Volume 24 | Number 7893 | 2 RiyalsThursday 16 May 2019 | 11 Ramadan 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa

Take a photo of any Ooredoo Ramadan poster and get a gift this weekend!Use the Ooredoo app to take the photo…

BUSINESS | 01 SPORT | 08

We will miss ‘hero’ Xavi,says Gabi

QFC hosts leading fintech firms at

Qatar-UK roundtable in London

Qa

Amir hosts Iftar banquet for heads of diplomatic missions and envoys of Qatar

Ramadan TimingToday's Iftar: 6:15pm

Tomorrow's Imsak: 03:13am

Included withtoday’s edition is a

special supplement

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hosted yesterday an Iftar banquet in honour of their excellencies heads of diplomatic missions accredited by the state, their excellencies Ambassadors of the State of Qatar abroad, and ranking officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. The banquet was attended by H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Personal Representative of H H the Amir, and a number of their excellencies Sheikhs.

A step closer to Qatar's 2022 dream as Al Wakrah Stadium opens tonight

IRFAN BUKHARI THE PENINSULA

In an atmosphere charged with excitement and thrill, Al Wakrah Stadium—one of the eight venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup—will be officially opened tonight with hosting of the Amir Cup final.

Al Wakrah Stadium is the second 2022 FIFA World Cup venue being delivered by the Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy (SC) after the opening of iconic Khlaifa International Stadium in 2017.

The opening of the landmark Al Wakrah Stadium today is step-by-step realisation of Qatar’s dream of hosting a historic mega football event in Qatar in 2022. Al Wakrah Stadium, designed by celebrated Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, has a capacity of 40,000 seats and is just 23km from Doha city centre.

The futuristic Al Wakrah Stadium will host matches up to the quarter-finals stage during Qatar 2022. The design is inspired by the sails of traditional dhow boats; in tribute to Al Wak-rah’s seafaring past.

It also features innovative cooling technology for the benefit of spectators and players. The technology is capable of cooling the spectator areas to 18°C and the field of play to 20°C.�P5�Sports 07 & 08

The Organizing Committee of the Amir Cup issued a number of instructions for the spec-tators of the Amir Cup final that will be held in Al Wakra stadium tonight with the aim of successfully conducting a safer final tour-nament.

The committee urged the spectators of the grand football tourney to not carry while

entering the stadium counterfeited tickets, weapons, chemical substances, fireworks and explosives, drugs, alcoholic drinks, flags of non-participating teams, balls and frisbees, glassware, mugs, cans, flag poles longer than one meter, perfumes and colognes, pushchairs and animals.

In addition to these, for the safety of the spectators, the Organizing Committee prohibits carrying animals, umbrellas, selfie sticks, cigarettes and lighters, bicycles and skateboards, recording

devices, horns, lasers, batteries and power banks etc.

Like that, the activities such as gambling, smoking, political and religious rallies, unau-thorized marketing, trading, collection of money such as busking and charities etc. are not permitted inside the stadium.

Entering restricted areas including the field of play, obstructing the gateways, access ways, entrances, exits and stairways and climbing on any structure are also strictly prohibited.

Qatar’s hospitality sector retains top ranking in regionTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar’s hospitality sector continues to win accolades as it has been ranked best in the Middle East for a second consec-utive year, by the Guest Expe-rience in the Middle East Report, released by hospitality and travel data providers Olery.

The report analysed over

twelve million online guest reviews over the past 12 months ( April 1, 2018 – March 3, 2019) from popular online booking sites. Qatar’s score increased from 84.3 last year to 85.4. The development of new attractions, such as the recently opened Qatar National Museum, was credited with helping maintain the hospi-tality sector’s momentum.

The report measures overall

guest satisfaction by considering different aspects of their tourist accommodation experience, including service, location, clean-liness, room quality, and value for money. In Qatar, service, clean-liness and location received ratings of 9.0, above the global benchmark in each of these cat-egories. Qatar’s hospitality sector also scored higher in rooms (8.9), food (8.8) and facilities (8.4).

According to the ‘guest type’ cat-egory, Qatar’s tourist accommo-dation was particularly popular among business travelers, fam-ilies, and friends.

Akbar Al Baker, Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC), said: “Qatar’s hospitality sector remains a key engine of our tourism vision. We congratulate our partners in the private sector for their

continued growth, and their focus on providing travellers with unpar-alleled hospitality and authentic experiences. The Olery report con-firms that Qatar’s hospitality sector is best in class, and a model for the industry and the region. The Olery report and the guests who have stayed in Qatar’s hotels articulated the main selling points as attentive service, top notch facilities, and authentic experiences.

Ooredoo Group in World’s top 50 telecom brands listTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Ooredoo Group confirmed yesterday it has again been listed in the Telecoms 300, 2019 report as one of the top 50 tele-communications brands in the world, with a brand value of some $3.779bn.

The Qatar-based telecom-munications provider jumped to 41st in the Top 50 rankings, from 43rd last year, reporting a growth of 12 percent in brand value.

Also, Ooredoo Group main-tained its Brand Rating status of AA+, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) of 77.4, up from 74.7 the previous year.

Industry valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance produces the rankings list each year according to val-uations of telecommunica-tions companies worldwide. Brands are first evaluated to determine their strength - based on factors such as mar-keting investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation - and this strength is then used to determine the proportion of a business’s revenue that is con-tributed by the brand. Infor-mation gained from both proc-esses then forms the basis of the rankings of the world’s most valuable telecommunications brands.

Brand Finance has previ-ously noted the consistent increase in Ooredoo Group’s brand value since the company began its global brand roll-out in 2013, with the telecommu-nications operator now active in 10 markets across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. �P3

Al Sadd players taking part in a training session at Al Wakrah Stadium for the Amir Cup final tonight. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

Prohibited items during Amir Cup final

Doha Metro to extend train service on the red line from 8am today until 3am tomorrow to help football enthusiasts watch the Amir Cup final between Al Sadd and Al Duhail.

Al Wakrah Stadium — one of the eight venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup — set to be officially inaugurated with spectacular opening ceremony at 9:15pm.

Thursday 9 May 2019

Leading hypermarkets, retailers and hotels line up offersOffers, discounts galore this Ramadan

02 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019HOME

03THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 HOME

Amir congratulates President of ParaguayDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani,

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh

Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani

and Prime Minister and Inte-

rior Minister H E Sheikh

Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-

lifa Al Thani sent yesterday

cables of congratulations to

the President of the Repub-

lic of Paraguay, Mario Abdo

Benitez, on the occasion of

his country’s Independence

Day. QNA

OFFICIAL NEWS

Amir hosts Iftar banquet for heads of diplomatic missions and envoys of Qatar

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hosted yesterday an Iftar banquet in honour of their excellencies heads of diplomatic missions accredited by the State, their Excellencies Ambassadors of the State of Qatar abroad, and ranking officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. The banquet was attended by H H Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Personal Representative of H H the Amir, and a number of their Excellencies Sheikhs.

Ashghal paves way to Al Wakrah Stadium THE PENINSULA DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has delivered a number of local roads, expressways and various infrastructure projects that serve Al Wakrah Stadium facilities which will host today Amir Cup final.

Ashghal has developed new roads and upgraded existing roads to facilitate access to the stadium and its facilities. Aiming to provide well-developed roads that facilitate access to 2022 World Cup Stadiums, Ashghal continues to work on several projects that serve the stadiums through the completion of the surrounding roads and infra-structure in the areas in which they are located.

Through a number of projects, Ashghal is establishing a network of roads to facilitate traffic movement during the World Cup in 2022 in coordi-nation with the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy, Ministry of Interior, Amiri Guard and Qatar Football Association.

Commuting from Doha to Al Wakrah nowadays does not nec-essarily require passing through Al Wakrah main road, since there are new alternative routes like G-Ring Road, and the southern part of Doha Express Highway, Najma street extension, in addition to the construction of other upgraded roads that

connect commuters from the north, such as Al Majd Road, and other roads facilitating com-muters from the south such as Mesaieed Road and Hamad Port Road.

Ashghal has substantially completed the construction works of all expressways adjacent to Al Wakrah Stadium during 2017 and 2018, including the southern part of Doha Express Highway and G-Ring Road.

The G-Ring Road facilitates access to 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums such as Al Wakrah Stadium where Umm Besher Interchange will enable road users coming from G-Ring Road to get on the Southern Part of Doha Express Highway and reach Al Wukair Interchange which directly serves Al Wakrah

Stadium. The Southern Part of the

Doha Express Highway project is considered one of the most important roads that directly connect to Al Wakrah stadium though Al Wukair Interchange, as it connects with Doha Expressway, Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor and G Ring Road on one end, and with Al Wukair Road, Mesaieed Road and Al Wakrah Main Road on the other end.

Al Majd Road which enhanced connectivity with a number of stadiums such as Al Rayyan, Al Khor, and Lusail sta-diums, also facilitated access to Al Wakrah stadium for road users coming from northern and southern regions, through Bu Al Yawabi Interchange, for those coming from Salwa Road, and through Hamad Port Interchange

and for those coming from Mesaieed Industrial City, Sealine and Al Afja area. Al Wakrah Main Road will serve Al Wakrah stadium, one of 2022 World Cup stadiums. Road users can use The Pearl roundabout on Al Wakrah Main Road Project to reach Al Wakrah Stadium.

Ashghal’s achievements in implementing the highways leading to Al Wakrah Stadium from all over Qatar extended to include the development of local roads in Wakrah and Al Wukair area that serve the stadium through a series of projects.

Development works also include upgrading the road leading to Al Wakrah Central Market and the new Al Wakrah Road, Packages 5 and 7, with a total length of 23 km, which pro-vides direct connection with Al

Wakrah Stadium.In order to facilitate the fan

commute from Al Wakrah Metro Station to Al Wakrah Stadium, Ashghal has implemented 3.5km long pedestrian and cycling tracks extending from the metro station to the stadium, starting from Al Wakrah Street to pass through Najma Street extension and Al Wukair Road, within two months.

The implementation of these tracks aims to enhance the movement and transportation of visitors and fans during the Amir Cup final. The work of beautifi-cation and landscaping are carried out in order to provide shade for these tracks; Ashghal also provides shaded rest areas, in addition to providing many tunnels along these tracks if necessary.

The Doha Express Highway (Southern Part) leading to the Al Wakrah Stadium.

Commuters urged to avoid area surrounding Al Wakrah Stadium from 6:30pm to 2amTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Under continued efforts before and during the Amir Cup, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has urged road users to avoid the area surrounding Al Wakrah Stadium (in case of non-attendance) from 6:30pm until 2am on the opening day (today) due to planning for road closures, traffic diversions and alternative routes during the event to facil-itate the movement of individuals and vehicles.

In coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic and

Qatar Football Association (QFA) and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SCDL), Ashghal contributes to easing traffic management on the roads surrounding the stadium through a number of directional signs that lead people to the parking plots with its different categories, in addition to mobile overhead gantry with supplementary signs to lead the road users.

An integrated team has been established by the Roads Oper-ation and Maintenance Department at Ashghal since February 2019 to survey, study and test all available road assets

such as asphalt condition, road signs, safety barriers, drainage assets, street lighting, pedestrian crossings, tunnels, traffic signs, etc., to ensure the readiness of these assets, in cooperation with all partners.

It was agreed on the nec-essary operational plans, the development of immediate emer-gency response plans, and prepare the necessary teams and equipment to ensure the success of the event, in addition to the study of all the road projects being implemented around the stadium and ensure its readiness during the event.

Ooredoo Group in World’s top 50 telecom brands list

FROM PAGE 1Major corporate develop-

ments are being undertaken, including an ongoing complete digitalisation programme, and sig-nificant investment is being made in networks – most notably 5G, in which the telco leader is a global pioneer – as well as in efforts to ensure complete customer satis-faction. Ooredoo Group’s total brand value has grown from less than $1bn to more than $3bn, and it is now becoming one of the most widely recognised communica-tions brands in the world today.

Speaking of the 2019 ranking,

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to confirm that, yet again, we are among the Top 50 telecommunications brands in the world, recognising our significant achievements in the world of telecommunications. We have a phenomenal lead-ership team, backed by the visionary support of our board of governors and our leaders in Qatar, and we are proud our efforts are acknowledged by industry analysts in this way.”

“We continue to expand and evolve, reaching new customers

and new markets around the world with new and innovative technology. We aim to become data experience leaders across our global footprint, enhancing peo-ple’s digital lives and ensuring everyone can enjoy the Ooredoo Supernet and the benefits it brings, and we are rightfully proud to be leading the way in the journey towards full commercial 5G. Our brand is going from strength to strength and we look forward to consolidating our position as one of the world’s top 50 telecoms brands this year,” added Sheikh Saud.

Efforts of QFFD praisedQNA / TUNIS

Tunisian Minister of Equipment, Housing and Spatial Planning Noureddine Selmi praised the efforts of the office of Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) in Tunisia, adding that these efforts come as part of the bilateral rela-tions between the two brotherly countries and within the objec-tives of sustainable development.

The Minister of Equipment, Housing and Spatial Planning said that QFFD seeks to alleviate poverty, create jobs and improve services and infrastructure, espe-cially when it comes to water, sanitation, transport and other areas.

04 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019HOME

Joint drive succeeds in inspection of 7,758 establishments in a monthTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The joint inspection drive ‘Al Sarayat 4’ of 2019, carried out by a number of authorities in the country for a whole month, succeeded in inspecting 7,758 establishments and educating individuals and companies oper-ating in the country with the laws regulations private sector.

The Ministry of Interior; the Ministry of Administrative Devel-opment, Labor and Social Affairs; the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; the Ministry of

Municipality and Environment and the Ministry of Public Health participated in the campaign.

The Assistant Minister of Health Affairs at the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Saleh Ali Al Marri, said that participation in the campaign contributed to the con-certed efforts between the com-petent authorities and coordi-nation among the parties when conducting inspection visits.

The Director of the Search and Follow-up Department at the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier Abdullah Jaber Al Labda, affirmed the success of the joint campaign

in achieving its objectives in raising awareness of individuals and institutions of society. He said that preserving security and sta-bility in Qatar is the most important p i l lar of development.

Captain Omar Khalifa Al Rumaihi, Head of Research and Investigation section and head of the inspection campaign, said that the campaign started with a week-long workshop aimed at identi-fying the laws, exchanging expe-riences, how to work together and providing participants with theo-retical and field experiences.

Chairman of General Authority of Customs meets envoy of Switzerland, Deputy Head of Korean MissionThe Chairman of General Authority of Customs, Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Jamal, met yesterday with the Ambassador of Switzerland to the State of Qatar, Edgar Dorig. During the meeting, they discussed cooperation between both sides and some customs issues and other related matters. The Chairman also met with the Deputy Head of Korean Mission, Chung Suk-kyoon, where they discussed promoting cooperation between both sides in the customs field, as well as some issues of common economic interest between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Korea.

QA, QDF host Suhoor for local mediaTHE PENINSULA DOHA

To mark the Holy Month of Ramadan, Qatar Airways and Qatar Duty Free (QDF) hosted a Suhoor for local Qatar-based media yesterday at the Mondrian Hotel at the hotel’s ‘Alf Leila w Leila’ Ramadan Tent.

The event was hosted by Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive, Akbar Al Baker, and was attended by members of the air-line’s senior leadership, as well as more than 100 representatives of the Doha-based media, to thank them for the key role the media plays in keeping the public informed of current events. The evening also provided guests the opportunity to experience Qatar’s rich cultural heritage and hospi-tality through traditional Ramadan celebrations.

During the event, the National Carrier of the State of Qatar pre-viewed its thrilling new TVC

campaign highlighting the airline’s sponsorship of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 taking place in France next month. The TVC, scheduled to launch globally next week, expresses the tre-mendous excitement generated in the run-up to the most thrilling moment yet in women’s sports, set to take place in France from June 7 – July 7, 2019.

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Marketing and Cor-porate Communications, Salam Al Shawa, said: “We were delighted to welcome so many members of Doha’s vibrant media industry to join us at this special Suhoor in celebration of the Holy Month of Ramadan. We were especially pleased to be able to provide a sneak preview of our new TVC highlighting our spon-sorship of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019. This innovative new campaign will officially launch next week, and we could not be more excited to

kick-off the tournament with this captivating TVC, which is sure to generate massive interest among football fans around the world.”

A multiple-award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was named ‘World’s Best Business Class’ by the 2018 World Airline Awards, managed by international air transport rating organisation Skytrax. It was also named ‘Best Business Class Seat’, ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’, and ‘World’s Best First Class Airline Lounge’.

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of more than 250 aircraft via its hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA) to more than 160 destinations worldwide. The airline will add a number of new destinations to its extensive route network in 2019, including Izmir, Turkey; Rabat, Morocco; Malta; Davao, Philip-pines; Lisbon, Portugal; Mogadishu, Somalia and Langkawi, Malaysia.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, and other senior officials during a Suhoor event.

Cabinet approves draft to establish municipality of industrial zonesQNA DOHA

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani chaired the Cabinet regular meeting held at the Amiri Diwan, yesterday. Following the meeting, Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi stated that the Cabinet reviewed the topics on the agenda.

The Cabinet approved its draft decision to establish a national committee for woman, child, elderly and people with disabilities affairs.

The Cabinet approved its draft decision to establish municipality of industrial zones. According to the draft decision, a municipality called “munici-pality of industrial zones” shall be established, to be under the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

The Cabinet approved a draft law on military decorations, orders and medals, and referred it to the Shura Council. The draft law replaces Law No. 12 of 1992 concerning decorations, orders,

medals and flags of the Qatari Armed Forces and Law No. 22 of 2002 on decorations, orders and medals of the police force.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify a memo-randum of cooperation in the field of transport between the Ministry of Transport and Com-munications in the State of Qatar and Ministry of Land, Infra-structure, Transport and Tourism in Japan.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify a memo-randum for economic, trade and technical cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the State of Qatar and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation in business events industry between the National Tourism Council in the State of Qatar and the China Council for the Pro-motion of International Trade in the People’s Republic of China.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify a memo-randum of understanding on cooperation between Free Zone

Authority in the State of Qatar and China Council for the Pro-motion of International Trade.

The Cabinet took necessary procedures to ratify protocol to cooperate between Qatar-China Friendship Association and the Chinese-Arab Friendship Association.

The Cabinet approved a draft MoU for cooperation in the civil service affairs and adminis-trative development between the governments of the State of Qatar and the State of Kuwait.

The Cabinet approved the draft first executive program of cooperation in the field of edu-cation, higher education and sci-entific research of the MoU for cooperation in the field of edu-cation, higher education and sci-entific research between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Somalia for the academic years (2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022).

The Cabinet reviewed the memorandum of the Minister of Municipality and Environment on the proposed mechanism to provide a database on the real estate sector in the country and took the appropriate decision.

Qatar envoy announces humanitarian projects in Gaza StripQNA GAZA

Chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi has announced a set of humanitarian projects in Gaza Strip.

In a press conference held in Gaza, Al Emadi said that $180m of the total Qatari grant will be allocated for humanitarian projects that serves Gaza and supports the electricity sector in the Strip, in consul-tation and coordination with the UN insti-tutions. Al Emadi explained that Qatar will build a field hospital on the border of the northern Gaza Strip on an area of 40 dunums to support the health sector.

Meanwhile, the contract of supplying the power plant in Gaza will be extended until the end of this year. He added that Qatar will also support the 161 project within the plan to develop and improve the electricity supply in Gaza, and will continue the dis-bursement of cash assistance to poor and needy families for six months.

Al Emadi noted that both Hamas and Israel do not want to escalate the situation, adding that if the recent escalation con-tinued for few more hours, the world would have witnessed humanitarian dis-asters and the entire region would have entered into a critical situation that con-sequences are unknown.

He said he will meet with Palestinian

President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ram-allah within two days. In response to a question about the salaries of Gaza employees, Al Emadi explained their file will be discussed later, noting that it is the responsibility of the government in the Gaza Strip. He stressed that the grant is currently allocated to poor families and humanitarian aid. Al Emadi underlined that the remarks attributed to him on the accusation of the Islamic Jihad Movement are completely incorrect, contrary to reality, and are meant to harm the rela-tionship with the Palestinian brothers.

In a statement, Ambassador Al Emadi affirmed the respect of all

Palestinian factions and the appreciation of their sacrifices, and stressed the special relationship between him and all factions, including the brothers in the Islamic Jihad Movement, as one of the most important factions on the Palestinian arena.

He said he had several meetings and direct contacts with the brothers in the Islamic Jihad Movement during his fre-quent visits to Gaza, noting that they have a positive attitude that reflects their deep awareness of the nature of the stage which the Palestinian issue is going through.

The Ambassador noted that Qatar, through its financial support in the recent grant, affirms its steadfast position in sup-porting all factions and components of

the Palestinian society in general, and especially in Gaza Strip, in order to alle-viate its humanitarian suffering. He under-lined that Qatar’s efforts aim at protecting the Palestinian people, and it rejects any aggression against the Palestinian people in all international forums.

Al Emadi called on the brothers to wait and not to rush to explain things, because the shared process of reconstruction and alleviating the consequences of the blockade is bigger than just a statement that has never meant to offend anyone. Al Emadi left Gaza Strip at dawn yesterday through Beit Hanoun checkpoint, accom-panied by his deputy Khaled Al Hardan. Al Emadi arrived in Gaza Strip on Monday.

Al Muraikhi: Protection of human rights tops Qatar’s prioritiesQNA GENEVA

The State of Qatar has reiterated its continued cooperation with all United Nations human rights mechanisms, in particular the Human Rights Council, to achieve the objectives of the promotion and protection of human rights.

This came in a speech delivered yesterday by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi before the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the “Third Periodic Report of the State of Qatar”.

“In the State of Qatar, we greatly value the important role played by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the Working Group to help countries to

improve and enhance their com-mitments on the bases of the international human rights law,” he said, stressing Qatar’s support for and full cooperation with the UPR as well as other interna-tional and regional mechanisms towards the strengthening and protection of human rights.

Al Muraikhi pointed that the State of Qatar views the inter-active dialogue as an exchange process that enhances under-standing between itself and the Working Group. “No doubt that working with this group and the other treaty bodies is certainly a path to strengthen human rights and to attain the desired objectives,” he said, adding that the State of Qatar considers the UPR process as important opportunity to improve its

internal practices and advance them in the field of human rights.

The Minister indicated that Qatar is very keen on holding a comprehensive and constructive discussion around the report. “We have an extended dele-gation that has come to Geneva to engage in this discussion. This delegation represents a number of government authorities and circles, all concerned with the protection and strengthening of human rights in its wholistic indivisible concept,” he said.

He stressed that the size, level and formation of the dele-gation and the efforts that the State has put in to prepare the report underline the seriousness of Qatar in implementing its commitments under the UPR mechanism.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairsm H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, yesterday.

05THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 HOME

People who worked on Al Wakrah Stadium recall the momentsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Today, the second FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadium will be unveiled when it hosts the Amir Cup final.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) broke ground at Al Wakrah Stadium in 2014 and since then thou-sands of people from all over the world have made significant contributions to the devel-opment of the 40,000-capacity arena, which will host matches up to the quarter-finals stage during Qatar 2022.

To mark the first match at the stadium, we spoke to eleven people who have played a sig-nificant role in the venue’s development to find out their memorable moments and get an idea of how they’ll feel when the Zaha Hadid-designed venue opens for business, the SC reported on its website.

Jassim Mohammed Telefat, Competition Venues Executive Director, joined the project in 2018.

“When we finished the seats, laid the turf and had the lights and sound up and running, it was a memorable moment. The pitch is probably my favourite part of the stadium as the turf was grown locally and is where the action will take place in 2022.

“It’s great to see the stadium completed and it will be very

special when His Highness announces that the stadium is open and ready to host matches during the World Cup in 2022.”

Thani Al Zarraa became the Al Wakrah Stadium Project Manager in 2015.

“The day we laid the pitch I walked from goalpost to goalpost, or from where I imagined the goalposts would be, as they were not yet installed. I imagined the stadium packed with fans, two teams on the pitch, and in the presence of His Highness the Amir, and I got goosebumps.

“When I look back, I

remember the engagement with the local community here in Al Wakrah and our efforts to build facilities they would use long after the World Cup has ended.

“I’m very proud of how far we’ve come. I’ve learned that project management life is not normal and that you can’t do anything without teamwork and strong collaboration. I’m very thankful to my hardworking and eager team. Our time together has been both challenging and enjoyable.”

Abdulaziz Al Ishaq played for Al Wakrah in the 1970s and for the past three years he’s

worked as an engineer on the Al Wakrah Stadium project.

“Firstly, I am so proud to be part of this landmark in the State of Qatar. I believe I have now been able to do something for my nation; a nation which has done so much for me.

“The Amir Cup final is an important moment that we are all looking forward to. I was lucky enough to play in the Amir Cup final on two occasions for Al Wakrah, so this will be extra special for me.

“You cannot compare this stadium to any other. You can only compare it to an artist sitting down with a paintbrush and creating something. It’s not something you can create auto-matically on a computer – it is a piece of art. We were fortunate to have worked with Zaha Hadid and she gave us a really inter-esting and unique stadium. We are proud to have it here.”

Najla Al Obaidan has

worked as a Senior Architect at Al Wakrah Stadium since the project started in September 2012.

“I joined the SC in the same week the tender process for Al Wakrah Stadium started and had the opportunity to meet all the bidders. I would say my favourite time was during late 2013 when I got the chance to work with Zaha Hadid Archi-tects and AECOM to finalise the design.

“My favourite aspect of the stadium is the fact that it’s one of Zaha Hadid’s masterpieces. I also love how it reflects the culture of Al Wakrah and how it’s going to add value to Qatar and the local community.

“I feel so proud when I see the stadium now – it really is a dream come true. It’ll be amazing when we host the Amir Cup final. Finally, the first of seven new stadiums for the World Cup will be delivered

– I’m already looking forward to opening the others.”

Williams Morales, Project Senior Engineer, has monitored progress at the site on behalf of the SC since 2014.

“My most memorable moment from a technical point of view was seeing the roof being lifted into place. From a personal perspective, I love seeing the field of play and experiencing the cooling tech-nology, lights, video screens and sound system working together in harmony.

“The shape of the stadium is my favourite aspect – I love the design and I am sure it will be a reference point for football fans around the world in 2022.

“My reaction when I see the stadium now is simple: wow! I can’t wait for Al Wakrah to host the Amir Cup final – I’ll be really happy and very proud of all the hard work we’ve put in.”

Williams MoralesAbdulaziz Al Ishaq Najla Al ObaidanJassim Mohammed Telefat Thani Al Zarraa

The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy broke ground at Al Wakrah Stadium in 2014 and since then thousands of people from all over the world have made significant contributions to the development of the 40,000-capacity arena, which will host matches up to the quarter-finals stage during Qatar 2022.

Sidra Medicine undertakes research studiesFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Sidra Medicine’s Research Department has embarked on studies which would positively impact patient care both directly in the short term, and indirectly over the long term.

For the direct benefit to the patient, research provides insight which could help the physicians understand the case and adjust treatment based on findings, while on a broader, social/human level, the goal is to figure out the role of different genes in the immune system and how defects in these genes may contribute to disease, said Ahmad Al Shaibi, Research Spe-cialist II in the Division of Trans-lational Medicine at Sidra Medicine.

“By studying diseases that have a genetic component, we can understand what the role each gene has when it comes to immunity because we know

what happens when it is not functioning properly. In doing so, not only do we figure out how these diseases work, what facil-itates diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, but we also gain insight into the immune system in general. This insight will allow medical professionals in the future to manipulate the immune system to improve treatment options,” said Al Shaibi.

In the short term, if researchers find that someone has a defect in a key pathway, like IL10 signaling, then the patient might need a bone marrow transplant after confir-mation with a clinical test. Researchers, once they have figured out the mechanism of a disease, can help the patients they are studying, by trying to find if any of the approved drugs in the market will work to help address the patient’s condition.

“Once this becomes a real possibility in any of our research projects, it turns from a purely

scientific endeavour to one that improves patients’ health. This is something that could imme-diately improve the lives of people we work with and provide major support to the cli-nicians in helping these patients. In doing so, we are contributing to the creation of a healthcare system that can provide person-alised care in a practice known as ‘precision medicine’ ” said Al Shaibi.

Al Shaibi plays multitudes of roles within the research department that begin at the patient and end at the bench. His responsibilities include recruiting patients, processing samples, designing and running experi-ments, and analysing data.

“Our lab has a focus on monogenic autoimmune and immune dysregulation diseases, which overlap with a wide range of specialities (immune-mediated neurological diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases IBD (like Crohn’s and Ulcerative

Colitis), ALPS, immune defi-ciencies etc.),” he said.

He added, “I am currently working on a mutation we found in one of the families that we think is causing the disease in their child. The child suffers from very early-onset, severe IBD. Our job is to investigate this muta-tion’s involvement in the child’s disease and to elucidate the mechanism of how that happens,” he said.

Al Shaibi, who was spon-sored by Sidra Medicine, is a young Qatari researcher and was initially inspired by the abun-dance of natural scientists and philosophers in Islamic history (mainly during the Islamic golden age), and how their studies were motivated both by scientific curiosity and by their faith.

“My parents encouraged me to read children’s science books and watch documentaries and I credit that for my love of nature and technology and

STEM fields. It also allowed me to come to the conviction that countries in the region will not move on and survive without the ability to contribute to pushing the frontiers of humanity, both through gener-ation of knowledge and trans-lating it to a benefit to humanity.

I want us to contribute to humanity significantly enough to be remembered, and I think science is a great way of doing this,” said Al Shaibi.

He encourages young people with an interest in the field of science or medicine to go after that passion.

Ahmad Al Shaibi, Research Specialist at Sidra Medicine.

A step closer to Qatar’s 2022 dream as Al Wakrah Stadium opens tonight

FROM PAGE 1

The tickets for the Amir Cup 2019 final that will be played between Al Sadd and Al Duhail have already been sold in no time and all preparations by the author-ities concerned including the Supreme Committee, Qatar Football Association, Public Works Authority, Doha Metro, the General Directorate of Traffic, and others have been finalised to conduct a super successful sporting event tonight. Another highlight of tonight’s final is a farewell for Spanish legend and Al Sadd captain Xavi, who will appear for

the last time on the pitch as a player. Doha Metro announced yesterday that it would extend its service tonight for the Amir Cup 2019 final. Passengers will be able to access the metro even after the match.

The service will be open till 3am on Friday, which will help football fans to commute back from the stadium after the match, which kicks off at 10.30pm tonight.

The inauguration ceremony of the Al Wakrah Stadium, which will host the final, will begin at 9.15pm. The door opens for the sold out match at 7.30pm.

“We’re delighted to extend our train service on the red line from 8am (Thursday) until 3am on May 17 (Friday) so that customers can use the metro to watch the Amir Cup final,” Doha Metro tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Organising Committee of the Amir Cup has issued a number of instructions for fans with the aim of successfully conducting a safer final tour-nament. Along all the citizens and residents of Qatar, the employees of the SC who have been dedi-catedly attached with the project are joyous over the completion of landmark stadium.

Al Sadd team members training at Al Wakrah Stadium. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT / THE PENINSULA

Mongolia’s FM meets Qatar’s envoy

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, Damdin Tsogtbaatar (right), with Ambassador of the State of Qatar (non-resident) to Mongolia, H E Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri. During the meeting, the officials discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost and develop them, in addition to issues of common interest.

06 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019HOME

Follow-up Committee of NationalTraffic Safety Committee holds meetingQNA DOHA

The Follow-up Committee of the National Traffic Safety Committee held a meeting with representa-tives of Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center at Qatar University, chaired by Undersec-retary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi.

Attendees of the meeting stressed the importance of the role of the Follow-up Committee in reviewing the achievements made by the concerned authorities and ministries in implementing the National Road Safety Strategy, and in determining challenges and finding solutions to move forward in activating the set plans aiming at achieving the objectives of traffic safety in Qatar.

The participants also high-lighted the important role of QU Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center in conducting research that contributed effec-tively and greatly to making radical changes that raise the level of traffic safety in the country.

They called upon all bodies and ministries to complete their plans emanating from the National Road Safety Strategy, noting that the role of the Committee is to maintain the progress of the process and overcome the obstacles.

In addition, they stressed the need to review the plans and determine the priorities by focusing on the plans of impact,

as well as the importance of inte-grating the efforts of all ministries and stakeholders through investing the research issued by the Center and refer them to the competent authority, in order to achieve effective results to raise the level of traffic safety in the State of Qatar.

At the end of the meeting, the Follow-up Committee issued several recommendations, urging all concerned parties to implement the National Road Safety Strategy through participating in the work-shops and conferences held by

Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, and implementing the research on traffic safety after referral to the concerned authority, and facilitating the work of researchers and providing them with the necessary data for research.

The team of Qatar Transpor-tation and Traffic Safety Center shed light on the achievements of the center, including the study of the specifications of the methods of separation on the roads and the intermediate islands, the project of the annual statistical study on

the state of traffic safety in the State of Qatar, as well as the study of children car seats available in the local market and subject them to experiments in the collision lab-oratory in the Center in cooper-ation with the Hamad Interna-tional Training Center.

The team noted that the Center carried out two training courses in traffic safety in 2018 and that it is announcing two more training courses this year, specif-ically in September and November.

The courses will be attended by specialists in the field of road safety from the relevant gov-ernment agencies. The Center has also launched a driving sim-ulation laboratory to conduct traffic accident studies, in addition to other related events and projects.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi (centre) with other officials during the meeting.

Attendees of the meeting stressed the importance of the role of the Follow-up Committee in reviewing the achievements made by the concerned authorities and ministries in implementing the National Road Safety Strategy.

Vodafone, Hifz Al Naema distribute Ramadan food basketsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

For the second year in a row, Vodafone Qatar and Hifz Al Naema Social Centre came together to distribute Ramadan food baskets that benefited more than 200 families in need.

The baskets were personally delivered by Vodafone Qatar’s Head of Public Sector Mohamed Al Yafei and the Company’s Brand Ambassador Ali bin Towar Al Kuwari.

The baskets contained chicken, rice, pasta, lentils and milk, enough to feed an entire family throughout the Holy month of Ramadan.

In parallel, Vodafone Qatar and Hifz Al Naema will use their social media channels to raise awareness about food waste, a

major issue in Qatar. The initiative is being

organised as part of Vodafone Qatar’s broad ranging

corporate social responsibility programme during the holy

month under the banner of the Company’s Ramadan campaign #ShukranFromTheHeart.

Mohamed Al Yafei, Head of Public Sector, Vodafone Qatar said: “We’re proud to once again partner with Hifz Al Naema to share our blessing during the Holy month. Hifz Al Naema are doing incredible work to identify and help those less fortunate so it’s important that the private and public sector support their honourable mission.”

Youssef Al Khulaifi , Manager of Hifz Al Naema, said that the food basket project is one of the centre’s Ramadan initiatives designed to provide support to families that have registered.

He also praised Vodafone for its support for the second

year in row, emphasising that Hifz Al Naema welcomes part-nerships and collaborations of all kinds with companies and government institutions.

This reflects the level of commitment to corporate social responsibility required from organisations to help realise the Qatar National Vision 2030.

Hifz Al Naema is a social awareness centre that utilises, rationalises and recycles the resources available to society in the best way possible.

The centre also offers its services to those in need, and raises awareness about food waste in Qatar.

Hifz Al Naema was launched in year 2008 as a community initiative and opened the first food bank in Qatar.

Vodafone and Hifz Al Naema officials posing for a group photo.

DOMASCO announces Honda Ramadan offersTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Doha Marketing Services Company W.L.L. (DOMASCO), the exclusive distributor of Honda in Qatar has unveiled a series of exclusive offers across its car, bike, and marine lines for the Holy month of Ramadan.

Customers buying the latest Honda car can take advantage of 1-year free insurance, free service for the first 20,000km and Kidzania vouchers for a family of four with every pur-chase to top up the festivities of the month. They can also enter a draw to win gold/jewellery vouchers worth up to QR100,000.

On pre-owned Honda vehicles, DOMASCO is giving away Marks & Spencer gift cards worth QR1,000 along with low down payment and free registration.

Customers can also benefit from low monthly payments starting from QR1,699 on all pre-owned Pilot models.

Customers wishing to buy a new Honda Bike can enjoy free comprehensive insurance and registration for one year, along with a free riding jacket and a

pair of gloves. They will also get their first two services free of charge.

Honda Marine is offering a special price of QR109,999 on a set of BF250 engines during the Month of prosperity. Cus-tomers can also benefit from free installation and accessories worth QR26,000 on every pur-chase, with 3 years warranty as well as a free multifunction display.

Faisal Sharif, Managing Director at DOMASCO, said: “The Holy Month of Ramadan

is a time of heartfelt giving; it is also a time to reflect and be thankful. That is why we have put together a wide array of generous offers to our loyal cus-tomers.” He added: “Whether you want to purchase from our Honda Marine line, to get your hands on a new or pre-owned Honda cars or to buy a brand-new Bike, you will benefit from a special reward.”

During this year’s Golden Steering Wheel Award (GSWA) ceremony organised by Arab Motors Middle East and X-Tork,

Honda Pilot received the Best Family SUV Award. This award accentuates Honda car’s exquisite service setting a new standard of quality in the segment.

D O M A S C O ’ s H o n d a Ramadan offers are available at the showroom on Khalifa Street near the National Mosque and TV intersection.

During the Holy month, the showroom is open from Sat-urday to Thursday, 8am until 2pm and 730pm until midnight and 8pm until 11pm on Fridays.

A Honda Pilot SUV car.

Customers buying the latest Honda car can take advantage of 1-year free insurance, free service for the first 20,000km and Kidzania vouchers for a family of four with every purchase to top up the festivities of the month. They can also enter a draw to win gold/jewellery vouchers worth up to QR100,000.

Children celebrate Ramadan through creative workshops at QNLTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar National Library is offering a creative way for children to celebrate the Holy month, with a series of Ramadan-inspired decoration design workshops, which began recently.

The first workshop was highly popular, bringing together a diverse group of children aged 6-12 years, representing all parts of the community. Using special machines provided by the Library, workshop presenters taught the young participants how to design and create dif-ferent symbolic decorations to celebrate Ramadan in their homes.

The unique Islamic elements

and patterns reflected in the per-sonalised individual designs offered an opportunity for par-ticipants to exchange different Ramadan traditions practiced in the Gulf region and many other countries.

The workshop also brought a focus on encouraging family traditions in celebrating Ramadan. The Library is offering a full program of events throughout May, which is focusing on the theme of faith.

Zainab Elmi, who attended the event, said: “I have so far attended two events during Ramadan at the Library and enjoyed all of them. These events offer a good chance for people who want to spend their time doing something new in daylight hours during Ramadan.”

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07THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 MIDDLE EAST

US pulls staff from Iraq amid ‘Iran threat’ REUTERS BAGHDAD

Washington ordered the departure of non-emergency American employees from its diplomatic missions in Iraq yesterday in another show of concern about alleged ‘threats from Iran’.

President Donald Trump’s administration is applying new sanctions pressure on Tehran and sending additional forces to the Middle East to counter what it says is a heightened threat from Iran to US soldiers and interests in the region.

Iran calls that “psycho-logical warfare”, and a British commander cast doubt on US military concerns about threats to its roughly 5,000 soldiers in Iraq, who have been helping local security forces fight Islamic State jihadists.

The US State Department said employees at both the US embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil, capital of semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, were being pulled out immediately due to safety con-cerns. It was unclear how

many personnel were affected, and there was no word on any specific threat. Visa services were suspended at the heav-ily-fortified US missions.

“Ensuring the safety of US government personnel and cit-izens is our highest priority... and we want to reduce the risk of harm,” a State Department spokesman said.

Also yesterday, Germany, which has 160 soldiers in Iraq, suspended military training operations, citing increasing regional tensions. And the Netherlands suspended a mission providing assistance to Iraqi local authorities, Dutch news agency ANP said.

Both the United States and Iran have said they do not want war, and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday he had indi-cations “things will end well” despite the rhetoric.

Iraq has said it will keep strong ties with Iran, but also with the United States and regional neighbours, some of whom, like Saudi Arabia, con-sider Tehran an arch-rival.

“I think we are now in a quite dangerous situation where a miscalculation by either side could lead us into conflict,” US Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Com-mittee, told CNN in an interview yesterday.

“When you project force into a very volatile region and you’ve got real tension between Iran and the Saudis — we have to be careful. We need a strategy,” Coons said, echoing a call by Congress for the government to brief lawmakers. The State Department reissued travel advisery for Iraq saying US cit-izens were at high risk of vio-lence and kidnapping. “Anti-US

sectarian militias may also threaten US citizens and Western companies throughout Iraq,” it said. A senior Iranian official said yesterday that any conflict in the region will have “unimaginable consequences.”

It was unclear how many personnel were affected, and there was no word on any specific threat. Visa services were suspended at the heavily-fortified US missions.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaking during a government meeting in the capital Tehran.

Iran will defeat US-Israeli alliance: Defence Minister

REUTERS GENEVA

Iran will defeat the American and Israeli alliance, Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami (pictured) said yesterday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

“We will defeat the Amer-ican-Zionist front,” he said.

“Iran has the highest level of defence-military preparedness to confront any type of threat and excessive demands,” he added. The United States has sent further military forces to the Middle East.

Separately yesterday, a senior Iranian official said that Tehran was ready for all sce-narios from “confrontation to diplomacy” but the United States could not afford another war in the Middle East. Israel will stand with the United States to con-front Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “We are united in our desire to stop Iranian aggression,” he said. “Israel and all the countries of the region and all the countries who seek peace in the world should stand together with the United States against Iranian aggression.”

Pelosi warns Trump against war in MideastAP WASHINGTON

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that the US must avoid war with Iran, and she declared the White House has “no business” moving towards a Middle East confrontation without approval from Congress.

Top leaders in Congress are expected to receive a classified briefing from the administration today, but Pelosi said the admin-istration has resisted a wider briefing for all lawmakers and congressional requests for more information. “We have to avoid

any war with Iran,” Pelosi told her colleagues, according to a person in the room, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private caucus meeting.

Pelosi warned that the administration cannot rely on the last use of force authorisation approved by Congress nearly 20 years ago for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since last week, House leaders have been asking for a classified briefing for law-makers on the situation with Iran, but Pelosi said the admin-istration indicated it couldn’t come together “that fast.”

“They have no business

declaring a war without the consent of Congress,” she said. “The very idea that they would say that they would use the authorisation of the use of mil-itary force that is 18 years old” she said is “not appropriate in terms of its scope, its geography, its timing for any actions they might take.” The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also warned the administration against any action without approval from lawmakers.

“Congress has not authorised war with Iran, and the adminis-tration, if it were contemplating

military action with Iran, must come to Congress to seek approval,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., .

Menendez said the Trump administration “has not provided any information to this com-mittee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do in Iraq or Iran.” He said he has “repeatedly reminded the administration” of its responsi-bility to brief the committee.

Multiple sources said yes-terday that top House and Senate leaders of both parties — eight lawmakers in all — would be briefed by the administration.

Construction work is progressing rapidly in order to meet the set deadline, noting that work on the iron structure, which includes the roof and the facades and the base was more than 70 percent complete and all concrete structure work compelted over the past two months.

AFP

08 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019VIEWS

Education City Stadium... Jewel of the Desert

The Education City Stadium is labeled the Jewel of the Desert. It is one of the stadiums that will host the FIFA World Cup

2022 in Qatar. It will be one of the most prominent environmentally sus-tainable stadiums in the world, in addition to its design that is inspired by Islamic architecture.

The stadium, located 12 km from the heart of the Qatari capital Doha, will accommodate 40,000 spectators and will be located in the western part of the Education City’s southern campus. The venue will be a symbol of innovation, sustainability and progress for decades to come.

The Supreme Committee’s Project Manager of the stadium Eid Al Qahtani said that the design of the stadium, with the flood lights on, will make the stadium sparkle at night, as if a jewel in the desert, hence the nickname.

Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), he said that the stadium’s most important characteristic is its location at the heart of Education City. He added that it will overlook the most important main roads, starting with the southern Khalifa area to the coastal city of Dukhan.

Education City Stadium has a design that draws on the rich history of Islamic architecture, blending it with striking modernity. The facade features triangles that form complex, diamond-esque geometrical patterns, appearing to change color with the sun’s movement across the sky. Like diamonds, the stadium’s design repre-

sents quality, durability and resil-ience, and will become something to be treasured both for the memories it holds and its future value to the country and region.

The project manager said the stadium will set an example for the use of intelligent building systems that conserves the energy of things such as automatic lighting and air condi-tioning units.

The environmentally-friendly con-struction practices will also reduce the carbon footprint of the stadium, not just during the construction stage, but after its completion as well.

Al Qahtani said that the design of

the stadium was done using the best practices adopted globally, which will result in high levels of water and energy efficiency. At least 20 percent of the materials used in building the stadium were from sustainable sources, in addition to purchasing 55 percent of the building materials from local sources.

The project was awarded the five-star Global Sustainability Assessment System program (GSAS), thanks to the strategy employed in its design and construction. It is the first stadium in the world to earn that recognition.

Al Qahtani said that construction work is progressing rapidly in order to meet the set deadline, noting that work on the iron structure, which includes the roof and the facades and the base was more than 70 percent complete, in addition to completing all the concrete structure work over the past two months.

He noted the great progress made in terms of the two phases of electro-mechanical work. Work in the first phase is close to completion, while the second phase is more than 80 percent complete. He noted the great acceler-ation in the pace of work in all stages as the project is set for completion in the coming period.

The project manager revealed that the finishing work for the roof was 75 percent finished, the floors were more than 80 percent finished, as well as thermal insulation which is also more than 80 percent complete. The instal-lation of the plastic seats will be installed in the final phase along with laying the grass. He also said that they have secured the supply of seats, in preparation for installing them at the right moment.

He noted that work has already begun on the two roof covers, the first is circular for the pitch, the second is an indoor roof. He added that he expects work on the roof to be com-pleted in the coming month, especially in light of the accelerating pace of work and the determination to com-plete all tasks on schedule.

The project manager also said that he expects the final phase of work to be easier than the previous one. He noted that work on the final finishing phase, in addition to the operational phase will take place in the next six months. He said that, after that, the

project will be ready to host any event. He stressed that the Supreme

Committee for Delivery and Legacy in all the projects of the Qatar 2022 World Cup remained committed to workers’ rights, safety, and security in accordance to the highest interna-tional standards. He added that this was evident in the committee’s rules that oblige contractors to provide housing for workers that is not further than five kilometers away from the stadium.

Al Qahtani stressed that the Supreme Committee chose very care-fully all the locations of the World Cup, with each one telling its own story. He added that this helps with the legacy of the World Cup in Qatar.

The project manager said that the arrival of World Cup spectators to the Stadium of Education City will be easy, whether through the Doha Metro in the presence of more than one station in the city of education, as well as the stadium stands beside the Dukhan highway. He pointed out that there were also four parking lots that have a combined space for 16,000 cars, that’s in addition to the stadium’s parking, which fits 4000 cars.

Al Qahtani said that fans will be able to reach the educational city stadium from the east side, but will not be allowed to access to the stadium by car, instead a train will take them to the gates. He added that the parking spaces will be allocated for organizers and officials of FIFA, as well as media and senior guests in accordance to the requirements of FIFA.

He added that the presence of the stadium near both Al Rayyan Stadium and Khalifa International Stadiums confirms the compact nature of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup. The stadium is only 4.5 kilometers away from the Khalifa International Stadium and six from Al Rayyan Stadium. This will allow the public to move between the three stadiums and give them the opportunity to see three Matches in a day, something that has not been achieved in any previous World Cup.

Al Qahtani said that he believes that donating about 20,000 seats from the stadium, following the conclusion of the World Cup, to help build sta-diums in developing countries in cooperation with FIFA will give the fans a great feeling.

QNA DOHA

QUOTE OF THE DAYGermany, France and

Britain are taking a different approach from

the US on the question of the Iran agreement. For

all our other differences, we even have common

interests here with Russia and China.

Angela Merkel German Chancellor

Facebook to curb live streaming amid pressure over Christchurch massacre

Facebook said yesterday that it would tighten access to its livestreaming feature as New Zealand’s premier Jacinda

Ardern and French leader Emmanuel Macron prepared to launch a “Christchurch Call” initiative to tackle the spread of violence and extremism online. Facebook chief Mark Zuck-erberg has been under intense pressure since March, when a white supremacist gunman used Facebook Live to stream his rampage at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, killing 51 people.

The California-based network said it would ban Facebook Live users who shared extremist content and seek to reinforce its own internal con-trols to stop the spread of offensive videos.

“Following the horrific recent ter-rorist attacks in New Zealand, we’ve been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate,” Facebook vice-president of integrity Guy Rosen said in a statement.

“There is a lot more work to do, but I am pleased Facebook has taken

additional steps today,” Ardern said in a statement.

She and Macron will later issue their Christchurch Call to fight the spread of hateful and terror-related content, along with leaders from Britain, Canada, Norway, Jordan and Senegal, who will also be in Paris.

The largely symbolic initiative is intended to keep up the pressure on social media companies who face growing calls from politicians across the world to prevent their platforms from becoming stages for broad-casting extremist violence.

“We need to get in front of this (problem) before harm is done,” Ardern told CNN in an interview Wednesday. “This is not just about regulation, but bringing companies to the table and saying they have a role too.”

Many countries have already tightened legislation to introduce pen-alties for companies that fail to take down offensive content once it is flagged, by either users or the authorities.

“We need to get in front of this (problem) before harm is done,” Ardern told CNN in an interview on Wednesday. “This is not just about regulation, but bringing companies to

the table and saying they have a role too.” But analysts say the tighter con-trols pledged Wednesday will go only so far in preventing people from cir-cumventing rules and policies already in place against disseminating vio-lence and hate speech.

“You can’t prevent content from being uploaded: it would require the resources for tracking everything put online by all internet users,” said Marc Rees, editor in chief of the tech-nology site Next INpact. “Can you imagine trying to get TV or radio to prevent libellous, abusive or violent speech that someone might say?” he asked.

The political meeting in Paris will run in parallel to an initiative launched by Macron called “Tech for Good” which will bring together 80 tech exec-utives to discuss how to harness tech-nologies for the common good. Top officials from US tech giants Wikipedia, Uber, Twitter, Microsoft and Google will attend, but not Zuckerberg, who met privately with Macron last week. The US government has not endorsed the Christchurch Call and will be repre-sented only at a junior level at a meeting of G7 digital ministers which is also taking place Wednesday in Paris.

Almost two years ago, the Amir inaugurated the iconic Khalifa International Stadium in the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and 50,000 fans. That was the first official venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup opened five years ahead of schedule. Today’s landmark occasion in Qatar’s journey takes even greater significance since Al Wakrah Stadium has been built from scratch.

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

ESTABLISHED IN 1996

EDITORIAL

Second stadium is ready

The day football fans had been waiting for has arrived. Today Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will inaugurate the new Al Wakrah Stadium when

football giants Al Sadd take on Al Duhail in the country’s biggest football tournament. After five years of planning and slick construction by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), the brand new Al Wakrah Stadium will open the gates to a little over 40,000 fans for the Amir Cup final to be played between two quality sides. When the Amir announces the opening of the Al Wakrah Stadium, it will be the second venue to be officially put to use by Qatar, the hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Almost two years ago, H H the Amir inaugurated the iconic Khalifa International Stadium in the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and 50,000 fans. That was the first official venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup opened five years ahead of schedule. Today’s landmark occasion in Qatar’s journey takes even greater significance since Al Wakrah Stadium has been built from scratch. The Khalifa International Stadium was massively renovated and decked up in spectacular fashion for the 2017 Amir

Cup final played between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan. Al Sadd won that match 2-1 against arch-rivals as the world mar-velled at the imposing sports venue.

The new Al Wakrah Stadium is directly connected with the Doha Metro that was launched last week attracting more than 80,000 passengers in the first two days of public service. The ground breaking ceremony of the new Al Wakrah Stadium took place in 2014 and in less than five years, an engineering marvel has been constructed with state-of-the-art construction techniques. The stadium, which was designed by legendary architect Zaha Hadid, has a 92m retractable roof that will con-tribute to the efficiency of the stadium’s innovative cooling technology and protect the interior of the stadium from harsh weather conditions, according to SC. More than 100 air ventilation units – split evenly between the lower and upper tiers – will serve the stadium bowl. Just last month, Qatari company Urban Concept laid the turf at the new Al

Wakrah Stadium in just 9 hours 15 minutes. SC says after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the seating

capacity of the venue will be reduced to 20,000 and handed over to Al Wakrah Sports Club that features in the Qatar Stars League. Following the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the top tier of the stadium will be removed and donated to a country which needs sporting infrastructure, SC has promised.

When the referee blows the kick-off whistle today, Qatar will have fulfilled another promise.

The campaign of mass ethnic cleansing continued over seven months and resulted in the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians to nearby countries, the destruction of 531 villages and the depopulation of 11 urban neighbourhoods. In the words of Pappe, it was a crime against humanity.

09THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 OPINION

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Nuclear war is still verypossible and very scary

The return of Palestinian refugees is quite possible

BLOOMBERG

AHMED ABU ARTEMA AL JAZEERA

One of the most striking facts of today’s world is that young people do not seem to worry very much about

nuclear war. Climate change is by far the larger concern, while nuclear war is seen as a threat of the past. As Chapin Boyer, who is in his late 20s, wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists a few years ago: “I cannot remember a time when the threat of nuclear weapons seemed real. … My generation grew up believing that the problem of nuclear weapons had been solved.”

In contrast, I am inclined to think that the risk of nuclear war remains the world’s No. 1 problem, even if that risk does not seem so pressing on any particular day.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, fears of nuclear war were palpable. In 1951, the president of Harvard wrote a letter to his 21st-century successor. “There are many who anticipate World War III within the decade,” James B. Conant wrote, “and not a few who consider the destruction of our cities including Cambridge quite possible.”

It turned out such views were too pessimistic, perhaps overly influenced by still-fresh memories of two earlier world wars. But if Conant’s generation was extrapolating too much from recent experience, might we be

making a similar mistake? Nuclear weapons have not been used against humans since 1945, and we are now assuming they will remain dormant for the rest of history.

Each generation has its own form of recency bias, as it is called in behavioral economics. Just after Sept. 11, for example, there was great concern about follow-up attacks. (Thankfully, nothing comparable fol-lowed.) Now we worry a lot - maybe too much - about insolvent banks, insufficiently high inflation, and the Chinese shock to US manufacturing.

So what about nuclear war? Looking forward, the reality is that the risks of such a war are quite small in any particular year. But let the clock run and enough years pass, and a nuclear exchange of some kind becomes pretty likely.

I have found that people with a background in financial market trading are best equipped to under-stand the risks of nuclear war. An analogy might be helpful: Say you write a deeply out-of-the-money put, without an offsetting hedge. This is in fact a very risky action, though almost all of the time you will get away with it. When you don’t, however - when market prices move against you - you can lose all of your wealth quite suddenly.

In other words: Sooner or later the unexpected will come to pass. The correct intuitions about this kind of risk do not always come easily to the inexperienced investor. In similar fashion, shortsighted voters do not appreciate the ongoing risk of nuclear war.

Which brings me to my reaction to Steven Pinker’s renowned book “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”: He does not think enough like a financial economist. Yes, the argu-ments for optimism often appear

stronger than the arguments for pessimism, and indeed they are. When it comes to nuclear weapons, however, the arguments for pes-simism only have to be true once - and that is likely to happen sooner or later, no matter how positive the general trends.

So, combining that insight about risk with the phenomenon of recency bias, I return to my original thought: We should be very worried indeed about nuclear weapons.

They are all still there, and most of them probably still work. We can never be quite sure about the accuracy of the systems for early detection of incoming missiles, and whether there might be false signals of a launch, as there were in 1983.

There are also reasons particular to the present moment to be con-cerned about nuclear weapons. They are becoming easier and cheaper to build, and it is not implausible to think that nations such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia might get them in the next 20 years, to the detriment of regional stability. North Korea keeps adding to its stockpile of nuclear weapons and improving the quality of its delivery systems.

Meanwhile, a generation of hyper-sonic delivery systems, being developed by China, Russia and the US, will shorten the response time available to political and military leaders to minutes. That raises the risk of a false signal turning into a decision to retaliate, or it may induce a nation to think that a successful first strike is possible. Remember, it’s not enough for the principle of mutual assured destruction to be generally true; it has to be always true.

Like Dr. Strangelove, we learned to stop worrying and to love the bomb. Let us not forget that the bomb never will love us.

Every year, a day after Israel marks its independence day on May 14, we commemorate with sadness and nostalgia

the Nakba of 1948. The events of that year changed the Palestinian lot for generations to come, transforming them from a people living peacefully and comfortably off of the fruits of their land to refugees struggling in misery in overcrowded camps, forced to depend on charity for their daily bread.

Every year, in our communities we count how many elderly Pales-tinians who witnessed the Nakba are left. Although their numbers shrink with every passing Nakba day, the memory of what happened seven decades ago is kept alive. The keys to the homes from which they were forcefully expelled are passed on to us, the younger generation, as we continue the struggle for the return of all Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to do everything it can not to abide by inter-national law and implement the United Nations resolution 194 of 1948, which stipulates the rightful return of all Palestinians to their homes. It con-tinues to imprison millions of Pales-tinians behind walls in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and keep the Pales-tinian minority within its borders under an apartheid regime.

It also continues to propagate

myths and false claims in order to justify flaunting international law and continuing the victimisation of Palestinians.

Israel says Palestine was a land without people.

But the census the British con-ducted shortly after they took control of Palestine in 1920 showed that it had a population of more than 750,000, only 11 percent of whom were Jewish.

Paradoxically, Israel also says that Palestinians left “voluntarily” in 1948 (meaning there must have been a native population that had to “leave”).

Yet, as Israeli historians like Ilan Pappe have demonstrated in their research, the ethnic cleansing of Pal-estine was very well planned and exe-cuted by Zionist leaders. Clear instructions were given to Jewish militias to use terror, bombardment of villages, burning and demolishing res-idential areas, and booby-trapping evacuated homes to force people out and prevent their return.

The campaign of mass ethnic cleansing continued over seven months and resulted in the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians to nearby countries, the destruction of 531 vil-lages and the depopulation of 11 urban neighbourhoods. In the words of Pappe, it was a crime against humanity.

Israel also claims that there is a

new reality today and that the own-ership rights of Palestinian refugees to their homes and their land have dis-appeared after 70 years.

But the passing of time does not and cannot cancel liability for a crime against humanity and absolve its per-petrators. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. And just like the Israeli state is a fait accompli, so is the right of more than six million Pal-estinian refugees to return, based on official legal documents produced by the UN under whose legal framework and recognition the Israeli state was created in the first place.

Israel also claims that it was created to provide “safe haven” to Jews and the return of Palestinian ref-ugees would endanger them and result in a massacre.

We do not deny that Jews have the right to live in safety, but why should the solution to a tragedy they faced produce a tragedy for another people? The establishing of this “safe haven”, the way it was done in 1948 and ever since, has resulted in mass ethnic cleansing and incremental genocide of Palestinians. The Palestinian people have faced one massacre after another over the past seven decades and as a result, they have no “safe haven” of their own.

And with all Palestinians that Israel has killed over time, with all weapons it has accumulated, all walls it has built, and all repressive policies it has implemented, has it become more safe and secure? Security built on death and oppression is an illusion; true security for Israeli Jews will not be achieved until there is justice for Palestinians.

Our struggle is against occupation and apartheid, and not for the oppression and ethnic cleansing of Israeli Jews. As we continue to resist Israeli attempts to wipe us all out of our homeland, we do not wish to see Israeli Jews being wiped out either.

Israel also claims that Palestinians do not want peace.

Yet its leadership has officially declared its intention to seize all Pal-estinian land west of the Jordan River and has repeatedly demonstrated that it is using peace negotiations only to further entrench the occupation and make the return of Palestinians impossible. This strategy is not an aberration or a policy of the Israeli right only, but rather the direct con-tinuation of the path taken by the Zionist movement since it was estab-lished - it is the path of ethnic cleansing of the native population and expansion of settler colonialism.

So what about nuclear war? Looking forward, the reality is that the risks of such a war are quite small in any particular year. But let the clock run and enough years pass, and a nuclear exchange of some kind becomes pretty likely.

At this point, the only viable way forward that does not involve further violence and ethnic cleansing on either side is to re-arrange the current relationship between Palestinians and Israeli Jews on the basis of justice and equality as opposed to discrimi-nation and dispossession.

Part of this solution has to be the return of Palestinian refugees, which is neither an outlandish idea nor a dangerous one. In fact, it is quite realistic. Demographic studies indicate that more than 80 percent of the land Palestinian refugees were ethnically cleansed from is either empty or has very low popu-lation density, as the majority of the Israeli population is concentrated in large cities.

There is enough land for all and with the cancellation of discrimi-natory policies that favour Jewish settlers, equal distribution of resources can be achieved.

Israel already has in place a law that allows Jews to immigrate and settle on its territory. It only makes sense that it would extend that policy to all Palestinian refugees to come back to their homes.

All this comes down to a choice Israeli Jews have to make - to con-tinue living in unstable and insecure apartheid state or to embrace real stability and security by ending injustice and establishing equality and peace for all. We, Pal-estinians, have already made ours: We will continue to struggle for our rights and our freedom until the day we are able to stand at the doorstep of our ancestral homes with a key in hand.

And in this struggle we are not alone. We are backed by all those who believe in and advocate justice and humanity across the world.

The Israeli Forces personnel intervene with Palestinian protesters with tear gas during a demonstration to mark the anniversary of 71 years since the “Nakba” in Rafah, Gaza, yesterday.

10 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Sudan military, oppn agree 3-year transitionAFP KHARTOUM

Sudanese army rulers and protest leaders yesterday agreed on a three-year transition period for transferring power to a full civilian administration even as negotiations over a new sovereign ruling body remain unfinished.

The protest movement is demanding a civilian-led tran-sition following 30 years of rule by former president Omar Al Bashir. Talks between the two sides resumed earlier in the week but were marred by violence when an army major and five protesters were killed by uniden-tified gunmen at a long-running sit-in outside military head-quarters in Khartoum.

The two sides announced early yesterday that they had reached an agreement on the

transition period. “We agreed on a transitional period of three years,” Lieutenant General Yasser Al Atta, a member of the military council told reporters.

Atta said a final agreement on the sharing of power, including the forming of the next ruling body — the sovereign council — will be signed with the protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, within a day. “We vow to our people that the agreement will be com-pleted fully within 24 hours in a way that it meets the people’s aspirations,” Atta said.

He said of the three-year transition period, the first six months will be allocated to signing peace accords with rebels in the country’s war zones like Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

The army generals had ini-tially insisted on a two-year tran-sition period, while the protest leaders wanted four years.

The key negotiations however remain on the compo-sition of the sovereign council, which the generals have insisted to be military led while the protest leaders want it to be majority civilian.

After the forming of the sov-ereign council, which will replace the existing ruling body made up solely of generals, a new transitional civilian gov-ernment would be formed to run the country’s day-to-day affairs.

That civilian government would work towards having the first post-Bashir elections after the end of the transition period.

Atta said that during the transitional period the par-liament will be composed of 300 members, of which 67 percent will be from the Alliance for Freedom and Change and the rest will be from other political groups.

Sudanese protesters celebrate after an agreement was reached with the Military Council to form a new transitional government of three years, in Khartoum, yesterday.

Over 50 Palestinians injured in ‘Catastrophe’ anniversary protestsREUTERS GAZA

Israeli troops wounded nearly 50 Palestinians at the Gaza border yesterday during protests to mark the 71st anniversary of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when many Palestinians lost their homes in the fighting around Israel’s creation, Gaza officials said.

Thousands had gathered at the coastal enclave’s frontier with Israel, the scene of bloodshed over the past year that has raised international concern. Groups approached the border fence, planting

Palestinian flags. Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets to repel them, but also live ammunition, the witnesses said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 47 people were wounded, though it was not clear how many of those were hit by live ammunition or were hurt by rubber bullets or by inhaling tear gas.

The Israeli military said about 10,000 demonstrators gathered in several places along the Gaza Strip fence.

Yesterday’s rallies were called to mark Nakba Day, what Palestinians term the

catastrophe that befell them at Israel’s creation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from lands in what is now Israel.

“Our people rise today to announce their rejection to this crime and to assert their right in Palestine, all of Palestine,” Islamist leader Khader Habib said at one demonstration, referring to Israel and the terri-tories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Palestinians also held rallies in the occupied West Bank but no major clashes with Israeli forces were immediately reported.

Fighting grips Hodeidah port, upsets peace moveREUTERS DUBAI

Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed pro-government forces battled in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah yesterday, breaching a ceasefire and potentially complicating a troop withdrawal agreement intended to pave the way for wider peace talks.

Hodeidah port, which has been under Houthi control, is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis threatened by starvation because of the war as it is the main entry

point for food imports and aid. The Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah and two other Red Sea ports began on Saturday and was the most significant advance yet in efforts to end the four-year-old war.

The United Nations said on Tuesday the ports had been handed over to a coast guard and the pullout was going to plan.

But both sides reported renewed clashes yesterday, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement claimed responsi-bility for a drone attack that

Saudi Arabia said had hit two of its oil pumping stations.

Houthi-run media said pro-government forces had hit various parts of Hodeidah city, including the airport, with heavy and medium weapons.

It did not say if they were Yemeni troops or members of an international military coalition led by Saudi Arabia which backs President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s Aden-based government The coalition-backed forces said in a report that Houthi fighters tried to infiltrate Hodeidah and

the Al Duraihmi area to its south but pro-government troops foiled them.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a leading member of the coalition, have yet to comment on the Houthi withdrawal.

The coalition has forces massed on Hodeidah’s outskirts and under the withdrawal plan’s first phase, they are supposed to eventually also draw back.

United Nations Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths called on the UN Security Council yesterday to

urge the warring parties to work quickly to implement the remaining redeployments agreed during peace talks in Stockholm in December.

“We would like the parties to ensure that the momentum that we now begin to see is main-tained by implementing subse-quent steps of the mutual rede-ployments,” he told the 15-member body.

Griffiths said he was still seeking a deal between the parties on local forces to take over security in the area.

Palestinians taking part in a demonstration marking the 71st anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948, in Ramallah, West Bank, yesterday.

South Sudan’s Kiir warns against ‘violent attempts to usurp power’AFP JUBA

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said yesterday that any attempt to forcibly seize power in the country would be met with “violent resistance”, as calls for his ouster spread on social media.

In the past two weeks, a new group calling itself the Red Card Movement has been circulating calls online for a protest on Thursday with the hashtags #KiirMustGo and #SouthSudan-Uprising, with organisers appearing to be based mostly in the diaspora.

The movement appears to be inspired by street protests in neighbouring Sudan which led to the toppling of veteran pres-ident Omar Al Bashir.

“Violent attempts to usurp power from the people would be met with violent resistance and the cycle of violence cannot end,” Kiir told a press briefing.

“The way to stability in South Sudan is through democracy and democratic elections, and this is what we fought for and we will not com-promise it,” Kiir said.

Since last week security on the streets of Juba has been beefed up. However officials have said this was unrelated to the planned protests, but was in preparation for a public holiday Thursday celebrating those who took up arms in the fight for independence from Sudan,

achieved in 2011. Army spokesman Major-General Lul Ruai Koang said that the cele-brations had been postponed by a week for “final touches” to preparations.

“The security deployment and all sorts of security arrange-ments (are) to provide maximum security and safety for the people during the celebrations,” he added.

Independent radio station Eye Radio reported yesterday that some Juba residents had woken up to security officers going house to house searching for guns.

South Sudanese activist Keluel Agok, now living in Kampala, is among those calling for the protests.

“If you want to an end the impunity please come out on 16th May 2019 to restore liberty, justice and unity in South Sudan,” he wrote on Facebook Tuesday.

South Sudan plunged into civil war in 2013 after Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. The war has left 380,000 people dead and forced more than four million South Sudanese — almost a third of the population — to flee their homes. A peace deal signed in September 2018 has largely stopped fighting, but implemen-tation has run aground and the planned formation of a unity government on May 12 was post-poned for six months.

Lebanon postpones final budget meetingREUTERS BEIRUT

Lebanon’s Cabinet delayed until tomorrow its last session on the 2019 draft budget, a minister said, pushing back a critical meeting to finalise plans for cutting the deficit.

Lebanon has one of the heaviest public debt burdens in the world, and long-stalled reforms are seen as more pressing than ever after years of low economic growth.

President Michel Aoun, in a speech late on Tuesday, urged the Lebanese to end protests and make sacrifices to rescue the country from economic and financial crisis. Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri has said this may be the most austere budget in Lebanon’s history.

Ministers who convened yesterday afternoon had been due to meet again at night to agree the budget before sending it to parliament for approval.

24 Algerian police officers wounded in protestAFP ALGIERS

At least 24 police officers have been wounded in clashes with protesters rallying against unemployment in central Algeria, state media reported yesterday.

Demonstrators in the central Tinerkouk area have been blocking access to an oil company since mid-April, demanding jobs in the industry.

The ongoing rally has largely paralysed work at the site, according to the official APS news agency, prompting police to move in and disperse it on Tuesday. Demonstrators blocked access to the local gov-ernment offices, setting fire to the buildings and looting them when the police intervened, according to APS. Private tele-vision channel Dzair News broadcast images of a gov-ernment building in flames and protesters blocking the road with burning tyres.

Lieutenant General Yasser Al Atta said a final agreement on the sharing of power, including the forming of the next ruling body — the sovereign council — will be signed with the protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, within a day.

Eight injured in gunshots near Khartoum sit-inAFP KHARTOUM

At least eight people were wounded by gunshots near a Khartoum sit-in yesterday, a spokesman for Sudan’s protest movement and a witness said, ahead of crucial talks on civilian rule. Protest leaders responded by urging people to join the demonstrators but to avoid

clashes. “Eight wounded from live bullets so far,” Amjad Farid, a spokesman for the umbrella protest group the Alliance for Freedom and Change wrote on Facebook.

A witness said that gunshots had been fired near the protest camp outside army headquarters in central Khartoum.

“There are gunshots in Nile Street and around the sit-in and

we are seeing several wounded,” said Mohamed Dahab, a vol-unteer at a field clinic at the protest camp. A protest leader also said on condition of ano-nymity that among the eight wounded, three were in serious condition. The Sudanese Profes-sionals Association urged people to join the sit-in in support of those who have camped there round-the-clock for weeks.

African Union lauds Sudan pactANATOLIA/ADDIS ABABA

The African Union Commission commended Sudan for agreeing on a transitional roadmap with reasonable timing.

“The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat wishes to commend the Sudanese stakeholders for the progress being made towards reaching an agreement for a political transition in Sudan,” the group said in a statement.

Mahamat congratulated “national stakeholders for their high level of responsibility to complete the negotiation cycle in a rea-sonable time in order to adequately address the legitimate con-cerns of the Sudanese people.” He also commended the collabo-ration of the United Nations, the European Union and the Troika of the US, Norway and the UK in supporting the AU’s approach to help Sudan achieve a Sudanese-led and -owned political transition for the betterment of the country and the region.

EC cuts short campaign in violence-hit BengalIANS NEW DELHI

In the wake of violence in West Bengal, the Election Commission yesterday took an unprecedented step of curtailing poll campaign in the state by a day as it ordered stoppage of electioneering from 10pm today, Thursday, on the remaining 9 Lok Sabha constit-uencies going to the polls on May 19.

The Election Commission also removed with immediate effect the state’s Principal Sec-retary (Home) Atri Bhattacharya for “having interfered” in the poll process and relieved contro-versial IPS officer Rajeev Kumar from his post of ADG CID, with orders to report for duty in the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi at 10am today.

The poll body invoked for the first time Article 324 of the Con-stitution which gives it special powers to control and give direc-tions for holding elections.

There will be no election campaign in 9 parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal from 10pm today till the con-clusion of polls on May 19, an EC official said at a press conference. The campaigning would have normally ended at 5pm on Friday along with 50 other seats across

6 other states and one Union Ter-ritory. The decisions have been “taken as an action on violence in West Bengal on Tuesday,” the EC official said, about the action taken a day after widespread vio-lence witnessed in the state during a road show conducted by BJP President Amit Shah.

The constituencies - Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata (South) and Kolkata (North) – are going to the polls in the 7th and last phase of the elections on May 19.

“This is probably the first time that EC has invoked Article 324 in this manner but it may not be the last in case of repetition of lawlessness and violence which vitiate the conduct of polls,” the official said.

The official said the decisions were taken “keeping in view the recent developments in West Bengal, especially during the last

24 hours, representations received from political parties, report of DEC in charge of West Bengal in ECI and the joint report of Special Observers.” He said the campaigning has been curtailed to ensure free, fair, transparent, non-violent, ethical elections during the 7th phase on May 19.

“The Commission hereby directs that no person shall convene, hold, join or address any public meeting or procession in connection with election or display to the public any election matter by means of cinemato-graph, television or other similar apparatus or propagate any election matter to the public by holding or by arranging any musical concert or any theatrical performance or any other enter-tainment or amusement with a view to attracting the member of the public in connection with these elections,” the poll body said.

“Election Commission of India is deeply anguished at the vandalism done to the statue of respected late Shri Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay who was conferred the title of Vid-yasagar by Sanskrit college Kolkata besides his many other achievements as a philosopher, academic educator, writer and philanthropist,” the official said.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel conduct route march in a street ahead of the seventh and last phase of general election, in Kolkata, India, yesterday.

EC decision taken at BJP’s direction: Mamata IANS KOLKATA

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday termed the Election Commis-sion’s decision to curtail campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in the state and remove two senior officers as one taken on the direction of the BJP, its President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She also wondered whether the directives were due to the

“threat” issued to the poll panel by Shah during a media meet in Delhi yesterday morning.

Addressing a hurriedly-con-vened media meet here, the Chief Minister said: “Some emer-gency situation has arisen due to some directions of the Election Commission. I don’t consider these as EC’s decision. These have been taken as per the direction of the BJP, Modi and Amit Shah.” “In the morning, Shah held a press conference in Delhi, where he threatened the

Election Commission. “Is this a fallout of that?” she asked.

Banerjee alleged that Bengal was being targeted as Modi knew that she was challenging him. “I am challenging him, talking against him, we are countering him on every point. Modi is afraid of Bengal, afraid of me.”

Banerjee also accused Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain of making all arrangements for Shah’s road show.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (centre) gestures along with other party leaders during an election campaign in Varanasi, India, yesterday.

Modi blames TMC for trouble in West BengalIANS TAKI, WEST BENGAL

Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of orchestrating the attack on BJP President Amit Shah during his roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said that attempts were being made to terrorise and intimidate the saffron party activists.

Addressing an election rally here in the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency, Modi said the attack on Shah’s roadshow in College Street came days after Banerjee vowed to take revenge against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Mamata ‘didi’ had publicly announced two days ago that she will take revenge inch by inch against the BJP. Within 24 hours of her announcement, she orchestrated the attack on BJP

President Amit Shah during his roadshow. There were attempts to terrorise and intimidate the BJP supporters,” he alleged.

Modi also said that Banerjee was scared by the BJP wave in West Bengal.

“The whole country saw the images in Kolkata yesterday. Today the whole nation is dis-cussing about it. The BJP wave in Bengal has scared ‘didi’. The country and the whole world can see the level she has descended to,” Modi said, referring to the clashes between the members of the Trinamool Congress’ student wing and saffron party activists during Shah’s roadshow.

Alleging that Banerjee’s Bengal was an example of misrule, Modi said the people of the state have decided to free themselves from the “autocratic rule of didi” in the coming days.

Members of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) got involved in violent clashes during Shah’s roadshow in the College Street area on Tuesday.

The violence also spread to the nearby Vidyasagar College, where a large group of TMCP members had camped to protest against Shah’s roadshow. A bust of 19th century social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was seen lying shattered, with the TMCP activists blaming the BJP, while the saffron party function-aries pointed fingers at the Trinamool.

Modi also said that a section of students of the Calcutta Uni-versity have started to reveal “the dirty politics” of Banerjee and her party leaders who were behind Tuesday’s clashes which left a number of persons injured on both sides.

Priyanka roadshow in Varanasi

Arrests, new curfews in Sri Lanka after riotsAFP COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s police arrested over 100 suspects and reimposed night curfews in violence-prone areas yesterday after anti-Muslim riots left one man dead and caused extensive damage to homes, businesses and mosques.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said 78 people arrested in the worst-affected North-Western Province (NWP) were remanded in custody yes-terday, while the rest were detained after a manhunt in other areas.

Some 5,500 additional police were deployed in NWP to contain the violence that claimed the life of a Muslim man on Monday. Scores of private homes, Muslim-owned shops and businesses were destroyed, while several mosques were also vandalised.

Muslims in Sri Lanka have been bracing for revenge attacks since three churches and three luxury hotels were bombed by local extremists on April 21, killing 258 people.

Gunasekera said a night curfew was being reimposed in NWP, just north of the capital, as well as the adjoining Gampaha district, which shares a border with Colombo, as a measure to “maintain peace”.

However, a top police source said there will be no curfews elsewhere in the country. The

entire country was under night curfews for two straight days after the violence escalated.

The night curfew on Tuesday ensured there was no repeat of Monday’s violence against Muslims, who make up some 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 21 million.

“The situation is now totally under control,” said military spokesman Sumith Atapattu.

“There were no incidents of violence overnight and we are arresting groups of people

responsible for taking part in mob attacks.” Official sources said police deployed special teams to review CCTV camera footage to identify the perpe-trators and carry out more arrests.

More police and army units were seen deployed in the troubled areas as the authorities lifted the nationwide curfew yes-terday morning.

But Muslims in NWP remained nervous and stayed indoors yesterday, after

sword-wielding rioters killed one man late Monday while van-dalising scores of shops and mosques.

In Bingiriya, where some 2,000 people went on the rampage, Muslim cleric MIM Sid-deeque said the community was worried. “Our people are still afraid to go out,” he said.

Government spokesman Navin Dissanayake said the authorities had identified the leaders of the mobs and they were already in police custody.

A soldier walks past a damaged shop after a mob attack in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka, yesterday.

UN urges aid access for Myanmar’s Rakhine stateREUTERS/YANGON

A UN official has urged Myanmar to grant aid workers “predictable, sustained access” to Rakhine state, where fighting between government troops and rebels has displaced nearly 33,000 people since late last year, saying lack of aid has cost lives.

Ursula Mueller, a UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said authorities had turned down her requests to meet those dis-placed by the conflict in a region barred to most aid groups since the fighting broke out.

“We need access - pre-dictable, sustained access - to reach the people in need,” Mueller said, at the end of a six-day visit to the southeast Asian nation.

“If the assistance, including mobile clinics, cannot get to the people, they just don’t have the services and their needs are not being met and some people are dying.” Rakhine has been in the global spotlight since 2017, after roughly 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing a military crackdown in response to mil-itant attacks crossed into Bangladesh.

Alleged Rohingya traffickers dead in gun battle AFP COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH

Bangladeshi police shot dead two suspected Rohingya human traffickers, officials said yesterday, after rescuing 103 refugees in two days about to make the perilous sea voyage to Malaysia.

The two Rohingya men were killed outside a refugee camp in the southeast on Tuesday evening, said Prodip Kumar Das, police chief of Teknaf which borders Myanmar. “They opened fire at the police. We fired back in retaliation,” he said. This is the first time in four years sus-pected human traffickers were killed in a gunfight in Bangla-desh’s southeast. It follows a rise in attempted human smug-gling of Rohingya in the last few months. People-smugglers have in recent years sent tens of thousands of Rohingya from the Bangladesh camps by boat to Malaysia.

Six injured in Guwahati blast; ULFA owns up IANS GUWAHATI

At least six persons, including two security force personnel, were injured in a blast outside a shopping mall here last evening, police said.

The anti-talks faction of ULFA led by Paresh Baruah has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The explosion took place in front of the shopping mall, Guwahati Central, located in Jonali area of the city.

Guwahati Police Commis-sioner Deepak Kumar said the suspects must have targeted the security forces.

“There is a police check post here and it is evident the suspects must have targeted them,” he said.

All the injured were rushed to hospitals.

The blast took place on a day when Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called upon the police to devise a strategy to keep tabs on criminal elements and provide security to the city residents.

11THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 ASIA

The poll body has invoked for the first time Article 324 of the Constitution which gives it special powers to control and give directions for holding elections.

12 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019ASIA

PTI seeks oppn support for south Punjab provinceINTERNEWS MULTAN, PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi yesterday said the government had intro-duced a bill in the National Assembly to establish a new province by bifurcating the populous Punjab province.

Qureshi, who is also the deputy chairman of Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, sought the help of the Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N to get the bill passed.

Qureshi said the bill moved by the PTI government will require amendments in Articles 1, 51, 59, 106, 198 and 218 of the Constitution.

“We have to make the amendments to make South Punjab province a reality,” Qureshi said, adding that the PTI government had contacted leaders of PML-N, PPP and some other opposition parties in Par-liament as two-thirds majority is required to amend the Constitution.

“I have contacted senior parliamentarians from PPP as they also had the stance for South Punjab, and I have told them to work together with us

to make this a reality and have received a positive response from them,” he said.

The Minister said several members of the PML-N sup-ported South Punjab province but there were others who were stuck on the bill they had pre-sented in the past.

“We will also speak to the PML-N and I will request them to review their decision and let South Punjab be formed. They need to be practical as their demand for a third ‘Bahawalpur province’ comprising just three districts is not possible,” he said.

For any constitutional amendment, two-thirds of the parliamentarians would have to vote in its favour. The National Assembly, Pakistan’s lower house, has in total 342 seats, which means the govt needs 228 votes to get its way.

The PML-N has 84 members and the PPP has 54 members in the lower house.

Taxi drivers protesting against ride-hailing service ‘Tada’ saying such services threaten their jobs and livelihoods, in central Seoul, yesterday.

Cabbies protest in Seoul

Imran put on notice over disqualification pleaINTERNEWS PESHAWAR

The Peshawar High Court gave Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) three weeks to respond to a petition seeking the disqualification of the Premier from holding any public office on multiple grounds.

A bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan observed that further pro-ceedings would be held after written replies to the petition of

NA-35 Bannu candidate Inam-ullah Khan were received.

It directed both the Premier and ECP to respond to the points raised by the petitioner, a leader of the Pakistan Justice and Dem-ocratic Party led by former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The petitioner insisted that Imran had neither named his alleged daughter in his nomi-nation papers for the last year’s general elections nor had he dis-closed the assets of his wife.

Imran had defeated the peti-tioner, former KP Chief Minister

Akram Khan Durrani and other candidates in the NA-35 constit-uency in the July 2018 elections before vacating that seat to retain another also won by him.

Ahead of the polls, retired Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had announced that his party would challenge the candidature of Imran in every constituency from where he would contest elections.

The petitioner’s counsel, Abdur Rasheed Khan, said despite the issuance of repeated notices, Imran hadn’t responded to the disqualification petition.

Senior JuD leader arrested in LahoreINTERNEWS LAHORE

The brother-in-law of outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has been arrested, Punjab Police confirmed yesterday.

According to an Interior Ministry source, the arrest of Abdul Rehman Makki took place during the crackdown a g a i n s t o u t l a w e d organisations.

Makki is accused of hate speech against the crackdown and criticising steps taken by the government under Financial Action task Force guidelines. Makki has been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Act.

Makki was head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s political and inter-national affairs wing and in-charge of its charity Falah-e-Insaniat for which he had appealed for donations.

A crackdown was initiated by the Government of Pakistan against outlawed originations under the counterterrorism National Action Plan.

Pakistan has also announced the freezing of accounts and seizure of assets linked to organisations banned by the UN Security Council.

Opposition alliance against Imran’s govt in the offingINTERNEWS LAHORE

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is considering forming a formal alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to give the ruling Pakistan T e h r e e k - e - I n s a f ( P T I ) government a tough time, said the PML-N Senator Mushahid-ullah Khan.

“Both sides are already united against the government on the opposition benches but a formal alliance is being hashed out by the senior leaders of both parties to put up a united front

against this government,” Khan said..

He said any public announcement regarding the alliance would be made after Ramadan. This alliance, he said, would subsequently call an all opposition parties conference to prepare a joint road-map.

“Both opposition parties, however, agree that they would not support or adopt any undem-ocratic means to topple the PTI led government and the movement would be democratic in nature,” he added.

Regarding the previous efforts for forming a joint

opposition front, he said the opposition parties support each other on the issue to issue basis due to the understanding reached during preceding efforts of forming an all parties’ alliance.

“The PML-N will announce its future strategy at an appro-priate time. Our party has never taken decisions under pressure in the past and would not make such decisions in the future,” he added.

He, however, did not disclose who were spearheading the dis-cussions from PML-N sides given the absence of the PML-N

President Shehbaz Sharif from the country. Khan said the party policy comes from party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, who is ‘here with us’ to give his instructions while party Pres-ident will also return soon after his medical checkups.

Regarding the role of Maryam Nawaz in leading the party out of its current crisis, he said Maryam was now party’s vice-president so she will lead the party alongside other senior party leaders.

The PPP leader and former Senator Farhatullah Babar, however, denied knowledge of

any such development. He said both the parties are already col-laborating on the issue to issue basis.

“The possibility of any such alliance being formed in near future cannot be ruled but no such development is taking place right now,” he said.

The PML-N’s recent restruc-turing is seen as a change of party policy from the moderate approach of Shehbaz Sharif as adopted after July 2018 general election to a more aggressive approach of Nawaz Sharif, with party hawks taking over the front row seats.

A Philippine coast guard ship BRP Langgam (left) and a US interceptor boat manoeuvre during a joint search and rescue exercise near Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea, while a Chinese coastguard ship monitors the activity from a distance.

Afghan poll results announced, finally

ANATOLIA/KABUL

Election authorities in Afghan-istan yesterday announced the final results of the country’s latest parliamentary elections after months of delay and protest.

The country’s Independent Election Commission issued the final list of 33 winning candi-dates from Kabul province today to complete results for the 249-member lower house of parliament.

The parliamentary elections held in October last year were marred by irregularities, alle-gations of rigging and technical glitches, which caused unprec-edented delay in the announcement of results.

North Korea says going through ‘extreme drought’ AFP SEOUL

North Korea’s average rain and snowfall this year fell to the lowest level in 37 years, Pyongyang’s state media said yesterday, just days after the UN expressed “grave concerns” about food shortages.

The isolated, impoverished nation - which is under several sets of sanctions over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes - has long struggled to feed itself and suffers chronic food shortages.

A number of international organisations, including the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), have said minor disasters, including drought, can significantly worsen and hamper food pro-duction in the country.

From January to early May this year, North Korea only received 54.4 millimetres of rain or snow, the smallest amount since the same period in 1982, the state-run KCNA said, describing the situation as “an extreme drought”.

Last month, the WFP and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a joint report that North Korea’s crop output last year hit the lowest level since 2008, and that an estimated 10 million people - 40 percent of the entire population - are in urgent need of food.

“The situation could further deteriorate during the lean season from May to September,

if no proper and urgent human-itarian actions are taken,” the report said.

The WFP Executive Director David Beasley was in Seoul earlier this week, and said he is “very concerned” about food sit-uation in the North during his meeting with the South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul.

A Unification Ministry official said on Tuesday that it was “necessary” to send food aid to the North sometime between May and September as recom-mended by the WFP report.

Seoul in 2017 had aimed to send $4.5m worth of nutritional products to North Korea through the WFP, but that never hap-pened partially due to Pyongyang’s nuclear tests that year.

The South’s presidential Blue House has said US President Donald Trump supports Seoul’s plan to provide humanitarian food aid to the North.

Early seasonal drought in the North this year could exac-erbate “hunger, malnutrition and health problems” for “thou-sands of children, pregnant and breastfeeding women” in North Korea, the International Feder-ation of Red Cross said last week.

“Even before this drought, one in five children under five years old was stunted because of poor nutrition. We are con-cerned that these children will not be able to cope with further stress on their bodies.”

Indonesia’s new capital to be decided this year: MinisterAFP JAKARTA

Indonesia will decide the site of its new capital this year with the aim of it being ready by 2024, a minister said yesterday.

The decision to move the capital from megacity Jakarta came about two weeks ago after President Joko Widodo approved the long-mooted plan. The government is final-ising studies so they can decide this year and start the ground-breaking project in 2021, Urban Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said.

“We’ve been co-ordinating to finalise the studies so we can decide this year where to move the capital to, so the process and construction can begin in a year or two,” he said.

“So we hope in 2024 the new capital is ready to be the new government centre.” Jakarta - and its surrounding satellite cities - has a population of about 30 million people and is regularly rated as one of the most traffic-congested centres in the world.

Annual flooding due to excessive groundwater extraction has also made it one of the world’s fastest-sinking cities. Earlier this month Pres-ident Widodo visited East and Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo to scout for a new capital location.

China slams asylum for ex-Interpol chief’s wifeAFP BEIJING

Beijing said yesterday that France granting asylum to the wife of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei - who has been charged in China with accepting bribes - would be an abuse of its own legal procedures.

“There is no so-called political persecution,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang, days after Grace Meng’s lawyer in France said she had been granted asylum.

“If Meng Hongwei’s wife wanted to apply for political

asylum in France, it would be an abuse of French legal proce-dures.” Grace Meng, who was given police protection in France after she alleged an abduction attempt at the start of the year, was granted asylum on May 2 along with the couple’s two children, their lawyer Emmanuel Marsigny said.

Meng Hongwei disappeared last September after leaving the French city of Lyon, where Interpol is based, for China.

He later sent his wife a social media message telling her to “wait for my call”, and then a knife emoji signifying danger.

A few weeks later, Interpol

was informed that Meng, the first Chinese president at the inter-national police agency, had resigned, with Beijing later announcing he was being held on suspicion of taking bribes.

He was officially charged with accepting bribes last week and Chinese prosecutors said Meng had abused his positions as Marine Police chief and vice minister of public security to ille-gally obtain “extremely large” amounts of property.

But his wife said recently that Chinese officials had pre-sented “no proof whatsoever to back up their charges”. She has said she fears for her life.

The govt has introduced a bill to create a new province in south of Punjab but it lacks two-thirds majority in parliament to amend the Constitution.

US-Philippine drill in South China Sea

13THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 EUROPE

World leaders vow to curb online violenceAP PARIS

A dozen countries and global tech giants including Facebook, Google and Twitter pledged yesterday to find ways to keep Internet platforms from being used to spread hate, organise extremist groups and broadcast terror attacks.

World leaders led by French President Emmanuel Macron and tech executives gathered in Paris to compile a set of guide-lines dubbed the “Christchurch Call to Action,” named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March attack on mosques. Part of the attack had been broadcast live on Facebook, drawing public outrage and fuelling the debate on how to better regulate social media.

The agreement, which was drafted by the French and New Zealand governments, aims to prevent similar abuses of the Internet while insisting that any actions must preserve “the prin-ciples of a free, open and secure

Internet, without compromising human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The call was adopted by U.S tech companies. The countries backing it were France, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Jordan, Norway, Senegal, Indonesia and the EU’s executive body. Several other countries not present at the meeting added their endorsement.

The White House also said it agreed with the overarching message of the “Christchurch Call” but did not want to endorse it.

The meeting in Paris comes at a pivotal moment for tech companies, which critics accuse of being too powerful and resistant to regulation. Some have called for giants like Facebook to be broken up. Europe is leading a global push for more regulation of how the companies handle user data and copyrighted material. The tech companies, meanwhile, are offering their own ideas in a bid to shape the policy response.

Merkel, Macron ‘wrestle’ on policy issuesAFP BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that she and French President Emmanuel Macron “wrestle” on policy and have different outlooks, but tended to cooperate and find compromises in the end.

“Of course, we wrestle with each other,” Merkel said about relations between the core EU leaders who have disagreed recently on issues from how the bloc should handle Brexit to arms exports and climate policy.

“There are differences in mentality between us and dif-ferences in our understanding

of our roles,” she added. Asked whether her rela-

tionship with Macron had dete-riorated in recent months, Merkel replied: “No. Not at all.”

Instead Merkel insisted that Berlin and Paris agreed “natu-rally on the big issues”, adding that “this is how we accomplish much for Europe, even today”.

As an example, she cited “enormous progress” in defence policy, saying that “we decided to develop a fighter plane and a tank together”.

She did, however, point to different political cultures, saying: “I am the chancellor of a coalition government and much more committed to parliament

than the French president, who is not even allowed to enter the National Assembly.”

Merkel also said there had been cases of bad timing, pointing out that while Macron was pushing for major European reforms, she was engaged in half a year of coalition building after 2017 elections.

Merkel rejected the accusation that, in comparison to reformist Macron, she had been a brake on change in European policy.

“We always find a middle way,” the chancellor said, adding that Germany too had “launched a whole series of initiatives”, including in African devel-opment projects.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right), during the annual meeting of the German Sparkasse bank in Hamburg, yesterday.

A Ferrari 288 GTO vintage car is being pulled on a tow truck, after the stolen vehicle was discovered in a garage, in Grevenbroich, western Germany, yesterday.

Man steals $2m Ferrari on test driveAFP BERLIN

German police launched a search yesterday for a man who during a test drive of a vintage Ferrari worth over $2m sped off with the luxury sports car.

Police issued a wanted picture of the burly man wearing glasses

and a dark blue blazer who made off with the 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO on Monday in Duesseldorf.

The car, painted in classic Italian racing red, was recovered a day later in a garage where the thief had tried to hide it, but the suspect remained at large.

The theft happened as the would-be buyer and seller

stopped to swap drivers.While the car seller was

outside the vehicle, the man slammed his foot on the accel-erator of the 400-horsepower vehicle and roared off down a country road.

The man, who had described himself as a car collector, had arrived for the test drive by taxi.

McDonald’s in Austria offers consular servicesAFP VIENNA

Lost and hungry for help? American citizens who find themselves in distress in Austria can now seek support at an unusual address — McDonald’s.

Under a new partnership, outlets of the US fast food chain throughout Austria will help American citizens to get in touch with their embassy, it said on Facebook.

“Staff (at any McDonald’s in Austria) will assist them in making contact with the US Embassy for consular services,” t h e e m b a s s y w r o t e yesterday.

Consular services include reporting a lost or stolen passport or seeking travel assistance, the post said.

The US embassy did not immediately return a request for comment if Austria was the only country offering such services at McDonald’s.

Facebook users com-menting on the post wasted no time in coining terms such as “McVisa” and “McPassport”.

UK talk show cancelled after death of guestAP LONDON

British broadcaster ITV cancelled a popular, long-running daytime reality show after the death of a guest who failed a lie-detector test

during a recording.The case has renewed debate

about the ethics of tabloid tele-vision, and sparked a parlia-mentary inquiry into the regulation of programmes that put members

of the public under intense scrutiny.

ITV chief e x e c u t i v e Carolyn McCall said “The Jeremy Kyle Show” was being scrapped “given the gravity of recent events.”

T h e tabloid-style talk show, which had run for 14 years

and specialised in emotive, confron-tational showdowns, was pulled after 63-year-old Steve Dymond was found dead at a home in Port-smouth, southern England, on May 9.

Media reported that he had killed himself. Police said the death was not suspicious, and a post-mortem will be held to determine the cause.

On an episode filmed earlier this month, Dymond took a lie-detector test to convince his fiancee that he had not been unfaithful, but was told he had failed.

The episode has not been aired.Dymond’s death has

heightened concern in Britain about the stress put on people appearing on reality television and online shows, and program-makers’ duty to protect their guests.

It’s a debate that has raged, off

and on, for close to two decades since Britain began making home-grown equivalents of sensationalist US programmes like “The Jerry Springer Show” and putting ordinary people under a micro-scope on reality shows such as “Big Brother.”

ITV was already under pressure following the deaths of two former contestants on reality show “Love Island,” Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.

Gradon’s 2018 death was ruled a suicide at an inquest. An inquest has not yet been held for Thalas-sitis, who died in March.

Lawmaker Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said his panel would consider whether there was adequate regulation of reality TV.

Bulgarian minister resigns over ‘misuse’ of EU fundsAP SOFIA

The Bulgarian government said the country’s agriculture minister has resigned amid allegations about the misuse of European Union funds.

A government statement yesterday confirmed that while Rumen Porozhanov denies wrongdoing, he has stepped down to avoid attacks against him affecting the govern-ment’s work.

Several senior officials have resigned amid scandals about the purchase of upscale apartments at below-market prices and the construction with EU funds of guest houses for private use.

Seeking to avoid setbacks before the European Par-liament elections, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has already accepted the resignations of the justice minister, his party’s influential parliamentary faction leader and several other officials.

Polls show the prime minister’s ruling centre-right GERB party losing support and facing a serious challenge from the opposition Socialists in the EU elections on May 26.

A picture shows the logo of broadcaster ITV at their MediaCityUK studios in Salford, Greater Manchester, northwest England.

Brexit rebels to vote against May’s dealREUTERS LONDON

Brexit-supporting rebels in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party said yesterday that they would vote down her European Union divorce deal when she brings it back to parliament next month.

Britain had been due to leave the EU on March 29 but par-liament has three times rejected the withdrawal agreement May struck with Brussels. The United Kingdom is now scheduled to leave, with or without a deal to smooth the exit, by October 31.

Defeat in the vote would likely spell the end of May’s divorce deal and probably her premiership.

May will bring a Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), which implements the departure terms, to parliament for a vote in the week beginning June 3, Brexit Secretary Steven Barclay said, just as US President Donald Trump begins a divisive state visit to Britain.

“I have talked to colleagues, some of whom voted for it last time, and they think it is dead and they will vote against it this time,” Peter Bone, a Conserv-ative lawmaker and Brexit sup-porter, said. “It seems absurd to bring it back. It is the same thing again, again and again.”

May, who became prime minister in the chaos that fol-lowed the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted 52% to 48% to leave the EU, is under pressure from some of her own

lawmakers to set a date for her departure.

As well as the Brexit deadlock, the Conservative Party suffered major losses in local elections this month and is trailing in opinion polls ahead of the May 23 European Parliament elections.

Her spokesman declined to say whether May would resign if she failed again to win parlia-mentary support for her Brexit deal.

Asked by a committee of law-makers from the upper house of parliament if this was “the last chance saloon” for May’s divorce deal, Barclay said: “If the House of Commons does not approve the WAB, then the Barnier deal is dead in that form.” He was referring to the EU’s Brexit nego-tiator Michel Barnier.

Barclay said that would leave parliament with the choice of revoking the decision to leave the EU or exiting without a deal, the default position if no divorce agreement can be reached.

“If the House (of Commons) has not passed the Withdrawal Agreement Bill then there are growing voices in Europe, not least the French, who want to

move on to other issues,” he said.Nearly three years after the

UK voted to leave the EU, poli-ticians still disagree about when, how or even if the divorce will take place.

Brexit supporters fear May’s deal will keep the UK trapped within the EU’s orbit for years and that it could ultimately pull the British province of Northern Ireland towards the bloc.

Before her deal was defeated the last time, by 344 votes to 286 on March 29, May had promised to resign if it was passed. It was voted down first in January and again in mid-March.

A sticking point has been the Irish backstop, an insurance policy aimed at avoiding post-Brexit controls on the border between Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

“If the prime minister brings the withdrawal bill to the Commons for a vote, the question will be ‘what has changed’?” asked Nigel Dodds, parliamentary leader of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up May’s minority gov-ernment. “Unless she can dem-onstrate something new that addresses the problem of the backstop then it is highly likely her deal will go down to defeat once again.”

A majority of members of the European Research Group, a large Brexit-supporting faction in the Conservative Party, will vote against May’s deal, said Owen Paterson, a former minister.

Theresa May’s spokesman declined to confirmed whether the Premier would resign if she failed again to win parliamentary support for her Brexit deal.

14 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019AMERICAS

Trump Jr to testify in Russian probeAFP WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s son , Donald Jr has agreed to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian election meddling, US media reported.

The agreement resolved a looming fight between the Con-gress and the White House after Donald Jr was subpoenaed by the Republican-led committee last week.

According to reports, he had initially agreed to testify behind closed doors and then backed out for unclear reasons.

But President Trump is bat-tling any cooperation with Con-gress in the Russia meddling investigation, claiming that he

has already been “totally exon-erated” of collusion and obstruction of justice by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report completed in late March.

The Senate panel has inter-viewed Donald Jr once before, and is believed to be seeking clarification on his knowledge of contacts between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russians.

Some Democrats suspect he

may have lied about what he and his father knew of a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton, as well as other connections between the two sides.

Seeking to complete their own report on Russian election interference, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr risked the wrath of the White House and his Republican party by issuing a subpoena for Donald Jr.

Finally, according to multiple reports, Donald Jr agreed to testify in early or mid-June, behind closed doors and with limits on time and the questions he will answer.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats scheduled former

White House lawyer Don McGahn to testify about events described in the special coun-sel’s report, setting up another clash with President Trump.

McGahn has not confirmed his attendance at the House Judi-ciary Committee’s May 21 hearing, and Trump has indi-cated he will assert executive privilege to resist Democrats seeking materials or testimony related to Russian meddling and alleged collusion.

“I’ve had him testifying already for 30 hours,” Trump told Fox News last week.

“So I don’t think I can let him and then tell everybody else you can’t.”

The White House is seeking to shield a large swathe of material — including redacted

portions of Mueller’s report —that was subpoenaed by law-makers seeking to exert their oversight responsibility.

The report details how Trump’s lawyers and advisers, including McGahn, repeatedly rebuffed the president’s attempts to halt Mueller’s investigation —which some analysts said amounts to illegal obstruction by the president.

The House committee’s chairman, Democrat Jerry Nadler, has said he wants Mueller himself to testify but no date has been sent.

Trump said this month that Mueller should not testify before Congress, but he reversed course last week, saying he would leave that decision up to Attorney General Bill Barr.

Republican senators question migration plan presented by KushnerAP WASHINGTON

An attempt by presidential senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner to win support for a White House immigration plan produced uncertain results as Republican senators raised ques-tions.

After Kushner and others described the proposal at a Capitol Hill lunch with GOP law-makers, Sen Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said that White House offi-cials seemed “well on their way” to winning consensus for a plan that would unite Republicans on the contentious issue. But he added, “Whether it will or not, I don’t know.”

Kushner has been describing his proposal to Republicans even as the approaching 2020 presi-dential campaign makes a solution to what has long been an intractable issue even harder to resolve. President Donald Trump has made hard-line pol-icies a staple of his presidency as conservatives push to reduce legal immigration.

Democrats want an easing of restrictions that have pre-vented many from obtaining cit-izenship, including for hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the US illegally as children. They’ve been allowed to temporarily live and work in the US under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which Trump has tried to terminate.

Kushner won a positive reception for his proposal last week from about a dozen of the Senate’s more conservative Republicans. It features a bol-stering of security measures, such as improved screening at southwest border ports of entry, and an increased preference for immigrants with strong job skills over relatives of migrants already in the US.

Graham, who is close to Trump, said that while Kushner’s plan focuses on people with high-end job skills, “We need workers across the board.”

Moderate Sen Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Kushner about

protections for DACA recipients but received no specific answer, Republicans said.

“They cannot be excluded from any immigration package,” Collins said afterward.

One Republican official briefed on themeeting said Kushner provided few details and said senators did not seem overly impressed with the plan.

Another said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, did not offer his views

of the proposal. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private session.

Senators said Trump was expected to deliver a speech on immigration in coming days.

Kushner did not include DACA protections in his pro-posal. Republicans said the plan is designed to give their party a starting point for talks and a stance they can carry into next year’s elections.

“I don’t think it’s designed to

get Democratic support as much as it is to unify the Republican Party around border security, a negotiating position,” Graham said.

“There was a lot of encour-agement today for the work they’ve done,” said Sen Kevin Cramer, R-ND.

Graham planned to unveil his own proposal for revamping laws that affect Central American migrants seeking asylum to enter the US.

Flights between US & Venezuela suspended amid unrestREUTERS WASHINGTON

The US Department of Transpor-tation yesterday ordered the suspension of all commercial passenger and cargo flights between the United States and Venezuela, citing reports of unrest and violence around airports in the Southern

American country.In a letter to the Transpor-

tation Department requesting the halt, the Department of Homeland Security said “condi-tions in Venezuela threaten the safety and security of passengers, aircraft, and crew travelling to or from that country.”

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

Many international airlines had stopped flying to Venezuela anyway because of security con-cerns and disputes over money they say the government owes them.

American Airlines Group Inc, previously the largest carrier providing service between the

United States and Venezuela, in March said it was indefinitely suspending its flights to Venezuela.

In April, the US Federal Avi-ation Administration prohibited US air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuela’s airspace.

The administration of US President Donald Trump last

week expanded the scope of its Venezuela sanctions to the defence and security services sectors to try to crank up eco-nomic pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

The moves are part of a four-month-old campaign against Maduro as the United States ramps up its support for oppo-sition leader Juan Guaido.

Donald Trump Jr agreed to testify in early or mid-June, behind closed doors and with limits on time and the questions he will answer.

‘Fire and Fury’ author to publish new Trump book

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during the discussion of immigration legislation and the US-Mexico border on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, yesterday.

AP/NEW YORK

The author of “Fire and Fury” has more inside stories on the Trump administration.

Michael Wolff’s “Siege: Trump Under Fire” comes out June 4, Henry Holt and Company announced.

Like the million-selling “Fire and Fury,” which came out last year, “Siege” promises a juicy, behind-the-scenes look at the current White House and a president who is “volatile, erratic, and exposed.”

The new book will focus on tensions amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged ties between Russian officials and the Trump presidential campaign.

According to Holt, Wolff spoke to more than 150 “sources,” although the pub-lisher declined to say whether any are currently in the administration.

Brazil’s Temer freed from detentionAP RIO DE JANEIRO

For the second time since he left office on January 1, former Brazil president Michel Temer was released from jail yesterday, a week after his arrest in a corruption probe.

Earlier yesterday, a judge in Rio de Janeiro signed off on Temer’s release from the police station where he had been detained since May 9. A day before, four judges had voted unanimously to temporarily release the 78-year-old poli-tician, arguing that the

circumstances did not justify preventive detention.

Instead, Temer has to comply with a series of lighter preventive measures, such as handing over his passport.

The superior court justices will deliver a final decision at a later date.

Former Brazil president Michel Temer arrives to his house after the Superior Court of Justice ordered to release him from preventive prison in Sao Paulo, yesterday.

Alaska floatplanes collision leaves six people dead

Biden widens lead on rivals for presidential nomination: PollANATOLIA WASHINGTON

Democratic front-runner Joe Biden continued to expand his lead over fellow partisans vying for the party’s nomination in the 2020 election, according to a poll released yesterday.

The former vice-president boosted his lead by 5 percentage points, according to the latest iteration of an Ipsos/Reuters monthly poll.

The poll indicated 29% of Democrats and Independents would vote for Biden — up from 24% in late April prior to Biden officially entering the race.

He leads amongst all age groups except for 18-37 year olds who favour Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. That age groups favours Sanders by just two points, however, 18% to 16%.

While Sanders’ 2016 White House bid was ultimately unable to best that of former Secretary

of State Hillary Clinton, he was nonetheless propelled on to the national stage, bringing with him a nascent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that has since grown in popularity.

Biden has boosted his pop-ularity by 4 percentage points amongst Democratic and Inde-pendent women since April despite being dogged by a alle-gations of his treatment of a woman who alleged misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his Senate confirmation.

Asked who they would vote for if their preferred candidate were no longer running, 16% of registered Democrats said they would cast ballot for Sanders —the top choice in that scenario. Biden followed shortly behind with 13%.

Registered Independents, however, preferred Sanders 14% to 10% for Biden under those conditions.

Photos capture near-drowning of migrants on US-Mexico border

AP/EAGLE PASS

New photos capture the dramatic rescue of a 7-year-old boy from Honduras who nearly drowned in the river separating the US and Mexico until Border Patrol agents rescued him.

The San Antonio Express-News reported the rescue of four adults and five children who tried to cross the Rio Grande in inflatable children’s pools near Eagle Pass, Texas. The pools capsized. Agents pulled the group out of the water on Friday and eventually took them into custody.

The river is especially strong between Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

An adult and three children were recently swept away trying to cross the river nearby; all four are presumed dead.

AFP/WASHINGTON

Six people are confirmed dead after two floatplanes carrying cruise ship passengers collided mid-air in Alaska, the US Coast Guard said yesterday.

Volunteer rescuers wrapped up their search on Tuesday night once the remains of the last victim were spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter, the agency said in a statement. “In total 10 people were rescued and six people were found deceased.”

“The dead included four Americans, one Australian and a Canadian,” the Princess Cruises confirmed yesterday.

The two planes carried a total of 14 passengers from the Royal Princess ship when the collision occurred Monday near Ketchikan, a popular tourist spot on southern Alaskan cruise routes surrounded by fjords and dense forests.

One aircraft operated by Taquan Air — whose pilot sur-vived — was flying a shore excursion sold through the cruise line.

The other, operated by Mountain Air, carried guests from the ship but was an inde-pendent company whose tour was not sold through Princess, the cruise line said.

National Transportation Safety Board member Jennifer Homendy said both aircraft were inbound to Ketchikan when the collision occurred.

“The two planes converged between 3,200 and 3,300 feet on the west side of the George Inlet,” she said.

15THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019 HOME

HMC advises pregnant and breast-feeding women to take precautions during Ramadan

THE PENINSULA DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is advising women who have pregnancy complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and anemia to take precautions if they are fasting this Ramadan.

Dr Faten El Taher, Senior Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Women’s Wellness and Research Center, said while some studies show there is little or no effect on babies whose mothers fasted during pregnancy, other studies have found that pregnant Muslim women who fast during Ramadan are likely to have smaller babies who are more prone to learning disabilities.

“Pregnant women with underlying health conditions should avoid fasting in order to

protect themselves and their unborn babies from further complications. However, pregnant women who decide to fast during Ramadan should only do so under their doctor’s supervision,” cautioned Dr El Taher.

“Each Ramadan we see an increase in the number of pregnant women who visit our Emergency Department for complains associated with fasting. If Ramadan coincides with the summer months, this means hot weather and longer days, which puts pregnant women at greater risk for dehy-dration due to low fluid intake. This could induce premature labour and subsequently lead to preterm births,” added Dr El Taher.

Dr El Taher said fasting pregnancy women should contact their doctor immedi-ately if they notice signs of

distress, which could include weight loss (or not gaining enough weight throughout pregnancy), extreme thirst, infrequent urination, or dark-coloured and strong-smelling urine, headache, pain, or fever, and nausea or vomiting.

She says it is also important to immediately contact one’s doctor if there are changes in the baby’s movement (partic-ularly a decrease in movement), if the woman experiences contraction-like pains, feels dizzy, faint, weak, confused, or tired.

“If a woman, or her unborn

baby, shows any signs of dis-tress, she should immediately break her fast, drinking water containing salt and sugar, or an oral rehydration solution. She should also immediately contact her doctor,” said Dr Al Taher.

Dr Amal Abu Bakr Arbab, Lactation Consultant and Lead for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative at the Women’s Wellness and Research Center, says it is important for breast-feeding women to consult their physician prior to fasting.

She said most Islamic scholars believe that breast-feeding women are exempt from fasting and urges women who are breast-feeding to seek medical advice if they decide to fast.

“For women who are able to breastfeed, breast milk pro-vides the ideal food source for the healthy growth and devel-opment of their infant. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) rec-ommend exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of a baby’s life.

Exclusive breastfeeding means the infant only receives breast milk without any addi-tional food or drink,” said Dr Arbab.

Dr Amal Abu Bakr Arbab, Lactation Consultant and Lead for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative at Women’s Hospital.

Islamic patterns coloring workshops at QNLTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The visitors attended a workshop, “Coloring for Adults: Islamic Patterns,” at Qatar National Library yesterday, which explored a new and creative way to increase mindfulness and reflection this Ramadan.

The special colouring session for adults focused on Islamic patterns, allowing participants to learn more about Islamic art. Geometric patterns developed over the centuries are considered important in Islamic art and partly how it represents nature and objects by their spiritual qualities, not their

physical and material qualities.

As part of the Library’s theme of faith during May, the meditative activity encouraged participants to increase mind-fulness and disconnect from stressful daily routines.

“Coloring gives me a sense of mental serenity and focus, and I was very happy by the choice of Islamic decorations as a theme. The event was an excellent opportunity to make new friendships with other like-minded people who share the same passion,” said Taehyun Kim, an attendee at the event, who is keen to participate in all coloring events organised at the Library.

The visitors at Coloring for Adults: Islamic Patterns workshop at QNL.

Dr Faten El Taher, Senior Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Women’s Wellness and Research Center, said while some studies show there is little or no effect on babies whose mothers fasted during pregnancy, other studies have found that pregnant Muslim women who fast during Ramadan are likely to have smaller babies who are more prone to learning disabilities.

InterContinental Doha The City wins Qatar’s Leading City Hotel at World Travel AwardsTHE PENINSULA DOHA

InterContinental Doha The City garnered highly coveted recog-nition by winning Qatar’s Leading City Hotel at the World Travel Awards 2019.

Gilles Longuet, General Manager of InterContinental Doha The City, said, “We are delighted to be honoured with this award and to be recognised as Qatar’s Leading City Hotel. The biggest contributor to this accolade is our colleagues, who consistently strive to provide our guests with under-stated service excellence and memorable experiences.”

WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and cel-ebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. World Travel Awards is voted for by travel and tourism profes-sionals and business and leisure travel consumers worldwide, rec-ognising the commitment to excellence demonstrated during the last 12 months.

Today, the WTA brand is rec-ognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. InterContinental

Doha The City has established itself as a leading Business and MICE hotel in the heart of West Bay since its opening in 2012.

Perfectly situated in the exclusive West Bay area, close to all the major areas of interest, the stylish and modern Interconti-nental Doha The City stands tall amidst the action of the city. The hotel offers 349 luxury guest rooms, suites and studios, as well as 176 residence suites offering various layouts consisting of one to four bedrooms.

InterContinental Doha The City is located in the heart of the city within the financial and dip-lomatic districts. It is only five minutes from the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC) and 20 minutes from Hamad International Airport. With its close proximity to Doha Golf Club, Souq Waqif, Katara Cultural Village and major shopping malls, InterContinental Doha The City is the perfect place for short - or long - term guests to enjoy business or leisure stays.

InterContinental Doha The City.QatarDebate concludes its QPSDL in EnglishTHE PENINSULA DOHA

QatarDebate, member of Qatar Foundation recently organised its Preparatory School Debate League Nationals (QPSDL) in English, for boys hosted at DeBakey High School recently and for girls hosted at Amna bint Wahab Preparatory School for Girls.

The event featured top 16 teams in the Open category and EFL category for both boys and girls tournaments.

For Open Category (girls), QatarDebate, awarded DeBakey High School as the champion, followed by Runner-up award to DPS Modern

Indian School; while EFL Category (girls), QatarDebate, awarded Moza Preparatory School for Girls as the champion, followed by Runner-up award to Amna bin Wahab School for Girls.

Moreover, for Open Category (boys), QatarDebate, awarded DPS Modern Indian School as the champion, followed by Runner-up award to The Next Generation School; while EFL Cat-egory (boys), QatarDebate, awarded Abu Bakr Alsiddiq Preparatory School for Boys as the champion, followed by Runner-up award to Abdul Rahman Bin Jassim Preparatory School for Boys. Participants also received certificates of partic-ipation and the top 10 speakers received certifi-cates and medals for their debate participation.

A view of the Preparatory School Debate League Nationals in English at DeBakey High School.

Georgetown professor who revolutionised Arabic instruction retires

THE PENINSULA DOHA

After a 12 year tenure at Geor-getown University in Qatar, Senior Language Instructor Abbas Al Tonsi will retire home to Cairo, Egypt this year, leaving behind an innovative and thriving Arabic program tailored to the needs of Arab students.

Abbas Al Tonsi came to GU-Q

in 2007, already the co-author of some of the most globally rec-ognised Arabic-language text books for non-native speakers. At the time he had little idea that he would soon be developing a whole new system of teaching Arabic to Arab students.

When the Doha campus

opened in 2005, it offered the same Arabic courses as those offered at the main campus in Washington, DC. However, Al Tonsi quickly realised that many enrolled Arab students attended foreign international schools and think in English, having to translate their

thoughts in order to speak Arabic.

In addition, while they may speak a dialect of the language, they cannot use professional-grade Modern Standard Arabic, or MSA. Furthermore, many of their teachers were specifically trained in teaching non-native speakers.

Recognising the need for a whole new approach to teaching and learning tailored to heritage Arabic speakers, Al Tonsi worked with his col-leagues to transform the cur-riculum, developing a separate learning track called the Her-itage Learners Program—a groundbreaking Arabic lan-guage initiative that includes lessons in Arabic culture and the arts, and addresses the unique native speaking profile of many Arabic language stu-dents in Qatar.

According to Al Tonsi, the gaps addressed by the Geor-getown curriculum also plague Arab education across the Arab world. “In the past, members of educated society have been

able to speak and extemporize fluently in MSA.

But now lawyers speak using the colloquial and judges make mistakes in the MSA when reading the texts of rulings.” Because of a dependence on curricula from the West, he said, “all of us, to a varying degree, are heritage learners. Most of us think in dialects and then translate into MSA.”

Dr Yehia Mohamed, Asso-ciate Professor of Arabic at GU-Q, worked on the project with Al Tonsi from the beginning. “During his lead-ership the [Heritage Learner’s] program has expanded to become one of the most important Arabic education programs in the region and the world.”

It is praise repeated by eve-ryone who worked with him. “I was honoured to be a member of the selection committee that appointed him to GU-Q in 2007. We are proud to have had him lay down solid foundations of such a notable educational

program,” says the dean of GU-Q, Dr Ahmed Dalal.

According to Dr Gerd Non-neman, Professor of Interna-tional Relations and Gulf Studies, and a former dean of GU-Q, Al Tonsi will be remem-bered as the lead in GU-Q’s “creation of the world’s leading team researching and devel-oping pedagogy for Arabic her-itage learners.”

As he said goodbye to the university, and the Doha com-munity he called home, Al Tonsi reminisced with some pride about how much has changed under his tenure.

“Today, there is no other place that offers the study of Arabic for heritage learners consistently, as part of the standard course offering each semester.

We started with only two professors and now we are at nine. We started with one class and now we have multiple classes focused on content for advanced levels, conversational speech, literature, culture, cinema, and linguistics.”

Abbas Al Tonsi

Recognising the need for a whole new approach to teaching and learning tailored to heritage Arabic speakers, Abbas Al Tonsi worked with his colleagues to transform the curriculum, developing a separate learning track called the Heritage Learners Program—a groundbreaking Arabic language initiative that includes lessons in Arabic culture and the arts.

16 THURSDAY 16 MAY 2019MORNING BREAK

FAJRSHOROOK

03. 24 AM04. 49 AM

11. 30 AM02. 57 PM

06. 15 PM07. 45 PM

ZUHRASR

MAGHRIBISHA

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER TODAY

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Minimum Maximum30oC 41oC

HIGH TIDE 01:53 –15:40 LOW TIDE 09:39 – 21:49

Hot daytime with slight dust and some

clouds at times.

Qatar Airways serves Iftar meals onboard during holy RamadanTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar Airways is continuing its tradition of supporting passengers who are fasting during the Holy Month of Ramadan and breaking their fast on board by serving a delicious Iftar meal consisting of traditional Middle Eastern specialities.

The Iftar boxes feature a bespoke inhouse design inspired by Arabian calligraphy and will be offered on selected routes across the Middle East, Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Each box contains a selection of sweet and savoury delicacies. The Iftar boxes are offered in addition to Qatar Airways’ traditional meal service for those customers who are not fasting.

Qatar Airways First and Business Class passengers will be offered Iftar boxes containing a selection of cru-dités, hummus, mini Arabic bread, chicken shawarma, focaccia with moz-zarella, olives, dates, banana, fresh

laban and water. Passengers travelling in Economy Class can enjoy Iftar boxes filled with focaccia with mozzarella, apple slices, mixed nuts, finger baklava, dates, shortbread, marble cake, fresh laban and water.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, said: “We are pleased to be able to continue our tra-dition this year of offering our

passengers a delicious and refreshing way to break their fast while travelling. The Holy Month of Ramadan is an important time for a great number of our customers, and we are delighted to provide a service that is tailored to the needs of those who are fasting. We invite all passengers to embrace this special time of the year with this selection of items designed specifically

with the fasting passenger in mind. On behalf of Qatar Airways, we extend to all warmest wishes for a Ramadan Kareem.” Travelling between time zones can be challenging for the fasting traveller; thus QA cabin crew will make an announcement and serve the Iftar boxes at the appropriate time during the flight, freeing passengers from having to calculate the time.

Qatar Airways’s economy and business class (right) Iftar meals.

Film on Christchurch mosque massacre announced at CannesAFP CANNES, FRANCE

The New Zealand mosque massacre in which a white supremacist slaugh-tered 51 people is to be turned into a movie called “Hello Brother”, its producer told media at Cannes yesterday.

The feature film, which follows a family of refugees that flees Afghan-istan for the safety of Christchurch only to get caught up in the carnage, is being made by Egyptian producer Moez Masoud, he told Variety magazine.

“In Christchurch, on March 15, the world witnessed an unspeakable crime against humanity,” Masoud told

Variety, saying members of his team were currently in New Zealand to meet survivors and families of the victims.

“The story that ‘Hello Brother’ will bring to audiences is just one step in the healing process so that we might all better understand each other, and the root causes of hatred, racism, supremacy and terrorism.” The title is based on the welcoming words spoken by an elderly Afghan man as he greeted the gunman at the doors of the Al Noor mosque. He was shot dead, but his words were taken up around the world as a rallying call against hate.

News of the production was announced on the second day of the Cannes film festival, just two months after the bloodshed. Reacting to the

announcement, the Christchurch-based Muslim Association of Can-terbury, which represents Islamic

organisations in the region, said it had not been approached about plans to make any such film.

Festival goers hang about at the International Village of the film market during the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, yesterday.