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www.thepeninsula.qaVolume 24 | Number 8133

Katara to open Amber Centre as expo ends todayRAYNALD C RIVERA THE PENINSULA

The Cultural Village Foun-dation—Katara will open today a permanent centre for amber coinciding with the conclusion of the second Katara Interna-tional Kahraman Exhibition.

Located in Building 48, the Katara Centre for Amber is expected to be a meeting place for experts, amateurs and traders of amber. It will organise various activities, including training and educational work-shops, and provide a review of specifications and standards, and everything related to the quality of amber. In addition, the centre will also coordinate with international institutions in the amber industry.

Amber is fossilised resin originating from trees and the seas and the process of their formation takes thousands of years. Amber found in the Arab world is called Kahraman and beads made of natural and authentic Kahraman amber has been famous among the Arabs since ancient times.

In the Gulf region, amber has a cultural significance since the olden days specially when it comes to Islamic prayer beads.

Meanwhile, a large number of people have turned up at the expo which opened on Wednesday at Building 12.

The exhibition is marked by the participation of leading companies in the amber industry from all over the world and from Qatar. There has been a huge interest from amber enthusiasts and customers who have been excited at the large number of products on display which are available at rea-sonable prices.

“We have noticed that the exhibition is witnessing a large turnout of people and since its first launch it has succeeded in attracting attention and this is what encouraged us to partic-ipate this year for the first time,” Mohamed Larry from

Top Kahram Pavilion, a local company which offers amber stones.

This year the exhibition saw more than 90 stalls repre-senting 13 Arab and other foreign countries.

The participating coun-tries include Qatar, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Sweden, Leban o n , t h e U n i t e d Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia. Representatives of associations and interna-tional bodies specializing in amber are also taking part at the exhibition.

The exhibitors praised the invaluable opportunity pro-vided to them by the organisers to exchange experiences and ideas and to enhance cooper-ation and commercial relations between merchants from all over the world, especially with the distinguished participation of the most prominent com-panies and entities working in the field of amber, making it a major international platform that contributes to developing this sector locally. They expressed their appreciation and gratitude to Katara.

The exhibition is still open today from 9am to 1pm and 4pm to 10pm. �P3

People visitng the HBKU Press pavilion at the the 30th edition of Doha International Book Fair at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC), yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN / THE PENINSULA

SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The 30th edition of Doha Inter-national Book Fair is witnessing the largest participation of private publishing houses of Qatar through hundreds of titles of Qatari and Arab authors as well as multiple translations of foreign writers.

Among the Qatari pub-lishing houses participating in the Fair with many important books include Katara Publishing House (with 150 titles), Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press (over 100 new titles), Roza Publishing House (115 titles), Dar Al Watad (35 titles) and Lusail Publishing House with 126 titles.

Speaking to The Peninsula, Fatima Al Rifae, director of pro-duction and distribution at Lusail Publishing House said: “We are participating in the Fair with more than 120 Lusail pub-lications and through our pavilion, about 15 other pub-lishing houses are also dis-playing their books.”

She said that Lusail pavilion at the Fair offered different

types of publications like chil-dren’s books, history books and literature adding, “This is the second year in a row that Lusail Publishing House participated in the book fair. We always par-ticipate in all Arab and interna-tional book exhibitions.”

“Our pavilion includes books of Qatari writers and foreign and Arab diplomatic figures. We have publications on all subjects: philosophy, lit-erature and Qatari history. We also have books which have been translated into seven lan-guages including English, French, Russian, German, Turkish and Urdu.”

The Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press also partici-pating in the Fair for the tenth year in a row, as part of its com-mitment to encourage the love for reading and knowledge among members of society in Qatar and the Middle East.

“We are participating in the Fair with over 100 new titles in English and Arabic languages, in addition to translated works from languages around the world,” said a representative of

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press pavilion.

He further said: “The pavilion includes children’s books, health books, fiction and non-fiction, academic books and biographies. Also, books at the pavilion include translation from/to 14 languages includes English, Spanish, French, Greek and Turkish.”

The participation of the Qatari publishing houses comes along 335 other publishers from 31 countries around the world.

In the past two days, the Fair witnessed a great turnout by the public. The visitors also attended various cultural events being organised on the sidelines of the Book Fair exhibition.

This year, the Book Fair includes 797 pavilions in an area of 29,000 square metres. The number of pavilions for Arabic books is 559, repre-senting 228 publishing houses, and the number of foreign pavilions is 91 representing 35 foreign publishing houses, while the number of publishing houses for children is 72.

Defence Minister holds phone talks with Pakistan counterpartQNA — DOHA

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs H E Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah held last morning a telephone conver-sation with Federal Minister for Defence of Pakistan, H E Pervez Khattak.

During the call, they dis-cussed the latest developments in the region, and the necessity of reducing escalation, empha-sizing the importance of sta-bility in Iraq.

Qatar’s private publishing firmsmake huge presence at book fair

QNA — DOHA

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open tennis tournament has received high praise from foreign media profes-sionals who are covering the major sporting event, especially as the tournament is held annually at the start of the ATP season.

The media professionals also hailed the tournament’s pro-gramme, which includes a trip pre-pared by the organising committee for them to visit Sealine beach and dunes where they spent a full day experiencing the Qatari nature amid the wonderful climatic conditions.

The trip included, as well, a visit to the Qatar National Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art.

They also visited Qatar National Library, an important cul-tural monument in the region. Prior to that, they visited the Al Shaqab foundation and expressed great admiration for its giant equestrian sports facilities.

ASPA SPORTS’s reporter Michelle Bellemare said she is vis-iting Qatar for the first time,

expressing her great impression of the visit. She also praised the trip as enjoyable, adding that she went on the first day of the tournament to Souq Waqif, one of the oldest markets in Qatar.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open tennis championship, Bellemare praised the Qatar Tennis Federation and the pro-fessional people who handle things very smartly and provide all possi-bilities for all media, lauding the services provided at media center has all, while wishing to visit Doha again to attend Qatar Total Open championship which will be organized by the Qatari Federation next month.

Nina Pantik from tennis.com, expressed her happiness at visiting Doha and cover the tournament, which she said is one of the most important tennis tournaments in the 250-point category.

She added that this is the third time that she comes to Doha to cover Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar Total Open, while praising the services available during the championship.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open draws high praise from foreign media professionals

Corentin Moutet of France returning the ball to Stan Warwinka of Switzerland during their semi-final match of Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2020 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha yesterday. Corentin Moutet won the match and will take on Andrey Rublev of Russia in the title clash today. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

Located in Building 48, the permanent Katara Centre for Amber is expected to be a meeting place for experts, amateurs and traders of amber. It will organise various activities, including training and educational workshops, and provide a review of specifications and standards, and everything related to the quality of amber.

EU ministers back Iran deal; fear IS resurgenceAP — BRUSSELS

The EU reiterated its support for the nuclear deal brokered with Iran, also expressing concerns yesterday that the escalating tensions in the region could lead to a resurgence of the Islamic State’s activities.

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell called the urgent meeting of European foreign affairs ministers in Brussels after the US killing of Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone attack in Iraq on January 3.

Tehran responded earlier this week with missile strikes at US bases and announced it would no longer respect limits set under the 2015 nuclear deal on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium, fuelling fears Iran could quickly start building a nuclear arsenal.

“We need to understand that the fight against Daesh is not over,” said NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who attended the meeting in the EU capital and referred to an alternative name for the Islamic State group. “We have made enormous progress but Daesh can return.”

In an attempt to avoid an escalation between Iran and the United States, EU leaders have intensified diplomatic activities, trying to keep alive the nuclear deal while making sure the US-led anti-IS coalition con-tinues to operate in Iraq. �P11

Lebanon’s banks solvent but

foreign support needed

OFFICIAL NEWS

Doha: The State of Qatar strongly condemned the attack on a mili-tary base in Niger and resulted in deaths and injuries.

In a statement issued yester-day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the State of Qatar’s firm position on rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of the motives and reasons.The statement expressed the con-dolences of the State of Qatar to the families of the victims and the govern-ment and people of Niger, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured. QNA

Doha: The State of Qatar condemned the attack on a military base that includes the United Nations peace-keepers in northern Mali and resulted in injuries.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiter-ated the State of Qatar’s firm position on rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of the motives and reasons.

The statement expressed the wishes of the State of Qatar of a speedy recovery for the injured. QNA

Qatar condemns attack on Niger military camp

Qatar condemns attack on Mali military base

02 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 05.00 am 06.21 am

W A L R U WA I S : 17o↗ 19o W A L K H O R : 14o↗ 20o W D U K H A N : 15o↗ 18o W D O H A : 17o↗ 20o W M E S A I E E D 17o↗ 20o W A B U S A M R A 16o↗ 20o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 05:18 – 15:52 LOW TIDE 12:49 – 23:26

Expected thunder rain at north/strong and high sea.

Minimum Maximum17oC 20oC

ZUHR

MAGHRIB

11.42 am05.04 pm

ASR

ISHA

02.42 pm06.34 pm

Grand opening of QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games on January 16THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) and Truxtun Capital have announced the Grand Ceremony of the QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games, to be held in Khalifa International Stadium on January 16 at 8 pm to launch the long-term partnership signed on March 24, 2019.

Hosted by Aspire Zone Foundation and organised by Truxtun Capital, the QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games are honoured to invite the fans and players to its Official Global

Games Grand Ceremony to cel-ebrate Esports and live the passion of gaming and to share an epic digital experience, to witness and feel cutting edge technology in an immersive visual journey launching the QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games edition 2020, 2021 and 2022.

This alliance between AZF and Truxtun will offer 2.3 billion gamers players across the world the chance to meet, share and compete.

For this first edition, The Global Games are a unique

multi games competition fea-turing CSGO, DOTA2, Street Fighter V, and eFootball PES series. The programme includes four big moments: the Grand Ceremony DOHA at Khalifa International Stadium on the 16th of January 2020, the WEGA Champions on March 2020, fol-lowed by a world-wide online competition starting September 2020, the QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games, and the Global Games Great Final December 2020.

The WEGA Champions on March 2020, open for middle east players to compete and cel-ebrate Esports, in the state-of-the-art facilities of Aspire Zone.

The best players/teams will be entitled to a range of prizes including cash ones, Esports personal coach sessions until December 2020, and being a guest honour of the Global Games Great Final in December 2020.

The Global Games Worldwide online competition allows the best gamers/teams to qualify for the Great Final in December 2020 in Doha.

Mohammed Mubarak

Alkuwari, Chief of Marketing at AZF, commented: “On this occasion, I would like to emphasise that collaborating with Truxton Capital in this championship underpins our approach at Aspire Zone Foun-dation as we seek to expand the scope of our business in the field of sports entertainment “spor-tainment”, especially after achieving a great success in the world of professional sports, talent development, sports science and technology, and sports medicine.”

Alkuwari added: “We

always look for new concepts and innovative events, and we hope that this tournament will be an additional platform through which we highlight Qatar’s capabilities in organ-ising international events, espe-cially that the Egames industry is currently one of the most promising industries that achieve an annual growth of up to 40 %, attracting many groups, and formal federations for the Egames are being established in many countries now.”

Patrick Moynier, President of Truxtun Capital said: “We are

so proud to launch this out-standing eSports tournament in partnership with Aspire Zone.

As a Fintech company pro-viding an innovative digital financial platform, it was a stra-tegic decision to invest in a market expecting 6 billion players in the next 10 years. Looking ahead to the next FIFA World Cup, when all eyes will be on Doha, our technology and services will significantly enhance the entire player expe-rience and transform funda-mentally the esports economic model.

Principal of MES receives multiple awardsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Hameeda Kadar, Principal of MES Indian School received awards of excellence from the Gulf Council at the recently concluded 32nd CBSE Gulf Prin-cipals’ Conference held at Jaipur, India by virtue of the school’s outstanding academic results in Science, Commerce and Humanities Streams in Class XII CBSE Examination and for excelling in Class X Exami-nation held in March 2019.

The school also won the award of excellence for its creditable performance in CBSE National Sports and Games for the academic year 2019-20.

In the Class XII CBSE examination 2019, the school stood third in the Gulf region and entered the top ten position in the foreign school category as Dithi Dineshan, the school topper emerged as one among the high scoring students in the Gulf

region with 97.6 percent.“The accolades and honours

accomplished vouch for the consistency in the quality of education imparted at M.E.S, which is the outcome of the dedicated members of the school faculty and perseverance and diligence of students,” said the school principal.

The school management congratulated the principal, teachers, students and parents for this phenomenal achievement.

DPS-MIS Indian School holds 6th Alumni MeetTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The 6th Alumni Meet of DPS-MIS was held on December 17, 2019 at the School Auditorium with the motto ‘Never Forget Your Roots’ to emphasise the beauty of school life.

It was evident in the way the alumni reunited with their teachers and friends, and recalled each other with stories of the wonderful time at school.

More than 80 alumni attended the programme. They

were enthusiastically intro-duced to the event by Mohok, Arsh and Laeba with passionate anecdotes concerning school life, followed by a thrilling ‘Welcome Dance’ which ener-gised the audience.

A Tongue-Twister, which had to be repeated aloud by volunteering alumni, also added to the delight of the attendees. After a warm welcome speech by the Head Boy Faiz Asim Mohinuddin, Arya and Thuslim got the audience on their toes with the ‘Guess the Song Challenge’.

This was followed by the Alumni News Broadcast, with a humorous twist by Gandharv and Apekshith, highlighting the ‘noteworthy’ events at school. After that, a game of ‘Dumb Charades’ was conducted to enchant the audience.

Principal, Asna Nafees’s speech highlighted the positive growth of the students in various fields and wished the alumni the very best in their future endeavors. The group dance was a spectacle of talent and energy that succeeded in rocking the audience.

To make memories, the alumni were called for a photo shoot. A game of Antakshari, followed by the DPS-MIS Quiz, further del ighted the attendees.

The open floor for alumni gave them the opportunity to showcase their experiences and talents.

This was followed by another dazzling group dance to bid goodbye to the alumni. The meet formally concluded with the vote of thanks by the Head Girl, Advaita Manikandan Nair.

Katara displays Iraq’s art and cultureIn order to encourage the various initiatives aimed at introducing the cultures of peoples and building bridges of communication between them, the Iraqi Market opened yesterday at Cultural Village-Katara.

The market is organised by Katara in collaboration with Iraqi Hands Initiative. The opening was attended by Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of the Cultural Village-Katara and Omar Al Barzanji, Ambassador of Iraq to Qatar.

The Iraqi Market offers aspects of the Iraqi heritage and original art, such as handicrafts, fashion and plastic arts, in addition to a children’s corner, at the entrance 2.

On this occasion, Al Sulaiti expressed his admiration for the beautiful Iraqi artefacts and works presented by the Iraqi market that evoke Iraq’s culture and ancient civilization.

“The Iraqi Market is an opportunity for visitors of Katara to learn about the culture of this ancient country, and we are constantly working to provide various facilities and

encouragement for everything that would contribute to building bridges of communi-cation between cultures and peoples,” he said.

For her part, Dr. Shatha Faraj Al Numan, Chairperson of the Iraqi Initiative and responsible for the Iraqi Market, thanked Katara, headed by Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of the Cultural Village Katara for the encour-agement of the Initiative that had a great impact on the effec-tiveness of the Iraqi Market in this organisation.

She further said: “We, women of the Iraqi community in Qatar, thought about a way

to show talents, heritage and Iraqi history through our crea-tions in artefacts. So, we created a gathering that we called Iraqi Hands Initiative, thanks for Katara which supported us and provided us with this beautiful place to organise our event.”

The Iraqi Market will last for three days and is working to highlight the various symbols of Iraqi culture through arte-facts and artwork, she added.

Al Numan pointed out that the market records the partic-ipation of 30 Iraqi craftsmen,

along with two painters, expressing her desire to repeat the experience in a way that allows her to include other artistic and literary fields such as poetry and training work-shops and lectures to reflect the richness of Iraqi culture.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of the Cultural Village-Katara, and other dignitaries during the opening of Iraqi Market at Katara.

We are constantly working to provide various facilities and encouragement for everything that would contribute to building bridges of communication between cultures and peoples: Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti

Hameeda Kadar, Principal of MES Indian School receiving the award.

Attendees during the 6th DPS-MIS Alumni meet

Aspire Zone Foundation and Truxtun Capital officials during the announcement of the Grand Ceremony of the QATAR Esports WEGA Global Games.

DOHA: The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the explosion which tar-geted a mosque in the city of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan, killing a number of people and wounding others.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiter-ated the State of Qatar’s firm position on rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of the motives and reasons.The statement stressed the State of Qatar’s total refusal to target places of worship and intimidate peaceful people. The statement expressed condolences of the State of Qatar to the families of the victims, and to the government and people of Paki-stan, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. QNA

Qatar condemns explosion at mosque in Pakistan

03SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 HOME / MIDDLE EAST

Traffic Department takes strict action on reckless drivingSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Interior (MoI), represented by the General Directorate of Traffic, has apprehended a number of reckless drivers and seized their vehicles in the Sealine area.

Major traffic violations include reckless driving, drifting and hiding vehicle’s number plates among others that endanger the lives of people and the property of road users.

Reckless drivers will also be referred to the Public Prose-cution to take legal actions against them according to the type of violation they com-mitted, the MoI said in a post on its official social media accounts.

Yesterday, five traffic acci-dents took place in Sealine area with no deaths but one serious injury. The vehicle drivers will be apprehended and sent to the Public Prosecution, the Traffic

Department said on its Twitter account.

The Traffic Department also took action against a number of vehicles whose drivers com-mitted serious traffic violations in Sealine area as follows: 84 vehicles (sound violations), 15 vehicles (tinted glass windows), in addition to 9 vehicles for drifting and 5 vehicles for hiding number plates.

The Department said that it will not hesitate from taking any legal action against reckless drivers recommending that everyone must respect the traffic law and avoid violations and wrong behavior that endanger the lives of road users.

To address the serious issue of traffic accidents at the Sealine area resulting from reckless dune bashing, the General Directorate of Traffic has taken a number of measures this year including conducting round-the-clock traffic patrols and inspection drives on shops to

make them comply with safety requirements.

The measures also include new conditions and require-ments for registration of rental shops of motorbikes, dune buggies and other vehicles used for transporting tourists. According to the Department’s statistics for 2018, the Sealine area ranked fifth in the list of areas witnessing traffic deaths.

Last days, the Department implemented a campaign to hold reckless drivers and per-petrators of violations such as awkward driving, manipu-lation, concealment of vehicle plates and other serious traffic violations that endanger the lives and property of road users. The campaign focused on the Sealine region and other areas in the country.

The General Directorate of Traffic seized 474 vehicles, whose drivers committed grave traffic violations, presented them to the Public Prosecution.

Kaffeinated Festival pulls coffee lovers to KataraTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Kaffeinated Festival is witnessing a great turnout as this year 25 stores specialising in coffee in various types and flavors are participating in it.

Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of the Cultural Village-Katara toured various sections of the festival along Ambassador of Cuba to Qatar, Emilio Caballero Rodriguez.

On this occasion, Al Sulaiti affirmed that the Kaffeinated Festival comes within the framework of Katara’s efforts to open up to the various initiatives, projects and ideas that would provide additional support in fields of culture and tourism.

He said that people and coffee lovers will get a lot of knowledge about the varieties of coffee during their visit to Kaf-feinated Festival. “It will also be an opportunity for Qatari youth to exchange knowledge and experiences, especially for those interested in setting up projects in this field.”

This event, which is organised

in partnership with Katara, will continue until January 18 from 10am to 10pm, providing many activities that introduce the public to coffee, its history and its place in the Qatari and Arab cultures and how it relates to social tradi-tions as one of the most important symbols of generosity.

The festival also includes training workshops that enable

coffee lovers to learn about the various ways of preparing coffee through various techniques, including traditional methods or through modern machines.

The current edition of Kaf-feinated Festival is witnessing a remarkable expansion, whether in terms of the participating entities and stores specialized in making varieties and types of

coffee or from the target social groups, or at the level of the sponsors and companies spon-soring the festival.

It also opens the way for young people and coffee lovers to meet and exchange experi-ences in the world of coffee, and review their successful projects and exchange their experiences with shops and cafes owners.

‘Planting Trees’ event to take place today

The Cultural Village Foundation-Katara will open today a permanent centre for amber coinciding with the conclusion of the second Katara International Kahraman Exhibition. A large number of people have turned up at the expo which opened on Wednesday at Building 12.

QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Culture and Sports will launch today the ‘Planting Trees’ event within the ‘Doha OIC Youth Capital 2019’ activities, in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Friends of the Environment Center, Katara Hospitality and Hotel Park.

The ‘Planting Trees’ event aims to commemorate Doha’s hosting of the activities of Doha OIC Youth Capital 2019, to promote sustainable development to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030, to emphasize the value of planting in the Islamic religion, and to achieve institutional partnerships between ministries.

A group of young participants from the OIC member states will plant a number of trees during this event as a contribution to increasing the green area and promoting environmental devel-opment, and introducing the different types of trees and plants and their different environments by giving information on each tree and its source.

The inauguration will be attended by community members from the OIC Member States, as well as a number of ambassadors from these states, completing the inauguration ceremony with a miniature environment of each state’s community.

Katara International Kahraman expo ends today

Qatari Forum for Authors launches new identityQNA — DOHA

Qatari Forum for Authors launched on Thursday its new identity at its booth in the 30th Doha International Book Fair, which is currently held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center and will continue until January 18 with the participation of 335 publishing houses from 31 Arab and foreign countries.

Director of Culture and Arts Department at the Min-istry of Culture and Sports Hamad Mohammed Al Zakeeba said that the establishment of the Qatari Forum for Authors came within the Ministry’s priorities to create an umbrella for the authors and provide the appropriate environment for intellectual and literary creativity in Qatar, noting that the Ministry worked to create an appropriate environment for the authors and give space for private publishing houses to practice its role in printing the authors’ books.

He explained that the Ministry of Culture was in charge of printing and already produced a lot of valuable books, but it is time to open the door for the private sector to perform its task of assuming publishing and printing, and this resulted in several publishing houses emerging distinctively during the current version of the exhibition.

Director-General of the Qatari Forum for Authors Maryam Yassin Al Hammadi reviewed the “new identity” of the Forum during an introductory presentation depicting its strategic goals and plan and reviews the most important activities that she supervised since the forum was estab-lished by the decision of the Minister of Culture and Sports in 2018.

A view of Kaffeinated Festival at Katara.

Israel frees 2 more Syrians in swap for soldier’s remainsAP — MAJDAL SHAMS, GOLAN HEIGHTS

Israel released two more Syrian prisoners back to the occupied Golan Heights oyesterday, a second goodwill gesture to Russia for helping find the remains of an Israeli soldier missing for over 35 years.

The latest release was part of a swap that began last April. That’s when Israel, with help from Russia, recovered the remains of the soldier, Zachary Baumel. In return, Israel released two Syrian prisoners to their home country that same month.

Baumel, a US citizen from New York, went missing in 1982 along with five other Israeli sol-diers during a fierce battle with Syrian forces in Lebanon.

Russian special forces

discovered Baumel’s remains. Russia is a close ally of the Syrian government in the coun-try’s ongoing civil war, while Israel frequently strikes targets linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which back the government.

The goodwill gesture’s timing game came just a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Damascus and met with President Bashar Assad.

The two Syrian men who

were released yesterday had been arrested separately in 2015 — one on charges of spying for Syria and the other for killing another Syrian citizen in the Golan Heights.

The two arrived at the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the part of the Golan Heights that Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed. Relatives and friends waving Syrian flags greeted the men.

Most of the Golan’s Arab and Druze residents, who make about half of the area’s 50,000 population, declined Israeli cit-izenship as a show of loyalty to Syria. They hold Israeli resi-dency status, but an identity crisis has simmered for decades.

“This is a very special moment. This is a moment of

victory for the Syrian will,” said Sidqi al-Maqt, one of the freed prisoners as he arrived in a symbolic visit to the Quneitra border checkpoint.

Al-Maqt, 53, was serving an 11-year sentence for charges including espionage and treason. The other, Amal Abu Saleh, 26, was sentenced to seven years for attacking an Israeli ambulance and killing a Syrian wounded in the ongoing fighting in neighboring Syria.

It’s unclear if the exchange was related to Israeli efforts to release an Israeli woman detained while transiting through a Moscow airport in possession of a few grams of marijuana.

Russia upheld the seven-and-a-half-year imprisonment sentence against the tourist, Naama Issachar.

“This is a very special moment. This is a moment of victory for the Syrian will,” said Sidqi al-Maqt, one of the freed prisoners.

Turkey is guarantor of EU security: HungaryANATOLIA — BRUSSELS

Hungary’s Foreign Minister asked the new EU foreign policy chief to use softer language on Turkey, as it safeguards European security, Peter Szij-jarto told reporters in Brussels after an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers yesterday.

“We have a way more complex relationship with Turkey,” Szijjarto said he had told Josep Borrell, who took up his role as the EU’s top diplomat in December.

Stressing Turkey’s pivotal role for the EU, including the 2016 migrant deal between Turkey and the bloc, he added: “Turkey is the guarantor of EU’s security, it halts migration and is a member of the Nato as well.”

Even as Turkey and the EU have been at loggerheads over a number of issues, Hungary has traditionally praised Turkey’s role in EU affairs.

At their meeting, EU foreign ministers discussed recent developments in both Libya and Iraq. Prior to that, various European leaders and EU offi-cials urged a diplomatic solution and rejected what they called “foreign interference” in the Libyan conflict.

Borrell on Tuesday criticised the military aid Turkey offered to Libya’s UN-recognised gov-ernment as “foreign inter-ference that the EU rejects.”

Turkey says it is helping Libya’s internationally recog-nized government at the request of Tripoli, also arguing that interference by other countries

has not drawn criticism. On January 2, Turkey’s par-

liament passed a motion allowing the government to send troops to Libya’s UN-rec-ognised Government of National Accord (GNA), which has been besieged by forces of Khalifa Haftar. The warlord supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates has made significant advances in recent weeks.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys the UN and international recognition.

According to Szijjarto, Turkey and Russia are the key actors in Libya.

“The EU is currently not a

player, but is trying to get back into the game,” he added.

He said the EU’s most important goal is to make the international community respect the UN arms embargo.

At the meeting, Ghassan Salame, the UN special repre-sentative for Libya, briefed EU ministers on the growing threat of terrorism that the influx of fighters from Syria and Sudan pose, saying around 700,000 migrants in Libya might soon decide to leave for Europe due to the conflict.

The EU foreign ministers also discussed the US-Iran tension and Iraq’s security sit-uation in the wake of last week’s US killing of Iran’s Qasem Sole-imani in Iraq.

Borrell was given a strong mandate to contribute to

de-escalation in the region and reaffirmed the EU’s com-mitment to a regional political solution.

He expressed his regret on the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, but said he hoped Iran would return to the deal.

Hungary’s Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto during the 13th International Circus Festival in Budapest, on Wednesday.

04 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Iran denies missile downed Ukrainian plane

AFP — TEHRAN

Iran’s civil aviation chief denied yesterday that a missile downed a Ukrainian airliner which crashed killing all 176 on board, dismissing Western claims of a catastrophic mistake by Tehran’s air defences.

Ukraine said its experts had gained access to the black box flight recorders as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated it was “likely” an Iran missile downed the plane.

The denial came as Tehran faced mounting international pressure to allow a “credible” investigation into the crash, which several Western govern-ments blamed on an accidental missile strike. “One thing is for certain, this airplane was not hit by a missile,” Iran’s civil avi-ation chief Ali Abedzadeh said, after Tehran invited the US, Ukraine, Canada and others to join the investigation.

The Boeing 737 crashed on Wednesday shortly after Iran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

It is Iran’s worst civil avi-ation disaster since 1988 when the US military said it shot down an Iran Air plane over the Gulf by mistake, killing all 290 people on board.

The majority of the pas-sengers on Ukraine Interna-tional Airlines Flight PS752 were dual national Iranian-Cana-dians but they also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes. Vadym Prystaiko, the foreign minister of Ukraine which has sent around 50 experts to Tehran to take part in the Iran-led inquiry, told reporters: “Our team has now access to the black boxes”.

Prystaiko said Ukraine sees “full cooperation” from Iran, adding that Ukrainian experts also had access to plane frag-ments and the crash site. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that multiple intelligence sources indicated an Iranian surface-to-air missile downed the plane after it took off from Tehran.

“We know this may have

been unintentional. Canadians have questions, and they deserve answers,” Trudeau told reporters. Abedzadeh rejected the claim, saying “any remarks made before the data is extracted (from the plane’s black box flight recorders)... is not an expert opinion.”

Trudeau’s comments came as video footage emerged that appeared to show the moment the airliner was hit.

The footage, which The New York Times said it had ver-ified, shows a fast-moving object rising at an angle into the sky before a bright flash is seen, which dims and then continues moving forward. Several seconds later an explosion is heard and the sky lit up.

Iran’s foreign ministry said a Canadian delegation was on its way to Tehran to “handle the

affairs of the Canadian victims”, a rarity since the two countries cut diplomatic relations in 2012.

The civil aviation chief said Tehran had invited “Americans, Canadians, the French, Ukrainians and the Swedish” to be present during the investi-gation. European Union foreign ministers urged Iran to be transparent.

“The important thing now is that everything is completely investigated. Nothing must be swept under the table,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. The US National Trans-portation Safety Board said it had received formal notification of the crash from Iran and would send a representative to join the probe. Iran’s foreign ministry also invited US plane maker Boeing to “participate” in the probe.

AP — WASHINGTONThe US promised “appropriate action” yesterday in response to its assessment that an Iranian missile was responsible for downing a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed outside Tehran, as the Iranian government denied playing a role in the killing of all 176 people on board.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the highest-level US official to directly pin the blame on Iran, after Canadian, Australian and British leaders announced similar intelligence con-clusions. “We do believe it is likely that that plane was shot down by an Iranian missile,” he said. Pompeo said an investigation would continue into the incident and that once it was complete he was “confident that we and the world will take appropriate action as a response.” Leaders said the plane appeared to have been unin-tentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile.

“What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s national aviation department, told a press conference. “If they are really sure, they should come and show their findings to the world” in accordance with international standards, he added.

Hassan Rezaeifar, the head of the Iranian investigation team, said recovering data from the black box flight recorders could take more than a month and that the entire investigation could stretch into next year. He also said Iran may request help from international experts if it is not able to extract the flight recordings. The ballistic missile attack on the bases in Iraq caused no casualties, raising hopes that the standoff over the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani would end relatively peacefully, though Iran has sent mixed signals over whether its retaliation is com-plete. If the US or Canada were to present incontrovertible evi-dence that the plane was shot down by Iran, even if uninten-tionally, it could have a dramatic impact on public opinion in Iran. The Iranian public had rallied around the leadership after the killing of Soleimani last Friday, with hundreds of thousands joining the general’s funeral processions in several cities, in an unprecedented display of grief and unity.

But sentiments in Iran are still raw over the government’s crackdown on large-scale protests late last year sparked by an economic crisis exacerbated by US sanctions. Several hundred protesters were reported to have been killed in the clampdown.

Those fissures could quickly break open again if Iranian authorities are seen to be responsible for the deaths of 176 people, mainly Iranians or dual Iranian-Canadian citizens. Iran still points to the accidental downing of an Iranian passenger jet by US forces in 1988 - which killed all 290 people aboard - as proof of American hostility.

Red Crescent workers checking the debris from the Ukraine International Airlines plane, that crashed after take-off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran.

US blames Iran for jetliner downing, pledges probe

BLOOMBERG — BAGHDAD

The US rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s request to begin talks on the withdrawal of American troops, with the State Department saying it’s open to discussing “force posture” in the country and the financial “partnership” between the two nations.

“Any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to dis-cussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership -- not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East,” State Department spokes-woman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Abdul Mahdi’s demand during a phone call with Sec-retary of State Michael Pompeo is the latest sign of eroding ties between the countries after the US killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.

The drone strike on Qassem Soleimani, who oversaw Iran’s foreign military operations, outraged Shia politicians in Iraq, many of whom have close ties to Tehran. Their majority in parliament was enough to win a non-binding vote on expelling US forces, though Sunni Arab and Kurdish legis-lators boycotted the session. If it happened, a US pullout would bring an end to 17 years of American military presence in

the Middle East nation fol-lowing a 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

“His Excellency demanded that the US Secretary of State send officials to Iraq to work out mechanisms to implement the decision of the parliament for the safe withdrawal of troops from Iraq,” according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office.

Pompeo told reporters at the White House that Abdul Mahdi “didn’t quite characterize the conversation correctly.” He said that “we are happy to con-tinue the conversation with the Iraqis about what the right structure is” but “we’re going to continue that mission.”

US rejects Iraq’s request to open talks on troop pullout

US announces new sanctions on Iran after missile strikesAP & REUTERS — WASHINGTON

The Trump administration yesterday announced a new wave of sanctions on Iran following this week’s missile strikes by the Islamic Republic on US bases in Iraq.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Sec-retary Steven Mnuchin said the new sanctions will target eight senior Iranian officials involved in “destabilizing” activities in the Middle East as well as Tues-day’s missile strike, which came in retaliation for the US killing of a senior Iranian general in a drone strike.

Mnuchin said President Donald Trump will issue an executive order imposing sanc-tions on anyone involved in the Iranian textile, construction, manufacturing or mining sectors. They will also impose separate sanctions against the steel and iron sectors.

“As a result of these actions we will cut off billions of dollars of support to the Iranian regime,” the treasury secretary said. The administration has

already reinstated all the US sanctions that were eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, which has caused significant economic hardship in Iran and cut its oil exports to historic lows.

Iran this week launched the strikes in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Revo-lutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the country’s most powerful commander, in Baghdad last week.

Meanwhile, the US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook said yesterday it seems that Iran has concluded its retaliation for the US killing of senior Iranian c o m m a n d e r Q a s s e m Soleimani.

“It would seem that Iran has concluded its response in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani,” Hook told reporters. “That’s a question for Iran. I’m not speaking for them. We hope that Iran starts making better decisions and does not continue to pursue its aggressive and expansionist foreign policy either directly or through its proxies.”

Iraqi anti-government demonstrators protest in the city of Karbala in central Iraq, yesterday. Thousands of Iraqis rallied across the country, reviving a months-long protest movement against the government and adding criticisms of both the US and Iran to their chants.

Turkey says ceasefire will be implemented in Syria’s Idlib tomorrowREUTERS — ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Defence Ministry said yesterday that it had agreed with Russia that a ceasefire will be implemented tomorrow in northwestern Syria’s Idlib region to stem the flow of civilians uprooted by the violence.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled attacks in

Idlib province towards the Turkish border in recent weeks, as towns and villages have been pounded by Russian jets and Syrian artillery since a renewed government assault last month.

Turkey’s defence ministry said attacks by air and land would halt at one minute past midnight on Sunday under the ceasefire, which Ankara has

been seeking for several weeks.

The announcement came a day after a Russian defence ministry official was quoted as saying that a ceasefire had already been implemented at 1100 GMT on Thursday, in line with agreements with Turkey.

Some 3.6 million Syrians have sought shelter in Turkey

from their country’s nearly nine year-old civil war. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey cannot carry the burden of more refugees from Idlib, where up to 3 million people live.

Many Syrians still in Idlib are completely dependent on cross-border aid, according to the United Nations, but a six-year-long United Nations

operation delivering supplies will expire at midnight if a deadlocked UN Security Council cannot reach a last-minute deal to extend its authorization.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to recapture Idlib, the last rebel-held swathe of territory. Turkey has for years backed Syrian rebels fighting to oust Assad.

Zimbabwe public workers reject govt offer to double payREUTERS — HARARE

Zimbabwe’s public sector workers yesterday rejected a government offer to nearly double salaries for the lowest paid employees because it was not enough to cushion them against soaring prices, their union said.

The southern African nation’s economy is experi-encing its worst crisis in a decade while poor rains are seen worsening the food security situation at a time some 8 million people face hunger after a drought last year.

The top public workers’ union Apex Council said the government had offered to increase the salary for the lowest paid employee to 2,033 Zimbabwe dollars ($123.68) from 1,033 Zimbabwe dollars a month. There would also be a one-off allowance of 750 Zimbabwe dollars.

Tunisian parliament set to reject new governmentREUTERS — TUNIS

Tunisia’s parliament looked poised to reject a proposed new government after only one party said it would support it in a vote of confidence, meaning a complex coalition-building process may need to start again.

Designated prime minister Habib Jemli urged parliament to support his proposed cabinet as the debate began on Friday morning, before a vote expected later in the day.

However, the only party in the deeply fragmented par-liament to say it will back his government is the moderate Islamist Ennahda, which nom-inated Jemli as prime minister after coming first in the Oct. 6 election with 53 of the 217 seats.

The parties that have already said they will vote against it have a combined 120 seats, so Jemli would need to peel off some of their MPs as well as winning over all inde-pendents to secure the 109 seats needed for majority support.

Haftar rejects truce as forces advanceBLOOMBERG — TRIPOLI

Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar rejected an offer by Russia and Turkey for a cease-fire in the country’s nearly nine-year conflict as his forces make new advances. Turkey and Russia, which back opposite sides in an increasingly violent proxy war between regional powers, called for a cease-fire to take effect from Sunday.

The call to pause hostilities came after Haftar, based in the east of the country, said he seized the coastal city of Sirte— a symbolic and strategic gain in his 10-month campaign to take Tripoli, seat of the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord, or GNA.

The Iranian civil aviation chief said Tehran had invited “Americans, Canadians, the French, Ukrainians and the Swedish” to be present during the investigation.

05SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 ASIA

Indefinite Internet shutdown is illegal: Supreme CourtREUTERS — NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR

India’s Supreme Court said yesterday that an indefinite shutdown of the internet in Kashmir was illegal, rebuking the government for the communications lockdown imposed after it withdrew the Muslim majority region’s autonomy in August.

Indefinite suspension of the internet vio-lated India’s telecoms rules, the court said, ordering authorities to review all curbs in Kashmir in a week. “Freedom of internet access is a fundamental right,” Supreme Court justice N V Ramana said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government has frequently used internet shutdowns as a tool to quell dissent in troubled parts of the country.

Last month, authorities imposed an internet clampdown in parts of the capital and in areas of the eastern state of Assam and Uttar Pradesh in the north as protests raged against a new citizenship law that Muslims see as discriminatory.

The shutdown in Kashmir, which has been on for more than 150 days, is the longest such outage in any democracy, according to digital rights group Access Now.

The government has argued that the blackout in Kashmir was needed to maintain order in a Himalayan region where security forces have been fighting a long-running sep-aratist insurgency. The Supreme Court’s decision, which also asks authorities to make public all orders on internet shutdowns, should enable more scrutiny of suspensions, internet freedom activists said.

“This sheds light on the rationale behind internet shutdowns which then can be chal-lenged as being constitutional or propor-tionate or not,” said Nikhil Pahwa, digital rights activist and editor of MediaNama, a Delhi-based publication. “So if the state is forced to be transparent, they will be more accountable.”

In 2019, India’s documented internet

blackouts lasted for more than 4,000 hours, costing Asia’s third-biggest economy $1.3bn, according to a report by website Top10VPN.

In Kashmir, the blackout has severely dis-rupted the lives of millions and has had an impact on everything from college admis-sions to businesses filing tax returns.

For Yasin Tuman, who runs a travel agency in Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, the loss of internet access has hit his business hard, as tourists stay away.

“I’ve suffered losses of 7 million rupees (nearly $100,000) in the past five months,” he said. The government says it was nec-essary to block the internet to stop agitators orchestrating mass, potentially violent, pro-tests against its decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status. It also ordered a massive deployment of security forces, and after some protests in the initial days anti-government demonstrations have died down.

Gouhar Geelani, a journalist and writer from Kashmir, said Modi’s Hindu nationalist party had used the internet clampdown “to control the Kashmir narrative by placing restrictions on mainstream media and social media platforms.”

Stricter regulations are necessary to safe-guard users and the nation’s security as the internet has emerged as a “potent tool to cause unimaginable disruption to the dem-ocratic polity,” India’s technology ministry has previously said.

Demonstrators display placards as they attend a protest rally against a new citizenship law, in Kolkata, India, yesterday.

Suu Kyi visits China border state as Xi's visit loomsAFP — MYITKYINA, MYANMAR

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi made a rare trip to a region bordering China days before President Xi Jinping is expected to push for controversial port and dam projects during a visit to the country.

Wearing traditional ethnic attire Suu Kyi danced with a street procession yesterday in northern Kachin state’s capital Myitkyina, a day after sup-porters cheered her arrival at the airport.

She urged a crowd of thou-sands to “focus on the present” and called for peace in the remote region, where insur-gents have clashed with the army over autonomy and resources.

She did not mention the China-backed Myitsone dam, a $3.6 billion project halted in 2011 in the face of widespread opposition.

A proposal to reinstate the dam drew thousands of pro-testers onto the streets last year.

Myanmar is a vital piece of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s $1 trillion vision for mar-itime, rail and road projects across Asia, Africa and Europe.

During his two-day visit to the country starting January 17,

Xi and top Myanmar political and military leaders are expected to discuss the initi-ative, according to a briefing by China’s Vice Foreign Minister

Luo Zhaohui.Asked about the dam in

Kachin, Luo said the two sides “are still maintaining close communication on this”.

Suu Kyi was an opponent of the project before her party swept to power in 2015 elec-tions, but in March last year she called on people to consider it

“from a wider perspective”.A n e n v i r o n m e n t a l

assessment commissioned by the government five years ago advised against the dam’s con-struction, saying it could alter the flow of the Irrawaddy River.

Myitsone is one of several Beijing-backed projects in Myanmar, including a deep-sea port in Rakhine state’s Kyaukphyu that will serve as China’s gateway to the Indian Ocean. Northern Rakhine was the site of brutal military oper-ations against Rohingya Muslims in 2017 but Kyaukphyu was largely unscathed.

Analysts say Myanmar has drifted closer to Beijing thanks to the Asian giant’s backing of Suu Kyi over the crisis, which shattered her reputation in the west even as she remains popular at home.

Xi is also expected to meet army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has been accused of over-seeing the crackdown against the Muslim minority that drove more than 740,000 people into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi defended her country against allegations of genocide at the UN’s top court in The Hague last month in a case that is expected to last years.

Sri Lankan PM vows to safeguard economy if Mideast tensions escalateIANS — COLOMBO

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (pictured), has said that the government will take quick steps to safe-guard the island country’s economy if tensions in the Middle East further escalate, it was reported yesterday.

Rajapaksa, also the coun-try’s Finance Minister, told the media that the Sri Lankan gov-ernment expected the US and Iran not to opt for war but to settle issues through negotia-tions, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, the government has begun assessing the impact a war-like situation could have on Sri Lanka if the tensions escalate, and that full attention

will be given to the matter in the coming weeks, he added.

Iran is Sri Lanka’s fourth biggest tea buyer, the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, government spokesperson Keheliya

Rambukwella said that Sri Lanka’s Ministry of External Affairs has reached out to Sri Lankan nationals living in Iran and will make arrangements for their return to home country should tensions escalate further.

Rambukwella said there are an estimated 100 Sri Lankans in Iran presently.

Tensions heightened between the US and Iran after Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a drone attack ordered by President Donald Trump on January 3 in Baghdad.

Iran retaliated the killing by launching a missile attack on Wednesday at two military bases in Iraq that houses US troops.

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (centre), attending the 72nd Kachin State day ceremony in Myitkyina, upper Myanmar, yesterday.

IANS — NEW DELHI

Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party will not have an alliance with any party, including the Congress, for the February 8 Assembly elec-tions, a party leader said. The leader, who did not want to be iden-tified, said the AAP is confident that it will come back to power on its own, and dismissed all talks of any tie-up.

“We are not going for an alliance with any party in the Assembly elections. We are winning the elections on our own and all the speculations of going with any other political party are incorrect,” the leader said. The AAP was formed in 2012 and the Arvind Kejriwal-headed party overthrew the 15-year rule of the Congress, led by three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, in 2013. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress had secured a vote share of 24.55 per cent, the BJP had secured 33.07 per cent vote share and the AAP had secured 29.49 per cent.

As the BJP, the single-largest party, had bagged 31 seats, five seats less than the required majority in the 70-member house, the AAP and the Congress, with 28 and eight seats, subsequently joined the hands to form a government but it only lasted 49 days.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP bagged 67 out of 70 seats with its vote share jumping up to 54.34 per cent. The BJP’s vote share was 32.19 per cent, while that of Congress had shrunk to 9.65 per cent. The BJP managed to get three seats only.

India’s protesting women vow to fight on against citizenship lawAFP — NEW DELHI

Every night, 75-year-old Noor-nissa braves the freezing cold to help block one of the main roads into the capital of India, in a protest that is at the forefront of a rising challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tens of thousands of people have taken part in protests against the citizenship law and more than 25 people have been killed.

For nearly four weeks, Noor-nissa and more than 200 other women have sat and slept across the four-lane road between Delhi and the satellite city Noida, gaining nationwide attention as protests erupted across India over a con-troversial citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.

Men stand guard as the women, from the mainly Muslim area of Shaheen Bagh, sing the US

civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” and chant against the Citizenship Amendment Act, passed last month by Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

The law has added to the fears of India’s 200 million Muslims. It gives Hindus, Buddhists, Sikh and other minorities who have fled neighbouring countries the right to Indian citizenship — but Muslims are excluded. Modi has insisted the law is “humanitarian” and that Muslims have nothing to worry about, but opponents are not convinced and have held rallies across the South Asian nation — often met with police force. Authorities have warned the Shaheen Bagh protesters that the police will clear the road if they do not leave, but the women are deter-mined to stay. “I was born in India and I want to die here,” Noornissa said, her frail frame shaking with

emotion. “I will fight this law until my last breath.”

Gul Bano, 51, her face covered with a veil, described the protest as “a fight for our identity”. Suffering some of the lowest temperatures in Delhi for decades, Noornissa sleeps on the street, wrapped in blankets with only her silver hair visible. The women with her include grand-mothers and younger women, many with toddlers in tow. A tent has been put up to block the wind. Stray goats walk around the road alongside the protesters. The Shaheen Bagh protest is a sign that “the pushback has begun across India”, according to Syeda Hameed, head of the Muslim Women’s Forum. People bring blankets, hot tea, snacks and meals for the women. The doors of nearby homes are always open for the women if they want to use the bathroom.

Vietnam refinery signs deal with 7 firms for major maintenance work

REUTERS — HANOI

Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co said it has signed deals with seven contractors to conduct major maintenance work at its Dung Quat refinery from June.

The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery will be shut for maintenance from June 12 through August 1 this year, the company said late on Thursday.

The contractors include firms from Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, Binh Son said, without dis-closing the value of the deals.

Dung Quat refinery, Viet-nam’s first of its kind, became operational from 2009. This will be the fourth time it u n d e r g o e s m a j o r maintenance.

Vietnam’s second refinery, the 200,0000-barrel-per-day Nghi Son, was also shut down for more than a month from October for maintenance.

Symbols allocated for Dhaka mayoral candidates

AAP says no alliance for Delhi Assembly election

AGENCIES — DHAKA

The Election Commission has allocated symbols for mayoral candidates of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections scheduled to be held on January 30.

Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam got “boat” while BNP aspirant Tabith Awal received “sheaf of paddy” symbols for DNCC elections.

In the DSCC polls Awami League mayoral candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh is contesting against BNP aspirant Ishraque Hossain.

Mohammad Saifuddin of Jatiya Party got “plough” symbol, Abdur Rahman of Islami Andolan “hand fan”, Bahrane Sultan Bahar of National Peo-p l e ’ s P a r t y ( N P P ) “mango,”Akteruzzaman alias Ayatullah of Bangladesh Con-gress “green coconut” and Abdus Samad Sujan of Gano Front “fish”.

Indefinite suspension of the internet violated India’s telecoms rules, the court said, ordering authorities to review all curbs in Kashmir in a week. “Freedom of internet access is a fundamental right,” Supreme Court justice N V Ramana said.

Rosie Gabrielle, a solo motorcyclist from Canada, arrived in Pakistan 10 years ago. She praises Pakistan and its people for helping her achieve her ultimate goal — “to get rid of the pain I have been going through for years and fulfill my desire to be free”.

06 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020ASIA

Canadian biker converts to IslamANATOLIA — KARACHI

Rosie Gabrielle, a solo motor-cyclist from Canada, arrived in Pakistan 10 years ago to explore the beauty of Pakistan’s pictur-esque North.

Her Instagram account is full of pictures not only showing the dazzling colors of Pakistan but also her affection for local people and culture.

She travelled across Pakistan, especially the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, which borders neighbouring China, and is home to the snow-capped peaks, glaciers and lakes. She was captivated by the majestic peaks, breathtaking plateaus, and glistening waters.

But on top of it all, she rejoiced in the love, grace, and affection she received from the locals. She praises Pakistan and its people for helping her achieve her ultimate goal — “to get rid of the pain I have been

going through for years and fulfill my desire to be free”.

Attired in pinkish white shalwar-kameez (local dress), her head covered with a dupatta (sheet), and holding a copy of the Holy Quran, Gabrielle posted a picture of herself on Instagram on Thursday.

She had an announcement. “I converted to Islam,” read the title of her story she pegged to explain what “led me to take this big decision”. She gives credit to her love for nature and beauty that brought her to Pakistan, and ultimately led her to “ find peace that one can only dream of having in their hearts”.

Following is a statement she posted on Instagram: As mentioned previously, this last year was one of the hardest in my life, and all life’s challenges have led me to this point here and now. From a young child, I’ve always had a unique con-nection with creation and

special relationship to God. My path was far from easy

and I carried a lot of anger in my heart from a lifetime of pain, always begging God, why me? Until ultimately coming to the conclusion that all is meant to be, and even my suf-fering is a gift.

Never resonating with what I was brought up with, I denounced my religion 4 years ago, going down a deep path of spiritual discovery. Exploration of self, and the great Divine. I never let go the sight of the Creator, in fact, my curiosity and connection only grew stronger. Now no longer dic-tated by fear, I was able to fully explore this righteous path.

As time passed, the more I experienced, the more I wit-nessed the true nature and calling for my life. I wanted to be free. Free of the pain and shackles that was hell. Liber-ation from the anger, hurt and misalignment. I wanted peace in my heart, forgiveness and the most profound connection with all. And thus started my journey.

The universe brought me to Pakistan, not only to challenge myself to let go of the last remaining traces of pain and ego, but also to show me the

way. Through kindness, & humbled grace of the people I met along my pilgrimage, inspired my heart to seek further. Living in a Muslim country for 10 + years and traveling extensively through these regions, I observed one thing; Peace. A kind of peace that one can only dream of having in their hearts.

Unfortunately Islam is one of the most misinterpreted and criticized religions world wide. And like all religions, there are many interpretations. But, the core of it, the true meaning of Islam, is PEACE, LOVE & ONENESS. It’s not a religion, but a way of life. The life of humanity, humility and Love.

For me, I was already tech-nically a “Muslim”. My Shahada (Muslim profession of faith) was basically a re-dedication of my life to the path of Oneness, con-nection and Peace through the devotion of God.

Pakistan, Russia agree to launch joint diplomatic effort for peace in the regionINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan and Russia have agreed to launch a joint effort aimed at ‘restoring peace’ in the region with rising tensions between the United States and Iran in the backdrop, official sources said here yesterday.

The agreement came during a telephonic conver-sation between Foreign Min-ister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, according to officials of the Foreign Office.

During the phone call, the two leaders discussed issues pertaining to soaring tensions in the Middle East, including the overall situation in the region.

Qureshi expressed to his Russian counterpart that an increase in tensions among the states could dent a severe blow to peace and stability in the region. He added that both sides, Iran and the US, have to show restraint in order to overcome the current situation.

Qureshi, while reiterating Pakistan’s stance, made it clear that Pakistan will neither be a party to any new conflict in the region nor will its land be used against any regional or neigh-bouring country.

The two foreign ministers also agreed to make joint efforts for regional peace.

A day earlier, Prime Min-ister Imran Khan had said Pakistan “will never get involved” in other countries’ wars and said Pakistan would become a country that would “serve as an example for other Muslim countries around the world and lead them”.

“Pakistan will never par-ticipate in anyone else’s war again,” he said. “Pakistan will become a country that encourages peace in other countries.” “This [peace between US and Iran] will be our biggest effort,” said the premier. “I even told Donald Trump that I will help establish peace between Iran and the US,” he added.

Last week, as tensions flared between the two coun-tries, Islamabad had urged Tehran and Washington to exercise “maximum restraint” following the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani at an airport in Baghdad.

Smoke rises from the Eden Woodchip Mill, from a fire that has been blazing for days, after bushfires came close the previous week to Eden, Australia, yesterday.

Strong winds create Australian ‘megablaze’AFP — EDEN, AUSTRALIA

Gale-force winds in Australia merged two enormous fires into a megablaze spanning an area four times the size of Greater London yesterday, while tens of thousands rallied to again demand action on climate change.

“The conditions are difficult today,” said Shane Fitzsimmons, rural fire service commissioner for New South Wales state, after days of relative calm.

“It’s the hot, dry winds that will prove once again to be the real challenge.” Temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria, where attention was focused on the two fires that linked to form yet another monster blaze of more than 600,000 hectares.

Fire service spokesman Anthony Bradstreet said it is believed the blaze was sparked by dry lightning. A “state of dis-aster” was extended 48 hours ahead of yesterday's forecast of scorching temperatures, and evacuation orders were issued for areas around the New South Wales-Victoria border.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there were more than 130 fires

burning in the state, with just over 50 not yet under control.

On Kangaroo Island off South Australia, the largest town was cut off as firefighters battled dangerous infernos, forcing some residents to flee to the local jetty.

The catastrophic bushfires have killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched some ten million hectares (100,000 square kilometres) — an area larger than South Korea or Por-tugal. University of Sydney sci-entists estimate one billion mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed in the fires.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimated losses from the fires have so far totalled Aus$939m ($645m).

The severe conditions have been fuelled by a prolonged drought and worsened by climate change, with experts warning that such massive blazes were becoming more frequent and intense. Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record in 2019, with its highest average maximum tem-perature of 41.9 degrees Celsius recorded in mid-December.

In Sydney and Melbourne, thousands of people again took to the streets to demand Aus-tralia’s conservative government

do more to tackle global warming and reduce coal exports. “Change the politics not the climate,” read one sign, reflecting an increas-ingly charged argument over the cause of the fires.

Researchers say the bushfire emergency has sparked an online disinformation campaign “unprec-edented” in the country’s history, with bots deployed to shift blame for the blazes away from climate change. One hashtag in particular, #arsonemergency, has gained traction rapidly and conserv-ative-leaning newspapers,

websites and politicians across the globe have promoted the theory that arson is largely to blame, rather than climate change, drought or record high temperatures.

Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at the Queensland University of Technology, said his research showed half of the Twitter users deploying the hashtag displayed bot- and troll-like behaviour. “Our findings show a concerted effort aimed to misinform the public about the cause of the bush-

fires,” Graham said.Prime Minister Scott Mor-

rison yesterday tried to parry journalists’ questions about whether climate change would make horrific bushfire seasons the norm. “Look, we have covered that on a number of occasions now,” he said testily.

Towamba volunteer fire-fighter Tony Larkings, 65, said battling the fires in recent weeks had been a “hot, dirty and dangerous” task. “It’s been horrendous. It’s never been like this before,” he said.

Shisper glacier melt threatens Pakistan’s futureAFP — SHISPER GLACIER

The villagers of Hassanabad live in constant fear. Above them the vast Shisper glacier dominates the landscape: A river of jagged black ice moving towards them at as much as four metres per day.

Climate change is causing most glaciers worldwide to shrink, but due to a meteoro-logical anomaly this is one of a few in the Karakoram mountain range in northern Pakistan that are surging.

This means hundreds of tonnes of ice and debris are pushing down the valley at ten times the normal rate or more,

threatening the safety of the people and homes below.

“People’s lives, properties and animals are in danger,” warns villager Basir Ali.

Flash floods caused by glacial lakes, ice and rock falls, and a lack of clean and acces-sible water are all serious risks for those close to its path.

“When a glacial lake bursts there is an enormous amount of not only ice, water and debris that falls through, but also mud and this has devastating effects, it basically destroys everything that comes in its way,” said Ignacio Artaza of UNDP Pakistan.

But repercussions of the Shisper glacier surge extend far

beyond its path: The mighty Indus River is reliant on sea-sonal melt for more than half of its flow and changes in Paki-stan’s ice fields affect this.

That has implications not just for those living in its basin, but for the whole nation, which relies on it for much of its food.

Shifting water levels also have implications for the fragile relationship between nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India. Already ranked among the planet’s most water-stressed nations according to the World Resources Institute, both need the Indus and its trib-utaries. Their access to the water is governed by the 1960

Indus Water Treaty, which aims for fair usage.

“The Shisper glacier is increasing its length and width, furthermore it is also moving downhill,” explained Shehzad Baig of the Gilgit-Baltistan Dis-aster Management Authority.

He warned climate change meant there was heavier snowfall during the winters and warmer temperatures in the summers, leading to the ice mass producing more melt-water, swelling the Hunza River, a churning mountain tributary of the Indus.

“This may cause harm to the local community and deprive the people of the Indus basin

blocking or disturbing drinking water and irrigation channels,” Baig warned, adding that changing weather patterns were also creating more glacial lakes.

The UNDP estimates that more than 3,000 glacial lakes have been formed in the region, with 33 posing an imminent threat of ‘outburst floods’, known as GLOFs, that could impact as many as seven million people.

Last year the surging Shisper glacier effectively dammed a meltwater stream from a neigh-bouring glacier creating a large lake. Authorites were forced to issue safety warnings to Has-sanabad and local villages before the water was drained.

Security officials gather at a mosque after a bomb blast in Quetta yesterday.

Blast inside seminary kills 14 near QuettaANATOLIA — KARACHI

At least 14 people, including a senior police official, were killed in anex-plosion that took place inside a reli-gious seminary in southwest Pakistan yesterday evening, officials and local media reported.

The blast occurred inside a sem-inary located in southern outskirts of Quetta — the capital of southwestern Balochistan province — during sunset prayer, Mir Zia Langov, provincial home minister, told Anadolu Agency.

Some 19 people were also injured in the blast, second in the past two days in the city. Two people were killed and over a dozen others injured in an improvised explosive device blast at a busy market on Wednesday.

According to Langov, the nature of the blast is yet to be known, however, he suspected that it was the act of a suicide bomber.

“I cannot confirm that [the nature of the blast], but I suspect it was a suicide attack”, he said.

The deceased included a deputy superintendent of police.

There was no immediate word of responsibility for the attack.

Footage aired on local broad-caster Geo News showed broken glasses, caps, blood-soaked pieces of clothes, and other belongings scat-tered across the floor of the semi-nary’s prayer hall.

Health officials fear a rise in the death toll as condition of various injured was stated to be critical.

US approves $2.75bn fighter jet sale to SingaporeAFP — SINGAPORE

The United States has approved the sale of up to 12 F-35 fighter jets — one of the most advanced warplanes ever built — to Singapore for around $2.75bn, officials said yesterday.

The city-state last year said it planned to buy four of the jets, with an option to pur-chase eight more, picking the Lockheed Martin model over rivals from Europe and China.

Singapore has one of the region’s best equipped armed forces and spends a large chunk of its national budget on defence. The State Department had approved the jet sale, said the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency, adding Congress had been notified and must now also give the green light.

“Singapore is a strategic friend and major security coop-eration partner and an important force for political sta-bility and economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the agency. It added that the deal “will not alter the basic military balance in the region”.

The city-state spent several years assessing which fighter jet should replace its ageing fleet of F-16s before choosing the F-35s. It is a supersonic plane whose advanced stealth character-istics allow pilots to avoid detection by radars.

China and Indonesia have backed away from an imminent conflict after they dispatched warships and planes to claim the ownership of the Natuna islands in the South China Sea. Both countries have now called for maintaining peace and stability in the region.

07SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 ASIA

China, Indonesia tread with caution amid tensionANATOLIA — JAKARTA

China and Indonesia have backed away from an imminent conflict after they dispatched warships and planes to claim the ownership of the Natuna islands in the South China Sea. Both countries have now called for maintaining peace and sta-bility in the region.

The tensions in the region escalated when Chinese fishing boats and coast guard vessels were spotted maneuvering in the waters around the islands last week.

‘’A Chinese coast guard vessel was spotted near the islands. We have taken precau-tions,’’ said Indonesian Navy Spokesman Fajar Tri Rohadi.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday visited Natuna islands to make a political statement that his country was not backing down. The country also deployed fighter jets and warships in the region. Widodo told reporters

on Natuna Besar island that the disputed waters belong solely to Indonesia. “We have a dis-trict here, a regent, and a gov-ernor. There are no more debates,” he said.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang claimed sovereign rights and jurisdiction over waters and the islands.

“Chinese fishermen have long been engaging in fishery activities in waters near the Nansha islands, which has all along been legal and legit-imate,” said Geng, using the Chinese name of the area.

Natuna islands border the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by China despite competing claims from other Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, the Philip-pines, and Malaysia.

The waters around the islands are believed having rich reserves of undiscovered oil and gas. The islands are located on a crucial passage for commercial

shipping. Chinese spokesman, however, stressed that Beijing would like to work with Indo-nesia to continue managing dis-putes through bilateral dialogue to maintain friendly relations and ensure peace and stability in the South China Sea.

The Chief of the Indonesian Marine Security Agency (Bakamla) Vice Admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrachman also stressed that his country was not interested in waging war with China. Referring to Pres-ident Widodo’s instructions, he said Indonesia will not com-promise on the issue of sover-eignty, but at the same time will take measurable actions.

He further said that three Chinese vessels were operating in Natuna waters until Tuesday morning. China claims the sea and land features contained within the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, encircling as much as 90% of the contested waters. The line runs as far as 2,000km from the Chinese mainland to the waters near the coastlines of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

According to the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a nation has sovereignty over waters, extending 12 nautical miles from its land and exclusive control over economic activities

200 nautical miles (370km). Beijing maintains that it has his-torical evidence proving control of territory.

Rejecting China’s claims, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry believes that Natuna waters are part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), according to the 1982 UNCLOS. “Indonesia will never recognize the 9 PRC [People’s Republic of China] dash lines as the drawdown is contrary to the 2016 UNCLOS Tribunal judgment,” said the ministry in a press statement last week. Experts believe that China’s latest manoeuvres were not incidental, but a very well thought out plan.

“China wanted to check Indonesia’s current alertness on Natuna. It is part of a large sce-nario related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), trade wars with the U.S. and Beijing’s global aspirations,” said Dinna Winsu, an expert in international rela-tions. Fitri Bintang Timur, an international relations observer at the Center for Strategic and

International Studies (CSIS), called on Indonesia to resolve tensions in the Natuna waters through diplomatic means.

“Indonesia does not rec-ognize China’s unilateral claim about the nine-dash line,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, Professor of International Law at the Uni-versity of Indonesia, Hikma-hanto Juwana, said that the UNCLOS has already rejected Chinese so-called historical claims. “EEZ waters are referred to by China as Traditional Fishing Grounds,” said Juwana in a press release. He said while Article 51 of the UNCLOS accepts the concept of traditional fishing rights, it does not recognize tra-ditional fishing grounds.

The Natuna islands come under Indonesia’s Riau Island Province administration. Bor-dered by Vietnam and Cam-bodia to the north, Singapore, and Malaysia to the west, the waters are believed to be rich in squids, crabs, lobsters.

World Muslim Congregation in DhakaMuslim faithful pray as they attend the World Muslim Congregation, also known as “Biswa Ijtema”, during Friday prayers at Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Huge rival rallies on final day before Taiwan votesAFP — TAIPEI

Taiwan’s presidential rivals held massive rallies yesterday night in a final push to convince voters on the eve of a closely watched election that looks set to infuriate China and send ripples far beyond its borders.

Some 19 million people are eligible to vote today to choose between two leaders with very different visions for Taiwan’s future — in particular how close the self-ruled island should tack to its giant neighbour.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day retake the island, by force if necessary. But China is also Taiwan’s largest trade partner, leaving it in a precari-ously dependent relationship.

President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking a second term and is the frontrunner, has pitched herself as a defender of Taiwan’s liberal values against the increasingly author-itarian shadow cast by Beijing under President Xi Jinping.

Her main competitor Han Kuo-yu, 62, favours much warmer ties with China — saying it would boost the island’s fortunes — and accuses the current administration of needlessly antagonising Beijing.

Huge crowds hundreds of thousands strong and a daz-zling sea of flags — green for Tsai, red and blue for Han — greeted both candidates during their raucous last rallies. “This election will determine if Tai-wanese people can bravely choose democracy and freedom despite pressure from China,” Tsai told supporters.

But Han told his crowd it was time to mend ties with Beijing. “Interactions between

the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have become frosty and are at their lowest ebb,” he said.

Taiwan bans publishing polls within 10 days of elections but Tsai has led comfortably throughout the campaign. Her party currently has a parlia-mentary majority, which ana-lysts expect it to retain.

Beijing has made no secret of its desire to see Tsai ousted. Her Democratic Progressive Party leans towards inde-pendence, and Tsai rejects Bei-jing’s view that Taiwan is part of “one China”.

In the four years since Tsai won a landslide victory, Beijing has tightened the screw, sev-ering official communications with her administration while ramping up economic and mil-itary pressure. It also poached seven of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies, hopeful that a stick approach would convince voters to punish Tsai at the ballot box.

But the campaign appears to have backfired, especially in the last year after Xi gave a particu-larly bellicose speech stating Tai-wan’s absorption into the mainland was “inevitable”.

Taiwanese voters were increasingly rattled by China’s hardline response to pro-democracy protests in neigh-bouring Hong Kong and the mass internment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

The results of Saturday’s vote will also be closely watched by regional powers and in Washington, especially given the parlous state of US-China relations. Taiwan has long been a potential flashpoint between Beijing and Wash-ington, which remains the island’s main military ally.

Protest-hit Hong Kong sees surge in depression, PTSDAFP — HONG KONG

Nearly one in three adults in Hong Kong reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress dis-order during months of often violent social unrest in the city, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal yesterday.

And around one in 10 had symptoms of probable depression, figures comparable to those seen in areas of armed conflict or following terrorist attacks, the decade-long study led by researchers from the University of Hong Kong found.

Prevalence of PTSD symptoms was six times higher than after the last major pro-democracy “Occupy” protests in 2014, rising from about five percent in March 2015 to almost 32 percent in

September-November 2019. The increase corresponds to an additional 1·9 million adults with PTSD symptoms in the city of 7.4 million.

Up to 11 percent of adults reported symptoms of depression, from around two percent before the Occupy pro-tests, and 6.5 percent in 2017, the study estimated. “One in five adults now reports probable depression or suspected PTSD, which is comparable to those experiencing armed conflicts, large-scale disasters, or terrorist attacks,” the study said.

The researchers also found that heavy use of social media to follow socio-political events appeared to increase the risk of probable depression and sus-pected PTSD. “Hong Kong is under-resourced to deal with this excess mental health

burden,” said professor Gabriel Leung, dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong, who co-led the research.

The researchers used numerous surveys carried out on 18,000 people between 2009 and 2019 in what they said was the largest and longest study of the population-wide impact of social unrest on mental health in the world.

They warned that their findings may underestimate the extent of mental health problems as they did not include under-18s, who make up a large pro-portion of protesters. Hong Kong has been battered by seven months of unrest, with millions marching and frequent violent confrontations in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets, while protesters have responded with petrol bombs.

Ice build-up may have caused Kazakh air crash

AFP — NUR-SULTAN

A build-up of ice may have caused a passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan last month in which 12 people died but dozens survived, a state commission said yesterday.

The plane, operated by budget carrier Bek Air, was torn apart and its nose crushed on impact with a two-storey building minutes after taking off from Almaty on December 27.

Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar said the plane’s wings had not been de-iced, causing a build-up that the commission had identified as the most likely cause of the crash. “Work on treating this aircraft with anti-icing fluid was carried out only partly,” said Sklyar.

“The aircraft commander decided to treat only the stabi-liser with anti-icing fluid — the wings of the aircraft were not processed.” Sklyar also read out excerpts of the pilot’s dialogue with his co-pilot that indicated a disagreement between the pair prior to the crash.

The plane was carrying almost 100 passengers when it crashed into the building but most survived without being seriously hurt. Twenty-one people were still being treated for their injuries yesterday.

Viktor Sorochenko, head of the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee and another member of the com-mission, noted that ice build-up had been found as the cause of a crash involving another Fokker-100 in France in 2007.

The jet operated by an Air France subsidiary crashed imediately after takeoff from Pau airport on a domestic flight to Paris in January 2007. No one on board was seriously hurt although a lorry driver died in the incident.

Ghosn escape proves fresh headache for ailing NissanAFP — TOKYO

Out of Japan and free to speak to the media, a fugitive Carlos Ghosn is proving a fresh headache for his old firm Nissan as it struggles to rebuild its rep-utation. The tycoon who once headed the carmaker jumped bail and fled Japan last month while awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges. And he has not pulled any punches when it comes to the firm he helped turn around.

He accuses executives there of effectively setting him up, in a bid to block his plans for further integration with Nis-san’s French partner Renault.

And in a press conference on Wednesday in Lebanon, where he emerged after his audacious escape, he slammed the firm’s executives, accusing them of losing shareholder value and pursuing a vendetta.

Nissan has remained largely silent, waiting until January 7 to release a statement calling his decision to flee “extremely regrettable” and insisting it had uncovered “numerous acts of misconduct” by the tycoon.

The firm faces its own legal proceedings linked to the case, which limits what it can say, a source close to Nissan said.

“We have responsibilities, we must respect the law, we have obligations. It will be painful, but we have to do it.” Ghosn mean-while, in Lebanon and appar-ently beyond the reach of Jap-anese prosecutors, “can say what he wants, he has no more con-straints,” the source said.

In a lengthy and at times combative press conference on Wednesday, the former auto magnate once again accused Nissan executives of plotting his downfall and sought to rebut the charges against him.

“For the moment there is nothing new in Mr Ghosn’s alle-gations against Nissan,” Koji Endo, an automotive analyst at SBI Securities, said. “But if Ghosn continues with his neg-ative campaign... the market will get more sceptical about Nissan’s fundamental recovery and its brand image,” he said.

And internally there is “no doubt” that seeing the firm slammed so publicly is hitting morale, Endo said. “I’ve been told that lots of people continue to resign from Nissan, young engi-neers” in particular, he added.

The Ghosn scandal has already cost Nissan dearly. Its market cap has fallen more than $10bn since his arrest.

Bloomberg News has also reported that Nissan spent $200 million on lawyers, inves-tigators and private detectives during the scandal, a claim that insiders dismiss.

Warm winter woes for famed Japan festivalAFP — TOKYO

Organisers of Japan’s famed Sapporo snow fes-tival are being forced to truck in an unprece-dented amount of extra powder to build their signature sculptures after an unseasonably warm winter. The festival, which opens in three weeks in the capital of Hokkaido in northern Japan, is a major draw for the region, attracting more than 2.7 million visitors last year.

The main attraction is a display of around 200 snow and ice sculptures built by local residents, officials and volunteers, with help from Japan’s armed forces. But organisers have been forced to lay on a record number of trucks to bring in snow from Sapporo’s suburbs, and also from towns as far as 30km away, Fumiya Onoue, an official at Sapporo’s tourism office said yesterday.

“We are trying hard,” he said. “This is unprec-edented.” The task is complicated by the need for pristine samples, perfect for sculpting. “The snow should be free of dirt, stones or snow-melting agents because they could cause the breakdown of sculptures,” he said.

Accumulated snowfall in the city since the

A February 10, 2017 file picture shows a couple taking a selfie in front of the Arc de triomphe de l’Etoile snow statue during the Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo.

start of November has been less than half of an average year, according to the Japan Meteoro-logical Agency’s local Sapporo observatory.

Snow melted on high temperatures in mid-December and a low atmospheric depression at the end of the year that brought in warm air, an official there said. But he was cautious about blaming climate change for the poor snow showing.

The 71st festival begins on January 31 and runs through February 11, with the main sculpture event opening on February 4.

It became a defining moment, one that stunned Washington, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to immediately transmit the charges to the Senate after the House impeached Trump.

08 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020VIEWS

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SHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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EDITORIAL

QATAR has always shown tremendous and laudable sense of responsibility when it comes to provision of care to its elderly population. Through a number of health and social welfare initiatives, the government of Qatar is providing best possible care to its elderly people thus setting an example for those countries of the world where this segment of society usually faces hardship and neglect.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani on Thursday officially inaugurated Daam Specialized Care Center, a first of its kind facility in the Middle East to care elderly patients who require long-term medical care outside of the hospital setting.

Earlier a number of healthcare services are already available for elderly people of the country like Geriatric and Long-Term Care Department at HMC, HMC’s Falls Prevention Clinic, Private Nursing Service and Home Health Care Service, Enaya Specialized Care Centers among others. The Daam Specialized Care Center under the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will provide an advanced care system for patients above the age of 60 and who are well enough to be discharged from hos-pital but still require specialized medical treatment that is often long term.

The new facility will accommodate 68 patients in 44 private rooms providing occupational therapy, recrea-tional therapy, physiotherapy, and medical and nursing care, all in a comfortable, home-like environment.

“Unlike a traditional hospital environment, the Daam Specialized Care Center has been tailored to meet the needs of our longer-term care patients. The Daam Spe-cialized Care Center joins HMC’s existing Enaya Spe-cialized Care Centers, which have been caring for patients since 2010,” said the Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

Working for many years, Enaya Specialized Care Center also provides an advanced care system for long-term patients with chronic illnesses and degenerative diseases that restrict their ability to care for themselves. In response to Qatar’s growing elderly population, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) continuously expanding its geriatric medicine services with the Ger-iatric and Long-Term Care Department now operating across multiple sites and hospitals.

In the same manner, HMC’s Falls Prevention Clinic, located at Rumailah Hospital and the first clinic of its type in the country, is an important element of HMC’s elder care services. Separately, Private Nursing Service and Home Health Care Service at Hamad Medical Cor-poration (HMC) provide multidisciplinary homecare focusing on improving mobility, physical, and mental health of elderly patients.

Exemplary treatment

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Quote of the dayKillings and other barbaric violence committed by an ethnic armed group in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo against a rival group may amount to crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide.

Rupert Colville, UN Human Rights Spokesman

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi participating in a bill enrolment ceremony at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

Democrats know they don’t have the votes to convict President Donald Trump when the Senate convenes as the Court of Impeachment. So they are pursuing the case in the court of public opinion.

It became a defining moment, one that stunned Washington, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to immediately transmit the charges to the Senate after the House impeached Trump.

The abrupt move vexed the Republican president and his party, annoying some, angering others, and caused a political firestorm as the days turned to weeks. It’s now approaching a month. While the delay is pro-ducing an avalanche of theories and strategies about the sudden impasse, it hasn’t much changed the widely expected final verdict: Trump’s acquittal of charges he abused power and obstructed Congress in pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

Yet in the lull, something else happened. New evidence and documents emerged, including emails showing more of the administration’s internal deliber-ations over Trump’s actions. Former White House national security adviser John Bolton announced he would be willing to appear, if a subpoena was sent. Attention shifted from the airy Constitutional arguments for and against impeachment to the earthy details of how to conduct the rare Senate trial, only the

third in the nation’s history.There’s nowhere near the 67

votes needed for conviction in the Senate, where Republicans with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hold a slim 53-47 majority. But a handful of Repub-lican senators who will decide how things go are suddenly infused with new power, and clouded with political risk. Just 51 votes will set the rules. As McCo-nnell works to hold them in line, Democrats will try to sway four GOP senators, particularly those up for re-election this year, to join in calling for a more wit-nesses and documents that McConnell is reluctant to allow.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she would be open to hearing new testimony. Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski expressed discomfort with the leader’s close coordination with the White House. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said he’d like Bolton to appear. Rather than the swift Senate trial that was expected to have started by now, Trump’s impeachment has become a serial disruption to the presi-dency that is grinding into 2020.

“Many things have been accomplished,” Pelosi said Thursday. The stated goal of Democrats is a public airing of the trial rules before Pelosi names House managers to present the case to the Senate. How much time will they be given? For how many days? Will there be more witnesses and tes-timony allowed?

Those are all answers McCo-nnell will only provide when he is ready. The ever tight-lipped Republican leader sees no reason to deviate much from the last time the Senate convened as an impeachment court for the his-toric undertaking, for Bill Clin-ton’s trial in 1999. He says he’ll show the details in due time.

“There will be no unfair new rulebook written solely for Pres-ident Trump,” McConnell said Thursday. His plan is to start the trial and have the senators decide later if they want to hear more testimony. “I’ve said for months that this is our preferred route.”

But the longer the Pelosi-McConnell standoff drags on - itself a piece of history as the two legendary leaders refuse to budge over perhaps the most conse-quential role of Congress - so do the questions. It hasn’t been a risk-free strategy for Democrats. The White House mocked Demo-crats with a video Thursday showing all the lawmakers who said impeachment was ‘’urgent,” only to now stall the proceedings. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have publicly aired their exasperation with the delay, one embarrassingly backtracking the comments.

Republicans say the public is on their side as McConnell invoked Founding Father Alex-ander Hamilton to warn against “a procrastinated resolution of impeachments.” Thousands flocked to the first Trump rally of the year late Thursday in Toledo cheering him on with shouts of “USA!” They chuckled along as the president derided Pelosi.

In fact, polling throughout the impeachment proceedings has consistently shown the public closely divided over whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

A Monmouth University poll conducted in early December found that about 6 in 10 Amer-icans said Democrats in Congress are more interested in bringing down Trump than pursuing the facts, while likewise about 6 in 10 said Republicans in Congress are more interested in defending Trump than pursuing the facts.

JAPAN NEWS-YOMIURI

Carlos Ghosn has held his first press conference since arriving in Lebanon, the country he fled to while on bail after being indicted for crimes including aggravated breach of trust. The former Nissan Motor Co. chairman merely repeated the same claims he made previously. He offered very little that was new.

Ghosn insisted his arrest had been plotted by Nissan. Ghosn frequently blasted Japan’s judicial system, and said he had “no other choice” but to flee because he did not think he would get a fair trial in Japan.

His self-centered claims

are based on flimsy grounds. It is clear they provide no reason that could justify escaping abroad.

Justice Minister Masako Mori held two press confer-ences after Ghosn had spoken to reporters. Mori was quite right to say that Ghosn “has been propagating . . . false information on Japan’s legal system and its practice. That is absolutely intolerable.” The Justice Ministry’s website is carrying Mori’s comments in Japanese, English and French. It is essential that the facts be thoroughly explained so more people can understand that Japan’s judicial system func-tions fairly.

During his news

conference, Ghosn expressed disgust at being basically pro-hibited from contacting his wife while he was out on bail.

Ghosn’s wife was involved in the management of a company to which Ghosn is suspected of funneling Nissan funds, which relates to the breach of trust charges against him. Given that Ghosn’s wife was tied to this case, it was highly possible they might have destroyed evidence if they had been permitted to freely contact each other. Restricting their access to each other was unavoidable.

Ghosn was detained for a total of 130 days. At the press conference, he insisted it was

unfair that he had been placed in a solitary cell and detained for a long period. However, in Japan, courts impartially decide on the necessity of detention, so Ghosn’s criticism misses the mark.

Most Japanese media organizations were refused permission to attend Ghosn’s press conference. If this was done intentionally to exclude media outlets whose coverage he did not agree with, it is nothing more than a self-serving approach.

Ghosn did not discuss any details of how he managed to sneak out of Japan, which has been the subject of consid-erable attention.

Pelosi’s delay tests public opinion on impeachment

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If Ghosn has something to say, he should say it openly in court

Established in 1996

LISA MASCARO AP

09SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 OPINION

The community was to have 3,000 quake-resistant homes, a market, an industrial area, police and fire stations, a school and a pharmacy. On paper, it was a dream community. But the plans never came to fruition.

The year is 2100. The glaciers of the Hindu Kush-Hima-layan region — the world’s “Third Pole” — are vanishing as the planet warms, the ice that once fed the great rivers of Asia is all but lost, and with it much of the water needed to nurture and grow a continent.

Further stressed by extreme heatwaves, erratic monsoons, and pollution, the waterways are in crisis and the lives of hundreds of mil-lions hang in the balance.

Access to clean water, now more precious than oil, is a preserve of the rich and has become a resource so valuable that people — and nations —are willing to fight for it.

This apocalyptic vision is the continent’s future if nothing is done to limit global warming, scientists and envi-ronmentalists warn.

“If urgent climate action is not taken rapidly, starting today, and current emission trends continue unabated, it is starting to look conceivable that this will entail grave threats to all of humanity as we know it,” says David

Molden, director general of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Devel-opment (ICIMOD).

The 2015 Paris agreement saw nations commit to lim-iting global warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as a way of curbing the worst impacts of global warming.

A lower cap of 1.5C was set, only as a goal for nations to work towards. But this year’s Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) Assessment Report says unless it is met -- two-thirds of the region’s glaciers will be lost by the end of the century.

Running from Afghan-istan to Myanmar, the HKH region takes in the Tibetan Plateau, and the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram mountain ranges.

Functioning as a vast water tower, some of the world’s largest and most important rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong and Indus, begin here.

Its health is inextricably linked to that of the con-tinent: Some 1.65 billion people directly rely on these waters -- for their lives and livelihoods.

But tens of millions more rely on the agriculture, hydropower, and industries the rivers fuel.

“This is the climate crisis you haven’t heard of,” ICI-MOD’s Philippus Wester explains, adding that alongside glacier melt, there

will be increased risk of floods, droughts, landslides and avalanches.

But many in Asia are already living this dystopian future.

In the southern Indian city of Chennai, 2019 brought a drought so severe reser-voirs ran dry. Residents were forced to queue for water from government tanks or pay black-market prices. In some cases, desperation led to violence.

Northern India was lashed by flooding as the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers burst their banks, with more than 100 reported dead and many more displaced. In Pakistan, thousands of glacial lakes have formed, with its mountain people facing the

threat of at least 30 bursting.In parts of China, villagers

must choose between paying a premium for bottles or risking their health with the potentially contaminated stream or river water.

More than half the world’s population lives in Asia, but there is less fresh water available per person there than on any continent, according to the UN, often leaving the most vulnerable at risk.

“Climate change is rapidly diminishing our access to clean water, which will have a devastating impact on human health, access to food, and sanitation, radically reshaping communities and cities,” Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said.

“As always, the poorest people are and will be the most affected.”

Asia’s rivers feed the con-tinent’s breadbaskets and rice bowls — the Indus, Yangtze, and Yellow basins rely heavily on meltwater to irrigate agriculture that helps sustain not only those that live there, but national econ-omies too.

Any change — either the initial surge of meltwater — or the later drastic decline in river flow could cause cata-strophic food shortages, with Molden warning the worst-case scenario, if nothing is done to combat global warming, would be “star-vation and conflict”.

Despite proclamations that we are in “the Asian Century”, there are fears lack of proper planning for the coming water crisis may stifle the economic dreams of a rapidly growing region.

Debra Tan, director of the NGO China Water Risk, adds: “Asia faces a triple threat in terms of water because 1) some parts — including China and India have very limited water resources to develop, 2)climate change exacerbates scarcity, and 3) our cities and populations are clustered along vulnerable rivers.” Every key industry on the continent — from electronics and automobiles to clothing and agriculture — requires water but few use the resource judiciously.

Irrigation methods are often inefficient and crops grown can be water-intensive, while many indus-tries still discharge untreated water in the rivers with few facilities for recycling.

Tan insists: “If the risks are not managed well, they

will not only have detri-mental consequences to bil-lions of livelihoods but also to trillions of dollars of eco-nomic growth.”

Mass migration away from most affected areas will put intense pressure on other towns and cities.

This may exacerbate ten-sions in a conflict-prone area — both within and between countries, Wester says.

In a 2008 report, Goldman Sachs hailed water as the “the petroleum for the next century”, underlining fears its scarcity will lead to unrest.

Already ranked among the planet’s most water-stressed nations according to the World Resources Institute, India and Pakistan’s access to the Indus and its tributaries is governed by a dedicated treaty.

But there have long been fears that India, which sits upstream, could weaponise the resource, as it has threatened more than once to restrict Pakistan’s access.

In 2017, China withheld hydrological data on the flow of the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers, which flow from its territory into India. The move heightened tensions with New Delhi as authorities rely on upstream information for flood control. Geopolitics may dictate the very survival of the Mekong, says Brian Eyler, South East Asia pro-gramme director for The Stimson Center.

There are more than 100 dams across the five coun-tries that rely on the river. China alone has built 11 “mega-dams” which impact flow downstream in the dry season. The issue is not just the loss of water flow, but also diminishing sediment and a decline in migratory fish downstream.

“Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake produces 500,000 tons of wild-caught fish per year and this feeds the Khmer people with 70 percent of their protein intake. Vietnam needs sediment to keep its delta agricultural production strong,” Eyler says.

Without the sediment, a key building block of any delta, the Mekong’s wetlands may slip into the ocean faster — leaving millions homeless and destitute.

Alston says: “Govern-ments need to stop taking access to clean water for granted and urgently plan for how they will guarantee the right to water for everyone, not just those who can afford it.”

Asia’s great rivers: Climate crisis, pollution put billions at risk

Ten years ago, Herlande Mitile was left disabled by the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti. Today, she uses a wheelchair jury-rigged with a piece of string, which means she cannot go far.

Result: She is trapped in her village outside Port-au-Prince. It was meant to be a model for reconstruction of the country after the disaster.

Instead, the 36-year-old Mitile — who once worked in the capital — is dependent on her neighbours to survive.

“The doctor told me that if I went to physical therapy, I might walk again, but you have to go into the city for that. You need money for public transport and I don’t have any,” she explained.

“That’s how I have become even more handi-capped than I was to begin

with,” added Mitile, who has metal plates screwed into her hip and spine. Before January 12, 2010, she did not know a thing about earthquakes or the damage they can do.

But on that Tuesday, more than 200,000 Haitians were killed by the roaring temblor, many of them crushed to death when substandard con-crete buildings crumbled on top of them.

Mitile was rescued from the debris eight days after the 7.0-magnitude quake. She was alive, but gravely injured.

After months in a make-shift camp, hundreds of which dotted the Port-au-Prince landscape after the tragedy, Mitile and her two daughters ended up in Village Lumane Casimir. Named for one of Haiti’s greatest singers, the community -- about 20 kil-ometers (12 miles) outside Port-au-Prince -- was created by the government, which offered lodging there to about 50 people disabled in the quake.

The government had hoped it would be an example or urban development for an impoverished country mired in corruption, and which to

this day has scant real estate records.

The community was to have 3,000 quake-resistant homes, a market, an industrial area, police and fire stations, a school and a pharmacy.

On paper, it was a dream community. But the plans never came to fruition.

Like hundreds of other construction sites during the decade when the Petrocaribe program was running, the village was abandoned in 2014 with more than half the buildings undone.

The ambitious project died in the swirling Petrocaribe corruption controversy that sparked an eruption of public anger in 2018 -- anger that remains to this day.

Since the middle of that year, the public has regularly demonstrated in Haiti calling for more transparency in how the funds from Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program were handled.

The scheme had allowed struggling Haiti to buy petroleum products more cheaply and on credit, but it was plagued by allegations of misuse of aid money allocated by Caracas. The financial

upheaval that resulted from the scandal doomed the village project, and the public administrative office on site to collect rent closed, creating a sort of real estate loophole.

So people kept coming to the complex, because all of a sudden, it was a great deal.

“I came to live here becuse rent had become too high in my old neighbourhood,” explained William Saint-Pierre, who simply squatted in one vacant house. Saint-Pierre pays no rent for his two-room dwelling, and doesn’t pay any taxes on his off-book drinks business.But he also likes the safety of the village with its neatly arranged, brightly colored homes.

“In the cities after five or six o’clock, you have to stay inside, and doors have iron gates. Look around us -- at my little wooden door, at homes without a security wall,” Saint-Pierre said.

“I’m getting too old to hear gunshots at all hours of the day and night,” added the 62-year-old.

Despite some benefits, including the absence of gang violence, Village Lumane Casimir is

nevertheless geographically isolated and without any officials to run it. That puts its most vulnerable residents at even higher risk.

Mitile cannot get around so she cannot find a job. She gets no public assistance. So she has to rely on handouts from neighbors.

“Sometimes, I’ve wanted to die,” she admits, once her daughters aged 12 and 16 are out of earshot.

“When my neighbours cook, they call my little one and tell her to come get a bowl for me,” she says, tapping nervously on her damaged wheelchair.

“Before January 12 (the quake), we got by, but now, I’m worse than a baby.” In the village, which is effectively run by the residents them-selves, those still suffering from injuries sustained in the quake and those who came seeking a better life say they feel forgotten by the government.

“If we had to wait for them to make good on their promises, we would be dead,” Mitile says.

“There is no government. I am my own government.”

Ten years after deadly Haiti quake, survivors feel forgotten

LIZ THOMAS AFP

AMELIE BARON AFP

Access to clean water, now more precious than oil, is a preserve of the rich and has become a resource so valuable that people — and nations —are willing to fight for it.

If urgent climate action is not taken rapidly, starting today, and current emission trends continue unabated, it is starting to look conceivable that this will entail grave threats to all of humanity as we know it,” says David Molden, director general of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

A general view of the Seven Sisters Falls in Cherrapunji in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya. Meghalaya, home to two of the wettest places on earth, is among the greenest states in India but it has rapidly lost its rich rainforests over the last few decades.

10 SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020EUROPE

France calls for ‘gesture’ from Iran over detained academicsAFP — PARIS

France said yesterday that the imprisonment of two prominent French academics by Iran was unacceptable and that their release would represent a “significant gesture”, as tensions mount between Tehran and the West.

The plea for the release of Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal — imprisoned since June last year — comes as Iran is embroiled in an international crisis over its missile attacks on US troops in Iraq and a

passenger plane crash near Tehran.

“These arrests and the fact that they are in prison today is totally unacceptable,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio.

“It would be a significant gesture if Iran freed them as soon as possible.”

France has repeatedly called for de-escalation in the latest intensification of the Iran-US standoff, sparked by the killing of top Iranian com-mander Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike which

prompted Iran to attack bases in Iraq housing US troops.

A Ukrainian passenger plane came down shortly after takeoff on Wednesday, with Western officials suggesting it had been downed — possibly accidentally — by an Iranian missile.

France, Britain and Germany are scrambling to keep alive a 2015 deal that reined in Tehran’s nuclear pro-gramme, which US President Donald Trump walked out of in 2018.

Iran has dropped espionage

charges against Adelkhah but she still faces charges of spreading “propaganda against the political system” and “con-spiracy against national security”, her lawyer said this week.

Iran does not recognise Adelkhah’s dual French-Iranian nationality and has lashed out at Paris for what it has described as “interference” in the cases of the academics, both from Sciences Po university in Paris.

Marchal is also accused of “collusion against national

security”, according to his lawyer.

The two researchers are not the only foreign academics behind bars in Iran — Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert of the Uni-versity of Melbourne is serving a 10-year sentence on espi-onage charges.

Sciences Po said late last year that Adelkhah and Moore-Gilbert had begun a hunger strike. Moore-Gilbert has issued a plea to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to work for her release.

Militant found guilty of 1980 Italy bombingAFP — ROME

A court in Italy has sentenced a former far-right extremist to life in prison for his part in a bombing at a railway station 40 years ago that killed 85 people.

Gilberto Cavallini, 67, a former member of the far-fight Armed Revolutionary Nucleus (NAR), was convicted for providing logistical support to those who carried out the attack in the northeastern city of Bologna.

On August 2, 1980, a bomb exploded in the railway sta-tion’s waiting room, killing 85 people and injuring more than 200.

From the 1960s to the start of the 1980s, Italy was hit by more than 12,000 attacks in which 362 people died.

The most notorious act was the kidnapping and assas-sination of former prime min-ister Aldo Moro in 1978.

Cavallini, who has con-fessed to a number of crimes including robberies and murder, has already spent 37 years in prison and was on day release, Italian media reported.

But he has said he is innocent of involvement in the Bologna attack. “I’m in prison since September 1983, that’s more than 37 years. These are years in prison that I deserve... I deserve the convictions, but I don’t accept having to pay for what I have not done,” he said.

Royal memorabilia featuring Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (centre) is displayed for sale in a store near Buckingham Palace, in London, yesterday.

Meghan returns to Canada amid royal stormAFP — LONDON

Prince Harry’s wife Meghan has returned to Canada following the couple’s bombshell announcement that they were quitting their frontline royal duties, their spokeswoman said.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent an extended Christmas break in Canada with their baby son Archie, before returning to break the news that has rocked the royal family.

“I can confirm reports that the duchess is in Canada,” the couple’s spokeswoman said, without providing further details.

The Daily Mail newspaper reported that the royals left eight-month-old Archie with his nanny in Canada when they flew to Britain earlier this week.

It said Meghan, a former US television actress, headed back to rejoin him on Thursday and “she may stay there for the foreseeable future”.

An unnamed source was quoted as saying by the Press Association news agency the duchess had travelled to the UK “to attend some meetings” before returning to Canada

Senior royals were caught off guard by Wednesday’s announcement that the couple wanted to “step back” from their roles.

Queen Elizabeth II reportedly held crisis calls on Thursday involving Harry, his brother Prince William and their father Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.

William, Harry and their wives have been viewed as the

modern face of the royal family, hailed for bringing fresh energy into the institution.

But Harry and Meghan last year admitted to struggling with the spotlight following their wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018 and Archie’s birth a year later.

The couple have lashed out at negative news coverage —Harry calling some of it racist — and taken several papers to court.

The prince also confirmed he was growing apart from his brother, who is second in line to the throne.

The couple said they wanted to forge “a progressive new role”, split their time between Britain and North America and become finan-cially independent.

No sight of French agreement on pensions as unions hold outAP — PARIS

The French government and labour unions appeared far from reaching any compromise deal Friday in talks over a planned pension overhaul, with strikes and protests grinding on.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe met all major unions and employers’ associations for negotiations that focused on two key issues: the retirement age and how to pay for the new pensions system.

Unions reject the

government’s plan to raise the age for full pension eligibility from 62 to 64.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide on Thursday to denounce the government’s plans. Hard-left workers’ unions

want the pensions overhaul plan to be scrapped entirely.

Philippe Martinez expressed his CGT union’s “disagreement” with the plan. “The more the government and the ministers in charge of it try to explain their bill, the less the French

understand it, which is a serious problem,” he said.

The prime minister still hopes to find some compromise with some of the more moderate unions, which in his view would weaken the protest movement.

But the head of CFDT union,

Laurent Berger, dashed any hopes for a quick solution fol-lowing yesterday’s talks, saying “we didn’t have the answers this evening.” Philippe offered to pursue talks on the financing of the new pension system in the coming months.

Female journalist wins equal pay claimAFP — LONDON A British female news presenter who was paid one sixth of the fee earned by a male presenter on a similar show won her discrimination case against the BBC yesterday.

An employment tribunal ruled the corporation failed to prove the disparity in pay between Samira Ahmed and Jeremy Vine was “because of a material factor which did not involve subjecting the claimant to gender discrimination”.

Both journalists present shows where the viewers are given a chance to air their opinions.

The BBC is regularly scruti-nised over the amounts it pays top stars and has also faced several major stories about female staff being paid less than their male equivalents.

Ahmed, who argued she was owed almost $914, 000 in back pay, welcomed the ruling.

“No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer. I love working for the BBC,” she said in a statement released through the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The BBC responded that Ahmed was “an excellent jour-nalist and presenter, and we regret that this case ever had to go to tribunal”.

But it defended its actions. “We have always believed that the pay of Samira and Jeremy Vine was not determined by their gender,” it said.

“Presenters — female as well as male — had always been paid more on ‘Points of View’ than ‘Newswatch’.”

The BBC said “Points of View” requires the presenter to deal with issues “in a light-hearted way”, so its presenters have tended to be “well-known figures in the world of light entertainment” meriting a higher market fee.

Newswatch “deals with matters seriously” on the “rela-tively niche” BBC News Channel.

N Ireland parties back new power-sharing dealAFP — BELFAST Northern Ireland’s rival parties yesterday said they would back a new power-sharing deal to revive its devolved government for the first time since 2017 and help the volatile province handle the pressures of Brexit.

Republicans and unionists were being pushed into an agreement by the threat of a new regional election if they missed a looming deadline on Monday.

The UK government in London promised a large cash infusion into the tiny but stra-tegically vital region if the pro-Irish republican Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which favours continued ties to Britain, came to terms.

“Sinn Fein has taken the decision to re-enter the power-sharing institution and nom-inate ministers to the power-sharing executive,” party leader Mary Lou McDonald told reporters. “We’re ready to do business,” she added.

DUP leader Arlene Foster earlier called the draft

agreement “fair and balanced”.

“This is a deal that recog-nises that we live in a shared society, this is a deal that rec-ognises that no one identity should be placed over another,” she told BBC radio.

“We are ready to go back into the Assembly.”

The region’s devolved assembly at Stormont collapsed in January 2017 over a scandal caused by the runaway costs of a renewable energy scheme.

Numerous rounds of increasingly acrimonious nego-tiations failed to reach a solution and basic services were

left unattended — eventually sparking workers’ strikes.

The latest talks were launched in the wake of a December 12 UK general election that saw the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the pro-Irish repub-lican Sinn Fein lose votes to smaller groups.

Analysts attributed the main parties’ losses to voter frus-tration at their inability to reach a compromise that could let a government in Belfast take care of the region’s daily needs.

A 1998 peace accord that ended three decades of violence over British rule of Northern Ireland in which thousands died requires the two main parties to share power.

The lack of an executive is especially fraught with danger for the region because of his-toric changes to its trade rules being imposed by Britain’s pending withdrawal from the European Union.

Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland to the south provides the only UK-EU land frontier.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal agreement puts pressure on local authorities to maintain frictionless trade while pre-serving an open border on the island of Ireland.

Negotiations to revive Stormont have been stuck on disagreements over the use of the Irish language and a mech-anism giving minority govern-

ments veto rights.The draft requires the exec-

utive “to provide official recog-nition of the status of the Irish language in Northern Ireland” and “respect the freedom of all persons... to choose, affirm, maintain and develop their national and cultural identity”.

It also eliminates the veto mechanism and compels the parties to build consensus on

issues of dispute.The UK government addi-

tionally promises to deliver a new financial package for the region that allows outstanding public sector salaries to be paid.

Downing Street called the draft deal “a balanced package” and that the precise amount of new funding would be spelled out when agreement was reached.

Irish republican Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald (centre) flanked by deputy leader Michelle O’Neill (right) and other colleagues during a media conference at the Parliament Buildings on the Stormont Estate, in Belfast , yesterday.

This is a deal that recognises that we live in a shared society, this is a deal that recognises that no one identity should be placed over another: DUP leader Arlene Foster

Bulgaria Environment Ministercharged over water crisisREUTERS — SOFIA

Bulgarian prosecutors charged Environment Minister Neno Dimov yesterday with delib-erate mismanagement over severe water restrictions faced by nearly 100,000 people for about two months in a region of western Bulgaria.

The water crisis, affecting the town of Pernik and sur-rounding villages, has triggered a series of protests and prompted the main opposition Socialists to seek a no-confi-dence vote in Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s centre-right government.

Borissov accepted Dimov’s resignation yesterday.

Prosecutors said Dimov had failed to take proper measures to avoid a critical draining of a dam that provides drinking

water to Pernik and its sur-rounding villages despite numerous warnings and reports of its decreasing levels.

“Some 97,000 people will not have normal access to drinking water in the next five months — which they would have had if the minister had exercised his authority,” Pros-ecutor Angel Kanev said. “This is the biggest damage”.

The prosecutors said Dimov had allowed water supplies from the dam to industrial users even when he had been informed from the start of 2018 that water levels there were falling.

Dimov, who faces up to eight years in jail if convicted, was arrested on Thursday after police and prosecutors raided the environment ministry and several institutions in Pernik.

Europe has led efforts to save the 2015 accord, gravely undermined by Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 and Iran’s subsequent winding down of its compliance, but to little effect.

11SATURDAY 11 JANUARY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Romania's PM mulls snap electionAFP — BUCHAREST

Romania’s prime minister said yesterday that he was in favour of calling a snap election but stopped short of announcing he would step down to trigger the process.

Ludovic Orban’s minority government was installed in November following a parlia-mentary no-confidence vote against the administration led by the long-entrenched Social Democratic Party (PSD).

National elections are to be held by the end of this year, but Orban’s National Liberal Party (PNL) hopes to seize on the

current anti-PSD mood to gain control of parliament through early polls. “It’s absolutely nec-essary that the power returns to the people,” Orban told reporters after a meeting Pres-ident Klaus Iohannis, adding the president was also in favour of a snap election.

Romania has not held a snap election in the past 30 years, as the procedure is seen as complicated and political consensus is hard to reach. The current government would have to step down or collapse through a no-confidence vote, opening the way for the pres-ident to dissolve the parliament,

but he can only do so after two failed attempts to install a new executive.

Asked if he would step down to trigger the process, Orban refused to answer, saying he was not yet willing to reveal his strategy though he would agree with holding an election at the same time as local elections due in June.

PSD, which has 198 in the 465-seat parliament, opposes the move to have snap elections although leader Marcel Ciolacu has said his party is weighing launching a no-confidence vote against the government “to stop Romania’s decline.".

Nasa’s latest astronaut graduates almost half womenAFP — HOUSTON

Nasa yesterday honoured its latest class of graduating astro-nauts in a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a diverse and gender-balanced group now qualified for space-flight missions including Amer-ica’s return to the Moon and eventual journey to Mars.

After completing more than two years of basic training, the six women and seven men were chosen from a record-breaking 18,000 applicants representing a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties, from experi-enced pilots to scientists, engi-neers and doctors.

The group includes two

candidates from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which has participated in a joint training program with the US since 1983.

“They are the best of the best: they are highly qualified and very diverse, and they rep-resent all of America,” said Nasa Administrator Jim Bridenstine. They include five people of colour, including the first Ira-nian-American astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli who flew combat missions in Afghanistan and holds an engineering degree from MIT.

The group, known as the “Turtles”, wore blue flight jumpsuits and took turns approaching the podium to receive their astronaut pins, as

one of their classmates paid tribute to their character and shared playful and heartfelt anecdotes.

After being selected in 2017, the class completed training in spacewalking at Nasa’s under-water Neutral Buoyancy Lab, robotics, the systems of the International Space Station, piloting the T-38 training jet and Russian language lessons. They are the first to graduate since Nasa announced the Artemis program to return to the Moon by 2024, this time on its south pole, as the US plans to place the next man and first woman on lunar soil and set up an orbital space station.

Part of the group’s training

therefore included studying the building blocks of that program, which are still being developed: the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion crew capsule and the gateway space station.

Astronauts play an active role in the development of spacecraft, and the current group will eventually join the ranks of the approximately 500 people in history who have journeyed into space.

The group’s diversity stands in contrast to the early years of space exploration, long domi-nated by white men (including all 12 people who have walked on the Moon), until Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983 and

Guion Bluford the first black astronaut the same year.

It includes Indian-American Raja Chari, an Air Force colonel and aeronautical engineer; Jessica Watkins, who holds a doctorate in geology from UCLA and is the class’s only black woman; Frank Rubio, a medical doctor and Blackhawk pilot; and Jonny Kim, a decorated Navy SEAL and emergency physician, who holds both a doctorate in medicine from Harvard and a mathematics degree.

Asked about the difficulties she faced in her career, Moghbeli said some had ques-tioned her choices when she decided to join the military after graduating from MIT.

Jailed British daredevil has no regrets over Shard stuntAFP — LONDON

A daredevil jailed for scaling The Shard skyscraper without permission or safety equipment walked free from prison yes-terday — and said climbing the London landmark was worth being jailed.

George King-Thompson, 20, was greeted by family and friends as he left London’s Pen-tonville prison after three months behind bars.

“I just saw it as success fee for achieving my dream so for that reason it was worth every

second in there,” he said moments after he was released.

“I’m happy it’s over... to be out in the open I feel like I’m floating.” King-Thompson, a self-proclaimed “urban explorer”, was jailed in October for breaching a civil injunction on climbing the 1,016-foot-tall tower, one of Europe’s tallest.

The six-month sentence, of which he served half, was crit-icised by supporters, including renowned free-solo climber Alain Robert — dubbed the “French Spiderman” for his own spectacular ascents.

Robert, 57, who has been scaling skyscrapers unaided around the world since 1994, flew to London from his current base in Bali, Indonesia, to greet King-Thompson upon his release. “George’s case is quite insane,” he said, noting he himself had climbed different London towers six times without being jailed. “I found it totally unfair, because if I am comparing the treatment that I’ve had over the last 20 years and what they did to this guy, it’s kind of disgusting.” King-Thompson called Robert’s support “an honour”.

UK police under fire over children trafficked into drug tradeREUTERS — LONDON

Police efforts to crack down on drug gangs that traffic children in Britain are being hampered by a lack of coordination and inconsistent treatment of victims, a watchdog said yesterday.

Thousands of children in Britain are estimated to be used by gangs to carry drugs from cities to rural areas, according to police who consider the crime a growing form of modern slavery.

Yet investigations into the drug trade are disjointed and often “less effective than they should be” due to limited police cooperation and competing priorities, Her Majesty’s Inspec-torate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said. The number of suspected British child slaves referred to the government in 2018 for support more than doubled to 1,421 from 676 in 2017, with many feared to be victims of the so-called county lines trade. Such data for last year was not available.

“Our inspection revealed that policing is currently too fragmented to best tackle county lines offending,” Phil Gormley, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said.

Children caught with drugs who are arrested then released from policy custody often do not have ready access to support services, and in some cases are put on train journeys home unsupervised after their

release, according to the report.Responding to the watchdog,

the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for county lines Graham McNulty said there was room to improve, but the police could not solve the issue alone. “Schools, health and social care services, charities and others have a critical role in ending this evil practice and we will con-tinue to work closely with them,” McNulty said.

Britain’s interior ministry said it was investing £20m to tackle the crime, and that a national coordination centre established in 2018 had made at least 2,500 arrests and pro-tected more than 3,000 vul-nerable people.

Phil Brewer, the ex-head of the Metropolitan Police’s anti-slavery squad, said in October that police faced a challenge in trying to judge whether a child found dealing drugs should be treated as a suspect or a victim.

Gangs are luring some children into selling drugs by telling them they will not be pun-ished if they say they were coerced, citing a defence intended for trafficking victims in Britain’s 2015 anti-slavery law, prosecutors told lawmakers last year. The HMICFRS report said the gov-ernment should launch a review into the legal defence and establish whether the legislation should be amended, a recom-mendation supported by Brit-ain’s independent anti-slavery commissioner Sara Thornton.

Fraudster jailed for selling duff scanners to British navyAFP — LONDON

A man who sold useless under-water scanning technology to Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a planned fraud was jailed for three years and four months yesterday.

Company boss Carl Tiltman, 56, used fake test results to trick the Royal Navy about its capabilities, Southwark Crown Court in south London was told.

Navy personnel were put at risk by carrying out “com-pletely futile” live training operations to test the laser-emitting kit which “produced no meaningful results what-soever”, it heard.

Tiltman, a former MoD employee, persuaded the min-istry to place orders for spe-cialist sonar imaging devices and safety equipment worth around £1.4m. The deception started in May 2017 when he made presentations about what the scanning equipment could do, using fabricated results.

EU warns Iran nuclear deal likely to collapseAFP — BRUSSELS

The EU’s diplomatic chief warned yesterday that it may not be possible to save the Iran nuclear deal, as the bloc’s foreign ministers held emer-gency talks on the Middle East.

Europe has led efforts to save the 2015 accord, gravely undermined by Trump’s uni-lateral withdrawal in 2018 and Iran’s subsequent winding down of its compliance, but to little effect. After an afternoon of talks with ministers, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high represent-ative for foreign affairs, reit-erated Europe’s continuing support for the deal but warned it may be doomed.

“We want to save this deal if it’s possible,” he said, warning that negotiating a new pact would be a “very complex, highly technical process” that would take a long time.

Yesterday's meeting did not discuss triggering the deal’s dispute resolution mechanism, which could ultimately lead to the UN Security Council reim-posing sanctions on Iran.

“Maybe we cannot avoid that the JCPOA finally is being cancelled because the dispute mechanism can be triggered and I cannot exclude that this happens,” Borrell said, using an abbreviation for the deal’s formal name.

The three European parties to the pact — Britain, France

and Germany — have all stressed their commitment to saving it, in defiance of a call by Trump this week to join him in walking away.

France and Germany have warned for some time that unless Iran returns to full com-pliance with the terms of the deal, they may trigger the dispute mechanism.

But the Europeans are expected to wait for UN inspectors to report on what Iran is doing on the ground fol-lowing its latest announcement.

Earlier yesterday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that without action, Iran could soon be in a position to develop the bomb.

“If they continue to unravel the Vienna accord then yes in quite a short period, between one and two years, they could have a nuclear weapon, which is unimaginable,” he told France’s RTL radio.

Several other ministers at the talks restated the EU’s con-tinuing determination to pre-serve the deal, which they say is vital for non-proliferation and regional security.

But Lithuania’s Linas Linkevicius said that without some substantial change, “it will be difficult to believe that this agreement could be alive”.

The highly unusual emer-gency meeting was called in response to soaring Middle East tensions following the killing of Iranian general Qasem Sole-imani in an American drone strike. Fears of all-out war have subsided since US President Donald Trump made a statement on Wednesday saying Tehran appeared to be “standing down” after firing missiles — without causing cas-ualties — at US troops based in Iraq. But the fatal crash of a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran in the midst of the crisis was on ministers’ minds, with several urging Tehran to carry out a transparent inquiry.

Also on the ministers’ agenda was the crisis in Libya, where the UN-backed gov-ernment is under threat from rival strongman Khalifa Haftar.

European powers fear the ongoing chaos in Libya could lead to a fresh wave of migrants trying to cross the Mediter-ranean, or allow the Islamic State group to gain a foothold to launch attacks.

EuropeanParliament stripsjailed CatalanMEP of seat

AFP — BRUSSELS

The European Parliament declared yesterday that jailed Catalan separatist Oriol Jun-queras is no longer an MEP, stripping him of the immunity his supporters hoped would see him freed.

Junqueras was elected to the European parliament in May but his term “ended with effect from January 3, 2020” after a decision by the Spanish electoral commission backed by a top court, speaker David Sassoli said.

The jailed pro-inde-pendence leader had just written to Sassoli to ask him to confirm his status as an MEP and thus to pressure Spain to keep him out of prison and allow him to take up his seat.

The letter urged the par-liament not to declare Jun-queras’s seat vacant simply because he has begun a 13-year sentence for his part in a banned 2017 independence referendum in Catalonia.

British skyscraper climber George King-Thompson (left) with French skyscraper climber Alain Robert as he leaves HM Prison Pentonville in north London, yesterday.

Protest over Australian inaction on bushfiresProtesters hold banners as they demonstrate against the Australian government’s inaction over climate change despite the bushfires crisis, outside the Australian Embassy in London, Britain, yesterday.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House, has been engaged in a three-week cat-and-mouse game with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the rules for Trump’s trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

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Pelosi plans to send impeachment articles to Senate next weekREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The Democratic-led US House of Representatives will send formal impeachment charges against President Donald Trump to the Senate as early as next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday, setting the stage for his long-awaited trial.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House, has been engaged in a three-week cat-and-mouse game with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the rules for Trump’s trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democrats have demanded it include new witness tes-timony and evidence about the Republican president’s pres-suring of Ukraine to probe former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the Democrats running for the right to face Trump in the November election.

McConnell effectively slammed the door shut on that idea this week when he said had enough Republican votes to start the trial without a com-mitment to hear from additional witnesses, including former

Trump national security adviser John Bolton.

In a letter to House law-makers yesterday, Pelosi said a resolution to appoint “man-agers” for the trial and to transmit the impeachment charges to the Senate could be brought up on the House floor next week.

During last month’s impeachment debate, the House adopted a rule that allows Democrats to bring up a resolution naming House managers quickly and vote on it after only 10 minutes of

Protester Laura Albinson holds up a sign at the base of the steps of the House of Representatives at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, yesterday.

debate. That means the House could vote as soon as Tuesday.

Pelosi also accused McCo-nnell of intending to “stonewall” a fair trial by backing legislation to dismiss the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges against Trump without a proper hearing of the evidence.

“A dismissal is a cover-up and deprives the American people of the truth,” Pelosi said, adding that she would consult with other House Democrats on how to proceed on Tuesday.

The House impeached Trump on December 18 after an investigation sparked by a

whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A trial cannot begin until the charges, known formally as articles of impeachment, are transmitted to the Senate.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and has dismissed his impeachment as a partisan bid to undo his 2016 election win.

The trial is expected to lead to Trump’s acquittal before the 2020 presidential election cam-paign heats up, as no Repub-licans have voiced support for ousting him from office. A two-thirds majority of the Senate is

needed to vote to do that. Republicans in Congress have lambasted Pelosi’s approach since the impeachment vote, pointing out that House Dem-ocrats claimed it was urgently important to impeach Trump before the December holiday break only to pivot to a delaying strategy.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley accused Pelosi of throwing Congress into “unnec-essary chaos,” saying the wait in submitting the impeachment charges would postpone ratifi-cation of the new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Boy kills teacher, self in Mexico school shooting

AFP — TORREON, MEXICO

An 11-year-old boy shot and killed his teacher yesterday at a school in northern Mexico and wounded six other people, then killed himself, authorities said.

The wounded — five pupils and a physical education teacher — were taken to a local hospital, where they were in stable condition, said Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme of the state of Coa-huila, which borders the United States.

Panicked parents rushed to the private elementary school, the Colegio Cervantes, as officials evacuated the trim brick building and police and soldiers put it on lockdown.

Riquelme said the student had asked for permission to go to the bathroom shortly after the school day began. When he did not return after about 15 minutes, his teacher, a 50-year-old woman, went to see if anything was wrong.

He emerged from the bathroom with two guns and opened fire, killing his teacher and wounding the group of six, who were passing through the hallway, before shooting himself, Riquelme said.

“We deeply regret this incident... which is shocking for us all,” the governor told a news conference.

“I want to reiterate that this sort of thing is not the norm in our schools.” Mexico is more used to seeing school shootings in the neighbouring United States than up close.

However, the incident was not without precedent. In 2014, a 15-year-old shot and killed a schoolmate in central Mexico State, and in 2017 a 15-year-old shot and wounded four classmates at a high school in the northern city of Monterrey.

Riquelme said the boy had not shown behavioral problems, but had told classmates that “today was the today,” and talked to them about the first-person shooter video game “Natural Selection”.

US House votes to curb Trump war power on IranAFP — WASHINGTON

US lawmakers concerned about rushing to war with Iran adopted a measure late on Thursday aimed at reining in President Donald Trump’s ability to take military action against the Islamic republic.

The resolution was intro-duced by Democrats after Trump’s order to kill an Iranian commander and retaliatory missile strikes by Tehran dra-matically escalated tensions and raised fears of a devastating war between the two foes.

The mostly symbolic but politically charged vote, 224 to 194, was largely along party lines, with three members of Trump’s Republican Party joining Democrats in approving the measure demanding the president not engage in military action against Iran unless authorized by Congress.

Among them was Matt Gaetz, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Con-gress who noted in a floor speech that the measure did not criticize Trump, but said that “engaging in another forever

war in the Middle East would be the wrong decision.” “If the members of our armed services have the courage to go and fight and die in these wars, as Con-gress we ought to have the courage to vote for them or against them,” Gaetz said.

As lawmakers launched a scalding day-long debate over presidential authority, Trump insisted he needs no one’s blessing to launch attacks, essentially scorning existing legal requirements for con-sulting with Congress.

“I don’t have to,” Trump said

when asked whether he would seek congressional approval for more military action against Iran. “And you shouldn’t have to,” he added, “because you have to make split-second deci-sions sometimes.”

Trump signaled on Wednesday that he was stepping back from the brink of war with Iran after a US drone strike that killed commander Qasem Soleimani was followed by Iranian missile volleys against bases housing American forces in Iraq. But on Thursday he fought back against criticism

that he’d ordered the killing, risking all-out conflict, without real justification.

At a reelection campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, Trump insisted, without providing any evidence, that Soleimani was “actively planning new attacks,” including against US embassies, “and we stopped him cold.”

He ridiculed his Democratic opponents in Congress, calling them insulting names and claimed that if he had consulted with them they would have leaked the secret operation to the “fake news”.

Investigators to reopen case ofMexico’s 43 missing students

AFP — MEXICO CITY

A group of independent experts will be allowed to reopen its investigation into the murky disap-pearance of 43 students in southern Mexico in 2014, relatives of the missing men said.

The case of the “disappeared” students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college still haunts Mexico, where the official probe was marred by irregular-ities and the former government refused to renew the mandate of the international experts in 2016.

The experts from the Inter-American Com-mission on Human Rights (IAHCR) will now be allowed to pick up where they left off, a lawyer for the relatives said after the families met with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“In February or March we will have new devel-opments in this investigation,” the lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales, told journalists outside the presidential palace. The 43 student activists had stolen several buses to take them to a protest in Mexico City when they were detained by police the night of Sep-tember 26, 2014, and allegedly handed over to gang members who massacred them.

According to the prosecution’s case, police officers who were on the payroll of the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel mistook the students for members of a rival group.

Peru to plant one million trees around Machu PicchuAFP — LIMA

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra launched a campaign to reforest the Machu Picchu archeo-logical site in order to protect it from mud slides and forest fires. Vizcarra has pledged to plant one million trees in the 35,000-hectare protected archeological complex that features the stunning Inca citadel. “We’re here to begin the planting of a million trees in the protected zone around the Machu Picchu sanctuary,” said Vizcarra.

The Machu Picchu estate — which includes three distinct areas for agriculture, accommodation and religious ceremonies — is the most iconic site from the Inca empire that ruled a large swathe of western South America for 100 years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.

Vizcarra said the ambitious target of one million trees is “a commitment from the gov-ernment, the region, the municipality and all the citizens who want to protect this world wonder.” Environment ministry specialists evoked the need to plant trees to protect not only the sanctuary but also the protected ecological area’s fauna and flora.