new tourism strategy in - the peninsula · he qatar tourism authority (qta) will launch the next...

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Volume 22 | Number 7154 | 2 RiyalsSunday 7 May 2017 | 11 Sha'baan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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The Peninsula

The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) will launch the next phase of the National Tour-ism Sector Strategy in

September. The Authority, through this strategy, aims to promote Qatar as a world-class tourist destination character-ised with its deep historical cultural roots, said a senior offi-cial of QTA, yesterday.

QTA has launched consul-tations with members of the tourism sector and other related sectors to chart a roadmap towards launching the next phase of the strategy. The updated strategy will be launched on September 27, which marks the World Tour-ism Day, reported QNA.

Speaking at a press confer-ence, Hassan Al Ibrahim, Chief Tourism Development Sector at QTA, said the Authority will take several steps before launching the strategy. QTA will hold wide range of direct meet-ings with key policy makers and decision-makers in Qatar, host two forums to bring together stakeholders of different sec-tors and will conduct a series of public-opinion polls. The first forum will be organised on 15-16 of this month.

As Qatar continues to

develop the tourism sector, QTA must take all these factors into account and respond to any changes required by the new approach to build a booming tourism sector, he added.

By September this year, the QTA intends to complete the consultation process and final-ise a comprehensive and accurate review of the strategy to ensure that Qatar's tourism industry is on track to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030.

During the press confer-ence, Al Ibrahim made a presentation on the steps to be taken by QTA for the next phase of Qatar National Tourism Sec-tor Strategy 2030, in which he stressed on the importance of the role being played by the pri-vate sector in the tourism sector.

→ Continued on page 4

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani during the opening of 5th Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, at Qatar National Convention Center, yesterday.

The Peninsula

OOREDOO hopes to launch 5G speed by the end of this year allowing users to avail high speed mobile services. The company announced yesterday that it is building a 5G-ready network, having added a tenth base station equipped with 5G-ready technology last weekend.

“If you look at the his-tory of our network, Ooredoo has always been a regional pioneer, ensur-ing that the people of Qatar enjoy the best network and fastest data experience. By creating a 5G-ready net-work, we believe we will be among the first opera-tors in the world to offer incredible 5G speed and services for all our custom-ers,” said Waleed Mohammed Ebrahim Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar.

“We hope to have 5G speeds available by the end of the year and we are already looking to collaborate with partners to ensure that a full range of 5G-ready devices and smartphones will be available for Ooredoo customers in Qatar,” said Waleed Al Sayed.

With the addition of the tenth base station, Ooredoo has successfully passed another important technology milestone. → Continued on page 4

Umrah packages to be costlier this Ramadan

First-of-a-kind survey on public health launched

New tourism strategy in September

The Peninsula

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin

Khalifa Al Thani yesterday offi-cially opened The fifth Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare (ME Forum 2017).

The international quality improvement conference for healthcare professionals, was opened in the presence of Min-ister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari and d i g n i t a r i e s i n c l u d i n g

representatives from Ministries of Health in the GCC states.

During the Forum, Dr Al Kuwari announced the launch of the Qatar Public Health Strat-egy 2017-2022 Consultation, a first-of-its-kind survey inviting feedback on public health issues in Qatar. Data from the survey will be used to inform the Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-2022 prior to its formal launch later this year.

Organised by HMC and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), ME Forum 2017 saw greater involvement

from other healthcare partners and a wider range of delegates, demonstrating the strategic importance placed by inter-pro-fessional groups on promoting quality and safety improvement in the region.

Dr Al Kuwari noted that the Forum’s focus this year aligned closely with the Ministry of Pub-lic Health’s efforts to transform and enhance its healthcare sec-tor. She also outlined the quality improvement journey taken over the past five years since the first Middle East Forum was arranged.


Sidi Mohamed The Peninsula

Despite efforts being made by the govern-ment to protect Arabic

language from distortions, the mistakes committed by insti-tutions and supermarkets are still rampant. The Cabinet last

year had approved a draft law on the protection of Arabic language.

Supermarkets and institu-tions commit big mistakes during promotional campaigns when they translate words from English to Arabic.

“I didn’t expect to find such mistakes during my routine visit

to one of supermarket. The word ‘local beef head’ was translated into Arabic as ‘president of local beef’. I usually find many mis-takes but this mistake made me laugh and also others who noticed it,” said Numaan, a visitor.

Such mistakes mean that the supermarkets have no qualified

translators and they let the workers do the translation job without any monitoring mech-anism. They do not care about the reputation of the supermar-ket because such blunders are hot in circulation on the social media and many people take them as laughing stock.


Mistakes in translation tickle a funny bone

Amna Pervaiz Rao The Peninsula

As Ramadan is around the corner, many aspiring pilgrims will have to

spend more. Tour operators have come out with attractive offers to cash in on the huge demand of expatriate families booking for Umrah trips.

Different Umrah packages are offered by the travel agents and the prices range between QR1,300 and QR7,000, accord-ing to industry sources.

“The fare is slightly high in Ramadan, it increases during the last ten days. Our offer for the first ten days of Ramadan includes two nights in Madinah and three days in Makkah per person and we are charging QR2,420 by bus and QR3,600 by air per person," a tour oper-ator told The Peninsula.

“During the last ten days we charge QR4,520 per per-son and QR2,500 in sharing room. The Umrah package includes Umrah visa, Qatar Airways fight ticket if travel-ling by Air and accommodation

in 4-star hotel,” he added. Several travel agents say that

prices for Umrah trips usually increase during the last ten days of Ramadan. ”The cost of Umrah package that involves travel by road is between QR1,800 and QR2,000 in the beginning of the holy month this year. Last year it was in the range of QR1,400 to QR1,800.Similarly, the cost by air is between QR5,500 and QR9,000 this year as against QR3,000-QR7,000 last year," said a travel adviser.

Some travel agencies have announced details of their Umrah packages on their web-sites and social media.“The packages include, Umrah visa, Umrah group air packages (four Nights), Umrah group weekend air packages (two Nights),Umrah bus packages — ten Days, cus-tomised Umrah air packages, air tickets, hotel bookings in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, transpor-tation, visits to historical places (Ziyarah), guide service and post-Umrah tours (Taif, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah),”a travel agency says on its website.


Attorney-General and UN Special Advocate for the Prevention of Corruption, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, during the inauguration of the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (ROLACC) in Geneva. Also seen is Dr Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, former Tunisian president.

ATTORNEY GENERAL and UN Special Advocate for the Prevention of Corruption, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri, inaugurated the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (ROLACC) , which was established in part-nership with the United Nations. The new center is the third regional center to be opened after the Doha ROLACC launched in December 2011 at the initiative of the State of Qatar, in partnership with the UN and the Dakar Center in the Senegalese capital. → See also page 4

Marri inaugurates Anti-Corruption Center in Geneva

Ooredoo aims

5G speed

by year-end

Geneva

QNA

The updated strategy will be launched on September 27, which marks the World Tourism Day. QTA will take several steps before launching the strategy.

02 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017HOME

Minister forms new Board of Trustees for CNA-QQNA

Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed bin Abdul

Wahed Al Hammadi, yesterday issued a ministerial decision form-ing the Board of Trustees of the College of the North Atlantic Qatar ((CNA-Q) under the chairmanship of H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and

Industry, who will take over the College's administration and super-vision, in order to achieve the public interest.

In accordance with the minis-terial decision, the Board of Trustees of the College, whose term of office is three years, shall elect a Vice-President from the voting members and shall also elect a Sec-retary to carry out the Secretariat's activities.

ME Forum boosts health sector→ Continued from page 1

“Our shared passion for excellence in healthcare is what unites us every day in the work that we do and keeps us coming back to this conference year upon year,” said Dr Al Kuwari.

“At the heart of everything we do needs to be a willing-ness to change and adapt, to learn new ways of working and aspire to be the very best for our patients. Participation in this Forum is a testimony to the value that so many healthcare professionals place in invest-ing their time and effort to deliver better care to our patients,” Al Kuwari added.

Dr Al Kuwari also high-lighted the developments and progress made across the pub-lic health system since the

Forum’s first year. She noted that the ME Forum is a unique professional development opportunity for healthcare industry employees in the region who are driven by a desire for excellence in patient care.

She also noted that the clinical poster competition, being held as part of the Forum programme, was evidence of real progress in healthcare delivery improvement in the GCC.

Maureen Bisognano, Pres-ident Emerita and Senior Fellow at IHI and a long-time associate of HMC, in her pres-entation, said, “There is a growing realisation that the successful health and health-care systems of the future will be those that work

simultaneously to enhance the experience of care that indi-viduals receive, improving the health of populations, while also reducing the per capita costs of healthcare. Qatar has demonstrated its determina-tion to optimize its healthcare system and support a sustain-able framework that will ensure the continued delivery of high quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to future generations.”

Following the opening cer-emony, the first plenary session featured IHI President and CEO, Derek Feeley, who described the importance of safety as a national priority for the Triple Aim. “The ‘Triple Aim’ framework serves as a foundation for organizations and communities around the

world to successfully navigate the transition from a focus on healthcare to optimizing health for individuals and popula-tions,” he said.

The three day ME Forum features a total of five plenary speakers and around 50 tar-geted presentations and interactive workshops, offering delegates valuable opportuni-ties to pursue professional development by engaging with quality improvement experts and like-minded healthcare professionals from around the world.

Also the ME Forum is fea-turing the highly anticipated poster exhibition and compe-tition, which is a key component of the quality improvement and safety programme.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani at the fifth Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

03SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 HOME

GU-Q celebrates 2017 graduation ceremony

The Peninsula

Georgetown University in Qatar’s (GU-Q) cel-ebrated its traditional commencement cer-emony for the Class of

2017 with sixty two graduating on Thursday.

The ceremony was attended by H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, CEO of Qatar Foundation, and the address to the graduates was given by H E Sheikh Dr Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, a member of Georgetown University’s board of directors and adviser to the Emiri Diwan.

Dr Abdulla advised the grad-uates that “great achievements require collaboration,” and noted that Qatar relies on cooperation and teamwork which “bring greater progress” to Qatar and the Arab region. He spoke of knowing many of the students through the years, “and watch-ing with pride as they broke through obstacles on the road to graduation and the dreams that lie beyond.”

This year’s class comprises 40 women and 22 men repre-senting 18 nationalities, who graduated with the same globally

recognized Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree that is offered on Georgetown’s Main Campus in Washington, D.C.

This unique, interdisciplinary program prepares students to tackle the most important and pressing global issues by help-ing them develop in critical thinking, analytic, and commu-nication skills within an international context.

“Commencement is an important annual milestone at Georgetown; it is a time when we reflect on the achievements

of our senior students,” said G U - Q D e a n J a m e s Reardon-Anderson.

“I want to congratulate the Class of 2017 on their accom-plishments to date, and wish them well for the future, as they continue on the path to being lifelong learners, and engage the unpredictable world that lies before them.”

The degrees were conferred by president of Georgetown University, John J. DeGioia, who was among the members of Georgetown University leader-ship who travelled to Qatar to

take part in the event. “During their time here at

Georgetown, our students have contributed to our scholarship and learning in significant ways, enlivening our mission with their passion and talents, and engag-ing in service to impact the lives of people across our world,” said DeGioia. “We are deeply proud of all they have accomplished and who they have become, and wish them all the best as they begin this next stage of their journey.”

Other guests included Qatari dignitaries and

government officials, members of the diplomatic and interna-tional community, and the proud family and friends of the graduating students.

The members of the Class of 2017 join more than 340 GU-Q alumni who have graduated from the University since it opened its doors in Qatar in 2005.

These graduates now work in a diverse range of industries in Qatar and abroad, from energy and finance to education, media, foreign service, and healthcare.

H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, CEO of Qatar Foundation; H E Sheikh Dr Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, a member of Georgetown University’s board of directors and adviser to the Emiri Diwan; and President of Georgetown University, John J. DeGioia, along with the graduates.

18 nationalities

Sheikh Dr Abdulla advises graduates that “great achievements require collaboration.”

This year’s class comprises 40 women and 22 men representing 18 nationalities.

Registration for admission to Independent Schools beginsThe Peninsula

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education yesterday announced

that the online registration of new students for Kindergar-ten to Grade 12 in Independent schools will start today and will continue until May 9. The registration at this stage of 2017/2018 academic year is limited to Qatari stu-dents and students whose mothers are Qataris and GCC citizens.

The direct admission of students in schools located within their geographical areas will be held on May 10 & 11.

The Ministry has specified the minimum age for admis-sion of students to KG - children born until the date of 31/12/2013, pre-school until 31/12/2012 and grade one until 31/12/2011.

Interested parents are advised to register their chil-dren using their ID no, mobile no, and electricity bill or cer-tificate from Kahrama and register through the link https://tasjeel.edu.gov.qa/.

For accomplishing the admission, parents need to present final health report, IDs or passports, birth cer-tificate, valid RP for the students where applicable, two photos, electricity bill or certificate from Kahrama to identify their respective residency geographical location, letter from the work place and finally cer-tified school certificates for students coming from other schools.


Qatar takes part in GCC financial and economic cooperation meeting Manama

QNA

A delegation of the State of Qatar, led by the Minister of Finance H E Ali Shareef Al

Emadi, took part in the 106th meeting of the Committee for Financial and Economic Cooper-ation of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain.

According to a statement of the Ministry of Finance, the meet-ing discussed the conclusions of the technical committees related to the development of appropri-ate mechanisms for the

application of the two unified con-ventions on a value added tax and selective taxation signed by mem-ber states in preparation for their implementation in the coming period in the GCC countries.

The meeting also reviewed the recommendations of the Committee of Governors of Mon-etary Institutions and Central Banks of the GCC States on the linkage of payment systems in the GCC countries, and the Cus-toms Union Authority regarding updating of the requirements of the GCC Customs Union.

Participants were also b r i e f e d o n m i n u t e s

of Committee of Governors of Monetary Institutions and Cen-tral Banks of the GCC States and control measures proposed by

the Industrial Cooperation Com-mittee on exempting industrial inputs from the GCC countries from customs taxes, discussing

the working paper on ways to enhance economic cooperation between member States and issues to be included in working

papers prepared by the IMF dur-ing the annual joint meeting scheduled to be held in the King-dom of Bahrain in October.

Minister of Finance, H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi, at the 106th meeting of the Committee for Financial and Economic Cooperation of GCC for Arab States in Manama.

Attorney-General inaugurates ROLACC in GenevaGeneva

QNA

Attorney-General and UN Special Advocate for the Prevention of Corruption, H E Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri,

inaugurated the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (ROLACC) , which was established in part-nership with the United Nations.

The new centre is the third regional centre to be opened after the Doha ROLACC launched in December 2011 at the initia-tive of the State of Qatar, in partnership with the United Nations and the Dakar Center in the Senegalese capital, which opened last year.

On the occasion of the inau-guration of the Geneva Center, a

ceremony was held in the pres-ence of a number of personalities, including Dr Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, former Tunisian Pres-ident, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United

Nations, representatives of Michael Muller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, along with a number of heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Geneva and direc-tors of Geneva-based international organisations.

The Geneva ROLACC will be an important platform in Europe to share experiences, provide training opportunities and con-duct research on anti-corruption and rule of law issues.

Thanks to its privileged posi-tion in Geneva, which hosts a significant number of interna-tional organisations and institutions, the new ROLACC will work on strategic partner-ships with various institutions interested in Anti-Corruption and The Rule of Law issues.

In opening remarks at the inauguration of the new Center, Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri said this step is very important and comes after the great success achieved by ROLACC in the State of Qatar, which was able to become a regional hub for training and hosting conferences and forums on fighting corruption and the Rule of Law.

Over the past years since the establishment of the Doha ROL-ACC, a significant change in the field of awareness in the areas of combating corruption and the rule of law in the region has been achieved thanks to the efforts being exerted by the Center through hosting training courses and events as well as establish-ing important partnerships, Al Marri said.

The new regional center is another beacon that would serve the fight against corruption and the rule of law issues, Al Marri said, noting that the center is supported by UN agencies work-ing in this field, such as the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Center will support Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption ini-tiatives in other countries and provide permanent frameworks for the exchange of experiences and expertise through strategic partnerships with the relevant United Nations bodies, in partic-ular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) responsible for the promotion of cooperation with the world's leading research and training centers, he added.

Through its Geneva Office,

ROLACC will build specialized knowledge and raise individual and institutional competencies that will strengthen the Rule of Law and combat corruption in line with international standards and meet national needs.

The Center will also provide permanent frameworks for the exchange of expertise and expe-riences through the establishment of strategic partnerships with rel-evant United Nations offices and agencies, in particular the UNODC, as well as the world's leading research and studies centers, HE Al Marri added.

The new center also provides and facilitates the education and training of the legal and techni-cal framework to combat corruption for all specialists and practitioners in all sectors.

Third centre

The new centre is the third regional centre to be opened after the Doha ROLACC launched in December, 2011.

The Geneva ROLACC will be an important platform in Europe to share experiences and for training.

→ Continued from page 1Qatar will host the official

World Tourism Day (WTD) 2017 celebrations, which will be held under the theme, ‘Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Develop-ment’ in order to foster awareness among the international commu-nity of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value.

Al Ibrahim explained that the Qatar National Tourism Sec-tor Strategy 2030 was aimed at contributing to the diversifica-tion of the economy and stressed on the need to involve the pri-vate sector.

On the achievements made since the launch of the strategy, Al Ibrahim said that the number of tourists has increased from about 2 million in 2011 to 2.9 mil-lion in 2016. The total contribution of the tourism sector to Qatar's GDP increased from 3.6 percent in 2013 to 4.4 percent in 2015.

QTA has made many achievements in cooperation with the concerned authorities,

including the new free transit visa, the partnership with visa processing services provider VFS Global along entry proce-dures for cruise passengers, Al Ibrahim said. He expects to tri-ple the number of cruise ships visits over the next three years, bringing the number of cruise tourists to nearly 300,000 dur-ing the 2019-2020 season.

QTA hosted three editions of Qatar Summer Festival, which contributed to the Qatari econ-omy by QR630m in 2016 in addition to the first edition of the Qatar Shopping Festival, the first of its kind held in Qatar, con-tributing to the country's GDP by QR1.06bn, he added.

Al Ibrahim said QTA has opened many representative offices bringing their total number to eight as well as the launch of destination and busi-ness events branding, QTA's corporate brand and more than 200 international media and promotion campaigns for tour-ism in Qatar.

He also pointed out that Doha was ranked 64th in Euromonitor International's annual Top City Destinations Ranking covering 100 of the world's leading cities, Al Ibrahim said.

Qatar's hospitality sector has ranked at the top of GCC desti-nations in the "Guest Experience in the Middle East (ME) report," released by hospitality and travel data providers (Olery), he added.

QTA is responsible for plan-ning, regulating and promoting a sustainable tourism sector in Qatar with the aim of achieving economic growth and social development, he said, pointing out that there are four basic and three secondary tourism prod-ucts in Qatar.

The main tourism products are conference and exhibition activities, arts and culture, fam-ily entertainment products and sports tourism. The secondary products are marine tourism, educational tourism and medi-cal tourism, he explained.

New tourism strategy meant toboost economic diversification

Ooredoo testing important 5G equipment→ Continued from page 1

The company has already started reducing the latency of its network towards 1 ms – the standard specified by the Inter-national Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the proposed baseline for next generation 5G technology.

In addition, Ooredoo has ensured that it has sufficient bandwidth by deploying the world’s most advanced fibre network using the latest GPON technology.

Ooredoo continues to test

important 5G equipment, soft-w a r e a n d s p e c t r u m requirements leading up to the standardisation of 5G technol-ogy towards the end of 2017, after which technology partners and handset manufacturers will launch their 5G offerings.

Meeting these technology milestones has given Ooredoo the confidence to confirm that the company will be able to offer one of the world’s first fully-accessi-ble proprietary 5G networks.

In December 2016, Ooredoo was one of the first companies

to successfully conduct 5G tri-als for speed and latency, achieving incredible speeds and much lower latency.

Since this milestone, Oore-doo has pushed forward in building a 5G-ready network foundation across Qatar, includ-ing the ten new base stations.

Ooredoo continues to enhance Qatar’s mobile, Wi-Fi and nationwide Ooredoo Fibre networks on the Ooredoo Super-net as part of the company’s vision to be a data experience leader for all of Qatar.


Sanaullah AtaullahThe Peninsula

More children are able to read and write before enroll ing in grade-1 thanks to

the educational toys that pro-vide learning through play, educationists have said.

Since schools and parents started realising the impor-tance of such toys, their demand has gone up in the local markets, the traders told The Peninsula.

Also, teachers of kindergar-tens said that they noted significant improvement in the performance of children thanks to the newest scientific gadgets and playthings. The tools are very helpful in attracting the concentration of kids.

“Earlier, there were a number of students who could not read and write properly in KG classes but now you can find only one or two kids in a maxi-mum of 20 students in my class in this category who might not focus on learning due to some reasons,” said Umm Abdullah, a KG teacher of an International School.

“Our school administration has provided the most advanced educational toys and computer programs to help the students learn fast. The kids are showing very much interest in play and learning devices. The most interesting tool that has won the hearts and minds of the children is magical e-pen (reading pen),”she added.

Magical pen is a unique edu-cation tool, in the shape of a pen

that recites the written text or dialogue by the characters. When readers use the magical e-pen to touch a book, the pre-loaded audio file is activated and spoken by the speaker inside the pen.

"There are varieties of toys in my school to help the pre-school kids recognize ABC - letters, numbers, shapes, and colors," said Aisha Ahmad, a nursery teacher.

The educational toys are not only helpful for the children but they also provide comfort to the teachers.

“We were used to reading repeatedly the alphabets and poems for kids to teach them and got tired. But now we guide them and machine supported educational toys read and the children learn and enjoy," said a teacher.

“We are supplying more than 100 varieties of educa-tional toys to about 200 schools across the country,” said Abu Salman, a trader of toys. “These products are high in demand including sensory

mood lights and tables, gross and fine motor skills and con-struction blocks and sets for pre-school children. Others are in maths category including shapes, geometry, measure-ment devices like mini number balance, easy digital scale, jun-ior meter stick, among others.”

“The demand for educa-tional toys is increasing in the local market. Schools are always looking for the most advanced tools of learning and so what-ever we offer, they buy, if convinced. We imported about five containers in a year from the USA, Germany, Spain and China. The prices of educational toys range from QR25 to QR2,000. Chinese products are cheaper by about 50 percent compared to those from other countries, and they are the most selling items.”

“Our products have also attracted parents who approached us through schools when they saw any tools there during their visits to schools.”

"We expect that demand for educational toys will increase as parents want more intellec-tual games for their children," he added.

“We are fed up with elec-tronic devices used by our children for long hours,” said Umm Ayma, a mother of two children.

"I preferred buying educa-tional toys to divert the attention of my children from cartoon and other TV programs regardless of their price. I want to see them busy in playing and learning with educational toys," she added.

Educational toys enhance learning skills of children

Better learning

Significant improvement in the performance of children thanks to the latest scientific gadgets.

Educational toys are not only helpful for children but they also provide comfort to teachers.


The Peninsula

Commercial Bank, Qatar’s first private bank, has announced a unique Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative

in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to facilitate an assess-ment centre for secondary students. The assessment centre will highlight the strengths and areas of development of students ena-bling them to make the right academic decisions now for their future careers.

Commercial Bank in association with a professional assessment institution is target-ing 100 Grade 10 students in Qatar from two public schools. The students will be assessed on their interests, skills and abilities by under-going an online test.

Commercial Bank Acting Head of Human Capital, Hamad Salem Al Shekili, said: “Com-mercial Bank invests heavily in developing human capital resources in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, both in terms of our in-house employee training programmes and on a national-scale through the Bank’s educa-tional CSR initiatives. To support Qatar’s human development, we developed this CSR initiative to work with students in a meaning-ful way to help them become tomorrow’s leaders.

Five MEED Quality Awards for QatarThe Peninsula

Qatar scooped five regional awards at the recently con-cluded 2017 MEED Quality Awards for

Projects, the region’s premier recognition programme for completed projects in the Gulf region.

The Public Works Author-ity, Ashghal, was among the big winners with multiple regional awards, with its Doha North Sewage Treatment Works Project winning the GCC Award for Sustainability and GCC Water Project of the Year tro-phies; while the Salwa Road Project received the GCC Road, Bridge, Tunnel Project of the Year honour. Its Medical City Fit Out Project was also recognised as the best in the region in the GCC Healthcare Project of the Year category.

The other GCC winner from Q a t a r w a s Q a t a r

Primary Materials Company’s Qatar Gabbro Terminal (Bulk Material Handling System) Project (entered by Six Con-struct) which won the GCC Logistics Project of the Year award.

The quintuple-award haul was an improvement from last year’s performance for Qatar in the regional awards

programme when it won three trophies, and is a testament to the country’s robust projects industry which is expected to pick up pace as the country hosts the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“We salute these projects for their successful completion according to strict international quality standards, proving that these schemes are comparable to the world’s best in terms of engineering and construction excellence. Equally important, these projects were recognised as the best in the region for hav-ing proven their worth in making signification contributions to the wider socio-economic, environ-mental and cultural development of the region,” says Richard Thompson, editorial director, MEED.

The 2017 MEED Quality Awards for Projects recognised a total of 21 outstanding projects throughout the region. The most coveted award of the pro-gramme, the MEED Quality

Texas A&M University at Qatar graduates its largest class The Peninsula

Texas A&M University at Qatar graduated its largest class ever on May 4 in a ceremony at the

Qatar National Convention Center. About 110 students received their

bachelor’s degrees in chemical engi-neering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and petro-leum engineering during the branch campus’ annual commencement cer-emony. Of those degrees, 56 were awarded to Qatari graduates. In addi-tion, Texas A&M at Qatar awarded 14 Master of Science and Master of Engi-neering degrees in chemical engineering.

Dr César O.Malavé, Dean of Texas A&M at Qatar, presided over the cer-emony — his first since he joined the branch campus in July 2016.

Malavé said: “It is an honour to serve as Dean for Texas A&M at Qatar’s 10th commencement ceremony. A dream that started with 29 students in the fall 2003 has now achieved a major milestone. All the credit goes to the faculty and staff who have dedi-cated their professional lives to the development of these amazing lead-ers. What you see today are fearless engineering leaders that will trans-form our world: Aggie engineers who

will work hard to tackle the challenges of the 21st century and make our world a better place for all.”

J Todd Creeger, President of Cono-coPhillips Qatar and a Class of 1986 graduate of Texas A&M University, was the night’s guest speaker. Creeger con-gratulated graduates for earning a college degree, something that only seven percent of adults can claim.

“The knowledge you’ve gained, and the wisdom to apply this knowl-edge towards worthwhile pursuits, is something of priceless value that no one can ever take away from you,” Creeger said. “Knowledge empowers us, and bestows on us a certain responsibility to people other than ourselves. Your generation will be called upon to deal with a host of pressing issues — population growth, affordable energy, clean water, and improved sustainability among them. Graduates will now be challenged to put their skills to work to solve some of the world’s greatest problems. Today, I challenge you to do just that. And I know when engineers are chal-lenged, they respond. As engineers, you not only have the ability to make the world a better place, you have the responsibility to do so, and this responsibility is worth embracing.”

Creeger also gave graduates three

pieces of advice he has learned throughout his career: to leverage their membership in the Aggie Network, to be bold and to choose to embrace each new day with a positive attitude, because life is short.

Tariq Atiyah, one of the night’s recipients of a degree in mechanical engineering, was selected by the grad-uating seniors to give the student address, surprising his parents whom he hadn’t told he had been chosen to speak.

To his fellow graduates, Atiyah said, “We have now successfully completed this journey at Texas A&M at Qatar and are about to embark on a new one, a more demanding one. When life chal-lenges us we must rise above the challenge. When we are troubled by the ever-changing, uncontrollable, unstable nature of life we must con-tinue to rise. We must not let these challenges stifle us but rather overcome them with grace and confidence.”

And to the parents and family mem-bers of the graduates, Atiyah said, “You have all graduated with us today. You have graduated from being the parents of children at home to being the parents of young men and women on their own. We are so grateful for the unconditional love and support you provided us to bring us all to this success.

Project of the Year, was given to Saudi Arabia’s Sadara Project, a joint venture between Saudi Ara-mco and the Dow Chemical Company, which also scooped the GCC Oil & Gas Project of the Year award. The GCC winners were

recently announced at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina in the UAE.

The MEED Quality Awards for Projects 2017 was made possible by the support of Besix, Parsons, Al Bawani, MVP Tech and ASCG.

Mohammed Masoud Al Marri, Director of Infrastructure Affairs; Lahdan Al Muhannadi, Director of Buildings Affairs; Abdul Muhsin Hassan Al Rashid, Manager of Buildings Projects Department, after receiving Ashghal’s awards.

Ashghal wins big

The Public Works Authority, Ashghal, was among the big winners with multiple regional awards, with its Doha North Sewage Treatment Works Project winning the GCC Award for Sustainability and GCC Water Project of the Year trophies.

QF holds 'Art Trail' tour for envoys' spousesThe Peninsula

Qatar Foundation (QF) recently received a group of Ambassadors’

spouses for a guided tour of artwork located in QF headquarters.

The tour was part of QF’s popular ‘Art Trail’ initiative that offers an insight into pieces of art around QF’s flagship development, Edu-cation City. During the visit, the spouses of ambassadors, representing countries including South Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Peru, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany, were given the opportunity to learn about the local, regional, and inter-national artwork inside QF Headquarters.

The ‘Art Trail’ tours are held once a month, on Satur-days, at different locations across Education City.

Previous tours have included Georgetown Univer-sity in Qatar (GU-Q) and the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).

J Todd Creeger, President of ConocoPhillips Qatar, and a Class of 1986 graduate of Texas A&M University, speaking at the graduation ceremony.

Commercial Bank CSR initiative to help 100 students


MADA signs deals with local and global organisationsThe Peninsula

During the First Gulf Region Education Assistive Tech-nology Conference 2017

(GREAT), the Qatar Assistive Technology Center (MADA) signed three partnership agree-ments with local, regional and global organisations, at the Qatar National Convention Center

(QNCC) in Doha. These strategic agreements will help provide the necessary technological tools and information required to develop and enhance education curriculum specifically designed for PWD. The partnerships will also promote an adoption of the latest practices in assistive tech-nology within the field of education.

"As part of our commitment to support Persons with Disabil-ities in Qatar, we have signed a number of strategic agreements to further develop and improve the education for PWD. These Memorandums of Understand-ing will play an important role in developing the assistive technol-ogy sector in Qatar and in the region, through implementation

and advisory on the best practices when it comes to education for PWD,” said Maha Al Mansouri, CEO of MADA.

The first agreement was signed with the Training and Edu-cational Development Center from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar. The agreement was to cooperate and help students with different

abilities through the provision of assistive technology and strengthen the number of support teachers in Qatar. The second agreement was signed with the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services in the United Arab Emirates.

This agreement will help raise the level of awareness and train-ing for specialised teams and

workers in the field of assistive technology.

The third agreement during the GREAT conference was signed with the US Assistive Technology Industry Association.

The organisation is a leader in the development of assistive technology and an organiser of many events and activities worldwide.


Mercedes-Benz Service Solutions cover all scheduled maintenance procedures at a fixed cost. Customers can buy the package that suits their needs and for varying time-periods.

NBK launches fixed cost service package for Mercedes-Benz The Peninsula

Nasser Bin Khaled (NBK) Automobiles, the Author-ised General Distributor

of Mercedes-Benz in Qatar, has introduced the new Mercedes-Benz Service Solutions dedicated for passenger cars.

Mercedes-Benz Service Solutions cover all scheduled maintenance procedures at a fixed cost. Customers can buy the package that suits their needs and for varying time-periods, giving them completely transparent maintenance costs which save them from any unpleasant surprises. The dif-ferent packages, give complete convenience and peace of mind, offering customers service lev-els that meet their expectations.

Khaled Sha’aban, General Manager of NBK Automobiles, said: “Nasser Bin Khaled Auto-mobiles is pleased to offer this innovative solution to car

owners. It is the best way to have their vehicles maintained with reliability and fixed cost. Mercedes-Benz Service Pack-age enables customers to ensure their vehicle’s maintenance is to the highest of standards to guarantee vehicle performance and an increased car resale value”.

Customers can choose from two customised packages. The first package is Mercedes-Benz Service SELECT that covers all scheduled maintenance costs specified by the manufacturer, including filters, operational liq-uids, and labour. The second package is Mercedes-Benz Serv-ice SELECT PLUS, which in addition to the items included in the Mercedes-Benz Service Select, covers a range of wear-and-tear parts.

Mercedes-Benz Service Solutions offers three different duration options: three years, four years and five years. For each duration, there are four

mileage options that cover dif-ferent yearly mileages. The mileage ranges from 45,000km to 120,000km, so customers can choose a Service Package that suits their driving needs.

Mercedes-Benz Service Solutions have several benefits that make them an ideal choice. Starting with saving on the maintenance costs up to 25%, Service Solutions provides the customers the opportunity to know exactly how much the maintenance of their vehicle will cost over the next few years so they don’t have to worry about the impact of inflation on their maintenance costs. The service package also guarantees an increased vehicle resale value, so when a customer decides to sell their Mercedes-Benz the Service Solution will help them get a better price. The new owner can always get the serv-ice and complete maintenance history of the car that are guar-anteed by Mercedes-Benz.

The Peninsula

Blue Salon, renowned luxury retailer, hosted the unveiling ceremony of Parfums de Marly,

contemporary French perfume house’s, latest fragrances — Akaster and Carlisle.

Akaster blends strong scents that have come to be synonymous with the Parfums de Marly name. The eau de parfum unites top notes of Sicil-ian Lemon and Cypress with heart notes of Bulgarian Rose and African Geranium. The fragrance is rounded off with base notes of Cardamom, Musk and Oud. Carlisle boasts top notes of Bergamot and Mandarin and middle notes of Violet and Jasmine. The base notes include Paraguay Guaiac Wood, Indonesian Patchouli and Guatemalan Cardamom.

Fawaz Idrissi (right), CEO of Blue Salon, with Laura, Brand Ambassador (centre), and Edouard Roose, Area Sales Manager, at the launch of Parfums de Marly at Blue Salon, yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit/ The Peninsula

Blue Salon showcases Halo & Co collectionThe Peninsula

Blue Salon hosted a show-case of Halo & Co, international providers of

high-end costume jewellery and accessories’, latest glitter inspired collection. Founded by creative duo Nicola & Stephanie Ball, Halo & Co are providers of cutting-edge luxury costume jewellery creations that strive to continually impress.

Halo & Co quickly became synonymous with quality and blue-sky thinking, which has driven the brand towards the discerning end of the market and into the hands of the rich and famous. With two decades of awards, rewards and acco-lades behind the Company, Halo & Co continues to pioneer, across multi-level accessory

markets. The new range is proving to excite existing cli-ents and intrigue new customers worldwide.

The Peninsula

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has announced the launch

of online services for com-mercial agencies. These services, which are accessi-ble through the Ministry’s website, include the registra-tion of a commercial agent or

a commercial agency, amend-ment of commercial agency records, renewal of a com-mercial agency, and the elimination of a commercial agency or commercial agent record.

Other services include the issuance of a registration cer-tificate for a commercial agent or agency.

Third stage of Arab Reading Challenge beginsThe Peninsula

The third stage of the Arab Reading Chal-lenge competition was launched yesterday at Hafasa Preparatory School

for Girls with participation of 216 private and government schools in Qatar. The compe-tition is organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in cooper-ation with United Arab Emirates.

The competition will continue today with participation of 108 students from girls' and boys' schools.

Judging committee from the UAE will select winners of the diamond award. There will be one representative of Qatar in the final, which will take place in UAE early in the academic year 2017/2018. The top ten winners at the national level will be hon-oured on May 9, said the Ministry.

Meanwhile, the competition launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Ruler of Dubai, to encour-age youngsters to read Arabic books has attracted up to 10 per cent of students in the Arab World so far, according to organisers.

QF & QSports to hold 11 competitions in RamadanThe Peninsula

Qatar Foundation (QF), in partnership with QSports, has officially

announced its Ramadan sports initiative, ‘QF Ramadan Sports 2017’, which is set to kick off on May 28.

The initiative boasts 11 different competitions, with men’s tournaments including super sixes cricket, basket-ball, indoor futsal, Ramadan Cricket Cup T-12 (MRE), ten-nis – singles and doubles, outdoor 7-a-side football, volleyball, and squash, which will also be open to younger players aged 11 and up. Addi-tionally, three competitions will run for women including squash, basketball, and volleyball.

“Our ‘QF Ramadan Sports 2017’ initiative aims to engage Qatar’s residents in sports and in staying active during the summer months, comple-menting the many exercise and recreation programmes we run through the year,” said Mohammed Al Saoud, Head of Recreation Services at Qatar Foundation.

Ghanim Al Mohannadi, Deputy Chairman of QSports, said: “We’re excited to work with Qatar Foundation to organise sports events for the public. QSports has held Ramadan tournaments for the last five years, and I’m confi-dent that teams will be excited to make use of the wonderful facilities available at Qatar Foundation.”

All games will be played in the evening from 8:30pm to 1:30am, in Qatar Founda-tion’s state-of-the-art Recreation Center facilities. A range of exciting prizes will be awarded to the winning teams, in addition to medals and trophies. ‘QF Ramadan Sports 2017’ is open to all members of the community.

Parfums De Marly unveils offerings at Blue Salon

The competition is organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in cooperation with United Arab Emirates. The competition will continue today with participation of 108 students from girls' and boys' schools.

Nicola, founder of Halo and Co, at Blue Salon yesterday.Pic: Baher Amin/ The

Peninsula

Ministry starts online services for commercial agencies

Qatari youth think nation on right track

The Peninsula

Qatar's youth is over-whelmingly positive about their future and believes their government is

putting the right policies in place to address their needs, according to findings from the 9th annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2017, released yesterday.

An overwhelming majority (96 percent) of Qatari youth said they believe the country has been heading in the right direction over the past five years, while 86 percent were confident the government is developing the right policies for youth.

Sheikha Hanadi Al Thani, the Founder and Chairperson of Amwal, participated in the panel discussion at the 9th Arab Youth Survey launch event, focusing her remarks on edu-cation and unemployment.

In the GCC states, 85 per-cent of young people are confident that their country has been heading in the right direc-tion over the past five years compared with 52 per cent for Arab youth across the region. Three quarters (78 per cent) of GCC youth also believe their “best days are ahead of them” compared with 58 per cent for Arab youth as a whole; and 82

per cent of young people in the GCC believe their economy is on the right track versus just 52 per cent on a region-wide basis.

Further, 86 per cent of Gulf youth believe their govern-ments are putting the right policies in place that will ben-efit young people – an opinion held by just 57 per cent of young Arabs across the whole Middle East.

Sunil John, Founder & CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, said: “For the GCC states, the findings from this year’s survey are encouraging. Not only are young people optimistic about the future, they have confi-dence that their governments are doing the right things for them. This is not the story in the rest of the region. The positiv-ity and optimism of Gulf youth are a real bright spot in the Mid-dle East today, but one that also highlights a growing trend of a polarisation of views, inspiring the main theme of this year’s Survey: ‘The Middle East – a region divided.’”

Roy Haddad, Director, WPP MENA, said: “The Arab Youth Survey provides a voice to the voiceless, and allows young Arabs to be heard around the world. It allows us to hear what Arab youth think and feel about their past, present and future. As such, it is an invaluable tool for businesses and govern-ments, and civil society in general, who need accurate data and insights about this m o s t i m p o r t a n t demographic.”

The Survey reveals that, in 2017, support for the US has fallen markedly: 17 per cent of young Arabs see US as their most important ally, down 8 percentage points from 2016.

Arab Youth Survey

At least 82 percent of young people in the GCC believe their economy is on the right track versus just 52 percent on a region-wide basis.


IndiGo starts flying to Doha from IndiaThe Peninsula

In its endeavour to strengthen operations in the Middle-East region, IndiGo, India’s largest and fastest growing low-cost carrier,

commenced its operations in Doha. With the touch-down of 6E – 1701 Delhi - Doha flight on Friday at 12:30pm at Hamad International Airport (HIA), Doha became its 7th international and 4th Middle-Eastern destination

after Sharjah, Muscat and Dubai on IndiGo’s ever growing network.

In an inaugural ceremony held yesterday at Hamad Inter-national Airport, the maiden flight was welcomed with the traditional water cannon salute followed by a ribbon cutting attended by HIA officials.

With the launch of daily direct flights, IndiGo offers affordable and convenient option on two of the busiest sectors from India to and fro Doha — Delhi-Doha and Mum-bai-Doha. Continuing to enhance further connectivity, IndiGo also plans to operate direct flights from Chennai and Kozhikode to Doha from July 20 this year.

Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commer-cial Officer, IndiGo, said, “Being an economic and cul-tural hub of Qatar, Doha attracts a lot of business and leisure tourists. It gives us immense pleasure to add Doha to our growing network, which not only helps us cater to the growing tourist potential of the city, but also provides an

IndiGo and Hamad International Airport officials cut a cake at HIA to celebrate the arrival of the first flight by the Indian carrier to Doha, yesterday.

affordable travel option to the Indian diaspora workforce who can now look forward to visit-ing their homes more frequently.

“Adding Doha on our network reinforces our commitment towards the Middle-East region. IndiGo has established itself as a preferred carrier on India

— Middle-East routes with increased capacities and compel-ling fares on Sharjah, Muscat and Dubai sectors over the years” he added. Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer of Hamad International Airport, said: “Passengers’ convenience has always been our top priority, and we look forward to

continually facilitating a safe and seamless experience for our cus-tomers travelling through Hamad International Airport, Qatar’s gateway to the world. With the addition of IndiGo flights, HIA now has a total of 25 weekly flights operating to Mumbai and 35 weekly flights operating to Delhi”.

The IndiGo maiden flight being welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute at Hamad International Airport.

Mideast expansion

India's leading low-cost carrier begins flights to Doha from Delhi and Mumbai. Two more Indian destinations to be launched in July.

Experts to gather for Accessible Qatar meet The Peninsula

Under the patronage of H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al

Thani, Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister, introduced by Sasol, the international inte-grated chemicals and energy company, under its CSR initia-tive “Accessible Qatar” and powered by Project Qatar, the 14th International Construction Technology and Building Mate-rials Exhibition, a line-up of high-profile personalities are set to share the stage at the first “Accessible Qatar” conference. The meet is aimed at raising awareness about accessibility, encouraging knowledge-shar-ing, and influencing project developers toward making existing and future venues accessible.

Project Qatar is the leading construction exhibition in the country organised by IFP Qatar, a member of IFP Group (Inter-national Fairs & Promotions).

Taking place on May 8 to 9, the conference will bring together local, regional and international leaders, policy makers and experts in the accessibility field.

Local speakers include Nasser Al Maslamani, Director of Planning and Quality, Qatar Tourism Authority; Najla Al Obaidan, Senior Architect, Supreme Committee for Deliv-ery & Legacy; Ameer Al Mulla, Executive Director, Qatar Par-alympic Committee (QPC); Abdulla G Ali, Senior Manager

Terminal Operations, Hamad International Airport; Moham-med Al Fehaida, MADA Communications and Market-ing Officer; Mike Park, E-Accessibility Expert, Mada Center; Ahmed Habib, Policy Expert, Mada Center; Nabil Robert Barakat, General Man-ager, AURA Entertainment – KidzMondo Doha

Regional speakers include Morné Fourie, Vice President, DXB Entertainments the par-ent company of Dubai Parks and Resorts, UAE; Issam Azouri, Communications Advisor.

The international speakers are Martin Heng, Accessible Travel Manager and Editorial Adviser at Lonely Planet; Hideto Kijima, President of Japan Accessible Tourism Center; Isa-bella Menichini, Head of Tourism and Marketing of the Milan Municipality; Mark Todd, Principle Accessibility Consult, expert to Sochi 2014 Winter Par-alympic Games, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and Rio 2016; Guy Davies, Managing Director, Disability Solutions (Pty) South Africa; Bill Forester, Founder, TravAbility Travel, Australia; Jane Stoneham, Direc-tor of The Sensory Trust.

Ranging from Architecture and Design to Sports, the con-ference will tackle a variety of crucial and interesting topics, aiming to showcase the impor-tance of incorporating accessibility in all sectors of the economy, thereby empower-ing the disabled community in Qatar.

Ramadan offers on BMW and MINIThe Peninsula

Alfardan Automobiles, the official BMW Group importer in Qatar, is cel-

ebrating this year’s Holy Month of Ramadan with another round of its much-anticipated exclu-sive Ramadan offers on BMW and MINI vehicles.

Ihab Allam, General Manager of Alfardan Automobiles, said: “Every year as we approach the Holy Month of Ramadan, we add benefits to our customers through their purchases at our showrooms. This Ramadan, we will continue this tradition of offering exceptional deals on many BMW and MINI models. Ramadan is a Holy Month of giv-ing and we aim to align ourselves along the divine trait of gener-osity and giving. We would also like to wish our customers, the State of Qatar, and the Muslim Nation a Ramadan Kareem.”

Alfardan Automobiles will also be the main sponsor of St Regis Hotel Ramadan tent, Doha, with a display of selected BMW cars.

The exclusive offers will be announced at the start of Ram-adan and will run through the holy month at Alfardan Automo-

biles’ BMW Group showrooms.Alfardan Automobiles will

operate special Ramadan working hours throughout the Holy Month from Saturday to Thursday from 10:00 am to

12:30pm, and from 8:30pm to 12:00 midnight, and on Friday from 08:30pm to 12:00 midnight.

The main service centre in the Industrial Area will operate

from Saturday to Thursday from 07:00am to 07:00pm and Kha-lifa Town Service Centre from Saturday to Thursday 08:00am to 2:00 pm and 7:00pm to 01:00am.

Alfardan Automobiles will announce special offers on BMW and MINI cars during Ramadan.

Translation mistakes tickle a funny bone Continued from page 1

Many other funny transla-tion mistakes were “school drop off” was translated into Arabic like this “school has become sleepy”. Also one of bodies write a “workers work-ing” at work site, and in Arabic they wrote this meaning “workers under fire”, and sure they are not intended to make such mistakes but they also must check before to fix such mistakes in the street.

The draft law approved by the cabinet provides among its provisions that ministries, offi-cial institutions, public educational institutions in all levels of education, and munic-ipalities are committed to use the Arabic language and even national public universities and institutions of higher education, overseen by the government, are also committed to teach the Ara-bic language in all science and knowledge, QNA had reported.

Even the ones who must protect it like governmental

institutions and ministries also commit grammatical mistakes and use dialects specially dur-ing their publicity campaigns.

“I don’t like to mention the name of any institution but the mistakes are very obvious on streets and everyone can see them,” said Hashem Ameen, an

Arabic teacher.He also added “We can take

example of one of the neigh-bouring counties, it has an institution to check any Arabic words will be post in boards in street, they have to check about all these words if it correct or no, and they are not allowed

any to write as he want”. “Governmental bodies and

supermarkets must employee proof readers to check the words if it is correct or not especially the words which are used in road publicity cam-paigns because such mistakes even children can’t commit.”

Continued from page 1Industry sources also claim

that the cost for Umrah pilgrim-age would differ due to different factors including the mood of travel (by road or by air) and the date of travel.

“ The price of the packages keeps on varying during Ram-adan but the best time in to book in May. First ten days of Ram-adan it costs QR1300 per person by bus, whereas if the customer travels during the last ten days of Ramadan it will cost QR2000

per person.” said a travel agent.“The cost of Umrah depends

on many factors such as the mode of travel, type of hotel and the distance between the hotel and the Haram Sharif in Makkah. The ongoing construc-tion work in the holy cities of Makkah and Medina, huge number of people willing to per-form Umrah during Ramadan and the ban on expatriates going for Umrah by private cars are also contributing to the increas-ing cost of packages,” he added.

Cost of Umrah depends on many factors

The French presidential campaign has entered its last feverish phase, and as usual sparks are flying thick and hard. This is an election which the entire Europe and the world were watching with bated

breath – were watching because the 48-year-old far-right populist Marine Le Pen came threateningly close to capturing power once, but now there is huge relief because she is trailing far behind her opponent, the 39-year-old centrist upstart Emmanuel Macron, with the latest surveys showing his lead widening to around 62 percent to 38.As the world wants, the French are emphatically rejecting the hatred peddled by Le Pen and are rallying behind Macron whose agenda focuses on the vital challenges France is facing. Today, France will hold its presidential runoff and give Macron a chance to work on his promises.

This is an election of surprises. After decades of choosing between mainstream candidates of the centre-left and center-right, the voters have rejected both and gravitated to Macron and Le Pen. Le Pen’s popularity too rose to levels not seen before, but most voters are aware of the dangers of electing an anti-immigrant, anti-European Union and anti-free trade leader.

But just two days before the runoff, there are forces working to discredit Macron and sabotage his

chances. As much as nine gigabytes of data purporting to be documents from the Macron campaign - emails, documents and campaign financing information – were posted online just before campaigning ended on Friday. The data leak emerged as polls predicted Macron’s victory. It was not clear who was responsible, but it was clear the hack was an attempt to destabilise

democracy and to damage the party. France is the latest nation to see a major election being overshadowed by allegations of manipulation through cyberhacking. US intelligence agencies said in January that Russia had tried to influence the presidential election in favour of Republican candidate Donald Trump by ordering the hacking of online data belonging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. But the latest cyberhacking sends a powerful message to the hackers – that their heinous crime will not meet its objective as the world is more vigilant. The French election commission acted promptly to minimize damage from the leak. “The commission calls on everyone present on internet sites and social networks, primarily the media, but

also all citizens, to show responsibility and not to pass on this content, so as not to distort the sincerity of the ballot,” it said in a statement. Also, most of the French television channels decided not to report the contents of the leaked documents.

10 SUNDAY 7 MAY 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

[email protected]

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

[email protected]

Rejecting hate

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We knew that there were these risks during the presidential campaign because it happened elsewhere. Nothing will go without a response. We need to let the investigations happen.

Francois HollandeFrench President

As Macron stretches lead in opinion polls, the French are rejecting the hate politics of far-right leader Le Pen.

The long awaited Hamas policy doc-ument was unveiled in Doha, Qatar on May 01, 2017. The document pre-sented a number of policy shifts from their long held political posi-

tions. The recognition of the 1967 border as the framework for the future Palestinian state, although transitional, is seen as the tacit acceptance by Hamas of a two state solution. This has brought a political convergence between political parties in Palestine.

The packed press conference was led Khaled Meshaal the outgoing leader of Hamas. Why did Meshaal present the policy document on the eve of his exit as the leader of the movement, was it a way of cementing a continued political legacy or was it a soft launch of his next role in the Palestinian politics?

Meshaal has steered Hamas over decades of challenging political upheavals. The assassi-nations of Sheik Ahmad Yassin on March 22, 2004 and a month later Dr Abdelaziz Rantisi was one of the most challenging times for Hamas’s leadership. It was during that time that Meshaal demonstrated leadership and established himself as the “undisputed leader” of the movement. Perhaps the most important test of his leadership was the decision for Gaza to separate from the West Bank after it was robbed of its electoral victory in January 2006.

The separation of Gaza remains a thorny issue and one of the most important milestone in Palestinian political history. Furthermore the decision to relocate Hamas’s seat of power from Damascus to Doha immediately after the start of the Syrian crisis was another test of Meshaal’s leadership. Notwithstanding the challenges, Meshaal’s charm and accessibility have continued to improve the image of Hamas across the world. He has conducted a number of media interviews with a number of international and regional media organisations dispelling a number of myths about Hamas.

The world woke up to a different Hamas on 02 May 2017. The commentary on the new policy document has started in earnest and is gaining momentum. Varying reactions to the policy document rather suggest a number of options that Hamas should have opted moving forward. Amongst those options is the South African political solution i.e. a non?—?racial, non?—?sexist society where people irrespec-tive of their religion or political affiliation, live side by side in a constitutional democracy. South Africa has arguably the strongest active solidarity movements for Palestine. The idea of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) was conceived in South Africa in the “people’s con-ference” held parallel to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xeno-phobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

Subsequently the South African govern-ment and civil society organised a number of initiatives aimed at trying to bring a political solution between Israel and Palestine. There are many similarities in the conflict between

Hamas’ new policy document reminds what S Africa did rightThembisa FakudeAl Jazeera

Israel –Palestine and South Africa. South African apartheid used religious justifi-cations in subjugating and oppressing the majority black African. They use anthropological propaganda justifica-tions about the origins of the majority black people of South Africa in trying to render the majority of blacks as immi-grants. They also claim to have “found an empty land without people for people without land” when they landed in the shores of South Africa.

These are similar myths the Israeli governments have used to justify their existence and occupation of Palestine. Moreover the political manifestations in Israel tend to mimic those under apart-heid South Africa. This include job and

residential reservation laws, restrictions of people’s movement, imprisonment without trial, religious and racial discrimination and

systematic displacement of people. The South African political trajectory and settlement have all the elements that could make South Africa’s political option a panacea to the Israeli-Palestine conflict

In 1994 South Africa achieved the impossible goal. Those achievements ele-vated South Africa to a new status in the international community. South Africa is still battling racism and there is a huge economic gap between the blacks and whites. The white people in South Africa remain relatively wealthy and affluent whilst the majority of blacks are still poor.

However, what makes South Africa of then and that of Nelson Mandela dif-ferent from each other was the quality of the leadership. Mandela understood the “urgency of now” he was not blinded by the immediacy of settling historical scores. The South African political mira-cle was not only as a result of Mandela doing alone. Ordinary South Africans also played a role, their love for land and country and their realization that it has to be shared amongst all who live in it contributed to the political settlement.

South Africans rejected the Bantusta-nisation of their country, i.e. the fragmentation of South Africa into small “countries” for different people. They refused to live in a geographically frag-mented country.

The agreement reached between all antagonists during the negotiation proc-ess was that South Africa must be a circular, non-racial and united country, that in hindsight has proven to be a key to the success of the country. The continual employment of political mechanism to address the past injustices and inequali-ties continue to facilitate the success of the South African ambitious political project. South Africans understood that short-term political fixes could never guarantee future political stability.

Meshaal has steered Hamas over decades of challenging political upheavals. The assassinations of Sheik Ahmad Yassin on March 22, 2004 and a month later Dr Abdelaziz Rantisi was one of the most challenging times for Hamas’ leadership. It was during that time that Meshaal demonstrated leadership and established himself as the “undisputed leader” of the movement.

E D I T O R I A L

The Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal (centre) presenting new vision and policy of Hamas, in Doha.

11SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 OPINION

Behind the scenes, Myanmar’s ambassador to Washington has been pressing the White House for more attention from high-level officials, a sign of Suu Kyi’s uncertainty about Trump’s public silence.

Trump aides emphasised that the president’s failure to reach out to her is not intended as a slight. On Friday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster hosted the Southeast Asian officials, including Myanmar’s representative, at the White House. Trump aides said the president, who was away at his estate in Bedminster, N J, would have stopped by had he been in town.

The questions over Trump’s approach to Myan-mar come as the administration is starting to formulate its broader policy stance toward South-east Asia and what role the countries there may play in the U.S. effort to further isolate North Korea dip-lomatically and economically. Administration officials pointed to several signals in recent days that were intended to reassure the region that the White House would maintain a focus there even as it scrapped the Obama administration’s “Asia rebal-ance” policy aimed at deepening U.S. security and trade ties. In Indonesia last month, Vice President Mike Pence announced that Trump would attend a trio of security and economic summits in Vietnam and the Philippines this fall.

Tillerson emphasized to the Southeast Asian officials that the administration would make a “sus-tained commitment” to the region, said W. Patrick Murphy, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Southeast Asia.

In a conference call with reporters, Murphy added that the administration’s relationship with Myanmar would be “enduring.”

In a separate interview, a senior White House official was more emphatic, emphasizing that Trump views Southeast Asia as “the most exciting component” in an emerging administration strategy for the broader Asia region.

This official, who spoke on the condition of ano-nymity to describe the president’s thinking, pointed to the combined population of more than 600 mil-lion among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their fast-growing economies as key reasons for sustained U.S. engagement. The Trump aide jokingly referred to the countries as the “swing states of Asia.”

“This is a region that is fairly firmly rooted in a liberal order,” the aide said. “Some of those

It’s time for US to stop alienating its allies

Turkey’s April 25 air strikes against Kurdis-tan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Iraq and its affiliate People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria were unexpected, but should not have surprised anyone.

Turkey has consistently maintained that the PKK’s presence in Iraq’s Sinjar region was unaccept-able. Only two months into the Euphrates Shield Operation back in October 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged that Turkey would not tol-erate Sinjar to be the “new Qandil”, referring to the terror group’s base of operations in northern Iraq.

While Turkish officials repeated their opposition to PKK’s presence in Sinjar several times, officials from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) also asked the PKK to leave the area.

Early in March 2017, clashes broke out between the PKK-linked Yazidi militia and the KRG’s Pesh-merga fighters, a sign of increased tensions among Kurdish groups fuelled by the PKK’s lingering pres-ence in the region.

Qandil mountains are located along the Iraq-Iran border in northeastern Iraq. The PKK have long been taking advantage of the mountainous terrain and using its bases there to train, plan attacks, and provide logistical support to its fighters. A similar base in Sin-jar would help the PKK to operate in northwestern Iraq - an area near the Syrian border which is criti-cally important for the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). US military planners must be betting on the promises of the PKK-linked Sinjar Resistance Units to help cut off ISIL’s route between Mosul and Raqqa.

Turkey is opposed to not only PKK’s influence in the region, but also the US’ apparent tactical deci-sion to utilise the PKK against ISIL. Turkey prefers a combination of Peshmerga forces and Free Syrian Army fighters to take the lead in the fight against ISIL, as these groups pose no threat to Turkey’s national security. The PKK, on the other hand, has not only continued to conduct attacks against Tur-key but has

also sought to establish an autonomous region in northern Syria through its Syrian affiliate, the Dem-ocratic Union Party, by making deals with prominent actors in Syria’s war, including Russia.

Creating a hub and a base for its operations in Sinjar is critical for the PKK, but actualisation of this plan would ironically violate the Iraqi-Syrian border - just like ISIL attempted to do in the past.

US military leaders seem to consider the PKK affiliates in Iraq and Syria as allies in the fight against ISIL. The US Central Command went even further than that and is now reportedly patrolling the Syrian-Turkish border to discourage escalation and violence between two of its “most trusted part-ners in the fight to defeat ISIL”.

The US military did not hide its displeasure with the Turkish air strikes against the PKK and its affili-ates in Iraq and Syria despite the fact that the US and Turkey are supposed to be part of the same anti-ISIS coalition. At the same time, neither President Trump, nor US officials at the cabinet level, have made any statements against Turkish operations.

The forthcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart will surely involve extensive discussions around the US-Turkey strategic disconnect in the fight against ISIL and the PKK’s influence on the ground. It will be a

challenge, however, to resolve this issue in one meeting. Two sides will need to talk more often and in-depth about a military plan to root out ISIL but also, and more importantly, they will need to agree on a political plan that would establish stability on the ground in a post-ISIL scenario. Unfortunately, the anti-ISIL coalition’s efforts have been largely tactical and created space for non-state actors such as the PKK to take advantage of a security vacuum spanning Iraq and Syria.

There are signs that the Trump administration may be working on a more thoughtful approach that prioritises long-term strategies over short-term tac-tical gains. It is not clear, however, if this new approach will translate into actual policy. So far, the White House has not made a political decision on whether to arm the YPG directly and include them in operations to liberate Raqqa from ISIL. Turkey has presented multiple proposals that exclude the YPG from the Raqqa operation and replace them with local Arab forces supported by Turkish troops.

Any scenario that empowers and legitimises PKK’s affiliates will certainly strain US-Turkey rela-tions and risk weakening anti-ISIL operations. It is clear as a result of the April 25 operations that Tur-key is determined to limit the reach and influence of the PKK and its affiliates on national security

AAs Secretary of State Rex Tiller-son welcomed officials from 10 Southeast Asian nations this week, a representative from Myanmar handed him a per-

sonalised letter.The author was Aung San Suu Kyi, the

Nobel Peace Prize winner and de facto leader of the nation’s civilian government, who wanted to express regrets for being absent due to a scheduling conflict, U.S. officials said. The note represented rare direct communication between Suu Kyi and the Trump administration. As Presi-dent Donald Trump has made a flurry of calls to foreign leaders, he has yet to speak with Suu Kyi, who twice welcomed Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, to her lakeside villa in Rangoon as a powerful symbol of U.S. support for the slow, fitful transition from authoritarian military rule to a fledgling democracy in the nation also known as Burma.

The Myanmar project remains fraught - political reforms have ebbed, and Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for failing to speak out more forcefully against ethnic violence directed toward the Mus-lim minority. And China continues to exert economic and political pressure on the neighboring nation of 54 million.

From Capitol Hill to Yangon, the ques-tion is whether the Trump administration will continue to nurture Myanmar’s transi-tion or turn its back at a crucial juncture.

“The country wants it. It gives them a sense of confidence,” Derek Mitchell, who served as U.S. ambassador to Myanmar from 2012 to 2016, said of political support from Washington. “But the focus on things we care about, such as values and democ-racy and human rights, they don’t feel that with Trump. There’s a cost in losing all of that.”

Concern over Trump’s approach to Myanmar

A file picture shows Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighter walking near Turkish-Syria boarder, as residents re-enter Syria.

countries have - I wouldn’t call it a Jeffersonian democracy, but they’re facing in that direction. Burma is an amazing suc-cess story that we want to build on.”

Yet the administration’s failure to produce a coherent foreign policy strategy has alarmed members of Congress who fear Myanmar will be neglected or mishandled as the White House focuses on containing North Korea’s mounting nuclear weapons threat.

In his first meeting with Tillerson, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told him, “Don’t forget about Burma,” according to people familiar with the conversation.

But McConnell, who helped shepherd the U.S. economic sanctions that prodded Myanmar’s military regime toward reforms, has been left trying to piece together where the administration is headed from scant public or private signals.

A Senate Republican leadership aide said that as the administration attempts to coax Beijing to do more to change North Korea’s behavior, it is unclear where Myanmar, whose opening to the West was once viewed as a hedge against Chi-na’s economic and military muscle, fits in.

“It’s a work in progress,” the Senate aide said. “It’s going to be slow-going.”

Experts said Southeast Asian capitals remain wary of Trump’s motives, even as they were encouraged by his com-mitment to attending the regional summits.

“There’s a lot of concern over the way they’ve been engaged,” said Ernest Z. Bower, a Southeast Asia analyst and business consultant affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Officials in the region view Trump as “very transactional,” Bower added, and they fear Trump is wooing them solely to build international support for his administration’s push to further isolate North Korea. Murphy, the State Department official, said the Southeast Asian repre-sentatives proactively raised the issue of North Korea in their meeting with Tillerson.

“We have heard from countries that they are taking steps, looking at the size of North Korea’s diplomatic presence and activities and commercial transactions,” Murphy said. “North Korea’s provocations threaten the peace and prosperity of the entire region. . . . We think more can be done.”

But some experts said the risk is that the Trump adminis-tration would reduce the emphasis on free speech and human rights as it pursues security cooperation. For exam-ple, Trump invited President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, whose administration has overseen a ruthless extrajudicial campaign that has killed thousands of suspected drug dealers, to visit the White House.

In Myanmar, the military, which retains 25 percent of the seats in parliament under the constitution, has long had ties to North Korea, including buying arms from Pyongyang.

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grounds. Beyond Turkey’s own national security requirements, it is difficult to see how allowing the PKK to control Arab-majority towns and to establish an autono-mous region in northern Syria contributes to long-term stability. The Trump administration needs to go beyond tactical wins and take its time to create a more careful strategy both to avoid alienating key allies, such as Turkey, and to conduct a sustainable anti-ISIL campaign.

Kadir UstunAl Jazeera

Turkey’s air strikes on PKK-affiliated groups in Iraq and Syria should be a wake-up call for the Trump administration.

David Nakamura The Washington Post

12 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Turkish justice minister to visit US seeking Gulen's arrestANKARA: Turkey's justice minister will meet US Attorney Gen-eral Jeff Sessions tomorrow to discuss Ankara's request for the extradition and provisional arrest of Fetullah Gulen, the US-based mastermind of last July's failed coup. According to a ministry source, Bekir Bozdag will share new evidence with his US counterpart on Gulen ahead of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the country between May 15 and 17. Turkey's Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar, intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin set off to the US ahead of Erdogan’s first face-to-face visit with President Donald Trump. The two leaders are expected to discuss Gulen's extradition, as well as the developments in Syria and Iraq plus the fight against terrorism. Trump was one of the first interna-tional leaders to congratulate Erdogan over the Yes win in Turkey’s April 16 constitutional referendum.

Children among 35 die in bus crashNAIROBI: At least 29 schoolchildren were killed in a bus crash in northern Tanzania yesterday, along with five teachers and the driver, the school's director said. "We lost 29 students and two of our staff, and the driver died too," said Innocent Mushi, director of the Lucky Vincent Primary School in the northern city of Arusha, where the children were pupils. The dead included 12 boys and 17 girls, he said.

129 migrants stranded at sea rescuedTRIPOLI: Gunmen mugged 129 migrants on a rubber dinghy headed for Europe and also stole the craft's engine, abandoning them off the Libyan coast, Libya's navy said yesterday. Navy spokes-man General Ayoub Qassem said the gunmen in a speedboat chased the dinghy on Friday, boarded it around five nautical miles off the town of Zuwara and stole the migrants' possessions.

Al Azhar head replaced after remarksCAIRO: The head of Egypt's Al Azhar university, one of the world's leading Islamic seats of learning, has been replaced after labelling a controversial Muslim reformer an apostate, the insti-tution said. The development came as Al Azhar is pressured by critics who say the venerable Sunni Muslim authority has not done enough to counter Islamist extremism. Ahmed Hosni Taha, the acting university president, had been forced to apologise on Thursday after saying reformer Islam Al Behairy was an "apos-tate" for attacking some of the founding scholars of Islamic law.

Gaza City

AFP

Hamas said its former chief in Gaza, Ismail Haniyah (pictured), was elected overall head of the Pales-tinian Islamist group

yesterday, succeeding Khaled Meshaal.Haniyah, seen as a pragmatist within

the movement, is expected to remain in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave run by Hamas since 2007, unlike Meshaal who lives in exile in Doha and has completed the maximum two terms in office.

"The Hamas Shura Council yester-day elected Ismail Haniyah has head of the movement's political bureau," the group's official website announced.

He beat contenders Mussa Abu Mar-zuk and Mohamed Nazzal in a video conference vote of the ruling council's members in Gaza, the West Bank and outside the Palestinian territories.

The 54-year-old with a salt-and-pepper beard takes charge of Hamas as it seeks to ease its international isola-tion while not marginalising hardliners within the movement.

On Monday, it unveiled a new pol-icy document easing its stance on Israel after having long called for its

destruction. The document notably accepts the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, the territories occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. It also says its struggle is not against Jews because of their religion but against Israel as an occupier.

Hamas officials said the revised doc-ument in no way amounts to recognition of Israel as demanded by the interna-tional community. Nevertheless, the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad on Saturday slammed the Hamas policy tweak.

"As partners with our Hamas broth-ers in the struggle for liberation, we feel concern over the document," said

Islamic Jihad's deputy leader, Ziad Al Nakhala.

"We are opposed to Hamas' accept-ance of a state within the 1967 borders and we think this is a concession which damages our aims," he said on Islamic Jihad's website. Nakhala said the new Hamas policy formally accepting the

idea of a state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 would "lead to deadlock and can only produce half-solutions".

Founded in the 1980s in the wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran, a close ally, Islamic Jihad is the second force in the Gaza Strip and focused entirely on the armed struggle.

Haniyah will remain in the Gaza Strip, hit by three wars with Israel since 2008 and under an Israeli blockade for 10 years. His modest home in the nar-row alleys of Gaza City's Shati refugee camp next to the Mediterranean Sea is under constant guard.

Also known as Abu Abed, he was born in the same camp in 1963 to par-ents who fled when Israel was created in 1948. They had previously lived in Ashkelon (or Asqalan in Arabic), which is today part of Israel and just next to the border with the Gaza Strip.

Haniya, a father of 13, was educated at a UN-run refugee school, later earn-ing an education degree from the Islamic University and becoming a university administrator.

Hamas has frequently highlighted his modest background as a counter-point to officials within president Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority who have been accused of being cor-rupt and too easily compliant with Israel

or the United States. Haniyah was jailed several times by Israel during the first intifada, or uprising, which erupted in 1987, and was deported to southern Leb-anon in December 1992 along with hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

He first rose to prominence as bureau chief under Hamas's spiritual father Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the quad-riplegic assassinated by Israel in 2004.

He escaped assassination in Septem-ber 2003 when an Israeli aircraft bombed a house where he and Yassin were meeting, yet Haniyah was instru-mental in securing a halt to Hamas attacks inside Israel since early 2005.

The following year, he led Hamas to a shock legislative election victory over Abbas' Fatah and became prime minis-ter. The international community however refused to deal with any gov-ernment in which Hamas participated until it renounced violence and recog-nised Israel and past peace agreements. The resulting deadlock led to mounting friction between Hamas and Fatah which culminated in Hamas's seizure of Gaza. In July 2006, Israel bombed Haniyah's office during a massive but unsuccessful operation to free a soldier held by gunmen including Hamas militants.

Former Gaza chief Haniyah elected Hamas leader

Beirut

AP

Relative calm prevailed yes-terday in wide parts of war-ravaged Syria despite

sporadic violations and clashes after a deal to set up "de-esca-lation zones" in mostly opposition-held areas went into effect, opposition activists and government media outlets said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties after the plan hammered out by Russia, Turkey and Iran — the latest attempt to bring calm to the country — kicked in at midnight

Friday. The establishment of safe zones is the latest international attempt to reduce violence amid a six-year civil war that has left more than 400,000 dead, and is the first to envisage armed for-eign monitors on the ground in Syria. The United States is not party to the agreement and the Syrian rivals have not signed on to the deal. The armed opposi-tion, instead, was highly critical of the proposal, saying it lacks legitimacy.

Details of of the plan must still be worked out over the next several weeks. There were lim-ited reports of bombing in northern Homs and Hama, and

the southern province of Daraa, areas expected to be part of the "de-escalation zones," activists said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

It is not clear how the cease-fire or "de-escalation zones" will be enforced in areas still to be determined in maps to emerge a month from now.

Russian officials said it will be at least another month until the details are worked out and the safe areas established.

In the tangled mess that con-stitutes Syria's battlefields, there is much that can go wrong with the plan, agreed on in talks Thursday in Kazakhstan.

Algiers

AFP

ALGERIA'S main Islamist coalition, which came third in this week's legislative elec-tions, yesterday accused the ruling coalition of ballot box stuffing, threatening and committing violence against its supporters.

Abderrazak Makri, who heads the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), said his party and its ally the Front for Change would have won if there had not been any fraud.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's National Libera-tion Front (FLN) and its ally the Rally for National Democ-racy (RND) won a clear majority in Thursday's elections.

"The administration allowed the thugs of the FLN and the RND to stuff ballot boxes and commit violence without it intervening," said Makri, whose party has links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamist leader, whose coalition won 33 of the national assembly's 462 seats, said official complaints would be filed with the country's constitutional council. Islam-ist parties won 67 seats in the polls, up from a total of 60 in the 2012 elections.

Algeria Islamists allege fraud in polls

Relative calm in Syria safe zones after deal implemented

Syrian girls walk past destroyed buildings in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, yesterday.

The Hamas Shura Council elected 54-year-old Ismail Haniyah has head of the movement's political bureau. Haniyah, seen as a pragmatist within the movement, will succeed Khaled Meshaal who has completed the maximum two terms in office.

Mosul

Reuters

The Iraqi man laid the body of his wife, wrapped in a black shroud, gently on

the bow of a small wooden boat and held onto it as a second man rowed slowly to pick up the man’s three children standing a few metres away.

The two teenage girls and young boy climbed in, careful not to disturb the balance, for the crossing taking their mother, killed in an air strike this week, to the east bank of the Tigris River. This crossing is no ancient rite, however.

It is an extra hardship heaped on the family by the flooding of the Tigris and the disassembly of the last pontoon bridge linking the two sides of Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi

forces have been fighting to oust the Islamic State militants who seized the city in 2014.

Loading up everything from clothes and food to injured or dead relatives, hundreds of fam-ilies exhausted by war have been crossing the river on small, rickety fishing boats capable of holding only five or six people.

Many have been leaving the Musherfa district of western Mosul after US-backed Iraqi forces took it from Islamic State on Friday, hoping to reach the relative safety of the eastern banks of the river.

“We suffered Islamic State’s injustice, and now that we are free we were promised five bridges,” said 45-year-old Mushref Mohamed, an ice fac-tory worker from Musherfa. “Where are the bridges? We have been waiting for two days.”

“So many of my neighbours and friends died. We were freed, but we are not happy because we lost the people closest to us.”

The flooding has cut off all crossing points between east and west and forced the mili-tary to dismantle the makeshift bridges linking the two sides of Iraq’s second-largest city.

Mothers carrying babies, men in wheelchairs, and fami-lies of up to 15 people have been paying 1,000 Iraqi dinars ($0.86) per head to make the short jour-ney, with many needing to make two or three trips. Even soldiers carrying green army crates full of military documents and cig-arettes have had to use the boats. The army initially planned to transport people using steam-boats when they took down the pontoons, but now say they have run out of gas.

Flooding forces Mosul residents to flee war in rickety boats

A displaced Iraqi holds the body of his wife, who was killed during the fighting in Mosul, on a boat sailing to cross the Tigris River after the bridge has been temporarily closed, in western Mosul, Iraq, yesterday.

Saudi deports 16 over Gulen linksAnkara

Anatolia

SIXTEEN Turkish citizens suspected of being Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) members were arrested in Saudi Arabia yesterday.

The detainees, who alleg-edly organised Haj pilgrimage events, transferring the income to FETO, were put on a plane and deported to Turkey, according to the Turkish sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media. Turkey's National Intelligence Organi-zation (MIT) played an active role in the arrests of the sus-pects, the source said.

Later, the suspects were detained in Turkey by Ankara police department's counter-terrorism units. FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen are accused of orches-trating the defeated July 2016 coup in Turkey, which left 249 people martyred.

13SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 ASIA

Dust storm

Kejriwal ousts Kapil Mishra from cabinetNew Delhi

IANS

In a sudden move, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday divested Kapil Mishra of his Water and Tourism

and Culture portfolios, and is to induct AAP legislators Rajen-dra Pal Gautam and Kailash Gehlot in the cabinet.

Gehlot, MLA from Najaf-garh, and Gautam, MLA from Seema Puri, will be the two new faces to join the cabinet, a gov-ernment source said.

"Since the situation of water supply was found not to be good during the municipal elections, and several MLAs also spoke about the same problem in their constituencies, so Kapil Mishra was removed from post."

"Gehlot has been brought in for outer Delhi's representa-tion while Gautam was awarded the post for SC repre-sentation in the cabinet".

Kejriwal conveyed his mind about the reshuffle when he retweeted a tweet from one his followers.

"Big breaking from Delhi government, Kapil Mishra out of Kejriwal cabinet. Kailash Gehlot and Rajendra Gautam will be New Ministers," journal-ist Vikrant Yadav said in a tweet.

Kejriwal immediately retweeted the post giving clear indications that the changes in his ministerial team were afoot.

Mishra however said that he received "no official commu-nication yet"

He also said that he had told the Chief Minister that he would not a delay in tanker scam report and would submit names of those who are involved in the delay to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

475 students hospitalised after gas leaks

Kanimozhi meets Congress leader amid unity talksNew Delhi

IANS

Amid talk of opposition unity ahead of the Presi-dential elections, DMK

leader Kanimozhi yesterday met Congress President Sonia Gan-dhi and invited her for her father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi's 94th birthday celebrations in Chennai.

Karunanidhi's birthday on June 3 is likely to be attended by leaders from opposition parties.

Kanimozhi said her meeting with Sonia Gandhi did not have a "political agenda", but added that if opposition parties come together then it will emerge as a "stronger voice".

"I came to invite leaders from other parties also for the birthday celebrations. I brought a letter from our working pres-ident M KStalin to be delivered to her (Sonia) and we discussed about that," Kanimozhi said.

"Definitely this is a meeting of a lot of leaders. But, this is not

bringing anything else together. It is just to bring people together with good wishes for my father's birthday."

"People are talking to each other about the President's elec-tion. but this is not an agenda in this function," she said when asked if the function was meant to be a platform to showcase opposition unity.

Asked if the opposition can-didate will be able to make the cut in the election, Kanimozhi said: "I don't know. I don't think

there has been any decision which has been reached. So let us wait. It's a little to early to answer these questions."

"There are some important issues like in Tamil Nadu where we are opposing the NEET examinations. If the opposition comes together it will be a stronger voice on particular issues. But, where it is going to go, is a little too early to com-ment about it," said Kanimozhi to a question if the opposition unity is necessary.

Delhi's first woman judge diesNoida

IANS

Justice Leila Seth, the first woman judge of Delhi High Court who played a major

role in making the tough anti-rape law five years ago, died. She was 86.

"Justice Leila Seth passed away on Friday night around 10.30pm after suffering a car-dio respiratory attack," a family member said yesterday.

She is survived by her hus-band, two sons, including

well-known writer Vikram Seth, and a daughter.

Born in 1930 in Lucknow, she was also selected for the IAS in 1959, but in pursuit of a legal career, joined the London Bar.

She began her law practice in 1959 in Patna as one of only two women lawyers practis-ing in the high court there.

She practised law there for about ten years and handled a number of tax matters, civil and criminal cases, matrimo-nial suits and writ petitions.

In 1978, Justice Seth became the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and in 1991, she was appointed the first woman Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned her demise, saying her remarkable contri-bution to the legal field will be remembered.

"Saddened by the passing away of Justice Leila Seth. Her remarkable contribution to the legal field will be remem-bered," he said.

Senkumar takes charge as Kerala police chiefThiruvananthapuram

IANS

T.P. Senkumar yesterday took charge as Kerala police chief, a day after he was reinstated as the Director General of Police by the state government.

Senkumar was uncere-moniously shunted out the day Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assumed office in May last year.

After taking charge, Sen-kumar said that at the moment he will not comment on the ongoing legal issues with the state government including the contempt peti-tion he has filed against Chief Secretary Nalini Netto which is coming up on May 9.

"At the moment my prior-ity as an important head of a department is towards the state government's policies, especially issues concerning security of women and chil-dren. I don't expect any sort of confrontation from any-where," Senkumar said, adding that he will meet the Chief Minister at the earliest.

In the afternoon, Senku-mar said that he has got his reinstatement order and will assume charge as state police chief later in the day.

At 4.25pm, Senkumar, in police uniform, arrived at police headquarters and was given a ceremonial welcome.

New faces

Gehlot, MLA from Najafgarh, and Gautam, MLA from Seema Puri, will be the two new faces to join the cabinet: Source

Schoolgirls are treated at a government hospital after a gas leak from a nearby container depot in New Delhi, yesterday.

New Delhi

IANS

Noxious fumes leaking from chemical drums imported from China led

to around 475 students of two girls schools in south Delhi fall-ing ill yesterday, with complaints of dizziness and headache.

They were rushed to hospi-tal, and most were discharged a few hours later.

Delhi Police has registered

a case against "unknown per-sons" in the matter.

Students of Rani Jhansi Sar-vodaya Kanya Vidyalaya and Government Girls Senior Sec-ondary School, Number 2, in Tughlaqabad area, were enter-ing class after the morning assembly session at around 7.30am when they felt dizzy with the toxic fumes. Students complained of eye and throat irritation. Around 30 students also fainted.

Their schools are adjacent

to the Tughlaqabad container depot.

"A total of 475 students from Classes 6-12 from both the schools were affected by the fumes. They were treated at dif-ferent hospitals," Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Baaniya said.

He said the chemical leaked from four drums containing chloro (methyl) phenylsilane, which was imported from China, and was enroute to Sonepat in Haryana.

Bengal govt to renovate 3 heritage buildingsKolkata

IANS

THE West Bengal Heritage Commission will embark upon restoration of the three heritage buildings in the state, including the house of Alex-ander Duff, the first overseas missionary of the Church of Scotland to India, an official said yesterday.

Mahishadal Rangibashan Rajbari, Dr Graham Home's Church in Kalimpong in north Bengal and the house of Alexander Duff on Nimtala Ghat Street here will be restored with "Rs 17 crore provided by the Ministry of Culture".

"Detailed project reports were sent to the ministry regarding the buildings. We have had discussions with state Public Works Depart-ment (PWD) to execute the plan.

These buildings are in a dilapidated condition," Umapada Chatterjee, secre-tary of the state heritage commission, said.

There are two palaces in the Mahishadal Raj estate. The old palace was built around 1840 and the new one in 1937.

Singer urges govt to take action against 'fatwas'New Delhi IANS

Popular singer Sonu Nigam has urged the central gov-ernment to take action

against those who issue death threats in the form of "fatwa".

Last month, Nigam got embroiled in a controversy over his tweets against use of loud-speaker at odd hours during azaan (Muslim call for prayer).

"I have full faith in God, who is omnipresent and all-pervading. But I don't like this mentality, when any one issues fatwa against any other person, saying cut off his hair, kill him. There was a fatwa… for cutting off my head," Sonu said .

"In my view, the govern-ment must do something about this. We live in a civilised and democratic country. We are a republic. How can we allow such things like fatwa? I am also against lynching of people by Gau Rakshaks. I am totally against them.

"I don't like gundagardi (hooliganism) in any form. You can't go in a group of 12 people and threaten a family in the name of religion. Such things should not happen in our

country. We are all doing well, actually. We are doing very well these days. This is not a politi-cal statement, but I believe 'Achhe din aa rahe hain' (good days are coming)," he added.

Sonu said he has no interest in joining politics and has no con-nection with any political party.

"I do not have any contacts with politicians. Neither do I invite them, nor anybody comes to my house, nor do I get any phone calls from them. I am happy in my world. I don't visit any politician's house," he said.

"Yes, I do have contacts with Kumar Vishwas, but he is a poet, and he wants me to sing his songs. I am neither aligned with any political party, nor any organisation. I do charity work quietly, and I do not boast".

Jaitley trusts armyon mutilation issueYokohama

IANS

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said on yesterday that the Indian Army

was capable and competent and will take appropriate action in the wake of the mutilation of bodies of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan Army along the Line of Control (LoC) early this week.

"The Indian Army is disci-plined. It responded in an effective manner in surgical strikes. In incident like this (mutilation), like every Indian I have full confidence in the

Indian Army. It will take appro-priate action. Beyond that we must learn to trust our Indian Army," Jaitley told NDTV yesterday.

Replying to a question on the clamour among the people for tough action against Paki-stan, he said, "What they (Army) will decide, we leave it them". These are not issues that can be determined in public domain. Army decides."

Earlier this week, the Indian army had alleged that Pakistani forces fired rockets and mortar bombs at two Indian posts across the LoC and mutilated the bodies of two soldiers on patrol.

"I have full faith in God, who is omnipresent and all-pervading. But I don't like this mentality, when any one issues fatwa against any other person".

Pedestrians and cyclists travel through a dust storm at the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, in Allahabad.

14 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017ASIA

Political campaign

UN envoy keen to probe Duterte's drug war

Beijing

Reuters

China yesterday demanded that Taiwan release two mainland fishermen who

have been detained after the island's coastguard fired rub-ber bullets at them amid simmering tensions between the rivals.

The shooting put a new strain on ties between Beijing and Taipei which have cooled since Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took power last year, because she refuses to concede the self-ruled island is part of China.

Taiwan's coastguard said in a statement a Chinese fishing vessel trespassed into Taiwan waters, refused to stop and resisted inspection.

"The Chinese fishermen ignored radio warnings," the statement said, adding that Tai-wan coastguard fired rubber bullets, hitting some of the fish-ermen in the legs, but did not cause major injuries.

"China's Taiwan Affairs Office said two Chinese fisher-men were injured in the incident near Penghu, also known as the Pescadores, yes-terday morning," state news agency Xinhua said.

"This morning's shooting incident which injured

mainland fishermen arouses indignation," Xinhua quoted An Fengshan, spokesman for Tai-wan Affairs Office, as saying.

"We demand the Taiwan side solemnly deal with this matter and immediately release the fishermen and (their) boat".

Taiwan "must stop the practice of detaining mainland fishing boats for no reason at all," he said, urging Taiwan to "respect the rights of mainland fishermen."

Beijing has not ruled out resorting to military means to force the democratic island back to the fold if it formally declares independence.

Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since the Commu-nists won the civil war on the mainland and defeated Nation-alist forces who fled to the island.

Manila

Reuters

A United Nations expert who irked the Phil-ippines with a surprise visit said yesterday she was

keen to return and investigate alleged summary killings, but only if President Rodrigo Duterte drops his condition that she must hold a debate with him.

Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial kill-ings, has been vocal about allegations of systematic

executions in the Philippines as part of Duterte's war on drugs.

Thousands have been killed since he came to power in June last year.

A planned visit by Callamard in December was cancelled because she refused to accept Duterte's conditions.

She turned up in an unoffi-cial capacity on Friday, telling an academic conference on human rights issues that she would not carry out any research this time.

"I am committed to continue my dialogue with the govern-ment and I am committed to undertake an official visit, either by myself or with the special

rapporteur on the right to health," Callamard said.

Duterte has sought a public debate with Callamard before allowing her to conduct an inquiry into allegations of human rights violations against him, and that she be placed under oath before answering questions from the government.

The maverick leader has pre-viously stated his openness towards being probed by the UN and western governments, but only if he gets to publicly ask investigators questions, during which he said he would

"humiliate" them and create a "spectacle".

The government insists it must be given the opportunity to question UN rapporteurs because the Philippines had already been maligned by allegations of sys-tematic state-sponsored killings of drug dealers and users.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said on Friday the government would complain to the UN after Callamard failed to notify it of her Manila visit.

It turned out, however, that Callamard had actually informed the government in advance of

her trip through the Philippine mission in Geneva.

But yesterday, the govern-ment issued a statement, this time saying Callamard "conven-iently failed to disclose" that the Philippine mission had asked her to reconsider the trip since Phil-ippine officials would be in Geneva at the same time and were expecting to see her.

"Her delayed reply came on the day she left for the Philip-pines. This was neither timely nor proper courtesy accorded to a sovereign nation," the state-ment said.

Twin blasts hit Manila; 2 deadManila

AFP

TWO explosions in the Phil-ippine capital yesterday night killed at least two people and injured four others, police and witnesses said.

"An initial blast occurred at about 6 in the evening near a Muslim mosque in Quiapo, one of the older parts of Manila where there are big slums," a police report said yesterday.

That blast killed two and injured four, according to the report.

A second explosion occurred in the same area around 8:30pm, according to a witness.

"The second explosion did not cause major damage to any of the shops or other buildings in the street".

Nepal court blocks impeachment of chief justiceKathmandu

AFP

NEPAL'S supreme court blocked government's attempt to impeach the chief justice, a move that had prompted con-cerns the ruling coalition was seeking to undermine judicial independence.

The government filed a motion to impeach the coun-try's first female chief justice Sushila Karki last Sunday after the two main parties in the coalition accused her of political interference.

The move came just days after Karki overturned the government's choice for chief of police.

The order issued by the top court said that the gov-ernment's move went against "the spirit of the constitution".

Supreme court spokes-man Bishwaraj Paudelsaid that Karki would resume her duties from Sunday.

The UN human rights chief harshly criticised Nepal's efforts to impeach Karki, whose supporters say has taken a strong stance against corruption during her year-long tenure as head of the supreme court.

China urges Taiwan to free injured fishermen

Canberra

AP

Australia's prime minister yesterday described his first meeting with Pres-

ident Donald Trump as "more family than formal," as the Aus-tralian ended a brief visit to New York planned to set the tone of bilateral relations with Republican administration.

Trump said on Thursday that his first telephone conver-sation with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) on January 28 "got a little bit testy" when the president reluctantly agreed to honour President Barack Obama's promise to take up to 1,250 mainly Muslim refugees off Australia's hands. But Trump denied media reports that the tone was any harsher than that.

Turnbull said he enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the president face-to-face when they met aboard the decommissioned aircraft car-rier USS Intrepid to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

"We have backgrounds that are similar in many respects, businessmen that found our way into politics".

"It was very, very warm — as I said — more family than formal," he added. Turnbull's office released a transcript of the New York press conference yesterday.

Turnbull, a wealthy 62-year-old former Goldman Sachs partner who first entered parliament in 2004, would not be drawn on the differences between meeting Trump and Obama. "The two presidents are obviously very different men. But I have been delighted and honoured to meet with each of them," Turnbull said.

The fact that Trump delayed and cut short his meeting with Turnbull irked some in Aus-tralia, where morning TV show hosts, pundits and politicians pondered whether it was a snub.

Turnbull delighted after Trump meet

Human rights issue

I am committed to continue my dialogue with the government and I am committed to undertake an official visit, either by myself or with the special rapporteur on the right to health: Callamard

China jails 20 officials for 2015 landslideBeijing

AFP

Chinese courts have sen-tenced 19 government officials and one business

leader to prison for up to 20 years for their roles in a land-slide which killed more than 70 people.

The disaster occurred in

Shenzhen, a southern boom town bordering Hong Kong, at the end of 2015 when soil ille-gally piled some 160 metres high at an old quarry site turned to mud during heavy rains.

"Three local courts passed sentences at the end of April for 45 people who had been charged in connection with the land-slide," China's official news

agency Xinhua reported.Long Renfu, the boss of Shen-

zhen Yixianglong, which was responsible for managing the site, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a fine of $1.5m for negligence and corruption.

The former head of Shen-zhen's city administration bureau was also sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and fined

eight million yuan, while an offi-cial from Guangming district where the landslide took place was sentenced to 16 years for taking bribes.

"Seventeen other govern-ment officials were given prison sentences between three and seven years, while five others received other penalties," the news agency reported.

We demand the Taiwan side solemnly deal with this matter and immediately release the fishermen and (their) boat. Taiwan "must stop the practice of detaining mainland fishing boats for no reason at all: Official

Sumatra begins manhunt after jailbreakPekanbaru

AFP

Indonesian security forces were yesterday hunting for more than 200 inmates still

on the loose after a mass brea-kout from an overcrowded prison on Sumatra island, police said.

More than 440 inmates fled the jail in Pekanbaru City Fri-day after prison guards let them out of their cells to pray.

Police initially said about 200 inmates were involved in

the breakout but later revised up the figure.

Footage on local TV stations showed many men, some wear-ing sarongs, scurrying out of the jail, with no sign of officials in pursuit.

Authorities launched a mas-sive manhunt and about half had been recaptured by yesterday evening, but security forces were still hunting for the rest, local police spokesman Guntur Aryo Tejo said.

Tejo said authorities had ini-tially given incorrect information

about the number involved in the breakout due to a "chaotic" sit-uation, adding that the figure was revised up after a meeting of offi-cials yesterday.

"We have come to the con-clusion that the number of inmates who escaped stands at 442, we have recaptured 216 of them," he said.

"Security forces have expanded their hunt from Pekanbaru to neighbouring dis-tricts, and as far as Batam, an island off the east coast of Sumatra," Tejo said.

Supporters of Moon Jae-in, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, give the thumbs-up to him during his election campaign rally in Seoul, yesterday.

Police conduct a spot check at the exit access road of Pekanbaru City, yesterday.

15SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 ASIA

Religious festival

Taliban captures district in KunduzKandahar

AP

Taliban insurgents overran a district police headquarters in northeastern Afghan-istan after two days of

intense fighting that left scores of casualties on both sides, Kun-duz provincial officials said yesterday.

Mafuz Akbari, spokesman for the regional police com-mander, said the Taliban were able to take control of the Qala-e Zal in Kunduz but security forces were now pursuing the militants.

It was unclear how many were killed and wounded.

"Reinforcements have been dispatched and the enemy is under attack from both ground and air by the Afghan security forces, soon our forces will regain the areas that are lost," he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihul-lah Mujahid released a statement confirming the group's fighters were in control

of the Qala-e Zal district.Rabani Rabani, a member

of the provincial council, said the Taliban launched attacks from several directions on Afghan security checkpoints.

"Finally, early yesterday the Taliban were able to capture the whole district and right now they are in control of Qala-I Zal."

Akbari said there were scores of casualties among both the Taliban and the Afghan security forces, but as the battle was ongoing he couldn't provide a total dead and wounded.

He said dozens of local res-idents were displaced from their homes to neighbouring districts.

Taliban have launched attacks on Kunduz city in the past and at least twice briefly captured Kunduz's capital and reached the central roundabout and hoisted their flag around in the city.

"In separate fighting in southern Helmand province, four Afghan police officers were shot to death at a checkpoint," said General Aqa Noor Kentoz, provincial police chief.

He said all four were killed the night before at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Taliban have increased their attacks against Afghan security forces across the country.

New Islamabad airport to open in AugustIslamabad

Reuters

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday said a new airport in Pakistan's

capital will be operational by mid-August, replacing the cramped Benazir Bhutto Inter-national Airport that was the butt of jokes for many travellers.

Sharif's government is spending billions of dollars on upgrading Pakistan's transport infrastructure and ending energy blackouts, with freshly-paved motorways as well as dams and power plants popping up across the country.

Sharif touts big-ticket infra-structure as sign of economic progress in the country of nearly 200 million people, and many

of the projects are due to be fin-ished ahead of the elections, likely in the middle of 2018.

"We have focussed on this Islamabad airport project and we are completing it on a fast pace," Sharif said during an inspection of the glass-clad airport.

"The speed of completion of projects should be good at coun-tries that want to progress."

Rumours being spread to destabilise Suu Kyi: GovtYangon

Reuters

Myanmar's government has warned the public that false news and

rumours are being spread by unidentified people wishing to cause "political instability" dur-ing the tenure of leader Aung San Suu Kyi (pictured), state-run media said.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi took power in April 2016 as part of a transition from military rule.

Her first year in power has been beset by the bureaucratic

inertia, ethnic and religious ten-sions, and conflicts that have displaced tens of thousands, including an estimated 75,000 Rohingyas who fled to Bangla-desh amid a military crackdown late last year.

Rumours emerged in recent days that President Htin Kyaw - who Suu Kyi picked for head of state - would step down.

Suu Kyi directs the civilian administration in the specially created role of state counsellor because the constitution - drafted by the still-powerful military - bars her from the presidency.

Police said they would pros-ecute those responsible for the information, which has spread quickly on online social net-works that have grown in popularity amid expanding freedoms and internet access in Myanmar.

"False news regarding the president and the state counsel-lor have been spread on purpose by using accounts with false names," Suu Kyi's office carried in the government's Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

It named two Facebook accounts that it said had pub-

lished "fabricated news"."It has been found that these

acts are being done intention-ally to cause political instability during the tenure of the incum-bent government," Suu Kyi's office said, adding that the per-petrators wished to "create a situation among the people to live in fear and anxiety due to the spread of rumours".

Police Colonel Myo Thu Soe, national police spokesman, said an investigation was being launched and anyone intention-ally spreading false news would be brought to court.

Minister alleges Sri Lankan embassies sheltered criminalsColombo

AFP

Sri Lanka's foreign minister accused the previous administration of using its

embassies abroad as "safe houses" for murderers accused of perpetrating human rights abuses during the civil war.

Mangala Samaraweera told parliament a deputy ambassa-dor posted to Brazil and two staffers sent to Germany were among those suspected of mur-ders and war crimes that were

sheltered in embassies by the former government.

"Many of our embassies had become safe houses for crimi-nals involved in killings as well as grave human rights violations at home," Samaraweera said.

"They were rewarded by giv-ing places in our embassies abroad."

The minister said the envoy sent to Brazil by the Mahinda Rajapakse government was accused of murdering another embassy employee and commit-ting human rights abuses in the

dying days of the decades-long conflict, which ended in 2009.

Meanwhile the two given postings in Berlin were key sus-pects in the 2009 high-profile assassination of newspaper edi-tor Lasantha Wickrematunga, a Rajapakse critic, he added.

Both have since been remanded in custody over the murder, which triggered inter-national outrage.

Local media have reported that another suspected criminal was nominated for a diplomatic posting in Thailand shortly

before Rajapakse's re-election in 2010.

The former president and several members of his family are under investigation for large-scale fraud and murder during his presidency, which ended in 2015.

Sri Lankan criminal investi-gators have told an ongoing court hearing that a death squad overseen by Rajapakse's brother was responsible for targeting the president's political opponents and crit ics, including Wickrematunga.

Pakistan to hit back on Kabul's border violationsQuetta

AP

Pakistan dispatched truckloads of relief sup-plies yesterday to

villages along the southwest border with Afghanistan, where 11 people were killed in fighting between the two countries prompting Pakistan to close a border crossing, officials said.

Akhtar Mohammad, a doctor at government-run Chaman hospital, said doz-ens of persons wounded in Friday's skirmishes were still being treated and that "some of them are traumatized."

Pakistan's Defence Min-ister Khawaja Mohammad

Asif said the latest skirmishes were a reflection of the "nexus" between Kabul and New Delhi.

He said Kabul did not positively respond to efforts made by Islamabad to improve relations with Afghanistan in recent months. Asif warned that Pakistan would respond "fittingly" to Afghanistan if any further violations were committed along the border.

Samim Khpolwak, spokesman for the governor in Kandahar province, said an overnight meeting between officials from both sides ended without a positive result. He said the border is still closed.

Azerbaijan president urges unity in Muslim worldBaku

Anatolia

AZERBAIJAN'S president called for unity in the Muslim world during a speech in the capital, Baku, highlighting the issues of terrorism, multi-cul-turalism, and occupied Upper Karabakh.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, Ilham Aliyev said majority-Muslim countries are being "victimized" by terrorism.

"We are against the idea that Islam is associated with terrorism," he said.

He also highlighted that multiculturalism helps pre-vent further risks in the world, saying that the world currently faces "dangerous trends."

"The reason why civil wars and conflicts emerge is that different cultures can’t get along with each other," Aliyev said.

"We need to unite and show that we are living in a multicultural world."

The president said that tje xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and separatism emerge in the absence of multiculturalism.

"The only way to make the world danger-free is pro-moting multiculturalism," he added.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inspects the departure area in the international terminal at the newly built airport in Islamabad, yesterday.

Taking control

Spokesman for the regional police commander said the Taliban were able to take control of the Qala-e Zal in Kunduz but security forces were now pursuing the militants.

In separate fighting in southern Helmand province, four Afghan police officers were shot to death at a checkpoint: Official.

Southern Thais take part in an elephant parade during a joint Buddhist and Islamic cultural festival in the restive southern Thai province of Narathiwat, yesterday.

US concerned about Cambodia rights workersPhnom Penh

AP

THE US has joined the Euro-pean Union and UN human rights agencies in expressing concern over the extended pre-trial detention of five Cam-bodian human rights workers held for more than a year.

The five current or former staff members of ADHOC — the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association — are being held for allegedly bribing a woman to change testimony that was damag-ing to then-deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha.

A Cambodian court late last month agreed to allow a six-month extension of the activists' pre-trial detention.

"They have been subjected to a never-ending nightmare of deliberate delays and polit-ical manipulation of the judicial system designed to punish them, and intimidate civil soci-ety to stifle any criticism of the government as the country heads into commune, and then national, elections," New York-based Human Rights Watch and FORUM-ASIA.

16 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017EUROPE

Germans in far north vote in test for rivalsKiel

Reuters

Germans in the far northern state of Schleswig-Holstein vote today in the first of two regional

polls that the Social Democrats must win if they are to pose a serious challenge to Chancel-lor Angela Merkel in September's national election.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) enjoyed a revival in the opinion polls early this year after nominating former European Parliament president Martin Schulz in January as its candidate to run against Mer-kel. But the "Schulz effect" failed to deliver in Saarland, where his party flopped in a March state poll.

In Schleswig-Holstein, the SPD will defend an incumbent state premier —Torsten Albig — for the first time since Schulz's nomination as party leader. "If Torsten Albig wins, whatever the coalition constel-lation, that will show people that the election in September is open," said Hajo Funke, polit-ical scientist at Berlin's Free University.

The SPD's prospects of top-pling Merkel will be boosted further if they can hold onto power next Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), a large western region where elections in the past have served as an indicator of the national mood.

The left-leaning party has

its work cut out.Two polls on Thursday

showed Merkel's conservative bloc extending its lead over the SPD at national level to six and seven percentage points respectively.

Jobs and wind farm plans are among the regional issues in Schleswig-Holstein, a state of 2.3 million voters that juts north of Hamburg and borders on Denmark, where Albig hopes to benefit from his incumbency advantage to return to power.

However, a survey by poll-ster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for national broadcaster ZDF published on Thursday put sup-port for the CDU at 32 percent in Schleswig-Holstein, ahead of the SPD on 29 percent.

That would leave a power-sharing "grand coalition" between the two big parties as the sole governing option for the rivals — a scenario that could also arise again at the federal level after the Septem-ber election.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators attend the Freedom March in Warsaw.

Polish capital sees huge anti-government protestWarsaw

AFP

Tens of thousands demon-strated in Warsaw against Poland's government yes-

terday, saying the rule of law was at stake after a slew of con-troversial reforms and appointments to public broadcasters.

The protest — called by the country's main liberal opposi-tion party — came shortly after an opinion poll showed it pull-ing ahead of the rightwing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government for the first time.

Since winning power in October 2015 elections the PiS has pushed through a string of changes that have led to mass protests at home and a threat of EU sanctions. Supporters of the liberal Civic Platform (PO)

flooded into the sun drenched capital, dubbing the protest a "Freedom March", with many carrying red-and-while Polish and yellow star-spangled blue EU flags.

"Chairman Kaczynski says Poland is a free country and that nothing threatens that freedom. This isn't true and we know it," PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna, referring to PiS party chief Jaro-slaw Kaczynski, told the crowds.

"We want a democratic, pro-European and proud Poland that seeks partners and friends in the European Union, not ene-mies," he said. "We know how to stop the bad PiS government and we'll do it."

Kaczynski, widely regarded as Poland's de facto decision-maker despite holding no senior government post, rejected the accusations, insisting the

government "fully guarantees freedom."

"We have democracy, eve-ryone can believe what they want, everyone can protest, eve-ryone can vote how they like, everyone can write what they like," said Kaczynski during a shipyard visit in Szczecin, north-ern Poland.

While local government officials allied to the organisers said the march drew 90,000 people, police put the number at 12,000. AFP journalists on site estimated 50,000 marchers in the sunshine, before rain came.

The PiS, which swept back into power partly by playing on fears of an immigration influx, has also come under scrutiny for installing loyalists as directors in state-controlled enterprises.

The party had been out of power for almost a decade.

Merkel's rivals

The Social Democratic Party enjoyed a revival in the opinion polls early this year after nominating former European Parliament president Martin Schulz in January as its candidate to run against Merkel.

Britain publishes long-awaited air pollution planLONDON: The British govern-ment published long-awaited plans to tackle air pollution, but campaigners condemned them as inadequate to tackle a growing public health con-cern. Measures include a targeted scrappage scheme to persuade motorists to trade in their diesel cars, which have been blamed for high levels of nitrogen dioxide near roads.

Local authorities would be expected to set up "clean air zones" in the worst pollu-tion hotspots, where NO2 levels have repeatedly breached legal levels.

The consultation says that charging the dirtiest vehicles to enter these areas, as Lon-don is planning, is the most effective way to improve air quality. However, it also warns this should be a last resort, saying that motorists encouraged to buy diesel engines by previous govern-ments — on the basis that they produced less carbon dioxide — should not be unfairly punished.

Other plans include removing road humps to improve the flow of traffic, encouraging more electric cars and fitting new, cleaner engines to public buses and lorry fleets. Environment minister Andrea Leadsom said the plan offered a "com-mon sense way forward".

UK Conservative lead stays strong ahead of electionLondon

Reuters

British Prime Minster Theresa May's Conserva-tive Party is still a strong

16 points ahead ahead of the main opposition Labour Party ahead of a national election on June 8, according to a poll by Opinium yesterday.

The Conservatives polled 46 percent in an online survey of 2,005 adults, down one point from the last Opinium survey on April 25, while Labour were unchanged on 30 percent.

The survey, carried out before this week's big Conserv-ative victory in local elections, put the Liberal democrats on 9

percent and the anti-EU UKIP on 7 percent.

Adam Drummond, Head of Political Polling at Opinium, said the strains of the campaign spot-light have had some impact on the public perception of May, with those who voted to remain in the EU in last year's referen-dum in particular feeling less convinced by her message than at the start of the campaign.

But he added: "The Conserv-atives can afford to lose some Remain voters because, as the local elections showed, they are absorbing most of the UKIP vote and are on course for the type of victory last seen by (Labour's) Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher when they were at their peaks."

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at an election campaign rally in Leicester, yesterday.

Italian FM in Libya for talks on peace and migrantsTripoli

AFP

Italian Foreign Minister Ange-lino Alfano yesterday held talks in Tripoli with top Lib-

yan officials on peace efforts for the country and ways to curb illegal migration to Europe.

Alfano met Government of National Accord head Fayez al-Sarraj and his Vice-President Ahmad Meitig to discuss "efforts being made towards national reconciliation", the GNA said in a statement.

Alfano and Libyan leaders discussed ways of curbing the influx of migrants trying to reach Europe from Libya, as authori-ties yesterday said that hundreds of migrants were rescued by the Libyan coastguard. The Libyan judiciary in March suspended a deal struck the previous month between Libya and Italy aimed

at bolstering joint efforts to stop the flow of migrants. In April, the Italian government said that a dozen of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country's borders to prevent illegal migration.

Sarraj has struggled to impose the authority of his fragile gov-ernment, which continues to meet resistance at home despite its backing by many political and military leaders.

Each year, thousands of peo-ple, mostly from sub-Saharan countries, board boats operated by traffickers in the country's west heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa, some 300km away. In the first three months of 2017, more than 24,000 migrants arrived in Italy after making the perilous crossing from Libya, up from 18,000 in the first quarter of last year, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. A migrant disembarks from a vessel Phoenix in the Sicilian harbour of Catania, Italy, yesterday.

Poland-EU row over ancient forest heats upWARSAW: Poland is ready to take a dispute with the Euro-pean Union over logging in an ancient forest to the bloc's highest court, Environment Minister Jan Szyszko said.

The European Commis-sion last week sent a "final warning" to Warsaw saying it could take legal action to halt large-scale logging in the Unesco World Heritage for-est of Bialowieza on the border with Belarus.

"We are simply defend-ing environmental law based on Natura 2000," said Szyszko.

One of the last large ancient forests in Europe, Bialowieza belongs to the EU's Natura 2000 network of protected areas.

France cracks down on super skinny modelsPARIS: Super-thin models and secretly airbrushed photo-shoots will soon be a thing of the past in fashion hub France, as authorities passed meas-ures to protect young people from the dangers of anorexia.

A new law entered into force yesterday which com-pels all models operating in France to provide a doctor's note certifying that their Body Mass Index (BMI) is not too low and that they are in over-all good health.

Under a second law, to come into force in October, all pictures of models that have been altered or pho-toshopped will have to carry a disclaimer to that effect.

The health ministry said the two measures aimed "to avoid the promotion of unat-tainable ideas of beauty and to prevent youth anorexia" as well as to protect the health of models, who are especially at risk from being underweight.

17SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 EUROPE

France takes hard line on Macron hack attackParis

AFP

France took a hard line yesterday over a huge trove of documents hacked from presiden-tial frontrunner

Emmanuel Macron's campaign, warning on the eve of the elec-tion that anyone spreading them could face criminal charges.

The warning came after the pro-European centrist's team lambasted a "massive and coor-dinated" hack that resulted in thousands of emails, accounting details and internal documents being posted late Friday.

The leak was an 11th-hour twist ahead of today's decisive run-off after a bruising and divi-sive campaign pitting the 39-year-old former banker who embraces free-trade against his anti-EU, far-right rival Marine Le Pen. "The dissemination of such data, which have been fraudu-lently obtained and in all likelihood may have been min-gled with false information, is liable to be classified as a crimi-nal offence," France's electoral commission said in a statement.

The documents spread on social media just before midnight as the candidates officially wrapped up campaigning, in what Macron's team termed an attempt at "democratic destabilisation, like that seen during the last pres-idential campaign in the United States".

Hillary Clinton has alleged Russian hacking of her cam-paign's emails was partly to blame for her defeat by Donald Trump in the US presidential election in November.

Macron's campaign employs tough server protections and net-work encryption, but experienced

hackers can always find a way in. "In this kind of organisation the real potential fault-line is the human element," the head of computer services for En Marche! recently said, requesting anonymity.

Because security procedures can become long and cumber-some, some people can be tempted to get around them by using personal email services which are little or badly protected.

Macron's team said the files were stolen weeks ago when sev-eral officials from his En Marche party had their personal and work emails hacked — in one of "an intense and repeated" series of cyber-attacks targeting the can-didate since the launch of the campaign. "Clearly, the docu-ments arising from the hacking are all lawful and show the nor-mal functioning of a presidential campaign," aides said in a statement.

But they warned that who-ever was behind the leak had mixed fake documents with real ones "in order to sow doubt and disinformation".

The WikiLeaks website on Friday posted a link to the docu-ments on Twitter, saying it had

not yet discovered fakes in the cache of files and adding "we are very sceptical that the Macron campaign is faster than us."

Last month, cybersecurity research group Trend Micro said Russian hackers called Pawn Storm had targeted Macron's campaign, using "phishing" tech-niques to try and steal personal data.

Senior Le Pen aide Florian Philippot suggested on Twitter that the leak might contain infor-mation the media had deliberately suppressed.

Polls released earlier Friday had showed Macron gaining momentum, forecasting victory for the pro-European, pro-busi-ness former banker with around 62 percent to 38 percent for Le Pen.

Macron and Le Pen — who is hoping to ride a global wave of anti-establishment anger to the Elysee Palace — have offered starkly different visions for France during a campaign that has been closely watched in Europe and around the world.

The reaction to the leaks came after a frantic final day of campaigning, which included the tragic death of a socialist law-maker after she spoke at a Macron rally.

Corinne Erhel, 50, was the last to take the stage on Friday in western France when she sud-denly collapsed. She was rushed to hospital, where she was pro-nounced dead.

"I learned with immense sad-ness of the death of Corinne Erhel at the event in Plouisy, where she was speaking to 300 activists," wrote French lower house speaker Claude Bartolone, a socialist.

Fresh security fears also sur-faced on Friday following the

arrest of a suspected extremist who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Guns were discovered as well as the pledge on a flash drive and several of the group's flags, sources close to the case said after the arrest in Evreux, north of Paris.

The suspect, a 34-year-old

Muslim convert, was arrested early Friday after police found his car near the base.

Le Pen has tried to portray Macron as being soft on security and Islamic fundamentalism, playing to the concerns of many of her supporters after a string of terror attacks in France that killed

more than 230 people since 2015.Three days before the first-

round vote in April, a policeman was shot dead in an Islamic State-claimed attack on Paris's Champs-Elysees, and jitters rose again on Friday when police arrested a suspected extremist near a military airbase.

The leak was an 11th-hour twist ahead of today's decisive run-off after a bruising and divisive campaign pitting the 39-year-old former banker who embraces free-trade against his anti-EU, far-right rival Le Pen.

ABOVE: People and media gather on the road outside the house of Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, on the eve of France's second round vote, in Le Touquet, yesterday. LEFT: Municipal employees prepare ballot boxes on the eve of the second round of the presidential election, at a polling station in Tulle, France, yesterday.

Voting begins in overseas territoriesParis

AP

Voting in the French pres-idential run-off has begun in France's overseas ter-

ritories and French embassies abroad amid a nationwide blackout on campaigning and media coverage that could sway voters' views.

The first French territory involved in the early voting was Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, an archipelago located near the Canadian island of Newfound-land, where polling stations opened yesterday morning.

The French presidential campaign has been unusually bitter, with voters hurling eggs and flour, protesters clashing with police and candidates insulting each other on national television — a reflection of the widespread public disaffection with politics.

French citizens wait in line to vote, at College Stanislas in Montreal, Canada, yesterday. Voting in the French presidential run-off has begun in France's overseas territories and French embassies abroad early yesterday.

Britain & Germany brace for pre-poll cyber attacksLondon

AFP

Britain and Germany were already beefing up cyber security ahead of key

elections even before the hack-ing attack on France's Emmanuel Macron, months after Hillary Clinton was caught in the online crosshairs.

"If the election had been on October 27, I'd be your presi-dent," the defeated Democratic candidate, Clinton, told a char-ity luncheon last Tuesday.

In France, going to the polls today in a presidential run-off election between Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen, hack-ing reared its ugly head at the 11th hour.

Taking note of the events in the US and in France, intelli-gence authorities in Britain and Germany are taking steps to prevent cyber attacks ahead of their own hotly-contested elections.

For cyber security expert Ewan Lawson, political parties are easy targets because they "quite often don't have partic-ularly robust cyber security".

"They are not-for-profit and don't have a lot of money to throw at the problem," he told the Press Association news agency. "So I think we could reasonably expect to see data theft, data breaches".

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NSCS) said it was on "high alert" the day after Prime Minister Theresa May surprised the country last month by calling for a general election to be held on June 8.

British spies are aware of

the problem having already thwarted an attempt by Rus-sian hackers to interfere in the 2015 general election, accord-ing to NSCS chief Ciaran Martin.

Recognising the problem, the NCSC convened the UK's main political parties to a "tech-nical seminar" in March to provide them with practical steps to reduce the risk as well as advise on incident management.

German authorities have taken similar steps ahead of September's general election.

Arne Schoenbohm, presi-dent of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said back in March that government networks were being attacked "on a daily basis".

As a precaution, she explained, the BSI had approached election officials and political parties to discuss how they could protect themselves.

Germany is facing "increas-ingly aggressive cyber espionage" as well as "further attacks," Hans-Georg Maassen, the domestic intelligence chief, said on Thursday.

He also highlighted how Martin Schulz, the Social Dem-ocrats leader, had recently been the victim of a vicious disinfor-mation campaign claiming his father had been a Nazi super-visor in a concentrator camp.

In late March, Germany's armed forces launched a new cyber command tasked with protecting the military's own IT infrastructure and computer-assisted weapons systems, as well as surveillance of online threats.

France's President Francois Hollande and King Mohammed VI of Morocco visit the Treasure of Islam exhibition at the Arab World Institute in Paris, yesterday.

Hollande promises 'response' to election hackPARIS: French President Francois Hollande yesterday promised a response to the hacking of centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign following the publication online of thousands of stolen emails and documents.

"We knew that there were these risks during the presiden-tial campaign because it happened elsewhere. Nothing will go with-out a response," he told AFP during a visit of a cultural insti-tute in Paris.

"If there has been any inter-ference or appropriations, there will be procedures which will begin," he said, adding: "We need to let the investigations happen."

New York Reuters

Legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from some Muslim-

majority countries heat up again next week when two US appeals courts consider whether it is constitutional.

The legal fights may end up at the US Supreme Court per-haps in the fall, many months after Trump first issued an exec-utive order in January saying there was an urgent need to halt some immigration to the United States for 90 days while officials reviewed the visa process.

Trump dropped the original travel order after unfavorable legal rulings and replaced it with a more limited ban which is itself now being challenged in appeals courts on two coasts.

Arguing that the United States needed to tighten national security measures, Trump’s attempt to limit travel was one of his first major acts in office. The fate of the ban is one indi-cation of whether the Republican can carry out his promises to be tough on immi-gration and national security.

Omar Jadwat, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, who will be arguing the case at the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia tomorrow, said the fact that so much time has passed since the ban was issued is proof that there was no pressing national security need for it in the first place.

The court fight will give those challenging the order an opportunity to argue that the government never intended for the travel pause to be

temporary, said Buzz Frahn, an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in Palo Alto, California whose firm has been closely tracking the ongoing litigation.

Now almost 100 days after the original travel ban, the gov-ernment says the period of 90 days was reset when the admin-istration issued the new order in March.

The Department of Home-land Security “is, and will be, continuously examining ways to enhance the screening and vetting process to shut down terrorist and criminal pathways into the United States,” agency spokesman David Lapan said. “Some improvements will be classified, others will be public, but the Department has only just begun ways to enhance the security of our immigration sys-tem,” he said in an email.

Opponents - including states and civil rights groups - say that both the first ban and the revised

ban, which also put a halt to all refugee admissions to the coun-try for four months, discriminates against Muslims.

The government argues the text of the order does not men-tion any specific religion and is needed to protect the country against attacks.

The 4th Circuit will decide the fate of a ruling from a Mar-yland district judge that struck down a section of the revised executive order barring visitors from Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

The hearing will take place before 14 full-time judges of the appellate court. Ten of them were appointed by Democrats, and four by Republicans.

Then, on March 15, a three-judge panel at the San

Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review a decision from a Hawaii judge that halted not just the travel portion of the ban but also the section that barred refugees. The judges – who will sit on a panel in Seattle - have been assigned but their identities have not been made public.

The 9th Circuit blocked Trump’s first ban in February, in a unanimous vote by one Repub-lican-appointed judge and two-Democratic appointees. Trump lashed out at the ruling on Twitter and said he is ready for a fight at the Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is more likely to hear a case if the federal appeals courts reach opposite rulings or if the issue is of great national importance, according to legal experts.

But the Supreme Court’s ses-sion ends in June, and if it take the case it would probably not be heard until after the justices return in October.

18 SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017AMERICAS

Battles stretch on

Opponents say that both the first ban and the revised ban, which also put a halt to all refugee admissions to the country for four months, discriminates against Muslims.

The government argues the text of the order does not mention any specific religion and is needed to protect the country against attacks.

The Fuego volcano in southern Guatemala erupts yesterday. Authorities evacuated 300 people threatened by volcano. The so-called Volcano of Fire was spitting hot ash thousands of metres into the air, the National Volcanology Institute said.

Volcano erupts

Dallas

AP

A white Texas police officer who fired into a car of teenagers leaving an

unruly party, killing a black 15-year-old passenger, faces a murder charge, authorities say.

Roy Oliver turned himself in Friday night, just hours after the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest in the April 29 death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver, who was fired Tuesday from the police force in the Dal-las suburb of Balch Springs, was released after posting bail at the Parker County Jail in Weather-ford, about 95 miles west of Dallas. Oliver’s bond had been set at $300,000.

The warrant was issued based on evidence that sug-gested Oliver “intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly danger-ous to human life that caused the death,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement

Edwards and his two broth-ers and two other teenagers were leaving an unruly house party in Balch Springs when Oliver opened fire on their car with a rifle.

The bullets shattered the front passenger-side window and struck Edwards. It took a few moments for Edwards’ 16-year-old brother, who was driving, and other passengers to notice that he was slumped over in his seat.

Police had said the teenag-ers’ car was backing up toward officers “in an aggressive man-ner,” but later said body camera video showed the vehicle

actually driving away from the officers. Edwards’ death had led to protests calling for Oliver to be fired and charged.

Oliver’s firing Tuesday for violating department policies in the shooting came the same day news broke of the Justice Department’s decision not to charge two white police offic-ers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the shooting death of a black man in 2016.

And a white officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, pleaded guilty that day to fed-eral civil rights charges in the fatal shooting of a black man in 2015.

Edwards’ family issued a statement saying Oliver’s arrest on the murder charge “has brought a bit of a reprieve in a time of intense morning.”

“Although we realize that there remain significant obsta-cles ahead on the road to justice, this action brings hope that the justice system will bend against the overwhelming weight of our frustration,” the statement released by the fam-ily’s attorney said.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Melinda Urbina said the inves-tigation into the shooting “will continue and does not conclude with the arrest.”

Personnel records from the Balch Springs Police Depart-ment obtained by The Associated Press show Oliver was suspended for 16 hours in December 2013 after the Dal-las County District Attorney’s Office filed the complaint. Oliver also was ordered to take training courses in anger man-agement and courtroom demeanor and testimony.

Caracas

AFP

Hundreds of women marched in Venezuela’s capital yesterday to keep

pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, whose authority is being increasingly challenged by protests and deadly unrest.

The rally, led by opposition leaders and lawmakers, saw women dressed in white head toward the interior ministry to denounce “repression” in the past five weeks by teargas-fir-ing security forces against demonstrators.

Similar rallies were held in other cities. They were the lat-est in more than a month of anti-government demonstra-tions, many of which have been countered by pro-Maduro

crowds and security forces.The death toll since April,

when the protests intensified after Maduro’s administration and the courts stepped up efforts to undermine the opposition, is at least 37 according to prosecutors.

“The dictatorship is living its last days and Maduro knows it,” one former lawmaker in the Caracas march, Maria Corina Machado, said. “That’s why there are these unprecedented levels of repression,” she said.

The last fatality in Venezue-la’s unrest, that of a 22-year-old man, occurred on Friday during looting in impoverished Venezue-lan cities hardest hit by a worsening economic crisis. In Valencia, where the man died, some areas looked like a disaster zone with bars on shop windows

bent and windows broken.Demonstrators blame

Maduro for the country’s plight and the penury of food and medicine. They are demanding elections to remove the leftist president. Maduro, backed by the Venezuelan military, is resisting. He and the opposition have blamed each other of using armed groups to sow violence.

The president has started a process to rewrite the current constitution brought in under his late predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez. The opposition and many protesters say that is a tactic to try to dodge elections.With anger boiling over, young protesters in the western munic-ipality of Rosario de Perija burned, pulled down and then smashed a statue of Chavez, according to video posted.

Washington

AFP

US prosecutors are drop-ping charges against two immigrant students

accused of raping a classmate, a case that made national head-lines after the White House brandished it as proof that an immigration crackdown was needed. Prosecutors in the state of Maryland near the nation’s capital said on Friday they would not pursue rape and sex offense charges against Jose Montano, a 17-year-old from El Salvador, and Henry Sanchez Milian, 18, from Guatemala.

Police had accused the male students of raping a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom during school

hours. The allegations from the March incident became a light-ning rod in the already intense US debate on immigration.

It took on national dimen-sions when White House spokesman Sean Spicer said “tragedies like this” were the rea-son US President Donald Trump “has made illegal immigration and crackdown such a big deal.”

But,”the facts of this case do not support the charges origi-nally filed,” John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for the pro-Democratic Montgomery County just outside Washing-ton, told journalists . Consequently, his office would not prosecute on first-degree rape and sexual offense charges.

Prosecutors however have

filed a child pornography charge against Sanchez Milian in con-nection with images found on cell phones during the investi-gation, McCarthy said.

Montano’s case has been transferred to juvenile court, McCarthy said, declining to specify charges against him.

A defense lawyer for the teenager told US media he would face charges of distributing and possessing child pornography, which she dubbed “egregious.” In Friday’s White House press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sand-ers said she would not retract Spicer’s comments “without fur-ther information.”

Spicer “was speaking about what he knew at the time,” she said.

Trump travel ban back in US courts next week

Women’s march keeps pressure on Venezuela President

Bogota

AFP

A judge on Friday ordered the release of a Colombian army

general from prison, the first case involving a top official to be reviewed by a court sys-tem set up by the government’s peace deal with the FARC rebels.

Retired general Jaime Humberto Uscategui was first jailed in 1999 for failing to prevent a massacre by para-military commandos that killed at least 49 people.

Uscategui, who professes his innocence, was the first general to be convicted because of paramilitary violence.

He was granted “condi-tional” release after he was deemed to have met the requirements of the court sys-tem—the Special Jurisdiction for Peace—according to the government’s judicial branch.

Created by November’s deal to end a half-century con-flict, it was instituted to try crimes committed by rebels, government forces and some civilians. The agreement pro-vides for the provisional release of convicted officials who have served a minimum of five years. Their release is contingent on their agreeing to testify at a truth commission.

The general had been serving 37 years for colluding with a right-wing paramili-tary force that killed at least 49 suspected guerrilla sym-pathizers in the village of Mapiripan in July 1997.

Cop free on bond in Dallas teen’s death

Molestation charges dropped in case that inflamed immigration debate

Colombia court orders release of first general under peace deal

Lilian Tintori (centre), wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, attending a women's march to protest against Maduro's government in Caracas, yesterday.

19SUNDAY 7 MAY 2017 AMERICAS

US begins ballistic missile defence reviewWashington

QNA

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has directed the start of the department’s Ballistic Missile Defence Review, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said in

a statement. The review is conducted to identify ways to strengthen missile-defense capabilities, rebalance homeland and theater defense priorities and provide the necessary pol-icy and strategy framework for the nation’s missile defense systems, White said. Defending the nation and US interests abroad from ballistic missiles is one of the department’s high-est priorities, she added. The review, running concurrent to the Nuclear Posture Review, will be led by the deputy secre-tary of defense and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and include interagency partners, White said.

Members of the group, Ballet Folklorico Orgullo de mi Tierra, waiting to perform at the Mariachi Loco Music Festival, in El Paso, Texas, for the Cinco de Mayo celebration, yesterday.

Music festival

Washington

AFP

With US Republicans rel-ishing a win in the Obamacare repeal

process, Democrats girded for battle, warning that despite Pres-ident Donald Trump’s optimism, the health bill’s fate is far from certain. Republicans took major political risks by backing a

deeply controversial bill, and Democrats hope to make them pay at the polls in midterm elec-tions next year.

Wrangling now shifts to the Senate, where Republicans, who hold a slim majority there, say they are readying their own health care measure. The end result could look quite different from what narrowly cleared the House of Representatives on

Thursday. Democrats seized the offensive, insisting it was a pipe dream to think the Republican plan forecast to push 24 million people off insurance could become law as it stands.

“This Republican health care bill needs to either be flushed down the toilet or thrown in the garbage. It’s not getting through the Senate,” Senator Bernie Sanders fumed on Twitter.

“Trumpcare battle is just beginning,” added House Demo-crat Joe Kennedy III, urging liberal senators like Elizabeth Warren to lead the upcoming fight.

Moderate Senate Republi-cans are expected to reject or tweak several elements of the bill. Several have expressed concern about the House plan’s rollback of Medicaid, limited assistance for low-income

Americans, and a provision that allows insurers to increase pre-miums for people with pre-existing conditions—a practice the current law prohibits.

The White House insisted Friday that negotiators are focused on “big principles” such as lowering costs and empow-ering states, and that tweaks were inevitable.

Branchburg

AP

President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major legislation late on Friday, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep

the government operating through September.

The bill cleared both houses of Congress this week and Trump signed it into law behind closed doors at his home in central New Jersey, well ahead of a midnight Friday deadline for some gov-ernment operations to begin shutting down.

But other budget battles lie ahead as the White House and Congress hammer out a spend-ing plan for the fiscal year that starts on October 1.

Republicans praised $15bn in additional Pentagon spending

obtained by Trump, as well as $1.5bn in emergency spending for border security, though not

for the wall he has vowed to build along the US-Mexico bor-der to deter illegal immigration, and the extension of a school voucher program in the District of Columbia.

Trump also wants a huge military buildup matched by cuts to popular domestic programs and foreign aid accounts. Trump signed the bill despite his objec-tions to numerous provisions included in the measure.

One such provision prohib-its the Justice Department from using any funds to block imple-mentation of medical marijuana laws by states and US territories.

In a signing statement that accompanied the bill and that laid out his objections, Trump said he reserved the right to ignore the provision. He held out the possibility that the

administration could pursue legal action against states and territories that legalize marijuana for medical use.

Marijuana remains illegal for any purpose under federal law. The White House previously sig-naled a looming crackdown on recreational pot use.

“I will treat this provision consistently with my constitu-tional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully exe-cuted,” Trump said in the signing statement, a tool that previous presidents have used to explain their positions on appropriations bills.

Trump also objects to provi-sion governing the transfer of prisoners held at a US facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the White House said his objection should not be seen as a shift in policy, but as a statement of his

view that the provision could conflict with his constitutional authority and duties in some circumstances.

Trump said during the pres-idential campaign that he wanted the detention center, known as “Gitmo,” kept open. At one point, he pledged to “load it up with some bad dudes.”

Republicans and Democrats who negotiated the spending bill in recent days had successfully defended other accounts Trump had targeted for spending cuts, such as foreign aid, the Environ-mental Protection Agency, support for the arts and eco-nomic development grants, among others.

The sweeping, 1,665-page bill also increases spending for Nasa, medical research, and the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Trump took to Twitter ear-lier this week to complain about the bipartisan process that pro-duced the measure but later changed his tone and began highlighting the spending that was added for the military and for border security.

He advocated in one tweet for a “good shutdown” in Sep-tember to fix the “mess” that produced the bill, but then appeared in the White House Rose Garden hours later to boast that the measure amounted to a big win for him.

In other areas, retired union coal miners won a $1.3bn provi-sion to preserve health benefits for more than 22,000 retirees.

House Democrats won fund-ing to give Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped government $295m to help ease its Medicaid burden.

Virginia

AP

In a cramped office at the Marines’ Quantico base out-side Washington, about 20

investigators sit elbow to elbow, staring into their computers as images of naked men and women flash across the screens.

On the walls are white boards with statistics, crime lists and a montage of social media messages directed to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The objective of this disturb-ing sleuth work: Rooting out the extent of a nude photo-sharing scandal that has rocked the Corps, embarrassed its leaders and spread to other military services. And the sheer scope of the job is daunting.

“If you do that eight to 10 hours a day, five days a week, you get pretty burned out,” NCIS Director Andrew Traver said in an interview. New agents cycled in after the first month, he said,

“just because of the burnout fac-tor, especially the ones that are doing the image review.”

This is Task Force Purple Harbor. What began as a response to military members posting nude photos online has morphed into a growing crimi-nal investigation that now includes 21 felony cases and more than 30 others referred to Marine commanders for possi-ble administrative action. Five Marines have received admin-istrative punishments so far, but no details have been provided.

For the investigators, men and women, it is a broad and grueling process. Agents from all four services and the Coast Guard have scoured close to 200 different websites. They’ve pulled more than 150,000 nude or semi-nude images. They’ve identified 20,000 with a possi-ble military connection. More than half are of men.

The overwhelming majority are selfies or photos subjects

posed for and then voluntarily shared, which is not illegal even under military code. That leaves just a small number of people who could potentially be prose-cuted for crimes such as extortion and stealing or hacking into someone’s computer hard drive.

More than a dozen military members have asked the task force for help. They want to know if any of their intimate photographs ended up on the largely private websites with-out their consent. In four cases, facial recognition software has helped identify victims. One woman confirmed an image was of her. The other three are still checking. Investigators have made headway. They’ve opened 21 criminal cases. Sixteen sus-pects have been identified: nine active duty Marines, two Marine reservists, three Navy sailors, one Navy reservist and a civilian. Sus-pected crimes include extortion, stalking, threats and theft of photos.

Washington

AP

The Interior Department has identified 27 national monuments, mostly in

Western states, that it is review-ing for possible changes to the protections created by Repub-lican and Democratic presidents over the past two decades.

President Donald Trump ordered the review last month, saying protections imposed by his three immediate predeces-sors amounted to “a massive federal land grab” that “should never have happened.”

A list released on Friday includes 22 monuments on fed-eral land in 11, mostly Western states, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, Nevada’s Basin and Range and Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine.

The review also targets five marine monuments in the Atlan-tic and Pacific Oceans, including a huge reserve in Hawaii estab-lished in 2006 by President George W. Bush and expanded last year by President Barack Obama.

Bush, Obama and Bill Clin-ton were among a host of presidents who protected hun-dreds of millions of acres under a 1906 law that authorizes the president to declare federal lands and waters as monuments and restrict their use.

Trump said the protections imposed by his predecessors “unilaterally put millions of acres of land and water under strict federal control, eliminating the ability of the people who actu-ally live in those states to decide how best to use that land.”

The land-controls have “gotten worse and worse and worse, and now we’re going to free it up, which is what should have happened in the first place,” Trump said at a signing ceremony marking the execu-tive order.

Trump accuse(Text typed here will be visible and archived within AP but not sent to sub-scribers.)d Obama in particular of exploiting the 1906 Antiqui-ties Act in an “egregious abuse of federal power,” adding that he was giving power “back to the states and to the people, where it belongs.”

In December, shortly before leaving office, Obama infuriated Utah Republicans by creating the Bears Ears National Monu-ment on more than 1 million acres of land that’s sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thousands of archaeo-logical sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

Republicans in the state asked Trump to take the unu-sual step of reversing Obama’s decision. They said the monu-ment designation will stymie growth by closing the area to new commercial and energy development. The Antiquities Act does not give the president explicit power to undo a desig-nation and no president has ever taken such a step.

Trump’s order also targets the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, created by Clinton in 1996, and Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine, created last year by Obama. At 87,500 acres, Katah-din is the only one of the 22 monuments under review that is smaller than 100,000 acres, the minimum size designated by the order.

Trump signs $1 trillion spending bill

27 national monuments identified for review

Investigators in photo-sharing scandal face a gruelling task

New York QNA

A major rainstorm bat-tered the New York city region, caused

flooding in the region within minutes, submerging cars and taking down highway retain-ing walls, suspending some transit service and delaying flights by nearly six hours.

Traffic crawled on New York City roadways, some of which temporarily closed because of the flooding. The West Side Highway was closed in midtown briefly because of the rising water. Streets in Gowanus, Brook-lyn, were flooded, and a stone wall collapsed under the ele-vated Gowanus Expressway. Fire officials on the scene said too much water caused the wall to slide.

Penn Station shut down its main entrance at 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue for about an hour because of the heavy rain; the stairwell at 31st Street was also closed. Workers were scrambling to contain and clean up after leaks at World Trade Center’s Oculus.

Flooding wreaks havoc on roads in New York

Health care bill heads to US Senate; bitter fight seen

Keeps govt open

The sweeping, 1,665-page bill increases spending for Nasa, medical research, and the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Other budget battles lie ahead as the White House and Congress hammer out a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts on October 1.


Swirling waters of a colourful fountain at Katara beach are a visual delight. Pic: Kammutty VP/ The Peninsula

Dancing fountain

Planets' tryst with Moon this month The Peninsula

During May, Qatar residents and all countries in the region will see some planets of our solar

system come closer to the Moon.The importance of this astronom-

ical event is thus:� It's a good chance to observe a planet with the Moon. � It validates astronomical calcula-tions, and � Guides amateur astronomers to know map of the sky through the

month. The first of these phenomenon will be observed tomorrow when the giant planet Jupiter will be at two degrees from southern full Moon's cen-tre at 12:24am.Qatar's residents can see Jupiter and Moon together with the naked eye over the western horizon of Doha sky after midnight until Jupi-ter sets at 3:15am.

The second planet to come closer to the Moon is a beautiful planet with rings (Saturn). It will be nearer to Moon by three degrees southern moon's cen-tre on May 14 at 2:17am Doha local

time. Qatar residents can see Saturn and Moon together over southern western horizon until sunrise over the Doha sky.

The third planet to come closer to Moon will be Venus when it will be nearer to the Earth's satellite by two degrees northern Moon's centre on May 22.

Qatar residents can see with naked eye Venus and Moon together in the dawn sky after Venus rises over east-ern horizon at 2:25am until time of sunrise over Doha sky.

FAJRSHOROOK

03.31 am

04.54 am

ZUHRASR

11.30 am

02.58 pm

MAGHRIBISHA

06.09 pm

07.39 pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

HIGH TIDE 02:00 - 15:45 LOW TIDE 09:15 - 21:00

Hazy at places at first becomes hot

daytime with slight dust and scat-

tered clouds.

WEATHER TODAY

Minimum Maximum

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

30oC 41oC

www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

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