Al Rayyan win, Lekhwiya pick a point

Qatar to expand ties with

Kyrgyzstan

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Advocate for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in Tunis, yesterday. Pic: Aisha Al Musallam/HHOPL

Sheikha Moza meets Tunisian President

BUSINESS | 21 SPORT | 28

Volume 22 | Number 7101 | 2 RiyalsWednesday 15 March 2017 | 16 Jumada II 1438

MEDINA CENTRALEMEDIINANA C CENENTRTRALESpecial Lease Offer

4409 5155

Sanaullah Ataullah The Peninsula

SPORTS infrastructure projects of the 2022 World Cup are progressing as sched-uled and would complete in 2020, Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Tarsheed award cere-mony on Monday, Al Thawadi said Khalifa International Stadium will be the first venue to complete construc-tion, with other venues to be ready between 2018 and 2020.

Al Thawadi said the SC has announced the start of the design process for five ven-ues, while two further venues had contracts awarded to the main contractor.

The SC secretary-general said construction work has already begun in five to six venues, adding that the remaining ones will be announced soon.

→ Continued on page 3

World Cup projects to be ready in 2020

Sachin Kumar The Peninsula

Q Life & Medical Insurance Company (QLM), Qatar’s leading health and life

insurer, yesterday became the first private insurer in the coun-try to announce integration of its medical cards with Qatar ID.

This innovative move by the

company enables its customers to avail benefits of QLM service through their Qatar ID, doing away with need to carry QLM medical card. This unique serv-ice can be availed by both nationals and expatriates.

“In keeping with our leading position in the market, we are thrilled to be the first private insurer in Qatar to introduce this

unique service offering in the market. Not only does it high-light our passion for leading innovation, but also casts a spot-light on our appetite for service excellence,” said Salem Al Man-nai, Deputy Group President and CEO of QIC-Mena Region addressing a press conference held at its headquarters at West Bay. He added that with the

launch of this new service, QLM has taken a vital step towards raising the profile of the medi-cal insurance sector by bringing in innovative solutions that align with global standards and practices.

“At QLM bringing conven-ience to the forefront has always been the integral part of our cus-tomer-centric approach. We

have taken a step forward to sim-plify the process in order to enrich the experience of our members. In addition, QLM Mobile App and online services which were launched earlier help members in availing quality healthcare services including checking the validity of the ID,” said Al Mannai.

→ Continued on page 2

Historical and social relations, along the geo-political borders of states,

form the foundation of relations between countries in different parts of the world. This is the prevailing perception among societies and how world rela-tions have been understood.

However, perceptions and understanding of relations and cooperation between countries have changed with the time. The concept of common interest has become a very common lan-guage in our contemporary world and accordingly, each country looks at its own strategic inter-ests in light of their objectives and surrounding circumstances.

Perhaps, interests play a key role in building relations and is a factor driving development and enhancing stability in any given country, but what is difficult to understand is to see some coun-tries being forced to bow before others and suffer interventions of other powers even if this contra-dicts their national interests! This sometimes happens with the aim of hindering their develop-ment and reduce their chances to enter an era of becoming dependent on themselves.

In the world of politics, there are no permanent relations but only permanent interests which is the concept being taught in colleges and different educa-tional institutions. Whatever differences political experts have regarding the concept of state relations, most of them agree that interest is the major factor for cooperation between states.

I am not here to criticise rela-tions between states or policies of a certain country because each country is free to take the suitable steps it wants and serve its interests in line with the international laws and without affecting the rights and inter-ests of other states. But instead, I am here to draw the ordinary reader’s attention to the basis for international relations and major factors governing them.

Dr. Khalid Al-ShafiEditor-in-Chief

OPINION

Relations and permanent interests

QLM integrates medical insurance card with Qatar ID

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

More than 70 per-cent of Qatar’s population are either over-weight or obese

and nearly half of all men (48%) are found obese, shows the Qatar Biobank report 2016 released yesterday.

The report also revealed that 83% of the population do little or no physical exercise, and 41 % are not participating in any physical exercise. Also more than 45% of participants consume fast food more than three times a week.

The findings of the report are based on an analysis of bio-logical samples and information collected from voluntary par-ticipants at the Qatar Biobank.

It includes a comprehensive health profile of more than 5,000 Qataris and long-term residents.

Dr Nahla Afifi, Scientific and Education Manager and Acting Director of Qatar Biobank, pre-sented the findings at the Qatar Biobank Conference, which is being held under the theme ‘The Impact of Biobanking on Precision Medicine Initiatives’ at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).

Other findings show that 16 percent of Qatar Biobank visi-tors were diagnosed with diabetes, and 86% Vitamin D deficient. The most prominent types of cancers among the Qatar Biobank population were breast, cervical, and thyroid for women, and prostate and blad-der for men.

→ Continued on page 3

Mohammed Osman The Peninsula

Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin

Khalifa Al Thani yesterday attended the opening cere-mony of the Education Conference and National Sci-entific Research Week, organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Educa-tion, in collaboration with Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) at Qatar National Con-vention Center (QNCC).

The opening ceremony was also attended by a

number of their Excellencies Sheikhs, ministers, guests, researchers and education experts.

The theme of this confer-ence “Pioneering and Creativity” is not a mere slo-gan but it is reality we are experiencing here in Qatar said H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi , Minis-ter of Education and Higher Education, in his opening speech. He added: “our wise leadership has realised the vital role of education in nation building as key tool for building the knowledge soci-ety which is key hub of Qatar

National vision 2030. In Qatar we have adopted

the highest global standards and latest technology in implementing our educational projects, researches, curricu-lum, evaluation and training programmes the minister stressed, adding education system that develop talents, discover innovative and cre-ativity of students.

The conference is oppor-tunity to exchange experiences and discuss spe-cialised researches to improve quality of education he emphasised.

→ Continued on page 2

More than 70% found obese or overweight

Jeddah

QNA

Three mosques from the Arabian Gulf have won awards for their archi-

tecture. Msheireb Mosque in Qatar, Sheikha Salama Mosque in Al Ain (UAE) and Arcapita Mosque in Bahrain were all recognised by the Abdullatif Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture, Saudi daily Arab News reported.

The Governor of Makkah Prince Khaled Al Faisal, and President of the Saudi Commis-sion for Tourism and National Heritage and Chairman of the Award’s Board of Trustees Prince

Sultan bin Salman honoured the winners at the Jeddah Hilton on Sunday. The awards, in their sec-ond cycle, received nominations for 122 mosques from the region.

Prince Sultan said the main aims of the awards are to strengthen the relationship between the mosque and the community, as well as to moti-vate architects to enhance designs, with a focus on sustain-a b l e a r c h i t e c t u r e , energy-saving features, light-ing optimisation and architecture that adds to the community. The third edition of the awards will be open to mosques from the wider Mus-lim world.

Msheireb Mosque wins architecture award

The Msheireb Mosque in Doha. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

70% 83%

16% 86%

of the population are either overweight or obese and nearly half of all men (48 percent) are classified as obese.

of the population participated do little or no physical exercise, with 41 percent not participating in any physical exercise at all.

diagnosed with diabetes

diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency

Education 'vital' for development

02 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017HOME

Emir greets President of HungaryEMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yester-day a cable of congratulations to President of Hungary Janos Ader on the occasion of his re-election for a new presi-dential term.

Emir attends camel raceEMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended yesterday the conclusion of the main race amongst tribes, which is part of the annual fes-tival of Arabian Thoroughbred Camel Race for the Sword of HH the Emir, which took place at Al Shahaniya camel race-track. Emir attended the four main races. A number of their excellencies Sheikhs as well as fans of the sport also attended.

Geneva

QNA

The State of Qatar has reit-erated its condemnation of the systematic crimi-

nal conduct of the Syrian regime which violates all char-ters and human rights instruments. Qatar also con-demned all forms of forced disappearances and arbitrary detention regardless to who guilty of them.

This came in the speech delivered by Qatar's Permanent Representative to UN Office and International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Ali Kha-lfan Al Mansouri, during the High-Level Panel Discussion on the Situation of Human Rights in Syria, held within the 34th

regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

He said that there is a clear reality which has been docu-mented in a number of reports that the Syrian is responsible for most of the crimes of arbitrary detention and forced disappear-ance. These crimes have been used to spread terror in hearts of Syrian and to shatter the desire of freedom in them.

There is no need to docu-ment the crimes committed by the Syrian regime, Ambassador Al Mansouri stressed explain-ing that reports and documents are before the international community who became aware of the locations of these pris-ons and detention centres as well as the names of those responsible for these crimes.

The Peninsula

Next Monday (March 20), the length of day and night will be approximately equal all

over the world because the Ver-nal Equinox phenomenon will be happening at 1:29 pm Doha local time, say experts.

This phenomenon is impor-tant for all the people in the world, where the vernal equi-nox and all four astronomical

seasons are an indicator for cli-matic changes. On this day, people can observe the exact positions of sunrise and sunset over all countries on eastern and western horizons, respectively, said a statement issued yester-day by Dr Beshir Marzouk and Dr Mohammed Al Ansari of the Qatar Calendar House.

“On this day, the day will be 12 hours and 7 minutes long while night length will be 11 hours and

53 minutes. Sunrise over Doha will be at 5:38 am, and sunset at 5:45 pm Doha local time,” it said.

There are two reasons for ver-nal equinox happening (all four seasons too) - the first is the earth's rotation on its orbit around the sun every 365.25 days approxi-mately (length of year), and the second is tilting of earth's axis over its orbit plane by 23.5 degrees.

On the vernal equinox day, the sun will be vertical on the

earth's equator, while after ver-nal equinox day, the apparent motion of the sun will be going to north direction of northern hemisphere, where the day length become longer than night length until the sun will be ver-tical over northern tropic (cancer tropic) on June 21 (it is longest day length).

The winter length this year was 89 days, while the spring length will be 93 days.

→ Continued from page 1To ensure smooth transi-

tion, members who are already having valid medical cards can avail of the services till their expiry or alternatively they may use their national/resident ID card.

“The current cards distrib-uted in the market will remain active till the expiry date but from today it will be optional for the clients to get services from service providers with Qatari ID. So it is not anymore necessary to carry QLM card to service providers,” said Al Mannai.

Rated ‘A/Stable’ by Standard & Poor’s, QLM differentiates i t s e l f f r o m i t s

peers by delivering bespoke and innovative medical insurance solutions with unmatched cus-tomer service.

Relating this new service, QLM members can enquire or seek further assistance at the QLM help desks located at all the major healthcare providers across Qatar.

QLM has established itself as a pioneer in the medical insurance sector in Qatar, with its highly experienced in-house team of experts coupled with innovative technologies and a wide network of medical serv-ice providers, QLM is well positioned to deliver the world class healthcare services to its multicultural client base.

Salem Al Mannai, Deputy Group President and CEO of QIC-MENA Region, speaking at the press conference in the presence of Habeeb Abdulkhader (second right), Vice-President of QLM; Narayan Rao (second left), COO at QLM; Puneet Bakshi (right), Finance Head at QLM; and Dr Hatim Essa, Claims Head, at the QIC main building yesterday. Pic: Kammutty V P / The Peninsula

'Existing cards to remain active or customers can use IDs' Shura Council delegation to attend humanrights meetQNA

A delegation of the Advi-sory (Shura) Council is set to participate in an

introductory workshop on the 'Arab Charter on Human Rights', which will be held today at the Arab League General Secretariat Head Quarter in Cairo, Egypt.

In the same venue, the Advisory Council delegation will participate in a sympo-sium on the topic of "Human Rights and Peaceful Coexistence".

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with Minister of Economy and Trade of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Kojoshev Arzybek, in Doha yesterday. During the meeting, they discussed cooperation between the two countries and ways of enhancing them, particularly in economy and trade.

PM meets Kyrgyzstan ministerQatar condemnswar crimes in Syria

Ministry promotes culture of research and innovation→ Continued from page 1Keynote speaker at the open-

ing session was Dr Katherine Merseth, Senior Lecturer at Har-vard University, who highlighted key educational issues raising questions related to the concepts of innovations, academic achievement and class room where the success takes place. Students, teachers and curricu-lum content form the triangle of classroom the whole educational process needs the right leader-ship, she added. Children are a minority in the population of the world but they represent our future by 100%, she concluded.

The opening session also wit-nessed a speech by Hamad Al Ibrahim, deputy chairman of the research and Development sec-tor in Qatar Foundation. Al Ibrahim pointed out that ses-earch and development sector in QF works to achieve aims of Qatar national strategy and dur-ing the past years, the sector has managed to lay the foundation for research that meets our national aspirations.

He added: "We are going to keep focusing on research projects to enhance the eco-nomic and social development in particular the promising areas

of technology and business." After the opening speeches,

a short film entitled “Pioneering and Creativity” highlighted some of the educational achievements in Qatar, and announced the dis-covery of five 'Qatari' planets

which will be disclosed in May, and the work for discovering the six ones are going on.

The education system gives priority to quality of education and the ministry seeks to disseminate the culture of research and

innovation in the Qatari society and to develop students' scientific and creative thinking skills said Fawzia Abdulaziz Al Khater as assistant undersecretary for edu-cational affairs of the Ministry. The contents of the 9th exhibition

reflects the efforts carried in our schools by teachers and students and cooperation to solve problems and analysis issues Al Khater added.

At the sidelines of the con-ference, Minister Al Hammadi

launched the Education Appli-cation which provide with package of key service to schools and teachers.

The minister praised the efforts carried out to make this application useable and its role in improving the educational services.

The Director of Information Technology Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Mohammed Molfi Al Hajr, said the “education” appli-cation will shift all services provided by the ministry into E-Services but this be in two phases. The first stage which has been launched today by HE the Minister includes services for teachers and parents to make nec-essary follow up to their children, Al Hajri outlined. In addition to this the application includes services for students and other general services such as information about universities, private and govern-ment schools in Qatar; besides the ministry’s news, events and activities.

The second phase of the project will be launched in the coming academic year 2017/18 and will cover all services of the ministry including transfer of students from school to another.

Day and night will be equal on March 20

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani attending the Education Conference 2017 and the National Scientific Research Week at Qatar National Convention Centre, yesterday.

03WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 HOME

Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani with Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rasit Meredow in Doha yesterday. The Foreign Minister praised the relations between both countries and the outcome of the Qatar-Turkmenistan High Joint Committee held last November in Doha.

→ Continued from page 1

All projects related to the World Cup are abiding by requirements of sustainable development initiative and those related to energy efficiency and conservation of other natural

resources.Replying a question on the

procedures of tender, Al Thawadi said, “Projects related to 2022 World Cup are being awarded through tenders floated by the committee concerned at SC. The bids submitted by the contracting

companies are scrutinized based on their experiences and capabil-ities. The financial conditions of the companies are also being eval-uated. Based on these and other technical requirements the com-mittee concerned awards tenders to the winning candidate."

He appreciated the Tarsheed 22 (T22) campaign saying it received overwhelming response from students and schools.

"It is an ideal initiative in term of the interaction with com-munity and their acceptance. The second edition of the campaign

was launched jointly by SC, Kah-ramaa, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to influence the human behav-ior for conservation of electricity and water," said Al Thawadi.

The campaign targeted stu-dents of 22 primary independent

schools. The initiative could be expanded to other school levels like preparatory and secondary to reach out to the maximum number of students. However, the final decision in this regard will be taken by the team concerned.

→ Continued from page 1However, according to the

Qatar Biobank sample cohort only 39 percent of men and four percent of women were reported as smokers.

“By generating a compre-hensive picture of the environmental, genetic and life-style factors that contribute to health issues facing the local population, we can begin to help researchers and healthcare pro-viders make better diagnosis and provide better treatment for diseases affecting the health of Qatar’s population,” said Dr Afifi.

One of the major findings of the Qatar Biobank cohort was that almost 80 percent of the referred population were unaware of their condition. More than 40 percent of the participants had some

abnormality and they were referred to the Hamad Medical Corporation for further medical advice.

“Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, hyper-tension and diabetes are emerging as significant health problems and are now the major cause of death and disability in Qatar. The population in Qatar is also experiencing a lifestyle transition, replacing traditional diets with those higher in fat and refined and processed foods, and decreasing the levels of physical activity,” Dr Afifi said.

“Analysis of the pilot phase data indicates that in addition to the primary goal of Qatar Biobank to collect information and samples as a platform to empower research in Qatar, it also plays an important role of

early identification and prompt treatment of chronic non-com-municable diseases such as diabetes, which will reduce the future burden in health sector,” she added.

Among whose health data included in the Qatar Biobank cohort, 51 percent are men and 49 percent are women and majority of them were between the age of 25 years and 34 years. Among them the youngest par-ticipant was 18 years and the oldest was 85 years.

Qatar Biobank, of Qatar Foundation (QF), launched in 2012, will continue to collect biological samples from Qataris and long-term residents to facil-itate vital medical research that will enable better healthcare diagnosis and outcomes, and in turn a healthier population.

Almost 80% of referred population were unaware of their condition

Ooredoo to launch cloud-basedsecurity solution for consumersThe Peninsula

Oo r e d o o h a s announced that it will become the first across its mar-ket to offer an

individual cloud-based device security solution for all of its 138 million users.

The new security service will protect Ooredoo customers against viruses, dangerous files and harmful websites across their connected smart devices, fixed and business accounts. The Ooredoo security service will work by automatically blocking harmful downloads or files and alerting customers via SMS.

The security service will be provided by German security specialist Secucloud, who recently signed a strategic part-nership agreement with Ooredoo Group at its headquar-ters in Doha.

Secucloud will provide Ooredoo with a comprehensive, completely cloud-based enter-prise-class security system that the company will install directly into their network infrastruc-ture. This will enable Ooredoo to protect their customers from all cyber-threats on the internet in a centralised way. Customers do not need to install any

software on their devices, so no setup or maintenance is required. The Secucloud solu-tion scales elastically and can protect over 100 million users effectively and in real time.

Secucloud’s powerful, cloud-based security solution will offer universal protection for all Ooredoo connected devices and Ooredoo is planning to make the security service available to its operating com-panies over the next few months, starting with Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Talking about the partner-ship, Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO, Ooredoo Group, said: “In the era of the internet of things (IoT), it’s essential to

have protection that’s as pow-erful and easy to use as possible. For a long time now, people have had much more than just a single PC – they also have smartphones, tablets, smart watches and several other inter-net-enabled devices that need protection against internet-based attacks. It’s just not possible to protect each device individually – instead, efficient protection needs to be central-ised and delivered from the cloud. We recognised this requirement some time ago and have developed the security service in partnership with Secucloud to protect our cus-tomers against increasing IoT-based threats.”

Importantly, to ensure that all of its customers are protected during this time of ever more sophisticated and dangerous internet threats, Ooredoo has stated that the service will be affordable for all, with a low-cost weekly/ monthly subscription plans.

Benefits of the cloud-based solution include minimum impact to device battery life, unlike other non-cloud based security solutions, as well as protection against virus and malware infections, phishing and harmful web files and sites.

Eight violations caught during raidsThe Peninsula

Asshahaniyah Municipal-ity last month caught eight violations during

20 inspections. The building unit at the Municipality also conducted 24 inspection raids

at buildings and recorded 57 violations.

The Health Monitoring Sec-tion at Shamal Municipality conducted inspection cam-paigns at restaurants, fish market and other food outlets.

The campaign aims to

increase awareness about food safety among the public and warn workers to abide by the health regulations.

Inspectors caught one vio-lation and gave 62 warnings about commitment of health conditions.

Virus protection

The new security service will protect Ooredoo customers against viruses, dangerous files and harmful websites.

Security service will be provided by German security specialist Secucloud.

All World Cup projects abiding by sustainable development initiative requirements

50 trees planted to mark Tree Week 2017The Peninsula

In an initiative to raise aware-ness, about 50 trees were planted yesterday as part of

the Tree Week 2017 activities.The event was organised by

the Agricultural Affairs Depart-ment at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment under the patronage of Minister of Municipality and Environ-ment H E Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi.

Qatar Leadership Academy and representatives from var-ious departments at the ministry participated in the celebration.

The event took place at

Dawodiyah area, and included various activities emphasising the importance of saving plants and trees.

Qatar Leadership Academy Director Brigadier General Ali

Ahmed Al Kuwari said, “The event highlights the necessity to take care of the environment and is an opportunity for stu-dents to know and take care of trees in Qatar."

Officials planting the trees as part of Tree Week activities.

FM meets Turkmenistan Deputy PM

04 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017HOME

Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani met with Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rasit Meredow and his accompanying delegation, yesterday. They reviewed bilateral relations and discussed aspects of cooperation especially in the fields of economy, trade and investments and ways to develop them.

Economy Minister meets Turkmen Deputy PMAl Ahli to set up latest weight-loss procedureHuda N V The Peninsula

Qatar is set to have one of the most promis-ing endoscopic weight-loss proce-dures soon with Al

Ahli Hospital working to have a t r a n s - o r a l s l e e v e gastroplasty.

The hospital is set to launch first of its Qatar Council for Health Professional (QCHP) accredited symposiums by the end of the month, aimed at all health professionals in the country.

Experts from some nine countries will converge here for the symposium on March 31 and April 1, at Katara, dis-cussing about obesity and overweight issue.

“Qatar comes fourth in the world in terms of prevalence of obesity according to World Health Organisation. However, when it comes to the children with obesity, Qatar is ranked first. We should not be looking at managing obesity in children any more. We should rather focus on preventing obesity in children,” Dr Abdul Azim Hus-sain, chief of medical staff, Al Ahli Hospital told The Peninsula.

The hospital is working with partners to have trans-oral sleeve gastroplasty, which is a new incision less

weight-loss surgery movement that uses mouth to perform gastric sleeve surgery instead of cuts and slits in the skin. Surgeon inserts equipment for procedure down the throat and cut the stomach size as required.

“The concept of surgery is changing. In few years, we won’t be doing any abdominal surgeries, we will be doing all orally either for reflux diseases or for obesity. We have already started doing post surgery pro-cedure that reduce stomach size by 40 percent by trans-oral procedure,” he said.

“Very soon we will start doing trans-oral sleeve gastro-plasty, which is an all new procedure. We are working with the partners in Europe to have the procedure here. Since it is new, currently we are waiting to see the outcomes of the surgery first,” he said.

The hospital sees one of the highest number of people going under knife to shed the body weight. “We are doing highest number of weight loss procedures, with more than 1,000 gastric balloon cases annually and some 400 gas-tric sleeve surgeries each year,” he said.

Meanwhile, the two-day conference will address vari-ous aspects of obesity. The first day will see experts talk on cause, genetics and effect of obesity on human body, while the second day will focus on surgical procedures and latest innovations in the field.

“This is the first of many other QCHP accredited con-ferences on different medical specialities, which will follow. We have been accredited for CME training both locally and internationally and have ful-filled all requirements for conducting medical educa-tional and professional programmes in different areas of health in Qatar,” said Kha-lid Al Emadi, CEO of Al Ahli Hospital.

New technology

The Al Ahli Hospital is working with partners to have trans-oral sleeve gastroplasty, which is a new incision less weight-loss surgery movement that uses mouth to perform gastric sleeve surgery instead of cuts and slits in the skin.

The hospital sees one of the highest number of people going under knife to shed the body weight.

FROM LEFT: Officials of Al Ahli Hospital — Dr Abdul Azim Abdul Wahab Hussain, Chief Medical Staff; Khalid Al Emadi, CEO; Jamal Saleh Hammad, Deputy CEO and Director of Projects; Dr Loui Al Fakhri, Director, Training and Development; and Bilal Zibdeh, Director, Business Development and Marketing, attending a media briefing at the hospital yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula

HMC to promote safe driving practicesThe Peninsula

Hamad Medical Corpo-ration (HMC) is participating in the

33rd GCC Traffic Week to dem-onstrate the healthcare sector’s commitment to road safety in Qatar and the region.

This year’s GCC Traffic Week activities, which kicked off earlier this week at Darb El Saai under the theme “Your Life is a Trust”, are being organised by the Qatar Gen-eral Directorate of Traffic.

Ahmed Al Bakri, Opera-tions Manager at HMC’s Ambulance Service, said his organisation is taking part in the week-long event by show-c a s i n g t h e i r l a t e s t state-of-the-art ambulances that are specially designed to safely move through traffic.

“While we want to get to any patient in need of urgent care as fast as possible, we are very mindful of our own safety and that of the patient being transported, as well as the safety of other road users. So we hope to be able to highlight this safety aspect of our work during the week,” he said.

“We will demonstrate to the public how to conduct

basic first aid skills during daily presentations which will also feature lectures on how to sta-bilise a patient until an ambulance arrives and how to get help in case of an emer-gency,” Al Bakri added.

HMC’s Geriatrics Depart-ment is also participating in the activities to raise awareness about the risks to elderly peo-ple who may be suffering from dementia and the importance of road safety.

Dr Hanadi Khamis Al Hamad, Chairperson of the Geriatrics Department, explained the importance of family members being vigilant and checking on dementia-related symptoms that may impact a person’s driving ability.

“We are offering free health checks at Darb El Saai during GCC Traffic Week for anyone interested in seeing if their driving capabilities might be impaired due to health con-ditions. Our professional staff is on hand to provide free advice to visitors,” she said.

The Hamad Injury Preven-tion Program of the Hamad Trauma Center will host ‘Road Safety for Children’ sessions with students.

Al Wakrah school holds exhibitionDOHA: Al Wakrah Independ-ent School for boys organised the 6th universities and busi-ness sector exhibition with participation of 60 local and global entities. The exhibition was attended by over 900 stu-dents from 20 schools.

The event aims to intro-duce the students to the terms and conditions required for university admissions and academic opportunities pro-vided by companies and industrial corporations and universities in terms of scholarships.

Some 27 universities from the United Kingdom partici-pated in coordination with British Council, Doha. An US university and another from Turkey and a number of uni-versities and colleges based in Qatar were also attended.

The list of participants also included embassies of the US, the UK, Japan and France Cultural Centre and British Council in Doha. Some major Qatari companies like Qatar Airways, Qatar Petro-leum, QNB, Qafco, Qatar Gas, Qatar Steel, HMC, Kahrama and others were also partic-ipated in the event.

Mada's Innovation Program a success at QITCOMThe Peninsula

Qatar Assistive Technology Center (Mada) successfully created an accessible venue for all as the offi-

cial QITCOM 2017 Accessibility Partner, as well as signing a new MOU with the Dig-ital Incubation Center (DIC). During the event, the non-profit organisation dem-onstrated its Innovation Program and created awareness about assistive tech-nology on its stand which attracted a huge number of attendees.

Mada is committed to spreading awareness about PWD in Qatar and help-ing them stay connected in a world that is increasingly dependent on technology.

QITCOM was a rewarding event for Mada as the non-profit organisation was able to demonstrate and educate the com-munity about persons with disabilities, and inform them and their families about the importance of Assistive Technology (AT) for accessibility. Mada Innovation Program and through its grants — Mada Award, Mada Direct Grant and Entrepreneur Grant — helped spread awareness and motivate innovators to create localized assistive technology solutions for persons with dis-abilities, which is needed in the region.

Maha Al Mansouri, CEO of Mada said: “QITCOM was a very beneficial event for Mada and I would like to thank the QIT-COM team once again for associating with

Mada as the official Accessibility Partner. We had an excellent experience at our stand with a vast number of visitors who interacted, engaged and benefited from learning about Assistive Technology. This year our stand had a garden theme because at Mada we are focusing on Growing

Arabic Assistive Technology and Nurturing Accessibility. Signing an MOU with DIC is a great step for the future of Assistive Tech-nology in Qatar, the partnership will allow us to work closely with entrepreneurs who have Tech-nology ideas, and help them further develop these ideas to become a reality.”

At the end of the event, QIT-COM team — in collaboration with Mada — carried out an accessibility test on all of the exhibition stands. To ensure proper evaluation, Mohammad Jassim Al Abd Al Jabar visited all the stands using his wheelchair and Huawei stand received the ‘Most Accessible Stand’ award. Mada provided Assistive Tech-nology (AT) track during the CodeCamp competition which took place during the event. Teams of computer programmers and software developers from high schools, universities and professional coders battled it out

to develop software solutions that can help combat real life challenges. Participation at QITCOM 2017 was a great success where Mada raised awareness about disabilities and the importance of assistive technology.

Mada's accessible venue at QITCOM 2017.

05WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 HOME

Weekly traffic alert on accident 'black spots'Sidi Mohamed The Peninsula

As part of its efforts to promote traffic safety, the Traffic Safety and Engineering Depart-ment sends weekly

reports to the Traffic Department about the places which witness more traffic accidents, said a sen-ior official. “Every week, the Engineering Department sends report to the department about the "black spots" which witness more accidents, then we send traffic patrols to monitor such places,” said Brigadier Moham-med Saad Al Kharji, Director of the Traffic Department.

“Traffic awareness is the responsibly of all road users. The role of parents is also very impor-tant because children usually imitate their parents. So we must respect traffic rules then our chil-dren will also respect them," Al Kharji said, addressing a sympo-sium under the title “towards a unified media strategy to spread traffic awareness” at Darb El Saai, venue of the 33rd GCC Traffic Week. “Our aim is not to catch

violations and earn money. The speed radars’ locations are very clear to everyone. People can see them from a distance of about one kilometre," he added.

He said the radars will not record a speeding violation if the speed is a little higher than the given speed limit. For instance, if the speed limit 80km/h, the radar will catch the vehicle if it moves at a speed of over 90km/h.

Major Jaber Mohamed Rashid

Odaiba, Assistant Director of Media & Traffic Awareness Department, also addressed the event attended by members of delegations from traffic depart-ments of other GCC countries, among others.

Speakers at the symposium stressed the importance of using social media in raising traffic awareness and the need to focus on students from different edu-cational levels, because the major victims of traffic accidents are youth. “We should focus also on schools and we should install traf-fic villages in the schools in order to increase traffic awareness among students especially pri-mary schools”, said one of the speakers.

About the unified GCC media strategy for traffic awareness, Major Jabor said: “In March last year, Qatar was assigned to pre-pare the strategy, and the GCC will have a meeting next May to dis-cuss the draft. Currently we are working on the strategy and its aim is to reduce major accidents and deaths and thereby reduce the financial losses due to accidents."

Al Jazeera Media Network launches experimental digital radio platformThe Peninsula

Al Jazeera Media Network yesterday launched an experimental platform for

digital radio. The platform – a first of its kind – consists of a Facebook Messenger bot and an iPhone app that work together to enable users to search, dis-cover, share and listen to podcasts through smart phones, cars and home audio systems (Alexa and Google Home).

“This launch represents only a glimpse of upcoming digital products from Al Jazeera that

will enable audiences to dis-cover the world of podcasts in new innovative ways reflecting Al Jazeera’s digital vision which revolves around innovating in new technologies for natively produced content.” Dr Yaser Bishr, Executive Director of Dig-ital for Al Jazeera, said.

In addition to investing in developing the technology, Al Jazeera is also investing in build-ing a highly qualified team of content producers to create inspirational, engaging and shareable content. “The English version will be launched by end

of this Spring as part of the offi-cial launch, followed by the Arabic version” he stated.

"Our team has been working on several projects in digital audio that combine ease of dis-coverability and seamless sharing” Moeed Ahmad, Manager of Innovation & Research, remarked. "The key element in designing the new platform has been natural language interfaces and interactive sharing, as well as the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning which enhances search results and pro-vide customised experiences.”

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met with the Chairman of European Union's (EU) Middle East and Gulf Working Group, Roberto Storaci, and the accompanying delegation. They discussed Qatar-EU relations and means to promote them in addition to topics of mutual interest.

Al Muraikhi meets EU officials

Officials at a symposium to spread traffic awareness at Darb El Saai.

“Every week, the Engineering Department sends report to the department about the "black spots" which witness more accidents, then we send traffic patrols to monitor such places,” said Brigadier Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, Director of the Traffic Department.

06 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017HOME

Speaker of the Advisory Council H E Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi met with President of the Libyan State Supreme Council, Dr Abdulrahman Al Sawihli, and his accompanying delegation, yesterday. They discussed parliamentary relations between the two countries and means of enhancing and advancing them. The meeting was attended by Advisory Council Deputy Speaker Issa bin Rabia Al Kuwari and Secretary-General of the Advisory Council Fahad bin Mubarak Al Khayareen.

Advisory Council Speaker meets Dr Al SawihliQatar Biobank meet draw global expertsThe Peninsula

Leading biomedical experts convened yes-terday for the opening of the second Qatar Biobank Conference at

the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

The two-day event is being held under the theme ‘The Impact of Biobanking on Preci-sion Medicine Initiatives,’ brings together top medical practition-ers and researchers in biobanking, genomics and per-sonalised medicine to discuss the field of biomedical science and the growing use of preci-sion medicine to improve clinical outcomes.

Dr Hamad Al Ibrahim, Exec-utive Vice-President of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D), open-ing conference said, “Our overarching healthcare research objectives at Qatar Foundation Research and Development are geared towards finding ways to tackle cancer, diabetes, and other prevalent and destructive diseases through personalised

medicine. Both Qatar Biobank and Qatar Genome Programme provide essential support for QF R&D’s mission to improve the health and social wellbeing of Qatar’s population. In Collabo-ration with stakeholders including Hamad Medical Cor-poration, Sidra Medical and Research Center, the Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar’s research and academic institu-tions, and the Ministry of Public Health, we are enabling Qatar to create an approach to health-care that is highly tailored to individuals.”

Dr Asma Al Thani, Chairper-son of Qatar Genome

Programme Committee and Board Vice-Chairperson of Qatar Biobank, presented on how the Qatar Population Biobank Project aims to estab-lish a research enterprise platform across Qatar to achieve significant improvement in diagnostic and predictive intel-ligence required to deliver personalised healthcare.

She said: “Each day we get a little closer to achieving glo-bal personalised medicine in which treatment and preven-tion are directly based on individuals’ lifestyle, genes and environment. Through the exchange of ideas at this con-ference, we will take another step along that path.”

Dr Edward Abrahams, Pres-ident of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) in Washington, delivered the key-note address. He discussed the advantages of personalised medicine, its current status, the obstacles to its development and implementation, and also pro-posed an agenda for its future in the United States and other nations, including Qatar.

“Personalised medicine is an evolving field in which physi-cians use diagnostic tests to determine which treatments will work best for each patient. By combining the data from those tests with an individual’s med-ical history, circumstances and values, health care providers can develop targeted treatment and prevention plans,” Dr Abra-hams said. “And, in so doing, personalised medicine prom-ises to improve clinical outcomes for patients as well as increase the efficiency of health systems around the world by directing resources to where they will be most productive.”

Dr Hamad Al Ibrahim, Executive Vice-President of QF R&D, delivers his opening remarks at the second Qatar Biobank Conference.

Both Qatar Biobank and Qatar Genome Programme provide essential support for QF R&D’s mission to improve the health and social wellbeing of Qatar’s population.

Kahramaa launches another initiativeThe Peninsula

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation “Kahramaa” has launched

a new initiative to make power transmission network efficient and sustainable in a bid to reduce the equipment failure rate and other many benefits. It comes within Kahramaa endeavour to achieve its mission of providing

high quality and sustainable elec-tricity and water for better living in Qatar.

The initiative implements a sound, cost effective process and set of solutions that will reduce transmission substation equip-ment failure rate, optimise “repair or replace” decisions, define maintenance priorities, enable reliability/condition-based strategy for critical assets,

reducing outages and extension of asset life based on sound mod-els with condition monitoring and failure risk analysis. The project will include oil analysis on power transformers fleet, infra-red thermography and vis-ual inspections of all power equipment for transmission pri-mary substations, consolidated with partial Discharged measurements.

Third ‘Aspire for Education’ conference concludesThe Peninsula

Aspire Academy concluded its third bi-annual ‘Aspire for Education’ conference

at the Torch Ballroom in Aspire Zone in Doha yesterday. The final day of the conference, which was held under the theme “Our Val-ues, Our Pride,” featured renowned local and regional experts discussing their research, participating in panel discussions and conducting workshops.

Talks covered topics such as ‘Strategies for value-based edu-cation and methods for integrating them in curricula’, which was presented by Dr Saleh Al Dagla, supervisor of the National Transformation Pro-gramme 2020 and the KSA Vision 2030; ‘Neuroscience research findings in developing leadership values’; presented by Dr Jamil Al Babli; Head of the academic support programme; ‘The use of media to promote positive societal values’, pre-sented by Dr Zouhair Mzidi, Founder and Director of Arabs' Media Consultation and Market-ing; ‘Introduction into Al-Arqam Academy’s value system’, pre-sented by Ahlam Othman, Head of the Values and Life Skills Department for Al Arqam Girls Academy; and ’The development process of life skills from theory

to practice’, presented by Shawkat Al Talafha, Director General of ‘Rowad Al Ghad’ Edu-cation Centre.

Dr Saleh, praised the deci-sion to hold the conference, by saying: “I’m very thrilled to be part of this conference and I commend Aspire Academy for its impressive organisation of this event. They have gathered the best local and regional expertise in one place, enabling collabo-ration and discussion around vital topics that will benefit all of us and, more importantly, edu-cation as a whole.”

Meanwhile, Dr Zuhair Al-Mzidi, Founder and Director of Arabs' Media Consultation and Marketing, added: “Aspire Acad-emy is known as a leader in sporting education but this con-ference, which focused on the less

well-known, educational aspect of the Academy’s role in devel-oping students, has set a positive example for all local and regional educators. We hope to see others embark on the same journey to excellence by holding innovative conferences like this one.”

Attendees also benefited from comprehensive workshop sessions delivered by Aspire Academy’s experts, which pro-vided them with useful insights into issues such how to ensure children are raised to develop a good understanding of Islamic culture, how to develop stu-dents’ talents so they can be used for the benefit of society, and encouraging students to be just and respectful towards other people, irrespective of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Panel discussion on the last day of the conference.

Spanish Business Council holds March get-togetherThe Peninsula

The Spanish Business Council in Qatar (SBCQ) held its March get-together event with the Pacific Alli-ance. The event was attended by the Spanish,

Mexican and Peruvian ambassadors to Qatar as well as the Colombian ambassador to Abu Dhabi and the hon-orary consul of Chile to Qatar.

The monthly get-together with The Pacific Alliance is an initiative aimed at regional integration made up of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico which was formed in 2011 to promote investment and business mainly through-out the Asia-Pacific region.

The event was attended by Francisco Niembro, ambas-sador of Mexico to Qatar, Faihan Al Fayer, ambassador of Colombia to Abu Dhabi, Carlos Velasco, ambassador of Peru to Qatar Prince Alexander Von Ary, honorary con-sul of Chile to Qatar.

Over 300 people were able to enjoy an evening of networking and an exchange of views on the rooftop of the St. Regis hotel in Doha.

The get-together was opened with welcoming words from Jose Vicente, president of SBCQ, who was highly satisfied by the acceptance this new initiative has received by other commercial offices established in Qatar and UAE.

Following this, Ignacio Escobar, Ambassador of Spain to Qatar, mentioned that this type of meetings strength-ens international commitment as well as adding value to the local community.

The Mexican ambassador, Francisco Niembro, on behalf of The Pacific Alliance, summarized the activities and projects that the 4 countries carry out in the Middle East.

07WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 HOME

IREG Forum concludes with focus on excellenceThe Peninsula

The IREG Forum 2017: “Excellence as the Uni-versity Driving Force” co-organised by Qatar University and IREG

Observatory on Academic Rank-ing and Excellence (IREG Observatory) ended yesterday.

The Day Two programme featured two sessions entitled “International rankings and their regional variations: Expe-rience of the Arab Region rankings [and beyond]” and “New rankings and rankings-related initiatives” chaired respectively by QU Associate Professor of Electrical Engineer-ing Dr Mazen Hasna and The Illuminate Consulting Group (ICG) Managing Director Dr Daniel Guhr.

It also included presenta-tions by speakers from global and regional ranking organisa-tions and international academic institutions — Head of QS Intelligence United King-dom Ben Sowter, Dr Murat Perit Cakir from Middle East

Technical University, Richard Holmes from University Rank-ing Watch, Perspektywy Education Foundation President and IREG Observatory - Poland Vice-President Waldemar Siwiski, Shanghai Ranking Con-sultancy Ltd Ranking Manager Xuejun (Snow) Wang, and UI GreenMetric Rankings of World Universities Chairperson and University of Indonesia Profes-sor Dr Riri Fitri Sari.

They presented on “QS World University Rankings”,

“URAP — University Ranking by Academic Performance”, “Inter-national Rankings and the Assessment of Teaching: A Regional Perspective”, “IREG Inventory of International Rankings”, “Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2016: New Methodo-logical Elements”, and “Trends

in Sustainable Universities: 2016 UI GreenMetric World Univer-sity Rankings Report”.

Dr Mazen Hasna said: “The forum highlights many ranking-related issues. Today’s session sheds light on regional rankings such as Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and the University Rank-ing by Academic Performance

(URAP), and on the absence of standards that reflect academic excellence in universities.”

Kuwait University Associate Vice-President of Strategic Planning Dr Majid Al Daihani said: “The forum focuses on a wide range of issues related to rankings and highlights the importance of establishing solid

relationships between the uni-versities in the region.”

The IREG-9 Conference will be held at Hasselt University in Belgium in May 2018.

The Day One of the forum on March 13 ended with a gala din-ner at The Ritz-Carlton, Doha.

The event included speeches by QU President Dr Hassan Al Derham and IREG Observatory President Dr Jan Sadlak, as well as the screening of a film enti-tled “Qatar University… Driver of education and research excel-lence in Qatar and the region”.

In his remarks, Dr Hassan Al Derham said: “I would like to thank IREG Observatory for giv-ing us the chance to organise and host such important event for universities in the region. This forum provides us the guidelines to communicate and connect with our stakeholders to achieve our goals.”

Dr Al Derham noted that Qatar University is organising on the sidelines of the forum a number of tours on and outside its campus, and to its Research Vessel “Janan”.

Day Two sessions

The Day Two programme featured two sessions entitled “International rankings and their regional variations: Experience of the Arab Region rankings [and beyond]” and “New rankings and rankings-related initiatives”.

Bedaya 'Get in the Ring' winner qualifies for finals in SingaporeThe Peninsula

After winning the local competition of the local “Get In The Ring” Compe-

tition organised for the second year in row by The Bedaya Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (Bedaya Center), a joint initiative by Qatar Development Bank and Silatech, Mohammed Al Jefairi has suc-ceeded in qualifying for the Singapore 2017 “Get In The Ring” finals which will be held in May 2017.

Get in the Ring is a global competition that started in 2012 by the Erasmus Centre for Entre-preneurship in Holland and since then has grown to include more than 80 countries worldwide. The event gives startups a podium to connect to capital, tal-ent and expertise that is needed for accelerated growth.

During the competition held at the Qatar Science Club, Al Jefairi battled against 7 compet-itors in front of the judges and submitted their pitches which covered their business model, financials and market valuations.

The GITR provided all competi-tors with a platform to pitch their ideas in front of local and regional supporters.

The competitors in the local GITR tournament were Dr Mohammed Chaaric and his project PowerWave, Charging your cell phone using magnetic waves in the air; Zaid Abou-qamar, Founder of myQourse, a schedule to all courses available locally in Qatar; Amin Elomer-abi and his project Let's Travel, a mobile app where you'll find your travel-mate, make plans to see a country for gaining new experience; Hafsa Alaqeeli, May Alqahtani, and Aisha Almarri and their project Smart Alert System; Mohammed Al Jefairi , owner of Deaf Robots, robot for teaching deafs their sign language; Sarah Ajina, creator of safe roads , an app that’s going to make driving safer and fun with no delays or frustration; Najam Khan, Omer Mohammed, and Luth-fi Ahmed and their project RoHelp, a Mobile App that helps drivers who have sudden breakdown on road; and the Marcial Franze with Wadi.travel project which

is an online community that helps travellers to Qatar and the Gulf, that are looking for infor-mation about hidden and authentic places by giving them personalised suggestions.

On this occasion, Reem Al Suwaidi, General Manager of Bedaya Center, said: "We are delighted to host this global com-petition for the second consecutive year which aims to raise awareness on the value of the startup community and also making it easier for individuals to start new businesses and unleash their creativity.”

From her side Fatma Al Mohannadi, Administrative Man-ager, of Qatar Scientific Club, commented, “This is the first time we are hosting such a glo-bal event in collaboration with Bedaya Center, and since our inception we have always aimed to support young inventors by providing them with the tools and opportunities to be able to implement their ideas and apply them to the ground, and today we continue this objective through the Get In The Ring Competition”.

Officials at the IREG Forum 2017.

Alfardan Group supports 33rd GCC Traffic Week The Peninsula

Alfardan Group Automo-tive Operations was recognised for its strong

support of the 33rd GCC Traffic Week. Alfardan Automobiles, the official importer for the BMW Group in Qatar displayed BMW X4 and, Alfardan Premier Motors, the official importer for Jaguar and Land Rover dis-played the Jaguar XF.

Alfardan Automotive Group took part at the week-long pro-gramme which saw attendance of scores of high ranking traffic officials from across the GCC.

Ihab Allam, General Man-ager of Alfardan Automobiles, said: "We, at Alfardan Group Automotive Operations, are committed supporters to core national initiatives, particularly ones which would help safe-guard the future of our youth and the well-being of our soci-ety. Road awareness and traffic safety are key issues we should all truly consider and firmly

drive in our community".Rabih Ataya, General Man-

ager for Alfardan Premier Motors, said: “The Traffic Department and the Ministry of Interior of the State of Qatar have saved no effort into craft-ing an annual road awareness programme that brings together young and adults to better understand the importance of road morals. The GCC Traffic Week is one in a series of initi-atives which are being organised

year on year."The 33rd GCC Traffic Week,

titled “Your Life is a Trust" opened last week. The opening ceremony was attended by Director General of Public Secu-rity Major General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, and a number of directors of departments of the Ministry of the Interior and the Heads and members of the delegations of the GCC partici-pants and a large gathering of citizens and residents.

Participants at the 'Get in the Ring' global competition.

Alfardan Automotive Group at the 33rd GCC Traffic Week.

08 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017HOME / GULF

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (left), is welcomed by Japan's Emperor Akihito upon his arrival for a luncheon at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, yesterday. RIGHT: King Salman and Japan's Minister of Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko attend Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 Business Forum in Tokyo, yesterday.

Landmark deals & projects unveiled at CityscapeThe Peninsula

Landmark deals were made yesterday with a number of new projects unveiled on Day 2 of Cityscape

Qatar 2017, by 85 exhibitors from 25 countries including; Qatar, UK, Turkey, Pakistan, UAE, Italy and Azerbaijan.

Qatar's leading project man-agement consultancy firm, ASTAD showcased its premier services and projects including the World Cup Stadiums in preparation for FIFA World Cup 2022, while demonstrating its expertise within the construc-tion industry.

Joining ASTAD at the exhibi-tion, Bandary Real Estate displayed a number of high-pro-file projects, including three new projects with Al Swida Village, residential apartments located in the up-and-coming Al Thumama area; Al Shahed Tower, hotel apartments, located in West Bay, Doha and Lusail Azure Tower, serviced apartment, located in the

beach-side city of Lusail. Bandary unveiled for the first time as well its most recent Millennium resi-dential property, located in Porto Arabia at the Pearl, Qatar boast-ing stylish designs and a luxurious lifestyle.

Kleindienst, an established real estate and property devel-oper and the biggest European real estate company in Dubai, is also participating in this year’s exhibition; showcasing ‘The Heart of Europe’ project, a clus-ter of six islands on ‘The World Island’ in Dubai, which will boast 14 hotels and resorts and many unique features, never

seen anywhere else in the world. Kleindienst were also joined

by Knight Knox, a multi-disci-plinary property consultancy; Mirage International Property Consultants, a sister company of Artan Holding, a Qatari owned group based in Doha; Ibhar Real Estate as well Aristo Developers boasting a large number projects in Cyprus.

Aristo Developers, a repu-table developer with over 3 decades of infrastructure expe-rience throughout Cyprus and Greece, showcased several large scale projects including the Aph-rodite Waterpark, the International School of Paphos, and the Kings Avenue Mall – the most contemporary shopping mall on the island of Cyprus.

Among key projects that were on display as well, Dream-land Country & Life, a unique lifestyle project in Azerbaijan, constructed on 330 acres in Baku, with 394 fully renovated luxury residences and 7 differ-ent types of luxury villas offering an exclusive life style.

Alongside the Cityscape Qatar Conference, Cityscape Qatar Talks, a series of free-to-attend seminars for industry professionals and members of the wider public interested in

learning the secrets of profita-ble real estate investment took place during the exhibition. Cit-yscape Qatar Talks provided attendees on day two with insights on a number of wide

ranging topics, including ‘Trends and Outlook’ as well as ‘Invest-ment Hotspots’, and placed a particular focus on Qatar, the UAE, Turkey, the UK and US real estate sectors.

New projects

New projects and deals were unveiled on Day 2 of Cityscape Qatar 2017, by 85 exhibitors from 25 countries including; Qatar, UK, Turkey, Pakistan, UAE, Italy and Azerbaijan.

CodeCamp & Innovation Theater competition winners announcedThe Peninsula

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has announced the winners of

the two competitions; CodeCamp and Innovation Theater, organised at QITCOM 2017 – the fourth edition of Qatar’s information and com-munication technology exhibition and conference, which took place at QNCC on March 6-8, under the theme “Qatar towards a Smart Future.”

A first-of-its-kind hacka-thon in Qatar, and a brand new addition to QITCOM, the CodeCamp competition attracted more than 400 partic-ipants from within and outside of Qatar. Its finals began on March 3 and ended on the last day of the event.

At CodeCamp, teams of young students and coders worked together over only 48 hours to develop creative tech-nological solutions to a specific problem in four subject matter areas set by CodeCamp’s part-ners: digital transformation (Microsoft), smart travel (Qatar Airways), e-health (Ooredoo), and assistive technology (Qatar Assistive Technology Center “Mada”). 36 teams competed within the four categories. Twelve teams qualified for the

finals; with three teams in each category. After pitching their ideas, the judging panel selected only one winning team in each category. Those winners are “Team Naqood” for the assistive technology category, “Team Eczema” for e-health category, “Team Viable” for digital trans-formation category and “Team Oryx Hunter” for smart travel category. However, all the twelve teams that reached the finals will be incubated at the Ministry’s Digital Incubation Center. The four winning teams in each category received QR75,000 in financial support to help them nurture their tech-nological solutions.

Over the three days of QIT-COM 2017, the Innovation

Theater competition attracted a large number of participations, entrepreneurs and visitors. Ten teams won access and incuba-tion at the Digital Incubation Center.

The Innovation Theater competition’s top five teams received QR375,000 in finan-cial support: Modares, EXdensity, Game of Brands, Wahm and Media Gate.

The Innovation Theater also featured the “Make the Deal” event where teams pitched their innovative startup ideas to sponsoring and supportive com-panies, which accepted three ideas displayed by the three teams: VUL9 Cyber Security, AirGo Airline Seats and Hasanat.

Visitors at one of the pavilions at the Cityscape Qatar 2017.

Cityscape Qatar 2017 features

dedicated Pakistan Pavilion Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

The sixth edition of City-scape Qatar 2017, features a dedicated Pakistan

Pavilion which attracts a large number of visitors with eight renowned companies; Star Mar-keting, Athar Marketing Network, Fast Marketing, DHA Bahawalpur, Multan, DHA Peshawar, Buch Villas Multan and Gulistan Marketing, pre-senting more than 50 projects from all over Pakistan.

“We are contouring the con-cept of premier community lifestyle. DHA has become the epitome of developing and cre-ating residencies and communities for the diverse populous. 'DHA', itself has become a brand and has shed a huge responsibility in charting our course of growth and expan-sion," Mashood Saeed, Marketing Manager of DHA Bahawalpur Pakistan said.

Explaining about Star Mar-keting Prime Real Estate Worldwide company, Ghias Anwer, Senior Regional Direc-tor, said, “We offer unique, creative and cost effective res-idential and commercial properties in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and other cities of Pakistan.”

“We have a few projects, including the Sidra Twin Tow-ers in Karachi lined up and are planning future joint ventures in Dubai and Singapore and in other locations as well as expanding in Pakistan.”

Qamar Chudary, CEO of MassComm Solutions Pakistan, said, “We started to showcase Pakistan’s renowned Real Estate Companies 18 months ago from Abu Dhabi and took a tour to dif-ferent Middle East countries which includes Dubai and KSA. In near future we are planning exhibition in Kuwait and Jeddah as well in Canada and USA. We have chosen the best real estate

companies from Pakistan and brought them to Qatar."

Yasir Bucha, Managing Director at Captain Developers from Multan Pakistan, said, “Buch Executive Villas is a project of Captain Developers. We have developed a special housing society in Multan and so far we have 15 families living in our society. We have provided many facilities in our projects as our aim is not only to sell plots but to sell a lifestyle which is why we have introduced many amenities including parks, lakes, shopping malls and community centres. We have many custom-ers from Qatar.”

Members of the Pakistan Pavilion at the Cityscape Qatar 2017.

Winners with the officials at QITCOM 2017.

King Salman meets Emperor Akihito

09WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Security forces stand near the damaged area at the explosion site after an attack staged with two bomb-laden vehicles in front of Weheliye Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday.

Explosion

NEWS BYTES

Libya strongman launches assault on oil terminalsBENGHAZI: Troops commanded by Libyan military strong-man Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive yesterday to seize two of the country's key eastern oil terminals, a spokesman said. "Ground, sea and air forces launched joint attacks to lib-erate Ras Lanuf from terrorist groups," Khalifa Al Abidi said after orders were issued early yesterday for the offensive, which is also targeting the nearby Al Sidra oil terminal. Both sites were seized by a rival, Islamist-led force earlier this month.

Mozambique: Cholera infects over 1,200MAPUTO: Mozambique is battling a cholera outbreak that has infected 1,222 people and killed two, the country's health ministry said, warning that it has been unable to slow its spread. Four of Mozambique's 13 provinces have been affected since the infection spread from the capital Maputo on Janu-ary 5, deputy director of public health Benigna Matsinhe told a press conference. It is the third consecutive year that Mozam-bique has suffered a cholera epidemic with the two fatalities reported to be from the Maputo area. In 2015, 41 people died in one of the country's worst ever cholera outbreaks. "We have recorded less cases in recent days, but what worries us is that we have been unable to halt transmission of the ill-ness," Matsinhe said.

Israeli patient burns nurse alive at clinicJERUSALEM: An elderly man burnt a nurse alive at a clinic in central Israel after apparently being dissatisfied by the treatment he had received, police said. The suspect, in his late 70s, fled the scene in his car after the incident in Holon, south-east of Tel Aviv, but was later arrested, police said. The nurse who died was a woman named Tova Kararo, 56. A senior police officer at the scene told news site Ynet that "a man went to receive medical treatment at the clinic here in Holon.

Mutilated corpses reported in BurundiJOHANNESBURG: A United Nations expert on Burundi says reports of mutilated corpses are again emerging as the coun-try's political crisis continues. The president of the UN commission of inquiry on the East African nation addressed the UN Human Rights Council on Monday. Fatsah Ouguergouz says mutilated corpses were seen in 2015 and early 2016 but reports have resumed in recent months. In many cases neither victims nor suspected perpetrators could be identified. Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza in 2015 suc-cessfully pursued a third term that many called unconstitutional. Hundreds have died and nearly 500,000 people have fled.

Israel detains Palestinian ex-negotiatorJERUSALEM: Israeli police burst into the offices of a former Palestinian peace negotiator and detained him for several hours, accusing him of conducting illegal political activity in east Jeru-salem on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, before releasing him. It was believed to be the first arrest of its kind since Israel banned the Palestinian Authority from carrying out official business in east Jerusalem in 2001, and illustrated the deep sensitivities over the area. Khalil Tufagji, a prominent Pales-tinian cartographer, said police entered his office early yesterday and confiscated computers and files before taking him away.

Mosul

AFP & Reuters

Iraqi forces said yesterday that they recaptured Mosul's train station, which has not been operational since jihadists siezed the

city but was once one of the country's main rail hubs.

Iraqi forces launched a major push to retake west Mosul from the Islamic State group last month, advancing in to the area from the south and retaking a series of neighbourhoods and sites including the provincial government headquarters and the famed Mosul museum.

Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police, said in a statement that his forces have added the train station as well as a nearby bus station to that list, both of which are located south-west of Mosul's Old City.

The station was the "main corridor from the north to the south and carries goods from Turkey and Syria to Baghdad and Basra," said Salam Jabr Saloom, the director general of Iraq's state-owned railway company, said.

Because of its importance, the station was "exposed to many terrorist attacks before the entry of Daesh," Saloom said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The station was built in the

1940s, and was "very important from a trade standpoint," as it was a "launch point for trains carrying goods to Syria and Tur-key and back," railway company spokesman Abdulsattar Mohsen said.

"But it stopped after the Daesh attack on Mosul," Mohsen said, referring to an IS offensive that overran the city and swathes of other territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014.

Trains from Mosul once carried passengers as well, but have not done so since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime by US-led forces in 2003, he said.

Iraqi forces are operating on the edge of the Old City, a war-ren of narrow streets and closely spaced buildings where hun-dreds of thousands of people may still reside.

The area, in which they will have to advance on foot when

armoured vehicles cannot enter the small streets, could see some of the toughest fighting of the Mosul campaign.

Iraqi forces launched the massive operation to retake Mosul in October, first retaking its eastern side and then setting their sights on the smaller but more densely-populated west.

Government forces killed the IS commander of Mosul’s Old

City as the battle for the mili-tants’ last stronghold in Iraq focused on a bridge crossing the Tigris river.

As fighting intensified yes-terday after the previous day’s heavy rains, civilians streamed out of western neighbourhoods recaptured by the government, cold and hungry but relieved to be free of the militants’ grip.

IS snipers were slowing the

advance of Interior Ministry Rapid Response units on the Iron Bridge linking western and east-ern Mosul but the elite forces were still inching forward, offic-ers said.

Government forces also pushed into areas of western Mosul, Islamic State’s last redoubt in the city that has been the de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate.

Iraq forces retake Mosul train station

Jerusalem

AFP

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed ways to reach peace with the Palestinians as well as settlement con-struction, a statement said.

The five-hour meeting, held in Netanyahu's Jerusalem office, came as Trump's administra-tion begins to enter the decades-old Israeli-Palestin-ian conflict. The two "reaffirmed the joint commit-ment of both Israel and the United States to advance a genuine and lasting peace between Israel and the Pales-tinians that strengthens the security of Israel and enhances stability in the region," a joint statement from the premier's office and US embassy said.

They also "continued dis-cussions relating to settlement construction in the hope of working out an approach that is consistent with the goal of advancing peace and security." The international community considers continuing settle-ment growth in the West Bank a major obstacle to peace.

Geneva

Reuters & Anatolia

Syria’s air force deliberately bombed water sources in December, a war crime that

cut off water for 5.5 million peo-ple in and around the capital Damascus, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said yesterday.

The commission said it had found no evidence of deliberate contamination of the water sup-ply or demolition by armed groups, as the Syrian govern-ment maintained at the time.

Rebels had controlled the springs of the Wadi Barada val-ley, northwest of Damascus since 2012 and faced a major offensive by Syrian government forces and their allies, despite a ceasefire deal. The rebels with-drew at the end of January.

The commission, led by Bra-zilian investigator Paulo Pinheiro, said there were no reports of people suffering water contamination on or before Dec. 23, when the Syrian air force hit

Al Fija spring with at least two air strikes.

“While the presence of armed group fighters at (the) spring con-stituted a military target, the extensive damage inflicted to the spring had a devastating impact on more than five million civil-ians in both government and opposition controlled areas who were deprived of regular access to potable water for over one month,” the commission’s report said.

“The attack amounts to the war crime of attacking objects indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, and fur-ther violated the principle of proportionality in attacks.”

The commission’s conclu-sions were based on interviews with residents and satellite imagery, as well as publicly available information.

The report, which covered the period between July 21, 2016, and Feb. 28 this year, came less than two weeks after the com-mission said that Syrian government aircraft deliberately

bombed and strafed a humani-tarian convoy, killing 14 aid workers, in September last year.

In a separate incident, air-craft — most likely Syrian or Russian — bombed the long-standing headquarters of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the town of Idlib, Tuesday’s report said. The commission also doc-umented the use of lethal chlorine gas on multiple occa-sions by government and pro-government forces, in the suburbs of Damascus and Idlib province. There was no evidence of Russian involvement in chlo-rine attacks, the report said.

The reasons given by the Syrian opposition for not attend-ing the third round of peace talks in Kazakhstan are "not convinc-ing", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

According to a video released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov, who was speaking at a news conference alongside his Congolese coun-terpart Jean-Claude Gakosso in Moscow, said: "We believe that

the reasons that were stated [by the opposition], at least in the media...are not convincing."

The third round of Syrian peace talks began in the Kazakh capital Astana under auspices of Russia, Turkey and Ira n. On Sat-urday, the Syrian opposition called for the postponement of negotiations until March 20 due to cease-fire violations. Oppo-sition delegate Osama Abu Zaid had tweeted the opposition would not attend the meeting.

Meanwhile, top European Union diplomat Federica Mogh-erini said yesterday that Syria needs a “proxy peace” supported by the international community instead of the proxy war that has raged for six years and killed some 320,000 people. “I believe there can be a space for all inter-national players and especially all regional actors... (to) see that it’s far more convenient at this moment to turn this into a proxy peace and allow Syria to restart somehow with a political tran-sition that will be needed,” Mogherini told reporters.

Regime bombed Damascus water supply: UN

Nairobi

AFP

Suspected pirates have boarded a tanker and forced its Sri Lankan crew to change

course towards the northeastern Somali coast, in what could be the first such attack since 2012.

"What we know for sure is that a small tanker has been attacked and has diverted course," John Steed, a former Brit-ish army officer who heads the Horn of Africa section of the Oceans Beyond Piracy NGO, said.

"Whether this is a pirate attack needs to be confirmed.

For example, we do not know what the demands of those men are. But this looks pretty much like the old piracy attack sce-nario," he said. The Aris 13, a ship run by a company based in the UAE, was seized on Monday with eight Sri Lankan crew members on board.

Trump envoy discusses peace & settlements with Netanyahu

Displaced people who fled from homes during battle between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants, receive bread at the Hammam Al Alil camp, south of Mosul, Iraq, yesterday.

Massive operation

Iraqi forces launched the massive operation to retake Mosul in October, first retaking its eastern side and then setting their sights on the smaller but more densely-populated west.

Somali pirates hijack ship with Lankan crew

Geneva

Reuters

THE failure to prosecute atrocities in South Sudan is “appeasement” and makes the world complicit in the continuing bloodshed, the head of a UN human rights i n v e s t i g a t i o n s a i d yesterday.

“The challenge for accountability is that alleged perpetrators still occupy sen-ior political and military positions,” Yasmin Sooka told the UN Human Rights Council.

“A small coterie of South Sudan’s political leaders show total disregard not just for international human rights norms but for the welfare of their own people. They have squandered the oil wealth and plundered the country’s resources.”

Failing to prosecute S Sudan atrocities is appeasement: UN

The words can’t be more poignant. And the message starker. “Today in a sense the entire country has become a torture-chamber; a place of savage horror and absolute

injustice,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ZeidRa’ad Al Hussein about the situation in Syria. It’s another dire warning about the humanitarian tragedy in Syria, a warning that follows several previous warnings in this six-year conflict and one that is unlikely to change the course of the conflict and make a positive change. The Syrian regime is not even willing to acknowledge that the crime happened.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has listed several crimes against humanity committed in Syria by the regime forces and also by extremist forces including Al-Nusra and the Islamic State. The commission’s report, led by Brazilian investigator Paulo Pinheiro, covered the period between July 21, 2016, and February 28 this year. The report says that Syria’s air force deliberately bombed water sources in December, a war crime that cut off water for 5.5 million people in and around the capital Damascus. In another ghastly incident, the report said Sukhoi-22 jets dropped eight bombs on a school complex in an opposition-held territory in October. In all, 21 children and 15 adults

died and 114 others were wounded. Similarly, medical facilities were targeted, humanitarian convoys were attacked and the lethal chlorine gas was used on multiple occasions. Pinheiro said that the Assad government was responsible for “extermination as a crime against humanity”. “Too many voices have been silenced by enforced disappearance, arbitrary

detention, or death,” he said. An official of the Syrian Network for Human Rights has said the government detains 87 percent of those in custody.

The international community has clear and solid evidence against President Bashar Al Assad, but there has been no action. Nevertheless, the collection of evidence must be continued in the hope that it can be used one day. A political solution to the Syrian crisis, when it comes, cannot erase the crimes against humanity committed by Assad and his allies. As Zeid said, ‘ensuring accountability, establishing the truth and providing reparations must happen if the Syrian people are ever to find reconciliation and peace.’ The most important thing is to punish the guilty and the Assad’s name comes first.

More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011. The death toll continues to rise, even though at a lesser pace, and the inability to find a solution and the deadlock in talks between the government and opposition are raising the spectre of a return to the full-fledged conflict.

10 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

More war crimes

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Today in a sense the entire country (Syria) has become a torture-chamber; a place of savage horror and absolute injustice.

Zeid Ra’ad Al HusseinUN High Commissioner for Human Rights

An independent UN probe gives a long list of war crimes committed by the Syrian regime. But the international community is not listening.

QNA

The State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkmenistan enjoy distinct and stable relations based on mutual understanding and respect, and common willingness to develop and

upgrade these relations at all levels.The exchange of visits between Emir H H

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Presi-dent of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow represents a strong boost for the bilateral relations and affirms the joint keenness on continued coordination between the two countries at all levels.

The Emir’s visit to Turkmenistan last March represented a great opportunity for signing many cooperation agreements and partnerships between the two countries in the fields of finance, sports, tourism, education, transportation and culture.

The visit by President Berdimuhamedow to Doha coincides with the 21th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and marks the President’s first visit after winning the presi-dential elections by 97.7%.

Qatar-Turkmenistan joint committee achieved great progress in strengthening cooperation between the two countries. The second meeting held last November under the chairmanship of Qatar’s Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Turkmenistan’s Deputy Prime Min-ister and Foreign Minister Rasit Meredow represented a comprehensive review of the various aspects of the bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, particu-larly in the areas of trade and investment, and ways of enhancing them to fulfill the aspira-tions of the higher leaderships in both countries. The capital Ashgabat hosted the committee’s first meeting in January 2013 and discussed cooperation between the two coun-tries in the economic, trade and industrial sectors, as well as education, health, tourism, energy, sports and air transport fields.

On January 4, the Cabinet approved a draft memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation between the Government of Qatar and the Government of Turkmeni-stan as one of the most distinguished areas in the two countries at regional and interna-tional levels.

An executive programme for cooperation between the foreign ministries of Qatar and Turkmenistan was also signed last year to undertake various actions during the years 2016-2017, including consultations on bilat-eral topics, discussing ways to further developing relations between the two coun-tries, working within the framework of international organisations and the United Nations for cooperation in the trade and economy field, consultation on consular mat-ters, in addition to issues of common interest between the two friendly countries.

Turkmenistan is a key player in the geo-political arena as one of the largest gas exporters. The country holds the world’s fourth largest natural gas reserves and has the substantial potential to increase gas exports through diversification of routes and expan-sion of partnership in export markets. Turkmenistan is also one of the pillars of the

Stable Qatar-Turkmenistan tiesbased on mutual understanding

The President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow

gas industry in Central and Southeast Asia through its gas pipeline project, which includes Turkmenistan, Afghani-stan, India and Pakistan.

Turkmenistan pays special attention to developing international energy cooperation as key to serve its national interests and meet the needs of its inter-national partners. In this regard, the leader of Turkmenistan initiated the “Resolution Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and Its Role in Ensuring Sus-tainable Development and International Cooperation” which was adopted at the plenary meeting of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly.

Turkmenistan has opted to adopt (Neutrality) as political principle. The Turkmenistan international legal status (Permanent Neutrality) was recognized by the United Nations, when the General Assembly on December 12, 1995 unani-mously adopted a resolution to approve it. The country adopted at the same time in December 1995 its constitutional law which acknowledged Neutrality as the

principle of foreign policy.

The Islamic culture plays an important role in rooting Qatari-Turk-men relations where the

Republic of Turkmenistan, is considered to be a cornerstone to Islamic history and civilization.

Turkmenistan’s ancient cities of Nisa and Meru testify to the countries contri-bution to Islamic civilization through heavy caliber scholars like Al Marwazi and Al Nassa’ei. Turkmenistan repre-sents a history museum contains a treasure of knowledge and science.

The area of Turkmenistan is 491,200 square kilometers. It is bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the Caspian Sea. The capital city is Ashgabat. Turkmenistan’s population is six millions, nearly 85% of them are Turkmen, while the rest constitute dif-ferent ethnicities like Uzbeks, Russians, Kazakhs, Persians, Armenians and Azeris. The majority of the population are Muslims.

The country has seen an economic and urban boom due to political stability and good relations with neighboring countries. Turkmenistan seeks to attract more tourism through establishing a several new tourist projects. Ashgabat was recently noted by the Guinness Book of World Records for having 543 white marble-clad buildings covering a total area of 4.5 million square meters.

The 133-metres Ashgabat Flagpole is one of the touristic monuments in Ashgabat. It is among the 5 tallest free-standing flagpole in the world. Next to Independence Monument of Turkmeni-stan, is the Independence Museum, a wonderful architectural masterpiece surrounded by huge statues of the Turkmen historic heroes.

The most famous cities of Turk-menistan are Turkmenbashi City, which was called Krasnovodsk during the Soviet era and Balkan City, a port with the largest oil refinery and the richest provinces of the Republic of Turkmenistan

The visit by President Berdimuhamedow to Doha coincides with the 21th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and marks the President’s first visit after winning the presidential elections by 97.7%.

ED ITOR IAL

11WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 OPINION

In northern Afghanistan, the Taliban overran another district. These set-backs came on the heels of disturbing losses across the country. Nicholson recently confirmed an inspector gen-eral report that the Afghan government controls or influences just 57 percent of

the country’s districts, down from 72 percent just over a year ago. Make no mistake: Afghans are fighting ferociously to defend their country from our common enemies. At the same time, we must recognize that the United States is still at war in Afghanistan against the terrorist enemies who attacked our nation on Sep-tember 11 and their ideological heirs. We must act accordingly.

Unfortunately, in recent years, we have tied the hands of our military in Afghanistan. Instead of trying to win, we have settled for just trying not to lose. Time and time again, we saw troop withdrawals that seemed to have more to do with US politics than conditions on the ground. The fixation with “force management lev-els” in Afghanistan seemed more about measuring troop counts than measuring success.

Authorities were also tightly restricted. Until last summer, our military was prohibited from targeting the Taliban, except in the most extreme circum-stances, taking the pressure off the militants and allowing them to rebuild and reattack. Indeed, while we were fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, authorities in Afghanistan were so restrictive that it took an entire year before US forces were finally given authority to strike the group’s fighters in Afghanistan. While we have settled for a “don’t lose”

Africa, Trump and the politics of aid

Uncertainty is about the only thing states and leaders can count on with the administration of US President Donald Trump. Yet if the attitudes and intentions of Trump and his cadre are unclear

regarding Nato or China, they are less murky when it comes to sub-Saharan Africa. Though Trump rarely mentions the continent, the calculations of Trump and his cadre are increasingly clear.

He does not like Africa, looks at the continent as a bother and will cut foreign aid across the board. What does this mean for Africa and will a retreat of US interest, primarily in the form of aid, necessarily be negative for Africa and Africans?

Journalists and analysts who have attempted to predict the contours of Africa’s relationship with Trump have sounded alarm bells at the prospect of Trump ignoring Africa at best or altering currently in-place US policies at worst.

They point to a strong US presence in Africa under two previous administrations, highlighting President Barack Obama’s Power Africa, Feed the Future and Global Health Initiative, as well as Presi-dent George W Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Millennium Challenge Cor-poration, both of which were reportedly widely-praised on the continent.

Journalists and others also point to the reliance of many sub-Saharan African governments on aid.

Ethiopia is a case in point. According to a 2013 Oakland Institute report, Ethiopia tops the world-wide list of countries receiving aid from the US, the UK and the World Bank, receiving $3.5bn on average from international donors in recent years. This rep-resents 50 to 60 percent of its national budget. While some money is funneled into increased agricultural output or higher education, much of it ends up lining the pockets of Ethiopia’s elite.

Or, as is so often the case with aid, the fault lies with the major government aid organizations such as USAID or the UK’s Department for International Development, which shell out money without over-sight or any sense of direction.

In one case, development aid provided £5.2 mil-lion in funds for an Ethiopian girl pop band in 2016. This would be laughable if the same “mistake” had not been made in 2014 when the “Ethiopian Spice Girls” received £4 million.

The case for continued US or other country-driven aid funneled through a plethora of NGOs

operating from New York, London, Oslo

and Rome is even harder to stomach when the econ-omy of a country like Ethiopia is on steroids.

Ethiopia regularly tops the list of growing econo-mies not only in Africa, but in the whole world. Ethiopia’s leaders obviously know how to make money and grow a massive economy utilizing their own resources as well as attracting record amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI), like any other “normal” country. Indeed, Ethiopia just completed Africa’s first light rail network in the capital Addis Ababa as well as a new rail line linking the capital with the port of Djibouti.

And what we see in Ethiopia mirrors FDI attrac-tion, development and instances of robust governance, for example in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Rwanda, albeit it on a smaller scale.

Not only is the state able to function fully, develop key projects and attract record FDI when it wants to, it intrudes effectively into the lives of its cit-izens. For example, vigorous tax collection regimes in Kenya and other East African states -- though still falling short of targets -- efficiently collected record tax figures in 2016. What does all this mean?

First, when the Trump administration cuts aid to Africa it will not be the end of the world. As the cases of Ethiopia and Kenya demonstrate, Africa does not need so much aid.

Second, the US does not provide that much aid, and certainly not in a manner that alleviates the con-tinent’s ills. Yes, $12 billion in official development assistance in 2012, for example, is huge. But this rep-resents less than one percent of the US federal budget. Additionally, and more importantly, where the money goes and how it is spent is critical to understanding why a cut in aid will not be the end of Africa. Dambisa Moyo, an economist, has been argu-ing for years that aid to Africa is counterproductive. Angus Deaton, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, agrees.

They argue, albeit from different data sets and standpoints, that foreign aid inhibits economic and political growth in Africa more than anything else. As Moyo noted: “For Africa to grow in a sustained way, foreign aid will have to be dramatically reduced over time, forcing countries to adopt more transparent strategies to finance development.”

Instead of assisting growth, aid from the US and others fuels corruption, fosters dependence and undercuts the stated missions of governments and bureaucracies. This obstructs independence and entrepreneurship and leads to feelings of inferiority on account of substandard goods and services on offer. Instead of an array of services such as health and education, most citizens of sub-Saharan African states suffer under regimes that offer poor services run by meddlesome bureaucrats and never-ending red tape. No wonder aid groups and consultancies constantly call for “capacity building” measures and training as a panacea.

Yet calls for capacity building and development ultimately undergird a rotten two-way street between donors and recipients.

The downside of aidAfrica’s array of corrupt tenders and contracts as

well as endless rounds of capacity-building confer-ences and training sessions represent the sinkhole of all the aid money -- the money that was supposed to help the subsistence farmer in Niger or educate that child in Angola.

You only need to enter “capacity-building in Africa” in Google to see that this is big business inside and outside Africa.

Rather than alleviating poverty or assisting in sustained development, USAID funnels grants worth millions of dollars each year to US NGOs or consul-tancies for capacity-building and development. These organizations specialise in snapping up con-tracts and finding willing partners —government and non-government — in Africa.

For the NGO or aid organizations to keep the funding stream flowing (and keep their jobs), they need to fund and occasionally develop a particular project in Mozambique, for example. For this, they require local partners and buy-in from the Mozam-bique government. Little oversight is required, reports are written and the funds for the project dis-appear. The project, if begun at all, often withers.

However, the bureaucrats at various ministries in Maputo received funds for their “oversight” and buy-in, the aid organization received its money and can point to a viable project -- at least on paper -- in Mozambique. In this upside down world where aid

OOn September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists murdered 3,000 innocent civilians on American soil while under the sanctuary of the Taliban

regime in Afghanistan. In response to that attack, US and Nato forces deployed to Afghanistan to hunt down those responsi-ble and ensure that Afghanistan would never again be a haven for terrorists. Since then, more than 2,000 Americans and more than 1,000 troops from our Nato allies have given their lives to that mission.

But after more than a decade-and-a-half of war, Gen John W Nicholson, commander of US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Serv-ices Committee last month that the war in Afghanistan is in a stalemate. President Donald Trump and his administration must treat Afghanistan with the same urgency as the fight against the Islamic State, or this stalemate risks sliding into strategic failure.

This month, two simultaneous suicide attacks by the Taliban in Kabul killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 40.

Why US needs more forces in Afghanistan

A file picture shows volunteers distributing food provided by USAID to Monrovia’s West Point neighbourhood.

strategy, the risk to US and Afghan forces has only grown worse as the terrorist threat has intensified.

The Taliban has grown more lethal, expanded its territorial control and inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan forces. And it is reportedly doing so with help from Iran and Russia, who want nothing more than to see the United States fail in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network continue to threaten our inter-ests in Afghanistan and beyond.

Trump has an important opportunity to turn the page, seize the initiative and take the fight to our terrorist enemies. To do this, the United States must align ends, ways and means in Afghani-stan. The US objective in Afghanistan is the same now as it was in 2001: to prevent terrorists from using the country’s territory to attack our homeland.

We seek to achieve this objective by supporting Afghan govern-ance and security institutions as they become capable of standing on their own, defending their country and defeating our common terrorist enemies with less US assistance over time. Doing this suc-cessfully requires the right number of people in the right places with the right authorities and the right capabilities. Our assess-ment, based on our conversations with commanders on the ground, is that a strategy for success will require additional US and coalition forces and more flexible authorities. It will also require sustained support of the Afghan security forces as they develop key capabili-ties, especially offensive capabilities such as special operations forces and close air support needed to break the stalemate.

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 16 years. Weary as some Americans may be of this long conflict, it is imperative that we see our mission through to success. We have seen what happens when we fail to be vigilant. The threats we face are real. And the stakes are high - not just for the lives of the Afghan people and the stability of the region, but for America’s national security.

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money goes to those with the least need (in-country elites and an army of expat aid “experts” and consultants), capacity to plunder and keep the gravy train running is all that matters -- substantial, dire problems remain unalleviated.

So what about all those major initiatives to help Africa under pre-vious US administrations?

With the possible exception of Bush’s PEPFAR, the others simply recycled much of the money by awarding contracts worth billions of dollars (think of Haiti, Afghani-stan, Iraq) to US companies and NGOs for work that was either unnecessary or remains undone.

Take Obama’s Power Africa ini-tiative. It is commonly asserted that Africa needs more power to meet rising demand and fuel economies. Yet this narrative largely rests on false assumptions and has prolifer-ated through the constant demands of aid organizations and consultan-cies in the West — as well as African governments — intent on reaping profits from a new, multi-million dollar project that takes a “one size fits all” approach [16] to a complex problem that is often region- or country-specific.

So what will the fallout be from Trump’s ignorance about and ignoring of Africa?

African elites, US NGOs and USAID employees stand to suffer when Trump cuts aid. The average Kenyan or Zambian will feel little, the aid earmarked for him or her has never trickled down anyway.

Brendon J CannonAnatolia

Journalists and analysts who have attempted to predict the contours of Africa’s relationship with Trump have sounded alarm bells at the prospect of Trump ignoring Africa at best or altering currently in-place US policies at worst.

John Mccain &Lindsey GrahamThe Washington Post

12 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017ASIA

N Korea vows 'merciless' strikes as US joins drillsSeoul

Reuters

North Korea warned the United States yesterday of "mer-ciless" attacks if an aircraft carrier strike

group led by the USS Carl Vin-son, which is joining South Korean forces for exercises, infringes on its sovereignty or dignity.

North Korea, which has alarmed its neighbours with two nuclear tests and a string of mis-sile launches since last year, said the arrival of the US strike group was part of a "reckless scheme" to attack it.

"If they infringe on the DPRK's (Democratic People's Republic of Korea ) sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-pre-cision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater," the North's state KCNA news agency said.

"On March 11 alone, many

enemy carrier-based aircraft flew along a course near territo-rial air and waters of the DPRK to stage drills of dropping bombs and making surprise attacks on the ground targets of its army".

A US Navy spokesman said the Carl Vinson was on a regu-lar, scheduled deployment to the region during which it would take part in exercises with the forces of ally South Korea.

Last week, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan in response to annual US-South Korea military drills, which the North sees as prepa-ration for war.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to make his first visit to South Korea on Friday.

Also last week, the US ambassador to the United Nations said President Donald Trump's administration was re-evaluating its North Korea strategy and "all options are on the table".

Exacerbating regional ten-sion, China is vehemently opposed to the deployment in South Korea of an advanced US anti-missile system.

The United States and South Korea say the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system is for defence against North Korea, but China fears its powerful radar can probe deep into its territory and compromise its security.

The United States began to deploy the system a week ago, a day after North Korea launched its latest four missile tests.

South Korean and US troops began the large-scale joint drills, which are billed as defensive in nature, on March 1.

The exercise last year involved about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

South Korea has said this year's exercise would be of a similar scale.

China has also repeatedly

expressed concern about the US-South Korean exercises, saying they do nothing to ease tension.

"The US has also started to deploy "Gray Eagle" attack drones to South Korea," a US military spokesman said on Monday.

Malaysia and Australia join hands against terrorismKuala Lumpur

Reuters

MALAYSIA and Australia will share intelligence on militants in Southeast Asia, a senior Malaysian minister said yes-terday, as the two allies brace for the possible return of IS militants from Iraq.

Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition have taken 30 percent of west Mosul from IS militants in an oper-ation launched in October to drive the IS out of its last major stronghold.

Malaysian Defence Min-ister Hishammuddin Hussein said the success of the Mosul operation would drive hun-dreds of IS militants and sympathisers from Southeast Asia back to their home countries.

"Daesh (IS) is a common foe that we need to face," His-hammuddin said, after meeting the Australian For-eign Minister Julie Bishop in parliament.

"If the offensive in Mosul is successful, we will see a lot of hardened returnees and sympathisers to the region."

He said Australia had also agreed to provide technolog-ical support and equipment in efforts to deal with the ris-ing threat of IS in the region.

Malaysia to deport 50 North Koreans despite travel banKuala Lumpur AFP

Malaysia will deport 50 North Koreans for over-staying their visas, the

deputy prime minister said yes-terday, in an apparent exception to a departure ban imposed after the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam.

The killing of the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un with VX nerve agent in Malaysia last month triggered an angry standoff between Kuala Lumpur and

Pyongyang that has seen them expel each other's ambassadors and refuse to let their citizens leave.

But Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pictured)said that 50 North Koreans working in Sarawak state on Borneo island would be deported from Malaysia despite the ban.

"We will send the North Korean workers in Sarawak who have exceeded their visa back to Pyongyang for overstaying. They will be deported soon."

He did not say why the gov-ernment had decided on the

expulsion despite Kuala Lumpur's bar on North Korean nationals leaving the country -- a tit-for-tat measure put in place after Pyongyang prohibited Malaysians from leaving its bor-ders last week.

The diplomatic crisis erupted last month after North Korea attacked the Malaysian investi-gation into Kim's killing as an attempt to smear the secretive regime.

Three Malaysian embassy staff and six family members are stranded in North Korea as a result.

Pyongyang, which has never confirmed Kim's identity, has repeatedly demanded the return of his body but Malaysian authorities have refused to release it without a DNA sample from next-of-kin.

The body, which is currently being kept in a morgue in the capital, has been embalmed to prevent it from decomposing more than a month after the assassination, the deputy prime minister said.

"It's an effort to preserve the body, because if it is kept in the mortuary it might decompose".

Thailand seizes record haul of rhino horns

Seoul

Reuters

A South Korean animal rights group has filed a complaint with police

against former president Park Geun-hye for abandoning nine pet dogs in the presidential Blue House after being dismissed from office.

The dogs are Jindos, a Korean breed of hunting dog known for their loyalty.

Park left the Blue House presidential complex on Sun-day, two days after the Constitutional Court removed her from office over a corrup-tion scandal involving big

business and financial favours.She returned to her private

home in the upmarket Gangnam district of the capital, Seoul.

Some neighbours there had given Park a pair of Jindos in early 2013, when she left for the Blue House. The pair had seven puppies in January this year.

The Busan Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said on its Twitter account it had filed a complaint against Park on a charge of ani-mal abandonment.

The Blue House said Park had left the dogs partly because it would not be good for the puppies to be uprooted from their home and denied they had

been abandoned."She told Blue House staff to

take good care of the dogs and to find good foster homes for the puppies if necessary," said a Blue House spokesman, Kim Dong-jo.

Another animal rights group, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth, said it was willing to care for the animals and find them homes.

"We want to help these dogs so that they won't be adopted thoughtlessly or end up in dog shelters,” the group said in a statement.

The Jindos are native to Jindo Island off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula.

Japan lays groundwork for free education policyTokyo

Reuters

Japan is laying the groundwork for a free education pro-gramme for some households

that will cover a student's costs from pre-school to college to ensure the country maintains a highly-skilled workforce.

The programme, still in its early stages, is expected to fea-ture in the government's economic strategy due sometime around June, which is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's eco-nomic agenda, commonly called "Abenomics."

The government invited Joseph Stiglitz, an economist and a Nobel laureate, to speak at its top advisory panel yesterday about investing more in educa-tion by introducing universal access to a college education.

A ruling Liberal Democratic Party panel is also debating the scope of the plan and how to fund it, with an eye on helping low-income families.

"Stiglitz has many ideas that agree with some of the things that we are trying to do in the

second stage of 'Abenomics,'" Abe said after the panel met.

Stiglitz also recommended that Japan raise salaries for workers in education and healthcare to draw more work-ers into the services sector, raise minimum wages, raise

public-sector wages and increase productivity.

These are all policies that Abe has adopted recently, but some economists say the pace of improvement in wages has been too slow.

"I talked about some of the underlying reasons for the slow-down in growth and productivity and the dangers of what happens if these issues that are dividing societies are not addressed," Stiglitz told reporters.

Stiglitz also said that mone-tary policy in Japan has reached its limits, so it is better to sup-port growth by narrowing the wealth divide and increasing productivity.

Abe shifted his economic agenda last year to focus on rais-ing the minimum wage, curbing long working hours and improv-ing access to child care.

Bangkok

Reuters

Thai customs have confis-cated 21 rhino horns with an estimated value of

nearly $5m in the biggest such seizure in Thailand for years, officials said yesterday.

Thailand has become a major transit point for the trade in endangered species to other Asian countries.

The seizure of the nearly 50 kilogrammes of rhino horn came days after 300 kilogrammes of elephant ivory was impounded and a month after the discovery of almost 3 tonnes of pangolin scales destined for Laos.

"It's the biggest confiscation of rhino horns in 5 to 10 years," said Somkiat Soontornpitakk-ool, director of Thailand's Wild Fauna and Flora Protection division.

The rhino horns were found in luggage sent from Ethiopia to Thailand.

Two Thai women who trav-elled from Vietnam and Cambodia to pick up the lug-gage ran off when it was subject to a random check, police said.

Warrants are now out for their arrest.

Global trade in rhino horn is banned by a UN convention, but in some fast-growing Asian countries it is prized as an ingredient in traditional medi-cines to treat everything from fever to cancer.

"It is estimated that only some 29,000 rhinos are left in the wild today compared to 500,000 at the start of the 20th century," according to the International Rhino Founda-tion. Africa is home to 80 percent of the world's remain-ing rhinos.

Park faces animal cruelty charges

Tension flares

North Korea said the arrival of the US strike group was part of a 'reckless scheme' to attack it.

South Korean and US troops began the large-scale joint drills, which are billed as defensive in nature, on March 1.

US Navy crew members run next to an E-2C Hawkeye as it lands on the deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during a South Korea-US joint military Exercise in east of the Korean Peninsula, yesterday.

Rhino horns are displayed during a news conference at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, yesterday.

Shinzo Abe (left) and Joseph Stiglitz

13WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 ASIA

Showing skills'Hitman' to file case at ICC against DuterteManila

Reuters

A self-confessed assas-sin who testified to being in a "death squad" under Phil-ippine leader

Rodrigo Duterte will soon file a case at the International Crim-inal Court accusing the president of crimes against humanity, his lawyer said yesterday.

More than 8,000 people have died since Duterte took office in June and unleashed a bloody war on drugs, a third in raids and sting operations by police who say they acted in self-defence.

Duterte and the police have denied links to the other killings, many of which rights groups say bear the same hallmarks as hun-dreds of suspicious deaths of criminals in Davao City during the 22 years Duterte was its mayor.

Two men have testified before the Senate saying they were part of an alleged hit squad in Davao they said killed at Duterte's behest. Legislators found no proof of their testi-mony, which the president's aides dismiss as fabrication.

The ICC case will come from Edgar Matobato, who came out of hiding last week and testified in September to have killed more than 50 people in the Davao area.

In a television interview, his

lawyer, Jude Sabio, said Mato-bato would file a case with the court in The Hague this month or in early April.

"Murder is a serious crime. If it is committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civil-ian population, it constitutes a crime against humanity," Sabio said.

Retired policeman Arturo Lascanas has testified to killing alongside Matobato and last week said he believed more wit-nesses would speak against Duterte to prevent themselves being "erased".

Duterte's chief lawyer, Sal-vador Panelo, said the president was not threatened by any pos-sible international court case.

"The extrajudicial killings here are being done by the members of the (drug) syndicate themselves," Panelo said.

"The president is not behind it, neither (are) the police."

In a report last month, Amnesty International said the drug killings appeared to be "systematic, planned and organ-ised" by authorities and could constitute crimes against humanity.

In a series of reports last year, Reuters showed police had a 97 percent kill rate in drug operations, the strongest proof yet that police were summarily shooting suspects.

An ICC prosecutor in Octo-ber said the tribunal might have jurisdiction to prosecute those accused of the killings.

Duterte has little love for the ICC and has described it as "useless".

Asked on Monday about the prospect of going to jail, Duterte stood by what he said were clear instructions to police to kill if their lives were in danger, and reiterated that he took full responsibility for the crackdown.

"I will do what I say in pub-lic and I am ready to face the consequences," he told a news conference. "If I go to prison, so be it."

Kabul

AFP

The Afghan security lead-ership has come under scathing criticism from

lawmakers and social media users over a catastrophic insur-gent attack on the country's largest military hospital, with many calling for their impeachment.

Gunmen disguised as doc-tors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital last Wednesday, with multiple surviving staff said that insiders including two interns were among the attackers.

The carnage inside the heavily guarded hospital points at a spectacular intelligence fail-ure and spotlights how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government and military institutions in Afghanistan.

"If I were the minister of defence, or intelligence chief or the minister of interior, I would submit my resignation over the incident in the 400-bed hospi-tal," MP Nawab Mangal was quoted as saying in the local media yesterday

Another lawmaker Humay-oun Humayoun heaped scorn

on Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi, who has been regularly mocked for social media images of him dozing off in meetings.

"The minister of defence is sleeping 24 hours a day. I think if we put him in a bag, close it and send it to another country, then the minister will see that he has been taken to another country without a visa and passport."

MPs are calling for the impeachment of Afghanistan's defense and interior ministers and the intelligence chief, as the country braces for an intense fighting season in the spring.

Quetta

AP

A Pakistani police official says a truck loaded with sand toppled over, col-

lapsing a mud shack and killing seven members of an Afghan refugee family living there.

Police official Aslam Bokhari says the incident happened

yesterday in the southwestern city of Quetta.

He says the truck was about to unload its cargo of sand when the accident took place.

Bokhari says the shack belonged to an Afghan refugee, Sher Mohammad.

He was not killed but his four children were, along with two women and a man.

Quetta has several illegal Afghan refugee settlements built on its outskirts, mainly made up of makeshift mud houses.

Pakistan has for years been home to 1.5 million registered and almost 1 million unregis-tered Afghan refugees, who fled to safety from their war-torn homeland.

Manila

Reuters

The Philippines went on the offensive yesterday to assert its sovereign rights

over a fishing ground in the Pacific Ocean, stressing a need to protect it after a Chinese sur-vey ship was monitored in the area last year.

Manila has lodged a diplo-matic protest with Beijing after a Chinese vessel was tracked moving back and forth over Ben-ham Rise, a vast area east of the Philippines declared by the United Nations in 2012 as part

of its continental shelf.President Rodrigo Duterte on

Monday called for "structures" to be erected in the area to denote Philippine jurisdiction and told the navy that should Chinese

vessels return, "go there and tell them straight that this is ours".

The Philippine foreign min-istry said there was no question, and no rival claim, over Benham Rise, a 13 million hectare

undersea region rich in biodi-versity and yellow fin tuna.

"It is indisputable because no other country has an overlap-ping claim there," foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose (pictured) said.

"So as a country that exer-cises sovereign rights and jurisdiction, we are the only one that has exclusive right to explore and exploit the national resources in Benham Rise. It is our responsibility to protect it."

Officials are suspicious and say the Chinese ship was not passing through the area, but surveying it.

'Hard-hitting' journalist shot dead in Masbate Manila

AFP

GUNMEN have shot dead a controversial newspaper columnist in the Philippines, media groups said yesterday, marking the latest journal-ist death in one of the world's most dangerous nations for reporters.

Joaquin Briones, who worked for tabloid Remate, was shot in the back on Mon-day by motorcycle-riding assailants on the central island province of Masbate, a hotbed of political conflict and crime.

Remate managing editor Lydia Buena said yesterday she believed the killing of Bri-ones was likely linked to his "hard-hitting" reports.

"He had received many death threats because he had written many articles about Masbate".

"He was pretty tough. He had a lot of enemies in the local community but he would continue. Many of his pieces dealt with illegal fish-ing, gambling or drugs."

Drug deaths

The ICC case will come from Edgar Matobato, who came out of hiding last week and testified in September to have killed more than 50 people in the Davao area.

Murder is a serious crime. If it is committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population, it constitutes a crime against humanity: Lawyer.

Philippines asserts rights over Benham Rise

MPs slam Afghan ministers over attacks

7 Afghan refugees dead in truck accident

Cambodia opposition leader begins pre-election tourKandal

Reuters

New Cambodian opposi-tion leader Kem Sokha began a pre-election tour

to rally support yesterday after his veteran predecessor resigned in fear that the politi-cal party could be dissolved by the state.

Kem Sokha became leader of the Cambodia National Res-cue Party (CNRP) this month after the resignation of Sam Rainsy, who said he wanted to save the party in the face of a legal change to allow authori-ties to dissolve any party whose

leader has been convicted of an offence.

Sam Rainsy has been con-victed of a series of defamation charges and has lived in France since 2015 to avoid them.

Rivals accuse Prime Minis-ter Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge cadre who has brought Cambodia close to China, of unfair manoeuvring to keep his three-decade-old grip on power at local elections in June and a general election next year.

At a meeting of around 1,000 local party leaders, Kem Sokha said the CNRP would avoid getting caught up in fights with Hun Sen. "We focus on

policies, we don't fight and we look to the future".

It is the first time the party has contested the communal elections, putting up 25,304 can-didates for 1,646 communes across Cambodia.

Miguel Chanco, regional lead analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the change in leadership might not harm the party's prospects.

"Over the long run, we think that the formal elevation of Kem Sokha could bolster the CNRP's support in rural Cambodia, thereby potentially posing a greater threat to Hun Sen's rule," he said.

Kem Sokha, leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) arrives in Kandal province, yesterday.

Chinese police perform a drill at a military camp in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province, yesterday.

Pakistan promises N-arms responsibilityIslamabad

AP

Pakistan vowed yester-day to work to prevent non-nuclear states from

gaining the technology that would put them on the path to acquiring nuclear weap-ons — even though both Islamabad and neighbour New Delhi have defied non-proliferation treaties to become competing nuclear powers.

The pledge was delivered by Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistan's prime minister on foreign affairs, at a multi-nation conference on non-proliferation in Islama-b a d , a t t e n d e d b y representatives of South and Central Asia, as well as China and Russia.

Pakistan is signatory to the 13-year-old United Nations resolution aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, with a particular

emphasis on preventing non-state actors from getting their hands on massively destruc-tive technology as well as materials.

But Islamabad has had a sketchy history in this area, with the architect of its nuclear weapons programme, Qadeer Khan, accused of clandestinely giving North Korea nuclear weapons technology.

Aziz, the prime minister's adviser, told participants at the Islamabad conference that Pakistan has imple-m e n t e d r e g u l a t o r y precautions to avoid siphon-ing off technology into the wrong hands.

The international com-munity has expressed fears militants could lay their hands on nuclear and other destruc-tive materials, particularly as various Al Qaeda-linked and other militant groups and the rival IS group are still able to stage large-scale attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Rodrigo Duterte (left) and Charles Jose

14 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017ASIA

Delhi polls: Congress seeks paper ballotsNew Delhi

IANS

Amid allegations that EVMs were tam-pered with in the j u s t - c o n c l u d e d assembly polls, the

Delhi unit of the Congress yes-terday approached the state Election Commission seeking that the upcoming civic polls in the city be conducted through ballot papers.

In a letter to state Election Commissioner S K Srivastava, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, airing doubts about the

efficacy of electronic voting machines (EVMs), said voters had apprehensions about the fairness of the electoral process.

"Serious doubts have cropped up in the minds of the voters as to the free and fair nature of the electoral process. Even the Supreme Court in Jan-uary 2017, reiterated the need for vote verifier paper audit trail (VVPAT) in EVMs," said Maken yesterday.

"We demand that these elec-tions should be held using the traditional ballot paper system as an immediate step so as to

erase doubts in the people's mind," he said.

Earlier, Maken on Twitter urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to hold the elec-tions to the North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corpora-tions -- due in April -- through ballot papers.

"Many are doubting EVMs. Not prejudiced, nor casting aspersions on results. I want Arvind Kejriwal to hold MCD elections through ballot papers," Maken said on Twitter while clarifying that he wasn't disput-ing the outcome of the just-concluded assembly polls

in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.

Following the decimation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, party chief Mayawati alleged that the vot-ing machines had been "managed" to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

She asked the Election Com-mission of India to hold the results of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkahand assembly elections invalid and do re-polling using paper ballots.

The poll panel subsequently rejected her allegations.

JNU student's autopsy today; parents refuses to issue consent

New Delhi IANS

AN AUTOPSY on the body of a JNU student -- who alleg-edly committed suicide -- was deferred tomorrow after his parents refused to give consent and demanded the presence of a "neutral" forensic expert.

"The parents want at least one expert from their native state of Tamil Nadu as they are apprehensive about the impartiality of the local doc-tors. The autopsy has been deferred till tomorrow (Wednesday)," Students Fed-eration of India (SFI) leader Sunand said.

Sunand was present at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where the post-mortem was to be conducted.

Earlier, the family mem-bers of J Muthukrishnan, an M Phil student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who was found hanging on Mon-day from the ceiling fan in his friend's room, suspected foul play yesterday and demanded a probe.

His mother Alamelu said it was difficult to believe that Muthukrishnan committed suicide.

Muthukrishnan had gone to his friend's house in Munirka Vihar to have food, where he locked himself inside a room afterward on the pretext of sleeping and al legedly committed suicide.

HK leadership rivals face off in debateHong Kong AFP

Hong Kong's leadership candidates faced off in a live television debate

yesterday as criticism mounts over an appointment process skewed towards Beijing, bypass-ing the vast majority of voters.

A committee of 1,194 mainly pro-establishment representa-tives from special interest groups will choose the next chief exec-utive later this month in the first leadership vote since mass pro-tests in 2014 failed to win political reform.

The selection comes as fears grow that China is tightening its grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp heavily criticises the vot-ing system as unfair and not

reflective of public opinion. Yesterday's debate was

dominated by heated verbal

sparring between Lam and Tsang who continually inter-rupted each other.

Lam said she would "strengthen the relationship between Hong Kong and China" and said there was "no room" for independence for the city.

Tsang also said the inde-pendence campaign had no future, but believed Hong Kong's relationship with Beijing "would not worsen".

Believing he can secure votes from pro-establishment and pro-democracy members of the electoral committee, he cast himself as a unifying figure, and questioned Lam's lack of popular backing.

"If public opinion renders me unsuitable to serve as chief executive, I will resign," Lam said.

Critics say Lam will be another version of current unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying, seen as a Beijing puppet.

China's confirms sixth bird flu outbreak Beijing

Reuters

CHINA confirmed a bird flu outbreak, the country's sixth case since last October, at a duck farm in central Hubei province, according to a Min-istry of Agriculture statement yesterday.

The outbreak in Daye, a city of more than 900,000 people, was confirmed as a case of the H5N6 strain of the virus, the ministry said in the statement on its website.

"The local government culled 681 birds after the out-break, which infected 134 ducks and killed 86 in a local farm," the statement yester-day said.

Vietnam seizes over 100kg rhino horn from KenyaHanoi

AFP

VIETNAM police seized more than 100 kilograms of rhino horn smuggled into the country in suitcases from Kenya yes-terday, the latest illegal haul in the wildlife trafficking hub.

Vietnam is a hot market for rhino horn, believed to have medicinal properties and is in high demand among the communist nation's grow-ing middle class.

The country is a popular transit point for illegal animal products, which often move from Africa through Vietnam to other parts of Asia.

The latest haul of the prized animal parts at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport were found hidden in luggage on a flight from Nairobi, according to the official pub-lication of the Hanoi police department.

"After scanning and checking, customs officials discovered the two suitcases of 57 kilogrammes and 61 kil-ogrammes were full of suspected rhino horns," the online Capital Security News-paper reports said.

Former Taiwan leader faces new charges over leaks

Beijing

Reuters

China said yesterday it was waiting for an official word on why Japan plans

to send its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea, but that it hopes Japan can be responsible.

China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fuelled

concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.

"The Izumo helicopter car-rier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Phil-ippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and US . naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July," sources said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know if the ship was going to visit countries in Southeast Asia or if there was another aim.

"We have not yet heard what Japan says officially," she said.

"If it's only a normal visit, going to several countries, and passing normally through the South China Sea, then we've got no objections, and we hope this kind of normal exchange between relevant countries can

play a role promoting regional peace and stability," Hua said.

"But if going to the South China Sea has different intentions, then that's a different matter".

Japan had been stirring up trouble on the South China Sea issue of late, and China hoped it can play a constructive role in peace and stability, Hua said.

Japan does not have any claim to the waters, but has a separate maritime dispute with China.

Kathmandu

AFP

Nepal police yesterday demolished the largest remaining settlement of

people displaced by a power-ful earthquake that struck nearly two years ago, a move that will leave hundreds homeless.

Around 100 families were still living in the camp in Kath-mandu when police wearing riot gear used bulldozers to flatten

the bamboo and tarpaulin structures.

"The gods will curse the gov-ernment. We don't have our home and can't rent a room from our earnings in Kath-mandu," said Kabita Limbu, tears rolling down her face.

Apsana Tamang, 19, was breastfeeding her one year-old baby in her makeshift home when the authorities arrived early morning.

"I have nowhere to live as my parents' house in Kavre

district was also damaged in the earthquake," said Tamang, who was pregnant when the 7.8 mag-nitude earthquake hit Nepal killing more than 9,000 people.

"We have received nothing from the government or other organisations except food and tarpaulins."

About 2,000 people lived in the camp at its peak, but many had left in recent weeks after authorities gave residents a one month eviction notice.

China seeks explanation over Japan warship plans

Taipei

AFP

Taiwan's former president Ma Ying-jeou was slapped with new charges yester-

day in a political leaks controversy, just weeks before he faces possible conviction in another related case.

While still in office Ma was protected by political immunity. But since he stepped down as leader in May last year he has been hit with a range of corrup-tion and other allegations.

Ma's Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party held power from 2008 to 2016, before they were trounced by Tsai Ing-wen and her opposi-tion Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Taipei prosecutors acting on behalf of the government charged Ma yesterday with leaking secrets to the island's then premier Jiang Yi-huah and an aide about a confidential judicial probe in 2013.

They also accused him of instructing a top prosecutor to disclose confidential informa-

tion to Jiang.The 2013 investigation at

the heart of the controversy was looking into whether the par-liamentary speaker at the time -- a political rival of Ma -- had influenced a case against an opposition lawmaker.

Ma said yesterday he was confident of his innocence and vowed to "fight to the end for justice".

"I will explain at court that the matter was about handling official affairs and crisis man-agement and that it did not constitute a crime," he said.

"I hope the court will make a correct verdict based on fair-ness and justice."

Taipei prosecutors said Tuesday that even though Ma has declared he was unaware of and would not interfere with the 2013 judicial probe, he "leaked information that should have been kept confidential".

They indicted him for leak-ing non-defence secrets as well as violating the communication security and surveillance act, which carries a maximum three-year jail term.

Politics

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said voters had apprehensions about the fairness of the electoral process.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati alleged that the voting machines had been "managed" to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Chief Executive candidates, former Financial Secretary John Tsang, former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing pose before a debate in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Police demolish Nepal resettlement area

Homeless people carry their belongings from a makeshift camp after it was demolished by police in Kathmandu, yesterday.

Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou speaks to the press after a speech to the Harvard College Asia Program, in Taipei, yesterday.

15WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 EUROPE

Parliament's go ahead

Parliament early yesterday approved a bill empowering the government to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown to Britain’s departure.

May said the bill would receive formal assent from Queen Elizabeth II “in the coming days”—leaving the prime minister free to start Brexit at any time.

Crocusses pictured in Cologne, Germany, yesterday.

Spring is here

London

AFP

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured) said yesterday she would be given the power to start Brexit talks

within days but declined to name a date for a process already dis-rupted by Scot land’s independence bid.

After speculation in Brussels and at home that she would start the withdrawal process this week, May told the House of Commons she would fulfil her promise to do it by end of March.

Parliament early yesterday approved a bill empowering the government to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, start-ing a two-year countdown to Britain’s departure.

May said the bill would receive formal assent from Queen Eliza-beth II “in the coming days”—leaving the prime minis-ter free to start Brexit at any time.

“I will return to this House before the end of this month to notify when I have formally trig-gered Article 50 and begun the process through which the United Kingdom will leave the European Union,” she said.

This would put Britain on course to become the first coun-try to leave the 28-member bloc by March 2019.

“I don’t know the date when the letter will arrive, but what I know is that we are ready,” Euro-pean Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said.

May appeared to be caught off guard on Monday when Scot-land’s nationalist government

said it would next week seek authorisation for a second ref-erendum on leaving the United Kingdom.

The prospect had been mooted since the June referen-dum vote for Brexit, in which a majority of Scots had wanted to stay in the bloc, but the announcement had not been expected so soon.

May immediately con-demned the plan, less than three years after Scots voted by 55 per-cent to reject independence, saying it would be “divisive”.

“This is not a moment to play politics or create uncertainty,” she repeated yesterday, saying it was time to “bring our coun-try together”.

Facing nationalist move-ments across the continent, the EU is determined that no other countries follow Britain out the door, and big battles await over budget contributions, immigra-tion and trade ties.

Manfred Weber, a German

lawmaker who leads the Euro-pean People’s Party, the biggest grouping in the European Par-liament, said Scotland’s breakaway bid signalled “a deep-ening of the splits in British society”.

“People all over Europe can see how risky it is to take the EU into question,” he said.

There is speculation that May could wait to trigger Article 50 until after a March 25 summit in Rome to mark the EU’s 60th birthday, a moment it hopes will emphasise the bloc’s unity.

The prime minister will not be attending, her spokesman confirmed yesterday, adding that it was a decision agreed with the EU leaders and “she wishes them well”.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) government in Edinburgh is hoping that with independ-ence, Scotland could maintain its close ties with the EU.

First Minister Nicola Stur-geon said her concerns about

May’s plan to pull Britain out of Europe’s single market, in order to cut immigration, had been met with a “brick wall of intransigence”.

But the European Commis-sion was quick to warn that Scotland would have to reapply as a new nation.

May has the power to block a second independence vote, but this would risk energising the Scottish nationalist cause at a time when polls indicate a nar-row majority in favour of staying in Britain.

The approval of the Brexit bill was a victory for the prime min-ister, and she said yesterday it gave “a very clear message to everybody in Europe that we mean business”.

But further battles await in parliament, where a majority of lawmakers did not want to leave the EU—and certainly not Europe’s single market, which they fear could hit economic growth.

British PM keeps suspense over Brexit trigger

Sarajevo

AFP

SWITZERLAND is to extra-dite a woman sought for brutal murder of a Serbian boy in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, justice officials in two countries said yesterday.

Elfeta Veseli is a rare case of a woman suspected of war crimes. She was born in 1960 in Kosovo but lived in Bosnia at the beginning of the war, which claimed 100,000 lives.

According to Balkan media, Veseli was arrested in Swiss canton of Neuchatel in September and detained in Geneva pending extradition.

Her extradition to Bosnia is expected “soon, when tech-nical conditions are met,” a Sarajevo prosecutor said.

Veseli had fought with Muslim-dominated forces, according to the accusations against her. Veseli is sus-pected of killing a 12-year-old boy, Slobodan Stojanovic, in Zvornik, eastern Bosnia.

The boy and his parents were fleeing from advancing Muslim forces when he returned for his dog and has never been seen alive again.

“I will never forget the day of June 16, 1993, when I was called to Zvornik to iden-tify my son,” his father Ilija Stojanovic told a Serbian daily at the time of Veseli’s arrest, describing signs of torture and brutality on the child’s body.

Strasbourg, France

AFP

The European Parliament punished a Polish extreme-right MEP yes-

terday after he said women should be paid less because they are “weaker and less intel-ligent” than men.

Parliament President Anto-nio Tajani said Janusz Korwin-Mikke had received an “unprecedented” sanction, including forfeit of his daily MEP allowance for 30 days, totalling €9,210 ($9,800).

The 74-year-old Korwin-Mikke was also suspended from parliamentary activities for 10 days and will be prohibited from representing the parlia-ment for one year.

The Polish MEP has previ-ously been punished by the EU

assembly for making racist comments and remarks about the Holocaust.

“I will not tolerate such behaviour, in particular when it comes from someone who is expected to discharge his duties as a representative of the peo-ples of Europe with due dignity,” Tajani said in a statement, yesterday.

Campaign group Avaaz welcomed the sanction, which came after almost one million people signed a petition asking that the European Parliament punish Korwin-Mikke.

“Nearly one million Euro-peans are calling for a parliament that promotes equality and unity, not one that becomes a megaphone for hate speech,” Avaaz campaigner Patricia Martin Diaz told reporters.

Berlin

Reuters

Germany plans a new law calling for social networks like Facebook to remove

slanderous or threatening online postings quickly or face fines of up to €50m ($53m).

“This (draft law) sets out binding standards for the way operators of social networks deal with complaints and obliges them to delete criminal content,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement announcing the planned legislation yesterday.

Failure to comply could see a social media company fined up to €50m, and the company’s chief representative in Germany fined up to €5m.

Germany already has some of world’s toughest hate speech laws covering defamation, slan-der, public incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, backed up by prison sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities. It now aims to update these rules for the social media age.

The issue has taken on more urgency amid concern about

spread of fake news and racist content on social media, which often targets more than 1 million migrants who arrived in Ger-many, as well as members of Jewish community. The Central Council of Jews in Germany wel-comed the new law.

“We do not want an internet police or thought control,” coun-cil’s president, Josef Schuster, said. “But when hatred is stoked, and legal norms in our democracy threaten to lose their relevance, we need to intervene.”

In late 2015, Germany pressed Facebook, Twitter and

Google’s YouTube to sign up to a code of conduct, which included a pledge to delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours.

The draft rules would turn code of conduct into legal obliga-tions to delete or remove illegal content, to report regularly on vol-ume of filed complaints and they also demand sites make it easier for users to complain about offen-sive content.

A survey by justice ministry’s youth protection agency, released yesterday, found YouTube was able to remove

around 90 percent of illegal postings within a week, while Facebook deleted or blocked just 39 percent of content deemed criminal under the law and Twit-ter only 1 percent.

Social networks have raced to improve technology and user feedback on their sites to detect and remove abusive content.

“The draft law has only just been announced and we are analysing the details now,” a YouTube spokesman said. “We will continue to improve our sys-tems to ensure illegal hate speech is dealt with quickly.”

Rome

Reuters

Italy yesterday set the date for a referendum on two labour issues, including use of vouch-

ers originally meant to fight illegal employment of seasonal farm labourers, but later used widely for all temporary workers.

Prime Minister Paolo Gen-tiloni’s government said Italians would vote on May 28 on vouch-ers. They will also be called to cast a ballot on bolstering the rights of workers who are employed by companies that win public tenders.

Vouchers, which are worth

€10 ($10.64) each, give workers no rights to sick pay, holidays or leave. They were introduced as an experiment in 2008, but their use shot up 70 percent in 2015.

Workers then cash their vouchers in and receive €7.5 for each €10 of face value, with €2.5 going to state to cover insurance and pension contributions.

Gentiloni’s government is seeking to change the voucher law before the referendum, a move that would probably nul-lify the vote.

The aim is to limit the use of the vouchers, allowing only very small companies to use them, and lowering the ceiling of

vouchers one person can cash in to €5,000 from €7,000. .

But a new law has yet to be passed by parliament and Ita-ly’s biggest union, the CGIL, which collected signatures to hold the referendum, says it should go forward because the use of vouchers should be abol-ished, not limited.

In January, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled admissible the two referendum questions, but disallowed one that would have challenged former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s labour reform, which made it easier to fire workers.

Polish MEP fined for remarks on women

Switzerland to extradite Bosnian woman

Germany plans to fine social media sites over hate speech

Italy sets date for referendum on vouchers & workers' rights

A man buys a paper at the newly-designed Parisian news stand yesterday, in an overall costing an estimated €52.4m ($56m). The new-look kiosk on a Paris street is the first of hundreds that will replace the iconic domed structures that have dotted the city since the 1860s.

In the news

16 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017EUROPE

Misuse of public funds

The right-wing presidential candidate was charged yesterday morning. The hearing was brought forward so that it could take place in a calm manner, lawyer Antonin Levy told reporters. Fillon was was also charged with misuse of corporate assets.

Fillon has defied calls to step aside from colleagues in his Republicans party, while the scandal has made an already unpredictable election even harder to call.

Firefighters march during a demonstration against staff reduction on the place de la Republique in Paris, yesterday.

Firemen on warpath

Paris

Agencies

France’s rightwing presiden-tial candidate Francois Fillon was charged yester-

day with several offences over a fake jobs scandal, including mis-use of public funds, his lawyer said. “He was charged this morn-ing. The hearing was brought forward so that it could take place in a calm manner,” lawyer Antonin Levy told reporters. He was also charged with misuse of corporate assets, Levy said.

Fillon, 63, had been expected to go before investigating mag-istrates today over the scandal, which has undermined his cam-paign for the presidency only six weeks from the first round of the election.

Following revelations in Canard Enchaine newspaper at the end of January, the conserv-ative candidate admitted to employing his wife Penelope and two of their children as parlia-mentary assistants, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Penelope was paid hundreds

of thousands of euros from pub-lic funds between 1986 and 2013, but she is accused of doing little work for the salary.

From May 2012 to

December 2013, while employed at the parliament, Penelope was also paid €3,500 ($3,700) a month by a magazine owned by a friend of Fillon, the tycoon Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere.

After initially saying he would withdraw from the pres-idential race if charged, Fillon has vowed to continue, calling the investigation an attempted “political assassination”.

He has defied calls to step aside from colleagues in his Republicans party and has weathered a flurry of resigna-tions from his campaign team, while the scandal has made an already unpredictable election even harder to call.

The disarray appears to have benefited centrist, pro-business candidate Emmanuel Macron in particular, as well as far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who are shown in opinion polls to be the likely top two candidates in the first round of voting on April 23.

Polls suggest 39-year-old Macron would beat Le Pen in the decisive second round on May 7 — but after Donald Trump’s

victory in the US and Britain’s vote to leave the EU, analysts caution against bold predictions.

Fillon, a devout Catholic, was the surprise winner of the Republicans’ primary in Novem-ber after campaigning as a clean and honest candidate who would transform France with a “radi-cal” economic programme.

He wants to cut public spending by €100bn and cut 500,000 public sector jobs over

the next five years.He was the frontrunner in the

presidential race before the scandal hit in late January, but is now shown in third place and eliminated in the first round.

Meanwhile, Le Parisien newspaper reported that inves-tigators were now also looking at payments to his daughter Marie and son Charles for assistance work, and money which they in turn sent back to

an account he jointly holds with his wife. Fillon has been sum-moned to meet examining magistrates today for a meet-ing at which he says he is likely to be officially placed under investigation on suspicion of financial misconduct.

Fillon says he has done noth-ing illegal and has vowed to stay in the race for presidency despite what he calls an attempted “political assassination.”

French presidential candidate for Les Republicains party Francois Fillon walks on stage to deliver a speech during a meeting of the General Assembly of the French National Federation of Hunters, in Paris, yesterday.

Zurich

Reuters

Switzerland’s NDB intelli-gence service ratcheted up scrutiny of asylum

requests for signs of Islamist militancy last year as it sought to better identify refugees who pose a threat, a government report showed yesterday.

The NDB agents reviewed 5,202 asylum dossiers for pos-sible threats to Swiss internal security, from the pool of 27,200 people who submitted asylum requests last year, the report said.

The NDB recommended rejecting 14 of those cases, as well as stripping refugee sta-tus from one other person who had already been granted asylum.

That compared with 4,910 dossiers being reviewed in 2015, from 39,500 asylum requests. Of 24,000 asylum requests in 2014, the Swiss intelligence service reviewed only 2,488 files.

The report, by a multi-agency task force called Tetra formed in 2014 to address “jihad travellers” moving between Switzerland and the Middle East, concluded that Switzerland remains an target for militants despite so far avoiding attacks like those in Germany and France.

“The most likely threat for our country are attacks that require little logistical planning and are carried out by lone

attackers or small groups,” the report concluded.

Overall, asylum requests in Switzerland are trending down-ward after authorities closed the Balkan land route used by thousands to flee hot spots in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Requests are forecast to fall to about 24,500 this year.

Through 2016, the NDB had identified 497 Internet users it said were spreading extremist propaganda online. Of 70 total cases being investigated by fed-eral police, the report said, about 60 are the subjects of a criminal proceeding.

Additionally, 81 people motivated by extremist ideol-ogies had travelled from Switzerland to conflict areas including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001 through February, up from 78 a month earlier.

Twenty-two of those have been killed or are believed to be dead, the report said, while 14 have returned to Switzerland.

Last year, Swiss voters approved extending the national spy service’s author-ity to monitor Internet traffic, deploy drones and hack foreign computer systems, in large part to counter extremist threats.

The government is review-ing whether an update is needed to require employees of private companies who man-age asylum cases to report clients’ possible extremist behaviour to authorities.

Berlin

Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) said she was already on her way

to the airport to fly to Washing-ton for her first meeting with US President Donald Trump when he rang her to postpone the trip due to approach of a winter storm.

The storm, which is expected to hit northeastern United States, has prompted airlines to cancel thousands of flights and some mayors to order schools to close yesterday.

After her 10-minute conver-sation with Trump, Merkel continued to Berlin’s Tegel air-port to personally inform

reporters who were due to travel with her to Washington of the change of plan.

“The trip is cancelled. That is not a joke,” Merkel told the dozen or more reporters already seated on board the govern-ment’s Airbus A340 plane.

Merkel had been due to meet Trump for more than two hours yesterday, followed by a work-ing lunch. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the meeting would be rescheduled for Friday, following the same schedule.

Top executives from three German companies, including engineering group Siemens and carmaker BMW, who had been due to travel with Merkel, would also participate in the postponed trip, officials said.

Merkel is no stranger to weather-related travel changes.

In 2010, she was stranded during a trip to the US following the eruption of a volcano in Ice-land and had to follow a

circuitous route home via Por-tugal and Italy.

In 2012, France’s newly elected Socialist President Fran-cois Hollande was en route to meet Merkel, but had to return to Paris after his plane was struck by lightning, an incident that helped break the ice in relationship between two leaders despite their political differences.

German government offi-cials said the abrupt postponement of Merkel’s trip to Washington could act in same way for Merkel and Trump, pro-viding an unexpected personal kickstart for discussions that will centre on complex and difficult issues, including trade issues, Russia, Nato and the Middle East.

Berlin

Reuters

GERMAN authorities yester-day raided apartments linked to a mosque in Hildesheim visited by Tunisian failed asy-lum seeker Anis Amri, who drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in Decem-ber and killed 12 people.

Local state interior minis-try said more than 300 police searched apartments of eight people and shut down the mosque and association which ran it, saying it recruited young Muslims to join IS militants in Iraq and Syria.

“The ban of association breaks up a hot spot of radi-cal Salafist scene in Germany,” Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pisto-rius said, referring to Muslims who espouse a strict interpre-tation of Sunni Islam.

Authorities raided the mosque over suspicions that it was radicalising Muslims and encouraging them to travel to war zones in Syria and Iraq. An Iraqi Islamist ideologist arrested in November for run-ning a ring to recruit for IS had preached at the banned mosque in Hildesheim.

Berlin

Reuters

Around 2,000 ground staff whose series of strikes at Berlin’s airports have par-

alysed air travel to and from German capital will not stage fur-ther walkouts this week, while their employers have proposed mediation to end the action.

The staff, whose roles include check-in, loading and unloading planes and directing aircraft on tarmac, are employed by companies including WISAG, Aeroground, Ground Solution, AHS and Swissport Berlin.

Yesterday the employers proposed mediation in a bid to end the walkouts, which have led to more than 1 ,800

flights cancelled over three days, equivalent to almost all the flights operating out of Berlin’s two airports on the strike days since Friday. Yesterday 578 flights were grounded.

The latest walkout is due to end at 0400 GMT today, and the union said there would be no strikes for rest of the week to allow management to make a new offer.

The union wants an increase in pay for ground staff to €12 an hour from about €11 as part of a one-year collective agreement. Management first offered about 10 cents more an hour over four years and then improved that offer to an 8 percent increase over three years.

“The positions are so far apart from each other that we

think mediation is the only way to find an acceptable solution for both sides,” a spokesman for the employers said yesterday.

Verdi strike leader Enrico Ruemker said the union must first examine the proposal.

The union had earlier yes-terday raised the prospect of further strikes without advance notice.

Fillon charged over ‘fake jobs’ scandal

Merkel postpones US trip due to winter storm Swiss spy agency ratchets up scrutiny of asylum seekers

German cops raid flats visited by truck attacker

Union calls temporary truce in Berlin airport strike

17WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 EUROPE

Merkel flayed

The Turkish President also accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of siding with the Netherlands in the deepening row between the Nato allies.

Warships participate in Nato’s Dynamic Manta 2017 anti-submarine warfare exercise, in the Mediterranean sea, Italy.

Naval exercise

Ankara/Istanbul

Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday a diplomatic row with the Nether-lands could not be

dismissed with an apology and warned of further possible meas-ures, after Ankara suspended high-level diplomatic ties with the Dutch.

Incensed by Dutch and Ger-man government bans on his ministers from speaking to ral-lies of overseas Turks, Erdogan also accused German Chancel-lor Angela Merkel of siding with the Netherlands in the deepen-ing row between the Nato allies.

Turkey’s diplomatic riposte on Monday, which included a ban on Dutch ambassador and diplomatic flights, came after Erdogan branded the Netherlands “Nazi remnants” at the weekend for muzzling his ministers.

“The cabinet took action yes-terday but there are many other things that could be done against the Netherlands,” Erdogan said

in a speech broadcast live on television.

“We will show those who think they can get away with an apology that they are making a mistake,” said Erdogan. , who is

campaigning for an April 16 ref-erendum on boosting his powers. The Turkish president did not elaborate. Ankara’s initial response had appeared symbolic as the measures did not include

economic sanctions or travel restrictions for ordinary citizens.

Erdogan has threatened to take the Netherlands to European Court of Human Rights over ban on his ministers, which the Dutch imposed citing fears of unrest.

Dutch police used dogs and water cannon on Sunday to dis-perse hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags outside the consulate in Rotterdam. Some protesters threw bottles and stones and several demonstra-tors were beaten by police with

batons. Mounted police officers charged the crowd.

EU foreign policy chief Feder-ica Mogherini and EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn called on Turkey to moderate its language and avoid further esca-lating the dispute.

Erdogan, who last week invoked Berlin’s Nazi past in crit-icising cancellations of Turkish ministers’ rallies in Germany, renewed his attack on Merkel after she criticised his “Nazi rem-nants” jibe against the Dutch.

“The countries that have embraced this thuggery have lost their credibility. The Chancellor of Germany has come out and said she supported the Netherlands. We know that you are no differ-ent than them,” Erdogan said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Turkish sanctions, while “not too bad”, were inap-propriate as the Dutch had more to be angry about.

Ankara’s foreign ministry said the EU was exercising dem-ocratic values selectively.

Ankara

AFP

Turkey yesterday rejected EU criticism of its stance in the intensifying crisis

with the Netherlands as hav-ing “no value”, after Ankara downgraded relations with The Hague and banned its ambassador from returning.

In a dramatic escalation after the Netherlands prevented two Turkish ministers from holding rallies ahead of a referendum on strengthening President Erdog-an’s powers, Ankara said it was suspending high-level relations with the Hague in a raft of diplo-matic sanctions.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn called on Tur-key to “refrain from excessive statements and actions that risk further exacerbating the situation.”

But Turkish foreign minis-try hit back by saying: “The EU’s

short-sighted statement has no value for our country.”

“Our EU counterparts apply democratic values, fun-damental rights and freedoms selectively,” the ministry added.

Turkey’s EU Affairs Min-ister Omer Celik said Ankara “should re-evaluate” a key part of a 2016 deal to stem the flow of migrants to the EU.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said after a cabinet meeting Turkey will not allow the Dutch ambas-sador to return until the Netherlands meets conditions over holding rallies.

Ambassador Kees Cornelis van Rij is currently outside the country, and business is being handled by Dutch charge d’affaires. Kurtulmus added: “Until the Netherlands compen-sates for what it has done, high-level relations and planned meetings at a ministe-rial and higher level have been suspended.”

Apology from Netherlands not enough: Erdogan

Amsterdam

Reuters

The Dutch election has cen-tred on the fight between the two hard right candi-

dates, anti-Islam maverick Geert Wilders and Prime Min-ister Mark Rutte, but the leader of the Christian Democrats has crept to within striking distance of topping the poll.

Sybrand Buma’s Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) is all but certain to participate in the next governing coalition, regardless of who wins, and Buma even has a long-shot chance of becoming prime min-ister after Wednesday’s vote, given other parties’ refusal to work with Wilders.

The latest polls show right-leaning, low-profile Buma trailing Rutte’s VVD by 4 per-centage points and just 1 point behind Wilders’ PVV, on a ris-ing trend. He could command around 20 seats in a fractured 150-seat parliament.

Since February 24, the CDA has gone up in every one of the 11 polling updates in a poll of polls - the only party to do so.

Buma told reporters all the pre-election talk had been that “this campaign would be about a rivalry between Rutte and Wilders. What’s left of that dual? We are getting stronger every day and the chance that we are the biggest on election day is very real, and no one is expecting it.” Buma has gained ground by adopting a tough line similar to Rutte’s on immigra-tion, adding a focus on communal values and a touch of nationalism to tap voter con-cerns about Dutch identity.

He has proposed introduc-ing singing the national anthem in schools and mandatory com-munity service, but supports remaining in the EU and keep-ing the euro currency - albeit with some reluctance.

The CDA campaign is “very much about moral issues rather than economic issues”, Buma

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a meeting in Ankara, yesterday.

The Hague

AFP

THE Dutch have long had a rep-utation for being tolerant, open and laid-back. But the leader of country’s newest political party Sylvana Simons believes if you scratch the surface, you’ll expose deep-seated racism.

After being bombarded with death threats and hate mail for call-ing out a TV show guest for a racist remark, the former TV presenter decided the country needed a new political tone and message—one of inclusiveness and equality.

In a little over three months since its launch, she has garnered enough support to field 20 can-didates in elections with her new party—Artikel 1.

It’s named after the first article of Dutch constitution which states “all persons in The Netherlands shall be treated equally” and there shall be no discrimination based on race, religion, and sexual orien-tation. “We feel the first article of our constitution is under pressure. It’s in danger and it needs to be defended and rightfully executed,” Simons said..

Budapest

Reuters

Hungary unlawfully kept two migrants in a transit zone on its frontier with

Serbia, the European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday, in a finding which could affect its plans to detain thousands of asylum seekers in border camps.

Two Bangladeshi citizens, Ilias Ilias and Ali Ahmed, filed a suit against Hungary in Septem-ber 2015, shortly after the government put up a fence on its southern borders and created two transit zones for asylum seekers in a bid to curb number of migrants arriving via the

Balkans. The two men sought to be released from the transit zone and asked for their expulsion to Serbia be halted.

The court ruled their deten-tion in transit zone was unlawful under the European Convention of Human Rights, but there was “no violation of the convention in respect of conditions of detention at the transit zone.”

The Strasbourg court ruling is subject to appeal. Hungary will have to pay €10,000 each to the two men, and will also have to pay a further 8,705 euros to cover their expenses and costs under the ruling.

The decision came just as Hungary passed legislation last

week that aims to keep all migrants in detention camps on the border until their asylum requests are processed. The United Nations has criticised the new legislation.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said last week the number of asylum applications in Hungary reached 177,000 in 2015. It fell sharply to 29,000 last year, with just 912 in the first two months of 2017.

All asylum seekers would be kept in a transit zone where detention centres are located, condemned to prolonged deten-tion in shipping containers surrounded by barbed wire, a UNHCR spokeswoman said.

said. Compulsory social service for youths, he said, would help them see that society is “not only what’s in it for you ... but also what you give back”.

But while the CDA presence in government would ensure a conservative stamp on any coa-lition, Buma said it endorses freedom of religion “and that’s a great difference. We won’t

govern with the PVV.”Buma supported Rutte’s deci-

sion to block Turkish politicians from addressing supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among immigrants in the Netherlands ahead of a Turk-ish referendum. Both Rutte and Wilders have seen a bounce in the polls from the row.

Buma said Erdogan’s remarks

referring to the Dutch as “Nazis” and “fascists” were behind the dip-lomatic crisis. “That goes deep into the heart of the (Dutch) people,” he said. “My own father died in a Ger-man concentration camp.”

Buma responded by calling for Turks with dual Dutch-Turk-ish nationality to give up their Turkish passports, a response that played well with voters.

Turkey bans Dutch ambassador's return

Christian Democrat could be unexpected winner of Dutch vote

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the VVD Liberal party greets people while campaigning in The Hague, yesterday.

New party seeks to root out racism

Hungary detained migrants unlawfully: Human rights court

18 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017AMERICAS

The remains of a mammoth (Mammuthus Columbi) are pictured in Tultepec, on the outskirts of Mexico City, yesterday.

Peek into the past

Many US states oppose revised travel ban

Washington

AFP

Several US states run by Democrats have stepped up the pressure in federal court for the suspension of Republican President Don-

ald Trump's amended travel ban, if possible before it takes effect tomorrow.

There are two federal suits brought by state attorneys general over the order, which bars refu-gees from entering the US for 120 days and halts new visas for trav-ellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

The state of Washington — with the support of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Ore-gon — has asked the same Seattle judge who issued a stay against Trump's first executive order on immigration to block the new measure.

Hawaii has also filed suit against the new order, as have rights groups and immigrant advo-cacy associations, which filed papers with a judge in Maryland. Hearings are set for today in both of those cases.

The first version of the order, signed by Trump on January 27, triggered howls of protest at home and abroad as well as chaos at US airports as some people were detained upon arrival and either held for hours or sent back to where they came from.

The White House reworked the executive order to address some of the issues that came up in court. The new order explicitly exempts holders of valid visas or legal per-manent residents, as well as citizens of Iraq. But the main points are largely the same.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson has accused the government of trying to skirt around the court's first ruling, which suspended the Trump administration's initial travel order.

"When a court enjoins a defendant from enforcing poli-cies, the defendant cannot evade the injunction by announcing that it will continue only some of the illegal policies. Yet that is what defendants attempt here," Fergu-son wrote.

Ferguson asked Judge James Robart to call an emergency hearing for yesterday, but Robart said there would be no hearing before today and asked the Justice Department for a response to Ferguson's motion.

Legal challenge

The new order explicitly exempts holders of valid visas or legal permanent residents, as well as citizens of Iraq.

Trump has said the measure is necessary to keep extremists from entering the United States.

Guatemala minister quits over fire that claimed 40 girlsGuatemala City

AFP

Guatemala's minister for social welfare, Carlos Rodas, offered his resignation yesterday after a blaze in a govern-

ment-run children's shelter killed 40 teenage girls.

In his letter to President Jimmy Morales, Rodas said he was handing in his notice in order to "contribute to the objective investi-gation into the tragedy."

He said he had not resigned earlier because he first needed to oversee the coun-seling and medical treatment of survivors at the shelter, and their transfer to other ref-uges. The fire that broke out last Wednesday in the badly overcrowded Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home for children just to the east of Guatemala City killed 19 girls right away. The other deaths came as girls taken

to hospitals succumbed over subsequent days to horrific burns that had also damaged their throats and lungs.

All the victims were aged between 14 and 17. Funerals started on Friday, with some of the bodies identified through DNA samples. Another seven girls were in critical condi-tion. Five of them were flown to a hospital in the United States for specialised treatment.

Initial information suggested the girls might have started the blaze themselves, set-ting alight mattresses to protest cruel treatment by staff in the facility.

Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday rallied in front of Morales' presidential pal-ace, accusing authorities of negligence and demanding punishment.

Morales said Monday he had requested that the FBI and international organisations help in the investigation, to make the proc-ess transparent.

Former Social Welfare Deputy Secretary Anahi Keller is escorted by police agents to a courtroom after being arrested in connection with the fire at a children's shelter that killed 40 girls in Guatemala City, yesterday.

Washington

Reuters

The US Department of Jus-tice said yesterday it had asked for more time to

respond to a request from law-makers for evidence about President Donald Trump’s alle-gation that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped him during the 2016 election campaign.

Earlier this month, without offering evidence, the Republi-can president accused his Democratic predecessor of wiretapping him, a charge that Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said was “simply false.”

In response, the leaders of the House Intelligence Commit-tee sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting proof for the allegation.

A department spokeswoman said it needed more time “to review the request in compli-ance with the governing legal authorities and to determine what if any responsive docu-ments may exist.”

The committee replied in a statement that it wanted a response by the time of a planned hearing on March 20, suggesting it would use a sub-poena if that did not happen.

“If the committee does not receive a response by then, the committee will ask for this infor-mation during the March 20 hearing and may resort to a compulsory process if our ques-tions continue to go unanswered,” a spokesman said.

The Justice Department is not required to respond to the representatives’ request for evi-dence or meet its deadline.

Trump declined to comment yesterday when asked by reporters about the wiretapping issue. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump’s orig-inal statement, which he released on Twitter, referred to other types of surveillance besides wiretapping.

“The president was very clear in his tweet that it was wiretapping — that spans a whole host of surveillance types of options. The House and the Senate intelligence committees will now look into that and provide a report back,” he said.

In fact, Trump only referred to wiretapping in his tweet, which read: “How low has Pres-ident Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”

Haiti PM picks political novices in new cabinetPort-au-Prince

AFP

The Haitian premier has chosen mostly political novices for the coun-

try's new government, nearly three weeks after President Jovenel Moise appointed him to the post.

Jack Guy Lafontant, a doctor who like Moise is new to the political scene, signed a decree yesterday nominat-ing his 18 ministers, five of whom are women.

The new members must now receive confirmation from the country's parliament.

One month after taking office, Moise — a 48-year-old banana exporter who has never held political office — is composing a government without significant political experience, save for a few technocrats.

He has shown little open-ness to the opposition, forming a group of people close to the Tet Kale (PHTK) party of former head of state Michel Martelly.

The best known figures in the group are a minister of former interim president Jocelerme Privert and a holdo-ver from the Martelly administration that Lafontant has named tourism minister. Before taking office, the new team must appear before par-liament to approve the Prime Minister's general policies.

Lafontant sent deputies and senators his 40-page document last week, but not enough elected officials showed up to hold the Sen-ate session.

US Justice Dept seeks more time on wiretap evidence

4 dead in Mexico copter crashMexico City AP

A police helicopter has crashed in northern Mexico, killing four

people on mission to recover the body of a hiker.

The government of the border state of Baja Califor-nia says the state police helicopter crashed in the hills near the city of Mexicali. The state police pilot and co-pilot of the chopper were killed, as were two members of local rescue groups.

19WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 AMERICAS

Obamacare repeal to leave 14 million uninsuredWashington

Reuters

Fourteen million Americans would lose medical insur-ance by next year under a

Republican plan to dismantle Obamacare that would also reduce the budget deficit, a non-partisan congressional research office said yesterday, throwing President Donald Trump and Republicans on the defensive as they press forward with replace-ment legislation.

The US Congressional Budget Office forecast that 24 million more people would be uninsured in 2026 if the plan being consid-ered by the House of Representatives to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act were adopted. Obamacare, as Presi-dent Barack Obama’s signature piece of domestic policy is com-monly called, expanded insurance to about 20 million Americans.

Hours after the CBO report was released, the House Budget Committee postponed its con-sideration of the Republican bill

to tomorrow from today. Prior to the report, Republicans had been planning to vote soon on the bill in the House, where it is

likely to pass, and send it to the Senate, where its outlook is uncertain.

The CBO projected that 52 million people would be uninsured by 2026 if the bill became law, compared with 28 million who would not have coverage that year if the law remained unchanged.

Two House of Representa-tives committees have approved the legislation to dismantle Obamacare that was unveiled by Republican leaders a week ago, but it faces opposition from not only Democrats but also medi-cal providers including doctors and hospitals and many conserv-atives. The CBO report’s findings could make the Republican plan a harder sell for lawmakers, par-ticularly in the US Senate.

The CBO, however, said fed-eral deficits would fall by $337bn between 2017 and 2026 under the Republican bill.

Some health policy experts and Wall Street analysts said the

report was more draconian than expected, with the uninsured rate rising more quickly than foreseen. Doctors groups and patient advocates said the bill must be abandoned.

The AARP, a nonprofit advo-cacy group for aging Americans, said yesterday that the CBO anal-ysis showed the financial burden of the Republican plan would fall “disproportionately” on Ameri-cans 50 to 64 years old. In a five-page letter to House mem-bers last week, the AARP has also criticised a tax cut it said would threaten the solvency of Medi-care, the government health insurance programme for the elderly and disabled, cuts to Medicaid and said the bill does nothing to lower drug costs.

Some Republicans worry a misfire on the Republican health-care legislation could hobble Trump’s presidency and set the stage for losses for the party in the 2018 congressional elections. The

Trump administration defended the health care plan, which they say will have a second and third phase that will entice consumers. Health and Human Services Sec-retary Tom Price said at the White House that Trump’s plan would cover more individuals at a lower cost and it was “virtually impos-sible” to envision that 14 million people would lose insurance cov-erage by next year.

Democratic leaders in Con-gress said the bill could result in elderly people being kicked out of nursing homes as it simulta-neously gives tax cuts for the richest Americans.

“How can they look their constituents in the eye when they say 24 million of you no longer have coverage and those of you who do have it, will have less coverage at more cost to you,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said.

Trump himself made no comment on the report.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, yesterday after the end of the "National Save My Care Bus Tour" that travelled across the country to advocate keeping the Affordable Care Act.

Blizzard disrupts life in northeastern USNew York Reuters

Snow piled up rapidly in parts of the northeast-ern United States yesterday as a blizzard swept in, forcing air-

lines to ground flights and schools to cancel classes while shrouding an early herald of spring, Washington’s famed cherry blossoms, in ice.

The National Weather Serv-ice (NWS) warned some 50 million people from Pennsylva-nia to Maine of a “rapidly intensifying nor’easter” that was unusual for so late in the winter and many heeded the advice by staying home.

But the NWS also sharply dialled back forecasts in some areas, notably in New York City, where residents had been warned to steel themselves for potentially record-breaking wintriness.

Still, some in the region could expect to find themselves surrounded by up to 2 feet (60 cm) of snow early today, the weather service predicted, with the worst blizzard conditions forecast for parts of New England.

Governors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia declared states of emer-gency. New York’s Andrew Cuomo suspended above-ground portions of the city’s subway service and said the Metro-North commuter service to the suburbs would shut down at noon. Transit officials warned that more bus and train routes might be suspended throughout the day.

“There’s no real reason to be on the roads,” Cuomo said in an interview with MSNBC.

New York City was expected to escape the worst of it after the NWS withdrew its blizzard

warning and roughly halved its snowfall forecast for the city to between 4 and 8 inches (10 and 20 cm).

Still, life was disrupted for many New Yorkers.

“It’s a ghost town,” Ali Naji, 33, said as he sat listening to Mexican pop music amid the emptiness of his usually bustling convenience store in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighbourhood.

His morning commute was easy enough since he lives upstairs. “I drop a rope and come down,” Naji said, laugh-ing, but added that he could see why others would be deterred. He gestured out the window, where an occasional pedestrian could be seen trudging in an umbrella-for-ward stoop against the wind and sleet.

In Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuy-vesant neighborhood, Lisa Luna, 36, and a friend walked around, hungry for breakfast.

“We weren’t prepared for the blizzard and didn’t go shop-ping,” she said. “I just needed a bagel.”

Airlines cancelled about 5,700 flights across the United States, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.

A person struggles with a baby stroller in the sleet and snow on a Brooklyn street in New York City, yesterday.

Weather woes

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned some 50 million people from Pennsylvania to Maine of a “rapidly intensifying nor’easter”.

Airlines cancelled about 5,700 flights across the United States.

Lula denies probe meddlingBrasília

AFP

Brazil's leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denied in

court yesterday that he tried to obstruct a giant corruption probe shaking Brazilian politics.

Lula told a court in the capital Brasilia that he hadn't participated in an alleged scheme to pay Nestor Cer-vero, the ex-director at state oil company Petrobras, not to testify for the government.

Trump to donate annual salary by end of yearWashington

AFP

Donald Trump will donate his annual presidential salary of

$400,000 to charity by year's end, spokesman Sean Spicer said yesterday — and he even wants the media he often crit-icises to help him choose a worthwhile cause.

"The president's intention is to donate his salary at the end of the year," Spicer told reporters at his daily briefing. "He made a pledge to the American people."

"He kindly asked that you all help determine where that goes," he continued — a rather unusual statement from a White House that has made hostile confrontation with the media a near-daily occurrence.

Colombia to set up special war crimes courtsBogota

AFP

Colombia's senate late on Monday approved a con-stitutional reform to set up

special war crimes courts, a key component of the historic peace agreement with Farc guerrillas that ended five decades of war.

The court system will be made up of three sections: a truth commission, a unit to search for missing people, and a temporary, autonomous body to try crimes committed during the armed conflict before December 1, 2016.

Establishing the courts was the backbone of the peace deal Bogota reached in November with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels.

President Juan Manuel San-tos won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts to end his country's 53-year conflict, which has drawn in numerous leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitary units, drug cartels and the army.

The Farc launched its guer-rilla war against the Colombian government in 1964, after a peasant uprising that was crushed by the army.

Under the peace deal nego-tiated by the Santos administration, the Farc will transform into a political party and its 5,700 fighters will demo-bilise over a period of six months. The group began dis-arming in early March, a process overseen by United Nations monitors.

According to the peace agreement, clinched after four

years of talks in Cuba, fighters who confess their involvement in atrocities can avoid prison and receive an alternative punishment.

If they don't confess and are found guilty, they face prison terms of eight to 20 years.

The conflict has killed some 260,000 people while 60,000 have vanished, and 6.9 million have been displaced within Colombia.

Colombia's senate has 102 members. Of those present late Monday, 60 voted for the meas-ure and two voted against it.

Noticeably absent were the members of the Democratic Center, a right-wing party led by former president — and current senator — Alvaro Uribe, a fierce opponent of the peace plan.

Senator Ivan Duque, speak-ing on the party's behalf, said during the debate that "in the name of peace ... an irreparable blow is being delivered to con-stitutional order" and to the judicial branch.

Uribe and his supporters

argued that the peace deal grants impunity to rebels guilty of war crimes, giving them seats in Con-gress rather than sending them to prison.

Santos was Uribe's defence minister and a key player in sev-eral military operations under the former president that shat-tered the Farc's strength.

But since Santos followed the still-popular Uribe as pres-ident in 2010, the two have clashed on issues ranging from the peace deal to relations with the leftist regime in Venezuela.

Pope Francis, scheduled to visit Colombia in September as "a messenger of peace and rec-onciliation," brought Santos and Uribe together at the Vatican in December in an unsuccessful bid to persuade them to overcome their differences.

The constitutional reform, which has already been approved by the lower cham-ber, still must survive a review by the constitutional court before Santos signs it into law.

New York Reuters

Hate crimes in nine US metropolitan areas rose more than 20 percent

last year, fuelled by inflamed passions during the presiden-tial campaign and more willingness for victims to step forward, a leading hate crimes researcher said yesterday.

Bias crimes appeared to increase in some cities fol-lowing the November 8 election of President Donald Trump, a trend that has extended into this year with a wave of bomb threats and desecrations at synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, according to California researcher Brian Levin.

Hate crimes jump in US

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos

Texas to execute man for murdersAustin

Reuters

The state of Texas plans to execute a man for launching a 1987 crime

spree that left four people dead, including a four-month-old boy he drowned in a sink.

After more than 25 years on death row, James Bigby, 61, was set to be put to death by lethal injection at the state’s death chamber at 6pm local time (2300 GMT).

If the execution goes ahead as planned, it will be the 542nd in Texas since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state.

There are no pending appeals for Bigby.

Lawyers had previously asked for a halt to his execu-tion, saying he has schizophrenia.

20 WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017HOME

ONLINE CHART BUSTwww.thepeninsulaqatar.com

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

FAJRSHOROOK

04.28 am

05.44 am

ZUHRASR

11.43 am

03.08 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

05.45 pm

07.15 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS Magical Festival Village casts spell on visitorsThe Peninsula

Magical Festival Village’s (MFV) international shows have been attracting large crowds drawing in visitors of all ages. The Village has seen an expo-

nential rise in visitor numbers this season, thanks to the numerous shows and enter-tainment activities.

This year, the Village offers four shows— “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Aladdin & the Magic Lamp”, and “Snow White”. These shows, which are making their debut in Qatar, are performed by inter-national Performing Arts groups.

The show venue accommodates more than 1,200 spectators who are entertained by the meaningful and interesting content of these plays, with all the elements to wow and attract visitors, especially families and children.

Abdul Aziz Al Mohannadi, General Man-ager of Ezdan World, the managing company of the Village, said: “This season, we have observed, thanks to Allah, a widespread suc-cess and good reputation, since the Village is the largest project for family entertainment, tourism and shopping in Qatar and the region. We have noticed good response from visitors for the new products we are offering, includ-ing more than 200 diverse performances and games. Many of them have never been intro-duced to the Qatari market before”.

Al Mohannadi added that the Village exploits the best weather times of the year — winter and spring. The Village has been set up by a team of international entertain-ment experts, taking into account diversity and innovation and providing the most fas-cinating activities and events. These shows carry different messages and serve various

purposes, including educational, interac-tive, shopping and fashion to satisfy all tastes and meet all aspirations. This makes MFV a unique destination among all recreational projects in the region as it enjoys consider-able support from Qatar Tourism Authority, thanks to its advantages and services, in addition to coinciding with the Tourism Shopping Festival, which draws tourists to Qatar in large numbers.

MFV was first launched in March 2016. However, this year, the Village kicked off with more shows and games, free art per-formances of 25 minutes as well as carnivals of 40 minutes. This season brought with it two circus shows and 15 spectacles. Among the games enjoyed most by the public are virtual reality games (VR). There are 29 highly advanced games, which stimulate all the senses to interact with the displayed content. The games hall is spread over 1,500 square metre, allowing visitors to enjoy games of their choice with comfort. The most sought after games are “Space Trip”, “Royal Horses”, “Gyroscope”, “Skyview”, as well as the 60-seat train that roams within the Katara cultural district.

MFV has been built on an area exceed-ing 50,000 square metre at the cultural village, Katara. The Village houses more than 400 commercial outlets, 357 of which are shopping stores, 20 kiosks, 19 cafes, and 20 restaurants, in addition to 500 chairs and benches. The Village stands out because of its unique architectural design, featuring a charming European countryside style, adorned pathways with multi-coloured backgrounds and sun blockers. Balloons are used to add a festive touch, as well as dec-orative books and colourful umbrellas, making the space attractive and interesting for visitors. A castle at the Magical Festival Village in Katara.

HIGH TIDE 06:30 - 19:00 LOW TIDE 00:15 - 13:00

Slight duat at places at times and

partly cloudy to cloudy with chance of

scattered rain.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum21oC 28oC