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BUSINESS | 18 SPORT | 24

Volume 21 | Number 7063 | 2 RiyalsSunday 5 February 2017 | 8 Jumada I 1438

MEDINA CENTRALEMEDIINANA C CENENTRTRALESpecial Lease Offer

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Push for more travel and tourism officesMohammed Osman The Peninsula

The Ministry of Econ-omy and Commerce has called on Qatari investors to explore the possibility of

establishing more travel and tourism offices in the country, indicating that there is more scope for such facilities outside Doha and its suburbs.

Data released by the Min-istry shows that the highest number of travel and tourism offices are based in Al Rayyan, with 32 licence holders. Doha has 11 active business licences in the sector, Umm Salal six, Al Wakrah five and Al Khor and Dakhira two.

Of the active businesses in the travel and tourism indus-try, travel offices top the list with 332 facilities, followed by tourism with 237 offices.

Offices conducting local tourism are listed among the most inactive with 14 offices and three offices dealing in land tourism.

Data about the number of people served per office indi-cate that Al Khor and Dakira are the least served, geographically, with 101,015 people per office.

Each office in Doha serves 86,950 people and that in Al Wakra 59,807 people. Every office in Umm Salal and Al Rayyan serve 15,139 and 18,928 people, respectively.

The Ministry said that 91 percent of the holders of licenes in travel and tourism are men and 57 percent of them are aged above 45 years.

To establish a new travel agency investors need to develop a work plan based on economic feasibility and deter-mine the value of investment, the Ministry said in an advisory issued to potential investors.

“As your customers are families, individuals, retired persons, students, tourist groups, and businessmen, you need to approach them through online monthly bulletin, social media and create database for the customers,” said the Ministry.

Citing the latest global sta-tistical data on travel and tourism, the Ministry said that 57 percent of the bookings are being done through the inter-net and 47 percent of the searches are being made on smart phones. Industry sources say that most of the business is concentrated in Doha, although some travel and tour operators have opened small offices in areas outside the city but have not found them very successful.

→ Continued on page 5

QA to fly passengers from banned nations after US court verdictHuda N V ww

Qatar Airways said yester-day it will resume carrying nationals of seven previ-

ously barred countries on its US-bound flights, after a US fed-eral judge temporarily halted a controversial travel ban. Citizens of Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen holding valid US visas can now fly Qatar Airways.

Last week, the airline had issued a travel alert restricting US travel for the nationals of these countries on its flights.

"As directed by the US

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), nationals of the seven affected countries listed below and all refugees seeking admis-sion presenting a valid, unexpired US visa or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) card (Green Card) will be permitted to travel to the United States and will be processed accordingly upon arrival," said Qatar Air-ways in an announcement on its website.

US authorities yesterday suspended President Donald Trump's controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, following a court rul-ing that blocked its enforcement.

"We have reversed the provi-sional revocation of visas," a US State Department spokesman told AFP.

"Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid," the offi-cial said.

The State Department offi-cial added that the Trump administration is "working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and our legal teams" pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washing-ton state's attorney general, which filed the challenge.

→ See also page 15

Nights to be colder in some parts of QatarThe Peninsula

The country would continue to experience the cold spell brought forth by the north-

westerly winds from the icy European regions. Mercury is expected to dip as low as 7 degrees Celsius in some parts of the coun-try tonight.

Yesterday, the lowest temper-ature was recorded at 6 degrees Celsius at Turayna, south of the country.

While nights would remain chilly, days would be warmer com-pared to the last few days with winds subsiding.

Maximum temperature in Doha is expected to soar to 20 degrees, while in Mesaieed, Al Wakrah and Al Khor it will be 19 degrees.

The weather bureau has fore-cast a mild day with some clouds, today. The coldest place in the country today would be Abu Samra

and Al Khor, with the temperature dropping to 7 degrees at night. The day would be hotter with sunshine taking the mercury to 17 and 19 degrees, respectively. Dukhan will have the coolest daytime with 15 degrees Celsius, and 11 degrees at night.

In Mesaieed and Al Wakrah, temperatures would fall to 8 degrees tonight, while day temper-atures would likely be 19 degrees. The northwesterly winds will blow between 5 to 15 knots inland. Off-shore, the wind direction would be northwesterly, with speeds rang-ing up to 22 knots, decreasing to 18 knots by mid-day. The wave height will be between 5 to 7 feet at first falling to 2 to 4 feet later.

The bureau has issued no inshore warning for today and said visibility could be four to eight kil-ometre. However, it continues its warning of strong winds and high seas for sea goers.

New company to manage HIA The Peninsula

The Executive Board of Directors of Qatar Air-ways Group has announced the establishment of a new company to manage and operate

Hamad International Airport (HIA) as an independ-ent entity owned by Qatar Airways Group.

The decision was announced at the board meet-ing held on January 31. Having opened in 2014, the airport serves 30 million passengers a year, and can handle 100 aircraft movements per hour on its dual-runways. Within two years of its opening, HIA has earned several world-class awards and recognitions including the Skytrax 5-Star Airport award – the only Middle Eastern airport to have earned this honour; Skytrax’s Middle East’s Best Airport in 2015 and 2016; Skytrax Best Staff Service in the Middle East 2016; and previously Best Airport Award at the Future Travel Experience (FTE) Asia Awards in 2015.

HIA is the official airport of Bayern-Munich Foot-ball Club. Services and facilities at HIA include Qatar Duty Free, a premium shopping emporium with more than 40,000 square metres of combined retail and dining with more than 70 boutiques and 30 cafés and restaurants.

→ Continued on page 5

Qatar condemns attack on Louvre Museum in ParisQNA

QATAR has strongly con-demned the attack on a security post near the Louvre Museum in Paris.

In a statement yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said that the State of Qatar condemns the criminal act, and reiter-ates solidarity with the French Republic.

The Ministry renewed Qatar's firm position reject-ing violence and terrorism in al l i ts forms and manifestations.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also yesterday strongly denounced the terror offen-sive in which a man carrying a knife attacked the security patrol stationed in front of the Louvre museum.

In a statement, the Sec-retary General of OIC, Dr Yousef bin Ahmed Al Oth-aimeen, expressed his disappointment over the hei-nous crime which includes, according to a preliminary probe launched into the inci-dent by the French authorities, bears the signs of a terrorist attack. Al Oth-aimeen confirmed the solidarity of OIC with France and the French people.

→ See also page 13

More prospects

Qatari investors asked to explore the possibility of establishing more travel and tourism offices in the country.Industry sources say that most of the business is concentrated in Doha.

QNA

TAJIKISTAN'S President Emomali Rahmon will arrive in Doha on an official visit to Qatar today.

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the President of Tajikistan will hold talks tomorrow.

Tajikistan President arrives today

World’s longest flight by Qatar Airways that

crosses 10 time zones takes off today

The Boeing 777-200LR will pass over Dubai,

northern Oman, southern tip of India, Sri Lanka, across

the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

QR 920 10 time zones 17h 45mScheduled to leave Doha today at5:10am.

Crosses 10 time zones before arriv-ing in Auckland, New Zealand, on Monday at 7:30am.

This journey of 17 hours and 45 minutes will become the longest passenger flight in the world covering 9,032 miles.

The 5 longest routes are: Doha-Auckland: 9,032 miles

Dubai-Auckland: 8,824 miles

Dallas-Sydney: 8,578 miles

Johannesburg-Atlanta: 8,439 miles

Singapore-San Francisco: 8,434 miles

217 ECONOMY

CLASS SEATS

42 BUSINESS

CLASS SEATS

Doha

AucklandThe Peninsula graphic: AbrahamSource: Qatar Airways / Agencies

A man sips tea at a cafe in Industrial Area yesterday. People took to the outdoors covered in warm clothes as sunshine brought some relief from chilly conditions on Friday. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

02 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017HOME

Emir greets Sri LankanPresidentEMIR H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yester-day a cable of congratulations to President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena on the anniversary of his country's Independence Day. (QNA)

Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister and Inte-rior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Kha-lifa Al Thani have also sent congratulations to Maithripala Sirisena on the Independence Day.

Sudan Minister praises Qatar's role in DarfurSUDANESE Minister of Cul-ture Tayeb Hassan Badawi has praised the great role played by the State of Qatar in achieving peace in the Darfur region, say-ing that the Doha agreement promotes culture of peace and dialogue approach to realize regional stability.

The Minister highlighted the peace gains that have been achieved for the people of Sudan through the Doha agreement, including disap-pearance of war agenda and promotion of dialogue for peaceful transfer of power, as well as peaceful coexistence and national unity of Sudan.

The Sudanese minister said that Qatar is a strategic partner for Sudan in various domains, adding that his min-istry is now implementing massive cultural projects in all parts of Sudan, taking advantage of the Qatari support.

Fazeena Saleem The Peninsula

Sri Lankans in Qatar cel-ebrated their country’s 69th Independence Day with traditional zeal and fervour yesterday.

Despite the chill weather, many Sri Lankans turned up at their embassy in the Old Airport area for a flag-hoisting ceremony.

K H C Sankapali, chargé d'affaires at the embassy, hoisted Sri Lanka’s national flag as the national anthem was sung and a traditional oil lamp was lit.

Two minutes of silence was observed in remembrance and honour of freedom fighters of Sri Lanka. Also, religious observ-ances were performed.

The message of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was read out. It said: “It is at a challenging and decisive moment that we celebrate the 69th Independence anniversary this year. The responsibility of strengthening the recently secured democratic freedom as well as ensuring that, enriched by indigenous wisdom, all com-munities could live with dignity, lies on our shoulders. We have

been able to overcome a dark era and reillumine our insur-mountable aspirations for democracy, freedom, and human dignity. However, the realization of the true meaning of freedom and independence lies in our potential to free our-selves from the shackles of all kinds and forms of poverty, ill-health, and confines of divisive identities of race, religion and caste, and enrich ourselves, as a society that values equity and rights of all.

Also, messages of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera were read out.

Sankapali, addressing the gathering, said, “You all have been here for the past years or decades. You have not only benefitted from this country, you all have been great contrib-utors to the development of Qatar. I, on behalf of my gov-ernment, take this opportunity to thank Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the government of Qatar for providing opportunities for Sri Lankans to be part of their development and progress while providing a great contri-bution for the process of earning foreign exchange for our motherland.”

“The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Qatar is committed to pro-vide all assistance and support for the betterment of our Sri Lankans living here according to all applicable rules and reg-ulations and guidelines in Sri Lanka and also subjected to the law of this country,” she added.

Sankapali also hinted that a new ambassador of Sri Lanka to Qatar will soon be appointed.

“We will have a new ambas-sador soon as the official formalities and procedures are being done at the moment regarding the new appoint-ment,” she said.

Sri Lankans mark 69th Independence Day

K H C Sankapali, chargé d'affaires at the embassy, hoisting the Sri Lankan national flag at the embassy premises yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

Emir praised

Sankapali thanks Emir and the government for providing opportunities for Sri Lankan expatriates.

Messages from Sri Lankan President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister read out at the event.

Silatech created 300,000 jobs for Arab youth last yearThe Peninsula

Silatech, a regional social organisation, has created and sustained more than

300,000 jobs for Arab youth through a network of more than 150 partners last year.

Silatech’s key achievements included signing strategic part-nerships to create and sustain

more than one million job opportunities by 2020 across the Arab region through its core pro-grammatic pillars: Enterprise Development, Employment, and Policy and Research.

The Highlights of 2016 included collaborations to cre-ate and sustain job opportunities across the region.

In Sudan, Silatech signed an

agreement with the Agricultural Bank of Sudan to promote Islamic microfinance to support youth entrepreneurs and create 23,000 jobs, in addition to partnering with Social Development Bank to cre-ate 20,000 jobs for graduates to start their own enterprises. In Tunisia, Silatech signed an agree-ment with Enda Tamweel to create more than 580,000 jobs

across Tunisia via providing sup-port to entrepreneurs, and supports the innovative Smart Tunisia program in enabling 50,000 jobs by 2020. Silatech renewed its partnership with Attawfiq Microfinance in Morocco adding up to 140,000 jobs for Moroccan youth.

Silatech extended its inno-vative partnerships to Syria,

where it collaborated with Qatar Red Crescent to provide train-ing for displaced youth develop their skills and provide 1,700 jobs. In Palestine, Silatech part-nered with Talal Abu Ghazaleh Group to launch ‘Khadamati’ portal to allow craftsmen in Pal-estine to advertise their products and services and connect them with customers and markets.

92% of patients fully satisfied with services at Sidra: SurveyThe Peninsula

The Outpatient Clinic at Sidra Medical and Research Center has been

recognised for patient satisfac-tion excellence seven months after opening the doors to its first clinics. Some 92% of the patients were fully satisfied with their experiences, according to the figures of regular internal patient satisfaction survey released yesterday.

The survey result is based on more than 7,000 appointments (or nearly 800 survey respond-ents) that have taken place at the Sidra Outpatient Clinics since May until December 2016.

“At Sidra, we pride ourselves on putting our patients at the heart of all we do. We are delighted with the results from our patient satisfaction survey, which is testament to Sidra’s ongoing vigilance and commit-ment to our patients and thanks to the skills and expertise of our diverse healthcare leaders and teams. We collect and transpar-ently report on patient satisfaction at the Sidra Outpa-tient Clinic to ensure that we continuously deliver the best quality care and safety for our patients. This is an ongoing process as we gear up to open more services and clinics until the Outpatient Clinic becomes fully operational later next month,” said Peter Morris , Chief Executive Officer, Sidra.

Since May, Sidra has been collecting data and feedback from patients following their visits to the Outpatient Clinic. Through surveys, patients are asked to rate their experience on areas including the ease of their journey from home through to their registration at

the clinic, the process of getting an appointment, rating the doc-tors and nursing teams, comfort in the hospital building and the quality of waiting room and hos-pital amenities.

Highlights from the patient feedback collected include, “The care we received was more than I imagined it would be. It was excellent and I hope they con-tinue to keep up providing such great levels of care and service to patients” (about General Sur-gery), “Excellent care - I felt like a VIP!” (about Orthopaedics) and “The service provided was excellent. I have yet to experi-ence better service in other facilities” (about the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic). One patient, was so happy with the care she received from the Obstetrics team that she named her baby Sidra. “The team and staff at Sidra were exceptional. I really valued the attention and care that was given to me – and it seemed fitting that I name my baby Sidra - a beautiful name

which is also mentioned in the Quran.”

“The feedback that we receive from each patient allows us to ensure that we are identifying any gaps and concerns immediately and making necessary improve-ments to enhance patient experience at Sidra. The high patient rating of our doctors, nurses and the services motivates us to work harder and to ensure we maintain the best possible standards of care. This is partic-ularly critical as we attend to a higher volume of patients, ramp up more services including read-ying our main hospital for inpatient care and recruit for over 3500 clinical and administrative roles over the course of two years,” said Dr Abdulla Al Kaabi, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Sidra.

Sidra successfully began the phased opening of its Outpatient Clinic in May 2016 with several paediatric outpatient clinics and services and also offers obstet-rics care.

Patients at the Sidra Medical and Research Center.

03SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 HOME

Fazeena SaleemThe Peninsula

Qatar yesterday marked the World Cancer Day (WCD) with an emphasis on creating awareness and col-

lecting accurate data about cancer.

The recent statistics from the Qatar National Cancer Registry (QNCR) show that in 2015, a total of 1,465 patients were docu-mented as newly diagnosed with cancer. Among them, 44 percent were female and 56 percent were male patients.

According to Qatar’s 2014 Population Health Report, can-cer was the second leading cause of death in the country between 2004 and 2010. The report also

states that the majority of Qatar’s residents will be, either directly or indirectly, affected by cancer.

Similarly, the World Health Organization’s 2014 Population

Health Report identified that can-cer was responsible for 18 percent of all deaths in Qatar compared to 10 percent in 2010. The report added that after cardiovascular disease, cancer was the second leading cause of death from a non-communicable disease.

In this backdrop, Qatar joined the worldwide initiative to raise awareness of cancer among the public in order to save lives and reduce the number of preventa-ble deaths that occur each year due to the disease, under this year’s theme - ‘We can. I can.’ It highlighted the importance of knowing the symptoms and risk factors of developing cancer.

It also emphasized the importance of collecting data on cancer patients.

The Ministry of Public Health

(MOPH), in a statement, said that collecting correct data on the dis-ease helps in designing awareness programmes to pre-vent cancer and avoidable deaths. It further said demo-graphic and clinical data about cancer patients in the QNCR helps to identify the prevalence and nature of cancer in Qatar. In 2014, MOPH created the QNCR replacing the hospital based reg-istry. MOPH and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) work together in collecting data for the QNCR and follow standards set by the World Health Organiza-tion’s International Agency Research in Cancer (IARC).

Commenting on World Can-cer Day 2017, Professor Karl Alexander Knuth, Medical Direc-tor and Chief Executive Officer of

HMC’s National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) and Chairman of Cancer Services at HMC said, “We have made great progress in the fight against can-cer in Qatar. The National Cancer Strategy has guided us to reduce the impact of this overwhelming disease and build on previous achievements to ensure the well-being of Qatar’s population.”

“Our cancer services are benchmarked against best inter-national practice and recognized by international research study groups. Educating people and broadening their understanding is vital for the future of cancer prevention, early detection and treatment. This is also an efficient weapon in dispelling the many myths and misconceptions about cancer that can adversely affect

people’s attitude to accessing early diagnosis, treatment and care,” he said.

Dr Mohammed Ussama Al Homsi, Senior Consultant in the Oncology Department at NCCCR noted that WCD presents an ideal opportunity to highlight the fact that together the world can make a difference. “WCD presents an excellent opportunity to raise awareness amongst the public of the importance of taking care of their health and being aware of the consequences of a lack of physi-cal activity and poor nutrition…..The risk of developing cancer, can be reduced by following healthy lifestyle habits such as not smok-ing, preventing ultraviolet (UV) exposure from the sun, consum-ing a healthy diet and exercising regularly.”

Qatar 'made huge progress' in fight against cancerRising cases

World Cancer Day marked with emphasis on creating awareness about the disease and collecting data.

In 2015, a total of 1,465 patients were documented as newly diagnosed with cancer.

Qatar Charity builds modelvillage in Djibouti's Arta regionThe Peninsula

Qatar Charity has inaugu-rated a model village at Damerjog in the Arta

Region of Djibouti. The village, "Doha Al Kheir” comprises 100 houses, a medical centre, a mosque, a primary school and a tailoring centre.

The project was funded by "Rohama Qatar" and imple-mented by the QC in collaboration with Mercy Inter-national Association.

The Minister of Housing, Environment and Urban Plan-ning of Djibouti, Musa Mohamed Ahmed, and the Chargé d'affaires of the Qatari Embassy in Djibouti, Nasser Mohammed

Said Abu Sala'a, attended the inauguration ceremony.

“Doha Al Kheir” consists of 100 houses, a dispensary, a mosque, a primary school, a sewing center, a water network, and a large tank. QC is looking forward to more than 5,000 people in Damerjog take advan-tage of these facilities.

The model village offers edu-cational services to more than 360 persons. There were no schools in this area. After suffer-ing from a water crisis for a long time, the people now have access to clean water. Further, the project contributes to creating work opportunities through teaching and training students at a sewing workshop.

The village will solve the housing crisis in Djibouti and will benefit the whole residents of the region. “The village is a distinctive addition to the whole region especially and Djibouti generally,” the Minister said.

Khalid Al Yafei, Director of QC's Operations Department, thanked members of “Rohama’ Qatar” and “Atta Alkheir” from Doha Alkheir initiatives for financing the project. The branch of Mercy International Associa-tion in Djibouti helped in implementing the project. Al-Yafei presented the most important projects of QC in Dji-bouti during the last year and a half that valued at around QR15m benefiting 77,801 people. The model village built by Qatar Charity in Djibouti.

04 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017HOME

Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of Qatari Businessmen Association, with the visiting delegation of Wisconsin Foundation for Economic Development in Doha. The delegation discussed the ways to further develop economic relations between Doha and the US state of Wisconsin. They also reviewed the joint cooperation and prospects for enhancing foreign direct investment between the two parties.

QBA Chairman meets Wisconsin Foundation team Intensive filmmaking workshop plannedIrfan Bukhari The Peninsula

Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Com-pany has planned a hands-on, intensive four-month filmmak-

ing workshop for the Qatari youth.

The company will conduct this filmmaking workshop in collaboration with Girls Crea-tivity Centre and US Embassy in Qatar. “The plan will take final shape soon as consultations with the US embassy are still under-way. The embassy supported a similar filmmaking workshop around two years ago,” said AbdulRahman Najdi, General Manager, Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company.

He said the theme of film-making workshop would be “veil” (hijab). “At the end of 3-4 months long intensive work-shop, participants will produce short feature films on veil,” he said, adding that the subject had been selected to repel West’s misunderstandings on the subject.

Only Qatari nationals will be enrolled for the workshop. “We will select 10 students; 5 each from boys and girls. The age-limit is 17-25 years. They will get training of all disciplines of film-making including story writing,

script writing, acting, camera, direction, digital editing,” Abdul-Rahman Najdi added.

He said that professionals having command on various departments of filmmaking would conduct the workshop. “In our last workshop whose theme was ‘women voice’, we had also hired services of pro-fessional filmmakers,” he said.

To evaluate skill of partici-pants, he said, they would be assigned to produce 10-minute

feature films individually on “veil” for which they would also conduct field research to assess public opinion on the issue. “Each participant will have to produce the film in two-week time,” he said.

AbdulRahman Najdi has been a filmmaker and has directed many films. “Being a filmmaker, I want to promote the art of filmmaking,” he noted. To a question, he said that the response from the youth was very good. “In last workshop we received a large number of applications and I am hoping a bigger response this time,” he said.

He said that Arab film indus-try was losing charm. “Once Egypt used to lead the industry but now it has lost its lustre, therefore it is important to revive Arab film industry by cre-ating a new generation of filmmakers,” he said, adding that the Emirati (UAE) and Bah-rani film industry was picking some pace and had produced few good movies.

He said that most of Qataris who were interested in film-making had interest only in the direction. “In filmmaking all skills are needed from script-writing to editing therefore in the upcoming workshop we would train participants for all skills,” he added.

Filmmaking

Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company will conduct the filmmaking workshop in collaboration with Girls Creativity Centre and US embassy in Qatar.

Only Qatari nationals will be enrolled for the workshop. And will select 10 students; 5 each boys and 5 girls. The age-limit is 17-25 years. They will get training of all disciplines of filmmaking.

RAF sends aid to Syrian refugees in LebanonThe Peninsula

Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foun-dation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) has dispatched

fresh humanitarian aid at a cost of QR1m to Syrian refugees sheltering in Lebanon.

More than 8,000 people fighting for survival benefitted from the project. The project meant to pro-vide basic needs to refugee families like foodstuffs, fuels and medicines. The medicines were distributed to three health facilities serving the beneficiaries.

The project was implemented by RAF in collaboration with its local partners in Lebanon. More than 120,000 liters fuels for heaters, 4,000 food baskets, 200 raincoats were distributed to beneficiary fam-ilies. Al Rahma medical centre in

Basha and Al Arqub in southern part of Lebanon, Al Shamal medical cen-tre in Al Dhania and Nurah medical centre in Jabal were supplied med-icines for children, women and senior citizens enough for four months.

The project aimed at providing fuels and food baskets to most deserving refugee camps in Akar, Al Buqa, Shaba, Al Arqub and those in southern part of Lebanon.

A survey was conducted in col-laboration with local partners to

assess the needs of refugee families. Then they were provided coupons to receive the aid at distribution centers.

The foodstuffs included rice, sugar, tea, lintels, olive oil, edible oil, pasta, salt, canned foods among oth-ers. The project helped reduce the suffering of refugee families amid harsh weather and snow fall. RAF implemented several projects and planed to continue to meet the needs of more than 40,000 refugees like heater fuels, food baskets and med-icines enough for four months.

RAF’s massive campaign Shita Al Rama (winter mercy) in Lebanon earmarked QR4m for relief projects for 31,000 Syrian refugees across the Lebanon. They will be provided 5,000 food baskets, tents, vaccina-tion, medicines, winter wears, blankets and fuels.

Independent schools to resume classes todayThe Peninsula

All Independent schools will resume classes today after the two weeks spring holidays, the Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-

cation said yesterday. A total of 113,429 students from various levels of Independent schools as will return to their classes entering the last term of 2016-17 academic year.

The ministry asked the students to do hard work from the first day of school to obtain excel-lent marks. Parents were also urged to make suitable environment at home so their children could study seriously and encourage them to obtain high marks.

Schools area ready to receive the students and to distribute text books for second term from the first day of school.

Syrian refugees receiving aid material.

The Peninsula

Qatar Chamber has launched a new service to allow private companies to obtain certificate of origin (COO) online from its website.

“The new service will enable private compa-nies to get rid of all problems they faced like slow procedures,” said Saleh Hamad Al Sharqi, Director General of Qatar Chamber. “The companies will get services in their offices as the system is being converted into paperless”.

The new service can be availed by download-ing a subscription form from the system. The applicant is required to fill in the form, put signa-ture of owner of the company and submit at Qatar Chamber.

"QC will soon launch a mobile application that will have all services provided by it as all transac-tions will be transferred on it after final approval," said Al Sharqi.

QC has upgraded its website making it a plat-form to interact with Qatari businessmen. They could be in touch with QC, and give their feedback about challenges they faced.

The website has separate page about invest-ments in Qatar showcasing investment opportunities and law encouraging attracting the investment. A separate page is also available at the website about the tenders floated by the Central Tenders Committee in a bid to update the compa-nies about the tenders.

Qatar Chamber unveils new service to obtain COO online

05SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 HOME

AZF to launch biggest National Sport Day eventThe Peninsula

Aspire Zone Founda-tion (AZF) and its affiliated member organisations are set to launch one of the

biggest National Sport Day cele-brations in Qatar, laying on a programme that offers the per-fect blend of sporting activities and family fun.

For its sixth annual NSD cel-ebration, Aspire Zone Foundation will introduce a number of unique sporting activities, available in Qatar for the first time. These include several innovative East-ern and European sports, tailored and presented in a way that appeals to local preferences and expectations.

“Team at Aspire Zone Foun-dation has worked tirelessly to organise a range of unique and thrilling family-oriented sporting activities designed to create an ideal sporting atmosphere in a family-friendly environment. This supports Aspire Zone Founda-tion’s aim of bringing members of the local community together and giving them the opportunity to enjoy unique and memorable experiences,” said Nasser Abdul-lah Al Hajri (pictured), Director of PR and Communications at the foundation.

All members of the commu-nity who are keen to participate in group activities and spend some quality time together can

do so through the various sport-ing events being organised on Aspire Zone’s outdoor pitch (10). Open from 9am to 3pm, these include popular sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, calisthenics demonstrations, par-achute games, mini telematch competitions, and movement with music.

Aspire Zone Foundation has also allocated a large space in Pitch 10 for young children to engage in fun activities and games in a safe and secure environment. These include bouncy castles, obstacle courses, and football skills for kids. Soft play areas for children under the age of two are also available, meaning that even the youngest members of the family can take part in the fun.

Meanwhile, mothers and daughters seeking a private and comfortable space can participate in women-only activities that take place on the indoor pitches of Aspire Dome from 10am until

1pm. The activities will help them gain new skills in gymnastics and basketball under the supervision of coaches from Aspire Acade-my’s Multi-Sport Skill Development programme coaches.

Uniquely for Qatar, AZF has incorporated into its activities this year a new sporting trend that is growing in popularity – “Nordic walking” — an affordable sport-ing activity that burns large numbers of calories and helps achieve total body fitness.

Originating from the Scandi-navian region in northern Europe, several recent studies have emphasised the Nordic walk’s crucial role in improving overall physical and mental health.

Drawing on the extensive experience of their staff, world-renowned coaches from Aspetar – one of Aspire Zone Founda-tion’s member organsiations – will be situated in five stations to demonstrate the sport to

visitors above the age of 18 who are interested in trying it. The demonstrations will start from 11am in front of Aspetar’s state-of-the-art West Wing.

In collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Doha, ‘Kendo,’ one of Japan’s oldest martial arts will be demonstrated and visitors can try it out under the supervision of highly trained professionals, starting at 9am on pitch 10.

Visitors to Aspire Zone will

also be able to enjoy a wide range of indoor activities, start-ing from 10am in Aspire Dome. These include indoor wall climb-ing, individual football activity, as well as fitness and gym classes delivered by ASPIRE ACTIVE programme.

In addition, Aspire Academy will organise a ‘Beat the Cham-pion’ event, made up of a series of sporting challenges that include a 20 metre sprint, ball throwing, vertical jumps and sta-

tionary bike races. This year’s programme

includes Aspire Zone’s annual Fun Run and the ‘5,000 Step Journey’, with over 12 educational stations that provide valuable tips and advice for participants about physical activity and healthy life-styles. More information more about Aspire Zone Foundation’s programmes and events is avail-able on its website, social media channels and ‘Life in Aspire’ smartphone app.

Families enjoying various activities at Aspire Zone Foundation.

For its sixth annual NSD celebrations, Aspire Zone Foundation will introduce a number of unique sporting activities, available in Qatar for the first time.

No need for several travel agents to open officesContinued from page 1

“Some travel agents have small offices out-side Doha. Outside Doha there is no need for several travel agents to open offices, one or two offices can be helpful. When there are more offices,

the number of customers get divided and it causes loss in business. I know there are some who opened offices outside Doha and closed due to lack of business,” said a senior official of a Doha-based travel agency.

Ministry plans to expand fishing ports in the countrySidi Mohamed The Peninsula

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment is work-ing towards expanding and

developing the fishing ports of the country as the designs have been prepared for the expansion and development of the fishing ports in Al Khor, Al Wakrah and Fard-hat Al Thakhira Harbor in cooperation with the Public Works Authority.

Also, to maintain fish stock, the Ministry is evaluating the fish stock in the country. The biolog-ical characteristics for the reproduction of the mostly-con-sumed fish have also been studied, said a magazine of the ministry. Furthermore, the cur-rent, maximum and sustainable

exploitation rates of all types of fish have been determined in order to identify the quantities of fisheries in order to save the fish stock in the State.

It also allocated coastal and marine sites for the establishment of fish and shrimp farms by the private sector. In coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, preparations have been made to offer land in Al Arish (111 hectares) to be utilised by the private sector in the pro-duction of about 1,000 tonnes of shrimp per year, which allows Qatar to achieve full self-suffi-ciency of shrimp. A national database of monitoring and ana-lyzing the statistics of fisheries in all fish reproduction sites in the State was developed, operated and integrated with the Internet.

In an effort to increase the self-sufficiency ratio of fish, the ministry has also given special attention to the projects of fish farming, as they are considered the most appropriate means to increase the self-sufficiency ratio while maintaining the fish stock.

The Aquaculture Research Centre in Ras Matbakh consid-ered a developmental research project that aims at achieving a high ratio of self-sufficiency through the development of aquaculture industry on which a number of medium-sized fish farms depends.

The annual fish production is between 12,000 and 14,000 tonnes. It meets around 80 per-cent of the local demand, and the remaining 20 percent demand is met through imports.

Airport to expand capacity

Continued from page 1

Hamad Interna-tional Airport has an airside hotel, two air-side squash courts, a gym, a 25-metre swim-ming pool and spa, all within easy reach of the departure gates.

The airport has one of the largest free span maintenance hangars in the world, a cutting-edge two-storey cargo facility, and one of the world’s largest self-contained catering facilities.

Further expansion plans for the airport will expand its capacity to 50 million passengers.

The formation of a new company to man-age and operate the airport is expected to help the growth of the airport.

06 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017HOME / GULF

Malabar Gold & Diamonds opens new Dubai outletThe Peninsula

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, the leading jewellery retailer, launched its

15th showroom in Dubai at Ground Floor, Grand Hyper, Sonapur on Thursday.

The latest showroom was inaugurated by Shamsudheen bin Mohidheen, Chairman of the Regency Group, in the presence of Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director – International Oper-ations of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Abdul Salam KP – Group Executive Director, management team members of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, other dignitaries, well-wishers and guests. The outlet unveils a sig-nificantly large collection of traditional as well as contem-porary designer jewelleries. The

exquisite range of collections in the new outlet can hold one spell-bound with their awe-inspiring beauty and classic designs. Like all other outlets, this outlet will also exhibit a wide range of diverse and trendy designs in gold (18 K & 22 K), IGI certified diamonds and precious gem jewellery from Italy, Sin-gapore, Bahrain and India.

Apart from that, the new showroom will have the newly unveiled ‘Heart to Heart’ jewel-lery collection, a special collection of diamond and 18K gold jewellery from Malabar Gold & Diamonds on display and sale. ‘Heart to Heart’ jewellery collection showcases the exclu-sive heart shaped jewellery which symbolises the best way to express love. As the demand for heart shaped jewellery

increases during this season of love, the jewellery retailer launched the exclusive collec-tion to cater to the customer demand. This unique jewellery collection is a perfect gift to express true emotions. With prices starting from Dh590 to Dh2,750, there is something to fit everyone’s budget.

Customers can also choose gifts to their loved ones from their branded jewellery segment that includes Era - Uncut Dia-mond Jewellery, Ethnix - Handcrafted Designer Jewel-lery, Mine - Diamonds Unlimited, Precia - Gem Jewel-lery and Divine – Indian Heritage Jewellery. The branded jewellery segment of Malabar Gold & Diamonds is renowned globally for their flawless crafts-manship and impeccable style.

Regency Group Chairman Shamsudheen bin Mohidheen inaugurating Malabar Gold & Diamonds showroom in Dubai at Grand Hyper, Sonapur, in the presence of Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director – International Operations of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Abdul Salam KP – Group Executive Director, management team members, other dignitaries, well-wishers and guests.

Indian budget 'well-balanced' The Peninsula

The Indian budget for 2017-18, presented by Arun Jaitley is a well-balanced

budget, with a greater empha-sis on the agriculture sector and increased provisions to uplift economic and social conditions in rural India.

"The agenda to transform, energise and clean India, will allow the government to lead the country towards a more brighter future," said Adeeb Ahamed (pictured), Managing Director, Lulu Financial Group.

Adherence to fiscal disci-pline, with emphasis on growth and development, increased allocation to agriculture credit and other development schemes, increase in infrastruc-ture spending are this year’s key elements.

Ample provision has been given to the development of roads and highways and passen-ger safety for railways which will not only help develop trade, but also promote tourism and subsequent infrastructure. Development of airports in tier 2 cities on PPP mode and five special tourism zones in part-nership with states is also a

positive move for domestic tour-ism, he said.

Abolishing the FIPB policy is a welcome move to add the continuing efforts of making the India an investor friendly des-tination, in line with promoting the ‘Make In India’ campaign. Reduction of taxes for small and medium enterprises indicates the Government’s commitment to encourage and promote the entrepreneurial environment in India.

The reduction in taxes for middle income class is likely to have a twin impact of reduction in taxation burden and encour-age increased taxpayer base. Furthermore, incentives and steps towards promoting cash-less economy and digital transformations announced during the budget will make India a more efficient nation.

NAMA Center to unveil 4 free training coursesThe Peninsula

NAMA Center, a mem-ber of Qatar Foundation for Social Work, is set to intro-duce four free

training courses for the month of February. The new programmes, designed by International Labour Organisation (ILO), target young men and women aspiring to dis-cover their potential, hone their skills, and contribute effectively to the economic and social devel-opment in Qatar.

The centre has launched its training plan for the year 2017 in light of the success of the training courses held during the past years. NAMA Center has announced that it is now accept-ing registration requests.

“We are pleased to announce that we have completed the prep-arations for our training programmes and courses for the year 2017 and are now accepting applications from ambitious young men and women wishing to join,” said Mariam bint Abdul-latif Al Mannai, Director of the Community Services Department, and the Director in charge of run-ning NAMA’s affairs.

“ The new programmes and courses have been designed by the ILO, so as to ensure training content meets the trainees’ requirements on all fronts includ-ing planning for new projects, setting them in motion, and developing and improving already established ones, by

providing them with the latest knowledge and skills in accord-ance with the highest international standards.”

An integrated curriculum has been designed to qualify and pro-vide entrepreneurs with managerial skills, using the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) curriculum adopted by the ILO. Elements of the curriculum is adapted to the nature of the Qatari culture and environment to present the framework of prac-tical workshops containing some of the training programmes. The courses include Generate Your Business Idea (GYBI) programme, Start Your Business (SYB) pro-gramme and Improve Your Business (IYB) programme

“Identify and Start Your Busi-ness” programme, which includes GYBI and SYB programmes, starts today.

The remaining sessions are a set of modules within the Improve Your Business (IYB) programme. The "Marketing Basics" course, from February 5 to 8, aims to ena-ble youth to identify customers and competitors, achieve cus-tomer satisfaction, improve selling skills, and develop mar-keting plans.

The “Procurement and Inven-tory Management” course, from February 19 to 22, aims to enable trainees to recognise the impor-tance of the procurement, assessing the project’s require-ments, the steps to an effective purchase, the importance of inventory management, how to use and regularly check those records, in addition to learning the skills that will help them in controlling their project’s inven-tory. The “personnel and operation management” course, from February 26 until March 1, aims to enable trainees to deter-mine the relationship between people and productivity, how to influence productivity, hiring pro-ductive personnel, encouraging employees to be productive, and ensuring the safety of workers.

These courses are available to all aspiring and established entrepreneurs from all segments of Qatari society and all nation-alities, holding all levels of education, targeted at the age group of 18 to 45 years old.

New programmes

New programmes, designed by ILO, target young men and women aspiring to discover their potential, hone their skills, and contribute effectively to the economic and social development in Qatar.

The centre has launched its training plan for the year 2017 in light of the success of the training courses held during the past years.

Kuwaitis pick strawberries at the Blue Lake farm in Al-Abdali, 130km north of Kuwait City. The farm encourages people to pick their own strawberries before buying them according to weight, in an attempt to encourage agricultural tourism.

Agricultural tourism in Kuwait

13 militants dead in YemenADEN: At least 13 Al Qaeda militants were killed in clashes with tribesmen in southern Yemen. “The tribesmen thwarted the attack and killed 13 militants,” one of the source said.

Need holistic approach in breast cancer drive: HBKU PressThe Peninsula

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) has emphasized on the need for a more holistic

approach in breast cancer awareness and screening and on developments related to the issue.

The availability and accessibility of early breast cancer screening programs and the widespread public service announcements citing early detection of cancer as a key to a higher survival rate is on the rise, according to the National Can-cer Strategy Review. While the disease is still the number one cancer among women in Qatar, early detection dramatically increases the success of available treat-ments as well as chances of survival.

According to the World Health Organ-ization, in 2014, cancers accounted for 18 percent of the total deaths in Qatar among all age groups and breast cancer specifi-cally accounts for 31 percent of all cancers in females.

“Through HBKU Press’s open access platform, QScience.com, peer-reviewed research papers and articles about cancer and a variety of other topics can be easily accessed online,” said Dr Alwaleed Alkhaja, Senior Editor at HBKU Press.

A research study on Avicenna journal, available on QScience.com, ‘Breast cancer screening among Arabic women living in the State of Qatar: Awareness, knowledge, and participation in screening activities,’ was published at a time when Qatar was facing a rise in breast cancer incidence,

and previous findings indicated that women in Qatar were often diagnosed with breast cancer at advanced stages as their participation rates in screening activities were low.

The lack of wide-spread knowledge translated to the low rates of breast can-cer screenings and self-examinations by the women in the study.

Coinciding with this study was the launch of the National Cancer Strategy in May 2011. Specifically, with regards to breast cancer, the National Cancer Strat-egy Review 2011-2016 points to several campaigns and initiatives that have been successful in raising breast cancer aware-ness, and increasing the number of breast cancer screenings (whether clinical or self-examinations).

07SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Iraqis take part in the second Baghdad Marathon for Peace in Baghdad, yesterday.

Road to peace

Behnam Partopour, a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) student from Iran, is greeted by his sister Bahar (left) at Logan Airport after he cleared US customs and immigration on an F1 student visa in Boston, Massachusetts, yesterday. Partopour was originally turned away from a flight to the US following US President Donald Trump's executive order travel ban.

Luck prevails over TrumpIran vows to shoot missiles if threatened

Dubai

Reuters

A Revolutionary Guards commander said Iran would use its missiles if its security is under threat, as the elite force

defied new US sanctions on its mis-sile programme by holding a military exercise yesterday.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since a recent Iranian ballistic missile test which prompted US President Donald Trump’s administration to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the Revolu-tionary Guards.

Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn said Wash-ington was putting Iran on notice over its “destabilising activity”, and Trump tweeted Tehran was “play-ing with fire”

“We are working day and night to protect Iran’s security,” head of Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali

Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

“If we see smallest misstep from the enemies, our roaring mis-siles will fall on their heads,” he added.

Despite the heated words, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said yesterday he was not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Iran’s “misbehaviour”, but warned that the world would not ignore Iranian activities.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is holding the military exercise in Semnan province yesterday to test missile and radar systems and to “showcase the power of Iran’s rev-olution and to dismiss the sanctions,” according to the force’s website.

Dismissing Trump’s comments that “nothing is off the table” in dealing with Tehran, the com-mander of Iran’s ground forces said yesterday that the Islamic Repub-lic has been hearing such threats since its 1979 revolution.

“The defence capability and the offensive prowess of Iran’s armed forces would make America or any other enemy regretful of any incur-sion,” Ahmad Reza Pourdastan was quoted as saying by ISNA.

BALLISTIC TESTIranian state news agencies

reported that home-made missile systems, radars, command and control centres, and cyber warfare systems would be tested in yester-day’s drill.

Worsening ties

Tension with new US administration ratchets up as Tehran holds military exercises.

US says not considering raising the number of US forces in the Middle East to address Iran’s “misbehaviour".

US-backed militias launch new offensive for RaqqaRaqqa province, Syria Reuters

An alliance of US-backed militias started a new phase of its

campaign against the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa yes-terday, aiming to complete its encirclement and sever the road to militant strong-holds in Deir Al Zor province.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a state-ment the action was being undertaken with “increasing support from the (US-led) international coalition forces” through both air strikes and backing from coalition special forces on the

ground. The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurd-ish YPG militia, launched its multi-phased campaign aimed at encircling and ulti-mately capturing Raqqa in November. It is the main US partner in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

Fighting also raged between Islamic State and Syrian government forces northeast of Aleppo, where the Syrian army is nearing the IS-held city of Al Bab, risking a confrontation with Turkish forces that are fight-ing the group in the same area.

Islamic State is being fought in separate campaigns in Syria by the US-backed

SDF, the Turkish army and the Syrian rebel groups it backs, and the Syrian army with help from the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militia.

A SDF commander said the forces had so far advanced a few kilometres in the latest phase, which aims to capture areas to the east of the city, including the highway linking it to Deir Al Zor province.

Deir Al Zor, which is almost entirely in Islamic State hands, stretches all the way to the Iraqi border. A Kurdish military source said on Tuesday that the goals of this phase included captur-ing the main highway.

Sudan foreign minister seeks to strengthen ties with USKhartoum

AFP

SUDAN yesterday vowed to enhance its bilateral relations with Washington despite US President Donald Trump's executive order banning the African country's citizens from entering the United States that was stayed yester-day by a US court.

The ban on Sudanese travellers came just weeks after former US president Barack Obama lifted a 20-year-old US trade embargo imposed on Sudan.

Despite the travel ban, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour vowed that Khartoum will work towards enhancing bilateral ties with Washington.

"Sudan and the United States have many common goals, including fighting ter-rorism jointly in the region and internationally," Ghandour said in a message to new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a foreign min-istry statement said.

"Such joint efforts led to the removal of US sanctions on Sudan," Ghandour said without specifically reacting to Trump's ban, but insisting that Khartoum was "commit-ted to enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries".

Last week Trump barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan from entering the United States for 90 days.

Refugees from countries other than Syria are barred from entry for 120 days.

Nigeria politician back after 4 years in UK jailLagos

AFP

One of Nigeria's most powerful men, who was jailed in Britain for

money laundering and fraud in a landmark anti-corruption case, has returned home, his aides said yesterday.

"Chief James Ibori has arrived. He landed in Abuja in the early hours," said Ighoyota Amori, a political adviser to Ibori, who was governor of the oil-rich Delta state between 1999 and 2007.

He said Ibori, who was released in London in Decem-ber after serving just over four years of a 13-year jail term, would later fly to the southern port city of Warri in Delta state.

"A chartered private plane will fly him to Warri and he will land at Osubi airfield operated by Shell," he added.

The former politician would be received at the airstrip by supporters and sympathisers who have lined up to welcome him back, he added.

"For now, it is going to be a quiet ceremony. An elaborate reception will be organised later for him at Oghara, his hometown," he said.

Ibori's media aide, Tony Eluemunor, also confirmed his arrival, saying only: "He is in town. I will keep you posted later." Ibori was jailed in April 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly £50m. He had fled to Dubai in 2010, from where he was extradited to Britain.

S Sudan rebels accuse Egypt of air raidsJuba

Reuters

South Sudan rebels accused Egypt yesterday of carrying out bombing

raids against their positions, drawing an immediate denial from Cairo, and warned of the risk of a regional war.

It was the first time either side had alleged Egyptian involvement in South Sudan’s festering conflict, which pits President Salva Kiir’s military against forces loyal to his former vice-president, Riek Machar. The Egyptian air force on Friday dropped “more than nine bombs and explosions on the gallant SPLA-IO positions” near the northern village of Kaka, a rebel statement said.

After Trump, France’s far-right party leader Marine Le Pen is trying to hasten the world’s slump into protectionism and isolationism. Le Pen kicked off her presidential campaign yesterday giving

voters a bundle of promises which, according to her, would make France great again. She wants to lead France to Frexit and choose the path of Donald Trump. Her party has made 144 proposals for Le Pen’s election bid – the most important of which include leaving the euro zone with a vote on the European Union membership, tight immigration controls, protectionism in all possible fields and increased defence spending. Also, there will be taxes on job contracts for foreigners, lowering of the retirement age and increase in welfare benefits. The proposals also include curtailing benefits now enjoyed by non-French people. Free education will be made available only for citizens, citizenship laws will be made tough and it would be made impossible for migrants to regularize their stay. Under Le Pen, France will transform completely and will not look like the France we are seeing today.

It’s the beauty of democracy that people have the right to elect the leader they like. Trump was not parachuted from space and entered the White House through the ballot boxes, and Americans who voted for him had full knowledge of his regressive

policies and the threats he would pose if elected. French people too are highly educated, and France is a very advanced democracy. If Le Pen enjoys huge popularity, that’s because they find sense in what she has to offer.

A few days after becoming President, Trump has shown the world the dangers of excessive nationalism and protectionism. Even

his ardent followers are finding him too hot to handle, and his policies regressive and un-American. Le Pen too is set to lead France down this dark tunnel if elected. Opinion polls see the 48-year-old Le Pen topping the first round of the presidential election on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off to a mainstream candidate. But elections are known to throw up bizarre surprises.

French voters must reject far-right parties and the xenophobia they are promoting. Europe already has enough problems in the form of Brexit and Trump, and if France too chooses to go that way, the European Union project will suffer serious blows, blows from which it may not recover, pushing the continent into instability and economic turmoil and causing the birth of a new chaotic world order. If a candidate from the mainstream parties is elected, it will boost confidence across the continent and the EU will be better equipped to overcome the many challenges it’s facing. French voters will not only be electing their president, but will be deciding the future of Europe.

08 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017VIEWS

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

CHAIRMANSHEIKH THANI BIN ABDULLAH AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

msalim@pen.com.qa

Vote for stability

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Russia is clearly testing Nato and the West. It is seeking to expand its sphere of influence, destabilise countries and weaken the alliance.

Michael Fallon British Defence Secretary

French voters will not only be electing their president, but will be deciding the future of Europe.

TThe 16-year-old boy had been follow-ing us as we made our way through Nargizlia. It is the most recent addi-tion to the camps housing the 135,000 people who have fled the fighting as

the Iraqi government tries to retake Mosul, its second-largest city, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) group.

Ghazi, who had been hiding behind tents each time we stopped to speak with someone, finally approached. He quietly told me he was living in a tent with a group of unaccompanied men and boys he didn’t know. He looked at me, so full of fear at his surroundings, and asked if there was anything I could do to help him join his family, who had been sent to a different camp.

I took him to the manager’s office and found a staff member who said he would take Ghazi in to see the manager. We had to leave, it was late in the day, but it absolutely broke my heart to leave this boy, with no guarantee that he would be able to join his family.

The people in these camps were terrorised by ISIL and have had to leave their lives behind. Some were separated from family members in the chaos in 2014, when ISIL took over the region.

Some were separated from family members by accident as they fled recently, and others were separated from the men and older boys in their family for security checks, to make cer-tain they aren’t ISIL fighters.

But none of the camps housing Mosul’s dis-placed allow for free movement, a fundamental right, and only one is allowing family reunifi-cation at the moment, as far as I know.

At least two camps prohibit visitors and ban mobile phones, ostensibly for security reasons. Ghazi’s was confiscated as he arrived at the camp’s euphemistically named “reception cen-tre”, or screening facility. This makes the displaced significantly more vulnerable - those whose loved ones were detained for alleged affiliation with ISIL have no way of reaching out to contacts to help locate them.

Since the first days of the Mosul operation in October, husbands and sons in the four Kurd-ish Regional Government-controlled (KRG) camps I have visited have come to me asking for help to rejoin their families. They happened to leave the city on a different bus from their families, either because they were held back in screening, or because they left Mosul at a dif-ferent time.

Ghazi’s parents fled Mosul in a wave of escapees, while he stayed behind to check on an ailing uncle. They called him as they reached the Iraqi security forces checkpoint to say they were being sent to the Qaymawa camp. He then fled Mosul alone.

When he reached the security checkpoint, he asked the soldiers to send him to join his fam-ily. But they ignored him and sent him with hundreds of other displaced families to Nargizlia.

One woman in Nargizlia told me that when

Iraq’s displaced ‘in another prison’ after fleeing ISILBelkis WilleAl Jazeera

the 100 families from her area of Mosul escaped from the ISIL-controlled territory and reached an area under KRG military control, the women, girls and young boys were separated from the men and boys aged 15 and above in their family, and all of them were held in a school, in different rooms.

When buses arrived to take them all to the camp, this woman’s husband and son were missing. She asked security forces at the “reception centre” and later at the camp about their fate, but she said they refused to answer her. Now she is sitting in her

tent, unable to leave the camp and without even a phone to call any friends, family, or international organisations for help in

locating her loved ones.Aid workers told me that they have

made some, very minor, progress around advocating for freedom of movement of displaced people or to reunite them with their families, as a result of the demands on them to pro-vide other urgent services for the people in these camps. But it has not been their priority.

One worker said to me candidly, when they speak to camp residents, free move-ment is not their main complaint.

But when I ask residents about their human rights concerns, the feel-ing that they are being held in open air prisons and the impact this has on their ability to communicate with their fam-ilies is one of the first things they regularly raise.

One man at Nargizlia begged for my help to leave the camp, to meet a 2-year-old daughter he never met who is now in Kirkuk, a major city 160km away, and to mourn the death of his mother with his siblings, who escaped Mosul before ISIL took control.

He told me, “We escaped from prison, just to be put in another prison,” and shook his head as he walked away.

The writer is senior Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The people in these camps were terrorised by ISIL and have had to leave their lives behind. Some were separated from family members in the chaos in 2014, when ISIL took over the region.

ED ITOR IAL

Displaced people who fled from Islamic State are seen at a camp in Duhok, Iraq.

09SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 OPINION

to wonder if Moscow was already testing to see just how far they could push the neophyte president.

“Possible poisoning of Russian human rights leader Vladimir Kara-Murza needs investigating. Let’s put #RussiaOnNotice,” tweeted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., issued two separate statements. One warned Trump, “In the first of what will be many tests for your new administration, Russia and its proxy forces launched attacks against Ukrainian forces this week.” The other said, “The United States must draw strength from Vladimir [Kara-Murza]’s example and demand that those responsible are brought to justice.”

In some forums, the new administration has taken a conventional line. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley denounced Russian actions in Ukraine on Thursday, and said US sanctions would remain in place until Russia restored and respected Ukrain-ian sovereignty. But observers in Washington and in Europe wonder if backing Ukraine is really a prior-ity for the administration.

“I definitely think events in Ukraine are testing how much stomach there is [in the United States] to support Ukraine,” said Heather Conley of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Conley noted that there have been low level ceasefire violations there for ages, but that the last six days have been the most serious. Russia is ramping up activity from the Arctic to the Eastern Mediterranean to see what, exactly, US (and, for that matter, European) policy will be, she said.

“The Kremlin has been emboldened by the elec-tion of Mr. Trump who vowed to seek good relations

Trump policy on Israel is evolving in surprising ways

President Donald Trump’s administration is shaping its policy toward Israel and a potential peace settlement with the Pales-tinians in ways that may seem surprising for a president who had appeared to offer

the government in Jerusalem a blank check on the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and other issues. The outlines of the policy emerged on Friday after a conflicting series of statements attributed to the administration.

On Thursday evening, the White House issued an unusual statement discouraging new Israeli settle-ments in the West Bank. That was prompted by a Jerusalem Post story that appeared to be based on the leak of parts of a harsher, draft statement criticising settlements as an obstacle to peace. The subsequent official statement was an attempt to soften any blan-ket condemnation of settlements and any perceived criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu, people familiar with the episode said Friday.

The official statement, rushed as it was, is none-theless expected to be the foundation for Trump administration policy on Israeli homebuilding on land that Palestinians claim for a future state. It puts the United States on record agreeing with Israeli leaders that current settlements are not necessarily an obstacle to peace, but it also says that new con-struction “may not be helpful.” There was no mention of the long-stated US goal of a separate Pal-estinian state alongside Israel.

The settlement policy — more lenient toward Israel than former President Barack Obama’s admin-istration, but not as lenient as sought by many of Israel’s strongest backers — is expected to be formal-ised when Netanyahu visits President Trump at the White House on February 15.

“The president’s committed to peace. That’s his goal,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday, adding that settlements would “obviously be a topic” for the two leaders. “We don’t believe that the existence of current settlements is an impedi-ment to peace, but I think the construction or expansion of existing settlements beyond the current borders is not going to be helpful moving forward.”

That’s not what the original, leaked version of a US statement about settlement expansion had said. Drafted in response to Israel’s surprise announce-ment of 5,500 new homes for Jews in the West Bank over the last week, the remarks originally charged that settlements could hamper peace efforts, accord-ing to people who saw its contents or were briefed on them. The Jerusalem Post quoted an unidentified

administration official Thursday as saying settle-ments could “undermine” US chances to foster peace. The official was also quoted as saying that Trump is committed to two states.

The article set off a scramble to issue revised lan-guage that softened the rebuke and removed the reference to two states, while making clear that the United States will not countenance everything Israel does. The result may be helpful to Netanyahu in two ways, US and Israeli officials and analysts said. It lifts US pressure against current settlements, which previ-ous administrations have called illegitimate and a hindrance to peace, while giving him political cover against critics on his right who want to greatly expand building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

It also suggests more continuity with past policy than many foreign policy analysts had expected, given Trump’s fierce condemnation of the Obama adminis-tration for being “unfair” to Israel, and the strong views of close advisers shaping his Israel policy. “This statement is important in that it seeks to eliminate tension created by the last administration over growth within existing Israeli communities in the West Bank, and it signals a return to the status quo ante” of US opposition to settlement expansion, said Joshua Block, president of the Israel Project in Washington.

Block likened the statement to the much more detailed written understandings between former president George W Bush and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in which the United States gave quiet assurance that it would recognise existing settlement blocks as part of Israel in a future peace accord. The Bush policy allowed for growth within settlements but not for expanding their perimeters or the building of new communities.

Settlements are usually considered one of the primary obstacles to a peace settlement, because Palestinians consider them an illegal expropriation and their existence complicates the drawing of viable borders for a Palestinian state.

As a candidate, Trump said Israel should “go ahead” with settlements, and as president-elect, he railed against the Obama administration for allowing a UN condemnation of Israel over settlements.

As president, Trump has mentioned the prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Trump has said that he plans to deploy his son-in-law, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, to the role of Middle East peacemaker.

“Prime Minister Netan-yahu looks forward to his meeting with President Trump on February 15 in which they will speak about a wide range of issues, including this one,” Netan-yahu’s office said of the White House statement.

“If you dissect the word-ing it seems a slight departure,” said Alon Pinkas, a former senior Israeli diplomat and top government aide. “At the same time, the right wing in Israel didn’t expect this and was blindsided.”

The administration statement followed exten-

sive conversations here this week between visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan and the White House. Abdullah, who spoke briefly to Trump at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, met with Vice President Mike Pence, national security adviser Michael Flynn and other White House officials, along with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and senior lawmakers with whom he maintains a close relationship.

Jordan is among the few Arab countries consid-ered stable and trustworthy by the administration. Its geography, bordering Israel, the West Bank, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, also makes it a key player on a range of issues, from the anti-Islamic State campaign to the migrant crisis that has brought more than 650,000 Syrian refugees to Jordan and an additional 85,000 on the Syrian side of the border waiting to get in. A White House statement on the meeting with Trump said that the president “underscored that the United States is committed to strengthening the secu-rity and economic partnership with Jordan” and that they discussed an official visit in the “near future.”

Anxious to get a reading on where the new administration stood on a number of issues, Abdullah cautioned in particular that the promised movement of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would have cascading, negative consequences. In addition to serving as a recruiting tool for terrorist groups, more than 2 million Palestinians live in Jordan, about one-third of the population. Any upheaval in the West Bank would have immediate spillover effects.

Despite his campaign statements that it would take place immediately after his inauguration, Trump appears to have dialed back his commitment to mov-ing the embassy. While the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed in 1995 calls for relocating the mission to Jeru-salem, the law included a national security waiver that every administration since has exercised. The current waiver, signed by President Obama in December, expires in June. Regional partners who have spoken to Trump administration officials about it believe the White House intends to delay a final decision until forced to do so when Trump would need to sign another waiver or take steps to implement the law.

In Israel, there was head-scratching and instant

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke on the phone, a hotly-anticipated, one hour call. Throughout the cam-

paign and transition, Trump insisted he and Putin would get along well, and hinted at closer cooperation on a range of issues.

In the week following the phone call, fighting dramatically escalated in Eastern Ukraine, where Russia backs and supplies fighters. The violent escalation has left 25,000 citizens of Avdiivka are now living without electricity, heating, or water, according to the Center for Civilians in Conflict.

In that same week, anti-Kremlin activ-ist Vladimir Kara-Murza’s lawyer said he suspects his client was poisoned again; he believes his near-fatal 2015 illness was the result of poison. And Putin’s domestic crit-ics do have a tendency to get themselves poisoned, sometimes in exotic fashion.

And a technical tweak to US export limits on information technology on Thursday briefly became Exhibit A in Trump’s supposed rapprochement with Russia — before it wasn’t.

All of which led many in Washington

Is Putin already testing Donald Trump?

This photo shows part of the Israeli settlement of Psagot, background, overlooking Palestinian houses, in a suburb of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

with Vladimir Putin and hinted at removing sanctions,” con-curred Dalibor Rohac of the American Enterprise Institute. An aggressive posture in Eastern Europe, he said, gives Rus-sia a leg up in any future talks about counterterrorism cooperation, whether that’s “real or imaginary.” Art of the Deal, indeed.

Some see not a test, but simply Putin taking advantage of a compliant new president. Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council thinks the two leaders are in ideological sync, giving Putin a free hand.

“What we are seeing is really that the Trump administra-tion seems to be infatuated with Putin and his Russia, for whatever reason,” he said.

Or the different episodes could be entirely unrelated to Putin, Trump, or any high-level gamesmanship between them. “It’s not always a well-oiled hierarchy,” the Wilson Center’s Matthew Rojansky said describing Russia’s political leadership.

Neither Moscow nor Kiev has direct, constant control over the fighters on either side in Eastern Ukraine, who could be taking advantage of the current situation, he said. Kara-Murza may not have been poisoned again - it could be a recurrence of symptoms, he said.

Why do politicians, press, and public alike tend to read more into what may have been only isolated incidents? Because “somehow our relations with Moscow end up having this life and death, moralized quality to them,” Rojansky said.

For all Trump’s intentions to forge a more productive relationship with Moscow, the legacy of mutual mistrust might be his biggest obstacle. In US-Russia relations, both sides naturally assume worst intentions in the other. And that remains true, it seems, independently of who sits in the Oval Office.

The author is staff writer at Foreign Policy.

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punditry about what exactly the Trump administration may be say-ing with its statement. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told Israel Radio, “It’s still too early to tell. I would not categorise this as a U-turn by the US administration, but the issue is clearly on their agenda.” Danon added, “We don’t always agree on everything.” The White House statement came just a few hours after Israeli police forcibly evicted 40 families from the Jewish settle-ment of Amona, a messianic community of battered mobile homes on a windy hilltop built on land privately owned by Palestini-ans that the Israeli Supreme Court branded as “illegal.”

The eviction of the 600 settlers and hundreds of supporters on Wednesday and Thursday required more than 3,000 police officers. The most committed youth hurled excrement, bleach and rocks at the police. Dozens were injured. The young activists, goaded by zealous rabbis from West Bank religious schools, chained themselves together in Amona’s synagogue for a final standoff, which ended only a few hours before the White House statement.

As the Amona evictions began, Netanyahu and his defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who resides in a settlement, had announced the plans to build the 5,500 houses for Jews in the West Bank. A week ago, Netanyahu assured his Likud party and his security cabinet that when he travels to Washington, he will not yield to pressure to give the Pales-tinians a full state, but something he called a “state-minus.”

Emily Tamkin Foreign Policy

Anne GearanThe Washington Post

Settlements are usually considered one of the primary obstacles to a peace settlement, because Palestinians consider them an illegal expropriation and their existence complicates the drawing of viable borders for a Palestinian state.

10 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017ASIA

Diplomacy

Japan hopes for deeper security ties with USTokyo

Reuters

Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said yester-day she hoped a visit by US Defence Secretary Jim Mat-tis to South Korea and Japan

this week, his first overseas trip since taking office, would lead to deeper security ties.

Inada spoke at the start of talks with Mattis, who on Friday reaffirmed Washington's com-mitment to its mutual defence treaty with Japan when he met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.

"The security situation in the Asia-Pacific is becoming increasingly severe," Inada said, adding she wanted to strengthen the US-Japan alliance.

"South Korea is an impor-tant neighbour," Inada added. "I want to link Secretary Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea

to the further deepening of defense cooperation among the three countries."

Mattis said on Friday that provocations by North Korea, which is advancing its nuclear weapons and missile pro-grammes in defiance of UN resolutions, left no room for

doubt about US commitment to Japan's defence.

It was similar to the message he delivered in South Korea.

He appeared eager to reas-sure Japan of US resolve, after a 2016 election campaign in which Donald Trump, before becoming president, suggested both South Korea and Japan were benefiting from a US secu-rity umbrella without sharing enough of the costs.

Japan's relations with South Korea have frayed in recent weeks due to a feud over war-time history, just as tensions over North Korea make cooperation between the two allies vital.

Japan has also been keen for assurances that the new admin-istration of President Donald Trump will adhere to Washing-ton's commitment to defend disputed East China Sea islands that are under Japanese control but claimed also by China.

Singaporean asylum seeker to be detained until March 7Chicago

AP

A SINGAPOREAN teen seeking asylum after blog posts mock-ing his government landed him jail will remain in US custody until a Chicago immigration court hearing next month.

Amos Yee's attorneys said on Friday that the US Immi-gration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had denied him humanitarian release.

He's been detained since December 16 when he was taken into custody at O'Hare International Airport.

His hearing is on March 7.Attorney Sandra Gross-

man submitted his asylum application this week, saying it was unclear whether he'd be released from an Illinois jail during the proceedings.

She says he'll be impris-oned longer in the US than he was in Singapore.

In Singapore, the 18-year-old was jailed twice on charges of hurting the reli-gious feelings of Christians and Muslims.

Grossman says he was persecuted based on laws restricting freedom of expression.

In the 10-minute hearing, Grossman, appeared in per-son before the judge while Amos appeared via video from the jail where he has been detained.

Jakarta

AP

Indonesian students yesterday protested President Donald Trump's immigration policy

outside the US embassy in its capital.

In Jakarta, dozens of students and activists from several rights groups called on the Indonesian government and the interna-tional community to help stop

Trump's order that temporarily banned travelers from seven predominant ly Musl im countries.

They do not include Indone-sia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the Philip-pines, a key US ally.

However, Indonesia is home to nearly 14,000 refugees seek-ing resettlement in third countries, and Trump's ban will significantly impact their

chances of going to the US, said rights activist Veronica Koman, who organized the protest.

A US judge yesterday imposed a nationwide hold on President Trump's ban on trave-lers and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country.

"We are here to protest Trump's xenophobic and Islam-ophobia policies," Koman said recently.

Protesters waved banners such as "I'm angry with Trump" and "No ban, no wall."

"Actually this is not only for Muslims but this is war against humanity because the immi-grants or refugees around the world, not only from Muslim countries, don't have to be

treated like this," said activist Filza Inanuma.

"Everybody should have rights to go everywhere they want for their protection, for their life."

A similar rally was held out-side the seaside US Embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila, where protesters burned a por-trait of Trump.

No violence was reported both in Jakarta and Manila.

Malaysia reopens island dispute with Singapore

Nine dead after boat capsizes in Indonesia

HK doll maker launches Trump's replicaHong Kong AFP

A Hong Kong doll maker with a history of creating figurines of controversial

world leaders has launched a replica of US President Donald Trump complete with replace-able heads and hands.

Trump follows in a line of other limited edition figures made by the firm including Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin and former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

The company also issued a Barack Obama model after he won the presidency eight years ago.

The 30.5 centimetre Trump figure comes with a red "Make America Great Again" cap and presidential podium as well as two removable heads with dif-ferent facial expressions.

Four swappable hands can be fixed to the toy, including one

with a jabbing pointed finger. The doll -- which costs

around $120 -- had received "love and hate" responses, said Howard Cheung, founder of toy maker Dragon in Dream (DiD).

"This one definitely had more feedback and interest than the others," he said.

DiD is displaying a prototype of the doll in Hong Kong toy shop Seven and has taken a total 300 pre-orders so far, including online from the US.

There is a thriving toy col-lecting scene in Hong Kong and the Trump doll stands among an array of other models in the shop, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Star Wars fig-ures and a replica of Hitler.

Store manager Monita Chan said the toy had received an "enthusiastic" response, with 50 pre-orders through the shop alone. "Maybe they like Trump's aggressive style -- it's been quite popular".

One customer said he had pre-ordered the doll to add to his collection of miniature his-toric figures, which includes Napoleon, Hitler and Libyan dic-tator Moamer Kadhafi.

"I think anybody's better

than Hillary Clinton, including Donald Trump," said the cus-tomer, a Hong Konger in his 30s who gave his name as Joe.

While some users registered excitement after ordering the doll, others ridiculed it.

US immigration policy: Students protest in Jakarta

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Japan's Defence Minister Tomomi Inada shake hands at a joint news conference after their meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo, yesterday.

Store manager Monita Chan sits at the counter behind a prototype figurine replica of US President Donald Trump, made by toymaker Dragon in Dream (DiD), in Hong Kong.

Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw is welcomed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen upon his arrival at the Peace Palace, in Phnom Penh, yesterday.

Alliance

I want to link Secretary Mattis' visit to Japan and South Korea to the further deepening of defence cooperation among the three countries: Inada.

Mattis reaffrimed US commitment to its mutual defence treaty with Japan.

The Hague AFP

Malaysia reopened a dec-ades-old dispute with Singapore calling on

the UN's top court to overturn a 2008 ruling granting its neighbour sovereignty over a tiny but strategic island.

In a filing to the Interna-tional Court of Justice (ICJ), Kuala Lumpur maintained new documents had been discov-ered in British archives backing its territorial claim to the islet.

After years of negotiations failed, the parties turned to the tribunal in The Hague, which in 2008 ruled the island belonged to Singapore.

But in its filing on Friday, Malaysia asked the court to revise that judgement based on the discovery of three

documents in British national archives between August last year and the end of January.

They included internal cor-respondence from the Singapore colonial authorities in 1958, a British naval incident report from 1958 and a map from the 1960s.

Kuala Lumpur maintained these documents showed that "officials at the highest levels in the British colonial and Singa-porean administration appreciated that Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh did not form part of Singapore's sovereign territory," the ICJ said.

Under the court's rules, states can ask for a judgement to be revised if new facts come to light within 10 years of the first ruling. The ICJ will now have to decide whether the case can proceed.

Jakarta

AFP

At least nine people have been killed and one is still missing after a fish-

ing boat capsized in eastern Indonesia, an official said yesterday.

The wooden boat was car-rying around 30 people when it overturned on Friday after-noon after departing from Takalar Lama river to Tanah Keke island in the province of South Sulawesi.

Twenty-one people have been found alive but rescue teams are still searching for missing passengers.

"It's a traditional boat and it didn't report to the relevant authorities before it departed, so there's also no passenger manifest and we don't know

exactly how many people were on board," said local disaster agency spokesman Hamsidar, who goes by one name.

The cause of the accident is still not known, but officials suspect bad weather might have played a role.

The fishing boat departed from an unofficial location, said a transport ministry spokes-man, thus it did not have a legal permit to make the trip.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport but safety standards are poor and accidents occur regularly.

In January, a passenger boat ferrying around 200 people from the capital Jakarta to nearby Tidung island left more than 20 people dead after it caught fire.

11SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 ASIA

US refugee swap on track: Australian FMSydney

Reuters

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said yesterday that a controversial ref-ugee resettlement

deal with the United States would go ahead, despite US immigration officials postpon-ing interviews with asylum seekers.

Reuters reported on Friday that US officials had pulled planned second-round inter-views with detainees in an Australian camp on the Pacific island of Nauru, suggesting Washington is already blocking progress on a controversial ref-ugee resettlement deal.

Detainees and an official source said interview dates were pulled yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that sus-pended the US refugee programme for 120 days and

stopped visits by travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Bishop said both countries were still working through the details of the agreement, which sparked a rare diplomatic spat between the two staunch allies, with Trump berating Australia's prime minister in an angry

phone call."The agreement is to be

honoured by the Trump admin-istration (so) I'm pleased this agreement will continue," Bishop said.

"We remain in contact with the Trump administration and our embassy in Washington is also working with US officials and we expect that vetting proc-ess would be as tough as Australia's vetting process in terms of health and security checks," she added.

Bishop said "my under-standing is that interviewing and vetting is still taking place", without providing any further details.

Several detainees on Nauru showed the cancelled interview dates in their online applica-tions, while a source said the second-round interviews had been postponed while officials tried to work out what was meant by the "extreme vetting" announced by the White House.

Thousands condemn refugee ban Sydney

Reuters

Thousands of protesters ral-lied across Australia yesterday condemning US

President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven coun-tries and demanding an end to Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers.

US ties with Australia

became strained on Thursday after details about an acrimoni-ous phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull emerged and Trump insulted the deal between the two nations on ref-ugee resettlement.

About 1,000 people gath-ered in Sydney to protest against Trump's executive order on immigration and to call on Aus-tralia to close its offshore

processing centres on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Similar protests were held in Canberra, Newcastle and Hobart, while hundreds attended an anti-Trump rally in Melbourne on Friday.

In Sydney, protesters carried placards that said "Refugee tor-ture, Australia's shame" and "No walls, no camps, no bans".

Survey: Sharif most popular political figure in PakistanKarachi

Internews

PAKISTANI Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been the most popular political figure in Pakistan liked by 63% peo-ple of the country, according to a survey.

Around 39% people favoured Imran Khan while Bilawal garnered apprecia-tion from 32% countrymen suggested a joint survey by International Republican Institute and Institute for Republic Opinion Research.

The survey suggested 85% Pakistanis disliked the MQM founder followed by Asif Ali Zardari and Tahirul Qadri with 80 and 79% masses respectively expressing their dislike for.

Asked about their satis-faction over government performance 64% people expressed satisfaction over the performance of federal government.

Among provinces, Pun-jab stood on top hailed by 79% Pakistanis followed by KP.

Tokyo

Reuters

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis yesterday played down any need for major

US military moves in the South China Sea to contend with Chi-na's assertive behaviour, even as he sharply criticised Beijing for "shredding the trust of nations in the region."

"At this time, we do not see

any need for dramatic military moves at all," Mattis said, stress-ing that the focus should be on diplomacy.

In his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.

The White House also vowed to defend "international territo-ries" in the strategic waterway.

But how the United States would achieve that has been unclear, including whether it would have a military dimension.

Analysts have said Tillerson's remarks, like those from the White House, suggested the pos-sibility of US military action, or even a naval blockade.

Such action would risk an armed confrontation with China, an increasingly formidable

nuclear-armed military power. It is also the world's second-

largest economy and the prime target of Trump accusations of stealing American jobs.

Mattis suggested that major military action was not being currently considered.

"What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintaining open lines of communication," Mattis said,

in his most complete remarks on the issue to date.

"And certainly our military stance should be one that rein-forces our diplomats in this regard. But there is no need right now at this time for military manoeuvres or something like that, that would solve something that's best solved by the diplomats."

Mattis criticised China's actions.

Mattis rejects US military moves in South China Sea

UN lifts sanctions on Afghan warlordKabul

AFP

The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on the notorious Afghan warlord

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, previ-ously branded "a global terrorist" and accused of war crimes.

The move follows a peace deal between Hekmatyar's insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government in September that granted him legal immunity from past offences, sparking outrage from rights groups.

A statement on the UNSC's website on Friday said an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo targeting Hek-matyar -- a former prime minister and one of the most controversial figures in Afghan-istan's modern history -- no longer applied.

"It is an important point of the peace agreement between

Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government," chief negotiator for Hekmatyar, Mohammad Karim Amin, said.

"And it shows the commit-ment from the government and from the Hezb-i-Islami to pur-sue on this peace track".

It would also "open the door" and stimulate the peace process and would send a

"strong signal to other fighters" in the country, he said in refer-ence to the Taliban.

He further said that it showed "the only key to achieve a peaceful solution to the con-flict is through an inter-Afghan negotiation without any foreign interference".

The whereabouts of Hek-matyar remains unknown.

Pakistan ministerial meeting with Bahrain opens todayIslamabad

Internews

The two-day first Bah-rain-Pakistan Joint Ministerial Session will

open in Pakistani capital of Islamabad today.

The Bahrain side will be headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed Al Kha-lifa, while the Prime Minister’s Adviser Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani side.

The meeting aims at solidifying the bilateral ties, an announcement by the For-

eign Office said. It said the move reiter-

ated Bahrain’s commitment towards the progress and bet-terment of Pakistan and its people.

A myriad of topics, rang-ing from bilateral, political and socio-economic to future development projects, are likely to be discussed.

Some memorandums of understanding in areas of common interest are also likely to be signed.

Bahrain is likely to host the second joint ministerial session.

Amin Karim, representative for warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, during a press conference, in Kabul, yesterday.

Protesters march on the streets of Sydney's central business district against US President Donald Trump's travel ban policy, yesterday.

Refugee programme

The agreement is to be honoured by the Trump administration (so) I'm pleased this agreement will continue: Bishop.

"We remain in contact with the Trump administration and our embassy in Washington is also working with US officials".

12 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017ASIA

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena hoisting the national flag during 69th Independence Day celebrations in Colombo, yesterday.

NEWS BYTES

CHENNAI: Thousands of people scooped out buckets of thick oil sludge along the Chennai coastline yesterday that had spilled into the sea after the collision of two tankers last week. Two petroleum product carrying ships — M T BW Maple carrying liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG) and M T Dawn Kanchipuram which had petroleum oil lubricants (POL)-- collided off the Kamarajar Port on January 28 night. More than 1,000 people were deployed here with portable pollution cleaning equipment for shore line cleaning, Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Pon. Radhakrishnan told reporters. Three super sucker and submersible pumps have also been deployed to remove the oil spill. The accident, which was earlier termed as a minor one, has turned into a major one, threatening the marine ecology along the Tamil Nadu coast.

Thousands clean up oil sludge along Chennai coastline

Yangon

AFP

A second suspect has been arrested over the bra-zen murder of a

prominent Muslim lawyer in Myanmar, yesterday, as ques-tions build over a killing that stunned the Buddhist-major-ity country. Ko Ni, a 63-year-old legal advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democ-racy, was shot in the head outside Yangon's airport last Sunday while he was holding his grandson and waiting for a taxi.

A cab driver who tried to intervene was also killed, and the gunman — identified as 53-year-old Kyi Lin— was arrested at the scene.

Police have not offered a motive for the murder of Ko Ni, who spoke out against ris-ing anti-Islamic sentiment and also criticised the army's lingering grip on power. But the NLD, whose electoral vic-tory ended decades of military rule, has called the murder a political assassination and "terrorist act" against their policies. After a series of police leaks and conflicting comments about the investi-gation, state media confirmed yesterday that a second sus-pect had been arrested 12 hours after the murder.

Beijing

Reuters

A car crashed and over-turned near Tiananmen Square in the heart of

Beijing which police blamed on the driver losing control on a slippery road, cautioning against the spreading of rumours.

Police said on their offi-cial microblog yesterday that the 26-year-old driver had taken responsibility for the accident.

In 2013, a vehicle crashed on the edge of Tiananmen Square, killing five people and injuring dozens in what China said was a planned attack by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Muslim Uighur separatist group.

Police said the driver, sur-named Zhang, in yesterday's accident was a Beijing resident.

Tiananmen Square is at the political and cultural heart of Beijing and security is always tight in the wake of the government's bloody crack-down on student-led protests there in 1989.

Police sealed off a large section of the boulevard on iconic Tiananmen Square after a military jeep over-turned and rescue services were called to extinguish a fire, eyewitnesses told.

Meerut

IANS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday attacked the BJP's political rivals in

Uttar Pradesh, saying that in the acronym SCAM 'S' stands for Samajwadi (Party), 'C' for Con-gress, 'A' for Akhilesh and 'M' for Mayawati. It drew a riposte from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who said the word stood for "Save the Country from Amit Shah and Modi". The Congress too hit back.

Campaigning ahead of the first phase of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh assembly elec-tions with a 'Vijay Shankhnaad Rally' here, Modi slammed the Samajwadi Party and Congress

for forging a pre-poll alliance.He called upon the people

to give his Bharatiya Janata Party a mandate similar to the 2014 general elections when the party won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi also took digs at the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party on demonetisation and sought the people's support in making the country "corruption-free".

Uttar Pradesh will witness a seven-phased election for 403 seats from February 11 to March 8. The BJP is fighting a triangular contest with the SP-Congress combine and the BSP. Leaders from these parties have been addressing a series of rallies in Uttar Pradesh.

Colombo

AFP

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena yes-terday slammed critics of

his ethnic reconciliation plan as the country emerges from a decades long ethnic war that claimed over 100,000 lives.

Sirisena marked the Indian Ocean island's 69th anniver-sary of independence from Britain with a promise of eth-nic unity despite opposition from hardline nationalists.

"Those who oppose our commitment to ethnic recon-ciliation and national unity are working against the country," Sirisena said in an address to the nation.

Stopping short of naming

his predecessor, strongman Mahinda Rajapakse, Sirisena said those who oppose him were working against stability and the rebuilding of the nation's war-battered infrastructure.

"Those opportunists who oppose ethnic reconciliation and national unity are work-ing to achieve their narrow political objectives (of gaining power). They are anti-national forces," Sirisena said.

The ceremonies at Colom-bo's seafront Galle Face promenade ended with school children singing the national anthem in Tamil, the language of the main minority commu-nity, despite opposition from hardliners among the majority Sinhalese.

Two militants dead in KashmirSRINAGAR: Security forces yesterday killed two militants in Sopore town of north Kashmir after a brief gunfight in which two officers of the state police were injured. "Police and other security forces have thwarted a major terrorist action by killing two militants in a gunfight in Sopore area yester-day morning," police said here. "Information was received that militants were travelling in a vehicle and were planning some terrorist action in Sopore area. "Police and other secu-rity forces immediately swung into action and intercepted them near Amargarh Sopore. "While being challenged, the terrorists lobbed a grenade and fired upon police party in which SP operation Baramulla Shafqat Hussain and a Sub Inspector of Police Mohammad Murtaza were injured. "In the retaliatory action, two militants were killed whose iden-tity is being ascertained. "Two AK series rifles, one pistol, four hand grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the site.

Sri Lankan Premier to visit China

Pakistani boy reunited with mother

BEIJING: Sri Lanka aims to finalise a free trade agreement with China this year and the country's prime minister will visit Beijing in May, the Sri Lankan ambassador said yes-terday, amid rising concern in the South Asian nation about Chinese investment. Hundreds of Sri Lankans clashed with police at the opening last month of a Chinese-invested indus-trial zone in the south, saying they would not be moved from their land. It was the first time opposition to Chinese invest-ments in Sri Lanka had turned violent. China signed a deal with Sri Lanka late last year to further develop the strate-gic port of Hambantota and build a huge industrial zone nearby, a key part of Beijing's ambitions to create a mod-ern-day "Silk Road" across Asia. Critics, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

NEW DELHI: A five-year-old Pakistani boy was reunited with his mother yesterday at the Wagah-Attari border cross-ing, with some help from Indian authorities. The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, had been taken "forcibly" to India by his father, who belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, a year ago. Pakistan thanked India for the help in helping with the boy's return. The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi said that the five-year-old boy was lodged for some time in a hotel in Amritsar with a senior diplomat and later taken to Wagah. Pakistan High Commis-sioner Abdul Basit "appreciated the cooperative role of Indian government" in the return of Iftikhar Ahmed, the statement said. In March 2016, Iftikhar's father Gulzar Ahmed took him to Ganderbal district in Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the boy's mother filed a case in an Indian court for his custody.

Modi takes digs at rivals in UP; SP & Cong hit back

Sri Lankan President slams rivals & vows reconciliation

Myanmar arrests

second suspect in

lawyer's murder

Beijing resident crashes car near Tiananmen Square

Panaji/Chandigarh

IANS

Over a crore and a half voters turned up to chose new govern-ments in the traditionally high-

turnout states of Punjab and Goa yesterday, in the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies after the govern-ment's move to ban high-value notes last year.

Eighty-three percent of the over 11 lakh electorate exercised their franchise for Goa's 40 assembly constituencies while over 72 percent of Punjab's nearly 1.99 crore voters cast their ballot for 117 assembly segments, election officials said.

Poll officials said the final voting percentage in both the state could go up as many peo-ple were still in the queues outside polling stations and were allowed to cast their ballot even after the voting formally ended

at 5 p.m.Brisk voting took place

almost all over Punjab - a state which recorded 78.3 percent turnout in the 2012 assembly

polls - where the ruling BJP-SAD alliance, Congress and new entrant AAP are locked in a bit-ter triangular fight.

The border state's Malwa belt, which accounts for 69 out of the 117 assembly seats, also saw a heavy voter turnout that could be decisive for any party's victory.

The highest turnout was in Sangrur and Fazilka districts at 73 percent, followed by Mansa and Fatehgarh Sahib districts at 72 percent. In some assembly seats, the voter turnout was even 75 to 78 percent till 5 p.m.

Amritsar and Ropar districts recorded the lowest turnout at less than 60 percent, the poll officials said. Voting at different polling stations in Punjab was disrupted or delayed due to tech-nical snags in electronic voting machines (EVMs).

At stake was the political fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and a lone transgender in Punjab where the Akali

Dal-BJP alliance has ruled for two straight terms.

Both Congress and AAP are hoping to cash in from an anti-incumbency factor as surveys point to a cliffhanger between the two parties. Voting for the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat was also held yesterday.

"Overall Punjab witnessed a peaceful polling without any

major incidence of violence and intimidation. There was just one incident in a village in Tarn Taran where supporters of two political parties clashed and one person faced bullet injuries...an FIR has been registered," Sand-eep Saxena, deputy election commissioner, said.

With drug menace being one of the major poll issues in Pun-jab, around 2,598 kgs of drugs

and other narcotics valued at Rs18.26 crore were seized in the state which went to polls yester-day, the Election Commission said.

Talking to reporters here, Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said that 1.243 million litres of liquor valued at Rs13.34 crore was also seized since the announcement of polls on January 4.

Voting in Punjab & Goa

ends with high turnout

Voters queue to cast their ballots in the Punjab Legislative Assembly and Amritsar Lok Sabha elections at a polling booth in Amritsar, yesterday.

Assembly elections

Eighty-three percent of the over 1.1 million electorate exercised their franchise for Goa's 40 assembly constituencies while over 72 percent of Punjab's nearly 10.99 million voters cast their ballot for 117 assembly segments.

Both Congress and AAP are hoping to cash in from an anti-incumbency factor as surveys point to a cliffhanger between the two parties.

Job hunters crowd at a job fair in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, yesterday.

Job hunt

13SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 EUROPE

'Son not a terrorist'

Reda Refae Al-Hamahmy, said his son was not an Islamist and the French were only accusing him of terrorism.

All I want is to know the truth and find out whether he is dead or alive, the father said.

Valletta

Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of other founding states of

European Union spoke of some countries moving ahead faster than others with further integration.

After a summit in Malta at which all national leaders dis-cussed plans for a formal declaration in March on future of the bloc following Britain’s departure, Merkel and others offered endorsements of a so-called “multispeed Europe”, which some governments fear could damage EU unity in the wake of Brexit.

Though they disagree on details, Berlin, Paris and many

of the 17 other states which use euro currency are keen to bind euro zone closer together after years of crisis in which investors

have doubted the currency’s survival.

The last few years, Merkel told reporters, showed “that

there will be an EU with differ-ent speeds, that not everyone will take part in the same levels of integration”.

The 27 leaders are due to meet without British Prime Min-ister Theresa May on March 25 in the Italian capital to celebrate 60th anniversary of founding Treaty of Rome.

French President Francois Hollande said he thought the Rome statement could mention “several speeds” as a possible way forward, though he stressed: “European unity is essential.”

In a reminder of divisions in the bloc, Hollande took a dig at East European states which Paris complains fail to honour commit-ments—such as taking in asylum-seekers—while accept-ing big subsidies from Brussels.

Madrid

AFP

Separatists in Catalonia plan to come out in force tomorrow when the Span-

ish region’s former leader, Artur Mas, stands trial over a non-binding independence referendum he held, further straining ties with Madrid.

Supporters of independ-ence for wealthy, northeastern region say they hope to draw at least 30,000 protestors on the large avenue next to Barcelona court tomorrow morning.

Inside, Mas — who was pres-ident of the semi-autonomous region from 2010 to 2016 — his former vice-president Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau, the offi-cial once responsible for education in Catalonia, will face accusations of “serious civil dis-obedience” and “misfeasance”.

Prosecutors want them banned from holding public office for nine to 10 years for having organised a symbolic, non-binding referendum in November 2014 in public schools, despite a ban from the Constitutional Court.

Their defence argues they were merely defending “the right to freedom of expression” of Catalans, many of whom want a say in the future of their 7.5-million strong region—be it for or against independence.

More than 80 percent of those who cast their ballot in the 2014 vote did so for inde-pendence — although just 2.3

million people out of a total of 6.3 million eligible voters took part.

“On February 6, it is those 2.3 million people who will be on trial,” Mas said.

Faced with a pro-inde-pendence movement that refuses to die down, the con-servative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists that this type of local, one-region-only referendum is unconstitutional.

The fight for greater auton-omy, or independence, for Catalonia, a region with its own culture and language, has for decades soured relations with Madrid but the clash has wors-ened over the past few years.

A watershed moment was in 2010, when Spain’s Consti-tutional Court watered down a special statute awarded to Catalonia in 2006 under the Socialist government, giving it more powers.

Supporters of independ-ence slammed what they said was “judicial harassment” and asked for a referendum similar to the one organised in Scot-land in 2014.

After the Constitutional Court banned that, Mas and his associates held the non-bind-ing vote for which they are on trial.

“We are more than ready,” a Catalan government source said this week, requiring ano-nymity. “If we win the referendum, everything will speed up,” he said.

The Hague

AFP

Russian hackers accused of trying to meddle in the recent US elections have

tried to infiltrate Dutch minis-tries among hundreds of cyber attacks ahead of next month’s polls, reports said yesterday.

Two Russian groups were behind phishing attempts to pinch credentials of government workers, including at the prime minister’s office, Volkskrant daily said.

Citing security experts, Volk-skrant said the two groups were

APT29 and APT28, which have links to Russian government and were named by FBI and US Homeland Security as being behind “malicious cyber activity” against US government bodies.

The hacking bid on prime minister’s office to have been unsuccessful, the daily added.

Concerns over security of Dutch computers and websites have been growing since the out-cry erupted over US intelligence reports that Russia had interfered to help secure the election of US President Donald Trump.

D u t c h a u t h o r i t i e s announced that they were

scrapping a decade-old compu-ter system for the March 15 general elections and would count millions of votes by hand after a report revealed “vulner-abilities” in the system.

“In the last six months we have seen hundreds of attempts to hack into emails and com-pany data. It’s a real challenge to stay ahead of the game,” the head of the Dutch secret serv-ice (AIVD) Rob Bertholee said in a television interview.

Apart from Russia, China and Iran had also been behind some of the cyber attacks, he said.

Berlin

Reuters

GERMAN weekly magazine Der Spiegel sparked contro-versy at home and abroad yesterday with a front cover illustration of US President Donald Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty.

It depicts a cartoon figure of Trump with a bloodied knife in one hand and the statue’s head, dripping with blood, in the other. It carries the caption: “America First”.

The artist who designed the cover, Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban who came to the US in 1980 as a political refugee, told The Washington Post: “It’s a beheading of democ-racy, a beheading of a sacred symbol.”

The cover set off a debate on Twitter and in German and international media, with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a member of Germany’s Free Democrats and vice president of the European Parliament, describing it as “tasteless”.

The cover follows a series of attacks on Berlin’s policies by Trump and his aides, marking a rapid deterioration in German relations with the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the go-to European ally for former US president Barack Obama, who praised her as “an out-standing partner”.

Hamburg

Reuters

A German tourist attraction that features miniature models of various parts

of world has put up a wall around United States, in a dig at President Donald Trump’s plan to build a full-sized one on the border with Mexico.

The display at Miniature Wonderland, which Trip Advi-sor rates as top destination in Hamburg, is a hit with tourists, including some from the US.

Visitors could be seen peering over a miniature con-crete wall topped with razor wire to look at sites such as a tiny Mount Rushmore and a

Las Vegas skyline.The slogan “Let the world

be great again” was scribbled on wall, a reference to Trump’s election slogan “Make America Great Again”.

“I don’t want to tell anyone what to think. Everybody should look at that wall, and then decide regardless of whether they are on left, right or centre,” said Ger-rit Braun, co-founder of Miniatur Wunderland. “The main thing is the people think about it.”

Ryan Ott, a tourist from the United States, said: “I think it’s a good use of humour, which is what the world needs, I think, right now to help cope with what’s happening in our country.”

EU founders speak of ‘multispeed’ future

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (centre) leaves at the end of the European Union leaders summit in Valletta, Malta.

Spain trial stokes Catalan independence fervour

Russians trying to hack Dutch govt

German Mini Park builds wall around US

Paris

AP

The Louvre Museum here reopened to the public yesterday morning, less than 24-hours after a

machete-wielding assailant shouting was shot by soldiers.

In drizzly weather, tourists filed by armed police and sol-diers outside Paris museum, which had been closed immedi-ately after Friday’s attack.

The attacker was shot four times after slightly injuring a sol-dier patrolling the underground mall, but the attacker’s injuries are no longer in a life-threaten-ing, according to prosecutors.

An Egyptian interior minis-try official confirmed yesterday identity of the attacker as Egyp-tian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie Al-Hamahmy, 28. The official said initial investigation found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership of any militant groups at home.

On Twitter account of an

“Abdallah El-Hamahmy,” tweets about a trip from Dubai to Paris were posted on January 26. In the profile photo, Hamahmy is seen smiling and leaning calmly against a wall.

In another tweet, Hamahmy went on an angry tirade ahead of Louvre attack, posting: “No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war.”

In an interview with Dubai-based news channel Al-Hadath

aired yesterday , Hamahmy’s father, Reda Refae Al-Hamahmy, said his son was not an Islamist and the French were only accus-ing him of terrorism to excuse the brutality used to stop him. He said he was shocked to learn of his son’s alleged involvement.

“All I want is to know the truth and find out whether he is dead or alive,” the father said. “I am desperate to know whether he is dead or alive.”

“This is all a scenario made up by the French government to justify the soldiers opening fire,” added the father. He denied his son was radical or a member of any militant groups. “He is a very normal young man,” he said.

Louvre visitors expressed mixed feelings yesterday with some tourists planning to leave Paris earlier than planned.

“We heard on the news that a terrorist attack took place... We stayed at the hotel and we’re thinking about cutting our vaca-tion in Paris short,” said Lucia Reveron from Argentina.

Others were stoic and felt

safe because of the heightened security presence.

The suspect’s father said Hamahmy is married with a 7-month-old child, and in his last contact with the family said he

intended to tour the city’s sites before leaving France.

Hamahmy’s brother Ahmed, who works at Health Ministry in Dubai, was interrogated for sev-eral hours by security officials in

the United Arab Emirates, the father said. In Egypt, several officers from domestic security agency visited the family home in the Nile Delta to question fam-ily members.

Louvre Museum reopens; Egypt identifies attacker

Reda Refae Al-Hamahmy, father of Abdullah Reda Refaie Al-Hamahmy, holds a picture of his son Daqahliya, Egypt, yesterday.

German weekly sparks furore over cartoon on Trump

A wall with barbed wire on its top is seen in front of the skyline of Las Vegas at the exposition “Miniature-Wonderland” in Hamburg.

14 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017EUROPE

Initial edge

Opinion polls see the 48-year-old daughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen topping the first round on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off.

In 144 commitments, Le Pen proposes leaving eurozone, taxes on job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits.

People escape from breaking waves in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian, yesterday.

Dodging the wave

Lyon, France

Reuters

France’s far-right party leader Marine Le Pen kicked off her presi-dential campaign yesterday, hoping

promises to shield voters from globalisation.

Opinion polls see the 48-year-old daughter of National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen topping the first round on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off to a mainstream candidate.

But in the most unpredict-able election race France has known in decades, the FN hopes a two-day rally in Lyon, where Le Pen is spelling out her electoral platform, will help convince voters to back her.

“The aim of this programme is first of all to give France its freedom back and give the peo-ple a voice,” Le Pen said in the introduction to the manifesto.

In 144 “commitments”, Le Pen proposes leaving the euro-zone, taxes on the job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits while lowering payroll tax for small firms and income tax.

The manifesto also foresees reserving certain rights now available to all residents, includ-ing free education, to French citizens only, hiring 15,000 police, building more prisons, curbing migration and leaving

Nato's integrated command.“This presidential election

puts two opposite proposals,” Le Pen said. “The ‘globalist’ choice backed by all my oppo-nents ... and the ‘patriotic’ choice which I personify.”

“We were told Donald Trump would never win against the media, against establish-ment, but he won... We were told Marine Le Pen would not win presidential election, but on May 7 she will win,” Jean-Lin Lacapelle, a top FN official, told several hundred party offi-cials and members.

If elected, Le Pen says she would immediately seek an overhaul of European Union.

London

AFP

A BRITISH soldier admitted stockpiling an arsenal of explosives and making bombs for a Northern Ireland-related terror attack.

Ciaran Maxwell, 31, a Royal Marine, admitted pre-paring terrorist acts between 2011 and 2016.

He kept hideaways in England and Northern Ireland to store explosive substances, explosive devices, compo-nents for explosive devices, ammunition and weapons.

Maxwell bought chemi-cals and components and made explosives and devices.

He compiled a library of terrorism documents, includ-ing instructions on how to make explosives and terror tactics. He also had maps, plans and lists of potential targets for a terrorist attack and images of an adapted Northern Irish police pass card and police uniform.

Media reports suggested he had links to dissident Irish Republicanism. Maxwell, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was arrested on August 24 last year.

Since then it has emerged that at age of 16, he was victim of a savage sectarian beating who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK.

The 1998 Good Friday peace accords largely ended the three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, in which 3,500 people were killed.

Paris

Reuters

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon faced mounting pressure from his

own conservative camp to with-draw from the race yesterday, as a senator from The Republicans party warned it could split if he refused to bow out.

Senator Bruno Gilles, head of the party’s influential Bouches-du-Rhone region, said in a radio interview yesterday that party faithful had “turned the page” and overwhelmingly

wanted a change of candidate.Fillon, 62, has been embroiled

in a deepening scandal since satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported he had paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for work she may not have done.

He denies the allegations, but they have rocked his campaign.

An opinion poll published overnight showed the former front-runner is now set to trail in third position behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and inde-pendent centrist Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the

election on April 23.“This scandal is doing us more

damage every day, and we can’t wait another two weeks,” Gilles told France Bleu Provence radio. “There are presidential and leg-islative elections at stake and, beyond that, the survival of our political party.”

He added: “This could go as far as a party split.”

Fillon, a former prime minis-ter, vowed on Friday to fight on despite public calls from a grow-ing number of Republican lawmakers and officials for him to step aside.

Bucharest

AFP

The head of Romania’s rul-ing socialists signalled yesterday a possible retreat

on a contentious corruption decree that has sparked the big-gest demonstrations since the fall of Ceausescu in 1989.

As tens of thousands of peo-ple gathered in Bucharest for a fifth day, Social Democrats (PSD) chief Liviu Dragnea told website DC News that he and Prime Min-ister Sorin Grindeanu “could possibly discuss repealing the decree”.

He cautioned however that he would do so “in the hope that

this will convince members and supporters of the PSD not to descend onto the streets and escalate tensions”.

Demonstrators launched a noisy march in central Bucharest yesterday afternoon, blowing whistles and vuvuzela horns in the national colours, heading for parliament to form a human chain there.

“It’s about the future of our children, for our kids. We want justice to be made,” said Geor-giana Dragoi, a housewife taking part in a protest of families before the main event.

On Friday night some 250,000 people demonstrated nationwide, similar to Wednesday night when

Romania saw the biggest protests since the ouster of communist dic-tator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

Friday’s protest in the capi-tal, which drew around 100,000 people, saw effigies of govern-ment officials in prison fatigues paraded through the crowds to jeers and shouts of “Thieves!”

Protesters acted as pallbear-ers for a coffin bearing the inscription “Romanian justice” carried through the crowd while others gave a rousing rendition of the national anthem.

“I am not a leftist, I am not rightist. My views are centre-right. But I want respect,” said Armand, 34, an economist taking part.

Le Pen launches poll campaign; vows ‘freedom’

Regional party chief urges Fillon to drop presidential bid

French presidential candidate for the far-right Front National party Marine Le Pen (second right) arrives to attend a two-day political rally to kick off her presidential campaign in Lyon, yesterday.

British soldier admits plotting terror acts in N Ireland

Romanian govt signals possible retreat on corruption decree

15SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017 AMERICAS

Move irks Trump

The order blocking the ban, issued by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state’s attorney general.

The opinion of this so-called judge, which takes law-enforcement away from our country is ridiculous and will be overturned, the US President tweeted.

French firefighters help extinguish wildfires in Chile's central-south regions, in Florida, yesterday.

Herculean task NEWS BYTES

LIMA: Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thou-sands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to “build bridges” and “not walls,” the Andean nation’s interior ministry said.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s government issued 20 temporary visas to Venezuelan migrants in Peru this week. Kuc-zysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.

Some 6,000 Venezuelans are expected to receive the per-mit, which will allow them to study, work and receive health services in Peru for a year, the interior ministry said.

1 dead in Georgia home explosionCLEVELAND, GEORGIA: A powerful explosion destroyed a home in Georgia yesterday, killing one person inside and shattering windows of neighbouring houses as the blast’s shockwave was felt by people living miles away.

Investigators were unable to quickly determine what trig-gered the blast. Television news stations broadcast footage showing bits of wood, concrete blocks and other debris strewn over a large area.

“The house was just blown all to pieces,” White County Sheriff Neal Walden said confirming one death in the incident.

Cops clear prison uprising sceneSMYRNA, DELAWARE: The Delaware State Police said a prison building that was the site of an inmate uprising in which a guard died earlier this week has been turned back over to the Delaware Department of Correction.

In a statement, State Police said they “cleared the crime scene” and turned Building C at the James T. Vaughn Correc-tional Center near Smyrna back over to corrections officials.

State Police said that detectives are continuing to con-duct interviews and to “collect and examine countless pieces of physical and video evidence as part of investigations that would take long time.”

Brazil’s Lula holds vigil for late wifeSÃO BERNARDO DO CAMPO: Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a vigil yesterday for his late wife Marisa Leticia, at the headquarters of the Metalwork-ers’ Union where they met four decades ago.

Leftist party staff and hundreds of citizens, many wear-ing the red shirt of the Workers’ Party and carrying posters that read “President Lula,” went to Sao Bernardo do Campo in metropolitan Sao Paulo to offer their condolences to Latin America’s most popular leftist leader.

Marisa Leticia, a veteran labour activist like her hus-band who was first lady from 2003 to 2011, was pronounced brain dead at 66 at the Sirio-Libanes hospital in Sao Paulo on Friday.

She had been treated in intensive care since January 24 with a brain hemorrhage due to a ruptured brain aneurism.

Peru to give visas to Venezuelans

Washington

Agencies

US President Donald Trump yesterday lashed out at a court ruling sus-p e n d i n g h i s

controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as “ridiculous” and vowing to get it overturned.

The order blocking the ban, issued early yesterday by Seat-tle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state’s attorney general.

The travel restrictions, which went into effect a week ago, have wreaked havoc at air-ports across America, sparked numerous protests and left countless people hoping to reach the United States in limbo.

“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump wrote in a flurry of early morn-ing tweets.

“When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot, come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security - big trouble!” Trump

wrote, less than 12 hours after the ruling was issued in Seattle.

“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if cer-tain people are allowed in it’s death & destruction!” said Trump, who was in Florida for the weekend.

The White House said in a statement early yesterday that the Department of Justice would fight the court to defend the travel ban, “which we

Washington

AFP

US President Donald Trump’s choice for Army secretary has withdrawn his name from con-sideration after running into obstacles untangling himself from his business interests, US media reported yesterday.

Vincent Viola is a billionaire who made his fortune after found-ing high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial, the Washington Post reported. He is also owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team.

“I appreciate the confidence President Trump showed in me,” he said in a statement to the Mil-itary Times. “I offer my continued support for President Trump and his administration, and look for-ward to redoubling my efforts to support the Army and its veterans as private citizens.”

Viola’s statement concluded that he would not have been able to navigate the confirmation proc-ess, which involves meeting Pentagon’s conflict of interest requirements.

Secretary of Defence James Mattis was “disappointed but understands and respects Viola’s decision,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said. “The Secretary will recommend to the President another candidate soon.”

Earlier this week, New York Times reported that Viola was try-ing to swap his majority stake in Eastern Air Lines for a piece of Swift Air, a charter company with mil-lions in hard-to-track government contracts.

Jackson, New Jersey

AP

A 16-MONTH-OLD New Jer-sey girl’s life has been saved by her nanny, a University of Pennsylvania student who donated a portion of her liver to aid the child.

Kiersten Miles had only known the Rosko family, of Jackson, for three weeks when she learned that baby Talia had a serious disease that could turn fatal if she didn’t receive a liver transplant. Wanting to help and knowing that her O blood type was compatible, 22-year-old Miles started researching living organ donation.

The family’s medical team informed Miles of ramifica-tions the procedure could have not only on Talia but also herself.

“I can never donate again,” she said, even if she is a perfect match. Undeterred, Miles donated part of her liver at the Hospital of the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania in early January after she was deter-mined to be a match with Talia.

“It’s such a small sacrifice when you compare it to sav-ing a life,” Miles said. “Some of her doctors said she possi-bly wouldn’t have made it past 2 years old. All I had to do was be in the hospital for a week and a 5-inch scar.”

Doctors have said both Miles and Talia are recover-ing nicely.

“I didn’t know she was this selfless ) I’ve come to find out that this is who she is,” Talia’s mother Farra Rosko said of Miles. “She really is an angel on earth; I know that sounds silly, but she really is.”

Miami

AFP

The body of Canadian doc-umentary filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stew-

art was reportedly found off the Florida coast yesterday, days after he disappeared during a dive while making a film about sharks.

Stewart, 37, vanished on Tuesday afternoon during a dive with three of his crew members at the Alligator Reef coral reef, some four nautical miles off the island of Islamorada.

“The body was reportedly recovered late in the afternoon,” Marilyn Fajardo, a spokes-woman for the Coast Guard’s Seventh District, told reporters.

“It was found about 300 feet

from his last known position and it was found at approximately 220 feet in depth,” she said.

The Key Largo Fire Depart-ment volunteer dive team discovered the body and iden-tified it as Stewart’s, although the coroner’s office will officially confirm the identity.

Earlier, the US Coast Guard announced that it had sus-pended the search for Stewart.

Officials made no comment as to the reason for Stewart’s death. After surfacing from his dive, he went underwater again before the crew’s boat was able to pick him up. The other three divers emerged safely.

A biologist and underwater photographer, Stewart was film-ing a sequel to his best-known 2006 documentary Sharkwater, about shark hunting and its

impact on the marine ecosystem. The film won the Directors Guild of Canada award and a dozen others the following year.

“So happy to be shooting #sharkwater2 with the best cameras and equipment in the world,” he wrote in his latest Instagram post three days ago. “For the first time I can show you sharks through my eyes.”

The filmmaker was captur-ing “the personality in #shark faces that people that spend their lives with sharks truly understand,” he added.

The accompanying picture shows a diver from behind, pre-sumably Stewart, holding a camera on his shoulder.

Stewart’s team is fundrais-ing and looking for volunteers via Stewart’s Twitter account to continue the search.

Solicitor General Noah Purcell speaks to the press with Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (right) outside US District Court, in Seattle, Washington. Ferguson filed a state lawsuit challenging key sections of President Trump's immigration Executive Order as illegal and unconstitutional.

Judge grounds travel curbs nationwide

believe is lawful and appropriate.”

“The president’s order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people,” said the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

Trump’s executive order blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Soma-lia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entry into the US for 90 days.

Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely, and refugees from other countries are barred from entry for 120 days.

The ruling by the federal court in Seattle was not the first to challenge the travel ban by president, but it was the most sweeping as it effectively vacated

the main tenets of the order.The government yesterday

suspended enforcement of Trump’s refugee and immigra-tion ban and scurried to appeal a judge’s order, plunging the new administration into a crisis that has challenged Trump’s author-ity — and ability to fulfill campaign promises.

The Homeland Security Department no longer was direct-ing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump’s order from boarding US-bound planes. The agency said it had “suspended any and all actions” related to putting in place Trump’s order.

Washington state’s attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said the order means that anyone with a

valid visa must be allowed entry into the country by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“The constitution prevailed today,” Ferguson said, describ-ing the judge’s decision as historic. “No one is above the law—not even the president.”

“It is not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it’s the constitution,” he added, pointing out that Robart was appointed by Republican president George W. Bush.

The State Department said that up to 60,000 people from the seven targeted countries had their visas canceled as a result of the order. A Justice Department attorney, however, told a court hearing in Virginia that about 100,000 visas had been revoked.

Nominee for Army secretary withdraws his name

Nanny donates portion of liver to save 16-month-old

Body of Canadian filmmaker found off Florida coast

16 SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2017MORNING BREAK

Courtesy: Qatar Meteorology Department

Photographs from the personal archive of Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) are seen at the Escher Museum in The Hague yesterday, the first ever time they have been displayed in public.

Personal archive of Escher

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Horse-drawn ski races thrive in TatraZakopane

AFP

All winter long in Poland's Tatra mountain region, residents don col-ourful traditional

costumes to race horse-drawn sleds and compete in ski joer-ing, a Scandinavian sport where galloping horses pull skiers at breakneck speeds.

"It's not just about win-ning. The key thing is for us mountain folks to get together and show our horses, the har-nesses, the sleds, argue over the races like we've always done and preserve our herit-age," says local enthusiast Janusz Stoch.

Stoch is from Zab, the southern village located at Poland's highest elevation as well as the hometown of ski jumper Kamil Stoch, a double Olympic champion and — like half the village — a very dis-tant relative.

The region's equestrian skiing events take place every winter weekend in different villages around the mountain resort town of Zakopane and involve three disciplines.

There is ski-ski joering, a kind of horse-drawn skiing whose name means "ski driv-ing" where a horseback rider tows a skier teammate along.

The second, and most popular, discipline is simply

ski joering, which sees a lone skier compete while har-nessed to his horse.

The third cal led "kumoterki" is named after the tiny wooden sled raced by each husband-and-wife team.

But for starters, there is always a sled parade with folk music against the backdrop of the snow-covered mountains. "Every family shows off its beautifully adorned horses and the kumoterki sleds which are used to go to church for christenings," says Andrzej

Skupien, president of the association of Tatra residents.

"We examine the tradi-tional mountain costumes from head to toe, checking out even the smallest of details," adds Skupien, himself dressed in traditional trousers with an embroidered pattern called "parzenica".

"Everything is noted by the jury which gives out prizes for the three most beautiful outfits," he says.

Ela Rzadkosz, in

her sixties, takes part in the competition every year with her husband. "You have to attach yourself well to the sled and balance your body right on every turn, otherwise you risk falling or worse: your sled may tip over," she explains.

Attending the event in a clearing near the village and ski resort of Male Ciche, she brings over their horses Orlik, Marysina and the regal Cezar, a magnificent white stallion of the Lipizzaner breed.

"We raise them to use in

traditional ceremonies. A wedding in the Tatra region without horses is no wedding at all. You absolutely need two white horses to bring the new-lyweds to church," she says.

"Funerals are also done the traditional way, with two black horses harnessed to a hearse."

The competition near Male Ciche took place in a U-shaped arena some 800 metres long and guarded by around 50 firefighters.

"Ski-ski joering is the one that draws the most compet-itors," says Lukasz Nodzynski, spokesman for the southern village of Poronin.

One of the participants, Jacek Dziuba, is a mountain man now living in Warsaw who returns every year for the event. "The snow was pretty soft, the course hard. Good for the large horses, not so much for the smaller ones," he says.

There is always an ambu-lance and veterinarian on hand because the events can be dangerous, according to Skupien.

"The difficulty of ski joer-ing lies in staying upright on your skis behind the horse while its hooves slide around on the snow surface and on chunks of ice," he says.

"To win and stand on the podium, you need a good horse, a good rider, and a good skier."

A parade at a horse-drawn skiing event in Lichajowki near Zakopane, southern Poland.

Astronomers find stray black hole hiding in Milky WayTokyo

IANS

Examining a molecular cloud with enigmatic motion, a team led by researchers in Japan has found signs of stray black hole hiding in the Milky

Way. It is difficult to find black holes, because they are completely black. In some cases black holes cause effects which can be seen.

Theoretical studies have predicted that 100 mil-lion to one billion black holes should exist in the Milky Way, although only 60 or so have been identified through observations to date.

"We found a new way of discovering stray black holes," said one of the researchers Tomoharu Oka, Professor at Keio University in Japan.

The researchers used the ASTE Telescope in Chile and the 45-m Radio Telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory, both operated by the National Astro-nomical Observatory of Japan, to observe molecular clouds around the supernova remnant W44, located 10,000 light-years away from us.

A supernova is the explosion of a star -- the larg-est explosion that takes place in space, according to Nasa.

The primary goal of the researchers was to exam-ine how much energy was transferred from the supernova explosion to the surrounding molecular gas, but they happened to find signs of a hidden black hole at the edge of W44, said the study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

During the survey, the team found a compact molecular cloud with enigmatic motion.

To investigate the origin of this cloud, named the "Bullet", the team performed intensive observations of the gas cloud.

The data indicated that the Bullet seems to jump out from the edge of the supernova remnant with immense kinetic energy.

"Most of the Bullet has an expanding motion with a speed of 50 km/s, but the tip of the Bullet has a speed of 120 km/s," Masaya Yamada, a graduate student at Keio University, said.

"Its kinetic energy is a few tens of times larger than that injected by the W44 supernova. It seems impossible to generate such an energetic cloud under ordinary environments," Yamada added.

The cave squeaker returns: Rare frog seen after decadesHarare

AP

The cave squeaker is back. Researchers in Zimbabwe say they have found a rare

frog that hasn't been seen in decades. The Artholeptis trog-lodytes, also known as the "cave squeaker" because of its pre-ferred habitat, was discovered in 1962 but there were no reported sightings of the elusive amphibian after that. An inter-national "red list" of threatened species tagged them as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

Robert Hopkins, a researcher at the natural history museum in Bulawayo city, said his team had found four

specimens of the frog in its known habitat of Chimanimani, a mountainous area in the east.

The team found the first male specimen on December 3 after following an animal call that they had not heard before, Hopkins said. They then discov-ered another two males and a female. Hopkins said he been looking for the cave squeaker for eight years. "I was not with my team when they were found. I was at the base. I can no longer climb the mountains as I am 75," Hopkins said.

Researchers plan to breed more frogs with the ones taken from their habitat and then reintroduce them to the moun-tain summit. The frog is tiny and

light brown with dark spots.Now authorities fear for the

frogs' security, especially from "the scientific world" whose huge interest could result in the frog being captured and illegally exported. Hopkins said 16 spec-imens are on display at various museums, including the British Museum.

"We are expecting an influx of scientists looking for it. We will do everything in our power to protect and conserve the frog," said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Author-ity. She said a park management plan will be devised to protect the cave squeaker.

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