Reuters Ismailia, Egypt

A huge container ship blocking the Suez Canal like a “beached whale” may take weeks to free,

the salvage company said, as offi cials stopped all ships entering the channel yesterday in a new setback for global trade.

The 400-metre Ever Green, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit in both di-rections through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said nine tugs were working to move

the vessel, which got stuck diagonally across the single-lane southern stretch of the canal on Tuesday morning amid high winds and a dust storm.

“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch com-pany Boskalis, one of two rescue teams trying to free the ship, told the Dutch television programme “Nieuwsuur”.

A total of 206 large container ships, tankers carrying oil and gas, and bulk vessels hauling grain have backed up at either end of the canal, according to tracking data, creating one of the worst shipping jams seen for years.

The blockage comes on top of the dis-ruption to world trade already caused in the past year by Covid-19, with trade volumes hit by high rates of ship can-

cellations, shortages of containers and slower handling speeds at ports.

The world’s number one line A.P. Moller Maersk said it was consider-ing diverting vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, adding five to six days to the journey between Asia and Europe.

It said time-sensitive cargo could be sent on trains and airplanes, although no decisions had yet been made.

The SCA, which had allowed some vessels to enter the canal in the hope the blockage could be cleared, said it had temporarily suspended all traffi c.

Maersk said in a customer advisory it had seven vessels aff ected.

Berdowski said the ship’s bow and stern had been lifted up against either side of the canal. To Page 8

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has stressed the impor-tance of following the ‘bubble’

system to stem the spread of the corona-virus pandemic in the country.

“The concept of applying a Covid-19 bubble system is when a group of people that frequently meets in limited numbers does not come into contact with mem-bers of other families or groups as much as possible,” the MoPH explained in a post on social media yesterday.

Friends who meet frequently can also apply this system so that their number remains limited and fi xed and they do not come into contact with other people, it added.

“If families and groups of friends manage to maintain these bubbles, then we will be able to contain the virus,” said Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of the Na-tional Health Strategic Group on Cov-id-19 and head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation.

In a report issued by the Qatar News Agency (QNA) on Wednesday, Dr al-Khal had stressed the importance of adhering to Covid-19 precautionary measures outside home even after tak-

ing the vaccine, preserving the princi-ple of ‘bubble’ during social visits and not leaving the house except for some necessity in the coming period. The new restrictions will not be easy, but will contribute to curbing the pandem-ic and defeating the virus, he observed. To Page 2

Amir, Deputy Amir, PM greet Greek president on I-Day

Qatar welcomes USresumption of aid to West Bank, Gaza

Biden to run for reelection in 2024

Digital ‘NFT’ article sells for $563,000

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, His Highness the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani sent yesterday cables of congratulations to President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou on the anniversary of her country’s Independence Day.

Qatar has welcomed the announcement by the United States to resume support for the Palestinians by providing $15 million in humanitarian assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs aff irmed that the US move would alleviate the suff ering of the Palestinian people and support the Palestinian eff orts aimed at confronting the Covid-19 pandemic in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The statement expressed Qatar’s aspiration for greater contribution from the international community in providing the necessary support to the Palestinians.

US President Joe Biden said yesterday his “expectation” is to run for reelection in 2024, an apparent eff ort to douse speculation that the oldest person to assume the off ice will step down after a single term. In his first press briefing since taking off ice on January 20, the 78-year-old president faced questions on topics from immigration and North Korea to whether he would support an end to the filibuster blocking tactic in the US Senate. Page 7

A New York Times columnist yesterday sold one of his articles in digital form for $563,000, the latest example of the craze surrounding “non fungible tokens,” which collectors are snapping up. Keven Roose’s article entitled “Buy This Column on the Blockchain” was itself aimed at trying to test the market as to what sort of items would sell in the form of an “NFT.”

GULF TIMES

published in

QATAR

since 1978

SPORT | Page 1QATAR | Page 12

Carnegie Mellon uses AI and robots to explore Qatar’s waters

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani participated in the meeting of Their Highnesses and Excellencies the representatives of Arab Interior Ministers, which was held via visual communication technology yesterday afternoon. The meeting discussed topics on the agenda related to strengthening joint Arab security co-operation, security awareness, crime prevention and traff ic safety as well as reviewing the most prominent regional and international security developments.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov met with ambassador of Qatar to Kyrgyzstan Abdullah bin Ahmed al-Sulaiti. The meeting reviewed bilateral co-operation. Page 3

PM attends 38th Arab Interior Ministers’ meeting

Kyrgyz president meets Qatari envoy

Lights on, lights out as MotoGP gets underway in Qatar

See Pages 4,5 & 6

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

FRIDAY Vol. XXXXII No. 11864

March 26, 2021Sha’aban 13, 1442 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

A close up of the stuck Ever Green that is impeding all traff ic across the waterway of Egypt’s Suez Canal. (AFP)

A satellite image shows the Ever Green container ship, a 400-metre-long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traff ic across the waterway of Egypt’s Suez Canal. (AFP)

Discover Qatar adds 2 hotels, bookings available until Aug 31Discover Qatar continues to grow the capacity of Welcome Home quarantine facilities, Qatar Airways has announced. “With the new addition of The Avenue Hotel and DoubleTree by Hilton, 62 hotels are now available for Welcome Home packages, bringing together 8,886 rooms daily,” the airline tweeted yesterday. Also, information available on the Discover Qatar website (https://www.qatarairwaysholidays.com/qa-en/wel-come-home-7-night-booking/overview) yesterday showed that hotel quarantine packages can be booked until August 31.

MoPH stresses importance of ‘bubble’ systemto curtail Covid

Carrier off ers more global connectivity to passengers than any other airline

New restrictions come into eff ect today

Qatar Airways is world’s largest airline in terms of ASK: OAG

New independent data from OAG reaffi rms Qatar Airways as the largest airline in the

world in terms of available seat kilo-metres (ASK), off ering more global connectivity to its passengers than any other airline.

Qatar Airways expansive network of more than 1,000 weekly fl ights to over 130 destinations, provided over 2.6bn ASKs during March, off ering the most fl ights to international des-tinations.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the aviation industry and, de-spite this, Qatar Airways never ceased operations and worked diligently to take people home safely and reliably throughout the crisis.

The airline has also added sev-en new destinations in the past 12 months including San Francisco and Seattle in the US, Abuja, Accra and Luanda in Africa, and Brisbane and Cebu in Asia Pacifi c.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Ex-ecutive, HE Akbar al-Baker said, “At Qatar Airways, being there for our passengers, trade partners and cor-porate customers has been our ma-jor focus since the start of the pan-demic. We have dedicated ourselves to being the airline passengers can rely on, operating with the highest

hygiene and bio-safety standards. “We are thankful and proud of the

response from our passengers that has enabled us to continue provid-ing the most flexible travel options as the world’s largest airline for in-ternational air traffic. This inde-pendent data from OAG once again highlights Qatar Airways’ mission to be an airline that passengers and trade partners can rely on now and in the future as we offer unrivalled connectivity with a state-of-the-art and sustainable fleet.”

Qatar Airways has become the fi rst global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star Covid-19 Air-line Safety Rating by international air transport rating organisation, Sky-trax. This follows HIA’s recent suc-

cess as the fi rst and only airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star Covid-19 Airport Safety Rating.

These recognitions provide assur-ance to passengers across the world that airline health and safety stand-ards are subject to the highest pos-sible standards of professional, inde-pendent scrutiny and assessment.

Qatar Airways’ ability to continue fl ying throughout the pandemic and make a strong recovery is thanks to its strategic investment in modern, fuel-effi cient aircraft that has allowed it to off er the right passenger and cargo capacity in each market. The airline’s fl eet of some 53 Airbus A350 and 37 Boeing 787 are the ideal choice for current market conditions, enabling the airline to commercially and envi-ronmentally sustainably rebuild their network.

Passengers can book fl ights with peace of mind, knowing that Qatar Airways off ers unlimited date changes and fee-free refunds for all tickets is-sued before April 30, for travel com-pleted by December 31.

OAG is the world’s leading provider of digital fl ight information, intelli-gence and analytics for airports, air-lines and travel tech companies, ac-cording to information available on the organisation’s website.

Suez Canal shut amid bid to refl oat grounded megashipContainer ship Ever Green could block vital waterway for weeks; closure to hit world trade

By Shafeeq AlingalStaff Reporter

The public is obliged to strictly adhere to the measures put in place by

the authorities to prevent the spread of Covid-19, an offi cial has said, stressing that viola-tors will face action that includes fi nes and imprisonment.

New Covid-19 restrictions, as announced by the Cabinet on Wednesday, come into eff ect to-day.

Lt Mashari Abdul Rahman Jameel al-Shammari, search and investigation offi cer at the Crim-inal Investigation Department, made the observations while addressing a virtual awareness seminar organised by the Min-istry of Interior (MoI)’s Public Relations Department yesterday.

The seminar on ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’ was organised as part of a series of awareness

programmes for communities in Qatar. Representatives from vari-ous companies and communities attended it. Noting that security is a collective responsibility, Lt al-Shammari shared tips on how to secure vehicles and protect houses, complexes and personal belongings such as the QID and credit and debit cards. He also cautioned against falling victim to various kinds of cheating.

“Don’t leave the doors or win-dows of a vehicle open. Don’t leave any valuables or sums of money inside a vehicle while it is parked in a public place,” he said, asking the public not to leave unoccupied vehicles running,

even if it is for a short while, to prevent thefts. He also advised that attention be paid to every stranger who may come to work in the house or on the premises of a company, whether temporar-ily or permanently. “Be vigilant to the suspicious and unjustifi ed behaviour of workers inside the company. Inform neighbours or

relatives while leaving the home. Ensure that the entire home is secured, and if possible, by in-stalling alarms and surveillance cameras,” he said.

Lt al-Shammari said peo-ple dealing with bank transac-tions should be alert. “Keep cash and valuables in hard -to-reach places inside the home or com-

pany premises and don’t neglect them,” he said, advising people to take receipts while purchasing valuables.

He also said whoever is found in a drunken state and engaging in indecent acts on public roads will face imprisonment of six months and a fi ne not exceeding QR3,000, adding that the im-port, export, sale and promotion of alcohol will be penalised with a jail term of three years and a fi ne of up to QR10,000.

He also cautioned the pub-lic against becoming a victim of people impersonating police of-fi cers. “You have to ask the per-son who claims to be a police of-fi cer to present his ID if he is not in a police uniform. If he refuses, ignore what he says and report the matter to 999,” he added.

The public can contact the emergency number, 999, to re-port any suspected cases or make use of Metrash2 to register a complaint.

The number of Covid-19 vaccinations provided per week is expected to

increase to 180,000-200,000 doses, a senior health offi cial has said.

Addressing a press confer-ence organised by the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Abdul-latif al-Khal, chair of the Na-tional Health Strategic Group on Covid-19 and head of Infec-tious Diseases at Hamad Medi-cal Corporation, said despite the acceleration of the vaccination programme, more time is needed to inoculate community groups who are over 16 years old, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

He noted that over 650,000 doses of the vaccine have been given and more than 20,000 people receive the vaccine daily. Also, more than 200,000 people

have taken both of doses, he add-ed. Dr al-Khal also affi rmed that Pfi zer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines approved in Qatar are eff ective against the new strains of Covid-19, and that there is a decrease in the number of infec-tions among the groups that have received the vaccination, which is an indicator recorded in a number of countries of the world and refl ects the eff ectiveness of vaccines that have effi cacy levels of over 90% so far, QNA said.

2 Gulf TimesFriday, March 26, 2021

QATAR

As part of his continuous visits to public and private schools nationwide, HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi visited Nasser Bin Abdullah Al Attiya Secondary School and Etqan Global Academy yesterday. During the visits, HE the Minister checked on the progress of the blended learning system under the new Covid-19 precautionary measures, particularly the reduced 30% attendance rate and distance learning, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education said in a statement. He also discussed various aspects related to education with the teaching staff . HE Dr al-Hammadi concluded his visits by stressing to the school managements the need to maintain a healthy and safe school environment and build strong partnership with parents in order to enhance the academic achievement of students.

Minister visits more schools

Metro, bus services to operate at reduced capacity during weekendsThe capacity of Doha Metro and

public bus services will be reduced to 20% on Fridays and Saturdays,

starting today. The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) yesterday said these services would continue at a capacity not exceeding 30% on weekdays, as announced by the Cabinet on Wednes-day.

The ministry’s announcement comes as “Qatar complements its decisions and measures, ensuring the well-being and safety of citizens and residents and stop-ping the spread of Covid-19,” the MoTC said on social media.

These services will be operated taking into account the following measures: al-lowing entry to only those with the Green status on the Ehteraz app and those who wear medical face masks; banning smok-ing at the entrances of means of public transit and following the instructions given on posters; and banning eating and drinking inside stations and on the public

transit system, the ministry explained.On its part, Qatar Rail yesterday reiter-

ated that the Doha Metro will operate at 20% capacity on Fridays and Saturdays from today until further notice.

The announcement comes following Wednesday’s announcement to impose further measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, Qatar Rail said in a post on the ‘Doha Metro & Lusail Tram’ Twitter page yesterday.

“Queuing arrangements may be in op-eration at stations to control access dur-

ing busier times. Social distancing meas-ures remain in place and the consumption of food and beverages on the network re-mains prohibited,” Qatar Rail added.

Mowasalat (Karwa) also tweeted about the reduction in capacity to 20% on Fri-days and Saturdays for public transport services. Capacity remains at 30% for the rest of the week, it added on Twitter. Mowasalat (Karwa) also announced on its app that due to current restrictions, bus routes No 20, 21, 32, 33, 33A, 57, 300, 301, 304 and 305 will have no services

today. This is due to the reduction in capacity on weekends to 20%. Normal services will resume tomorrow at 30% of the capacity, it added.

Boat and yacht rentals

The Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions (MoTC) has announced the continued suspension of rental services for boats, tourist yachts and leisure boats, except for rental services meant for family members who stay in the same house. Owners of personal boats and yachts can have only family members who stay in the same house on board these personal vessels, the MoTC said in a post on Twitter yesterday.The announcement comes as “Qatar complements its decisions and measures, ensuring the well-being and safety of citi-zens and residents and stopping the spread of Covid-19”, the MoTC said.

Qatar to accelerate pace of vaccinationCovid vaccine doses expected to increase to 180,000-200,000 doses per week

Dr Abdullatif al-Khal

Offi cial reiterates need to follow Covid-19 measures Public advised on various security issues at MoI virtual awareness seminar

Lt Mashari Abdul Rahman Jameel al-Shammari.

335 face prosecution for violating Covid-19 precautionary measures

The designated authorities referred 335 people to the Public Prosecution for violating the preventive and precautionary measures enforced by the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19). Among them, 318 people were referred to the Public Prosecution for not wearing masks in places where they are mandatory, while six for not adhering to social distancing, and 11 for not downloading the Ehteraz app. The measure are in line with the Cabinet decision, Decree Law No. 17 of 1990 on infectious diseases, and the precautionary measures in force in the country to contain the spread of Covid-19. The designated authorities called on the public to adhere to the precautionary measures in place to ensure their safety and the safety of others.

MoPH reports 587 new Covid-19 casesQNADoha

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) reported yesterday 587 new con-

firmed cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19), of which 483 were from community cases and 104 from travellers returning from abroad. The MoPH also record-ed 327 recoveries from the virus during the past 24 hours, bring-ing the total number of cases recovered in Qatar to 161,815. The ministry reported three new deaths for people aged 79, 76, and 92, who were receiving the necessary medical care.

National Vaccination Pro-gramme 679,278 Covid-19 vac-

cine doses have been adminis-tered since the start of the pro-gramme.20,953 vaccine doses have

been administered in the past 24 hours.

Every day, hundreds of peo-ple are becoming sick due to the Covid-19 with many requiring admission to hospital to man-age their symptoms. Since Feb-ruary 1, the number of people with Covid-19 admitted to hos-pital has doubled.

Qatar’s strict quarantine policy for returning travellers enabled us to delay the intro-duction of new variants into this country for several months but we are now seeing positive Covid-19 cases in the region

and in Qatar with the new vari-ants from the United Kingdom. This new variant is much more contagious and spread more easily between people than the existing strain and may be as-sociated with increased sever-ity of disease. The good news is that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines being used in our vaccination programme are effective against the new variants. The rapid pace of the

vaccination programme means that there is finally hope of a gradual return to normal for us here in Qatar and people around the world. But this will not hap-pen in the next few weeks or months. Covid-19 will continue to be a threat to our health for the majority of 2021 and until all eligible members of our pop-ulation have been vaccinated, we must continue to follow the preventive measures.

MoPH stresses importance of ‘bubble’ system to curtail Covid

From Page 1

Meanwhile, the measures announced by the Cabinet on Wednesday to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which according to health au-thorities has shown a rise in the number of infections in the past

couple of weeks, come into ef-fect today and will remain in place until further notice.

These include, among oth-ers, a reduction in Doha Metro and public transport capacity to 20% on Fridays and Saturdays, commercial complexes oper-ating at 30% of their capacity,

not allowing children below 12 years in malls, closure of driv-ing schools, reduction in cin-ema capacity to 20%, not allow-ing social gatherings in homes or majlises, limiting outdoor gatherings to fi ve people and no wedding parties indoors or out-doors.

Qatar fi rst country in region to implement minimum wage: envoy

Qatar’s ambassador to Bulgaria Rashid bin Ali al-Khater said that Qatar is the fi rst country in the region to im-

plement a non-discriminatory minimum wage as part of a series of historic reforms to the country’s labour law. In an interview with the 24 Hours newspaper, he said that the minimum wage applies to all workers of all nationalities and in all sectors, including domestic workers.

The ambassador indicated that in addi-tion to the minimum basic monthly salary of QR1,000, the law stipulates that employers must pay allowances of at least QR300 and QR500 for food and housing respectively, if they do not provide workers with these di-rectly. He underlined that more than 400,000 workers will benefi t directly from the new law, as this increase in wages will also improve the lives of a large number of family members in the workers’ countries of origin who rely on the remittances sent every month. He pointed out that to ensure compliance with the mini-mum wage, the government is enhancing de-tection of violations, enacting swifter penal-ties and further strengthening the capacity of labour inspectors.

Al-Khater said that the minimum wage law was adopted following a comprehensive analysis carried out by Qatar, in consulta-tion with national and international experts, workers and employers from diff erent sec-tors of the economy. — QNA

Ooredoo has announced the inauguration of an-other shop as part of its

“already extensive retail net-work”. The new shop at LuLu Ezdan Oasis in Wukair will be managed by premium dealer Ghasham. Customers will be able to access all Ooredoo services at the shop, and a team of the com-pany’s “friendly, helpful advis-

ers will be waiting to help them with all their telecommunica-tions needs”, according to a press statement.

The new shop is open from 8am until midnight, Saturday to Thursday, and from 8am-11am and 12noon-midnight on Fridays. Khalid al-Hamadi, senior direc-tor – Consumer Sales at Oore-doo, said: “We’re delighted to

further extend the ways in which our customers can reach us when they need to. While we remain committed to our goal of com-

plete digitalisation, and indeed work extensively to off er ever more innovative digital channels, we appreciate many customers do still prefer to visit a shop in person. “With complete cus-tomer satisfaction at the heart of our corporate strategy, we’re pleased to accommodate that preference and we look forward to welcoming our customers at our new shop to meet all their telecommunications needs.”

Qatar Airways has part-nered with PressReader to off er passengers “un-

limited” access to more than 6,000 global digital magazine and newspaper titles in one seamless digital experience through its Oryx One in-fl ight entertainment app.

Passengers can access titles by downloading the Oryx One app to their personal electronic devices (PEDs), inserting their Booking Reference Number (PNR) into the app’s ‘Newsstand’ and selecting the exclusively cu-rated titles they wish to save.

The service will be available up to three days before, and seven days after scheduled fl ights and the downloaded content will stay in a user’s digital library for as long as they have the app in-stalled, helping to reduce news-paper and magazine waste, both on the ground and in-fl ight, by over 1,000 tonnes each year.

In addition to this, unlike other airline digital off erings, passen-gers will not need to leave Oryx

One or download any additional apps to access the content at any point. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, HE Akbar al-Baker said, “Qatar Airways on-board experience remains the cornerstone of the airline’s world renowned fi ve-star service.

“Despite the many challenges faced by the industry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we continue to be passionate about achieving the highest standards of safety and excellence in every-thing we do.

“Our partnership with Press-Reader not only off ers a Covid-safe, contactless entertainment option to further enhance our passenger’s on-board experi-ence, it also supports our com-mitment to environmental sus-tainability, which continues to be a key focus for the airline.”

Qatar Airways senior vice president (Marketing & Corpo-rate Communications) Salam al-Shawa said, “We are delighted to be able to off er Qatar Airways passengers the convenience of

accessing thousands of top name global magazine and newspaper titles in one safe, contactless and seamless digital experience without ever leaving the Oryx One app.

“In addition to this, by work-ing together with PressReader, we have found the perfect digital solution to eliminate newspa-per and magazine waste on the ground and in-fl ight by more than 1,000 tonnes each year.”

PressReader Group of Com-panies chief executive offi cer Alex Kroogman said, “We are honoured to be chosen by Qatar Airways to bring quality journal-ism and a superior reading expe-rience to its customers in a 100% contactless way – pre, during and post-fl ight.”

PressReader is the leading pro-vider of digital in-fl ight publica-tion content to the commercial aviation industry and currently off ers thousands of magazine and newspaper titles from 120 coun-tries, in more than 60 languages, for every type of traveller.

3Gulf TimesFriday, March 26, 2021

QATAR

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov met with ambassador of Qatar to Kyrgyzstan Abdullah bin Ahmed al-Sulaiti. The meeting dealt with reviewing bilateral co-operation.

Kyrgyzstan president meets Qatar envoy

HE the Chief of Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces Lieutenant-General (Pilot) Ghanem bin Shaheen al-Ghanem and French Chief of the Defence Staff signed the meeting minutes of the 22nd Qatari-French Joint Higher Committee. The meeting saw both sides agree on a number of joint exercises. The French side stressed their commitment to fully support Qatar’s eff orts to organise the World Cup 2022. The signing ceremony was attended by Qatar’s Military Attache in France, Brigadier General Mohamed Mubarak al-Shahwani and French Military Attache to Qatar Brigadier General Jerome Lauret. – QNA

Qatar, France sign agreementQatar’s envoy meets deputy speaker of House of Commons

Yousef bin Ali al-Khater, ambassador of Qatar to the United Kingdom, met with Nigel Evans, Deputy Speaker of the British House of Commons and honorary chair of the joint all-party parliamentary group concerned with Qatar.During the meeting, they reviewed co-operation relations between the two countries. Earlier, al-Khater had met in London with Sir David Amess, the new chair of the all-party parliamentary group concerned with Qatar. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations. The ambassador also attended the meeting of the parliamentary group which was held virtually in the presence of a number of members of the House of Commons and Lords. The works of the newly-elected group were inaugurated during the meeting. In his speech to the meeting, the ambassador shed light on Qatar’s preparations to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the minimum wage law in the State, and other issues related to the group’s work. He also answered the group’s inquiries regarding the Qatari-British relations and the regional developments. — QNA

Qatar Airways off ers unlimited

digital content on infl ight appQatar Airways partners with PressReader to provide passengers access to digital magazines, newspapers

talabat exports its fi rst shipment of ‘Made in Qatar’ products to Kuwait

talabat Qatar, the region’s leading food delivery and q-commerce app, has an-

nounced that ‘Made in Qatar’ products from its ‘974’ collec-tion are now available on talabat mart in Kuwait. These prod-ucts include major brands such as Batato’s, Raw’a Juice, Doha Dates, QFM fl our and Qatar Pafki, among others.

Initially, these products were sold successfully through talabat mart, talabat’s q-commerce de-livery-only concept, where cus-tomers can receive their groceries to their doorstep in 30 minutes or less. Now, in collaboration with Qatar Logistics, talabat is helping grow local ‘Made in Qatar’ prod-ucts with the aim of exporting to several of talabat’s other markets. The initiative is expected to sig-nifi cantly increase the exposure of locally produced brands, a commitment talabat has increas-ingly prioritised in Qatar, the company has said in a statement.

Mohamed Shaaban, senior manager from Qatar Logistics, said: “As a result of excellent co-operation between Qatar Logis-tics and talabat, we are delighted to announce the export of the fi rst local products through tala-bat in the region. With the strong footprint and capabilities of Qa-tar Logistics, we were successful in the fi rst export and with our strong association with talabat, we foresee a great opportunity in the growth of local products by catering to a wider market.”

Yolanda Arreguin, general manager of Wholesome Oasis Food Factory, said: “We are proud to begin exporting Batato’s with talabat as a strategic partner. As a 100% Qatari company, we are compelled to produce high-quality potato chips and snacks, and are the fi rst company in the region to cook our chips in 100% heart-healthy sunfl ower oil at prices accessible to all.”

Francisco De Sousa, MD of ta-labat Qatar, noted: “We are very proud of ‘Made in Qatar’ brands as they portray the true potential

of our country. We continue to believe in our local producers and promote them heavily through our platform. We’ve always be-lieved in the potential of local brands within our regional net-work, and we are proud that our Kuwaiti customers can now enjoy our locally produced brands.”

De Sousa also stressed the im-portance of leveraging talabat’s scale to play a role in growing locally-produced brands beyond the borders of Qatar: “Almost none of these products has been exported previously, so this is a

signifi cant, heartwarming mo-ment for us. We have focused signifi cant investments and op-erations towards ‘Made in Qatar’ brands, to help showcase their quality to the region. As we em-bark on this memorable journey, we truly believe this is just the very beginning, as we expect to slowly introduce them in other neighbouring markets, too.”

To order ‘Made in Qatar’ prod-ucts through talabat mart, cus-tomers can download the talabat app on iOS through the App store, and Android through Google Play.

talabat and Qatar Logistics team.

Ooredoo expands network with new shop Move aimed at satisfying customer demand for service channels New shop at LuLu Ezdan to off er all services

Khalid al-Hamadi

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced the temporary closure of Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Street in both directions in addition to the closure of left lanes at Nasser Bin Khalid Interchange for those travelling from Wadi Musheireb Street towards Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Street from today for 20 days. Road users can use Al Asmakh Street and the surrounding streets to reach their destinations. The closure is part of the works of the Doha Central Development and Beautification Project – Package 1, Ashghal tweeted yesterday. The authority has requested all motorists to follow the road signs and abide by the speed limit to ensure everyone’s safety.

Temporary closure of Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Street

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced a temporary traff ic closure on Salwa Road towards Bu Samra between Khaled Bin Ahmed Interchange and Khaled Bin Mohammed Al Ghanim Interchange from 11pm today until 4am tomorrow. The closure, which will be implemented in co-ordination with the General Directorate of Traff ic, has been announced in order to complete the installation of ITS gantries, Ashghal tweeted yesterday. The authority has requested all motorists to follow the road signs and abide by the speed limit to ensure everyone’s safety.

Closure on Salwa Road towards Bu Samra

Ministry participates in climate change meeting

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment, represented by various environmental aff airs sector departments, participated in a consultative meeting with United Nations Environment Programme/Regional Off ice for West Asia, on climate change, which was held via visual communication technology. The meeting reviewed the joint work programme and work priorities related to the medium-term strategy for the years 2022-2025, in addition to discussing issues of climate action, nature work, and work against pollution.

Shura Council committee holds meeting

The Shura Council’s Services and Public Utilities Committee held yesterday a meeting chaired by its Rapporteur HE Mohamed bin Mahdi al-Ahbabi. The committee examined a draft law regulating healthcare services in the country, in the attendance of Director of the Legislation Department at the Cabinet Abdulaziz Mubarak al-Buainain, the Ministry of Public Health’s Legal Aff airs Department Director Dr Ali Jaber Dharman, Director of the Health Finance and Insurance Department at the Ministry of Public Health Khalid al-Mughesib. The committee decided to resume examining the draft law on the next term.

4 Gulf TimesFriday, March 26, 2021

COMMUNITY

Shaikha al-Sulaiti, interior design manager at Msheireb

Properties, speaks about Mandarin Oriental, Doha

A feel of nostalgia of old Qatar in a modern settingThis year, Mandarin Orien-

tal, Doha has dedicating the entire month of March

to women, inspired by their strength, inner beauty and per-severance every day of the year.

Celebrating this month full of achievements by many inspira-tional women, the hotel spoke to Qatari designer Shaikha al-Su-laiti, interior design manager at Msheireb Properties, about her journey overseeing the design inception of Mandarin Oriental, Doha.

Mandarin Oriental, Doha is one of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s fi rst hotels in the Middle East, “marking the blossoming of the Group in the region”.

Designed by legendary British designers David Collins Studio, Mandarin Oriental, Doha “off ers the perfect fusion of contempo-rary style and subtle Qatari el-egance. Bringing Qatari heritage to life through subtle details that refl ect the local environment, the hotel’s sumptuous design enjoys an elegantly sophisti-cated feel that chimes perfectly with the rich cultural experience of Msheireb Downtown Doha”, the hotel has said in a statement.

Iconic Qatari elements adorn the hotel in modern, yet subtle design details and have been in-spired by the aim of preserving the city’s unique heritage. “The

design concept was to fi nd the perfect balance between the ori-ental identity of Mandarin Ori-ental and incorporate a unique sense of place with decorative elements inspired by Qatari her-itage,” says al-Sulaiti.

“The sense of place created from every pattern gives a feeling of nostalgia and remembrance of old Qatar in the modern setting we have today.”

Decorative elements show-cased throughout the hotel in-

clude abstract geometric pat-terns inspired by the shapes of the country’s sand dunes, and designs showcasing handicraft craftmanship.

“My personal favourite de-sign, which I feel showcases the beauty of this hotel, is the handmade straw marquetry by Alexander Lamont,” said al-Sulaiti.

“The intricate handicraft re-minds of the weaving from tra-ditional baskets which evokes the essence of Doha, therefore creating a work of art with a local narrative. The design is harmonious and intricate to build a story – it’s very refined, simple and classical, but it has modern twists and layers of de-tail,” she added.

Aspects of Qatari heritage, culture and history are com-bined with timeless luxury to create a unique hospitality ex-perience for the city. Inspired by heritage, texture and layering of contemporary design, David Collins Studio has created a “truly breathtaking design that gives a feeling of nostalgia and remembrance of old Qatar in the modern setting we have today”, the statement added.

Shaikha al-Sulaiti

Bosnians organise food collection drive for rescued animals at QAWS

Continuing with a series of benevolent activi-ties, Bosnians in Qatar

organised a food-collection initiative for rescued animals at the Qatar Animal Welfare Soci-ety (QAWS).

The initiative was supported by the country’s embassy, rep-resented by ambassador Haris Lukovac.

Apart from donating food

and bedding, the members also walked dogs, cuddled cats and spent time furthering their understanding of the animals’ needs, a press statement noted.

“Being an important part of the Qatari society, we place great emphasis on giving back to the society and helping those in need – in this case, our furry friends. Many thanks to all those who came out to the

shelter to deliver the donations and volunteer their time with the animals,” said Lukovac.

“While conducting these ac-tivities, we always insist on tak-ing our children with us. It is an important part of raising them to be aware of others’ needs and to develop empathy in order to become constructive members of society,” added Vahid Suljic, a Bosnian community member.Division B Toastmasters

hold annual conferenceEloquence 2021, the Division B Toast-

masters annual conference, was held recently.

The two-day virtual conference witnessed stellar performances by 32 contestants in four categories of speech contests – Evalu-ation, Humorous, Table Topics and Interna-tional Speech, a press statement noted.

The conference was conducted under the chairmanship of Anita Samanta and her team of members under the guidance of Division B director Riana Pinto and the entire team of Division B Ex-com members. The event was opened by Pinto, which was followed by the smooth conduct of the three speech con-tests: Evaluation, Humorous and Table Top-ics. The second day of the event witnessed a banner parade led by Sudhir Gujar.

Division B comprises 16 clubs under four areas led by area directors Vanessa Pereira, Aparna Ranish, Kumaran C S and Chan-drasekhar Dudhe.

The highlight of the two-day virtual con-ference was a keynote address by Dr Rajdeep Manwani, a motivational speaker and trainer who became visually impaired at the age of 13. He has created a niche for himself with grit and determination. He shared his thoughts on transformational leadership and how to involve and evolve as a leader, including the theory on the “sliding door moments”.

Chandrasekhar Angadi bagged the fi rst place in both the Evaluation and Table Top-ics contests, while Sebastian Mascarenhas was the fi rst-place winner in the Humorous Speech contest and Nufaisa M R in the Inter-national Speech contest.

The fi rst-place winners will represent Di-vision B at DTAC 2021 on May 21 and 22. The second and third-place winners are Nufaisa M R and Mamta Babbar (Evaluation), Anju Chacko and Deepika Khattar (Humorous Speech), Mamta Babbar and Sebastian Mas-carenhas (Table Topics) and Deepika Khattar and Sebastian Mascarenhas (International Speech).

The contests were conducted by chairs Archana Shetty, Amal Sachith, Christopher Almeida and Tripti Saha, and supervised by chief judges Arvind Iyer, Ravi Kumar, Shyam Sundar and Williams Antony. They were

supported by ballot counters and timers. Masters of Ceremonies Dilba R K, Maria

Fatima, Sandra Pais and Manisha Deshpande conducted the proceedings.

Region 11 adviser Sunil Kottarathil, District 116 leaders Thayalan K, Manzoor Moideen, Rajesh V C, immediate past district director Raghavan Menon and past district director Rajeshwar Sundaresan addressed the audi-ence and praised Division B’s achievements.

Division B is one of the seven divisions in District 116, which has been the world’s number one district for two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020.

Rise of authoritarianism and future of democracy in spotlight

Award-winning Turkish novelist and political com-mentator Ece Temelkuran

discussed the rise of right-wing populist movements and the process of rebuilding democracy through determination at North-western University in Qatar (NU-Q)’s Hiwar Speaker Series.

NU-Q dean Marwan M Krai-dy introduced the new speaker series, noting: “Hiwar means dialogue in Arabic, and we hope that the new Hiwar Speaker Se-ries at Northwestern Qatar will be a platform for experts in jour-nalism, media, the social scienc-es and humanities to engage in dialogues on some of the world’s most pressing issues.”

Throughout the conversa-tion– moderated by Professor Banu Akdenizli – Temelkuran,

author of the award-winning book, How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dicta-torship, highlighted the common global patterns of right-wing populist movements and their aim to consolidate power by eliminating voices of dissent and establishing policies that ensure their survival.

When asked about the emo-tional toll of living under au-thoritarianism, Temelkuran said: “What I have noticed in the last several years… it’s not that we don’t have anger enough… it’s not that we don’t have real reasons to act against authori-tarian regimes… and it’s not the fact we are afraid of something; it is that we don’t have faith to change the world any more.”

Crippled by increasing politi-

cal aggression and the absence of alternatives for democratic change, Temelkuran said citi-zens and opposition groups un-der populist rule turn to deliber-ate forgetfulness and cynicism to remove themselves from the harsh reality of life under au-thoritarian regimes.

Amid the increasing success of populist leaders across Europe, the UK and the US, Temelkuran said these policies of oppression include eroding democratic in-stitutions and forcing “a collec-tive national amnesia”, a State-implemented policy that pushes citizens to forget about their po-litical causes. Temelkuran em-phasised that choosing deter-mination over hope is central to restoring faith in humankind and inspiring collective action,

underscoring the importance of turning the prevailing sense of cynicism into a resistance tool that will help amplify progres-sive voices and achieve political change.

Drawing a connection be-tween the rise of right-wing populism and the spread of mi-sogyny, Temelkuran discussed how authoritarian leaders throughout history have tar-geted women in political spheres and their daily lives by adopt-

ing policies that force women to conform to the regime’s ideas of an ideal female citizen.

“What strikes as amaz-ing when I look at women and women movements is that they do not let that understanding of power intrude their move-ments and organisations,” said Temelkuran, stressing the need for the new progressive move-ments to embrace democratic ideological choices and to pro-mote equality by adopting the horizontal organising structure employed by the feminist move-ments in their activism.

Temelkuran was ranked as one of the most-read political col-umnists in Turkey. Her report-ing has appeared in The Guard-ian, The New York Times, New Statesman, Frankfurter Allge-

meine and Der Spiegel. Her novel, Women Who Blow On Knots, won the Edinburgh International

Book Festival First Book award and the Ambassador of New Europe Award.

Award-winning Turkish novelist and political commentator Ece Temelkuran discussed the rise of right-wing populist movements at NU-Q’s Hiwar Speaker Series

Ece Temelkuran (top right) discusses determination and the rise of populism with NU-Q dean Marwan Kraidy and Professor Banu Akdenizli.

Apart from donating food and bedding, the members also walked dogs, cuddled cats and spent time furthering their understanding of the animals’ needs.

CIC Rayyan zone conducts blood donation camp

The Center for Indian Community (CIC) Rayy-an zone, in co-operation

with Hamad Medical Corpora-tion, conducted a blood dona-tion camp on its premises in Ain Khalid recently.

Many people participated in the camp, which was part of an ongoing month-long campaign held under the title of ‘Be light’. CIC zonal president

Abdul Hameed Edavanna congratulated the donor vol-unteers. CIC Rayyan zonal leaders Ahmed Shafi , Abdul Jaleel M M, Rafeeq Thangal, Siddique Vengara, Thahir T K, Fahad E K, Mohamed Ra-feeq, Sajir V O C, Mohamed Haneefa, Shihabudheen P H, Mohamed Jihad and Setharj led the programme.

A visual from Eloquence 2021, the Division B Toastmasters annual conference.

COMMUNITY5Gulf Times

Friday, March 26, 2021

The school also hosted Qatar national basketball team captain Mizo Amin

ACS Doha signs pact with BE BasketballWith a mission to em-

power students through sports, ACS

International School Doha host-ed a Qatar national basketball team player in a friendly game followed by a motivational ses-sion on the power of sports.

The session was hosted at ACS Doha’s state-of-the-art sports facility where Qatar national basketball team captain Mizo Amin took on the school’s bas-ketball team, the Doha Wolves.

“ACS Doha has been inspiring students to stay active and con-tinue applying the lessons they learn through sport to achieve success in their daily lives. It was held in line with the ethos of the school’s sport’s mantra ‘Awaken Your Wolf’, which focuses on teamwork, resilience and mind-fulness,” the school said in a statement.

Amin said, “It makes me ex-tremely happy to see ACS Do-ha’s commitment to sports as a source of physical and mental well-being that is crucial for kids in their teen years. Exercise is very important for the body and soul. We had a great time playing with the Wolves and are excited to see where their skills will lead them – in basketball and life.”

Chris Quinn, athletic direc-tor at ACS Doha, added: “At ACS Doha, we pride ourselves on up-holding the values of a holistic education, using the power of sports to promote the physi-cal, emotional and mental well-being of the community. For us, this has meant driving sports activities that engage students throughout the year to always empower our community.”

Cementing its commitment to sports, ACS Doha has also re-cently signed an agreement with BE Basketball, Qatar’s leading basketball provider. The agree-ment makes ACS Doha the ex-clusive partner of the basket-ball provider, gaining access to the provider’s fully qualifi ed, professional and experienced trainers to endorse the sport in the student community, the

statement noted. Attending the event and commenting on the partnership, a spokesperson at BE Basketball said: “BE Basket-ball is proud to join hands with ACS Doha, seeing its rigorous eff orts to promote sports within its community. Through this partnership, we are excited to

bring our dedicated and profes-sional BE Basketball school pro-grammes on ACS Doha’s campus where students can learn about fundamental basketball skills fi rst-hand from our professional trainers.”

ACS Doha is a strong ad-vocate of extra-curricular and

sports activities with many ini-tiatives specifi cally catered to enriching students’ lives outside of the classroom, the statement added.

Despite Covid-19 limitations, ACS Doha has managed to en-gage its students in a string of extensive sports activities car-ried out throughout the year. These competitions have in-cluded hill sprints at Aspire Park, the ‘Up and Over’ challenge at Al Bidda Park, online yoga sessions and the Lusail Marina step chal-lenge.

Additionally, the school has hosted interactive and inno-vative Zoom workshops by Dr Greg Dale, director of Sport Psychology and Leadership at Duke University, on topics sur-rounding the use of sports to champion success in day-to-day life through goal setting, commitment and discipline.

Resounding success for PISQ’s young debaters

The Pakistan Internation-al School Qatar (PISQ) girls’ teams proved their

excellence again with resound-ing success in the Qatar Pre-paratory School Debate League (QPSDL) for Girls, which was held online recently via the Discord platform.

A total of 36 debating teams from 18 schools participated in the tournament.

Based on total team wins by each participating school in the fi rst and second QPSDL tour-naments, the PISQ girls’ teams have grabbed the second best League position. PISQ has also won its way to the QPSDL Na-tionals 2021.

The three teams of PISQ – Team 1 comprising Elsa Haider, Khadeeja Tahira and Mari-yam Umer; Team 2 compris-ing Khadeeja Khalid, Momina Muazzam and Salwa Nooram; and Team 3 comprising Syeda Hareem, Mehmooda Shah and Isbah Fatima – represented the school in the tournament.

The tournament had three rounds on various motions. The debaters spoke with great confi dence and put forth bril-liant arguments defending their stands, the school said in a statement.

“The scintillating perform-ance of the PISQ debaters drew much applause and praise

throughout the League,” the statement added.

Naheed Nadeem formed and coached the teams. She, along with Riff at Tahir, represented the school as adjudicators as well. The school coach and co-ordinators expressed satisfac-tion that the PISQ girls’ teams of debaters “could contend with the best in Doha or any-where else”.

Nargis Raza Otho, principal of PISQ, applauded the debate teams on their outstanding performance in both the fi rst and second QPSDL. She com-mended the commitment, en-thusiasm and spirit of the de-baters and their coach.

Members of the PISQ girls’ teams.

IIS holds Teachers’ Enrichment

Programme on virtual platform

Ideal Indian School (IIS) organised the Teachers’ Enrichment Programme

through a virtual platform re-cently on the topic ‘Under-standing Brain Development in Foundational Years’.

Dr Swati Popat Vats, presi-dent, Podar Education Net-work, Early Childhood As-sociation and Association for Primary Education & Research, was the resource person from India.

Dr Swati enlightened the teachers on the various stages of brain development in the early ages of children.

She said it is important for teachers and parents to un-derstand that maturation of the brain influences learning readiness. For teachers, this is especially important when designing lessons and select-ing which strategies to use.

Good nutrition and healthy routines are important to the brain’s developmental proc-ess, she added.

Addressing the teachers, IIS principal Syed Shou-kath Ali said the early stages of brain development are important as they are the foundation that shapes chil-dren’s future health, happi-ness, growth, learning and life success. Teachers from other Indian schools in Qa-

tar also participated in the programme.

Ronnie Elizabeth wel-

comed the gathering and Anwar Sadath proposed a vote of thanks.

Participants in the IIS Teachers’ Enrichment Programme.

The session was hosted at ACS Doha’s sports facility where Qatar national basketball team captain Mizo Amin took on the school’s basketball team, the Doha Wolves.

MES marks Kindergarten Graduation Day

MES Indian School cel-ebrated Kindergarten Graduation Day re-

cently on a virtual platform. The programme began with

a welcome dance by the little graduates. Chief guest K Abdul Karim, president offi ciating, MES Governing Board, said in his con-vocation address that kindergar-ten students are “eff ervescent in spirit, infi nite in resources and ever inquisitive to learn”.

He complimented the gradu-ates on their achievements and also congratulated the teachers for their dedication and hard work in shaping the students through education and other co-curricular activities.

Principal Hameeda Kadar, in her felicitation address, con-gratulated the teachers and parents for their collective and commendable eff orts in teach-ing students through a virtual platform during these days of

uncertainty caused by the Cov-id-19 pandemic. She added that a similar kind of co-operation from the parents is expected as the students continue in the mainstream of the school.

Lalitha Srinivas, head of the Kindergarten Section, compli-mented the eff orts made by the teachers and thanked the parents for their support and co-opera-tion. The highlight of the gradu-

ation ceremony was the smart tiny tots of pre-primary who were adorable in their gradua-tion robes and caps, and received the e-certifi cates of their gradu-ation from the chief guest, the school said in a press statement.

Ilias Mohamed, vice-principal and head of the Boys’ Section of-fi ciating; Annamma Shammy, vice-principal and head of the Girls’ Section; Uzma Fatimee,

head of the Junior Section of-fi ciating; and Baby Shana, head of Academic Inspection, were among the offi cials who wit-nessed the MES Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony 2021.

Mubeena Akram proposed the vote of thanks on the fi rst day and Suja Mathew on the second day, which was followed by a song of gratitude by the

students.

DPS-MIS student represents Qatar at Kyoto Congress Youth Forum

DPS-Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS) stu-dent Saumya Murgai

represented Qatar at the Kyoto Congress Youth Forum, a special precursor event conducted for the 14th United Nations Con-gress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, also known as the Kyoto Protocol, recently.

She participated as a youth advocate and had the privilege of serving as the rapporteur at the Congress. Out of 150 youth advocates from 85 countries and regions worldwide, a group of six rapporteurs was selected prior to the conference and Saumya won this distinction. As a rappor-teur, Saumya carefully listened to the points discussed, drafted recommendations which were then formulated and presented, fi rst at the closing plenary of the Youth Forum and then at the ac-

tual 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Her performance and vigour were highly appreciated and,

as an acknowledgement, her pictures were published on the Thimun Qatar social media ac-counts and the Japanese Min-

istry of Justice’s offi cial Twitter account for the Youth Forum.

After the forum ended, Saumya attended the actual 14th

UN Congress on Crime Preven-tion and Criminal Justice and got the opportunity to listen to United Nations Offi ce on Drugs

and Crime (UNODC) offi cials discussing the world’s press-ing problems.Saumya has now received an invitation from the

UNODC offi ce in Vienna on the basis of her performance, to brief and present the recommenda-tions drafted at the Kyoto Con-gress as well as address and have a question-answer session at the Ecosoc Youth Forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March.

The UN conference has been held once every fi ve years since 1955 and is the largest and most diverse conference in the fi eld of crime prevention and criminal justice. It has in attendance jus-tice ministers, attorney-generals, criminal justice professionals (prosecutors, judges, prison of-fi cers, parole offi cers) and prac-titioners. The Youth Forum was introduced in 2015 in Doha and organised in Kyoto this year along with the actual 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Crimi-nal Justice.

The Kyoto Congress Youth Forum. Saumya Murgai participating in the forum.

The virtual ceremony.

Codeword

Wordsearch

Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Puzz

les

cour

tesy

: Puz

zlec

hoic

e.co

m

Dilbert

F Minus

Garfield

Big Nate

Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle based grid. The grid ٩x٩ on a

is also divided into nine boxes. You are given (٣x٣)

a selection of values and to complete the puzzle, you must fill the grid so

that every column, every.anone is repeated

BEANYFEDORAPILLBOXBERETFELTSOMBRERO

BOATERFEZSTETSONBONNETHELMETSTRAW

BOWLERHOMBURGTOPPERCASQUEHOODTOQUE

CLOCHEKEPITURBANDERBYPANAMA

ARIESMarch 21 — April 19

CANCERJune 21 — July 22

LIBRASeptember 23 — October 22

CAPRICORNDecember 22 — January 19

TAURUSApril 20 — May 20

LEOJuly 23 — August 22

SCORPIOOctober 23 — November 21

AQUARIUSJanuary 20 — February 18

GEMINIMay 21 — June 20

VIRGOAugust 23 — September 22

SAGITTARIUSNovember 22 — December 21

PISCESFebruary 19 — March 20

Your mind could be going in many directions, Aries. Direct your energy toward small projects that require intellect. Your energy is likely to come in waves, so use it wisely when you have it, and feel free to take a break when you don’t. Tell your boss that you will be much more productive if you have a 20-minute break in the afternoon in order to recharge.

Climactic events are apt to occur in your life, Cancer. It’s time to condense and solidify your grand schemes and bright ideas in such a way that makes them more practical. Things may be spinning so quickly that you aren’t quite sure where to jump on. Worry about that later. For now, what you need to do is express your ideas forcefully and succinctly. Doors will open as a result.

You may feel like you’re on a cliff with your legs dangling over the edge, Libra. You’re searching for handholds while your feet struggle to support you on a tiny ledge. You may be swearing that when you get out of this predicament, you will never come this way again. Take heart. This is all part of the cycle. These necessary challenges only make you stronger and more appreciative of the easy stretches.

There’s a terrific expansive feeling to the day, Capricorn, which you will appreciate more than anyone. For other people, this energy might expand into a headache. For you, it’s apt to expand your feeling of success. It also might expand your stomach, so be careful that you don’t overindulge. Other than that, don’t hold back on your activities. Whatever you do will be very productive.

People will listen to you much more than usual, Taurus. Sometimes when you say something, people hear you but minutes later forget what you said. Today is diff erent. Your words will penetrate more deeply and end up being disseminated much more widely than ever before. Don’t be stingy with what you have to say. Give people your full opinion on the situation. Your impact will be significant.

It’s time to take your communication to the next level, Leo. Expand outward and upward. For the last three weeks you’ve gone through a serious mental process that has helped you define what you stand for and believe in. Now you’re in a phase that urges you to put these ideas into motion. The expansive quality of the day is profound, so take advantage of it and get moving.

Someone has suddenly put the fan on high, Scorpio, and papers are blowing everywhere. Neat piles whisked into large swirls of chaos. Everyone is shouting opinions about what should be done about it. Meanwhile, there are people making demands on you that you just can’t handle. Slow down and communicate your situation to others. They will understand and support your predicament.

There might be some unexpected communication coming from a long-lost friend or old roommate today, Aquarius. You never know whom you might run into when you leave the house, so stay alert. An old teacher could be just around the corner. Perhaps a bizarre news story in the paper catches your attention, because there on the page is a photo of the kid who lived next door to your childhood home.

You’re apt to disagree sharply with information you receive, Gemini. Perhaps your attitude is a bit selfish, so you aren’t able to appreciate ideas that are more humanitarian in nature. Expand your way of thinking to include the people around you. You will find that the more you off er yourself to others, the more respected and happier you will be overall.

A new cycle is beginning for you in which you may find yourself throwing away old beliefs and mental processes, Virgo. Out with the old and in with the new. This time of housecleaning is extremely important, for you will find that the same tired old speech that you’ve been working on is suddenly defunct. Pull your resources together and construct a new platform that makes you proud.

Try not to get tangled in other people’s words, Sagittarius. It could be that you’re accidentally misconstruing their statements because you aren’t listening closely. Rather, your mind is focused on your own thoughts, even though you snap to attention when something hits you wrong. Show respect by turning down the volume in your head when someone else has the floor.

This is one of those days when you just can’t wait for someone to stop talking so you can say something, Pisces. It’s likely you won’t even wait. Don’t be surprised if friction results from such strongly held opposing views. People could blow things out of proportion, since everyone is convinced that they are right. The interesting thing about this situation is that it could result in a productive time.

Across1. Clergyman has clay thrown out? Precisely! (10)7. Sewing implements not quite unnecessary (7)8. Carpenter is to go in with-out fish (5)10. North-east race, after deductions (4)11. I can roam about for pasta (8)13. A group of directors on a ship (6)15. A game with nets in? (6)17. Meant to be at home, get-ting looked after (8)18. Help with a Verdi opera (4)21. Never-failing courage (5)22. Make up your mind to do the puzzle again (7)23. Agree to write (10)

Super Cryptic Clues

Solution

Down1. Proficient in a small depart-ment (5)2. It’s a little higher than the ankle - or a little lower! (4)3. A little mischief-maker, a scallywag, a rogue (6)4. Green tea brewed for a youngster (8)5. Not lewd, wild or disap-pointed (3,4)6. Swirling in and out in flood (10)9. Part of the harness said to be put back (10)12. Magnificence makes Edgar run (8)14. Part of Canada - and parts of Iran too! (7)16. Thirteen cards for eleven players in Scotland? (6)19. I had been first but didn’t work (5)20. Norwegian capital in Czechoslovakia (4)

Answers

Co

dew

ord

Word

search

Colouring Horoscope

6 Gulf TimesFriday, March 26, 2021

COMMUNITY LEISURE/HOROSCOPE

WORLD7Gulf Times

Friday, March 26, 2021

The Supreme Court of Can-ada upheld yesterday a national carbon tax that is

the centrepiece of Prime Minis-ter Justin Trudeau’s climate plan, rejecting a constitutional chal-lenge by several provinces.

The federal government im-posed the levy in 2019 in order to meet its obligations under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, from 2005 levels.

Initially set at C$20 (US$16) per tonne of emissions, the car-

bon pricing scheme – which applies to a range of fuels and sources of CO2 emissions – is to incrementally rise to C$170 per tonne by the end of the decade.

This would be equivalent to about 28¢ per litre of gasoline.

The 6-3 ruling paves the way for Canada to press ahead also with its ambitious goal of reach-ing net-zero emissions by mid-century.

“As of today, the federal gov-ernment will continue to use a price on pollution as one key element of its comprehensive climate plan because climate change impacts Canadians no matter where they live in this

country,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told a news conference.

He noted that over 40 nations have either a carbon tax or a car-bon trading system, while add-ing that “pricing pollution is the most economically effi cient way to reduce emissions while con-currently driving innovation”.

Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and the fi fth-largest CO2 emitter on a per capita basis, according to data compiled by the International Energy Agency.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner, writing for the majority, said in the decision: “Addressing cli-

mate change requires collective national and international action ... because the harmful eff ects of GHGs (greenhouse gases) are, by their very nature, not confi ned by borders.”

The court found that the fed-eral parliament “has jurisdic-tion to enact this law as a matter of national concern under the peace, order and good govern-ment clause of the constitution”.

Oil-rich Alberta and Saskatch-ewan provinces, as well as On-tario, rejected the federal back-stop on their own carbon pricing schemes that do not measure up to the national minimum price on carbon.

It has only been applied in those three provinces, as well as Manitoba.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe tweeted his reaction to the ruling, saying that the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pric-ing Act is “bad environmental policy, bad economic policy, and simply wrong”.

Federal opposition leader Erin O’Toole, meanwhile, vowed this week to get rid of the national carbon tax if his Tories unseat Trudeau’s Liberals in the next election.

He said yesterday that the Liberal policy threatens “hun-dreds of thousands of jobs” and

is pushing energy investments to the United States.

Other opposition parties and environmental groups hailed the ruling, but urged even tougher climate actions, while business associations welcomed the regu-latory clarity it provides.

“Putting a price on pollution is important, but it’s not nearly enough,” said New Democratic Party MP Laurel Collins, who called on the government to boost clean energy investments and make big polluters pay more.

Ottawa argued in court that climate change is a national threat requiring a federal re-sponse, but the provinces pushed

back at the federal intrusion on their jurisdiction.

The court noted that provinces left to regulate emissions on their own risked failing to address this “existential threat”.

It said it could take just one of the 10 provinces to straggle for nationwide eff orts to collapse, threatening “Canada as a whole”.

As such, federal intrusion on provincial jurisdiction in this specifi c case is justifi ed, it con-cluded.

The most recent report pre-sented by the Canadian govern-ment showed that Canada’s CO2 emissions increased by 2% be-tween 2017 and 2018.

Top court upholds Canada’s carbon tax that is key to climate planAFPOttawa

President Joe Biden said yesterday that he expects to run for president again

in 2024, and defended his policy to provide shelter to unaccom-panied children crossing the US border from Mexico at his fi rst solo news conference since tak-ing offi ce.

Appearing before reporters for more than an hour, Biden seemed well-prepared, read from written papers occasionally and calmly took questions, a sharp contrast to the often raucous, combat-ive news conferences held by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden set a new goal of ad-ministering 200mn vaccination shots against the coronavirus (Covid-19) in the United States in his fi rst 100 days in offi ce.

He also warned North Korea of consequences for launching two ballistic missiles yesterday, and said that he is consulting with US allies on the way forward.

And Biden sought to bring down the tone of rhetoric with China after his top aides had bitter exchanges with Chinese counterparts in Alaska earlier this month.

At 78 years old, many political analysts believe that Biden could decide to serve only one term.

However, when asked whether he planned to run for re-election, he said that he planned to do so, keeping Vice-President Kamala Harris as his running mate.

“My answer is yes, I plan to run for re-election. That’s my expec-tation,” he said.

On January 20, Biden became the oldest US president to be in-augurated.

Struggling to contain a surge in border crossings, Biden told reporters that no previous ad-ministration had refused care

and shelter to children coming over from Mexico – except that of Trump.

“The idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, if an un-accompanied child ends up at the border we’re going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side – no previous admin-istration did that either, except Trump. I’m not going to do it.”

Biden noted that he had se-lected Harris to lead diplomatic eff orts with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador aimed at stemming the migration fl ow.

Appearing in the White House East Room, Biden said his ini-tial goal of administering 100mn vaccination shots in his fi rst 100 days in offi ce was reached last week, 42 days ahead of schedule, and that he would now double the target.

“I know it’s ambitious, twice our original goal, but no other country in the world has even come close,” the Democratic president said.

Biden backed away from a May 1 deadline to withdraw US troops in Afghanistan after Trump tried but failed to pull them out before leaving offi ce.

“It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” said Biden.

But he added that “we are not staying a long time” in Afghani-stan, site of America’s longest war.

He said he did not think the troops would still be there next year.

Biden read carefully from talking points in responding to a question about North Korea’s missile launches, which have alarmed US allies Japan and South Korea (see report on page 8).

“If they choose to escalate, we will respond accordingly,” he said.

Biden said that he is prepared for “some form of diplomacy” with North Korea “but it has to

be conditioned upon the end re-sult of denuclearisation”.

Pyongyang wants the US and other nations to ease economic sanctions imposed over its nu-clear weapons programme.

US offi cials have said they have tried to engage with North Korea diplomatically but received no response.

After diffi cult Alaska talks, Bi-den said that he is not looking for a confrontation with China, but would insist that Chinese Presi-dent Xi Jinping adhere to inter-national norms on trade.

“What I’ve told him in person on several occasions is that we’re not looking for confrontation, although we know there will be steep, steep competition ... but we’ll insist that China play by the international rules, fair competi-tion, fair practices, fair trade,” he said.

Biden called for Republicans

in the US Congress to help him move forward with his agenda as he takes on issues like gun con-trol, climate change and immi-gration reform.

He said he believes the Dem-ocratic-controlled US Senate should make it harder for Re-publicans to use a parliamentary blocking manoeuvre called the fi libuster that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-seat chamber, saying that it is being abused.

Biden was repeatedly pressed to defend his migration policy along the US border with Mexico.

Biden said the increase in mi-gration was cyclical.

“It happens every single soli-tary year. There is a signifi cant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the win-ter months,” he said. “It happens every year.”

He said that many migrants

were fl eeing problems in their home countries and blamed Trump, for dismantling parts of the US immigration system.

Most of Biden’s predecessors had held their fi rst news confer-ence in their fi rst two months in offi ce, but the Democratic in-cumbent has so far taken few questions.

His aides were said to be ap-parently worried that the free-wheeling politician – who joked that he entered the Senate “120 years ago” – would veer off a carefully-crafted message.

But Biden appeared at ease and in command as he cast himself as a seasoned Washington operator.

“I’ve been hired to solve prob-lems, not create division,” Bi-den said, pointing to passage of a $1.9tn Covid-19 relief bill that sends money to most Americans. “I’m a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done.”

Biden expects to run for president in 2024Reuters/AFPWashington

Socially-distanced reporters are seen as US President Biden holds his first formal news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

The US Supreme Court has expanded the ability of people to sue police

for excessive force, ruling in favour of a New Mexico woman who fi led a civil rights lawsuit after being shot by offi cers she had mistaken for carjackers.

The 5-3 decision allowed the woman, Roxanne Torres, to pursue her lawsuit accus-ing New Mexico State Police offi cers Richard Williamson and Janice Madrid of violating the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on illegal searches and seizures even though she had not been im-mediately detained, or seized, in the incident.

The court determined that in order to sue for excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, it is not necessary for a plaintiff to have been physically seized by law enforcement.

“We hold that the applica-tion of physical force to the body of a person with intent to restrain is a seizure even if the person does not submit and is not subdued,” conserva-tive Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the ruling.

Roberts was joined in the decision by the court’s three liberals and one of his fellow conservatives, Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Three other conservative justices dissented.

The newest justice, con-servative Amy Coney Barrett, did not participate because she had not yet joined the court when the case was argued in October.

In a dissenting opinion, conservative Justice Neil Gor-such said a “seizure” under the Fourth Amendment has always been defi ned as “taking pos-

session of someone or some-thing”, and he criticised the court’s contrary conclusion.

“That view is as mistaken as it is novel,” he wrote.

The case will now return to lower courts, where the offi cers could seek to have the lawsuit dismissed on other grounds including the legal doctrine called qualifi ed immunity that protects police and other types of government offi cials from civil litigation in certain cir-cumstances.

In the 2014 incident, four of-fi cers arrived at an apartment complex in Albuquerque and approached Torres, who was sitting in a car.

Torres said she fl ed when she saw people with guns ap-proaching, thinking she was going to be carjacked.

Madrid and Williamson fi red 13 shots between them, hitting her twice in the back as she drove away in her car.

Torres continued driving but was arrested the next day after being treated in a hospital for her wounds.

She was convicted of three criminal off ences, including fl eeing from a law enforcement offi cer.

After Torres sued in a federal court in New Mexico in 2016, the judge dismissed the case, saying that there could be no excessive force claim because a “seizure” had not occurred.

The Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals reached the same conclusion in 2019, prompting Torres to ap-peal to the Supreme Court.

There is heightened public scrutiny of police conduct in the wake of protests in many cities last year against racism and police brutality.

Rulings by the Supreme Court in other cases over po-lice powers are due by the end of June.

US apex court widens ability to sue police for use of excessive force

ReutersWashington

US Special Forces deployment at lowest level worldwide since 2001

US Special Forces deployed around the world are at their lowest level since 2001, their chief, General Rich-ard Clarke, said yesterday in Washington.“Today, we have nearly 5,000 SOF deployed to 62 countries,” the Special Operations Forces (SOF) com-mand chief said in a document released on the side-lines of a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.That is down 15% from last year and the lowest number since 2001, the document said.In addition, the Special Forces, which include elite Army Green Berets, Navy Seals and units from the Marines and Air Force, will pivot to Asia, in line with the US military strategy that focuses on China and Russia, after a 20-year struggle against religious extremism, said Clarke.By 2021, “nearly 40% of our deployed forces will focus on GPC requirements”, the general said, referring to

what is known as “great power competition”.The United States never publishes the number of Special Forces deployed to each country.These elite military personnel usually rotate through countries experiencing instability, such as Libya and recently Somalia.Former president Donald Trump, eager to put an end to “endless wars”, had decided at the very end of his mandate, in December, to recall the majority of elite soldiers from Somalia, after having accelerated the disengagement from Afghanistan and Iraq.Upon taking off ice, President Joe Biden limited the US military’s use of drone strikes against extremist groups outside Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.While Trump had given the military carte blanche in countries such as Somalia or Libya, any planned strikes against militant groups there are now submitted to the White House before being executed. – AFP

Brazil’s death toll in the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic surpassed

300,000 on Wednesday, as a deadly surge that has pushed hospitals to the brink made it the second country after the United States to pass the bleak mile-stone.

A total of 300,685 people in Brazil have now died of Covid-19,

the health ministry said, as the country struggled to deal with an explosion of cases blamed on a local variant of the coronavirus that is believed to be more conta-gious.

Brazil currently has the highest daily death toll in the pandemic by far.

It has more than tripled since the start of the year, to an average of 2,273 for the past week.

President Jair Bolsonaro an-nounced earlier that he was launching a crisis committee to

deal with the pandemic, a change of course amid mounting pres-sure over a situation he has re-peatedly minimised.

The far-right president vowed no one would “politicise” the pandemic, after a meeting with the heads of both houses of Con-gress, the chief justice of the Su-preme Court, the central bank chief, most of his cabinet and six of Brazil’s 27 governors.

“The prevailing sentiment was solidarity and the commitment to minimise the eff ects of the

pandemic,” Bolsonaro said at the presidential palace. “Life comes fi rst.”

He said that the group had agreed to create a co-ordinating council with Brazil’s 27 gover-nors, led by Senate speaker Rod-rigo Pacheco.

He himself will convene a cri-sis committee that will meet weekly, he said.

The announcements appeared to do little to tame criticism of Bolsonaro, who has fl outed ex-pert advice on lockdowns and

face masks, pushed a drug regi-men he calls the “early treat-ment” package that scientists say does not work, and spoken out against vaccines.

Newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo accused the president of “lying” when he said his government had worked ceaselessly to fi ght the virus.

“For 12 months, Bolsonaro minimised the pandemic, pro-moted crowds, spoke out against mask use and halted talks to se-cure vaccines,” it said.

Brazil’s coronavirus death toll surpasses 300,000AFPBrasilia

MacGyver Web series is announced

The MacGyver Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the encouragement and support of individuals and organisations throughout the world who utilise self-reliance, non-violence and sustainability to improve people’s lives, today announced the debut of a fun and inspirational animated Web series to acknowledge the one-year mark of the global pandemic.The five-episode series, MacGyver Now!, was developed as a public service to help us all continue to “MacGyver” our way out of this global health crisis.The name MacGyver is synonymous with cleverly using whatever’s available to manage our way through a crisis.Recognising the need to honour the eff orts and ingenuity of medical professionals, educators, essential workers and even ordinary people everywhere who are doing their part to deal with the virus, MacGyver creator – and director of the MacGyver Foundation – Lee Zlotoff , decided to produce the animated Web series that follows MacGyver through his own crisis in the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.All five webisodes of MacGyver Now! are available free for streaming at www.macgyver.com – AFP

Sesame Street unveils new muppets

US children’s television show Sesame Street has released videos featuring two new muppets to educate children about race.One of the videos, uploaded to the show’s website on Tuesday, features African-American dad Elijah and his son Wes talking to Elmo about diff erences in skin colour due to melanin.They stress the importance of not forgetting that despite diff erences in appearance we are all human.The approximately three-minute segment is part of a new series of videos called the ABCs of Racial Literacy.They are aimed at providing “families with the tools that they need to build racial literacy, to have open conversations with young children”, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind the popular children’s programme, said in a statement.In another video due out soon, muppets portraying characters of Hispanic origin will be confronted with “a racist incident in a grocery store”, the statement added.“The work to dismantle racism begins by helping children understand what racism is and how it hurts and impacts people,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, Sesame Workshop’s executive vice president of creation and production.Sesame Street, which was launched in 1969 and is present in more than 150 countries, is the benchmark of educational programming. – AFP

Migrants protest conditions at Mexico detention centre

Dozens of mostly Central American migrants protested on Wednesday night at a detention centre in southern Mexico, complaining of overcrowding and a lack of food and water.“I’ve been detained here for more than 20 days with my two children,” said 39-year-old Jose Carrasco from El Salvador, who approached the gate of the facility in the state of Chiapas to speak to the press.“If they’re not going to deport us, it’s better that they free us, because there’s no space to sleep. I sleep in the open air,” he said.Carrasco said that several hundred people had been detained for more than a month and a half, waiting for the National Migration Institute (NMI) to define their legal status.As he spoke, other migrants beat the bars demanding medical attention, food and water.The situation was brought under control after police off icers arrived at the scene. – AFP

WORLDGulf TimesFriday, March 26, 20218

US, UK sanction Myanmar junta companies as crackdown continuesAFP Yangon

The US and Britain an-nounced sanctions against a huge military-

owned conglomerate in Myan-mar yesterday, as security forc-es continued to launch brutal crackdowns against anti-coup protesters.

The military junta has un-leashed a deadly wave of vio-lence as it struggles to quell nationwide protests against the February 1 ouster and arrest of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

International condemnation has so far done little to quell the brutal crackdown, but the United States and Britain said yesterday it would impose sanc-

tions against the highly secre-tive behemoth Myanmar Eco-nomic Holdings Ltd, which gives army chiefs access to enormous wealth.

“Today’s sanctions target the military’s fi nancial interests to help drain the sources of fi nance for their campaigns of repression against civilians,” UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

Washington announced it was also imposing sanctions on Myanmar Economic Corp Lim-ited (MEC). The Myanmar mili-tary “controls signifi cant seg-ments of the country’s economy through these holding fi rms,” said a US Treasury Department statement.

The opaque groups have their tentacles in industries as diverse as beer, tobacco, transportation,

textiles, tourism and banking.Protesters have continued

calling for the military to step down, defying nighttime cur-fews to stage candlelight vigils for the dead, and taking to the streets early in dawn marches to avoid security forces.

A sunrise mobile rally on mo-torbikes in northern Kachin state saw the arrest of several dem-onstrators, which drew defi ant protesters to the police station to demand their release.

But it turned deadly once the military arrived and shot into the crowd, leaving at least one dead, a resident said.

In the city of Hpa-An in southeastern Karen state, pro-testers were preparing sandbags early yesterday when scores of soldiers and police swooped in

and tried to clear the streets us-ing stun grenades.

“After that, they shot with rubber bullets as well as real bul-lets, about 50 shots,” a protester told AFP by phone.

Early-bird protesters were also out in parts of Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon, wear-ing traditional ethnic outfi ts and waving the country’s fl ag.

Some carried signs that said “Get out, terrorist dictator”, ac-cording to local media.

By nightfall, local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners — which verifi es deaths and arrests — reported that security forces in eastern Shan state also deployed “live ammunition” in residential areas, killing four civilians.

After nearly two months un-

der military rule, the country’s death toll from anti-coup unrest is at 320, said AAPP.

But the junta puts the number at 164, according to its spokes-man Tuesday, who also branded the victims as “violent terrorist people”. International pressure from the UN, US and Britain has been building on the junta, but has so far gone unheeded.

Britain and the US have al-ready announced sanctions on the regime in recent weeks.

Regional powers Indonesia and Singapore yesterday urged the junta to halt its use of lethal arms, as their foreign ministers met to discuss Myanmar.

Singapore’s Vivian Balakrishnan said both nations were “distressed by the loss of human lives”, but said the solu-

tion would have to come from within. “Both Indonesia and Singapore...believe there should be no foreign interference but Asean (the 10-country bloc) stands ready to help in any way,” he said. A UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar once again sounded the alarm on the country’s situation.

“Conditions in Myanmar are deteriorating but they will likely get much worse without an im-mediate, robust, international response,” Tom Andrews said in a statement.

“I fear that the international community has only a short time remaining to act.”

There are fears that Saturday — Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day, usually marked with a parade in Naypyidaw — could be a fl ash-

point. State-run media reported yesterday that police had ar-rested 14 Yangon youths caught fl eeing the city for territories in Myanmar’s east, which are con-trolled by ethnic armed militias.

So far, hundreds have fl ed to Karen state, where the rebel Karen National Union has shel-tered hundreds of anti-coup ac-tivists escaping the junta.

In neighbouring Kayah state — where the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) holds control over part of the region — scores have also arrived since the February 1 putsch to seek shelter, said its vice chair Khu Oo Reh.

“We stand by the people,” he said, adding that the power takeo-ver has shone a light on the strug-gle of ethnic groups long agitating for autonomy in Myanmar.

Biden warns Pyongyang against escalation after suspected ballistic testsAFP Washington

President Joe Biden warned yesterday the United States will “respond ac-

cordingly” if North Korea esca-lates its weapons testing, after Pyongyang fi red two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its fi rst substantive provocation of the new US administration.

The nuclear-armed North has a long history of using weapons tests to ramp up tensions, in a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives.

Biden said that the United States was “consulting with our partners and allies,” and warned North Korea that “there will be responses if they choose to es-calate. We will respond accord-ingly.”

“I’m also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearisation,” he added. Pyongyang had been biding its time since the new administration took offi ce, not even offi cially acknowledging its existence until last week.

But Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff said the North fi red two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in Korea, from South Hamgyong province.

They travelled 450 kilometres and reached a maximum altitude of 60 kilometres, the JCS added, and after an emergency meeting South Korea’s National Security Council expressed “deep con-cern” at the launch.

North Korea is banned from developing any ballistic missiles

under UN Security Council res-olutions, and is under multiple international sanctions over its weapons programmes.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was unequivocal, telling reporters: “North Korea launched two ballistic missiles.”

It had been a year since the last such incident, he added, saying: “This threatens the peace and security of our country and the region. It is also a violation of the UN resolution.”

Tokyo said they came down outside the waters of Japan’s ex-clusive economic zone.

Rebuke poured in from Ger-many, France and Britain which each condemned the tests as vi-

olations of UN Security Council resolutions.

Britain’s Asia minister Nigel Adams also warned North Korea to refrain from further provoca-tions and “engage in meaningful negotiations with the US.”

Pyongyang has made rapid progress in its capabilities un-der North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, testing missiles capa-ble of reaching the entire conti-nental United States as tensions mounted in 2017.

Ex-US president Donald Trump’s fi rst year in offi ce was marked by a series of escalating launches, accompanied by a war of words between him and Kim.

The two then embarked on an

extraordinary diplomatic bro-mance, holding two headline-grabbing summits in Singapore and Vietnam.

The United States pulled back on some joint military ex-ercises with South Korea while the North froze intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

But the February 2019 Hanoi summit broke up over sanc-tions relief and what North Ko-rea would be willing to give up in return. Communications then dried up, despite a third encoun-ter in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsu-la, and no substantive progress was made towards denuclearisa-tion.

“North Korea appears to be returning to a familiar pattern of using provocations to raise ten-sions and garner attention,” said Jean Lee of the Wilson Center in Washington.

Pyongyang carried out a series of weapons tests last year that it called “long-range artillery” but others described as short-range ballistic missiles.

Trump had been “willing to turn a blind eye to North Korea’s ballistic missile launches as long as they were not tests of long-range missiles”, Lee said.

“But I suspect the Biden ad-ministration will confront any confi rmed ballistic missile launches that violate UN Secu-rity Council resolutions.”

Yesterday’s launch comes af-ter Pyongyang fi red two short-range, non-ballistic missiles in a westerly direction towards China at the weekend, which US offi cials played down as not a violation of UN resolutions.

That launch followed joint ex-ercises by the US and South Ko-rean militaries and a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to dis-cuss alliance and security issues.

During their trip to Seoul and Tokyo, Blinken repeatedly stressed the importance of de-nuclearising North Korea.

Biden administration offi cials say they have sought to reach out to Pyongyang through several channels but have received no response so far.

They are now fi nalising a strategy that the White House will discuss with Japanese and South Korean security offi cials next week.

Alarm after India

delays vaccines to

Covax programme

for poor countriesReutersNew Delhi

News that India will delay deliveries of As-traZeneca’s Covid-19

vaccine to the global pro-gramme to inoculating poor countries triggered alarm yes-terday, with the head of Af-rica’s disease control agency describing the continent as “helpless”.

Unicef, a UN agency re-sponsible for distributing vac-cines through the global Covax programme, confi rmed to Re-uters overnight that it expects deliveries of the vaccines to be delayed this month and next.

AstraZeneca doses pro-duced under licence in India form the overwhelming bulk of vaccines that Covax has been anticipating for the initial months of its rollout, which aims to vaccinate vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries for free.

“We understand that deliv-eries of Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income economies par-ticipating in the Covax Facility will likely face delays following a setback in securing export licenses for further doses of Covid-19 vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), expected to be shipped in March and April,” Unicef said in an e-mail.

“Covax is in talks with the Government of India with a view to ensuring deliveries as quickly as possible.”

India’s foreign ministry and the SII did not respond to re-quests for comment.

Covax countries had also been told about lower-than-expected supplies of Astra-Zeneca doses from South Korea, another country that

makes them under license, for March, Unicef said.

“In line with the challenges of the current global supply environment, this is due to challenges the company faces in rapidly scaling up supply and optimising production processes for these early deliv-eries,” Unicef said.

The director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, a continent-wide disease-fi ghting body, told an online news conference yesterday: “As a continent I truly feel helpless.”

“Without rapid access to vaccines we will continue to be challenged, lives will be lost, our economies will continue to struggle...” John Nkengasong said in response to questions about the Covax delay, and about separate discussion of potential curbs on Covid-19 vaccine exports from the EU.

The Covax programme was set up by the World Health Organisation and Gavi, an al-liance of countries, companies and charities that promote vaccination.

Its aim is to provide 2bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this year, enough to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers and the most vulner-able people in poor countries around the world.

Covax said in early March it aimed to deliver 237mn doses of AstraZeneca’s shot to 142 countries by the end of May.

Richard Mihigo, immunisa-tion programme co-ordinator for the World Health Organi-sation in Africa, said yester-day the WHO and Gavi were negotiating with India to try to resolve the delay.

“We hope that a quick solu-tion will be found on the situa-tion,” he said.

US Army soldiers and South Korean marines take part in a joint military exercise in Pohang, South Korea, yesterday.

Rohingyas rebuild shelters after deadly camp fi re

AFPBalukhali

About 30,000 Rohingya refugees who fl ed a deadly blaze at camps in

Bangladesh returned to their scorched shanties yesterday, seeking to rebuild their make-shift homes as others searched for missing relatives, offi cials and aid groups said.

The settlements in southeast Bangladesh — home to nearly a million of the minority from Myanmar, many of whom es-caped a military crackdown in 2017 — were hit by a major fi re on Monday that left at least 15 people dead and nearly 50,000

homeless. “We have provided them housing materials such as bamboo, tarpaulins, fl oor mats, ropes and utensils,” Bangladesh’s refugee commis-

sioner Shah Rezwan Hayat told AFP of the returning Rohingya, who had sought refuge in other camps.

Hayat said government offi -

cials and aid workers, including from the United Nations, were helping the refugees remove the destroyed shelters and build temporary ones.

Some Rohingya and their children could be seen scour-ing the blackened sites for their treasured gold jewellery.

“After the fi re my family got scattered. It took hours to know who had gone where,” 42-year-old father-of-eight Nur Syed said at one of the fi re-hit camps after a shelter for his family was built.

Tyeba Khatun, a woman in her 60s who lived in a camp with her husband, said they lost all their possessions from Myanmar.

Aid group says staff saw Ethiopian soldiers kill civilians in TigrayMedecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff travelling in Ethiopia’s Tigray region saw Ethiopian soldiers shoot dead four civilians, the medical aid agency said yesterday. The incident happened on the road between the regional capital Me-kelle and the town of Adigrat on Tuesday and

followed an apparent attack on an Ethiopian military convoy, MSF said. Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government’s emergency task force on Tigray, Billene Seyoum, spokes-woman for the prime minister, and Mulu Nega, head of Tigray’s interim administration, did not

respond to requests for comment on the MSF statement. Reuters was unable to independently verify the MSF account. In its statement, MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Ethiopian soldiers stopped an MSF car and two public minibuses driving behind it.

A Rohingya refugee cleans debris from a burnt home days after a fire at a refugee camp in Ukhia, in the southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, yesterday.

Suez Canal shut amid bid to refl oat grounded megaship

From Page 1

“It is like an enormous beached whale. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by re-moving containers, oil and wa-ter from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand.”

Japanese shipowner Shoei Kisen apologised for the inci-dent and said work on freeing the ship, which was heading to Europe from China, “has been extremely diffi cult” and it was not clear when the vessel would fl oat again.

Dredgers were working to clear sand and mud from around

it while tugboats in conjunction with Ever Green’s winches work to shift it, the vessel’s techni-cal manager, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), said.

Another offi cial with knowl-edge of the operation said that was likely to take days. “If you end up in the scenario that you have to remove cargo then you are looking at a time consuming exercise,” he said, declining to be named.

A higher tide due on Sunday may help the rescue eff orts.

Roughly 30% of the world’s shipping container volume tran-sits through the 193km Suez Ca-nal daily, and about 12% of total global trade of all goods.

“Every port in Western Europe is going to feel this,” Leon Wil-lems, a spokesman for Rotter-dam Port, Europe’s largest, said. “We hope for both companies and consumers that it will be re-solved soon.”

Consultancy Wood Mac-kenzie said the biggest impact

was on container shipping, but there were also a total of 16 laden crude and product oil tankers due to sail through the canal and now delayed.

The tankers were carrying 870,000 tonnes of crude and 670,000 tonnes of clean oil products such as gasoline, naph-tha and diesel, it said.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are the top two exporters of oil through the canal, while India and China are the main import-ers, oil analytics fi rm Vortexa said.

Consultancy Kpler said the canal accounted for only 4.4% of total oil fl ows but a prolonged disruption would complicate fl ows of Russian and Caspian oil to Asia and oil from the Middle East into Europe.

The impact on oil prices has been limited so far as the desti-nation of most oil tankers is Eu-rope, where demand is currently weaker due to a new round of lockdowns.

Roughly 30% of the world’s shipping container volume transits through the 193km Suez Canal daily, and about 12% of total global trade of all goods

WORLD9Gulf Times

Friday, March 26, 2021

European Union leaders met yesterday to navi-gate a common path out

of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic as infections surge in many of their countries, seeking agreement on how to ramp up supplies of vaccines after a slow start to immunisations.

With distribution of shots un-even across the bloc and mem-ber states divided over whether to take a tougher line on vaccine exports, French President Em-manuel Macron voiced frustra-tion over national inoculation programmes that are running far behind those of Britain and the United States.

“We didn’t shoot for the stars. That should be a lesson for all of us. We were wrong to lack am-

bition, to lack the madness, I would say, to say: It’s possible, let’s do it,” he told Greek televi-sion channel ERT ahead of the summit.

As of March 23, Britain had administered nearly 46 vaccines for every 100 people, compared with under 14 per 100 in the 27-nation bloc it left last year, according to fi gures compiled by website Our World In Data.

Europe’s rollout, beset with delays, has led to a quarrel with Britain, which has imported 21mn doses made in the EU, ac-cording to an EU offi cial.

Britain says that it did a bet-ter job negotiating with manu-facturers and arranging supply chains.

The EU says it should share more, notably to help make up a massive shortfall in contracted deliveries of AstraZeneca shots.

The bloc sent slightly more

than 1mn AstraZeneca doses to Britain before February, said the EU offi cial, who declined to be named.

Highlighting the EU’s diffi -culties, US biotech Novavax is delaying signing a contract to supply its vaccine to the bloc, an EU offi cial told Reuters yester-day, due to problems sourcing some raw materials.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under pressure at home after making a U-turn on plans for an extended Easter holiday to break a third wave of Covid-19, defended the EU’s decision to procure vaccines jointly for all member states.

“Now that we see that even small diff erences in the distri-bution of vaccines cause big dis-cussions, I would not like to im-agine if some member states had vaccines and others did not,” she told German lawmakers ahead of

the summit. “That would shake the internal market to its core.”

Several countries have com-plained that vaccines are not be-ing distributed equitably, which Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz warned could cause the bloc great harm if it was not rec-tifi ed.

The EU’s executive unveiled plans on Wednesday to tighten oversight of vaccine exports that would allow greater scope to block shipments to countries with higher inoculation rates.

Brussels and London sought to cool their tensions on Wednesday, declaring that they were working “to create a win-win situation and expand vac-cine supply for all our citizens”.

Although the Commission’s proposal on vaccine exports will be discussed at the summit, it is not likely to be explicitly en-dorsed.

Several countries – includ-ing Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark – have reservations.

“If we need to have this be-cause one supplier is not deliv-ering, then I hope this is a stick which does not have to be used because it might turn out to be lose-lose,” said one EU diplo-mat.

European Parliament presi-dent David Sassoli, who spoke to the leaders at the start of the meeting, said it is vital for the bloc to remain united.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that she had briefed the leaders, with slides showing the global spread of destinations of some 77mn vaccine doses shipped from EU plants since the start of December.

This covered over 40 coun-tries.

She also said the bloc should sharply increase vaccinations given 360mn doses were sched-uled for delivery in the second quarter, up from 100mn in the fi rst, highlighting shortfalls from AstraZeneca in both peri-ods.

A draft of the summit con-clusions seen by Reuters said on vaccines that leaders would stress “the importance of ... export authorisations”, and re-affi rm that vaccine producers must be respect contractual de-livery deadlines.

However, diplomats said countries with misgivings about a tougher stand on exports would not put up strong resist-ance.

“Their message is ... please act very cautiously, in a very bal-anced way,” said one EU diplo-mat. “But there is nobody who says don’t do it.”

Covid vaccine failings cast shadow over EU summitReutersBrussels

Pakistan Day paradePresident Dr Arif Alvi (above) inspects the guard of honour during the military parade in Pakistan to mark Pakistan’s National Day.

Right: Army paratroopers perform during the military parade in Islamabad.

Soldiers fire rounds during the military parade in Islamabad to mark Pakistan’s National Day.A Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft performs during the parade.

Militant in Pearl case to leave prisonAFPIslamabad

A British-born militant sentenced to death for the murder of American

journalist Daniel Pearl was or-dered to be let out of prison by a Pakistan court yesterday, in the latest twist to a legal saga span-ning nearly two decades.

The court said, however, that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh should remain in custody in ac-commodation similar to that given to prison staff while an-other appeal is considered.

Sheikh and three accomplices have been behind bars since 2002 when they were convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Pearl – at the time the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.

Since then they have won and lost a series of appeals and coun-ter-appeals in connection with the case, with a top court last year overturning their murder convictions.

That decision meant they had completed their sentences on the kidnapping charge, and the court in January ordered them to be released.

They were kept in custody, however, as the provincial and federal governments – as well as Pearl’s family – launched an-other petition to keep them be-hind bars.

Yesterday the court said they should be confi ned to prison staff accommodation.

“We are not satisfi ed with the continuous detention of this person,” Justice Umar Ata Ban-dial told the court. “The detainee Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh shall be accommodated in a govern-ment building in which offi cers of jail reside.”

Lawyers said Sheikh will likely be transferred from Karachi to Lahore, his ancestral home.

International Monetary Fund okays $500mn disbursement to Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that it approved a $500mn disbursement to Pakistan for budget support after the IMF Executive Board completed delayed reviews of Pakistan’s $6bn loan programme.The IMF said in a statement that the latest payment brought total disbursements under the Extended Fund Facility to $2bn since the programme was first approved in July 2019.“The Pakistani authorities have continued to make satisfactory progress under the Fund-supported programme, which has been an important policy anchor during an unprecedented period,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement.“While the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to pose challenges, the authorities’ policies have been critical in supporting the economy and saving lives and livelihoods,” she said.The disbursement was made after Pakistan cleared up an issue with data on government guarantees dating back to the 2016 fiscal year that had been reported inaccurately and put the government in non-compliance with the programme.The IMF said that the Pakistani authorities had taken strong corrective actions to address institutional shortcomings, including a lack of inter-agency co-ordination, to correct the issue. – Reuters

Watchdog probes UK ex-PM CameronAFPLondon

A British watchdog said yesterday that it is in-vestigating former prime

minister David Cameron over possible breaches of lobbying laws in his role as an adviser to bankrupt fi nancial fi rm Greensill Capital.

The probe follows reports ex-Conservative Party leader Cam-eron, who led Britain from 2010 to 2016, asked the fi nance minis-ter, Rishi Sunak, to help Greensill access government coronavirus fi nancial support.

He is also alleged to have ap-proached the Bank of England seeking support for the com-pany, which fell into administra-tion earlier this month, getting emergency loans.

Cameron is believed to have held share options in Greensill potentially worth tens of mil-lions of pounds, according to several newspaper reports.

“Following media reports, the Registrar of Consultant Lob-byists is investigating whether Mr David Cameron has engaged in unregistered consultant lob-bying,” the watchdog said in a statement. “Once it is complete, an investigation summary will be published on the Offi ce of the Registrar of Consultant Lobby-ists website.”

Under a 2014 law passed by Cameron’s own government, it is an off ence for someone who is not a registered lobbyist to di-rectly lobby ministers or senior civil servants, with fi nes of up to £7,500 ($10,295, €8,739).

The Sunday Times has report-ed the former UK premier sent a number of texts to Sunak’s pri-vate phone, as well as the Bank of England, asking for help as Greensill tried to access the gov-ernment’s Covid Corporate Fi-nancing Facility (CCFF).

However, individuals do not need to register to lobby for their own companies, and Cameron was an employee at Greensill, according to reports.

There was no immediate re-sponse from Cameron or his of-fi ce when contacted by AFP.

Pilots survive military jet crash in England

Two pilots are alive and undergoing medical checks after ejecting from a British military jet in southwest England, which later crashed into a field.The pilots did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said a spokeswoman for Cornwall Air Ambulance, which responded to the reports of a crash at 0948 GMT.The UK’s ministry of defence said yesterday that an investigation will start into the incident involving a Royal Navy Hawk aircraft that was based not far from the site of the crash in Helston, on the tip of England’s most westerly point.“Two pilots are being checked by medics after ejecting from a Royal Navy Hawk aircraft,” the ministry said in a statement.Media reports say that the crew ejected before the plane went down in a field.Hawks are twin-seat fast jet aircraft which are usually used for training purposes. – Reuters.

One of the few paintings by Vincent Van Gogh still in private hands, Street Scene

in Montmartre, was sold for over €13mn yesterday at auction after going on public display for the fi rst time this week, Sotheby’s said.

The painting – which emerged after a century spent in the same collection and has not been exhib-ited in public since it was painted in 1887 – fetched €13.091mn ($15.414mn), Sotheby’s said.

Reaching well above the esti-mate of €5-8mn, Sotheby’s said the sale price was a record for the artist in France.

The sale of the painting was the highlight of an auction of 33 works from masters including Degas, Magritte, Modigliani, Klee, Rodin and his muse Camille Claudel sold in an auction live-streamed by Sotheby’s in Paris.

The painting was reoff ered at the end of the sale in Paris after the auction house scrapped its in-itial sale earlier in the afternoon – where it fetched a slightly higher sale price – due to problems with online bidding.

Other highlights included the sale of a recently restituted work by Camille Pissarro, La Recolte des pois, which fetched €3.382mn.

It had been originally commis-sioned by Van Gogh’s brother, Theo.

Francis Picabia’s La Corrida

meanwhile fetched €3.152mn.The 1887 work by the Dutch

post-Impressionist master, one of more than 200 paintings he produced during two years spent in Paris, portrays one of the windmills that dotted Montmar-tre when it was still just a village on the northern outskirts of the capital.

A couple stroll and two children play in front of a wooden fence and

leafl ess trees depicted in the char-acteristic tan and brown tones of his “Dutch palette”, punctuated by a bright red fl ag blowing above the mill.

The period marked a turning point in Van Gogh’s career as he began exploring expressionist techniques and new uses of colour in the fi nal years of his life, before his suicide in 1890 at the age of 37.

Street Scene in Montmartre is

not deemed one of his best works.The last Van Gogh sold at a

public auction, Labourer in a Field from 1889, went for $81mn at a New York sale in 2017.

Specialists knew of the work but it was only catalogued as a black-and-white photograph and was acquired by a French family around 1920.

The buyer’s identity has not been divulged.

Rarely-seen Van Gogh painting sells for more than €13mnAFPParis

Exhibition spanning 15 years of Banksy career opens in Brussels

An exhibition of work by British street artist Banksy opened yesterday in Brussels with 17 original artworks brought together for the first time in Belgium.Spanning 15 years of Banksy’s career, the works on dis-play are certified by Pest Control, the only authentication authority recognised by the artist.

Banksy, who keeps his identity a secret, has not author-ised the exhibition itself.Led by gallery owner, Banksy collector and computer scientist Deodato Salafia, 51, the Deodato Art Gallery opened in November, days before Belgium went into another coronavirus lockdown. – Reuters

By Michael Spence, Joseph E Stiglitz and Jayati GhoshNew York

The United States expects to “celebrate independence” from Covid-19 by Independence Day

(July 4), when vaccines will have been made available to all adults. But for many developing countries and emerging markets, the end of the crisis is a long way off . As we show in a report for the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s (INET) Commission on Global Economic Transformation, achieving a rapid global recovery requires that all countries be able to declare independence from the virus.

Because the coronavirus mutates, it will put everyone at risk as long as it continues to fl ourish anywhere in the world. It is thus critical that vaccines, personal protective equipment, and therapeutics be distributed everywhere as quickly as possible. Insofar as today’s supply constraints are the result of a poorly designed international intellectual-property regime, they are essentially artifi cial.

While IP reform in general is long overdue, what is needed most urgently now is suspension or pooling of the IP rights attached to products needed to fi ght Covid-19. Many countries are pleading for this, but corporate lobbies in advanced economies have resisted, and their governments have succumbed to myopia. The rise of “pandemic nationalism” has exposed a number of defi ciencies in the global trade, investment, and IP regimes (which the INET Commission will address in a later report).

Advanced economies, especially the US, have acted forcefully to reignite their economies and support vulnerable businesses and households. They have learned, even if only briefl y, that austerity is deeply counterproductive in such crises. Most developing countries, however, are struggling to obtain the funds to maintain existing support programmes, let alone absorb the additional costs imposed by the pandemic. While the US has spent some 25% of GDP to support its economy (thereby greatly containing the magnitude of the downturn), developing countries have been able to spend only a small fraction of that.

Our calculations, based on World Bank data, show that at nearly $17,000 per capita, US spending has been some 8,000 times higher than that of the least-developed countries.

Beyond unleashing their fiscal firepower, developed countries

would help themselves and the global recovery by pursuing three policies. First, they should push for a large issuance of special drawing rights, the International Monetary Fund’s global reserve asset. As matters stand, the IMF could immediately issue about $650 billion in SDRs without seeking approval from member-state legislatures. And the expansionary effect could be boosted significantly if rich countries were to transfer their disproportionately larger allocations to countries in need of cash.

The second set of actions also involves the IMF, owing to its large role in shaping macroeconomic policies in the developing world, particularly in countries that have turned to it for help with balance-of-payments problems. In an encouraging sign, the IMF has actively supported the pursuit of massive, prolonged fi scal packages by the US and the European Union, and has even recognised the need for enhanced public spending in developing countries, despite the adverse external conditions.

But when it comes to setting the terms for loans to countries facing balance-of-payments stress, the IMF’s actions are not always consistent with its statements. An Oxfam International analysis of recent and ongoing standby agreements fi nds that between March and September 2020, 76 of the 91 IMF loans negotiated with 81 countries required public-expenditure cuts that could undermine healthcare systems and pension schemes, freeze wages

for public-sector workers (including doctors, nurses, and teachers), and reduce unemployment insurance, sick pay, and other social benefi ts. Austerity – especially cutbacks in these vital areas – won’t work any better for developing countries than it would for developed ones. And more assistance, including the SDR proposals discussed above, would give these countries additional fi scal space.

Lastly, developed countries could orchestrate a comprehensive response to the overwhelming debt problems many countries are facing. Money spent servicing debt is money that is not helping countries fi ght the virus and restart their economies. In the early stages of the pandemic, it was hoped that a suspension of debt servicing for developing countries and emerging markets would suffi ce. But it has now been over a year, and some countries need comprehensive debt restructuring, rather than the usual Band-Aids that merely set the stage for another crisis in a few years.

There are a number of ways that creditor governments can facilitate such restructurings and induce more active participation from the private sector, which so far has been relatively recalcitrant. As the INET Commission’s report emphasises, if there were ever a time to recognise the principles of force majeure and necessity, this is it. Countries should not be forced to pay back what they cannot aff ord, especially when doing so would cause so much suff ering.

The policies described here would be of enormous benefi t to the developing world and would come at little or no cost to developed countries. Indeed, it is in these countries’ enlightened self-interest to do what they can for people in developing countries and emerging markets, especially when what they can do is readily available and would bring enormous benefi ts to billions. Political leaders in the developed world must recognise that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and that a healthy global economy is not possible without a strong recovery everywhere. — Project Syndicate

(This commentary is also signed by Rob Johnson, Rohinton Medhora, Dani Rodrik, and other members of the Commission on Global Economic Transformation at the Institute for New Economic Thinking).

Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Emeritus Professor at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Joseph E Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate

in economics, is University Professor at Columbia University and a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation. Jayati Ghosh, Executive Secretary of

International Development Economics Associates, is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation.

Gulf Times Friday, March 26, 2021

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CHAIRMANAbdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFFaisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing Editor

K T Chacko

Empowering kids with digital accessneed of the hour

Proper digital access is no game for children, it is a right that each and every country should guarantee, according to a UN watchdog.

Images of children huddled in store parking lots to access the Wi-Fi needed for their online schoolwork have been common during the pandemic, while predators have long stalked children in online chatrooms.

In its fi rst such analysis, the Committee on the Rights of the Child found that countries are responsible for rectifying such situations by ensuring children have “meaningful” and safe access to digital technologies.

“Governments really need to think about giving as much access to the digital environment as possible to all children,” committee member Philip Jaff e told AFP.

“Not only to protect them but to empower them.”“We are in a societal transformation phase,” he pointed out,

insisting that “we must make sure that the human factor doesn’t get lost in these huge technological advances.”

The committee highlighted the obligations of governments to ensure children have equal access to the digital technologies like those that over the past pandemic year have become vital to education.

If digital inclusion is not achieved, existing inequalities are likely to increase and new ones may arise,” it warned.

Jaff e acknowledged that currently at least, “a world standard is really impossible”, since countries had diff erent means to provide digital access to their children.

“But it is important that we keep promoting this non-discrimination approach worldwide.”

Tasked with monitoring implementation

of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the panel’s 18 independent experts spent two years consulting with governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society and children.

They spoke with more than 700 children and young people, aged between nine and 22, across 27 countries, to get a feel for how digital technology was impacting their rights.

They concluded that states should take robust legislative and administrative measures to protect children from “harmful and untrustworthy content”.

Children, they said, needed to be protected from all forms of violence in the digital environment, including from child traffi cking, gender-based violence, cyber-aggression, cyber-attacks and information warfare.

“It is a dangerous world in the digital world for many children. It is very unregulated,” Jaff e said.

He lamented that there were relatively easy ways to ensure more digital safety for children, but that “nobody feels compelled to do so because there is no legal requirement to do it”.

Countries should strive to introduce verifi able age requirements for diff erent online content, in the same way as they have imposed age limits at movie theatres.

“That technology exists,” he said. “These are easy things to do.”There should also be more monitoring of chat rooms

frequented by youths and functions like direct messaging — often used by predators — should be disabled for users under a certain age.

He stressed the need for more regulation to “nudge commercial entities and the business sector towards responsible content,” including a requirement to conduct risk assessments whenever new websites or programmes are off ered to children.

“The idea is to have regulator oversight to make sure that access is broad, that bad business practices are mitigated to a certain extent (and) that children are protected.”

The committee also highlighted the growing importance of protecting children’s privacy, urging countries to introduce laws barring private companies from making money from collecting children’s digital data records.

Jaff e pointed to the dangers of all the data already accumulating about children well before they reach adulthood.

“Some companies may have data on their sexual development, on their masturbation habits or health issues … that will hinder their capacity to fi nd jobs or get healthcare.”

“Privacy of the data is really paramount.” — AFP

Countries should strive to introduce verifi able age requirements for diff erent online content

Avoiding a K-shaped global recovery

What is a K-shaped recovery?

A K-shaped recovery occurs when an economy recuperates unevenly, and there’s a separate trajectory for two segments of the society. While the financial markets recover and grow, the real economy, or the flow of goods and services, gets worse.

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH11Gulf Times

Friday, March 26, 2021

Gambling: a sin and agrave harm to mankind

Islamic ruling onraffl e-tickets

Many social problems result from loans because many people overlook the etiquettes which

Islam legislated for the debtor and the creditor, and should the debtors and the creditors adhere to such etiquettes, then many problems would be solved.

Some of these etiquettes regarding the creditor are to delay the debtor who is unable to pay on due time and to drop the debt from the needy. On the other hand, the debtor should rush and repay the loan as soon as he is able to and not to procrastinate repayment. In this article we will address what is related to the creditor and matters pertaining to the debtor.

The Creditor:Giving respite to the debtor: When

the time of repayment is due, then the one who was kind to his brother and loaned him some money should remember the Saying of Allah (which means): “And if someone is in hardship, then [let there be] postponement until [a time of] ease. But if you give [from your right as] charity, then it is better for you, if you only knew.” [Qur’an 2: 280].

In this verse, Allah enjoins patience and tolerance for the one who is poor and cannot repay on time and that the creditor should postpone the deadline. This command came to change the old practice during pre-Islamic era were the creditor used to say to the debtor: “Either you pay or I start calculating interest on the loan”. Also, the verse comes directly after the verses addressing the issue of Riba (i.e. interest and usury) in which Allah Says (what means): “O you who have believed, fear Allah and give up what remains [due to you] of interest, if you should be believers. And if you do not, then be informed of a war [against you] from Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent, you may have your principal-[thus] you do no wrong, nor are you wronged.” [Qur’an 2: 278-279]. Allah did not specify the type of war He would wage against those who deal with Riba; whether it is in the form of affl icting them with diseases, making them suff er famine and poverty or a military war.

Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam (may Allah exalt his mention), said: “May Allah show mercy to a man who adopts a kind attitude when he sells, buys and demands for the repayment of loans.” [Al-Bukhari] This person deserved the mercy of Allah because he dealt with people kindly and postponed the one who could not repay him and whenever asked for his money, he demanded it gently with kind words as not to hurt the feelings of the debtor.

These Prophetic narrations deeply aff ected the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and they

acted upon them. ‘Abdullah Ibn Abu Qatadah, may Allah be pleased with them, reported: “My father (i.e. Abu Qatadah) went to a man who was indebted to him, so the debtor hid from him. Later, Abu Qatadah saw the debtor and requested his money but the later informed him that he could not repay him because he did not possess the money and that his fi nancial situation was very worse. Upon hearing this, Abu Qatadah asked the man saying; ‘Are you really in a tight situation?’ The man responded with the affi rmative. Thereupon my father said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, saying: “He who likes Allah to deliver him from the calamities of the Day of Resurrection, let him either give respite to a debtor or grant him remission (of loans) in straitened circumstances.” Then he cried” [Muslim]

In another narration, he, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “He who gives respite to someone who is in straitened circumstances, or grants him remission, Allah will shelter him in the shade of His Throne, on the Day

of Resurrection, when there will be no shade except His shade.” [At-Tirmithi]

Abu Qatadah, may Allah be pleased with him, was not the only one who behaved in such a manner. Rather, this was the way the entire community of the Companions may Allah be pleased with them dealt with each other.

Many of the companions delayed the debtors who could not pay on time for long periods, and in many cases they even dropped and waived the entire debt altogether.

This was so because they lived the Prophetic narrations practically in their lives. Some of them used to lend others just to get the reward mentioned in some narrations like the saying of the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam,: “Any Muslim who lends another Muslim twice will get a reward as if he has spent this money in charity.” Another narration that was an encouraging factor is the saying of the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam: “He who gives respite to someone who is in straitened circumstances, will get a reward as if he has spent this amount in charity for every day he delays him until its due

date, and after it becomes due he will get double such reward.”

Giving respite and delaying those in tough situations can be the reason of rescuing oneself from Hell. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “There was a person who used to loan money to the people and he used to say to his servant: `When an insolvent person comes to you, show him leniency so that Allah may forbear our faults. ` So when he met Allah (i.e., when he died), Allah forgave him.” [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Abu Mas`ood Al-Badri, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “A person from amongst the people who lived before you was called to account by Allah on the Day of Resurrection. No good deeds were found in his credit except that he, being a rich man, had (fi nancial) dealings with people and had commanded his servants to show leniency to those who were in straitened circumstances. Upon this, Allah, the Exalted and Majestic Said: ‘I am more entitled to this attribute, so waive (his faults).’” [Muslim]

The abovementioned verses and narrations are a great encouragement for the creditor to postpone and give respite to the debtors who cannot repay on time due to their strenuous situations. They are messages to the rich who lend others and embarrass them and humiliate them, and may even be the cause for their imprisonment. Indeed, the creditor has the right to do so, but Allah Says (what means): “… but whoever pardons and makes reconciliation, then his reward is [due] from Allah …” [Qur’an 42: 40]

Undoubtedly, the reward from Allah is far better than money which is an interim pleasure.

The Debtor:Repaying the creditor on time: The

debtor should take initiative to repay the creditor as soon as the loan is due. If the debtor is fi nancially unable to repay it all, then at least he should start paying in instalments if he possesses the money to do so. One should rush in repayment, because loans will be a hard thing on him in his grave.

Repaying in the best manner: The debtor should repay in the best manner. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: “A harsh Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, asking him to repay a young camel he, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, had borrowed from this Bedouin. The Bedouin used harsh words when he was demanding his money, so the Companions were about to strike him for doing so, but the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Leave him! Indeed a creditor has the right to demand it (i.e. his loan)”

the Companions could not fi nd a young camel among the brought ones (from Zakah) to match the level of that which was borrowed, and informed the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, that all the camels were of the best type. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Give it to him, for it is the best of all people who pays back in the best manner.”’ [Muslim]. In another narration narrated by Abu Sa’eed may Allah be pleased with him the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, told the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, who were enraged with the Bedouin: “You should side with the one who is demanding his right”

Unfortunately, nowadays people hardly side with the one demanding his right, and in some cases even judges deprive people from their rights, and receive bribes to side with the debtor instead of siding with the creditor … woe to them and what a severe punishment awaits them in Hell on the Day of Judgment.

When the Bedouin saw the good manner in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, repaid him, he thanked him, and thereupon the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “These are the best type of people (i.e. who repay in the best manner). There is no good in a nation whose poor cannot take their rights from their rich without being harassed”. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said this because sometimes the poor might get his right back but only after he suff ers and is delayed and is put in embarrassing situations.

Additionally, the debtor must rely on Allah in his attempt to repay the creditor. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “A man from the children of Israeli asked another to lend him one thousand Deenars. The second said, ‘I want a surety witness’ the former replied, ‘Allah is suffi cient as a surety witness’. The second said, you are right, and he lent him the money for an appointed time. The debtor went across the sea, and when he fi nished his job, he searched for a conveyance so that he might reach in time for the repayment of the debt, but he could not fi nd any. So, he took a piece of wood, made a hole in it, inserted in it one thousand Deenars and a letter to the lender and then closed (i.e. sealed) the hole tightly. He took the piece of wood to the sea and said: “O Allah! You Know very well that I took a loan of one thousand Deenars from so-and-so. He demanded a surety from me but I told him that Allah’s Guarantee was suffi cient, and he accepted Your Guarantee. He then asked for a witness and I told him that Allah was suffi cient as a witness, and he accepted You as a witness. No doubt, I tried hard to fi nd a conveyance so that I could pay his

money but I could not fi nd any, so I hand over this money to You” Saying that, he threw the piece of wood into the sea till it went out far into it, and then he went away. Meanwhile he started searching for a conveyance in order to reach the creditor’s country.

One day the lender came out of his house to see whether a ship had arrived bringing his money, and all of a sudden he saw the piece of wood (i.e. the one in which his money had been deposited). He took it home to use for fire. When he sawed it, he found his money and the letter inside it. Shortly after that, the debtor came bringing one thousand Deenars to him and said, By Allah, I had been trying hard to get a boat so that I could bring you your money, but failed to get one before the one I have come by. The lender asked, have you sent something to me? The debtor replied, `I have told you I could not get a boat other than the one I have come by. The lender said, `Allah has delivered on your behalf the money you sent in the piece of wood. So, you may keep your one thousand Deenars so depart guided on the right path”. [Al-Bukhari]

This is the consequence of relying on Allah, and when one’s intention is sincere in repayment, then Allah will assist him in his attempt. The problem that faces many indebted people is that they are not truly sincere in their intention to repay the debt to the creditor and thus they become deprived of the assistance of Allah.

Procrastinating payment: Some debtors delay and procrastinate for no need even when they have the money to repay, but he acts so mean and low and pays back in instalments to the creditor. One might have a debt of fi fty thousand for example, and starts repaying fi ve hundred every month, other months he might pay only two hundred, and a third month he would pay a thousand and so on, despite him having the entire amount, but he just wants the creditor to give up on him and his debt, and this is extreme stinginess.

Such people make the creditor appear like the poor person who is chasing after money, whilst it is his right. He forces him in some cases to beg him to repay, so that he (i.e. the creditor) can fulfi l his own obligations which he might have arranged their payment based on the agreed upon promise of repayment from the debtor.

Finally, it is recommended that the debtor says nice words of gratitude to the creditor upon repaying him as this softens the heart and encourages the creditor to loan others in the future.

Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/

Etiquettes related to debt and loaning

Before the advent of Islam, like other many-sided evils, gambling was also on the increase. The Arabian

society, plagued by ignorance and illiteracy as it was, had also fallen prey to this evil. Gambling fairs were held, and the rich and poor took part in them according to their means.

Drinking bouts were also held. People tried their fortunes for many days. Many times these gatherings, which began with drinking and gambling ended in fights and riots. Besides Arabia, many other countries had also come within this vicious circle.

In the Roman, Egyptian and Greek culture, gambling was not only approved, but it was regarded as a mark of one’s opulence. Even cultures permeated by religion did not realise the great evils hidden in gambling.

The Jewish and Christian civilisations fl ourished. But history shows that they were not successful in rooting out this evil. They even failed to arouse public opinion against it. In proof of this, we can cite the example of Monte Carlo, the greatest gambling house in Monaco.

When Islam came, it described the evils of gambling in the most effective language and prohibited it for Muslims. In the Noble Qur’an, Allah Almighty Says (what means): “O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.” [Qur’an 5:90]

Gambling is mentioned in the Qur’an, alongside drinking alcohol as an abomination, a sin, and a

grave harm to mankind. It was made clear that prosperity does not come through gambling. Gambling, among many other things, causes families to break, societies to suffer, and the economy to deteriorate, damaging the ethical foundation of any decent society.

Since the Arabs had been habituated to gambling for a long period of time, as was the case with alcohol, Allah revealed His Commandments regarding its prohibition only gradually. In the Qur’an, the first verse regarding gambling is found in Soorah (chapter) Al-Baqarah (The Cow).

The meaning of that verse is: “They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” And they ask you what they should spend. Say, “The excess [beyond needs].” Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought.” [Qur’an 2:219]

This verse did not clearly condemn and prohibit gambling. It was only said that sometimes the gambler gains money without any eff ort, but its moral evil is so great that a few material advantages are of no account. In the Hadeeth (narrations of the Prophet ), it is recorded that when this verse was revealed, many Muslims totally gave up wine and gambling without waiting for the command of their prohibition to come later on in the gradual process. They quickly realised that something, which is predominantly disadvantageous cannot meet with the approval of Islam.

The position of Islam on gambling was made clearer through another verse, which means:

“O who you believe! Intoxicants

(e.g. alcohol) and gambling and idols and (lottery by) arrows are an abomination of Satan’s work, so avoid them so that you may get salvation. Satan’s only desire is to create among you enmity and hatred by means of intoxicants and gambling and stop you from praying and remembering Allah. Will you not then desist?” [Qur’an 5:90-91]

It is a basic principle of Islam that man must not take that which he has not earned or worked for, as well as fairness and justice. Indeed, the word “gambling” in the Qur’an’s Arabic language is derived from a root word that literally means “easy,” and “something attained with no effort.”

The Noble Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alahi wa sallam, said: “Whosoever says to his companion: ‘Come let us play a game of chance’, should give charity (as atonement).” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

It connotes that a mere invitation to gambling is such a serious sin as to warrant atonement thereof by charity. Then just imagine the position of a man who indulges in gambling. The Prophet further said: “Whosoever plays backgammon is as if he dyes his hands with the flesh of swine and its blood.” [Muslim]

Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya has reported Yahya Ibn Katheer as saying: “Allah’s Messenger passed by some people playing backgammon and said, “Their hearts are preoccupied in sport, their hands are ill and (their) tongues make absurd utterances. Every game which involves gambling or mischief is a game of chance (Maisir).”

Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/

The practice of raffl e-tickets amounts to gambling. One of the arguments in favour of raffl e tickets is that the scheme

is widely used for philanthropic causes. It must be borne in mind that in Arabia, gambling in the times when the Qur’an was being revealed was no exception.

In fact, owing to its “philanthropic aspect”, gambling was considered a boon rather than a bane. The rich would indulge in drinking and gambling and would give whatever they won to the poor. Indeed, the abstainer was regarded as niggardly. However, the Qur’an very clearly pointed out that the moral corruption that ensues from such activities is greater than whatever benefi t they provide. Allah Says (what means):

“They ask you (O Muhammad) about gambling and drinking. Say: ‘There is great sin in both and also some benefi t for people, but their sin is greater than their benefi t.’” [Qur’an 2:219]

Of this moral corruption, one aspect particularly worth mentioning is that these so-called philanthropic schemes develop the attitude of selfi shness and indiff erence. In an Islamic society, Infaaq (spending in the way of Allah) is a basic value. The destitute, therefore, are the direct responsibility of the society and their problems cannot be left to the mere adjustments of demand and supply as in the laissez faire concept.

It should be impossible for a Muslim to sleep with the peace of mind, if he fi nds out that his neighbour had not been able to eat owing to poverty. Destitution, poverty, misery and disease should be suffi cient enough as reasons for impelling a Muslim to spend whatever he can spare. ‘Spend in the way of Allah that you may be rewarded in the Hereafter’. ‘Spend in the way of Allah that you may enter the Kingdom of Heaven’. Such adages used to be the underlying reason for Infaaq. Should spending be: “that you may get

a refrigerator (or a deep-freezer or a VCR)”? Or “that you may win tickets to a concert?”

Millions are spent merely on organising these “philanthropic” schemes – millions that could be directly spent on the poor – and thousands are spent by the gentry on the apparel they need for just one such occasion. It is the height of indiff erence, prodigality and selfi shness that a person who can aff ord to spend thousands on buying tickets to the concert and thousands on new clothes for the function is not motivated to spend in the way of Allah by the misery of a fellow human being and by the reward in the Hereafter.

The mere knowledge that a human being is in need of what a Muslim can spare should give the Muslim sleepless nights. Yet, there are Muslims who can spare millions but do not take out a penny unless they are certain of a news items and a photograph lauding their altruism.

Allah, the Most High, Says in the Qur’an (what means):

“Those who spend their wealth by night and day, in secret and in public, shall have their reward with their Lord. On them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.” [Qur’an 2:274] and (what means):

“You shall not attain piety until you spend out of that which you love. Whatever good you spend Allah knows well.” [Qur’an 3:92]

‘Abdul-’Azeez Ibn ‘Umayr, one of the Salaf (our righteous predecessors), may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Salaat (prayer) will help you reach half the way, fasting helps you reach the door of The King (Allah), and charity allows you to enter into the King’s company (Paradise).”

Their manners (i.e. our Salaf) were to smile cheerfully at the face of the beggar and not to suspect him. They would always think that he only begged out of dire need.

Sufyaan Ath-Thawri, may Allah have

mercy upon him, used to be overjoyed if he saw a beggar at his door, saying, “Welcome to the one who has come to wash my sins.”

Al-Fudhayl Ibn ‘Iyaadh, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Beggars are such good people! They carry our provision to the Afterlife … until they place it on the scale in front of Allah, The Most High.”

The Qur’an says (what means):“O you who believe! Do not mar

your almsgiving by reminders of your generosity and by hurting the feelings [of the one you helped], like the one who spends his wealth to be seen by men but believes neither in Allah nor the Final Day.” [Qur’an 2:264] and (what means):

“If you disclose your alms-giving, it is well; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, that is better for you. (Allah) will expiate you some of your sins. And Allah is Well-Acquainted with what you do. “ [Qur’an 2:271]

When a concert or a refrigerator, not the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ becomes the reason for spending, it means that the whole foundation of moral values, which are so essential to an Islamic society, has been impaired to the extent that the edifi ce that rests on it may collapse in the wake of the mildest of storms.

The sole motive behind charity should be concern for others and the reward in the Hereafter, not a concert or a refrigerator. Loss of values means the death of society. Loss of the spirit of Infaaq – a basic value in an Islamic society – means the death of Islamic society. That must never be.

Allah Says (what means):“Those who spend of their wealth [in

charity] by night and by day, in secret and in public have their reward with their Lord. For them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” [Qur’an 2:274]

Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/

QATARGulf Times Friday, March 26, 202112

HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie has visited the introductory pavilion of Expo 2023

Doha, located within the ministry’s pavilion at the ongo-ing Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) and Qatar International Environmental Exhibition (En-viroteQ) at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC).

HE the Minister was accompanied on a tour of the pa-vilion by Mohamed Ali al-Khoury, the secretary-general of the Horticultural Expo 2023 Doha and chairman of the exhibition organising committee.

During the visit, HE al-Subaie was briefed on the ef-forts made to host Expo 2023 Doha under the theme Green Desert, Better Environment from October 2023 until March 28, 2024, hosting 179 days of celebrations during the moderate Qatari winter, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) said in a statement yesterday.

Expo 2023 Doha will be hosted at Al Bidda Park and is expected to attract more than 3mn visitors from over 80 countries, the statement notes.

It will enhance co-operation and exchange of knowl-edge between countries, and address fundamental and sensitive issues related to healthy lifestyles, environ-ment-friendly green economy, sustainable lifestyle, as well as education and innovation.

Meanwhile, AgriteQ and EnviroteQ continues at the DECC, having “great resonance among workers in the agricultural and environmental sectors and attracting in-terested people from various countries despite being held this year under exceptional circumstances”, the statement adds.

Minister visits Expo 2023 Doha pavilion

Below: HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie visiting the Expo 2023 Doha pavilion. (Supplied picture)

Left: A section of AgriteQ-EnviroteQ 2021 at the DECC yesterday.PICTURE: Thajudheen

Acting charge d’aff aires at the Qatar embassy in El Salvador, Tariq Othman

al-Othman, has participated in the opening ceremony of El Es-pino School in El Salvador’s mu-nicipality of Comasagua,

The school was built with the support of the Qatar govern-ment.

The opening coincides with the imminent start of the return of students to schools that were closed due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The ceremony was attended by El Salvador Education Minis-ter Karla Hanania.

Qatar provided this support after the tropical storm, fl oods and torrents that struck El Salva-dor in 2011, and destroyed much of the infrastructure.

The construction of El Espino School is not the fi rst project that benefi ted from Qatar’s support.

Qatar has also provided hu-manitarian aid to El Salvador through the Qatar Fund for De-velopment to help it address the eff ects of the Covid-19.

In her speech on this occa-sion, Minister Hanania thanked the Qatar government for this

support, helping to purchase the land on which the school was built.

In a speech on this occasion, al-Othman said that the support provided by the Qatar govern-ment contributed to the pur-chase of the land, as well as the design of facilities that include teaching halls for the stages of basic education and pre-school education, and the buildings housing the administration, computer lab and the special section for preparing meals and the entertainment centre, as well as purchasing equipment, furni-ture and computers.

This project, he added, is the result of a joint eff ort between the Qatar embassy and El Salva-dor’s ministry of education.

Al-Othman reiterated Qatar’s commitment to continue sup-porting the people of El Salvador and promoting the educational development of Salvadoran chil-dren.

Kela expressed happiness on behalf of her fellow students.

“Our municipality is modest and simple, but it has a vision for the future, and we know that only through education can we change our lives,” she said, ex-pressing thanks and appreciation to Qatar for helping to build their new school.

Qatar University (QU) honoured fi ve distin-guished students at its

activities and sports building recently in the presence of uni-versity staff and students.

The students had won awards at the 14th Education Excellence Day.

The fi ve students include Nora Essa Ali Hussain al-Ansari and Shaheen Essa al-Nuaimi from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Hamad Abdullah Tayyis Abdullah al-Jumaili from the College of Law, who won gold in the university graduate category.

Nasser Mohamed Nasir al-Habab al-Hajri, a student of the College of Law Master’s pro-gramme, received an award in the literary category.

Ahmed Abdullah Ali al-Jabir al-Buainain, a College of Engi-neering Master’s student, re-ceived an award in the scientifi c category.

On the occasion, QU presi-dent Dr Hassan al-Derham said: “Excellence … requires great eff ort, patience, determination and willpower to reach.

“We are proud to honour our students for their excellence. As we strive for excellence, we should consider it as a lifetime goal.”

He said that the QU is working on new programmes that help bring out the best in students, which are rich in knowledge and provides support in scientifi c fi elds.

The honouring of the fi ve will encourage other students to fol-low them by actively participat-ing in the development of Qatar towards achieving Qatar Na-tional Vision 2030.

The Qatar University presi-dent also said that the university is “dedicated to achieving more in the future”.

The QU has maintained its international rankings and over-come many obstacles thanks to an “excellent and highly-fl exi-ble management”.

Dr Iman Mostafawi, QU vice-president for Student Aff airs, said: “We are happy to see our students being honoured in dif-ferent categories.

“Their achievement refl ects the support being provided by

the university, which enables them to achieve their distinc-tion in leadership and self-de-velopment.

“We congratulate our gradu-ates and their families once again on this event.

“The value of their eff orts

encourage them to continue achieving their personal aspi-rations to serve themselves for their country.”

Honours for QU students awarded for excellenceQU president Dr Hassan al-Derham says the university is ‘dedicated to achieving more in the future’

Below: Dr al-Derham and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences with student Nora al-Ansari.

Left: QU president Dr al-Derham and dean of the College of Engineering with Master’s student al-Buainain.

Dr al-Derham (above): We are proud to honour our students for their excellence.

El Espino School in El Salvador opened with support from QatarQNADoha

Acting charge d’aff aires at the Qatar embassy in El Salvador, Tariq Othman al-Othman.

The school and its facilities were built with support from the Qatar government.

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q)’s Gianni Di Caro is using artifi cial intelli-

gence (AI) and a fl eet of autonomous marine robots to explore the marine environment around Qatar.

Di Caro, who is leading a team of researchers, is an associate teach-ing professor at the CMU-Q, a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university.

To better understand marine en-vironments, researchers create in-formation maps of data like depth, water quality and salinity.

This information is critical for a country like Qatar, which balances off shore oil and gas operations with the preservation and sustainability of a fragile marine ecosystem, the CMU-Q has said in a statement.

Typically, information maps are created by sending, every few

months, one big, manually-operated boat to sample data at pre-defi ned points.

This method has serious draw-backs, including the fact that sam-pling is sequential and static.

In fact, it does not adaptively se-lect where to sample based on gath-ered evidence, since data processing is done offl ine, the CMU-Q state-ment notes.

Di Caro’s team has rethought the process: “We are using AI to co-or-dinate a fl eet of unmanned and rela-tively small aerial and marine robots to gather data over a large area.

“Using this swarm approach al-lows sampling data from diff erent locations at the same time, and con-tinually and automatically adapting the mission to freshly-gathered data, resulting in more accurate maps.”

The project is called “Teams of Aquatic/Aerial Robots for Ma-rine Environment Monitoring”, or Tarmem, and funded by a grant to the CMU-Q from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).

Di Caro’s team includes Italian investigators Filippo Arrichiello from the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, and Enrico Simetti from the University of Genova.

While the swarm approach im-proves effi ciency and accuracy in map building, it is a complex task to co-ordinate a fl eet of autonomous air and sea robots.

“One immediate complication is that the aerial vehicles run out of power relatively quickly,” said Di Caro. “We have, therefore, designed the system so the robot boats also serve as carriers and recharging sta-tions.”

“This enables us to execute mis-sions over longer periods of time, in

fully unattended modality,” he ex-plained.

Artifi cial intelligence methods are used throughout the system to co-ordinate the complexity of multiple autonomous vehicles collecting and sharing data while also navigating unpredictable environmental condi-tions.

AI methods allow for the online distributed planning of sampling activities, collision-free navigation while maintaining network connec-tivity, distributed data sharing, and seamless interaction between the ro-bots in the air and those in the water.

Because of this extensive, inno-vative use of AI methods, Tarmem was selected for the QNRF Research Outcome Seminar on Artifi cial In-telligence, and the QNRF Research Matters newsletter.

The multi-year project will next focus on validation and outdoor testing in marine environments.

AI and robots used to explore Qatar watersQNRF-funded project takes novel approach to map-building of marine environments

Left: Di Caro with one of the relatively-small aerial and marine robots used as part of the initiative.

Below: The swarm approach allows sampling data from diff erent locations at the same time, and continually adapting the mission.