Qatar promise spectacular FIFA World Cup in 2022

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Tunisia to turn $15bn investment pledges into

jobs and growth

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Volume 21 | Number 6998 | 2 RiyalsFriday 2 December 2016 | 3 Rabia I 1438

2,637,302Total population

Total population count until end of Nov 2016

Source: www.mdps.gov.qa

1,996,612 640,690Males Females

QATAR POPULATION

Hamad Port starts full operations

Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi (third left), and Chairman of RAF, Dr Sheikh Khalid bin Thani Al Thani (left) honour Sudan's Federal Minister of Health, Bahar Idris Abu Garda, during the launch of SALI —Save A Life Initiative — by RAF at a function at the Sheraton Grand Resort and Convention Hotel in Doha. Also seen is RAF Director-General Ayed bin Debsan Al Qahtani. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

Rare manuscripts at book fair celebrate Islamic cultureRaynald C Rivera The Peninsula

Bibliophiles with penchant for Islamic and Middle Eastern antiquities can find a treas-ure trove of the rarest and most expensive

books at the 27th Doha International Book Fair at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

Rare book dealers Antiquariat Inlibris and Antiquariaat Forum have brought over 220 cop-ies of ancient books, maps, manuscripts, drawings and photographs celebrating 12 centuries of Islamic culture and the history and geography of the Arab world.

The only surviving fragment of one of the ear-liest written copies of the Holy Quran is one of the most valued pieces in the collection.

“It was written in the ninth century which comes from a German collection. It is a very famous item discovered just a couple of years ago and listed as one of the earliest copies of the Holy Quran surviving. It is priced €450,000 (QR1.74m),” Hugo Wetscherek of Antiquariat Inlibris told The Peninsula yesterday.

Equally valuable is Francis Frith’s “Egypt, Sinai, and Jerusalem: a series of twenty photographic views” priced at €450,000. “This is the largest and earliest photographs of any Middle Eastern subject. Only 20 copies of this book were pro-duced in 1858 and we have one of them here in the fair,” said Wetscherek.

“You have to take into consideration this was produced only two decades after the invention of the photographic process so we are not speaking of the earliest photographs of the Middle Eastern subject but of the earliest and most impressive photographs in existence,” he added. One of the striking pieces on display at the stand is the larg-est wall map ever printed for Middle Eastern audience.

“It is indeed a very impressive piece - a mon-ument of Islamic cartography printed in 1803 at a time when there were no printed maps with Islamic characters. It is one of the earliest maps in the Islamic world and definitely the largest map ever printed directed for the Middle Eastern audi-ence,” explained Wetscherek.

Yesterday was just the second day of the 11-day fair but Wetscherek already expressed optimism of the response from the public.

“We are happy. We are long-time exhibitors at the fair and we have received good response. All the friends we made here in previous years have already shown up and made a few prelim-inary selections,” he said, having just travelled from China following another fair in Sharjah.

The Qatari market is as robust as its neigh-bouring countries, he said. “Doha is a very interesting market. It’s as strong as the UAE. We haven’t seen any decline in sales since we keep coming back here since 2008."

RAF in global health care initiativeSanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitar-ian Services (RAF) has

launched a global initiative for providing health care services to those deprived worldwide in an international conference held here yesterday.

The ‘Save a Life Initiative’ (SALI) is a complete package to provide health care services to vulnerable communities in frag-ile areas across the globe, where access to basic health care is not possible due to unrest or lack of facilities.

The conference was attended by the Minister of Administrative Development,

Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Jafali Al Nuaimi, RAF Chairman Dr Sheikh Kha-lid bin Thani Al Thani, Dr Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director, Public Health at the Ministry of Public Health, Sudanese Federal Minister of Health, Bahar Idris Abu Garda and other dignitaries.

→ Continued on page 2

Irfan Bukhari The Peninsula

As full operations at Hamad Port started yesterday, Prime Min-ister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with three

ministers toured the port facilities and also took a ride on a driver-less vehicle to be used for intra-facility transportation at the port.

The Prime Minister was also briefed on the various stages of development of the port with the help of a documentary. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti; Minister of Econ-omy and Commerce, H E Ahmed bin

Jassim Al Thani and other government officials accompanied the Prime Minister.

"Today, we are witnessing a great achievement in the private transport sec-tor's projects. The unlimited support by Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani along with the close follow-up by Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani were behind the start of the overall operations of this giant

project before the set deadlines and within the allocated budget," the Prime Minister said. He said that the event was an expression of gratitude to Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the founder of Qatar's modern renaissance.

He added: "The New Port Project (NPP) Steering Committee has provided a perfect example by encouraging the contribution of the Qatari private sector

to national mega projects where the share of Qatari companies and local market in the contracts for the establishment of the port was nearly 60 percent. This comes in line with the wise leadership of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani according to which the largest share of economic development projects being implemented by the state shall be under-taken by the local sector."

→ Continued on page 2

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani and other officials at the ceremony to start full operations of Hamad Port at Mesaieed yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit/ The Peninsula

Hugo Wetscherek of Antiquariat Inlibris with an 1803 wall map, the largest of its kind printed for Middle Eastern audience. Pic: Raynald C Rivera / The Peninsula

Navigation at Doha Port has stopped for commercial vessels while it will continue receiving cruise ships.

5,600Hamad Port's sophisticated screening systems have the capacity to inspect as many as 5,600 containers per day.

2020-21 The second and third stages of the construction of Hamad Port will be completed by 2020-2021.

Brent crude at 16-month high on Opec moveOIL prices surged more than 4 percent yesterday, with Brent crude at its highest in about 16 months, extending gains after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict output to reduce the global supply glut more quickly.

Benchmark Brent futures for February delivery jumped as much as 5.1 percent to $54.53 a barrel, the highest since July 27, 2015. By 12:28 pm EST (1728 GMT), Brent was up $2.34, or 4.5 percent, at $54.18 a barrel. US crude rose $2.06, or 4.2 percent, to $51.50. Its session high was $51.80 a barrel, 13 cents below its 2016 high. Wednes-day's deal was OPEC’s first coordinated action in 15 years with non-member Russia. → See also pages 17 & 19

02 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 HOME

Prime Minister and Interior Minister of H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday met with heads of Federations of Chambers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on the occasion of convening their 49th meeting in Doha. The Prime Minister wished them success of their meeting, hoping that it would come out with outcomes that contribute to enhancing the progress of GCC countries.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday met with Turkey’s Court of Cassation President Ismail Rustu Cirit, and the delegation accompanying him on the occasion of their visit to the country. During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and exchanged views on a number of issues of common concern.

QNA

EMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani has sent a cable of condolences to Pres-ident of the Federative Republic of Brazil Michel Temer on victims of the plane that crashed in Colombia kill-ing many people including the Brazilian football team.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani also sent similar cables.

Emir sends condolences to Brazil President

The Peninsula

The Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) said yesterday that it has entered into a collaboration with two South Korean hospi-tals, formalising an agreement

that will see the three organisations explore potential areas of collaboration in healthcare.

The collaboration explored opportu-nities for staff from HMC and Asan Medical Center (AMC) and Seoul St. Mary’s Hos-pital (SSMH) in South Korea to plan and perform complex procedures together, specifically in the areas of Cardiology, Orthopedics and Transplantation.

To inaugurate this collaboration a medical forum was organised between HMC, the Ministry of Public Health and the South Korean embassy in Qatar in the presence of Dr. Young-tak Kim, Director of Asan Medical International (AMC), Dr. Yongsik Kim, Professor at SSMH, Heung-kyeong Park, South Korean ambassador to Qatar and Dr. Minwon Lee, Director General of Global Health Care Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of

South Korea. This new collaboration will direct the

resources available to healthcare profes-sionals in both countries and pave the way for new and innovative patient care.

HMC’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of Medical Education, Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal said, “We were pleased to be approached by the Koreans where they offered the opportunity to collabo-rate with AMC and SSMH. We look

forward to sharing ideas and developing more ways to improve the care we give to patients in Qatar.”

Mrs. Minwon Lee, Director General of Global Health Care Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea said, “HMC, AMC and SSMH are world-renowned medical institutions. This collaboration between those two excellent Korean hos-pitals will benefit patients in both of our nations. I am looking forward to hearing

many success stories in the future.” Representatives from Asan Medical

Center and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in Korea also toured HMC and viewed live procedures whilst also taking part in many joint discussions and presentations with HMC staff. Also during the visit the Korean medical teams were involved in conduct-ing surgical procedures jointly with medical teams from HMC. This included orthopedics, liver transplant and cardiac procedures. In particular, the first case of Living Donor Liver Transplantation in Qatar was done jointly, led by prominent Korean doctor, Dr. Sung-Gyu Lee, Presi-dent of Asan Healthcare System and his team, in collaboration with Prof. Hatem Khalaf, Clinical lead of HMC Liver Trans-plant and his team.

This will be the first significant outcome of implementation for the MoU on Coop-eration in the Field of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, signed in November 2014 on the occasion of the visit of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to South Korea. HMC will continue to explore fur-ther cooperation with leading Korean healthcare systems, said a statement.

Continued from page 1“The idea is to find out root

cause of diseases in targeted areas and bring about a compre-hensive solution in collaboration with local authorities and inter-nat ional humanitar ian organisations”, said Professor Ibrahim Al Jinahi, Head of the Technical Committee of SALI.

“For example, an organisation approached us seeking donation for a machine for kidney dialysis amid growing number of such cases. We asked them to wait and follow our procedures. We con-duct a survey to find out reason of the diseases and assess the requirements and the number of cases.” For example, studies

suggested that the cases of kidney failure were caused by drinking contaminated water.

"We launched a project to distribute clean drinking water in this area in collaboration with local authorities and interna-tional organization to eliminate the source of the disease. Based on such survey results, we launch health projects but not just to sup-ply medical equipment and medicines. We train the local doc-tors and upgrade the health care facilities to enable them handle such cases. SALI includes all this process," said Al Jinahi.

“We have organized the con-ference to announce the global humanitarian initiative to save

the life of the people worldwide, "said Dr Ayed bin Dabssan Al Qahtani, Chairman, Board of Trustees, and General Director, RAF in his inaugural speech.

" The project meant to sup-port health sector in targeted countries by making public and private partnership to train med-ical cadres. We also upgrade health facilities to provide health services to residents of their local-ities, said Al Qahtani.

“SALI was launched nine month ago in Sudan as an exper-iment," David H Dombkins, an adviser to the initiative.

"We focus on women and children. We are running mobile clinics in villages. New health

facilities were opened in towns and cities and existing ones were upgraded. New doctors and nurses were appointed. Medical cadres were trained to improve performances," he added.

The project in Sudan will con-tinue for two more years at least.

" Our next target is Yemen, we are preparing to Launch SALI there. Syria and Palestine are also in our plan," he added.

RAF’s initiative in Sudan focuses especially on pregnant women to curb post-natal deaths, said Babiker Mohamed Ali of the Khartoum State Ministry of Health. Many midwives were given training to ensure safe deliv-ery of children, he added.

Continued from page 1Later addressing a press con-

ference, H E Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti said that the construction work of the first phase of Hamad Port had been completed six months before its stipulated time and with a cost lower than estimated.

Expressing pride in his team, the minister said that the tech-nology being used for various operations of the port was most sophisticated and modern. “These systems have the capac-ity to inspect as many as 5,600 containers per day which stands among the highest figures of the world ports,” he added.

He said that the port had environmentally friendly sys-tems due to employment of the latest intelligent devices for the operations management, add-ing, "The port will use driver-less

vehicles for the transportation of all employees within the port." He said trial of self-driving car was successful and next year they would import more cars.

The minister said that nav-igation at Doha Port would stop for commercial vessels and it will continue receiving cruise ships till the announce-

ment of the next date. To a question, he said that

the port charges at Hamad Port will be competitive while the grace period for keeping goods

will be longer than that of pre-vious port to encourage and motivate traders to import goods via Hamad port, adding that the prices will be announced shortly.

"The new port will cover all local needs and we will also mar-ket the great potential of the Hamad Port to cover the needs of the regional countries,” he added.

"Since it started operating in early April until today, the port has received more than 190 ships," he said, adding that the port’s capacity will reach 2m containers soon and will reach to 7m after the completion of all stages of construction.

He said that as per directives of the Emir, and the guidance of the Prime Minister, the second and third stages of the construc-tion of Hamad Port will be completed by 2020-2021.

“The projects for these phases will be awarded in 2017 with a budgetary allocation amounting to QR2.5bn. The private sector would take 60% of the total value of the project,” the minister added.

HMC ties up with two S Korean hospitals

Ministry of Public Health and South Korean officials at the medical forum.

Hamad Port finishes first phase work ahead of schedule

Hamad Port, which was inaugurated in Mesaieed yesterday. (Right) Driverless smart transport car at the port. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

SALI: A global humanitarian initiative

THE Meteorology Depart-ment has forecast strong northwesterly winds from tomorrow until Monday evening as the country would be affected by an extension of high pressure system from northern Arabian Peninsula.

Temperatures will be around normal average, but it will be relatively colder at night and early morning due to fresh winds.

Strong windsforecast

New York

QNA

Qatar has reaffirmed its solidarity with Palestin-ian people and its support

for international efforts to achieve lasting, just and compre-hensive peace in the Middle East, expressing condemnation of the violations carried out by Israel.

This came in a statement issued by Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Thani to the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on ‘The

situation in the Middle East’ (item 34) and the ‘Question of Palestine’ (item 35), at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday.

He said the Middle East region is facing serious chal-lenges as a result of the escalating crises and conflicts.

He stressed that the time has come to reach a comprehensive, just and lasting solution on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the terms of reference of the Madrid Confer-ence including land for peace principle, Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map.

Qatar reaffirms solidarity with Palestinian people

Emir congratulatesRomania PresidentEMIR HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday sent a cable of congratula-tions to President of the Republic of Romania Klaus Werner Iohannis on the occa-sion of his country’s National Day reports QNA.

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani also sent similar cables.

PM meets heads of Federations of GCC Chambers PM meets Turkey’s Court of Cassation President

03FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 MIDDLE EAST

The Giza Pyramids are pictured behind the River Nile, during rain and a cold spell, on a cold weather around country and the capital Cairo, Egypt, yesterday.

History behind concrete

Aleppo may turn into big graveyard: UNAleppo

AFP

Hundreds of elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo yesterday ahead of a push

into the most densely populated areas, after the UN warned the city risked becoming a "giant graveyard".

Despite fierce global criti-cism, forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad have pressed an assault to retake control of all of Aleppo, once Syria's com-mercial hub but now a divided city in ruins.

The assault — backed by heavy artillery fire — has spurred a mass exodus of tens of thousands of residents from rebel-held districts.

The relentless barrage has left Aleppo's streets strewn with the bodies of men, women and children, many lying next to the suitcases they had packed to escape.

The steady artillery fire could again be heard pounding rebel areas early yesterday, with heavy rainfall adding to the misery.

The assault has seen Assad's forces make significant gains in the last week.

After overrunning the city's northeast, they were in control of 40 percent of the territory once held by opposition forces in Aleppo, according to the Syr-ian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The regime is tightening the noose on the remaining sec-tion of east Aleppo under rebel control," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

He said hundreds of fight-ers from the elite Republican Guard and Fourth Division arrived in Aleppo yesterday "in preparation for street battles" in the densely populated southeast.

"They are moving in on the ground, but they are afraid of ambushes because of the den-sity of both residents and

fighters," he said. The violence in Aleppo has

sparked widespread outrage, but little concrete action from the international community.

Speaking to a special Secu-rity Council session on Wednesday, UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien made an urgent appeal. "For the sake of humanity we call on — we plead — with the parties and those with influence to do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of eastern Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard," he said.

Syrian warplanes have been pounding east Aleppo with air strikes for months — often using

crude munitions like barrel bombs — but as the ground advance has gathered pace the army has instead turned to more precise artillery.

The effect has been no less devastating.

Yesterday, four children from a single family were killed in artillery fire by regime forces on the rebel-held Maadi neighbour-hood of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.

And at least 26 civilians, including seven children, were killed in shelling of the rebel-held Jubb Al Qubbeh district on Wednesday, the Observatory said.

The latest attacks brought the civilian toll of the government's

offensive to more than 300 civil-ians, including 42 children, since November 15.

Retaliatory rocket fire by the rebels on government-held areas has killed 48 civilians, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources on the ground.

Thousands of people have sought refuge in the remaining rebel-held neighbourhoods in southeastern Aleppo, arriving with overpacked suitcases or sometimes just the clothes on their backs.

Another 50,000 have poured out into territory controlled by government forces or local Kurd-ish authorities, according to the Observatory.

A child passes by a destroyed building at Cobanbey (Al-Rai) town of Al Bab district near Jarabulus in Syria yesterday.

Erdogan says Syria operation against terror groups onlyAnkara

AFP

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey's military operation in Syria was against "terror" groups, appearing to row back on his comments saying it was targeting President Bashar Al Assad.

"The operation's target is not against a country or a per-son but against terrorist organisations only," Erdogan told local neighbourhood chiefs in Ankara.

"No one should have any doubts or take our statements to mean something else. Even if Turkey is left alone, it will continue its fight against ter-rorist organisations."

Turkey launched its unprecedented operation in northern Syria in August, pro-viding tanks and aerial support to opposition fight-ers as they retake territory from the Islamic State (IS) group. Erdogan had on Tues-day said Turkey launched the offensive to "put an end to the rule of the tyrant Assad who carries out state terror, not for anything else".

The next day, Assad's ally Moscow which is providing military support to Damascus, demanded an explanation.

Russia proposes four humanitarian corridors to AleppoGeneva

AFP

Russia has proposed setting up four humanitarian cor-ridors to battered eastern

Aleppo to allow in aid as well as hundreds of desperately needed medical evacuations, the United Nation said yesterday.

"The Russian Federation announced that... they want to sit down in Aleppo with our peo-ple there to discuss how we can use the four corridors to evacu-ate people out," Jan Egeland,

head of the UN-backed human-itarian taskforce for Syria, told reporters in Geneva.

"We have at least 400 wounded that need immediate medical evacuation," Egeland said, adding that there would also be discussions on using "these corridors to get medical supplies and food in."

His comments came as hun-dreds of elite Syrian troops were moving into east Aleppo yester-day ahead of a push into the most densely populated areas.

Egeland, who put the exodus

from Aleppo at at least 27,000, said the UN had access to all the people in both the government- and Kurdish-held areas, but still could not reach those in besieged parts of the east.

Syria's main ally Russia has previously unilaterally declared the creation of evacuation pas-sages from east Aleppo, but the UN was not involved and the routes, which came under rebel fire, went largely unused.

Egeland acknowledged that previous attempts at setting up humanitarian corridors had not

been successful due to "issues with both sides," but said "a humanitarian corridor can work if all the armed actors respect it".

He said Russia has pledged to respect the corridors, and that "we (the UN) now feel confident that the armed opposition groups will do the same".

"Now I think it has dawned upon all sides the urgency of the situation," he said.

The UN peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters that a humanitarian "pause" in the fighting

remained UN priority.Egeland said access to the

besieged areas of east Aleppo was essential, adding that the UN has enough food stored in west-ern Aleppo to feed 150,000 people in the east, as well as medical supplies to cover all the needs there.

As for western Aleppo, he said the main concern was pro-viding adequate shelter for those flooding in from the east, who are joining some 400,000 dis-placed Syrians already in that part of the city.

Syrian Conflict

Elite regime troops advance into Aleppo as civilian casualties mount. Four children of one family killed in artillery fire.

Bill to increase Erdogan's powers to reach assemblyAnkara

AFP

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said yester-day a bill expanding

President Recep Tayyip Erdog-an's (pictured) power would be brought to parliament next week, just months after the leader survived a coup attempt.

"We will submit our pro-posal for constitutional reform to the Turkish national assem-bly next week," Yildirim told journalists in Ankara.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), co-founded by Erdogan, proposes to change Turkey's parliamen-tary system into a presidency, like that of France or the United States.

The country is also still reel-ing from a failed July 15 coup blamed on the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen that has been followed by a relent-less purge of his alleged supporters from all state institutions.

Yildirim said any changes would be put to the people in a referendum in "early summer" if "everything goes well" and it is approved by the parliament.

Erdogan was the country's first directly elected president

in August 2014, having been prime minister since 2003.

During his time as president, he has transformed what was usually a more ceremonial post, concentrating powers in what opponents have said is a viola-tion of the existing constitution.

Officials often say the bill, which would change the con-stitution, would legalise what has become a de facto situation.

For the bill to pass, it needs 330 votes from the 550-seat assembly to put any changes to the constitution — which dates back to the 1980s — to a public vote.

While a super-majority of 367 votes are needed to approve

the changes without public con-sultation, the government has repeatedly said that even if it were to get that number, they would hold a referendum.

The AKP currently falls below the number needed to go to a referendum, with only 317 seats including the speaker Ismail Kahraman.

To make up its shortfall, it has been chasing the support of the fourth-largest Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which has 40 MPs in the assembly.

The main opposition Repub-lican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Dem-ocratic Party (HDP) have repeatedly said they would oppose the reforms but MHP support would be enough to go to a vote.

Yildirim made his remarks during a press conference with MHP leader Devlet Bahceli after the two men met to discuss the changes.

Bahceli told reporters that the 90-minute meeting had gone "positively", suggesting the MHP could give its support and enough votes for the bill to pass.

"This proposal will surely be a text that has been agreed with or negotiated and then come to be agreed on with the MHP," Yildirim added.

First Israeli envoy to Turkey since 2010 arrivesAnkara

AFP

ISRAEL'S new ambassador to Turkey arrived in the cap-ital Ankara yesterday, an Israeli Embassy official said, to serve as the first official envoy since a six-year spat put diplomatic relations on ice.

Eitan Naeh arrived in the morning, the official, who did not wish to be named, told AFP. Naeh is due to present his letter of credence to Turk-ish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next few days.

Naeh, who had been serv-ing as deputy head of mission at the Israeli embassy in Lon-don, was chosen as ambassador earlier this month by a government committee.

A career diplomat, he previously worked at the embassy in Ankara from 1993 to 1997.

Naeh is the country's first envoy since Israeli comman-dos raided a Gaza-bound ship of activists in 2010.

After the raid which killed 10 Turkish activists, relations between the two countries plunged to an all-time low with both pulling their envoys out from the respective cap-itals. At one point, Erdogan even accused the Israeli lead-ership of "keeping Hitler's spirit alive".

But the bitter rift came to an end in June after long-run-ning secret talks in third countries with Israel offering $20m in compensation, an apology over the raid and permission for Turkish aid to reach Gaza.

Last week firefighting planes from Turkey were sent to Israel after bushfires raged.

Naeh told reporters at the airport: "We have a history of helping each other in times of need."

04 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 ISLAM

Islam shows great concern for the environment. A number of verses in the Holy Quran

and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have addressed this issue. Islam’s solution to environmental prob-lems lies in man’s adaptation of the guidance of Islam. Allah has stated that He made all the mate-rial objects on earth for man’s use, and not for his abuse.

Allah Almighty has not pre-vented humankind from enjoying a luxurious standard of living, but this should not be maintained by damaging and abusing natural resources. This is clearly stated in a number of verses in the Quran.

Allah says (what means):"But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the Hereafter; and (yet), do not for-get your share of the world. And do good as Allah has done good to you. And desire not corrup-tion in the land. Indeed, Allah does not like corruptors.“ [Quran 28:77]

The Quran and the Sunnah

of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) contains instructions for Muslims to preserve the environment, which includes not cutting down trees unnecessarily. In this respect, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) pointed out that there are benefits in planting trees, which will last until the Day of Judg-ment. This is illustrated in the saying of the Noble Prophet (PBUH): "If the Last Hour is imminent while one of you has a palm seedling in his hand (which he can plant before it happens), then let him plant it.” [Reported by Ahmad and Al-Bukhari]

Allah has ordained severe punishments for those who dam-age and abuse natural resources. Allah Says (what means): “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corrup-tion." [Quran 2:60]

"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by (reason of) what the hands of people have earned, so He (i.e. Allah) may let them taste part of

(the consequences of) what they have done that perhaps they will return (to righteousness).” [Quran 30:41]

Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, reports, "While we were on a journey with Allah's Messenger sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam (may Allah exalt his mention) the Prophet (PBUH) went a short distance

from where we had encamped. There we saw a small bird with two of its chicks and caught them. The bird was fluttering when the Prophet (PBUH) came back, so the Prophet (PBUH) asked, 'Who has distressed it by taking its chicks?' Then the Prophet (PBUH) asked us to return the chicks. There we also saw an anthill and burnt it out.

When the Prophet (PBUH) saw that, the Prophet (PBUH) asked, 'Who has burnt it?' When we informed Him that we had done it, the Prophet (PBUH) said, “Only the Lord of fire has the right to punish with fire.” Allah says in the Quran (what means): "And there is no creature on (or within) the earth or a bird that flies with its wings except that they are nations (communities) like you." [Quran 6:38]

We infer from the Prophet’s (PBUH) statement and this Quranic verse that all living things are part-ners to man in existence and they deserve our respect. We must be merciful towards animals and strive to ensure the preservation of different species.

Islam forbids wasting water and using it without benefit. The preservation of water for the nourishment of humankind, ani-mal life, bird life and vegetation is a practice that gains Allah’s pleasure.

In his article "Islam and the Environment," Arafat El Ashi, Director of the Muslim World

League in Canada, writes, "Human life is sacred in the sight of Islam. No one is permitted to take the life of another person except as life-for-life."

Under Islam, El Ashi states, "It [is] incumbent on every Muslim to contribute his/her share in improving greenery. Muslims should be active in growing more trees for the benefit of all people." Even during battle, Muslims are required to avoid cutting down trees that are useful to people.

Humankind’s stewardship of the earth entails a profound responsibility. Other living spe-cies, as mentioned above, are also considered by Allah to be “communities”.

Creation itself, in its bound-less diversity and complexity, may be thought of as a vast uni-verse of “signs” of Allah’s Power, Wisdom, Beneficence and Maj-esty. The responsibility of humankind is to keep Allah’s cre-ation undistorted. The environment is a trust presented by Allah to humankind and its abuse is a misuse of Allah’s trust.

There is no doubt that children are the com-fort of one's eyes and a source of happiness. Life becomes pleasant

with children on whom one’s hopes are pinned. While the father sees in his children a source of support, aid, and power, the mother sees in them hope, happiness of the heart, and security in the future.

All these privileges depend on a very important issue. Do you know what that is? It is a sound upbringing. When the parents bring up their children to the best of their ability, their goodness extends to the parents, society, and all of humanity, represent-ing what Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Wealth and chil-dren are [but] adornment of the worldly life.} [Quran 18:46]

However, if the children are improperly brought up and their characters are badly formed, they will be a curse for their par-ents and a widespread evil for their society and all people.

In this article, we address the Muslim mother who understands her parenting mission in this life and her responsibility towards bringing up her children and shap-ing their characters. The mother is undoubtedly more responsible than the father in this regard because children are closer to her and spend more time with her. The Noble Quran expressed this responsibility in what Allah, The Almighty, Says (which means): {O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones.} [Quran 66:6]

The Prophet (PBUH) also expressed it, saying: "A man is a guardian in his house and is responsible for the people under his guardianship, and a woman is a guardian in her husband’s home and she will be questioned over the people under her guard-ianship.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Bearing responsibility reflects a balanced personality: The person who enjoys greater mental balance also possesses the ability to bear responsibility. Thus, a woman who bears responsibility for her children and their upbringing is someone who has a balanced personality. Evading responsibility clearly indicates one's immaturity and lack of psychological soundness. Therefore, the mother is respon-sible for bringing up her children in an Islamic manner – a right-eous upbringing which embodies the noble manners that the Prophet (PBUH) was sent with, in order to perfect and instill them in people's lives.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: "I have been sent to perfect noble manners." [Al-Albaani: Saheeh]

Here we should stop and ask ourselves: What is the standard upon which we bring up our chil-dren? What are the means that help us to achieve this task?

First: To answer the first question every mother must ask herself: What is my standard for raising my children? What should I raise them to be? The basic standard for every Muslim mother in raising her children is Islam with its pure Sharee‘ah. Thus, a sound upbringing would rely on clear principles and sub-lime objectives.

How should we raise our children?

A Muslim mother should raise her children to have good manners and appropriate behav-iour. She has to raise them to venerate the ordinances of Allah, The Almighty, i.e., they are raised to perform prayer at the age of seven, to be attached to the Book of Allah, and to go to the Masjid where they meet good people and righteous friends. They

should be raised to revive the Sunnah (traditions) of the Prophet (PBUH) knowing his Seerah (biography) and battles that teach children patience and give them lessons which contrib-ute to the formation of their character. Children should be raised to love others, maintain ties of kinship, be kind to the weak, respect the elderly, show mercy to the young, enjoy doing goodness, be truthful in their speech and actions and to fulfill promises.

They should be brought up on righteous behavior by:

1- Warning against blind imitation

2- Avoiding living in exces-sive luxury

3- Keeping away from unlawful entertainment such as songs, music, and looking at pro-hibited things

4- Not imitating women (for boys)

5- Not displaying their beauty, adhering to Hijaab (Islamic covering), and not mix-ing with men (for girls)

6- Not entering any place

where evil or unlawful or waste-ful entertainment is practised

By doing so, children will be brought up to attain purity, chas-tity, bravery, and abstain from frivolous matters and worldly distractions; thus, they will grow as practising Muslims who live for Islam.

Second: The means that help in the upbringing of children

1- By habit2- By setting a good

example3- By admonition4- By observation5- By punishmentUpbringing by inculcating

good habits and disciplining at an early age is one of the strongest means of raising morally and spir-itually sound children. A well-established fact in the Islamic Sharee‘ah (Islamic legislation) is that man is born on pure Islamic monotheism and belief in Allah, The Almighty. This is confirmed by what Allah, The Almighty, Says (which means): {[Adhere to] the Fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of

Allah. That is the correct religion.} [Quran 30:30]

This is also confirmed by the saying of the Prophet (PBUH): "Every child is born upon Fitrah (natural disposition upon which Allah created mankind and which enables them to believe in the Oneness of Allah), but his parents make him a Jew, Chris-tian or a Magian. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

This is where the role of habituation, instruction, and dis-ciplining in raising children and getting them accustomed to noble manners and the etiquettes of the upright Sharee‘ah comes into play. When inculcating good qualities in her children, a mother must follow the method of encouragement by motivat-ing them with kind words and gifting them, and if this fails, then by warning. Sometimes a mother is obliged to use a deterring pun-ishment if she perceives its benefit in correcting deviation in the children. She has to dis-tinguish between the younger and the older children while cor-recting them and getting them habituated to something. Each of them requires a unique approach to learning and upbringing.

The Islamic approach to cor-recting children is based on two main factors:

1- Instruction: which repre-sents the theoretical aspect

2- Habituation: which rep-resents the practical aspect in the upbringing process.

With regard to instruction, for instance, the Prophet (PBUH) ordered the parents and guard-ians to instruct their children to say, "There is no deity truly wor-thy of worship but Allah," and thus it is an act of the Sunnah to announce the Athaan (call to prayer) in the ears of the new-born baby.

One example of habituation is the saying of the Prophet (PBUH): "Order your children to pray at the age of seven, and beat them for not praying at the age of ten, and separate their beds." [Al-Albaani: Hasan] By doing so, prayer will become a daily habit to the child and will be an act of worship when he grows mature.

The Islamic approach to cor-recting older children is based on three main factors:

1- Connecting the children with Islamic creed: This devel-ops a sense of being conscious of Allah, The Almighty, in the mind of the older child and leads to fearing Allah in secret and in public. Accordingly, it strength-ens his will, helping him to give up prohibited matters and adopt the best manners.

2- Disclosing what is evil: An older child can be convinced to relinquish evil acts and develop the determination to abandon vice when the nature of evil is disclosed to him. Moreover, he will be comfortable and assured about giving up every sinful and wicked act in this manner.

3- Changing the social envi-ronment: A good environment has a great impact on one's upbringing, reforming one's character and habituating the individual to righteous deeds. We know the Hadeeth of the man who killed one hundred people and came to ask the most knowl-edgeable man on earth if he could repent. The answer was, "Travel to such-and-such land as there are people worshiping Allah, The Almighty; so worship Allah with them and do not return to your land because it is a land of evil." [Muslim]

Dear Muslim mother, make your children used to being good and righteous, for being good is an invaluable habit.

www.islamweb.net

Abusing the environment: An Islamic perspective

A practical programme for raising children

05FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 ASIA / AFRICA

Gambians head to polls amid internet shutdownBanjul

AFP

Gambians cast their ballots yesterday in a presidential poll that poses the strongest challenge yet to

Yahya Jammeh's 22-year rule, with political rivals energised by an unprecedented opposition campaign.

The first of some 880,000 eligible voters headed to polling stations despite an internet blackout imposed overnight in a nation long accused by rights groups of suppressing freedom of expression.

The winner in the three-way race will serve a five-year term in The Gambia, a tiny former British colony in west Africa which occupies a narrow sliver of land surrounded by French-speaking Senegal.

"Jammeh is my president, and he's been doing a lot of development for this country," said former Gambian interna-tional footballer Alhaji Momodo Nije voting at a cricket associa-tion in Banjul.

"The president himself swore on the Holy Quran that if he ever turned his back on this country God would turn against him, and I believe him," he added.

Jammeh is running for a fifth

term in office with his ruling Alli-ance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

He faces previously unknown businessman Adama Barrow, chosen as a flagbearer by a group of political parties who have joined forces for the first time and won unprece-dented popular support.

Before heading to vote,

Barrow said he was confident of victory. "It's very clear, the writ-ing is on the wall that I'm going to win."

A third candidate, former ruling party MP Mama Kandeh, is also standing for the Gambian Democratic Congress (GDC).

All three men are 51, born in 1965, the year The Gambia won its independence from Britain.

At his final rally on Tuesday night, Jammeh said he was look-ing forward to ramping up development in a country that "will move faster than it has in 22 years," but he also warned that protests over the election result would not be tolerated.

The Gambia's unique voting system, which sees citizens vote by dropping a marble into a col-oured drum for their candidate, could not be rigged, he added, meaning "there is no reason for anybody to protest."

Rights group Amnesty Inter-national urged the authorities to ensure that the election and post-electoral period "are held in a climate that is free from vio-lence and which fully respects the right of all people to freely express their views."

The Internet and phone lines went down at around 8.15pm on the eve of the vote.

Popular private voice and messaging apps such as What-sapp, Skype and Viber were

unreachable without a Virtual Private Network (VPN), software many Gambians use to work around the problem.

The opposition has relied on messaging applications and texts to organise rallies and move around roadblocks that were set up in Banjul during the last week of campaigning.

"We are not happy. Gambi-ans need to know what is going on. Social media is very impor-tant for this election," opposition leader Barrow said.

If Barrow were to win, he would likely serve a three-year term at the head of a transition reform government.

Ethiopian opposition leader heldAddis Ababa

AFP

AN Ethiopian opposition leader has been arrested fol-lowing his return from Europe where he had spoken about a state of emergency imposed last month to quell anti-government protests, his coalition said yesterday.

Merera Gudina, the 60-year-old chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) was arrested at his home in Addis Ababa on Wednesday and is being held in an unknown location with three others, said Beyenne Petros, president of the Medrek opposition alliance of which the OFC is a member.

"This is the first time they are targeting the highest level of leadership. I don't fully understand. Merera has always done things peacefully and played by rules," Petros said.

Earlier this month Gudina had addressed the European Parliament in Brussels, along-side Olympic silver medallist runner and fellow member of the Oromo tribe, Feyisa Lilesa.

Nairobi

AP

Two Iranian men were charged yesterday in a Kenyan court with collect-

ing information to facilitate a terrorist act after they were allegedly found with video foot-age of the Israeli embassy.

Sayed Nasrollah Ebrahim and Abdolhosein Gholi Safaee

were arrested Tuesday in an Ira-nian diplomatic car on Bishops Road in Nairobi, after they had come from visiting Kamiti Prison where they saw two other Ira-nians who have been jailed for 15 years on terrorism charges, said prosecutor Duncan Ondimu.

The suspects were taking the pictures using a mobile phone, Ondimu said.

A Kenyan driver, Moses

Keyah Mmboga, who was chauf-feuring the vehicle belonging to the Iranian embassy, has been charged with the suspects and also faces a separate charge of "abetting terrorism.

Iranian agents are suspected in attacks or thwarted attacks around the globe in recent years, including in Azerbaijan, Thailand and India. Most of the plots had Israeli targets.

In June 2013, a Kenyan court convicted two Iranian nationals of being Quds agents plotting attacks against Western targets in Kenya and they were sen-tenced to life in prison. That sentence was reduced on appeal in February to 15 years imprisonment.

Ahmad Abolfathi Moham-mad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested in June

2012 and led officials to a 15-kil-ogramme stash of the explosive RDX. At least 85 kilogrammes of the explosives that authorities say was shipped into Kenya has not yet been found.

Kenyan anti-terror officials said the two Iranians are mem-bers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, an elite and secre-tive unit.

Dakar

Reuters

A spate of attacks by Boko Haram in southeastern Niger in recent months is

hindering the delivery of aid to more than 200,000 people forced from their homes, aid agencies said yesterday.

Niger's Diffa region is host-ing around 220,000 displaced people - split almost evenly between uprooted Nigeriens and Nigerian refugees - who have fled violence by the Islamist mil-itants on both sides of the border, the United Nations says.

The region has been targeted around 15 times since Septem-ber in attacks blamed on Boko Haram, causing thousands more to flee and restricting access to those in need of aid, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"The humanitarian situation is really dire, and deteriorating," Geoffrey Denye, a spokesman for aid group World Vision, said recently.

"The displaced are getting harder to reach and humanitar-ians are required to take more risks to provide aid due to the insecurity."

Several aid agencies said the military had restricted human-itarian access to areas around the town of Bosso, where 32 sol-diers were killed in June by Boko Haram in the militant group' deadliest attack in Niger since April 2015.

Among the recent attacks in Diffa, supplies and essential medicines have been looted from health facilities.

This could scare local health workers and deter from work-ing in the region, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

"On the whole, the aid

response is not as effective as it should be," said Mari Carmen Viñoles, Niger programme man-ager for MSF.

"There is problem around coordination, the different responsibilities of various humanitarian actors are not clear."

"These people are spread across an area the size of Bel-gium, and most are without livelihoods or access to social services," said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Benoit Moreno.

"It's a challenge for human-itarian organisations".

Nigerian author dumps US green cardJohannesburg

AFP

Nigerian Nobel prize-winning author Wole Soyinka said yesterday

he has fulfilled his pledge to throw away his US residency green card and leave the coun-try if Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Shortly before the vote, Soyinka had vowed to give up his permanent US residency over a Trump victory to protest against the Republican billion-aire's campaign promises to get tough on immigration.

"I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the United States). I have done what I said I would do," the 82-year-old said on the side-lines of an education conference at the University of Johannesburg.

"I had a horror of what is to come with Trump... I threw away the (green) card, and I have relocated, and I'm back to where I have always been".

The prolific playwright, novelist and poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and has been a regular teacher at US universities

including Harvard, Cornell and Yale.

At the same time he also said that he would not discour-age others from applying for a green card.

"It's useful in many ways. I wouldn't for one single moment discourage any Nige-rians or anybody from acquiring a green card... but I have had enough of it," he said recently.

Soyinka, one of Africa's most famous writers and rights activists, was jailed in 1967 for 22 months during Nigeria's civil war.

Anti-China lawmakers lose appeal over banHong Kong

AFP

Two pro-independence Hong Kong lawmakers lost their appeal against a

ban preventing them from tak-ing up their seats in parliament as Beijing faces accusations of stepping up interference in the city's politics.

Speaking after Wednesday's judgement, an angry Leung said the "invisible hand" of Beijing had intervened in Hong Kong's affairs.

Leung and Yau were voted in to parliament in citywide polls in September which saw sev-eral rebel candidates take seats for the first time, advocating either independence or self-determination for Hong Kong.

Following Beijing's protest, Hong Kong's High Court ruled the two lawmakers should be disqualified from the legislature because their oaths were invalid, in an unprecedented judicial review brought by the city's leader and justice secretary.

Yau and Leung appealed the decision, but lost out on Wednesday in a judgement that took Beijing's ruling into account, amid criticism and dis-approval that the separation of powers in Hong Kong has been compromised.

The judgement said the court's duty to apply the city's constitution, known as the Basic Law, outweighed the doctrine of separation of powers and non-intervention.

Boko Haram attacks hinder aid delivery in Niger

Kenyan court charges two Iranians with terrorism

Incumbent Gambian president Yahya Jammeh gestures before casting his marble in a polling station in a presidential poll, in Banjul, yesterday. BELOW: Voters queue at a polling station.

Poll-itical battle

Incumbent president said he was looking forward to ramping up development in a country that 'will move faster than it has in 22 years,' but also warned that protests over the election result would not be tolerated.

The first of some 880,000 eligible voters headed to polling stations despite an internet blackout imposed overnight in a nation long accused by rights groups of suppressing freedom of expression.

Democratically elected lawmaker Lau Siu-lai holds a press conference at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong.

06 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 ASIA / PHILIPPINES

JAPAN has mobilised its mili-tary to help with a second mass cull of 230,000 chickens amid a spreading outbreak of a highly contagious strain of avian flu, officials said.

The highly virulent H5 strain was found in chickens at a farm in Joetsu city in Niigata prefec-ture, the local government said in a statement late Wednesday.

It said that 2,100 people, including 1,020 members of the military, were being mobilised in the effort to kill the chickens and contain the virus.

The chicken slaughter began late Wednesday and was expected to continue until Sun-day, the statement said.

Authorities have also banned the transport of poultry and poultry products in areas close to the affected farm, while sterilis-ing main roads leading to them.

NEWS BYTES

Japan culls chickens over flu outbreak

Vajiralongkorn proclaimed Thai kingBangkok

AFP

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed king of Thailand late yester-day, opening a new

chapter for the powerful mon-archy in a country still mourning the death of his father.

Vajiralongkorn, 64, who inherits one of the world's rich-est monarchies as well as a politically troubled nation, ascends the throne 50 days after King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death.

After weeks of complex pal-ace protocols the prince was invited by the head of the National Legislative Assembly

(NLA) to ascend the throne in an event broadcast on all Thai tel-evision channels.

"I agree to accept the wishes of the late king... for the benefit of the entire Thai people," Vaji-ralongkorn, who was named heir for more than 40 years, said.

The sombre ceremony at his Bangkok palace was attended by junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the powerful head of the privy council and the chief of the NLA.

Red-jacketed courtiers looked on as a palace staff mem-ber shuffling on his knees presented the new king with a microphone through which he delivered his few words of acceptance.

Buddhist temples across the country have been asked to beat

drums and gongs after his proclamation.

He becomes Rama X of Thai-land's Chakri dynasty, but will not formally be crowned until after his father's cremation, which is expected next year.

Bhumibol's reign, which ended on October 13, spanned seven turmoil-laden decades, pockmarked by a communist insurgency, coups and street protests.

To many Thais Bhumibol was the only consistent force in a politically combustible coun-try, his image burnished by ritual and shielded by a harsh royal defamation law.

Vajiralongkorn does not yet enjoy the same level of popularity.

He spends much of his time outside of the public eye, partic-ularly in southern Germany where he owns property.

Yesterday's ascension ends a period of uncertainty which followed a shock junta announcement after Bhumibol's death that the prince had asked to delay his official proclama-tion so he could mourn.

Thailand's constitutional monarchy has limited formal powers.

But it draws the loyalty of much of the kingdom's super-rich business elite as well as a military that dominates politics through its regular coups.

It is also protected from crit-icism by one of the world's harshest lese majeste laws,

carrying up to 15 years in jail for every charge of defaming the (kingdom) king, queen, heir or regent.

That law makes open discus-sion about the royal family's role all but impossible inside the kingdom and means all media based inside the country rou-tinely self-censor.

In a sign of the extreme sen-sitivity of all royal matters inside Thailand, the BBC World News segment on the kingdom was pulled by censors with the words "programming will return shortly" replacing its report.

Convictions for so-called "112" offences -- named after its criminal code -- have skyrock-eted since generals seized power in 2014.

Indonesian police fire water cannon at pro-Papua demoJakarta

AFP

Indonesian police yesterday fired water cannon in a bid to disperse a demonstration

against Jakarta's rule over the insurgency-hit eastern region of Papua, and rounded up scores of protesters.

About 150 protesters rallied in Jakarta to mark the anniver-sary of Papua's 1961 declaration of independence, two years before Indonesia took control of the region from former colo-nial ruler the Netherlands.

Insurgents have been fight-ing against rule from Jakarta ever since, while the central government has sought to keep a tight grip on the resource-rich

region with a heavy military and police presence.

The protesters, mostly uni-versity students from the Free Papua Organisation and the Papua Student Alliance, yelled "Free Papua", facing off against hundreds of police in riot gear.

"It's enough. Our people have been killed and detained, it's enough," said protester Cheko, who only gave one name.

Four demonstrators were detained after police accused them of displaying the pro-independence "Morning Star" flag, which is banned, and most of the other protesters were later taken away in police vans, going voluntarily without any violence breaking out.

Veronica Koman, a lawyer from Jakarta Legal Aid Foun-dation, said the group had a team of lawyers ready to defend the protesters.

Six years after taking con-trol of Papua, Indonesia held a

referendum that it says vali-dated its claim to the region.

But the vote was widely seen as a sham, with Jakarta hand-picking 1,026 people to vote on behalf of all the Papuans.

President Joko Widodo has pledged to improve livelihoods in Papua, which is one of the least developed regions of the archipelago, and has repeatedly travelled there during his two years in office.

Arson hits home of Park ’s fatherCONSTRUCTION of the world's first full-size replica of the Titanic has begun in China, state media reported yesterday, where it is expected to enjoy smoother sailing as a lakeside tourist draw than its namesake.

The 269-metre long, 28-metre wide ship will be docked permanently on a res-ervoir in a rural area of Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency cited a senior exec-utive of the shipbuilder as saying.

It will feature an interior reproducing some of the gran-deur of the original including a ballroom, theatre, swimming pool and first-class cabins, with the addition of wifi, said Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group's deputy general man-ager Wang Weiling.

A keel-laying ceremony complete with confetti and fire-works was held on Wednesday.

Titanic replica built in China theme parkManila raises terror alert

after foiled bomb plotZamboanga City

Anatolia

Authorities have raised the terror alert level in major

cities nationwide as two suspected IS-linked mili-tants were paraded before the media yesterday for a foiled bomb attack near the US embassy in Manila.

The raise comes after the military finally drove an IS-affiliated group whom the men have been linked to from a southern town after a week of intense fighting.

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said yesterday that tighter security measures should be anticipated as he pre-

sented the two suspects."Strong checkpoints

should be expected... raids on suspected terrorist per-sonalities and areas where they may hide,” he added.

ABS-CBN reported Dela Rosa as saying that the duo were part of an alliance of terror groups that include the Maute group, an IS-affiliate the government has been bat-tling for seven days in the south.

He added that the sus-pects had confessed to planning the attack on Manila's Roxas Boulevard to secure recognition and funding from IS, while diverting state forces from their ongoing offensive against Maute in Lanao Del Sur.

Ascension

I agree to accept the wishes of the late king... for the benefit of the entire Thai people: Vajiralongkorn.

Yesterday's ascension ends a period of uncertainty which followed a shock junta announcement after Bhumibol's death that the prince had asked to delay his official proclamation so he could mourn.

Protesters face water cannon during a protest by mostly university students from Free Papua Organization and the Papua Student Alliance in Jakarta, yesterday.

Thailand's new King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun pays respect to a picture of late king Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit at Dusit Palace, in Bangkok, yesterday. CENTRE: Officials buy a picture of proclaimed king for their office, at a royal memorabilia shop. RIGHT: Honour Guards walk outside the Grand Palace.

Seoul

AFP

The birthplace of the father of South Korea's scandal-hit President Park

Geun-hye was damaged in an arson attack yesterday, police said, with the suspect allegedly calling on the leader to quit.

The suspected arson attack damaged the memorial hall of the house where former mili-tary dictator Park Chung-Hee was born in the southern city of Gumi, police said. A 48-year-old man was arrested nearby for suspected arson.

"The president should have resigned or killed herself. I set the fire because she did neither," the suspect was quoted as say-ing by the police, according to Yonhap news agency.

Police were investigating whether he had written a mes-sage in the visitors' book

yesterday which read "Kill your-self, Park Geun-hye. Stop soiling your father's name".

Park said this week she would let parliament decide her fate following accusations that she colluded with Choi Soon-Sil to coerce firms to "donate" tens

of millions of dollars to founda-tions which were used for Choi's personal gain.

Park has been named a sus-pect in the investigation, making her the first sitting president to be subject to a criminal probe while in office.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye visits the scene of a fire at a traditional market in Daegu, yesterday.

07FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 PAKISTAN

A Pakistani social activist tags a red ribbon on her colleague during a rally to raise awareness on World AIDS Day in Lahore, yesterday.

Awareness drive

Huge praise

“You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way. I am looking forward to see you soon."

“I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honour and I will personally do it.”

Islamabad

AFP

Pakistan said US Presi-dent-elect Donald Trump praised its prime minister as a “terrific guy” and

offered support for a “fantastic” country, in an effusive phone call that baffled many after sharp criticisms in the past.

The Pakistani government released the candid account, complete with Trump’s trade-mark language, after Nawaz Sharif phoned the billionaire real estate mogul to congratulate him on his election victory.

The widely-circulated state-ment released late on Wednesday caused surprise given the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Trump campaign and the president-elect’s past descrip-tion of Pakistan as “not our friend”. It said Trump told the embattled Pakistani leader, cur-rently embroiled in a corruption court case, that he has a “very good reputation”.

“You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which

is visible in every way. I am look-ing forward to see you soon. As I am talking to you prime min-ister, I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long,” it quoted Trump as saying.

“Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people,” Trump said according to the statement, while also offering to help solve the nation’s many challenges which include a violent insurgency.

“I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solu-tions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honour and I will personally do it.”

Trump has long been disdain-ful of Pakistan on social media. On January 17, 2012, he tweeted: “Get it straight: Pakistan is not our friend. We’ve given them billions and billions of dollars, and what did we get? Betrayal and disre-spect - and much worse. #TimeToGetTough”

Pakistanis have also been suspicious of his relationship with arch-rival India.

Pakistan heavily relies on US

Kabul

AFP

Afghan female volleyball players called for a change in mindset Thursday at a

Kabul tournament marking a rare chance for women athletes to compete in the national spot-light in the deeply conservative, war-torn Muslim country.

The United Nations hosted the tournament as part of a cam-paign against gender violence in Afghanistan, still seen by foreign observers as one of the worst places in the world to be a woman. “Initially, my father was against my playing volleyball, he threw out my jerseys,” Muzhgan Sadat, a member of the Afghan Red Crescent team, said.

The young business gradu-ate, her head covered in a scarf, said she begged her father to reconsider—and, when he finally saw her play, “he changed his mentality”. “I urge every single person, please change your mind and don’t look down on women,” the 23-year-old said.

“Please don’t impose your restrictions and oppressions on them. A woman has the same abilities as a man does... Chase your dreams, never give up, fight against restrictions and show

Trump pledges to help ‘terrific’ Sharif in call

aid and is likely to get around $1bn in economic and security assistance in the 2017 financial year. Relations plummeted after it emerged in 2011 that the US had carried out a raid to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, found hiding in Pakistan, with-out Islamabad’s consent.

Trump’s election has met with concern over what it could mean for aid commitments and bumpy diplomatic relations. However, the government state-ment said Trump urged Sharif to call him “any time even before 20th January” when he takes power.

Trump also responded to an invitation to visit Pakistan by saying he would “love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people”, it said.

He would be the first US president to visit since George W Bush during military leader Per-vez Musharraf’s rule in 2006.

“His visit to Pakistan would be most welcome,” a foreign min-istry spokesman said Thursday. Pakistan “would like to strengthen ... the existing rela-tionship further and we would like to continue working with the new administration when it takes over,” he continued.

Some social media users appeared to welcome the phone call revelations. “Fantastic diplo-macy” wrote Pakistani journalist Waseem Abbasi, based in Wash-ington, on Facebook.

Some were more sceptical. “But Trump do you know most Pakistanis are Muslim - how can

they be ‘brilliant and exceptional’ as well? Won’t you stop them entering?” wrote journalist Omar Quraishi on Twitter. Trump railed against Muslims during the campaign and vowed to ban them from entering the US.

“I’m still trying to process that zany Trump-Sharif phone call. Who would have known that Trump would become a spokes-man for #PakPositive?” tweeted Michael Kugelman, an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

Kugelman later warned not to read too much into the call, given how “unpredictable” Trump can be. Trump’s transi-tion team confirmed the call but gave a more toned-down account, saying the pair had a “productive conversation about how the United States and Paki-stan will have a strong working relationship in the future.”

“President-elect Trump also noted that he is looking forward to a lasting and strong personal relationship with Prime Minis-ter Sharif,” it said in a statement.

Members of an Afghan women's volleyball team play in the final round of a volleyball tournament at Kabul University in Kabul, yesterday.

Afghan female volleyball players call for change

your parents that women can be as good as men.”

Shugla Hellali, a specialist on gender issues at the United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, said she is “optimistic” about women in Afghanistan.

“Ten years ago, we had no

girls’ volleyball team in the country, but now they have come such a long way forward,” she said.

Gender equality in Afghan-istan has improved somewhat since a US-led coalition toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, but women still suffer

tight restrictions and regular violence. In March 2015, a 27-year-old woman known as Farkhunda was beaten to death in Kabul after being falsely accused of blasphemy, a case that became a symbol of the endemic violence that women still face.

Islamabad

Internews

Questioning the finances for the purchase of the Sharif family’s London

apartments, the Supreme Court of Pakistan yesterday observed that no documents had been produced to trace the money trail of flats.

A five-judge larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, observed while hearing the Panamagate case that all the documents submit-ted by the Sharif family as well as their statements were con-tradicting the speeches delivered by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The top court, however, made it clear that the burden of proof would be shifted to the Sharif family if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) estab-lished a link between the family and London flats before 2006.

Examining the documents provided by the legal teams of both the parties, the court asked as to how the finances were gen-erated for the steel mill in Jeddah and for how much the same was sold. The top court further asked through which source of remit-tance the money was transferred from Jeddah to London.

Thursday’s hearing in the top court started with the argu-ments of Naeem Bukhari, leading counsel for the PTI after Hamid Khan.

Bukhari produced a sum-mary of transactions under the share sale contract of 1978 between buyer Abdallah Kaid Ahli and seller Tariq Shafi, cousin of Shahbaz Sharif, as well as record from the Bank of Credit and Commerce Interna-tional (BCCI) Dubai.

According to it, the balance liability of Tariq Shafi to the BCCI after payment of 75 per-cent of the shares by the buyer directly to the bank was 6,289,589 dirhams, while an amount payable to the Dubai Electricity Co by the Gulf Steel Mill (GSM), was payable by Tariq Shafi in equal monthly installments of Dh60,000.

Similarly, the remaining lia-bility of Tariq Shafi was Dh5,506,651. The report alleged that a total amount of Dh14,648,899 was paid from undisclosed sources. He said that a contract was made for the GSM on April 14, 1980, and added that Tariq Shafi was rep-resented by his cousin Shahbaz Sharif. Tariq Shafi had sold his 25 percent shares to Ahli Steel Mill for 12 million dirhams. Bukhari said that contrary to this, the premier had claimed that the shares were sold for 33 million dirhams.

Bukhari alleged that Shah-baz Sharif had forged his cousin’s signature, as there was a difference in the signatures on the affidavit and the contract.

Bamiyan

AFP

For centuries they stood, two monumental ancient statues of Buddha carved

into the cliffs of Bamiyan, loved and revered by generations of Afghans -- only to be pulver-ised by the Taliban in an act of cultural genocide.

It felt like the loss of family for many who live and tend their crops nearby — but some 15 years on they are hopeful these awe-inspiring relics can be reconstructed. But experts are divided on the value of rebuild-ing the artefacts, with some insisting it is more important to preserve the remains of the entire crumbling site.

Archaeologists and restor-ers, mostly Afghan, German, Japanese and French, working in the Bamiyan Valley in central Afghanistan plan to meet in Munich, Germany. There they will try to move forward on the

issue, as much a matter of the conservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as of the memories and culture of a bru-talised community.

All Afghans, especially the peasants tending potatoes at the front of the cliffs, mourn the loss of the tutelary silhouettes—the largest, the Salsal, was 56 metres high; its feminine version, the Shamama, 38 metres.

They were blasted in April 2001 by the Taliban, who had taken control of the province and killed thousands of Hazara civil-ians, a Shiite Muslim minority in Bamiyan. “For us, they were like parents,” said Hakim Safa, the 27-year-old representative from the Afghan culture ministry sell-ing tickets at the site. “I feel as though I had lost family.”

“In the villages local people very much want the Buddhas to be rebuilt... They are always ask-ing us, when will you be ready to begin?” says Rassoul Chojai, professor of archeology at the

University of Bamiyan. But the statues were so thoroughly destroyed that it is not even clear if they ever could be reconstructed.

Unesco and the archaeolo-gists have gathered fragments, a clutter of rocks and stones of various sizes. But the bulk of the monuments has simply van-ished, reduced to dust. “The destruction of the great Buddhas is total,” confirms Julio Bend-ezu-Sarmiento, director of the French Archaeological Delega-tion in Afghanistan (DAFA) and member of the committee for the preservation of Bamiyan which will meet in Germany.

“The focus for Unesco is to preserve the remains of the stat-ues,” said Ghula Reza Mohammadi, representative of the UN agency in Bamiyan. Unesco has reinforced the niche of the Shamama with the help of Japanese funding, and is now working on that of the Salsal, enmeshed in giant scaffolding.

AS the momentum on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor gears up, interest in learning the Chinese language among the youth is increas-ing in Pakistan.

The Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) is providing free of cost three-month courses in six districts of the Punjab. Purpose to start this language programme is to make the already trained skilled labour force of Paki-stan more acceptable in the Chinese market.

Tevta Chairman Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said till now 4,000 youth have learned the language and in one year period 15,000 more will be able to speak and understand the language. This will help them get jobs in Chinese com-panies working on the CPEC. The students view that the Chinese is not difficult and the CPEC is opening opportuni-ties for us.

SC questions money trail of Sharif’s London apartments

Rebuilding history? Debate rages over lost Afghan Buddhas

Many learning Chinese to reap CPEC benefits

IN a bold move that clearly shows an urgency to improve bowling standards, Sri Lankan cricket authorities have roped in Pakistan great Wasim Akram to tutor the young pacemen in the Island

country. With the next ICC Cricket World Cup still more than 25 months away, Sri Lankan cricket board has set things in motion to execute plans that would get then desired results at the 2019 cricket showpiece.

Akram, now 50, remains one of the game’s greats, having captained and played for Pakistan for almost two decades before calling it quits in 2003. Considered on par with Australian swing great Alan Davidson, Akram played 10 long years for English county giants Lancashire, helping the side at Old Trafford to numerous trophies during his decade-old stay at a club that was formed in 1864.

The ‘Sultan of Swing’ arrived in Colombo on Thursday and got down to business end of things by holding his first session with a promising crop of fast bowlers in Sri Lanka. Akram, the Man of the Match in the 1992 World Cup final in Melbourne, said he was impressed by raw pace exhibited by some of the fast bowlers, insisting Sri Lanka

must prepare pitches that support swing bowling.

Akram, who paired up with Waqar Younis in the 90s, underlined the importance of learning how to swing the ball. The world’s leading left-arm pacer nodded his head in approval when he saw young Sri Lankan pacers clocking digits close to 140km/p.

Giving his assessment after the first session at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground, Akram - a hugely popular TV personality in

Pakistan - said Sri Lankan pacers must learn new tricks to outfox the batsmen, just as he had himself done when he played for Pakistan from 1984 to 2003. Akram said the game had clearly moved on since he retired but yet the fundamentals of the sport remained the same.

On Thursday, Akram was joined former paceman Chaminda Vaas, a left-armer who created a name for himself, bowling over after over in style that matched Akram’s swing guile. Vaas, who was Sri Lanka’s leading bowler during their victorious run at the 1996 World Cup, played against Akram during his heyday. Vaas, 42, will continue to assist Akram during the two-week camp where former cricket star Aravinda da Silva will also remain a frequent visitor.

After Thursday’s first visit, Sri Lanka Cricket Chief Thilanga Sumathipala told local media that Akram - who is a mentor with IPL giants Kolkata Knight Riders - will visit Sri Lanka twice a year for the next two years.

Sporting a pair of jeans and a black t-short, Akram cut a familiar figure with a ball in hand as he guided the Sri Lanka youngsters with some much-needed tips on fast bowling. Thursday’s camp also featured Sri Lankan pace giant Lasith Malinga who had been recovering from an injury.

08 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORHUSSAIN AHMAD

hussain@pen.com.qa

Swing king in Lanka

QUOTE OF THE DAY

About 30,000 people are receiving aid after fleeing the besieged eastern zone of the Syrian city of Aleppo in the past few days, taking the total number of displaced people in the city to 400,000.

Staffan de MisturaUN Special Envoy

Akram, now 50, remains one of the game’s greats, having captained and played for Pakistan for almost two decades before calling it quits in 2003.

It goes without saying that Donald Trump will make the fight against religious extremism his top priority in the next four years. But if he wants to stay ahead of groups like Islamic State, he needs to

move quickly on taking his security policies beyond the Middle East.

Specifically, Trump needs to come up with something new in Washington’s approach to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Just look at the map: This core region between Russia, China and Iran is at the crossroads of security chal-lenges, including terrorism and radicalism.

Kazakhstan, in particular, is at the inter-section of political and economic interests not only for Washington but also Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. As Trump articulates a new vision for the United States, the issue is sim-ple: Kazakhstan’s crucial geo-strategic position requires American attention.

The Obama administration created a vac-uum in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, piling up security challenges for the region and for the United States. The sum total of these conflicts across a wide arc from North Africa to the Levant to Central Asia has cre-ated a security nightmare that will demand thoughtfulness and foresight. The Trump administration needs to begin addressing the Islamist challenge by engaging Kazakhstan directly. This is because Afghanistan remains a bleeding wound, as the Taliban and espe-cially Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) are likely to affect mostly secular/moderate, Islamic-majority autocracies of Central Asia negatively by launching recruitment opera-tions and ultimately extremist attacks in these countries. Reports from Kazakhstan suggest this process is already starting.

In addition, the outflow of Central Asian fighters who went to wage jihad in Syria are backwashing to Central Asia, potentially capable of undermining not just Kazakhstan and Central Asia at large, but also Russia and Europe.

The Trump administration will be well advised to focus on new bilateral security programs with Kazakhstan. A former Soviet republic, the Muslim-majority country has long recognized the importance of managing its Islamic revivalism while simultaneously developing its energy infrastructure and vast mineral resources.

First, the United States should restructure the C5+1 format. The C5+1, only a year old, is a platform that brings together the five states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and the United States. The C5+1 has met twice.

The C5+1 needs to be given more priority and necessary leadership. C5+1’s ambitious program needs a retrofit. But there is a larger point: President Barack Obama failed to visit Central Asia during his eight years in office. President-elect Trump should rectify this strategic neglect: any trip to China or Russia should also include a stop in Central Asia.

In Kazakhstan, Trump could find the key to fighting ISTheodore Karasik Reuters

Second, Kazakhstan should become one of the key U.S. security partners in the region by revisiting Centrasbat, or the Central Asian Battalion.

In 1996, the United States helped to established Centrasbat, which was sup-posed to strengthen the military-to-military relationships and regional security through joint peacekeeping.

Unfortunately, Centrasbat suffered from neglect as a flagging of American engagement moved Afghanistan to the back burner. A new plan that gives Cen-trasbat a sharp, cutting-edge counter-terrorism mission is necessary. The requirements for combating terror-ist activity and ideology will require thinking out of the box, including coun-tering radical ideology and propaganda. A new bilateral security relationship is needed between Washington and Astana.

The United States should also expand diplomatic cooperation with Kaza-khstan, which plays an important founding role in the Russian-led Collec-tive Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

and the Shanghai Coop-eration Organization (SCO). However, most valuable to Washington is Astana’s ability to work with all great powers and

international organizations, including the U.N., where Kazakhstan is to become a non-permanent Security Council member as of January 2017.

On the international stage, Kaza-khstan, under President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s tutelage, has also chaired the Organization for Security and Coop-eration (OSCE) in 2010 as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2011.

Let’s not forget that Nazarbayev pro-moted his own vision of security with the Conference on Interaction and Con-fidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which is a possible mechanism for bringing together countries.

On the economic front, international attention will be focused on the China-led historic One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. It is the reinvention of the his-toric Silk Road, the future massive infrastructure projects, where new ports, pipelines and highways are creating new supply chain routes across Central Asia, tying China and Europe.

Overall, the United States is going to improve its own and its allies’ security through partnership and cooperation, not by withdrawing behind the two oceans. And it is through positive engagement in the fight against terror-ism that Washington can and should engage Moscow in a positive way.

The Trump administration needs to recognise Kazakhstan as the nexus of Eurasia, the crossroads where both stra-tegic and transactional relationships can be built in America’s interests.

The writer is a Non-Resident Sen-ior Fellow at the Lexington Institute and a national security expert, spe-cialising in Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East. He worked for the RAND Corporation and publishes widely in the US and international media.

The Trump administration needs to recognise Kazakhstan as the nexus of Eurasia, the crossroads where both strategic and transactional relationships can be built in America’s interests.

E D I T O R I A L

A file picture shows Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev attending the opening ceremony of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.

win over the 10 percent of voters like Oswald who say they have yet to make up their mind. In the May 22 ballot, only 31,000 votes tipped the balance for Van der Bellen and the rerun, ordered after a court found vote-counting rules weren’t observed, is again too close to call. The election came down to Van der Bellen and Hofer after candidates from the two governing parties were eliminated in early voting.

“It’s been a seismic shift already that neither of the mainstream parties could get their candidates past the first round,” said Peter Hajek, a polling expert and consultant based in Vienna.

Voting takes place on the same day as a referendum in Italy that could cost Prime Minister Matteo Renzi his job, and both ballots have become proxies for the western world’s struggle between liberal forces and the populist surge fanning nationalist sentiment from Nebraska to the Netherlands.

That global struggle is playing out in Eisenstadt, a town of 14,000 in the province of Burgenland, where the presidential candidates were just 54 votes apart in May. That makes the capital of the wine-producing and vacation region southeast of Vienna exactly the sort of battleground both Van der Bellen and Hofer are trying to reach.

“The whole political situation is shifting,” said Johannes Horvath, a retired manager in the renewable-energy sector who said he voted for Van der Bellen in May and plans to do so again.

Like Oswald, the pastor, he cited concerns about the spill-over effect of Donald Trump’s election in the US, while acknowledging Trump’s success in tapping into voter disaffection. “I wouldn’t have thought Trump would

win but in hindsight, I understand, because people want change,” said Horvath.

Latest polls show the race statisti-cally tied. Van der Bellen led Hofer by 51 percent to 49 percent in a Unique Research poll published in Oesterreich newspaper on Nov. 18, while a Gallup poll the previous day put Hofer ahead by 52 percent to 48 percent—both results within the margin of error.

The breakdown of Hofer and Van der Bellen supporters follows patterns similar to the U.K.’s June vote for Brexit and Trump’s election.

Hofer’s backers are predominantly male, blue-collar and rural, according to an exit poll from May’s election. More than 80 percent of university graduates voted for Van der Bellen,

while two-thirds of those with voca-tional training cast their ballot for Hofer.

Added to the demographic divide is a dispute over the latent power of the Austrian presidency—what Hajek called “a sleeping giant”—and how each candidate would use it.

The president’s central power is the ability to appoint and dismiss the government and call snap elections.

No post-World War II president has ever exercised that power unless asked to do so by the government itself, following a tradition of consen-sus politics that has shaped Austria after the divisive years of civil unrest and authoritarian rule in the 1920s. Both candidates have made clear they’ll push at the boundaries of the role’s constitutional powers.

Van der Bellen presents himself as a firewall against nationalist forces that want Austria to leave the EU, and has said he might not appoint a gov-ernment led by the Freedom Party’s leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, if he felt that membership in the bloc was at risk.

“I don’t want Austria to be the first western European country where right-wing demagogues come to power,” Van der Bellen said a few days after Trump’s victory.

On the campaign trail, Hofer has said he would have sacked the gov-ernment last year—when Austria allowed in tens of thousands of refu-gees—and that he’s offering disgruntled voters a channel for their anger at unpopular leaders in Vienna and Brussels.

A vote for Van der Bellen “is a clear signal that you’re satisfied with the government’s policies,” Hofer said. “Voting for me is a clear signal that something has got to change.”

South Korea leader buys time, but maybe not much

She pulled off a deft bit of political maneuver-ing, probably born of desperation. Now South Korea’s president has a sliver of breathing space as impeachment closes in and millions

throng the streets to clamor for her to just go away.For Park Geun-hye, the next few days, perhaps

the most crucial in her presidency, will determine what political price she will pay, and exactly how much time she has bought.

Lawmakers want to impeach Park over prosecu-tors’ allegations she allowed a confidante to pull government strings and pursue extortion schemes.

Her offer to shorten her term in office if a bicker-ing parliament can set up a legal pathway to do so has been widely criticized as a stalling ploy aimed at lur-ing back members of her conservative party who supported impeachment. Opposition parties will need the support of some former Park loyalists to secure the necessary impeachment votes.

Park’s conditional resignation proposal, if it delays impeachment, could give her time to search for a way to exit with some sense of grace, rather than be impeached and stripped of power while a court reviews whether to drive her from office.

To some extent, she has already succeeded in wriggling some of the way out from what had very recently looked like an impossible political situation.

What had seemed to be an inexorable legislative march toward impeachment has slowed, though it’s not yet clear how much.

Some of Park’s former allies who’d turned against her now say that an impeachment vote originally planned for Friday should be pushed back a week.

Some influential members of her ruling party also called Wednesday for impeachment efforts to pause while lawmakers examine how to set up a legal road-map for Park’s resignation proposal.

Opposition parties agreed on Wednesday to push for an impeachment vote on Friday, but will regroup and try again on December 9 if they don’t have enough initial support to impeach Park over what prosecutors say was collusion with Choi Soon-sil, a confidante who allegedly had a large say in govern-ment affairs.

Choi held no official government position, and allegedly used her ties to the president to pressure companies into giving money to foundations and companies Choi controlled or established.

Park denies prosecutors’ claims.While the politicians scramble to regroup, the

president’s speech has angered many citizens. After all, they say, if Park really cared about what most South Koreans say they want, she would have simply resigned.

Instead, she appears to be looking to regain just enough of her former allies’ backing to at least delay the effort to get the necessary two-thirds support

needed in parliament for impeachment.This puts opposition lawmakers in something of a

bind.Where they once had strong momentum for

impeachment provided by huge protests each week-end, they now may face painful negotiations in a deeply divided parliament. This means navigating a splintered ruling party and the sometimes-conflicting views of various opposition parties.

Although unlikely, legislative squabbling could even allow Park to limp across the finish line of her single five-year term in early 2018.

All the while, everyone must gauge how this will play in December 2017 presidential elections, and the widely expected presidential campaign of Ban Ki-moon, who is finishing up his term as U.N. secretary general.

So Park may have bought herself some time. But she has done nothing to change the widespread feel-ing here that she must go.

If lawmakers fail to impeach her on Friday, this may become especially clear on Saturday.

As has happened the last five Saturdays, hundreds of thousands of people are again expected to choke

09FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 OPINION

Foster KlugAP

Lowering the corporate tax rate appears to be all the rage. Donald Trump has promised a cut to 15 percent from 35

percent in the US, and British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to make the UK’s corporate tax the low-est in the G-20, which would mean taking it lower than Trump intends to.

When Austrians elected their president in May, Michael Oswald decided at the last moment to back the rival populist candidate. Now that he’s got a second shot, he’s not so sure.

“I’m reconsidering,” the Protestant pastor said as he strolled through the center of Eisenstadt with his two-year-old son, while around them workers erected the town’s traditional Christmas market. “The problem is only extremes are left.”

Austrians face a rerun of the pres-idential election on Sunday that offers them a choice of two candidates from opposite ends of the political spec-trum: Alexander Van der Bellen, a former Green Party leader standing as an independent; and Norbert Hofer of the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

While on the surface the ballot is for a largely ceremonial post, the con-test has exposed deep divisions within society given the stark ideological dif-ferences between the candidates on issues like Austria’s place in the Euro-pean Union and whether to welcome refugees or erect barriers against them.

With more than just politics at stake, both candidates are vying to

Austrians deeply divided over presidential choiceBoris Groendahl &Jonathan TironeBloomberg

Protesters carrying an effigy of South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye during an anti-government rally demanding the resignation of the president in Seoul yesterday.

Austrians face a rerun of the presidential election on Sunday that offers them a choice of two candidates from opposite ends of the political spectrum: Alexander Van der Bellen, a former Green Party leader standing as an independent; and Norbert Hofer of the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

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downtown Seoul’s streets in a party-like atmosphere of defiance. This could allow lawmakers to win back the energy they will need to unite disparate groups in parliament and push through an impeachment vote. In the end, Park’s political machina-tions may only delay the inevitable.

For Park Geun-Hye, the next few days, perhaps the most crucial in her presidency, will determine what political price she will pay, and exactly how much time she has bought.

10 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 INDIA

EXTERNAL Affairs Min-ister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from the Indian Consulate in Dubai about an NRI after local media reported about the man's desperate bid to return home.

Jagannathan Selvaraj, 48, who hails from Tiruch-irappalli in Tamil Nadu, has walked over 1,000 kil-ometres over the last two years to attend court pro-ceedings in a bid to obtain a flight ticket back home in India.

"I have asked for a report from the Indian Embassy in Dubai," Swaraj tweeted yester-day. The Minister took the step after Khaleej Times reported the story of the Indian man on Tuesday.

IN ONE of the biggest sei-zures of new currency, the Income Tax department yesterday confiscated over Rs40m in searches against at least two individuals in Bengaluru.

Officials said the searches were launched on the premises of an engineer and a contractor.

The sleuths of the department seized over Rs4 crore in new currency, mostly in denomination of Rs2,000, some notes of Rs100, demonetized notes of Rs500 and a few gold biscuits, the officials said.

"Huge stacks of Rs2000 notes have been recovered. The cash amounts to over Rs40m. The counting of the seized currency is still on.

NEWS BYTES

Sushma seeks report on NRI stranded in UAE

New notes worth over Rs40m seized in I-T raids

Rage against trafficking

Kolkata

IANS

Raising in Parliament the issue of alleged safety lapse in an aircraft ferry-

ing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress yesterday saw a con-spiracy in it, but both government and airline author-ities refuted the claim.

However, aviation regula-tor - the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) - has ordered a probe into the matter. The Trinamool raised the issue in both Houses of Parliament, alleging that Banerjee's flight from Patna was made to hover over Kolkata airport on Wednesday evening for about 30 minutes despite the pilot reporting that the plane was running low on fuel.

"The pilot sought landing, saying he was short of fuel. But the flight was put on hold. It was made to hover for a considera-ble time. "There was not only the Chief Minister, but also

hundreds of passengers onboard," Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien said as soon as the Upper House met at 11am.

"The question is: is there more to it than meets the eye? Is it a coincidence? ...if a state's Chief Minister is under so much pressure, what will happen to normal people," wondered O'Brien, as opposition members, irrespective of party affiliation, supported him.

When Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked the Trinamool member to not level any allega-tions, Leader of Opposition and Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad intervened to say that O'Brien is not making any allegations.

He is not making any alle-gations. If this can happen to one Chief Minister, it can happen to others as well," Azad said.

Other opposition members, including Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati, Janata Dal United's Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Prem Chand Gupta, Communist Party

of India-Marxist's T K Ranga-rajan, Trichuri Shiva of AIADMK and Rajiv Shukla of the Congress demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter and tabling of the report in the House.

The government vehemently denied the claims in both Houses.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju asserted that the flight hovered only for about 13 minutes before landing at the Kolkata airport, as he informed the Lok Sabha that a probe by the DGCA has been ordered into the matter.

While replying to Trina-mool's assertions in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Avia-tion Jayant Sinha said as per the "facts", all laid down procedures and regulations were followed by the air traffic controller (ATC).

"The said aircraft hovered for 13 minutes. As per the regu-lations, an aircraft must have sufficient fuel for hovering for 30-40 minutes after reaching its destination, or to reach the nearest diversionary airport," Sinha said.

Plot claimed behind delay in Mamata's flight landing

New Delhi

IANS

In connection with search operations for black money, the government yesterday clarified on the exemption limits for seizure of gold

jewellery and ornaments as being 500g per married woman, 250g per unmarried woman and 100g per male member of the family.

"A reference to instruction No.1916 is ... invited which pro-vides that during the search operations, no seizure of gold jewellery and ornaments to the extent of 500g per married lady, 250g per unmarried lady and 100g per male member of the family shall be made," a Finance Ministry release here said.

"Further, legitimate holding of jewellery up to any extent is fully protected," it said.

The government clarification comes in response to apprehen-sions arising from the amendments to the tax laws pro-posed through the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016, passed earlier this week by the Lok Sabha to deal with the situ-ation arising out of the November 8 demonetisation measure.

The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, proposes up to 85 per cent tax and penalty on undisclosed wealth that is dis-covered by tax authorities during

search and seizure. The statement said some

rumours going around recently that all gold jewellery, including ancestral jewellery, would be taxed at 75 per cent plus cess, with a further penal liability of 10 per cent of tax payable, were totally "unfounded and baseless".

"It is hereby clarified that the Bill has not introduced any new provision regarding chargeabil-ity of tax on jewellery. The Bill only seeks to enhance the appli-cable tax rate to be charged in case of unexplained investment in assets," the statement said.

The Bill, currently under con-sideration of the Rajya Sabha, seeks to amend Section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act to provide for 60 per cent tax and a 15 per cent surcharge on it for black money holders.

Another section provides for an additional 10 per cent penalty on being established that the undeclared wealth is unac-counted or black money.

"Tax rate under section 115BBE is proposed to be increased only for unexplained income as there were reports that the tax evaders are trying to include their undisclosed income in the return of income as busi-ness income or income from other sources," the Ministry said.

"The provisions of section 115BBE apply mainly in those cases where assets or cash etc. are sought to be declared as 'unexplained cash or asset' or where it is hidden as unsubstan-tiated business income, and the Assessing Officer detects it as such," it added.

Officers can decide to spare even larger quantities of gold based on factors like family tradition.

Govt clarifies exemption limits for gold seizure

New Delhi

IANS

Parliament remained dead-locked for the 11th consecutive day yesterday

on the issue of demonetisation as the opposition persisted with its demand for a discussion in Lok Sabha under the rules entail-ing voting and seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's apol-ogy in the Rajya Sabha.

Both the Houses were adjourned for the day after opposition led by Congress and Trinamool Congress kept up a din. In the Rajya Sabha, the opposition created an uproar

over its demand that Modi apol-ogise for allegedly projecting outside Parliament that the entire opposition was support-ing black money.

The Prime Minister was present in the Upper House in pre and post-lunch sessions.

In the morning, the house was adjourned for 15 minutes and then till 2 p.m. when the opposition continued to demand the apology.

When it met again at 2 p.m., Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien tried to persuade the protesting members to continue the discus-sion on demonetisation but opposition members, led by Con-gress, trooped near his podium

to demand an apology from Modi, who was then present in the house.

Kurien said: "This is unfair. Your demand was that the Prime Minister should come to the house. Now he is here. You con-tinue the discussion."

But the Opposition didn't relent and shouted slogans like "Pradhan Mantri maafi maango (Prime Minister, apologise)".

Kurien then adjourned the house for the day.

Earlier, Modi entered the house at noon, when a heated exchange was on over the oppo-sition's charge that the government had bypassed the upper house by taking the

"money bill route" while mov-ing the Income Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016, passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Money bills do not need the upper house's nod.

As soon as Modi entered, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad sought his apology for allegedly portraying the entire opposition as supporters of black money, but treasury benches protested noisily at this demand.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav reiterated their demand that Modi should sit through the entire debate.

In Lok Sabha, the opposition

again disrupted the proceedings persistently demanding a discus-sion on demonetisation under a rule that entails voting, forcing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the house for the day shortly after noon.

Soon after the house met, Trinamool leader Sudip Bando-padhyay raised the issue of delay in landing permission to a plane carrying West Bengal Chief Min-ister Mamata Banerjee at Kolkata airport on Wednesday evening even though the pilot pointed out that the plane was running out of fuel. Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said Banerjee's life was in danger.

New Delhi

IANS

Already starved of cash due to demonetisation, people across India suf-

fered more pain amid stray violence yesterday as queues outside banks and ATMs got longer after November salaries and pensions were credited.

As the government strug-gled to keep pace with the demand for cash after 86 per cent of currency — 500 and 1,000 rupee notes — in circu-lation was declared illegal on November 8, people appeared to be losing patience in a

country where nearly 80 per cent of consumer payments are done in cash.

In Uttar Pradesh, police said violence erupted at many places as mobs targeted banks and staffers after being told there was either little or no cash available to be withdrawn.

Hundreds of irate custom-ers went on a rampage at a Syndicate Bank branch on Hapur Road in Meerut after it ran dry.

Dozens of vehicles were damaged, traffic was disrupted and an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was burnt, wit-nesses said. Violence was also reported in at least two dozens

places in the state.Chaotic queues tested peo-

ple's patience as millions in India waited in long lines for money to meet their monthly needs and pay their domestic help, school fees and clear their monthly grocery and other bills.

People were agitated as several banks rationed with-d r a w a l s d e s p i t e t h e government's upper limit of Rs24,000 a week.

Some bank officials said they were getting cash from the Reserve Bank of India much below their needs. A banker in Delhi said that on a "payday we got only one-fifth of the normal".

Opposition disrupts Parliament & demands Modi's apology

Tax law changes

Exemption limits for seizure of gold jewellery and ornaments as being 500g per married woman, 250g per unmarried woman and 100g per male member of the family.

Taxation Bill has not introduced any new provision regarding chargeability of tax on jewellery. The Bill only seeks to enhance the applicable tax rate to be charged in case of unexplained investment in assets.

Cashless pain surges on paydayCongress activists shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest march against the current demonetisation, in Kolkata, yesterday.

A leftist student holding a doll as he is detained by police during a protest against the government for the recent child trafficking case, in Kolkata, yesterday.

Friendship boost

Speaking in a live state-of-the-nation address, the Russian President said Moscow hopes to pool efforts with Washington in confronting international terrorism.

11FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 EUROPE

Romanian army forces take part in a military parade to celebrate the National Day of Romania in Bucharest, yesterday.

Romania celebrates National Day

The new HIV/AIDS Memorial, designed by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, is unveiled on World AIDS Day in Amsterdam, yesterday. The artwork represents a Chinese abacus for counting down to 2030, the year the AIDS epidemic should end, according to the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Countdown to ending AIDS

ROME: One of the most wanted fugitive bosses of the notorious Calab-rian mafia was arrested yesterday in what the government hailed as a “beautiful” victory for Italy’s fight against organ-ised crime.

Marcello Pesce, leader of one of the most powerful clans in the Ndrangheta syndi-cate that controls much of Europe’s cocaine trade, was arrested in a flat in his home town of Rosa-rno in Calabria in Italy’s deep south.

Authorities accuse Pesce of being ruthless head of a family-based clan that controls drug trafficking through port of Gioia Tauro and also being behind the exploi-tation of migrant workers employed illegally in the local orange groves.

London takes to polls for ‘Brexit by-election’LONDON: Residents of the posh London sub-urb of Richmond took to the polls yesterday in a local by-election that has turned into a mini-referendum on Brexit in a pro-EU heartland.

Liberal Democrat challenger Sarah Olney, whose party wants a sec-ond referendum on Brexit, is hoping the result will shock Downing Street, as the government forges on towards the EU exit door.

Olney is running against Zac Goldsmith, who held the seat for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party.

Merkel says to work with Trump on climate policyBERLIN: German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel said she would try to work on climate policy with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he may pull out of a interna-tional accord to fight global warming. Merkel, said she and Trump had agreed to try to cooperate.“We had a first telephone conversation during which I congratulated him and we said we wanted to try to work together,” she told a meeting of her Christian Democrats (CDU) meeting.

NEWS BYTES

Italian police arrest notorious mafia boss

Moscow

AP

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia hopes to nor-malise ties with the US and join efforts in the

fight against international terrorism.

Speaking in a live state-of-the-nation address, Putin said that Russia is ready to take part in tackling global challenges if its interests are respected.

“We don’t want confronta-tion with anyone,” he said in a speech before officials and law-makers in an ornate, white-marble Kremlin hall.

“Unlike our foreign colleagues

who are seeing Russia as an enemy, we have never been look-ing for enemies, we need friends,” Putin said. “But we won’t allow any infringement on our interests and neglect of them.”

Russia’s relations with the West have plummeted to a post-Cold War low over the Ukrainian crisis and the war in Syria. During the US election campaign, President Barack Obama’s administration accused Russia of hacking American political sites and email accounts to interfere with the vote. The Kremlin has rejected the accusations.

“In the last few years. we have faced attempts of foreign pressure with all tools involved — from the myths about Russian aggression, (allegations) of med-dling in elections to the hounding of our athletes,” Putin said, refer-ring to doping scandals.

Putin said that Russia is

looking forward to mending ties with the US after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“We are ready for coopera-tion with the new American administration,” he said. “It’s important to normalise and develop our bilateral ties on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. We share responsibility for ensuring global security and sta-bility and strengthening the non-proliferation regime.”

Putin added Moscow hopes to pool efforts with Washington in confronting international ter-rorism. “Our servicemen in Syria are fulfilling that task,” he said.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, helping

his forces make significant gains, most recently in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war.

Putin said that Russia is open to a “friendly and equal dialogue” about global security. He pointed to European migration crisis as an example of even “seemingly prosperous countries and stable regions” facing new divisions.

In the speech that was mostly focused on economic and social issues, Putin said that the Rus-sian economy is on the way to recovery, pointing at a growth in some sectors of industry and agriculture. He said agricultural exports this year will top $16bn, exceeding weapons exports.

The Russian economy con-tracted 3.7 percent in 2015 and

the recession has continued this year under the combined blow of low oil prices and Western sanctions.

Putin noted that inflation, which stood at nearly 13 percent last year, is expected to slow down to 6 percent this year.

He said the government should encourage growth by cut-ting red tape and creating a more favourable business environ-ment. Putin drew attention to the approaching centennial of Rus-sia’s 1917 revolution as a reminder of the need to secure national unity and accord.

“It’s inadmissible to bring divisions, malice, resentment and bitterness of the past into our life today,” he said.

Kiev

AFP

Ukraine yesterday unleashed a barrage of missile tests near Rus-

sian-annexed Crimea in a show of strength and defiance bound to irritate Moscow.

The two-day military drills near the Black Sea peninsula are a first for the former Soviet republic and a sign that it is regaining assertiveness in the face of its arch-foe Russia.

“No one will stop us,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted.

“We will be acting in the interests of the people of Ukraine!”

Kiev says Russia illegally annexed Crimea in March 2014 — a month after Ukraine’s Rus-sian-backed president was ousted in a pro-EU revolt.

It also accuses Moscow of backing a 31-month pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine’s indus-trial east in a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

A Ukrainian military spokesman told the 112.ua Ukraine news site that Kiev was not violating international laws.

“The launches have started. Everything is going according to plan,” Volodymyr Kryzh-anovskiy was quoted as saying.

He said the war games included air defence units as well military drones and S-300 ground-to-air miss i le systems.

Kryzhanovskiy added that none of the missiles would land closer than 30km from Crimea.

Ukrainian media was full of speculation that Russia intended to shoot down the Ukrainian missiles once the tests began.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa told the Ukrainska Pravda web-site that Kiev had received several “notes and letters from the Russian foreign and defence ministries” protesting the drills.

Moscow’s messages stressed that the “tests suppos-edly violate the sovereignty of Russia and international law,” Betsa was quoted as saying.

The Kremlin did not initially confirm sending warning messages.

But spokesman Dmitry Peskov told an online edition of the Vedomosti daily that Rus-sia would indeed shoot down the missiles if it felt threatened.

Peskov said the tests could “create dangerous conditions for international flights cross-ing the territory of Russia and neighbouring regions”.

An unnamed source in the Crimean military told Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency that his region’s anti-missile systems had been put on a heightened state of alert.

Ukraine’s national secu-rity council chief warned on that such intimidation would not work.

“Threats to use weapons against Ukraine are an effort to turn the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against us for the past three years into an active war,” Oleksandr Turchynov said.

Paris

Reuters

Osman, a 19-year-old asy-lum-seeker from Sudan, had been on the migrant

route for almost a year, travel-ling through Libya, Italy, and France before making it to a brand new centre that opened last month in the north of Paris.

Had he arrived a few weeks earlier, he might have ended up in a squalid camp, like dozens that have sprung up in the past.

The 400-bed centre, located in a vast concrete warehouse on a former industrial zone, offers single men a temporary refuge for up to 10 days, until the gov-ernment works out a more

permanent solution for them.“I came to the centre after

five days sleeping outdoors, on the street, Osman, said.

French authorities are tout-ing the centre, which has been set up at a cost of €6.5m ($7m), as a model for others to follow.

From June 2015 to November 2016, thirty makeshift camps have been cleared in Paris, with author-ities providing emergency shelter for 22,000 migrants, according to a townhall spokesman.

Several NGOs working with migrants worry, though, that with its limited capacity, the centre might not solve the prob-lem in the long-run. “What is on offer is necessary. But is it enough? I am not so sure,”

Pierre Henry, director of the France Terre d’Asile NGO said.

Authorities say the centre is running smoothly, and is trying to ensure all newcomers are housed quickly. Though, they hope other such centres will be set up in France. “It’s vital to have this type of thing along all the migrants routes,” said Eric Lejoin-dre, mayor for Paris’s 18th district, where the centre is located.

By November 24, some 1,253 people had passed through the centre’s welcome point —an inflatable bubble designed by a German architect, with families, women and unaccompanied minors being redirected to other g o v e r n m e n t - s p o n s o r e d housing.

Brussels

AFP

Belgian authorities charged a woman and a man yes-terday with terrorism

offences over an August machete attack on two police-women that was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The prosecutor’s office said 36-year-old Sabrina Z and 37-year-old Farid L., who were detained in a series of raids, were charged by a Belgian judge who is investigating the attack in southern city of Charleroi.

“They were both indicted for participation in the activi-ties of a terrorist organisation and attempted murder in a ter-rorist context,” the office said in a statement.

Three other people detained in the raids were released while another is still being held for questioning. Police seized sev-eral bladed weapons, some of them similar to the one used in the attack, when they raided eight homes in Charleroi area.

During the August 6 inci-dent, a machete-wielding man assaulted the two women out-side the main police station in Charleroi before being shot dead by a third officer.

He was identified as an Alge-rian living illegally in Belgium. The IS-linked Amaq news agency said one of the group’s “soldiers” carried out attack “in response to calls to target citizens” of countries involved in the US-led coalition bombing jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

Russia hopes to normalise ties with US: Putin

Ukraine launches missile drills near Crimea

New-style reception centre opens in Paris for migrants

2 charged with terrorism over Belgian attack

12 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 AMERICAS

Change unlikely

Almost no one expects recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to result in a Clinton victory over Trump.

Most counties will manually recount the ballots, although Green Party candidate Jill Stein lost a court challenge this week to force hand recounts everywhere.

The group of mayors and representatives attending C40 Mayors Summit, in Mexico City ride a tandem bicycle along the Alameda park yesterday. Mayors from scores of the world’s biggest cities gathered in Mexico to chalk out strategy for fighting climate change.

Green ride

Madison, Wisconsin

AP

The first candidate-driven statewide recount of a presiden-tial election in 16 years began yesterday

in Wisconsin, a state that Don-ald Trump won by less than a percentage point over Hillary Clinton after polls long predicted a Clinton victory.

The recount requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein carries none of the drama of the Florida presidential recount of 2000, when outcome of elec-tion between Al Gore and George W Bush hung in the bal-ance. Almost no one expects Stein’s push for recounts in Wis-consin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to result in a Clin-ton victory over Trump.

“This is certainly not Bush v. Gore,” said Wisconsin’s chief elec-tions administrator Mike Haas.

Even so, campaigns for Trump, Clinton and Stein all had observers spread throughout the state to watch recount. County election officials hired temporary workers, expanded hours and dusted off recount manuals to prepare for the work of re-tabu-lating nearly 3 million ballots.

Most counties will manually recount the ballots, although Stein lost a court challenge this

week to force hand recounts everywhere. The state’s largest county, Milwaukee, was plan-ning to recount the ballots by feeding them through the same machines that counted them on election night. In Dane County, where Clinton won 71 percent of the vote, the ballots will be counted by hand.

Workers in Dane County were being paid $20 an hour and will work two shifts for about 12 hours a day to get the recount done by the 8 pm December 12 deadline, said County Clerk Scott McDonell. He didn’t expect much change in the results.

“I think we will be very close to what was reported on elec-tion night,” McDonell said yesterday. Clinton lost to Trump by about 22,000 votes in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin election officials have less than two weeks to complete the recount. Decem-ber 13 is the federal deadline to certify the vote to avoid having the fate of Wisconsin’s 10 elec-toral votes decided by Congress. Even if that were to happen, the votes would almost certainly go to Trump, since Republicans control both chambers of Congress.

Stein has argued, without evi-dence, that irregularities in the votes in all three states suggest that there could have been tam-pering with the vote, perhaps through a well-coordinated, highly complex cyberattack.

“Verifying the vote through this recount is the only way to confirm that every vote has been counted securely and accurately and is not compromised by machine or human error, or by tampering or hacking,” Stein said in a statement yesterday.

“The recount does not ben-efit one candidate over another. It benefits all voters across the political spectrum. This is an essential first step to restore confidence in our elections and trust in our democracy.”

New York

AP

President-elect Donald Trump is poised to take a victory lap, appearing first

in Indiana to salute workers at a factory where he says he saved hundreds of jobs from moving to Mexico and then in Ohio on the first stop of a “Thank You Tour” to honour the supporters in states that helped him to his stunning victory.

The Midwest swing will be the first time that Trump, who has shown an early inclination to revel in the role of showman-in-chief, has barnstormed across the

country since the campaign. But now his signature rallies will carry the imprimatur of president-elect. And both stops will feature Trump declaring victory after a campaign built on the lament that “we don’t win anymore” as a nation.

A newly serious Trump embracing the gravity of the job who will conduct a spirited but formal rally befitting a president? Or will he revert to the campaign Trump, flying off the tele-prompter with inflammatory remarks and encouraging rau-cous crowds chanting “Build the wall” and vilifying critics?

And some questions remain about extent of victory at Carrier,

which announced this week that it will keep an Indianapolis plant open. In February, the heating and air conditioning company said it would shut the plant and send jobs to Mexico, and video of angry workers being informed about the decision soon went viral.

The Republican businessman made it a key theme in his cam-paign, pledging to save that factory and ones like it as part of his plan to rebuild American man-ufacturing industry while preventing jobs from fleeing over-seas. He said this week Carrier had agreed to keep some 800 union jobs at the plant, but details of what’s in the deal remain unclear.

New York AP

IT took two hours of sifting through more than 200 bags of garbage at a New Jersey trash-transfer station before a New York City woman was reunited with three rings she mistakenly discarded.

The New York Daily News reported that the 34-year-old woman was preparing Thanksgiving dinner at her Tribeca apartment when she removed the rings and placed them on a paper towel by the sink.

The jewellery, which included the woman’s dia-mond-studded wedding band and engagement ring, accidentally wound up in the trash and was picked up by garbage collectors yester-day, the daily further reported.

By the time the woman contacted the city Department of Sanitation, the rings were among 13 tonnes of waste in a collection truck, the officials told her.

The newspaper reported that sanitation officials say the rings were found because junk mail identified the wom-an’s trash.

Sacramento, California Reuters

California water regulators yesterday recommended tighter oversight of agri-

cultural irrigation and a permanent ban on over-water-ing urban lawns, a first step toward developing a long-term conservation plan amid ongo-ing drought.

The proposal comes as nearly two-thirds of the state heads into a fifth year of severe drought despite a wet fall and heavy rains last winter that have ameliorated conditions in many areas.

“The last few years pro-vided wake-up call of all wake-up calls that water is pre-cious and not to be taken for granted,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of State Water Resources Control Board, one of several state agencies that worked on the proposal.

California has been in grip of drought since 2013. It has cost billions to the state’s agri-cultural economy, led a half-million acres of farmland to be fallowed and deprived some communities of reliable sources of drinking water.

In January 2014, Democratic Governor Jerry Brown declared drought an emergency and in 2015 he ordered urban areas to cut back their water use by 25

percent. Earlier this year, Brown ordered the state to develop a long-term conservation plan.

“We learned during this drought that our planning efforts just weren’t robust enough,” said Max Gomberg, climate and conservation man-ager for the water board. Going forward, the most populous US state will need to provide water for yet more people while also facing warmer and drier weather associated with cli-mate change, he said.

Rain has returned to North-ern California parts of south over the past year, leading sci-entists at the US Drought Monitor to declare about 25 percent of the state drought-free. Even so, 60 percent of California is still experiencing severe drought and it is not clear how long those conditions will persist.

The draft proposal released yesterday will now go through a period of public comment before it is finalised, likely early next year. The legislature must also sign on to parts of the plan.

It calls for urban areas to submit annual water use budg-ets and plan for droughts of at least five years in length. Sup-pliers of agricultural water will be required to submit reports on water usage and show that they are working to increase efficiency.

Managua

Reuters

Eleven people were injured in Nicaragua after clashes broke out between police

and protesters who oppose con-struction of a massive inter-oceanic canal project in the Central American country, federal police and demonstra-tion leaders said yesterday.

A gigantic canal project extending 280km from Caribbean to the Pacific has been met with disapproval by local residents and environmentalists who warn the project will cause damage to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Cen-tral America.

Demonstrators had planned to converge on capital of Man-agua, but cancelled the gathering after clashes broke out with riot

police the day before in Nueva Guinea, a municipality about 300km from the capital.

“We decided not to go on with it because we want to show that we love peace, that we are not violent,” said Francisca Ramirez, a leader of the move-ment that opposes expropriation of land for the canal, saying five protesters had been hurt.

Francisco Diaz, deputy

director of the federal police, said riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets against a group of “vandals” who attacked them with sticks and machetes on, leaving six policemen injured.

The “anti-canal” movement said it will continue its fight against the mega-project, which is currently being studied for its feasibility.

Bogota

AP

Congress formally ratified a revised peace agreement with Colombia’s biggest

leftist rebel group, capping a tor-turous four years of negotiations, a stunning referendum rejection, last-minute compromises and two signing ceremonies.

The initial pact was narrowly rejected by voters last month, a n d P r e s i d e n t J u a n

Manuel Santos decided to skip a referendum on the new version and go directly to congress, where the deal’s supporters hold a majority. Opponents, led by former President Alvaro Uribe, boycotted the legislative votes, which resulted in unanimous approval by the Senate on Wednesday and by the lower house yesterday.

The new 310-page accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia introduced

50 changes to the initial deal in an attempt to assuage opponents as the government seeks to end a 52-year conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and driven almost 8 million from their homes.

The modifications include a prohibition on foreign magis-trates judging alleged crimes by government or FARC troops, and a commitment from the rebels to forfeit assets, some amassed through drug trafficking, to help

compensate victims. But the FARC rejected demands for jail sentences for rebel leaders responsible for atrocities and stricter limits on their future par-ticipation in politics.

The compromises weren’t enough for some of the deal’s opponents.

“There needs to be a balance between peace and justice, but in this agreement there’s com-plete impunity,” Uribe, now a senator, said during the Senate

debate. Other senators accused him of standing in the way of a peace deal that he pursued with the FARC as president in 2002-10.

Santos said ratification will set in motion the start of a six-month process in which the FARC’s 8,000-plus guerrillas will concentrate in some 20 rural areas and turn over their weap-ons to United Nations monitors. “Tomorrow a new era begins,” he said yesterday.

Woman finds lost wedding ring in trash dump

Wisconsin first state to start vote recount

Trump victory lap takes him to Indiana

11 injured in Nicaragua canal protestWater saving measures sought in California

Colombian congress ratifies peace deal; critics boycott vote

Protestors march against Donald Trump advisers including Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist and senior counseller, at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, yesterday.

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PAINTING & GYPSUM WORK

AL SADEQ PAINTING WORKS

33020108/33020107E-mail: alsadeq_2000@yahoo.com

NEW STATE CLEANING & PEST CONTROL

466517556/55404339

PEST CONTROL

RENT A CAR

BUDGET RENT A CAR

44310411 40108880 -55808638 (24 Hrs)

NATIONAL CAR RENTAL

5547 8150/5547 8151

APOLLO REAL ESTATE

Qatar’s first Real Estate Company under British Management

Call: Office: 44689522, Maureen 55864352Abubakar 55850815, Peter 55506803, Dexter 55872145

www.apollopropertiesonline.com

CHANGE OF NAME

NOTICE

SITUATIONS VACANT

NAZAR MOHAMMAD RAHEN.

• Drivers (20 Nos.)with heavy vehicle driving license

• Mechanic (1No.)• Tyre Puncture Mechanic (2 Nos.)

Call: 66872226

REQUIRED

SITUATION WANTED

MALE ADMIN./CUSTOMER SERVICE

FEMALE SECRETARY/CUSTOMER SERVICE

MALE CUSTOMER SERVICE/ADMIN

MALE CUSTOMER SERVICE/DOCUMENT CONTROLLER/

ADMINISTRATOR

MR. ALRICK DACUMOS ANDRADEFILIPINO NATIONAL, PASSPORT NO. EC0645218

QATAR ID NO. 28960807120

Tel: 44366001 Fax: 44366004

BHUMIKA RAMESH BULCHANDANI.

PRATHEENA VIJAYALAN.

15FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 BREAK TIME

SHOWING ATVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

BABY

BLU

ES

ALL IN THE MINDBARGE, BATTLESHIP, BOAT, CANOE, CARRIER, CATAMARAN, CLIPPER, CORSAIR, CORVETTE, CRUISER, CUTTER, DESTROYER, DINGHY, DORY, FERRY, FRIGATE, GALLEON, GONDOLA, JUNK, KAYAK, LIFEBOAT, LINER, LUGGER, MOTORBOAT, PACKET, PRIVATEER, PUNT, RAFT, RIGGER, ROWBOAT, SAMPAN, SCHOONER, SCOW, SHIP, SKIFF,SLOOP, SMACK, TANKER, TRAWLER, TUGBOAT, YACHT.

7:00 News

7:30 The Stream

8:00 News

8:30 Rewind

9:00 Al Jazeera World

10:00 News

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 101 East

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 Once Upon a Time in

Punchbowl

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:00 News

17:30 The Stream

18:00 newsgrid

19:00 News

19:30 Fault Lines

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

08:05 Magic Of

Science

08:30 Catching

Monsters

09:20 Survive That!

10:10 Dive Wars

Australia

11:00 Running Wild With

Bear Grylls

11:50 Sherpa

13:30 Fast N' Loud:

Demolition

Theatre

14:20 Sacred Steel

Bikes

15:10 Street

Outlaws

16:00 British Treasure,

American Gold

19:20 British Treasure,

American Gold

20:10 British Treasure,

American Gold

21:00 Fast N' Loud:

Demolition

Theatre

07:36 Swamp

Brothers

08:00 Swamp

Brothers

08:25 Too Cute! Pint-

Sized

09:15 Wildest

Europe

10:10 Mutant Planet

11:05 Tanked

12:00 Too Cute! Pint-

Sized

12:55 Bondi Vet

13:50 Wildest

Europe

14:45 Gator Boys

15:40 Mutant Planet

16:35 Tanked

17:30 Into The Pride

18:25 River

Monsters

19:20 Big Fish Man

20:15 Tanked

21:10 Into The Pride

22:05 Mutant Planet

23:00 Big Fish Man

06:00 Time Team

11:25 American

Restoration

12:15 Counting Cars

12:40 Counting Cars

13:05 Aussie Pickers

13:55 Time Team

14:45 Sean Bean On

Waterloo

15:35 Hoard Hunters

16:25 Counting Cars

16:50 Time Team

17:40 Pawn Stars

Australia

18:05 Pawn Stars

Australia

18:30 Alone

19:20 Ice Road

Truckers

20:10 Mountain Men

21:00 Pawn Stars

21:25 Pawn Stars South

Africa

21:50 The Rise And Fall

Of El Chapo

23:30 Forged In Fire

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku is a number-

placing puzzle based on a 9×9 grid. The object is to

place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each 3×3 box

contains the same number only once.

A. Saying (5)

A. Skillful (5)

A. Nimble (5)

A. Valuable item (5)

C. Unit of weight for

precious stones (5)

C. Ecclesiastic (6)

E. Spiny anteater (7)

E. Flexible (7)

E. Moral (7)

E. Additional (5)

E. Ooze (5)

I. Angry (5)

L. Sheltered side (7)

L. Actual (7)

N. Female relative (5)

O. Notice (7)

P. Flora (5)

R. Compatibility (7)

R. Use to control a horse (5)

R. Annul (7)

R. Conundrum (6)

S. Prominent (7)

S. Reptile (5)

T. Topics (6)

T. Aggregate (5)

T. Foot pedal (7)

U. Below (5)

U. Pressing (6)

Yesterday's answer

NOVO

MALL

LANDMARK

ROYAL PLAZA

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

CROSSWORD

CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

Yesterday's answer

Underworld 5: Blood War (2D/Action) 11:00am, 1:00, 1:30, 3:00, 3:30, 5:00, 5:30, 7:00, 7:30, 9:00, 9:30, 11:00 & 11:30pm 3D 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Trolls (2D/Animation) 10:00, 11:50am, 1:40, 3:30 & 5:20pmArrival (2D/Drama) 7:15, 9:35 & 11:50pm Bad Santa 2 (2D/Comedy) 10:45am, 2:25, 6:05 & 9:45pm Heavenhurst (2D/Horror) 12:35am, 4:15, 7:55 & 11:35pmDear Zindagi (2D/Hindi) 10:00am, 3:30 & 9:00pmUnmarried Wife (2D/Tagalog)) 1:00, 6:30pm & 12:00midnight The Edge of Seventeen (2D/Comedy) 12:15, 4:15 & 8:10pm Al Bab Yewfet Amel (2D/Arabic) 10:30am, 2:30, 6:25, 10:15pm & 12:00midnightMan Down (2D/Thriller) 10:20am, 2:30, 7:00 & 11:30pmLion (2D/Drama) 12:10, 4:30 & 9:00pmAllied (2D/Action) 10:45am, 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pmFantastic Beast And Where To Find Them (3D IMAX/Adventure) 10:15am, 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15pm & 12:00midnight

Katapana (2D/Malayalam) 2:00 & 4:30pmTrolls (2D/Animation) 2:15pm Manyan Puli (2D/Telugu) 2:30pm Al Bab Yewfet Amel (2D/Arabic) 4:00pm The Edge of Seventeen (2D/Comedy) 5:30pmLion (2D/Drama) 5:45 & 9:15pm Man Down (2D/Action) 7:30pm The Unmarried Wife (2D/Drama) 7:00 & 9:15pmUnderworld: Blood Wars (2D/Action) 8:00, 9:45 & 11:30pm Saithan (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm Kahaani 2 (2D/Hindi) 11:30pm

Manyan Puli (2D/Telugu) 2:15pm The Unmarried Wife (2D/Drama) 2:30 & 7:30pmTrolls (2D/Animation) 3:00pm Al Bab Yewfet Amel (2D/Arabic) 5:00pm Kahaani 2 (2D/Hindi) 5:15pm Lion (2D/Drama) 6:45 & 11:30pm Katapana (2D/Malayalam) 9:00pmUnderworld: Blood Wars (2D/Action) 5:00, 9:00 & 11:00pm The Edge of Seventeen (2D/Comedy) 7:00pmThe Unmarried Wife (2D/Drama) 7:30pmMan Down (2D/Action) 9:45pm Saithan (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

Trolls (2D/Animation) 2:15pm Katapana (2D/Malayalam) 2:30 & 11:15pmKahaani 2 (2D/Hindi) 2:30 & 9:15pm Underworld: Blood Wars (2D/Action) 4:00, 7:45, 9:30 & 11:30pm Man Down (2D/Action) 5:15pm Al Bab Yewfet Amel (2D/Arabic) 7:15pm The Unmarried Wife (2D/Drama) 5:00 & 7:00pmLion (2D/Drama) 9:00pm Saithan (2D/Tamil) 11:15pm

Manyam Puli (Telugu) 2:45pm Saithan (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 8:45, 11:15pm & 01:30amKatapana (Malayalam) 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30pm, 01:30 & 02:00am Thoppil Joppan (Malayalam) 12:30, 5:45 & 11:00pmDear Zindagi (Hindi) 3:00pm Kahaani 2 (Hindi) 12:45 & 6:00pmPuli Murugan (Malayalam) 5:45pm

Katapana (Malayalam) 12:00noon, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm

Underworld 5 (2D/Action) 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pm

Kahaani 2 (Hindi) 10:45am, 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm

16 FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER 2016 HOME

Doha Zoo’s population increased by one animal when it received a new female tiger (right). The female has been added as a companion of the white male tiger (left).

The Peninsula

Young filmmakers from Qatar participating in the ongoing fourth Ajyal Youth Film Festival are optimis-tic on development of

Qatar’s film industry with valuable support from Doha Film Institute (DFI).

Qatari writer and director Hend Fakhroo, whose film The Waiting Room, screens at Ajyal and will also be screened in competition at Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), says the transformation of the nation’s film industry has been remarkable – and that is not just about the numbers.

“It is the production values, and the audience response that our films receive; the landscape has changed for the good. It is a shift from the days when people used to say ‘we will someday do films,’ to now, young peo-ple in Qatar making a statement with films made here.”

A full-time filmmaker Hend says there is an ecosystem to support film-making. Her film is a recipient of the Doha Film Institute grant and her next project, a full-length feature film, Par-ijat, is also DFI-supported.

Superior production values are what set apart AJ Al Thani’s short film Kashta too. Supported by DFI, it is pro-duced by The Film House in Doha, which shows how local production houses are now actively engaged in filmmaking.

AJ Al Thani was insistent that the film had superior production values, with a ‘Star Wars, Indiana Jones’ kind of vision. With Kashta, a film with a soul, the canvas is truly defining of how Qatari directors are pushing the enve-lope. Kashtawill also be screened in competition at the Dubai fest after its screening in Ajyal.

In a strong example of how DFI promotes international collaborations, Qatari director Khalifa Al Marri brings

his film Fragile, shot in France. It was developed as part of Al Marri’s selec-tion to the Gulf Summer University, supported by DFI and created by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Gulf Office and in associ-ation with the French National Film School, La Fémis.

A passion for films, asserts Qatari filmmaker Dana Al-Meer, makes all the difference.

Her film Passport, screening at Ajyal, is clearly the result of her dil-igent efforts to work on films – having studied film at the Univer-sity of Swansea in the UK.

High hopes for Qatar film industry

Young filmmakers whose films are screened at the "Made in Qatar" section of this year's Ajyal Youth Film Festival.

WINTERMUSICALROAMING 2nd, 9th, 23rd & 30th of December, 2016

from 7pm to 10pm

Join The Pearl-Qatar musical parades with jugglers and mascots roaming around Porto Arabia’s restaurants,retail arcades and boardwalk

FAJRSHOROOK

04.42am

06.03 am

ZUHRASR

11.23 am

02.23 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

04.45 pm

06.15 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 07:00 - 17:30 LOW TIDE 14:00 - 23:45

Misty / foggy at places at first,

becomes mild daytime with some

clouds, relatively cold by night.

Expected poor horizontal visibility at

places.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

21oC 30o C

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

LATEST NEWSUPDATE

New entrant to Doha Zoo