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PagesVol. 17 Issue No 4655724th February, 201919th Jumada II,1440

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New Governors to Take Oath Today before the President

By: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum- The new governors of the states will, on Today (Sunday), take the oath before the President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al Bashir, at the Presidential Palace.The President of the Republic issued, Friday, a repub-lican decrees dissolving the federal and state govern-ments and imposing a state of emergency throughout the country for a year. He also announced economic measures that a government with new tasks assigned to an executive team of competent national capaci-

ties would carry out, until the completion of the dia-logue process. Al Bashir announced the formation of state gov-ernors of military, police and NISS commanders, where he kept Lieut. Gen. (Police) Hashim Osman Al-Hussein as governor of Khartoum and appoint-ed First Lt. .Gen. Ali Mohamed Salem as governor for Gezira, Major General (Retired) Al-Tayeb Al-Misbah for the River Nile, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Khamis Bakheet for the White Nile, Major General Engineer Issa Abdullah for Sennar State, First Lieut. Gen. Yahya Mohamed Khair for the Blue Nile, First Lieut. Ge. Hashim Abdul Muttalib for the Northern State,

Major General (Rtd.) Al-Naim Khatar Mursal for North Darfur, Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Ali Abu Shanab for South Darfur, Lieut. Gen. Mohamed Munti An-jar for Southern Kordofan, Maj. Gen. Khaled Nour Al-Daim for Central Darfur, Lieut. General (Secu-rity) Dokhr Al-Zaman Omer for West Kordofan, Brigadier (Security) Mubarak Mohamed Shimat for Gederif, Maj. Gen. Mohaleb Hassan Ahmed for West Darfur, Maj. Gen. Suleiman Mokhtar for East Darfur.The Republican decrees kept the ministers of the presidency, cabinet, foreign affairs, defense, federal government, justice..

Breaking News

New EraNews Report

Ibn Auf Appointed First Vice President, Eila Prime MinisterPresident of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer al Bashir issued a Republican Decrees accord-ing to which Lt. Gen. (Psc) Awad Mohamemd Ahmed Ibn Auf is appointed as First Vice President of the Republic and Minister of De-fence, and Dr, Mohammed Tahir Eila as Prime Minister.

Al-Dirdiri Reveals US Administration Desire to Push forward the DialogueBy: Najat Ahmed

Khartoum - While briefing the cabinet about the outcomes of the visit of the special assistant for the US president, Cyril Sartor, the minister of foreign affairs, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, said that the delegation had confirmed US de-sire to push forward the dialogue. ‘In addition to this, they say they will work hard to remove Sudan from the list of terrorism. He went on to say that the delegation will do its best to push forward the procedures that relate to the bank-ing transfers between the two countries which are the outcomes of the first stage of Sudan –US dialogue. In an unrelated development, the cabinet hears to premier Mutaz Musa, the chairperson of the higher committee that deals with the operation of the Southern port of Port Sudan, who says that the cabinet has got satis-fied with the procedures regarding the choice of the Pilipino company which is the best one, both technically and financially. The cabinet directs the company to accomplish the article that relates to community responsi-bility at the Red Sea. This is in addition to the preservation of the rights of the employees at the port.

Oil Ministry Signs 3 Agreements, Forwards 23 Recommendation on SMIFE 2019

By: Shadia Basheri - Khalda Elyas

Khartoum North, Central Darfur, Sinnar States in collaboration with the Ministry of oil, Gas and Minerals represented by Geo-logical Research signed three mining agree-ment in the conclusion session of 4th Annual Sudan International Mining Business Forum and Exhibition (SMFE).The forum recom-mended expediting the establishment of gold Bourse to eliminate the smuggling and pro-moting the social responsibility role.

Meeting on Borders’ Demarcation between Sudan and S. SudanBy: Ahmed Ibrahim Ballal

Khartoum - The chairperson of the national border commission, Dr. Muaz Ahmed Mohamed said that the meeting for the demarca-tion of borders between Sudan South Sudan will be wholly dedicated to specify all the require-ments of putting marks on the ground associated with the agreed upon de-scription including all the procedures that relate to specification of the bor-ders.He went on to say that the meeting is the ninth of its kind, indicating that in the meeting the commit-tee will accomplish all the technical procedures that pertain to the demar-cation of borders.

The co-chairperson of the demarcation committee be-tween Sudan and South Sudan, Major General/Engi-neer, Al Amin Mohamed Banaqa, said that the meet-ing tasks are to involve the demarcation operations,

the required budget, visit of sites and the knowledge of the circumstances that surround the demarcation of the borders. He went on to say that the committee extended the in-

vitation to the African Un-ion to contribute in funding of operations as well as the extension of logistic sup-port.And ambassador Dalios Garang, the co-chairper-son of the joint commit-tee for the demarcation of borders between Sudan and South Sudan said that purpose of the meeting is to carry out preparations and arrangements for the agreed upon demarcation between the two countries , affirming that the joint committee would accom-plish the job in a very short time.

Sudan Vision

Khartoum - Last Thursday was an extraordi-nary day in Sudan’s history as it witnessed a series of meetings that aimed at enlighten-ment about decisions which will make an upheaval in the political scene and leads to safe landing.The most significant turn is that President Al Bashir will stand at the same distance between all political forces after his disen-gagement from the ruling National Con-gress party to become the President of all the Sudanese people.Another significant turn is the decisions included in the President address in which he declared a one-year state of emergency, ordered the parliament to postpone a con-stitutional reform to allow him to run for another term and decided to dismiss the national government and the dissolution of state governments.“In order to arrange the national political scene to achieve (a national) consensus, I declare the state of emergency through-out the country for a year, the dissolution of the government of national consen-sus, the solution of state governments.” Al Bashir said in his address.He pointed out that the document of national dialogue will be the basis for a dialogue with the political forces at home and abroad.“I call on Parliament to postpone con-sidering the constitutional amend-ments in order to (create a condu-cive environment) for constructive dialogue and national initiatives,” he stressed.However, he pledged to dedicate his efforts as a President of the Republic to oversee the process of dialogue.“I will be at the same distance from everyone: loyalists and opponents Us-ing justice, transparency and broad-

mindedness,” he emphasized.The Sudanese president’s speech was marked by a conciliatory language towards his opponents and paid tribute to those who were killed in the nation-wide protests.He said it was not unacceptable to see people call-ing for improving the general situation and to ad-dress the poor government performance.“But what was unacceptable and troubling is that some people try to jump in the front line of the protests and exploit it to achieve an agenda that adopts zero options leading the country to an unknown fate,” he said.He called on the political forces to consider the demands of young people and to involve them in na-tional con-struction.Also, he

called to consider the role of the armed forces as a guarantor of stability.Before announcing his decisions, President Al Ba-shir held intensive meetings with the Higher Coor-dination Committee for Dialogue, which includes his allies in the government.He also met with the leadership office of the Na-tional Congress, while the Foreign Ministry in-formed the diplomatic missions about these devel-opmentsOn the other hand, the Director of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), 1st Lt. Gen. (Eng.) Salah Abdallah Gosh met with the dailies newspapers editors-in-chief and prominent columnists few hours before Al Bashir speech that the latter would abandon the chairmanship of the National Congress Party and continue as President of the Republic so that the party can nominate an-other candidate for the 2020 elections.Commenting on the declaration of the state of emer-gency Gosh made assurances that it will not ban the freedoms or preventing the dialogues among the political forces, justifying the declaration of state of emergency will assist in fighting the corrupt peo-

ple, and the speculators in foreign currencies.However, what was declared last Thurs-

day was on the table of political nego-tiations since long time considering that

the country is in need for a consistent leader who stands at the same distance from all political forces.

All the reforms in all as-pects require bold

political will ca-pable to lead

the aspired change.Let us hope

that this third path leads the

country to over-come its political

and economic cri-ses.

Technical Committee Formed to Review the Situation of International ParkHOME2

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Cameras Installed for the Security of Exams By: Ahmed Ibrahim Ballal

Khartoum - Former minister of education at the Khar-toum state, Mohamed Yousif Al-Digair, announces that security measures to prevent any leakage of the exams for the secondary school certificate have been carried out so as to avoid the repeat of the mistakes of last year. While addressing the Khartoum state’s legislative council, he said that, ‘it is for the first time in history that supervision cameras are installed at the exams’ stores, pointing out that the exams will be started on this coming March 2.The minister of education explained that there are 900 centers that have been earmarked for 153 thousands of

the pupils-boys /girls- of the state who are to sit for the exam, going on to detail the number as follows: for the government sector there are more than 77 thousand (girls and boys) and the private sector 75 thousands. Concerning the exams for the basic level, Al-Digair disclosed that more than 165 thousands (boys/girls) at the state level will sit for the exams, adding the costs of the exams reach SDG 52 651000.With regard to guaranteeing the security of the exams, the former minister said that there are more than 2700 police/ security personnel who have been availed for the purpose.He concluded his remarks by saying that the staff of the printing press have been sworn in to guarantee the top secrecy of the exams.

Technical Committee Formed to Review the Situation of International Park

By: Al-Sammani Awadallah

Khartoum – State Minister, Sec-retary General of the Council for International People’s Friendship (CIPF) issued a decision to form a technical committee to review the situation in the international park and identify the investments made in it and review the allocation re-ceived by some parties and deter-mine their compatibility with the

purposes for which the park was established.The decision granted the Commit-tee the authority to take legal ac-tion against all infringements on the land of the garden as well as those required in cases of refrain-ing from paying the rents for these investments, stressing the adoption of measures to save the resources of the International Park towards investments that have already paid

rents by checks without balance.He directed the committee to carry out the implementation of all the recommendations and observa-tions mentioned in the report of the Auditor-General for the year 2018 regarding the International Park for the preservation of public money.The decision committed the com-mittee to complete its work and submit its final report within two weeks.

Meeting of State Governors of the National Fund for Student WelfareSudan Vision

KHARTOUM - The General Secre-tariat of the National Students Wel-fare Fund (NSWF) has completed its preparations for the launch of the Fifth States Trustees’ Conference here under the theme of “Leader-ship Support for Education Attrac-tive Environment”, from February 26 to 28, under the patronage of the Secretary General of the Fund,

Professor Mohamed Abdullah Al- Naqarabi.Acting Chairman of the Committee of the Forum, Dr. Ahmed Hamza said that the organizing committee has completed all preparations for the forum to come unique in its pa-pers and outcomes, pointing out that the forum will discuss three working papers including one on resource and investment for its importance in activating more resources for the

fund, besides a paper on technical education and how to activate the required support, and a third paper on the student activities and its role in promoting the concept of students for the post-graduate to be a useful student for his country, pointing out that the forum will continue for three days to conclude its activities by formulating the final recommen-dations aim at implementing the motto of the forum..

UNICEF Country Director Holds Meeting with Hamam Asalam and Iva Charitable OrganizationsBy Alsammani Awadalla

Khartoum:The country director of UNICEF Abdalla Al Fadil has held a meeting with the two charitable or-ganizations of Hamam Asalam and Iva and discussed with them issues related to education, water and health in the

state of west Kurdufan.The said organ-izations handed the country director a joint report containing the problems in the field of education and water in several villages in the localities of west Kurdufan state following the sur-vey conducted by the two organiza-tions in the state in the framework of

the brilliant partnership between them for implementing security and stability projectsThe executive director of Iva organiza-tion Ruanda Hashim said the meeting was positive and touched on issues re-lated to education, water, children and health.

3 Sunday, February 24, 2019CURRENT

Lest We ForgetThe main slogan of the recent protests all over the country is (Peaceful .. Liberation – Peace –Justice), but in reality the pho-tos show that the slogan was mere allega-tion as the sabotage attempts dominated

almost all the demonstration leaving huge losses in the properties of individuals and public facilities.We repeat our message to those who are behind the sabotage attempts is that the

public facilities belong to the Sudanese tax-payers and not the government. Those who are behind the protests should con-sider that the private properties belong to Sudanese nationals who spend years and

years to make it.The recent moves from the government to resolve the political and economical crises are clear messages that the govern-ment cares for the welfare of the people.

4

AFRICA IN FOCUS Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Nigeria’s Oil Industry Stands at Crossroads Ahead of Elections

Dr Jean-Christophe Shako

The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the midst of its 10th Ebola outbreak. Since the first case was declared in the north-eastern town of Beni in August 2018, al-most 800 cases have been confirmed in 19 different health zones, and more than 500 people have died.I’ve worked on four Ebola outbreaks across Africa and have often found myself in tricky situations with local people who view outsiders with suspicion. During the 2014 outbreak in Guinea, for example, my team and I were threatened by villag-ers who ran after us with machetes.It only took a few days in Butembo before I was surrounded by an angry mob chant-ing “kill him”.It only took a few days in Butembo, re-sponding to the current outbreak in east-ern Congo, before I was surrounded by an angry mob chanting “kill him”, after they refused to allow our surveillance team to investigate a death in their neighbour-hood.Such experiences have taught me that keeping your calm and speaking respect-fully are the best ways to de-escalate tense and violent situations.But I still wasn’t prepared for my first ex-perience of going face-to-face with Mai-Mai rebel leaders to negotiate access in Congo so our health teams could reach affected communities.Since this outbreak erupted in North Kivu province last August, health teams knew they would face big challenges. The vi-rus had resurfaced in a densely populat-ed, heavily travelled urban region where about 100 armed groups operate, restrict-ing the response. The risk of rapid geo-graphic spread was very high.Ebola is a highly contagious virus, and when a person contracts the disease all those they come into contact with need to

be screened for symptoms.As the Ebola response coordinator in Butembo, my role was to organise sur-veillance activities to find these contacts as quickly as possible – that means before they start showing symptoms, become contagious, and spread the virus.Very early on in this outbreak we got an indication of just how hard this was go-ing to be. Six days after I arrived in Beni, the epicentre, we heard that 30 contacts of confirmed Ebola patients had fled to Butembo, about 60 kilometres away and home to over a million people.Finding people who don’t want to be found is not an easy task.Finding people who don’t want to be found is not an easy task. It’s made even more difficult when those affected live in inaccessible areas controlled by armed rebel groups, including the Mai-Mai – self-defense militias feared by the local population because of years of crimes, including torture, kidnapping, and indis-

criminate killings.Less than two months after I arrived in Butembo, we heard that the body of an eight-month-old boy who died from Ebola was in the Mai-Mai village of Tinge. Be-cause the risk of Ebola spreading is most severe immediately after a patient dies, I knew we needed to gain access to people in Tinge as our only way of saving lives and avoiding disaster.I told our health teams and international partners we had to go to that village to vaccinate people. Everybody thought I was crazy.The Mai-Mai are known to be well armed and unafraid of the authorities. Even our national police and army don’t dare ven-ture into some of these rebel-controlled zones. Only my driver and the titulaire – the nurse overseeing that health zone – agreed to join this uncertain and risky mission.The following morning, I got into the car not knowing if I would even come back

alive. After a 45-minute drive on windy roads, followed by a 35-minute walk along muddy forest trails, we finally reached Tinge. About 50 people were gathered un-der big dark green tarpaulins, mourning the baby boy.We were greeted by a woman who asked what we were doing in their village. I told her I had to see the village chief because I had something important to tell him. She pointed me to his house.As an epidemiologist with a specialisation in molecular biology, my colleagues jok-ingly nicknamed me “the complete man” because I can perform all the tasks in the surveillance toolkits: investigate and validate alerts, take samples from suspect cases, and even test these samples in the laboratory.However, in this situation, my skills weren’t that useful. What we needed even more was to find a way to convince the sceptical local community to collaborate with us and stop Ebola.As I entered the house of the village chief, my heart was racing. I had heard so many scary stories about Mai-Mai fighters that I didn’t know what to expect.In the house, I saw five men at the dining table, waiting for lunch to be served. They were covered with the amulets the Mai-Mai use to protect themselves. The chief was sitting on a chair with large banana leaves beneath his feet.To my surprise, when they saw me, they invited me to join them at the table. A woman brought a small stool and hot water to wash my hands, before we were served pondu (cassava leaves), fufu (cas-sava flour with water) and one piece of meat.My hosts remained silent, observing and analysing my behaviour. Only when I began eating did the atmosphere lighten. My hosts started smiling and talking. The chief told me they appreciated my humil-

ity by agreeing to eat with them.That is when our conversation finally start-ed. They had never heard about Ebola nor the vaccination. So I spent more than 30 minutes explaining the virus to them, how it spreads, what the preventative measures are, and how the vaccination works.Without saying a word, the village chief went outside and gathered the villagers. He said a few words in their local dialect while making big gestures. Then he al-lowed the titulaire to list all those who had been in contact with the baby boy so we could follow the chain of transmission. In total, 75 people came forward.Before leaving, we agreed to meet the next day in a neutral zone where vaccina-tion teams and police agents would be al-lowed to come. At 8am, everyone arrived and our teams began vaccinating.Not a single person in that village devel-oped the virus.After making contact with the chief of Tinge, I was able to meet other Mai-Mai chiefs, including a group that controls the area linking Butembo to the major city of Goma. I visited their village in December, where I spoke to a group of fighters for two hours, answering all the questions they had about Ebola.Later, in a one-on-one meeting with the chief, I called the Minister of Health and arranged for them to speak. The chief warmly thanked the minister for his com-mitment to ending the Ebola outbreak, guaranteeing that his fighters would not harm the response teams. A week later, I returned to the village with several boxes of medicines the minister sent the Mai-Mai to cement this collaboration.Earning trust during such a deadly out-break is always hard. Which showed me yet again that respect, compassion, and humility can go a long way – even saving your life and the life of an entire commu-nity.

First Person: To Stop Ebola, Ask the Rebels to Help“I had heard so many scary stories about Mai-Mai fighters that I didn’t know what to expect»

By: Neil Munshi

Nigeria’s state-owned refinery in Kaduna, a rusted hulk set on about 1.1 square miles on the parched outskirts of the northern city, has the capacity to process 110,000 barrels of oil a day. Last year it processed virtually nothing. The three other state-owned refiner-ies — in the oil-rich Niger delta region in the south of the country — did not do much better. In the year to October, the refineries op-erated at barely 11 percent of their capacity of 445,000 barrels a day. In October itself, none of the re-fineries processed any crude, and they operated at a combined loss of $30 million.The decrepitude of the refineries in Africa’s largest crude produc-er is not only a reflection of the sorry state of an oil and gas sec-tor starved of investment but also a reminder of the country’s slug-gish crude-driven economy. Oil still accounts for as much as 56 percent of state revenues.The two main candidates facing off to lead Africa’s most populous nation — the election was meant to take place yesterday but was de-layed by a week — offer very dif-ferent choices for reforming this vital industry, between public– or private sector-led development. It highlights a continuing debate in the country for which the term “kleptocracy” was coined in the 1960s over whether corruption is the price Nigeria must pay for growth. For the incumbent, President Mu-hammadu Buhari, the issue is per-sonal. He built some of the state refineries as oil minister in the 1970s, and his approach reflects his past as a military dictator: His focus is state-led growth and his plan is to form public-private partnerships to revive the refiner-ies.In stark contrast Atiku Abubakar, his main rival, plans to sell off the refineries. The 72-year-old made his fortune in the oil and gas busi-ness before leading the country’s patchy privatization drive as vice president in the 2000s — a push he promises to revive if he wins. His principal target is the Nige-rian National Petroleum Corp.

(NNPC), the sprawling state-owned oil company, an epicenter of corruption.Both want to diversify the oil-dependent economy and boost infrastructure spending, but differ on how to achieve it. For perhaps the first time Nigerian voters have a clear choice between the major candidates based on their polar opposite approaches to the econ-omy and business.“[Buhari] tends to be a bit more state interventionist, in the sense of trying to use the mechanisms of the state to create outcomes,” says Nonso Obikili, director of the Abuja-based Turgot Centre for Economics and Policy Re-search. “Atiku’s focus seems to be more market-driven … the focus seems to be let’s create the policy environment and let the private individuals do what they want to do.”Discussions of economic stew-ardship in Nigeria are inextri-cable from those about public corruption. For much of the pre-vious decade, Nigeria’s economy roared along at about 7 percent annual growth. But the number of Nigerians living in poverty also grew, suggesting that the growth was superficial and unproductive, partly fueled by stolen money funding the lavish lifestyles of the politically connected.Buhari has campaigned explicitly against that era. He was elected in 2015 on an anti-corruption pledge and maintains an aura of incor-ruptibility even as his anti-graft drive has been harshly criticized as partisan, and has yet to result in a single conviction after four years. The president has shared the stage this campaign with a number of politicians suspected by anti-graft campaigners of cor-ruption. And according to a Gal-lup poll released in February 84 percent of Nigerians believe gov-ernment corruption is widespread — down just 2 points from 2014.Abubakar has also vowed to tackle corruption, but he was vice presi-dent for some of those high-flying years in the 2000s — and graft al-legations have trailed him ever since. A 2010 U.S. Senate report into how named individuals “cir-cumvent U.S. anti–money laun-

dering and anti-corruption safe-guards” alleged that Abubakar’s American wife had helped him move $40 million of “suspect” funds from offshore accounts to the U.S. The investigation’s find-ings “raise a host of questions about the nature and source” of Abubakar’s wealth, according to the report. He denies any wrong-doing, but his reputation is ce-mented in the eyes of many vot-ers, supporters and opponents.Of the 73 candidates in the race to lead Africa’s largest economy only two have a chance of win-ning the election: Buhari and Abubakar, both backed by power-ful political machines.The All Progressives Congress, which backs Buhari, and Abu-bakar’s PDP don’t operate on a traditional ideological left-right continuum. Instead, the parties appear to function largely as ve-hicles for state capture, through which the country’s resources can be used to fund vast patron-age networks. Their policy posi-tions have tended to be broad and similar, centered on state-driven development. So fluid are the par-ties that Abubakar has switched back and forth multiple times — in the last election, he part funded the Buhari campaign, allowing the former general to use his pri-vate jet.But in January Abubakar outlined

the difference between him and the president. “He is anti-busi-ness, anti-private sector,” he said. “I am pro-business, pro-private sector.” Many executives in La-gos, Nigeria’s commercial center, broadly agree with his blunt as-sessment.Abubakar wants to privatize state assets, lower corporate taxes and attract foreign direct investment. He also says he wants to float the naira, which the central bank has spent billions of dollars propping up at what critics call an artificial-ly strong rate of N360 to the dol-lar for more than a year. He says one of his top priorities will be passing decades-in-the-making oil sector reforms that are widely seen as essential to spurring in-vestment in the moribund indus-try. Buhari has refused to sign a section of the reforms into law in part, critics say, because it would dilute the power of the executive branch.The president is sticking to his state-led, bottom-up approach to development, focusing on agri-culture, small business and in-frastructure. He is campaigning as the candidate of the masses, in keeping with his almost cultlike following in the country’s popu-lous north.While their campaign prom-ises differ widely, it’s not clear whether a victory for either side

will produce markedly differ-ent economic outcomes given the country’s immense structural challenges, says Adriaan du Toit, sub-Saharan Africa economist for AllianceBernstein. “The sig-nificant dependence on oil means that the next president’s [abil-ity to enact] reforms will be very much aligned with what happens to oil prices in the next couple of years,” he adds.Even critics concede Buhari was dealt a bad hand, taking office just as the oil price crashed. But many economists believe he exacer-bated the recession that followed. At a meeting of businesspeople in Lagos last weekend, he said his government had come into power in 2015 focused on three priorities: national security, tackling “ram-pant corruption” and improving the economy. He seemed to concede that progress had been slow.‘‘These three priorities, if ad-dressed, will completely transform Nigeria to a diversified, inclusive and competitive economy,” he was quoted as saying in local media. “But this is not an overnight transi-tion. We are not only transforming systems and processes but we are also changing hearts and minds.”Hearts and minds are hard to meas-ure. But a host of economic indica-tors paint a dismal picture of Bu-hari’s stewardship.During his tenure: Unemployment

has soared from 8.3 percent to more than 23 percent with another fifth of Nigerians underemployed; the stock market is the world’s worst performing, falling by more than half in dollar terms; and the country became home to the most people living in extreme poverty — defined as living on less than $1.90 per day — 87 million, surpassing India, a country with six times its populationBuhari’s economic woes have al-lowed his rival to argue that his suc-cess in business makes him perfectly qualified to, as his campaign slogan says, “get Nigeria working again.” But it is precisely his success that raises the suspicions of many Nigeri-ans — and at times on the campaign trail, he has fed that mistrust.At a business conference in Lagos in January, Abubakar was pressed about allegations of crony capital-ism during his time as vice president raised in a recent Eurasia Group re-port.It was a sentiment that confirmed some Nigerians’ worst suspicions about Abubakar, and his plans for the economy. It hinted at something broader, says Amaka Anku, Africa director for the Eurasia Group. “APC has a ton of corrupt people. They’re all hiding under Buhari’s halo, but the difference is the message they’re sending is that it’s not OK,” she says. “What I find fascinating is that Atiku and PDP are flirting with just saying it’s OK, corruption is OK as long as the economy is growing.”Defending his comments Abu-bakar said: “I am saying corrup-tion is not OK, but neither is it OK to make the nation poorer via a partisan fight against it. My administration will grow the econ-omy and fight corruption.”At an Abubakar rally in Kaduna, Hadiza Mohammed Sani de-scribes Nigeria as being “in a coma,” blaming Buhari for the economic downturn.She says that although Abubakar, like many politicians, has benefit-ed from his political position — taking his share of what Nigerians call “the national cake” — he has also used it to employ thousands and would use his business acu-men to benefit all Nigerians. “He might be a thief, but he never eats alone,” she adds.

5 Sunday, February 24, 2019BUSINESS ECONOMY

Mohamed Abdalla

Economic Vision

Email: moabd31@yahoo.com

The main issue that dominates the minds of Sudanese is “Econ-omy” they talk about the livelihood, minimum wages, unem-ployment, gross domestic product, inflation, import and export activities, the uprising of prices and the corruption. those are the economic common ground to any country, the whole world is suffering from the dramatic trade changes and economic de-terioration following the world economic crisis in 2008, but the challenges that face each country were different, in case of Sudan the challenge is “External” nearly 80% of the economic problems associated with the consequences of the US unilateral economic sanctions which was imposed in 1997.The sanctions affected the trade activity and investment process alongside the movement of “capitals” which rely on internation-al banking relations. We know that internal economic resources and potentials alone can’t change the fact, unless it access to international banking system.Sudan has endowed with all the types of economic factors, land, labor and various kinds of resources, but the question is why do we still complain? the answer is so simple, because US isolated Sudan, the influx of foreign investment was affected by the fi-nancial instructions issued by US central bank, while the Sudan products were siege by the restrictions that paralyzed both im-port and export business.The future of Sudan economy is not related to the currency rate exchange, it links to the “freedom of capitals” and money trans-actions, the government must focus on persuading the influ-enced largest economic countries to remove Sudan from the list of the banking banned countries, this is the number one issue, now the economic disease has been diagnosed, so it is easy to prescribe the suitable medicine that draws the brilliant future of Sudan economy.US is responsible for the ongoing bad situation, it uses double standard to deal with Sudan, Sudan has met the conditions of be-ing removed from the list of the countries sponsoring terrorism, all the US official statements and intelligence reports confirmed and assured that Sudan contributes to fight against “terror” and cooperates to realize the regional and international security and peace, I think hammering on changing US stances against Sudan is the only way out to the better economic situation.

Resumption of Real Estate Funding By: Ahmed Ibrahim Ballal

Recently, the Central Bank of Sudan had issued regulations to organize the finance of the real estate, allowing through a bul-letin the banks to fund the construction of real estates, on condition that land lots are owned by the clients. The subject matter to fund the real estate’s has received many and vari-ous reactions, especially by the economic experts, conspicuous among them is the former minister of finance, Abdul Rahim Hamdi who said that for the central bank to open the finance of the real estate for the citizens is the correct policy, pointing out that the main problem that will face the banks is funding, explaining that although are available, but the problem is how to exploit that ra-tionally. The manager of the real estate bank, Osman Abdul Al-Azim, af-firms the ability of his bank to fund the real estates, indicating that the decision will activate many sec-tors, seeing that the move will help to attract additional resources to the banks.Haitham Fathi, economist, argues that the Sudan’s market of the real estate compared with that of the neighboring countries, is the most

expensive one, seeing that and due to the hike of the exchange rates, the prices of the residential lands have reached skyrocketing levels. ‘Such a trend is not without reasons to justify; unlike the cultures of the other nations which are wholly characterized by renting, that of Sudan has mainly been dominated by ownership’. He hopes that the bulletin of the central bank of Sudan will con-tribute to spread widely the idea of the finance of the real estate, hop-ing that the decision is to bear into consideration the following: the pricing of the residential building. Levels of families’ income, infla-tion and the problems facing the real estates. ‘Thorough considera-

tion of such points, will help in the return of trust to the banking sys-tem’.The economist went to say that the real estate will make much mo-mentum in the market by activat-ing the related various sectors in the field which in turn are to reflect positively in the availability of ac-commodations for families; there-fore the insurance of their future. Former finance state minister, Dr. Izz El-Din Ibrahim, said that the order to open the finance of the real estate is associated with both advantages and disadvantages: ‘the advantages are the increase money masses which in turn are to lead to the availability liquidity in the banks-a move that is to contribute

in the development of the country. Regarding the disadvan-tages, he says; ‘increase in money masses will lead to increase in infla-tion rates- something that is to exacerbate the misery of the poor by making them the poor-est ones and the rich the richest. Increase of the prices of the building materials in the coming days. And creation of a high demand to the dol-lar to import materials from abroad’. The former finance state minister concluded his remarks to say that the

opening of the funding for the real estate will lead to attainment of de-velopment goals, but without eco-nomic stability due to inflation.And the banking analyst, Dr. Taha Hussein, who praised the move of the bank of Sudan to open the fi-nance of the real estate, indicating that its halt previously is not with-out adverse repercussions which he enumerates as follows: the ones who deal in the area of the real es-tate have transferred their money to trade in other fields such the dollar that adversely affects the market by increasing the commodity prices, assuring that the move will lead the dollar traders to return to their pre-vious jobs in the sphere of the real estate.

The International Dimension of Sudan Economy Issues

Agreement Signed between Khartoum Agriculture Minister and Palestine Agency By: SUNA

Khartoum - The Minister of Agri-culture, Livestock and Irrigation of Khartoum State, Eng. Al-Tahir Al-Tayeb, and Palestine Ambassador,

Dr. Samir Abdul-Gabar, Thursday discussed way of strengthening ag-ricultural partnership with the Pal-estinian Agency for International Cooperation.The Minister affirmed the capabili-ties of Khartoum state in agricul-

ture and livestock sector.He reviewed the plan of the state in developing and producing hor-ticultural crops for exportation adding that the ministry aims to in-digenize the potato seeds and find abroad markets for the agricultural

production.The ambassador has appreciated the Sudanese stances for support-ing Palestinian cause, indicating that the Palestinian community in Khartoum finding all support.

African Minerals and Geosciences Center Holds its 38th Meeting in Khartoum By: Neimat al Naiem

Khartoum –Africa Minerals and Geosciences Center (AMGC) held its 38th meeting with par-ticipation of eight African mem-ber states in the period from 13rd -22nd February 2019 in Khar-toum.In an exclusive brief interview explained to Sudan Vision, Dr. Ibrahim Shadad, the Director General of the AMGC high-lighted the establishment of the center in 1977 to provide train-ing services in mineral and geo-sciences, as one of five regional

centers in Africa. It is a regional center works for East and South Africa. Its member states are Co-moro Islands, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya and Sudan, beside the AU, and the UNSECA. It became a continental center to provide training services to all Africa as one of the scientific centers to implement the scien-tific vision of mining.Sudan had joint the AMGC in August 2010 as member state, preceded by Kenya. Since that time up to 2015 Sudan commit-ted with the annual subscriptions in the AMGC and had obtained

more than 175 training oppor-tunities in geosciences different fields.Dr. Shdad the, Director General who was elected as the first one after the AMGC became a con-tinental provides services to all Africa involving researchers, scientists and students of geo-sciences .He said it is a conti-nental diplomatic organization, its headquarter in Dar al Slam in Tanzania .He added that AMGC provides services in through five divisions and sections including mining and precious stones, industrial-ized minerals, minerals for de-

velopment concentrated on the small scale industries, promo-tion, and training targeting the Youth by using simple technol-ogy, transforming into ceram-ics, environment and chemistry that is the analyzing of rocks in collaboration with International Projects, the ICGR and the Great Lakes Organization, and Interna-tional observers from Germany . AMGC held the meeting of the board of directors, in the pe-riod from 13th-15 February fol-lowed by the council of officials meeting from 16th-18th and the Council of Governor meeting from 18th-22nd February 2019.

S. Africa Pledges $4.9 Billion Eskom Bailout

Reuters

South Africa’s struggling state-owned monopoly power utility com-pany, Eskom is set to receive a bailout.The debt-laden firm will receive 4.9 billion US dollars, the biggest bailout in the nation’s history after the government stepped in to pre-vent its collapse. According to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, the emergency funds will be meted out over three years. “We are setting aside 23 billion rand a year to financially support Eskom during its reconfiguration. The fiscal support, this is very important, is conditional on the appointment of an independent chief reorganization officer, who will be jointly appointed by the minister of finance and the minister of public enterprises,” said Mboweni.Recently, South Africa battled with the worst power cuts in several years designed to prevent a total collapse of the overstretched electric-ity grid. In regards to this, the government is considering splitting Eskom into three companies, generation, transmission and distribution.

350% the Rate of Greek Tourists in 2018

Sudan Vision

Khartoum -The number of Greek tourists who were given entry visas to Sudan in the year 2918 has increased by 350%, comparing to their number in the year 2917. The Ambassador of Sudan to Greek, Abdalla Ahmed has stated to SUNA. He attributed the development in this field to the orientations of Presi-dent Al Bashir which encourage Greek companies by facilitating the is-suance of visas to lead to increasing the number of tourists in 2019 due to the positive impression of Greeks tourists after departure of Greeks from Sudan and because of interest of the Greek tourism companies to advertise for visits to Sudan.It is to be noted that the existence of a Greek community in Sudan, refer to Greek club, school and Church at al-Jamhoria Street and the Acropol Hotel at the Center of Khartoum

US and China Extend Trade Talks

BBC

Chinese negotiators have agreed to extend their stay in Washington, as the US and China push to strike a trade deal.The decision was the latest sign that the two countries may be nearing an agreement, as they look for a way out of last year’s punishing trade war.In a statement shared by the White House, Chinese President Xi Jin-ping hailed “progress” in the negotiations.US President Donald Trump also said a deal was “more likely” than not.“The fact that they’re willing to stay for quite a bit longer... that means something,” he told reporters at the White House. “I think there’s a good chance that it happens.”Where do talks stand now?The US and China placed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of the oth-ers’ goods last year as they faced off on trade.The US had initially threatened to increase tariffs on $200bn worth of goods from 10% to 25% if the two sides could not agree a deal by 1 March.

EditorialHumanity and

Tolerance Should Prevail

OPINION6

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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Hardline supporters of Israel are in panic mode. It was in evidence earlier this week with the all-out assault on the first Somali, African-born immigrant, refugee, Muslim woman elected to serve in the US Congress. Her crime was that she dared to point out, as a leading New York Times columnist and so many others have in the past, the intimidating role that AIPAC plays in shaping US policy toward Israel. The response was nearly hysterical.Republicans used her as a scapegoat, hoping to turn her into a wedge issue to show that Democrats could no longer be trusted as unquestionable supporters of any and all Israeli policies. Sadly, some Democrats, cowering, piled on and joined in the denunciation. The problem, quite simply, is that those who have given Israel a blank check are losing ground among young and minority voters and don’t know what to do. Polls show a deep partisan/demographic split on American support for Israel ñ with millennials and minority voters moving away from Israel toward a more balanced, and even pro-Palestinian, direction. While Republicans are quite pleased with this rift and seek to exploit it to their advantage, some Democrats want to have it both ways. They want to maintain the support from these key constituencies, while at the same time silencing their opposition to Israeli polices.Reflecting this shift in attitudes, most of the 2020 Democratic presidential aspirants voted against a Senate bill that encourage states to violate the First Amendment by punishing individuals who participate in boycotting Israel. And, of course, the 116th Congress includes two Muslim

women, a Somali and a Palestinian, who make no bones about their criticism of Israeli policies that violate Palestinian human rights. Given this changing landscape, the reasons for the panic are clear enough. What is outrageous, however, has been the way supporters of Israel have decided to respond. They have weaponized anti-Semitism, turning it into a blunt instrument in a crude effort to pummel opponents and silence legitimate debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are currently bills before Congress that redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israel, criminalize participation in the boycott of Israel, and another that condemns anti-Semitism, but conflates criticism of Israel with heinous behaviors that defame the Jewish people.As further evidence of the change that’s afoot, a few weeks back, one of the New York Times newest opinion writers, Michelle Alexander, penned a significant piece tracing how and why she, an African American civil rights champion, had come to “make a break with Israel.” This past Sunday, most likely in response to Alexander’s column, the Times published an article by another of their writers, Bret Stephens. The piece was a dizzying mess of faulty logic, bogus “straw men,” and fictive history clumsily patched together in an effort to equate what he calls “the progressive left’s criticism of Israel” with anti-Semitism.Stephens rhetorically asks why the left is so critical of Israel and begins his answer by outlining what he claims is their indictment against Israel:“More than a half-century of occupation of Palestinian territories that fair-minded people can no longer ignore, especially given America’s financial support for Israel. Continued settlement expansion in the West Bank proves Israel has no

interest in making peace on equitable terms. And endless occupation makes Israel’s democracy less about Jewish self-determination than it is about ethnic subjugation.” Sounds right to me. But to Stephens this progressive argument is patently false. To make his case, he relies on fictional accounts of history ñ that are, at best, half true.To establish that Israel has long wanted to recognize a Palestinian state, he claims that Israeli prime ministers offered a state in 2000 and 2008, but were rebuffed. In fact, both offers were made by prime ministers who were on their way out the door ñ both with single-digit favorable ratings and soon to be booted out of office. Stephens neglected to mention that even then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami had conceded that the offer made to the Palestinians in 2000 was inadequate and unworthy of acceptance. His boasting that Ariel Sharon removed every single settlement from Gaza ignores the reality that the withdrawal was done unilaterally without consultation with the Palestinian Authority, as the US had insisted. And that Israel never ìleftî Gaza, but had simply pulled out the illegal settlements, then turned it into a captive open-air prison. To demonstrate Palestinian cruelty, Stephens notes the number of Israelis killed by Palestinians in this century, but ignores the fact that eight times more Palestinians have been killed by Israelis during the same period. To prove his bona fides, Stephens declares “I support a two-state solution,” but goes on to argue against those who oppose the very Israeli settlement construction that has made that outcome impossible to realize. He says that those who say that Israel ought to stop building in the occupied lands and make peace with the Palestinians are guilty of

“calumny.” In fact, he’s the one guilty of calumny since he claims that the opponents of settlements are all guilty of charging Israel with “boundless greed for Palestinian land and wicked indifference to their plight.” Finally, Stephens takes up the matter of anti-Zionism, which, he claims, is nothing more than the latest iteration of anti-Semitism. Israel is, he maintains, a democracy that is “the home of nearly nine million citizens, with an identity that is as distinctly and proudly Israeli as the Dutch are Dutch...” He ignores the recently passed Jewish Nation State Law that declares Israel as exclusively Jewish ñ reducing to second class citizenship the %21 of Israel’s population who are Palestinian Arabs. It is true, as Stephens facilely points out, that Palestinian citizens of Israel can serve in the Knesset, but he ignores the fact that they are subject to discrimination in housing, access to public transportation, health care, university admissions (there are specific areas of study they cannot enter), and are at the receiving end of over 50 laws that discriminate against them. So while Stephens considers pointing out these flaws as anti-Semitic, in fact, his obvious contempt for the humanity of Palestinians, their history of dispossession, and their treatment either as second-class citizens of Israel or as victims of a brutal occupation, can only be described as racist.In the end, if we are honest with ourselves, we are left with a situation that must be addressed. Change is coming. Those who have been able to use pressure to silence debate on Israeli behaviors and Palestinian rights need to learn that continuing to do so will not silence voices of dissent, they will only make them stronger. The message is clear and writ large ñ “Game Over!”

Game Over!

The popular protests which is entering now its third month are accompanied by an abnormal hatred and exclusion spirits.

The current situation of our beloved country and the political congestion surrounding it require high degree of tolerance to pave the way for overcoming our ordeal. We should benefit from the example of Nelson Mandela, who was a great leader for South Africa and a model for humanity. We have to learn from his life, and new generations should follow his example of peaceful struggle, tolerance and forgiveness. The life of Mandela, even while he was in prison, provided a good example in tolerance and reconciliation to peoples around the world. Although the African National Council of South Africa, as a liberation movement in the global south, began with armed struggle, under Mandelaís leadership it moved toward peaceful struggle to end apartheid. Notwithstanding his many years in prison and the brutality of the apartheid regime against black South Africans, Mandela was instrumental in preventing any revengeful or retaliatory actions against the white minority in South Africa. His government established a truth and reconciliation commission that helped to renounce past practices and to integrate society. The current status of intimidation and hasty judgments which is dominating our political arena could never lead to providing a conducive environment for reaching an inclusive national accord. It is a big mistake if one category or another thinks that the solution is in its hands and any other initiative should be neglected. It is observed in the recent weeks that some trends are belittling any imitative forwarded by others despite the fact those who forward the initiative are national figures and renowned intellectuals. This could be described as an exclusion status which should be refrained from and recover from its ailment. The current dominating exclusion status will delay the recovery of the society and the tolerance among the components of the Sudanese in general. It is high time for all of us to know that no group could allege that it is the savior and no other group should be involved through their initiatives. Those who seek change should know that Sudan belongs to all Sudanese even though their views are different. Let us work together to cross to safe shores to make our Sudan a spacious place that accommodates all our differences.

It seems that this is the season of initiatives. Everyone is preparing his initiative! The political arena is congested with all kinds of initiatives. The irony is that some of those initiatives are made by some parties who are demanding the “dismantling” and the immediate “departure” of the regime. In such case the so-called initiative is not initiative, but it is a declaration of war against the regime! However the government was quick to give its answers to those

initiatives and their masters about whether it is going to accept or reject them or even whether it is ready to talk about them. But it was noticed that the answer came from an official no less that the chairman of the National Intelligence and Security Service, Lt Gen. Engineer Salah Abdallah Gosh. As usual and as per his decisive “personality”, the man was very clear. He left no doubts behind him about what he exactly meant to say. Every initiative which comes “outside” the legal and sovereign establishments is flatly rejected; the man put it very clear. He described and explained what he meant by the legal and sovereign establishments. There is a current political and legal system governing

the country. We have a strong, reliable and stable presidential establishment. It is carrying out its duties and mandates very efficiently. We have a stable and competent cabinet of ministers. It is running the country in the best possible ways that could be expected from a government in case of Sudan. We have an elected National Parliament in the capital and similar legislative establishments in the states. We have a just and good reputation judicial authority. We have an army that had never been defeated, although it has been fighting since independence, while all the armies in neighboring countries were destroyed and “dissolved”. We have a security service that has not only local reputation,

but its efficiency was praised by big and famous security establishments in the world. We have a police establishment that is one of the oldest in Africa and the Arab world. Putting all these factors into consideration, we have the right to put forward the following question: what is the need for initiatives from outside such system? This is the answer for those who raised their “eyebrows” when the government refused to receive those initiatives. The case is similar to those who are trying to “march” towards the Presidential Palace to “hand off” a petition to the president. You have your political establishments. Do the work through them! Keep your breath to cool your porridge!

These Initiatives Are Totally “Rejected”!

Email: zumma1888@gmail.com

Abdul Rahman AL-Zuma

I Witness

Dr. James J. Zogby (c)

WashingtonWatch

What is mean to be successful? It depends on your goals and your perspective about success, everyone has his own sight. Individually, success means self-discipline, a person who is honest and reconciled with himself, who set goals and plan to achieve them, maturity and wise judgment. Socially, to be part of the community, in order to participate in social activities, share knowledge and experience; help other people. For those reasons and others like, people study hard, work harder to get a ticket in success hall

of fame to tell their story, when they do that, the crowd open his mouth, surprising how they did that? How did they get on the stage? Obviously, they took the stairs; no elevator can get you there. Failure stairs, years of hard work, years of burned papers, useless experiments, in fact, they stress on that part at the opening speech but no one will give attention because they think it is a boring story.People donít like failure, the story behind success as well; they only impressed by the final result, but this result didnít emerge in two days or a week, it cost a lot to get the stage, maybe decades or a century. America, the same country who start slavery was ruled by a black man tow-year ago for two rounds, but that cost

more than more four centuries to achieve, the whole world know that black race won the election ñ itís a huge win- but no one had an idea about how many ìpreciselyî who were being killed, tortured, raped, because, people are interested in the result more than the process. It is hard to accept failure, that why we donít tell the tail, the process seems bored because we want to be on the stage but without an effort. We’re afraid to say we had failed, this fear comes out from societyís culture ìthe person who had failed is forsakenî this culture suppressed a lot of people, you canít ñ and you should not- say to your son you failed that meant you are a bad person, how supposed he should succeed in the future? You just destroy the first

step. My father told me ìfailure is the first step to successî, often, we get this wisdom at late age, in order to correct our mistake we have to fail, and if we failed we should look at the bright side that every problem is a lesson we have to benefit from it. Donít you ever underestimate someone ability to succeed just because he had failed, we must encourage him and bring back his confidence, and we will be amazed by the result. Failure has a magnificent impact on people live; every draft goes to trash it is a step to drop specific theory from the list and gives new inputs to test another hypothesis, infinite cycle of thousand ups and downs, error and correctness till the final draft ìsuccessî, if you didnít make a mistake you will never learn.

The Impact of Failure

For many people, it probably sounds a little rich to hear the European Union accuse Silicon Valley of being a graveyard of innovation. But thatís where we are in 2019. Regulators are hitting the likes of Alphabet Inc.ís Google and Facebook Inc. with a flurry of antitrust fines and data-privacy probes, implying that they regard tech billionaires as more John D. Rockefeller than Nikola Tesla. The end-game, according to Brusselsí top data watchdog, is to make sure new startups aren’t blown out of the water by Big Tech (or gobbled up), which should ultimately benefit consumers by allowing them more choice. Tackling this so-called ìkill zone,î where fledgling tech companies are acquired or copied out of existence by deep-pocketed incumbents, is a prime ambition for European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli, nicknamed ìMr GDPRî after the data-privacy law. When I met him in Brussels recently, Buttarelli checked off

the barriers to entry for a startup: It needs to first outbid the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Facebook and others for engineering talent; then sell its product through an app store probably run by Google or Apple Inc.; and finally compete against big players with established networks and huge cash piles. And even it clears all these hurdles, itís still vulnerable to being taken out. Thereís a connection between this dominance of Big Tech ñ which is proven by the decline in venture-capital financing for upstarts, as my colleague Noah Smith has written ñ and harm to consumers. The EU view is that the ìfreeî price tag of social media and apps is not a public good if itís underpinned by a business model that hoovers up data from users without consent. And if the profits from that are spent on blocking competition, thereís less chance of a market-based alternative. Google and Facebook rebut this view, insisting that a disruptive rival could unseat them anytime. But regulators have

given up waiting for one. The recipe for fixing things, according to Buttarelli, is threefold. He wants more competition through antitrust enforcement, more data protection through GDPR, and more fairness and transparency for customers from the tech giants themselves. None of this would destroy Facebook or Google. GDPR is estimated to have inflicted a negative impact of 2 to 3 percent on the two companiesí total ad revenues, according to Bank of America analyst Justin Post. The running total of EU antitrust fines against Google is about 6.7 billion euros (7.5$ billion), while the companyís yearly sales are more than 100$ billion. Still, Eric Leandri, co-founder of French search engine Qwant, says heís confident that recent fines against Google on competition and data-privacy grounds ñ which the US firm is appealing ñ will have had a chilling impact.Defenders of the Silicon Valley faith will grumble about mission creep in Brussels. Itís certainly true that regulators need to

be careful not to muddy the waters with inconsistent or unclear regulation. The recent German competition ruling against Facebook uses data privacy as its main argument, but without a prior ruling on GDPR infringement. Thatís a potential problem because itís hard to separate the need to enforce user privacy with the need to safeguard competition. Indeed, both things might be in conflict one day, says Ariel Ezrachi, a competition specialist at Oxford University. Imagine the right to keep your data private under one law alongside the need to share your data in a competitive market under another.Another thing not covered in Buttarelli’s plan is where investment comes from. It was no surprise when Swedenís music-streaming giant Spotify Technology SA decided to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange last year. If Europe fails to unify its fragmented capital markets, especially after Brexit, the fruits of Buttarelli’s labor will end up in America regardless.

Google and Facebook’s Next Big FightLionel Laurent

Bloomberg View

Mohamed Mahgoub

Promising Tomorrow

Email: mmahgoub977@gmail.com

CURRENT7 Sunday, February 24, 2019

By: Ahmed Ibrahim Ballal

ahmedibrahimballal@hotmail.com

Talk of the Hour

The former minister of labor, administrative re-form and development of human resources, Ba-har Idris Abu Garda, said that the reform of the civil service was in need of strict political com-mitment if it is to get appropriately upgraded. While on a visit to Merowi recently, he ad-dressed a sector workshop for the North in which he emphasized that the reform process should start from bottom levels up to the top ones, indicating that they at the ministry had started to listen to the different states in the country before the holding of the central work-shop at Khartoum.Abu Qarda disclosed that there were previous 54 trials to rehabilitate the civil service that were doomed to failure due to lack of: political discipline, exact specification of problems and transparency.The minister concluded his remarks by calling on the employees to change their behavior by abandoning negative behavior and to adopt a positive one, advising that their involvement in the decision making is a must, stressing that if for the country was to be in an equalfooting with the developed nations, the civil service should receive all the due consideration, therefore production and productivity will au-tomatically go up. Also, addressing the workshop is Tabita Butrus, former state minister at the ministry of the fed-eral rule chamber, who called for tackling the problems of the civil service transparently and deeply, through distancing it from the ills of af-filiation geographically and tribally, seeing it as much appropriate that the qualified person should be put in the suitable place. The former North state governor, Yassir Yousif, is also one of the speakers at the workshop, who said that the nations that surrounded them had developed because of the civil service, calling for the launch of war against bureaucracy which he considered as the biggest stumbling block to any kind of development.He added that the employees, especially the ones that related to the public sector, should bear in mind that they were merely there to serve the public.Needless to say, the human factor is the core to boost forward the civil service tremendously for-ward and in all spheres. Terry and Anna Philips who are the authors of a book titled, ’Building Skills’, are also concerned to motivate individu-als, through being given all the due heed if for

production and productivity are to get boosted, going to explain the point like this; ‘on one side we have work. On the other side we have the time available. Work must equal the time available. We must have enough time to do the work we have to do presently’.They went to say that in order for the work to be done efficiently, its amount should reduced, indicating that such a thing is not without ex-ceptions. ‘It is very difficult to ap-ply this to learning; when you are studying, attending lectures, doing research, etc. you should have to do them all’. As a way out from the dilemma, the authors suggested many alter-natives; increase of the time avail-able either, one is to get up an hour earlier or to work to a later time, or not to take many breaks during the day.Terry and Anna Philips saw that there is some shortcoming associated with the proposal; it is rest which is of much significance, exactly as work is.In their opinion, there are other alternatives which they think they do worth coping; the cur-rent work should be done at the correct time. ‘If it is not to be done at the appropriate time, then it is to become a previous work, which is prob-lematic, since it becomes an additional burden –should be accomplished simultaneously with the previous work’. For further boosting of production and pro-ductivity, they suggested that the concerned employee should be spared the disturbance of some entities which they called time thieves, going further to illustrate them as follows; first-ly, people as time thieves. ‘They are the hard working people who insist to interrupt your work in order to have theirs got done’. Secondly, the friendly colleagues who are mere-ly after talking and chatting-just inconsiderate of whether you are busy doing something im-portant or not. Thirdly, some things as time thieves, such as the mobile phone which keeps to distract you by ringing all the time.Fourthly, there are ‘The Do List’-the many things that should be done while you are not in a position to know which one that should be

done first. In this regard, the authors saw that the employee should have to decide which is which in order for work to be done immediately. Fifthly, the hungry stom-ach as time thief. So, in this case one needs to search for food before initiating the work-something that is to have adverse effects to accom-plish the assigned tasks as scheduled. Finally, the tired brain as a time thief. In this case, the individual needs something to stimulate them, especially mental-ly, such as the searching for a cup of tea or coffee to drink.Terry and Anna Philips tackled issues such as motivation, complaints and appreciation as ma-jor factors that are to reflect positively in the boosting up of production satisfactorily. ‘The employees need incentives, need someone to listen to their complaints and need someone to approve well of their works’. Michael Elliot, writer, stressed the point of re-warding salary as one of the factors to make the employee to double efforts to increase produc-tion tangibly, adding that the satisfactory salary

makes the immigrants in America to change their work patterns noticeably. One of them talked about this point like this; ‘in America we can do any kind of job, no matter how insignifi-cant or inferior it is, as long as it is financially rewarding. At home we are engineers, in New York we should forget about this to work as even bakers’.The writer indicated that such behavior, had profited America a lot, pointing out that since 1970 it has admitted about 15 million legal im-migrants, disclosing that such an orientation has

made out of US the most impressive nation in modern times. ‘And since these immigrants are overwhelmingly inspirational and entrepreneurial, their absorption in US is a guarantee that it will keep vigorously and continuously to renew itself’. Of relevance here is Japan whose unique experiment in the domain of employment deserves copying world-wide. The employee there has only to devote whole efforts and times for work. All burdens that are to distract them from this, they are all be shoul-dered by the employers. So, the secret of seeing Japan as installing itself at the helm of the advanced and developed nations, has just emanated from here.In conclusion, we can say this; all the developing countries, especially Su-dan, are badly in need of all the above

mentioned illuminating patterns. Historically, especially during the era that Sudan had been governed by the British, it had enjoyed the mer-its of a model civil service. But, unfortunately, now such a thing is utterly lacking-it has been keeping to deteriorate since then. That is why it is no surprise to see the minister of labor, ad-ministrative reform and development of human resources, Bahar Idris Abu Garda, to call loudly that the reform of the civil service is in need of strict political commitment.

20 February

Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of so-cial justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove bar-riers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.For the United Nations, the pursuit of social jus-tice for all is at the core of our global mission to promote development and human dignity. The adoption by the International Labour Organiza-tion of the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization is just one recent example of the UN system’s commitment to social justice. The Declaration focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights at work.

2019 theme: If You Want Peace and Develop-ment, Work for Social Justice

Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within

and among nations. The ILO estimates that cur-rently about 2 billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected situations, of whom more than 400 million are aged 15 to 29. Job creation, better quality jobs, and better ac-cess to jobs for the bottom 40 per cent have the potential to increase incomes and contribute to more cohesive and equitable societies and thus are important to prevent violent conflicts and to address post-conflict challenges. Background

The International Labour Organization unani-mously adopted the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization on 10 June 2008. This is the third major statement of prin-ciples and policies adopted by the International Labour Conference since the ILO’s Constitu-tion of 1919. It builds on the Philadelphia Dec-laration of 1944 and the Declaration on Funda-mental Principles and Rights at Work of 1998. The 2008 Declaration expresses the contempo-rary vision of the ILO’s mandate in the era of globalization.This landmark Declaration is a powerful reaf-firmation of ILO values. It is the outcome of

tripartite consultations that started in the wake of the Report of the World Com-mission on the Social Di-mension of Globalization. By adopting this text, the representatives of govern-ments, employers’ and workers’ organizations from 182 member States emphasize the key role of our tripartite Organi-zation in helping to achieve progress and social justice in the context of globalization. Together, they commit to enhance the ILO’s capacity to advance these goals, through the Decent Work Agenda. The Declaration institutionalizes the Decent Work concept developed by the ILO since 1999, placing it at the core of the Organi-zation’s policies to reach its constitutional ob-jectives.The Declaration comes at a crucial political mo-ment, reflecting the wide consensus on the need for a strong social dimension to globalization in achieving improved and fair outcomes for all. It constitutes a compass for the promotion of a fair globalization based on Decent Work, as well as a practical tool to accelerate progress in

the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda at the country level. It also reflects a productive outlook by highlighting the importance of sus-tainable enterprises in creating greater employ-ment and income opportunities for all.The General Assembly Recognizes that social development and social justice are indispen-sable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and so-cial justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It further recognizes that globalization and in-terdependence are opening new opportunities through trade, investment and capital flows and advances in technology, including information

technology, for the growth of the world econ-omy and the development and improvement of living standards around the world, while at the same time there remain serious challenges, including serious financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality within and among societies and considerable obstacles to further integration and full participation in the global economy for developing countries as well as some countries with economies in tran-sition.

On 26 November 2007, the General Assembly declared that, starting from the sixty-third ses-sion of the General Assembly, 20 February will be celebrated annually as the World Day of So-cial Justice.

ISLAM21C.com

Yesterday was the UN’s World Day of Social Justice. Many people naturally clamour for “so-cial justice”, they want a turn of the tide against the evils that have haunted humanity through the ages. The term social justice however is of recent vintage. It first appeared in political debate in the early nineteenth century. It was employed by po-litical thinkers like John Stuart Mill and its use has since become widespread. Social justice implies that the overall pattern of distribution in a society ought to be brought into line with principles of justice. There have been two major conceptions of social justice: one embodying the notions of merit and desert; the other embodying notions of need and equality.Justice and injustice arise out of human action and necessarily involve individual responsibility and accountability. “Social justice”, however, pertains to a condition of society (for example, equality or inequality) and is not a result of individual action. Social justice, therefore, replaces the responsibil-ity of the individual with the responsibility of so-ciety. The demand for social justice is a demand that can be met only by the state. The quest for social justice, thus, becomes another example of the trend toward collectivism, as well as a justi-fication for the use of force to restructure society.For the UN, the pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of our global mission to promote devel-opment and human dignity. Tragically, however,

social justice still remains an elusive dream for an appallingly large portion of humanity. Social justice is, therefore, referred to as ‘the Neglected Offspring of the Modern Human Rights Move-ment’. As Leonardo Boff, the Brazilian Theolo-gian and Human Rights Activist, once said,“Today social justice represents one of the most serious challenges to the conscience of the world. The abyss between those who are within the world ‘order’ and those who are excluded is widening day by day. The use of leading-edge technologies has made it possible to accumulate wealth in a way that is fantastic but perverse because it is un-justly distributed. Twenty-percent of humankind control eighty percent of all means of life. That fact creates a dangerous imbalance in the move-ment of history.” Social justice, however, seems to be a hard term to pin down. Since it is essentially a concept, it means different things to different people. Trying to find a good definition has proven difficult as most are too vague to be of any use. Answers will be based on a variety of factors such as political orientation, religious background, and political and social philosophy.What does Islam say about social justice and to what extent are Islamic brands of social justice a realistic option for this highly-polarised world?

Islamic Perspectives

In Islam, social justice is rooted in a strong under-lying egalitarian ethic based on the Quranic prin-ciple that, for Allah (subanahu wa taala), the only

differentiation among creation is in piety (taqwa) or righteousness (birr).“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of All?h is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted Islam, founded on individual and collective mo-rality and responsibility, introduced a social rev-olution in the context in which it was revealed. Collective morality is expressed in the Qur’an in such terms as equity, justice, fairness, brother-hood, mercy, compassion, solidarity and human autonomy. Leaders are responsible for the appli-cation of these principles and are accountable to God and man for their administration. The found-ing elements of the inner structure of Islamic so-cial organisation, as prescribed by the Qur’an and Sunnah, can be broadly categorised as freedom, equality and solidarity of mankind, through the lens of the all-important glorification and servi-tude towards the Creator. These elements, in turn, constitute the conceptual infrastructure for social justice in all spheres of human life. As a result, social justice is a concomitant of Islamic lifestyle.“O you who have believed, be persistently stand-ing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more wor-thy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testi-mony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.”

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad (sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam), shook the underpinnings of the unjust society he lived in by bringing about social reforms. He forbade the exploitation of the vul-nerable; protected the poor by establishing regu-lar charity, and he crippled an arrogant class and race-based system by being the first human being to uphold the fundamental equality of all ethnici-ties. Welfare and social solidarity are the basis for the progress of a nation. The most important Islamic social ethics articulated in the Qur’an are reinforced by his example and leadership in Ma-dinah, the first organised Muslim community and a model for the ideal implementation of Islamic social ethics. He made Madinah the highest cen-tre of education and a citadel of moral values in spite of the dissent of wary tribes that were loose in morals.“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Ar-ab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over a white except by pi-ety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be le-gitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.” According to Islamic conception, social justice, which is also referred to as economic justice or distributive justice includes three things: (1) fair and equitable distribution of wealth, (2) provi-sion of basic necessities of life to the poor and

the needy, and (3) protection of the weak against economic exploitation by the strong.The Islamic civilisation pioneered the imple-mentation of social welfare by establishing institutions to provide support to individuals at all levels of society in a trust system known as waqf. There were institutions for the disa-bled, the blind and those in need who could find shelter, food and education. There were also in-stitutions for mothers of young children. One of Salauddin’s greatest acts of philanthropy was the establishment of two reservoirs by the gate of his fort in Damascus – one of milk and one of fresh drinking water for mothers to take freely. The Ottoman Empire, which observed Shariah Law, prioritised the benefit of collectives rather than individuals and emphasised justice over absolute “freedom”.The influence of the social revolution brought about by the Prophet (sall Allahu alayhi wa sal-lam) is still alive and adopted by many others outside of Islam, and the Islamic fundamentals on social justice are still relevant. Questions, however, remain as to whether Muslims can come out of the mind-set of taking emotional ref-uge merely in past glories. This attitude may be a ‘feel good’ survival mechanism for individuals, but as a community this indulgence is a recipe for a continued downward spiral. Successful sys-tems can draw sustenance and inspiration from the past, but only if there is the will to accept the challenge of the times to adjust and innovate.

World Day of Social Justice

Making Islamic Social Justice a Realistic Option

‘The Civil Service Needs Strict Political Commitment to Get Upgraded’, Says Abu Garda

ISLAM IN FOCUS8

wahbadiyab@gmail.com

Wahba Mahmoud Diyab

Surat Hud (The Prophet Hud) 11 Meccan – Ayats 123Section - One

Sunday, February 24, 2019

A.-Alif. L- Lam. R- Ra. (This is) a Book, whose verses ( basic or fundamental of established meaning) are per-fected (in every sphere of knowledge) and then presented in detail from One Who is Wise and Well-Acquainted (with all things). (1)

ير (١) ب يم خ ك ن ح ن لد لت م ت آياته ثم فص م ك تاب أح الر ك

(It teaches) That you should worship none but God. (Say O’ Muhammad PPBUH) Verily, I am (sent) to you from Him to warn you, and to bring Glad Tidings. (2)

ير (٢) ير وبش نه نذ م م إنني لك وا إال اهللا بد أال تع

(And to reach this, thus commanding you): “Seek the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance, that He may grant you enjoyment – good and true- for an appointed term; and bestow His a bounding Grace on all who abound in merit, and owner of grace (i.e. the one who helps and serves the needy and deserving, physically and with his wealth, and even with good words). But if you turn away, then I fear for you the Penalty/torment of a Great Day. (3)

ى م س ل م ا إلى أجن س ا ح تاع م م ك تع م ثم توبوا إليه مي روا ربك ف تغ ن اس

وأير ب

م ك اب يو ذ م ع ليك اف ع إني أخا ف لو له وإن تو ل فض ل ذي فض ويؤت ك

(٣)

“To God is your return, and He has power over all things” (4) (٤) ير د ء ق ي ل ش لى ك و ع م وه ك ع رج مإلى اهللا

Behold unquestionably! They (the disbelievers) fold up their hearts/turn away their breasts, that they may hide –their lie- from Him! Ah! Unquestionably even when they cover themselves with their garments, He knows what they conceal, and what they reveal. Verily, He is the All-Knower (of inmost secrets) of their hearts. (5)

م ابه ون ثي ش تغ ني يس نه أال ح وا م ف تخ م ليس وره د م يثنون ص إنهأال

ور (٥) د ات الص ليم بذ لنون إنه ع ا يع رون وم ا يس لم م يع

And there is no moving (living) creature on earth but its provision and sustenance depends on/due from God. And He Knows its dwelling place and its deposit (in the uterus or grave) /the time and place of its definite abode and its temporary deposit. All is in a Clear Book/Record/Register. (6)

ا ه دع تو س ا وم ره تق س لم م ا ويع ه رزقلى اهللا رض إال ع ي األ ن دابة ف ا م وم

بني (٦) تاب م ي ك ل ف ك

And He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth in six Days, and His Throne was over the Water, that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct/in good deeds. But if you were to say to them: “you shall indeed be raised up/ resurrected after death”,- the Unbelievers would be sure to say: “This is nothing but obvi-ous sorcery/magic!”. (7)

اء لى امل ه ع رش ان ع تة أيام وك ي س رض ف اوات واأل م لق الس ي خ و الذ وهوت د امل ن بع وثون م بع م م إنك

لت ال ولئن ق م ن ع س م أح م أيك ك بلو ليبني (٧) ر م ح ا إال س

ذ روا إن ه ف ين ك ولن الذ ليق

And if We delay the torment/penalty for them for a definite/ determined term, they are sure to say: “What keeps it back?” Verily –unquestionably- on the day it (actually) reaches them, nothing will turn it away from them, and they will be completely encircled by that which they used to mock at! (8)

م ه أال يو بس ا يح ولن م ودة ليق د ع ة م اب إلى أم ذ م الع نه رنا ع ولئن أخزئون (٨) ته وا به يس

ان ا ك م م بهاق م وح نه ا ع روف ص م ليس م تيه

يأ

INTRODUCTION TO SURAT HUD 11:For the chronological place of this Sura; and the general argu-ment of these Suras from Jonas 10 to Suart Al-Hijr 15 See intro-ductions to Surat Jonas 10. (Su-rats 10-15). In subject-matter this Surat sup-plements the preceding one. In the last Surat the stress was laid on that side of God’s dealings with man which leans to Mercy: here stress is laid on the side which deals with justice and the punishment of Sin when all Grace is resisted.Summary,- God’s revelation of mercy, His dealings with man, and His long-suffering patience are con-trasted with man’s ingratitude, his love of falsehood and vanity, and his crooked-ness (verses 1-24).Noah’s unselfishness and humility in teaching his people the Truth of God were traduced by the ungodly, and his Message ridiculed and rejected. But he built his Ark under directions from God, and was saved –with peace and blessings- while his rejecters perished. (Verses 25-49).The prophet Hud preached to his people of ‘Ad against false gods, and the prophet Salih to his people of Thamud against dishonoring the symbol of God’s bounty. In both cases God’s Signs were rejected, and the rejecters were blotted out. (Verses 50-68).Lot’s people were given to abomination: Abraham pleaded for them, and Lot was sent out to them, but they went deeper and deeper into sin and suffered the Penalty. Shu’aib’s people –the Midianites- were warned against fraud and mischief, but they reproached him with helplessness and were themselves destroyed. ( Verses 69-95).It is arrogant leaders like Pharaoh who mislead men, and men bring ruin on themselves. But God is Just. The penalty for sin is real and abiding; therefore shun all wrong-doings, and serve God whole-heartedly. (Verses 96-123). (Verses 1-24)-God’s Revelation teaches the Truth: it warns against wrong, and gives glad tidings to the righteous: un-grateful man folds up his heart and fails to see how all Nature points to God and to the Hereafter; he but seeks petty is-sues, forgetting the Cause of Causes. Not all the wisdom of man can produce aught like the Message which comes from God, as the Light that leads and the Mercy that forgives. Who then but will humble him-self before God, seeking His Light and His Voice?(Verse 1)- A/ for the meaning of these mystic letters see introduction of the previous Surat Jonas 10. B/ as in Suart Al-Imran 3 verse 7 commentary: () this passage gives us an important clue to the interpretation of the Holy Qur’an. Broad-ly speaking it may be divided into two portions, not given separately, but inter-mingled: viz. (1) the nucleus or the foun-dation of the Book, literally [the mother of the book] , and (2) the part which is figurative, metaphorical, or allegorical. It is very fascinating to take up the latter, and exercise our ingenuity about its inner meaning, but it refers to such profound spiritual matters that human language is inadequate to it, and though people of wis-dom may get some light from it, no one should be dogmatic, as the final meaning is known to God alone. The commenta-tors usually understand the verses of “es-tablished meaning” {Muhkam} to refer to the categorical orders of the Shari’at- Ju-risprudence (or the Law), which are plain to everyone’s understanding. But perhaps the meaning is wider: the “mother of the book” must include the very foundation on which all the Law rests, the essence of God’s Message, as distinguished from the various illustrative parables, allegories, and ordinances.If we refer to Surat Hud 11 verse 1 and Al-Zumar 39 verse 23, we shall find that in a sense of the whole Qur’an has both “established meaning” and allegorical meaning. The division is not between the verses, but between the meanings at-

tached to them. Each verse is but a Sign or Symbol: what it represents is some-thing immediately applicable, and some-thing eternal and independent of time and space, - “The Forms of Ideas” in Plato’s philosophy. The wise man will understand that there is an “essence” and illustrative clothing given to the essence, throughout the Book. We must try to understand it as best as we can, but not waste our en-ergies in disputing about matters beyond our depth.One reading –rejected by the majority of commentators- but accepted by Muja-hid and others, would not make a break at the point here marked [Waqf Lazim), but would run the two sen-tences together. In that case the construction would run: “No one knows its hid-den meanings except God and those who are firm in knowledge- They say ...” etc.). Every basic principle is included in God’s Rev-elation, and it is further il-lustrated and explained in detail. (Verse 2)- Muhammad Al-Mustapha’s [PPBUH] Mes-sage –as was the Message of all apostles- was to warn against evil, and to bring the Glad Tidings of God’s Mercy and Grace to all who would receive it in Faith and trust in God. This dou-ble Message is preached il-lustratively in this Sura.(Verses 3-4)- The enjoy-ment of all good and true things in line refers –I be-lieve- to the present life with its limited term, and the abounding Grace re-fers to the higher spiritual reward, which begins here but is completed in the life to come.(Verse 5)- A/ The heart (literally breast in Arabic) is already well-guarded in the body; and the secrets are supposed to be hidden in the heart or breast. Foolish per-sons might further cover up their hearts with cloaks –but even so- nothing can be hidden from God. B/ See Suart Al-Imran 3 verse 119.(Verse 6)- A/ See Surat Al-An’am 6 verse 59. Nothing happens in Creation except by the Word of God, and with the Knowl-edge of God. Not a leaf stirs but by His Will. Its maintenance in every sense is dependent on His Will. B/ (1) Musta-garr= definite abode: where a thing stops or stays for some time, where it is estab-lished. (2) Mustawd’a= where a thing is laid up or deposited for a little while. Referring to animals, the former denotes its life on this earth; the latter is tempo-rary pre-natal existence in the egg or the womb, and its after-death existence in the tomb or whatever state it is until its resurrection. C/ Surat Al-An’am 6 verse 59, the commentary: ((a) Mafatih: Plu-ral of either: Miftah= Key, or Maftah= treasure. Both meanings are implied, and I have accordingly put both in my trans-lation. (b) This is the mystic Record, the archetypal Plan, the Eternal Law, accord-ing to which everything seen and unseen is ordered and regulated. There is much mystic doctrine here, explained by beau-tiful metaphors and illustrations. The simplest thins in Nature are subject to His

Law. The fresh and withered, the living and the lifeless= nothing is outside the Plan of His Creation). And Surat Jonas 10 verse 60, the commentary: (There is nothing that men can do but God is a witness to it. We may be deeply en-grossed in some particular thing and for the time being be quite unconscious of other things. But God’s knowledge not only comprehends all things, but has all things actively before it. Nothing is hid-den from Him. And His Knowledge has another quality which human knowledge has not. Human knowledge is subject to time, and is obliterated by time. God’s Knowledge is like a Record and endures forever. And His Record has a further quality which human records have not. The most permanent human record may be quite intelligible to those who make it, but may be ambiguous to others and may become unintelligible with the progress of time, as happens almost invariably to the most enduring inscriptions from very ancient times: but in God’s ‘Record’ or knowledge there is no ambiguity, for it independent of time, or place, or circum-stance. This is the force of ‘Mubin=نيبم’ (“clear”) here).(Verse 7)- Hadeeth Sharif {Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Prophet [PPBUH] said: “the Right (Hand) of Allah is full, and (its fullness) is not affected by the con-tinuous spending night and day. Do you see what He has spent since He created the heavens and the Earth? Yet all that has not decreased what is in His Right Hand. His Throne is over the water and

in His other Hand is the bounty or the power to bring about death, and He rais-es some people and brings others down- Sahih Al-Bukhari.A/ Surat Al-A’raf 7 verse 54, commen-tary :( A. A sublime verse, comparable to the Throne Verse 255 Surat Al-Bagara 2. The Creation in six Days is of course metaphorical. In Surat Al-Jathia 45 verse 14, the “Days of God” refer not so much to time as to the growth in us of spir-itual sense, a sense of God’s Mercy. In Surat Al-Hajj verse 47, we are told that a Day in the sight of God is like a thou-sand years of our reckoning, and in Surat Al-Ma’arij 70 verse 4, the comparison is with 50,000 of our years. In the history of our material earth, we may reckon six great epochs of evolution. The signifi-cance of the figure six will be discussed in connection with Surat Fussilat 41 vers-es 9-12, where the matter is referred to in more detail. B/Throne=Arsh, is of course metaphorical, a symbol of authority, pow-er, and vigilance, as Kursi = (chair) seat/throne) in Surat Al-Bagara 2 verse 255. Kursi perhaps refers to majesty, while ‘Arsh’ to power; and the slightly different shades of meaning throw light on the two passages. Here, we are told of the crea-tion of the heavens and the earth in six days. But lest we should be obsessed with the Jewish idea that God rested on the seventh day, we are told that the Creation was but a prelude of God’s work; for His authority is exercised constantly by the laws which He establishes and enforces in all parts of His Creation. The beauti-

ful imagery of night and day seeking out each other in rapid succession is still fur-ther enforced in the Arabic by the double accusative of the verb Yughshi, showing the mutual interactions of the day and the night, each covering the other in turn. The heavenly bodies show an order which is evidence of His constant care and gov-ernment. Not only that, but it is only He Who creates, maintains, and governs, and no one else). B/It is scientifically correct to say that all life was evolved out of the waters, and this statement also occurs in the Qur’an in Surat Al-Anbiya’ 21 verse 30. The Throne of God’s authority is met-aphorically expressed as over the waters, i.e. as regulating all life. Some such mys-tic meaning –I think- also attaches to the (Genesis I, 2: God made the sky and earth. At first the earth was completely empty; nothing was on the earth. Darkness cov-ered the ocean, and God’s Spirit moved over the water). The past sense “was” refeers to the time before life developed in the solid forms, on land and in air. C/ The Creation we see around us is not idle sport or play, or whim on the part of God. It is the medium through which our spir-itual life is to develop, with such free-will as we have. This life is our testing time. D/ The Unbelievers –who do not believe in Future Life- think all talk of it is like a sorcerer’s talk, empty of reality. But in this they show their ignorance, and they are begging the question.(Verse 8)- As much as to say: “Oh! All this talk of punishment is nonsense. There is no such a thing!”.

WORLD NEWS9 Sunday, February 24, 2019

APMANILA: Some of the fiercest Muslim rebel commanders in the southern Philippines were sworn in Friday as administrators of a new Muslim autonomous re-gion in a delicate mile-stone to settle one of Asiaís longest-raging re-bellions.President Rodrigo Du-terte led a ceremony to name Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front (MILF) leader Murad Ebrahim and some of his top com-manders as among 80 administrators of a tran-sition government for the five-province region called Bangsamoro.About 12,000 combat-ants with thousands of firearms are to be de-mobilized starting this year under the peace deal. Thousands of other guerrillas would disarm if agreements under the deal would be followed, including providing the insurgents with liveli-hood to help them return to normal life.ìWe would like to see an end of the violence,î Du-

terte said. ìAfter all, we go to war and shoot each other counting our victories not by the progress or development of the place but by the dead bodies that were strewn around during the violent years.îAbout 150,000 people have died in the conflict over several decades and stunted development in the resource-rich region. Duterte promised ade-quate resources, a daunt-ing problem in the past.The Philippine and West-ern governments and the guerrillas see an effec-tive Muslim autonomy as

an antidote to nearly half a century of secessionist violence, which Daesh could exploit to gain a foothold.ìThe dream that we have fought for is now happen-ing and thereís no more reason for us to carry our guns and continue the war,î rebel forces spokes-man Von Al-Haq said in an interview ahead of the ceremony.Several commanders long wanted for deadly attacks were given safety passes to be able to travel to Manila and join the ceremony, including Ab-dullah Macapaar, who

uses the nom de guerre Commander Bravo, Al-Haq said. Known for his fiery rhet-oric while wearing his camouflage uniform and brandishing his assault rifle and grenades, Maca-paar will be one of the 41 regional administrators from the rebel front.Duterte will pick his rep-resentatives to fill the rest of the Bangsamoro Tran-sition Authority, which will also act as a regional Parliament with Murad as the chief minister un-til regular officials are elected in 2022.Members of the Moro

National Liberation Front, which signed a 1996 autonomy deal that has largely been seen as a failure, will also be given seats in the autonomous government.Disgruntled fighters of the Moro National Lib-eration Front broke off and formed new armed groups, including the notorious Abu Sayyaf, which turned to terrorism and banditry after losing its commanders early in battle. The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted by the US as a terrorist organization and has been suspected of staging a suspected Jan. 27 suicide bombing that killed 23 mostly church-goers in a Roman Catho-lic cathedral on southern Jolo island.ìWe have already seen the pitfalls,î Al-Haq said, acknowledging that the violence would not stop overnight because of the presence of the Abu Sayyaf and other armed groups, some linked to Daesh. ìItís a very difficult and challenging process.î

Filipino Rebel Chiefs Become Officials under Peace Deal Australian Judge Sentences ëMass Murdererí to Life in Prison

Blasts Heard in Maiduguri, Northeast of Nigeria, be-fore Polls Open

APMELBOURNE, Austral-ia: A man who drove a stolen car into lunchtime crowds in downtown Melbourne and killed six people was sentenced to life imprisonment Fri-day in what the judge described as ìone of the worst examples of mass murder in Australian history.îJames Gargasoulas, 29, showed little emotion when sentenced in Vic-toria stateís Supreme Court. Under the terms of his sentence, he will

spend at least 46 years in prison before heís eligi-ble for parole.Families of the victims filled the courtroom for Justice Mark Weinbergís ruling. Gargasoulas was in a drug-induced psy-chosis in January 2017 when he killed the six people and injured doz-ens more in the busy Bourke St. Mall. His vic-tims included a 3-month-old baby who was thrown 60 meters (200 feet) from his stroller and a 10-year-old girl.ìYour ac-tions were both callous and cowardly,î the judge said. ìYou have shown

no genuine remorse.î The judge described in detail the events of the ìterri-fying rampage,î noting each victim killed as well as those left with broken bones, head injuries, in-ternal bleeding and other lasting damage.ìYou left a trail of destruction,î the judge said. ìThe horror of what you did has profoundly impacted the lives of those who were present that day.îCrime Stoppers Victo-ria ambassador George Halvagis said he thinks Gargasoulas should die in jail.

AFPMAIDUGURI, Nigeria: A series of explosions was heard in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Saturday, shortly before the opening of polls in presi-dential and parliamentary elections.Multiple blasts were heard at about 6A.M. (0500 GMT), locals said. There was no immediate indica-tion of the cause.But the city is the birthplace of Boko Haram Islam-ists and has been repeatedly attacked during their nearly 10-year insurgency that has devastated the re-mote region.Polls open at 0700 GMT, with President Muham-madu Buhari, a former army general who has vowed to defeat the jihadists, seeking a second term.Boko Haram has warned it will disrupt the elections.One resident in the Gomari neighborhood of Maidug-uri said: ìI heard several explosions coming from the Bulumkutu area this morning but itís unclear what is happening.ìThere have been suspicions that it was an attack by Boko Haram but we donít know yet.îHe added: ìLate yesterday (Friday), some gunmen went into the house of a man in Gomari and shot him dead. We still donít know the motive.î

UN Chief Calls for Avoiding Violence in VenezuelaAFPUNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secre-tary-General Antonio Guterres called on all parties in Venezuela to avoid resorting to vio-lence Friday after sol-diers killed at least two people trying to prevent troops from blocking aid on the Brazilian border.ìAny loss of life is regrettable,î spokes-man Stephane Dujarric told reporters. ìLooking ahead for tomorrow, the secretary-general strong-ly appeals for violence to be avoided.îDujarric said the message has been shared with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and would also be handed to his Vene-zuelan counterpart Jorge Arreaza.Humanitarian aid has be-come a key focus of the power struggle between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who enjoys Russian support,

and US-backed opposi-tion leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized as interim leader by more than 50 countries.The US and Venezuelan top diplomats requested the meetings with Gu-terres.So far, the UN chief has resisted pressure to take a side, instead using his position to seek to ne-gotiate a solution to the crisis, and opposing any politicization of humani-tarian aid.ìThe secretary-general is doing what he can,î Du-jarric said, hinting that Guterres has little room

to maneuver.ìAid should be used in a way which is impartial... and without military objective,î Dujarric add-ed, denouncing Fridayís violent flare-up.Guterres has met with Arreaza twice so far since early February.Arreaza is due to preside over an afternoon meet-ing with 46 countries including China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria.The countries are part of a group created last week at the UN to defend the principles of the UN Charter.

APWASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has selected Kelly Craft, the US ambas-sador to Canada, as his nominee to serve as the next US ambassador to the United Nations.Trump said in a pair of tweets that Craft ìhas done an outstanding job representing our Nationî and he has ìno doubt that, under her leadership, our Country will be represented at the highest level.îTwo people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters had told The Associated Press that Trump had been advised that Craftís confirmation would be the smoothest of the three candidates he had been considering to fill the job last held by Nikki Haley.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo-nnell, R-Kentucky, had backed Craft for the post, and she also has the sup-port of Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo and national security adviser John Bolton, the people said. Trumpís first pick to replace Haley, State Depart-ment spokeswoman Heather Nauert, withdrew over the weekend.Craft, a Kentucky native, was a mem-ber of the US delegation to the UN General Assembly under President George W. Bushís administration. She is also friends with McConnellís wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and thanked Chao for her ìlongtime friendship and supportî at her swear-ing-in as ambassador.As US ambassador to Canada, she played a role in facilitating the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a

revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement.Trump had also considered US Am-bassador to Germany Richard Grenell and former US Senate candidate John James of Michigan for the post.Nauertís withdrawal from considera-tion came amid a push within the ad-ministration to fill the position, given a pressing array of foreign policy con-cerns in which the United Nations, par-ticularly the UN Security Council, is likely to play a significant role. From Afghanistan to Venezuela, the admin-istration has pressing concerns that in-volve the world body, and officials said there had been impatience with the de-lays on Nauertís formal nomination.Trump said Dec. 7 that he would pick the former Fox News anchor and State Department spokeswoman for the UN job, but her nomination was never

formalized. Notwithstanding other concerns that may have arisen during her confirmation, Nauertís nomination had languished in part due to the 35-day government shutdown that began Dec. 22 and interrupted key parts of the vetting process. Nauert cited fam-ily considerations in withdrawing from the post.With Nauert out of the running, of-ficials said Pompeo had been keen on Craft to fill the position. Although Pompeo would like to see the job filled, the vacancy has created an op-portunity for him and others to take on a more active role in UN diplomacy. On Thursday, for example, Pompeo was in New York to meet with UN chief Antonio Guterres.Trump has demoted the UN position to sub-Cabinet rank, in a move backed by both Bolton and Pompeo, according to

three other officials. Grenell had sug-gested he wasnít interested in a non-Cabinet role. The officials were not au-thorized to discuss internal personnel deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.Haley had been a member of the Cabi-net and had clashed repeatedly with former Secretary of State Rex Tiller-son and others during the administra-tionís first 14 months. Bolton was not a Cabinet member when he served as UN ambassador in President George W. Bushís administration, and neither he nor Pompeo is eager to see a po-tential challenge to their foreign policy leadership in White House situation room meetings, according to the offi-cials.Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said Craft was appointed ambassador to Canada because of her financial contributions to the Trump campaign, but said thatís not unusual as past am-bassadors have also contributed to presidents who have appointed them.ìI think Ottawa has regarded Craft as a light weight, partly because of her background and partly because the sense is that Trump, unlike his pred-ecessors, doesnít listen to his ambas-sadors or care what they think,î Wise-man said.Craft is married to billionaire coal-mining executive Joe Craft, and they are major Republican donors.Craft has been ambassador during a low point in relations. Last year Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weak and dishonest, words that shocked Canadians.

Trump Picks Ambassador to Canada for UN Post

APTOKYO: Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito says he hopes to continue the close relation-ship his father built with the people when he succeeds him as emperor later this year.Naruhito, who turns 59 on Saturday, will as-cend the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 after Emperor Akihito abdicates.«I feel very solemn when I think about the fu-ture,» he said at an annual pre-birthday news conference Thursday. His remarks were em-bargoed from publication until Saturday.«While I continue to prepare for this role, I would like to maintain the past emperors> work. I would like to think about the people and pray for the people,» he said.His wife, Masako will also assume a new role as empress. The former diplomat has suffered from stress and has often skipped public events, and it>s unclear how she will manage her new role as empress.«Although Masako is steadily recovering, her condition still fluctuates. I would like Masako to continue to slowly widen her con-tribution in her role,» Naruhito said, adding he hopes to support his wife just as she has supported him.Naruhito>s younger brother, Prince Akishi-no, and his family are also expected to play a major role. The Japanese throne is only in-herited by male heirs, and Naruhito>s only child is a daughter. Prince Akishino and his young son Hisahito are next in the line of succession after Naruhito. Akihito>s desire

to leave the throne revived a debate about the country>s 2,000-year-old monarchy, one of the world>s oldest, as well as discussion about improving the status of female mem-bers of the shrinking royal population.«This problem will relate to the imperial family of the future. I would like to refrain from giving any opinions on the system,» the crown prince said.Those who are concerned about the future of the royal family with shrinking membership want to allow women to ascend the throne and others to keep their royal status so they can keep performing public duties, but a

government panel has avoided the divisive issue.Even before the 1947 Imperial Law, reign-ing empresses were rare, usually serving as stand-ins for a few years until a suitable male can be installed. The last reigning em-press was Gosakuramachi, who assumed the throne in 1763.Debate over the succession law, however, is emotional. Some conservatives proposed a revival of concubines to produce impe-rial heirs, and others argued that allowing a woman on the throne would destroy a pre-cious Japanese tradition.

Japan’s Crown Prince Hopes to Continue Father’s Legacy

10

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“What are you doing?”“I was trying to break a world record.”“How many jumps did you do?”“2,346.”

1

“Have you tried to break other records?”“Yes. I try a new one each day. I really want to be a record breaker.”

3

“Wow! What’s the world record?”“177, 737. That’s another record I’ve failed to break.”

2

“Last weekend I hula-hooped with ten hoops but the record’s ninety-nine.”

4

“On my birthday I tried to blow the biggest ever bubblegum bubble. Mine was 30 centimetres but the record is 58.4 centimetres.”

5Record breakers

8 “That’s 365 attempts!The previous record was 364. Congratulations! You really are a record breaker.”

“Last month I tried to balance the most spoons on my face. The record is 15, I could only do three.”

6“I’m never going to break a record.”“Hey, wait a minute. You’ve tried to break a record every day this year, right?”“Yes.”

7

Question (1): Comprehension A: Read the passage then answer the questions below:Animals are used for travelling on land, but boats are used for travelling on water. There are different kinds of boats. The big metal ones have got large engines. They are very strong and carry people on long journeys. They are called steamers. Another kind of boats is the ferry. This carries people from one side of the river to the other. Some ferries are quite big. They can carry Lorries and animals as well as people.Lastly there are the small wooden boats. Farmers and fishermen use these. Some of them have goat sails and some have got oars. They are used for going fishing or to the farms on the other bank.

A: Give a short answer:

1. What are animals used for? ………………………………..................2. Which vehicles are used for travelling on water? ……………………..........................................3. What kind of boats do fishermen use? ……………………………....................4. Where does a ferry carry people? ………………………….....................5. Which boats carry people on long journeys? …………………….......................

B. Put (T) for true and (F) for false:

1. Big boats are made of metal ( )2. Ferries can carry people ( )3. Steamers have got sails ( )4. Wooden boats carry people on long journeys ( )5. Steamers are very strong ( )

C. Draw a circle round the letter of the correct answer a, b, or c

1. How many kinds of boats are mentioned?a. Two b. three c. five2. Ferries are used …………….a. On long journeys b. to cross rivers c. for going fishing3. The underlined word (they refers to ………………a. Two b. three c five4. The underlined word These refers to ……………………..a. Wooden boats b. animals c. ferries

5. Steamers have got …………………a. Engines b. oars c. sails

Question (2) Language:

A: Put the verbs in brackets in their correct form:

1. It usually ……………. In August (rain)2. Yesterday Ali did not (come)3. Now the boys are …………….. tennis (Play)4. Last month the exam …………… easy (be)5. My shirt is ……………… of cotton (make)6. He always ……….. lunch at home (have)7. You must ………… this medicine (drink)8. He …………. me last week (visit)

B. Write the missing letter:

1. Some animals are danger …us2. It is cold in w nter3. He bou ht a new shirt4. He saw the p ramids.

C. Draw a circle round the letter of the correct answer:

1. He went there …………….. planea. on b. in c. by2. …………………… school is beautifula. our b. they c. we3. I saw …………………… on the waya. him b. he c. she4. This pen is …………………………………a. me b. mine c. my5. Goods are ………………… by shipsa. taking b. take c. taken6. We see ………… our eyesa. with b. by c. in7. Omer is taller ………………. Alia. with b. from c. than8. He wants …………….. milka. some b. a c. an

D: Complete each question to match the answer:

Where – Who – Why – How

1. ………….. did he come late? Because he is ill2. …………….does it rain? In Autumn3. ………………… did he come? On foot4. ……………….. was born in 1840? Osman

Mock ExamBasic Level Education

11HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Edited by: Alula Berhe Kidani

Sunday, February 24, 2019

By Paul Krugman

Whoever gets the Democratic nomination, she or he will run in part on proposals to increase government spending. And you know what that will mean: There will be demands that the candidate explain how all this will be paid for. Many of those demands will be made in bad faith, from people who never ask the same questions about tax cuts. But there are some real questions about the fiscal side of a pro-gressive agenda.Well, I have some thoughts about that, inspired in part by looking at Elizabeth Warrenís proposals on both the tax and spending side. By the way, I donít know whether Warren will or even should get the nomination. But sheís a major intellec-tual figure, and is pushing her party toward serious policy discussion in a way that will have huge influence whatever her personal trajectory.In particular, Warrenís latest proposal on child care ñ and the instant pushback from the usual suspects ñ has me thinking that we could use a rough typology of spending proposals, classified by how they might be paid for. Specifically, let me suggest that there are three broad categories of pro-gressive expenditure: investment, benefits enhancement, and major system overhaul, which need to be thought about differently from a fiscal point of view.So, first off, investment ñ typically spend-ing on infrastructure or research, but there may be some room at the margin for in-

cluding spending on things like child-hood development in the same category. The defining characteristic here is that itís spending that will enhance societyís future productivity. How should we pay for that kind of outlay?The answer is, we shouldnít. Think of all the people who say that the government should be run like a business. Actually it shouldnít, but the two kinds of institution do have this in common: if you can raise funds cheaply and apply them to high-return projects, you should go ahead and borrow. And Federal borrowing costs are very low ñ less than 1 percent, adjusted for inflation ñ while we are desperately in need of public investment, i.e., it has a high social return. So we should just do it, without looking for pay-fors.Much of what seems to be in the Green New Deal falls into that category. To the extent that itís a public investment pro-gram, demands that its supporters show how theyíll pay for it show more about the criticsí bad economics than about the GNDís logic.My second category is a bit harder to de-fine, but what Iím thinking of are initia-tives that either expand an existing public program or use subsidies to create incen-tives for expanding some kind of socially desirable private activity ñ in each case involving sums that are significant but not huge, say a fraction of a percent of GDP.The Affordable Care Act falls into that cat-egory. It expanded Medicaid while using a combination of regulation and subsidies

to make private insurance more available to families above the new Medicaid line. Warrenís childcare proposal, which report-edly will come in at around 1/3 of a percent of GDP, also fits. So would a ìMedicare for Allî proposal that involves allowing people to buy in to government insurance, rather than offering that insurance free of charge.Itís harder to justify borrowing for this kind of initiative than borrowing for in-vestment. True, with interest rates low and demand weak it makes some sense to run persistent deficits, but there are surely enough investment needs to use up that al-lowance. So you want some kind of pay-

for. But the sums are small enough that the revenue involved could be raised by fairly narrow-gauge taxes ñ in particular, taxes that hit only high-income Americans.That is, in fact, how Obamacare was fi-nanced: the revenue component came al-most entirely from taxes on high incomes (there were some small items like the tax on tanning parlors.) And Warren has in fact proposed additional taxes on the wealthy ñ her proposed tax on fortunes over $50 mil-lion would yield something like four times the cost of her child care proposal.So benefit enhancement can, Iíd argue, be paid for with taxes on high incomes and

large fortunes. It doesnít have to impose on the middle class.Finally, my third category is major system overhaul, of which the archetype would be replacing employer-based private health insurance with a tax-financed public pro-gram ñ the purist version of Medicare for all. A really major expansion of Social Se-curity might fall into that category too, al-though smaller enhancements might not.Proposals in this category are literally an order of magnitude more expensive than benefit enhancements: private health in-surance currently amounts to 6 percent of GDP. To implement these proposals, then, weíd need a lot more revenue, which would have to come from things like payroll taxes and/or a value-added tax that hit the mid-dle class.You can argue that most middle-class fam-ilies would be better off in the end, that the extra benefits would more than compensate for the higher taxes. And youíd probably be right. But this would be a much heavier political lift. You donít have to be a neolib-eral tool to wonder whether major system overhaul should be part of the Democratic platform right now, even if itís something many progressives aspire to.My main point now, however, is that when people ridicule progressive proposals as silly and unaffordable, theyíre basically re-vealing their own biases and ignorance. In-vestment can and should be debt-financed; benefit enhancements can be largely paid for with high-end taxes. Howard Schultz wonít like it, but thatís his problem.

On Paying for a Progressive Agenda

Brian Kisida and Daniel H. Bowen

Engaging with art is essential to the human experience. Almost as soon as motor skills are developed, children communicate through artistic expres-sion. The arts challenge us with dif-ferent points of view, compel us to empathize with ìothers,î and give us the opportunity to reflect on the hu-man condition. Empirical evidence supports these claims: Among adults, arts participation is related to behav-iors that contribute to the health of civil society, such as increased civic engagement, greater social tolerance, and reductions in other-regarding be-havior. Yet, while we recognize artís transformative impacts, its place in K-12 education has become.A critical challenge for arts education has been a lack of empirical evidence that demonstrates its educational val-ue. Though few would deny that the arts confer intrinsic benefits, advocat-ing ìart for artís sakeî has been insuffi-cient for preserving the arts in school-sódespite national surveys showing an overwhelming majority of the public agrees that the arts are a necessary part of a well-rounded education.Over the last few decades, the pro-portion of students receiving arts education has shrunk drastically. This trend is primarily attributable to the expansion of standardized-test-based accountability, which has pressured schools to focus resources on tested subjects. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. These pres-sures have disproportionately affected access to the arts in a negative way for students from historically under-served communities. For example, a federal government report found that schools designated under No Child Left Behind as needing improvement and schools with higher percentages of minority students were more likely to experience decreases in time spent on arts education.We recently conducted the first ever large-scale, randomized controlled trial study of a cityís collective efforts to restore arts education through com-munity partnerships and investments. Building on our previous investiga-tions of the impacts of enriching arts field trip experiences, this study exam-ines the effects of a sustained reinvig-oration of schoolwide arts education. Specifically, our study focuses on the initial two years of Houstonís Arts Access Initiative and includes 42 ele-mentary and middle schools with over 10,000 third- through eighth-grade students. Our study was made possible by generous support of the Houston Endowment, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Spencer Founda-tion.Due to the programís gradual rollout and oversubscription, we implement-ed a lottery to randomly assign which

schools initially participated. Half of these schools received substantial in-fluxes of funding earmarked to pro-vide students with a vast array of arts educational experiences throughout the school year. Participating schools were required to commit a monetary match to provide arts experiences. In-cluding matched funds from the Hou-ston Endowment, schools in the treat-ment group had an average of $14.67 annually per student to facilitate and enhance partnerships with arts organi-zations and institutions. In addition to arts education professional develop-ment for school leaders and teachers, students at the 21 treatment schools received, on average, 10 enriching arts educational experiences across dance, music, theater, and visual arts disci-plines. Schools partnered with cultural organizations and institutions that pro-vided these arts learning opportunities through before- and after-school pro-grams, field trips, in-school perform-ances from professional artists, and teaching-artist residencies. Principals worked with the Arts Access Initiative director and staff to help guide arts program selections that aligned with their schoolsí goals.Our research efforts were part of a multisector collaboration that united district administrators, cultural organi-zations and institutions, philanthro-pists, government officials, and re-searchers. Collective efforts similar to Houstonís Arts Access Initiative have become increasingly common means for supplementing arts education op-portunities through school-community partnerships. Other examples include Bostonís Arts Expansion Initiative, Chicagoís Creative Schools Initiative, and Seattleís Creative Advantage.Through our partnership with the Houston Education Research Consor-tium, we obtained access to student-level demographics, attendance and disciplinary records, and test score achievement, as well as the ability to collect original survey data from all 42 schools on studentsí school engage-ment and social and emotional-related outcomes.We find that a substantial increase in arts educational experiences has remarkable impacts on studentsí academic, social, and emotional out-comes. Relative to students assigned to the control group, treatment school students experienced a 3.6 percentage point reduction in disciplinary infrac-tions, an improvement of 13 percent of a standard deviation in standardized writing scores, and an increase of 8 percent of a standard deviation in their compassion for others. In terms of our measure of compassion for others, stu-dents who received more arts educa-tion experiences are more interested in how other people feel and more likely to want to help people who are treated badly.

When we restrict our analysis to el-ementary schools, which comprised 86 percent of the sample and were the primary target of the program, we also find that increases in arts learn-ing positively and significantly affect studentsí school engagement, college aspirations, and their inclinations to draw upon works of art as a means for empathizing with others. In terms of school engagement, students in the treatment group were more likely to agree that school work is enjoyable, makes them think about things in new ways, and that their school offers pro-grams, classes, and activities that keep them interested in school. We gener-ally did not find evidence to suggest significant impacts on studentsí math, reading, or science achievement, at-tendance, or our other survey out-comes, which we discuss in our full report.As education policymakers increas-ingly rely on empirical evidence to guide and justify decisions, advocates struggle to make the case for the pres-ervation and restoration of K-12 arts education. To date, there is a remark-able lack of large-scale experimental studies that investigate the educational impacts of the arts. One problem is that U.S. school systems rarely collect and report basic data that researchers could use to assess studentsí access and participation in arts educational programs. Moreover, the most prom-ising outcomes associated with arts education learning objectives extend beyond commonly reported outcomes such as math and reading test scores. There are strong reasons to suspect that engagement in arts education can improve school climate, empower students with a sense of purpose and ownership, and enhance mutual re-spect for their teachers and peers. Yet, as educators and policymakers have come to recognize the importance of expanding the measures we use to as-sess educational effectiveness, data measuring social and emotional ben-efits are not widely collected. Future efforts should continue to expand on the types of measures used to assess educational program and policy effec-tiveness.These findings provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development. Because schools play a pivotal role in cultivating the next generation of citi-zens and leaders, it is imperative that we reflect on the fundamental purpose of a well-rounded education. This mis-sion is critical in a time of heightened intolerance and pressing threats to our core democratic values. As policymak-ers begin to collect and value outcome measures beyond test scores, we are likely to further recognize the value of the arts in the fundamental mission of education.

By: Elaine Kamarck

President Trump has been thwarted by Con-gress yet again and is planning to declare a na-tional emergency at the southern border so that he can go ahead and build the border wall that Congress wonít let him build.There are obvious constitutional concerns with this, the least of which is the very specific ìpower of the purseî granted by the Constitu-tion in Article I, Section 9. The presidentís action is, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the day it was leaked that the president would declare a national emergency, ìan end run around Congressî which will no doubt be litigated in the federal courts.But should the presidentís move somehow pass constitutional muster, it would create a pyrrhic victory for Republicans and set a precedent that the GOP would come to regret. Thatís because national emergencies can be, as recent history shows, very much in the eye of the beholderóand a president who expands the power of the office for himself also expands the power of the office for his successors. While President Trump believes this national emergency applies only to the border, his ac-tions may reach far beyond the U.S.-Mexico border and endure longer than his tenure as president.President Trump thinks the situation at the bor-der is a national emergency even though arrests at the border have dropped precipitously since 2000. How else might a future president inter-pret policy data to identify an emergency that to others may be a controversial declaration?Imagine what a Democratic president could do with the power to declare national emergencies. While it is doubtful that a Democratic president would declare a national emergency in order to ìbuild transgender bathrooms in every elemen-tary school in America,î as Trump supporter Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) predicted. There are other national emergencies that a Democratic president faced with a recalcitrant Congress would be tempted to declareómuch to the chagrin of the Republican Party.Gun control is the most obvious and Speaker

Pelosi used it as an example on the anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas High School shoot-ing. More people die from guns in the United States than in any other largely peaceful and wealthy country in the world.Last year, deaths from guns increased for the third straight year in a row to 39,773 deaths or 12 deaths per every 100,000 people. If a Dem-ocratic president saw this number rise to say, 15 deaths per 100,000 people, pressure could be intense for him or her to declare a national emergency and ban the sale of guns. In fact, given that the number of illegal border cross-ings have decreased for more than a decade, a Democratic president would not even need an increase in gun deaths to make such a decla-ration under the ìTrump National Emergency Precedent.îA Democratic president could also declare a national emergency over the number of peo-ple without health insurance. In the 1960s about 25 percent of Americans went without health insurance. By the 1980s and 1990s that number dropped to around 14 or 15 percent. After passage of Obamacare the percentage of uninsured dropped to an all-time low of 10.9 percent and has crept up under President Trump.Imagine if the percentage of uninsured reached 20 percentóa number not seen since the 1960s. A Democratic president would be very tempted to declare a national emergency and mandate a public option or a total national health insurance system. A Democratic presi-dent could consider any level of uninsured Americans as a public health emergency. A non-trivial number of Americans face health crises and even death each year as a result of lacking insurance or sufficient coverage. President Trumpís concern about the border includes the number of Americans who suffer or die at the hands of individuals who cross the border illegally. Another president could view similar harms, at the hands of an insufficient healthcare system, as a national emergency and act accordingly under the Trump National Emergency Precedent.Climate change has the potential to create a massive national emergency. As all but the most avid climate deniers now admit, the emergency that is climate change is most vis-ible in the Arctic. As the Arctic Sea ice disap-pears, the waters around the world riseócaus-ing major disruptions in climate, which affects weather cycles and leads to extreme weather conditions. NASA has measured the Arctic sea ice and finds it has fallen by 13 percent per decade. So what if, during a Democratic presidency, the Arctic sea falls an average of 15 percent per decade and parts of Florida and Louisiana start to stay underwater? Would a Democratic president declare a national emer-gency and impose strict rationing of fossil fuels or promulgate extensive regulations to curb carbon emissions?These are but some of the things a Democratic president could do with an expanded power of national emergency. No wonder conservative and Republican lawmakers who can think past tomorrowís news cycle are worried about the steps their president could take, and are even more worried about the steps his successor could take.

New Evidence of the Benefits of Arts Education

A President’s National Emergencies are in the Eye of the Beholder

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Quote of the Day:

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Cop Accused of Painting a Movie Scene in Court

BRIEF

If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.

Toni Morrison

To qualify for disability benefits, your condition must limit your ability to do basic activities for at least 12 months.(Getty Images)

Gene Therapy First to ‘Halt’ most Common cause of Blindness

World’s Most Expensive Painting Costing -390million

-by Leonardo da Vinci’ Could be FAKE, Experts Claim

China Bars Millions from Travel for ‘Social Credit’ OffensesAPBEIJING: Skipped paying a fine in China? Then forget about buying an airline ticket.Would-be air travelers were blocked from buying tickets 17.5 million times last year for ìsocial creditî offenses including unpaid taxes and fines under a controversial system the ruling Communist Party says will im-prove public behavior.Others were barred 5.5 million times from buying train tickets, according to the Na-tional Public Credit Information Center. In an annual report, it said 128 people were blocked from leaving China due to unpaid taxes.The ruling party says ìsocial creditî penal-ties and rewards will improve order in a fast-changing society after three decades of economic reform have shaken up social structures. Markets are rife with counterfeit goods and fraud. The system is part of efforts by President Xi Jinpingís government to use technology ranging from data processing to genetic sequencing and facial recognition to tighten control.Authorities have experimented with ìsocial creditî since 2014 in areas across China. Points are deducted for breaking the law or, in some areas, offenses as minor as walking a dog without a leash.Human rights activists say ìsocial creditî is too rigid and might unfairly label people as untrustworthy without telling them they have lost status or how to restore it.US Vice President Mike Pence criticized it

in October as ìan Orwellian system prem-ised on controlling virtually every facet of human life.îThe ruling party wants a nationwide system by 2020 but has yet to say how it will op-erate. Possible penalties include restrictions on travel, business and access to education. A slogan repeated in state media says, ìOnce you lose trust, you will face restrictions everywhere.îCompanies on the blacklist can lose govern-ment contracts or access to bank loans or

be barred from issuing bonds or importing goods.Offenses penalized under ìsocial creditî last year included false advertising or violating drug safety rules, the government informa-tion center said. Individuals were blocked 290,000 times from taking senior manage-ment jobs or acting as a companyís legal representative.Since the launch of such ìjoint punishment,î the system has caused 3.5 million people to ìvoluntarily fulfill their legal obligations,î

the Information Center said. It said that in-cluded 37 people who paid a total of 150 million yuan ($22 million) in overdue fines or confiscations.The report gave no details of how many peo-ple live in areas with ìsocial creditî systems.ìSocial creditî is one facet of efforts by the ruling party to take advantage of increased computing power, artificial intelligence and other technology to track and control the Chinese public.The police ministry launched an initiative dubbed ìGolden Shieldî in 2000 to build a nationwide digital network to track indi-viduals.Human rights activists say people in Mus-lim and other ethnic minority areas have been compelled to give blood samples for a genetic database. Those systems rely on foreign technology. That has prompted criti-cism that US and European suppliers might be enabling human rights abuses.This week, Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. said it no long-er would sell or service genetic sequencers in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang in the northwest following complaints they were used for surveillance.As many as 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang are detained in political education camps, ac-cording to US officials and United Nations experts. The government says those camps are vocational training centers designed to rid the region of extremism.

BBCA woman from Oxford has become the first person in the world to have gene therapy to try to halt the most common form of blindness in the Western world.Surgeons injected a synthetic gene into the back of Janet Osborne’s eye in a bid to prevent more cells from dying. It is the first treatment to target the un-derlying genetic cause of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).About 600,000 people in the UK are af-fected by AMD, most of whom are se-verely sight impaired.Janet Osborne told BBC News: “I find it difficult to recognise faces with my left eye because my central vision is blurred - and if this treatment could stop that get-ting worse, it would be amazing.” The treatment was carried out under lo-cal anaesthetic last month at Oxford Eye Hospital by Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford.He told BBC News: “A genetic treat-ment administered early on to preserve vision in patients who would otherwise lose their sight would be a tremendous breakthrough in ophthalmology and cer-tainly something I hope to see in the near future.”Mrs Osborne, 80, is the first of 10 pa-tients with AMD taking part in a trial of the gene therapy treatment, manu-factured by Gyroscope Therapeutics, funded by Syncona, the Wellcome Trust founded investment firm.What is AMD?The macula is part of the retina and re-sponsible for central vision and fine de-tail.

In age-related macular degeneration, the retinal cells die and are not renewed. The risk of getting AMD increases with age.Most of those affected, including all those on this trial, have what is known as dry AMD, where the decline in sight is gradual and can take many years. Wet AMD can develop suddenly and lead to rapid vision loss but can be treated if caught quickly. Image copyright Fergus Walsh Image caption Prof Robert MacLaren inserting gene therapy into Janet Osborne’s left eye How does gene therapy work? As some people age, genes responsible for the eye’s natural defences start to malfunction and begin destroying cells in the macula, leading to vision loss.An injection is made at the back of the

eye, which delivers a harmless virus containing a synthetic gene.The virus infects the retinal cells and re-leases the gene. This enables the eye to make a protein designed to stop cells from dying and so keep the macula healthy.The early stage trial, at Oxford Eye Hos-pital, is primarily designed to check the safety of the procedure and is being car-ried out in patients who have already lost some vision.If successful, the aim would be to treat patients before they have lost any sight, in a bid to halt AMD in its tracks.That would have major implications for patients’ quality of life.It is too early to know if Mrs Osborne’s sight loss in her left eye has been halted but all those on the trial will have their vision monitored.

STAR A police officer was yester-day accused of painting a Hollywood scenario for court when he said a suspect hit a university student and drove with her body on the roof of the car for at least two kilo-metres.Lawyer Danstan Omari chal-lenged the accounts of inves-tigating officer A Madoyi in a case in which a prison ser-geant is charged with killing a student by dangerous driv-ing. According to the inves-tigating officer, the suspect immediately after the acci-dent reported the matter to Langata police station saying he had hit an animal.The investigating officer said in court that what the suspect did amounted to giving false information to police. He never stopped at the scene of the accident as he just kept speeding. The students right leg was cut off immediately with the rest of the body hanging on the roof of the car. But lawyer Omari in his cross examination said the suspect who was driving at a speed of 120km per hour could possibly have imag-ined he hit an animal.ìI put it to you that there is a possibility he could not have known what he had hit. He might have honestly hit an animal,î the lawyer said.However the investigating officer refused to buy that line of argument saying the man had every intent to lie to police.ìThe animals from the near-by Nairobi National Park are confined and rarely do we have livestock on Mombasa road that early,î the investi-gating officer said.He was testifying in a case where Sergeant Dismas Motogwa Gitenge, who has since been interdicted, was charged with three counts before a magistrate and was released on cash bail of Sh10,000.Gitenge allegedly hit and killed Ms Maureen Wambui Gachagua, a Kenyatta Uni-versity student on July 15, last year. He allegedly com-mitted the offence on Mom-basa Road at around 5am.Other than causing death by dangerous driving, the former prison officer was charged with failing to stop after an accident and giving false information to a police officer.

The Irish SunA masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci which is the worldís most expensive painting is a fake, a lead-ing art expert has claimed.The Salvator Mundi - a depiction of Christ as the ìSaviour of the Worldî - sold for Ä390 million in 2017 but has not been seen since amid doubts that it wasnít painted by the Renaissance master.Now expert Jacques Franck claimed staff at the world famous Louvre museum ìknow that the Salvator Mundi isnít a Leonardoî.Questions about the painting’s authenticity cen-tre around the numerous restorations which it ap-pears to have undergoneThe painting was meant to have gone on display at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi but the exhibition was cancelled and the main Louvre in Paris has now done likewise, the Sunday Telegraph reported.Franck said he has written to French president Emmanuel Macron to raise fears that the country faces ìhumiliationî if the painting goes on display in Paris and warned him against opening the ex-hibition.It would be a shame to have a ëworkshop Leon-ardoí next to the Mona Lisa.