Qatar plot all-out assault on Bahrain

Apple CEO Cook gets 74%

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BUSINESS | 19 SPORT | 24

Volume 22 | Number 7390 | 2 RiyalsFriday 29 December 2017 | 11 Rabia II I 1439 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

3rd Best News Website in the Middle EastEast

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a phone call

from President of Turkmen-i s t a n , G u r b a n g u l y Berdimuhamedow, yesterday. Talks during the conversation dealt with the bilateral rela-tions and means of enhancing mutual cooperation, in addi-tion to exchanging views on the various developments on the regional and international arenas. The President also invited H H the Emir to visit Turkmenistan, and the Emir welcomed the invitation.

Qatar condemns Kabul bombings

Qatar expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of

the two bombings that tar-getted a local news agency and a cultural centre in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul and left a number of people killed and injured.

→ Continued on page 3

Qatar denounces explosion in St Petersburg

Qatar expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of

the explosion that targeted a supermarket in the Russian city of St Petersburg and left a number of people injured. In a statement issued yester-day, the Foreign Ministry reiterated Qatar’s firm stance in rejection of violence and terrorism no matter what the motives and causes were.

→ See also page 10

17 road projects to be carried out next yearThe Peninsula

The road networks in the country will get further boost next year as Public Works Authority (Ashghal)

will start implementing 17 road projects in 2018.

The illegal siege on Qatar had no impact on the infra-structure works as over 60 percent of works achieved in 2017 by Ashghal was carried out after June, said the Authority yesterday in a statement.

Dr Eng Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, President of Ash-ghal, said the keenness and the support by Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khal-ifa Al Thani given to the authority and its projects strengthens the determination to carry out Ashghal’s mission with the highest quality and according to the planned schedules.

The Prime Minister had vis-ited the headquarters of Ashghal on Wednesday.

During the visit a compre-hensive review of Ashghal’s achievements in the current year and plan for projects in 2018 was presented to the Prime Minister.

Ashghal President thanked all Ministries and service insti-tutions for their support and cooperation in the implemen-tation of its projects.

He stated that, in 2018, Ash-ghal will start implementing 17 road projects, including Al Fur-ousiya Street, A-Ring Road, B-Ring Road, Wholesale Mar-ket Street, Al Maadeed Street, Al Khufoos Street, Umm Al

Doom Street, Muaither Street And Al Shafi street.

The plan will also include turning roundabouts to signal-ised junctions.

During 2018, more than 210km of cycle ways will be completed in expressways. A main expressway project will be opened for tender during 2018, that will reduce traffic congestion in 22-February Road.

Regarding drainage projects, the President pointed out that drainage work of 279 locations in different areas had been accomplished in 2017 to reduce storming water there.

“Four new projects dedi-cated for pumping stations, sewage treatment and Al Kara-ana wastewater landfill reclamation and rehabilitation will go ahead in 2018, along with the completion of other three projects”, the President added.

For building projects, the President revealed that Ashghal had concluded the construction of 14 mosques, three health centres and 16 schools in 2017.

→ Continued on page 3

A traditional Qatari band enthrals the crowd with their performance at Al Ahmed Square in Souq Waqif yesterday as part of the Souq Waqif Spring Festival. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

Souq Waqif tours to let visitors experience Qatari way of shoppingRaynald C Rivera The Peninsula

Expatriates and tourists who want to experience the traditional Qatari way of

shopping will have the chance through Souq Waqif shopping tours organised for the first time as part of the upcoming Shop Qatar 2018.

The shopping tours will be conducted in partnership with Embrace Doha, a Qatari com-pany specialising in cultural events and sessions.

“The Souq Waqif tours will let expatriates and tourists expe-rience shopping the Qatari way. We will teach them about the souq itself, about certain stations in the souq, what to buy and from where, how to bargain - things that Qataris are interested in,” Amal Al Shammari, CEO of Embrace Doha, told The Peninsula.

“We’ll try to show them the Qatari side of shopping. This is the main idea,” he said.

Shop Qatar, which is organ-ised by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) for the second year, has a number of new features which include providing authentic shopping experiences to people through tours of Souq Waqif, the most popular traditional mar-ket in the country.

“We do whatever we can to help residents and tourists know more about Qatar by coming up with creative ideas to show them what Qatar is,” said Al Shammari.

“We don’t want to just pro-vide information, we want people to experience Qatar and one way to do this is through the tours ,” explained Al Shammari.

Individuals interested in learning how to find their way through the traditional market-place can join either the Women’s, Men’s or Family tours that will run between 5pm and 6.30pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The tours will guide groups

of maximum 15 people through the Souq, stopping along the way to sample and learn about spices, incense, traditional food, art and clothes.

The Men’s, Women’s and Family tours will take different routes where tourists can explore more about the items they are interested in, said Al Shammari.

Through the souq tours, Shop Qatar also shows support to local entrepreneurs. Thirty pop-up shops will be set up in Mall of Qatar where small busi-nesses can showcase their products and benefit from the high footfall generated by the festival, while providing the mall’s visitors with an authen-tic Qatari experience.

Shop Qatar is also partner-ing with Qatar Development Bank (QDB) to provide several of the 30 pop-up shops to SMEs incubated and supported by the Bank.

→ Continued on page 3

The illegal siege on Qatar had no impact on the infrastructure works as over 60 percent of works achieved in 2017 by Ashghal was carried out after June.

The Peninsula

The second edition of the Mahaseel Fes-tival, which is located in the southern areaof the Cultural Village Foundation

- Katara, continues to receive huge number of visitors including ambassadors and dignitaries.

Yesterday, Indonesian Ambassador Muhammad Basri Sidehabi, Moroccan Ambassador Nabil Zniber; Iraq Embassy Charge d’Affaires Dr. Abdulsattar H Al Janabi; Kuwaiti Ambassador Hafiz Mohammad Al Ajmi; Omani Ambassador Najib bin Yahya Al Balushi, Indian Ambassador P. Kumaran and Yahya Bin Saeed Al Nuaimi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Commerce Affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce visited the fes-tival. The dignitaries were received by Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti. They took a tour of the fair which they praised for the quality and variety of local produce and products on display.

The festival also saw a number of schools including a delegation of the Nomas Center from Kuwait. The students enjoyed the activ-ities and workshops where they acquired invaluable knowledge on agriculture.

Mahaseel hosts many local companies,

in order to support and introduce the public to local products. Qatari food companies spe-cialising in the production of dates, milk, dairy

and natural juices have also put up stalls at the festival.

→ Continued on page 3

Diplomats, visitors praise Mahaseel Festival

Katara General Manager Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti accompanying Kuwait Ambassador Hafiz Mohammad Al Ajmi and Oman Ambassador Najib bin Yahya Al Balushi during a tour of the fair at the Mahaseel Festival.

Al Jazeera expresses solidarity with detained journalists in Myanmar

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the arrest of Reuters reporters Wa

Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and expresses its solidarity with Reu-ters and its journalists. The two detained journalists worked on reporting the military crackdown against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

According to Reuters, the exact whereabouts of the two reporters is still unknown. Abdulla AlNajjar, Executive Director of Al Jazeera’s Global

Brand and Communications stated, “Attacks on individual journalists, media organisations, and press freedom are at a crit-ical point. The endeavour of uncovering the truth is under assault everywhere and every measure must be taken to ensure journalists’ freedom and safety. We call upon the Myanmar authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues at Reuters and elsewhere across the world.”

Ministry releases list of 156 varsities for distance educationTHE MINISTRY of Education and Higher Education released yes-terday a list of 156 universities based in United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The details of the list could be gained from www.edu.gov.qa . The students wishing to apply will be required to obtain advance approval from the Certificates Attestation and Equivalency Section.

→ Full report on page 3

Emir, President of Turkmenistan review ties

02 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017HOME

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met with Ambassador of the Republic of India to the State of Qatar, P Kumaran. The meeting discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost and develop them, in addition to promoting cooperation between both countries and topics of common interest.

Al Muraikhi meets Indian AmbassadorChange of traffic on Orbital RoadThe Peninsula

The Public Works Authority, ‘Ashghal’, will change traffic on northbound main car-

riageway of the Orbital Road onto a parallel route, running from the intersecting points of northern

Orbital Road and Salwa Road to southern Orbital Road and Dukhan Road towards Lusail. The detour will be in effect on Sunday, Decem-ber 31, and last for 12 months.

The traffic shift, proposed in collaboration with the General Directorate of Traffic, will

enable the construction of the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route, one of Ashghal’s Express-way Programme projects.

During the detour, travelers heading for Lusail from Mesaieed and Salwa Road via the Orbital Road can use the next route for a distance of approximately 13.5km, to stretch from Interchange 24 on Salwa Road to prior to Umm Al Juwashin Interchange, as illus-trated on the map

The parallel road is made up of two lanes replacing the three-lane Orbital Road main carriageway, with no change for speed limit at 80 kph.

The Public Works Authority will install road signs advising motorists of the detour. ‘Ash-ghal’ requests all road users to abide by the speed limit at 80 kph, and follow the road signs to ensure their safety.

1,679 register for International Falcon and Hunting FestivalQNA

Some 1,679 falconers were registered for the vari-ous festival competitions

of the 9th Qatar International Falcon and Hunting Festival (Marmi Festival), the Organ-ising Committee announced.

The festival will kick off on January 1 and will run until the 27 January at Sabkhat Marmi in Sealine.

Ali bin Khatem Al Meh-shadi, Chairman of the Organising Committee of Marmi Festival and Chairman of Al Gannas Society, said yes-terday that the number of registered entries in Haddad El Tahadee competition reached 685 — the most popular cate-gory of the competition.

The festival is aimed at promoting the preservation of wildlife, protection of fal-cons and maintaining falconry as an important aspect of Qatari tradition passed from one generation to another. Considered one of the largest in the region, the festival also aims to promote excellence in falconry and hunting as well as the shar-ing of experiences among falconers in the region.

Aspire Academy holds ‘Secrets to Excellence’ session

The Peninsula

Aspire Academy organised an inno-vative interactive session for parents yesterday under the theme

of the “Secrets to Excellence” to demon-strate how positive behaviour changes can stimulate brain development and enhance performance in student-athletes and young people.

“We all believe that in order to pos-itively change the behaviour of our students we need involvement and commitment from both parents and teachers. The turnout today demon-strates the common understanding among us. We hope that everyone who attended took something away with them that will help them positively change the behaviour of their own

children and help them become bet-ter student-athletes at the Aspire Academy in future years who perform to their best”, Dr Abdulrahman Al Har-ami said.

Muhammad Al Anzi also discussed brain development and its role in the growth of athletes, saying: “New researches indicate that brain cells don’t stop development at a certain age as they continue to evolve. This demonstrates that human beings should not stop learning and developing and should always remain active.

“As for the positive behaviour

change, this is an essential tool to the development of the brain of our chil-dren.” Attendees received presentations from three of Qatar’s most prominent Pedagogical and Psychological experts, including the educational advisor and radio presenter Dr Abdulrahman Al Har-ami; Muhammad Al Anzi, Psychological Consultant at Aspire Academy; and Dr Jamil Babli, Head of Academic Support Department at Aspire Academy.

During the interactive session, par-ents had the chance to engage with the three experts and ask questions about the sessions and head about the latest

research findings on how positive behav-ioural changes can motivate the performance of their children.

Meanwhile, Dr Jamil unveiled the Academy’s ongoing efforts to apply the latest human brain research findings on increasing both the academic and sports performance of student-athletes.

He said that the Academy is currently implementing models that track and ana-lyse brain signals. Based on the results of this analysis, neurologists structure a pro-tocol in collaboration with educators and coaches that leads to the development and improvement of student-athlete’s attention spans and emotional stability to help them eventually achieve excellence.

Aspire Academy promotes responsive educational environments and intercul-tural experiences to develop the student-athletes’ academic potential. Through personalised learning pro-grammes and 21st century technology, the Academy develops responsible learn-ers as it inspires every student-athlete to make valued contributions to the local and global community.

“New researches indicate that brain cells don’t stop development at a certain age as they continue to evolve. This demonstrates that human beings should not stop learning and developing and should always remain active. As for the positive behaviour change, this is an essential tool to the development of the brain of our children.”

Dr Abdulrahman Al Harami speaks during the session as Dr Jamil Babli, (left) and Muhammad Al Anzi look on.

Youth Forum bags appreciation awards for upholding culture of humanitarian valuesThe Peninsula

Youth Forum, the organisation of Indian expatriate youth in Qatar, received Award of Appreciation from the Office

of Minister of Culture and Sports, H E Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser Al Ali.

The award was in recognition of the forum’s active role in upholding the culture of humanitarian values that Qatar represents and encouraging social fraternity, amity and respect among the various communities in Qatar.

Youth Forum organises various activities and programs in the field of arts, sports and social engagements, in close coordination with government entities.

Youth Forum has succeeded in focusing primarily on expat youth, creatively utilis-ing their artistic and innovative abilities for the goodness of the country and social welfare.

The Youth Live program, a cultural resistance against sectarianism and intoler-ance conducted in coordination with DICID, Youth Icon Award a recognition

award presented to the elected youth who had rendered outstanding services in their respective fields, Doha Ramadan Meet in association with Qatar Charity underlining the message of mutual harmony and co-existence, Qatar-Our Second Home, Indo-Qatar fusion show program in associ-ation with Bridge Qatar representing the solidarity of the Indian community in Qatar to this country and its Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the ini-tial days of blockade, and other notable programs during the last five years of Youth Forum earned the recognition Award from the Minister.

The awards were distributed during the Qatar National Day Celebrations hosted by Youth Forum at the College of North Atlantic, Dr Latifa Ibrahim Al Houty auditorium.

The program was inaugurated by Dr Mohammed Ali Al Ghamidi, member of Board of Directors, DICID, and Executive Director, Qatar Charity. The Cultural Minis-try’s awards and certificates for Firose S A, President Youth Forum and Saleel Ibrahim, Chairman Bridge Qatar, were presented by Salah Al Mulla, Director of Theatre Affairs, Qatar National Theatre under the Ministry of Culture.

Yousuf Al Harami, Public Relations Officer - Qatar National Theatre, Youth Forum representatives Bilal Harippad, Aslam Erattupetta and Muneer Jalaludheen also addressed the audience.

Salah Al Mulla presenting the awards to Firose S A (left) and Saleel Ibrahim.

Experts during the symposium.

The Peninsula

Scholars and activists gath-ered at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q)

recently for a two-day sympo-sium on gender justice. The event focused on the promises and challenges of gender equal-ity across different cultures, political landscapes, and societies.

Held under the theme of ‘Gender Justice at the Intersec-tions of Legal Practices and Sociopolitical Transformation’, the symposium featured discus-sions on the experiences of women in a range of contexts and countries in the Middle East and beyond. The event aimed to explore how laws, citizen-ship, traditions, and modernity

influence gender equality. “Gender is an issue that is

situated at the heart of ques-tions of power, culture, and politics,” said Professor Rogaia Abusharaf, who organised the event. “This symposium aimed to contribute to our under-standing by considering the predicament and the promise pivoting around gender poli-t ics ,” said Professor Abusharaf.

A number of scholars based in Qatar and abroad presented their research at the symposium, including GU-Q faculty and alumni. The dele-gates’ expertise ranged from athropologology to politics, gender studies, and history, allowing for broad-ranging analysis.

GU-Q hosts symposium on gender equality

Dr Jamil unveiled the Academy’s ongoing efforts to apply the latest human brain research findings on increasing both the academic and sports performance of student-athletes.

03FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 HOME/MIDDLE EAST

Diplomats, visitors praise Mahaseel Festival

Continued from page 1Qatari Arab Dairy Company (Ghadeer), Dandy Qatar Dairy

Company, Rawia Dairy Company and Baladna are displaying their products which include milk, butter, margarine, yoghurt, and nat-ural fruit juices.

High quality Qatari dates of different varieties on offer at Mahaseel have also been very popular among visitors. The dates which conform to quality specifications and standards are also available in new products such as those mixed with chocolate, nuts and dried fruits.

There has been growing interest among visitors to buy the nicely packaged date products offered by the local farms, espe-cially since dates occupy a special place in Qatar’s social heritage.

Indonesian Ambassador Muhammad Basri Sidehabi visiting the fair.

Souq Waqif tours to let visitors experience Qatari way of shopping

Continued from page 1“Shop Qatar is an ideal platform to achieve our goals of sup-

porting home-based projects, motivating young entrepreneurs to access the Qatari market, engaging with competitors, identifying the mechanism of the market and gaining practical experience that helps them develop their business, and exploring new busi-ness opportunities. Our participation in Shop Qatar is part of many initiatives, programs and competitions offered by QDB to support and encourage new projects and creative ideas,” Khalid Al Manaa, Executive Director of Business Finance at QDB said in a statement.

Scheduled from January 7 to February 7, Shop Qatar 2018 will offer mall-goers something new each week with a variety of themes celebrating cultural diversity including Arabian Week, Bollywood Week and International Weeks.

There will be a new set of concerts, fashion shows, master classes, pop-up workshops and other shows and activities based on the theme of the week.

“In its second edition, Shop Qatar invites residents and visi-tors to explore and embrace diversity through its differently themed weeks. The growing involvement and participation of partners from the private sector and local businesses is key to ensuring that our festivals reflect Qatar’s culture, and the economic and social needs of its citizens and residents,” Mashal Shahbik, Director of Festivals & Tourism Events at QTA commented.

17 road projects to be carried out next year

Continued from page 1“There are other underway projects to be accomplished in

2018, featuring 9 general, educational and health facilities. More-over, Ashghal will embark on new works, including anti- fire school expansions, Al Jameaa Health Centre, the new HMC emergency building and the revamp of the corniches of Doha, Al Khor and Al Wakra,” Al Muhannadi added.

To encourage the local manufacturers and contractors and raising their share in the projects, the President of Ashghal stated that new projects for small business people will be put out, not-ing that 47 factories and 54 local products had been qualified and ratified as part of Ta’heel initiative since its launching last July, aimed at giving priority to Qatari manufacturers and national product. “Fresh necessary measures will be taken to stimulate the local consultants to share in the project supervision contracts, as well,’’ Al Muhannadi added.

Qatar condemns Kabul bombingsContinued from page 1

In a statement issued yesterday, the Foreign Ministry reiter-ated the State of Qatar’s firm stance in rejection of violence and terrorism regardless of the motives and reasons.

The statement expressed the State of Qatar’s condolences to the families of victims as well as the government and people of Afghanistan. It also wished speedy recovery to the injured.

Washington

AFP

The United States and Turkey yesterday turned the page on a visa crisis triggered nearly three months

ago by the arrest of a staff mem-ber at the American mission in Ankara, but relations between the Nato allies remain tense.

The two sides announced the resumption of full visa services for each other’s citizens, but their statements revealed linger-ing misgivings between the countries, who are partners in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Washington said it had won assurances from Ankara that no further legal proceedings would be launched against its staff, though the Turkish embassy in the US capital insisted “no such assurances have been given.”

Nevertheless, the State Department said it was “confi-dent that the security posture has improved sufficiently to allow for the full resumption of visa services in Turkey.”

The US move is effective

immediately, a department offi-cial said.

Shortly thereafter, the Turk-ish mission in Washington said: “Within the framework of the principle of reciprocity, the restrictions placed from our side on the visa regime for US citi-zens are being lifted simultaneously.”

The US decision to stop handing out visas was imple-mented from October 8 and was followed by a tit-for-tat move by Turkey to stop giving visas to Americans.

The crisis was triggered

when US consulate staffer Metin Topuz was formally charged with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish govern-ment — accusations the US embassy in Ankara has said are “wholly without merit.”

Topuz, a Turkish citizen, is accused of links to a group led by Pennsylvania-based Mus-lim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara suspects of ordering last year’s failed coup in Turkey.

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, denies any involvement in the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In November, the US said it had resumed limited visa serv-ices, a move matched by Turkey’s missions in the US.

But the services were so limited that the first interview appointments for Turks seek-ing most types of US visas were only available from January 2019, causing uproar on social media.

Washington says it is now confident that there are “no additional local employees of our mission in Turkey under

investigation” and that “local staff of our embassy and consu-lates will not be detained or arrested for performing their official duties,” a State Depart-ment official said.

Turkish authorities will also inform the US “in advance” if they intend to arrest any local staff member in the future.

But US authorities added: “We continue to have serious concerns about the existing alle-gations against arrested local employees of our mission in Turkey.”

Reflecting the language of the American statement, Ankara said it continued to have “seri-ous concerns” regarding cases involving Turkish citizens in the United States.

In March, a Turkish employee at the US consulate in the southern city of Adana was arrested on charges of support-ing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

And US authorities also expressed concern about other US citizens arrested in Turkey under a state of emergency declared in the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt.

Turkey, US restore visa services

109 civilians dead in Saudi-led coalition raid on Yemen, says UNGeneva

Reuters

A Saudi-led coalition fight-ing in Yemen has killed 109 civilians in air strikes

in the past 10 days, including 54 at a crowded market and 14 members of one family in a farm, the top UN official in the coun-try said yesterday.

UN Resident Coordinator

Jamie McGoldrick called the fighting futile and absurd, an unusually direct criticism of the war in which the coalition, backed by the United States, Brit-ain and others, is fighting the Iran-allied Houthi armed movement.

Citing initial reports from the U N human rights office, a state-ment by McGoldrick said air strikes hit a crowded market in

Al Hayma sub-district of Attazziah in Taiz governorate on Tuesday, killing 54 and injuring 32.

Eight of the dead and six of the injured were children, according to the reports.

On the same day an air strike on a farm in Attohayta district of Hodeidah governo-rate killed 14, and air strikes elsewhere killed a further 41

civilians and injured 43 over the past 10 days.

“These incidents prove the complete disregard for human life that all parties, including the Saudi-led Coa-lition, continue to show in this absurd war that has only resulted in the destruction of the country and the incom-mensurate suffering of its people , who are being

punished as part of a futile military campaign by both sides,” McGoldrick said.

Under international law, the warring sides must spare civil-ians and civilian infrastructure, he added.

The United Nations has no up-to-date estimate of the death toll in Yemen, having said in August 2016 that according to medical centres

at least 10,000 people had been killed.

The United Nations says Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with about 8 million people on the brink of famine, a cholera epidemic that has infected 1 million peo-ple, and economic collapse in what was already one of the Arab world ’s poorest countries.

The Turkish mission in Washington said: “Within the framework of the principle of reciprocity, the restrictions placed from our side on the visa regime for US citizens are being lifted simultaneously.”

Qatar secures first rank in Arab world for voluntary contributions to UNHCR

Ministry releases list of 156 varsities for distance educationThe Peninsula

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education released yesterday a list of

156 universities based in United States of America, United King-dom, Australia and New Zealand.

The students wishing to apply for distance education in these universities will be required to obtain advance approval from the Certificates Attestation and Equivalency Section.

The Department will start receiving applications from stu-dents looking for opportunities to continue their education in these universities starting from January 1, 2018 said Dr Khalid Al Hurr Director of High Educa-tion Institute at the Education Ministry.

The students will study on their own expenses and they are required to present their documents to attestation section.

Distance education has become one of the mainstream

systems of higher education and many distinguished interna-tional universities are introducing courses through this

system, Dr Al Hurr added. The approval of enrollment

in such programs needs that the these courses should not require physical presence and should only be taught in distance, said the Director of Higher Education Institute

The selection of the disci-pline-based list of approved universities took into account the terms and conditions applied to distance education, Al Hurr outlined. The details of the list could be gained from www.edu.gov.qa

Students applying for distance education will be required to obtain advance approval from the Certificates Attestation and Equivalency Section.

04 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017ISLAM

Everything, when lost, can be regained, except time. If it is lost, there is no hope to regain it. That

is why time is the most precious thing that can ever be possessed in this life.

Islam is a religion that acknowledges the importance of time and appreciates its seriousness. Allah Almighty says (what means): {Indeed, in the alterna-tion of the night and the day and [in] what Allah has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for a people who fear Allah.} [Quran 10: 6]

Islam distributed its great acts of worship over the parts of the day and the seasons of the year to form an accu-rate, precise system that organizes the Islamic life and measures it with min-utes, from the rise of dawn till sunset. Allah Almighty says (what means): {So exalted Is Allah when you reach the evening and when you reach the morn-ing. And to Him is [due all] praise throughout the heavens and the earth. And [exalted Is He] at night and when you are at noon.} [Quran 30: 17-18]

Man’s lifespan is his huge capital about which he will be asked on the Day of Judgment. He will be asked about how he spent it and how he dealt with it. It was narrated in Jami‘ At-Tirmithi that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “The feet of a slave will not move on the Day of Judg-ment until he has been questioned about four things: His life — how he spent it;

his youth – how he consumed it; his wealth – from where he earned it and how he spent it; and his knowledge – how he acted upon it.”

Time has characteristics that are spe-cific to it. They include the following:

- Its quick passage: Time passes like the clouds. No matter how long man lives in this life, his life is short, as death is the end of every living creature. When Nooh (Noah), (May Allah exalt his men-tion), was asked: “O the longest living prophet, how did you find this world?” He said: “It is like a house that has two doors. I entered from one of them and got out through the other.” This is what the Quran expressed, by mentioning

one’s regarding of his lifespan as short, upon death and on the day of Judgment. Allah Almighty says (what means): {It will be, on the Day they see it, as though they had not remained [in the world] except for an afternoon or a morning thereof.} [Quran 79: 46]

- Whatever goes by thereof does not return and cannot be compensated for: Every day, hour, or moment that passes cannot be regained and thus cannot be compensated for. This meaning was expressed by Al-Hasan Al-Basri (May Allah have mercy upon him) when he said: “Every day calls, saying: ‘O son of Adam, I am a new creation and I am a witness on your deeds, so take

provisions from me for if I pass, I do not return until the Day of Judgment.’”

- It is the most precious thing that man can ever own: The preciousness of time is attributed to the fact that it is the container of all deeds. In fact, it is the real capital of man, whether the indi-vidual or the society. Time is not only gold as the common proverb goes, but it is more precious than gold, pearls, and coral. Time is life. Indeed, man’s life is nothing but the time that he is given from the day of his birth till the day of his death.

Al-Hasan Al-Basri (May Allah have mercy upon him) said: “O son of Adam, indeed you are nothing but some days…whenever a day perishes a part of you per-ishes.” That is why we should be keen on benefiting from time. ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Azeez (May Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Night and day consume you, so con-sume them.” Al-Hasan Al-Basri (May Allah have mercy upon him) said: “I saw a lot of people who were keener on their times than you are on your money.”

Umar ibn Al-Khattab, (May Allah be pleased with him), used to hit his feet with his whip when night came and say to himself: “What did you do today?”

From among the blessings which many people are heedless and ungrate-ful about, and ignorant of its value, is the blessing of leisure. It is narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah

be pleased with him), that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “There are two blessings that many people fail to make the most of: good health and leisure.” [Al-Bukhari]

That is why the predecessors used to dislike for a man to be free and not preoccupied by the matter of his reli-gion or the matter of his worldly life. ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “I dislike that a man is free and not preoccupied by the matter of his religion or the matter of his worldly life.”

There is no doubt that man loves life and loves to live long, and rather for-ever, if he can. Long life is considered one of the blessings of Allah Almighty, if one uses it in supporting the truth and doing righteous deeds. At-Tirmithi nar-rated that the Prophet (PBUH) was asked: “Which among the people is best?” He said: “The one who lives a long life and does righteous deeds.”

The truth is that the real life of man is not the years that he spends from the day of his birth till the day of his death. Rather, his real age is determined according to the good deeds recorded for him by Allah Almighty. ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “I never regretted something like I regretted a day whose sun has set in which my life decreased and my good deeds did not increase.”

Gratitude is the greatest way to live for those who possess high ranks of righteousness, and such people did not reach these lofty ranks

except through their gratitude; this is because belief is comprised of two halves; One half is gratitude and the other is perseverance.

Gratitude is to acknowledge being treated well by Allah; it is also to praise the One who has done one many favours. It also entails displaying the effect of the favours of Allah upon a person by believ-ing with one’s heart, uttering praise and glorifications of Allah by ones tongue, and to use one’s limbs in the worship and obe-dience of Allah. If only a few favours are worthy of a great deal of gratitude, how would the case be when favours are abun-dant? People are either grateful or ungrateful.

Gratitude holds a high rank in Islam. Allah parallels it with His mention. He Says (what means): “So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me”. [Quran 2: 152]

Allah parallels it with belief. He Says (what means): “What would Allah do with [i.e., gain from] your punishment if you are grateful and believe?...” [Quran 4: 147] Meaning, if you fulfil the rights due to Allah and the reason for which He has created you by gratitude and belief, He will not punish you.

Those who practice gratitude to Allah are those who are chosen to be granted His favours. He Says (what means): “And thus We have tried some of them through others that they [i.e., the disbelievers] might say, ‘Is it these whom Allah has favoured among us?’ Is not Allah most knowing of those who are grateful?” [Quran 6: 53]

Allah has classified people into being either grateful or ungrateful; the worst matter in the scale of Allah is ingrati-tude whilst the dearest things to Him are gratitude and the grateful. Allah Says (what means): “Indeed, We guided him [i.e., man] to the way, be he grateful or ungrateful” [Quran 76: 3]

Allah tests His slaves in order to see who will practice gratitude and who will not. Allah informs us about what Prophet Sulaymaan (May Allah exalt his men-tion), said when He Says (what means): “…This is from the favour of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful – his gratitude is only for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is ungrateful – then indeed my Lord is Free of need and Generous.” [Quran 27: 40]

Allah promises increased favours for those who are grateful. He Says (what means): “And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favour]; but if you deny, indeed My punishment is severe.’” [Quran 14: 7]

Allah loves gratitude and the deeds

of the grateful. He Says (what means): “If you disbelieve – indeed, Allah is Free from need of you. And He does not approve for His servants disbelief. And if you are grateful, He approves [i.e. likes] it for you…” [Quran 39: 7] The grateful people mentioned in the verse are those who remain steadfast upon belief during trials and who do not retreat or recant on their belief.

Some people verbally thank Allah during times of ease, but during trials they give up their faith. The truly grate-ful are those who express the true condition of their hearts during trials by remaining steadfast and continuing to thank Allah by their tongues, hearts and limbs. Additionally, this verse clarifies that the pleasure of Allah is achieved by being grateful to Him.

Allah did not make the reward for the grateful subject to any condition, as He did for other acts of worship, which He conditioned to His will; rather, Allah immediately mentions their reward; He Says (what means): “…And Allah will reward the grateful.” [Quran 3: 144] and also (what means): “…And We will reward the grateful.” [Quran 3: 145]

Allah informs us that one of Satan’s primary objectives is to prevent humans from being grateful; He Says (what means): “[Satan said] ‘Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You [i.e., Allah] will not find most of them grateful [to You].” [Quran 7: 17]

Allah describes His grateful slaves to be few in number; He Says (what means): “…And few of My servants are grateful.” [Quran 34: 13]The reason being that many people enjoy blessings and bounties from Allah, but fail to practice gratitude to Allah.

Allah praised the first prophet sent to man on earth, Prophet Noah (May Allah exalt his mention), due to him being grateful. Allah Says (what means): “O descendants of those We carried [in the ship] with Noah. Indeed, he was a grateful servant.” [Quran 17: 3] This is as an indication that we should imitate him, may Allah exalt his mention.

Gratitude is the first instruction given to man as soon as he begins to comprehend. Allah Says (what means): “And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your par-ents; to Me is the [final] destination.” [Quran 31: 14]

Allah specified it as one of the main qualities of a person who sets himself as a good example for others to follow. He says regarding Prophet Ibraaheem (May Allah exalt his mention), (what means): “Indeed, Ibraaheem was a [comprehensive] leader, devoutly obe-dient to Allah, inclining toward truth,

and he was not of those who associate others with Allah. [He was] grateful for His favours. He [i.e., Allah] chose him and guided him to a straight path.” [Quran 16: 120-121]

Therefore, gratitude is one of the objectives that man is commanded to accomplish.

Imaam ibn Al-Qayyim (May Allah have mercy upon him) mentioned that gratitude is one of the ranks of belief, which can be extracted from the fifth verse of Surah Al Faatihah, (what means): “It is You we worship and You we ask for help.” Then he (May Allah have mercy upon him) mentioned the following additional points regarding gratitude:

� It is one of the highest ranks of belief.

� It is higher than the rank of con-tentment; and nobody can be content without being grateful.

� Allah praises the grateful.� Allah promises the grateful the best

of rewards.� Allah makes gratitude a reason for

attaining more of His bounties.� It is a means to preserve the favors

of Allah upon a person.� It is one of the main objectives that

a slave must accomplish.� It is extracted from Ash-Skakoor,

which is one of the Names of Allah, and which implies gratitude.

� Those who are grateful are very

few in number.� Gratitude results in more favours

from Allah.Gratitude is having ones heart

devoted to loving the One bestowing the favours, having the limbs continuously obedient to Him and having the tongue repeatedly mentioning Him, praising Him and glorifying Him. Gratitude entails the following three things:

1. One should realise the favours bestowed upon him and have it present in his mind constantly, because this leads him to remember the Bestower of favours and therefore being grateful to and loving Allah, who is of course the Bestower of favours. This would there-fore make one exert more effort in worshipping Allah.

2. One should receive favours with humility and express his need to Allah and mention that he is unworthy of the favours bestowed upon him, and that it is only due to the Grace and Kindness of Allah that such favours were bestowed.

3. One should praise Allah and this is done in two ways:

1) Generally: To describe Allah as being generous and kind.

2) Specifically: To mention His favours upon one.

There are two points regarding the issue of mentioning and talking about favours from Allah:

1) To mention all that Allah Has

bestowed upon one.2) To utilise these favours in His

obedience.People fall into three categories with

regards to the favours from Allah:1. Those who are grateful and praise

Allah for bestowing them upon them.2. Those who are ungrateful and do

not mention them.3. Those who express that they are

worthy of them, when in fact they cer-tainly are not.

An-Nu’maan ibn Al-Basheer (May Allah be pleased with him), said: “He who does not thank Allah for small favours will not thank Him for great ones; and he who does not express grat-itude to people (for doing him favours) will not express gratitude towards Allah. Appreciating and mentioning the favour bestowed upon one from Allah is grat-itude, and not doing so expresses ingratitude.” [Ahmad]

This should be done in front of peo-ple and between a person and himself (i.e., to himself) but if people are of the envious type, then one should conceal such favours, and he would not be ungrateful in this case, because he is simply concealing them in an attempt to prevent an evil from befalling him, such as an evil eye or an evil plot from the envious, and it must be known that to prevent harm from afflicting man is an objective set forth by the Islamic Shariah.

There is no way one can do anything to repay the favours bestowed upon him by Allah, except that he should continue to praise and thank Allah for having bestowed them upon him, as well as uti-lising these favours for the pleasure of Allah.

What is our duty towards Allah with regards to the favours He bestows upon us?

• Being submissive to Allah.• Loving Allah.• Acknowledging that He is the

Bestower of all favours.• Praising Him.• Utilising these favours in a way that

pleases Him.Does the way of expressing grati-

tude towards Allah differ, just like the favors themselves differ?

Yes; gratitude can be expressed by the heart, the tongue and the limbs. Expressing gratitude by the heart:This is by knowing that Allah is the Bestower of these favours, and this is something that is very important when cultivating children, so that they know where favors come from, as Allah Says (what means): “O Mankind, remember the favor of Allah upon you. Is there any creator other than Allah who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? There is no deity except Him, so how are you deluded?” [Quran 35: 3]

www.islamweb.net

Gratitude holds a high rank in Islam

Importance of time in the life of a Muslim

05FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 ASIA

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (left) shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj during a meeting in New Delhi, yesterday.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister in India

Lok Sabha criminalises instant divorce New Delhi

IANS

The Lok Sabha yester-day passed a bill that criminalises triple talaq or instant divorce with three years of

imprisonment for Muslim hus-bands after the government rejected an overwhelming demand from the Opposition to refer the legislation to a Parlia-mentary standing committee for detailed consideration.

The Muslim Women (Protec-tion of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 was passed by a voice vote after rejecting a resolution moved by RSP member NK Premachandran that the legis-lation be circulated for public opinion. Various amendments moved by opposition members, including Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) and Premachandran, were negatived in divisions.

The government’s determi-nation to get the Bill passed could be gauged from the fact that it was introduced in the morning and taken up for consideration in the afternoon by suspending rel-evant rules and then passed in the evening by sitting late beyond the

scheduled close of the House.Law and Justice Minister Ravi

Shankar Prasad, who introduced the bill and later piloted it in the Lok Sabha, said history was being created today.

He said the issue was not of religion or faith but of “gender justice and gender equality” and appealed to all the parties to rise above political considerations and politics of votebank. “Women are seeing that justice will be done to them. Let us speak in one voice that we are for gender justice and gender equity and pass the Bill unanimously,” Prasad said, wind-ing up the discussion.

He said instances of instant triple talaq continue despite the Supreme Court ruling it as uncon-stitutional in August this year. The

bill seeks to declare pronounce-ment of talaq-e-biddat (three pronouncements of talaq at one go) by Muslim husbands void and illegal in view of the Supreme Court verdict.

Prasad said while Justice Rohington Nariman and U U Lalit held in their judgment in August that instant divorce was uncon-stitutional and the government should look at bringing a law, Justice Kurian Joseph had observed that what is a sin in Islamic laws cannot be legal.

The Minister saw no justifi-cation in the demand for referring the Bill to a standing committee saying the affected Muslim women were crying for justice and were fully backing it. He said there was contradiction in members wanting it to be referred to a standing commit-tee and some arguing why it was not brought earlier.

The Bill makes the act of pro-nouncing talaq-e-biddat punishable offence. There is pro-vision for subsistence allowance from the husband for the liveli-hood and daily supporting needs of the wife as also of the depend-ent children. The wife would also be entitled to the custody of

minor children.Intervening in the debate,

Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar said time was now ripe for the passage of the legislation in the interest of Mus-lim women. He recalled an instance of a British journalist interviewing the late Prime Min-ister Jawaharlal Nehru after the passage of the Hindu code Bill when she asked when would the government introduce reforms

in Muslim laws. Nehru was not opposed to reforms of Muslim personal laws but merely said the time was not opportune then, Akbar said. “That time has come now.”

Though Opposition members, including from the Congress, sup-ported the legislation, they wanted it to be referred to a par-liamentary committee so that several lacunae can be removed and the provisions strengthened

in favour of Muslim women. The law must ensure that subsistence allowance and maintenance to the women and the children was not stopped, they felt. Some felt that the BJP government was in a haste to pass the Bill not because of its concern for Muslim women but because it sees this as a first step towards bringing in a uni-form civil code. They wanted the measure to be given up immediately.

Activists of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) offer sweets to each other as they celebrate, after the Indian government introduced a bill in Parliament aimed at prosecuting Muslim men who divorce their wives through instant divorce, outside their office in Ahmedabad, yesterday.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 was passed by a voice vote after rejecting various amendments moved by opposition members.

India chides Pakistan for treatment of Jadhav’s familyNew Delhi

AP

India lashed out at Pakistan yesterday for its treatment of the wife and mother of an

Indian naval officer on death row for spying during their first meet-ing since his arrest.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj accused Pakistan of disregarding the cultural and religious sensibilities of Kulb-hushan Jadhav’s family under the pretext of security precautions, including the removal of bangles and other ornaments as well as a change in attire and shoes.

Swaraj said in a statement in Parliament that Monday’s meet-ing in the Pakistani capital could have proved to be a positive step in improving ties between the two countries.

A Pakistani military tribunal found Jadhav guilty of espionage and sabotage and sentenced him to death, but India obtained an order from the International Court of Justice to halt the exe-cution. While India says that Jadhav is a retired Indian navy official, the Pakistan government has been describing him as a serving officer. Swaraj accused the Pakistan government of using

the meeting as a “propaganda tool” and violating mutual under-standings on the meeting.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor rejected the Indian allegation that no respect was shown to Jadhav’s family. Ghafoor said Pakistan had informed India before the arrival of Jadhav’s wife and mother that they would have to undergo security clearance before the meeting. “Kulbhushan Jadhav is an established terrorist and his family was allowed to meet with him purely on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

Swaraj said the Pakistani press was allowed on multiple occasions to approach family members closely, harass and hector them and hurl accusations about Jadhav. She said this was despite a clear agreement between the two sides that the media would not be allowed close access.

Jadhav’s mother was pre-vented from talking to her son in their mother tongue, although this was clearly the natural medium of communication, Swaraj said. Despite her repeated requests, the shoes of Jadhav’s wife were not returned to her after the meeting, she said.

Hegde apologises for ‘constitution’ commentsNew Delhi

IANS

Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde tendered an apology in the Lok Sabha yesterday for his statement on changing the Constitution,

even as he maintained that his comments were “put out of context”. Soon after the House met, Hegde said: “I deeply respect the Constitution, Parliament and Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Constitution is supreme for me, there can be no question on it, as a citizen I can never go against it.”

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, however, said that Hegde had spoken against Ambedkar.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then urged the mem-ber to apologise.

“Sometimes in life we feel what we have said is right, but others may still get hurt,” she said. Hegde then extended an apology and said: “My words have been twisted and presented, I never said all this... But if someone was hurt, I apologise to those members.”

Security for rail commuters on Mumbai foot-overbridgesMumbai

IANS

Taking a lesson from the Sep-tember 29 stampede that claimed 23 lives at Elphin-

stone Road station here, the Western Railway yesterday inducted 232 trained security personnel to man 34 critical foot-overbridges and control crowds on the suburban network.

WR General Manager AK Gupta told media persons that

besides 232 personnel of the Maharashtra State Security Cor-poration (MSSC), another 97 women homeguards have also been inducted for ensuring safety, security and well being of the commuters.

Chief spokesperson for WR Ravinder Bhakar said this would be the first time in India that a specially trained force would ensure commuter safety at foot-overbridges, besides circulating areas of passengers at the stations

on a permanent basis.The MSSC personnel would

man, control crowds at entry-exits and prevent crimes at 34 foot-overbridges at 22 stations — Churchgate, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Mum-bai Central (local), Elphinstone Road, Dadar, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Mira Road, Bhayander, Nalasopara and Virar, Gupta added.

The women homeguards would be utilised for queue for-mations in front of ladies’ coaches at Andheri station, and later extended to major stations like Bandra, Borivali and Bhayander, Gupta said.

They will also be deployed with women Railway Protection Force constables as “Mahila Quick Response Teams” for assisting dis-tressed women commuters, prevent door-blocking in subur-ban trains and other duties.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi at the 133rd Foundation Day of the party at its headquarters in New Delhi, yesterday.

Telangana farmers to get free 24-hour powerHyderabad

IANS

In a New Year gift to farm-ers in Telangana, the state government yesterday

announced free 24-hour elec-tricity supply to them from January 1. The state electric-ity authorities have made all arrangements for uninter-rupted supply to the 23 lakh pump sets from midnight of December 31.

Telangana State Genera-tion Corporation (TS Genco) and Telangana State Trans-mission Corporation (TS Transco) Chairman and Man-aging Director D Prabhakar

Rao reviewed the prepared-ness with the officials. It is estimated that with round-the-clock supply, the demand will touch 11,000 megawatts by March.

Though there are some states that give free power to the agriculture sector, nowhere in the country the power is supplied for 24 hours uninterruptedly, said a state-ment from the Chief Minister’s Office. The farmers in the state are currently getting a nine-hour supply. Chief Min-ister K Chandrasekhar Rao had promised 24-hour sup-ply in 2014 elections. Transco, Genco and power distribution

companies spent Rs12,610 crore to strengthen the distri-bution and supply systems.

Authorities supplied 24-hour electricity in three districts on experimental basis since June 17. Round-the-clock supply to all the pump sets in the state was imple-mented on pilot basis from November 6 to November 20.

To supply 24-hour power to more than 23 lakh pump sets additionally, there will be a demand for an additional 1,500-2,000 megawatt and the electricity organisations have made arrangements accordingly. When Telangana state was formed in June

2014, the captive generation capacity was 6,574 MWs and there was a deficit of 2,700 MWs. However, five months later, the government lifted all power cuts and ensured 24-hour supply to the domes-tic, industrial and commercial sectors.

The state procured an additional 8,271 MWs in the last three and half years.

Telangana today has 14,845 MWs of captive power generation while new plants are being set up to add an additional 13,000 MWs in future. By 2022, 28,000 MWs of power will be available in the state.

133rd Foundation Day of Congress party

06 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017ASIA

India fishermen, released from Malir jail, in a train at a railway station in Karachi, yesterday.

Kabul

AFP

More than 40 peo-ple were killed a n d d o z e n s wounded in a sui-c i d e b l a s t

targetting Shias in Kabul yester-day, officials said, with chaotic scenes at the city’s hospitals as anguished families sought loved ones.

The Sunni Islamic State group (IS) claimed responsibil-ity for the gruesome assault on the pro-Iranian Tabayan cultural centre, the third deadly attack it has claimed in the Afghan capi-tal this month.

Up to 100 people had gath-ered at the centre to mark the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It is located in western Kabul, in the

same building as affiliated Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), an anti-IS media outlet.

“The latest figures we have from this tragic incident shows 41 people have been killed and a further 84 people injured,”

health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh told reporters.

Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in war-torn Afghanistan for civilians in recent months, as the Taliban step up their attacks and IS seeks to expand its presence in the country.

Yesterday’s attack saw cha-otic scenes at the Istiqlal hospital where ambulances and police pickups brought victims, includ-ing women and children. Many of them had suffered severe burns to their faces and bodies, as well as shrapnel wounds.

Visibly distressed relatives searching for their loved ones inside the medical facility slapped their heads in fury as they cried and cursed the gov-ernment for seemingly being unable to end the regular car-nage on their streets.

A witness saw more than a dozen badly burned bodies lying on the floor in a room inside the hospital and wooden coffins being delivered so families could take away the remains of loved ones.

Deputy interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the attack — the deadliest since a Shia mosque bombing in Octo-ber that killed more than 50 worshippers — was followed by two smaller bomb blasts as vic-tims and survivors were leaving the scene.

A journalist with AVA, which is located above the cultural cen-tre, said that more than a hundred people were at the event in the building’s basement. Thursday’s assault comes days after a suicide bomber killed six civilians in a Christmas Day attack near an Afghan intelli-gence agency compound in the

city, which was also claimed by IS. On December 18 militants from the group stormed an intel-ligence training compound in Kabul, triggering an intense gun-fight with police, two of whom were wounded.

The Middle Eastern jihadist outfit has gained ground in Afghanistan since it first appeared in the region in 2015, and has scaled up its attacks in Kabul, including on security installations and the country’s Shiite minority.

The attack drew interna-tional condemnation, with Nato’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan describing it as “hei-nous”. Amnesty International said it was further evidence that Kabul was not safe. A man attending the anniversary cere-mony at Tabayan said he heard a “big boom”. “When the explo-sion happened we immediately

fled,” he told. Mohammad Hasan Rezayee, a university student who was also at the ceremony, told Tolo News he had suffered burns to his face in the blast. “We were inside the hall in the sec-ond row when there was an explosion behind us. I did not see the bomber,” he said.

Over 40 dead in IS attack targetting Shias in Kabul

Yesterday’s attack saw chaotic scenes at the Istiqlal Hospital where ambulances and police pick-ups brought victims, including women and children. Many of them had suffered severe burns to their faces and bodies, as well as shrapnel wounds.

Afghan security officials inspect the site after triple blast in Kabul, yesterday.

Policemen inspecting the site. RIGHT Two Afghan women weep for their relatives at a hospital.

Peshawar

Internews

With fewer facilities pushing children away from schools,

the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment has over the past five years sunk millions of rupees in providing key facilities to students.

The Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government has claimed that since 2013, it has invested over Rs36bn in pro-viding basic facilities at government schools.

According to documents, as much as Rs29bn has been invested in providing facilities such as electricity, water, toi-lets, additional classrooms, boundary walls and installa-tion of solar panels.

The documents showed that there were just 10,770 public schools in the province which had such facilities. How-ever, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s reforms - implemented with the help of its developmental partners - had helped provide these facilities at 73,418 schools in the province.

One such initiative was the

conditional grant programmes called ‘the better school initi-atives’. The initiative found that most government schools across the province did not have any facilities for drinking water and were without elec-tricity, boundary walls or latrines.

The government claimed that once these facilities were provided, enrollment in gov-ernment schools improved in addition to restoring parents’ confidence in these schools.

The documents showed that all such conditional grant schemes involved local gov-ernment representatives, teachers and parents. Moreo-ver, for the first time in the history of K-P, the communi-ties were empowered to spend government funds on their local schools.

The quality of construction work - to build additional classrooms and boundary walls - was monitored using third-party monitoring systems.

The government pointed to the migration of students from private to public schools as a strong indicator for the improvement.

Islamabad

Internews

After a gap of nearly nine years, a Japanese For-eign Minister will be

visiting Pakistan, in a bid to further “coordinate” bilateral relations.

Year 2017 sees Pakistan and Japan celebrating the 65th anniversary of the estab-lishment of diplomatic relations.

Taro Kono, the Japanese Foreign Minister is arriving in Islamabad on January 3,for a two day visit at a time when Tokyo says it keeps in mind that, “Pakistan plays an important role for peace and prosperity of the region and that coordination and coop-eration between two countries should be further promoted”.

There has been a deep lull in visits by the two sides as it was far back in 2005 when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pakistan and later it was President Asif Ali Zardari who visited Tokyo in 2011.

The announcement for KONO’s visit was made by the Embassy of Japan but so far there was no word about it from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Pakistan earlier had been upset and protested an Indo-Japanese joint statement.

Islamabad

Internews

The legislation that will pave the way for elections to be held in a timely man-

ner in Pakistan has finally been signed into law after an unex-plained week-long delay.

The constitutional amend-ment bill that makes provisions for fresh delimitation of constit-uencies on the basis of provisional census results was passed by the National Assem-bly on November 16, and then cleared by the Senate on

December 19.Its passage was, by no means, an easy one, and came after a bitter standoff between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which was finally resolved after Prime Minister ShahidKhaqan Abbasi convened a breakfast meeting of parlia-mentary leaders.

The hold-up in presidential assent for the bill was especially conspicuous, given the speed with which the Elections Act 2017 allowing ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to retain

his position as head of the PML-N despite being disquali-fied - was signed into law.

Throughout the week, observers speculated on the reasons behind this delay given the concerns repeatedly voiced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that a delay in the bill’s passage may put off the upcoming elections.

However, a notification revealed that President Mam-noon Hussain had given his assent to the legislation on Dec 22, but somehow a notification to this effect took another four

days to publish. An official privy to the saga explained that as per standard procedure, the house of parliament that adopts a bill already having been passed by the other house sends a sum-mary to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, which then forwards it summary to the prime minister, who in turn advises the president to give the final assent.

After it is signed, the file comes back to the house of par-liament in question via the same route and its secretary is sup-posed to forwards it for

publication in the official gazette.

In the case of the delimita-tion law, the official said, the Senate Secretariat forwarded the summary to the parliamen-tary affairs ministry a day after the bill was passed by the upper house and signed by Chairman Raza Rabbani.

The ministry, in turn, moved a summary to the prime minis-ter, who advised the president to give his assent. In the mean-time, President Mamnoon Hussain was scheduled to travel to Karachi.

Legislation for timely polls becomes law in Pakistan

KP govt spends billions for facilities at schools

Japanese minister to visit Islamabad next week

Geneva

Reuters

A Muslim indigenous com-munity on the Philippine island of Mindanao has

suffered widespread human right abuses that could intensify with President Rodrigo Duterte’s extension of martial law there, UN appointed experts said.

Duterte has called the island a “flashpoint for trouble” and for atrocities by Islamist and com-munist rebels. Lawmakers this month overwhelmingly backed his plan to extend martial law there through 2018, which would be the country’s longest period of such emergency rule since the 1970s era of strongman Ferdinand Marcos. The

militarisation has displaced thousands of the Lumad people and some have been killed, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and inter-nally displaced people.

“They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights,

some of which are potentially irreversible,” the pair said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The Philippines was obliged by international law to protect indigenous peoples and ensure human rights abuses were halted and prosecuted. “This includes killings and attacks allegedly carried out by members of the armed forces,” they said.

Widespread rights abuses in Mindanao: UN experts

The attack drew international condemnation, with Nato’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan describing it as “heinous”. Amnesty International said it was further evidence that Kabul was not safe.

Getting reprieve

07FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 ASIA

People look at dinosaur models at the first indoor dinosaur theme park ‘Jurassic Park’ in China’s Chengdu, yesterday.

Myanmar

Reuters

Health workers in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh are strug-

gling with a shortage of medics able to administer antitoxins to patients infected with diphthe-ria that has killed nearly two dozen people, aid officials said.

Neighbouring Myanmar’s military cracked down on Mus-lim Rohingya from Rakhine state following Rohingya mili-tant attacks on an army base and police posts on August 25. More than 650,000 Rohingya have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh since August, on top of more than 200,000 who fled earlier, according to latest United Nations data.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the lead agency dealing with an outbreak of the bacte-rial disease in camps sheltering the Rohingya, has treated around 2,000 patients in the past few weeks and is receiving around 100 new cases daily.

The World Health Organi-sation (WHO) describes diphtheria as a widespread, severe infectious disease with epidemic potential and a mor-tality rate of up to 10 percent.

MSF has called diphtheria a dis-ease “long forgotten in most parts of the world thanks to i n c r e a s i n g r a t e s o f vaccination”.

MSF has managed to provide antitoxins to only around 12 patients daily due to the lack of trained medics, said Crystal van Leeuwen, an MSF emergency medical coordinator now in Cox’s Bazar where the refugee camps are located.

“Once we do have enough people and other organisations start to administer as well, we may get into a situation where we don’t have enough

antitoxins anymore,” she said. “It’s a double-edged sword. We need both the human resources to administer it, and we need more antitoxins at the same time.” Supply of diphtheria anti-toxin serum has been limited for many years and the shortage is expected to continue through 2017. The British government said on Thursday it was send-ing a team of more than 40 doctors, nurses and firefighters to Cox’s Bazar for six weeks to deal with the diphtheria out-break following a request by the WHO and Bangladesh government.

Phnom Penh

AFP

China will donate ballot boxes and voting booths for Cambodia’s 2018 elec-

tion, an official said yesterday, weeks after Western democra-cies pulled their support in protest over a crackdown on opposition politicians.

The US and the European Union withdrew their backing after a Phnom Penh court

dissolved the main opposition party in November -- a move they said stripped next year’s election of any legitimacy.

The ruling all but guarantees a victory for premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who has been methodically sweeping out rivals as he looks to extend his 32-year run in office.

Western powers and rights groups have warned that the unprecedented crackdown could spell the death of democracy in

the Southeast Asian nation.But Beijing -- a top ally and

benefactor -- has stuck by Cam-bodia’s side, offering to provide an array of equipment for the July 2018 election.

“China pledged to give the equipment to serve the election in 2018,” Dim Sovannarum, a spokesman for Cambodia’s National Election Committee (NEC), told AFP.

He could not confirm the total cost of the donated gear,

which includes computers, bal-lot boxes and voting booths.

The official -- who denied Beijing was filling the gap left by the EU and the US -- said the Chinese assistance would help “ensure transparency, accuracy and accountability” in the poll.

China is Cambodia’s biggest source of foreign aid and regu-larly provides electoral support, including vehicles and other sup-plies worth $11 million for local polls held this year.

Beijing’s total investment in the country topped $11.2 billion in 2016, according to official Cambodian data.

The flood of Chinese cash has significantly cut Hun Sen’s reli-ance on Western donors, whose aid often comes with pressure to safeguard human rights and democratic institutions.

Analysts say Beijing’s back-ing has emboldened the strongman’s attack on political rivals, civil society and the press.

Taipei

AFP

Taiwan has had to scrap 200,000 new passports after an embarrassing

design blunder mistakenly swapped an image of an air-port in Washington for the island’s main airport.

The head of consular affairs resigned and another official was demoted Wednes-day over the fiasco as online pundits joked Taiwan had become the “51st state” of the United States.

The mockery reflects Tai-wan’s delicate political situation as a self-ruling island claimed by China as part of its territory.

The US is its main ally and arms supplier, which has angered Beijing.

Online commenters joked that there should now be a vote on whether Taiwan should become part of the US.

“So desperately want to be American... alright, let’s have a referendum,” one user wrote on local media’s Apple Daily’s website.

The new generation of bio-metric passports were issued Monday with a picture of Washington’s Dulles Interna-tional Airport on the inner pages, instead of Taiwan’s main Taoyuan International Airport. The foreign ministry stopped distribution of the 200,000 new passports printed, which cost Tw$80 million ($2.7 million).

It is recalling the 285 that had already been handed out.

In response to the mistake, the director-general of the

Bureau of Consular Affairs Agnes Chen and her predeces-sor Kung Chung-chen lost their posts as they “did not fulfill their supervisory duties,” the ministry said in a statement.

Kung had been Taiwan’s representative in Canada since last year.

The designers behind the passports drew the images for the inside pages by hand, the foreign ministry said.

One of the designers had wrongly copied from a picture of the Washington airport found on the internet, think-ing it was Taoyuan’s Terminal One, adding a tower that does not exist.

Taiwan first rolled out bio-metric passports in 2008 and the new versions have secu-rity upgrades, including a third image of the passport holder

Kuala Lumpur

AFP

The deaths of two sun bears and a tapir in Malaysia sparked fresh

alarm among activists yester-day at the growing number of exotic animals perishing in the biodiverse country.

A sun bear and tapir were killed in road accidents in the northeast of the country on Christmas Eve, with the tapir skinned by villagers after its carcass was discovered, envi-ronmental group WWF said.

A second sun bear was killed and cut up, with its parts spotted on the same day sold openly at a market in Sarawak state on Borneo island, local media reported.

“Despite all efforts from various organisations and government bodies, yet again, we as a nation, have failed to stand up for our Malaysian wildlife,” said Dionysius Sharma, WWF-Malaysia Executive Director.

Taipei

Reuters

China’s frequent mili-tary activity is causing regional instability, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said yester-

day, adding that the island’s forces have been keeping a close eye on what they are up to.

China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan to be its sacred territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring what it views as a wayward province under Chinese control. China has taken an increasingly

hostile stance towards Taiwan since Tsai, from the island’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, won

presidential elections last year. Beijing suspects her of pushing for the island’s formal independ-ence, a red line for China. Tsai says she wants peace with the mainland, but that she will defend Taiwan’s security and way of life.

China’s air force has carried out 16 rounds of exercises close to Taiwan in the past year or so, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a white paper this week. Chi-na’s military threat was growing by the day, it warned.

Beijing has repeatedly said its drills, which have also taken place in the disputed South China

Sea and the Sea of Japan, are routine and not aimed at any third party. Tsai, speaking to sen-ior military officers in Taipei, said the island wanted peace but could “not have a single day without combat preparedness”. “In this period of time, the fre-quent military activities of mainland China in East Asia have already affected safety and sta-bility in the region to a certain extent,” Tsai said.

“Our country has always been a contributor to safety and stability in the region, this is why the national army has to keep an eye on movements of

the Chinese military and take appropriate actions when needed to guarantee the safety of the country and region.”

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang, speaking in Beijing, said that the drills would not have any nega-tive impact upon the region and that the military’s training would continue and become regular.

“China’s military develop-ment is a force for peace and stability in the region,” Ren told reporters.

China has warned Taiwan against “using weapons to refuse reunification” and its state media

has given a high profile to images of Chinese jets flying close to the island. Tensions rose this month when a senior Chinese diplomat threatened that China would invade Taiwan if any US war-ships made port visits there.

Taiwan is well-equipped with mostly U.S.-made weapons, but has been pressing Washing-ton to sell more advanced equipment. Proudly democratic Taiwan has shown no interest in being run by autocratic China, and Taiwan’s government has accused Beijing of not under-standing what democracy is about when it criticises Taipei.

China’s military activity causing instability: Taiwan“In this period of time, the frequent military activities of mainland China in East Asia have already affected safety and stability in the region to a certain extent,” Tsai said.

Taiwan scraps 200,000 passports

Bangkok

AFP

A Thai activist was briefly detained yesterday after trying to deliver a cheap

watch to the junta number two, as the clock ticks down to a deadline for the general to declare his collection of luxury timepieces.

Activist Ekachai Hongkang-wan, whose stunts regularly skewer the military regime, said he was “dragged” into a Bang-kok police booth while trying to give a $30 watch to Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Prawit’s apparent penchant for pricey timepieces has cap-tivated the Thai public since earlier this month when he was photographed with a Richard Mille watch, whose models can sell for more than $100,000, and a diamond ring.

The photo prompted the country’s anti-corruption agency to seek an explanation for the undeclared bling by Jan-uary 8.

Prawit has shied away from the press since the scandal emerged, saying only in brief remarks that he was not guilty

of any corruption. Online sleuths have dug up pictures of Prawit apparently sporting other high-end brands -- including Patek Philippe and Rolex -- ticking off a kingdom fed-up with a lack of transpar-ency under the military regime.

“Today I came to bring a watch as a New Year’s gift to General Prawit who I know is a watch lover,” Ekachai said.

“But to wear expensive ones these days might get him in trouble again... So I brought him an old watch, about 1,000 baht ($30), that I don’t use anymore.”

Cops said they detained the activist for a “chat” and would not file any charges. Ekachai was released shortly afterwards.

Critics say the case of the general’s watches will likely go the way of other graft scandals under the authoritarian regime -- hold public attention for a few weeks before vanishing.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha has stood by his deputy throughout the scandal, recently telling reporters Prawit is “a soldier and a grown man” who can handle his own affairs.

China pledges support for Cambodia’s 2018 poll

Risk of diphtheria at Rohingya camps

A Rohingya refugee cooks inside their temporary shelter at the Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

Thailand activist held for cheap watch stunt

Spate of animal deaths sparkalarm in Malaysia

N Korean boat skipper ‘charged over Japan theft’Tokyo

AFP

Japanese prosecutors charged a North Korean fishing boat captain for

theft yesterday. The 45-year-old was among 10 N Korean “fishermen” spotted aboard a tiny wooden boat struggling in bad weather off the north-ern island of Hokkaido in Nov. Some of them admitted to “taking out” some electronic products from a remote Jap-anese island where they landed briefly to take refuge.

Ancient giant

Qatar is set to complete all infrastructure projects ahead of time in the run-up to host 2022 FIFA World Cup. This was evident when Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah

bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani paid a visit to the headquarters of the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) to review the main achievements of the authority in 2017, the progress made in realising the authority’s goals and strategic initiatives, development of main projects, in addition to reviewing the authority’s executive plan for 2018 for infrastructure projects.

The visit was important as it showed the government’s determination to complete all projects as per schedule for the benefit of citizens and expatriates residing in the country. Directives were issued by the Prime Minister and Interior Minister to finish the current projects within the scheduled time frame, in accordance to the policies of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of meeting the requirements of the current and future phases, giving priority to the plan of preparing the infrastructure of land owned by the citizens and adding new areas to that plan, as well as prioritising projects related to 2022 World Cup.

Ashghal, outlining its plans, said the it would complete 90 percent of all road projects related to

the 2022 Cup next year in addition to allocating QR21.8bn for the authority’s projects in 2018. A total of QR11.08bn were allocated for establishing highways, QR8.88bn for infrastructure and road and QR1.84bn for sewer pumping stations. The completion of 60 projects since the unjust siege began in June this year and the plan to implement 90 percent of the 2022 World Cup projects in 2018 proves that Qatar has overcome the blockade. It is worth

mentioning that Ashghal completed 250km of highway works out of a total of more than 400km in 2017.

Ashghal President Eng Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi recently had said that the slogan of National Day celebrations — “Promise of Prosperity and Glory” — represented “what we see in terms of economic, urban and scientific renaissance and what we feel in terms of determination to overcome all the challenges facing us” adding that this is the feeling of the Qatari people, including the Ashghal team who work hard to complete the state projects to the fullest.

With work on expressways, infrastructure, sewage networks and other project in full swing by Ashghal, Qatar has proved once again it remains unaffected by the blockade in any form and that it determined to finish all projects at the said time for the welfare of its people.

08 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

Leading the way

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Our country has always been a contributor to safety and stability in the region, this is why the national army has to keep an eye on movements of the Chinese military and take appropriate actions when needed to guarantee the safety of the country and region.

Tsai Ing-wen Taiwanese President

The Prime Minister and Interior Minister’s visit to Ashghal headquarters showed the government’s determination to complete all projects on time.

Amid the roar of condemnation over the Trump administration’s stance on Jerusalem, there were bleats of support from far-flung corners of the world.

In the vote at the United Nations last week on whether to condemn the deci-sion to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Micronesia sided with the United States along with an archipelago of geo-politically obscure outposts: the Marshall Islands, Togo, Nauru, Palau. And then there was a pair of allies closer to home — Guatemala and Honduras, the only two countries in Latin America to support the US move.

Guatemala followed up its UN vote by announcing this week that it would follow Trump’s lead and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that has caused a backlash in the region and beyond. Jordan’s foreign minister described it as an “absurd provocation.” Bolivian President Evo Morales, a veteran critic of the United States, wrote Monday on Twitter that Guatemala had “sold its dignity to the empire to not lose the crumbs from USAID.”

After the vote on Jerusalem, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, invited those countries who didn’t condemn Washington to come to a reception to thank them for their “friendship to the United States.”

Guatemala and Honduras have a lot to lose by upsetting the Trump administration, as the crackdown on illegal immigration has raised the prospect of more deportations, and regional trade and foreign aid have been called into question. But analysts see their

Guatemala and Honduras sided with Trump on Jerusalem. Here’s why

Joshua PartlowThe Washington Post

actions last week as more than just attempts to curry favour with Washing-ton. Both countries have long-standing ties to Israel and are facing domestic challenges that are helped by aligning with conservatives in the United States and Israel.

Guatemalan President James Morales, a former television comedian and an evangelical Christian, relies on the support of his country’s influential evangelical community, which has con-sistently advocated for Israel’s right to have Jerusalem as its capital, consider-ing it a biblical issue as much as a political one.

As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently noted, Morales’s first visit out-side the Americas as president, in 2016, was to Israel, where he received an honorary doctorate and the two coun-tries signed agreements on agriculture and science. In addition, Israel gave military aid to the government for its fight against leftist guerrillas during Guatemala’s civil war in the 1980s. Con-servative members of the Guatemalan military remain key supporters of Morales.

“He’s trying to please his political base,” said Fernando Carrera, a former Guatemalan foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations. “He’s also trying to close the gap of confi-dence with the United States.”

That gap widened over the sum-mer when Morales tussled with a US-backed anti-corruption group. Morales’s attempt to expel Ivan Velasquez, the head of the Interna-tional Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (known by its initials in Spanish, CICIG), who was investigat-ing campaign finance issues, caused an international uproar. After that, Carrera said, Morales was “not consid-ered that credible and trustworthy in Washington.”

“He’s trying to strengthen his posi-tion,” Carrera added. “He wants to push for an agenda that seems to be very much in line with the most conservative geopolitical analysts in the world.”

On Tuesday, Guatemala’s foreign minister, Sandra Jovel, defended the decision to move the embassy and called it “a foreign policy deci-sion, therefore sovereign.” “What we are doing is being coherent with our for-eign policy and the ally we have been for Israel,” she said.

The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, is also in a politically pre-carious position and could use the Trump administration’s help. Protests have roiled Honduras for the past month after a disputed election. The State

Department recognised Hernandez as the winner over challenger Salvador Nasralla, despite calls by the Organisa-tion of American States for a revote.

The Trump administration is still considering whether to deport some 57,000 Hondurans living with tempo-rary immigration status in the United States. Honduras has also received mili-tary aid from Israel that has worried its neighbors and raised human rights concerns.

Many expect that Honduras could also announce its intention to move its embassy to Jerusalem. One Latin Amer-ican diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said there is a “strong possibility of Honduras being next.”

For the embattled leaders of Hondu-ras and Guatemala, siding with the Trump administration seems their saf-est bet.

“It speaks to the isolation of these countries and their need to find friends,” said David Holiday, a Central America expert at the Open Society Foundations. “Any chance they can get to earn Brownie points, they’re going to do that.”

The writer is The Post’s bureau chief in

Mexico. He has served previously as the

bureau chief in Kabul and as a correspond-

ent in Brazil and Iraq.

Guatemala and Honduras have a lot to lose by upsetting the Trump administration, as the crackdown on illegal immigration has raised the prospect of more deportations, and regional trade and foreign aid have been called into question. But analysts see their actions last week as more than just attempts to curry favour with Washington. Both countries have long-standing ties to Israel and are facing domestic challenges that are helped by aligning with conservatives in the United States and Israel.

ED ITOR IAL

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel answers questions during a press conference in Guatemala City.

Guatemala followed up its UN vote by announcing this week that it would follow Trump’s lead and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that has caused a backlash in the region and beyond.

09FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 OPINION

limbo, however, as the government tries to block it from proceeding.

Lawyers and academics say Juliana builds on the groundbreaking Urgenda case brought by hun-dreds of Dutch citizens in 2015, which saw the government ordered by a district court to acceler-ate reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, that outcome is now being appealed, with a decision likely early next year.

Elsewhere, a January judgment is expected in a case brought by Greenpeace Nordic and environ-mental group Nature and Youth against Norway, which they claim has breached its pledge to com-bat climate change by granting oil and gas exploration rights.

Some lawyers and researchers say claims seek-ing specific damages from energy and industrial companies for actions that may have contributed to climate change could have a bigger impact than constitutional cases.

A successful ruling against a heavyweight cor-porate could potentially unleash a wave of similar claims, say case watchers, who reference long-running fights against tobacco, asbestos and pesticide manufacturers over harm to human health.

At least seven Californian cities and counties have brought lawsuits against major fossil fuel companies. San Francisco and Oakland are seek-ing billions of dollars to help protect against rising

A clutch of high-profile legal cases over responsibility for the effects of climate change will be fought out in court-rooms next year as claims

stack up against both governments and some of the world’s biggest oil and energy companies.

Lawsuits in the United States brought by young activists and several Californian cities are most likely to make waves, but legal action by a Peruvian farmer in Ger-many and Greenpeace in Norway could also cause ripples, said lawyers and academics.

“There is a trend towards more litiga-tion around climate change, and probably the lack of political action in the United States may increase that trend,” said Sophie Marjanac, a London-based lawyer at non-profit environmental law group ClientEarth.

“Where there’s an abdication of lead-ership on climate action, I think the courts will have a greater role to play,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Lawyers and campaigners are closely watching the looming legal battles they say could set the stage for fresh claims against major oil and industrial compa-nies, and pressure governments to ramp up action on climate change.

With US President Donald Trump and his cabinet members named as defend-ants, the Juliana v United States case brought by 21 young activists from Ore-gon is set to be one of the most closely followed in 2018.

In the federal case, scheduled for trial in February, the plaintiffs hope to estab-lish that the government’s climate change policies have failed to protect their con-stitutional right to live in a habitable environment.

The case remains locked in legal

Climate change cases predicted to make a legal splash in 2018sea levels they blame on climate change.

“Why should taxpayers and impacted communities alone bear the growing costs of climate impacts when fossil fuel companies have played an outsized role in making the problem worse?” said Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, after Santa Cruz city and county both filed lawsuits this month.

Tracy Hester, a lecturer at the Uni-versity of Houston Law Center, said such claims could “redefine the rules of the game”. “They’re essentially not try-ing to bring a global claim that’s going to lock up all these issues in one court... they’re different in that they’re seeking damages,” he said.

Trump’s move to pull out of the Paris climate change accord and roll

back environmental regulations means campaigners are increasingly resorting to litigation, as they did under former President George W Bush, said case watchers.

While climate-related suits are not new, scientific advances could bolster plaintiffs as they try to pin respon-sibility for climate change on particular polluters.

A German court has agreed to hear evidence in a case brought by Peruvian farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya against RWE AG, asking the power giant to pay to reinforce a lake above his village dangerously swollen by glacial melt he says is caused by global warming the company contributed to.

Yet while there has been a steady rise in cases seeking to hold corporations and governments to account, few make it to court and legal action is largely limited to richer countries.

Despite a few exceptions — including a farmer who successfully sued Pakistan’s government in 2015 - mitigat-ing rather than litigating against climate change is favoured in poorer countries where legal success is less likely, according to Cosmin Corendea, a legal expert at the United Nations University in Bonn.

But the knock-on effect of rulings on companies and governments could eventually be felt around the world, including in countries already struggling with climate change impacts.

“The decision of the court echoes,” said Corendea. “It’s important in climate change litigation to have this kind of momentum.”

The assassination that orphaned Pakistani politics

“Where were you when Bena-zir was killed?” is one of the best ways to start a conver-sation in Pakistan. Most remember the moment

when news of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s death spread and parts of the country fell into turmoil.

Ten years later, Bhutto has not been forgotten. Her name and face frequently appear on billboards and election materials, as candidates continue to exploit her legacy for votes. Schools, colleges, air-ports and hospitals are named after her. There are social welfare schemes in her name. She even has a district named after her — Benazirabad.

Bhutto was so popular that a crowd of hundreds of thousands greeted her in October 2007, when she returned from self-imposed exile, just three months before she was assassinated. With the sup-port of the United States, she was to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.

It was the second time she had staged a trium-phal return to Pakistan. The first one was in 1986 when after several years in exile, she came back to rally the civilian political forces against the military dictatorship. A decade earlier, the Pakistani army had staged a coup against her father, the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and had taken power, hanging him a year later.

Bhutto had a complicated relationship with the military. At times, they would be engaged in a dan-gerous tug-of-war over political power and at others, they would cooperate. She supported hard-

line foreign policy, which the military leadership also pushed for. It was during her second premier-ship in the 1990s that the Pakistan-backed Taliban took over

Kabul. She also had a controversial political track record domestically; both of the govern-ments she led in the 1980s and 1990s were marred by corruption. She was known to appoint members of her family to positions in her cabinet, including her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, and her husband, Asif Zardari, who was known as “Mr 10 percent”.

Even her staunchest critics, however, admit that Bhutto was a force to be reckoned with and was one of the country’s most popular politicians. She was doing what others could only dream of. Few remember how current PM Nawaz Sharif also tried to come back from exile in 2007 only to be deported disgracefully immediately after his arrival.

On December 27, 2007, Bhutto was assassi-nated during a political rally in the city of Rawalpindi. She had just survived another assassi-nation attempt in October that year that had killed some 150 people.

Her death marked a turning point for politics in Pakistan. After her departure, the mainstream political forces would never be able to unite against dictatorship again.

A symptom of this political decay in Pakistan is the fact that 10 years on, Pakistanis still do not know who killed Bhutto. She joins a line of leaders

and heads of state, like Liaquat Ali Khan and Ziaul Haq, whose mur-der mysteries haven’t been solved.

Those same powers who have undermined a proper investigation of her murder have also slowly diminished all that she fought for. Basic rights, including women’s rights and personal freedoms guaranteed in the con-stitution, have all been curbed under the guise of national security.

The civilian politi-cal elite continues to struggle to bring under its control the coun-try’s defence and foreign policies. More and more it seems that the military is pulling the strings in Pakistan.

Mainstream politi-cal parties, which once had representation on a national level, are now able to garner support in one or two provinces only. Religious parties and groups have become increasingly aggressive and have posed a challenge to the traditional political scene. In the coming elections, it is quite likely that right-wing parties, including some with links to militant groups, will emerge stronger than the mainstream.

One of these parties is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose leader, former cricket star Imran Khan, has more than once openly praised the Tali-ban for their mode of governance. His party, which is in power in the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has re-written school textbooks to erase what they referred to as “secular teachings”.

Bhutto’s party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has also changed significantly. The party has suffered from the high hand of Bhutto’s spouse — Zardari, who went on to become co-chairperson and was later elected president of the country. He has appointed his near and dear ones to party and government positions and has sidelined Bhutto loy-alists. The party’s policies have shifted from social reforms to self-enrichment.

The ideology of the party, which once rallied thousands, has been relegated to empty slogans.

Gone are the days of student protests or

People gather near the shrine of assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto to mark her death anniversary in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

workers fighting for their rights in the streets of Karachi. The hope of an equitable society that the party once called for with its slogan “roti, kapra aur makaan,” (bread, clothes and shelter) has been for-gotten. Only money seems to matter, and corruption and nepo-tism have spread through the party like a cancer.

Zardari has sided with the army and has undermined PM Sharif’s test of wills against the judiciary and the generals. It is likely that the PPP would not be able to recover from this pitfall.

Zardari has also been actively undermining his son, Bilawal, who has tried to pick up his mother’s legacy and become a political leader. So far, Bilawal has been unable to capture the imagination of Pakistani voters. He struggles with speaking in his mother tongue and usually ends up mak-ing a fool of himself.

So today, as Pakistanis remem-ber Bhutto and her legacy, they also mourn the sad state of politics in their country. For a decade now, Pakistan’s political elite, obsessed with self-interest and corrupt practices, has been unable to pro-duce a politician with Bhutto’s stature and political acumen who could rally the streets of Pakistan under progressive and inclusive slogans. The dream of a Pakistan as a thriving, vibrant and modern Islamic democracy under civilian rule seems so distant today.

The writer is the director of the

Center for Excellence in Journalism, a

regional centre located in Karachi.

Kamal Siddiqi Al Jazeera

Bhutto was so popular that a crowd of hundreds of thousands greeted her in October 2007, when she returned from self-imposed exile, just three months before she was assassinated.

Sophie Hares & Sebastien MaloReuters

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A woman watches the sun rise behind the Shard from Primrose hill in London, Britain, yesterday.

The day’s beginning

10 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017EUROPE

Terror suspects can be shot on the spot: PutinMoscow

AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that armed criminals could be “liquidated

on the spot,” calling the blast that tore through a Saint Petersburg supermarket and wounded 14 people an “act of terror.”

On Wednesday evening, a homemade bomb placed in a locker at the supermarket in northwestern Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second city and Putin’s hometown, sowing panic among customers and wounding 14 peo-ple including a pregnant woman.

“As you know, an act of ter-ror took place in Saint Petersburg yesterday,” Putin said yesterday, speaking at a ceremony to award officers who took part in Russia’s Syria campaign.

He said he had ordered the nation’s security services to “act decisively” and “liquidate ban-dits on the spot” if armed militants put up resistance.

His spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters later that the Russian leader was referring to all those “who harbour plans to carry out acts of terror in our country.”

Putin’s 2015 decision to intervene in Syria militarily on the side of Bashar Al Assad has made Russia a priority target for the Islamic State group.

Citing the latest count,

officials said a total of 14 people had been wounded in the blast. Six people remained in hospital, they added, noting the wounded would receive financial aid.

The bombing came after the FSB security service said earlier this month it had prevented a terror attack on a key Orthodox cathedral in Saint Petersburg with the help of America’s CIA, which led Putin to thank US President Donald Trump.

The explosion occurred at around 6.45pm (1545 GMT) as people geared up to celebrate the New Year — the country’s big-gest holiday — followed by Russian Orthodox Christmas, which falls on January 7.

Officials said the bomb had power equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT.

The investigation was being

overseen by Russia’s National Anti-Terror Committee even though authorities initially opened a probe into attempted murder.

The committee said the explosion went off after “a crim-inal placed an unidentified explosive device in a storage locker.”

Footage posted online by local media showed a man in a green hooded sweatshirt enter the supermarket with a backpack and leave without it a short time afterwards.

An important cultural venue, Saint Petersburg is also home to tens of thousands of migrants many of whom come from majority-Muslim Central Asia.

Putin’s spokesman Peskov rejected concerns that Saint Petersburg had become especially vulnerable in the face of terror-ism. “Terrorism presents a danger to any populated locality in the world,” he told reporters.

He added that Putin — widely expected to extend his Kremlin term to 2024 in a March presidential election — had every intention to “continue consist-ent and task-oriented work to fight terrorism.”

“The fight is continuing,” he added.

In April, a suicide bombing killed 15 people and wounded dozens on the Saint Petersburg metro.

That bombing was carried out by a national of Kyrgyzstan

and claimed by a group linked to Al Qaeda which said it was a message to countries engaged in war with Muslims, a reference to Russia’s military campaign in Syria.

Earlier this month the FSB said it had arrested several IS members who had planned to blow up the Kazan Cathedral, one of Saint Petersburg’s most famous landmarks, among other busy places.

Authorities have confiscated a large number of explosives used to make homemade bombs, automatic rifles, munitions and extremist literature.

FSB chief Alexander Bort-nikov has said Russia remains on alert for a possible return of jihadists from Syria ahead of the World Cup and the March pres-idential polls.

Saint Petersburg will host several World Cup matches

including a semi-final.Earlier this month Bortnikov

said that at least 4,500 Russians had left the country to fight with “terrorists” in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions.

Over the past 20 years Rus-sia fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, leading Islamist militants from the North Caucasus to frequently target Russians through suicide bomb-ings and other attacks.

An interior view of a supermarket is seen after an explosion in St Petersburg, Russia, in this photo released by Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee yesterday.

Italian PM laments failure to pass citizenship lawRome

Reuters

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni lamented yester-day his government’s failure

to pass a new law on citizen-ship for the children of immigrants as a flaw on its record ahead of elections due early next year.

The question of whether some 800,000 minors who were born in Italy to foreign parents, or who arrived at a young age, could be declared citizens under certain condi-tions, became the most divisive pre-election issue, prompting a scuffle in parliament and exposing deep fissures in the ruling Democratic Party (PD).

“The truth is we didn’t man-age to put together sufficient numbers (in parliament) to approve the law,” Gentiloni told a news conference. “Not man-aging to do this is a flaw on the government’s record.”

Not enough senators attended the final sitting of the upper house to vote on the proposal, which would have allowed children born in Italy to non-Italians who have long-term residency permits, or who arrive before their 12th birth-days and spend at least five years in formal education, to obtain a passport.

Meanwhile, Gentiloni was meeting President Sergio Mat-tarella yesterday in the first formal step ahead of the disso-lution of parliament which is necessary before an election

can be called, a government source said.

After the meeting with Gen-tiloni, Mattarella was expected to summon the speakers of the two houses and then dissolve parliament. Gentiloni’s cabinet will then set the date of the elec-tion, which is widely expected to be March 4.

Speaking at the prime minis-ter’s traditional end of year news conference, he appealed to polit-ical parties not to spread fear and make unrealistic promises in the “imminent” election campaign.

“I think it is in the interests of the country to have an election campaign that limits as much as possible the spreading of fears and illusions, these are the risks we have before us,” he said.

All Italy’s main parties are promising to raise the budget deficit and slash taxes despite record high public debt, and immigration is set to be a central theme of the election, with right-wing parties frequently warning of a migrant “invasion”.

With opinion polls pointing to a hung parliament, Gentiloni said Italy should be prepared to deal with instability but should not fear it, noting that it was now common to many European countries.

“We mustn’t dramatise the risk of instability, we are quite inoculated against it,” he said, in reference to Italy’s frequent changes of government, add-ing that elsewhere in Europe there has been “an Italianisa-tion of political systems”.

Sarajevo prosecutors indict 14 Bosnian MuslimsSarajevo

Reuters

Sarajevo prosecutors indicted 14 Bosnian Muslim wartime army officers and

soldiers for alleged murder, tor-ture and persecution of Bosnian Serb civilians around the town of Konjic during the country’s 1990s war.

Ten of the indicted men are already in detention, the Sara-jevo state prosecutor’s office said in a statement yesterday.

“Fourteen defendants are

accused of war crimes includ-ing murder of several dozens Serb civilians, both men and women of different age, torture, robbery and persecution of nearly the whole Serb popula-tion from the Konjic area.”

Bosnian Serbs, Bosniak Mus-lims and Croats alike committed war crimes during Bosnia’s 1992-95 conflict, though the majority of those convicted by local and international war crimes courts have been Serbs.

The war began in 1992 when Bosnian Serb forces, in response

to a Muslim-Croat vote for inde-pendence from Serbian-led federal Yugoslavia, attacked cit-ies and towns aiming to carve out an ethnically pure Serb state.

Bosniaks joined forces with Croats in regions where they were in a majority, such as Kon-jic, from which they persecuted Serb inhabitants, but they later fought each other.

More than 100,000 were killed and about two million driven from their homes during the war.

Also yesterday, the

prosecutor’s office indicted four Bosnian Serb army officers for alleged genocide against Mus-lims who were fleeing the eastern town of Srebrenica after it fell into Serb hands in July 1995.

Serb forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic slaugh-tered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since the Second World War. Mladic was jailed for life for the massacre by a UN war crimes tribunal last month.

Iraqi migrant travels five hours hiding under busZagreb

AFP

A young Iraqi migrant sneaked under a bus in Serbia and travelled

for five hours clinging to its axle before he was discovered in Croatia, media reported yesterday.

The Jutarnji List daily quoted officials of the Croatian bus company Cazmatrans as saying that the 21-year-old migrant got under the bus trav-elling from Belgrade to Zagreb on Tuesday.

It said he risked his life for five hours holding on to the axle with his arms and legs.

“We heard a loud noise under the bus... We called one of the bus drivers and when he heard the unusual sounds he stopped the bus,” one of the passengers was quoted by the paper as saying.

As soon as the bus stopped near Ivanic Grad, 40km southeast of Zagreb, the visibly shocked young man crawled out, dirty and with blood on his hands, the passenger said.

Croatian police in a state-ment said they found the 21-year-old man at a road-side rest area after being called by the bus driver.

Austria’s top judge criticises tougher laws on asylum, securityVienna

Reuters

The outgoing president of Austria’s constitutional court has criticised ever

tougher legislation on asylum and security measures, days after the conservatives formed a coa-lition government with the far right.

Sebastian Kurz’s People’s

Party joined forces with the anti-Islam Freedom Party this month, vowing to increase the power of the security apparatus, to fight illegal immigration and to com-bat what they perceive as the Islamisation of society.

Gerhart Holzinger, who has to step down as president of the constitutional court at the end of this year due to his age, told the newspaper Der Standard the

new government’s plans to tighten security were aimless “legislative activism”.

When asked about the new government’s plans to take away asylum seekers’ phones and cash and allow their doctors to break with the rule of medical confi-dentiality, Holzinger said such issues would certainly end up with constitutional judges.

“In the sectors of asylum and

migration, there is indeed a stac-cato-style lining up of new laws. It cannot work that way because the apparatus that is supposed to apply these laws is faced with new rules every month or half year,” he said.

“But sometimes the consist-ent handling and application of laws is more tiresome than the publication of new party (polit-ical) projects.”

Austria had already

tightened its asylum rules under the previous centrist government and some provincial govern-ments have cut social services for refugees - laws that are cur-rently under review by the constitutional court and the European Court of Justice.

Nevertheless, the conserva-tive-far right coalition has promised to introduce these cuts nationwide.

“As you know, an act of terror took place in Saint Petersburg yesterday,” Putin said yesterday, adding he had ordered the nation’s security services to “act decisively” and “liquidate bandits on the spot” if armed militants put up resistance.

11FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 AMERICAS

People walk along Sixth Avenue as a cold weather front hits the region in Manhattan, New York, yesterday.

Cold weather in Manhattan

Geneva

AFP

Two UN human rights experts yesterday said that the pardon of former

Peruvian president Alberto Fuji-mori was a “slap in the face” to victims of his brutal rule.

The decision triggered pro-tests by thousands of angry Peruvians denouncing both the pardon and current President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who decreed Fujimori’s release on Sunday, three days after nar-rowly surviving impeachment on graft allegations thanks to Fujimori’s son, Kenji.

Fujimori, 79, had been serv-ing a 25-year prison sentence for the murder of 25 people by death squads and other human rights abuses committed during his time in office from 1990 to 2000.

“The presidential pardon granted to Alberto Fujimori on

politically motivated grounds undermines the work of the Peruvian judiciary and the inter-national community to achieve justice,” UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Pablo de Greiff said.

“We are appalled by this decision. It is a slap in the face for the victims and witnesses whose tireless commitment brought him to justice,” the experts said.

“It is also a major setback for the rule of law in Peru: a human-itarian pardon has been granted to someone convicted of seri-ous crimes after a fair trial, whose guilt is not in question and who does not meet the legal requirements for a pardon.”

Kuczynski said his pardon was given on humanitarian grounds, based on the former president’s ill health. Fujimori, who has been in a Lima clinic since Saturday, was transferred

from prison after suffering low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. As president, Fujimori earned respect from many Peru-vians for his ruthless campaign to defeat leftist Shining Path guerrillas, but his brutal, illegal methods were also condemned by other parts of Peruvian soci-ety and foreign observers.

The timing of the pardon was seen by many in Peru as suspicious, coming days after Kuczynski barely survived an impeachment motion in the opposition-controlled Congress. It was only because Kenji Fuji-mori convinced some members of a party led by his sister Keiko not to support the impeachment that Kuczynski was not removed from power.

“The government should not give in to political pressure and ignore its domestic and inter-national obligations,” the UN special rapporteurs said.

Washington

AFP

The United States’ top diplomat defended his country’s foreign policy record, saying progress had been

made in the last year to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambi-tions and to counter the “immense challenges” posed by Russia, China and Iran.

In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said some 90 percent of Pyongyang’s export earnings had been cut off by a series of international sanctions after the Trump administration “abandoned the failed policy of strategic patience”.

Tensions have escalated dra-matically on the Korean peninsula this year after the iso-lated but nuclear-armed regime staged a series of atomic and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests — and as US Presi-dent Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traded personal insults.

Washington wants North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme and has spear-headed three rounds of UN sanctions against the isolated regime, restricting crucial exports of coal, iron, seafood and textiles from the cash-starved state. Pyongyang has hit out at those sanctions and has vowed to never give up its nuclear programme.

In his piece Tillerson said “a door to dialogue remains open” for Pyongyang but warned “until denuclearization occurs, the pressure will

continue”. At the same time he called on China — Pyongyang’s only major ally — to “do more” to pressure North Korea.

Trump’s administration has been dogged by allegations his campaign team colluded with Russia to help him win last year’s election. Addressing rela-tions with Moscow, Tillerson said the Trump administration had “no illusions about the regime we are dealing with” and that they were “on guard against Russian aggression”.

But he added that Washing-ton needed to “recongize the need to work with Russia where mutual interests intersect” cit-ing Syria civil war where the two countries have backed opposing sides but pushed for peace talks. On Iran he struck a less conciliatory tone.

He also defended his cuts to the State Department and USAID budget, saying they were designed to “address root prob-lems that lead to inefficiencies and frustrations”. Critics say Tillerson’s first year in office has seen scores of key diplo-matic posts go unfilled, embassies hampered by cuts and many veteran staff leave the foreign service altogether.

Sao Paulo

Reuters

Brazil’s top prosecutor has launched a legal chal-lenge against pardons

granted by President Michel Temer just before Christmas, saying they are unconstitutional and threaten a probe into the country’s largest-ever corrup-tion scandal.

The pardons traditionally granted by the Brazilian presi-dent around Christmas are applied to criminals meeting certain conditions, including having already served part of their sentence.

But Temer drew sharp crit-icism from public prosecutors and on social media last week by making the rules more gen-erous and extending them to include people convicted of corruption-related crimes. Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said on Wednesday that she is requesting an injunction to stop parts of the December 21 presidential decree from going into effect.

“The head of the executive branch does not have unlim-ited power to grant a pardon. In the republic, no power is unlimited,” the statement said, quoting from the legal filings. Dodge said the pardon under-mines the separation of powers and would grant impunity to those guilty of graft in the cor-ruption scandal.

The nearly four-year inves-tigation into the scandal is known as Operation Car Wash and has sparked several other major probes. Under Car Wash, dozens of powerful businessmen and

politicians have been jailed for political kickbacks, usually involving private enterprises paying billions in bribes to win contracts with state-run compa-nies, such as the oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro.

A spokeswoman for Temer directed questions to the Jus-tice Ministry. Justice Minister Torquato Jardim said that after discussions with Temer yester-day morning, the government would not back down on the decree, according to a report on the G1 website of Globo tel-evision network. The government will wait for a deci-sion on the matter from the president of the Supreme Court, Carmen Lucia, Jardim told G1.

Temer’s decree orders that, with some caveats, non-violent, first-time offenders who have already served one-fifth of their sentence are eligible for pardon, compared to one-quarter previ-ously. The decree also eliminates prior terms that barred prison-ers with sentences longer than 12 years from being pardoned.

Jardim wrote in an op-ed published later in O Globo newspaper that Temer was act-ing within constitutional norms that allow for pardons to be granted as acts of mercy.

The decree is aimed at par-doning criminals like the more than 70,000 people jailed for theft and not the 50 or so imprisoned for corruption, only one of whom is thought be eli-gible for pardon under the decree, he wrote. The cut-off for the pardons is December 25 and will not affect those con-victed beyond that date, Jardim wrote.

Denver

Reuters

Alabama’s secretary of state said yesterday that Democrat Doug Jones

would be certified the winner of the state’s US Senate race despite a legal challenge by Republican Roy Moore, whose campaign was derailed by accu-sations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

Jones won the seat, vacated when US President Donald Trump tapped Jeff Sessions as attorney general, by about

20,000 votes, or 1.5 percentage points, election officials said. That made him the first Demo-crat in a quarter of a century to win a Senate seat in the state.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill was to meet with other members of the state can-vassing board, Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, to certify the result. “Doug Jones will be certified today,” Merrill told CNN in a phone call.

Moore’s challenge alleged there had been potential voter fraud in the December 12

election that denied him a chance of victory. His filing on Wednesday in the Montgomery Circuit Court sought to halt the meeting scheduled to ratify Jones’ win yesterday. Moore declined to concede defeat despite being urged by Trump to do so.

Janet Porter, a spokes-woman for Moore’s campaign, said in an interview with CNN that the challenge aimed to ensure that votes were properly counted. “It’s incumbent on the Alabama secretary of state to make sure,” she said.

Lima

AFP

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was being questioned yes-

terday by anti-corruption prosecutors over his links to Odebrecht, a disgraced Bra-zilian construction firm that has admitted to bribing offi-cials to secure public works contracts.

The president’s press service said: “President Kuc-zynski is in a reserved meeting with the prosecutors since 9:30am in the Govern-ment Palace.” The interrogation came a week after Kuczynski survived an impeachment motion in the opposition-dominated Con-gress over the same matter.

The motion was launched on accusations that Kuczyn-ski, a 79-year-old former Wall Street banker, had lied to cover up his ties to Ode-brecht. After initial denials, Kuczynski this month admit-ted he had taken money from Odebrecht for what he and the Brazilian company insisted were legitimate con-sulting fees.

The money was received between 2004 and 2013, a period during part of which Kuczynski was economy minister and head of cabinet for then-president Alejandro Toledo.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying millions of dollars in bribes to top officials in several Latin American countries to secure lucrative and inflated public works contracts. It has paid a record $2.6bn in fines to the US, Brazilian and Swiss governments.

The company has said it paid $20m in kickbacks to Toledo, whom Peru wants extradited from the United States to face charges.

New York

Reuters

New York City is on track to record fewer than 300 murders in

2017, marking a steep decline since the early 1990s when the annual death toll exceeded 2,000 people.

As of Sunday, 284 people were murdered in the nation’s largest city, down from 329 in the same period in 2016, according to New York Police Department (NYPD) data released this week. All seven major crimes tracked by police, including rape, assault and robbery, showed declines.

Barring a spike in the final week of the year, the number of murders in the city will drop under the low of 333 in 2014. Police officials emphasized that murders continued to decline even as the city’s population swelled to more 8.5 million.

“The homicide rate per capita is lower than anything we have ever seen,” J. Peter Donald, an NYPD spokesman, wrote on Twitter yesterday.

Fewer than 13,700 rob-beries have been reported so far in 2017, compared with 15,500 in 2016 and 100,280 in 1990. Serious assaults fell below 20,000, about half the number seen in 1990. Bur-glaries have dipped below 12,000, compared to 122,055 in 1990. Police had recorded 1,416 rapes in the year through Sunday, one fewer than the same period last year but above the low in 2009 of 1,205.

Supporters of political leader Keiko Fujimori wait outside the prosecutor’s office while she responds to questions regarding the Odebrecht corruption case, in Lima, Peru, yesterday.

Fujimori pardon a ‘slap in the face’ for victims: UN experts

Peru President quizzed over links to Brazil’s Odebrecht

Brazil prosecutor challenges pardons granted by Temer

Alabama officials to certify Jones as Senate winner despite Moore challenge

New York City murders drop below 300

Tillerson defends country’s foreign policy record

Tillerson defended his cuts to the State Department and USAID budget, saying they were designed to “address root problems that lead to inefficiencies and frustrations”.

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Yesterday's answer

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AL KHOR

Bleeding Steel (2D/Action) 10:15am, 12:30, 2:00, 2:45, 5:00, 7:00, 7:15, 9:15, 9:30, 11:30, 11:45pm & 12:00midnight Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Action) 10:00, 11:30am, 12:15, 2:30, 4:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15, 9:30 & 11:30pm & 12:00midnight Ferdinand (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:15, 2:30 & 4:45pm The Greatest Showman (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 2:30, 4:15, 6:30, 7:00, 8:45, 11:00 & 11:30pmCrooked House (2D/Drama) 12:10, 4:40 & 9:10pmPitch Perfect (2D/Comedy) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Jackals (2D/Action) 10:15am, 2:30, 6:45 & 11:00pm IP Man 3 (2D/Action) 12:15, 4:30 & 8:45pm Nails (2D/Horror) 10:00am, 2:00, 6:00 & 10:00pm Alaa Wadaakh (2D/Arabic) 12:00noon, 4:00, 8:00pm & 12:00midnight Tiger Zinda Hai (2D/Hindi) 11:00pm Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2 (2D IMAX/Action) 10:15am & 1:15pm

Ferdinand (2D/Animation) 2:15pm Alaa Wadaakh (2D/Arabic) 2:15pmArth: The Destination (2D/Comedy) 3:00pm Tiger Zinda Hai (2D/Hindi) 3:45, 8:30, 10:15 & 11:15pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Animation) 4:00 & 6:00pmPitch Perfect 3 (2D/Comedy) 5:30pm The Greatest Showman (Drama) 6:30pm Ang Panday (2D/Tagalog) 7:15pm Bleeding Steel (2D/Action) 8:00pmIP Man 3 (2D/Action) 9:30 & 11:30pm Balloon (Tamil) 11:30pm

Tiger Zinda Hai (2D/Hindi) 2:30, 8:15 & 11:00pm Crooked House (2D/Drama) 2:45pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Animation) 3:00 & 5:00pmAlaa Wadaakh (2D/Arabic) 5:00pm Jackals (2D/Horror) 6:45pm Ang Panday (2D/Tagalog) 5:30pm The Greatest Showman (Drama) 7:00pm Pitch Perfect 3 (2D/Comedy) 7:45pm Bleeding Steel (2D/Action) 9:00pm IP Man 3 (2D/Action) 9:30 & 11:00pm Kalavaadiya Pozhudhugal 11:15pm

Crooked House (2D/Drama) 2:30pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 6:30pmTiger Zinda Hai (2D/Hindi) 2:30, 6:30, 10:45 & 11:15pm The Greatest Showman (Drama) 4:30pm Pitch Perfect 3 (2D/Comedy) 4:30pm Balloon (Tamil) 5:30pm Ang Panday (2D/Tagalog) 8:30pmIP Man 3 (2D/Action) 8:00pm Bleeding Steel (2D/Action) 9:15pmJackals (2D/Horror) 10:00pm Kalavadiya Pozhudhugal (2D/Tamil) 11:30pm

Vimanam (Malayalam) 1:00, 7:00, 8:45, 10:00pm & 01:00am Balloon (Tamil) 4:00pm Velaikkaran (Tamil) 12:30, 3:30, 6:30pm & 12:30am

Kalavadiya Pozhuthugal (Tamil) 9:30pm MCA (Telugu) 12:30pmTiger Zinda Hai (Hindi) 12:30, 3:15, 3:45, 7:00, 10:15pm & 01:15am

Pitch Perfect 12:15, 4:45 & 9:15pm We Are All Hostiles 3:15 & 8:30pmBleeding Steel 12:45, 6:00 & 11:15pm The Greatest Showman 2:30, 7:00 & 11:30pm Tiger Zinda Hai (2D/Hindi) 12:00noon, 5:45 & 11:30pm Jumanji 3:15 & 9:00pm

Ferdinand (2D/Animation) 10:30am, 12:50, 3:10 & 5:30pm Tiger Zinda Hai (Hindi) 3:00, 6:15 & 10:45pm Kalavaadiya Pozhudhugal 10:30am, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:30pm Bleeding Steel 10:30am, 12:50, 3:10, 5:30,

7:50 & 10:10pm Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (Animation) 7:50 & 10:20pm

The Greatest Showman 10:30am, 12:45 & 8:30pm

15FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017 MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

04.57am

06.18 am

ZUHRASR

11.36 am

02.33 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

04.55 pm

06.25 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 02:30 – 12:30 LOW TIDE 07:30 – 19:45

Hazy to misty / foggy over most areas

at first becomes moderate temperature

with some clouds, cold by night.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

15oC 24oC

Bangkok

AFP

A DNA test will decide the fate of a near $1m lot-tery prize after a Thai teacher said he lost the winning tickets which were later claimed by

an ex-cop.A bitter legal wrangle unfolded after 50-year-old

teacher Preecha Kraikruan filed a complaint that he had lost the five lottery tickets which won a draw last month. Authorities discovered the 30m baht ($920,000) prize had already been collected by retired policemen Charoon Wimon, 62, in western Kan-chanaburi province. With both parties claiming the cash is rightfully theirs, forensic police are now step-ping in to determine whose finger prints match the ticket stubs. “No one has been charged yet in this case as we have to wait for the DNA test results,” Krissana Sapdet, deputy Kanchanaburi provincial police com-mander, said.

A forensic official with the justice department said the results are expected next month.

The government-run lottery, which is drawn twice a month, has a fanatical following in a kingdom where nearly all other forms of gambling are banned.

Kuta, Indonesia

AFP

Bali’s palm-fringed Kuta beach has long been a favourite with tour-ists seeking sun and surf, but

nowadays its golden shoreline is dis-appearing under a mountain of garbage.

Plastic straws and food packaging are strewn between sunbathers, while surfers bobbing behind the waves dodge waste flushed out from rivers or brought in by swirling currents.

“When I want to swim, it is not really nice. I see a lot of garbage here every day, every time,” Austrian trave-ler Vanessa Moonshine explains.

“It’s always coming from the ocean. It’s really horrible,” she adds.

Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.

The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.29 million metric tons is estimated to be produced annually by Indonesia. The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years -- clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injur-ing or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.

The problem has grown so bad that officials in Bali last month declared a “garbage emergency” across a

six-kilometre stretch of coast that included popular beaches.

Officials deployed 700 cleaners and 35 trucks to remove roughly 100 tons of debris each day to a nearby landfill. “People with green uniform were collecting the garbage to move it away but the next day I saw the same situation,” said German Claus Dignas, who claimed he saw more garbage

with each visit to the island. “No one wants to sit on nice beach chairs and facing all this rubbish,” he added. Bali’s rubbish problem is at its worst during the annual monsoon season, when strong winds push marine flotsam onto the beach and swollen rivers wash rub-bish from riverbanks to the coast, according to Putu Eka Merthawan from the local environment agency.

‘Garbage emergency’ in Bali amid sea of waste

Thai teacher turns to DNA to prove $1m lottery win

Richmond, Va.

AP

The discovery in China of an underground army of nearly 8,000 life-size terracotta soldiers is considered one of the greatest archaeological

finds of the 20th century.More than four decades after they

were first seen in modern times, by farmers in Shaanxi province, the Vir-ginia Museum of Fine Arts has 10 of the majestic figures on display in an exhibit that explores the history of ancient China and the reign of its first emperor, Ying Zheng.

Although various assortments of the terracotta soldiers have been dis-played previously in museums in New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and else-where, the exhibit in Richmond also includes 40 objects never seen in the U.S., including ancient jade ornaments, precious jewelry and ceramics.

“Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China” is only being shown in Richmond and at the Cincin-nati Art Museum, where it goes after its run in Virginia ends March 11.

The exhibit explores the life of Ying Zheng — who declared himself Qin Shihuang, the first emperor — and how he influenced China during his reign from 221 to 210 BC. Historians believe he ordered the construction of the ter-racotta army, which was buried in pits

and discovered 2,000 years later, about a mile east of the emperor’s bur-ial site.

“We want visitors to learn who is the first emperor and what people’s lives looked then, what technology developed during that time and the architecture of that time,” said Li Jian, the co-curator.

“No matter rich or poor, royal emperors or commoners, people had a quest for immortality,” she said. “These excavated objects reflect the people’s lives at the time.”

The first two rooms of the exhibit showcase horse and chariot fittings, arms and armor, works of art in gold and silver, and other cultural relics.

A bucket-shaped mask with an open mouth and cut-out eyes is the oldest object, dating to 3500 BC, when an exorcist would have worn it while performing rituals to ward off evil spir-its and misfortune. A necklace of red agate beads and white jade pendants was a type of jewelry favored by Qin nobility. A bronze household lamp would have contained vegetable oil or animal fat, capable of burning for long periods of time in an era before candles.

Visitors encounter an imposing sight as they enter the third room: The terracotta soldiers, 6 feet tall and weighing between 250 and 400 pounds each, are positioned in indi-vidual open cases, in various poses

of war. There’s the armored general, with detailed carving depicting a pro-tective leather apron overlaid with plated armor. An infantryman stands at attention with both arms at his side. A standing archer and a kneeling archer depict the Qin military strat-egy, requiring one group of archers to stand and provide cover fire while another group knelt and loaded bolts into their crossbows.

Connie James, a retired kindergar-ten teacher from Richmond, appreciated the details as she spent a

recent weekday afternoon exploring the exhibit with her husband.

“I was expecting them to look like a terracotta flower pot, but they’re very intricate,” she said. “For those of us who couldn’t get to China, this is some-thing very special.”

Her husband, David James, liked seeing the ancient weapons used by the warriors.

“I wouldn’t have imagined they would have been used in a cross-bow at that time, but they were,” he said.

Exhibit explores reign of China’s first emperor

The sculptures of the Terracotta Army at the Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xian in north China’s Shaanxi province.

A rubbish collector clearing trash at Kuta beach near Denpasar in Bali.

A graffiti mural on a wall in the Jordanian capital Amman. A tiny group of graffiti artists are on a mission — daubing flowers, faces and patterns across the capital Amman to bring more colour to the lives of its four million inhabitants.

Giant mural

Washington

QNA

US scientists discovered great potential for broccoli in the fight against cancer and considered

it the best vegetable to protect humans from this disease.

Broccoli contains a large propor-tion of the chemical compound

(Sulforaphane) which directly fights cancerous tumors and is able to destroy infected cells by preventing them from reproducing without harm-ing any of the healthy cells around them, scientists at the US University of Michigan said. The findings of the study showed that the use of broccoli in food periodically reduces the number of cancer cells in the body significantly.

On the other hand, it became clear to scientists from England that green cau-liflower fights the development of more common joints disease, because Sulforaphane slows down destruction of cartilage in joints.

Broccoli is useful because it is rich in vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2 and PP and contains many minerals (potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium,

copper, magnesium, iodine, manga-nese, boron, chromium), as well as folic acid, thiamine and riboflavin.

It also removes toxins from the body, prevents the development of hardening of the arteries, improves the work of the heart, strengthens the hair and slows down the aging process.

Scientists advise people to eat green cauliflower fresh or boiled.

Eating broccoli slows down cancer-cells growth

16 FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017HOME