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Demonstrators hold placards against the blockade imposed on Qatar by some Gulf countries during an emergency protest called by the international campaign for Justice & Peace, outside the UAE embassy in London, yesterday.

Support for Qatar in London

BUSINESS | 17 SPORT | 24

Volume 22 | Number 7196 | 2 RiyalsSunday 18 June 2017 | 23 Ramadan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

3rd Best News Website in the Middle East

With time, the blockade is crumbling and my country is breaking the siege with determination, with support from its people who

stood behind their beloved leadership. These consecutive successes are not accidental but the outcome of hard work done over the years at the global level and the diplomatic stances during different international events.

Those who imposed the blockade are reaping failure after failure. The international community is not accepting their allegations and their psychological and imaginary interpretations, as the world is looking for verifiable evidence and is dealing with the issue in a more objective and transparent way.

The baseless accusations they have used to damage the image of Qatar did not convince even their closest supporters and even their fellow citizens, who are aware of every single detail. This made their reactions to the ongoing crisis different as some expressed reservation about the fabrications, some rejected them or expressed surprise while others were shocked. Some expressed their views through the social media which were contrary to the official position of their countries, pushing the authorities in these countries to impose strict rules banning sympathy with Qatar and threatening violators with fine and imprisonment. It is a clear violation of human rights and these measures were taken when they failed to convince their citizens about the actions taken against their closest neighbour and a sister country.

These three countries have insulted themselves with their measures rather than Qatar and history will be witnessing this fact. The current crisis has made Qataris more united and convinced them about the need to depend on themselves and work hard, without getting dragged by the media conspiracy which is still continuing.

These countries did not find ears to listen to their justifications for the blockade and instead were surprised by the reactions their delegations faced while touring different countries to explain their flimsy positions. At the same time, the Qatari diplomacy succeeded in explaining what the country is facing under the blockade including violations of the rights of mixed families and the impact on the social fabric.

Ironically, the claims of these countries are still not clear, and are constantly changing as if they are thoughts rather than reasonable facts. This confirms what Qatar has said - the issue is a matter of trying to control Qatar’s decision to make it dependent on others in its policy and decision-making and this will never happen under the leadership of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who stressed repeatedly that Qatar is not a country that will be marginalised because it has its own orientation and takes decisions according to its interests.

Days are coming when Qatari successes are becoming stronger, and the blockade is facing global criticism, and Qatar is a success locally, regionally and globally gaining global respect.

Our message to the world has been conveyed, which is that Qataris are a peaceful people and welcome all thoughts that help in renaissance of peoples and states.

We welcome dialogue and reconciliation built on a strong and clear basis without insulting the sovereignty of any country.

Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-Chief

OPINION

Qatar succeeds andblockade fails

The Peninsula

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has said that health serv-ices offered by all its hospitals

in Qatar are functioning normally and there is no shortage of medical supplies or medicines because of the blockade imposed on Qatar by a number of GCC countries.

In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Executive Director of the Corporate Communications Department at Hamad Medical Cor-poration, Ali Abdullah Al Khater, said the HMC has stocks of medicines and other important medical supplies for many months.

If some of the supply routes are affected, the HMC will definitely find new suppliers, Al Khater stressed, add-ing that there is "no risk on public health" because there is no shortage of medicines or medical supplies.

He explained that all HMC hospi-tals continue to provide the necessary health care to all patients, regardless of their nationalities or countries of origin. With regard to the provision of medical care to residents of the GCC

countries that imposed the siege on the State of Qatar or other countries, Al Khater pointed out that the HMC continues to provide medical care for all patients regardless of their nationality.

He said that some Qatari compa-nies are also exploring new trade partners for import of medicines and medical supplies in the future.

Atilla Kurucayirli, a Doha-based banker with Commercial Bank Qatar (CBQ), told The Peninsula that some Qatari business groups which were importing dairy products and other edible items from Turkey were also negotiating with top pharmaceutical companies of Turkey to import med-icines. Kurucayirli, a Turkish expatriate who is facilitating Qatari companies to establish new trade links in Turkey, said that Qatari busi-nessmen were exploring new avenues so that there should not arise any such situation in future.

A number a private hospitals and clinics The Peninsula spoke to con-firmed that there was no shortage of any medicine in Qatar and the sup-plies were normal.

Emir receives message from Iran PresidentEMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received yes-terday a verbal message from President of the Islamic Repub-lic of Iran Dr Hassan Rowhani.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, conveyed the message dur-ing a meeting with the Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrah-man Al Thani yesterday.

Sidi MohamedThe Peninsula

The international diplomatic support for Qatar, especially from Germany and Turkey,

in addition to mixed signals from the US, has put Qatar in a com-fortable position, French newspaper Le Monde has said.

It also added that finding alternative options for import of goods, and Qatar residents' sup-port to the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has boosted the confidence of author-ities in Qatar.

Those who imposed the block-ade were thinking that they would create a shock in Qatar, and a few days after the blockade, Qatar would give up. But the scenario of bowing to the pressure has disappeared.

The Emir has received calls from leaders in Turkey, the UK,

RAMADAN TIMINGToday’s Iftar 6:29pmTomorrow’s Imsak 3:04am

Qatar respects workers' rights:FIFA officialFIFA stressed yesterday that Qatar respects all the rights of workers at construction sites of World Cup 2022, as is the case with Russia which is pre-paring for hosting the World Cup 2018.

FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura said at a press conference ahead of the opening of the 2017 Confed-erations Cup that there were no violations at construction sites of World Cup 2018 and 2022.

Italy and Germany and they discussed the crisis and asked to solve it by diplomatic ways.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said that Turkey was makikng necessary efforts in order to solve the crisis before Eid Al Fitr.

Also, 31 Algerian parlia-mentarians announced establishing a Parliamentary Committee for solidarity with Qatar, and they said that “the decision against Qatar is mainly to sabotage the Pales-tinian issue.”

→Continued on page 6

International support boosts Qatar's position

No medicine shortage: HMC

Protesters gathered in Paris and London to call for the lifting of a land, air and sea blockade imposed by Gulf states on Qatar. The demonstrators at Place de la Republique said the blockade is a flagrant violation of human rights and amounts to collective punishment.

Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci says his country has airlifted 5,000 tonnes of foodstuff to Qatar to help ease the embargo. Zeybekci said trucks were also on the way.

The Peninsula

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrah-man Al Thani yesterday said that the full and final report about the hacking

of Qatar News Agency (QNA) would be published.

Talking to Qatar TV, he said Kuwait is continuing its mediation efforts and its leadership is visiting all the related countries but they have not submitted their list of demands so far. He said that this was one of the surprising aspects because, sometimes, they talk about

submitting the list to Kuwait and sometimes to the US. It shows how fragile their claims are.

Foreign Minister said the demands of these countries are still unclear. Earlier, they said they would prepare a list and give it to the United States and now these demands have been converted into complaints. It reflects the contradic-tions in their statements.

He questioned the logic of imposing the blockade by these countries when they did not have the list of complaints ready with them. He also said whether it was normal for countries to resolve their

complaints by taking such harsh measures. Such extreme steps are taken only when all other options are exhausted, he added.

The strategic option for Qatar is to solve this dispute by diplomatic efforts. Talking about his recent for-eign visits, he said these visits to different countries were aimed at explaining Qatar’s views to coun-tries which share political and economic interests with Qatar.

He said other countries, before Qatar, have also taken the same steps of approaching other countries to seek their support.

→Continued on page 6

Detailed report on QNA website hacking to be published: FM

Al Murra tribe renews loyalty to EmirAL Murra tribe in the State of Qatar renewed its complete and absolute loyalty to the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

In a press release, the tribe stressed rejection to using its name in political dis-putes with the aim of destroying the social fabric and political cohesion within the State of Qatar, renewing its mandate and loyalty to sol-diers of the State of Qatar, its Emir and people whether in prosperity and hardship.

02 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017HOME

Emir sends greetings to Iceland PresidentQNA

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratula-tions to President of the Republic of

Iceland Gudni Johannesson on the occa-sion of his country's National Day.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin

Hamad Al Thani also sent a cable of con-gratulations to Johannesson on the occasion of his country's National Day.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani also sent a similar cable of congratulations to President of the Repub-lic of Iceland Gudni Johannesson.

Qatar is best Arab country in children's living conditionsWashington

QNA

Qatar ranked first in the Arab world and 34th in the world for the best living conditions for children, according to the report of

the "Save the Children-US" , which put 172 countries from the best to the worst for children.

US media indicated that ratings were determined by measuring aver-age performance in eight different criterion, namely the under-five mor-tality rate, malnutrition affecting growth, out-of-school children, child labour, adolescents marriage, ado-lescent birth rate, displacement due to conflict and child homicide.

Kuwait ranked second in the Arab world (38 globally), followed by

Oman (43th globally), Lebanon and Tunisia (45th globally), Saudi Arabia (47th globally), Jordan (51th globally), Morocco (83th globally) and Egypt (88th globally).

Syria came first in the list of coun-tries where children are most affected by conflict, followed by South Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan.

According to Save the Children's 2017 report, some 28 million children are forcibly displaced.

This number includes about 10 million refugee children, nearly 1 mil-lion asylum-seekers and 17 million children displaced within their own countries due to violence and conflict.

The report classified Niger as the worst place for children in the world, while Norway and Slovenia shared the first rank as the best countries in

the world followed by Finland, while Netherlands and Sweden ranked joint-fourth, followed by Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Italy , Belgium, Cyprus, Germany and South Korea.

Qatar ranked first in the Arab world and 34th in the world for the best living conditions for children. Kuwait ranked second in the Arab world (38 globally), followed by Oman (43), Lebanon and Tunisia (45), Saudi Arabia (47), Jordan (51), Morocco (83) and Egypt (88).

Qatar & Oman to explore trade tiesQNA

The Qatar Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (QCCI) announced that a large delega-

tion of Qatari businessmen will travel to the Sultanate of Oman on Tues-day to discuss means of enhancing trade relations between the two countries.

The Qatari delegation, which includes 70 businessmen, seeks to review investment opportunities available in Qatar and Oman and explore the possibility of forging alli-ances between Qatari and Omani businessmen as well as establishing joint ventures in the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman.

Chairman of Qatar Chamber, H E Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, said the visit

will review ways to strengthen rela-tions between Qatari and Omani businessmen leading to greater coop-eration in various trade and investment sectors, stressing Qatari businessmen's strong keenness to enter the Omani market and estab-lish partnerships and alliances that lead to greater cooperation in the commercial and economic fields.

In this context, he praised the Omani position on the Gulf crisis and the unfair blockade imposed by three GCC states on Qatar since June 5, not-ing that the Sultanate of Oman has provided great support to Qatar through the direct maritime line between Hamad Port and Sohar Oman Port.

He also stressed that the Omani companies are willing to supply food products to the Qatari market.

The visit of the Qatari business-men delegation to Oman would open prospects for cooperation between the two sides and pave the way for the signing of agreements between the Qatari and Omani companies to enhance trade exchange and joint ventures, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani said.

Qatar Chamber has urged busi-nessmen to take part in this visit to enhance trade cooperation with the private sector in Oman.

Many Qatari companies have started contacts with Omani compa-nies for the import of Omani goods, he added, pointing out that the visit will enhance this cooperation through direct meetings between Qatari and Omani companies aimed at concluding bilateral agreements and deals.

03SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 HOME

Qatar rejects accusation by BahrainQNA

The State of Qatar expressed its rejection and denunciation of the accusation of try-ing to undermine

security and stability of Bahrain as its official TV broadcasted a record of a phone call between Special Adviser to Emir H E Hamad bin Khalifa Al Attiyah and Hassen Ali Mohamed Jumaa from Bahrain Al Wefaq society. That call was held as part of the then Qatari mediation and the TV deliberately presented the call as a support by Qatar to the Al Wefaq society and a direct inter-ference in the Bahraini internal affairs in a naive and blatant attempt to misrepresent and twist facts and take them out of their proper context.

A statement released by the Foreign Ministry yesterday said the contacts were held as part of the mediation efforts undertaken by the State of Qatar after the demonstrations that took place in Bahrain in 2011 with the con-sent and knowledge of Bahrain when then Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani in the presence of the late Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud Al Faisal visited Bahrain and briefed the King on all the efforts of Qatar in this regard. The mediation was suspended after a decision to intervene militarily to break the demonstrations and sit-ins.

The statement said what

confirms that Bahrain is aware of these contacts is that standard telephones in Bahrain were used and that Bahrain did not raise this issue as a point of disagreement over the past years, especially during the crisis of withdrawal of ambassadors in 2014.

The statement said all this is the best evidence of the contin-uing unfortunate disarray of the fabrication of charges. It won-dered why these contacts were not released in 2011 in the same way they were announced now.

The statement said taking a part or a little of the phone call and broadcasting it in these con-troversial circumstances and current tensions provides com-pelling evidence of targeting Qatar and attempting to impute charges to it. It is also a disavowal of its efforts aimed at ending the unrest and enhancing the secu-rity and stability of Bahrain. The statement added it is not surpris-ing to take these contacts out of their proper context for reasons known by all including the lack of credibility and real bankruptcy with regard to false accusations and allegations against Qatar since the end of last month by those who make these state-ments or instigators.

The statement affirmed Qatar's continued and perma-nent commitment to all the principles laid down by the GCC and stressed that the policy of Qatar is based on the principles of good neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of all countries.

The new stocks of vegetables being unloaded from Qatar Cargo.

Lulu brings 65 tonnes of fruits and vegetables from IndiaSanaullah Ataullah

The Peninsula

To increase the availability of agriculture produce in local markets, Lulu Hyper-

markets has imported 65 tonnes of vegetables and banana of dif-ferent varieties in a chartered flight from India, said Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Group International.

Speaking to The Peninsula, Althaf said: “Despite the con-signments came by air, it will not be expensive and new supplies will also help to stabilise the prices."

"Earlier, there were transit costs attached as products from sourcing countries were com-ing to Qatar via Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Now everything is com-ing directly,” he added.

“We have started direct sup-ply and direct import volume from India has risen sharply. Earlier these things were com-ing in passenger flights and it

was in the range of 500kg. Now we are not dependent on pas-senger planes because the quantity is enough to transport by cargo flights”.

“Our first chartered cargo flight has arrived from Kochi carrying 65 tonnes of banana and fresh vegetables including tomato, cucumber, capsicum, onion, potato, ginger, garlic and pumpkin among many others," said Althaf.

“From now onwards, we have started sourcing from dif-ferent distribution warehouses around the world. At least 18 containers carrying food and non-food items are coming through Sohar port in Oman where we have very large logis-tic set up. From Sohar, we are bringing India products plus those produced in Oman," he said.

“We had a discussion with the Qatari authorities and now we will be importing commod-ities from two ports in India,” he

said. “Our office in Turkey has also started shipping food items. If you look at yogurt, milk and other Turkey dairy products, you realise that they are number one in the world. Now we think that we have the opportunity now to offer more products to Qatar.”

“We may charter more flights if there is any shortage. We are going to import potato from Algeria and it will arrive very soon. Earlier it was com-ing from Egypt. We also have plans to import fresh herbs and leaves like mint, coriander from Lebanon and Georgia,” said Althaf.

“We are also thinking for charting flight from Spain. We will bring one flight from Europe to meet the requirements in case of any shortage of fruits like apples and oranges. We are bringing Al Safa chicken from Oman. Fresh Chicken is already coming from Pakistan and Eng-land,” he said.

Ooredoo launches QR2 unlimited data Hala packThe Peninsula

After the amazing response of Ooredoo’s Endless Internet Packs

for Shahry post-paid custom-ers, the company has announced the launch of the QR2 Unlimited Data Hala Pack.

With the pack, all Hala users can activate a never-ending data pack for just QR2 per day and enjoy access to unlimited data at 64kbps speed until midnight on the date of activation.

The Q 2 Unlimited Data Hala Pack can be subscribed to by simply sending the SMS ‘DATA64’ to 121 or logging in to the Ooredoo App.

Talking about the service, Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Communications, com-mented: “This is a completely new service and concept for our customers and after such an amazing response with Shahry Endless Data Packs, we knew that our pre-paid users would benefit even more with having affordable daily unlimited internet access.”

Hala customers can only activate one pack per day and unlimited data will be con-sumed after any other data cards/MIP or free data allow-ance at full speed.

This is the latest in a line of new services to reward Hala users in 2017, as Oore-doo continue to ensure pre-paid customers get the best value for money.

For full details of Ooredoo Hala offers and services, please visit the company’s social media pages or head to Ooredoo.qa.

04 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017HOME

Over 410 non-Muslims fast to give food to SomaliaThe Peninsula

More than 410 non-M u s l i m s participated in Hyatt Plaza’s Fast-a-thon, a charity

event that offers the opportunity to experience fasting for one day. This year, for every person who registered and fasted, Hyatt Plaza and Qatar Charity will donate QR200 on his/her behalf to help ending hunger in Somalia.

Consequently, the shopping mall and Qatar Charity have pledged to donate QR90,000, in order to provide food to desti-tute children and alleviate the suffering of people living in drought-affected areas in Soma-lia. An Iftar party was also organised for the participants, allowing them to share their fast-ing experience and promote the universal values of brotherhood, tolerance and empathy.

“Ramadan is the month of

goodness and giving, which is also what this event is all about. We have a double objective that we want to achieve from Fasta-thon; first, we wanted to endorse acceptance, tolerance and social solidarity, and second, we aimed to raise awareness about the alarming situation in Somalia. This year, we have witnessed the highest participation for Fast-a-thon and are glad that we will be able to help easing the famine in

Somalia and make affected lives better,” said Feroz Moideen, gen-eral manager, Hyatt Plaza.

Johnny B, one of the partici-pants said: “As new expats in Qatar, my family and I have been intrigued by the local culture for a while now, especially during the Ramadan. Fast-a-thon represents a great opportunity for me and my family to experience fasting and link it to a great cause, like fighting famine in Somalia”.

The proceedings from the Fast-a-thon will be donated to urgent projects, which were ear-lier initiated by a project aiming at providing food and medical supplies to about 19,000 affected people.

“We thank all our customers and partners for supporting us in this noble cause, and we wish that the event will instil Ram-adan’s true values and make our participants understand what those in need exactly feel.” Moideen has stressed.

Great success for Toyota's Ramadan campaignThe Peninsula

The Ramadan campaign organised under the theme 'Step into the future this Ramadan' by Abdullah

Abdulghani & Bros. Co. (AAB), sole agent for Toyota vehicles in Qatar, is getting very good response from prospective car buy-ers, according to the spokesman from the company.

Hybrid is going to be the Technology of the future and AAB is offering their pro-spective customers a chance to win four units Toyota Prius Hybrid which will be raffled during the campaign. The campaign which began on May 20 will continue till June 30. Toyota Prius won the “Future of Motoring” Award during the recently held MECOTY Awards 2017.

The Ramadan promotion includes exciting benefits on all Toyota models and special deals on Toyota sedan models. The starting price for the stylish Yaris is QR45,500, Corolla from QR64,500, Camry from QR70,500 and the Future of Motor-ing Toyota Prius is at QR75,000. These prices are available until the stock lasts.

In addition to these unmatched offers, AAB is also offering the prospective car buyers option to choose service packages up to 3 years, In-house finance facility as well as special interest/profit rates from Qatar National Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank,

Commercial Bank and First Finance. Attractive offers are also available for other models in the Toyota line-up. Toyota has always been striving to

introduce various advanced technologies with class-leading performance and excel-lent fuel efficiency, enhanced refinement and comfort for passengers.

Abdullah Abdulghani and Bros. Co. works under the guiding principles of Cus-tomer FIRST philosophy – Fairness, Integrity, Respect, Superior Performance & Teamwork. This has not only helped the company as well as Toyota to be the Number 1 brand in Qatar but also to enhance customer satisfaction of their large customer base. AAB spokesman added that the company on its part are fully committed to provide the best ownership experience to their valued customers and the best after sales support.

Toyota vehicles are well known for their Quality, Durability and Reliability and are well supported by AAB’s after sales facilities which include a network of 8 service centres located in various parts of

the country. Toyota service locations include: Main Service Station in Industrial area, Landmark Quick Service Center, Abu Hamour Quick Serv-ice Center, Al Nayef Quick Service Center, D Ring Quick Service Center, Wakrah Quick Service Center, Aziz Q u i c k S e r v i c e Center& Al Khor Quick Service Center. A new Service Center

will be opened soon at the Airport Road near to the Toyota Show-room. Customers have the convenience of booking their preferred timings for carry-ing out periodic maintenance on their vehicles by calling hotline number 8001800 at any time from Saturday to Thursday (24 x 6).

Toyota Showrooms located at the Old Airport Road and City Center are open 7 days a week making it more convenient for the customers. AAB has announced spe-cial working hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Toyota main showroom wel-come customers in the main showroom from 8am to 2pm and from 8pm till 11.30pm from Saturday to Thursday and from 8pm to 11.30pm on Friday while City Center Showroom welcome the custom-ers from 9am till 1pm and from 8pm till 11.30pm (Sat – Thu) and from 8pm to 11.30pm on Friday.

This year, for every person who registered for Hyatt Plaza’s Fast-a-thon, Hyatt Plaza and Qatar Charity will donate QR200 on his/her behalf to help ending hunger in Somalia.

Participants at Hyatt Plaza’s Fast-a-thon.

05SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 HOME

Campaign launched to support cancer patientsThe Peninsula

Qatar Cancer Society launched the ‘Your Smile is Our Life’ campaign to support-ing cancer patients,

survivors and their families. The initiative was launched

during the annual ‘Hope’ Iftar event held at the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort and Conven-tion Hotel in the presence of several cancer patients, survi-vors and families.

The ‘Your Smile is Our Life’ campaign aims at educating families of cancer patients and survivors about the risk, preven-tion, early detection and treatment for cancer. It also aims at breaking the taboo asso-ciated with cancer.

It was launched in collabo-ration with the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the

National Center for Cancer Care and Research. Several cancer patients and survivors shared their experience throughout diagnosis, treatment and recov-ery during the event.

Also as part of the Qatar Cancer Society visited children

and adult cancer patients at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research, with an aim pro-vide psychological support for cancer patients as it makes a positive impact on response to treatment.

Maryam Hamad Al Noaimi, General Manager at the Qatar Cancer Society said, “This initi-ative emphasizes the role we play to improve the psycholog-ical and physical condition of the patients.”

“Through such visits to the patients we try to help them overcome the stage of treatment with patience and determina-tion,” she added.

Such visits to hospitals also aim to raise awareness among about cancer among the com-munity and remove the taboo associated with the disease and spread the message that cancer is curable.

Officials of Qatar Cancer Society and other participants at the event. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

The ‘Your Smile is Our Life’ campaign aims at educating families of cancer patients and survivors about the risk, prevention, early detection and treatment for cancer. It also aims at breaking the taboo associated with cancer.

QC reveals its record in global tie-upsQNA

The Qatar Charity (QC) has revealed that the number of cooperation and part-

nership agreements it has signed with United Nations organisa-tions, agencies, humanitarian organisations and international and regional donors reached 93 agreements , with cooperation amounting to more than $126.3m.

A report issued by the QC said that these figures reveal its keenness on partnership and cooperation and show the scale of programmes and projects implemented across the world through partnerships with United Nations agencies and other inter-national organisations. The report said this cooperation is concentrated on the main bod-ies, the most important of which are 8 of the United Nations agen-cies and organisations with 70 agreements at a total value of $28.2m, the Islamic Develop-ment Bank with $ 82.8mand the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) with $7.38m.

The report also showed QC cooperation with other interna-tional organisations, such as the International Medical Corps, at a total value of $2.74m for the health sector in Syria, Central Africa, Sierra Leone and Soma-lia in 2014-2015 and with the British Orbis organisation in the field of Fighting Blindness in Bangladesh 2015.

More than half a million dol-lars spent in cooperation with the US Office for the Coordina-tion of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID) in Pakistan's

Water, Sanitation and Economic Empowerment Project 2010 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun-dation in 2013 and Care International Care In the area of livelihoods in Sudan and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) of $4m in 2009 as well as an agreement focused on coop-eration in livelihoods and the Kanoute Foundation through a memorandum of understand-ing in the field of health sector in 2016.

The report also referred to the cooperation with the UAE Red Crescent for the relief of Iraq in 2009 and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) through the MoH and Mosaic UK, where an agreement was signed in the field of social welfare.

The cooperation between Qatar Charity and the Islamic Development Bank included countries such as Syria in the field of education for displaced children and refugees and the provision of educational curric-ula for them and Palestine, especially the reconstruction efforts of the Gaza Strip in the areas of health, education, infra-structure and social housing for poor families.

In 2014 and 2015, Qatar Charity cooperated with ISESCO, covering several areas

such as education, culture and economic empowerment in a number of African countries.

The report said that memo-randa and agreements of cooperation with UN agencies and organisations included the UN High Commissioner for Ref-ugees (UNHCR), the World Food Program (WFP), the Interna-tional Organization for Migration (IOM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) , and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),.

Regarding the cooperation with the UNHCR and Qatar Char-ity, it amounted to $5.49m from 2000 to 2017. It included water and sanitation agreements in Kosovo, relief, water and sani-tation in Pakistan, relief to Yemen, relief to Myanmar, repa-triation of displaced Somalis, Malaysia relief and Iraq relief.

The total value of Qatar Charity agreements with the World Food Program reached $4.83m during the period from 2007 to 2015, covering areas of global logistics cooperation, provision of food for Sudan, pro-vision of food for Palestine, the Gaza Strip, provision of food to Pakistan (two agreements) and mobilisation of resources at the global level, the reported said.

Qatar Charity operates in 48 countries across the world and has 26 field and regional offices outside Qatar.

Qatar Charity operates in 48 countries across the world and has 26 field and regional offices outside Qatar.

06 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017HOME / MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Bamako

AFP

Five soldiers were killed yesterday in northern Mali, where a surge in

violence has prompted calls for the UN to create a new anti-jihadist force for the region.

Eight soldiers were wounded and nine vehicles were destroyed in the attack on the camp at Bintagoungou at about 5:00am, an army statement said.

Local sources said earlier yesterday that jihadists led the assault, which took place around 80km from Timbuktu, and has not been claimed.

Beirut

Reuters

The Syrian army said it would suspend com-bat operations in the southern city of Deraa for 48 hours, as medi-

ators announced two separate attempts to convene new peace talks next month.

The Syrian army general command said a ceasefire at 12 noon yesterday was being imple-m e n t e d t o s u p p o r t “reconciliation efforts”, accord-ing to a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

The local ceasefire announcement came on the same day as the United Nations said it wanted to start a fresh round of peace talks between Syrian factions on July 10 in Geneva, and Moscow said it

hoped to hold talks in Kaza-khstan’s capital Astana on July 4 to 5. Since a resumption of peace negotiations last year, there have been multiple rounds brokered by the United Nations in Geneva

between representatives of Syr-ian rebels and the government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, resulting in scant progress.

Another track of talks bro-kered by Russia - a key Assad ally - has also been happening in Astana since January.

In an emailed statement the office of United Nations special mediator for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he wished to con-vene a seventh round of Geneva talks in July and further rounds in August and September.

In more than six years the Syrian conflict has killed hun-dreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes.

In May, Iran, Russia and Tur-key brokered a deal in Astana to create four de-escalation zones in Syria. Violence levels have

vastly reduced in those proposed de-escalation areas, but fighting

has continued in major frontline areas, including in Deraa city.

Syrian army declares Deraa ceasefire

Ankara

AFP

Turkish authorities yesterday freed the top adviser to Prime

Minister Binali Yildirim detained on suspicion of links to the movement of US-based Muslim cleric

Fethullah Gulen blamed for last year's failed coup, state media reported.

Birol Erdem, a former senior justice ministry offi-cial, was released under judicial supervision which means he should still face trial, a date for which has yet to be set.

Turkey frees PM's adviser

Five Mali soldiers dead in attack on military camp

A Free Syrian Army fighter reads The Holy Quran at Al Nuaimah village in Deraa province, yesterday.

Continued from Page 1These countries were

seeking support in African countries where only a few responded positively to their demands while most of the countries refused to take sides and most of them sent positive messages for Qatar.

He added that the visits have yielded positive results as they have asked these countries to remove the blockade and solve this crisis through dialogue. This criti-cal time has revealed who are real friends of Qatar. He added that during the Riyadh Summit everything was smooth and normal and no one raised any issues.

Qatar was surprised with their reactions to the hacking of QNA. Their reaction to hacking showed that there was a preplanned media campaign against Qatar.

Most nations send positive message

Talks on July 10

The local ceasefire announcement came on the same day as the United Nations said it wanted to start a fresh round of peace talks between Syrian factions on July 10 in Geneva, and Moscow said it hoped to hold talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on July 4 to 5.

Continued from Page 1They also added: “We, the representatives of the Alge-

rian Parliament, stand with Qatar. We are against any conspiracy which opponents are planning against Qatar and its sovereignty”.

The statement has said that Arab and Muslims should be sensitised about the dangers of the conspiracy which is aimed at “punishing Qatar” on allegations of sponsor-ing “brotherhood and terrorists”, while the hidden reality is to sabotage the Palestinian cause.

The analysts have said that the statement of Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir, in which he had said that they were preparing a list of complaints and not list of demands, means that Qatar is on the right path.

“Talks on complaints and not on demand list by three Gulf countries is a an important development in the dip-lomatic language. It means that they have come on the negotiation table”, said Mohamed Mokhtar Al Shinguity, Professor of Political Science at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

Qatar is on the right path

Irfan Bukhari The Peninsula

Amid Turkish fresh food products are successfully filling the space created by

the blockade imposed on Qatar by three Gulf countries, some Qatari companies behind the import of these Turkish dairy and poultry products are poised to “import construction material from Turkey” in near future.

Atilla Kurucayirli, a Doha-based banker affiliated with Commercial Bank Qatar (CBQ), has said that the plan to import food products from Turkey had been chalked out immediately after three GCC states severed diplomatic ties with Qatar.

"Now a number of leading Qatari business groups are

engaged in talks with Turkish companies for the import of con-struction material like cement, steel, pipes, gypsum board, insu-lation, paint, water proofing material," he added.

Kurucayirli, who works as Private Banking Management Executive at CBQ, said that within 48 hours after three Gulf states imposed sanctions on Qatar, as much as 100 tonnes of fresh food including dairy prod-ucts and chicken had been imported from Turkey. “So far, more than 1000 tonnes of fresh food has been imported from Turkey to meet Qatar’s needs,” he added.

He said that fresh food from Turkey was being imported from two channels; government and private. “At the private level, all

this occurred only due to keen interest and hectic efforts of some leading Qatari business-men,” he added.

Kurucayirli is actively engaged in these trade activities and being a Turkish national facilitating various deals between private sectors of both countries.

The CBQ official said that the owners of Qatari companies were personally managing all matters by remaining in constant contact with Turkish companies to ensure immediate supply of quality food stuff to residents of Qatar. "Now they intend to import construction material and many other items," he added.

He said that the Turkish Embassy in Qatar was whole-heartedly facilitating trade

processes. On quality and pric-ing of food products being imported from Turkey, he said: “Quality is so good that now peo-ple will not go back to old products even if they hit the shelves again. The Turkish com-panies are keeping minimum profits though this food stuff is being transported via air cargo not through ships.”

He said that CBQ had invested in financial sector of Turkey by launching “A Bank” which “now has around 60 branches” in Turkey. The CBQ which had acquired a 70.8per-cent stake in the bank from Anadolu Group in July 2013 increased its shares to 75% then bought remaining 25% stakes in December last year for $222.5m becoming the sole owner of

"Alternatif Bank", Turkey.He further said: “Turkey and

its people are thankful to Qatar for trusting on our economy. The total volume of Qatari invest-ments in Turkey is around $20b while the majority of invest-ments are from the government side.”

He added that Turkey and Qatar had proved that they were true friends having “one soul”.

Kurucayirli said that bilat-eral trade volume was also growing year on year.

“Last year bilateral trade vol-ume was around $1bn. It increased significantly in the last 2-3 years. Before this time period, it was just $200-300m.” But, he concluded: “Our target is to take bilateral trade to $US5bn per year.”

Import of construction materials from Turkey on the cards

Darjeeling tense as fresh violence erupts

Modi flags off Kochi Metro

Darjeeling

IANS

Trouble-hit Darjeeling and other areas in the north West Bengal hills yesterday saw fresh vio-

lence and arson, as GJM activists, including the women's wing, came out on the streets in hun-dreds to protest an alleged police raid on the residence of party assistant General Secre-tary Binay Tamang.

The area virtually turned into a battlefield as protests marked the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) indefinite shut-down which entered the sixth day. The GJM protest to demand a separate Gorkhaland is being countered by supporters of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress.

An officer of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) was crit-ically injured in the violence,

while the GJM claimed two of its supporters were killed.

Violence erupted yesterday after the alleged police raid and vandalising of the residence of

Tamang at around 3am.Tamang claimed his house

was "raided and vandalised by the police and the Trinamool Congress cadres" in the same manner as they had raided party chief Bimal Gurung's house in Darjeeling district two days ago.

He also claimed Vikram Rai, son of party MLA Amar Rai, had been arrested.

However, Amar Rai said his son has no political affiliations and he was released later.

Widespread protests were reported from Singamari, the northern point of Darjeeling, as hundreds of GJM's women activ-ists rallied with shrill condemnation of the raid, and shouted slogans for a separate Gorkhaland as they held aloft the tricolour.

Several vehicles including three of police were set ablaze.

Later in the day, the effects of the trouble were felt in Kalim-pong's Gorubathan market where GJM supporters allegedly torched a vehicle of the power supply authority, while the Jald-haka police station was vandalised. Police fired tear gas shells as the women activists pelted stones and pushed back at the police barricade shouting "Police Go Back".

Kiran Tamang, Assistant Commander of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), was critically injured in the clash and was taken to a nursing home for treatment.

The GJM claimed two of their supporters were killed and five were critically injured in police firing, but police denied the allegation.

Kochi

IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday flagged off the Kochi Metro - India's first integrated

multi-mode transport system that has reserved jobs for trans-genders and will be run mostly by women.

With Metro Man E Sreedha-ran by his side, Modi also took a Metro ride after he cut the inaugural ribbon at the rail net-work's Palarivatom station.

The Prime Minister addressed a gathering of thou-sands of his supporters, greeting them in Malayalam and referred to Kochi as the "queen of the Arabian Sea".

"The city's population has been rising steadily and is expected to reach 23 lakhs by

2021. Therefore, a mass rapid transport system is essential to address the increasing pressure on urban infrastructure. This will also contribute to Kochi's economic growth," said Modi.

He said the metro project with several significant features was the first to be commissioned with a modern "Communication Based Train Control Signalling System".

"The coaches reflect the 'Make in India' vision. They have been built by Alstom of France, at their factory near Chennai, and have an Indian component of around 70 percent."

Modi said another "note-worthy aspect" of the project is that nearly "1,000 women and 23 transgenders are being selected to work in the Kochi Metro Rail System".

The project is also an

example of an environment friendly development as nearly 25 percent of the entire energy requirements would be met from renewable sources, par-ticularly solar energy.

"The long-term plan is to become a zero-carbon emitting urban transit system. Every sixth pillar of the metro system will have a covered vertical garden, which will substantially use urban solid waste," the Prime Minister said.

Modi underlined the need to bring about a paradigm shift in urban planning in India which could be done by adopting a "people-centric approach, and integrating land-use and transport".

"The government of India issued a National Transit Ori-ented Development Policy in April 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving a model of Kochi Metro presented to him by Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, after he inaugurated Kochi Metro, yesterday.

Soldiers patrolling after clashes with supporters of the separatist Gorkha Janmukti Morcha group in Darjeeling, yesterday.

Protests continue

The area virtually turned into a battlefield as protests marked the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) indefinite shutdown which entered the sixth day.

An officer of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) was critically injured in the violence, while the GJM claimed two of its supporters were killed.

NEWS BYTES

BENGALURU: Bengaluru yesterday became the second after Delhi to have a Metro network running across the city with President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday inaugurating the com-pleted first phase. The 42.3km-long project, which started in 2008, has been built at a cost of about Rs13,845 crore, of which Rs300 crore was raised by floating bonds, a first in the Metro history of the country. The service from Nagas-andra station in the north to Yelachenahalli station in the south will be opened for public from today evening. Tthe inaugural event of the 'Namma Metro' (Our Metro) service was held at the state secretariat, 3km away from the Kempe Gowda inter-change terminal at Majestic station for the 24km north-south Green Line and 19 km east-west Purple Line.

SILIGURI : Three women from Nepal were rescued from human traffickers and one accused arrested in near the India-Nepal bor-der in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, an official said yesterday. "On specific information, a team of Border Outpost Panitanki, under the command of Reena AC, apprehended one trafficker and rescued three victims from Quarter at 10am," said Rajib Rana, Commandant, of Sashastra Seema Bal's 41st Battalion. According to him, the three women victims were being report-edly taken to Delhi and further to Kuwait by the trafficker.

LATUR: In a major operation with national security impli-cations, the Maharashtra ATS and Police, along with the Department of Telecommunication, have busted two ille-gal telephone exchanges that are suspected to have been used by Pakistani agencies for spying in India, an official said here yesterday. Two persons have been arrested in the operation which was carried out at two locations in the state's Latur district on Friday following an alert from Indian Army military intelligene in Jammu & Kashmir. The sleuths have recovered 174 SIM cards, seven illegal machines used as international gateways, two computers and other elec-tronic materials totally worth around Rs460,000.

UMIAM : At least six people were killed, one was missing and nine others injured after incessant rains triggered landslides across Meghalaya yesterday, an official said. Five people were killed were sleeping inside their home when the land-slide occurred at the industrial units in Tharia area under Ri-Bhoi district. A 60-year-old woman is missing, State Dis-aster Response Force (SDRF) official Merinpole Sangma said. He said the search operation will resume Sunday morning to locate the woman. Sangma said the victims were mostly labourers of the Veneer Product Private Limited.

President unveils Bengaluru Metro

Three trafficking victims rescued

Police bust illegal call centres

Six dead in Meghalaya landslides

BJP wins Shimla civic body pollsShimla

IANS

Ahead of the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, the opposi-

tion BJP yesterday created a record by winning the maxi-mum number of seats —for the first time in three decades — in the 34-member House of the Shimla Municipal Corporation.

However, it still failed to get a simple majority of 18 members in a close contest. Its supported candidates won 17 seats.

Its arch rival the Con-gress, which ruled the civic body for 26 years till the last elections in May 2012, got its 12 candidates elected.

Four Independents and one CPI-M candidate got elected after the counting held here.

Three independent can-didates announced their support to the Congress. This means the Congress has the support of 15 candidates but it is short of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s 17 winners.

"We are going to elect our Mayor and Deputy Mayor with the support of an Inde-pendent," a senior BJP leader said.

Fourth Independent win-ner Rajesh Kumar is a BJP rebel and he is likely to extend support to the party to help it get a simple majority.

The post of Mayor has been reserved for the woman-Scheduled Caste candidate, while the Deputy Mayor is unreserved. The term of both posts is two-and-a-half years.

07SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 ASIA

Russian claims that its forces may have killed Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in an air strike in Syria last month have caused both surprise and skepticism. Baghdadi, who is on the run

after the collapse of his caliphate in Iraq’s Mosul, is a global terrorist who carries a $25m price on his head offered by the United States and his elimination, if it has happened, is no mean achievement. The Russian Defence Ministry said on its Facebook page that it was checking information that Baghdadi was killed in a strike on the outskirts of Raqqa in Syria, which is under IS control. The strike was launched after Moscow received information about a meeting of Islamic State leaders. “On May 28, after drones were used to confirm the information on the place and time of the meeting of IS leaders, between 00:35 and 00:45, Russian air forces launched a strike on the command point where the leaders were located,” the statement said. There has been no confirmation of the claim from any sources, and the IS so far hasn’t announced the death of its leader on its website.

Why is Moscow claiming that its forces may have killed Baghdadi without independent confirmation? Its Foreign Ministry Facebook page says ‘it was checking information that Baghdadi was killed’. It seems that Moscow sees a high probability of his death in the strike and wants to take the credit in

advance. But there are also reports which cast doubts on the Russian claims. Iraq too is checking Moscow’s claims and an Iraqi army official said Baghdadi was not believed to have been in Raqqa at the time of the strike in late May. An official of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights too cast doubt on the report that Baghdad might have been killed and said that according to the information he had received, the IS leader was located in another part of Syria at the end of May.

So the world will have to wait until the facts are out. The most wanted Islamic State leader has frequently been reported killed or wounded since he declared a caliphate in Mosul in 2014, and he is on the run since the US announced a huge reward for information that leads to his capture or killing. With the IS territory shrinking in Iraq and Syria, and the US and its allies ratcheting up their hunt to capture Baghdadi or kill him, options are narrowing for the IS leader. Countries in the region and their allies must intensify their hunt for Baghdadi and destroy the IS completely by eliminating its top leadership.

08 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017VIEWS

E S T A B L I S H E D I N 1 9 9 6

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

The hunt for IS leader

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We will judge this initiative by the results, not the words. The opposition should similarly halt attacks to allow the ceasefire to endure — and hopefully be extended — and humanitarian aid to reach those in need.

Heather NauertUS State Department Spokeswoman

Russian claims that its forces may have killed Baghdadi are doubtful, but the noose is tightening on the IS leader.

While the new US administra-tion was busy reining in support for international trade and freedom of movement, China’s president, speaking at

the annual Davos forum in the Swiss Alps, per-formed a stunning defence of globalisation. While Donald Trump was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, France’s newly elected President Emmanuel Macron was trolling him by demanding to “make the planet great again” - now an official web-site - and China’s leadership, meeting with the EU institutions, was reaffirming its commitment to leading the fight against climate change. While we should take China’s new global role with a pinch of salt, one thing should be clear to all: global governance is in shambles. The recent failure of the G7 meeting in Taormina, Sicily, with the lack of agreement on measures to tackle climate change and the refugee crisis, is only the latest event to sig-nal a breakdown of international cooperation. The unipolar world order of American hegem-ony is over.

This is not necessarily bad news: the so-called Pax Americana has been any-thing but peaceful, ushering in an endless string of wars that have inflamed the Mid-dle East. But the risk of moving from a unipolar to an anarchic world system is real. A system where powers vie for influ-ence — in Eastern Europe or in the South China Sea — in a zero-sum game of opposed national interests always one step away from catastrophe.

This is worrying, because today’s world requires cooperative global governance as never before. The list of new global chal-lenges goes well beyond fighting climate change, as if that were not already enough: just take wealth distribution and economic globalisation.

Brando Milanovic’s “elephant graph” may be the reference chart for the decline of Western middle classes, but it also shows something else: the stunning rise of the wealthiest one percent globally. Excessive concentration of wealth creates distortions and inefficiencies, as even the International Monetary Fund now admits. Short of expro-priation, the solution is progressive taxation - and here is the problem.

Multinational corporations are increasingly able to play one state against the other to drive a fiscal bargain all but unimaginable for small and medium enterprises. Well beyond Apple’s infa-mous 0.005 percent Irish tax rate, the scandal stretches to a majority of the largest corporations — from the furniture of Ikea to the toothpaste of Procter&Gamble.

Only international cooperation can put a break to such practice. Yet, progress is stalling, at both European Union

It’s high time for a new, multipolar world orderLorenzo Marsili Al Jazeera

and global level, with the G7 failing spectacularly to take a position on the issue despite pressure from the Italian hosts.

The list of crises that go well beyond the remit and reach of any nation-state keeps on growing. The refugee crisis is here to stay, fuelled by ongoing

warfare and the nefarious effects of global warming, such as droughts, increasing in intensity in the most vul-nerable African economies. Or, again, the need to regulate internet surveil-lance and data privacy, something Angela Merkel is hoping to raise at the upcoming Hamburg G20 summit in July. The list could be extended at length.

We need to reconstruct a global governance for this century or risk let-ting go of our capacity to govern some of the most important challenges of our time.

One part of the answer comes from cities. Cities are taking an increasingly central role all across the world. Often, as the in the US experience of the sanc-tuary cities that offer protection to undocumented migrants, they go directly against central government policy. And cities are now creating elaborate networks that could turn into effective agents of transnational governance.

On June 10, Barcelona hosted a glo-bal summit, fearless cities, bringing together mayors from across the world to commit to joint initiatives to tackle precisely the global challenges that national leadership seems increasingly unable to address.

Actions on climate, for instance, with reinforced cooperation over the implementation of ambitious envi-ronmental standards are more than just rhetoric: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has just signed an executive order committing the city to the Paris agreement. Actions

on refugees, with initiatives such as Solidarity Cities creating a pan-European network of municipal governments for the integration of migrants and refugees, are also tak-ing place. Such initiatives need to be fostered, for cities matter enormously:

More than half the world’s popu-lation and over 70 percent of Europeans live in urban areas, while the top 100 cities produce just under half the world’s GDP. They deserve political and economic recognition from national governments, con-structing a space for global cooperation below the level of the nation state.

And then there is the level above. And here the cooperative, transna-tional experiment of the European Union represents a powerful blue-print for a new multipolar world order, one where proud nations are no longer pitted one against the other, but work through consensus and the rule of law to reach mutually benefi-cial solutions.

Emmanuel Macron has just won a landslide victory in France’s legisla-tive elections. He has a clear mandate to be in the driving seat of a compre-hensive reform of the European Union - something he has repeatedly advocated. After the upcoming Ger-man elections in September, there are signs that the traditional Franco-Ger-man engine will gear up for further integration of of the Eurozone, the EU’s core.

There is a risk. We should not forget that the policy mix supported by Angela Merkel’s Germany over the long years of European crisis - rebranded “austerity” — has brought Europe to the brink of col-lapse. Nor should we be fooled by Macron’s youthful personality, when he seems to be supporting the same market-friendly economic policies that have led to the crisis in the first place.

Without a serious policy rethink - such as a comprehensive New Deal to put the continent back to work and a profound democratisation of EU insti-tutions - Europe’s path towards greater integration risks becoming a fast-track to disintegration. This would be a shame for Europe as much as for the world.

Yes, we run the risk of stumbling towards a chaotic world of national-ism and conflict. But today’s crisis of global governance also offers the chance to move beyond a system that never truly worked in the first place. Crafting a new global role for cities and reforming Europe are the heart of this challenge.

The writer is an author, politic activist, and the founder of international NGO Euro-pean Alternatives.

The cooperative, transnational experiment of the European Union represents a powerful blueprint for a new multipolar world order, one where proud nations are no longer pitted one against the other but work through consensus and the rule of law to reach mutually beneficial solutions.

ED ITOR IAL

09SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 OPINION

problems in their CAS missions.Firstly, the threat of advanced man-portable air

defense systems — MANPADS — in the hands of Daesh makes missions below an altitude of 10,000 feet risky. The urban battle-space of Raqqa makes it even harder. And secondly, operating jointly with Syrian Democratic Forces elements would bring about coor-dination hardships. The latter, coupled with Daesh’s systematic use of human shields, is already causing collateral damage problems.

While the battle for Raqqa is unfolding, total anni-hilation of the terror group in the city does not seem feasible. For one, the southern edge of the city is not besieged, which allows a way out towards the Palmyra direction. That possibility could provoke the Syrian Arab Army, as well as Russian airpower, for further preventive actions. In fact, the Russian Navy’s recent Kalibr cruise missile strikes from surface and submarine platforms in the Mediterranean probably confirm this forecast.

In addition, lessons learned from Turkey’s Opera-tion Euphrates Shield, as well as anti-Daesh operations in Mosul, all suggest that Daesh will build its Raqqa defense on the war of attrition concept that incorporates subterranean warfare through tunnel complexes, improvised explosive devices, tactical sniper positions and suicide attacks.

Furthermore, the terror network will probably opt for hiding in the local populace and make the post-conflict rebuilding process even harder.

Even more importantly, rapidly depriving Daesh of territory without planning the day-after in terms of preventive counter-terrorism intelligence can pave the ground for a dangerous mutation of the terrorist network. Such a mutation would bring about an “Al-Qaedaization process” for boosting global terrorism, just like a bacteria’s mutation and development of antibiotic resistance.

Put simply, a mutated Daesh in the form of Al Qaeda cannot be “cured” by firepower superiority. In this respect, alarming numbers of foreign terrorist fighters, coupled with rising violent trends in the West’s cities, make the situation more serious.

On a separate note in this respect: eliminating pos-sible returning Daesh terrorist fighters with an al-Qaeda mindset would necessitate strong intelli-gence cooperation between the Nato allies and Nato’s Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Ini-tiative partner nations.

In fact, Nato has been striving to overcome intelli-gence sharing problems with partners for a long time

Trump’s national security team could make a comeback

Over the past month, the foreign policy communities in Washington and capitals around the world have stood aghast as President Trump made several decisions and statements that run counter to the

bipartisan US national security consensus that existed before he took office. The takeaway for most is that his senior national security advisers and Cabi-net members, who represent that consensus, are losing the battle for the president’s heart and mind.

Early on, Trump seemed to be heeding the advice of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Vice-President Mike Pence, national security adviser H R McMaster and others pushing for more continuity and consistency in US foreign policy.

After a campaign in which Trump brutally criti-cised US partners around the world, Mattis, Tillerson and Pence each traveled to Asia and Europe to reas-sure allies that Trump would not abandon long-standing US ideals or undermine commitments, such as robust support for Nato. For a time, the allies were reassured — but not anymore.

In the past three weeks, Trump overruled the majority of his national security advisers by refusing to publicly affirm Nato’s Article 5 commitment to mutual defence at Nato headquarters, pulling the United States out of the Paris climate accord and starting new disputes with several allies, including South Korea, Britain, France and Germany.

“All the questions that were raised [by Trump’s election], we thought they were answered, and now

we have to deal with them again,” said Norbert Rött-gen, chairman of the German Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Countries such as Germany spent months build-ing relationships with Trump’s national security team in the hope that doing so would allow their govern-ments to preserve access and influence while promoting policies they believe those officials agree with. But now they fear the group can’t deliver.

“We continue to see them as sensible and rational — but we see more and more that the decisions are not done by them,” Röttgen said in a meeting with Post editors and reporters last week. “What we see is that the boss seems to have more influence on the decision than the team.”

This week, Trump’s top national security officials will have an opportunity to reassert themselves, in a series of hearings with lawmakers who largely sup-port their efforts. The key issue in these hearings will be whether the officials, especially those who served in uniform, will express support for funding of the non-military tools of US power.

A rare union of 16 former senior military leaders

has joined together to submit testimony supporting that notion at a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Mattis is to appear. They argue that Congress should reject the steep cuts in diplomacy and development funding proposed in the White House’s budget.

“Cutting the International Affairs budget unilater-ally will have the effect of disarming our country’s capability to stop new conflicts from forming, and will place our interests, values, and the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk,” according to testimony I previewed.

The retired four-star officers include Gen. James Jones, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Adm. Michael Mul-len, Gen. David Petraeus and many others. Jones told me that he is optimistic that national security leaders inside the administration can be successful in saving parts of the budget that represent those American values, including funding for poverty and food aid, global health and good governance abroad.

“The people who have actually worn the uniform and participated in global activities really understand that you cannot simply just have the military tool and

With multiple flashpoints popping up, the Syrian civil war has reached the criti-cal mass to spark a regional chain reaction.

In the north, while the US-led campaign is pushing for Raqqa, the regime is also approaching to the town with its elite offen-sive units. In the south, critical lines of contact have emerged with escalation risks around al-Tanf and along the Jordanian border.

Furthermore, the mutation of Daesh, as well as the PKK-affiliated PKK/PYD’s ethno-sectarian separatist aspirations and dangerous ideological inclinations, are two additional risk factors. From a military standpoint, the battle for Raqqa has reached the threshold of close quarters combat. At this point, there are a few key parameters to monitor. In this regard, close air support (CAS) missions against pop-up targets are critical.

Having a brief glance at the CENTCOM press releases shows that a greater propor-tion of targetted Daesh elements are composed of tactical units and fighting posi-tions. Both in doctrine and execution, CAS missions are very sensitive in terms of time, place, and the coordination between air and ground units.

This is because, unlike air interdiction or strike missions, CAS sorties are conducted in narrow battlefields where supported ground units are positioned in very close proximity to the adversary targets. In light of open-source information, it is known that the US has deployed a battalion-level elite force in Syria, composed of elements from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Army Rangers and Special Operations Forces.

Thus, it is probably forward air control-lers from these units that coordinate the CAS sorties over Raqqa. Nevertheless, the US forces might be faced with two important

Battle for Raqqa: Syrian civil war mutates

US President Trump listens during a working luncheon with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House last month. From left, National Security Adviser H R McMaster, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Vice-President Mike Pence, Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

and still has a long way to go. When Raqqa falls, the way Raqqa will be held and rebuilt after Daesh is even a more important question than military analysis of the ongoing operations.

In this regard, there appears a misconceptualisation about the so-called “secular” characteristics of the PKK/PYD among many in the global strategic community.

The PKK/PYD’s secularism looks more like the Soviet Polit-buro or the Chinese Communist Party, rather than modern Western secular and democratic understanding. More impor-tantly, its secularism would not translate into economic and political liberalism in the rebuilding of Syria.

Contemporary analyses of the areas that remain under de facto PKK/PYD control suggest that the socio-political structure and economic models are based on communes within a rural Maoist paradigm.

In fact, this is barely a coincidence, because the PKK has built its decades-long terror campaign in Turkey, which claimed thou-sands of lives, on Mao’s “protracted people’s war” paramilitary theory. All in all, anyone who expects the emergence of a West-ern-minded enclave from PKK/PYD-controlled Syrian territory is having a serious delusion.

There will not be anything like a free market economy, indi-vidualism, freedom of speech and entrepreneurship flourishing in those areas.

Rather, the PKK/PYD has been manifesting itself in neo-Mao-ist and neo-Stalinist concepts to establish a communal utopia. Thus, although the US administration may think that the PKK/PYD makes a good partner in fighting Daesh, once — and if — the war against Daesh is over, they will find out that the PKK/PYD’s ideo-logical roots are not compatible with American values.

The US-backed SDF is not the only actor pressing for Raqqa and adjacent areas. In fact, while the world has been focusing on the main event in Raqqa, Syrian regime units are making their way to Daesh’s self-proclaimed capital.

The regime’s principal offensive unit in the area of operations is the Tiger Forces under the command of one of Assad’s favoured generals, Suheil Al Hassan.

Gen. Al-Hassan comes from the ranks of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, one of the Baathist regime’s main pillars and so far he has won many battles with his Tiger Forces, usually by employing notoriously brutal methods such as chlorine-filled barrel bomb-ing. Gen. al-Hassan’s unit first captured Jirah air base well before the US-backed campaign for Raqqa kicked off. Then, by early June, they captured Maskanah, a tactically important town on the way to Raqqa.

At the time of writing, visual evidence suggests that the Tiger Forces, supported by heavy armor, were pushing for the Rusafa junction in west Raqqa. That puts the regime in proximity to the tactically critical Tabqa air base, currently being controlled by the PKK/PYD. Apparently, Assad ordered the Tiger Forces to advance towards Raqqa as the US-led campaign unfolds.

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use that every time,” he said. “It’s very important they can be suc-cessful at this.”

The latest effort by Trump’s national security team to steer his thinking failed to move him away from his instincts. After Trump publicly praised and took credit for the Saudi-led blockade of US ally Qatar last week, Tillerson and Mat-tis sat down with him at the White House on Thursday to argue for a more balanced approach.

The following day, Tillerson made a public statement calling on both sides to deescalate and nego-tiate an end to their dispute. Shortly after that, Trump held a news con-ference and doubled down on his criticism of Qatar, seeming to undercut his secretary of state. The president apparently wasn’t persuaded.

Looking ahead, several key bat-tles will reveal whether the national security professionals are winning the day, including deci-sions on whether to commit more US troops to Afghanistan, how to approach the US-South Korea free-trade agreement and whether to staunchly oppose new congres-sional sanctions on Russia, which are coming soon.

Trump’s national security offi-cials don’t agree on all of these issues, and they must balance their personal views with their duty to serve their president’s agenda. But the more they can assert them-selves, harness support from the outside and influence Trump’s thinking, the better.

Josh RoginThe Washington Post

Trump’s national security officials don’t agree on all of these issues, and they must balance their personal views with their duty to serve their president’s agenda. But the more they can assert themselves, harness support from the outside and influence Trump’s thinking, the better.

Can KasapogluAnatolia

10 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017ASIA

Shanghai Disneyland 1st Anniversary

Troops pound rebel enclaves in Marawi CityMarawi City

AFP

Philippine troops pounded militants holding parts of south-ern Marawi City with air strikes and artillery

yesterday as more soldiers were deployed and the death toll rose to more than 300 after nearly a month of fighting.

"Fires erupted and dark plumes of smoke rose from enclaves still occupied by the militants as the air force staged bombing runs to support ground troops struggling to dislodge the fighters from entrenched posi-tions," journalists at the scene said.

MG520 attack helicopters and FA50 fighter jets were used in the raids, while sustained bursts of automatic gunfire could be heard in the distance, indicat-

ing the intensity of the fighting.Philippine President Rodrigo

Duterte, appearing in public for the first time in nearly a week, said the presence of foreign fighters from the IS group among the militants in Marawi has made

the fighting more difficult."You have a conglomeration

there of ISIS fighters from Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lankan," he said during a visit to a mili-tary camp in Butuan city, northeast of Marawi, in the southern region of Mindanao.

"We have to use the air assets because we are up against fight-ers from the Middle East and they have learned the art of brutal killing -- they will burn you, behead you," he said.

Duterte's absence had fuelled speculation about the state of the 72-year-old leader's health.

Also yesterday, 400 fresh troops were airlifted to Marawi from the central Philippines, ANC television said quoting military officials.

Television footage showed the soldiers bidding goodbye to their families before being flown to the conflict zone.

Hundreds of militants -- sup-ported by foreign fighters -- rampaged through Marawi, the largely Christian Philippines' most important Muslim city, on May 23 waving black flags of the IS group.

Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao to counter the attack, which he said was part of a plan by IS to establish a base in the country.

Such a base could be crucial for IS' ambitions to establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia, ana-lysts say.

The military has said at least eight foreign fighters from Chechnya, Yemen, Malaysia and Indonesia were among the mil-itants killed in the Marawi fighting.

The overall death toll rose to 329 with 310 -- 225 militants, 59 soldiers and 26 civilians -- killed in the conflict, according to gov-

ernment figures.The 19 others deaths came

from those displaced by the fighting, said Mujiv Hataman, the governor of a Muslim autono-mous region in the south.

Hataman said the deaths among the evacuees were caused by severe dehydration from diarrhoea.

More than 309,000 people have been been displaced in Marawi and nearby areas, the government said.

Many have fled to the homes of friends and relatives and oth-ers are in evacuation centres.

"Our forces are moving towards the heart of the enemy," regional military spokesman Jo-ar Herrera told reporters in Marawi yesterday, referring to the heavy fighting under urban conditions.

"It's the centre of gravity. This is where the location of their

command and control, the lead-ership of the enemy."

Ground commanders esti-mate "more than 100" militants are still holding out in at least four villages in Marawi, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said in Manila yesterday.

But he also said that the fig-ures were based on estimates a few days ago "so this number could have dropped significantly".

Padilla said the military would no longer give any self-imposed deadlines on when the militants would be driven out after failing to meet previous ones they had set.

"We are trying our best to expedite (driving them out) with-out unduly compromising the lives of our soldiers and at the same time the remaining civil-ians there," he said.

7 US sailors missing after ship collisionTokyo

Reuters

Rescue crew searched for seven American sailors missing after a US

destroyer collided with a con-tainer ship in the pre-dawn hours off the coast of Japan.

US 7th Fleet Vice Admiral Joseph P Aucoin said the search was continuing in a statement released nearly 24 hours after the USS Fitzgerald, an Aegis guided missile destroyer, col-lided with the much larger Philippine-flagged merchant vessel 56 nautical miles south-west of Yokosuka.

"It's been a tough day for our

Navy family. It's hard to imag-ine what this crew has had to endure, the challenges they've had to overcome," Aucoin said.

US and Japanese aircraft and surface vessels continued the search after the Fitzgerald sailed into the port of Yokosuka south of Tokyo.

Three aboard the destroyer were treated at the US Naval Hospital, including ship Com-mander Bryce Benson.

It was not clear what caused the collision, which the US Navy said occurred at about 2:30am local time.

"Thoughts and prayers with the sailors of USS Fitzgerald and their families. Thank you to our

Japanese allies for their assist-ance," US President Donald Trump said in a Twitter post yesterday

The Fitzgerald suffered damage on her starboard side above and below the waterline, the Navy said.

Japan's Nippon Yusen KK, which charters the container ship, ASX Crystal, said in a state-ment it would "cooperate fully" with the Coast Guard's investi-gation of the incident.

At around 29,000 tonnes displacement, the ship dwarfs the 8,315 tonnes US warship, and was carrying 1,080 containers from the port of Nagoya to Tokyo.

China files lawsuits onfugitive tycoon's staff

Vietnamese hostage rescued in BasilanZamboanga

AFP

Philippine troops have res-cued a Vietnamese sailor held hostage for seven

months by militants in the coun-try's south, the military said yesterday.

Hoang Vo, 28, was rescued by troops on Friday after an air strike and artillery fire on an Abu Sayyaf camp on the island of Basilan dispersed the kidnap-pers, regional military spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay said.

She said the sailor was being

treated for an unspecified wound on his back.

There is no way to inde-pendently verify the military's account of the rescue.

The Abu Sayyaf network has been kidnapping foreigners and locals for years and holding them for ransom on its remote island strongholds in the south-ern Philippines.

Vo was seized last Novem-ber along with five other Vietnamese crew members of a vessel that was boarded by the militants off Sibago island in the southern region of Mindanao.

A statement issued by the

military's regional command based in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga said Abu Sayyaf militants are holding a total of 26 hostages, including several foreigners, in Sulu and Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf is known to behead its hostages unless ran-som payments are made.

German national Jurgen Kantner, 70, was beheaded ear-lier this year after the kidnappers' demand for $600,000 was not met.

Last year, the Abu Sayyaf also beheaded two Canadian hostages.

Pakistan arrests jail officials over escaped inmatesKarachi

AP

A senior police official in southern Pakistan says a jail superintendent and 11 other officials have been arrested in the wake of a jail break in which two militants who were on trial escaped from a high-security prison.

Khawaja Naveed said yesterday the arrested offi-cials were being questioned to determine how two mem-bers of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhanvi group escaped Wednesday from the jail in the port city of Karachi.

He alleged the two men escaped due to negligence of the jail staff.

Rodman lands in China; hails North Korea visit

MG520 attack helicopters and FA50 fighter jets were used in the raids.

Raids continue

Also yesterday, 400 fresh troops were airlifted to Marawi from the central Philippines, ANC television said quoting military officials.

Seven injure as Afghan soldier opens fireKabul

Anatolia

AN Afghan soldier shot and injured seven US soldiers in an apparent inside attack at a military base in north-ern Afghanistan yesterday a military official said.

The incident took place at Afghan National Army's (ANA) Shaheen Corps in Mazar-e Sharif city of Balkh province.

Abdul Qahar Aram, spokesman for the corps, said that the wounded troops had been taken to hospital.

The Nato-led Resolute Support Mission said in a statement that no US soldier died in the assault, while the attacker was killed in a retal-iatory fire.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald is towed by tugboats upon its arrival at the US naval base in Yokosuka, yesterday.

Beijing

AFP

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman landed in Beijing yester-

day after a visit to North Korea, describing the escapade as a "real good trip".

Sporting a baseball cap, sunglasses, green nail polish and a black t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of sponsor Pot-Coin, Rodman declined to comment further as he was swarmed at the Beijing airport by journalists.

The basketball star had arrived in North Korea on Tues-day, saying that he wanted to "open the door" to the regime and claiming that US President Donald Trump would be

pleased with his mission. "Dennis is working hard for

both countries, trying to, you know, mend the tension as much as possible," his assist-ant, who accompanied him and asked to be called "Vo," said yesterday.

"With sports that's what happens, right? Sports unite, sports and music unite," he added.

While in North Korea, Rod-man was shown in video and photos presenting the isolated country's sports minister Kim Il Guk with off-the-wall gifts that included a copy of Trump's book "The Art of the Deal", soap, two autographed jerseys and a copy of "Where's Waldo? The Totally Essential Travel Collection."

Shanghai

Reuters

Chinese public prosecu-tors have filed new lawsuits against

employees of firms connected to fugitive Guo Wengui, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday, as Beijing turns up the pressure on the tycoon at the centre of a feud with the ruling Communist Party.

Chinese-born Guo, now based in New York, has unleashed a deluge of corrup-tion allegations against high-level Communist Party officials and is facing multi-ple lawsuits in a number of different jurisdictions.

Prosecutors in the

northern city of Dalian o filed a lawsuit against some staff of Beijing Pangu Invest-ment on suspicion of misappropriation of funds, Xinhua said citing judicial sources.

Guo is accused of misap-propriating 400 million yuan, while staff at Beijing Pangu Investment are alleged to have assisted the act by forg-ing documents, Xinhua said yesterday.

On the same day in Kai-feng City in Henan province, prosecutors filed a suit against Guo-controlled Henan Yuda Real Estate com-pany and its employees on allegations of loan fraud and bill acceptance, Xinhua added.

Visitors watching fireworks exploding over the castle at an event to mark the first anniversary of the opening of Shanghai Disneyland.

11SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 EUROPE

Royal ceremony58 presumed dead in UK tower blazeLondon

Reuters

At least 58 people are feared to have died in the fire that engulfed a London tower block this

week, police said yesterday, as Prime Minister Theresa May admitted that the response from the authorities had not been good enough.

With anger mounting over the government's handling of the blaze, May met residents from the Grenfell Tower and vowed to personally oversee the recovery as protesters gath-ered to demonstrate in the streets around her residence for a second day.

Weakened by a botched election gamble last week, May has been criticised for her muted response to the fire and had to be rushed away from a meeting with residents on Fri-day under heavy police guard as protesters shouted "Shame on you".

"The response of the emer-gency services, National Health Service, and the community has been heroic," May said.

"But, frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic informa-tion in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough."

London Police Commander Stuart Cundy said the toll of 58 represented those who were missing and presumed dead from a fire which ripped through the 24-storey social housing block on Wednesday.

"Sadly at this time, there are 58 people who we have been told were in Grenfell Tower on the night that are missing and therefore sadly I have to assume that they are dead," he said.

If the number is confirmed, it would make the Grenfell Tower blaze the deadliest in London since World War Two. The toll had previously been put at 30.

Yesterday, May spent over two hours meeting residents from the north Kensington area and chaired a meeting on the government's response to the fire.

She has promised to set up a public inquiry and pledged $6.39m of support, housing guarantees and help with access to bank accounts and cash. Those who lost their homes will be rehoused within three weeks, she said.

"It has been decided today that the public inquiry will report back to me personally," May said.

"As Prime Minister, I will be responsible for implement-ing its findings."

Romania detains 32 Iraqi refugeesBucharest

AP

ROMANIAN border police have detained 32 Iraqis hid-den in a truck transporting furniture who told authori-ties they were trying to reach a country in Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone.

Police stopped the truck at the Romanian-Hungarian border yesterday and the Romanian truck driver told authorities he was headed to Italy. Police checked the vehicle and found 11 men, six women and 15 teens hidden among the furniture, all asy-lum-seekers in Romania.

The migrants told authorities they were headed to a Schengen country.

Romania is not a mem-ber of the group.

They said they hid in the truck because they did not have visas.

New US sanctions will complicate ties: Putin

Moscow

Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) said new sanctions under consider-

ation by the United States would damage relations between the two countries, but it was too

early to talk about retaliation, state news agency RIA reported yesterday.

The US Senate voted nearly unanimously earlier this week for legislation to impose new sanctions on Moscow and force President Donald Trump to get Congress' approval before eas-ing any existing sanctions.

"This will, indeed, compli-cate Russia-American relations. I think this is harmful," Putin said, according to RIA.

In an interview with Ros-siya1 state TV channel, excerpts of which were shown yesterday, Putin said he needed to see how the situation with sanctions evolved.

"That is why it is premature to speak publicly about our retaliatory actions," RIA quoted him as saying.

Russia and the West have traded economic blows since 2014, when Moscow annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and lent support to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The West imposed economic and financial sanctions that

battered the rouble and the export-dependent economy. Moscow retaliated by banning imports of Western food, which also hit ordinary Russians by spurring inflation, and barred some individuals from entering Russia.

The threat of a new wave of sanctions emerged this month as US policymakers backed the idea of punishing Russia for alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and for supporting Syria's government in the six-year-long civil war.

Putin had previously dis-missed the proposed sanctions, saying they reflected an inter-nal political struggle in the United States, and that Wash-ington had always used such methods as a means of trying to contain Russia.

Czech Social Democrats vow to protect workersPrague

Reuters

The Social Democrats, the senior partner in the Czech Republic's ruling coalition

but trailing in the polls, will try to lure back voters before the October elections by offering tax cuts for workers while tighten-ing control of big business.

The party unveiled its elec-tion programme days after Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he would step down as leader of the country's oldest party in an attempt to reverse its slide in opinion polls.

In its programme, the party promised to cut taxes for employees, extend holidays to five weeks, raise the minimum wage to at least $685 a month by 2022 and other incentives.

It also repeated a pledge from previous elections to intro-duce progressive taxation on big banks' assets and to clamp down on tax evasion by big business conglomerates.

In an attempt to shake things up, Sobotka proposed this week that his more popular and elo-quent foreign minister, Lubomir Zaoralek, should lead the par-ty's campaign into the October

20-21 general election.Zaoralek said yesterday that

the country needed consensus at home to make progress.

"The Left will not be con-vincing if it will not honour national interests," he said, add-ing that the party could also borrow the slogan "to help and to protect" from police cars.

Although the government has presided over a growing economy that helped it deliver the first balanced budget in two decades, the Social Democrats have slipped in the polls behind their main rival and coalition partner ANO.

All recent polls have shown ANO leading the Social Demo-crats, in some cases by a double-digit margin.

ANO was founded and is chaired by billionaire and former Finance Minister Andrej Babis, who has attracted voters with his managerial approach to gov-erning and with his image as a political outsider.

The parties, together with the Christian Democrats, came to power in a centre-left coalition in January 2014 and are on course to becoming the first government in 15 years in the central Euro-pean country to finish its term.

Ramadan Peace March

Prime Minister Theresa May promised to set up a public inquiry and pledged $6.39m of support, housing guarantees and help with access to bank accounts and cash.

Probe under way

The West imposed economic and financial sanctions that battered the rouble and the export-dependent economy. Moscow retaliated by banning imports of Western food.

Australia peacekeepers end mission in CyprusNicosia

AP

With its flag lowered one final time, Aus-tralia ended 53

years of helping to keep the peace on ethnically divided Cyprus by pulling out its last three police officers serving with a United Nations peace-keeping force.

Some 1,600 Australian police officers have served in Cyprus since 1964 following the outbreak of violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Three Australians were killed in the line of duty in what was their country's first policing contribution to a peacekeeping mission.

A flag-lowering cere-mony at the Cypriot capital's defunct airport that serves as the UN force's headquarters brought together many offic-ers who served in Cyprus over the decades, including one who was in the first 40-strong contingent, 79-year-old Ian Hardy.

"Cyprus has been a rite of passage for Australian police," retired police Superintend-ent Phil Spence said, adding that all officers who went on to lead other peacekeeping missions elsewhere in the world were veterans of Cyprus.

Australia's federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, said that what served Australians well over decades of service was a

"steely determination" and a practicality underneath Aus-tralians' famed laid-back style.

It was the excellent rap-port with ordinary Cypriots that saw Australian police through the toughest times, said Allan Mitchell, 70, who served on Cyprus during the summer of 1974 when Tur-key invaded and split the island along ethnic lines fol-lowing a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Australia was also the first peacekeeping contributor to deploy a female officer to Cyprus, in 1988. Its last con-tingent commander is also a woman — Inspector Bronwyn Carter.

Colvin said Australia is willing to share its federal policing experience if talks now underway succeed in reunifying Cyprus as a federation.

Some 69 police officers from countries including Ire-land, India and Italy augment 835 troops wearing UN trade-mark blue beret in Cyprus.

Members of the Royal Family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past of aircraft by the Royal Air Force, in London, yesterday. The ceremony of Trooping the Colour is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II.

Australia ended 53 years of helping to keep the peace on ethnically divided Cyprus by pulling out its last three police officers serving with a UN peacekeeping force.

53 years of service

Demonstrators hold up a large banner reading: "Muslims and friends against terror and violence" as they take part in a so-called "Ramadan Peace March" of Muslims and friends against terrorism and violence in Cologne, western Germany, yesterday.

Britain honours murdered officerLondon

AFP

THE British policeman killed while defending parliament during a terror attack was yes-terday honoured by Queen Elizabeth II, alongside Paul McCartney, J. K. Rowling and Hollywood icon Olivia de Havilland.

Keith Palmer, 48, who was stabbed to death by Khalid Masood following his rampage on Westminster Bridge on March 22, received a posthumous George Medal for bravery in the monarch's annual birth-day honours list.

"Keith acted that day with no thought for his own safety... He paid the ultimate price for his selfless actions," said London police chief Cressida Dick.

12 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017EUROPE

Macron's party set for landslide victoryParis

AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron is on course for a land-slide victory in parliamentary elec-

tions that will complete his overhaul of national politics as the first voters cast their ballots overseas yesterday.

The election this weekend will see Macron's 15-month-old party Republic on the Move (REM) and its allies win an over-whelming majority of 400-470 seats in the 577-seat national assembly, pollsters forecast.

The 39-year-old president was once a rank outsider for the presidency and was unknown to the French public until 2014 but looks set to achieve the previ-ously unthinkable by securing a position of overwhelming power.

Since clinching victory in presidential elections on May 7, Macron has made a confident start to his term and his REM par-liamentary candidates have been pulled along in his afterglow.

"You could take a goat and give it Macron's endorsement and it would have good chance of being elected," political ana-lyst Christophe Barbier

commented recently.Around half of REM's candi-

dates are virtual unknowns who have never held political office before and are drawn from diverse fields of academia, busi-ness or local activism. They include a mathematician, a former Rwandan orphan.

The other half are a mix of centrists and moderate left- and

right-wingers drawn from France's established parties including Macron's ally MoDem.

Such is Macron and REM's domination that many opposi-tion candidates have appealed to voters this week to elect them simply to make sure there is proper scrutiny and a counter-weight in the parliament.

"Looking for an opposition desperately," said the frontpage of Le Parisian newspaper.

Former right-wing prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has urged voters to remember that "we are not electing an emperor".

The voting began yesterday in French overseas territories such as the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe or Martinique and on Sunday in mainland France.

It is the second-round of the election featuring run-off con-tests between the top candidates after the first round held last Sunday.

The main worry for the new government is abstentionism, which hit a historic nearly 60-year high in the first round of 51.3 percent.

It is forecast to rise again to 53-54 percent in the run-off, much higher than the 44.6 per-cent in the last election five years ago.

Macron's opponents have suggested that low turnout underlines the lack of popular support for his programme which includes radical labour market reforms, deepening the European Union and an overhaul of the social security system.

Some analysts have put it down to election fatigue: Sun-day's vote will be the eighth round of voting in the parliamen-tary and presidential sequence which began with primaries of the Republicans and Socialists parties.

"Go to vote!" Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said while campaigning in southern France on Thursday. "It's the same

message here as everywhere else: no one should abstain. In France voting is not obligatory... it is a right and responsibility."

The low turnout has been disastrous for the far-right party National Front led by Marine Le Pen. It was forecast to win no more than five seats in a poll on Thursday, dashing Le Pen's dreams of being France's main rightwing opposition.

The traditional rightwing Republicans, which most polls suggested would win the presi-dential and parliamentary elections only six months ago, are tipped for 60-132 seats from more than 200 currently.

This is much better than the

Socialists, who finish their five years in power under unpopu-lar president Francois Hollande facing annihilation.

They could slump to their lowest ever total of around 20 seats from currently nearly 300 which could force them to sell their headquarters in central Paris to keep themselves afloat financially.

Historian Didier Maus, who sits on France's Constitutional Council, said voters had rejected "everything that represented the system before and we're trying something else. France is on course for the "biggest overhaul of its political figures since 1958 and perhaps 1945".

Pope urges Merkel to fight for Paris climateVatican City Reuters

Pope Francis has asked Germany to keep fighting for the Paris climate

change deal and to 'tear down walls' that inhibit international cooperation, Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, offering a stark contrast between her agenda and US policy.

US President Donald Trump

announced this month that he would withdraw from the land-mark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, drawing anger from world leaders.

"The Pope encouraged me to continue and fight for inter-national agreements, including the Paris agreement," Merkel told reporters after an unusu-ally long, 40-minute private audience with him.

Merkel said the Pope

expressed his support for the agenda of the G20 major econ-omies, who hold a summit in Hamburg next month.

"This (G20) agenda assumes that we are a part of a world in which we work together through multilateral coopera-tion," Merkel said of her discussion with the Pope.

"It is a world in which we want to tear down walls and not build them, and in which we all

seek prosperity, wealth, hon-our and dignity for mankind."

Trump, who has promised to build a wall along the Mexi-can border, has shunned some multilateral cooperation.

The Vatican said that issues of common interest were dis-cussed, including the need for the international community to focus on combating poverty, hunger, the global threat of ter-rorism, and climate change.

Six Armenian soldiers dead in Karabakh clashesBaku

Anatolia

THE Azerbaijani military has killed six Armenian sol-diers in border clashes in the last two days, according to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence.

In a statement, the min-istry said the Armenian soldiers were killed as part of a retaliatory measure against artillery fire from the Arme-nian side.

It said one Azerbaijani soldier was also killed in the clash.

The two countries dispute the occupied Karabakh region, which pro-Armenian militia took over in 1993, and clashes are nothing new.

In April 2016, more than 270 military personnel lost their lives in the worst-ever breach of a 1994 treaty between both sides, accord-ing to the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry.

Three UN Security Coun-cil Resolutions (853, 874 and 884), and United Nations General Assembly Resolu-tions 19/13 and 57/298 refer to Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe refers to the region as being occupied by Armenian forces.

Morocco-Spain border hit by vehicle incidentMadrid

AFP

A car with five migrants hidden inside rammed its way through a border

post between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Melilla yes-terday, the second such incident in two days at the restive frontier.

This method to get migrants into the Spanish territory had not been used in years, but it happened once in March, and again on Friday and yesterday.

Melilla and its sister city Ceuta are the only two land borders between Africa and the EU and migrants wanting to get to Europe often resort to des-perate measures to get in.

The central government's representative office in Melilla

said in a statement that the car came up to the border post nor-mally, queueing with other vehicles.

"When it got near the first police control, it abruptly changed direction, took a lane adjacent to the one it was in and dangerously evaded police con-trols at high speed," it said.

The car damaged one of the border post's barriers and forced "officers to abandon their posts so as not (to) be run over," it added.

Once inside Melilla, the Moroccan driver abandoned the car but was soon detained by police.

Inside the vehicle, they found five migrants -- two in the boot, two others under a false bottom in the rear seats and another in the dashboard.

Reporter feared captured by rebels in eastern UkraineKiev

AFP

A senior Human Rights Watch activist yesterday said she fears pro-Mos-

cow rebels have captured a Ukrainian reporter and blogger missing for two weeks in the country's eastern war zone.

Stanyslav Aseyev, a freelance contributor to US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Europe's

Ukrainian service has been miss-ing since June 2 in the rebels' self-proclaimed Donetsk Peo-ple's Republic in eastern Ukraine.

His disappearance gives "strong grounds to be concerned that local security officials have forcibly disappeared him," Tanya Lokshina, Russia programme director at Human Rights Watch, wrote yesterday on Open Democracy.

If 27-year-old Aseyev is in

custody, "the de-facto authori-ties should immediately end his forcible disappearance by acknowledging his detention, and release him," Lokshina said.

Aseyev's disappearance was first reported by his friend and former Ukrainian lawmaker Yegor Firsov.

Aseyev was based in the rebels' de facto capital Donetsk and failed to file his latest piece to Radio Free Europe on June 3.

"Aseyev did not come home and no longer answered phone calls. The connection with him was lost. The last time he con-tacted his mother was on the afternoon of June 2," Firsov wrote in a blog on the Ukrain-ska Pravda news website.

Relatives went to his flat in Donetsk and said it appeared to have been searched and his computer was missing, the glo-bal journalist rights watchdog

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said last week.

It said it held the rebels' "self-proclaimed authorit ies responsible for his fate and for his safety."

"We urge all of the region's political actors ... to help obtain his immediate release," RSF said.

For more than three years Ukraine has been fighting a pro-Kremlin insurgency in its eastern regions.

Putin admits Kohl influenced his viewsMoscow

AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin says former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl

played a key role forming his outlook on the world.

Meetings with Kohl "to a sig-nificant degree changed my own views," Putin told reporters yes-terday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Putin said his first contact with Kohl, who died Friday at age 87, was when he worked for St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s and Kohl invited Sobchak to visit his residence in the German city of Bonn.

The two men also met pri-vately after Kohl stepped down as chancellor in 1998.

Putin said yesterday "we met more than once in different circumstances but our first

meeting left a very strong impression on me."

He offered his condolences to Kohl's family and friends and

to the German people."Kohl spearheaded the end

of Germany's decades-long divi-sion into East and West.

Voters cast their ballots during the secound round of the French legislative elections at the polling station number 1, in Cayenne, yesterday.

The main worry for the new government is abstentionism, which hit a historic nearly 60-year high in the first round of 51.3 percent.

The second-round of the election featuring run-off contests between the top candidates began yesterday in French overseas territories such as the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe or Martinique and today in mainland France.

Run-off contest

Activists take part in a performance which simulates the death of immigrants at the Mediterranean Sea on La Malagueta beach, in Malaga, yesterday.

Members of the Jungen Union bring a wreath in front of the house of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Oggersheim near Ludwigshafen, western Germany, yesterday.

13SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 AMERICAS

Washington

Reuters

President Donald Trump had personal liabilities of at least $315.6m to German, US and other lenders as of mid-

2017, according to a federal financial disclosure form released late on Friday by the US Office of Government Ethics.

He had roughly $20m in income from his new marquee Washington hotel, which opened just down the street from the White House last September. Revenues also increased at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort known as the “Winter White House.”

Trump reported income of at least $594m for 2016 and early 2017 and assets worth at least $1.4bn.

The 98-page disclosure doc-ument posted on the ethics office’s website showed liabili-ties for Trump of at least $130m to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of German-based Deutsche Bank AG.

For example, Trump dis-closed a liability to Deutsche

exceeding $50m for the Old Post Office, a historic Washington property where he has opened a hotel.

Trump reported liabilities of at least $110m to Ladder Capital Corp, a commercial real estate lender with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Boca Raton,

Florida. The largest component of Trump’s income was $115.9m listed as golf-resort related rev-enues from Trump National Doral in Miami, down from $132m he reported a year ago.

Income from many of his other hotels and resorts largely held steady. Revenue from Trump Corporation, his real-estate management company, nearly tripled, to $18m, and rev-enue from Mar-a-Lago grew by 25 percent, to $37.25m. The pri-vate club doubled its initiation fee to $200,000 after Trump’s election. He earned $11m from the Miss Universe pageant, after selling the beauty contest back in 2015. Revenue from television shows like “The Apprentice” fell to $1.1m, down from $6m a year earlier. His assets probably exceeded $1.4bn because the dis-closure form provided ranges of values.

The document showed Trump held officer positions in 565 corporations or other enti-ties before becoming US president. His tenure in most of those posts ended on January 19, the day before his inauguration,

and in others in 2015 and 2016.Most of the entities involved

were based in the United States, with a handful in Scotland, Ire-land, Canada, Brazil, Bermuda and elsewhere.

Trump has refused to release

his tax returns, which would give a much clearer indication of his wealth and business interests. But he has submitted federal forms disclosing his and his fam-ily’s income, assets and liabilities. “President Trump welcomed the

opportunity to voluntarily file his personal financial disclosure form,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the form was “certified by the Office of Government Ethics pursuant to its normal procedures.”

Trump owes lenders at least $315m: Report Financial disclosure

The 98-page disclosure document posted on the ethics office’s website showed liabilities for Trump of at least $130m to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of German-based Deutsche Bank AG.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns, which would give a much clearer indication of his wealth and business interests.

Washington

AP

President Donald Trump's decision to reverse some Obama-era Cuba policies

landed with a thud among many congressional Republicans who say the new approach surren-ders a potentially lucrative market for American goods and services to competitors.

While anti-Castro conserv-atives hailed Trump's partial roll-back of President Barack Obama's detente, a number of other GOP lawmakers, particu-larly from farm states, criticised the change as misguided and iso-lationist. They urged him to ease barriers with Havana that will boost trade and create jobs in both countries.

Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said Trump's shift is more than just a missed opportunity for rural America, which would ben-efit from greater access to Cuba's agricultural import market. He said Trump's policy may put US national security at risk as stra-tegic competitors move to fill the vacuum the uncoupling could create.

"Further US disengagement opens up opportunities for

countries like Iran, Russia, North Korea and China to gain influ-ence on an island 90 miles off our coast," Crawford said.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a fre-quent critic of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, said in a statement that any policy change "that diminishes the abil-ity of Americans to travel freely to Cuba is not in the best inter-ests of the United States or the Cuban people."

Flake has been among the most outspoken lawmakers opposed to rolling back Obama's outreach to Havana. He's warned that returning to a "get tough" policy hurts everyday Cubans whose livelihoods are increas-ingly rooted in travel and tourism.

In his statement, Flake called for the Senate's GOP leadership to allow a vote on his legislation that he said would eliminate "archaic restrictions" on travel to Cuba that "do not exist for travel by Americans to any other country in the world." Flake's bill has 54 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans. Among them are Sens. John Boozman of Arkansas, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Jerry Moran of Kansas.

During a speech Friday in

Miami, Trump portrayed his updated policy as the fulfillment of a campaign promise to reverse Obama's diplomatic rapproche-ment with Cuba after decades of estrangement. Trump's approach is aimed at halting the flow of US cash to the country's military while maintaining diplomatic relations. US airlines and cruise ships would still be allowed to service the island.

Yet new moves will burden the US government with the complicated task of policing US travel to Cuba to make sure there are no transactions with the mil-itary-linked conglomerate that runs much of the Cuban economy.

By restricting individual US travel to Cuba, the new policy also risks cutting off a major source of income for Cuba's pri-vate business sector, which the policy is intended to support. Under the expected changes, the US will ban American financial transactions with the dozens of enterprises run by the military-linked corporation GAESA, which operates dozens of hotels, tour buses, restaurants and other facilities.

Among those with Trump as he announced the policy in

Little Havana were Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Florida Republicans strongly opposed to Obama's outreach. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said Trump's new Cuba policy "will hurt the United States economically, making it harder for our nation's farmers to access new markets and

cutting the knees out from under our travel and manufacturing industries." Emmer, who's been one of Trump's most enthusias-tic backers on Capitol Hill, echoed Crawford's criticism, saying Trump's Cuba directive appears to be in violation of his promise to keep the American homeland safe.

Republicans divided as Trump reverses some Cuba policy

Santiago

AFP

A storm packing fierce winds and torrential rain killed four people

in Chile as it wrecked homes, flooded streets and left nearly a quarter million people with-out electricity, the government said yesterday.

The violent weather that began on Thursday slammed nine regions of central and southern Chile, the National Emergency Office said.

The storm damaged the homes of nearly 3,000 peo-ple, and more than 230,000 residents were left without power, the agency said.

Some streets were flooded yesterday in the cap-ital Santiago, while traffic lights were out and some neighbourhoods still had no power.

Norristown

Reuters

Pennsylvania prosecutors vowed to retry come-dian Bill Cosby on

assault charges after a jury yesterday failed to render a unanimous verdict despite 52 hours of deliberations.

Judge Steven O’Neill, of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, declared a mistrial at 10:17am following a note from jurors saying that they were hope-lessly deadlocked on three counts of aggravated physi-cal assault.

The result was a victory for Cosby, 79, who had faced years in prison for allegedly drugging and physically assaulting college adminis-trator Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. But prosecutors imme-diately said they would seek a second trial, which O’Neill suggested could start within four months. “She’s entitled to a verdict in this case,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference.

Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, told reporters that the trial’s outcome had “restored” his client’s legacy.

Rio de Janeiro

AFP

A Brazilian meat tycoon who unleashed a politi-cal firestorm with claims

of wrongdoing by President Michel Temer in connection with a wide-reaching corrup-tion scandal has now accused the embattled leader of running "the country's most dangerous criminal organisation."

Joesley Batista, chairman of JBS, caused a major political uproar last month when he handed to authorities an audio recording in which Temer appeared to condone the pay-ment of hush money to a former lawmaker now in prison.

"It's the country's largest and most dangerous criminal organisation. And the president is its leader," Batista said in an in-depth interview with the Epoca weekly published yes-terday. "Those who aren't in prison today are in the Planalto presidential palace. They are very dangerous people. I didn't

have the courage to confront them." Batista's remarks were made in his first interview since he clinched a plea bargain deal with authorities as the nation-wide anti-graft operation codenamed "Car Wash" began targeting his business dealings.

Batista agreed to cooperate in exchange for avoiding a con-viction. The business tycoon's explosive revelations could prove fatal for Temer, after the Supreme Court set in motion corruption and graft probes tar-geting the president, increasing calls for him to step down.

Among the claims, Batista says tens of millions of dollars were paid to various political parties, including Temer's center-right PMDB party.

Temer, 76, denies the alle-gations and has insisted he will remain in office. "As soon as I met Temer, he started asking me for money to finance his campaigns. He isn't very mod-est when it comes to talking about money," Batista said.

Los Angeles

Reuters

A protest on a freeway in St. Paul, Minnesota, over the acquittal of a police

officer in the slaying of black motorist Philando Castile resulted in the arrest of 18 dem-onstrators early yesterday, state police said.

The arrests came hours after St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty on Friday of second-degree manslaughter in 32-year-old Castile’s July 2016 shooting death in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.

The shooting drew national attention after the victim’s girl-friend live-streamed the bloody aftermath on social media and it led to protests that have fueled debate across the country over police use of force in encoun-ters with minorities. mProtesters held a peaceful demonstration on Friday at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul and then

about 1,500 converged on Inter-state 94 in the city, blocking the freeway, a Minnesota State Patrol spokeswoman said.

Authorities repeatedly asked protesters to leave before mak-ing 18 arrests shortly after

midnight on Saturday, the email statement said. Charges against them are pending for unlawful assembly and other charges, it said. Among those listed as arrested for unlawful assembly were at least two journalists.

18 arrested over protesting Minnesota cop's acquittal

Temer accused of running 'criminal organisation'

Protesters clash with law enforcement during a gathering on Interstate 94 at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, US, yesterday.

US Senator Marco Rubio arrives to speak, before US President Donald Trump announces policy changes he is making towards Cuba, at the Manuel Artime Theater in the Little Havana neighbourhood in Miami, Florida.

US President Donald Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, yesterday.

US judge declares mistrial in Cosby assault case

Four dead in Chile storm

14 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017HOME

15SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017 HOME

Winners of the Ramadan Quiz Contest, in its third week, organised by The Peninsula and Malabar Gold & Diamonds, with Acting Managing Editor of The Peninsula, Mohammed Salim Mohamed (second left), and Raju T Johny (left), Deputy Branch Head of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, at the awards ceremony held at the newspaper's office yesterday. Pic: Kammutty VP/ The Peninsula

Winners of 'Ramadan Quiz Contest'

FAJRSHOROOK

03.14 am

04.44 am

ZUHRASR

11.35 am

02.58 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.29 pm

07.59 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

The Peninsula

Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Hamad Trauma Center has urged motorists to practise

safe driving on roads, especially dur-ing Iftar and upcoming Eid holidays.

The centre has offered recommen-dations to safeguard against road injuries and avoidable deaths, during this period. It says drivers and all pas-sengers must wear seat belts on every trip; this is the only proven way to pre-vent severe injuries and death in motor vehicle crashes. Child passengers, younger than 11 years, must be seated in the rear seat or should use a car seat appropriate to age.

Dr Hassan Al Thani (pictured), Head of the Hamad Trauma Center, said, “During this month of observance, let us keep our families and friends safe by providing constant adult super-vision for young children as they walk on the roads or in parking areas. Drive within the speed limit and abstain from distractions, such as using mobile phones while driving.”

Hamad Trauma Center advises you to drive within the speed limit and increase the distance between the vehicle in front to have a safe braking distance.

Avoid distractions such as mobile phones, earphones or loud music, so you can pay full attention to road

conditions; this goes for both drivers and pedestrians.

It also advised that if you are a pedestrian or a cyclist, use the bicycle paths (wherever it is available), pedes-trian crossings and sidewalks. Walk in the direction facing the traffic flow so you can see oncoming vehicles and they will not suddenly emerge from behind or beside you.

Young children must always be supervised by a responsible adult when they play or walk on roads or in park-ing areas and always listen to weather forecasts and general advice about driving conditions on the local radio or TV so you can plan your route and make an earlier trip if necessary.

Hamad Trauma Center head cautions motorists

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

Aspire Academy celebrated a decade of sports development with the grad-uation ceremony of 38

student-athletes who make up Qatar’s next bright generation of athletes in various sport fields on Wednesday at Aspire dome.

The event started with Qatar’s National Anthem, sung proudly by all the attendees, followed by a recital from The Holy Quran by student-athlete Nasser Al Harbi and a short movie highlighting the best moments from previous graduation ceremonies.

Badr Jassim Al Hay, Director of Educa-tion and Student Affairs, said:“I wish to congratulate you on this happy day, which marks the moment your sons go out into the world to start a new chapter in life. Your support, encouragement and trust in Aspire Academy have helped them throughout this challenging but rewarding journey and you

must now have faith in their ability to grow into responsible, caring adults.”

At the end of the ceremony, Ivan Bravo and Jassim Al Jaber awarded the students their graduation certificates. Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy said: “Today I am proud to see happy-young man who have done a lot of hard work to come to this point." Nuh Abdul Kadir Ibrahim, Graduate of Aspire Academy spoke at the event. The graduation ceremony took place in the Aspire Dome and was attended by a number of senior officials, including the Guest of Honour, Dr Hassan Rashid Al Der-ham, President of Qatar University. Other attendees included Mohammed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, CEO of Aspire Zone Foundation, Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy, Ali Salem Afifa, Deputy Director General at Aspire Academy, Badr Al Hay, Director of Education and Student Affairs of Aspire Academy, and Jassim Al Jaber, School Principal at Aspire Academy.

38 student-athletes graduate at Aspire

The Peninsula

International Review of Law (IRL), Hamad bin Khalifa Uni-versity (HBKU) Press’

prestigious bilingual law jour-nal, is now indexed on Westlaw International. Used in over 60 countries, Westlaw International is a global legal research library built on some of the world’s best legal, news, and business infor-mation. Articles published by the journal are displayed on West-law International, a Thomson Reuters company, and can be easily downloaded by Westlaw users which considerably increases an articles readership and exposure.

IRL is an internationally peer-reviewed law journal that is available in Arabic and in Eng-lish. It was established by Qatar University College of Law and is published by HBKU Press. The journals accepted to Westlaw International undergo a rigor-ous evaluation process by Thomson Reuters. The primary consideration in selecting jour-nals for indexing includes such factors as validity, importance, originality, and contribution to the field. Journals must also demonstrate a high level of qual-ity, credibility, and objectivity related to their peer-review

process and ethical guidelines. Westlaw and IRL desire to make all articles, case notes, book reviews, and other substantive materials that are contained in issues widely available.

IRL is already indexed on Westlaw Gulf, LexisNexis Mid-dle East and many other open content platforms. Being an open access literature source means it is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most cop-yright and licensing restrictions. All articles published are under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY license. This means that articles are immediately and perma-nently available online, in an easily readable format and archived wherever possible in internationally-recognized open access repositories.

“This is an important mile-stone for the IRL which will raise its profile by further increasing its availability and outreach to a wider audience,” explained Dr. Talal Al Emadi, Editor-in-Chief of International Review of Law. “Indexing with leading content providers is crucial to our authors and maximises the jour-nal’s potential, further raising its profile.” Saffiyah Al Nuaimi, the Managing Editor of IRL also sees the journal’s inclusion as a marked achievement.

HBKU Press’ law journal now on Westlaw International

Officials and graduates during the graduation ceremony at Aspire Academy.Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

HIGH TIDE 12:30 – 23:15 LOW TIDE 06:15 – 16:15

Expected strong wind at places by

afternoon. Very hot daytime with

slight dust to blowing dust at plac-

es at times.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum36oC 47oC

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

16 SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2017HOME