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Volume 23 | Number 7532 | 2 RiyalsSunday 20 May 2018 | 4 Ramadan I 1439 www.thepeninsula.qa

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Hamad Port receives record number of vessels in April

DOHA: Hamad Port has achieved yet another mile-stone as it received highest number of vessels in April. A total of 148 commercial vessels called at Hamad Port which is the highest monthly number ever recorded since the start of operations at the port.

Additionally, QTerminals handled a record-breaking 122,825 Twenty-Foot Equiv-alent Units (TEUs) containers in April which is a 17 percent

increase over the previous month.

Qterminals was set up by Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) to manage the port

In total, 130 commercial vessels had called at Hamad Port in march, compared to 120 vessels in February and 137 vessels in January this year.

It handled 124,399 tonnes of break bulk cargo in April compared to 79,710 tonnes of break bulk cargo previous month while 21,778 tonnes of

bulk cargo was handled by it in April against 11,062 tonnes of bulk cargo in March this year.

The Port, which is one of the largest ports in the region, handled 35,179 heads of cattle last month compared to 73,297

heads of cattle in March and handled 5,470 vehicles last month.

The $7.4bn Port remains unfazed by the unjust siege imposed by the blockading countries on Qatar as number of vessels calling at the port and volume of goods has been grown consistently since start of its operation. Within 14 months since the start of operations, the port’s monthly volumes grew from an average of just over 41,000 TEUs per month to 105,000 TEUs per month.

The port, in March this year, celebrated the handling

of its first one million TEUs containers. The Port, which was opened in December 2016, achieved this feat in less 14 months which was well ahead of its expected schedule. It plans to achieve the next one million container throughput by the end of this year.

Hamad Port is set to play a major role in maritime trade by becoming a transhipment hub in the region. By becoming a major transhipment centre, the Port can cater to the needs of businesses in neighbouring countries like Kuwait, Iraq and other neighbours.

RAMADAN TIMINGTodays Iftar: 6:17 pm

Tomorrow’s Imsak: 03:11 am

SACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

40 arrested for visa traffickingTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Search and Follow-up Department recently succeeded in arresting 40 persons accused of visa traf-ficking in violation of the Law No. 21 of 2015 Regulating the Entry, Exit, and Resi-dence of Expatriates.

This came in the department’ efforts to control violators of the laws governing the entry and taking legal action against them with the aim of controlling the problem of runaway workers.

Director of the Search and Follow-up Department at the Ministry of Interior Brigadier Abdullah Jaber Al Lebdah said that the department is carrying out its role of the implementation of the law through carrying out inspection cam-paigns in all areas of the country to arrest violators.

He added that the Department suc-ceeded to arrest some violators who traded in visas, which contribute to the increase in the problem of runway workers in the country.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Interior represented by The Search and Follow-up Department deals with the victims of these practices from the humanitarian side, where the Department would transfer such people under some employer.

The Department stressed that it will not hesitate in applying the law to all individuals or companies and refer vio-lators to the Public Prosecution.

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Blocking Umrah during Ramadan causes disappointment

DOHA: Due to unjust restrictions imposed on Qatar by the Saudi-led quartet, Qatari nationals and residents are not able to perform the Islamic ritual of Umrah during the holy month of Ramadan.

Many citizens have shared their

opinion with The Peninsula on the issue expressing their unhappiness and sorrow of not being able to perform Umrah this Ramadan due to the con-tinuing Saudi-led blockade.

“Every Ramadan we would go for Umrah but this year we are bound under political tussle. We are literally speechless, we cannot express in words how cruel people can become regarding

religion. We hope and pray every day that this dispute comes to an end and we perform our religious duties nor-mally once again,” a local citizen, Mansoor Al Yami told The Peninsula.

The National Human Rights Com-mittee (NHRC) had earlier issued a statement on the difficulties faced by residents and citizens of the State in per-forming Umrah, highlighting the

committee’s deep concerns regarding the Saudi authorities’ persistent restric-tions of Muslims’ right to perform reli-gious rituals. The NHRC statement had also urged competent Saudi authorities not to use religious rites as a political leverage flagrantly violating interna-tional human rights conventions.

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AMNA PERVAIZ RAO THE PENINSULA

Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-Chief

OPINION

H H the Amir addresses the Islamic conscience

As always His Highness Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, may Allah protect him,

touches the aspirations and stances of the Muslims in all countries of the world, stressing the necessity of reaching a just solution to the Pales-tinian issue which is the last colonial case which still exists in the world.

Under the current situation and talks about the ‘deal of the century’, it has become more apparent after moving the US embassy to Jerusalem which is the eternal capital of the State of Palestine, that the city cannot be divided into two parts for the Pal-estinians in particular and the entire Islamic world in general.

In the light of all these develop-ments, the Emergency Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Palestine in Istanbul, was called by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss and take measures that serve the Palestinian cause and stand in the face of new colonialism.

The speech of H H the Amir was at the heart and touched the attitudes and feelings of all Muslims. The mas-sacre against peaceful demonstrators deepens the feeling of injustice and the incapability of the international com-munity was highlighted in the speech, citing the history of the Palestinian cause and situations it has undergone since the Nakba in 1948, and the sub-sequent resolutions, stressing the right of return for refugees which was approved by the United Nations in its resolution 194 of December 1948.

None of the Amir’s speech at inter-national forums or local events have come without mentioning the Pales-tinian cause, and call for a just solution that guarantees a decent life for Pales-tinians like other peoples of the world.

This is the second extraordinary summit held in Turkey in a short period of time, at the invitation of the Republic of Turkey, to which we have all respect and appreciation, both its leadership and the people, for their positions in support of the Palestinian cause on all international forums and conferences.

The courageous positions of Qatar have not been hampered by the unjust siege, because it is a State with unquestionable principles and posi-tions that are consistent with the teachings of the true religion, Arabism, humility and the principles of international law.

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A total of 148 commercial vessels called at Hamad Port which is the highest monthly number ever recorded since the start of operations at the port.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani honoured the players of Al Duhail Sports Club with the Amir Cup and presented them with gold medals, while His Highness presented Al Rayyan players with silver medals.

Amir crowns Al Duhail SC with the Amir CupQNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended the final football match between Al Rayyan SC and Al Duhail SC for H H the Amir Cup, held at Khalifa International Stadium yesterday, in which Al Duhail beat Al Rayyan 2-1.

H H the Amir honoured the players of Al Duhail Sports Club with the Cup and presented them with gold medals, while His Highness pre-sented Al Rayyan’s players with silver medals.

The match was attended by H E Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Khalifa Al Thani, H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, Personal Represent-ative of HH the Amir, H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, H E Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa Al Thani as well as a number of H H the Father Amir’s sons.

It was also attended by President of the Inter-national Federation of Football Association (FIFA) Gianni Infantino, a number of heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the State of Qatar, a number of heads of sports federations, members of the Arab and international Olympic committees, guests of the match, and a large audience. → SEE ALSO PAGES 2, 24, 25, 28

02 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018HOME

H H the Amir crowns Al Duhail SC with Amir Cup

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended the final football match between Al Rayyan SC and Al Duhail SC for H H the Amir Cup, held at Khalifa International Stadium yesterday, which ended with Al Duhail winning over Al-Rayyan 2-1. The match was attended by H E Sheikh Abdul-Aziz bin Khalifa Al Thani; H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, Personal Representative of H H the Amir; H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani; H E Sheikh Jassim bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as a number of H H the Father Amir’s sons. It was also attended by President of the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, a number of heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the State of Qatar , a number of heads of sports federations, members of the Arab and international Olympic committees, guests of the match, and a large audience.

03SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 HOME

HGH Emergency receives 1,963 cases in first two days of RamadanFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Emergency Department of Hamad General Hospital (HGH) has treated at least 1,963 cases on the first two days of Ramadan due to several reasons including stomach ailments, traffic accidents etc, said a senior official. Other cases the department received were related to chest pain due to cardiac problems and patients with several other disorders, said Dr Biju Gafoor, Consultant at the Emer-gency Department, HGH.

A total of 968 cases were received on the first day of Ramadan, while 995 cases on the second day of Ramadan. However, many of them were minor cases and sent home after treatment the same day. The cases were received between 6am and 6pm, each day.

“On the second day of Ramadan around 106 patients seeking emer-gency treatment were suffering from gastric issues such as nausea, vom-iting, stomach upset and indigestion,” Dr Gafoor told The Peninsula.

“Other cases 37 were treated for chest pain and 11 for traffic accidents,” he added.

While on the first day of Ramadan, 154 were treated for different stomach ailments, 43 for chest pain and eight

for traffic accidents. When Holy month of Ramadan

was approaching, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) had cautioned people against injuries. HMC’s Hamad Trauma Center had urged motorists to practice safe driving on roads as well as to follow safe practices at home. The centre offered recommen-dations to safeguard against road injuries and avoidable deaths and serious injuries.

It advised drivers and all pas-sengers must wear seat belts on every trip; this is the only proven way to prevent severe injuries and death in motor vehicle crashes.

HMC has also previously advised people to prevent stomach and intes-tinal disorders while observing a healthy fast. It advised people to avoid salty food, sugary and caffeinated drinks, and heavy fatty foods, which can cause gastrointestinal disturbances.

People were also asked to keep hydrated, choose healthy options like small portions of low-calorie, nutrient-dense food such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats for Iftar and Suhoor.

Experts at HMC also urged with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, to speak with their doctor before beginning a fast.

DOHA: The fifth extraordinary session of the World Health organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediter-ranean took place on Saturday in Geneva. The State of Qatar partic-ipated in the session with a dele-gation led by Minister of Public Health, H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

During the meetings, Oman’s Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari (pictured) was elected director of WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Dr Al Kuwari congratulated Al Mandhari on his win, wishing him success in his duties, especially in light of the massive challenges facing a number of Eastern Mediterranean countries.

She expressed her confidence in his ability to manage the significant issues at the disposal of the regional office so as to help in serving the health of Eastern Mediterranean peoples.

The 71st World Health Assembly (WHA) will start on Monday, with the main theme this year being comprehensive health coverage. WHA is the highest decision-making body at WHO.

Amir condoles with Cuban PresidentQNA

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of condolences to the President of the State Council and Council of Ministers of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, on the victims of the Cuban passenger plane crash, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani also sent cables of condolences to the President of the State Council and Council of Ministers of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, on the victims of the Cuban passenger plane crash, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-Chief

OPINION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Qatar is moving toward the bright future in a steady and confident way and has not seen what is being waged by sceptics and conspirators against its success regionally and interna-tionally, standing against what is con-trary to the principles of the United Nations, human rights and interna-tional conventions.

It is a fact that in Qatar we do not see the blockade as a stumbling block in our development, because we have become stronger than before and started to rely on ourselves away from the dependence on others. Due to this siege, we discovered the extent of the deep hatred that ‘some’ had for Qatar’s successes and excellence in international forums.

In his speech to the Islamic world, the Amir did not mention the siege but left it behind as Qatar has become an icon for its impressive progress. We are moving towards further advancement with all love and affection among the people and unity around its leadership making miracles towards the future of Qatar.

H H the Amir addresses the Islamic conscience

Qatar takes part in WHO meeting in Geneva

Blocking Umrah during Ramadan causes disappointmentCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Talking about human rights, Jassim Al Mansoori, another Qatari national said: “The system which is controlled by people does not allow the pilgrims to perform Umrah. This control has destroyed the values of humanity which we have in our religion. No religion teaches people to stop others from practicing their religion. Being Muslims, we should help each other in such causes. I do not feel pain for myself only but for

all my brothers who are stopped to enter the Holy land.”

The online portal of Qatar’s Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs allowing the electronic registration for pil-grimage indicates that registration is currently not possible for Qataris as well as expatriates.

According to the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (Awqaf) report, the government of Saudi Arabia has blocked the

electronic registration for Qatar’s pilgrims in contrast to all other countries of the world. The report also indicates that Saudi pilgrimage authorities have frozen their com-munication with Qatar’s Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs. The Saudi embassy and con-sulate in Qatar had also been closed which implies that Haj and Umrah procedures cannot be performed from Qatar, according to the report.

Fahad Al Saiari, a Qatari

national said: “Last year I managed to go for Umrah during Ramadan with my mother as it was a part of our routine. This year we are sad and disappointed. We are not amazed by Saudis being so cruel, as when the blockade was imposed even our animals were sent out of the country and we had to travel to Kuwait immediately to bring our camels to Doha.”

Several travel agencies that used to offer Umrah packages from

Qatar to Saudi Arabia, have been closed in Qatar, which claim to face huge loss as well.

“We have been receiving many calls but we feel extremely sorry to inform people that the only platform where we were able to access and go for Umrah and Haj has been blocked for us. Even expats have to travel to their home-land and then go for Umrah which has caused a lot of difficulties for them,” said an official from a travel agency.

The online portal allowing the registration for pilgrimage indicates that registration is currently not possible for Qataris as well as expatriates.

04 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018HOME

Ooredoo announces more offers for RamadanTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Ooredoo announced yesterday a host of offers for the Holy Month of Ramadan as part of its ongoing 2018 Ramadan campaign under the #RamadanWith-Ooredoo. With this announcement, Hala, Shahry,

Nojoom and Ooredoo tv customers can take advantage of special promotions designed to give back to customers.

Throughout the Holy Month, Hala customers can check *123# for a host of dedicated offers to reward users for topping-up and keeping in touch. Shahry users will also enjoy rewards for recharging data or subscribing

to an Ooredoo add-on, these offers will be available via the Ooredoo App.

For Nojoom Members, Ooredoo will be offering an exclusive deal

across various categories to earn Double Nojoom Points. Participating Nojoom Partners are Warwick Doha, Inter-Continental Hotel, Concorde Hotel, Applebee’s, Masraf Al Rayan Bank, Seib Insurance, Al Tawasul Specialized Centre, Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Joyalukkas, Jumbo Electronics and Spark Electronics. Talking about the offers, Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Ooredoo Director of PR and Corporate Communications, said: “We wanted to make sure that our Ramadan offers covered our post and pre-paid customers, as well as gave back to all our Nojoom Members and Ooredoo tv users. We hope our customers take advantage of these offers to be rewarded this Holy Month as well as enjoy our daily giveaway via the Ooredoo App”.

Commitment of leadership to education hailedTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, said yesterday that the country’s wise leadership has provided all the means to improve the educational process, namely competent teachers and modern curricula, the best school buildings, technologies, facilities.

He said that the wise lead-ership also made financial allo-cations to provide logistical support, which makes Qatar’s education system connected to the major goals and objectives of the community to help achieve the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Minister called on the

Ministry’s employees and all parties involved in the educa-tional process and their partners to do their best to create the appropriate environment in the school and the home, so that the students are able to perform the tests of the end of the second semester.

The Minister addressed the annual Ramadan meeting of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in a letter to the Min-istry’s employees calling on them to promote and consolidate the culture of dialogue and partici-pation and not to concentrate the educational decision and to share responsibilities among all employees when devising strat-egies and plans that turn the min-istry’s vision into reality.

The Minister stressed the importance of self-evaluation for the employee inviting the employees, in the blessed month of Ramadan, to be their own internal guide, and give your most in order to achieve the best results. He highlighted the Min-istry’s strategy for the period 2017-2022 which set a world-class education system that offers opportunities for quality edu-cation and training, and gives all

learners the skills and compe-tencies necessary to achieve the desired transformation. The strategy aims at contributing to society, promote the values of Qatari society and its heritage, and call for tolerance and respect for other cultures, indicating that the strategy also includes six intermediate outcomes and objectives for how to achieve them.

He thanked the partners of

the educational process, espe-cially the educational service pro-viders, and the generosity of Qatar National Bank, the strategic partner of the Ministry and its permanent sponsor for most of its activities and school activities during the 2017-2018 academic year. In addition to honoring a number of school principals who have spent 30 years at the Min-istry of Education And higher education.

Qatar condemns cricket stadium explosion in AfghanistanQNA

DOHA: The State of Qatar expressed its strong condem-nation and denunciation of the three explosions target a cricket stadium in Jalalabad city, eastern Afghanistan, that resulted in deaths and a number of injuries.

In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Qatar’s firm stance on rejecting violence and ter-rorism, regardless of their motives and reasons.

The statement considered the bombing of the stadium aimed at the values of love, tolerance and coexistence on which sport is based..

The Ministry expressed the condolences of the State of Qatar to the victims’ fam-ilies and to the government and people of Afghanistan, wishing the injured speedy recovery.

Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, at the event.

QFFD, QRCS for $12m funding for SyriansTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Fund for Devel-opment (QFFD) and Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) have signed a $12m funding agreement to support the displaced commu-nities in Syria, as well as the Syrian refugees in neighbouring coun-tries, under the umbrella of the UN. It was signed by Ali Abdullah Al Dabbagh, Executive Director of Corporate Strategy at QFFD, and Rashid Saad Al Mohannadi, Director of Relief and Interna-tional Development at QRCS.

Targeting a total of 5.6 million beneficiaries in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, this contribution comes under the Syria

Humanitarian Response Plan adopted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to Al Dabbagh, this funding is part of Qatar’s $100m pledge announced during the second Brussels Conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region”, 24-25 April 2018. “Qatar is absolutely committed to addressing the impact of the humanitarian tragedy inflicted on the Syrian people over the past seven years. These funds will go for life-saving projects that will meet the basic needs of the Syrians,” said Al Dabbagh.

Al Mohannadi, said, “This agreement is a new episode of Qatar’s track record in helping the Syrian people for years now. A key asset of this support is the strong, coordinated partnership between QFFD as a major donor and QRCS as a leading humanitarian pro-vider in many crises, particularly in Syria”. He hoped the pact will help alleviate some of the hard-ships suffered by Syrian refugees and displaced people on a daily basis, particularly the vulnerable groups like children, women, patients, and elderly people.

The plan involves several sig-nificant activities to be executed in Syria, including but are not limited to operating health care

centres, providing psychological support services, building clay housing units, rehabilitating houses and roads in Idlib, and offering vocational training.

Also, the Syrians in Jordan will receive secondary health care and chronic disease treatment free of charge. The primary health care clinics at the Al Zaatari refugee camp will be given new life, offering dialysis services.

In Lebanon, there will be health care and physiotherapy for injured people, rehabilitation of refugee camps and buildings, operation of water purification plants and water systems, reo-pening of the urban solid waste management plant.

Ali Abdullah Al Dabbagh, Executive Director of Corporate Strategy at QFFD, and Rashid Saad Al Mohannadi, Director of Relief and International Development at QRCS, at the signing event.

40 arrested for visa trafficking

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The efforts of the Department

alone will not achieve the desired success in order to control this problem, which requires the con-certed efforts of members of the com-munity with the security services, which inevitably lead to addressing the issue.

For his part, Captain Omar Khalifa Al Rumaihi, Head of Search and Inves-tigation Department at The Search and Follow-up Department, urged all cit-izens and expatriates not to deal and employ runaway workers and coop-erate with the concerned authorities to report via the hot line of Search and Follow-up Department (50701089). Employing runaway workers is illegal and companies and individuals must report within 14 days if any worker is missing or runs away.

An official speaking to The Peninsula earlier had said that com-panies, more than individuals, usually employ illegal residents although they know it is against the law.

Capt. Al Rumaihi stressed that the Department works transparently for controlling such violations and the implements law on everyone in order to maintain the security in the com-munity. He also said that the Ministry of Interior communicates with various workers to solve their problems through the Human Rights Department, and the Search and Follow-up Department of the Min-istry in the framework of the pro-motion of human rights and the rela-tionship between the worker and the employer in accordance with the law.

The runaway workers are con-sidered a social, security and eco-nomical threat irrespective of whether they are domestic helps or those employed by companies.

They also can create many security problems because their presence in the country is a violation of the residency law and some of them may engage in jobs in which they have no previous experience.

05SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 HOME

Eating balanced meals important during RamadanTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: At least 1,300 patients were referred to the dietetics and nutrition service for advice on how to safely fast and maximise the health benefits of fasting in 2017, says Reem Al Saadi (pictured), Director of Dietetics and Nutrition at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

“There are numerous studies that show abstaining from, or periodically reducing, food and drink intake benefits the body. In addition to the spiritual and psychological benefits, fasting has been shown to improve blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and insulin sensitivity while also helping to improve cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of heart disease

and stroke,” said Al Saadi. Fasting has also been shown

to help reduce the risk of dia-betes among individuals at high risk for the condition and it can be a successful strategy for weight loss and treatment of addictions by decreasing cravings for nicotine, caffeine, and other substances,” she added.

Research also shows there

are mental health benefits asso-ciated with fasting. Fasting is believed to have a preventative and therapeutic role in mood disorders like anxiety and depression and is said to i m p r o v e f o c u s a n d concentration.

“Fasting helps protect the immune system, destroying old and damaged cells and gener-ating new ones. It kick-starts a detoxification process that removes toxins stored in the body by giving the digestive system a rest from breaking down and absorbing food. There are a number of digestive system illnesses that are food related so once the stomach is given a break from having to process food, there is an increased pos-sibility of healing. Irritable bowel

syndrome (IBS), chronic indi-gestion, and acid reflux are good examples of conditions we often see improved during Ramadan as a result of fasting,” said Al Saadi.

Eating balanced meals during Iftar and Suhoor is an important part of maximizing the health benefits of fasting. Al Saadi says limiting the intake of foods high in sugar, sodium, and fat and drinking plenty of water during non-fasting hours is essential, adding that adequate consumption of water can help prevent dehydration and also wash away toxins. She notes that prevention is the best way to avoid dehydration and when possible, it is advisable to limit prolonged exposure to hot weather.

Ministry of Education prepares prospective students for QSSTTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Fawzia Al Khater, the Ministry of Education’s Undersec-retary for Educational Affairs, visited ScorePlus Qatar, a renowned education training provider affiliated with The Prin-ceton Review USA, to meet the Qatar School of Science and Technology’s inaugural class, who have nearly completed a joint training programme between the Ministry of Education and ScorePlus.

ScorePlus, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, is preparing 80 candidate students (of whom 60 will be shortlisted) in mathematics and science rea-soning to support Qatar’s aim of furthering its world-class educa-tional system in STEM courses.

ScorePlus senior faculty

member and program manager, Steven A. Williams, extended his wishes for the future success of the students, who will play a vital role in Qatar’s future.

Addressing the students, Al Khater stated that the aim of the program is to enrich students with the knowledge and skills to assure them access to top universities across the globe and shape a gen-eration of researchers, inventors, and thinkers in Qatar.

Furthermore, speaking with ScorePlus’s country head, Pradeep Singhal, she expressed appreciation for and satisfaction with the instructional quality pro-vided to the candidates and thanked ScorePlus’s teachers and operational staff for developing and implementing the training program.

The Qatar School of Science and Technology is scheduled to open at the beginning of the aca-demic year 2018-2019. It is a sec-ondary school for boys and includes grades 9 to 12.The

candidates will be selected from the eighth grade students who are excellent in science and mathematics.

The school aims at providing a high level of education based in line with the development of the education sector in developed

countries, in order to graduate students who have the scientific basis that ensures enrolment in the top universities in the world.

The participating students at the training programme.

The Pearl-Qatar sparkles with Ramadan theme

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: United Development Company (UDC), one of Qatar’s leading public shareholding companies and master developer of The Pearl-Qatar, has finalised preparations to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.

UDC has festooned the island with special lighting, dec-orating palm trees, lampposts and roundabouts to reflect the authentic essence and beauty of Ramadan across The Pearl-Qatar.

In line with tradition, UDC decorated the island with special structures inspired by the spirit of the holy month, while illumi-nating The Pearl-Qatar’s main

entrance gate where a moon-shaped structure was erected to welcome visitors.

Structures depicting the various phases of the moon have also been established on top of light poles lining the main driveways leading to Qanat Quartier, Medina Centrale and Piazza Arabia — the facade of Porto Arabia — in addition to all main roundabouts. Palm trees were also lit along main roads, creating a joyful ambiance across the island.

To ensure a smooth shopping experience throughout the holy month, retailers will open their doors to visitors in the morning from 10am until 2pm, and in the evening from 8pm until midnight. Among

many other options, visitors can shop for Arabic incense, oriental perfumes, gift baskets and Ramadan sweets.

Restaurants across the island, meanwhile, will be serving Iftar and Suhoor to vis-itors and residents, who will have the opportunity to savour some special Ramadan special dishes in a relaxed and luxurious atmosphere.

Also, in keeping with the Ramadan spirit, three mosques at The Pearl-Qatar have pre-pared to welcome an influx of worshippers, including the Grand Mosque at the island’s entrance. Prayer rooms throughout Porto Arabia and Medina Centrale will also be open to the general public.

United Development Company finalised preparations to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.

ScorePlus, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, is preparing 80 candidate students (of whom 60 will be shortlisted) in mathematics and science reasoning to support Qatar’s aim of furthering its world-class educational system in STEM courses.

Qatar, UNIDO discuss development of tiesQNA

VIENNA: Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, the State of Qatar’s Ambassador to Austria and permanent envoy to the UN organisations in Vienna, met with UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Director-General, Li Yong.

The meeting reviewed means of boosting bilateral ties, and ways of benefiting from the organisation’s programmes in the fields of industrial devel-opment and technical cooper-ation, particularly in relation to food industries and energy. The Ambassador reiterated Qatar’s support for UN Sustainable

Development Goals 2020 and 2030, especially UNIDO’s efforts to achieve these goals. He also highlighted Doha’s keenness to effectively participate in the meetings of UNIDO decision-making bodies through high-level delegations from the Min-istry of Energy and Industry so as to enhance technical cooper-ation and partnership between the State of Qatar and UNIDO.

He expressed Qatar’s appre-ciation for UNIDO secretary-general’s efforts to restructure the organisation to develop its work and help it in carrying out its mandate, particularly under the current financial situation the organisation is going through.

06 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 HOME

Winners of Malabar Gold & Diamonds’ campaign The winners, Gopal, Fahad. Raymondan, Abdul and Ahamed, of the final raffle draw of ‘10Kg Gold for 100 Winners’ campaign, by Malabar Gold & Diamonds, receive the prize, 100gm of gold bar for each, from Nishad A K, Group Executive Director of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, in the presence of Santhosh T V, Regional Head; Noufal Thadathil, Zonal Head; and other officials from Malabar Gold & Diamonds.

AUB forum calls for addressing issues Arabic language faces THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Arabic and Near Eastern Languages Department and the Department of Education at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in partnership with Qatar Foun-dation (QF) and Qatar Foun-dation International (QFI), recently held a forum titled ‘Arabic Language and Commu-nication Skills in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Approaches’.

The two-day forum opened with a session led by AUB pro-fessor, Mahmoud Al Batal, fol-lowed by Dr Anies Al Hroub, Chairperson of the AUB Department of Education, and Maggie Mitchell Salem, Exec-utive Director of QFI.

Participants included a number of lecturers who teach Arabic as a first and second lan-guage at university, primary, and secondary school levels in a number of Arab and non-Arab countries.

The forum aimed to review and discuss a number of theo-retical and practical matters related to teaching communi-cation skills in the curricula of Arabic language taught as a first and second language, and how to establish communication skills as a basis for shaping the curriculum. The forum focused on linking the development of these skills to nurturing the critical and analytical thinking

capacities of pupils through aca-demic writing, a key topic of the discussions.

Dr Al Hroub said, “The Arabic language suffers from issues that can be briefly summed up as the conde-scending view of its students, and social problems in which the speakers of foreign and Arab languages are divided into job market-related social and eco-n o m i c c l a s s e s , a n d scholastic-pedagogy.

“If we focus on the later issue, we find that teaching Arabic, even in Lebanon, is limited to Arabic language, reli-gious education, and history, while the scientific materials are taught in foreign languages. Thus, there is discriminatory separation between foreign lan-guages and the Arabic language. Foreign languages help pupils to complete studies in science,

medicine, and engineering, among others, and reach broader horizons, while the Arabic language is limited to poetry, religious studies, and mythology.

“This initiative marks the beginning of a concerted and important effort by AUB’s Departments of Education and Arabic, in co-operation with QFI and QF, to study and address the challenges and problems faced by students trying to learn and communicate in Arabic at our schools in the Arab world and Lebanon. Our future project is to develop the means and methods of teaching Arabic in public and private schools in Arab countries.”

Discussions during the con-ference focused on a number of key questions, including: ‘What is meant by communication in the context of teaching Arabic and its components and forms?’, ‘What is the relationship of com-munication to the needs of learners?’, ‘What is its place within the perceptions of teachers, curriculum designers, and parents?’, ‘How to approach the concept of communication within the ‘One Arabic Lan-guage’ system, which includes the heritage and contemporary philology and dialects’, ‘How can communication be an essential part of the process of formu-lating learning outcomes for Arabic courses in all levels of teaching?’

MIA lecture highlights significance of fasting THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) organised a lecture entitled: ‘Ramadan and Community Excellence’ by Dr Fathi Ahmed from the Center for Legislative and Ethical Studies at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

The lecture, which was held in the series of activities of the MIA to celebrate the holy month and the commitment of Qatar Museums to build an authentic culture of creativity in Qatar and enrich the lives of its residents and visitors.

Dr. Fatih Ahmed explained that the importance of the topic lies in several axes, including the existing constitution of the State,

which contains more than 10 articles emphasising excellence in human care, education, health and family, social and economic development and granting freedoms, The lecturer pointed out that the Qatar Foundation comprises about 50 societies, research centres and universities, all of which are dedicated to the development of human capabil-ities, as well as Qatar University, noting that the general trend in the country is moving towards excellence. Fathi Ahmed spoke about the spirituality of holy Ramadan and what is distin-guished from the rest of the months. He said that fasting is a method favoured by Allah to be a remedy and a way to cure the diseases of the previous and sub-sequent nations, where there is

a call for excellence in fasting to be better than the previous nations, pointing at the same time, it is pure worship which is the key to all good things.

He pointed out that one of the blessings of Ramadan and fasting is that the Holy Quran is revealed, which is the greatest book that mankind has known and Allah ensures that it is pre-served until the Day of Judgment.

He also mentioned some of the values and actions that the individual needs to excel to overcome negative habits, and fasting is an opportunity to lib-erate the soul, mind and spirit from worshiping anything but Allah and that fasting gives the values and actions that an indi-vidual needs for excellence at the individual and collective level.

The two-day forum opened with a session led by AUB professor, Mahmoud Al Batal, followed by Dr Anies Al Hroub, Chairperson of the AUB Department of Education, and Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of QFI.

Initiative to use Arabic language on labels of products successfulTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce said that its initi-ative to use the Arabic language on labels of products have been seeing a great response from suppliers.

The Ministry said in a

statement that the commitment of a large number of the sup-pliers to the initiative, which was launched last year, reflects the success of the Ministry in its efforts to educate the providers of their legal obligations and duties.

The Ministry reiterated that

all suppliers operating in the country are required under the applicable legislation to use the Arabic language in relation to invoices and other documents when dealing with the consumer, stressing that it is currently inspecting the rest of the sup-pliers who have not qualified

them. Those who do not comply with their legal obligations under the initiative in accordance with the procedures will face charges.

The Ministry noted that it will firmly confront all those who are negligent in carrying out their obligations under the Consumer Protection Law and its executive

regulations. They will intensify their inspection campaigns to control such practices and will take appropriate measures against each violator as stipu-lated in the laws, regulations and decisions governing the work of the ministry. The Ministry called on all merchants and shops to

comply with the law and cir-culars issued by the ministry and stressed on the necessity of ensuring the provision of products and services of high quality to the consumer, calling on consumers to report any vio-lations or irregularities through their communication channels.

Water production phases of Umm Al Houl Power Plant completeTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) has completed the water production phases of Umm Al Houl Power Plant, which currently pumps 136 million gallons of water a day.

The completion of the power generation phases of Umm Al Houl Power Plant, which is scheduled to produce 2,520 meg-awatts of electricity, will be announced soon, said Fahad bin Hamad Al Mohannadi, Managing Director and General Manager of Qatar Electricity and Water

Company (QEWC). Al Mohannadi is also the Chairman of Umm Al Houl Power Plant. “The announcement about the com-pletion of the water production phases of Umm Al Houl Power Plant confirms that the project was going ahead of the schedule and QEWC is capable to fulfill its obligation to the State,” said Al Mohannadi, adding that the company is implementing its project faster and accurately.

He said that this achievement confirms the capability of the company to complete all works of the project of the plant making

it ready to open officially in October.

“The unjust blockade could not affect at all the projects for producing electricity and water being implemented by QEWC.”

He said that Umm Al Houl Power Plant is different from other stations as some phases will be completed and will be com-menced to supply the production to the network at a time when works on other phases will be continued.

He said that Umm Al Houl Power Plant will add about 25 percent to the existing capacity

once it is completed. The plant will be the largest electricity and water station in GCC.

He further said that the plant will produce 60 million gallon water through reverse osmosis technique making it the largest station in GCC and Middle East.

Al Mohannadi said that QEWC completed its all projects to meet the demands of elec-tricity in the country during past 25 years and the company reached the stage to stop very old stations like Ras Abu Fantas station gradually. “There is a complete plan to build new sta-

tions and stop the old ones.”He said that QEWC in collab-

oration with Qatar General Elec-tricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is able to ensure huge demands of electricity and water due to unprecedented urban development of the country. He said that the project of Umm Al Houl Power Plant, which costs about QR11bn (about $3bn), will be a strong support for electricity and water security of the country.

He added that Umm Al Houl Power Plant will ensure 25 percent electricity and 30 percent

water of the demand of local market.

The Plant will operate with high technique to help protect the environment and provide water and electricity as per the inter-national standard. Umm Al Houl Power Plant is 60 percent owned by QEWC, Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Foundation have five percent share and remaining 30 percent share is occupied by Mit-subishi TIBCO.

Umm Al Houl Power Plant, located close to Hamad Port, is expected to serve many indus-trial and commercial projects.

07SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 MIDDLE EAST

‘No peace in Palestine until Israel ends occupation’ANATOLIA

ANKARA: Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said yesterday there will be no peace in Palestine unless Israel ends its occupation.

Writing for the Istanbul-based Daily Sabah, Kalin said: “The problem is the occupation and without ending it, there will be no peace, no security, no prosperity for anyone.

“Thanks to the irrespon-sible and populist policies of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations, peace has never been as far away as it is today.” “Muslim countries, Europeans, Africans, Asian nations and Latin American countries must come together to stop the downward spiral of blatant violations of interna-tional law by Israel and the unjust punishment of the Pal-estinians,” Kalin added.

The number of Palestinians martyred by Israeli gunfire during Monday’s protests on eastern Gaza Strip rose to 64 yesterday. Hundreds more were injured.

The protests were part of weeks-long rallies marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s

establishment — an event Pal-estinians refer to as the “Nakba” or “The Catastrophe” — and relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 110 Pal-estinians have been killed and thousands injured by Israeli gunfire, according to the Pal-estinian Health Ministry.

“This is pretty much the end of the Donald Trump administration’s role in the Middle East peace process,” Kalin wrote.

He said the US move of relocating its embassy “also undermined any remaining hope for a two-state solution”, calling it “the last nail in the coffin”.

Trump sparked an interna-tional outcry last December when he unilaterally recog-nised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vowed to relocate the US Embassy to the city.

Kalin said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu cannot cover up his crimes and domestic troubles by attacking President Recep Tayyip Erdogan”.

“He may enjoy the relative

silence of the international community and the disunity and lethargy of the Arab world, but he can never break the will of the Palestinian people and our support for them.” Kalin also accused European and American media of not “telling the truth” on the Gaza killings.

“The headlines read ‘Dozens killed in Gaza’ and none of them referred to the Israeli brutality and willful killing, as if the Palestinians died of some sort of natural disaster or epidemic,” he said, referring to a tweet by New York Times, which was con-demned widely.

Kalin said: “Just imagine how the world would have reacted if the 62 people killed on May 14 were Israelis rather than Palestinians.” “It would not have been a news story but a bombshell. It would have changed the parameters of regional and international pol-itics. Western governments would have done everything in their capacity to punish those responsible. Even armies would have been mobilised.

“But none of that happened because the victims were Palestinian.”

Cleric Moqtada Al Sadr’s bloc wins Iraq electionREUTERS

BAGHDAD: A political bloc led by populist Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States who also opposes Iranian influence in Iraq, has won the country’s parliamentary election, the elec-toral commission said yesterday.

Sadr himself cannot become prime minister because he did not run in the election, though his bloc’s victory puts him in a position to have a strong say in negotiations. His Sairoon elec-toral list captured 54 parlia-mentary seats.

The Victory Alliance, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, trailed in third place with 42 seats, behind the Al Fatih bloc, which won 47 seats.

Al Fatih is led by Hadi Al Amiri, who has close ties with Iran and heads an umbrella group of paramilitaries that played a key role in defeating Islamic State.

The results were announced a week after Iraqis voted in a nationwide election, which pro-duced surprising results amid a historically low turnout.

The nationalist cleric’s success could be a setback for Iran, which has steadily increased its influence in Iraq - its most important ally in the Middle East — since a US-led

invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Sadr was able to capitalise on growing resentment over Tehran-backed governments who have failed to improve basic services and build hospitals and schools in a country devastated by the war against Islamic State and by sec-tarian bloodshed.

It was a remarkable comeback for Sadr, who for years had been sidelined by Ira-nian-backed rivals and was regarded by US and Iraqi offi-cials as an unpredictable mav-erick. He reached out to dispos-sessed Shia and marginalised Sunnis, and restored links with Sunni neighbours while keeping Iran at bay.

Sadr became a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation when he led two violent uprisings against US troops, prompting the Pentagon to call his Mehdi army militia the biggest threat to Iraq’s security.

He derives much of his

authority from his family. Sadr is the son of the revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, killed for defying Saddam Hussein.

In his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr city, where posters of his father could be seen, people expressed concerns that Sadr would be outmanoeuvered in what are expected to be long, tough talks on forming a government.

“New lists and candidates have won. But they are unable to form a government because the previous politicians are foxes and I believe that they aim to form big alliances in order to isolate the new blocs,” said one resident, Muied Hatim.

In the 2010 election, Vice-President Ayad Allawi’s group won the largest number of seats, albeit with a narrow margin, but he was prevented from becoming prime minister. He blamed Tehran, which manoeu-vered Nuri Al Maliki into power.

Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that Sadr will be able to hand-pick a prime minister.

Parties will have to align themselves to try and form a bloc large enough for the parlia-mentary majority necessary to nominate a candidate. The gov-ernment should be formed within 90 days of the official results.

“Your vote is an honour for us,” Sadr tweeted moments after the official results were announced in the early hours yesterday. “We will not disap-point you.” The election dealt a blow to Abadi, but he could still emerge as a compromise can-didate palatable to all sides because he has managed the competing interests of the United States and Iran — unwitting allies in the war against Islamic State — during his term in office.

Amiri is regarded as one of the most powerful figures in Iraq.

He spent two decades fighting Saddam Hussein from Iran. The victory was a surprising change of fortunes for Sadr.

His bloc’s performance rep-resented a rebuke to a political elite that some voters blame for widespread corruption and dys-functional governance.

It was also bolstered by a historically low turnout across the country, estimated earlier in the week at 44.5 percent.

Sadr maintains a loyal base of supporters who turned up to the polls amid widespread

national apathy. Sadr’s unlikely alliance with communists and secular Iraqis says it fiercely opposes any foreign interference in Iraq, which is strongly backed by both Tehran and Washington.

It has promised to help the poor and build schools and hos-pitals in Iraq, which was battered in the war to defeat Islamic State and has suffered from low oil prices. Before the election, Iran publicly stated it would not allow Sadr’s bloc to govern in Iraq, with which it shares a border.

Riyadh Al Badran, head of Iraq’s Independent Higher Election Commission, speaks during a news conference for the final results of the election in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday.

Members and supporters of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) hold placards as they protest in front of Israel’s Consulate in Istanbul.

Turkey launches aid campaign for PalestiniansANATOLIA

ISTANBUL: Turkey yesterday launched a major aid campaign for Palestine after at least 64 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops during protests earlier this week.

Speaking at a news con-ference to launch the campaign, titled “Be the hope for

Palestine”, Recep Akdag called on Turkish people to join the nationwide aid campaign by donating via bank accounts or sending a text message.

Akdag said that Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Man-agement Authority (AFAD) and the World Health Organisation would cooperate on a project to send medical aid to Gaza.

“As AFAD, we will provide $1.2m worth of medication, medical consumables and medical equipment, and the World Health Organization will ship it to Gaza,” Akdag added.

Donations can be made by sending a text message reading “Filistin” (Palestine in Turkish) to 1866 for AFAD and 2868 for Turkish Red Crescent.

The Victory Alliance, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, trailed in third place with 42 seats, behind the Al Fatih bloc, which won 47 seats.

08 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

EU reassures commitment to Iran N-deal without USREUTERS

TEHRAN: The European Union’s energy chief sought to reassure Iran yesterday that the bloc remained committed to salvaging a nuclear deal with Tehran despite US President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the accord and reimpose sanc-tions.

Miguel Arias Canete delivered the message on a visit to Tehran and also said the 28-nation EU, once the biggest importer of Iranian oil, hoped to strengthen trade with Iran.

“We have sent a message to our Iranian friends that as long as they are sticking to the (nuclear) agreement the Euro-peans will... fulfill their com-mitment. And they said the same thing on the other side,”

Arias Canete, European Commissioner for Energy and Climate, told reporters after talks with Iran’s Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Salehi said it would be disastrous if EU efforts fail to preserve the 2015 deal, in which

Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most Western sanctions.

“The ball is in their (EU leaders) court,” Salehi said. “We hope their efforts materialise.” Since Trump’s announcement of the US exit on May 8, EU leaders have pledged to try to keep Iran’s oil trade and investment flowing but admitted that will not be easy to do so.

Britain, France and Germany back the deal as the best way of stopping Tehran getting nuclear weapons but have called on Iran to limit its regional influence and

curb the missile programme. “The EU’s adopted mechanisms... should be enforced by August 8, when US sanctions begin to take effect,” Iranian TV quoted B e h r o u z K a m a l v a n d i , spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, as saying.

A collapse of the accord could tip the balance of power in Iran’s faction-ridden political establishment in favour of Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani’s hardline rivals, who have fiercely criti-cised the president’s failure to deliver greater economic prosperity.

Salehi said Iran had several options, including resuming its 20 percent uranium enrichment, if the European countries failed to keep the pact alive. He said the EU had only a few weeks to deliver on their promises.

“If the other side keeps itself committed to its promises we also will....We hope the situation will not arise to the point that we will have to go back to the worst option,” Salehi told reporters in English. “There are all kinds of

possibilities, we can... start the 20 percent enrichment.” Under the 2015 deal, Iran’s level of enrichment must remain at around 3.6 percent. Iran stopped producing 20 percent enriched uranium and gave up the majority of its stockpile as part of the agreement.

Uranium refined to 20 percent fissile purity is well beyond the 5 percent normally

required to fuel civilian nuclear power plants, although still well short of the highly enriched, or 80 to 90 percent, purity needed for a nuclear bomb. In their diplomacy with Tehran, EU sources say Iranian government officials have warned they are under pressure from those who say Iran has traded away its nuclear sovereignty without reaping any economic benefits.

Iran has struggled to cash in on the accord, partly because of remaining unilateral US sanc-tions that have deterred major Western investors from doing business with Tehran. Rouhani has tried to assure ordinary Ira-nians, frustrated by high unem-ployment and stagnant living standards, that Trump’s decision would have no impact on Iran’s oil-reliant economy.

Miguel Arias Canete (left), European Union Energy Commissioner, during a meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran, yesterday.

Burundi oppn rejects result of referendumAFP

NAIROBI: The coalition led by main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa said yesterday it did not recognise the result of a refer-endum on constitutional reforms that could leave Pres-ident Pierre Nkurunziza in power until 2034.

With provisional returns from all but one of the country’s 18 provinces showing support for reforms that could see Nku-runziza, already serving a con-troversial third term, start two seven-year terms in 2020, former rebel Rwasa slammed the exercise as a charade.

“The electoral process has been neither free nor trans-parent, nor independent and still

less democratic,” Rwasa said in a statement issued by his Amizero y’Aburundi coalition.

He added that he “rejects the fantasist results that could be proclaimed following this sup-posed vote.” The electoral com-mission (Ceni) has yet to confirm the result of Thursday’s vote but a group of 15 public and private radio stations put the ‘yes’ votes from the 17 declared provinces as all topping 50 percent, rising as high as 85 percent.

Rwasa’s coalition renewed allegations of “intimidation and harrassment” of its voters by the ruling CNDD-FDD party.

The party officially managed a majority even in traditional opposition strongholds amid claims the CDDD-FDD’s

Imbonerakure youth wing had forced opponents to vote ‘yes’.

The United Nations regards Imbonerakure as a militia group that spreads terror among the population. Amizero alleged that four of its monitors had been abducted and that others had been chased out of polling sta-tions, threatened or jailed.

“The vote was neither secret nor fair across the republic —voters were accompanied to the booths and were urged to vote ‘yes’ by bureau officials and Imbonerakure,” Rwasa charged.

Ruling party Deputy Sec-retary-General, Joseph Ntakaru-timana, on Friday dubbed as “exaggerations” the opposition accusations of fraud and massive voter intimidation.

Congo says 3 new Ebola cases confirmed in large cityAP

KINSHASA: Three new cases of the often lethal Ebola virus have been confirmed in a city of more than 1 million people, Congo’s Health Minister announced, as the spread of the hemorrhagic fever in an urban area raised alarm.

The statement late on Friday said the confirmed cases are in Mbandaka city, where a single case was confirmed earlier in the week.

There are now 17 confirmed Ebola cases in this outbreak, including one death, plus 21

probable cases and five sus-pected ones. It was not immedi-ately clear what link the new cases might have to others.

The World Health Organi-sation on Friday decided not to declare the outbreak a global health emergency, but it called the risk of spread within Congo “very high” and warned nine neighbouring countries that the risk to them was high. WHO said there should be no international travel or trade restrictions.

The outbreak is a test of a new experimental Ebola vaccine that proved effective in the West Africa outbreak a few years ago.

Vaccinations are expected to start early in the week, with more than 4,000 doses already in Congo and more on the way.

A major challenge will be keeping the vaccines cold in the vast, impoverished country where infrastructure is poor.

While Congo has contained several Ebola outbreaks in the past, all of them were based in remote rural areas. The virus has twice made it to Congo’s capital of 10 million people, Kinshasa, in the past but was rapidly stopped. Health officials are trying to track down more than 500 people who have been in

contact with those feared infected, a task that became more urgent with the spread to Mbandaka, which lies on the Congo River, a busy traffic cor-ridor, and is an hour’s flight from the capital.

The outbreak was declared more than a week ago in Congo’s remote northwest. “Even if it’s not happening here yet I have to reduce contact with people. May God protect us in any case,” Grace Ekofo, a 23-year-old student in Kinshasa, told The Associated Press. A teacher in Mbandaka, 53-year-old Jean Mopono, said they were trying

to implement preventative measures by teaching students not to greet each other by shaking hands or kissing. “We pray that this epidemic does not take place here,” Mopono said.

The WHO, which was accused of bungling its response to the West Africa outbreak -the biggest Ebola outbreak in history with more than 11,000 deaths- appears to be moving swiftly to contain this latest epidemic, experts said. There is “strong reason to believe this situation can be brought under control,” said Dr. Robert Steffen, who chaired WHO expert meeting.

Burundi’s opposition leader, Agathon Rwasa (second left), with his wife (right), visits a polling station in Ciri, northern Burundi.

National unity depends on land reform: RamaphosaAFP

BOKSBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (pictured) urged greater progress in land redistribution for the sake of national unity, saying not enough had been done since the end of apartheid.

“Without the redistribution of land, we will not build a united South Africa. Without giving the poor the means to productively farm the land, we will not defeat poverty,” said Ramaphosa as he addressed a key 2019 election issue.

“We need to acknowledge that the lack of progress in land reform can be attributed to a great extent to weaknesses in the institutions responsible for effecting our polices, to incon-sistencies in legislation, to mis-guided interventions and to a misallocation of resources,” he told the opening session of a two-day policy workshop of the ruling African National Congress.

Ramaphosa told the gath-ering in the Johannesburg suburb of Boksburg there was a need “to undo a grave his-torical injustice” that he has vowed to get to grips with since taking over from Jacob Zuma three months ago.

“To have placed 87 percent of the land into ownership hands of a white minority and only 13 percent being made available to the black majority was a clear act that was meant to stunt the economic prospects of the country,” Ramaphosa said.

“Like all other economic resources in this country, it has

historically been employed to serve the interests of a narrow section of society.” While noting the need also “to pay attention to other challenges, such as cor-ruption and mismanagement” Ramaphosa stressed that “our responsibility is to ensure that we have a comprehensive, coherent and sustainable pro-gramme for land reform”.

“This workshop needs to provide direction on how we use this mechanism most effec-tively to advance land reform,” an overriding priority for the ANC ever since Nelson Mandela took office in 1994 as democracy swept aside the apartheid system.

The ANC will over the course of the weekend debate how to effect land expropri-ation without compensation, a matter of deep concern for whites. In February, lawmakers decided by a large majority to set up a commission tasked with making constitional changes to that end.

A quarter of a century after the end of apartheid South Africa remains a country of deep inequality along racial lines.

IHH gives aid in SA, Swaziland and EthiopiaANATOLIA

ETHIOPIA: The Humani-tarian Relief Foundation (IHH) has aimed to help people in need in South Africa, Ethiopia and Swaziland during Ramadan.

Mehmet Gunduz, IHH South African coordinator, said that through the human-itarian assistance they are able to build a bridge between Muslims in other regions.

“We reached out to almost 1,500 families with the help of Turkish philanthro-pists, 1,000 of them in South Africa, and 500 in the Kingdom of Swaziland. In addition, we hold fast-breaking (Iftar) ceremonies for 1,000 people. With this help, we aim to establish links between the Muslims of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland,” he said.

“We are making efforts to establish wells and give stitching courses to women. In the future we will also help people in the health sector by treating cataract patients,” he added. The IHH provided basic necessity materials to hundreds of orphans in Ethiopia.

UN: Over 200 South Sudan children freedAP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN says more than 200 children have been released by armed groups in civil war-torn South Sudan.

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that a release ceremony was the third this year, bringing the total number of children released so far this year to 806. Haq said “additional releases are expected in the coming months that could result in more than 1,000 children being freed.” The 210 children released included three girls and largely came from the Sudan People’s Lib-eration Army-in Opposition, with eight associated with the National Salvation Front.

During release ceremony, he said, the children were for-mally disarmed and given civilian clothes.

Britain, France and Germany back the deal as the best way of stopping Tehran getting nuclear weapons but have called on Iran to limit its regional influence and curb the missile programme.

09SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 ASIA

Modi urges Kashmiri youth to shun violence, join mainstreamIANS

SRINAGAR/JAMMU/LEH: On a day-long Jammu and Kashmir visit to inaugurate developmental projects, two days after the government announced an unconditional Ramadan ceasefire in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday asked “misguided” Kashmiri youth to join “mainstream” India for a life with dignity.

Amid a separatist called shutdown and protest march and restrictions by authorities in Sri-nagar, Modi with a message of development and peace wrapped up in the evening his whirlwind trip that took him to all the three regions — Ladakh, Kashmir Valley and Jammu.

He inaugurated 330MW Kish-enganga power house in Kashmir and a 41.2km long Ring Road project to decongest Srinagar city, He started work on the Zojila Tunnel to provide an all-weather link to Ladakh and reduce the dis-tance to the cold desert region by three hours from Srinagar.

In Jammu, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stones of the Pakul Dul Power Project and the four-lane 58.2km-long Jammu

Ring Road. He also inaugurated the Tarakote Marg and Material Ropeway of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to facilitate pil-grims visiting the shrine.

Before flying back home, the Prime Minister attended the Con-vocation of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sci-ences and Technology in the winter capital.

In partially-curfewed Sri-nagar where schools and col-leges were closed for the day, Modi addressed a gathering at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), advising those youth who have lost their path to return to the

mainstream.“The mainstream is their

family and parents. The main-stream is their participation in the development of the state. Every stone or weapon picked up by misguided youth injures their own. You will have to come out of this atmosphere. Not only for your future but for the future of Jammu and Kashmir. You will have to join the Indian mainstream.”

Invoking the composite culture of Kashmir, Modi said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee always advocated and supported “Kashmiriyat” and “Modi is also the disciple of the same ‘Kashmiriyat’”.

He said development was the only solution to all problems of the state and hoped that “time will come soon when Jammu and Kashmir will re-emerge as the crown and coronet of peace and progress for the entire country”.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who shared the dais with the Prime Minister, took a dig at Pakistan for not responding pos-itively to India’s “goodwill gesture” of Ramadan ceasefire that was declared on Thursday.

“It takes a large heart and a position of strength to declare

the Ramadan ceasefire. You have tried to dress the wounds of our people and I assure you that your positive step will be reciprocated by 10 positive steps by our people,” Mehbooba Mufti said.

She said the Prime Minister had the mandate and the stature to solve all the problems of the people in the state, recalling that remedies were in the agenda of alliance between the PDP and the BJP.

Earlier in Ladakh, Modi spoke at the closing ceremony

of centenary birth celebrations of the Buddhist spiritual leader, Kashuk Bakula and asked those in Jammu and Kashmir regions to follow people of the cold desert region who have set an example in human endeavour in their urge for progress.

“Despite hardships and inacces-sibility, Ladakhis have set up an example in endeavouring hardships and yet continuing their march of progress and development.”

In Jammu, Modi said urged

agricultural scientists to revisit their strategies that must meet the growing challenges of climate change and paucity of water.

Addressing the 6th convo-cation of the agricultural uni-versity in Jammu, Modi told agri-cultural scientists and graduating students that “five Ts including training, talent, technology, timely action and trouble free approach” were essential for bringing forward a technological revolution in agriculture.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Jitender Singh Rana, during the inauguration of the 330MW Kishenganga Hydel Project in Srinagar, yesterday.

Nirav Modi in London on Singaporean passport: EDIANS

NEW DELHI: Despite Enforcement Directorate issuing summons to diaman-taire Nirav Modi and his family members to join the investigations in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, they have chosen to ignore the directive by remaining abroad and out of immediate reach of the inves-tigators.

According to ED sources, Nirav Modi is currently in London on a Singaporean passport while his brother Nishal Modi is in Antwerp on a Belgian passport. Nirav’s sister Purvi Mehta also holds a Belgian passport and is said to be in Hong Kong at present.

Purvi’s husband, Mayank Mehta (of Rosy Blue Diamond) has got a British passport and is shuttling between Hong Kong and New York, the sources said.

The ED has issued summons to Nirav Modi’s father Deepak Modi, sister Purvi Mehta and her husband Mayank Mehta. “They were sent the summons through mail,” an ED official said on condition of anonymity.

The PNB fraud was com-mitted during 2011-17 by ille-gally issuing Letters of Under-taking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) and then rolling them over several times.

Deepak, Purvi and Mayank have been asked to appear before the ED inves-tigators at its Mumbai office to record their statements in the case as the agency is in the process of filing chargesheet in a special Pre-vention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai.

The ED official said that Nirav Modi’s relatives were summoned in the first week of this month and were given 15 days time to appear before it in the ongoing money laun-dering probe of over Rs13,000 crore. The alleged banking fraud was committed by the diamond merchant, his group of companies — Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds — alongwith his uncle Mehul Choksi and others.

Kumaraswamy invited to form government in KarnatakaIANS

BENGALURU: Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala yesterday invited Janata-Dal-Secular’s legislative party leader

H D Kumaraswamy to form the next government in the state, following the resignation of BJP’s B S Yeddyurappa ahead of his trust vote.

“The Governor has invited

me to form the next government as the leader of the JD-S legis-lative party with the support of the Congress, which is our alliance partner,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here after meeting

Vala at Raj Bhavan and staked claim to power after the three-day BJP government fell.

The 58-year-old JD-S leader also said the Governor had given him 15 days to prove majority in the 224-member legislative assembly, whose strength is cur-rently 222. “I have decided to form the JD-S-Congress alliance gov-ernment on May 21 by taking oath at 12 noon in the Kanteerva stadium,” added Kumaraswamy.

The Governor’s invitation came hours after Yeddyurappa resigned before the trust vote, as his party with 104 seats fell short of a simple majority in the hung assembly.

The JD-S won 37 seats in the May 12 election, the Congress 78 while the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party and an Inde-pendent won one each.

Election to Raja Rajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) in Bengaluru southwest was postponed to May 28 due to electoral malpractice and in Jayanagar in Bengaluru south to June 11 after it was countermanded following the death of BJP con-testant B N Vijaya Kumar on May 4.

As Kumaraswamy won from Ramanagaram and Channapatna

assembly segments, the JD-S strength in the assembly is effec-tively 36. It also has the support of the BSP as its pre-poll ally and claimed to have the support of the KPJP and the Independent.

The JD-S leader is likely to retain Ramanagaram from where he won for the third con-secutive time and give up Chan-napatna, which will lead to a bye-election soon.

The JD-S-Congress alliance has 117 members in the hung House with the support of three others, thus totalling half a dozen over the required halfway mark.

This is the second time Kumaraswamy, the third son of JD-S supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda will be the Chief Minister, and 12 years after the JD-S formed a coalition government with the BJP on February 4, 2006 and he occupied the office for 20 months till October 9, 2007.

Terming the turn of events on a dramatic day of develop-ments as a victory of democracy, Kumaraswamy said the JD-S and the Congress leaders would discuss the modalities of forming their coalition government on today.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa (bottom right) of the Bharatiya Janata Party gestures while addressing the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly session before resigning from his post at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, yesterday.

Stood up for values; nothing personal: Justice ChelameswarIANS

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, who retired on Friday, has said that he stood up for certain “issues and values” wherever he perceived things were going wrong and had nothing personal against anyone in the system.

“I stood up for certain issues and values. Wherever I per-ceived that things were going wrong, I stood up, I raised ques-tions... If something is good, it is to be preserved. If something is doubtful, it is to be checked and rectified, I had nothing personal against anyone in the system,” Justice Chelameswar said in a farewell event on Friday.

He also said the younger generation of lawyers has sup-ported him in “democratising the institution”, but acknowledged constitutional lawyers and jurists attacked him from every side.

“What is the law or the scripture which says judges cannot hold press conferences? They shouldn’t hold a press con-ference to defend their judg-ments, I knew that when I opened my mouth I would have to go through all this and I was willing to take it...,” he added.

Justice Chelameswar had turned down the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA)’s request to participate in a farewell function it wanted to arrange for him, saying he wanted his retirement to be a “private affair”. However, later in the evening on Friday, he attended a reception organised by Lawyers Collective.

On his last working day on Friday, he shared a bench with Chief Justice Dipak Misra, a custom and practice of the Supreme Court.

The 65-year-old judge has been at loggerheads with Justice Misra over the functioning of the

apex court including the allo-cation of sensitive cases and on recommendation of judges for appointment to higher judiciary.

He was at the forefront of the unprecedented press con-ference on January 12 saying “all was not well” on the adminis-trative side of the court.

At the gathering of Lawyer Collective, an advocacy NGO founded by activist senior lawyers Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, on Friday, Justice Chelameswar said in the last six months, wherever he went in the country, people have come up to him and said: “We are glad you did it”.

He said he was willing to face the consequences of his actions, whether it be his abstention from collegium meetings after the NJAC judgment or the press con-ference he held.

Ex-diplomat jailed for 3 years for passing information to ISIIANS

NEW DELHI: A court here yesterday sentenced former Indian diplomat Madhuri Gupta to three years in jail for passing on sensitive information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intel-ligence (ISI) spy agency.

Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma while awarding sentence observed that she was posted in a very sensitive position in Indian High Commission in Pakistan.

“Undoubtedly, from a person of her stature, it was expected that she would act in more responsible than an ordinary citizen as she was at high position of trust but her action has tarnished the image of the country and has caused severe threat to the security of the country,” the court said.

However, the court granted her bail for filing appeal against the judgment. The court asked her to furnish a personal bond

and surety of Rs25,000 each.On Friday, she was held guilty

under sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, the court acquitted her of the stringent section 3(1) (Part-I) of the Official Secrets Act which attracts a maximum punishment of 14 years.

Gupta revealed certain clas-sified information to Pakistani officials and was in touch with two ISI officials, Mubshar Raza Rana and Jamshed. As per the chargesheet, Gupta was in a relationship with Jamshed, whom she planned to marry.

It said she used a computer installed at her residence in Islamabad and a Blackberry phone to stay in touch with the two Pakistani spies. Once a second secretary at the Indian High Com-mission in Islamabad, Gupta was arrested on April 27, 2010 for spying and on charges of passing on information to the ISI.

The Prime Minister inaugurated 330MW Kishenganga power house in Kashmir and a 41.2km long Ring Road project to decongest Srinagar city and started work on the Zojila Tunnel to provide an all-weather link to Ladakh.

Qatar participating at the IMEX Frankfurt and attracting interests is a major step towards the realisation of Qatar’s true potential as a business events destination.

Most observers attribute the low turnout to declining public trust in politicians; the use of electronic-voting cards that were distributed to only 70 percent of the voting public; unconvincing electoral campaigns; and the country’s large internally-displaced population.

10 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

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

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Realising true potential

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) considers business events as one of the key sectors of growth in Qatar’s tourism industry and it is expected to attract 5.6

million visitors by 2023. With more than 150 business events taking place in Qatar annually, it’s evident that Qatar has all the right ingredients it needs to become a leader in the exhibitions field.

It’s very important to stay up to date, especially with integrating international expertise with local talents. So Qatar participating at the IMEX Frankfurt and attracting interests is a major step towards the realisation of Qatar’s true potential as a business events destination. In addition to showcasing the country’s full range of hotels, state-of-the-art venues, tour operators and event management companies, the delegation is strengthening ties with industry stakeholders and promoting Qatar as an attractive business events destination in the region. Last year, the Qatar delegation held 89 meetings at IMEX and is looking to boost that figure this year.

Since Qatar’s last participation in IMEX, the country has made several progress in this direction. It introduced

visa policy changes which have made Qatar easier to visit and the most open country in the GCC region. It also saw the launch of the Next Chapter of its National Tourism Sector Strategy which charts a pathway to more diverse tourism products and an enhanced visitor experience. The strategy prioritises business events as a major contributor to visitor arrivals.

QTA is organising various programmes to empower local professionals with the tools they need to adapt and respond to the fast-changing environment in which they work. As part of QTA’s efforts to augment its skills in business events, it sent twenty-five pro-fessionals from the sector

recently to attend an international exhibition development training programme hosted by QTA in partnership with UK-based MBB-Media Ltd. And, as part of its commitment to further strengthen ties in the international association meetings industry, QTA recently partnered with ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) to become a globally-recognised Association Relations Partner (ARP).

“Our focus at IMEX Frankfurt this year is to create new ties with the MICE industry, and build on existing ones,” commented Ahmed Al Obaidli, Director of Exhibitions at QTA. “Since the launch of the Next Chapter in September of last year, the sector has taken steady steps to grow and accelerate the development of its offerings across the leisure and business tourism spectrum, giving interna-tional business visitors ample opportunity to enjoy authentic tourism experiences, both inside and beyond the venue walls.”

QTA launched the Qatar brand as a destination for business activities two years ago, in order to attract inter-national exhibitions and conferences to Qatar, which con-tributed to the increase in the number of business activ-ities organised or licensed by QTA in Qatar to reach 30 percent in 2017 from 2015. The increase was despite the exceptional circumstances experienced after the unjust siege imposed on Qatar by some countries without any reasons.

Iraq’s chaotic parliament election results

Along with surprising results, Iraq’s parliamentary election has led to charges of vote-rigging. But despite fraud

allegations and “irregularities” asso-ciated with ballots cast by Iraqi security personnel, unofficial results have more or less been made public.

The following breakdown provides the information necessary to follow the anticipated formation of the coun-try’s next government. The Sairoon coalition led by Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr came in first, followed by Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s Victory Coalition and the Al Fatih bloc, the latter of which is associated with Iraq’s Hashd Al Shaabi.

These three frontrunners, all of which clinched between 50 and 55 seats in Iraq’s 328-member par-liament, were followed by Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, Ayad Allawi’s Al Wataniya Coalition and Masoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Demo-cratic Party (KDP).

Meanwhile, the Al Qarar coalition led by Osama Al Nujaifi, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Ammar Al Hakim’s National Wisdom movement all picked up less than 20 seats each in the assembly.

Other parties and lists picked up less than ten seats each. In summary, initial results suggest the emergence of three major Shia Arab coalitions that

are relatively close to one another.

Voting was marred, however, by relatively low turnout of only 44.5 percent. In 2014 elec-tions, by con-trast, this figure stood at 63 percent.

Most observers attribute the low turnout to declining public trust in politicians;

the use of electronic-voting cards that were distributed to only 70 percent of the voting public; unconvincing elec-toral campaigns; and the country’s large internally-displaced population.

Financial turmoil in Iraq’s Kurdish region following the regional govern-ment’s ill-fated referendum late last year also probably had an impact on turnout.

The low participation rate may also be due to the fact that many Iraqis are tired of seeing the same political figures and parties for the last 15 years.

Since the US-led invasion in 2003, these politicians have largely failed to resolve the country’s chronic problems.

No matter what party or coalition ends up forming the next government, it will inevitably face a host of chal-lenges, due in part to insufficient public support.

The first point made clear from the poll results is that many Iraqis still vote along ethnic and religious lines. The second point to be gleaned from the poll results is that Iraq is unlikely to see short-term political stability.

In a parliament in which no party holds more than one sixth of the seats, the upcoming government will not likely be strong enough to put per-manent policies into practice.

That the three frontrunners are all Shia Arab in nature is the third issue. This means that the future political agenda will largely be shaped by the jockeying between rival Shia Arab parties. The fourth point concerns alleged vote-rigging, with reports of polling “irregularities” in Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Mosul and Erbil.

Turkmen in Kirkuk have hit the streets to demand a recount. The PUK, for its part, has voiced its readiness to accept results from Sulaymaniyah, while other Kurdish parties — including the KDP — accuse the PUK of electoral fraud.

According to preliminary results, the Sadrist movement, the Hashd Al Shaabi and the KDP were the big winners, while the Al Dawa Party and Sunni Arabs in general — along with those opposed to the current order in the Kurdish region — were among the losers. The Sadrist movement, for example, won slightly over a million votes, down from 1.4 million in 2014 polls. But given the relatively low voter turnout, this still meant a victory for al-Sadr’s bloc, which ran a well-organized campaign in the run-up to the vote.

The Al Fatih coalition, backed by the Hashd Al Shaabi, came in second, also thanks to a good electoral cam-paign, which gave Al Sadr’s bloc a run for its money. The KDP came in third,

maintaining the same number of seats in parliament despite the fallout from last year’s illegitimate regional refer-endum. Given the current infighting among its opponents, the party now looks set to play a crucial role in Baghdad.

Among the losers, the Al Dawa Party lost seats in the assembly due largely to differences between the party’s pro-Abadi and a pro-Maliki camps.

Al Abadi also sustained a heavy blow at the polls, failing to come in first in any province except Mosul. Losing his influence over Al Dawa — along with his support for non-state militias — appears to have cost the prime minister votes.

Sunni Arabs in general also lost out, with their biggest list clinching a mere 20 seats. In three of five provinces with a Sunni majority, Shia Arab parties came in first. Some observers attribute this fact to declining trust among Sunni Arabs in their political leaders, who, many believe, failed to protect them from the Daesh terrorist group after the latter overran much of the country in 2014.

The PUK, for its part, largely ignored Turkmen and Arab voters, especially those in Kirkuk, leading to a loss of votes. This loss of seats in par-liament — and prestige — may cause the PUK to be excluded from the next government. The formation of gov-ernment in Iraq depends on two factors: internal dynamics and the role of external actors.

In terms of internal dynamics, Al Sadr can be expected to play a leading role. According to his post-election comments, Al Sadr is prepared to deal with all parties, except for the PUK and the Al Fatih and State of Law coalitions. It should not be forgotten that the US still has the power to prevent candidates that it does not support from assuming the post of Iraqi prime minister.

The process of drawing up the country’s next cabinet will likely take several months at the least, during which Iraq may very well be affected by unforeseen factors outside its control.

QUOTE OF THE DAYWithout the

redistribution of land, we will not build a

united South Africa. Without giving the poor the means to productively farm

the land, we will not defeat poverty.

Cyril Ramaphosa South African President

Few calls for reform after shooting in Texas

February’s school massacre in Parkland, Florida inspired students to

launch a spirited gun control movement. Similar calls for reform are unlikely to res-onate following a deadly shooting in Texas, where support for gun rights is paramount.

When a teen student stormed into Santa Fe High School on Friday and opened fire on his class-mates and teachers, killing 10 people and wounding 10 more, it was the latest explosion of gun violence at America’s schools.

But students and parents in this tight-knit rural com-munity outside Houston said the rampage at their local school will not convince them to support stricter gun laws. “No, I think if he

wanted to shoot the school he would have done it” regardless of the restriction levels on firearms, Tori White, a junior at Santa Fe High, told AFP about the suspect, 17-year-old Dimi-trios Pagourtzis.

In Parkland, classmates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a 19-year-old slaughtered 14 students and three adult staff members, have found themselves in the spotlight, as their call for stricter gun laws went national.

In Santa Fe, “It’s not going to happen,” Jordan Flores, who graduated from Santa Fe in 2015, said as he and two friends brought donuts to state troopers posted at the high school’s front gate.

The gun culture is so strong here, he said, that when reports emerged of a lockdown at the same

school earlier this year, he and friends rushed to help -- armed to the hilt.

“We showed up, I had a .40 on my hip, a 12-gauge on my back, he had an AK. We were ready,” Flores said.

Blaming guns for the actions of individuals goes against the grain, he said.

“It’s outside factors” that are to blame, including bad parenting, the pressures from social media, and mental health issues, Flores added.

Sprawling and conserv-ative Texas, a southern state bordering Mexico, has among the most permissive firearm laws in the United States, where a third of children live in a household with at least one firearm.

The state’s Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, is proud of his pro-gun position.

“I’m EMBARRASSED:

Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CAL-IFORNIA,” he memorably tweeted in 2015.

“Let’s pick up the pace Texans.” - ‘Gun racks in our trucks’ — The state has been the scene of several ghastly mass shootings over the years. Last November a gunman killed 26 wor-shippers at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs.

But residents of Santa Fe pointed to that tragedy — when an armed citizen chased down the attacker — as an example of the theory perpetuated by the National Rifle Association: that a good guy with a gun is often the best way to stop criminals.

“I don’t think gun reform is going to be an issue at all in our community or in Texas as a whole,” said Geoff Anderson, a private investi-gator whose son is a senior at Santa Fe High School.

AFP

Palestinian resistance in the form of two intifadas and civil protests inside Israel did not deter the Jewish state from establishing at the start of this century an apartheid Jewish state all over historical Palestine.

11SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 OPINION

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Nigeria school food schemerevolutionising education

Israel and Palestine in 2018: Decolonisation, not peace

LINUS UNAH

ILAN PAPPE AL JAZEERA

Dozens of children cheer at the Nursery and Primary School compound in Bode-Ijaiye suburb of Abeokuta city, the

capital of Ogun state, as their friends try to outpace each other on a 100-metre dash in a dusty field.

Ogun state inter-school football and track-and-field competitions are just around the corner, and teachers want to

prepare the children physically and mentally for the task ahead.

Away from the laughter and shouts of encouragement on the field, four female cooks with aprons on top of tra-ditional indigo-dyed adire gowns ladle porridge mixed with vegetables and fish into hundreds of stainless steel bowls with lids.

“I want to say a big thank you to the federal government of Nigeria and the Ogun state government for providing food for us,” 10-year-old Ramon Samuel told before opening the lid on his bowl. Samuel and his classmates receive free meals every school day thanks to a national programme, which aims to provide nutritious meals to young schoolchildren in order to increase enrolment, help them stay in school, and reduce malnutrition, partic-ularly among children from low-income families.

The Home Grown School Feeding initiative, a movement launched in 2003, is driven by national

governments to improve the lives of schoolchildren and farmers alike. It is practised across the continent, including in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Ethiopia, Namibia, Botswana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. The concept is not confined just to the continent as Brazil, Japan, and Italy have similar pro-grammes aimed at keeping children fed while promoting local agriculture.

Though the scheme began in December 2016 in Nigeria, it is not entirely new here. Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a pilot programme in 13 states in Sep-tember 2005, but after a few years, only southwestern Osun state maintained it.

The plan was reintroduced by Pres-ident Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016 as part of his administration’s multi-million dollar National Social Investment Programmes to address poverty, hunger and unemployment in Nigeria.

The school programme operates in 20 out of Nigeria’s 36 states and has fed nearly seven million pupils in about 40,000 public schools, the pro-gramme’s manager Abimbola Ade-sanmi told. She said more than 68,800 jobs have also been created through the initiative. Adeleke Adewolu is the com-missioner of special duties and inter-governmental affairs in Ogun state. He said the meals are not only nutritious but also serve as a “social safety net” for low-income households.

“If children eat nutritious food it will enhance their learning ability and this will have a knock-on effect on their cognitive development and help to encourage enrolment and retention,” Adewolu said. The programme provides income for thousands of people, including farmers, cooks recruited from local communities, and those involved in the processing and transportation of

food, he said.In Ogun, the coordinating team col-

laborated with the ministries of edu-cation, health, agriculture, women’s affairs and community development to divide farmers into cooperative groups and link them to about 3,000 cooks who were trained and deployed to more than 1,500 schools. Farmers received training in seed quality and fertilisers to grow enough food to meet demand.

Research has shown that 42 percent of schoolchildren in Nigeria suffer mal-nutrition, and this has caused a high rate of absenteeism.

UNICEF estimates about 2.5 million Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from severe malnutrition each year, with about half a million children dying from it.

With a quality assurance tracking system known as #TrackWithUs, the programme handlers have urged Nige-rians to visit nearby schools to check if meals meet the required standards and report any cooks who aren’t serving proper food.

A major barrier to the programme’s success is the inability of state govern-ments to scale up the meals to senior classes in elementary schools. The federal government caters to pupils from Grades 1 to 3, but with many states struggling to pay salaries, pupils in higher grades are not being fed.

Experts hope the government will not repeat the same mistakes made a decade ago when a combination of inadequate funding, poor logistics, and corruption crippled the scheme.

“We need to promote community participation, community ownership, community implementation, com-munity monitoring, strong institutional arrangements and multi-sector part-nerships,” Adesanmi said.

The founders of the state of Israel were mainly people who settled in Palestine in the very beginning of the 20th century.

They came mostly from Eastern Europe, inspired by romantic national ideologies rampant in their home countries, disappointed by their ina-bility to assimilate into these new nationalist movements and excited by the prospects of modern-day colonialism.

Some were veterans of socialist movements hoping to fuse their romantic nationalism with socialist experiments in the new colonies. Pal-estine was not always their only option, but it turned into the preferred one when it became clear that it fits well with the strategies of the British Empire and the world view of powerful Zionists on both sides of the Atlantic.

Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and throughout the British Mandate period of 1918-1948, European Zionists began to build the infrastructure for a future state with the help of the British Empire. We now know that these founders of the modern Jewish state were aware of the presence of a native population with its own aspirations and vision for the future of their homeland.

The solution to this “problem” — as far as the founding fathers of Zionism were concerned — was to de-Arabise Palestine to pave the way for the rise of the modern Jewish State. Whether socialist, nationalist, religious or secular, the Zionist leadership contem-plated the depopulation of Palestine since the 1930s.

Close to the end of the British Mandate, it became clear to the Zionist leadership that what they imagined as a democratic state could only exist on the basis of an absolute Jewish presence in its territory.

While officially accepting the par-tition-enforcing UN Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947 (knowing it would be rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab world), they regarded it as disas-trous, as it envisaged almost an equal number of Palestinians and Jews in the Jewish state. The fact that only 54 percent of Palestine were accorded to the Jewish state in that resolution was also deemed unsatisfactory.

The Zionist response to these chal-lenges was to embark on an ethnic cleansing operation that expelled half of Palestine’s population and demol-ished half of its villages and most of its towns. An insufficient and late pan-Arab response could not prevent a Zionist takeover of 78 percent of the Palestinian territories.

However, these “achievements” did not solve the “Palestine problem” for the newly founded state of Israel. At first, it seemed manageable: The Pales-tinian minority left inside Israel was put under a harsh military rule, while the world did not seem to mind or question the Israeli pretence to being the only democracy in the Middle East. Moreover, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was only founded in 1964 and was slow to affect the reality on the ground.

Then, it seemed as if leaders of the Arab world, such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, would come to Palestine’s rescue. This historical moment of hope, however, was brief. The defeat of the Egyptian army in the June 1967 war and its partial success in the October 1973 war diminished the Egyptian official commitment to Palestine. Ever since then, no Arab regime has taken a genuine interest in the fate of Palestine, despite the fact it has been fully embraced by Arab societies.

The June 1967 war allowed Israel to take over the whole of mandatory Pal-

estine, but that only deepened the settler conundrum it was already facing: More space brings more native population.

The war also transformed the core leadership of the Jewish state: the pragmatic Labour party was replaced by the right-wing revi-sionists and nationalists who cared less about Israel’s external image. Instead, they were determined to keep the occupied territories as part of the state of Israel, while continuing the 1948 ethnic cleansing by other means: transferring, enclaving the local population and robbing it of any elementary civil and human rights, and at the same time institutionalising a new legal framework for the Pales-tinian minority inside Israel that per-petuated their status as second-rate

citizens.Palestinian resistance in the form of

two intifadas and civil protests inside Israel did not deter the Jewish state from establishing at the start of this century an apartheid Jewish state all over historical Palestine. The Pales-tinian resistance - ignored by the Arab countries and the rest of the world - evoked harsh and barbarous Israeli actions that eroded Israel’s moral status in the world.

However, the “war on terror” after the 9/11 attacks and the bitter fruits of both the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Arab Spring allowed Israel to maintain its strategic alliances with the political and economic elites in the West and beyond (with China and India, and even Saudi Arabia).

This ambiguous international status so far has not undermined Israel’s economic realities. It is a high- tech country, with a neo-liberal economy that did well in the 2008 crisis, but that has one of the highest wealth gaps and polarisation among members of the Organisation for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Development.

This volatile socioeconomic reality generated a popular but rather inef-fective protest movement in 2011. However, the potential for another major protest wave is still present, and could be triggered if there is another Palestinian uprising or a war due to the present reckless policies of US Pres-ident Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are currently doing their best to drag Israel into a war with Iran and Hezbollah.

Seventy years after its estab-lishment, Israel stands as a racist, apartheid state, whose structural oppression of the Palestinians remains the principal obstacle to peace and reconciliation.

It has achieved a lot in fusing together Jewish communities from around the world into a new Hebrew culture and established the strongest army in the region. However, all these achievements have not legitimised the state in the eyes of many across the world.

Paradoxically, it is only the Pales-tinians who could grant full legit-imacy to such a state or accept as legitimate the presence of millions of Jewish settlers by pursuing a one-state solution.

The peace process imitated and orchestrated by the US since 1967 com-pletely ignored the question of Israeli legitimacy and the Palestinian per-spective of the conflict. This disregard along with the diplomatic efforts that did not challenge the Zionist ideology informing the attitudes of most Israeli

UNICEF estimates about 2.5 million Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from severe malnutrition each year, with about half a million children dying from it.

Jews are the main reasons for its failure.

In 2018, one cannot talk about the Arab-Israeli conflict any more. Arab regimes are willing to enter strategic relations with Israel, despite the objection of their citizens and while there is still a risk for an Israeli war with Iran, at this moment in time, it does not look like it is going to involve any of the Arab states.

It seems that from our vantage point it is useless to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict either. The correct terminology to describe the present state of affairs is con-tinuing Israeli colonisation of his-torical Palestine, or as the Pales-tinians call it “Al Nakba Al Mus-tamera” (the ongoing Nakba).

Thus, 70 years on, one has to resort to a term that might seem out-dated in order to describe what can genuinely bring peace and reconcili-ation to Israel and Palestine: decolo-nisation. How exactly this will occur is yet to be seen. It would require first of all a more precise and united Palestinian position on the political endgame or the updated vision of the project of liberation.

This vision will be supported by progressive Israelis and the interna-tional community, which will have to do their bit as well. They have to work towards the creation of a democracy for all from the river to the sea based on the restitution of the rights denied to the Palestinians in the last 70 years, foremost of which is the right of the refugees to return.

This is not a plan for the short term and would require sustained pressure on the Israeli society to give up its privileges and face the truth that this is the only way to bring peace and reconciliation to a country torn from within.

12 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018ASIA

Karachi family mourns death of daughter in Texas school shootingAFP

KARACHI: Abdul Aziz learned about the US school shooting in which his 17-year-old daughter was killed on CNN, with the story airing live as he broke his Ramadan fast thousands of miles away in Pakistan.

In those chaotic first moments of confusion and terror he called his daughter Sabika Sheikh’s phone over and over. She did not answer.

“I kept calling her and sent her messages on WhatsApp. Never before had my daughter failed to reply,” Aziz said, fighting back tears at his home in the southern port city Karachi yesterday, just hours after he and his wife had their worst fears confirmed.

“We are still in a state of denial. It is like a nightmare,” said Aziz. His wife sat nearby, visibly still shocked and seem-ingly unable to speak as friends and relatives tried to comfort her.

Sheikh, an exchange student at the Santa Fe High School in Texas, was killed along with nine others after a heavily armed student opened fire on his class-mates on Friday.

It was the latest school shooting to rock the US, and came just three months after the massacre in Parkland, Florida in which 17 people were killed, sparking an unprecedented grassroots, student-led gun control movement.

In Pakistan, the Santa Fe shooting has unleashed an out-pouring of sympathy and horror over the tragic murder of Sheikh, who had been in the US for 10 months and was just weeks away from coming home.

Sheikh, whose father said she had always excelled in school, had nurtured dreams of serving in Pakistan’s foreign office.

She had been due to return to Karachi in time for Eid Al Fitr,

one of Islam’s most revered hol-idays, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in which families come together and celebrate with days of feasting.

“She was coming back soon,” her father said.

“There is a general impression that the life is safe and secure in America. But this is not the case.”

The alleged gunman — Dim-itrios Pagourtzis, another student at the school who at 17 is the same age as Sheikh — was later apprehended by police and is being held on capital murder charges, meaning he could face the death penalty.

Police have yet to release details about a possible motive.

It was the 22nd school shooting this year, according to US media reports, a disturbing statistic in a country where firearms are part of everyday life and there are more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually.

The news that a Pakistani exchange student was among the dead appeared to break through the now-routine outpouring of grief on social media after such killings,

with US celebrities joining Paki-stanis in expressing their sorrow

“This little girl could’ve been my daughter. We must do more than just console the parents of these murdered kids,” said American actress Mindy Kaling on Twitter, along with a picture of Sheikh in a post online.

Some Pakistanis, for whom militant violence is all too familiar, branded the killing “terrorism”.

“My heart is crying for #SabikaSheikh we have lost our brightest asset because of ter-rorism,” tweeted Malik Rohaina, from the southern Pakistani city of Hyderabad.

Despite perennially rocky relations between Washington and Islamabad, the US has long been a favoured destination for Pakistani students studying abroad, with thousands enrolling

in American schools every year. Even as he mourned the loss

of his daughter, Aziz said he hoped the tragedy would not frighten fellow Pakistanis from following her lead.

“Such incidents should not make people lose heart... and one should not stop going to the US or UK or China or anywhere,” said Aziz. “One must go for edu-cation undeterred.”

Abdul Aziz (right), father of Sabika, a student who was killed in mass shooting at a US school in the Texas town of Santa Fe, and relatives pray for her in Karachi, yesterday.

Afghan stadium attack leaves 8 dead, 45 hurtAFP

JALALABAD: Eight people were killed and 45 wounded in a series of explosions targeting a cricket match in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, offi-cials said yesterday, the first attack since the holy month of Ramadan began.

The blasts exploded among spectators crowded into the stadium at around 11pm (1830 GMT) on Friday evening as they watched the local “Ramadan Cup”, the provincial governor’s office said.

No group has yet claimed the murders but the Taliban said they were not responsible in a WhatsApp message.

Jalalabad, on the border with Pakistan, has a Taliban presence and is also a stronghold of the Islamic State group.

In September 2017 IS claimed a suicide bombing on a cricket match in Kabul which left three dead and five injured.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani yeterday condemned the attack in Jalalabad.

“The terrorists did not stop killing our people even during the holy month of Ramadan... by carrying out a terrorist attack in a populated sport stadium, once again they have proved that they are not bound to any creed or religion, and they are the enemy of humanity,” a statement from his office said.

Pakistan’s caretaker PM’s name to be unveiled on TuesdayINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khur-sheed Shah yesterday failed to make headway on the name of caretaker prime minister and decided to hold the final round (of consultations) on Tuesday.

“It was decided to hold another round of meeting on Tuesday to finalise and make the name of caretaker prime min-ister public the same day. Fri-day’s meeting was brief, as the prime minister was due to leave for Istanbul,” said Khursheed Shah while talking to newsmen after holding a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the name of caretaker PM and the upcoming general election.

The opposition leader said the prime minister had asked him to share the name, if any.

“But I told him that I came for consultations and if you have any name then give it to me,” he said, adding, “The prime minister asked me to sit again on Sunday.”

Shah said he told the prime minister that he would not be available today and it would be better that they meet again on Tuesday to which the latter agreed.

The opposition leader said was positive that they would agree on the name of caretaker premier.

Soon after meeting the prime minister, Shah met Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

According to sources, the names of two ex-governors of State Bank of Pakistan –Dr

Ishrat Hussain and Dr Shamshad Akhtar — two former chief jus-tices of Supreme Court — Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani and Justice Nasirul Mulk — and ex-secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Ishtiaq Ahmad and e x - g o v e r n o r K h y b e r Pakhtunkhwa Shaukatullah came under discussion.

The incumbent National Assembly will complete its five-year term on May 31 after which the caretaker government will take over to hold general elections.

As per the Constitution, the caretaker prime minister is appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the oppo-sition leader in the National Assembly.

Both the premier and the opposition leader then present

names of three nominees each from which the consensus can-didate is appointed as the care-taker prime minister.

Interestingly, the other opposition parties, including the PTI, have apparently abandoned interest in picking a suitable caretaker prime minister.

The PTI earlier took up a serious position on the question and made it clear to the leader of opposition that it wouldn’t accept the caretaker appointed without its consent.

The sources said yesterday evening that the caretaker prime minister will be appointed next week on the day when the ongoing session of the National Assembly will be prorogued and it will be last prorogation of the lower house of Parliament of its tenure.

Afghan worshippers perform a special evening ‘Tarawih’ prayer during the holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in Herat.

Tarawih prayer in Herat

Chinese bombers make debut landing on disputed South China Sea runwayAFP

BEIJING: China has for the first time landed several bombers on an island in the disputed South China Sea, a move that could provoke renewed tensions between countries bordering the strategically vital maritime region.

Several bombers of various types — including the long-range, nuclear strike capable H-6K — carried out landing and take off drills at an unidentified island airfield after carrying out simulated strike training on targets at sea, the Chinese air-force said in a statement.

Wang Mingliang, a defence expert cited in the statement,

said the takeoff and landing exercises on islands in the South China Sea will help the air force “strengthen its combat capa-bility to deal with martime security threats”.

The move comes weeks after US network CNBC reported that China had installed anti-ship and air-to-air defences on outposts in the Spratly Islands that are also claimed by Vietnam and the Phil-ippines, citing sources close to US intelligence.

Washington warned that Beijing would face unspecified “consequences” over its milita-risation of the South China Sea, and said it had raised the issue with China.

“I believe this is the first time

a bomber has landed in the #SouthChinaSea,” Bonnieh Glaser, a China expert at the Centre for Strategic and Inter-national Studies, tweeted.

In an analysis published on its website, CSIS said the location of the runway was believed to be Woody Island, China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The South China Sea issue has been brewing for years, with China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam making competing claims in waters with vital global shipping routes and what are believed to be signif-icant oil and natural gas deposits.

Pakistan govt racing to meet FATF demands before JuneINTERNEWS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is putting the finishing touches to its action plan with proposed measures for combating money laundering and terror financing with the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to chart its way forward once it is placed on the grey list by the global watchdog in June.

A compliance report has

been submitted by the gov-ernment to the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) a sub-group within FATF detailing the steps taken thus far and those that will be taken in the future to bring Paki-stan’s financial, regulatory and legal landscape into compliance with the watchdog’s requirements.

Yesterday, a meeting was convened at the Foreign Office to review the proposed actions

which are to be discussed with APG joint working group in Bangkok next week.

This was the last in a series of meetings taking place within the government as officials race to meet the June deadline by when Pakistan will be placed on the FATF grey list.

A senior official in the finance ministry said that a del-egation from Pakistan would depart within the next few days

for consultations with the APG’s Joint Working Group in Bangkok.

That meeting will discuss the steps proposed by Pakistan to be taken after June to exit the grey list. The report has been drawn up by the Financial Monitoring Unit, a department housed in the State Bank of Pakistan, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The FATF earlier sent an email to the SBP highlighting its

concerns over the amnesty scheme introduced by the gov-ernment in its last budget.

The email points out that Pakistan is required to inform FATF before announcing any such scheme. To address their concerns, Pakistan included a provision to specify that ‘pro-ceeds of crime are not eligible’ for the amnesty scheme.

The senior official confirmed that the placement of Pakistan

on the grey list was set to com-mence in June. He said the action plan drawn up by the gov-ernment would set conditions for Pakistan to meet in a period of one year.

None of those working on the matter were willing to discuss the details of the action plan.

“Whatever conditions are being finalised, we will implement it administratively,” one source said.

Sabika Sheikh, an exchange student at the Santa Fe High School in Texas, was killed along with nine others after a heavily armed student opened fire on his classmates on Friday.

13SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 ASIA

Mongolia urges Malaysia to reopen murder case probeREUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR: Mongolia’s President has urged new Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reopen investigations into the murder of a Mongolian model near Kuala Lumpur in 2006, a move that could put more pressure on Mahathir’s embattled prede-cessor.

Shaariibuu Altantuya, 28, was killed and blown up with military grade explosives in a forest on the outskirts of Malay-sia’s capital. In 2015, two former police officers were sentenced to death for the crime after first being sentenced in 2009 and acquitted four years later.

But reports have alleged that the officers served as bodyguards for ousted prime minister Najib Razak, who was deputy prime minister at the time of the killing.

President Battulga Khaltmaa congratulated the 92-year-old Mahathir on his appointment but said reopening the investigation would not only help justice but also ease tensions between the two countries.

“As President of Mongolia, I pay special attention to the aggravated crime, that in October 18, 2006, a citizen of Mongolia and mother of two children Shaariibuu Altantuya was murdered in Malaysia,” he said in a letter to Mahathir that was also published on his office’s website.

Sirul Azhar Umar, one of the

former policemen convicted of the murder said that he is willing to assist the new government in any renewed investigations, pro-vided that he is granted a full pardon, local news website M a l a y s i a k i n i r e p o r t e d yesterday.

He has been in detention at the Immigration and Border Pro-tection Department’s facility in Sydney since 2015 after his acquittal was overturned by the Malaysian Federal Court.

Civil society groups have alleged Altantuya’s murder was linked to her role as an inter-preter and associate of Abdul Razak Baginda, a former adviser to Najib, in Malaysia’s purchase of two Scorpene-class subma-rines from French shipbuilding

giant DCNS in 2002. Najib has denied allegations of links to Shaariibuu or corruption in the purchase. Najib’s coalition was defeated by Mahathir’s oppo-sition alliance in a stunning election upset last week. Najib is currently under investigation as part of a probe into the scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Devel-opment Berhad (1MDB).

Mahathir, asked on Monday whether he would consider com-muting Sirul’s death sentence, said: “We cannot do everything at the same time at one go.”

Anwar Ibrahim, the rival who allied with Mahathir to topple Najib, said judges’ reluctance to call key witnesses in the murder case had “made a mockery of the law”. “The best way is to proffer a new charge and allow for a full hearing of the case,” Anwar told The Australian newspaper fol-lowing his own release from prison earlier this week after a royal pardon quashed a politi-cally-motivated conviction.

Shaariibuu Altantuya, 28, was killed in 2006. In 2015, two former police officers were sentenced to death for the crime and acquitted four years later. But reports have alleged that the officers served as bodyguards for ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the killing.

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak (centre) with his wife Rosmah Mansor waving to supporters in Pekan, Malaysia.

Najib rails at police; wife warns of ‘public trial’REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s scandal-hit former leader Najib Razak and his wife hit out at the media and police yesterday, after investigators seeking evidence of corruption were filmed seizing box loads of jewellery, luxury handbags and cash.

Following a surprise victory

in an election on May 9, the new government led by Mahathir Mohamad has opened investi-gations into how billions of dollars disappeared from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund founded by Najib.

Najib, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been

barred from leaving the country.Items seized by police from

Najib’s residence and other loca-tions linked to the couple included 284 boxes of designer handbags, including prized Birkin handbags from Hermes. Dozens of the luxury bags were filled with cash and jewellery.

Najib’s lawyer, Harpal Singh Grewal, said waiting outside the

house that the former prime minister and his family were “really very unhappy” that police had confiscated clothes and shoes belonging to his children.

“No attempt was made to verify whether these dresses, shoes, babies clothes and all had anything to do with the investi-gations which are ongoing,” he said.

Sri Lanka warns of Tamil separatist resurgenceAFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Pres-ident yesterday warned that Tamil extremists were regrouping abroad to revive their demand to divide the island nation nine years after the end of its decades-long ethnic war.

Maithripala Sirisena said government forces had failed to quash the Tamil rebels’ sepa-ratism, although they were mil-itarily conquered by May 2009 following a no-holds-barred offensive.

“We have defeated terrorism of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), but we have not been able to defeat their ide-ology,” Sirisena said.

At a ceremony to mark the ninth anniversary of the end of the war, Sirisena said Tamil extremists abroad were still hoping to establish an inde-pendent homeland in Sri Lanka.

“They are very active abroad. They protested when I visited London last month,” Sirisena said, referring to his participation at the Commonwealth summit.

There has been no violence blamed on Tamil rebels since their top leader Velupillai Prab-hakaran was shot dead on May 18, 2009, but pro-rebel activists abroad are known to have staged frequent anti-Sri Lankan pro-tests. Sirisena came to power in January 2015 on the back of strong support from the minority Tamil community after pledging reparations for war victims and accountability for rights abuses.

International rights groups have said that at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by

government forces under the command of former president Mahinda Rajapakse in the final months of the war.

Sirisena said there were no reliable figures for civilian cas-ualties, but said the total number of Sri Lankans killed could be about 100,000. Official records showed that 28,708 security per-sonnel were killed while another 40,107 were wounded, he said.

Sirisena has relaxed restric-tions on the former war zones in the island’s north and east, and released much of the

military-occupied land back to Tamil owners.

However, he is yet to deliver on a promise to grant greater political autonomy to Tamils and set up a mechanism to probe what the UN has said were credible allegations of war crimes.

His latest remarks came a week after Sri Lanka’s army chief announced forming a special unit to defend itself against alle-gations of grave rights abuses during the final stages of the ethnic war.

Hundreds in Bangkok mark 8th anniversary of army crackdownREUTERS

BANGKOK: Hundreds of people gathered in Bangkok yesterday to mark the anniversary of a deadly army crackdown on an anti-government protest in 2010 that killed 91 people and injured hundreds, as pressure builds on the ruling junta to hold a general election.

The gathering took place just days before the fourth anni-versary of a May 2014 coup that ousted a civilian government and as the junta faces a growing public perception crisis.

The military says the 2014 coup was necessary to restore

order, but critics accuse it of holding on to power longer than necessary by repeatedly delaying the date of a general election which is now tenta-tively set for February 2019.

At the event in Bangkok yesterday, around 200 members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dicta-torship (UDD) group, known as the “red shirts”, lit candles and laid flowers at a major inter-section, where the weeks-long street demonstration came to a bloody end.

Activists yesterday chanted: “People were killed here”.

No group or individual has

been prosecuted for the crackdown and deaths. “There is still no justice from what hap-pened in 2010,” said Sombat Boonngamanong, a prominent red shirt activist. Others spoke about the current, military administration.

“We still feel robbed because of the coup,” said a 49-year- old woman who only wanted to be identified at Noi. “Our country is going backwards,” she said. The 2010 protest stemmed from a long-running rivalry between supporters of populist former, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the pro-military, conservative establishment.

North Korea demands South to send back restaurant workersAP

SEOUL: North Korea yesterday reiterated its demands for South Korea to send back 12 North Korean restaurant workers who came to the South in 2016, saying such a move would demonstrate Seoul’s willingness to improve relations.

The statement by North Korea’s Red Cross came a week after Seoul said it would look more closely into the circum-stances surrounding the women’s arrival following a media report that suggested some of them might have been brought to the South against their will.

Earlier in the week, North Korea canceled a high-level meeting with the South over US-South Korean military exer-cises and threatened to call off a planned summit between its leader, Kim Jong-Un, and Pres-ident Donald Trump.

The cancellation cooled what had been an unusual flurry of diplomatic moves from Pyongyang following a provoc-ative year of nuclear and missile tests.

Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a his-toric summit on April 27 where they issued a vague vow for the “complete denuclearization” of their peninsula and pledged

permanent peace. More sub-stantial discussions over the North’s nuclear weapons are expected between Kim and Trump in a meeting planned for June 12 in Singapore.

The North’s Red Cross accused South Korean officials of evading responsibility and betraying the spirit of last month’s inter-Korean summit.

It said Seoul should “severely punish those involved in the case, send our women citizens to their families without delay and thus show the will to improve the North-South ties.” Seoul had previously said it suf-ficiently confirmed the women’s free will in escaping from the North and resettling in the South. North Korea had been accusing South Korea of abducting the women, who were working in China.

Television network JTBC aired an interview earlier this month of a man it said was the manager of a restaurant in China where the women had been working.

The man, who’s now also in South Korea, said he carried out the escape under plans arranged by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and that the women were brought along without knowledge of where they were going.

Fastest climber returns safely from EverestAP

NEPAL: The Australian climber who became the fastest to scale the highest peaks on all seven continents returned safely from Mount Everest yesterday.

Steve Plain said he has no immediate plans for any new adventures and is looking forward to spending time with his family. Plain, 36, scaled Mount Everest earlier in the week, completing his mission to scale the seven summits in 117 days. He flew to Kathmandu from Everest yesterday.

“Go home and enjoy a bit of R and R at the moment, which I am looking forward to,” Plain told reporters when asked about his plans.

Protesters gather in front of a department store to mark the anniversary of a deadly army crackdown on an anti-government protest in 2010, in central Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday.

Two N Koreans defect to South: YonhapAFP

SEOUL: Two North Koreans defected to the South across the Yellow Sea yesterday, a South Korean news report said, citing a government source.

“A small boat was spotted in waters off the north of Baengnyeong Island” near the inter-Korean border, the source told Yonhap news agency. “They expressed will-ingness to defect,” he said.

A Korea Coast Guard official said relevant author-ities were investigating the case, declining to give details.

One of the men was ini-tially identified as a soldier due to a misunderstanding and the government later cor-rected its statement to say they were both civilians, Yonhap said.

It is the first defection by any North Korean since a his-toric summit between the two Koreas which saw their leaders agree to pursue the denuclearisation of the peninsula and a permanent peace.

14 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018EUROPE

Prince Harry marries Meghan MarkleAP

WINDSOR: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gazed into each other’s eyes and pledged their lifelong love yesterday as they married in front of hundreds of royals, celebrities and friends at St. George’s Chapel and millions of TV viewers around the world.

The pretty English town of Windsor sparkled on a warm spring day as tens of thousands of people jammed its quaint roads and parks to capture their own part of the spectacular yet elegant royal wedding extravaganza.

To kick off the festivities, Queen Elizabeth II honoured her red-headed, 33-year-old grandson with a new title: the Duke of Sussex, making Markle the Duchess of Sussex.

The wedding was a global event, thanks to Harry’s status as a senior British royal and Mar-kle’s celebrity after starring on the US television series “Suits” for seven years. Its pomp and ceremony embraced the couple’s trans-Atlantic union, mixing Anglican prayers and tradition, classical music and a gospel choir with a stately horse-drawn carriage ride through Windsor in a spectacle beamed live to tens of millions.

The American actress embraced her new British role in a sleek white silk boat-necked dress designed by British designer Clare Waight Keller.

Her sheer veil — down to her waist in front and billowing for what seemed like miles behind her — carried floral references to all 53 countries in the Com-monwealth, the group of coun-tries that roughly corresponds to the former British Empire and is headed by Markle’s new grand-mother-in-law, the queen.

The palace said, in addition to the Commonwealth flowers, Markle also selected two other plants on the veil: Wintersweet and, in a nod to the bride’s birth-place, the California poppy.

Harry and best man Prince William wore white gloves and the frock coat uniforms of the Blues and Royals military reg-iment. Harry kept his full red beard intact - a style decision

that had sparked British bets before the wedding.

Markle walked down the aisle alone at first, then was accompanied by Prince Charles and 10 young page boys and bridesmaids. As his father and his bride drew close to the altar, Harry said: “Thank you, Pa.”

To Markle, Harry said: “You look amazing.”

Markle seemed poised and confident as she delivered her vows without so much as a quiver in her voice. She smiled broadly as the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby declared them husband and wife. Harry seemed a bit nervous - but happy.

The sermon offered a partic-ularly rousing US touch, with the leader of the Episcopal Church quoting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr on the “redemptive power of love.”

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry delivered the sermon with

heartfelt emotion. The musical selections also included versions of Ben E King’s “Stand By Me” and Etta James’ “Amen/This Little Light of Mine.”

A host of celebrities and ath-letes — including Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Elton John, George and Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, James Corden and David and Victoria Beckham — watched from the seats in the Gothic mas-terpiece at Windsor Castle.

As the newest royal couple emerged from the chapel, they kissed. The crowd roared — and just kept cheering — as Harry helped his wife fold her 5 metre long train into the Ascot Landau carriage as they began their pro-cession through the streets of Windsor.

Police said more than 100,000 people lined the route.

The open-topped carriage was pulled by four Windsor Grey horses and past crowds waving flags and holding cellphones aloft. The newlyweds smiled and practiced what royals must be very good at: waving and waving and waving to the crowds.

Relatives in the ceremony included 4-year-old Prince George and 3-year-old Princess Charlotte, children of William and the Duchess of Cambridge. Other relatives at the church included Charles Spencer, the brother of Harry’s late mother Princess Diana, and Harry’s cousins Zara Tindall and Prin-cesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Also in attendance was

Harry’s sister-in-law’s family: Parents Carole and Michael Mid-dleton, sister Pippa Middleton and brother James Middleton.

Harry’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy was there, as was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, the former wife of Harry’s uncle Prince Andrew.

Irene Bowdry, a lawyer from California, was among those who jammed the early train to Windsor. She booked her trip to England as soon as the wedding date was announced.

It is a time of transition for the British monarchy, one that seems filled with hope as William and Harry — the two sons of Charles and the late Princess Diana— step ever more confi-dently into the limelight.

And it seems to be a time of joy for 92-year-old queen and her 96-year-old husband, Prince Philip, who was well enough to attend. The queen was able to see her grandson marry a woman who clearly has brought him the happiness he’s often said was missing from his life after his

mother’s premature death.The family tableau played

out on the broadest possible stage. Dozens of broadcasters set up on the castle grounds for a visual feast. The chapel itself is a masterpiece of the late Gothic style, and Windsor Castle has been home to British sovereigns for nearly 1,000 years.

In the afternoon at the castle, the queen was hosting the first of two receptions. Yesterday night, a second, smaller reception

for 200 people was being thrown by Charles.

Harry invited buddies from his 10 years of military service and from many of the charities he supports, which have focused on helping wounded veterans or encouraging a more open discussion of mental health issues.

In honour of Harry’s mother Diana, her older sister Jane Fel-lowes gave a reading during the wedding service.

Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex emerge from the west door of St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle, after their wedding ceremony, in Windsor, yesterday. BELOW: Well-wishers gather outside Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession.

Britain’s Sophie, Countess of Wessex (second left); Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip (second right); and Britain’s Princess Anne (right)during the wedding.

Queen Elizabeth II honoured her red-headed, 33-year-old grandson, Prince Harry, with a new title: the Duke of Sussex, making Markle the Duchess of Sussex.

Greece urges Macedonia to revise constitutionAFP

ATHENS: A 27-year name row between Greece and Mace-donia cannot be resolved without consitutional revision in the neighbouring country, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said yesterday amid hopes for a June deal.

Two days after a closely watched meeting with his Mac-edonia counterpart Zoran Zaev, Tsipras said a constitutional revision to eliminate “all forms of irredentism” was a “nec-essary precondition.”

“As regards the debate sur-rounding (Macedonia’s) name, the government will not enter more specific talks if the above requirements are not fulfilled first,” Tsipras’ office said in a

statement. The name dispute between the two countries dates back to 1991, when Skopje declared independence from war-torn Yugoslavia.

Athens objects to the neighbouring state’s constitu-tional name, Republic of Mac-edonia, because Greece has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions.

In an apparent attempt to break the impasse, Zaev sug-gested to Tsipras a new name proposal — Republic of Ilinden Macedonia.

“The prime minister and Zoran Zaev are discussing the name ‘Ilinden Macedonia’,” main opposition leader Kyr-iakos Mitsotakis said, after a

briefing from Tsipras.“We were discussing

many options and we agreed on one that is acceptable for both sides,” Zaev said on Thursday, without giving further detail.

Reference to Ilinden, a 1903 uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a key event for Macedonia’s national identity, is apparently aimed at securing support from Zaev’s nationalist opponents in par-liament towards a possible deal.

“In these negotiations, you either agree on everything or on nothing,” Tsipras said yes-terday, leaving open the pos-sibility of a new meeting with Zaev in early June.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (left) and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos discuss the developments on the name dispute with Macedonia, in Athens, Greece, yesterday.

UN, EU call for global action to protect beesAFP

BRDO CASTLE: The United Nation’s food agency and the European Union yesterday called for global action to protect pollinators, and bees in particular, which are crucial for ensuring food security.

“It is not possible to have food security if we don’t have pollinators,” the head of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, Jose Graziano da Silva, told a conference in Slovenia ahead of the first-ever World Bee Day.

Pollinators, such as bees, birds, bats, butterflies and beetles “are responsible for most of the crops and food that we eat,” he added yesterday.

To cope with the impact of pesticides, shrinking forest areas and reducing wildlife, the world needs to find “ways to increase, preserve biodi-versity,” he said.

To underline the impor-tance of the issue, and fol-lowing a Slovenian proposal, the UN has named May 20 as World Bee Day, as it marked the birthday of Anton Jansa (1734-1773), a Slovenian pioneer in modern beekeeping.

The UN has warned that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators — particularly bees and butterflies — risk global extinction.

Italian Populists give public say on draft dealBLOOMBERG

ROME: Italians are having a say on the populist coalition’s policy programme this weekend in an improvised ballot organized by the anti-immigration League, potentially moving the country closer to a government.

Party leader Matteo Salvini (pictured), 45, is giving Italians a say on the draft deal, though his staff have boiled the 58-page agenda down to just one page and 10 key areas, omitting his would-be partner’s top policy plank: a minimum income for poorer citizens.

The key action will be behind the scenes, as Salvini and Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio, 31, try to agree on a can-didate to lead their adminis-tration before a rendezvous with President Sergio Mattarella tomorrow.

At a party event in the northern town of Ivrea yes-terday, Di Maio voiced confi-dence that the ballot will back the coalition deal and “we’ll resolve the premier issue as well.”

“That is the real issue,” Wolfango Piccoli, a political analyst at Teneo Intelligence in London, said earlier. “If there is no deal on the team, the agreement will come down.”

The populist duo are due to report to the president after a week of turmoil in Italian bonds

and stocks triggered by reports about the coalition’s spending plans and rejection of EU budget rules.

Five Star supporters voted on the coalition pact in an online ballot organised by the party on Friday. More than 94 percent were in favour.

After Salvini met the League leadership in Milan, the League said it would go further and open up its consultation to eve-ryone. The ballots are being tallied by the party.

The League’s description of the programme includes scrapping a pension reform that raised the retirement age, blocking immigrants arriving on Italy’s coasts and a flat tax for families and companies.

There’s no mention of a “citizen’s income” for the poor at $920 a month, a flagship Five Star promise that the League denounced as a handout during the election campaign.

15SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 EUROPE

Russia unveils floating nuclear power stationAFP

MURMANSK: To meet its growing electricity needs in its drive to develop oil resources in remote Arctic regions, Russia has built a floating nuclear power station, a project that detractors deride as a “Chernobyl on ice”.

Built in Saint Petersburg, the Akademik Lomonosov is cur-rently moored in Murmansk where it is being loaded with nuclear fuel before heading to eastern Siberia.

Yesterday, head of state nuclear power firm Rosatom unveiled the brown-and-mustard-painted facility in the city’s estuary as an orchestra played the national anthem.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev hailed the new power station as “a new world first,” which he said “underlines the undoubted leading role of Rosatom and the Russian nuclear energy sector on the global agenda.”

“I hope today will be a sym-bolic day for the Arctic,” Likhachev said, adding that Rosatom “is setting a trend, a demand for medium-capacity nuclear facilities, mobile facil-ities, for many decades ahead.”

The 144-by-30-metre barge holds two reactors with two 35 megawatt nuclear reactors that

are similar to those used to power icebreaker ships.

The Akademik Lomonosov will be towed in the summer of 2019 to the port of Pevek in the autonomous Chukotka region in Russia’s extreme northeast.

The barge can produce enough electricity to power a town of 200,000 residents, far more than the 5,000 live in Rus-sia’s northernmost town.

But Akademik Lomonosov isn’t in Pevek to just keep the lights on in homes.

As Russia is forced to push further north into the Arctic in the search for oil and gas, it needs electricity in far-flung locations.

“The idea is to have low-capacity, mobile power plants that can be used in the Russian Arctic where large amounts of electricity aren’t needed” and the construction of a conventional power station would be compli-cated and costly, said Sergei Kondratyev at the Institute for Energy and Finance in Moscow.

“The alternatives are coal, gas and diesel. But diesel is very costly,” he said, while the gas needs to be delivered as liquefied natural gas or LNG.

Vitaly Trutnev, who is in charge of the construction and operation of floating nuclear power stations at Rosatom, said such units would “supply elec-tricity and heat to the most remote regions, supporting also growth and sustainable development.”

He said use of such floating reactors can save 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The Akademik Lomonosov is set to replace an ageing nuclear reactor and a coal-fired power plant which are both located in Chukotka.

Trutnev said the barge has “the latest security systems and should be one of the safest nuclear installations in the world.”

Activists at the environmental

group Greenpeace are not con-vinced and call for international monitoring.

They fear that the Akademik Lomonosov could become a “nuclear Titanic” or a “Chernobyl on ice” 32 years after the Soviet nuclear disaster.

Greenpeace Russia’s Rashid Alimov said that accidents are possible at all nuclear power plants, but that the barge “will be especially sensitive to storms, environmental phenomena and threats such as terrorism.”

He said a shift to more numerous small reactors would pose risks for proliferation of nuclear material.

Greenpeace nuclear expert Jan Haverkamp noted that the

Akademik Lomonosov is being fuelled near Murmansk, a city of 300,000, before being towed across the Arctic.

“Its installation in the tough environment of the Russian Arctic will pose a constant threat for residents of the north and the Arctic’s pristine nature,” said Haverkamp.

The barge had initially been scheduled to be fuelled in Saint Petersburg, but that work was moved to Murmansk instead due to concern in countries along the Baltic Sea.

Kondratyev at the Institute for Energy and Finance in Moscow downplayed safety concerns about the barge, insisting it met the same safety rules as nuclear

icebreakers and submarines.“But it is a new piece of

equipment. There may be con-cerns among the general pop-ulace, but there are additional risks compared to nuclear power plants,” he said.

Rosatom chief Likhachev said that the corporation hopes to build more such barges and to find Asian clients in need of power in remote regions, giving the examples of Indonesia and Philippines.

“In certain cases a floating nuclear power plant is more cost-effective than other electric power plants ... it has its own niche,” Kondratyev said.

He said China is also building a floating nuclear power plant.

The floating power unit, Akademik Lomonosov, is being towed to Atomflot moorage of the Russian northern port city of Murmansk, yesterday.

New Catalan leader names former ministers to govtAFP

BARCELONA: Catalonia’s new President Quim Torra yesterday named two former ministers, jailed by Madrid for backing independence from Spain, together with two others who fled into exile, to his regional government.

Torra appointed his gov-ernment by decree, but it could still be blocked by Spain, which has insisted his administration be “legal and viable” after it imposed direct rule on the region in October when the then

Catalan government declared independence.

Torra — who was elected by the Catalan parliament on Monday and sworn in on Thursday — named 13 “advisors” to his government, including Jordi Turull and Josep Rull who are currently being held in custody just outside Madrid.

Two others, Toni Comin and Lluis Puig, are in exile in Belgium, where they fled with deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

Turull and Rull both accepted their nominations on Twitter.

Torra’s appointment marks the end of nearly seven months of political limbo in the north-eastern Spanish region, which has been under direct rule from Madrid since the central gov-ernment deposed Puigdemont following a failed declaration of independence on October 27.

Puigdemont is currently in Berlin awaiting potential extra-dition to Spain, where he faces jail on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds.

Torra, a 55-year-old editor who has long campaigned for independence and was

handpicked by Puigdemont, described himself as a “caretaker president” who considers Puig-demont as the “legitimate” leader.

In a brief swearing-in cer-emony on Thursday, Torra promised to “loyally fulfil the duties of the post of regional president being faithful to the will of the Catalan people rep-resented by the Catalan parliament.”

But he did not promise to obey the Spanish Constitution nor the statute that regulates Catalonia’s autonomy.

He appeared flanked only by a Catalan flag, without the tra-ditional Spanish flag and portrait of the king that protocol states must be present, in a small side-room of the regional government building in Barcelona.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis criticised the cer-emony, saying it was done “on the sly”, as if Torra “were a second-rate president”.

Puigdemont, who first fled to Belgium, was detained in Germany in March after Spain issued a European arrest warrant against him.

Germany’s migration-related costs at $92bn through 2022REUTERS

BERLIN: Germany expects to spend around $92bn on migration-related issues through 2022, including $36.5 to combat the root causes driving people to leave their homes and head to Europe, Der Spiegel magazine reported yesterday.

The magazine cited a

document drafted by the German Finance Ministry which estimates federal spending of around $82.5 through 2022, plus an additional $9.4bn that the federal government agreed to transfer to states and local com-munities to cover their costs through 2021.

Social payments to migrants in Germany are projected to

account for about $24.7bn through 2022, with another $15.3 to be spent on language courses and other integrative measures, the magazine cited the doc-ument as saying.

Processing, registration and accommodations for refugees would cost $5.9bn, according to the estimate.

German is working to

integrate over a million migrants who entered the country in 2015 and 2016 after a key decision by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that has hit her popularity.

A public backlash against the decision helped catapult the far-right, eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party into the lower house of parliament in the September national elections.

Researchers confirm Hitler died in 1945AFP

PARIS: Adolf Hitler definitely died in 1945 in Berlin, from taking cyanide and a bullet, according to French researchers who were given rare access to fragments of the dictator’s teeth held in Moscow.

“The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt. Our study proves that Hitler died in 1945,” professor Philippe Charlier said. “We can stop all the conspiracy theories about Hitler. He did not flee to Argentina in a submarine, he is not in a hidden base in Ant-arctica or on the dark side of the moon.”

The study, which Charlier co-authored with four other researchers, was published in the scientific magazine European Journal of Internal Medicine.

The analysis of Hitler’s bad teeth and numerous dentures found white tartar deposits and no traces of meat fibre — the dictator was vegetarian, Charlier said.

In March and July 2017, Russia’s secret service the FSB and the Russian state archives authorised a team of researchers to examine the bones of the dictator, for the first time since 1946, he said.

The French team was able to look at a skull fragment pre-sented as being from the

Fuhrer, which showed a hole on the left side which was in all probability caused by the passage of a bullet.

The scientists were not authorised to take samples from this fragment.

As it stands, the fragment’s morphology was “totally com-parable” to radiographies of Hit-ler’s skull taken a year before his death, the research found.

If this study confirms the generally accepted view that Hitler died on the 30 April, 1945, in his Berlin bunker with his companion Eva Braun, it does also shed new light on the exact causes of death, Charlier said.

“We didn’t know if he had used an ampule of cyanide to kill himself or whether it was a bullet in the head. It’s in all probability both,” he said.

The examination of the teeth did not find any traces of powder, which indicates there was not a revolver shot to the mouth, more likely the neck or the forehead.

Equally, bluish deposits seen on his false teeth could indicate a “chemical reaction between the cyanide and the metal of the dentures,” the researcher said.

Charlier, a specialist in medical and legal anthropology, was also involved in the analysis of the mummified heart of Richard Lionheart.

Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev hailed the new power station as “a new world first,” which he said “underlines the undoubted leading role of Rosatom and the Russian nuclear energy sector on the global agenda.”

France train station evacuated due to suspicious bagREUTERS

MARSEILLES: French authorities briefly evacuated Marseilles train station yesterday, as they arrested a man seen behaving suspi-ciously in the area.

Soldiers had been alerted to him due to the fact that he had a bag containing batteries and electric cables, although the individual denied they were explosive devices, said police.

Gunmen dead after Russian church attackAP

MOSCOW: Four gunmen attacked an Orthodox church in the Russian province of Chechnya, but were killed by security forces in a clash yesterday that also left two policemen and a churchgoer dead.

Chechnya’s Moscow-backed regional leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, said the gunmen attacked the Arch-angel Michael Church in the center of Grozny.

The Investigative Com-mittee, Russia’s top investi-gative agency, said two police officers were killed and another two were wounded in the clash.

One churchgoer also died dead and another one was wounded.

Street Music DayPeople trying to play drums during a “Street Music Day” at the Cathedral Square, in Vilnius, Lithuania, yesterday.

16 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018AMERICAS

BREAK TIMEVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTERCROSSWORD NOVO Pearl Qatar

MALL

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

LANDMARK

ROXY

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

A Wrinkle In Time 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnight Avengers: Infinity War(2D/Action) 12:00noon, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00pm & 12:00midnight Life Of The Party (2D/Comedy) 12:00noon, 2:15, 3:30, 4:30, 6:45, 8:45, 9:00 & 11:15pm Nous Jawaza (2D) 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm Downrange (2D) 12:00noon, 1:00, 4:00, 6:15, 8:00, 11:30pm & 12:00midnight Breaking In (2D/Thriller) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight Terminal (2D/Thriller) 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm Qosty Byogaani (2D) 2:00, 6:10 & 10:20pm Horoub Moufajee (2D/Arabic) 12:00noon, 4:10 & 8:20pm Bent (2D/Action) 2:15, 6:30 & 11:00pm Overboard (2D/Comedy) 12:00noon, 4:15 & 8:30pm Rampage (2D/Action) 2:15, 6:45 & 11:15pm I Feel Pretty (2D/Comedy) 12:00noon, 4:30 & 9:00pm Avengers: Infinity War (3D/IMAX /Action) 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30pm & 12:30am

Uncle (2D/Malayalam 2:30 & 11:00pmBhaskar Oru Rascal (2D/Tamil) 2:30 & 8:30pm Raazi (2D/Hindi) 2:45 & 8:30pm A Wrinkle In Time (2D/Adventure) 9:00pm Kaali (2D/Tamil) 11:15pm Downrange (2D/Thriller) 11:30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

Nadigaiyar Thilagam (2D/Tamil) 2:30pm Raazi (2D/Hindi) 2:45pm Uncle (2D/Malayalam 8:30 & 11:00pmA Wrinkle In Time (2D/Adventure) 3:00p & 9:00m Bhaskar Oru Rascal (2D/Tamil) 8:30pm Kaali (2D/Tamil) 11:15pm Nous Jawaza (2D/Arabic) 11:15pm

Nadigaiyar Thilagam (2D/Tamil) 2:30pm Uncle (2D/Malayalam) 2:30 & 11:00pm A Wrinkle In Time (2D/Adventure) 3:00 & 9:00pm Bascar Oru Rascal (2D/Tamil) 8:30pm Nous Jawaza (2D/Arabic) 9:30pm Kaali (2D/Tamil) 11:15pm Downrange (2D/Thriller) 11:30pm

Uncle (2D/Malayalam) 7:30, 10:15 & 10:45pmNadigaiyara Thilagam (Tamil) 7:00, 10:00 & 10:15pm Kaali (Tamil) 8:00pm

Uncle (Malayalam) 11:45amWrinkle In Time (Adventure) 10:30am, 12:45 & 8:45pm Raazi (2D/Hindi) 11:30 & 11:30pmNadigaiyara Thilagam (2D/Tamil) 2:45 & 11:00pmIrumbu Thirai (2D/Tamil) 2:15pm Kaali (Tamil) 3:00 & 11:15pm

Avengers: Infinity War (2D/Action) 7:30 & 10:30pm Uncle (Malayalam) 1:00 & 7:00pm A Wrinkle In Time (Adventure) 1:30, 3:20, 7:00, 9:20 & 11:40pm Nadigaiyara Thilagam (2D/Tamil) 1:00, 3:50, 7:00 & 9:50pmBhaskar Oru Rascal (2D/Tamil) 3:50 & 9:50pm

Stranded at the side of the road after a tire blowout, a group of friends become targets for an enigmatic sniper.

FLIK Mirqab DOWNRANGE

A Wrinkle In Time 3:50, 6:05, 8:20, 10:35 & 11:00pmAvengers: Infinity War 2:40, 3:25, 4:40, 5:45, 6:20, 7:35, 8:30, 9:15, 10:30, 11:25pm & 12:10am Uncle 3:15, 6:25, 9:25pm & 12:20am Breaking In 8:45pm Nadigaiyar Thilagam 5:50, 9:45 & 10:40pm Life of The Party 3:35pm Isle of Dogs 3:00pm Incredible Story of The Giant Pear 2:35, 6:20, 5:10 & 8:00pm Masha And The Bear 6:05, 7:00 & 9:15pm

Cuba mourns as 107 dead in plane crashAFP

HAVANA: Cuba began two days of national mourning yesterday for victims of the crash of a state airways plane that killed almost all of its 110 passengers and crew.

Three women pulled alive from the mangled wreckage are the only known survivors.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said an investigation was under way into Friday’s crash of the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company.

The Boeing crashed shortly after taking off from Havana’s Jose Marti airport, coming down in a field near the airport and sending a thick column of acrid smoke into the air.

The mourning period was to last to midnight on Sunday, the Communist Party leader and former president Raul Castro said.

Flags were flown at half-mast throughout the country.

The plane was on a domestic

flight from Havana to the eastern city of Holguin. Most of the 104 passengers were Cuban, with five foreigners, including two Argen-tines, among them.

The plane was almost com-pletely destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire. What appeared to be one of the wings of the plane was wedged among scorched tree trunks, but almost nothing remained of the main fuselage.

Cuban authorities have not said whether they have recovered the plane’s black box flight recorders.

Built in 1979, the plane was leased from a small Mexican company, Global Air, also known as Aerolineas Damoj.

Mexico said it was sending two civil aviation specialists to help in the investigation. The six crew members were Mexican nationals.

Boeing issued a statement saying that a “technical team stands ready to assist” and offered condolences to friends and relatives of the victims.

Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Castro as the communist island’s leader only last month, appeared aghast as he surveyed the recovery efforts, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and sur-rounded by officials.

Castro sent his condolences to families bereaved in the “cat-astrophic accident,” a statement read, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and a string of Latin American leaders also expressed sympathy.

Pope Francis asked the church in Cuba to convey con-dolences to families “who mourn

the unexpected disappearance of loved ones.”

The plane took off from Havana at 12:0 pm (1608 GMT) on Friday heading for Holguin, 670km to the east.

From the supermarket where he works near the airport, Jose Luis, 49, said he saw the plane lifting off before it banked and plunged to the ground.

“I saw it taking off. All of a

sudden, it made a turn, and went down. We were all amazed.”

Yasniel Diaz, a 21-year-old musician, said the pilot appeared to attempt an emergency landing, but crashed instead.

“The explosion shook every-thing,” he said. “I started running, I was so afraid.”

Global Air said the plane was flying with a crew of six Mexicans — the pilot, co-pilot, three flight

attendants and a maintenance technician.

In Mexico City, anguished rel-atives and colleagues of the crew gathered outside the company’s offices demanding information .

Global Air had the necessary permits to lease it, and had passed inspections in November last year said the company, which has a fleet of three planes, all Boeing 737s.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (centre) arrives at the Institute of Legal Medicine to meet relatives of the victims of a plane that crashed, in Havana, yesterday.

Mexico said it was sending two civil aviation specialists to help in the investigation. The six crew members were Mexican nationals.

Mexico’s presidential frontrunner vows to hit back at Trump’s tweetsAFP

MEXICO City: The fiery leftist leading the race for Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, vowed to hit back at US President Donald Trump if he insults Mexico on Twitter.

“If he makes an offensive tweet, I’m going to take

responsibility for answering him,” said Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who has a double-digit lead in most opinion polls heading into the July 1 election.

“I think (Trump) is going to understand he has to get himself under control, that he can’t go around offending the Mexican

people. We don’t want confron-tations with him, but we are going to ask him to respect us,” he said at a campaign rally in the town of Huajuapan, in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Trump has regularly attacked Mexico on Twitter since launching his presidential campaign in 2015 by referring to Mexican

immigrants as lawbreakers and offenders, and vowing to build a wall on the border.

Mexico’s current President Enrique Pena Nieto has rarely answered his counterpart’s Twitter outbursts, and his foreign ministry regularly insists Mexico will not discuss diplomatic matters on social media.

Lopez Obrador promised a change in strategy if he wins the election.

The candidate, who is making his third bid at the pres-idency, is only an occasional tweeter — though he has increased his use of social media during his campaign.

In April, he tweeted to the US

president that he wanted to sell him Mexico’s presidential plane, a plush Boeing Dreamliner pur-chased by the previous gov-ernment of which he is fond of saying, “Not even Trump has a plane like that!”

Lopez Obrador, widely known by his initials, “AMLO,” is a divisive figure in Mexico.

17SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 AMERICAS

US pushes ahead with Mideast peace planAP

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is aiming to roll out its much-hyped but long-delayed Middle East peace plan next month amid signs it may further alienate the Palestinians by slashing millions of dollars in funding for humanitarian and development projects in the West Bank and Gaza.

Five US officials and a con-gressional aide said the admin-istration intends to release the peace plan in mid- to late-June, shortly after the end of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan, although they cau-tioned that the timing could slip depending on developments in the region. They said the plan’s main authors — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt — have already begun quietly briefing select allies and partners on elements of the proposal.

Yet, any Palestinian will-ingness to even consider the plan would require conditions to improve and anger to subside considerably in the coming weeks, an unlikely scenario as the Palestinians say evidence of one-sided Trump giveaways to Israel continues to pile up.

US allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf also have felt com-pelled to criticise the adminis-tration for its approach.

Ostensibly, Trump would need buy-in from those same countries to build enough momentum for any peace plan to succeed.

The administration has been resisting congressional demands to fully close the Palestine

Liberation Organization office in Washington because Green-blatt and Kushner want to keep that channel open in case the Palestinians are open to re-entering negotiations with Israel based on the plan.

The office was ordered closed by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last November, but has been allowed to stay open for limited purposes under the administration’s inter-pretation of the law requiring it to be shut down in the absence of peace talks.

The prospect of Palestinian interest in the peace proposal appears dim, however, partic-ularly since Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recalled the mission’s chief earlier this week to protest Monday’s opening of new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

The embassy move is said to have contributed to violent protests in Gaza that were met with deadly force from Israel. Nearly 60 Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli forces, drawing condemnations

and calls for restraint from Europe and elsewhere.

The US declined to join those calls and, while regretting the loss of life, opposed efforts at the UN to open an international investigation into the violence.

Trump’s recognition of Jeru-salem as Israel’s capital, the embassy move and the admin-istration’s unreserved defense of Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu’s policies have alienated and angered the Pal-estinian leadership, which accuses the administration of abandoning its role as a neutral arbiter in the conflict.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Pal-estinian negotiator, said any deal needs to be between the Palestinians and Israel - not the US. “I don’t need Jason Green-blatt. I don’t need Kushner,” Erekat said. “It’s our lives.”

That sense of betrayal may deepen significantly this summer as millions of dollars in US assistance to Palestinians appears likely to be cut and the funds re-allocated to other regions.

That money has been on hold since last year and existing funding for some projects will start to run out in just months if it is not approved in the next two weeks.

If that does not happen, the State Department and the US Agency for International Devel-opment will have to notify aid recipients that continued US funding is not forthcoming and those programmes will begin to be shut down. Local staffers would be laid off and US offi-cials running the projects would be reassigned elsewhere.

“The administration is cur-rently reviewing US assistance to the Palestinians,” USAID said in a statement.

Melania Trump leaves hospital after surgeryAP

WASHINGTON: Melania Trump returned to the White House yesterday following a weeklong hospitalisation for kidney treatment.

Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, has declined to release additional details, citing Mrs Trump’s right to privacy.

“The First Lady returned home to the White House this morning. She is resting com-fortably and remains in high spirits. Our office has received thousands of calls and emails wishing Mrs Trump well, and we thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out.”

The prospect of Palestinian interest in the peace proposal appears dim, however, particularly since Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recalled the mission’s chief earlier this week to protest Monday’s opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

US accuses Maduro & party official of drug profiteeringREUTERS

WASHINGTON: The United States accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the No. 2 official in the coun-try’s ruling party of profiting from illegal narcotics ship-ments, the first time that Wash-ington has publicly linked Maduro to the drug trade.

The United States has already imposed sanctions against Maduro for human rights abuses and blamed him for Venezuela’s current eco-nomic and political crises.

But the narcotics trade charge, leveled in a US Treasury statement justifying sanctions on Socialist Party official Diosdado Cabello, sharpened Washington’s accusations

against Maduro as he prepares for Venezuela’s controversial presidential elections today.

“As of March 2017, Cabello seized drug loads from small-scale drug traffickers, and combined and exported them through a Venezuelan gov-ernment-owned airport,” the US Treasury said in a statement.

“Cabello, along with Pres-ident Maduro and others, divided proceeds from these narcotics shipments.”

The US Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions against Cabello, his wife, Marleny Josefina Contreras, who heads the country’s tourism institute, and his brother, Jose David, accusing him of “extorting money for personal gains.”

Showing sympathyResidents bring memorial items to Santa Fe High School after ten people were killed when a teenage classmate armed with a shotgun and a revolver opened fire at the school on Friday, in Texas, yesterday.

18 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018HOME

19SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018 MORNING BREAK

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03. 21 AM

04. 47 AM

11. 30 AM

02. 56 PM

06. 17 PM

07. 47 PM

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HIGH TIDE 07:30 – 21:15 LOW TIDE 04:15 – 13:15

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Prince’s guitar fetches $225,000 at NY auctionAFP

NEW YORK: A custom-made yellow guitar owned by Prince sold for $225,000 in New York, was headlining a sale of jewellery, outfits and memo-rabilia from the late pop icon, Julien’s Auctions said.

The yellow “Cloud” guitar, so named for its unique twisting body, also has Prince’s signature love symbols engraved between the frets, and had been valued before the sale at $60,000 to $80,000, Julien’s said.

Last year, the auction house sold another Cloud guitar for a cool $700,000.

The Clouds were made for Prince by Minneapolis luthier Dave Rusan, with one starring in the 1984 film “Purple Rain,” where Prince’s alter ego “The Kid” receives one as a gift from his friend Apollonia.

An electric blue turtleneck with matching trousers that Prince wore at a turn-of-the-millennium New Year’s Eve party at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota — sold for $108,797, the auction house said.

Prince also wore the outfit when jamming with Lenny Kravitz at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1999. It had been valued at $50,000 to $70,000.

The suit, like many of the items, were listed as coming from Prince’s former wife Mayte Garcia, a dancer and mother of Prince’s only known child — who died shortly after birth in 1996 due to a rare disorder.

The auction, which raked in a total of $2m, featured scores of items from the late superstar.

Prince’s “Yellow Cloud” guitar (right) displayed along with other items during a media preview, in New York.

Japanese drama wins Cannes’ Palme d’OrAP

PARIS: Japanese director Hizokazu Kore-eda’s (pictured) tender portrait of a poor, improvised family “Shop-lifters” has won the Palme d’Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.

At the closing ceremony yesterday for the 71st Cannes, the Cate Blanchett-led jury selected one of the festival’s most acclaimed entries, one hailed as a modest masterpiece from a veteran filmmaker renowned for his delicate touch. “Shoplifters” is about a small-time thief who takes a young, alone girl home to his family; after seeing scars from abuse, they decide to keep her and raise her as their own.

While many speculated that the Cate Blanchett-led jury might award only the second Palme d’Or to a film directed by a woman, the most likely contender — Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” — was instead given Cannes’ jury prize. The film drew a rousing standing ovation but less enthusiastic critic reviews for its tale of a 12-year-old boy living in poverty who sues his parents for neglect.

Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” the highest profile American film in com-petition at Cannes, was awarded the grand prize. The film ignited the French Riviera festival with its true tale of a black police detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee connected the

film to modern day with real footage from last year’s violent white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“It blew us out of the cinema,” said Blanchett of “BlacKkKlansman.”

The 12-day festival, the first since the downfall of film mogul Harvey Weinstein (for decades an annual fixture in Cannes), was shaken by debate over gender equality in the film industry and at Cannes. In a striking rally, 82 women — the same number of female film-makers to ever be selected to Cannes competition lineup — stood on the Palais red-carpet steps, as Blanchett said, “a symbol of our determination to change and progress.”

Some changes were swift. Just days later, with Blanchett’s jury looking on, Cannes’ Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux signed a pledge to make the festival’s selection process more trans-parent and promised other measures to improve the festival’s record of including female filmmakers. Three of this year’s 21 films in competition were directed by women.

Polish filmmaker Pawel Paw-likowski took best director for his follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Ida,” ‘’Cold War.” Like “Ida,” ‘’Cold War” is a black-and-white period film that delves into Polish history. The first Polish film in Cannes’s competition in 37 years, “Cold War” is about an up-and-down romance in post-war Poland and Paris, behind and outside the Soviet Iron Curtain.

Best actress went to Samal Yes-lyamova for Kazakh writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka.” Taking best actor was Marcello Fonte for Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman,” an award pre-sented by fellow Italian actor Roberto Benigni.

The prize for best screenplay was split between Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher’s time-warped fable about a poor farm boy in rural Italy “Happy as Lazzaro” and Nader Saeivar and Jafar Panahi’s script for “Three Faces.”

Panahi has been banned from

traveling outside Iran since he was arrested for participating in “propa-ganda against the regime” in 2010 after supporting mass protests over the coun-try’s disputed 2009 election. Both Panahi and Russia’s Kirill Serebren-nikov were unable to attend their Cannes premieres because they are barred from traveling out of their home countries. Seats were left earlier empty Panahi and Serebrennikov, who received standing ovations in absentia.

A “Palme d’Or Speciale,” a special award not previously awarded, was given to Jean-Luc Godard for “contin-ually striving to define and refine what cinema can be,” said Blanchett. Godard’s “Image Book” is a film essay collage that contemplates the West’s relationship to the Arab world. The 87-year-old French filmmaking legend called into his Cannes press conference via FaceTime.

The closing ceremony came ahead of the premiere of Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” Famously victim to countless delays and debacles, the film took nearly 30 years for Gilliam to complete. And its Cannes premiere was still almost canceled because of an injunction sought by pro-ducer Paolo Branco, who insisted the festival needed his permission. French courts last week denied Branco’s request, allowing the screening to move forward.

20 SUNDAY 20 MAY 2018HOME

AURA Hospitality & Food Services and Palma Hospitality Groupannounce tasty Ramadan packagesBook your spot and celebrate the holy season in true Arabic style at these outstanding dining venues with tantalizing menus.Doha, Qatar, 20 May 2018: Celebrate the spirit of togetherness while sharingtasty food and creating memories this Ramadan at one of AURA Hospitality & Food Services and Palma's eleven popular restaurants, which promise joyful and flavorsome experiences.

Choose from eleven outstanding venues: Orient Pearl, SMAT, Damasca One, Debs W Remman, Remman Café, Basta 23, Jwala, La Casa Twenty Eight, Sazeli Lounge, Usta Turkish Kepab & Doner, and Baladna. All these unique restaurants are ready to tantalize your taste buds with a variety of unmissable Iftar and Suhour packages.

Whether you are looking for a quick but super-tasty Iftar option at Remman Café Express, a relaxed meal at Basta 23, a family-friendly get together at La Casa or an elegant sit-down Iftar at Orient Pearl and SMAT, AURA’s offerings are sure to delight.

ORIENT PEARLDiscover the unique Orient Pearl restaurant’s luxurious offerings for Iftar and Suhour this season. Whether you opt for the Iftar set menu or the Sohour buffet option,you are in for a delightful Ramadan treat, complete with spectacular sea views.

Iftar Set Menu QAR 180Sohour buffet Thursday and Friday nights only QAR 200

SMATThis newly opened fine dining restaurant rede-fines the feel and taste of local cuisine, taking you on a culinary jour-ney through Qatar’s unique gastronomic heritage. Discover the distinctive ingredients, spices and textures of signature dishes from the GCC this Ramadan at SMAT.

Very special Iftar Set Menu QAR 220

DAMASCA ONEEnjoy an authentic Syrian inspired Iftar, from the heart of the city of Damascus, courtesy of Damasca One. Located in the picturesque settings of Souq Waqif, this modern concept gathers the authenticity of the past and the spirit of the present and delivers fresh ingredients carefully prepared using professionals’ hand skilled delicacies. Book in advance to secure your table!

Iftar Set Menu QAR 150 with special Ramadan entertain-ment activities at Sohour

DEBS W REMMANEmbrace Ramadan at Debs W Remman, a modern concept combining the nostalgia of the past with the spirit of the present. Inspired by the eateries, souqs and street food of Beirut, Debs W Remman delivers authentic Lebanese signature dishes prepared using the freshest ingredients. The stylish restaurant’s

affordable prices also reflect the true spirit of the holy season.

Iftar Set Menu QAR 145 Suhour Set Menu QAR 95In all branches

REMMAN CAFÉRemman Café, the ‘quick bite eatery’ concept, carries the same ingredients and quality used in Debs W Remman and offers a perfect casual dining venue this Ramadan. Remman Café’s loyal guests can enjoy quick and professional service in various locations in Doha, either with Iftar boxes options, an iftar set menu or buffet for iftar and suhour. Not to be missed!Now you can enjoy our Iftar Set Menu for 77 QAR and Iftar Buffet for 57 QAR

LA CASA TWENTY EIGHTLa Casa’s chefs will conjure up a truly special dining experience in their open kitchen set up this Ramadan. This casual Mediterranean dining eatery delivers the best in homemade, clay oven and wood fire cuisine. Offerings for the holy month include lavish platter arrangements, reflecting the sharing culture of the Mediter-ranean region, together with many more delicacies served as a set menu for Iftar.

Iftar Set Menu QAR 120

BALADNA

RESTAURANTBreak your fast with Baladna’s wholesome products, rich with taste and nutrients. Traditional Levantine and Khaleejif-lavors are perfect for the holy month, so book your spot at one of their three restaurants and enjoy an Iftar truly made in Qatar. Iftar Set Menu QAR 135

USTA TURKISH

KEBAP & DONERFor a more relaxed Iftar option, look no further than Usta Turkish Kebap&Doner. This popular outlet brings authentic Turkish hospitality to Qatar. Its outstanding creations are available throughout Ramadan, including doner kebab, kunafa, an array of baklava and other sweet treats.

Iftar Set Menu QAR 120

BASTA 23With branches in Mall of Qatar and Porto Arabia, this relaxed eatery offers a true taste of Khaleeji style cuisine. From karak, to an array of typical Qatari dishes, Basta 23 promises as Iftar meal experience that is sure to please!

Iftar Set Menu QAR 110

JWALA

Experience an Iftar set menu with an Indian twist. Jwala presents a culinary fusion of classic and contemporary Indian street food, which will satisfy every palate. With a menu that reflects the cultural diversity of the subcontinent’s cuisine Jwala’s dining experience is complemented by its vibrant street art interi-ors, guaranteeing an Iftar to remember.

QAR 125 with unique Indian atmosphere

SAZELI LOUNGEStep up your Iftar meal at Sazeli Lounge. This gourmet-style culinary fusion venue specializes in authentic Turkish cuisine with a modern twist. Its Iftar set menu will tantalize the most demanding palate.

Iftar Set Menu 195