT students.

Dr. Ahmad Al Omari, Chair of the Engineering Technology Program at CCQ

The participants at the orientation session at Community College of Qatar.

Dr. Mohammed Al Dorani, Chair of the Information Technology Program

Arab girls invited to compete in digital HackathonTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Arab girls in Qatar will be given the chance to prove their digital innovation skills in an exciting competition where the short-listed projects will represent Qatar in the regional finals in Egypt later this year, as well as present their ideas at QITCOM 2019.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), in collaboration with Arab Women in Computing (ArabWIC), is inviting entries from Qatari and Arab girls in the country aged 15-22 to the ‘Girls Can Innovate’ Hackathon to be held on Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm at MOTC Digital Incubation Center (DIC)’s

Headquarters, Al-Nasr Tower (B), fifth floor. The competition is aimed at stimulating inno-vation and creativity in girls to produce digital solutions to problems facing their commu-nities in specific areas.

The competition in Qatar will focus on seven categories: Fintech Applications, E-agri-culture, E-health and Smart Water Management, Digital

Services, Road Safety, and Rural Productivity. By providing the invaluable opportunity of taking part in the Hackathon, MOTC hopes to give girls the possibility of improving their programming and technical skills as well as the ability to work in intense envi-ronments, while collaborating with other participants to achieve a common goal.

All shortlisted projects will

also be mentored by experts on pitch presentations. The selected participants will be invited to present their projects in front of an eminent panel of VIP judges at QITCOM 2019 to decide on the winners. The winning team will be awarded a prize.

The competition comes as part of the International Girls Day 2019 celebration, an initi-ative launched by the Interna-tional Telecoms Union (ITU) in 2011 to enable girls around the world to leverage their interest in ICT and pursue studies and careers in STEM fields.

The Hackathon in Qatar is open to Qatari girls and girls from the Arab region aged 15-22. More details on the event and how to enter can be found from: http://arabgirlscaninnovate.org/

The event was held in response to the growing demand for competent professionals in technically-oriented positions across the industrial, commercial, and government sectors in Qatar.

QNA/DOHA

For the second year in a row, the Primary Health Care Cooper-ation (PHCC) is organizing a health awareness campaign targeting school students.

This campaign, which is part of the second national stra-tegic plan for primary health care 2018-2022, aimed at pro-moting school health and improving student health.

Executive Director of Corporate Communication Department at PHCC, Huda Al Wahidi, said this important campaign was launched on September 3 and will last for two weeks.

Al Wahidi highlighted the campaign’s role in increasing health awareness among students through the help of medical staff of the PHCC, adding that the campaign will cover more than 12 public schools.

Al Wahidi also stated that the objectives of the campaign are to consolidate healthy lifestyles, focus on the basics of per-sonal hygiene, and underpin the importance of the school nurse and their essential role in maintaining the health of students.

The competition in Qatar will focus on seven categories: Fintech Applications, E-agriculture, E-health and Smart Water Management, Digital Services, Road Safety, and Rural Productivity. By providing the opportunity of taking part in the Hackathon, MOTC hopes to give girls the possibility of improving their programming and technical skills.

New law on combating money laundering issuedFROM PAGE 1

The law also includes imprisonment for every person convicted of a crime of terrorism financing. The new law also strengthens measures related to interna-tional cooperation, where the widest pos-sible cooperation and exchange of financial information will be provided with foreign counterparts.The QCB pointed out that the new law is an extension of the stringent legislative and regulatory initiatives issued by the State of Qatar since 2002. In 2014, a specific law was issued to regulate the charitable work carried out by charities and institu-tions in the country, and in the same year another law was issued to combat cyber-crime, with the aim of preventing the use of social media platforms to promote, organize or finance terrorism, the QCB said, adding in 2017, a legal framework on local classifications was established to identify persons and entities involved in the financing of terrorism. The new law will strengthen Qatar’s leading role regionally and its international com-mitment to combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

QCB Governor H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani said the new law was the product of the continuous coordi-nation and efforts exerted by the members of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee, thanking in this regard all members of the National Committee for their con-tributions to the promulgation of the new law. In order to effectively combat money laundering and terrorism financing, a strict legal and regulatory framework should be established to define the powers and responsibilities of ministries and government agencies,

His Excellency said, pointing out that the new law, along with other legisla-tions, is an effective tool to strengthen Qatar’s role in combating money laun-dering and terrorist financing.

H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, the QCB Deputy Governor and Chairman of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee, said the exchange of financial information rel-evant to current and potential threats is a key element in the international commu-nity’s efforts to address money laundering and terrorist financing crimes. In this context, Qatar affirms its commitment to international cooperation and the exchange of financial information with its international partners to ensure the pro-tection of its financial systems and global financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing, he said.

He added the promulgation of the new law is part of Qatar’s ongoing efforts to establish an effective legal and regu-latory framework for government and private institutions in the country, each within its jurisdiction, to take the nec-essary measures to combat money laun-dering and terrorist financing. The National Committee is keen to continue its joint efforts with the international community to implement the required standards to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, thanking the members of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee and its staff and the joint task forces for their efforts in preparing this law.

The National Anti-Money Laun-dering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee was founded in 2002 under Law No 28 of 2002 (as

amended by Law No 4 of 2010 and Law No 20 of 2019), with the primary function of setting up a national anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing strategy for the State of Qatar. The Committee is comprised of 15 gov-ernment ministries and authorities, which work together to ensure effective imple-mentation of Qatar’s AMT/CFT framework.

Qatar has issued a number of laws to criminalize activities related to money laundering and terrorist financing, as follows: Law No 3 of 2004 on Combating Terrorism amended by Decree Law No 11 of 2017, and Law No 20 of 2019 prom-ulgating the law on combating money laundering and terrorism financing, which replaced the law on combating money laundering and terrorism financing promulgated by Law No 4 of 2010, Law No 14 of 2014 on combating cybercrime, and Law No 15 of 2014 on the organization of charitable works. Qatar is also a major contributor to the international framework by being a founding member of the Global Coun-terterrorism Forum (GCTF), which is a global multilateral platform to promote joint cooperation, implementation and support of the UN Counterterrorism Strategy, as well as being a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF). Qatar was chair of MENAFATF in 2016. During its tenure as chair, Qatar launched the initiative entitled Operational Experts Forum on Terrorist Financing (OFTF). Qatar con-tributed $3m to support the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Multi-Donor Trust Fund, which aims to build capacity and provide technical assistance to other countries in the fight against money laun-dering and terrorist financing.

PHCC health awareness campaign targets students

To be fair, I don’t think Trump wants to start a new war, but it’s also true that his lack of strategic acumen raises the odds that he’ll stumble into a conflict accidentally.

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

08 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019VIEWS

Bolton is out. What will that mean for Trump’s foreign policy?

The biggest problem with writing about US foreign policy in 2019 is that there is no such thing as a slow news

day. I miss the lulls of, say, March 2015, when I could opine deep thoughts about why James Tiberius Kirk was an overrated captain of the USS Enter-prise, and there was no urgent crisis forcing my writing hand into action.

That is not how life works in 2019. I had set up all my column ideas for this week already. I hope to get to a few of them in the coming days. The problem, of course, is that President Donald Trump disrupts the news cycle on an almost hourly basis. Some of these disruptions, like Sharpiegate, are diverting and symbolic. Some, like Trump firing national security adviser John Bolton, are more substantive shocks.

My point is, this is not a column I really want to write, but it’s the column you need to read.

So what does Bolton’s departure mean for US foreign policy and national security? A few thoughts:

1) The national security process should improve marginally. It is easy to be skeptical of this assertion. Geor-

getown Uni-versity pro-fessor Eliz-abeth Saunders might well be the sharpest analyst out there on US foreign policy, and her immediate reaction was to shrug her shoulders: “There wasn’t a process yes-terday, there probably won’t be one tomorrow.”

Still, John Gans is correct when he observed in The New York Times that “Mr. Bolton’s legacy is not of destruction overseas, but dysfunction in Washington. To pursue his own policy agenda and serve an erratic president, in just 17 months Mr. Bolton effectively destroyed the National Security Council system.” Almost every profile of Bolton while he was national security adviser confirms this point. The more Bolton got on Trump’s nerves, the worse the process got, as

the president had to circumvent his own national security adviser.

The question is whether Bolton’s replacement will resuscitate the old National Security Council structure or continue to embrace the chaos. If the former, there is some reason to believe that it will function marginally better than Bolton’s diktats. Trump trusts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and has a confirmed defense secretary in Mark Esper. With Bolton out of the way, there might actually be some comity among Trump’s national security team. One has to expect it to function a little better than it has for the past 18 months.

2) It’s the waning of the hawks and the triumph of the sycophants.

It cannot be denied that Trump was less hawkish than Bolton. As Buz-zFeed’s Hayes Brown and Miriam Elder noted, Trump “has proven will-fully resistant to the sort of warmon-gering that Bolton has come, over the years, to encapsulate.” Still, saying that Trump is less hawkish than Bolton is like saying that Trump is less hawkish than Genghis Khan - it is a factually correct statement that is devoid of useful information. 99.9 percent of Americans are less hawkish than Bolton.

Trump has not started any new wars but he is pretty far from a dove. He ramped up bombing and deploy-ments in almost every theater of mil-itary operation. His maximum pressure campaigns have raised the risk of conflict in Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. Oh, and he hired John Bolton in the first place.

To be fair, I don’t think Trump wants to start a new war, but it’s also true that his lack of strategic acumen raises the odds that he’ll stumble into a conflict accidentally.

The difference between Bolton and Pompeo is not that Bolton is more

hawkish. It is that Pompeo is far better at being a sycophant. This is a man who won’t fire one of his assistant sec-retaries of state because he doesn’t have the stones to ask the president for his approval. It is not a coincidence that Pompeo and Mnuchin were at the White House podium today. Over the long run, the survivors in the Trump administration are always the bootlickers.

Bolton’s departure will not neces-sarily make the administration any less hawkish, it will simply be more at the mercy of Trump’s whims and prejudices.

3) The end of signaling and the beginning of some bad bargains. As I noted when Bolton was hired, “If Trump’s words don’t matter, that’s a problem for his foreign policy. How can he communicate resolve on the global stage? One way is to hire new people with known brands, and the one thing Bolton has is a brand . . . while he’s around, he sends a clearer signal than Trump’s chicken-hawk rhetoric.”

With Bolton gone, Trump has eliminated a voice independent from his, so signaling is right out. With 2020 on the horizon and few foreign policy accomplishments to his name, Trump seems far more interested in cutting deals rather than sustained statecraft. The problem, as noted in this space last week, is that Trump is such a bad negotiator that the only deals on offer are likely to be bad ones. As one GOP Hill aide told Politico’s Nahal Toosi, “It’s going to be hard to find a national security adviser who shares Trump’s opinion that we should make lousy deals with bad actors.”

In the end, US foreign policy remains at the mercy of Donald Trump. Getting rid of Bolton improves the policy process a bit. The outcomes, however, are likely to be just as bad as they have always been.

DANIEL W DREZNER THE WASHINGTON POST

QUOTE OF THE DAYAll agreements and their

resulting obligations would end if the Israeli

side annexes the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead

Sea, and any part of the Palestinian territories

occupied in 1967.

Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian President

British Prime Minister must find Brexit points of compromise with EU

The intention of the British Par-liament is clear-cut: avoiding a “no-deal Brexit” from the European Union. British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson must sincerely seek points of compromise with the EU by amending his stance of prioritizing the country’s departure from the EU.

The British Parliament, at the initi-ative of the largest opposition Labour Party, has passed into law a bill to postpone Brexit. The law obliges Johnson to ask the EU to approve a three-month delay to the Brexit deadline of October 31 if Britain and the EU fail to agree on withdrawal conditions.

Johnson has repeatedly made clear that he will realize Britain’s withdrawal at the end of October, regardless of whether there is a deal between Britain and the EU. The law to extend the deadline is likely a major blow to Johnson.

In rivalry with the opposition, Johnson had submitted motions seeking to dissolve Parliament and to hold a general election in October. The election moves were aimed at watering down the delay legislation on the strength of the supposed popular will. As the opposition parties abstained from the votes, the motions for a general election failed,

because they require the approval of a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Commons.

Johnson had earlier prorogued Par-liament until mid-October. A general election before the Oct. 31 deadline to leave the EU has effectively become dif-ficult, forcing Johnson to rewrite his Brexit strategy.

Yet it is questionable that Johnson, even after his dissolution motions were turned down, stubbornly insists his gov-ernment absolutely will not be asking the EU for an extension of the Brexit deadline. He must take the decisions of Parliament seriously.

The Johnson administration has become shaky. One after another, parlia-mentary members of Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party rebelled against the party to vote against the government. Consequentially, 21 members including prominent figures were expelled from the party, leaving it far from a majority. With some Cabinet ministers having resigned, the turmoil is spreading.

The Conservative Party’s tradition has been that it embraces people from all walks of life while advancing realistic policies. Isn’t the party losing its broad-mindedness with the emergence of members with a hard-line position against the EU?

A focal point of the Brexit

negotiations has been the issues regarding the management of the border that separates Northern Ireland, a division of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland.

In order to maintain the free movement of goods through the border, the previous British administration led by Prime Minister Theresa May had incor-porated in its draft proposal of the with-drawal agreement with the EU a clause stipulating that Northern Ireland would stay in the EU customs union until a new rule is set. Johnson, who seeks to have this backstop deleted, has yet to reach an agreement with the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Britain to present an alter-native proposal. It is the obligation of the Johnson administration to get the negoti-ations started in response.

A no-deal Brexit would bring about turmoil and enormous economic damage to Britain and the EU. Inevitably, it would also adversely affect the global economy.

The EU, for its part, is required to negotiate positively should a new pro-posal be made by Britain. It won’t be easy for both to find common ground within a little more than a month.

There is even a need for the EU to consider accepting the request for extending the deadline by a further three months.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIALBolton exit to herald peace?

John Bolton, US National Security Adviser, whether he has been abruptly forced out by President Donald Trump or himself resigned, the step could be one of the most related

decision to the security and stability of the Middle East. Since he took office as national security adviser at the White House, he has been considered by many observers as an element of insta-bility and a war champion. He put his hand in the hands of Israel’s most extremist leaders making always dialogue the last priority in his efforts to address the hottest issues of the region that pose threat to security and stability of the whole region.

Bolton was continuously branded by Iranian Foreign Min-ister Mohammad Javad Zarif as part of a “B Team” that tar-geted Iran which also include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. When President Trump imposed sanctions on Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior Iranian offi-cials, Zarif tweeted the “B-team despise diplomacy, and thirst for war and could goad Trump into a conflict with Tehran”.

His abrupt dismissal will make the team lose one of its powerful hawks who stood firmly and openly against the minimal rights of the Palestinian people and blindly supporting

Netanyahu’s aggressive policies, and insisted to keep the US forces in Syria supporting Kurdish fighters whose agendas pose threat to Turkish national security.

Same month last year, Bolton rejected that Saudi-led coalition in Yemen targeting civilians saying “Saudi Arabia and UAE are making every efforts to reduce the risk of civilians casualties” and US support to the “Saudi-led coalition promotes US national security pri-orities, including on counter ter-rorism and countering Iran’s destabilising behaviour”.

Such an announcement was considered by the coalition as a blank cheque and indefinite US support to their continuing war on Yemen giving no attention to the high rate of civilian casualties. Bolton’s departure from the White

House also comes amid disruption of US –Taliban peace talks and speculation about Trump potentially meeting President Rouhani during the upcoming UN General Assembly this month in New York. French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to broker such a meeting in hopes of rescuing the inter-national Iran nuclear deal of 2015, from which the US withdrew.

Bolton, who had been for years critical of Tehran and hard-liner, rejected its nuclear deal and stood behind the maximum pressure policy, his departure may relieve its leaders. Rouhani yesterday urged the US to “put warmongers aside” referring to the dismissal of Bolton.

Although the dismissal was an internal US issue, what happens next remains unclear. Perhaps the step has given hope for de-escalation even to those disagree with President Trump and to those who are eager to see priority given to dia-logue rather than escalating tension in this region which already suffered enough from war and instability for decades. There may be no tears on his departure except his team members’ who are destablising the region as part of their strategy of power struggle and violations of international decisions.

He put his hand in the hands of Israel’s most extremist leaders making always dialogue the last priority in his efforts to address the hottest issues of the region that pose threat to security and stability of the whole region.

A file photo of US President Donald Trump shakes hands with National Security Adviser John Bolton during a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC.

09THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 OPINION

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Buying a big stick: South Korea’s military spendinghas North Korea worried

What went wrong with African liberation?

JOSH SMITH REUTERS

PATRICK GATHARA AL JAZEERA

South Korea and North Korea have continued to pour resources into modernising their militaries despite a frenzy

of diplomacy since 2018, data shows, creating a point of tension that has sharpened as talks have stalled.

Military buildups on both sides of the heavily fortified border between the two nations have come to the

forefront with recent short-range missile launches by North Korea, per-fecting an arsenal it says is necessary to defend against new South Korean weapons.

On Wednesday North Korean state media reported that leader Kim Jong Un had personally supervised on Tuesday the test firing of a large mul-tiple-rocket launch system, a type of weapon analysts say threatens forces in South Korea.

Pyongyang has sharply criticised US-South Korean military drills and South Korea’s defence procure-ments - including an aircraft carrier, stealth fighters and spy satellites - as undisguised preparations for a preemptive strike. In a commentary on Friday, North Korean state news agency KCNA said South Korea’s pursuit of new weapons systems is an “unpardonable act of perfidy” that threatens to undermine peace on the peninsula.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) did not respond to requests for comment. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s adminis-tration has committed billions of additional dollars to the country’s defence budget, which is already among the largest in the world.

In 2018 South Korea’s military expenditures reached $43.1 billion, an increase of 7 percent compared with 2017, according to the MND. It was the

biggest single-year jump since a 8.7 percent increase in 2009.

In July the MND announced South Korea would build a light aircraft carrier, the country’s first. And in August it unveiled a plan to spend about $239 billion more between 2020 and 2024. About $85 billion of the future budget is earmarked for arms improvements, representing an average 10.3 percent year-on-year increase.

“Given the recent uncertain security environment, the government is investing heavily in strengthening its defence capabilities,” the MND said when the plan was announced. By 2023, the “force enhancement” budget will account for more than 36% of total defence spending, up from about 31% this year, according to South Korea’s 2018 Defense White Paper. The planned aircraft carrier is expected to accommodate vertical-landing F-35B stealth fighter jets.

Among the other weapons on Seoul’s shopping list are new missile defence systems; three more destroyers equipped with the cutting-edge Aegis radar system; spy satellites and high-altitude reconnaissance drones; anti-submarine helicopters; maritime patrol aircraft; submarines capable of firing cruise and ballistic missiles; and a warship armed with guided missiles.

“Neither Korea wants to a full-blown confrontation, but both want to make sure they have the weapons platforms and defence resources available in the event a flare-up happens,” said Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Wash-ington-based think tank. Of most immediate concern to North Korea, this year South Korea took delivery of the first of 40 land-based F-35A stealth aircraft from the United States.

North Korea criticised that as well as other weapons announcements as a reckless arms build-up that was forcing it to develop new short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) to “com-pletely destroy” the new threats.

The F-35 “puts North Korea’s anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence systems in an extremely vulnerable position, which is likely why the North is responding by accelerating its own SRBM development,” DePetris said.

North Korea also views the F-35s

as violations of a military de-esca-lation agreement the two countries signed in September 2018. The Koreas agreed to cease “all hostile acts,” but the deal did not mention new weapons. With North Korea under tight international sanctions, the North cannot afford an arms race, analysts said.

In 2016, the last year for which estimates were available, North Korea spent an estimated $4 billion, or 23 percent of its GDP, on defence. Almost 5% of the population serves on active duty in the military, according to the US State Department’s 2018 World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers report.

Although Kim has signalled interest in using more of the country’s vast defence industry to work on civilian projects, there is little sign of progress, and international aid organ-isations say tens of thousands of North Koreans face food shortages.

While the surge in military spending may seem to contradict Moon’s push to engage North Korea, analysts say it is largely driven by other issues, including South Korea’s changing demographics and the country’s relationship with longtime ally the United States.

Since the 1950-1953 Korean War, the American military has retained the authority to control hundreds of thousands of South Korean forces alongside the roughly 28,500 US troops in South Korea if another war breaks out.

By 2025, South Korea plans to reduce its standing military from 599,000 troops to 500,000, according to the Defense White Paper, with the aim of “a military that is smaller in size but stronger in combat.” The Trump administration has pushed South Korea to buy more American weapons and pay more for US troops stationed there, Botto said.

“Investing more in capabilities that it can acquire from the US both helps keep Trump on Moon’s side and augments his OPCON transfer and defence reform goals,” she said.

But analysts also say that South Korea wants reduce its dependence on American gear, partly because it is frustrated by Washington’s occasional unwillingness to share the best technology.

How the recently deceased Zimbabwean ruler, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, should be remembered is a question

that has split opinion across Africa. Many have hailed him as a “liber-ation hero” who led the fight to end white rule in Zimbabwe, while others have insisted that his transformation into a murderous dictator had tainted whatever good he had achieved in his earlier years.

It is indeed a curious debate. One would think an answer would be readily available given the conti-nent’s depressing post-colonial familiarity with similar Jekyll-turned-Hyde autocrats.

Across Africa, those who led the fight against colonial rule and those who came after them became just as brutal as those they had deposed. As

Mmusi Maimane, leader of South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance noted last year in a speech in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the same pattern is repeated. “First comes the era of colonial rule - unjust and exploitative. Then comes independence along with a new, democratically elected government. And then follows years, even decades, of oppression by the very same people who were meant to deliver freedom.”

In this context, there is a need to examine the terminologies we employ. What exactly does “liber-ation” mean when one continues to be oppressed? What does “inde-pendence” mean when post-colonial elites continued to be dependent on their former masters?

Take the case of Kenya. At

“independence” in December 1963, the country remained a British dominion with the British queen as sovereign, her functions were per-formed by her representative, the governor-general who served at her pleasure and was commander-in-chief, exercised executive authority, could summon, prorogue and dissolve parliament and appoint or remove the prime minister, whose main role was merely as an adviser. Jomo Kenyatta, the independence hero and first prime minister, who is usually pictured receiving the articles of inde-pendence, had virtually no power.

Although, for many, “liberation” is synonymous with freedom, it is plain that few of the peoples “lib-erated” from colonial rule actually got freedom. As related in Charles Hornsby’s opus, Kenya: A History Since Independence, in the run-up to 1963, anti-colonial activist Jomo Kenyatta asked his future subjects, “If you cannot obey the present [colonial] laws, how will you be able to obey our own laws when we have them?”

After he ascended to power and transformed Kenya into a republic and himself into a president in 1964, few could tell the difference between his government and that of the colo-nials he had replaced. Hornsby quotes one of Kenyatta’s contempo-raries, Masinde Muliro, describing the situation just three years later: “Today we have a black man’s Gov-ernment, and the black man’s Gov-ernment administers exactly the same regulations, rigorously, as the colonial administration used to do.”

Were Kenyans free? Were they liberated? Or was the situation more akin to the one described by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela following his country’s triumph over apartheid: “The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed.” It is doubtful, given the facts of post-colonial history, whether Kenyans, Zimbabweans and

Military buildups on both sides of the heavily fortified border between the two nations have come to the forefront with recent short-range missile launches by North Korea, perfecting an arsenal it says is necessary to defend against new South Korean weapons.

others on the continent had even gotten this far. They clearly had not secured “the right not to be oppressed”.

So what was liberated, if not the people? The simple answer is the state itself. What was being fought over was less the rights of the people than the opportunity to rule over them; it was about who governed them, not how they were governed.

Although many believed that the struggle against colonialism was also supposed to vanquish economic exploitation and introduce social justice, democracy and respect for human rights and civil liberties, the new overlords often entrenched an authoritarian political culture and mimicked the lifestyles of those they had succeeded.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you,” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in his 1886 book, Beyond Good and Evil.

Sadly, for many Africans, liber-ators do not always take this to heart as they pursue and maintain power. There is little recognition among governing elites today that the failure to reform the inherited colonial systems of oppression embodied in the state continues to be at the root of the continent’s malaise. And things are unlikely to change unless we redefine liber-ation to mean real freedom for the continent’s people rather than simply freedom to be oppressed and plundered by black elites.

A March 5, 1999 file picture of South African President Nelson Mandela (centre) and his Zimbabwean and Namibian counterparts President Robert Mugabe (left) and Sam Nujoma shaking hands after a joint press conference in Pretoria.

10 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians, UN & EU denounce Netanyahu’s annexation planAFP/ANATOLIA JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election pledge to annex the West Bank’s Jordan Valley drew widespread crit-icism yesterday, with opponents calling it a desperate bid by Netanyahu to remain in office.

Battling to win re-election in September 17 polls, Netanyahu issued the deeply controversial pledge on Tuesday night, drawing firm condem-nation from the Palestinians, Arab states, the United Nations and the European Union.

“Any Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdictions and administration in the occupied West Bank is without any inter-national legal effect,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “Such a prospect would be devastating to the potential of reviving negotiations, regional peace and the very essence of a two-state solution.”

An EU statement said Netan-yahu’s plans would “undermine the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace.”

Palestinian leaders said Netanyahu was destroying any hopes for peace, while senior official Hanan Ashrawi said the plans were “worse than apartheid.”

The Jordan Valley accounts for around one-third of the West Bank and Israeli right-wing pol-iticians have long viewed the strategic area as a part of the ter-ritory they would never retreat from, seeing it as the country’s eastern border.

Israeli settlements are located in what is known as Area C of the West Bank, which

accounts for some 60 percent of the territory, including the vast majority of the Jordan Valley.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day War of 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community.

Its settlements there are considered illegal under inter-national law and major stum-bling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinian see as part of their future state.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army yesterday targeted two locations of the Palestinian Hamas group in the northern Gaza Strip.

“A tank shelled two military positions belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip,” said Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee.

He added that the shelling came in response to alleged rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.

In an earlier statement, the Israeli army said it had observed the firing of three shells from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.

Hamas has yet to comment on the development and the Pal-estinian Health Ministry has reported no casualties as a result of the shelling.

A partial view of the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank yesterday.

Jordan says peace treaty could be at stakeAFP AMMAN

Jordan’s house speaker said yesterday that a pledge by Israel’s prime minister to annex a key part of the occupied West Bank if re-elected could put the peace treaty with Israel “at stake”.

“The house of representa-tives, rejecting all the racist statements coming from the leadership of the occupier, con-firms that dealing with this occupier requires a new path that would place the peace

treaty at stake,” Atef al-Tawarneh said in remarks carried by official news agency Petra. He accused Israel of having “studiously broken all international treaties and (UN) resolutions”.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to extend Israeli sover-eignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea which account for one third of the West Bank if re-elected next week.

Jordan and Israel have been bound by a peace treaty since

1994 but relations between the neighbours have been chroni-cally tense.

The peace accord is just the second between an Arab country and the Jewish state, after Egypt in 1979.

Netanyahu’s announcement sparked an outcry in Arab capitals.

Palestinian officials said it would “destroy” the entire peace process. On Tuesday Jor-danian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the move would “push the whole region towards violence”.

OIC to hold emergency meet on Sunday AFP/ANATOLIA RIYADH

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it will hold an emergency foreign ministers’ meeting on Sunday to discuss an “Israeli escalation” following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election pledge to annex part of the West Bank.

“At the request of Saudi Arabia, the organisation will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at the level of foreign ministers in Jeddah... to discuss the serious Israeli escalation,” the 57-member pan-Islamic body said on Twitter yesterday.

Meanwhile, Turkey said Netanyahu’s pledge to annex Jordan Valley was illegitimate and never acceptable.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged the international community to take a stand against Israel’s vio-lations of fundamental prin-ciples of law.

Turkey will continue to stand by the Palestinians and support them in their struggle for independence, it added.

Roughly 70,000 Pales-tinians currently live in the Jordan Valley, a large, fertile strip of land that accounts for roughly one-quarter of the West Bank. The Palestinians see these territories — along with the Gaza Strip — as integral for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

Palestinian leaders said Netanyahu was destroying any hopes for peace, while the UN said the move in the occupied West Bank would be without any international legal effect.

US ‘warmongering’ a failure, says RouhaniAFP TEHRAN

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that the United States’ “warmongering” was a failure, as Iran welcomed the sacking of hawkish US national security adviser John Bolton.

Rouhani also dismissed the prospect of meeting President Donald Trump at a time his US administration is continuing to slap more crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic.

“The Americans must under-stand that bellicosity and war-mongering don’t work in their favour. Both... must be aban-doned,” Rouhani told his Cabinet.

“The enemy imposed ‘maximum pressure’ on us. Our response is to resist and confront this,” he said, referring to the US sanctions.

Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May last year when Trump uni-laterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal and began reim-

posing the punitive measures.Iran has riposted by scaling

back its commitments to the accord, which gave it the promise of sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Trump tweeted his decision to dismiss Bolton on Tuesday.

It was a move an adviser to Iran’s president, Hesameddin Ashena, hailed as a “clear sign of the defeat of America’s maximum pressure strategy” against Tehran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump was willing to meet Rouhani without preconditions. But Mnuchin stressed the US would maintain its “maximum pressure” cam-paign against Iran.

The idea of a Trump-Rouhani meeting was floated last month by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been spearheading European efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Rouhani said in response

that Iran was ready to comply with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action only if the Amer-icans did so too.

“We have said many times that our policy... is one of peaceful (nuclear) technology, and that our approach in the JCPOA is commitment for com-mitment,” he said.

“We have taken the third step... If it is essential and nec-essary in the future, we will take other steps.” Iran said on Sat-urday it was firing up advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium at a faster rate — its third step back from the nuclear deal.

It had announced on July 1 that its enriched uranium stockpile had surpassed the deal’s 300-kg threshold, and a week later that it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its stocks.

Iran’s UN representative poured cold water on any talk of a Trump-Rouhani meeting. Majid Takht-Ravanchi said a meeting could take place only if

Washington ended its “economic terrorism” and that it would have to be held in the framework of the group of major powers that negotiated the nuclear deal.

“As long as the US govern-ment’s economic terrorism and such cruel sanctions are imposed on the Iranian people, there is no room for negotiations,” he said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

The envoy said the dismissal of Bolton — a hardliner accused of pushing Trump towards war against Iran — was “an internal affair”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sug-gested little would change with Bolton’s removal.

“As the world... was breathing a sigh of relief” over his ouster “Pompeo and Mnuchin declared further escalation of #EconomicTerrorism against Iran,” he tweeted. “Thirst for war — maximum pressure — should go with the warmonger-in-chief,” he said, referring to Trump.

A sand storm approaches Yemen’s second city of Aden, yesterday.

3 Australians detained in IranAFP SYDNEY

Australia revealed yesterday that three of its citizens had been detained in Iran, the latest in a series of Westerners to be seized by authorities in Tehran.

News of the trio’s detention comes at a sensitive geopolitical juncture, and after Australia announced that it would join a US-led mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz with tensions high in the Gulf region.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the fam-ilies of three Australians detained in Iran,” a spokes-person said, declining to comment further citing privacy obligations.

Canberra is battling to keep efforts to free the trio under wraps, and it is not clear if the three have been charged.

Confirmation of their detention comes after the Times of London reported that two British-Australian women were being held in Tehran’s Evin prison , and Australian broad-caster ABC said that the Aus-tralian partner of one of the women was also detained.

One of the women was reported to be an academic who has been in detention for months, while the couple were said to have been detained while camping near a military facility on a journey across Asia.

Earlier this week, the Aus-tralian government updated its travel advice for Iran to “recon-sider your need to travel” and “do not travel” to areas near the border with Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Scott Mor-rison last month announced a “modest” contribution to the US-led Gulf mission which will also involve British forces.

NATOLIA ANKARA

The UN commission of inquiry on Syria released a 21-page report yesterday saying acts of US-led coalition, the Syrian regime and Russia might amount to war crimes.

According to the report, the air raids by the US-led coalition did not, or failed to, take enough measures to distinguish civilians from the military targets.

“Launching indiscriminate attacks that result in death or injury to civilians amounts to a war crime in cases in which such attacks are conducted recklessly,” said the report.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US, held large-scale operations in Syria which “had led to the near-complete destruction of towns and villages,” according to the report.

Turkey views SDF as part of YPG, which is the Syrian off-shoot of PKK terror group.

The Syrian regime and Russia were also condemned for their aggression in north-western Idlib province of Syria.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. The Syrian regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

These parties were accused of targeting health facilities, schools, market areas and agri-cultural zones, which might amount to “war crimes”.

Civilians are the ones bearing brunt of the aggression in Idlib by the regime and Russia and millions are today at risk of migrating to nearby countries, particularly Turkey, which is currently home to over 3,6 million Syrian refugees.

Civilian dead in Syria air raidsAFP AL-DAHER, SYRIA

Russian air strikes on northwest Syria killed an elderly man overnight, the first such casualty since Moscow declared a ceasefire in the region on August 31, a war monitor said.

The truce, which brought a halt to four months of devas-tating bombardment by the government and its ally Russia on Idlib province, had held despite persistent skirmishes on the ground.

But on Tuesday, Russia carried out its first air strikes in the area since the ceasefire began, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Bombardment continued before dawn yesterday in the village of Al-Daher where a 75-year-old man was killed, the monitor said, adding that the air raids had since stopped. The victim was identified as Ahmad Issa al-Moussa.

Sand storm over Aden

UN probe linksUS, Syrian andRussian forces to war crimes

11THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 AFRICA

Mugabe’s body arrives home;burial place still undecidedAFP HARARE

The body of Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, arrived home yesterday to an honour guard in a country divided over the legacy of a former liberation hero whose 37-year rule was marked by repression and economic ruin.

Mugabe, a guerrilla leader who rose to power after Zimba-bwe’s independence from Britain and governed until he was ousted by the military in 2017, died on Friday in Singapore, aged 95.

His health deteriorated after he was toppled by the army and former loyalists in November 2017, ending an increasingly iron-fisted rule during which he crushed his opponents.

Around two thousand sup-porters, family members and government officials were on the tarmac at Harare airport to welcome Mugabe’s remains as they arrived by charter flight from Singapore.

Soldiers stood guard along a red carpet as military officers

walked solemnly alongside the coffin drapped in the green, gold, black and red national flag.

Mugabe’s wife, Grace, wearing a black veil, sat with President Emmerson Mnan-gagwa as a military band played a gospel song.

“We are gathered here to receive our founding father of the nation.... an icon of Pan-Afri-canism, the man that created our nation,” Mnangagwa said.

“The light which led to inde-pendence is no more, but his works, his ideology will continue to guide this nation.”

Mugabe died on a medical trip to Singapore, where he had been travelling regularly for treatment. A delegation including Vice President Kembo Mohadi headed to the city-state on the chartered flight to bring him home. The body will be taken to Mugabe’s private Harare resi-dence, known as the Blue Roof, for the night.

It will be laid out for the public to pay their respects in Rufaro stadium today, before heading to his homestead Zvimba for a wake. Chinese President Xi Jinping, former Cuban leader Raul Castro and a dozen African presidents, including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, are among those expected to attend Mugabe’s state funeral on Saturday in Harare, Zimbabwe’s presidency said.

Mugabe’s final burial place on Sunday, though, is still unclear. His family and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s gov-ernment are apparently at odds over whether it would be at his homestead northwest of Harare or at a shrine for liberation

heroes in the capital. Relatives have said that in line with native Shona customs, traditional chiefs from Zvimba will have a final say on where the former leader will be buried.

“If it has been decided by the chiefs, they have not told me,” his nephew Leo Mugabe said.

“The family and the chiefs

will make the decisions.” At home, Zimbabweans have

been divided over how to mourn a man once hailed for ridding the former British colony Rhodesia of white-minority rule but who later purged his foes in a cam-paign of massacres and execu-tions known as the Gukurahundi. H i s i n c r e a s i n g l y

tyrannical leadership and eco-nomic mismanagement prompted millions to flee a country crippled by hyper-inflation and shortages of food, drugs and fuel. Mugabe has been declared a “national hero”, flags flew at half mast and news of his passing was splashed across newspaper front pages.

Pall bearers pay their respects by the casket of late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as it arrives in Harare, Zimbabwe, yesterday.

Sudan to start peace talks with rebel leaders on October 14REUTERS JUBA

Sudan’s ruling council and rebel leaders have agreed on a roadmap for peace talks that are expected to begin in October and last about two months, officials from both sides said yesterday.

The council, a transitional government, has made peace-making with rebels fighting Khartoum one of its main prior-ities as it is a key condition for the country’s removal from the United States’ sponsors of ter-rorism list.

The council took over the reins of government in August after military and civilian parties

and protest groups signed a three-year power-sharing deal after months of strife following the removal of long-ruling authoritarian president Omar Al-Bashir in April.

South Sudan brought together members of the council and rebel leaders from several areas.

Thousands of people have been killed in Sudan’s civil wars, including the conflict in the western Darfur region, where rebels have been fighting against then-President Bashir’s gov-ernment since 2003.

Sudanese officials and rebels signed the initial agreement in front of diplomats to set a

two-month period for talks, starting on October 14 and running until the middle of December.

“Today’s signing aims at the implementation of the peace confidence building that came in the constitutional declaration,” said Yasir Arman, the deputy chairman of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLM-North).

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a member of the sovereign council and head of the paramil-itary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), signed the deal on behalf of the government.

“We want assure you and the people of Sudan that we are

ready to pay all the damages of the war and we will assure you that time of war is gone forever,” Dagalo said.

The talks will potentially deal with issues of how any cessation of hostilities to be entered will be monitored, and set out modal-ities of providing humanitarian access to all parts of Darfur and Blue Nile, he said.

Darfur’s war pits local rebel groups drawn largely from African farming tribes com-plaining about neglect against government forces in a conflict that has displaced about 2.5 million people.

The fighting in Darfur has subsided over the past four years

where the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and two fac-tions of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) are active, but skir-mishes persist.

SPLA-N rebels are active in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, two southern regions in Sudan, have largely committed to a ceasefire over the past two years. They have been fighting Khar-toum’s rule since ending up on the Sudanese side of the border when South Sudan seceded in 2011.

South Kordofan and Blue Nile are home to large commu-nities who sided with the south during decades of civil war with Khartoum.

Life sentence for 11 leaders of Brotherhood in Hamas caseANATOLIA CAIRO

An Egyptian court yesterday gave a life sentence to the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader on charges of conspiring with Palestinian group Hamas.

Shereen Fahmi, the head of the Egyptian court, handed down 25 years to Mohammed Badie and 10 other top leaders of the Egyptian group in the same case.

Among the sentenced Muslim Brotherhood figures were Khairat El-Shater, deputy head of the Muslim Broth-erhood, along with former Par-liament Speaker Saad El-Katatni , ex-lawmaker Mohammed El-Beltagi, and others.

Fahmi said that charges were dropped against late Pres-ident Mohammed Morsi — who died this June after collapsing in a courtroom — but crypti-cally added that he is “eligible for punishment”.

Turkish leaders have decried the mistreatment of the jailed Morsi, suggesting that his death was not due to natural causes.

The court also sentenced three of Morsi’s former aides to 10 years in prison, including Issam Al-Haddad.

Protests persist over bad roads in MaliAFP BAMAKO

Like many of his fellow Malians, Ousmane Maiga used to drive regularly between Gao, in the north of the country, and the capital Bamako.

Today, he balks at doing the once-familiar trip. For one thing, there is the threat from militants — and then there is the state of the roads, which are catastroph-ically bad.

The 1,200-km journey, which in the past would take around 24 hours, now takes “at least five days,” he said.

“The road is so damaged that most people have to go via Burkina Faso and Niger, where they have to pay extra taxes.” The activist belongs to one of around 60 civil society groups in Gao, where thousands of people protested yesterday against “the devastating and dismal level of degradation” of

the road linking Goa to the central town of Sevare.

Africa’s eighth-largest country has a mere 21,681 kilo-metres of roads — and of these, just 7,156 kilometres are tarred.

In the vast northern region

— twice the size of Sweden — one of the only tarred highways is the RN16 linking Gao to Sevare. “It’s an obstacle course,” Maiga, 43, said. “The top speed is 40 kph ... and there’s the dust, the heat and now the insecurity.”

A file photo shows Malian people standing next to a barricade set up on the main road between Mali’s capital Bamako and the western city of Kayes, to protest against the road’s poor condition.

S Sudan rivals to keep to deadline for unity govtAFP JUBA

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar yesterday vowed to stick to a November deadline for creating a long-delayed power-sharing government, during a rare meeting in the capital Juba.

Machar wrapped up a three-day visit to South Sudan — his first in a year from exile in Khartoum — where he and Kiir tried to salvage a peace agreement that has stalled on several key fronts.

“The parties agreed to establish the government in time. When I said in time it means on the 12th

of November,” government spokesman Michael Makuei told journalists after the meeting. Observers say a political deal between the historical rivals is the only way to move forward with the 2018 peace deal that has become stuck on key issues of security, and internal state boundaries.

The two men, whose enmity plunged the country into war in 2013 only two years after a hard-won independence, agreed to hold further meetings soon.

“I told you earlier on that talks between us are going well. And we will reach a deal soon,” Kiir said after the meeting, exchanging handshakes with Machar.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit (third left) flanked by ex-vice president and former rebel leader Riek Machar (second left), praying before their meeting in Juba, South Sudan, yesterday.

Nigerian Shia group says 12 dead in police crackdownAFP LAGOS

Nigerian police fired on members of a banned Shia group staging religious proces-sions across the country on Tuesday, killing more than 12 people, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) said.

The group defied a police ban to hold processions for the Ashura, leading officers to “bru-tally attack” demonstrators in several cities, a spokesman for the group said.

“The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has confirmed the killing of at least a dozen Ashura mourners across the nation during the peaceful Ashura mourning procession,” Ibrahim Musa said in a statement.

The police refused to comment on the claims when contacted.

On Monday, the police warned that anybody who joined the procession would be treated as a terrorist.

“In Katsina town, many have sustained bullet wounds when the police opened fire... and even attempted to force in on the Islamic centre of the Islamic Movement,” Musa said.

Several members were shot, meaning the death toll could rise, he added.

Musa said police fired tear gas to break up processions in the capital Abuja and in the city of Bauchi.

Saleh Usman Deba, a spokesman for the IMN in Gombe state, said two members were killed while seven were wounded on the Ashura. “After finishing our procession, we came under attack by the police who fired teargas and opened fire on our members,” Deba said.

Nigerian court upholds Buhari’s poll victory

AFP ABUJA

A Nigerian court yesterday upheld President Muhammadu Buhari’s election victory earlier this year, dismissing a request by opposition parties to overturn the result over claims of voting irregularities.

Buhari, 76, won a second term with 56 percent of the February poll, which was long delayed and marred by violence.

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the main oppo-sition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who came in second with 41 percent, imme-diately called the result a “sham”. Opposition parties lodged a legal challenge against the result in March.

Abubakar, 72, said he had been cheated of the chance to lead Africa’s most populous state after a conspiracy between the electoral com-mission INEC and Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

However the presidential election tribunal yesterday found there was no evidence of the opposition’s claims.

“This petition is hereby dis-missed in its entirety,” judge Mohammed Garba said on Wednesday.

The ruling was widely expected, with Buhari’s gov-ernment taking office last month.

Buhari has insisted that the election was free and fair, claiming the vote was “another milestone in Nigeria’s demo-cratic development”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, former Cuban leader Raul Castro and a dozen African presidents, including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, are among those expected to attend Mugabe’s state funeral on Saturday in Harare.

12 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

Top LeT militant who attacked Sopore apple trader shot deadIANS SRINAGAR

In a major operation, Jammu and Kashmir Police yesterday gunned down a top Lashkar-e-Taiba militant who was respon-sible for attacking a leading apple trader’s family in which a girl child had also been injured. Some policemen were also injured in the exchange of fire but are said to be out of danger.

Asif Maqbool Bhat was killed in a brief shoot-out with the police and security forces in Sopore around 9am.

“When we intercepted Bhat today (Wednesday), he attacked us. He threw a grenade at us. A few police personnel were injured but they are out of danger. In the ensuing encounter, the militant was neutralised,” Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said in a press briefing.

He said Bhat had attacked the family of Haji Hamidullah Rather, a prominent fruit grower of Sopore and a resident of Dan-gerpora area, on September 8.

“The militant fired at the family members of Rather, injuring four of them including a girl aged between four and seven years. The girl is admitted here in a hospital. Other members of the family were also evacuated from that place.” The girl was Rather’s daughter Asma.

Bhat, and his associates, had also shot and injured a migrant labourer, identified as

Shafi Alam, the same day, the DGP added.

“The injured boy has been brought to a Srinagar hospital. I am told that his condition is fine and he is likely to be discharge any moment.”

Bhat was also responsible for making use of over ground workers (OGWs) to print and publish posters threatening people to stay away from the fruit business, not to open shops and refrain from normal day-to-day activities, he said.

“We were watching those activities. We were after these people who are involved in this. Eight people who are indulging in this kind of activities were apprehended by Sopore police along with the computers and other equipment they were using for printing those threatening letters and pasting them at various locations.”

The DGP said that Bhat, along with two other fellow militants Sajjad and Mudassar, was very active in the area over the last one month and had created a lot of terror.

“They were roaming around in villages, going to the people and threatening them, telling them not to go for daily chores... So we were tracking him.” On a specific input, police, along with other security forces, laid some “nakas” (check-points) close to Sopore town, the DGP said, adding Bhat was chal-lenged to stop when he came.

“Bhat, however, did not stop and threw a grenade on our party in which couple of our police per-sonnel were injured but they are

out of danger. He was later neu-tralised in the encounter.

“With the killing of Bhat, I believe that the area will heave a sigh of relief. The terror which he was creating there would be taken care of to some extent. We also know his other two asso-ciates and we are after them. We will see it in the near future. We will take care of them,” he said.

The elimination of the top LeT member comes two days after the police, along with the army and

other security forces including the Central Reserve Police Force, busted a terror module of the LeT in the Sopore area with the arrest of eight militants.

Sopore’s Senior Superin-tendent of Police Javaid Iqbal said the men had hatched a con-spiracy to print posters threat-ening locals from venturing out of their homes, either for trade, travel, schools or office. They used to distribute these posters in local villages.

Dilbag Singh, the Jammu and Kashmir Director-General of Police (left), speaks during a news conference in Srinagar, yesterday.

Kashmir issuemust be resolvedthrough talks,says UN ChiefIANS NEW DELHI

In a statement that will be construed as a huge boost for the Narendra Modi government, United Nations (UN) Secretary- General Antonio Guterres yesterday appealed both India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue via bilateral dialogue.

Guterres’ comments thwart Pakistan’s efforts to interna-tionalise the Kashmir issue, first at the UN Security Council recently, then again at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday.

The UN chief met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit last month in Biarritz, France, and has also spoken to Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

On September 9, Guterres also met Maleeha Lodhi, Paki-stan’s Permanent Represent-ative to the UN, after a request came from her for a meeting.

“His message to all of them has been the same, both pub-licly and privately, that he remains very concerned about any potential escalation between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir situation. He appeals to both sides to deal with the issue through dia-logue,” said UN chief’s spokes-person Stephane Dujarric.

He further added: “You know, our position on medi-ation has, as a matter of prin-ciple, always remained the same.”

India’s stated policy has been that the Kashmir issue is an internal matter and there is no need for a third-party mediation.

The UN chief’s appeal for dialogue between the two countries to solve the conten-tious Kashmir issue only emboldens India’s stand, even as Pakistan is trying to raise the matter at the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. Pakistan Prime Min-ister Imran Khan will address the United Nations Generally Assembly later this months, where he is expected to raise the Kashmir issue before inter-national leaders.

Tension grips Andhra as Naidu placed under house arrestIANS AMARAVATI

Tension gripped Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati and other parts of Guntur district yesterday as former Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu was placed under house arrest while police evicted victims of alleged attacks by the ruling YSRCP from a TDP camp.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President was kept under house arrest in Amaravati while scores of party leaders and activists heading towards Guntur town for a protest march were arrested by the police.

Police did not allow Naidu to come out of his house at Undavalli as he was about to

leave for Guntur town to lead the ‘Chalo Atamakur’ stir.

Tension prevailed around Naidu’s house as TDP leaders coming to meet him were pre-vented from entering the house. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, who came out of the house, lodged his protest over the police action.

The police later locked the main gate of Naidu’s house from outside after he tried to come out in his car. Naidu, who sat on in his car for half an hour, con-demned the police action. “Today is the dark day for democracy,” he told reporters.

The TDP chief alleged that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is murdering democracy by resorting to house arrest and

arrests of TDP leaders who wanted to participate in a peaceful rally. Naidu is observing day-long fast at his house to protest the attacks by the YSRCP and indiscriminate arrests of TDP leaders and workers.

Director General of Police Gautam Sawang said Naidu, who is also the Leader of Opposition, was taken into preventive custody as his actions are increasing tension and creating disturbances in Palnadu region of Guntur. The police chief clarified that he was not taken into preventive custody for fighting against the gov-ernment policies.

Police have clamped prohib-itory orders in the faction-ridden Palnadu region of Guntur to

prevent any showdown as the YSRCP had also called for a counter-protest march.

TDP leaders and workers heading to Naidu’s house and also to Guntur were stopped at different points and arrested.

Tension prevailed in Guntur town as additional police forces were deployed to foil the TDP’s march planned to begin from the camp set up by the party for victims of attacks by the ruling party leaders.

Meanwhile, the police late Wednesday afternoon evicted all 165 victims from the camp and sent them back to their villages with police escort.

The police arrested TDP leaders and workers at the camp before evicting the inmates. Five

buses were arranged to send them back to their villages.

Before sending them back, police and revenue officials recorded their statements about the problems faced by them in their villages. The officials assured them that all steps would be taken to prevent clashes.

Naidu condemned the police “attack” on the camp, arrest of the TDP leaders and forcibly evicting the victims. He said the victims should not have been sent back without creating confidence in them and punishing those involved in the attacks on them.

The TDP alleged that its eight workers were killed in the attacks by the YSRCP leaders, most of them in Palnadu region.

Supporters of senior Congress party leader of Karnataka, D K Shivakumar, gather at the National College Ground during a protest rally staged by Congress and Vokkaliga community in Bengaluru yesterday, against the Enforcement Directorate and central government.

Congress activists rally behind Shivakumar

Opposition hits back at Modi’s ‘cow’ remark in MathuraIANS MATHURA/NEW DELHI

Opposition parties have hit back at the Prime Minister who at an event in Mathura yesterday said that some people think words like ‘Om’ and ‘cow’ will take the country back to the 16th century. Opposition parties said that Modi should be more concerned about killings in the name of the cow and the economic slowdown.

With Union Minister Giriraj Singh, a vocal supporter of the Hindutva cause on stage, Modi said: “It is unfortunate that for some their hair stands at the mention of words like ‘Om’ and ‘Cow’. They think that the country will now go back to the 16th century”.

Earlier, he was also seen patting a cow here or caressing a calf there, videos of which hold a huge significance for the ruling

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) both at the centre and in Uttar Pradesh and the entire Hindi heartland where the ‘cow’ is more than an animal.

The reference to cow wasn’t limited to that. While launching the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) for eradicating Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in livestock, Modi took a dig at pre-vious governments for ignoring it.

Modi was subtly but clearly pandering to his cow belt voters. With Yogi Adityanath in attendance, who himself is known to run a large gaushala at Gorakhpur, Modi said: “Desh barbaad karne walo ne desh barbaad karne mein kuchh nahi chhoda hai (The people who want to destroy the country have left no stone unturned)”. It was a reference to the opposition.

Very soon the PM’s statement

erupted into a political contro-versy with AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi jumping into the fray. He said, “Narendra Modi ke kaan tab khade ho jane chahiye jab gaye ke naam par insano ko mara jaa raha hai aur sanvidhan ki dhajiya udayi jaa rahi hai” (Modi should be con-cerned when people get killed in the name of cow protection and the Constitution is being disregarded).

BJP youth wing protest in Kolkata turns violentIANS KOLKATA

Police lobbed tear gas shells and used water cannons to disperse a large number of BJP youth wing activists who threw stones and fought pitched battles with security personnel during a street protest yesterday against the “exorbitant electricity tariff” charged by city power utility CESC.

The police said six of its con-stable and officers were injured, including the officer-in-charge of Bowbazar police station who sustained an eye injury.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, on the other hand, alleged that 50 workers and leaders were injured as the police mercilessly beat them up with batons. “Five of them are serious,” the organisation said.

The protest rally started from state BJP headqurters on

Muralidhar Sen Lane in Central Kolkata, with the BJYM activists pushing towards the CESC head-quarters, about 1.5km away.

The BJYM workers broke one of the three barricades set up by the police on Central Avenue and marched forward. A scuffle ensued with the police as the protesters tried to break the second barricade. Some of the agitators were seen hurling bricks at the security personnel, who retaliated with a baton charge.

There were pitched battles between the two sides, and a number of BJYM workers were seen bleeding.

The BJYM later alleged that 85 of the protestors were arrested by the police.

Those arrested included BJP General Secretaries Sayantan Basu and Raju Bandopadhyay and BJYM state President Debjit Sarkar.

“When we intercepted Bhat today, he attacked us. He threw a grenade at us. A few police personnel were injured but they are out of danger. In the ensuing encounter, the militant was neutralised,” Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said in a press briefing.

13THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 ASIA

Fighting picks upin Afghanistanafter talks collapseREUTERS KABUL

Fighting has picked up in several areas of northern Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, days after the collapse of talks between the United States and the Taliban aimed at agreeing the withdrawal of thousands of US troops.

Officials said there was fighting in at least 10 provinces, with the heaviest clashes in the northern regions of Takhar, Baghlan, Kunduz and Bada-khshan, where the Taliban have been pressing security forces for weeks.

Yesterday, security forces retook the district of Koran-Wa-Monjan in Badakhshan, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The district, which fell to the Taliban in July, had offered the insurgents valuable mining rev-enues from its rich reserves of the famous blue lapis lazuli stone.

It was the third district security forces have secured during a push in the province over recent days after Yamgan and Warduj, which the Taliban had held for the past four years.

In the neighbouring province of Takhar, however, local officials said this week government forces had pulled

out of Yangi Qala and Darqad districts, while fighting was going on in Khawja Ghar and Ishkamesh district.

“It is a tactical retreat to avoid civilian casualties in the area. We have fresh forces in the area and soon the districts will be recaptured,” said Jawad Hejri, a spokesman for the Takhar pro-vincial governor.

The latest fighting under-scored expectations of an esca-lation in violence following US President Donald Trump’s abrupt cancellation of talks with the Taliban aimed at with-drawing US troops and opening the way to an end to 18 years of war in Afghanistan.

The Taliban said this week the decision, which Trump said was caused by the insurgents’

refusal to agree a ceasefire and continued attacks that killed a US serviceman last week, would lead to further American deaths.

In response, a senior US general said that the US military was likely to accelerate the pace of its operations in Afghanistan to counter an increase in Taliban attacks.

Security officials said the scale of the fighting in northern Afghanistan reflected both the expected intensification of combat following the collapse of peace efforts as well as a last push before winter weather restricts fighting on the mountains.

Earlier this week, at least seven civilians died in an air-strike conducted by American and Afghan commandos on Monday in Sayed Abad district in central Maidan Wardak province, senior Afghan security officials said.

The Taliban in a statement condemned the attack and said nine civilians who were on the way to a wedding party were killed in the drone strike.

There was no confirmation from American and Nato offi-cials on the air strike.

In Baghlan province, whose capital Pul-e Khumri has been under pressure for days, security forces partially cleared the main highway connecting the north to the capital Kabul.

Residents walks past a billboard with a poster of Afghan presidential candidate and incumbent President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani (centre) during the presidential election campaign in Kabul, yesterday.

UN envoy: It’s ‘imperative’ to start talks between Afghan govt, TalibanAP UNITED NATIONS

The UN envoy for Afghanistan said yesterday it is imperative for direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to start quickly, and he urged the militant Islamist group to retract its threat to disrupt the upcoming presidential election.

Tadamichi Yamamoto told the Security Council that the events of recent days and weeks “have shown, more than ever, the urgency of finding a political settlement to the long Afghan conflict.” Yamamoto spoke three days after President Donald Trump abruptly halted

US-Taliban talks, citing an upsurge in attacks by the Islamic insurgent group. The cancel-lation put a spotlight on the Sep-tember 28 presidential election.

The UN envoy said opportu-nities for peace over the past year “created hope, but also fear for many,” and made clear that the conflict can only be resolved by direct talks involving “the whole spectrum of Afghan society.” “It is imperative therefore that direct talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban commence as soon as possible,” Yamamoto said.

He urged the parties to the conflict and all those interested in peace to keep working to

bring about direct talks.Yamamoto added, “any

political settlement must include a promise to continue to protect and advance human rights and fundamental freedoms for all who live in Afghanistan.” Yamamoto said security, voter turnout and fraud are major challenges for the presidential election.

While the Afghan govern-ment’s technical and operational preparations for the elections are on track, he said, “we still hear much anxiety expressed by Afghan citizens particularly in view of the Taliban’s stated threat to disrupt the electoral process, especially by targeting civilians participating in the elections.”

Imran to hold Kashmir solidarity rally in MuzaffarabadINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday announced that he would hold a rally in Muzaf-farabad later this week to send the world a message regarding the military curfew imposed in Indian-administered Kashmir.

In a message posted on Twitter, the prime minister said that the rally would aim to show the world that the people of Pakistan stand in solidarity with people of Kashmir.

“I am going to do a big jalsa in Muzaffarabad on Friday 13 Sep-tember, to send a message to the world about the continuing siege of IOJK by Indian Occupation forces; and to show the Kashmiris that Pakistan stands resolutely with them,” the premier tweeted.

PM is set to address the United Nations later this month to highlight Indian atrocities in the occupied valley.

Earlier this week, Imran had welcomed the growing concern from leaders and organisations around the world pertaining to India’s rights vio-lations in occupied Kashmir.

In his Twitter post, Imran said he appreciated the calls by, UN Secretary-General and the Office of the United Nations High Com-missioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) “for India to lift its 6-week long siege of IOJK”.

Sri Lanka presidential front-runner loses court battleREUTERS COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s top court yesterday rejected an appeal by presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to dismiss corruption charges against him, in a possible blow to the frontrunnner’s candidacy.

In a split decision, a panel of five Supreme Court judges rejected a petition by Rajapaksa, who had asked that a lower court case in which he is accused of embezzling state funds be

thrown out, his spokesman said.If Rajapaksa, 70, is found

guilty in a trial, scheduled to run for three weeks from October 15, he can still appeal to the Supreme Court. But he could face a chal-lenge to his candidacy if he were sentenced to more than six month’s in jail, legal experts said.

Rajapaksa, who denies the charges, is widely seen as the frontrunner in the presidential election that must be held before December 9.

The case concerns alleged

misappropriation of 33.9 million rupees ($187,916) of state funds to build a memorial museum for his parents in his hometown of Meda-mulana, 186km south of Colombo.

“It’s a divided decision which shows that the Supreme Court judges are not unanimous on this,” Keheliya Rambukwella, Rajapaksa’s spokesman said yes-terday. “He can appeal to the Supreme Court in the event the high court finds him guilty.” A senior lawyer familiar with the sit-uation, who asked not to be

named, said Rajapaksa could face difficulties in running if he were found guilty and any appeal had not been heard before the deadline for election nominations.

“If he is convicted of charges, then he cannot file nomination for the presidential poll,” the lawyer said.

Rajapaksa, brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is immensely popular among Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist majority, who credit him with ending the island nation’s

26-year-long civil war in 2009.Sri Lanka’s main opposition

party named the hardline former defence chief as its presidential candidate last month, seeking to capitalise on public clamour for a decisive leader following deadly Easter Day bombings.

Rajapaksa, who previously held dual Sri Lankan and US cit-izenship, also faces legal chal-lenges in the US, where several people have sued him for his alleged role in torture and murder during the civil war.

Firefighters attempting to extinguish a blaze in Dagon Seikkan township industrial zone 1 in Yangon. At least five people were hurt in the incident.

Blaze hits Yangon industrial zone

Changes to Pakistan’s Income Tax Ordinance 2001 proposedINTERNEWS ISLAMABAD

The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has notified Pakistan’s government of its weaknesses in implementing the globally recognised exchange of infor-mation standards.

The revelation was made by OECD’s Global Forum on Trans-parency and Exchange of Infor-mation for Tax Purposes in its review report pertaining to domestic legislative framework of Pakistan. According to the report, the forum proposed amendments in legislative framework of the country for better exchange of information.

Commenting on the pro-posal for legislative amend-ments, FBR Member Inland Revenue Hamid Ateeq Sarwar said that Pakistan’s Common Reporting Standards (CRS) were considered among the best global standards in the world.

“However, the recommen-dation, given by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, are aimed at amend-ments in the Income Tax

Ordinance (ITO) rules,” he said. “It will take only a week for the recommendations to be incor-porated into the country’s tax rules.” Multinational companies are supposed to submit their common reporting standards (CRS) by May 31.

The reports of the companies, already received by FBR, have been forwarded by the director general of international taxes.

Those companies, which did not submit their CRS reports, would be pursued for a follow-up by DG international taxes.

As per sources, FBR has advised the federal government regarding the required amend-ments in the Income Tax Ordi-nance 2001 in light of the weak-nesses identified in the assessment report released by the OECD forum.

According to the assessment, the government has not made it mandatory on financial institu-tions to ensure that their annual reports were submitted under given dates.

OECD forum maintained that the practice should be made an integral part of common reporting rules of the financial institutions.

Naming of Sri Lankan geckos sparks uproarAFP COLOMBO

A team of Sri Lankan scientists caused uproar in parliament and sparked a police probe after they used the names of mythical heroes and national figures to name six newly discovered species of gecko.

Two of the new species,

discovered in 2017 and revealed in August, were named for war-riors loyal to a first-century BC king, while the others were given the names of 19th century rebels against British rule.

But the association with the diminutive reptiles so infuriated Wimal Weerawansa, an ultra-nationalist MP, that he brought the

matter up in parliament.“Our heroes are not geckos,”

he thundered to lawmakers. “If you touch a gecko’s tail, it snaps. Our heroes are not like that.” This was followed by a formal complaint by a Buddhist monk to the police Inspector-General, and a preliminary probe was initiated.

However, a police spokesman said yesterday that they could not proceed with the complaint as there was no grounds for a criminal investigation.

“If anyone feels slighted, there could be civil action, but there is no criminality here,” spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

Security officials said the scale of the fighting in northern Afghanistan reflected both the expected intensification of combat following the collapse of peace efforts as well as a last push before winter weather restricts fighting on the mountains.

14 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019ASIA

HK activists pause protestsin remembrance of 9/11REUTERS HONG KONG

Hong Kong activists called off protests yesterday in remem-brance of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and denounced a Chinese state newspaper report that they were planning “massive terror” in the Chinese-ruled city.

“Anti-government fanatics are planning massive terror attacks, including blowing up gas pipes, in Hong Kong on Sep-tember 11,” the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily said on its Facebook page, alongside a picture of the hijacked airliner attacks on the twin towers in New York.

“The 9/11 terror plot also encourages indiscriminate attacks on non-native speakers of Cantonese and starting mountain fires.” The post said “leaked information was part of the strategy being schemed by radical protesters in their online chat rooms”.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she will withdraw the controversial extradition bill but many Hong Kong residents fear Beijing is steadily eroding the autonomy of the Asian financial hub.

China denies meddling and has accused the United States, Britain and others of fomenting

the unrest. The protesters called off action yesterday.

“In solidarity against ter-rorism, all forms of protest in Hong Kong will be suspended on Sept. 11, apart from potential singing and chanting,” they said in a statement.

The China Daily report was worrying, said a protester, Karen, 23. “When they try to frame the whole protest with those words, it alarms me,” she said. “They are predicting rather than reporting. I think people calling it off today is a nice move.” The chairwoman of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, Pansy Ho, a prominent businesswoman and daughter of Macau casino operator Stanley Ho, said she was worried about violent extremism.

“Children of all ages are indoctrinated with police hatred and anti-establishment beliefs at school and online mobilised

to conduct massive school strikes,” she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Lam said in a speech yes-terday that Hong Kong was grappling with significant challenges.

“My fervent hope is that we can bridge our divide by upholding the one country, two systems principle, and the Basic Law, and through the concerted efforts of the government and the people of Hong Kong,” she told business leaders.

The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd has become the biggest corporate casualty of the unrest after China demanded it suspend staff involved in, or who support, the protests.

Cathay Pacific said yesterday inbound traffic to Hong Kong in August fell 38% and outbound traffic 12% compared with a year earlier, and that it did not antic-ipate September to be any less difficult.

The protests spread to the sports field on Tuesday, as many football fans defied Chinese law to boo the national anthem ahead of a soccer World Cup qualifier against Iran. Several peaceful protests are planned for the next few days, combining with celebrations marking the Mid-Autumn Festival.

People gather at a shopping mall in the Shatin area of Hong Kong, yesterday, to sing a recently penned protest song titled ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ which has been gaining popularity in the city.

China summons German envoy over Wong visitAFP BERLIN

China has summoned the German ambassador to Beijing following a meeting between Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and Germany’s foreign minister, Beijing’s envoy to Berlin said yesterday.

“The ambassador was sum-moned in Beijing by the foreign ministry,” China’s ambassador to Germany Wu Ken told reporters, after Wong met

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin on Monday.

“What I can say is how big the disappointment is on the Chinese side, and we protest very strongly. This incident will have a very negative impact on the bilateral relationship.” China’s government had repeatedly urged Berlin not to allow Wong to enter the country.

Beijing reacted angrily after Wong met Maas at a media event on Monday organised at the Bundestag by Germany’s

top-selling daily Bild. Referring to the meeting, Wu said “we don’t know in this case, what goals these politicians have, are they really concerned” about freedom and democracy “or are they trying to add oil to the fire to gain political capital?”.

Earlier in Berlin, Wong insisted he is not a separatist and said his goal is to reform the election system in Hong Kong and “elect our own government”. Wu accused Wong of master-minding “violent” protests.

North Korea tests rocket launcherAFP SEOUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a fresh test of a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” system, state media said yesterday — the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang.

South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that the North had launched “unidentified projec-tiles” from the Kaechon area in South Pyongan province. They flew approximately 330km.

The launch came shortly after Pyongyang said it was willing to hold working-level talks on denuclearisation later this month with the United States.

Kim “gave field guidance” for Tuesday’s test, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The “super-large multiple rocket launcher” was tested in an exercise observed by Kim about two weeks ago.

The KCNA report said the test was aimed at “measuring the time of combat deployment” and implied another test could

follow. “What remains to be done is running fire test which is most vivid character in terms of the power of multiple rocket launcher,” KCNA said.

On Monday, the North’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by KCNA that the country had “will-ingness to sit with the US side for comprehensive discussions of

the issues we have so far taken up” later this month, at a time and place to be determined.

Kim and US President Donald Trump adopted a vaguely-worded statement on the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula” at their first summit in Singapore in June last year, but little progress has since been made.

This picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency yesterday shows a test firing of a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” at an undisclosed location in North Korea.

S Korea seeks IOC ban on controversial Japan flagAFP SEOUL

A controversial flag became the latest sticking point in an inten-sifying dispute between South Korea and Japan yesterday as Seoul asked the International Olympic Committee to ban its use at the Tokyo Games next year.

The ‘Rising Sun’ flag has been an ensign for Japan’s Mar-itime Self-Defence Forces since 1954, but in much of East Asia, it is seen as a symbol of the country’s military aggression during World War II.

But last week, Tokyo’s Games organisers dismissed the claims that the emblem is a political statement and said they will allow the flag at the Olympics.

That caused an uproar in South Korea, prompting it to lodge a formal complaint to the IOC. World football’s governing body FIFA has already banned the flag’s use.

“We explained the history behind the flag and demanded it be banned during the Olympics,” Seoul’s sports min-istry said in a statement.

The flag was a “clear political symbol” that stirs up painful memories of Japan’s wartime atrocities, the ministry added, likening it to the “night-mares that the Nazi’s Swastika gives to Europeans”.

Koreans remain deeply resentful of Japan’s 1910-45 col-onisation of the peninsula and the neighbours — both of them US allies — are embroiled in a long-running dispute over wartime history.

The row spiralled into a bitter trade war in recent months after a series of South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese firms to pay for forced labour during Tokyo’s colonisation.

The feud has seen Japan impose new restrictions on exports crucial to South Korean tech giants in July and led to the neighbours removing each other from their lists of trusted trade partners. South Koreans have since mounted a widespread boycott of Japanese goods, which saw a plunge in sales of Japanese cars and forced several airlines to suspend routes to their neighbour because of falling demand.

Malaysia offers help in fighting Indonesia forest firesAFP KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia has stepped up pressure on neighbouring Indonesia to tackle huge blazes tearing through its rainforests and smothering Southeast Asia in smog, as fires typically started to clear land for crops send diplo-matic tensions soaring.

Malaysian Environment Min-ister Yeo Bee Yin expressed con-cerns about the impact of the smog and offered assistance to Jakarta to fight the fires during a meeting with Indonesian officials on Tuesday, according to a statement.

An official in Sarawak state on Borneo — where air quality dropped to very unhealthy levels this week — was less diplomatic, demanding Indonesia send face masks and medical supplies to Malaysia for those affected by the pollution. “Until they suffer

economically, they will not take our complaints seriously,” Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing was cited as saying by the Malay Mail news portal yesterday.

“The Indonesian government must bear the full brunt of responsibility of the haze in Sarawak.” Air quality also plum-meted to unhealthy levels in Kuala Lumpur this week as toxic smog drifted in and shrouded the skyline, while over 400 schools were closed in the Malaysian part of Borneo due to the smoke.

Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Despite the pressure from its neighbour, Indonesia insisted yesterday the smog in Malaysia was caused by fires there.

A statement from the envi-ronment ministry and weather agency said the number of “hotspots” — areas of intense heat detected by satellite which

typically indicate fires — in peninsular Malaysia had risen significantly. However, the Malaysian environment ministry referred journalists to infor-mation on hotspots published by the Singapore-based ASEAN Spe-

cialised Meteorological Centre.According to the centre, there

were 861 hotspots on Indonesian Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra as of September 10, and just seven in the whole of Malaysia.

Smog covers the city due to the forest fire in Pekanbaru, Riau province, Indonesia.

Japan’s Abe shakes up Cabinet, brings in rising starAFP TOKYO

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday appointed new foreign and defence ministers and promoted a popular rising political star, in a cabinet reshuffle that fuelled specu-lation over the prime minister’s successor.

T h e s p e c t a c u l a r appointment as environment minister of the telegenic Shinjiro Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of much-loved former PM Junichiro, set tongues wagging in Tokyo political classes as the Abe era draws to a close.

“Abe intends to start an open race to pick the next prime minister or even the one after that,” said SMBC Nikko Securities chief market econ-omist Yoshimasa Maruyama.

A darling of the Japanese media, Koizumi received blanket coverage for his recent marriage to television broad-caster Christel Takigawa, which was announced at the prime minister’s office.

He is the third-youngest minister appointed to the cabinet in Japan since the end of World War II, in a country where seniority is prized in pol-itics and many other walks of life. Abe is set to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in November but is expected to step down at the Liberal Dem-ocratic Party (LDP) leadership election in 2021 and the jostling for position is already beginning.

“We should take on the challenge to create a new country at a time when the whole of Japan is filled with positive feeling,” Abe told reporters, noting that people were excited about the forth-coming Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics.

He reiterated his long-cher-ished ambition of amending Japan’s post-war constitution to change the status of the country’s Self Defense Forces.

Toshimitsu Motegi has become Japan’s new foreign minister.

Indonesia’sformer presidentHabibie dies at 83REUTERS JAKARTA

Former Indonesian president BJ Habibie, who came to power during the country’s turbulent transition to democracy after former strongman leader Suharto stepped down in 1998, has died, his son said yesterday.

Habibie, 83, had been suf-fering heart failure, Tariq Kemal Habibie said.

An engineer by training, Habibie succeeded Suharto as Indonesia’s third president only months after becoming his deputy. He held power for 17 months until the late Abdur-rahman Wahid became president.

Habibie was also known for his quest to turn Indonesia into a technological powerhouse.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said yesterday: “My fervent hope is that we can bridge our divide by upholding the one country, two systems principle, and the Basic Law.”

15THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 EUROPE

Eight on trial in Paris for stealing Macron portraitsAFP PARIS

Eight protesters go on trial in Paris for stealing official portraits of French President Emmanuel Macron from public buildings as part of a protest over climate change.

The activists, aged 23 to 36, have been charged with theft after taking down the pictures from local government offices around the capital in February.

The acts of civil disobedience were part of a movement called “Take Down Macron” which was intended to highlight alleged inaction by the French gov-ernment over global warming.

The group behind it, Non-Violent Action COP21 (ANV-COP21), claims that 128 portraits

have been stolen across France, while 57 people face “group theft” charges which carry a maximum five-year jail term.

Several hundred protesters held up the portraits during a protest in southwestern France at the end of August near Biarritz where Macron was hosting a G7 summit of world leaders.

“Solidarity with the people who took down the portraits of our presidential monarch,” left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon wrote on Twitter.

The head of campaign group Oxfam in France, Cecile Duflot, also backed the protesters, writing: “It’s a symbolic action and not a group theft.”

All public schools and gov-ernment offices display the pres-ident’s portrait. It is not the first

time the picture of the 41-year-old leader has been targeted.

In October 2017, mayors in the central Creuse region turned

his picture round so that Macron faced the wall in protest at cuts to local government budgets and job losses.

UK court hands Johnson fresh Brexit blowAFP EDINBURGH

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a fresh blow when a Scottish court ruled that his controversial decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful.

The government immedi-ately appealed, with the case set to be heard in the Supreme Court next Tuesday, and parliament will stay shut in the meantime.

Johnson said the decision to suspend — or prorogue — par-liament until October 14 is a routine move allowing his gov-ernment to launch a new legis-lative agenda.

Critics accuse him of trying to silence opposition to his plan to leave the European Union on October 31 even if he has not agree exit terms with Brussels.

Johnson argues that while he is working to get a deal, Britain must leave the bloc regardless — but MPs fear a disorderly divorce would be hugely disruptive.

Before it was suspended on Tuesday, the House of Commons rushed through legislation to force Johnson to delay Brexit if there is no deal by an EU summit on October 17.

After yesterday’s legal ruling, the opposition Labour party

demanded that Johnson allow MPs to return.

“I urge the prime minister to immediately recall parliament so we can debate this judgement and decide what happens next,” said Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer.

However, a government source said that “nothing is changing” until the case was concluded.

A cross-party group of MPs protested outside the parliament building yesterday, saying they were ready to take back their seats.

The Scottish court challenge was brought by 78 British law-makers, who said it was unlawful for Johnson to advise Queen Eliz-abeth II to prorogue parliament if the aim was to limit consider-ation of Brexit.

A lower court last week ruled that the advice on prorogation was a matter of political judgement and not for judges to decide -— but this was overruled by the Inner House, Scotland’s supreme civil court.

In a summary judgement

released yesterday, the court added that Johnson’s advice “was motivated by the improper purpose of stymying parliament and that it, and what has fol-lowed from it, is unlawful”.

A spokesman for Johnson’s government said it was “disap-pointed” by the decision and would appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The UK government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Pro-roguing parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this,” he said.

He noted a separate legal challenge to prorogation brought at the High Court in London last week had failed.

A no entry sign seen outside the Houses of Parliament in London, yesterday.

The opposition Labour party demanded that Johnson allow MPs to return immediately.

French literati ponder ‘brexit’ dictionary entryREUTERS PARIS

French literary types aghast at the political turmoil engulfing Britain as it seeks to leave the European Union launched a tongue-in-cheek Twitter campaign yesterday to add ‘Brexit’ to the national lexicon.

French commentator Bernard Pivot’s proposed dictionary entry for “brexit”, as a common noun with a small “b” describing an insoluble mess, was re-tweeted 2,700 times within six hours.

“It would signify a cacophonous and insoluble debate or a shambolic meeting,” wrote Pivot, chairman of the panel that awards France’s prestigious Goncourt Prize for fiction.

The term might even replace “bordel”, as several of his fol-lowers suggested.

Swiss revoke citizenship fromdual-national IS recruiterREUTERS ZURICH

Switzerland has revoked the citizenship of a man convicted of helping recruit jihadist fighters, invoking a law allowing dual nationals to be stripped of their Swiss passports for conduct detrimental to national interests or reputation.

Though the Swiss federal immigration office said this was the first time it had made such a move under the 66-year-old law, other Western nations have also stripped citizenship of people linked to extremist vio-

lence in the Middle East.Last year, Australia revoked

the nationality of an IS militant recruiter, despite some concerns the move would leave him stateless, while Britain in Feb-ruary stripped a 19-year-old teenager of citizenship on security grounds.

The Swiss office did not release the other nationality of the man, who is in prison after receiving a multiple-year sen-tence for crimes including mem-bership in a terrorist organisation, spreading IS propaganda and seeking to convince fighters to participate in jihadist violence.

Ecology activists holding a banner reading “Macron on trial for climatic and social inaction” and a portrait of the French President after they removed it from the city hall in Saint-Ouen.

Estonia mulling over lifting visa-free entry to Ukrainians

AP HELSINKI

Estonia’s hard-line interior minister has ordered a legal investigation into whether the Baltic nation could unilaterally remove the visa-free entry granted to Ukrainian nationals by the European Union, saying his country “is under migration pressure from the East.”

Mart Helme, chairman of the nationalist, anti-immi-gration Estonian Conservative People’s Party, was quoted Wednesday by public broad-caster ERR as saying that the former Soviet republic is increasingly seeing Ukrainians entering the nation due to its “geographical location and his-torical heritage.”

Helme is blaming a 2017 EU visa waiver scheme, which he called a “Trojan horse.”

Estonia has a shrinking pop-ulation of 1.3 million as thou-sands of its skilled workers have left the country since EU mem-bership in 2004, leading to a surge in the arrival of Ukrainian labourers in recent years.

Merkel calls for stronger EUANATOLIA BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a stronger EU, to address challenges originating from growing competition between the world powers, the US, China and Russia.

Opening a debate on annual budget in the lower house of parliament, Merkel admitted that the UK’s exit from the EU has potential to make the bloc weaker, at a time when it should play a stronger role.

“After the withdrawal of

Great Britain, we would have an economic competitor at our door, although we want to keep close economic ties, foreign and security cooperation, although we want to continue our friendly relationship,” she said.

Merkel called on EU member states to take necessary steps in the coming months, to make the bloc a strong global actor, which would advocate multilateralism.

“Yesterday, Ursula von der Leyen’s presentation of the new European Commission shows exactly this,” she said. Von der

Leyen, a German politician and a close ally of Chancellor Merkel, is president-elect of the European Commission.

Merkel was referring to Von der Leyen, unveiling a new team that included appointment of 26 commissioners on Tuesday. The appointments await confir-mation by the European Parliament.

“I believe this is a good start to have a global oriented Com-mission, which wants to strengthen Europe’s role in the world and that wants to address significant issues,” she said.

Czech leader wants to revoke Kosovo’s recognitionAP BELGRADE

Czech President Milos Zeman proposed yesterday that his country revoke its recognition of Serbia’s former province Kosovo as an independent nation — an idea dismissed by the coun-try’s foreign minister.

Zeman spoke of reversing the Czech government’s stance while on the second day of a two-day official visit to Serbia, which does not recognize Kos-ovo’s independence.

The Czech leader said during a news conference with Serbian President Aleksadar Vucic that while he cannot revoke the rec-ognition already given Kosovo on his own, he plans to raise the issue.

“I’m not a dictator,” Zeman said. “But what I can do is to ask....I will ask the question whether it (reversal) can be done.”

Zeman, who is known for frequent offensive statements and diplomatic gaffes, said on Tuseday that he likes Serbia and

its people, but dislikes the pre-dominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo.

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said there was no reason for the government to reconsider its decision on Kosovo.

“Although I cannot see any reason for such a debate at the moment, because the situation in the Balkans has not dramati-cally changed, I am quite ready to speak with Zeman about his view,” Petricek said.

More than 100 countries have recognised Kosovo’s 2008

declaration of independence, including 23 European Union member nations and the United States. Serbia refuses to do so, along with Russia and China.

European Union mediated talks on normalising ties between Serbia and Kosovo have stalled. Serbia has stepped up efforts to persuade other coun-tries to withdraw their recog-nition of Kosovo. About a dozen, mostly developing African coun-tries, reportedly have done so.

Vucic said that a “com-promise” was needed to resolve

the Kosovo dispute. He praised Zeman as a friend of Serbia with a reputation as a “man who thinks with his own head.”

During their news con-ference, Zeman denounced Kosovo as a country “run by war criminals.”

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj recently was summoned by an international court for questioning about alleged war crimes during Kos-ovo’s 1998 to 1999 war for inde-pendence. No charges have been brought against Haradinaj.

Europe orders urgent Airbus copter checks after crashREUTERS OSLO

European regulators have ordered immediate checks on recently delivered versions of some Airbus helicopters after a crash in Arctic Norway last month that killed five Norwe-gians and their Swedish pilot.

Norwegian investigators have not discovered a root cause of the AS350 B3E heli-copter crash on August 31, but preliminary findings prompted Airbus Helicopters, the world’s largest commercial helicopter maker, to call for precautionary checks on parts linking the engine and main gearbox.

An emergency airwor-thiness directive issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) makes those checks compulsory before the aircraft make their next flight.

About 400 helicopters worldwide are affected by the checks, which apply to recently delivered examples of light-weight helicopters with fewer than 300 hours of flying time.

The models covered by the inspections include the single-engine AS350 B3 and the similar EC130 T2. The heli-copters were designed for fire-fighting, medical evacuation, police surveillance and pas-senger transport. Airbus also ordered checks on one military version.

Bullets, death threats sent to French finance ministerREUTERS PARIS

French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire has received three letters containing death threats, including one this week with bullets enclosed, one of his aides said.

It was not immediately clear who sent the threats or what their motive was, but the letters had coincided with an increase in violence towards politicians, the aide added. “We accept democratic debate, that people might disagree with out policies, but this goes too far.”

He said the first letter was

sent to police in the Basque country city of Bayonne in August, threatening to “pul-verise” Le Maire’s summer holiday house during the August 24-27 G7 summit, hosted by France’s president in Biarritz.

The second was sent direct to Le Maire’s residence in Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, this time threatening to target the min-ister himself.

The Ministry of Finance received a third letter containing three bullets on Tuesday. The sender said two of the bullets were meant for Le Maire and the third for his budget minister, Gerald Darmanin.

16 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019EUROPE

Dutch doctor acquitted in euthanasia case

AFP THE HAGUE

A Dutch court yesterday acquitted a doctor over eutha-nising a woman with severe dementia in a landmark case for the Netherlands, the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia.

Prosecutors had accused the unnamed doctor of failing to properly consult the 74-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in the case in 2016, saying that the woman may have changed her mind before about dying.

The case attracted media attention due to details of how the patient was given a sedative in her coffee but nevertheless had to be restrained by her family as the now-retired doctor injected the euthanasia drug.

But applause broke out in the courtroom after judges ruled that the doctor was right to abide by the woman’s wish, expressed four years earlier, to be eutha-nised instead of being placed in a care home.

“We conclude that all requirements of the euthanasia legislation had been met. Therefore the suspect is acquitted of all charges,” judge Mariette Renckens said at the court in The Hague.

“We believe that given the deeply demented condition of the patient the doctor did not need to

verify her wish for euthanasia.”The judge added that “the

court realises that euthanasia is a deeply sensitive issue”.

The verdict was seen as an important test of the law in the Netherlands, which legalised euthanasia in 2002, followed shortly afterwards by neigh-bouring Belgium.

Euthanasia can only be carried out under strict condi-tions set down in Dutch law, including that the patient must have “unbearable and endless suffering” and have requested to die “earnestly and with full conviction”.

The 68-year-old doctor was not in court yesterday “but I’m sure she will be delighted with the verdict,” her lawyer Robert-Jan van Eenennaam said. “The judges were very clear in their verdict that she acted in the correct manner. But my client still feels that a criminal case was not the correct way to deal with the issue. She has been through a lot these past few months.”

Prosecution spokeswoman Sanne van der Harg said that “clearly the judges thought about it differently than we did.”

“We will now carefully study the verdict and decide at a later stage whether we will lodge an appeal.”

Prosecutors had asked judges not to sentence the doctor even if she was found guilty as she had acted with “good inten-tions”. They added that that she had “completely cooperated” with the probe and already faced disciplinary measures.

The woman was diagnosed four years before her death with Alzheimer’s. She had asked in a written statement to be eutha-nised rather than being put into a care home, the prosecutors said.

Massive rally for Catalonia secession in BarcelonaAP BARCELONA

Tens of thousands of Spaniards who support the secession of Catalonia gathered in Barcelona on the region’s main holiday yesterday, just weeks before a highly antic-ipated verdict in a case against 12 leaders of the separatist movement.

Supporters of Catalan secession came from all parts of the wealthy northeastern region to its main city. Many carried flags or wore T-shirts supporting Catalan inde-pendence as they met for the rally in a large public square.

The Sept.ember 11 holiday memorialises the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish War of Succession in 1714. Since 2012, it has become the date of massive rallies for the region’s secessionist movement.

Polls and the most recent election results show that the region’s 7.5 million residents are roughly equally split between those in favor and those against breaking with the rest of Spain.

Spain’s caretaker Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has tried to thaw tensions with Catalonia since taking power last year, wrote on Twitter that “Today should be a day for all Catalans. For the path of dialogue within the Constitution, harmonious coexistence, respect and understanding.”

This year’s rally comes while a dozen leaders of Catalonia’s 2017 failed attempt to secede await a verdict from the Supreme Court on charges that include rebellion. They face spending several years behind bars if found guilty, and a heavy punishment would most likely spark public protests in Catalonia. The verdict is expected this month or next.

The movement, however, is going through its most difficult period since sepa-ratist sentiment was fueled by the previous decade’s economic difficulties, from which Spain has only recovered in recent years.

The pro-secession political parties have yet to agree on what the response to a guilty verdict by the Supreme Court should be. That

has earned the criticism of the leading grass-roots groups which have fueled the seces-sionist drive.

Regional Catalan president Quim Torra said that a guilty verdict would provide an opportunity to make another push for inde-pendence, without specifying how that could be carried out.

“The objective of independence should be the horizon of this country after the verdict,” he said in a recent interview.

Other separatist politicians think the best move is to call regional elections in an attempt to increase their representation in the regional parliament and focus on gaining the backing of more than half of Catalans.

An aerial view of people waving a giant Catalan pro-independence “Estelada” flag during a demonstration marking the “Diada”, national day of Catalonia, in Barcelona, yesterday.

Conte to seek special EU status for south ItalyAFP ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he will ask the European Commission to give Italy’s poorer south a special status to help boost employment and tackle organised crime.

“We have to try to get Europe to recognise a special status for our south, to allow us to launch extraordinary measures for development,”

Conte said on Facebook before heading off to Brussels to meet new Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.

Special status would give the country’s southern regions pref-erential and direct access to some EU programmes.

They are currently plagued with some of the highest youth unemployment figures in Europe.

Over 1.8 million families were living in absolute poverty

in the south in 2018, according to the latest Eurostat figures.

The dearth of work oppor-tunities for youngsters plays into the hands of recruiters for pow-erful organised crime groups.

“Youth unemployment in southern Italy exceeds 50 percent, there is a lack of investment, development pol-icies and strategies to relaunch it,” the Five Star Movement’s members of the European par-liament said in a statement.

They backed Conte’s appeal for special status and said they would also take the fight to European austerity policies blamed for “emigration, poverty and unemployment” in the south.

Conte said he would also be calling on von der Leyen for a change to the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact and the “Dublin regulation”, which assigns responsibility for migrants to the nation of first entry.

Russia scraps robot Fedor after space odysseyAFP MOSCOW

It’s mission over for a robot called Fedor that Russia blasted to the International Space Station, the developers said, admitting he could not replace astronauts on space walks.

“He won’t fly there any more. There’s nothing more for him to do there, he’s completed his mission,” Yevgeny Dudorov, executive director of robot developers Androidnaya Tekhnika, said.

The silvery anthropo-morphic robot cannot fulfill its assigned task to replace human astronauts on long and risky space walks, Dudorov said.

Fedor, or Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, was built to assist space station astronauts.

A storm of publicity sur-rounded Fedeor’s space odyssey and provided some light relief for Russia’s beleaguered space

industry.In the last year it has seen

the unprecedented failure of a manned launch and continuing delays on construction of the Vostochny spacepad where President Vladimir Putin upbraided officials last week.

But Fedor turned out to have a design that does not work well in space — standing 180 centi-metres tall, its long legs were not needed on space walks, Dudorov said.

The Russian space agency said the legs were immobilised during the trip and Fedor was not programmed to grab space station hand rails to move about in microgravity.

Dudorov said developers were sketching out plans for a replacement “that must suit the demands of working on the outside of the ship”.

Fedor, officially Skybot F-850, rocketed to the ISS on August 22, entering the orbiting laboratory five days later.

Judges ruled that the doctor was right to abide by the woman’s wish, expressed four years earlier, to be euthanised instead of being placed in a care home.

Russian intelligence working on spy scandal: KremlinANATOLIA MOSCOW

The Russian intelligence services are working with the information about the US spy, who allegedly worked in the presidential administration, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured) said.

He also said he could not confirm that Russian national Oleg Smolenkov, suspected of spying within the country’s gov-ernment for the Central Intelli-gence Agency (CIA), had an access to the classified information.

“I assert that there was such an employee, he was fired. Whether he was a spy or not, we don’t know. This is area of the intelligence services. They are doing their job,” he said.

“If he had an access to the special services data? No, this I can’t confirm,” Peskov added.

On Monday, CNN presented a report that claimed the US extracted one of their covert sources inside the Russian gov-ernment in 2017 amid concerns that President Donald Trump “repeatedly mishandled clas-sified intelligence.”

According to the report, based on multiple anonymous Trump administration officials, the extraction mission took place shortly after Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russia’s former US envoy Sergey Kislyak in May 2017.

During those meetings, Trump discussed with the Russian officials classified intel-ligence regarding Daesh in Syria that had been given to the U.S. by Israel, the report said. This information was refuted by Lavrov, who said no secrets were

let out at the meeting with Trump and Tillerson, which was con-firmed by then the National Security Advisor Herbert Raymond McMaster.

A source that CNN said was directly involved in the decision to remove the spy from Russia, said Trump’s disclosure renewed concerns that the US informant’s identity could be exposed.

The CIA denied the report as “inaccurate”.

“Misguided speculation that the President’s handling of our nation’s most sensitive intelli-gence — which he has access to

each and every day — drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate,” agency spokes-woman Brittany Bramell said.

Military drill

AP/BERLIN

Fire services said one person has died and two people were injured in an explosion and a subsequent fire in a residential building in the western German city of Duesseldorf.

Officials said that the cause of the explosion in the small apartment block overnight, which sprayed debris across the road, is still unclear.

German news agency dpa quoted Duesseldorf police as saying the deceased man was 75 years old. The two injured people included a pregnant woman.

Special naval forces personnel of the German Navy enter a boat as they take part in the exercise “Northern Coast”, in the Baltic Sea near Rostock, Germany, yesterday.

One dead in Germany explosion

Migrant ship requests medical evacuation of pregnant womanAP ABOARD THE OCEAN VIKING

A humanitarian ship carrying 84 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea appealed to Italian and Maltese authorities yesterday for the medical evac-uation of a 9 months pregnant woman and a safe place of disembarkation for the other passengers.

The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, run jointly by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, found 50 of the migrants in a rubber boat Sunday, including the woman due to give birth at any time.

The ship also took on another 34 migrants Monday from a sailboat operated by another humanitarian group.

There was no immediate reply from Italian and Maltese authorities.

17THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 AMERICAS

Trump marks 9/11 anniversary with war still raging

Republican wins special election in North CarolinaAFP WASHINGTON

Republican Dan Bishop won a North Carolina congressional seat yesterday in a special election that served as a test for President Donald Trump ahead of his bid for a second term in 2020.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Bishop won 50.81 percent of the vote against 48.59 for Democrat Dan McCready, a former US Marine who had posi-tioned himself as the moderate in the race, the final election of the 2018 midterm cycle.

The do-over stems from election fraud in 2018.

Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence were each in North Carolina’s ninth district on Monday urging high turnout for Bishop, a state senator who nar-rowly won a seat that has been safely in Republican hands for half a century.

“Dan Bishop was down 17 points 3 weeks ago,” the pres-ident tweeted after major US media called Bishop’s victory. “He then asked me for help, we changed his strategy together, and he ran a great race. Big Rally last night.”

“BIG NIGHT FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. CON-GRATULATIONS TO ALL!” Trump wrote, also referring to Republican victories in a sep-arate North Carolina race and a US Senate race in Nebraska.

Republican Mark Harris nar-rowly led the original November contest against McCready by just 905 votes. But authorities refused to certify the results due to apparent tampering of absentee ballots by operatives tied to Harris.

Ten months later, a McCready victory would have been a historic upset in the dis-trict, which voted for Trump by a 12-point margin in 2016.

Dan Bishop, Republican candidate in the special election for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, greets campaign volunteers outside a polling station in Indian Trail, North Carolina, on Tuesday.

Five stabbed in Tallahassee, suspect in custodyAP TALLAHASSEE

An employee at a construction supplies business had gotten into an argument with co-workers and been ordered by a super-visor to leave when he stabbed five people before being fought off, authorities in Florida’s capital city said.

Investigators were still trying to understand what specifically set off the suspect, identified by Tallahassee police as Antwann Brown, 41, to pull out a pocket

knife and begin stabbing co-workers.

“It appeared that he actually sought out certain victims,” interim Police Chief Steven Outlaw said during a news con-ference yards from the business where the stabbings took place.

The five victims were taken to an area hospital.

One victim was in serious condition, two were in fair con-dition and another two were in good condition, said Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare spokes-woman Danielle Buchanan.

Brown was apprehended not far from Dyke Industries, which supplies doors and windows to residential and commercial cus-tomers, where police said he had worked for just over three months.

Outlaw said there was no indication of any pending employment actions against Brown. A company represent-ative didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Police said Brown clocked in at about 8 a.m. as he normally should. Minutes later, “he was engaged in some kind of dispute

at work,” Outlaw said, “and clocked out at 8:20.”

Outlaw would not elaborate on what the dispute was about. The dispute remained a verbal one until the suspect returned and began attacking co-workers with a small knife, he said.

Other co-workers fended Brown off with sticks and whatever they could grab. They pinned him down, but he escaped. Officers arrested him outside the facility, the chief said.

Outlaw called the employees’ actions, “heroic.”

AP WASHINGTON

Donald Trump marked his third 9/11 anniversary as president amid his growing frustration about what he calls the “endless war” in Afghanistan, where Al Qaida conceived the deadly 2001 attacks.

It has been 18 years since al-Qaida hijackers commandeered four US commercial airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsyl-vania. Like Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, Trump marked the day with the war still raging.

“For the families who join us, this is your anniversary of per-sonal and permanent loss. It’s the day that has replayed in your memory a thousand times over. The last kiss. The last phone call. The last time hearing those pre-cious words, ‘I love you,’” Trump said at a ceremony at the Pentagon.

“Then the attack, the anguish of knowing your family member had boarded one of these flights or was working at the World Trade Center or serving right here at the Pentagon. You waited. You prayed. You answered that most dreaded call, and your life changed forever.”

With the American flag flying atop the White House at half-staff, Trump began the day with a moment of silence on the South Lawn with first lady Melania Trump and dozens of members of the executive branch. He then headed to the commemoration at the Pentagon but arrived late.

The moment of silence at the Pentagon is traditionally observed at 9:37am, the time when a plane crash into it. But this year, the anniversary was observed 10 minutes late, at 9:47 am. Trump was running behind schedule when he left the White House for the Pentagon, where he was greeted by Defense Sec-retary Mark Esper and placed a wreath of red, white and blue

flowers at the memorial site.In a proclamation marking

the anniversary as “Patriot Day,” Trump reflected on how many Americans recall the moment when the terror group conducted the largest attack on American soil, killing nearly 3,000 people.

“A beautiful September morning was marred by stark disbelief, agonizing sorrow, and profound suffering,” Trump said in a statement. “America’s strength, courage, and com-passion, however, never wavered.”

Members of Congress held their own moment of silence on Capitol Hill. Vice-President Mike Pence was to deliver remarks at a commemorative service in Shanksville.

Less than a month after the terror attacks, Bush announced on October 7, 2001, that US and British troops had begun striking Afghanistan for harbouring the Al Qaida terrorists blamed for 9/11. The massive air campaign initially targeted troops, training camps and air defenses of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan under a harsh version of Islamic law from 1996 and hosted Osama bin Laden as he masterminded the September 11 attacks.

For nearly a year, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been nego-tiating with the Taliban on issues including a US troop withdrawal and Taliban guarantees to keep Afghanistan from again becoming a launch pad for global terror attacks. Those talks came to an abrupt halt last weekend when Trump tweeted that he had canceled a proposed meeting with the Taliban and members of the Afghan government at the

Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

It’s unclear if the US-Taliban talks will resume, but Trump has said he wants to withdraw about 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. service members still in Afghanistan. More than 2,400 American service members have been killed in the conflict.

The US-led Nato combat mission ended in 2014, but the allied forces continue to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces and conduct counterterrorism attacks against Al Qaida and IS militants.

Majorities of Americans, including veterans, think the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting, according to a May poll from Pew Research Center. Fifty-nine percent of all adults said the

war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting, given the costs to the United States versus the benefits, while 36% said it was.

Opinion was similar among veterans specifically, with 58% saying the war was not worth

fighting and 38% saying it was. Republican veterans were more likely than Democratic veterans to say the war in Afghanistan was worth fighting, 46% versus 26%, though even Republican veterans were divided in their assessment.

The top Democrats vying for the nod to challenge Trump in 2020 also have called for the removal of US troops, though they have offered different time-tables and parameters for any such withdrawal.

People gather at one of the pools at the National September 11 Memorial following a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the terrorist attacks, in New York City, yesterday. RIGHT: A file photo of emergency workers surveying the impact sight of the hijacked commercial airliner early at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2001.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath during a ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, yesterday.

For the families who join us, this is your anniversary of personal and permanent loss. It’s the day that has replayed in your memory a thousand times over. The last kiss. The last phone call. The last time hearing those precious words, ‘I love you’: Trump

Reality TV star pleads guilty to assault on nannyAP CHARLESTON

Reality television star and ex-South Carolina treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been fined $500 after taking a plea deal to charges he assaulted a former nanny.

Ravenel was initially charged with misdemeanor second-degree assault and battery after the nanny said the former “Southern Charm” star dropped his pants and fondled her at his Charleston home in January 2015.

Ravenel pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and battery. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, suspended if he pays a $500 fine.

Bravo took Ravenel off “Southern Charm” after his arrest.

Ravenel pleaded guilty to cocaine charges in the year 2007 and resigned as state treasurer.

Mexico sees decrease in US-bound immigration from Central AmericaREUTERS WASHINGTON

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard (pictured) said after a White House meeting yesterday that there has been a “significant decrease” in US-bound immigration through Mexico, especially from Central America, and he expects the trend to continue.

Ebrard met US Vice-Pres-ident Mike Pence, and had a brief exchange with President Donald Trump, to review progress in efforts to curb a surge in Central American migrants.

Pence acknowledged Mex-ico’s efforts. He said US officials would work with Mexico to expand implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols to speed up processing of asylum claims, the White House said in a statement.

Mexico’s strategy of putting more than 25,000 National Guard militarized police along

its borders and stepping up raids on people traffickers has been a success, Ebrard told a news conference.

“What Mexico has done is working,” said Ebrard, while acknowledging that border crossings were still up from averages in September.

“But the tendency is irre-versible ... It is something that we think will be permanent,” he said.

Following threats by Trump to impose tariffs on all its goods, Mexico on June 7 pledged to take a series of steps to contain migrants, and the two govern-ments agreed to review that effort after 90 days.

Ebrard said tariffs were not discussed.

Mexico brought up the illicit flows of arms from the United States that Mexican authorities want to freeze, according to Ebrard, who said earlier on Twitter that would be Mexico’s priority at the meeting.

Trump’s new envoy in Mexico, US Ambassador Chris-topher Landau, said on Tuesday that the cross-border arms trade is a problem both coun-tries face.

“The illegal flow of arms from the US to Mexico represents a common threat,” Landau wrote in a post on Twitter, adding that a binational group has been set up to “identify and implement concrete measures” that will address it.

18 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019AMERICAS

Humanitarian aid helps improve medical supplies in Venezuela REUTERS CARACAS

Humanitarian aid has led to a small improvement in the avail-ability of medical supplies in Venezuelan emergency rooms, although shortages continue to plague public hospitals, non-governmental organisation Doctors for Health said.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido in February attempted to bring US-backed aid into Ven-ezuela via Colombia against the wishes of President Nicolas Maduro’s government, which blocked the entrance of supplies

in a violent standoff along the border.

Maduro later gave per-mission to the International Fed-eration of the Red Cross and the United Nations to provide hos-pitals with emergency supplies that included power plants, med-icine and surgical gloves.

“Despite the improvement, in our opinion, there is not much stability,” said Julio Castro, of Doctors for Health, which gathers data from employees in 40 Venezuelan public hospitals.

Emergency rooms for the last six months have lacked around

50% of the supplies they need, he said.

A lack of medicine, water and power outages, and the migration of personnel due to low wages, have crippled Vene-zuela’s health sector.

UN agencies this year pro-vided 358 tonnes of medicine and supplies, Castro said, enough to provide treatment for as many as 3.5 million people.

The International Feder-ation of the Red Cross as of August had delivered 100 tonnes of supplies, it said in a news release.

Castro said aid groups have

not provided a breakdown of how much aid reached each hos-pital or if any was distributed to Venezuela’s 300 smaller public health clinics.

A UN official said in response to questions that the United Nations works with a number of Venezuelan hospitals and pro-vides aid through organizations that include the Pan American Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Venezuela’s information ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

Guaido said the February aid

effort boosted pressure on Maduro to allow aid into the country.

Humanitarian relief groups had said that effort risked polit-icising aid.

Venezuela’s government until this year had refused such aid on the grounds that the country was not in humanitarian crisis.

Castro said that despite announcements by Russia and China about providing humani-tarian aid, no follow-up infor-mation on aid from the two has been provided, making it impos-sible to evaluate its impact.

Venezuela holds war games on Colombia borderAFP LA FRÍA

Venezuela’s armed forces chiefs said they had begun mobilising 150,000 troops for military exer-cises on the Colombian border amid renewed tensions between Bogota and Caracas.

President Nicolas Maduro ordered his army to deploy along the 2,200km border after accusing Colombia of plotting to spark a military conflict.

Tanks, missile carriers and dozens of troops deployed around La Fria airport in western Tachira state on Tuesday.

Admiral Remigio Ceballos, chief of Venezuela’s Strategic Command, told troops on the airport runway that they were part of a “peacekeeping force” — but one that would not shirk combat if necessary.

“We respect the armed forces around the world, but we are not afraid of anyone,” Ceballos said.

Maduro accused Colombia last week of using the rejection by dissident FARC leaders of a peace accord to try to provoke a military conflict and said he was placing his forces on high alert.

Colombia’s right-wing Pres-ident Ivan Duque had accused Maduro of sheltering FARC dis-sidents on his territory.

On Tuesday, Vice-President Marta Lucia Ramirez called on Colombians to remain “calm” and said Bogota would not respond to “provocations.” However, she said the military was prepared for “any external attacks.”

“We call on all Colombians for calm, knowing that we possess a sufficiently equipped and capable public force,” said Ramirez. “We must not react to this threat, because it would be foolish to think it could be real.”

Members of the National Guard taking part in a military exercise at Garcia Hevia Airport in La Fria, Tachira state, in Venezuela, yesterday.

Trump says expanded gun background checks under considerationREUTERS WASHINGTON

A bipartisan group of US senators yesterday said they would try to revive a failed 2013 bill to close loopholes on the law requiring gun sale background checks, but were awaiting word on whether President Donald Trump will support their effort.

Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Chris Murphy and Republican Senator Pat Toomey told reporters they had a 40-minute telephone conver-sation with Trump to discuss gun control.

They added that they hoped the president would convey a decision today.

Speaking to reporters at the White House following that call, Trump was vague about the prospects for enacting new gun legislation.

“We’re looking at back-ground checks,” he said, adding, “At the same time, all of us want to protect our great Second Amendment” to the US Consti-tution guaranteeing the right to bear arms.

“We’re going to take a look at a lot of different things and we’ll be reporting back in a short period of time,” Trump said.

The issue of gun violence

re-emerged in Congress after back-to-back mass shootings in Texas and Ohio last month.

Manchin and Toomey teamed up six years ago with a gun background check bill.

Yesterday, Toomey said: “Our best chance of success would be to broaden back-ground checks to include com-mercial gun sales,” such as ones conducted over the Internet and at gun shows.

He added that those sales, largely unregulated, provide a way “for violent criminals and those dangerously mentally ill to have a way to easily obtain firearms.”

Manchin, referring to Trump, said, “We’re going to know hopefully by tomorrow if there’s something we can all agree on.”

In December, 2012, a shooter killed 26 people, including 20

children, at the Sandy Hook Ele-mentary School in Murphy’s home state of Connecticut.

The mass murder sparked a gun control debate in Congress that produced a Manchin-Toomey background check bill in the Senate.

Amid fierce lobbying against the bill by the National Rifle Association and gun industry groups, the measure failed in April, 2013.

It was not clear whether the senators intend to push a carbon-copy of the Manchin-Toomey bill from 2013 or an altered version.

The original bill would have exempted checks on gun sales or gifts among family members and friends.

Many Democrats are demanding Senate passage of a House of Representatives bill approved in February that would have tightened controls on gun sales while providing narrow exemptions, such as certain sales of gifts between spouses.

The White House threatened to veto that bill and Represent-ative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, returned from a meeting with Trump on Tuesday telling reporters “We’re not going there,” when asked about the House-passed bill.

Our best chance of success would be to broaden background checks to include commercial gun sales, such as ones conducted over the Internet and at gun shows: Republican Senator Pat Toomey

2,500 people unaccounted for in hurricane-hit Bahamas: OfficialAFP NASSAU

Some 2,500 people are unac-counted for in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said yesterday.

NEMA spokesman Carl Smith told reporters that some of the missing people may eventually be located.

“At this point, there are approximately 2,500 individuals registered on the Bahamian gov-ernment register (of missing people),” Smith said.

“This list has not yet been checked against government records of who is staying in shelters or who has been evac-uated,” he said.

At least 50 people died in the hurricane, which slammed into the northern Bahamas as a Cat-egory 5 storm, and officials have said they expect the number to rise significantly.

The NEMA spokesman said more than 5,500 people have been evacuated so far from the northern Bahamas islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, which were devastated by the storm.

“Over the past day or so there had been a “significant reduction,” however, in the numbers of people seeking to leave.”

Smith added that permission was being given to resume com-mercial flights to Abaco on a “limited basis” but priority would be given to relief and evacuation flights.

Two cars seen in an area destroyed by a storm surge, in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, yesterday.

Bolsonaro feeding via nasal tube after surgery

AFP SAO PAULO

Doctors treating Brazil’s Pres-ident Jair Bolsonaro said he was feeding via a nasogastric tube due to intestinal problems which prevented him from taking food normally following abdominal surgery.

The president experienced “slow intestinal transit and abdominal distention” over a 12-hour period so doctors inserted the nasogastric tube — meaning he would be fed through the nose — according to a statement released yes-terday from Sao Paulo’s Vila Nova Star hospital.

The bulletin, which said doctors would daily review when they could allow Bol-sonaro to return to feeding orally, gave no details of when he might be discharged from hospital.

Bolsonaro, 64, underwent a five-hour operation on Sunday to repair an abdominal hernia.

The procedure took two hours longer than anticipated. It was his fourth operation since being stabbed in the stomach a year ago at a campaign rally.

On Monday, the president broadcast a video of himself on Twitter walking along a hospital corridor.

Bolsonaro is due to fly to New York later this month to address the UN General Assembly.

Canada’s Trudeau begins tough re-election campaign, faces ethics questionsREUTERS OTTAWA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off a challenging six-week re-election campaign yesterday and immediately faced new questions about a nagging ethics scandal that could cut support for his Liberal Party.

Trudeau, who swept to office in November 2015 promising “sunny ways” and stressing the importance of gender equality

and the environment, faces an electorate more focused on the economy and affordability when it votes on October 21.

“We have a huge amount of work still to do ... under a Liberal government, Canada will con-tinue to move forward,” he said after launching the race.

The 47-year-old married father of three, whose colorful socks and classic good looks are often splashed across the inter-national media, may have history

on his side. Not since 1935 has a Canadian prime minister who won a parliamentary majority in his first term been booted from office in the next election.

But polls strongly suggest Trudeau may not win enough seats to govern by himself after a series of missteps that called into question his leadership while cutting into his once sky-high popularity. That would leave him weakened, relying on opposition members of parliament to push

through legislation. Last month, a top watchdog

ruled the prime minister had breached ethics rules by pres-suring the former justice min-ister to ensure a major con-struction firm avoid a corruption trial.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are probing whether there is enough evidence to lay charges. The Globe and Mail said that Ottawa was limiting what potential witnesses could say.

Trudeau side-stepped repeated questions about the matter, repeating the govern-ment’s line that witnesses already had plenty of freedom to speak.

Andrew Scheer, leader of the official opposition Conservative Party, said the Globe and Mail report showed Trudeau could not be trusted.

“He has lied. He has looked Canadians in the eyes and said things that he knew were not

true,” he told reporters.A Nanos Research poll

released on Tuesday showed the Liberals at 34.6% and the Con-servatives at 30.7%. That margin would not be enough to guar-antee a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

Liberals say they are quietly confident of victory and predict Trudeau will campaign much more effectively than Scheer, 40, who is fighting his first election as Conservative leader.

19THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME

‘The Majlis – Cultures in Dialogue’ global tour moves to the Weltmuseum, ViennaTHE PENINSULA DOHA

‘The Majlis – Cultures in Dialogue’ exhibition, launched by the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum in collaboration with the Unesco Doha Office, has announced that it will be coming to the Weltmuseum in Vienna on September 17, the fourth stop on its global tour.

The exhibition brings together a unique collection of artefacts assembled by the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, high-lighting the interaction between previous civilizations while encour-aging present day dialogue.

It follows on from the success of its three previous exhibitions held at the Grandmaster’s Palace in Val-letta, Malta, and at the Unesco Headquarters and the Arab World Institute in Paris, France.

The exhibition will be held over four months, under the Platinum sponsorship of Qatar Shell, at the Weltmuseum Wien, an ethno-graphic museum which houses some of the most important col-lections of non-European cultures. It is an exhibition which promotes dialogue with the public, as well

as with the hosting institutes which contribute distinctive items from their own collections.

The concept behind this diverse cultural exhibition is to recreate the atmosphere of the Majlis — the area for hospitality and discussion in homes in the Arabian Gulf — so offering visitors the opportunity to exchange ideas about the similarities between dif-ferent cultures and about how

these have been expressed in technology, art and culture.

The exhibition in Vienna will engage visitors through several dif-ferent activities. There will be a focus on education, promoting tol-erance and diversity through cul-tural objects from all over the world. Additionally, a programme of Majlis Talks will encourage vis-itors to respond to what they see and share their own stories, so

creating dialogue between the East and the West, the young and the old, within a real majlis setting.

Showcasing an exceptional collection that reflects the beauty of centuries of intercultural dia-logue, the exhibition encourages visitors to sit in the Majlis, listen to stories, engage in conversa-tions, and discover the unique Majlis experience. The beautiful and fascinating exhibits include Chinese Qurans, mosque lamps made in Vienna, Persian carpets with Russian texts featuring the Virgin Mary, and mystic artefacts from Africa to India.

Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim bin Faisal Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, FBQ Museum, said: “The tangible, intangible and documented heritage of our ancestors – their artefacts, hand-icrafts, arts and songs – is an essential part of fostering a cul-tured and civilized dialogue between nations today. We hope that by sharing objects that connect people with their past we are both preserving history, cultures and traditions and promoting a lasting dialogue in the different countries which our exhibition visits.”

The exhibition brings together a unique collection of artefacts assembled by the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, highlighting the interaction between previous civilizations while encouraging present day dialogue.

QC launches new season of ‘Distress Relief’ radio programmeTHE PENINSULA/DOHA

The first episode of the new session of the ‘Distress Relief’, a radio programme produced by Qatar Charity in cooperation with the Al Quran Al Kareem Radio, was launched on Tuesday, with the aim of promoting various humanitarian projects to support the needy around the world and mobilising support for the numerous campaigns and projects launched by Qatar Charity.

The programme is broadcast on the Al Quran Al Kareem Radio 103.4FM at 830pm on every Tuesday and it continues until 9pm. Pre-sented by Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Harami, each

episode of the programme hosts guests, including Sheikhs, media personalities, and social figures. In its first episode, which hosted Sheikh Saud Al Hajri, the programme discussed support for the urgent humanitarian campaign launched by Qatar Charity to provide relief aid to flood victims in Sudan and Nepal. The pro-gramme received a great response from listeners.

Qatar Charity urges all the people in Qatar to listen to the ‘Distress Relief’ programme and offer support for humanitarian situations to ease the suffering of the affected and needy worldwide and low-income people within Qatar.

Donors can make their contributions by

sending SMS to 92124 and dialing hotline 44667711, or through Qatar Charity collectors. The launch of a new session of the program comes within the framework of the continuous strategic partnership with the Al Quran Al Kareem Radio and after the broadcast of three seasons of the ‘competitors’ programme, which received a positive response from listeners.

Ahmed Saleh Al Ali, director of Media and Communication Department at Qatar Charity said: “We are very pleased to continue our stra-tegic partnership with the Al Quran Al Kareem Radio through these distinguished programmes reflecting how the media can serve charitable and humanitarian work across the globe.”

CROSSWORD

In every love story, there is always one trying to win the heart of the other, who could be the `dream girl’.

DREAM GIRL

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

Pailwaan (2D/Kannada) 2:15, 8:00 & 11:00pm; Ittymaani (2D/Malayalam) 5:15 & 8:45pm; The Big Trip (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:30pm;Playmobil The Move (2D/Animation) 4:15pm;Love Action Drama (2D/Malayalam) 6:00 & 11:30pmSivappu Manjal Pachai (2D/Tamil) 2:00pmDream Girl (2D/Hindi) 6:00pmIT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 8:15pmPorinju Mariam Jose (2D/Malayalam) 11:15pm

Chhichhore (2D/Hindi) 11:15am, 5:30 & 11:45pm; Saaho (2D/Hindi) 10:30am & 5:45pm; Ittymaani (2D/Malayalam) 12:00, 6:00pm & 12:00am; IT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 2:15 & 8:30pm; Brothers Day (2D/Malayalam) 3:00, 9:00 & 11:30pm;Playmobil The Move (2D/Animation) 3:30pm;Just A Stranger (2D/Tagalog) 9:00pm

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Love Action Drama (2D/Malayalam) 12:30, 3:00, 3:30, 5:45, 8:30, 9:30, 11:15, 12:30 & 03:00am ; Ittymaani (2D/Malayalam) 4:00 & 10:00pm; Brothers Day (2D/Malayalam) 1:00pm & 01:00am; Gang Leader (2D/Telugu) 12:30 & 7:00pm; Dreamgirl (2D/Hindi) 6:30pm;Pailwaan (2D/Kannada) 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30pm

ASIAN TOWN

ROXY

FLIK Mirqab Mall

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2D/Adventure) 10:30am, 1:10, 2:50, 4:40, 6:30, 8:20, 10:10 & 11:50pmDora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 10:30am, 2:30, 4:40, 8:30 & 12:30pm; Angel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 4:40, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:30pm; Sesh’s Evaru (2D/Telugu) 10:30am, 1:20, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50, 9:10, 3:30, 6:20pm; Knnedy Club (2D/Tamil) 7:15, 9:00 & 10:40pm; Khayal Ma’ata (2D/Arabic) 12;30, 11:10, 11:00, 3:30 & 11:10pm; Ranarangam (2D/Telugu) 11:00am, 1:40, 4:30, 12:30, 3:20 & 6:10pm; Ready Or Not (2D/Horror) 6:00 & 7:10pmSheep And Wolves 2 (2D/Animation) 4:40, 6:30 & 6:50pmThe Angry Birds Movie 2 2:30 & 12:30pm

47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2D/Adventure) 10:20am & 10:30pm; Aladding 4:30 & 8:00pm; Angel Has Fallen (2D/Action) 11:00am, 12:10, 1:20, 2:30, 3:40, 4:50, 6:00, 8:20 & 10:40pmDora And The Lost City Of Gold (2D/Adventure) 10:35am, 12:20, 1:00pm; IT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 10;40am, 1:50, 5:00, 7:10, 8:10, 10:20 & 11:20pm; Lion King 7:00pm; Love Action Drama 3:55, 6:50 & 9:45pm; Official Secrets 10:10am, 2:10, 4:20, 6:30 & 8:40 Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2D/Comedy) 5:00pm, Playmobil The Move (2D/Animation) 11:00am, 12:35, 1:55pm Section 375 (Hindi) 5:50 & 11:15pm; The Angry Birds Movie 2 10:05am, 12:00noon & 2:35pm; The Goldfinch 11:20am, 3:00 & 8:25; Welad Rizk 2 (2D/Arabic) 10:50pm & 12:20am

The Big Trip (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:15pm; IT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 6:00 & 11:15pm; Love Action Drama (2D/Malayalam) 7:00 & 9:00pm; Dream Girl (2D/Hindi) 11:30pm; Pailwaan (2D/Kannada) 2:30 & 11:00pm; Ittymaani (2D/Malayalam) 5:30pm; The Goldfinch (2D/Drama) 8:15pm; Sivappu Manjal Pachai (2D/Tamil) 2:15pm; Section 375 (2D/Hindi) 4:45pm; Strange But True (2D/Thriller) 9:30pm;

ROYAL PLAZA

The Big Trip (2D/Animation) 2:15pm; Pailwaan (2D/Kannada) 2:00 & 11:30pm; Love Action Drama (2D/Malayalam) 3:45 & 11:30pm; Section 375 (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm; Ittymaani (2D/Malayalam) 8:45pm; Brother’s Day (2D/Malayalam) 2:30pm; IT: Chapter 2 (2D/Horror) 5:30 & 11:15pm; The Goldfinch (2D/Drama) 8:30pm; The Lion King (2D/Drama) 5:00pm; Official Secretes (2D/Drama) 7:00pm; Dream Girl (2D/Hindi) 9:00pm

MALL

20 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2019MORNING BREAK

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum32oC 39oC

HIGH TIDE 03:09 – 16:00 LOW TIDE 09:36 – 23:48

Hot daytime with slight dust to blowing

dust at places at times and some clouds.

FAJRSHOROOK

04. 01 AM05. 19 AM

11. 30 AM02.58 PM

05. 44 PM07. 14 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

A handout picture released by Santa Cruz Government shows a general view of the fires at Bolivian Amazonian area of San Jose de Chiquitos in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on September 9, 2019.

Bolivian wildfires

Activists blockunloadingof coal at Polish portAFP WARSAW

Greenpeace said its activists climbed cranes at the Polish port of Gdansk yesterday to block the unloading of coal from Mozambique, and called on the government to move to renewable energy.

“At dawn, 29 Greenpeace activists climbed two cranes at a coal terminal of the Gdansk port,” Greenpeace Polska spokeswoman Katarzyna Guzek said. The activists hung banners on the cranes reading “Poland without coal 2030”, she added.

Local police said they were aware of the Greenpeace action and were monitoring the situ-ation along with port officials.

“First we blocked the vessel from docking, now we’re pre-venting it from unloading the shipment,” said Guzek.

The group tried on Monday to prevent the cargo vessel Indian Goodwill from docking, blocking it with its own vessel, Rainbow Warrior.

Armed border guards inter-vened, hauling the Greenpeace boat out of the port and detaining the captain and another activist early on Tuesday.

They released another 16 activists on board after identity checks, and the vessel anchored outside the port.

Prosecutors said they were to decide yesterday whether to charge the two activists — the Spanish captain and an Austrian national — detained for navi-gation security violations.

Greenpeace wants Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government to abandon burning coal by 2030 — the European Union’s target date for phasing out coal use.

“We have little time left to prevent an unfolding climate disaster and the Polish govern-ment’s reliance on coal puts at risk our hopes for a safe and sustainable future,” Greenpeace Poland programme director Pawel Szypulski said in a statement.

Under the 2015 Paris climate treaty, the EU pledged to reduce its carbon emissions responsible for causing rising global temperatures by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

Scientists create embryos to save white rhinosAFP ROME

Conservationists have successfully created two northern white rhino embryos in a key step towards pulling the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists in Italy said yesterday.

There are only two survivors in the world, and both are female and unable to carry calves. The last male, named Sudan, died at the Ol Pejeta Con-servancy in Kenya last year, making scientists the majestic animals’ last chance.

Using eggs harvested from the females and frozen sperm from deceased males, a team in Cremona in Italy has been able to create two viable embryos, according to the BioRescue international consortium of scientists.

Najin, 30, and daughter Fatu, 19, are the last of the subspecies of white rhino, and live under 24-hour armed guard. Neither is able to carry a calf. Fatu has degenerative lesions in her uterus and Najin has weak hind legs which could cause complications if she fell pregnant. In August they underwent a highly risky procedure carried out by a team of international vets, which saw them anaesthetised for almost two hours, and their eggs extracted using techniques that have taken years of research and development.

At the Italian biotech laboratory

Avantea, those eggs were then ferti-lized with sperm from males Suni and Saut — though only two of Fatu’s eggs developed into viable embryos.

They have now been stored in liquid nitrogen to be transferred into a surrogate mother in the near future.

“Five years ago, it seemed like the production of a northern white rhino embryo was an almost unachievable

goal — and today we have them,” said Jan Stejskal, communications director at the Dvur Kralove Zoo, where Najin and Fatu were born.

The coming months would be ded-icated to optimising a technique to transfer the embryos into a surrogate rhino, he said.

Richard Vigne, managing director of Ol Pejeta, hailed the “major step

forward”, but warned “we have a very long way to go”.

“Global human behaviour still needs to radically change if the lessons of the northern white rhinos are to be learned,” he said.

There are five rhino species remaining on earth, of which black and white rhinos are found in Africa. The northern white rhino is generally con-sidered a subspecies of white rhino although some scientists believe it to be a sixth species.

Rhinos have few predators in the wild due to their size but have been devastated by poaching for their horns — used in traditional Chinese medicine. Modern rhinos have plodded the earth for 26 million years. As recently as the mid-19th century there were more than one million in Africa. The western black rhino was declared extinct in 2011.

The northern white rhino once roamed Uganda, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad.

It is hoped a revived population — which could take up to 70 years — could eventually be re-introduced into secure habitats in these areas.

A file photo shows Najin (left) and Fatu, the only two remaining female northern white rhinos, grazing in their paddock at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of Nairobi.

Amazon bets big on India with mega officeAFP HYDERABAD, INDIA

With 49 elevators moving a floor per second and zumba classes for its more than 15,000 employees, Amazon’s new Indian headquarters, its biggest building globally, matches its ambitions in a vast but challenging market.

The US retail giant launched its first site in the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people in 2013 and is locked in a fierce battle with Walmart, which bought a 77-percent share in local e-commerce behemoth Flipkart for $16 billion last year.

“For Amazon, India is a very important geography,” the firm’s human resources director for India and the Middle East, Deepti Varma, said at the gleaming new 86-metre tall office building in the southern tech hub of Hyderabad.

While the prospects of success in the vast nation are tantalising, the risks are also high, with Amazon and Flipkart incurring big losses as they expand and attempt to tap into new markets in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Both firms will also face fierce com-petition from Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries — helmed by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani — which is preparing to go up against the two US companies with its own e-commerce platform.

Bureaucratic hurdles present further challenges.

New e-commerce rules that came into force in February banned companies like Amazon from selling products from firms in which they have a stake. They

are also forbidden from entering into exclusive deals with sellers.

The regulations were brought in after brick-and-mortar retailers complained the e-tailers were unfairly selling products at discount prices.

“Going forward, the challenges are more around regulation and how to nav-igate the policy and regulatory envi-ronment,” Ankur Bisen of Delhi-based consulting firm Technopak said.

“We have seen how some of the policy announcements have got them off-guard.” Amazon has already earmarked $5bn in investment funds for India, where one in three people use the Internet — a figure forecast to swell by 300 million by 2020 mainly due to growing smartphone use.

India’s e-commerce sales are

expected to triple between now and 2022, when they are likely to pass the $100bn mark, according to recent research by industry body NASSCOM and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, said in May after reporting its first-quarter earnings that despite losses at Flipkart, “we continue to believe is a very sound long-term investment in a com-pelling market”.

India is also a major source of employment for Amazon’s global oper-ations with some 62,000 full-time staff and 155,000 contract employees.

Bisen said the Hyderabad campus “is a signal to the government that ‘we are increasing our base in India and we are making sure there is a lot of India that is built into Amazon’s global story’”.

A file photo shows the Amazon logo on the exterior of the company’s newly inaugurated largest campus building in Hyderabad, India.

Thieves again target lead work by German artist KieferAFP MELUN, FRANCE

Thieves in search of valuable lead damaged a massive sculpture by German artist Anselm Kiefer at his Paris workshop early yesterday, police said.

A security guard scared away the two thieves around 1:30 am after they had cut through the fence of the studio and begun to remove parts of the sculpture in the form of a book, French police offi-cials told the media.

“These thieves did not realise the value of the work,” the source said.

“They were mainly after the lead, which is valuable, especially in this form.”

Kiefer, 74, considered one of Ger-many’s foremost post-war sculptors, has lived in France since the early 1990s.

Since buying the lead roof of Cologne’s cathedral in 1985 as it was ren-ovated, he has used parts of it in many works, reflecting a penchant for recy-cling and fascination with all forms of alchemy. In August 2016, thieves damaged a sculpture valued at some 1.5 million euros ($1.65m) at Kiefer’s ware-house in Seine-et-Marne outside Paris.

In 2007 and 2008, thieves stole 22 lead sculptures with a total weight of 7.5 tonnes, recovered later in very poor condition.

Modern rhinos have plodded the earth for 26 million years. As recently as the mid-19th century there were more than one million in Africa.

Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA’s 50th shuttle mission; its crew includes the first African-American woman in space, the first married couple, and the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft.

September 12, 1992