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Amir receives grand welcome in JordanQNA — AMMAN

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived yesterday evening in Amman, for a two-day official visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

H H the Amir was wel-comed upon arrival at Queen Alia International Airport by H M King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; HRH Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein Advisor to H M the King and Chairman of the National Pol-icies Council; H H Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, President of Jordan Football Association; H H Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein Chief Royal Councilor; a line-up of Their Highness Princes; Prime Minister of Jordan, H E Dr. Omar Razzaz; Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court, H E Yousef Al Isawi; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, H E Ayman Safadi; President of the Jordanian Senate, H E Faisal Al Fayez; Speaker of Jordan’s House of Representatives, H E Atef Tarawneh; a line-up of Their Excellencies Ministers and senior military and civil offi-cials; Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Jordan, H E Sheikh Saud bin Nasser bin Jassim Al-Thani; Jordan’s Ambassador to the State of Qatar, H E Zaid Mufleh Al Lawzi, and members of the Qatari Embassy in Jordan.

H H the Amir was accorded an official reception ceremony upon his arrival at the airport, which included the firing of 21

canon shots and playing the national anthems of the two countries.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of

Jordan H E Dr. Omar Razzaz stressed on Saturday the impor-tance of H H the Amir’s visit to Jordan and the talks H H the Amir will hold with H M King

Abdullah II of Jordan. Razzaz stressed, in

remarks made to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the com-mitment of the Jordanian

g o v e r n m e n t t o t h e advancement of ties with the State of Qatar, and enhancing bilateral cooperation in all fields. He expressed his appreciation

for the two countries’ strong cooperation in the commerce and investment fields, as well as in terms of providing job opportunities and training.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, accompanied by H M King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, inspecting the guard of honour on his arrival in Amman, yesterday. �P2

Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition opens todayRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

The 17th Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE), the event’s biggest edition yet, is all set for a glittering opening ceremony today with famous Bollywood actress and influ-encer Sonam Kapoor as celebrity guest.

Kapoor, who stars in this year’s DJWE TV commercial, will attend the launch of the six-day event at the Doha Exhi-bition and Convention Center (DECC).

DJWE 2020 is expected to

see increase in number of vis-itors as Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) had launched a global campaign covering key social media, digital and TV channels reaching more than 460 million people.

Organized under the patronage of H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Prime Minister and Min-ister of Interior, the event has witnessed a staggering 65 percent increase from its pre-vious edition.

A total of 129 exhibitors from 14 countries are taking part this year compared to 77

exhibitors from 10 countries last year.

This year’s participants comprise 74 international and 53 local exhibitors showcasing around 500 brands of jewellery and watches from 25 countries, spread on a 33,000sqm space.

Eighteen local designers are showcasing 16 jewellery brands under the Young Qatari Designers initiative.

The expo also features Turkish Pavilion that features 11 Turkish brands and Indian Pavilion with 28 brands.

A number of events and workshops will be organized on

the sidelines of the event including a showcase of inde-pendent watch brands by Qatar Watch Club, watch polishing workshops by Objectif Horlo-gerie, diamond grading labo-ratory and educational class in diamond grading, free consul-tations with certified gemmol-ogist and a 360 luxury photo experience “Journey into Wonder.”

The exhibition is supported by a number of partners, led by Qatar National Bank (QNB) as the official sponsor, Qatar Airways as airline partner, JW Marriott Marquis City Centre

Doha as the official hospitality partner, Alfardan Automotive and Sotheby’s International Realty Qatar.

The exhibition will be open to visitors today from 3pm to 10pm, thereafter, it will be open daily from 12pm to 10pm, except on Friday, when it will be open from 4pm to 10pm.

DJWE has been a leading platform for jewellery enthu-siasts to discover the latest trends and innovations in the industry and see collections from renowned international and Qatari brands.

MoI completes over 3 million transactions in JanuaryTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Over three million transactions were completed during January 2020 by the General Direc-torate of Passports and its departments and electronic services according to the statistics issued by the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The statistics showed that the completed transactions in the departments affiliated with the General Department of Passports during January 2020 reached 2,690,303, while the number of completed transac-tions in the service centres of the Unified Services Department spread across the country reached 238,460.

According to the statistics which posted on the Ministry website yesterday, Al Rayyan Services Center topped with 24.6 percent of visa and resi-dence related transactions, fol-lowed by Al Wakra Services Center with 18.4 percent, then

Mesaimeer Services Centre with 11.3 percent.

The statistics also indi-cates 84,028 special transac-tions were completed, including 80,733 transactions in the Recruitment Applica-tions Reviewing Committee, 759 transactions for elderly and persons with disabilities, and the 2,536 other transactions.

The total number of entry and exit movements through Hamad International Airport in January amounted to 1,215, 840, among it 436,904 move-ments through E-gates.

The statistics also showed an increase in the electronic services transactions, as it exceeded half a million, including more than 300,000 transactions through the website of the Ministry of Interior, over 200,000 trans-actions through Metrash 2, and 278 through Qatar e-Gov-ernment Portal (Hukoomi).

Coronavirus

screening for all

ships calling

at Qatar ports

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Mwani Qatar announced yesterday the commencement procedures for the detection and examination of all ships calling at Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port, especially from coun-tries that have reported cases of the emerging Coronavirus infection, in addition to applying all health checks for ship crew to detect the virus.

Mwani Qatar said that (as a precautionary measure) it will reduce the entry of ships calling at Ruwais Port, preventing the entry from 10pm to 7am.

Education Ministry launches unified portal for public services

QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education launched yesterday the unified online portal for public services. The portal aims to enable the public, stakeholders and other citizens and residents to have electronic access to the services provided, through a unified window and at the required speed, where the Ministry is working to unify all its electronic services under one umbrella that is comprehensive and integrated.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-cation Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, said that the launch of the electronic portal is a continuation of the Ministry efforts to develop the services it provides. �P2

President Ghani, Qahtani discuss Afghan peace talksPresident of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H E Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, received yesterday Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Special Envoy for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution, H E Dr. Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, who is currently visiting Afghanistan. They reviewed bilateral cooperation, peace talks between America and the Taliban in Doha, the agreement to reduce escalation, the signing of the agreement to end the war in Afghanistan at the end of this month, Afghan-Afghan consultations and the exchange of prisoners between the two sides, in addition to issues of common concern.

Philippines seeks

Qatari partnerships

to establish ‘halal

hub facility’ in Asia

OFFICIAL NEWS

DOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H

Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani

and Prime Minister and Minister of

Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa

bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, sent yes-

terday cables of congratulations to

H M Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of

Brunei Darussalam on the occasion

of his country’s National Day. QNA


Hamad Al Thani and Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad

Al Thani sent yesterday cables of

congratulations to H M Emperor

Naruhito of Japan on the occasion

of HM’s birthday. The Prime Minister

and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh

Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al

Thani, also sent a cable of congratu-

lations to the Prime Minister of Japan,

H E Shinzo Abe, on the occasion of

Emperor of Japan’s birthday. QNA


Hamad Al Thani and Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani sent yesterday cables of con-

gratulations to the President of the

Cooperative Republic of Guyana,

H E David Arthur Granger, on the

occasion of his country’s National

Day. The Prime Minister and Minis-

ter of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin

Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, also

sent a cable of congratulations to

the Prime Minister of the Coopera-

tive Republic of Guyana, H E Moses

Nagamootoo, on the occasion of his

country’s National Day. QNA

Amir sends congratulations to Sultan of Brunei

Amir sends congratulations to Emperor of Japan

Amir sends congratulations to President of Guyana

02 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020HOME

Amir receives grand welcome in Jordan

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and H M King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan during the official reception in Amman, yesterday.

MoPH launches Transformation Strategy for Human Resources Management 2020-2022

QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched the Transfor-mation Strategy for Human Resources Management 2020-2022 recently.

The Transformation Strategy for Human Resources Management 2020-2022 is an important initiative of the MoPH aimed at making a qual-itative leap in the human resources development field in the health sector in Qatar, in line with the best global devel-opments and practices.

The Assistant Under-Sec-retary for Shared Services Affairs at MoPH, Abdullah Ibrahim Al Emadi (pictured), said in his speech delivered on behalf of the Director of Human Resources Department Ghanim Ibrahim Al Mohannadi that the Transformation Strategy for Human Resources Man-agement 2020-2022 is an extension of the Ministry's directives and in line with the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 and Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to transform the State of Qatar into an advanced country capable of achieving sustainable devel-opment and providing decent living for its people generation after generation.

Al Emadi added that the Transformation Strategy for Human Resources Man-agement seeks to set a road map towards providing advanced and distinguished services in human resources management, based on ensuring the quality of the services provided. He also pointed out that the strategy includes everything that would achieve a future vision in line with the developments in the worlds health sector and with the roles of the MoPH in leading the health system in the State of Qatar, as it is the first authority responsible for devel-oping national health-pro-moting programs and plans and

responsible for monitoring and supervising health sector facilities.

He pointed out that the launch of the strategy comes in light of the need to unify the procedures of human resources management in all institutions of the health sector and the additional challenges that this places in order to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided by human resource departments in these institutions, and contribute to the strategic planning process of the MoPH as well as pro-viding support to achieve the desired results, and working towards a comprehensive digital transformation of human resource management processes and procedures.

During the Transformation Strategy for Human Resources Management launching cer-emony, a comprehensive pres-entation was presented on the strategy, and a number of Human Resources Department heads in the MoPH gave pres-entations on the programs, ini-tiatives and projects that the strategy contained and pro-moted opportunities to achieve the proper practical application of its vision and goals.

The joint cooperation and building partnerships between the MoPH and health sector institutions represented in Hamad Medical Institutions, Primary Health Care Center and Naufar Hospital are also an essential element for achieving success in the strategy.

Unified portal for

public services

launched

FROM PAGE 1

It is in line with the e-gov-ernment strategy for Qatar 2020 for digital transfor-mation aimed at enabling and facilitating the access of the audience of the services at any time and from any place, the Undersecretary added.

Al Nuaimi pointed out that the ministry has standardized its electronic services and put it under a multi-service umbrella, which facilitates the process of obtaining it in a way that meets the aspirations of the public, and in a manner that suits their multiple needs in the digital age.

He explained in a press statement that the services will be provided in multiple stages, as today the first package of the electronic services was launched for the public, in line with the activation of elec-tronic alternatives and support for the rationalization of printing initiative He said that it aims at achieving optimal exploitation of education and higher education systems, to raise the efficiency and pro-ductivity of the ministry’s services to the public’s satis-faction and to meet its aspira-tions for the quality of services.

03MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 HOME


Shura Council Speaker meets Turkish delegation

QNA — DOHA

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, met yesterday with a delegation of Turkish-Qatari Parlia-mentary Friendship Group, headed by H E MP Vahit Kiler, Chairman of the Group.

The meeting reviewed par-liamentary relations between the Shura Council and the Grand National Assembly of the sisterly Republic of Turkey, and ways of supporting and devel-oping these relations in addition to coordination between the two sides in regional and inter-national forums. A number of issues of common concern were also reviewed.

H E the Shura Council

Speaker praised the great development in the Qatari-Turkish relations in various fields, voicing looking forward for more cooperation between the two countries during the next stage for the interest of their two brotherly nations. H E M P Vahit Kiler expressed his great satisfaction with the close cooperation and fraternal understanding reached by the

bilateral relations between the two countries and a common desire to develop them to broader horizons.

H E the Chairman of the Qatar-Asian Parliamentary Friendship Group, Rashid bin Hamad Al Meadadi, attended the meeting along with a number of the group members, and the Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar, H E Fikret Ozar.

The Speaker of the Shura Council, H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, with a delegation of Turkish-Qatari Parliamentary Friendship Group, headed by H E MP Vahit Kiler, Chairman of the Group, in Doha, yesterday.

Japan to share experience of hosting Olympics with QatarSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Japan will share the experience of hosting Olympics with Qatar, which will host the football World Cup in 2022.

The year 2020 is a special year for Japan as it will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in summer, said H E Kazuo Sunaga, Ambassador of Japan to Qatar.

“Such major sports events have wonderful unifying power, the power to bring the people around the world together, despite their differences in culture, ethnicity or what-soever,” said H E Kazuo Sunaga, speaking at the National Day celebration held recently at The Ritz-Carlton hotel. “I hope that this spirit will carry on by the FIFA World Cup 2022, which will be hosted in Qatar. Japan is willing to share experiences in the Olympic and Paralympic Games with the Government and people of Qatar,” he said.

This year’s National Day celebration was special, since it was the first such celebration after His Majesty Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement.

H E the Ambassador said that the bilateral relations between Japan and the State of Qatar are developing steadily.

“Japan and Qatar are indis-pensable trade partners. In December last year Japan

imported about 21 percent of Qatar’s total exports. Japan is the largest importer of the Qatari products. Without oil, gas and other products from Qatar, Japan could not maintain the current level of economy and even the current level of our life,” said H E the

Ambassador. “On the other hand, many Japanese com-panies have been contributing to the development of Qatar. The recent examples of this are the inauguration of Doha Metro and the signing of Mega-Solar-Power Plant of Al-Kharsaah, just to name a few,” he added.

“Last year, both countries’ leaderships have agreed to advance our relations to a higher level of strategic part-nership. Japan is willing to play an active role in the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030,” he said.

He said that next year is special for Qatar and Japan because their relations mark 50th anniversary in 2021.

“Next year marks 50th anniversary of the estab-lishment of the diplomatic rela-tions between Japan and Qatar. As a number of events to cele-brate it are upcoming, I am quite sure that our excellent relations will keep expanding to incorporate new fields of cooperation,” he said.

“Of course the economy continues to be the driving force of our relations. But I, as Ambassador of Japan, will work together with the Government and people of Qatar to expand our bilateral ties in a wide range of areas, such as security, science and technology, culture, education and sports,” he added.

Ambassador of Japan to Qatar, H E Kazuo Sunaga. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

The Ambassador of Japan to Qatar, H E Kazuo Sunaga, said that next year is special for Qatar and Japan because their relations mark 50th anniversary in 2021.

H E the Shura Council Speaker praised the great development in the Qatari-Turkish relations in various fields, voicing looking forward for more cooperation between the two countries during the next stage for the interest of their two brotherly nations.

Grand Mufti of Kosovo visits General Directorate of EndowmentsQNA — DOHA

The Head of the Islamic Community and Grand Mufti of the Republic of Kosovo, Shaikh Naim Ternava, and his accompanying delegation visited yesterday the General Directorate of Endowments, in the framework of his current visit to the country.

The visit aimed to learn about the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in areas of Islamic work and the Qatari experience in the field of endowments, and to enhance the cooperation with the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.

The Kosovan delegation

met during the visit with the Director-General of the General Directorate of Endowments, Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Thani, and a number of directors and heads of d e p a r t m e n t s a t t h e Directorate.

The Director-General of the General Directorate of

Endowments welcomed the guest and the accompanying delegation, and gave a pres-entation on the Directorate, the various stages it went through, the electronic pro-grams and systems used, how to manage Qatar’s endow-ments and its leading role in community service.

For his part, Head of the

Islamic Community and Grand Mufti of Kosovo Shaikh Naim Ternava highlighted the history of endowments in the Balkans and the efforts made in the field of endowment. He expressed thanks to the Min-istry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and to the State of Qatar for its sup-portive positions for Kosovo

at various levels, and praised the achievements made by the Qatari Endowments for the advancement of the endowment work.

He stressed the keenness of the Islamic Community of Kosovo on developing the relations with Qatar’s Min-istry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.


Al Subaie meets French Minister of Agriculture

The Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, and France’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, H E Didier Guillaume, with their accompanying delegation during a discussion on the sidelines of the annual Paris Agricultural Exhibition in Paris, yesterday.

QNA — PARIS

The Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, met here yesterday with France’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, H E Didier Guil-laume. This was during the State of Qatar’s participation

with a delegation headed by H E the Minister at the annual Paris Agricultural Exhibition, which started on Saturday in the French capital.

The meeting reviewed the means of cooperation between Qatar and France in the agri-cultural field and food security, especially through the

exchange of experiences and information in the fields of agri-culture, fisheries, agricultural quarantine, veterinary services, animal production and natural reserves. Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the French Republic, H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, attended the meeting.

ACTA signs MoU with PalestinianAnti-Corruption CommissionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) signed yesterday a memo-randum of understanding with the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between the two sides in the field of integrity, transparency and anti-corruption.

The memorandum was signed by the President of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, H E Hamad bin Nasser Al Misnad, and the Head of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, Dr. Ahmed Barak.

On the occasion of the signing of the memorandum, H E the President said that the cooperation that was launched with the Palestinian Anti-Cor-ruption Commission is con-sistent with the support pro-vided by the wise leadership to the State of Palestine, covering all political, economic and humanitarian fields.

His Excellency pointed out

that the relationship between the State of Qatar and the State of Palestine is firm and strong in various political, economic and other fields, stressing that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding aims to exchange experiences and good practices on ways to enhance transparency and integrity and combat corruption.

He emphasised that the signing of the memorandum reflects the aspiration of the authority to launch a strong strategic partnership between the ACTA and the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Authority embodied through the exchange of experiences and the expansion of cooperation in research and training fields, for the benefit of all national authorities in the two countries.

His Excellency stressed the keenness of the ACTA to learn about the diverse experiences of the Palestinian Anti-Cor-ruption Commission and its completed and existing projects, and on possible areas

of cooperation, and discuss practical steps to enhance mutual cooperation and exchange experiences and best practices in the coming period.

For his part, the Head of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, Dr. Ahmed Barak, considered that the memo-randum is the result of con-tinuous cooperation between the two sides in all fields.

Dr. Ahmed Barak said that the State of Qatar is supportive of the Palestinian cause and the establishment of the Palestinian state, based on the foundations of democracy and the rule of law, and prevailed by the prin-ciples of integrity, accounta-bility and combating corruption.

Dr. Ahmed Barak stressed his country’s keenness to take advantage of the Qatari efforts in this field, appreciating the important Qatari role in putting the United Nations Convention against Corruption into practice, and its initiatives in this field, in particular the Doha Declaration.

The President of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, H E Hamad bin Nasser Al Misnad, and the Head of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, Dr. Ahmed Barak, during the signing of MoU.

At QNL, Qatari writer mentors new screenwritersTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar National Library hosted Qatari writer Dr. Majd Khaled Al Ziara in the second lecture about her book, Your Way to Control a World of Your Invention: I Will Make You a Screenwriter, on 22 February.

A PhD-holder in creative writing, Dr. Majd’s session once again proved to be a successful mentoring opportunity for Arabic writers with a keen interest in cre-ative writing. She shared her advice on how they could enter the world of cinema—also known as the “seventh art world”—and

realise their goal of writing a screenplay.

Mustafa Abdulsalam, one of the participants at the event, said: “I write stories for the economy section of a local newspaper and attend these workshops at the Library to find out about different styles of writing. Stories are easy to write, but the different inspira-tions behind each one are what make them interesting to readers. Listening to experts and attending such workshops at the Library gives me that inspiration.”

Teacher and poet Taqwa Abdulla, another attendee, said: “The Library is a place that is giving us a chance to meet new people with different interests. Attending today’s event gave me an opportunity to discuss my writing with fellow participants and to get their comments on my future projects.”

Qatari writer Dr. Majd Khaled Al Ziara shares her experience with new screenwriters during a lecture at Qatar National Library.


Qatar Post launches campaign to celebrate Arabic languageSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

As part of Qatar Post’s mission to connect people to what matters to them the most, the national postal service has launched a new campaign, ‘Al Wasl’, that celebrates Arabic language and its role as a social connector.

On the occasion of the Inter-national Mother Language Day celebrated by Unesco, Qatar Post’s parcel boxes, postcards and stamps turn into mediums to remind public in Qatar of the importance of connecting to one another, using a special design based on specific Arabic wording that celebrate human values. ‘Al Wasl’ fuses the unique typography of Arabic with the notion of language as a symbol of identity, commu-nication, social integration, edu-cation and development.

Commenting at the cam-paign launch event, Hamad Mohammed Al Fahida, Qatar Post Chief Operations Officer, said: “Connections have always lived at the heart of our Arab culture and is even reflected in our mother language. As we know, isolated letters can form meaningful words only when

they come in touch with one another, through the art of con-necting called ‘Al Wasl’. This is true of us as individuals, as well. Qatar Post hopes that every day we will be able to connect to find affection, respect, hap-piness, pride, gratitude and much more, through each of our postal offerings”.

Unlike Western languages where letters are placed next to each other in a linear fashion to create words, Arabic language relies on physically connecting one letter to another to create meaning.

‘Al Wasl’ in Arabic means a ‘link’ or a ‘connection’. In this context, the links used in the Arabic manuscript to form

words become the very tool that reminds people of the bonds they share.

Alberto Manzo, Head of Sales and Marketing at Qatar

Post, elaborated on the cam-paign’s offering. “Our campaign aims to inspire our people to connect to each other through their mother language by

emphasising how meaningful connections are to their daily lives. A series of powerful Arabic words, such as pride, glory and gratitude, will reach

our public soon in the form of beautifully-designed Qatar Post parcels, postcards and stamps, conveying the power of connections”.

The design of the new products has been created using strokes from the Qatar Post logo, whereby lines intersect and connect to form letters and words embodying the essence of Qatar Post’s philosophy.

The perforated ‘peel this’ tag on the box will allow the user to connect the letters them-selves to form a word. As the letters connect, the box gets opened, revealing the message: “It is only when individual letters are connected, that they have meaning. The same is true of us as individuals”. The parcel boxes are expected to become a collector's item.

Moreover, the postcard series, comprising a set of 2-4 cards in one envelope, will feature slots to be joined together to reveal the word. As for the stamp series, every first day cover will hold 2-5 stamps depending on its value. The unique expe-rience here is that its only when one tears off the letters and places them next to each other will they form a word that reminds them of connections.

Hamad Mohammed Al Fahida (third right), Chief Operations Officer Qatar Post, with Alberto Manzo, (right) Head of Sales and Marketing; Fatema Al Yousif (second right), Marketing Supervisor Sales and Marketing Department; and other officials at the launch of 'Al Wasl' campaign at Qatar Post head office, in Doha, yesterday. PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

International cooperation needed to counter online hate speech: Ombudsman of Serbia

IRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

Zoran Pašalić, the Protector of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia (Ombudsman), has said that international cooperation and coordination is needed to counter growing threat of hate speech and violence on social media.

“This conference on social media is very important which will produce good results. In Serbia, we are dealing with online incitement to violence and hate speech and these issues must be addressed on priority,” he said recently while talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of International Con-ference on ‘Social Media: Chal-lenges and Ways to Promote Freedoms and Protect Activists’ which was held on February 16-17 in Doha.

He said that Serbia would introduce new pieces of legis-lation to address the issue of online hate speech. “The coop-eration and coordination between the countries is needed to counter the challenge as social media knows no borders.”

Pašalić further said that the conference would also help p r o p o s i n g w o r k a b l e

recommendations to address issues related to online vio-lence. “The conference is very well-organised, topics of dis-cussion are very good as well as experts from all over the world talked on them,” he added.

Meanwhile, Zuliana Lainez, President of International Fed-eration of Journalists’ (IFJ) Latin American regional group, said that print and other traditional media would continue to thrive despite social media.

“The international con-ference on social media hosted by Qatar is very good initiative to discuss many issues and challenges revolving around traditional media and social media and I appreciate Qatar for organising such an event,” Lainez said recently while talking to The Peninsula on the

sidelines of the conference.Zuliana Lainez said that

social media would not replace traditional journalism, but it would make journalists more eager to provide good content to excel on social media.

She said that journalists should practice self-criticism, scrutinise their work, and ensure that the information and news they published was correct in order to restore readers’ confidence in tradi-tional journalism.

“The role of a journalist is not to just transfer the infor-mation as it is but they also must verify its authenticity. Those who uncovered many of the major scams in many coun-tries of the world are profes-sional journalists.”

She further said that readers had lost confidence in social media because of the misinfor-mation, fake news which were being repeated and promoted on those platforms and readers had started returning to the tra-ditional media because they wanted to obtain real infor-mation that only professional journalists could provide. “We must work to restore the jour-nalists’ dignity and defend strongly this profession,” she added.

Zoran Pašalić (left), Ombudsman of Serbia; and Zuliana Otero Lainez, President of International Federation of Journalists’ Latin American regional group, while talking to The Peninsula during the social media conference which concluded in Doha recently. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

‘Al Wasl’ campaign fuses the unique typography of Arabic with the notion of language as a symbol of identity, communication, social integration, education and development.

Juvenile Police Department creates awareness among school students SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The Juvenile Police Department of the Ministry of Interior organised yesterday a seminar for school students in order to spread awareness of and promote positive behaviour among students aimed at protecting them from the risks of delinquency.

The seminar was organised in collaboration with the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education.

The event was held at the Officers' Club of the General Directorate of Civil Defence in the presence of Director of Juvenile Police Department, Brigadier Ibrahim Essa Al Buainain (pictured) and officers from the Department. Officials from the Ministry of Education and a large number of students from different schools attended the session.

At the outset of the event, Al Buainain emphasised the con-structive and fruitful cooperation between the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Juvenile Police Department, and the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, represented by the Department of School Affairs, stressing that youth are the

future of the nation and the pillar of construction and development in society. The seminar was held under the title ‘Positive Behaviour and its Role in Reducing the Risk of Delinquency’.

“In light of the challenges that societies face as a result of the tremendous development in the means of communication and technology, and the resulting risks that threaten the moral system of societies, the concern with young people becomes an imperative and a high priority,” said Al Buainain.

He pointed out that positive behaviours are the immune wall, which limits the risks of delin-quency, and that whenever society succeeds in promoting positive behaviours, it makes a step forward in order to address these risks.

The Director of the Juvenile Police Department stressed the importance of parents’ follow-up of children when they com-municate through social media and other applications, pro-vided that this communication should be determined by controls.

He stressed that the Awareness Section of the Department works to reinforce this trend through seminars, educational meetings and edu-cational brochures, within the framework of the annual plan of the Department, which targets malls, clubs and schools on all occasions.

Captain Shaheen Rashid Al Ateeq, Head of Awareness and Information at Juvenile Police Department, spoke about the misuse of the Internet, stressing the danger of communicating with strangers via social media outlets, due to the psychological and social problems it causes.

He also talked about means to promote positive behaviour and curb negative behaviour, and the importance of the fam-ily’s role and its impact on children.

He highlighted the values of respecting one's parents, obeying them and respecting traditions and social norms.

Officials from the Ministries of Interior and Education, and school students attending the seminar.

Experts laud Qatar's hosting of the conference to deliberate on issues related to social media, and to promote freedom and protection of users.


The power of public art explored as QF hosts international forumFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

The impact art can make in the extremely changing world and challenging times was explored on the final day of ‘Outside the Box: Public Art in Qatar,’ hosted by Qatar Foundation.

The two-day public forum was organised under the patronage of H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums.

Commissioned by the British Council in partnership with Qatar Museums and Qatar Foundation (QF), the forum has aimed to start a conversation about how the use of art in the public realm can be redefined and rethought. Its second day was held at Qatar National Library, in Education City, where local and international participants spoke about how the meaning of

art has evolved over the decades, in Qatar and around the world.

Curated with the UK’s arts organisation FutureEverything, the forum included panel discussions, and conversations exploring the meaning and role of art in ‘non-art’ domains.

“In the beginning, art was

more a confirmation of political power, fostering national identity and the beautification of the city,” said Layla Ibrahim Bacha, Senior Art Specialist, QF, in a keynote on speech on ‘Public Art in the Arab world: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.’ “It is now about cre-ating a destination, fostering social

connections, and encouraging openness.

“We have noticed that art-works are now more about the temporary than the permanent. I think this makes a piece of art more attractive, because people think they can see it now or never,” she added.

The second day of the forum, which was hosted by QF also fea-tured several panel discussions including on ‘The art of making places: How art and multidisci-plinary approaches in the public space can influence social, cultural and economic conditions’ and ‘Creating for policy change: Best practice approaches and strategic partnerships on commissioning and financing art in the public realm.’ The programme also aimed to inspire local talent and establish an natural connection between art and the local community.

In a discussion on the theme of The Art of Making Places, Dr Georgios Papaioannou, Associate Professor of Museum Studies at London-based university UCL, said public art had, over the past 20 years, become “more about physical participation”.

“I have seen many people take pictures of public art, which means it has become socially important,” he said.

“I think art is a battle – the battle of space. Design is important, but there has to be a space for art, and getting the space is even more important than the art itself. Once your space is there, at any time, you can change the art. The focus should be not only on public art, but also public art spaces, and in Qatar, with the 2022 World Cup approaching, many countries might want to exhibit their art in those spaces.”

The first day (22 February) was hosted by Qatar Museums at the National Museum of Qatar. ‘Outside the Box: Public Art in Qatar,’ brought together artists, architects, developers, policy makers, museum and cultural organisations, academics and commissioners.

A panel discussion during the public forum, titled ‘Outside The Box: Public Art in Qatar’ at Qatar National Library. RIGHT: The Senior Art Specialist at Qatar Foundation, Layla Ibrahim Bacha, speaking at the forum. PICS: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

Dar Al Sharq partners with Baladna to enhance cooperation in Jassim MagazineTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Dar Al Sharq Group has signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) with Baladna Food Industries to enhance cooperation especially at the level of Jassim Magazine issued by Dar Al Sharq.

The issuance of the Mag-azine aims at spreading and promoting culture among children of all ages, which is the only monthly children’s mag-azine in the country.

The MoU was signed by Assistant to the CEO of Dar Al Sharq, Jassim Fakhro, and the Chairman of Baladna Food Industries, Moutaz Al Khayyat, in the presence of a group of officials from both sides.

On this occasion, Jassim Fakhro said that this MoU came to confirm the strong ties between Dar Al Sharq and Baladna Food Industries, indi-cating that it will allow more focus on children in the coming period through a the

Jassim Magazine.He said that the Magazine

works to educate the children in a great way and commu-nicate with them in a con-tinuous way with the aim of providing them with everything related to knowledge and life matters that benefit them in the future.

Fakhro stressed that coop-eration with Baladna Company will clearly contribute to the development of the magazine during the next stage, and raise the benefits that it provides to children in all fields.

For his part, the Chairman of Baladna Food Industries, said that the MoU was signed within the responsibilities of the company which aimed at con-tributing to educating the next generation.

He said that it is great important for the company because the MoU will provide the company access to display its products to all children In the c o u n t r y t h r o u g h

Jassim Magazine, which is dis-tinguished by the diversity of experiences, experts and painters.

Jassim Magazine published by Dar Al Sharq since November 2016 is distinguished by the high cultural and scientific level appropriate for children, as it devotes chapters dealing with scientific discoveries, Islamic history and the environment. There are several chapters con-cerned with disseminating the talents of young readers and developing them such as drawing, writing and literature, c o m i c s t o r i e s a n d competitions.

The Magazine is issued on the first Wednesday of every month with the aim of forming a pillar for families in Qatar in order to succeed in the task of educating children and building a strong personality for them in order to ensure a balance between positive values in the culture of Arab societies and the region in general.

The magazine presents its readers with children in various forms in order to address children from 4 to 15 years, i.e. from the kindergarten through the primary to the preparatory section.

Jassim Magazine aims to be in the next stage a modern platform to publish everything that concerns children, so that it is allowed to be the pio-neering magazine in the field of children’s literature, with success in spreading and enhancing the Arab-Islamic identity of children.

The magazine will also help in teaching children real values and spreading knowledge in a fun and entertaining way, while developing the talents they possess and stimulating crea-tivity in them, thus contributing to achieving the Qatar National Vision 2030. Jassim Magazine had issued in the past period special numbers for Qatar National Day and National Sport Day.

The Assistant to the CEO of Dar Al Sharq, Jassim Fakhro, and the Chairman of Baladna Food Industries, Moutaz Al Khayyat, exchanging documents after the signing of MoU.

New paediatric inpatient unit opens at HMC’s Qatar Rehabilitation Institute


The first phase of a new paedi-atric inpatient unit was offi-cially opened at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI), recently. As part of the phased opening, four beds are now available for patients under the age of 14 years old who require specialist rehabilitation services. By the end of this year, an additional six beds are expected to open.

Dr. Azhar Khattab, Senior Consultant at Paediatric Reha-bilitation, said providing dedi-cated services for children and adolescents with special needs is a core component of HMC’s mission. He said HMC’s reha-bilitation services meet the unique needs of children with special needs and he noted that QRI’s paediatric rehabilitative programs are designed to ensure patients achieve optimal health and development outcomes.

“This new unit will receive children who are experiencing physical and psychological dis-abilities, such as cerebral palsy, lower limb paralysis, and brain

injuries resulting from stroke or trauma. We will also receive referrals from other hospitals, and specifically for children who require post-surgical reha-bilitative care. Rehabilitation services are provided by a team of highly trained specialists,” said Dr. Khattab.

Dr. Khattab said the new unit will offer continuity of care and he said patients will be pro-vided with child and family focused inpatient rehabilitation services that optimise recovery, maximising quality of life and independence.

“The main objective of the team members at the new unit is to help children who have experienced a severe injury or illness resulting in disability to recover and live as independ-ently as possible within their families and community. Care plans are based on the indi-vidual needs of each child and

are delivered by a multidisci-plinary team,” added Dr. Khattab.

In early 2018 QRI launched the country’s first dedicated, intensive paediatric rehabili-tation program and paediatric outpatient rehabilitation service. Located on the eighth floor of QRI, the program pro-vides patients with medical, nursing, nutrition, psychology, speech therapy and occupa-tional therapy services in a single location. In recent years QRI has expanded its paediatric services to include a clinic to assess muscular tension in children and to provide spe-cialized treatments such as ultrasound-guided botulinum injections to treat children with spastic muscles and drooling. Children cared for at QRI have access to the latest technology and medical equipment, including water therapy.

Officials during the opening of new paediatric inpatient unit at Qatar Rehabilitation Institute.

Dr. Khattab said the new unit will offer continuity of care and patients will be provided with child and family focused inpatient rehabilitation services that optimise recovery, maximising quality of life and independence.

As health officials in China and around the world seek to prevent the spread of this virus, the rest of us must prevent the spread of the racist condition of “fear of the foreigner” which predates and shall outlive this outbreak.

08 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

[email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

[email protected]

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI [email protected]

EDITORIAL

QATAR'S effective traffic safety management and efficient sustainable transport system gained global acclaim and lifted the nation’s pride beyond borders as it presents a model of high quality standards to the world. Qatar is one of the developed countries in terms of adopting the UN road safety plans, sustainable development goals and reducing road accident mortality.

The recently concluded third Global Ministerial Con-ference on Road Safety in Stockholm showcased Qatar’s farsighted road safety plans and sustainable goals associated with it. The efforts made by Qatar to reach “zero accidents”, which is a strategic goal pursued by state institutions, and the environmental-friendly approach the nation projects have also been appreciated at the conference.

The progress made by the State of Qatar in reducing traffic deaths during 2013-2019 got much highlight in the conference. With relentless efforts and precise planning, Qatar made much progress in achieving the requirements of the United Nations related to the 2011-2020 contract plan and the adoption of sustainable development goals. The follow-up of the implementation of these measures was also done periodically by the National Committee and the National Traffic Safety Office.

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) and other bodies concerned have well backed the nation in its journey to reach these goals. The conference discussed the efforts of Qatar to initiate the 2023-2033 plan for traffic safety management and sustainable transport, as well as the preparation for the challenges that the country will face after completing the infrastructure projects, and providing the requirements of the increasing demand for traffic. The entire journey of Qatar so far in this regard has been depicted as a success story at the conference.

The commitment of Ashghal in finishing infra-structure works on time with utmost quality and care played a key role in Qatar’s highest road safety standards. It is a key factor behind Qatar’s exemplary growth in all aspects.

Ashghal does not leave any stone unturned in its mission to ensure better infrastructure facilities for the people of the nation. The recent finishing of the devel-opment works of the roads leading to Al Rayyan Stadium, and the roads surrounding Al Bayt Stadium is an ideal example to highlight the commitment of Ashghal.

In what appears to be promising is that Qatar agreed to transfer its successful experience to help poor developing countries in their mission to ensure road traffic safety and sustainable goals.

Ensuring traffic safety

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Quote of the day

The EU has full confidence in the Italian

authorities and the decisions they are taking. We

share concern for possible contagion (but) there

is no need to panic.

Paolo Gentiloni, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner

Market workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant at a market in the South Korean city of Daegu yesterday, as a preventive measure after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ever since coronavirus (COVAD-19) was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, public health officials inside and outside of China have been trying to prevent the outbreak from trans-forming into a full-fledged global pandemic.

But as public health officials have been addressing the medical dimensions of this out-break, another epidemic has been spreading much more quickly across the globe: racist fear-mongering.

The latter may prove more dangerous than the former - and each may exacerbate the other.

In a piece for Al Jazeera, Edward Hon-Sing Wong detailed the long history of anti-Chinese racism in Canada that has once again been exposed by this out-break. But the global epidemic of racism occasioned by this virus is not limited to Canada, or even North America, and neither is it confined to Sinophobia.

The Sinophobia we are wit-nessing today, in relation to a disease outbreak which could have easily originated in any Western European or North American country, is deeply rooted in the fertile ground of a much more widespread xenophobia.

As health officials in China and around the world seek to prevent the spread of this virus, the rest of

us must prevent the spread of the racist condition of “fear of the for-eigner” which predates and shall outlive this outbreak.

A quick glance at recent headlines immediately reveals the globalisation of this irrational and racist “fear”.

According to PBS, “restau-rants in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam have refused to accept Chinese cus-tomers. Indonesians marched near a hotel and called on Chinese guests there to leave. French and Australian news-papers face criticism for racist headlines. Chinese and other Asians in Europe, the United States, Asia and the Pacific com-plain of racism.”

This is utterly foolish. Pan-demics are public health hazards that can begin anywhere in the world.

Historically, the so-called “Justinian Plague of 541” first appeared in Egypt and then spread through the Byzantine Empire, and then throughout the Mediterranean. Leprosy became a pandemic in Europe in the Middle Ages. When the Spanish arrived in the Caribbean in the 15th century, they brought with them such diseases as smallpox, measles and bubonic plague and passed them along to the natives. In 1655, the great plague of London is estimated to have killed 20 percent of the popu-lation. We had the Russian Flu and then the Spanish one. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, was first detected in the US in 1981, but is believed to have originated in Africa decades earlier.

Viruses have no race, eth-nicity, gender, or class. They can begin anywhere.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International issued a report on the “seven ways the coronavirus affects human rights” and listed racism as one of the most signif-icant and dangerous side effects of the virus.

French, American and Aus-tralian newspapers have been accused of racism in their reporting of the crisis. Even the naming of the virus - referred to in some media as the “Wuhan coronavirus” - has been exposed for its racism in an article by Marie Myung-Ok Lee for Salon.

“It starts with the question of where the virus originates: is it currently spreading in the US, or another Western country? If so, give it its numerical designation (eg H1N1), or reference the animal in which we think it started (eg Swine Flu, or Mad Cow Disease). But if it started in a country that Americans have stereotypes towards, naming it after that region - as with Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Asian Flu, and now, Wuhan Coronavirus - is a great way to play on xenophobic and racist tropes,” she writes.

“Trump’s overheated rhetoric on migrants and people of color - and ‘s**thole countries,’ as he calls much of the world - are absolutely fanning the flames of the racist response to the Coro-navirus. Yet it is important to recognize that this bias against Asians is nothing new; that the engine of white supremacist culture and language continually hums underground until some-thing like 2019-nCoV makes it visible,” Lee continues.

Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Liter-ature at Columbia University.

TORU FUJIOKA, JANA RANDOW AND WILLIAM HOROBIN BLOOMBERG

The US gave into pressure from Europeans over envi-ronmental concerns, allowing the word “climate” into a joint communique at a conference overshadowed by a viral outbreak that’s shaken the global economy.

Delegates at the G-20 meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, spent much of their time talking about a global slowdown exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, but struggled to come up with a united response, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Countries such as Japan, and institutions including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, have been pushing for those with sur-

pluses to spend more.One of the main

addressees of the calls for more spending is Germany. So far, the export-driven country has showed little interest in significantly boosting expenditures, arguing fiscal stimulus can’t bolster foreign demand.

On climate change, differ-ences of opinion in the Saudi capital were more stark. The US, represented by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, objected to including a ref-erence to the subject, according to four people familiar with the commu-nique-drafting process. The Saudi delegation, which is hosting the event, didn’t show much enthusiasm for it either, according to two of them.

After several days of heated debate, including France finance chief Bruno Le

Maire cornering Mnuchin late Saturday in Riyadh as the G-20 economic leaders dined, the US reluctantly agreed to a mention of climate change, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A Treasury spokeswoman didn’t reply to a request for comment.

As of Sunday morning in Riyadh, it was also looking unlikely that representatives would leave Saudi Arabia with any breakthroughs on a global taxation system that would apply to multi-national companies including tech giants like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., according to the people.

Europeans have balked at a US proposal that new global rules should be a “safe harbor” regime. Mnuchin sought to reassure his counterpart by insisting such a system would

not mean the rules would be optional, but Europeans said they still needed to fully assess the proposal.

If there’s no agreement, several European nations will go ahead with taxes on rev-enues of multinational digital firms. That could spark a transatlantic trade war as the US says such measures are discriminatory and has already threatened France with tariffs.

France and the US have held tense discussions on the subject since France intro-duced a 3% levy last year on the digital revenue of com-panies that make their sales primarily online. The move was supposed to give impetus to international talks to redefine tax rules, and the government has pledged to abolish its national tax if there is agreement on such rules.

The world in grips of an epidemic more dangerous than coronavirus

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US caves to Europe over broaching climate change at G-20

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HBKU signs MoU with Brookings Doha CenterTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has solidified its academic and research efforts with a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) it has signed with the Brookings Doha Center (BDC).

The MoU will underline areas of mutual benefit and develop a cooperative framework designed to facil-itate scholarly exchanges, internships, and BDC-HBKU activities. In doing so, both entities will have a steadfast commitment towards sup-porting Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

Hamad Bin Khalifa Uni-versity is a fast-emerging uni-versity located in the heart of Education City – an academic hub hosting some of the world’s top-tier universities. Brookings Doha Center is an overseas center of the Brookings Insti-tution in Washington, DC. As a hub for Brookings scholarship in the region since 2008, the BDC advances high-quality,

independent research and policy analysis on the Middle East and North Africa.

Speaking after the signing, Tarik Yousef, director of Brookings Doha Center, said: “We are delighted to partner with HBKU, one of the region’s most ambitious universities with a strong focus on

interdisciplinary research. As we continue to enhance our output, we look forward this new MoU with HBKU to bolster our research capabilities, expand our academic network and community outreach.”

Commenting on HBKU’s behalf, Dr. Emad El-Din Shahin,

interim provost, said: “HBKU strives to build connections with like-minded organisations and our agreement with the BDC today is a testimony to the uni-versity’s growing research potential. Our partnership with BDC will encourage policy-led debate and research on topics

that are not limited to security, international relations, and gov-ernance reform.

These topics are of growing importance in light of an increasingly complex political, social, and economic landscape in the Middle East.”

HBKU offers more than 35

academic degrees spanning Islamic Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, Law, Health and Life Sciences, and Public Policy. All of HBKU’s degrees were designed to meet the current and future needs of the job market.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University and Brookings Doha Center officials during the MoU signing ceremony.

The MoU will underline areas of mutual bene-fit and develop a cooperative framework designed to facilitate scholarly exchanges, internships, and BDC-HBKU activities. In doing so, both entities will have a steadfast commitment towards supporting Qatar National Vision 2030.

City Exchange wins Banks Sevens Football title THE PENINSULA — DOHA

City Exchange Football Team won the title of fifth edition of Banks Sevens Football Tour-nament for banks and f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s organised by Qatar Central Bank. The team made an authentic victory of three goals against one over Qatar National Bank.

This is the first champi-onship title for City Exchange in this tournament and it’s the first time in championship

history that a money exchange company team won it all. Satheesh was leading the vic-torious effort and Latheef, Shiyas and Mousif scored in final. Ahmed Rateb scored the consolation goal of Qatar National Bank.

Latheef put on strong per-formance throughout the tournament and was awarded with Top Scorer title. Shihas of City Exchange owned Best Goalkeeper Award in the tournament.

Captain Satheesh received

the Champions Trophy from officials of Qatar Central Bank and Qatar Football Associ-ation. The winning team was the finalist of the last edition of the tournament. Higher officials of various banks and financial institutions attended the event.

Sharaf P Hameed, CEO and other higher officials of City Exchange, congratulated the players for the magnificent victory marking in history of money exchange companies in Qatar.

City Exchange football team with the trophy after winning the title of the fifth edition of Banks Sevens Football Tournament for banks and financial institutions.

TAG Heuer announces Qatar Limited Edition AquaracerTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer, has announced its first ever Qatar limited edition timepiece. The special limited edition GMT Aquaracer is inspired by the colours of the Qatari flag, and features a vibrant dual-colorued combi-nation of burgundy and silver-white on the bezel, that is further underscored by the use of Arabic numbers.

GMT timepieces are fine mechanical instruments, extremely popular for their ability to display a second time zone, and the limited edition Aquaracer is a prime example with its 24 hour time display in Arabic numerals.

The option of a second time zone ensures ease and conven-ience for Qatari travellers, who will always know the local time in their homeland. Adorned with a special engraving on the back case representing the Doha skyline and available in 200 pieces only, the special limited edition Aquaracer will be available to pre-order at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition 2020.

The stunning 43mm Aqua-racer timepiece spots a stark black dial that is accented by unique Arabic numerals on the bezel, as well as a date window at 3 o’clock on the dial and a triangle marker at 12 o’clock on the bezel, for optimal reada-bility. With water resistance up

to 300 metres, the timepiece retains its iconic diving DNA with its stainless-steel bracelet with diving extension, and folding clasp with double safety push-buttons.

The watch also features a unidirectional turning bezel and fine brushed & polished steel case back with a decorative engraving, ensuring that the watch is unique, on-trend and memorable, from every angle.

This launch allows TAG Heuer to show their com-mitment to watch lovers by developing a special Qatar limited edition that pays tribute to national identity and high-lights both the Arabic culture and the colours of the Qatari flag.

Moreover, it celebrates the long standing and trusted retail partnership with Al Majed Jewellery. Together they share the same passion

for precision engineering and high performance and look forward to pre-launching it amongst Doha’s watch lovers. This limited edition timepiece embodies different facets of TAG Heuer’s avant-garde spirit and strengthens its reputation as a strong i n n o v a t i v e w a t c h manufacturer.

TAG Heuer Qatar Limited Edition Aquaracer is automatic with display of date, hour, minute and seconds, second time zone. Diameter 43mm, stainless-steel case, unidirec-tional rotating ceramic bezel in maroon burgundy and white light silver with Arabic indexes numbers, sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment, screw-down crown, water-resistant to 300m (30 bar). Stainless-steel case back with DOHA skyline special engraving.

QC urges people to contribute to ‘Sham Deserves’ campaign for SyriansTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Charity (QC), urged people to contribute to the national campaign named ‘Shams Deserves’ launched in partnership with the Qatar Media Corporation to provide urgent relief aid to Syrian people in their country and he countries of asylum.

The campaign came within the framework of moral and humanitarian duty in response to the worsening humanitarian situation following the largest displacement in Syria in the past three months.

Launched on February 19, under the supervision of the Reg-ulatory Authority for Charitable Activities (RACA), the ‘Sham Deserves’ campaign aims to deliver assistance to 250,000 Syrian refugees and displaced persons in the areas of shelter, food, water, sanitation, and health.

The campaign is imple-mented by Qatar Charity, in cooperation with the Qatar Media Corporation, Qatar Tel-evision, Qatar Radio, Sout Al Khaleej Radio, Alkass Sports Channels, Alrayyan TV, and Alrayyan Radio.

The campaign will include a joint live TV and radio broadcast on Friday and Sat-urday, February 28, and 29 by many media corporations to raise donations, in addition to some activities that will be held

in commercial complexes.Given the difficult human-

itarian situation of Syrian ref-ugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), Qatar Charity urges benefactors in Qatar to contribute to the ‘Sham Deserves’ campaign to ease their hardship, as they are struggling to survive under the very harsh cold weather, heavy rains, frosts, and snow. It also calls on media persons and social media influencers to publicise the campaign.

Benefactors can make their contributions to the campaign in many forms, including money, jewellery, and vehicle. In conjunction with the cam-paign, a delegation from Qatar Charity has recently distributed urgent aid to the displaced in the country, and refugees in Turkish areas bordering Syria.

The aid included 200 tonnes of relief materials worth over QR14m to benefit 864,618 people. Another delegation is scheduled to depart on Friday to provide a second batch of aid to Syrian refugees and dis-placed persons.

The donation in favour of the ‘Sham Deserves’ campaign can easily be made through Qatar Charity’s website, mobile App, 27 branches across the country, and 97 collection points in commercial places.

The donors can also request a ‘home collector’ through the mobile App and dial the hotline 44667711 to make their contri-butions. Mobile donating is also available. To donate QR100, QR200, QR500, and QR100, please send an SMS with the code ‘SOS’ to 92642, 92015, 92428, and 92429, respectively.

The campaign came within the framework of moral and humanitarian duty in response to the worsening humanitarian situation.

Shukran announces 9thanniversary draw winnersTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Shukran Qatar’s biggest and most successful loyalty program celebrated its 9th anniversary from November 26 to December 12. This 17 days Golden Bonanza created a buzz as customers shopping over QR99 in any of the Landmark Group Brands stood a chance to enter the Electronic Draw which was held on January 12 at Landmark Group’s Regional office. A total of 99 winners won 4 Grams of 22K Gold each.

This promotion was exclusive only for Shukran Members. Commenting on the 9th Anniversary celebration Clive Freeman COO, Landmark Group Qatar said: “We always believe in rewarding our loyal customers and giving back to them for being a part of our journey to this big milestone.”

Shukran, Landmark Group’s premiere loyalty program is the most successful retail loyalty programs in the Qatar. Encom-passing Landmark’s wide array of retail and hospitality

concepts, the loyalty program has a member base of over 1.5 million.

Shukran Members can earn and spend Shukran points across the region in diverse cat-egories such as clothing, footwear, accessories, home furnishings, electronics, F&B and fitness.

Shukran members can earn and burn points across coun-tries of operations. When it comes to rewards and recog-nition, Shukran presents endless possibilities to all its members.

Winners pose for a group photo at Landmark Group’s Regional office.


CCQ celebrates World Radio DayTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Community College of Qatar’s (CCQ’s) Library Department marked World Radio Day with a series of lectures and presentations by distinguished members of Q a t a r ’ s b r o a d c a s t i n g community at the College’s Lusail Female Campus.

The event themed ‘Radio in a Changing World’ explored topics such as the ‘History and Influence of Radio in Qatar’, ‘Broadcasting and the Public’, as well as the future radio aspi-rations of CCQ’s students, among other topics. A number of Qatar’s most prominent and recognised journalists, pro-ducers, anchors and other media personalities also shared their broadcasting experiences with the CCQ community. A competition for students was also held at the event and drew a crowd of students, faculty and other members of CCQ.

Reflecting Qatar’s position

as a thriving media hub, housing global media broad-casting powerhouses such as Al Jazeera and visionary and ambitious megaprojects, such as the Media City in Qatar’s sleek and futuristic Lusail city, over the past few years, several new radio stations in diverse languages were also launched in the country.

Commenting on the event, Reem Al Ansari, Head, Library Department, CCQ, said: “Radio has been around for over 100 years. Despite all the latest technological developments, it remains an important and widely-accessed source of information. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to host some of Qatar’s most famous media personalities on our campus to share their broadcasting experience with CCQ’s students and hope that it inspires them to pursue careers in radio.”

A speaker at the event, Dr. Hassan Rasheed, a Qatari

journalist, critic and Qatar’s very first radio announcer, stressed the importance of radio and the immense impact it has on people’s day-to-day lives, as well as the way in which it stimulates their intellect through thought, art, culture and entertainment.

Another prominent speaker at the event was Ahmad Al Sheikh, Media Advisor, Al Jazeera, who delivered a talk entitled ‘Radio and Audience’, in which he spoke about his very first encounter with radio as a child, the history of radio, his outlooks on the future of radio and his journey into the media field.

Among CCQ’s goals is to enrich its students’ academic experience through intellectual, personal and social devel-opment in a supportive and nurturing environment by exposing and connecting them to industry leaders and encour-aging them to pursue careers in those fields.

CCQ students listening to a lecture during the World Radio Day celebrations.

DFI announces Claire Denis, Phedon Papamichael as Qumra 2020 MastersTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Legendary French auteur Claire Denis and Bafta and Academy Award nominated cinematog-rapher Phedon Papamichael are confirmed to join the Qumra 2020 Masters line-up in the highly anticipated sixth edition of the Doha Film Insti-tute’s (DFI) annual film industry incubator for exceptional talents to be held March 20 to 25.

They join internationally celebrated director James Gray, Silver Lion winning film director and screenwriter Jessica Hausner and Mark Mangini, Osca winning sound designer for the 2020 edition event dedicated to supporting important new voices from the Arab and world cinema.

Qumra Masters draw on decades of industry wisdom to provide invaluable insight on select projects through consul-tations and deep-dive discus-sions with participating filmmakers.

Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “We are extremely hon-oured to once again host five highly acclaimed masters of cinema in Qatar at Qumra 2020. With mentorship and guidance from these creative visionaries, participating film-makers gain the unique oppor-tunity to enrich their creative voices by learning the advanced skills necessary to take their projects to completion and out to global audiences.”

Filmmaker and DFI Artistic Advisor, Elia Suleiman, said: “The extraordinary contribu-tions that Claire Denis and Phedon Papamichael have made to the art and craft of

filmmaking have redefined approaches to aesthetic and narrative. Denis’ daring por-trayals of the human condition amidst complex social and cul-tural landscapes continues to embolden filmmakers to defy standard convention and embrace the poetry of story-telling. Papamichael has an exceptional ability to visually immerse audiences in perform-ances with his extremely p r e c i s e c i n e m a t i c compositions.”

This year’s edition of Qumra will offer networking and development opportunities for 46 projects from 20 countries as part of Qumra’s mission to accelerate the success of film-makers from the region and beyond and prepare them to bring their projects to audi-ences around the world.

Continuing the Institute’s commitment to support Arab talents in evolving forms of cre-ativity and new possibilities, Qumra 2020 introduces for the first-time sessions dedicated to exploring and developing series format projects from the region. This follows the recent expansion of DFI’s Grants pro-gramme and various training

and development labs dedi-cated to the creation of original and compelling TV and web content in Arabic.

Projects in development participate in group and indi-vidual sessions with Qumra Masters and industry mentors in script consulting, legal, sales, marketing and co-production advice, along with individual matchmaking projects in post-production, which are pre-sented in a series of closed rough-cut screenings to leading festival programmers, broad-casters, market representa-tives, sales agents and distributors.

Qumra 2020 features 20 projects by Qatar-based talent, including 12 by Qatari nationals. Seven of the projects are in development, with others in the Qumra Series and Shorts pro-grammes. Of 47 projects, 33 are recipients of DFI’s Grants pro-gramme, three are supported through the Qatari Film Fund and one through the Institute’s co-financing programme. In all, 16 feature projects are in devel-opment, 13 feature projects in post-production, seven in Qumra Series, and 11 are in Qumra Shorts.

Claire Denis Phedon Papamichael

Philharmonic at QNL evokes a night at Vienna Opera Ball


February’s edition of Philhar-monic at the Library treated music lovers to a night out at the Vienna Opera Ball on February 20.

Each year, the famed Vienna State Opera is trans-formed into a lavish ballroom for the Vienna Opera Ball, which is graced by thousands of international celebrities in a tradition dating back to 1814.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, a member of Qatar Foundation, evoked the

atmosphere of the ball for a captivated audience at the Library with their memorable performance of selections from some of Austria’s most famous 19th-century composers: Johann Strauss, Josef Strauss and Carl Michael Ziehrer.

Mahmood Atta was in the audience at the event, and after the performance said: “I am a

committed fan of the Philhar-monic at the Library series and have attended the last three concerts. It fascinates me how this series attracts hundreds of people each time. It brings together all elements of a new library such as books, being a community place, and pro-viding the opportunity to learn through experiences.”

Another attendee, Majed Abduljabar, said: “Classical music is my favourite and I really enjoyed listening to some wonderful music tonight. People don’t get similar oppor-tunities for free elsewhere and I will continue to indulge in this world-class music with friends by coming to this beautiful building every month.”

Music lovers enjoying the Vienna Opera Ball at Qatar National Library.

Live coverage of Pakistan Super League 2020 on Ooredoo TV


Ooredoo, Qatar’s leading tele-communications operator, announced yesterday that it has secured rights for the upcoming Pakistan Super League 2020, and will be showing the cricket matches live on Ooredoo TV channel 399.

The fifth season of the hugely popular Twenty20 fran-chise has kicked off on Feb-ruary 20, with matches being held until March 22.

Teams including the Karachi Kings, the Multan Sultans and Islamabad United will battle it out for top spot in exciting matches featuring some of the best Pakistani and international players.

Ooredoo ONE customers can watch all the matches live on Ooredoo TV via the new Ooredoo Cricket channel, part of the Doosra package, which is included with all Ooredoo One packages of 150mbps and above. The Ooredoo Cricket

channel is available on channel 399 on Ooredoo TV.

Speaking of the news, Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director, PR and Corporate Communications at Ooredoo, said: “We have thousands of enthusiastic cricket fans here in Doha, and we know they will be delighted to learn they will be able to watch one of cricket’s most popular leagues live on Ooredoo TV. Achieving com-plete customer satisfaction is a key aim at Ooredoo, and we’re sure the live coverage of PSL 2020 will make the cricket fans among our customers very happy! We hope they enjoy all the matches, and of course all the other benefits on offer with Ooredoo ONE.”

Customers who do not yet have Ooredoo TV via Ooredoo ONE can subscribe now at any of our Ooredoo shops around town. Customers on packages lower than 150Mbps can upgrade online, via the app or at any Ooredoo shop.

No need to panic over locust sightings: QEERI expertTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In recent days, there have been increasing numbers of anecdotal reports relating to locust swarms being spotted in Qatar.

The infamous insects have a reputation for deci-mating crops and even causing famine, but the Min-istry of Municipality and Environment (MME) insists that such isolated sightings are no cause for alarm. This point of view is echoed by experts.

“There have been some limited sightings of locusts thus far in Qatar, with the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment in good control of the situation,” says Dr. Jenny Lawler, Senior Research Director and Acting Executive Director of the Water Center at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI).

Concerns have been raised locally due to the increasing crisis unfolding in east Africa,

especially in Kenya, where bil-lions of locusts are ravaging agricultural areas in the worst infestation for 70 years. However, officials and experts are keen to stress that the sit-uation in Qatar bears no resemblance to the African outbreak.

QEERI is part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and its

scientists are following the current situation closely. “While around for thousands of years, recent increases in locust infestations have been linked with climate change and changing weather pat-terns leading to perfect cir-cumstances for breeding,” says Dr Lawler.

Locusts are actually common visitors to Qatar and the Gulf region, generally arriving between January and April each winter, although they appear to be present in greater numbers than usual this year. They are even con-sidered to be a delicacy in

some areas, and a prized source of natural nutrients. However, given that insec-ticide is being used by the MME as part of a wide-ranging action plan to combat their threat, officials have warned against eating the creatures.

“Insecticides are vital in this case,” says Dr Lawler. “However, they can be detri-mental to the environment and human health, persisting for a long time. QEERI will continue to monitor the presence of chemicals and the quality of air and water in Qatar.”

Dr. Jenny Lawler, Senior Research Director and Acting Executive Director of the Water Center at QEERI.

Concerns have been raised locally due to the increasing crisis unfolding in east Africa, especially in Kenya, where billions of locusts are ravaging agricultural areas in the worst infestation for 70 years. However, officials and experts are keen to stress that the situation in Qatar bears no resemblance to the African outbreak.


The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with National Car Company, dealer of Mazda in Qatar, announced the recall of Mazda CX9 models of 2017-2018 due to a possible malfunction in the warning lights on the dashboard that sometimes, turn on suddenly.

The recall campaign comes within the framework of the Ministry’s continuous efforts to protect consumers and ensure that car dealers follow

up on vehicle defects and repairs.

The Ministry said that it will coordinate with the dealer to follow up on the maintenance and repair works and will com-municate with customers to ensure that they carried out the necessary repairs.

The Ministry urged all cus-tomers to report any violations to its Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department, which processes complaints, inquires and suggestions.

MoCI recalls Mazda CX9 models of 2017-2018

Each year, the famed Vienna State Opera is transformed into a lavish ballroom for the Vienna Opera Ball, which is graced by thousands of international celebrities in a tradition dating back to 1814.

11MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 MIDDLE EAST

People inspecting a collapsed building after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck near the border with Iran, in Gelenler neighbourhood of Baskale district in eastern Van province of Turkey, yesterday.

Nine dead in quake in Turkey-Iran border region

REUTERS — ISTANBUL

Nine people were killed and buildings collapsed across southeastern Turkey yesterday when a magnitude 5.7 earth-quake struck near the border with Iran, injuring more than a hundred in villages and towns in both countries, government officials said.

In Turkey, three of the dead were children, and 50 people were injured, including nine critically, the health ministry said.

The shallow tremor caused more than 1,000 buildings to collapse in Turkey, prompting a brief rescue effort to find those trapped under rubble.

The quake damaged buildings some 90km to the west in the Turkish city of Van, and to the east in dozens of

villages in Iran, where state TV said 75 people were injured including six in hospital.

There were several after-shocks including a larger tremor measuring 6.0 magnitude that stuck nearby 10 hours later. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from that quake, which was also fairly shallow and potentially dangerous.

Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Iran and Turkey are among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

After the initial tremor, Turkish TV footage showed people digging with shovels and their hands in the rubble, as well as furniture and belongings strewn on cracked and snowy roads.

In one village the ground

cratered under several buildings, while in others resi-dents were wrapped in blankets outside homes with crumbled and cracked exterior walls, fallen metal roofs and twisted wiring.

“The damage caused loss of

life,” the governor of Van, Mehmet Bilmez, told reporters standing in front of a pile of cinder blocks and sheet metal. “There is destruction in all four villages” he visited on Sunday morning, he added.

T h e E u r o p e a n

Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the quake, which hit at 8:53 am (05:53 GMT), had a depth of 5km (3.1 miles). The second big quake struck at 7:00 pm.

Broadcasters and gov-ernment officials said dozens

of villages were rattled in Turkey. Nearly 150 tents were sent to shelter families in the region, where several schools in the districts of Baskale, Saray and Gurpinar sustained minor damage.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emer-gency Management Authority (AFAD) has begun rescue work in villages including in Ozpinar, about 25km south of the epi-centre, said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. AFAD measured the initial tremor at 5.9 magnitude.

The US Geological Survey put the epicentre 47 km west of the Iranian city of Khoy, where people felt the effects, according to state TV. An earthquake last month in eastern Turkey killed more than 40 people while another in Iran did structural damage to homes without causing any fatalities.

An Iranian official told state TV that rescue teams had been dispatched to the area in Iran’s West Azarbaijan province.

Another local official said the earthquake was felt in several towns including Urmiah and Salmas, and many villages including some that suffered “100% damage”, state TV reported.

Turkey, Iraq to shut borders with Iran over coronavirus outbreakANATOLIA — ANKARA/BAGHDAD

Turkey and Iraq have decided to temporarily close their borders with Iran over the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking to the press in Istanbul, Turkish Health Min-ister Fahrettin Koca said: “Based on the international health regulation, the road and rail transits from Iran to Turkey were temporarily halted as of 5pm local time.”

Turkey has also temporarily halted all international arrival flights from Iran unilaterally as of 8 pm local time.

Iraqi authorities announced the closure of two border crossings with Iran, after Tehran revealed that number of new deaths from the novel coronavirus has risen to 8, and that the number of confirmed

cases of the virus has risen to 43.The Governor of Diyala,

Muthana Al Timimi, said in a statement that two border crossings with Iran, east of the province, will be closed from today during a meeting to study ways to confront the virus.

Al Timimi pointed out that it was decided to close Mandali and Mundhiriya crossings in front of the commercial exchange for a period of three days starting from Monday. This is to give more room to the competent authorities to take all ways to confront the coro-navirus, pointing at the same time to taking all necessary medical measures.

He explained that it was decided to establish two medical centers at Mandali and Mundhiriya crossings, in order to check all those entering

through the two crossings, in the precautionary plan against the coronavirus.

Iranian health authorities announced earlier yesterday that the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus had risen to 8, and that the number of confirmed cases of the virus had risen to 43.

Reminding the rising death toll from the coronavirus and the number of affected people in Iran, Turkish health minister stressed that additional measures were needed to reduce the border movement with the suggestion of the min-istry’s scientific committee.

After the measures have been taken, all the passengers coming from Iran to Turkey have been checked by the health officials, he said.

Due to the findings of the

Iraqis taking medical precautions at the Bashmaq border crossing with Iran to prevent the spread of coronavirus, in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, yesterday.

disease, at least eight Iranian cit-izens were not allowed to enter Turkey on Saturday and Friday, Koca noted. The health minister also said five people, suspected with cold symptoms, tested neg-ative in Turkey’s eastern Van

province. Meanwhile, export and transit operations from Turkey to Iran continue in a controlled manner, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan wrote on Twitter.

But she said entries of all vehicles, goods, and passengers

from Iran have been temporarily stopped as a precaution.

According to Iran’s Health Ministry, the death toll from coronavirus in Iran has risen to eight, and over 40 cases were confirmed.

Conservatives claim victory in Iran polls after record low turnoutAFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s conservatives claimed victory yesterday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candi-dates.

A conservative resurgence would heap pressure on beleaguered Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani and signal a shift from four years ago when reformists and moderates won a slender majority in parliament.

The interior ministry announced results of 95 percent of the 208 con-stituencies in Friday’s election, declaring the names of the winning candidates but without specifying their political affiliation.

“Victory for the anti-American candidates, a new slap for Trump,” crowed the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper.

“The people have disqualified the reformists,” it added, alluding to Rou-hani’s backers, who have been weakened by President Donald Trump pulling the US out of a landmark nuclear deal and by a slew of economic and political crises.

Seventeen women were elected, the website of the government news-paper Iran said — the same number as in the outgoing 290-seat parliament.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced the par-ticipation rate was 42.6 percent — the lowest in four decades. The election came two days after Iran announced its first cases of the deadly new coronavirus that emerged in China.

“We held these elections when there were various incidents in the country: we had bad weather, there was this coronavirus disease, there was the plane crash,” Rahmani Fazli said, referring to the January 3

downing of a Ukrainian airliner which killed 176 people.

He said that in such a scenario “the turnout rate seems perfectly acceptable for us.”

A low participation had been widely forecast, as a conservative-dominated electoral watchdog dis-qualified about half of the 16,000-odd candidates, mostly mod-erates and reformists.

The Fars news agency said a second round would be held in at least 11 constituencies. One woman candidate has qualified for the second round, Iran newspaper added.

Voter apathy marked the polls, but Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lauded the people’s “huge participation” despite what he termed “negative propaganda” by foreign media.

It “began a few months ago and grew larger approaching the election and in the past two days, under the pretext of this illness,” he said.

“Their media did not miss the slightest opportunity to discourage people from voting. (Our enemies) are even opposed to any election by the Iranian people,” the leader added.

Iran on Sunday reported three new coronavirus deaths, taking its toll to eight -- the highest in any country outside China. It said there were 43 COVID-19 virus infections nationwide.

Authorities ordered the closure of schools, universities and other educational centres in 14 of Iran’s 31 provinces from Sunday and said Tehran could be under quarantine, if necessary. Art events, concerts and film shows have been banned for a week across the country.

In the past 24 hours, four new infections surfaced in Tehran, seven in the holy city of Qom -- where the country’s first infections emerged -- two in Gilan and one each in Markazi and Tonekabon, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

Smoke billowing following a reported airstrike on the rebel-held town of Ariha in the northern countryside of Syria’s Idlib province, yesterday.

Putin affirms support for four-way Syria summitAGENCIES — MOSCOW

The Russian presidency confirmed President Vladimir Putin’s support for a four-way summit that brings Turkey, France, Russia and Germany to discuss the Syrian file.

Spokesman for the Russian Presidency Dmitry Peskov expressed his Pres-ident’s support for holding a four-way summit on Syria, indicating that the process of coordinating the date of the summit is still continuing.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced he would hold a summit on Syria on the 5th of March in Istanbul, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin

and French President Emmanuel Macron.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for holding a four-way summit in Istanbul, bringing together the leaders of Turkey, France, Russia and Germany, to discuss the sit-uation of Syria’s Idlib.

Meanwhile, the UN Sec-retary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorise a new passage point on the Turkish border to allow humanitarian aid to reach the embattled pop-ulation of northeast Syria, where medical supplies are running short.

The recommendation came in a report issued Friday to Council members and seen Saturday by AFP.

Western members of

the Security Council had asked Guterres in early January to provide new options after the Council, under pressure from Russia, drastically reduced the number of border crossings authorized for delivering humanitarian aid to the hard-pressed population of northeast Syria.

The Western powers had specifically asked for alternatives to compensate for the closing of the Al Yarubiyah transit point on Syria’s border with Iraq.

“Several options can be made available,” Guterres said in his report, “but from a security and logistical per-spective, in the current context, the Tal Abiyad border crossing would con-stitute the most feasible alternative to the Al Yaru-biyah border crossing.”

Iraqi suspected of coronavirus tests negativeANATOLIA — BAGHDAD

An Iraqi student quarantined for suspected coronavirus has tested negative for the virus, according to health authorities yesterday.

“Tests proved that the sus-pected case was not carrying the virus,” the Health Direc-torate in the southern Dhi Qar province said in a statement.

A medical source said Sat-urday the student was quar-antined for further tests after returning from the Iranian city of Qom.

On Saturday, the Iraqi authorities called on its nationals not to travel to neighboring Iran, where eight coronavirus deaths were reported.

Coronavirus has spread to more than 25 other countries including the U.S., the UK, Sin-gapore, France, Russia, Spain and India.

Many countries, including Turkey, have evacuated their citizens from the city of Wuhan —the epicenter of the virus — and other affected areas of China, placing them under quarantine and monitoring.

Two injured in blast in Lebanon’s Tripoli REUTERS — BEIRUT

Two people were wounded after a bomb exploded in a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli yesterday, security sources said.

The man accused of setting off the bomb has been arrested, the security sources said.

The quake damaged buildings some 90km to the west in the Turkish city of Van, and to the east in dozens of villages in Iran, where state TV said 75 people were injured including six in hospital. The shallow tremor caused more than 1,000 buildings to collapse in Turkey, prompting a brief rescue effort to find those trapped under rubble.

Protest against poverty

12 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian near Gaza fenceAFP — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israeli forces yesterday shot dead a Palestinian near the Gaza border, before extracting his body with a bulldozer, the army said.

“Following the successful thwarting of the attack near the Gaza Strip fence earlier this morning, an IDF (Israeli army) bulldozer extracted the body of one of the attackers,” a military spokeswoman said.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement identified the dead man as Mohammed Al Naem, 27, a member of its armed Al Quds Brigade forces.

Shortly after dark, cross-border fire broke out from the Gaza Strip, setting off warning sirens in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and several other locations, the Israeli army said.

“Twenty launches were identified from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory,” a mil-itary statement said.

It did not specify if they were rockets or shorter range

mortar fire but said that about 10 attacks were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

There were no reports of casualties.

Palestinian security sources reported outgoing rocket fire.

Earlier yesterday, the Israeli army had said it “spotted two men approaching the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip and placing an explosive device adjacent to it”.

“The troops opened fire

towards them. A hit was iden-tified,” a military statement said.

Following the incident, a video from Gaza emerged on social media showing a bull-dozer approaching a body as young, apparently unarmed men, were trying to retrieve it.

The sound of gunfire is heard and the men ultimately run away as the bulldozer

collects the body. A tank can be seen positioned nearby.

The Gaza health ministry said that two civilians were wounded by Israeli gunfire at the scene.

Hawkish Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett has pursued a policy of retaining the bodies of militants from Gaza as bargaining chips to pressure Hamas, the Islamist group that

controls the Palestinian enclave, which has been holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014.

The Israeli army meanwhile distributed footage of “the explosive device,” noting that the same Islamic Jihad “squad was involved in two previous attempts to place IEDs near the fence during the last few months”.

Cement filled barrels blocking a road leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the divided West Bank town of Hebron, yesterday.

Arab League

welcomes national

unity government

in South SudanQNA — CAIRO

The League of Arab States welcomed the formation of the transitional government of national unity in South Sudan. It was installed in ceremonies held in the capital Juba on Saturday, in the presence of the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir.

In a statement, the League of Arab States congratulated the leaders of South Sudan on their agreement to form the new government as it is con-sidered an important step towards building the pillars of security and stability in the country.

The League of Arab States affirmed its support for South Sudan to implement the remaining benefits of the revi-talised agreement to settle the conflict in the country, signed in 2018 in various security, political and constitutional aspects, calling on the inter-national community to con-tinue to support South Sudan and its people in this process until the peace process in the country becomes successful.

Libya asks US to set up military base to counter RussiaBLOOMBERG — TRIPOLI

Libya’s security chief called on the US to set up a base in the North African country to coun-terbalance Russia’s expanding influence in Africa.

Fathi Bashagha, interior minister for the Tripoli-based administration, said his gov-ernment proposed hosting a base after Secretary of Defense Mark Esper laid out plans to scale back the US military presence on the continent and re-focus deployments globally on confronting Russia and China. Bashagha’s government has been engaged in a months-long battle with forces trying to seize the capital led by eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, who’s backed by Russian mercenaries.

“The redeployment is not clear to us,” Bashagha said, speaking in a phone interview with Bloomberg. “But we hope that the redeployment includes Libya so it doesn’t leave space that Russia can exploit.”

The oil-rich nation across

the Mediterranean from Europe has been one of the main stages for Russia’s push for influence over the past year. More than a thousand mercenaries deployed by a confidant of President Vladimir Putin have backed Haftar’s offensive to capture the capital from the internationally recognized government.

Bashagha warned that Rus-sia’s backing of Haftar was part of a broader push for influence.

“The Russians aren’t in Libya just for Haftar,” he said. “They have a big strategy in Libya and Africa.”

Esper’s plan to pull troops from Africa provoked criticism in Congress, with 11 lawmakers led by House Armed Services Committee Vice-Chairman Anthony Brown, a Democrat, noting in a letter last month that Russia and China were investing in the continent to strengthen their influence. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a top ally of President Donald Trump, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who confronted Esper on the sidelines of a

security conference in Munich and said they wouldn’t back the plan, NBC reported.

In late January, Esper said the US wouldn’t withdraw all of its troops from Africa, but acknowledged a review is under way to account for a new strategy that makes coun-tering Russia and China the priority. The US has about 6,000 troops in Africa, including those guarding dip-lomatic facilities, according to a defense official.

A report by the Pentagon’s lead inspector general released this month said Russia’s activ-ities in Libya and North Africa posed “significant challenges to the United States and its partners,” undermining military relations with countries in the region.

“Libya is important in the Mediterranean: it has oil wealth and a 1,900km coast and ports which allow Russia to view it as the gate to Africa,” Bashagha said. “If the U.S. asks for a base, as the Libyan government we wouldn’t mind -- for fighting

terrorism, organized crime and keeping foreign countries that intervene at a distance. An American base would lead to stability.”

The US hasn’t had forces in Libya since last April, when it withdrew them as Haftar’s forces marched toward the capital.

The country has been in turmoil since a 2011 US-led and Nato-backed uprising ousted long-time autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. The following year, a mob attacked the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing the American ambas-sador, Christopher Stevens. In a 2016 interview with Fox News, then-President Barack Obama said that failing to plan for the aftermath of Gaddafi’s ouster was the worst mistake of his presidency.

“We hope that the US can move on from this regretful incident,” Bashagha said of the attack on the embassy. “All Libyans regret it. It wasn’t the Libyan people but a small group of criminals that did it.”

Since April, control of the country has been divided between Haftar’s forces, who are also backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the UN-recognised gov-ernment, which gets military support from Turkey. The war prompted the US to withdraw a counter terrorism contingent from Tripoli that had been assisting in the fight against Islamic State militants in Africa.

Bashagha warned that arms pouring into the country despite a United Nations arms embargo could find their way to neighboring Egypt, where weapons smuggled out of Libya have reached Islamic State militants in Sinai and the neighboring Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, forces loyal to Libyan eastern-based com-mander Khalifa Haftar said yes-terday they had killed 16 Turkish soldiers in recent weeks, a day after Turkey acknowledged it had lost several martyrs in combat in the north African country.

UK will reimpose

sanctions on

Mugabe’s widow,

reports TelegraphBLOOMBERG — LONDON

The British government plans to reject a European Union decision to lift sanctions on the wife of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, suggesting its approach to financially targeting foreign individuals will diverge from the bloc’s, the Sunday Tele-graph reports.

The UK suspended an order freezing the assets of Grace Mugabe after the EU’s decision last week, because it’s bound to follow the bloc’s sanctions decisions until the Brexit transition period expires at year’s end.

Yet the British government disagreed with the decision and plans to reimpose sanc-tions on Mugabe once the transition period is over, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.

On Monday, the bloc renewed its arms embargo against Zimbabwe and will maintain a targeted assets-freeze against the state-con-trolled armaments company, Zimbabwe Defence Indus-tries. Restrictive measures were initially introduced in 2002 in response to serious human rights violations by Mugabe’s government.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office told the newspaper: “We did not agree with the EU’s decision to suspend these sanctions on Grace Mugabe. At the end of the transition period we will review it.”

Ethiopia: 29 injured in bomb attack at pro-Abiy rallyAFP — ADDIS ABABA

A “bomb attack” on a rally in support of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed injured nearly 30 people yesterday, a police official said, in the latest sign of instability ahead of elections in August.

The incident occurred in the town of Ambo, located roughly 100km west of the capital, Addis Ababa.

“The bomb attack on a rally for Dr Abiy has injured 29 people, of whom 28 have been treated and sent home,” Arasa Merdasa, the top police official in Ethio-pia’s Oromia region, where Ambo is located, told the state-run Ethiopian News Agency.

“Police have arrested six

people who are suspected in the attack,” Arasa said.

Ethiopia’s electoral board has scheduled landmark national polls for August 29. Opposition parties and civil society organisations have ques-tioned whether the elections will be peaceful and credible, citing persistent ethnic violence since Abiy was appointed in 2018 fol-lowing several years of anti-government protests.

Abiy did not attend Sun-day’s rally, which was organised by officials in Ambo. Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, hopes the elections will secure him a mandate to continue with an ambi-tious agenda of political and economic reforms. Arasa

said Sunday’s attack was believed to be the work of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), the breakaway armed wing of the Oromo Liber-ation Front, an opposition party.

Officials have also blamed the OLA for the assassination on Friday of the top security official in Burayu, another Oromia town located on the out-skirts of Addis Ababa.

That attack left three other people injured, and police “vowed to hunt down” those responsible, state-affi l iated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.

Arasa declined to answer questions about the latest violence in Oromia when contacted.

Four Mali soldiers killed in attack

AFP — BAMAKO

Four Mali soldiers were killed and eight wounded yesterday in a suspected militant attack on an army camp in the far north of the country, the Malian military said.

“The provisional toll is four dead, eight injured and several vehicles taken,” army colonel Boubacar Sanogoh, regional commander for the Timbuktu region, said.

The outpost in Bambara Maoude, about 100km south of Timbuktu city, “was the object at about 0500 GMT of a terrorist attack,” the military had earlier tweeted alongside an initial toll of three dead and five wounded, plus “material damage”.

Communications Minister Yaya Sangare confirmed a death toll of four and tweeted that, following “intervention by the Malian airforce, backed by (French-led force) Barkhane and (UN mission) MINUSMA, the post is under (army) control”.

Togo President’s camp claims victory as challenger claims fraudAFP — LOME

Supporters of Togo President Faure Gnassingbe claimed yesterday that he had won re-election after his main chal-lenger said he could stage an upset despite “revelations of fraud”.

A widely-expected win by the incumbent would extend more than a half century of dynastic rule over the West African nation by Gnassingbe’s family despite broad disillu-sionment over its failure to drag many out of poverty. After voting ended on Saturday,

troops briefly surrounded the homes of opposition candidate Agbeyome Kodjo and a key ally in a move the authorities said was for their “own safety”.

Kodjo, a former prime min-ister and head of the national assembly, had emerged as a dark horse challenger looking to stop Gnassingbe’s bid for a fourth term in office.

But Gilbert Bawara, min-ister of public functions and a strong supporter of the pres-ident said: “The lead of Pres-ident Faure Gnassingbe is well above 50 percent, and even

more than 60 percent. “Victory is assured but it is

up to the Ceni to independently proclaim the results,” he added in reference to the national electoral commission.

“We are optimistic and anticipate a clear victory in the first round” of voting, the min-ister said. Bawara downplayed Internet cuts and disruption to social media networks since vote counting began on Sat-urday, laying blame on mobile telephone operators Togocel and Moov and remarking: “These things happen.”

After security forces lifted a blockade of Kodjo’s house on Saturday, the challenger told media: “I have the conviction that in the coming week, I will lead this country. “Considering the revelations of fraud which marked this ballot, it is impos-sible for the outgoing candidate to be elected in the first round.”

Kodjo claimed the author-ities had used ballot stuffing, fake polling stations and people casting multiple votes to skew the results in the incumbent’s favour. He said figures from various polling stations showed

he was in the lead in the capital Lome and the coastal region and had “good scores” in other areas. The election commission is expected to release the official provisional results early in the week. Bawara said that reports from polling offices across the country “indicate an unbeatable lead” for Gnassingbe.

A source in the president’s office added that “UNIR (the ruling party) has held onto all its traditional strongholds and has even done better every-where, including in difficult areas in the south and in Lome.”

Moroccan protester shouting slogans during a demonstration against poverty and the economic situation, called for by the “Moroccan Social Front movement”, in Casablanca, yesterday.

Shortly after dark, cross-border fire broke out from the Gaza Strip, setting off warning sirens in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and several other locations, the Israeli army said.

13MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 ASIA

South Korea raises virus alert to ‘grave’ as infections surge

AFP — SEOUL

South Korea raised its alert on the coronavirus to the highest level yesterday after reporting three more deaths and 169 new infec-tions.

The country has seen a rapid surge in the number of corona-virus cases since a cluster of infections emerged from a reli-gious sect in the southern city of Daegu.

The national toll of 602 cases is now the highest outside China, apart from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

“The COVID-19 incident faces a grave turning point. The next few days will be crucial,” said President Moon Jae-in fol-lowing a government meeting on the virus.

“The government will raise the alert level to the highest level of ‘grave’ according to experts’ recommendations and drastically strengthen our response system,”

Moon said.He also urged officials to take

“unprecedented powerful measures” to contain the outbreak.

The government ordered all schools and kindergartens nationwide to extend the Spring break by a week in an effort to prevent further spread of the virus.

While more measures have not been introduced, South

Korean media reports say the highest ‘red’ alert level would allow the government to restrict public transport, ban group events such as religious activities and protests, and enforce tighter entry restrictions on the country.

Yesterday, South Korea reported 169 new cases and three deaths, taking the countrywide toll to five.

Later, Yonhap news agency said a sixth patient had died.

One of the victims was a patient being treated for mental health issues at a hospital in Cheongdo, a southern city linked to the religious sect where around 100 new cases were reported.

Among the latest infections, 95 involved the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the nearby city of Daegu, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Coronavirus is communist China’s ‘biggest health emergency’: President XiAFP — BEIJING

The coronavirus epidemic that has killed over 2,400 people is communist China’s “largest public health emergency” since its founding in 1949, President Xi Jinping (pictured) said yesterday.

It is necessary to learn from “obvious shortcomings exposed” during China’s response, Xi added at an official meeting to coordinate the virus fight — a rare acknowledgment by a Chinese leader.

The new coronavirus has drawn comparisons to the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syn-drome) outbreak of 2002-2003 which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong, and led to criticism over authorities’ cover-up.

While China has been praised by the World Health Organisation for its handling of the epidemic this time, the death of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who was repri-manded for warning about the virus, sparked calls for political reform and freedom of speech in the country.

In comments reported by state broadcaster CCTV yes-terday, Xi said the epidemic “has the fastest transmission, widest range of infection and has been the most difficult to prevent and control”.

“This is a crisis for us and it

is a big test,” he said.Xi’s comments come as the

number of virus infections hit almost 77,000 in mainland China — with countries such as South Korea on high alert and Italy taking containment measures as well.

Xi acknowledged that the epidemic will “inevitably have a large impact on the economy and society”, but he stressed the effects will be “short-term” and controllable.

China has seen a slow return to work since an extended Spring Festival break, as officials urged the public to avoid gatherings and stay at home. Those living in “low-risk areas” should return to regular life as soon as possible, Xi said, calling for new measures to help smaller businesses that have been hit hard by the outbreak.

A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with COVID-19 in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday.

Quarantine questioned as Japanese woman tests positiveAFP — TOKYO

Japan yesterday confirmed that a woman who tested negative and disembarked from the coro-navirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship later tested positive, raising questions about the effectiveness of the quar-antine measures.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato has also apologised after 23 passengers were allowed to leave without being properly tested.

The woman in her 60s returned to her home in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo by train after she disembarked on Wednesday, but she had a fever on Friday and tested positive on Saturday, a local official said.

She was the first passenger from the ship to have tested pos-itive in Japan after having been cleared to disembark.

The news comes as infectious disease experts and local officials have questioned the effectiveness of the quarantine period on the vessel.

“There has been a judgement that those who disembarked after testing negative had no problem, but it has now become clear that those people can turn positive,” Tochigi governor Tomokazu Fukuda told a press conference late Saturday.

“We call on the government to take additional measures,” he said.

Japanese authorities have

said they made a decision to dis-embark passengers who tested negative during the quarantine period as they took measures to prevent spread of the virus — passengers were confined to their cabins, except for brief outings on open deck when they were required to wear gloves and masks and keep their distance from fellow passengers.

However, infectious diseases specialist Kentaro Iwata has said the situation on the ship was “completely chaotic” and violated quarantine procedures, in blunt criticism rarely seen in Japanese officialdom.

The Kobe University pro-fessor later said he had heard from a colleague on board that

quarantine procedures had improved, but still recommended that all those disembarking the ship should be monitored for at least 14 days and should avoid contact with others.

Since Wednesday, about 970 passengers — who tested neg-ative after the government put the ship under quarantine on February 5 — have disembarked, according to local media.

On Saturday, around 100 more passengers who had reportedly been in close contact with infected people on board were allowed to get off.

They included the last group of Japanese passengers while some foreign passengers were still waiting on board for their

governments to send chartered aircraft. With the latest disem-barkation, a 14-day quarantine is expected to start for more than 1,000 crew still on board.

Many of them were not placed in isolation as they were needed to keep the ship running -- preparing food and delivering meals to cabins.

Critics have charged that they were inadvertently spreading the virus throughout the ship, which has seen more than 600 cases of the potentially deadly COVID-19 disease. Kato defended Japan’s on-board quarantine, telling a TV programme Saturday there was no medical facility large enough to admit more than 3,000 people at once.

Mahatma Gandhi’s former home gets facelift ahead of Trump’s India visitREUTERS — AHMEDABAD

India deployed more than 10,000 police and gave a facelift to the former home of inde-pendence hero Mahatma Gandhi yesterday on the eve of a visit by US President Donald Trump, whose two-day trip aims to repair bilateral relations after a trade spat.

Trump lands in the western city of Ahmedabad today, where he will address a rally of more than 100,000 in a newly-built cricket stadium, before a visit to Agra’s renowned Taj Mahal and a summit with Indian officials and business leaders in New Delhi.

In Ahmedabad, a wall at least six feet high in places will block a slum from Trump’s view.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made grand visits to his home state of Gujarat a signature of his time in power, with the leaders of Japan and China both taking similar trips to Ahmedabad, the state’s largest

city. But the arrival of Trump, residents and officials say, is unprecedented in scale.

Yesterday, more than ten thousand police — some mounted on camels — fanned out across the city. At the Sab-ermati Ashram, the former home of India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, labourers watered lawns and painted walls.

“A general facelift is being done,” said Kartikeya Sarabhai, a trustee of the organisation. “(But) the beauty of the Ashram

is in its simplicity.” The modest complex is a possible 15-minute stop today for Trump, whose New York penthouse is deco-rated in gold in the style of French king Louis XIV.

Sarabhai said that should Trump visit, he is likely to be given a charkha, a traditional spinning wheel used by Gandhi, as well as a copy of his autobiography.

“We are also considering gifting a set of (Gandhi’s) Three Monkeys, which stress on not seeing, hearing, or speaking evil,” Sarabhai added. Preparations have not been without problems.

A 30 foot arch by the VIP entrance to the stadium expected to be used by Trump collapsed yesterday morning due to high winds, police said, though it was quickly repaired.

There is enthusiasm among many in India for Trump’s arrival, but others have been angered at the cost — nearly $12m for a three-hour visit, according to officials.

Gujarat police’s bomb detection disposal squad officials inspecting a stage displaying pictures of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, yesterday.

Protests against newcitizenship law inNew Delhi, AligarhREUTERS — NEW DELHI

Police used tear gas to disperse large crowds in India’s capital of New Delhi yesterday in the latest eruption of violence at protests over a new citizenship law, police officials said.

Hundreds of people sup-porting the new law clashed with those opposing it, with the two groups pelting each other with stones in the Maujpur area in the northeastern part of the city, according to television footage.

“There must be some mis-creants who want to spoil the peace in the area. We will identify them and take action against them,” Alok Kumar, a senior Delhi police official, told reporters about the protest.

“The situation is under control now,” he added.

The protest comes just a day before US President Donald Trump begins a two-day visit to India, where he is expected to raise the issue of religious

freedom in the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India’s Cit izenship Amendment Act, which eases the path for non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority nations to gain citizenship, has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests against Modi’s government.

The Indian law is seen by opponents as discriminating against Muslims and has deepened concerns that Modi’s administration is undermining India’s secular traditions.

Modi’s ruling Hindu nation-alist Bharatiya Janata Party denies any bias against the coun-try’s 180 million Muslims.

Yesterday, a separate protest also erupted in the northern Indian city of Aligarh, where pro-testers threw stones at the police, state administration official Chandra Bhushan Singh said. The internet in the area had been suspended until midnight, he added.

Demonstrators shouting slogans during a protest against new Citizenship Amendment Act, in New Delhi, yesterday.

Japan Emperor’s

60th birthday

overshadowed

by virus fears

AP — TOKYO

Japanese Emperor Naruhito, marking his 60th birthday, offered his sympathy to those affected by the new virus, as concerns over infections forced the traditional gath-ering of tens of thousands of well-wishers outside the royal palace to be canceled.

Yesterday’s birthday is a special one for Naruhito, his first since becoming emperor. Sixty is considered a landmark age in the Japanese zodiac calendar.

Festivities surrounding the emperor’s birthday, however, have been toned down amid concerns about the virus. Plans for Naruhito to wave from the palace balcony to tens of thou-sands of well-wishers were among the events that were cancelled.

“As we face concerns about the spread of the coro-navirus, I offer my sympathy to the patients and their fam-ilies,” Naruhito told reporters at a new conference held ahead of his birthday.

“I hope that the escalation of the infections will be con-tained as soon as possible.”

Disbanded Thai

party says govt

colluded in

1MDB scandal

AP — BANGKOK

Thailand’s disbanded oppo-sition Future Forward Party attacked the government yesterday for allegedly colluding with Malaysia’s former prime minister to cover up the 1MDB financial scandal, for which former Malaysian leader Najib Razak is now standing trial.

The accusation comes a day ahead of today’s launch of a no-confidence debate in the Thai parliament against Prime Min-ister Prayuth Chan-ocha and five other Cabinet members.

The Future Forward Party, which won the third highest number of seats in last March’s general election, was dissolved on Friday by Thailand’s Consti-tutional Court for violating election laws by accepting a large loan from its leader, auto-parts billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.

Trump lands in the western city of Ahmedabad today, where he will address a rally of more than 100,000 in a newly-built cricket stadium, before a visit to Agra’s renowned Taj Mahal.

The government ordered all schools and kindergartens nationwide to extend the Spring break by a week in an effort to prevent further spread of the virus.

14 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020ASIA

Mobile phone services restored as Afghan truce holds for a second day

AFP — KABUL

Mobile phone services were restored across swathes of Taliban-contested areas of Afghanistan over the weekend as a partial truce with the mili-tants held for a second day.

The Taliban, US and Afghan forces are currently overseeing a week-long “reduction in vio-lence” that kicked off on Saturday.

The commitment has seen fighting drop dramatically and is set to pave the way for an American withdrawal deal to be signed later this week.

There have been reports of small clashes in rural areas, but no major attacks that have long defined the conflict have erupted.

“In general we do see (a reduction in violence),” acting interior minister Masood Andrabi said.

The lull in violence allowed telecom operators to begin restoring networks across the country that have long been hampered by fighting.

“Around 730 cell towers have restarted,” said Naqee-bullah Sailab, vice chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Afghanistan.

“There are towers which

started operating after almost five years.”

Two separate officials with knowledge of the country’s tel-ecoms industry in northern Afghanistan also confirmed that mobile networks were being restored in insurgent-hit areas.

The Taliban have long tar-geted Afghanistan’s private telecom firms, kidnapping engi-neers, destroying transmission masts and forcing regular cov-erage blackouts in volatile areas to avoid detection of their

fighters. Afghanistan boasts mil-lions of mobile users in a pop-ulation of 30 million, with the fast-growing industry employing around 200,000 people and earning strong revenue in an otherwise mor-ibund economy.

Thousands of telecommu-nication towers, however, are in insurgency-hit areas and vul-nerable to attacks.

The partial truce is expected to set the conditions for Wash-ington and the insurgents to sign a deal in Doha on February 29 that could, ultimately, pull US troops out after more than 18 years and launch war-weary

Afghanistan into an uncertain future.

A successful week would demonstrate that the Taliban have command and control of their forces, and it would also be a show of good faith before signing any deal.

The partial truce has also given a much-needed respite to civilians who have borne the brunt of the gruesome war.

The UN’s Afghanistan mission reported Saturday that more than 10,000 people had been killed or wounded in 2019 alone.

As fighting eased across the country, Afghans took to the

streets to enjoy the relative calm. In their southern stronghold of Helmand, Taliban fighters mingled with locals, small “peace” demonstrations took place across the country, and a bicycle race was held in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Washington has been in talks with the Taliban for more than a year to secure a deal which would see it would pull about half of the 12,000-13,000 troops currently in Afghanistan out.

In return, the Taliban would give security guarantees and a promise to hold peace talks with the government in Kabul.

Trump says he would sign a peace deal with the TalibanAFP — WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump said yesterday he would sign a peace deal with the Taliban if one were eventually reached in Afghanistan.

“I would put my name on it.” His comments came after a partial truce took effect in Afghanistan on Saturday, with the Taliban, US, and Afghan forces agreeing to a week-long “reduction in violence.”

The truce was intended to set conditions for Washington and the insurgents to sign a deal in Doha on February 29 that could ultimately lead to a withdrawal of US forces after more than 18 years.

Private cellphone antennas are pictured in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, yesterday.

The lull in violence allowed telecom operators to begin restoring networks across the country that have long been hampered by fighting.

Pakistan closes Iranian border, Afghanistan bans travel over virus fearsAGENCIES — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan yesterday closed its land border with Iran, while Afghanistan suspended travel to the neighbouring country as fears across the region continued to grow over a jump in new coronavirus infections.

Three suspected cases of the coronavirus surfaced in

Afghanistan yesterday following a spike in confirmed cases and fatalities in the neighbouring Iran. The three suspects, all adult men, recently returned from the Iranian city of Qom to Herat in Afghanistan, Dr Nazeer Ahmad, a member of the country’s coro-navirus control committee said.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan share long, porous

borders with Iran that are often used by smugglers and human traffickers, while millions of Afghan refugees currently live in the Islamic Republic — raising fears that the virus could easily spread over the border.

“To prevent the spread of the novel #coronavirus and protect the public, Afghanistan suspends all passenger

movement (air and ground) to and from Iran,” the office of the National Security Council of Afghanistan said in a statement posted on Twitter.

A provincial official in Pakistan and the country’s Frontier Corps also confirmed that the country had sealed the land border with Iran.

Earlier yesterday, Iran

reported eight deaths from the novel coronavirus.

The latest three deaths Iran reported yesterday were among 15 new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, bringing the overall number of infections to 43 and fatalities to eight — the highest death toll outside of China, the epicentre of the epidemic.

Australia’s bushfire-stricken state pays tribute to 25 victimsREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Families, firefighters and poli-ticians gathered in a solemn public ceremony in Sydney yesterday to honour the 25 people killed in recent bushfires that tore through the country’s most populous state.

The bushfires, which lasted from September until torrential rains hit earlier this month, killed 33 people and a billion native animals nationally and destroyed 2,500 homes and a wilderness area the size of South Korea.

The damage was most dev-astating in New South Wales state. Among the 25 people killed there were 19 civilians, three local volunteer fire-fighters and three US firefighters.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who thanked those who fought the blazes and honoured those who died, spoke of “children kissing the coffins of their fathers” and “mothers who should have never had to bury their children”.

He told the public, gathered around lit candles, of “a summer where the dark sky turned black and sunsets only signalled another night of terror, where the fire crashed on our beaches from the bush that surrounded them”.

Morrison has drawn public anger for his refusal to directly link the bushfires to climate

change, insisting removing flammable vegetation is “just as important, if not more”.

His management of the fires also came under criticism over the unusually prolonged summer wildfire season, when he was forced into a rare public apology for taking a holiday to Hawaii.

Last week, he said Australia would conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the causes of the fires.

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fit-zsimmons, who played a very public role during the crisis, said the season will be remem-bered as one of the most chal-lenging, in which the loss of life was enormous.

“Each one of those is a story of grief, of profound loss, and great sadness, of lives cut short, and of families being changed forever,” Fitzsimmons said.

Six pairs of boots were placed to symbolise the lives of the three Australian volunteers and the three US firefighters who died in NSW.

Families of victims of the Australian bushfire arrive to a State memorial for those impacted by the recent bushfires in Sydney, yesterday.

Khalid Jawed notified as Pakistan’s new Attorney-GeneralINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The Ministry of Law and Justice of Pakistan has notified Khalid Jawed Khan as the new Attorney-General (AG) for Pakistan.

As per the notification issued by the law ministry, President Arif Alvi has appointed “Khalid Jawed Khan as Attorney-General for Pakistan with the rank and status of federal minister with immediate effect”.

The notification stated: “In exercise of powers conferred under Article 100 (1) of the con-stitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, the President is please to appoint Khalid Jawed Khan as Attorney-General.”

The copy of the notification has been delivered to the secre-taries of President Secretariat and Prime Minister Office, the registrar of Supreme Court, Solicitor-General, Accountant-General Pakistan Revenue and officials of the law ministry.

Khan has replaced Anwar Mansoor Khan who resigned from this post on Thursday.

Before his appointment, the authorities in the federal gov-ernment contacted Khan and confirmed his appointment in the prestigious office.

Sources in the law ministry said that Khan had been selected from eight eminent lawyers. Besides Khan, the other lawyers considered for this post were Abid Zuberi, Punjab advocate general Ahmad Jamal Sukhera, Syed Ali Zafar, Kamal Azfar, Naeem Bukhari and Molvi Anwarul Haq. They had have given consent for the appointment on the coveted post of the attorney general, they added. Senior advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan, however, declined to accept the post.

Khan served as the attorney general during the interim gov-ernment prior to the July 2018 general elections.

The sources said he was

offered to continue as the attorney general after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formed the government.

But, they added, he had declined the offer since an influ-ential figure had recommended Anwar Mansoor Khan for this position and also arranged his meeting with Imran Khan in Banigala.

Khalid Jawed Khan is a son of ND Khan, a senior politician who served as law minister during the second government of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

He is a senior lawyer who has appeared before the Supreme Court in a number of cases and also served as Advocate General for Sindh in 2013 as well as he remained a member of the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan from 1995 to 1996.

He also served in the office of the Attorney General as con-sultant during the government of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Anwar Mansoor Khan had to tender resignation from the coveted post for levelling allegations against some members of the Supreme Court bench hearing petitions chal-lenging the filing of presidential references against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of Supreme Court.

Though Anwar Mansoor claimed that he had decided to quit on his own in compliance with the demand of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the law min-istry said he was asked to do so.

Anwar Mansoor, however, disagreed with the government stance that he had been asked to tender his resignation.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had categorically asked Anwar Mansoor to apologise or produce evidence on the basis of which he had levelled allega-tions against the members of the bench without naming anyone.

The court had, however, restrained the media from reporting the allegations.

Pakistan begins

Spring tree

plantation drive

ANATOLIA — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan launched yesterday a nationwide Spring tree plan-tation drive for the revival and restoration of forests in the country.

Pakistan’s Premier Imran Khan kicked off the drive by planting a sapling in his hometown district of Mianwali in the northeastern Punjab province.

“Pakistan is among the countries most affected by climate change... we need to protect it through the plan-tation of trees across the country,” Khan said while addressing the event held as part of the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project.

The ambitious project is an extension of the Billion Tree Tsunami which was launched in 2014 in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which restored 350,000 hectares of forests and degraded land.

He urged the country’s youth to play their role in making the plantation drive a success.

Vietnamese

monk who was

a Nobel Prize

nominee dies

AFP — HANOI

Thich Quang Do, a dissident Buddhist monk who has effec-tively been under house arrest since 2003 and was nominated multiple times for the Nobel Peace Prize, has died aged 93.

Head of the banned Unified Buddist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), the vocal patriarch was born on November 27, 1928 in northern Thai Binh province and spent most of his life advocating for religious freedom and human rights in communist-run Vietnam.

His staunch activism landed him under what was effectively house arrest in Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, where he was under constant surveil-lance. Do died on Saturday night at Tu Hieu pagoda, UBCV announced on Sunday morning.

According to his will signed on April 2019, Do requested a “simple funeral, not more than three days”.

“After the cremation, my ashes will be scattered at sea,” said the statement quoting his will.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who thanked those who fought the blazes and honoured those who died, spoke of “children kissing the coffins of their fathers” and “mothers who should have never had to bury their children”.

15MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 EUROPE

Italy battles surging virus outbreak as cases jump above 100REUTERS — MILAN

Italy raced yesterday to contain the biggest outbreak of corona-virus in Europe, sealing off the worst affected towns and banning public gatherings in much of the north as the number of those infected jumped above 100.

Authorities in the wealthy regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which are the focal point of the flare-up, ordered schools and universities to close for at least a week, shut museums and cinemas and called off the last two days of the Venice Carnival.

“As of this evening, there will be a ban on the Venice Carnival as well as on all events, including sporting ones, until March 1 inclusive,” the regional governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, told reporters. He said yester-day’s festivities in the packed lagoon city would continue to prevent any public order problems.

The number of certified cases of the illness in Lombardy rose to 90 from 54 a day earlier, while in Veneto some 25 people had come down with the virus, including two people in Venice.

Health officials reported iso-lated cases in the neighbouring

regions of Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, saying the total number of known infections in Italy had risen to above 130. Two elderly people have died in the past 48 hours from the illness.

The regional governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, said he had dealt with numerous natural disasters during his long career, including floods and earth-quakes. “But this is the abso-lutely worst problem that Veneto has faced,” he told reporters.

Almost a dozen towns in Lombardy and Veneto with a combined population of some 50,000 have effectively been placed under quarantine, with

locals urged to stay home and special permission needed to enter or leave the designated areas.

Lombardy is home to Italy’s financial capital Milan, and together with Veneto the two regions account for 30 percent of national gross domestic output. Any prolonged dis-ruption there is likely to have a serious impact on the whole economy, which is already flirting with recession.

Fashion designer Giorgio Armani has said his fashion show scheduled to take place in Milan yesterday would go ahead, but without any press or buyers present to prevent contagion.

Health authorities are strug-gling to work out how the out-break started. The first cases were announced only on Friday and doctors do not know the source of the illness.

Initial suspicion in Lom-bardy fell on a businessman recently returned from China, the epicentre of the new virus, but he has tested negative. In Veneto, doctors tested a group of eight Chinese visitors who had been to the town that was home to the first fatality, but again, they all tested negative.

“We are (now) even more

worried because if we cannot find ‘patient zero’ then it means the virus is even more ubiquitous than we thought,” Zaia said.

Prior to Friday, Italy had reported just three cases of the virus — all of them people who had recently arrived from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where

the virus first emerged last year.After the first confirmed

cases, Italy suspended all direct flights to and from China, but did not keep tabs on those arriving from second countries.

Italy’s far-right opposition League party has demanded that the government reintroduce

border controls to try to prevent new arrivals, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has rejected this. Austria’s Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said yesterday that officials would meet today to discuss whether Austria should unilaterally re-establish border controls with Italy.

Reporters wearing respiratory masks work at the entrance of the small town of Casalpusterlengo, southeast of Milan, yesterday, under the shadow of a new coronavirus outbreak.

Top candidate Katharina Fegebank (left), of Germany’s Green Party and top candidate and Mayor of Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher of the Social Democrats, appear in a TV studio, after first results of Hamburg state election in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday.

Hamburg voters punish German right, Merkel’s party in regional electionAFP — HAMBURG

Voters in German city-state Hamburg punished Chancellor Angela Merkel’s crisis-racked conservatives and ejected the far right from parliament in a regional election yesterday, according to an exit poll.

According to the Infratest exit poll, the biggest winners in yes-terday’s vote were the pro-gressive, ecologist Greens.

They more than doubled their score to over 25 percent after climate change shot to the top of Germany’s political agenda in 2019. After weeks of intense political turmoil at national level, including never-before-seen cooperation between the centre and far right, some 57 percent had cast their vote by 4pm, two hours before the polls closed, election officials said on their website.

The centre-left Social Dem-ocratic Party (SPD) defended its

position as the strongest force with 37.5 percent, while shedding over eight points on 2015.

By contrast, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) lost more than four points, to 11.5 — one of its worst-ever scores in any German region. The party has been sapped across Germany by a long-running leadership crisis, sharpened by its unprecedented apparent alliance with far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) earlier in Feb-ruary. AfD itself and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) may both have failed to clear the five-percent hurdle needed to enter parliament, the poll suggested.

With the marked boost for the Greens and grinding down of the formerly dominant CDU and SPD, Hamburg’s results reflect in some respects the broader political picture of frag-mentation visible in Germany-wide polls.

But the prosperous port city with a proud left-of-centre tra-dition may also be the first state to deny AfD seats in parliament, just two years after it completed its sweep into all 16 German state legislatures in a post-World War II first for a far-right party.

In many other parts of Germany, AfD polls in double digits, scoring above 20 percent in several recent state elections in the former communist east.

That has been enough to throw sand in the gears of regional politics, with national repercussions.

Earlier this month, Merkel’s conservatives were shaken by the apparent alliance of their regional branch in eastern state Thuringia with AfD, voting in an FDP politician as state premier.

The breach of a historic political taboo provoked a nationwide backlash against both mainstream right-of-centre parties.

Trial of Fillon overfake jobs scandalto begin todayREUTERS — PARIS

Former French prime minister Francois Fillon (pictured) and his wife Penelope go on trial today over a fake jobs scandal that wrecked his 2017 run for president and opened the Elysee Palace door for Emmanuel Macron.

Fillon’s bid for the presi-dency unravelled after allega-tions he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for doing little, if any, work as his parlia-mentary assistant.

A consummate political insider who was prime minister under Nicolas Sarkozy’s pres-idency, Fillon was the com-fortable frontrunner in the election race when the allega-tions surfaced. He denied wrongdoing, resisted party pressure to pull his candidacy, and was eliminated in the first round of the vote.

Fillon said in an interview last month that his wife had been his most important employee and that her work for him would be proven at trial.

“She managed my constit-uency diary and my mail, and edited the speeches I was making,” he told public broad-caster France 2.

Investigators estimate Penelope Fillon received $1m from her husband’s office over a three decade period from the early 1980s to 2013.

When the scandal broke, Fillon denounced what he called a campaign of dirty tricks and denied having done anything illegal, though he admitted an error of judgment. He told France 2 he may have made mistakes.

“I surely committed errors but there is something that I will not accept, and that is that

people think that I am dis-honest or that I sought to con the French people,” he said.

Fillon is accused of embez-zling public funds, a charge which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a 1 million euro fine. His wife is charged with complicity to embezzlement and con-cealment of public money.

A lawyer for the couple was not available for comment.

Facing the judges beside the Fillons will be Marc Joulaud, who is accused of continuing to channel funds to Penelope Fillon after he took the con-servative politician’s parlia-mentary seat while he was in government. He also denies the changes.

The French parliament, which is a claimant in the case, this week said it was seeking more than 1 million euros in damages from Francois Fillon and Joulaud.

Fillons’ defence team will ask the judges yesterday that the trial be postponed by two days in support of a strike by lawyers against Macron’s pension reform.

Fillon now works for investment management firm Tikehau Capital.

France prepares to tackle virus cases: Minister

German cities

cancel carnival

parades because

of gusty winds

AP — BERLIN

Several cities in western Germany cancelled their tradi-tional carnival parades on short-notice yesterday, citing severe weather conditions including gusty winds and heavy rains.

In Cologne, the famous school and neighbourhood parades were cancelled and in nearby Duesseldorf the carnival celebrations on the city’s glitzy Koenigsallee boulevard were also called off.

“In order to protect all par-ticipants along the route, the parades cannot take place,” Cologne city officials said in a statement. Some of the parades’ participants were already on the way to the celebrations when parts of their costumes were blown away by the wind, the city statement said, explaining its last-minute decision to call off the parades. About 8,000 people were supposed to par-ticipate in the Cologne parades, not including tens of thousands of spectators.

Other cities across Germany also cancelled their carnival activities due to the storm, including Emmerich, Essen and Salzkotten in the west as well as Heiligenstadt in Thuringia in central Germany.

US to lay out case against Assange at extradition hearingAP — LONDON

The US government and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will face off today in a high-security London court-house, a decade after WikiLeaks infuriated American officials by publishing a trove of classified military documents.

A judge at Woolwich Crown Court will begin hearing argu-ments from lawyers for US authorities, who want to try Assange on espionage charges that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

The extradition hearing follows years of subterfuge, dip-lomatic dispute and legal drama that have led the 48-year-old Australian from fame as an

international secret-spiller through self-imposed exile inside the Ecuadorean’Embassy in s Londsy to incarceration in a maximum-security British prison.

Assange has been indicted in the US on 18 charges over the publication of classified docu-ments. Prosecutors say he con-spired with US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thou-sands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US authorities say WikiLeaks’ activities put American lives in danger. Assange argues he was acting as a journalist entitled to First

Amendment protection, and says the leaked documents exposed US military

wrongdoing. Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache

helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists. Journalism organi-sations and civil liberties groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders say the charges against Assange set a chilling precedent for freedom of the press.

“What we have is an assault on journalism,” left-wing Greek lawmaker Yanis Varoufakis said at an Assange support march in London on Saturday.

“The only charge against Julian, hiding behind the non-sense of espionage, is a charge of journalism.”

Assange’s legal team insists the American case against him is politically motivated.

Assange’s father John Shipton (left) and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis arrive at Belmarsh Prison to visit Julian Assange, in London, yesterday.

REUTERS — PARIS

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said yesterday new cases of coronavirus were “very likely” in France and health authorities were ready in case of an epidemic, adding he was “particularly watchful” of the situation in Italy.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had called up a meeting at 5.30pm to review the coronavirus situation, Philippe’s office also said in a statement.

Apart from Veran, the meeting will include Army Minister Florence Parly, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and Transport Min-ister Jean-Baptiste Djebarri.

“Today, there is only one infected patient in France, who is hospitalised in Lyon. His health condition is not worrying. All the others, apart from an 80-year old man who died, were released cured and are not conta-gious,” Veran said in an interview with Le Parisien/Aujourdhui en France-Dimanche newspaper.

Authorities in the wealthy regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which are the focal point of the flare-up, ordered schools and universities to close for at least a week, shut museums and cinemas and called off the last two days of the Venice Carnival.

16 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020EUROPE

Hungarians march to protestOrban’s anti-Roma campaignREUTERS — BUDAPEST

More than 2,000 Hungarians, including Roma families and civil groups, marched to parliament yesterday to protest against the government’s refusal to pay compensation to Roma children who had been unlawfully segregated in a school in eastern Hungary.

Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has come under fire from the European Union for his perceived erosion of the rule of law, suggested the state should disobey court orders to pay compensation to Roma children in the village of Gyongyospata and provide training instead.

Lower courts have ordered the state to pay damages in a lawsuit that has been dragging on for almost a decade.

Hungary’s top court is due to make a final ruling soon.

With the economy slowing, and his anti-immigration cam-paign losing steam, analysts say Orban is seeking to mobilise his

voters by targeting independent courts, the Roma minority, and the NGOs who help them.

“The meddling of the gov-ernment in the Gyongyospata restitution issue is unlawful and violates the rule of law and the independence of the courts,” protest organisers said on Facebook.

Protesters held up banners saying “No one is above the law” and “The future cannot be built on hatred”.

Orban has been in power since 2010 and his ruling Fidesz party is leading in opinion polls because of its anti-immigration stance.

However, Fidesz suffered a

surprise setback in a municipal election last October, losing Budapest to the opposition.

Orban has said “a court ruling citing segregation has stirred up public opinion by awarding large sums of money to some Roma residents,” adding that everyone must work to receive money.

He has also said “business-savvy lawyers” exploited over-crowded prison conditions to launch 12,000 lawsuits against the government for breaking EU prison standards.

Senior lawyers said Orban was undermining the rule of law. Fidesz has said people con-nected with Hungarian-born

billionaire George Soros helped Roma launch the lawsuits. The party has campaigned for years against Soros, who promotes liberal causes.

Close to 500 psychologists had, by yesterday, signed a petition saying that the

government campaign could fuel hatred between Roma and non-Roma. Roma make up 5 - 7 % o f H u n g a r y ’ s population.

Robert Laszlo, an analyst at liberal think-tank Political Capital, said Orban was trying

to energise his base with his new campaign.

This will include a “national consultation” next month when questionnaires will be sent to millions of Hungarians on the issues of payments to Roma and compensation for prisoners.

People taking part in a protest against government’s campaign on segregation of Roma children in Budapest, Hungary, yesterday.

Lower courts have ordered the state to pay damages to minority Roma children who had been unlawfully segregated in a school, but the prime minister has suggested the state should disobey court orders. Country's top court is due to make a final ruling soon.

Russia marks Defender of the Fatherland Day Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall to mark the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

47 migrants found in abandoned truckAP — SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA

Police in North Macedonia said officers on border patrol found 47 migrants in an abandoned truck in the country’s southeast, near the borders with Bulgaria and Greece.

The parked truck was dis-covered late Friday with the driver gone and migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq

inside, police said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The migrants were trans-ferred to detention centres in North Macedonia’s capital of Skopje and in the southern border town of Gevgelija, police said.

They entered North Mace-donia from Greece, and author-ities plan to deport them back there. Police say officers

intercepted a total of 1,365 migrants who entered North Macedonia illegally in the first three weeks of the year.

Separately, a criminal court in Skopje gave a two-year sus-pended sentence to a German man and an Italian woman con-victed of trying to smuggle three people into North Mace-donia from Greece last month with fake ID documents.

Serbia receives sophisticated Russian air defence systemAP — BELGRADE, SERBIA

Serbia has received a sophisti-cated anti-aircraft system from Russia, despite possible US sanctions against the Balkan state, which is formally seeking European Union membership.

Serbian President Ale-ksandar Vucic told the pro-gov-ernment TV Prva yesterday that the Pantsir S1 air-defence system was purchased after suggestions from Russian Pres-ident Vladimir Putin.

“Buy Pantsir, it showed its best efficiency in Syria,” Vucic quoted Putin as saying during one of their recent, frequent meetings.

“This anti-aircraft system is very efficient for targeting drones which are becoming crucial in modern warfare,” Vucic said.

Despite seeking to join the EU, Serbia under Vucic’s pop-ulist leadership has strengthened close political and military ties with its Slavic ally Russia.

Serbia has pledged to stay out of NATO and refused to join Western sanctions against Russia for its policies in Ukraine.

Russia’s arming of Serbia is watched with unease in the West amid growing tensions in

the Balkans which went through a devastating civil war in the 1990s. NATO intervened in Serbia to stop a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999.

US officials have openly spoken about introducing sanc-tions against Serbia in case Moscow sells more arms to the country, especially with weapons that could jeopardise the security of neighbouring NATO-member states.

Vucic said he hoped there would be no sanctions because he has spoken openly about the Pantsir purchase. He said he believed the sanctions threat was focused on possible pur-chase of the S-400 anti-aircraft systems that have a much larger range and are more offensive weapons.

The delivery on Saturday of two of the purchased six Russian missile systems comes just days after Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, visited Belgrade where he declared that the mil-itary cooperation between the two states has reached a “fun-damentally” new level.

Pantsir is a rapid-fire missile system intended for defence against cruise missiles, drones and low flying aircraft with a range of about 20km.

Airports in

Spain’s Canary

Islands reopen

after sandstormAFP — MADRID

Air travel returned to normal on Spain’s Canary Islands yesterday, a day after a huge sandstorm disrupted nearly 300 flights in the popular European holiday destination, officials said.

Spain’s airport operator AENA on Saturday suspended all flights in and out of Gran Canaria and all flights leaving Tenerife, after strong winds carrying clouds of red sand from the Sahara severely reduced visibility on the islands which lie off the coast of Morocco.

Around 280 flights were cancelled or diverted, an AENA spokeswoman told the media.

But visibil i ty had improved yesterday and the three airports on the two islands were operating nor-mally although there could still be some delays due to the weather conditions, she added.

Norwegian shipping firm Fred. Olsen & Co suspended yesterday its ferry service between the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, as well as between San Sabastian and Valle Gran Rey on the island of Gomera, “until further notice” because of the bad weather, the company said in a tweet.

Spain’s national weather service said wind gusts of up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour were recorded on some parts of the archipelago overnight.

The strong winds also stalled efforts to put out a wildfire that broke out Sat-urday near the village of Tasarte in the southwest part of Gran Canaria.

Water-dropping aircraft were yesterday prevented from taking part in the fire, which has scorched around 300 hectares of land and forced the evacuation of around 500 people, the regional government of the C a n a r i e s s a i d i n a statement.

Two Polish climbers die in Slovakia’s High Tatra Mountains

AFP — BRATISLAVA

Two young Polish climbers fell to their deaths in Slovakia’s High Tatra Mountains on Friday amid high winds and heavy snow, local rescuers said on Saturday evening.

Slovakia’s Mountain Rescue Service (HZS) said its rescuers “found two bodies of Polish climbers (aged 27 and 25 years)”, on Saturday afternoon near the 2,558 metre-high Kez-marsky Peak, according to a statement.

Strong winds and very low visibility due to falling snow had initially hampered rescue helicopters from approaching the area.

“After multiple flight

attempts, rescuers returned to their base in Stary Smokovec, where they collected several groups of rescue brigades and deployed them by helicopters to all sides of the Kezmarsky Peak,” the HZS said in a statement on Saturday evening.

The climbers had set out on Friday but it was not clear which route up the popular but demanding peak they had intended to attempt.

Their bodies were found in “avalanche terrain” under a rock wall in the Great Ice Valley, the rescue service said.

The High Tatras straddle the Slovakia-Poland border. The highest peak is is Gerla-chovský at 2,655 metres (8,711 ft).

Belgium carnival paradeRevellers in costumes attend a carnival parade in Aalst, Belgium, yesterday.

Kosovo’s new Prime Minister says ready to revoke tariffs on Serbian goodsAFP — PRISTINA

A few years ago, the newly- elected Kosovo prime minister overturned Serbian trucks. But Albin Kurti now says he is ready to revoke tariffs introduced by his predecessor on Serbian goods.

Kurti, who took office in early February, is backed by most of 1.8 million inhabitants of the former Serbian province for such a move but is none-theless walking on eggshells.

Under intense international pressure to abolish tariffs and resume stalled talks with Serbia,

Kurti also faces a fierce backlash from veterans who fought for independence and dominated politics for decades.

The former student leader wrote recently on his Facebook account that he was “ready” to “abolish the 100 percent tariffs” on Serbian goods.

They were introduced in late 2018 by Ramush Haradinaj as retaliation for a Serbian blockade of Kosovo’s Interpol membership. Belgrade still refuses to recognise the inde-pendence declared by the breakaway territory in 2008.

The tariffs “will be replaced

by the principle of reciprocity between the two states” in political, economic and com-mercial affairs, Kurti said.

The concept, commonly in use in international relations, could mean for example a ban for Serbian license plates in Kosovo, as Kosovar plates are prohibited in Serbia.

US envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks Richard Grenell urged Pristina to abolish tariffs as “it hurts Kosovo and chases businesses away from creating jobs”. But opposition parties that emerged from the guerilla movement that fought Serb

forces during the 1998-1999 war which claimed 13,000 lives, are against commercial concessions.

To mobilise the public, the opposition is trying to collect a third of the votes in Kosovo’s 120-seat parliament to call an extraordinary session on the issue. Haradinaj urged the new prime minister to refrain from removing tariffs “for some tem-porary political points you might gain from the interna-tional community.

“We have to stand united in opposing Serbia until mutual recognition,” he said. His AAK

party threatened to hold street protests against the move.

The tariffs are a “response to Serbia’s constant attacks against Kosovo”, said Kadri Veseli, leader of the largest opposition party PDK.

For Shpetim Gashi, analyst at the American think-thank Council for Inclusive Gov-ernance, the issue goes beyond tariffs and is now a question of “national pride”.

“Kurti will be walking on a tightrope when replacing it with reciprocity,” Gashi said.

The European Union, like W a s h i n g t o n , m a d e

normalisation of ties between Serbia and Kosovo a priority for the sake of economic devel-opment and future integration into the EU. A recent survey by the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies showed that about 60 percent of those questioned backed the move while 35 percent were against it.

Serbia’s exports to Kosovo amount to around ¤400m annually. In exchange, Brussels and Washington are asking Bel-grade to end its campaign to convince other countries to withdraw their recognitions of Kosovo’s independence.

17MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020 AMERICAS

Trump says Russia leak meant to hurt Sanders, calls for probeREUTERS — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump yesterday accused Represent-ative Adam Schiff of leaking classified information on Russian interference in the 2020 US election to hurt Demo-cratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a trip to India, Trump said he had not been briefed on intelligence that Russia was aiming to boost the campaign of Sanders, a US Senator from Vermont, and he called for a probe into Schiff for the leak. Schiff, a Democrat, denied the allegation.

A congressional source had said officials had told law-makers Russia appears to be engaging in disinformation and propaganda campaigns to help both Sanders and Trump, who is seeking re-election.

"I read where Russia is helping Bernie Sanders. Nobody said it to me at all. Nobody briefed me about that at all," Trump said.

"They leaked it, Adam Schiff and his group. They leaked it to the papers and — as usual — they ought to investigate Adam

Schiff for leaking that infor-mation," Trump said, without providing any evidence to back up his claims.

Schiff, who served as the lead prosecutor in Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, said Trump was seeking to turn attention away from his own actions with the com-ments. "Nice deflection, Mr. President. But your false claims fool no one," he wrote in a tweet. "You welcomed Russian help in 2016, tried to coerce Ukraine’s help in 2019, and won’t protect our elections in 2020. Now you fired your intel chief for briefing Congress about it. You’ve betrayed America. Again."

Trump changed out his acting director of national intel-ligence Joseph Maguire and replaced him with US Ambas-sador to Germany Richard Grenell last week, reportedly after being annoyed by the briefing to lawmakers about

Russian interference.The President has

repeatedly cast doubt on US intelligence findings that Russia intervened to help him in the 2016 presidential election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the former sec-retary of state.

By raising questions about the latest findings, Trump appears to be seeking to boost Sanders. As a self-described democratic socialist, Sanders is a candidate Trump would like to take on in a general election to bolster his argument that Democrats are pushing a socialist agenda.

"I think what it could be is, you know, the Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly and it sounds to me like a leak from Adam Schiff because they don't want Bernie Sanders to represent them. It sounds like it's (2016) all over again for Bernie Sanders," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump prepare to board Air Force One as they depart Washington for India from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, US, yesterday.

Sanders solidifies his frontrunner status with Nevada winAFP — LAS VEGAS

Bernie Sanders' landslide victory in Nevada's Democratic nominating contest has scattered his moderate challengers and injected his White House campaign with a fresh burst of momentum as he drives into the next crucial battlegrounds.

With his strong result on Saturday, the Vermont senator demonstrated an ability to broaden a coalition beyond the narrow limits of leftist voters, undercutting the argument from several moderates that he would not be able to bridge the divide between progressives and centrists.

"He showed last night that he can energize our core base," Howard Dean, a former presidential aspirant himself and former head of the Democratic National Committee, told CNN.

By early yesterday, Sanders was com-fortably ahead in Nevada with 60 percent of precincts reporting.

The 78-year-old senator was leading the Democratic pack with 46 percent of the vote, followed far behind by former vice president Joe Biden at 19.6 percent and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, at 15.3 percent.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar trailed at, respectively, 10.1 percent and 4.8 percent.

Sanders was quick to claim victory, saying his "multi-generational, multi-racial coalition" was "going to sweep this country."

Dean said the senator's result in a state far more typical of America's demographic variety than the two earlier-voting states was "incredibly impressive."

But he quickly added that a more defin-itive result will come only after voters in 14 states cast ballots on March 3, or "Super Tuesday." Before that comes South Carolina, which votes on February 29.

Biden's once-strong prospects had faded sharply for weeks, but he said on Sat-urday that he felt "really good" about his second-place showing in Nevada and shouldn't be counted out.

His team is banking on a strong showing in South Carolina, where Biden has enjoyed support among a majority-black

Democratic electorate. But after Sanders came in virtually tied for first in Iowa and then won last week in New Hampshire, his undeniable victory in Nevada places him squarely in the driver's seat, at least for now.

He leads national polls by an 11 point margin over Biden and by 13 points over Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who skipped the early voting states to focus on Super Tuesday.

Sanders's progressive policies have struck a chord with millions of Americans.

US 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders addresses a campaign rally in San Antonio, Texas, US, on Saturday.

Trump looks for new envoy to Germany

REUTERS — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said yesterday he is looking for a new ambassador to Germany after tapping current diplomat Richard Grenell to serve as acting US intelligence chief.

“I’ll be appointing an ambassador to Germany,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

A senior administration official said last week that Grenell would remain as ambassador even as he took up the post of acting director of national intelligence, a position that oversees the 17-agency US intelligence community. It is unclear how long Grenell will serve as the top intelligence official.

Buttigieg camp raises doubt on Nevada resultsAP — WASHINGTON

Pete Buttigieg’s campaign has raised questions about the results of Nevada’s caucuses and asked the state Demo-cratic Party to address more than 200 reports of problems reported on Saturday.

In a letter sent to the Nevada State Democratic Party late Saturday night, the Buttigieg campaign said the process of integrating four days of early voting into in-person caucuses held Saturday was “plagued with errors and inconsistencies.”

It cited instances where people running caucuses did not appear to follow rules that could have allowed candidates to pick up more support on a second round of voting.

The campaign is calling for the party to address concerns before releasing final results.

Buttigieg’s deputy cam-paign manager Hari Sevugan said the campaign’s own data showed a “razor thin” margin for second place and ques-tioned whether the “irregular-ities and a number of unre-solved questions” could change the final results.

Protest against Canada pipeline continuesFirst Nation’s members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory maintain a camp next to a railway crossing, in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation who are trying to stop construction of British Columbia’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, in Tyendinaga, Ontario, Canada, yesterday.

Amateur astronaut dies as his homemade rocket crashesAFP — LOS ANGELES

An amateur American astronaut who said he wanted to prove the Earth is flat has been killed in the crash of his homemade rocket in California, said the Science Channel, which filmed the launch.

“Michael ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket,” the channel, which is part of the Discovery Channel, said on Twitter. “Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends during this difficult time.”

A stuntman by profession, Hughes, 64, launched himself on Saturday in a steam-powered rocket that he built in the backyard of his home in Barstow, California.

Several brands sponsored the project.

His goal, he told the local press, was to ascend more than 1,500 meters (nearly one mile) to prove that the Earth is not round but shaped like a Frisbee.

His spokesman Darren Shuster told the Los Angeles Times, however, that the flat Earth claim was merely to drum up publicity for the launch. “I don’t think he believed it,” Shuster said.

Images of the launch, carried out in the desert, circu-lated on social media yes-terday. A parachute could be seen tearing away from the rocket moments after the launch, as the spacecraft crashed several hundred meters from the launch site near Barstow, 180km northeast of Los Angeles.

Woman arrested

over her missing

children amid

suspicious deaths

AFP — WASHINGTON

A 46-year-old American woman with reported links to at least three people whose deaths are being investigated has been arrested in Hawaii over the disappearance of her two children.

Lori Vallow was arrested on Thursday on the island of Kauai and charged with felony desertion of the children, 7-year-old Joshua Vallow, who is autistic, and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, police said in a statement.

According to US media reports, the children, were last seen on September 23, 2019.

Their disappearance was reported in November by the boy’s grandparents, who live in Louisiana and had heard nothing from the children for an extended period.

There has been no sign of them since.

The invest igat ion, spanning several states, took a macabre turn when police discovered that several people closely associated with Lori Vallow and her new husband, Chad Daybell had died in recent years, media reports said.

Investigators found that Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan — Tylee’s father — had died in 2018, apparently of a heart attack.

And she was reportedly in the process of divorcing her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, when he was killed by a gunshot last July 11.

Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, said he had fired the shot in self-defense after being attacked by a baseball-bat-wielding Vallow; Cox died of unknown causes in December.

Last October 19, Daybell’s wife Tammy died, aged 49, ostensibly of natural causes.

Media reports said Daybell married Lori Vallow just two weeks later, and suspicious law enforcement officials ordered Tammy’s remains exhumed for testing. Those results have not been released.

In early November, Vallow and Daybell left Idaho for Hawaii, where they were married.

No children have been seen with them, and police said the couple had given con-fusing or contradictory answers about the children.

Police on the mainland pursuing the various investi-gations asked Hawaii officials to question the couple; Vallow was ordered to produce the missing children on January 30.

Her arrest on Thursday came after she failed to do so.

Trump leaves for ‘biggest event’ ever in India

AFP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump left for India yesterday, buoyed by disarray among his Democratic opponents and predicting that “many millions” will greet him on a lightning visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Things could hardly be going better for the Republican as his campaign for reelection in November gathers pace, fol-lowing his acquittal earlier this month after the House impeached him for abuse of power related to pressure on Ukraine.

Despite a first term dogged by near constant scandals and investigations, Trump feels he can win against the growing Democratic frontrunner, leftist Bernie Sanders, and he is

clearly chuffed at the idea of huge crowds in India.

“I look forward to being with the people of India,” Trump said as he left the White House on his first trip to the world’s biggest democracy.

“We’re going to have many millions and millions of people,” he said. “I hear it’s going to be a big event, some people say the biggest event they ever had in India. That’s what the prime minister told me.” Trump has something of an obsession with big crowds, frequently boasting about the size of his rallies, compared to those of his Democratic opponents.

Ahead of the India trip, which will see him and his wife Melania visit the Taj Mahal and attend a rally with Modi in the

world’s largest cricket stadium, he has repeatedly mused on the “millions” he expects to turn out.

Enormous crowds are guar-anteed during the one-night trip, given Modi’s own prowess at staging mega-rallies.

But Indian officials said they didn’t expect more than 100,000 people at any one time. The figure of millions touted repeatedly by Trump may be the result of a misun-derstanding or translation problem, experts said.

Modi visited the United States last year, when he and Trump made a joint appearance before tens of thousands of Indian-Americans at a football stadium in Houston.

The US president will arrives in the state of Gujarat.

Trump accused Representative Adam Schiff, who served as lead prosecutor in Trump's impeachment trial in Senate, of leaking the intelligence. Schiff has refuted the allegation.

18 MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2020AMERICAS

CROSSWORD MALL ROYAL PLAZA

Dominicans protest after civic polls suspended

REUTERS — SANTO DOMINGO

Hundreds of Dominicans took to the streets on Saturday night in fresh protests after the abrupt suspension of municipal elections that unleashed a political crisis months before the Caribbean island votes for a new president.

The protests started after the electoral institute on February 16 suspended a nationwide election four hours after voting began. The authority said about half of the machines used in the most populated munic-ipalities to cast votes electronically had failed.

“We came to take out the garbage,” read one banner, carried by a group of masked stu-dents in front of the electoral institute in Santo Domingo. Across the country, protesters have demanded the resignation of the institute’s officials and an investigation.

“I’m tired of them always treating us like we’re stupid,” said Melina Adames, who, like many who took to the streets, was dressed in black to mourn the death of democracy.

Others were hitting cauldrons in a tradi-tional form of protest.

Dominicans will vote for a new president on May 17. In an attempt to stem the protests, the government asked the Organization of

American States (OAS) earlier this week to help investigate the ruling that led to the sus-pension. Flavio Dario Espinal, a government representative, told reporters a local investi-gation without independent political actors would only generate more suspicion.

The OAS said on Friday that while there

was no evidence to suggest the machines had been manipulated, it was committed to finding a solution for the problems.

Even before the election, opposition politi-cians had challenged the use of automated voting machines, acquired last year for $19m, arguing that its software could be manipulated.

Women react from the sunroof of a vehicle as others gather in front of the Central Electoral Board to protest against the suspension of nationwide municipal elections, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, recently.

Heavy rains hit BoliviaA flooded street is pictured after heavy rainfall in Tiquipaya, Bolivia, on Saturday. At least eight people have died due to heavy rains, floods and mudslides this month.

Ecuadorean court denies public vote on halting miningREUTERS — QUITO

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court late on Friday denied for a second time a request by activists to hold a public vote on whether to ban mining in the Andean country’s mineral-rich Azuay province, where several mining projects are in development. Azuay’s prefect, Yaku Perez, who submitted the request, said gold and copper mines threaten communities’ water sources and damage the environment.

The court, which in September ruled against Perez for the first time, unani-mously decided that the public vote proposal was not constitutional.

“Incredible to understand that a genuinely democratic initiative can be blocked by the mining empire,” Perez said on Twitter. Ecuador’s Energy Min-istry said the government “reaffirms its commitment to promote responsible, regulated and controlled mining in all Ecuadorean territory.”

The electoral authority suspended the municipal elections due to a glitch in the electronic voting machines.

Vic the Viking Official Trailer (2020) Animated Movie HD © 2020 – Fox Comedy, Kids, Family and Animated Film, Blockbuster, Action Cinema, ...

VIC THE VIKING

Mafia (2D/Tamil) 2:00 & 11:30pm;Bheeshma (2D/Telugu) 2:00 & 11:30pm;VIC The Viking (2D/Animation) 2:00 & 4:45pmBhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 4:00pm; Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam) 8:00 & 11:00pm; Elcano & Magellanes (2D/Animation) 3:30 & 6:15pm; The Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 8:00 & 9:45pm; Emma (2D/Comedy) 5:45pm;Sonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 6:00 & 7:45pm;Color Out of Space (2D/Horror) 9:30pm

Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 12:15, 6:00 & 11:45pm; Bheeshma (2D/Telugu) 11:45am & 8:00pmThe Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 12:45, 5:00 & 9:15pm; Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/

Malayalam) 2:45 & 8:30pm; Mafia (2D/Tamil) 2:45 & 11:00pm; Brahms: The Boy 2 (2D/Horror) 3:00, 7;15 & 11:30pm; Al Mallu (2D/Malayalam) 5:15pm

LANDMARK

AL KHOR

Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam) 12:30, 2:45, 3:45, 7:00, 8:30, 8:45, 10;15, 11:15pmBheeshma (2D/Telugu) 1:15pmVarane Avashyamund (2D/Malayalam) 8:30pmBhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 6:30pmMafia (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 4:00 & 8:45pmFreakens (2D/Malayalam) 6:15pmAl Mallu (2D/Malayalam) 6:00 & 11:45pm

ASIAN TOWN ROXY

FLIK Mirqab Mall

After Midnight (2D/Drama) 0:30amBad Boys For Life (2D/Action) 11:40am, 2:10, 4:40, 7:05, 9:30 & 11:55pmBhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 3:10, 5:40, 8:10 & 10;40pmBrahms: The Boy 2 (2D/Horror) 6:10, 10:10pm & 12:00 midnightColor Out of Space (2D/Horror) 4:00 & 8:00pmEmma (2D/Comedy) 10:50am, 1:15, 3:40 & 6:05pmBirds Of Prey (2D/Action) 11:00, 1;10, 3:25, 5:35, 7:45, 9:55 & 0:05amJumanji: The Next Level 11:10am, 1:35pmSonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 10;20am, 11:20am, 12;20, 1:20, 2:20, 3:20, 4;20, 5:20, 6:20, 7:20, 8:20, 9:20, 10;20, 11:20pm & 0:20amSundooq Al Dunya (2D/Arabic) 8:30, 10;20pm & 0:10amThe Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30 & 10:30pmVIC The Viking (2D/Animation) 10:10am, 11:50am & 1:30pm

Al Mallu (2D/Malayalam) 10:15pm; Ayyappanum

Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam) 11:00, 2:30, 6:30 & 10:10pm; Bheeshma (2D/Telugu) 1:00, 3:40, 7:30 & 10:10pm; Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi)

3:00, 5:30 & 8:00pm; Brahms: The Boy 2 (2D/Horror)

11:30am, 1:00 & 9:00pm; Emma (2D/Comedy) 7:50 & 10:00pm; Mafia (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 8:00 & 10:30pm; Sonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 11:00am, 12:30, 1:10, 1:30, 2:40, 3:00, 3:30, 5:40, 6:50, 7:50, 8:00, 9:00 & 10:20pm; Sundooq Al Dunya (2D/Arabic) 3:40, 5:00, 5:15, 7:00, 10:00, 11:00 & 11:10pm; Varane

Avashyamund (2D/Malayalam) 11:30am & 10:30pmVIC The Viking (2D/Animation) 11:00am, 12:30, 1:00, 2:30, 3:00 & 4:30pm

Freakens (2D/Malayalam) 2:00pm; VIC The Viking (2D/Animation) 2:00pm; Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 5:45pm Elcano & Magellanes (2D/Animation) 4:15pmThe Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 9:15pm;Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam) 6:00 & 11:15pmEmma (2D/Comedy) 5:30pmSundooq Al Dunya (2D/Arabic) 3:30 & 7:45pm; Color Out of Space (2D/Horror) 9:30pmMafia (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

Bheeshma (2D/Telugu) 2:00pm;Emma (2D/Comedy) 2:00 & 6:15pm; Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship (2D/Hindi) 2:30 & 11:30pm; VIC The Viking (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 5:45pm; Elcano & Magellanes (2D/Animation) 4:45 & 6:30pm; Mafia (2D/Tamil) 4:15 & 11:30pm;Sonic: The Hedgehog (2D/Action) 4:00pm; The Call Of The Wild (2D/Drama) 8:15 & 9:30pm; Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2D/Malayalam) 8:30pm; After Midnight (2D/Drama) 10:00pm;Brahms: The Boy 2 (2D/Horror) 11:30pm

Parmigiani Fleurier is very proud to present a world premiere, its very first Hijri Perpetual Calendar wrist-

watch. The new calendar is based on technology Parmigiani Fleurier developed for an exclusive table clock launched in 2011 and inspired by the res-toration of a pocket watch fea-turing an Arabic calendar. For the first time in Parmigiani Fleu-rier’s history, the Hijri Perpetual Calendar complication is made available in a wristwatch.

In the Muslim world, the cal-endar is based on the cycles of the moon. The Hijri or Islamic lunar calendar consists of 12 months of 29 or 30 days — depending on the moon phase- and is used to pinpoint the days for Islamic holidays. In contrast to the solar calendar, which is used in the west, the months of the lunar calendar change annually by a difference of -10 to -12 days. As a result, each month always falls on a different season and therefore varies from the Gregorian Calendar.

The starting point of Islamic time calculations is the emi-gration of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) from Makkah to Madinah in present-day Saudi Arabia in the year 622, known as Hijri, and is when the first Muslim com-

munity was founded.This new piece features a

44.5 mm timepiece with a platinum case, a slate dial and rotor in platinum. It shows the hours and minutes, and date in Arabic numerals, the name and length of the months in Arabic calligraphy, as well as the abundant and the common years. It also features a moon phase in an aventurine sky and a power reserve of up to 48 hours. As seen in all Parmigiani timepieces, every single com-ponent of the movement, even the hidden parts, are decorated by in-house specialists. No com-ponents were made of gold.

Every detail has been thought of and this stunning timepiece includes Arabic archi-tecture inspired elements- the bridges adopt the shape of growing and shrinking crescent

moons and the Rub el Hizb, an Islamic symbol represented by two overlapping squares. In addition, the aesthetic of the Hijri Perpetual Calendar wrist-watch is inspired by the purest artistic elements and follows timeless codes often seen in Par-migiani Fleurier collections. The lugs shape remain faithful to the brand’s ethos, designed to be ergonomic and comfortable on the wrist. This world-first is also fitted with a black Hermès alli-gator strap with a pin buckle.

As usual at Parmigiani Fleurier, further customization of the model is possible in order to create a one-of-a-kind time-piece. The original development of the timepiece dates back to 1993 with the restoration of a pocket watch by Michel Parmi-giani, three years before the cre-ation of the Parmigiani Fleurier brand. This led Mr. Parmigiani to the creation of a table clock featuring a Hijri Calendar in 2011- a world’s first as no lunar calendar had ever been designed to operate continuously. This piece of exception was inspired by his work restoring a simple Hijri Calendar. He also worked on a pocket watch dating back to the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th Century, which featured a solar calendar translated into Arabic.

Taking its name from its founder, watch-maker and restorer

Michel Parmigiani, the fine watchmaking brand was founded in 1996 in Fleurier, in the Swiss valley of Val-de-Travers. With its own watchmaking centre ensuring its independence, the brand has both full control over the pro-duction process and unique creative freedom.

For over 20 years, the Parmigiani Fleurier sig-nature has resided within timepieces that command the utmost respect, in harmony with watch-making traditions. They are the labour of a lifetime – that of Michel Parmigiani, the talented individuals who assist him, and the special relationship between the Manufacture and the masterpieces of the past, enabling it to invent a bold future.

Hijri Perpetual CalendarGender Men

Case

Polished platinumDimensions: Ø 44.50 mmThickness: 14.09 mmCrown: Ø 5.95 mmGlass: anti-reflective sapphire, back: sapphireBack engraving: Hijri perpetual calendarWater resistance: 30 meters Dial

Colour: SlateMaterial: BrassFinishing: BrushedHands

Skeleton delta-shaped

Caliber

PF009, PERPETUAL CALEN-DAR, AUTOMATIC MOVEMENTFunctions: Hours, minutes, seconds, Hijri perpetual cal-endar, moon phasePower reserve: Up to 48 hoursFrequency: 28’800 Vph (4 Hz)Total dimensions: Ø 33.30 mm, thickness: 5.700 mmDecoration: Hand-beveled, and decorated components featuring large Côtes de GenèveOscillating weight: Platinum – “Grain d’Orge” guillochéStrap

Hermès Black alligator strap

Parmigiani Fleurier presents Hijri Perpetual Calendar

Product Technical Sheet

You love colors: Tone-on-tone, contrasts, gra-dients and color blocks. Whether you wear black and white, pure

white or all black, there’s an accessory that always flies your colors! Be it bright red, fuchsia pink, ultraviolet, Klein blue, turquoise blue, chlorophyll green, lemon yellow or lively orange, the Big Bang Unico & One Click Rainbow reflects your every mood.

In an ultra-luxe, super-trendy combination, Hublot sets its Big Bang models with all the colors of the rainbow, enriching Isaac New-ton's seven hues with the magenta radiance of pink sapphires. Its dial boldly flaunts a chromatic bezel composed of 48 baguette-cut gems.

Eight shades impart a dis-tinctive visual cadence running from dial to case, adorning the 39mm Big Bang One-Click Rainbow with 425 brilliant-cut stones and the 45mm Big Bang Unico Rainbow with 388. Eight pop

colors: rubies, pink sapphires, ame-thysts, blue sapphires, blue topazes, tsavorites, yellow sapphires and orange sapphires. This joyful watch also welcomes the colors of the rainbow onto its "gummy" alligator strap, a fusion of natural rubber and alligator leather. Thanks to its pat-ented "One Click" interchangeable strap, the 39mm Big Bang Rainbow can even match its color to that of your ItBag with a snap of the fingers.

Hublot satisfies your every choice, with the only one left being which model to opt for: a 45mm chronograph with a Manufacture Unico movement and 72-hour power reserve; or a 39mm model with a mechanical self-winding movement and 50-hour power reserve. Can’t resist? You’re in luck, since this is not a limited edition, just your dream watch ready to order. Sometimes all you need is a splash of color!

To stay up-to-date, follow: @HublotMEA

BIG BANG ONE-CLICK RAINBOW 39 MM TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS CASE Polished and Satin-finished 18K King Gold set with 118 colored gemstones: Rubies, Pink Sapphires, Amethysts, Blue sapphires, Blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sap-phires and orange Sapphires Diameter: 39mm Thickness: 12.55mm Water resistance: 10 ATM (100m)

CASE-BACK Satin-finished 18K King Gold and Sapphire Crystal BEZEL Polished and Satin-finished 18K King Gold set with 48 baguette-cut colored Gemstones: Rubies, Pink Sapphires, Amethysts, Blue sapphires, Blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sapphires and orange Sapphires 6 H-shaped Titanium screws DIALSet with 307 colored gemstonesGemstones: Rubies, pink Sapphires, Amethysts, blue sap-phires, blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sapphires and orange Sapphires Black composite resin lower bezel MOVEMENTHUB1710: Self-winding Movement Frequency: 4Hz (28’800 A/h)Power reserve: 50 Hours No. of Components: 185Jewels: 27 STRAP & BUCKLEMulticolored alligator and black rubber strap18K King Gold and black plated Titanium deployant buckle clasp

BIG BANG UNICO RAINBOW 45 MM TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS CASE Polished and Satin-finished 18K King Gold set with

178 colored gemstones: Rubies, Pink Sapphires, Ame-thysts, Blue sapphires, Blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sapphires and orange Sapphires Diameter: 45mm Thickness: 15.45mmWater resistance: 10 ATM (100m) CASE-BACKSatin-finished 18K King Gold and Sapphire Crystal BEZEL Polished and Satin-finished 18K King Gold set with 48 baguette-cut colored Gemstones: Rubies, Pink Sap-phires, Amethysts, Blue sapphires, Blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sapphires and orange Sapphires 6 H-shaped Titanium screws DIALSet with 212 colored gemstones Gemstones: Rubies, pink Sapphires, Amethysts, blue sapphires, blue Topazes, Tsavorites, yellow Sapphires and orange Sap-phires Black composite resin lower bezel MOVEMENTHUB1242: UNICO Manufacture Self-winding Chrono-graph flyback movement with colum wheelFrequency: 4Hz (28’800 A/h) Power reserve: 72 HoursNo. of Components: 330 Jewels: 38 STRAP & BUCKLEMulticolored alligator and black rubber strap 18K King Gold and black plated Titanium deployant buckle clasp.

Living life in Hublot Rainbow coloursBig Bang Unico & Big Bang One-Click Rainbow

Parmigiani Fleurier

Products are displayed at the Al Majed Jewellery pavillion at DJWE


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